Hmm-Wha?

Here's an odd-ball thing for you folks to chew on.

This test, The Alternative Recreation Test, just pegged me as being one for the flying trapeze.

Only one problem with that.

I'm afraid of heights. And not just plain afraid, but deathly-ZOMG!!!~1!-heart-attack-imminent afraid. Anything under 20 feet, I can handle with no problem. Anything with a stable platform, I can handle. Anything where I can hang onto something with a death-grip, I can handle. Like rollercoasters, for instance. Sure, you're high up in the air, but there's a nice and sturdy chunk of steel holding you up from the ground and your flightpath never takes you straight down. (I am a rollercoaster fanatic, by the by. Never met a coaster I didn't like.)

Leaving myself to the unchecked embrace of gravity, however... No. Just no. I can work myself into a panic attack just thinking about it.

Of course, this also leaves out skydiving. Jumping out of any airplane not showing a sign that it is about to turn into a ball of glowing plasma is not something I would do, particularly not for fun. Nevertheless, if it was showing said signs, I'd probably jump. But I'd let everyone else go first until I could get enough testicular fortitude to achieve terminal velocity.

Terminal velocity. What an apt word choice. Then again, it's not really the trip down that scares the crap out of me. It's the sudden stop waiting for you when you reach terra firma again.

[Mostly crossposted from my OKCupid profile. And no, I'm not saying the username, but it's fairly similar to the one I blog by.]

Not-Un-Birthday Day

I keep telling people that I have been cursed. That's the only way to explain how Novembers can keep turning up as rotten as they have.

Why this year? Simple.

Apparently my entire apartment building got bedbugs. No one knows the source, but every single unit in this building had been colonized by the little bloodsucking bastages.

So the exterminators had a field-day around here, spraying everything down with a double-dose of pyrethrin. (Could be the wrong insecticide, but I distinctly remember one of them saying that.)

I knew I couldn't leave my cats around for it, though. Not even locked in the bathrooms could Alice have withstood it due to her very low body mass. And where one goes, the others must as well, simply on general principles. And so, every bit of my expendable income for the month, plus my roommate's, after setting some aside for exterminator's fees, got used to put them up for the night.

So. I'm broke. I had my entire apartment taken apart. And my cats spent three days hating the sight of me.

But not all is quite lost, for I had set aside enough to let me go out and release some stress night. Which means that this year, for the first time since the late '90s, I actually get to go out and celebrate on my not-un-birthday rather than shoving it off until some later time.

Yup. I'm going dancing. The Chargers won. I have no insect infestation. And my cats are speaking to me again.

Wow. For once, I have a November that just might end well.

Zen Moment

Here's a mind-blowing thought for a breezy midnight.

If there is no reader, there is no text.

So tell me: how many times did you blink at that statement?

Canary Meet Cat

Methinks that this will be the theme of a vast majority of Democrats after tonight's festivities.

Just sayin'.

[UPDATE: 03:07a]

Or maybe this one.

We Interrupt This Blogging Break For An Important Announcement

And now, a mere 38 hours before polls close here in the rarefied air of Colorado, I feel it safe to toss out my own predictions in response to Andrew's rather safe prophesy on state races. For the amendments and referendums, I'll add the Rocky Mountain News' profile for each.

CO 1: Easy win for DeGette. Surprised she hasn't been seen on the campaign trail across the country, really.
CO 2: Slightly less easy win for Udall. You'd think that Boulder wouldn't dominate the district by that much, wouldn't you?
CO 3: Salazar by 15 points. What could have been close turns into a laugh-fest with the Dem landslide about to happen.
CO 4: Musgrave by 5. Angie Paccione ran a good race, but it didn't get enough attention from the big boys in the DCCC and blogosphere until a bit too late to stem the tide. Of all the nasty political ads in the market, though, this one has the biggest share of them.
CO 5: Lamborn by 13. This is, after all, Colorado Springs and Pueblo (Meh. My bad. Thanks for the correction, Andrew.) we're talking about. And the President's recent visit will cement the loss for Fawcett quite firmly.
CO 6: Laugh fest for Tancredo.
CO 7: Perlmutter by 7. Ed takes the Dem wave all the way to the big House, and by a bigger margin than the polls suggest.

State House: Margin of Dem control goes up by 5.
State Senate: Dems will not only gain seats, but will not lose a single one they already hold.

CO Gov: Ritter by 13. Bob Beauprez kept getting in the way of his own feet with this one.

Amend 38: No by 15. Anyone that reads the thing can see this will make things worse for petitioning onto the ballots, not better.
Amend 39: No by 6. It'll be a tough row to hoe for all the school districts not in the Front Range, and the rest of the state already knows it.
Amend 40: No by a landslide. Term-limiting judges is not the way to do things. Making commonsense legislation is.
Amend 41: Yes by over 30 points. Ethics is the key phrase in politics this year, and anything that makes ethical behavior more prominent will resonate.
Amend 42: No by a nose. Raising the minimum wage is a good thing for those of us on the bottom of the scale. Too bad the electorate won't see things this way.
Amend 43: No by 2. Legal definition of marriage... Well, let's just say that recent events haven't really helped the cause too much.
Amend 44: No by a landslide. Marijuana legalization in the entire state won't fly. And the authors were probably using the substance recreationally when they wrote this thing.

Ref E: Yes by 6. The right sees it as a tax cut. The left sees it as helping the disadvantaged. And the two are arguing against each other enough to confuse the issue. But not quite enough.
Ref F: Yes in a laugher. Ever try to initiate a recall? I bet the ones behind this one have tried it.
Ref G: Yes by a squeak. There goes the constitutional provision for a free and independent militia. Damn.
Ref H: Yes by 12. Illegal immigration is still a hot-button issue this year, and punishing employers for not paying attention will fly quite well in this weather.
Ref I: Yes by 5. Domestic partnerships are in vogue. Why get married when you can just live together?
Ref J: Recount. I think my Magic 8-Ball is stuck on "Outcome Murky. Try Again."
Ref K: No by 10. Well okay, so illegal immigration isn't THAT much of a hot-button issue this year.

For my national predictions, see the post here on Creative Destruction.