Tag Archives: real world

Peafowl!

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I love where I live. The city wildlife is amazing.

City… wildlife. Can you explain this, possibly?

Sure! Alright, so I don’t particularly like the skunks, miscellaneous coyotes, opossums, or raccoons. But there are some really cute kitties-

Cats. How wild.

I wasn’t finished! There are some kitties. But we especially have some interesting wild birds. We occasionally get the rare owl, hawk or other raptors. And sparrows. But many places get those.

No, where I am right now, we get Peafowl. Wild peafowl

…Ah.

Yeah! I even got a few photos of some of them today. They were just meandering around the street, saying “neener neener.” So I decided to boost their egos by photographing them.

Peacock and family. Very pretty and cute.

Pretty Peacock! And look at those chicks!

Cute Peafowl family

Aren’t they pretty? And that’s a significantly less rare sight than seagulls where I went to college.

Let me guess. There’s a story behind that one, too.

Not much of one. Basically, I went to school at a college that was very in-state. Quite land-locked. And one day a miscellaneous seagull spontaneously generated.

A seagull that is highly out of place in a land-locked campus

The white speck is a seagull. It must have spontaneously generated.

So, how about you, Fluffsters? Any favorite city-wildlife? (Happy Friday, by the way!)

Procrastination Device: TV Tropes Again

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Thursday! Can you believe it’s almost the weekend again? Where does the time go?

Judging from the title, I’m guessing to procrastination devices.

…You’re good.

Yes, today is once again

A spotlight on TV Tropes.

tvtropes.org, as I think I mentioned previously, is a fantastic time-wasting website. I have definitely spent more time than I would care to admit…

Last night I got pulled in examining “genre awareness.” An excellent example of this would be what tvtropes refers to as “Genre Savviness.” This happens when people are aware of similar situations, and act according to what they remember.

So, if we were characters and having this conversation, would that be an example of genre savvy?

No. That would probably be more along the lines of “leaning on the fourth wall.” If we were actually characters, of course.

Of course.

But as I was saying. There are way too many ways to procrastinate and waste time on that website. You see, each individual article links to probably at least a half-dozen other interesting articles. They are usually quite amusing, too.

So, if you’re bored at all this summer, I highly recommend visiting tvtropes.org. It’s a fun place! (Heads up, it has a few PG+ areas. Just be aware.)

Five Things I’ve Said that my Parents Never Expected

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In honor of my parents 31st anniversary (congratulations, Mom & Dad!) I’m sharing

Five things I’ve honestly said that my parents probably never expected to hear me say.

1) I want to take a nap. When I was a lot younger, I was one of those types of little ones. I despised nap-time. I saw no use for it, I “wasn’t tired”, and so I hated taking a nap. Now, I can’t get enough of them. I think I blame high school, and whatever social conventions have determined that regularly getting up before 10:00am is necessary.

2) Can you teach me to cook? I’m a bit surprised by this one, but this was the first thing that came to Mom’s mind when I asked her what something was that she never expected me to say. I guess that when I was a lot younger I had no interest in learning how to cook. It’s amazing what looking at allrecipes– especially the dessert, pretzel, and bread sections – will do to you! It’s almost worth the cleanup, even!

3) I want/need to take a shower/bath. I got over my extreme protestations about personal hygiene before I got to be too old. It’s still a bit of a nuisance to interrupt whatever you’re doing to go take a shower, but at least I no longer (exactly) protest. I fully realize that it is absolutely, 100% worthwhile to interrupt stuff to take a shower or bath, especially when needed.

4) Is there enough broccoli for me to have more? This especially happens when Mom makes her Broccoli Almondine recipe. It’s amazing. It’s broccoli, but it tastes good. I think Mom & Dad practically despaired of my ever liking broccoli. I liked brussel sprouts, but not that green-tree.

5) I want to study my textbook during the summer, to get a head-start on the school year! Yes, alas. College got a hold of me. I used to have this irrational worry about being “bored” in class because it would be “too easy.” My math classes broke me of that worry. Especially for classes beyond Calculus I, they are quite challenging enough. I wish I’d looked at my books earlier for more of my classes… math especially.

(Bonus) 6: Eww, mud! From what I can recall, I loved mud when I was younger. “Mud castles” were one of my favorite pass-times. Making rivers and drawbridges was also fun. I do remember tramping mud into the house several times without realizing it, and then needing to clean it up. These days, I really dislike mud. Or anything slimy, for that matter. (To be fair, I’m still ok with mud. I just don’t like getting it on my clothes.)

How about you, Fluffsters? Is there anything you say that your parents would never have expected?

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Masking tape is fantastic

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Monday! I hope you have a wonderful week!

Masking tape is one of the most useful materials I have come across.

I thought that your world loved this thing called “duct tape”?

That’s good too, but sometimes masking tape is a lot better.

Oh?

Yes. In fact, that’s one of the things I normally keep in my backpack.

Right next to your socks?

No. First, the socks live in my purse. Second, the tape would make them sticky. But not as sticky as Duct Tape would. Which leads me to:

Five things to use Masking Tape For

1) labeling things. Ever need to label a bag? A cup? A shoe? Yourself? Write on a piece of masking tape, tear it off, and stick it on whatever you need to label. I’d suggest not using it to label your hair, but that’s just me. Duct tape is a lot more difficult to write on.

3) Remove dirt. Put the tape on the dirty spot, and pull. It might remove some of the tape, carpet, furry stuff, paint, or whatever you’re using it on, but at least it won’t leave as much residue as duct tape would.

You skipped 2.

No, I didn’t yet. I’m just reordering them.

5) Fix your broken piece of chalk. Or pencil. Take your writing implement, put it back together, and wrap it with a couple rounds of masking tape. It’s not as sticky on the outside as duct tape, and so is more comfortable to hold.

4) Hanging dorm room decorations. Not candles, of course. Those are not permitted. But masking tape can be used to hang posters, banners, or basically anything else. Duct tape is normally not permitted.

So there you go, fluffsters! Five ways to use masking tape. Have a great wee-

You still skipped number 2.

That’s because I’m leaving it up to you, Fluffsters. What is your use for masking tape that I haven’t mentioned? Preferably one where Duct Tape wouldn’t work?

I love my $5 headphones.

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Sunday!

Today, I want to talk about my normal type of headphones. I love them.

‘Panasonic RP-HT21 Lightweight Headphones with XBS Port’ Review (And they’re not even paying me to do this!)

Background

Ok. So, first, a little bit of background on me. As my post on my favorite soundtracks might have indicated, I’m a bit of a music fan. I have a tendency to like to listen to my music privately, though. (That way, if there’s a song that I really like, I can play it like 5 or 6 times in a row. It’s fun.)

I also travel a lot. I just did the calculations, and at least for the last few years, I’ve been traveling on average about once every two to three months. Since I like having music with me wherever, I go, that means I need to take headphones.

And yes, they have to be headphones. I can’t stand earbuds. They are plainly uncomfortable. And they don’t block out as much noise as the on-ear or over-ear headphones do.

I used to get $20-$40 pairs of headphones. They would be comfortable, sound great, and then break. I went through headphones about once per year. It would be a year-and-a-half if I was lucky.

I did some calculations and realized how expensive this was getting. So I did a bit of research, and made a few decisions.

First, I decided that I didn’t really need the “absolute best sound $40 can buy.” I’m reasonably fine with lower quality speakers, as long as they work and come out of both ears. (It drives me nuts when sound only comes out of one ear.)

The Headphones

I then found a pair of $5 headphones from Amazon. They’re sold from a 3rd party vendor, but they still have free shipping. And they’re only $5! I figured that I’d try them, and see how they worked. If the worked, I’d just saved between $15 & 35. If they didn’t, I’d have wasted only $5, which isn’t that expensive.

So I got the pair, and they showed up. They played sound from both ears. They weren’t that uncomfortable- and they were a lot better than ear buds. The sound quality wasn’t phenomenal, but it wasn’t atrocious either. I decided to keep them and see how long they lasted.

They lasted a year. With six or 8 rough plane trips. They were mashed up against my computer and various other junk in my backpack, transported to and from work or class every day, and they lasted pretty much an entire year. That’s about the same amount of time as my previous sets of headphones! I figured that for $5, at least while I’m still in this stage of my life where I can’t afford really good headphones, the savings totally make up for lower sound quality.

Sometimes it can be annoying when they break. First the plastic bits of the headphones break, thus eliminating the ability to control headphone length / height / whatever-you-want-to-call-it. Then the sound goes in one (or more) ear.

The very funny part came on the most recent pair of headphones. The ear on one side completely came off, while the sound didn’t work on the other- unless the wire was in exactly the right place. I actually got fairly good at jiggling the wire around to make it work. It normally involved wrapping the wire around my ear a couple of times to keep it in the right spot. Yeah, I got annoyed when people interrupted me and made me need to reset my wire next time, but at least the sound work!

panasonic headphones with an ear fallen off

My old broken Panasonic Headphones

In all, I love these headphones. I’m on, like, my third set now. They’re inexpensive, not bad quality, and they last for a while. And they’re $5. You can’t beat the price.

Happy Sunday!

The Spitting Image.

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Hello, Fluffsters! I’m confused, so I’m going to get straight to the point. Have you considered how ridiculous some of your English phrases and words are?

Uh, some of them. Why?

Well, one phrase in particular has been bothering me.

Do I want to kno-

“The Spitting Image” of someone.

What does it even mean?

Alright. So I know that it “means” an “exact likeness.” Or extreme similarity. Or something like that. But really: “Spitting” “Image”. Those two words are being used together. It doesn’t make sense!

Oh, that phrase! That’s an easy one!

You see, spit is made up of mostly water. Water reflects quite nicely. Since you spit near yourself, it’s that much easier for the water to reflect you. Hence: Spitting Image.

…I seriously don’t know why I try.

Seriously, why do I try?

Because the show must go on? But what do you mean, anyways? Do you think my explanation is inadequate?

Yes. I do think it’s inadequate. A website devoted to phrases hasn’t been able to figure out the true origin adequately. I doubt that your explanation is the right one.

Hmpf. I thought you were the one who asked.

For a good explanation.

Or at least not a crazy one. So, Fluffsters, do you have any thoughts on what that phrase actually means? If so, please leave a comment below! Happy Friday!

Hans Zimmer Soundtracks.

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Thursday!

I think I’ve mentioned that I enjoy music. I especially enjoy movie soundtracks. Particularly when they are composed by Hans Zimmer. (John Williams is also fun, but Hans Zimmer consistently writes music I really like.)

So here’s a bit about

My Favorite Hans Zimmer Soundtracks

1) Muppet Treasure Island. This is true fluff. It’s actually a musical. I don’t know who did the lyrics, but this is some of the most awesome movie music ever composed. Here’s the song about the advantages of becoming a Professional Pirate.

And here’s the movie intro music:

I mean, how epic is that music? Granted, it sounds a whole lot like his Pirates of the Caribbean music in some ways, but oh well. That brings me to:

2) The Pirates of the Caribbean Series. Granted, it sounds a lot like his previous pirate-y soundtrack, Muppet Treasure Island. But it’s still really fun music. It’s fun how in the second movie he uses a special theme for the villain, and plays with it a bit. And pipe organ is a lot of fun! And in the third movie, he introduces another new theme that he plays with a lot. And the fourth movie? It’s got a fantastic soundtrack. Zimmer went way overboard with the melodrama for the new badguy theme. It’s totally epic. I think it’s impossible for it to be more melodramatic!

One of the other things I love about movie four’s soundtrack is that Zimmer makes little references. Heads up, spoiler alert: In the Fountain of Youth scene, when the Spaniards come and start to destroy it, the music totally makes an “old classics” reference. Zimmer pulled in a traditional plainchant theme: The Dies Irae theme. From what I understand, the chant translates to “day of judgement, day of wrath…” and goes on from there. Nice little reference when the Spaniards are judging and being wrathful, don’t you agree?

3) Lone Ranger Soundtrack. From what I understand, in the traditional Lone Ranger genre, the William Tell Overture is “his theme.” Zimmer uses that and incorporates it. He also makes variations on the theme. Sometimes it’s slower. Sometimes it’s a lot darker and more mysterious. But it’s still very recognizable as the William Tell. And as with Pirates, Zimmer uses musical phrase references brilliantly. There is one scene (minor spoiler(ish) alert) where a woman is talking about her days as a ballerina. A portrait of her as a ballerina is shown, and Zimmer pulled in a small, clearly identifiable segment from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake during that shot. It’s very well done.

How about you, Fluffsters? What are your favorite soundtracks?

TV’s Gone to the Dogs.

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Hello, Fluffsters! It’s the middle of the week- yay!

Today’s post is ~~plagiarized from~~ inspired by Fluffy.

What?

Yes. You posted about a tv channel designed for dogs. So that inspires today’s post:

Top Reasons to buy your pet a TV

1) You don’t need to share the remote. I mean, have you seen Garfield? Poor Jon is hardly ever seen using the remote to his TV. Clearly, if Garfield had his own TV, Jon would be able to watch whatever he wants, whenever he wants!

Sometimes, I wonder whether the Webmaster realizes when things are fake…

b) Keep your pet entertained while you’re out of the house. Because buying a toy, and letting them play outside is so not good enough. Kids are allowed to watch TV and not play with their toys or go outside for entertainment! Why should your pet be any different?

Four) Bragging rights. “My dog’s better than your dog! My dog’s better than yours! My dog’s better ’cause he has his own TV and channel for crying out loud! That’s why my dog’s better than yours.”

There you go! A few reasons why you should get your pet its own TV, and buy your dog a subscription to the TV channel.

Happy Wednesday!

Advantages of having a house: Bedroom Decorations

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Sometimes, when I look around your world, I wish I’d lived in a real home.

…You didn’t have a home?

Well, it depends on how you define home. I didn’t have a house. We all lived in a caravan and traveled around. It was fun, but apparently, at least in your world, there are some amazing things you can do with bedroom decorations in a real house.

Uh… If you say so. Except for the fact that I like having space to make a mess in, and I really like my nice showers and plumbing, I’ve thought that living a traveler’s life would be totally worth it.

Oh, it does have its benefits. I’ve enjoyed some of the sites. But there’s no way to make any of the rooms like the children’s bedroom decorations this website shows. They’re amazing. And the sad thing is, I wouldn’t even be able to make one for myself if I went back.

Hold on a minute. Let me see if I’ve got this straight:

You normally live in a caravanish type thing.

Except for when we spend the night in a friendly farmer’s barn, or a Lord’s castle, or on a ship, that’s usually correct.

And you’re jealous of children in my world who can live in rooms that imitate caravanish type things, barns, nobles’ castles, and ships?

Wait… you’re the one who made sense in this post? How can this be?

You acknowledge that I made sense? YES!!!

Of all the thrice-blasted Brassicae Fati… Now you’re going to be insufferable, aren’t you?

Isn’t that slightly overreactionary?

Not really. I am a melodramatic actress.

But that is neither here nor there.

Happy Tuesday, Fluffsters! I hope you have a fantastic week. And if you can decorate your room, do let me know what you do? You can leave a comment right down below.

Even if you don’t have an amazingly decorated room, please leave a comment! I like to know that I’m not actually just talking to Fluffy.

So, Happy Tuesday!

Book Review: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

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Hello again, Fluffsters! Happy Saturday!

Today, I’m going to once again be reviewing an extended version of a famous fairy tale. This one is

Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine (spoiler alert)

This story is a retelling of Cinderella. I really love it.

What makes this story particularly delightful is that Levine provides an explanation for why Cinderella is a wuss, and doesn’t fight for better living conditions, etc.

So, here’s the situation. Ella was enchanted by a traveling fairy (not her fairy godmother). She was “blessed with the gift of obedience.” She magically will follow every order that she is given. This could be from anything as stupid as “clap your hands” to anything serious like “kill yourself” (or a different person.)

This “gift”, of course, makes Ella a very strong willed person. She just can’t do what she wants to do if given a direct order.

The book is written from the first person perspective, which adds a great deal of depth. Since Ella is the main character, and a lot of the issues that arise are personal, it’s great from the story perspective to be inside Ella’s head.

So the story starts off with the narrator talking about her early childhood. Within the first chapter or so, her mother (very sadly) dies. We then meet the other players. Her father is an unloving, ambitious, hardheaded merchant who is frequently away. After Ella’s mother’s funeral, the father sends Ella off to a finishing school with two other girls about her age: Hattie and Olive. Hattie is surprisingly intelligent and very ambitious. Olive is, well, less than brilliant, and very greedy. Hattie discovers Ella’s secret “gift”, and uses it to her advantage.

Adventures ensue.

At about the last half to third of the book, Ella’s father marries Hattie & Olive’s mother in order to try to regain some of the losses that would ruin him. (The three ladies whose family he marries into do not know about this loss; the three think that they’ll be getting a lot richer through this marriage.)

Because of the unexpected lack of change of financial standing, as soon as Ella’s father goes away again, Ella gets demoted to low servant. She works as a kitchen maid.

Stuff happens, and the parents of prince Charmont (who Ella has been corresponding with) throw a ball in honor of the prince. Ella ends up going, re-meets Char, breaks the curse, and lives happily ever after.

I highly recommend this book. Levine, as always, writes with an engaging style. She expands the short story into a full length child-friendly book that is still engaging for adult readers. The land is realistic, the premise charming. I highly recommend this book. It’s aimed at a slightly older audience than The Princess Tales, but it’s still very family friendly. I’d highly recommend this for anyone, oh, age 8 and up. (Many 7 year-olds would probably enjoy it as well, though.)

I hope you have fun procrastinating with all of the books I recommend! If you read any of the books I’ve reviewed, comment about what you thought of them?