Eat Poop You Cat

Eat Poop You Cat is sort of a cross between the old Surrealist Exquisite Corpse game and the Telephone game we all played as kids. Player #1 starts by writing down a sentence on a piece of paper, which he hands to Player #2, who draws a picture illustrating the sentence, folds the paper over to conceal the original sentence, and hands it off to Player #3, who writes a description of the picture, conceals the picture, and hands it off to #4, who draws a new picture, etc. Zany hijinks ensue. I love watching the sentences transmogrify, “Write anything that comes into your head” turning into “Steve's enormous penis attempted to fly across the room at Billy”. Some examples:

• The Space Needle: Tourist trap or monument to a generation of people with sex complexes.
• Ben’s sister is hot.
• D&D 3rd edition sucks ass.
• Write anything that comes into your head.

Ass

As long as I’m posting excessively, there’s something that’s been bugging me for a while. I’ve noticed some folks using the word “ass” the way that me and my cohort generally use the words “shit” or “crap”. “That sucks ass.” “It looked like ass.” What’s up with that? I think the people I’ve seen using it have all been Seattleites, so is this a northwestern usage? Wait, actually I’ve also heard “sucks ass” on South Park, I assumed because there are language rules for basic cable (though South Park violated those rules flagrantly in one episode, so I dunno). Is this something recent? What’s the earliest usage anyone here remembers?

272?

What the...? Another two pounds? That’s 3.5 pounds lost in two days, without exercise or dieting. Not that I mind, but it’s weird. Actually, now that I think about it, I haven’t been eating all that much recently. Not deliberately, and (I think) not to the degree of endangering my health. (I had a nice, good-sized dinner last night. Hamburger patty with sautéed mushrooms and string beans.) But I think I need to get back on that eating plan, five small meals a day. With exercise. Off to the gym in an hour.

Sports wonderbra

I went back to the gym today. Different gym, actually — the New York Sports Club branch on 14th Street. Nicer facilities than my local Eastern Athletic, but less convenient. Did most of a Hot Point workout. I was pressed for time, so I skipped two of the arm exercises and the ab stuff. Still, I feel really good.

One big difference was apparent in the membership: Pretty much everyone there had what I’d consider a pretty damn good body. These were young people working out to maintain their current shapes. I saw only one or maybe two people like me, working on slimming down, and none of the older folks there to improve their mobility and strength. I spent most of my early workout with an eye on a nearby woman with a truly amazing body. Even in plain, flat sneakers she looked like she was wearing high heels. (I prefer zaftig women, but I’m not immune to the charms of the trim and toned. They’re immune to mine, of course. So are most zaftig women, for that matter.) She was wearing something I can only describe as a sports wonderbra. That’s it on the right, as well as I can remember. Yeah, it really had that cleavage display opening. Wow. (I think I made her arms too thick.)

Then comics, dinner, and NYRSF. New issues of Powers and Finder, but they forgot to order Shutterbug Follies for me, and didn’t have the Kissing Chaos TPB. Chatting about politics, games, and books. Smooching with Chris. Yay!

TNH: Ground-level politics

In addition to this LiveJournal, I maintain a weblog, which in the past year or two has become pretty much entirely political, as has weblogging in general. I read a bunch of weblogs regularly, which means I’ve read a whole freaking lot of political essays in the past few years. The topic of how to get the Democratic Party up and going again has been a popular one in some circles, especially since yesterday’s disasterous election. Teresa Nielsen Hayden (the smartest person I know, and I know a lot of smart people) has written the very best such essay I’ve seen yet, by a large margin. If you’re interested in this sort of thing, go read it. Here are some snippets:

Real political action is always social. The primary interaction isn't between you and your political ideals; it's between you and other people. If you don't engage with your fellow citizens, you might just as well have stayed home, or joined a community theatre group. [...]

Get real, vote real. If you want to make changes happen, you have to get your guys elected. Deciding the whole system is corrupt so why bother, and/or casting symbolic votes and protest votes for non-starter candidates, is like wasting your ammunition on symbolic volleys that don't hit anything. The other side won't be impressed, and they'll still be aiming their own shots at you. [...]

Be polite. Most especially, be polite to people who don't have a perfect understanding of all the fine points of your political analyses. Explain how you think this point here, which they do agree with, hooks up to that point over there. They may thereupon decide they agree with that one too; whereas if you denounce them for not understanding that second point, they may decide they don't agree with any of your points, so there!, and will undoubtedly decide that you're a jerk. [...]

Democracy isn't something we have; it's something we do. Giving an equal shake to the little guy is important because we're all little guys.