Category Archives: blogging

I have registered a new domain. I expect it will take me about ten months to get around to doing anything about it… like, say, redirecting this blog there. Tiddleywink is really my business name, and it gets confusing on my end to be running a personal blog under that moniker. Not that I’m doing much of anything else over at tiddleywink.com, but I still don’t want to share the space. Besides, the new name (should I ever get around to using it) will be easier to spell.

Off topic: My topical brush with fame. You may have heard of Iron Man, current smash blockbuster hit. And you may already be familiar with Terrence Howard, the actor who plays Jim Rhodes in that film. Well, Mr. Howard spent some time as an engineering student at Pratt during my stint there, and while I have no recollection of him, my (fantastically talented) friend Jason assures me that we all ran in the same social circle. I don’t recall hanging with any of the engineering students, but I trust Jason. Sorry that I don’t remember you, Terrence. Congrats on your successful acting career.

Go without God (addressing the plural). Watch how I start with dinner, and manage to come back around to this:

I enjoyed a lovely (and stuffing) Indian meal with some blogger gals. Ladies, if you will. We talked about lots of things. Husbands (theirs), kids (theirs), jobs, careers, ex-boyfriends, pickles’ association with disco,* blogging, stalkers, Henry Rollins… At one point during the evening, one chum said, about me, “She doesn’t like Christians.”

Um?

She was joking, of course, but it did give me pause as I drove home… I’m an atheist. It’s my own choice, within my own set of beliefs. But are there really people out there who think I want to recruit them? Like some sort of deranged missionary? “Euw, you believe in God? How gross. C’mon, believe in yourself, it’s what all the cool kids do. Don’t you want to be cool?”

But, because I am who I am, the part of this internal dialogue (monologue?) that really intrigued me is the etymology of “atheist.” Greek. A=without, theos=god. That part is totally clear. The part that puzzles me is the phrasing. I am an atheist. Not “I am atheist.” I am without god. I am an without god. I mean, euw, gross, what horrible syntax. But, atheist is a noun. Also, atheism is a noun. Atheistic is the associative adjective, and I think it’s clunky. -ist is a suffix that usually forms a noun, but can form an adjective. Sexist is, unfortunately, the only example that I can think of at this precise moment. Or rather, it’s the only example that the OAD can give me right now, because I am too tired to think of even one.

And whether you’re Christian, or Muslim, or Hindu, or Buddhist, or Jewish, or Wiccan… I don’t really care what theistic or non-theistic beliefs you hold dear.** Your beliefs are precious to you, and you can keep them. Just as I’ll keep mine right here in this pocket, and oh, look, a dollar! Bonus!

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So anyway. I joined Brightkite and thirty-something bloggers. Because yeah, I have time for more social networking. HOW do you ladies do it?

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*If anybody can explain this, please do.

**Except maybe for those people who believe that certain celebrities (and many non-celebs) are actually lizards. Yeah, I do have a bit of a problem with that. If you’re one of those people, and you read my blog, you may now boycott me. I understand.

But I forgot what it was. So, more icebox cake:

My dad is popping up for an impromptu visit this weekend. HOORAY!!! I cannot begin to explain in words how much I love my father. Anyone who has seen the two of us together will attest to the fact that I am essentially a clone of him, albeit with a significant chromosomal difference. Yes, yes, I understand the DNA similarities make me a sort of clone anyway… oh, forget it. Just know that, during an iChat discussion he and I had today regarding historically accurate use of typefaces, he took a moment to correct my use of “infer” when what I really meant was “imply.” Yeah, I think that sums it up rather neatly. As Mandy once put it, “Does the apple even fall from the tree?”

Anyone (Alison) worrying how this will effect my attendance at Gears, Grease and Guitars this weekend… it shouldn’t. I may be late, though.

I’m very much looking forward to joining Villanovababy, Greeblemonkey, InherentPassion and ImaginaryBinky for dinner this week. Ohmigod, does this make me a blogger?

This article about elevators is actually fascinating, but if you can’t bear to read all eight pages, then you owe it to yourself to at least watch the horrifying/compelling video. Which will only make you want to go back and read the article, so really, you may as well start there in the first place. My favorite excerpt:

… elevator manufacturers have sought to trick the passengers into thinking they’re driving the conveyance. In most elevators, at least in any built or installed since the early nineties, the door-close button doesn’t work. It is there mainly to make you think it works. (It does work if, say, a fireman needs to take control. But you need a key, and a fire, to do that.) Once you know this, it can be illuminating to watch people compulsively press the door-close button. That the door eventually closes reinforces their belief in the button’s power. It’s a little like prayer.

Until tomorrow, my children.