Author: Heather Meadows

Koizumi thanks Iceland for 1st offer to cosponsor U.N. resolution

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi thanked Icelandic Prime Minister Halldor Asgrimsson on Monday for cosponsoring a U.N. draft resolution submitted by Japan, Brazil, Germany and India to expand the Security Council membership, a Japanese official said.

I think this collaboration of nations trying to get into the Security Council is a really neat thing. I don’t know if it’ll succeed. I’m actually a little wary of one of the participants, unfortunately. But I think it would be saying a lot if the U.N. would let them in. It would be more than talk, more than a gesture. I think it would seriously benefit international relations.

Just finished off Azkaban. Now, in order to read the last two by Saturday, given that they are roughly equivalent, I will need to have Goblet of Fire done the night of the 12th or early during the day on the 13th–the earlier the better, as I won’t be able to read nearly as much on the 14th due to my internship. Given my rapid reading so far, that seems like plenty of time…but Goblet of Fire is a hose beast of a book, and Order of the Phoenix is hardly any shorter.

I will go ahead and start Goblet of Fire tonight. (I’m wondering how much longer I will be able to stay up, given that I have been up since 2:30…)

Also accomplished today: biking (which you know about), swimming (which you also know about), dishes, lunch, laundry, and dinner.

There was no one else in the pool, but luckily there was a guy napping on one of the lounge chairs, so I wasn’t breaking the “no solo bathing” rule ;> I didn’t stay in the water very long–something like fifteen, twenty minutes–and I didn’t swim laps or anything. I just frog-swam underwater, like usual, eyes open, skimming along the bottom until I needed to come up for air, and floated on my back on the surface, letting the currents of the water push me around. The air temperature wasn’t very warm, but the water was. It was nice and relaxing.

Now, having showered, shaved, and put on shorts and my “stunts” tee, I’m off to eat something non-diet threatening and read Azkaban. I’m not sure it’s possible to read the whole thing today, but that’s what I’m shooting for. We’ll see!

I went to the Greeneway, and strapped my MuVo to my right forearm–I don’t think you’re supposed to put it there necessarily, but I liked having it there because I could see which track was playing easily–and then headed off, forgetting my helmet in the car. The MuVo was set to shuffle the Kyou Kara Maou folder, so I just left it that way, listening to my favorites from that album over and over.

As usual, I started from the parking lot near the golf course. The new stretch of trail running along the river took me about eight minutes. After working my way up that fearsome hill, I was gasping for breath and I felt terrible, so I stopped at the junction of the new trail with the old, got off the bike, and pulled out my huge bottle of water. After taking a small sip, I suddenly felt very, very nauseated.

“Oh, crap,” I said, and knelt to the ground to stabilize myself. I felt very hot and a little dizzy, and for a moment the nausea wouldn’t pass. I forced myself to take more water into my mouth, but I could sense that my stomach couldn’t handle it at the moment, so I swished it a little and then spat it onto the trail.

After a time I felt that I could carry on, so I did. Eight minutes is a ridiculously short ride, after all. Plus, this had happened before, maybe the last time I came to the Greeneway. I had felt like crap after getting up that big hill, but then continued on and felt better. So I held out hope that the same would happen today, and, fortunately, it did.

I rode no-handed as much as I could, of course, but being out of practice with riding in general, I tended to have to use my hands a lot on the ride up due to the sheer exertion. There was a fair amount of people out for so early in the morning, and I did a lot of nodding and smiling. There was also a cute little bunny on the trail at one point; it hopped out of my path well before I reached it.

I didn’t stop again until the water fountains at the bridge over Martintown, and then I drank quite a bit and kept going, feeling much better. However, I felt that I was getting tired. I didn’t ride much further before I decided to turn around. Checking my Cat-Eye, I saw that I’d been riding for half an hour, and I figured that was plenty, given that I was out of practice. It was okay that I didn’t make it all the way to the end.

So I turned around and rode back, no-handed for most of the way. It occurred to me that I really ought to get a unicycle. Someone mentioned that idea to me once, but I don’t think I took it seriously at the time. Now, though, I think it would be really fun. It would definitely be a nice challenge.

I had passed the Activities Center and was almost to Hammond’s Ferry Road when a pair of deer ran across the Greeneway in front of me. “Oh!” I said delightedly, slowing down. “Oh!” Then I saw two more of them on the other side. They ducked back into the forest rather than crossing. I stopped, rummaged in my bag for my camera, and tried to take some pictures of them as they fled into the woods. They came out horribly blurry, for whatever reason. This is the only one that you can remotely make out:

As soon as I had put my camera away, and I was climbing back onto my bike, the deer emerged from the forest and darted across the trail behind me. “Ah!” I said, watching them. “Assholes!”

Then I continued on, crossing Hammond’s Ferry. By the way, the Hammond’s Ferry subdivision will be adjacent to that road; the empty field to the right has been plowed up. I did not take a picture of this.

Nor did I take a picture of the huge growth of grass near the other construction area along the new trail, though I thought about it both times I passed. The blades were at least two inches thick and as tall as me. I was going to name any picture I took of the growth “Welcome to the Jungle”.

Heading back towards the river, I rode no-handed over the two bridges. A man standing on the second bridge stared at me. I think he was afraid I would lose control and crash into him–the bridges, while parallel, are connected by a diagonal stretch of trail. I suppose someone who isn’t as l33t as me wouldn’t have been able to ride that without using their hands. ;>

I didn’t see any snakes near the river, oddly. It felt like snake weather, but then again, it was overcast–no nice sun for them to lay out in.

In all, I did 51 minutes at 10 mph…not great, but not too shabby. DietPower has awarded me 401 calories for it, at least. It feels really good here in the air conditioned apartment.

I’m thinking of going swimming. Hopefully there won’t be anybody out there at this time on a Sunday.

I stayed up, and I just finished Chamber of Secrets, and now I’m going to go for a morning bike ride because I have -1302 calories in my “bank” and I need to work them off somehow. (Only having 1193 calories allotted for the day doesn’t help things, either. ;P)

Reading the Harry Potter books always makes me hungry–they get to eat such delicious-sounding things at Hogwarts. And so while I’ve been reading, I’ve been snacking: popcorn, fudge rounds, Mountain Dew, banana bread, a Hershey bar, an apple, and chocolate-covered raisins. All this over the past couple of days…bad Heather! Bad!

So, biking. I’m going to try the arm band that came with my MuVo for the first time, and enjoy some music while I’m riding :) Think I’ll do the Greeneway, because, while I’ve been itching to go to the Canal again, it did rain like a mother yesterday, and I’m not sure I feel up to dealing with all the mud.

I finished off The Sorcerer’s Stone and plowed about one third of the way through Chamber of Secrets today. I also baked some banana bread, talked with my mom on the phone, and blew my diet (just for today, though ;P).

At some point during the early evening, I found myself falling asleep over the book, so I went and crawled into bed.

I slept for a long time. Sean came in and napped with me for awhile, then got back up. I didn’t get up again until around 2:30; Sean went to bed for good a few minutes ago.

Not sure where all that weariness came from; it’s not like I forced myself to get up early or anything.

As I started Chamber of Secrets, I found myself unable to remember what it was even about. All the stories were intermingling in my head, and I couldn’t remember where certain aspects appeared. For some reason, I kept thinking of plot points in Prisoner of Azkaban. Now that I’ve gone through the book a little, I know what’s going on, but it was really weird for awhile. I don’t know if this means that the plot of Chamber of Secrets is ultimately forgettable, or if I just like Azkaban better (it’s possible, I mean, dude, Sirius). I think part of it is that I’m looking forward to stuff that’s going to happen in later books. My foreknowledge could be interfering as my brain attempts to lay out all the events in order.

Not sure if I want to try to read a little more, or just go back to bed…going to bed would probably be prudent, but if I want to have even a chance of getting through all five books before Saturday, I need to finish the first three this weekend!

Danny Bloom links to an intriguing and cute blog post by Margaret Cho. From Cho’s piece:

I mean, there is the whole pride thing that white people don’t get to have, because you can be anything and be proud but you can’t be white and proud because then you seem like you are in the Ku Klux Klan.

Meanwhile, Ampontan has just discovered tentacle porn.

I must have lived a sheltered life. By chance, I recently stumbled across references to tentacle sex, tentacle porn, and even tentacle rape, which apparently have been a motif in Japanese art for a long time (and continue to the present).

Um, yes…sheltered is definitely the word, if you’ve never heard of tentacle porn. (Sheltered from Internet fandom!)

In a section about Hurricane Dennis, Drudge has the following two headlines:

Hurricane Dennis enters gulf…
Swipes Florida Keys…

Now really, Dennis should think twice before trespassing and then going for a spin in Florida’s car…I mean, he could go to jail.

Wil Wheaton’s in Vegas, and last night he wrote this:

On my way out of the casino, I saw a man and a woman in a lounge. A half-empty bottle of wine sat on the table between them. A common scene in any hotel, except . . . he was an Elvis impersonator, dressed in the jumpsuit. She was a bleached-blonde in a spaghetti string top that was having a hard time containing her rather large breasts. Her hair was teased up almost a full twelve inches above her head. They smoked cigarettes while they drank their wine. They were both in their late fifties, and she was in a motorized wheelchair. I am not making this up.

I love how the details about the couple slowly emerge, like single beads being slipped down a string, until finally we have the full picture, and it’s nothing like what we expected at the beginning.

Wil is a master.

I was starting to drift off, so I had to stop reading. I got through half the first book. That’s not too bad a start!

Now, a little futzing around online, and then sleeeeeep.

Well, I’m very near the end of the third book of the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, and I have the first book of the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (on loan from AJ) waiting for me, buuuuuuuut…

…I think I’ll take a break from Lord Foul’s manifold machinations against the Land and see how far I can get into the Harry Potter books before The Half-Blood Prince shows up on my doorstep next Saturday.

I realize the chances of actually getting through all five books in one week are nil. However, my schedule is pretty open right now…and I didn’t feel like just rereading book five, diving into all those ellipses without the safety net of the first three books.

So there you have it. Madness.

Think I’ll start now.

I put up pictures from my walks at Riverwalk from yesterday and this morning.

I thought it was really pretty out both days :) You won’t see a whole lot of new stuff in this batch, though. (There is a nice shot of my lunch, if you’re interested…;P)

Cycle-mania grips London

London’s streets creaked and rattled with nervous new cyclists Friday after bicycle sales rocketed in the wake of bomb blasts on three underground trains and a double-decker bus.

Seasoned cyclists told of weary walkers offering them up to 300 pounds ($500) for their bikes as they headed home on Thursday, and of giving impromptu lessons to shaky beginners.

Biking to work = good.

I miss it :/

I just checked to see if “Shin Makoku” was on 43 Places.

Because, you know, I want to go there.

-_-

I’ve been waiting through Torg’s denial to see how he’s really coping with what happened in the Dimension of Pain. It looks like resolution is on the way. (Or at least, some conflict.)