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| Game two, revisitedThanks to ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sneakyofverb for making it worth reading, as opposed to my commentary, which usually ranges from "deathly boring" to "inane." And anybody who's prop betting on who'll finish annotating faster (me, aibretty, porosus), don't go with me. I've still got rounds 10 and 14 to go and don't anticipate finishing until at least Tuesday, maybe Wednesday. Finally, round 8 standings from Indy courtesy of hector31. Note the statistical oddity in Div. A ... I've never seen a negative cume lead before. Seven going on today; a double RR followed by KOTH. Rooting for the Michiganders to bring some ratings points back here ... we are definitely in a state-wide slump. division a paxson 5 -39 hoekstra 5 -68 (big) fiszbein 5 -75 broering 4 +471 ball 4 +72 shambach 4 -57 lakernick 3 -181 slankard 2 -123 division bpianowski 7 +345 dutch 5 +92 fyr 4 +177 green 4 -25 lee 4 -215 fultz 3 -108 markelis 3 -207 barry 2 -59 Film at 11. (And what's with an LJ-free Div. A?) Jason | |
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| Jorj95 Tom Schneider Jim Geary Ryan Hughes Robert Goldfarb Tad Jurgens
------ ------------- --------- ----------- --------------- -----------
Cunningham Negreanu X Vanessa Selbst X P. Antonius 64k John Phan Ralph Perry X
Ivey B. Greenstein 21k Dario Minieri Daniel Wong David Pham X Kenny Tran X
Gus Michael Binger Elky Jonas Klaussen 18k Isaac Baron EDOGN 92k
Robert Miz 142k David Singer Michael Miz JC Tran Nam Le Benyamine X
Tom Dwan X Alex Krachenko 45k Brian Townsend Layne Flack Erik Seidel 65k Hellmuth
Juanda Alex Jacob Johnny World 52k J v. Altsyne Max Pescatori Daniel Alaei
Scotty Ng. 23k Nick Schulman 69k Haralabos V. 52k Gavin Smith X Minh Ng. Joe Cassidy
Thayer Rasm. James Mackey X Mike McClain X gigabet 70k Jordan Rich Oppenheim
Brandon Cantu Jeff Lisandro Hooman Nikzad Jen Harmon Antonio Laak
Sorel Mizzi Kathy Liebert 39k Matusow Chad Batista Jesus Rafi Amit
Mimi Tran Nenad Medic Meng La Chris Lee J J Liu X A. Galajian
Jorj95 Tom Schneider Jim Geary Ryan Hughes Robert Goldfarb Tad Jurgens
Let me know if I missed anyone. | |
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| ... we're having a server crisis at work. Sigh. | |
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| I was anagramming this rack today, and immediately "George!" popped into my head. | |
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| I'm home in Hollywood for the 4th of July. I just spent over two hours downloading and attempting to burn a CD of 18 Joy Division songs, but after much struggle with Windows Media Player and RealPlayer, programs I'm not used to burning CDs with, I've had no success. At length I figured out how to do the burning itself, only to find out on repeated attempts with different discs that this computer just doesn't seem to recognize my blank CDs. Since the laptop I have where I now live, in West Palm Beach, is old and slow and has no CD burner (and seems incapable even of downloading music when I take it places for wi-fi), it seems there will be little Joy Division in my future. And now I have to wake up early tomorrow. Fuck!
But for those unaware, two films about the band have recently been released on DVD. I watched one of them, Control, the other night. It's a biopic of sorts about the lead singer, Ian Curtis, and the events leading up to his suicide in 1980. It is based on his widow Deborah Curtis's recent book, Touching from a Distance. The other is simply called Joy Division (about the band as a whole, I guess), which I haven't seen yet but plan to see soon.
So until I find a way to obtain Joy Division music, preferably without paying (as my finances are dwindling), I will have to settle for listening to the allegedly similar bands Interpol and She Wants Revenge. But as good as those bands are (especially Interpol, as I've come to realize), I want to know where the fuck it all came from, and that "where the fuck" seems to be, in large part, Joy Division.
Addendum 12:30 p.m.: I was finally able to burn the music onto a CD. I ended up having to send the files to myself through e-mail and download them on the other computer in the house, which evidently recognizes blank CDs. Wish I'd thought of that 9 or 10 hours ago! - Mood:relieved
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| I hate when people say "Follow your Dreams". Oftentimes, -in the minds of today's generation, "Follow your Dreams" means IGNORE YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS FOR DECADES-AT-A-TIME WHILE SELFISHLY PURSUING A SHALLOW GOAL FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF HAVING AS-MANY-PEOPLE-AS-POSSIBLE KNOW(AND RESPECT) WHO YOU ARE.......EVEN AFTER YOUR DEATH. Tolarjev(Jean) referenced Maslow in my previous blog. Here is the wikipedia link for Maslow's Hierarchy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow_hierarchy_of_needsMaslow's 'thing' was to study the thoughts and habits of 'smart, successful, and happy people' for which he based his famous 'Hierarchy Scale'......which may be nothing more than common sense. Anyways...... I can't help but think of MYSELF when I read Maslow's descriptions of the most Superior People in his Hierarchy Scale: "They have a need for solitude. It is often possible for them to remain undisturbed by that which upsets others. They may even appear to be asocial. It is perhaps, related to an abiding sense of security and self-sufficiency. They are independent of culture and environment. They are not dependent for their satisfactions on other people or culture. The meaning of their life is self-decision, self-governing and being an active, responsible, self-disciplined deciding person rather than a pawn or a person helplessly ruled by others. They have a wonderful capacity to appreciate the basic pleasures of life. They experience awe, pleasure, and wonder in their everyday world, such as nature, children, music and sexual experience. They have especially deep ties with few individuals and their circle of friends is small." "They tend to be kind or at least patient to almost everyone, yet they do speak realistically and harshly of those whom they feel deserve it — especially the hypocritical, pretentious, pompous, or the self-inflated individual. They are highly imaginative and creative. The creativity involved here is not special-talent creativity. It is a creativity potentially inherent in everyone but usually suffocated by acculturation. It is a fresh, naive, direct way of looking at things, rather similar to the naive and universal creativity of unspoiled children. They have a clearer perception of reality. Self-actualizing people perceive reality more effectively than others and are more comfortable with it. They have an accurate perception of what exists rather than a distortion of perception by one's needs and possess an ability to be objective about their own strengths, possibilities and limitations. They have an unusual ability to detect the spurious, the fake, and the dishonest." I can relate,...People accuse me of being "gay" or "asexual" because I purposely make NO EFFORT to get laid,...but let me assure everyone that I appreciate women(sexually) hundreds of times more than the most cock-teased Bastard imaginable. | |
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| One of the older couples from church host brunch every July Fourth at their home in Piedmont. Piedmont is an enclave city, completely surrounded by Oakland, and is unabashedly upperclass and small town. They have a parade every year, featuring the local girl scouts, a couple of bag-pipe ensembles, lots of classic cars with city council members, the little league teams, neighborhood groups, dog clubs, a jazz band on the back of a pick-up truck ... a little over an hour's worth of entertainment.
I was driving through Piedmont yesterday evening, and the parade route was already lined with lawn chairs of all varieties. If I was in a larcenous mood I could have acquired enough folding chairs of all types to fulfill any foreseeable need I might ever have for chairs.
This evening I walked from my apartment down to a small park that looks out across Lake Merritt toward downtown Oakland. .
 From there I had a view of the fireworks over Jack London Square in the distance. There were probably twenty to thirty people hanging out, just quietly watching the display. Much less stress than the madness that occurs at ground zero of the fireworks display. They had a near riot two years ago, which led to cancelling the fireworks last year There are still constant bangs and booms of fireworks being set off in the neighborhood, though anything bigger than sparklers and smoke bombs are illegal. - Location:oakland
- Mood:contemplative
 - Music:firecrackers
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| Haven't gotten to post one of these in a while... playing at the bar at Biscotti's after the Boston concert. W00t!!! Third lifetime dealt royal.  | |
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| In researching the ANTELOPE list I came across some fun words describing antelope behaviours and characteristics.
LEK, a courtship arena
LEK, LEKS, LEKKED, LEKKING - competition between males in a LEK. KOBS and TOPIS engage in LEKKING
PRONG, PRONGS, PRONGED, PRONGING
also STOT, STOTS, STOTTED, STOTTING - to leap straight up with all four legs straight, done as a display to intimidate predators. GAZELLES are known for STOTTING
KOPJE or KOPPIE - a type of rocky outcropping found in Africa, similar to a MONADNOCK. Habitat for DIKDIKS.
DEWLAP - a thick fold of skin under the chin, a defense against predators that attack the neck. ELANDS have very developed DEWLAPS
ANNULUS, ANNULI - the rings on horns, indicating years of growth.
ECTOPARASITES - things like ticks, just a very cool thirteen letter word.
RUMINANT - all antelopes are RUMINANTS.
CREPUSCULAR - some of them are CRESPUSCULAR, primarily active at dusk and dawn.
Brought to you by the SF Scrabble Slakcerz.
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| Poll #1217984 singalong poll
Open to: All, results viewable to: AllDo you ever spontaneously break into song?
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| listeme (9:41:45 PM): 41 year old woman makes olympic swimming team for 5th time
sis (9:41:48 PM): WOW
listeme (9:41:50 PM): yeah
sis (9:41:51 PM): that's awesome!
listeme (9:41:53 PM): yeah
listeme (9:41:59 PM): if only i were a year younger - Mood:groggy
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| From the Wikipedia article on Aleister Crowley:
"But I had hardly entered the room where the masters were playing when I was seized with what may justly be described as a mystical experience. I seemed to be looking on at the tournament from outside myself. I saw the masters — one, shabby, snuffy and blear-eyed; another, in badly fitting would-be respectable shoddy; a third, a mere parody of humanity, and so on for the rest. These were the people to whose ranks I was seeking admission. "There, but for the grace of God, goes Aleister Crowley", I exclaimed to myself with disgust, and there and then I registered a vow never to play another serious game of chess. I perceived with preternatural lucidity that I had not alighted on this planet with the object of playing chess."
I felt exactly like this when I went to the after hours room in Dayton ... but I kept going. :) | |
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| I was just looking at my last ISC game on Examiner. The opponent had this rack and missed a bingo for 140 points, and it wasn't a triple triple.
AACHOZ?
Hint: it wasn't GAZPACHO. | |
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| Okay I am being melodramitic again, but I lost my anagramming ability today - I don't know how it happened. I can see SYRINGE in my sleep when I am on, but not today! Could it be sneaking chin-up sets all day at the hotel gym? They have this workout station that has several twisted bars at top - every angle you could imagine for chin-ups. When my hands are parallel I can do more chin-ups then with a flat bar! I snuck in 4 sets between rounds, and maybe the blood is going to my muscles and not my brain or something. I also walked to the Hannaford (it is up there with Price Chopper) twice today, maybe the walking is also putting the much needed O2 blood in the wrong spot? Any how, this CT couple plays Go and they want to teach me! Maybe I need a new game? A game that doesn't require memorizing words to play? Words that come from a dictionary that nobody uses but us, and we only use it for this game?
Okay, enough, 10 games start tomorrow and it is rated as a separate tourney. - Mood:frustrated
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| Yeah, I got Erica's warning too late.
Hancock was.. Uh.. very disconcerting.
Picture watching The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded back-to-back. Watching Hancock is a similar experience except that it is one film.
First half, really brilliant. A lot of fun. Funny scenes of this drunken depressed self-loathing super-hero. The prison stuff is fun.
And then there's this huge WTF!??!?!?! moment, and the movie stops making any sort of sense. Like.. Period.
I uh.. I dunno.. If it's on TV or something, sure..go ahead and watch it. Just be ready.
If you're looking to pay money for entertainment.. Uh.. I dunno.. Go see Wanted instead. I saw that last weekend (forgot to post a review). It was fun. Mindless fun. But fun. :) | |
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| Playing jigsawn on Scrabulous yesterday and today, ploughing through the Us I reached the following position:
Jason: Turn 7
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O -> Jason GKNNOQU 216
------------------------------ DaveK xxxxxxx 212
1|= ' = ' =| --Tracking-----------------------------------
2| - " " - | AADEFIIIIIRRTWZCVOAHBIOANRAOOEEEIRSVADEENPY 43
3| - ' ' - |
4|' - ' - '|
5| - - |
6| " J U D O " " |
7| ' ' Y U G A ' |
8|= P U L L E T A M B L E|
9| S W A T ' ' O ' |
10| E N " " R " |
11| L T - - T |
12|' F S ' I '|
13|M I X ' ' C - |
14| N H E " E - |
15|= g O R G e T E D S =|
------------------------------
What is my best play here and why? ( Answer below the cut.... ) | |
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| Good things are happening everywhere. It's amazing how suddenly things can turn around and start building positive momentum. Happy Independence Day, everyone!
Edit: Just after I posted this Rasner worked out of a bases loaded jam in the first inning without allowing a run. Life is good. | |
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| Jorj95 Tom Schneider Jim Geary Ryan Hughes Robert Goldfarb Tad Jurgens
------ ------------- --------- ----------- --------------- -----------
Cunningham Negreanu X Vanessa Selbst X P. Antonius John Phan Ralph Perry X
Ivey B. Greenstein 21k Dario Minieri Daniel Wong David Pham X Kenny Tran
Gus Michael Binger Elky Jonas Klaussen 18k Isaac Baron EDOGN
Robert Miz David Singer Michael Miz JC Tran Nam Le Benyamine X
Tom Dwan X Alex Krachenko Brian Townsend Layne Flack Erik Seidel Hellmuth
Juanda Alex Jacob Johnny World 52k J v. Altsyne Max Pescatori Daniel Alaei
Scotty Ng. 23k Nick Schulman 69k Haralabos V. Gavin Smith X Minh Ng. Joe Cassidy
Thayer Rasm. James Mackey X Mike McClain gigabet 70k Jordan Rich Oppenheim
Brandon Cantu Jeff Lisandro Hooman Nikzad Jen Harmon Antonio Laak
Sorel Mizzi Kathy Liebert Matusow Chad Batista Jesus Rafi Amit
Mimi Tran Nenad Medic Meng La Chris Lee J J Liu X A. Galajian
Jorj95 Tom Schneider Jim Geary Ryan Hughes Robert Goldfarb Tad Jurgens | |
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| After a long dry spell, the Reno Death Curse has struck again! Link via adb_jaeger. Natural causes, according to the MSNBC article, so more prosaic compared to previous instances. (Natural causes ordinarily doesn't qualify for the curse, but it's been a while, and for Helms we can make an exception.) Maybe this is a harbinger that my royal-less streak will end this trip too. | |
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| I went 1-2, exactly how I should have performed (.08 rating point loss) because I have been playing top seeds so far. I am thrilled, because the first evening of a tourney I usually tank.
Speaking of tanks, my first game and loss was to Sherman Larry. It was close at the end, and I could have gone for a 9 point loss and tried a recount (my adding skills were feeling on and we checked the score a few times) so instead I hoped that ORIBI didn't take an S, even though I was sure it did, and it did. However, earlier in the game I missed NEOTENI(C) showing it had been too long since I reviewed that set of 8s! CEEINNOT was one that always gave me trouble.
Next up was Sam K. Second to last play of the game I missed EpIMYSI(A) - that does look familiar and if somebody played it I would not have challenged. The bag was looking ugly at the time, and his ADEIIRU would have been a losing endgame rack except there was an open N and UREDI(N)IA won it for him. I picked up the second blank, and my final rack was CCIIS?? - I looked for SCIATIC related words, but no bingos existed on that board and I lost.
Last game of the night I got my 1 needed win in vs Randy G-span. I got a 100 point lead early, but a bingo and then a monster play by him caught him up. The preendgame board became very tight, and the Q was unseen - I had I and U on my rack, and while QI and QU words were not open, there was a P where I could slip QUIP in, assuming the P stayed open - no hot spots were there and I hope it stayed open. He ended up taking a small lead, then pulling the Q. I only won by 5 with that Q stick because I went over on my clock, having to find ways to prevent his Q set-up plays because he had U and EE to also play with on his rack..
So yesterday they let us out of work early for the holiday weekend, and I had just enough time to sneak a short movie in - I really wanted to see Wall-e but it started a 1/2 hour too late - but Hancock started just in time, as in I saw it, drove to Albany, and had 15 mins to spare before the tourney started. At first it looks like Hancock was going to be a 1.5 hour long joke based upon the trailer, but then a plot change (there wasn't much of one) that pleasantly surprised me. While the movie nothing but special effects and Will being a comedian, I am glad I went. - Mood:awake
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| Boy.. I was really looking forward to seeing Hancock tonight, but I get a bad feelings when the reviews have comments like this:
"
But then, just about without warning, Hancock takes a completely unexpected and head-shaking plot turn that derails the film in a way that it never recovers from.
"
"
It's a strange feeling to see the summer's most promising premise self-destruct into something bizarre and unsatisfying, but that is the Hancock experience.
"
Hancock or Prince Caspian.. *hrmmmm..*
Dammit, I was REALLY looking forward to Hancock. | |
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| I killed a Bee and a huge Deer-Fly today while Hiking in the Blazing-Hot Mountain. I explain later. I ran out of water again for the 2nd time this week. The 6-mile hike had me dripping-urine-out-of-my-pores after my body ran out of water. I began my Hike by playing some Air-Guitar(Stairway to Heaven): http://www.flickr.com/photos/25686657@N03/2636083416/sizes/l/in/photostream/Then I climbed a telephone-pole and instinctively began humping it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25686657@N03/2635267685/sizes/l/in/photostream/Then I did a Back-Flip. They are easy to do when you are as LIGHT as me: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25686657@N03/2636083660/in/photostream/I landed perfectly. The Judges were impressed: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25686657@N03/2635267865/sizes/l/Now here is the amazing part of my Hike. A big juicy Fly landed on my shorts: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25686657@N03/2635258835/sizes/l/in/photostream/I'm extremely DEFT at killing Flies. The trick is to NOT swat at them. My preferred method is to SLOWLY move my hand close to the Fly. The Fly will not take off because their eyes see movements in Slow-Motion(so they will not be alarmed at your slow movements). The following photo shows how I'm about to place the nail of my Middle-Finger behind my thumb and prepare to FLICK the Fly....as if I'm flicking a dopey kid's ears from behind. http://www.flickr.com/photos/25686657@N03/2635259091/sizes/l/in/photostream/So I cocked my two fingers and prepared to FLICK the fuck outta' the Fly. The immediate speed generated by the FLICKING procedure can't be seen by the naked-eye if done right. I aimed about one millimeter above the top of the Fly's back, because the Fly would most likely be able to ascend into liftoff for about one-millionth of a second before inevitably getting SMACKED by the tip of my middle-finger. The crushing-impact flicked the Fly through the air for a distance of about 4 feet. It's internal organs most likely imploded as it's wings continued to FLAP uncontrollably. Then it succumbed to death. http://www.flickr.com/photos/25686657@N03/2636084236/sizes/l/in/photostream/ (I actually stepped on this Fly shortly after the 'Flick', to put it out of it's misery,....because Re-Incarnation might be true, and I don't want that maggoty-fly to lay eggs in my EAR in the near Future). ### I would advise waiting for the Fly to "wash it's hands"(rubbing it's legs together) before flicking-it, to increase your finger's ambush-potential. But my Trigger-finger is so explosive that I can Flick-a-fly-to-death even if it's in mid-flight, -kinda' like a lizard ambushing a Fly with it's explosive tongue, so too does my Flicking finger as I knock the SHIT out of it whenever it comes within a few inches of my 'sleeping' hand. A few minutes after I killed that Fly, I was attacked by a Killer Bee. It all started when I tried to smell some pretty flowers: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25686657@N03/2636085330/sizes/l/in/photostream/The Flowers were being pollinated by Killer Bees,....you can see a Killer-Bee in the lower left-hand corner of the following photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25686657@N03/2636083892/sizes/l/in/photostream/The territorial Bee suddenly became agitated at my presence and began flying in circles around me. The buzzing noises around my face were making the hairs-on-the-back-of-my-neck stand up. But I LOVE bees, so I told myself that I'd give the Bee 10 seconds to quit bothering me before I tried to KILL it. After 10 seconds, it was still circling me, so I then prepared to FOOL the Bee like I've done in the past. I began moving my arms in a slow manner to lull the bee into a false-sense-of-security, getting it accustomed to my slow movements. Bees are much slower and predictable in their flight-patterns than Houseflies. I then waited for the perfect opportunity,...and as the Bee finally flew in front of me at chest-level from left-to-right I SWATTED-it with my Right Palm in one very QUICK right-to-left motion. The THUD rendered the bee DRUNK as it buzzingly fell to the ground. Once on the ground the Bee's wings remained on auto-pilot causing it to lopsidedly summer-sault in circles until I quickly stomped it to death. I didn't fear that the Bee had emitted pheromones to other Killer-Bees to signal a Swarm-Attack on me, because Bees only organize SWARMS against people who disrupt their Hives. If you don't believe me, go up to some flowers with bees on them and then squish one of the bees to death. The other Bees will continue to pollinate the other Flowers and not give a fuck. Furthermore, Bees are accustomed to observing birds swooping down and swallowing a fellow Bee whole. Bees won't go chasing after those birds. Only if a bird enters their Hive will they attack one. I don't regret killing the Bee because it most likely would've stung me, -and Bees die when they lose their stinger or some shit like that. Then minutes later, I bee-came SWARMED by microscopic bees which eventually invaded my lungs. http://www.flickr.com/photos/25686657@N03/2635267135/sizes/l/in/photostream/.....Maybe it was just DUST though. I became paranoid that more INSECTS would attack me, so I went into my camouflage-mode and hid from the perpetrators. It was in this POSITION that I peed on the side of the Cement Wall like a dog. It might be tough to find me in this Photo,...I am very camouflaged,...just keep looking: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25686657@N03/2635259287/sizes/l/in/photostream/When the coast was clear, I climbed onto a Helicopter Landing-Pad and thought about how deservingly ironic it would be if I were to be suddenly SMUSHED-to-death by a Helicopter. http://www.flickr.com/photos/25686657@N03/2636092618/sizes/l/in/photostream/So I quickly hopped off of the Landing-Pad which caused reverberation in my LUNGS. I then suddenly began regurgitating the microscopic Dust-Bees that I had previously swallowed. The Pasadena Mountains laughed at me in the background: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25686657@N03/2636093642/sizes/l/in/photostream/Being that I ran out of WATER at the top of the Mountain, I was desperate to get back down the Mountain as quickly as possible,....so I used the ZIPLINE-Express to zip down the Mountainside. http://www.flickr.com/photos/25686657@N03/2636093756/In order to stop, I had to use my foot to press the third wire for breakage. http://www.flickr.com/photos/25686657@N03/2636093336/sizes/l/I then drove home and ate Chicken, Bread, and some fuckin' GRAPES which cost me $4.59 at Trader Joes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25686657@N03/2636092506/sizes/l/in/photostream/....All photos taken by Self-Timer as usual. | |
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