Robot Johnny’s Neighborhood

This meme's been making the rounds. If you're into beauty stuff, read on for a list of ultimate favourites...

HAIR
Shampoo: Victoria's Secret So Sexy, Bumble & Bumble Creme De Coco

Conditioner: Redken All Soft

Treatment: Biolage Conditioning Balm, LUSH H'suan Wen Hua

Styling Products: Frederic Fekkai Glossing Cream, Aveda Light Elements Styling Serum

BODY
Shower Gel: Philosophy Cinnamon Buns 3-in-1

Scrub: Kiehl's Creme de Corps Soy Milk & Honey Body Polish

Body Moisturiser: LUSH Sympathy For The Skin

Deodorant: Dove (Fresh Scent)

Fake Tan: N/A

FACE
Cleanser: Purpose Gentle Cleansing Wash

Makeup Remover: Kiehl's Supremely Gentle Eye Makeup Remover

Exfoliator: Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Stress Control Power-Clear Scrub

Sunscreen/Moisturizer: Sofina Perfect UV SPF60

Face Masks: LUSH Mask Of Magnaminty

MAKEUP
Primer: N/A

Foundation: Bare Escentuals Mineral Foundation

Foundation Brush: Bare Escentuals Flawless Radiance Brush

Concealer: Make Up For Ever Lift Concealer

Blush: MAC Hipness, MAC Ladyblush or NARS Copacobana

Bronzer: Cargo Bronzer (Light)

Highlighter: N/A

Eyeshadow base: MAC Bare Study

Eyeshadows: MAC Phloof!, MAC Rice Paper, MAC Paradisco & MAC Satin Taupe

Eyeliner: Revlon Colorstay Liquid Liner

Eyelash Curler: Shu Uemura

Mascara: L'Oreal Voluminous, Christian Dior Diorshow

Lipstick: MAC Charm Factor, Rimmel Airy Fairy

Lipgloss: MAC Manhattan, MAC Spring Bean

Justin's out of the office (OOTO), and I was just alerted to this fact when I tried sending him an email. He's known for exceedingly wacky OOTO auto-replies, and this latest one doesn't disappoint.

*Winter Hibernation Alert*

Hi there!

I'll be out of the office in a crudely-excavated snow cave until January 5th, slumbering peacefully due to an Evolution-dictated period of decreased metabolic activity.

If it's urgent, please stand by for a return email as I do have my Berry with me in the cave.  I just don't check it that often - too busy eating raw caribou and errant seals who come too close.

Thanks for your understanding and see you in '09

Yours Very Truly,
Justin

I've come to realize that no doctor on the planet will ever come close to being as amazing as my family doctor. So much so that this morning I wrote and mailed a card to her office thanking her for being such a kind, compassionate, open-minded and friendly doctor. I'm unlikely to ever come across a doctor like her again, as evidenced by this 'specialist' that I saw yesterday (a neurologist who specializes in migraines specifically).

Why is it that the more expertise you have in the medical field, the more arrogant and unbelievably rude you are? I'd classify this guy as socially inept - he had no people skills to speak of, let alone ones that would qualify him for dispensing medical advice, and he was incredibly dismissive and rude. He actively sighed and scoffed while I spoke and had zero interest in my case, and hadn't even GLANCED at the referral notes on his desk when I walked in.

People wonder why more and more patients are looking to Ayurvedic or alternative therapies for their afflictions - it's because those practioners profess to actually CARE why you're there and examine your life as a whole, trying to get to the root of the cause, instead of just dispensing medication the way traditional doctors do (as evidenced below, it's often without any sort of guidance or explanation - scary).

Here's a transcript (to memory) of my appointment with the doctor yesterday. His rating on www.ratemds.com is 2.7/5, but I doubt he even deserves that. The positive reviews for him on that site have clearly been planted there by him or his staff.

Also please note that the elapsed time of the appointment was about five minutes.

Appointment time: 4:30pm ET
Call time: 5:30pm ET

Time: 5:30pm ET

Doctor: So what’s up?

Me: Well, I’m assuming you have some notes from my family doctor. I’ve had migraines for 7 years, about once a month, but in the past few months they’ve been more frequent. In May I had what my doctor thinks was a stroke, or ‘transient ischemic attack’. And now with my migraines I have new and unusual symptoms that are scary…

Doctor: …like?

Me: Well, aura, for one. And with vomiting, fainting, visual disturbances like hallucinations, flickering, blurred or loss of vision, phantom smells, numbness…

Doctor: where?

Me: In my face and hands.

Doctor: Well that’s pretty common. It’s a sign of classic migraine. [sighs] So what do you want me to do about it?

Me: Um, I don’t know…my doctor referred me to you since you’re a migraine specialist. Shouldn’t YOU be telling ME what I should do next?

[doctor grabs a blood pressure cuff, puts it on my arm, goes to look for stethoscope, doesn’t find it, removes the cuff without having taken my blood pressure and sits down]

Doctor: Well, a lot of times migraines are actually caused by a tiny hole in the heart. The condition is called patent foramen ovale. If you take [drug name] or have this surgical procedure done, there’s a good chance it’ll stop the migraines. We’re doing a trial right now if you’re interested.

Me: Heart surgery?? Don’t you have to confirm a diagnosis first?

Doctor: [change of subject] Which drugs are you taking now?

Me: I’ve been taking beta blockers for a week now, and Maxalt when I get a migraine.

Doctor: Are the beta blockers working?

Me: Well I’ve only been taking the drugs for five days. I doubt they’d be working by now.

Doctor [mumbling/rambling]: Maxalt is part of the triptan family. Their function is attributed to their binding to serotonin receptors in cranial blood vessels and subsequent inhibition of pro-inflammatory neuropeptide release. Anything else?

Me: Well I’ve also started acupunc—

Doctor: Doesn’t work. [starts writing prescription]

Me: Well I just started it.

Doctor: It's pointless. I want you to keep a headache diary [hands a printed calendar to me].

Me: I already keep a diary.

Doctor: What kind?

Me: food, migraine and menstrual cyc—

Doctor: [scoffs]

Me: …anyway. Yes.

Doctor: We should locate your triggers.

Me: With all due respect I’ve had migraines for almost a decade. I know my triggers by now and I certainly know how to keep a diary.

Doctor: Sometimes when you take an anti-inflammatory with your prescription it works better. Try it out and if it gets worse, call me for a followup. [hands me an illegible prescription]

Me: Are you going to tell me what this prescription is for?

Doctor: They’ll tell you at the pharmacy. [stands up, leaves and walks in to see next patient]

Time: 5:35pm ET

I was sifting through CDs this morning and uncovered this unlabelled birthday mix from 2007. I have no idea who made this for me, and I don't recognize the writing on the CD label, nor can I guess based on the tracklisting.

I knew most of these songs so was able to fill out the tracklisting, and now I'm even more confused. It's very bizarre - a mix of songs that everyone has already heard sprinkled with some scenester tracks and guilty pleasure pop. I have no idea who would make this kind of mix for me!?

1. Tiga - Far From Home
2. The Go! Team - The Power Is On
3. Amy Winehouse - Rehab (Hot Chip Vocal Remix)
4. Teddybears - Yours To Keep
5. Beyonce - Crazy In Love
6. Phoenix - Too Young
7. Gnarls Barkley vs. Raconteurs - Crazy As She Goes
8. Joy Division - Ceremony
9. Hilary Duff - Wake Up
10. Mylo - In My Arms (Bette Davis Eyes Remix)
11. Of Montreal - The Party's Crashing Us
12. The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
13. ???
14. The Strokes - 12:51

I'm making absolutely no sense today. Two conversations:

10/28/2008 4:20:29 PM:
Mark: So I was just talking to Morgan about Where You At Baby...
Kat: Morgan who, Freeman?
Mark: ...
Kat: I mean Fleury.

10/28/2008 4:38:23 PM:
Kat: dan, can you dignify me with a response to my email?
Dan: you have headphones on
Kat: oh. well it's about the justin thing
Kat: he's coming down here btw
Dan: huh?
Kat: facebook
Kat: check it
Dan: for fall out boy?
Kat: no
Kat: yes
Dan: no yes?
Kat: NO the email being about fall about you
Kat: fall about boy*
Kat: fuck :@
Kat: YES to justin coming here in a few hours for fall out boy
Dan: nothing you've said in the last 10 minutes has made any sense.

A special playlist for a special specimen. :)

1. Magnetic Fields - You're My Only Home
2. Department Of Eagles - No One Does It Like You
3. Grizzly Bear - La Duchess Anne
4. Deerhunter - Twilight At Carbon Lake
5. Grandaddy - "Yeah" Is What We Had
6. Earlimart - Heaven Adores You
7. Lucky Pierre - Angels On Yur Body
8. Bon Iver - The Wolves Act I & II
9. Cat Power - Werewolf
10. Phosphorescent - The Waves At Night
11. Miracle Fortress - Maybe Lately
12. Antony & The Johnsons - Hope Mountain
13. Peter And The Wolf - Safe Travels
14. Sufjan Stevens - Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, IL
15. Sam Amidon - Sugar Baby
16. Pavement - We Dance
17. Why? - Good Friday
18. Voxtrot - The Start Of Something

My friend Billy taught me the expression "to shit the bed", and I use it liberally, as often as I can. It basically means you fucked up, fucked the dog, didn't do your job, let things go to hell. However, today, while listening to music on shuffle on my new iPod, I came across not one but TWO separate songs with lyrics that reference shitting the bed or one's pants - literally. WTF? And the lyrics were clear enough that I took notice each time.

First:

Pedro The Lion - Keep Swinging
You got drunk, moreso than you'd ever been
You hailed a cab but passed out cold
Before you told the driver where to go
So he drove you around Chicago

You woke up, sicker than you'd ever been
You threw up and shit the bed
And there was no one there to clean you up
And the room was spinning all around

Make a fist and take a deep breath
Close your eyes and count to ten
Just keep swinging until you're over it

The mess you'd left
Had got you feeling pretty bad
But she is a maid
I guess that's what she gets paid for

And then:

Why? - By Torpedo Or Crohn's
[...]
today after lunch i got sick and blew chunks
all over my new shoes in the lot behind whole foods
this is a new kind of blues and what about losing
limb or loved one in a duel dissatisfies you or seems just
as a kid i did not shit my pants much,
why start now with this stuff
and man i do not bluff
second caller gets bit by a dog or jeff dahmer
kisses or stitches no mitt for these pitches
lone pone one master of the cheap pun,
if i'm not raw i'm just a bit underdone
but i'd be okay cool as a rail
if they'd just let us have health food in hell

- marzipan
- clay aiken
- the song "pinch me" by the barenaked ladies
- the view

My MSN convo with Loyalj from last night. It's pretty much a liveblog account of what we now know was a propane explosion. But at the time I didn't know what the fuck it was. Note the time - the first explosion was at 3:48am.

3:48:03 AM kat: omg
3:48:06 AM kat: i just heard a bomb
3:48:42 AM kat: or a gunshot
3:49:34 AM loyalj: :O 
3:49:40 AM loyalj: how do you know it's one of those?
3:49:52 AM kat: the whole house shook and so did my furniture
3:50:43 AM loyalj:  oh wow
3:50:54 AM loyalj: not a gunshot
3:51:00 AM loyalj: probably not a bomb.
3:51:04 AM loyalj: is it a storm there?
3:51:41 AM kat: no
3:51:52 AM kat: what is it then?
3:52:46 AM loyalj: thunder i bet
3:53:02 AM kat: no. no rain. and thunder doesn't shake my windows
3:53:27 AM loyalj: but if it was a lightning strike that was close.
3:54:00 AM kat: OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
3:54:02 AM kat: OMGMOMGOMGO
3:54:04 AM kat: the sound
3:54:09 AM kat: WTF
3:54:11 AM kat: :'(
3:54:29 AM loyalj: ({)(K) 
3:54:34 AM kat: it's not thunder. it's louder. like a rumbling.
3:54:41 AM loyalj: but a bomb? in high park?
3:55:09 AM kat: maybe someone is in the street. it sounds like that is going to strike again.
3:55:29 AM kat: i'm scared to look
3:55:33 AM kat: i have to turn off my light
3:55:57 AM kat: omg
3:56:03 AM kat: I AM SO SCARED
3:56:15 AM kat: it's a pounding noise
3:56:36 AM loyalj: still?
3:56:52 AM loyalj: kate, don't be scared!
3:56:57 AM loyalj: you're safely in your house
3:57:49 AM kat: i can hear something rustling out there
3:57:53 AM kat: it's like a monster
3:58:06 AM loyalj: where is it coming from?
3:58:10 AM kat: outside
3:58:36 AM loyalj: but the front or back?
3:58:44 AM kat: front
3:58:58 AM kat: i can't see anything
3:59:00 AM loyalj: the sound is still going, or happened once?
3:59:46 AM kat: i can hear rustling like as if it's going to escalate
3:59:49 AM kat: now police cars and firetrucks are going by
4:02:49 AM kat: omg
4:02:52 AM kat: the sound
4:03:05 AM loyalj: still?
4:03:29 AM kat: i'm listening to my ipod now
4:03:33 AM kat: so i can't hear it
4:03:47 AM loyalj: (}) don't fret Kate.
4:04:00 AM kat: you know how i get scared
4:05:30 AM kat: two more fire trucks just went by
4:07:56 AM loyalj: you're the toughest scaredy Kat.
4:08:07 AM kat: another truck now
4:09:04 AM loyalj: http://www.toronto.ca/fire/cadinfo/livecad.htm
4:09:37 AM kat: it must be for this
4:09:37 AM kat: WILSON AVE / KEELE ST
4:09:40 AM kat: that's north of me
4:09:44 AM kat: look how many trucks. how could it be affecting me down here?!
4:09:53 AM loyalj: but it's sooo far north. like the 401
4:10:02 AM kat: but maybe that bomb sound was something exploding
4:10:10 AM loyalj: yeah, that could be
4:10:27 AM kat: i'm scared to turn off my music to check

via A.V. Club:

This was next to fucking impossible. That's why for some years there are a few close favourites in brackets. :)

1977: The Sex Pistols - Nevermind The Bollocks

1978: Siouxsie & The Banshees - The Scream

1979: The Clash - London Calling

1980: Joy Division - Closer

1981: OMD - Architecture & Morality

1982: Michael Jackson - Thriller

1983: Culture Club - Colour By Numbers

1984: The Smiths - The Smiths

1985: a-ha - Hunting High And Low
[The Cure - Head On The Door]

1986: Depeche Mode - Black Celebration
[The Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy]

1987: Guns 'N Roses - Appetite For Destruction
[George Michael - Faith; INXS - Kick]

1988: The Pixies - Surfer Rosa

1989: The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
[The Cure - Disintegration; NIN - Pretty Hate Machine]

1990: Depeche Mode - Violator
[Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Las Vegas; Ride - Nowhere]

1991: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
[Primal Scream - Screamadelica; Slint - Spiderland]

1992: PJ Harvey - Dry
[Pavement - Slanted And Enchanted; R.E.M. - Automatic For The People]

1993: Slowdive - Souvlaki

1994: Jeff Buckley - Grace
[Blur - Parklife; Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible]

1995: Radiohead - The Bends
[Pulp - A Different Class; Spiritualized - Pure Phase]

1996: Fiona Apple - Tidal
[DJ Shadow - Endtroducing]

1997: Radiohead - OK Computer
[Daft Punk - Homework; The Verve - Urban Hymns]

1998: Massive Attack - Mezzanine
[Elliott Smith - XO; Boards Of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children]

1999: Wilco: Summer Teeth
[Beck - Midnite Vultures; Blur - 13]

2000: Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour Of Bewilderbeast
[Radiohead - Kid A; Coldplay - Parachutes]

2001: Sigur Ros - Ágætis Byrjun
[GY!BE - Lift Your Skinny Fists...; Super Furry Animals - Rings Around The World]

2002: Beck - Sea Change
[Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head; Sneaker Pimps - Bloodsport]

2003: Muse - Absolution
[Elbow - Cast Of Thousands; The Wrens - Meadowlands]

2004: Junior Boys - Last Exit
[Air - Talkie Walkie; The Arcade Fire - Funeral]

2005: Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
[M83 - Before The Dawn Heals Us; The Knife - Silent Shout]

2006: Lily Allen - Alright, Still
[Hot Chip - The Warning; Burial - Burial]

2007: The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
[Radiohead - In Rainbows; Panda Bear - Person Pitch]

2008: Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
[Santogold - Santogold; M83 - Saturdays = Youth]