arrowfall's New Writeups

May 8, 2002 (idea)

2002-05-08T19:29:38Z

i really did go to market spice tea at lunch with a purpose in mind OTHER than flirting with the cute tea boy. really, i did. but he smiled from behind the counter and said hi and then my thinking got all muddled and it became difficult to a) find the right tea b) chose apparatus that would support a method of making it at work and c) i forget.

once i recalled that oolong makes my world very peaceful and okay i set about selecting some. i could feel him smirking at me. a few minutes later i gave up on selecting some and just grabbed the white-tipped store version. i then got bogged down in how to store it at work without purchasing an $18 air-tight glass container... and i hadn't even gotten around to how to make it.

"can i help you find anything?" he offered slyly. i was deliberating over the fancy glazed ceramic steeping cups or a simple shiny filter/spoon thingy.

"uhm... no..." i managed. "i'm just trying to figure out what to do..." d'oh! stupid! "…

August 24, 2001 (idea)

2001-08-24T16:54:30Z

Hey all.

Just wanted to put a blip in the database to let it know I'm still out there. I've been massively passive with regard to E2 for all of recent memory (which doesn't go back too far) but I've got half a mind (if that) to rejoin the ranks of active noders. Trouble is my nodebase is holding me back. When I look back at the few hundred entries I've already made I just wince. So much of it is random, self-referential, or just plain bad. I'm toying with the idea of a massive nuke request... sort of want to hit the reset button ya know?

While I haven't been putting much into E2 in the past year, I have been getting a lot out of it. Almost everytime I stick my nose in here, I read something that makes me think... or feel something... or inspires me to write. Yeah... I think I want to try to bring the signal-to-noise ratio closer to 1.

I was unplanned (idea)

2000-10-31T20:24:45Z

At the risk of this becoming a grim getting to know you node, I feel obliged to share a bit of arrowfall here.

I was unplanned and untimely. My conception happened seven years into a marriage that began to die before it even started - and this event further staved off the inevitable and permanently bound together two people who really should have been allowed to go their separate ways. They earned it.

My mom was thought to be infertile after a particularly grizzly miscarriage earlier in the marriage. About the time she was realizing that no love was involved in this union she became pregnant. As a result, it took her several more years to enact a divorce she'd decided on long ago.

Both my parents love me very much - more so than they ever loved each other. It has been difficult to piece together this story as nobody in their right mind would admit these things to a child. But piece it out I have - mostly because I have been much…

October 30, 2000 (idea)

2000-10-31T05:01:49Z

Today had many frustrations. Most of them involved me behind the wheel of a car gnashing my teeth and forgetting to suspend application of rational expectations on other drivers. Silly me.

Other sources of frustration were more... existential. I think that I have forgotten how to think. Unlearned learning, if you will. It's been months since I've worked... and I don't even feel motivated to get a job. Or I might be afraid to.

I also experienced major ISP hijinx. US West or QWest or whoever they've become decided to serve up naught but a busy signal this afternoon. The rocket scientist at technical support informed me that this meant that either the server had too many connections or it was broken. Uhm... thanks. I figured out that part. Since DSL and digital cable connections still aren't available in my highly-urban-but-traditionally-low-income-neighborhood, i had to opt for another dial up ISP. At least I had the pleasure of cancelling my old…

HIV test (thing)

2000-10-24T17:47:31Z

This is the blood test used to determine HIV infection. HIV or Human Immunodeficiency Virus is the virus that causes AIDS or Acquired Immune Defficiency Syndrome.

When most people talk about getting an HIV test they are referring to a blood test that looks for antibodies to HIV and does not directly test for the virus itself.

The most common HIV antibody test procedure is really a combination of two tests: a screening test and a confirmatory test. Screening consists of either an ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay) or an EIA (Enzyme Immunosorbent Assay) test. The confirmatory test is called the Western Blot test. Only blood samples that test positive repeatedly in the Screening phase are confirmed.

It is important to understand the latency in an antibody-based testing system. Antibodies are the immune system's response to foreign intruders in the body. The amount of time for an individual's immune system to…

October 11, 2000 (idea)

2000-10-11T18:31:22Z

Just an E2 Public Service Announcement to say that today is NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY in the States (I think it is in other countries as well).

If you don't know what this is, read Infinite Burn's excellent writeup -----> National Coming Out Day.

I'm breaking out the Pink Triangle button and the one that says "I Like Men"

Yay! I've already been downvoted!