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I'm home for the holidays. It's been great. Well, mostly.
Yesterday the house felt unusually cold. Mom found out why toward noon. The furnace had died.
The repairmen showed up promptly but there was a problem. A part needed to be replaced. Not just any part, mind you, it was a part that was back ordered. It'd take nearly a week to get in.
In the meantime, they loaned us a couple space heaters.
With those and the ones we already own we've managed to make parts of the house fairly livable.
Dad said, "This reminds me of the good old days. And why I never want to go back!"
At least we don't have to use out houses.Current Mood:  cold Current Music: various family noises |
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Your rainbow is intensely shaded green, brown, and violet. What is says about you: You are an intelligent person. You appreciate the roughness of nature. You feel closer to people when you understand their imperfections. You are patient and will keep trying to understand something until you've mastered it. Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.
Looks rather muted to me.
And the last one isn't entirely true. I'm not particularly patient. I am, however, very obstinate and will keep pushing at things and people until I get answers.
P.S. Note to self. When there's a change in expected routine for the evening don't do anything except watch the clock. Otherwise I'll lose track of time and bad things will happen. Like missing evening mass for the holy day of obligation. Which means I have to find a time to go tomorrow. When I have two classes. That take up most of the day. GAAAAAA!Current Mood:  GAAA! I forgot about Mass! Current Music: Battle for Wesnoth background music |
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* Take a picture of yourself right now.
* Don’t change your clothes.
* Don’t fix your hair
* Just take a picture.
* Post that picture with no editing. (Except maybe to get the image size down to something reasonable. Don’t go posting an eight megapixel image.)
* Include these instructions.
My hair is in a pony tail, that's why you can't see most of it.
Is it just me, or do I look like I'm trying to intimidate the camera?
Quite a little slice of myself here. My stuffed animals on the shelf behind me, my Inuyasha wall scroll beyond that, that big blue book next to the stuffed animals is Bartlet's Familiar Quotations, not all my shirts fit in the one dresser drawer so I can't close the drawer... man I gotta get this place organized.Current Mood: stupid allergies Current Music: a fan trying in vain to get air circulation in here |
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I HAVE A JOB!
Sorry for shouting, but: I HAVE A JOB!!
At Culver's. ^_^ In case you don't know what it is, it's a fast food place that's kind of like a sit-down restaurant.
It's a lot of standing and walking, so my feet hurt, but I'm hoping I'll eventually get used to the activity. I'll also have to get used to eating lunch around 2 or even 3 depending on how long the mid-day rush gets.Current Mood:  ecstatic Current Music: (watching Inuyasha) |
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What with the lack of sleep, the hellish conditions with Greyhound, and the stress of being several thousand miles from home, I'm amazed I haven't died yet.
I just got back from a con in Washington DC. What's crazy is that I want to go back there. Just not necessarily for a con and *definitely* not by Greyhound bus.
Details will follow, but first I need to recover both physically and mentally. (And I didn't even take any drugs or alcohol besides a sip of sake. How do people *survive* that sort of thing??)Current Mood:  I may sleep for a week Current Music: watching Dirty Jobs |
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Been a while since I posted something other than a manga review, hasn't it?
...
Though, really, there hasn't been much to report other wise. (Sad, very sad.)
I'm still unemployed. Still trying valiantly and fruitlessly to find employment. There are a couple of possibilities, but I have no idea if anything will come of them.
And I'm getting next to no help from Vocational Rehabilitation. I am this close to screaming.
A few days ago I had a really good feeling about the new year. Now I'm not quite so sure. The tedium of filling out applications with no guarantee of success hit me, I guess.
Well, nothing for it but to keep on plugging.Current Mood:  bored Current Music: none |
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Hmm. Well, the story just about lost me on several occasions. At the moment it seems to me to be a great example of why people in high activity, high risk jobs should *not* wear miniskirts.
So many panty shots. 0.0
The icchi seems to come and go. It's weird. I think I'm reading it mainly because all the other manga I've been following haven't updated in a while. Stupid reason, I know.Current Mood: cheerful Current Music: (watching Walker Texas Ranger) |
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Let's see, what have I been up to...
I'm still unemployed. Working on getting employed, but nothing happening.
Been reading some interesting stories online and in print. Also trying to research feudal Japan. Not easy! I'm about ready to pull my hair out it's so hard to find reliable information.
Still working on Mary Quite Contrary. Not quite sure what I'll do after Friday, but I'll come up with something.
Have two art projects that I'm helping Kittenlark with.
And the ever present stories that I manage to never get much done on no matter how much I work on them.
I really should clean the apartment.
Still no hot water in the shower. Hate lukewarm showers.
And that's what my days have been like. Good grief. I'm getting bored just typing this.Current Mood: bored Current Music: none |
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Okay, I just finished watching a documentary on the criptospuridia (sp?) outbreak in ... Oh crud I forgot the name of the city. It was on the shores of Lake Michigan, as I recall. (Really bad with names.)
Anyway, I won't bore/disgust you with the details but there was one bit that caught my attention particularly.
After the outbreak that city started using ozone rather than chlorine to sanitize the water because that's the only way to get rid of the parasite (aside from boiling the water, which I suppose is cumbersome for the volume of water run through every hour).
That city is now the only city in America to use ozone to filter water.
Why? What is so great about using chlorine?
Let me give you a run down of my thoughts on the subject:
1) Chlorine is toxic. Chlorinated pools always give me pink-eye and usually an upset stomach.
2) Chlorinated water tastes nasty.
3) Did I mention that chlorine is toxic?
Seriously, why don't we just give up on chlorination as a really bad idea and use this ozone filtering thing? To me it seems like the choice between bleach and vinegar in cleaning. Vinegar kills just as many nasty bugs and things and doesn't have the toxic effects on the user. (Unless your Kittenlark, vinegar smell makes her nauseous.)Current Music: (watching Forensic Files) |
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Well, looks like I've been tagged. The idea is that I tag others in return, but I'd rather that anyone who reads this choose whether or not they wish to continue the memes by posting them on their own blogs.
First up is a meme from MikeFrench since he was nice enough to ask me before tagging me. ^_^
About me:
1. How long have you been blogging?
Five or six years, I think.
2. What inspired you to start a blog and who are your mentors?
Inspired? I wouldn't say that, exactly. I'd just noticed such things existed and it seemed cool. I haven't really had any mentors, either. My Dad, maybe, but we've been kinda learning from each other.
3. Are You trying to make money online, or just doing it for fun?
For fun right now, but I'd like to build up a reputation and readership so I can make money from my online activities soon.
4. Tell me 3 things you LOVE about being online.
Access to knowledge from around the world without having to leave home. Some really cool games. Human interaction without having to actually meet anyone! (I'm not exactly the most social person on the face of the earth.)
5. Tell me 3 things you STRUGGLE with on-line.
Telling if I've offended anyone. (Did so-n-so not respond to my post because I offended or has he/she simply not read it yet?) Sifting though all the junk to find information that's actually useful. (What's all that stuff about Sailor Moon doing in my Fruits Basket search?) Telling time. (Whoa! I was playing Runescape for three hours!?)
Now for the second meme, this one from Moonshadow.
"7 things about me that you might not know"
1) I'm 5' 3". Only three inches taller than my Mom. (Yes, my Mom is 5 foot nothing. If she were just a couple inches or so shorter she'd be an official midget.)
2) I have over a dozen cousins. Nearly 20, at last count. And those are just first cousins. ^_^
3) In sixth grade I won a poetry contest. I also happened to be on of only two people in my class who entered. The poem was really kinda lame, but I got in a book, anyway.
4) (This is harder than it looks.) Because of a series of odd dreams, I was convinced I was an alien from another planet during second grade. Actually, I think the dreams were caused by watching too much Superman.
5) As you might have guessed from #4, I really like superheros. My favorite as a kid was Darkwing Duck. I wanted a gas gun just like his. Including the grappler attachment.
6) Watching the original Star Wars trilogy at the same time I was reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy is what got me going on writing an epic. (Which I still haven't finished. I've barely started and I've been working on it for eight years.)
7) I want to run a petting zoo/animal rescue. I want a yard and house full of animals. Including wild animals. Raccoons are so cute!!Current Mood: amused Current Music: (watching Batman) |
| » My life is not boring. |
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Let's see...
Still unemployed. Signing up with the local Workforce Center's Vocational Rehabilitation Services to see if that'll help (apparently ADD counts as a disability). Computer went on the fritz. Couldn't update Mary Quite Contrary. Developed a huge back log of inked drawings to scan in. Thought I was going to move out after the weekend. Scheduled cable service transfer with that in mind. Found out that my landlord got the flu and move would be later in the week, maybe. Tried to contact cable company and thought I might have gotten date transfer but the person I was talking to was so unintelligible that I could hardly tell. Got computer back and had to reinstall everything. Something is still acting funny. Internet access gets cut early and I have to contact cable company again to get it straightened out. Nearly didn't move in time because landlord still under the weather. No TV or internet access for 9 hours (the horror). Get up early to let cable guy into new apartment. Started moving stuff in while waiting for Mom and Kittenlark to show up and help with furniture. Try to figure out where to put furniture. Nearly wrench out wrist and other vital joints. DVD player doesn't seem to be working.
And that's what the last two weeks have been like.
Oct. 11th, 2007 @ 02:23 pm
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| » This is just ... freaky. |
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Ever get bitten by a plant?
Well, I went back to Walmart a few days ago to ask about what might've killed my Venus fly trap. They were very nice and even offered to replace the plant if I brought the plant back. So I did and got a new plant. It's cute, green, and seems to be doing fine, though one trap won't close when I put a fly inside. Strange.
This is where it gets creepy.
The first time I feed it I had smucked a fruit fly and had the darndest time dropping it in. I ended up having to put my fingers inside the trap in order to make sure the meal got in. That's when the trap closed on my finger.
Venus fly traps have teeth. And the traps close fast. That was really weird.
That was really, really, freaky weird. I'm kinda nervous feeding the thing now. Just a little.
Sep. 14th, 2007 @ 05:19 pm
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| » New Chapter! |
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Mary Quite Contrary has just started the new chapter. The title page is up on the Blogger site.
Please let me know how you like it. ^_^
Sep. 4th, 2007 @ 10:24 pm
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| » More on the MQC situation |
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Well, the updater seems to be working again. For now, anyway.
Ah. Now I have to get all the back log done. The bug I caught yesterday didn't help. (Kinda hard to deal with anything in a paper medium when you're sweating like a pig.)
And in case anyone starts worrying, I'm fine. It was probably something bacterial since my temp only spiked yesterday and it went back to normal this morning. (This morning being Saturday.)
So MQC should be back on schedule sometime in mid September. Just in time for ValleyCon. Oi.
Sep. 1st, 2007 @ 11:25 pm
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| » Employment! |
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I have a job! YES!
Granted, it's only until the end of December and in another town. Which means I have to move. Which means getting a change of address form, shoving my stuff into a U-Haul, arranging cable access, hoping against hope that I get another job soon after this one ends...
I already did the apartment hunting. There's this really cute little place that used to be a motel with efficiencies at a really low price. The only thing I'd have to take care of myself is the cable and internet, which shouldn't be too bad (I hope) and the guy running the place is looking at getting a deal going so he can provide cable as part of the rent.
The kitchen area is *tiny* but I really don't need much space. At least here I can reach the storage.
And my parking spot is right out my front door. Sweet!
Oh man, I have to find out about the churches there, and the grocery stores, and libraries, and auto repair, and ...
Did I mention this job runs until almost midnight? My circadian rhythm is going to be insane.
But at least I'm employed. (Anyone heard of Tastefully Simple? They do gourmet food delivery or something. I'm going to be packing boxes.)
Aug. 23rd, 2007 @ 03:47 pm
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| » Ha-ha! |
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A new laptop! And it works!
Well, mostly. There's something odd with the way the CD drive is read or something. Every time I try to open it I get the 'open with' list, as if it were an unknown document. I'll have to ask about that on Monday.
At least the place I got this beauty from does decent work. Another small outfit, but the quality is topnotch. (Might even say beyond topnotch, since the big-name companies are falling so far behind.)
Beyond that, life has been fairly uneventful. I gotta knuckle down and work on Mary Quite Contrary now. I'm so far behind! ToT
Aug. 11th, 2007 @ 06:50 pm
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| » Long time, no see. |
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Boy, things have been crazy.
Let's see... well, the fair went off quite well except I didn't go on any rides. I have issues with dizziness and heights (particularly when I'm held upside down). If only I wasn't too big for the merry-go-round.
Oh well, at least I got to see lots of cute animals. A young horse kissed me, or tried to eat my nose, I couldn't quite tell. And I sang karaoke! That was a lot of fun.
I also tested out the raft I made. I didn't get to go on Hoboken Creek, but at least I had fun on Fairy Lake. (I always thought it was neat having a lake with that name so close to home.) Unfortunately, there was a leak in the inner tube, so I had to get it patched later. Thank goodness it didn't sink while I was on the lake! I saw some very pretty water lilies. Yellow ones. They have kind of a plasticy look to them.
My computer is on the fritz again. I'm really wondering if it's worth the trouble or if I should just get a new one. Of course, having a job would be nice to so I can pay for a new computer. But repairs also cost money. AAAAA!!!
So that's been my last couple of weeks. I can't update Mary Quite Contrary until I get my laptop back. This is quite annoying.
But overall, things have been going rather well. Now if we could just get some rain to break the drought.
Aug. 3rd, 2007 @ 12:51 pm
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| » On solid beliefs |
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I heard recently that our new Pope has reinstated the "Catholic Church is the one true church" policy. I imagine he's gotten a lot of flack about that, though to tell you the truth I haven't heard any more on the subject. It gets kinda depressing sometimes, hearing about religion and all in the news and I tend to tune it out.
So, bold move? I guess some people might say that. I don't, though. Vatican II might've wimped out on the subject because they wanted people to like them better, but did it really work? No. If people want to hate the Catholic Church they're going to hate it no matter what.
And really, nothing else makes sense. Religion is a system of beliefs. It's how you see the world, how it works, it's a matter of facts. Some of those 'facts' may not be provable by scientific standards and therefore not considered facts in a dictionary sense, but it's still fact.
So I say a religion, Christian or otherwise, should say, "what our religion says is true, anything else is false." Equal value of all religions makes no sense to me. Unless your religion states that the nature of the universe is unknowable and therefore any statements of fact about it are mere opinions.
I think that's the agnostic standpoint.
I am firmly Catholic, but I like people who aren't. Heck, there are only two people on my friends list who I know are Catholic, and I'm not sure if the rest are even Christian. I'd like it if the people I liked all became Catholic (this is a missionary religion, after all) but I'm not going to force it.
That was disastrous in France. Well intentioned, I hope, but disastrous. Kinda like the Inquisition before the Jesuits took over. (Those horror stories of the Inquisition? All from the early days when secular authorities were in charge without Church consent.)
Back on topic. I just want to say that I think the Pope did well in reinstating that little factoid.
And I'd probably feel much the same way if it was the Dahli Llama or ... there isn't a central leader of Shinto, is there. I'd include Islam in the list, but a lot of them are already saying their religion is the only true one, with guns as punctuation marks.
Ah. Just thought I'd let that out.
Jul. 14th, 2007 @ 02:45 pm
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| » It's alive! |
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I have somehow managed to resurrect my computer.
From now on, I am going to keep track of product keys with religious fervor.
Well, everything seems to work. Windows Movie Maker can save movie files, but it leaves strange artifacts in the visuals. I'm not too terribly surprised, though, it seems to be a chronically buggy program no matter what computer it's on.
Oh well. Just one more thing to put on the ol' when-I-have-money list. Get Premiere.
Now that I've gotten things in somewhat working order I can work on my comic again. I have this huge backlog of inked drawings to scan in.
I also have websites to design for when I have the money to buy web space.
And stories to write.
And medical terms to study.
And recipes to test...
Yeah, I'm kinda trying to cook. It's a very interesting experience. For me and everyone around me.
Ever nuke a hamburger?
Anyway, I don't think I'm ever going to be a gourmet chef, but at least the stuff's more or less edible. That's an improvement.
Jun. 30th, 2007 @ 01:48 pm
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| » Sorry for the lack of updates |
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For some reason, FireFox kept getting some sort of error every time I tried to access the posting page.
Anyway, I couple updates later (from both FireFox and Windows) I am now able to update my journal.
Did any of you hear about the monster pig that was killed a while ago?
I didn't know wild pigs got over a thousand pounds. Heck, I didn't know *pigs* got over a thousand pounds.
And the lucky hunter was a sixth grade boy. Man, he must be really proud of himself. That is some beast he bagged.
If you want, there's a really neat article about it at Fox News.
And, just to prove that *everybody* is on the web these days, the monster pig and its hunter has a website.
http://www.monsterpig.com/
There's something funny and at the same time unsettling about the phrase "monster pig." Don't know what it is.
May. 29th, 2007 @ 05:56 pm
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