"We should go early."

I say this because I know us, I know how we work. We're procrastinators. We come from a long line of them, it's in our genes. If it was a crime, we would have been tossed overboard years ago. So, I suggest a sound suggestion. You would think after a little over two decades of giving semi-decent advice people would listen to me. We've been in this situation before, and even those times, we should have gone early. I remember, and I apply it to current events. See, even I can learn from the past.

But...nooooo.

So we go, with fifteen minutes to get there, and a very vague idea of where we're going. We have a class. It's downtown. We should be able to find it right? We're smart, modern, capable women who can cook and run our own businesses. Finding this place should be no problem, we have pretty decent direction sense.

Of course, lying to yourself only hurts you.

So we start off, over the hills and through the woods, and after a few wrong turns, snappy dialogue (such as "Which street is that street after?" "Nevermind that, what street is this?") and about four trips down the same street we had just gotten off of, we found the parking garage.

I have recessive blonde genes, I get them from her.

So, we park, on the second level because everyone loves walking up and down slanted pavement in the dark, and clamber out of the car into the freezing wind. I stood squinting out of the little holes in the wall at the rain outside. There were guys doing construction out there on that sixty million feet high skeleton of a building in that stuff, it would suck to fall.

"Now, where are we going?"

How should I know? I'm watching the construction workers. Of course, I don't say this outloud. Instead I say something more sane and less stalkerish, "Maybe we should ask for directions?" I pointed in the general direction of the meter mai..person who was probably going to end up giving us a ticket later in the evening.

I tell her we're looking for the TAD Center and she wanders over to ask directions. She took just long enough for me to stop feeling my face.

"She said it's four blocks back that way."

"You sure? They said to park in this parking garage because it's close. Four blocks isn't close." I say this not because I'm lazy, but because it's true. Where I live, a block, maybe two, is close. Four blocks is the beginnings of a mile, and therefore deemed 'not close'. If you need to go four blocks over, you do the sane thing, and park near where you need to go, so four blocks becomes one block, and then where you need to go becomes close. Four blocks in this weather is asking for a cold that will follow you around all season long.

"Well, let's go look anyway."

Fine. I keep my mouth shut and off we go. See, I can keep quiet. Four blocks in the typical Oregon spring weather of rain that hasn't let up in three days and wicked wind, makes for a very cold four blocks. Eventually we make it four blocks and I stop and turn around. We're going in the wrong direction, I could have told you that three blocks ago.

"It's not down here, we were misinformed, I think it's a conspiracy."

"You think?"

"You did park awfully well, maybe they were jealous of your talented parking skills and decided to get back at us by sending us all the way down here in hopes that we would get lost."

"It's four blocks."

"That's all it takes."

So we walk back, and about a block away from the parking garage we run into the same meter person as before. Again we ask for directions, and this time she points in a different way. "You want to go four blocks that way, then two down."

Like hell.

So we thank her, and by now the slightly bemused expression I've been carrying around is permanently frozen to my face. We get back to the parking garage and give up. It's fifteen after, we're late. Might as well reschedule and try and find it another time, maybe even leave early next time.

I stare aimlessly out of the window as we pull out of the parking garage. My face hurts thanks to the wind and the annoying bruises, and as we turn left out of the garage I kick the glove compartment.

"Well...damnit!"

Poking her in the arm I point to my window. "It's right the hell there!" Right there, in the parking garage building, not more then two hundred feet from where we were parked were the lovely offices we had spent the last twenty minutes looking for.

Now that we had found it we were far too late to go. So I rescheduled but I didn't tell them why we didn't make it.

It was far, far too stupid.

I look like Guido jumped me by accident in a back alley and whomped the snot out of me. I've been getting really weird bruising for about three months now, I'm not quite sure where they're coming from, but I'll just out of the blue notice nasty bruises on my legs or arm or in one case across half of my stomach. The newest one is right above my left eye, it's all blotchy and gross. It's really unattractive.

I'm thinking someone snuck in and punched me in the eye last night. It really hurts too, the jerks.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

"To continue your search for the meaning of life, turn to page 97.." Bart Simpson's Guide To Life: A Wee Handbook For The Perplexed

Stolen from the ever amusing Rebecca. :)

I owe you guys a bean dip recipe, don't I? Maybe I don't want to share my faboo recipe for faboo bean dip. It's really the only thing I've got going for me.

Faboo Bean Dip:

This is terribly simple and won't take long to make. It also makes a huge amount, the reason being is because I always make it for parties so in order to feed the masses, you have to make a ton of it. You can cut it down to whatever amount you need. I won't mind.

You Need -
1 (32 oz) can of refried beans, whichever brand trips your trigger
1 (32 oz) container of sour cream
1 container of salsa (I use a local company that cold-stores their salsa, but you can use a jar kind, if you like)
2 cans olives, one chopped one sliced
1 medium onion
1 medium tomato
2 avocados
1 small green pepper
1 (2 lb) bag of shredded cheese, I like the five cheese blend myself
A microwave
A huge bowl, because this stuff will magically expand

Worry not, you won't use all of this stuff, unless you're making a huge bowl of it.

Open your beans, and put them in your bowl, stir them around so they're not the huge clump that comes out of the can. Stick them in the microwave on high for about 5 minutes, stir, and place back in for another 5. Watch them so they don't explode. If they explode because you didn't watch them, it's not my fault and I won't clean your microwave.

You want them heated all the way through, so they get all smooth and creamy like they do when they're hot. I'm sure there is some technical cooking term for that, but, I don't know it.

While the beans are cooking, dice your tomato, onion, green pepper, and avocado and throw them all in the same bowl, and toss them together. Set aside about a quarter of this.

Pull your beans out and add about 1 cup of sour cream, 1/2 of cheese, the can of chopped olives, and 1/4th of a cup of salsa to the beans. Stir. Throw it back in the microwave and cook it until it's heated and the cheese is melted, usually about 10 minutes. Stir it about every three minutes.

Pull it back out, and top it with alternating layers of sour cream, cheese, salsa, and the mixture of chopped veggies. Try and end with sour cream. Once it's all topped, top it with the quarter of the veggies you set aside, and a big glob of sour cream and salsa in the middle, top that glob with the sliced olives.

See, simple stuff. Serve it WARM (otherwise it's just not as good) with your favorite chips.

It's death, really, but it tastes so dang yummy. Now I want some.

I told myself I wouldn't be one of those students who missed classes, it works for some people but it's just not something I am comfortable with doing. If I've paid for something, I hate not going to it. I don't exactly have the money to waste like that. Even if I was disgustingly rich I probably still wouldn't, actually if I was disgustingly rich I'd probably rinse off plastic wrap I found at other peoples house and reuse it, because that seems to be the type of weird and slightly disgusting habits all of the wealthy people I know have.

Now I have a seminar in May for PST that is at the same time as my English class, and I have to figure out if I can miss it or not. So far I've been lucky and all meetings and seminars and everything else have either landed on times when I don't have classes, or I've been able to schedule them in to time slots I have free. My luck was bound to run out sooner or later.

The big problem is, is I need to go to this seminar, it's extremely important. I mean, extremely, as in, it will define if my business can operate successfully in certain areas that we're aiming to expand to. But, there are only eight English classes total, so I can't really miss any of them otherwise I'm going to end up kicking myself for it or failing miserably. Let's face it, what would happen is everything that will be on any exams will be covered in the one class I missed, it's just the way it works.

Oh well, I'm not really going to worry over it right now. It just bothers me that I'm probably going to end up either having to miss this class, or cloning myself so that I can go to both.

I have to do a bunch of stuff for the committee meeting tomorrow, because I didn't have any time to get it done this week. On my list of nine things to do, only one is completed (You can tell because it has a great big red scribble all over it, it makes me feel accomplished, don't ask me why. It's not as good as a gold star, but it'll do). Oops. The more I think about it, though, the more I'm convinced what I really want to do is just go back to bed.

I have a request. Let's say you teach Pre-K or Kindergarten, and you wanted to buy theme boxes (Theme boxes, for those of you who don't know, are boxes that contain learning materials that focus on a single theme, like let's say, The Farm, and inside would be books, games, toys, movies, and curriculum that all focus on teaching subjects like math and art, through farm activities) for your classroom. What kind of theme boxes would you want, and why?

You can leave your answers in the comments, and I would appriciate it. Thanks.

I love spring. The air always smells like flowers and cut grass. I don't even mind when people look at me funny when I sniff the air. (And I do, because blooming trees smell so yummy) I even love the spring bugs, now that I don't live under that tree that was filled with larva of scary biting smelly red ants that invaded my house every year.

I like how at any odd hour of the afternoon I can sit under the Wisteria in the front yard and listen to someone in the neighborhood mow their lawn. It's a relaxing sound. It helps me focus and is calming. It's a shame it can't do my Math homework for me, then I would really love it.

I am pretty frustrated right now. On the 5th I went in and deposited $35.00 in my account, and when I went to take $20.00 (I should have had nearly $150 in there) I was told I had IF. So, I went inside and got a statement, and was 50 some bucks overdrawn, so I come home and figure it out, that this company had removed money without my permission. I had ordered something from them on the 12th and it didn't go through for who knows why, and they ran it anyway until the 29th and it went through, well, thanks to a bunch of other things, it also ran up 100 bucks worth of overdraft fees, which caused my check for my books to be sent back to the college.

I am livid, I wrote them about it and they had the NERVE to tell me it went through the 'next business day' when in reality it went through ELEVEN BUSINESS DAYS LATER! Even if I had never wrote them and told them to cancel the order, they had no right to run my card nearly three weeks later without my permission.

So, now, I'm demanding not only the money, but the overdraft fees as well. And thanks to that, the check that was sent back to the college incurred a 30 buck overdraft fee. That's 100 bucks in fees PLUS the 30 bucks they took out.

Bastards.

Also while I was at the bank I found out my business account was -50 because someone ordered checks when I never authorized it. But the amazingly lovely lady at the bank who was so sweet reversed all the charges and fees and put it back to normal, gave me the checks too.

At least the people at my bank are nice, otherwise I just would have cried.

Clothes that don't finish drying in the dryer, and you put them on anyway, are cold.

I rescheduled my meeting that was at 10 because I have to take Lane to the doctor. (She has an alien growing in her chest) It's now on Wednsday at 10, which should be interesting because I have two tests that day too. Hopefully it goes fast enough that I'll still have extra study time before I have to take them.

But that's alright, I will be spending from 10 tomorrow until probably about four in the afternoon on campus hidden away at the best study spot there (that's the one near the Child Development Center, with the blooming trees, if you need to find me) rereading my psych book, because I refuse to get anything below an 90 on this test.

Hurray, the day of the Great Chocolate Bunny has begun. I hope all of you have a good Easter, and make sure you don't eat any wet candy you find in eggs, and if you hunt for real eggs, make sure you eat them right away and don't leave them in your car with the windows rolled up and then eat them.

That would be bad.

I've got to go finish setting up some prizes, start the bean dip (I'll post the recipe for you tonight) and then go pick up my assistants and head over to the Center. One good thing about it, is I don't have to hide the eggs, someone else is going to do that for me while I'm doing the YCC. Not that I mind hiding the eggs, it's a lot of fun, there is just no way I can do it this year.

Also! Sign up sheets for the Spring field trip are out. If you want to go, head to the Center and sign yourself up. You've got about a month before they close. We're going bowling, it should be thoroughly embarrassing.

For those of you who keep coming here looking for Konjiki No Gash Bells OP, here it is. (It's the one taken from the Anime, not a full version, if there is a full version, that is. Hence the crappy quality. What can you do though?)

I just got back from a committee meeting. I've got a ton of things to do for it this week, and a ton of things to do before the YCC and the Egg Hunt I'm doing tomorrow, but I'm thinking of blowing it all off and heading to the beach. It's supposed to be 70 there today with no wind. I could sit out there with my Psych book and get sand in my hair. Sounds to me like a lot more fun then doing mock-ups.

Man, I want to go to the beach.

The fact that they canceled Wonderfalls is moronic. Proof that Fox doesn't know squat about good television.

So today while running my errands that I was doing with Robin, she ran into a local consignment store whose owners we know. She came back out and said that they were having problems with their computer, could I come in and look at it?

Sure, I say.

So I go in, and they were having a problem with their system where they log payments and items and all that stuff. A program from 1995 that runs in DOS that I've never even heard of. It wouldn't go past the title screen and popped up an error. Ok, I say, and go through the basics. When did it start, what were you doing when it started, did you call tech support? They answered all the questions (with a 'tech support won't even talk to anyone who runs the DOS version' because tech support on a whole, are by nature, asses).

So I start looking at it, and notice they have a backup file from two months ago, so I make copies of the normal program and the backup, and by that time I had to run off to class (canceled again, by the way) and go to a meeting. So I come back about 4, and starting copying files over one by one to find the file that had the error (this is after reading the manual twice and all sorts of crap). Eventually I found them, and copied the old ones to the new program and thank Jebus it booted and ran normally.

....oy. I was SO glad I got it working, since I had never even seen the program before I was extremely worried I wouldn't have a clue how to fix it and wouldn't be able to. (I didn't have a clue, I just did what I always do when something breaks, make copies of everything and find the file that cause the error)

I got freaking lucky. I also made a quick hundred bucks and got hired as the backup tech support for the store.

lol. Fun stuff. I think that was my tech support for the year though, I certainly couldn't do this every day as a profession.

This is just toooo bizarre.

The Subservient Chicken, type in what you want the chicken to do, and the chicken does it. So far the chicken has displayed excellent dancing abilities (tap, hula, boogie down, moonwalk, hokey pokey) and other weird things like taking a nap, stretching, doing jumping jacks, crowing (yeah, ok, too easy) and scratching it's butt.

Yeah.

Ok, so now not only am I completely amused, I'm also seriously disturbed. (Hey, is it really sponsered by Burger King? If it is, then I'm just more disturbed then I was to begin with.)

I've got a exam today, and a couple meetings after that, so I suppose I should go stop being lazy and get dressed.

My day is turning out to be very long. This morning I got to spend an hour in the bank trying to figure out why my account was 60 dollars overdrawn, just to find out that my debit card had been charged yesterday for an order that I canceled three weeks ago.

Fun stuff.

Then I get stuck in traffic behind some Mook who's driving around a huge thirty foot high pile of worthless green metal on the back of a semi. For an hour. It made me wish I was a cop, so I could give him and his flunkies driving the trucks behind and in front of him tickets.

Then I rush to class, just to find a note on the door that NAS is canceled today. One good thing about it is I picked up one of the suggested books I couldn't afford to buy for that class (I love how it's 29 bucks on Amazon but was 40 in the school bookstore, and they try and say they get no profit from it) from the library, and sat in the parkling lot in the car for an hour and read nearly half of it.

So now, I have to write these people and figure out how to get a refund for this AND the overdraft charges, schedual a Psych test for Monday, finish this book and another chapter that was assigned that I didn't get done over the weekend, and do a half of a module in Math cause I have to turn it in Thursday. Whee!

Maybe I'll make flashcards for Psych like I did for NAS in my calculator, not only was that good study time, but it was fun clogging up my calculators memory with crap too.

The other day while I was waiting for slow people to get out of the car at the grocery store, I glanced over across the little lane at a man putting groceries in the back of his truck. I noticed he had a child in one of those carts they make with the baby seats in them. I glanced down the lane and saw a woman coming down with another cart full of groceries and another kid shooting me dirty looks. The lady came up to the truck and turned and gave me another terrible dirty look, then grabbing the guy by his shirt, proceeded to pull him down and flaunt an unnecessary public display of affection to the parking lot. Then, shoving him away from her, she turned and glared at me.

In the tradition of Jerry Springer "He be my man."

Yeah lady, like I was really scoping out your boyfriendorhusbandorwhoever in the parking lot of WinCo. You can have him, and all your little raggamuffins, I promise I don't want them.

Geesh.

I spent two hours yesterday stuffing candy (roughly ten pounds), stickers, H.O.M.E Dollars (fake money used to buy stuff in the YCC store), and prize tickets (one for each of the 26 prizes) into a zillion plastic eggs yesterday. I'm thinking of going and picking up some more, the only thing that is stopping me is not knowing how many kids will be at the egg hunt.

Right now there will be roughly 10 eggs per kid, which isn't really a whole lot (hence the large amounts of prize tickets and candy), but I'm sorely tempted to go ahead and get another 100 eggs and making it 15 per kid. I've got the eggs split into younger kids and older kids, since their hunts are at two different spots.

I also have about 20 eggs that are empty because I ran out of candy. The more I thought about it, the more I was tempted to put things like nothing, empty candy wrappers, floss, and coupons for thirty cents off your next bikini wax in them, but my good side eventually won, and I didn't.

I should go get more eggs, but, again the only thing stopping me (and at the same time, making me think I should get more eggs) is there could be anywhere from a dozen to fourty kids at this hunt. Oh, the choices. I probably will go ahead and do it anyway, you can never have too much teeth rotting goodness at Easter! Jesus would have wanted it this way.

Frycow: Don't play on or near railroad tracks because:
1) A hobo may get you
2) You're probably not faster than a train
Instead of playing on or near railroad tracks:
1) Pet a kitty
2) Take pictures of ants marching

Auto response from Rhea Rhyolin: List at least two reasons why people should not play on or near railroad tracks and at least two activities they can do insted.

Can't be too careful of those Hobos boys and girls!

"Johnny got hit by a bus, Jim"

Actually, it's sung. Really. It's a terrible in joke among me and a few childhood friends that I highly doubt they even remember anymore. But we used to go around the neighborhood singing that line in all sorts of different styles, it became a game. Someone would pick a singing style and you'd have to sing that line (which made up the entire song, just that line sung over and over, in different ways in the same style, to make it have different meanings) in the way that was picked, or you'd be out. We were easily entertained.

It does have relevance to my post, honest it does.

Yesterday, Lane got hit by a car. She was on her way, via her bike, to the park to meet some friends. They were going to have a slumber party at one of her friends houses. It didn't happen. As she was going down the side of the road and crossing in front of a side street just as someone was turning, and he hit her.

The guy gets out of the car, freaks out (as I would as well) and goes to use his cell to call 911, Elaine takes it from him and calls Robin first. So, Robin gets this call from a freaking out Lane (can you blame her?) that she's been hit. So off we go.

On our way there we had to pull over for both the police and the EMTs. This did not make Robin happy.

The good news is, is that she's alright. Pretty shaken up, a total bruise, minor whiplash, can't really move very well, but beyond that she's fine. Her helmet was ruined, parts of it even broke off, if she hadn't been wearing it her head definitely would have been a smear.

It was an accident completely, so nobody was arrested or cited. The guy offered a good two dozen times to replace Lane's bike (which is fine) or the helmet (which the FDP is going to replace, and use hers as an example to people as why they should wear their helmets, it was beat up that bad). Of course, I'm amazingly glad she's fine, and also that the guy didn't get arrested or ticketed for it, since it was an accident.

Lane is doing alright, other then being mad now because she was forbidden by everyone including her soccer coach from playing in the game today. It's just best if she takes the weekend to rest.

I was looking over the police report (they gave Robin a copy) and at the top it has these little boxes you check to say what the aftermath of the accident was. There was property damage, personal injury, arrest, and a few others, and of course, fatality.

I reflected on it for a while, and came to the conclusion that not only am I glad that wasn't picked, but how very sad it would be that in one split second your entire life can be summed up with a little check of a box.

To the disgusting person who did this search and found my blog.

Shame on you, seriously.

So classes are all straightened out and settled now, books have all finally been purchased so I can get down to the nearly week behind homework that has been plaguing my sleep.

After fixing all my stuff out at the college, we went over to Jackie's where Robin ended up catching a someone's parakeet that had escaped. Since we couldn't find who it belonged to, and it was hurt (looks like a cat had gotten it's wing), she took it home with her. It's very cute, but she says it must have been loose for over a week, because it was so hungry.

At WinCo I picked up a slew of bulk candy and things for the Egg Hunt at the Center, that yours truly is both organizing and executing. So far I've got about 200 eggs, I'm hoping to get 200 more before Easter. It may sound like a lot, but when you break it down, 400 eggs only turns out to be about 20 eggs per kids if there are 20 kids, and I'm expecting anywhere from 20 to 30, so I am going to need more then 200.

So far I have candy (ten pounds of it), stickers, and H.O.M.E Dollars (the fake money used to buy things from the YCC store) to put inside them. I'm also going to put in real money (in the form of change, of course, and one egg with five dollars) and slips they can redeem for prize bags. So far I have three foot long licorice whips and jaw breakers the size of your fist to put in the prize bags.

I am a parents worst nightmare, and I love it.

I'm going to pick up some things at the dollar store (I heart) for the bags too. Chocolate bunnies, sun glasses, pencils, erasers, those stupid light up bunny necklaces. Stuff that not only thrills children to pieces, but won't cost me more then ten bucks for the whole shebang.

I also have a conference call for this evening about the YCC representing the Center in the upcoming Iris Parade. So, you all practice your pretty pageant waves and then come be in the parade with us. I'll even let you hand out the candy (it's illegal to throw it, stupid but true) if you promise not to eat it all, that is.

I changed my comments to Halocsan. Huge thanks to Rebecca for telling me about them. I appreciate it. :) Now nobody has any excuses for not commenting, you hear me?

Fred is on his way to Canada right now. Last I heard he was approaching D.C. I guess he's going to be gone for the next two weeks, so this means I will either have to do something terribly naughty he'll be proud of while he's gone, or something mean, like attempting to steal that extremely cute boy of his. Or, I could just break into his house, and steal his computer. It's not like he'd miss it or anything.

I tried to talk him into sending me postcards while he was on his trip, but it's rare that any guy I know who ever goes on a trip actually sends me the postcards like they said they would. I'm starting to think it might be a male chromosome that causes this, or perhaps laziness.

I have to leave here soon and go talk to a guidance person about switching some classes around, lucky for me I'm catching it just before the cut off for needing an instructors signature to get into a new class. I'm just hoping the refund of the class and books will cover the other class and it's books, because I'm seriously broke, and if I lose this credits guess who goes on probation? The thought seriously bothers me, I'm not an irresponsible person and don't want to get in trouble only four days into the term.

But, now I'm off, to study for a quiz I've got in a couple hours, and to attempt to find something tasty for lunch. What sounds good? Anybody?

I want my books, damnit. I'm already behind in my homework. Mean people, not sending me my books. Make me go and get them myself. Don't they know how lazy I am? This is cruel, that's what this is.

On the upside, my packages for YCC (All eight of them) containing all the supplies for the next ten weeks are in. I am giddy. Boxes, oh how I love them.

I was tired enough when I woke up that somehow this morning as I was getting dressed I forgot a very important artical of clothing. No, I won't tell you what it was, and no, it wasn't my pants. I'm tired, not completely brainless. I think maybe an afternoon nap will be in order. Just as soon as the depression for plunking down a half a grand on books sets in.

I need a new comment system, I've fixed the one I have a number of times over the last two months and it still errors. Any suggestions?

Today was my first on campus class of the term (God bless online classes), and actually it was really great (Native American Studies). I think it's going to turn out to be my favorite. Not, that it has much competition, it's up against Math, Psych (with a biology emphasis, see, it does so have something to do with my major) and English (well, not until next month). I love Psych and English but Math can take a flying leap. Since I don't have any other classes on campus, I don't live out there like other people do. YAY! Although it does have it's drawbacks, mainly having tons of time on campus to avoid working, where as being in my office for most classes, I can't avoid work at all.

NAS is a three term class, so I guess if it turns out as cool as I think it will, I'll take it the next two terms as well. Got a quiz in it Thursday though, what's with that? Hour and twenty minutes in a class does not merit a quiz in my opinion. Give me three or four more classes and then pretend to quiz me as you just slip me the gold star under the table, that's what I want.

I still don't have my books yet, that's another story all together.

Now I'm off to pick someone from Track and take her directly to Soccer where I'll sit and rewrite all my really bad crappy notes. This is what happens when you haven't attended any sort of workshop or class for over a year, you completely lose what pathetic note writing skills you had.

It's sad, really.

A very happy birthday to Fred, whom if was gone, I would miss moderately to somewhat.

:)

Happy Birthday! You know I love you.

Now I am off to run around town like a good headless chicken, and pick up some last minute stuff for classes (Like books, and pencils!) and a whole slue of other things. A typical errand day is maybe six or seven places, today I have about a dozen, so it will be fun to see how long this takes me. (According to Robert, it takes me 'six to eight hours' but it rarely takes over three)

One of the lovely things I get to do is another student ID, which means a picture, which means that once again there will be images floating around that make me look like some scary swamp medusa.

I suppose I should just go get it done.

To the nice lady who left a comment (by the way, comments are broken, I'll fix them this evening), Hi! I'll link back to you tonight, always nice to know I have another reader to add to my amazing amount of readers I can count on one hand. :)

Rain.

Thanks to Michael (yes, it really is your fault) ever since last summer I've become disgustingly addicted to Anime. I pick a series at random, get the first five episodes (I've found, you can't really judge one until you've seen at least five episodes, because sometimes they change so drastically by the fifth one) and cross my fingers that they're good.

My last batch of downloads included Ayatsuri Sakon, Konjiki No Gash Bell!, Gakkou No Kaidan, and Pita Ten.

Pita Ten isn't finished downloading yet so I have no idea if it's any good.

The other three I got seriously lucky with. Ayatsuri Sakon and Gakkou No Kaidan are both mystery/horror type animes. Although Gakkou leans more towards horror, because it has ghosts. Gakkou is about a bunch of ghosts at a school that were trapped in objects that were all distroyed, and now have to be caught again by a group of students. It's silly scary, and really cute.

Ayatsuri is turning out to be pretty dark, but I really like it. It's about a puppeteer who basically solves mysteries with his puppet. It sounds like it would be zany and aimed more towards kids, but it's not at all. It also has a weirdly catchy opening theme.

Konjiki No Gash Bell! has sort of a Pokemon feel to it, in a vauge way, but in my opinion I find it to be a million times better, and a lot more amusing. It's about the battle to become the King of the Demon world, where 100 demons are sent to earth with spellbooks that can only be used by humans. Gash is one of the demons, and gets paired with a slightly unwilling highschool student. Of course, then you have the obligitory fighting and stuff, it's violent, but not in a violent cruel sort of way.

I am really loving Gash, it's cute (cute cute!) and terribly funny. (Once you get past the nudity in the first two episodes, don't let that put you off if you try it, trust me) The only problem with Gash is that there are supposeadly going to be 50+ episodes, and nearly every one so far has made me cry.

I'm a baby, I can't help it.

So, I'm on episode 24 and I keep checking Anime Suki to see if 25 is listed yet, and it's not, and it's totally driving me batty. So, in the mean time, I'm getting the most recent episode of Kingdom Hospital, which is another post all together.

A bunch of family is up, so I'm throwing a nice family dinner. Well, it's turning into an early dinner, but it should be fun. We were supposed to eat at five but everyone is coming early so we're going to eat at 1 insted, this means I have to make everything earlier then I thought I would have to.

So now, I need to rush off to the store and pick up the rest of the stuff so I can be a good slave and cook for the rest of the afternoon.

Whee! Cooking is so fun. Erm, except for when your ribs boil over.

Moved the images over to another domain until I can renew the other one. so they shouldn't break again anytime soon. Until of course, this other domain expires because I haven't renewed it yet either.

I do a reinforcement system with the YCC. For each thing you do without me having to remind you (signing yourself in to the class, picking up your supplies when class is over), or for going out of your way to help me, or just being generally plesant I give away (or other Center staff can) H.O.M.E Dollars that come in 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100. Every six months we have a H.O.M.E Store Party, and you can buy stuff from the H.O.M.E Store with your dollars.

The kids really, really love it, and they do everything possible under the sun to get a 100 from me. Right now only one person has ever gotten one, and they had to clean and rearrange the entire classroom to get it. This is because I am evil, and it gives me some weird thrill to watch kids scramble around to try and get the most dollars possible before the Store opens. (They have until October 31st, in which we have our Halloween Party and the Store opens for the first time.)

Yesterday, as I went to go track down the H.O.M.E Dollars to give everyone I found that not only is the entire container with all the dollars missing, the account book (I keep track of who got what when and why) is gone too.

Dangit. So, I don't know if someone moved it to get into their accounts (each kid has a 9'x12" envelope they've decorated that serves as their 'dollar account') and just didn't put it back, or if someone threw it away (??) or what.

I don't think anyone stole them, it doesn't matter if they did anyway because they won't be usable (they have to be filled out with the childs name and then signed and dated by the person giving them) and it's not like I don't know who has what, and won't notice if someone comes to the Store with zillion dollars.

Now I either have to find it, or go through the trouble of printing all those dollars again (I designed them, hopefully I saved them). It's frustrating, I just wish people would leave stuff on my shelves on my shelves. :(

Layout is broken because I, in my ever expanding mookness forgot to renew brighterskyte.com. It should be fixed as soon as I renew the domain.

Dangit...dangit dangit dangit....

It's the first burn day of the season and there has to be a half a dozen to a dozen fires in the four block area of my neighborhood. It's terrible. The smoke and ash is so thick that it's hard to see anything. I'm hoping someone will call and the local fire department will tell them to knock it the heck off before someone gets sick from smoke inhalation (it could happen, with this much smoke), there is a car accident because there is no visibility, or someone burns down their house.

I think it was a case of monkey see, monkey decide it's a good idea, and everyone went and started burning yard debris. Not that I don't appreciate nice landscaped yards, but this is a bit on the ridiculous side. I feel sorry for anyone with asthma or allergies, they've got to be miserable.

I wanted to weed today, but there is no way I can go outside and do it now. Dangit.

I was supposed to prep the kitchen and dining room to paint but I woke up this morning with a big start realizing there was a meeting I was supposed to be at first thing this morning, so I rush around and pick up some donuts for everyone at the meeting (I don't eat them myself) and went there.

So, the meeting lasts about an hour and a half, and sometime during the meeting I ended up on a committee that'll meet weekly, and on another that will probably start meeting at the end of the month. The first is a marketing committee on how to attract more attention to the Center. I have slues of ideas, and so it'll be great to implement those. The second is to help with their web site, since the person who's doing it now is very overswamped, so now there are three of us that will work on it. I don't mind of course, it's just interesting how it happens.

So now that the majority of my day is shot, I won't be painting I'm just going to put it off till next Saturday. That's ok though, gives me a whole week to look forward to huffing fumes. So instead I'm going to run to the store to get stuff for turkey pot pie which I'm making for dinner, and things for dinner tomorrow and Monday (when I have company, and in which I must use the shrimp that is sitting in the freezer) and pick up the movie I'm showing for Movie Day for tomorrows YCC, and then go pick up my bedroom, since I made it a huge mess.

Monday I need to go pick up a parade float application. Someone remind me, alright?

Wonderfalls is on tonight. For those of you who haven't seen it, you should. I actually like it better then Joan of Arcadia. Then again, I love the producers humor because it mirrors so close to my own weird humor. The idea is much the same, inanimate objects begin talking to the main character to get her to do things that will ultimately end up helping other people.

It's cute.

Anyway, give it a shot. It's on at 9 on Fridays. At least don't let Fox trash this one like they do every other good series they ever get.

Shauna chewed herself raw last night because I didn't put the cone back on her and now she's all red and raw and tremoring. I'm not sure what to do for her, I've tried everything and I am completely at a loss.

These are the coolest Callas that I don't have, ever. I'm extremely tempted to order bulbs and figure out where to cram them into my lily beds. Pretty, so very pretty.

It's St. Patty's Day (and a happy one to you, I might add), and I am not wearing green, because I wore green yesterday. (Not because I mixed the days up, but because that's the shirt I grabbed out of my dresser. I had green scrunchies in my piggy tails too so they matched, I realize I should have just worn it today, but it's too late now.) So, to combat any people who may think they might be able to gleefully sneak in and pinch me repeatedly today, I've drawn a leprechaun hat on the thumb of my left hand.

In green marker.

Take that, pinchers!

I'm now off to drop off a criminal history registry application off because my last one in the data base expired. What's amusing is every one of these applications you submit hits on your account and stays on your file as a check of your criminal history. So to someone who doesn't know me, or what I do, it looks like I've had a couple dozen history checks. Of course it doesn't say who or why, so it leaves people to use their imagination as to why there are so many 'checks'.

"Boy, I never knew she got in this much trouble!"

Yeah that's me, party girl. I party so hard I scare myself. Right. Excuse me now, I have to go mix some vodka in with my water and get back to my customer service.

And again, thanks Kenneth, and I still didn't mean you. So there.

The power of Christ comples you.

I love Baudville. If you need certificate paper, pretty printing paper, or any sort of motivational supplies or anything I highly recommend using Baudville. Not only is their stuff high quality and very economical, their customer service is a million times over the top.

I wrote them to ask which certificate paper would work best for calligraphy, since the kind I bought bleeds, and the customer service is now sending me a package at no charge of test papers so I can figure out which kind works best.

Things like that, which should be standard but sadly aren't in the business world, are what makes a good company outstanding.

So, if you need someone like them, use them. Ok, done pimping now.

I haven't posted because it really is a huge pain to type with a splinted and taped finger. It actually makes my typing nearly two times worse then it normally is.

That combined with my endless running around for work I really haven't had the time to post anything, not that I ever have anything terribly entertaining to post anyhow.

I hate the smell of cooking rice. (Veggie soup over rice is what is for lunch) It makes me dry heave, I share this because I know you want to know. It's nearly as disgusting as the smell of cooking meat. I'm not sure why, I wonder if it means I've got some kind of deficient thing or something. I don't mind the taste, in fact I like rice, I just can't be around it when it's cooking. It's sad, and I'm sorry to bore you with it.

In other news all classes for next term are all signed up. Don't worry those of you who have constantly warned me, I didn't overload myself. Although I'm very tempted to add an art class, I've had a serious urge to paint lately, but I figure instead of spending money on one when I'm already taking one elective this term anyway, I'll just bug Robert until he teaches me how to use my air brush that's been sitting in my closet for ages.

Classes don't start until the 29th so I have a few more days to make sure I'm as far ahead in work as I possibly can be before I have to cut my work time back a bit. I am happy to say though that my classes are either on line or night classes, so I don't have to break my work day up to badly to drive out to the college.

Not that it really matters, I could schedule classes for whenever I wanted and nobody would say boo. Ah, the perks of working for yourself.

Look, I ate all my rice. I'm such a good girl, I think I'll give myself a raise.

So far, our calligrapher is slightly irked because the new paper we have slightly feathers the ink on the certificates, the order for the YCC class stuff that I need by tomorrow didn't go through, so now I have to reorder and pay extra for overnight shipping, and I've messed up two batches of printing.

And it's only 10:30.

Thank god tomorrow is my day off.

Oh, and not posting posts. It's not posting my posts either.

I had something impressive and witty to post, but as I sit here on a break from running around like a headless chicken, I find that I can't remember what it was.

Has anyone else had a problem with Blogger just, for no reason at all, randomally deleting part of the template? I've had it happen a couple times now where I go in and make a small change and save, and the page doesn't load right so I check, and half the template is missing.

The first meeting of the day is over, and went well, I think. Now I only have three more today, and I'll be done with the very long day of meetings. I'll be glad when we're all done with today. My pinkie is killing me though, it's swollen now all the way down to my wrist because I, like the mook I am, keep using it.

Oh well, lunch time. Anyone want a burrito?

You know you're getting old when it goes on 6:30 and you're already tired.

This is a layout I made for another blog and liked it enough I swapped it. For the time being anyway. I probably won't use this one for long because I have some ideas for a new layout.

Whee!

I have a friend who will be going to OSU too. Yay! Study friends! YAY!

Now, to get him to just sign up to the classes I need, and do my homework for me. Nobody'll ever know. Ever. He can just sign up as Jamie, it'll work.

Right?

It's weird when childhood friends who are younger then you are getting married.

Really, really weird.

My Mormon name is Jamielynne Aingee!
What's yours?

In other news, I'm seriously in love with these. They're crunchy, sweet, and weird all at the same time. They only have a few little sticks or bars in one package, (like four, and they're about the size of a saltine cracker) and I only got one package to try, and now I have to get more.

Someone go get me some? My finger hurts.

Newest Anime to watch while I'm working (Yes, I can edit courses and watch anime at the same time...such talent, I have) is Gakkou No Kaidan. Has anyone seen it? If you have...is it any good? I hope it is, otherwise I wasted four days trying to get it to download for nothin'.

County will license gay nuptials

I love Oregon.

I have infiltrated the enemy and reclaimed the lily bed as my own.

This, is the yard where I'm living. Pretty yes? Although you can't see it in the picture because of the dang Dahlias (not that I dislike them, mind you) this is where the lily bed is.

The lilies are mine.

I've bought them for the last eight years or so and I've been planting them in that bed since my ex-land lady forbid me from having flowerbeds. I love lilies, they are my absolute favorite. I get them from the Lily Lady, I don't know her real name or the name of her business, which is pathetic, but I do know that the last two years hers was spot 32 at the Farmers Market and all she sells is lilies. Fresh cut ones, and bulbs. It's the bulbs I buy.

I've got about nine kinds right now. Over the last couple years they've spread, so I've had to put them in different places in the yard. This is alright though, because sooner or later they'll take over the other plants that are far too comfortable in the beds. Like the Dahlia, or the roses (who needs thirty rose bushes?) or the dozen kinds of lavender that are everywhere, even in the vegetable garden.

Spring is coming though, you can tell because the crocuses are up and bees are back humming around the daffodils. So, starting next Saturday I shall be happily weeding in my lily bed, and making room in other peoples beds, so that the lilies can overtake the yard.

The tip of my pinkie is broken. It got broken yesterday before we left for the field trip, by someone else, purely by accident.

It amazes me, how many times a day I hit the shift key with my pinkie. You never notice, until hitting it makes you yelp in pain.

The trip went great. We got there right on time (before the crowds got there, which was nice) and the kids had alot of fun. The place had their prices all screwed up, and had them listed wrong on their website so I didn't get the best package I could have. (Their customer service was also lacking, because they never returned calls or E-mails but...oh well)

I, got to spend a good portion of my time popping disgusting amounts of tokens into DDR-5th Mix. How can someone not love that game? It's so fun! And 5th has a Never Ending Story remix that I just love. I doubled with Lane, and although our scores never got above a "B" we had a heck of alot of fun. The only thing was is that I wouldn't do her favorite (Afronova Primeval) with her. I won't, because the thing is insane.

What's amusing is how impressed people get. They stand around and say how good you are, when you know that your score for that song won't be above a D because you missed all the stupid left/down jumps. (I hate left down jumps, I hate left anything jumps, but I hate left down the most.)

Now, we've decided to get a second pad (I only have one) and practice at home (Yes, it's not the same, I know) and hit the arcade once a week and take over the DDR machine they have, and play there. If I was rich, I'd so buy one. I also want this, really bad, because I don't have it (and I don't have a PS2 to buy PS2 DDR games) and it's a pain to find anywhere. If anyone buys me any presents this year (heh) make it this one. :)

Today the YCC has a field trip to Bullwinkles. Should be fun, or something close to it, anyway.

I have to be at the center at 9, to beat the kids, and we leave about 10:15. We should be back at the center about 3. Hopefully everyone remembers to pay. ;)

I collect Wade Whimsies, and have since I was about two. They're figurines manufactured by George Wade Pottery. They come in boxes of Red Rose tea, and have for decades, and they're totally cute. I didn't realize that so many other people collected them, and you know what else? I didn't realize that other countries (Canada, UK) had other series I didn't have. I want them now! They're so adorable!

These are the series I currently have. I in fact, have about 200 figurines (thanks to my Grandfather and Robin, who both bought the tea and gave me the cute figures) and so I've probably got doubles or triples of each series. (You know a single figurine sells anywhere from 5 to 25 dollars each? AH! That's more then the box of tea cost!)

I love these things, how can you not? It's like the prize you get in a cereal box. You get yummy tea, and a little present too! Got to love it.

My obsession with onions is starting to get out of control, I'm pretty sure it's not normal to eat onions with your cottage cheese and pepper.

Someone give me something else to put on everything I eat, like bacon bits, or turnip.

Yotsubato!

This is an adorable manga about an extremely weirdo kid and her father, who move into a new town. The scanlations are very well done, and I got a kick out of reading the first eight episodes. If you're bored, and looking for something to do, I suggest downloading them and giving them a go.

Those broken graphics are starting to drive me batty. I think I'll work on the new layout tonight when I'm all done with work.

Pro #453 of owning your own business: You can slack and there isn't anyone to yell at you for it.

Con #4642 of owning your own business: If you slack, there is nobody else to blame when the work doesn't get done. Other then the work gnomes, who don't look kindly upon being blamed for your laziness and will bowstring you in your sleep for it.

Today I managed to both thwart and land myself in the middle of, a major business problem. I'm starting to get a bit frustrated with having to field all the problems on my own. Normal businesses have staff, staff who are paid highly to deal with all the crud that the stuffed shirts don't want to deal with. Where is my highly paid staff? Where is my assistant bringing me non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiris and rubbing my feet? Where I ask you? Where?

Now, don't get me wrong, there are a couple of really great guys who have taken the time out of their day to sit with me while I'm gnashing my teeth and poking myself in the eye with thumbtacks to justify the tears and have helped me solve more then one problem. I appriciate the fact that they help me, and they do help me alot at times.

I adore them. No, I love them even. I want to marry them and have their little scary-smart children and sell them on the black market for disgusting amounts of money, and hire a staff. These sweet guys, unfortunately, don't work for me and can't keep suggesting things for me to try (after I've tried everything I know, of course) for much longer before they figure out I've got the three or four of them, and form a lynch mob. In some country, somewhere, I think what I'm doing is a form of tech-adultery.

Hopefully today marks the strangled gasping death of any more major technical problems. Once in a while (IE: every seven to ten years, please) is amusing and challenging, once a week is starting to bring back the tick that years of seeing Doctor Vacalavakia eliminated.

Tomorrow I have a full day of meetings. Meeting at a school, meeting at a bank, an appointment in hell (read: DMV), and a second meeting at my college, in which I'm going to ask slightly dense and annoying questions about dual enrollment. It sounds like fun.

But, until then, I'm avoiding work like a good little slacker. I avoided one major problem, and am taking the credit for fixing the other, even when I know it fixed itself all by itself. So, I think I deserve a good few minute break. I even flitched this from Fred's blog in a vain and slightly pathetic attempt to avoid having to edit that course that's sitting open behind the 'create a new post' page.

All questions refer to your situation right here, right now. Please answer accordingly.

The time is: 1:54 PM PST

I have been up for: Nearly ten hours.

I smell of: Raspberry shampoo

My hair is: Curly

My shoes are: In my bedroom

My bed is: Also in my bedroom and made, because a made bed is a happy bed.

The nearest person to me is: Robin

The nearest object to me is: My water

That annoying sound I can hear is: The radio, but I find it more soothing then annoying.

I: wish these surveys weren't so darn tempting. It's back to work for me now.

I think Oliver Beene is completely adorable, and if you haven't seen it, you really should.

My graphics below my post are broken. It's a sign from above (or below?) that a new layout is needed...I should do that today then.

I just edited a free class for PST on dealing with head lice. As most anyone who's ever delt with it, or anyone like me who deals with it quite often when they work with children, they know how absolutely disgusting, creepy crawly nasty lice are.

I itched through the whole thing.

Did you know 'eat your own head lice' is slang for liking someone? You didn't? Now you do, aren't you grateful? Or like me, completely grossed out.

I'm on week three of The Artists Way, it was given to me for Christmas and I didn't start it until, well, three weeks ago.

The Artists Way is like a twelve step, with twelve weeks of activities and things that encourage you to get past any blocks, hesitations or whatnot that may keep you from doing whatever art (or anything it is) that you do.

My biggest problems are that I let what people say ("that's great...but", "that's almost perfect", ect) get in the way of creating things or showing my creations to other people because I start to doubt my abilities. I also guilt myself when I work on anything at all that is purely for myself, because I feel like (once again thanks to people around me who think I should be more 'adult') I'm not being responsible enough to my life when I'm doing art, even though I know better.

You can't be a happy, healthy productive person to yourself or others if you're entirely selfless, you have to take care of yourself and do things that improve, empower and inspire you and make you happy in order to be a complete person, and doing so does not make you selfish or irresponsible.

The course requires you to take a once a week artists date with yourself, where you spend time with yourself doing things your inner artist (mine being a total gooby kid) likes to do. I used to do these types of things naturally, it was just part of my personality, and although I still do at times, it's rare that I do it without a slight nagging guilt for doing so. Just complete and total abandonment of responsibilities to act immature and do things on impulse for fun. Not because I have to, but for absolutely no reason at all.

The dates are what I have the hardest time with, partly because I have no time (and you've got to make it) and because I'm broke, also, because I feel extremely guilty over taking time for myself and not allowing anyone else to intrude on this time. (Which causes angry people, because I am not talking to them, doing things for them, ect)

I used to spend time every day fiddling with whatever projects I may have had, my MUD, my graphic design, Mister Sticky (a web movie/comic guy I draw), webpages, writing, just stuff that totally made me happy. There was no reason behind making layouts, I just made them to make them, but I was constantly getting 'why are you making that, if it's not being used for anything?' and sooner or later it wore me down. What exactly was the point of putting time into any project if it wasn't for something productive?

It also requires you to write three pages of anything every morning, aside from any writing projects, ect that you may have. This part is easy, it was just getting past the feeling that if I was writing it should be something productive (there it is again, the whole 'You must be adult' thing) but once I told myself I could write three pages of 'I'm writing three pages of crappy crap crap' over and over and it was ok to do that, that I was fine with it. Slowly I find stuff emerging from the brain drain, odd poetry, bits of stories, and it's fun.

It's definitely helping me get over the feeling like I have to spend sixteen hours a day working, and then take a ten minute break and go right back to work. This is not me, and this is not how I want to live my life, so why am I doing it to myself? Art is not synonymous with childish or irresponsible, and I'm not going to let anyone make me think otherwise.

It's awful when you've done something wrong, and you knew it was wrong when you did it, but your brain is separate from your body and you watch yourself in disappointment from some odd-shaped glass box far away do it anyway.

Ah..

And then later, when you apologize (because you will, because you're a good person and good people don't do things like that, and when they do, they apologize) the person doesn't listen to a thing you say.

So, then you're left with a doubt. Maybe you're not a nice person? Maybe you just think you're nice, but you're really this irresponsible, judgmental, horrid person some people you know like to accuse you of being. Then you really start to kick things around, are you too angry? Too bored? Too stressed? Maybe you're snapping at everyone and don't mean to, maybe everyone does hate talking to you like those people say. Even when your rational mind is screaming "Crazymakers" at you, and you know better then buy into that hokey crap that these people have tried to label you as, you find yourself doing it anyway.

Over, and over, until all that's left to do is choke on it all and take a nap.

Happy Valentine's Day to you. :)

My dog has figured out how to dislocate her shoulders, pull a David Copperfield and get out through the cat door.

This is not good. Any suggestions on how to keep the dog inside without having to play doorwoman for the cats at the front door?

I'm moving furniture around in my room tonight so I can set up DDR. I miss it. I'm having withdrawls, I'm doing the steps when I dream. It's driving me crazy.

Anyone wanna come over and dance with me? It's fun, I promise.

I need new pages for my day planner. I've been using Outlooks planner and it's just not the same, and since I don't have a PDA to put that information in and take it with me, I'm not quite sure what's when if I have to make apppointments outside of being here to put them on my calander. Unfortunatly, I don't even know where in the world I'd find them. Last year it took me a week of searching office supply stores and drug stores before I finally found them. Hopefully this time won't be as difficult. One of these days I'll finally learn, and buy two of everything and then I won't have to go searching so much.

I should go get that today. Right now, even.

I love Quizno's new commercials. They're just not right, and so I find them beyond amusing. Little odd spongmonkeys with goggle eyes, one playing a guitar the other screaming bad songs at you that have nothing to do with sandwiches whatsoever but still manage to catch your attention.

I love it.

If you haven't seen them, you can catch a few clips of what they're like on Quizno's website (the two on the front page are the same in the ads), and even download a screensaver (yes I did, you can also view a part of them singing there) that has random clips of the singing thingies. I'm trying to find a place that has the whole commercials for download, if I find it, I'll post it here. If you're anything like me, you'll find it amusing too.

With the new year for me has come an oddly serene new feeling that everything will work out. With so much on the horizon (trips, classes, more classes, work things, and the like) it's hard to feel anything but positive about the opportunities that are coming up.

Good stuff, this is. All of it. Everything from the YCC to school to all the education classes and organizations I'm a part of outside the college, to restarting my writing program and my stupid exercise program which requires getting up before God even cracks an eye. I like it, I like being busy. It's fun. It keeps me out of trouble, and as much fun as I am in trouble, I just can't afford another bench warrant.

And isn't this just the cutest baby ever?

Something's shaking with Blogger. Sometimes it loads IBOM sometimes it doesn't, it says half the archives are missing too. What kind of two bit joint are they running here? I pay good money for this! I didn't stuff all those envelopes with all those pretty blue and yellow bills and ship them Priority Overnight for nothing.

I think it's time for a layout change. I keep saying this, but I haven't found the time to put one together. I'm not sure what I want here either. Something fresh and new. Or, if time is lacking, something stale and moldy or un-original and stolen...

It's odd how things you never think will move along do, and things you think for sure will, don't. Just when I think I've got it figured out, something new (and not necessarally bad) comes along that gives all my marbles a good toss and I get to once again crawl around on the floor and gather them all back up.

It keeps things interesting though I guess.

Yesterday, in the series of two back to back meetings, I got the green light for a bunch of huge projects that are competely insane, and I can't wait to get them going. I'm a planner, and I love to take on big projects, and (contrary to what some people believe) if the project doesn't involve me, I always get them done and do them well. This is especally true with other peoples projects, or projects that involve work. (My priorities are simple, if it's work or a responsibility to someone else, it gets done first. If they're mine, sometimes I finish them and sometimes I set them aside until I know what direction I want them to go. And sometimes, I just get bored with it and have to take a breather until I'm ready to move the project along.)

One of the largest one involves PST (for those of you who don't know what PST does, our company teaches courses for people in Early Education fields (childcare, centers, administration, preschool teachers, ect) so they can get their yearly licensing hours so they can keep their certification) and the implementation of live courses (currently we do mail order and on-line courses) in the Oregon area. We've secured a lovely classroom and the most amazing timeslots to use this classroom so it's just perfect. Our first series of live trainings are set for April, and I'm really looking forward to having them moving along.

The second one, is one that has made everyone who's heard about it, save three people, call me completely insane. I teach a children's class once a week at a Center, and more and more (especally since spring and summer are not all that far off) I've slowly introduced alot of activites and structure to this class to keep it something that builds week on week, not just a bunch stand alone weekly classes. I've even started the planning of extra weekly classes for summer so that the kids who attend can feel like our activites span throught the entire week, not just when we have them, so that they feel like they're part of the rest of the activities in the Center.

My goal is to make the kids feel like their just as much members as their parents are, and have them really want to come back. So far I've been doing really well. I started with three kids a class, and I now average about 20 kids a class, with about 50 enrolled. What really tops it all though, is the parents tell me that the kids say they have to go, because they can't miss the class. That right there makes the not so great parts of it all worth while.

Anyway, one of my major ideas for expanding the class into a 'Center Program' of sorts if you will, is the plannings of some major trips. Normally my classes are set up in three month season blocks. Every three months there is a party, a field trip, a voulenteer session, a game day, a movie day, and a free play day. The rest of the days are filled with art, science or some other activity that fills up our hour. (Like next week, where we're blowing stuff up...it should be extremely entertaining.) But twice a year I'm going to start throwing a major field trip (major being one that either takes us out of the state, or includes an overnighter trip somewhere) and I got the green light to start planning some very big ones.

The first is for this July, for a summer camping trip, which isn't very major but does include an overnight so it becomes one of the bi-annual major ones. I haven't picked a place to camp yet, and I'm tempted to either make it a camping trip at a local state park, or a camping out in the Centers backyard as a test of how the kids will handle an overnighter so I know how the next one will go. Either way, this should be fun.

The second is in August, I've recieved a nod from the Aquarium for a private sleepover in one of their exhibits (this one, tell me that is not just awesome). I'm extremely excited about this, and have already started to do a bit of planning to make it a weekend trip to the beach that will include some other stops on the way.

The third, is next March, and is currently causing me to wonder if I got myself into something that will make me go grey. I got the basic go ahead to start the kids on thinking up ways to raise money to take them down to Disneyland. (Yes, me, a few adult voulenteers and nearly 50 kids going to Disneyland. I love it.) Unfortunatly I have absolutely no idea where to start with this thing. I contacted their group information line and requested information, and I'm thinking of talking to a (nice) travel agent who might be able to either help me set this up or point me in the right direction.

Sooo, all comments about me being insane aside, if anyone knows anything about planning a trip to Disneyland I could use some pointers right about now. Also, some fund raiser ideas, I already have a huge list of basic ones (yard sales, bake sales, car washes, ect) but I could use some ideas on some really creative ones.

And maybe let me borrow a few of your marbles.

After busting my rump all week long, pulling 12+ hour days sitting here staring at my computer being pulled in sixty directions at once and the majority is customer service (80% of that thanks to the live customer support script I added which keeps me thinking I should make a pretty template for the chat room to make it more cozy, because I'm spending an awful lot of time in there) I am completely ready for a nice long day off. However, since it looks like that won't happen until Jevus finally comes back to take us all to be shooed away from the pearly gates, I'll have to settle for a nice long evening reading a book.

So last night as I was digging through a box of stuff I had packed, I came across this book which I didn't even know I owned. Campy Sci-Fi novels aren't something I generally buy so I was surprised I had it, but lacking anything better to read (also known as being too lazy to drag out any more boxes to find something) I sat down and read it.

It was interesting, it definitely made for an amusing evening of reading for sure. Now all I need is one to read tonight. Hopefully I'm done with work before it gets too late. Once it starts getting dark outside I start getting really drained. I've been pulling 6 to 6 (and sometimes 10) nights alot lately, and it's just going to get more busy, but this is alright because 'more busy' not only equals bad grammar, but it also means that I'll have money to pay off all those friends of Guido's who just don't love me like he does.

For those of you looking (like I was) for the translated lyrics to Cho (Fatal Frame 2's theme song), here they are. Got to love it.

Just because I decided to be a sheep for a minute, I retook this test I took ages ago:




Why do I feel oddly ashamed?

For those of you who are currently looking for a Live Help program that won't cost you an appendage and your first born child, I give you (a link to) Help Center Live. Not only does it cover Live Support, it also has e-mail support, FAQ support, and trouble tickets. It has everything alot of those programs are charging $300.00+ for. Top it all off? It's free.

Holy jezum crow.

The program installed without a hitch on one of my business sites (something which never happens and was terrifying in itself) and the next release (which comes out in Feb) includes fun things to make it more easily customizable and efficient. So, if you've been looking for one, there you go.

Also, my wickedly naughty cat, Ewok, who's been missing for the past five days and presumed kidnapped has returned home. I suppose I can put in that call to tell the National Guard they don't have to come out here now.

According to 'people who know' 23 is some sort of odd turning point year for me based on my numerological score or some woohoo type stuff I didn't quite get. Although numerology fascinates me, it also bares a vague resemblance to math (I think it's the numbers) and so I have a heck of a time not behaving like a distracted two year old when someone is explaining to me how it works.

Although, I have to agree with them, it's only been two months since my birthday and it's already been a weird year, but not in a bad way, and that's alright with me.

I'm hoping though that this year turns out better then last year, which was just one of those years that make you rig an eye poker with cotton on the pointy end so you can have the glee of poking yourself in the eye repeatedly without the pain. It was a frustrating year. A year that oddly resembled a paper-cut, but I giggled at it and moved along.

This year I decided will be good. Really good. Really really really good. I've got loads of nifty (and sometimes slightly naughty) stuff lined up for the next eleven months, and hopefully it all turns out....well, good.

Maybe even sailor good.

Today I officially unofficially officially turned in my apartment keys. I had over a week ago, but my landlady called with another one of her 'could you for me' and I got conned into repicking up the keys and not only bug bombing the apartment for her, but cleaning it again and sorting and cleaning out all her ruined items (Probably.....40 boxes and a dozen bags of stuff, mainly books that were moldy and sogging) that got wet from the water heater that she stored in the garage while I lived there.

I've been moved out for nearly two weeks now and she's still calling Multiple times daily and taping notes to the front door of the apartment when I haven't been there in almost two weeks. I'm glad to be out of there and done with it.

Oh well, my next place will be better anyway.

Since February is fast approaching (the quickness of this is startling) it's time for a new layout here.

I expect good things from all of you in my mailbox before the first. Chop, chop.

When I got home from my long morning of running around like a headless chicken doing errands I made tea in this huge 64 ounce insulated mug thing I've got that I normally use for water.

Now, two and a half hours later it's still hot.

I love this thing.

I got a Paperwhite kit for Christmas. Although some people I'm sure would think it was a present only a few steps up from a Chia Pet, I thought it was really cool. They got planted and are currently over the kitchen sink in two pretty pots. They've even started to sprout already.

Once they root I'll move them to my desk, and then in a few weeks it will be like Springtime next to my lamp, but without the bugs and Daylight Savings Time.

I dragged my zombie like carcass to a party last night. (Happy Birthday Joe) It's the first time in a good month that I've done any sort of socializing that didn't have children or work or a current event in my life attached to it. It was a shame that I was too out of it to really enjoy it. I spent most of the night trying not to fall asleep or drool on the person sitting next to me.

I managed a bit of yacking it up with a fellow author, who hinted that she's got a new book on the way, but wouldn't really tell me more then that. I ment to ask her about her writers group, to see if I could still get back in it (I was invited once before but never made the meetings). I know that she was involved with two others one critique and one normal type writers group. I'd rather be a part of the latter then the first, I'm not quite prepared enough with any manuscripts to have them blown to bits. Unfortunately, my moronic-like state left me being a total airhead and I didn't remember about wanting to ask her until I was halfway home.

Other then that I mostly wandered aimlessly and stared off into space. Ate some good food, had a piece of cake (Which is surprising to me, because I never eat it), listened to people say some really touching things and cry. Luckily, I was too night-of-the-living-deaded out to cry. All in all, it was a nice quiet evening.

Today I plan on doing one last clean of the apartment (sans garbage in the garage that doesn't belong to me. I refuse to pay the money for a dumpster to throw away things that were ruined when the water heated exploded that belong to the owner. I'm nice, and I feel horrible about leaving garbage in the apartment, even if it doesn't belong to me, but my niceness in this situation is slowly evaporating) and returning the keys. Then I think I might just spend the rest of the day goofing off, maybe I'll make a new layout for IBOM or just be completely irresponsible. It is, after all, Saturday.

I found my frog charm bracelet last night. I know it's boring blog material, but nobody reads this anyway, so what does it matter what I post here?

A few months back I thought for sure that it got accidentally thrown away, and I was developing a twitch at the idea of having to rebuild it from scratch. So, off an on I spent some time surfing charm shop webpages, visiting bead shops and watching E-bay to see how much it was going to cost me to remake the bracelet. Last time, for those who care, it ran me about fifty dollars.

This time, from all the prices, it looked like it was going to run me around seventy. Seventy dollars for fifteen charms and a bracelet! That's nearly eight dollars a charm. For charms that half are smaller then your finger nail. It's disgusting, especially since I used to work in jewelry and know exactly how much all those charms really cost the sellers to purchase. Making a profit is one thing, ripping people off is another.

Lucky for me, last night while I was unpacking a box I found the bracelet. In the same sandwich bag it was in when I lost it. (It was in one, because one of the charms had pulled off it's jump ring while I was at a meeting and I had to stick it in something so I could fix it later. Yes, I have baggies in my purse, no it's not because I keep drugs in them. I keep those in a lipstick case.) Now, I can fix the charm and be on my merry way. Now, I can start a new charm bracelet. I'm thinking, something cute. I have a frog one (this one), a sesame street one, and a moose one (yes, mooses, I couldn't help it, the charms were too darn cute). I built those ones, I have my eye on a pre-built zodiac one, but I'm not sure I'll get it.

Whee! You can never have too many, you know.

Since I'm bored, here are all the charms that are currently on the frog bracelet. This is not including the gemstone drops I've got on there, I can't find those anywhere else. Those deffinatly would have been a pain in the butt, I would have had to order stuff to make them.

Froggy on the Moon

Frogs playing leapfrog

Frog on a lilly pad

Frog on a rocking horse

Just a cute froggy

I also have some others including two frogs hugging and a frog holding a teddy bear. Yes, I'm obsessed, but I can't help it, the cuteness, it's blinding.

"Mommy, when I grow up, I want to be a professional mover."

I'm almost all done moving. The only things currently left are large piles of things that don't belong to me in the garage. The more I stare at it, the more I'm convinced it's secrectly breeding when I turn my back. It's trying to breed enough to reach the step and get me. I think it overheard me mention the words 'trip to the dump' while I was wildly gesturing at it through the garage windows.

If I don't come back today, you know why.

So far I've managed to pin three owners of the Stuff in My Garage That Doesn't Belong To Me™ to come and get their stuff, or at least tell me what to do with their stuff. Unfortunatly other peoples things still remain, including the Landladies (whom, really was very illegal to store things in my garage) who asked me to just see if I could store it in someone elses apartment, which is something I'm not going to do.

I think I'm just going to have to leave it there, since it belongs to her. This eliminates nearly half of the stuff in the garage. This is wonderful, because it means that I'll be completely finished a good two or three hours earlier then I thought I would be. That is, of course, if I don't get smothered by disgruntled yard sale junk first.

Anyone have the translated lyrics for Tsukiko Amano's song 'Cho'? It's the theme from Fatal Frame 2 and I'm completely addicted to it's J-poppy goodness. However, I never got a chance to beat the game so I didn't get to see the translated subtitles of the song at the end.

If you haven't heard it, you can go to this site and it loads as the background music. It matches the game very well, and it's disgustingly catchy, even if it's in Japanese.

For those of you who are wondering, I managed to get to Chapter Seven. That means I had a couple chapters left before I beat the game, which makes me sad, because I never get to beat anything before the PS2 is removed from my house.

So, here are a couple questions answered for you and some of my mindless comments:

* No it's not scary, but there are a couple of spots where I giggled because something startled me. It's good clean creepy lights off after dark fun. Don't be a wuss, play it.

* It's gorgeous as all get out. Even if you don't like horor genre games, it's worth picking up just because it's so dang pretty.

* The ghosts in this one are harder, mainly because they show up in groups insted of just one at a time. Since they're harder in this game (although some people disagree with me on this, because of the way the camera works differently) they show up less often. I've heard people say they repop, but I've never had any repop on me. (and trust me, I spent a heck of alot of time wandering around the same areas) In the last game by the time I was finished I had shot more then 300 ghosts, in this one, by the time I finally had to let it go (crying and snivvling the whole time) I had only shot around 35. Not including door or unhostile ghosts. See, lots less.

* The storyline is pretty good and it's got a couple of nods to the first game that I really appriciated. Plot, got to love it.

It's good fun, and I suggest you go down and pick up a copy and give it a whirl. I actually rented mine, and I still have it. Thanks to the weather, I haven't been able to return it when it when it was due. Isn't that just the way it goes? I don't have the PS2 anymore and I've still got the game and I can't play it.

Mean, just plain mean.

Well, the lovely odd weather continues with three to five inches of ice on the ground for the last two days. It's like the whole neighborhood is my personal skating rink. Anyone want to race around the block?

Unfortunatly, along with this lovely looking 'Silver Thaw' comes fun things like power outages and million mile an hour falling shards of ice that have it out to puncture me in the top of the head. Luckally though the power is back on, and so is my internet connection. I don't much care about the `Net, I was more worried about the frost that was forming on the stuff inside my house because nobody had power.

It is pretty at night though, with the moon shining down on it. Everything looks like crystal. There is another weather system moving in tonight, that is supposed to bring rain. Hopefully rain of the non-freezing sort. The kind that won't knock out my power, or me if I cross the street.

I've been getting nudges from a couple friends about moving to Florida, and believe me, I've been thinking about it. I don't think my fingers will ever thaw, and if they do, I'll probably cry from the terrible burning needle-like pain that will follow.

Kelly is back posting to her blog! Hurray! I really did miss you posting, and I'm glad you're going to be posting lots and lots more. Kelly and her husband James are doing the Discovery Weight Challenge, and I've tossed around the idea of doing it myself, but the fact that the nearest place to do it is in Portland and I have no car is a serious lump in the road. So I think insted I'll just be doing what I'm doing, but more often, and posting more here and in CTF about the whole weight thing. Promise, post more...must....

With the weather the way it has been, digsusting, and the holidays and this gunk with moving, I just haven't been walking and dancing like I normally do. I've got to start doing it again though, however, I think since there is currently a blizzard warning for my area, walking will have to wait. We'll make up for it by adding an extra 40 minutes of being a klutzy dancin' foo a day. Sound good? Good.

My hair froze on the way to work today, it was like straw. How cool is that?

They're closing schools four hours early, and telling people if they have to work past three to get off early because they're expecting a huge storm tonight.

Weather in Oregon, is as usual, very odd.

It started a bit over a week ago. Snowed over night (when they said it wouldn't, of course) a good four inches and over the next two days melted and turned into nasty ice. Then, when it was about completely gone, it snowed again, another five inches, and melted and turned into more nasty ice. Then, when it rained, and was about completely gone by yesterday, it started snowing this morning.

The serious side in me takes over for a sixth of a second, stares out the window and thinks "I'm not going to be able to get anything done in this."

The normal me, the happy, the silly, dorky me. The real me. The one that can make the best situation out of anything, takes it all in stride, and sees the humor in it. The one that has no problem with moving boxes in the heavy falling snow with six inches on the ground because it will be a great challenge and probably quite fun. The me that is perfectly fine with 9 P.M. snowball fights that span the whole neighborhood. The me that is cool with not being able to go anywhere because the UPS man can get anywhere and she'll just order her office supplies off the `net and becides, UPS guys are usally cute anyway. The me some people seem to want so badly to have me pack away in a box and put up on a high shelf somewhere and never take out again because they believe that me being honest and true to who I really am isn't 'adult' or 'responsible' enough because I'm not like them, because I deal with my situations differently then they do, and for me it gets things done, so what should it matter how it gets there?

That one? The real me? She stares out the window, giggles, finds her gloves, and goes outside.

Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.

I love this time of year, and I love you too. :)

Current Christmas Song: Bela Fleck & Bob James - White Christmas

Well, I've given notice. In two weeks I shall be offically homeless. Not for the first time either, fun stuff.

No I haven't posted about it, or even explained it to alot of you, and I don't think I'm going to. I might go into it in detail, but then again I'm awfully tired of the whole situation so I might not. Maybe when it's all settled I will. Although, it will be hard to blog from my brand spanking new stove box under a bridge.

This should be fun. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

For those who were worried like I was and didn't hear, Persa, a fellow blogger who went missing is safely back at home.

Very, very good news. Glad you're back, Persa.

Current Christmas Song: Reel Big Fish - Mele Kalikimaka

I got The Fountainhead today in the mail as a present. I will read it, and then return to you my baffled and shallow thoughts on it.

Sound good? Good.

Yay! Sheep time! Let's do the Friday Five, cause everything else I have to post about is serious, and I want to pretend it's not there for just a little while longer.


1. List your five favorite beverages.
Root Beer
Russian Tea (which kills me, but it's worth the pain)
Green Tea
Vanilla Coke
Water!

2. List your five favorite websites.
I don't really have any favorites. The ones I visit on a daily basis are blogs.

3. List your five favorite snack foods.
Green Olives
Soy nuts
Those weird freeze dried fruit
Hard candy
Lately, jerky

4. List your five favorite board and/or card games.
Candy Land
Candy Land
Candy Land
Candy Land
Candy Land

5. List your five favorite computer and/or game system games.
Oh it beats me, anything horror themed I love.

Wow, I'm so boring. Nevermind, let's not do the Friday Five anymore, it's just going to prove how very shallow I am.

Current Christmas Song: Eugene Maslov - Come All Ye Faithful

The conversations I have when I'm bored, and avoiding work.

Saetan SaDiablo: We're gonna have tuna for dinner!

Saetan SaDiablo: I was playing the bum and hangin' in the kitchen

Rhea Rhyolin: Ewwwwwwwww

Rhea Rhyolin: Tuna is gross.

Saetan SaDiablo: Is not, it's good.

Saetan SaDiablo: Fish is gross though.

Rhea Rhyolin: No, it's nasty.

Rhea Rhyolin: Tuna is fish, mook!

Saetan SaDiablo: Is not, it's fake.

Saetan SaDiablo: It's dolphin.

Rhea Rhyolin: ::laugh::

Rhea Rhyolin: It's baby

Saetan SaDiablo: baby dolphin?

Rhea Rhyolin: Baby people!

Rhea Rhyolin: Tuna is baby people!

Saetan SaDiablo: Ew.


Make me get back to work somebody, and do it quickly.


Current Christmas Song: The Beegie Adair Trio - Let it snow

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to mee-ee. Happy Birthday to me.

You want a Christmas card from me? Even if you don't celebrate Christmas? Yeah, I knew you did.

Pop me by your address so I can stalk you as l send you one. I have five left, so hurry hurry hurry before they're all gone and you don't get a sappy folded cardboard greeting from yours truly.

Current Christmas Song: Jimmy Durante - Frosty The Snowman

We're avoiding the inevitable meeting that slowly approaches this morning at work, so we're doing the Friday Five and talking about ourselves in the plural.

1. Do you enjoy the cold weather and snow for the holidays?
I love snow, I'm not a huge fan of the cold, especially not when I have to drag myself out of bed at 4:30 AM to go walk/jog in it. Snow around Christmas is perfect though, it can snow the day before, melt the day after. Tada, perfection.


2. What is your ideal holiday celebration? How, where, with whom would you celebrate to make things perfect?
Anywhere that's all decorated up, with all the people I love in one spot (actually tolerating each other for once) is my ideal holiday celebration.


3. Do you do have any holiday traditions?
I get my Christmas tree on my birthday, and usually finish decorating then too. Last few years Christmas has been at my house, I suppose that's the new tradition. Always watch the Grinch (cartoon, not the dumb movie) at least 100 times a season, and the holidays haven't started until they play it on T.V. for the first time.

4. Do you do anything to help the needy?
I do what I can when I can, and then daydream that I'm rich and can do so much more.

5. What one gift would you like for yourself?
I want all of my friends in one spot in a cabin in the woods for Christmas. That would be the perfect gift.

Current Christmas Song: The Frogmen's Chorus - The Twelve Frogs of Christmas

I'm taking a break from work to post. Actually, I'm avoiding work by using the excuse that I'm taking a break from work to post. Either way, here I am.

It's not raining today, as much as I love the rain, I am kind of glad for the lull in spittle from above. The reasoning is not because I'm tired of it, but because my living room is slowly turning into an indoor pool. Pretty soon it will be full enough that I can switch on the base board heaters, throw in a gallon or two of chlorine and open it up to the public.

Christ.

The leak, which started a little over a week ago in one spot, has slowly but surely spread itself over a good two foot by two foot area. However, it's not leaking in that entire area, just in certain places that systematically change overnight to miss the saucepans thus ensuring the thorough saturation and ruining of my living room carpet.

If my landlady asks me why I haven't paid rent yet, I am not responsible for the words that come out of my mouth.

Current Christmas Song: Low - Silent Night

Today, as I was walking through the grocery store, I turned the corner and there sat Santa. Decked in his fuzzy white and red suit and settled in a not-so-cozy looking chair next to a table where children were happily decorating gingerbread houses with oozing gooey substances and colorful flecks of sugar.

"There's Santa." I said, shuffling the groceries around in my arms.

"Yep, there's Santa. Why don't you go over and sit on his lap?" She said.

I thought it over. Yes, sitting on Santa's lap would be something I would do. I was after all, wearing a quite flattering pair of belled raindeer antlers. I've got nothing against the man. He's Santa, you've got to love Santa.

"Ho ho ho, you want to sit on my lap? Is that what you said?" Eyeing us walking by, Santa gave another laugh.

"No, I meant she can sit on your lap." She said, gesturing at me with a grin.

"Oh, it's Christmas!" He said, spreding his arms with a really quite naughty glint in his eye. "I think you can both sit on my lap."

Oh yes, Santa. Got to love the man.

Yay! As you can see, I changed the layout for the holidays. This is an older layout I used a couple years ago, but with a few minor changes. Fun stuff!

For those of you wondering, I once again didn't finish NaNoWriMo but I've decided to keep writing on it. When I get it transfered to this computer I'll put a link up so you can read it.