Well, I finally got to the point where I'm about to start mentioning even more new people, and I had to create a spreadsheet (Okay, a table in OpenOffice!) to keep everyone straight, since I don't use identifying information on this blog.
Today was kind of a busy day. I'm really starting to not like RP very much - I liked her okay when I first started working at CAR (pseudonym!), but I'm seeing more and more that she's not a very nice person. She sucks up to Boss a lot, and is his pipeline of information on what happens when he isn't there. I don't like this very much (I can see why my coworkers at the fast food restaurant didn't like me very much), especially because she stole 3 different people out from under me today because she was being a competitive bitch. CRN gave one of the surveys back to me, since I was the one who originally talked to them, and they decided to come back while I was bringing in someone else and talked to RP, who wrote her name on the screening sheet when she knew full well that it should have been mine. So CRN gave it to me. Woo.
Anyway, my other problems with her are that she's only 20 years old and has a baby that she isn't a very good mother to - she told me a story about how her son is so bad that when he was 9 months old, he said "bitch" and got spanked for it. NINE MONTHS OLD. What is this person doing with a baby, and why don't I have one? I'd be a better mother than her. And it's not like he said bitch, anyway. He made a sound that sounded like it, while babbling, which is a thing that infants DO. Christ on a stick, people.
One redeeming quality of RP is that she's stupid, so she agrees with everything I say, even bullshit. Also, she thinks I'm a great singer, so it's nice to have the ego stroked a little bit, even if I know it's because she's an idiot with no life experience.
Anyway. I'm starting to look for a better job, because I kind of hate this one sometimes, especially since Boss drinks on the job. Actually, if he hadn't offered me the job on the spot, I'd have probably gotten a job with Old Navy, because they called for an interview on my first day at CAR. Figures.
I think that's enough bitching about work. Of course, I don't really have much to write about. I had an idea for a story earlier, it just popped into my head, and I wrote down the one line that was in there, but I'm letting the rest float in my head for a bit before I put it down, because if it's actually good, it should stick. (At least according to Stephen King.) Maybe there's still a chance of me getting to write that novel I've wanted to write since I was a kid. I would love that.
Anyway, I need to go and do stuff before I go to bed. I have the house to myself tonight because J and S went to visit a friend of S's and they took the children. Also, M is at work, so it's just me and the puppies. Who are passed out on the floor. I don't know how they are able to do that, since I've been really loud. (I really love singing.)
Why is Coheed and Cambria so awesome?
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Obscure Doesn't Mean Hipster
I like obscure music.
I don't mean that in the hipster sense - it's not liking bands before they were mainstream thing. I mean music that is literally not mainstream, that is literally obscure. I'm talking about music that is usually categorized in New Age, Ambient, Noise, Space Music (which is actually a sub-genre of ambient), Ethnic Fusion, and World. I used to listen to Night Tides on KCUR, my favorite local NPR affiliate, until I didn't have a radio that worked well enough to tune the station. I wish I still had my stereo.
When I say my musical tastes are eclectic and kind of weird, I'm not kidding. I like as much weird stuff as I like (ADD moment - oh! Bjork!) mainstream music. Apparently I'm currently on a .. I don't even know how to classify this group of music. But I'm on a kick of it, whatever it is.
Anyway, I just woke up, haven't even had coffee yet, so am a bit incoherent. I wanted to sleep for longer, but I woke up when the Toddler did and then I started thinking, and that was the end of sleeping.
So basically, I've got nearly every musical genre represented on my iTunes playlist, and this tickles me. Now I need to sort it all and delete the stuff I don't actually want, of which there probably won't be much.
I'll probably write another post later to explain what has been going on in my life outside of my music, because yesterday was rather eventful. Also, I haven't taken my allergy pills in like two days, and I'm very sad, because all I can do today is sneeze and itch.
I don't mean that in the hipster sense - it's not liking bands before they were mainstream thing. I mean music that is literally not mainstream, that is literally obscure. I'm talking about music that is usually categorized in New Age, Ambient, Noise, Space Music (which is actually a sub-genre of ambient), Ethnic Fusion, and World. I used to listen to Night Tides on KCUR, my favorite local NPR affiliate, until I didn't have a radio that worked well enough to tune the station. I wish I still had my stereo.
When I say my musical tastes are eclectic and kind of weird, I'm not kidding. I like as much weird stuff as I like (ADD moment - oh! Bjork!) mainstream music. Apparently I'm currently on a .. I don't even know how to classify this group of music. But I'm on a kick of it, whatever it is.
Anyway, I just woke up, haven't even had coffee yet, so am a bit incoherent. I wanted to sleep for longer, but I woke up when the Toddler did and then I started thinking, and that was the end of sleeping.
So basically, I've got nearly every musical genre represented on my iTunes playlist, and this tickles me. Now I need to sort it all and delete the stuff I don't actually want, of which there probably won't be much.
I'll probably write another post later to explain what has been going on in my life outside of my music, because yesterday was rather eventful. Also, I haven't taken my allergy pills in like two days, and I'm very sad, because all I can do today is sneeze and itch.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
I May Just Die Now
Okay, so I don't know how the people with jobs have the time or energy to write anything worth reading. I barely had the energy to make myself dinner. Or the ability to get up and walk, for that matter. I'm not kidding. I spent four hours on my feet at work today, for the first time since I lost my job in December 2009 (when I'd regularly stand for 9-10 hours and be mostly fine), walking and shifting and reaching over my head and lifting heavy groups of hangers to bag orders, and that plus my decision to walk home (I was at the location within my perceived walking distance today) caused me to be unable to move around until about six hours after I got home. I am not pleased with this development, and I really hope that my resistance to that kind of thing returns quickly, or I'm just going to die. Maybe now. Maybe I'll just fall over sideways onto the couch right now and just die. Blah!
Anyway.. today I learned the Spanish word for stapler (es grapadora, apparently) and that you can get cramps in your knuckles. I also learned that I need more pants than I currently have. This whole owning only two pairs is not going to cut it for work. Anyway, I worked for four hours today, and I've started helping customers for real. As long as I stop forgetting that starch exists and remember to double-check the cash register when I close it, I think I'll be fine. (My cash register training took less than a minute - I don't know how exactly to use the credit card machine, but I imagine I could puzzle that out myself if I really needed to. I guess I'll find out on Monday.) I actually really prefer the main store, where all the action is - it just feels friendlier, and I can walk there and back. Please, scary boss man, let me have that location!
Today was also an excellent day at home - when I got home, S and the Toddler were outside because S was having a smoke, and you pretty much can't leave the Toddler in the house these days if you're going outside, because he will have paroxysms of grief over it. It's kind of hilarious to watch (hey, the kid regularly gives me injuries, I'm laughing at him when he's ridiculous!), but it's really annoying to cope with, so he gets to go outside a bazillion times a day right now, and that works out well for everyone, pretty much. Anyway, they saw me coming and he met me in the yard with a knee hug. It was really, really cute. After I went inside, I ate what was in my lunch box (I really don't need to pack a lunch for work - I never end up eating it, so I'm going to get grazing food instead) and watched Children of a Lesser God, which made me miss using ASL. It also made me cry. And I learned how to say "fuck you!" in sign language, which I'm sure will come in handy. Haha.
J ended up waking up really early (about 4:30), and he wanted to get food, so S went to McDonald's for him, and the Toddler went along, and he almost climbed into his car seat on his own. (I often put him in the car, so I've occasionally been asking him to try climbing in on his own.) When they came back, I took him out of the car (S's hands were full), and I asked him if he could say my name yet, sounding it out for him very slowly. And he said it. Then he said it again. And then he demonstrated for everyone else in the living room (Girl Child completely lit up), and then I used it as a form of bribery later when I was about to give him a bath - I told him if he said my name, I'd put him in the tub right then, and he immediately said it. I'm pretty sure he knows that he's saying my name, S is really the smart one in that department, being his mother and all. But oh god, what a rush! Every time he says it, I just want to grab him and kiss his face off. Totally made my day. (Seriously, this is the absolute best part of my day today, and I mean that. I would be more excited about him finally saying my name than if someone gave me $1000 right now. Not that I would pass up $1000.)
Anyway, I played some FFX later in the evening, worked on my iTunes playlists some more (because I'm just never going to be done with the tweaking, I think), and then I had the idea to look up speech pathology, which I've been thinking about on and off for about 10 years now. I think I'd like to become a licensed ASL interpreter and also get a speech pathology (or assistant) degree and work with deaf children and adults to help them learn to read lips and speak. Maybe. I've had a look at what you have to go through just for the interpreter certifications, and it's going to take me like four years just to get that, and usually a speech pathologist has a master's degree, so it's going to be a very, very long time before I get that, if I manage to do it at all.
Right now, it all kind of hinges on having a car. Doing the math in my head, if I spend absolutely no extra money for about four months, I should have enough saved to get a car that runs. Of course, Christmas is coming up, so I'll tack on an extra month for Christmas. But in any case, I should be able to buy a car by this spring, and hopefully I'll have my permit issues sorted out so I can start driving. (Though if I get the car and can't drive it yet, I'll just figure out how to make it be so S can drive it until I can drive it myself. If she's agreeable - I haven't talked about this with her yet because I haven't had any prospects for getting money until this week.)
I can't think of anything else to say. My brain isn't working very well - I'm really tired and I took two naproxen and a Zyrtec about half an hour ago, so now my brain is extra not working. See? I can't even make words be sentences. But I'm off tomorrow, so I'm going to sleep a lot.
Anyway.. today I learned the Spanish word for stapler (es grapadora, apparently) and that you can get cramps in your knuckles. I also learned that I need more pants than I currently have. This whole owning only two pairs is not going to cut it for work. Anyway, I worked for four hours today, and I've started helping customers for real. As long as I stop forgetting that starch exists and remember to double-check the cash register when I close it, I think I'll be fine. (My cash register training took less than a minute - I don't know how exactly to use the credit card machine, but I imagine I could puzzle that out myself if I really needed to. I guess I'll find out on Monday.) I actually really prefer the main store, where all the action is - it just feels friendlier, and I can walk there and back. Please, scary boss man, let me have that location!
Today was also an excellent day at home - when I got home, S and the Toddler were outside because S was having a smoke, and you pretty much can't leave the Toddler in the house these days if you're going outside, because he will have paroxysms of grief over it. It's kind of hilarious to watch (hey, the kid regularly gives me injuries, I'm laughing at him when he's ridiculous!), but it's really annoying to cope with, so he gets to go outside a bazillion times a day right now, and that works out well for everyone, pretty much. Anyway, they saw me coming and he met me in the yard with a knee hug. It was really, really cute. After I went inside, I ate what was in my lunch box (I really don't need to pack a lunch for work - I never end up eating it, so I'm going to get grazing food instead) and watched Children of a Lesser God, which made me miss using ASL. It also made me cry. And I learned how to say "fuck you!" in sign language, which I'm sure will come in handy. Haha.
J ended up waking up really early (about 4:30), and he wanted to get food, so S went to McDonald's for him, and the Toddler went along, and he almost climbed into his car seat on his own. (I often put him in the car, so I've occasionally been asking him to try climbing in on his own.) When they came back, I took him out of the car (S's hands were full), and I asked him if he could say my name yet, sounding it out for him very slowly. And he said it. Then he said it again. And then he demonstrated for everyone else in the living room (Girl Child completely lit up), and then I used it as a form of bribery later when I was about to give him a bath - I told him if he said my name, I'd put him in the tub right then, and he immediately said it. I'm pretty sure he knows that he's saying my name, S is really the smart one in that department, being his mother and all. But oh god, what a rush! Every time he says it, I just want to grab him and kiss his face off. Totally made my day. (Seriously, this is the absolute best part of my day today, and I mean that. I would be more excited about him finally saying my name than if someone gave me $1000 right now. Not that I would pass up $1000.)
Anyway, I played some FFX later in the evening, worked on my iTunes playlists some more (because I'm just never going to be done with the tweaking, I think), and then I had the idea to look up speech pathology, which I've been thinking about on and off for about 10 years now. I think I'd like to become a licensed ASL interpreter and also get a speech pathology (or assistant) degree and work with deaf children and adults to help them learn to read lips and speak. Maybe. I've had a look at what you have to go through just for the interpreter certifications, and it's going to take me like four years just to get that, and usually a speech pathologist has a master's degree, so it's going to be a very, very long time before I get that, if I manage to do it at all.
Right now, it all kind of hinges on having a car. Doing the math in my head, if I spend absolutely no extra money for about four months, I should have enough saved to get a car that runs. Of course, Christmas is coming up, so I'll tack on an extra month for Christmas. But in any case, I should be able to buy a car by this spring, and hopefully I'll have my permit issues sorted out so I can start driving. (Though if I get the car and can't drive it yet, I'll just figure out how to make it be so S can drive it until I can drive it myself. If she's agreeable - I haven't talked about this with her yet because I haven't had any prospects for getting money until this week.)
I can't think of anything else to say. My brain isn't working very well - I'm really tired and I took two naproxen and a Zyrtec about half an hour ago, so now my brain is extra not working. See? I can't even make words be sentences. But I'm off tomorrow, so I'm going to sleep a lot.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Goodbye, Facebook
Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything worthwhile - my allergies and my sleep schedule nonexistence of late have made it hard to do anything that requires actual thought. So I've been spending quite a bit of time tweaking my iTunes playlist, reading news articles (so many links to share!), discovering new music, watching movies, playing video games, and crocheting. Also, playing with Twitter.
Things haven't exactly resembled anything exciting here lately - same old, same old for the most part. I don't remember if I've mentioned this previously, but I applied for a job with a dry cleaner in my neighborhood, and am still waiting to hear back from them. I don't know if this means they found someone else, or if they lost my application among the many they probably received, as everyone and their mother is desperate for work right now, or if they're just taking their time deciding who to call. I've been on tenterhooks for days, though, and am starting to feel pretty confident that they're not going to call, just like everyone else. I wish I knew what I was doing wrong.
J installed the dishwasher the day before yesterday. It's wonderful. Everyone is so damn excited. We had to have the power off for about four hours, though, so that was kind of a fiasco, but it's a fair trade for a successful installation. Also, because S needed to help J with the install, I had the Toddler for a large chunk of the day, and took him to the park. Of course this was the one hot day this week, and of course I got a sunburn and 12 mosquito bites, and a horrendous allergy flare-up. I'm mostly fine now, though, except I get new mosquito bites every single time I leave the house right now, which is really lame. I am so itchy!
This morning, I woke up to discover that Facebook made some major changes to the entire site. I was already angry with them to begin with after their last "tweak" of the privacy settings, making it more difficult to set them the way I want them because I can no longer tell what some things are set as at all. This makes me pissy. Anyway. I'm completely sick of the way Facebook is run, I hate everything about it, and I've decided to quit using it. I'm in the process of getting a copy of all my data downloaded from Facebook, and then I shall be deleting my account. I don't give a shit who's going to miss me. That's what Google+, e-mail, and fucking telephones are for! Not to mention that I actively use both MSN and Yahoo messenger clients (well, I use Yahoo for E's benefit only, actually), and the fact that I'm not hard to get in touch with at all. So fuck off, Facebook. (I believe S decided the same thing this morning, as did several other people on my Facebook friends list, so I imagine I'll be seeing them all on Google+ shortly.) I've even found a way to make up for the stuff that I was following on Facebook that it is now impossible to follow with the new News Feed - Twitter! So I'm using Twitter to follow Huffington Post and NPR and all the other stuff that I use to find the news articles I read, and will probably use Google+ to keep up with the people I care about.
Anyway, that's really all. As stated previously, nothing exciting has been happening lately. I'm listening to a really beautiful song by M right now, which is pretty awesome.
Speaking of M, he saved my butt on Sunday. I was already having kind of a bad day, and then my iPod got frozen while I was trying to force my computer to recognize its existence. Like really frozen. I couldn't reset it, turn it off, skip the song, hear anything, lock it, or adjust the volume. I could literally do nothing with it. M offered to take it with him to work, and I don't know exactly what he did (something fancy, apparently), but he fixed it within half an hour. Of course, I didn't have access to it until Monday morning, but I was just so happy to have it functioning again that it really didn't matter to me when I got it.
Also, S and I discovered raspberry ginger ale. It's a very happy, pretty shade of fizzy pink. I will be having some with vodka later to see if that's tasty together. I will be having some alone in a minute to see if it's tasty at all.
I hope that I get back to regular postings soon - I'm planning on finally writing that post about growing up Catholic and how I've always sort of known that I was an atheist, but I'm lazy, so here's hoping it actually materializes. Also, I have an idea for a new story bouncing around in my head, but I think I'm going to let it marinate for a little while before I try writing anything down, since about half my stories are poop. Not that I've ever finished one, except for this story that was six pages long that was about a little girl and a pond that I wrote when I was 19. I've been thinking about revisiting that a little bit and seeing if I can tweak it a little bit, and see if I can revisit the same family after a few years have gone by. Maybe.
Anyway, I don't have anything interesting to say.
Things haven't exactly resembled anything exciting here lately - same old, same old for the most part. I don't remember if I've mentioned this previously, but I applied for a job with a dry cleaner in my neighborhood, and am still waiting to hear back from them. I don't know if this means they found someone else, or if they lost my application among the many they probably received, as everyone and their mother is desperate for work right now, or if they're just taking their time deciding who to call. I've been on tenterhooks for days, though, and am starting to feel pretty confident that they're not going to call, just like everyone else. I wish I knew what I was doing wrong.
J installed the dishwasher the day before yesterday. It's wonderful. Everyone is so damn excited. We had to have the power off for about four hours, though, so that was kind of a fiasco, but it's a fair trade for a successful installation. Also, because S needed to help J with the install, I had the Toddler for a large chunk of the day, and took him to the park. Of course this was the one hot day this week, and of course I got a sunburn and 12 mosquito bites, and a horrendous allergy flare-up. I'm mostly fine now, though, except I get new mosquito bites every single time I leave the house right now, which is really lame. I am so itchy!
This morning, I woke up to discover that Facebook made some major changes to the entire site. I was already angry with them to begin with after their last "tweak" of the privacy settings, making it more difficult to set them the way I want them because I can no longer tell what some things are set as at all. This makes me pissy. Anyway. I'm completely sick of the way Facebook is run, I hate everything about it, and I've decided to quit using it. I'm in the process of getting a copy of all my data downloaded from Facebook, and then I shall be deleting my account. I don't give a shit who's going to miss me. That's what Google+, e-mail, and fucking telephones are for! Not to mention that I actively use both MSN and Yahoo messenger clients (well, I use Yahoo for E's benefit only, actually), and the fact that I'm not hard to get in touch with at all. So fuck off, Facebook. (I believe S decided the same thing this morning, as did several other people on my Facebook friends list, so I imagine I'll be seeing them all on Google+ shortly.) I've even found a way to make up for the stuff that I was following on Facebook that it is now impossible to follow with the new News Feed - Twitter! So I'm using Twitter to follow Huffington Post and NPR and all the other stuff that I use to find the news articles I read, and will probably use Google+ to keep up with the people I care about.
Anyway, that's really all. As stated previously, nothing exciting has been happening lately. I'm listening to a really beautiful song by M right now, which is pretty awesome.
Speaking of M, he saved my butt on Sunday. I was already having kind of a bad day, and then my iPod got frozen while I was trying to force my computer to recognize its existence. Like really frozen. I couldn't reset it, turn it off, skip the song, hear anything, lock it, or adjust the volume. I could literally do nothing with it. M offered to take it with him to work, and I don't know exactly what he did (something fancy, apparently), but he fixed it within half an hour. Of course, I didn't have access to it until Monday morning, but I was just so happy to have it functioning again that it really didn't matter to me when I got it.
Also, S and I discovered raspberry ginger ale. It's a very happy, pretty shade of fizzy pink. I will be having some with vodka later to see if that's tasty together. I will be having some alone in a minute to see if it's tasty at all.
I hope that I get back to regular postings soon - I'm planning on finally writing that post about growing up Catholic and how I've always sort of known that I was an atheist, but I'm lazy, so here's hoping it actually materializes. Also, I have an idea for a new story bouncing around in my head, but I think I'm going to let it marinate for a little while before I try writing anything down, since about half my stories are poop. Not that I've ever finished one, except for this story that was six pages long that was about a little girl and a pond that I wrote when I was 19. I've been thinking about revisiting that a little bit and seeing if I can tweak it a little bit, and see if I can revisit the same family after a few years have gone by. Maybe.
Anyway, I don't have anything interesting to say.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Procrastination is Bad, But Links are Good!
I've been procrastinating lately about writing anything because I'm, well, lazy. However, I'm almost done completely redoing my entire iTunes library, which includes correcting files and deleting bad ones and removing the ones that I only deleted out of the library and not off the hard drive. (I had almost 10gb of extra material and am now down to probably less than a gig of stuff I don't want.)
This post is going to be primarily a links post - I'll write a real post about life in a little bit, and post some photos, because yay photos. But now, here are links I've been gathering since September 5th.
Links Round-Up
I complained about Pepperberry earlier this week in this post, but while I was writing that post (and looking at all the links that I used when I wrote it), I came across an article that pointed out that when Pepperberry was launched, they sized all of their stuff down just enough that the Super Curvy size now fits like a Really Curvy, which presumably means that no one above an F or G cup will be able to shop at Pepperberry now unless they want to buy overpriced clothes that are in a size that is too large everywhere else. If I'm going to be forced to buy something that doesn't fit me well, I may as well just get it from Wal-Mart for five bucks instead of thirty at Pepperberry. So disappointed - I was really looking forward to buying some clothes from them after I get a job and lose about 10 inches.
Square Enix is doing a remake of Final Fantasy X, which is only my most favorite video game ever. I'm hoping and praying that the battle system goes unchanged, since I'll probably be unable to play it if it does change. (I'm hilariously bad at real-time battle and most other turn-based systems are too quick for me to keep up with because I'm a rather methodical player.) But oh god oh god the graphicsgasm I shall have! Can't wait, can't wait! (I think they're just making it prettier for the PS3 so it can be in HD, but maybe there'll be new content, too.)
Vladimir Putin is pretty much the coolest leader of a country ever. Dude. Seriously, go look at these photos.
For the last several years, I've noticed that teachers are getting blamed more and more for things that are actually the fault of the parents and students. It's definitely not a profession I intend to go into anymore (I used to want to be a teacher when I was a kid), mostly because there's too much stress and bullshit for the low pay teachers receive. Until teachers are valued for the vital keystone to our world's future that they are, we are going to have nothing but the people who chose teaching because it was easier to become a teacher than it would have been to go into the profession they really wanted. I found an article written by a teacher that tells parents what teachers really would like to say, if they weren't terrified of going to jail, being sued, or otherwise losing their livelihood.
Scientists studied a group of 60 four year olds taking mental function tests, and found that watching nine minutes of Spongebob Squarepants right before taking the test caused them to do measurably worse than the children who watched nine minutes of Caillou or drew pictures for nine minutes. All right then.
Well, now I don't want to live in England anymore. What the hell kind of country rations tests designed to detect cancer early?!
In the rainforests in the Indian state of Meghalaya, there are living bridges. Made of tree roots. And they are pretty.
Cool!
I really like Obama, and I think most of the country is being a little impatient with him - how is he supposed to fix everything George Bush broke in just four years, when Bush had eight to break it all? (Not that it was just Bush, since it was also the entire Congress being rich, pampered assholes.) Anyway, I really liked seeing him be angry with Congress, and I hope that this does something, whether it lights a fire under Congress's collective ass or just gets Obama elected for a second term so that he can finish what he started. I feel proud of him, and I really hope that jobs bill gets passed, because maybe that will finally help me find a job. (Of course, then everyone reading this will probably never hear from me again... :P)
This is just horrifying.
NPR made a chart that shows where the Republican contenders stand on climate change and evolution. This is like a week old, but still relevant if you haven't seen it.
I have made it no secret in the past that I at best look upon Michele Bachmann with disdain, and at worst make fun of her mercilessly. And, of course, there's the recent bit about her in the news that, unless you live under a rock, you know about - the Republican debate where Michele Bachmann yelled at Rick Perry for trying to push through legislation forcing girls to get the HPV vaccination as the Governor of Texas. I think it's hilarious that the American Academy of Pediatrics debunked everything she said about how the HPV vaccine can cause mental retardation. It's even funnier that she tried to defend this, saying that she's not a doctor. Because when you're a public figure, it's totally okay to make completely fallacious statements about something just because you don't agree with its use.
I decided after the whole Toyota fiasco a few years ago that I was never going to buy a Toyota that was made after the 1990s, and after seeing what their idea of an ad campaign is, I don't ever want to own a Toyota ever. Ever ever ever. What the fucking fuckety fuck, Toyota?!
I found this video hilarious. Beware, you may find it mentally raping. S did. (This is all C's fault, he sent it to me!) Also, I really want to find the song that plays during the video, because it's really, really catchy. And I want it.
I was sent this recently, because apparently this is what I should be giving to my boyfriends. Ha.
I read Crazy Things Parents Say a lot, and I saw this the other day and thought it was really cute.
A murder suspect was called for jury duty... in his own trial.
Can't tell if trolling or legitimate... Seriously, I can't tell if this is a joke or if it's an article that was really written in the 90's by some old curmudgeon who didn't trust that new-fangled World Wide Web thing.
This morning, J was reading some statistics to S and me about Fox News viewers. Since we're a household of people who think people who legitimately go to Fox News for their news and political information are stupid, this was just more evidence of the kind of shit this country is going to. I asked him for the link, intending to post it here and freak out about how the whole country is just going to implode, and noticed that he hadn't really paid attention to the website, which is actually a satire website, like The Onion. Yep, that's right, it was a huge joke, and more hilarious for that.
This post is going to be primarily a links post - I'll write a real post about life in a little bit, and post some photos, because yay photos. But now, here are links I've been gathering since September 5th.
Links Round-Up
I complained about Pepperberry earlier this week in this post, but while I was writing that post (and looking at all the links that I used when I wrote it), I came across an article that pointed out that when Pepperberry was launched, they sized all of their stuff down just enough that the Super Curvy size now fits like a Really Curvy, which presumably means that no one above an F or G cup will be able to shop at Pepperberry now unless they want to buy overpriced clothes that are in a size that is too large everywhere else. If I'm going to be forced to buy something that doesn't fit me well, I may as well just get it from Wal-Mart for five bucks instead of thirty at Pepperberry. So disappointed - I was really looking forward to buying some clothes from them after I get a job and lose about 10 inches.
Square Enix is doing a remake of Final Fantasy X, which is only my most favorite video game ever. I'm hoping and praying that the battle system goes unchanged, since I'll probably be unable to play it if it does change. (I'm hilariously bad at real-time battle and most other turn-based systems are too quick for me to keep up with because I'm a rather methodical player.) But oh god oh god the graphicsgasm I shall have! Can't wait, can't wait! (I think they're just making it prettier for the PS3 so it can be in HD, but maybe there'll be new content, too.)
Vladimir Putin is pretty much the coolest leader of a country ever. Dude. Seriously, go look at these photos.
For the last several years, I've noticed that teachers are getting blamed more and more for things that are actually the fault of the parents and students. It's definitely not a profession I intend to go into anymore (I used to want to be a teacher when I was a kid), mostly because there's too much stress and bullshit for the low pay teachers receive. Until teachers are valued for the vital keystone to our world's future that they are, we are going to have nothing but the people who chose teaching because it was easier to become a teacher than it would have been to go into the profession they really wanted. I found an article written by a teacher that tells parents what teachers really would like to say, if they weren't terrified of going to jail, being sued, or otherwise losing their livelihood.
Scientists studied a group of 60 four year olds taking mental function tests, and found that watching nine minutes of Spongebob Squarepants right before taking the test caused them to do measurably worse than the children who watched nine minutes of Caillou or drew pictures for nine minutes. All right then.
Well, now I don't want to live in England anymore. What the hell kind of country rations tests designed to detect cancer early?!
In the rainforests in the Indian state of Meghalaya, there are living bridges. Made of tree roots. And they are pretty.
Cool!
I really like Obama, and I think most of the country is being a little impatient with him - how is he supposed to fix everything George Bush broke in just four years, when Bush had eight to break it all? (Not that it was just Bush, since it was also the entire Congress being rich, pampered assholes.) Anyway, I really liked seeing him be angry with Congress, and I hope that this does something, whether it lights a fire under Congress's collective ass or just gets Obama elected for a second term so that he can finish what he started. I feel proud of him, and I really hope that jobs bill gets passed, because maybe that will finally help me find a job. (Of course, then everyone reading this will probably never hear from me again... :P)
This is just horrifying.
NPR made a chart that shows where the Republican contenders stand on climate change and evolution. This is like a week old, but still relevant if you haven't seen it.
I have made it no secret in the past that I at best look upon Michele Bachmann with disdain, and at worst make fun of her mercilessly. And, of course, there's the recent bit about her in the news that, unless you live under a rock, you know about - the Republican debate where Michele Bachmann yelled at Rick Perry for trying to push through legislation forcing girls to get the HPV vaccination as the Governor of Texas. I think it's hilarious that the American Academy of Pediatrics debunked everything she said about how the HPV vaccine can cause mental retardation. It's even funnier that she tried to defend this, saying that she's not a doctor. Because when you're a public figure, it's totally okay to make completely fallacious statements about something just because you don't agree with its use.
I decided after the whole Toyota fiasco a few years ago that I was never going to buy a Toyota that was made after the 1990s, and after seeing what their idea of an ad campaign is, I don't ever want to own a Toyota ever. Ever ever ever. What the fucking fuckety fuck, Toyota?!
I found this video hilarious. Beware, you may find it mentally raping. S did. (This is all C's fault, he sent it to me!) Also, I really want to find the song that plays during the video, because it's really, really catchy. And I want it.
I was sent this recently, because apparently this is what I should be giving to my boyfriends. Ha.
I read Crazy Things Parents Say a lot, and I saw this the other day and thought it was really cute.
A murder suspect was called for jury duty... in his own trial.
Can't tell if trolling or legitimate... Seriously, I can't tell if this is a joke or if it's an article that was really written in the 90's by some old curmudgeon who didn't trust that new-fangled World Wide Web thing.
This morning, J was reading some statistics to S and me about Fox News viewers. Since we're a household of people who think people who legitimately go to Fox News for their news and political information are stupid, this was just more evidence of the kind of shit this country is going to. I asked him for the link, intending to post it here and freak out about how the whole country is just going to implode, and noticed that he hadn't really paid attention to the website, which is actually a satire website, like The Onion. Yep, that's right, it was a huge joke, and more hilarious for that.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Music Explosion
Last night I decided I was fed up with my music being so disorganized and began the endeavor of getting it sorted out and deleting stuff I meant to delete months ago. Like my Enya stuff, which was a mess - I had six copies of the same song in some instances. I've deleted about 1,000 songs since yesterday evening, when I started, and I've added probably about 150 or so so far, but I'm also still deleting. Exciting stuff. When I started, I had almost 4,000 songs, and I'm down to just under 3,000 now, ranging over the entire musical spectrum. I'm fairly sure I don't have a single unrepresented genre. Well, I was, but S asked me if I had any punk or Goth music, and I'm not sure I have any big band (because, dude, 3,000 songs), but I've got at least a small sampling of almost everything. Obviously.
I've got access to my files from the other hard drive again, and I'm taking great advantage of this by getting everything off of it as soon as possible.
Anyway, the weather here is wonderful and cold and perfect. It feels delicious and like cocoa and crunchy leaves and long sleeves. Favorite time of year ever.
I've been working on a crochet project that my ex-fiance sent me (I left it in England with him because I thought we were getting married), it's actually the first granny square I ever made, which I made with a bunch of random scrap yarn I had, and I'm going to give it to S when I'm done, because she really likes the colors. I'll post a picture tomorrow after I get the chance to take a picture of it. This means when I'm working on it and the Toddler is in bed.
I'm about to go out and drop off a job application, and half the reason I'm so stinking excited about it is because I get to wear a long-sleeved shirt for once! Okay, getting dressed and leaving now, so posting. The Toddler is very displeased that we are not leaving immediately.
I've got access to my files from the other hard drive again, and I'm taking great advantage of this by getting everything off of it as soon as possible.
Anyway, the weather here is wonderful and cold and perfect. It feels delicious and like cocoa and crunchy leaves and long sleeves. Favorite time of year ever.
I've been working on a crochet project that my ex-fiance sent me (I left it in England with him because I thought we were getting married), it's actually the first granny square I ever made, which I made with a bunch of random scrap yarn I had, and I'm going to give it to S when I'm done, because she really likes the colors. I'll post a picture tomorrow after I get the chance to take a picture of it. This means when I'm working on it and the Toddler is in bed.
I'm about to go out and drop off a job application, and half the reason I'm so stinking excited about it is because I get to wear a long-sleeved shirt for once! Okay, getting dressed and leaving now, so posting. The Toddler is very displeased that we are not leaving immediately.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Winter Clothes, Laundry Success, and Rediscovering Music
I often completely forget about the existence of some songs. I will hear a song, love it, and then years later be reminded of it (usually because of a Wikipedia trawl), and be horrified that I don't have it on my iPod. I rediscovered Gone Till November by Wyclef Jean last night while I was reading Wikipedia articles about the previous MTV Video Music Awards shows, from back when they had a huge selection of categories and were actually about music. Anyway, Gone Till November won an award in 1998, and I remember seeing the music video on MTV, because it was right around the time I started watching MTV. (That makes me old, the fact that I can remember when MTV and VH1 had actual music videos broadcasting in the daytime.) But I loved that song, and I forgot all about it, so I am very happy to have rediscovered it. Now once I get all the music off the other computer and reorganize on this computer (J is pretty sure it's the motherboard that's gone bad, but he didn't even check to see if the power button is broken or not, so it could be that, too), I will have the ability to see what I do and don't have, and make sure I haven't already gotten it and just forgotten about it. Because that would be annoying, and I tend to do that rather often.
Anyway, I finished the laundry today. My shirt also arrived, which I'm very excited about, and it's now washed and dried and sitting in my dresser waiting for me to wear it. S and I are picking up the bras tomorrow sometime, after we go to the library to print the email confirmation to prove that I am in fact the person who bought the damn things, and then there will (hopefully) be new bras! Woo! Also, folding sheets is awful and I do not recommend it to anyone who wants to keep their sanity. But there's only one load of dirty clothing right now, and I need to wash the comforters, and that is it. Everything else is clean. I can't say put away because Girl Child won't let me put her clothes away for her and all she does is stuff them in a random part of her dresser and then wonder why nothing fits. All the rest of the clothes are put away, though, except for a few of S's because the dresser simply doesn't have the capacity for more. And the closet is so full I couldn't fit another thing in there if I was Hagrid. I'm feeling pretty good about the state of the laundry, though - it's whittled down to a point where I'll only need to do about a load a day, probably.
I actually had a disagreement with Girl Child about that. She doesn't see why I should want the laundry to be completely done. Because she doesn't care, and she doesn't think it matters. Sometimes I really just want to grab her and shake her - but I'll just fantasize about shoving a banana up her nose instead. (No worries, no crabby hormonal teenagers were harmed in the making of this blog.) Besides, the banana threat worked fairly well as a laugh-inducer earlier, even if she didn't bother doing any of the things I asked her to do until I nagged her about it. I would fall over in a dead faint if I discover tomorrow that she actually bothered to put her sheets on her bed like I told her to. I'm really frustrated with her right now, can you tell?
I spent this morning baby-sitting the Toddler because S didn't get to sleep until after 4:00 this morning and he woke up at 5:30, so at 8:00, she decided to get me up and ask me to take care of him until later. She got another three hours of sleep, which I guess is something. Unfortunately, there was so little coffee left in the house that what I ended up making was like weak tea. It was very sad. J was up until about 6:00 this evening (so almost 24 hours), so I had a little back-up when I was alone with the Toddler, and the day was generally a good one. Dealing with Girl Child was frustrating, the Toddler was both a giant butthead and really sweet, J was mostly playing on his computer and quiet, and S was S. The highlight of my day was playing Final Fantasy X. I'm finally ready to admit that I'm a little over-leveled - I killed Seymour in the battle on Gagazet so quickly that I barely got everyone in on the AP for the battle.
While I was folding the laundry this afternoon, the Toddler hung out with me. I stuck him in the crib while I was playing music and managed to get a decent amount done until he decided he wanted to go back to the living room. It was actually a pretty cool way to fold the laundry, too. I sang to him and he'd either "sing" or start to dance, and then he'd throw one of his stuffed animals at me and start screaming for no apparent reason. He's adorable.
I just heard a weird noise. It sounded like air rapidly leaking from an air mattress, and I was a bit startled, as it started very suddenly, so I began looking all around the living room for the sound, only to discover it was S, with her cheeks puffed out, blowing out air through her mouth. I told her that I was very startled by the noise and had thought it was a giant balloon or air mattress I'd somehow not noticed in the living room leaking air, which she thought was very funny. Then I said, "Oh, you're just leaking again," and she said, "Occasionally I just plug the hole with something.. You know, food, drink, cock, whatever."
Yeah, that's what it's like to live here.
Anyway, I had more stuff to write about. Oh, yes. This evening, I went through the stuff I have stored in totes downstairs (this is what my life boils down to - totes) so I could get all my winter clothes sorted out and ready for when it gets cold. Not that I really need them - if I wear a long-sleeved shirt, I only need a light sweater when it's 30 degrees outside. I barely wore my coat at all. Not that it fits anymore - my chest has gotten too big to button it, and it was the biggest size Kohl's had in that style, and was the first girly coat I've ever owned. I'm a little disappointed, but maybe I'll shrink a little once I lose some weight. Anyway, I got my small supply of winter clothes out and took the clothes that I never, ever wear downstairs to keep down there. They're all clothes that will count as work clothes if I ever manage to get a job, so they'll have to come back up once that happens, unless I have a uniform or something, but for now, they're fine downstairs. Especially since most of them barely make it over my stupid boobs right now. (Hence, new bra.)
Anyway, the hat I made last summer (I made a whole set for myself - scarf, hat, and two sets of arm warmers) finally looks good on me now that my hair has grown out - it looked really stupid last year. Which reminds me, I need to get my ass in gear on the hat I'm making for S so she can wear it with the scarf I made for her last year. Hopefully I'll be able to make Girl Child's Ravenclaw scarf soon, too - she'll like having that.
My hair is sort of long enough to braid. It's not a braid I'd ever wear out of the house, because it's all stubby and it'd fall apart in three seconds if I was moving around at all, but it's good for just sitting here.
Anyway, I'm really tired, and there isn't really a whole lot else to say.
Anyway, I finished the laundry today. My shirt also arrived, which I'm very excited about, and it's now washed and dried and sitting in my dresser waiting for me to wear it. S and I are picking up the bras tomorrow sometime, after we go to the library to print the email confirmation to prove that I am in fact the person who bought the damn things, and then there will (hopefully) be new bras! Woo! Also, folding sheets is awful and I do not recommend it to anyone who wants to keep their sanity. But there's only one load of dirty clothing right now, and I need to wash the comforters, and that is it. Everything else is clean. I can't say put away because Girl Child won't let me put her clothes away for her and all she does is stuff them in a random part of her dresser and then wonder why nothing fits. All the rest of the clothes are put away, though, except for a few of S's because the dresser simply doesn't have the capacity for more. And the closet is so full I couldn't fit another thing in there if I was Hagrid. I'm feeling pretty good about the state of the laundry, though - it's whittled down to a point where I'll only need to do about a load a day, probably.
I actually had a disagreement with Girl Child about that. She doesn't see why I should want the laundry to be completely done. Because she doesn't care, and she doesn't think it matters. Sometimes I really just want to grab her and shake her - but I'll just fantasize about shoving a banana up her nose instead. (No worries, no crabby hormonal teenagers were harmed in the making of this blog.) Besides, the banana threat worked fairly well as a laugh-inducer earlier, even if she didn't bother doing any of the things I asked her to do until I nagged her about it. I would fall over in a dead faint if I discover tomorrow that she actually bothered to put her sheets on her bed like I told her to. I'm really frustrated with her right now, can you tell?
I spent this morning baby-sitting the Toddler because S didn't get to sleep until after 4:00 this morning and he woke up at 5:30, so at 8:00, she decided to get me up and ask me to take care of him until later. She got another three hours of sleep, which I guess is something. Unfortunately, there was so little coffee left in the house that what I ended up making was like weak tea. It was very sad. J was up until about 6:00 this evening (so almost 24 hours), so I had a little back-up when I was alone with the Toddler, and the day was generally a good one. Dealing with Girl Child was frustrating, the Toddler was both a giant butthead and really sweet, J was mostly playing on his computer and quiet, and S was S. The highlight of my day was playing Final Fantasy X. I'm finally ready to admit that I'm a little over-leveled - I killed Seymour in the battle on Gagazet so quickly that I barely got everyone in on the AP for the battle.
While I was folding the laundry this afternoon, the Toddler hung out with me. I stuck him in the crib while I was playing music and managed to get a decent amount done until he decided he wanted to go back to the living room. It was actually a pretty cool way to fold the laundry, too. I sang to him and he'd either "sing" or start to dance, and then he'd throw one of his stuffed animals at me and start screaming for no apparent reason. He's adorable.
I just heard a weird noise. It sounded like air rapidly leaking from an air mattress, and I was a bit startled, as it started very suddenly, so I began looking all around the living room for the sound, only to discover it was S, with her cheeks puffed out, blowing out air through her mouth. I told her that I was very startled by the noise and had thought it was a giant balloon or air mattress I'd somehow not noticed in the living room leaking air, which she thought was very funny. Then I said, "Oh, you're just leaking again," and she said, "Occasionally I just plug the hole with something.. You know, food, drink, cock, whatever."
Yeah, that's what it's like to live here.
Anyway, I had more stuff to write about. Oh, yes. This evening, I went through the stuff I have stored in totes downstairs (this is what my life boils down to - totes) so I could get all my winter clothes sorted out and ready for when it gets cold. Not that I really need them - if I wear a long-sleeved shirt, I only need a light sweater when it's 30 degrees outside. I barely wore my coat at all. Not that it fits anymore - my chest has gotten too big to button it, and it was the biggest size Kohl's had in that style, and was the first girly coat I've ever owned. I'm a little disappointed, but maybe I'll shrink a little once I lose some weight. Anyway, I got my small supply of winter clothes out and took the clothes that I never, ever wear downstairs to keep down there. They're all clothes that will count as work clothes if I ever manage to get a job, so they'll have to come back up once that happens, unless I have a uniform or something, but for now, they're fine downstairs. Especially since most of them barely make it over my stupid boobs right now. (Hence, new bra.)
Anyway, the hat I made last summer (I made a whole set for myself - scarf, hat, and two sets of arm warmers) finally looks good on me now that my hair has grown out - it looked really stupid last year. Which reminds me, I need to get my ass in gear on the hat I'm making for S so she can wear it with the scarf I made for her last year. Hopefully I'll be able to make Girl Child's Ravenclaw scarf soon, too - she'll like having that.
My hair is sort of long enough to braid. It's not a braid I'd ever wear out of the house, because it's all stubby and it'd fall apart in three seconds if I was moving around at all, but it's good for just sitting here.
Anyway, I'm really tired, and there isn't really a whole lot else to say.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Harry Potter and the VMAs
It's been a few days. I haven't had much to say, really, so things have been boring! Sorry!
Anyway, today I finally saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. I was really irritated by some of the (unnecessary) changes that were made to the movie, including the HUGE plot change at the beginning of the Battle of Hogwarts. I also cried from the point where Harry speaks briefly with Snape until just before the end of the battle. I was really disappointed, though, all in all - they could have done it more justice. I'm so glad Pottermore will be open in October, I'm looking forward to stuff that is actually canon. At least I'll always have the books.
This afternoon was fairly uneventful - I got a migraine from a combination of lack of caffeine and attempting to stop crying and probably eyestrain and had to take a nap, had to suffer through a millionth viewing of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and heard a funny story about the Toddler.
The Toddler was not very pleased at being left behind when S dropped me off at the movie theater this morning. (I went to the first showing they had available so it would be super cheap.) When S got him ready to go pick me up, he ran to the door and said, "Me? Meee? Me! Meee!" When they got outside, he chanted "ME!" while looking everywhere for me before S told him that they had to go bye-bye to get me. So he ran to the side of the car his car seat is on and tried to open the door himself. Then he checked the car for me. When I got in the car, he said, "Me!" It was pretty cute. He does the exact same thing, only with a lot more crying and screaming, whenever S leaves the house with M or to make a quick trip to the grocery store when he's awake and left in my care. I imagine he also didn't spend the two hours I was gone asking for me, either, like he does when S is gone. ("Ma? Mom? Ma? Mama? Ma? Mom? Mommm!" Imagine this protracted over the course of two hours, broken up by tantrums and staring at the television.) Moral of the story? Toddlers are a strange species.
I finally repolished my toenails tonight. This is probably the most exciting thing I've done in weeks. They're very dark, because it's getting to be fall and they should stay polished long enough for the weather to cool off so I can stop sweating profusely every time I move. Fuck summer. I had many problems polishing my toenails, too. There was less than an ounce of nail polish remover left in the bottle, and Girl Child managed to lose her bottle, so I had to be very careful when using it to make sure I got all the old polish off on the first try. Then, of course, the color I wanted to use died, so I grabbed the OPI bottle of black that was in the hallway, only to discover that the (almost completely full) bottle was permanently stuck shut. J couldn't get it open when Girl Child asked him to earlier today, so he didn't even try when I asked him. S saved the day with a different bottle of black that has reddish undertones, which was actually pretty cool and closer to what I was originally going for.
Speaking of sweating, S thinks I might have a thyroid problem. Gahoogy-hoo. I really need to get to a doctor sometime soon and figure out what all my myriad problems are.
Wearing my glow in the dark Toy Story shirt to the theater today would have been way more awesome if I'd ever been in a room that was actually completely black. On the other hand, it is totally entertaining to get under the covers and look at my shirt. Yes, I am easily entertained, and I do find it hilarious when Sunshine chases (and catches) her tail.
So tonight, after the nail polishing, S and I watched the MTV Video Music Awards. What a waste of time that turned out to be. I was so disappointed. It was completely moronic, Lady Gaga was pretending to be a man again, which was really irritating, and the only good performance was Adele. She was stunning. Her nails were a little scary, though. 30 Seconds to Mars was nominated for Best Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing, which was why S wanted to watch it, but they didn't even show those on the broadcast. And they didn't win. I don't know who did, but that was pretty disappointing, especially since we got treated to a Lil Wayne performance before it immediately cut to the stupidest show I've ever had the misfortune to find myself watching in my life. It was called I Just Want My Pants Back. It was filmed very much in the style of another MTV show called Undressed, which was on in 1998, except with hipsters instead of college students. Snarky hipsters who don't behave like any normal person I've ever seen.
Basically, MTV is a travesty, and really needs to find a new name for themselves, since I haven't even heard of a music video being featured on MTV in at least five years. The whole thing was a train wreck. One part that was good was when some guy I've never heard of named Rick Ross was in his "dressing room" in a pre-recorded segment, and he was painting and pretending to be Bob Ross. That was absolutely hilarious. "Happy little tree... right there. Happy little trees."
Anyway. I hope I never have the misfortune to ever have to watch MTV again for the rest of my life. I don't care if that makes me old, I like quality music, and almost none of that was quality. It was pulp.
I have a lot of links. Because I am a lazy blogger. Crap.
Links Round-Up Ahoy! (Apparently it's a nautical edition.)
GameStop is a bunch of jackasses, and they'll be lucky if I ever set foot in one of their stores again after this stunt. I might apply for a job with them, though, but I will never shop there. I like my games unopened and unsullied, thanks.
Ron Paul finds FEMA unnecessary. Oh boy. I really do wonder which of the Republican candidates are going to terrify me into voting for Obama in the 2012 election, even though I was already pretty sure I was going to vote for him anyway unless someone truly awesome came along.
I'm disturbed by what some people label as unsafe. I don't think radio waves are harmful. I don't know why anyone ever would. And of course this crazy woman is homeschooling her kids! This is just as bad as that genderless baby. I wonder if they're friends?
Corporations suck. I want a job. Fuck the fucking shareholders.
I love Bad Translator.
You know, I want to make a Jayne Cobb hat. I would totally wear it. I do not, however, think it is a good idea to cosplay as a Jayne Cobb hat. What the hell.
Also, vote for my Rage Comic. I really want to make the front page.
(This blog title was so easy!! Haha!)
And now, I go to bed.
Anyway, today I finally saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. I was really irritated by some of the (unnecessary) changes that were made to the movie, including the HUGE plot change at the beginning of the Battle of Hogwarts. I also cried from the point where Harry speaks briefly with Snape until just before the end of the battle. I was really disappointed, though, all in all - they could have done it more justice. I'm so glad Pottermore will be open in October, I'm looking forward to stuff that is actually canon. At least I'll always have the books.
This afternoon was fairly uneventful - I got a migraine from a combination of lack of caffeine and attempting to stop crying and probably eyestrain and had to take a nap, had to suffer through a millionth viewing of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and heard a funny story about the Toddler.
The Toddler was not very pleased at being left behind when S dropped me off at the movie theater this morning. (I went to the first showing they had available so it would be super cheap.) When S got him ready to go pick me up, he ran to the door and said, "Me? Meee? Me! Meee!" When they got outside, he chanted "ME!" while looking everywhere for me before S told him that they had to go bye-bye to get me. So he ran to the side of the car his car seat is on and tried to open the door himself. Then he checked the car for me. When I got in the car, he said, "Me!" It was pretty cute. He does the exact same thing, only with a lot more crying and screaming, whenever S leaves the house with M or to make a quick trip to the grocery store when he's awake and left in my care. I imagine he also didn't spend the two hours I was gone asking for me, either, like he does when S is gone. ("Ma? Mom? Ma? Mama? Ma? Mom? Mommm!" Imagine this protracted over the course of two hours, broken up by tantrums and staring at the television.) Moral of the story? Toddlers are a strange species.
I finally repolished my toenails tonight. This is probably the most exciting thing I've done in weeks. They're very dark, because it's getting to be fall and they should stay polished long enough for the weather to cool off so I can stop sweating profusely every time I move. Fuck summer. I had many problems polishing my toenails, too. There was less than an ounce of nail polish remover left in the bottle, and Girl Child managed to lose her bottle, so I had to be very careful when using it to make sure I got all the old polish off on the first try. Then, of course, the color I wanted to use died, so I grabbed the OPI bottle of black that was in the hallway, only to discover that the (almost completely full) bottle was permanently stuck shut. J couldn't get it open when Girl Child asked him to earlier today, so he didn't even try when I asked him. S saved the day with a different bottle of black that has reddish undertones, which was actually pretty cool and closer to what I was originally going for.
Speaking of sweating, S thinks I might have a thyroid problem. Gahoogy-hoo. I really need to get to a doctor sometime soon and figure out what all my myriad problems are.
Wearing my glow in the dark Toy Story shirt to the theater today would have been way more awesome if I'd ever been in a room that was actually completely black. On the other hand, it is totally entertaining to get under the covers and look at my shirt. Yes, I am easily entertained, and I do find it hilarious when Sunshine chases (and catches) her tail.
So tonight, after the nail polishing, S and I watched the MTV Video Music Awards. What a waste of time that turned out to be. I was so disappointed. It was completely moronic, Lady Gaga was pretending to be a man again, which was really irritating, and the only good performance was Adele. She was stunning. Her nails were a little scary, though. 30 Seconds to Mars was nominated for Best Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing, which was why S wanted to watch it, but they didn't even show those on the broadcast. And they didn't win. I don't know who did, but that was pretty disappointing, especially since we got treated to a Lil Wayne performance before it immediately cut to the stupidest show I've ever had the misfortune to find myself watching in my life. It was called I Just Want My Pants Back. It was filmed very much in the style of another MTV show called Undressed, which was on in 1998, except with hipsters instead of college students. Snarky hipsters who don't behave like any normal person I've ever seen.
Basically, MTV is a travesty, and really needs to find a new name for themselves, since I haven't even heard of a music video being featured on MTV in at least five years. The whole thing was a train wreck. One part that was good was when some guy I've never heard of named Rick Ross was in his "dressing room" in a pre-recorded segment, and he was painting and pretending to be Bob Ross. That was absolutely hilarious. "Happy little tree... right there. Happy little trees."
Anyway. I hope I never have the misfortune to ever have to watch MTV again for the rest of my life. I don't care if that makes me old, I like quality music, and almost none of that was quality. It was pulp.
I have a lot of links. Because I am a lazy blogger. Crap.
Links Round-Up Ahoy! (Apparently it's a nautical edition.)
GameStop is a bunch of jackasses, and they'll be lucky if I ever set foot in one of their stores again after this stunt. I might apply for a job with them, though, but I will never shop there. I like my games unopened and unsullied, thanks.
Ron Paul finds FEMA unnecessary. Oh boy. I really do wonder which of the Republican candidates are going to terrify me into voting for Obama in the 2012 election, even though I was already pretty sure I was going to vote for him anyway unless someone truly awesome came along.
I'm disturbed by what some people label as unsafe. I don't think radio waves are harmful. I don't know why anyone ever would. And of course this crazy woman is homeschooling her kids! This is just as bad as that genderless baby. I wonder if they're friends?
Corporations suck. I want a job. Fuck the fucking shareholders.
I love Bad Translator.
You know, I want to make a Jayne Cobb hat. I would totally wear it. I do not, however, think it is a good idea to cosplay as a Jayne Cobb hat. What the hell.
Also, vote for my Rage Comic. I really want to make the front page.
(This blog title was so easy!! Haha!)
And now, I go to bed.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Jam Session
Here's a quick post to explain how my day is going.
Girl Child and I just had a jam session of hilarious proportions. She played chords on her guitar while I sang horribly like Phoebe from Friends. It's our Posterity Video of Posterity, and we'll be putting it on my YouTube account later once I have possession of the file.
In any case, we've been getting along really well today (my relationship with her is like she's my kid sister, so we fight a lot). I helped her get some secret items for her Final Fantasy X game earlier, and then nagged her about cleaning her room. We definitely have a strange relationship.
There's not much else to say, really. Just a really good day.
Girl Child and I just had a jam session of hilarious proportions. She played chords on her guitar while I sang horribly like Phoebe from Friends. It's our Posterity Video of Posterity, and we'll be putting it on my YouTube account later once I have possession of the file.
In any case, we've been getting along really well today (my relationship with her is like she's my kid sister, so we fight a lot). I helped her get some secret items for her Final Fantasy X game earlier, and then nagged her about cleaning her room. We definitely have a strange relationship.
There's not much else to say, really. Just a really good day.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Lots of Nonsense, Plus Links!!
Well, today hasn't been terribly exciting so far, just the usual stuff that happens around here - S and I made stupid faces at each other, the Toddler refused to nap until he fell asleep on me at 4:30, right before J and S were about to take him to see some family (of course), Girl Child is sick.. the usual, for the most part. We're supposed to be having D&D tonight, so I may have exciting things to post tomorrow if W and A show up at a decent time for us to start game. And if I get my ass off my computer and shower and nap.
Speaking of showering, today will be the day that I start the No 'Poo thing - I washed out some old travel bottles from when I went to England last year because the ones S bought aren't sufficient, and I will be mixing up my baking soda once I'm done writing this post and hopping in the shower, as you're supposed to mix it fresh.
I've been really slacking on the laundry and I kind of hate myself for it. I think I may clean up the living room after my shower and vacuum, and then nap. Actually, that's a stupid idea, I'll just get instantly sweaty and gross. Okay. I'll clean and vacuum, mix my baking soda, shower, let my hair dry, start a load of laundry, and nap. There. Hopefully I'll feel a little better when I wake up, as I've felt like poop all day.
I've got another link round-up from the course of the day - apparently I read enough news websites to qualify for a daily dose of links. They'll be posted at the end.
Wow, there's just not a whole lot to say. Today's just been a day. The last few weeks have basically been the exact same, except I'm sucking with laundry the last couple weeks - I almost got completely finished and was all awesome and stuff, and then I just failed because I was so exhausted, and then it got so hot and I don't like to move at all when it's hot. So I just suck and need to cut that shit out.
Anyway. It's just me and Girl Child, and she's in her room. It's really quiet. And I have such strange taste in music. I've been listening to Voltaire's Star Trek songs, and the CD Brent Spiner put out a few years ago today. Combine that with all the other weird stuff I listen to, and you've got the ultimate dorky collection. I have more music in that vein than anything else, probably. I wonder when I started liking satirists so much? (I've also got Garfunkel and Oates, Jonathan Coulton, Weird Al, and some other stuff I can't remember offhand right now - my playlist is currently over 2,500 songs strong, and the only thing I have in a truly high concentration is M's music - about 20% of my music library is him.) And oh god, I just went from Zombies On Your Lawn to The Good Stuff by Kenny Chesney. That is such a strange transition.
And now.. onward to... LINKS!!
Link Round-Up
This is one of the most terrifyingly mesmerizing music videos I've ever seen. Oh. My. God. I.. just.. what I don't even..
This is just asinine. I hate commercials, and this is a big part of why. It's so disturbing!
Here are some reasons why filesharing is good for music.
It's seriously time to allow change to happen, and if you don't understand computers, you should definitely step aside and not make laws about them.
I found this New York Times article about atheism being on the rise (written in 2009, but still fairly relevant) to be pretty interesting.
Michele Bachmann, who I hold in about as high regard as I do Sarah Palin, won't answer questions about the small business she and her husband own that she's always going on about. Please don't let her be President, America. That would really suck.
I officially love this lady. Seriously, what a person!
I need to research this issue a bit more, but I'm not sure how I feel about e-tickets - it feels a little bit too Big Brother for me. Do they zap the car and get the information, or is it just an electronic machine that they create the tickets on when they pull someone over? Or maybe I'm just an idiot, because obviously they're still going to pull you over, so it must just be an electronic method instead of the paper method. Duh, me.
I already do not like praying mantises (manti?), but this video is hilarious. I love how the announcer is just dying with laughter at the end. It definitely does not increase my love for the things, though. Bleah!
Anyway, time to go do things!
Speaking of showering, today will be the day that I start the No 'Poo thing - I washed out some old travel bottles from when I went to England last year because the ones S bought aren't sufficient, and I will be mixing up my baking soda once I'm done writing this post and hopping in the shower, as you're supposed to mix it fresh.
I've been really slacking on the laundry and I kind of hate myself for it. I think I may clean up the living room after my shower and vacuum, and then nap. Actually, that's a stupid idea, I'll just get instantly sweaty and gross. Okay. I'll clean and vacuum, mix my baking soda, shower, let my hair dry, start a load of laundry, and nap. There. Hopefully I'll feel a little better when I wake up, as I've felt like poop all day.
I've got another link round-up from the course of the day - apparently I read enough news websites to qualify for a daily dose of links. They'll be posted at the end.
Wow, there's just not a whole lot to say. Today's just been a day. The last few weeks have basically been the exact same, except I'm sucking with laundry the last couple weeks - I almost got completely finished and was all awesome and stuff, and then I just failed because I was so exhausted, and then it got so hot and I don't like to move at all when it's hot. So I just suck and need to cut that shit out.
Anyway. It's just me and Girl Child, and she's in her room. It's really quiet. And I have such strange taste in music. I've been listening to Voltaire's Star Trek songs, and the CD Brent Spiner put out a few years ago today. Combine that with all the other weird stuff I listen to, and you've got the ultimate dorky collection. I have more music in that vein than anything else, probably. I wonder when I started liking satirists so much? (I've also got Garfunkel and Oates, Jonathan Coulton, Weird Al, and some other stuff I can't remember offhand right now - my playlist is currently over 2,500 songs strong, and the only thing I have in a truly high concentration is M's music - about 20% of my music library is him.) And oh god, I just went from Zombies On Your Lawn to The Good Stuff by Kenny Chesney. That is such a strange transition.
And now.. onward to... LINKS!!
Link Round-Up
This is one of the most terrifyingly mesmerizing music videos I've ever seen. Oh. My. God. I.. just.. what I don't even..
This is just asinine. I hate commercials, and this is a big part of why. It's so disturbing!
Here are some reasons why filesharing is good for music.
It's seriously time to allow change to happen, and if you don't understand computers, you should definitely step aside and not make laws about them.
I found this New York Times article about atheism being on the rise (written in 2009, but still fairly relevant) to be pretty interesting.
Michele Bachmann, who I hold in about as high regard as I do Sarah Palin, won't answer questions about the small business she and her husband own that she's always going on about. Please don't let her be President, America. That would really suck.
I officially love this lady. Seriously, what a person!
I need to research this issue a bit more, but I'm not sure how I feel about e-tickets - it feels a little bit too Big Brother for me. Do they zap the car and get the information, or is it just an electronic machine that they create the tickets on when they pull someone over? Or maybe I'm just an idiot, because obviously they're still going to pull you over, so it must just be an electronic method instead of the paper method. Duh, me.
I already do not like praying mantises (manti?), but this video is hilarious. I love how the announcer is just dying with laughter at the end. It definitely does not increase my love for the things, though. Bleah!
Anyway, time to go do things!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
The Rambliest Post Ever
So I haven’t bothered writing a post at all this week. This week has kind of sucked. I’ve been completely sleep-deprived for the last two or three days, and we’re out of cigarettes (and I’m not sure if we’re getting more or if only J is going to be smoking from now on), so I’m a real treat to be around right now.
I’ve almost completely finished all the laundry that was taken downstairs, though, so as long as I maintain it a little better, we won’t end up with a laundry mountain taking over the hallway again.
I spent three days working on a new Sharpie art piece - I don't have a photo of the completed version (and I'm not entirely sure I'm happy with the completed version), but I do have a photo of it as it was right before I finished it off.
I've also got photos of the crazy line drawing and the slightly schizophrenic-looking one that I'm pretty sure I've already mentioned previously. I'm going to put those in the photo gallery instead, though, I think. The crazy picture up above I'm thinking about uploading to DeviantArt as a work in progress photo since it's been months since I added anything to my profile.
Anyway, Thursday and yesterday were particularly bad in this incredibly fun week. Girl Child had a friend over for a sleepover, which wasn't a problem, she's actually been working on cleaning her room, so S said she could have her over. The problem came when Girl Child basically seems to have decided that since her friend is over, she can treat me any way she wants, regardless of the fact that I am an adult and she is not. So the last two days have been nothing but us sniping at each other because I've finally cracked. She completely overreacts to everything I say and do, even when I'm being perfectly lovely to her, so I'm done trying to be nice, at least until she adjusts her damn attitude and starts showing me some respect, because I'm sick of her crap.
Today, S and the Toddler are going out to meet up with a friend of S's, AC, for a little while, since it's been awhile since they've seen each other. He's almost doubled in size (or at least it seems that way to me) since AC last saw him in October.
Sunshine is slowly starting to get back to normal, so maybe she won't need to be put down after all. She's sort of started wagging her tail again, and wagging her butt sometimes, too. Unfortunately, she's also started being food aggressive toward Shadow again, even when he's nowhere near the food. And for fuck's sake, we don't starve her! There is always food available. Dumbass dog.
My hair is about as long as it was in March of 2010, so I'm a little over a year behind where I would have been if I hadn't ever cut it, so at least there's that. In about another year, it'll be waist-length, so in about two years, it'll be about to where I want it. It's starting to look thicker, so maybe this not-dyeing thing is working out for me.
I don't particularly have anything of substance I want to write about. I'm feeling particularly anti-social today.
I'm hoping to soon be able to get my learner's permit so I can start to get the hang of driving again - I discussed it with S a week or so ago and mentioned that if I got it in July, I could try for my license in October - I'm hoping to have my license before next spring, because S is planning on having a medical procedure done that would render her unable to drive for over a month, and the entire household would disintegrate if she didn't have a substitute driver. Seriously, no bills would get taken care of, we would starve and die, J would never again get a prescription filled, and the car would eventually run out of gas or something. Of course, we'd have starved and died by then, but still. So it would probably be preferential for me to have a license so I can help in that way - plus, that would enable me to have a bit more independence - I could also get a job further away once I find a job nearby that I can use to get enough money to buy a car.
I was so angry at the couch the other night that I coated it in tape so it would stop falling on me. I hate sleeping on it, we were supposed to get a new couch four months ago, but shit kept happening and we never were able to get one. So I took a roll of packing tape that I had downstairs from a move and taped the cushion fabric to the top of the couch frame. I think, since S and the Toddler are out of the house, I may remove the tape and nail it up there for a more permanent solution, at least until we get a new couch. We're basically going to have to completely take this couch apart when we get rid of it to find all the crap we've lost inside of it.
This week has been crap. The only reason I sound so damn cheerful half the time is because that's just how I sound these days - I don't think there's a power in the 'verse could stop me being cheerful for long. This is what happens when you decide that you are going to be happy no matter what. Eventually you stop trying to seem happy and just are happy. And funnily enough, after writing all this down, I'm a lot less cranky and angry than I was when I started, so maybe that's another little nugget of wisdom I've learned: don't bottle everything up, find an outlet.
The weather here is awful, I wish it was winter again. All my clothes that look good on me are too warm for me to wear unless it's 20 degrees outside. It's currently over 90, and even with the air conditioning on, I feel like I'm melting. I'm wearing my oldest, rattiest pajama pants and an ancient t-shirt, so I should be fine, but my stupid body is convinced that it's actually on fire. (I've had these pajama pants since 8th grade, actually - I got the set specifically for pajama day at Sumner, and the only reason I can still wear them is because the elastic is basically exploded.)
I love the music that M makes - this particular song simultaneously makes me feel like my heart is swelling and makes me think of Jurassic Park. What a combination.
I'm experimenting with not messing with my fingernails at all unless they get a snag, and am working on breaking myself of the only relic of biting my nails - sucking on them. They're still very thin and bendy, and I hope they eventually get hard if I stop putting them in my mouth and idly playing with them, but right now they're like kitten claws - flexible and sharp.
Yesterday, S and I were introduced to a new way to play the Bad Translate game by my friend CN. There's an online tool that does the translation transitions for you, so 10 translations, 20, 30, 40, 50, or 56 - and there are often hilarious results. S and I spent most of yesterday playing with it, writing stream of consciousness passages, nonsensical sentences, and weird phrases to see what we would get. For example, if you input, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," and tell it to translate that sentence 50 times, it comes back with, "Fox Brown cloth." I don't know what the hell that's supposed to mean, but it's pretty funny.
I require more coffee and I am interested to see if we have any canned pumpkin in the house at all, because I'm interested in completely winging a pumpkin cake. Since I'm awesome like that. I just wish I wasn't so tired. I hope today doesn't suck as much as yesterday did.
I’ve almost completely finished all the laundry that was taken downstairs, though, so as long as I maintain it a little better, we won’t end up with a laundry mountain taking over the hallway again.
I spent three days working on a new Sharpie art piece - I don't have a photo of the completed version (and I'm not entirely sure I'm happy with the completed version), but I do have a photo of it as it was right before I finished it off.
 |
| I haven't decided if I want to call this anything or not. It now has a few more ribbons of yellow and some more stars and a black background. |
I've also got photos of the crazy line drawing and the slightly schizophrenic-looking one that I'm pretty sure I've already mentioned previously. I'm going to put those in the photo gallery instead, though, I think. The crazy picture up above I'm thinking about uploading to DeviantArt as a work in progress photo since it's been months since I added anything to my profile.
Anyway, Thursday and yesterday were particularly bad in this incredibly fun week. Girl Child had a friend over for a sleepover, which wasn't a problem, she's actually been working on cleaning her room, so S said she could have her over. The problem came when Girl Child basically seems to have decided that since her friend is over, she can treat me any way she wants, regardless of the fact that I am an adult and she is not. So the last two days have been nothing but us sniping at each other because I've finally cracked. She completely overreacts to everything I say and do, even when I'm being perfectly lovely to her, so I'm done trying to be nice, at least until she adjusts her damn attitude and starts showing me some respect, because I'm sick of her crap.
Today, S and the Toddler are going out to meet up with a friend of S's, AC, for a little while, since it's been awhile since they've seen each other. He's almost doubled in size (or at least it seems that way to me) since AC last saw him in October.
Sunshine is slowly starting to get back to normal, so maybe she won't need to be put down after all. She's sort of started wagging her tail again, and wagging her butt sometimes, too. Unfortunately, she's also started being food aggressive toward Shadow again, even when he's nowhere near the food. And for fuck's sake, we don't starve her! There is always food available. Dumbass dog.
My hair is about as long as it was in March of 2010, so I'm a little over a year behind where I would have been if I hadn't ever cut it, so at least there's that. In about another year, it'll be waist-length, so in about two years, it'll be about to where I want it. It's starting to look thicker, so maybe this not-dyeing thing is working out for me.
I don't particularly have anything of substance I want to write about. I'm feeling particularly anti-social today.
I'm hoping to soon be able to get my learner's permit so I can start to get the hang of driving again - I discussed it with S a week or so ago and mentioned that if I got it in July, I could try for my license in October - I'm hoping to have my license before next spring, because S is planning on having a medical procedure done that would render her unable to drive for over a month, and the entire household would disintegrate if she didn't have a substitute driver. Seriously, no bills would get taken care of, we would starve and die, J would never again get a prescription filled, and the car would eventually run out of gas or something. Of course, we'd have starved and died by then, but still. So it would probably be preferential for me to have a license so I can help in that way - plus, that would enable me to have a bit more independence - I could also get a job further away once I find a job nearby that I can use to get enough money to buy a car.
I was so angry at the couch the other night that I coated it in tape so it would stop falling on me. I hate sleeping on it, we were supposed to get a new couch four months ago, but shit kept happening and we never were able to get one. So I took a roll of packing tape that I had downstairs from a move and taped the cushion fabric to the top of the couch frame. I think, since S and the Toddler are out of the house, I may remove the tape and nail it up there for a more permanent solution, at least until we get a new couch. We're basically going to have to completely take this couch apart when we get rid of it to find all the crap we've lost inside of it.
This week has been crap. The only reason I sound so damn cheerful half the time is because that's just how I sound these days - I don't think there's a power in the 'verse could stop me being cheerful for long. This is what happens when you decide that you are going to be happy no matter what. Eventually you stop trying to seem happy and just are happy. And funnily enough, after writing all this down, I'm a lot less cranky and angry than I was when I started, so maybe that's another little nugget of wisdom I've learned: don't bottle everything up, find an outlet.
The weather here is awful, I wish it was winter again. All my clothes that look good on me are too warm for me to wear unless it's 20 degrees outside. It's currently over 90, and even with the air conditioning on, I feel like I'm melting. I'm wearing my oldest, rattiest pajama pants and an ancient t-shirt, so I should be fine, but my stupid body is convinced that it's actually on fire. (I've had these pajama pants since 8th grade, actually - I got the set specifically for pajama day at Sumner, and the only reason I can still wear them is because the elastic is basically exploded.)
I love the music that M makes - this particular song simultaneously makes me feel like my heart is swelling and makes me think of Jurassic Park. What a combination.
I'm experimenting with not messing with my fingernails at all unless they get a snag, and am working on breaking myself of the only relic of biting my nails - sucking on them. They're still very thin and bendy, and I hope they eventually get hard if I stop putting them in my mouth and idly playing with them, but right now they're like kitten claws - flexible and sharp.
Yesterday, S and I were introduced to a new way to play the Bad Translate game by my friend CN. There's an online tool that does the translation transitions for you, so 10 translations, 20, 30, 40, 50, or 56 - and there are often hilarious results. S and I spent most of yesterday playing with it, writing stream of consciousness passages, nonsensical sentences, and weird phrases to see what we would get. For example, if you input, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," and tell it to translate that sentence 50 times, it comes back with, "Fox Brown cloth." I don't know what the hell that's supposed to mean, but it's pretty funny.
I require more coffee and I am interested to see if we have any canned pumpkin in the house at all, because I'm interested in completely winging a pumpkin cake. Since I'm awesome like that. I just wish I wasn't so tired. I hope today doesn't suck as much as yesterday did.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Ringtones and Other Drivel
So I didn’t post yesterday because it’s really irritating to type on this computer (that’s part of why I haven’t been posting as often), but I really did mean to! Baby-sitting was excellent, TD was the most placid baby ever. He didn’t cry when AD and MD said goodbye and left, he was totally cool about having his diaper changed, he was totally cool with laying down for a nap, he let me feed him without making a mess at all, he was perfectly content to sit in my lap and watch a documentary with me, and he was just generally the easiest baby to take care of ever. The most difficult part of taking care of him was washing out his bottle, because it’s a Dr. Brown’s bottle, but even that was easy, as I’ve dealt with those before. Also, it turns out that they only live about a mile away from me, so it’ll be really easy to baby-sit him in the future.
Seriously, that was the most awesome baby-sitting job I’ve ever had.
We ended up not being able to have game on Saturday night, because J never went to bed on Saturday as there was so much to do. He mowed the lawn after S and the Toddler woke up, and then he just stayed up. While I was baby-sitting, the entire clan was over at J's parents' house hanging out, and Girl Child picked out a cell phone she likes because she's being put on the plan this summer. By the time I got home, J was having what was supposed to be a nap in the giant chair in the living room, but he wouldn't wake up. We didn't get him conscious until after 9:00, and we were supposed to go to W and A's apartment for game this time, but by the time we got J up, the Toddler had had to go to bed because we just couldn't keep him up anymore, he was simply too tired. So W and A came over to hang out (and LW too, of course), and we had some fun chatting with them. W discovered this blog and realized I am not nearly as stupid as I come across. (S says that I only seem stupid because I am perpetually happy in my demeanor and since I am also rather spastic and tend to forget words and replace them with 'thingy', people tend to think I am not nearly as smart as I am.) Apparently I actually make sense when I write.
Yesterday was mostly spent listening to music with Girl Child and turning some songs into ringtones and making a bunch of wallpapers for my phone, too. Here’s a list of (all) the songs I have turned into ringtones:
Psychostick - Do You Want a Taco? (custom ringtone for S when she calls me)
Jimmy Buffett - Cheeseburger in Paradise (currently the custom ringtone for J, but I may change it)
Cowboy Troy - I Play Chicken With a Train (Simlish) (because I find it hilarious)
Jonathan Coulton - Code Monkey (because it’s one of my favorite songs with vocals)
Jonathan Coulton - Chiron Beta Prime (this will be my main ringtone around Christmastime)
Jolly Rogers - All For Me Grog (I may change J’s ringtone to this)
Hakuna Matata (Girl Child’s custom ringtone)
Adele - Rolling in the Deep (I don’t actually like this, but it’s H’s custom ringtone because she likes it)
They Might Be Giants - Why Does The Sun Shine? (another one that I have because it’s really awesome)
Hedwig’s Theme from the first Harry Potter movie (because I’m a nerd)
Canon Rock, arranged by GTRMAN (ringtone for the house phone)
Backstreet Boys - As Long As You Love Me (ringtone for E)
Final Fantasy X Victory Fanfare (my text message tone)
And that’s all I have so far, though I think I might make Still Alive a ringtone as well, just because I may as well round out the dorkyness. I also made Re: Your Brains into a ringtone, but I had to lower the bitrate so much to make my phone like it that it ended up sounding like poop, so I deleted it off my phone and will have to try again later.
Last night, I told M that I really wanted my favorite song by him as a ringtone, but wasn’t sure what part I would use because I love the whole thing so much (I love it so much it sometimes nearly makes me cry), and he asked me to play the part of it that I loved the most, and about ten minutes later, he sent me a file transfer on MSN. With the most beautiful part of the song turned into a ringtone. He even gave it a fade-out at the end. He is so awesome. He made me want to cry.
Today we have a few errands to run, mostly along the lines of groceries and a library trip. I haven’t done any work on my afghan since Sunday morning, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to get some done today, though with as tired as I’m feeling right now, I’m rather doubtful that that will happen.
I exercised some of my creativity last night and created a rather strange picture with my Sharpies (I have a very large set of Sharpies) on some of the drawing paper Mom got me for my birthday. S said it reminds her of the ocean. I’ll try to scan it later so I can put it on DeviantArt and I’ll post a little copy here (or a link to my DA page), and if that doesn’t work, I’ll just take a picture of it.
My earbuds are officially broken - they have to be held at a certain angle for the left one to make any noise at all, so at the moment, my ashtray is holding the cord in place where it’s plugged into my computer so I can hear my music without wanting to scream.
I checked out a buttload of crocheting books from the library awhile ago, and almost all of them are rubbish, of course. I’ll be taking them back today, once S is awake enough that she’s willing to go. I’ve got more waiting to be picked up, oh boy! I’ve managed to renew the books I have out for S a second time, so I don’t have to worry about fines on them, and hopefully I’ll be able to renew them a few more times since she’s still on the first one.
I think I must be being particularly annoying lately or something, because it feels like everyone is being really cranky and impatient with me. Perhaps I should be less talkative or something, I don’t know.
The laundry still isn’t folded. I don’t want to do it because I want to get the rest of the dirty clothes washed, but I think I’m going to do that today or tomorrow. I’m sick of the clean clothes being knocked onto the floor anytime anyone but me or S goes through them, and I’d really like to know what clothes we actually have clean at the moment, because we are all convinced that none of us have anything clean, but we must, because there’s about 10 loads sitting in the living room that say otherwise. Ha.
The Toddler has completely covered his face in a thin layer of applesauce. I’m very amused.
I just discovered another song of M’s that makes me want to cry.
I don’t have anything else to say, really. I hope today turns out to be a good day, though.
Seriously, that was the most awesome baby-sitting job I’ve ever had.
We ended up not being able to have game on Saturday night, because J never went to bed on Saturday as there was so much to do. He mowed the lawn after S and the Toddler woke up, and then he just stayed up. While I was baby-sitting, the entire clan was over at J's parents' house hanging out, and Girl Child picked out a cell phone she likes because she's being put on the plan this summer. By the time I got home, J was having what was supposed to be a nap in the giant chair in the living room, but he wouldn't wake up. We didn't get him conscious until after 9:00, and we were supposed to go to W and A's apartment for game this time, but by the time we got J up, the Toddler had had to go to bed because we just couldn't keep him up anymore, he was simply too tired. So W and A came over to hang out (and LW too, of course), and we had some fun chatting with them. W discovered this blog and realized I am not nearly as stupid as I come across. (S says that I only seem stupid because I am perpetually happy in my demeanor and since I am also rather spastic and tend to forget words and replace them with 'thingy', people tend to think I am not nearly as smart as I am.) Apparently I actually make sense when I write.
Yesterday was mostly spent listening to music with Girl Child and turning some songs into ringtones and making a bunch of wallpapers for my phone, too. Here’s a list of (all) the songs I have turned into ringtones:
Psychostick - Do You Want a Taco? (custom ringtone for S when she calls me)
Jimmy Buffett - Cheeseburger in Paradise (currently the custom ringtone for J, but I may change it)
Cowboy Troy - I Play Chicken With a Train (Simlish) (because I find it hilarious)
Jonathan Coulton - Code Monkey (because it’s one of my favorite songs with vocals)
Jonathan Coulton - Chiron Beta Prime (this will be my main ringtone around Christmastime)
Jolly Rogers - All For Me Grog (I may change J’s ringtone to this)
Hakuna Matata (Girl Child’s custom ringtone)
Adele - Rolling in the Deep (I don’t actually like this, but it’s H’s custom ringtone because she likes it)
They Might Be Giants - Why Does The Sun Shine? (another one that I have because it’s really awesome)
Hedwig’s Theme from the first Harry Potter movie (because I’m a nerd)
Canon Rock, arranged by GTRMAN (ringtone for the house phone)
Backstreet Boys - As Long As You Love Me (ringtone for E)
Final Fantasy X Victory Fanfare (my text message tone)
And that’s all I have so far, though I think I might make Still Alive a ringtone as well, just because I may as well round out the dorkyness. I also made Re: Your Brains into a ringtone, but I had to lower the bitrate so much to make my phone like it that it ended up sounding like poop, so I deleted it off my phone and will have to try again later.
Last night, I told M that I really wanted my favorite song by him as a ringtone, but wasn’t sure what part I would use because I love the whole thing so much (I love it so much it sometimes nearly makes me cry), and he asked me to play the part of it that I loved the most, and about ten minutes later, he sent me a file transfer on MSN. With the most beautiful part of the song turned into a ringtone. He even gave it a fade-out at the end. He is so awesome. He made me want to cry.
Today we have a few errands to run, mostly along the lines of groceries and a library trip. I haven’t done any work on my afghan since Sunday morning, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to get some done today, though with as tired as I’m feeling right now, I’m rather doubtful that that will happen.
I exercised some of my creativity last night and created a rather strange picture with my Sharpies (I have a very large set of Sharpies) on some of the drawing paper Mom got me for my birthday. S said it reminds her of the ocean. I’ll try to scan it later so I can put it on DeviantArt and I’ll post a little copy here (or a link to my DA page), and if that doesn’t work, I’ll just take a picture of it.
My earbuds are officially broken - they have to be held at a certain angle for the left one to make any noise at all, so at the moment, my ashtray is holding the cord in place where it’s plugged into my computer so I can hear my music without wanting to scream.
I checked out a buttload of crocheting books from the library awhile ago, and almost all of them are rubbish, of course. I’ll be taking them back today, once S is awake enough that she’s willing to go. I’ve got more waiting to be picked up, oh boy! I’ve managed to renew the books I have out for S a second time, so I don’t have to worry about fines on them, and hopefully I’ll be able to renew them a few more times since she’s still on the first one.
I think I must be being particularly annoying lately or something, because it feels like everyone is being really cranky and impatient with me. Perhaps I should be less talkative or something, I don’t know.
The laundry still isn’t folded. I don’t want to do it because I want to get the rest of the dirty clothes washed, but I think I’m going to do that today or tomorrow. I’m sick of the clean clothes being knocked onto the floor anytime anyone but me or S goes through them, and I’d really like to know what clothes we actually have clean at the moment, because we are all convinced that none of us have anything clean, but we must, because there’s about 10 loads sitting in the living room that say otherwise. Ha.
The Toddler has completely covered his face in a thin layer of applesauce. I’m very amused.
I just discovered another song of M’s that makes me want to cry.
I don’t have anything else to say, really. I hope today turns out to be a good day, though.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Old Friends, Drama, and Blogging
Yesterday was so bad that I didn't want to post about it. Well, at least not until I'd had some time to process everything and be in a less negative frame of mind.
I got four hours of sleep yesterday, because Girl Child threw the biggest tantrum I've ever seen her throw when J wouldn't let her go downstairs before school. It was five o'clock in the morning. She managed to wake everyone, including the Toddler. I was so angry with her, because she threw off the entire day for everyone, and I am much less patient when I am tired, and I need to be able to be patient, because the Toddler is only 18 months old, and I was not as patient with him as I could have been. I was so exhausted I couldn't cook dinner, which was okay because S and M went out for dinner last night and I didn't have any because I was too exhausted and ended up going to bed around 7:30.
I was in bed for almost 12 hours last night. I slept for almost all of that time.
Nothing of note really happened yesterday beyond the epic tantrum, and I'm not going into detail about that to protect Girl Child's privacy. I don't want her to have to read about it (she reads this blog when she isn't grounded), and I don't want her to decide to revisit this blog when she's 20 and freak out. Because I love her anyway, even when she is being awful. I know that it's only because she's 12 and miserable, because everyone is miserable when they're 12. So I love her anyway, even when she spends months being absolutely awful to me, like she was over the winter.
I think I've mentioned this previously, but for the first time in my life, I have long fingernails. I'm finally not so fucked up that I bite my nails constantly anymore. I've bitten my nails for longer than I can remember. I've had them long for about two months now. I don't think they're particularly attractive (my middle and ring finger nails on both hands grow funny), but they're long. Actually, at the moment, they're too long and I'm having difficulty typing.
I've been reading the blog of someone that I have known for over 10 years, though I don't really know him now. He's part of the reason I started blogging on LiveJournal, and he was one of my closest friends while I was living with my mother, and then everything went to hell in 2005 and we barely spoke after that. Reading his blog, though all but the most recent entry is about three years old.. it led to a lot of introspection and self-examination that made me think some things I'm not ready to put into writing yet. I'm very glad to be back in contact with him, because I have missed him a lot. I shall dub him C. (I think I'm going to make a separate page on this blog soon for keeping the cast of people I talk about straight, I'm starting to get really confused when I talk about people, since I'm only using initials and other things to identify them in order to preserve privacy. That's why I have yet to mention my name or give any indication as to who I am, so that that way the people that may eventually read this that don't really know me won't know or hold it against real-life me.)
Anyway. I need to wrap this up, S and I need to run errands while the Toddler is napping, so hopefully I'll find the time and energy to write later about some of my other thoughts, if they ever become coherent enough to bother writing about.
I absolutely love the music that M makes. It's perfect for helping me concentrate, which is why I want it.
I got four hours of sleep yesterday, because Girl Child threw the biggest tantrum I've ever seen her throw when J wouldn't let her go downstairs before school. It was five o'clock in the morning. She managed to wake everyone, including the Toddler. I was so angry with her, because she threw off the entire day for everyone, and I am much less patient when I am tired, and I need to be able to be patient, because the Toddler is only 18 months old, and I was not as patient with him as I could have been. I was so exhausted I couldn't cook dinner, which was okay because S and M went out for dinner last night and I didn't have any because I was too exhausted and ended up going to bed around 7:30.
I was in bed for almost 12 hours last night. I slept for almost all of that time.
Nothing of note really happened yesterday beyond the epic tantrum, and I'm not going into detail about that to protect Girl Child's privacy. I don't want her to have to read about it (she reads this blog when she isn't grounded), and I don't want her to decide to revisit this blog when she's 20 and freak out. Because I love her anyway, even when she is being awful. I know that it's only because she's 12 and miserable, because everyone is miserable when they're 12. So I love her anyway, even when she spends months being absolutely awful to me, like she was over the winter.
I think I've mentioned this previously, but for the first time in my life, I have long fingernails. I'm finally not so fucked up that I bite my nails constantly anymore. I've bitten my nails for longer than I can remember. I've had them long for about two months now. I don't think they're particularly attractive (my middle and ring finger nails on both hands grow funny), but they're long. Actually, at the moment, they're too long and I'm having difficulty typing.
I've been reading the blog of someone that I have known for over 10 years, though I don't really know him now. He's part of the reason I started blogging on LiveJournal, and he was one of my closest friends while I was living with my mother, and then everything went to hell in 2005 and we barely spoke after that. Reading his blog, though all but the most recent entry is about three years old.. it led to a lot of introspection and self-examination that made me think some things I'm not ready to put into writing yet. I'm very glad to be back in contact with him, because I have missed him a lot. I shall dub him C. (I think I'm going to make a separate page on this blog soon for keeping the cast of people I talk about straight, I'm starting to get really confused when I talk about people, since I'm only using initials and other things to identify them in order to preserve privacy. That's why I have yet to mention my name or give any indication as to who I am, so that that way the people that may eventually read this that don't really know me won't know or hold it against real-life me.)
Anyway. I need to wrap this up, S and I need to run errands while the Toddler is napping, so hopefully I'll find the time and energy to write later about some of my other thoughts, if they ever become coherent enough to bother writing about.
I absolutely love the music that M makes. It's perfect for helping me concentrate, which is why I want it.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Yarn Balls and Cooking
I don't actually remember much about yesterday, probably due to the haze of exhaustion (and heat exhaustion) that we all existed in. It was around 90 yesterday (and today), and it was awful. Anyway, here's what I've managed to remember.
After I finished yesterday's blog post, I started to sort through my music, and then S actually decided to have that nap after all, so I was impeded from doing any meaningful sorting of music by the Toddler, who felt it necessary to get into everything he shouldn't, and then would go cry at the bedroom door at any mention of Mommy and Daddy. This included banging on the door. I forgot that he might need to eat, which turned out to be his entire problem. I felt so bad. S ended up getting up from her nap early because he became inconsolable and needed her, which also made me feel bad. I still haven't finished my music sorting, either, because I've been distracted by other things, though I did manage to delete over 50 songs from iTunes (and also my computer) that I didn't actually like, so at least I got something done with clearing disk space for stuff I actually want. This computer is slowly being turned into a music machine. Whee.
Anyway, I downloaded a couple of free ringtones from The Sims 3 website yesterday, put them on my phone, and discovered that the bitrate on them was too large for them to be ringtones. Yipee. So I downloaded some open-source music editing software, discovered that it didn't do what I wanted, and found another open-source piece of software that does nothing but convert audio files to different formats, and also allows me to change the bitrate. I only converted one of the ringtones, the one I actually wanted, and then entered the world of music editing. My text message tone is now the Final Fantasy X victory fanfare, so every morning when I get my weather check, I win! That's really all that can be said about that. I'm incredibly excited about it, it's much easier for me to convert my mp3s into ringtones than try to find ones for purchase that will work with my phone on my wireless carrier's store, not that I can afford to buy ringtones anyway. I'm not sure if that's illegal or not, but I'm not sharing them with anyone, so I guess it's okay.
Over the last few days, M has managed to get S addicted to Minecraft, and they decided to show each other their worlds on their computers and everything they'd built and done (it's actually pretty ridiculous), and the Toddler was being obnoxious and I wanted a cigarette, so we went outside to run around and play with dandelions (well, the fluffy ones, we don't have any yellow ones at the moment). Because he's not very good at blowing the seeds off yet, only having the lung power of an 18 month old, I helped him by blowing some of them for him... which blew directly into his hair. Between that and him rubbing them on his head, he ended up with a helmet of dandelion fluff. It was really cute. Just as we were about to go inside to show everyone, some of the people who live next door came outside with their daughter, who is only a month or two younger than the Toddler. We tried to get them interacting, but it was to no avail, so we chatted for a bit and I showed the neighbor this really cool handshake we taught the Toddler a couple of weeks ago, and then we said goodbye and I brought him inside. S was highly amused by his hair, then told me to get him outside and get it out. Ha. So I sat on the front porch with him in my lap, painstakingly picking dandelion seeds out of his hair. I'm so never doing that again, it took forever to get it all out.
Late last night, W and A showed up out of the blue, with LW, W's two-year-old son. I can't remember if he's been mentioned previously or not, so from now on, he's LW. Anyway, they hung out and chatted and basked in our air conditioning and then they went home to their hot apartment, poor things. They were supposed to be getting that fixed today, though, so hopefully the apartment won't be nearly as miserable for them now.
I didn't get to sleep until nearly one o'clock this morning because I just could not get comfortable (I desperately need new pillows), and then was jarred awake at 5:45 by Girl Child arguing with J about why she wasn't allowed to go downstairs, which was getting increasingly shrill and shouty, and I interjected with, "(Girl Child), shut up and do as you're told, I'm trying to sleep." Then she tried the "you can't tell me to shut up" thing on me again, and I informed her that I just had, and then J yelled at her to get to her room, and she stomped off crying and slammed her door, which woke S up. After all that, I was basically up for the day, especially after a subsequent argument with the Girl Child involving me asking her what she was doing when she was heading for the direction of the kitchen and the basement door, and since I had no idea what her intention was, I expected her to be attempting to sneak down there, as teenagers like to do, and this induced more shouting, of course. I talked J into making coffee before he went to bed, though, which was incredibly awesome of him and meant that S could have coffee as soon as she was out of bed, which came along pretty quickly as the Toddler woke up as soon as J went into the bedroom.
Today was pretty much nonstop from that point onward. I changed the Toddler while S showered, then he was breakfasted and we had things that sort of constituted breakfast, then I looked at all of S's mp3s to decide what ones I wanted from her that I didn't already have and made a list, and meanwhile, the Toddler was running around grabbing stuff and hitting us with books and generally being a toddler. After awhile, we put him down for a nap and left him with a sleeping J (which worked beautifully, he slept until right after we got home, and since J was there, it was totally safe) while we went to the store. S sat in the car and read one of her library books while I blitzed through the store, grabbing everything we needed. Except, of course, the damn baby bottle brush to clean the Toddler's sippy cups. Again. That's the third week in a row. Anyway, enough facepalming. We got home, I managed to carry everything but S and her crutches inside in one trip, get the cold stuff put away, and collapse for 30 seconds before the Toddler woke up from his nap and demanded for someone to retrieve him. We won't have this luxury in a few months when he gets his own room, though, because he'll probably have a toddler bed by then.
After J got up for the day, we ended up having to go out again, this time to grab him some work food for his lunch, get him some McDonald's, drop his blazer thingy off at the cleaners, and then to the gas station for gas. This was an epic run. I ran into Wal-Mart to get his food, discovered they were out of it, ran back to the car to tell S this, ended up buying the individual size of it instead, discovered that this Wal-Mart actually carries my pesto that I love and bought three jars and a box of penne, and actually remembered the goddamned bottle brush. I had to write it on my arm to remember, but dammit, I got the fucking thing. After that, we drove like crazy to the gas station, where I pumped gas for about the fourth time in my life, but it felt really good to do it. It made me feel like an adult. Anyway, after THAT, we drove to McDonald's, got J his home-food, and drove home, where I ran inside and dropped the food off before running BACK outside to go to the cleaners to drop off his blazer thingy. Then back home to release the Toddler from his prison and let him run around a little.
After I recovered, I spent some time with the Toddler getting the living room partially cleaned. He helped me a lot, actually. He is surprisingly helpful for still being a baby. He put the dirty laundry that was on the floor in the laundry pile in the hall, put all the shoes away, helped put his toys away in his toy box, and picked up all of the trash for me that was on the floor before I vacuumed. We have two vacuums, one is a bagless and the other is traditional, and I started with the bagless before the belt decided it wanted to die and burned itself up halfway through, so I had to switch to the older one that doesn't work as well to finish up, and ended up giving up on it before I got everything because it just stopped picking stuff up. The Toddler even started to help me vacuum, he grabbed the handle and everything, but then he got too scared and ran back to the safety of S's lap. At least he didn't cry this time.
Once the floor was cleaned up, I got the yarn balls that SM (S's mother, for those who have forgotten) made for the Toddler and played with him a bit while S was on the phone with a friend. After she got off the phone, she joined us on the floor and what started as an attempt at an educational experience turned into a hilarious game of throwing the yarn balls at each other in fits of hysterics. There was a ridiculous amount of screaming. Then it was dinner time for the Toddler and the Girl Child went to finish off the kitchen so I could cook dinner. (Yes, I actually cooked, don't pass out or anything.)
Cooking was an adventure. The Girl Child and I had a huge, dramatic, full-out screaming fight about the dishes and her interrupting me when I was telling S what is left to do in there, which ended with Girl Child screaming that everyone hates me and that no one wants me to be here, which was probably the two worst things she could have said, since they're the two things I'm most insecure about. Ouch. Anyway, she was grounded, there was crying, I cooked and ignored her while I cooled off, and then she did a complete 180 on me and was totally nice and sweet and awesome like she usually is for the rest of the time I interacted with her. As much as that fight sucked, I'm glad I actually stood up to her instead of just letting her talk to me like that. And you know, I love her anyway, even when she says terrible things to me.
Anyway, I don't really want to think about that nasty incident anymore than I have to, so I shall continue on with the rest of the story of me cooking.
I overcooked the noodles. It turned out great, but I was horrified at first because the noodles nearly disintegrated. I've never had that happen before, and I've made this a bunch of times, or at least helped to make it, because it's my grandmother's recipe and I've known how to make it since I was three. Anyway, I made a double batch so we can have it tomorrow night, too, and I also cooked up a huge amount of vegetables to go with it for tonight. There's even enough left over for J to have some when he gets home from work tonight. Tomorrow I'm going to throw some more veggies on, throw the second casserole in the oven, and make mashed potatoes to go with it. Om nom nom nom. Throughout the entire time I was cooking, I was also shouting myself hoarse at all the flies that are in the kitchen that we can't quite seem to kill or get to leave the fucking house. I imagine it was pretty funny to listen to, actually.
Anyway, we all sat down and ate dinner, poor S has hardly eaten anything today, so she was starving, and the Girl Child even had some, probably because of the novelty of having potato chips as a dinner topping. (This is a 1950s-style casserole.) She decided to have an apple instead of the vegetables because she didn't like their texture, so S ended up having them when she had seconds.
I'm getting ready to head to bed in a few, even though I'm so keyed up I probably won't be able to sleep for quite a while, so I hope I'm suddenly hit with a wave of exhaustion here soon so I can get a decent amount of sleep.
Anyway, I will write more tomorrow, if anything interesting happens.
After I finished yesterday's blog post, I started to sort through my music, and then S actually decided to have that nap after all, so I was impeded from doing any meaningful sorting of music by the Toddler, who felt it necessary to get into everything he shouldn't, and then would go cry at the bedroom door at any mention of Mommy and Daddy. This included banging on the door. I forgot that he might need to eat, which turned out to be his entire problem. I felt so bad. S ended up getting up from her nap early because he became inconsolable and needed her, which also made me feel bad. I still haven't finished my music sorting, either, because I've been distracted by other things, though I did manage to delete over 50 songs from iTunes (and also my computer) that I didn't actually like, so at least I got something done with clearing disk space for stuff I actually want. This computer is slowly being turned into a music machine. Whee.
Anyway, I downloaded a couple of free ringtones from The Sims 3 website yesterday, put them on my phone, and discovered that the bitrate on them was too large for them to be ringtones. Yipee. So I downloaded some open-source music editing software, discovered that it didn't do what I wanted, and found another open-source piece of software that does nothing but convert audio files to different formats, and also allows me to change the bitrate. I only converted one of the ringtones, the one I actually wanted, and then entered the world of music editing. My text message tone is now the Final Fantasy X victory fanfare, so every morning when I get my weather check, I win! That's really all that can be said about that. I'm incredibly excited about it, it's much easier for me to convert my mp3s into ringtones than try to find ones for purchase that will work with my phone on my wireless carrier's store, not that I can afford to buy ringtones anyway. I'm not sure if that's illegal or not, but I'm not sharing them with anyone, so I guess it's okay.
Over the last few days, M has managed to get S addicted to Minecraft, and they decided to show each other their worlds on their computers and everything they'd built and done (it's actually pretty ridiculous), and the Toddler was being obnoxious and I wanted a cigarette, so we went outside to run around and play with dandelions (well, the fluffy ones, we don't have any yellow ones at the moment). Because he's not very good at blowing the seeds off yet, only having the lung power of an 18 month old, I helped him by blowing some of them for him... which blew directly into his hair. Between that and him rubbing them on his head, he ended up with a helmet of dandelion fluff. It was really cute. Just as we were about to go inside to show everyone, some of the people who live next door came outside with their daughter, who is only a month or two younger than the Toddler. We tried to get them interacting, but it was to no avail, so we chatted for a bit and I showed the neighbor this really cool handshake we taught the Toddler a couple of weeks ago, and then we said goodbye and I brought him inside. S was highly amused by his hair, then told me to get him outside and get it out. Ha. So I sat on the front porch with him in my lap, painstakingly picking dandelion seeds out of his hair. I'm so never doing that again, it took forever to get it all out.
Late last night, W and A showed up out of the blue, with LW, W's two-year-old son. I can't remember if he's been mentioned previously or not, so from now on, he's LW. Anyway, they hung out and chatted and basked in our air conditioning and then they went home to their hot apartment, poor things. They were supposed to be getting that fixed today, though, so hopefully the apartment won't be nearly as miserable for them now.
I didn't get to sleep until nearly one o'clock this morning because I just could not get comfortable (I desperately need new pillows), and then was jarred awake at 5:45 by Girl Child arguing with J about why she wasn't allowed to go downstairs, which was getting increasingly shrill and shouty, and I interjected with, "(Girl Child), shut up and do as you're told, I'm trying to sleep." Then she tried the "you can't tell me to shut up" thing on me again, and I informed her that I just had, and then J yelled at her to get to her room, and she stomped off crying and slammed her door, which woke S up. After all that, I was basically up for the day, especially after a subsequent argument with the Girl Child involving me asking her what she was doing when she was heading for the direction of the kitchen and the basement door, and since I had no idea what her intention was, I expected her to be attempting to sneak down there, as teenagers like to do, and this induced more shouting, of course. I talked J into making coffee before he went to bed, though, which was incredibly awesome of him and meant that S could have coffee as soon as she was out of bed, which came along pretty quickly as the Toddler woke up as soon as J went into the bedroom.
Today was pretty much nonstop from that point onward. I changed the Toddler while S showered, then he was breakfasted and we had things that sort of constituted breakfast, then I looked at all of S's mp3s to decide what ones I wanted from her that I didn't already have and made a list, and meanwhile, the Toddler was running around grabbing stuff and hitting us with books and generally being a toddler. After awhile, we put him down for a nap and left him with a sleeping J (which worked beautifully, he slept until right after we got home, and since J was there, it was totally safe) while we went to the store. S sat in the car and read one of her library books while I blitzed through the store, grabbing everything we needed. Except, of course, the damn baby bottle brush to clean the Toddler's sippy cups. Again. That's the third week in a row. Anyway, enough facepalming. We got home, I managed to carry everything but S and her crutches inside in one trip, get the cold stuff put away, and collapse for 30 seconds before the Toddler woke up from his nap and demanded for someone to retrieve him. We won't have this luxury in a few months when he gets his own room, though, because he'll probably have a toddler bed by then.
After J got up for the day, we ended up having to go out again, this time to grab him some work food for his lunch, get him some McDonald's, drop his blazer thingy off at the cleaners, and then to the gas station for gas. This was an epic run. I ran into Wal-Mart to get his food, discovered they were out of it, ran back to the car to tell S this, ended up buying the individual size of it instead, discovered that this Wal-Mart actually carries my pesto that I love and bought three jars and a box of penne, and actually remembered the goddamned bottle brush. I had to write it on my arm to remember, but dammit, I got the fucking thing. After that, we drove like crazy to the gas station, where I pumped gas for about the fourth time in my life, but it felt really good to do it. It made me feel like an adult. Anyway, after THAT, we drove to McDonald's, got J his home-food, and drove home, where I ran inside and dropped the food off before running BACK outside to go to the cleaners to drop off his blazer thingy. Then back home to release the Toddler from his prison and let him run around a little.
After I recovered, I spent some time with the Toddler getting the living room partially cleaned. He helped me a lot, actually. He is surprisingly helpful for still being a baby. He put the dirty laundry that was on the floor in the laundry pile in the hall, put all the shoes away, helped put his toys away in his toy box, and picked up all of the trash for me that was on the floor before I vacuumed. We have two vacuums, one is a bagless and the other is traditional, and I started with the bagless before the belt decided it wanted to die and burned itself up halfway through, so I had to switch to the older one that doesn't work as well to finish up, and ended up giving up on it before I got everything because it just stopped picking stuff up. The Toddler even started to help me vacuum, he grabbed the handle and everything, but then he got too scared and ran back to the safety of S's lap. At least he didn't cry this time.
Once the floor was cleaned up, I got the yarn balls that SM (S's mother, for those who have forgotten) made for the Toddler and played with him a bit while S was on the phone with a friend. After she got off the phone, she joined us on the floor and what started as an attempt at an educational experience turned into a hilarious game of throwing the yarn balls at each other in fits of hysterics. There was a ridiculous amount of screaming. Then it was dinner time for the Toddler and the Girl Child went to finish off the kitchen so I could cook dinner. (Yes, I actually cooked, don't pass out or anything.)
Cooking was an adventure. The Girl Child and I had a huge, dramatic, full-out screaming fight about the dishes and her interrupting me when I was telling S what is left to do in there, which ended with Girl Child screaming that everyone hates me and that no one wants me to be here, which was probably the two worst things she could have said, since they're the two things I'm most insecure about. Ouch. Anyway, she was grounded, there was crying, I cooked and ignored her while I cooled off, and then she did a complete 180 on me and was totally nice and sweet and awesome like she usually is for the rest of the time I interacted with her. As much as that fight sucked, I'm glad I actually stood up to her instead of just letting her talk to me like that. And you know, I love her anyway, even when she says terrible things to me.
Anyway, I don't really want to think about that nasty incident anymore than I have to, so I shall continue on with the rest of the story of me cooking.
I overcooked the noodles. It turned out great, but I was horrified at first because the noodles nearly disintegrated. I've never had that happen before, and I've made this a bunch of times, or at least helped to make it, because it's my grandmother's recipe and I've known how to make it since I was three. Anyway, I made a double batch so we can have it tomorrow night, too, and I also cooked up a huge amount of vegetables to go with it for tonight. There's even enough left over for J to have some when he gets home from work tonight. Tomorrow I'm going to throw some more veggies on, throw the second casserole in the oven, and make mashed potatoes to go with it. Om nom nom nom. Throughout the entire time I was cooking, I was also shouting myself hoarse at all the flies that are in the kitchen that we can't quite seem to kill or get to leave the fucking house. I imagine it was pretty funny to listen to, actually.
Anyway, we all sat down and ate dinner, poor S has hardly eaten anything today, so she was starving, and the Girl Child even had some, probably because of the novelty of having potato chips as a dinner topping. (This is a 1950s-style casserole.) She decided to have an apple instead of the vegetables because she didn't like their texture, so S ended up having them when she had seconds.
I'm getting ready to head to bed in a few, even though I'm so keyed up I probably won't be able to sleep for quite a while, so I hope I'm suddenly hit with a wave of exhaustion here soon so I can get a decent amount of sleep.
Anyway, I will write more tomorrow, if anything interesting happens.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Screen Resolutions and Sufficient Sleep
I have discovered that this computer resets itself to the lowest resolution possible whenever I restart it. It's very ... special. Fortunately, it lets me set it back on the correct resolution, so it no longer looks like crap. I'm going to spend some time going through the ambient music I haven't sorted yet, and then probably resync the iPod today. Hopefully, it won't lose my place in my audiobook, but in case it does, I'll be writing down where I am so I can return to it easily. (Riveting, isn't it?)
The Toddler is currently chilling in his high chair, alternately eating his big toe and shoving it into his eye, between kisses. Now he's telling his other foot hello. I love how strange he is, he fits into this household so well. He's very funny, he wanted to play with the green hairbrush (it used to be J's, but now it's a toy), and when I handed it to him, he gave it a hug. Then again, he also kisses the vacuum, so it's not terribly surprising. I'm going to have to vacuum the living room in a bit, he dumped all of his cereal on the floor earlier, so we'll see if he still wants to kiss it after that.
I got enough sleep last night! I fell asleep around 11:00 and J and S let me sleep until about 8:00, when I woke up on my own due to the nightmare that I had, which of course I can't remember anything about other than J and S being in it. Anyway, I wandered out of the bedroom (S let me sleep in there again last night), discovered M was up here, and ran and hid until I could find pants. J found this hilarious, the bastard.
I need to go have some breakfast before I die. I think I may have some strawberries or something. I can't remember what all food we have in the house, but we have TONS. Yay food! Anyway, this morning is pretty decent, there's coffee and the Toddler is being pretty quiet, giving us some time to chill out and wake up before spending the entire day stopping him from destroying our stuff.
I'm not sure if we have any errands to do today or not, we keep forgetting to buy stuff at the store, so the list of things we're either out of or almost out of is growing because of this. I guess we'll find out. I don't know what else is planned for today, probably more laundry and getting the living room cleaned up. I hope S has a nap today, she didn't get much sleep last night.
I've been talking to E online today. For those not in the know, E is one of my best friends and we've been friends since we were nine. She lives in the Nashville area now, so I don't see her very often. In fact, the last time I saw her was for her wedding last May. She's still thinking about getting divorced, incidentally, but hasn't done anything about it so far. I feel bad that she's so unhappy with her life. I don't even know why she married him, to be honest. He's nothing like her. Poor girl.
I'm not sure why, but I keep getting sucked into Caillou when I'm trying to do other things, and pretty soon I'm going to have every episode memorized.
Anyway, nothing much is happening today, and my attention span is starting to go, so I'm going to have to wrap this post up and write more later once my brain starts being a brain again.
The Toddler is currently chilling in his high chair, alternately eating his big toe and shoving it into his eye, between kisses. Now he's telling his other foot hello. I love how strange he is, he fits into this household so well. He's very funny, he wanted to play with the green hairbrush (it used to be J's, but now it's a toy), and when I handed it to him, he gave it a hug. Then again, he also kisses the vacuum, so it's not terribly surprising. I'm going to have to vacuum the living room in a bit, he dumped all of his cereal on the floor earlier, so we'll see if he still wants to kiss it after that.
I got enough sleep last night! I fell asleep around 11:00 and J and S let me sleep until about 8:00, when I woke up on my own due to the nightmare that I had, which of course I can't remember anything about other than J and S being in it. Anyway, I wandered out of the bedroom (S let me sleep in there again last night), discovered M was up here, and ran and hid until I could find pants. J found this hilarious, the bastard.
I need to go have some breakfast before I die. I think I may have some strawberries or something. I can't remember what all food we have in the house, but we have TONS. Yay food! Anyway, this morning is pretty decent, there's coffee and the Toddler is being pretty quiet, giving us some time to chill out and wake up before spending the entire day stopping him from destroying our stuff.
I'm not sure if we have any errands to do today or not, we keep forgetting to buy stuff at the store, so the list of things we're either out of or almost out of is growing because of this. I guess we'll find out. I don't know what else is planned for today, probably more laundry and getting the living room cleaned up. I hope S has a nap today, she didn't get much sleep last night.
I've been talking to E online today. For those not in the know, E is one of my best friends and we've been friends since we were nine. She lives in the Nashville area now, so I don't see her very often. In fact, the last time I saw her was for her wedding last May. She's still thinking about getting divorced, incidentally, but hasn't done anything about it so far. I feel bad that she's so unhappy with her life. I don't even know why she married him, to be honest. He's nothing like her. Poor girl.
I'm not sure why, but I keep getting sucked into Caillou when I'm trying to do other things, and pretty soon I'm going to have every episode memorized.
Anyway, nothing much is happening today, and my attention span is starting to go, so I'm going to have to wrap this post up and write more later once my brain starts being a brain again.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Pizza, Silly Songs, and Unemployment
Today wound up being a very full day, all things considered. S and I ran errands, including a major grocery run, which ended in my hip grinding so badly that I could hardly make it through the store. I single-handedly brought in all of the groceries because S really just can’t physically do that right now (though she’ll try if I let her), helped her set the Toddler up for lunch, then put away almost all the groceries myself. What this means is that everything is nice and organized, which I quite like. S and I seem to be the only people in the house that care if we can find food in the fridge.
Anyway, after we got back, S got J up for the day, then the Toddler was put down for a nap, and then J went out to get some McDonald’s, and while he was gone, S was trying to make food in the kitchen for herself and managed to knock down a plate, which completely shattered all over the floor. This would be the second time in 24 hours that something has been knocked down and broken in the kitchen. The vacuum was necessary this time. The plate-breakage is really my fault, though, I’m the one that stacked them haphazardly last night. I had just finished vacuuming the area in the dining room that received a bit of plate shrapnel when Girl Child and J’s grandmother showed up (Girl Child spent the entire weekend with her great-grandmother). While she was visiting with the family, I fixed S’s food for her so she wouldn’t have to get up again, and wound up collapsing on the couch in exhaustion. My lunch wound up being a Choco Taco, which, while wonderful, is not really a sufficient lunch.
Just as J was getting ready to head out the door, S’s parents showed up for a visit. I shall call them SM and SD, because they both have S names, too. J had to go ahead and leave, and then the visiting commenced, coinciding with Toddler’s nap ending. He was very adamant about being removed from his crib and jumped and screamed when it took me a moment to get to him. I actually find his tantrums fairly hilarious, so this doesn’t really bother me, unless he screams directly into my ear.
Anyway, S’s parents ended up staying for dinner, and since we were already planning on having Papa Murphy’s, we just got a bigger size. They got to see the Toddler after a quick shower, and have some cuddle time with him, and he seems to recognize them as Grandma and Grandpa, which is really cute, and there was a lot of fun this afternoon. I got to play with the Girl Child some instead of arguing with her, too. And we did some sort of strange group sing-along involving “The Song That Gets On Everybody’s Nerves” and “The Song That Never Ends” and other hilarity involving this type of thing. Girl Child and I spoke whale at the tops of our voices. (See Finding Nemo if you don’t understand.)
Anyway, I’ve spent a good portion of my afternoon and evening sorting some music for iTunes and adding it, and discovering that I have a ridiculous collection of music, and I seem never to run out of things I want to add. Tomorrow, after I’m done sorting the rest of the unsorted stuff (I have a collection of ambient music and a collection of Randy Newman songs left to go through), I’m going to start going through what I have on iTunes itself to get the playlist parsed down to something a bit more manageable, and with less songs that I don’t really like.
I got an e-mail today from ADT informing me that they are not interested in hiring me. Yipee. No one is interested in hiring me. I am so screwed. I need a job. I need a job that pays money and has health benefits, including vision and dental, and something to do with my brain other than surf the internet all day and play with the Toddler. I’m very frustrated, I have actually made an effort to get a job, but no one will even give me a chance. I hope we do move after we’re able to take M, maybe a different job market will help, maybe I’ll find a job then. I mean, I’m not excited at the prospect of having to wait two years to get a job and I hope that I find SOMETHING in the next few months, but I’m starting to think that there really is nothing out there for me.
Anyway, I’m off to bed in a little bit in an effort to not feel like I’ve been beaten to death and reanimated by a sadist when I wake up.
Anyway, after we got back, S got J up for the day, then the Toddler was put down for a nap, and then J went out to get some McDonald’s, and while he was gone, S was trying to make food in the kitchen for herself and managed to knock down a plate, which completely shattered all over the floor. This would be the second time in 24 hours that something has been knocked down and broken in the kitchen. The vacuum was necessary this time. The plate-breakage is really my fault, though, I’m the one that stacked them haphazardly last night. I had just finished vacuuming the area in the dining room that received a bit of plate shrapnel when Girl Child and J’s grandmother showed up (Girl Child spent the entire weekend with her great-grandmother). While she was visiting with the family, I fixed S’s food for her so she wouldn’t have to get up again, and wound up collapsing on the couch in exhaustion. My lunch wound up being a Choco Taco, which, while wonderful, is not really a sufficient lunch.
Just as J was getting ready to head out the door, S’s parents showed up for a visit. I shall call them SM and SD, because they both have S names, too. J had to go ahead and leave, and then the visiting commenced, coinciding with Toddler’s nap ending. He was very adamant about being removed from his crib and jumped and screamed when it took me a moment to get to him. I actually find his tantrums fairly hilarious, so this doesn’t really bother me, unless he screams directly into my ear.
Anyway, S’s parents ended up staying for dinner, and since we were already planning on having Papa Murphy’s, we just got a bigger size. They got to see the Toddler after a quick shower, and have some cuddle time with him, and he seems to recognize them as Grandma and Grandpa, which is really cute, and there was a lot of fun this afternoon. I got to play with the Girl Child some instead of arguing with her, too. And we did some sort of strange group sing-along involving “The Song That Gets On Everybody’s Nerves” and “The Song That Never Ends” and other hilarity involving this type of thing. Girl Child and I spoke whale at the tops of our voices. (See Finding Nemo if you don’t understand.)
Anyway, I’ve spent a good portion of my afternoon and evening sorting some music for iTunes and adding it, and discovering that I have a ridiculous collection of music, and I seem never to run out of things I want to add. Tomorrow, after I’m done sorting the rest of the unsorted stuff (I have a collection of ambient music and a collection of Randy Newman songs left to go through), I’m going to start going through what I have on iTunes itself to get the playlist parsed down to something a bit more manageable, and with less songs that I don’t really like.
I got an e-mail today from ADT informing me that they are not interested in hiring me. Yipee. No one is interested in hiring me. I am so screwed. I need a job. I need a job that pays money and has health benefits, including vision and dental, and something to do with my brain other than surf the internet all day and play with the Toddler. I’m very frustrated, I have actually made an effort to get a job, but no one will even give me a chance. I hope we do move after we’re able to take M, maybe a different job market will help, maybe I’ll find a job then. I mean, I’m not excited at the prospect of having to wait two years to get a job and I hope that I find SOMETHING in the next few months, but I’m starting to think that there really is nothing out there for me.
Anyway, I’m off to bed in a little bit in an effort to not feel like I’ve been beaten to death and reanimated by a sadist when I wake up.
Drivel, Coffee Mud, and iTunes
That nap I had yesterday resulted in me ending up with almost no sleep at all once I went to bed because S didn't go to bed until around 2:00, so I didn't fall asleep until probably 2:30, then was woken up by J when M came home (they were trying to make the dogs stop barking, and J was shouting), which was around 5:00 this morning. Then my alarm went off at 7:00, but I ended up staying asleep until nearly 7:30, when I started getting worried about why I couldn't hear the Toddler, until I realized J had turned off the baby monitor when he went to bed.
The Toddler was fine, though, happily playing in his crib, so I went downstairs to chat with M for a bit before I needed to retrieve the kiddo, and by the time I got upstairs, S was up and the Toddler was doing something involving his diaper that I won't mention here, but it was not a fun way to start the morning, I'll tell you now.
Anyway, S has been falling asleep on the couch off and on since about 8:00, so I made epically strong coffee. The expression on her face when she tasted it was priceless. I had to bring her more sugar and creamer. This coffee is Jim-or-Davee-at-Micro-Center-strong, which means it's sentient. It's a little stronger than I intended to make it, but at least we'll have some semblance of brain function once the caffeine hits our blood streams.
My hair is getting really long, I'm thrilled. It's about as long as it was at the end of 2009, and considering how short I cut it last summer, that's definitely an improvement. My intention is to let it grow as long as possible, but keep it just above the length where I could sit on it. Then I will completely defeat the purpose of having long hair and wear it up all the time. It's starting to thicken up a little bit, too, now that I'm not using Herbal Essences and have quit dyeing it, it's getting to be really healthy.
I'm going to spend some time (read: all of my time) today organizing my mp3s, since I now have the ability to access my files. Speaking of files, I had a look at the file transfer on J's computer for my external, and I have over 45,000 files. I had no idea, that's crazy. I need to go through all of those and delete the duplicates (I know for a fact I have a lot of duplicates), and sort them into something resembling an orderly fashion. I'm also going to clean up my iTunes and resync my iPod finally (I haven't been able to sync it since February!), and then life will just be awesome and stuff. Or at least my music library will be updated.
S (Captain Gimpy) seems to be doing a bit better. Sometimes I think she overdoes it a bit trying to continue to be independent, but I've been letting her because it bugs her when I try to do everything for her. I'm just worried about her and don't want her foot to end up needing surgery or never healing. I want her to be able to walk without crutches with good reliability, and to be able to do this with a minimum of pain. I'm afraid if she does too much on her feet so soon after the injury that she'll never heal, but I don't know how to help without annoying the crap out of her.
Anyway, I'm quickly drifting into incoherence. I can't quite manage to stay on one subject for long this morning. My single focus is my music right now. And getting access to my photos from 2010 and the beginning of this year so I can add some to my Facebook, S told me ages ago that I could go crazy, but that's when I discovered that my external is very temperamental, so I'm very behind on uploading pictures. I'm feeling very tangential this morning, so hopefully I'll be able to post a more coherent update later today or tomorrow.
The Toddler was fine, though, happily playing in his crib, so I went downstairs to chat with M for a bit before I needed to retrieve the kiddo, and by the time I got upstairs, S was up and the Toddler was doing something involving his diaper that I won't mention here, but it was not a fun way to start the morning, I'll tell you now.
Anyway, S has been falling asleep on the couch off and on since about 8:00, so I made epically strong coffee. The expression on her face when she tasted it was priceless. I had to bring her more sugar and creamer. This coffee is Jim-or-Davee-at-Micro-Center-strong, which means it's sentient. It's a little stronger than I intended to make it, but at least we'll have some semblance of brain function once the caffeine hits our blood streams.
My hair is getting really long, I'm thrilled. It's about as long as it was at the end of 2009, and considering how short I cut it last summer, that's definitely an improvement. My intention is to let it grow as long as possible, but keep it just above the length where I could sit on it. Then I will completely defeat the purpose of having long hair and wear it up all the time. It's starting to thicken up a little bit, too, now that I'm not using Herbal Essences and have quit dyeing it, it's getting to be really healthy.
I'm going to spend some time (read: all of my time) today organizing my mp3s, since I now have the ability to access my files. Speaking of files, I had a look at the file transfer on J's computer for my external, and I have over 45,000 files. I had no idea, that's crazy. I need to go through all of those and delete the duplicates (I know for a fact I have a lot of duplicates), and sort them into something resembling an orderly fashion. I'm also going to clean up my iTunes and resync my iPod finally (I haven't been able to sync it since February!), and then life will just be awesome and stuff. Or at least my music library will be updated.
S (Captain Gimpy) seems to be doing a bit better. Sometimes I think she overdoes it a bit trying to continue to be independent, but I've been letting her because it bugs her when I try to do everything for her. I'm just worried about her and don't want her foot to end up needing surgery or never healing. I want her to be able to walk without crutches with good reliability, and to be able to do this with a minimum of pain. I'm afraid if she does too much on her feet so soon after the injury that she'll never heal, but I don't know how to help without annoying the crap out of her.
Anyway, I'm quickly drifting into incoherence. I can't quite manage to stay on one subject for long this morning. My single focus is my music right now. And getting access to my photos from 2010 and the beginning of this year so I can add some to my Facebook, S told me ages ago that I could go crazy, but that's when I discovered that my external is very temperamental, so I'm very behind on uploading pictures. I'm feeling very tangential this morning, so hopefully I'll be able to post a more coherent update later today or tomorrow.
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