Eireannach Banphrionsa

To parents of small children (babies):

2010-02-12T23:40:00.000-08:00

Please do not bring your babies into my store. Our policy is that babies in arms or carriers (no strollers) are allowed on the second floor only. That is the only floor where the products are pretty much PG-13. Most of the employees are pretty touchy about the subject, and the manager is a flake when it comes to stuff like this. Please make our jobs easier and just get a babysitter for the kid while you go shopping. Please don't try to bring your toddler (or older) child into our store period.

Valentine's Day is one of our busiest times of the year. Please keep that in mind if you end up having to have your baby with you while you shop. The lines are long, we only have a few registers, and every employee is busy with something. We do not have time to personally hold your hand (or your baby) while you shop for something (especially if you're not totally sure what you're looking for). If your baby starts fussing, and you're not done shopping, either get what you have now (if there's no line) and come back later, or just put your items down and leave the store. We don't mind at all, and most of our other customers will thank you. I know it's a pain to have to stop shopping because of the baby, and you might not have a chance to shop later, but our other customers might have a problem with a crying baby while they're shopping for toys, porn, or lingerie. Usually customers have a problem with crying babies no matter where they're shopping, but my store especially (given the nature of the products we sell).

As a side note (to store managers):

Please be consistent in your policy making. If you decide that babies are to stay on the second floor (with their parents), don't allow a baby onto one of the other floors. Don't put us in a bad situation with an irate parent if you're the one who made up the policy we're quoting.

Back to the parents:

Please don't yell at us (or worse, play the race card) for quoting a policy our manager made when it inconveniences you. We are not telling you children are not allowed because you (or the child) are black. We are telling you your child isn't allowed because they're not 18 years old. We don't care if they're 18 months old, they have to be 18 YEARS old. We're also not telling you about the policy because we want you to come back and spend even more money, we're telling you for the comfort of our OTHER customers. You know, those people walking around with products in their hands or standing at the counter handing money to the employee in exchange for the products they selected. Most of them don't feel comfortable shopping for intimate items while a baby is just a few feet from them, and no one feels comfortable shopping for intimate items while a baby is crying and carrying on!

We would love it if you came back without the baby/child, and we would be more than happy to help you select the items you need to make your Valentine's Day more romantic.

Sincerely,

M (a tired retail employee)

Time Flies

2010-01-27T22:13:00.000-08:00

When you're stressed out.

Himself has been stressed out because I wasn't getting any hours at my theatre. He ended up paying for everything, and we ended up not always having enough money for basic needs.

To solve this problem, I got a second job.

At first this second job was really nice. Great co-workers, fun work environment, and lots to learn. The only problem is the manager. She's nice enough, until you ask for time off. Then she turns into some kind of manager monster. I asked for my birthday off, but since I had the gall to be born a week before Valentine's Day, there was no guarantee I would get the day off.

Now the job is more of a pain.

It's retail again, but the nature of the job is kind of sensitive. I work in a sex shop. Not a place where people go to have sex or anything like that, but a place where people can buy things to make their romances even better. We sell toys. We have a no return policy on all toys (for pretty obvious reasons), but that doesn't keep people from trying. The other night we had a guy bring in a toy he and his wife bought about two seconds before. The package was torn open and he told us the toy didn't work. He was looking for a refund because his wife didn't want the toy after all. The problem with that is we don't do cash refunds at all. He changed his mind later on, but he tried really hard to get the refund.

The politics are minimal which is nice. I'm too low on the totem pole to be concerned about, and I have no desire to climb that totem pole at all.

The theatre has been quiet. Most of our clients are using student techs because they're trying to cut back on expenses. There have been a few issues with scheduling, and several of the adult techs are getting all the work while a few aren't getting any hours at all. Not fun.

Himself is enjoying his job, and his boss seems really cool. He told Himself to get onto FarmVille on facebook because he needs more friends. The Boss and his wife want to have Himself and I over for dinner sometime, and his wife already considers Himself to be a member of their family. That's the type of boss-employee relationship I really like.

The girls have been their usual furry, girly selves. Lil' Princess has decided that the floor is evil unless she's hungry or thirsty. She will make every effort to not touch the floor. If we set her on the floor, she'll jump up onto the first thing she can reach and look at us like 'but why did you do that? Why?' It's been the source of many giggles around here.

That's all (for now), folks!

M

Funny!

2009-06-28T01:12:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | 'Stoned wallabies make crop circles'

I had heard of raccoons and skunks getting drunk on fermented fruit and slug repellent made from beer, but I can honestly say I had never heard of a stoned wallaby. Now I really have to go to Australia!

M

It's been awhile!

2009-06-24T02:49:00.000-07:00

Nothing really new happens here, so I don't write very often. The furry girls are constantly in a state between being incredibly lazy and extremely active.

Himself finally got a new job and even had his hours increased (this means if all goes well, we can pay our own rent this month! Woot!), and I've been promised a job in the fall (I work for a school district, so having a job in the fall isn't a sure thing anymore) as long as I'm willing to do sound and probably teach it to one of our newest techs, which I'm totally willing to do.

My photography has unfortunately taking a backseat in my life. Not having any money to get a better camera, or really having the time to sit down and take the pictures really put a damper on taking lots of cool pictures. I'm still planning the Tarot deck pictures, but since I want them to be perfect, I'm taking my time planning them.

This year we celebrated Father's Day with Himself's family. His dad found a 'local' steam train (by local I mean in the same state I live in, but just barely) that served a dinner on Father's Day so we did that for the day. We drove from the Seattle area to the Chehalis-Centraila area (really pretty down there, I love it) which is about an hour away or so. We rode inside the train during dinner, and then on the way back we sat outside on the benches behind the engine. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures sometime, but I forgot my camera at home and I have no idea when my father in law will have his pictures on a cd for me.

After the ride, we took more pictures (my father in law filled up his memory card on this trip!) and realized that the engineer was letting people up into the engine to take pictures and see the inside of the engine. My brother in law and Himself both wanted to do that, so we waited in 'line'. The 'line' was really a small group of people standing around and taking turns climbing up into the engine and learning something about it. We all had a pretty clear idea what the order of people was, and we were all being polite about waiting for little boys to be done looking at the really cool steam engine.

All this order was shattered when a woman walks right up to the engine as soon as aforementioned little boys climbed down and asks if she could climb up. The Engineer has no idea who has been waiting and in what order, so he tells her 'sure!'. As she's climbing up, my father in law asks if she didn't see all the other people waiting patiently for their turn (including two of the best behaved little girls in the world!). There of course was no reply from the rude woman cutting in front of everyone, and she got into position to have her picture taken only to find out that the camera her husband was using had dead batteries. He fumbled with fresh batteries for a moment and finally took the picture. The woman stayed in the engine for awhile longer (she was in there for about half an hour total) until my father in law finally spoke up.

'Hey lady!' He had to call it out a couple of times before she turned towards him. 'Why don't you get off your ass and let the people you cut in front of have a chance!' She came out of the engine apologising for cutting in line saying 'I didn't know!' She went to her husband and they started to walk away. It seemed like the end until the husband did the unthinkable. He came back and started yelling at my brother in law.

A little explaination is needed here. My in laws are not small people. Himself is actually the smallest of them all, and he looks like he could still play football and wrestle (he used to do both in high school). My brother in law is a little taller but he's still a big guy, and my father in law has hands that resemble bear paws (short chubby fingers) and a lot more muscle than it looks like.

It looked like the husband was going to clock my brother in law one, but the wife kept calling out that it was 'the other guy'. He went over to my father in law and started over, saying that they were really sorry for cutting in line but that they didn't know why people were standing around. My father in law was pretty calm, but kind of lost it when the guy said that he 'should be ashamed' because he swore in front of his precious wife. Dad said 'not at all' and left it at that until the guy started up again. Dad approached the couple calmly and more words were spoken. By the time he rejoined the group, Himself and his brother had their turn in the engine and the two little girls were climbing up (they were the luckiest ones because they got to actually ride in the engine with the engineers while they put the train away).

The couple went to their car and waited. As fate would have it, they were parked right next to our car, so we waited until they moved (we had five large people and one grandmother to fit in the car). When it was obvious that they weren't going to move any time soon, we moved our car and piled in. I think we were all expecting the other couple to follow us, but they didn't.

It was still a fun trip, and the food was pretty good. Himself and I are planning on going on one of the murder mystery dinner train trips sometime in October for our anniversary.

Speaking of trips, Best Friend and I are planning a trip to Vegas in late September or early October. She said that she'd pay for my hotel and airfair (she found a package deal that seems pretty good) as long as I can pay for my activities like if we decide to see a Circ show (we both really want to see Ka, but for different reasons: She wants to see it because she's never seen that one, and I want to see it because it has five stages that move. Yeah, I'm a techie geek!), or if we did some sightseeing other than casino hopping. I'm really looking forward to this trip! We've both talked about wanting/needing a weekend away from other halves (she's had wall to wall boyfriend ever since he pretty much quit his job to go to college (he went from almost full-time to less than part-time), and I've had wall to wall husband lately). We might even be meeting another friend there for a day!

Well, that's about it. More later

Ahh High School...

2008-11-09T23:03:00.000-08:00

I find high school kids to be more amusing everyday. I recently worked a fashion show (run by students who have never stepped foot into the theatre except to listen to a speaker, let alone run a show of any sort) for the fashion industries class. They had all these GREAT ideas in their heads...

Unfortunately none of them either worked in our SMALL theatre, nor did they stay the same for any given amount of time. It was kind of like herding cats with A.D.H.D.

The night of the show, I wasn't feeling well, so I stayed home. My replacement was told what to do (she had to push a button to skip to the next track on the cd player. Not a hard job.), and she was able to enjoy much of the show. The girl next to her, who had never even seen a light board (so we attempted to make it real easy on her and just told her to push ONE button) let alone run one turned to my co-worker and pointed out that she noticed that none of us wears makeup. We don't because no one is supposed to see us if we do our jobs right, and most of the time we would end up sweating it off before too long anyway.

The fashion student then asked 'does the makeup interfere with the electrical equipment?'

Now if I had been there, I totally would have said yes. My co-worker was just too shocked to say much of anything at first. Then she managed a squeeky 'no' before switching the track.

This is the same fashion student that I told about four times which button she had to push on the light board to make the lights come up. Then I had to explain to her that the button she had to push only ran her board because the boards weren't interchangable. I would have had fun with her, but I needed to feel better first.

For more recent news, Himself finally got a new car. His old one was totalled in a car accident in early October (he had the right of way, but the other driver didn't seem to think so), and after one car-ing it for about three weeks, he finally has a two year old Monte Carlo. It's a nice car and he should have it paid off in about five years, but probably sooner. The other driver seems to be in the wind now. He stopped and talked to the police, but no one has heard from him since. The insurance company that he said he had a policy from has no record of his name or policy number, and the guy's uncle had never heard of the registered owener of the car. Fanfreakingtastic.

A month later, I got into a car accident (I wasn't driving), and my friend's car was totalled. The good thing about that accident is that it got the guy we hit arrested. He apparently had a warrent out for his arrest and he was hauled away. His wife was not so happy. My friend is pretty sure the wife is going to try to sue, but we're not sure for what. Yes we hit them, but we weren't there when he did whatever it was that got the warrent. People are funny sometimes. Okay maybe not.

Pretty much until the end of the month is going to be hectic. Fun, but very hectic. Lots of work, which is fabulous, and there is a small chance I'll be promoted. Very small chance, but it's there. We're really short on leads right now, so the PTB finally decided that it was time to promote and hire. Yea us! Doesn't mean lots more hours, but it does mean slightly more consistant hours. Not only that, but I might get my church gig back. I kind of like those guys. They're funny.

That's all for now

M

Testing...

2008-08-18T22:10:00.001-07:00

I've been having some issues with signing into Blogger the past few times I've tried, so there has been a sudden lack of blog posts.

That and work has been keeping me busy for once.

We just had a big meeting, and I got onto one of the house crews! This is supposed to mean that I'm going to be getting a lot more hours starting this school year. Not only that, but we all got raises, so it should take us a little longer before we're flat broke.

In that meeting, I found out that the lead that I'm going to be working with pretty much all the time is the one lead I don't always get along with. I'm going to treat this like a test. If I can handle this, I can pretty much handle anything.

Not much has been happening. At work we've been fixing light cables, and I had that wonderful feeling you get when something you fixed works. We strung up the cables onto the lights on the third electric, plugged them in and tested them out. They all worked! What a feeling!

The girls have been good...for the most part. They all had to be flea dipped, so none of them are really talking to me. Actually Little Bit is talking. And talking. And talking. And TALKING! If she's not stretched out on something smaller than her, she's chatting away to anyone or anything who would listen. Even if it won't listen, she'll talk to it anyway.

Himself has been working himself to the bone. In fact he's cutting so much meat, he mistook his own leg for his knife holder and stabbed himself in the upper thigh. The bruise was so pretty I had to take a picture of it. Unfortunately the picture didn't turn out very good, but the colors were really pretty. There was light blue along the outer edge, darker blue closer in, magenta and red on the center and top. It eventually faded into yellow, blue and green. No sooner had that fully healed when he did it again in a different spot. When he told me that he wanted to be a meat cutter, I reminded him of all the accidents he's had with knives. He insisted that he would be fine, and so far it has been. He's been at his store for almost five years, and the worst wound he got was when he was working in produce and sliced his thumb open with a small blade from his utility knife. Go figure.

Well that't about it for now. I'm tired and want to go to bed.

M

Arrrggghhh!

2008-05-31T00:50:00.000-07:00

Not like the pirate! No, this is a frustrated growl at the growing stupidity that is society.

Just the other day, I found out that America's Next Top Model just had a 'plus size' winner.

She's a size 10.

And she's 'plus sized'.

A SIZE 10 IS NOT 'PLUS SIZED'! No matter what. The national average size is a 12. If someone is going to be 'plus sized' they should at least be a 16!

The only thing wrong with that model is that she had an butt. None of the other models had a butt. In fact I don't think there are any models out there that actually have any actual body parts other than skin and bones.

I may be heavy, but I'm working on that. I'm trying not to stress too much about my weight, I'm just trying to get healthy again. Belly dancing at least twice a week, and walking/swimming/biking/lifting weights at least twice a week will do that.

Another thing: BMI (body mass index) is probably the biggest load of bulls**t out there. People forget that muscle weighs more than fat. There are body builders out there that are technically 'obese' because they're 6 feet tall and 290lbs!

I have gotten teased about my weight for as long as I can remember, and it's a pretty sensitive subject for me. I've struggled for years to accept who I am and what I look like. Faires are pretty much the only time I feel truly comfortable in my skin because the rule there is 'if you got it, flaunt it!. I get teased by older men about my ample chest, but it's all in 'clean' fun. They don't mean anything by it, and it sometimes gets me free stuff just for teasing them back. Some of the women are jealous of my generous 'tracks of land' because I fill out the bodices more and still look good wearing them. Faires are really the happiest times for me.

Well, that's my rant for tonight. I'm too tired to keep it up now. Ranting really takes it out of you!

M

Fantastic Dog

2008-05-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

A good friend and I have been walking about 2 miles once or twice a week at a local park getting ready for a big hike that we'll be taking either this summer or next. We normally spend a lot of time just visiting after the walk, sitting on our cars or in the grass when the sun is out, and under the shelter when the wind and rain kick in.

Today was no different.

We talked about a book we were both reading (American Gods By Neil Gaimen. Fantastic book!), and I happened to notice a beautiful dog out having a grand time running off his leash. He was sniffing at everything and running over to my friend and I begging to be played with. When we saw him running around, we both knew he was a nice dog (his body language was friendly), so we petted him and watched as he ran around. We couldn't figure out who his owner was, and he didn't have a collar on, so we thought he ran away or something.

We talked longer and finally saw someone 'claim' the dog. He called it by name, and the dog seemed to understand that it was time to go home. The guy got into the big van, started the engine, got out of the van and opened the side door to let Sweet Dog jump in.

Then he drove away. The door was still open, and the dog was running alongside the van. My friend and I both thought it was kind of funny (the guy was driving pretty slow so the dog could probably jump into the van), and we figured that he would stop and let the dog into the van and close the door before he got to the main street.

Not so much.

About 20 minutes later, she and I were going to a favorite store, and I noticed the dog running through the street. Cars were narrowly missing the dog as he bounded around, and my friend pulled over to the side to try to catch the dog.

We got him into the car (he has impeccable car manners), and now she plans on keeping the dog (even if the stupid 'owner' puts up signs, she still plans on keeping the dog).

People like that guy who had the dog make me so mad! His dog was nearly hit a couple of times, and he seems so confused as to why he is at a new home. He has good leash manners, great car manners, and he gets along with my friend's other dog wonderfully. I'm glad he's found a good home now.

M

Himself's 'Puddims'

2008-04-21T13:51:00.000-07:00

He was joking when he called her that. This is Miss Thang. I'll get a picture of Little Bit on here as soon as she stops long enough for my camera to focus on her.

One of those weeks...

2008-04-18T16:02:00.000-07:00

Little Princess has been the cause of more than a little concern in the Mini Manor. She would 'sleep' and get so relaxed that she would fall from where ever she was 'sleeping'. At first this was the cause of much giggling in the Mini Manor, but when she did it on my lap, I noticed that she was twitching like she was dreaming. Not too concerned, I moved her a little, and she felt boneless. Totally limp and not responsive at all. Himself was sitting next to me and he and I both were a little scared that we had just lost our oldest 'child'.

After a few days, I realized that she wasn't actually sleeping, nor was she eating. I tried different kinds of food, and finally found one that didn't make her throw up.

Little Princess is allergic to wheat.

The only food we've found that doesn't have wheat in it is pretty expensive, but we're more than willing to spend the money to keep her healthy. To get some of the weight back on her that she lost not eating, we have her on a soft food diet with crunchies as a constant.

Now that she's eating, she's actually sleeping (snoring too), and now that she's sleeping, she's a little more active. She used to just lay there and let the other cats run over her, now she fights back a little.

The other 'highlight' of my week was horseback riding. Normally this is an actual highlight, but not this time. In the long time I've been riding (on and off for about 10 years or so), I have never fallen off. I've come close, clinging to the side of the horse like a little blond bug, but I've never actually fallen off.

Until last weekend. I fell off 'Fraidy Horse...

Twice.

Because the first time wasn't good enough I guess. Granted, the first time was pretty much all my fault. I was trying to get my foot in the stirrup, and my toe kept pushing into his side. He was trained to respond to every signal his rider gave him, so he kept leaping forward. I say leaping because I kept trying to stop him long enough to get my foot in the stirrup, but every time I attempted this, I nudged him with my toe again. I finally threw myself out of the saddle because I knew I would never get my balance back.

The rest of the ride went without too many more hitches. 'Fraidy Horse likes to lead, but I wasn't used to neck reining. Every time I tried to turn him, he would stop. We eventually got the hang of each other (he got used to me and the field we were riding in, I got used to him thinking everything was going to eat him), and started up a hill towards the other horses. The owner noticed that a fence was coming apart, and the horse in that pen was freaking out because horses were in the field where she wanted to be. I led the way towards the fence, and the horse in the pen started making 'Fraidy Horse nervous (pretty much everything makes him slightly nervous.).

I almost had him calm when he first started tensing up.

Then he started dancing around a little, which made me tense up, which scared him more, which scared me more. Eventually I became the loud scary thing that he was trying to get away from. He was so scared that he would be in trouble he started responding to every command I gave him to the extreme. Every time I told him 'whoa', he would stop so hard he almost sat down. This tossed me forward which gave him slack in the reins, which would make him think I wanted him to go forward. Eventually I just looked for a soft place to land because I had lost my stirrup and was sliding off to one side anyway.

When I finally picked my now battered body off the ground, 'Fraidy Horse was so sorry he was no problem to catch, and while I was waiting for the owner to fix the fence and for my legs to stop shaking, he kept his nose on my arm as if to ask me for forgiveness.

The falls were totally not his fault, I just haven't been riding for a really long time, and none of the horses were as responsive as 'Fraidy Horse. He really is the coolest horse I've ridden in a long time.

Thankfully the rest of the week as been pretty normal for all of us here at the Mini Manor. Himself is working a lot, I've been recovering from the falls and working, and the girls are all as normal as three deranged cats can be.

M

It's Spring!

2008-04-05T21:41:00.000-07:00

Have some snow! Seriously, once March 21st hit we've been pounded with snow, hail, sleet, rain, a little sun, some more snow, more rain, hail...

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year, mainly because it means summer is right around the corner, and summer means RENN FAIRES!!!! Not only that, but it means that I can buy and wear sunscreen (I can wear sunscreen in the winter too, but it tends to make people stare). Sunscreen is one of my favorite scents, and I enjoy my annual search for the perfectly smelling sunscreen.

And now for the updates: Himself will be finishing his meat-cutting class this quarter (this is the shortest quarter too, only 9 weeks instead of 16)! This will mean that he'll go from apprentice to journeyman and get a pay raise!

Baby Kitty is now known as Little Bit, since she's not really a baby anymore. She's as cute as ever and isn't against using her cuteness as a weapon of mass distraction. She and Miss Thang love sleeping with each other, and she's taken up the hobby of leaping up as high as she can on the bed and landing on the nearest unsuspecting body relaxing on the same bed.

Miss Thang is pretty much always sleeping or bathing. She's washed herself so much, she's slightly bald from the middle of her body back to her tail. Himself and I both think she looks kind of like a lion. She's been trying to show Little Princess that she's boss, but Little Princess isn't listening.

Speaking of Little Princess, she's pretty much always sleeping or trying to be a big brave kitty and reclaim her bedroom territory from the much smaller, but much meaner girls.

I've been working a little more, but still not as often as I like. Lots of training and review stuff that I know for the most part, but in my line of work, review never hurts. I might even take a rigging class that the Union does every summer that will allow me to make over $30 an hour for usually several hours per call. It may not be this summer, since I already have plans on taking a 93 mile hike with a small group of people, work, going to the renn faires, and various other summertime activities that Himself and I have planned. I'll probably do the class next summer when I'm a little more comfortable with being in high places with really heavy counterweights.

Himself and I are still looking for a house, but we've been talking about renting for another year so we can make our apartment our home and enjoy it a little. Our noisy neighbors aren't quite as bad as they had been (Himself thinks maybe they killed each other, and that's why they've been so pleasant to live next door to).

Well, that's about it. I was having some issues with Blogger for a little while, but I think it's resolved now. That will probably mean more posts a little more often.

M

Ug...Updates

2007-12-31T13:40:00.000-08:00

This has been an intresting few months since I last posted. Himself and I aquired a new kitten that I found on the side of the road. A friend and I were driving to her house when I happened to see a box on the side of the road. Just before we drove past it, I saw a little black head pop out and I told my friend to stop the car. Since we were on a slightly busy rural road, I ran over to the box, grabbed it and ran back in to the car where I examined the contents. There was the solid black kitten, and what looked like a really old sheet on the bottom. Horse Friend (who was driving) and I figured that the kitten was the last of the litter and no one wanted her.

My original plan had been to get the baby checked out and possibly find her a good home, but when Himself saw her, he melted. He's always wanted a solid black cat, and she really is the sweetest thing. She can melt hearts at twenty paces. We named her Baby Cat, and she and Miss Thang get along for the most part. Miss Thang keeps trying to bathe Baby Cat, and Baby only puts up with it for so long. Little Princess is very zen about the new addition, much like she was when we got Miss Thang. Princess seems to understand that Baby Cat is rather fragile, so she doesn't try to beat her up very often.

That's about all for now, hope your holidays were merry!

M

Ahh the Theatre

2007-10-25T13:44:00.001-07:00

I got the theatre job, and am now in sort of training to be a lead tech. Boss Man loves the fact that I'm on board and I'm willing to be a lead (and pretty much come in at a moments notice). The rest of the crew is pretty cool, although there are a few 'interesting' people who work with me.

First is Ren Grrl. She and I have very similar personalities and interests, so we get along great. She plays rugby twice a week and works with me pretty much the rest of the week. She has a quirky-dark sense of humor that works great for the theatre.

Next is Tall Friend. She's the one who introduced Himself to me many moons ago (6 years ago). She has no desire to be a lead tech, which is fine since she's not as good as some of the other techs we have. Not to say she's bad at it or anything, it's just that we have better techs who want to be leads. Tall Friend more wants to find a 'normal' job and just be on call at the theatre. This is pretty normal since the job is pretty much on call (some of us just get called a lot!), although it does make getting hours a little harder.

Finally we have Attitude Grrl. Having the guts to demand hours is pretty good for women in the theatre industry (especially back stage where men pretty much outnumber the women 10-1), but it's not always the best way to get hours at a high school theatre. She complains when she doesn't get enough hours or when 'lesser' people get more hours than her. A.G was really happy when the tech who used to be in charge of the schedules doled out the hours. People who needed the money the most (people who lived on their own, had cars, bills to pay, etc) got the most hours and the people who didn't need the money quite as bad got the second pick. A.G complained about me getting a prime show to work (I'm going to be learning lights!) and her not getting called at all. She can be really nice, but get her on the subject of hours, and you're in for a rant-fest.

The boss of us all is Boss Man. He is by far one of my favorite bosses. He's tough, gruff, and fluff. If he doesn't give you a hard time about something, you better think about what you may have done wrong, and if he gives you a pet name, you're one of the favorites. While he may sound like a real monster to work with, Boss Man keeps us more entertained than many of the people who come in to use our theatre.

There are various other people, most of which I don't see all that often, but as I get to know them, I'll probably write about them

M

It's Late...

2007-09-15T01:29:00.000-07:00

I have an early morning and what may promise to be a long day tomorrow, but am I sleeping soundly at 1:30 am? No. I'm online checking my e-mail and such, listening to Himself as he blissfully slumbers on. That man can sleep anywhere, and usually does. It's rather cute seeing him snoring (lightly) on his back while Miss Thang is curled up on his stomach. Usually she sleeps on me, but since I'm sitting up on the computer, she is simply giving me the evil eye. It's much less effective when it's only with one eye, though (she's doing that cat thing where she sleeps with one eye open).

Little Princess is getting bolder now that the top of our entertainment center is clean of pretty much everything (it used to be the home of everything we couldn't find a home for), and has been spotted sitting up there giving herself a bath. Each time we catch her up there we put her down, then we put her down, then we put her down. Seriously it's like trying to keep a kangaroo from hopping.

Oi I'm a sad cat-owner. I could be looking up strange laws (although Himself gets a little cranky with me when I do that when he's sleeping. Mainly because my insane laughter tends to wake him up) or checking out various writing sites, but no. I'm here on Blogger writing about my cats. At 1:30 in the morning. Unfortunately I can't sleep since I have a song from work stuck in my head. This is the second night in a row (same song too!), but I really do like the song. I couldn't say who it was or what it was called, but it's stuck on repeat in my head. Oh well. At least it's a song I like...

M

Great News!

2007-08-30T22:59:00.000-07:00

I just got an email from my future boss, and he's really excited about me coming on board! I plan on leaving my current job selling lotions by the end of September because of this huge opportunity for me to work in the school district again. When I was in high school, I was a theatre tech, but since the rule is that you have to take at least two years off before you can work in the theatre after graduation, I had to stop working there. Now the boss wants be back, and he told me that the other bosses really like me too! Yippie!

In other news, Himself and I finally got our tattoos! He got the Gaelic word for knowledge on the inside of his wrist, and I got a Celtic knot on the middle of my upper back. Yes, they both hurt, but they look really good! Cousin also got a tattoo of the day of his dad's death (it's on a cross, and he had it placed on the back of his left leg). A little morbid, but I think it's a really nice memorial piece. Now Himself and I have been planning our next tattoos. He's looking at wisdom for his other wrist, but he wants that one either in hieroglyphics or in Oghom (the first Celtic alphabet). My next one will be on my upper arm (a part of Amy Brown's painting called Butterfly Tattoo. I'm getting the butterfly part). It may be a little while before we get them, but I really can't wait.

Everything else has been going really well right now, but work is still a little strained. At least at my current job. Things will be better once I'm doing something I really want to do. Also, working for the schools won't hinder my own schooling, and I can take more hours whenever the union goes off list (which they're doing right now. I just got a call to work sometime next week for the Theatre Union).

Well, I think that's about it for now. More later!

M

Late Night/Early Morning Update

2007-07-31T03:02:00.001-07:00

Finished the FINAL Harry Potter book in about 3 days, and cried quite a few times. Not because it was the final book, but because of some of the things that happen in it.

Himself and I took Tall Friend (she introduced Himself and I to each other many moons ago) to the Highland Games and Clan Gathering a couple of days ago (it rained for the second year in a row) and met up with several other friends there. Tall Friend had only been to the games once before, so she was happy to spend most of the day sitting around listening to music (which was good, since we spent most of our day doing just that). Another friend, New Mommy (well, not that new since her daughter is almost 4 now) met up with us and her sweet (painfully shy) daughter and I danced to the Wicked Tinkers during their last set. I'm still a little sore from that! New Mommy's daughter, Hyper Child, had a thing about turning around in counter-clockwise circles fast enough that her feet would leave the ground. I got so dizzy after about the 10th time doing this that I plopped down next to New Mommy until the next song started up. I love the Tinkers!

Work has been getting better, but I think that's because the girl who wants my job hasn't worked in about a week due to a bout of shingles, and I'm on 'vacation' this week. Himself and I have three days together, and after that I'm probably off to the Southern Kingdom for a few days. I'm still not sure if I really want to go, but I probably will.

Well, I'm finally feeling tired, and I still have to figure out a way to get videos submitted to Youtube.

M

Random news

2007-07-24T18:30:00.000-07:00

Himself, the Cousin and myself all went to the Midnight Madness for the final Harry Potter book the other night. Himself and I finished the book already (I cried so many times. Yeah, I'm a baby), and it has a very satisfying ending.

We've been house-hunting for a couple of weeks now, and we found one we really like (granted we've only seen one house, but it's pretty nice). It's very small on the outside, but not bad on the inside. Pretty much anything would be bigger that where we live now. We just need to get pre-approved to find out how much we can actually spend on our house and then we'll be on the lookout for something nice (for a first home).

Short post today, just got off work and I'm beat. I think I'm going to take a bubble bath now...

M

News from the Mini Manor

2007-06-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

There really isn't much, the girls are still acting like they love each other, but they really hate each other, Himself is busy carving up dead animals (he just cuts the steaks, he doesn't kill the animals) usually about six days a week, and I'm usually at work trying to convince people to take care of the skin they have since it's the only skin they get.

The two major events that have happened since my last post pretty much happened at the same time. Himself decided that being a daddy wasn't such a horrible idea, so now we're going to start trying to have a baby (our first spawnling!) pretty soon. We have a whole plan worked out: we start 'officially' trying in August, don't renew our lease on the mini manor and move in with his family (the mother in law is beside herself with excitement about this. She's even getting the guest room all set up so all we have to do is put most of our furniture into storage and move in!) until we find a manor of our own. We may end up waiting a little longer and renewing our lease, but we've got our backup plan ready just in case.

The other major event was my promotion. I can't remember if I wrote about this or not, but I got promoted to senior assistant manager (now when the manager goes on vacation, I get to be in charge of the store). It was a higher promotion than I was expecting, but I'm not complaining. I love working there, and I'm being trained to take over that shop if the manager decides to take over another (or start her own). Kinda scary, since I've only been there since April, but everyone seems to be pretty sure in my abilities to lead, so that's a good thing I guess.

Himself finally got to go to the horse races (well, he's been to the track, but that was to see a fireworks show, and we got there just as they were leading the horses off the track after the last race) on his birthday. We spent most of the day together, went to the races, and then watched a movie that had just come out. Pretty good movie, but not one I would really want to own I think.

Well, that's about it.

M

A new beginning

2007-04-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

I've been at my new job for just a couple of weeks now, but I really enjoy it. There are no irate parents yelling at me because my magic wand is broken and I can't get their kids to sit still long enough to focus the camera. There are no bright lights that trigger my migraines, and the best part is I get to play with makeup and lotions.

I put in my two weeks at the picture hell, and my last day is Monday. I'll miss having two jobs, but I just got off the phone with my boss at my new job, and she has an idea to make it all worth it: Promote me to a full time management position (she needs a full time senior assistant manager) after only being there a couple of weeks. I'm very excited and I plan on taking the promotion as soon as it's officially offered to me. This is too cool!!!

I just had to send that out, my spirit is feeling lighter now that I'll be gone from the studio (although part of me is kind of sad that I'll be leaving my co-workers whom I've become close to), and I'll be getting not only an hours increase, but a pay increase too!

M

Connected

2007-04-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

Himself and I have finally joined the many hordes of people and bought a laptop. It's going to be mainly used for my photography stuff (I have photoshop on there, and it runs like a pro), but Himself will be using it for his class when he needs to connect to the internet.

The furry girls are their usual selves, chasing each other and causing as much mayhem as they can.

As of the 24th of this month, I will no longer be working at the picture hell. I put in my two weeks after a particularly difficult day. One of the managers (who was recently promoted to her current position) has been playing her power card a little too often, and most of us are really tired of it. She talks to us like we're mentally special three year olds who have no concept of what we're supposed to do during our work-shift. This wouldn't be so bad if she didn't do it every time I worked with her. Even her friends in the studio are telling her to back off a little with the power plays. I'm not going to sever my ties with the studio completely, I've told them that if they need an extra body in the lab during the busy times to give me a call, and I'll see if I'm working at my new job.

That's right, blog readers, I finally got myself a new job. I now sell lotions and face-stuff. It's a much easier job, and I'm not having to deal with screaming kids and their parents who insist they get their pictures taken even if the kids don't want to. Now I get to distract kids while their parents shop. Much easier when you're not trying to force a three year old to sit still and smile at the camera!

That's about all for now. Things are pretty 'normal' around here ;o)

M

Better Day

2007-03-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

So I'm having a much better day today. I still hate my job, but not as much as I did yesterday.

This morning should have given me the hint to just stay in bed and pull the covers over my head. Yesterday my battery cable came loose a little (it's done this a couple of times, though never while I'm actually driving), so my truck refused to start. I wiggled the cable and tightened it with my wrench, and Baby Truck started right up. Unfortunately this confused my clock radio, and while I remembered to reset my radio (I have my priorities), I didn't have a watch to reset my clock (my cell phone was dead). This morning I woke up after a restless night, and decided to leave a little early so I could stop by the store and get something to eat on the way to work. I get into my truck and the clock says it's 8:30. I didn't have to be at work until 10 this morning, so I thought I had lots of time to get food and caffeine before trekking my way to work. Not quite. I got there on time, but I didn't have as much time to eat my breakfast as I would have liked.

All day I got the really difficult children in my sittings. I would get them to smile for me before the sitting, but then when it came to sitting down in front of the camera, they screamed, cried, wandered off, and generally threw fits. The pictures came out really good, and as far as I know, the parents really liked them, so that was a good thing.

The rest of the day will be spent relaxing while watching too much CSI and playing too many video games. I'm waiting to hear anything on the applications I've been turning in so I can put in my two weeks, but so far no nibbles. I still have a few more places I need to turn in apps for, so things are looking pretty good.

M

Just an Update

2007-03-02T19:25:00.000-08:00

I'm still alive. Hate my job. Cats are good. Himself is tired. That's about it.

M

A Letter

2007-02-11T16:10:00.000-08:00

To all the customers who think they're better than everyone else:

News flash: You're not. If you think you can do my job better than me, then by all means, have at it. I'll see you in a couple of hours and then you can tell me how hard it is to get small children to sit still.

If you have a young child who is very active, then stop yelling at both the child and the photographer and actually start doing something. If all you're going to do is stand in the back of the room or sit on your fat arse while I'm doing all the work, then you deserve to have bad pictures. If you have a special request, like soft focus, be warned that the sitting takes longer because we cannot focus the camera with the soft focus filter on the camera. Not only that, but if you want soft focus and the child is running back and forth, please understand that the sitting will take much longer.

Cussing out your photographer will not make the sitting any shorter. Actually it will, I will simply ask you to leave and never return. I will expose your film right in front of you and you will no longer the welcome at any studio in the company. I have that kind of power, and I'm not afraid to use it. Asking me if there is another photographer to take your pictures five minutes into the sitting because I'm 'not effing good enough' is not going to make me want to help you or be nice to you.

When we tell you that we'll call you when your pictures are ready, that doesn't mean come in some time the next day and we'll have everything ready for you. That means that we'll call you when your pictures are ready. It's also very important to have your phone number so we can actually call you. Telling us that letting you know when your pictures will be ready isn't a good enough reason to have your phone number isn't going to help matters at all. It's not our fault that our machine broke down, so stop yelling at us like it was. Don't come into our store with an attitude problem and tell the manager that she wasn't there (she was. She was there all night) so she has no right to say anything. You are the one who has no right. Get out of my store and if you come back we'll call security to throw your ignorant arse out the door. You were the only one having a huge problem with the machine being broken. If you took your head out of your arse long enough to look around the room, you would see that you're the only one getting worked up.

Also, please remember what you tell me. If you tell me that you're planning on coming back another day to view your pictures, don't be surprised that they're not done in an hour. Don't tell people that you never mentioned coming back tomorrow. This isn't as bad as cussing me out, but it's still a pain in the arse to try to explain to my managers that you told me one thing and you're telling them another. It's far easier to forgive a misunderstanding than a major attitude problem.

M

P.S. To all the customers who understand everything: THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! We love it when a large group is really easy going and calm about the whole situation. Actually we love it when any group is calm and understanding.

M

Poland Portfolio

2007-01-31T12:11:00.000-08:00

I've decided to put together a portfolio of my trip to Poland. I may put a few of the pictures on here, but not too many, since none of my images are digital, and I would have to scan everything I want on here into the computer. I am not the most 'techno-savvy' person out there (I can usually figure something out if I have enough time and a lot of patience, but I wouldn't be able to do it again later), so I usually don't even bother.

Himself may finally be giving me back my truck soon (his died on him about two weeks ago), all we have to do is reconnect his battery, and it should be running again. We still have to get the carburetor replaced, but we may make the new owner do that. We're going to try to sell the big truck and buy a much smaller car (the car is cheap, but in good repair, and it gets really decent gas mileage), but it would be best to get the truck moving again.

Not much has been happening over here, since I'm not working as many hours as I was during the helliday season (this is a good thing, since my immune system has taken a short vacation and my body is being put through the ringer by a cold). Yesterday I decided to take it easy, since I have to go to class today and everything, so I just played Kings Quest pretty much all day (actually I fully immersed myself in some British comedy before I tackled the game), and today when I get home, I plan on watching a movie about a couple of gay cowboys (I still have yet to watch Brokeback Mountain, and we finally got it on Netflix, so it seemed like a good thing to do today).

Well, that's about it for now.

M

First Assignment Done!

2007-01-29T11:07:00.000-08:00

I just finished my first assignment for my lighting class, and it seemed to turn out pretty good. I haven't printed the picture out yet, but the negatives look good.

Work has been so slow, I'm only working about two days or so. I had a chance to pick up an extra shift, but I didn't hear my phone ring, so I missed the call in. We should be starting to pick up in the next week or so, but until then, we have to deal with fewer hours. It is kind of nice though, to have several days off in a row (a nice change from the hellidays), but the lack of money isn't so nice.

Himself and I are making steady progress in mending our marriage. We had a couple of major setbacks in November or so, but we're talking about what caused those setbacks. On our days off together we actually spend the day together (we used to just do our own thing and then maybe meet up later), and we're both much happier than we were before.

I checked my e-mail today and was met with sad news: the Kentucky Derby winner, Barbaro had to be put to sleep because of complications which were the result of a shattered ankle at the beginning of the Preakness. I don't follow the racing scene very much (I love horses, and I used to watch the races, but La Petite Matriarch lives and breathes the racing scene. That might be because she was a jockey for awhile...), but when a horse wins the Derby and is favored for the Preakness too, I start to pay attention. We haven't had a Triple Crown winner for a really long time (memory fails on me as to when and who won the Triple Crown last).

Well, it's about time for me to go print my assignment, so I'll sign off here.

M

I'm Back!

2007-01-16T11:03:00.000-08:00

After a hellish holiday at work, I'm back and almost fully recovered! Sometime during the holiday season (not sure exactly when, since all the days seem kind of blended together) I got tonsillitis, so I was put on antibiotics for a little while (I got better, but I have it again. If I get it one more time, I may have to get them taken out)).

My 'normal' store manager is back from maternity leave, so we get to hear all kinds of stories about her baby (he is one of the cutest babies I have ever seen). One of our other girls just had her baby, but as far as I know, she hasn't been in to show him off. We have another girl going on leave either in February or early March so she can have her baby. Photo Girl calls it the curse at our studio. We almost always have at least one pregnant person working for us.

The weather lately has been 'fun'. We've had a massive dumping of snow, two days of beautiful sun, more snow, two more days of sun, and finally a little more snow. Himself's truck died on him last night, so he had to drop me off at work early. We got to the mall at a little before 10, and I didn't work until 4 this afternoon. My manager decided that I'll work at noon, and then when she leaves for the day, she'll drop me off at the store Himself is working in today. That way I'm not going to be at the mall for 12 hours today!

Well, that's about all that's been happening for the last month or so. It's been pretty slow (except with the exciting patch of black ice here and there) which is a nice change from the holidays.

M

Holiday Hell

2006-12-19T16:28:00.000-08:00

I really hate working this time of year because of all the crazy people out there who think they're entitled to everything they want.

I work with a couple of people like that. They drive me nuts.

I have decided to look for a new job, but still keep the old one. I realized that there is no way I'm going to advance in the company I'm in (they don't promote managers from within the company, they bring new ones in), and a friend told me about her company (a chain of local drugstores). She was promoted to the head of the photo department within a couple of months of working there, so they obviously believe in promoting from within.

Very short update. More later.

M

Old Friend

2006-12-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

I ran into an old friend from high school just a couple of minutes ago. I haven't seen him in at least a year if not longer, but it was really good to see him today. We caught up on some of the people we knew at school, and talked about who we saw recently. We both thought it was pretty wild that we run into each other on the last few days of the quarter.

Christmas is quickly approaching, and Himself and I got our tree yesterday (we both had the day off, and I accidentally slept through my alarm, so I didn't make it to class) and put the lights on it while listening to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on our CD player. We'll probably put the rest of the decorations on it later. It's a pretty small tree, but then again, we live in a pretty small apartment. The tree is probably about 5'' tall, and Miss Thang is very interested in it. This is her first Christmas, so we had to do things right. She hasn't tried climbing the tree, but the branches are a little too close together, so she might not be able to climb it.

Little Princess had to get a bath yesterday afternoon (before we got the tree) because I've noticed her scratching a lot lately. She needed a flea dip, and I had no one to help me (Himself was hungry, so he went to get something to eat), but it worked out. She kept trying new ways of getting out of the tub, but only succeeded once (the door was closed) in the course of her bath.

I'm really looking forward to next quarter, and the best thing is now I may have a new model for my projects. Old Friend (who is actually one or two years younger than me) may be willing to pose (all I have to do is ask, right?) for a couple of lighting assignments, so that will be pretty cool.

Well, I have to get ready for a quiz I missed, so I'll sign off now.

M

Off Work (Finally)

2006-12-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

I started work today at eight this morning, and I'm finally off! We were steady, and just as I was leaving was when it was getting really busy. People coming in to view their portraits at the same time large groups come in to get their portraits taken.

I'm really looking forward to next quarter, since I'll be back doing my own photography and playing with the lights and stuff. I'll be in total control, and I'll have an excuse if work tries to call me in on my day off! I think I know why I'm getting so burned out at work, it's because I have no control over how the pictures turn out (our company won't let us do certain things when shooting the picture, and our machine doesn't let us just darken one spot on the picture), not only that, but I really miss black and white!

Well, I'm too tired to keep writing right now, so I'll hopefully post more tomorrow or something.

M

The End

2006-11-30T13:11:00.000-08:00

It's the end of NaBloPoMo, and I had a lot of fun doing it. I think I'll try again next year, but I guess it would all depend on if it snowed again next year!

We were so slow at work last night that I took one of my co-worker's pictures for her name tag. The last appointment of the night didn't even show up because of the threat of snow again. Instead of snow we got freezing rain which turned into normal rain after awhile. That's okay, I enjoyed my shift yesterday a lot more than I'll enjoy it tomorrow.

Next week is my last official week at school for this quarter. The week after that is full of study days and the finals. My kick-boxing final will be pretty easy, since it's going to be like any other day in class. My math final is a little more daunting. I should to pretty good on it though.

Well, I have to run some errands, so it's another short post today.

M

Short Snow Post

2006-11-29T13:10:00.000-08:00

The sky overhead today is threatening to dump more snow on top of us tonight. A small part of me hopes that we get more snow tonight, but a larger part of me wants to go to class and find out how I did on that test from last week. I also really want to go to kick-boxing, although I'm still feeling really sore from pushing my truck into my parking space.

When I stepped into work this afternoon to drop off my stuff, it was empty of customers. One of my co-workers was getting her pictures taken with her niece or daughter, but other than that, there was no one in the store. I have a feeling that we're not going to have a very busy night tonight. The snow may even keep people away this weekend!

Well, that's about it for now. I made it to work in one piece (although it took me a little while to make a right turn onto a main road because of all the ice under my tires), and I'm sure I'll make it home the same way. I fully plan on telling the M.O.D tonight that if it snows again, I HAVE to go home right then or else I'll be sliding home at three in the morning again.

M

Good Excuse

2006-11-28T12:45:00.000-08:00

I'm no longer in the running for NaBloPoMo, but I have a very good reason.

Yesterday afternoon I started seeming snow outside my window, so I called into work seeing if I could start an hour later than I was scheduled. My manager was happy to let me start later (mainly because it meant that I was going to show up in the first place. We've been having problems with people just not showing up for their shifts), so I started off for work a little after 2pm. The time before was full of snow-watch (I don't like driving in snow, and Baby Truck hates driving in snow almost more than I do) and watching the roads to make sure they stayed clear all day.

I arrived at work and all was well for a little while. One of my co-workers told me to look outside.

'Why?'
'Just do it.'
'How bad is it?'
'See for yourself.'

She's so helpful.

The M.O.D (manager on duty) moved her car a little closer to the entrance to the mall because she didn't want to walk in the snow after work. She drives some kind of Jeep-type car, and was sliding all over the place just moving her car a few spaces closer.

I told her I had to leave work now and get home before the roads got any worse. She asked me to stay until the last appointment on the books showed up (they called in a little later and said that there was no way they were going to make it in. They had to park a mile from their house simply because they couldn't get up the hill to get to my mall), I wish I hadn't because when I left the mall, it was about 7:45 pm. By the time I actually got home it was 3:11 am.

That's right. From 7:45 pm to 3:11 am, I was on the road.

Normally it takes me about 20 minutes to get from work to the Mini Manor (in heavy traffic). I didn't even get off at my usual exit, I got off the freeway at the exit just before my usual one! I was still on the off-ramp at midnight, and it took me three hours to get from the off-ramp to my apartment!

I slid around a little, and there were a few times I got stuck (by this time I've broken down in tears from exhaustion a couple of times already), but people would just drive right past me and look at me like I was blocking traffic on purpose. I broke my ice scraper trying to give my tires a little more traction, and I was hopping mad.

I WAS going to go home.

I started screaming at the people who just looked at me as they cruised past 'Yeah I'm stuck, stop looking at me!' In hindsight, this may not have been the best strategy, but it worked. After a little while a very nice gentleman offered to give me a push with his SUV until I wasn't stuck. I was very grateful and he pushed me for a little distance and I was able to angle my truck into the dryer spots. I was good go to as long as I didn't have to stop at all until I got home.

It didn't work.

I had to have two other people push me with their cars to get me unstuck again (by this time I was so determined to go home, I didn't even notice the time) before I slid into the apartment complex driveway and eased into a spot (that part was a lot harder than it sounds. I had to use the shingles in the back of Baby Truck to get the rest of the way into the space, but I was parked).

It took Himself three hours to get home.

I love the snow, and everything, but I like it even better when I don't have to drive in it.

Today I think I'm going to stay home and make some hot chocolate and pick up some dry wood at the store. I'm going to light a fire and drink my coco while watching movies (I also get to walk my friend's dogs in the snow!), and later on, I may have a snowball fight with my cousin.

M

Almost Over

2006-11-26T14:09:00.000-08:00

Not only is NaBloPoMo almost over, but so is the weekend from Hades. Last night was by far the worst, but hopefully that will all change pretty soon. Photo Girl and I talked to the acting manager about one of the other 'managers' (she spends most of her shift in the lab texting on her cell phone and complaining about how we're never going to get out of the store at a decent hour), and she said that something will be done tomorrow. Photo Girl and I are pretty sure the 'manager' isn't going to get fired yet, but she certainly won't be asked to stay longer than the holidays. I also don't think we'll be asking her back if we ever need another manager.

Himself is at home again today, hopefully cleaning (he promised he would at least get a start on it) so I can start preparing for Yule. We're going to try to have a tree this year (I might try the whole living tree again, but I'm not sure yet), but we're not sure when we're going to get it. I really want to see Miss Thang's reaction to the tree (this will be her first Christmas with us) in the Mini Manor, so I think that'll be my main argument for the tree.

We had our first snow this morning. Himself woke me up from a very confusing dream (and a rather deep sleep), and told me to look out the window. I looked outside and saw a light dusting of snow on the roofline of the complex and in the grass. I think we had about an inch or so of snow, not much but certainly enough to make me think of Christmas. Himself was a little disappointed (we had a bet going on if it would snow or not. He lost), but was willing to drive me to work if the snow didn't melt (I don't like driving in it at all, and neither does my truck).

Well, that's about all for now. I have two more days of work before my next day off (not that I'm counting or anything)!!!

M

Black Friday Pt. 2

2006-11-25T14:35:00.000-08:00

This whole weekend is one never-ending Black Friday. Yesterday wasn't so bad at work (we had a bunch of no-shows, and we even had time to take a walk-in right when they came in), but today was a zoo for the moment I walked in to drop off my stuff and tell people about the creepy woman at the store this morning. She walked up to me and told me to smile because I looked too serious with my 'beautiful red hair'. Then she leaned in and told me she was partial to redheads (this woman was older than my mom, but younger than my grandmother). This made me drop my energy drink (thank god it wasn't open) and blush like crazy.

Himself somehow got the whole weekend off, so he's at home relaxing. He had to work yesterday, but according to him, his store was pretty slow too.

Well, no time to write anything else. I have to be at work soon.

M

Black Friday

2006-11-24T12:04:00.000-08:00

Today is the worst shopping day of the year, unless you're a customer. For some reason I thought I worked earlier today, so I was all set (and at work) just before 10 this morning. I don't actually work until 2 this afternoon. Oh well, it gave me time to get a new pair of work pants (I've already worn holes in the pair I got in July) and probably something to eat.

Thanksgiving with the in-laws was fun. We drew names for Christmas, and unlike my dad's side of the family, my in-laws don't keep the names a secret. I drew my brother-in-law (the one with a Masters in European Studies) this year, and from what I've heard, he's one of the hardest to shop for. At least I can give him a book or a gift card to a bookstore. That would probably make him happy.

The only time I braved the crowds today was going to the store because of the sock-sale they have every year. I stocked up on socks (although I over-bought, so I'm going to have to take some back today. I got socks for people before I even realized that I already got them stocking stuffers), a candle and some tree lights at the sale before the crowds drove me too nuts.

I just found out today that my manager also likes Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and she was hoping to go to the concert early next month. I told her the price of the tickets (they only have the nose-bleed sections left) and she sighed (she doesn't think she can afford them. Neither can Himself and I since we both had some pretty major truck-repairs done). There's always next year. Himself and I are still trying to get his parents to a TSO concert, but with money being so tight right around this time (and his dad having to go to work at 1:55 am), it's pretty hard.

Well, that's about it. Probably more later.

M

Happy Turkey Day!!

2006-11-23T14:41:00.000-08:00

Just a short post to say 'happy turkey day!' to everyone. Right now we're waiting for Himself to finish his laundry so we can go to his grandmother's house for dinner.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be sock shopping with Mom, I just need to figure out what time we're supposed to be meeting up. I know I have to work later that day, so it's going to be a long day (we're triple-booked, and as far as I know we still only two camera rooms.

Well, that's about all for today, I'll have more tomorrow!

M

Leaking Brain (More Brain-Droppings)

2006-11-22T19:41:00.000-08:00

Work today wasn't as busy as I thought it would be, but then again, it's the day before Thanksgiving, so everyone is at home now getting ready for tomorrow.

One of the new people at work is a great person, and he's a pretty good salesman, but his photography isn't as good as it needs to be. Once the holidays are over we'll probably put him in sales and keep him away from the camera rooms, but then again, we'll have more time to train him. Who knows, he just might quit before then anyway. I hope he doesn't, mainly because he has a lot of potential, but if that's what he chooses, then so be it.

Himself and I are looking forward to a day off together where we get to sleep in and not have to worry about school or anything. Usually on Thursdays I have to wake up early to go to class, but I get to spend the rest of the day with him. Tomorrow all we have to do is a little more laundry (I did mine the other day, and now he's going to do his) and then go to his grandmother's house for dinner.

Well, that's about all for now. I'm hoping to get a few more pictures on here, but with my computer being the way it is (really old and slow), I'm probably going to have to somehow burn the pictures onto a cd (I say 'somehow' because I just remembered that my computer doesn't have a cd burner, so I'm going to have to get a Computer Guy to help me out with that) so I can put them on a different computer (one that actually has internet access and actually remembers how to get online. My computer will think long and hard about the website I want to see, then forget about halfway through the loading process. It forgets hard enough that I usually have to restart it).

M

Finally, A Picture of the Girls!

2006-11-21T18:13:00.000-08:00

This is Little Princess, looking very Princess-like. She is very much the Lady of the Household, but she pretends to let me have that title. It makes me feel better. ;o)

This is Miss Thang (the top picture). Sometimes in the dark, she looks like an Ocelot. We also call her our Monkey-Meerkat (she's kind of odd). Since I'm not tech-savvy at all, the pictures aren't quite where I wanted them, but at least they're here! Thanks Mom for your help!

P.S They're only sweet when you don't live with them all the time.

Just a little something...

2006-11-21T12:02:00.000-08:00

Click on the link for a version of Carol of the Bells you'll never forget (this is a good thing!)! Also it's a pretty nifty e-card too!

M

http://ecards.netmusicpromotions.com/tso/ecard.html

Coolest Mom

2006-11-21T11:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my mom was elevated to The Coolest Mom at work. I'm the only person at work who has a mom who was pulled over for suspicion of armed robbery. A couple of the people thought that she had actually robbed the store, but I assured them that she didn't. They thought she was pretty cool after that. The only thing I'm even remotely worried about is the fact that I am a weirdo-magnet just like my mom. Does this mean I'll be a cop magnet too?

I tweaked my back so hard yesterday that I have a hard time bending at the waist. Normally I can avoid this position, but at work, we're constantly bending over to pick up the camera, move the child, pick up the prop being used, the list goes on. I can walk okay, but it really hurts to lie down on my back, and sitting up hurts a little too. Hopefully everything will be better by Friday, since that's going to be long day. Mom and I are going sock-shopping (we stock up for the year or so) since they're going to be on sale and everything. That's the only shopping I do on Black Friday.

I got a message from Himself last night saying that he would be home a little late because someone had asked him to stay at work a little later. He wasn't sure when he would be home, but since I was off work at 8pm, and he was supposed to be off at 7pm, I figured that we would be home at about the same time. Boy was I wrong! He didn't drag himself into bed until after 1am! He got off work shortly after he left the message on my phone, but he stayed and talked to a co-worker for the next five hours! He didn't even come directly to bed, he started watching his movie (he started re-watching The Return of the King the other night) until I told him to get his carcass in bed. Oh well, at least we'll be able to spend the day together on Thursday.

Well, I'm off to take my math test. I'm feeling a little more confident now that we've reviewed (I don't even have to go to class tomorrow, since the only thing that will be going on is the test for the people who didn't want to take it today) a little in class today.

M

Is Christmas Over Yet?

2006-11-20T13:13:00.000-08:00

We got the truck back after much begging of the repair guy to take a post-dated check. Himself thinks he got shorted on hours for his vacation, so the check that was sent to us was a lot smaller than we both thought it would be. His truck runs, so everyone is happy. All we need now is get my truck an oil change and we should be pretty good for awhile.

Yesterday I thought I was working until 7pm, but as it turns out I worked until 8. Normally that would be fine, but we still had people in the store at 7:45 (I even had one group of customers ask if I could make an exception to the mall hours. Not only that, but they asked if we could speed the machine up so it would take less than 20 minutes to process the negatives. Sorry, not going to happen) picking their portraits. We finally got them out, and picked up the cleaning. Another girl and I had already scrubbed the white backdrops while the customers were still in the store, so all that was left was taking out the garbage and cleaning the floors. We couldn't clean the floors while people are still in the store, so as soon as they left, one of the new girls started sweeping and everything. We got everything done, but the manager still had to run a bunch of stuff on the computer, so she had us leave as soon as we were done with everything else. We were a mad house all day (hence the customers still in the store after we close), especially since we had a camera break and we were triple-booked pretty much all day. The last weekend before Thanksgiving. I can only imagine what the weekend after Thanksgiving will be like.

I have a math test tomorrow in class, and I don't think I'll do all that well. We've been doing the kind of math that only works when the moon and stars are in perfect alignment, and the he-goat has been sacrificed to the proper gods. You only multiply across when we have a large earthquake on the other side of the world, and the only time you add down is when we actually have peace in the middle-east. This is the kind of math I will probably never get, but I've been able to squeak by with some very lucky guesses.

Well, I have to study for that test now, and I start work pretty soon, so I must sign off here.

M

Himself pt. 2

2006-11-19T11:10:00.000-08:00

Today I lent my truck to Himself so he could get to work on time today. This would have been a pretty good plan except for the fact that he works at 11am, and I work at 1pm. I have a couple more hours to kill before I start work, and then I have another hour or so to kill before I get to go home. I'm half tempted to call a friend of mine and see if she'll drive me home, then call Himself and let him know that he doesn't have to pick me up.

Today also marks a big day for gamers. The Nintendo Wii came out today, and the one gaming store here in the mall opened early for all the hardcore gamers. Everyone and their dog came into the mall to get their Wii. Actually, that's not far from the truth. I was walking down the line and I saw a couple holding their little dog while waiting in the line. People are so odd sometimes.

Thanksgiving this year will be spent with Himself's family (we didn't spend it with them last year because we had just gotten back from Poland, and my family claimed us for the holiday) at his grandmother's house. His grandmother is a wonderful, soft spoken lady, and I do enjoy spending time with her. We'll probably draw names for Christmas that night, and we'll probably talk about who has what day off (Himself has an aunt who is a nurse, so she doesn't always get Christmas off) so we can actually celebrate Christmas.

Well, since the day is still young, nothing much has happened.

M

Holiday blues

2006-11-18T17:14:00.000-08:00

Work today was jam-packed with people. We had people calling in to get their holiday pictures done early. Early is usually good, but from what I've heard the weekends don't ever slow down until just after New Years. Then they pick up again just in time for Valentine's Day (probably not as busy as Father's Day or Christmas, but I've heard babies are popular for Valentine's Day), but then we're slow until about Easter. A small part of me is looking forward to Christmas, just so I can say I survived it, but another (somewhat larger) part is wishing Christmas would pass by without too much pulling of the hair.

Himself and I pick up his truck from the Truck Doctor on Monday, so he'll be able to drive himself (hee hee, Himself drives himself) to work next week. We just have to survive until then. The repairs weren't as bad as we thought they would be, but it still cost us a little more than $200. A good portion of that is towing, I think. The place Himself goes to get his truck fixed is pretty reasonably priced (except for their towing. That's where they get you), but I only know how to get home from there, and it's a pain in the butt to just retrace your path. There's a tricky left turn into the driveway of the repair shop, and to do it, you have to cross about three lanes of traffic.

A day like this at work makes me really not want kids that much, but at the same time I still want them a lot. I took the pictures of these two boys that reminded me a lot of the Minions when they were younger, but they were a lot worse. I suggested one of the birthday props (one of the boys had turned four in September, and they were just now getting to his pictures) for the youngest boy, but the mom said no. She thought the props looked too 'childish' (her 'children' were four and seven-ish. These kids were more like monsters in disguise), so we had to work with just the kids. Her oldest son was bored out of his gourd while the youngest had his birthday pictures done. He kept bringing the props into the room (we were in the smallest room in our store, so all the props in there were in the way), and I had to keep telling him to stop it, and then turn to the younger boy and tell him to stop moving and to stand like I had him.

I know four-year-olds have the attention span of--oh, look at the kitty, but crikey! I would put him in place and the second my fingers left his shoulders, he would move around!

It's days like this I want to look for a new job. I love photography, and I usually love people, but being stuck in a camera room all day and taking pictures of other people's monsters really takes it's toll. Yesterday I didn't even get my break (I worked about six hours straight)!

Okay, I'm done whining for now.

M

Himself

2006-11-17T12:01:00.000-08:00

I really love my husband, but sometimes he can be a little 'tarded. Yesterday his truck broke down on the freeway on the way to his class. After much driving around, trying to figure out how to get to the car doctor (we still don't have an official cause of death. We've been watching a lot of CSI, can you tell?) from the exit I took to get back home, we dropped off the keys to the truck and went home. Since I had class today, Himself had to wait for me to get home before he could even think about getting to work (I was his ride today, and might be his ride tomorrow, unless we can figure out another way to get him to work). We're still trying to figure out what to do about tomorrow, since we have to be at work at the same time, but in opposite directions (I could drop him off really early, but I still don't know where the store he has to be at is, and I don't really feel like getting lost on my way to work).

And now for something a little different: Himself and I watchedV for Vendetta the other night. It was the first time I had seen it, and the second or third time he saw it. Extremely good movie, even though the masks kind of freaked me out. I have always had a slight fear of full-face masks (the expression never changes, and when they talk, the lips never move), and I told himself that I may have a problem with the mask thing in the movie. I did at first, but after awhile I didn't even notice the mask as a mask. I started seeing it as his face. I highly recommend this movie for pretty much anyone.

M

Day 16

2006-11-16T18:57:00.000-08:00

Today was pretty slow, except for the fact that I slept through my alarm and didn't make it to class this morning. I'm going to talk to my Kick-Boxing instructor to see if there is anything I can do to make up the day. I still worked out at home, but nothing as tiring as Kick-Boxing.

Himself was on his way to his meat cutting class, and I was expecting a pretty quiet night in, that is until I heard my cell phone ring and he was calling me from a store not far from the Mini Manor. His truck died on the freeway (according to him, it just sputtered, lost speed and died) on his way to Seattle, so I had to pick him up and drive him to the truck-doctor to find out what was the cause of death. We both think his truck died of internal bleeding (there was an internal oil leak somewhere), and choking (the oil was dripping onto the air filter). Hopefully this will be a somewhat cheap fix, but probably not. The really ironic thing was Mom and I were talking about Himself and his truck maintenance (or actually, lack thereof) yesterday.

Well, I don't have much time left, so I must sign it off here.

M

The Half-way Point

2006-11-15T08:10:00.000-08:00

We're half-way through the month, and it's just now proving interesting. Yesterday I dropped my truck off at the brake doctor, only to get a call about an hour later saying that it's going to cost me about $400 to replace my brakes. I know there is a lot to do when it comes to brakes and everything, but $400! Holy cow! Mom and I are going to take Baby Truck to another doctor to get a second opinion, but I think it's still going to cost about an arm and a leg (maybe only a wrist and an ankle).

My friend called me last night right around the time we were supposed to get together, telling me that his little brother had to take his car to school (his brother's truck is having some issues), so we didn't get together last night like I was hoping. We have plans on Thursday to get together (I have the day off, and he doesn't have school anymore, so it worked out nicely), and hopefully we do.

I think the cold weather we've been having has slowed Himself's brain a bit. Last night we were talking about his day, and it took him a really long time to get a joke I cracked about his work. It wasn't even a very subtle joke, either! I waited and stared at him until the light blinked on behind his eyes (I could actually see the light come on, it was kind of creepy) and the gears started moving again. He's been working so much these past couple of weeks, and the added stress of not getting paid for vacation has shut down part of his brain until everything blows over (at least we know what to do when he goes on vacation this summer).

This morning at the end of class, we did the student evaluation of the instructor. I gave him a mostly good review (I did have a couple of 'disagree's on there, but it was mostly for his delivery of the subject-matter), but I did comment on how he sometimes makes a dry subject even dryer. Whenever the evaluations come out, there are always one or two students who give an instructor a bad evaluation just because they can. I try to be as fair as possible although I have my favorite instructors, so whenever I have to give them an evaluation, I usually give them a glowing review. My last math instructor, my Myths instructor, and both my photo instructors are my current favorites, although I did enjoy my first math instructor too. He just moved at a slower pace than I'm used to. Granted the first day of class was 'this is a whole number. This is how you add two whole numbers together. Tomorrow we'll talk about subtracting whole numbers.', so it was a pretty slow pace (most of the students were either older than me, or not from this country, so I always felt like the smartest person in class). Thank god I only have two more math classes to take, then I'm done!!!

M

Are we There Yet?

2006-11-14T09:08:00.000-08:00

Today I'm going to get my cartilage pierced again. A friend of mine is going with me so I can squeeze his arm (as much as I think the piercing looks cool, it hurts like nothing else), and then we're going to hang out for a little while. Sounds like a pretty boring day, but I'm just glad it's my day off. I'm also going to get my brakes fixed on my truck (I don't fancy going down the hill from school only to find out that my brakes don't work anymore), so I'll be walking everywhere I want to go for a little while. Hopefully the guy at the repair place has a truck mount available (last time he had a big repair job on the truck mount, so I had to wait, unfortunately I forgot to call him back to find out if the mount was ready for me) so I can drop off Baby Truck and be on my merry way.

I think I getting in better shape, because I don't feel as tired after Kick-Boxing as I used to. I still sweat a lot, but that's the whole point (not only that, but the gym is usually pretty warm in the morning). I got to work with my usual partner (she was in class today), so I feel like I got a better work-out than on Thursday. Himself still thinks that I can't beat him down (we spar sometimes. He wrestled for about seven years and he's teaching me some of the wrestling moves he remembers), but I think I could defend myself if the need arose.

All the days are blending. Is it day 13 or 14 of NaBloPoMo? As much as I'm enjoying posting everyday, I am looking forward to the end of the month. Once work gets really busy (from what I've heard, what we have on the weekends is just a taste of what December is going to be like. I guess the entire month of December feels like one big weekend) I probably wont have as much time to post everyday.

Well, that's all for today I guess.

M

Mostly Work

2006-11-13T08:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at work wasn't so bad. There were a couple of moments where the lobby was so full of people I was starting to get a headache from the sheer noise of it, but then it would empty out and everything would be quiet again.

Shortly after I clocked on, one of the managers asked me to help out with a walk-in (a large group never showed up for their sitting, so we had a couple of free appointments). I was more than happy to, that is until I found out how many people were in that sitting.

Eight children. All two years old and younger. I can almost say that without screaming now.

At first only a couple of the kids were crying (their attention spans were--wait, what was that?), but that was all it took to start a nice chain-reaction. Pretty soon all the kids were either crying or staring up at nothing with a blank look on their faces. The photographer and I discovered what a wonderful thing the bubble machine is at work. We usually use the bubbles for birthday pictures and stuff like that, but this time we used it to get the kid's attention for longer than--wait, there it is again.

We got some really cute pictures, but a couple of the moms were being really picky about having all the kids looking at the camera at the same time. There was one that was really close (only two of the kids were looking away), but no one liked it. I'm pretty sure they left without getting a reshoot (in other words, they settled for what they got), and I'm almost positive they actually bought something (most of the time our walk-ins come in with a free sheet coupon, and that's all they want. Sometimes they come in with a couple of coupons and try to use both of them at the same time, which we can't do).

The day finished pretty good, but a little late. I didn't get home until about a quarter to nine, and I still had to eat dinner and talk to Himself about his day. It made for a very early morning this morning.

M

Day 12

2006-11-12T14:26:00.000-08:00

I can't believe NaBloPoMo is almost half over! Today has been pretty nice, except for the drooling skies and the threat of wind. I guess the weather forecasts have been calling for lots of wind, but not much of that has hit us where I live.

I'm thinking of getting Santa pictures of the furry girls this year. There is a Santa right out in front of my store, and I think he has pet days so people who have furry children can have pictures too.

Again, my thoughts are kind of scattered today. I'm thinking about how I'm going to survive this holiday season at work. So far it's been only the weekends that are crazy, but from what I've heard, once Christmas looms closer, then the weekdays will be just as hellish. Goody. So far we've mostly had irate parents (usually moms) complain about how they've had to wait for a long time to take/see their pictures. What I don't think they realize is that we only have three camera rooms, and a district manager that requires us to book up those rooms completely. That way we can bring in as much money as possible. What this district manager doesn't realize is that sittings take longer than 20 minutes, especially when there is a 3 or 4 year old involved.

That's enough of my work rant. The holidays will be over soon enough, and we won't be crazy again until Valentine's day.

Well, that's about it for today. I don't have enough time to write more. The computer I'm on decided to freeze on me before I could even log on, so my time was cut much shorter than I would like.

M

Small revolution

2006-11-11T17:01:00.000-08:00

Today as I was walking through my mall after work I realized that the mall is a lot like high school. People stand in the middle of the walk-way just talking and getting in people's way, and they give you really dirty looks when you push past. I remember when I was in school and people would gather around the lockers to talk, and it would make other people late for class. It was the subject of many a letter to the school newspaper.

I talked to an old friend today, and we're going to get together on Tuesday. That'll be a lot of fun, since I haven't seen them in quite awhile.

Work was a little crazy, but steady for the most part. The last 15 minutes or so of my shift was full of making animal balloons for the kids, since I didn't have enough time to do a sitting, and there were no sales ready for the customers. At one point I had a cluster of about five or so kids gathered around me and begging for a balloon. The most popular color was purple (this is a bad thing since it's really hard to find a purple balloon because they look like the black, blue, and green balloons before they're blown up), and for the most part everyone got a cat/dog/any other animal that has four legs and a tail. It's about the only thing I remember how to make (I am learning how to make a flower, but those are so hard to make without popping them), so when someone askes for an amimal with four legs and a tail, that's what I make.

Himself was able to walk to work today, which is really nice because that means he'll be home earlier than usual. He's working at the store just up the street from the Mini Manor, so I think I'll go visit him and walk home with him when he gets off.

A friend of mine who lives in the same complex and Himself and I got a new dog, so when I have the day off, I'll be walking both of them (the two dogs, not the friend and her dog). I can't wait, since this dog seems really sweet. Her other dog is a total lover (he loves to be petted and walked and looked at. He makes a great guard dog), and the two dogs seem to get along pretty well which surprises me since they're both (fixed) male dogs.

Pretty random post today. All my thoughts are totally scattered, and my brain fried at work today. I had a family sitting that waa really frustrating (the mom was really picky about the poses we had her kids do, and the kids whined the entire time (they were about 17 or 18, 16 or 15 and 14 or 13) we posed them). I was really tempted to tell the kids that the pose is cute and that they need to do it anyway. Then the two boys were playing around (they were the oldest ones, mind you) and getting weird when I told them to sit close to each other. They kind of reminded me of my brothers and I when we were about 13-3ish. That's pretty sad when kids that aren't that much younger than me remind me of when I was a lot younger than them. The mom was no help either, big surprise.

Well, that's it for today. I still have to check out my mom's blog and every thing.

M

P.S. CONGRATS MOM FOR OVER 30,000 WORDS FOR NANOWRIMO!!!!!!!!!!!

P.P.S. Spell check isn't working on this computer, so if there are any misspelled words, let me know and I can change them.

Ultra-fast post

2006-11-10T17:55:00.000-08:00

I only have about 10 minutes before the internet cafe closes, so this will be a really fast post.

Today I had a day off from both work and school. This wasn't planned, and one of the girls tried calling me in to cover her shift, but I had to say no, since I was waiting to get my brakes fixed on my truck. Unfortunately the guy at the auto-repair place couldn't get me in right away, so I had to wait. With waiting comes forgetting, and forgetting brings no new brakes. I'll probably find out what time they close tomorrow and I'll drop my truck off after work. Either that or I'll just bring it in on Tuesday after school. Don't know yet.

Himself and I are probably going to go out to dinner (we have a gift card to one of our favorite restaurants, so we'll use that) to celebrate our anniversary tomorrow night. We didn't have the chance to do that yet, since we both have to work, and he still hasn't gotten paid for his vacation. We finally found out what happened, and we're hoping that he'll get paid either this next paycheck or the one after that. The person doing payroll posted his vacation hours after posting the rest of payroll, so it wasn't processed at the same time.

Well, that's about all I have time for today, I'll post more tomorrow.

M

Class registration

2006-11-09T09:59:00.000-08:00

I've signed up for my classes, and I'm all set for next quarter. I'm signed up for the photo-lighting class and yet another math class. This next math class is the first one I actually get credit for, and it's the next to the last math class I have to take to be done with math for my degree. Just how many times can I say 'math' in one sentence?

Himself did not get paid for his vacation yet, so we have to put off our plans for a lunch or dinner together (to celebrate our anniversary) another week or so. Sucks, but that's the way it is. He's planning on going to his home-store and finding out what exactly happened today, so hopefully we'll have some good news soon.

This weekend is totally booked at work. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday totally filled up with people still trying to get in. When this happens, the only thing we can do is tell people to come in as a walk-in and hopefully we can get them in ASAP. Sometimes this works, the walk-ins understand that we're busy, sometimes though, the people get really agitated and storm away. That's okay. We don't need them anyway. ;o)

Hopefully I'll still find time to go Christmas shopping soon. I'm one of those people who like to get that sort of thing done as early as possible, since I hate shopping when there are huge crowds every where.

M

Sleepy Post

2006-11-08T08:01:00.000-08:00

Today I did not want to wake up and go to school. Baby Truck doesn't have much gas in her tank, so I was trying to figure out a way to conserve gas and do my laundry all at the same time. Payday is still two days away for me (Himself gets paid tomorrow, so everything should be okay until then), and since my hours have been cut for some reason, my paychecks have been a little light. I plan on talking to the acting manager about maybe increasing my hours (I really can work more days, just not early morning since I'm in class, and I have to be out of the mall by about 8pm so I can eat dinner and go to bed before 10 or 11), or something so I can have more than 14 hours a week.

Speaking of work, we're seeing a bit of a slow spot (the calm before the storm) right now, but that will change pretty soon. Already the weekends are getting busier (actually they never really stopped being busy from the Halloween frenzy), but the weekdays have been blessedly slow (perfect for training new-hires on everything). I know that will all change after Thanksgiving, but I plan on enjoying it as much as possible now.

Math class is much as it always is: Really boring. I don't mind math so much, but I prefer it when the instructor has a little passion for the subject. Boring Math Teacher has loosened up a little bit, but I still find myself falling asleep in class.

Next quarter is going to be interesting with my class and work schedule. The lighting class I need for my photography certificate is only available from 1-2:30, but most of the other classes I need for either my AA or my photo certificate are morning classes. Since I'm not sure when the lighting class is going to be offered (I guess they didn't have it at all for the longest time, since there was no instructor to teach it) again, I should take it now. It will mean lots of closing shifts at work, which is fine, since they need more people who can work nights and weekends. I might take a late morning class and then the early afternoon class. That way I can close at work and not have to worry about getting to bed right away.

Well, that's it. Nothing very exciting has been happening lately.

M

Life in general

2006-11-07T09:16:00.000-08:00

I found out yesterday that I'm only scheduled for 14 hours this week! That's a bad thing, since Himself and I may be relying more on my paycheck then on his. We're trying to put as much money into savings as possible before we buy a house, so this means that more of his paycheck will be used for rent and food, and my checks will be used for bills and food.

Himself and I had a wonderful visit with his parents the other day. My in-laws were so happy to see me, they started fighting over who gets to spend more time with me. Himself finally interjected when they started with the 'I got to her first' argument.

His response? 'I got to her first'.

We had a lovely chat about school (his mom is a teacher) and work, and Himself updated his parents on the cats latest antics. My father-in-law (a very large, slightly imposing man) loves his grand-kitties almost as much as if they were real children. Last year he asked Himself and I to bring Little Princess (we didn't have Miss Thang yet) over for Christmas Eve stockings and presents. We hadn't planned on packing her into her crate (she is not a big fan of traveling, seeing as the last time she went anywhere we put her down in an unfamiliar place and flashed a bright light in her face), but the look on my father-in-law's face made us change our minds. He was so happy to see her, he picked her up and cuddled with her almost all day. Quite a sight!

We've been working on actually having a target in kick-boxing. We partner up with someone, shove on gloves and hold a pad the covers most of the lower torso. My partner and I like to yell at each other, and she likes to try to knock me down. This is amusing because she's about three or four inches shorter than me (I have to hold the pad really low for her to hit the center when we're doing the kicks). I've lost about two inches on my waist since the class (I'm not going by weight since we're building muscle and muscle is heavier than fat), and I've noticed that my arms are a lot stronger. Yea me!

M

Holiday Brain-Droppings

2006-11-06T12:30:00.000-08:00

Well, the Magical Night was fun, and despite my limited funds this year, I got a couple of gifts purchased, and I have ideas for other gifts. My father-in-law has an infatuation with elephants, and he has quite the collection. I usually try to get him something with an elephant on it every year (except the first year, since I didn't know about the collection). I balance that out with something with an iris on it for my mother-in-law (her favorite flower. She has iris decorations on the walls, and last year I gave her an iris tree decoration), so both in-laws are happy campers. This has also elevated me to favorite child in the family.

I still haven't purchased anything for Himself, but when you live in a very small manor, you learn that it's very hard to hide anything. Actually, if you want to forget that you bought a gift already, or forget where you hid the original gift, then hiding things in the Mini Manor is very easy, just not recommended. I'll probably put his gift off until the last minute (at least as last minute as I'm comfortable with), just to keep the location fresh in my mind.

Mom had a very successful shopping trip last night, but we both wish we could pull names for the extended family before the Magical Night so we can get that shopping over with. Tradition says we MUST pull names on Thanksgiving, and not a moment sooner. A few years ago, we pulled names on Christmas day for the next year, but people kept forgetting who they pulled. Mom and I didn't, but then again, we both shop throughout the year for Christmas gifts. It's also very hard to get that side of the family to stray from tradition at all. If we ever served a 'non-traditional' dish at either Thanksgiving or Christmas, it is met with raised eyebrows. People will eat it unless it has something 'disgusting' in it (like Mayo, cheese, onions, tomatoes, almost any green veggie...It's a family of picky eaters, what can I say. I still love them, though).

Well, again, that's all for today. I hope to get some more gifts in the next week or so, that way I only have to get the gifts for the extended family (when we get around to pulling names), and one for Himself's family (who also draws names on Thanksgiving. This should be interesting).

M

Day off

2006-11-05T12:39:00.000-08:00

This is my first Sunday off in quite a long time. Himself actually has the day off with me, but he has some laundry to do (his work clothes are getting gross), so we won't be spending the whole day together like we had planned.

Apparently Himself has a bit of a death wish. He keeps looking over my shoulder and commenting on what I type (especially if I make a typo, which is pretty often. Thank god for spell check!).

We (Himself and I) keep joking about how I'm going to meet his parents today. I haven't seen them for about a month, so it's time to re-introduce myself. His parents have been complaining about how they always see Himself, but never me. At least that's what I'm told.

Anyway, that's it for today

M

Brain-droppings

2006-11-04T15:58:00.000-08:00

Himself found out why he didn't get paid for his vacation (he had to call his home store and let them know that he was going on vacation), so we should be getting a really nice paycheck this coming week. The only problem is that rent is due tomorrow, and we only have a small part of it set aside (since we both thought that he would be getting paid). He is going to talk to the people at the office to see if we can pay the part we have, then give them the rest after payday.

Rain has been pouring down for the past two days, and people are starting to look a little water-logged. It's not even a warm rain, it's cold and wet and it makes me grumpy. I don't mind a day or two of soft rain, even mist, but I hate the cold, pouring rain that is so often happening here in the great northwest.

Tomorrow is the Magical Night of Giving, and Killer and The Hair will be joining Mom and I for the first time. Mom and I always look forward to this time of year, and we have our game plan all figured out. We go pick up Killer and The Hair, then we go to the mall where we secure a shopping cart and get some food. It's all great fun, but my first stop will be the shoe store, since my shoes have decided die. Water now leaks into them whenever I step into a deep puddle (which with this rain is pretty often).

Well, that's about it for today.

M

Oops!

2006-11-03T17:26:00.000-08:00

Himself just found out today that someone goofed, and he didn't get paid for his vacation last week. He said he was going to look into it today, so hopefully we'll be receiving a really nice paycheck this next week. We renewed our lease the other day, so the Mini Manor is still ours for the next year. We had been thinking about moving into the apartment downstairs from us, but it would have been too expensive.

Work was fun yesterday, since it was mainly training. I feel weird saying that since I've been there for about 3 or 4 months, but our photography changed, so we have to go over the new stuff. We already did about half the training before Halloween, but since the higher-ups are not all there in the brains department (they hadn't developed or tested all the photography at the same time), we finished the training yesterday. At least we're done training until January. That's when we start training with digital cameras, and in February we go totally digital! That's going to be so cool, since now we can get down on the ground with the child and really get the cool shots.

Well, that's about it for today. I didn't do much today, so this is going to be a short post.

M

A depressing post. Sorry.

2006-11-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

This time last year Himself, his parents, and myself were getting ready for our trip to Poland to visit (and eventually bring home) my brother-in-law. We spend 10 wonderful (very cold) days in Krakow, Poland, sometimes traveling out to other places.

My father-in-law and brother-in-law went to the salt mines just outside of Krakow, but I opted out, since the thought of being trapped under almost a mile of dirt and stone made me feel a little jittery. Auschwitz was bad enough when we went into block 11 (the jail block where prisoners were put into starvation cells and standing cells), mainly because of the press of people flooding the main hallway (a tour bus had just arrived, and I guess the most depressing block in the place was the first stop. Go figure).

Birkenau was worse. Before Himself and I went to Poland, I told him that I did not wish to go to Auschwitz simply because I had heard that it was beyond spooky. I am a fan of horror movies (not the hack'em/slash'em movies, but the ones that make you think), but I have my limits. I had heard from several people that Auschwitz was completely silent, and that you couldn't see any kind of life other than the tour groups. That's not completely true, I heard a couple of birds chirping once or twice, but that was it. When we arrived at Birkenau (also called Auschwitz 2), there was nothing. You can still see many of the buildings, a virtual forrest of chimneys, the train tracks, ect scattered throughout the grounds, but Birkenau is silent. Since most of it is outside, voices don't even carry very well, so the whole time I'm straining to hear my brother-in-law talk (he was explaining several things about some of the places in Birkenau).

Birkenau was the anti-Disneyland.

The rest of Poland was beautiful, and my father-in-law and I have both expressed a desire to go back and see some of the places we missed (or had to rush through due to closing times). I really want to go to the salt mines (I'll swallow my fear long enough to see the underground chapel) next time, since I saw some pictures of the inside. I also want to go to the St. Mary's Cathedral inside again to gawk at the beauty of the old art inside. I'm not traditionally religious, but I love really old cathedrals (the gothic-style ones are the best), and St. Mary's is rich with art and legend. There is a story about why one tower is taller than the other, which I may put on here sometime. I really want to find some of the pictures that my father-in-law took of the cathedral and put them on this blog, but that is going to require much digging in boxes of photographs (not all of them are from the trip, just most of them).

Well, not sure about the quality of this post, I'm too tired and hungry to proof-read it. If there are any mistakes, feel free to tell me, and I'll do my best to change them.

M

NaBloPoMo

2006-11-01T14:17:00.000-08:00

So, I'm not sure if I'm an official participant of NaBloPoMo, but I think I'll do it anyway. This should prove interesting since I don't have daily access to a really fast computer. Right now I'm in the internet cafe at the Mini Manor complex, and the internet connection isn't really fast.

Himself and I are taking it pretty easy today, since we never have a full day off together. Usually I have to be in school, but today is some kind of inservice day, so no one is there except the teachers.

I'm probably going to pick out my classes for next quarter later today. I think I'm going to take the lighting class this coming quarter, and probably another math class. I would like to take another P.E class, but I don't need very many of those for my degree.

Well, really quick post today. Himself is tired, and we both want to go to his parent's house later to visit them.

M

Untitled

2006-10-31T09:55:00.000-08:00

Today was freezing, and someone forgot to turn the heat on in the gym at school. Fortunately we're working pretty hard, so we didn't feel the cold so much.

I just looked out the window of the school library to see a cascade of falling leaves the color of gold. I love this time of year, because we're treated with so much visual stimulation.

Last night I woke up to find a small furry body pressed up against me on one side, and another on the other side. The cats decided that it was much warmer under the covers than out in the living room (their usual sleeping place), so they dove under while I was rolling over. I felt one whisk by me when I lifted the blankets, and I think the other just wormed under at some point. Himself and I don't mind having the cats under the blankets, but it does cause me to sleep very carefully on one side. I'm always paranoid that I'll roll over and...

Today is too cold to do much of anything. My hands hurt from the cold, and from kick boxing. We used the gloves and pads today, and I feel the work out much more than before. We used to just kick and punch the air, which doesn't require much concentration or strength. Now that we have a target, we have to focus on where to hit the pad, and we have to try to push our partner back when we punch and kick. Lots of fun, but lots of work, too.

Well, that's about it for today. Himself and I are going to celebrate our anniversary tomorrow, since I have the day off from school and I'm thinking of calling in sick tomorrow. I actually don't feel well (it's the weather change. This morning when I woke up, I had such a cough that I woke Himself up), so we may be taking it easy. Probably go and visit the in-laws for a little while (they've been complaining that they don't see enough of me), and then go out for dinner later. Good times.

M

Celebrations and Stupid People

2006-10-30T09:17:00.000-08:00

The cleaning is almost done, but Himself and I are taking a break to celebrate our 2nd anniversary! Our anniversary is tomorrow but the bum forgot to request the day off, so now he has to work from 11am to 8pm. We're actually going to celebrate it on Wednesday since I have the day off from school and he has the day off from work. We're not sure what we're going to do, but I think a trip into Seattle may be in store. I might even call in sick if work isn't too busy!

Speaking of work, I found out I work with the blondest black girl I have ever seen! She doesn't know jack, and it seems like she doesn't even want to know. She'll ask were something is before she even looks for it. Normally this isn't such a bad thing, but when she does it several times in a day, and the answers are all the same, it gets a little tiresome.

Just last night, she decided to give me a bit of an attitude. I told her that she needs to clean the backdrop in the last room (one of the other girls and I did the other two) before vacuuming, and she was whining about how she thought the sooner she got the vacuuming done, the sooner we would get out of the store. I told her that no, we still had to take out the garbage, clean the bathroom, wipe down the tables, clean the lab, sweep the rooms, and the manager still had to to the closing paperwork.

This did not go over well at all.

She told me that it wasn't fair for her to do the backdrop because she didn't know that she was staying all the way to closing, and her ride was waiting for her. The phone rang, and she whined that the caller was probably her ride, wanting to know where she was. She piled on the 'tude when I told her to answer the phone (she refused, saying that she'll clean the backdrop. I told her that someone has to answer the stupid phone (she was closer to it than I was)). I got the garbage out, wiped down the tables, cleaned the lab (helped fix the stupid machine again. Stupid paper jams). All she did was the vacuuming and the bathroom. I was fine with that, since I knew that if I did something, it would be done much faster than if she did it.

When we were all set to venture out into the real world again, she was still standing by the doors, trying to figure out how to exit the mall. To be a little nicer to her, I must explain that the mall I work at locks all the doors at exactly closing time, but one is still open-able. You have to push on a lever that says 'push' for the door to open. Blondie was in a mild panic because 'all the doors say they're locked.'

Really.

I bet she put her ear to all of them to hear them speak.

I said 'push' while pointing to the magic door with the lever on it. She looked at me blankly, so I pushed open the door. She got all defensive and started muttering about how all the doors said they were locked.

This is the same girl who looked at me blankly when I told her to turn the vacuum off so I could talk to her. She looked for the on/off switch (it's the same switch she used to turn the vacuum on, and it was right on top of the unit. It's not even hiding or disguised as anything. The damn thing is bright orange!), and when she finally found it, she turned off the vacuum and gave me the Look. You know, the look that says 'what the hell do you want'. I get that look enough from Miss Thang at home, so Blondie flipping me the Look was not a shock. I've also built up an immunity to the Look, so it no longer affects me.

Long rant today. I have had it up to here with stupid people.

M

Quick Post

2006-10-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

I have to start work in about a half hour, so I decided to write a quick post before. I think I'm going to sign up for the NaBloPoMo, and hopefully I'll be able to post everyday.

Scary Math Girl was at it again on Friday. She seemed to be okay on Thursday, actually asking questions and taking notes, but on Friday, she was giving lip to Boring Math Guy. Whenever he did a problem on the board, she would ask if it was a problem from the book. Most of the problems were, but he didn't know what page they were on. She constantly asked him to do a problem from the book, so he got a little irritated and told her that they were. She asked where with a very challenging look on her face, and he just looked at her and said 'I don't know, look it up.' She was NOT happy with this response, and was even less happy with the quiz he passed out halfway through the class. She makes it fun to stay awake through class, just seeing what she'll do next.

Himself starts his vacation today, and he's fully planning on enjoying every minute of it. We're going to clean the Mini Manor so we can have a Christmas tree this year (which reminds me, I need to find a steam cleaner for the carpet), and we have to renew our lease so we can live there a little longer (although we may move into the apartment right under us since they're turning it into one of the 'new' apartments).

Well, like I said, quick post.

M

Even More Math

2006-10-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

Today we had a quiz in my math class. The quiz was easy enough, even though there were a couple of confusing questions. I just took my time going through it and I'm pretty sure I did okay. There was one girl in the class though who took offense to the quiz and tried to blame the instructor for not answering her questions. He simply told her that she has to ask her questions in order for him to answer them. Every day he starts out with 'so does anyone have any questions', and he asks the same question throughout the hour we have for class. At any of those times she could have piped up and asked him to clarify something. When most of the class left (we got to leave right after we finished the quiz), she stormed up to the front of the room and proceeded to try to drag Boring Math Guy over the coals. He didn't take the bait, and she stormed back to her seat, started slamming her things back into her bag and left in a very angry huff. All the while muttering to herself about asking questions and how he was a bad instructor. Boring Math Guy isn't bad as instructors go, but he does tend to over-complicate things a little too much. He goes at a pace that is easy to follow, but not so slow that most of the class is bored to tears (the pace is fine, the delivery needs work). I'm hoping to get Norse God instructor again for my next math class. Whenever I see him in the hallway (he uses the classroom I'm in right after my class) I ask him if he found out what math he was going to be teaching next quarter.

I had Himself look at the math problems we did in class yesterday, and I was right! There is a much easier way (not using letters or any funky numbers) to do one of the problems. I still have to learn the 'long' way, since Boring Math Guy wants us to do it that way on the tests, but at least now I know I can check my answers with the easier way.

Nothing is making sense today. I think I jostled a few too many brain cells during kick boxing (which is getting easier day by day) today. We did a lot of jumping and punching, and he taught us a new combo at the end of class: jab, cross, bob and weave, side kick, front kick. Most of the class ended up doing two side kicks, but the instructor doesn't really care, as long as we're moving and keeping our heart-rate up.

Well, I need to go and get some protein in my system before I starve.

M

More Math

2006-10-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

Today the class was presented with this problem on the board: At an outdoor concert, 3 seats are added to each row. There are 25 rows and 1200 seats after the seats were added. How many seats were in each row before the seats were added? Most Boring (and Complicated) Math Teacher went into a whole x and y thing (y= total seats, x=seats per row), and finally came up with the answer (x=45). There was a lot of dividing and multiplying involved, but I got the answer before him. I simply divided 1200 by 25 (which is 48 for those people who are curious) and subtracted 3. What is it about math that makes people over complicate things?

Simple math seems to escape some of the customers we had last night, too. Sittings take longer to get through when we only have three camera rooms, and we're short two photographers. Let's see... About 32 sittings for the day, three camera rooms, two and a half photographers (one of the girls was also selling portraits). I bet if I threw in a couple of variables I would have a pretty nifty math problem (or I could just solve it using basic math), but it boiled down to everyone being really stressed out and one very exhausting night. I wasn't supposed to work until three in the afternoon, but they called me in early because of the first no-show. Oh well, it means more hours on my next paycheck.

I think I'll have some pictures done of me in my pirate costume on Saturday (I actually have a weekend day off this week!). I've been working on this costume for a little while, and now I only need two more things to make it perfect. I need some boots and a red scarf to put around my hair (the scarf goes on the head, not the boots, although that would be in interesting costume too...). I have a couple of shirts to go with the leather stay I have (got that treasure at the big ren faire Himself and I went to with Photo Girl and her boyfriend), and I was thinking about finding some pants to go with them too. I have a skirt, but it's more of a wench skirt than a pirate skirt (wench...pirate...what's the difference?), but throw on a pair of nifty boots and I'll be able to make it pirate-y.

Himself still doesn't know when his vacation starts. We both thought it was the second or third week in October, but now we're not so sure. He's going to call the main office and find out today so we can start planning some kind of Halloween party.

Well, that's all folks!

M

Free Bibles

2006-10-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

Every so often my school is littered with older men in black leather jackets lurking about with boxes full of little green books. If an unsuspecting student walks by, they pounce on them offering free bibles. Usually they scatter themselves around campus and stay put, luring the students to come closer so they can make their move while still protecting their stash of bibles. I usually try to avoid these people, but today it was harder than usual. Why? Because they were standing on every corner from the math building to the library (they're across campus from each other, and there are a lot of corners between the buildings)! There was even one in the library, asking students as they walked in and out of the building. I hate it when they come to the school, because I end up getting asked if I want a free bible every time I take a step.

Being of the non-Christian persuasion, I'm slightly offended by these men (never women) because if you don't take a bible, they look down their noses at you. If you wear another religious symbol (like I do. I wear a goddess symbol with a tiny pentagram on it), they really try to push those bibles. I don't mind Christians (they really are lovely people), but the fanatics really bother me. I once had some guy knock on my door a couple of years ago and ask me if I wanted to go to a concert that was being held at his church. I politely declined, and he had the stones to ask me why. I told him I wasn't Christian, and again he asked me why. Finally I told him that I was Pagan, and I was about to start my morning ritual and would he like to join me? The poor, hapless man was a little flustered by that, but he told me that I was 'the lost sheep that God told him to find'. That got under my skin and I told him that God's a stalker and I'm not a sheep. Baaaa!

I'm still tempted to use that same line when the guys with the free bibles ask me why I don't want one. I'm also tempted to tell them that their religion is insulting to women, and what really happened between the time Jesus was told he was the son of God and the time he started tearing up merchant's stands. See them get really flustered.

On a less ranty/religion note, Himself and I have part of the day off together, and we plan on spending it at the Halloween store not far from where we live. I plan on getting him something from there for our anniversary, but I kind of want him to look at it first (to find out if he likes it or not). I'm not going to tell him that's what he's getting, just find out what he likes. I can be sneaky like that! Mom taught me well.

We started doing round-house kicks in kick-boxing, and I started getting really good. Then the instructor (I don't have a nickname for him yet) started telling us to basically do a really big circle by doing a front kick, a side kick, a back kick, and a round-house. Sounds pretty easy, but I'm not coordinated enough to pull that off yet.

Well, that's all for now. I might have more tomorrow.

M

Skirts and Flip-flops

2006-10-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

Recently it has been feeling more and more like Fall in the mornings. Just today we had a thick layer of fog obscuring everything (making the drive to school very interesting), and I was still a little cold in my fleece jacket. I saw this girl walking to her class on my way to the computer lab wearing a short skirt and flip-flops. She must have been freezing, but she just kept walking like nothing was wrong. My guess is she had to keep moving so her legs wouldn't freeze off! Some people simply can't let go of the summer, especially since we actually had a summer this year. Usually our summers are less than a month long, and as soon as Fall hits, we have cold rain and lots of fog. I think we're in for a very odd winter this year.

Himself and I gave each other our early anniversary gifts (we usually do this. We get something early, then the 'main' gift on our anniversary). I gave him X3, and he gave me The Little Mermaid! Last night we watched X3 and talked about the probability of a fourth one being made. We both think that even though the director and producers were saying that this is the last X-Men movie, they're going to make another. They left it way too open, and there are still villains to introduce. Hell, 5 Superman movies, 4 Batman movies, and 2 Spiderman movies (a third one is being made now) have been made with no end in sight!

We had to do presentations in math class today. Actually we have to sign up for a time, and in a moment of utter stupidity, the Most Boring Math Teacher Ever passed the sign-up sheet around the class instead of tacking it up on the board for people, so most of one side of the class didn't even get the option to sign up for this round. Since we do this for a review for the tests we have in class, the problems that we present are going to get harder. Some of the students were so poor at explaining their problem they might as well have just written the problem on the board and sat back down (wait, some of them did!) One guy was under the brief impression that 13+20=23. Umm, last I checked 13+20=33. Just a little off, but not too bad. There was another student that wrote so small I had to squint to see what he wrote (to make matters harder, he used the green dry-erase marker that was dying, so it was really light, too), and I'm in the second row of the classroom! I guess Most Boring Math Teacher Ever isn't all that bad, but I really want to liven class up with a cricket noise box. Shouldn't be that hard to find!

More later, I have some film to develop before I go to work.

M

Ohhh my legs!

2006-10-06T15:39:00.000-07:00

I had my first real day of Kickboxing, (I had to miss the first couple of days because of my truck being dead) and I have never felt such pain before! It hurts to climb stairs, which really sucks because the Mini Manor is on the second story of our building, and my math class is on the second story of the math building. My arms hurt a little (mostly my shoulders) from all the punching, but it's my legs that hurt the most. Crazy P.E Teacher kept telling the class what a great ab workout this was, but I didn't feel it anywhere near my abs! Then again, I have pretty strong ab muscles because of the bellydancing I do, I just have a little more flub covering those muscles than I would really like. My mother-in-law calls it insulation, but if that's true, then why am I so cold all the time?!

I just got Himself part of his anniversary gift the other day, and I have to wait a little longer to get the other part. I'm really hoping the store still has it by the time I get paid again, but if they don't, I have a back-up plan. I have a very strong suspicion that I'm going to be getting The Little Mermaid on DVD as my gift from him. I've left hints that Little Mermaid was one of my favorite movies growing up (in fact, I think it was the first movie I ever saw in the theater), and the hint that Himself gave me was 'water'. I can't believe it's been only two years since we got married! I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, but it feels like we've been married a lot longer than that!

Well, it'll be a short one today, since I still have to head into work and talk about what time I'm leaving on Sunday. Silly me offered to stay until the last appointment on Sunday since one of the girls has to leave early.

M

Baby Truck (or How I Learned how to Fix my Truck)

2006-10-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

My wonderful little tuck (named Baby Truck because she is so much smaller than the truck I used to drive) decided that she was tired of driving back and forth to and from work and school. A couple of nights ago, while I was on my way home from work, I noticed that my battery level was really low (a brand new battery because my last one finally died on me even though it was deemed 'fine' by the 'experts'). It had been doing this for a couple of days, so I stayed in the right lane of the freeway and started praying to the Powers That Be that my battery wouldn't die until I got into my parking spot at the Mini Manor (pushing my truck anywhere uphill sucks, no matter how small she is). No one listened to me, and I started feeling the hesitation and lurching of a dying car. I pulled off to the side, cried my eyes out (I sort of panicked when I thought I had left my phone at work) looking for my cell phone (so glad I had it on and charged up) and called Mom. Most Minor Minion answered the phone with bad news: neither Mom nor Dad were home. Next call was to Mom's cell phone. Not on (found out later it was sitting on the charger at home). Finally I struck gold when I called Dad's phone. They came to my rescue, called a tow-truck and hauled my poor, dead truck to their place so we could work on it.

Himself drove me to school yesterday and stuck around to help with the repairs. Mom and I decided it was the alternator (I had been really hoping it wasn't, but again the Powers That Be didn't listen), and we set off to buy a new one and some of the tools to used to put it into the truck. Next came the hard part: removing the old alternator without damaging anything else.

Long (painful) story short, after four trips to the auto parts store (once to get the parts needed, one more time to get the alternator exchanged since they gave me the wrong one, once more to exchange the belt they sold us (we were supposed to have a 956, the first guy gave us a 1000. Needless to say it was way too long), and once to take the battery there to get it charged up) we finally have a working truck! Everything works wonderfully, and I don't have to worry about how I'm going to get to work later today. Also, I get to actually start my photo shoots for my project tomorrow after school (since I have a working truck and everything). I have a lot of time to make up for with the project (I only have about one more week in the darkroom. The deadline for the contest is probably some time in April, so as long as I take a photo class next quarter, I should be fine as long as I can get at least two prints out in the next week).

I now know how to change a flat tire (I've known that for a little while), change a belt (even have the tool for it), change an alternator, and install a new battery. I'll be learning how to change my oil soon (Photo Girl changes her own oil, so she plans on teaching me), and pretty soon I'll be able to charge people $80 an hour to fix their cars! Not really, but it sounds cool. More women should know how to to some basic repairs on their cars. When I had to change my tire in a parking lot, I had women coming up to me just to watch (one of them told me she was glad I knew what I was doing because if it had been her, she would have been crying and calling her husband). Hmmm...Maybe I should figure out a way to teach women how to fix things on their cars...

Tomorrow I'm hanging out with The Smart One (a really book-smart friend from High School. Notice I did not say street smart) in Seattle while Himself is in his meat-cutting class. I'm also hanging out with The Hair for the photo shoot. I love days off!

M

Warning: Rant Leak Ahead!

2006-10-02T08:45:00.000-07:00

In light of last night, I have the need to continue on my rant.

1. People who don't understand that the mall has closing hours (my mall closes at 7pm on Sundays, and we had people in our studio until about 8pm or so. We tried to explain that we stop taking pictures about an hour before we close so we can show the portraits to the last sitting, but our pleas fell on deaf ears)

2. District Managers who don't understand that the mall has closing hours (she insists that we show every sitting their pictures that night, regardless of when the sitting was. If you try to explain that we need to get out of the store at a decent time, she 'reminds' you about the walk-in who bought $500 worth of portraits after closing (something about employees being in the store after midnight because the sitting was so long, and it took the people forever to decide on their pictures). It makes for a very hard morning the next day, especially if you have to wake up at the butt-crack of dawn like I do.)

3. People who take your apology and shove it up your butt (you try to make nice, but they obviously don't care. By the way, apologies hurt when they're shoved up the wrong way)

4. People who know they're good, and let you know just how good they are (I have a co-worker who is like this. She takes really great portraits, but the problem is she knows it. She 'helped' me in a sitting by taking over it. I only needed help posing the people, but the second I stepped off the step-ladder, she jumped on and started taking pictures. She only offered to help pose, too! A former co-worker tried to pull this with me on another matter, but I (playfully) told him where to shove it.)

5. Boring Math Teachers (I really enjoyed my last math instructor, but this quarter I have the single most boring math teacher known to man. At least Norse God Math Instructor made math intresting. My new instructor will stand with his back to the class as he looks over his notes and writes on the board. He talks very softly, and doesn't make anything sound fun at all. Norse God could make lying on a bed of nails sound like a barrel of laughs, but this guy can't even make Robin Williams sound funny. The other day, he stood in front of the class looking at his notes for a full two minutes after I asked him a question. Flip...flip...flip...)

That's about it for now. I'm in a grumpy mood today since it was a late night and a very early morning. I was going to go to a baby shower last night for my manager, but I realized that by the time I got to the shower, I would have to give her the gift, then turn around and drive all the way home. I've been having some rather serious issues with my truck these past few days, so I didn't want to tempt fate on the way home from the party. I think it's the alternator, but I'm hoping not (I really can't afford to have my alternator fixed right now). Maybe the truck just doesn't like the cold (she starts up just fine in the afternoon time, but this morning there was a little hesitation and a very tense drive to school). Either way, this is going to be a very intresting week.

On an upside, Himself starts vacation next week (?I think), so we'll be able to spend a lot of time together. He is going to clean the Mini Manor so we can shampoo the carpet and possibly throw a halloween party (of sorts) the week after vacation. Also, on the upside, today should be pretty slow at work, and my manager liked the baby shower gift I gave her when I went in today (I went in early so I could catch her before she went home for the day). Things are looking up...

M

Feeling Better

2006-09-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

Today I feel much better than I have in the past couple of days. The only downside was yesterday when I had to push my truck up a speedbump and a small incline because it decided to die on me. Fortunately it was payday, so I was able to afford the new battery I needed. Since I didn't have a vehicle at all, I had to walk to the nearest auto supply store (it's only about a block and a half away) and walk back with the battery. For the record, those things are really heavy! I installed the battery myself (with the help of a maintenance guy who almost had the right tool. I needed a socket wrench, but the pair of vice-grips he had in his toolbox did the trick). I started up my truck and took it for a ride around the block to get everything moving again.

Himself and I actually have two days off next week, but Tuesday I'm starting my project (that reminds me, I need to get some more film), and Thursday he has his meat-cutting class. I would postpone my photography, but I only have two weeks in the darkroom. The photo instructor told me that was as long as he could give me without getting into trouble. I still plan on spending as much time with Himself as possible next week (although he has his vacation in about two weeks, so that will be nice).

Right now there is an irritating small child humming loudly (and very off key) on the other side of the table I'm working on. I tried the shushing noise, but I think she's wearing headphones. It's the same song, over and over again. Thank god she left. It actually wasn't a small child like I thought, but a woman in her twenties or thirties.

I still don't feel 100% better (which may account for my slightly grumpy mood), so I think I'll wrap it up here and shop for my manager's baby shower gift.

M

Sick and Tired

2006-09-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my immune system decided to take a vacation. I'm not sure where I got the cold, but right now I feel like I've been hit by a train, then pissed on by a dog for good measure.

I don't like being sick.

Yesterday started out fine, but by the middle of the day, I started noticing that my sinuses were really getting the better of me. I was sneezing constantly (The Cousin and I went to a favorite store last night, and he kept trying to bless me every time I sneezed. I told him to give up), and this morning I woke up with the urge to go back to sleep. I think I even fell asleep in my math class for a minute or so. I'm hoping that I start feeling a little better by the time I have to go to work, so I think I'm going to take a nap and some kind of cold syrup.

I always feel bad for Himself when I'm sick, because I tend to get a little grumpy. I growled at him when he turned on the light in the bedroom (I was trying to get some sleep), I think I snarled at him when he tried to take some of the blankets (when I'm sick, I get really warm, then really cold pretty quickly), but I'm not sure. I get really listless when I don't feel well, so he is wonderful enough to take care of me. The cats think it's great that Mommy is sick. I don't move very much when I'm sick and sleeping, so Miss Thang has a warm place to sleep (usually if not right on top of me, then right by my legs). Little Princess gets a little frustrated because I'm not awake enough to let her under the covers where she likes to sleep, so she watches over me on my pillow. It's nice to fall asleep to her rumble-purr.

Well, that's about it right now. I think I'll go to sleep until I have to go to work.

M

Cell Phones and Smokers

2006-09-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

College is an interesting place. Most instructors don't allow cell phones in class. I did have one instructor (my Norse God math instructor) who didn't care if you brought your phone to class, and encouraged the rest of the class to listen in on the conversation. I think this was more of a deterrent than anything else. Students either turn off their phones or switch them to silent mode for class, but the second they're away from the building, the phones come out and the cigarettes are lit. People are so attached to their phones it's kind of sad. I have my cell phone, but I really don't use it that much. I use it to call long distance, and to call someone to let them know where I am (if I'm meeting them somewhere). There are people out there who use their phones as life-lines, desperately trying to stay connected to something.

Unfortunately people don't have the same courtesy in the libraries around here. At school, you can count on having at least five separate cell phones go off at any given time. The public libraries have a new policy that prohibits the use of cell phones while in the building, but people look past the rather large sign and answer their cell phone anyway. If people bring their attention to the sign, they hang up the phone and say something like 'whoops, wasn't supposed to do that, was I?'. I have one word for those people: Duh.

Washington State has passed a new(ish) law that states that people can't smoke within 25 feet of doorways in public places. My college has marked these spots (or posted signs telling people that they can smoke next to the garbage cans, rain or shine), and as soon as people get into these areas, they light up, talking and smoking at the same time. I'm surprised that some of the people I go to school with can accomplish this. Some of them will just stand in the middle of the walkway, smoking, talking, and drinking their coffee (that has got to be a funky taste), but most of them will go with the flow or move off to the sides. I have nothing against smokers (if they choose a premature death, then so be it) even though I think it's a disgusting habit (although I can think of far worse habits to have), and I even have no problems with cell phone users (but they are getting out of hand). It's the people attached to the cigarette and cell phone I have the problem with. We get parents coming in at work, yakking away on their phone, trying to give us information and talk to their friend about their crazy, drunken weekend at the same time. They're talking to their friend at the top of their voice because we play music in the lobby and it gets pretty loud in there when there are a lot of people. There have been times when my co-workers and I will ignore a customer on their phone and help the next person. If someone raised a stink about it, we just smile and tell them that we didn't want to interrupt their conversation.

The look on their faces is priceless.

M

New Quarter

2006-09-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

My first day of math class was today, and the instructor seems pretty cool. He's not like my last math instructor (the Norse God), but he seems nice enough. When I first saw him, I thought he was one of the students (just a very tall student nearly right out of high school). I think he's either in his late twenties or early thirties, but he looks about my age. No homework, ever, in that class (he doesn't want to spend all his time grading papers), but we are encouraged to do some practice problems in each section. We'll have quizs about twice a week, and he says he makes the quizs harder than the actual test. We'll see.

Tomorrow is the first day of kick boxing, and it's also my first day off this week. I arranged that with my manager at work, since I'm not sure how the kick boxing is going to effect (or is it affect? I can never tell those two apart) me. Every Tuesday and Thursday I'll have off, and I'm not going to work past about 8pm. That will probably change closer to the holidays, but for right now, it's nice.

Himself and I have been talking about children a lot more, and we may actually have a name picked out if we ever have a girl. The boy name was easy. My manager is almost due (if you ask her, she's ready now), but she and her husband have yet to settle on a first name. They have a middle name, but for now he is known as Bean.

Yesterday was a tough night at work. We were booked solid, and people were still trying to get in. We even had one woman gripe about not being able to get her pictures taken right then, even though the coupon she has said 'no appointment necessary'. My other manager (I have about three of them, one main manager and two assistants) had to explain to her that we usually do take walk-ins, but there were two other people on the list ahead of her, and all our apointments were coming in. She kept asking if the other walk-ins were there in the store, and my manager had to explain to her that we call them to let them know that we can take them in the order they come in. I think we had only a couple of no-shows yesterday. I'm not sure why the weekends are so busy now, since there is only one holiday coming up, but it's not for another month. People are also starting to make apointments for November and December. Scary!

I'm hoping to talk to the photo instructor about using the darkroom at school to work on my project. I want to be able to enter something for the Fair next year, and I want to enter into a couple of other contests. That means I have to get some models together to talk about the details.

Well, that's it for now.

M

P.S. I apologize for any possible spelling mistakes, the spell check isn't working on my computer. ::Grrrrr::

Music to listen to

2006-09-19T15:06:00.000-07:00

My Jay Atwood cd finally came in, and I have been happily listening to it every time I get into my car. Himself isn't a big fan of the 'new age' music, so I try to keep it away from him as much as possible. Evanesance has a new cd coming out in a couple of weeks (the first single off the cd is pretty good, but not as dark and moody as the first cd), and there are no good concerts at the fair this year. Himself was complaining all the way home a couple of days ago when he found out about the concerts. I told him to go to the fair and have a good time anyway.

The girlfriend of one of my co-workers is listening to the Harry Potter books, and she was griping about how the seventh one isn't out yet. Every time she comes in to visit we talk about the books (this is her first 'listen through', so I have to be careful about what I say) and our theories on how it will end. She already knew that J.K Rowling was thinking about killing Harry off in the last book (I hope she doesn't, since it would totally screw up my theory), but she doesn't know about some of the other things.

Well, I should get going now. I have to change my clothes for work, and I still want to get a smoothie before I start my shift. Mmmmm a Peanut-butter mood smoothie with energy and burner boosts. It's actually better than coffee (which is saying something, since I love my white chocolate mochas).

M

Right around the corner

2006-09-18T14:50:00.000-07:00

Fall is coming (as I've mentioned in another post), and with that means shorter days and longer nights. Pretty soon I won't be seeing much daylight (wake up before the sun is up, go to school, go to work, go home and go to bed), so I have been soaking up as much sun as possible. Himself keeps teasing me about being solar powered, but I don't care.

Work has slowed down now that the contest is over. In fact today we only have about five appointments in the book, and only a couple of walk-ins. I've been trying to find a slow day to organize the lab, so that might be what I do tonight.

Himself is planning on going to The Fair on Tuesday (his only day off this week), but since I have to work every day until Thursday, I won't be joining him. That's okay (although I do enjoy going to the fair and riding the roller coaster), but that also means that I probably won't see him when I get off work (depending on the time you leave the fair, traffic sucks big time). Oh well.

Some happy news, Himself has finally decided that we can start trying to have a baby in about a year and a half. That's right around the time his apprenticeship will be over and he'll be a full meat-cutter. He is taking a class right now for meat cutting, and the teacher told everyone that they should buy and cook every cut of meat their store sells. Himself piped up with 'I have a slight problem with that because my wife is almost a vegetarian!' The class shared his woe (there is no doubt that Himself is a meat-eater, and so is the majority of his class), and I guess the teacher just laughed.

The girls are doing fine, they sleep next to each other now, and sometimes I'll catch them bathing each other when they think no one is watching. Miss Thang is getting a little bigger, and Little Princess is finally loosing some weight. We were getting a little worried since she was having a hard time jumping onto the window sill from the bed.

Well, that's about it for now. I'll probably have more tomorrow.

M

Hard day

2006-09-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

Monday was a tough day for work. If I recall correctly, last year was tough too. It wasn't because of 9/11 or anything like that (or maybe it was. Maybe it's the whole full moon theory. People act crazy on full moons and 9/11). We were booked solid through the morning, and we still had people coming in, begging to get their pictures taken. We had to tell them that it would be at least a 2 hour waiting period (that was made longer since our machine was deciding to take a day off). Some were okay with that, but most of them were a little angry ("We came all the way down from X city! We have to get these pictures today!"), and they let us know just how angry about the wait they were.

It's the last days of our contest, and Saturday is going to be really busy! Saturday is the last day of the contest, and most of the parents of the 'Little Darlings' waited until the last minute. We're still getting calls for a morning appointment on Friday or Saturday. Sorry, not going to happen.

I'm supposed to have a 'conversation' with Former Big Green Friend (as far as I know he is still big and green, but he is no longer my friend. Himself is still willing to hang out with him, but I'm not. Long story), but we're not sure when. Himself is the only person FBGF will talk to (at least on-line), so I have to wait until he's off work before he can check his e-mail to find out the day and time. We were supposed to talk yesterday, but FBGF said that he didn't know how to get to the meeting place (he's been there several times, but whatever). Ug. I really hate drama.

Miss Thang has taken to sleeping on top of me when I go to bed (she'll actually wait until I go to bed sometimes. Other times she'll sleep on my side of the bed and wait for me), and Little Princess likes the box that Himself used to get an X-Box home. He got the X-Box from a co-worker who got the newest one. He just gave it to Himself (actually there were two consoles, so we gave Cousin one of them), and now the cats have a new place to sleep and play. Miss Thang likes to 'hunt' Little Princess (it's not that hard to hunt something that doens't move much) while she's in the box, and Little Princess likes to sleep in it.

Just the other day one of my co-workers did a sitting with three kids and 10 puppies. They were all so cute! There were a bunch of poses that I thought were fantastic, but the mom only got a couple of pictures (they weren't keeping any of the puppies). Still, we get to use the pictures in our store.

Well, that's about it for today. Payday is coming up, so I get to buy my math book (school starts in about two weeks) and my clothes for Kick-Boxing. Whee.

M

My Scottish/Irish Roots

2006-09-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

During one visit to the Manor, Mom and I got into a heritage discussion. I was under the impression that we were mostly Irish (being special, I am also half Norwegian. The Minions are not), but I found out that I'm also Scottish. That made Himself happy, and now he is bound and determined to find my clan's tartan so I can wear it proudly next year at the Scottish Highland Games and Clan Gathering. I actually have two clans, since I am part Irish, so I have to figure out a way to put both tartans on (probably just on a scarf or something to hold my hair back). I always felt a little out of place at the Highland Games, since I didn't think I had a clan (I'm still not sure if I have a clan at the games or not, but it'll be fun to check), but now I know I do!

Miss Thang is finally done with her second heat (this one was a lot shorter than the first one, but I still don't have the money to get her fixed until Himself gets paid), and now she sleeps on top of me at night. This usually isn't so bad, since I don't move around that much, but when I do, she digs her (recently clipped) claws into the blanket to let me know just how unamused she is.

Himself is working almost 50 hours this week (I think I mentioned this before), and he's already feeling it. We both have tomorrow off, so we plan on spending it doing nothing. Actually we're going to swim with the Cousin, but for the most part, we have no major plans.

Well, that's about it. I'll try to post again soon. School starts soon, and I'm actually looking forward to it. Even the Kickboxing class!

M

Whole new look

2006-09-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

I recently got contacts again (the last time I wore them was in high school, and they were the hard kind), and have been enjoying life without glasses (although I still wear them to work since I'm still not used to the contacts being in yet. I wear them all day on my days off, and I usually put them in after work). I plan on getting my hair cut probably on Wednesday (my hair goes down to almost my lower back right now, and I plan on cutting it so it skims the tops of my shoulders). I like to change my look every once in a while, and right now just feels right. I've let some personal changes happen (Big Green Friend is no longer apart of my social circle), so now a change in everything feels good.

Speaking of change, then nights are getting longer, and there is a slight bite to the night air. Fall is definitely on the way, and I can't wait! Autumn is one of my favorite seasons (the colors, the crisp leaves on the ground) which is why Himself and I got married in October, the very heart of Fall. My quarter starts up soon (just a couple more weeks of being able to stay up late and sleep in the next morning), and hopefully it won't be as hard as I think it will be.

No photography this quarter (as I've already written, I'm taking a math class and a Kickboxing class), but I'm going to tell the head of the photography department about my project, so hopefully he'll let me use the lab anyway. I might have to pay the lab fee, but that's okay. So far, I have three photos mapped out (technically four, since I already had Death done), and I'm hoping to start shooting them soon. I told Little Sis (my main model, since I have regular access to her) that I want to start with The Magician and The High Priestess before school starts up again so I have something to do on my days off (and so I can show them to the head of the photo dept.)

Not much else has been happening. Miss Thang gets fixed on Wednesday (she went into heat again the day before I was going to take her in last time), Little Princess is still a moody teen, Himself is working almost 50 hours next week (the payday will be good, but he is going to be one tired puppy), and work has been picking up (school starting, the holidays coming up, people wanting to get family portraits before members leave for home, ect). I've been working a steady 30 or so hours a week, with only two days off. We're both pretty tired.

The Fair is coming up next week, but Himself and I will probably go the week after that. We might bring some friends (so I have someone to ride the rides with. Himself will only go on the roller coaster with me a couple of times before he's done for the year), since that's what we do, but we're not sure.

TTFN!

M

George Carlin-a rant

2006-08-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

Himself is a pretty big fan of comedian George Carlin, mainly because he tells things like they are. One of his favorite sketches is about things that really piss him off, so I have decided to follow suit.

THINGS THAT REALLY PISS ME OFF

1. Lame-duck Governments (well, actually the government we have right now, especially the President we have right now)

2. People who hurt other people for fun ('nuff said on this one)

3. People who hurt animals (the only exception I have for this one is... Wait, there is no exception for this one)

4. Bullies (I had enough of them throughout elementary school, I really don't want to deal with them now)

5. Know-it-alls (people who think they know everything. Kind of goes along with the whole bully thing)

6. Self-riotous bastards (people who think they're above any and all laws, and who think that they can do anything they want. These are the people who start religious wars 'in the name of God'. I know several of them, and they all really piss me off every time they open their mouths or put their hands to a keyboard)

7. Religious zealots (my religion has been hunted by these people for hundreds of years, even though it came first. I'm proud of my Pagan ways, and people who want to call me a Witch really should find out if that's actually an insult. It isn't, by the way)

8. Gay-bashers and people who think gays shouldn't be allowed to be married (I have worked with gay people before, and to he honest, they are more like real people than some of the heterosexuals I've met. People who say homosexual people aren't as loving and committed as heterosexual couples obviously have never seen a homosexual couple in love before. I'll probably blog about this some more later. Pretty hot subject.)

I'm sure there is more, but that's all I can think of right now. There is no order to this list, and chances are, it will leak into other posts. Lists have a habit of doing that sometimes.

Now, for a better list:

THINGS THAT I AM HAPPY/GRATEFUL FOR

1. Himself (It's not just because I have to put him on here, it's because I'm a better person when I'm with him)

2. My family (Even the Minions. I was probably not the easiest teen to be around, especially since I am a lot like my mom, but they stood by and let the hurricane pass)

3. My girls (one is now a moody teenager, the other is at that awkward age where nothing seems right, but hormones are ruling everything. Himself is very alone in the female angst-y world that is the Mini Manor)

4. My sense of humor (if it wasn't for that, many of the things going on right now would push me over the edge. Certain things are harder to turn into something funny, but I usually try to let those roll away from me anyway)

5. My friends (again, I'm not the easiest person to get along with, but most of my friends have stuck by be for a really long time.)

6. Other bloggers (it's a nice network of people from other places. Sort of a support group you never have to look straight in the eye when you tell them you're okay. There are a couple of exceptions to this, but they know who they are. Hell, they 'don't even read my blog' (yet they seem to know my age), so mentioning them by name would be pointless, but the ones who are really great should know who they are too. My mom, Katie, Indigo, Mid, Groovy. People who make me laugh)

7. My blog (I can get the writing-bugs out of my fingers, and it doesn't have to make a lot of sense! I don't have to remember all the rules for dialogue or page breaks here!)

8. Finally, I am grateful for my life (if I wasn't here, I wouldn't have anything to do!)

Okay, that's enough for now. I have to see Himself before he rides off to work.

M

Beginning to loose my mind

2006-08-20T11:03:00.000-07:00

I have been working for the past 6 days in a row, and it's starting to affect my mind!

Whoever said (this would be one of my co-workers) pre-teens would be an easy portrait sitting needs to share whatever drugs she was smoking. The sisters didn't want to get close to each other (I personally don't mind standing close to my siblings), and when I told them how to sit, I got the 'are you serious' look coupled with the 'oh, hell no!' look. All I wanted was for them to sit next to each other, it's not like I asked them to kiss each other for the picture! The sitting started on a bad foot anyway, because they wanted the back room (it's bigger, and most people like the fact that they're not on display. The front room is right in the front of the store with windows facing the rest of the mall), but one of the other girls I work with was using it for another family. I told the sisters in my sitting that they could wait, but I wasn't sure how much longer the other family would be. They opted for the front room, but dragged their feet every time I asked them to do something. I had just finished with a very difficult sitting, and I was beginning to loose the patience that one parent praised so much. I finally got the sitting done, and it turned out okay, but I was more than happy that it was actually done. The mother did nothing to get her children to behave (she just sat there watching the whole thing). Maybe she thought they were behaving.

On a less work-note, Miss Thang is finally done screeching out the window for a male cat. Himself and I are going to get her fixed either later this coming week or next week (he and I are both working a lot next week, so we just have to find the time to get her over to the vet's office).

A really excellent (change of subject) site to check out is Jay Atwood's site. Jay Atwood is a musician who recently joined up with Himself's and my favorite bagpipe/drums group called the Wicked Tinkers. If you ever get the chance to see them live, do it! These guys are funny, and excellent musicians. Jay Atwood has his own CD out called Bonfire Dreaming, on which he plays the dige (that Australian instrument that I can't spell). Very haunting on some tracks, and very up and dance-like on others (the track titled 'She Dances' is one of my favorites). I plan on ordering the CD today from Amazon (yeah Amazon!).

That whole thing sounded like some kind of plug, so I'm going to sign off now and eat something before I have to go to work again. Can't wait for Monday (day off)!

Cats in Heat

2006-08-14T18:31:00.000-07:00

Himself and I have been the sole patrons of a brand new musical: Miss Thang in Heat! I forgot to get around to getting her fixed (she's never outside, so it was never really an issue), so now she sings to Himself and I ALL NIGHT LONG!!!! The worst part is she's at least 1/4 Siamese, so she can really belt it out.

In the morning, she glares at me when I have to wake up (this wakes her up, since she sleeps either on top of me or right behind my knees) as if to tell me how rough HER night was. Stupid cat. She'll be getting fixed as soon as Himself and I have the extra cash.

In other news: Himself and I went to a friend's party and had a lot of fun playing pool, talking with friends, and eating food. I play a very good game of very bad pool, but I did win a couple of times (both wins were technicalities. I never actually got the 8 ball in). This will be a busy week at work since we're holding a contest (this is the one time people start to think ahead. We've been booked every weekend since the contest started), but two of my portraits are studio finalists (still not sure what that means), and if they win the big contest, I'm not sure what if anything I get (could just be bragging rights, could be something different).

Well, short post today, just paid my tuition, so I really am going to take a 8am kickboxing class (kill me now, please) and a 7am math class (no really, kill me now!).

M

Holy Wet Cats, Batman!

2006-08-07T12:27:00.000-07:00

The cousin and I bathed the cats the other day (we get to do it again today! Lucky us!). Miss Thang has never been bathed before (at least not by me. She bathes herself all the time), so she was the first victim. I was expecting the same loud summoning of demonic family members we got to hear at the vet's office, but we only had to get rid of one of her lesser demon cousins. She stood stock-still in shock while I soaped her up and lathered her all over. Since it was a flea dip, more of her had to be washed (her head and face was...challenging), but she took it like a trooper and only glared at me the entire time.

Little Princess was next, and she put up much more of a fight than I was expecting. Usually she is a very laid back cat (I can clip her claws without too much trouble, and she likes being held like a baby on her back), but I guess when it comes to being soaked in lukewarm water, rubbed down with stinky stuff, and made fun of for five minutes, she really isn't laid back at all. She scrambled for the edge of the tub, managed to push off from the wall, use my back as a spring-board (that cat has got to loose some weight), and made a mad dash for the (closed) door. She was even less amused then she already was when I picked her up and plopped her back into the tub.

By the end of the day, I was about as wet as the cats, and Cousin looked a little damp around the edges, but the cats have fewer fleas and that's what counts. I have to do this about once a week to make sure all the fleas are killed, and for the record, I hate bathing cats.

M

Long time no write

2006-08-03T13:06:00.000-07:00

Between the trip to the Southern Kingdom and work, it has been really hard to find time to write much of anything. Work has been good, although there have been a couple of days that I wish I didn't work (really pissy customer both days. Same woman with the same complaint) but other than that, life has been good.

Miss Thang and Little Princess both got their portraits taken (Himself and I are really sad people. The cats are our furry children), and hopefully I can figure out a way to put one of them onto the blog (it may prove to be a little more technical than I am good with, but we'll see). Both cats have been getting along a lot better than before, but that may be because I gave them both flea dips (more on that later) and then clipped their claws (an event that involves a growling cat, a towel, toenail clippers, lots of band-aids, and a few choice words for said growling cat). Actually the clipping of the claws came first (I'm not stupid) then the flea baths.

Himself and I have been talking about buying our own Manor (the Mini Manor is nice, but I hate our neighbors and I don't want to have kids in an apartment). Mom, Dad, and the Minions were planning on moving in a couple of years, and Himself and I were really hoping to buy their Manor (decent neighborhood, nice neighbors, close to schools and shopping), so we'll probably wait to see how much they can sell the Manor to us.

The Cousin is finally a college student, although I'm not sure what it is he's going for. It's a four year program, and I really hope he's able to finish it and get whatever it is he wants. School for me starts next month (I should probably get the date soon so I can give it to my manager so she knows not to schedule me in for that morning), and I'm really looking forward to it. No lunch with mom this quarter, but that's okay. We'll probably figure out some other way to keep in touch during the quarter (phone calls, e-mails, whatever).

I'm going to be starting a new project very soon (have to get the rest of my ideas down and fine-tuned) and I can't wait. It's going to be my entry into Art at the Port for next year (I'm going for it, but it won't be the end of the world if I can't get in next year. There's always the year after that). It's going to go along the same lines as my portfolio from last quarter at school (the Tarot cards), but I'm going to take it a step further. More on that as it progresses.

Well, that's about it. Hopefully I can get to a computer again before too long.

More Updates

2006-07-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

For some reason, work has been really busy. That's good for business, but not good for training sessions, since we have to be slow in order for me to get into some kind of sitting. At least when it's busy I can watch the other photographers set the people up for the picture, which gets me ideas for my own sittings.

Just the other day, I found my cell phone (the evil couch monster that lives in the Mini Manor ate it), paid the bill and was once again connected to all the friends that live too far away for me to call on the land line. Cousin and I went to the pool and I put my phone under my towel with an alarm set to call the Grand Dame of the Universe. By the time we were ready to leave the pool, I noticed that I never heard the alarm and it was after the time I was supposed to call. My phone was stolen by some kids who apparently thought that they needed the phone more than me. I called my phone company and had them deactivate the phone, so now those kids have a phone-shaped paper weight. I got a better phone the same day and now I'm in the process of putting all my old phone numbers into the new phone.

Himself is plans on enjoying his week of having the Mini Manor to himself (hee hee hee), but he did promise a clean living room by the time I got back from the Lower Kingdom. I'm looking forward to the trip, but at the same time I will be glad to be home on Friday.

That's about all. Fall quarter should be interesting since I have a 7am math class, but I'll be done with my school day by 9am. The Minions are slightly jealous, so I stuck my tongue out at them. What kind of sister would I be if I didn't tease them every once in awhile?

M

Happy 4th of July!

2006-07-04T00:18:00.000-07:00

It is officially the 4th of July, and several people near the Mini-Manor (the very tiny apartment that Himself and I rent) have already started their celebrations. In the city Himself and I live in, fireworks aren't allowed. I'm not sure why, but there are signs up all over the placee warning people that extra patrols are out and enforcing this law.

Himself and I both have the day off, so we plan on spending the day helping my mom make fried chicken, ribs, fruit salad (my favorite), potato salad, possibly macaroni salad (Most Minor Minion's favorite. The boy can really pack it in), and I'm not sure what else.

Most likely the cats will be totally freaked out (even though fireworks are illegal in the city we live in, we're also near the border of unincorporated county where just about anything goes) by the time we get home, but some love and devotion should get us back in their good graces. Little Princess has had a couple of 4th of Julys, but Miss Thang is only about a year old, and as far as anyone can tell she has never heard fireworks in her short life. Hopefully the presence of a calmer, older cat will keep Miss Thang from tearing up the Mini-Manor (oh wait, she already did. She never likes where I put my plants. I have them outside now and she still tries to go out there and knock them off the railing). Not likely, but we're hoping. At least Miss Thang can't be worse than my cousin's rather, um, majestic cat. She flips out at any loud noise.

Well, I should get go bed, especially since Miss Thang is helping me by sitting right in front of the computer screen and is making it harder to see what I'm typing.

Thanks Miss Thang.

M

Young people

2006-06-30T23:27:00.000-07:00

I am one of the oldest people working at my studio, and I'm only 23! Today I had a customer who was talking to his young (well she had to be about 13 or so) daughter about music, and he mentioned Jethro Tull. I happen to be a fan of Jethro Tull (my mom got me hooked), and I said as much to the customer. He looked at me with total amazement, and his daughter had a very blank look on her face.

"You mean he wasn't making it up?"

I looked over the counter at her and said that no, her dad wasn't making Jethro Tull up. He pointed at his shirt (it was a really cool Young Frankenstein t-shirt) and said that she (his daughter) didn't know about Mel Brooks either (appearently she didn't know much about Mel Gibson either because she said 'isn't Mel Brooks the guy who did that Passion movie?). The dad and I bantered back and forth with lines from our favorite Mel Brooks movies, and another co-worker came over and joined in. The dad was so happy that he found a place that takes portraits and quotes his favorite movies that he bought a bunch of pictures.

That reminds me, I have to find my copy of Men in Tights so Mom can finally watch it. It's that or Himself and I act out the entire movie for her. Methinks she would rather watch the movie.

M

Portrait Taking pt. 2

2006-06-26T22:50:00.000-07:00

After a few more tries at portrait taking, I am getting the hang of it. One of my favorite co-workers told me that I will never get it perfect. At first it sounded like she was telling me that I was going to get fired because of my imperfect portrait techniques, but then she followed it up with the fact that even the pros aren't perfect. Our corperate people couldn't even take a portrait to save their lives, and they're the ones telling us how to do it!

I should be able to get the time off to go to the Lower Kingdom next month without too much trouble. One of the girls there was even asking me to look to see if any houses were for sale near the Lower Kingdom. I told her that I would have my hands full with distracting the Grand Dame of the Universe. Oh well, she can't move down there for a couple of years anyway.

Himself and I have been talking about moving into a house eventually, but talks are slow, and we kind of have to have money to buy a house. Most banks have pretty good homeloans for first time uyers, so that shouldn't be much of a problem.

Work has been slowing down a lot in the days after Father's Day. In fact, the day after Father's Day was so slow, especially compared to the craziness of the actual weekend. The Fourth of July is coming up, and people actually want to have their portraits taken on that day! I would much rather stay at home or help my mom make her really good fried chicken, or go to the party at Himself's friend's house. I would not want to sit in a mall and have pictures taken.

Must go to bed now.

M

Portrait Taking

2006-06-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

I just don't get it. I have a 4.0 in every photo class I have taken, and I can't for the life of me take portraits at work! I've practiced a little for the past couple of days, and I am getting better, but still not perfect. One of my managers told me that I will probably have to be taking portraits by next week, and I just don't feel ready! Panic!

On to much calmer things. Today I spend my day off outside in the glorious sun, getting a little crisp around the edges but enjoying every moment of it. Himself jokes about me being solar powered, and I'm begining to believe him. Cold winters, rainy springs, and cloudy falls seriously bum me out, and once summer hits I'm a ray of freaking sunshine. Allergies are at a minimum this time of year, and the sun feels really good.

The first day of summer was yesterday, but I had to work. I celebrated the summer today by going to the park and reading a pretty good book. Charline Harris is a pretty good auther if you like supernatural romance/thriller/mystery (which I do), but Mary Janice Davidson is best for humor/romance/mild thriller books (great summer reads).

Must feed Himself. Himself gets like Spawn when hungry.

M

Neighbors and Mothers

2006-06-19T00:11:00.000-07:00

I hate my neighbors, at least the people who live downstairs from Himself and I. They play loud music at the worst times, their carpools honk the horn for 20 minutes at 8-something in the morning, and they all stand outside smoking. While I give them props for not smoking near their kids, I am allergic to the smoke and it floats up to meet my nose and makes it hard to breathe. Most of the time I'm not home to deal with them, but when I am home, I don't want to hear the same polka song over and over again! I guess 'hate' is a little too strong of a word to use here. I deeply dislike my neighbors.

I have recently discovered that mothers are terrifying. Not my mother (at least I'm not all that afraid of her, but I do know people who say she is the scariest person in the world. They obviously haven't met the Grand Dame of the Universe), but other mothers. I work in a portrait studio, and we take pictures of people's kids or the whole family. The one line I have been hearing all day today and yesterday was/is 'what do you mean you can't get me in today?!' We were triple booked yesterday, and double booked today, so we couldn't take any walk-ins. Mothers will then play the distance card: 'Well I drove all the way from X city just to have these portraits taken, and I just HAVE to have them today!' We tried to take walk-ins, but we just didn't have the time. The other thing that mothers did this weekend that amazed me was showing up LATE for an appointment, and then getting pissed off that we had to take the ones who were on time first, and the get to the late ones in the order that they showed up. We had one mother yell at one of the managers for 'taking walk-ins before the appointments', then she yelled at the photographer who was taking her pictures, telling her that she shouldn't be a photographer if she couldn't get the kids to sit still for a couple of seconds, or if she couldn't get the picture fast enough. Finally she yelled at the poor girl who was showing the portraits, telling her that if no one could help her in the way she wanted help, then she was never coming back. This woman's kids were monsters too, but that was really no surprise given the example they were being shown.

Himself was really hoping that working with small, screaming children would lessen my want for children, but it has only intensified it. I am also learning how not to act around my children. Himself have very relaxed views on parenting. The boyfriends of the daughters will meet me first, and if I don't like them, I'll let them meet Himself without a warning. If I like them, then I'll warn them about him. I have also learned (although I knew this from past jobs) that if it is the day before any holiday, it is the worst time to try to do anything, and anything that goes wrong isn't always the employee's fault.

Well, that's about all for now, I should get to bed now. I get to learn how to take portraits tomorrow!

M

Updates

2006-06-12T07:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I had my schedule fixed so that I would only be working about 32 hours this week (I still have to matte the prints I've been working on), but one of the girls at work quit yesterday, so now everyone is scrambling to cover all of her shifts. I'm back to 40 hours, but I volunteered myself for one of the days. I still can't believe she quit so close to Father's Day (I guess it's one of our busiest times of the year, other than the Holidays), especially since she was scheduled for 40 hours!

Big Green Friend (AKA Stupid for this post) broke up with his girlfriend of less than a week. Stupid and Photo Girl started dating after several weeks of dating/not dating (they were only seeing each other, but nothing was 'official' yet), and Himself and I really thought they would last a lot longer than they did. Stupid was probably more than a little freaked out by the fact that he actually had a girlfriend, but I never said he was smart.

Himself and I have been talking about camping one weekend in August (hopefully with other people, since camping is so much more fun when you have a group together), so hopefully that will all work out. I have also been planning a trip to see the Grand Dame of the Universe and the Prince Consort next month. Mom and I are thinking that we're going to plan on going down to the Lower Kingdom together so one of us can distract Grand Dame of the Universe while the other calls for help. Last summer I went alone to the Lower Kingdom, and almost came home early.

Well, that's about all, Finals are here (today is the last class day of the quarter), book buy-back is in a couple of days, and I feel like I'm forgetting something.

I think I forgot my brain at work. Hopefully someone finds it, dusts it off and sets it in a nice dark corner of the lab. I'll be back for it tomorrow.

M

Ummm...

2006-06-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

I just got my schedule for next week (finals week. Joy) for work, and I'm working 40 hours! Normally that would be a good thing, but with finals only a weekend away, things are getting shuffled around that really can't be shuffled. Thank (insert your favorite deity here) my manager understands finals week, and she is willing to let me come in late, leave early, or trade with someone. She's really cool, and I don't feel scared to work with her! That's a very good thing.

Yesterday was my first real day (a full 8 hours of regular time instead of training time), and I started getting the hang of everything. Unfortunately the machine that makes the prints broke yesterday morning, so we had to make two runs to another store to print out the portraits. Most of the customers didn't mind, as long as they got their portraits by Father's Day, but some of them were really pissed off that they couldn't look at anything. Oh well. I guess this is at least the second time the machine broke down (the last time I remember it breaking was the day I went in to fill out the paperwork), and so people aren't happy.

Himself and I are planning on going camping this summer with a couple of friends, but that may not happen (the camping will happen, but we may not have company). It would only be for a weekend, one of the ren faires that we go to every summer has on-site camping, so we wouldn't even have to walk that far to get to the faire, and most of the vendors and participants stay and camp (a whole month of camping. Good thing there are showers on site, and a town not far away). I guess the nights get pretty rowdy, but it still should be a lot of fun. Hopefully we can both get the time off...

Well, that's all for now. More later when I'm not so stressed out about finals. Probably won't post again until the finals are over.

M

A watched pot never boils

2006-06-07T07:33:00.000-07:00

I have all sorts of interesting people in my math class, the instructor is no exception (he's named after a Norse god, how could he possibly be normal?). He caught another student staring at the clock, waiting for class to end, and he told the student that a watched pot never boils. Now there is another student in the class (actually there are about fifteen other students in the class, but one in particular) who is quite the blonde. She bleaches her hair, fakes-n-bakes, and tries to look as 'cute' as possible (which is really hard when your skin looks kind of orangey). I try to be patient with her, because it's not her fault she's as dumb as a box of hammers, but sometimes it's really hard not to grab her by the shoulders and try to shake that brain cell awake.

Blondie piped up with 'does a watched pot really never boil?'. The guy sitting next to her grabbed his head and moaned 'you're giving me a headache!', which made the whole class crack up. Blondie walked with me when class got out (I'm hoping it's just the family curse kicking in again, and not that she really likes me) and asked me why the guy sitting next to her was so grumpy. I really wanted to come back with 'Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's because you're so stupid?', but I resisted. Instead I shrugged and suggested that maybe he didn't get enough sleep the night before.

A watched pot never boils. Really! It's some sort of magic that keeps it from boiling! And a tiger is just a really big cat. Don't worry, you can pet it! Sheesh.

M

First Day

2006-06-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

My first day at the new job was a little overwhelming. I have been in sales before, and that's just about all I have to do until after Father's Day (no one has any time to train new photographers until then). The only thing that stumps me is the computers. I like to think that I am pretty computer-savy, but there are so many buttons to push just to check someone in for their appointment, and if they're new customers, then we have to get a bunch of info from them. All very complicated, but I'm sure that after my two more days of training, I'll have the system down.

Finals are next week, and I still have to shoot three more cards. I was hoping to do one of them tonight so I could develop and print on Wednesday, and then do the other two this weekend, but I'm not sure if I can get one of my friends to come over with her daughter this weekend. Hopefully I can, that way I can spend my next day off developing and printing, and then spend all day on Wednesday or Thursday matting the prints. Busy week. I'll be glad when it's over, then my summer vacation starts.

Himself is now a meat-cutter, and I am seriously thinking about going vegitarian. He comes home with all sorts of stuff caked onto his clothes, and the smell is pretty bad. The only time I'll come near him is after he's showered and changed his clothes.

That's about all that's been going on lately. I have to sign up for classes soon, and I was thinking of taking Kickboxing for my P.E credit and Digital Photography to go towards my photo certificate (still not sure what that gets me, but it sounds cool when I tell people what I'm going to school for).

M

Yippee!

2006-05-30T07:08:00.000-07:00

As of yesterday I am employed! An interview that I had went very well, and I got the news yesterday afternoon. Himself also got a raise two days ago, so now we can breathe a little easier. We've been saving up for a house, and now a little more can go into that savings!

Today I have to go into work (it feels so good to be able to say that!) to fill out paperwork and find out my schedule. The best part is I don't have to quit school, or even take only night classes. The people I'm going to be working with work around school and even second jobs, so I can get a second job for the summer if I wanted to (although parts of summer will be very busy at work).

My job is perfect: I get to work with small children (I really do love kids, even the ones who cry and scream), and I get to take pictures. I work in a portrait studio, so I get to do the thing I love and get paid well for it. I'm also hoping to photograph a wedding this summer (the bride is looking for three people, and Photo Girl and I are both hoping to do it as a team), so everything is finally falling into place (insert huge sigh of relief here).

Well, that's all for now! Post more after work!

M

Very Green!

2006-05-25T14:12:00.000-07:00

Today I just felt green. I painted my toenails a blue/green, my fingernails are a glittery lime green, and my shirt is light green. Very fun!

Tonight Himself, Big Green Friend (even my friends are green!), Photo Girl, and myself are going to see X3 at midnight. It should be a good movie, even though the critics didn't like it as much as the other two movies.

I spend the last two days cleaning the apartment, and except for the bedroom, it's just about ready for company again. With Miss Thang rearranging anything on the entertainment center, the bookshelves, the tables, ect. It has been quite a challenge keeping up with her. She even took offence to the shamrock that Himself gave me for St. Patrick's Day that I put on the top shelf of the bookcase in the living room. I found it the next morning on the floor, looking very sad. I wasn't sure if the poor thing would survive long enough for me to put it outside (the plant, not the cat).

Well, I have to get ready to sit in line for awhile, so I had best get going now. I'll post about the movie tomorrow!

M

Quick update

2006-05-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

I find I have some time for myself today, since the photo lab wont be open for another hour or so, and Mom's work is providing lunch for everyone.

We've had rain here for the past couple of days, which is really nice when you have allergies to grass pollen. It dampens the pollen and makes it easier for me to breathe without sneezing about a half-million times. Himself isn't allergic to anything and he makes sure to rub it in every time I start sneezing.

My project is almost done for my photo class, and I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product. What I really want to do is try to get the deck published once I do all 78 or so pictures. A long-term project, but a worthy one.

Nothing funny this time, I'm feeling far too peaceful.

M

P.S. I know I will never get through to the person mentioned in the last entry, so that is my one and only post about them.

Do you really know me?

2006-05-22T18:54:00.000-07:00

I was just asked not to post any comments on a blog, and the author informed me that she 'knows me'. Actually for the sake of anonymity, no one on Blogger knows who I am. They may have my location, but not who I am. The only thing I have revealed is that I am Ms. Karen's Spawn.

I was shocked to read that she 'knew who I was', and that since I disagreed with her point of view on a couple of things, she felt the need to 'ban' me from her main site. As I know she is the subject of several flame-wars, I refuse to reveal her name, or her blog, but I refuse to take all this lying down! Not only that, but enough people (the important ones) already know who she is. I'm sure I'll be bombarded with hateful comments (either here on my blog, or on hers if she feels the need to check me out again, or send her own band of loyal lemmings to do her dirty work for her), but the comments will not hurt me in any way.

Yngathrrt, a fellow blogger (sorry, I can't figure out how to get a link to your blog, but I'll figure it out sooner or later ;o)) is also the victim of this other blogger, and she also refuses to back down. Good for you! I think if enough people would tell her to back off and stop playing the victim, then just maybe she'll get the hint and go away. Not likely, but we can hope.

According to this person's blog, I am the kind of parent who beats my children. I DO NOT believe in beating children, and by a 'firm hand' I mean laying down the law and not backing down. NOT spanking. She went on to ASSUME that I meant spanking when I mentioned a 'firm hand'. Well, we all know what assuming gets you. Nowhere.

So now I have been blacklisted, and all I can do is laugh. She has no idea what a fool she has made herself, and she never will. She has her head up her butt too far to see the light, and all she can do is complain about the smell.

Hearings and Interviews

2006-05-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

Well, Himself has his traffic hearing today. He was pulled over for having tabs that expired two years ago, so after several much needed repairs to his truck, he finally got the tabs renewed. We're both hoping for his fine to just go away, but something tells me it wont (but it will be reduced).

Since putting my resume on Monster.com (a fabulous site for people trying to find a job. Why didn't I think of it before?!), I have been hit with more job offers (I have the bruises to prove it) than I can shake a stick at (a very interesting visual if you ask me). Photo Girl told me that her main job was hiring and that if I wanted to work there, I should get my carcass (my words, not hers) over to the mall and apply today (the manager is in today, and Photo Girl figures that I can get an interview on the spot today). I'm really hoping this works out, mainly because it fits with what I want to do as a career (taking pictures and making money. Heaven.).

The furry children have been behaving for the most part. I think they're too hot to do much (we've had a recent 'heat wave', and unfortunately the people who live downstairs under us seem to be from Mercury or Venus because they have their heat on all the time).

This coming weekend Himself and I get to see his parents and celebrate his birthday (along with all the other summer birthdays. I'm special since I'm the only one with a winter birthday, although that does mean that my birthday gets forgotten a lot), so that should be fun. We're also going to see X3 when it opens on Friday (actually we'll be there on Thursday so we can see the midnight showing), so our Memorial Day weekend is going to be pretty busy. I probably won't be sleeping on Friday, but it doesn't matter since one of my classes was cancelled and I hope the other one will be too (who wants to do math just before a long weekend?).

M

Movie Night

2006-05-20T18:02:00.000-07:00

Himself and I read the Da Vinci Code awhile back, and now that the movie is out, we decided to go see it on opening night. We went with a group of friends that seemed to get larger as the night went on (we started out with three, then another person was added, then they brought two more people to the theater, Himself and I brought the cousin and Photo Girl). I think that if we had ended up seeing the later showing, we would have ended up with nine more people and not enough seats for everyone.

Big Green Friend and Photo Friend seemed to hit it off really well. I think if Big Green Friend wanted to pursue Photo Girl (a friend of mine from Photo class), he would not be met with opposition. I'm not trying to get them together, but if it happens, then great.

The movie was great for a movie, but not so great as an adaptation of a book. Although it was much better than the Harry Potter movies (movies three and four are so far from the book, it made me cringe to watch them).

Well I have to go, Big Green Friend is coming over tonight to hang out with Himself and I, and I still have to clean the living room a little more.

M