February 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Just as I was getting out of bed today, Randilinn called. What a lovely surprise. :) We had a nice chat, and now I have a new book recommendation. It's a vampire book, too, which I normally steer away from, but Ran says it's really good and it sounds unlike your average vampire novel, so I think I shall most likely give it a try. First, I am awaiting Fire Study, though, so anything else will have to come after that, and I do have a pile, as always. Oh dear, so many books to read.
The rest of my day wasn't of much interest, so I shall forego writing of it and just go back to yesterday, which was another Pride and Prejudice day. I re-recorded the second part to get rid of the rather large gap previously existing between the first two parts, and then at nine the final part aired, which I of course recorded, and mom and I also watched. I'm definitely on a large P & P kick right now.
Inbetween the two airings yesterday I continued to work on the cleaning of my closet. It has come a little further, and actually probably doesn't have terribly farther to go. Mostly what is left is deciding how I want to organize one part of it. Now I have a pile of things to try and sell, some things to donate, and a few bags of things have already been taken away to thrift stores as donations there. I still have a lot of stuff though, and am quite amazed at how much junk I have. Some things I have decided to keep for now, but likely the next time I clean they will be put in the "get rid of" pile, though when that would be shall remain to be seen.
I have written a slight bit the past few days, mostly of notes, but very good notes nonetheless. I was thinking/hoping of writing this evening, but am now reminded that I've a couple websites that should be updated, and clients should not be kept waiting too long. I need to try and go to sleep earlier, but we'll see if that indeed happens or not.
Friday, February 22, 2008
At least half a year ago I was comissioned to design a site for someone's business. I did the layout and installed a gallery script, modifying it to fit with the layout, etc. I informed the person that all I needed, after they had approved of the layout, was to have them send me the content for the pages and I could get the whole site finished and online. I heard nothing for a very long time. I've been meaning recently to e-mail them about it inquiring if they want me to finish it anytime soon and if not, if I could receive payment for what I did do, reguardless of whether or not they use it. This evening I randomly received an e-mail from them asking if I could change links on the gallery template as they had used a program to create other pages for the site, on which they did not use the layout I created. *sigh* I do not believe I have the temperment to work with customers on such things, as I have often noted before. Even now I've been contracted to make a website for another business and have received no information on what they want as of yet, and it is now working toward a month later. But back to this current story.
I must admit I am a bit affronted by this news. The layout I designed for them is by no means fancy, but it's clean and nice looking. They asked me to do it, and I did. Now they are using a page-builder style layout with a program that does not look nearly as clean or nice as the one I made, though it is similar in some respects, which is probably why this person chose to use it. But why ask me to make a layout for your site, tell me you approve of it, then go and make your own in the end? I simply do not understand. I have replied to their message and we chall see what they choose to have me do: if they choose to use the layout they currently have, or the one I made. Either way, I will modify the template for them, and then ask that I receive payment for that work, and the work I previously did, though I doubt it will be much, it will be more than nothing. Hopefully I did not come off agitated in the e-mail, as that would not do, but at least here I can let it out and therefore, hopefully, let it be.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
This evening I spent a few hours in the continuation of cleaning my room. It is now currently messier than it was when I started, but my closet is coming along quite nicely. In cleaning out my closet I have discovered a number of interesting things: my notes from Cultural Anthropology (seriously, I'm quite jazzed to have found them!), old Valentine's from the days of elementary school where you gave one to everyone in your class, a certificate for excelence from when I took the WASL years ago, and evidence of a lost domain name (meaning, I don't remember ever having it, but I have a print out from hosting it somewhere... wonder if I was hosting it for a friend or something?). And, I've learned something very important as well. You should not break a CD in half. I found a bunch of old ones and thought I'd break them before I put them in the trash just in case, but that was so not a wise idea. It broke into many pieces flying at me and around my room. Shortly after I discovered my hand was bleeding because one of the pieces jabbed it. Poor hand. Hope it doesn't get infected or anything.
Also in cleaning out my room, I'm realizing more and more just how much junk I have that I don't need at all, things I never even once used. Man, I have got to stop buying junk I have no use for, then I'd have a lot of extra money, I think, so it would be wise all around to turn over a new leaf in this. Why I bought half this stuff I'm now going to get rid of, I've no idea.
Monday, February 18, 2008
I must confess, like many women before me (and likely many after), I find I fancy Mr. Darcy. He's quite a dashing character; not faultless, but despite those faults a good man to the core. I think my favorite thing about the story Pride and Prejudice is that despite all the times when it looks as though Miss Bennet and Mr. Darcy will never get together, they finally do in the end, as does the eldest Miss Bennet and Mr. Bingley. So yes, I've been watching Pride and Prejudice as PBS has been airing it in parts as part of their "Masterpiece" series. One day perhaps I will read the book. (I've got such a pile up of books to read currently.) They've only shown the first two parts so far, so at 3 AM this morning, when I reached the end of part two (watched it on tape after I'd recorded it), I was quite sad to leave it at that until this coming Sunday. I know what happens, but I can't remember it all and it's like when I've finished a book that will obviously have a sequel... I want the rest now. Alas, we must exercise patience in these things.
Yesterday was a very happy day, indeed. In the morning I was woken by someone calling to ask about buying my Zune, which was delightful! They arrived just as we returned from church, handed me the agreed upon $130, took the Zune, and now it is gone! *does a happy dance* I have thanked God a number of times that it is now finally sold and I'm only out $10 on the whole deal. Not too bad of a price to pay in order to hopefully learn my lesson of not buying things I really don't need.
I also began the cleaning of my room, with focus on my closet, yesterday as well. It's progressing, though my desk is still in desperate need of cleaning once again. I keep saying each time I clean it that I will keep it clean, but as yet it has not come to pass as such. And, though my room cleaning is progressing, it wouldn't look like it to the untrained eye because it enevitably has to get messier before it becomes clean. Yes, it's generally the only way. I organize (or re-organize) as I clean so it often involves creating great piles of things until I decide where to put them and make room for them there. Didn't continue with it today, but I imagine I shall tomorrow.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
I have an item up for sale online currently, and on Wednesday I got an e-mail from someone asking if it was still available and wanting me to reply asap. I responded saying that yes, it is. Now, here comes the interesting part: I got a response yesterday and they're totally a scammer! They started off by telling me (the seller) how it was going to work. Yes, they explained it all in broken, bad English. They were going to send me a money order and this un-named "trusted" company was going to verify it and then send me an e-mail once they had concluded that it was real, and before I even got the money order, I'd be required to mail them the item. But oh, don't worry, they're going to pay for the shipping and handling, oh and they're paying me $30 OVER my asking price. All I need to do is e-mail them my full name and address to get the process started. I. THINK. NOT.
The sad thing is that people fall for this stuff, and even worse, too. There was a whole Oprah episode some months back about it. How some of the scammers say they're going to wire you some-odd thousand dollars for an item priced at like five-hundred, and you need to wire them back the difference. Don't fall for that people! If you're selling something, you don't need to pay them for anything. There is no reason they couldn't send you the actual amount. Also, be wary of anyone wanting you to wire money or asking you to do so. And, fake money orders are apparently all the rage among scammers. The e-mail I received is filled with tons of red flags. Let us list them: poorly written English, them explaining to me the terms, wanting to send me a money order, etc. The most blatent one, to me, is offering me thirty dollars more than I was asking. No one would do that! They always try to talk you down in price, not offer you more. Anyway, I'm obviously not responding and will now have to figure out how to report them because, of course, that's not just an easy thing... there's all these confusing steps. Oy. All I should have to do is forward the e-mail to someone and say they attempted to scam me. It shouldn't be more difficult than that. *sigh*
Yesterday I also went and saw Jumper again. Emily called and asked if I wanted to go to see a movie, so I immediately suggested that one, and off we went. lol It was good the second time, too. I heard it's based on some books, so I may have to check those out as I have lots of intriguing unanswered questions from the movie. But then again, it could make it worse because the movie could be only very loosely based on the books. Dilema.
Also, good news that the new VCR successfully recorded the Atlantis episode last night (which was humorous, by the way). We did some swapping of cords right before the show started to see if we could get the picture on our TV any nicer, but it didn't have any noticable effect (except when we apparently used the wrong kind of cord and it make the picture absolutely awful). I just really think the playback picture was better on our old VCR, which was a truly ancient model. I'm rather confused. But, in all fairness, it is also entirely plausible that I just can't remember the old VCR also had a fuzzy picture on playback. Whatever. It recorded and looks decent enough and eventually I'll be buying the season on DVD anyway, so it doesn't matter.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Happy Valentine's day to you all. I know many singles dread this holiday, as I have done myself in some years past, so I decided to take myself out. :D First, I took myself to see Jumper. Totally awesome movie. Good sci-fi story with human elements and fabulous effects. Totally wish I could go and see it again tonight, but alas, that is not likely. I shall probably take myself to see it again very soon though. As I walked out of the theatre, I hoped I'd suddenly realize I could teleport, too. lol Yeah, I know it's not real... *rolls eyes at the kill-joys* Haha.
After that, I went to Fred Meyer, and then Target in search of a VCR. None of these places sell just VCRs anymore! They only have combo ones with DVD players. Well, we already have two DVD players... we only need a VCR because our super old one just died (right when I was trying to record Pride and Prejudice on TV on Sunday, too!). Well, turns out my mom's work had a combo one that they sold her (the company sells video equipment), so now we've got three DVD players. lmao For now we won't be using the one stuck to the VCR just because the current one is all hooked up to the surround sound and I don't want to attempt to mess with that. Dad set it up, so dad gets to mess with it if he wants to. lol At least we have a VCR for Atlantis tomorrow night. Whew. Took some figuring out, but managed to do a test recording before my next movie.
Yup, took myself out to a second movie today as well and saw The Spiderwick Chronicles. I liked that one as well, so that was quite a nice extra boost to my happiness for the day. I liked the earlier movie better, but this one was a good fantasy action/adventure type, and those generally appeal to me, so I enjoyed it.
I also got a card from my mom and a cute little unicorn stuffed animal from her as well. :) Dad hasn't come home yet, so it's possible he got me a little something too, so we'll see. I gave them each a candy item and a Care Bears valentine. ;) I gave them Disney valentine's last year, so I figured I'd change it up and go Care Bears this year. One of these days I'm going to have to figure out a use for the two boxes of Backstreet Boys valentines I have in my closet from the Black and Blue era. Oh dang, I should have sent one to Sam and one to Tara! Sam, you want me to throw one in with the letter I'm mailing you? I think you can peel of the picture to use as a sticker or something like that. ;) lol One of the boxes isn't even opened yet, I don't think; I wonder if I could get anything for it on eBay...?
Monday, February 11, 2008
My car lives again. I haven't actually driven it yet, but my dad put the new battery in for me and it started just fine, which is a big relief. Praise God! I'm so very glad it was just that and wasn't going to cost a fortune to get fixed/buy a new used car. Which, really, I'll probably have to get another car before next winter, but I think I'm going to try and postpone as long as possible, and it would certainly help to have my current car still be running when the time comes to get a new one so I can sell it and help pay for the new one. lol
On Friday my mom and I went and watched Juno. We'd both heard from a number of sources that it was good, however, neither of us liked it. There were a few good parts, but not enough for me to say I even sort-of liked the flick. And pretty much the whole movie was way too "TMI" for the two of us. I mean, I knew what had to happen for the girl to get pregnant, but I didn't need those scenes, especially at the beginning, giving all the visuals of what went on. Hallelujah that they didn't actually show anything as far as naked parts of people only parents and spouses should see, but it was still more than I wanted/needed to see. I was hoping the movie would get better after that, but it didn't. I know the main "moral" of the story is don't get yourself pregnant when you're young/unmarried, but other than that, I don't know what the point of the story was. And id I get to really know the characters and feel their plight? Not really. As I said, there were some good parts that I liked, but overall, I honestly do not see what the hype is all about.
It was a very good thing that there was an episode of Stargate Atlantis that evening to help get the images from the movie out of my brain. lol
On Saturday, Emily came over to watch a movie and have dinner. I was excited because I finally convinced her to give The Last Unicorn a try since she's never seen it. However, she didn't like it at all (*confused*), so I stopped it after the meet up with Molly Grue and put in The Day After Tomorrow instead, which at least she liked okay. We definitely don't have really similar taste in movies, though at least we like some of the same ones. We, do however, both have great taste in desserts because we made chocolate chip cookies which were very good, and probably terribly bad for us, but we didn't care while we were eating them. lol Which reminds me that my parents started a new Bible study with their group on that same evening and one of their questions was, "What is evil?" And we agreed that the response ought to be, "Cookies." lmao
Yesterday I sent an e-mail to the leader of the new Bible study I joined saying that I've decided not to attend the dinner portion before the study part. I've been considering doing so since the group began, actually. The first night I figured we just had dinner while there because it was the first night and we would then go to just the study time, however everyone else voted on continuing with the food portion. So, I got a reply today asking why I didn't want to go for that part, was it the food, the people, both? I took my mother's advice and replied honestly stating that I felt a little uncomfortable being both the youngest and the only single person there, adding also that I'm not very social anyhow. I figured I'd get another response wondering if there was something they could do to make it better for me/convince me to continue, and sure enough I did. *sigh* I have decided not to respond for the moment as I'm not yet sure how to go about doing so. I had one thought of just not going at all anymore (which I'd already been toying with a bit), but I'm not sure if I'll do that or not. So the request at the moment is that I give it another couple weeks and re-evaluate then. I've already given it a few weeks and have been thinking/praying about it all that time. I know that part of my reply must be to assure that they have not done anything to make me feel uncomfortable, it is merely the nature of the situation and myself that cause such feeling, but other than that... I guess it requires more prayer.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Well, hopefully the power won't go out while I'm typing this. It's been windy since last night, but the power only went out once this morning and was back on before I woke up, so that was nice. I was getting a little nervous a few times while trying to fall asleep last night though as some pretty strong gusts blew through every once in a while creating disturbing noises. Thankfully, God answered my prayers with a yes that no trees come down on any of us or our homes/cars, and I will continue to pray that none do.
I finished my first piece of digital artwork (the one that was from a drawing) on Sunday afternoon/evening and am quite happy with it. Actually, more so than I thought I would be, which is perhaps a good sign that I am becoming less critical of myself, at least where artwork (and hopefully writing, under that) is concerned. I've actually caught myself admiring it and being a bit astonished that I actually made it. Truly, it could not have been done without the help of God though because there is no way I could have managed it entirely on my own. No way. Now I hope that soon I will progress further in my writing and have as much joy, fulfillment and accomplishment come out of that as well.
On Tuesday mom and I went to Wal*Mart to exchange my battery for a new one. There is a two-year warranty on it and it's not even a year old, so we're baffled as to why it stopped working. When we got there, they had to test it to make sure it was really dead and I found myself fervently praying that it was truly dead. Why? Because then hopefully all that's wrong with my car is the battery and that means not having to pay anything to get it fixed. Well, mom had to pay $4 from the exchange because the silly people didn't know what they were doing. See, they have this thing called a core charge. It's an extra charge you pay when you buy a battery, but if you bring them back the old battery to be recycled, they give you the money back. We did that last time, so the exchange ought to have been a straight swap with no money changing hands. However, they rang up their new fee, which is four dollars more, and only minused the amount from before like we hadn't brought back the battery with us, which we did. Mom decided not to argue with them, though I would have if she'd let me. It may only be four dollars, but it's their error and there's no reason we should have been asked to pay anything. Anyway, my dad hasn't had the chance to put the new battery in my car yet, so I just hope that when he does my car starts without an issue.
The only other news to report is that I've exercised every day since Monday. :) That's a pretty big deal for me, sad as it may sound to some. I hope to continue on with regular exercise and get into better shape. Also trying to eat better, but that's difficult as the best tasting food is horrible for you. Shucks. At least I actually like vegatables quite a bit (though don't always want to choose to eat them over yummier sounding bad for me things), so that's on my side. Apparently I'm a bit against the norm as most people like fruits, not veggies, whereas I like most every veggie I've tried (which isn't an exhastive list, but still), and only like a few fruits and am very picky about how I like them. *shrugs* Don't know why, but that's how I am. I'm a veggie girl.
Edit: Oh, almost forgot. My letter to the editor got published. :) They edited out my favorite part (use of the word "nay") which bummed me out a tad, but the other few edits were small and most likely just to keep it to fit in the space. Oh, and a spelling correction, which I'm grateful for. ;) lol
Friday, February 1, 2008
I find this rather amusing: I went to sign up at a website for a popular TV channel and I got a PHP error from one of their pages. lmao You'd think they'd check their code...
I finally had the opportunity to try and use my car today, and it wouldn't start again. Thankfully, there was another vehicle available for me to use, but still it's a bit frustrating that my car has decided to have issues all of a sudden. Well, not my car exactly, but it seems the battery in my car. However, that in itself is very odd because that battery is barely a year old, if even that, and should therefore have no problems. It's quite strange.
I decided a little over a week ago that I was going to try my hand at drawing again. I used to draw a lot when I was little, but it was mostly looking at a drawing of an animated character and then drawing a replica of it, which I was fairly good at. But I've always been a little envious of people who can draw fully formed images from their imagination. I can doodle flowers and other things from my imagination, but that was generally the extent of it. At some point I just stopped drawing for some reason. I guess I got caught up with too many other things or decided I was tired of it at the time. Anyway, I digress. I went onto the library's site and placed holds on some books for drawing fantasy creatures/characters, and one for drawing horses because unicorns and pegasus are horses with a horn or wings, respectively.
Last night I did my first drawing, based on an image that came into my head a few nights back when I was writing and thinking about drawing. It's a unicorn one, so I drew a portrait of a horse and added a horn to it. It came out pretty good. In some sense it's still sort of making a duplicate of someone else's drawing, sinced I based it on the one in the book that it teaches you how to draw, but it's still my own as I had to draw it bigger and my lines aren't exactly the same. Anyway... today I scanned it (after my computer scared me, which I hope it doesn't do again) and brought it into Photoshop where I proceeded to "ink" it using the pen tool and paths. Most of it's done, just need to do the mane and horn now, then it will be ready for coloring.
At first, I was wanting to make it look realistic. I've always been in awe of people who can draw/paint things with such life-like detail... it's amazing. However, while I have many artistic genes, I have known for a long time that painting is not my strong suit. So, if paiting was out, that left colored pencils or those oil crayon things which I cannot remember the name of for the life of me right now. But it just wasn't going to look as good that way. So, digital. I ran across someone's art porfolio online months ago and they do truly amazing and beautiful artwork largely in the digital medium, so that's where I got that idea. But I still wasn't going to be able to make it look even close to realistic like others can. And then I realized: I don't have to. I can make it my own style. That's really what art is about, right? It's about doing things in your own style based on your unique gifts and enjoying it. Which is really the same way I need to consider my writing. I've lost touch with that, and need to get it back.
In other news, I sent off a Letter to the Editor for the local paper last night and they called today to confirm that I'm a local. lol So, I guess that means it might get published. There's been this little "controversy" going on the last couple weeks and some of the stuff other people wrote in saying just made me decided I had to say my piece, too. Many thanks to Sam for helping me reduce word length and decide exactly what to say. *hugs*
Humm... I think that's it for now. The weather's been crazy alternating between snow and rain the past few days, so I haven't ventured out to do much, nor will I be likely to for a bit, especially since my car's sad anyhow. Hopefully my dad will be able to figure out what's wrong once he gets the chance to look at it. If it truly is the battery, I imagine I should have a warranty or something still because those things are supposed to last for more than a year as far as I know. Well, off to continue with my art project! :)
