June 2006
Friday, June 30, 2006
Greetings from California. As you may have guessed, I arrived down here safely. ;) I shall write like it is Thursday as I have not gone to bed yet. ;) lol My flight down yesterday went very nicely. I spent almost the whole time reading a book I just started on Sunday. I finished it last night. lol It's called Poison Study for those interested and was very enjoyable as soon as I got past the first few pages. lol Don't know why, but I thought the first few pages were terrible and would have put it down except that it was the only thing I had to do at work. The rest of the book was very good though, and now I must unfortunately wait until October for the second one to come out. Arg. Anyway...
I had to wake up at 4:30 AM yesterday morning (aka Wednesday) and then we left for the airport at 5. Egh. Not fun. lol I am so surprised that I made it through yesterday without feeling like I was going to just pass out or having a major headache from lack of sleep. I totally thought I'd get the headache in the evening. I spent much of the day continuing to read that book, and a bit of it watching TV with my Aunt Terry. Then, in the evening, my Uncle came home and my cousin Don came over and then we all went to the Angels game. They lost to the Rockies; 2-6. It was rather a slow game. Oh well, still pretty fun. I meant to go to sleep as soon as we got back from the game because it was like 10:30 PM by that point, but I thought to myself, I'll just read one more chapter. However, there were only three or four chapters left, so I polished it off. lol Then I went to sleep.
I got up this morning around 8, and shortly thereafter my cousin Mike got back from work. He works 24-hour shifts as a firefighter. Poor boy was tired, but still went to Disneyland with me anyway as soon as I was ready. :) We went straight to Pirates of the Caribbean. It seemed like the line was going to move pretty fast, and then it stopped... for half an hour. Oy, ride glitches! We waited though, and finally made it on. HOLY COW... the animatronic Captain Jack's look very realistic and almost exactly like Johnny Depp in the movies... crazy! And there's this neat part with Davy Jones, too. They also changed some words to fit the story with adding Captain Jack, and they put in the score from the movie in one part. It's cool.
After that, Mike and I went on the Haunted Mansion. I always screem when you're in the "stretching" room and the lights go out because it's fun. It's not scary, but screaming is fun for those things. ;) lol Some people joined in as soon as I started, but then a second later I realized I was the only one left screaming. Heh. So, even though I could have held it longer, I cut my scream short. There were people laughing, and it was funny. And you know what, just between now and the last time I was at Disneyland a couple months ago, they changed some things in the Haunted Mansion, too! Most notably in the room with the bride. It's definately different. I think there were a few other things too, but my memory on those was a little hazy, so I'll not mention it. ;)
Then, Mike and I went and met Aunt Terry in Downtown Disney and we went and ate at the Rain Forest Cafe. They said we were going to have a 20 minute wait, so we went into the bar and got drinks. And, for my drink, it was non-alcoholic. It felt good to sit at the bar though, just because I can now. ;) lmao Before our drinks were even finished being made, however, they called our names for seats. So, we took our drinks with us. I got this turkey wrap thing, and it was pretty good. Poor Mike was starting to fall asleep, so he went home and Aunt Terry stayed with me, and we went back in to Disneyland.
Mike and I had had long waits for our whole two rides we managed to get on, but then with Aunt Terry, we got on 8-9 rides in the space of three hours! She must be good luck. ;) After the rides, we came back for dinner and my Grandpa came and ate pizza with us and we sat and watched game shows for a while. Grandpa left, and then a while later, my Aunt and Uncle and I went back to Disneyland for the fireworks. I have now seen them in all three of the prefered spots. lol Wee! Then, we went on Pirates of the Caribbean, because neither of them had gone on it yet. The wait time was WAY less, which was nice. We went on the Haunted Mansion after that, and the got on the Disneyland Limited and rode it back to the front of the park and left.
So, yes, I'm having quite a nice time down here so far. And now, I must be off to bed before I ruin my new (and probably temporary) pattern of waking up when it's actually still morning. ;) lol Goodnight all!
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
It feels like I haven't been on my computer in ages! I mean, I was on it Saturday, but not for very long, and Sunday and Monday I never even turned it on! *shock* lol Sunday I had absolutely no chance as I worked 10.75 hours and had church in the morning. Suprisingly, I survived. I thought I would have been much more tired, but I talked to Tara for a while and she helped me to stay awake. ;) lol
Yesterday I just did other things rather than getting on my computer. I watched some SG-1 with my mom and did some chores and pre-packing. Then, of course, I worked. lol I would have worked today as well, but Brian K. was nice enough to cover for me so that I could get my packing done and whanot. This morning, he, Tammy, and I went to the screening for Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest. It was good. Quite a few funny parts, more so than the first. And very nice effects on the sea-people, I thought. :) I felt that there were some times when the plot wasn't really moving forward, but overall, good entertainment flick and I liked it a lot. :)
I forget the things I was going to post about before I heard the news on Saturday. Probably stuff about running around on Friday and Saturday trying to find some shorts or capris that I liked and having no luck. *sigh* Perhaps my mom will be right and I shall find some in California. It would definately make the weather more barable. And yeah, I have lots of free space in my suitcase this time. Last time it was a little fun to fit the stuff that I bought/was given into my bags for the trip home, though I did make it work. lol Well, must be off now as I have to wake up freakishly early in the morning tomorrow. Night!
Saturday, June 24, 2006
*cries* I love you Kevin Richardson!!! *lip quivvers*
It was a rumor, and now it's been made official and the whole thing can be read on the Boys' official website here. *sigh* I really am very sad about this. However, I thought about it when I heard the rumor and prepared myself for the possibility that it was true, and as sad and hard as it is, it makes sense. Kevin wants to try new things, move in a different direction with his life. He's in his 30's and married, and he probably wants to have a family. I am hoping that he ends up returning to the group; if not in a few years, then hopefully at least a reunion tour somewhere down the line. I really am crying over this. Not like bawling hystarically, but it is very sad for me and I think it deserves some tears. I wish Kevin all the best of luck, and I'm going to write a letter for him in the hopes that he might actually receive and read it letting him know that I support him and will miss not having him with the rest of the Boys very much. All my love to you, Kevin. And I'll be watching still to see if you release any music on your own or what other endevors you may undertake.
I can't post about anything else with this right now, so I will try to do that later today or in the next few days. Non-BSB fans, please respect that I'm sad over this, as the Boys have, and will always mean a lot to me, and it really is something that will be difficult for me to adjust to. *hugs to all my fellow fans*
Monday, June 19, 2006
I was so happy, but my happiness came too early and was shattered to pieces. You see, I bought a USB bluetooth adaptor for my laptop off of Amazon so that I could make my own MP3 ring tones on my computer and then transfer them to my Samsung T509 I recently got. That was one of the main reasons I got that phone. So, the adaptor came in the mail today, I installed the drivers, and after a slight hickup, my phone and computer were communicating! I clipped an MP3 down to ring tone size using Audacity, and sent it to my phone. My phone got it, and when I went into my sounds folder, it played and it sounded beautiful! Oh, I was so excited! I made a good 6 or 7 more and transfered them to my phone. Life was happy. But then, I tried to set one as a user ring tone... and it wouldn't let me. The option was grayed out and no matter how many times I pushed "ok" it would NOT work. So then, I went to work and let it be for a while.
When I returned home, I turned my computer on again and went straight to looking for the solutions via searching Google. Found some for a different Samsung phone, which do not work for my model. Then, discovered that Samsung and T-Mobile have entered into a greedy scheme with one another and you CANNOT set MP3's that you create as your ring tones. The phone will ONLY play the ones you buy from T-Mobile. I finally found a way to convert to another format that I was able to get onto my phone and set as a ring tone. However, it was complicated, time consuming, and the quality is completely ruined and sounds very quiet at the highest possible volume. I then discovered that thus far, the only solution is to convert MP3s to 3GP files. However, the only method of doing that I could find was if I pay $30 to upgrade to QuickTime Pro. HELL NO! GRR. I want to call or write to both companies to give them a piece of my mind, but I highly doubt they'll do anything. It makes me super pissed because the ring tones I made are ones that you CANNOT download from their site, so there's no other way to get them. Completely unfair. PROTEST!!!! I used to like Samsung, but I think I shall never buy any of their products ever again, and I shall seriously look at another carrier once my contract at T-Mobile is fulfilled. Grr.
The day would have been good other than that. I mean, I guess the day was good, and I'm not pissed to the point of it being unhealthy or ruining everything else for me, but it's still agitating. Grr.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. - Luke 1:1-4
When I saw the title of the message to be shared this morning at church by my pastor, I rolled my eyes: "Thoughts on the Da Vinci Code." I'm going to be honest with you all, I can't understand why anyone would want to read that book for any reason. I've not read it, nor have I see the movie, and I do not plan to do either. I have, however, been told about it, and learned more about it this morning at church. Surprisingly, I enjoyed my pastor's sharing on it and even wrote down notes the second time I heard it to share here. I'm going to try really hard to present this all in a manor that will hopefully not terribly offend anyone who has read it and enjoyed it, etc. I just want to say something because while it is a work of FICTION, the author - and others - have made statements saying it is factual and true, etc. Now, my pastor read the book and talked about these three things.
1. The book says that the Christian (Catholic) religion is, and has always been, harsh and degrading of women. The truth: Chrisian faith affirms the value and dignity of women. It is true that there have been people in the church who have not upheld that, but Jesus and his followers made that a big thing, and at the time when Christ walked among us, women had no rights, but He treated us very well. And, one of the most important truths of the Christian faith, the ressurection of Jesus, was first witnessed and declared by women. They were entrusted with that most important event.
2. The book says that the Bible (mainly the New Testament gospels) was put together by a roman emporer in 325 AD. The truth: The four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), had already been set by a leader of the church 100 years before that. The Bible is historically accurate. There are plenty of sources outside of the Bible confirming the accuracy of the four gospels. The so-called ommited gospels that are being brought forth now do not come even remotely close to having the credibility of the gospels appearing in the New Testament. Also, in the book, there's a line that talks about The Dead Sea Scrolls saying that gospels which had been kept from the Bible were found with them in the 1950's. First of all, it was in 1947, and he should have done a little research before writing that in a piece of historical fiction. Second, The Dead Sea Scrolls were of the OLD Testament, and matched up perfectly to the previously oldest copies of them before the Scrolls were discovered. That might not bother anyone and they may just revert to calling it fiction, but in a historically based piece of fiction, facts like that should still be correct. Someone may very well get offended by this next bit. Dr. Paul Maier, Professor of Ancient History at the University of Western Michigan, was asked about the novel and he said that about 20% has some basis in fact, and the other 80% has none. And he said this: "The Da Vinci Code is the only book I know, that after you have read it, you are dumber than you were before." lol
3. The book says that Jesus was just a man, that He married, had children, and his bloodline still exisits today. The truth: Jesus was, and IS, devine, and his first followers knew it. I believe it. Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." - John 20:28-29
I just wanted to put that out there because I really felt the message, and because I think a lot of people have blurred or removed the line between what may be based loosely on facts, and what it purely fiction. So, here's hoping that no one slams me for posting this.
After church, we went and met up with my step-brother and his girlfriend for lunch at the Olive Garden to celebrate Father's Day. It was very nice, and the food was good, of course. Our waitress gave us a BUNCH of Andes mints with our check, so I left her an extra dollar tip on the table! lmao I love those mints! So good! Following digestion, we went to a park for a while. And guess what... I excercised! Woah, yeah. lol I played frisbe with my dad, and then I kicked a soccer ball around with Kenny and his girlfriend. It was fun. :) It'd been a long time since I touched a soccer ball, but I managed to remember how to kick okay, though I was never that good at it in the first place. ;) The one thing I was really good at in soccer was knowing my position and how to use it. I played left wing the first few years and I had a lot of breaks where it was just me running toward the opposite goal by myself because I was the only one where I was supposed to be. lol Anyway...
We went to Wal*Mart after that and I spent $100. I totally didn't mean to, but a pair of shoes for $20 and a nice shirt for $20 plus a few other shirts really adds up fast. Got some way cool shirts though, including a bunch of Disney-related ones. ;) Yay! And the new shoes were very much needed. They're orange too. There was this other nice looking pair that was all black with light pink stripes, but they only had one pair there, and it was so not my size. lol Maybe I should check their website... humm.
The last stop was Car Toys, where my dad bought himself a silver Razr phone. lol His phone was still really nice and not that old, but he wanted a new one. *shakes head* lol It was his father's day present to himself, and he seems very happy with it, so that's good. :)
When we got home, I started making my dad's present. He said he wanted chocolate carmel bars, which are REALLY good. lol (I ate too many once they'd cooled down. Oops. lol) While I was baking it, my mom turned on ABC because Extreme Makeover Home Edition was supposed to be on shortly, but the NBA finals game was still going. Dallas vs. Miami. I got sort of sucked in after a bit and was totally rooting for Miami because, hello, Shaq! lol Miami won by one point in overtime! WOO!!! *raises the roof* lmao And that's been today.
I forgot to mention in the last entry that I watched Underworld: Evolution. It was okay. Totally senseless n.u.dity in it. *rolls eyes* I would have liked it a lot more if they hadn't had that in there. The end kind of bugged me though. I totally thought she'd become a mortal since they were talking about that being a possibility if the first vampire died and she was suddenly not affected by sunlight, but then after the screen went back there was this narration eluding to what happens next. I guess she must have been immune to the sunlight because of drinking the blood of the immortal guy who was the father of the first vampire and first lycan. *shrugs*
Saturday, June 17, 2006
I just deleted Flourish, the writing community that Sam and I had tried to start. One, only a couple other people were interested in joining it, and two, since I'm not doing any writing right now and for who knows how much longer, it didn't make sense for me to be a part of it. So, Sam and I agreed just to close it.
In other news, if you scroll down on this page and look to the right, you'll see a button for hosting. You'll also read about my exclusive promo code that you can use to get big discounts. Why is it there? Why is it also on my collective site? Well, because it's getting closer to when my pre-paid year is up and if I refer people, I won't have to pay for a while longer, at least. ;) So yes, hoping someone signs up with them using my promo code. lol
I also bought a new domain today, but it's sort of just a saver thing at the moment. Basically just another extension of one of the domains I already own. lol Wee! I'm also thinking about transfering some of my domains over to my other registrar since it's cheaper. I'd save a fair bit if I did, so I probably will end up doing that whenever I feel like it. lol Oh yes, and I put up my last two fanlistings for adoption the other day. Lots of website related changes going on right now I guess. ;)
And then the only other thing was work. Nothing exciting, really. I guess I could write that I ordered a bluetooth adapter for my laptop the other day and am hoping to use it to transfer my own ringtones onto my new cell phone. I ordered a book, a CD, and a DVD too. The CD is Ace of Base's The Sign! Oh yeah baby! Awesome album. I have it on tape, but since I no longer have a tape player, I finally remembered that I should get it on CD. lol Well, that's it for now. G'night.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
I totally meant to post sooner than this, but didn't end up doing so for one reason or another. *shrugs* Anyway, Monday was just work for a bit, but not normal work. I trained Matt P. how to thread the projector for a couple of hours. He'd already started learning, but it takes quite a few times of watching people do it and then doing it yourself before you get the hang of it. So yeah, that was Monday.
Tuesday I got up a little later than I had planned (because I'm bad at getting up), and actually got ready very fast and went off to see Cars. Great movie. I enjoyed it immensely and it was just beautiful to watch. I am continually amazed at the new effects that can be achieved in movies. The story was very cute/funny too. You have to stay through the first part of the credits to watch the little bonus scenes. I got a great kick out of the one with the H2 that had never been off-road before. lmao :P
After the movie was over, I went to Target to pick up a few things and just to kill some time. I think I saw someone I used to go to school with there, but I only glanced at him for a second, so I can't be sure. Oh well. Then I went to the arcade and had some fun playing games for a while. I did really bad at DDR and a couple other things though. I mean, worse than usual; I hadn't been there in a while though.
After all of my fun at the arcade, I went to the church to meet up for the new young adult group. At first it was kind of iffy and I wasn't thrilled to be there, but it gradually got a bit better, and then it was a lot of fun when we played the game Battle of the Sexes, which I had never played before. I did pretty good with a few questions. There was one asking what sport Kelly Slater is famous for, and as soon as the guy finished reading the question I said, "surfing." Everyone just looked at me because I answered so fast. lol That's my Disney Channel knowledge for you all! lol I learned that from a little sports thing watching Disney. Hehehe. Then they asked an archery question which I totally knew the answer to, but I could not, FOR THE LIFE OF ME, bring the answer to the front of my brain to remember that a quiver is called a quiver. *sigh* Oh well. My fellow females didn't hold it against me though, and I made up for it later with a totally instinctual guess. lol There was this question that was something like, "what was the last year that cold fuel injection systems were in Porshe 911's?" (Something like that.) And we were talking it through and no one knew and I just said '98. Some people were guessing in the 60s or 70s, but then they all looked at me and asked what I thought since I got the surfing question right. lol I said I thought '98; it was a good year. So, we said that was our final answer... and it was RIGHT!!!! YES! The males were complaining about our weird logic and how we figured things out because we got a couple of other questions using instinctual guessing as well. It was funny. The guys were ahead for a bit, but, as is completely natural, us ladies triumphed in the end. ;) It was fun. :)
I started watching that movie I rended, Immortal, when I got home after that, but it was too weird like the guy at Blockbuster said, so I stopped it after a while. I couldn't figure out where anything was going in it and there was one thing that was annoying me to all ends. There were three live actors, and then the rest of the people were CG! I mean, they were decently CGed, but you could still tell because they looked too smooth, and then their mouths didn't move properly with the words. Pick one or the other people! lol
Yesterday I woke up late again, and then my mom asked me if I wanted to go out for lunch, so I of course said yes. :) We both ended up getting breakfast items off the menu. You can eat breakfast any time of day. Yum. :) Then we ran a few errands and rented some movies from the grocery store. We got Nanny McPhee, Aquamarine, and I chose Underworld: Evolution for me, as my mom would not want to watch that one. lol We watched Nanny McPhee when we got home, and it was decent. Fairly funny and whatnot. Then later we also watched Aquamarine which was okay as well. Some funny spots and kinda cute with a sappy happy ending. I may watch Underworld: Evolution tonight; depends.
Today I went down to work and started typing up procedure lists for different things. I got four of them completed, but there are at least three more plus some other similar things. So, I shall have to go in again to do more of that. But, I had new music to listen to that I put on my iPod last night. :) I downloaded some songs off of iTunes including: "Danger Zone," "Tainted Love," and Rascal Flatts' version of "Life is a Highway" from Cars. I also got "Ask the Lonely" by Journey. I LOVE that song, and I had no clue that it was by Journey. lol Now when people ask if I like Journey I can say "yes" instead of "I don't know, what songs do they sing?" lol So yes, the music was nice company while I was typing. I also imported some of my parent's CDs onto my iTunes/iPod.
I stopped after finishing the fourth of the procedure lists because the movie (X-Men 3) was going to start shortly and I decided to watch it again. It was very possibly my last chance to watch it before we get a new movie, so I thought I might as well since I was already going to be down there. Oh, and speaking of movies, I found out when Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest is screening, so I'm totally excited for that now! lol It's in about a week and a half just before I leave for vacation, so that was nice timing with much thanks to God. :)
Sunday, June 11, 2006
I went to a wedding on Friday and took this picture just before the ceremony started. lol Yeah, I know it's not exactly reflective of a wedding, but I think it's a good shot and I really like it. So... ha! My mom and I showed up about two hours early to the wedding to help getting decorations and things setup. For me, that was the best part. lol I know the girl who got married, but not very well and we were invited by her mother since her mom and mine are friends now (her and I used to play on the same soccer team). So, it was a little weird being there since I don't really know her anymore, and was never close to her in the first place. I'm happy for her though, and I hope that married life is good to her. :) Anyway, I left shortly after the ceremony ended because I didn't know anyone there and felt like I'd rather go home. My parents stayed and they told me the cake was very good. lol
Yesterday was work, and it wasn't very busy. I would have thought more people would come to see X-Men 3, but for some reason or another, they're not really. Oh yeah, and I watched it again Friday after I built it and finally got to see the bonus scene at the end! It's really short, but definately important and changes the ending of the movie. So, stay through the credits people! lol And, I liked it more the second time than the first. Funny. I shall probably watch it at least once more, maybe twice depending on what I decide to do each day. Heh. Anyway...
Today was work again, and it was very slow. We only had seven people come to see the first show, which was only like three people more than what we had working. So sad. But hey, oh well. It was sort of good because I was able to be pretty relaxed the whole time since I didn't sleep very well last night. I don't know what the deal is. I could not fall asleep in my bed last night. I tried for about four hours, then I finally got up and went and slept on the couch! I'm not sure if my room is too warm, my bed is no longer comfortable, or that I coughed less on the couch. *throws up arms in exasperation* Oy! Hopefully tonight will not be so bad.
After I got off of work, I went to Blockbuster to rent a couple of movies I've been thinking about watching since I was down in California last. I saw them at the Blockbuster my cousin and I went to with some of her friends and they both intriqued me for different reasons. So, today I decided to rent them. The first is Raging Sharks starring Corin Nemec. He's a hottie who played Jonas Quinn on the sixth season of SG-1 while Daniel was temorarily "dead" (AKA ascended). So yeah, that and the fact that the sharks-on-a-rampage type movies amuse me is why I picked that one out. Wow. It was... umm... sad and hilarious at the same time. Sad as in pathetic. So at the beginning there are these aliens that are really bad drivers and side-swipe one of our satellites and it blows up and this piece falls down to earth... in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. lmao Then the whole space thing goes away completely and it's just these scientists studying "something" - we never find out what - on the ocean floor... in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. For some reason these sharks of all different species are drawn to the area where they are and are abnormally agressive. Then there's a whole bunch of random stuff that makes no sense whatsoever and does nothing for the "story" (which they actually didn't seem to be one, lol). Oh yes, and my absolute favorite thing about the movie... the sharks GROWL! *almost falls out of chair laughing* It was hilarious! And, just as in Jaws and every other shark attack movie, the sharks do all these things that are totally impossible, etc. I wonder if anyone will ever make a shark attack movie that's semi-realistic. Granted, Jaws was based on a bloody summer of shark attacks in the early 1900's, but fairly loosely. Anyway, at the end of the movie, Corin and this other chick - who's also been in a few SG-1 episodes - were the last ones left and the aliens came back to get their thing - which ended up being what caused the sharks (but no other marine creatures) to go crazy - and rescued them. Then the aliens flew away from Earth in their little space ship. LMAO Wow. It was... a masterpiece. Hehehe.
The other movie is called Immortal, and I've not watched it yet. It's a sci-fi flick where ancient Egyptian "gods" come back to New York in the not-too-distant future. I couldn't find it so I asked the guy there if he knew where it was and he said he did and then asked, "are you sure you want to watch that one?" lol I was like, "I don't know; I want to read the back of it again and decide." Basically, he didn't think it was very good, and I'm not expecting anything grand from it, but I decided to check it out. I asked him if the n.u.dity in it was bad because that's part of why it's rated R, and I'm not a fan of that stuff and he's all like, "but that's how God created people" and whatnot. lol It was funny. He said he only likes the tasteful n.u.dity scenes, and that too many movies now have untasteful ones that are just thrown in there for no reason. He was probably like 18 or something and just starts talking to me about this and I'm all like... okay... in my head. It was sort of funny. Then he asked me if I've seen this movie called Bodyguard, and I said I'd never heard of it. Apparently it's this really good movie, according to him. Well, if I ever happen to see it, I'll read the back of the case and see if it sounds interesting. lol
I noticed, though, that Blockbuster has a ton of obscure movies I've never heard of. There had to be at least twenty different shark attack ones! I may just have to see about renting some of those. lol They're way more expensive than the grocery store though, so it won't be a while until I do that, if ever. *yawns* Woah... where'd that come from? I can't be tired now, that'd just be crazy. Anyway, I'm off. I hope to see Cars some time this week, so I'll post about that when/if I do. :) Ta!
Thursday, June 8, 2006
So, yeah, got myself sick again, apparently. What gives? I was just sick a few weeks ago, and I had been doing so well before then with hardly getting sick at all! Arg. At least I'm not real sick. It's just kind of annoying that the one part of it just keeps hanging around. After Monday night, the other symptoms had died off, but the throat/cough thing just keeps hacking along. lol I'm surviving though, and at least I don't really feel bad, just annoyed. Heh.
Yesterday my mom and I went and saw Akeelah and the Bee. It was a very cute/good movie. One of those wonderful feel-good and root for the underdog sort of things. :) After that, we went to JCPenny's and I got some nice black pants as I'm going to a wedding tomorrow and jeans probably aren't the thing to wear, you know? lol The only pair that I liked and fit me had part of one of the belt-loops ripped off, so they gave me a discount and I stitched it back together myself! Yay for discount!
I was hungry by that time, so we drove through Taco Bell and it was GOOD. lol I don't get to eat there very often, so when I get the chance, I tend to grab it! The last stop of my choosing was Michaels. I had some of the cake decorating supplies that I didn't use, so I returned them and got $20 back! That helps. lol I think I'll probably make another cake eventually though with the stuff I do still have. It won't be so ambitious though, that's for sure. Something FAR, FAR more simple.
Today I spent lazing around the house and drinking lots of fluids. Mom and I watched a few Stargate Atlantis episodes, and an SG-1 episode, too. Gotta love Stargate. And that's pretty much it. Tomorrow's got a fair few things planned for it, so I'd best get myself to bed at a decent time. 'Night.
Monday, June 5, 2006
Ugh, this is not good. I'm feeling sort of sick right now. I woke up with my throat dry and unhappy, and now it's progressed to adding a headache and just general ugh feeling to that. Hopefully I'll be fine in the morning. And, obviously, I'm not too terribly bad off at the moment since I'm on here blogging.
I went down to the theater for an hour today to meet with the new owner. I thought we were going to be working on advertising stuff, but it turned out to be just that she wanted to talk to me about some stuff. She's trying to get me to stay at the theater for a good while yet. Understandable since we're losing about half of our work force this month and the next few months due to them all having plans for the summer and then off to college in the fall. That leaves a few experianced people and a whole bunch of brand new employees. I want to get out as soon as I can though. I'm just sort of tired of being there and want to do something new, and maybe a little more exciting. The major problem comes in that I don't know what that new and more exciting thing is, nor do I have much of an idea. That reminds me that I need to do more cover letters and actually start applying to places. She also wants me to do a few other little things which I can do at home. (A not-so-enthusiastic) wee. I'm sort of tired now. Bye. lol
Sunday, June 4, 2006
I totally just figured out that I can ban IPs from visiting my websites. So, I've banned a bunch that were spaming my tag board, and hopefully that will cut down some. I should do a search to see if there's some master list out there somewhere of IPs that are evil and should be banned. It could totally cut down on spam if there was, and it would be worth the time adding them one at a time if it did.
So, after thinking about it, I've decided to totally stop writing for the time being (you know, aside from blogs and e-mails n' stuff). I mean, if I suddenly get hit with a creative burst and feel like writing, then I will, but other than that, I won't. Already I feel better. :) It's just knowing that the pressure is off. I am fairly sure that I will eventually start back up again. I hope so anyway. :)
Yesterday evening at work I had a little "fun" with middle schoolers misbehaving, but it wasn't too bad. Just a bit at the end. Huh, this lady came out after the credits had started and stands there and just stares at me for a second, and then I asked if I could help her with anything. She starts off with, "did you go in there at all during the movie?!" I thought in my head, "no, should I have?" lol But replied, "why, was it loud?" She goes on to say how there were people talking the whole time, etc. I said that I rely on people to come out and let me know if there is a problem, and next time she should come and tell me. She acted like she didn't hear that and said that people were "shh-ing" them, but it didn't do anything. I repeated that she should come and tell me and added that I would remove noisy kids if she did. She just gave me this look and left. *shakes head* My mom told me I handled it very well though. ;) lol I find it sort of funny that she expected me to do something about it after the movie was over. I mean, what was I supposed to do, say, "I'm so sorry kids were talking, it was all my fault, here's some passes for free movies and popcorn?" Yeah, no. lol Today was nice and quiet though, and I liked it. :)
What else to post? Oh, Balf got hurt the other night! There was loud kitty hissing outside so I called for the kitties. Balf finally came and was all ruffed up, and then later I noticed his paw was bleeding. :( My poor kitty boy! He's favoring that paw, but it doesn't look like anything serious, so hopefully it will just heal up on it's own real soon. It was so sad though.
And other than that, I don't think there's anything else to write about right now. Fare thee well.
Saturday, June 3, 2006
Writing progress update: Check for June 1st, and partial check for yesterday the 2nd. Yesterday I only managed to do the 10-minute exercise. Writing for half an hour is HARD for me right now. Not making the time, it's just actually writing about one story that whole time. I just could not bring myself to do the half an hour last night. I shall try again today, probably shortly after I'm finished writing on here. I think I might also modify my "contract" to include pre-writing in the 30-minute segments because I think I need to do that in order to be able to really get things written on my stories. I mean, just writing whatever the heck came to mind worked okay for NaNoWriMo, but that was just because I didn't care and my story didn't need to make sense or do anything in particular. *sigh*
I took my cake to work yesterday to share with the guys. They all said it looked pretty cool, and they liked it when they ate it (or else they just said so in order not to hurt my feelings, lol). They all said thank you, too. Good boys. Matt and Brian J. both said they weren't going to eat any at first because of how it looked and that I told them it took me nine hours to make. lol I told them that they had to though because otherwise what was the point of me making the cake? Cakes are to be eaten, not petrified. ;) lol And, I don't know if this has to do with me having brought cake, but one of the new guys, Brandon, told me that I'm his favorite. *rolls eyes* I don't believe it.
At almost 2 AM this morning (before I went to bed, of course), I started watching The New World, which I rented a few days ago. Whatever you do, do NOT watch that movie. You know what, it can't even be called a movie! It was a piece of crap! There were like NO lines in the first 15 minutes of the thing. The characters almost never talk. It's just a bunch of images with crappy music over it and sometimes weird arse poetry being narrated over it all. Then, every once in a while, a character's mouth actually moves and words come out of it! Woah! I can't believe anyone thought to make that into a movie. Seriously, I don't understand why it was backed by a studio and some fairly big-named actors were in it. The only reason I watched as much as I did was because I was waiting for Christian Bale's character to show up. After about an hour and 45 minutes, he finally did. I watched for probably another half an hour after that before I was like, "screw it!" and turned it off without finishing it. Yeah, that bad. Just don't watch it people. lol
Executive decision. I was just talking to my mom and I think I'll rip up my writing contract. Haven't yet as I'll probably think about it for the day, but maybe it's just not the right thing for right now. I shouldn't have to force myself so much to get words out. It used to be easy, but somehow I've blocked off everything or made myself believe I'm not good enough, etc. So, my mom suggested (and I've been wondering this myself as well), that maybe I should just put it totally aside for a while because maybe I'm not meant to write just now. And if it's not making me happy to write at the moment, why should I? Not to have the forced writing anyway. I'm happy doing it when I get an idea and I start writing it down or maybe write a short scene. I enjoy that. But right now I'm not liking it at all and I keep feeling pressured to perform. I thought maybe that would help, but I think it's hindering. I just need to let everyone know they shouldn't ask me about my writing right now. No hasseling anymore. I'm officially taking a break (unless I change my mind later tonight or tomorrow, but it's not looking that way right now). Okay. Break.
And now, unfortunately, I am going to end my entry with sad tidings. My mom was just talking to one of my Aunts on the phone and another thing has occured with my Grandma and Grandpa. Each time it seems to escalate slightly and none of us really know what to do. Anyway, my Grandma has bi-polar and is completely in denile. Yesterday the phone rang and my Grandpa went to get it, but my Grandma had a cow and they got in a fight where my Grandpa slapped her (not good). Then, my Grandma ran to the neighbors and called the police saying that my Grandpa had thrown her up against the wall and her jaw was broken, etc., etc. While my Grandmw was making that call, my Grandpa called my Uncle, and he came over to find the cops and firemen there with my Grandma in a neckbrace on a gerney and my Grandpa in handcuffs. My Uncle talked to the cops to try to explain my Grandma's problem and got them to take the cuffs off my Grandpa, but they still took him to the station and gave him a citation. They took my Grandma to the hospital just in case, and she was completely fine. Unfortunately, I don't doubt that my Grandpa did give her a slap, but she still blew it way out of proportion. *shakes head* So yeah, my Grandma (and Grandpa, too) could still use prayers. I appreciate those of you that have been praying for my Grandma so much. Thank you.
Thursday, June 1, 2006
First off, CONGRATULATIONS SAM!!!!!!!!! *tries not to tear up* My dear Sam graduated today! Everyone go tell her congrats!!! *hugs Sam*
Secondly, making cakes is friggin' HARD! After all of those Food Network cake decorating challenges, I bought myself a book off of Amazon and decided to give it a shot. Yesterday, my mom and I went to Michaels and got everything I needed (that I hadn't gotten from local stores the other day) for the cake I had decided to try making first. You know what, it's a good thing I didn't do the one I originally thought I'd do first because it would have been a lot worse! lol It was sort of fun, but around the 6th or 7th straight hour of working on it, I was starting to get annoyed. lol Yeah, it took me at least NINE hours to make and decorate one cake! Why didn't I stop or take a nice break, or even stop to eat dinner at a decent time? Because I wasn't going to let it beat me! I was going to finish the dang thing! And, also because some of the stuff I was working with dries just enough so that you can't do anything with it if you wait too long, but then when you want it to dry so that you can stick it onto the cake, it like doesn't. Ugh! I TOTALLY understand why fancy cakes cost so much money now. ;) Anyway, an image now of my cake. There are actually three pictures on the image: the first from the book that told me how to do it, the second the finished cake I made (which doesn't exactly look like the picture in the book), and the third jus a silly picture because I like photography. ;)
My first (and possibly last) attempt at making a cake and decorating it all fancy.
I think the part that came out the best was the Knight. I made a little boo-boo when I attached him to the cake though, and positioned him a bit lower than he should have. That's why he's tilted sideways and his legs look funny. I forget what word my mom used to describe the way he looked, but it was the right word for it. I can just imagine someone telling me tomorrow it looks like the Knight is drunk or something. *rolls eyes* But yeah, it doesn't exactly look like the picture... at all, but after a certain point I was like, "screw perfection!!!!" lol Oh man, now I'll just have to figure out what to do with the stuff that I bought (I may have to make at least another cake or two eventually), and I just have to forget that all the supplies cost around $100 all together. *hangs head* Oh man. On the up side, the cake itself tastes pretty good. ;) lol
Today I spent time re-couping from the cake-making adventure, but I did "accomplish" a few things. I began to clear up my desk. It's probably going to be a two or three part mission. Heh. I also signed and dated the writing contract I wrote for myself the other day. Today I start a one-month commitment to write at least one 10-minute timed free-writing exercise followed by 30 minutes of writing on one of my stories... every day. I haven't done it yet for today, but I will as soon as I'm done posting this. I must.
Oh yes, and today my mom and I booked my flight to California. What's that you say? You're asking, "wait a second, weren't you just in California? Was that a typo?" Yes, I was just there, and no, it's not a typo. I'm going back again for a week! lol Guess that means I have to suffer going to Disneyland again. *all of this sarcastically* Oh darn. lol YES!!!!! DISNEYLAND AGAIN!!! WOO BABY! I'm excited. ;) Hopefully the new bosses are okay with that, because I didn't exactly ask them, I sort of told them and then just wrote that I hope it's okay. lol We'll see. Anyway, off I go to write. Must write now.
