July 2007
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Ah, the close of another month. Now, what to do with myself? July has been decidedly un-eventful for me. Mostly in a good way, but perhaps a little too un-eventful in that I haven't really accomplished anything. *sigh* I put in my resume at another place today, but they're not hiring either. There went the only two places I was condsidering, and now I've got to come up with more. Trouble is that I can't seem to think of anything locally that sounds like it would at least be semi-fun, which leaves jobs that don't sound good to me. But, I've got to get a job, so now I should just pray for God to bring one along fairly soon that I can be happy at, at least for a little while. Gah, now I'm noticing my self-defeating statements after reading a chapter in this book I'm going through. Definitely need to stop doing that. Recognizing is the first step though, right?
Sunday, July 29, 2007
While there were shark shows playing almost all day on Discovery Channel, the technical kick-off show was "Ocean of Fear," which is the story of the crew from the USS Indianapolis. The show was intense, but really interesting. Most of the men died from exposure or drowning, not from shark attack, though there were definitely sharks. It was just really interesting to hear the stories of the survivors; I recommend watching it.
In other news, I randomly decided to pull out all of my old Littlest Pet Shop toys today. I had some that I didn't remember AT ALL. Like, I had absolutely no idea I even had them. lol I'm probably going to try and see if I can sell some of them. It'd be good to clear up some space in my closet that they're currently taking up, and it'd give me a little extra cash, too. I might attempt to sell my old Koosh figure toys, too, but I doubt anyone's really looking for those. lol Oh, might sell some lego sets I have, too. I'm in the process of contemplating. I obviously don't need them, but in some ways it's hard to give up my little collected things from childhood. Though, the legos are all from the last five or six years. lol Legos are fun. I really like putting them together, then they look cool for a while, and then I want to take them apart again because the fun is really putting them together. lol
Saturday, July 28, 2007
I'm really stoked because Shark Week begins tomorrow. :D I've gotten some odd looks from people when I tell them I like sharks, but what can I say... sharks are cool! That doesn't mean I want to be in the water with any (unless I'm in a cage, then I would 'cause that'd be cool!), but I respect them and find them fascinating. They really are amazing creatures. And, the more you know about them, the funnier the movie Jaws becomes. lol While the movie was based somewhat on the attacks during the summer of 1916, it still makes a lot of incorrect assumptions about shark behavior. Even funnier is the movie Deep Blue Sea where the sharks swim backwards. lmao Anyway, I'm hoping the shows will live up to all the "20th Anniversary" hype and be really good. :)
Nothing else going on. Applied to a place in town and will call back on Monday to talk to someone and see if they think they may be interested in hiring me or not. After that, I have one other thought of where I might like to apply, but if both of them are a bust, I've no idea what I'll do for a job. Guess I'll find out if it comes to it. *shrugs*
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Today I finally called Disneyland to inquire about getting a seasonal position there. Been thinking about it for ages, but have been on the fence as to whether or not to do it. At least now I know I probably won't be doing it this winter. The lady I spoke with wasn't exactly helpful, but at least I found out some information. I had heard that you have to apply in person, even if you're from out of state, and now I've confirmed that's true. I had hoped to talk to someone about what kind of jobs might be available for me as I'm not going to work there if I can't do something I would at least sort of like, but apparently you have that discussion when you apply and interview. I'm not making a special trip down to Cali just for that, so it's going to have to wait a while until whenever I next decide to go down for a visit. I was sort of thinking of going down this fall, but I'm not sure if I will or not yet. Shall have to see. Anyway, at least I finally called. lol Now I must look for a job somewhere around here though. Wish me luck! lol
P.S. THIS was the intro to the Colbert Report last night. I got a good kick out of that. lol
Monday, July 23, 2007
SPOILERS FOR Harry Potter book 7 BELOW. DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS.
I finished reading at about 1:30 AM this morning. I must say, I do believe that'd the fastest I've gotten through a book in some time. lol The beginning had some slow parts, but after the half-way mark, things started to progress very quickly. I might have taken longer to finish it except that I didn't want someone to blow the ending for me because they read it faster, and I knew that Emily would get finished with it fairly quick and would want to talk about it. I finished before her because she had to work so much over the weekend. She's probably still reading, or sleeping now because she was up all night reading. lol
I must say that I got what I wanted for the ending. :D Which, I'm now going to talk about, so don't read on if you don't want to know.
I had told Emily that I wanted Ron and Hermione to get together... and they did! I also told her I thought Harry would kill Voldy and live and get married to Ginny... and he did! lol And Neville is my hero!!! I had also mentioned that I wanted there to be some epilogue about what happened to them later in life, and there was, so Hol's a happy camper. :) The only thing that really bummed me out was that Fred died! *sniffles* I cried then, when we found out Lupin and Tonks also died, and when Harry thought he was going to die and went to Voldemort to do so. So, other than those three characters that died, I was quite happy with the end of the series. The only bummer is that they're going to totally ruin this one when they put it in movie format... I just know it.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
After buying a trying out another monitor, I'm back to the original one. While it looked like the monitor was able to go darker in the store than this one, I discovered it was really the same. I even ended up using the light meter on my digital SLR on each of the monitors set at the same brightness, and the resulting light emmited was the same. *sigh* Seems like they're just making all the monitors insanely bright with no way to really turn them down. I did, however, finally think of searching using the words "eye strain" associated with lcd monitors and found a couple tips. So, I now have a desk lamp which is pointed at my monitor. The theory is that having more light by my monitor (and focusing on it) will diminish the light coming out at me somewhat and perhaps help my eyes out a little. The other thing was this feature in XP called Clear Type, which I'll probably test out one of these days soon when I'm sitting at the computer for an extended period and see if the eye strain isn't as bad that way. Will have to do the same with the light, too, as right now is really the first time I've used it and I'm not going to be here longer than to type this. lol Anyway...
Yesterday I got up early and went to work with my mom. Well, I should say dropped her off there and then went to return the monitor I had bought on Tuesday, and search for a new pair of pants. The return of the monitor went well, which I was grateful for, but the search for pants did not. Oh well. Guessing I'll have to wait until the "back to school" sales start up before there are a decent number of jeans carried in the stores. Dang seasonal crud! lol
After I was done with my errands, I went back to pick up my mom. We got sandwiches for lunch, then headed over to the movie theatre. We saw Hairspray. I used to strongly dislike musicals, but I've discovered that I like a few of them in recent years, so I decided to check this one out and managed to get mom to join me. :) It was kind of "eh," but not horrible. There were some good funny parts and I like two of the songs, but the rest... not so much. Just not my style, I guess. That, and, a man dressed up as a large fat woman is just creepy. *shakes head*
After that we ran some more errands, which is when I got my desk lamp, and then headed home. We then proceeded to watch two movies in the evening. lol First, the newer version of Little Women, then Ever After.
Today I have mostly been reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which I'm sure I am not alone in. lol I actually got over 100 pages farther than I thought I would! See, I'm not a terribly slow reader, but not a speedy one either. Though, I have at least discovered that my reading speed allows me to absorb what I've read better than some very fast readers I know, which gives me some consolation. ;)
Nothing else happening, really, except that I have been blissfully enjoying the rain and coolness of the last few days. It would be lovely if it lasted the rest of the summer like this, but I imagine that is not to be so. At least it is a very nice (and much needed, for me anyway) respite from the very warm days we'd previously been experiencing. I know it's gotten far warmer in other places than here, but when you've gotten acclimated to far lower temperatures, anything above 75 F is really pushing it. lol
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
I told my mom I'd go to sleep now, but I just felt the urge to write this out while it's still fresh in my mind. Therefore, a story for you all.
A couple hours after my last post (aka early Sunday AM), I let Balf in. A moment later, I turned to a fleeting glance of a mouse running under something. Now, this has happened before. The cats have brough in mice that were very injured or already dead, and even a pretty alive bird at the old house (I missed that one, as I was gone at the time, but my mom told me all about it). So, I ran to grab the dust pan, which I usually coax the mice onto, and then lightly toss them out the door. This one, however, had a lot more spunk in it still. Let's just say it was very fresh. lmao And, the cats thought it was a great toy and were running after it. I almost got it on the dust pan when it was still semi-near the door, but it jumped over the lip and ran off with Balffers fast in tow. I found them both in my bathroom, and tried to scootch Balf out of the way and get the mouse on the dust pan, but the mouse was too quick, and it slipped out in the crack by the doorjam. I had, at least, closed all the doors in the hallway before I'd gone into the bathroom, so I didn't think it had gone into any rooms that way (though later I realised it could have fit under the doors), I headed out into the family room and kitchen area, and started looking under things with the flashlight. I even got down on the kitchen floor and peered under the stove and fridge, however, it was nowhere to be found.
I finally woke my mom after searching for at least a half an hour. She was really tired and just told me there was nothing to be done and I should go to sleep. Oh yes, and all that time after the mouse dissapeared, the cats both just vegged out on the floor. What the heck?! lol I tried pushing them up to get them looking for the mouse, but they're apparenly only intrested in it when they can see it running around. *rolls eyes* I love them, but I gave Balffers a talkin' to and told Angie she can't bring mouseys in the house either. lol Back to what my mom said... I didn't like the idea of going to sleep with a mouse who knows where in th house. So, I checked my room pretty thoroughly, and then closed the door for the night (hoping the mouse wouldn't go underneath it).
Sunday after church, we looked around the house for a while and I did as thorough as possible checks in the parent's room, spare room, and my room. No sign of the mouse. My dad then decides to joke and say that maybe it's a spider-mouse, after the "spider-pig" reference in the horrible preview for The Simpsons Movie (I can't even believe I'm mentioning this in my blog, but it's imperative to the story, so I must). I was like, "yeah, sure dad." lol
All the rest of Sunday, no sign. Then, all Monday (today-ish since I haven't gone to sleep yet), still no sign. There was a small false alarm in that there was a rather nasty smell in the utility room, but that turned out to be a damp towel that had started to smell funny. I continued to pray that God would help us find the mouse and get it outside so we'd know it wasn't in here anymore. I kept thinking that if only the mouse could understand that if it would let me catch it, I'd put it outside and it could get on with its life, we'd all be happy! lol But, saddly, that is not possible--at least, not for me. Ha.
Aroung 1-ish this morning, I was up later than I meant/was supposed to be. I had been watching a show about the real man Dracula, then the channel had issues, so I turned it to Kim Possible. A few minutes later there was this funny noise in the kitchen. Angie was laying on the sofa arm to my left, and Balf was outside. So, I got up and walked to the sound, which was coming from the bottom of the frige. I opened each side to see if it was because they weren't closed or something, and the noise kind of stopped. Then, I looked down and there was a little brown mouse head poking out from under the fridge! A mouse sighting! I turned the kitchen light on fast as I could, and then the mouse scurried out from under the fridge and dissapeared underneath the stove. I ran and grabbed a dirty towel and shoved it in the space between the bottom of the stove and the floor to block of the little bugger's escape route. But, just making sure it was stuck in there wasn't going to help anything. So, I got another towel and laid it down on the floor, got the flashlight and positioned myself to look under the stove. Oh, and I had a container to trap it in if it cam out, too.
When I looked under the stove, I still couldn't see the thing. I'm baffled by that. I'm guessing it was hiding behind the big power cord because I could see pretty much everywhere else and didn't think I saw it, but then again, it's possible I was momentarily blind. Haha. Anyway, I decided to pull out the drawer at the bottom in hopes to startle the mouse into moving so I could see it. It more than moved; it popped out on the right side and went straight under the fridge again. I ran and grabbed more towels and plugged up that area as well. I watched the mouse move down the aisle between the fridge and the wall, and then I tried to figure out how to get it out and trapped.
I finally got a few pieces of shredded cheese and put them down in a little area and waited there to see if it would come out and I could get the bowl down over it. I'm half lying on the floor when the mouse comes down from ABOVE me and scurries into the pantry to the right. I was like, HOLY COW! How'd it get up higher?!?! I quickly took the towel I was sitting on and shoved it in the crack at the bottom of the pantry door, however. Then I gathered up a bunch of boxes and built a baracade around the pantry door. Oh yeah! *nods in a maniac manor*
With my baracade in place, I catiously opened the pantry door. I got the dust pan out first and had that and the bowl close by and ready. One item at a time was pulled out from the floor and my eyes were peeled for the mouse running around down there. Half the things out, and still no sign. I finally get all the things out from the floor area, and no mouse. There is no way it got out without me seeing it and it's not trying to squeeze its way through my baracade... HOLY COW it's up on the fourth shelf!!! How'd it get up there? It slipped down onto the third shelf on a spinning thing with cans on it. I gave it a spin to get it to come to the front, but it went around a few times on a little merry-go-round ride, then dropped down to the next shelf instead of getting on the dust pan. At that point, I grabbed the bowl and tried to put it on top of it on the last shelf, but there are slits in them, so that didn't work. Finally got the thing on the floor and at that point I thought it was only a matter of moments before I got the bowl on it, then I could slip a lid under and and take it outside. Nope. First it ran around (I even succumbed and tried to whack it with the mini-broom that went with the dust pan), and then, gasp, my father was right! Spider-Mouse! The thing scaled the wall right up to the first shelf! I didn't know mice could go up completely vertical surfaces! Can all mice do that, or did we really get a freaky one with super spidey powers?
At that point I started to make some more noise pulling more things out. I heard my parent's door open down the hall and popped my head around the corner. There was my mom, coming to my rescue! I waved her over and said I'd found the mouse and asked if she'd help me. She wasn't feeling quite as tired, so she came to help. The mouse had just gone into one of the smaller towels I used to plug up the edge of the barrier where it connected with the wall and fridge. I figured it'd burrowed through and was either under the fridge or scaling the back of it to leap down at me from the top. lol Then, I wondered if it was still in the towel, and mom told me to move it. Out popped the mouse!
It ran over to try and get under the stove, but the towel was blocking it. Mom and I tried to get at it, but then it went back for the fridge. Thinking it might still be in the towel there, mom started to pull it up. Sure enough, out comes the mousey again. It ran into the corner of the cupboards and mom and I went after it, trying to get it under one of the bowls. It slipped away and bolted out of the kitchen and onto the carpet under this little rolling cupboard. I had the flashlight there and was down watching it asap. Mom went and got Angie from the couch to see if she'd help us. lol Balf was still outside. Anyway, the mouse tried to go up the wall behind the cupboard. Poor thing was terrified. And then, I suggested that mom try pushing the cupboard back against the wall and squashing the mouse. I know, cruel, but we weren't left with much of a choice at that point. She said it wouldn't work, then suggested I pull one side forward and let Angie try for the mouse that way, since she'd started to get interested. Mom couldn't see behind the cupboard from her side after that, so I stood up and looked down there. The mouse was about a foot up from the floor and had squeezed itself as far away from Angie as possible and was basically stuck where it was. So, though it was basically torturing the poor creature, I pushed the cupboard back and really squashed the mouse a couple times. It squeeked, but it was still trying to get purchase with its back feet, but was having no luck. Mom got the fly swatter and stuck in the the crack on the side with the mouse and got it out so it fell on the floor. Before it could move, she smacked the fly swatter down on it a good few times, and then I got the bowl over it finally. Mom got a lid and slid it under, trapping the mouse, and then took it outside. I felt sad that we had to hurt the mouse so bad, but we couldn't just let it stay in the house (nor did I want to) and it wasn't going to just stay still so we could put the bowl over it. So, finally, the mouse is out of the house.
We checked the food in the pantry to make sure the mouse hadn't gotten into any of it, and then started checking some of the stuff I'd pulled out and putting things back into the pantry. It was as I was doing that that I discovered a spider and joked to my mom that it must have been the one that gave the mouse its powers. I squashed that dead.
And now, now I can rest easy with the knowledge that no mouse is going to be scurrying around in my room. In fact, I think that's what I shall do now: rest. Good night.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Today I hung out with my friend Heidi, whom I haven't seen in a couple of years. Her and her husband just moved back to the state a week or two ago. Anyway, the three of us went to see HP 5. It was slightly better the second time around, but may I stress the slightly, as in hardly worth mentioning. lol I'm telling you, Fred and George are all that saved that movie from me hating it completely. ;) lol
After the movie, Heidi's husband left and then Heidi and I went and ate. We chatted and catched up while we ate, then we went and walked around for a bit and chatted more. It was very nice. :) Not sure when we'll do something again, since she now lives a ways away, but hopefully it'll be soon-ish. lol
Nothing else to say except that my foot feels all better now, praise God! :D Part of me thinks it may have been caused by a spider bite, but since the area that hurt wasn't red or itchy, another part of me just chalks it up to random pain or having somehow done something in my sleep. *confused* Well, whatever caused it, at least the pain is gone now. :) I shall be extra nice to my feet for the next few days though, just in case it considers coming back. ;)
Thursday, July 12, 2007
It is far too warm. I do not like it at all. Lots of people are like "oh yay, it's summer time, it's nice and warm..." Not me. I'm praying and hoping for rain. Lovely, lovely rain. About half an hour ago, the effects of the heat finally materialized via a bloody nose. I must be very thankful though because it's the first I've had in months, which is really good for me, and, sooner or later, having my fan on my face all night for about a week straight was going to take effect. *sigh* No fan tonight. I think I'll sleep with an ice pack. lmao
Yesterday I woke up and my foot hurt a little while I was lying in bed. That did not bode well, so when I got out of bed, I did it very carefully and stepped gingerly onto the floor. Sure enough, BIG pain. I've still absolutely no clue what I did to make my foot hurt, but then again, the past shows me that my feet haven't always needed reasons to hurt. lol Or, at least, not reasons that I understand. Anyway, yesterday I could barely hobble around the house and spent the entire day on the chair in front of the TV. Rather boring, but when it hurts to walk, there's not a lot of options. At least I didn't have anything planned and that didn't happen while I was still working. It started to feel slightly better by the time I went to bed, and today it feels even better than that. Hurts some still, but not as bad as yesterday, so praise God that it doesn't appear to be anything serious. So glad it's feeling better.
And, as I'm back-tracking, Tuesday night Emily and I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I had somewhat high hopes that it would be a good movie: it sucked. Big time. I realize that the material from that books wasn't the best to work with, but I still expected better than what they produced. My major complaints are as follows: There were no transitions between scenes. It was just scene, cut, scene, cut, scene, cut, with big jumps in time frame between the scenes. I don't think I would have understood a thing of what was going on in the first third of the movie (at least) if I hadn't read the book, and recently at that. The movie was boring; the book is more eventful. And, finally, the entire tone of the movie was the same from beginning to end minus a few scenes where there was no way they could have been so emotionally bland. I had no emotional ups or downs with the characters. In the book, Harry's PISSED all the time, and I didn't get that in the movie. I think half of the tone thing was due to the filter they used for the entire movie that subdued all of the colors. It was such a break from the other four, which had plenty of color to them. *shakes head* Quite dissapointing. It wasn't entirely horrible though; I did like Fred and George, of course. :D lol I wish they would have put more of them in. Oh yeah, and why was there NO mention of Ron and Hermione becoming prefects? They didn't even have the badges on their robes! Be that all as it may, I am, however, going to see it again on Saturday with another friend. lol Let's call it a second chance where I might perhaps notice more endearing qualities about it. ;)
Monday, July 2, 2007
Transformers is AWESOME!!! I just got back from seeing the 8 o'clock early show with Emily. Such a good movie! Hilarious, action packed... amazing. It still boggles my mind how they did the graphics and special effects in that movie. Bravo to them! And, well, I already thought Shia LaBeouf was cool, but now he's definitely cooler. lol Oh man, I urge everyone to go see that movie! I'm going to go watch it again soon, I'm sure. Well, yeah, I really should go to sleep, but I'm so pumped up from that movie that I've got my second wind and am not tired yet. I'm telling you though... go see that movie. I thought it would be kinda cool, but it was so much better than I thought, and as you may have guessed, I really liked it. lol Just had to post and tell you all to go see it. Go Bumblebee!
