Happy...

...New Year, Hallowe'en, Samhain, All Hallow's Eve, Day before the Day of the Dead... am I missing any?

48 hours to go...

In preparation for the insanity which is NaNoWriMo, I will be changing my sidebar to reflect the "I don't have time to do my blogroll or comics" and be moving all that stuff somewhere else until December 1st. For those who are interested, my NaNo blog is now up. Here [edit: link's fixed. :)] it is. I'll be putting a word count here, but that's all the detail, so if you want to go look at it, you'll have to go there. (Damn, I think that was too many commas...ah well...)

So, I'm trying to get my sleep patterns back to some semblance of normality. I've had about three good nights of sleep in the last month, so I'm going to bed now. Have a good one everyone. I'll post about the eclipse tomorrow. :p

Winky smiley punkin 

Pretty proud of myself

Thursday I had my yearly review at work...they decided I'm doing average on everything except I'm doing better than average at customer service. (all 3/5 and a 4/5) My greatest strength: customer service. Greatest weakeness: customer service (in the form of talking too much to customers.) Tee hee.

So they ran all the numbers through the system and it turns out that I get a $0.26/hour raise, which is $0.24/hour less than I was making as a supervisor. I have no problem with that. I'm so much less stressed as a cashier...I make no decisions, I actually want to go to work some mornings (or at least I don't DREAD going to work). I think that deciding to not be a supervisor was one of the best decisions I ever made. :)

Today, I also had my one and only midterm for the semester. This leaves one paper (due Nov. 17) which I hope to finish by October 31st so I can do NaNoWriMo without anything hanging over me. Then, all I need to do is keep up with readings so I'm ready for finals December 8 and 9. (I think that's when they are.)

So, I'm feeling pretty good about things right now. Or maybe it's just the hair. Or maybe I'm not letting myself realize how many Christmas presents I've decided to make and my brain is mush. Ah well!

Reflections of Prison

I went to visit Kent and Mountain Institutions in the Fraser Valley yesterday. Kent's a maximum security place, while Mountain is medium. It used to be exclusively for sex offenders (rapists and child molesters... :/ ) but it's more open to the general population now.

Last night I curled up under my feather comforter in my double bed after having a nice dinner with a friend, chatting and watching TV, drinking a gin and tonic, doing a few rows of knitting, then taking a long, hot, private shower with fruit scented shampoo and conditioner. I didn't have to be anywhere at any particular time, nor did I need to check in with anyone to let them know where I was or when I'd be back. If I didn't want to be in my room after 11, I could have gone for a drive, or walked in my garden, or stayed at Dave's place. I could have even just gone to the kitchen for a snack and/or a glass of wine.

There's so many things that have been happening around me over the last couple of weeks which are allowing me to see things that I've been taking for granted. And I think that even though those things are often negative, I've been taking positive things away from them.

And there's nothin' wrong with that. :)

Not that I'm making a comparison between me and saaaayyyy...Jennifer Garner...but if you look at my Red Haired Stripy Yarn Ninja impression and the picture underneath, there might be a slight resemblence... if you squint? Huh? Huh? 

Tada!! Practically twins! 

Things I've learned from country music this week

He said, "I was in my early forties
"With a lot of life before me
"When a moment came that stopped me on a dime.
"For most of the next days
"I was looking at the x-rays,
"Talking about the options
"And talking about sweet time."
I asked him when it sank in
That this might really be the real end
How's it hit you when you get that kind of news?
Man, what'd you do?

And he said,
"I went sky diving, I went Rocky Mountain climbing.
"I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu.
"And I spoke sweeter and I loved deeper
"And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying."
And he said,
"Someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying."
--Tim McGraw "Live Like You Were Dying"

The Rather Attractive Result of a Home Streaking Job Gone Wrong.

Today at work, the best comment I've ever received about my hair. Not compliment, but sort of an observation.

 

Best comment on my hair...ever. I was working at the craft store today, and my hair is now various shades of red plus a rather obvious couple spots of yellow. So a gentleman, probably in his late forties, comes through my till and looks at the hair while I'm ringing up his stuff. Totally deadpan, he asks "So, does your hair do that every autumn?" Stunned silence from me, then I started laughing hysterically. Dude totally made my week. I've been telling everyone in the store...now they expect me to go red, green and gold for Christmas. Hehe. Little do they know that I was already planning to. >:)  

All my problems seem so small.

I messed up my hip a little at Ultimate.
I have a midterm next Monday.
I'm a couple of pounds overweight/less in shape than I'd like to be.
I sometimes get sad for no reason.
I still live with my parents.

...

I just found out a friend has inoperable cancer.

Kind of changes one's perspectives on things...

Exercise Saturday: 2 hours karate
Exercise Sunday: 2 hours Ultimate

A little late...

THE ULTIMATE SILENCE
October 12, 1998



Listen to the mustn'ts, child.
Listen to the don'ts.
Listen to the shouldn'ts,
The impossibles, the won'ts.
Listen to the never haves,
Then listen close to me ...
Anything can happen, child.
Anything can be.

~ Shel Silverstein

Six years ago today, Matthew Shepard was murdered for being homosexual.

What will you do to end the silence?

Click here to post this on your own page or weblog

Honest...I'm still here.

I've just been busy and exhausted. Happy, but totally fagged out. Which means tired, in Brit speak. I'm not sick though...which is good because it seems everyone is. :p

Whoa. Day 4.

I skipped Days 2 and 3 because I was kinda busy. Dave didn't take me out for dinner Saturday...instead, he threw this huge surprise party for me with a ton of people. At one point there was 18 people in the house! Pretty good for Thanksgiving weekend!

More details later...I have to go tutor.

But...wow. Just, wow. I cried a couple of times throughout the night because I was so overwhelmed by everything...and I wasn't even drinking. :) It was amusing.

Friday: Day One of BirthDayWeekEnd(tm)

Sitting here, playing NeoPets, a Pokemon-like game. It's idiotic and addictive. And I'm too tired to go out and do stuff for Day One. That's ok. :) Days Two, Three and Four will be more interesting. I'll keep you posted. Oh, and Donna? My NeoPet is named "MurrMurr"...just for you. :)

Unfair!

*grumble* On a day I got to sleep in, the phone rang with a wrong number at exactly the same time (to the minute) that my alarm was set for. (it was off) Nine minutes later (how long my snooze button is set for), another wrong number. ARGH!

blah.

I tutor. I eat. I sleep. I go to work. I knit a little. I work on my paper for Crim. I go to school. I sleep. I visit with Dave. I get visited by Meesh. I chat online. I work on my outline for my novel. I sleep. I tutor. I work. I knit.

That's about it. My weekend better be more exciting...it's my birthday!!

My brother is my new hero!

Not only did he remove the Spider of Ultimate Doom(tm) from my bedroom wall without killing it and letting it go under a lily of the valley in our backyard, he did it without complaint and without any hint of teasing. This is AFTER telling me that he was spooked by them. YAY!!

Ladies, he is 20 years old, single and intelligent. :)

Exercise yesterday: two hours of karate

Banned Books Week

Got this from Justy. Banned book week was last week. So, here's a list of the banned books on the site which I have read.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Anne Frank: Diary of a Young girl
Arabian Nights
The Bible
Canterbury Tales
Catcher in the Rye
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Clan of the Cave Bear
Different Seasons
A Doll's House
Don Quixote
Fahrenheit 451
Gone with the Wind
Gulliver's Travels
Harry Potter (not on the site...)
It
James and the Giant Peach
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Little House in the Big Woods
Little House on the Prairie
The Lorax
My Friend Flicka
The Odyssey
The Stand
To Kill a Mockingbird
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Where's Waldo?
The Witches (Roald Dahl...not on there.)
A Wrinkle in Time

Eyuaach!!!

Warning: this post contains visuals. Of arachnid. And lots of capitals. And a couple of F-bombs. You have been warned.


There is a huge enormous disgusting spider in my room. Seriously, it's got to be about three inches across (Thank all the powers that that's with the legs included. I think if it was just the body, I'd move my ass to Alaska.) It's currently sitting above my outside door, about six and a half feet up...just high enough so I don't feel comfortable about squashing it because ohmyfuckinggod whatifImissanditjumpsontomyface!! Or I squash it and then it falls on me?! Or I get spider guts spraying on me?! Or...oh god... I could THROW something at it but then if I miss it crawls away and it's SOMEWHERE UNDER SOMETHING IN MY ROOM!!!! There's stuff under the place it's sitting, so I can't put a chair there, and I'm sure as hell not going to CLEAN under there when there's a GIANT FUCKING SPIDER ON MY WALL!!!

And there's only one person online my ICQ list...luckily he's giving me tips. Unluckily, he's NOT COMING OVER TO SQUASH THE SPIDER FOR ME! And there's no one else awake in my house.

Ironically, I'm usually the one who does all the squishing or relocation of spiders, but in this case, I'm totally unable to do it. I think that I'm acting like such a girl because I'm tired, and because of the position of the spider in relation to everything else in my room. And because there's no one to be brave to.

I'm thinking about grabbing the insect spray and just dousing the thing until it drowns, then sleeping upstairs until the fumes have dissipated.

HEY! INTERNET!! SEND SOMEONE OVER TO MY HOUSE TO REMOVE THIS SPIDER!!

Proof!

So I registered at NaNoWriMo.org this afternoon, within an hour of the registration being open. I AM SO FREAKING EXCITED ABOUT THIS!!! I'm thinking of setting up a blog (groans from everyone who's ever seen my immense list of blogs) for people to read the story in progress. Anyone interested? Drop me a line in the comments. EEEEE!!! I want to start writing NOW, but I think this is better. It forces me to make character lists, and chapter outlines, and actually decide what I'm going to write rather than just sitting down and going, "Huh. Ok." and then leaving it after ten minutes because I'm already bored.