Meh.

I should write a better review of Van Helsing. Here it goes...

Overall, I found it to be a really terrific movie. The opening sequence made it worth the price of admission (more so since I didn't pay, but even if I had, it would have been enough) and it just got better from there in. The storyline seemed tight, the fight scenes were great, the costuming was phenomenal (I have a weakness for a woman in a corset, loose shirt and tight pants. Very pirate...). I found some of the CGI to be a little weak...there were some issues with the characters looking too...slippery, especially when there was wall climbing involved. I had the same problem with Spiderman, a movie I love and own, so it's not really a big issue. I enjoyed the way they treated Frankenstein's monster...it was very close to the way he is in the original book and very unlike the way he is portrayed in other movies. The Brides were amazingly well done, and extremely hot. Their costuming was just r0xx0r, and so were their br...brain power...yeah. ;) I didn't find Dracula to be sexy enough...I have a thing for vampires, so I like them to have serious sex appeal, but there was one scene where as CM puts it, he suddenly turns on the charm (and the Dom nature... :D ) and is suddenly much sexier.

Ooh. I haven't mentioned Hugh Jackman at all yet, have I? Well, I don't want to get in trouble, so I'll remove most of the vowels in a big secret code. ;)

-h m- f-ck-ng De-ty. N- sh-rt...n- sh-rt! V-ry am-z-ngly s-xy! Kiss-ng sc-ne w-s l-ke "Sh- g-ts P--D f-r th-t!!" N--d t- g-t m- s-m- h-t A-str-li-n ph-t-s. dr-ol. M-ch dr-ol-ng -nsu-s.

Ok. I think that was good. :)

Also, Kate Beckinsale has changed position with Nicole Kidman in my "all time favourite actresses" list. It was funny...I could not remember Nicole Kidman's name last night, I was so knocked out by Kate's performance. Candyman had to remind me... :/

New favourite actress list- Jennifer Garner, Kate Beckinsale, Nicole Kidman

Exercise today: 1/2 hour karate

Really quick notes:

Saw "Man on Fire" the other day. The movie is good. The book is better. Read the book first.

Saw "Van Helsing" today. The movie is VERY good. The women are beautiful. Watch the movie. Then read the comic.

The End.

Exercise today: some karate

Ugh

Taught early...worked craft store. Sleeping now. Bookstore good.

Exercise yesterday: 10 minutes karate

Welcome...

...to the person who searched me out using "shintokukai blog" :) Glad you could make it.

Hmph. *pout*

While there are certainly things more annoying, there is currently nothing which is more annoying than having really cool news and not having anyone home to hear it. Well, it's a good thing I have a voice on the internet, isn't it? :)

Everyone's always told me that I should work in a bookstore, or own a used bookstore or variations of the same theme. So today I went to my current favourite used bookstore and the owner had roughly eighty bazillion boxes of books that people had brought in, so I offered to help him out. :) I'll be going in tomorrow for a couple of hours. *happy* Note to self: remember to bring allergy medication...there's about 38,000 books in that store, and probably a bit of dust.

Exercise today: 2 hours karate

Yes! Media!

My mom told me yesterday that my parents were going to buy me a printer to do school stuff with. Woo! So she and I were at Costco today and saw a printer. And we bought it. Well, she bought it. :) It's a HP PSC 1350 if that means anything to anyone. And if it doesn't, well there's the link for y'all.

It's nice. Printer/scanner/copier with a spot to plug the memory card for a digital camera into it. If I had a digital camera. Actually, I have a memory card somewhere that's around. I'll see if I can use it to get some of those photos off of it.

Blog Problems

This has been an issue a couple of times. Has anyone else ever gotten in trouble for something that you've written in your blog/LJ?

Thoughtful post (!!)

As usual, on a night that I should be going to bed early, I decided to post. Actually, it was more of an "I need to post" but in a good way. I don't know how long this is going to be. :) The lyrics this evening are from Aerosmith's "Amazing". Warning: strange internal workings are occurring in this one.

I kept the right ones out
And let the wrong ones in
Had an angel of mercy to see me
Through all my sins

There were times in my life
When I was going insane
Trying to walk through the pain

Despite coming from a good, relatively stable home with no abuse or other domestic problems including drug and alcohol abuse, I have had many issues. Maybe it's just that I'm too dramatic, or too naive, or something else that is simply a habit, or else it's something biological or chemical like depression, ADD, etc. ad nauseum. Simply put there's not really any good ways to determine what it is. Of course, there's also those who feel that these "biological or chemical" problems are simply lack of character or things that can easily be changed. I'm not going to judge one way or another...I don't really have the research, and well...this isn't really about that.

I've been struggling for a long time to "fit in" or to at least appear to and forget about my general alienation from the rest of my friends, people who I know through work, school or other activities. I felt that I was missing out on things. I would do things to try and gain attention...nothing major... trying to be special in some way. That was always the rub. I always felt that I needed something to distinguish me from the crowd. It didn't matter that people would tell me that I was special or that there was something different about me. I needed lots of independent confirmation to boost my self esteem. I'm sure I was truly a pain in the ass a lot of the time. :p

When I lost my grip
And I hit the floor
Yeah, I thought I could leave
But couldn't get out the door
I was so sick and tired
Of living a lie
I was wishing that I would die

I've definitely had death wishes before. I used to cut myself, until I promised someone very special to me that I wouldn't. Even though I'm not in touch with him anymore, I've kept my promise although it's been very difficult for me. I don't think that there was ever a serious suicide attempt, but the pain used to release pressure for me. In lieu of cutting myself, I used other methods to hurt myself. Again, this sometimes made me feel that I was special in some way, that by doing this I was grounding myself in reality again. I know that doesn't really make sense...sorry. :( Even recently, I would lie in bed hating myself and willing myself to die overnight. Or I would drive really fast at night, tempting myself to just go over the railing.

It's difficult to try and get help for something like that. Eating disorders are recognized, but vacuous death wishes seem to be less serious, especially when I looked at them. They are not seen as immediately dangerous, which I suppose is technically true, but they are very damaging to a person's self esteem and the rest of their life.

It's amazing
With the blink of an eye
You finally see the light
It's amazing
When the moment arrives
That you know you'll be all right
It's amazing
And I'm saying a prayer
For the desperate hearts tonight

So I don't know if I'm ever going to be completely "cured" of this, or even if I want to. While it really and truly sucks to be in "the depths of despair" as Anne of Green Gables puts it, it is so absolutely fucking unbelieveably GOOD to be out of it. It's like that moment in the "Wizard of Oz" where it goes from black and white to Technicolor. Suddenly everything seems good. Suddenly there is a purpose to life.

How high can you fly with broken wings?
Life's a journey, not a destination
And I just can't tell just what tomorrow will bring
You have to learn to crawl
Before you learn to walk

So this is what I'm doing now. I'm crawling, but I've got a journey in mind. C/M once told me that I seem to believe that life is a spiritual journey. I tend to agree with his assessment. I'm starting to find...myself? Inner peace? The meaning of life? I don't necessarily know if it's real, but it makes me happy, and if it makes me happy, it can't be that bad. ;)

In other, lighter news:
1) Today (May 6) is the two year anniversary of the day that C/M, NNY and myself met.
2) Our first Ultimate game of the season was this evening. Overall, we played quite well, winning both of our games. Yours truly played the best I've ever felt that I've played before, scoring one point and making a spectacular 89 point landing out of bounds. I'm especially happy about the way that I played because I'd felt earlier today that I was badly out of shape and was not impressed at all with the way I'd trained in the winter.
3) Wendy's salads are REALLY good.
4) Babies are really amazing and cool and I'll blog that another time, I'm sure. :)

Exercise today: 2 hours of Ultimate

Fear the babby

I'm going to spend the night at no name yet's house watching Drew tonight. She and her partner will still be there, but hopefully they'll be sleeping. I'm calling myself the "midnight to five am shift".

Fear.

Then tomorrow, if we're awake, NNY and I will go to Movies for Mommies. :) Then Ultimate. I'll get to learn if I can play Ultimate while asleep on my feet. I'm wearing my snazzy new Gaia jersey. I am da sexy.

Exercise today: couple times through my kata while waiting for my student.

My whole post is the following...

Exercise today: 20 minutes "S Factor", 10 minutes weight training, 17 minutes karate practice. Grand total=47 minutes of actually making myself move on my own.

Woo and hoo. :)

I wonder...

C/M pointed out that with the post about all those referrers, I probably increased the odds of people finding their way to my site while looking for "gragh paper". Let's see what other search terms I can use to artificially inflate my search engine odds.

dooce
justin timberlake naked
breast enhanced celebrities
i want to find true love or sex
nude celebrity pic
how do they get the flowing caramel into the caramilk bar
gragh paper
calorie count atkins south beach diet lose weight fast
earn money at home
food sex
weird kleenex stories

I'll cross them out if/when they get searched.

Thank goodness!

This will come as a welcome find to many men, I'm sure. (/sarcasm)

Tee hee...

Another one!

Oi. I feel useless. Why do I have a flamethrower when I have a large dragon as a sidekick? Although, I like the idea of a Mallet of DOOOOM!!!!

Generate your Anime Style by Jena-su
Name:
Hair:	Never stays the same style/colour for long.
Clothes:	Little by way of actual clothes, but lots and LOTS of really cool accessories.
Powers:	Dragon taming
Special Features:	Bunny ears and tail
Sidekick:	Large dragon.
Attitude:	Extremely smart, very quiet.
Weapon:	Flamethrower
Created with the ORIGINAL MemeGen!

Generate your Anime Style by Jena-su
Name:
Hair:	Rediculously long, usualy tied up in ribbons.
Clothes:	Little by way of actual clothes, but lots and LOTS of really cool accessories.
Powers:	Fire magic
Special Features:	Fox ears and tail
Sidekick:	Small dragon.
Attitude:	Very quiet and reserverd, extremely shy.
Weapon:	Mallet of DOOM
Created with the ORIGINAL MemeGen!

A quiz

Haven't done one of these in a while. I got it from C/M's cousin's site.

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	Moderate
Schizoid:	Low
Schizotypal:	High
Antisocial:	Low
Borderline:	Moderate
Histrionic:	High
Narcissistic:	Moderate
Avoidant:	Moderate
Dependent:	Moderate
Obsessive-Compulsive:	Moderate
-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! --

April referrers to my site

the once and future king synapses
knitting a toque
slurpee recipe coke
gragh paper
how do you keep synapses firing
synapses
gragh paper
Karin (imood)
shintokukai (CNN) x 2
rona "paint sale" (google)
jewellery ndp svend robinson (google)
shintokukai (google)
payless boots blog (google)
5th element/sarah brightman (yahoo)
gragh paper (MSN)
circle gragh (yahoo)
"wiped away all your tears" (AOL)
do the right thing movie synapses (yahoo)
sluggy lyrics "fire and rain" (google)
gragh of alcohol drinking (google-sokning)
"when you cried i wiiped away all your tears" (google)
payless sneakers blog (google)
pics fishlets (google)
shintokukai (google)
kiki dog coquitlam (metacrawler)
"in flander's fields the poppies blow" (google)
centerpieces in fishbowls (msn)
i rape my bride wedding nite (yahoo)
finding nemo/synapses (yahoo)
shintokukai (google)
"i held your hand through all those years" (google)
"when you cried i wiped away all your tears" (google)

I like how people find me via the Evanenecence song, which I didn't transcribe completely correctly. I also enjoy the "gragh" paper. It's pronounced "graff" and spelled "graph" people. It's also funny that words I make up get searched for (fishlets). And whoever wanted that "i rape my bride wedding nite", first, learn how to spell. Second...um...yeah. Weird. Odder that I got the hit.

Purchases

I got an extra hundred dollars on my paycheque this week, so after paying off some of the stuff that I needed to for this time period I went to the mall. :) I actually was very restrained. I bought a white sports bra that I have needed for some time, some white knee socks to go with my Mary Jane shoes (black strappy dress shoes with a slight heel and closed toes) and a cute tan skirt for $5. All in all, I wound up spending less than fifty bucks, including lunch. That's pretty good for me...I have had some serious spending issues in the recent past. So, my only impulse purchase was the tan skirt, even though I hadn't planned on picking up the socks today. White knee socks are at Sears for $4.99 if anyone's interested.

Exercise today: two hours of karate

Working on goals...

...is both harder and easier than I thought it would be. When I created my list of daily goals, it helped bring into focus the parts of my life which I wanted to improve. And, it turns out that I want to improve a wide range of things from body, mind and spirit. This makes me happy. I think I may have set the bar too high for myself at first though. Knowing that I need to write for two hours, and knowing that I need to exercise for an hour makes me kind of overwhelmed, which doesn't let me get started. Baby steps...baby steps...

Exercise today: 2 hours of Ultimate practice

Things I learned today about babies.

Today and went to visit No Name Yet and her brand new daughter, Drew. And so I figured that I would write down some things that I learned. I've taken care of babies before, but never any that are 12 days old (!!).

1) Drew is very tiny.
2) Tiny babies have HUGE SCREAMS when being changed.
3) Babies smell really nice. (Actually, I knew that, but I got reminded.)
4) Drew is really very tiny.
5) Babies can sleep through phones, game shows, dogs yapping and sneezes.
6) New moms can also sleep through phones, game shows, dogs yapping and sneezes.
7) SHE'S SO LITTLE!! Every part is so tiny!
8) Baby hiccups are really cute...at least for the first little while.
9) When you're resting a sleeping infant on your stomach, they will jump when your stomach gurgles.
10) My God, she's so little!

I suck

Well, I got an hour of writing done this morning. I guess that's ok considering that I worked for eight hours today.

Got another student. :) I'll be starting with him on Wednesday.

And I made a bunch of flower barrettes from silk flowers I bought at work. They're pretty. :)

Ok, that's it. I'm going to bed. I teach way too fricking early tomorrow.

Oh, and it's Kittens's birthday in two days. I have part of her present already. :) This is good. Maybe I'll take her out for dinner.

Um...huh?

From MSN

"The Week in Pictures: A cat bath, Gaza strife & other striking images"
The picture is a white cat looking kind of pissed off at being all soapy.

Does anyone else think that maybe pictures of a cat bath aren't exactly in the same league as pictures of "Gaza strife"? Although, having never tried to give a cat a bath...maybe it IS in the same league. Cats can give nasty scratches...

BBQ

Going to Meesh's barbeque tonight. While I check email and stuff, my amazing boyfriend is making me a chicken club sandwich. :D Me likes.

I dyed my hair this afternoon. For some reason the last two times I've done that I've gone to karate that day...kind of a bad thing when one wears a white uniform and is getting chucked onto a pale yellow, absorbant floor. :/ I can't really tell that I did it...I think it just refreshed the burgandy that it was before. I'll have to look at it again tomorrow after my shower.

Two weeks ago I had the distinct honour of watching one of the brown belts in our class test for her black belt. It was really amazing, especially watching some of the kata (pre-arranged routines of moves) that I know. It was kind of like "Hey...I can do that one. But...slower...and much much worse." It goes to show how much can be accomplished when one sets their mind to it. In that vein, I present to you my goals...

1) Daily exercise of one hour or more...1/2 hour of that to be karate.
2) Daily writing of two hours per day. Blogging here doesn't count.
3) Daily affirmation that I can kick ass in whatever I choose.
4) Daily meditation of 15 minutes or so.
5) Daily spiritual communion. (best way I can describe it.)

Wow. Ok...I'm not going to have a lot of time for much other than these goals... :/ Good thing I'm really excited about them. And it actually does give me lots of time...I find that I can do 3-5 all at once. And I'm counting essays and notes for school towards the writing.

Exercise today: 1 1/2 hours of karate

Chemicals

Going to go ingest some chemicals (the Pill), stick some on my arm (hair dye allergy test) and swish some in my mouth (Crest Whitestrips...the peroxide doesn't want to stay on my teeth. :p). Ahhh...isn't it good that I eat organic fruits and vegetables?

Actually, I don't but it's funnier if I pretend for this instance that I do.

Incidentally, having never gotten my hair dyed professionally, do they do an allergy test? Why is it so important that we do one? I'd think that the stuff we get in the drug store is MUCH weaker than the stuff that hairdressers are allowed to use. Anyone know? I'd like to not need to worry about remembering to swab my arm with junk that will stain the sheets burgandy or orange.

Workin'

Insert pithy saying about raining and pouring here.

I met my first student this morning...I'll be teaching him three mornings a week, then I'm meeting my second student tonight. I need to do the whole "impress the parent" thing like crazy though. Apparently our talk on the phone left her with the impression that I'm "childish". Lovely. I mean, I AM childish...just not while tutoring. :p So yeah. I'll be leaving in about an hour...this is after working for six hours today and getting up early two days in a row. I'm kind of tired.

Got my schedule for the craft store today. Honestly, I was expecting to be let go because I told them I couldn't work any night shifts and I couldn't do Saturdays, but I wound up getting 30+ hours next week! Gaahh!! Not that I'm complaining...but I'm really surprised!

And I found $20 on the floor today. That's the second time in a month. :D This pleases me.

Exercise yesterday: 2 hours of Ultimate practice and a 20 minute walk

New taste sensation

Baked potato with salsa and sour cream.

Movie Review

I laughed.

I cried.

It moved me. It made me think about the perils of modern society and the bonds of family and friendship, as well as those bonds which transcend mere friendship and the families that we create by choosing our friends.

The movie? The Punisher. Yeah...weird, I know. I'm totally not joking about any of it either. I really did cry. :p I must be PMS'ing or something. But anyway. Go see it. It's very good.

11 hours? Fsck that.

Title refers to amount of hours I've been scheduled for this week. I got twelve hours last week. This can't go on...I've got bills. So, I have a second job. :) I did tutoring last year for about two years, and took a break from it for a while. Now, however I am "back in the fold" and have gotten two students. Woo! That's $25/hour and 20/half hour, three times a week each. (I'm not sure if ANY of that makes sense. :p)

In other news...I really should have checked my "gauge" (how many stitches to an inch of knitting) with No Name Yet's baby blanket (the major project that I alluded to a couple months ago...if anyone remembers...) Suddenly this so-called "baby blanket" has expanded. I didn't realize it until a couple days ago, but it's definitely more in the "grown-up blanket" category. A small one, but a grown-up blanket none the less. :) It's getting close to being finished...ish... :)

Exercise yesterday: 200 crunches

Best. Quote. Ever.

I tried to find a transcript...this is me trying to remember and being very tired.

Jennifer Garner on Jay Leno talking about why she could never be a CIA operative in real life: "You need to be able to keep secrets if you're in the CIA. My little sister came over to visit me on Friday night to stay for the Easter weekend. I was so excited about her getting her Easter basket. I wanted her to wait until Sunday, but as soon as she came in the door I was like "Are you going to open your Easter basket now?" If you're gonna be a CIA agent, you HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL EASTER!"

Exercise two days ago: walked about a kilometer

Haircut-type post

Today I did my hair and put on makeup before I went over to Candyman's to watch TV with him. Normally I'm not that type of person...I'll just comb my hair and stick barrettes in it, or now that it's long enough, tuck it into a ponytail. Makeup? Not a chance! Not unless I was going out somewhere special, or I got bored while cleaning my room.

I think I'm going to revise my previous ban on makeup and hair products outside of shampoo and conditioner. I looked totally hot tonight! Go me!

WOO!!

Welcome to the world, Drew Nonameyet. :) Hugs and kisses to momma, baby, dad and niece/cousin. And to the best friends who were there the whole time! And! And! Tee hee!! I'm giddy. :)

Got hockey?

Well, we had a good-ish game...mostly because I was there. :) That's all...game tomorrow night in Calgary.

Chatted with K from work today...(Hi K! He's going to try and find this site.) and he's going to get me a day pass to his kickboxing place so we can do some sparring. Muhahaha! I'm going to die. :/ Either that or I'm going to find out that I'm Jennifer Garner. Either way, it should be interesting.

Well...

...it seems there's definitely a babby on the way.

Good luck to everyone in the delivery room. And the babby who hasn't shown up yet, but I wish him/her good luck as well. :)

Maybe a baby?

I feel so inadequate...I'm out here sending love to no name yet and her partner. I wish I could do more for them. :p Oh well! When the baby's here I'll change diapers or something.

Is is real labour? We'll be finding out soon!

Uh oh.

Timestamp: Cramp just hit. I'd better go clean off my bed...I might be in it for the next 24 hours.

Exercise today: fsck that. It's the 2nd Wednesday in the month. I'm not going ANYwhere.

OHYEAHOHYEAHOHYEAH!!

I forgot to mention! I'm going to Game Five for the Canucks tomorrow night! Candyman is taking me!!! Eeeee!! You may all be wildly jealous now. :) Except those who are going so...um...yeah.

Uberproductive!

After spending most of yesterday and the day before lounging around playing free computer games, I finally overdosed yesterday. Yay!! I got some writing done yesterday...I've starting writing fiction again. Candyman has been super helpful with that...encouraging, helping me create writing exercises...etc. A couple days ago he sent me a list of topics that I could write a short story on, less than ten pages, and I have about four pages done on it. Also, last night he gave me a pad of paper, a pen, a topic and thirty minutes and I wrote (in LONGHAND) about two pages. This is fun.

Today I've got a schedule of stuff that I'm working on in my room and I'm finally getting stuff cleaned up from when I had to pull my bathroom apart. While my bathroom looks fabulous (I sometimes will wander in there to do something [brush my teeth etc.] and just stand there in awe for a few minutes) the rest of my room has all the clutter that the bathroom contained. I am planning on organizing it at some point, but I have a fairly major sugar ant infestation that goes in waves...there hadn't been any for a couple days, but there were thirty or so in another spot then. And today I found one on my bed while I was sorting clean laundry to put away. Ugh. I fed it to my Siamese fighting fish.

I'm getting rid of a bunch of underwear, socks and stockings. Does anyone have any opinions about what I could do with them? It's a big bulk of cloth that I'd prefer to not chuck in a landfill. I'm thinking about trying to find an "adult ebay" and auction some of it off. Anyone done that? Is it worth it?

Exercise yesterday: walked about 3 km

"Automatic Game Blocker"

I need something that blocks off all games between x and y o'clock. Maybe I'll actually be able to get some work/writing/knitting/exercising done. :p My AGB is also known as Candyman. :) I started playing something over at his house the other day, and he reached over and shut the window. Hmm...shutting the window. What a great idea. Now all I need to do is visit the Wizard and ask for some will power. Unfortunately it'll turn out it's all inside me already. But I want a nifty little treasure that says "Will Power" on it, dammit!!

Exercise Saturday: some karate
Exercise yesterday: walked about 4 km

Dear Customers,

An open letter to everyone who goes to a store.

Hi there! I'm Karin and I'll be your cashier for today. To make things a little more pleasant for all of us, I'd like you to read and review these simple rules. I'll be with you in just a moment.

1) Please bathe before going out in public. While your cat may like the scent of urine clinging to your clothing, the rest of us humans do not find it nearly as comforting as your feline might.

2) Unfold the bills you hand me. I do have to unfold them, and you only have to unfold one bill, whereas I have to unfold several hundred a day.

3) Please bring the items in your buggy or basket out of said buggy or basket. In the case of the buggy, I am NOT going to lean over the counter to bring every item out of it. And since you are only going to be going through one or two checkouts today YOU can take everything out of your basket. I have over three hundred customers per day. That is a lot of repetitive stress syndrome.

3b) You are allowed to help wrap up the 64 clay pots and 47 pieces of glassware. Especially if there is a line.

4) Read the fine print on the coupon. Yes, it says 1 per customer per day. Yes, it is only between 8 am and 1pm on Friday. No, I can't ring two through for you. No, shouting at me is not going to make me want to help you.

5) I am not going to remember your postal code. I don't care if it's the same one that the last person had, I get three hundred postal codes a day. Also, in between your two postal codes I rang through all your items, told you that the coupon automatically deducts from the highest priced item, told you your total, answered and transferred the phone and counted out your change. NO ONE'S SHORT TERM MEMORY HOLDS ALL THAT!

5a) Don't tell me that I'm "not as lucky as you" because I can't remember more than one postal code. I can and do remember more than one postal code, but not one I've only heard once.

5b) Don't get snippy with me because you feel that I'm "invading your privacy" when I ask you for your postal code. It's company policy and I do it so I don't get fired.

5c) Don't ask me why we're taking postal codes. We have signs up all over saying that we're doing a postal code survey. Read them. They're big. And red.

6) Don't get angry with me because something is on sale and therefore you can't use your coupon. Read the signs. They're there for a reason.

6b) Don't get angry with me because something is not on sale and the sign is in the wrong place. I am not responsible for every sign in a 3000 square foot store.

7) Don't call me by my first name unless you actually know me. It confuses me because I think that I've forgotten who you are. The name tag is so that you can complain or compliment to the manager, and so that the absent minded district manager can pretend to remember who we are.

8) Don't get pissy with me because I can't leave my cash register. I'll gladly call someone over for you, or I can point you in any direction you'd like.

9) Wait on hold for more than 30 seconds. Calling back doesn't make the person you're wanting to talk to free any faster.

10) Don't put coins or your card on the counter when I have my hand out reaching for it. Some of us don't have nails to pick up that stuff. Besides, you get upset with me when I put YOUR stuff on the counter.

10a) Don't get upset when I put your money or card back on the counter...especially when you're talking on your cell phone, or to someone else.


Thank you for following these simple rules of courtesy. Thank you for shopping with us and have a great day.

Karin

I have to be at work at WHAT time?!

I finished work at 945. I need to be there at 0745 tomorrow. Fsck. To junk food, then to bed. Much sleeping must ensue.

Oh, and I feel much better. The nasty email didn't go through apparently. :D Happy.

Anger is healthy, right?

This isn't really representative of my site...don't be scared off... ;)

Over the last several months I have sometimes had occasion to be furious with people. (Usually at work...) Mindless rage where my mouth tastes like pennies, my fight or flight reflex kicks in giving me a knotted stomach and I actually feel slightly lightheaded. This would be the kind of absolute crazed frustration and fury which I would come home and it would affect me several hours later, especially when I was trying to go to sleep, by invading my head with images of me stabbing someone through the temple. Repeatedly. With a big smile on my face.

I tend to not get this way often. Thank goodness...I'm sure it's not really all that healthy, especially if I wind up acting on these impulses. Hrm. Yeah...probably not such a great idea. Usually when I feel slighted or upset I just shrug it off or have a minor hissy fit, and then it's OVER. Except recently I've been having these fantasies about doing serious bodily harm to people who have pissed me off...who have just acted stupidly for no particular reason, and should be immediately removed from the gene pool before they pee in it any further.

So last night/this morning I was feeling this way towards myself. I haven't felt this way in several years. I used to have medium sized issues about "stuff". Self esteem stuff...cutting myself...but I was getting SO much better. Hadn't even used myself for Exacto practice in...probably six years now. Last night was bad. I took offense at something someone said...and have you ever been completely pissed off at something...knowing that it's pretty irrational, but still feeling justified that you're angry...even though you aren't REALLY sure if you should be? Yeah...that was me earlier. So I fumed for a while, playing Yahoo Games, (until past 5 am) blogging a little, reading my blogroll. Oh, and emailing what I remember to be a really nasty retort to the entire episode. I finally went downstairs and tossed and turned until almost six while visions of unhealthy masochistic sharp objects danced through my head, along with the knowledge that seventeen steps from my bed was a bottle of vodka in the freezer and three steps to the left was an entire liquor cabinet filled with cream based girly drinks. Enough to knock all these nasty thoughts out of my head for a couple hours and make me feel less guilty for flying off the handle and sending out nasty writing when it really wasn't justified.

I am pleased to report that I managed to avoid both alcoholic indulgences and various sharp objects. Now I'm feeling better, and I would like to send out a public apology to the people who got splashed with my angst of last night. This morning. Whatever.

You may all return to your regularly scheduled happy, if very tired since I only got 5 hours of sleep, Karin.

My dirty little secret

Sometimes, I really like to read romance novels. This is less due to the dirty bits (although that was my main motivation when I was in junior high) and more to do with the inane, sappy endings. Yup. I admit it. I'm sappy and romantic...at least when it comes to occasional escapist reading. The thing that I like best about romance novels (and romantic movies...watching Breakfast at Tiffany's the other night brought this on) is that the movie/book always ends at one of the most sappy parts of a relationship. The characters are at the point where they've overcome all the odds which conspired to keep them apart and they have chosen to remain together. Get married, whatever. The thing is, they don't continue on. There is no "stealing the covers" scene unless it's cute and can be resolved. The in-laws don't come in to visit. They never mention hot water overuse, children being anything other than wonderful and supportive or insensitive little comments which are tossed out by both parties. It all ends on a high note without mundanity (I know that's not a real word, but it's 4 am.) The women are always beautiful, strong and swept off their feet. The men are always kind, strong and sweep really well. The book/movie ends with both parties getting what they wanted...each other. And that's all that they need...until the morning after, which we never get to read about!

This is in no way a commentary on my relationship (so please don't be mad. I'm not airing dirty laundry). :) It's just a frustration that I have with all that escapist fiction. Several series of novels are very good in that they follow the exploits of multiple generations of families and so the reader gets to see that wow! Things WEREN'T happily ever after forever. This is good to realize. It is healthy. And it assists those of us who grew up on Disney and "happily ever after" that it doesn't work like that 24/7/365 (366 on leap years). Hell if I can remember what those books are...One series is by Sara Douglass and it's called "Starman" or something.

I guess what I'm getting at is that those books are like those dreams that you have where it's an amazing dream. It's so wonderful. Everything is perfect...maybe you're in your favorite fantasy world, or your dream job or something...then you wake up. Oh. Crap. Back to Mundania. Reading these books is kind of like watching good porn...it's idealized fantasy and it makes your own world look so much less magical.

Hoo. That was a mouthful.

Ooh! Good Schedule!

I just realized that I'm not working Wednesday or Thursday, which means that I get to watch the first two Canucks playoff games. So...therefore I will need to bring my toque, jersey and shirt to C/M's house, plus my car flag...and maybe I'll even buy the gi-normous Canucks flag that we have at work. (29.99 minus twelve dollars [40% coupon] plus tax...might be able to swing that now that I've returned the medicine chest. [Da new vun is MUCH better. /Svedish agsent.])

Exercise today: Um...I thought about walking. Really did. And I um...walked to the returns desk at Ikea. Carrying something heavy. Does any of that count?

o/~ OCD and ADD, those are the letters that are right for me! o/~

Sometimes I really hate the internet. It's a super time eater for me, and the fact that I have tendencies similar to those letters in the title makes it that much more difficult. I have a really short attention span and lose interest in things easily, which is one of the reasons I started this blog in the first place. I needed to have somewhere that I could easily write up my goals and get a good idea of what I was doing and how well I was doing. However, this blog itself has turned into a time eater. Not writing, really...since I don't update super frequently or with very long posts generally. But, if I were to take all the time that I'd spent reading my blogroll (or obsessively going to all the blogs on it, even the ones that are really good about pinging) and/or comics, I would have at least another half hour in each day. This could be better used on cleaning my room, cataloguing books, reading, doing coursework (next semester), trying to write a good Canadian novel...etc.

So, I'm going to Ikea to return my medicine cabinet so I have enough money for rent. :p What a pain. I'll probably rebuy it in two months...but it's annoying.

Exercise today: Nothing yet. I'll see about walking to work...I'm almost out of gas and money.

Ugh

Worked today. Got to deal with a brand new supervisor, which wasn't too bad. The major issue that I have with the management at work is that twice now they've hired someone and within two or three shifts they've made them supervisors. That's not even enough time to get used to the cash system, let alone trying to teach them all the supervisor stuff. This girl didn't even get one shift before they stuck her into that position. Personally I think this is a really good way to get people to quit. And since management is whining about not having enough people (despite the fact that they've got several people on the payroll who haven't gotten hours in two weeks) this is not a very good way to do things.

So, how was YOUR day? After work was good. Walked with Justy a bit, then did a junk food run and watched "Breakfast at Tiffany's". I love that movie. :) I see way too much of myself in Holly Golightly. And my stomach is kind of sad now. No more junk food runs!! They make my stomach sad. :(

Exercise today: walked around LaFarge Lake twice...I think that's about two km.

Weekend to End Breast Cancer

I'd been thinking about doing this fundraiser for a while, but when I saw Peechie was doing it, I got a swift kick in the butt and figured that I ought to give it a try. I'm going to be doing a bunch of walking over the next little while and see if my hips and knees and every other weak part of my body can keep up. So, there isn't a full commitment yet, but I'm definitely leaning in the direction of "I'm gonna do this." Look for a registration notice in the next week or so. I should be getting a pamphlet and going to an orientation within that time and fully deciding.

It's summer. Ish.

The smell of suntan lotion, at least the kind that C/M wears, always brings the "summer" feeling to me. The fact that today was absolutely gorgeous really helped as well.

I'm feeling a lot better than I did yesterday. Good thing...I work tomorrow again.

Exercise today: 2 hours of Ultimate practice, 30 minutes (roughly 3 km) walking

First Intermission

Current score: Canucks 1, Edmonton 1

I was bad today. I missed karate for the second time in two weeks. This fscking flu is completely knocking me out. I sometimes have to pause for breath coming up stairs, let alone going to karate for two hours. It still pisses me off though. I'll definitely be going to Ultimate practice tomorrow, but I don't know how much I'll be able to do.

Last night C/M and I went to see Hellboy with a friend of ours and when we went back down in the elevator to the parkade it was completely choked with smoke smell...there didn't seem to be any visible smoke. I couldn't breathe and began coughing so hard I was gagging and retching. This continued the entire ride back to C/M's house where I discovered that my stomach was in knots and completely cramped up. I wound up finally falling asleep on C/M's couch where I stayed until 830 this morning.

I feel better now, but still pretty crappy. :(

Canadiana.

Ok. I just told Candyman that I didn't feel like posting. Well, now I have something to post.

I'm minoring in Canadian Studies..which to some people is like saying that I'm minoring in basket weaving, or underwater video gaming. It's mostly because, well...it's something I'm interested in. Bonus points because it's a teachable minor and I can use it to get into the teaching certificate program. Justy and I were talking about Canadian culture and what exactly that meant. We both figure that some of the defining things of Canadian culture is "We're not American", hockey and beer. Another is...

...

Actually, that's pretty much it. Hockey, beer, not American.

"Any you are truly Canadian if you base your memories around HOCKEY! If you remember...where you were...that glorious day! That memorable day...when...when...Alan Eagleton...went to prison!" Paraphrased from Royal Canadian Air Farce.

The reason that we were talking about this was because I just finished reading one of my books for my CNS course...The Electrical Field...and I posed an interesting question to him.

Me: So, I'd like to know...why does pretty much all "good" Canadian literature...well...
Him: Suck?
Me: EXACTLY!! It's all stupidly depressing and irritating. I just don't understand why it has to be so bad!

I enjoy his answer. From what I remember in my current exhausted state, his reasoning went kind of like this.

Premise A) We don't like be like Americans.
Premise B) Much popular American literature is good.
Premise C) Our popular literature must be different than American literature.
Conclusion) Our popular literature cannot be good.

This makes sense to me. Of course, there are notable exceptions (mainly in the science fiction and fantasy fields) but I am unwilling to mention them right now because I'm tired and can't think of any, and it also allows for comments with people supplying me with their lists of good Canadian authors that I can read. Please proceed with your recommendations.

New Record

Six people were looking at my site just now. Just thought I'd share.

okthxbyei'mdone.

(W)e (O)wn the (O)ther (T)eam(!!)

6-1, baybeee!! Go Canucks Go!! Candyman and I went to Silver City to watch the Canucks game against Phoenix. It was probably the most fun game I'd ever seen played. Note to self: remember to take cough syrup before leaving the house next time. :/ I was coughing like crazy through most of it, but DAYMN was it ever a great time. I think I'm going to have very happy dreams about Geoff Sanderson blowing past all the defensemen tonight. My God, can that guy skate. He looks like he straps booster rockets onto his skates.

I think that the best part was how they didn't get a shot in until 12 minutes into the first period. Or the fact that we got something like 40 shots on goal, and they got like...15. Yeah. We ownzed them. Enough gloating though. We're still a point behind Colorado since they won tonight as well. >:(

Anyway. I get to work in the morning. :p Cash shift, so I theoretically don't have to do supervisor stuff...but that never happens. So yeah. I go to bed now.

Textbooks.

Can you tell it's been a couple months since I took any classes? I'm all like...motivated. And...excited...

I'd better not look back at all the whining and bitching I did about classes last fall. :/

I've been searching the web for the last couple days for textbooks I need for next semester's classes. I bought two today from Chapters and my mother had the Laurence one...wrong year, but I don't think that should be too much of an issue.

So, I've glanced briefly at both
Why I Hate Canadians and The Electrical Field. I haven't started Margaret Laurence's The Diviners yet, but meh. I'll get on it eventually. It's not like I don't have time...the semester doesn't start until May.

Baby showers and stuff.

Yesterday I went to my first baby shower for someone of my age group. No one that I've been close to has ever had a baby, so this is a first time thing for me. It was very exciting. :) I was overwhelmed by the amount of people who were there! Candyman and I got there within an hour of the start of the party and the entire condo was filled with people. I hope that if/when I have a baby I have that many people who care about us. We couldn't stay long because we had another function to go to.

My mom's sixtieth birthday went really well. When we were doing presents, she kept saying "This is crazy!! There's so much." It's kind of nice to do that for her...we always got get outrageously spoiled on our birthdays so when someone else organizes it I feel that she sometimes get the short end. However, I think that she did pretty well. We went out for a nice dinner at a local pasta place and then came back to the house for cake, presents and moving my bed downstairs. Oh, and hockey. Daymn. What a good game that was.

I slept ok on my new bed. I always have trouble sleeping in a new place, and a new bed is pretty much a completely different place. But I made do. I think it would have been better if I hadn't been sick. It's a whole new perspective on my room. I've been sleeping on a box spring and mattress for the last six or seven years, which was about a foot and a half tall. Now suddenly I've got a frame, larger box spring and MUCH larger mattress. It feels like it's about three feet tall now. I think I like it.

BC bloggers, follow the below link.

Here

Ok. I figured that since Candyman did all the work, I'd let him blog about it first. Not to mention that I was absolutely exhausted from cleaning my room yesterday. I'm getting a new bed (well, we're doing a big bed switch today...my mom's getting a new one, so the old one's going into my dad's room and I get my dad's.) and so I had to make sure that there was a place to move my bed out of and the new one in. So while I was doing a horrendous amount of cleaning, my absolutely rocking boyfriend made my bathroom liveable.

Hurray!!

w9rd.

All right. Let me know how it looks now. *hand out in front, fingers gesture inwards* Bring it on.

Cat, I linked you. ;) Sorry about the delay...you're on my bookmarks and so I usually find you through there. Uh...Ikea? Next week? I'll have my schedule on Saturday and we can figure out times.

Okay, I'm done. I'm going to go have dinner lunch breakfast dinner from last night.

People post at 0230?

Besides me, I mean. :) C/M helped me fix the sidebar. I feel silly...it was really easy to do. Now we just need to fix the blogroll and the all consuming stuff.

Good night.

Oh, I have also determined that I spend way too much time in front of the computer when I'm sick. And that my typing goes to crap after midnight. That is all.

Argh!

I'm starting to get very fscking irritated at my template. If I knew more than I do about HTML, I'd make myself up my own template. I'm so sick of having the sidebar be so wide. I'm REALLY sick of having my "currently reading" stuff down at the bottom of the page for no reason that I can figure out!

I think it's time for bed. I need to buy my mom a card and a present for her 60th birthday. My mom is turning sixty. Yikes.

Oh, I cleaned up stuff from around my bed. Currently it's sitting on my bed. This is because I'm getting a new bed and it's wider, so I need to have some room around it. So, I had to clean up the pr0n. Now I need to put it and the rest of the junk all away before I go to bed. Dammit. And I'm hungry and want to take a shower but I can't because my bathroom is still in a million pieces.

I have a wonderful loving boyfriend however, who offered to come over yesterday to do all the stuff that was needed to be done to make my bathroom useable again. This includes (but wasn't limited to)...putting the shower curtain up, repainting the ceiling, touching up behind the toilet and door, taking all the tape off, putting a new toilet seat on, putting the corner shelf together and up, putting the medicine cabinet together and up and general cleanup. This is all in addition to picking up all the supplies needed to get everything up. I love my boy. It just sucked because I couldn't take him up on it because I was too sick to deal with anyone. :( So I still don't have a bathroom. And I didn't get to see him. But I might still get to see him tonight or tomorrow. Probably tomorrow. I'm sleepy right now.

the once and future king synapses

Someone did a search for the above phrase and made their way to here. :) Not only was it number four on yahoo.com's search engine, it was also number ten from a different section of the page. *grin*

I was feeling much better last night after eating that soup...I am not feeling as good as I did last night, but I feel better than I did yesterday morning. I made another batch of the soup...it's good stuff. I'm also seriously considering not taking a honey chaser when I dose myself with Buckley's anymore...I'm starting to associate honey with Buckley's. Blech. Maybe I'll chase the Buckley's with Nyquil.

I hope I'm better for Saturday. I have no name yet's baby shower and my mom's birthday dinner. I'm definitely not going to the baby shower if I'm sick. I want no name yet to have the baby after labour...not because she coughed really hard and it popped it out. :) Besides...she's so good about not taking medicine while she's pregnant, and I'll be damned if I'm going to give this cold to someone who won't medicate it into oblivion.

Feeling better?

Well, with any luck, this cold will rip its way through my body and leave as quickly as it came. I'm feeling much more human since I took a shower this evening...partly due to the "icky" factor of not being able to take a shower, and probably partly due to the steam. Daymn. Did that ever feel good. Drank down some more Buckley's, nursing a Neo-Citrine and am currently waiting for a pot of soup to heat up. I used Justy's recipe that I suggested several ingredients for, many moons ago...

The Soup I Ate For Lunch, That I Feel Better For Having Eaten

One can Campbell's chicken noodle soup
One can water, as per directions
Three cloves garlic, chopped (I used five, but only because my garlic was dessicated and I needed to peel down pretty far to get to the fresh stuff)
One pinch thyme
Two 300g echinacea capsules (Did not add, partly because I have none, and partly because Justy mentioned that the taste was kind of off and that might have been a factor.)

Mix in pot and heat. Consume. Enjoy garlicky taste. For hours. Brush teeth and/or consume entire pack of breath mints before going out in public. (According to one of my books, chewing on parsley or...something I can't remember...helps sweeten breath.)


Now, I am off to check on my soup. Mmm.. Soup.

woo.

You are Trinity, from "The Matrix."
Strong, beautiful- you epitomize the ultimate
heroine.


What Matrix Persona Are You?
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I used to think I looked a little like Carrie Anne Moss, especially when I had my hair cut really short. :)

Send me an angel...

Love


?? Which Angel Or Demon Are You ??
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It tastes awful...but it works.

Ooohahhh!!! Just downed teaspoon number two of Buckley's cough syrup...had another dose about two hours ago. I have to be pretty much dying before I'll drink that crap...in fact, it's going to be the acid test for whether my kids are sick enough to stay home from school or not. "Ok, you can stay home, but you're drinking a dose of Buckley's every two hours."

I'm just glad it didn't come back up like the stuff I took this morning. :p What is it with me and puking when I have a cold? That never used to happen when I was a kid.

So, my head and legs are aching like crazy, I've got crap in my nose and lungs and I'm exhausted, but can't sleep or focus on reading or anything. TV and computer screens make my headache worse. :( I'm in baaaaad shape ladies and gentlemen.

Too true

An article about "stuff" and how there's too much of it in most people's houses.

In other news: I feel wrecked. Completely, car in the ditch and frozen over wrecked. (It's a metaphor...my car is fine. My body is hellacious.) That scratchy throat I had last night has mutated into a brutal head cold that is threatening to take over Vancouver.

In other other news: I called my best friend today who I hadn't spoken to since Christmas. Not because we're mad at each other or anything...we're just stupidly busy and life got in the way. So that was nice, we're going to try and get together in the next little while.

Oh yeah...

I'm in a much better mood now...Candyman came over last night and by the junk food that we bought at 711 you'd think that one of us was pregnant... (two kinds of ice cream, taquitos, nachos with evil cheese and a Dr. Pepper slurpee [not for me. blech.])

Rona is having a paint sale which ends today, so I'll be heading down to buy some paint before I go to work. Plus, I need to buy gas. I hate buying gas...it's so expensive. :p

Parenting skillz

(A conversation between my aunt and my mother when/just before I was born)

(knowing that my mother was all "go breastfeeding" and "woo, natural" [she grew up in the sixties...] )
My aunt: So, when the baby starts crying, are you going to...you know...use a soother (pacifier...whatever)
My mom: (totally deadpan) Dipped in rum if I have to.

Now, I'm pretty sure that she never did that...with me. My brother on the other hand was totally colicky, so there's a possibility there. :)

Sidenote: I got called in to work today from 1:30-9:30. The supervisor who was supposed to work today slipped and fell in the shower doing something nasty to her back...and she's 7 1/2 months pregnant. :/

Irritated.

IM from me...
"It's very strange. I refuse to make a decision, and feel like I need to be coaxed...but I don't want to be bothered by anyone either. It's an odd conundrum."
Message could not be delivered because the person appears to be offline.

Well, crap. I didn't know you were LEAVING.

Working Girl...or not...

So here it is, 9:50 pm on Monday night and I am officially finished work for the week. That's right. I got 10 lousy hours this week and I'm finished. The talent agency better come through with some work for me this week, that's all I got to say about that.

Huh. I don't really have much else to say. I'm seriously upset about some stuff (logged for my own benefit.) but don't really want to use this as an outlet for that.

Yeah.

Oh, I scraped wallpaper over at no name yet's place. Someone kill me if I ever talk about how easy it would be to strip wallpaper from a place I'm planning on buying. Or if I ever decide to use wallpaper, anywhere, even if I like it at the time. After all, take ten years off your life...were you smart then? So, will I still like that wallpaper in ten years? Probably not. (the same applies to tattoos, but that's off topic.)

Ageism.

Candyman writes about "coming of age". The italics are his post, the stuff underneath is my comments and the bold is my extra comments.

I turned 19 many moons ago...almost 88 in fact. That said, not being a drinker at all, and since I tend not to really celebrate my birthday, but that's another issue. So I'm trying to figure out whether or not there's a suitable passing of the torch, coming of age, or whatever you want to call it. You know for celebrating when the boy becomes a man. So this is a request for suggestions. What is a suitable celebration for this once in a lifetime event?


I think that the usual response these days is "strippers and booze". It's kind of sad though...we really DON'T have any specific cultural "coming of age" for boys, or girls for that matter. I mean, I suppose that girls have their monthly event, but there's really nothing public or official about growing up. No more hunting your first buffalo, etc. Maybe that's one of the reasons why our society has so many childish adults...they don't have something milestone-ish to aspire to, and therefore they don't.

I think that one of the issues of not having a cultural milestone is the blurring of the lines between adulthood and childhood. As you mentioned in a previous post, maturity is somehow bestowed based on a number of days that you exist on the planet, and there's something inherently wrong about that. I know some thirty year olds who I wouldn't trust with a sharp stick, and I know several teenagers or young adults who I would trust to deliver a baby...given that they had some medical training. :)

Now, seeing as this comment is longer than your post...I'm going to transcribe it into my blog. :)

Incidentally, something that I really hate is ageism...you know...where someone who's five or more years older is all like "Oh, you're so young...you'll get over it." or some other variation of that. I mean, sure you've got more experience time-wise than I do, but I've made some way better decisions than you did when you were my age, so looking back on your life I'm way farther ahead than you were at this time. Don't tear down my accomplishments because you fracked up your life. Ok, I'm done now.

I want my bathroom back!!!

I have the fixture for the shower curtain in my kitchen, my shower is full of drying shelving unit, my sink has paintbrushes in it, my toilet's seat isn't on yet, I have paint in my hair and under my fingernails, and there's painters tape all over EVERYthing.

I see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's almost over. At least until I paint my living room. :)

Doh

I'm going back to Ikea either today or tomorrow. I got scheduled for a lousy ten hours next week, so I can't afford my beautiful new medicine cabinet. *cry* I'll return it and then hopefully be able to buy it again next month or May, when I'm not paying as much rent. Either that or find another, cheaper, just as beautiful medicine cabinet someplace else. I'm also going to be calling the movie extras people today after I finish blogging. Hopefully they'll have some work for me for next week.

However, the walls in my bathroom look specTACular. The ceiling is a little dark though...I mixed up some lighter blue paint for my corner shelf unit and I think I'll do some sponge painting on the ceiling. I'm NOT going to repaint the entire thing...it just about drove me to drink last time, trying to catch all the little speckles of white. *shudder*

For the first time since I'd moved into the basement (when I was sixteen, so eight years ago...) I slept with a window open. The smell of paint was so overpowering that I could barely breathe the first time that I walked in there after clearing out my lungs with a trip upstairs for food. I need better ventilation in that place. :p

It feels MUCH later...

*cross my fingers* I think I've finally finished painting my bathroom. With any luck, this hatred of the colour will subside as the memories of painting the damned place and cleaning the paint off my face, hands, legs and hair fade away with time. :) Actually it's not that bad...but someone please shoot me if I ever even start talking about painting a ceiling ever again. Thank you.

So I decided, after trailing the bottom of my flannel into the paint and streaking my legs blue for the third time, to work topless. It's a very small room, and it gets very warm, very quickly. I highly recommend painting in just underwear. It makes the time go faster, and it's more likely to get you volunteers. Unfortunately, I didn't mention that I'd be mostly naked when asking for volunteers tonight or else I probably wouldn't have been painting alone. Heheh...

So, stuffs that I bought for the bathroom today. Justy and I went to Ikea, home of evil Swedish designers, and picked up a set of bathroom supplies (I don't even know what I'mgoing to use some of these for!), a corner shelf, which I started painting a lighter blue than the rest of the room, and a medicine cabinet. WITH mirrors on both sides of the door.

Justy is da man for colours...at Ikea he was matching blues left and right from memory while I was busy fumbling around trying to match the remaining paint on my fingers from the previous night. He's so getting dragged along with me to buy clothes next time. (Muahaha!! watch for a freaking out comment in the comments...)

Also, I found twenty dollars on the floor tonight. It made me feel that I was doing the right thing for spending money. ;)

Happy St. Patrick's Day. :p

I am sitting here in the midst of the worst set of cramps I've had in the last two years. Ook. Plus a migraine-like headache. (never had a migraine before that I'm aware of...) I've tried aromatherapy, sleeping, apple cider vinegar and honey in hot water (it actually tastes better than it sounds). The only things left are the painkillers (which I've been trying to wean myself off of) and a Coke slurpee.

I can't get up the inclination to go to 7-11, so painkillers it is! Hopefully that will help.

I've decided that since I'm just lying in bed being miserable, I might as well sit at my computer, try to eat something and be miserable that way.

Ten years ago.

Ten years ago, my mother woke me up to tell me that her elementary school was on fire.

This morning, Justy woke me up with a phone call that our elementary school is on fire.

[ed: Apparently the fire is now out, and the police have arrested a 12 year old boy]

Painting

Hokay, I'm gonna go paint my bathroom now. Is gonna be BLUE.

Incidentally

Since I haven't mentioned it yet...I would just like to say that so many of my guy friends, including Candyman, have insisted that I look so much better without makeup. :) And that I look generally good. *happy* That's all. I had a crappy day at work today and I'm very very tired. Going out with C/M tonight and that should make it all better.

Actually, I'm typing this in his room right now, and it's already gotten much better. (/mushy)

Anned...adanen...anened

Addendum ;)

I haven't looked at any comments yet on the previous post...I sort of ran out of time with this before I had to go to work. I wanted to add that I'm trying to be less obsessed with weight and food, but I'm still trying to be active and athletic. I'm just going to be using different measuring sticks...health and fitness rather than weight. In the past I've gone without eating, or only drinking juice, or various other nastyness and so while I'll be working on trying to limit my pop and other junk intake, I will be eating healthily and exercising.

Ok, I'm done now.

Reading a book

Or, "How to use variations of the word 'obsess' as many times in one post as possible"

Of course, this isn't unusual as most of the people who know me will realize. In fact, usually I'm reading about eight books at once. This book's a little different though. It's The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf. I'll be the first to admit that I can be a little obsessed with my looks. This is shown less with an obsession with clothes and high fashion, but comes out more with occasional runs to the mall which involve bloating my makeup bag with "expensive crayons" which I will use obsessively for about three days, and then will vanish into the cupboard under my bathroom sink for a year or so. This obsession also manifests itself in fixation about my weight. I'm a fairly healthy weight...usually between 160 and 165 lbs, not bad considering that I'm around 5'8 or so. This has never been enough for me.

Reading this book has taught me several things, as I jokingly pointed out to several people over the last several days. One, men are in control of everything and the only reason that women have such an obsession with their appearance is because of a false need that men created in order to maintain that control. Two, women are really dumb because we haven't figured this out yet. Three, lipstick is the tool of the devil known as "fashion". Tongue in cheek, but how much of that is real?

So, what have I really learned so far? All I know is that I've learned enough to take down the "Current weight/Ideal weight" goal on my sidebar. If being comfortable with myself enough to do that is all I take away from this book, it's worth the ten bucks I spent on it.

Unmotivated

I have laundry to do. I have fun things to do (a borrowed barcode scanner from Candyman to do some book cataloguing). Instead, I'm sitting here playing Crimson Room which I got from Donna (finished it with only a minor bit of cheating... :) ) and surfing websites for classes to speak Elven/Elvish (I'm not sure which is correct, so I'll leave it up to the forum of public opinion.)

That's pretty much it. I'm sore from karate yesterday, although I'm very happy that I went. I had a hellacious day at work. I can't wait to be back out on the floor. I'm almost hoping that I don't get many hours over the next couple weeks...I want to get back into doing background performing (aka "extras" work) for TV and movies. I did five days of work for four productions last year. It would be fun to get paid $10/hour to sit around, read and eat. :)

Bookworm

Most of these I'd like to read, so I'm not italisizing them

Bold: I've read it
Italics: I'd like to read it
*: Started reading, never finished.


*1.The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4.The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5.Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6.To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
*30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll (bought it today!)
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
*44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
*54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Skind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
*99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
*114. Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
*120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
*161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
*182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith
*187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews

Ugh.

My tummy kind of hurts. That's not anything unusual, but it's still annoying.

What is it about people who are totally oblivious to the fact that a store is closed? We had someone come up to the cash register at 9:05 tonight, five minutes after the store was closed. She didn't leave the store until 9:18 because she was dithering over which ribbons she wanted to buy, and whether or not she had enough money to buy them! And she was using cash, so it wasn't like she didn't have the money right in front of her! I was getting really irritated. It wasn't as if it wasn't OBVIOUS that we were closed. I did the "Attention *store name* customers, the time is now 8:45 (8:50 and 9:00) and we will be closing in 15 (ten and we are currently closed) minutes. Please bring your final purchases to the front and we (read: me) will be happy to help you. Thank you for shopping with *store name* and have a great evening." announcements over the PA, and even made a "The time is now 9:15 and the store is closed" announcement under the guise of "hey guys, is there anyone left in the store" while she was standing there. ARGH!

The lights are off. There are people sweeping. The stuff from outside has been brought in. The doors have been locked. There have been announcements! THE STORE IS CLOSED!

I did wear my MJs for a five hour shift this evening...they held up well.

Linkies

Hokay. So, for those who don't know what Mary Janes are, here's a picture of some. Mine are slightly less shiny and have a more slender strap. Everyone happy now? :)

"There's no place like home."

Oh, Auntie Em!! I got myself some Mary Janes today. :D My mom bought them for me at Payless Shoes for back to school/work/Easter. :) I'm happy. I now have hooker boots, Mary Janes and platforms. Plus my standard fare of sneakers. Now I have work shoes that I will wear to work. Yeesss...that's right...only to "work"...not thinking of ANY naughty schoolgirl outfits with these... nooooooo...

I went to the fights last night...

...and a hockey game broke out.

What a joke last night. I didn't watch much of the game, but what I did watch was brutal. Todd Bertuzzi's hit on Steve Moore was terrible and frightening. Having taken a course on Canadian hockey and how complacent the fans and everyone are with the violence in it is not a good thing. I'm not really feeling like making a big deal out of this...just wanted to make a note.

School.

I decided a couple of days ago that I was going to go for my teaching certificate, partly as a way to stop having to pay rent on my suite. :p I was looking for a teachable minor that I could take, since every teacher in the world has an English degree and I need something that would give me a bit of an edge. Since I'd taken many classes, but over a stupidly broad range of disciplines, I didn't really have enough credits in anything except history to make a difference. And I'd still need to take at least a year to finish that minor. So I happened to see "Canadian Studies" on the list of teachable courses and decided to look it up. I knew I'd only taken two Canadian Studies courses, so I was prepared for a huge list of stuff I needed to do.

Turns out I only need to take four courses to get that minor. The basis of a CNS degree (major or minor) is Canadian CONTENT courses, many of which I'd already taken as part of my previous potential teacher training. This means that I'll have my minor by the end of December, hopefully meaning that I'll be able to get into the January teacher training and be fully certified by January 2006.

In other words, a mere 9 years after I started university I will be eligible to teach.

I signed up for my first two courses today. Things are all falling into place.

Some definitions

Courtesy of Dictionary.com

snuggle
v. snug·gled, snug·gling, snug·gles
v. intr.
To lie or press close together; cuddle.
To curl up closely or comfortably; nestle: snuggled happily under the covers.

cuddle
v. cud·dled, cud·dling, cud·dles
v. tr.
To fondle in the arms; hug tenderly

Okie. I'm going to go do another three hours of that with Candyman. Have a good night everyone.

Yaaaaawn...

So I wake up this morning not having had enough sleep. I feel myself getting a potential sore throat, and I stumble out of bed to get dressed and ready for work, trying to psych myself up for the eight hours of the job I hate that will be occuring today. I arrive at work with a couple minutes to spare.

"Hi Karin, what are you doing here? The other supervisor just showed up...aren't you closing?"

Wha? Crap. Check the schedule. Huh. Well...as it turns out, I'm not scheduled for today at all...as I'd know if I bothered to check my handy dandy schedule on the sidebar. Heheh...whoops.

So I bought a couple things at work that I needed, did the same at the dollar store and came home. Now suddenly I've got eight extra hours today. Huh. I have a huge list of things that I planned on getting done this weekend...I could start in on them now. I have a huge list of things that I've been meaning to do for the last couple weeks...some fun stuff, some other stuff. I've got some daily stuff that needs to be done. It's like having a whole bonus day!!

Screw that. I'm going back to bed.

Catty.

(Carmen Electra walks out from backstage at the Craig Kilborn show)
Me: Those. Are so. Fake.
My dad: What? Her shoes?
Me: Yeah...those shoes had some major uplift done to them.

The Cheat is now officially certified VirusFree(tm)

I was bad. I was expecting some pictures from a friend and opened up the Bagel virus on The Cheat. Whoops. I'm so used to running a Mac without much need for virus protection. Thanks to everyone who told me that I was infected, offered advice, the use of their computers and/or software to clean it up. *BIG HUGS*

That is all.

Of work and school

I got called into the office yesterday in regards to a very messy front end yesterday afternoon. I didn't think that it was completely my fault. In fact, I don't feel that a lot of what I get blamed for at work is actually my fault. I really don't think I'm cut out for this whole supervisor thing. The managers who were talking to me were quite nice about the whole thing...suggesting that it was a sign of maturity to decide that I would have more strengths in other areas, like working with customers. It's really a huge burden off my mind...I've been slowly hating this job and it's so much nicer to be out with customers on the floor, helping them with their purchases, rather than dealing with returns and bitchy people and nasty co-workers. This way at least, I can pretend to be busy and avoid the front end and all those poisonous people that show up there.

Also, I've decided to go back to school next semester. Supervising is something that I'm just not really cut out for, and with school being back in session, it's one less stress that I have to deal with.

I haven't really talked to many people about this besides my parents and Candyman. I didn't really give C/M a chance to offer any advice... ;) but my parents think that it would be a good idea to go back to doing what I love.

I really hated not loving what I was doing. Now's my chance to change that.

Ooh, naughty

Your Ultimate Purity Score Is...
Category	Your Score	Average
Self-Lovin'	31.7% When I think about you - or anyone - I touch myself	65%
Shamelessness	42.9% Puts 'em on the glass	79.4%
Sex Drive	55.3% A fool for love, but not always	77.7%
Straightness	1.8% Knows the other body type like a map	44.8%
Gayness	26.8% At least one weekend of ecstacy	83.6%
Fucking Sick	61.1% Dipped into depravity	89.9%
You are 37.34% pure Average Score: 72.6%
Take The Ultimate Purity Test and see how you match up!

I've been listening to this WAY too much

The original can be found here.

Hokay. So here's ma body...chillin'. Daymn. That is a sweet body you might say.

RAWNG!

All right. Ruling out collapsing in the karate dojo, discs becoming crashed into me, my overall fitness leaving and my ankle exploding, I am definitely going to blow maself up with junkfood.

HOKAY!

So basically we got my shoulder, neck, back, ankle, hip, jaw, wrist, butt, stomach and arm. With injury. I got about about twenty six hundred more than anybody else. Whatever.

Anyway, one day I decide that these various injuries and fat deposits are going down. So I launch an exercise attack. And those fat deposits are like "Sugar! Sugar! Who the fudge is shooting at us?"

Ok, so what does all this mean? It means that yesterday I started a (healthy and sane!!) diet and I'm starting an exercise program to help me get into shape for the Ultimate season in the summer. That's all. So I decided to write up this whole thing to put off the whole "going to the gym" or "going for a walk" thing.