MORE RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) The lights went out in our church sanctuary today. At first I thought that the lights were off for some actual reason, but apparently it was just a problem with the lights themselves. We had sound, we had video, we had air conditioning (thank goodness) but no lights. We had church services in the dark! It was difficult not to fall asleep like that, though. Two people actually had to leave before preaching started because it was making them sleepy. I didn't fall asleep, but it was touch and go there for a while. My mind kind of wondered off, I guess. It isn't as if our preacher is boring or anything like that, but I must have the attention span of a rubber band or something, because my brain goes off on tangents while he's talking. It isn't just when he preaches, though. A couple of weeks ago we had a guest speaker during the night services. He had arranged for a sort of worksheet type thing to be printed on the back of the bulletin so that we could fill in blanks and take notes while he was speaking. I thought that was great, because I figured that if I had something to follow along with, I probably wouldn't get lost and start day dreaming. Unfortunately, I somehow got behind whatever he was saying, and by the time the service was over, I had a quite respectable stick figure "Pirates vs. Ninjas" battle going on at the bottom of the page. :( That kind of thing is what happens when I'm required to sit still and quiet for too long. Someones going to have to put me on Ritalin before it's all said and done.

2) I have a Tumblr site brewing called White Owl Treasures. I haven't done anything with it yet except pick a template. I've got an idea that I think might be somewhat interesting, but it will be kind of tedious putting it all together. I have come into possession of a lot of really awesome antique things. Things I never bothered to look at closely until I wasn't working. My mom gave me a stack of old postcards that she had stored in an old White Owl cigar box. I have always known that she had them, but had never bothered to read them. They are all from early 20Th century (between 1904 and 1907) and they all belonged to someone named Eleanor Clements from someplace in New Jersey. This person wasn't a member of my family, so I have no idea why we have the cards, but they are interesting. I want to scan them and put them up for people to see! I also have a few other things I found in other cigar boxes, so it'll just be a curio site for people who like old stuff, I guess. I don't know, maybe it will be boring, but I'm going to try it out and see how it goes!

3) I finally learned how to pronounce "vuvuzela!" I kept reading the word in articles about the world cup and hearing the God forsaken sound, but never heard anyone actually pronounce the word until last week. Unfortunately, by the second or third day of knowing the word, my pronunciation of it had degraded to "vuvuzilla." After that, all I could picture was a giant, plastic horn trampling on Tokyo.

4) I can't sleep. I had a headache before church tonight and took some Excedrin. That was at 4:45 and I'm still wide awake! My body is tired, but my brain is not. I'd go to bed anyway, but I'd just end up tossing and turning and probably annoying Steve. Sigh.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) I hate going to the gym. I hate it SO much...it's like flames, on the side of my face, FLAMES... I only go so that my doctor can say "Oh look, your cholesterol level isn't currently at DEFCON 1! Congratulations!" My cholesterol level is one of those hereditary things that diet won't do much to control, so exercise is my only option unless I want to take meds for it. Granted, swallowing a pill everyday is less daunting than going to the gym, but probably less damaging for my liver. My knees, my feet, my back and everything else will implode, but darn it, my liver will be pristine! If that is the case, at least the liver will be able to go to a good home after the rest of me is dead from exhaustion. Silver Linings!

2) Steve and I got the Lego Harry Potter video game and we are having a lot of fun with it. I don't play a lot of video games, but I love the Lego ones for some reason. They are just so silly! I guess we must be playing a bit too much of it, though, because the other night all of the people in my dreams were Lego people. It was weird.

3) Yesterday I found a corset I bought a couple of years ago and thought I might have finally found the first piece for my Steampunk costume! I was in the process of trying it on when I encountered a problem. I couldn't figure out how to close it. It wasn't an actual corset, like one you'd wear as underwear, it was one that I suppose is supposed to be worn as a shirt (gotten during a shopping spree of questionable taste at Hot Topic.) It doesn't lace up, it zips up. So I'm standing in my bedroom for a long time all but cursing at the stupid thing trying to figure out how to hook the thing together so that the zipper could be closed. Turned out that I had the stupid thing on upside down. :( This doesn't bode well for my Steampunk career, does it? Back to the drawing board!

4)This video makes me happy!

Hello, Sweetings!

I am getting ready to hit the gym for the first time in about a month (don't judge me) and I thought that while I was indulging in my pre-workout hydration routine, i.e. drinking a bottle of water, I'd tell you about our glorious long weekend!

Part of our wonderful Georgia family, the McGee faction (Hi, guys!), came to visit for the Independence Day holiday this year. They haven't been to our home in 3 years, as I've mentioned before, but it's been even longer since they brought the kids. In fact, their son had never even come to visit us, although their daughter came once when she was 1 (she is 9 now and almost as tall as I am.) They got here on Friday night and we spent a while visiting, but after a few hours of driving they were tired and needed some sleep, so after talking their ears off for a while Steve and I let them finally go to bed.

Saturday was set aside for the fam to visit the Sprocket and see the infamous Star Wars exhibit. I declined to join them, for reasons we all know and appreciate. However, I had some errands to run and Steve wanted to go and see it again, so they weren't bereft of a Pratt for the day. They said they had a lot of fun and enjoyed everything a great deal, and I'm glad. Sean got to first-bump Darth Vadar, which he was very excited about, and Katie (Kat, Kate) managed to construct a magnetic Lego car that completed the path without stopping. Steve and I had tried that when we were there together, but couldn't figure it out. Yay, Katie (Kat, Kate). Once they returned, we finished out the day with a cookout. Steve did us all proud. I think even the cows would have thought the steaks were delicious. :)

Sunday we took the McGees to Bridge Street, our local frewfraw shopping center. We knew that they would be having fireworks that night, so we planned to spend the day walking about and shopping. Unfortunately, we realized a bit late that we were way to early to stay until the fireworks, and there is only so much looking around and shopping that people can do! We had lunch, and after an unfortunate blue sno-cone incident, we went home for a bit so that Amy could change clothes and so I could fall asleep in my comfy chair. We finally headed back out closer to the time of the fireworks show and went to Steve's work, which had a great view of the fireworks. I LOVE watching fireworks! The bigger the better! :) The show was great and we ended the day at Waffle House, which is the way good evenings with friends should end.

Monday was the McGee's last day with us, so we went to lunch with Mr. Lee so they could visit a while and then they headed home. Steve and I went home and fell asleep! It was a great weekend and we were glad they could come and visit.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) The house; she is clean. Well, relatively clean, anyways! I've been preparing for a visit from Amy, Jon and their kiddos, and I decided I didn't want to subject them to the layer of filth that Steve and I live in on a daily basis. Ok, it isn't so much a layer of filth as it is a layer of dog fur, but still...it's gone now. However, I want to apologize in advance just in case one of the kids gets lost in an avalanche of art supplies in my office. We will be spending our long weekend with the McGees, finding adventures in exotic Huntsvegas! Amy and Jon haven't been here since 2007, when they came to my college graduation, so we're excited! Hopefully it will be a lot of fun for everyone! :)

2) I'd like to thank all of my friends for not making me go and see Eclipse. I just don't think I would be able to endure it. I know, I know. I have no room to judge since I've neither read the books nor seen any of the movies other than the first one, but I'm going to do it anyways. BOO! Also, I've volunteered to read the books so I can make fun with authority! My sister is supposed to lend me her copies. However, I've begun to regret that decision. Life is too short to read bad books. Am I right? No offense to those out there who liked the books, but the little bit I read of the first one made it clear it just wasn't my cuppa.

3) The job search is still not going anywhere. I'm still looking, though. I'm hoping that I'll see a listing and a light will just go on in my head and I'll hear angels go "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh" but I don't really expect that to happen. I've decided that I must have gotten the most useless degree on the face of the earth, or I just didn't learn anything I can use in this town. I'm an artist in a technical town. Oh, well. There was a job opening down in Montgomery that sounded good, but I don't think I can commute that far! I suppose I should have just become a doctor. Everyone needs one of those, right? You guys would trust me to do surgery on you, wouldn't you?

NOT SO LONG AGO, IN A MUSEUM NOT SO FAR AWAY...

Last night, Steve and I attended the premier event of the new exhibit at the Sprocket. It wasn't open to the public yet, but we bought special tickets back in February so that we could get a look at it early.

I'm not going to lie to you fine people, I really wasn't sure I wanted to go. If the tickets hadn't been so expensive, I wouldn't have gone.

I suppose that to some of you it just seems kind of dumb and cowardly for me to feel that way. However, I beg of you to please realize that I don't have a great deal of confidence in myself on the best of days, but I especially don't have any when it comes to situations where I've endured stress. I kind of just internally crumple into a heap, stick my fingers in my ears, and sing "LALALALALALALALALALA" until the moment passes. It's not a great way to deal with things, but sometimes it's the only way. Don't judge me.

One reason I was worried about going back to the Sprocket was because I was afraid of how people would react to seeing me there after the mess of me getting fired. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting to be thrown out or to be spit on. I guess I was more worried that people would just be painfully awkward if I walked up and talked to them (horrors, because I hate the awkward) or even worse, just not care at all. I know how that sounds, but I can't think of anything worse in this type of situation than realizing that I was way more invested in friendships or acquaintances than the other people were. You know, thinking "Oh, there is my friend! I've missed them so much! It will be so good to see them and catch up! They are so awesome!" and then rushing to see them, or even just trying to keep in touch with them, only to realize they are pretty much indifferent. I've had that happen to me before and it's kind of horrible. I tend to take my friendships to heart, and it's always painful when I realize that other person doesn't feel the same way. I usually end up trying too hard, emailing or calling too much or whatever, and I don't realize until it's too late that I'm pretty much just sort of a chore to the other person. It's sad. I'd rather not be be friends with someone at all, if that were the case.

I was worried that I'd get there, all excited to see people I'd worked with and liked a great deal and they'd be all "Oh, you were gone? I never noticed. I'd love to seem interested in your life, but I've got no desire to do so. Tell you what, I'll give you a call when I can take the time to care, OK? Um, well, see you later!"

I was also worried that I'd run across my former bosses, the ones who were so unfair to me (and whatever else happened, they WERE unfair to me) and I'd have to deal with that. I wouldn't want to be nice to them, but I also wouldn't want to be rude either. I can do the whole fake polite thing if I have to, but I don't like it. It makes me feel reddish-brown inside. Trust me, that is not a pleasant feeling. I think I was more worried about seeing them than anything else. It's kind of an offshoot of what I explained above. It's what happens after you find out that someone you liked and respected didn't feel the same way at all. There is embarrassment and awkwardness, and in this case, wanting to beat them with a stick and tell them how much they suck.

To take everything I have just written and put it in a nutshell: I was being a coward.

I recognized that I was being a coward about 5 minutes before we left for the event. I actually had to take a moment to sit down and talk to myself about it. Stupid, I know, but I did it. I had to remind myself that whatever happened, however the people treated me, I would just go and have a good time, and smile. If people I thought were my friends didn't care I was standing in front of them, then I could forget those guys. I don't work with them anymore, after all, right? If people acted awkwardly, I would just be anti-awkward. I'd be so anti-awkward that it would only make them more awkward! It is my belief that you can't help who you love or care about, when it all comes down to it, and if someone doesn't feel the same way...it's their loss. If I came across my former bosses, I'd be just as nice as I could be. I'd already let them completely pull the rug out from under me once, but I wouldn't show it. It was a truly rare moment of self possession for myself and I have no idea where it came from. I felt 100% better after that.

In the end, everything turned out fine! The exhibit was very cool, I never once came across my former bosses, I got hugged by several people I wouldn't have expected it from and I got to talk to a lot of people who seemed genuinely glad to see me! There were some awkward people who didn't look me in the eyes at first, but I stood there and made them talk to me until they loosened up. Not bad at all. Steve and I had a wonderful time, and everything turned out great. Now, if could just figure out where that well of self-confidence came from so that I could use it again, that would be awesome.

I had no idea how tense I had been about going back to the Sprocket until I woke up this morning. I mean, I knew I was worried about it inside my head, but I felt like I'd been carrying around a weight that I finally got to put down. Closure can do that, I suppose. Closure is wonderful.

I also think that, after last night, I may have reached a zen point about losing my job. I don't know where that came from, either. I'm still sad I lost it, because I have a lot of friends there and I loved doing the job, but I finally feel like there might have been some kind of universal reason I was let go. Now that I know I still have my friends there, and they haven't disowned me or forgotten me yet, I feel so much better. I'm sure they'll forget about me sooner or later, but hopefully something about me will stick with them. I know they'll stick with me. I don't mean to sound all "Self-Help Book" about it or anything like that, but there was a part of me that felt like I had my skirt caught in a car door. I could twist and pull, but it wasn't going to get free until I opened the door and pulled it out. I feel like I did that. Now I've just got to figure out where to go next.

So, now you know what kind of insecure and neurotic little beastie I am. I hope you can still love me anyways. If you can't, it's your loss, right? ; )

PS: You want to know the funniest thing? We got there well after the ribbon cutting ceremony had ended, so I didn't get to see Carrie Fisher. I was hoping I'd at least get to see her, or hoping that she might have been signing books or something somewhere, so I asked Anthony if she was still around. Turns out, she never showed up! The damned reason I was fired was because I told people she was going to be there and she didn't even come! I have no idea why she wasn't there or anything, though. maybe it was scheduling, maybe it was some kind of family thing, but oh, y'all...that was just the icing on the cake. That, if nothing else, helped me find my zen. I hope Ms. Fisher and her loved ones are OK, but I'd like to publicly thank her for not coming. She probably won't read this herself, but if the same tattle-tale bastards from LucasArts who got me in trouble to begin with find this blog again, maybe they'll pass on my message to her.

Me and my homeboy, Chewbacca. Steve also found a mistake in this part of the exhibit. The little sign next to Han Solo's costume said it was worn in "A New Hope" but apparently Han Solo wore blue pants with red stripes in that movie. These were brown with yellow stripes. Leave it to Steve to catch that. Also, I'd like to thank the high intensity halogen light for making me look like a person molded out of cottage cheese.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Well, tomorrow night I will be heading back to the Sprocket to see the special exhibit we bought tickets for back in February. Unfortunately, flash photography is a no-no, so I won't be able to get a picture of my foot with anything. Boo. I'll be glad to see some of my friends, though. I can't believe how much I've missed them! Of course, they are going to be busy, but hopefully I'll get a chance to wave at them at least. Also, this isn't going to be awkward at all. No...not at all. Yep. Oh, don't get me wrong, I have no illusions that anyone I once worked for will give a rat's ass if I'm there or not, but I'm going to certainly be uncomfortable. However, I promise to be on my best behavior. I won't even give anyone the bird when their backs are turned, you have my word. :)

2) I'm sure you'll be relieved to hear that my eye is all better. Even if you don't care a bit about my eye, I'm sure you'll be happy that I won't be talking about it anymore! My main issue at the moment is that I still have a vial of eye drops, but I have no idea when I'm supposed to stop taking them. Most medicine tells you how long to use it, but this didn't have it on the packaging. I realize I could call the doc-in-the-box and ask, but I think I'll just use it till it's gone, to be on the safe side. Also, I had to throw away a brand new pair of contact lenses, all of my eye makeup, and two very nice makeup brushes just to be safe. Now I have to replace them! Dangit. I realize I could just stop wearing eye makeup or something, but...*sniff* I like being girly! Also, without eye makeup, I look like a turtle. That may not make sense to any one of you, but that is only because you've never seen me without eye makeup.

3) Sometimes I think about the really crappy things that have been happening in my life over the past three years and wonder if it is all a part of some kind of test of character. If so, I sometimes wonder if I'll pass it. I hope so.

4) Yesterday I had to drive across town. I needed to go to Best Buy to get a new iPod case because the one I have been using disintegrated a while back. I even patched it up with Duct Tape and it's still falling apart! I decided to make a run to the mall to return something while I was out that way, and when I walked outside, it was so hot that I completely forgot about going to Best Buy. No, I'm not kidding, the whole reason I was out that way was to go to Best Buy, but the heat made me forget about it. It wasn't till I got home and pulled out my iPod that I remembered. Stupid heat. Stupid summer!

5) Steve actually killed a spider, all by himself. We should be proud of him! Go Steve!

PARTY DOWN!

I've spent today (Friday) and I'll spend most of tomorrow at my mom's house taking care of my brother while mom and her husband go on an anniversary trip. They were married two years ago on June 20th. That seems to be a popular day to get married! It has been really quiet here most of the day. I mean, Tommy doesn't say much after all, you know. Heehee. We spent most of the day just watching cartoons! :)

Being here is creepy because her neighborhood is really quiet, I'm not familiar with her neighbors, and the property backs up on some woods. When the dog barks, I don't know if she's barking at someone who lives around here, or a bear. Honestly, I hope it's a bear. I think I can handle a bear. I believe I've lost my edge when it comes to living out in the country! I used to not be bothered with all of the quiet and even though I live in the suburbs now, there are still more lights and sounds than there are out here. Thank goodness this house isn't as isolated as the one I grew up in, though! I really would be freaked out right now.

Owing to the quietness, I have been extra goofy online today, so if I've emailed you, written something odd on Twitter, or commented on your Facebook status or photos with some kind of weirdness, I apologize. I'm just trying to stay sane. I'm not quite to the point of cabin fever just yet, but I do what I have to do to keep myself occupied.

My eyes are doing much better, and thank you to everyone who was concerned about me! I appreciate it! My right eye is still swollen a bit, but I don't look like I went a couple of rounds with Muhammad Ali anymore. The drops I've been using make my eyes itch like crazy, though, so I have to be careful not to scratch or rub them. If I do, I have to immediately clean my hands. I am not contagious anymore, but I think I now have a germ phobia and it just makes me feel better if I disinfect myself on a regular basis.

Other than that, things have been a bit lonely. I'm tough, though. :)

This is what I look like right now. Very attractive, I must say.


Also, looking at stuff hurts. I had no idea the sense of sight could actually hurt, but it does.

Now, if you will excuse me, I've got some disinfecting to do. Do you think it's possible to boil the couch?

EYE EYE, CAP'N!

I woke up this morning and one of my eyes was acting weird. I couldn't open it at first, and when I finally managed to get it open, I couldn't see clearly at all. I thought I might have forgotten to take out my contacts before going to bed and one of them was folded or something, but after I thought about it for a second, I remembered taking them out.

As the day went on, my eye got weirder and weirder. Tears were running out of it like crazy and I would have spells where I simply couldn't see out of my right eye. It was irritating. I finally decided that I would head to the doc-in-the-box and see (heh) what was wrong with me.

It didn't take long for me to get called back, thank goodness, but I sat in the room for nearly two freaking hours waiting on the doctor. She was in there with me for less than three minutes! AHHH! I know she was probably busy with people much worse off than me, but come on...less than three minutes? After waiting two hours, I deserved at least five.

At any rate, she told me that my eye was infected and that I had pink eye. Yay. I have no idea if she meant that my eye was infected AND I had pink eye, or if pink eye is just another name for having an eye infection. Gross. She put me on 2 different antibiotics and now I feel like a walking petri dish. Seriously, I've never had pink eye before, but I know it's contagious, and now I feel like everything I've touched today needs to be boiled. I feel germy, even though I've been as careful as possible about using hand sanitizer and washing my hands. My eye is bruised looking and pretty much swollen shut, so it looks like I have a black eye, too!

The fun never ends.

NOT EVEN ONE FOOL

Last night, Steve and I decided to go see "The A-Team" on the fly. He had mentioned wanting to see it before it came out and I was kind of just humoring him by going, since almost everything I had heard about the movie was bad. Don't get me wrong, I'm not snobbing it up here. I'm not above seeing a movie based on a TV show that I wasn't really crazy about as a kid, I just mean that I was kind of indifferent about this movie & could have waited to get it from Netflix or something.

I'm SO glad I didn't wait. It was actually a really good movie and I think seeing it in the theater was part of the charm of the thing.

Movies like this, the ones that trade mainly on nostalgia, are usually unsuccessful for two reasons:

1) New actors usually can't recapture whatever elusive quality it is that made the original character so endearing. Any fictional person from television or movies is usually 10% what the writers put in the script and 90% what the actor themselves does with it. Any beloved character from a television show usually become beloved because something about the way they are played strikes a chord with the watchers. If you doubt me, try putting Scarlett Johannsen in the role of Lucy Ricardo. Bless her heart, I don't care if she won a Tony or not, she'd never be able to BE Lucy Ricardo the way Lucille Ball was. Plus, she'd be upstaged by her boobs before she uttered one sentence of dialogue. In the case of this movie the same thing applies, but amazingly the new actors pulled it off better than most. By that I don't mean they successfully mimicked the old actors, but that they took the characters and made them likable on their own terms. You will never be able to replace Mr. T as B.A. Barrakas (?), but Rampage Johnson played B.A. in a way that makes you not mind so much that they share the character. The same goes for the other three guys and though I will never understand in a million years how Liam freaking Neeson was put in the role of Hannibal, I can't say he didn't do a good job at BEING Hannibal.

2) Remakes of well known and well loved television shows, especially ones with rather far fetched premises, usually become caricatures of whatever they were originally. The movie makers tend to amp up whatever it was that made the show unique and WAY overdo it, either making it ridiculous or too campy. In this instance, the movie was neither. I don't know if it was smart writing or what, but they could have really overplayed everything and it would have ruined both the movie and the memory of the show. Surprisingly, they didn't rely too heavily on any one thing about the show that could have made the movie overdone. Don't get me wrong, they added in things from the original show and made references, but it didn't shout into your face "HEY! HEY! I'M REFERENCING THE TV SHOW YOU LIKED SO MUCH! SEE?! SEE?!" I mean, they had explosions, chases, and disguises but they were necessary in the context of the story. There was even a montage, but it was a subtle montage. In this day of practically everything being a remake of some kind, and usually not great ones, I'm impressed at the restraint.

Now, these things don't mean the movie was perfect in any way, or would replace the idea of the original. The movie had it's weak points, too. Jessica Beal, who plays pretty much the only female character of importance in the film was...well... I mean, she's so pretty. Not so great with the acting, maybe, but very pretty. One of the bad guys was just irritating. I think maybe he was supposed to be, but the actor who played him made me decidedly stabby. I don't know what it was about him, but if I could have personally beaten him with a pipe wrench, I would have. Also, and this was my biggest disappointment, B.A. Barraccas didn't even pity one fool. Not one. The line was referenced, but never said. I'm sure that had something to do with not making it campy and overly referential, but still. I wanted him to pity a fool.

So there you go. This movie will definitely not win any Academy Awards and will probably be a movie you can find in the Wal-Mart movie bin for cheap, but I recommend it. It is probably one of the few remakes that successfully captures the idea and tone of the original, without also completely urinating on your fond memories of sitting in front of the TV watching it. If you need to turn off your mind and watch some good, explody action, you could definitely do worse.

EDIT: I realize that I just wrote a rather long and wordy review of The A-Team movie. I apologize. Seriously, I need to get a job.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Wow, bible school made me tired. I'm not kidding! All I did was work the sound system and take pictures, but just being around those children was exhausting. I would go home at noon with full intentions of doing something productive and wind up falling asleep. Kids are tiny energy vampires, that's the only explanation I have. :) I feel kind of bad about this, but I believe that some people I go to church with think I actually hate children, which is completely untrue. I like kids fine, but I'm not patient with them. I'm also not a great teacher or babysitter because of the patience thing (I've tried), and I don't want kids of my own, so I think people pull that together and believe I can't stand them. Hopefully I dispelled a bit of that this week. I even held a baby, which everyone knows terrifies me. Babies are so...squishy and floppy and I'm so clumsy and gooey stuff shoots out of them and they scream and cry when I try to hold them. They can smell fear. I wouldn't have agreed to hold this one, but I decided that if I didn't go ahead and do it, the mother of this child would ask me every week until I broke down and held it. He didn't scream, but I didn't hold him long.

Actually, it all wound up being kind of fun. I got to know some of the youth kids better, which is nice. One of them called me "ma'am" though, so he is automatically dead to me. I know that technically I am old enough to be a ma'am, but it is still jarring to be reminded of that fact! Some of them thought I wouldn't know the music they liked and disapprove of the places they shopped, which threw me. One of them said that they liked Hot Topic, and then said "You probably think that is some kind of devil store or something." Hello? Why would I think that? How old do they actually think I am? I mean, these kids and their rock and roll and their high top sneakers...geez.

2) The student pastor lent me his fancy DSLR camera and now I want one. I don't need one and it certainly isn't a convenient camera for me since I didn't know what most of the little knobs and switches do, but still. I took some pretty good photos with it for not knowing how much of it worked! I will not buy one. I will not buy one. I will not buy one. I do not need one. I will not buy one.

Maybe.

3) Two Saturdays ago Butler and Bear got into another one of their "Lets see how many pieces we can bite off of each other" fights outside. It was really, really nasty this time though. We heard a huge "WHAM!" against the back of the house and I had no idea what it was. I thought something outside had exploded, because it shook the house. I don't know how they did it, but it was the dogs fighting and they somehow hit our windows. I guess you won't understand why that is difficult to believe unless you know what are windows are like, but suffice it to say, they had to be airborne to do it. Steve ran outside to separate them, but he couldn't do it alone. Anthony happened to be over, so he and I ran out to help. I grabbed the water bucket and poured it over them, because that usually works, but it didn't this time. That scared me, and so I did the only thing I could think of and I whapped them with the bucket. That also didn't do a thing (except crack the bucket down one side.) It took all 3 of us to pull them apart, and it wasn't easy. By the time we had them separated, they were wet, bloody and edgy. It was scary. We brought them inside so we could assess the damage. Butler was covered in blood, but none of it seemed to be actually coming from him. He had a few bites on his ears and one on his front leg, but otherwise seemed OK. Bear had bites on his front legs (Butler's first attack zone) but they didn't seem to be very bad. We had managed to pull them apart fairly quickly, although it all seemed longer than it really was, so they didn't have much time to do a lot of damage. After feeding them and putting them to bed, we knew we'd have to keep a watch on them to make sure they weren't hurt worse than we thought. The next day we kept them inside in their kennels for most of the day, just to make sure. They seemed OK, except for the bites. During the following week, we noticed that Bear seemed to be fine, but Butler seemed to be acting strangely. He wasn't limping or bleeding, but he seemed...depressed or something. I know how dumb that sounds, but it was a noticeable change in his demeanor. We got worried that something might had gotten hurt internally, so we took him to the vet on Friday afternoon to make sure he was OK.

Now, our vet irritates me to no end. She's competent, but she's condescending as hell. I don't even think she realizes that she talks to us as if she was addressing a couple of mentally challenged 3 year olds, but she does. Every. Stinking. Time. We. Are. There. We waited in the lobby while they took him back (and of course by this time he seemed perfectly OK, so we seemed dumb when we said he'd been apathetic all week.) After a few minutes she came out to talk to us, or at us, rather. She said she couldn't find anything wrong except for the few bites he had and that he seemed fine to her. We tried explaining that he had been acting weird and she just kind of looked at us like she was thinking "Awww, isn't that cute. They didn't go to vet school and yet they think something is wrong wiff their widdle doggy." I'm sure she wasn't thinking that, but that was what her expression said. It made me want to punch her in the neck. Anyways, she said "Well, we can run a bunch of tests if you want, but he still seems fine to me. Let me take another look at him before we send him home, just to make sure." She went back to check him out and came back about three minutes later saying "I found out what is wrong with him!" Apparently during the fight, one of Butler's top canine teeth had been pulled out BY THE ROOT.

Gross.

Steve and I were kind of shocked, but it made sense. There was so much blood and we couldn't figure out where it had all come from. The reason he had been acting so strangely was that he was probably in a lot of pain! Poor Butler! A dog's canine teeth are deeply embedded in their gum with a very large root, so having one pulled out is kind of horrible. She said it didn't even seem to be broken off, simply pulled out. She said otherwise he seemed fine, so she gave us some antibiotics just as a preventative measure and we took him home.

I'm not going to lie. I really hate that Butler got hurt, I mean I really, really hate that. I also hate that he was probably in pain for most of a week and we didn't know it. However, there is an evil part of me that is glad the smarmy vet actually found something wrong with him which wiped that look off of her face.

Of course, now Butler is missing a lower left canine (product of breaking it while biting a rock) and an upper right canine (product of pulling it out while biting Bear.) He is now a full fledged hillbilly mutt! :)

AYE-AYE, CAP'N!

Greetings, dear friends! I'm currently writing to you from the sound box of my church where I will be spending the week as the Music Pirate (heh) for vacation bible school. :)

Yeah, I know what you're thinking: You and a bunch of screaming kids? Well, sort of. Basically I was asked to come for the week and work the sound and video system for the assembles. It's been kind of fun so far! I sit back here and try to keep up with our student pastor while he does the bible verses and sings with the kids. I'm also supposed to take pictures of the kids, but I forgot to take any before mid morning yesterday. Oops. I thought someone else was doing it, but I got a few pictures, thank goodness.

It's all very, very loud.

Everything looks great! The theme for this year is "High Seas" and I got a nifty t-shirt and a sailor hat to wear while I'm here. I'm quite adorable.

This morning I feel like utter yuck, though, because I had a major sinus malfunction after sitting outside and brushing Butler for a while. Brushing leads to breathing in fur, breathing in fur leads to allergy attacks, allergy attacks lead to suffering. Kind of like the dark side. In all honestly, I feel like I've been snorting broken glass and drain cleaner. Fun!

I mostly hung out with the youth kids yesterday since we were all in the same place waiting for the kids, and I was forcibly reminded of two things: #1. Teenagers make me feel old. #2. I pretty much have the mental level of these teenagers. It's like I'm in one of those bad 80's switching-bodies movies where a teenager switches bodies with their parents. It's all very disorienting. :)

Anyways, thing are about to start.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Wow. Do you remember several years ago when I did the experiment to decide which chocolate would give me the worst nightmares? I still say Godiva is #1, but I found a new #2: Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chunk cookies. Specifically the kind that you break apart and bake yourself. We had some last night for dessert and I guess I didn't realize how close to bedtime it was when I ate them. The nightmare I had was...horrifying. It wasn't about monsters or serial killers, but it was terrible just the same. I woke up in the fetal position and shivering. Ugh, I don't want to talk about it. Just don't eat those cookies before bed. That's my advice to you guys.

2) Sunday afternoon, Steve and I went to Sam's to pick up some drinks and stuff for church and I think I scared a sample guy. I don't tend to graze at the sample stands when I go there, but it seems as if I've got people all but tossing food at me the entire time I shop. Usually I just smile and wave them off, but at least wait until they are done talking before I walk away. However, this guy was persistent. See, I wasn't feeling well on Sunday, so I wasn't hungry and didn't want to eat anything that might make it worse. I didn't even know what he wanted me to try, but when he asked if I wanted some I just shook my head and walked a few steps past him. He said "Are you sure, it's 98 percent fat free?" I decided that there was only one thing I could do at this point, so I turned around and said "Why? Are you calling me fat?" I have never seen panic dawn on a person's face so quickly or completely as it did with this guy. He tried to back-step and his words were all stuttering and falling all over each other, so I felt bad! I told him I was just kidding and that I would take whatever he was giving out because I scared him. I'm just glad it was ice cream and not something disgusting.

I have no social skills.

3) Our weekend was lovely, thank you for asking. We had planned on taking a road trip on Friday, but realized that with the holiday weekend and the fact that school was out would make it unpleasant, so we nixed those plans and stayed at home. It was nice, though. We mostly relaxed, but we also worked on clearing out the closet in the guest room. It hadn't been cleared out since I've lived here, I think. Well, the top part of it anyways. We got quite a few things cleared out of the way, so now we have more room to store other things that we have no room for otherwise! Apparently, we straighten up by redistributing our filth. Oh well, at least our Hannah House/ King's Ranch donation bags are getting filled up faster this way. At least we aren't saving EVERYTHING!

4) Still no joy on the job front, but I am still looking. Right now, the biggest roadblock I'm finding is that most graphics jobs insist that you also know how to build websites and databases. I wish I had known that before I changed my minor. Of course, had I not changed my minor, I'd still be in school. I know I'll find something eventually, but is it weird that I feel completely guilty for not working? Steve isn't pressuring me to find anything right away and people haven't been bugging me about it like they did after I lost my secretarial job, but I still feel guilty. I mean, I have a college degree and I'm not doing anything with it! It don't have/want kids to stay home and take care of, so I guess I feel like staying home is cheating somehow. That's dumb, I know. Oh well, anyways, I'll keep you posted. :)

5) I'm redecorating the bathroom! It used to be decorated with dragonflies, but I'm switching it over to ocean stuff and mermaids. I weirdly excited about tying it all together. Most of the things I'm doing is just switching out nik-knacks and adding in a few DIY things, but it's fun. I'll post pictures when I get more of it done.

6) My sea monkeys are still alive and doing fine so far. Just FYI.

Lost is over and the finale was great. It deserves a giant can of:

SEE YOU IN ANOTHER HOUR, BROTHA.

This Sunday marks the final episode of what I consider to be one of the best and most fun television series ever. If you don't know which show I'm talking about, just go. Get out of here, now. You are dead to me.

For those of you who remain, you know I'm talking about Lost. I realize how sad and weird it is to be so attached to a television show, but honestly, it has just been a lot of fun. I love mysteries, and this whole show has been nothing but a giant mystery the whole way through. It is very, very rare that I find a TV show that I like this much, so seeing it go is bitter sweet. I'll miss it a great deal.

However, I have a quandary. Since the show is going to air on Sunday instead of it's normal Tuesday night, I won't be home to watch it. I'll be at church. I won't lie, I considered staying home so that I can watch the finale. If that makes me a bad person, well...bite me. It is my opinion that God Himself will probably be watching the finale, even though he probably already knows how it ends. He's a fan, you know. At any rate, I will not be staying home because A) I'll feel bad for skipping church just to watch TV, and B) I'm supposed to run the sound for the services this weekend. This means that I'm going to have to go on full blackout. I don't want to know anything about anything until I get a chance to start watching. I'm not going to answer my phone, I'm not going to listen to the radio, and I'm not going to go anywhere where I could possibly hear a spoiler. Unless you are dying or my house is on fire, don't call me. If you are dying, send me a text message, and if for some reason you happen to mention that you are dying and "oh, yeah, that last scene with Locke being the smoke monster's father was awesome" I will run to your house and smother you with a pillow. This is serious business.

So, there you go. An end to an era. If someone spoils it for me, I will cut a bitch.

That is all.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) It's been a while, hasn't it? I haven't had much going on, honestly, and I'm sure you have better things to do than read about me doing laundry. Also, I've been feeling kind of blah. I honestly don't know what to do with myself these days and I feel kind of lost. Don't worry, I haven't been having a pity part or anything (I'll wait a bit longer before I do that, heehee) but I feel like I'm in limbo these days. Sometimes it feels like I went to the mailbox one morning and pulled this out:

It's signed on the outside because the inside
picture of the universe giving me the finger takes up too much space.

Granted, I know that isn't the case, but I think I've realized that at some point I fell into the trap of connecting my personal image too closely with what I did for a living. I mean, yeah, it wasn't the greatest job, but I liked doing it and thought it was pretty amazing I got to work in such an awesome place. I mean, how many people get to have as much fun working as I did? When people asked, I told them I was a graphic designer for the Sprocket. I even thought I might be a pretty good one, too. Right now, I'm not. I don't really know what I am. I thought I was right where I should be in life, but obviously I was wrong. That's a weird feeling.

Now, before anyone wonders, I'm not looking for affirmation from anyone else. I know there are people out there who think very good things about me and I honestly appreciate that. I think my problem right now is that my self image is kind of damaged. I don't feel sorry for myself, I feel confused. I suppose it is some kind of existential crisis or something. No worries, though. I'm resilient! I've just got to figure out my place in the world. I'll get there.

2) Enough of that stuff! ENOUGH I SAY! On a more fun note, I am now the proud owner of a container of Sea Monkeys! I've always wanted some, but I've somehow avoided buying them until I saw a package of them at Target while Steve and I were grocery shopping. Honestly, they are kind of gross. I mean, they're fascinating and everything, and right now they are cute little pinpricks swimming around in their tank, but still... I'm scared I'm going to wind up killing them or something! I know they are just brine shrimp. Heck, they don't even have brains, but I am still afraid I'm going to hurt them, forget to feed them, or not aerate their little tank enough. I"m also kind of disturbed by the fact that a tank of them can live for 2 years or more because of *sing it with me now* THE CIRCLE....THE CIRCLE OF LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That means if I don't kill them, which I'm going to try not to do of course, I'm going to have a container of sea critters in my house for around 2 years. What if they breed some kind of genetic anomaly and become sentient? What if I wake up one morning and see them walking around in the kitchen?! I'm scared.

I hope they don't mutate and take over the world.
If they do, though, SyFy will make a movie out of it! Silver Linings!

3) I found another blog today that I like a lot. It's called Fallen Princess, and although I'm not 100% sure, I think the woman who writes it is a former fashion editor for Sassy magazine. She writes about body image and how things are portrayed in the media, but she also writes about her life and other interesting things. It's at least worth a look!

4) Huntsville got a new Earth Fare grocery store recently and I drove across town to check it out yesterday. I loved it! It was big and full of all kinds of things I'd never heard of before! You know how I am about things like that. My only complaint is that almost everything is really expensive! I'm sure there were lots of things that might be worth the extra money, but geez. I did pick up a few things, but I don't think I can make a habit of getting my regular groceries there. I'm sure I'll go back and get some other stuff, though. They have some fresh squeezed orange juice that is to die for! I wondered around for about an hour, just looking for the most part. I think I've figured them out. It's just a big, expensive, organic market created for dirty hippies. If that's the case, I hope I grow up to be a dirty hippie so I can afford more of their stuff! :)

5) I am once again trying my hand at container gardening. What I was specifically interested in growing was strawberries, but I also got a teeny little orange tree. It was on clearance, so I couldn't resist. I think the strawberry plants I bought may be dead, but not at my own hand, thank goodness. They came in a plastic bag wrapped in a burlap sack and even though they had roots that looked alive, I can't tell. I planted them, but we have to wait and see. I may end up going to a nursery or something to see if they have strawberry plants that don't come in a plastic bag. My orange tree still looks alive, at least. It's one of the small ones that you move inside in the winter, so maybe I'll actually get some oranges out of it! If so, marmalade for everyone!

QUICKIE

Just an update on my current issues with my former job.

I recently got a letter that informed me that I have been denied 6 weeks of unemployment because of "misconduct" at work because of what I wrote on my blog. I'm not sure at this point, but I also may have to go through the process of reapplying for benefits because of this, which will be another 3 week delay. I won't know for sure until after the 6 weeks are over, because that's what I can call them again.

S0, even though I was told I wasn't let go because of the stupid blog thing by HR, and even though I explained that to the lady from the department of industrial relations, who in turn called the HR department of my former job and was told what I can only assume was the same information, I am still being punished for what was an honest and inadvertent mistake.

I'm not even mad anymore. I'm simply too tired of it all to be mad.

Sprocket, I get it. You win. Please leave me alone now.

YIKES

I called the police for the first time in my life, just this morning.

Don't worry, Steve didn't finally snap and try to attack me with a thumb drive or anything like that. I heard a gunshot somewhere in our neighborhood.

In the span of 2 seconds I went from "Huh, gunshot." to "HOLY PICKLES! GUNSHOT!"

See, growing up out in the willy-wags, we heard gunshots outside all of the time. People were always hunting, or shooting things for funzies, or possibly shooting at each other as bets. We also lived about a mile away from the county prison, so for all I know the warden was playing "The Most Dangerous Game Home Edition." I say all of that to explain that, yes, I am familiar with the sound of a gun discharging. It wasn't a backfiring vehicle or exploding acorns, it was a gunshot. It was also 4:15 am, I was suffering from a bout of not-being-asleepedness, and as I was sitting in my office I heard a gun fire somewhere in my neighborhood. So I did what any sleep deprived adult would do in this situation: I hit the floor and crawled into the living room.

Shut. Up.

I didn't know what to do! On one hand, I live in Alabama and everyone pretty much owns a gun. It's like Texas, but with smaller hats. There could possibly be many reasons a gun would discharge in the armpit of the morning. On the other hand, I live in a suburb where the loudest thing I normally hear is that rat-bastard child down the street playing his snare drum. A gunshot in the early morning isn't normal for where I live. I peeked out of the living room window and didn't see anything. Of course, I was only peeking out of the corner of the window, in case an angry meth-addicted, gun-wielding psychopath was charging about outside. So I ran down the hall and pretty much jumped on Steve. I didn't know if he would protect me from the afore mentioned psychopath (if he existed), but even so, he'd make a wicked human shield. I shook him awake and told him what happened. I wanted to call the police, but I didn't know if I should call emergency services, or just call the office. All I could think of was if I didn't call anyone, and someone was actually hurt, I'd never forgive myself. However, I didn't hear any screaming or cars driving away in haste, so I didn't know what to do. Steve was only partly awake, so he wasn't very helpful.

So I turned to the internet. Apparently, I'm not the only person who's ever wondered what to do in case of gunshots being fired, because I found out what to do immediately. I didn't call 911, because I didn't know what had happened and didn't actively see carnage, so I called a "Non-Emergency" dispatch number. The nice lady took down my info and I told her what happened. She asked me all kinds of questions, and asked if I wanted officers to come by and talk to me, but I declined. I probably sounded retarded, but all I said was "No, I just wanted to let someone know "in case." It's not normal to hear gunshot sounds at 4:15 in the morning around here!" She said she'd send officers to check it out, but I have no idea what good that is going to do unless a body is laying in the street.

Now I feel like an idiot for calling because it was probably nothing, but I wouldn't have been able to sleep ever again if it WAS something bad.

DON'T LOOK IT IN THE EYE!

I've posted this on Twitter and Facebook, so I thought I'd go ahead and post it here too since it's my last social networking outlet.

What? It was like hanging a picture just off center or only having one book end. I needed closure.



















Also, I think it's funny. Don't judge me.

This was another hat challenge. I was sent a picture of an awesome Cthulu hat a while back, and was told I should make one like it. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the pattern, so I had to improvise. I kept it on much longer than I needed to just to get this picture. It tickled me. :)

So, anyone have another hat suggestion?

YOU WANT TO GO TO THERE

This website makes me laugh. If you go there and you don't laugh, you're pretty much dead inside.

DEAD!

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Oy, I had a terrible nightmare the night before last! Actually, I can't remember most of the dream itself, but I do remember it involved the serial killer from "American Psycho" and he was after me for some reason. Well, maybe it wasn't the dream that was so scary as much as it was the fact that towards the end of it I wound up in one of those half awake "sleep paralysis" situations where I had woken up enough to realize I was still in my room, but still asleep enough to think the bad guy was outside of my room trying to get in. I couldn't move, so I couldn't use the phone to dial 911, and I couldn't move to get out of the window. I couldn't even turn my head to see if he was next to the bed. I was so scared! I finally woke up fully, but I stayed in bed a while to cower. Geez. I didn't even have chocolate before going to bed, so I have no idea where that dream came from.

2) I'm learning to make hard candy and I'm getting good at it! It isn't difficult, so don't get too impressed, but it is time consuming and you have to be careful not to burn the sugar. The first batch I made was tea flavored! Remember that candy I had to order from Japan? Now I can make it myself! HAHA! Take THAT Japan! Having said that, I had to throw the resulting candy away after a day or two because I mistakenly coated it in cornstarch instead of powdered sugar, so it started tasting kind of mealy. Oh well, the second batch was much better, and I'm going to make more so I can put it with my mom's Mother's Day gift. I'm hoping that even at my advanced age, she will still love it because I made it. :)

3) I pulled out my polymer clay yesterday and started sculpting. I forgot how much fun it is, but it's also super messy. I'm hoping to be able to be able to incorporate it into some of the jewelry I'm making. I think I might have a place to sell my Steampunk stuff, but I have to check with my friend to see if they still need items for the shop. Otherwise, I'm going to have to hurry up and open my Etsy shop. Yes, I have one, but I haven't put anything in it yet.

4) Did you see Lost last night?! GAH! Awesome.

5) Still no luck on the job front, but I'm looking! Thinking of going back to school for a class or two for some certifications, though. I still have some research to do on that front.

PLEASE ALLOW ME TO RANT

Well, it looks like my former employer has managed to kick me while I was down. Last week I got a call from the state department that handles the unemployment payments.

Wait, let me backtrack a bit.

The day after I was let go, I had to take my parking pass back to HR and get the information I would need to take the next steps I'd need to do. The nice HR lady told me what to do to get everything squared away, so when I got home from seeing her, I registered online for the unemployment benefits exactly the way she told me to. I don't like getting unemployment payments, even though I really appreciate that they're available. It makes me feel bad, having to take them, but I know I need it until I can find another job, so I was hyper-careful about filling out the form. I did exactly what the HR lady told me to do, gave the exact reason she told me I was let go, and made sure I checked and double checked everything before I gave the final go-ahead for the information to be processed.

OK, so I get a call last week from a lady with the agency, which I thought was a routine call verifying the information. Instead of that, I was told that the reason I gave for being let go was completely different from the reason they were told by my former employers. Say what?! She said the reason they were given was that I had disclosed confidential information online. I told her that, yes, that had happened, but that it was all because of a misunderstanding and I also told her that the 'official reason' I was given was because my job responsibilities had changed and I didn't have the skills to do them (grrr). When she asked me to explain, I told her the whole story. I explained it all honestly. She then asked if I had been given verbal or written warnings before my termination and I told her no, not at all (which is the truth.) She told me that her files indicated that I HAD been given these warnings. Say what #2?!

How could I have been given prior warnings for something that had never been an issue before that day? I promise to you that I not only had never been warned before the day I was let go, I had every reason to believe that my employment at that place was going to continue at least another year! I have an email from my boss telling me that my yearly temporary lay-off was being scheduled so that I would be back in time to help with the upcoming exhibit! There was no indication that anything was wrong, much less that I was such a sub-standard employee that I was on the verge of being fired! It is all completely preposterous.

The thing that absolutely kills me is that now I look like a liar. I look like I purposefully didn't disclose all of the information to the state agency, when all I did was tell them what I was told to. I suppose I could have listed all of the reasons that were printed on that page they handed me the day they let me go, but most of them were so silly (and some even blatantly untrue) that I didn't mention them. Mainly because I was told to tell them the 'official' reason, which I did.

The worst part about it all is that there is nothing I can do about it. I have no recourse. As a temporary employee, I had no rights to appeal this decision because our state laws show that I could be fired for any reason and without explanation. Even without the weird accusations, they could have just as well have said - 'Get out, we don't like your shoes.' I still wouldn't have any rights. I called HR and the nice HR lady (who is probably tired of me at this point) said the state agency woman had called them back and that everything had been straightened out, but who's to say for sure?

I can't get past the feeling that no matter what I say, I'm just going to come across as someone who's lying to everyone so that I don't look bad. There are so many people who lie about why they got fired, why would I be any different? Who are they going to believe, me or my former employers? That makes me sick to my stomach, because I may be silly, I may be a lot of things, but I am NOT a liar. But if I am denied benefits because I didn't disclose all of the information, there isn't anything I can do about that either. My story didn't match their story. Who are they going to believe?

Somehow, I don't think my slip up about the special guest at the premier event is deserving of the treatment I've gotten.

Oh, and to make things more fun, Steve bought us tickets to this opening event back in February, so I'll be attending the infernal event. Awkward...

Anyways, sorry for the rant. Hopefully, everything will be better from here on, one way or another and I'll never have to mention this situation ever again.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Wow, I never realized how difficult it was to keep up with a blog when you aren't seated in front of a computer 8 hours a day!

2) I'm haven't been really sure what to do with myself around here lately. Oh, I have plenty to do, but I don't know where to start! I've finally caught up with laundry for the first time in probably 6 years, though. It's nice to have clean clothes handy when you need them! :) There is still a lot to be done. I never realized how much stuff got pushed aside while I was working. I look around, see everything that still needs to be done and I kind of just go catatonic. Our main issue is just not having a place to put everything. Our house is not conducive to proper storage. I have a feeling we're just going to have to go on a massive, heartless purge of stuff soon or we won't have enough room to live!

3) Looking for a job is not at all fun. Thus far I haven't been able to find anything available in my field that I'm really qualified for. There are a lot of jobs available for people who know AutoCAD, but that wasn't a course I learned in college. There are also a lot of jobs in graphics available for people who build web sites, but I don't know enough about that to do it for a company. There was one job I found that sounded perfect in every way, though. I read the description and realized I was qualified in every way for the job, so I got really excited! I opened up the listing to see where the job was located, and it turned out to be the job I just left. BOO! Oh, and they're paying more for that job now. Nice, huh? Well, I'll keep looking. I keep having nightmares that I'm going to wind up working fast food or something. Literal nightmares. It seems I worked very hard to get a degree that qualifies be for nothing! Hopefully I'll find something good someplace where I can use my mad skillz, yo.

4) I didn't thought I'd miss my Sprocket friends as much as I do. I miss talking to Andrew. He was fun.

5) I got to have lunch with Sara the other day and that was lots of fun! I'm hoping we can make it a regular thing while I am not working! We ate and shopped! It was quite girly and enjoyable!

6) I've picked up a couple of my other hobbies lately, which is good because I think I'm starting to get pretty bad carpel tunnel in my hands from crocheting. I find it sad that I get injuries from something I do while sitting fairly still. It doesn't seem fair! I still crochet, but I have gotten out my jewelry stuff again, and I've been working on some Steampunk pieces that I think are turning out really nice! I'm still learning about the style, though, but I'm not doing so bad thus far. However, I've dismantled many watches and clocks for the gears. Honestly, I think I almost enjoy pulling apart the clocks as much as I enjoy making the jewelry. Seriously, if any of you have some old mechanical watches you want to get rid of, send them my way. I also have some stuff to paint with, but I've never been really good at painting. It's fun and messy, though. I'm also thinking about working on some intaglio prints, but actually producing them without the proper equipment is hard. Now, if I could just figure out how to get an etching press in the garage, I'd be in business!

7) I've also started cooking more, which I love to do. I'm a pretty good cook, but I haven't had much time to do it until now. I'm not doing anything fancy, but I have plans! I even bought a food torch! I've used it a couple of times on store bought creme brulee, and that was an experience. I almost caught the curtains by the sink on fire! I still haven't quite got the hang of making the flame shorter. Heeheehee.

8) I've also been doing some genealogical research lately. While going through some things I inherited when Pappa died, I found a box with my great grandfather's pocket watch in it. I'd never really thought much about it, and if it wasn't for my recent foray into tearing watches apart, I probably wouldn't have thought to even check it out. I opened the back to see how it worked (no, I wasn't going to tear this one apart) and found the name of the company that made it and actually found a lot of information about the watch online. Not the specific watch, but the company that made them and the line of watches it produced. It was interesting. That watch made me realize that I didn't know anything about my great grandfather! I don't know why it didn't dawn on me before, but I didn't even know his name. My dad never spoke about him, even though he's talked a lot about my great grandmother. I talked to my mom and she gave me what info my dad had collected about him, which wasn't much. She also told me some unsavory stories about the man, which more than explains why I'd never heard anything about him. I won't go into detail, mainly because I don't know very much, but suffice it to say that there is a reason I'm related to almost everyone in North Alabama. With some research, and the help of family and friends, I now know that my family tree isn't a tree as much as it is a kudzu vine. I'll be untangling it as much as I can. :)

AWWW!

Look at the pretty flowers that my Aunt Brenda sent!

I am loved! :)

WHAT NOW, INDEED.

So, you're probably wondering why I haven't been on my blog since Wednesday. Trust me, it's been difficult. One reason is that I wanted to step back and not say anything until I wasn't quite as upset about all of this. This whole situation has been beyond idiotic and kind of unbelievable even when you know all of the details. Everyone I've explained the whole story to has felt that way. Because of this, I was afraid that anything I said might come across, well...ugly.

Don't get me wrong. I've spent many hours thinking about the people involved in this debacle; questioning the legitimacy of their parent’s marriage when they were born, wondering about the sexual relationships they may share with their mothers, inviting them to perform both illegal and possibly physically impossible sex acts on themselves and various small, woodland creatures, and sincerely hoping I am right about the geographical locations of their souls in the afterlife.

See? I couldn't say that. Mainly because I knew that I probably wouldn't really think those things once I had time to calm down. When I'm upset, I have trouble thinking rationally. I always have to calm down and think about things, or I say a lot of stuff that I wish I hadn't. I also needed to process all of the information that I was given last week, just to make sure I understood it. You know what? I still don't understand it. I mean, I was given reasons for my termination. I was given 3 different reasons, none of which rang 100% true. I was handed a piece of paper, which I'm positive was hastily typed up mere minutes before it was handed over to HR, that had a random list of my sins listed. On the basis of that, and the fact that all of a sudden, and without any prior warning, I apparently wasn’t talented enough to keep on doing my job, I was let go. I could go on and on about what happened, but I won’t. None of the details matter now, because the thing has been done.

There is a part of me, a bitchy part, that would love to name names, give specifics, and completely and totally expose the whole ridiculous situation for the whole world to read. I mean, apparently my modest little blog must have a massive readership to have caused the cluster-frak that it did last week, right? Millions upon millions of readers (instead of the 6 or so of you who visit on a regular basis) come every day to find out about my allergies and see pictures of my feet. So, I could totally destroy the credibility of some folks. Right? Yeah…I didn’t think so. I’d love to think random people liked reading what I write, but I know that the only reason my blog was located by…well…let’s call it the Evil Empire, was because I used a key word that alerted them to my presence. What it all boils down to is that I mistakenly thought it was safe to talk about something, but I was wrong. It was just that, an honest mistake. I guess it just wasn’t in the cards for me to be allowed to explain my mistake, apologize and move on. I’m also fairly certain that something else I said was completely taken the wrong way, but since I was asked to take down my entry – from my own personal blog – before I could explain to the *ahem* Anonymous commenter what I meant, I never got to explain that either. I managed to step on some fairly sensitive and highly unforgiving toes without even trying. Who says I’m not talented, huh?

I hate that I lost my job, because I honestly loved it. I certainly wasn’t there for the pay, I didn’t get any kind of benefits, my bosses sometimes forgot I was there, and sometimes the work was exhausting, but I didn’t care. I loved working at the place, just because I felt like I was a part of something amazing. I was on the lowest of low places on the totem pole, but even from there, it still seemed awesome to me. I also had so many friends there that I am going to miss working with. If nothing else, I doubt I’ll never find another job that I will feel that way about. I hope I can find something else I like to do, but…there probably won’t be anything else out there like that. Also, it won’t be long until it will be as if I was never even there, and that makes me sad too.

The worst part for me is that I have no way to explain myself to the people who weren’t involved in this whole situation first hand. For the past five years I’d worked with every department, with administration – everyone - and they are going to notice I’m not there, at least until someone takes my place. I’m afraid I’m not going to be fairly represented when the story is told to them. Heaven knows I’ve been on the wrong end of gossip at the place before, so the worst story someone can conjecture will be the one repeated. I know we aren’t supposed to care what other people think, but there are a lot of people there who’s good opinion of me matters. I hate to think that they might believe I did anything maliciously or even on purpose, but who knows?

So, there you go. I know I’m not going into detail as much as I’d like, but I don’t want to cause any more trouble. I know I don’t work there anymore, but if …uh…the same people who got so upset about my blog ever come back and read it again, I don’t want them to cause trouble for anyone else who is still there. Powerful people can cause some powerful problems, that’s for sure. I hate that I caused any problems, but sometimes problems come looking for me, I think!
As for me, right now I’m doing fine. I have support from a lot of really wonderful people. I’m getting things organized for the first time in years, I’ll update the resume, make some things to fill out my portfolio, and eventually I’ll hopefully be working someplace else where I enjoy what I do. Hey, I’ve got a liberal arts degree…if nothing else, I may be serving you guys some French fries, with a smile.  I’ll miss my friends very much, but hopefully keep in touch with many of them with Twitter and Facebook – the modern day pen pal software, you know.

And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Just FYI, I got fired today.

I'll go into it more later, but needless to say, it is due partly to a misunderstanding I had with my bosses, and partly to do with something I wrote on this blog that was taken the wrong way.

Hope you're happy now, Anonymous. Thanks a lot.

AWWWWWWWW!

I wish I had herd of tiny, lab puppies!



This is what I mean by wanting to sit in a box of puppies, in case you have ever thought that was weird.

This article about William Shantner...you must read it.

It is how I always imagined a conversation with him would be!

Via Kenny.

QUICKIE

I'm not sure why I never mentioned this before.

A couple of months ago I was feeling kind of useless. I wanted...nay...needed a goal that didn't involve yarn or giving birth to anything.

I thought that it might be in my best interest to possibly think about going back to school to get my Master's degree. It can't hurt to be more educated, right? We're going to ignore the fact that I honestly didn't want to go back to school, but I still decided to check out my options anyways.

I went to UAH's website to see what was offered in the post graduate programs besides engineering degrees. There was no higher art program, which is what I would have preferred, so I looked around at the other information. The only thing that stood out to me was Biology, because I've always loved the subject and thought I might actually enjoy doing the coursework for it. Something called me away from my research, so I figured that I'd go back and see what was required for the program later on.

That same afternoon, the crazy-ass professor went postal on the Biology department faculty and murdered three of her colleagues and attempted to get several more.

I took it as a sign.

I think I'll stick with yarn.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) We almost had a white-trash, beat down, Jerry Springer style fight AT CHURCH yesterday! I don't know the whole story, and trust me, it's only my newly found desire to stop being so dang nosey (BTW - it's killing me and I may not succeed) that keeps me from asking everyone else who heard the argument what was going on. My best guess is that two women are fighting over this crusty, old man. I know that the man and one of the women have been a couple for a while. I don't really know the other woman, but she just recently started coming to our church and while woman #1 had been out sick, the crusty old man has been sitting kind of close with woman #2. I know that the women got into an argument on the church bus that morning, and I overheard woman #2 telling our pastor's wife (my Sunday school teacher) what had happened. I only heard her say "...ain't nobody going to cuss ME! I don't want to have to beat anyone up at church." Then woman #2 turned to me and said "I might be selling TICKETS this morning!" Our pastor's wife is one of the sweetest and gentlest women I've ever met, and she just kind of sat there with her mouth open. Then woman #1 came in and told our teacher that woman #2 said something bad about her mother, but she didn't elaborate when she realized Steve and I were in there. I just looked down at my book and tried not to get involved.
I'm not usually a pearl-clutcher. You guys know that. In fact, I would normally find this hilarious, but I was honestly afraid these two women would go after each other! In church, on Easter Sunday no less! We ALWAYS have visitors on Easter - church member's families from out of town as well as the Hope-Jesus-Notices-I'm-Here-On-Easter visitors, and the last thing we needed was for these people to see what I'm sure was going to be a rather one-sided fight (if the size difference between the two women was any indication) in the middle of our sanctuary. Luckily, nothing happened. It almost did, because I saw Woman #2 stalking around looking all stabby before services started, but I'm guessing cooler heads calmed her down. Thank goodness.
Just so that you know, our church members are wonderful people and we rarely - if ever - have these kinds of issues go public. Most of them have the class to keep their problems outside the doors. Not these women, though. Yikes.

2) Speaking of Easter...other than the almost "Risen Savior Cage Match" (on Sunday SUNDAY SUNDAY!), we had a really lovely day! I managed to finish my hat and everyone really loved it. I was afraid that it would look dumb on me, but I managed to pull it off OK. Apparently, I would have made a cute Flapper. We had a nice church service, I spent a bit having a text message conversation with a dear friend, and then Steve and I had a great lunch with my family. My nephews are getting so tall. Logan is turning 16 this month and hopefully getting his license. He will be the same age I was when he was born. They make me feel old. We didn't have evening service because of the holiday, so Steve and I spent the rest of the day relaxing. I made some hats and we watched a documentary. Good times.

3) The only dark spot in my day was that wearing my hat all morning caused my hair to do terrible things. I didn't have time to fix it again before going to mom's and she took pictures of me. Now there is documented proof that next to my willowy, petite, blond sister, I look like a linebacker in drag with a badly styled mullet. Oy.

4) Steve downloaded the new Doctor Who and we watched it Saturday night! I was afraid I was really going to hate the new guy, but he wasn't that bad, really. He'll have to grow on me a bit. He looks a lot like Crispin Glover and he dresses like a hipster, but so far I don't hate him. He is not as awesome as David Tennant, but I'll give him a chance. Also, David Tennant has the unfair advantage of me having a tiny, celebrity crush on him, so...there you go.

5) I went to the gym this morning and over did it a bit. I didn't mean to, but I got in the zone and didn't stop when I should have. I had elliptical machine hypnotism or something. Right now I feel as if I've been beaten with NERF bats. If I stay awake, it will be a miracle.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) On my way to the gym this morning I heard the song "Raspberry Beret" by The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. I've heard that song hundreds of times, but today was the first time I thought about it. Was the beret in question raspberry colored? Raspberry flavored? Raspberry scented? Did it look like a raspberry? If it was warm, why would she be wearing a hat in the first place? What did Mr. McGee have against his employees?! So many questions.

2) Yesterday, while I was sitting in the waiting room of the doctor's office, and old lady came and sat next to me. She seemed to be a sweet lady and she struck up a conversation with me about how cold it was in there. Wasn't I cold? When I told her no, I wasn't, she basically said that it was because I was fat. She didn't use the word "fat" but that's what she meant. I knew it and so did she because she tried to back track and change what she said. She's lucky that fat people are jolly.

3) Yesterday was so frustrating! I had the doctor appointment late in the morning that kept getting pushed back and pushed back. I'm not sure what happened to put the doctor so far behind but I was really late, by a couple of hours at least, leaving the office. I had to make a stop (that took much longer than I had thought it would) and the traffic was awful. I also realized at a stop light that my car was sitting on empty and had started doing what I tend to think of as the "Death Shudders." I think that starts happening when your car is almost completely out of gas and the lines get air in them, kind of like trying to drink out of an almost empty cup with a straw. Anyways, I was within sight of a gas station, but at least four cars in front of me had the same idea and I knew I couldn't stand idling and waiting for a pump. Thank goodness I made it to another station close by. Everything was turning to boogers on me, so I finally just had to call in and take the whole day off. I wish I could have spent that time outside enjoying the gorgeous weather. If I've got to call into work and I'm not sick, I at least want to be able to have fun if I'm not at work! :P

4) While riding in an elevator yesterday (alone) I swear I heard someone cough behind me. I know it was stupid, but I swung my arms around to make sure there were no invisible people in there with me. Sometimes I'm not even sure how my own mind works.

*CUE PSYCHO MUSIC*

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to change some wording on one of the large signs that we have posted along the street that runs in front of the Sprocket. It took me quite a while, the sign being quite large, so I was out there long enough for several people to stop their cars and ask me questions while I was working.

I didn't mind, of course. I was in a good mood that morning. Also, dealing with the public is perfectly acceptable in small doses, so I answered all questions as well as I could and told them to enjoy their day. After a while, I noticed that a man was actually walking across the street to come and talk to me. I wasn't too alarmed, because we were by a street and in full view of the interstate, but I'd much rather not be one on one with a large dude when there aren't any other people close by. He seemed to be a nice man. He told me all about his vacation and that he was from Canada. We chatted for a while, and he didn't seem to be in any hurry to start his visit to the museum. I really needed to get back to work, but I couldn't tell him to go away, so he just stood there and talked to me. He stood there and talked for so long, in fact, that I started to kind of drift away in my mind. I know how rude that is, but I couldn't help myself. It wasn't that he was boring, exactly, but I was starting to get kind of uncomfortable.

While in Kelly-Land (the place in my mind where I go when I'm not listening), I thought to myself "You know, this guy could be a weirdo. We're standing right next to the street, but he could beat you to death with his tripod and drag you to his van without much trouble. There aren't that many people driving by. What would you do?"

I reached into the pocket of my lab coat and made sure my scissors was still there. It was purely instinctive. I suppose I just wanted to make sure I had them in case I needed to stab this guy in the face. I thought I was being covert, but when I happened to look down at some point, I realized I was totally clutching the scissors like a weapon. I had taken them out of my pocket and was holding them in such a white-knuckled way that it probably looked as if I were about to run the guy through. He left fairly quickly after that. I tried to look as if I needed the scissors to finish working on the sign, but it was kind of obvious I didn't need them for what I was doing.

This place has made me paranoid.

Friday afternoon, I got a message from my sister telling me that they finally sold the old house. I'm not too proud to tell you that once that sunk in, I sat back at my desk and cried.

Don't get me wrong, I know that being sentimental is a supreme waste of time. I know that there wasn't any good or practical purpose for keeping the house, but it still makes me sad. I mean, the house is just a building, but it stood for so much more than just being a house. It was where I grew up. It was where I had friends over and had the last real birthday parties I'd ever have. It was where I brought my dates to meet my parents and where we ended up on the porch swing after they were over. It was supposed to be the place where my parents grew old together and where I'd take my children to visit (if I ever had them.) It was the last place that my family was whole. It was the the only place left where every inch didn't remind me of something bad. It was my last safe place, and now I can't go back.

I know how stupid that sounds to a couple of you, trust me. I wish I could explain it better, but I don't know how.

I'm not against the sale of the house. I know that you can't hang on to things forever. People and places go out of your life all of the time, and usually you don't get much of a say about when they disappear. I know that lesson better than I wish I did. Intellectually knowing that doesn't make it any easier.

Anyways, sorry for harshing your buzz. I'm just very, very sorry to see the place go.

HELP ME, ANSEL ADAMS, YOU'RE MY ONLY HOPE

I need opinions from people who know about cameras.

I decided that I wanted to save up and buy a new camera this year. I don't need anything big and fancy with a bunch of filters and detachable lenses. This is partly because I'm just a casual photographer and partly because I have to deal with the issue of carrying it around with me when I travel. I don't want to have a separate camera bag to lug along with me. I always carry my camera in my purse for easy access and to keep it from getting liberated from my luggage by the overly excitable Homeland Security hastareds who paw through my clothes when I fly. My Kodak Easy Share is fine and useful, but it's getting a little long in the tooth and I've been having issues importing files from it onto my iMac. That may have more to do with the fact that my Mac is from 2005, though.

However, I digress.

I've picked out two separate cameras that I'm interested in. Thus far, I've saved enough money to buy either of them, so that part isn't an issue. I need advice from those of you who know enough about cameras to tell me which one would be a better purchase. I know it depends a lot on the kind of photography that a person does, but I do all different kinds. If it helps, I do a lot of landscape stuff when I travel, lots of macros for fun, and pictures of my feet.

Canon PowerShot S90

or

Canon PowerShot SX210IS

Discuss.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Josh came for a visit last weekend! Yay! I didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with him, though, but I did have to share him with his family. BOO! He and Jeoff brought two of Josh's nieces to the SpRocket for a visit and so I got to meet Jeoff Friday afternoon. He's really a sweetheart and I liked him a lot! :) We also made plans to meet at Rosie's for dinner. Since Steve was out of town it was just Josh, Jeoff, Shannon, Anthony and me. We had a lot of fun, once we found each other at least. I got there first and got a table, but the only phone number I had in my phone was Shannon's. I called to let her know where I was, so she found me. Unfortunately, Anthony must have got there right as I was seated, because he also got a table. We spent 30 minutes waiting for each other to get to the restaurant before we managed to hook up. Anthony apparently called me, but I never heard my phone ring. Oh well, it worked out fine. Luckily, the servers were very cool about it all and Shannon and I moved with no problem. We managed to offend at least two different tables around us as we ate, but we always do that. We are loud.

2) I got my hair cut last week and it has taken me a while, but I think I've finally come to terms with it. I just wanted something different and I took a picture I found on the Internet to the stylist. She did her best, but it doesn't look exactly the same. Oh well, it'll work. It's quite short and choppy, and I look more like Velma than I used to. I didn't realize it until I got home though. I didn't have time to let the lady style my hair (I waited two freaking hours before they could get to me) so I just jumped up and ran out of the salon so I could finish my errands. It looked fine with it was still damp, so I didn't think anything of it. When I got home, I was washing my hands and happened to look in the mirror. The first thing that came out of my mouth was "jinkies." With my glasses on, it's almost eerie how alike we look. It has styled correctly a total of once since last Wednesday, but I'm getting used to it. When Josh saw it he started picking at it and said "Oh, are we trying bangs again?" The harpy. I haven't been able to take a picture of my hair that I'm comfortable sharing yet, but I'll get one soon.

3) I learned to make pizza crust from scratch over the weekend and it is good! I don't really care for pizza normally, so I'm not sure why I made it. I was probably bored. At any rate, I like making pizza myself, so I am going to figure out how to make a pizza I like and leave Papa John's to Steve!

4) Steve was visiting some of our Georgia family last weekend, so I was on my own. I didn't do a whole lot, but I did manage to do most of the laundry! Dear Lord, I hate doing laundry. Specifically, I hate folding and putting away laundry. I'm not sure why it piles up the way it does, either. It's just the two of us here, and it isn't as if we have costume changes in between television shows we watch. I still have some I didn't get done, and a whole lot I still have to fold and put away. I need to go on a rampage and donate half of what I have in the house just so I don't have to wash it anymore. Ugh. It would be worth it.

5) I've been crocheting like a mad woman lately. I actually bought (hack, hack) a pattern online the other day. I usually just look for the ones that are free since there are so many out there, but I wanted this particular hat for Easter. I have tried and tried to make it, but something about the instructions doesn't make sense. I've laid that pattern aside for now and tried another one. However, somehow I don't have the right size hook for this pattern, so the two versions of the hat I've made have either been very small or very large. I'm getting frustrated!

6) Yeah, yeah, I haven't been posting much. However, honestly, nothing has really been going on. Well at least not much I think would be interesting to other people. My life is just kind bland right now, I guess. Once it is perfect, I'll post more often! I promise! :)