|
|
|
July 1st, 2009
08:51 am - Feelin' Good :D
This week is awesome. I have six days off of work, and I get to spend them all with Christopher! What I really appreciate, though, is that we also have six days of having dinner with various friends and family. It's very encouraging to find that we know so many people who are interested in checking in on us and being a part of this. Also, it's freaking sunny out! So I'm basically happy with everything in the world :D
|
June 27th, 2009
11:19 pm - Has it really been two months since I last posted?
Wow, have I been lazy. Many things have happened and for whatever reason I've simply not felt like posting. However, tonight I feel cheerfully obligated to announce that I have a boyfriend :D
|
April 25th, 2009
09:17 pm - Tamora Pierce!
Saturday, May 9th, 6:30, Third Place Books. I would very much like to go, and I would very much like to go with someone else. Anyone?
|
April 14th, 2009
07:22 am - Seriously, Family, there is something wrong with you
My step-dad punched my grandpa on Easter. Like, they went outside and had a fight on the front lawn. Now, my grandpa was being an amazing jerk, but still! And the part that made the whole thing surreal was that no one seemed to care or think this was strange at all.
OMG, people! I do not want to be the family where this sort of thing "happens." Growing up I had a very functional family with very little wrong with it, thank you very much. Now . . . what the hell. It's so broken.
|
March 2nd, 2009
06:08 pm - Rear-Ended!
I was rear-ended, again. Only this time my car wasn't totalled! In fact, there was no mark on it at all. My neck hurt a bit, but having had experience with these things I think it's just some light soreness. Overall I am very pleased with the lack of traumatization :) Also, it's nice to not have my car destroyed.
|
February 27th, 2009
09:41 am - Being healthy is a horrible thing
On Wednesday Abi and I started a detox/elimination diet. The goal is not to lose weight, but to find out which foods we have allergic reactions to. Issues like low energy, tiredness, brain-fog, insomnia, joint pain, etc, can all be symptoms of a mild food allergy. So this is a good idea, right? The answer is yes, except that it might kill me.
See, the problem is all these vegetables. I'm supposed to eat 2 cups of vegetables twice a day, which is a hell of a lot of vegetables. I do not normally eat vegetables, because most vegetables are gross. To make them not gross, I have to do (from Jamie standards) a ridiculous amount of cooking. Gross vegetables vs. lots of cooking . . . it's a toss up as to which one I like least. So I spent the last two days disliking my food, and today I will try the cooking.
Also? Having a diet that consists primarily of rice, vegetables, and a little fish is not helpful to my energy levels. I spent most of yesterday feeling like I might pass out. Or throw up. So I might be voluntarily killing myself. Whine, whine, whine.
Abi, however, is perfectly fine.
|
February 18th, 2009
09:50 pm - I wish I had a life
I have Thursday and Friday off and nothing to do . . . bleh. Books are good friends and all, but sometimes a change is nice.
|
January 23rd, 2009
12:55 pm - How does this game work again?
After six years of not playing, I decided to load Diablo II onto my computer. Onto my new computer, the one that I just bought this summer. Well, just like good old times, the game is all pagey. Oh, how I missed not being able to get my character to do what I want.
Besides that, I've forgotten every basic thing about the game. Hotkeys, what? Automap? Quests? I can't even name the classes. Yet once upon a time I played this game so very, very much.
|
January 22nd, 2009
02:22 pm - Star Trek Book Club: James Doohan
Book: The Rising by James Doohan and S. M. Stirling
Year Published: 1996
Length: 377 pages
Mary Sue Character: Paddy, the Irishly-accented and resourceful Chief Engineer who generally looks like Doohan, only taller and with all of his flab turned to muscle. However, he's not the main character. Whoa!
Plot Summary: Space Command is at war against a fanatical religious group that controls all the fuel in the universe. Peter Raeder, an ex-Speed (X-Wing) pilot who lost the ability to fly, is a genius flight engineer. He gets hired on to a ship after their flight engineer is murdered and is asked to solve the mystery while exercising great people skills.
Verdict: If I was 10-15 years younger (aka, hadn't read enough books to recognize the bad parts of this one) I would have liked it very much.
The Rising isn't a terrible book, it's just not very well-written. Specifically, there are several choices that the authors made which are, well, annoying. Here are some examples:
- Religious fanatics? Seriously? In space? It's just weak. Also, they're the kind that's so fanatic that they enjoy suffering, and refer to everyone else as a heretic, and have no concern for their own survival, etc, and are all exactly the same and predictable. Also? They're called the Mollies. It's an acronym, but it's dumb, and I can't take them seriously. (And it's spelled wrong on the back of the book, lol.)
- You probably wouldn't have realized it on your own, but Peter is very clever. So to make sure we know this he's constantly telling us all the funny things he's thinking in his head! Why, he has a good comeback every third paragraph! In his head. It's like having the director's commentary written into the book.
- How old is Peter Raeder? You'll never guess! The authors give you hints by having him talk about all the action he's seen, and he refers to 21-year-olds as babies, and he has great experience and leadership skills, and oh look! On page 70 they tell you that he's 27. I'm not buying it.
- Shall we refer to him as Peter or as Raeder? Why not both? In the same sentence?
If you can look beyond these problems, the book is actually good. The charcters are interesting, the mystery keeps it moving, and the science doesn't bog you down. As Publisher's Weekly said, "This isn't great SF, but Trekkies are likely to beam it up right off the bookstore shelves."
Also, the cover features James Doohan's head fighting a battle in space.
Next Meeting: March 7th
Next Book: Time Blender by Michael Dorn
|
January 19th, 2009
12:06 am - Not so much guys
My supervisor tonight had to call security because there was a couple in front of our recycling bin who had gone from "making out" to "definitely more than making out." He said he couldn't tell me any more without being incredibly non-work safe 0_o
I know it was cold out, but sheesh . . .
|
January 18th, 2009
10:41 pm - Hypothermia?
I have a cold. It's not a deadly cold, but I'm definitely sick and have a stuffy head. For the past 2-3 days I've kept thinking that I was maybe running a fever, but whenever I've taken my temperature it's been pretty low (under 97 degrees). Then yesterday at work it was 95.7! That seemed a little ridiculous to me, but I was still upright and functioning, so I decided to stay at work. By the end of my shift my head felt all hot and kind of woozy, yet another check showed my temperature to be 95.4 . . . weird.
"Oh well," says I, "I shall go home and the internet will solve all my problems." But no! The internet has failed me! Normally it's all keen to predict my doom, like, "Do you have a stuffy nose? YOU HAVE BRAIN CANCER," but instead it was all like, "meh." I couldn't find out if it's bad to have a low temperature or even what causes it. However, I did find out that having a temperature of less than 95 degrees is considered hypothermia. So . . . I almost had hypothermia. Only I wasn't cold. Thanks, internet.
A useful thing that I did learn in regards to body temperature is that 98.6 is not an ideal temperature, it's just an average temperature. Many people have temperatures a degree or so lower than that as their average. Also, whether or not you have a fever is determined by your average body temperature. So I'm going to take my temperature every day for a month to see what my average is. I think I might just have a naturally low temperature. *shrug*
|
January 9th, 2009
11:00 pm - Lack of attention span!
I seem to have developed a bad case of the mental fidgets. I'm currently reading . . . six books? And I'll be starting a seventh. Yet I must consume! I must read more!
|
January 8th, 2009
11:11 pm - Has anyone else heard of this comic?
Someone showed me this webcomic that I had never heard of, and I was shocked by how much I liked it! It seemed like the sort of thing that many of you folks might enjoy as well, so I thought I'd post it:
Gunnerkrigg Court
It takes place in a very strange, science-oriented British boarding school. There's a lot of alchemy and mythology mixed in, and it's very bizarre and slightly eerie. Yet, to use Jeremy's word, the characters are quite charming. I also love the art and that there is a well-planned storyline with separate chapters. So . . . I recommend it. Definite thumbs up.
Here is the first page of the comic: The Beginning
|
January 7th, 2009
12:59 pm - Maybe he had several, and so didn't mind if he lost one?
Yesterday I had a customer come up to the counter with a stroller and ask if he could leave his kid there while he ran out to his car to get something.
Everyone reading this should respond with, "What the hell?! You can't just drop your kid off with the nearest cashier while you run out to your car!" If that is not your response, you might want to rethink having children.
Anyways, the customer was very insistent and got pretty upset that I wouldn't let him leave his child with us. I think I told him "no" five times before he angrily left the store. He kept restating that it would only be a short time, and that he didn't want to take his child out into the cold weather, so why wouldn't I let him do this? He kept saying that I didn't understand and I think he even said that I was being rude for not helping him. He even brought out his ID, saying that he was a respectable person and the father of this child (though I'm not sure how seeing his ID proves the child is his, nor does it prove that he's respectable), and then he said that it was okay because he worked for Microsoft and showed me his blue badge.
Jeremy pointed out that by not letting him abandon his child I was disallowing events to occur that in the past have led to such things as Punky Brewster, yet I still don't feel bad. I guess I'm just a jerk about these things.
|
January 5th, 2009
09:45 am - Today's Jamie looks less like a doofus
Finally, after three weeks of having a chipped front tooth, I was able to see the dentist this morning! Now I can stop introducing myself by saying, "Hi! I'm Jamie, and yes, I do have dental insurance. Really." It is very pleasant having all of my teeth in the correct shape.
So in the last year I've had cleanings, bleaching, cavities, and now a filling. I can safely say that no matter what you're having done, going to the dentist always sucks. And somehow I always imagine that it's not really that terrible, and then they start sticking cotton balls and goo and buzz saws in my mouth. But today's visit ended on an incredibly positive note in that I didn't have to pay a thing! Because of the bad economy my dentist is trying to help out his clients by only charging us what the insurance covers, meaning that I pay nothing. How awesome! I think I'll celebrate by having hot cocoa and a cupcake.
|
January 4th, 2009
11:34 pm - Oh so smart
So I was helping serve the coffee and communion again at church this week, and this time when I spilled hot water everywhere my brain went, "Oh no! Boiling hot water is spewing out of the tap, YOU SHOULD PUT YOUR HAND UNDER IT TO STOP IT." Because I'm a quick thinker like that! But thankfully my hand was quick to say, "Hell no that hurts," so I didn't get it too bad. I actually thought I was fine until a few hours later when I noticed a red patch on the back of my hand. It's not very big, but it sure did decide to hurt like hell at work. (Which ended up funny, because no one there had any idea what to put on a burn. Not even Jenn, who is both a mom and a nurse-in-training.) Also, though nice hot showers help many aches and pains, they do not help burns. Instead, they make the burn feel like it's on fire and eating through your hand.
In three weeks I'll be helping again at church. Hopefully by then I'll have learned from the last two times and will be able to get the hot water into the cambro without it ending up all over me.
|
December 30th, 2008
06:51 pm - Extended Christmas
So Christmas went well, and thanks to Jeremy's rescue I didn't get snowed in at my dad's. Also, the step-families weren't as weird as I thought they would be (though they were still weird).
The rest of my family that I didn't get to see will be gathering at my mom's house on Saturday. I am totally excited for this because I have the day off work and can spend the whole day harassing my cousin. (Hear that, Cousin? I'm talking to you!) In fact, I even got a Facebook account just so I could spy on her, because I'm her kind, older cousin who feels that need to do things like that. Lucky her!
|
December 24th, 2008
12:04 pm - At least it stopped snowing
I just got back from digging a path out of our condo complex. Literally, digging. Abi, Jeremy, her dad and I plus one neighbor spent half an hour digging two tire tracks through the part where our cars were getting stuck. We were breaking through 2-3 inches of ice for most of it, plus scooping out the several inches of slush on top. It was fun to be helpful, but my pathetic non-muscles are all tired and complainy from shoveling snow :P
But in good news, it looks like I can still have Christmas! There will be no aunt, uncle, or cousins, and no grandparents, but I will be able to see my mom tonight, and then I'll spend the night at my dad's so I can be there Christmas morning. I am very thankful for this :D
|
December 22nd, 2008
10:09 pm - Snowboots are for pansies
I thought work was going to be cancelled today, but it wasn't. Jill said I could stay home, but I knew she needed the help, but my car was all snowed in, but I wanted to go, so I ended up walking to work. Two and a half miles on unplowed sidewalks! I trudged through four inches of snow for most of the way, with the occasional smoosh into an unexpected twelve inches. I was enjoying myself until I got halfway up the first hill, at which point my legs were sore and I was bored. I did, however, derive much satisfaction from pushing one guy's car out of the snow all by myself :)
So even though it was boring, I'm glad I did it because HPB was super fun today. Everyone was so relaxed and nobody cared what you got done. (Jill was just glad people showed up at all.) Besides, now I've learned the important lessons that walking to work has not become any more exciting since this summer and that my trudging muscles are out of shape. Good things to know.
|
December 21st, 2008
02:32 pm - At this point, doing anything in Bellevue is an adventure
This morning's adventure: Going To Church.
We seemed to have missed the windstorm (which is GREAT - I happen to like having the power on) but we had another four inches of snow when I woke up this morning at 6:30am. Happily, though, there was a nice frozen crust (like a thin candy shell) so when I went to dig out Abi's car at 7:30, all I really had to do was break the crust and dig. No scraping necessary - just fling snow at will! I found that our plastic cutting board worked well.
We got out of our condo complex just fine, then immediately got stuck. I did a lot of pushing, but unfortunately when it's me against the car I tend to lose. But two guys stopped when they saw how pathetic I was and helped push us out. And we eventually, slowly, made our way to church without crashing or getting stuck again. Abi was very great at being calm and careful, even though I know she was completely stressed out.
Upon arrival Abi went to go do her stage managing thing and I went to see if the hospitality team had showed up. Only one person had made it, so I helped make vats of coffee, and put out communion, and yes, it is always tempting to switch the wine with the juice. We stayed for two services because neither Abi nor I had relief volunteers. (We were expecting that, though, so I minded not at all.) But really, I shouldn't be left to do things by myself. People did get their coffee and communion, but it was a bit haphazard and I spilled all over the kitchen :P Do not trust me with responsibility! If left alone, I will mess things up and/or make a mess. So a thank you goes to Jeremy and Abi for lending their helping hands, which were very helpful! The three of us finally left at 1:30pm and, of course, by that time it had been snowing again for the last two hours. Driving home was a bit fearful, but we made it.
As was expected, work is closed today (and perhaps tomorrow as well), so I am now holed up at home enjoying a paid day off. Abi and I might go out for another snowland walking adventure, but there will be no more driving. Some of the roads have a solid two inches of ice :P I do not recommend coming to Bellevue unless you enjoy not stopping at intersections.
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
_artemis_'s journal