Val (the real me)

Long time foo me to post..

2008-04-28T02:14:35Z

Well friends, I know it's been a REAL long time since I've posted...
Mostly due to the fact that they have blocked LJ at work. It really sucks.
But also because I have been tortured with calculus and children and it's hard for me to find time to post.
Right now, that's what my life consists of. Work, school, children and trying to pay for it all. (Except, I don't pay for work. Nosiree...)
You see, if it took that long to explain it, imagine living it. The only downtime I get is filled with RPGs and Netflix... That's right NetFlix... If you don't have it yet...

*Sound of my palm hitting your face* GET IT NOW!
If you don't have cable (which I don't) and you like to rent movies, GET NETFLIX.
they have a better selection than ANY local rental store and they are generally cheaper.
Think about it: If you go to Blockbuster and rent 3 movies, it'll cost you about $10-$12.
Now if you turned those movies in two nights after and decided to rent 3 more movies again it would cost you $10-$12. Which comes to between $20-$24...
That's all Netflix costs in a month for 3 DVD whenever you get your previous three in to them. the turnover rate is this... Let's say on Monday I get 3 movies... I watch all three and mail them out on Tuesday. They get em and send out my next three on Wednesday and on Thursday I get those in the mail. Technically I could watch all three once more and send THOSE back on Friday and get something on Tuesday (they don't ship on Saturday but if they ship it on Friday you can get it Saturday.) Anyway, that's already much less cash than if you went to Blockbuster 3 times.

Crap, I didn't mean for this to turn into a pitch... I shall move on.

But, on another note, (and I know someone who will REALLY dig this as much as me) they seem too be planning on resurrecting the cold dead ashes of one of our favorite British sci-fi's...

Blake's 7

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36517

That's right, America: Blake, Avon, Cassie and the rest of the gang that we know and love are coming back (I'm certain it's not the same actors) for a spot of trying to cash in on the older shows being redone. Let's just hope they get a guy with a curly brown afro to play Blake. That'd be really cool.

Wait... I have a curly brown afro... *crosses fingers* Please, please, please, cast me as Blake... I'd be the envy of my friends. It doesn't matter that my acting experience is limited to LARPs and a third grade play where I was Smoky the Bear.

Anyway, how are you? :-)

_val_ @ 2007-12-24T15:05:00

2007-12-24T20:07:21Z

Merry - happy - christmas err... Birthday thingy...

You get the idea Mariness.

:-)

_val_ @ 2007-11-25T10:20:00

2007-11-25T15:19:18Z

HAPPY BIRTHDAY arcanazero!!
You no LJ'ing meaney!

Once more with feeling...

2007-10-23T16:54:27Z

So.

I will once again tell you of the crap that is my office.

A) The urinal in the men's room doesn't work. It isn't properly attached to the wall and when someone flushes it, Niagara Falls comes from the wall...

B) This wouldn't be so bad if the commode worked properly. It usually works, but sometimes (whenever it rains. I live in Florida... I don't think we get rain. We get Earth Deluges. Seriously, we get rain even if the sun is shining) it backs up and doesn't work. Ditto for the women's room.

C) The sticky stuff used to hold the tiles down in the kitchen seeps through the tile cracks because the office used to hold a print shop and whatever chemicals the print shop used nulls the glue and makes it seep through the cracks. SO, if you don't watch your step, your shoe will suddenly gain a sticky spot and you will have it throughout the remainder of your day.

D) The circuit breaker is so old that you can't run the microwave and coffee pot at the same time... This has distinct drawbacks.

E) Not all of the lights in the office work. They are fluorescent lights that you see in offices the world over. BUT, these were recycled because they were already in the building before they re-constructed the interior to make way for actual office space instead of the electrician school/ print shop that it once was. So instead of dealing with the flickering of the lights right over my head, I've just gone ahead and pulled the bulbs from the lights right above my cubicle.

F) (And this is the kicker) The AC went out today. Did I mention that I live in South Florida where there are three temperatures? OH, ITS FUCKING HOT! Hot. Almost Hot.
Occasionally we get some Cool or Cold, but that's like one or two days out of the year.
Today is Hot. So the inside of the office (with no windows) is very hot.
I have a fan, but when I sit in front of the fan it's like sleeping in front of the fireplace during a REAL winter.
One side is hotter than hell and the other side is cold. That's how I feel.
I feel like a frozen burger that's on the griddle and somebody forgot to turn me over.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2007-10-15T14:11:54Z

Late as I might be to post this.

Happy Freaking Birthday Coldecho!

PS- Sorry for falling asleep at the last game... I blame the children. :-)

Today is a negative day so far.

2007-10-09T15:53:23Z

On Teusday and Thursday mornings at 9.30 I have class. Pre-Calculus to be exact. But today, my day has been extraordinarily odd.

I woke up this morning and got ready for class, kissed my family goodbye and got into my truck to go to class. I decided that I should just head on to school instead of falling to the temptation of Dunkin Donuts coffee and sugary evils that have a hole in them.

I was at a stop light on the way to school and there is a Public Bus sitting on the side of the road with a County Supervisor behind it and a cop behind him.

Then I see my dad (who drives these buses for a living) come around thefront of the bus so I honk at him to get his attention. He comes over and he says that he nicked the car in front of him lightly while sitting at the stoplight with the bike rack that hangs on the front of the bus so folks can ride their bikes to the bus stops. I tell him that I'm glad it's nothing more than a minor annoyance and continue on my way.

I get to the school about 30 minutes ahead of class time usually I do this so I can study the material but since we're starting something new today, I decide just to sit in an Air Conditioned public area and read my book.

After about 15 minutes of chilling out, all the lights in the place go out.
This particular building has many, many windows so the sun shines very well into this place and the AC takes a while to dissipate so I decided not to leave until class time anyway.

When the time came, I walked over to the building that houses my class and was greeted in the dark hallway by a classmate and she said that we were supposed to evacuate the building. Indeed, the teacher showed up then and started shooing folks out the door.

After we got outside, we waited for the power to come back on and it didn't so class was cancelled. OK, I said, I can just get to work earlier than normal.

I got BACK into my truck and started to leave when I realized that the stop lights all around the campus were out so getting off campus was a beast.

I take two linked highways from school to work, the link between these two highways is a VERY high bridge with two lanes. Somehow they had one whole lane shut down and they had two guys going at the walls with garden hoses...
I'm not kidding. Not pressure washers, but regular, green, garden hoses.

Talk about freaky. I didn't even go into the whole gas-station debacle on my way to said highway.

Another thing that makes this a negative day is that I read in the paper about a woman who scalded her toddler to death by dunking him in boiling water for a stinky diaper... The paper described that the boy's skin had melted off of his feet, legs and lower abdomen.

The mother didn't just dip his feet into the water. she dunked him up to his ribs... Here is the link.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbburn1009nboct09,0,6863227.story

This pisses me off. This makes me so unbearably psychotic that I feel it could be unhealthy. I hate these people. I want to punish these people. I don't because I don't feel that I would do the job well enough. But I can't help the feeling of blind rage this invokes in me...

I don't wish to say more than that.

_val_ @ 2007-09-12T10:01:00

2007-09-12T14:00:05Z

heh.

Only slightly dorky.

All Hail Cthulu

2007-09-04T17:35:19Z

So... I was playing around in Google Earth and decided to see what they added since the last time I updated...

First, (before the Cthulu stuff) they now have what they call Google Sky...
IT... FUCKING... RAWKS!!! You can now invert your view and look at the sky. Including (but not limited to) constellations and pictures from the Hubble Telescope of far away galaxies and other near and outer space pictures, etc.
Pretty awesome.

Next I decided if I could find R'lyeh which for those of you who don't know is the city where Cthulu is imprisoned until it rises to the surface again.
And LO! there did I find it. Actually I found about 3 entries as to the exact location.

If you have Google Earth you can turn on different layers and if turn on the layer that allows the Google Earth Community to post stuff you can find these entries in the South Pacific.

Nearby is the supposed "most remote place on the oceans of Earth" stating that this is the furthest place from any land on Earth you will find.

Perhaps, HP Love craft new that and that's why he made R'lyeh be here.

So download Google Earth (it's free) and besides the hours of checking out the entire world in aerial format you can now see where R'lyeh is if you feel like trying to resurrect Cthulu.

_val_ @ 2007-07-25T09:17:00

2007-07-25T13:26:53Z

NOTE TO SELF:

IF the surveyor has given you a survey for a job you are doing, DON'T!

I repeat.

DON'T call him a dumbass for missing parts of the survey that a fucking three year old would notice missing, no matter how infuriating or how much of a fucking asshole this particular jack-off happens to be at the time.

If you insist on calling him a dumbass or accusing his surveyors of being high on the job, then he'll tell your boss. (not very nicely either)

And then the boss will call you into his office and mention that even though he agrees with your assessment of said jackass it's very unprofessional to qualify someone as a "head-up-the-ass" contest winner.

Damn, but sometimes I wish violence was condoned in an office setting.
GRR!

_val_ @ 2007-07-10T09:40:00

2007-07-10T13:49:33Z

Ok. So I was looking at my friends list and I realized that someone whom I haven't friended in return has placed me on their friends list.

When I see this I wonder what I did to get onto that person's friends list.

I'm not even certain who that person is. And yet, I wonder.

Was it something I wrote on my journal? Do I know this person outside of LJ?
Did this person find me by doing an interest search? Do we have a similar acquaintance?

I want to ask this person, "Who are you and why am I so interesting, even if the interesting part was brief and has passed?"

There you have it. My thoughts on this.

_val_ @ 2007-07-10T09:33:00

2007-07-10T13:35:46Z

Happy Birthday athenakt!!!
I'd get you a cake, but we couldn't fit all the candles on it. :-)

_val_ @ 2007-06-18T10:02:00

2007-06-18T14:07:00Z

HAPPY BIRTHDAY lindori!!!!

Come to Florida nad I'll throw you a party.

I'm probably late with this one

2007-06-15T14:34:16Z

Darkness.

I awoke last night to the sound of scraping on the sliding glass doors.
Not the dog barking. It puzzled me.
As I was coming awake though I could hear the sounds of screaming from the neighbors and I wondered what was happening. So I grabbed the steel-headed mace that lies under my bed and I decided to see what was happening.

An explosion went off outside far away as I climbed down the stairs. The quiet and the darkness gave me the heebies but I still continued down the stairs to the back of the house where the glass doors was located.
I slowly wondered where my family was but then I remembered that they were out of town. But not the dog. she stays with the house. And she wasn't barking.

I reached the bottom of the stairs into the darkness of the front room. I stood by the front door and could hear more sounds like screams and car doors slamming. Walking slowly towards the front windows I could tell it was still night time and that I should be sleeping.

I reached the front windows and stuck a couple of fingers through the dark wood blinds to part them so I could see out the window.
My neighbors were throwing suitcases and other things into their cars as if they were leaving in a great hurry. Still, my sleep fogged brain didn't comprehend the panicked looks on their faces.

I shook my head at the craziness of the people that are my neighbors and headed towards the back of the house. Still no sign of the dog.

I walked past the kitchen which was too black to see into and I reached the glass doors which was my destination.
the sounds now sounded less like scraping and more like something wet sliding up and down the glass. Reaching over to the right I found the pole that turns the blinds open so that they can be opened all the way.
It was still pretty dark, but my eyes were adjusting.

As I turned the pole the blinds turned in sync and I could see the night through the glass. On the ground scratching to get in was the dog.
No wonder she wasn't barking. I forgot to let her back in before falling asleep.
I reached through the left side of the blinds to open the door and let her in when I noticed that she was acting hurt or something. So I let her in and the sounds and smells of the night wafted in with her.

The burning and the screams were poignant. Enough to distract me from the dog coming in the door by my feet.

"What the hell's going on?" I ask the dog.
Of course she only replies by wanting to be pet. I oblige.

Her hair is wet and I think that the sprinklers must have come on while she was out there. I decide to step out of the door and into the fenced backyard to see what the hell WAS going on. I couldn't see the street that runs behind my house through the 7 foot tall wooden box fence so I go to the gate and open it.

The dog tags along. Normally, I would tell her to get back into the house so I don't have to chase her down the street, but something tells me not to.

Opening the wooden gate I notice that one of my neighbors house is on fire and that must be where the burning smell is coming from and why the other neighbors are packing there stuff up. Being a townhome complex I could see why they would be somewhat panicked. but I think they were over-reacting.

I step into the yard between the fence and the road and stop dead in my tracks. Less than 1000 yards away where houses and a street and trees should be is a crater.
I cannot see the far side of it, but I can see the orange glow coming from somewhere inside.
I can also see that my townhome complex should have been destroyed. There were others that had fallen. I can see hundreds of people around the crater, but they were walking funny as if they were plagued by a stiffness.

I feel the dog lick my hand and I look down at here thinking she was REAL lucky because she must've been outside when whatever this was occurred.

Kneeling down I give her a hug and think that she smells funny.

That's when the dawning came. It was death. The funny smell. It was coming off of the dog. I leaned back a little to get a good look at her and I realize that she was missing an eye. One of her legs was missing a foot and that was the leg she was using to scratch at the doors to get in.

I realized that she was a zombie. I looked back at the people on the rim of the crater and realized that they were all zombies. I notice the cars that were lying on the sides of the road in heaps of junk, some of their drivers still halfway hanging out of the windows in like forgotten puppets. I also realize the gory remains of someone was not 30 feet from where I kneel in the semi-darkness petting the bloodied fur of my undead dog.

I scream.

PS - OK. I'm not the world's most talented writer, but blogging like the end of the world/zombies is fun. It's probably a bit painful to read, but read it anyway.

10 years

2007-06-13T17:02:01Z

So.

As of today, I have worked at my job for 10 years.
You never imagine when you start a new job that you would be working for them 10 years later. You think to yourself that something is probably gonna happen between here there.

When it doesn't you wonder if you missed anything along those 10 years.

*SHRUG*

Not sure if I did, not sure if I didn't. If I did miss something, then I guess it's too late to notice it now anyway.

My company doesn't really so anything for heir employees for tenure of service. But the folks at my office pitched in for some ice cream cake which was cool and since it was a Carvel cake it was good as well. They also bought me lunch, so there you have it.

Maybe 10 years down the line I'll looks back and say, "20 years at the same job? I wonder if I missed anything along the way."

This was bound to happen...

2007-04-25T14:32:30Z

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070425/ap_on_sc/habitable_planet

In my mind it's statistically impossible that there would be no other planets near enough to our own to be even theoretically habitable. I just knew that it would take time to find it.

Now, this planet might be a bit different due to the 20ish light year distance from here. But how much is a planet that is probably uninhabited by humans gonna really change in 20 years.

Of course, if there is intelligent life on this planet that is near our own... Well, I feel that any intelligent life that we find in the universe won't be exactly how we imagine it.

My only regret is that we don't have the technology currently available to research this planet much further in my lifetime. Now, if we were to somehow miraculously get the tech, implement it then gather up the funds to send a probe of some sort to this planet within my lifetime that would be pretty cool. (OK, that's not necessarily the most intelligent statement.)

Either way, it's a shame that the governments of the world have a deadlock on most of the research in the field of space propulsion. And this kind of technology is usually based on fundage that can be cut at any time by power hungry bureaucrats.
What we need is a distinct privatization of these kinds of research. Guaranteed, that if there was a way to make money off this, we'd have a better propulsion solution than we do now.

It's the same with this energy crisis. At the risk of sounding like one of those conspiracy nuts, I think one of the best ways to get a new energy solution would be to talk the Big Oil companies into making money on it. They have to know that we are running desperately low on oil supplies. If we don't do something about this now, then the world will be stuck with some crap that the government funded agencies concoct to please their deadlines and not something that would be good in the long run.

For example... Ethanol? Have we lost our minds? Folks I do admit that this does burn cleaner and does reduce the general out put of "greenhouse" gases. But this in my mind is a temporary solution. Very temporary. But knowing our government, we'll get force fed this crap for years because folks have gotten rich off it and then we'll be in the same boat because "Big Corn" (small joke) will have tamped down other discoveries through smear campaigns and just by buying off the creators.

Sorry, I didn't mean to start preaching about this stuff and now that I've gone completely off topic I'll say this in closing. I know that I normally don't go on so about things like this, but it stems from my view of the inability of our government to get off it's collective ass and find us a better propulsion system. In order for that to happen, a better fuel system has to be found, and the current ideas are not the solutions.

HARD DRIVE BASTARDS!

2007-04-17T20:43:15Z

So. Once again FPL has pissed me off to the point that I wish to strangle the nearest one.
Monday morning, I woke up in an excellent mood, I didn't forget my lunch, and I was arriving to work early so that I may finish my work early and possibly leave work early.

At least that was the plan.

When I arrived at work the lights were out. This normally isn't that big of a deal since the lights go out around my office all the freakin' time. So when the lights came back on I booted up my computer and went in search of coffee.

I got my coffee and sat at my desk and as I was opening up work, the lights went out again.

This time when the lights came back on, I was mildly peeved, but decided to continue on as if nothing happened.

When I rebooted my computer, I got "The Blue Screen of Death."
I tried everything I know to get that damn thing working, but the Blue Screen kept popping up.

Eventually (about 10ish) I decided that it was time to call in the Cavalry and notify the IT department.

Silly me, they never show their faces until at least 10.30.
So I had to wait. Meanwhile the lights were still going on and off at regular intervals.

Eventually I was able to contact IT and they told me that I fragged my hard drive and consequently had to send the whole tower to Miami where the IT folks are so they could try to get any info off there that they could.

Well, I knew by now that the hard drive had to be replaced and that any info would become MIA. I had a brief moment where the pictures I had of my kids would have fallen to the black hole of Hard Drive crashes, but then I remembered that I burned a CD of them and took them home to my Hard Drive there. Go me.

So, all of Monday was spent pulling out my hair and cursing FPl.

Today I'm on someone else's machine until mine gets a new hard drive and they reinstall all the software I had...

_val_ @ 2007-04-09T10:56:00

2007-04-09T14:57:27Z

ATTENTION MARINESS!
Here's another post, just for you. ;P

Please send me yer email addy or give me a holler concerning Fridya night's game.
there's been a change in the guard so to speak due to LRRiven's scheduling. You had a hint of that the last time you came over.

Anyway, Shawn is planning an Eberron campaign with Evil PC's. If yer interested or if you just wanna shoot the shit let me or the wifey-poo know. :-) (Of course, if you already have Shawn's number you could call him.)

ABERRANT

2007-03-16T19:37:29Z

ATTENTION MARINESS!

THERE WILL NOT BE AN ABERRANT GAME TONIGHT DUE TO THE SICKNESS OF THE GM!
IF YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE IN A HOME-GROWN SCI-FI GAME USING D20 FUTURE RULES, THEN PLEASE FEEL FREE TO STOP BY ANYWAY!

THAT IS ALL!

_val_ @ 2007-01-11T16:41:00

2007-01-11T21:54:52Z

Hiya folks.

I know I haven't posted in a while, but I've just been pretty busy recently between Isabella, Nathaniel and school and work...

I'm gonna try to post a few pictures of the family but I'm not sure it'll work because I've never done it here before.

Here goes...

OK. I can't paste pics here apparently. L got a new LJ account and is no longer what she was now she's Lrriven. (can't get the damn link to work with the new posting style.)

Well we were talking about making a website with the pics on there. I guess I better get her going on it. DOH!

baby-ness

2006-11-23T16:35:41Z

SO...
Isabella has been born.
She was born on Thursday (11-9-06) morning at 7.15 am via Cesarian Section. She was 8 lbs 14 oz, at 20 inches long.

She has flaming red hair... I repeat, red, red hair. Not orange, not strawberry blonde, RED! Blood red in some light.

I have been away from any computer because I have had the last two weeks off from work so I haven't been near a computer or internet connection since I was at work last.

I have a lot of pictures and I'll post some as soon as I can.

baby on the way

2006-11-06T15:58:55Z

OK. So, as most of you know by now, my wife has been pregnant for the last nine months...

And Friday is the deadline for her to have that kid. She's got a scheduled cesarian on Firday and that's when I expect to be a dad again.

Iver the last two months every weekend has been dedicated to redoing the entirety of my house.
From a week of having to live downstairs while my upstairs is getting tiled to being constantly high from all the paint fumes.

Today is surreal. I can barely see out of my glasses and my hands, arms and legs don't want to wokr properly. I'm sore from all the furniture moving, painting, chasing my son (come here, come here, come here, go away, go away, go away!) and just general manual laborign to keep my wife happy.

yowsa. Of course I could be feeling this way because of all the aformentioned paint fumes.

Anyway, after Friday I'm taking off work until the end of the month. I'm also taking off from gaming until then as well. Luckily, I have the ever present video games. And I also just bought 'Grand Theft Auto - Liberty City Stories' for the PS2 for real cheap. Like $15 cheap.

My only concern is that my mother-in-law has offered her company while my wife gets used to having two porch-monkeys, rug-rats, yard-apes to deal with. This frightens me.

Mostly, because my mother-in-law is a bit bossy. And when she's bossy, my wife feels like she has to be bossy as well in order to be in control of any situation that may arise.
I, of course, usually get stuck in the middle and am bossed aroud from all sides. Not a fun place to be. And, I found out about the mother-in-law AFTER I put in for two weeks off.

Oh well. I'll see if I can get a report in after Friday.

PS - i hope that the spell check catches all the mistakes.

_val_ @ 2006-10-05T12:51:00

2006-10-05T16:51:09Z

Hmm. Just testing out my user pics.

Interesting. this one was made using...

www.dookyweb.com/avatars.swf

Try it out.

Back hurts

2006-09-25T14:23:26Z

So, when I was younger, I used to work stock in a local grocery store. I worked there for 6 years.
During that time, I hurt my back because I thought I was He-Man and could throw 60-70 lb boxes and bags. I could throw them, I could catch them. I could move 'em and lift 'em and swing 'em about.
But I didn't know, that it would permanently hurt me to do so. (I guess I did know, I just thought that I was young and too cool for it.)

Now, this isn't a serious completely debilitating injury. Once in a while my back just decides that turning a certain way or bending a certain way isn't cool. So it files a protest by going out of wack for a few days.

Well, I went with my child to visit my wife at work when he got loose and started to run about and thinking it's friggin hilarious that dad is trying to catch him while he runs amuck in a crowded mall. Not to mention that it's probably the MOST CROWDED MALL IN SOUTH FLORIDA!!

Well, when I finally got him I guess I was trying to stop short my run so I didn't run someone over, including the child. And POING! My back muscles cramp up and my spine goes out'a'wack.
Now, I've tried to see a chiropractor about this and all they tell me is that it'll go a way in a day or so. They twist me up a bit and I feel fine for a few minutes, but once I get into my car/truck it goes right back into place.

Oh well, maybe by tonight it'll be better.

ummm. meme... LONG MEME!

2006-08-24T14:45:44Z

(Click here to post your own answers for this meme.)

✓ I miss somebody right now.	✓ I don't watch much TV these days.	✓ I own lots of books.
✓ I wear glasses or contact lenses.	✓ I love to play video games.	× I've tried marijuana. (only secondhand... Does that count?)
✓ I've watched porn movies.	× I have been the psycho-ex in a past relationship.	✓ I believe honesty is usually the best policy.
✓ I curse sometimes.	✓ I have changed a lot mentally over the last year.	✓ I carry my knife/razor everywhere with me.

* * * * *

× I have broken someone's bones.	× I have a secret that I am ashamed to reveal.	× I hate the rain. (I love the rain.)
✓ I'm paranoid at times. (ALL THE TIME!)	× I would get plastic surgery if it were 100% safe, free of cost, and scar-free.	✓ I need/want money right now.
× I love sushi. (Blech!)	× I talk really, really fast.	× I have fresh breath in the morning.
× I have long hair.	× I have lost money in Las Vegas.	✓ I have at least one sibling. (4 siblings)
× I was born in a country outside of the U.S.	✓ I have worn fake hair/fingernails/eyelashes in the past. (moustaches)	× I couldn't survive without Caller I.D.
✓ I like the way that I look.	× I have lied to a good friend in the last 6 months.	× I am usually pessimistic.
× I have a lot of mood swings.	✓ I think prostitution should be legalized.	× I slept with a roommate.
× I have a hidden talent.	× I'm always hyper no matter how much sugar I have.	× I have a lot of friends.
× I have pecked someone of the same sex.	× I enjoy talking on the phone.	× I practically live in sweatpants or PJ pants.
✓ I love to shop and/or window shop.	× I'm obsessed with my Xanga or Livejournal.	× I'm completely embarrassed to be seen with my mother.
× I have a mobile phone.	× I have passed out drunk in the past 6 months.	✓ I've rejected someone before.
✓ I currently like/love someone. (does my wife or child count?)	× I have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life.	× I want to have children in the future. (Umm. this is my future...)
✓ I have changed a diaper before. (Let's see... 4 siblings 3 of which are more than 10 years younger than me. One son, one soon to be daughter... I think I qualify for this one.)	✓ I've called the cops on a friend before. (He was my friend until then, anyway.)	× I'm not allergic to anything.
✓ I have a lot to learn. (We all do)	✓ I am shy around the opposite sex. (sometimes)	× I'm online 24/7, even as an away message.
× I have at least 5 away messages saved.	✓ I have tried alcohol or drugs before.	× I have made a move on a friend's significant other or crush in the past.
✓ I own the "South Park" movie. (Doesn't everyone?)	× I have avoided assignments at work/school to be on Xanga or Livejournal.	✓ I enjoy some country music. (Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton)
✓ I would die for my best friends.	✓ I'm obsessive, and often a perfectionist. (Sometimes)	× I have used my sexuality to advance my career.
✓ I think Halloween is awesome because you get free candy.	× I have dated a close friend's ex.	✓ I am happy at this moment.
× I'm obsessed with guys.	✓ Democrat.	× Republican.
× I don't even know what I am.	✓ I am punk rockish.	× I go for older guys/girls, not younger.
× I study for tests most of the time.	✓ I tie my shoelaces differently from anyone I've ever met.	✓ I can work on a car.
✓ I love my job(s).	✓ I am comfortable with who I am right now.	× I have more than just my ears pierced.
✓ I walk barefoot wherever I can.	✓ I have jumped off a bridge.	× I love sea turtles.
× I spend ridiculous amounts of money on makeup.	✓ I plan on achieving a major goal/dream.	✓ I am proficient on a musical instrument.
× I hate office jobs.	× I went to college out of state.	× I am adopted.
✓ I am a pyro.	× I have thrown up from crying too much.	✓ I have been intentionally hurt by people that I loved.
× I fall for the worst people.	× I adore bright colours.	× I usually like covers better than originals. (HELL NO!)
✓ I hate chain theme restaurants like Applebees and TGIFridays. (Only because their menus are all the same... And none ofthem can make a decent burger without putting things like pineapple or mushrooms on it!)	✓ I can pick up things with my toes.	× I can't whistle.
✓ I have ridden/owned a horse.	× I still have every journal I've ever written in.	✓ I talk in my sleep. (I'm sure I do.)
✓ I've often thought that I was born in the wrong century.	× I try to forget things by drowning them out with loads of distractions.	× I wear a toe ring.
× I have a tattoo.	✓ I can't stand at LEAST one person that I work with.	✓ I am a caffeine junkie.
× I am completely tree-huggy spiritual, and I'm not ashamed at all.	× If I knew I would get away with it, I would commit at least one murder.	× I will collect anything, and the more nonsensical, the better.
× I enjoy a nice glass of wine with dinner.	✓ I'm an artist.	✓ I am ambidextrous. (To a degree.)
× I sleep with so many stuffed animals, I can hardly fit on my bed.	× If it weren't for having to see other people naked, I'd live in a nudist colony.	× I have terrible teeth.
× I hate my toes.	✓ I did this meme even though I wasn't tagged by the person who took it before me.	× I have more friends on the internet than in real life.
✓ I have lived in either three different states or countries.	✓ I am extremely flexible.	× I love hugs more than kisses.
× I want to own my own business.	× I smoke.	× I spend way too much time on the computer than on anything else.
✓ Nobody has ever said I'm normal. (heh)	✓ Sad movies, games, and the like can cause a trickle of tears every now and then.	× I am proficient in the use of many types of firearms and combat weapons.
× I like the way women look in stylized men's suits.	✓ I don't like it when people are unpleased or seem unpleased with me.	× I have been described as a dreamer or likely to have my head up in the clouds.
✓ I have played strip poker with someone else before. (That was fun for both minutes of it)	✓ I have had emotional problems for which I have sought professional help.	✓ I believe in ghosts and the paranormal.
× I can't stand being alone.	× I have at least one obsession at any given time.	× I weigh myself, pee/poo, and then weigh myself again.
× I consistently spend way too much money on obsessions-of-the-moment.	× I'm a judgmental asshole.	× I'm a HUGE drama-queen.
× I have travelled on more than one continent.	× I sometimes wish my father would just disappear.	× I need people to tell me I'm good at something in order to feel that I am.
× I am a Libertarian.	× I can speak more than one language.	✓ I can fall asleep even if the whole room is as noisy as it can be.
✓ I would rather read than watch TV.	× I like reading fact more than fiction.	✓ I have pulled an all-nighter on an assignment I was given a month to do.
× I have no piercings.	✓ I have spent the night in a train station or other public place.	× I have been so upset over my physical gender that I cried.
× I once spent Christmas completely alone because there was a miscommunication on which parent was supposed to have me that night.	✓ There have been times when I have wondered "Why was I born?" and may/may not have cried over it.	× I like most animals better than most people.
✓ I own a collection of retro games consoles.	× The thought of physical exercise makes me shiver.	✓ I have hit someone with a dead fish.
× I am compulsively honest.	× I was born with a congenital birth defect that has never been repaired.	× I have danced topless in front of dozens of complete strangers.
× I have gone from wishing I was a girl to revelling in being a boy to feeling like a girl again in the span of five minutes, and not cared a whit for my actual sex.	× I am unashamedly bisexual, and have different motivations for my desires for different genders.	× I sometimes won't sleep a whole night or eat a whole day because I forget to.
× I find it impossible to get to sleep without some kind of music on.	× I dislike milk.	✓ I obsessively wash my hands.
✓ I always carry something significant around with me.	× Sometimes I'd rather wear a wig in day-to-day life than use my own hair.	✓ I've pushed myself to become more self-aware and thereby more aware of others.
× Even though I live on my own I still cry sometimes because I miss my mother.	× I hand wrote all the HTML tags in this document.	✓ I've liked something which a majority of people claimed was either bad or weird.
× I have been clinically dead for a brief period of time.	× Instead of feeling sympathy/empathy with people and their problems, I simply become annoyed.	× I participate/have participated in auto drag races and won.
× I do not 'get' most comedy acts.	✓ I don't think strippers are money-greedy or slutty for dancing. (this one's a joke, they prolly are both of the above, but it's still fun)	✓ I don't like to chew gum.
✓ I am obsessed with history/historical things and can't wait for someone to build a time machine so I can be the first to use it.	× I can never remember for the life of me where I parked the car.	× I had the TEEN ANGST thing going for at least 2-3 years.
× I wish people would be more empathic and honest with each other.	✓ I play Dungeons and Dragons weekly.	✓ I love to sing.
× I want to live in my mother's basement when I grow up.	× I have a custom-built computer.	× I want to create a certain someone's babies, even though there's a 0% possiblity of ever achieving it.
× I would be in a relationship with one of my pets if they were human.	× I've gone skinny-dipping.	✓ I've performed in three plays.
✓ I enjoy burritos.	× I'm Irish and loving it.	✓ I have a thing for redheads.
× I am a twin!	× Most of the times, I'd rather do something intellectual instead of doing something generically 'fun'.	✓ Once I set out to finish something, I always stay at it until it is completed before I move on to something else. (most of the time)
× I wish there were a way to erase past mistakes.	× I sleep more than 12 hours a day.	× I wish I could be prouder of what I've accomplished, but it's never enough.
✓ I need more time to myself.	× I wish I was more open-minded.	× I hope that I go really prematurely grey.
× I download songs from the internet.	× I've just reenacted chapter 58 of Death Note with my best friend.	× I say random things to freak people out.
× I'm still a little mad about the ending of Death Note.	× I love playing Truth or Dare.	× I love listening to slow music, but I hate singing to it.
✓ Music helps me remember that I am not alone.	× Playing my favorite sport makes me temporarily forget my problems.	✓ I think this survey is particularly long. (Oh boy)
× I prefer my LJ friends to my real-life ones.	× I can only hate someone that I love.	× I've ordered an extra two shots of espresso to an Americano at Starbucks.

_val_ @ 2006-07-12T15:19:00

2006-07-12T19:30:25Z

Today is my son's 2nd birthday. Yay!
He's still a rugrat who likes to chase the cats around the house calling out, "Kitty! Kitty!"

He can sign flower, tree, book, puzzle, blocks and swing. That's about how much I can sign as well. He's not deaf or otherwise impaired, but we have a children's video that teaches that stuff. One time he walked up to me and did computer. He said computer as well and I about freaked out.

So he's learning by leaps and bounds and everytime he says something new I wonder how he learned that.

I of course DON'T wonder where he learned 'shit'. I, of course, blame his mother because it was after she said this that he repeated it QUITE clearly. But I use it just as much as she does so she's not the only one to blame here. (And I'm sure she'll eventually get to read this part of my journal.)

Last week we put him in a toddler bed so he's out of the crib and barely sleeping at night. Someday, he'll stay asleep all night and so will I. He also has figured out how a paintbrush works and he can recognize some letters and numbers independent of each other.

He still hasn't gotten written words yet, but I'm sure that's not too long into the future because I constantly read books to him. Sometimes I wonder if reading Mack Bolan or Forgotten Realms novels to him is going to affect him in the future. At least what I read doesn't begin with "Dear Penthouse". :-)

So lift a glass to my 2 year old son and may he grow strong and proud. And not as stubborn as myself.