Coming Soon: Rivet & Sway Review

Here are the three pair I elected to try from Rivet and Sway.

All great examples of why anti-glare coating is a marvelous thing.  (Turning my head to the side minimizes it a little, but not enough.)

Video review will be coming tomorrow.  Then I have to mail these puppies back.  I kind of like the middle one.  The top one is supposed to be red but doesn't appear all that red on camera.  The bottom is a pink gradient.  I did get a 10% off coupon for signing up, but that's not going to put a very fantastic dent in $200.

They are pretty substantial frames and the price does include nice lenses with All The Coatings.  I guess if I were the sort of person who donates $10,000 to the Bobological Society of America or buys small islands, I'd feel a little better about spending that, but right now I really need a car and my parents are putting me in a position where no, I can't just have MY car.  I have to buy another one.  Of course, by the time I save up enough to buy another car it'll stop being 5 degrees out.  And god, how I wish I were exaggerating.  (Effin' weather, how does it work??)
 

Rivet & Sway

Expect a review in a week or so.  I don't anticipate that I'll be making a purchase from them anytime soon, but they have a pretty good concept going and I wanted to try it out.

I miss my red glasses.

I didn't think I would miss them this much.  It's not so much the shape as it is the color.  I miss having RED glasses.  I've been wearing the dark brown/tortoise-y ones on a regular basis, and while I like the shape ... I wish they were red.

These are pretty.  (They're also $200.)  I can't seem to find a pair that's a pretty shade of red, the right size, AND a good price.  I'm very limited because of the size--it's harder to find glasses that are narrower, and with bigger (taller) lenses, they need to be narrower or else they'll do a lot of that "tiny head" thing.  My purple cat-eye glasses are 51.  The ones I'm wearing now are 48.

These are also 48.

The cool thing about this website is that they send you frames to try before you commit to buying anything, and they'll send you up to three pair.  I just don't see any sense in paying $200 for something I can get much cheaper elsewhere.  I guess if they were the perfect, bestest frames ever?  Yeah, maybe ... no.  Still no.

Adventures in Underwear

What the heck?

I bought ten pairs of underwear from Gap and they were all individually wrapped in bags within the mailer bag.  Which was kind of annoying, having to go through and unwrap and de-tag ten pairs of underwear.  I think some of them still have their tags on because I just didn't care enough.

Then I buy a bra on top of a purchase of a couple of other things and not only do they mail the bra separately from everything else, they put it in a bigger mailer than the two dresses were in and just kind of toss it in there.  So I opened the mailer and there was a bra wadded up at the bottom.

I don't mind tossing stuff in there, but let's be consistent, right?  Either the underwear is sacred or it isn't.  Either you meticulously iron it out and ship it in individual plastic baggies or you just throw it in the sack and hope it gets where it's going.

The War on Christmas

Full disclosure--I'm not a religious person.  I'm not spiritual either.  That sort of thing is not a part of my life because I don't care to make it a part of my life.  Or ... I just don't care.  That's the long and short of it.  When it comes to religion or spirituality, I don't care.  Be a good person.  Do good deeds.  The invisible man you pray to really shouldn't enter into anything you do outside of church because you should always be a good person regardless, be kind to others, and help out those who can't help themselves.

I don't need the threat of Santa Claus filling my stocking with coal in order to be a nice person.  (In other words.)

Not Exactly Glamour Shots

My new glasses came today.  I ordered them about two weeks ago, so not exactly fast stuff.  Coastal pretty much had my glasses to me within a day.  In Hawaii.  Zenni takes a while.

Now with more srs face.

Another Friendly PSA on the Subject of Pant-like Garments

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls of all ages:

With the temperature jumping up and down like an over-sugared child in a bouncy castle it can be easy to become confused on the subject of clothing.  Some mornings you wake up and it's warm, but you know it may become colder during the day.  Or you wake up to freezing weather that eventually warms up to the 40s or 50s.  In these cases it can be difficult to plan your wardrobe effectively, and one must take both temperatures into consideration and dress accordingly.  Or one must prepare for the possibility of a temperature change.

This sometimes means layering.  That is, wearing clothing over clothing so that you can remove pieces of clothing throughout the day as needed, or add them on top if the weather gets too chilly.

It is understandable that in colder weather people will gravitate toward tights and leggings instead of bare legs, but do remember that tights and leggings are not pants.  Tights and leggings are things you wear under other clothing, except in rare circumstances.  (Such circumstances do not include going to Starbucks or heading to class.)  Tights and leggings are great for layering under a dress or even shorts if you want to add a layer of warmth, and if you're heading out in especially cold weather they can be worn under your regular pants.  But once again, they are not pants.  They may appear pant-like, but they are not proper "bottoms" any more than a bra is a proper "top."

So remember this winter, as you're rooting through your closet to find things to wear out in this crazy weather, to follow one simple rule when dressing your lower half:

If whatever you're wearing on your top half couldn't be worn with bare legs, you need to put on some damn clothes.  Otherwise you just look like someone who thought it would be a cold day, but then forgot to put some pants on.


And this has been a PSA from your friendly neighborhood fashion police.  Have a nice day.

A day which shall live ...

Today I had to retire my red glasses with the little rhinestones on the side.  Yup.

I was at work and I couldn't get whatever was on the lenses to come off.  It was difficult to see properly.  So I kept rubbing them and rubbing them, and then I noticed that some layer of plastic was coming off the frames.  I don't doubt that the weather played some part in this, since anything pleather I own is doing the same thing.  Separating from the surface and peeling off.  But ... they were $20 glasses and they served me well over the last four or so years.

RIP, little red glasses.  RIP.

New Glasses Happening Up in Chez Moi

I'm sure at least one person is excited.  (Me.)

Shoppy Madness

I am all for discounts, free gifts, and stackable coupons.

With the holidays coming up and Black Friday today, I went around and did a lot of Christmas shopping, as well as apartment shopping and new computer shopping.

I'm not an impulsive buyer, but there was just so much stuff I needed enough that whatever discounts were available today pushed me over the edge.  So I have a new computer coming, as well as some furniture and kitchen stuff, teas and mugs (some for me, some for gifts) and a few other random little things I figured I might as well pile into the cart.

I took advantage of a lot of 50% off type deals, my computer came with a free $150 gift card (which will eventually get me a brand new iPad, methinks), and Amazon is always claiming you're getting a discount.  Plus I had a lot of no-interest stuff going on with both Apple and Amazon, so the $2000 I spent won't overwhelm me.  Ha ha ha ... oh dear.

That's about what I make in a month.  It'll be okay.

And I still have stuff in my "saved for later" cart.  Maybe that'll be stuff I get for my birthday?  Once my current Amazon purchase is all paid off.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today I am thankful that I get a 4-day weekend instead of having to work Black Friday or worse, work Black Friday AND Saturday (and possibly Sunday too).

And I am thankful that I get paid for today and tomorrow.

Yep.

Famous on the Internet

I'm not really famous on the Internet.  That's a title reserved for  the likes of Jenna Marbles and the Numa Numa Guy.  But I've been in situations where people I met in real life for the first time who knew who I was already.  It was like ...

"Hi, I'm Bunny."
"Yeah, I know."

So that was weird.

I've also had this weird problem with a fanfiction I wrote ages ago.  People turn up wanting a copy of it.  Five, ten years after I wrote it.  I once had a reader send me fanart from my fanfiction.

That was weird too.

Part of the problem (okay, the WHOLE problem) was that ff.net took down their "adult" section some years back (before, I guess, restoring it and blessing the world with 50 Shades of Porno).  My story was "adult" and so it disappeared with the category.  I tried to censor it to an "R" version, but it was just so hard because it was SO FUCKING LONG OH MY GOD HOW DID I WRITE THAT MUCH ABOUT STREET FIGHTER CHARACTERS?  So it disappeared into the ether.  Someone had requested to host it on their site with Street Fighter fanfictions, and that too disappeared at some point.  2001 was a long time ago.  I feel old.  Etc.

Often I think about restarting it.  I remember some bits and elements of the plot, and I wonder if I shouldn't just try again.  It could be a fun distraction from my own novel, and I love me some Street Fighter.  And there are people on the internet who might appreciate it.

It's just a thought.

Dear Capcom,

All I want is a Street Fighter lunchbox.  Why is this so hard?  You have a Zazzle store.  Zazzle has lunchboxes.  Why can't I get a design on a lunchbox?  Why does this violate Street Fighter law?

I also can't get a case for my iPhone or iPad.  It's like you don't care or something.  Just update the thingy!  It's not that hard!

Okay, I'm done complaining.

I do (otherwise) like the setup they have.  I like all the customizations you can do to certain items.  Changing the image or the colors or whatever.

Like this one.  Black and red?  Pfffft.  Amateurish.  I think pink and green really go with the BRIGHT Street Fighter Alpha color palette.

In other stupid news ...

I must be the last person on the planet to get an iPhone, but it's sooooo pretttttty.  I fucking love it.

It's pink.  (Of course it is.)  And it has battery life.  My old phone was giving me about 8 hours on standby and 30 minutes of use.  So ... being able to use a phone (THAT HAS MAPS RUNNING ALL DAY LONG<----AMAZING) and having it not die is pretty cool.

I had my android for 3 years almost exactly.  (I bought it on the 9th of December or so.)  It was time.


My other funny news is that I still have that darn macrocytosis.

Doctors have been telling me this for YEARS.  YEAARRRRRRRS.  Must have been almost ten years ago that the first doctor told me my red blood cells were big.  And now about half a dozen have told me this.

I know.  Yes.  They're fat.  You keep up talking like this and my erythrocytes are going to get some kind of disorder.

(No one really talks about my poor leukocytes, which is why I have to get these stupid CBCs in the first place.  Apparently that means they're doing fine.  But I imagine they'll start to develop a complex too.  I mean, they're already lashing out.  It could get worse.)

Week 1 - Sleep Deprivation Level: 4

My first week at the new job is finished.

I can now go into the system and change an address.

An awful lot of my "training" right now involves me sitting and watching people do stuff.  Which would be even better if my brain would stop going into "sleep mode" all the time.  I've tried coffee, I've tried TWO teabags, I've tried sugar ... really there's nothing that can keep me awake except moving around and doing something.

It would make more sense to me if I were getting an insanely tiny amount of sleep, but I'm not.  The latest I've gone to bed is 11:00.  Mostly it's been anywhere from 9-10:30.  One day I woke up at 7 due to an alarm mishap, so I even got an extra half hour of sleep that day.  And yet ... every single day I am sooooo sleepy.  All day.

I keep hoping my brain and body will get used to it, but I remember that summer where I had two summer classes in a row (that is, two sessions one after the other) that were both early.  I had to get up at 7 allllll summer to do Hawaiian Studies and then Pre-modern Japanese Literature.  My body never got used to it, and once that summer was over my circadian rhythms went right back to their preferred "wake up at 10:30" cycle.  And the weird thing is that I can go to bed at 2 in the morning and wake up at 10:30, but if I go to bed at 10 in the evening and try to wake up at 6:30?  NOT THE SAME THING.

Ugh.

So this weekend is dedicated to sleep.

Sleep!  That's where I'm a viking!

That's probably not good.

I went on Amazon and bought a case of soup.  It arrived, I went home for the weekend, came back and opened up my box.  Almost all of the cans were crushed to some degree, with a few merely dented.  Two were in good condition.

Amazon is pretty good about resolving this stuff, so they sent me a new case right away.

Five cans were undamaged.  Out of twelve.

They gave me a refund.

Nothing was really wrong with the box that I could tell, and after the second case showed up in poor condition I went through and tried to figure out which cans might still be safe.  Everything I read online said that if you could move the top, bottom or sides of the can then it had lost pressure and was no longer safe to eat.  But except for a few cans with small dents, all of the cans could be pressed in and out.  Even the ones with no dents.

A few--about eight--were in pretty bad shape and the seal had obviously been compromised.  But when I pressed on the sides of the totally "fine" cans, they had some flexibility to them.  I went in my closet and pressed on a few cans to see what was the issue, if those were also flexible, but they weren't.

So I shot an email to the company asking if this is a thing or if any of this soup is safe to eat.  I can only imagine that somehow the cans had some space in them and then that's how they were able to be dented so easily in their original cases.  Maybe from the weight on top of them.  Seems weird though.  I see this soup in the store all the time and there's nothing wrong with it (aside from being obscenely expensive).  I can't have just gotten the only two bad batches.  


I hate having to do all this stirring up a fuss.  I just wanted some soup.  At a slight discount.  (Seriously, this stuff is expensive at the store.  I hate having to return things or email customer service.  But at least Amazon is pretty quick and efficient about this stuff.

Maintaining Music

Recently because I've been cooking so much, I've been listening to a lot of the music I've had on my computer for however many bazillion years.

Making goulash, I listened to Dir en grey.  (And not because goulash seems like something Kyo would vomit up in a music video.)

I still maintain that the opening to Increase Blue sounds like "YOUR BROTHER JOE!"  I refuse to look and see what it really is or believe anything else.

Baking pumpkin bread I turned on my Schwarz Stein/Kaya playlist.  (Because I guess ... pumpkin bread warrants a more "gay techno" ambiance?  Pecans are drag queenish?  FFS, I don't know why.  I got tired of Deg after listening to it for an hour the day before?)

Anyway, it struck me how much Epicurean STILL sounds like Mortal Kombat music to me.


That's all.

I guess Kaya is releasing a new album in a bit.  I used to be really up on all this.  When I got sick of the fandom/people it really pulled me out of the loop.  Unless you're going to the concerts you really don't know when shit's gonna be released.  Ah well.  Nothing as of late has really moved me all that much, and I imagine Gackt is still just releasing rereleases of rereleases.  

Today I made pumpkin bread.

I tried to make some weird paleo blueberry bread recipe yesterday, but the texture was gritty, it didn't want to bake all the way through, and the blueberries gave off a lot of liquid that basically ruined the bottom of it.  Nice idea in theory, but just didn't work out.

Today I was determined to not be discouraged by my blueberry disaster, and I set off to make another pumpkin-flavored thing.  Because you can't go wrong with pumpkin-flavored things.

It took me forever to find a recipe to use, since I had certain ingredients but not others.  I took a simple recipe for pumpkin bread and added vanilla, pecans, and a bit more pumpkin pie spice than called for.  I also subbed out the oil for butter, since I don't keep vegetable oil, but I had a stick of butter left over.  Unsalted, of course.

The result was pretty good.  I also cut back on the sugar so it would be more of a bread and less of a cake, so it's not sweet-sweet, but sweet enough.  And it was my first time taking a non-gf recipe and subbing in flour + xanthan gum.  I've made mixes of course that use xanthan, but I'd never just done it on my own.  It's amazing how springy and spongy the bread gets when you add the xantham gum.  It's almost weird, like I made something gluteny.  I'm used to things crumbling and falling apart.

After my goulash episode yesterday I was left with a spatula that smelled like beef and onions, so I bought a new one today.  I like having new kitchen things.  I find myself wanting MORE and MORE new kitchen things.  A stand mixer, a waffle iron (or something with plates you can swap out), some more mixing bowls ... all sorts of stuff.  The stuff you usually get because you're getting married or some BS.

I moved across the ocean three times.  That's why I don't have this stuff.  But I need this stuff.

But I also need a new phone and a new computer, so kitchen appliances will have to wait.

Wait, what?

Who the fuck cares that your turkey is gluten free when it's on a fucking bread roll?

In other stupid gluten free news, I bought a thing of garlic today.  It literally contains garlic.  Like ... garlic.  Just garlic.  But on the back it says "gluten free."  I have a theory that any company that prints the words "gluten free" on the label just wants to charge extra for it.  Don't get me wrong, I like seeing the "certified GF" logo or "gluten free" on a package.

But it's fucking garlic.  If it has more than one ingredient, and one of those ingredients is something ambiguous like "natural flavor" or "modified food starch," then perhaps I will say, "Thank you Company People!  Now I don't have to put this product down in sadness!"

Next thing you know fruit in the produce section will all have "gluten free" stamped on it.  And all the plain, raw meat in the meat department.

Changing Jobs

I've only held four jobs in my lifetime.  So far two of them have been very short-term.  I'm going to be embarking on a fifth here in a week or so, and I hope it will be much, much more long-term.  Once again I'm going to be doing something I've never really done before, so I'm hoping to find myself well-suited to it, and less discouraged/anxious about going to work in the morning.

Oh shit.  "In the morning."  Yeah, I'm screwed.  I've never had an actual morning job.  I can get up and go to school in the A.M. like a champ, so I'm hoping I'll be the same with work.


The first time I changed jobs I gave my two weeks and my manager asked if I wanted to just not be on the schedule for the second week.  I thought that was a great idea, and it helped when I wanted to start my training in that second week.  Otherwise I would have had to put it off and start later and all that jazz.  It was, all-in-all, a very smooth transition.  Except for the part where I had to get my final paycheck and had no idea that they would hold onto it until I picked it up.  ("What method did you select during hiring?"  Holy crap, guy.  I don't remember what we did during hiring.  That was almost four months ago and I filled out a lot of forms at that time.)

This is a similar situation, where I had a job for a short period of time and managed to find a better one while still at the old job.  The transition has been ... much less smooth.

This is just a reminder.

When you call a phone number--any number, really, but especially one for a business or entity--try not to be pissed off.

I know it's tough.  You ARE pissed off.  You want to yell at someone.  But yelling at some peon who works on the phones is going to accomplish exactly nothing.  Let me give you some scenarios:

CSR hangs up on you-->  Nothing accomplished
CSR engages and yells back at you-->  Nothing accomplished
CSR meekly takes your abuse, but is now totally disinterested in helping you-->  Nothing accomplished
CSR has no power to address your issue-->  Nothing accomplished

Either you are just pissing someone off who might have been able to help you, or else you're wasting your breath on someone who can't do a damn thing.

I think we get spoiled by the idea that "the customer is always right."  And sometimes we take that to mean that we can heap abuse on whomever we like and we'll get a coupon or get our situation taken care of faster than it would be otherwise.  And we forget that thing someone once said some thing about honey and flies.

The Shocking Secret to Getting Laid

I got this spam email today.

Why don't women want you to watch this video?

Simple...

Because when you use the "mind control" secret...

Who're You Gonna Call?

(I apologize.  "Ghostbusters" are not in my agent partner search tab.)

You know what's frustrating?  People call me at work and I have to give them some other phone number because the person who told them to call me didn't want to answer the question.

One guy railed for about an hour about how his insurance company was giving him the runaround and the answers depended on what time of day he called.  So he called me thinking I could give him a better answer, but I could only give him general answers about his problem since I'm not them.

Only his company could tell him for sure, but they didn't want to tell him.

There's a lot of buck-passing from people who hear one keyword and just go, "Oh.  Yeah.  Call them."

Like ... imagine that you buy a cookie subscription from Cookie Guys.  But Bank People is the company that processes the payment.  With me so far?

So you get a credit card statement and it shows that you were billed twice in one month for your Cookie Guys subscription.  You call up Bank People and say, "Hey, I have this subscription to Cookie Guys and you billed me twice."  And the guy at Bank People says, "Call Cookie Company."

Of course, Cookie Company only bakes cookies.  They have a list of subscribers' orders, but they don't deal with the payment.  They tell you to contact Bank People.  Bank People tells you to contact your credit card.  And so on.  The credit card tells you to call Bank People and finally you just have to dispute the charge because Bank People won't just give up and give you the refund.  They're SURE that they are not the ones responsible.

That's about 50% of my job.

I hate referring people to other agencies, but a lot of the time it's because I really can't help them and my directions say to refer them to someone else.  (I can't update your address.  Literally cannot.  You have to contact someone else for that.  And I'm sorry.)  So I wish other people would do their job properly too and not refer people to me whom I can't help.  It just pisses them off and makes them think they're getting passed around.  No one wants to feel that way.  Ever.

So.  Do your job.  So I can do mine.  *rainbow*

Life is like a box of chocolates.

I enjoy helping people.  It's not a part of a religious belief.  I just think that's what you're supposed to do in a society.  Because a society is about making sure those around you are taken care of.  Otherwise it's just not a society.  It's a cluster of individuals who don't give a shit about each other.  And that's doomed to failure.

Or, look at it this way:

The world is a box of assorted cookies, not a package of uniform, single-serving, individually wrapped snack cakes.


I'm not sure where I'm going with this analogy, but ... probably either the cupboard or the refrigerator.

Let's Talk Obamacare

I've already mentioned that I more or less agree with the sentiment of the Affordable Care Act.  I'm not going to repeat all of that.  Health coverage is a right, and no one should be excluded for any reason, period.

I was listening to some dimwit on the TV machine talk about why Obamacare sux.  I think she was from Georgia.  Maybe on CNN.  (That's usually what we have on at work.)  And her proposed alternative to Obamacare was to increase the number of high risk plans available.

HA.

HAHA.

HA.

Thank you, random person.

It's always hard for me to explain what my book is about.  But here goes:



"It's a sort of sarcastic tale that is part soap opera, part Twilight (excuse me while I stab myself in the eyes) and part Office Space.  Imagine if being a vampire hunter was as dull as working for Initech but with all the constraints of an underfunded government organization, if vampire hunters were sometimes more sinister than the vampires, and if the fairy godmother in Cinderella had been a big, fat liar."



In other news, my temperature is going up.  Did I mention I'm sick?  I like having a job with no sick pay, no vacation days, and where my performance depends on being able to speak on the phone!

This week is shaping up to be ridiculously awful.

Saturday I was supposed to work, but because my schedule shifted from 4-12:30 to 1:30-10, my body was not happy.

Actually, the initial problem was that I was supposed to finish up at 12 instead of 12:30, but the bus couldn't schedule us for a different time.  So while we finished at 12, we still got picked up as if we were working til 12:30, and so I didn't get home til 1:30 in the morning.

Then I had a choice.  I could either get up at 9:00 and head out to driver's ed or I could get up at 10:00 for work.  My body chose to wake up at 8:30, and I realized that the extra hour and a half wouldn't make much of a difference, so I opted to get up.  Instead of going to work, I finished up my driving class and now I have my license.  At least something good came of all of this.

So.

Deep Thoughts #23

Whenever I think of a three-syllable word or phrase I sing it in my head to the tune of the Hot Pockets jingle.

I come from people old people.

My maternal grandmother was born in 1919 and my maternal grandfather was born in 1920.

My paternal grandmother was born in 1916 and my paternal grandfather was born in in 1919.

My parents were roughly 30 when my brother was born and about 32 when I was born.

My maternal grandmother was about 32 when she had my mom and my grandfather was about 31.  My mom is the oldest of two children.

My paternal grandmother was about 35 when she had my dad.  My paternal grandfather was also about 31.  My father is the youngest of three, but his two (much) older brothers were from a previous marriage.

And I have to say, it's kind of weird.  When you have older parents--and I'd say "older" starts at about 30 for my generation--there's such a large life gap there.  You become aware at a very young age of how much older your parents are, and especially when you have classmates in grade school who have moms in their 20s and early 30s.  Or you find out that other people have grandparents the age of your parents.

To make it worse, I feel like I lost out on something.  By the time I was twenty-one I had no grandparents left.  The last one died in 2003 when I was twenty years old.  Before that it was 2000 and then 1987 and 1977.  The men died first (interestingly enough, since they were both younger than their wives).  I never met my father's father.  I have only a few memories of my other grandfather.  I know people my age and older with grandparents still kicking.  Which is easy if you had your kids at 20 and they had their kids at 20.  You could have great-grandparents or even great-great grandparents if you have kids early enough.  Which isn't usually a good idea really--better to have them when you can support them and all that jazz--but definitely possible.

Now that I'm reaching that age that my parents and grandparents were when they had children, I'm becoming more aware of how old my parents seem.  My mom keeps having episodes with her health after spending the latter half of her life avoiding doctors, and I keep wondering every day if that's going to be the day.  I can tell myself "she's not that old," but neither were my grandfathers.  I have so many worries in my life right now regarding my own health ... but since a coworker's dad suffered a stroke recently, every time my mom tells me about how she had some kind of issue and went to the ER, I wonder how long it's going to be.  I have very few relatives as it is.  Basically it's down to my parents and a sibling, and then a bunch of those "Christmas Card" relatives whom I don't even know and only met at my grandfather's funeral when I was 4.

It's horrible to think that I may reach a point where just I have no family left.

I'm on a roll with mustard and tomato.

If I won the lottery ...

Let's say it was a $50 million jackpot and I could get $28mil as a lump sum.  Or whatever.

First I would pay my parents back for the school stuff they paid for the last few years.

Then I would pay off my student loan debt (since the Koch Bros probably aren't interested).

I would set up a $10,000 savings account or trust (or something) for the three little girls I live with so that they can go to college (I'm sure by the time any of them are eighteen $10,000 would be equivalent to half a semester at a state school.)

I would donate $2000 to the hospital here for giving me a nearly free CT scan.

I would donate $2000 to the Waikiki Health Center even though they're pill pushers.

I would donate $0 to my university (you guys got enough of my cash already).

I would take a year off from working to finish my book (hopefully).

I'd finally get a flippin' cat and give it all the best toys (cardboard boxes for days, I tell you).

I would take a trip somewhere interesting.

And then I would just relax.  I would probably get a Honda Fit or something, buy a small house or 3-bedroom apartment, and relax.



Now that I'm finally back in a state with a lottery, maybe that's something I should be looking into.

Amy's Gluten Free Pot Pie

I should do a real review of this somewhere.  With pictures.

I finally ate this today.  It's the first real pot pie I've had in ages.  I tried the one with the cornbread crust, but that was unsatisfying even though it had meat in it.  Amy's was way closer to the Swanson pot pies that are near and dear to my heart, even if they use tofu.

I didn't have time for the oven and worried that the microwave would ruin the crust, but it was firm and fairly flaky.  The innards were thick and hearty (whatever that word means) with a nice rosemary flavor.  The tofu didn't stand out as being overly "OH MY GOD WHY IS THERE TOFU IN MY POT PIE" at all.  Considering a lot of pot pies skimp on meat ... meh.  I barely noticed it was meatless.

I mean, I'd still prefer meat.

Crust flavor is super important to me, and this was pretty excellent.  I was most worried about the crust since that's always been my favorite part whether it was Swanson or KFC.  If I tried a pot pie and hated it, it was usually because the crust was terrible more than anything else.  Except putting celery in it.  Because ew.  Celery should never be in anything.  

If I had to rank pot pies I would still put Amy 3rd after KFC and Swanson (I might make it equal to Swanson, but Swanson wins because MEAT).  But since I can't eat those other two anymore, it's moot.  Yay, Amy's!  Now if someone would like to develop a GF KFC pot pie copycat AND deliver it to my house ... I would be very grateful.

(Disclaimer: Being 3rd means it's better than Marie Callendar's, Boston Market, or that weird cornbread one.  And any other brand I've eaten, although I've always been pretty loyal to Swanson for frozen and KFC for out.  I may have eaten some other brand, like Banquet or something.  I don't remember and there was a reason I never ate it again.)  

In the spirit of my last post ...

Instead of writing letters to Santa, who doesn't exist (ohshitishouldn'tsaythat), perhaps we should write letters to insanely rich people.

*ahem*


Dear Koch Brothers,

For Christmas this year I don't want a pony.  Or a puppy.
Instead I would like you to pay my $30,000 in student loan debt.
I'm sure you'd get a tax write off for that.  (I know people Like You eat that shit up.)
And a new dolly.  I'd like a new dolly.
I've been a good girl this year.
In light of that, please help out your fellow Kansan.

-Me

(P.S.  Milk and cookies will be provided for an additional $3500.  Which is still pocket change to you, I'm sure.)

We Need More, Better Undercover Bosses

I think I like this show.

I think.

I'll just be happy

when most of my referrals come from actual websites.

The only time I'm going to talk about the asexuality thing:

I hate the term "ace."  I didn't know that was a thing until I met a girl in Hawaii who assumed I was asexual because I didn't want kids, and she would tell me all about her time on Aven dealing with other people who were "ace."  I had been to Aven before many years ago, but I guess "ace" wasn't a thing.

It sounds stupid.  Just my opinion.  Remember those ads from the 90s (and maybe they still make 'em) where some adults would try to be cool but fail totally and terribly?  Yeah, that's what I think of.  People trying to be cool or sound cool just by calling themselves "cool."

The asexual community annoys me kind of like the way the atheist community annoys me.  Sex and god are two things I barely dedicate any time to during the course of my year unless someone else brings them up and makes me think about such things or defend myself or whatever.  On an average day I'm not thinking about sex or god OR my lack of interest in either.  How often do you think about cockatiels and meatball subs?  It's kind of the same thing.  These things are not a part of my life.  If they were, I would spend more time thinking about them.

My job is making me crazy.

I am a creative person.  I like thinking.  Thinking is awesome.

When I was working at the Bananaland there wasn't always down time, but sometimes you could zone out and fold things, or zone out and size things (or zone out and zone out).  If there were no customers you could use your brain as you pleased.

When I was doing ESL, I had to think on my feet a lot of the time.  Some students would say weird stuff and some were a struggle to deal with, so imagination was key.  Especially with the kids.  And even when we did busywork I could zone out and just think.

It was kind of nice.

My current job hasn't really started yet.  It requires a long training period, and then we got interrupted to train for something else before finishing our other thing.  We still have a couple of weeks left.  And already I'm thinking I just don't want to continue.  The work isn't that difficult, which is fine, but it's also nearly nine hours of sitting in a chair and performing the kind of mindless tasks that both require very little thought but also give you no leeway to change the channel on your brain.  

Imagine if your job were something like reading the phone book to people over the phone.

No room for creativity, and you have to focus on what you're doing or else you'll mess up.  And the content isn't even something you can picture in your head.  It's the phone book.

(Note: this is not my actual job.)

The pay is pretty good, but I keep having to ask myself if the pay is worth it to have no life, no time for hobbies, and to be frustrated and bored at work.  I'm thinking that the answer is "no."  But first I need to secure another job that will pay the bills.  And that's the hard part.

Doll vs. Baby

Dollmore makes a couple of dolls I would call "kid-size," in that they're a little more proportionate compared to dolls of similar height.  A Soom Mecha Angel is about 30 inches tall but you'd be hard pressed to find a toddler with such skinny legs.  Meanwhile the Lusion and Trinity dolls have a bit more heft to go along with their height.

I'm pretty keen on big dolls.  They're heavy and expensive, but there's something just so satisfying about a big doll.  I don't know how to express it.  Maybe it's that they feel expensive, while a ten inch doll feels cheap even if it was $400.  And they're easier to paint or sew for, which is handy since Dollmore charges $100 for a faceup and offers very few outfits for those sizes.  You also might be able to find kids clothes or shoes that fit them, although I think the proportions might make it kind of difficult.

The Inside Banana Scoop

I have a Banana Republic Card.  I used to work at Banana Republic.

It's a good deal if you don't rack up a lot of debt.  I try not to have more than $150 or so on it at any time because the interest rate is WHOOOOAAAAAAA high.  I don't mind paying a few bucks in interest but basically I like to keep it at $0 most of the time.

The benefits of the Banana card are pretty good.  I signed up because we were having some crazy sales + an additional 25% off for new cardholders and I wanted to buy a $200 blazer for cheaper than it would be with my employee discount.  I bought a handful of items and got a really good deal, practically 60% off--definitely better than our discount.

Oh, and it was double/triple points, which means if you have the normal Banana card you get $10 back as a coupon when you spend $100.  If you have the Luxe card you spend $67 and get the $10 back.  Normally it's $10 for every $200 you spend at all Gap brands.

So it's a nice deal especially when there are special promos (extra 10% off for cardholders, double points, etc.).

I suffer from bitchy resting face.

If you also suffer from bitchy resting face, please know that there is hope.

Because people shouldn't expect you to fucking smile all the time.  And if they do, punch them in the face.  I guarantee that their "oh shit I got punched in the face" face will draw more attention than your bitchy resting face.

I also suffer from "about to cry all the time" face right now.  Because of my eye.

What do Republicans and the female body have in common?

They both have a way of shutting that whole thing down.

So you've probably heard that the government fell into a hole that our good friends across the aisle were busy digging for the last ... extended period of time.

I just want to let you know, since it's officially October 1st ...

I really don't like

all these fake blog views.

At all.

I did a bad, bad thing.

So please support this blog.  Or if you arrived here from Youtube, please support that.

JUST SUPPORT ME, OKAY??

No, I didn't commit fraud or go to jail or something bad like that.  I just ... may have ... made a purchase ... and committed to buying something ... very ... large ... and doll-like.

By visiting this site and viewing my vids you are contributing.  And je t'appreshe.  (Which is my fake French way of saying that I appreciate you.)  I think I only make something like 20 cents a month, but every cent matters.  Oh yes.  Every cent.  O____O  (Going to take a lot of cents.)

It's going to take a year to pay it off anyway.  Whatev.

Why I Hate Dens of Anything

About ten years ago I first stumbled upon Den of Angels, a forum and resource for all things BJD.  It was a great place to look around, gather information, see owner photos and get in touch with other dolly people.

I thought.

Quickly I learned that I was not a "doll person."  "Doll people" were weird.  They were obsessed with yaoi and constantly positioning their boy dolls to butthump other boy dolls at meetups.  They talked about that BS of a concept, "bonding" (a.k.a. buyer's remorse with a cutesy name), they proudly displayed pictures of their sad Sharpie faceups and talked nonstop about how their dolls were their "OCs."  Because apparently they had no imagination without a doll to foist a character upon.

Getting Rides

Someone at work is giving me a ride TO work (I still take the bus home).  He keeps trying to see how late he can leave and still get there on time.  I might have come off rude today saying that if he made me late I was just going to go back to taking the bus, but if there's one thing I can't stand it's BEING LATE.

He was all, "We still got there with 10 minutes to spare today."  AGH!!  How close do you want to cut it???  Sounds like he wants to get there with 5 minutes or less.  I understand not wanting to spend more time than you have to at work, but I also don't want to get my pay docked or start accumulating attendance points or something.

I'm considering just texting him to say I'm taking the bus again.  And losing those two hours of my day again.

I think I'll do that.

All the Ladies Know

Yep.  Ladypeople know what I'm talking about here.  If you're not a ladyperson then you may not appreciate what I'm about to say.

(It has to do with menstruation.  And vaginas.  And me.  You're warned.)

It's Good to Be a Regular

I take the night bus.  We have a pretty good system (if the alternative is having NO bus) where you call during the day to schedule a ride.  Then your driver shows up at the place you set, takes you to the place you scheduled earlier in the day, and you pay $2.  Cheaper than a cab (not that we have cabs really) and pretty safe.

Strongarmed

It's always struck me as a bit sexist when I hear a woman complain about another woman's arms.

"Ew!  Her arms are so gross!  Look at the muscles!  Ewwww!"


Okay, I'll concede that female bodybuilders look a bit weird.  So do male bodybuilders.  I can't say, "female bodybuilders don't look like women" because male bodybuilders don't look especially male either.  They look like caricatures of human beings.  Or aliens.  Or something.  Maybe it's the tanning.  And the shininess.  And the veins.

I was good.

I kept holding off, trying to NOT buy that doll.

I did not buy it with a goat.
I did not buy it on a boat.
Not in a car nor on a wall,
I did not cave and buy that doll.

I finally looked on Dollmore today and Lumie was sold out.  So I can wait for the next version to come out and hopefully it'll be cheaper.  Until then I can save a little money up too, and see how much extra cash I have lying around after all the bills (and looooooans coming up) are paid.  

I hope the next one has a similar faceup, but I can take or leave the blushing and fantastical outfits.  Faceup, wig, simple outfit and a carrier is all I neeeeeeed.  (Are you listening, Dollmore?)

HOBBY LOBBY HOBBY LOBBY HOBBY LOBBY ...

I hadn't been to Hobby Lobby in almost seven years.  I don't remember the last time I went, but chances are good that it was either late 2006 or early 2007, and then I spent the next several years in Japan and Hawaii.  No Hobby Lobby.  Not even a Michael's.  Tokyo has Okadaya, which is pretty good for things like fabric or yarn ... but it's still no Hobby Lobby.

With my current situation it's kind of a pain in the butt to go to the HL if I want to do anything else with my trip.  Or buy anything.  When you don't have a car you have to make sure you don't buy anything too big or bulky, and then if you want to buy something kind of heavy you can't, say, go grocery shopping afterwards.  I walked in, made a few laps, found a bajillion things I wanted to buy, and left without anything.  I could have easily spent $500 if I had a car.  And $500.

I found myself wanting to buy all kinds of decorative crap to use for photos.  Owls and clocks and wire dressforms, framed pictures, trunks, cabinets ... goodness.  Fake foliage!  Gates!  $99.99 gates!!

Plant stands that look like little tables but are too heavy for me to even lift!

Oh my gosh, it was like a fantastic hobby wonderland.

Of course, once I have money I'll be going back.  I think.  And a car.  And a day I can go, since Hobby Lobby is closed on Sundays and my days off include Sunday.  Once these three stars align, random-ass decorative CRAP will be mine!  Miiiiine!  And now I have space for it!!

No, Seriously ...

Don't Be That Guy.

I don't get how hard it is to not act like a 4-year-old with ADD, apparently.

The guy at work is trying to break the bounds of annoyitude, and I'm at work so I can't cause a scene.  First it was walking up to me, sitting right in front of me, and shaking the table when I wouldn't acknowledge him.  Next it was jamming his finger in my notebook and tapping it.

My brother asked me to translate some Robotech article for him, and since I really don't have time to do anything, I took it to work.  I printed out the pages, took my iPad and notebook, and worked on it before training started.

So this guy walks up, seeeeeees that I'm busy with this stuff, and starts predictably with, "What are you doing?"  The million questions have begun.

He sits down in front of me, as per usual, which is just NOT enough distance in my opinion.  Then he reaches across the table, picks up the pages I've printed, and starts to look them over.  He can't read Japanese.  I know this because he "wanted me to teach him."  So he's just looking at them.  Meanwhile, I'm left going, "WTF??" to myself because I was using those, hello??

Can you imagine if you walked up to someone doing homework--someone you didn't know very well--and grabbed up their textbook while they were working?  They'd punch you in the face, right?  I bet they would.  They should, at least.

I wanted to punch him in the face.  I truly did.  Except he's about 3x my size and that would probably not go very well.  I've even told him at this point that it annoys me when people bother me while I'm doing stuff.  All he took this to mean is that he can bother me all he likes as long as I'm not writing in my notebook.  If the notebook is out but I'm not actually writing in it?  Fair game.  If I'm doing something that looks like it's NOT writing (as in, writing a story), then I'm fair game.

I'm already at this point where I'm not sure I can continue on with this job.  It's really killing me physically.  But to deal with this obnoxiousness on top of that is just icing.  I'm giving up all my time in my day to the gubmint, and then Some Guy steals the rest.

Don't Be That Guy

So this is a little social etiquette lesson for the menfolk.

And before the MRAs all come in with their faces purple and fists shaking, no, I'm not talking to EVERY GUY.

Just the guys who do this.

If you don't do this?  Fantastic!  Your parents learned ya good!

If you are one of the folks I'm talking about, then that's good too!  You now have NO EXCUSE to continue this behavior because you know it's fucking irritating!

Great!  Let's move on ...

Did I Mention I Have a Job?

I do have a job.  It's a "temp" job, but so was my last job (which I did for almost two years).  I'm working in a call center, and right now we're just learning how to do everything correctly.  After a month of training we will actually get to take actual calls.

It's not a bad gig if you can get it and keep it.  They're hiring probably 100 or more people for a perceived need, but if that need doesn't actually exist, they'll probably let a bunch of us go.  Exceptional folks may end up staying on as regular employees, but that's an if/maybe.  We do make $13/hr. plus a bit extra if we work late in the evening, and there are health/dental/vision benefits.  So, like I said, not a bad gig at all.

Except.

(There's always an "except.")

Someone in Korea Stole My Face

I like drawing the characters in my book to help me get an idea of what they all look like and better imagine the scenes in my head.  A year ago (my computer says it was 9/11/12) I drew a picture of Dolores Dresden, deceased wife and partner of asshole vampire hunter extraordinaire Dirk Dresden.  Here she is:

That's just how I envisioned her.  Sort of cute and sweet, with a round nose and big, innocent eyes.

 Fast forward to two days ago when I first went to the Dollmore website to look for doll accessories.  I happened to find myself looking at their Trinity line, and I fell in love with this doll immediately.  Love at first sight.  DOLL NEED NOW WANT kind of a thing.

I didn't really make the connection until a day later.

I've been trying to write again.

I think "trying" is the operative word here.

Right now there are chapters I'm more or less happy with and there are some I tilt my head at.  The tilty-heady ones need re-writing, and re-writing kind of sucks.  (But so do those chapters.)

I'm struggling a bit with tone, because I don't like being serious.  Anytime there's a serious part of the story I want it to be lighter.  I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with that, except that it's hard to make things like torture funny rather than gruesome.

I mean, I know it's been done.  Doesn't make it not-hard.

Also, my book is too long.  I think Act 1 is the length of a short novel.  There may be portions that could get chopped out without hurting the overall story, and certainly I don't want to J. K. Rowling myself by adding weird and inconsequential stuff.  Still ... you know, it becomes your baby.  And you don't cut pieces off of your baby just because it's too big.  (Otherwise you go to jail.)