I heart flypaper

I don't know what it is about the cleaning I've been doing - maybe having the doors open too much - maybe my upstairs neighbor is evil and sent them to me. I don't know. I have had flies, big black - not the fruit variety flies buzzing about my apt. The only smells are the ones of disinfectant. Only for the last week or so - w/ ample food available by eating off the cat's food and litterbox they have survived. Today i picked up some flypaper - I hung it in my living room - I had spied 2 flies in here earlier - and within not even 30 mins - it had caught 3 flies. I moved it to the kichen (by the catfood) and it caught 2 more in less than 10 mins - I just hung it in the bathroom (near the litterbox) - and we'll see - so far the other rooms look flyfree. I am soooo happy. No chemicals, little mess, and no more flies - ahhhh. I just thought I'd share this is the best thing that has happened all day. Seriously - that flypaper did it's very limited job and actually worked - is the BEST thing that has happened so far.

And yes, Toby - after midnight I will be watching the wonderful Dr Who and enjoying it officially tomorrow - cause today was so bad I don't want the good Dr associated with it.

Mini Me...

There she is, the perfect "me" from 10 yrs ago, only now. She will be 18 in 36 days... And I can't wait to see where this takes us. She is one of my best friends, my faux daughter, my false niece, my real second cousin, and one of the lights of my life. She is why I get up many mornings, and the last happy thought in my brain as I fall asleep. I love her you see. Oodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, and lots. Having her in my life is like someone plucked a star out of the heavens, wrapped it in tissue paper, and put it in St Louis, yesyes a million miles away from me. So she has the added bonus of escaping my hand everytime I want to bash at her for her rude lil mouth or actions. But she loses out on my cooking of glop. Eh, her loss.

HORMONES???

God/ess, please, Let my crazy crazy mood shifts be because of the birth control pills. I am on "the Pill" - for real, me, on the pill. This is of course in a (again goddess grant me) not-so vain attempt to control the apparently rampant endometriosis in my innards. This is the step before going in and cutting out the cells - yay surgery. So anyway - back to the story - last week: My very first week on the pale blue pills I spent being angry. I mean ANGRY, full of rage, not funny rage.... But really real hardcore, I'm about to tear this motherfucker up and no one is gonna stop me rage. I was soooo angry at everything, not traffic cause they were in my way angry, but FUCK YOU ALL, I'LL KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND. I took lots of deep breathes, LOTS of meditation. And I made it. This week - on the dark blue pills, I am crying, at everything: commercials, Nip/Tuck, OZ, patients' stories, pictures in my apt, how much I love my family and friends, my cat, loneliness, frustration....everything. I hate it. I hate not being in better control of things. I hope this will all turn out to be worth it. And everything is good. I'm gonna grad a box of tissues, and get ready for er. Good or not I'll be crying tonight. Just bare with me as my body adjusts. Or get ready to buy me flowers for after the surgery. - though I will prolly prefer Starbucks Caramel Cappucino Ice Cream (mmmmmm Caramelly)

Fuck the cable company

In the eye. I got cable (YIPPPPPPEEEEEEE!!!!) I was so happy. Everything was beautiful. I was setting up the programs I wanted to record. I was enjoying programs I normally couldn't watch. Shiny.

Until less than 36 hrs after the install the DVR decided to no longer work properly. Since this device doubles as the overall converter I was annoyed, but then, this might be a common problem, and listed in a troubleshooting guide somewhere. The materials they gave me were chock full of self configuration models so clearly this should be something they would provide materials to address. NOPE. no dice. I tried unplugging everything, resetting it, powering up according to their instructions. No dice. I checked online for support (funny the internet connection (also cable) still working perfectly) - there is none, not really. The is FAQs, there is online chat for internet problems/support (which is bloody retarded if your internet connection is the problem). And it took 5 mins to get a phone number to call to talk to tech support. I called it. 20 mins on hold later it disconnected me. I tried again: 27 mins on hold later it disconnected me. I'm in the midst of trying a 3rd time. and I am 10 mins into the hold time. By the time I do talk to a rep I will prolly be a little foaming at the mouth ready to kill. & mostly that is brought on my the little hold muzak from hell and the fact that every 30 secs or so a little voice cuts in and says things like "thank you for holding a representative will be with you soon" and "thank you for holding, we are lookign forward to talking to you soon, please hold the line and we will be right with you" and "Thank you for holding the next available operator will be speaking to you shortly, this call may be recorded for train purposes". And each time these little voices (all different - 2 different chicks and a guy) come on the line - it blanks for a sec, like someone is picking up.

I hate COX COMMUNICATIONS.
FUCK THEM IN THEIR EYE.

At 18 mins into the hold time a very nice young lady named Amy picked up. I explained the situation. I explained the hold times and being disconnected. I was kind and polite. She tried to suss out what had happened. She tried to help, and sent some signals to the box (so apparently I was still showing up on their grid (which she couldn't seem to get that I understood the difference tween showing up and a reading on their end saying I was disconnected)). She had me unplug the box for 10 mins and then (without her on the line of course) plug it back in and see if it reboots. She couldn't understand when I tried to tell her that having a technician come out to fix it this week was damned near pointless 2º to the fact that I am at work the whenever appts are available. So I have a guy scheduled to come out on Monday morning - I am hoping maybe I could leave work really quick and come home and deal w/ it and go back to work. or I'm gonna have to RS to Tuesday afternoon - or I'm gonna start stalking the guys where they hang out at the park not even a 5 mins walk from my house - I see the vans there every day. She also apologized like a dozen times for the experience. Then it clicked - she had to be like the only operator there all alone. She had to have seen the hold times and disconnected me by hand each time. I did the same thing when I worked at an ans service, when the times were too long and I knew the caller would be pissed if you disconnected them they would call back in and you could answer them right away and blame it on the system. Hell yes I'm calling in to complain on Monday morning. Hell yes they are getting a good raking over the white hot coals of my rage. And now my 10 mins are up - time to try again. She actually tried to tell me that the DVR is "like a computer - you have to give it time to reboot" - no shit Sherlock, ya think? I just the thought the hard drive in there was for show.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

"Let's be real - you're pushing thirty..."

Uh huh - guess who had the balls to say that to me? - the "I'm gonna be 18 in 53 days" lil wench who happens to be 574.06 miles away right now and so she is safe starting statements like that. She thinks she will not provoke me into beating her ass. That just because we happen to be related it will somehow save her from being sent out into the cold to cut herself a switch, and then beaten with it. Just because she is young and my favorite of her generation and we have a strange mother-daughter like relationship - it will stay my hand - she is wrong and one of these nights I will sneak out to her house (a mere 9hrs 10mins away) and scare the hell out of her. Maybe I'll just jump out screaming "STABBYSTABBYSTABBYSTABBYFUCKINGSTABBY STABBYSTABBYSTABBY FUCKING STABBY!!!"

OK I feel better. Just plotting her demise (really ways to scare her and make her scream) makes me feeeeeeeel better.

PS She was justifying why she will never have kids - "cause she is just like me, and hell I'm almost thirty and no kids or hubby..."

birthday pt 1

Apparently I am a pretty pretty princess mean drunk. At least my friends now have photographic proof.

Best moment today...

I am watching the Simpsons season premiere. It is a Fat Tony episode so lots of mob-luv. Not only is there Metallica, but when Fat Tony is driving the kids in a carpool, they played some Alabama 3 (A3 in the US) "Woke up this Morning". I am in bliss. Joi of all jois.

They say

It's my birthday. I've been around now for almost 30 years - more musings later after the booze. On the other hand yesterday would have been my parents' 33rd wedding anniversary. 33 years. My father died about a week and a half before their 30th anniversary. Mom sounds good. It is just one of those days. It was hard not to remember them together. Not that I haven't seen my mom alone in the last 3 years, but in my head they are inseperable. They were like 2 teenagers in love, going steady right up until he died. I guess I'm trying to express that I'm not as young as I used to be, and if I am lucky enough to find myself in a relationship like my parents' relationship - I will be truly blessed. Conversely I really think I sleep alone most night because I am still looking for that, and nothing else will suffice. I had strange dreams last night about the guy I was seeing last summer, and a guy I knew in highschool. Very strange. Not luveydovey dreams - just complicated - cause mine always are.

On that note we (large mass of my wonderful friends) will be at Johnny Mangos tonight for a b-day celebration/luv for me. I am so pleased everyone in my crazed world - well at least some of them - can meet. And a random bachelor has decided to drop by. Dunno how that is going to go, but he insisted. I warned him that I prolly wouldn't be looking for him, or have any extra time to spend w/ him since I really want to see and spend time with my friends. Right now I am cleaning and just feeling the love and getting lost in the memories. Last year it was Tim, Laurie, Jared, Jeff, Shawn in Paia, Maui, Hawaii at a bar down the block from Laurie's place, and shots of Patron. This year should be interesting. I'll be the one in the flowery girlie shirt.

So, he's dead...

Steve Irwin has finally died. And it couldn't be more tragic, more of a freak accident. He got stung by a stingray. Couldn't be a snakebite, shark bite, head smashed while wrestling a croc... Nope, couldn't even just be the poison from the stingray coarsing thru his veins. The barb pierced his heart. PIERCED HIS HEART. Whether the blade be poisoned or not getting stabbed in the heart usually does one in for good. The news is making it waaay more sensational than it should be. A great man is dead. He worked his whole life in the names of environmentalism and conservation of our natural resources, not just the cuddly ones. Although he always brought the laughter, I feel far more gratitude and respect for him. My heart breaks for his remaining wife and 2 children. The only consolation I can find is that he lived as he died, fearless, educating, and moving ever forward.

Lookee who found her camera -

It's gonna take me a while to get the hang of it again - in the meantime there is more Henna after 24 hrs on my left palm. And I am including a pic of Obi - my cat. She is properly named Oberon - I didn't name her. She is also known as Obi-Wan-Kitty, and Uber-Bitch. I heart her a great deal. Off I am to homehome for the weekend - and my lil sister's super-secret(but she knows all about it)surprise-Animal-House-themed-mock-wedding/engagement-party. YAY!!! I can't wait.

Beautiful Baubles for a Cause

Speaking of helping out causes: I thought I’d take the opportunity to tell about my friend Chris (one of the most wonderful, fanstastically talented people I know). He is doing (and has been for a few years now) a line of jewelry for Planned Parenthood of Greater Cleveland. I threw these pics up as examples – hit them to link to the site. He is also listed as “Beautiful Baubles” on the side – that is not going anywhere. And the link to Planned Parenthood’s shopping page is listed as “Beautiful Baubles for a Cause” – that isn’t going anywhere either. This is not me turning into a hardcore activist (anymore than I have been). But since we’re talking about Reproductive rights anyway…

HOWTO Screw Some Evangelist Maggots Right In The Wallet

This is the single most brilliant thing I have heard all day. I picked up a bunch of anti-choice propaganda = all about knowing your enemy and defeating the self-righteous lot of them. & of course a free copy of Narnia (YAY - Narnia!!!) $97 + shipping - i hope it hurts.

I can't fully even express the joi. The drawing expresses it best.


Jhayne Holmes says this:

What with the Washington State Supreme Court handing down its anti-gay-marriage decision several weeks ago and the ever-hearing more about attacks on reproductive rights down south, I’m feeling that the States is tripping a bit too merrily down the Handmaid’s path.

This week, I found a way to strike back.

Focus on the Family, the horrid anti-gay evangelical church based in Colorado Springs that wields too much power for anyone’s good, has a store on their website that will give you books, CDs, and DVDs absolutely free of charge. Usually people pay for their items by donation, raising millions of dollars to help Focus on the Family produce more hate-propaganda featuring “experts” on homosexuality who claim it’s a curable “sickness”. (They’re practically defined by their book A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality. Course, there’s no mention of having less kids, which is the only proven method. No, no, you shouldn’t use birth control, that would be wrong. They need more worshippers, how dare you prevent god’s will.)

It’s a little bit time-consuming, but not enough to deter me. (Nor should it you). The chance to take money out of their pockets is too useful, not to mention satisfying.

Here’s how to do it in 10 steps:

1. Go to www.family.org and look for the “Resources” link in the blue bar on the left-hand side, right above the “Search” box, and click it.

2. Under the “Resource Category” menu on the left-hand side, you’ll notice categories such as “Homosexuality” under “Resource Category.” Me, I went straight to the CD’s and DVD’s under “Resource Format.”

3. Go through, find something you like, such as the recently released movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or The Chronicles of Narnia Radio Theatre Complete Set, suggested donation US $79.00, or the three disc Les Miserables soundtrack. It’s not a very wide range of products, but there’s bound to be something either you like or you could use as a sweet gift for someone else. Click the “Add to Card” button.

They won’t send more than $100 worth of materials for free in any given shopping trip, so be sure to go through a few times, until you’re sure you’ve dinged them.

4. Select “Add New Shipping Address,” decide to send it yourself or someone else, and once you’re done picking up to $100, click “Proceed to Checkout.” Some people have been sending items to themselves to sell later on eBay, some have been ordering the more controversial items as conversation pieces or educational props, (as anti-anti-propaganda), but I plan on using mine as gifts, mostly. I’ve found no reports on receiving Focus on the Family junk mail after inputting an address, so I figure it’s fairly safe.

5. The next screen asks you to sign-up for an account and give your information. Fill it out with fictitious information, enter whatever name and address you like. You might want to make up a phone number too and an e-mail account too. After filling out all the required fields, click “Proceed to Checkout” one more time.

6. This will take you to the “Here is Your Cart” page. You may have to re-enter your data again after this part to actually confirm your account. Eventually, you’ll get to the “How Much Would You Like to Donate?” page.

7. Select “Enter other total amount” and enter 0.00 as the amount you would like to pay. (Don’t put in a dollar sign or it will ask you for credit-card information.) Don’t be fooled by the field in the lower-right-hand corner that shows you the suggested donation amounts, simply Proceed to Checkout.

8. The next screen is a guilt screen, to make you feel bad about how little you donated. ignore it. Ignore it utterly. Think of how many people they’re persecuting and had in their “gay kids can be cured” camps. Just proceed to checkout again.

9. Click “Checkout Now.”

10. Finally, pass this information on to all your friends. They’ve got money to back them, we have word of mouth, let’s see if we can win.


******** SPECIAL NOTICE*********

They have altered the site slightly. After placing your each order, it will try to block you from placing subsequent orders. They accomplish this thru the use of cookies.

Go into your browser's user preferences and trudge thru the cookies present and delete all from www.family.org. It is not nearly as complicated as it sounds, and can be done quickly. Then of course go back to taking their money. I'm getting bunches of the Narnia DVDs and selling them off to Record Exchange and anywhere else who will pay and giving the money to the local AIDS taskforce and Planned Parenthood and PFLAG and other organizations to support the communities of the people that Focus on Family continues to preach hatred and intolerance towards.

More Henna

24 hours later.

Note for Erica

He really is a robot. I hope you appreciate this. I did and thought of you and smiled.

Henna update

Ok I did my palm earlier today - I took it off rather quickly 2º to wanting to allow it to fade quickly - so I can A. do another design quickly. B. not be too obvious at work.
I managed to get the lines finer w/ the cone, and am still perfecting the technique. I can't wait til I can get back to the fineline designs. sooo pretty.

WooHoo OR update

ok one in the car so far. Thanks Junior. Still looking for more takers - to split gas and more for the trip in October - contact me for details. I've given up coming up w/ any reason not to just go on to see again in Madison - I mean it is only a hop/skip from Chicago. And that's still how I feel.

HELL YEAH!!!

WOOHOO!!!

WHO'S COMIN' WITH ME???

C'MON I JUST NEED A TRAVEL BUDDY!!!

OR AT LEAST STOP ME FROM FOLLOWING TO MADISON THE NEXT DAY

it is finally here, FINALLY. The closest the tour comes is Chicago in the middle of the week 10/11/2006. I am going if I have to drive myself alone. wow. WOW. This has made my day.
Enjoy the Coop.

I work in a random office

Which is just like every office - ok - just like every outpatient physical therapy office. We had 14 pts today in our first 3 hours - mathkids are now going - well, that's only a little more than 4 pts an hour... well it is too damned many. 6 of them were new (read that as the fastest of them took about 15 mins to do their paperwork - the slowest took about 35 mins - which put him squarely into the next pt's timeslot) and therefore required more time from the therapist, and from me. I was still trying to get the paperwork/billing done from last Thurs/Fri. Did I mention I started the day at 7am and none of the paperwork that other people are supposed to do was started for Friday til after 10am. I then worked til 7pm. I'm just tired. And I don't want to cook. I want someone to show up here with food - and since that isn't going to happen, I am going to drool over Prison Break (Wentworth Miller) and go to sleep w/o supper. That's all.

More henna

OK - this is a better shot of my foot/ankle. I am still mucking about w/ the details. It has been so long since I have done this. My lines w/ the .5mm tip are a lil thick yet. I will prolly be switching back to bamboo skewers as I move further along. And of course more tight spirals when I get to my other leg and palm.

The henna is here!!!

YAY!!!

I am so excited. I mixed up the first step of the batch and will prolly get to the design tomorrow afternoon. I have 2 discs of Carnivale and the last of Broken Saints to get me thru the drying process and the first series of Black Books. So I might be able to hold off peeling it off til I wake up on Sunday (maybe) - it's always hard. I actually flirted w/ watching the entire extended edition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy while I waited... but then came to my senses.

First tight shot of the design - I can't seem to find my camera so my cell will have to do...