Just to Rant and Ramble

I declare my independence from people who are always angry (or otherwise negative thinking), people who feel that nothing that ever happens to them ever their fault, and people who are convinced the the world owes them something automatically without them actually doing anything to get it.

This is starting to look much better now. It still needs a bit of tweaking here and there, but these are little things that *I* notice that probably nobody else will even see. I hit upon the idea of skywriting for the title only after I came up with the idea for the little plane with the semi transparent banner for the titles. I really like that too btw. It really works for me. I had to do the clouds at least four times before I made some I could stand. I need to reset my icon set. the gold does not match. I'll do that tomorrow though.

I know I've been behind responding to comments and not commenting so much on other people's stuff. Here are a couple of shoutouts.

littlechemist01 I did get your email. I still have it, I've just been too busy to respond when I think of it or when I don't think of it when I have time.

composer99 I responded to your message last week, but I think you have not been on.

All you people who want cold summers... please don't live here where it's supposed to be warm. *raspberries*

I know a lot of you want updates on the new job. I just haven't had time. I'm still not used to my new schedule so as soon as I'm ready to settle down here with the computer it's bedtime (wail). Just in brief, training is going well. I like what I'm hearing about the company and the contract in particular. Our contract in particular is very into giving very good customer service and not cutting corners or just interested in call volume. That's very good. We'll see how it goes once I'm on the floor, but so far so good. The environment in the classroom is a little bit like a can of sardines, but the call room floor is actually quite nice, and individual work areas are fairly good sized and nicely arranged with corner cubicles instead of straight desks (i.e. L shaped desks with the work space arranged so that we're facing the corner of the cubical. That will cut down on ambient noise as those walls catch sound and damp it into the corners. We won't have set desks. There is a clean desk policy, which means nothing goes on the desk except the stuff that is already there. So it's a little generic, but it's a call center. That's to be expected. When I leave, someone else takes over my desk. I don't want them leaving crap on my desk, and they don't want me leaving crap on their desk. It's even. I don't want to get into too much detail for the simple sake of company privacy and so on. But suffice it to say that things are going fine.

I had planned to pay my mortgage with my first check from the new job. (We get paid semi monthly) that would have got it paid early, but I decided I'd better just wait and pay it on the 24th. I'll use this coming check to finish catching up on bills. I've only got two... three... and then everything is okay again, so I can catch up these three bills, then pay the mortgage a few days late, and then on the 9th I can pay the mortgage again, and all will be well. Phew. By that time I'll be on the call floor and hopefully besides my regular pay, I'll be making commissions. That was a very nice surprise to learn that we would get commissions on calls that we make a sale, or upgrade on. It's a nice incentive, but often a customer is calling for that purpose anyway, so it's just an added bonus to get a little something extra for doing my job.

Went to see the fireworks in Fairborn. It had been raining on and off all day, so I didn't really feel much like going down to West Carrollton where we usually view them, and walk all that way in the rain and stand out in the rain or sit on the wet levee... so we just went to Community park. The show wasn't as good as the one in West Carrollton.. but it was pretty decent. Why the hell is the pool closed though? There was no water in it. What's up with that crap? Now that I get off work early enough to actually go the pool is closed? DaMnIT! Not like it's been warm enough to go swimming, but I can hope that maybe I might eventually get some summer here.

Time for bed now. Wow is it ever past my bedtime.

Seriously WTF weather? It's freaking JULY! Could we have some summer back? Last week was beautiful. Why do I need a jacket now? This sucks.

*kicks weather*
*hates*

Seriously...

*grumble*

Here's some dragons I have

Click 'em

Stolen from shadow27 (Who doesn't really even know me, but I like his Daily Fergus pictures)

Why the hell is it cold? It's the last day of June and ....

Wait a minute... it's the LAST day of JUNE.. and it it NOT the FIRST day of JULY.

Rushes off to fill out the FASFA before the deadline.

I am aware that my journal display is very screwed up right now, and not what you are used to seeing from me. I'm working on a new layout, and have to keep stopping to go to bed because I'm not used to my new schedule. I should have it fixed in a couple of days.

composer99 I responded to your question, did you get my graceless answer? *snicker*

Honestly, anything that I would MISS about being a kid, I still do.  Obviously (well it should be obvious I guess) the things that I don't do any more, are things that I don't miss.  As a grown up, I am in control of me.  No one can tell me it's time to come in, time for bed, (Being forced to go to bed at 7pm is in fact partially the cause of years and years of chronic insomnia.  It is an amazing thing to be forced to go to bed when I am not remotely tired, so I can lie there and do nothing for hours and hours that I could have at least been reading, or learning or something) or that I can't play video games for however many hours I want, or ride my bike whenever I want to.  On the same token, no one can tell me what NOT to do either. Obviously for some things there are consequences, but again, I'm in control of me, so I can make those decisions for myself. I do not miss a time when someone else did or thought they could make those decisions for me.

I had a good childhood, but again, most of the activities I enjoyed as a child I either still partake in, or else, those activities have migrated into more adult versions of the same activities.  Just one example: I played pretend as a child. Now I do role playing games, interactive fiction writing, solo writing, and storytelling.

I want this soooo bad...


Anyone interested in gifting me with something and having $50 spare bucks floating around, here is your chance! haha...


Click picture for details.

Thanks brokenbrawler for being responsible for this lust of mine!

I picked this up off snaky_poet's page.

( This is long so.... )

Since I had a good prompt and the story came out just at the right time, here it is:

Happy Birthday cornerofmadness

Prompt 2: Second time

word count 1000 words (yes, Exactly)

Author: Kandilokai ach Ishte
Title: The Second Time
Disclaimer:
Summary:
Universe: Chasing the Trail Universe, (aka Animeverse with CoS - Mangaverse also applies in places where My!Ed has said "Oh yah, that happened, sort of, but it was like this:)
Warnings and or spoilers: Sort of for CTT, but nothing major nor probably unexpected.
Rating: Teen is probably sufficient.


( The Second Time... )

Must be shared. Came to me from lyrangalia via evil_little_dog on Yahoo Instant Messenger via Trillian Astra



My favorite words of his sign are "I", "But", "Can", "Man", "Boy" and "Do". Honorable mention goes to the phrase "You're in" the first time he uses it. I didn't think the second version was as funny as the first, but the third time recovers some. Oh ... and "Inside" Hee hee.

Also enjoy this one.

Why would I WANT to be a teenager again? I'm having WAY more fun now, even if I am just as broke as when I was a teenager. Once we get over the complete destruction of our economy caused by the last 8 years, I'll be even happier.

The 80's were fun... But the economy was really terrible. It was almost impossible to get a job. We had lots of fun though. Hair was big and bright and Music was fresh and new. (That said, I think it would be pretty cool to get another British Invasion in the music scene. We really need it.  It's gotten very damn stagnant and boring the last couple of decades. So many bands sound exactly the same because they are all imitating about 3 or 4 different bands. Boring. Be nice to hear some more interesting and different stuff actually getting some airplay.) I learned to hack pizza in the 80's and suddenly I was making a living.

Then again the 90s were fun too... I had a kid and everything in the world about that was new and different.  I discovered BBS's and then The INTERNET and world wide web also happened in the 90's. The Clinton years were in the 90's, and the roaring economy that accompanied them.  How in the hell can some of these pundits actually refer to that economy as bad? bad for who?   I had two cars, a nice house with an option to buy as soon as I could get my credit back in order from school, went on vacation every year, and often went on weekend getaways to visit friends because I was making enough that I could even afford to take an extra day off unpaid once in a while. I had a 401k plan, medical insurance and rarely ever had to say "I can't do that, because I'm broke" unless it was becuase I'd already spent all my spare money on something else. I could afford health insurance easily in the 90's, couldn't afford to buy a house yet, but was getting close and had an option to buy.

The current decade has it's merits too. Sure the economy is terrible, but that will fix itself.  Gas prices are still out of line, but in the 00's I got a bike and started riding it, and a lot of my other friends started riding too.  We did the MS 150 together in 2007, and Pedal with Pete in 2006.   Some of us plan to do the MS ride this year too, and others plan to do Pedal With Pete.  (I'll post my fundraising button when I have the info.) I'm one of the more hardcore riders of our group of friends.  I saved up and bought a beautiful Trek FX 7.2 last year.  And then lost one of my jobs... *sigh* Now I'm starting ta new job on Monday (scary). In this decade, I was able to buy a house, but can no longer afford health insurance. Something is wrong with that. There are NO (yes I said NO) free or low cost clinics  in my county and clinics in surrounding counties will not see patients from outside the counties.  I aspire to build a quadricycle based in some ways on a Greenspeed Trike but with four wheels to improve cargo space behind the seat.  Once I have built it, I mean for it to be my going to the grocery store and running errands around town vehicle. Right now I do that on my bike plenty, but it can get awkward. Pannier racks sometimes get in the way of my heels, or get shifted to rub tires, and interefere with the way the bike feels.  I will sell this house, and buy a house like what I wanted in the first place in the area I wanted to live in in the first place.

I guess my point is, where you are in time is what you make of it.  The best time to be in is always now if you actually look at the good things going on instead of dwelling on the bad.  That's what makes any decade, any year, any hour, any moment either suck or rock. I choose for it to rock as much as possible and do everything in my power to make sure of it.

So I killed this horrible icky awful spider all by myself. There it was staring at me from atop my hula hoop. O no no no no no... *shudder* and it was one of those really really yucky ones with the big round mushy back end... and ookey legs all up by it's head. It looks like a giant tick thing UGH just EW! and I approached it (after screaming and leaping out of my chair to escape from it, screaming some more stomping my feet in fear and complaining to myself that it would probably escape if I ran into the other room to get something to kill it with that would not require the use of my bare hands... or anything that might run the risk of letting it get away.

It is dead now. I smushed it during intial capture, threw the tissue on the floor and stomped on it a lot and then flushed it down the toilet. I still can't sit in my chair without leaning away from where it was. I just noticed how sideways I'm sitting right now. This is stupid. Maybe I'd better just go watch another movie. *rolls eyes*

HATES SPIDERS... HATES HATES HATES!

Obviously Sushi. Preferably on someone else's dime so I can eat whatever I want as much as I want. Obviously there will also be Eel involved, and scallops an various sashimi. Since it will be my last meal, I will obviously eat way too much and be very happy to do it.

Why is it my last meal? How do I know it is?

There are supposed to be more than 20 days between start dates for you. Please to stop with the starting every time I actually manage my diet and exercise properly and drop a pound or two or five. I am not liking the frequency, and I cannot find my multivitamins either. Give it a rest with the bleeding thing!

No Love

Me

PS I did not much appreciate the multipound water gain and hugely swollen like pregnant sore boobs thing you did to me last month before hand either. Please dispense with that annoying crap also.

Stole this from reincarnated_al's Deviantart Page. It's kind of cute. At first I thought she would beat me, but apparently my favorite colors trumped her favorite colors big time. *rolls eyes)

Natural Hair Color:
[ ] Brown - $100
[ ] Blonde - $50
[ ] Black - $15
[ ] Bald - $5
[X] Other-$75
(bald is listed but not red??)

Eye Color:
[ ] Brown - $50
[ ] Green - $75
[ ] Blue $150
[ ] Hazel $100
[X] Other - $15
(yah, So... they're grey... which is not the same as blue)

Height:
[ ] Over 7′ - $200
[ ] 6′8″ to 7′ - $175
[ ] 6′0″ to 6′7″ - $150
[ ] 5′8″ to 6″ - $75
[X] 5′4″ to 5′7″ - $85
[ ] Under 5′4 - $95

Age:
[ ] 50 to 56 - $175
[ ] 46 to 50 - $150
[X] 41 to 45 - $125
[ ] 31 to 40 - $100
[ ] 26 to 30 - $75
[ ] 21 to 25 - $50
[ ] 19 to 20 - $25
[ ] 0 to 18 - $100
(Yay for GAINING points because I'm older!)

Birth Order:
[ ] Twins or more than twins - $750
[ ] First Born - $320
[ ] Only Child - $250
[X] second born - $150
[ ] Middle child - $100
[ ] Last Born - $100
[ ] third born - $550
[ ] fourth born - $300
[ ] fifth born - $400
[ ] sixth born -$215

Drink?
[ ] I did like once - $400
[ ] Only Holidays - $250
[ ] Sometimes - $215
[ ] once or twice- $200
[X] only weekends - $300
[ ] Every other day - $50
[ ] Once a day - $15
[ ] I live from the bottle - $Bankrupt$ [[back to $ZERO]]
[ ] No - $600

Vision?
[ ] perfect vision $400
[ ] need or have glasses/ contacts but dont wear them (often) $200
[ ] No correction $100
[X] Glasses $50
[ ] contacts $25
[ ] Surgical correction -$100

Shoe Size:
[ ] 13+ - $300
[ ] 12 and a half to 13 - $250
[ ] 11 to 12 - $400
[X] 7 to 10 - $500
[ ] Under 7- $450

Favorite Colors (two):
[X] Green-$750
[X] Red - $600
[ ] Black - $100
[ ] Yellow -$475
[ ] Brown - $300
[ ] Purple - $225
[ ] White - $400
[ ] Aqua - $350
[ ] Orange - $300
[ ] Blue - $300
[ ] pink - $100
[ ] Other - $500

Did you use a calculator to add it all up?
[ ] Yes $0
[X] Nope-add $1000
[ ] some- $750
(Hee I used my built in calculator [aka brain])

Final Total: $3650

Stole this Desktop Meme from cornerofmadness
Of course I rarely need any prodding to show off my desktop.

ETA: So of course I didn't really do it right.
1. Anyone who looks at this entry please post this meme and your current wallpaper at your journal.
2. Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper.
3. Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on.

Please Click through to see it full size. It looks so awesome.

ETA my 5 sentences: Obviously I'm a huge Fullmetal Alchemist Fan, and particularly Edward Elric. Lately most of my desktops have featured FMA in some way or another. I'm also a big fan of Dzioo's artwork. This features both, so how could I NOT use it. I really like the heaviness of it, and the lighting effects.

This was made from This Wonderful Poster by Dzioo posted a few weeks back. I loved it so much, but I had to clip out a part to use in order to get it to fit in my viewable area. I have permission to post the result, but please also go and look at the original which has other cool parts that I wasn't able to keep.

My thing with Desktop memes is that generally I like to see more than just the graphic people are using. I enjoy seeing their other display choices too... Like icons, and what skins they have chosen for things like (as shown on my shot) Winamp, Trillian, Rainlendar, Windows Taskbar [which is an XP DX2 skin], Sysmetrix and any other tools or widgets that are generally seen displayed.

I'm surprised I have as many icons on my desktop as I do right now. Usually it's 4.. maybe five... but I have the Dragon Egg's Sync folder now, and then a couple of little folders that I haven't finished using yet.

So... When I heard the news, I was a little shocked to hear them reporting that he'd hanged himself. Then as I read the articles, I noticed that some of them were getting a little dodgy about the details, speaking in euphemisms... like the BBC saying he wsa found "naked in a wardrobe with a cord around his neck and other parts of his body". Then I started thinking... this man didn't hang himself. Either he died of auto-erotic asphyxiation, or someone killed him and set it up to look like that was what was going on. Now I'm seeing reports that his hands were also tied behind his back. So what do YOU think happened?

We'll see if there ends up being a cover up on this thing, which I'm increasingly inclined to think was either a murder set up to look like something else, or else some kind of erotica gone wrong, but obviously he had to have had someone with him, who panicked and abandoned him there... which in my opinion is hardly less than murder if he had a heart attack or something and she took off and didn't call for help.

Carradine was an icon of mine growing up. I loved his show Kung Fu when I was growing up. I watched it whenever I could find it on. Later, his presence in a movie always changed my opinion of it favorably. Even a very bad movie could be made much better just because Carradine had a part in it. What a terrible loss. Knowing how this tremendous actor worked, even at 72, we could have certainly expected quite a few more really good works from him. He was working on one, and had another lined up immediately after. What a real damn bummer. I hope they find out who murdered him and don't just bury it.

I stole this story from composer99 and seriously just had to share it.