Last minute closet costumes...

Not my closet, but Melanie's. I had no idea this costume was gonna be so cute. I tried it on last night and decided to wear it into work today. I needed to be festive. We were going through Melanie's closet for a party we're invited to tomorrow night. She had a couple of random things she'd picked up years ago and this was one of them. I thought it'd be kinda cheapy, but was pleasantly surprised. Thanks Mel! As usual, she comes to the rescue.

I think tonight is just going to be mellow hanging out with Melanie and possibly Tyra. We'll probably hand out candy for a few hours and shut the lights out before the shitty teenagers come. Of course there will also be wine drinking. But that's about it. My favorite kind of evening...boring.

I can't write in this thing so much at work anymore. I'm trying to be good while I'm keeping my eyes open. Don't want to rock the only boat I have. *sigh*

Happy Halloweenies...keep your kitties safe!

Tuesday?

I guess so. Happy to be going through an ordinary day. I just have to keep trying, keep trying. Something will come along.

I forgot to mention last night that Ron and I are going through a nice, smooth spell. Everything is going fine. We've worked through that bumpy mess. He's starting to understand where I'm coming from with the children thing. The other night he said that he would like children, but it's ultimately up to me. If it doesn't happen, he is okay with it. He was very reassuring during this conversation and it made me feel much better, for the time being.

Then there's this job searching. It always brings out the best of my insecurities. All I want is a simple life. I do not want a big, complicated career. I just want to work at a small to medium sized company that does something I'm relatively interested in. This goes right along with my lack of desire for a family. Too many people equals too many problems.

It's become so difficult to care about it here. Have I mentioned I hate what we sell and represent? I can't concentrate worth a shit. I haven't EVER really been able to concentrate here. What would it be like to work somewhere that you actually care about? I have yet to know what it's like. Someday I will find it. I gotta go do some more bullshit for now...here comes the bitch.

The new tank is working out swell...

Some quick pictures with the Mac Book.  Not bad for Photo Booth.  Hmmm, which pictures actually have fish in them?  Two outta three ain't bad.  Little buggers were afraid of the big 'ol light square bouncing around outside their tank.  

Ugh...Now it's time to check the dryers.   I hope to be able to move on with the thrilling laundry chore.

Waiting for the Dryer

My neighbor forgot her clothes in the only two washers in the laundry room.  I moved them to the dryers and loaded my laundry into the washers.  Thirty minutes later when I returned to move the loads to the dryers, her wet clothes remained.  I was gonna move 'em back to the washers when she sauntered in.  She sniffled an apology that she's sick and fell asleep.   I was my usual overly nice self.  "It's okay", I said.  Now I wait.  Like I wait to get out of that office.  Somebody hire me.  Get me out of that place.  Somebody get your fucking clothes out of the dryer!

That's it.  I'm at that spot in blogging.  Where I've got so much to write and am in no mood to write.  I wanna get over that.  And my lazy spell.  I was lazy and didn't exercise last week.  Now I'm feeling it.  Kinda stressed and tired.  More lethargic than anything else.  Oh Gawd, Sex in the fucking City is on.  I gotta turn this.  And see what the fuck is up in the laundry room.  Late.

Nothing speaks louder than the almighty dollar

Welcome to my life, where the shit is hitting the fan. So, I'm having issues with my marriage, issues with babies and just plain issues... Why not add my career to that pile? So it seems that the economy has pushed my boss to cut my hours almost in half. You see, no one wants to buy the overpriced, frivolous stuff we sell. That part is very understandable. However, I can't help but feel hurt after all the years I've given her, all the support, all the work. Friday I received a letter that basically tells me I'm not earning my money. Well, at least she sat there while I read it. Okay, fine. If that's how she feels, then it's time for me to move on to a company that appreciates what I give them. My friends have been telling me to get out of here for years. I cannot put it off any longer. Again I will tell myself, I am worth more than this.

Of course this is no time to burn bridges. I must act like an adult. This woman has provided me with a job and a learning experience for the past five years. I appreciate what she has done for me. However, I can no longer take getting kicked in the gut. When it comes down to it, I hate this company and what it sells. I do not want to represent something that I no longer believe in. Actually, I've never believed in it. Ah...but business is business! I've learned all I can here. I am thankful for all of the skills and tenure I have gotten from this company, but seriously, enough is enough. It's time for me to stop being afraid. I NEED this challenge! I NEED this change! Things have gotten too stagnant. I also need more structure as I seem to be "wasting my time" a lot. Yea. Even though I always get my work done and I've been told by boss that I can fool around as long as I get my work done. Oh, but she's the owner and she can change her mind whenever she wants!

So... Off I go to dust off the 'ol resume and job hunt...while I work part time for as long as I can stand it. Wish me luck!

We had VIP seats!

Like, OH muh GAWD! Guess what Melanie and I got to do last night?! It was like, TEWtally AWEsuuumm!!



We got VIP tickets to see...



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Are you READY?!



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None other than the NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK! The NKOTB wuz inn' duh HOOOWWWSSE!!! Jam on it! JAM OWN IT! UGH! UGH! UGH! Putcher hands inna air fo' the NKOTB!!!



...or shall I say, the MAMAOTB...Men Approaching Middle Age On the Block. Holy crap, they're gettin' OLD. And they still suck as much as they did in the early 90's. Glad to see SOME things haven't changed.



So Melanie works at *big studio* and got these free tickets to see the show at the Staples Center. Speaking of that place, I don't remember what it was called before but... STAPLES Center? As in huge office products store. Yea. Anyway, our VIP suite was located high up and to the left of the main stage. It was a dimly lit room, not too unlike a hotel room, except there was bar seating at the front and stairs led down to some comfy seating and a better view. Not that I wanted one or anything. They had the big screens, backround dancers and pyrotechnics galore. It was a sugary pop teen girls wet dream.

Why did I go? 'Cause it was a social night out with free drinks and free junk food. I'd never been to the Staples Center, either. It was the usual experience that one would have at places like that during a big venue. At least we got to hide out in the more private hallways on the way to our suite. I was hoping we'd only stay about an hour, hour and a half, as the show didn't start 'til 8 and I didn't want it to be another late night. After two beers, two plates of nachos, a vodka cranberry and an hour had elapsed, I was ready to go. It wouldn't be so, however, because one of our friends from high school was there. She was more Melanie's friend, just an acquaintance to me... Anyway, Melanie managed to spot her from across the theater. They kept waving at each other, but I couldn't see her friend for the life of me. Well, they were texting each other and of course Melanie, being the sweet girl she is, invited her friend and sister up to the VIP room to join us. You see, this friend and sister were die hard fans of the 'ol NKOTB back in the early ninties. You know, when all the really good alternative and grunge music was coming out. Goes to show what kinda musical taste that chick has. Barf. Well, it's typical of a boring, SAHM type. *yawn*

So we had to remain there until the end of the noisy drivel of a concert. It would be terribly r-r-rude to leave before the concert was over because Melanie couldn't possibly ditch her frrriiieeeennnddd, doncha know. *SIGH* I did a poor job of hiding my irritation toward the end, as I wanted to get the fuck home and go to fucking sleep. I had to leave the room and vent my misery to Ron on the phone. When the concert FINALLY ended, we had to stand around longer and take a few pics because this friend lives an hour and a half away and they hadn't seen each other in a long while. OYE. I kept repeating, "Patience, dear...PATIENCE" in my head. We didn't get outta there 'til 11:30. I did my best to be nice in between annoyance because...well...of course I understand. It's just one of life's little irritating situations. OH well.

And that's all I have to report for now. I have to get to work on finishing this little cute art thing I'm doing for Ron's birthday card. Gotta get it done before I go home today because he gets off early tonight. Like, dinnertime early. Yay! Let's hope we can continue with our decent coexistance.

Please, sign this petition to STOP this HORRIBLE ACT!

Sign this petition to help stop the passing of the Orphan Works Act:

SHITTINESS

The Orphan Works act started out as a way for museums to be able to display/digitize works that they have that they are unable to find owners for. Now its been altered to the point that it virtually destroys the individuals right to their own work. Anyone will be able to use anyone else's work however they wish. The only thing they need to do is to make a "diligent effort" to find and obtain permission from the work's creator, BUT the permission and/or finding is not required for the use of the work, and "diligent effort" is conveniently not defined, leaving it wide open for interpretation and abuse.

This Act has ALREADY PASSED THE SENATE. Its now gone to Congress. We can not let them pass this. Its a violation of our work and our rights. They're trying to fly this under the radar while the focus is on the economic bailout, elections, etc. DON'T LET THEM.

Please, for the love of all that is individual rights, pass this on.

Oh yea...and the fate of the bad little crab...

I forgot to mention... I found that little red-eyed devil crab who ate a nice steak dinner's worth of fish last month. I kept wondering why my goby and anthias were always so stressed. That little asshole hid, but kept at these weaker fish until they finally gave up. The guys at the shop showed me a picture of the offender so that I knew what to remove once I had the rocks and everything out of the old tank. When I found him, I placed him in a bowl and took him back to the shop. Before we fed him to the resident 12 inch long puffer, I asked if such a small crab could eat such large fish. It turns out that these are mean little fuckers. I'm not sure what kind he was exactly, but the puffer fish sure liked him. We made him walk the plank...he fell in the puffer tank and didn't even hit the bottom before he was sucked up with a vengeance. The fish ate him with such force (in one gulp, two chews) one of his legs shot off into the corner of the tank. HAH! Serves 'im right. So I'm going to have to be very careful in selecting any new rocks for the tank. You can bet I made sure there were no hitchhikers in the rocks I purchased this weekend. Little destructive fuckers!

I wish it would always flow like that

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh... 'Tis a Monday morn' after a kind weekend. This weekend was very kind to me, it was. Rather, my husband was very kind to me. It was smooth sailing and fluffy rainbows the whole way. Ron wasn't the LEAST BIT assholian during the ENTIRE weekend! Amazing...

Saturday we woke up to a gloomy morning. The bedroom wasn't bathed in sunlight, as it usually is. We need to change our blinds. Even when those things are shut, way too much light gets in. The sun rises in the direction that the window is facing. Yes. East. I've learned to battle the sunrise room by getting used to sleeping with my head sandwiched between two pillows. So I didn't have to do that on Saturday. Got to enjoy sleeping in without the sun in my face. Then we got up, showered and dressed and it was off to run our usual errands before we enjoyed a wonderful sushi lunch. I love that it also rained. Shit, good old California weather. It was 85 - 90 all during the week and then come Saturday, it rains.

Our last errand, which we saved until after lunch, was picking up my brand new 50 gallon glass aquarium. We took Ron's beat up old Toyota to the fish store and loaded up everything I'd need to change my system over to the new tank. The nice fellas at the shop let me borrow one of their 30 gallon plastic trash cans that they use to acclimate new fish at the store. They also let me borrow a styrofoam box to put all of my rocks in. The changeover wasn't so bad, it was just all that water transferring that got tiring. Plus I had to drive all the way back to the fish store to get more water 'cause I ran out. The water level was only about 5 inches below what I needed it to be. Ain't that the pits?! Turns out I went from an approximately 45 gallon tank to an approximately 60 gallon tank. I just found a site that calculates gallonage from tank measurements. I didn't realize the new tank was so much bigger! I'm glad I got those extra base rocks for the bottom of my "reef pile" 'cause I had to make it higher.

The procedure took about 4 hours altogether. The first three were on Saturday... Emptied clear water from tank to trash can and two extra 5 gallon jugs. Dug out half of the old sand, as instructed, in order to replace it with new. I couldn't put all of the old sand into the new tank, because all the poo is stirred up, then it sits for a few hours... Then putting it back into a system that's been disrupted just makes your water quality get shot to hell. So, I changed out some sand and got some new rocks, all of which have beneficial bacteria in/on them to help get everything back on track. The tank will be going through a mini-cycle in the next few weeks, where certain elements spike and such. Once it gets back to normal I'll be able to add corals and fish again.

By the time I was done on Saturday, I was exhausted. The tank looked as though a tsunami hit. I just didn't have the energy to arrange the rocks after all that water lugging. That task was saved for Sunday...which was another lovely day. My new friend Erica came over for a barbeque. Yes, I've actually met a few cool people on shitspace. Very few. And most of them live too far away to hang out with. But Erica contacted me a few months ago, she was new to the area again after living in the south for a few years. Well, it seems that we've hit it off after hanging out a few times. She's right there with me when it comes to being a silly goof and loving animals. She also happens to have a cute little critter of the human kind. Yes. A BAY-BEE. I must admit, I certainly enjoy them when they're critters...from about 7/8 months to about 2 years old. I'm thinking she came into my life for a reason. I really enjoyed having her son there yesterday... But did it change my mind and give me the baby rabies? HEY-ELL NO! I just enjoyed revisting the days that I used to take care of my little nephew...who is now 17 years old. I miss his critter days so.

Ronnie was a good hubby yesterday. Good and social. He shopped, he barbequed, he helped clean up. Critter boy just LOVED Ron and his silly faces. Erica kept saying how he loves men. You shoulda seen that little face light up when Ron talked to him. At one point Erica and I ran to the store and left munchkin with Ron. They were sitting on the couch watching football when we got back. So adorable. Yes, Ron does have the knack for being cutsie to kiddies and animals. I'm the same way. Little kids and animals gravitate toward me. I will admit, kids are totally cute in small doses. I was very proud of Ron for being cool and not being all, "SEE? Wasn't that just SO FUN?! Don't you wanna go make a baby RIGHT NOW?!", after Erica left. Good boy. But Erica is a good kinda mom. She let him crawl around and get dirty, she didn't give in to his crying when it was play pen time and especially when it was bed time. Poor little guy was PISSED, but he eventually tired himself out. Just like what I used to do with my little pistol of a niece. *SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAM! WAAAAIILLL!!!* GOOD NIGHT, LAUREN. *click* goes the door...

Let's see, what else... Oh yea, we also got a new livingroom area carpet. The one we were using was old and light colored, making it not so great for couch front placement. I got a nice light brown/burgundy carpet. It's mostly burgundy and brings out the red in things. It's also much larger. I love it. That purchase was long over due.

Tonight is laundry night. I was going to do it yesterday, but finishing the rock placement in my tank took precedence. That and the fact that I had a friend over. I didn't wanna be running back and forth while they were there. How rude. Anyway, I'm going to borrow the work camera and take a picture or two (or 10) of the new tank. Now it's time to really start collecting corals so I can get this thing lookin' more lively. I've only got about 5 or 6 at this point. I also want at least 2 to 4 more fish. There's TONS of swimming room now...and I don't have to bend over when I view the thing anymore! It's a tall tank! But not too tall in that it's taller than it is wide. I really like that about it. Yea. Okay, that's it for now. I have to go concentrate on this thing called "work" again.

Is this a conversation?

So, out of morbid curiosity, I've joined this online chat "family". Yea. I met this chick on shitspace and she asked me if I wanted to become part of this, uh...thing. So I made up an account and joined in. Weird, I tell you. Very, very weird. I'm just doing a little "experiment" I guess. I let people add me, but I don't say much. I never contact any of them, just let them contact me. And I only go online about once or twice a week when I have time.

These people have the conversation skills of a fucking wet rock. So far I've talked to mostly younger types, from late teens to mid twenties. I think I've only talked to one 30 year old. I've talked to about 4 or 5 different people so far and I can't keep them straight. They all have a couple of things in common... They don't know how to start or hold a conversation and they can't spell worth a shit. I try to ask them what they're up to or what they have planned for the day and I get answers like, "nm" (not much) and "nthig" (nothing). Their futile attempts at conversation make me weep for the future. Are there REALLY people THAT DUMB on this planet? Oh my gawd. I don't understand. The one girl who got me to join...conversation just doesn't happen with her at all. It goes like this...

Her: Hi

Me: Hello, how're you?

Her: good, u

Me: Oh, just dandy.

Long pause...

Me: So...whatcha up to today?

Her: nm

Me: Do you work? Go to school? What do you do?

Her: No

Long pause...

Her: I have a bf

Me: Who is that?

Her: (name of some online dude)

Me: Does he live near you?

Her: No

Long pause... By this time I usually get bored out of my mind and just sign out of the shit. I usually don't last much longer than 20 minutes to a half hour.

Oh, and then there was the one who blurted out (well, as much as you can "blurt" in an instant message), "GUESS WHAT?"

Of course I'm all, "What?"

Her: I'm preg (JUST the information I love to get from some random stranger who has no more intelligence than a fucking mossy log.)

Me: Oh goodie. Congrats.

Her: ty

Me: Does hubby know?

Her: no

Long pause...

Me: Are you excited to tell him? (you big, worthless pile of idiocracy?)

Her: ya.

At this point I left. Well, I waited a few more minutes and heard nothing. At any rate it's getting old. It's way too depressing to talk to these morbidly stoooopid people. That's why I prefer blogging. At least here I've met a few intelligent people who can actually form sentences and string them together to create interesting, thought provoking paragraphs. I probably won't sign onto that shit again for a long time. I'm not big on IMing, only have a few friends who come on here and there. I DON'T DO chatrooms. Those turned to shit in the late ninties. I just can't believe there are people out there who form online communities like this. It's so...so...BRAIN DEAD.

Ah, but what else should I expect? I know. Nothing. Expect ABSOLUTELY nothing and you will be okay.

Anyway, I'm gonna get some work done now. Boss is back tomorrow and I've got to do my usual straightening up.