howeverbrief: (Ink)
Oh HAI, livejournal. I should update you, but tabular_rasa kindly asked me some questions I'd rather answer before I forget. If you'd like 5 questions, reply "Rock, paper, scissors, lizard, spock!" in the comments.

What is your favorite thing about where you live? (Take that to mean what you will: your city, your neighborhood, your home itself, etc).
I wish I could say I adjusted to being a city person (if you can even count Reno as a city, with its "Biggest little city!" status), but even though I lived there about ten years, I never quite adjusted. This isn't to say that I would never consider living in a bigger city than I'm used to, but given where I grew up, I'm pretty comfortable with small towns.

This town is particularly nice because it's not big and crowded with people, but it's also not so far away from places that are both less populated (like my parents' place) and places that have much more going on (like Reno or the Bay Area or, you know, an airport). It's pretty much the best of both worlds because I can hide from people when I want to but get to wherever else I'd like to be without much trouble.

Long story short, I like the size of where I live. Plus my house is pretty awesome too.

What is the last new thing you learned?
I think it was that there's another size of bed. I'd never heard of an Olympic Queen before, but I don't think it's very common. Ebay has a buying guide on bedding for them. I guess the difference between a normal queen and an Olympic Queen is about six inches in width. I only learned about this because the bedding we bought had measurements for an Olympic Queen.

(We got our bed today. It's giant and hopefully will be much more awesome than sleeping on the floor.)

If you could know your own future, would you want to know? Why or why not?
Hmmmmm. That is a hard question. On one hand, I'd like to know because I'm pretty paranoid about wanting to do a good job and would like to know that everything turns out okay in the end. On the other, I still want to believe that I can change things for the better if I keep trying to improve. I want to believe that I have control over my life to some extent, and if I knew what happened in the future, I might not strive or try to do other things that weren't in line with what I already know. (I may have some control issues and seen too many movies on time travel, haha.)

What are your thoughts on nudity? Do you like being naked? Does it depend on the context?
I think nudity is okay to some extent, though I'm sure you won't be surprised to find out it depends on the context. I am pretty modest, all things considered. The most skin I'll show is usually when I'm wearing workout clothes, and even then, it's nothing too scandalous. Since I don't have much in the way of curves to show off (and clothes don't always fit my proportions right), I don't tend to show a lot of skin to begin with, and I think I'd feel pretty uncomfortable being nude in public. I'm okay with nudity in the right situation, but I don't seek out time to be naked. I'm usually fine with it when it happens for the right reason, though. ;)

In the first round of a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock! which would you choose, and why?
I have to admit that even though I have heard of this variant of rock, paper, scissors, I had to look up the rules to find out what Spock and lizard can do. Usually, I'd pick scissors, as it's my go-to in the traditional game, but given Leonard Nimoy's recent passing and what the sign can do, I'd say Spock.
howeverbrief: (Smile)
INSTRUCTIONS: Take the first sentence or two (or a paragraph because I don't always follow the rules) from the first post of each month of 2012. That's your year in review.

JANUARY: Around the first of the year, I always have the year-end meme I've been doing for however long now at the forefront of my mind; so I never really say what happened on New Years because I would rather start off on a good foot journalisticly. I don't know if this ever really works.

FEBRUARY: Session officially starts Monday. I'm going in at 3:00 today and working until question mark. Then I'm going in tomorrow at 11:00 (or earlier depending on how much work we have) until question mark, predicted leave time of after midnight. Monday will probably be an early day as well. Hopefully I get next Saturday off, more so the one after that since it's my anniversary with Mike. Sigh.

MARCH: I was shocked to learn yesterday that I got this whole weekend off. We have to go in at 7:00 on Monday, but they didn't have enough work to have us come in on Sunday. So I texted my mom, and she let the guy who offered to fix my door know that I was free. He's coming tomorrow at 10:00, so hopefully I'll have a deadbolt by the afternoon so I can stop leaving the couch in front of the door, which is a little annoying but necessary for my peace of mind at the moment.

APRIL: April is usually the month where I try to post a poem a day. I am going to go ahead and say I probably won't do that this month. With session being what it is and deadlines looming in the near future, I'm not sure I'll have time to think about poetry in the way I want to. That's just the way it goes, I guess. I'll probably still try to get to it now and then, but it won't be a daily barrage of poetry. I'm sure you're all devastated. Haha. Nah, it's mostly a personal exercise I try to do, but this year doesn't seem very conducive to it.

MAY: It's been a pretty slow week. I've only had six hours of overtime total. Compared to last week, it's a damn vacation. But seriously, it's always hard to go from working that much to barely having anything to do. Sure, I always have projects on the back burner to tackle, but considering my project at the moment is reading statutes that were passed before I was born, I haven't been very engaged in what I'm doing, even if it is better than doing nothing at all. It's either work like a maniac or be bored to death in that job. Ah, even if it's not sustainable, I'd rather just have steady work all the time. Makes the day go by faster, even if it's a long one.

JUNE: I uh... Wow.

First off, there's this. (Link pointed to information about the end of session and the special session we were forced to have. Ugh.)

JULY: On the way back to the hotel after eating at Vernon's Hidden Valley Steakhouse (a speakeasy-themed steakhouse where we had an awkward experience at the bar but a very tasty meal), I had this conversation.

"I think I'm drunk on steak."
"Oh, well I hope not. I wouldn't want to steak advantage of you."

AUGUST: So uh, the big project that I said was going to send us into overtime at work a little before or after the wedding in September? The one I was trying to plan the wedding around because planning a wedding is stressful enough without working overtime?

SEPTEMBER: FIVE DAYS! ZOMG MY BRAIN IS ONLY WEDDING STUFF.

OCTOBER: Hey, we finagled some pictures out of the photographer (that is to say, she was nice enough to put some up for us even though she's said it's going to take two to three months to sort through and edit our pictures); so maybe we can get our thank you cards out soon. I'm pretty excited about that, probably because once that's done, I can stop thinking about how ungrateful we are... haha.

NOVEMBER: I'm doing okay. The surgery went well, and I've been mostly taking pills, eating, watching TV, and falling asleep while watching said TV during the day. Mike's been really sweet and helpful over the last two days, and I'm very grateful he's around. It hasn't been too bad considering. I haven't even really taken all the pain pills I could have, though I'm still taking a bit too much hydrocodone for my liking (mostly because it's making me very sleepy and dizzy and I'd like to get away from that soon). I take the recommended doses during the day and let it lapse at night so I don't have to get up any more than I already do when I'm supposed to be sleeping. Seems to be working out fine.

DECEMBER: Ah, okay. I got back from Utah yesterday, and Mike left for Livermore soon after. I have an entry on our Thanksgiving weekend, but it can wait until I'm less tired (which hopefully isn't too long from now or I'll never get it done). I also feel like I'm getting sick, but I'm hoping that's just a combination of hypochondria and my teeth still being messed up, though my new nephew and niece were both sick the whole time I was there (boo). I'm taking Cold-eez just in case, for whatever that's worth.

It's been quite the year. I'd say more, but I'm currently visiting New Mexico until the first. Hopefully 2014 will get rid of this obstinate sinus infection, but we'll see. Other than that, it hasn't been too bad lately. I hope you're all doing very well. Sorry for not keeping up better. I'll try to work on that this coming year.
howeverbrief: (Ink)
1) How have you learned about your family history? Do you find it an interesting subject?
I have learned a little bit about both sides of the family, but it's mostly fairly recent history with short snippets about ancestors thrown in from time to time.

My dad is, of course, 100% Irish. He immigrated from County Donegal to California when he was 15. I keep thinking I really ought to sit him down and record some of what he knows about his family history sometime, mostly because every time he tells me stories, I find out something completely different I've never heard before. What's unfortunate is this doesn't happen very often, as dad only gets loose-lipped about this subject when he's in the right mood (either drinking or on the rare occasion one-on-one when he's not talking about his dictionary). Even just his personal story of coming to America is pretty interesting, and that's not going back very far. Then he gets into how we had an ancestor who used to smuggle potential priests out of Ireland so they could get educated and come back to bring Catholicism to the masses, which was highly illegal at the time. Hmm.

Then again, I haven't asked my mom about her branch of the family too much, probably because her mother was the black sheep of the family. Her roots are mostly German (she's half) and a hodge-podge of other ethnicities (Scottish, English, a tiny bit of Irish, American Indian and I don't remember if she's said anything else). She hails from Wisconsin originally, though she moved to California when she was about 5. Most of what I know about Mom's folks involves stories about WWII (where grandpa has been rumored to be something of a double agent because he spoke perfect German) and how we're related to German royalty somehow. (More on that in a second.)

2) Do you have a family tree? Have you worked on completing it?
I don't think so. My mother's brother Bob has traced the German side of the family pretty far back (and has even gone over there to meet some of the German cousins), but he lives in Utah (a good place for that) and is pretty much an asshole. I don't really care to get that information from him. I think my dad might have traced some of his family back as well, but I don't know for sure. It might be kind of interesting considering his father's father had three wives, I think (one at a time because he ended up outliving all of them), so the family tree probably splits in intriguing ways. I'm not super interested in it right now. Maybe when I'm older and have more time.

3) Is your family from the country you live in currently? Or did they immigrate from somewhere else? Where? How recently?
Yes and no. My dad was born in Ireland, though he's been in the U.S. for over fifty years. Like I said, my mother was born in Wisconsin, but from what I heard, her dad's people immigrated here because they were related to the German aristocracy that was being ousted at the time. I really ought to ask more about what happened there.

4) Are you related to someone famous? How closely related? (Feel free to either mention the person or not depending on how discreet you need to be.)
Yes. Speaking of German aristocracy, we're supposedly related to Archduke Franz Ferdinand. I have no idea how closely or if we're related to anyone else who's famous, but there you go.

EDIT: I forgot my mom's distant cousins with Jane Seymour. Also, somehow my dad's mom's side of the family (last name O'Kennedy) is distantly related to the Kennedys of near royal American fame now. Anyway.

5) Take What Country Are You? - What do you get? Is it accurate? Is this country a part of your family’s history?


You Are Australia



You have an a great life, and you consider yourself very lucky.

Although you're thankful for what you have, you know you're also a bit of an underdog.



You are modest, authentic, and sincere. You don't boast... if anything, you're self deprecating.

You aren't formal, and people consider you to be very approachable. You remain relaxed and casual in any situation.



No surprise that I got the same result as the person I yoinked these questions from. Australia isn't in my family history, but it is a place I'd like to see someday.
howeverbrief: (Skull)
I guess this is what I get for reading scary stuff before bed.

I dreamed I was a little kid riding in my grandpa's truck to go confront some bad guys. We drove up to this place with a big hole (a trash dump or rock quarry or something?) where the bad dudes congregated, and we saw these guys hanging out in another truck with a pack of dogs. My grandpa got out and went to get them, but they started running at my grandpa's truck. He tried to hold them off, but one of them threw one of the dogs in the truck to kill me. Though the dog was very strong and all teeth, I kicked at him until he fell out of the truck. Grandpa closed the door and fought with two of the bad guys and went away, but one of the men stayed behind to try to get me out of the truck. He kept messing with the locks from the outside somehow, either pulling at them or pumping something into the lock mechanism, and in order to keep the door closed, I held the locks down as hard as I could with my hands.

My grandpa drove up on a lawnmower and chased off the third man, but I was scared and wouldn't stop holding the locks shut. Just then it occurred to me that no one was guarding the passenger side door, and when I looked at it, it was wide open.

EDIT: But this!
I haven't done one of these in forever.
howeverbrief: (Temp)
Questions from the always excellent tabular-rasa. Comment with your favorite color if you'd like some questions.

Red! )
howeverbrief: (Black)
INSTRUCTIONS: Take the first sentence or two from the first post of each month of 2012. That's your year in review.

JANUARY: Start the year with a gigantic smile on your face. Laugh.

FEBRUARY: (In response to the Writer's Block question: Who is your look-alike?)
Hmm. While this hasn't happened recently (not counting the store clerk a few months back who went, "You look like, oh, she was in that movie with the thing and you know? Aw, I can't remember"), I've been compared to two people the most often. I don't think either is particularly spot-on, but whatever.

MARCH: So I've been having stomach issues on and off for almost two weeks now. I told my mom about it, and she told me to stop eating salads for a few days to see if it helps.

APRIL: (Also a response to a Writer's Block question on April Fool's Day. Guess I did a fair amount of those.)
I always think April Fool's Day is kind of silly. For the most part, I don't play pranks on other people.

MAY: "So--"
The question becomes
what I haven't said versus
what I haven't done
-May 2, 2012

JUNE: Oy. I like how even on weekends I call lazy, I get a fair amount of stuff done-- laundry, vacuuming, shaking out rugs, cleaning cat boxes, spot cleaning, running the dish washer, and grocery shopping.

JULY: Made it back home about an hour ago. Kind of sad that I haven't made it to bed yet, though.

AUGUST: I occasionally write in my paper journal still. Not nearly as much as I write here (which also isn't much of anything lately), but I thought I'd post it here too, slightly edited.

I watched a program (this program for those who are curious) that detailed the story of a mathematician (George R. Price) who, upon learning of evolutionary theory applied to social behavior, subsequently discovered a theorem that proves altruism is a trait strictly devoted to survival.

SEPTEMBER: Here's the dumb song I was just singing to the phone.

OCTOBER: I found out a week ago yesterday about the paralegal position. The head counsel who was on the interview panel (and who almost never comes down our hallway) came to give me the news in person.

NOVEMBER: And now, the moment you've been waiting for, my massive entry on my trip to Ireland with Mike!

DECEMBER: "What toothpaste are you?"

One day you find out,
after all those years of believing otherwise,
you squeeze the toothpaste from the
middle, and fool yourself later by
squeezing the remains to the top.
You stand motionless, wondering
what this says about your life--
while life continues to flow around you
unabated.
-November 7, 2012

Seeing how little I wrote this year is kind of a shock. I don't know if that'll get any better, especially with session sneaking up on me. Ahh, session. We have our first deadline on the 20th, and our boss has already warned us that we'll probably be at work until 1 or 2 in the morning. Oh well. It's ok. Just hard to get used to again.

Get over it! There's not much left of this year anyway (and there's only two weeks until Christmas? weird). Got to keep it up! Snap snap!
howeverbrief: (Default)
Comment to this post, tell me you want to do the meme, and I will pick five things I would like you to talk about. They might make sense or be totally random. Then post that list, with your commentary, to your journal. Other people can get lists from you, and the meme merrily perpetuates itself.

tabular_rasa gave me these:

Seasons
Let's see. I think every season has its good points. Winter has hot chocolate and is compatible with my indoor hobbies (knitting particularly). Spring has thunderstorms, flowering trees, and general "newness" that comes along with warmer weather showing up again. Summer has vacations and my birthday. Fall has Halloween, falling leaves, and cooling weather.

I find it interesting that my favorite seasons have shifted as I've gotten older. I used to love spring the most, but that was before I realized what weird weather it brings to Nevada the other 90% of the time we don't have thunderstorms. I used to like winter and snow a lot more when I didn't have to drive in it and worry about how cold I was going to be constantly. Summer is okay for the most part still, though I never seem to schedule enough time off and have problems figuring out how to connect with other people without our schedules conflicting. Underneath it all, fall has risen to the top of the heap, with my favorite foods, holidays, and weather happening all at the same time. Still, it doesn't last. All good things must come to an end until next year.

And my mom likes to talk about there being a season for everything. She mostly says this when something bad is happening or a relationship that was once tight is waning. I think about that a lot these days.

Children
I like children. For someone who used to go around saying she'd never have children, I actually enjoy being around them a lot (when they're being cool, that is). I used to babysit quite a bit when I was in high school (a couple times for a family with five kids even!), and it made me feel old to hear that one of the kids I babysat for back in the day graduated from high school last month. Ouch!

Anyway, yeah. I really liked babysitting because it gave me a chance to be around kids without being completely responsible for them. (Hey, I was in high school.) Plus kids are pretty hilarious most of the time and see the world completely differently-- like some magical wonderland full of possibilities where we can get kind of stuck seeing the mess on the floor and the alarm clock going off early in the morning along with the rest of the crap we have to deal with. They remind me of my own childhood, which was pretty neat for the most part, and it's cool to be able to teach things and expose little people to well-worn concepts and see them be amazed and fascinated by them.

I was never one of those girls who sat around thinking about how many children to have with an eventual husband. The rare times I did, it came down to a logical argument with myself concerning population, which lead me to think that the most I'd have is two (though that made me sad because if my parents stopped at two, I wouldn't be who I am nor have the family I have today). Aside from that, I didn't really think about potential names or anything like that except in terms of what I thought would be funny-- stuff like "Fritz" and other weird things I can't remember now. This is probably because my siblings and I all have weird very Irish names, and I thought if I were to name anyone, it would have to be something fairly uncommon. Other than that, I don't know. I've since opened my stance on having children to, "Open to and depending on what my partner wants out of life." I feel like my biological clock should start ticking any minute now, but what's the rush? It'll happen if it's going to happen.

Airplanes
I've been flying since before I was born! My parents and older sister traveled to Ireland for a month when my mom was pregnant with me, and my family traveled a fair amount since. Even as a really small child, I loved the sinking feeling in my stomach I'd get when the airplane first leaves the ground and was never afraid of flying even though I'm still semi-afraid of heights. I never really understood that one. Give me a window seat, and I'll be content to stare out of it for most of the trip unless it's a red-eye flight and/or over 13 hours long. Those kind of really suck, but the destination is usually worth the hassle.

Also, hey, I'll be on a plane to Albuquerque soon! Sweet. ;)

Cooking
I'm surrounded by good cooks in my family. My sister is a pastry chef, and my mom is a dietician by education who helped launch three restaurants in the context of the casino business. Me? I like cooking, but I can't say I'm particularly gifted at it. I have a few things I can make fairly well, and I'm exploring new dishes when I'm not too lazy to cook, which is most nights. On those nights, I have a lot of shortcut dishes I make which border into trashy territory, but whatever. I haven't gained a million pounds yet, so I must not be doing too badly.

Video games
I like and loathe video games. I've played them since I was about seven years old, when my dad bought our first computers. Back then I liked games where I could learn things, like Number Munchers and most games from these guys (my favorite being Treasure Cove! OMG!). My parents were pretty big on educational games for obvious reasons, but we liked them too. I thought certain other games were fun, like Jazz Jackrabbit and the original Duke Nukem, but I was never very good at any of them.

The terrible part about video games is they bring out my competitive side, and playing against other people is usually a recipe for disaster because no matter how much I practice, I don't seem to get any competitive edge. Couple my desire to play well and win with my general inability to actually play these kinds of competitive games well and anyone talking about how much better they are than I am if I lose badly, and you'll end up with me in a very pissy mood. I hate how dumb I can get about that sort of thing, so I try to avoid that as much as possible. If anything, I play more non-competitive games, like puzzle games or The Sims, instead, though I haven't been doing that much at all due to lack of time lately.

Funny story: I guess my parents also bought us a Nintendo game system around that time (or maybe when I was younger) for Christmas, and I was snooping around in the closets before then. I saw the Nintendo box and came out to tell everyone about it.
My mom turned to me and said, "You didn't see that."
I apparently said, "No? Erase, erase, erase," while waving my hand in front of my face.
It must have worked because I didn't remember it, nor did anyone else, until we discovered the Nintendo in that same closet sometime during my high school years.

Whew! Okay. Life is pretty filled to the brim with happenings right now, but I don't want to deal with it here at the moment. I'm sure this will change soon, but you know, that's probably enough given my near-perpetual sleepy state these days. Happy longest day of the year. I'm going to go watch tv and chat before I have to go to bed. Sounds like a plan to me.
howeverbrief: (Smile)
So... While I'm waiting around and watching tv, here are the answers to seven questions tabular_rasa asked me. If you like, comment and I'll ask you seven questions. Otherwise, yeah, just read what I wrote. Haha.

How do you keep track of things you need to get done? (Like a planner, electronic planner, calendar, in your head, etc). Are you usually good at keeping track?
I make a lot of lists and am forever planning things. Most of this happens in my head first, where it usually stays unless I have a lot to accomplish and can't remember all of it. If it's overly complicated or has too many steps to juggle in my head, I have to have something tactile right in front of me to remind me of what I need to do so I can tick off the things I've completed. What's funny is I haven't really been able to make personal planners work for me, though. I try using a calendar (my real estate agent even sent me one of those handy pocket ones this year), but I forget to check it. I think I have to physically sit down and write plans that aren't too far in advance or I'll either get really obsessive over minor details or forget them altogether. Odd. I think I'm pretty good at it, but my system is far from perfect. There are still days I'll annoy myself if I forget to do things.

Provided they do not encounter an unusual amount of dirt or have something spilled on them, generally how many times do you wear a pair of pants before washing them? What's your record?
Hmm... This depends on whether we're talking my work pants or my casual pants. I don't generally get too dirty at work, so I don't mind wearing them more than once. I'll usually wear them two or three times before I wash them, and that's because I have several pairs I can switch out before I hit the two week mark. I don't like to go more than two weeks between washing those. The longest I went without washing those pants was maybe three weeks when I was waiting for my washer and dryer to be delivered when I first moved in here.

Actually, now that I think about it, it isn't all that different with my casual pants because I don't have many reasons to wear them these days. Those usually only get one or two wearings before I'm doing laundry again. It seems silly to me to not wash something if I'm already doing laundry. I think my record for the longest without washing a pair of jeans is around the same, but that's because I was being lazy.

Have you ever gotten food poisoning? Describe.
Oh, this might be gross. Sorry! My stomach runs the gamut from being made of steel (I've eaten hot dogs weeks past their expiration date and other unmentionable food and not had a problem) to being stupid and weak at the dumbest things (usually something harmless I can't even remember eating). When I've had food poisoning, usually everything just heads south (if you want the less graphic description, haha). I very rarely vomit from food poisoning. That's normally something that happens if I consume too much alcohol. However, I must say I think one of the worst hangovers I've ever had was coupled with food poisoning. Have you ever had half-digested pineapple juice make a hasty exit and burn your throat on the way up? Yeah, I wouldn't recommend it.

What are the best and worst parts about living in Nevada? (Since if I can ever submit the damn application, I might end up living there for a time!).
That application sounds like it sucks! Anyway, hmm...

Best! I like a lot about Nevada, actually. The south is different (in fact, I've still never made it down to Vegas), but the landscape up here in the north is pretty cool. I really like being surrounded by mountains, which are usually very pretty and covered in a thin layer of snow most of the time. While I've visited and liked other places, I almost always end up missing the mountains. Actually, the way the horizon ends in places that are flat really creeps me out for some reason.

I also really like the way the rain smells in the desert. Sagebrush can be a pain in the ass up here (especially during allergy season), but it smells amazing right after it rains, especially since it rains so seldomly around here.

Worst! This state is so damned small. Seriously. I can't go anywhere without running into someone who either knows me or my family or knows someone I know, and it's not always for a good reason. I don't mind it most of the time, but it gets annoying.

What is something you've never done but people generally assume you have?
Correct other people's grammar in conversation. I correct myself a lot (mostly because I'm a weird perfectionist and sometimes I say things differently than I'd like), but I don't like correcting other people. This assumption has been rampant since I started studying English, and it only gets worse if people find out I'm a proofreader. The only time I'll say something is if I need clarification or didn't understand you.

Truthfully, it bothers me when all people care about is correcting other people's language. My dad, who writes dictionaries and is a language nerd in general, does it all the time, and I don't think it's useful. It annoys me even more when people try to dissect my language, mostly because I think if you understood what I was saying, the communication was successful. I believe getting your message across is the point, not how correctly you say it.

Look, I know the rules. I just don't care that much. Don't try to out-language me.

Who was the worst teacher you ever had, and what made them so terrible?
While I might have had some terrible teachers in college, I think my fourth grade teacher still stands head and shoulders above the rest. Ms. Weaver was a chain-smoking broad in maybe her seventies. Well, I don't know how old she was, but she seemed ancient to me. Haha. I think she remembered teaching the parents of some of the kids in my class, which wasn't unusual given our rural community actually. What made her so bad was she had no control over our class (even though there were maybe 15-16 kids in there), and she sent some of my classmates to the principal's office every day. I don't remember learning anything, just how stressful the whole year was and the time a classmate climbed onto the roof of the school to avoid going to the office for the day. Ugh.

Type out or provide a link to a favorite recipe!
Cheesy baked pasta with spinach and artichokes!

I totally got this out of a magazine a few years ago. It's really easy to put together and always delicious!
howeverbrief: (Default)
Stealing this because I don't quite feel like going to bed yet. Thanks as always, quiz master tabular-rasa.

Survey! )
howeverbrief: (Default)
While I'm at it, here's my annual year in review post.

INSTRUCTIONS: Take the first sentence or two from the first post of each month of 2011. That's your year in review.

JANUARY: Last poem of 2010:

Cloud encircled moon
a cold easterly wind blows
the side winding snow

FEBRUARY: Hello? Is this thing on? Testing, testing...

Okay, I'm back online. I still have stuff to get from Reno, but for the most part, I'm settling in (if not hemorrhaging money, but that will slow down soon).

MARCH: This has been playing over and over in my head--

There is no starting
over, only moving for-
ward from where you've been

APRIL: Ah, April. Welcome to the month where I try to post a poem every day.

MAY: Still reeling from having a whole weekend to myself. I got a lot accomplished yesterday, but there's still more to do.

JUNE: Wrote this a few days ago while texting with my buddy Jason--

"Wring"
Tried to wring every last
rivulet
from my wadded up
soul
still it drips, sodden with
hope

JULY: During one my sporadic conversations with Jason recently, he posed this question-- is it possible to let it all go? It's been bothering me since.

AUGUST: If you ever still wonder, the answer is yes.

Always.

SEPTEMBER: "You guys! My dad owns a dealership!"

Wait, that's not what I was going to post. Uh, hmm...

OCTOBER: I took a walk this morning because I'm getting tired of not being able to exercise. (This was in spite of trying to lift weights yesterday then trying to clean the floor after I got back from work, which completely wiped me out.)

NOVEMBER: Winter is coming. I can feel it. Snow is predicted for later this week. First snow.

DECEMBER: Happy December, folks.

To end the year, I'm giving myself a gift.

Huh, I guess I wrote more poetry than I remember. It feels like it's been a short year, but a lot of stuff happened. I like how a lot of these entries don't make sense in the slightest. Oh well. It's fine. That's what happens when you pull things out of context. Anyway, it's time for me to stop sitting around and actually go do something with this day off I gave myself for no reason. Not looking forward to paying bills, grocery shopping, and cleaning, but it must be done. At least now my fat cat isn't sitting on my lap preventing me from getting up like earlier. Less excuses not to get stuff done! TURN UP THE HEAT AND GO!
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Rules
1. People who have been tagged must write the answers on their blog and replace any question they dislike with a new, original question.
2. Tag six people. Don't refuse to do that. Don't tag who tagged you.

I stole this from frozendoll, and I'm also not tagging. Just looking for one last silly thing to do before bed.

Read more... )

Yeah, okay. This show sucks. Go to bed.
howeverbrief: (Ink)
Actually, I might as well do this too since I'm thinking about it.

Annual Year in Review Post! )

Once again, it's out of context (and kind of grating to read), but it's also not a bad summary considering the kinds of situations I dealt with this year. Next year is going to be different. I can already tell.

It's also now closer to an appropriate time to sleep, so maybe I'll try to do that. Goodnight. <3
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I'm trying to be better about actually posting these things. I keep forgetting for months at a time. I guess it doesn't really matter in the long run since most of my answers are silly, but sorry anyway!

1. Reply to this post and I'll assign you a letter.
2. List (and upload) 5 songs you love that begin with that letter.
3. Post them to your journal with these instructions.

tabular_rasa gave me O )
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The annual Year in Review post! You're so excited!

Read more... )

A lot of that doesn't make sense out of context. Big surprise, right? It's been an okay year, I guess. Hope next year is better.

One-Offs

Jul. 14th, 2009 11:16 am
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Your rainbow is strongly shaded orange, indigo, and blue.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What is says about you: You are a proud person. You appreciate friends who get along with one another. You share hobbies with friends and like trying to fit into their routines. Others are amazed at how you don't give up.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.


Today's Leo Horoscope:
Jul 14, 2009

You are the secret jewel, dear Leo, and you are apt to be extremely loving and devoted to those who recognize this in you. There is no reason to shrink back and hide. Put on your most royal air and flaunt your stuff - both inner and outer. Your peaceful, charming nature is shining through, and you are radiating the god-like qualities you have within. Whoever shares your company tonight is extremely lucky indeed. Make sure this person is worthy of you.

I am not sure what's going to happen tonight. Wish me luck and guidance, please.
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I thought I'd do one of these instead of working again. From the lovely invisione:

Comment on this post. I will choose seven interests from your profile and you will explain what they mean and why you are interested in them. Post this along with your answers in your own journal so others can play along.

12:34
I seem to see this time at least once a day, sometimes twice. If not that, it's certainly very often. I like that I see it so often, but it still stands out to me for some reason, probably just the fact that everything is in sequence. Kind of spooky to me at the same time, too. Maybe I'm just oddly superstitious.

all kinds of corn
This is a quote from a silly song from The Brak Show. It's a strange cartoon they used to play in Adult Swim's early years on Cartoon Network. I actually didn't see the show, but my little sister had a CD with songs from the show. One of them talked about things Brak, the title character of the show, liked. He apparently likes all kinds of corn. I can dig it.

derrida
Oh, Derrida. <3 He was a French postmodern philosopher whose theory I fell in love with when I was studying it back in college. (My minor is in philosophy, in case you forgot.) His theory can be especially difficult to read and understand because he writes it in a form that deconstructs the philosophy. I haven't read him in quite some time, but I really should get back into it. Him and Foucault (and possibly Said) were some of my all-time favorites to study back in the day. Sigh. I was really sad when I found out in class that he died from pancreatic cancer in 2004.

house of leaves
One of my favorite books. I read it right before college, and that was before I knew about postmodernism. The form of it absolutely fascinated me. It has type that goes all over the page and is just as much a part of the story as the story itself, plus it has a few different story lines converging at once. It makes me wish I could re-read books, seriously. It did give me really bad nightmares for a while, though, because it's really... creepy.

moloko
I love Clockwork Orange. (I've dressed as Alex two different Halloweens because it is an easy costume.) I saw this as an interest on a friend's livejournal and added it myself because I thought it was fun. Moloko is milk spiked with alcohol. It is what the cool kids drink.

over-analysis
I have a love/hate relationship with over-analysis as probably anyone who has read this journal for any amount of time has seen. I have a bad tendency to pick apart really big problems that trouble me, such as world issues and politics, as well as really small problems that are quite insignificant in the long run, such as how I acted at a party and if I was a total jerk or not. I hate myself when I get mired in these long over-analytical conversations that span days or even weeks, but at the same time, they can help me figure out certain problems, what I feel about them, what I can do about them, etc. I know it can't always be fun to read my over-analysis, but it's something I can't seem to get rid of. I can only learn how to control it and see the better side of it.

transvestite movies
It all started with Rocky Horror Picture Show. Man, I love that movie. There's a whole list of movies with transvestites in them that I love: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Birdcage, Mrs. Doubtfire... I haven't seen every one known to man, but the ones I have, I really enjoy. I'm slowly working up a better collection when I remember to.

All right! That was fun. Who wants to play?
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I seem to do this every year. It's a good diversion and a way to see where this journal has taken me over the last year. Enjoy.

INSTRUCTIONS: Take the first sentence or two from the first post of each month of 2008. That's your year in review.

Read more... )

Hmm... I'm not sure I like all those entries. Perhaps I should make an effort to be more positive and less self-absorbed. Like that will ever happen.

I KID! I KID!
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From invisione. I don't mention her much, but she's a cool cat. :)

The rules are:
A. People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blog and replace any question that they dislike with a new, original question. (Who ever does that?)
B. Tag eight people. Don't refuse to do that. Don't tag who tagged you.

Read more... )

Feel free to snag this meme if you want to play, of course, but I'm tagging Aurora, Pip, Eric, and my Arch Nemesis in particular. Thanks, as always, for reading. Time for sleep now!
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This is the new version of the "[your name] needs" Google meme. Go to google.com and type in [your name] followed by each word to find a sentence about yourself (theoretically, it will most likely be about someone else, though unless you're a celebrity). : ) Putting it in quotes will help you get back a good sentence.

I meant Fiona! Oops! (Totally stole this from Kassi)
1. Needs: fiona needs to go on a diet seriously.
2. Looks like: I don't think Fiona looks like crap in those pictures...just kinda like an ill Russian peasant. :)
3. Says: Fiona. says (15:05): and I blew it too hard so it splurted on my face and keyboard
4. Wants: Varma said Fiona wants to continue the fight for justice till all those involved in the alleged cover-up of Scarlett's murder are prosecuted.
5. Does: Fiona does not judge a dog on height alone.
6. Hates: Fiona Hates Men In Speedos.
7. Asks: Fiona asks no questions and smiles politely at the nurse.
8. Goes: Fiona goes undercover in the celebrities' house to gain the wife's trust and find out what they're not telling the authorities.
9. Likes: Fiona likes licking steamy windows by mooflyfoof.
10. Eats: Fiona Eats Seductively
11. Wears: Fiona wears low-cut dresses that reveal some cleavage.
12. Was arrested for: Fiona was arrested for drink driving whilst in Tinkerbell.

HA! Well, that was fun. Thanks, friendslist.
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I owe someone a meme. ;) I'm only going to use people I know. I count certain journals I've read for a while in that category, though I might throw a few random links in for fun. Please don't be offended if I don't include you. It's only because I don't know you well enough.

Below are the answers to 30 questions. The catch to this meme is that you only get to know what the questions are if you agree to do the meme yourself. Therefore, you must ask for the questions, but be warned that if you ask for them, you are obligated to answer them in your own journal.

Read more... )

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