Eels When You Want Them

He's Gonna Wake Up in a Smoothie

2009-11-03T01:02:31Z

I was going to FINALLY post pictures from the Faire and Halloween and stuff, but I forgot to get Lightroom from Mike over the weekend so I guess it will have to wait yet again. Hurf and durf.

Anyhoodle, Halloween was quite a treat, even if it was one of the least-Halloweeny Halloweens I've had in a long time. Mike and Brian came over and we all had ourselves a sweet dinner party of deviled eggs, lasagna and salad (with pork chops for Mike-the-allergic-to-vegetables, hurr), and a pumpkin cheesecake I made from a recipe in Rose's Heavenly Cakes, which Mike gave me the weekend before that. (Rose Levy Beranbaum is a crazy lady, but she knows how to make a darn good cake.) Everything was dee-licious, although I kind of messed up the crust to the cheesecake by using walnuts instead of pecans and off-brand gingersnaps. Zoe and Subrina carved some rad-ass pumpkins, too, although some jerkass so-and-so's went and took off with Zoe's jack-o-lantern without so much as a by-your-leave. Feh. Any road, we played a couple of paper games and watched some movies and generally stayed up all night, which I haven't done in a long time. So hoorays for that! And, might I add, banana hammock. (Mike and I had some difficulties regarding my ratio of paying attention to him versus paying attention to everyone else. I'm not sure if we actually solved anything, but I guess we're not arguing about it anymore.)

Oh! Also Mike and I went to Zachary's that morning to get some brekkist (I got a fairly tasty eggs benedict, although I like their hash better) and then wandered around downtown for a bit watching cars get towed. I got some sweet discounted sample socks at the Sock Shop, including a pair with tiny little eight-bit surfers on them. Also a pair of purple metallic plaid tights that were on sale because they were display items, but I tried them on earlier and whoa but my stubby legs are not complimented by plaid, so I may be bequeathing them to Jessica if they suit her better.

Also (not to itemize my purchases every time I buy something, but I was excited about these) we swung by Logos like usual and picked up some bitching YA books I liked in my youth: Wise Child and Juniper by Monica Furlong, Wild Magic and Wolf-Speaker by Tamora Pierce, and The Mouse and His Child by Russell Hoban. Color me super jazzed, y'all! The cashier was a dude from a couple of classes I've taken (The Russian Avant-Garde, The Future), and we had a moment mutually fan-bonering over Russell Hoban and Riddley Walker and such, which was fun.

In other news, I've been trying to puzzle out how to do the holidays; Mom was very sweet and took some of the heat off of me by saying that I don't have to swing up north if it gets too complicated between Mike and Dad, since Mike asked me to spend Christmas with him and I haven't seen Dad in nearly a year. Of course, Mom's is sort of the place I would like to be the most, but sometimes you just gotta do what's better for relationship politics. It's all kind of turning into a clusterfuck at the moment, though, what with Tufesa's website being weird and trying to figure out if Mike can get a passport in time, etc. etc.

So maybe I'll just say screw it for now and start my NaNoWriMo a day late. Wheeeeee.

Edit: I love my dad, I really do, but when he IMs me it's like talking to a Beck song.

Well.

2009-10-30T05:51:33Z

I was holding off on posting until I could get the camera back from Mike and post pictures from the Faire and so on...but something more important (that feels like the wrong word) has come up.

So, this afternoon when I got off of work (after a very exhausting morning with Dale and Francine) I checked my email and found an email detailing that one of my coworkers at "work" had reported our bossman to the university's sexual harassment office and that would I please call the lady from Chapter IX to talk about it. I finally got through to her after class, and she detailed that there had been a credible report of inappropriate groping and so on (I won't go into details) and that the university is no longer supporting the boss' business as an acceptable internship location for students. (Also because of his misuse of students' time as interns, but that seems to be the less important thing here.) From what I gathered, it's each intern's choice to quit or not but she highly recommended it and said that the university will help any students getting credit from the internship to find another program to complete in order to get that credit. As a volunteer, I just said fuck it. Although our boss was a bit strange and made some...weird comments in my time there, I never felt threatened sexually, especially since I was hardly the prettiest girl there. However, there's no goddamn way I'm giving someone like that my free labor or continuing on there. So, I guess I no longer have a "job." Maybe I should look into getting another shift with Dale now that I have some free time...

God. Thinking about it just makes me feel sick, though. I have best wishes to all the other girls whether they decide to stay on or not, and especially to the girl who reported him in the first place. The whole thing just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I know it's not really my business either way, but jesus christ.

I Failed College Algebra Again

2009-10-21T03:58:51Z

I was going to post about the First Rain Naked Run that happened last Tuesday and how Mike and Jerod drove down just for that and to get awesome fries at Saturn, and I was going to post about the awesome double-whammy of the Alternative Press Expo '09 and the last day of the NorCal Renaissance Faire at Casa de Fruta over the weekend and meeting Erika Moen and Kate Beaton and Joey Comeau and Emily Horne and a very nice fellow with a very clean beard, and Laura's fight against period chauvinism and Moonie and Broon and and and...

But then, depressed depressed depressed. Gbleh. I just want to curl up in bed for the rest of the week instead of functioning and going to work and doing my reading and my German listening homework and that paper rough draft that's due in like twelve hours. I don't want to go to work and deal with this AWBC crap and Dan being a dick about the mistakes I make on a job for which I got no training. I don't want to cook or eat or get groceries or do dishes. I don't.

Blah blah blah first world problems. I don't know how good I have it.

I Know I'm Gonna Make Her Die, Take Her Where Her Soul Belongs

2009-10-06T02:43:04Z

Ohhhhhh snaaaaaap

Joey Comeau is gonna be at APE '09 on the 17th, cementing my blanket decision that we're going on that day. He's gonna be there pimping Overqualified rather than A Softer World, but I'm still all twirly about it. Maybe he'll have some copies of his other books, too...I really wanted to get It's Too Late to Say I'm Sorry when it came out but I was lame and didn't. If not, at least I can go "HURFDURF" while I wait in line for him to sign my boobs.

I've got a splitting headache but I'm feeling better and there's still like half a container of tasty menudo in the fridge for me for later. Yummmm, hooves and stomach. Although it didn't have any hominy, which is odd.

Ho hum.

EDIT: Also! If any of you fine single ladies out there (I know there are so many of you on my friends list) are willing to go to a wedding overnight with a certain fine gentleman we all know by the name of Jerry sometime in November, drop me a line! I'm supposed to be his fairy godmother on this so I've got to at least try. And he's cute and funny and he doesn't smell!

I Need a Checkup from the Neck Up

2009-10-03T18:58:03Z

Whee! Mia is feeling at least a smidge bit better. I think sitting around for 14 straight hours yesterday consuming tea and (finally) reading the QC archives did me some good. Of course, now I have to actually suck it up and do some homework, like reading half of The Odyssey and more Parzival, but oh well. STUDENT LYYYYYFE, y'all.

Man, I almost forgot, but last Sunday my aunt and uncle came down (all the way from Pinole) to take me out to dinner as a belated birthday present. We went to this rad place called Shadowbrook, in Capitola. The food was decent (I got a tasty cioppino) and the setting was great; it's on this hillside and there are all these beautiful plants and a view of the river where they have the Begonia Festival floats in the spring, and a little funicular (or "hillevator") to take you down from the entrance to the restaurant if you don't want to walk down a billion stairs. Anyway, it was a grand time, and my aunt and uncle were very understanding of the fact that I wasn't interested in having anything alcoholic despite being 21 and got me a very tasty virgin margarita. I was rather sad to find out that they aren't hosting the family Thanksgiving dinner at their house this year and are instead going on a cruise, which means I won't be seeing any of my relatives since Mike wants to go to his grandmother's family lunch thing and Mom's still going to be all the way up in Washington, but oh well. I'm lucky to see her as often as I do, and there's always Christmas vacation to catch up with her and Dad.

Mike was nice enough to do some grocery-shopping for me at Winco last night when he had to take Pepita there anyway, so once he comes down sometime today we should be able to rock out with a bomb corn chowder or two (since he hates celery and red pepper and Z doesn't eat bacon). Like, seriously, in planning the meals I want to make over the next week or two, like all of them have been soups. Corn chowder, tortilla soup, cream of butternut squash, goop (which is a sort of backwards-ass cousin to chili made with a billion cans of crap including cut-up tamales)...I am a soup fiend. I want to try making tom kha gai, this friggin' delicious Thai soup with coconut milk and mushrooms, but when I went to find a recipe it was all "galangal this" and "lime leaves that" and I was like "maaaaan." I'm not sure Winco stocks lemongrass, knawwhameannnn? When I'm in a more vigorous mood I'll hunt all that crap down at Lion Market or something.

In a couple weekends Z and Mike and I (and whosoever else of the household we can talk into going) have tentative plans to go to the Casa de Fruta renfaire and then to APE 2009 in San Francisco to ogle over Kate Beaton (and, for me, Dylan Meconis) and learn more about independent comicking. Should be educational! Not sure if I'm more interested in the webcomics panel on Sunday or the queer comics panel on Saturday, but I'm sure we'll work something out.

I guess Mike's and my second anniversary-ish thing is in the next week or so; I'm kind of horrible at pinning down one particular date because for me it wasn't just a sudden event but sort of a gradual getting-together. In light of that, I've ordered him this completely absurd gift that, if I know him at all, he will love. If he doesn't, then fuck it, I'm keeping it for myself! While I had the credit card out I went a little hog wild because I haven't just bought myself anything fun in forever, and got an Avenue Q poster and preordered a resin figurine Space Coyote (aka Nina Matsumoto) is putting out through Patch Together, which is sort of like Threadless for awesome toys. It's fun getting junk in the mail! Speaking of which, I need to send letters out to Tia and Joy again.

Okay, this got really long and boring and ramble-y. I guess I'll make more tea and crack down on reading about the Round Table and what a dumb pretty-boy Percival was.

Diiwaana hai, diiwaanii hai

2009-10-02T16:05:44Z

Guess who feels like shit?!

Bingo.

I should've known it was coming; I've been working really hard these last couple of weeks (between classes, homework, Dale, Francine, and "work"), and Dale's had a cold and been coughing in my face and making me throw away his horked-up-into tissues et al, and my immune system is out to get me anyway. So now I have lovely swollen glands and excitingly-colored mucus and a stuffy head and weakness to beat the band, which doesn't jibe so well with the very nice invitation extended to me by Kestrel to go camping this weekend. Figures, don't it? Le sigh. I'm waiting up to see if I can pounce on an unsuspecting roommate on their way to class and force them to take my German homework to Prof. Campbell for me; probably won't happen, but I just can't do it. Even if I made it to campus all right, thinking about climbing up to Social Sciences I just makes me want to cry.

Oh well. Time to call in sick at "work" and hope that Dan doesn't get too mad. It's gonna be a busy day down there and I'm supposed to be there to enter in all the new title information that needs to be there, like, stat, but uggghghhghghghghggh. I just kinnae do it!

At least I had the foresight to take off work last night (I feel bad for Kischka and Julie, but blechhh), and Tito had us all watch this very entertaining movie, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Or, as Zoe and I like to call it, Hoochie Koochie What-the-Hey. Very cute Bollywood movie with amazing scenes with the characters in college. Like, oh my god. So crazy. Also our Netflix movies have started arriving and I look forward to the day that I can sit everybody down to watch Attack the Gas Station! because retarded foreign films are just my favorite.

Okay, time to go gargle.

Wooooooooo

Edit: there are three bugbites in a row on my ankle what the fuckkkkkk

They Tell Me That It's Good for Me, But I Don't Even Care

2009-09-24T04:43:30Z

Happy autumn, everybody! I know I'm a bit late, but oh well. I get there when I get there.

Francine thinks my pink hair is "very becoming," although she was quick to point out the few areas I missed because I was working without a spotter. I'll just have to touch it all up when my roots grow out in the next month or two.

Classes start tomorrow, but due to a strike/walkout my one class is canceled. I'm still debating going to the rally or not, considering it starts an hour before I get off work. I guess we'll see if there's even anything to attend at that point, and if not I'll just come home and wait for Jessica to arrive so we can install Billy the Bookcase and the other odds and ends of her moving out.

"Work" is getting better, although there are still times where I get frustrated and want to quit. Today was actually productive, but I get the feeling that some of our publishers and authors only seem reticent to send me title information because they've already sent it all to Dan three or four times over the last couple months and he can never seem to find it in his email history. There's a lot of misinformation I end up unintentionally spreading around as well because none of the several sources we work from seem to agree; I ask for a price on a title on which I have no info, and get $9.95 from Dan, $12.95 from MS Access, and $19.99 from our upload to Ingram. I understand that this happens sometimes, especially with a small company where one person is doing most of the work, but the frequency is alarming. But I'm doing the best that I can to make it all jibe; we'll see how long I last.

Things have been fun around the house since everybody moved back in; I learned how to play Speed from Subrina and Egyptian Rat Screw from Tito, and we watch movies and play games and stuff. Despite all this noise and amusement, there are times where I feel so tired and depressed, for reasons of which I am not sure. It's probably the same thing as always, though, whether the house is empty or full. I may not need medication to push it away like Dad or Matt, but I wonder if it will be with me all my life. It doesn't quite feel right. (This can only be compounded by the fact that I've been reading A Wolf at the Table since I checked it out from the library this afternoon; I enjoy Augusten Burroughs' writing immensely, but it is not a happy book. The only other book I'm reading right now is The Plague Dogs, which, although I love Snitter, isn't much better.)

Yuck. That last paragraph sounds incredibly maudlin when I read it over. I'm going to go fix a miso marinade for some fish to soak in overnight and then I'm going to go do something cheerful, goldarnit. Julie said Kischka would call me back after they got the kids to bed, but I guess they forgot.

Believe in the Resolute Urgency of Now

2009-09-15T01:34:14Z

Ugh. Today is a day that has made Mia doubleplus crabby. First I had to run Dale's 24-hour urine collection bottle to Quest Diagnostics by the hospital...only I forgot where the hospital was and had no way of looking that up in my car. So I drove to the library to map it really quick--library doesn't open till 1 p.m., woops. So I drove all the way back home, mapped it there, then drove back to the hospital (which is only like 20 seconds from Dale's house, yuk yuk) and found the lab building from there. Walked in, plunked the bottle of pee on the counter, finally cheerful because I could run to "work" and eat lunch really quick before I had to start working. The receptionist looked up and boredly told me I couldn't turn in the sample without the paperwork. The paperwork of which there had been made no mention when I was directed to take the sample to the lab. I sighed, heaved the increasingly heavy pee-bottle back to the car, vroomed it back to Dale's, and found (luckily) the appropriate paperwork on his dresser. When I got back to the lab the lady had the gall to ask me if I had Dale's insurance card, but dealt with things somehow when I just stared at her and probably looked like I was going to have a meltdown if she didn't throw me a bone.

Made it to "work" ten minutes late, and everything was cheerio from there on until I got home and found a bill for Nina's canceled Comcast account waiting for me. Um, wut. I called them up to ask why the hell we are still being billed when the lady I talked to about the account being canceled assured me there would be no more charges, but the phone queue was long enough that they asked me to punch in my number and they would call me back. That was almost an hour and a half ago, so I don't think I will be hearing from them.

At least I got paid today, anyway. Too bad I no longer have the energy to run to the store and pick up milk. And my hair dye has been stuck in Hodgkins, IL since Saturday for some unknown reason. But Zoe's back and I'm making lots of money this week cuz I have to work both shifts with Dale three days in a row because Ari's on vacation and Carol has a doctor's appointment. Wheeeeee I'm going to die.

But It's All We've Got Now, Yeah, It's All We Got

2009-09-10T01:54:03Z

Wellity wellity wellity. The barbecue/zoo trip turned into just a zoo trip on account of lack of interest, but Mike and his roommates and Jessica and Max and Hector and I had a good time getting bitten by lorikeets nevertheless! The weekend was otherwise uneventful, aside from watching Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (ADORABLE, and I'm sort of in love with Lisa) and playing True Love, a Japanese dating sim that Mike downloaded for me. So far I've boned the mysterious lady who "smells like a grown woman" and had dates with the smartypants and the annoying childhood friend. I thought I was doing well until Norvell told me he'd played the game before and managed to sex up a crazy mutant spacecat--so now the stakes are raised and I'll pretty much be disappointed in my results even if I manage to do the big-boobed teacher. Dammit, Norvell!

Umm...not much else to say. I'm going to dye my hair again, as soon as the dye arrives from Amphigory. Apparently Hot Topic has stopped carrying SFX dye and thus its only use to me has disappeared. I hope you're happy with yourselves, motherfuckers! I warned Francine about the impending color change in case she was willing to disapprove enough to fire me, but of course she was delighted. (I also got a haircut on Saturday, whereupon Becky made me and Mike promise to call her up the minute we decide to go to the corn maze. Like we'd go without her, psh.)

I guess everything else has been pretty low-key. I plan on spending the week attempting to get off my ass and tidy up around here and planning exciting meals to cook with my fancy new wok (courtesy of Jessica, who knows how to treat a lady right).

Oh! Apropos of nothing, I looked up the sachertorte entry on Wikipedia last night because the word was knocking around in my head, and was startled to find that the image they have of Franz Sacher looks alarmingly like a Chris Van Allsburg character illustration. Am I right, or am I right?

Bottoms Up to Ya, Buddy, ‘Cuz Somebody Had to Take the Blame

2009-09-03T04:15:36Z

Hey-ho! My birthday is on Monday, so I thought I'd have a little shindig sometime this weekend for all good folks as can attend. I think someone said Sunday is better for them, although I can't recall why, so if Sunday is bad for a lot of folks we can just do it Saturday. I'm thinking picnic/barbecue at a park, maybe at Micke Grove (in Lodi) so we can go to the zoo. What does everyone think? I know it's kind of last-minute but I just didn't think about it too much prior to this. I know the San Joaquin Valley is kind of a far drive for some of y'all, but that's where I'm gonna be this weekend so, y'know. If you need a ride, just whine and I'll try to hook you up. (No promises!)

So! If that all sounds good, lemme know so I'll sort of know who to expect and I'll say something about an actual concrete date and time in the next couple days...just bring your bad self and any food that you may want to cook, I'll provide the essential meaty-type stuff and some veggies for grilling, and drinks and all that. Just, you know, bring spam if you can't live without grilled spam at your barbecues or whatever. Or, like, booze I guess, although I'd appreciate it if nobody gets too hammered before we go to see the lorikeets. I'll bring my Frisbee and foam bat. Even if it's just me and like three other people you know we'll have a blast, so come on!

Other than that, I made some frigging ("frigging" gets past spellcheck but "lorikeet" gets a miss?) delicious coconut seafood curry courtesy of Thursday Night Smackdown, my new favorite food blog. (I feel bad for turning on Bread & Honey, but it just hasn't been the same since Summer left.) I forgot to put potatoes in this time, which is kind of a bummer 'cuz for me it just ain't curry without potatoes, and also I bought like a ten-pound bag of little red taters at Costco last weekend so damn should I be going crazy with potato dishes. Oh well. It's still a yummy curry, and would probably be fine with some chicken or tofu or whatever if you don't rock the shellfish so much.

Uhh, blah blah blah...I actually did useful stuff at the publishing/distribution place today (hereafter referred to as "work"), unlike on Monday when Dan was too busy to tell me what to do so I was recruited by Marketing (aka Maya) to call people in Miami about a book tour. I survived, but not without suffering a twenty-minute hold with some honkey-tonk-ass wait music and people who work in a bookstore but don't know what an "author event" is. There was one guy at a Borders who had an astonishingly sexy voice; I wanted to be like, "oh no, it's okay that William won't be in until tomorrow, tell me more about your underwear," except I didn't say that because I'm only sleazy inside my head where I'm safe from the threat of either rejection or acceptance. Anyway, it's amazing how much editing I'm having to do to all the title spreadsheets due to bizarrely erroneous information throughout the databases that nobody's caught before this, like a book listed as being 9" thick. Um, what? I mean, I've always considered myself pretty detail-oriented for this kind of thing, but shouldn't someone have picked up on that before I got to it? Oh well, guess this is where I prove my usefulness: in not being grossly incompetent. Hooray!

This was meant to be a post about just the birthday thing, but when you spend the week alone save the company of octogenarians...well. (Did I mention I now have a couple-times-a-month gig with Dale's ex-wife Carol? I am officially the elderly's bitch.) I can't complain, though, they're cool octogenarians, especially Francine, who went out and saw Inglourious Basterds recently and told me it got her all fired up. I want to be like her when I grow up.

Also, there are fucking a billion flies around the house and I have no idea where they came from or what they're living on. The trash can has a lid and I don't leave food where they can get it, so how is this possible? Unless they're resorting to fly cannibalism. I just wanted to warn y'all as are moving back in in the next couple weeks. I may be a bit messy on my own, but I'm not leaving puddles of melted ice cream all over the place. Promise.

Come on Out and Suffer With the Rest of Us

2009-09-01T00:40:57Z

Okay, so on Saturday night Mike and his friend Jerod and I went to the Monsters of Accordion show at Slim's in San Francisco. I was vaguely interested because Jason Webley usually organizes performances of interest, and the accordion is a pretty rad instrument anyway, no? But my mild preshow enthusiasm did not prepare me for the brilliance that was to come.

First was Eric Stern of the Vagabond Opera in Portland; he has an amazing moustache and voice, and played Romanian-style accordion while singing in English, Italian, and Spanish. Seriously impressive stuff and a very powerful operatic tenor. Next was Geoff Berner from Vancouver, B.C., an unassuming Jewish fellow who seemed somewhat nervous but who busted out some witty and biting songs accompanied by traditional klezmer-style (including an "edutainment" song regarding the Yiddish word for "fan," fukher). After that came Mark Growden, a San Francisco local only joining the show for this one night; highlights of his set included a weirdly beautiful interlude played on bicycle handlebars (no, seriously), and a, er, somewhat risque song entitled "Fuck Boy" that must take a lot of guts to sing in front of a group of strangers. (I admit to having an itty-bitty crush on him now, but there's always someone who steals a tiny piece of my heart when I'm at a show). Then there was a little intermission (actually, I cannot remember whether the intermission came before or after Mark's set) and a very peculiar fellow called Duckmandu took the stage and played some impressively complicated Vivaldi, as well as a popular song I'm not familiar with, "California" something. (Apparently having a Master's in music does not preclude one from creating an alternate identity centered around a Donald Duck hat.) Duckmandu was proceeded by Stevhen Iancu from Tokyo, currently of the Dolomites and formerly of Gogol Bordello, whose music was an interesting fusion of the gypsy punk style (for which Gogol Bordello is famous) and Japanese folk harmonies. Finally, Jason himself came out and did a set with his usual show tracks ("Dance While The Sky Crashes Down," "There Is Not A Step We Can Take That Does Not Bring Us Closer," etc. etc.), although he also attempted (and failed) to play an accordion rendition of "Billie Jean," which was amusing. Some enterprising crowdsperson also produced a real pear during the pear portion of "Dance While The Sky Crashes Down" and Jason proffered it to several of us at the front of the audience for biting. For an encore, the entire group of gentlemen came out and all together played "Thriller" for our edification.

So! All in all, a most impressive show and a great deal of fun to boot. I didn't have any money to buy CDs or shirts, much as I wanted to, so instead I purchased a small concert poster for $2 and asked all of the performers to sign their faces. Lucky for me, they all did so very graciously, and I managed not to make a giant fool of myself as I am ordinarily wont to do. Jason even gave me a hug, despite my acting like a retard last time we met. Hooray! Eric and Stevhen were also very amiable while Mike was buying CDs; it's great to see musicians who work their own merch tables and mingle with the audience after the show like real people. (Not that I'm ragging on bands and musicians who don't, but it gives even shy blusterers like me a chance to tell them how much we appreciated their talent.)

These folks (minus Mark Growden and, I think, Duckmandu) are playing in Sacramento tonight, so I urge all of you as have the means to attend. It will be thoroughly worth the $10 door price.

Other stuff has happened recently, but this post has gotten long and self-indulgent enough already. I think I'll go roast some vegetables and make polenta for din-dins.

It's Far Too Small, Far Too Small for Us Not to Get Along

2009-08-23T19:16:16Z

Yoicks.

Life has gotten, well, busy if not interesting lately. I got back from Washington and picked up a second job with this hilarious retired schoolteacher from Brooklyn, Francine. She's an absolute crackup, and since she only needs me twice a week to do some errands and such for her it's something I'll be able to stick with when school starts. Apparently the fact that her cat, Angus, doesn't run hissing from the room when I enter is a very big plus. Yay?

I've also gotten a volunteer/internship job at a tiny publishing/distribution place downtown, which is really only one guy and his phalanx of student workers. It's a bit odd, and he placed me on title management instead of assisting the submissions editor like I wanted, but it'll be good experience in any case if I can learn to stick with it and get used to the somewhat unprofessional environment of the workplace. Even if it is only what amounts to spreadsheet data entry and memorizing ISBNs...

Mike should be getting off of work soon; I don't remember if I mentioned it, but he got a job with the IT team at University of the Pacific, and they called him in to work today because classes are starting up again so the office is generally flooded with calls, emails, and walk-ins from confused students. On the plus side (aside from some sweet overtime on his part), there's a barbecue afterward so we can get free food. I'm hoping after that he makes good on his promise that we can go see Inglourious Basterds, because that would be fly.

Money's a bit tight at the moment because I've got to finally pay the fine for my speeding ticket, on top of renewing my registration, paying rent, paying other bills, and so on and so forth, but the other day I got a check in the mail from my insurance company that was their portion of the estimate a local repair place gave me right after my accident. I don't have a whole lot of experience with this, but several people have told me that insurance companies don't care what you do with the money after you get it and that they need to pay out after accidents even if you don't intend to get the damage repaired (which I don't, seeing as how I would be shelling out $1000 or so for what amounts to cosmetic damage). Does anyone have experience with this sort of thing? If I had my druthers that money would go toward rent so that I can actually afford the other payments right now.

Ahh, money money money. Wherefore dost thou make life so friggin' complicated?

Put Your Beak in Mine and We'll Cuddle

2009-08-08T21:09:56Z

Oh, hey, yeah. I'm in Stanwood right now, have been since Tuesday. The time's gone pretty quick, although it's mostly been hanging out around the house. I just missed the Washington heat wave so it's been pretty cold, colder than it was in Santa Cruz, which is a shame since I brought a bunch of sundresses and stuff to enjoy in what I thought would be some nice sunshine. Silly Mia, you know you bring rain and sorrow wherever you go.

Anyway, not a whole lot to report. Matt's driving me a bit crazy as brothers will tend to do, but it's nice to be with family anyway.

Soooo...here's something I like.

(I know like half of you have seen this already, but what the hell.)

Love Is Hot, Truth Is Molten

2009-07-28T22:51:48Z

Woohoo, the wallet is back in my hot little hands, safe and sound. I guess there are worse places it could have ended up besides Bank of America, although they couldn't call me to tell me I had left it there, seeing as how I don't have an account. Anyway, this means I have a lot of time on my hands that I was expecting to have to spend canceling cards and renewing licenses, so I'm thankful that I get to spend it riding my bike (oh god, I'm so lame and red-faced after twenty minutes) and reading (just finished White Oleander, about to start on...hmm, well, who knows, maybe I'll try to finish Snow Crash and give it back to Braden at his and Tia's going-away party this weekend). I finally managed to get out of that weird depressive funk I was in from a couple weeks ago and cleaned up the kitchen and actually organized the stuff in my room, so go me.

Paco's baby's first birthday was on Saturday, so we all went and had tons of delicious food and watched Logan overpower and frighten his younger cousin with the pure force of his good-naturedness. It was pretty cute, I gotta say, and I'm not a kids kind of person. We also went to a board-game party at Jerry's, which was a good old time as Jerry's get-togethers tend to be.

Kischka and Julie are leaving on a trip up north this week, and it overlaps a little with my own Washington trip; Dale's freaking out a little bit about them leaving, so I'm sort of afraid to tell him that I'm going away too. I don't want him to think everybody's abandoning him forever, but what can I do? The hydrocephalus has left him more paranoid than he used to be, freaking out over little things and getting more forgetful. I'm going to have to leave eventually anyway, or at least cut down on my hours when school starts and I (hopefully) get an internship with a local publishing house, so he's going to have to get used to it sometime. Things are going to be changing here pretty soon, especially if I can graduate in winter like I think I'll be able to.

Anyway, guess I'll get back to making that weird pasta zucchini thing I've concocted; I'll be back when something actually happens, maybe.

We Give Social Status to All Run-Down Tomatoes

2009-07-25T01:53:59Z

Hmm. I appear to have become estranged from my wallet, which is rather perplexing as I haven't done anything with it since running some errands on Wednesday, during which I'm decently sure I didn't misplace it. This is troubling, but I'm ignoring the instinctual urge to panic and am instead waiting to see if it's perhaps at Jessica's place or something. I would probably be more anxious since I need ID to get on my flight to Washington in a little over a week, but at least I have my passport as backup if it comes to that. (Although I will bean the first SeaTac employee who makes a crack about me using a passport for an intranational flight.)

In other news, I have an open question to past/current/future housemates: what should I do with the food in the fridge? Some of it seems to be starting to go bad, but far be it from me to lay hands on other people's rotting roma tomatoes if that's how they want them. If I'm given the go-ahead, I will cheerfully clean that baby out and/or eat anything that hasn't gone bad yet. You know, for all our sakes.

I Pull out My Baretta

2009-07-22T23:40:49Z

In the interest of absolutely nobody aside from myself, the results of that meme quiz I posted a week or so ago!

~~1. You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the world will live as one.~~ "Imagine" - ~~originally by John Lennon, but mine is a cover, guess which one!~~ A Perfect Circle

2. Dip me in the river, you'll never wash my dirt away. Rip out my liver, baby, but be next to me. "Just Shoot Me, Baby" - Crash Test Dummies

3. And all the comebacks in the world are in your head but you can't say them until everybody leaves. "The Kill" - The Dresden Dolls

4. Good morning, son. I am a bird wearing a brown polyester shirt. You want a Coke? Still Fighting It - Ben Folds

5. My father said that I should learn to make a chili pot, but then I burned the house down. Mañana - Peggy Lee

6. He gets so busy at the Bank and Trust there is no time for Nietzsche or Camus. The Miniature Philosopher - of Montreal

7. I had your number quite some time ago, back when we were one. Call Me, Call Me - Steve Conte (better known as "that song from the episode of Cowboy Bebop where Ed leaves")

~~8. Mandelbrot's in heaven--at least, he will be when he's dead. Right now he's still alive and teaching math at Yale.~~ "Mandelbrot Set" - Jonathan Coulton

9. Tonight we'll make the prettiest song that no one will ever hear. "Love In War" - OutKast

10. So ungrateful to the who's and what's-his-face. Terrorist confections look so out of place. Diamond Bollocks - Beck

~~11. It's fare thee well to my old lover, I never expect to see you again.~~ "Man Of Constant Sorrow" - The Soggy Bottom Boys

12. And when their eloquence escapes me, their logic ties me up and rapes me. "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" - The Police

13. My antediluvian baby, gotta tell me where she gone. "Atlantis" - Donovan

~~14. I know my mind is made up so put away your makeup.~~ "Roxanne" - The Police

15. Our breath rose in the cold like a hundred souls escaping. "A Dark Congregation" - The Hush Sound

16. I'll feed you fruit that don't exist, I'll leave graffiti where you've never been kissed. "Nicotine & Gravy" - Beck

17. Sorry about my past life. "Thought I Knew" - Weezer

~~18. Do you remember how we managed before we could afford real nervous breakdowns?~~ "The Frown Song" - Ben Folds

19. I saw the worst bands of my generation applied by magic marker to drywall. "I Should Be Allowed To Think" - They Might Be Giants

~~20. She's got all the money money couldn't buy.~~ "She's Actual Size" - They Might Be Giants

Anyway, good jorb, everybody. I'm very proud of you all. I was going to tabulate who got the most, but eh, I'm lazy and I don't think anybody got more than two apiece anyway.

Not much to report, really. Spent a decent portion of today running errands and paying bills, which means I will have a nice fat zero in my savings account in a couple of days. On the upside, I'm drinking one of my new teas from the Hina's monthly thing, and it is tasty and apparently made out of "four sorts of stems, stalks and twigs." I'll take some time out later to blather about internships and graduating early and taking a trip to Europe, but for now I'll just sit here eating too many ginger cookies and drinking my twig tea.

(Also, Mike made us as were all present at the Y on Saturday (I think?) night watch R. Kelly's epic "hip-hopera" "Trapped In The Closet," and I don't think I've enjoyed myself so completely in a long time. I truly recommend it to anybody who can stand to listen to the same backbeat for 22 chapters, it's worth it.)

What's that Blue Thing Doing Here?

2009-07-13T20:54:32Z

Monday again already? Goodness.

The weekend was a mixed bag. Mike and I had a big stupid argument so I was mad at him for about half the time, but got over it and we're mostly okay again. I know the subject isn't going to go away until we actually manage to come to an accord, but I guess we're taking a breather on it for now. Anyway, I went with Jessica and Max to the local flea market on Saturday (after spending Friday watching my Titus DVDs for lack of anything better to do)...there was a lot of awesome stuff and a lot of crap available, and I managed to spend my $3 on a wooden painting of a pig with "BACON" emblazoned underneath (given to Mike, obviously), a copy of Diary of a Drug Fiend by Aleister Crowley, and a pink silicone cake mold in the shape of a rabbit. And an interestingly-patterned sunburn on my neck, but I picked that up for free.

Oh, and this was after we went on...Wednesday? Thursday?...to a house with a Free Stuff listing on Craigslist, where I procured a short bookshelf for the house, along with a crock pot, some mugs and plates, and an assortment of amusing books on Nazis and the evils of abortion. The rabbit mold is crying out to be used for baking posthaste (the most obvious recipe being a carrot cake, durhur), but I already have plans for a dessert to celebrate Pepita's birthday this weekend so we'll have to see how things go.

Anyway, on Saturday, after the flea market and some good old-fashioned fighting with Mike, I drove to Pinole to have dinner at my aunt's and uncle's house, where my mom and stepdad are staying while they're collecting my brother and his things for relocation to Stanwood. It was a lot of fun just hanging around and chatting, and having delicious delicious lamb with four of the people I know most to enjoy lamb properly. After dessert I ended up heading out to Stockton and Mike and I sort-of made up and spent Sunday watching part of The Simpsons season 1 and trying out the first few episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Not sure how I really feel about that show; it's kind of funny, but all the characters are just so genuinely despicable that I feel torn. I'm inclined to give it a break and start into Six Feet Under instead, but I guess I'll give it a few more episodes' time to win me over.

Other than that, work is work is work...Mom and my uncle are driving down to see the new apartment and have lunch on the wharf on Tuesday after they drop Everett at the airport, so at least that's something to which I can look forward! Until then, it's back to reading this Thursday Next book and washing dishes.

This Very Air Come and Go with Me

2009-07-09T22:16:23Z

I'm feeling grumpier than usual today, so it may turn into brownie night, because baking is soothing. If I can drum up the energy to do the rest of my dishes beforehand, anyway...

Otherwise, here's that music meme that's always going around like a cold, this time borrowed from Laura:

→ Put your iTunes or equivalent on random.
→ Post a line from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.
→ Strike out the songs when someone guesses correctly.
→ Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!

~~1. You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the world will live as one.~~ "Imagine" - ~~originally by John Lennon, but mine is a cover, guess which one!~~ A Perfect Circle

2. Dip me in the river, you'll never wash my dirt away. Rip out my liver, baby, but be next to me.

3. And all the comebacks in the world are in your head but you can't say them until everybody leaves.

4. Good morning, son. I am a bird wearing a brown polyester shirt. You want a Coke?

5. My father said that I should learn to make a chili pot, but then I burned the house down.

6. He gets so busy at the Bank and Trust there is no time for Nietzsche or Camus.

7. I had your number quite some time ago, back when we were one.

~~8. Mandelbrot's in heaven--at least, he will be when he's dead. Right now he's still alive and teaching math at Yale.~~ "Mandelbrot Set" - Jonathan Coulton

9. Tonight we'll make the prettiest song that no one will ever hear.

10. So ungrateful to the who's and what's-his-face. Terrorist confections look so out of place.

11. It's fare thee well to my old lover, I never expect to see you again.

12. And when their eloquence escapes me, their logic ties me up and rapes me.

13. My antediluvian baby, gotta tell me where she gone.

~~14. I know my mind is made up so put away your makeup.~~ "Roxanne" - The Police

15. Our breath rose in the cold like a hundred souls escaping.

16. I'll feed you fruit that don't exist, I'll leave graffiti where you've never been kissed.

17. Sorry about my past life.

18. Do you remember how we managed before we could afford real nervous breakdowns?

19. I saw the worst bands of my generation applied by magic marker to drywall.

~~20. She's got all the money money couldn't buy.~~ "She's Actual Size" - They Might Be Giants

I'm actually surprised that Winamp managed to hit a pretty good variety of stuff I actually listen to, considering all the junk I have on there. Only three repeat bands, too. Anyway, I don't really expect many of these to be guessed, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Seven Exits Long

2009-07-07T01:53:08Z

Okay, so the weekend was fun. Intense, but fun. We did about 30 hours of driving in total (although I guess I can't really complain about that since I only did a couple of hours) for about 25 hours of non-driving amusement/sleeping/eating; the concert was rad, especially being introduced to awesome folks such as Andru Bemis (dude shreds on a banjo-lele) and experiencing Reverend Peyton's amazing jam faces. Highlights included "How Big Is Tacoma?" as sung by Andru and Jason Webley, "My Brother Stole A Chicken From The Fort Wayne Zoo" as sung by the afrementioned Rev. Peyton with some of the women at the show acting as his backup singers (the "Jason Webley Tomato Singers"), and "Electric Blanket" as sung by Jason and Amanda Palmer. It was really a great night, and quite an intimate show despite there being about a thousand people in the crowd...Jason and all his musician friends seemed to be having the best time ever along with the audience, and it was a great feeling. Mike took a billion and one pictures, and as soon as he uploads the good ones I might think about remembering to post a link here. Someday.

Seeing Mom was good times although our stay was rather brief, but it was nice to dig into some ginger-lime barbecue, cuddle with Toby (who is missing four teeth now due to bad oral hygiene) and generally soak up some of that "home" feeling before having to get on the road again. I wish we'd been able to bum around Seattle as originally planned, but at least we got to drop into Powell's on the way down, which was quite rad, although the erotica section was sorely lacking. (I wanted to find a hilariously terrible piece of "urban erotica" I saw featured on weepingcock some moons back, but alas.) In the end I managed to restrain myself (very admirably, I thought), and only bought four books: Ursula Le Guin's Three Hainish Novels (which has the raddest cover ever) and Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences; Richard Adams' The Plague Dogs; and a $2 copy of four of Aristophanes' plays.

Anyway, here I am now, back in California. Working at Dal's continues to be fairly easy in comparison to working with Dale, although it's a bit tough to actually make sure Dal drinks the stuff I mix up for him. I've been incredibly lazy about unpacking, mostly because I can't really figure out where to put stuff, and am taking up two rooms like a big lout. It's just so hard to find the motivation, but I'm hoping that getting the larger furniture installed will encourage me to hop to it in time to show everything off to Mom when she comes by to see the place while she's down here helping Matt move. At least I'm not crowding the public areas in the house too much...

Trying to decide whether to go through with the original plan of making egg foo yung for dinner, or to cop out and just eat beans and cookies until hunger subsides. Will keep everybody updated on this truly important decision.

Edit: Salad it was! I can pretend I've been eating healthy all day between this and the leftover catfish, ignoring the half an avocado I put in there and the cake I had for breakfast. Go me! (Also, why does canned cranberry have to be seasonal? All I want is a little to put on turkey sandwiches, WinCo, why you gotta let me down like this?)

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark Ages, Darling

2009-07-02T01:47:18Z

Well, work was something of a nightmare this morning. I won't go into details to spare the TMI-sensitive in the crowd, but Dale did NOT have a good night and was really depressed and embarrassed when I got there. Much cleaning and comforting later, I left him in a considerably happier mood than I'd found him, but still. The poor guy needs more care than he can get on a part-time basis like this.

Working with Dal afterwards was pretty relaxed, comparatively...I also tried some of the veggie-juice I fixed up for him since there was a little extra, and it was surprisingly tasty for consisting of cabbage, chard, carrot, spinach, and celery with a little apple and orange mixed in. It was enough to get me interested in pricing juicers online, although I think I'll have to wait a while before I can justify even thinking about buying a $100 kitchen appliance that really only does one thing.

Happy 22nd birthday to Mike, although he's spent most of it running around to get his dad home from the hospital, buying a suit for his interview at UOP tomorrow, and doing courier work for his other job. What a guy, eh?

Got some time to kill until 8:30 when I can go pick up my "paycheck" (read: wad of cash) from work so I have something for gas money. After making banana bread, I've mostly run through the to-do list for today. (The convection oven scared me, but I found a time/temp converter online and it seemed to work okay so I guess there's nothing to be worried about?) Guess it's back to Riddley Walker...wonder if I can knock out seventy-ish pages before we take off tomorrow night.

I Guess if Someone Doesn't Love You Back It Isn't Such a Crime

2009-06-30T21:41:49Z

Ohhh, sooooo exhausted.

The weekend was kind of a whirlwind with a mix of good and bad. Some of the Y and I banded together to make Mike an awesome birthday cake (it's tomorrow, effin' Hump Day Birthday) from scratch (white with strawberry buttercream frosting), and I've concluded that Rose Levy Beranbaum is a bit of a nutter but she knows how to make a darn tasty cake if you follow her directions to the letter. On the other hand, Mike's dad ended up in the hospital due to some complications from his diabetes, so everybody was pretty worried about that. Still, we all sallied forth and visited him a couple times, and I guess we'll hear how things progress. I ended up staying in Stockton on Sunday night and leaving at 5 a.m. (yoicks) to make it back to Santa Cruz in time for work at 8; I'm pleased to say that I managed not to put Dale's compression stockings on his ears while operating on three and a half hours of sleep. Then it was a simple sprint over to the old apartment to gather some things and, with Laura there to let me into the new (to me) domicile, I managed to get my junk moved in in pretty decent time. Unpacking, of course, is another matter, since I'm kind of at a loss as to where to put my stuff (again, where do I start?), but at least I got the kitchen stuff put away. Hopefully sometime before coming back to SC this coming weekend I'll be able to make a grocery trip at WinCo to save money so I can actually have, uh, milk and things.

I still feel mostly like I'm in somebody else's house right now, like an intruder or something. I'm sure it'll go away with time, especially when more people return so I can get used to the household dynamic, but right now it's pretty quiet with just the two of us. Despite being exhausted, I tossed and turned all night from 10 to 7 without much sleep in between, so I'm not the liveliest housemate on the planet anyway.

Tomorrow I start my new temporary job making drinks and washing the dishes for Dal-the-cancer-patient...it's a ten-day gig, but his primary caretaker and I have already arranged that I'll be gone for three days, so it's really only a week, which is just enough time to really get into the swing of it before I say goodbye again. But neither of them seem to think I'm too much of a creepoid and I think I'm capable of blending nutritional powders and juicing vegetables, so hopefully it will all go smoothly. For ten bucks an hour and some more work experience I can hardly complain, especially since Dal seems a little loopy but pretty harmless. We've set up more permanent new hours at Kischka's since she's hired two new caretakers, so it looks like I'll be working about fourteen hours a week, which isn't bad between four shifts. Not exactly making money to save between the two rents, but it's better than nothing.

On Thursday evening we're set to take off for Washington. It'll kind of be a drive-by visit since we'll be arriving Friday morning if we drive all night and having to take off again Sunday morning, but it ought to be entertaining. The show (some combo gig with Jason Webley, Amanda [Fucking] Palmer, Rev. Peyton, and others) ought to be all kinds of rad, and I'm looking forward to hitting up Snow Goose Produce for some ice cream bigger than my head. Plus, Braden insists we stop at Powell's in Oregon for a few hours on the way back on Sunday, so it will be a treat to visit the world's biggest independent bookseller and bask in the glory of the sheer volume of printed word.

Jessica, if you're out there in the void, give me a holler on the phone so I can know what your gameplan is re: moving in. We gotta get this road on the show! (Plus I'll help you move in/pitch in for gas money if you bring your mother's Mighty Big Truck and help me out moving my bed, bike, and Billy. Pleeeeeeze.)

Bien, sabemos que la vida nunca funciona así

2009-06-26T03:28:47Z

Well, so far the score is:

Lock: 2
Amelia: 0 (or possibly -3)

I went to the apartment to start moving my stuff in today, after work and checking up on some new temp work (making health drinks and cleaning up after a somewhat demented cancer patient)...Mike and I had some trouble getting the spare key to work in the lock last weekend, but I thought I could manage. Alas, it would seem that this shoddily-made copy has ceased to work in the slightest and I stood there wrestling with the lock and jabbing the doorbell in the vain hope that maybe someone was home. No dice, so I left to regroup with a burrito and some P.G. Wodehouse, and came back at around 7:30. Again, much rattling of key in lock and knocking on door, but the house was still as a...still-life. Or something. Called Natasha, called Laura, called Natasha again, nothin' doing, so I said bugger this for a lark and returned to the old apartment to sulk instead of doing anything productive. Bah. Bah, I say. I don't fancy having to unpack everything in order to not drag it all the way down to Stockton tomorrow after work, I can tell you that.

Well, at least I have half a burrito. That's something.

He Goes Smasho and Everyone Cheers

2009-06-23T18:41:14Z

Whoa, dorky program on comic-book superheroes on the History Channel? Count me in! Heehee, interviews with scraggly-looking Neil Gaiman. (Also, ohmygod, Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer dating? I can't get over it.)

Packing packing packing, moving moving moving...or avoiding packing. It's overwhelming, you know? Like, where do I start? Although I do already have all my bathroom stuff other than the essentials packed up, and all my dirty clothing, and most of my books. Still need to pack my clean clothes and linens, all the extra food in the cupboard, dishes and cookware, my printer, and all the odds and ends strewn about the house. I can't take down the bed by myself--or tow it in my dinky Bug--so I'll have to wait for a kind soul with a large car to help. Not sure about what furniture is needed...is there need for a bookshelf, folks? Or a TV stand? Give me a heads up on what we're still missing.

Mike and I had a fairly relaxing weekend of moving stuff over to the new apartment and watching the Hitchhiker's Guide movie and The Science of Sleep. Liked the latter better than the former, although I don't think the former was terrible like many people seem to--but of course, I'm a newcomer to the fandom, having just finished The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, so I didn't experience the long painful drag of development hell and all the potential it had, all the things it could have been.

The coming weekend is Mike's birthday weekend, and the weekend after that may entail a rather sudden (to me) and short roadtrip up nawt', but we'll see. For now, I've got to wash dishes and prepare to go into work early to take Dale to a doctor's appointment or somesuch. Let's hope I can fit his wheelchair into my car...

We're that Little Extra Spice that Makes Existence Extra-Nice

2009-06-20T00:18:36Z

And nobody told me that the library was closed on Friday. Mumblegrumble. Grumpfrump. Ugh. But I got envelopes, anyway.

So! I've uploaded some pictures from Tia's craaaazy graduation celebration on the 6th. Under a cut for people who don't care. (Mike took about half of these, so just assume that any of the interesting or good ones were taken by him.)

Look at all that damn food.

Wait for it...

There we go.

Look at this! Becky even made bread. What a lady.

But these lovely snickerdoodles were made by another grand lady: Tia's brother Arron.

Oh, Stasia.

Yes, smooch smooch to you too, Mike.

Norvell eats more angrily than anybody I know.

More angrily than Pepita, certainly.

Mike got bored and started double-lensing. I don't know either.

Enter the most delicious Andes mint brownies on the planet. ON THE PLANET.

Okay, this picture was all Mike. My boyfriend is a classy guy.

And then Norvell decided to make out with his chicken bone while staring at Philip.

Stasia brought a game called Stuff, and we played it. We played the heck out of that game, and made many references to giants teabagging people to death and such. You know, the usual.

And because it's always this kind of party at the Shelleys' house, Ward decided it was time for a little fire juggling.

Braden, ladies and gentlemen.

And the lovely lady who makes deliciously amazing snickerdoodles.

I think I sense a theme here...

Yup, giant faces.

Aww yeah.

And we're reminded of just how attractive Philip really is.

As if there wasn't enough food, Braden decided to make pasta and pesto.

Chillaxin'?

Gifts just confuse Tia, I guess.

It surprises absolutely nobody, I think, that Mike and Ward got into a standoff.

I think Norvell's message to our tiny graduate was the most heartfelt.

Hello, me. And we're out.

Got all eighty bajillion pictures over here, including at least forty of Norvell and his chicken bone. I hope you feel proud, Tiardiar.

Now I'm Floating Free and the Moon's with Me, and It's Bright Enough to Light the Dark

2009-06-19T05:22:56Z

Oh my god! The poster of the next cake recipe to come up on allrecipes that lists "1 package yellow/chocolate cake mix" as a main ingredient is getting internet-shanked, I swear. There are some good all-purpose meal recipes on that site but when it comes to baking everyone's a giant lazy bum. Ugh. I need to get me a pastry cookbook or something, I've only ever made chocolate with coffee frosting and I don't think that will be appropriate for coffee-hating Mike's 22nd birthday. I've had a huge craving for baking recently, but I'm sort of afraid to since my baking can be rather hit-or-miss. But I wanna make cupcakes and cake and muffins and, and, and...sigh.

Got some extra hours in at work today; Kischka and Julie asked me to do some cleaning upstairs for them since they haven't got much time to do it. Woooo tidying up toys and mopping. Between that and the packing and cleaning at home I'm getting...something done, anyway. Makin' money, makin' money...that all goes into rent and insurance and utilities (and *cough* my first speeding ticket when I wasn't even going that fast thank you very much). Gee, being all grown up is rad.

At least I can go to the library tomorrow since my card finally arrived. Woop woop. And mom and I booked my trip to Washington today...ten lazy days in Stanwood come August sounds pretty rad to me, yessireebob.

Yeah, I'll come back when I have something interesting to say.