Okay, I guess I should do a 2005 recap and analyze what kind of year it's been. After a shaky beginning having to do with me getting over my breakup with the red-haired guy, it's turned out to be a good year.
In June I met M-Square which was so cool! I haven't met a guy I've really, really like in a long time, and I mean really liked. RHG was fun but M-Square so blows him away. And we just had our six-month anniversary which is so phenomenal. It's been years since I've been in a relationship that's lasted this long, and I'm still not bored. This is definitely a very good sign.
What else? I bought a laptop early in the year which has been such a god-send, that I don't know why I didn't buy one earlier.
Finance wise, I managed to save 10% of my income and also contributed to my 401(k) at work. This is good news for me. I paid off my car loan finally.
Writing wise, it's been an up and down year but I am writing. I submitted a story for publication and got turned down, but I'm happy that I was able to even get to the point of submitting a story. I've got to do more of this in 2006. I joined a new screenwriting class and learned that I can hold my own with writers who have agents. This was a good feeling, and has given me confidence about my own abilities.
Health wise I'm fitting back into my size 8 jeans, jeans that I outgrew some time in December. Hopefully, 2006 will be the year I get my weight down to a number I can maintain easily and control.
Friendship wise, I made four new friends this year. I like when I make new friends. S is a writer too and we're planning to go to a Learning Annex class about agents in February. S is cool and is interested in many of the same things I'm interested in. Then there's my ex-cubemate from Stanford, M. M is cool. She's also a writer and we have fun hanging together. We saw Rent, Memoirs of a Geisha, and The Chronicles of Narnia, together. D & C are also new friends whom I met at work. D left the company but we're still keeping in touch. C is also a writer and she told me I inspired her to start writing again. I think she'd make a great editor for me, since she has PhD in English and was hired to be a writer at my company.
My old friend D was just hired by my company working for HR. When we worked together, we used to hang out and go to lunch every week. She and I are planning to resume our lunchtime habits in 2006. It's so great to have a lunch buddy at work.
Creativity wise, other than writing I took two beading classes and am making my own jewelry. I even made M-Square an earring from these extra beads I had and sent it to him. He thinks it might be a little too feminine for him to wear, but I don't think so. I like that we have matching earrings. It's so cute!
So all in all, it's been a good year.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
I'm sure everyone has seen this list but it's very interesting anyway. How many of these gadgets have you owned?
The Complete List of PC World's 50 Greatest Gadgets
PC World's list of the top 50 tech gadgets of the last half century was assembled after we polled our editors for nominations. We then rated the nominated gadgets for usefulness, design, degree of innovation, influence on subsequent gadgets, and the "cool factor." Here are the results. (For more on our 50 Greatest Gadgets project, see the full story.)
1. Sony Walkman TPS-L2 (1979) - my favourite - I was addicted to mine for a long time and owned several versions. The last one I had finally broke last year.
Apple iPod (2001)
(Tie) ReplayTV RTV2001 and TiVo HDR110 (1999)
PalmPilot 1000 (1996)
Sony CDP-101 (1982)
Motorola StarTAC (1996)
Atari Video Computer System (1977)
Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera (1972)
M-Systems DiskOnKey (2000)
Regency TR-1 (1954)
Sony PlayStation 2 (2000)
Motorola Razr V3 (2004)
Motorola PageWriter (1996)
BlackBerry 850 Wireless Handheld (1998)
Phonemate Model 400 (1971)
Texas Instruments Speak & Spell (1978)
Texas Instruments SR-10 (1973)
Diamond Multimedia Rio PMP300 %281998)
Sony Handycam DCR-VX1000 (1995)
Handspring Treo 600 (2003)
Zenith Space Command (1956)
Hamilton Pulsar (1972)
Kodak Instamatic 100 (1963)
MITS Altair 8800 (1975)
Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 (1983)
Nintendo Game Boy (1989)
Commodore 64 (1982)
Apple Newton MessagePad (1994)
Sony Betamax (1975)
Sanyo SCP-5300 (2002)
iRobot Roomba Intelligent Floorvac (2002)
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer (1999)
Franklin Rolodex Electronics REX PC Companion (1997)
Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System 10 (1998)
Motorola DynaTAC 8000X (1983)
Iomega Zip Drive (1995)
Magnavox Magnavision Model 8000 DiscoVision Videodisc Player (1978)
Milton Bradley Simon (1978)
Play, Inc Snappy Video Snapshot (1996)
Connectix QuickCam (1994)
BellSouth/IBM Simon Personal Communicator (1993)
Motorola Handie Talkie HT-220 Slimline (1969)
Polaroid Swinger (1965)
Sony Aibo ERS-110 (1999)
Sony Mavica MVC-FD5 (1997)
Learjet Stereo-8 (1965)
Timex/Sinclair 1000 (1982)
Sharp Wizard OZ-7000 (1989)
Jakks Pacific TV Games (2002)
Poqet PC Model PQ-0164 (1990)
The Link.
The Complete List of PC World's 50 Greatest Gadgets
PC World's list of the top 50 tech gadgets of the last half century was assembled after we polled our editors for nominations. We then rated the nominated gadgets for usefulness, design, degree of innovation, influence on subsequent gadgets, and the "cool factor." Here are the results. (For more on our 50 Greatest Gadgets project, see the full story.)
1. Sony Walkman TPS-L2 (1979) - my favourite - I was addicted to mine for a long time and owned several versions. The last one I had finally broke last year.
Apple iPod (2001)
(Tie) ReplayTV RTV2001 and TiVo HDR110 (1999)
PalmPilot 1000 (1996)
Sony CDP-101 (1982)
Motorola StarTAC (1996)
Atari Video Computer System (1977)
Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera (1972)
M-Systems DiskOnKey (2000)
Regency TR-1 (1954)
Sony PlayStation 2 (2000)
Motorola Razr V3 (2004)
Motorola PageWriter (1996)
BlackBerry 850 Wireless Handheld (1998)
Phonemate Model 400 (1971)
Texas Instruments Speak & Spell (1978)
Texas Instruments SR-10 (1973)
Diamond Multimedia Rio PMP300 %281998)
Sony Handycam DCR-VX1000 (1995)
Handspring Treo 600 (2003)
Zenith Space Command (1956)
Hamilton Pulsar (1972)
Kodak Instamatic 100 (1963)
MITS Altair 8800 (1975)
Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 (1983)
Nintendo Game Boy (1989)
Commodore 64 (1982)
Apple Newton MessagePad (1994)
Sony Betamax (1975)
Sanyo SCP-5300 (2002)
iRobot Roomba Intelligent Floorvac (2002)
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer (1999)
Franklin Rolodex Electronics REX PC Companion (1997)
Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System 10 (1998)
Motorola DynaTAC 8000X (1983)
Iomega Zip Drive (1995)
Magnavox Magnavision Model 8000 DiscoVision Videodisc Player (1978)
Milton Bradley Simon (1978)
Play, Inc Snappy Video Snapshot (1996)
Connectix QuickCam (1994)
BellSouth/IBM Simon Personal Communicator (1993)
Motorola Handie Talkie HT-220 Slimline (1969)
Polaroid Swinger (1965)
Sony Aibo ERS-110 (1999)
Sony Mavica MVC-FD5 (1997)
Learjet Stereo-8 (1965)
Timex/Sinclair 1000 (1982)
Sharp Wizard OZ-7000 (1989)
Jakks Pacific TV Games (2002)
Poqet PC Model PQ-0164 (1990)
The Link.
The Top Politically inCorrect Words and Phrases for 2005:
1. Misguided Criminals for Terrorist: The BBC attempts to strip away all emotion by using what it considers neutral descriptions when describing those who carried out the bombings in the London Tubes. The rub: the professed intent of these misguided criminals was to kill, without warning, as many innocents as possible (which is the common definition for the term, terrorist). The phrase was selected by GLM as but one example in line with the published BBC Editorial Guidelines where it is noted that the word 'terrorist' itself can be a barrier rather than aid to understanding. Suggested alternatives include: bomber, attacker, insurgent and militant, among others. These and similar words are deemed to have no emotional or value judgments. However, the word Terrorist can be used as long as it appears in a quoted attribution.
2. Intrinsic Aptitude (or lack thereof) was a suggestion by Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard, on why women might be underrepresented in engineering and science. He was nearly fired for his speculation.
3. Thought Shower or Word Shower substituting for brainstorm so as not to offend those with brain disorders such as epilepsy.
4. Scum or "la racaille" for French citizens of Moslem and North African descent inhabiting the projects ringing French Cities. France's Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, used this most Politically inCorrect (and reprehensible) label to describe the young rioters (and by extension all the inhabitants of the Cites).
5. Out of the Mainstream when used to describe the ideology of any political opponent: At one time slavery was in the mainstream, thinking the sun orbited the earth was in the mainstream, having your blood sucked out by leeches was in the mainstream. What's so great about being in the mainstream?
6. Deferred Success as a euphemism for the word fail. The Professional Association of Teachers in the UK considered a proposal to replace any notion of failure with deferred success in order to bolster students self-esteem.
7. Womyn for Women to distance the word from man. This in spite of the fact that the term man in the original Indo-European is gender neutral (as have been its successors for some 5,000 years).
8. C.E. for A.D.: Is the current year A.D. 2005 or 2005 C.E.? There is a movement to strip A.D. (Latin for "In the Year of the Lord") from the year designation used in the West since the 5th century and replace it with the supposedly more neutral Common Era (though the zero reference year for the beginning of the Common Era remains the year of Christ's birth).
9. "God Rest Ye Merry Persons" for "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen": A Christmas, eh, Holiday, carol with 500 years of history is not enough to sway the Anglican Church at Cardiff Cathedral (Wales) from changing the original lyrics. There are those who suggest going one step further: "Higher Power Rest Ye Merry Persons".
10. Banning the word Mate: the Department of Parliamentary Services in Canberra issued a general warning to its security staff banning the use of the word 'mate' in dealings t with both members of Parliament and the public. What next? banning 'no worries' so as not to offend the worried, or banning 'Down Under' So as not to offend those of us who live in the "Up Over".
The link to the article.
1. Misguided Criminals for Terrorist: The BBC attempts to strip away all emotion by using what it considers neutral descriptions when describing those who carried out the bombings in the London Tubes. The rub: the professed intent of these misguided criminals was to kill, without warning, as many innocents as possible (which is the common definition for the term, terrorist). The phrase was selected by GLM as but one example in line with the published BBC Editorial Guidelines where it is noted that the word 'terrorist' itself can be a barrier rather than aid to understanding. Suggested alternatives include: bomber, attacker, insurgent and militant, among others. These and similar words are deemed to have no emotional or value judgments. However, the word Terrorist can be used as long as it appears in a quoted attribution.
2. Intrinsic Aptitude (or lack thereof) was a suggestion by Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard, on why women might be underrepresented in engineering and science. He was nearly fired for his speculation.
3. Thought Shower or Word Shower substituting for brainstorm so as not to offend those with brain disorders such as epilepsy.
4. Scum or "la racaille" for French citizens of Moslem and North African descent inhabiting the projects ringing French Cities. France's Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, used this most Politically inCorrect (and reprehensible) label to describe the young rioters (and by extension all the inhabitants of the Cites).
5. Out of the Mainstream when used to describe the ideology of any political opponent: At one time slavery was in the mainstream, thinking the sun orbited the earth was in the mainstream, having your blood sucked out by leeches was in the mainstream. What's so great about being in the mainstream?
6. Deferred Success as a euphemism for the word fail. The Professional Association of Teachers in the UK considered a proposal to replace any notion of failure with deferred success in order to bolster students self-esteem.
7. Womyn for Women to distance the word from man. This in spite of the fact that the term man in the original Indo-European is gender neutral (as have been its successors for some 5,000 years).
8. C.E. for A.D.: Is the current year A.D. 2005 or 2005 C.E.? There is a movement to strip A.D. (Latin for "In the Year of the Lord") from the year designation used in the West since the 5th century and replace it with the supposedly more neutral Common Era (though the zero reference year for the beginning of the Common Era remains the year of Christ's birth).
9. "God Rest Ye Merry Persons" for "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen": A Christmas, eh, Holiday, carol with 500 years of history is not enough to sway the Anglican Church at Cardiff Cathedral (Wales) from changing the original lyrics. There are those who suggest going one step further: "Higher Power Rest Ye Merry Persons".
10. Banning the word Mate: the Department of Parliamentary Services in Canberra issued a general warning to its security staff banning the use of the word 'mate' in dealings t with both members of Parliament and the public. What next? banning 'no worries' so as not to offend the worried, or banning 'Down Under' So as not to offend those of us who live in the "Up Over".
The link to the article.
I saw two more movies this week.
Chronicles of Narnia was great! It's fun to see a book you've read come to life on screen. The film pretty much stuck to the plot of the book like the first Harry Potter movie. I loved Aslan. Is he symbolic of JC? Who knows ... if you're JC-inclined, everything will remind you of him. Heck, I saw "Field of Dreams" and I thought the line "If you build it, he will come" was all about JC. The four child actors were great. The British film industy must be having a field day because of all of these movies with Brit child actors.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was very good as well. It was the first Potter movie where I was really engrossed in the plot. All the actors have grown up, except Daniel Radcliffe it seems. Hermoine looks much as older as does Ron and his brothers. And Neville Longbottom has gotten so tall. This film was much darker which is in keeping with the book. Harry and Ron make perfect goofy awkward teenagers; they are both definitely late bloomers.
Chronicles of Narnia was great! It's fun to see a book you've read come to life on screen. The film pretty much stuck to the plot of the book like the first Harry Potter movie. I loved Aslan. Is he symbolic of JC? Who knows ... if you're JC-inclined, everything will remind you of him. Heck, I saw "Field of Dreams" and I thought the line "If you build it, he will come" was all about JC. The four child actors were great. The British film industy must be having a field day because of all of these movies with Brit child actors.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was very good as well. It was the first Potter movie where I was really engrossed in the plot. All the actors have grown up, except Daniel Radcliffe it seems. Hermoine looks much as older as does Ron and his brothers. And Neville Longbottom has gotten so tall. This film was much darker which is in keeping with the book. Harry and Ron make perfect goofy awkward teenagers; they are both definitely late bloomers.
Happy New Year's Eve! I'm at home watching tv. Boring huh? I didn't know what the weather was going to be like so I didn't make any plans. Just as well, the storm last night was so intense! I kept waking up every two hours from the noise of the rain hitting my windows.
I had lobster for Christmas so I am repeating that incredibly delicious dinner and having lobster again tonight.
I am watching the news about the flooding in the North Bay. Just last January my friend and I were up there and it's weird to see the places we visited now flooded. I should be grateful I have power. Some people in the city are without power tonight.
Here's a good exercise to do for the new year. Name Your Year. My screenwriting teacher Madeline gave us this exercise and she swears it works.; you have to be careful though. Her mother named 2005 to be year of fun and adventure and she ended up moving to Costa Rica. I named 2006 to be "A year of events happening in my life that will make me delightfully happy". It's vague but it should cover everything I want for myself next year.
I sp0ke to M-Square earlier and he was exhausted. He went to work today and there was so much to do. I miss him but it's probably a good thing I didn't drive down there with the rainy weather. Some of the roads I would have driven back home on have been flooded. I'm going to talk to him later if he doesn't fall asleep first. Business has been slow but it picked these last couple of weeks so the boy is making money, which is always a good thing.
I got my car fixed and everything is alright. The airbag light problem is finally fixed and the car has dried out although it does smell a little mildewy. I'm going to have it detailed next next month.
I had lobster for Christmas so I am repeating that incredibly delicious dinner and having lobster again tonight.
I am watching the news about the flooding in the North Bay. Just last January my friend and I were up there and it's weird to see the places we visited now flooded. I should be grateful I have power. Some people in the city are without power tonight.
Here's a good exercise to do for the new year. Name Your Year. My screenwriting teacher Madeline gave us this exercise and she swears it works.; you have to be careful though. Her mother named 2005 to be year of fun and adventure and she ended up moving to Costa Rica. I named 2006 to be "A year of events happening in my life that will make me delightfully happy". It's vague but it should cover everything I want for myself next year.
I sp0ke to M-Square earlier and he was exhausted. He went to work today and there was so much to do. I miss him but it's probably a good thing I didn't drive down there with the rainy weather. Some of the roads I would have driven back home on have been flooded. I'm going to talk to him later if he doesn't fall asleep first. Business has been slow but it picked these last couple of weeks so the boy is making money, which is always a good thing.
I got my car fixed and everything is alright. The airbag light problem is finally fixed and the car has dried out although it does smell a little mildewy. I'm going to have it detailed next next month.
Friday, December 30, 2005
Thursday, December 29, 2005
This is disturbing news to me ...
Full-scale terrorist attacks against Israel will resume Jan. 1 unless Abbas surrenders to terms laid down by Jihad Islami, the Popular Resistance Committees and Fatah-al Aqsa BrigadesDecember 26, 2005, 10:32 PM (GMT+02:00)
DEBKAfile reports: Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has refused to withdrawthe 200 Palestinian security personnel posted in the northern Gaza Strip, sofrustrating the Sharon government’s no-go tactic in this region and effortsto curb Qassam attacks. This Palestinian force therefore provides the Qassam missile crews with a protective umbrella against Israeli artillery, which isforced to confine its shelling to vacant land.Taking part in the Qassam offensive now are the Jihad Islami and factions ofthe Al Aqsa Brigades backed and paid by the Fatah old guard, led by prime minister Ahmed Qureia, which is now at war with Mahmoud Abbas. If Abbas refuses to postpone the January 25 election - in obedience to their diktat -these groups plus the PRC will re-ignite full-scale attacks on Israel. Thisis designed to prompt large-scale Israeli retaliation and generate a crisis that precludes voting - and so deprive Hamas of its predicted victory. Their deadline for this ultimatum is Jan. 1. Israel has thus become a hostage to the Palestinian factional war. Earlier Monday, a Fatah-al Aqsa Brigades spokesman revealed the acquisitionof new missiles of 25km range, the first able to reach to points north ofAshkelon. He spoke of creating a Palestinian buffer belt on Israeli territory north of the Gaza Strip.
Full-scale terrorist attacks against Israel will resume Jan. 1 unless Abbas surrenders to terms laid down by Jihad Islami, the Popular Resistance Committees and Fatah-al Aqsa BrigadesDecember 26, 2005, 10:32 PM (GMT+02:00)
DEBKAfile reports: Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has refused to withdrawthe 200 Palestinian security personnel posted in the northern Gaza Strip, sofrustrating the Sharon government’s no-go tactic in this region and effortsto curb Qassam attacks. This Palestinian force therefore provides the Qassam missile crews with a protective umbrella against Israeli artillery, which isforced to confine its shelling to vacant land.Taking part in the Qassam offensive now are the Jihad Islami and factions ofthe Al Aqsa Brigades backed and paid by the Fatah old guard, led by prime minister Ahmed Qureia, which is now at war with Mahmoud Abbas. If Abbas refuses to postpone the January 25 election - in obedience to their diktat -these groups plus the PRC will re-ignite full-scale attacks on Israel. Thisis designed to prompt large-scale Israeli retaliation and generate a crisis that precludes voting - and so deprive Hamas of its predicted victory. Their deadline for this ultimatum is Jan. 1. Israel has thus become a hostage to the Palestinian factional war. Earlier Monday, a Fatah-al Aqsa Brigades spokesman revealed the acquisitionof new missiles of 25km range, the first able to reach to points north ofAshkelon. He spoke of creating a Palestinian buffer belt on Israeli territory north of the Gaza Strip.
I can't sleep so I'm posting.
I've been on movie watching binge while on vacation this week.
Walk the Line - great movie! Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon do their own singing. My screenwriting seminar leader told the group that Hollywood stars are looking for scripts where they can show the world that they can sing, so expect more biopics of famous singers. Perhaps the LA Times review was right when the reviewer said that the stars sing better than the original, that's sad huh? Gotta love June Carter Cash because she stood by her man through thick and thin.
Munich - again, I have to agree with what the LA Times have been saying about this movie. You'll have to read it to find out. It's definitely worth seeing, but the message is mixed. Superb acting by a wonderful cast, especially Ciaran Hinds who was Captain Wentworth in Persuasion and in Oscar and Lucinda. Eric Bana was also quite good, playing again the reluctant warrior that he so skillfully portrayed in Troy and Blackhawk Down. It is Speilberg's most mature and most ambitious movie of his career and it makes you think. At least it did me.
Aeon Flux - yes, I had to see the movie even though it got bad reviews. If you're a Charlize Theron fan then you have to see it because there be lots of pratically nekkid shots of her. Love her nightgown by the way. The movie had amazing special effects, and I really liked the story. It's a great scifi story with a love story thrown in. I would definitely see this again.
Syriana - a very good but complicated movie value wise. All the critics are putting it on their top ten list. The movie was written and directed by the guy who wrote Traffic. If you liked how Traffic looked at the drug trade, you'll like how this guy dealt with the oil situation. Sadly, it is that complicated and morally ambigious. There are no easy answers to the problems in that part of the country, despite what the war protestors tell you. And if you're driving a gas guzzling car and not living off the grid then you, like everyone else is very dependent on oil.
And may I remind you that the policy to protect America's oil interests at all costs was set forth by former democratic president Jimmy Carter during the Arab oil embargo in the 1970's, and that every american president including Clinton has followed that policy.
What I admired was how the writer brought in the Chinese question. Once China gets a hold of the oil and that country is doing all it can to do it, expect gas and oil prices and the price of everything connected to oil to rise including heating, electricity and food because foods has to get trucked in from somewhere to rise. Once the Chinese get the oil they need, their financial markets will make the US financial markets seem like a medieval village trading show. And when that happens, and it's when not if, then well, we will all be in a mess of trouble.
I've been on movie watching binge while on vacation this week.
Walk the Line - great movie! Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon do their own singing. My screenwriting seminar leader told the group that Hollywood stars are looking for scripts where they can show the world that they can sing, so expect more biopics of famous singers. Perhaps the LA Times review was right when the reviewer said that the stars sing better than the original, that's sad huh? Gotta love June Carter Cash because she stood by her man through thick and thin.
Munich - again, I have to agree with what the LA Times have been saying about this movie. You'll have to read it to find out. It's definitely worth seeing, but the message is mixed. Superb acting by a wonderful cast, especially Ciaran Hinds who was Captain Wentworth in Persuasion and in Oscar and Lucinda. Eric Bana was also quite good, playing again the reluctant warrior that he so skillfully portrayed in Troy and Blackhawk Down. It is Speilberg's most mature and most ambitious movie of his career and it makes you think. At least it did me.
Aeon Flux - yes, I had to see the movie even though it got bad reviews. If you're a Charlize Theron fan then you have to see it because there be lots of pratically nekkid shots of her. Love her nightgown by the way. The movie had amazing special effects, and I really liked the story. It's a great scifi story with a love story thrown in. I would definitely see this again.
Syriana - a very good but complicated movie value wise. All the critics are putting it on their top ten list. The movie was written and directed by the guy who wrote Traffic. If you liked how Traffic looked at the drug trade, you'll like how this guy dealt with the oil situation. Sadly, it is that complicated and morally ambigious. There are no easy answers to the problems in that part of the country, despite what the war protestors tell you. And if you're driving a gas guzzling car and not living off the grid then you, like everyone else is very dependent on oil.
And may I remind you that the policy to protect America's oil interests at all costs was set forth by former democratic president Jimmy Carter during the Arab oil embargo in the 1970's, and that every american president including Clinton has followed that policy.
What I admired was how the writer brought in the Chinese question. Once China gets a hold of the oil and that country is doing all it can to do it, expect gas and oil prices and the price of everything connected to oil to rise including heating, electricity and food because foods has to get trucked in from somewhere to rise. Once the Chinese get the oil they need, their financial markets will make the US financial markets seem like a medieval village trading show. And when that happens, and it's when not if, then well, we will all be in a mess of trouble.
Monday, December 26, 2005
Well, I guess I am not going to so my boy down south after all. He's got bronchitis and on antiobiotics and working all week. And he had a good point when he told me I need to get my car checked out this week, because God forbid something should happen to my car as I'm driving down to LA.
I'm kind of relieved. I've never driven down to LA by myself before. It's a very long drive. The farthest I've ever driven was four hours and with LA traffic, the drive could be eight hours. I won't say that I'm not bummed, but I was tellng a friend of mine that when I saw M-Square over Labor Day it was perfect and we did a ton of haggling for that weekend to happen.
M-Square said he needed to sort some things about his job. I think he should stick it out. It's driving him insane because it's very stressful and he has to work long hours, but I think over time it will be very financially successful. He just has to learn to manage it better. Plus despite the insane working hours, he has alot of freedom in this job that he wouldn't have in a job in corporate America.
So I'm at home this week on vacation and relaxing. I took two beadmaking classes and I've so far made four necklace, bracelet and earring sets. If I can figure out how to work the digital camera my cousin gave me last year, I'll post pictures of my creative venture.
I love making jewelry. I even paid the city a fee to get a business license so I can write off my beading purchases on my taxes. I'd like to be able to sell the stuff I make, but mostly I want to be able to write off this very expensive hobby.
I have to figure out how to buy beadmaking supplies wholesale. So far I've only been buying stuff retail because I have no idea where the wholesale stores are. Once I figure that out I'll be very happy.
I don't konw if I'll be able to sell my jewelry though. I make jewelry for myself to wear and I don't know if I could part with anything if somebody wanted to buy it. I had the same experience when I was making art collages, and a guy in class asked me if he could buy one of my collages. He said he would pay me $50 for this piece I made on the theme of beauty. I was very torn. I probably should have let him buy it and then I could have had the satisfaction of being a paid artist.
What I should have done was take a picture or a copied the artwork through a copy machine, and then sell it. Then at least I would have some record of the piece before it left my hands. That guy would have probably put my art collage up in his house and had it framed and everything. Right now that collage is sitting in my art collage portfolio gathering dust. I haven't looked at the piece since that class. Silly huh?
If I would have sold it to Peter, my art would have hopefully been framed and shown to people and lived the life of a beloved piece of artwork instead of being forgotten by the artist and put away and thought about in odd moments.
I'm kind of relieved. I've never driven down to LA by myself before. It's a very long drive. The farthest I've ever driven was four hours and with LA traffic, the drive could be eight hours. I won't say that I'm not bummed, but I was tellng a friend of mine that when I saw M-Square over Labor Day it was perfect and we did a ton of haggling for that weekend to happen.
M-Square said he needed to sort some things about his job. I think he should stick it out. It's driving him insane because it's very stressful and he has to work long hours, but I think over time it will be very financially successful. He just has to learn to manage it better. Plus despite the insane working hours, he has alot of freedom in this job that he wouldn't have in a job in corporate America.
So I'm at home this week on vacation and relaxing. I took two beadmaking classes and I've so far made four necklace, bracelet and earring sets. If I can figure out how to work the digital camera my cousin gave me last year, I'll post pictures of my creative venture.
I love making jewelry. I even paid the city a fee to get a business license so I can write off my beading purchases on my taxes. I'd like to be able to sell the stuff I make, but mostly I want to be able to write off this very expensive hobby.
I have to figure out how to buy beadmaking supplies wholesale. So far I've only been buying stuff retail because I have no idea where the wholesale stores are. Once I figure that out I'll be very happy.
I don't konw if I'll be able to sell my jewelry though. I make jewelry for myself to wear and I don't know if I could part with anything if somebody wanted to buy it. I had the same experience when I was making art collages, and a guy in class asked me if he could buy one of my collages. He said he would pay me $50 for this piece I made on the theme of beauty. I was very torn. I probably should have let him buy it and then I could have had the satisfaction of being a paid artist.
What I should have done was take a picture or a copied the artwork through a copy machine, and then sell it. Then at least I would have some record of the piece before it left my hands. That guy would have probably put my art collage up in his house and had it framed and everything. Right now that collage is sitting in my art collage portfolio gathering dust. I haven't looked at the piece since that class. Silly huh?
If I would have sold it to Peter, my art would have hopefully been framed and shown to people and lived the life of a beloved piece of artwork instead of being forgotten by the artist and put away and thought about in odd moments.
I am watching the last broadcast of Monday Night Football. What a sad incident! I have so many memories growing up and watching Monday Night Football with the family, and then later as an adult going to Monday Night Football parties or watching it in various bars all over the country.
They say it's moving to ESPN but it won't be the same. But I guess it's inevitable as John Madden and Al Michaels are getting old and I don't think the ratings have been that great. Ah well, it's another American institution ending and a sad night for football fans the world over.
I don't know about you, but ESPN has the worst announcers! Some of those guys are like so illiterate. Let's hope they get better broadcasters. Hey, does this mean we won't get to see the jumprope competition or the those huge guys chopping logs on ESPN anymmore?
They say it's moving to ESPN but it won't be the same. But I guess it's inevitable as John Madden and Al Michaels are getting old and I don't think the ratings have been that great. Ah well, it's another American institution ending and a sad night for football fans the world over.
I don't know about you, but ESPN has the worst announcers! Some of those guys are like so illiterate. Let's hope they get better broadcasters. Hey, does this mean we won't get to see the jumprope competition or the those huge guys chopping logs on ESPN anymmore?
Sunday, December 25, 2005
I can't end the posts for the day on such a negative note. I've lost about 10 pounds with all the dramarama going on with car and at work. So once again, my size 8 jeans are fitting again. YEAH! I haven't been able to get into those jeans since I broke up with the red-headed guy. It's nice to have my jeans fit again. Of course, my gigoundous tummy is still there because when I lose weight it comes off my bum and legs first and off my stomach last, but I am very happy to be fitting into my clothes again.
So I guess my new year's resolution for next year is again to try and lose more weight to get rid of my tummy. I'd like to drop another 20 pounds or so and get back into a size 6 which I was starting to get into two years ago before I changed jobs.
I joined weight watchers and although I've been too busy to go to meetings, it must have helped because I did lose weight. Not a lot of weight but enough for my pants to fit again.
So I guess my new year's resolution for next year is again to try and lose more weight to get rid of my tummy. I'd like to drop another 20 pounds or so and get back into a size 6 which I was starting to get into two years ago before I changed jobs.
I joined weight watchers and although I've been too busy to go to meetings, it must have helped because I did lose weight. Not a lot of weight but enough for my pants to fit again.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
This week has been about me having adventures with car care. The back of my car got flooded from all the rain. There was in inch of water on the floor in the backseat of my car. When I took it to the dealership, they told me that the drains in my moon roof were clogged and the clogging caused the rain to seep into me car. Who knew you were supposed to clean the moon roof drains. I have my my moon roof open all the time when I drive because I hate having wind on my face and hair when I drive.
I called my insurance company and they said I could get it covered under flooding. Thank god for car insurance. To drain and clean out my car cost me about $1200, but I only paid the deductible of $250. Okay, that was adventure # 2.
Adventure # 1 which I'm still reeling and in shock about happened in November. I took a friend of mine to the pet store to get a cat scratcher for her new cat and then we went out to dinner. I didn't even drink but I don't need booze to get myself into a dummy car fender bender.
The opening into my driveway is very small and I am usually careful driving into for fear of scraping my car. Well, I guess three rootbeers was enough to get me going because I ended up scraping the passenger side doors of my car. It looked like a some huge animal with sharp claws took a swipe at my car, because I scraped against brick. Oh my god, I am such a bonehead!
I felt like my co-worker at work who ran her BMW into the pylon in the parking garage at the job we both used to be at. We used to always joke that one of us was going to hit the pylon and it was her. My co-worker called her insurance company and the woman told her not to report it because it was an accident she caused herself and based on that, the insurance company would raise her rates.
So I decided not to call my insurance company because I don't need my car insurance rates to get any higher, and instead took it to the shop that repaired my car three or four years ago when I got into that accident on the Bay Bridge. I told another friend of mine about my accident, and she told me that she had similar type accident. She didn't report it as well and never got her SUV fixed.
I think if the scratch wasn't so bad I probably wouldn't have bothered to get it fixed, but it was really, really bad. So I took it the shop and the guy fixed and even gave me a discount because I was a previous customer. But even with the discount, I had to shell out $1,800. God, that really, really hurt! Still does as a matter of fact.
So remember how it's a saying of mine that bad things come in threes, or maybe four as the case may be.
After I picked up my car at the dealer on Friday, the dealership guy told me my airbag light was on and I told him that it was fine when I brought my car. So now I have to take the car back to the shop next week so they can take a look at it and diagnose what's wrong. The dealership guy said they would do it the diagnosis for free because the service people might have done something to my car when they were trying to air it and dry it.
The dang car still smells kind of mildewy but at least the water is gone. I'm going to have to blow some cash in the next couple of months to get the car detailed to see if they can get rid of the smell. I put two new car air fresheners in today hopoing that would help.
And then there was the matter of the knob that controls the side mirrors on my car breaking. That cost me another $100 or so dollar to fix. Then as I'm driving home from the dealership yesterday, I noticed my AC was on. The garage probably had my AC on high to dry the car. Well, now the AC light sometimes doesn't go on, and the airflor switch next to it isn't working.
I swear to god I am not buying a european car again. All my friends who have japanese cars never have this kind of stuff happen to their car!
But wait it's not over. This is bad adventures with my car # 3. After picking up my car from the dealership, I decided I needed to get some things at Target and then at Costco. On the way home from Costco as I'm driving home on 280, I noticed there was a crack in the windshield on the driver side, my side. I was like freaking out. Someone had tried to break into my car. They tried to smash the windshield and as I found out later in the morning, whoever was trying to break into my car had used some kind of sharp instrument to pry open the bottom covering of my windshield. And this all happened in the Costco parking lot because I was in a hurry and just grabbed the first open spot I could which was far from the store entrance. And I'm like okay this is my lesson. I need to park at night as close to the store entrance as possible or to a more populated portion of the parking lot and under a light. Parking far away with no overhead lights is just inviting trouble.
My poor car. Thank god the idiot theives couldn't break my windshield. For all the problems I've had with german fat boy car, my baby has protected me. It's a well-built strong little car, able to take a lot of knocks without totally getting wrecked. But my baby car gets a ton of love too. The owner of the shop that fixed my dented and scratched door told me he could tell my car was well taken care of and that my engine sounded great.
So again for the second time this week I call my insurance company and they said glass damage was covered under my policy. So luckily I was able to get an appointment at noon and my windshield was replaced and all I had to pay was my deductible of $250. My insurance company is so going to hate me and will probably raise my car insurance rates to the sky come renewal.
My car insurance rates area already large just because I live in the city and county of San Francisco. I have a friend who insures two cars and because she lives in Oakland, she insures two cars for less than what I have to pay for my one car. I asked the insurance rep about this once, and they told me car insurance companies determine rates all by zipcode. And apparently I live in the high insurance rate zipcode.
So my holiday car adventures which are far from over have cost me about $2,500 this year. It has not been a very joyous christmas for me financially. I mean I have money to pay for all of this, but still! I could have used that money for other things. I really want to visit M-Square for New Years and drive down to the LB but with my car luck these last two months, I don't know if it's a good idea. Plus, I'm like thinking I probably should just stay home and not wreck my car and not spend any money.
What's trippy is that I just finished paying off my car and I have the title to my car, and now all this crap happens. What is up with that? I guess I should try to be positive. Bad things are happening to my car and luckily not to me personally. But still, I'm the one who has to pay when bad things happen to my car. And yes, I was an amazing dumb dumb bonehead for hitting the side of my apartment building but at least no one saw me. My friend hit another car at her parking garage and the parkkng attendant saw her and reported her to the police and now she's got a point on her license. Apparently when you hit a stationery vehicle it's considered a moving violation. So things could be bad for me like her friend because having points on your license automatically raises your car insurance rates.
I'm like way whining here but it's been a horrible four weeks I think. The only positive things things are I have a new passenger side door, which is great because there were a couple of scratches on that door. Now my car almost looks brand new. I also have a new windshield, which means those stupid college parking stickers that I stuck on inside of my windshield and which I couldn't take off are now gone.
And of course, M-Square and I survived the winter holidays which makes everyone cranky and depressed. We're still together and it's my bestest christmas present ever!
I called my insurance company and they said I could get it covered under flooding. Thank god for car insurance. To drain and clean out my car cost me about $1200, but I only paid the deductible of $250. Okay, that was adventure # 2.
Adventure # 1 which I'm still reeling and in shock about happened in November. I took a friend of mine to the pet store to get a cat scratcher for her new cat and then we went out to dinner. I didn't even drink but I don't need booze to get myself into a dummy car fender bender.
The opening into my driveway is very small and I am usually careful driving into for fear of scraping my car. Well, I guess three rootbeers was enough to get me going because I ended up scraping the passenger side doors of my car. It looked like a some huge animal with sharp claws took a swipe at my car, because I scraped against brick. Oh my god, I am such a bonehead!
I felt like my co-worker at work who ran her BMW into the pylon in the parking garage at the job we both used to be at. We used to always joke that one of us was going to hit the pylon and it was her. My co-worker called her insurance company and the woman told her not to report it because it was an accident she caused herself and based on that, the insurance company would raise her rates.
So I decided not to call my insurance company because I don't need my car insurance rates to get any higher, and instead took it to the shop that repaired my car three or four years ago when I got into that accident on the Bay Bridge. I told another friend of mine about my accident, and she told me that she had similar type accident. She didn't report it as well and never got her SUV fixed.
I think if the scratch wasn't so bad I probably wouldn't have bothered to get it fixed, but it was really, really bad. So I took it the shop and the guy fixed and even gave me a discount because I was a previous customer. But even with the discount, I had to shell out $1,800. God, that really, really hurt! Still does as a matter of fact.
So remember how it's a saying of mine that bad things come in threes, or maybe four as the case may be.
After I picked up my car at the dealer on Friday, the dealership guy told me my airbag light was on and I told him that it was fine when I brought my car. So now I have to take the car back to the shop next week so they can take a look at it and diagnose what's wrong. The dealership guy said they would do it the diagnosis for free because the service people might have done something to my car when they were trying to air it and dry it.
The dang car still smells kind of mildewy but at least the water is gone. I'm going to have to blow some cash in the next couple of months to get the car detailed to see if they can get rid of the smell. I put two new car air fresheners in today hopoing that would help.
And then there was the matter of the knob that controls the side mirrors on my car breaking. That cost me another $100 or so dollar to fix. Then as I'm driving home from the dealership yesterday, I noticed my AC was on. The garage probably had my AC on high to dry the car. Well, now the AC light sometimes doesn't go on, and the airflor switch next to it isn't working.
I swear to god I am not buying a european car again. All my friends who have japanese cars never have this kind of stuff happen to their car!
But wait it's not over. This is bad adventures with my car # 3. After picking up my car from the dealership, I decided I needed to get some things at Target and then at Costco. On the way home from Costco as I'm driving home on 280, I noticed there was a crack in the windshield on the driver side, my side. I was like freaking out. Someone had tried to break into my car. They tried to smash the windshield and as I found out later in the morning, whoever was trying to break into my car had used some kind of sharp instrument to pry open the bottom covering of my windshield. And this all happened in the Costco parking lot because I was in a hurry and just grabbed the first open spot I could which was far from the store entrance. And I'm like okay this is my lesson. I need to park at night as close to the store entrance as possible or to a more populated portion of the parking lot and under a light. Parking far away with no overhead lights is just inviting trouble.
My poor car. Thank god the idiot theives couldn't break my windshield. For all the problems I've had with german fat boy car, my baby has protected me. It's a well-built strong little car, able to take a lot of knocks without totally getting wrecked. But my baby car gets a ton of love too. The owner of the shop that fixed my dented and scratched door told me he could tell my car was well taken care of and that my engine sounded great.
So again for the second time this week I call my insurance company and they said glass damage was covered under my policy. So luckily I was able to get an appointment at noon and my windshield was replaced and all I had to pay was my deductible of $250. My insurance company is so going to hate me and will probably raise my car insurance rates to the sky come renewal.
My car insurance rates area already large just because I live in the city and county of San Francisco. I have a friend who insures two cars and because she lives in Oakland, she insures two cars for less than what I have to pay for my one car. I asked the insurance rep about this once, and they told me car insurance companies determine rates all by zipcode. And apparently I live in the high insurance rate zipcode.
So my holiday car adventures which are far from over have cost me about $2,500 this year. It has not been a very joyous christmas for me financially. I mean I have money to pay for all of this, but still! I could have used that money for other things. I really want to visit M-Square for New Years and drive down to the LB but with my car luck these last two months, I don't know if it's a good idea. Plus, I'm like thinking I probably should just stay home and not wreck my car and not spend any money.
What's trippy is that I just finished paying off my car and I have the title to my car, and now all this crap happens. What is up with that? I guess I should try to be positive. Bad things are happening to my car and luckily not to me personally. But still, I'm the one who has to pay when bad things happen to my car. And yes, I was an amazing dumb dumb bonehead for hitting the side of my apartment building but at least no one saw me. My friend hit another car at her parking garage and the parkkng attendant saw her and reported her to the police and now she's got a point on her license. Apparently when you hit a stationery vehicle it's considered a moving violation. So things could be bad for me like her friend because having points on your license automatically raises your car insurance rates.
I'm like way whining here but it's been a horrible four weeks I think. The only positive things things are I have a new passenger side door, which is great because there were a couple of scratches on that door. Now my car almost looks brand new. I also have a new windshield, which means those stupid college parking stickers that I stuck on inside of my windshield and which I couldn't take off are now gone.
And of course, M-Square and I survived the winter holidays which makes everyone cranky and depressed. We're still together and it's my bestest christmas present ever!
Merry Christmas eve everyone! I'm at home stuffed from eating lobster. M-Square is spending Christmas eve with his kids. Yes, the guy has children. I received an early taste of what the winter holidays will be like with this guy, and it's so unknown territory for me. My parents stayed together so I am clueless of the protocol of divorced parents and their kids. It's a hard world to be in for a kid and for the parents, I think.
M-Square has never seen his kids at both Thanksgiving and Christmas, so this Christmas is a first and very, very big deal for him. My friend Melissa was telling me about her boyfriend and his issues with the holidays since he is from a divorced home. She says years later as an adult he still get depressed over the holidays. Melissa told me that either I get used to it or I get out now.
M-Square and I celebrated our 6-month anniversary on Friday. He said 6-months was a milestone for him, and I told him for me too! It's a been a long and rocky six months, but we're still together and us still together is my best christmas gift ever!
So okay, I'm alone on Christmas but I think it's fine. I am seriously dreading next Christmas with me in LA and us most likely living together and having to deal with his kids and the holidays. A friend of mine told me I will always be the evil stepmother ... something to look forward to huh?
M-Square has never seen his kids at both Thanksgiving and Christmas, so this Christmas is a first and very, very big deal for him. My friend Melissa was telling me about her boyfriend and his issues with the holidays since he is from a divorced home. She says years later as an adult he still get depressed over the holidays. Melissa told me that either I get used to it or I get out now.
M-Square and I celebrated our 6-month anniversary on Friday. He said 6-months was a milestone for him, and I told him for me too! It's a been a long and rocky six months, but we're still together and us still together is my best christmas gift ever!
So okay, I'm alone on Christmas but I think it's fine. I am seriously dreading next Christmas with me in LA and us most likely living together and having to deal with his kids and the holidays. A friend of mine told me I will always be the evil stepmother ... something to look forward to huh?
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Yes, I am still here! Thanks for asking. I've been busy at work and having a case of the blue meanies and the holiday blues. M-Square and I are still together which is my best Christmas present ever, but ... it's been a shaky couple of weeks. What is about the holidays that freaks everyone including myself out!
I decided I completely and totally hate my job and that I will never be promoted working for the people that I do. My boss' boss totally hates and is jealous of me. My cubemate, whom I've grown very close to in these last three months, suffers from the same fate. She's a smart kid who just graduated from Stanford, and my boss' boss shut her down because she came up with ideas that my boss' boss hadn't even thought of. The poor dumb witch couldn't take it and starting getting mean. It's the same thing that happened to me.
But, you know what? I don't care. I can't care! My immediate boss is really nice, and she told me if I wanted to move to Southern California to be with M-Square, I can still keep my job. And this is the only reason I am staying in my current job, even though it is spiritually totally killing me. It's so difficult to know that I don't dare sound intelligent because I know I'll get shut down for fear of showing my boss' boss up. But whatever!!! That is her karma and I'm a total believer in karma.
As soon as I move to SoCal and get settled with M-Square, I can start job hunting again. But until then, I'm going to have to be very British and have a stiff upper lip and just deal with it.
I decided I completely and totally hate my job and that I will never be promoted working for the people that I do. My boss' boss totally hates and is jealous of me. My cubemate, whom I've grown very close to in these last three months, suffers from the same fate. She's a smart kid who just graduated from Stanford, and my boss' boss shut her down because she came up with ideas that my boss' boss hadn't even thought of. The poor dumb witch couldn't take it and starting getting mean. It's the same thing that happened to me.
But, you know what? I don't care. I can't care! My immediate boss is really nice, and she told me if I wanted to move to Southern California to be with M-Square, I can still keep my job. And this is the only reason I am staying in my current job, even though it is spiritually totally killing me. It's so difficult to know that I don't dare sound intelligent because I know I'll get shut down for fear of showing my boss' boss up. But whatever!!! That is her karma and I'm a total believer in karma.
As soon as I move to SoCal and get settled with M-Square, I can start job hunting again. But until then, I'm going to have to be very British and have a stiff upper lip and just deal with it.
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