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Sunday, May 17th, 2009
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7:17 pm - Umm... Rawr!?
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My fiesta [![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) phoenixsansfyr] took my list of bills and debts and designed me a workable budget to try to get myself out of debt. Just having a game plan has destressed me a bit. Knowing that getting out of debt is POSSIBLE, also helpful. Giving up my fast food trip for the week, each week, for the next few months... sucktacular. However, that is an additional amount of money off my debts.
Sadly, by the time I get the non-school loan debt paid off, I'll definitely need a new car. So I'll have to be sure to put aside some money for a downpayment as well.
Of course, if I'd bet on the Preakness, I would be set. I called the trifecta: Win, Place, and Show. In order. I'm such a loser. Damn.
Still trying to find a job to either hold me over until I go back to work full-time in July or to replace my current job with regular 40+ hours a week. Hopefully something with lots of opportunities for overtime.
Have my ticket back to KY in late June. Not sure what two days I'll be in Lexington to meet up with my Lexingtonian friends. Will let you know as soon as I know.
If anyone has a copy of this song (Shirley Manson: "Samson and Delilah"), please let me know so I can nab it from you.
current mood:  content
current music: "Samson and Delilah" performed by Shirley Manson
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| Sunday, March 29th, 2009
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11:00 pm - Texas
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I've now been in Texas for two weeks!
My first couple days here, I met a few new people. They were awesome enough to help carry all of our apartment stuff up to phoenixsansfyr (Fi) and my second floor apartment. Considering I had a 16' truck filled to the BRIM with furniture and boxes, that is saying quite a lot about how much they love the Fiesta.
Our first real experience in exploration was going to the original Salt Lick. The food was delicious! The sandwich was massive, filled with meat. And the pickles were nummy. Fi was kind enough to purchase dessert for us. I'm not a big fan of cobbler of any kind, but the blackberry cobbler was delicious! The crust was definitely the best part.
We also took trips to walk through Zilker Park. We went to San Antonio to visit the Alamo. And in the middle time, Fi was working as Laura and I tried to get the apartment together. Laura kicked butt; she put the kitchen together almost entirely by herself! Then she left, and I realized that this isn't just an awesome vacation. This is... home.
Everyone keeps asking me how I like Texas. I love it. The city is beautiful at night/early morning. I go through Austin via I-35 pretty often for work, and seeing it lit up against the dark sky is pretty amazing. I've been caught in crappy I-35 traffic once. MREH. Sucktacular, really. However, I love the over-overpasses. It is pretty amazing to be that far in the air while still driving a car... at least without water beneath you.
Fi and I visited Enchanted Rock State Park. We both took some amazing photos. It was a steep climb up, but we photographed our way to the top. Once up there, there was this middle-aged couple. Two pretty cute guys. And they were just GLOWING with happiness together. Holding hands and pointing to stuff and ... it was completely adorable. And there Fi and I was talking and photographing. With like twenty other people on the top, they approached us to ask us to photograph them. They both had obviously new tattoos and what looked like commitment rings. The expression on their faces as they approached was pretty wary but just oozing happiness. Anyone who dared tell them no would have been a nicer person if they lived their life kicking puppies. I saw the camera, and the look on the guy's face. He didn't even have to open his mouth. I was like, "We'd love to." And just accepted the camera from him. And they both looked ECSTATIC. They looked at the photos I took (I took a close-up to get the ring and tattoos and a distant ones to get all of them with the awesome view) and their eyes watered... I wanted to cry too. It was so freakin' cute!
Now the apartment is mostly in order. We are still tweaking things, but there are pictures on the walls and whatnot. Still need to get curtains up, but the blinds are good enough for now. We are going through about a gallon of 2% a week (which is crazy!) but most everything we eat is either low fat, fat free, or nutricious. Our plan is to go to the gym thrice a week for an hour each go. Once it warms up a bit more, we'll likely throw in some non-strenuous swimming and such on our "nights off."
Started working at the local Lifetouch. We get gas cards to pay for our gas to the schools. I'm finally getting all my pending raises! Also for every school where we get 8s-10s on our report card, we get a $5 bonus. That is up to $25 per week. It is doled out at the end of each photography season (so twice a year). The drives (so far) are shorter. Other than the basic, same-old shit that you get at every school with scheduling and stupidity, it is much better.
I like living with the Fi. I think, so far, we are both doing our share to keep the apartment clean. We both are tired and a tad grumpy when we get off work, but it is to be expected. Here is to hoping that we have a lovely, lasting roommate friendship that continues to be wondermous!
current mood: content
current music: "Angels with Even Filthier Souls" by Hawthorne Heights
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| Saturday, March 21st, 2009
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8:05 am - BBC's Top 100 Books
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I will bold the ones I have read. Most of which I had to read for one of my English courses and I still own a copy.
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien*
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman**
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne - Totally did research paper on AA Milne & Winnie the Pooh for AP English
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger --Own like two copies of this book!
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy --Barely remember any of this book!
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell --I cried like little baby reading this.
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky --Wanted to die.
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake- cracktastically awesome
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac --He was seriously on sleep deprivation and drugs when he wrote this, and you can tell. (No, really. Sleep deprivation and drugs.)
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
39/100 --> I think. Recount later.
*Fi, I have it in a huge anthology in my room entitled "The Lord of the Rings." I guess it is one book. lol.
**Dunno how they managed this one...
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7:16 am - I freaking live in Texas now. Mia sorella doesn't. :'(
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Laura boarded her plane back to Kentucky this morning at about 6:20a.m. Fi and I stayed at the airport until 6:40a.m., just waiting to hear that her flight had been cancelled so she could come back to the apartment with me. But it didn't happen. I made it past the horrid sign (I'll explain in a later post, after I have a picture) and all the way to the Fiesta marketplace before I started crying.
Mia sorella is on her way back to Kentucky. I won't be able to see her again until June. We can chat now (thanks to the awesomeness of Fi's Jason giving Laura his old laptop!) and we can text and pic message, but Laura is going to be in freakin' Kentucky. I don't like it. I don't like it at all. I wanted her to STAY.
Now Fi is at work until 7p.m. Laura is on a flight to Kentucky. I'm home alone with the Evil Kitty Alliance, no where to go and nothing to do.
Cody just called me. They just arrived at their new house in Colorado. Cody said it was beautiful and very, very big! Apparently he has a mountain view from his backyard. I'm so happy for him and the Stephanie! They finally have their own place together! For the win!
current mood:  sad
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| Sunday, January 18th, 2009
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5:31 pm - New snake! New snake!
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Today I bought a new snake. This is a juvenile, male snow corn snake. No name yet, which is why I'm posting here. I'm taking nominations!
NOMINATIONS SO FAR
Adolph [Nomination by Cody via messenger]
Edwina
Flakes
Frederick [Fred for short, to match Fredericka "Fred" for short][Made by Mommy]
Ghost
Opry
Paprika
Wilma
Zuke
My other corn snake's name is Fred the Snake. The snake was named before we had it sexed... and yesterday, we found out that Fred the Snake is actually Fredericka the Snake (still Fred for short!).
Anyway, I'm not limiting the number of nominations any one person can make. You have three names you think would fit? Reply with all three! :) I'll keep track of any nomations I get, but I get to approve the nominations. I'll limit it to five I like the most, and everyone will be able to vote. :)
Here is the new baby!
current mood: cheerful
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| Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
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4:24 pm - Writer's Block: Tricky Questions
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| Sunday, January 11th, 2009
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10:43 pm - Movies I want to see (More to be added when I have more time)
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| Thursday, January 8th, 2009
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1:28 am - 365 Challenge, Week 01
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Any comments are helpful. A few of the photos aren't actually meant to be incredibly artistic, but feel free to assume they are. :) General comments ("I like that one." "I hate them all.") are also welcome.
( Week 01 Challenge Photos )
current mood:  artistic
current music: "White Horse" performed by Taylor Swift
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| Friday, January 2nd, 2009
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8:26 pm - 365 Challenge
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Fiona introduced me to the concept of the 365 photography challenge, where you take a photo a day for a year. At first, I thought in the terms of a professional photographer. I mean, I am technically one even though I often don't feel like it. One amazing photo a day! Gods, that sounded daunting. But I like to know what I'm doing, so I looked it up online. I came up with an article from here that tells it all. For the sake of saving you all some of the clicking, I'll reiterate the main points here.
The 365 Photo Challenge was started by Taylor McKnight on January 1st 2004. He realized at the end of the year that looking back at the photos was similar to having his life for the past year flash before his eyes. So he's done it over and over, and he's even written suggestions and tips for other people (Note: Not even photographers. Every day people.) doing it.
( Project 365: How to Create a Daily Photographic History )
Needless to say, the project doesn't feel quite as overwhelming now. I'm using one of my New Years' Eve/New Years pictures for Day 01. Day 02 will be shot after this post. I'm going to try not to get too far behind on uploading. Any "Hey, upload!" texts would be appreciated (if you are actually interested, that is). However, I'll be more prone to ignore them if you don't comment either on my Photobucket (specifically made for this challenge) or here on LJ (which I will only update weekly).
Photobucket: http://photobucket.com/DuchessPariah365
Pretty easy to remember? My friend phoenyxsansfyr is also doing this challenge. You can look at her photos too!
current mood: artistic
current music: "Hell Just Ain't The Same" performed by Theory of a Deadman
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| Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
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4:21 pm - Avoidance and the Covert Bingo Meme/Gamepiece
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Sooo... I have to go to druidspell's journal at least once a week, because my friends page takes it in spells to not display her new messages. If I don't see one from her during the week, I check it. Just in case. (I also sometimes do this with other people's lj's, as needed.) I was back browsing, as she hasn't posted recently (*cough*), and I found the Covert Bingo Gamepiece. The first time I saw it, I just looked at it and went on browsing my f-page. I'm exhausted to the point of inability to think (yes, it is only 4:30 in the afternoon), and so that means no posting until after I take a nice long bath and drink a shit-load of fluids. Thus, I'm going to check off my gamepieces. (Sort of.)
( And, I play the game )
BTW, Dad and I burned a huge pile of brush today. He brought up the back-hoe and tore up some stumps and tore out some trees. Jason, his brother, and I (though to a lesser extent) scraped the peeling paint from the roof. Tomorrow, we repair one place and paint it.
current mood:  exhausted
current music: "Citizen Soldier" by 3 Doors Down
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| Monday, June 30th, 2008
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4:45 pm - Happy soon-to-be birthday to me!
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Actually, I still have twenty-one days until my 23rd birthday. That isn't the point, though. The point is more that I haven't had a birthday party in five (I'm guessing. Correct me if I'm wrong.) years. So... I'm going to be one of those people, and I'm going to throw MYSELF a birthday party.
WHAT: My 23rd womb evacuation day!
WHEN: July 19th, 2008 around 5:30 p.m. until everyone is gone
WHERE: My house (call, email, or reply for address)
Since I have more time to plan it, I intend to be a little more organized than my graduation party. I know where I can get some canopies and such, which with help from a tarp will block the wind problem we had last time.
Also... oddly enough, I've already had four people ask what I want for my birthday. Shopping in advance much? So... This year I'm going to be selfish. Instead of being like, "I don't want anything," I'm going to be honest. Though people aren't required to give me anything to attend the party, they shouldn't ask if they don't want an answer.
Many people, I'm just going to point in the direction of my amazon.com wishlists. I keep them updated year-round, though I'm generally the person buying off of them! :-D
I have one for -Books I haven't Bought Yet-, another for -DVDs I haven't purchased yet-, and a final one for -Things I haven't bought yet-
SOME OF THE ODDER EXAMPLES:
Birds of Prey, the Complete Series (1 season)
Witchblade, The Complete Series (1.5 Seasons)
I love Amazon Wishlists. I have druidspell's Amazon Wishlist saved. Does anyone else I consider a friend have one? If so, please get me the link.
current mood:  amused
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4:31 pm - AWOL
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I've been avoiding LJ for a while, mostly because of things that I didn't want to write about. In May, I lost my baby (my puppy, Orion). I knew that--should I want to continue an accurate journal-- I couldn't leave that loss out. However, I just couldn't bear to write about it. So I stopped writing. At the time, it seemed logical.
However, I've decided that I can't avoid the topic forever. Also, I shouldn't avoid LJ forever. After all, it is my only journal now that I'm not keeping a dead tree one. So... I'm going to start writing again.
Promise.
current mood:  contemplative
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| Thursday, May 29th, 2008
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10:09 pm - Rebekah, this one is my favorite.
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| Saturday, April 12th, 2008
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1:06 am - Sorry, Fi. Not really an update... *pokes*
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| Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
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1:00 pm - Orion and General's Birthday Party!
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| Saturday, March 8th, 2008
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8:55 pm - Digsby is the shit.
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| Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
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2:45 am - A Quickie
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My car is a total loss, according to Conway-Heaton. I haven't heard from my insurance company yet. The report was turned in today, so that will probably be tomorrow. If this is the case, I won't need the loans. *hugglecuddleclings everyone who offered*
My doctor thinks I messed up something in my neck. MRIs on Wednesday. I might be off work and in physical therapy for the foreseeable future.
Jason ended two weeks of not being an ass by being an ass. Fucker.
Mael (nazerak) is officially my hero for this week (perhaps the month).
Don't worry, Fici. You are still my favorite sex toy. *patpats*
current mood: exhausted
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| Saturday, March 1st, 2008
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4:38 pm - Fred's First LIVE meal (Warning: Kind of traumatic)
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| Friday, February 29th, 2008
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8:06 pm - Downhill Slide
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The payoff on my car with the loan company is $13,558.98. The total loss value of my car is $13,750. That means I'll clear a little less than $200.00 ... EXCEPT that I have to swallow my $1000.00 downpayment and the $1500.00 I have paid on it to date. Gone. Buh-bai. *wave*
My dad took me to get the police report, and I dropped it off at my insurance company. They called Safe Auto. Turns out, the insurance policy lapsed in December. The vehicle that hit me WAS NOT insured anymore. So all of this reverts to my uninsured motorist policy.
If it is not totaled (I'm $1400 short of what it needs before they stripped it down today. That could have changed), I will have to pay my $500 deductible. The bad news is that I don't know when the insurance company will pay it back to me. Only that they will after they sue the owner of the vehicle. My insurance company says that it could take two weeks or a year. Thus, anyone who has agreed to lend me money... I'll pretend you haven't. If you are still willing to lend me money knowing that it may not be only a month wait, let me know.
If it is totaled, I have to come up with another downpayment on a car and reapply for a loan. I have to reapply for the A-Plan, and repay all the taxes and such on the car. Then, I have to pay on the car... In other words, I'm starting all over except 2500 dollars SHORT.
Oh! And no rental car.
Ta-da!
current mood:  Fuck. It.
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| Thursday, February 28th, 2008
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5:04 pm - Dear God,
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curious
