Literally ^ ^
Welcome to 2009!!!
I quit the job and spent holiday season poor. Still looking for the next one- if 'looking' can be described as 'needing, but doing nothing about it!' Bad me, damn it!
Sewer line broke today and I ended up spending the day begging relatives to help. Price tag of $2400 and an Uncle that will help- that's the good part. Bad part? He doesn't want to give me a check until after the plumbers are done! His idea is that they'll do it, and then I'll drive to his place and then I'll pay the guys... I wish!
I hope!
Damn it.
First post in months and it's just more doom and gloom :(

Addicted to FanFiction.net >.<

Never used to like fanfiction, I mean what was the point? It's not "real".. and NOW I'm reading fiction for old TV shows I used to love (as long as they made em gay that is ;)
Who knew I'd LOVE the A-Team again. And Sentinel? Well they were actually and rather obviously gay in that one already. Only the producers seemed not to notice! And I'm even enjoying Kirk and Spock fict!
Wow.
My eyes are open ^ ^

=Where you have been where you are going=
Birth Place or place you were raised?
Levittown, PA


Do you like where you live now?
Same

If you could move anywhere in the world with no worries on money, language or family issues, where would you move?
Ireland maybe.. go and chase the fairies!

( Read more )

My laptop has had an overheating problem for a while, and maybe some others problems like the diskdrive. I tried to contact my warrenty people once- but all I had was a faded receipt and didn't even know if it was still covered! Never got an answer back.
Turns out all I had to do was walk back into the store!
The other day I went with a friend into CurcuitCity (where I bought the laptop) and when she was given her receipt as a warrenty I instatntly asked about mine. And I'm still fully covered until May 08!!
So all my files have been burned off and into the shop it goes! YEA!

Ah I'm gonna MISS it >.<

In the meantime- I need a job.

September 30 2007 the exact day that Terry Pratchett (of Disc World fame) had a signing in West Chester Pennsylvania!
Drove an hour out to the book store where some people I meet had come from Ohio!

( I met Terry Pratchett with PICTURES! )

And for the rest of my birthday?

I got new yaoi!!
( yea! new yaoi! )

5 hours straight of lawn work.
Trimming, cutting, weedwacking. Trying to cut the poison ivy without getting it on me.
I ache. I'm tired.
I hope I don' get The Rash!
Downloading today's batch before I fall into bed.

**my shortest post ever**

Over the last year or so it seems, I've been collecting cans of pumpkin with the idea of eventually figuring out a pumpkin pie. I've had some success recently googling for recipes and trying stuff out (bean 'chilli,' coconut macaroons)- the food was actually edible! ^^
So finally I decided it was time to USE that pumpkin!
But something easier then pie ^^;

Experiment #1:
Pumpkin cookies! Found a recipe on Allrecipes I think. I had everything it called for and it seemed easy enough. I DID cut the sugar down and subbed some brown sugar, and added some cinnamon to the powered sugar glaze and YUM! Soft (caky) pumpkin cookies with a thick glaze touched with cinnamon! They ate them up ^ ^
And asked if it wouldn't be better with a couple of apple bits and walnuts?
Pumpkin/apple cookies? Really??

Experiment #2:
Pumpkin pancakes! It only took half a can for the cookies- need to do something with it ^ ^ So I Google for pancake recipes. Not dessert pancakes though, something healthy. There are a LOT and many of them use up to 4 eggs separated, folding in the whipped egg whites at the end (not something I'd really call a success when I did that for the coconut macroons >.<) So I found 3 SIMPLE recipes (one even calling for pancake mix as an ingredient. Didn't try that though.) and went for the one that used the most pumpkin (and only 1 egg slightly beaten)- 2 cups pumpkin for only 1 cup flour.. The batter was beautiful! Thick and cake like ^ ^
But..
Maybe I should have seen this one coming.
It made GEL cakes. You could compare it to frying up a cake of left over mashed potatoes- that kind of texture. It didn't rise, it wasn't even pancake-like. I even tried thinning it with water. That did not help.
I came back to the batter a bit later. Added another egg to keep the mess together, added a tsp of baking soda to get it to rise (the recipe had called for 1 tsp of powder) and more flour to combat the pumpkin- all the other recipes used like 1/2 cup pumpkin to 1 or 2 cups flour...
THESE made bubbles in the pan and cooked more like pancakes ^ ^
YEA!
Then I went and made adjustments to my handwritten recipe in case I ever want to try this again.. and see I MISREAD the original >.<' It wanted 2 tsp of baking powder to begin with!
Maybe I'll try the original again someday.

Experiment #3:
Apple cookies! I've made apple cakes before and we all love 'em and the spices for the above pumpkin cookies are only nutmeg and cinnamon- perfect for apples! So I cut and puree 4 crisp green apples and it measures about 1 cup- what was needed of pumpkin... I'm having my doubts though as I mix this batter up. Apples are WATER, the pumpkin was not.. Well, try a batch.
A couple of chopped apples added toward the end (for chunks) with the walnuts...
The pumpkin cookies batter had been THICK, these apple subsitutes were cooking but they were also spreading out and becoming giant, thin cookies!
Damn. (they tasted ok- just not what I imagined)
Suggestions from the gallery: add the pumpkin! Or add some more flour. Or both.
I added the pumpkin.
Now for my second batch the pumpkin made it thicker, the cookies stayed soft and plump.. and rubbery? NOT tough though. The inside tasted like pumpkin pie. FELT like pumpkin pie too. Gel like? (a la my pancake mistake T_T) But they cook up and even though one of my tasters HATES pumpkin pie- she's telling me she LIKES the weird cookie..
Disapointed cook.
Guess I'll stick to the apple cake, or a pie (with premade dough!) and the pumpkin cookies!

See, and you thought all I did was read yaoi! \^ ^/

TokyoPop got Wild Adapter T__T (As we all know)
But it's WA so give it a chance, I think to myself.
I bought vol 2 (cause that's where Tokiko really begins! and TP is still working on 3..) and got to say it's lost alot of it's charm and parts are rather insulting!
There are places where if you compared the fansub to the TP vol (which I did after reading TP's through twice *trying, trying*) it's almost word for word... and other's where it's just OFF enough.. and other's where it's completely different.
Depressing!
As to "insulting?" Well the yakuza Seiya, who in the fansub made it pretty clear that he'd rather be chasing a BOY instead of a girlfriend when his people go after Saori for any info her dead boyfriend may have leaked to her about the supply of WA, instead in the TP version simply states that he doesn't 'get off beating on girls' OOOOOkay..... In TP's version the only infinitesimal clue they give to his sexuality is that he has a gentleman's vocabulary- in other words he speaks calmly and uses big words. Like THAT is a real giveaway~! When Saori, who has been captured and is being threatened looks up at him and calls him a "Faggot!" and he kicks her in the TP version... I thought she deserved it.
THAT'S how bad the TP version is!
To cheer myself up I sent away for the orginal vol 5, the newest vol out in japanese!!! So pretty! The new shapphire jewel of my collection ^ ^
Vol 5 goes back to when Kubota first picks up Tokiko!! WORTH owning!!

On another depressing subject: BLU, who's books are ok if alittle colorless... are actually OWNED by TP!
*crushed*

And another: Kitty Media who first published Crimson Spell's prince as "Bald" a shortening of "Balderic" or something like that, has now announced that the next printing of the manga will go back to "Val"- short for the same name, but "V" instead of "B".. since so many fans complained that our prince wasn't Bald. ha. ha. (Though, to be fair, I was one of them. HATE when they change the names!)
I bought the first edition.
*Ah Well* Just got to read it my own way.

And at Last: Be Beautiful. They are expensive and not easy to get (haven't seen them in bookstores since I bought this one volume months ago.) Also I own all of Kizuna in japanese... so I'm NOT buying the whole series TWICE. But I DID buy book 1 and was NOT happy. Ranmaru DOES NOT call Enjouji by his first name!!! He is NOT that type of casual guy!!!!!!! Enjouji has been calling Ran by a shorting of HIS first name practically since they meet. He IS that type of casual guy! And, people this story was writtin in the 80s, hence the "Ghost" movie refernece! They did not have "TiVo!" He was programming the damned VCR and needed to set up a VHS tape!
The story was great as is was. No need for these STUPID updates!!

*Vented*

And an edit: I JUST remembered, speaking of editing.. One unforgivable thing that Be Beautiful did to Kizuna vol 1. In the short story at the the end of the volume, a story of young Kai going to elementary school and Masa acting like a big brother/father figure young Kai kisses Masa on the lips at the end. The image if the shocked Masa and baby Kai's kiss was DELETED from the american version!
Why?
Considering the fact the Be Beautiful also published Midare Somishi, where a child about the same age as Kai was in the short was brutally raped? I haven't seen Somishi- soo maybe they found a way to delete that too? No idea. But there was no reason to make such an edit in Kizuna vol 1, the kiss there was an innocent joke!

One of the sweetest things in yaoi manga is the naming.
Those who honor their loves with a "san" (especially the seme who "san"s his uke!) and those who have slept together and still blush to use their partner's first name. In many a manga there is the episode where that extreme level of intimacy is finally reached!
So uniquely japanese <3
So why are some of the new american published manga killing that unique and intimate aspect of these relationships by americanizing the names?
Yes, in america, in english it would feel remote and cold to use your lover's last name and even "san" them, but if we were interested in reading american comics we'd be sending letters to Marvel to get Gambit and Wolverine together! (yeah right!)
We've fallen in love with a culture as well as a story. Yes, translate the words but keep these unique and beautiful expressions of love as was intended!

I recently went to a family party. My neice's graduation and her brother's birthday in one. We heard about the party via my sister- they'd all received formal invites in the mail. We- her aunts and her only grandmother- did not.
This isn't the first time.
Her mother, our sister-in-law seems to hate us.
There's always a reason for it. Sometimes it's an incident from when I was a kid. Sometimes it's a missed phone call she's bitter about. This time she decided it was my younger sister's fault. ( Read more )

Haven't written in a bit.. though I have chatted a bit here and there.
Family life, ie my mother health and what/and how that affects this house and our living in it has blown over for the time being. She is doing well and the situation of home life has, somewhat disappointingly returned to status quo. Someday it will change. Someday it will have to! Still drawing a blank though on what the furure holds.. I envy the younger set who I see driving ahead with stars in there eyes, off to possibilities..

One step into the future, three steps into the past.

...And there she went my little anata, my imouto, my little baby! *Wah!*
I held back tears as my sole friend and support headed through the gate and onward to Singapore and adventure!
She's visiting her intended and living for one month overseas with her intended in-laws, in there home. Mother who has said nothing, yet but is hardly hospitable! And sister-in-law, an unknown but also silent. And her guy... I've emailed her 5 times already and she only just landed yesterday~~;
Miss her!!

I blame myself alot for things that are out of my control.
I spent an entire three years of my life saying "I hate my life" with a stressed out sigh, until I realized one day that I DID. I hated my life in every sense of those words.
So I tired to tell myself not to hate ME anymore. ( feelin lost )

Do bad feelings attract bad luck? It's a thought.
How many times has your life been falling apart and it just keeps going? You get another crap assignment for your job and can't keep it. There's no other assignments though. Your car is up for inspection and you know IF they don't pass it you can't afford to lose it and you can't afford more then the base inspection fee anyway. Your glasses' frames break and you blindly have to drive home in said car. You can't afford to buy new frames and no one will repair the one's you have. Small good luck, you have an old pair with a simular perscription, so you aren't completely blind. You need to see a doctor for a POSSIBLE problem but have no insurance anyway, so try to put it out of your mind. You have no savings, no job and the bills will be due soon. Your mother is soo deeply depressed that she barely speaks, isn't even eating much, half the time doesn't "remember" how to do the easiest little things she does everyday and even wet herself without a word and then "couldn't" left her hands above her head to change, so just sat there instead. And you wonder if she's going senile, if it's REALLY her lifelong fight with depression getting her again, if it's just a scary cry for attention... And then you wonder how the hell you could survive if she just gives up this time and dies.
She's in the hospital this past week, and you're afraid that she won't TRY and no one can force her to try. And you're thinking you FAILED, cause she's always been afraid of being hospitalized and it was your job to keep her home and healthy. It was the GOAL. A job none of her other SEVEN kids, SIX of who are older then you and all have their own kids many of whom are already in college, ever helped with.
The longer I feel this bad, the more horrible things seem to happen.

... Though poor.
 After a nasty Friday night at this fun old Temp job, me and a manager that has long since joined the 'get rid of her' scared regular employees I was ready to walk out!
 But I waited, and Monday morning called my agency and finally put my foot down. 8 months and no job offer, no respect, no benefits?! And now they've cut hours! No more playing around, Get me a new job. I'm done this one.

 And now the panic.

And the resumes and trying to find out where to send them.

La Sigh~

 And problems!
 The Temp job that won't die is actually at 8 months, not 6 as previously reported. They've hit a slow period and are constantly ssending people  home now- "oh, no worries! we do this every year! And you can use your paid days to cover your dwindling paycheck" IF you had paid days and weren't stuck as a lowly temp!
 To make matters worse, my do nothing, refuses-to-find-me-a-new-job Temp Agency doesn't know a damned thing about these working conditions and sticks it's nose in when said Temp job reports me as AWOL because the idiot dept head I'm working with this week forgets to mention I had a doc's appt on monday and couldn't make my shift, which I'd told him repeatedly throughout the previous week when they'd, yet again changed on shift mid-week with no advance notice.
 Now I'm getting lectures from the idiot Temp Agency, all the while I've already dealt with the actual Job- B**tard dept head never called me on the day I was 'missing,' had an HR woman report me on the next day! Never apoligized. Idiots. They call me all the time to switch my schedules, ask me to work, or even recently to tell me they are cutting hours & I've been cut for the day, but no one thinks to call me and ask where I am when they forget I had a prearranged day off?!
 Oh I am soo mad!!!!
 

 Got snow and  hail~ just enough to justify calling out of work!
 I am so over this latest Temp job. The people are pretty nice, but I've been there 6 months, not counting the month they closed down for a worker's strike and while everyone loves me no one is hiring me! Just to round it all off, the longer I'm there the more I don't want to be part of this company! Their policies stink! They don't have enough managers per worker so they govern with overly strict rules and punishments that the Union gets the workers out of anyway. They are all overly paid with weeks of paid off days and a "bank" of unpaid off days they can take before they are accused of being overly absent from their jobs, but any newbie coming in starts with all the strict policies, low pay and no benefits. A Temp, of coarse gets to do the same jobs and get paid less then one of their newbies without a single benefit!
 These people only 'like'  mw cause I actually go to work~ their people get paid to stay at home.
 Don't get me wrong- I've worked alot of different clerk jobs at alot of diferrent companies, I'm not naive. If this place was a government it'd be a hostile theocracy. Alot of things taken on blind faith, and in desperate need of an moral update.
 Wishing for a new job!!!

Ughh! I'm completely designer unable! Damn all these copy and paste picts, banners and decor~ They just won't work for me.

 2 and a half hours to 2007.. Everyone makes these silly resolutions to change their lives and drink and kiss and nothing changes. I've never made a resolution..
 But this year I know what it should be. If only I'd make it. If only I'd willingly change.