1. Do you like Halloween? Why/why not?
Yeah, I like Halloween. It's one of the 'fun' holidays. I don't like dressing up in costumes or anything now, but I had a blast doing it as a kid. I'll always remember knowing that my Halloweens were always fun of trick-or-treating and candy. Good times!

2. What's your favorite part of the Halloween season? Why?
Easy: Halloween Candy! It's one of my favorite holidays after Easter Candy! I do love my sugar!

3. Do you have plans for Halloween this year? If so, what are they? If not, why not?
Nope, no plans this year. I don't even think I'm leaving the house. Why not? I'm just feeling particularly anti-social at the moment. There's always next year!

1. Do you like Halloween? Why/why not?

3. Do you have plans for Halloween this year? If so, what are they? If not, why not?

Remember to post these in your blog and don't forget to post a comment letting us know where you posted them by posting a link here.

Ug. I think I'm coming down with a cold or the flu. Body aches, swollen lymph nodes, being colder than usual. Nice timing! :P. Oh well, at least I got 98% of all the things I needed to get taken care of done. This means if I'm sick a day or two, it won't put me out much. Cept, I feel like crap at the moment.

I feel a little less stressed out today. I've squared away my health stuff, I've made necessary address changes for bills, and I've had my resume rewritten, and it's almost done. I have 6 more days of this job, and then I'm taking a little vacation. I foresee lots of Guitar Hero and 80s movies...when I get the damn xbox360 back, that is. Being plagued by The Red Ring of Death is just cruel and unusual punishment...especially right before GH-WT comes out! At least we still have the PS2...and it works!

I have been in a pretty foul mood this week, basically stepping on anyone that I have any feelings for. It's been the suck. At least 3 days in, I've decided that maybe my situation doesn't suck so much, and that the people in my life are *really* important, and I don't need to treat them like dirt just because I feel that way. I've had to do a *lot* of apologizing in the last couple of days.

Happy Boofday to our friend Ivan! Josh and I are going over to hang out tonight for pumpkin carving! Tomorrow, I'm finishing my resume. Friday, I'm not leaving the house after sunset. Saturday, I think we're going to the city to have dinner with someone. Sunday is a group dinner with some friends. Monday is Movie Night at M's house. I think the rest of next week will be fairly quiet.

Weather you're Republican, Democrat, love or hate Obama and/or McCain, this is a great video, so go watch it!

And for the love of Jeebus, whoever you decide who has the greater chance of not fucking up things any further than they already are, DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!

First, our xbox360 red-ring's yesterday, and then I get 2 weeks notice that I'm being laid off from my job today.

To Hell with this week. I'm taking a vacation day tomorrow. And then I'm leaving towne for the weekend. I'll see you all on Monday.

1. What motivates you? Why?
Josh, my kids, and not being homeless. Why? Pretty self-explanatory, isn't it?

2. What happens when you can't be motivated to do something you need to do? How do you get the motivation back?
Nothing gets done when I'm not motivated. I dunno what kicks me in the ass to do something, but it happens eventually.

3. Are there any changes in the state of your world that need some motivation to do? What they are is optional, but how will you motivate yourself to do it?
Yeah, I need a job. And I need to stop being mad at people for being human. How will I motivate? Who the fuck knows. When? Who the fuck knows about that as well. I'm not done being butthurt at the moment.

1. What motivates you? Why?

3. Are there any changes in the state of your world that need some motivation to do? What they are is optional, but how will you motivate yourself to do it?

Remember to post these in your blog and don't forget to post a comment letting us know where you posted them by posting a link here.

Alright...I try hard not to discuss politics on this website, but...

Sarah Palin is fucking crazy, and John McCain is an old, whiny bitch. I'm not saying Obama doesn't have his shortcomings, but these two are a piece of work. I would be ashamed to call myself a Republican right now.

Someone hand these two a tall glass of STFU!!!

(no, I didn't get any less grumpy than I was this morning :P)

The new Metallica album's sound quality is fucking *horrible*. I can say that statement with great certainty because I *have* a quality copy of it.

For those of us who own Guitar Hero, we were all able to purchase a copy of the album so that we may play thru the songs. These are true master tracks, and they sound *exellent*. Everything is mixed in such a way where it sounds balanced. It *sounds* like the Rick Ruben album that it was meant to be. Aside from James' poseur lyrics, it's damn near musically perfect. They went back to their roots and just get out there and *rock*. And it's hella fun to play. Like, *really* fun to play. Even on medium! Seriously. Me, who ranted about how awful the album was, playing it in GH almost daily. It's amazing to me that an awful compressed sound would drive me or anybody else to cap on it that badly.

So this morning, I was like, "Eh, I'm pissed at the universe this morning... I'll go listen to some agro music" and decided to put the album on. *Holy shit*, was it bad. I had to shut it off in the middle of the third track, the quality is so bad. And we're talking a direct rip off the CD. And sadly, that's the only reason I refused to listen to it. The sound quality. A horrible victim of the loudness wars.

I thought aloud to Josh, "...I wonder if someone has ripped a decent copy off GH so that we may have a decent quality copy to listen to...", and someone has! I shall look forward to listening to that!

This is what someone who posted a torrent of the GH recordings had to say :"This Torrent is uploaded purely in protest of the horrible sound quality on the current retail version of this truly great Metallica album. The album is a worthy successor (Finally!!) to Ride The Lightning & Master Of Puppets". Damn straight!!

It's a damn shame that it's come down to this, tho. Having to get a hacked copy for sound quality? I don't feel bad about it because I paid for the album when I downloaded the DLC in GH, but should I really *have* to go find a hacked copy because the record companies fucked it over? And why are the artists letting the record companies get away with this? You know it's bad when someone like me who doesn't really care about sound quality is pissed.

And the worst part? The ubber-talented (damn, his tracks are impressive on this album) asshole Lars Ulrich is denying anything. I know he has to, but *damn*. There's no *way* he'd take that final CD copy home and listen to it on his ubber stero. He probly made them give him a copy of the master tracks :P

Perhaps I shouldn't have written this when I'm in such a mood, but whatever :P

I am rather annoyed with the universe this morning, and so I don't be rude to any human beings, I'm spouting my frusterations here this morning:

1. I slept like crap. My head kept filling up and draining, and so I was up like 3 or 4 times blowing my nose. I was half awake most of the night. I'm tard.

2. It's common knowledge that I think some of the worst driving I've ever seen is in the state of California. Because of this, as a general rule, I don't let people merge in front of me at the tunnel that goes from 4 lanes to 2. They don't know how to drive, merge, or go with the flow of traffic. This morning, this gas-guzzling (let me point out here that my 12 yr-old car gets better gas mileage than this asshole) Volvo SUV decides to wait until the last minute to merge from 4 lanes to 2, cutting the rest of us who waited patiently in 30 minute traffic, off. I *do not* cater to people like this, so I did not let him in. He decided to be pissed and agro about this. He was behind me all the way thru the tunnel, and then like usual, I went from the #2 lane to the #4 lane, where I can go 75-80 and get to work so I can have my coffee. This guy decided he was still mad, and so he would cut in front of me at 85mph, and then when I would try and move over a lane to get out of his way, he would cut me off again. This went on for about 3 miles until I got tired of his shit, got into the #1 lane, passed 6 cars, and stayed in front of him for the rest of the drive. I won! :P. But sheesh...do you really gotta get that agro because someone pointed out that you can't drive for shit? It's not like we don't have to worry about more important things like the economy being in the shitter, fighting 2 wars, or that there's a slight possibility that McCain might be the next president, or anything...

3. I logged on to Gmail this morning to find that my friend, R, was listening to Dr.Toast (he's got a little widget that displays what he is listening to), and I thought, "Oooh, that's what I need. Some Toast". So, I fire up Winamp and it crashes. I try again, and it crashes. I reboot the puter and try it a 3rd time, and it crashes. I finally ended up uninstalling it and re-installing it and then it decided to work. All that to listen to 4 tracks...sheesh! I have another program that needs uninstalling and reinstalling as well. Let me just state that I really *cannot stand* HP machines. They are total pieces of shit. My machine was reformatted in July after a hard drive failure, and it totally runs like shit. Meh!

4. I got a bill this morning that indicated that someone cost me an additional $5-6 bucks for doing something that I *specifically* told them not to do. Why do I have to pay extra because directions weren't followed? Why don't people listen to me? Why do people seem to think I'm eternally full of shit? Why? WHY?!

I think I need another cup of coffee and a bowl of STFU :P

So, for my IC treatment regiment thing, I'm on a cocktail of 3 drugs. 2 aren't necessairly necessary, but one is. But since my doctor dooder has been doing this for years and years and years, I'm inclined to trust him. I've been on 2 of the drugs for 2 weeks, and one drug for a week.

All of a sudden yesterday, I started feeling like I felt when the Neurontin was going bad. I felt like I was on high-grade drugs all day, my muscles were tensing up, and I couldn't concentrate to save my life. Since I can't get the dr's office to call me back (I tried twice!), I've decided to self-regulate and change my dosage. Instead of taking the not-so-needed drugs 3 times a day, I'm taking one in the morning and the other at night, and then taking the needed drug like I'm supposed to. But I think the combonation of the first 2 were mixing badly with my chemistry.

I'm pretty sensitive to drugs, so I guess I should have been prepared to have to tweak my meds. On a logical level, I think cutting the first two drugs down from 3 times a day to one will mean that even tho I'm maybe not getting the full affect that the doctor wants, I'll still be taking *some*, and t hat's better than none. But I can't handle not having control of my faculties on a regular basis. I'm way too much of a control freak for that.

In more positive news, taking one of the drugs a couple hours before bed (I see the affects a couple of hours after I take it), helped me to sleep 9 hours with no sleep aid, and that's awesome! I woke up twice (one of the times, at 6:15a, Jerk Face was up at his usual ungodly hour, making much noise getting ready), but got back to sleep, so that's good.

Cutting way down on my daily sugar intake, and cutting soy out of my diet has seemed to help also. I try and keep my sugar intake to under 10g per whatever I'm eating. It's hard when you're craving sugar as a side affect, but I shall prevail! One day at a time.

And now, Guitar Hero is calling my name...

1. What kind of puter do you have? PC or Mac? Do you have a preference of type? Why/why not?
At home, I have a Mac. At work, I have a PC. I grew up on PC's for the most part, so they are the type I'm most familiar with, but it never hurts to try something new! I made the decision after seeing what Vista did to Josh's machine that I would be getting a Mac the next time I got a new puter. Fortunatly, my dad gave me my Mac for my boofday/xmas last year, so yay! I do like my Mac, even tho things are just way too fracking 'easy' sometimes :P

2. For what purposes (surfing, gaming, writing, etc) do you use your computer?
I use my work puter for work. I use my home puter for surfing, using my VMware window, FTP, updating my site, and a few other things. I used to game a little, but decided that I am just not a gamer too awful much. Playing Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and the occasional Jewel Quest is enough for me!

3. Would you consider yourself to be 'computer savy'? Why/why not?
Yeah, pretty much. I don't know enough to do it for a living (nor would I ever want to), but I know enough to hold my own.

Jesus, I'm freaked out. I just woke up from this dream:

It started out as this vibrating hum, and over the next few hours, got more powerful. It was an earthquake, but a long, continous one. It started out at like a 2, but would get worse, and they didn't know when it would stop or why it wouldn't end. For some reason, I was with John McCain. All of a sudden, we were told we needed to evacuate because pretty soon, it would start to turn deadly, and buildings around us would start to crumble, leaving mass destruction, and we could avoid being hurt by leaving now. So, here we are, trying to get the hell out of dodge, and McCain doesn't know *what* the fuck to do. He starts talking jibberish, and the other guy/friend that was with us and I were looking at each other like, "Okay, he's lost it". Our leader...totally incoherant during a major crisis. What the fuck. So the other guy and I start going over checklists of what you should and shouldn't do in a crisis like this, while McCain has pretty much been reduced to a child, babbling about 'knowing what to do in a crisis situation' ,but not actually *doing* anything.

That's when I woke up, freaked out, shivering, and wondering if we *did* have an earthquake, or if for some strange reason, I was having a nightmare about 2 things that I fear, at the same time.

It turns out it was the later. There was no earthquake. The up side is that McCain isn't president at the moment. I am so freaked out that I took something to calm me down, and am having a bowl of Coco Puffs before trying to go back to bed.

Conclusion: I *really really REALLY* hope people do their homework before they decide to vote. I do not endorse either candidate, but make sure you have a clear understanding of what the issues are and who wants to do what before you vote! And for god's sake, **VOTE**!! We take such advantage of that freedom. Did you know that convicted felons can't vote? The thugs in your towne who haven't gotten busted yet *can* vote and most don't, while your next door neighbor who got busted for recreational drug use can't, but *actually* cares about the direction that this country is going in. Who's vote do we really need there?

Sorry, it's 3am, and that means I'm half-asleep and rambling. The point is, VOTE. If you already have your absentee ballot, go fill it out and send it in. I will go research the measures and will have mine in the mail by Friday.

*shudder* And now, I must go finish my cereal, try and calm myself down some more, and go back to sleep.

1. What kind of puter do you have? PC or Mac? Do you have a preference of type? Why/why not?

3. Would you consider yourself to be 'computer savy'? Why/why not?

Remember to post these in your blog and don't forget to post a comment letting us know where you posted them by posting a link here.

So, this depression thing that I'm currently experiencing just sucks. I don't get depressed very often, but it does happen. I don't want to work (even tho I do), I don't want to leave my house (but I do anyway), I don't want to return phone calls, I don't want to see pretty much anyone except a few people... I don't want to do *anything*. I have zero motivation. Well, I maintain a clean house, but I'm a freak like that.

I know some of what I need to do, I just have no 'oomph' to do it. I'm unhappy with myself *because* I know what I can/need/want to do, and I'm just not doing it. Some subconcious thing is keeping me from moving forward at the moment. I don't think I experienced this kind of depression funk since my midlife crisis in 1999 when I decided I was done with the midwest and moving to California. I know I want to stay here, I know that my relationships with people are good, but I don't know much of anything else. I suppose, like usual, it's just a matter of time before I get bored with being unhappy and kick myself in the ass. But for now, it takes a lot of effort to get up, leave the house, or deal with humans.

Tomorrow is Thursday, so that's good. I went on a walk with Josh this afternoon, and I'm going on one tomorrow evening as well. I suppose exercise (any at all) would help my psyche. Friday, there's a Shark's game on TV. Saturday, a handful of us are going to someone's house in Vallejo to play Rock Band for a few hours before we go see the Plasterkatz later in the evening. Sunday, Josh and I are hanging out with some other people in Concord , which despite the location (damn, I hate the east east bay), should be a good time. Next week looks to be fairly quiet, and then I'm going to Santa Cruz next weekend. I think getting the hell out of towne for at least a day will do me good.

What I need to concentrate on is staying positive, busy, and not getting lost in my own head. That's been a challenge lately. I have my good days and my bad. I'm also on some meds where the side affects suck. Battle after battle after battle. Negative side affects of drugs, negative side affects from this shitty economy, negative attitudes of people in general, negative presidential choices, crime, idiotic jerk-face neighbors (who seem to be worse in the head than *i* am!)....it doesn't make me very motivated to be positive! But then again, I guess positive is as positive does, eh, Forest?

I gave in to the insomnia and pain gods this morning. I got about 4.5 hours of no-help (sleep meds) sleep before waking up in pain from my I.C. I could take something to help me sleep, but I think it's time to start sleeping on my own again without any help. If this means insomnia for awhile, then so be it. The pain? Well, I'm workin on it. I think I can start my 3 weeks of treatment this week.

In the meantime, I've caught up on 2 days of RSS feeds, had a bowl of Coco Wheats, and spent a few minutes spoiling the kids with treats until 2 out of 3 went to take naps.

I'm tired, but I suppose there's no point in fighting the fact that I can't stay asleep right now, mostly from feeling like I have to pea every 5 mins. I've been trying to figure out my 'triggers' for this thing that make it flare up. I think I've narrowed it down to too much sugar and soy. Soy lethicin is in *everything*, and not something I can avoid unless I go to a raw diet, which I refuse to do. Thankfully, it's one of the last ingredients in anything, and so we'll see if I can tollerate that much. I hope so. Life's too damn short not to be able to eat what you want!

I'm going to try and go take a nap on the couch. I fear going back to bed will wake Josh, and I don't want to do that. If he can sleep for 7-8 hours at a stretch, then I envy him right now!

3.1 at 4:19p...if it was only 50 more seconds, it would have been cooler! Nothing big, just a jolt, but it was a mile from here.

I'm so literally dead when the Big One hits :P

So, for my IC, they can do this treatment program thingy that (I'm trying not to gross anyone out here) consists of 9 visits where they fill your bladder with this stuff that's supposed to coat it, helping with the inflamation. Mmm! :P

At first, my insurance didn't want to cover any of the stuff for these treatments. Once the dr's office told them what I had and that I needed these treatments, they are now willing to cover everything *except* for a fucking piece of plastic. It's only $25, but that's not the point. Covering everything except that? Come *on*.

The therapy consists of 3 treatments a week for 3 weeks. My only fear is that the doctor's office is going to charge the co-pay (which is $20/visit) every visit, totaling up to a $180 out of pocket expense. It's not that I can't afford it, it's just a lot of money for me.

Bleh. It's not my fault that I have this thing, it just sucks, and I worry that eventually I won't have insurance, therefore, will have to suffer with this thing with no help. I cringe at the cost out of pocket for my meds *and* the treatments, and am thankful that I have insurance, but *dammit*.

*shakes head*

After our 2nd Roomba died after 3 months of using it, we decided that it was a failed experiment, and it was time for a vacuum that didn't suck ass, didn't break all of the time, and was highly functional. So a week or so ago, Josh found a refurbished Dyson vacuum cleaner on Amazon for a really good deal. There's an 'All Floors' version and an 'Animal' version. The differences between the two is that the 'All Floors' version is yellow and doesn't come with any extra attachments, and the 'Animal' version is purple and comes with 3 extra tools. Well, we got the 'All Floors' yellow version *with* the extra tools! The only difference is the color! And while a purple vacuum *is* cooler than yellow, the yellow cost considerably less :P.

This thing is *awesome*. Awseomer than awesome. Really! And it has more suck power than a good 2 dollar whore! With 3 cats and 2 humans, we generate a lot of dust, cat hair, and tracking in of dirt from outside. The first run-thru of the house was pretty disgusting. I couldn't believe how much the Roomba had missed! This thing is a clean freak's dream. It has an extra long cord so you can get thru most of the apartment. And unlike most vacuum attachments, the ones for this vacuum work *really* well. In addition to vacuuming the floors, I've de-haired (after washing it, of course) my comforter, the kids' blankets, the couches, Squeeek's pillow that he sleeps on, Squeeek's Bear's blanket, and more. Like I said, a clean freak's dream! My next projects are a few other things that Squeeek has shed all over, and I also plan to take apart the window fan in my room and clean the blades.

I've also noticed a difference in air quality. The dust factor has been cut, and of course, there's less cat hair around now. I am very very *very* pleased with this purchase. Yay for Josh finding a good deal on one!

1. Do you like iTunes? Why/why not? What do you think of the iTunes store maybe going away? Does it matter to you? Why/why not?
It is my opinion that iTunes is one of the worst programs ever made. Ever. And I *own* a Mac! The file structure sucks, the lag of trying to add things to an external device is beyond ridiculous, and Apple tries to control how you listen to your music too much. It would be a *blessing* if the iTunes store went away forever. I think it's too expensive, the quality is crap, and the content that you've downloaded in the past is not easily accessible from one machine to another. I'm sticking with my non-DRM mp3s, thanks. I *like* having control over my music. There are a few non-iTunes choices out there, and so very soon, I'm going to start looking in to that. I usually only use iTunes to reload my iPo, and because of the way they do it, 110 gigs takes for-fucking-ever.

2. How do you get your music these days (torrents, iTunes, Amazon, record store, other)? What's your prefered method of media (mp3s, cd, vinyl)? Why?
Mostly thru private servers and Amazon.com. Over the past few years, I've decided that having too many tangible things creates too much clutter. So, buying an album on Amazon (at 256kbps) takes less work than buying the CD, waiting for it to get to my house, and then ripping it into 256kbps's. Some people notice a difference in sound quality, but I do not. I also do not listen to my music on high-end equipment. It never mattered that much to me. So as long as *I* think it sounds good, that's what matters.

3. Do you play any Rock Band or Guitar Hero? What do you think of downloadable content? More specifically, what do you think of downloading entire albums to play when you've already bought the CD in the past?
I play both Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Rock Band is more of a group setting game, and Guitar Hero is more of a single player game. I find Guitar Hero to be a lot harder and more challenging. In general, I do not like the way the notes are laid out in Rock Band. It seems to not match the music. Guitar Hero does a much better job at this. Also, Rock Band has more DLC (down loadable content) than Guitar Hero (and *boy* does their DLC suck!). But then you have the argument of difficulty and notes being played in a more logical manner when playing Guitar Hero. I can play 'Bloodsugarsexmagic' in its entirety on Rock Band, but I don't have as much fun as if it were released for Guitar Hero. However, Rock Band has a much more wide array of music to play. Pros and cons, pros and cons. As far as having to basically buy an album all over again so you can play it as a video game...well, I have mixed feelings on that. I paid $12 bux for 'Bloodsugarsexmagic' in 1992, when I got my first CD player. Now, in y2k+8, they want $20 to download the entire album so you can play it, but they censor the shit out of it, loosing some of it's appeal. Josh and I played "Sir Psycho Sexy" and I was filling in lyrics when 1/2 of them were muted out because of the subject matter of the song. What happens if you don't know all of the lyrics? Wouldn't that totally screw up your playing because you can totally tell that there's something missing? Josh buys all of the DLC, and so I don't have much room to bitch, but I am just trying to point out that paying for an album twice when the 2nd time around, the content is cut, just seems like crap. I also don't care for some of the re-mixing of the songs that they offer. Some of them are just bad. I also have to remember that games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero are catering not only to music lovers, but to hard-core music geeks like myself. And if these games didn't exist, I'd be bored as hell sometimes. So, I take the good with the 'meh'. To close: playing 'One' on medium in Guitar Hero is really fun :P

1. Do you like iTunes? Why/why not? What do you think of the iTunes store maybe going away? Does it matter to you? Why/why not?

3. Do you play any Rock Band or Guitar Hero? What do you think of downloadable content? More specifically, what do you think of downloading entire albums to play when you've already bought the CD in the past?

Remember to post these in your blog and don't forget to post a comment letting us know where you posted them by posting a link here.

My very flavorite band, Tesla, came out with a new album called Forever More today! Yay! It was available for streaming yesterday, and I listened to it 3 times. I like what I hear! As usual! Sure, the first listen was like, "Er..um...well...", but it got easier with time. I bought and downloaded it this morning and have listened to it twice this morning. Now I just gotta get it home so I can add it to my collection and throw it on the iPo! Since I was 12, Tesla has always put an album out right when I need a pick-me-up. 'Great Radio' came out when I was a teenager contemplating life, 'Bust A Nut' came out when I had just graduated from high school and needed something new but familiar to go to college with. 'Into The Now' came out right when B and I broke up. And now that I'm playing with my health again and need a little stability, wallah, here's 'Forever More'! I will enjoy getting into this album not just because these guys are my favorite band, but because they have proved yet again that even tho you're getting older and you're trying new things, it can be a *good* thing. We've all been so disappointed over the years from the likes of Metallica, etc, that sometimes we have to dig a little deeper before we find something worth really getting into.

The other album I bought/downloaded this morning was Motley Crue's Dr.Feelgood. I bought this for a couple of reasons. First, it's just a damn good, cheezy album. Second, they're releasing the entire album in Rock Band next week! I *did* have this album on CD, but I have no earthly idea where it went. It was one of those rare cd's (rare for OCD girl) that got up and walked away. So, now I have it again!

My apologies for the lack of updates here lately, I just haven't felt well enough to do much at all. The crazy Russian specialist I've been seeing has diagnosed me with Interstitial Cystitis, or "painful bladder syndrome". Thanks for the bunk bladder, Whoever! :P. Treatment consists of some meds and some other thing that involves catheters (oh yay, I'm looking forward to *that*). I've got the meds, but the insurance doesn't want to pay for the other thing probably because they don't know I have this condition yet. The nice nurse lady is going to call them and fight them for me, cause it's $200 bux out of pocket otherwise. And my feeling is if I pay $100/month in insurance premiums, they better damn well cover it! So, it might take a few weeks, but I should start to feel better relativly soon, and I won't hurt forever.

Because I've been feeling so damn bad, there hasn't been a lot going on except going to work and laying on the couch when I'm at home. Josh, 11 of our friends, and I rented a house in South Lake Tahoe a few weeks back, and that was nice and relaxing. There was very little drama, and so that was nice. Josh made some awesome chili, Steph made curry, Edwin made some damn good risotto, and Misha made breakfast one morning. Good times were had.

Last week, I was in so much discomfort, that I stayed home all week for the most part. M came over on Thursday and we watched 'The Thin Man'. Friday, I went and hung out with Jag and "I". We watched 'Balls of Fury', which is really bad, but really funny :P. Saturday, Josh and I went over to his parents, where he made chicken cutlets with potatoes for them. It was way nummy.

This week looks to be fairly mellow. If I can get the insurance ppls to stop being assholes, I might begin one part of my treatment. In other news, we got a Dyson vacuum! It *r0x*. Like, really r0x. I've gotten some of my motivation back, and have been cleaning a little bit here and there everyday. The Dyson really makes a difference cat-hair and dirtwise. You should have *seen* the canister after the first time I did a run of the house! It was nasty. Like, really nasty. I've done it twice since then, and it's getting better, but damn! And that was with running the roomba every other day! Our roomba fell apart after 3 months (the technology is great, they just don't know to make a sturdy robot), so that's why we got the Dyson. iRobot is willing to 'trade' us the bunk one for a new one, which we'll do, but I won't be using it on a regular basis anymore. I don't care if the cats don't like the whine of the Dyson because it helps me with their shed mess.

Speaking of cat clean-up, my kitties were having kitty acne, which is caused by some bacteria. I can't get them to the vet right now, but I was able to modify a few things which seem to be helping. No plastic bowls! No glass/porous bowls! Stainless steel bowls which get washed with hot soapy water at least every other day. It's a small price to pay to make them comfy! I also switched back from the clumping litter to the pine pellets. Helen kept tracking half the box into my damn bathroom and I wanted to kill her :P

What else has been happening...my troublesome neighbor wakes me up almost every night because they've either got a bladder problem also, or they're just an insomniac. Their bed was right over my head, so when they get up every 2 hours, *wap creek* over my head as they put all of their weight into the floor getting out of bed, thus waking me up. I put up with it for awhile, but it was starting to get bad, so we just flipped the bedroom around instead. It made things much quieter! Mostly, I'm a light sleeper. And having to get up 2-3 times a night right now doesn't help either. Oh well...I'm going to guess within the month of October, I will start feeling better.

I recently threw out like 6 plants due to gnats. I hate gnats! The other day, I tore apart a huge plant into 3 little ones and repotted two more. They're all outside 'drying' right now. I think if I just take them outside to water and then leave them out for a day, I might be okay. Stupid gnats! I have 3 more plants I'd like to repot, but that's another project for another day. At least I got the first half done before the rain came!

Oh! I almost forgot! The new Tesla album comes out tomorrow! Everyone knows what I'll be doin, eh? I'm excited :)

Anyway, that's about it for me. I'll try and start posting semi-regularly again. I just haven't had much strength to do so until now.

1. Do you believe we're on this planet for a reason? If so, what is it? If not, what *do* you believe?
I don't think there's an answer one way or another. I think we have to make up reasons for ourselves. I think mine is to be here for the people who need me in whatever way it is that they need me. From helping organizing their lives to just loving them as a person.

2. Do you believe we carve our own paths, or is it possible that there's such a thing as 'destiny'? Why/why not?
I don't really know either way. Sometimes I believe one thing, sometimes I believe another. For the most part, I think we carve our own paths. I choose to do something or choose not to do something that changes the outcome of my life. I don't really like thinking that someone or something has already chosen the outcome for me.

3. Do you believe in magic? Why/why not?
Yup. If there wasn't magic, there'd be nothing to believe in!

1. Do you believe we're on this planet for a reason? If so, what is it? If not, what *do* you believe?

3. Do you believe in magic? Why/why not?

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