It seems to be turning out to be one of those days.
Went to cover for my former colleague today. The building is totally under construction -- only half of it is usable -- which means everyone is crammed into half a building, with half the number of bathrooms. Oh, and no kitchen. Stellar.
Had a couple of lovely certified letters from the IRS to pick up when I did get home.
My haircut hasn't gotten any better.
And I just tortured myself by looking at a bunch of photos on Facebook featuring two women with whom I used to be good friends ... until one of them did a bunch of psychotic, bitchy stuff. Myself and the other woman quit talking to her for a while. But now it seems they are visiting each other out-of-state ... and I don't get to talk to either of them anymore really, ever. I feel like the left out married woman.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Hairy Situation
Sorry it's been so long, JW -- you know who you are! -- but I've been kinda busy in a weird way; entertaining out-of-town guests.
Here's what's been going on in my brain lately: I'm not a huge fan of my haircut.
I hacked thirteen inches off in late March/early April. It's been growing since then. I remember having hair this length before ... but I also had the mother of all awesome hairdressers then. Actually, the father. His name is/was Daryl and he was un-be-freaking-lievable when it came to styling my hair so you couldn't tell I was growing it out.
And now, I live two states away from Daryl. (It would almost be worth driving eleven hours for one of his haircuts. Seriously.) I liked this haircut at first ... but now that it's longer and I'm truly sick and tired of blowdrying all the time, I kind of hate it. I can't NOT blowdry my hair. It works for one day, but after that, kaput. And I'm not going to start washing and styling my hair daily.
I've been toying with the idea of cutting it short again. As in, SHORT. But I've also been toying with the idea of growing it long again. Right now, the long is winning. I can't guarantee that I'll find a Daryl-caliber hairstylist before I want to grow my hair back out again. And I can't guarantee that I won't get totally sick of needing to cut it literally every four to six weeks and try to grow it out anyway. And I can't even think about what that might mean for my general appearance. (Really, I'm not vain. I just hate it when my hair makes me look like a mushroom.)
What to do?
Here's what's been going on in my brain lately: I'm not a huge fan of my haircut.
I hacked thirteen inches off in late March/early April. It's been growing since then. I remember having hair this length before ... but I also had the mother of all awesome hairdressers then. Actually, the father. His name is/was Daryl and he was un-be-freaking-lievable when it came to styling my hair so you couldn't tell I was growing it out.
And now, I live two states away from Daryl. (It would almost be worth driving eleven hours for one of his haircuts. Seriously.) I liked this haircut at first ... but now that it's longer and I'm truly sick and tired of blowdrying all the time, I kind of hate it. I can't NOT blowdry my hair. It works for one day, but after that, kaput. And I'm not going to start washing and styling my hair daily.
I've been toying with the idea of cutting it short again. As in, SHORT. But I've also been toying with the idea of growing it long again. Right now, the long is winning. I can't guarantee that I'll find a Daryl-caliber hairstylist before I want to grow my hair back out again. And I can't guarantee that I won't get totally sick of needing to cut it literally every four to six weeks and try to grow it out anyway. And I can't even think about what that might mean for my general appearance. (Really, I'm not vain. I just hate it when my hair makes me look like a mushroom.)
What to do?
Friday, July 10, 2009
What's It Worth To You?
I've been using my little friend Craigslist recently to get rid of some unwanted items: Three sets of workout DVDs and a two-day pass to the Mile High Music Festival (I bought five passes and, wouldn't you know it, one of the five bailed on me!).
The workout DVDs I priced at $30/set, but I wrote in there that I was willing to negotiate, which was a good thing. Turns out the sets are worth between $7.50 and $10. (I bought them each for more than $100 -- don't do that!) I'm dropping two of the three sets off to the buyer today and mailing the other set to the buyer as soon as her money order arrives in the mail. The only people who responded to that ad were the people who ended up purchasing the DVDs.
(For those who are curious, I'm getting rid of these sets because Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred is shorter and more effective than all of them combined. Do yourself a favor and pay $15 for a new copy of that -- cheaper on Amazon -- and skip the heavily advertised, multiple-DVD sets. Her DVD contains three levels of workouts, so you can grow with it. And at only twenty minutes per workout ... well ... it's awesome. I'll just say that. You have very few excuses to skip it.)
I've been kind of amused by the responses to the MHMF tickets. I asked for the same price I purchased them at -- $160, minus a service fee. Actually, that's a little cheaper than the face value of $162.50. So really, a good deal. Unless, of course, they wanted to split up the days -- then I asked for $90 per day, which is the face value of the ticket.
I have received at least a dozen e-mails about the tickets. The winner was the third girl who e-mailed me ... I didn't do first-come, first-served, because she offered me $170 for the two tickets. Score! But in several of those e-mails, people want to haggle with me. "I will pay you $130 for the tickets." "I have $125 cash that you can have."
Um. I'm already selling these tickets at a loss -- there was approximately an $8 to $9 service fee that I had to pay when I bought them. Why on earth would I take an extra $35 to $40 loss on them?
I e-mailed back the first guy who tried to haggle and told him that the tickets were spoken for, the girl was paying me $170, and I wasn't going to sell them at a loss. He responded with something along the lines of, "You're lucky, a lot of people are taking a loss on this."
Yeah, maybe if they bought the tickets with the intent to make a bunch of money off them. But that's just wrong, anyway. I saw all the Phish/Red Rocks tickets for sale there ... $200 a pop! You would have to be living under a rock and a total idiot to pay that! (You would pretty much have to be a total idiot to want to see Phish anyway. But that's a rant for another day.)
So, in summary: On Craigslist, it's okay to haggle for my workout DVDs. But I'm just going to laugh at you if you try to haggle for my music-festival tickets. I could probably sell them outside the festival for even more than that ... but ... I'm too nice to do something cruel like that. I just want most of my money back, and I'm happy.
The workout DVDs I priced at $30/set, but I wrote in there that I was willing to negotiate, which was a good thing. Turns out the sets are worth between $7.50 and $10. (I bought them each for more than $100 -- don't do that!) I'm dropping two of the three sets off to the buyer today and mailing the other set to the buyer as soon as her money order arrives in the mail. The only people who responded to that ad were the people who ended up purchasing the DVDs.
(For those who are curious, I'm getting rid of these sets because Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred is shorter and more effective than all of them combined. Do yourself a favor and pay $15 for a new copy of that -- cheaper on Amazon -- and skip the heavily advertised, multiple-DVD sets. Her DVD contains three levels of workouts, so you can grow with it. And at only twenty minutes per workout ... well ... it's awesome. I'll just say that. You have very few excuses to skip it.)
I've been kind of amused by the responses to the MHMF tickets. I asked for the same price I purchased them at -- $160, minus a service fee. Actually, that's a little cheaper than the face value of $162.50. So really, a good deal. Unless, of course, they wanted to split up the days -- then I asked for $90 per day, which is the face value of the ticket.
I have received at least a dozen e-mails about the tickets. The winner was the third girl who e-mailed me ... I didn't do first-come, first-served, because she offered me $170 for the two tickets. Score! But in several of those e-mails, people want to haggle with me. "I will pay you $130 for the tickets." "I have $125 cash that you can have."
Um. I'm already selling these tickets at a loss -- there was approximately an $8 to $9 service fee that I had to pay when I bought them. Why on earth would I take an extra $35 to $40 loss on them?
I e-mailed back the first guy who tried to haggle and told him that the tickets were spoken for, the girl was paying me $170, and I wasn't going to sell them at a loss. He responded with something along the lines of, "You're lucky, a lot of people are taking a loss on this."
Yeah, maybe if they bought the tickets with the intent to make a bunch of money off them. But that's just wrong, anyway. I saw all the Phish/Red Rocks tickets for sale there ... $200 a pop! You would have to be living under a rock and a total idiot to pay that! (You would pretty much have to be a total idiot to want to see Phish anyway. But that's a rant for another day.)
So, in summary: On Craigslist, it's okay to haggle for my workout DVDs. But I'm just going to laugh at you if you try to haggle for my music-festival tickets. I could probably sell them outside the festival for even more than that ... but ... I'm too nice to do something cruel like that. I just want most of my money back, and I'm happy.
Media Matters
I was going to post about Alternet today -- about the good journalism they do and also the crap they write just to stir people up. I read Alternet headlines pretty much every day. The other day, I saw a headline that described Michael Jackson as "mediocre." I was so disenchanted with what appeared to be Alternet's obvious effort to just reverse what the mainstream media was saying that I didn't read the story ... but I read it today, figuring if I was going to rant on it, then I should at least be educated about where the writer was coming from.
It wasn't as obviously silly an article as many Alternet postings. The author (who has extensive music education under her belt) basically said that Michael Jackson was not a musical genius and didn't break down any racial barriers. She hypothesized that the United States has become used to praising mediocrity, hence the praise for Michael Jackson. And she said that Michael Jackson has failed to be relevant in years.
All of which are arguable points. I don't necessarily agree with her, but at least she did her homework. And I certainly don't understand why Michael Jackson is such an obvious black icon when it is more than clear he didn't father his children ... you don't get white kids like that from a black father. Especially not blonde-haired, blue-eyed kids. You just don't.
Honestly, what pisses me off more than Alternet articles obviously designed to counterbalance the mainstream media is the mainstream media itself. Some of the headlines you hear on shows like Access Hollywood -- seriously, nothing is sacred for those people. Any day now, I'm expecting to hear a report from someone who broke into his house and found his secret sex-toy stash, detailing exactly what he or she found. (That would work better if all his friends didn't insist he is asexual, which I personally agree with.)
I think what gets me about Alternet in particular is its tendency to state the obvious -- but not state the obvious at the same time. Today's article ("Relax: Adultery Is Not That Big of a Deal") discussed adultery through the ages, specifically citing the recent cases of Senator John Ensign, Governor Mark Sanford and Jon Gosselin (of Jon & Kate Plus 8 fame).
Don't get me wrong; I agree with the premise. I think people make too big of a deal regarding adultery. Especially as regarding Jon Gosselin -- seriously, who on the ever-less-green earth cares about what Jon & Kate get up to in their spare time? Who? Who even watches that show on a regular basis? (Probably millions of people; just not me.)
But you know what? When you belong to a political party that has taken its song-and-dance about marriage so far as to deny marital rights to certain people just because they don't have the correct mix-and-match genitalia ... when you belong to a political party that does its damndest to legislate morality ... when you belong to a political party that refuses to accept what modern science has to say about pretty much anything, instead holding up a book finished and edited hundreds and hundreds of years ago as the go-to authority on everything ... then I say, yes. Adultery is a big deal. That book they love so much says that the only acceptable reason for divorce is adultery.
You can't have it both ways. You can't run around trying to tell everyone else how to live their lives when you can't even uphold some simple marriage vows. Grr!
And here is my final argument for why the media is sucking lately: I read a story about the upcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows film. In it, Hermione and Ron finally kiss. The article said that the movie is being split into two different films (true) and that they weren't sure in which film the kiss would appear.
Um. The kiss happens at the end of the book. Not even close to the middle. Spoiler alert for those of you who haven't read it: The three friends are at Hogwarts, getting ready for the final showdown with Voldemort, and Ron says something about warning the house-elves in the kitchens, lest they be in danger from the fighting. Hermione throws her arms around him and kisses him. (I am not sure how they're going to do this in the film, as Hermione isn't nearly as strident about elf rights in the movies as she is in the books. But, whatever.) My personal thought is that they're going to split the movie as Harry and his friends get captured and taken to Malfoy Manor. That will be the end of one film/beginning of another. In any event, if they manage to squeeze everything up to and including the kiss in the first movie -- then the second movie will only be about an hour long. And if they move the kiss to earlier on in the story, this reader will be PISSED.
That is all.
It wasn't as obviously silly an article as many Alternet postings. The author (who has extensive music education under her belt) basically said that Michael Jackson was not a musical genius and didn't break down any racial barriers. She hypothesized that the United States has become used to praising mediocrity, hence the praise for Michael Jackson. And she said that Michael Jackson has failed to be relevant in years.
All of which are arguable points. I don't necessarily agree with her, but at least she did her homework. And I certainly don't understand why Michael Jackson is such an obvious black icon when it is more than clear he didn't father his children ... you don't get white kids like that from a black father. Especially not blonde-haired, blue-eyed kids. You just don't.
Honestly, what pisses me off more than Alternet articles obviously designed to counterbalance the mainstream media is the mainstream media itself. Some of the headlines you hear on shows like Access Hollywood -- seriously, nothing is sacred for those people. Any day now, I'm expecting to hear a report from someone who broke into his house and found his secret sex-toy stash, detailing exactly what he or she found. (That would work better if all his friends didn't insist he is asexual, which I personally agree with.)
I think what gets me about Alternet in particular is its tendency to state the obvious -- but not state the obvious at the same time. Today's article ("Relax: Adultery Is Not That Big of a Deal") discussed adultery through the ages, specifically citing the recent cases of Senator John Ensign, Governor Mark Sanford and Jon Gosselin (of Jon & Kate Plus 8 fame).
Don't get me wrong; I agree with the premise. I think people make too big of a deal regarding adultery. Especially as regarding Jon Gosselin -- seriously, who on the ever-less-green earth cares about what Jon & Kate get up to in their spare time? Who? Who even watches that show on a regular basis? (Probably millions of people; just not me.)
But you know what? When you belong to a political party that has taken its song-and-dance about marriage so far as to deny marital rights to certain people just because they don't have the correct mix-and-match genitalia ... when you belong to a political party that does its damndest to legislate morality ... when you belong to a political party that refuses to accept what modern science has to say about pretty much anything, instead holding up a book finished and edited hundreds and hundreds of years ago as the go-to authority on everything ... then I say, yes. Adultery is a big deal. That book they love so much says that the only acceptable reason for divorce is adultery.
You can't have it both ways. You can't run around trying to tell everyone else how to live their lives when you can't even uphold some simple marriage vows. Grr!
And here is my final argument for why the media is sucking lately: I read a story about the upcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows film. In it, Hermione and Ron finally kiss. The article said that the movie is being split into two different films (true) and that they weren't sure in which film the kiss would appear.
Um. The kiss happens at the end of the book. Not even close to the middle. Spoiler alert for those of you who haven't read it: The three friends are at Hogwarts, getting ready for the final showdown with Voldemort, and Ron says something about warning the house-elves in the kitchens, lest they be in danger from the fighting. Hermione throws her arms around him and kisses him. (I am not sure how they're going to do this in the film, as Hermione isn't nearly as strident about elf rights in the movies as she is in the books. But, whatever.) My personal thought is that they're going to split the movie as Harry and his friends get captured and taken to Malfoy Manor. That will be the end of one film/beginning of another. In any event, if they manage to squeeze everything up to and including the kiss in the first movie -- then the second movie will only be about an hour long. And if they move the kiss to earlier on in the story, this reader will be PISSED.
That is all.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Interview!
I had a job interview today ... for a "real" job. I was the first candidate they talked to; hopefully they'll call me next week or the week after and say, "you got it!"
But if not, there are plenty of greeting-card poems I can start writing. Five of those = $1500. Can't argue with that!
But if not, there are plenty of greeting-card poems I can start writing. Five of those = $1500. Can't argue with that!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Opportunity Knocks ...
I found another freelancing job -- actually, two. One of which is writing poems for greeting cards. (No joke. They pay $300 a pop for those babies! You lose the rights to them ... but ... for $300 for a silly poem, I can be persuaded to sign my rights over.)
As well as some more promising options, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. I've learned that can lead to disappointment.
So, what have I been up to? Loving the life I'm living, mostly. Getting my house into shape. (It's so close to being "perfect" ... it will never stay that way, but I'm okay with that, as long as it's close most of the time.) Running a little bit. Cooking.
But it's time to get back into things, as it were. I can set aside a little time every day to work on freelance projects -- that will keep me above water for that much longer!
As well as some more promising options, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. I've learned that can lead to disappointment.
So, what have I been up to? Loving the life I'm living, mostly. Getting my house into shape. (It's so close to being "perfect" ... it will never stay that way, but I'm okay with that, as long as it's close most of the time.) Running a little bit. Cooking.
But it's time to get back into things, as it were. I can set aside a little time every day to work on freelance projects -- that will keep me above water for that much longer!
Friday, July 3, 2009
Pod People
I'm addicted to podcasts -- audio files you can download to your iPod (or mp3 player) and listen to at your leisure.
Right now, I'm listening to the Onion Radio News, about minute-long clips of silly Onion stories. My other podcasts include Democracy Now!, which I listen to every weekday to catch up on my news stories (I'm not so much all over the Internet these days, and it's awesome to listen to while washing dishes/cleaning house/etc.); The Alan Watts Podcast, theology lectures by a Protestant minister/Buddhist monk; Dear Science, a science podcast; the Savage Love Podcast, Dan Savage's once-a-week, out-loud version of his sex advice column; This American Life; This Week in Science, weekly science news; and WNYC's Radio Lab, hour-long conversations about an array of topics, always fascinating.
I think it's funny how the communication medium of radio seems to have come full cycle. At its inception, radio was the way to learn about the world around you. Television took over some of radio's programming niches -- like the fiction shows and some (but not all) of the news. The Internet has now taken over many of television's programming niches -- but it's also opened the door for radio again. Now, the portability and convenience of a podcast make radio relevent again; you can download radio shows to listen to at your leisure.
In other news, there appear to be holes in several of my English Breakfast teabags. (No, that is not a euphemism for something else.) What gives?
Right now, I'm listening to the Onion Radio News, about minute-long clips of silly Onion stories. My other podcasts include Democracy Now!, which I listen to every weekday to catch up on my news stories (I'm not so much all over the Internet these days, and it's awesome to listen to while washing dishes/cleaning house/etc.); The Alan Watts Podcast, theology lectures by a Protestant minister/Buddhist monk; Dear Science, a science podcast; the Savage Love Podcast, Dan Savage's once-a-week, out-loud version of his sex advice column; This American Life; This Week in Science, weekly science news; and WNYC's Radio Lab, hour-long conversations about an array of topics, always fascinating.
I think it's funny how the communication medium of radio seems to have come full cycle. At its inception, radio was the way to learn about the world around you. Television took over some of radio's programming niches -- like the fiction shows and some (but not all) of the news. The Internet has now taken over many of television's programming niches -- but it's also opened the door for radio again. Now, the portability and convenience of a podcast make radio relevent again; you can download radio shows to listen to at your leisure.
In other news, there appear to be holes in several of my English Breakfast teabags. (No, that is not a euphemism for something else.) What gives?
Thursday, July 2, 2009
The Cure?
Is there anything other than Midol that works on killer cramps?
Inquiring minds want to know. Mostly because Midol puts me to sleep. And I don't want to be crampified all day long. Or all week long, for that matter!
Inquiring minds want to know. Mostly because Midol puts me to sleep. And I don't want to be crampified all day long. Or all week long, for that matter!
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