I want…Friday 2007 #14

I want to be able to magic my chores away. I wish I could just wave a wand and make all the work be done on its own. Maybe I supervise it a little bit, but I don’t have to actually sit and scrub, pull, haul, etc. Can’t tell I’ve been reading Harry Potter, can ya? We’ve spent the last couple nights working in the yard, killing weeds and cutting up branches that broke off the tree. There’s still lots more to do and once the outdoor stuff is taken care of, there’s still a bunch of indoor stuff to be done. I just don’t have the time or energy to get it all done. By the time I start making progress, the first things I accomplished are already needing to be done again. It’s very demotivating to say the least. I wish it could just be done already.

OK, This Amuses Me

Apparently, I got this rating because the word sex showed up 5 times (now that I’ve looked, they were all in the Anita Blake book posts except for one in which I referenced Sex in the City) and cannibal showed up twice (this was the Serenity character results). Oh well…I guess I can live with that. I just find it amusing.

On the Bookshelf #14

Micah, by Laurell K. Hamilton

Book 13 in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series. I actually read this about a week or so again, but I’ve been behind on blogging anything (as if that wasn’t obvious by the missed “I Want…Friday” post). I was actually kind of let down by this book. I guess I should start from the beginning…

When I purchased the book, the lady at the register said “Oh, I love Laurell K. Hamilton. Though, that Micah book is a bit different. It’s all about Anita and Micah.” Given that they’re dating, but there’s also been quite a bit of sex in the books I said “Well, that could be good or bad.” I figured, if it was more into the love story, that might be good. Granted, this isn’t one of either of the guys I want her to end up with, but I’m learning to get over that cause I’m thinking it’s not going to happen. But, if it got heavily into the sex, it may not be much of a story. She replied, “It’s…interesting.” Wasn’t sure what to think of that…

Well, it wasn’t really either. It wasn’t much of a story at all. It had a little character development, very little of any story and was over before I knew it. I really have no idea why that was a standalone story. It was a small book, but that wasn’t unusual for the beginning of the series. Granted they had gotten longer with each book, so this was quite a bit smaller than the recent ones, but I knew the first ones had a good story, so I wasn’t judging it based on the size. Well…until I opened it. See, it may have been about the size of the first few books, but it had larger printing and was double-spaces with large margins, which the first ones didn’t have. Seriously, this whole thing could have been a couple chapters in any of the other books.

There’s only one more of these currently out in paperback, but I think I’m going to take a break from them to re-read the Harry Potter books. The last couple of Harry Potter books, I’ve struggled to remember what’s come before. The movies help with remembering the general storyline, but the most recent book isn’t a movie yet, and I’ve forgotten all the details that really make the story. I probably won’t do book updates until I’m done with those, or at least until I read the new one.

Giving New Meaning to the Term “Sprinkles”

Last Friday, a pipe broke in the men’s restroom on our floor, the top floor of the building I might add, and our floor was soon covered in water. The bathrooms are just around the corner from the elevator, so some of the water made its way down the elevator shafts and knocked out the use of the elevators. That, coupled with the lack of water in the building, made for an interesting situation as the only working bathrooms were in the neighboring building that’s connected on the 4th floor. I had the following chat discussion with a coworker who was asking how things were in the building today:

Me: apparently it really stunk for the rest of the bldg cause they didn’t leave like we did…and of course there was no water for the bathrooms, but the elevators weren’t working either, so if you had to go, you needed to take stairs…
M: could you imagine having to use the restroom but having to walk down like 5 flights of stairs from 9 or up the 6 or so from 1 (i forget exactly how many there are with that weird mezzanine but it seems like a lot more than you have floors) and then down the long hallway before you can even get to a restroom?
Friend: i think i’d pretend i was on a boat and just hang out a window.
M: hehehe ewwwww
F: ick, that kinda grossed myself out. lol
F: i’m picturing driving down adams, and seeing all sorts of white bums hanging out and little drizzles coming down. ICK
M: hehehe
M: at least you were picturing driving…i was more concerned about walking….ICKKKKY
F: oh man, i might have nightmares tonight
M: you started it!
F: and every time it sprinkles when i’m walking down adams, i’m NEVER gonna look up.
M: hehehe

I asked permission to blog the conversation and was told I could if I kept the coworker anonymous. However, there are certain people I know will make some guesses and wondered if it would be OK to tell them who the person was and the conversation continued:

F: they probably would guess its a girl anyway. boys wouldn’t have to hang their back ends out the window, just their fronts
M: ok…that just gave an even scarier picture of the situation…cause if it was a guy hanging out backwards…EWWWWW
F: LOL i snorted!

Yeah, those are images I just didn’t need. 

I want…Friday 2007 #13

I want a puppy.  I’m not sure I’m ready to handle a puppy cause there are times when I can’t even take my cat, but I want a puppy.  I miss having one around.   My family was hardly ever without a dog while I was growing up.  My mom always swore she wouldn’t get another dog, but would relent after a while because I think she missed one just as much as the rest of us did.  I keep seeing all the puppies/dogs on TV and at friends’ houses, and I miss having one.

I love my cat, though there are times when I don’t like her.  But she’s not a dog.  She’s a little too independent and a lot misbehaved.  Yes, I know I’m describing every cat in existence, and I know that certain dogs can be the same way, but I want one of the breeds that’s a cute little lapdog.  One that likes to cuddle up next to you and doesn’t need your attention all the time, but wants to be close.  Yes, that means I want a small dog.  Mr. B wants a very large dog.  He’s currently stuck on the idea of a Neapolitan Mastiff.  I partial to Terriers, Malteses, etc. though I haven’t narrowed down to a specific breed because I need to look more into the traits of each.  I haven’t really been looking too hard though, cause if I find a breed I like, I’m going to want to find one.  And, no, that doesn’t mean that I’m looking for a pure-bred.  I’ll probably end up adopting from a rescue or shelter, but I’d be looking for certain breeds in the mix…and a lot of cuteness/personality.   But I really want one…

If we were Serenity Characters

Most of the people I know are reading this blog haven’t watched Firefly or Serenity, but I had to take the “Which Serenity character are you?” quiz, and I’m going to blog the results anyway:

My results:

You are Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)

Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 70% Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 60% Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 50% Derrial Book (Shepherd) 50% Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 50% River (Stowaway) 45% Inara Serra (Companion) 40% Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 25% Wash (Ship Pilot) 25% Alliance 25% A Reaver (Cannibal) 0%	You are good at fixing things. You are usually cheerful. You appreciate being treated with delicacy and specialness.

Mr. B instantly spoke up about my results. “Kaylee likes to get pounded near engines. Sweet!” I knew he thought she was cute and liked the fact that she was into mechanics, engines, etc. I just had no idea it quite went there. *sigh*

Mr. B’s results:

You are Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)

Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 65% Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 60% Wash (Ship Pilot) 60% Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 60% Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 55% Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 50% Alliance 50% Inara Serra (Companion) 40% Derrial Book (Shepherd) 30% A Reaver (Cannibal) 20% River (Stowaway) 20%	Honest and a defender of the innocent. You sometimes make mistakes in judgment but you are generally good and would protect your crew from harm.

I think he was expecting me to say something like “That’s not right.” And while I don’t quite see it since Mal had this air about him, for lack of a better term since I can’t quite describe it, I think given the choices, it’s probably closest. Oh well…

On the Bookshelf #9 – #13

Blue Moon, Obsidian Butterfly, Narcissus in Chains, Cerulean Sins, and Incubus Dreams, by Laurell K. Hamilton

Yup, I’m still reading the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series. Books 8 through 12 in the series. There are two others currently out in paperback and one that just was released in hardcover, so I’ll be through all of these possible soon enough. Then I’ll probably re-read the Harry Potter books in preparation for the new book coming out in July.

Anyway, this series did take a turn on me. See, I had heard there was a lot of sex in these books, probably the R-rating I’ve mentioned before. But there wasn’t much, and that was OK. Well, I started looking into it and found that the tone of the books changed around Narcissus in Chains.  Apparently, starting with that book, the series was sometimes found in the Romance section instead of the Horror section.  Anita started out having no sex with anyone because she saw sex as being part of a committed relationship.  At this point, she’s been involved with at least seven guys that I can recount off the top of my head, though I may be forgetting some.  So far, though, it’s all been tied into the storyline, all due to unintended consequences of getting involved with the two love interests.

They’ve all had pretty good storylines – though this last one was less on the detective-type story and more into the metaphysical changes and so it got much heavier into the sexual side effects.  So we’ll see what the next ones have in store, but I hope they get back more into the detective story and enemy vampire machinations, but from what I’ve heard of the next book, that’s probably not going to be like that.  But I so desperately want to know what happens, especially with the love story.  I wanna see who she ends up with, though I’m not sure anymore if I’m going to like the end result…

I just don’t get it…

So after getting back from a graduation party last weekend, my internet wouldn’t work. The wireless was there, but not the internet connection. I unplugged the broadband modem, let it sit for a minute, plugged it back in and everything worked fine. Well, OK, everything that worked fine before I left. My one e-mail account hadn’t been working for quite some time. For some reason, this morning, the wireless wouldn’t work. I unplugged both the modem and the router, let them sit and then plugged everything back in. All of a sudden, my e-mail account works again. And after hibernating the computer and starting it back up again, e-mail still works. I just don’t get it. I’m pretty sure I’ve unplugged the router and modem before, so why is everything working now? I just don’t get it, but I hope it lasts. That was kind of annoying, to say the least…

I want…Friday 2007 #12

I want to feel better again. I’ve been kind of in a rut lately. I haven’t had any motivation to do anything at all. It started with work…it just hasn’t been drawing me in for a while now. I really need a change. But it’s moved beyond work. Granted, the housekeeping thing always suffered from no motivation, but I have even less motivation to do anything at all. Even the stuff that I really can’t stand being the way it is. Seriously, there’s piles of stuff all over my house and its driving me nuts. But I don’t even really have the motivation to do things I want to do. There’s several things I want to mess around with on the computer. There’s quite a few blogs I want to write, but I don’t have the motivation.

And it’s turning physical. I haven’t slept in a good long while, so I’m always tired. That doesn’t help. Then this week I’ve been off and on feeling bad. I was fine all day today, except for a headache this morning. But now, even though I felt fine all day, I’m just feeling really icky again. I got warm and now my stomach is a bit upset. I’m weird – I get cold so easily that even when everyone else is warm, I’m freezing. But if it gets just a little too warm, I feel completely awful. I think that’s where I’m at today. Although, now that I’m cooled off again, I’m still not feeling much better yet. *sigh*

I want…Friday 2007 #11

I want a housekeeper. I don’t want to come home and see all this work needing to be done. I don’t have the energy to do the housework, so I don’t do it. But, I feel guilty about not doing it, so I don’t do other things that I know I shouldn’t be doing if the housework isn’t done. Then I start feeling bad cause I’m not doing anything at all of worth. And the worse I feel, the less energy I have to do anything. It’s a vicious cycle.

Also, Mr. B helps, but not without me asking. And, if I’m not doing something as well, there’s no way he’s going to do anything. But, we’ve already established I’m not, so he doesn’t. Plus, he’s always wanting to be doing something. We have to go out to a movie or go shopping for something or whatever. He hates just being around the house, so that doesn’t help to actually be home to do the cleaning.

So I want a housekeeper. I think I can afford that for my small house and it just seems like it would make things a lot better. I know…this is pretty easy to solve. My main hangups right now are:

1. I don’t want anyone to see my house in its current state when giving me an estimate of how often they would need to come or how much it’ll cost. Once someone’s keeping up on things, it shouldn’t get anywhere near this bad ever again.
2. I just never get around to calling. This is actually something I’m horrible about on all accounts. If there’s anything that can be fixed by a simple phone call, it won’t get done. I just don’t think about these sorts of things during normal business hours. I normally just think of them at the really bad time to call.
3. Before I can have someone clean, I need to get rid of the clutter in the way. This has been rather hard to do since a lot of stuff has to stay away from the cat to keep from being chewed up when she’s trying to get attention. The only place she can’t get to is the spare bedroom, where my dad had been staying while they were trying to move. A lot of that sorta stuff just wasn’t able to be done while he was living here. And so far, I haven’t had any time to start on the other stuff because we’ve had stuff going on all the time. But, I’m hoping to start getting to this one next weekend when things hopefully calm down a bit.

So, hopefully there’ll be a little progress down this front in the near future.