lar_laughs | Entries tagged with 2008

Our Christmas was today this year. Not bad because we got to spend the day with EVERYONE we love. It was so much to fun to have the house full of kids and laughter and fun games. This house gets awfully quiet at times! It loves to have people around.

For Christmas this year, I got quite a haul! I was surprised by some of what I got.

astraea36 got me the Serenity graphic novel which tells the story between the last episode and the movie. I'm super excited to get that because it's not anything I really would have ever gotten for myself. From my parents, I actually got Heroes Season 2... sometimes they amaze me at how they listen to what I'm saying! Isn't it sad that the whole season is only 4 DVDs worth of episodes? Noodle got me the rest of the Twilight books (so now I can read them whenever I want) and Randye made us all bracelets that look like Bella's bracelet. I just wish it was really a diamond! It's pretty nevertheless!

We have plenty of snow for The Boy. Dad's been keeping track since it started and we've had 44 inches... in less than three weeks! We got between 15 and 18 (depending on who you listen to) inches on Christmas Day. I don't think it was magic. Nothing I clumped together turned into a living thing. Bummer! Not sure exactly what we'll be doing out in the snow this week although the kids did have some fun sliding off the deck this afternoon.

And miracles do happen - we had turkey AND ham for dinner! Hooray! *g*

This is how my day went... aren't you glad you know?

06:36 NOW i can say happy christmas eve!!! #
07:54 just discovered that the furby was invented in idaho. bet you didn't know that! #
15:20 thw last 45 mins of the day right before a holiday are so long and i've had TWO of them this week! #

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This is how my day went... aren't you glad you know?

12:16 mom:"what kind of candy does mandie like?" me:"get those reeces penis." #
12:52 the mall the weekend before christmas!! ahhhhhhhh!!!! #
13:17 i am full of good mall food and ready to go out again. the crowds in the food court seem to have dwindled so i hope that is true 4 the mall #
14:44 we are leaving the mall parking lot! hooray! we have survived yet again! #
15:29 i love bright sun on snow! it makes everything look crisp! i'm just glad i'm not out in it right now. very cold today! #
21:22 we may get some of that blizzard that's hitting the northwest coast. eek! #

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I was working on getting my reading list straightened up and current (you can find it HERE) and was reminded that the first couple of books are always really important to me. As the first of the year goes, so goes the rest!

I'm looking for ideas. There's still time to get new books before the holidays.

So....

[Poll #1314776]

Tonight I endeavored to start rearranging my tags. It's something I've wanted to do for awhile because I have duplicates of things... like quote and quotes and all sorts of words with dates after them that can be combined because WHO CARES what I thought of baseball in 2006 versus 2008. It's taking longer than I thought it would because sometimes I have to consider the entry and see if another tag would work better and then there are the tags that I haven't even thought about because they are massive and I'm not sure if I should leave them together or break them apart or... oh dear. This is going to take much longer than one night. When my OCD wars with my unique personality complex, things go haywire!

So I'm going to complain about work. Bear with me. It goes somewhere. (EDIT: Um... it doesn't really. So... read if you want. No one's breathing down your neck.)

People are being laid off left and right. In my neck of the woods, we are OVER-staffed. This is not the fault of anyone but our dear illustrious boss. The very highest one. She is a sweetheart but she spazzed out and now we have three techs. We're only open from 9-7 on weekdays and none of the three of us works weekends (another girl altogether works those hours). To get somewhere near 40 hours a week, we spend a lot of time with 3 techs. While this has been lovely for me because I can concentrate on the paperwork, we just aren't busy enough for 3 people. Today the boss called the Head Pharmacist into her office and this was the jist of the conversation... "You are overstaffed. I don't want to see them talking and not doing anything. They should always be working. ALWAYS!"

Yes, she's right. We should always be working. For the first time, we are! I think all three of us realize what a precarious position we're in but it's not like we can do anything about the situation other than having EXCELLENT customer service and helping out on the floor. The shelves near our area are spick and span! The drug bottles are always fairly nicely lined up. We try very hard to catch the phone by the second ring and we can complete a transaction in under 5 minutes if the pharmacist isn't too busy.

It's not our fault that we're overstaffed. We specifically talked about this when the boss hired the third girl. We told her that it would be an overabundance of help. This is a job that I can do on my own most days when it's slow. So why am I once again watching my back for fear that I'll be out on the street? I can only be so much of a suck-up before I start to annoy even myself. And I know the Head Pharmacist and the other Pharmacist have my back but I don't always know about the boss. She knows me from way back and we have history (good and not so good) and she always has history with my family... but I don't trust her because I don't understand how her mind works and where her loyalties lie.

First and foremost... we have no snow on the ground. It hasn't snowed since Voting Day. If anything, we've had our share of FOG... which means the ground is still warm. This is concerning because I now live in the land that snow built. Without snow, the mountain doesn't open. It's already bad enough that no one will be working after December thanks to the crappy housing market... even worse that a lot of people I know are going into foreclosure because they can't afford their house payment and the banks aren't working with them. These aren't new home owners, either. These are people who have been in their house FOR YEARS. So no one is working in construction and now no one is working on the mountain... and things are getting tense.

Second... I've had to suck it up and start saving money in various ways. This means no paperbackswap anymore and remembering to bring my lunches each day. This means I have to read the books that I have currently (which will take me a good year, I'm sure but EEEK! NO NEW BOOKS!) and I can't follow my whim each day and just buy whatever I want for lunch. No more sushi! No more random grazing from the deli. I've even cut back on those Starbucks drinks that you can get in the soda cooler. At this point, I'm just glad to have a job and have enough money for a car payment!

Third... I apologize to all the Syelle shippers out there. Last night was all my fault. I started to like the ship about two weeks ago. Thought it was the coolest thing since digital watches (get it?). You know my track record by now. Every couple I like is BOUND to die a slow and painful death. So, I'm sorry!

Fourth... There is nothing more funny than 40 year old women trying to find Book 4 of the Twilight series. Randye actually cursed when she heard that one of the libraries in town has 4 copies overdue and they can't give her a definite date when she can get a copy there. It's good for a few laughs.

Fifth... I completed NaNo with 59,000 official words. Not sure where those other random 4k went but who knows. I might have missed a document or maybe I miscounted. I'm just glad I got to the NaNo limit even if I was FAR from my limit. The muse decided the story wasn't working on the 20th and there was nothing I could do but sit back and try to figure out what wasn't working and what was. I'm starting the rewrites tomorrow (was too lazy today and Tuesdays are hard to get around to writing what with the family dinner and all) and I think they WILL make the story better so I can't fault the muse! She's right once again!

Sixth... Have I mentioned here that my cousin is having twins in April? TWINS! They're sure to be beautiful as their brother is ADORABLE in that Charlie Brown, round head, big smile sort of way. But twins! That means there will always be a little around who needs holding! I can't wait! I do so love being an aunt. I'm not as good at it as my sister but she's had a lot more practice than I have.

Here are the lyrics to the prettiest of Robert's songs on the Twilight soundtrack.

Never Think
( by Rob Pattinson )

*****

A year ago I moved. A whole year has passed. I'm still alive. You may not have realized that. I haven't given you much hope that I still exist. I do, though.

My name is Shelley and I exist in a whole different realm than I did before. I am still me, though. I have not changed. Instead, I find myself trying to make my surroundings fit me. I'm not ready to adapt. I want to stand out. I want to be alive.

This is the last step for me. Coming back here. Trying to see what still exists of my old life. Seeing what kind of new life I can make once again. I don't know if it's possible. I've tried several things this year to make it work and none have worked for long. Mostly because I've tried to adapt. Won't work here, either.

I can't make any promises. Those of you who have stuck with me... Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have shaped my life just by being around when I thought there would be no one. I owe you more than I can repay.

And so I go on from this moment. A new year is starting for me. The proverbial clean slate. I'm not holding my breath for any miracles, though. *g*

I found the widgets! It's about time... *g*

My official region these days is Idaho : Elsewhere. I wonder if a boy is dreaming of our group as I type this. We're just a figment of his imagination...

I left Luxemborg on there because it was one of the regions they used on the example... and Idaho-Elsewhere is beating them. Hooray! We're beating someone! Based on sheer number of people, we can only really compete with Boise. Maybe next year I'll see about getting the "middle part of Idaho" as their own group. As it is, this group is MOST of Idaho.

I've changed mine to show my total goal as 100,000. I love that it lets you do that! Sometime this week I'll split up the word counts for both of the stories to see how I'm doing with each. I know I have more than 10k for each so I'm happy. I'm on target with both of them.

I have two out of the three results back (my doctor is out of town until Monday or I would probably already have the CT scan results). So far everything is clean. This is good. No cancer. But there is still something wrong so I'll have to go back to the doctor and see if we can't come up with a new direction to head down.

I'm relieved but still sceptical. If you've ever been one of those people who have heard a doctor say "There really isn't anything wrong with you" and then end up in the emergency room because there IS something wrong with you, you'll understand where I'm coming from. Been there, done that, had the medical bills to prove there was something wrong!

But maybe I'm fine! Maybe my body just hiccuped! It's a possibility! But it was worth it because 1)it got my little sister to a doctor for her annual exam which she has been putting off, 2)it made me realize once again that needles aren't SO bad, and 3)it gave me a resolve to find a primary care physician to look into a few other things that are (superficially) wrong right now. My mother is hoping it means I'll go to the dentist... but we'll have to see. I'm not that much of a sadist!

I do love this time of year. Can you guess why? So many little fun things on my friends page that look like this:

14,444 / 100,000
(14.4%)

or like this:

2795/3334

Boggles the mind how much I love word counts. In the absense of all else that I've had around me in years past, the word counts are enough to keep pushing me on. I love it! *g*

Oh... and have I told you the WEDDING NEWS? I doubt it. I'm a horrible sister and bridesmaid.

If you'd like to see the ACTUAL proposal of my sister and her boy, it's on YouTube. Alex had a friend filming it... plus it was on TV so everyone in the Miami area saw it! You can see it for yourself by going to www.lovethesantos.blogspot.com and paging down a bit. There's also a picture of the ring... *sigh*

EDIT: The link is now fixed. Thanks for letting me know!

That's probably because we didn't have Halloween Day snow. And they are predicting the Day After Election Day snow, too.

I'm just not ready for winter quite yet.

Here's my NaNo results for the moment...

10,043 / 100,000
(10%)

I haven't written anything today which means I'm now 3334 behind. |P

Stupid dinner with my aunt and uncle and my inability to quit talking when my uncle makes me angry. |P again

119 books read in 2008

39,491 pages read in 2008

331.85 average pages per book

At least 2 books read in every genre

( The pages of the Year )

I had a very in-depth conversation with a 10-year old the other day about the price of gas. I can't seem to convince him that it's expensive where we live compared to other places. If you could take this poll, I would appreciate it. This way I can use actual data. He'll like data!

And please link to it! I'd love to get a wide cross section. I'm kind of intrigued as well!

[Poll #1201800]

Have I mentioned I'm in charge of crafts at Calvary Bible Church's Vacation Bible School next month. In charge. Yep. Me. I don't really like being in charge of things and I especially don't like bureaucracy... and I didn't put down the list of meetings on my calendar when I first got the little hand out that I can no longer find so I missed the big meeting where I was supposed to show off the main project for this year's VBS. That's okay because I didn't really have the idea until yesterday.

This is what we're doing!

Well, not exactly like this. Instead of buying this particular kit, I'm going to make one up. The top is going to be an inch of round PVC pipe. 5 strings of beads will come off it with beads (like this idea) but with a shrinky dink verse on the bottom of each. There will be the main verse colored and decorated around the PVC pipe.

This is my calculations just for beads.( (you don't need to read the math if you don't want to) )

So, in a nutshell... don't tell me what to do, I'll eventually figure it out and it won't be on your timetable.

One should not really be a stubborn ass when one is working with a church one does not even attend anymore but... one can't seem to help it. *grins*

it's done.

validated and everything!

101 pages with only 12 pages that aren't in the actual "story". 4 pages are from the next story that i have in my mind... which is actually a version of the first story in this series, otherwise known as nano 2005. 8 pages of stuff that i didn't use for various reasons, mostly because of rabbit trails that i decided to backtrack.

i'm ready for a rest. i'm going to read all of may!!!!

I'm really hoping to do all 100 pages I need to get done to complete the Script Frenzy challenge but I'm thinking it may not happen. Some things I've learned between this experience (which has been super fun, don't get me wrong) and the failure that was NaNo 2007.

1. Don't try a writing challenge without a laptop or a computer that is hooked to the internet. A notebook and pen, while great for creativity, will only get half the job done. The other half... the typing half... is much, much harder to do when it is a second step.

2. While it is possible to do these challenges with a real life, it's not always easy. My parents are ever so cool about me locking myself in my room and my new co-workers have learned to quit asking me silly questions when they see me with my notebook under my arm or spread out in front of me on the breakroom table, but it's harder to do what I need to do when there are so many other options available to me. I'm really no good at making myself do the work.

3. Creativity will strike at any time. Literally, any time. Thank the good Lord for small scraps of paper that seem to follow me around at work. Otherwise, I'd be doing a lot of writing on my arms.

4. It can be done. I'm sure it can. And it's harder to fail after succeeding so often. So I will do it. Or get as close as I can and be happy with the outcome.

5. I still really like the process of putting together a Graphic Novel. It's been fun to imagine what the finished product might look like!

I'm no graphic novel expert, only having read the Buffy series and the Heroes Season One book (OMG how did I ever live without it! I know where the secrets START!) but I'm thinking of doing Script Frenzy this year.

30 days. 100 pages. I've read through the forums to find help on formatting a graphic novel and it sounds about like I thought it would. It's not like I have to draw the thing myself. Just write it! It's kinda like thinking you need to act in the play you write.

I've got a couple of ideas percolating in my head that I think would work well as a GN. I even tried mapping a couple of pages out of one just to see what would happen.

And the best part about this? It's put on the nice people who put on NaNoWriMo every year so if you've done that before, you're already signed up! Well, almost. You have to sign on to the site. Easy Peasy!

Yesterday was the day that Noodle got her hair cut off! Shaved! To the scalp! ( Here is the proof! )

Here is the second part of the story I posted a couple of weeks ago. Was hoping to have pics to go with it (as I'm playing around with inserting Media in my documents for the fun of it) but am going to have to do it another way than I was thinking I could do it. Maybe later!

Title: Through the Seasons: Part Two - Intertwining
Fandom: Original - The World
Main Characters: Marley, Gilliam, Tanis, Truly, Rylan
Word Count: 10353

Part Two - Intertwining
(Forty-Third Year of King Halland the Third’s Reign - Harvest Season)
( Things you'll learn about The World: other Talents and some about Non-Talents, The War of the Southern Tribes, means of travel )

Here's a story of The World. Seeing what there is to see. This complete story is tentatively called Through the Seasons. That's still a working title but I haven't come up with a good one yet. Odd since I normally come up with the titles first.

If you offered up a writing idea in an earlier post, you might recognize some of the prompts littered throughout the story. I gave myself one to work off whenever I got sort of bogged down and they definitely helped!

Title: Through the Seasons: Part One - New Growth
Fandom: Original - The World
Main Characters: Marley, Johnny, Chloe
Word Count: 10948
Things that might be good to know: Ta=Miss; Tar=Mrs.; Ter=Mr.

Part One - New Growth
(Fortieth Year of King Halland the Third’s Reign - Growing Season)
Word Count: 10948

( Summary: Things touched on... Talents (specifically Yellow and somewhat on Blue), Daily Life, the Monarchy, Relationships )

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Page generated May. 15th, 2025 05:16 am

A Lar by any other name

...would smell as sweet

Entries tagged with 2008

Merry Christmas to all!

How my day went

How my day went

Book for the New Year

It is the way of things

These are the numbers that rule my life

I'm coming out in this all wrong

Day 9... Do you know where your word count is?

2 out of 3

Word Counts and Wedding News

Election Day snow!

2008 Reading List

I'd like to keep the penny around...

Super Fantastic Summer Time Fun

oh yeah baby

Thoughts on Script Frenzy and procrastination

Script Frenzy 2008

I come bearing PICTURES!

Through the Seasons: Part Two - Intertwining

Through the Seasons: Part One - New Growth