Pocket Muse

I think I need to start freelance writing. Seriously. I mean, if I succeed, yay extra income that is most welcome! If I fail well, at least I am still writing. It just makes me uncomfortable. I mean, first of all I have no idea what I am doing. No idea where to start. Yeah I could just hop onto a site and hope for the best but...I feel like that lacks professionalism. I should know what the hell they want me to write before I write it. Then there is the fact that I HATE essay writing or anything like it. I mean, I feel like that's what they'll want right? But then again maybe I need to actually look at it first. But the sites...they have CATEGORIES! I mean, jesus, do I click on "plants" when I really don't know much about plants? I know I can BS through most of those categories but that seems like it wont work at all. They don't have an "ancient cultures" section, they don't have a "writing for children" type section, they don't have a generic "fiction" section...maybe I'm just not on the right site and I need to browse more? Does anyone reading this know anything about freelance writing? I have a "connection" via a friend of a friend and my friend keeps saying she will ask her about advice on freelancing but asking her to do anything is...well...if she remembers to ask it will be amazing if she remembers to tell me.

I kind of hate it now when people find out that I am a writer. First question is always, "what do you write?" immediately followed by their own guesses as to what I write. Most people ask if I write newspaper articles. Well, no that would make me a journalist and no I'm not into that. Then they go on and on and...I find myself embarrassed to say "I write young adult fiction and faerie tales for kids"
They always assume I'm turning into some great literary giant. When I tell them, no, I haven't had anything published yet. I am working on several young adult novels and I am trying to make a compilation of my own faerie tales they...well their faces kind of fall and they're all "aww, isn't that nice...adorable...ok next subject." Funny thing is, i was talking to one of my bosses and he asked me what I write and I told him I was working on a novel. Just said that, working on a novel. He says, "Huh, that's funny. I always saw you as writing childrens books. You should try it I think you'd be really good at it." Only stranger-esc person to say something like that.

My fiance's professor...fist off I always feel so uncomfortable around his peers in lab. They're so...sciency. Eric is a rare breed of scientist. Most of them kind of glow off a form of intelligence and they're all going for PhD's and yes I am intimidated. But I try not to let that get in the way of having a good conversation with them. Except for the fact that ALL they talk about is science and things I do not understand. So i listen politely and then the question comes up, "Eric says you are a writer..."

Well his professor is amazing. I mean really she has published in several scientific papers and is on her way or getting her own book out. She edited the HELL out of Eric's grant proposal and really knows her shit. Eric doesn't think she ever stops working. So when she found out I was a writer, she asked me how one gets published in the creative field. She was SURPRISED when I told her we had to send manuscripts to THEM and go through AGENTS and there is a high percentage that they will say NO. Apparently with science writing YOU get asked to write something and it gets published. That's it. No fuss, no agents necessary. And she asked if I was SURE that was how it worked and did not seem convinced that I knew what I was doing -_- Then she asked what I write. She seemed SO UTTERLY disappointed when I said childrens literature. She said that MUST be a side project and I have to be writing some grand novel...no...no...but childrens books are so easy to write! No skill at all! Oh, but that's what you write? Fine subject change, what do you read?


Here is where she really kind of pissed me off. She is British and wanted to ask me about some good American authors. Well unfortunately, I favor British authors over American so...I didn't have much to say. I also tend to read young adult. Then she wanted to debate with me how Americans must ALWAYS have a happy ending and their literature seems TOO simple and there's no challenge! Well, I tried to explain to her that adults in America are actually turning to young adult novels to read because they don't have time to read a complex novel so other authors are simplifying their works to adjust...but she interrupts me and says loudly "I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT CHILDRENS BOOKS I AM TALKING ABOUT ADULT LITERATURE!" woah, well then, I just let her talk and pretty much ignored what she said after that. I think she just made up her mind that I didn't know what I was talking about. I haven't had a conversation with her sense.

I just don't want to tell people what I write anymore. I don't even want to tell them I am a writer. Not unless they actually get to know me first. Just because the stuff I like to write is whimsical and children would love it doesn't mean I can't write intelligent well-thought-out works that win awards. I just chose not to. (well, that is a lie I do every now and then, but I don't want to base my career around it.)

So some of you already know, some of you don't, but Eric and I's crazy conundrum of whether to stay in Ithaca has been solved! We decided to stay for a variety of reasons. Eric received a few more opportunities, we got a great apartment...yes we got a great apartment. ^_^ hence, moving.

Well, we've moved in only to find that since we sent most of our stuff to Eric's parents house for safekeeping, we have next to nothing in terms of little things like, oh, silverware. You'd be amazed at how useful one wooden mixing spoon can be. We could go out and buy plastic but...oh well. Eric is going home this weekend to retrieve our stuff anyway. In the meantime, I will be using that wooden spoon and a butcher knife to make my cereal and sandwiches. Man I feel so hardcore.

Things got off to a rough start, which was sad. I kept spilling things on the rug and Verizon decided to be a bitch and not work and then tell me that I'd have to wait 8 business days for internet. Bleh. We're getting Earthlink instead on Tuesday. ^_^ In the meantime there is free internets in the gym, which I am hoping will motivate me to work out a bit while I am playing WoW. Oh yeah, Eric and I got into World of Warcraft. Probably a bad idea but it is fun, so screw all yalls who are sighing and shaking your heads at this.

in the meantime, now much going on. Moving in craziness. Lots to unpack. Work is the suck due to lack of hours XD but managing. Fun times. Laters!

So some douche makes more iced espresso than we need and I get blamed? WTF? I come in on my day off, doing YOU a favor, and you YELL at me for something I didn't DO? Fuck you. If I had another job right now, I'd quiet with no notice. I don't need to put up with that bullshit. I'm never doing you any favors ever again. You give me a day off, it's mine motherfuckers. I'm not coming in, I don't care if the manager for that day died in a car accident. Find someone else.

OMG...6am...

Then I have to hunt down a former employer of a failed business. FUN.

So much for my day off.

Fun Note:
The games are afoot! =O

So Eric and I were driving along, minding our own business, when we heard this on the radio from NPR.

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=102618951&m=102618930

Both of us forgot that it was April Fool's Day, so we were temporarily duped. Going back and listening to it again...WTF we are dumb =P

I love NPR.

So ever since I've graduated I have been dying for a pet, a real fluffy pet that I can huggle (aka, not a fish). My parents wouldn't let me have one because the transition of college and they didn't want to take care of it for me, which makes sense and is fine but now, I still want one. I just worry, apparently.

I've been having this reoccuring dream. I had it last night, last week, and at least twice before (plus one related one that took place in a different area and with more pets). First it takes place in a trailerhouse much like the one I grew up in only it is mine. It started with a fish which I forgot had. I found it while cleaning and it's bowel was dirty and it looked sick so I cleaned it and fed it and was crying at how horrible it was that it had to suffer because I forgot about it. The second dream I had found a litter of 7 puppies and took them home and for some reason remembered I had kittens too and spent the dream searching for them and ignoring the puppies and crying because I had forgotten about them and thinking that they were starving and sad and possibly dead. The third dream I found them (there were 3) but they were weak and sad and I tried to get them to eat but then I remembered the puppies and tried to find them but I could only find 3 and they weren't moving and I tried to find the others.

Then the one I had last night. I gave up on the others and took the 3 kittens and 3 puppies and tried to force them to eat but they wouldn't and we did not have porper food for them so me and for some reason one of my best friends in high school, Tiffany, went out with them in our car on Christmas eve when it was snowing to find an open pet store and all we could find was the hardware store, ACE and they all they had was hard food for adult dogs and cats and we couldn't feed them that (didn't occur to us to buy it anyway and soak it in water to make it softer) so we set out once again to find a walmart and the dream ended.

Oh yeah and somewhere around there I had a rabbit but the rabbit was fine. Everytime I saw it it seemed happy and was eating alfalfa. Selfsufficient little thing. I think I had a hampster too but it died...oh and I also had a corkie in the last dream. I blame Cowboy Bebop for that.

I don't know what these dreams are trying to tell me but it makes me really want a pet so I can prove to the universe that I WONT forget about it and I will love it and be very happy with it. I know that when I was a kid I never took care of my cat and my mom ended up feeding it which is why after it died (of old age) my mom said no more big animals like cats and dogs. But I was like, little. What did I know about responsibility?

I know Eric wants to wait until we get our own place and wont have to worry about money issues as much, which I understand and agree with, but dammit I miss having a pet. Especially a cat or a dog. I miss things that will curl up with you. When I was home most of my relatives have dogs so it wasn't so bad, and here Heather had her kitty, but now the kitty is at her home in Ohio and the kitty that came out to play next door no longer comes around. That and I am allergic and it sucks. I really wanted to pet Erica's cat when I went to visit but we were going out and I didn't want to be all sniffly that night. I hate allergies and I really want a pet again. No more mice, my last mouse got all sickly and it was sad and in the end I couldn't take it home and LeeAnn ended up being nice and doing that for me. No more little things in general. I'm always afraid of dropping them and then they run away and I never find them. A rabbit would be fine, a cat or a dog would be good. I do want a hedgehog but I know I'd be too afraid to pick it up and they like attention so maybe that is a bad idea.

Maybe I will go to the pet store today and ask to hold one of the bunnies. Sometimes it helps just to hold one. Eric will have to go with me though to stop me from buying one XD

So for the next month I might be working 2 FULL time jobs. No joke. Like, seriously. 16 hours a day (kind of). Let me explain.

So I had an interview yesterday with Boarders, who seemed to really like me and want to hire me, not for a part time position like I thought but a full time cafe supervisor position! I was all, HELL YES, stable job! No worrying about whether manpower will be able to get me into another assignment before my bills are due! *dancedancedance* Awesome right? Well, there is more.

Right before the interview, Mnapower called me to say that they had a month long assignment for me. Full time, awesome pay, and all I have to do is scan pictures into PDF files. Of course I told them yes! Easy job, perhaps a little boring but manageable.

Now, seems insane but considering that it is Boarders I will have the option to make most of my hours up on the weekend. I just wont have a full day off from work for about...a month. I pretty much told Boarders that if push came to shove I'm chosing them over Manpower because they are more stable and dammit, I want to stay around books!

Oh yeah, I've decided to get schooling to be a librarian. Going to take online classes if Eric gets into Cornell, which honestly, yeah, he will.

So can I survive the next month? I'd like to think I can, especially since money is due for loans. This will help tremendously. I keep thinking how nice it would be to live without debt but it is hard to be happy that you are making money when it immediately flies out the window and you don't even see it or see where what it is going into. This weekend is pretty much going to be my last happy weekend for a while so dammit, I'm going to make sure it stays awesome!

In the meantime, something that just completely made my day. Thanks Ami-chan!

So I called the temp agency to make sure they got my message that I was back and able to work and they gave me an assignment! It's a week long job, pays fairly well, and my boss is actually putting my application in for a better more long-term job that she thinks I'd be perfect for (while they look it over she is giving me other things to do). I have to say, I love my boss. She is one of the awesomest ladies I have ever met.

The job is a receptionist job where I will be doing all kind of office work-type things. I go in Friday to be trained by the person whose place I am taking. Shouldn't be too terribly hard. I'm nervous, naturally, but hey, it's work, and it will pay my rent.

Speaking of rent, I got an apartment! OMG! It's right above Taste of Thai and Korova and it is absolutely the perfect size for me. I'm really tempted to order take-out from Taste of Thai and see if they're all "but..you live right above us..." lol. It's not too expensive compared to apartment prices at home and in NYC. My cousin was amazed. I'm just a bit nervous about the temp agency and whether I will have stable enough work to keep it up. I'm tempted to get a part time job, but I do have faith that my boss will find things for me to do. She's good like that.

So I looked at my ankle for the first time since I actually sprained it and DAMN. It is COVERED in bruises! I mean, when taking a shower I though maybe it was dirt but no, half of my ankle is a deep purple, still. Funny thing is, the part that still hurts like hell if I mess with it is not bruised at all. Wiiiieeerrddd...oh well I am walking on one crutch now and it seems okay as long as I don't walk too fast or try to do too much.

In other news, to my shame, I got pissed at my MMORPG.

I was playing a MMO called Fiesta Online but then I changed to a more interesting one called Mabinogi. This one was more interesting because you can do pretty much anything in it, you don't necessarily have to battle (but it is the most efficient way to get anywhere in the game) You can make your own clothes, armor, you can play the lute and even compose your own music. Yes, you get to make your own songs. It's complicated, but doable. Nice thing is that everything isn't as simple as "I press a button and gather the ingredient, I win" I mean, for some of the things it does that, but for things like sewing, you actually have to sew. Cooking? You have to chop your own ingredients (like cooking mama!) It makes things interesting and for a free MMO, that's pretty good for gameplay.

Then I met the battle system. To get skills you need these point things. You get 1 per level. Pain in the butt but whatever, fastest way to get exp to level is fighting, naturally. Now, it may have to do with the fact that I was so excited about the neat little homey skills that I ignored the battle skills and didn't level them as much as I should have...or it might actually be the battle system's own fault for sucking...never-the-less I kept getting my ass kicked by this boss who I should have been able to take. 2 hits dead, 2 hits dead, I tried to heal myself with potions but OH WAIT I don't have a proper mouse, I have to press control and click if I want to right click and apparently in the heat of battle my computer has issues with determining when I want to use an item or when I want to pick it up -_- I tried making it into a hotkey but it wouldn't let me for some reason. There is no way to heal yourself fast while you are fighting -_- I...lost my temper to the point where I was yelling and swearing at the game (which happens when I keep dying in any game by one boss who I should be able to take) I think I scared Eric. I usually do when I get pissed at games. But yeah...2 options. Stop playing it or fight goblins until I level at a snail's pace and then try again. I really should stop. I haven't done any writing in a while...

I am so sick of driving/sitting XD

Otakon was fun though. There wasn't a lot of good anime's showing. I got to see the new Hellsing which was awesome (saw it with the Gnattica!), Wallflower which was horrible (buy the manga, tis better), and 5 Centimeters Per Second which was depressing. I mean, it had really good writing and animation, but it was really depressing. BTW did you know that a cherry blossom leaf falls at a rate of 5 centimeters per second?

The costumes were awesome. I went as Medusa from Soul Eater and 5 people recognized me which was probably less due to the fact that it is new and people may not have seen it yet and more due to the fact that I was in a wheel chair, dressed in black, and the only distinguishing feature of my costume is the hood which I didn't have on half the time because I couldn't see with it on, and the arm tattoos which were drawn with sharpie and were fading. At the end of the night as we were leaving we saw a bunch of people dressed from Soul Eater doing a photo shoot. I didn't join in because it was late and we really had to leave but there were 2 other Medusas so they really didn't need me. Their costumes were better in the fact that they did have the hair right. I didn't bother with the hair because 1: my hair hates bleach and I'd have to bleach it and 2: I hate wigs. Oh well. Everyone looked pretty awesome.

There were so many Jokers from Dark Knight. Soooo manyyyyyyy. A whole bunch were dressed as the Joker in the nurse's outfit. There was also a Twoface and a Scarecrow. I also saw a really good Harly Quin which made me happy. Harly rocked in the animated series. Apparently there was someone dressed as L who had his own table and it was FILLED with sweets and he just sat there eating all day and looked cute when people took pictures. Sadly I missed it but I heard about it and thought that was cool. I did see an elongated cat O_o and a Kingdom Hearts conga line. And the Koolaid man. And a really really friggen good Clover. Wings and all, so incredibly detailed! It was beautiful! Eric tried tog et a picture but it was from the other side of glass so that might not have worked so well. Plus he kept taking pictures of the wrong person because he didn't look at where I was pointing and he had no clue as to what Clover was.

I have to say the most common theme costumes I saw were Kingdom Hearts and Naruto. I would compliment people on making their own keyblades, if not for the fact that half of them looked like they were purchased at this one stall they had in the dealers room that had keyblades. Basically it was painted wood. Most were probably bought online, though there was a Kairi who took my picture that made her own and made it really pretty. Hers was actual metal and she had all sorts of flowers glued to it. She gets kudos, especially since in the game we get to see Kairi's keyblade for like, 5 seconds. There were also a lot of people who dressed as that rebel organization from Naruto with the black shroud with the red clouds. When I went to Connecticon there was one guy dressed like that and he made the thing himself. Even stitched every cloud. Now I don't expect people to do the same or anything, but to me it seemed a little cheap to just buy a jacket, dye your hair and call it a day. Then again all I did was draw on my arms with sharpie, cut the arms off of a black hoodie, and sewed on snake eyes to the hood. Oh well, I guess what I am going to say is that the people who hand made everything about their costumes and made complicated ones get tons of kudos from me. Well done guys!

Dealers room was cool. Lots of stuff I wanted but couldn't buy XD I saw a Petrina and a Peter and it was awesome ^_^ I got a great Hellsing messenger bag and some pins from The World Ends With You (Literally, pins. Physical pins. You know they had to have them) In a grab bag I got a good Death Note T, a, ANBU Kakashi plushie, and some bracelet from FFVII which was cool and my hunt for fox ears made me buy a fox eared hat and later I found the actual fox ears that I wanted and was sad. Oh well. I also got a Death Note Notebook. It has all the rules in it, all of them. I figure I'll write down the names of people who at the time have severely annoyed me or ticked me off and see whose name accumulated the fastest. That reminds me...second person on my list is my grandmother...I need to write that down.

I can't wait till I am not injured. I hate being treated special and being waiting on obsessively. Tis getting to me -_- but I have found that I can walk with 1 crutch, which means progress! Yay! Man, next year I am planning nothing around Otakon time. Any other event will take place 2 weeks before or 2 weeks after. The driving thing was insane.

So insanity abounds...kind of.

Cedar Point was awesome, but hardly worth the 12 hour drive to and from with no breaks in between to breath. Well, firstly the plan changed and changed and changed and then didn't changed and threatened to change and then ended up something completely different than what I thought it would be. I mean, it wasn't a huge deal, the only thing that made me sad was that I didn't get to see /u patamon =( I miss you Ami-chan! Other than that it seemed to be rushrushrush. We left Ithaca for a 6 hour trip, picked up Alec in Erie, got to Ohio where we got to our hotel (original plan was to get a cabin, where that changed I have no idea but I assume it changed for money reasons so I'm not gonna complain)and met with Heather and crew. After that we swam in the pool and went into the hot tub, which was fun, but we stayed up a little too late. Really, if I had went to bed the time I wanted to in order to not be a zombie the next day, I would have swam for about an hour at most. It made things feel...rushed.

Luckily the child-like thrill of going to a new place, and said new place being an amusement park, really helped me to wake up. The day was great, I found that my ankle (which I sprained and tore ligaments on Friday) was not bothered at all by roller coasters so I wasn't stuck on the ground the entire time. It was a typical day at an amusement park, which is always awesome and fun. Really it was on a par with Six Flags for me (although I have to say some of the coasters were slightly better). The only issue I had was the fact that for Six Flags, I usually only have to drive 2-3 hours to get there, not 6.

The problem was was that the next day we left early. Got there lateish, left early the next morning. Drivedrivedrive, we had to go to Ithaca then PA and tomorrow we drive another 5 hours to go to Otakon. I hate cars now. Seriously, it sucks. I feel like the trip would have been 100 times better if we had spent a few days in Ohio rather than 1. Like, arrive on MONDAY, go to the park either Tuesday or Wednesday, and have a day where we relax, hang out, and catch up with what's going on in everyone's lives. I know due to money reasons and people having to work and scheduling that it would have been difficult, but it would have made the experience really worth it for me. Don't get me wrong, it was great, but not great enough to warrant the $100 worth of gas and time sitting in an uncomfortable position in a car (I know I didn't pay for the gas but it makes me sad for the people who did).

Now I am worried about Otakon. I took a look at the schedule and the only real thing I haven't seen and want to see is playing at the same time at 2 other things I want to see. And that's it. I don't particularly care about the other stuff playing. Essentially I will be driving 10 hours to and from PA to go shopping and watch people in funny costumes. A part of my mind says that it will be so worth it, I have heard many things about Otakon and all of them good. Besides, Gnat will be there and I know for a fact that I will be able to catch up with her. She's there for the entire weekend. Still, I hope everything makes the insane drive all worth it. God I hate cars right now...

Oh well, Eric's family is awesome and we're about to go show Eric's sister and father Dark Knight (I got it right this time, Katie!) because they haven't seen it and yay! bye!

I was tagged (kind of but not really) by [info]voltjanstevens.

cool, I ah okay, I took this from him I wasn't tagged. Whatever, he said do it if you want to.

I'm not really gonna tag anyone. Do it if you want to and so on. Write it on your blag-a-riffic thingie and apparently if you don't like a question you've freedom to replace it with one of your own.

How has LJ changed your life?
It has given me an occasional outlet for rage other than Soul Calibur which has been extremely useful over the past year because goddamn, I needed one. It has also kept me in touch with a few friends I probably would have lost touch with otherwise.

What do you do before bedtime?
Listen to music to scramble my brain into exhaustion and cuddle Eric.

What are you going to have for dinner tonight?
Possible Thai food, possibly Indian (if we can spare the moneys), possibly hamburger helper and possibly...fuck I have no idea. I don't think that far ahead half of the time.

What is the ONE place you want to go to before you die if you had the money and the time?
Either Northern Norway or Antartica. I want to see mountains of snow...and possibly penguins...

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
I don't know, probably extrovert. I do tend to wear my heart on my sleeve sometimes.

What do you do in your free time?
Write, read, video game, MMORPG, movie.

Do you trust easily?
Yes and no. It highly depends on the matter that is in need of trust.

What personal belonging do you have with you everywhere you go?
Cell phone, keys, wallett. Always.

Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days?
Lack of money, but that will change in due time because of this job thing. I get to be a carnie tomorrow ^_^ Other than that...the though of moving out on my own and not being able to cuddle Eric every night for half a year.

What is your best quality?
My award winning smile. No, not really, seriously though, the fact that I always try to see every angle of a person and try to see the best in people.

Is being tagged fun?
Yes, even though I didn't get tagged. I don't know why I like doing these things, I just do.

How do you see yourself?
Fat, bitchy, sad. I don't like myself much. Eric keeps telling me that I'm a wonderful person. Maybe someday that will rub off on me and I'll believe it.

Do you prefer rain or snow?
Snow, you can't throw rain balls or make rainmen and when snow falls it makes eveyrhting pretty (until the plows come and ruin that XD)

What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
The awesomeist awesome guy in the world who I miss dearly and wish we could have lunch together everyday like we used to.

Poor but loved, or rich but hated?
Poor, loved, and snuggly.

How many children do you want?
Don't really want any but will probably end up with at least 1.

What's better; to give or to receive?
I like both equally, but I feel worse when I don't give when I think I should be giving.

What do you feel about sex without love?
I don't get it. Love makes it so much better, even when you're the only one who is in love.

Which activity do you enjoy more: going fishing or stargazing?
Stargazing. Fishing requires that I get eaten alive by more bugs.

What would you name yourself if you'd been born the opposite gender?
I was supposed to be named either Kevin or Michael. I forget. I think Kevin would have been cooler, but if I'd get to name myself? Tobias. God I love that name.

Those who I have tagged:
EVERYONE!!! OMG!!!

So on the drive back to Ithaca from NH I got stuck in traffic. Not the worst traffic I've ever been in but it sucked nonetheless. Considering that in the course of 3 days I had gotten a grand total of 8 hours of sleep and I was agitated at my doctor's office for being annoying pillocks, I wasn't surprised at how angry I was at the whole situation. I remember thinking to myself, "There better be a 20 car pile up or I'm going to tear Massachusetts's heart out with a f'ing spoon." Well, there wasn't a 20 car pile up, nor was there an accident or...anything for that matter. There were traffic cones, signs warning of construction, and NO ONE WORKING ON THE F******* ROADS!!!!!!!!! Geh, gwah, bitz.....WTF?!?!?!? I hate Mass. I...really do. Bleh.

In other news, the web novel is going good in the sense that I have been updating it every week since it started...2 weeks ago. That means 2 chapters ^_^; oh boy. Is it good? No, not remotely. There is so much I need to work on but I need to write other chapters before I get into the issues of the ones I've already put up. But hey, as I said I will be continuing to edit these things as I go along. It's a web novel. My writing style doesn't really follow putting up a chapter as if it is already finished a week after I've written it. But it is an interesting experiment.

As for the site, I have discovered that in order to change the domain name I have to...buy one...yeah. Not that they're incredibly expensive or anything, but I am already paying for .mac with money that isn't able to be replenished. So I am gonna wait until I get a job in order to actually do that. Yes.

I have a meeting with a woman from a temp agency here in Ithaca. My mom suggested them before and I looked them up online and registered with them but when I heard nothing I decided to do everything myself and not talk to them. Now that my job searches are completely fruitless, I've decided to go to the experts. I know it won't necessarily be a job I like, I'm not expecting to like it. I just want to be paid now. If it is a job that keeps me busy all day and is relatively fast paced, I wont even notice that I'm there half of the time. Then I go home, rest, write, eat, and so on. I tend to write better at night or early early morning anyway. Man I really need to get hit by the job faerie soon...

Gah I need to sleep. And yet I really don't need to sleep. I need my brain to shut off when I tell it to at like, 10-11pm, and start back up at 7-8am. I need it not to argue with me. I need it to obey XD It seems to not want to, which is infinitely frustrating.

One of Eric's apartment mates, Brenden, is visiting with his brother. They're both pretty cool. We're playing Rock Band at the moment. I really like living here with Eric and Pat and other random people who come in at any given moment. It's kind of cool. I like random people stopping in, even though it distracts me from things like...well writing. But I know that when I have a place of my own I'm going to feel extremely alone because everyone will be busy with school and work and stuff and I'll probably end up holing myself in my apartment in order to write and end up dwelling on the fact that I should be more social XD So I shall enjoy this while I can.

http://web.mac.com/abertra2/The_AAB-LAB/Salutations_Page.html

Read, you know you want to!

XD

So I found out I can change my domain name for my site through .Mac, which is awesome...but I have no idea how! I've tried to figure it out but to do it I have to check my site's "registrar", which I have no friggen clue what that is! Does anyone else? Anyone? waaaaaahhhh!!!!! Bleh, I will figure it out eventually. In the meantime people can still view it and so on so that's good. I have decided that updates will be on Fridays. I will update my Web Novel, TypeWriter Essays, and on occasion there will be new poetry or a new short fairy tale based story. I'm nervous about this web novel. I'm about 2 chapters ahead of what I've posted, but I have this annoying habit of making my chapters really short. I need to put a little more detail in it. Right now it tells of what is happening and doesn't really show much. I need to show the world off more. I have to say, I love the idea but it seems clicheed or overdone or...well there's something about it I don't like as well, which is why I chose it for the web novel. I will get input and will continue to edit it and out up new chapters as well as newly edited old chapters and we shall see what happens. This will keep me writing at least and I will be slowly working on the other 10 novels I have going (6 of which are going to be series, plus the one I am putting up online) I am working on my fairy tales for submission to a literary magazine called "Fairy Tale Review". The deadline is September. I already have a story in mind, I just want to read it over a few more times before submitting it. If you guys are curious to read it, check my web site. It's under "Refurbished Tails", the name of it is "Frogs". You can either reply to this post or e-mail me or facebook me a message with input if you'd like. I know I'd certainly like some of your input. I need to figure out how to do a comments page...

Bleh, so no news on the job front but hey, August is coming and in a college town that's when jobs open (actually in general that's when jobs open, summer help leaves =P ) *crossing fingers like woah* I am really tempted to sign a lease for an apartment because once August hits it'll be hard as hell to find a place but at the same time I want to be safe money-wise. I will consult my parents about this Monday.

So tomorrow I go home for one last dentist appointment, barter with the doctors office about a last check-up, get mail, prescription, and to hang out with my mom and play Wii Fit. Yes, Eric is allowing me to commandeer it so my mom can try out the game. That'll be fun.

Yeah, and my sleep schedule is like nonexistent for some reason. Bleh. Maybe going home for a little bit will fix that. Who knows.

Well now I have to go and take the mic from Rocco before my ears explode. Heh, some songs he can sing relatively well, but some....*shiver* like the one he is singing now...XD It's time to intervene.

Oh yeah *shamless plug* *shamless plug*

http://web.mac.com/abertra2/The_AAB-LAB/Salutations_Page.html

Read, you know you want to. =P

WOW

So today I had to explain to my boss that putting a napkin in a toaster oven was a BAD idea.

He didn't understand...

He wanted to heat up a muffin so I told him he should take the wrapping off because it's a paper object and it might catch on fire. He agreed and removed it. I turned my back for 2 seconds and looked again. He had wrapped the muffin in an extremely thin napkin. -_- My reaction went as thus: "YOU DO NOT put a thin paper napkin inside of a TOASTER OVEN or ANYTHING with the term TOASTER in it! It WILL catch on FIRE! As I ALREADY TOLD YOU with the wrapping ON the MUFFIN! TAKE IT OUT!!!!!!!!!!" He went "really?" took it out, took off the napkin, asked "will it really catch on fire?" Me: "YES." Then he looked at his bare muffin and the toaster oven and seemed extremely puzzled as to what he should do next. I say "You put it right there, on the grill, right on it. Then it toasts, see?" he hesitantly put it on, then looked very proud of himself.

Now whether the muffin wrapping would have caught on fire, I don't know. I was just taking precautions. but a napkin has INFINITE chances to CATCH FIRE. It's NOT a microwave, goddamnit!

Also, after I had told him about 15 times that croissants are not made for toasters and have to be heated at a low temperature in the toaster oven, my boss decided to cook his croissant in the toaster, where it proceeded to catch on fire. "You were right, it does catch on fire!" he says to me -_-

It's sad that all I've done since being back on LJ is complain about my job and my boss, but at least today was hilarious in a sad and pathetic sort of way.

Also, since he hasn't gotten the building inspectors to come yet, we've officially run out of preparation to do. So he's giving us the rest of the week off. HUZZAH! *does a dance* Now I can do the multitude of things I've had to do for a while now and haven't had the time to do it. Like finding out why my check engine light is on and getting an apartment. Little things like that. yeah. haha.

I will be home about 26 hours from now or so. Soooooooooo clooooooooose! I keep having travel anxiety. I keep worrying about stupid little things. I need to calm down, it'll be okay. I WILL get to Rome, I WILL catch my flight to the states, and my flight to Manchester WILL NOT be delayed or cancled in any way. Everything will be perfect I tell you! PERFECT! They WILL let me use the messanger bag I bought here be counted as a purse and they WILL let me on with that, my laptop, and my backpack. PERFECT!!!

...except that for some reason on US Airways.com and Travelocity.com, whenever I try to check my flight number for my flight from PA to NH...it sayd that the flight is actualy from VA to PA O_o This is a problem...

I would actualy like to make it to NH. Really I would.

So for those who do not know, thanksgiving is celebrates in America only (well, I think Canada does too, but the point is that it is NOT celebrated in Europe)

So I was sad thinking I would not get turkey, and then I walked into the cafeteria. All of the tables were set with white table cloths and plastic representations of gourds and fall leaves. There were orange candles, cranberry sauce in a small cup, and adorned on the walls were silly 2-D plastic cartoon turkey hang-ups. We feasted upon turkey! There were also yams, some sweet rice with raisins in it, and pumkin pie ^_^ And they had soda out for us for lunch, something they never do, and a wide assortment of tea instead of the regular English Breakfast. Needless to say, despite the fact that the food in all reality wasn't very good, today has been a wonderful early thanksgiving.

Tomarrow they are serving pizza for those who are not leaving Athens for our small break.

But regardless, a huge kudos for the wonderful lunch ladies who always try their best to give us a piece of home in food form as well as introduce us to Greek food culture. They do good. One of these days I am going to run behind the counter and give them big hugs. Maybe I'll buy them a pony.

Other than that, things are good. Still counting down the days, and really missing snow. Seriously, it snowed at home and at school. I can still get away with wearing a t-shirt and not get too cold here. Good news is that the orange trees that hang out everywhere are ripe. Bad news is they taste horrible. But they make the city smell like citrus so that's okay. I'm staying in Athens over our mini-break, which boggles the minds of most of the people here. They want to know why I am not exploring. Well, I've had enough of being a tourist. I will be visiting the Acropolis again, the Agora, and the Temple of Olympian Zeus, but that's it. I am touristed out. Oh, and strange thing, did you know that the Greeks have a word meaning "touristic?" Wierd. Anyway, I must go and study for my Greek test in 15 minutes.

γεία σας, παιδιά!
καλησπέρα!

So Live Journal has decided to make my whole layout in Italian while I am here, so I had to guess what comment, reply, write an entry, and view friends page was in Italian. It was..interesting.

So I am currently in Rome, in an internet cafe (without the cafe part), in one of the sketchiest places I have ever been. I'm just glad my friend Aisa has pepper spray and a pocket knife on her.

So this has been an interesting adventure. And there are a lot of details and I only have 20 minutes to write them down, so I'm going to wait until I get back to Athens to do so. In the meantime, how did I get to a sketchy part of Rome?

Well, our original Hostel, right by the Colleseum, overbooked and sent us to the outskirts of Rome to this place called "Yellow House" (guess what, it's yellow!) which is situated right near some hobo infested train tracks and a night club. We are currently rooming with an australian girl, an italian guy, and a really neat hungarian guy who we had breakfast with. We did have another person from CYA roomming with us, but he got really sick and went to a better place near the airport. Aisa got sick in Venice, and now I'm feeling pretty sick myself, but I refuse to let it get to me until sunday when we fly "home". I feel like after staying here I need to submerge myself in bleach. It's not horribly bad, but I got one hell of a bug bite yesterday (lots of blood. I pray it's not bed bugs)

I've had some interesting bathroom adventures here. I got walked in on by a guy when in the Capitoline Hill Museum and I accedentaly pulled the emergency cord (mistaking it for the flusher) in a nice resteraunt we just left. Most bathrooms in Europe are...well...um...if you get a toilet seat, you're doing pretty good. There are seriously some bathrooms in Greece where I'd rather get severe bladder damage than go there.

We are having fun though. We went on a tour of the Colleseum (boring for me, I spent most of the time commenting to Aisa on the few annoying inacuracies the guide said) and the Palentine hill, which was fun because after I told the tour guide I was a clasics minor he kept quizzing me.

"And this is where Rome was founded which was in what year...?"
"Huh? Oh, ah um...753 BC."
"Good girl, now if you could all look over here..."

Honestly that was the only right answer I gave. I kept messing up the questions he asked me about the emperors (mainly because I never really learned about them)

Okay, time to go. bye all!

θαυμά (thavma) means fantastic in Greek. Who would have thought?

So I have an advisor now! The almighty Sally Parr! (head of the writing department in case you don't know) and NOW I know what I have to do and I did it and now my classes are FINALLY in order, senior project included! Seriously, I feel like I can fly right now. I feel as if a ton of weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I can finaly breathe. now i jsut have to remember to sign UP for graduation and get one of my lovely roommates for next semester (Oh Aaaaaannnddddrrreeeeewwwww ^_^ actualy it doesn't matter who it is =P) to sign some form thingie for me when it comes out some obscure time in November. Then I have a place to live and I graduate, and and and.....YAY. My only wish is that I could spread my happiness to you all! (yeah, sounds lame, but seriously, I will sacrafice a cow on the acropolis so Athena ensures you all have a good day. I will do that right after I type this entry)

So now Greece looks a lot brighter to me. It's been raining like mad, but then again, it is it's rainy season. I will be heading for Italy for a week on friday (we have a very long fall break) and will be visiting Venice and Rome (OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG ROOOMMMAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!) I swear my ancient history geeky self is going to explode and I will probably frighten everyone around me but that's okay.

So....wireless internet is STILL NOT WORKING and the school computers can't handle people putting up 100 pictures at a time. So, yet again, no new pictures, but I ensure you they will eventualy be up even if I have to wait until I get back into the states to do it. There will be picture sharage!

*whips out sacraficial knife*
IT IS TIME!
*runs to the Acropolis*

γεία σας, παιδιά!
καλησπέρα!

So the wireless internet has been down for about a week. A WEEK. And it's still down, so pictures from Crete and my current trip to the Argolid will have to wait. Sorry!

The weather has finally cooled down and it actualy feels like fall, but it definetly doesn't look like it. The closest thing we have to leaves turning color is that the palm trees look more yellow. Other than that everything still looks green. I miss mass amounts of red and orange. I saw pictures on facebook of some of my friends picking apples and some other pictures of applefest in ithaca and it almost made me cry. Wow do I miss fall right now. They don't celebrate Halloween here either, so another thing I love that I'm going to miss! But at least it's chillier. I can wear long sleeved shirts and sweaters ^_^

The Argolid was fun. It's a sector of Greece in the Peloponnese (the peninsula in the southwest corner). There were a lot of cool ruins there that I really wanted to see. We saw two Mycenean palaces (the precursors to the actual ancient Greeks) a cave that was in use as a place to live from before the stone age to the bronze age and it's the oldest used settlement they have on record for Europe. We also went to a Venician Castle, which was very cool. We stayed in this adorable town by the sea that was very historic to Greece in general. Lots of battles for independence, lots of occupations and uprisings. They also had some really cool buildings. I got to see a street performer dance with fire too. I recorded some of it so I might be able to get in on Youtube so everyone can see it.

Well, that's about it. I hope everyone is doing well in the states! Bye!

Ok, so after much frustration, I have decided to use ONE count ONE image uploader that won't make me pay for more space and actualy works relatively fast: Facebook. At the bottom of each journal entry from here on out during my stay in Greece will be links to the different albums I have made so everyone will be able to look at them whenever they want, and new ones/ones with new pictures will be marked.

In other news, Athens has a world famous poet sandal maker O_o He makes Roman style sandals, and they are really friggen cool. They are made out of leather and are so comfortable ^_^ I took pictures of the ones I got. I got "Hermes" style sandals (though I have to go back and ask if he can put wings on them. I want wings!!!!) You should all visit his website because he is so awesome: http://www.melissinos-art.com/

If anyone wants sandals from him, let me know what kind, what shoe size you are (he can convert american shoe sizes to European in his head O_o) and all that. They aren't really cheap, but they are decently priced. Mine were 23 euro, which is expensive for sandals, but for sandals hand-made and awesome looking yeah, it's worth it.

Pictures!!!!!!!!

Santorini: http://ithaca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056446&l=5d332&id=13805633

Athens: http://ithaca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057844&l=adc6f&id=13805633

Athenian Ruins (new and old): http://ithaca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057847&l=2b73c&id=13805633

More Athenian Ruins (new): http://ithaca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057853&l=0d0f8&id=13805633

Crete will be up when the internet stops being slow. Right now there are too many people on for me to be putting pictures up.