Relative Size and the Geek

Note: I apologize now for the multiple blogs that will appear today. I, once again, put off blogging and the content I wanted to blog just increased as the days went by. :P As is, I'm sure my blogs will be a tad lengthy. :P

The other day, Dad sent me an interesting forward which then piqued my interest so I did some net searching which led to the spiral into geekdom. :P Here’s the forward (or gist of it):

(The first few pics came with the forward with no mention, so I'm showing them first to help put things in perspective.)

 Antares is the 15th brightest star in the sky. It is more than 1,000 light years away.

This is a Hubble telescope ultra deep field infrared view of countless “entire” galaxies billions of light years away.

Below is a close up of one of the darkest regions of the photo above. Humbling, isn't it?

(This is the pic I found, hopefully yaa can see it. Had to cut it into two parts.)

Now how big are you? And how big are the things that upset you today? Keep life in perspective and don't sweat the small stuff!

____________________________________

Now, I found that so interesting so I went found an additional size comparison pic. And… Wow! :P You know the universe is big, but sometimes it’s hard to imagine just HOW big. Shame galactic space travel will never happen in our lifetimes. Le sigh.

While searching online for pics of all the planets and their moons, I stumbled onto a different map of space…. :P I so want one of these! The Complete and Official Map of the Verse is the map of the worlds in the Firefly (2002) / Serenity (2005) universe (or as they call it, the "Verse"). I SO want one. I am such a geek, that when I first heard Serenity was coming to theatres, I made like 10 vampires with the characters’ names. :P For a while, Mom and I watched the entire series (only one season) once a week for several weeks in a row. So, yeah… I’m a fan. :P

River Song's Journal

BindMe's leather made journal

And then, because I was on one geeky trip, I went on to the next. I remembered seeing someone had made a journal replica of one used by River Song in a Doctor Who episode(s) that looks like a TARDIS. Yeah, I want that too. But holy cow! The sucker is handmade so the maker is charging an arm and a leg! I’d have better chances buying an actual TARDIS replica. C’est la vie. So, I’ll keep an eye on that site, in case BindMe lowers their prices. Hoping to get lucky, I searched to see if anyone else came up with a similar idea. No such luck. But while perusing the sites, I found they make Sonic Screwdrivers! :o I SOOOO want one of those! And since David Tennant was my fave Doctor, I want his version of the screwdriver. It comes with sounds and lights just like on the show and yeah…. Did I mention I’m a geek?

Now as if wanting a map of a fake universe and a journal that looks like the TARDIS and a sonic screwdriver weren’t bad enough. I fully geeked out my cell phone. After thinking about it, I’ll probably stick with this phone for a while (in favor of saving funds for upcoming happy expenses). And since I’m keeping it, I personalized it up the wazoo. :D So now I have the Doctor Who (10th Doctor) theme song for the ringtone, the TARDIS sound effect for alerts, a pic of the TARDIS orbiting the Earth wallpaper, and an animated TARDIS gif for a screensaver. :D Geeks of the world, UNITE! :D

Mmmm.... Awww... Weeeee...! D'oh!

Saturday I hung out with my Dad. Pharmacy run for Mom (since she still leaves the house ONLY when she absolutely has to). Breakfast at a restaurant. A visit to the Dollar Tree again. But this time I didn't spend that much. :P Just got some candy for Mom and another Sudoku book and lil notepad. Dad got more than I did. :P What can I say, we're shop-o-holics.

I forget what time we left the store, but we stopped at the house for a bit while Dad did something and I read a few pages of my book. Costco trip for much needed staples for moi.... Bologna! :D And Sticky Pots (aka Pot Stickers... nummmy!). And Dad found the entire season of Stargate SG1! So now he has all of SG1 and SG Atlantis. He still can't find the movie that started it all though! :P After picking up nummy Cesear salads there for a late lunch, we went back to his house to watch a movie. :) Just another relaxing day, hanging out with Daddy. :D

Sunday was a big day with Issi and her mom. I went to my second baseball game ever. Angels game, of course. :) Alas, we didn't win, but it was still fun and I got a big workout there too! :P I took a couple pics of the outside of the stadium, but alas, I lost them (more on that in a bit). FYI, stadium stairs are so freakin' steep. :P I almost ate it a couple of times. :P

I think we hit Disneyland at around 4pm-ish. And as late as we got there, we made it on quite a few rides! :D Given that that Sunday and next will likely be my last for a while, we went on all the must rides, most of my favorites and a new one: Tower of Terror (I think that's what it's called), Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Carribean, Space Mountain, the Nemo submarine ride (it was a cute lil ride), and we got our free warm tortillas at the Mission Tortilla factory walk through :P .... Add shopping and dining and we packed alot into the five-six hours we were there. I took a couple pics here too, but yeah... lost those too.

And Issi's mom got me a watch and a birthday Mickey for my birthday (early gifts, wee). Pretty cool, since I wear my watches like jewelry, so now I have another. :D AND! I had set aside moola to buy two last little Mickeys at Disneyland, and the birthday one was one of the ones I was gonna grab. I'm still deciding what other one I'll get next trip. And no, I can never have too many Mickeys. :P

Mickey sits by my bed. :D And now that I've taken the pic, the watch can be worn. :P

Monday was just another day. :P Time to sleeep and relax after all the walking from Sunday. :P I sooooo need to start walking more. :P And of course... TARGET Tuesday! :D Unfortunately, the day started off kinda crappy. In my haste to unplug my cell phone, which had been charging, I dropped it. Now I drop my phone ALOT and pretty hard. But I guess this last time was the final blow or was really HARD. Cuz I broke it. The phone itself works... But the screen is totally dead. :P I had to text blind just to tell Dad I couldn't text anymore. My poor poor Razr. :( And stupid me, I forgot to forward the pics I took with the camera part to my computer. So, lost anything I took since my last uploading. Le sigh. They weren't the best of pics, but still! Anywho, for now, I'm using my old leettle Nokia phone. Unless that gets too irritating, and then I may beg Dad to bring me his old Razr. We pay our cell bill Friday, so I'll see if I can get a new phone/ cheap upgrade with contract renewal after that. We're due. Haven't gotten new phones in ages.

My cute leettle Nokia phone.... With Dori screensaver and Aqua's BarbieGirl ringtone. :P

Productive Day/Night

So, last weekend when I planned to be all productive and clean the house... I, surprise suprise, didn't. :P The only productive things I did at the beginning of this week was clean out the fridge and wash and fold ALL laundry. Of course, laundry is piled up again now. But finally, I cleaned the house. Well most of it. More tomorrow. Just one room though. The biggest mess is clean. The living room and my room got dusted and the whole house got vacu-sucked. Beds and futon (fake couch) all got new sheets (hence the piled up laundry :P). And stuff is all put away where it should be. :D Weeee for clean house!

And then, for my game, I did the whole guild hunting thing (with a lil help from a Leprichaun). One of my 'pires completed a quest and got a power. I was lucky too, cuz I'd forgotten I had a couple questing 'pires. Almost lost that 7500 coins to a failed quest. Go last minute save glitch! :D I'll move my other 'pires later maybe.

After I eat (cuz I'm finally hungry again after first meal, which was seven or so hours ago?), I'm going to write a letter for Sawah. Which reminds me, gotta look up postage prices for mail to Canada. :P And of course before bed, there'll be the usual dish washing/kitchen cleaning, litter tidying, and a 5-gallon water bottle has to go up so I can refill water bottles. Weeee....

Anywho.. off to sleslax for a leetle bit before getting back to being productive. :P

One Battle Won

We've survived the year mark. And apart from some "whatever/leave me alone" vibe I got from Mom's tone Sunday morning and yesterday, it wasn't as bad as I expected. She slept much of these past few days. Watched TV and read. There was some annoyance in her tone yesterday about the cats, but they've been real vocal lately. All in all, I think we survived the battle of the anniversary.

She seemed okay when I woke this afternoon. And when I got out of the shower, Nana had stopped by. And for once, that visit didn't leave Mom irritated or upset. Praise God, I actually think the visit was a good thing this time. I took off for Target Tuesday with Dad. :) I bought Mom a new heating pad as she sorta wore her old one out. :P Next month I'll get her another one, for back up or those really bad days. Dad got me a movie and a couple books, I know I am spoiled. :) Oh, Nana left some clothes she bought but didn't like after all. :P So Mom got some new tops to wear around the house and I got a light denim jacket. Yay! Finally a light jacket that will match all colors. :P Good timing too, cuz summer's coming and I need new clothes.

We picked up food on the way home, even though Mom didn't answer her phone.... She'd been sleeping. But when the grogginess finally wore off, she did manage to join us for din din (well join us as we finished ours). And she seemed more like her old self.. Well, new old self. Joking a bit and smiling and laughing when something was funny. Same thing when Nana was here.

I was susprised actually. So, thank God, we survived the day. Next battle... His birthday. And then Mothers' Day. If we can just make it to summer.... We may have won this year's war. Well, til the holidays that is. But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Oh yeah... I, individually, survived okay too.

Scrambled Eggs, Anyone?

Easter, California style..... Paint eggs. Hide. Wait for earthquake. Scrambled egg surprise! :P

Today started out fairly normal. Got ready. Went to eat a deliscious breakfast with Dad. Killed an hour in the Dollar Tree buy stuff neither one of us NEEDED. But I only spent 15 bucks and Dad spent I think 25? Not too bad. :P Got new hand towels to match the bathroom. :D A couple more Suduko books (and after the break from them that I've had, I'm sure I'll be going through them fast again :P ). Red Vines for Mom. A pack of mini notepads (for when I want to take a quick note at the computer and never have anything to write on! :P). And a 3-pack of silver and gold pens, since all my colorful and metallic pens are used up. Dad got towels too (more than I did :P) and something to cover his windows (which let in ALOT of light and heat) and I forgot if he got anything else.

After that, we went to his place to watch a movie. And since he hadn't seen The Ten Commandments in a few years, we watched that. :D  Big screen. Beautiful technicolor. I'm glad I watched it at his place. :) We of course were interrupted around 340pm. I thought I'd heard the Earthquake was centered in Mexicali and was a 7.2, but the news said Baja, CA. Whatever.... Either way it was far from us, and yet we still had a lovely rolling earthquake. And it seemed pretty long to me. So long that even after it stopped, my brain was convinced the earthquake was still going. :P And it was fun to watch Dad's massive wall of DVD shelves swaying. :P

And so you all don't think I forgot how to use my camera, I am going to share some random photos and a couple I took this morning. :)

March 1st

I almost didn't see Pixie, "hiding" among my stuffed babies, until I walked closer to the bed. :P

March 3rd

Always cracks me up when I see Oreo using a pillow. He really thinks he's a people. :P

March 8th

Pixie rolled over and fell between the two big folded blankets on Mom's bed. Musta been mesmorized by the ceiling fan, cuz Mom said she'd been stuck like that for a while. :P

April 4th

All Tundra could manage in the way of a greeting was lifting his/her head, but it was too bright to open his/her eyes. :P Sleepy kitty.

April 4th

If you look real close, you can see yellow and purple/blue wannabe flowers. The closest thing to flowers our yard will ever see. :P

Anywho, that's all for now.... Now to stall until the last possible minute to do the kitchen... Mom cooked while I was out so naturally it's a disaster area that I'm dreading having to clean. :P

The Ten Will Have to Wait...

130am... Never got the movie started cuz I was too busy having fun chatting with an Issi and a Daddy and copying a soundtrack list for a TV series I love. Now off to do dishes and get in bed, so I won't be too sleepy when hanging with Dad.

Mom seemed okay tonight. :) Apart from wanting to lock up the bratty kitties. :P But even then, she didn't seem as annoyed as yesterday. I'm taking it as a good sign. She's got her stupid Top Model marathons (that she's seen a dozen times and will watch dozens more times) and books to keep herself occupied like she did today. So I am skidaddling out of here! :D That is if my DADDY gets enough sleep (in a bed and not at keyboard or anywhere else :P ).

Anywho... I'll watch The Ten Commandments tomorrow when I get home or something. :) I love that movie.

Say it isn't so!

Life as I know it is over..... I ran out of my favorite flavors of Crystal Light. ~sobs~ Now all I have to drink are orange-y drinks (which when ya have real OJ and tangerines in the house doesn't sound appealing :P) and Mom's cherry and grape flavors (way too candy tasting for me, yuck). Whatever shall I do! ~sobs some more~

Okay, enough of the dramatics. :P Time to go watch The Ten Commandments (1956). I think it's almost over on TV, but I have the VHS Tapes.... :D Nooooo commercials! Yay! :D

Tick... Tick... Tick...

So far so good, I think... That is to say, Mom seemed fine earlier, other than being annoyed by the cats who keep bugging her every 10-15 minutes. But maybe that's why they keep bugging, they know or God told them she needs to be distracted. Between that annoyance and her getting into the end of her book, she's gotten quiet. But I think that's more about the book and cats, or I'm hoping.

I'm not sure what the next few days will be like. I warned people at my RP forum, I might be MIA.... or I might not. Not sure if I'll be with Mom trying to distract or do for her as much as possible, or if I'll be trying to stay out of her way if she shuts me out or something. It's this fun little waiting game. I've already prayed for patience. So I'll try and help her in every way possible, big or little stuff... Checking on her, make sure she has what she needs/wants. That kind of thing.

Meanwhile, I feel fine-ish. Okay, I confess. The tears come a little easier when watching sad movies or shows. But otherwise... I was even thinking of being extra productive. The house needs cleaning. I've been bad and neglecting that big time, just cleaning the kitchen and the rest of the house decent even if not company ready. So I may clean the whole house this week. We'll see.

Treading lightly for the next week... Part of me wishes this month were over already....

On My Mind.....

I miss:

• our late night talks that went on for hours
• losing at video games and laughing about it
• being introduced to new music that I probably never would have heard otherwise
• the way I was teased for playing Magic
• help with all things computer related
• being lifted off the ground in a bear hug
• our games of imagination with GI Joe toys
• collecting comic character cards
• joking and laughing together

I won't miss:

• his smiling face
• the way he says Mooommm/Daaaadd when they say something funny
• his face whenever someone says something funny
• his voice saying Ha Ha
• his laugh

So much I miss. Some because we stopped playing when he went to high school. Some because he got more involved with friends and his computer games. Some because of the fact that we moved into separate households. But I've missed everything all the more since last April.

Then there are the things I won't miss. Because I still see his smiling face everyday. No, I'm not staring at his pictures for hours a day or even a week. Mostly, I see his face in varying ages whenever I close my eyes. I can't help but to smile, even for a moment, when I do. I can see him making faces at Mom or Dad and giving his typical replies whenever they teased him. And every now and then I can hear his laugh when we saw something genuinely funny or were joking around.

I miss him alot. And as the day we lost him approaches, he's on my mind more and more. But I praise God for all the glimpses of him that I do get. I thank God for the dreams depicting my brother happy and laughing. Those dreams, those glimpses, they make me think he's okay. Rather I feel it. Maybe because I want it bad enough, maybe it's God's way of telling me he's okay, or maybe Josh himself. From what we knew of where he stood with God and faith, the teachings I grew up with in church say he's not okay. But I can't help feeling he is okay. I can't say I've felt that about every family member I lost, but then none were this close to me. One glimpse of his smiling face and I stop worrying about where he is right now. I'll take the gift wherever it came from.


Here is my prayer for the coming month (and if you are a believer, I hope you pray for us too):

Dear Lord,

I ask that you give my parents the strength to get through this month. Comfort them when they are sad. Lift them up when they are low. Grant them restful nights without nightmares. Help Mom get to a healthier place. And help me, Lord, to be strong for me and for them. Grant me the patience to be there for them even when I want to forget it all.

In Your name I pray, Amen.

Sucked back in....

With everyone saying, "too bad you're not on facebook," I finally gave in. I reactivated my account. I cleaned it out of all the friends, save for those I want updates from. So the majority of the people I added because they were players of RB vamps (people I barely knew, I might add) and I or they wanted more people to join this app game or another.... Yep, all deleted. I've got less than 10 people. And that number might actually drop to just close family and friends.

So, I'm back, but only sort of. I won't be adding ANY stupid apps. Don't expect a million updates from me a week, well not unless I link it to this blog. I just wanted to be able to stay in touch and see the pictures you all share. Since SOME of you, don't even check e-mail.... Seriously, SOMEone is lucky they live on the wrong part of the world, or I'd be kicking his butt.

I cleared out all the "recent activity/history" crud too. So my page is naked-ish and will remain that way. We'll see how long I stay there....

Wow....

Between my lack of some sort of daily schedule and my excitement at the movie release (mostly the excitement, I think), I thought today was the 20th. Doesn't help that my cell phone went off at midnight to remind me about Sarah's birthday coming up. Yes, I set it early, but ya forget these things when you're excited. :P

I've lost count how many times I've watched Kung Fu Panda (2008), Coraline (2009), and Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) this week alone. Well that's not true.. I've only seen Monsters vs. Aliens maybe two times this week. :P What can I say, I can't seem to get enough of them. Panda especially. HBO's been airing that one longer and I've seen it countless times as a result. :P


Po: The Furious Five! You look a lot bigger than your action figures! Except you, Mantis. You're about the same.

:D

Tai Lung: You can't defeat me! You... you're just a big... fat... panda!
Po: I'm not a big fat panda. I' m THE big fat panda.

:P

Writers' Block...

I know I know. I haven't blogged as much lately. And it's not that nothing's happening (not that the somethings I blogged about were uber thrilling :P ). The routine of my life remains pleasantly the same for the most part. I just haven't been focussed enough to write. I got a letter a couple weeks ago, and I have yet to even write back. I haven't even been enthusiastic about the RPs I write, well with the exception of a new character at an RP forum I joined with a friend of mine. I dunno. I haven't been reading as much either. Just too scatterbrained to focus lately.

I'm hoping my writers' block clears up soon though. As I can already feel it. I know I will want and need that mental escape. Not just the escape of fantasy in RPing and reading; I felt better when blogging during sad times.  And I'm going to go do some letter writing right now. With any luck, I'll get letters back just in time to cheer me up when I'll need it most.

As far as what's been going on lately? The usual Target Tuesdays with my silly Dad. :) Mom made a shocking three trips out of the house this month already. Three! That's progress. And tonight she even thought about driving all the way to Anaheim tomorrow (er today/Friday) for some Persian food at this one restaurant we loved, until she realized she had to go to work still. :P I think she thought it was Saturday. :P The other day a power cord fell down the street. Fire department came down and everything. Neighbor had to borrow the blocade things that were left next to the tree stump (from the fallen tree), to block off the street until fire dept. got there. We heard it when it happened too, a loud buzzing noise, I mean LOUD.

Mom's still avoiding the dentist like the plague. And they're not helping the issue. She had an appointment today and they called and told her to come in earlier, which of course she couldn't cuz of work. >.<  I wish she'd go in just to get her permanent cap put in, since the temp one keeps falling out and she's afraid of losing it or choking on it in her sleep! But ugh! I'm losing my patience and sympathy. She's cancelled on them so many times, that is WHEN she's bothered to even schedule the appointments. Oy.... So much for her eating real food this weekend.

New Moon comes out today (okay, I give in, I'll refer to the now as today/Friday), and I've already reserved twenty bucks to buy it. :)  I'm resisting the urge not to beg Mom or Dad to drive me to Target to get it. :P  I haven't seen it yet, but I've heard nothing but good reviews. The same will happen next month when Avatar comes on DVD on...... Get this... April 22nd! The DVD gods smiled on me and granted me the best birthday present! :P So, yeah, I will so be buying that one as soon as possible too. :D

Anywho... Letter writing awaits... And then maybe I'll attempt RPing at the forum I run... It's hard when the others in the RPs drag down the mood. >.< But I'll try to ignore their "poor me, pay attention to me" routines..

Heh, I was just gonna write a little update.... Writers' block may have been unblocked?

Let's just flutter for a while...

Ever spread your arms and just spin and spin, letting your head fall back, and spin til you're dizzy? I'm 29 and I was spinning around in the middle of our Target Tuesday adventure. I had a long jacket and a long scarf, and they flew out with me. It was so fun. :P You should totally try it sometime. It's somehow more liberating if it is done in public like that. While there were few if any shoppers in that part of the store at the time, I didn't care who saw me or how stupid I looked. And as Mom pointed out to me, the cameras and mirrors probably caught me, so I wasn't alone even if it looked it. :P Dad asked if I was having fun, and of course I WAS! :P

Apparently that wasn't the only thing to make me look silly though. At dinner after the Target trip, Mom pointed out I had glitter on my forehead. I pretended to try on a glittery leprichaun hat right when we walked into the store, and well, I guess I got glitter on me. I must have had it on me the whole time! :P

Silliness continued this week with silly song singing with/from Dad on the phone and me pushing Mom around on her computer desk chair. "Just like a ride at Disneyland!" :P

I've been having some fun role playing again lately. Making new characters is so fun. Like starting all over with a new life and identity. Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting into some fun role play writing. :)

Oh, speaking of Disneyland, I've already made plans to go first Sunday I could steal Issi away when she get's back from her trip. :D I'm hoping to go once this month and at least once next month before it expires. My options are limited now to Sundays though as Saturdays are blocked now that it's spring. I'ma miss it, but this year of having the pass was spent well. Each trip has been pretty fun. So it's a good way to go, y'know if ya have to go? I've already set aside money for a couple more Mickey beanies. Just gotta find the right ones. A leprichaun/St. Patrick's day Mickey would be adorable I think. :) Dunno what I'll get for April. Oh, and I'll have to stock up on cherry balls! :P

So now that I've babbled enough... Let's just flutter for a while.. or spin and twirl! Let's see what adventures and silliness the weekend brings. :) Toodles doodles!

Whose dream is this anyway?

Soooo.... Today we were supposed to play taxi for my Nana and Gabriel (her hubby). They had a party to go to and it was gonna run real late. Nana doesn't like to drive at night, so she was gonna make Gabriel drive. Yeah, there's a good idea. The man's so ancientt he can't even stand upright anymore, he's recovering from cataract (sp?) surgery on one eye, and he was more than likely going to drink at the party. Goooood mix, all at night with possible rain. Yep... So Mom (apparently after SEVERAL hints) offered to drive them there and back. But that plan got foiled. Flat tire. Drat. :P Neither one of us wanted to play driver (or in my case, keep her company while she played driver). So yeah. We got all bundled up for cold Cali weather (which is probably WAY warmer than you got it Mellie :P ), went outside, and then came right back in. Gotta love those quick errands.

Now before all this... I had weird dreams I was gonna share. Some of it is however lost.... Memory bank only has room for soo much and some of it got pushed out with the tire thing. :P Weird how dreams don't stay in your head as long as other memories unless ya really sit down and think about them before ya forget them.

Anywho, I had a dream that proves Mom and I share a brain cell. We were driving home from dropping off Nana and Gabriel and Mom turned to me and asked me if I wanted chicken nuggets (from McDonalds). I never order nuggets. Never ever. SHE's the one who orders nuggets all the time. Now either we're sharing a brain cell or she was sending me a message of her desire for nuggets. But when I told her, she didn't seem amused. Perhaps I still had the nugget loving brain cell still in my head. Hope it leaves before I go to McD's next. :P

And for a bit of color, the other lingering dream was filled with color! Like ALOT of color. Like this much color. I was in some sort of bizarre labyrinth world with Lisa Frank's decorator run amuck all over the walls and ceilings and steps and floors. Weird tubes and tunnels and passageways. It had that same vibe as the Labyrinth stair maze scene near the end of the movie, only in technicolor! Almost makes me wish I was a proper artist so I could draw what I really saw. It was a very cool, if weird, maze, labyrinth thing. Hmm.... Maybe not quite as neon as these colors seem to be though. :P

You've Got Mail

Wouldn't it be funny if our actual mailboxes said that when we came home?  :P

I got a letter today.  :)  Among the weekly mailers and advertisements, there was an envelope from my friend.  :)  I love letters and cards in the mail.  I'll take letter writing any way I can get it, but there's something so special about getting something via snail mail.  :)  Makes me think of older times, when the postal service was the only way people kept in contact.  I mean relationships grew out of what was written in letters.  Family and friends who were too far away could only keep in touch with their letters.  Penpals in school.  The whole idea of it makes me smile.

It's funny. Gilly and I started out as game mates.  Chatting here and there.  Then at some point we became texting friends.  And now?  I think we talk more in our letters.  It's kinda fun that way.  I mean of course I'd like to be able to talk to her "live", but if I can't this is just fine.  While I've sent and recieved cards from other game mates, G's become more of a penpal.  :)

Anywho, just thought I'd share.  Her letter brought a smile to my face, and I had to share.  Sometime this weekend, I'll go through my stationary and pick something out to write back to her.  Until then, I shoooouuuuld be replying to an RP or two I have with some friends of mine.  Oh, and I'll try and put up pics next post, though all I have are pics of my furry bratlings.  :P

Of Wills and Wishes

A comment here. A comment there. Conversations with various people about various things. Thoughts rattling around in my head. I've been thinking maybe I should make some sort of will. No it won't be official or anything. But something, so if anything happens, my loved ones will know what I want and what to do with my stuff.

I watched how badly things could go when grandma (Dad's mom) died and then again when my tata (Mom's dad) died. I'm sure neither one of them would have liked how things had been handled; their kids being of robbed of something I'm sure they would have wnated for them.

Now, I don't know if my Aunt Fita (Mom's aunt) had wishes for her belongs and house, but without a will the family's divi'ing it up amongst themselves. It makes sense, but now and then, you hear complaint of so-and-so taking too much. And then there's the matter of the house. The three remaining siblings own it, but what to do with it. Nana wants it for my Uncle David, her favorite child. And maybe Aunt Fita would have willingly left it for him, who knows. But as put together and smart as Mom says she was, I don't know why she didn't have a will.

With my brother, well obviously he wouldn't have had a will. Who thinks of these things when you're not even 30 and have no real property or possessions of worth? But all the same, there's a room filled with his things that Dad doesn't know what to do with. I mean, I'm sure Josh would want the stuff to be used by someone. As much as he loved games, he'd want someone to enjoy that stuff. Mom wants to go through his things, but we just didn't think she was ready. I keep meaning to suggest to her that we all go through his things together one weekend. But I'm always afraid of setting her off into a sad spell.

Dad comments here and there, "when I'm gone, it'll be left to you," but I dunno if he's ever thought about actually sitting down and writing any sort of will. After seeing the ugly side of a will-less loss, I just hope that doesn't happen later. With Mom, there's no contest. No siblings, no ex's, and Nana or her brothers wouldn't take from me. Not that there's anything to take, apart from her car, which is still not fully paid for (well technically it is, but not really).

I know I don't have much. But still, I wouldn't want my room to be left untouched. I'd want my things to go to people. So I'm thinking, maybe I'll write out a little will of sorts, leave it someplace that I'll tell my loved ones where to find. In it, I can leave my wishes on what to do with me, too. Well, not me. I won't be there, but my body. Something I'll update every year or so as things change.

Kind of a depressing topic, but maybe it's cuz the anniversary is coming up. Yeah, I'm not really looking forward to April this year. Anywho, I hope to have a lighter or maybe even a happier topic for the next post.

"Time flies.....

...when you're wasting it." - Dad :P

Hehe. That was said when we were laughing and joking after realizing it was so late. I think it's gonna be a new catchy line. :P  The time that was spent leading to tthat line?

• 11:30am - Dad picked me up and we headed to the restaurant for "breakfast"
• 12:50pm - Finished our meal and headed out to the Dollar Tree (in the same little shopping center)
• 2-2:30pm - After buying a few things, we headed to Sam's Club for some book shopping
• 3-3:30pm - Finally headed back to Dad's place and realized how late it was :P

I still don't think time was wasted, though, even if we did spend a lil longer at the Dollar Tree. :P It was all in fun. And there was more time "wasted" at the house too. I don't think we even watched anything. Just hung out. Talking and joking. I got some reading in. It was nice and relaxing. Kinda reminded me of the days when he and I would just go driving for an hour or so with no particular destination in mind, just enjoying the ride and talking. There had to be something to fill the time that I'm forgetting, because it was pretty late when we went to pick up dinner to bring to my place. But then "time flies". :P

Today, we started a smidge earlier. We went straight to his place though and he made nummy french toast. Num num nummy.... Watched Wall-E (2008) for the first time. That was a funny and cute movie. And then we saw (mostly :P ) Surrogates (2009), which was a good movie! While both movies were enjoyable, boy, do they ever paint the human race negatively.

In Wall-E, everyone turns into fat slobs who don't have to do ANYTHING for themselves and ride around on floating chairs all day long. I mean human contact was even foreign. After 700+ years of their "5yr cruse" they let bots do everything for them. Heck, they don't even have to chew food, it comes in shakes! I can only guess babies are grown in test tubes, since one scene displayed two people almost fllinching with that first touch of hands. Oy.... That's sad. That they allowed themselves to get that bad. What's more sad, it's actually a possibility. I mean think of how convenient they're making everything. It's not hard to imagine the human race taking it to that level in the near or distant future.

In Surrogates, practically everyone lives through these surrogates. Robots walking around so they can stay home and be safe in their bubbles. Okay, I see the appeal of wanting to have a better looking, better fit version of yourself out there. But in living their lives practically 24/7 like that, their actual bodies are just getting more and more sluggish. And I imagine weight gain for the "operators" is pretty high, though that wasn't really depicted in the film. What was so sad was that people use these things for so long, never leaving their homes in the flesh, that they actually need anxiety meds when and if they do have to go without the surrogates! That's just wrong.

Anywho, after our DVD watching, we watched the rest of the last Karate Kid movie, which was playing on TV. We picked up some KFC, and I swear EVERYtime we go there, the floors are always sticky! I was impressed that they were actually pretty fast this time, til we got home and realized why. :P They messed up the order. Dinner was deliscious though. Maybe next time we'll get what we ask for in a timely manner and not have to walk on sticky floors. :P

Twas a good weekend in my book!

That time again....

I figured out why I stopped blogging almost daily. There's something on my mind. A jumble of related thoughts that I don't want to get lost or confused in a daily blog post of babbling nothings. So, while I told myself, I'd post it on its own, I kept putting it off. I still want to post it.. And I will. But while putting it off, I stopped blogging regularly. As if I couldn't post one without the other. Silly, I know. Anywho.... Back to our regular blogging...

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A quick sum up of the week.... The weekend, I spent hanging with my Dad. :) Tuesday we went to Target for our usual silliness. Thursday, Dad took me to run Mom's pharmacy errand. And today, he came over for dinner. :) They finally cleaned up the tree, with ALOT of noise. BTW, metal scrapping concrete is a LOVELY sound. >.< I think that's all the major highlights.

I kept busy with various trivial activities this week: catching up on tapes (of recorded shows, yes, I watch too much TV), wrote alot more RP posts this week, guild hunted (which I was gonna do again tonight but it's likely someone's beaten me to that by now), and read ALOT of posts from the group for the game's high council. Busy, busy, busy. :P

While I have been writing a bit more for my RP forum, it is still sad to see it so idle as many of the members are inactive. It really sucks to see something you put soo much work into grow increasingly dead. On the flip side, the vampire game's HC group has gone from inactive for years to very much ALIVE and that is an awesome thing to see. Kudos, to those who are trying to bring it back. I dunno how one of its former owners would feel about it, not that I thought about it til Eileen said anything, but then she hasn't been involved in the game for years, so...

I did take pics this week. Of course. But I'm only sharing this one, before I go. :)

It's blurry, cuz Oreo was moving too much.

(gotta learn to play with settings more:P )

Kitty love moment. :P He's always bathing Pixie.

Cute even if blurry. :)

A Long Fracking Blog! Gasp!

Tree Update:

Would you believe it's been almost two weeks and they still haven't come to clear up the tree mess? All they did that day (the 6th) was cut it up into moveable chunks and push it off to the sides. It kinda sucks actually. Our street, being small and one side parking only, was always limited for space. This mess just cuts what few parking spaces we had out front in half. And usually, the two people that are able to park, NEVER seem to leave to ever allow anyone else a chance. I mean of course they leave, but they must hightail it back home ASAP to get their space back before someone else can get the chance. Le sigh.... I am sorry to anyone who has had to deal with it. How hard is it to put the pieces in those chopper things and cart it all away? if not the trunk, at least the brush? If nothing happens next week, I may go out there myself! Think I could bill the city? They'd sure as hell tax us for the job.

Long Time No Blog?:

It's been a while since I last blogged, so details of things I wanted to share have slipped my memory. Or one day's events sorta blended into another day's events. All in all, the past two weeks, I've gone to hang at Dad's house three times (twice in one weekend even! :D), forced Mom into going to Wal-Mart instead of letting her relying on Dad taking me, two Target Tuesdays, had two after work visits from Daddy (one of which was tonight :D), cleaned the house, and went to Disneyland with Issi.

Tree weekend, I actually went to Dad's place on Saturday and Sunday. It was nice. :) And I think Saturday night we were out pretty late too. :P I can't remember what all we did, but usually there's a meal brought to his place or eaten at a restaurante, maybe a mini shopping trip (for Mom's errands or just for the hey of it), and then we watch movies at his place. These last few trips, we may even watch a show or two (he, like Mom and I, records alot of shows from TV :P ). And I remember thinking last Sunday, what would people say if I told them what we did. "Oh yeah, I was at my Dad's and we watched a couple TV shows we'd recorded from the week." I imagined anyone (but say Mom) looking at me funny or saying "well that sounds uh fun I guess." But it was. I mean, Mom and I used to do it all the time. But this past year or two, she or I are always falling behind by too many weeks. Like now, Mom's got soo many tapes to watch, and I've seen them all already. So it was nice to watch shows Dad and I follow together. :)

This week's Target Tuesday trip, I got the latest Star Trek movie (thank you Daddy!) as well as a coupe others. :D It was on sale for nine dollars! That's a good sale for such a new-ish movie. But when we walked out, I noticed they charged us $25. :o Not cool. So we went back in there. The shelf had been empty, so when we asked, an employee claimed there was a bunch in the back and grabbed a copy for me. As the supervisor at customer service mentioned that particular bundle/package was discontinued, I'm guessing that "bunch" was meant for returning to the publishing company for rebundling/packaging. As the sign said nine, we got it for the nine in the end. :) Weeeeeee.... AND AND! It was one of those movies with a digital copy!! So now, when I DO get my butt in gear and re-setup my iTunes Library to sync to my iPod, I'll have my second movie on my iPod. :D

Decisions, Decisions:

Dad: What do you want for dinner?
Me: I dunno, what do you feel like?
Dad: What can your Mom have?

It's a common convo between Dad and I when we're on our way back to my place. :P Unless Mom has a craving, the decision making falls to me. :P Funny enough, a similar discussion goes on whenever Issi and I are out and get hungry. It seems none of us can make decisions. Well no that's a lie. I would probably shout out whatever I was craving, but I don't want to pick something everyone's not gonna enjoy or something someone may get sick of. Cuz I can probably eat burgers and fries every singe day and still not tire of them. I mean I eat sammiches and chips practically every day! Not hard to please me. :P Sometimes I get cravings for something else, but even then I don't like to pick something someone's not gonna like. So round and round we go....

Dinner tonight was El Taco. :) Until Mom goes to the dumb dentist, she's limited to mushier foods still. El Taco and KFC are her top two choices lately. There's something she can eat at most places, but these two are no brainers. :P She looooves her quesadillas (and I had to look up that spelling cuz I'ma bad Messican :P ). They've got some tasty burritos and taquitos too. Anywho, Mom's got enough quesadillas to last her for lunch (and probably dinner too) for tomorrow. :P

Disneyland! Weeeeeee.... :

Over the course of the end of last week and the weekend, I cleaned the house. What brought this on, you may ask? Well, I'm a terrible housewife. I keep the kitchen clean and the rest well... when I feel like it or when company who doesn't frequent is coming over.... And while parking may have prvented Issi from coming in, I had to have the place clean before she came. I know I know, she's seen my place at it's worst in the past. But, at least one out of every few visits, I like to have it cleaned. Can't let everyone think I'm always messy. :P And it's not so much mess and clutter all the time either. It's just dusting and vacuuming. But with hardwood floors, the dust stands out more and requires less vacuuming (cuz it doesn't pick up as well) and more sweeping. So after all that cleaning I was kinda sore. :P Then I went to Disneyland! :P

Monday was a holiday for Issi, so we left my house surprisingly early (for us) at 11ish am and went to a packed park. :P Had to park in the boonies and everything. And were it not for a stroke of luck that night, we might not have found the car, as neither one of us looked at where we parked before walking in. Le whoops? We were there til 7something I think. We went on six rides at two parks, ate a quickie meal early on (cuz I skipped breakfast and she'd skipped lunch), went through the tortilla factory twice :D (free fresh tortilla, yummmm), shopped, got cookies, waited in a lot of lines, got more water (as it was amazingly warm and we drained the bottles we'd brought mid way way :P ), and had a whole lot of fun! Alas, I tried to take pics, but the only one that came out was a candid of Issi on the phone. Which I will not put up, cuz she'd kill me. :P I woulda brought my camera, but the idea is to travel light at an amusement park, and as is, I had my purse (which I normally condense to bare essentials that can fit in pockets but I didn't this time), my water bottle holder with half frozen bottle, a jacket (that I never used ALL day at the park :P ), and a bag of stuff I bought way too early (cuz we weren't sure if we were gonna stay with the crowds and heat being as they were). Anywho, a camera that wouldn't fit in my purse would not have helped. :P I did learn, I should stop taking pics with my cell phone. Most come out like crap now. Or maybe I just notice the grainy-ness of them more.

Picture Time! :

I have neglected my camera some, but when I do pull it out, I use it!

And here I thought it was always Oreo opening cabinets and cupboards. But that is distinctly a Pixie butt! Oy.

Doesn't matter that we give him fresh water with every meal. But every chance he gets, he'll drink water out of cups and bowls from the sink, or in this case next to the sink. >.< At least it wasn't in the sink... I mean soapy water can't be tasty, right? Ah well.... Guess I can't break that habit, as I walk in the kitchen and quite often find a kitty butt sticking out of the sink. Pretty sight. :P

"Do you want to play with me, now?" My wide-eyed Pixie.

"No one wants to play with me."

I  always end up taking a million pics of Pix. But she poses so well! And she's so darn cute. The punkazoid that is Oreo STOPS being cute the moment he hears the camera. So all I ever catch him doing are similar poses I've already shot. Oy. Anywho, Mom and I especially loved this one. :)

She sooo loves the tunnels and cubes and tumbler. She takes at least one nap a day in one of them. :P Came home from a grocery/shopping trip and couldn't find her. Looked EVERYwhere. Should checked the tumbler first. Even after all the noise of going in and out and putting stuff away, she was barely waking from a nap in the tumbler  (which happens to be near the front door) half hour later! Like she'd never heard a thing. Miss Jumpy Pants herself!

My beautiful, baby boy. Oreo's got such a sweet face. :)

He's waiting for me to stop shoving the camera in his face so he can go to sleep. :P

Okay, I'm sure I have more to babble about, but I'll save it for another day. :P Besides I'm hungry and I still got daily cleaning to do... Yay, that's great.

And the Day's Just Starting.....

Last nigght I went to bed at 230ish am, which is super early for me. :P After less than three and a half hours of sleep the night....that day, I fully expected to knock right out. I mean I'd fallen asleep trying to solve a Sudoku puzzle only a half hour earlier! But my brain wouldn't shut off. Maybe it was the music I was playing to go to sleep to, the Avatar soundtrack. Who knows. Anyway, half hour later (I know cuz my stereo sleep timer shut off), I finally fell asleep. I slept good too! But it was short lived. Less than four hours later, I woke up. >.< And the fun begins!

At like 630am, I was awake and trying to tell myself to go back to sleep. But I heard a cat crying really loudly. That has a way of waking up someone real fast. I knew it wasn't one of my babies, but it was a cat crying all the same. I looked outside to see if it was Prailine (the new stray we feed now), but he/she wasn't in sight. I knew it was him/her though, becasue he/she's done that before. Mom heard the cat too, so now we're both up early on a frelling Saturday.  She figured it was feeding time, which of course it was. I'm usually still up to give our babies and the strays breakfast at 6am. Tundra wasn't there, but Prailine was happy to eat. Meowed back at me when I said hello too! He/she's learning to trust us more and more.

Ten minutes later, I'm back in bed. Alarm isn't due to go off til 830am, and I'm hoping to get more sleep. Not that it helped. Again, the brain was awake and wouldn't let me sleep. I listned to Avatar til the sleep timer shut off after half an hour again. I checked the weather online via my cell phone. I thought about writing this blog. :P And of course ten-fifteen-ish minutes before the alarm went off, I finally fell asleep. >.< Ah well. I still feel rested. Anywho, got up and got ready, cuz I'm going with Daddy today. Everything is normal.....

Wrong. The SLIGHT winds (we're talking 10mph tops) and rain knocked over a big tree during the night! I think the only reason we didn't hear it over the wind and rain was because it was so bushy it had a muffled landing. But it did fall on a van, well the brushy part of it. Looks like it pulled up cement sidewalk too. Our street is completely blocked off now. So naturally I ran out and took pics!

And look! It's a crime scene. Mother Nature commited vandalism?

I'm not sure if the sidewalk damage was due to years of root growth or the timber effect.

And he/she ALWAYS wants that parking spot too.... Maybe he/she'll rethink it next time.

Lookeeloos....

Even Tundra (the other stray we feed) came out to see the commotion. :P

Surveying the damage with the lookeeloos. :P

And the day's just starting! Dad will be here soon and I think they're actually trying to do something outside... Time to shut the comp off and go take more pics maybe. :P