My Graveyard

I have discovered the single greatest piece of furniture in the world for all of you expectant parents out there- the 4-in-1 Crib.
This awesome thing converts from a crib, to a toddler bed, to a day bed and finally, to a full-sized bed. This means you can buy 1 freakin’ bed and your kid is covered until they move out (and possibly afterward), provided they don’t bust it somewhere along the way. Hells, dare I say it, but it is possible you buy it for your kid and their kids will be using it! I could be reaching high- but it is in fact possible these suckers could be in use for generations!
Now, it looks like these puppies will set you back around $200. I imagine that’s about the same as buying a crib & a toddler’s bed. See- you lucky dogs can save the cost of an adult sized bed when your kid outgrows the toddler bed.
Perhaps more joyously, is the day bed option. Fold it up during the day land your kid has a couch in their room (wouldn’t that be great for a small bedroom and your kid has friends over? Heck- wouldn’t you like that for if your kid has a member of the opposite sex over and they’re going to “study”? *wink* You’d hear them opening the bed out, they’d never risk it!) maybe more practically- perhaps your kid is off to college, or has moved out, and they’ve left the bed behind- as a daybed, you could make some usable space in that spare bedroom you now have (and if your kid ever moves back in, well- there will be no need to buy another bed and no complaints about sleeping on the couch!)
Nice.

Recently, while out shopping for the forthcoming holiday (whatever you call it, I tend to call it Christmas by default ’cause that’s what I grew up with) Grav pointed out Disney’s platinum edition 2 disc DVD set of Sleeping Beauty. I’m not quite sure why, I think she just wasn’t aware it had gotten a DVD release yet.  But anyway, not really a part of the story.

But, this let me bring up that this particular item has been on my “to buy” list for quite a while.  In fact, it had been on my Amazon.com wishlist for over a year (no, it’s not still there)- I had promised myself when it finally got it’s remastered release I was buying it because Sleeping Beauty is my favorite Disney film of all time.

snippit of my wishlist at Amazon.com

Surprised, Grav said maybe Santa would put it in my stocking this year.  I told her I would like that, but as there were only 6 copies left on the shelf I thought “Santa” should buy it now rather than wait any closer to Christmas.  Point taken and the movie went into the cart.  Yay!

Now, getting on to the “meat” of the story, as we progressed with our shopping, I was chatting merrily along (I do that when I’m very happy) about how happy I was to have the movie, how much I liked it and how I had always wanted to grow up and be like Prince Philip.  This is where Grav looked at me funny and told me I was a strange little girl.

I guess Grav’s comment comes from the common notion that little girls want to grow up and be princesses.  OK- I understand that.  I’ve spoken to many little girls in my time and most of them want to grow up and be princesses.  I’ve never met one who wanted to grow up and be a prince (or even like a prince), and as I explained to Grav, it isn’t particularly that I wanted to grow up and be a prince- I wanted to grow up and be kind, noble & brave (and maybe a good singer, Bill Shirley’s got a lovely voice).  (Totally useless trivia, I got to play Prince Philip once in an after-school play rendition of the film [yes, they based it off the Disney film and not the original book].  I got the part because no one else wanted it.)

I see where by the world’s standards I’m strange and I think that’s a damn shame in this case.  I aspire to be a good person, virtuous and all that, and the world thinks I’m the nutcase for not wanting to be helplessly standing around waiting to be rescued.

I think the world is broken.

Well, there you go.  I’m probably weird, the world’s got to lighten up a bit, and yep- this is my favorite Disney movie.  It features my favorite Disney Princess, my favorite Disney Prince and my favorite Disney Villain.  No other Disney Royals or Villains, in my opinion, can stand up to these three- not that we really need to get into that.  Suffice to say, if you care to argue with me, don’t bother ’cause it’s all personal opinon and I’m hellbent I ain’t changing mine.  =p

Since I am here, thank you “Santa”, thank you Grav; for getting me this present.  I promise to try not play it as often as “White Christmas”, but I do hope you know come Christmas morning, when I get that shrink wrap off, it’s going straight into the DVD player.  I haven’t seen the film in… if we’re not over, close to 20 years now.  (Yes, all this time it’s stayed my favorite, all this time I occasionally start singing “Once Upon a Dream” while I clean the house and all this time Disney’s never managed to outdo itself in my eyes.)  Thank you very, very much!

…and I finally have had to watch ‘Titanic’.
That’s right, it was released December 19, 1997 and I have carefully avoided it since. I was given a copy once, and I managed not to watch it. But tonight, I had to.
Now, “had to” may be a little strong, but the awesome guys over at Rifftrax.com went and made a riff of the movie and since I’m a fan, I’ve gotta watch the movie. Well, I suppose I could have just listened to the riff, but I’m not sure how funny it would be without the visual cues.
What can I say? The riff was pretty funny, but the movie is not only not my cup of tea, it’s not what I expected. Seriously, all the darn Kate & Leonardo screen time is a flashback. WTH.

Released less than a month ago, Harvest Moon Animal Parade is one of the two latest additions to the Harvest Moon videogame series (Harvest Moon Sunshine Islands for the Nintendo DS is the other, released the same day here in the US).  Being an enormous fan of the series (proudly owning a copy of each US release!), you can bet I had a copy reserved (not that Gamestop could get it to me…but that’s another story).  I’m happy to tell everyone that the game is well worth the price (as long as you like this type of game, of course).

As ever, you get a farm (or ranch, depending on what they call it) and one of your goals is to run it well.  How you do this is quite a bit to your own tastes (not quite as free as things were for Magical Melody, but quite free), specialize where you will: crop growing, animal raising, fishing the ocean & streams or mining for jewels day in, day out.  Ultimate goal, save the land- a recurring trend in the later games (and not an unfamiliar hook to any roleplayer): the Harvest Goddess’ powers are weak, her tree is dying and you must restore them.  To do this you must find, restore and ring the 5 Element Bells, summon the Harvest King and then you’ve fixed the main plot.  But it doens’t end, as you can continue on in your little farmer life, wooing the local guys or gals (depending on if you decide to play as a male or female) and having children and working that ranch for all it’s worth.  You can also buy secondary (and so on) homes that are scattered over the land & on a nearby island.  Much fun.

But, this isn’t all that I want to say on the topic.  One of the neatest things I find about this game (and indeed, pretty much any game of this type) is that though the big goal is the same, how different people play it seems to make a fairly remarkable difference.  I will illustrate this by showing you how Grav & I are faring so far.

What’s the same?  First, neither of us have completed the ultimate goal of the game (we’re still working on restoring the tree).  Neither of us have played further in that Summer Year 1.  Neither of us has married a local and settled down.  We both still have the starter home and all the starter buildings.

What’s different?  Well, our skill sets are, but that’s a little boring to get into much detail with.  Suffice to say, what we do in the game makes a big difference in how our skills progress.  Grav loves to mine, so her character has a higher skill with her hammer.  I cut more grass to feed my animals with, so my sickle’s skill is superior to her’s.  She’s chosen to play a female and seduce a local male villager, while I picked a male character, intent to woo the elusive (but not impossible) Harvest Goddess to be my wife.  Other than that, I would leave all the remaining differences up to play style.  Here we go:

Day Currently playing:

• Me: Year 1 Summer 16 (Day 44)
• Grav: Year 1 Summer 19 (Day 47)

Attempting to woo:

• Me: Harvest Goddess (back up is Candace)
• Grav: Wizard (back up is Chase)

Number of Elemental Bells rung (of 5):

• Me: 4
• Grav: 4

Number of Villagers with hearts:

• Me: 1
• Grav: 4

Number of Wild Animals with hearts:

• Me: 5
• Grav: 2

Number of Animals owned:

• Me: 1 Cow, 1 Chicken, 1 Duck, 2 Sheep
• Grav: 1 Cow, 1 Chicken, 2 Ducks, 1 Sheep

Cash on hand (Gold):

• Me: 34,993G
• Grav: 2,230G

Total gold earned to date (broken down by category, includes cash on hand):

Me-

• Farm 96,769G
• Animal 13,013G
• Mining 10,590G
• Fish 16,474G
• Other 33,560G
• Grand total 170,406G

Grav-

• Farm 58,832G
• Animal 2,810G
• Mining 42,740G
• Fish 3,844G
• Other 36,773G
• Grand total 144,999G

Well, there you go.  Obviously, very different areas of concentration even though the meat of the game is the same.  That’s just awesome.  =)

Last night, between 6 & 7, my mom called to tell me she was chasing off after the ambulance that was rushing my Grandmother to the hospital. She couldn’t tell me what was going on, but did say she couldn’t get in touch with my brother and that she’d call again when she knew something. I told her I would call my brother and stressed to her that I wanted her to call me at any time she had new information. I didn’t care if it was in an hour, 3 hours or 10 hours, but as soon as she knew something, call.
My brother’s phone wasn’t picking up, so I left him a text (it usually works best anyway). About an hour later he called, neither of us had any info to exchange. Nobody had heard any updates. I promise I will send word if I get any news. He does too. We hang up and wait.
And I wait.
And I wait.
3 hours later, I decide to try going to bed. I know I won’t sleep, but I have to try.
And I lie awake.
And I lie awake.
And I continue to lie in bed and wait for a phone call.
And I wait.
And I wait some more. It’s after 11.
I wait.
I finally fall asleep.
I wake up, it feels like I’ve slept a long time, but it’s a dead/no rest sleep. The alarm hasn’t gone off. The world is still quiet. It’s 1 am. No phone call.
I fall back asleep, hoping to be woken up by that phone call.
I sleep.
I wake up. The alarm has still not gone off. There’s quite a bit of traffic outside. That’s not right, that amount of traffic couldn’t possibly be bustling along before 4 am. I look at the clock. The clock says it’s 6. The alarm was scheduled for 4. I’m an hour late for work, and I’ve had no phone call.
I go to work. It’s hard to “make up” the hour I’ve lost. The work load will suffer because certain things are just supposed to be done well before we open to the public. They won’t be this morning. It’s just not possible to put 2 hours worth of work into 1 hour, but I try. After 2 hour’s work I’ve settled the equilibrium to within a half-hour of where I should be in the work day. Not shabby, but short-cuts aren’t always a good thing.
But there’s no phone call.
Within 15 minutes, I get a phone call. My Gram is stable, but they don’t know what’s wrong. They’re making a guess treatment, though they can find no evidence of what they’re treating her for. Reminds me of House, M.D. The doctors make a few guesses, nearly kill the patient, cure them and send them home. Sucky, but that’s how it is. As amazing as modern medicine is, it’s a long way from perfect.
Poor mom, she just got home right? That’s why I get a call 14 hours after the first one? No. She got home at 11 pm, and went to bed. She calls when she wakes up the next morning.
What?
Wait, worse. Brother is there and he didn’t call either.
Me, worried sick all night. Up later than they were waiting for a phone call telling me is every thing is OK, or not.

Pfft.

OK, less story, more to the point. I don’t care how tired you are, pick up that damn phone and call me. Just tell me “She’s stable, I’ll call you again tomorrow.” ANYTHING. Don’t be leaving me in limbo wondering what happened. No news is NOT good news in a case like this. No news in this case is the assumption that for some reason, my mom can’t call. That probability could be because she forgot her cell phone or that while chasing after the ambulance last night during the snowstorm, she went off the road and got herself killed.
Yeah, so maybe I worry too much. Sure, it was unlikely (though you’ve never seen my mom drive). But still, the thoughts go through your head when you’re hours away and completely helpless in the situation.

Not seriously, but I had my wisdom teeth removed and I was trying to think up a snappy title for this post. Did it get your attention?
Everything went according to plan and the actual surgery was done in a half-hour (I was surprised too). I’ve got one whole stitch and luckily, not too much pain or swelling (honestly, the pain is less than the pain the teeth were causing me!)
I’m on an medication regimen for the next several days and will be back to work this weekend.
OK, just wanted you all to know I made it fine and didn’t have any of the scary surgery risks (like a punctured sinus cavity or broken jaw). Time for another nap I think. =)

My favorite holiday has come around once again. =)

So, what are you doing to celebrate this most wondrous of nights? Attending a masquerade? Trick or treating? Lighting jack o’ lanterns? Handing out candy to disguised neighborhood children? Watching the Nightmare Before Christmas? Maybe something a little more eclectic, like Deathtrap? Something more modern, such as… well- there’s countless horror movies you could be watching.
Personally, I’m sitting here quietly at home, awaiting dinner, listening to the rainstorm that’s going on and a special Halloween play list Grav threw together (because we just didn’t dig the one Napster had available. Seriously- “Mr. Sandman”, even covered, is NOT a Halloween styled tune people!)

However you choose to spend your holiday (gathering candy, watching a DVD, partying or observing a religious event), I hope you have a lovely night.

Every once and a while, you have to treat yourself to something fun or you will go crazy from the monotonous cycle of work>chores>eat>sleep>repeat. I could give you an essay about the importance of entertainment in everyday life, but just take my word for it (or play The Sims for an hour or two), entertainment is a real need.
Most people I know watch TV for entertainment (or DVDs), some read books, some doodle, some role play, some play board games, some play with their kids or pets, some craft, some play video games, some do an assortment (or all) of the above. Today, I am going to direct you to our latest treat, a new game we bought over the weekend for our Wii.
This game is called “Help Wanted“. You elect to be one of two playable characters, the older brother or older sister of a family (quite a large family, actually). Your job? Work. You will work roughly 6 days a week to save up money to buy items from a television shopping network to save the Earth from assorted objects that will come flying at it from space.
Yes. The Earth is under attack from meteors, space guardians and things uniquely in Japanese humor: bowls of ramen and “mystery objects” hurled from the loin cloth of aliens.
What jobs do you work? There’s the normal jobs: clerk at a store, dry cleaner, tailor; then there’s the weirder jobs: deep sea diver, cleaning crew (washing off jets with a mop) and interpreter.
This is really a collection of mini-games wrapped into the world saving theme, but it’s enjoyable none the less.
Some key points to make: this game is made by Hudson (they do much awesomeness), it’s rated for ages 10+ and features practice and head-to-head modes (so you and your friends can see who’s the quickest Sushi Chef, the best Aerial Photographer, the fastest Courier or who can land the biggest catch as a Fisher [or at least whoever can catch that #$&^%* sting ray!]).
In conclusion, if you have a Wii and are looking for something cute with mini-games and you have $30, this is for you.

(Pardon the photo quality, my web cam’s not the best; but it works.)

OK, it’s not my first ever tomato (not the first I’ve ever grown and certainly not the first I’ve ever eaten!), but it’s the first of this season and the first from our garden ever (the heavy rains killed the entire garden last year, including a gorgeous Brandywine Tomato plant given to us by Gravity’s Mom, dammit!).

This little beauty is a German Queen, an heirloom variety tomato of the beefsteak type.  Usually these get upwards of 1 or 2 pounds, this one is small (as you can tell by my fingers being in the way there), but weighed too much for the branch he was on and fell off early, he weighs pretty close to a pound though.

Much of garden didn’t survive the heavy rain again this year.  We lost our watermelons, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, butternut squash and spinach.  (We only planted those plus tomatoes, carrots & peppers though- not including herbs).  Knowing the weather patterns we’d tried something different this year and mound planted much of the above and container planted the tomatoes, peppers, carrots & spinach.  Most of the container planting did well (if the going was a bit slow due to lack of sunshine) and I think next year we’ll go exclusively with container and raised bed gardening and hope for a better crop with the better drainage.

There are 3 more tomatoes on the vine currently and one of the plants has just blossomed (only a couple months later than the other 2 plants).  We have 3 peppers growing on the vine and a few blossoms left (again, one plant was slower than the others).  The carrots are looking well, though Gravity pulled one last week in the hopes of a two-bite snack and found a very thin root with a small resemblance to a parsnip (no orange color yet), I’d guess they have at least another month to go before we get anything usable.

OK, just wanted to share my joy with you. 

Well, that’s the shorter way to say 11 months, 2 weeks and 3 days, isn’t it?  Maybe I should have said “Only 10 more days until 1 year down!”  Oh well, next time/next year.

A lot has gone on in the past couple of months at work (I did write you a lovely rant about it, but sadly I had no clue I was trying to post it during Blog.com’s format conversion and it got lost in the works somewhere).  We had the remodel (boy do I hope I never have to work in a grocery store for one of those again!), we’ve had a little bit (not much) of staff roll-over in my department and generally, morale is down.

If I were to try to cut the remodel situation down to a paragraph, I think it would go like this: the hired contractors largely sucked.  There was a lot of poor quality work performed, a lot of safety hazards left behind on a daily basis (resulting in 2 semi-serious injuries of our employees) and lots of corner-cutting to save time & money.

Now that we’re done with the remodel and approaching our final week of the grand re-opening (it runs a full month long), I am hoping to find some peace working it’s way back to the store overall.  There’s been a lot of stress for pretty much everybody and we really need an opportunity to kick back and regain our sanity.

There’s been no change in my title since I was hired.  Not the full-time guy’s either, but there’s definitely been a difference in our treatment over the last few months.  When the Produce Manager would go on vacation before, the duties used to be pretty evenly split between us- this is no longer so.  He now gets about 95% of the responsibility and I have one specific manager task I perform.  I don’t know exactly why this is and I don’t ask.  I assume it’s not that I wasn’t making the grade, but rather that he’s supposed to be the Assistant Produce Manager and therefore, it is his job to take over the Produce Manager’s responsibilities.  This is how it’s been the last times the Produce Manager has been on vacation, so I assume this is how it will continue to be.

Don’t worry, I’m not upset about it.  I wasn’t planning on staying at the Grocery Store forever (though I know I’m going to be there quite a while waiting for something better to crop up in this economy) and it’s just not worth getting upset about.  Frankly, if you make minimum wage- you shouldn’t be doing the work of Management anyway (the full-time guy doesn’t get a Manager’s pay, but he does get more per hour than I do.  Full-timers get more money to start than part-timers.  Isn’t that stupid?)

I guess there isn’t too much more to say about it without going into some sort of tirade, so I’ll hush up for now (at least about this).

10 more days and I get my “1 year of service” pin, just 10 more.  Oh, and my raise!  Don’t worry, I already know what it will be.  The corporate machine is very set about this.  You do a good job and you’re not a Manager, you get a raise of 25 cents per hour (if you work full-time, that’s an extra $10 a week or $520 a year).  You do a good job and you’re a Manager, you get 50 cents per hour (That’s an extra $20 a week, or $1,040 a year).  In my case, I’m not full-time, and based on my average schedule, I figure for about an extra $8 or $9 per week.

Remind me not to do the math on that again, okay?