My Graveyard

Due to a large quantity of spammy comments, I have taken to moderating all comments.  Well, if you have posted an “approved” comment before, your comment will be processed normally via a handy setting.  All other comments will be held until I clear them (or not).

Also, anonymous comments are no longer permitted across the board.  If you don’t have a Blog.com account and are not logged when you try to comment, you will not be able to.

Additionally, some posts will simply not allow commenting altogether (such as the post that gets the most spam traffic, I’m removing it’s comment-ability).

I don’t want gibberish posted all over the place trying to sell us on crappity websites or scam sites if we don’t have to be subjected to them (nobody makes $1500 a day at home sitting on their butts, nice try guys).

Thank you for your understanding.

(This post will NOT support comments)

Well, things were getting mighty rough at ye old grocerie shoppe and I decided to move on.

Of course, that was almost a year ago.  It took that long to find another job.

The job market still sucks.  Most jobs offered require a degree (surprised I don’t have one?  No, I didn’t think you were.) and many of them won’t budge on that point.  I don’t see how a degree in Liberal Arts qualifies me for a job answering a phone anyway.

OK- Grav has explained to me why they truly do want you to go to college and I say to you employers- THAT IS STUPID.  I am NOT going to pay $60K for a piece of paper that says “This document certifies that Harmonixer knows how to be punctual and do work in an alloted time frame.”  I have been in the work force nearly 20 years.  *20*  Doesn’t that mean something?  No?   Guess not, ’cause I got shot down for something like 12 jobs over it.

Maybe I should have resorted to bribery?  No, I don’t have a $60K piece of paper, but I’ve brought you a shiny new fiver…

But in any case, an opportunity fell into my lap and with some thought, I decided to leap on it.  It’s not a flashy job and it’s only a temporary job- but it’s an important job, because it will open doors for me later.   So, here I am- less than one week to starting a 4-5 month stint in an office job,working that 9-5 thing, 5 days a week.

Here’s hoping it goes as well as can be expected, and that I can do it as well as Grav expects I can!

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.  =)

(Edit: March 2011- due to an insane amount of spam comments being made on this post, I am removing  permissions for comments to be left on it.  Thank you.)

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.