I'm so excited!

In one week I will be in Houston for a trip to IKEA and a mini-vacation! I have about $500 to spend on the whole trip (!!), and I'm so freaking excited!

I've already started a shopping list (but don't tell my boyfriend- he already thinks I'm crazy). :DDDDDD

Can I just say that bear attacks have nothing on chimpanzee attacks. NOTHING. That story fairly recently about that chimp that attacked that woman and ripped off her hands and face- that was freaking tame! Some of these attacks are puke worthy. Like, just listening to the description made me sick- and that's pretty effing hard to do!

Uggg.

So I wrote for three days on NaNoWriMo, actually making my word count and doing it easily...and then nothing for the rest of the month. Weirdest part is that I didn't feel horrible at all about it. In the past I'd feel guilty that I'd try to write and couldn't.

I think it might mean I'm done (at least for now) with NaNoWriMo. I probably won't be doing it next year.

I've started considering seriously making an effort to sell things through Etsy. I've had a couple of ideas that I really like, at least one of which would be easy to pump out in a fashion that would at least give me something to put on the site. I'm not thinking about making it a focus or to try to make a good amount of money off my stuff, but I think it'd be nice to push myself creatively.

Oddly enough, my stepmother actually made a comment a couple of weeks ago that I needed to do my art for art's sake. I was utterly shocked. Both she and my dad have, since I was little, belittled by wish to be creative for a living. To hear her say this was mind-blowing, but strangely enough it made me happy.

I think it feels like a recognition of the fact that I have talent. I know the people who have supported me believe I have talent, but coming from someone who's never encouraged it, it's a confirmation that's pretty cool.

It feels weird saying this. I don't feel the need to have her support in what I choose to do with my life, but I guess it's more of a relief, because now it feels like it won't always be a struggle against her and my dad. It makes dealing with them less stressful.

Now if only everything else was less stressful!

Speaking of less stressful, for Black Friday today was damn near dead at work. I just fiddled around all day, and I'm expecting it'll be near similar tomorrow. Who knows! But I'm liking it.

Slender Man makes baby Rebeka cry and have nightmares.

Seriously, if you're prone to nightmares or have a vivid imagination, don't go there. I'm gonna have nightmares tonight, but I can't stop.

Last night (early this morning really, but I'd only been in bed for four hours, so...) I took Annie out to pee her. While I was standing there, Annie started straining to look behind her. When I turned to look, this small orange tabby was coming up to us. He walked all the way up to Annie and sniffed her nose. She growled and kind of went for him. I stopped her and he hissed, but he didn't go away.

I took Annie a bit further from the door, hoping he would go away, and I could get her to do her business. She wouldn't go and just kept straining to see behind us, so I picked her up and turned around.

The cat was gone. I looked around and in the parking lot, but he wasn't there. I walked back to the apartment. I had left the door cracked a bit, because I was just staying right there- and the cat was in the apartment!

I tried calling him to get him to come out, but he just went further in. I followed him, and he went behind Annie's crate of stuff we have in the living room. Annie is not happy, because she can see him, and when went and put her into her bed, she started barking like crazy.

When I came back out into the living room, the cat had moved under my work desk. I managed to get him out and pick him up. The boyfriend had woken up to yell at Annie at that point, so I went into the bedroom and showed him the cat.

I got the cat some food and took him outside. I felt so bad. He was such a sweetheart. I really wanted to keep him, but I knew I couldn't. :(

I'm really starting to get annoyed.

I'm taking a logic class, which is basically how to think logically and create a good argument for a position. Or something to that affect.

This week we are talking about definitions. The whole point of the exercise is to define words and then answer questions based on those definitions.

This means paying attention to what the words actually mean and not what we have come to believe they mean. One of the words we are using has a very specific component that everyone is ignoring in favor of it's more accepted meaning.

If we are going to just go with that meaning, then why the fuck are we even bothering to define these words by their actual meanings? Why the fuck is it important to establish their real meanings when everyone's just going to talk about their accepted meanings?

It's also boggling me, because we are trying to define an act in relation to the emotions attached to it. However, the reason for the act is supposed to change what the act is? Even if the emotions are exactly the same? NO! It's our perceptions of that act that have changed- not the act or the emotions involved! Why is this so goddamned hard to understand?

Also, if you are trying to define an act based on the emotions of the person committing the act, wouldn't it be important to, I don't know, actually have some idea as to the emotions of the person actually committing the act? Otherwise you are merely speculating based on your own perception.

And, again, even if you are judging from outside, then WHY are you going to ignore a real definition for an accepted definition when the point is to USE THE REAL DEFINITION?

Uuuuggghhhh...

Congratulations Card by ~DreamingFree on deviantART

Huh! I didn't know you could do this! Well, there ya go. :D

On a side note, I'm using the actual LJ update page instead of Deepest Sender, and I had a rough draft saved on here from well over a year ago!

Oh, my good God.

Microsoft Courier

I about peed myself when I saw the video. I want this SO. DAMN. BAD. How fucking amazing would this be? Someone commented what it would be like to have books on this thing. If they gave it Kindle-like abilities, I'd start saving up right now to buy this thing when it came out. It looks just amazing!

I got $75 worth of gift certificates to Amazon through my rewards checking and MyPoints. I bought the whole series of Dead Like Me, plus the movie, and I still had enough to get the boyfriend a CD (which I only did because I love this stupid man to death).

I have to say, spending money that isn't mine is very nice.

We hired a new assistant manager at work, which means VACATION! I'm tentatively planning to ask for the last week of January off.

The boyfriend is up for a promotion at work, which could mean as much as $100 more a week for us. He's already said that if he gets the job, he'd be willing to buy a wheelchair for Annie so that she can go on long walks again without tiring herself out so badly.

I've also decided that since this month has five weekends, I'm going to treat the extra money as a reward for making it through the sale without going completely insane, and Mom and I are going to IKEA on Saturday. I should totally be putting this money toward all my debt, but this weekend is my first weekend off since June, and I plan on enjoying it!

Okay, I've apparently decided that I'm writing for NaNoWriMo this year.

I'm on crack. Or something. Seriously.

I don't have time or energy to write a novel in 30 days. But I want to try it again. :( or :) I haven't decided yet.

*signs*

All I did was bitch in my last post. XP

Okay, the boyfriend and I had a sweet, lazy morning. Then we headed over to Habanero's and had some delicious burritos. I had my usual favorite: cilantro-lime rice, refried beans, steak, potatoes, double helping of squash, queso, two types of cheese, and sour cream. Fuck yeah.

We had the brief interlude at this point while we were trying to decide on movie time.

So afterward, we headed back out, and went to Target. We're going up to Louisiana in a little over a week and for Mother's Day, his mother is having a family portrait taken. I am to be a part of that portrait. I had to buy some nice white and navy clothes, which I found after three seconds. I also bought a new mouse for my laptop (my tablet is wearing out). The boyfriend bought a game for his XBox.

Then we went and watched Terminators. It was pretty good. I wanted to see it mainly for the action and the CG, and it definitely didn't disappoint in that aspect. It wasn't a totally amazing movie, but it was a good date movie. :)

We ended up grocery shopping when I had only wanted to buy a cake. It was a nice, mostly lazy day, and it was honest-to-goodness a day just spent being together. It was very nice.

Seriously, Space Cases effing rocked! I was wandering around YouTube and stumbled across a tribute to Nickelodeon from the old school days (read: my days) and there were links to Space Cases episodes!

I'm watching it right now, and as cheesy as it is, I can't help but love it still. This show is totally the precursor to Farscape. :)

I would totally buy these DVDs if they actually existed.

Bronchitis again. Yay. Came out with three prescriptions. Getting my blood drawn for my thyroid since I've been slacking off on that. *coughs*

Anyway. I'm going to have to head out soon so that I can see if there's even a tiny chance of me getting my antibiotic filled today.

Nothing much else to add. Well, not right now anyway. Too lazy...

So, I sort of gave up on NaNoWriMo, but I'm surprisingly okay with that. I got to about 16k, and I started a story that I really had fun with. I might keep writing on it just for the pure fun of it.

I had Thanksgiving with Mom, which was delicious and fun. Then I had Thanksgiving with Dad and Stepmom, and it was surprisingly nice. Boyfriend and I came back with a ton of leftovers.

I have tomorrow (technically today) off, which is fantastic. I'm planning on sleeping the day away just because I can.

The boyfriend is also going to get me Animal Crossing: City Folk when he gets paid again as an early Christmas gift. :) I'm excited. My brother loaned me his Wii, so I get to play it as soon as I get it. I'm super excited. I guess I should start thinking of city and character names. :)

I'm watching this purity ball thing where it talks about the movement for girls to pledge to not be intimate until their marriage. "Be intimate," by the way, is a very broad term. It does include kissing and, for one girl, hand holding.

The idea behind this movement is that in every girl there is a question about her worthiness that can only be answered by her father. If her father isn't part of her life, then she forever feels worthless and goes to men to feel worthy.

I can't begin to say just how wrongly this strikes me. First, the only thing this attitude is teaching this girl is that her worthiness is based on someone else's view of her. Every one, boy or girl, should be taught that their worthiness comes from within. They certainly shouldn't be taught that without their father's approval they aren't good enough, which is where building such a dependency heads.

I haven't seen the full story yet, but there is one girl on here who broke her purity vow and has been treated like shit by her parents since then. She's living with her boyfriend, but they won't even respect her relationship with that boyfriend.

Basically, such drastic means of controlling their daughters just comes across like a power struggle.

Secondly, the mother is completely devalued, at least in the way it's been presented so far. I'm sorry, but mother's are very important in helping a woman define herself as she grows up and acting like it's all about the father's role in her life is idiotic.

Thirdly, I take issue to just how much is defined as unacceptable. I honestly think that waiting to have sex until you're in a steady, long term relationship or married is the best way to go. But not even holding hands? Thinking that even that kind of physical touch distracts from getting to know a person? That's... I don't know what to think of that. Physical touch is very important to creating a bond. I mean, consider how important touch is for infants and their development. I seriously doubt that the importance of touch becomes devalued as we grow older. Acting like touching somehow takes away from a connection to a person is ridiculous.

(I also find it very strange that for people who are so strict, even the little girls are painted up like dolls with their hair all hair sprayed into up-dos.)

I think the thing that gets me is that the values beneath it are good values. The idea is to teach their daughters that they are good women and should value themselves enough to pick a man who will respect them, but they do it in such a way that her value becomes totally dependent on her father's view of her and on living by his rules. It's not helping to build a person who can stand on her own two feet. It's building someone who will always be dependent on someone else- a man, at that.

Edited to add:

I also wanted to talk about this spiel that was given by one of the mothers on the show about how women get emotionally involved (more so than men, apparently- and I won't even go into what kind of shit that is) and give away pieces of their heart. So by being in multiple relationships they give away this piece and that piece and when they finally marry their husbands, they don't have a whole heart to give to him.

She also said that it was a bad thing to get your heart broken, and implied that it somehow makes you less of a wife to have had heartbreak in your life.

Seriously, what kind of bullshit is this? Just because you might have loved one person, you can't fully love someone else? I don't get this logic. I also don't see how having your heartbroken somehow makes you less of a person, or less worthy of the man you will marry in the future. How are you supposed to grow or learn anything if you don't actually, you know, experience anything?

It just boggles my mind. The whole thing just devalues women in an unbelievable way.

I have to critique some pieces for my class, and oh my God, the grammar, it kills me.

SO BAD. SO VERY BAD.

More simple.

There instead of their. (I had to purposefully mistype "their" into "there" (and again).)

Incorrect tenses.

It just blows my mind. How effing sad are these people?

What really gets me is that one of the worst with grammar is trying to create an EDUCATIONAL product in their project. *slams head on desk*

Oh, yeah:

Woo hoo!

Not only did I make Friday's word count by 1:30am on Friday, but I also made up for not writing the past three days. XD



This year is terribly easy compared to my first year doing this. I was just absolutely bogged down like crazy my first year. The last few years I haven't even been able to write, so I'm a little stunned that it's coming so easily this year.

I think it helps that I'm in a better place, plus I've decided I'm just having fun. I'm not worrying about writing something serious so it's okay to get a little cooky. I mean, my characters are evolving into dinosaurs after all! Who wouldn't enjoy writing such oddball fluffery? :)

I'm going through projects in my class, and not one of these people can write properly. I'm not talking about little mistakes either. I'm talking about big, repeated mistakes, incomplete sentences, and just bad grammar that's inexcusable.

I effing hate college sometimes.