I'm Back!

I've been away for a little while, pretty busy with work and other things. Whoops! Back now though.

One of the things keeping me busy in my offtime has been a returning love for rifling through the racks at thrift stores. Goodwills and Salvation Armies are the prevailing names around here, although we have other small ones and the DAV (which I haven't hit yet). Salvation Army has been stepping it up with their sales. They have had something called a 'bric-brac sale,' where anything 3.99 and under is a dollar if you get ten items. So that's ten for ten for any dishes, boxes, candles, etc. Small appliances aren't included though.

Also there was a particular store that had a similar deal with clothes. Five for five with ANY clothing items except formal and outer wear. I just walked out of a store with eightteen shirts and two ties the other day for twenty bucks. And not all thrift store merchandise is trashy. A lot of nice things can be found, REALLY nice. Sure, it's hard to find things that fit just right, but now that I have a sewing machine it's not too much trouble to take most things in a few inches.

Old School Love

I have been hooked on this track lately. It's a remix of the Zeal Palace theme from the classic SNES game, Chrono Trigger. Zeal was always my favorite part of the game. For those who aren't familiar with CT, Zeal was a skyborn floating continent in the far past (the dark ages) of the game's history. It was inhabited by humans who had the ability to use magic, and studied the mysteries of the universe through dreams. As I mentioned in a previous entry, I've always had an interest in the Atlantis myth, and that may be why Zeal has always been so fascinating to me.

I Love Rocks

I collect a few things. Clothes, jewelry (specifically rings, more specifically sterling and gemstone), and beads. Last night I began my latest endeavor to combine the latter most two. So I consulted eBay for ideas, and decided on a multi-strand design with a big-ass pendant. I have had some amazonite chips lying around and decided I wanted to use them because their color is a good match for my favorite ring, which has a big square cabochon of chrysoprase (raw gem is pictured right). Prehnite (the light, clear green stone chips) is another favorite stone of mine, and I decided the colors worked well enough to use them both. Also I have a prehnite ring that I love but the stone is loose so I don't wear it right now.



Ta daaa! It took a little while because chip beads are irregular (obviously) so it takes a little longer to find the hole and string them, but joining the wires at the ends was the biggest pain in the ass. I accidentally cut the first two wires too short, so I realized (too late) I had very little slack to work with. Trying to get short wires into a loop around a chain and then back through a crimp bead is meticulous work. Too meticulous for me, because I gave up and just used bead tips instead (which worked out really well actually). The pendant by the way is a big slice of dyed turquoise, about three inches long. The small yellow/green rounds are some yellow jade I've had for a while and didn't know what to do with. I'm pretty happy with it, but the loop holding the pendant on I might rework later because there's a little slack which shows the wire between beads. I already have requests from some friends to make them some accessories, too!

Jennifer's Body

I just watched this movie the other night on HBO and found it surprisingly entertaining. It stars the gorgeous Megan Fox as well as the also beautiful Amanda Seyfried. If you haven't seen this movie, skip this entry because I'll spoil it for you. It's part chick flick, part horror film. The story goes that Jennifer (Fox) and Needy (Seyfried) and high school students and were childhood best friends, although in their adolescence they have drifted apart. Jennifer, a common element in any high school, is beautiful, popular, two-faced, bitchy, and kind of a slut, but also deeply insecure, unsure of herself, and doesn't have many close friends. In fact, though not as close as they used to be, Needy would be the closest thing to a BFF she has.

When a mediocre indie band comes to perform at a high school band, Jennifer gets rather friendly with them, even throwing out the falsehood that she is a virgin (which Needy explains later hasn't been true since junior high). Later that night, Jen goes for a ride with the band in their old van and becomes worried when she notices the abundance of occult paraphernalia. When they refuse to let her leave the van, she panics and they restrain her, then taking her to a small cliff out in the woods overlooking a waterfall. There, they gag her and bind her to a large, table-like stone before explaining that they plan on using her as a virgin sacrifice to procure their fame. She is then stabbed multiple times and bled after a short incantation.

Jennifer later explains to Needy that she somehow found her way back to her childhood BFF's house, but along the way she ripped apart and ate a foreign exchange student. Apparently Jennifer was resurrected, but she has a deep feeling of hunger that can only be sated by human flesh. After she has been filled, her skin is bright, her hair is shiny, and she can endure great wounds that heal within moments. When she is empty, she becomes weak and ugly... Well, ugly for Megan Fox anyway (which isn't bad at all).

After a series of local murder/mutilations, Needy begins her own research into the occult and discovers that the original ritual that turned her childhood friend into a flesh hungry monster should have left her dead... If she had been a true virgin. Since she was no longer an unopened flower however, she became a demon of sorts. The only way to slay the demon is to stab it in the heart when it's hungriest.

Long story short, Jennifer kills Needy's boyfriend, Needy kills Jennifer (but not before being bitten on the shoulder) and is put away in a mental institution. Then she breaks out (using what appears to be super-human strength) tracks down the crappy band that started this all, and kills them in their hotel room before making a quiet getaway. Go Needy!

Something Interesting

A friend just pointed this site out to me tonight. Paybox is apparently an up and coming online payment processing company, much like the popular PayPal. Right now they have a special where new users who sign up are labeled as Early Birds. By taking surveys and giving feedback, you earn money in an online account on a daily basis before the full version of this service is launched. Users can also earn money by referring their friends at a rate of five dollars per referral. From what I was told, you can't cash the money in, but once PayBox is launched, you'll be able to use it for goods through a number of online stores, including eBay which I use very frequently.

There are a few rules. You must take at least one survey per week, and you must subscribe to them either through e-mail, or through a number of available social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter.

All in all it sounds like an interesting experiment to try out, and I'd advise anyone who's curious to go ahead and sign up!

I Need Life Insurance

For a better life, haha. Back in early August I was laid off from my job because of red tape with the Department of Inspections and Appeals. I was told I would be back to work by the end of the month. When I didn't hear back from them, I called in the fourth week and was told they just received my case and hadn't even started investigating! Apparently, someone else had turned the nursing home I worked in for deficiencies and they would have to resolve that case before even opening mine. So I've been sitting around like a bum practically unemployed, just waiting. Of course I was denied unemployment, so I'm grateful to my parents for helping me. But the thing that has helped me most of all has been my own forgetfulness!

I started filling out my FAFSA for student financial aid and realized, "Whoops! I forgot to do my income taxes back in April!" Luckily, I never claim any dependents, so I never owe the IRS anything. In fact, the IRS owes me every year! So I ended up getting a nice chunk of change direct deposited two weeks after filing, even though I was a few months late. Just in time, too. I have State Farm Auto Insurance and they don't like when I'm late. My auto insurance bill jumped up almost ten dollars a while back because I was so late they had to reinstate my account. I wonder if anyone out there can recommend a better source for auto insurance? State Farm is okay, but I pay 102 a month just for liability. Sure, my driving record is less than spotless, and yeah I have a little debt and some issues with poor credit (although I've been doing pretty well to consolidate). Does that mean I have to pay a hundred bucks just to fix the other guy's car if I wipe out in a snow storm?

Speaking of automobiles and forgetfulness, I really need to get the oil changed in my car. I always forget until my dad asks me, and then I just top off the oil for fear of him checking it and yelling at me for having it low. Ridiculous considering I'm 22 and moved out of his place after high school. Another thing I'm horrible at remembering is checking the air in the tires. I have been driving around with a little bulge on my front driver's side tire for a little while, and winter's coming so I'll have to be more diligent. I love my car though, it's very reliable. I got it last year from a private seller I found through Craigslist. It's a 2002 Ford Taurus and had 76,000 miles on it when I bought it. I've actually grown to respect Ford Taurus because my first car was a Mercury Sable (which is almost the same thing) that I drove head on into an oncoming van at 45 miles per hour. After pulling the front end back out and replacing the radiator and fan, it worked find until I totaled it during a winter storm that same year. My last car was a Ford Taurus station wagon, a '94 I believe. Never gave me any problems, and even after I fell asleep and rolled it off the on ramp of the interstate, all we had to do was put new brakes in. I gave it to my sister, and she's driving it to this day!

What kind of car do you drive?

Mark Ryden

One of my favorite artists! His painting are usually of a surreal nature, often featuring child-like figures with bloated heads among a wide variety of other recurring figures. Figures like strange eyes in strange places, Santa Claus, Jesus, strange occultic symbols, meat, bees, and even Abraham Lincoln! I adore the painting to the right for a few reasons. First of all, it's a great piece by my favorite artist. Secondly, the subject is my favorite musician, Bjork! And third of all, the vintage look of the pastel colors is just a great look. In fact, it was one of the reasons I began admiring his work. Mark has done a variety of works based on celebrity subjects such as Christina Ricci, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jimmy Hendrix, and Sarah Michelle Gellar. And now I must ask the question: was GaGa inspired by Ryden or vice versa?



If you yourself are a Ryden fan, you may have noticed that my current profile picture is a snip of one of the paintings from his exhibition "Tree Show." Who's your favorite artist and why?

Mesothelioma and Asbestos

Mesothelioma, more precisely malignant mesothelioma, is a rare form of cancer that develops from the protective lining that covers many of the body's internal organs, the mesothelium. It is usually caused by exposure to asbestos.

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I see commercials for Mesothelioma lawsuits and Mesothelioma lawyers all over television these days. As mentioned above, mesothelioma is most commonly caused by asbestos exposure. A third of all people diagnosed with mesothelioma are veterans, which may explain why mesothelioma is so much more readily found in males. Even though mesothelioma is usually fatal, there is also benign mesothelioma, which shows up much faster than malignant mesothelioma and is usually treatable if detected immediately.

In most cases of benign mesothelioma, the only treatment that is needed is a surgical procedure to remove the tumor. In contrast to malignant mesothelioma, there is no need for follow-up treatment such as mesothelioma chemotherapy because in these cases the tumor is not cancerous and has not spread.

Because approximately 75 percent of individuals with benign mesothelioma develop tumors in the lung, a surgical procedure called a thoracotomy is commonly performed. The exact nature of the procedure depends on the size and location of the tumor. Thoracotomy may involve removal of one segment of the lung, a lobe, or even the entire lung (removal of the entire lung is very rare in cases of benign mesothelioma).

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I mentioned lawsuits earlier who deal specifically with cases related to mesothelioma. People are able to sue previous employers that exposed them to asbestos on the job, even from fifty years ago! Many of these cases dealing with mesothelioma illness turn out to be class action lawsuits, in which possibly hundreds of people get retribution checks, which means a big hole in the pocket of the employer!

Mesothelioma is a serious disease, and if a loved one of yours has been diagnosed with mesothelioma and finds it may be due to work-related asbestos exposure, help them get in touch with a lawyer dealing specifically with mesothelioma cases. Maybe they can cut you in on the check. Mesothelioma!

Word Verification

A friend just pointed out to me how annoying it is to have to complete captcha codes all the time when posting comments on blogs. Well, I hadn't thought of it much until he mentioned it, but yes. It's annoying. So, I just wanted to let everyone know how easy it is to take care of this little nuisance.

#1. Go to your Blogger Dashboard
#2. Click settings
#3. Click the Comments tab
#4. Scroll towards the bottom where you'll see "Show word verification for comments?" Click "No"
#5. Save settings

And now you won't have to listen to your friends complain about captchas! And if they turn theirs off in return, it will take you five seconds less to post feedback to one of their blog entries. Enjoy your new abundance of spare time (lol).

My YouTube of the Day

I have recently fallen in love with the YouTube series "Very Mary-Kate." It centers around a parodied version of Mary-Kate Olson who is spoiled, comically shallow, and addicted to pills. I started watching after seeing a video posted in my Facebook newsfeed and nearly spitting out my Ramen. This is my favorite episode!



Speaking of funny videos, one of my favorite channels on YouTube is Electric Spoofaloo! This is one of their masterpieces, starring Jane Lynch of "Glee."





Megan Fox: Don't be threatened, just because I'm a woman and you're a woman, doesn't mean we shouldn't do it. A lot.
Director: I'm not a woman.
Megan Fox: Explain that vagina then.

Atlantis and Whatnot

I have always been interested in legends and stories of lost cities and civilizations. Particularly Atlantis. I've done quite a bit of reading on the subject and thought I'd share some cool highlights on the story. The following is a map of the world based on what scientists think it looked like during the ice age:



There were sheets of glaciers across North America and Europe two miles thick. That's as high as Mount Everest! All that ice piled up means less water for the ocean, which were two to three hundred feet shallower than they are today. That's a lot more land exposed along the continental shelves. In fact, all the islands of what we see today as Indonesia were originally the mountaintops of what scientists now call Sundaland, a massive landmass in the Pacific branching off from southeast Asia reaching toward Australia!



The point of all this is that there was a lot more inhabitable land than there is today. In fact, some people have theorized that Atlantis may have been on one of these lost landmasses. Of course, depending on the theory, Atlantis could have been in any number of places, although Plato originally placed it specifically in the Atlantic. Some theorize, now this one's out there but I like to keep an open mind, that Atlantis wasn't in one place, but had many colonies across the globe. These colonies supposedly ranged from the high Andes Mountains, to the Irish coast, all the way to the modern deserts of Africa (although these deserts were once lush, tropical areas).

Fascinating!

The following is a clip I saw on the Discovery Channel the other night about an UNDERSEA LAKE. That's right, an undersea lake! Apparently a long time ago this body was above water and the water evaporated for the most part leaving mostly a saline solution. Now that it's under water, it stays down by itself because of density issues. In fact, it's so dense, the submarine couldn't even get into it because they bounced off the surface! This was actually a very interesting program!




See this cute little creature? It's a baby dumbo octopus! I never knew it existed until I saw this special. Adorable! Actually, along with owls, ravens, and a few others, octopi are one of my favorite animals! I find them fascinating... And also delicious I must say, haha.

Clothes!

So recently I have become obsessed with finding unusual, but fun and attractive clothing options! I have even been giving serious thought to making some of my own pieces, even though the only sewing I've ever done was in a highschool textiles class. I made a vest with full interfacing and lining which actually looked pretty good... Until I tried it on and realized it was too short in the back and the hemming was lop-sided.

One of my recent fascinations have been Elizabethan-style neck ruffs. I LOVE them, particularly the soft ones. Traditionally, ruffs are wheel-shaped and made of highly starched, stiff linen. Soft ruffs are just that. Soft, fluffy, and without ten pounds of starch worked into the pleats. Call me crazy, but I think the following would look great over a floaty silk shirt, maybe navy in color, with a pair of dark wash skinny jeans tucked into some good boots:

I've figured out a very lazy, no-sew way to make something similar... But in kind of a trashy way, haha. I bought six yards of tulle yesterday in two shades of cream and some elastic from a local Hancock Fabric store. I'm going to make a tutu! For my neck! Haha, and maybe two small ones to use as cuffs. They'd probably work over a turtle neck rather well.

It might sound like a strange way to dress, but ever since I was in middle school I was frustrated at the lack of interesting options for menswear. A buttdown shirt with stripes, a buttondown shirt with plaid, a buttondown shirt with a tie, maybe throw in a vest if you want to get crazy. Well, now that I am an adult I'm going to dress myself in whatever "weird" way I want.

Another blog!

Haha, I went to log into my old Blogspot blog today and realized I forgot the password and e-mail I was using! Well, I guess I'll go for another fresh start!

So next month (October) I will be registering for college classes. Probably at the local community college. My plan is to attend there for a semester or two and then either register at one of the local nursing schools or at the nearest state university (which is about thirty miles north on the Interstate). Hopefully I can make up my mind as to where I'm going during the next six months.

The whole indecisiveness towards my future has been a major source of anxiety for me. I have a great fear of becoming useless or obsolete. I don't want to wake up in my late twenties, early thirties without a future ahead of me. It's also worth mentioning that the man I have been serious with for the last nearly seven months will have a PHD. in bio-genetics in three years and is only one year my senior in age. That puts a little pressure on me to get going. I guess it's more a matter of self-esteem than anything, but I DESERVE to build a future for myself. I feel we all have a right to happiness, and if having a sense of accomplishment and self-worth is what brings that happiness forward, then go for it, dammit!

Speaking of happiness, I am enchanted with this new music video for CocoRosie's "Lemonade:"