In case
you've been missing me, I'M STILL HERE!
Don't worry, I just didn't have much in the way of topics to blog about,
and I had a lot of real life to deal with.
Inspections, going on holiday over Thanksgiving week, being snarky and
silly on Monday, managing a more normal schedule after being trained by the
parents--I've been quite busy, as you can tell.
I think
this blog will be very verbose, so I'll do a summary of it here, in case you
decided to be all "Too long; didn't read," to me:
Ø
I passed the annual inspections overall--AND YOU
CAN TOO!
Ø
I had a ton of crazy fun (with a little drama)
while on holiday in Pittsburgh and in Virginia (Richmond area, that's all you
need to know).
Ø
I was snarky earlier this week; it's like Darth
Hater was in charge of Karma that day, at least to me. But that's the thought process I'm trying to
delete from my brain banks.
Ø
I ENJOYED MY BURRITO ON WEDNESDAY!
(12/4/2013) AND MOM DANCED IN THE
STREET!
Ø
I'm working on a life list; I ran out of ideas
on my third page, so I'll consider any suggestions y'all might have.
Okay on the
summary? Cool, stay tuned for previews
of upcoming blog posts I plan on posting soon!
(Just to make you scroll through it all!
MWAHAHAHAHA!) Want more
info? READ THE POST! >:F
Inspections: When You Wish You Had an Ood Servant
If you've
never lived on your own (or with a roommate) in an apartment (and I'm assuming
most of you
did rent an apartment), you must know this for when you
do
rent one:
Most
landlords expect you to keep your apartment clean, bug- and mold- and
damage-free, safe, functional, and able to meet their expectations. They would even go so far to include it in
your lease agreement and "house rules". If you do not clean it when it comes time for
them to do the annual inspections that almost all of the cities require, YOU CAN BE EVICTED!
I have the
clean-safe-healthy-functional clause in my lease, and in the past, I have
failed the first round of inspections.
It's embarrassing for that to happen, and even landed me on the
building's "suspect list."
Not a good
list to be on. (Then again, being on any
suspect list is a bad thing.)
But I was
able to address it this year, with the help of my loving, patient parents who
tend to be overprotective of me even when I'm
out of their house. And it helped when we were on holiday, because
I didn't wind up wrecking the place like I am wont to do (OCD and Asperger's
issues; it's where change isn't a good thing, unless I change the apartment
myself. I know it's frustrating but now
I'm more willing to accept the help.
Plus, total organization will take a while, and I can be the one who
decides how to organize the place.)
However, on
Thursday, December 5th, 2013, just before 10am, the manager and someone who is
probably from the Department or Bureau of Housing and Urban Development, showed
up at my apartment. I felt that I was as
prepared as I could be, so I let them in (which is important! Not letting them in means you
have something to hide!). I
could see that Brad (the manager) was surprised and pleased (in his usual Brad
way, with a straight face--I shit you not, he could pass as one of those guards
outside of Buckingham Palace), and that I had a high chance of passing. Albeit, he noted that I had to organize the
closets and the entertainment center shelves, do laundry and clean the toilet's
outside ceramic skin, but I still passed overall. And of course, I called people and texted
people saying, "OMG, I THINK I PASSED!
YAYS! #SQUEE!"
But to
address the long-term issue of organization is quite difficult, which is why I
was questing for a specific book while on holiday.
The Nerdist Way by Chris "BigC" Hardwick is perhaps the best chance for me to solve this problem,
because even though I'm a nerd, this book can show me how to be organized and
more together--by being a nerd and, even better, a Nerdist (a Nerd who uses
their nerdy skills to create things and make positive contributions to the
world). I haven't had much luck in
finding it in specific bookstores (The Books-a-Million and Barnes & Noble I
went to didn't have it in stock--Thanks a lot, guys. -_-) and I'm like, "I
FAILED!" Which really sucks and
makes you question whether the people running these stores have the common
sense to keep this book in stock for anyone who heard about it and is willing
to track it down (like me!).
However,
someone on Twitter has offered to send me an unsigned copy and I was
unsure. That's when I had two offers at
once: one from Twitter from a kind stranger saying, "I have multiple
unsigned copies," to which I'm like, "YOU COULD'VE HAD THEM
SIGNED?! *dies, but is willing to
reanimate as a zombie solely for the purpose of obtaining Big C's
signature*" and one from my very good friend who's currently (at the time
of publishing this post) living in North Carolina. He says, "Here, it's a Christmas
present." My response:
"Great! Thank you! Now, what can I get you that can be equal or
greater in value to your gift to me?
Comic books? Artwork? ThinkGeek stuff? BUTTENS?" Thanks, Jesse, and I hope to complete and
send you my Christmas gift to you before you move to the cheesy State of
Wisconsin. (#badpuns)
Note: Mom,
Dad, calm down; he's neutral-good! He'll
never stalk and rape and kill me. Not
everyone on the internet is a creeper.
So, BREATHE and have some chocolate or brownies!
Pittsburgh Business Family Road Trip: When Car Rides
Make You Feel Like a Trapped Marshmallow
I hope to
be as brief as possible: The Thursday before we left (normal Thursday before
Thanksgiving), we cleaned the shit out of the apartment (literally and
figuratively) and I stayed over at my parents' place. Friday, we left a little bit late, headed
over to Pittsburgh. Traffic was crazy bad,
and I'm like, "DESIGN YER ROADS BETTERS, ENGINEERS!" For lunch, I tried Wendy's Bacon Mushroom
Melt; it needs more beef. We got to the
hotel (all suites in old apartment buildings), and we had to lug our suitcases
up the stairs because of no elevator. As
soon as my sister was free from other obligations, we had barbeque, alcohol and
fun! Saturday was Doctor Who day, and we
hit up the Creative Reuse store beforehand and went crazy; I recommend the
place to everybody with a creative imagination and the crafting skills (and XP)
to redo almost anything. Watched Doctor
Who about 2 or 3 times; it started snowing, and it got pretty bad so we ordered
pizza delivery. That was the only time I
allowed an exception to my rule of not consuming Papa John's (for political
reasons and personal preference; but I would've said "FUCK YEAH!" to
Pizza Hut).
We had
pancakes and latkes at the Original Pancake House (which was delicious and
beautiful but very crowded), dinner at Chili's, and a bet going on. The bet was that the sibling who has the
messier apartment (judged by the parents) has to wear a dress without pants;
stockings and shorts, yes, but not pants.
Unfortunately, my sister called it off because it would've been too cold
for a dress; secretly, I think it's because she knew she lost and didn't want
to wear the dress. That's my sis for ya:
hipster-crafty-sly nutcase who loves me.
On our way
to Virginia, we stopped at a Roy Rogers (which is where I found out bitchmode
was engaged), before continuing on. One
petrol refill and a pit stop (bathroom break) later, we were facing bad traffic;
there was traffic from an accident, and the traffic caused another
accident. It was like, "WHAT THE
FUCK?!" I swore it almost resembled
my standing in line in order to stand in line for standing in yet another line
for Parafest 2013. Visited my grandfather,
who was doing pretty well. I had a small
Thanksgiving dinner with him, enjoyed chocolate cream pie, hot chocolate, some
donuts, some spoilage, etc, before we headed home, with a side trip to an Easy
Spirit store and Pepperidge Farm outlet store that sells overstock and dinner
at Red Robin with endless root beer floats!
My rating: 87%
pleasant overall!
I Brought Out the Snark: My Annoyance Sounds Like Stand-Up
Material
Frustrations
piled up on top of each other this past Monday, to the point where I decided to
bring out the snark. It was mostly silly
snarky stuff that only made me lose 2 followers, who wound up being losers. Which is a win for me: I HAVE GENUINE
FOLLOWERS! Some of which might be dead
accounts.
So, for
your enjoyment, here's a couple of the tweets I posted:
I ENJOYED MY BURRITO!
Because It Was An Excellent Day!
Technically,
it was a couple of Eden-tastic tacos, but Wednesday was truly an excellent day,
with lunch at Moe's southwestern grille.
Oh, and Mom danced in the street.
It was an agreement between the two of us, but it was very satisfying;
but she also said that once my apartment gets even better, she'll do a
better dance in the street--
QUEST
ACCEPTED, MOTHER!
For anyone
not in the loop, "enjoying your burrito" is a Nerdist thing: it
stemmed from the
Rainn Wilson podcast episode and it talks about living in the
moment. I suggest you give it a listen,
because it can really help you get a new spiritual perspective on life (Wilson
really is very spiritual, which is probably why he does Soul Pancakes--A
YouTube thing I don't pay attention to.
He's actually insightful and pretty cool, though!)
Life List: Because My Life Needs More to It Than Managing My
Dwelling
If you have
been paying attention to my Twitter feed on Thursday (Dec. 5 2013), you'll
notice that I've been trying to put together a life list. It's kind of like a bucket list but a little
bit different. The best way to describe
it is with Jenny "The Bloggess" Lawson's tweet. Yes, she replied to me--#SQUEEEEEEEE!!!! I did fansquirrel a little at that moment, so
THANK YOU, JENNY!
So, for
example, if I wanted to go to Japan on a trip and do various things, and
someone decides to sponsor the trip (like a tourism board, por examplar), I can
do it--but I'll have to write about it, like on the site that allows people to
share their stories from the trip, and perhaps a blog post. The Bloggess did one with Australia, and it
sounded like fun, if frolicking in a continent-country that started out as a
British penal colony and is now home to megaspiders (*shuddershudder*) is
fun. But the haunted places are
interesting! Not to mention I could also
hang with my YouTube buddy
The Fat Aussie Barstard. (NSFW NSFK)
Yes, a 23
year old hanging with a cursing old man--that isn't creepy at all. #sarcasm (Stated for Mom and Dad if they're reading
this.)
So, with
the idea of having new things to blog about (and to make my life and my blog
more interesting), I figured I could draft up my own life list before
submitting it. I managed to make it to
page 3 before running out of ideas… Let
me know what you think…
Ø
Ride horseback through Sleepy Hollow as the
Headless Horseman of Washington Irving's tales on Halloween Night (big idea,
possible; I've even ridden horses before…but not at full gallop! >_< but
it would make an epic birthday present!)
Ø
Investigate a haunted location with my sister,
her boyfriend (which is optional) and the Ghost Adventures Crew (I know of a
few that are in my area. It's just a
question of them saying yes or no; and when I say, "them," I mean
both the sibling party and the GAC.)
Ø
Do some modeling sort of photoshoots:
v
At Columncile (or however it's spelled; The
Bloggess' Red Dress thing?)
v
At Greyfriars Cemetery in Edinburgh, Scotland
v
In the Graveyard District of New Orleans,
Louisiana (in character?)
v
Steampunk/Industrial style (perhaps my own
designs?) inside an old abandoned/not-in-use-since-100-years-ago warehouse or
factory.
v
Goth style inside of a Gothic nightclub or
cathedral; one that SHOULD have a throne in it, and a fancy-looking
goblet. Details, details!
v
Poe-inspired in the Parisian Catacombs
Ø
Visit France (Paris, Mont-St-Michel, Monaco, the
Catacombs of Paris, etc.)
Ø
Own a truly haunted item (without the negative
energies, preferably)
Ø
Throw, and DJ at, a legal and safe rave (with
new Tripp pants that fit me)
Ø
Visit Chernobyl with my Russian Internet friend
Yuri
Ø
Help Mom feed penguins! (Because I love her!)
Ø
Dress Dad up as Spock and attend conventions
with him. (For shits and giggles)
Ø
Attend a proper ball with Benedict Cumberbatch
(from Sherlock; SQUEEGASMIC!)
Ø
Beat the Halo Tricks peeps (especially CMNeir
and Tacoriffic) at Halo and League of Legends.
And traditional UNO, just because!
Ø
Attend the Olympics, PAX Prime, PAX East, E3,
San Diego Comic Con, Parafest, and Scarefest (with VIP passes to the cons,
preferably)
Ø
Visit Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, stay at a traditional
inn, visit the hanging forests, get the samurai and geisha experiences, get a
kimono, etc. Smuggle their rice out
of the country.)
Ø
Visit the Vatican with Mom; meet and receive a
blessing from the Pope
Ø
Get locked inside with the Cardinals during
Conclave (swingability questionable; if we could do it, then
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!)
Ø
Have my art hang in the Capitol and the White
House (again, questionable)
Ø
Go inside the Fort Knox "gold safe"
(would need to deal with getting POTUS's permission and stuff.)
Ø
Go inside Area 51 without getting shot and/or
killed and/or arrested
Ø
Get an official family crest and tartan, perhaps
even a tapestry
Ø
Get a full loom so I can start up weaving again
(ain't cheap, y'all!)
I think
life lists should be longer than this, I really do. Which is why I'm going to consider
suggestions from
you, my wonderful readers!
Just comment on the Google+ post's thread with the hashtag
#LifeListSuggestions or, if you're on Twitter, just tweet
@LadyEden1337 with
the same hashtag, #LifeListSuggestions.
As for Facebook, you can leave a comment on the Facebook link post's
comment section--but only if we're friended, and I reserve the right to ignore
friend requests from people I think might be creepers.
Don't
worry, that's just the legitimate paranoia talking. I also plan on doing a ton of blog posts
soon, once I get them drafted (because it's faster than typing it straight into
Blogger; it took an hour to do the Doctor Who review straight onto my parents' laptop):
Ø
A review of the all-suite hotel I stayed at
while on holiday
Ø
Christmas shopping/crafting gift ideas
Ø
A Christmas music mixtape for those of us who
are sick of the songs on the radio stations that only play Christmas music this
time of the year
Ø
A review of The Nerdist Way by Chris
Hardwick
Ø
Blog post drafts that I never got to publishing
yet (maybe)
Ø
The usual other reviews, rants and updates
Which brings us to the point where I leave you wishing for
more of my excellent words! Don't worry,
I'll still be on the Interwebz, tweeting and watching videos and perusing the
megabytes of delicious nerdtastic awesomeness that make up the ThinkGeek and EntertainmentEarth
websites. If not, I'll be reading that
book and figuring out my life with Hardwick's help, along with Jesse and my
sister and her boyfriend if I get confused by the roleplaying character
creation stuff. (You don't mind, do
you? Providing you're not busy or sick
or asleep? Please? ♥ )
Anyways, I shall leave you to enjoy
this Lolcat picture, and until the next post gets published, ENJOY YOUR
BURRITO! Or taco or nachos or pizza or
cake or pie! Or whatever else it is that
you love to consume by inserting it into your mouth-hole, masticating and
digesting it!
P.S. I'm also working on getting
back to taking my medications. I've
noticed that I'm happier and less angry and I curse less in my blogs while I'm
medicated. Anti-antidepressant peoples,
here's the reason why I should take them--If I do not take them, I'll be like
this kitteh here:
I rest
my case.
Π Trip
to California—I was able to travel to California for a week and a half, visit
family, check out Disney's California Adventure (after Disney refreshed it to
help bump up the various problems with the park that helped drive away crowds),
have EXCELLENT food at restaurants I will share the review of soon, complain
about hotel accommodations, wander around the San Francisco airport, go through
Newark Airport after midnight when all the businesses are CLOSED, get my hair
trimmed by my aunt, and just enjoy my vacation burrito. Oh, and I did go to Meltdown Comics
(+10 Life List XP!) and be all touristy there after having a bizarre Garmin-led
adventure through these towns outside of LA, take a look at the various
populations and even see a mission while we (Dad and myself) drove by. I consider it to be quite a success. (No, Chris didn't autograph my copy of the
Nerdist Way yet because he wasn't there.
Which actually helped because I was kind of super nervous—I wasn't sure
if I wanted to really meet Chris and other people from Nerdist Industries,
being all anxious with my small-town fansquirrel feels. But I did enjoy going there!) Next time, I shall be successful, with
autographs and @midnight tapings that I probably could've not missed had my
father not been as discouraging as he was before the trip! Yes, Dad, I will make sure to get the
tickets this time; just try talking to Mom first, okay?
