the_crazy_lady

It has been forever since I've posted. And I feel like, between all of the journals and things most people regularly update that I keep, 90% of my posts are me apologizing for not updating and promising to update more. Hm.

Anyway. How 'bout some real life updates? ( In Which I Do Things! Hopefully Not Terribly Long-Windedly!Collapse )

I'm back from San Diego and in one piece, though I did wind up with a few minor injuries XD (I left with one sore toe from a partially ingrown tonail and came back with two, and a blood blister I got on one of my fingers while kayaking a few weeks bad got worse due to carry bags around all week. Also some mild sunburn, because apparently SPF 30 is not enough) The feeling of wanting to go home never really did leave; I had periods where I was generally OK, but I never hit that point where was just having fun. I was always thinking about how long before we left and I got to go back to my comfort zone, which seriously detracted from the fun quotient and added to the cranky (also, carrying 20lb backpacks though the San Diego Zoo :\).

I think I know why, too. In Florida, all I really had to worry about was having fun. I was not in charge of picking where we went, how we got there, how long we'd stay, etc. I just had to keep myself occupied at Disney World, which, frankly, is not hard, and I was with more people. Everything else was taken care of by the chaperones. The decisions we were faced with were not big ones.

This time, I was the chaperone. I there wasn't alone, obviously, Tiffany was with me, but we sort of unanimously declared me the "leader", which meant that I decided where we went, when we left, and how we got there because Tiffany is incredibly indecisive (and so am I, so this posed a serious problem when planning). And I've never done anything like this before, and neither has Tiffany, so we were on our own. If I hit a point where I honestly did not what to do (which did happen; a full-on panic attack was only narrowly avoided by dumb luck), she couldn't help me. This was way, way, WAY out of my comfort zone. I'm not bad at leading, but only if I have a clear idea of what I'm doing; I don't improvise well, and this trip required a lot it.

I don't regret it, though; I DID have fun, just not as much as I thought/hoped I'd have. It was a great experience; Comic Con was fun, visiting a large city like that was new, and flying! I've never flown before, and holy cow it's like the coolest thing EVER. I can do without four hour flights (though complimentary drinks and in-flight "movies" which turn out to be 30 Rock are certainly nice), but take-off is so cool. And flying over LA at night? Amazing.

Plus, I learned a ton. How to navigate bus schedules/routes, airport security, never to plan to just walk out of an airport (most are not in terribly pedestrian friendly areas), when not to schedule flights, how long I can spend in the company of another person before I need some alone time or else I'll snap, etc. Valuable life lessons.

Oh, and I met Felicia Day. F' real. She told us to go the zoo. AND WE DID.

Other celebrities I saw (but did not get pictures of because I literally just saw them pass on the show floor): Ron Glass (Shepard Book from Firefly), Diedrich Bader (voice of Batman in Brave and the Bold, he's on Bones this last season, and I think he was on the Drew Carey Show maybe?), Julie Goldman (Big Gay Sketch Show, duh), and Wil Wheaton (from, like, EVERYTHING GEEKY AND AWESOME). Plus, I think I was probably, like, 50 feet from the cast of Bones, as they were doing a signing right around the corner from the Guild booth, who were also doing a signing. (We camped. Seriously, we were like, third in line XD)

I'll recap more of this great adventure later, though. For now I just wanted to follow up my previous post and to just say that I am alive, and was not kidnapped/raped/murdered/killed in an earthquake/stabbed in the eye with a pen like everyone in Tiffany's family was convinced we would be (minus the pen thing though, probably XD).

OKAY, so. PHEW. Tiffany and I are in San Diego right now. We've been planning this trip (ultimately for Comic Con, but we're sightseeing too) since last year, which means we booked flights + hotel room in February and then dropped it until June. In other words, not real well thought out XD

Our flight left Minneapolis this morning at 6:30am local time, which meant we left EC around 2:30am. After scary airport security and confusion regarding the connecting flight, we made it San Diego, local time 9:30am. Nothing wrong about that, except we can't check in to the hotel until 4pm. So, to us it feels like 11:30, we're in a strange town, and we have to keep ourselves amused for 7 hours until we can walk to the hotel and check in.

Long story short, we were too tired to really want to do anything, and walking to our hotel (on the opposite edge of town of the airport) was a bad idea. Now we both have horrible blisters on our feet, and we're exhausted on top of the not sleeping all night. My overwhelming feeling right now is that I want to go home real bad XD I'm sure it'll pass; this is exactly (and I mean EXACTLY) how I felt in Florida, and after the first night, I was peachy. But right now I'm miserable and just want to spend tomorrow locked in the hotel room. WOO not doing well with new things XD

But it hasn't been all bad. I've never flown before, and once you get past security (SO NERVE WRACKING, even though neither of us even set off the metal detectors despite forgetting to take our belts off), flying is AWESOME. A little boring once you get going, but omg, flying is so cool. Even after we landed, we were in view of the airport for a while, and I was so amused just watching the planes land and take off. Really cool stuff.

Also amusing: we got to the hotel room, and the first thing I checked was what channels the TV got, only to be horribly disappointed that Syfy was not one of them. I'm hopelessly addicted to Warehouse 13 right now, and NEW EP TONIGHT OMG. So I was bummed. (Like, really bummed. I'm already all freaking out and this did not help XD) So we just left the TV on for background noise, and eventually it kinda got static-y, so I wriggled the cable going into the TV. It got worse, kinda better, worse, then BAM. Perfect picture. . . but we're on a different channel. So I skim a few more channels, find something I like, check what channel I'm on according to the thing in the room. . . we were apparently watching Kung Fu Panda on ESPN2. On a whim, I kept skimming and found Syfy XD I dunno if the thing in the room was wrong all along, or if broke/upgraded the cable, but I'm watching Warehouse 13 reruns right now, so I'm good XD And if we're really not supposed to, I hope they at least don't catch us until after the new episode XD

There were a bunch of little things that happened too. . . squirrels that are FRIGHTENINGLY not afraid of people, getting laughed at by lesbians who thought we were lesbians (walking down a street decked out for pride, obviously), very very strange trees compared to what's in Wisconsin, etc etc. I'm slowly learning things (important things, too, generally) about myself, and this is definitely teaching me that this is really not the sort of thing I'm cut out for personality-wise. I'm horribly introverted, so my leisure activities tend toward watching tv/playing video games/reading. This sort of thing is just too much. I'm sure I'll have a ton of fun, but it's just so draining that I can't do it often. Same with parties. I like socializing, but it's just too much for me. I will be very, very glad to get home on Sunday, and I'm seriously hoping I can make (I'm sure I will). Saturday will be a challenge, though. . . our flight leaves at 9pm, we check out of the hotel at 11am (can you guess who's brilliant idea this was? Yeah. I hate myself so much right now you can't even imagine.) It's like today only in reverse! Except we can totally get to the airport early.

And on an amusing note, I was skimming old posts of mine and found this one, which answered my question of "how the fuck did I get my hair cut last time?" because I really need to get it cut again and I couldn't remember what I did last time that I really liked. But now I do :P

Which means I have no excuse to not get it cut now XD

I'm all moved out of the apartment, and am now living with my parents again. I just can't afford to have my own place. My parents paid for most of this last year, and I can't stand my job enough to work more hours to afford it (plus, I grossly overestimated how much I would be making; I thought I could be making $8 by last fall easy; right now, I'm only making $7.75). So far it hasn't been awful, though. I'm still working on putting my room together, but I've got my computer stuff set up way better than before, and I love my new desk. I took a bookcase and four cube things (two on each end with the bookcase centered in the back) and had my dad cut a piece of plywood for the top. It's a bit taller and deeper than I thought it would be, but the deepness worked out perfectly: both my main computer's CPU and the one for MythTV fit perfectly behind my monitors. And rather than hunt around EC for the rare and elusive desktop-sized CD tower (which apparently nobody makes anymore because no one listens to CDs), I can just stack my computer discs on top of the CPUs, along with my printer. The height really shouldn't be an issue once I get a decent adjustable-height desk chair. The only problem is that my reading chair doesn't have a good spot. Right now it's sideways in front of the desk, and I've been using the arm as my desk chair. It works surprisingly well, and I find myself rocking side to side while I work on the computer. I'm considering leaving it there if I can fit a desk chair in between it and the desk.

And on the topic of how much I hate my job, the head designer in the design shop is leaving this week. And since I'm currently the only one really trained in the design shop, I get to start picking up more responsibility (for the same pay, I'm sure; nobody's actually talked to me about this yet, and her last day is Tuesday). Thursday I'm working a nine hour shift, 8:15 - 5:15, along with a new person who's in from 9-5. I need to talk to Benny, but the long and short of it is I don't want to work that kind of shift. I can't barely stand 5 hours in the design shop, let alone nine. Fran can do it, she's a professional designer, but I'm not, I'm not even going to school for graphic design, and it wasn't what I was hired for. Plus, it looks like they're gonna try pawning her responsibility off on me without compensating me for it. And just in general I'm pretty fed up with the way they treat employees and the way they promote them, and just their general lack of organization. Fran leaves on Tuesday, and still nobody's talked to me about what's going on once she leaves, despite the fact that it really does effect me (especially if I'm getting stuck with 9-hour shifts). Plus, they're always complaining how far behind we are; maybe they should hire another designer or two instead leaving all the work for one or two people.

That's really all that's new. Still only have a final grade for one of my classes (linear algebra, B. Not bad, IMHO). I've been so busy moving that I've barely had time to do anything, let alone anything interesting. I really want to go out and take pictures, though; I haven't really gotten to do that in over a year, and it sucks.

I've been looking at projectors, 'cuz I wanted to have movie parties at my parents, and with a projector, we could do them outdoors and it'd be like a drive in and it'd be cool. Anyway, I keep bookmarking projectors on Amazon to come back to and look at later after I've had some time to think about them. . . and each time, when I come back to them, the price has gone up. Significantly. Like, at least $100. And only in the span of the a couple days.

BAH.