So I Lied Apparently

2 weeks after I said I would blog more I failed to do so... again.

*hangs head*

GOMEN!!

So here's what I've been up to. A.K.A. my excuses for being a lame blogger.

1-I've been working on my photography website.
Which is very slow going as I want to put up a bunch of edited photos. Which means a lot of editing. The good news is I have my office put together now so I do have a spot to run away to and edit and I've even found some cool effects and things to do with my photos. Sadly there's only so much editing before one is driven bat shit crazy. And let's just say I didn't have that far to go in the first place.

2-I finally said to hell with the Night Lace podcast and changed it to an all vampire blog and added a forum. Please if you like any vampires at all, come check out and follow our blog, Vampaholics Anon(ymous), and join our forum. The forum is a work in progress though so please be patient with me!! Plus the first 25 members will be considered "founding members". Yeah it's prolly not that enticing, lmao.

3-Work... you know the thing I whined about in my last post.

4-RPing... as usual. I run a Twilight RPG called Deja Vu in Forks which is awesome and if you love the series Twilight Series you should check into it. Especially if you have RP experience. And if you don't? We can totally teach you. It's WAY easy. Simply put: you post on the forum as if you were the character in the situation. I am also part of several others RPs- 2 for Black Dagger Brotherhood and another for Twilight. Oh & I've been working on setting up an HON one for a while now. What can I say? I reject reality.

5-Reading. Those that follow my Twitter know that I effed up big time this last Saturday and spent money at Barnes & Noble. The fact that I spent any was bad enough... the total amount? Yeah I'm grounded from B&N for at least 2 weeks. Then the next week I won't get a paycheck anyway... so yeah. T^T

6-Gaming. I spent 6 hours playing Sacred 2 last Friday. I started over with a new character. So I was running my tree-hugging dryad that uses her halberd for a strippers pole all over Ancaria helping the townsfolk right all that is wrong with their worlds and getting self-righteous to hunters when I'm slaying other living things left and right. She's such a hypocrite. *rolls eyes* I should have known to stick with my elves. Always. Choose. The. Elves...

7-Finishing decorating the house.
This is not not even close to being done. Where the hell did we get all this shit lovely stuff from? *shaking my head* Putting all this stuff up is pretty much a full time job. But without the pay.

So yeah that's pretty much what I've been up to the last two weeks. Please, please, PLEASE check out the new blog and stay tuned to see my photo website. I mean you could go to it now... but yeah all it is right now is some buttons that link to things and me talking about why I chose photography... boooooring. Lol.

Questions? Comments? Concerns??

I kid, I kid.

^w^

Tell Me You're Kidding

My job is slowly killing my soul.

Warning: Rant Ahead

My workplace has a loyalty program and now anything purchased in store (except tobacco & lottery count towards points. $1=1pt After so many points you get an extra discount on your gas).

So here's what is pissing me off.

First it's that we have to ask for the loyalty card and if we fail to do so the first time is a write up and second time is fired. I'm sorry but that's ridic on it's own, but whatever.

So then they changed the registers to print EVERY receipt. Yeah we're killing a forest a day, I shit you not. It's ridic. We can ask if they want a receipt. If so, we print a receipt. If not, we go on about our merry way. It worked before, why not now? Oh because customers want to know their points. No, corporate wants them to want to know.

So now we have to circle it on the receipt and point it out to them or... yep fired.

So as I said before tobacco and lottery don't count but get this if someone buys just those or one of those two we still have to ask for the loyalty card. It's complete bull. If I were a customer I would be pissed if they had me dig out my card when it didn't even matter.

Plus there's all this shit we have to ask and then we have to suggest something else for them to buy. I'm sorry but when I'm a customer I want to go in, get my crap and get out. One time we were doing a fundraiser and so then it was also "would you like to donate to __" and I had customers bitching about everything I was asking! But do you think that mattered? (ummm if you're wondering... no it didn't)

So today I got bitched at (not by my mgr or a coworker but by some close to corporate jerk who doesn't know how to do anything but bitch about what's not being done right) for not asking customers who bought just ciggs.

Yeah... stick a fork in me... I'm freaking done.

Quickie Post #02

I know, I know. I've been a terrible blogger lately. *hangs head*

Damn school, job, internship, etc.

Internship is over now. I'm really sad that it's over but also kind of happy as it means it's one less thing I have to worry about. Going to miss watching games though! And running into hockey players here and there, though one of my fav players is now gone. :(

Job... still sucks. My coworkers are the only reason I can stand it. I'm just super lucky that they rock or I would go insane.

School... oh school. Wanna hear the news about school?

My Van Wilder plan has officially expired.

I will *knocks on wood* be graduating this fall. Those who follow me on Twitter know that I was totally freaking about it the day I finally turned in my major change form (I was still listed as Art Ed not just Visual Arts with a concentration in photography) and I was freaking out about graduating but also freaking about not graduating. Dumb right? Well now my fear is finally just not graduating. Life will be better when I'm done with school. I'll have more time to do the fun stuff I want to do. Yeah I'll still be working but full time classes AND working makes me wanna stab myself in the eye on an almost daily basis, so I am, ultimately, excited that the end is near!

So... uh there's a quick update. I'm off to read and write though... so for now that's it until I find more motivation to write a proper post.

Sorry all... my brain is fried. We're working on moving (and the lease isn't signed yet so I'm freaking we're going to lose it *knocks on wood for the millionth time*) and I just finished a paper and am so behind in photo studio it's ridic... so yeah I promise to try to write soon!

Goals for 2010

So here it is folks, whether we want it or not it's 2010 and it's resolution making time. Well that means it's goal setting time for me. :D So I figured I'd share them with all of you, whether you care what they are or not. ;)

Number One: Finances
I vow to keep better track of my finances!
I also vow to make a plan to pay a ton of this shit off while actually saving some money away for both rainy days and emergencies and only buying what I have the means to.
Srsly. My finances are ridic & cause me oodles of stress.

which leads me to...

Number Two: Let it Be!
Quit being such a frikkin worry wart.
It never helps the situation and just gives me a tummy ache, tears and wasted time.

Number Three: Finish Novels
I have two novels I'm writing.
One I started summer of '09 and one that I started for NaNoWriMo '09. I ran out of ideas for the first (until recently) and then ran out of time and energy (One I started summer of '09 and one that I started for NaNoWriMo '09. I ran out of ideas for the first (until recently) and then ran out of time and energy ($&^@ing school) for the second so...
amp;^@ing school) for the second so...
I vow to finish them both this year!
As in "ready to send around and get lots of rejection letters" finished! :D

Number Four: Lose it!
Lose the weight that is!
I vow to lose 40 to 50 lbs (haven't weighed myself so it may be 50 now. >.< ).
AND keep it off.
I want to feel comfortable again, and wear all those cute clothes I refuse to donate/throw away so I have an excuse to not donate/throw away.
My plan: Exercise, eat smaller portions, less candy and pop (little to no pop, it tastes like syrup anymore anyway), and watch calories when possible.
Also with the exercising it's not only to lose the weight but to build me some muscles again, lol.

Number Five: Rock the home biz
I'm going to rock it this year. Hopefully enough that my puny two days at my job won't depress me so much. This means revamping hostess specials and everything.
I will succeed at this and it will help me greatly with resolution #1 when I succeed.

Number Six: Be a good student!
I have a happy bunny cell phone charm that says "I want to be a good student, unless that means coming to class." and that's kind of how I was this last semester and it screwed me out of a B+ so no more screwing around.
I vow to miss as little class as possible (2 days at most for art classes and 3 days at most for others).
I vow to stay on top of my homework this year and if possible stay ahead.
&
I will graduate this year! Even if it scares the shit out of me to do so.

Number Seven: Become a better photographer
This pretty much goes along with #6 since I'm a photography major but also involves some work outside of classes. Meaning grabbing some books and stuff that aren't required and asking my adviser questions to the point of being utterly aggravating. Be prepared John.


So that's what I've got so far everyone. I think it's important to always be working on goals for yourself so this may change (as in get bigger) throughout the year. I am determined to be the procrastination queen inside of me down and show her who is boss around here.

So what are your goals/resolutions for 2010?
Have a same goal and wanna be resolution buddies? :D

A Guide to Gas Stations

So for those who don't know, I'm a gas jockey, aka I work in a gas station. (No, I will not tell you what one, or even what chain. As much as I may whine, I like my job and most definitely need it). At work today (in between the endless mopping sessions- it snowed today) I was thinking about if I were to write a blog about advice for patrons to gas stations, which is pretty much everyone unless you have someone that does that for you, in which case- SHARE THE WEALTH. So here it is, mostly so I can vent for a moment. Disclaimer- while these are valid points I try for the most part to not be too bitchy about it, but we'll see if that comes across.

1. Do NOT bitch about being ID'd for Ciggs, lotto, or booze. Seriously. Now, honestly, I used to be one of those people but you must realize that these places have people who are underage come in and attempt to buy these items with the intention of tricking us into not IDing them and then bam- red card. What does that mean? Well most places your first red card mean a nice big boot out the door. "Thanks for working here, don't come back for your next shift." Yeah that's right most places FIRE their associates for the first red card and if it's not the first it IS the second that gets you the boot. Just take it as a compliment (it's hard to do, I know- I look 12 so I get carded for lottery tix) and go on about your day. Note: ID means a GOVERMENT ISSUED ID- military ID, license or state ID, Green card or Passport. NOTHING ELSE. I also believe it is state law to not accept expired IDs either (it IS ok though if you have your old, hole punched ID AND the paper they give you, but not just one of the two). OH! Most importantly, don't throw your ID at me either- someday I may throw it back.

2. Gas Pumps, oh gas pumps. Those tricky things that you apparently need a degree in rocket science to use. Yeah... most of those things give instructions, either via the screen or a note pasted to the pump, and if you are having trouble DO NOT act like the station attendant is too dumb to help you. We have been trained to work AND troubleshoot almost any problem you may have and the chances of it being an ID-10-T error on your part is much higher than you would like to know.

3. Signs. Specifically: Out Of Order. These signs are self explanatory. No, really. I'm not kidding, if it has those words posted on it, I'm not just selecting things to hang them on randomly just for fun. It. just. doesn't. work. and arguing or pleading doesn't help, trust me, I tried so I wouldn't have to listen to you do it.

4. Those who chew. You will get the date I give you. Whining about what date is on the bottom of the can will only irritate me AND the customers waiting for you to get your shit and get out. If I gave everyone that complained the freshest chew, I would still have chew from 1999.

5. Winning ticket. Yeah. a- I wouldn't work here anymore if I could pick winning numbers. I would be living on my own exotic island drinking something with an umbrella in it. b- I hear this joke a million times a day and it lost it's funny after the 2nd time.

All I ask is for you to keep these in mind the next time you get gas. ^w~ I joke (or at least I attempt) but for the most part these are things that irritate most gas station attendants (I've worked at 2 gas stations) so please, be kind and in the words of Wil Wheaton- "Don't be a dick".

Today was good, er bad, er... alright?!

I'm currently super irritated. I dunno wtf the deal is other than after I got out of class I had a voicemail from my boss telling me to call her because we needed to "have a chat". What?! What did I do? Well now I gotta wait until tomorrow to find out. I realized there is a training I forgot about, but I remembered that today and was gonna call and see if I could do it tomorrow. That's the only thing I can think of that I could possibly be in trouble with. The waiting is what's irritating me though. I hate waiting and not knowing. Now hopefully whining about it here will help me forget for the night.

The good news for the day- I got my painting finished (after pulling an all nighter to finish it) so that was a relief. I was nervous for the critique, this painting was so much more personal than the previous ones, so there's that putting yourself on the line with your subject matter, technique, etc. Got really good comments from my critique group and then I was talking to my professor about possibilities for my next project and she said that if I could just add some green in my background she'd like to display it in the hall! I almost jumped for joy. She's a pretty tough prof too so I'm really excited about it. She said it was "really beautiful" and during this semester I have really learned a lot from her and come to respect her and value her opinion, so this was HUGE.

Here is my painting (You'll have to rotate it so the blue is at the top):

http://twitpic.com/p0q8w


It's a cross between the technique of Anselm Kiefer (a german artist who used mixed media in his paintings, such as straw) and Georgia O'Keeffe who did the really big flowers to help illustrate their beauty and inspire viewers to look more closely at nature. I combined the two by doing a flower like O'Keefe did but I used grass to bring out the beautiful veins of the rose petals (and if you didn't know rose petals have veins you really need to pay more attention to them! I spent probably a good 20+ hours on this painting. It's 30" x 40".

Plus on top of that I get a night to myself, which is nice, though really it needs to be spent preparing for my next painting and next two photo projects. *sigh* Guess I don't really get a night to myself but I'm going to take it anyway... I'm running on no sleep so that's my excuse. I may post another blog later if I feel like it, but who knows. Damnit I hate having good news and then depressing news... it's so much easier when it's they other way around.