.:reflections of twilight:.

I apologize for being lax in my updates as well as perusing my Flist. End of the semester was approaching and I wanted to get some last minute projects completed as well as my one final exam. I did manage to complete everything, unfortunately I failed my final, even though I thought I had a lot of reasonable answers. I was going to do a retake, but I missed the deadline by thatmuch. I hope it doesn’t affect my GPA too much so that I can maintain my Honor Society membership, but if it does, it just means I need to be more diligent. The end game is the degree anyway, and I can get that with either a 3.5 or a 3.0 GPA…

We’re approaching summer and warmer weather. I was out dropping off some library books and getting my allergy shot and I was pretty hot by the time I finished, which also made me somewhat hostile and cranky. I had to tell the lady at the circulation desk that there were pages torn from the two graphic novels I checked out. She seemed to not know anything about it and thanked me for letting her know. I mean, I realize the books were very ‘adult’ in subject matter. One was the GN compilation of From Hell by Alan Moore about the Jack the Ripper murders and the other was Habibi by Craig Thompson. Both were quite good and did not shy away from some very heavy subject matter, but if the torn pages were the result of some sort of censorship, it was the wrong way to do it. Not only is it destruction of public property, but it’s a grievous disservice to anyone who wanted to read those books later on down the line. So I assume the library now has to spend money to replace the books that were damaged. Especially since the missing pages were just that. Missing.

/future librarian rant

Mom had intended to fill out some documentation from the county about maybe having them pay for her Medicare since we’re receiving assistance from them for food and stuff, but she decided not to since she said they wanted her to give them information she wasn’t willing to give. I have to look at the paperwork myself to see what she means. If it were me, I’d suck it up and do it anyway, especially if it was going to save me money. Who knows?

I’m going to try to make a concentrated effort to actually do stuff this summer as opposed to vegging out in front of the TV. While I do need to catch up on some stuff from my DVR, I’d like to try to make it to the gym on a regular basis since I already pay for a membership as well as maybe doing some of my Pilates down in the basement. Maybe I’ll even make it to the pool once or twice this summer since we now have a key and they power washed it the other day. I have to do it before the kids get out of school for the summer, though if I want to have any privacy. We’ll see what happens.

I don’t know if I mentioned it on here or not, but my dad had mentioned something to me about going with them to Washington DC sometime in October. I’d definitely like to try to go since DC is one of my favorite places and I live closer to it now than I did before. Granted, it’s still six hours away by car, but still… I have a few days off of school around then and I think I can do it. I have to see what my Practicum schedule is like before I make any definite plans. October would be a good time to go since the weather will be cooler than and the fall colors will be out. The last two times I went, it was in the middle of summer and it was insufferable.

I’ll try to scroll through my flist so that I can see what everyone has been up to lately.

So, yesterday I saw snow.

Yeah, I know it's not a big deal for you in the Northern regions, but for someone like me who has lived in a sub-tropical area like I have been for nearly 30 years, it's quite the rarity.

This was in the upper elevations of the Smoky Mountains which was brought on by the colder weather and the side effects of Sandy. And it was the nice snow. The fresh, clean snow that covers everything in a fine white powder. For some reason, it makes most anything look magical. Kinda like being in a winter wonderland.



It was a bit of a weird juxtaposition, coming from obvious Autumn to Winter. But, it was a nice surprise nonetheless.

There's a bit of a change coming for us coming down the line. The current plan is to move to Tennessee sometime in the Spring or early Summer. There is a job possibility for me which is essentially the same thing I'm doing now. So, when we get back home, I need to look for my resume and update it and send it in. I'm hoping for the best. The company I'm looking at is pretty large and there are a number of openings in the medical data entry department.

So... here's hoping. I can't take Florida heat anymore. All the health issues and the constant oppressive heat are too much for me. I know Tennessee has heat in the summers, but not nearly as long as in Florida. It's unbearable. Plus, mom and I have been wanting to move there for quite awhile. She doesn't want to move in the Winter, so that's why we're aiming for the Spring or early Summer.

Wish me luck!

Sorry I've been so sporadic with my posting on here. My depression sometimes tells me why I even bother since hardly anyone reads it, but I know a few of you still do, so I appreciate it.

Health wise things seem to be getting better. I still have a few problem areas, but otherwise I'm doing good overall. Maybe now that we're getting into fall, things will get even better. I do know there are those out there who have it worse than I do, so I guess I'm appreciative for that at least.

Things at work are actually pretty good. I think it's partially because I'm working on changing my overall attitude to try and become a better person. I don't want to be the kind of person who holds onto all of the petty crap and bitterness that happened in the past. It does nothing but hold you back keeping you from moving forward with your life. It won't always be easy, but it's worth it to try.

I also think it helps with the fact that my co-worker that had the most issues with everything is no longer there and not feeding into the situation. I still keep in contact with her and we're still friends and all and I value that friendship, but she's a bit anti-social and misanthropic. So since she's not at work anymore, it helps to stay focused on other stuff and not get dragged down by the little unimportant things.

There's still heavy talk of a buyout, but some of us had a meeting with our supervisor last week and the subject was addressed. It seems for the most part that our department will most likely stay intact. My boss reasons that since we have the more advanced computer system, that it would be foolish to get rid of people who have been using it for awhile and are familiar with it. And since we'll be implementing a new data entry system (which will take a few years to be fully operational) that we'd still be needed. Now, granted this is all guessing, but it still gives me some relief to say the least.

Mom and I are prepping for our vacation in three weeks. I'm so excited! We're going to be in Tennessee and see the fall colors and the beautiful mountains and the crisp air. It's gonna be very hard for me to go back. Especially since more friends of ours moved up there this weekend. I keep hoping and praying that the opportunity will arise for us to make the move up there once and for all. Hopefully...

I finished my reread of Furuba yesterday. I still get the warm fuzzies when I read the last chapter. I have such affection for this series as well as the friends I met through it that it makes me smile every time. I may reread my Ouran series next, even though I'm missing the first ten books. I hope to be able to acquire them at some point in time. Either that or High School Debut, another shoujo series that I find cute and charming. I haven't made up my mind yet.

Well, happy fall everyone! Enjoy the changing of the leaves, the cooler air, pumpkin flavored everything and the coming holidays!

Long time no see, eh? I know, I've been very lax in my postings lately. I apologize for being so neglectful. Most of it's just laziness and unmotivated.

We're getting into the summer movie season and there are quite a few I want to see this summer. I've already seen 'The Avengers' three times since it opened four weeks ago. Yes, it's that awesome. I was gonna do a write up on here like I've done before, but I haven't been motivated enough and coherent enough to do so. I also saw 'Dark Shadows' last week, which I liked. Mom was a little indifferent, but she wasn't a huge fan of the original show. She said she watched it a few times when it was on though. I'll probably watch it again though.

Job wise things are going okay. I mean, I get bored out of my mind a lot of the times, but since I'm gainfully employed and have decent health insurance, I can't complain too much. I'd ideally like to find something I'd be happier doing, but I've yet to figure out what that is yet. Maybe someday.

The work environment is pretty much status quo. I mean, there are still personality conflicts going on, but I try not to let it bother me as much anymore. It's not worth me wasting my time and energies on it. I'm kinda worried about my friend J though. She's a bit neurotic and the situation bothers her a lot more than it does me. I think she thinks it bothers me as much, but it doesn't really. I just try to tune things out as best I can. It's harder for her to do so, however. She complains to me a lot about it. I try to be as sympathetic as I can. We've tried going to our boss about it, but nothing seems to have helped. I'm honestly getting worried about her sanity. I hope she doesn't do anything drastic like leave and such, because she's basically the only person I have to talk to there. It's a bit sad, but then it's the story of my life in a nutshell. Like high school all over again, and I hated high school.

Mom and I went snorkeling a few weekends ago with some friends of ours to a natural spring and it was a lot of fun! I definitely want to do it again! I want to try to get an underwater camera though, since we had to get the disposable kind and film developing is expensive anymore. Sheesh. Still, I got a few nice pictures out of it though!

I'd post one, but I can't get Photobucket to resize it properly and for some reason, whenever I try to upload pictures onto my LJ scrapbook in order to insert into Semagic, I keep getting error messages. Blah.

And I started watching 'Legend of Korra.' It's awesome. I love it. And I am officially a Makorra shipper. ♥ I need to find icons to add, but I'd have to cull some in order for them to fit and I can't decide what to dump. Choices, choices.

I've also fallen in love with the BBC version of 'Sherlock.' There are only three episodes per season (although they're each 90 minutes long). The first season is available on Netflix Instant, so I'm going to check to see if the second has been added yet since it came out recently. There are plans for a third season, thankfully. Again with the icon issue.

Vacation last month was a bit of a disaster. I got into a huuuuge argument with my step-mother (a first for me in the 25 years I've known her) and the stress got to be too much that I had to leave early. My dad was very understanding about it, though. He's had to deal with the massive mood swings she's gone through recently. I haven't spoken to her since then, so I don't know how things are between us. Dad did say that after cooling off for a few days, she did feel regret for things that happened. Maybe things will get better. Only time will tell I suppose.

My manga blog is still in it's infancy. Hopefully I can gather enough ideas in order to do decent postings and not get lazy and unmotivated like I tend to do. I hate that aspect about myself. I need to update my Mini Jasper and Alice blog as well.

Health wise I'm doing well. We're into allergy season, and that's always fun. The Remicade treatments I've been getting seem to help with my Crohn's. It's not so bad having to get stuck with an I.V. needle every eight weeks. I take my Kindle, my iPod and some snacks and settle into one of the more comfortable chairs and relax. Most of the time I end up falling asleep.

Well, if you were able to read all of that without falling asleep, congratulations! You get a cookie! It's a virtual cookie, so I hope that's ok. No calories in those.

Ciao!

Well, the reason I haven't been commenting a lot and reading anyone's journals is because I was on vacation for the past couple of days. And I tell you what, these old bones aren't as young as they used to be! I ache all over. Plus, I pulled a muscle in my back on Saturday and that in addition to sleeping on a hard motor home convertible bed didn't help matters any. However, it did nothing to hinder my enjoyment of the various rides, so things are pretty good!

I have pictures, but there are far too many to post on here, so some I will load onto PhotoPeach and the rest shall be on Facebook and since most of you are friends with me on there already, you can see them if you wish.

Islands of Adventure was fun as always. I got to ride all the rides I had wanted to and the lines weren't too bad, so that was cool. Harry Potter wasn't nearly as packed as it had been when I went in November. That was really awesome. I was able to get me a purple Pigmy Puff (whom I named Henry) and a chocolate frog.

Animal Kingdom wasn't too bad. It's not my favorite of the parks. That would be Epcot. Still, there were parts of it that were cool, like the safari and the Lion King show went went to at the end (the video of which I can't upload anywhere because it's 30 minutes which is either ten or twenty minutes too long, depending on where you try to upload it).

Naturally I forgot sunscreen, so I now have a nice sunburn on my arms...

Anyway, after Animal Kingdom, my step-mom booked us at the Polynesian Resort for their dinner show, which showcased the dances of the various Polynesian Islands, which were neat. I loved the Samoan Fire Knife Dance. THAT was awesome!

We stayed at Fort Wilderness, which seemed pretty neat, but I wasn't able to engage in many of the activities due to not being there most of the time. However, the Wi-Fi service there was crappy (which was why I was unable to keep updated with my Flist). You have to pay $9.95 per day and you had to go to the lodge to use it. My step-mom needed to use the Wi-Fi, and she had a really hard time even getting it to work. They even gave her an employee ID and it still wouldn't work right. So she eventually had to go to Panera Bread in order to use theirs.

And I looked all over the damn park to find a Pascal plushie, but I got nothing. I was so disappointed. I did get a few pins for my lanyard, so it wasn't a total loss. So the search continues.

I have to try and go to bed early so I can go into work, even though I still have so much I need to do, but I told my boss I would be in. Yay.

Hey, it's me again! I know I've been lax in posting anything other than an occasional pic or vid post. mostly that was due to either there not being any wi-fi where I was, or not having enough time to post anything or being too tired to post anything. But, seeing as we're on the way back home, I felt I aught to post something at least.

We had an awesome time on our vacation. The colors were awesome and the people were awesome and the trip to Dollywood was pretty awesome. I'm ready to go home, if only home were elsewhere however. Alas. Seeing old friends was really fantastic, but it made me realize how much I missed everyone. I hope to move to Tennessee somewhat soon, but I've been saying that for quite some time now.

We should be getting in sometime tomorrow around noon or so. I plan on crashing for the rest of the day. I feel like I'll need a vacation from my vacation.

Not much else to add at this point. I kinda dread going into work Monday because who knows what is waiting for me there. I guess I can just do the best I can...

*siiiigh* I miss the fall...

Sorry I haven't been on much lately, but the internet here at the RV park is kinda shitty and I'm having trouble navigating my FL like I would like.

So, a short update. I'll TRY to fill in with more detail when I get back home, but if that actually happens, it's hard to say...

It hasn't been a bad week for the most part. Some of it has been a little boring, like going to the square and listening to music for two days in a row, but it wasn't too bad I guess.

Disney was nixed by my step-mother because she didn't want to pay for seven people. I can kinda understand that in a way. I wish there were fewer of us, but I don't think that was a remote possibility. Still, it is a bit disappointing to say the least. I was kinda looking forward to it since I don't get an opportunity to go very often.

Well, it's getting late and I need to take my shower yet and try to hopefully dry my hair better so it doesn't look all fugly when I get up in the morning like it did the other day. I have no idea why my hair likes to do it's own thing when I don't want it to. I can never get it to look as good as my hair dresser has it. It's kind of annoying...

Hey everyone. I know I haven't been on for awhile, but the last house we were at didn't have Wi-Fi, so I wasn't able to get on.

Anyway, we spent the last few days in DC. My feet hurt ALOT! Man, I tell ya, once you hit 30 everything starts to go downhill. Like today, for some reason, my lower back is giving me fits! It's never done that before. Man, I felt majorly feeble taking my stuff into our latest stop. Ugh...

I plan on posting pictures of the trip so far on my Facebook page, which I'll try to link to on here. I think it's be easier than trying to upload them onto Scrapbook on here.

We have only a few days left in our vacation. DDDDD: I don't wanna go back, but we have to I know... *siiiiigh* Since I'd gotten myself nearly into debt since being on vacation, I have to get back so I can work and earn myself a paycheck. I've gotten spoiled these past few weeks.

So, the next time you hear from me, I'll probably be home. I'll try to catch up to my FL as much as I can. If there's anything you want me to see, just throw me a link and I'll have a looksee.

Well, here I am, back to the grind. The four day weekend was nice, but it had to end eventually.

So, here's the scoop on my mini vacay:

( cut.it.out... )

Needless to say, I wasn't able to watch my Princess Tutu set while I was there. Mostly because we weren't there long enough for me too and when we were, we were either too exhausted or I was trying to catch up with my FL.

In fandom news, I decided to order volume seven of Kaze Hikaru from Amazon as well as the missing volumes of Emma I need. I also lucked out and found copies of Fury and The Essential Guide to the Force. Needless to say my icon-fu will be twitching...

I went to the GI today and he wants me to have my colonoscopy after the first of the year... say January. The only bad thing about it would be the prep for it. I have to take this nasty ass liquid to clean me out. Blargh.

Word of the Day: verdigris
Pronunciation: /VUR-dih-grees/
n : a coating of green copper chloride and copper sulfate.