Oh my god. A blog. That is mine. MY BLOG. WHAAAAAT?

Y'all, seriously, I completely forgot I had a blog here. It's been what, 6 years? A lot's changed since then. A lot. Damn.

Where do I even begin?

 Found out my oldest had a bad thing happen, court happened, oldest was hospitalized for a while, got kicked out of our old house and forced to move into a different house, both my dogs died, decided to divorce, my mother in law died, got kicked out of THAT house and forced to move back in with my parents because I'm a fucking cripple living on SSI, my oldest baby is now Sam and is engaged, my youngest is 9 (and is NOT engaged, haha), I have another dog, a cat, 2 snakes, bunch of fish... Ueh. 

Had knee surgery, blood clots in my lungs, was hospitalized, put on blood thinners, now anemic, having another surgery soon on my uterus, have all my follow-ups to see if the clots are resolved, if my heart damage is healing, if my lymph node in my chest is still swollen or if it's cancerous.

 So, there's an extremely abridged version of my life's happenings. Fortunately my mom is amazing and helps me out a lot. Also, I miss my sisters. :(

 Does anyone even still use this? Still read it? I have no idea. If you're there, hellooooooo!

Forever Ago Today (and stuff)

Well holy crap. It's been forever since I've posted anything here. I'm not sure if I've got a lot to say, or nothing at all. Let's see..... I'll start with this - Lori moved out in February. I was having a lot of problems, and a lot of problems with Lori. She knows I still love her, but I just couldn't have her here anymore. Fortunately where she's finally ended up is someplace she can finally be self sufficient, support herself and have a life of her own, a life that doesn't revolve around a family with 2 kids. I'm proud of her. Sarah ended up finishing the 7th grade with 2 F's. I'm not sure if she needs to retake the classes in lieu of two of her electives, or if they'll be in lieu of two of her 8th grade courses, or what. Especially considering she only failed the final quarter of both classes. Who knows, maybe because it was only a quarter she won't have to repeat the classes at all. I suppose I'll find out when I head to the school to do her enrollment stuff. In the meantime, Sarah and I have had a LONG talk about her responsibilities as far as school is concerned, and that I'm happy for her she finally has an excellent, active social life, but it absolutely will not interfere with her school work any longer. She's completely on board with that, thankfully. :) Joseph is.... Joseph. He's a toddler. He's growing fast, learning faster, cute, smart, funny, and a holy terror. He's terrific, loving, giving, caring, generous and wonderful, and at the same time hits and kicks and screams when he doesn't get his way. WOW toddlers are SUCH an oxymoron. He can mostly say his ABC's, count to 12, and speaks in (more or less) complete sentences. He seems to be offended by consonants, but is still pretty coherent and understandable. Yay! James is now on days with ADT, and it's working out so beautifully. He works 4 days a week, 10 hour days, and the schedule is nearly perfect. It allows him just enough time at home to be comfortable without us getting tired of each other, and just enough time at work that he's not getting burned out. It's also nice having him home in the evenings and getting to go to bed with him most of the time. I did miss that while he was on nights. Wes, Aubre and Wes' son have been coming over quite a lot lately. I've definitely been enjoying their company and so has Joseph. While Wes, Aubre, James and I hang out, Joseph and Wesley are busy playing with/harassing/torturing/fighting with each other. They really are best friends. It's adorable. We've been gaming a lot; mostly D&D. Playing, making characters, talking about playing, oh my god it's like my life suddenly revolves around gaming again and I'm not sure how to react to it. Haha. OH, and Magus got me a WoW gamecard, so I've been enjoying that too. Man did I miss WoW. I even made a new toon on the ALLIANCE side. *le gasp* We'll see how that works out. *snicker* James and I saw The Avengers in the theatre for our anniversary. Holy... holy shit yous guys, you GOTTA see it. Seriously. It's FUCKING AMAZING. Of course... it's been out for so long that you've either seen it already or you're not planning on it. So I'm a little late on this one, I know. It's still amazing. I also want to go see Prometheus, hopefully we'll be able to do that next week. I've heard mixed reviews about The Amazing Spiderman, and haven't decided whether or not I want to see it in the theatre. I know I will NOT be seeing it in 3D, so that diminishes the expectations of the film significantly. Meh, I'll probably wait until it's out on DVD. SO... They've (more or less) announced the finding of the Higgs boson. When the announcement first happened I was so happy I cried. Seriously. This is such a huge step for people, and for physics, and potentially opens up a world of advancement. We are truly living beyond the industrial era now, and I can't wait to see what happens as science advances. :) Hurm.... my fingers are tired, and my brain is tired, so I'm going to stop here and potentially write more tomorrow. BYE.

What a world, what a world...

To ring in the new year, Ohio had a 4.0 earthquake, Japan had a 6.8 earthquake, thousands more blackbirds died in Arkansas, and there was a huge fireball visible across 3 states (not in that order, of course). 2012 is the end, man, so everybody get down, put your head between your knees, and kiss your ass goodbye!

Or not.

The new year here hasn't been nearly as eventful. James worked, Magus worked, Joseph slept, Lori passed out and was sad she didn't get any champagne, and I decided to buy TOR. Well no, that's a lie. I decided I liked it enough that I might buy it were the option available to me, and James informed me I don't have a choice - he's using his Christmas money to buy me TOR AND Skyward Sword. It's very sweet, and very rare that he uses his money on anyone but himself, so I'm feeling a bit honoured right now. :) Of course, this does mean that I'll have to get a subscription which costs the same as WoW, and I have no hope of ever playing WoW again, but... Oh well, sacrifices, you know?

A little about my TOR 'toon, because I can: Her name is Shi'luun and she's a Sith Sorceror, level... almost 11. Haha. She's going to be Lightning spec'd, mostly because I'm not interested in heals and I'd have no idea how to play the Madness spec. Plus, DPS FTW! And my companion makes it pretty easy for me to solo group areas and quests. Of course, I'm still only level 10 so it's hard to say whether or not that will continue to be true, but groups are pretty easy to find either way. There's always someone lfg, and it's great that the people who play TOR are, so far, very nice. General chat isn't full of bullshit, spam, and insults. Woo!

I'm going to be playing with James, so uh, my current toon will soon be no more since it's currently on HIS account, BUT, the new toon will probably only have a *slightly* different name; the rest will be pretty much exactly the same. Wish I hadn't used my good name on James' account! LOL.

Ok, this post was going to be longer, but alas, I have to go to the market. I am in dire need of diapers and apples.

Baby, baby, baby OOHHH!

Bet you sang that in your head, didn't you?

This has been a hell of a year. To hell with a recap though - I don't believe in that shit; even if I did, I certainly can't remember enough for an accurate recap of 2011. Suffice it to say, the year was kind of crap and hopefully next year will be a bit better.

James has applied for a promotion with ADT, and is interviewing on Monday. I'm not sure if the position is actually management or just the highest level of customer service, but either way it's an improvement over his current position (higher pay too, woo, hope he gets it!).

Sarah's been doing everything available for her school's Theatre program. 2 plays (they're currently rehearsing the 2nd, actually), drama club, Performance class, and she's applying for the Thespian society. I think I know what she's going to be when she grows up! LOL

Joseph just turned 2, and since his birthday his vocabulary has absolutely exploded. I was worried about him, he wasn't really saying much, but now he repeats just about everything. Which.... may be a bad thing, come to think of it. O_O We'll have to keep an eye on our language for awhile!

We had to ask Lori to move out. It's not fair, and I feel bad having to do it, but what it came down to was considering a combination of our finances and Sarah's emotional state (she's been having some problems lately), and we decided it was best if she left. We're giving her a month so she has some time to try to make arrangements, and I hope that she can. I feel bad enough as it is.

So, James convinced me to try SW:TOR. I played a bit on his account this morning, and will probably play more while Joseph is napping, just so I can get off of Korriban and really get the story going (I'm playing a Sith Inquisitor) and will decide how well I like it once I'm off-world. So far it's not too bad, honestly, and while it will never EVER replace WoW for me, I'm giving it a fair shot. :) The only problem I foresee is that should I actually end up enjoying it, there's no way we can afford for both James and myself to pay the monthly fee. Which is why I stopped playing WoW in the first place.

In other news, I want WoW back. Good lord do I want it back. I miss it so much, and with all the new content I want it even more. *sob*

Magus has been up here playing Skyward Sword a couple nights a week for the past couple weeks. It looks... just... outstanding. The controller is a little buggy sometimes and has to be re-centered often, and it doesn't always move the way you want it to, but all in all the concept is so sound that the minor bugs can be overlooked. The puzzles are great, true Zelda form, and the story so far, while... minor, relatively speaking, is on par with the other games. Bravo, Nintendo, you've done it again!

Uhh. I don't really have anything else to say. Lame update, I know; lot of words but nothing of substance was said. There shall be more in the future, never fear! The blog shall rise again! Or... something. Whatever.

Hope everyone had good (decent?) holidays. 2012 is just around the corner! EVERYBODY PANIC!

:P

Current Status: Alive

(but just barely)

Where do I begin? I know, I'll start with the bad stuff, that way this post can end on an awesome note.

My left knee is failing in the worst way. I've got 2 tendons that don't want to work anymore (and possibly some ligaments), and every time I step wrong, turn wrong, move wrong, LOOK at it wrong, it hurts and then goes out. I was playing with Joseph earlier today, bouncing him on my legs, and suddenly PAIN goes flaring through my knee. I think I was making a horrible face, because Lori told me I shouldn't do that anymore. I did it anyway. Hah.

Sarah's just getting over a horrible cold, that both James and Joseph caught. James is absolutely miserable, and yesterday slept for almost 12 hours. That, of course, meant he couldn't sleep today, and just went to bed an hour ago. Poor guy. :( Joseph, on the other hand, was sick for ONE DAY. Yesterday he had a really runny nose, didn't eat anything and took a 3 hour nap, and today he's mostly better. Kid's got a killer immune system. BUUUUUT, he's teething, and has been for the last week. He's like a demon. A cranky, hungry, tired, indecisive demon who's always chewing on his hands. *sighs*

Fortunately I'm not sick yet, and neither is Lori; hopefully it stays that way. I can't afford to get sick right now, not with as much as I have to do.

We got our "new" couch (read: James' parents used to own it, and gave it to us to replace the couch that literally fell apart) recently, and it's HUUUUUUUGE. I'm pretty sure it was designed for a room shaped like an egg. That or the biggest living room known to man. It's not an L couch, but it's not a straight couch either. It's curved like 3 sides of an octagon, which means it's really obnoxiously placed, and it has a giant ottoman that fits with the curve perfectly. The ottoman opens for storage, which is cool, but my god, there's no space left in my living room at all. It's like someone came in, took a look around, and decided that oh no, all this space isn't necessary at all, let's just fill it up with useless random crap until your (my) head bursts!!!!! But it's huge and comfy and I guess that's what really matters right now. XD

Our car is fixed, to the tune of over $500. Ouch. Hopefully it won't fall apart again anytime soon.

James has pre-ordered SW:TOR online so will probably be playing officially by the 15th of December, and he's also picking up Skyrim soon. No Yule gifts for him! Bah-humbug. I still don't have any of the games I want, nor will I be able to get any until after the first of the year. No pre-orders or anything. I have too many gifts to buy. I still need to buy for the kids, and Lori and Magus, and James' family, and my family, and oh my god there's still so much to dooooooooooo!

There's a squirrel outside foraging for nuts in the leaves, right behind me next to the open window, and it's very distracting. I've seen some *very* fat squirrels this year. I saw one that was the size of a cat, holy crap! I've never seen one that big! O_O

I'm about to clean my dining room, finally. As soon as Joseph is asleep (assuming he naps at all today) I'm going to start tearing everything apart in there, organizing and tossing and putting away and generally making it awesome. I hope. There's not really a lot in there, but it's all BIG stuff, and covered in spiderwebs next to the back wall/door/window area. Ew. I wish I had a giant extendable Swiffer thing. That'd be much nicer than the broom.

I just read a book called 2012: The War for Souls, by Whitley Strieber. It was a bit squicky, and a bit typical, but not bad all in all. The beginning annoyed me because it confused the hell out of me, but I soldiered on and discovered that all in all, it wasn't too bad. It's about aliens, parallel worlds, souls, and the connection between worlds that saves everyone. Except the aliens. It's... it's a weird book. I recommend it, if you're not opposed to a bit of gore here and there, and overdone concepts and the supernatural don't bug you out.

That's about it, I guess. Nothing exciting going on here.

Life Take Two

Since I haven't written anything here in quite awhile, I figure I'll go ahead and make an extended post about what's been going on here.

Nothing.

The end.

No, ok seriously, there's very little to actually say. Sarah's doing well in school except for a couple of teacher-student misunderstandings, and got a D in one of her classes thanks to that (damnit), but that's forgivable. I don't expect her to be perfect. Hopefully, though, she'll remember to do her damn homework, ALL of it, from now on.

Joseph has been growing and learning and learning and growing. His vocabulary has hit about 30 words, but a lot of them see very irregular use. I can't wait until he's older and can decipher his speech a little better. To where "fffvvvvvit" is actually "vitamin" and "beep" is actually "truck" (he doesn't say beep for cars? i don't know why), and "nums" is NOT synonymous with both food *and* drink. But for now, it's all good.

James is getting on well at work. Still not getting paid enough, but who the hell is these days? As soon as we start getting his bonuses again, we'll be good to go. Uh... James works, yay? LOL nothing really to say here, it's work. He sits, answers calls, and comes home. Woo.

Lori's finally got a job, at a local mall. She recruits people to take surveys. Haha, she's like a telemarketer that stares at you rather than calls you. But hey, it's work, it's better than she's been able to find for the past 2 years (which is nothing, hah).

Me, well.... I've been okay. Saw my sistah Lindsey the other day for the first time in like, a year, and am really happy about that. Love you, Lindsey! I've been really irritable lately though, because I'm getting tired of having a house so utterly full of people. For such a tiny house, a lot of people live here. Sometimes it's not so bad, but frankly, most of the time it kind of makes me want to tear my hair out. It's a little better now that Lori's got a job, and I've been trying to make the best of it, but it's getting harder and harder the more time goes on, especially with how much the girl talks. Fortunately Magus is *very* out of the way and takes care of his own space, and he helps us out with financial stuffs when we need it (like when the car broke and cost $500 to fix, thanks for the help sweetheart), so having him here is easy-peasy.

I've been taking care of a bunch of housework in preparation for getting a new couch, and managed to fuck up my knee somehow. I don't even know how, just suddenly felt the urge to pop my knee and when it wouldn't pop the pain got progressively worse until I could barely walk yesterday. Today's a little better, but it keeps having these pain flare-ups and going out so I lose my balance. Even so, it's very satisfying to have done all the work I have. Although you can't even really tell anymore; it's amazing how quickly this house goes from mostly clean to FUCKING TRASHED. *growls*

Uh. Not doing much gaming right now, I've been too distracted by life. A little sad, but hopefully things will slow down soon. O_O

I guess this wasn't really that extended, huh? More when I have more to say, I guess.

Live Long and Jello.

I have no idea....

God, what am I doing? I have no idea what's going on these days. I've been so damn busy my days are sort of running together. Today is my daughter's 13th birthday and I'm very, very scared because ... well, because she's a TEENAGER now! *le gasp* I've managed to keep her alive into her teenage years. Well, now that the easy part's over... hahaha.

We're about to get a new couch. This one is completely broken down, to the point where I can barely even climb out of it when I want to stand up. Tuesday, woo!

Got back in touch with an old friend, went to see her last night. Felt good. I missed you, babe! Sorry I've been so busy!

There are a ton of games coming out and a ton more I've just discovered are coming out that I want to play, but can't afford *any* of them. Worst - with a 1 year WoW subscription you get DIII free, but I can't afford the stupid monthly charge (which is why I haven't played in... 8 months or so). Rawr!

Um... my son's almost 2, and sometimes he acts like a 4 year old and others he acts his age. It's a little disconcerting to have a baby who I have to keep reminding myself is only a year old so I shouldn't expect so much of him. Sarah was the same way, though. Geez it's hard having smarty-pants kids. o_O

James has had several days off (yay for PTO) and has been working on the kitchen for me. He's done a BUNCH of dishes and cleaned off the stove, which was CAKED with stuff from I don't even know how long ago, and is going to clean the counters. I still have to do the floor though, haha. Thanks James! *MuAh*

So I just saw this thing on cultural diversity and stereotyping for Halloween and I'm just blown away by the ignorance of some people. The whole debate is whether or not some costumes are racially insensitive (geisha, arab terrorist, etc) and my opinion is this - IF IT'S NOT YOU THEN WHY DO YOU CARE WHAT STEREOTYPE SOMEONE IS MAKING FUN OF FOR HALLOWEEN? I mean, does anyone REALLY think that anyone who dresses as a stereotype for halloween honestly believes that it's the way ALL people of that particular culture are? No. Fuck off. Grow some balls. A spine. SOMETHING, but quit getting all fucking crybaby because you're Japanese and someone's a samurai, or ninja, or geisha, or what-fucking-ever.

The end!

Ooh, the Excitement!

It's been awhile since I've blogged, I know. This one is going to be short, though. Just a few things I'm excited about, and a mini-rant.

First, James really, REALLY wants me to play TOR. It's still in the beta and should be released by Christmas (even though there's no official release date yet, bah) and, having been invited to the beta and getting to play some, thinks I'll really enjoy it. I don't know any more than that, cause y'know, it's BETA and you'll get in trouble for sharing, but the problem is, I don't want to play. I don't want to experiment, I don't want to make a 'toon and try it, I'm just simply not interested. It's sci-fi first off, and sci-fi isn't a genre I'm particularly interested in, save a few select instances. Second, there are two other MMOs I'm waiting for, and really excited to play, and I don't want to fill up ALL of my free time with MMOs and nothing else. I just wish he would leave me alone about it. He says, "I really want to play this with you! Toward the end of WoW that's the only reason I didn't find it a chore!" I say, "Well James, if you really want to play with me, get GW2 or D3 when they come out! Because I'M NOT INTERESTED IN TOR!" He says, *cry*. Hehe.

So, my excitement. There are several games coming out that I can't wait to get my grubby little pseudo-gamer fingers on. Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is at the top of the list. If I can get together the money I'm ordering the bundle so I won't have to buy the Wiimote Plus (which I think is $40 or $50 on its own). It's beautifully rendered and with close to 100 hours of gameplay and lots of cutscenes, I think it's definitely worth the release price.

Another game I'm really looking forward to is Guild Wars 2. I only know a limited amount of information about it, but from what I know and have seen, it's right up my alley, especially since I've stopped playing WoW. One of the things that makes GW2 great is that events are interactive and available to anyone in the region (which will be especially awesome if events repeat so you don't constantly miss things).

And the third of the ones I really just can't wait for is Diablo 3. I... do I really need to explain why? It's fucking Diablo. A Diablo MMO. Really.

There are a couple others coming out I'm looking forward to, but those three are the main. Cause... MMO, BABY!

MTV VMAs, What a Joke.

I remember MTV when it was still new and shiny, and played, oh, I don't know, MUSIC VIDEOS. MTV is no longer about the music, it's about television ratings. MTV stopped airing videos, and so they created M2, which was cool for awhile, but then they did the SAME THING.

For the past many years, I haven't watched the MTV video music awards. Last time I saw the VMAs, it was all about the artists, the videos, the cinematography, the direction. That was better than 10 years ago. Now it's just about who they can showcase. I made the mistake of watching being horrified at the VMAs tonight, and... wow. WOW. Fucking ripoff. They only actually showed a few categories, and everything inbetween was performances ridiculous behaviour. There was ONE good performance tonight, and that was Adele. God she's beautiful. Anyway, all the nominee categories weren't even close to presented, and the few that were were so poorly presented and so short that I had no idea who the hell was even nominated most of the time.

MTV, I knew there was a reason I started hating you with the fiery passion of a thousand hot taco and curry eaters with severe irritable bowel syndrome.

Tattoos part 2 - Games

Yesterday (the day before?) I wrote a blog about music tattoos. Today's blog is going to be about gaming tattoos - specifically, why I have 2 already (even though one desperately needs fixed, because the guy who did it wasn't very good) and why I'm getting at least one more.

My very first tattoo, gotten 2 days after my 18th birthday, is the Vampire: The Masquerade ankh. Very small, purple (black outline), and on my left breast (BAD idea if you're still an adolescent, by the way... never get a tattoo on a fatty area before you're done developing!!!!). At the time, V:TM LARP was a VERY important part of my life - it bonded my husband and I, and introduced me to people who I could relate to at that time. I was a veritable social butterfly in the gaming world when I LARPed, and even though my first LARP was actually Werewolf: The Apocalypse, V:TM brought me an active, fun-filled, charmed and charming life, and fulfilled a sense of belonging I needed at that time, that I'll forever appreciate, even if it was considerably temporary.

My second gaming tattoo (but by no means my 2nd tattoo, I actually have 5 right now) is the Nobody symbol from the Kingdom Hearts series of video games; it's on my right leg just above my ankle, and is the one I need fixed. For those unfamiliar, Kingdom Hearts is a Disney and Square Enix collaborative effort begun in 2002, and revolves around a boy who has to save his friends, and all the worlds (including Disney worlds), from an organization of beings called Nobodies. There is, of course a LOT more to it than that, and the series of games spans many years and many lives, but the gist is the same nonetheless. The Kingdom Hearts story is one of the most involved I've ever seen in a videogame (or anywhere really, there are very few storylines as epic as the one presented with KH, even in book series), and a good many of the characters are ones you can relate to. The character development and growth is stunningly presented. The reason I have a Nobody symbol (as opposed to other symbols of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, such as the heart, crown, or heartless symbol) is because once you look past the surface of Organization XIII's motives (OrgXIII are the main antagonists in the primary KH story), they only want what everyone wants. To be whole. To feel complete, instead of the empty shells they are. (Not to mention, two of my favourite fictional characters ever are both Nobodies, and the progression of one of them from Nobody to Somebody was astounding.)

Now, for the last one, the one I don't have but I want very badly. Yes, this labels me as a huge dork or geek or possibly nerd in the eyes of some, but I don't care. I want the Horde symbol from World of Warcraft tattooed on my back. I played World of Warcraft for a few years, and even though it's been awhile since I've been able to play due to lack of funds, I still have an active interest in it. One of the few things I'm actively interested in these days, actually. But as a member of the Horde faction, I joined a guild, the same one James was in when he convinced me to start playing, and in that guild I found a level of camaraderie and cooperation that I've never seen in my adult life before or since. I fully believe that were it not for WoW I wouldn't have become as close with Magus as I am, and that Gary and I wouldn't have become actual friends (as opposed to acquaintances), and I wouldn't have made several other friends that I have today. Being a member of the Horde, and of the guild, brought the same sense of belonging as an adult that I felt I needed as a teenager, and for that I will be forever grateful.

I'm sure in the future there will be others, something geeky or music related, something non-spiritual (the other tattoos I want are primarily spiritual symbols), but for now I'm content to make myself a walking advertisement for the things I love and have a deep appreciation for.

Music+Tattoos

I fucking love music. No, really, it's second only to my family in my life. I love listening to it, and I love singing. During those times when I lose my voice due to some illness or another, I'm absolutely miserable. I try to sing, and sound like a dying llama. But at least my ears still work. If/when my hearing finally goes completely, the only thing I'll have left is Dubstep (haha).

When this season's tax return comes in (6 months, boohoo) I'm keeping money back for tattoos. Band tattoos, specifically. Oh, there are plenty more besides bands that I want, but I'm getting my 3 most influential bands' logos permanently marked on my body to remind me of what music has helped me get through. (That'd be a LOT, if you hadn't guessed already). It's my fucking lifeline.

First and foremost is 30 Seconds to Mars. I've been a fan since the beginning (hell, I was a fan of Jared and Shannon Leto before they released any music), and the music has only gotten deeper and more soulful with every new album (of which there have been 3). Their profundity has forced me, on more than one occasion, to sit back and think.

Secondly is Coheed & Cambria. Not only have I been a fan since close to the beginning of their careers, but I love the fact that their albums are all stories that correspond with their comics/graphic novels. I loved The Amory Wars, and the music is so utterly meaningful. It helps that Claudio Sanchez has one of the most unique voices I've ever heard sing.

Last but certainly not least is Breaking Benjamin. I've loved them for years, and although their music changed to suit the current trends, they never lost who they were. Their music has gotten me through some pretty rough times in my life. I know most of it's not terribly deep or profound (some is, so shush), but the sound of Benjamin Burnley's voice lulls me to calm.

There's one band I've left off of my list of favourites that I just adore, but they uh, they don't have a logo I can get tattooed yet. Haha, I know that's ridiculous, but I don't plan on having many words tattooed on me, and the only thing available from them is words. Marianas Trench; they're a Canadian pop-punk band with a truly unique sound (think Beach Boys meets Queen meets FallOut Boy minus the emo). They're fairly new on the music scene; I can't wait to find out what more is in store from these guys.

In closing, let me just say that music is the 2nd best thing to ever happen to me, and the first thing I ever discovered that made my life worth living for. Oh sure, I loved Guns 'n' Roses, Faith no More, Metallica, Megadeth, Sepultura, Ozzy Ozbourne, etc, and they all helped me get through my adolescence (and god, yes, even New Kids on the Block, they were big when I was pubescent), but the bands above helped me get through my adult years, when troubles were a little clearer, a little deeper and a little more profound than they were when I was a kid.

I'm so bored, looking at the wall....

Before I start this post, let me just get something off my chest -- being a woman having a uterus SUCKS. I'm done having kids, I want this thing yanked.

Okay, I feel better. On to the real post.

I'm so tired of seeing the same shows on Sprout replayed over and over and over. By the time Joseph can talk, he'll be able to recite all 3 episodes of Calliou he's ever seen by heart. FUCK OLD MCDONALD, I'LL EAT HIS PIGS FOR BREAKFAST AND HIS COWS FOR DINNER!

Gary picked up El Shaddai when it was released, and offered to bring it over on uhh... Monday or Tuesday, I can't remember, to watch him play. It's one of the new games I REALLY want, so I was tempted to say yes, but I was in so much pain I had to decline. Hopefully it's not too late, or maybe I could beg him to let me borrow it for awhile when he's done playing. I don't think it's terribly long and involved, just really artsy with an interesting story (and damn good gameplay - the realtime battle system is fucking awesome, and the puzzles are intriguing without being impossible). Gawd I can't wait to get a copy for myself.

I've actually started doing something in Minecraft. I know, Le gasp. So long as it doesn't make me dizzy, I'll keep working on my structure of awesome, and pretty soon I'll probably be helping Magus level an entire area and laying a flat surface. Across a 240+ square block area. OH GOD, THE HORROR. That's ok, at least it'll give me something to do where I won't have to think much. Thinking hasn't really been one of my strong points lately.

Speaking of thinking, my thought processes have been getting slower and slower. It's been increasingly difficult to come up with words, whole sentences even, to describe what I'm thinking. My brain and mouth just aren't making much of a connection anymore. It's a little annoying and a lot disconcerting. It's not terribly easy to blog, either. The ability to communicate in general is deteriorating. Can't wait for insurance, woo.

Sarah's having a great time in school. As it turns out, her fears were for nothing; she's already making new friends, and I don't think she shares any classes at all with the bullies from her elementary school. She sees one of them in the hallways between classes, but that's the most of the interaction. She's already learned the layout of the school and where all her classes are, and she's having less trouble with her locker than she did the first couple of days. Yay for Sarah. I knew she'd be fine, despite all her hesitation.

I ACCIDENTALLY THE WHOLE THING.

Prototypes, The Ramones, and OMG BANANAS!

This morning Sprout (the preschool TV network) has Sean, the only male host, on the "Sunny Side Up Show", the network's weekday morning show. Well, Sean was playing a "lullaby" for a baby chick, turned on the radio, and THE RAMONES starts blasting from the radio. Blitzkrieg Bop, to be precise. Total holy shit moment here, folks. The motherfucking Ramones were on SPROUT. AHAHAHAHAHA. It only lasted for about 5 or 10 seconds, but that was enough to make me love this channel forever. That's better than when Kelly (another host) got stuck in Chica's (squeaky bird puppet) nest. Muahahahahaha.

Joseph followed me into the kitchen while I got my 2nd cup of coffee, and demanded a banana. He brought me the entire bunch, and yelled NUMMY NUMMY at me. So I give him a banana, peel it, and he starts breaking off the peel as he's eating it, so the living room becomes full of banana peel bits that I have to get Joseph to bring to me so the dogs don't decide peel = tasty. Hahaha. (Now, I'm not entirely sure why I felt Joseph asking for bananas was noteworthy enough to blog about.... I just did.)

Sarah's first day of school was yesterday (second being, uh, today, duh) and she's very excited about her schedule. She's got creative writing, performance, and communications as her electives and couldn't be happier. Combine that with Advanced English and she's about as happy as a mouse in a cheese factory. I'm really excited for her. Looks like the year's not going to be as bad as she thought. Hehe.

I've started working on my building on Magus' sister's Minecraft server. I made a prototype on our home server (which I'm not done with yet), but making it on the big server's going to take about 4x as long, since there's no flying there, but our home server allows flying. Gonna have to be extra, extra careful, and /superjump is going to be my best friend for awhile. Magus is making MUCH more progress with his Nobody castle; good god it's like half done already. It's both impressive and terrifying. In comparison, my 'house' is more like a hovel, and my epic structure is going to be sort of... lame. Toothpicks next to the Eiffel Tower. Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Still trying to find time and energy to play a plethora of other games (mostly console) I want to play. and I'm seriously considering picking WoW back up for at least a month, to check out all the new content. There's quite a bit of it, from what I understand. Still up for debate, though, as I don't know if I'll want it for longer than a month, and I don't know if we'd be able to even afford it for longer if I decide I want to keep playing. So we'll see, I suppose.

Again, boring blog is boring.

Everybody Wiggle!

Joseph is sitting calmly on the floor watching The Wiggles. Shocking - he hasn't been calm for two days. He usually has to be in motion... constant, neverending, annoyingly hyper motion. It's nice to have a little bit of a break while he's still awake.

Sarah's in her room doing... I don't even know what. Probably sleeping, she had a long night and morning. Won't go into it here, but suffice it to say, she got into some pretty big trouble and is lucky the neighbours didn't call the cops. O_O Oh, and tomorrow is the first day of school. Exciting!

Life here has been pretty sedate other than that. Absolutely nothing of note has been happening. Dogs are dogs, kids are kids, people are people. God it's boring here. Thank heaven. Boring is good.

I haven't been gaming at ALL lately. Joseph and Sarah leave me exhausted by the end of the day, and I usually don't feel like putting forth the mental effort to game at that point. I think I'm finally going to start working on my Minecraft build tonight, though. I'm going to start plotting some things on graph paper and working on it in the game. I still have to finish my 'zomg it's gigantic' wall around the base of the cliff face my house is perched on. I think I'm going to start building houses dwellings in all the cliffs around the lagoon (epic lagoon is epic). And the walkways, OH the walkways, there will be MANY of them, and they will all be GLASS!

Uh... I might also play some SB3 tonight. I really miss that game. It's more fun to play it with other people, but I still enjoy being the crap out of 'the enemy' by myself. Haah.

Boring post is boring.

Pajamas!

So yesterday was my birthday, and now I'm 32. Not a big deal, 32's not exactly a far cry from 31. It was a mostly good day - A round of "happy birthday" from people. James let me sleep in for... as long as I wanted, actually. I didn't get up until I had to pee. Sarah came home, and I was very excited to see her (and she even brought me some very comfy pjs for my birthday, woohoo). Joseph was really well behaved. Lori cooked a most excellent dinner. James... well, James decided he had to rearrange the living room, right now. It was odd, sitting here on the couch while he's doing a bunch of work, cleaning stuff, moving stuff, etc, so he could get his desk where he wanted it. I thought he was going to die. Haha. (More is going to be rearranged this evening, as it's not done yet. Whee.) There were a couple of snags in the evening unfortunately, but nothing I didn't get over pretty quick. In this house, you kind of have to be resilient in order to survive.

I did, however, miss out on gaming yet again. This is getting irritating. I really need to get my shit together. Tonight it's not going to happen due to more rearranging, plus I need to start plotting my Minecraft build on graph paper after Joseph goes to bed. I haven't even been on the server in days. It's a little depressing, actually. BUT, on the bright(?) side, James no longer needs the PS2 slim (it has a monitor even, woohoo), so I can keep it on the table next to me and use it for KH and DMC and maybe some FF while the TV is occupied with other things. (Assuming I can read the screen, anyway, as it's really tiny.) I'd even be able to play while Joseph is awake, since I'd be able to pause and put it down pretty much whenever. 'Course, I wouldn't actually get much done that way, but at least it would be entertainment other than gouging my eyeballs out with a spork Sprout TV.

Sorry, I'm boring today.

EDIT: Oh yeah, forgot to mention - it's fucking 75 degrees today. Tomorrow it's going to be 85, yesterday it was 85, but today it's holy shit windows are open and no air conditioner I think I'm going to die in the fresh air day. Awesome.

Fuggit... away with ye, anonymity!

Hey look, another rhyme in my title.

Since I've published this blog on Facebook, I've decided to do away with the 'initials and non-specific indicators' thing I had going on. You all already know it's me, and you already know how much I talk about my family, so... Hell with it.

In other news, I'm very excited to play D2 tonight. Didn't play last night because of early bed, for something that ended up not even happening thanks to... unfortunate circumstances. I feel bad, though, because I'm sure Gary and Magus probably view me to be as unreliable as I view the people the circumstances are based around. What? Gaming? YES! ... Wait, no, sorry. *sadface* But tonight... Aah tonight, yes, I will be gaming, and I will be having fun, and damnit I will be staying up late and sleeping in tomorrow. James can take care of Joseph. Moooooohahahaha. (Hey look, I'm a cow.)

Sarah's staying with her granny for a little while longer. I thought she was coming back today, but it turns out only her friend is coming back, and she's staying for a few more days. As long as she's back by... Oh, I don't know, by Friday, it should be fine. I still need to get her school ID picture and her gym uniform and planner. Oh the joys of middle school.

I... I actually don't really have anything more to say here that wouldn't be flat-out venting and bitching, so I'll let this go at short and simple.

Robots In Disguise!

My son has a little Transformers backpack, toddler-sized, that he just LOVES. The picture on the front is holographic, so it looks pretty awesome when he's wearing it and running around. At first he was scared of it, because, y'know... toddler... never worn a backpack. But once he got used to it he LOVED it. He's sitting on the floor playing with the zipper, getting used to having a bag of his own to carry around toys and diapers and a snack in.

My daughter has an oldschool metal Transformers lunchbox that she's using as a keepsake box. We found it at one of those restaurants-that-sells-everything, and for $10 I couldn't say no. She used it for school a couple of times and gasp got made fun of for it, and for the life of me I can't figure out why. TRANSFORMERS. IS. AWESOME.

My hubby is jealous - his 2 year old and 13 year old have more awesome stuff than he does. Hahaha. He tried to get adolescent girl to give up her lunchbox so he could use it, but she adamantly refused. Not that I blame her at all. I haven't been able to find another like it since. If I manage to find another, hubby will probably be positively ecstatic and jump for joy and shit.

So, Diablo II fell through last night. Yesterday was a pretty stressful day (toddler was acting up all evening), and by the time I was done de-stressing I fell asleep. I felt bad, cause G and M had the host up and were waiting for me, and I totally flaked. Today, I think, is going to be better - toddler's not throwing fits so far today - and hopefully DII won't be a problem tonight. Seeing as how it's the only multiplayer/co-op/mmo I can play right now. I really miss gaming. (Though, speaking of which, now that L has found her graph paper I need to start graphing my design for Minecraft; doing it cold is just tooooooooo hard.)

CHEESE POPCORN FTW!

The AMAZING Buttfloss!!

Why? Why the hell were thong underwear ever invented? Whoever decided we needed something embedded in our asshole for an entire day was a true sadist and needs to be hung. A lot.

Anyway - Smoking in the house has become irregular at worst and nonexistent at best. I'm trying to quit, my lungs just can't handle any more harsh chemical inhalants, so I've been asking hubby to not bring smokes into the house anymore. Sometimes he forgets and brings them home, at which point I will smoke them because I have no willpower, but in all he's usually pretty good about leaving them at work, where he's allowed to have all the cigarettes he wants... on break. :D There was one point not too awful long ago where there was an entire month with no cigarettes except the occasional clove, and I felt really great. My lung capacity was improving again, I wasn't coughing every day, and my singing voice was finally improving. Then, shitstorm things got kind of hectic for awhile and hubby brought cigarettes home. Well, things are finally calming down again, so smoking is becoming less prevalent here again. Whee.

My son has been a total butt lately. He's entering his "I Hate Everything!!!" phase, so multiple times a day there are fits for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Oh, you can't get to a toy in your toybox? Fit. Your blocks didn't stack right? Fit. Want to do something you're not supposed to do? Double Fit. Good grief, it's like God took every toddler attitude problem ever and put them into my son. All at once. The only time he's ever calm is when he's in his highchair having just been served food throwing his food on the floor. It's times like this I'm glad we have dogs, otherwise things would get nasty QUICK. Food squashed in carpet is disgusting.

I really miss my daughter, and hope she's doing ok. Before she left she was having some extreme jaw pain due to teeth (12 year molars? Wisdom teeth? I'm not entirely sure...) erupting, and was able to eat pretty much nothing. I think chocolate milk was her best friend for awhile, actually. But now she's with granny, and I haven't heard from her since she left on Thursday morning, so I assume she's not dead. Update: I just called, and she's fine. Woot.

I played some D2 last night, with M and G. We were on vent (having finally gotten my stupid computer to cooperate, after being remotely accessed and fixed by M, who was at work), and hilariously M and I went AFK mostly at the same time, only I announced I was back and he never did... so I'm alt-tabbed out of D2, fucking around online, and all of a sudden I hear G say, "S, are you still awake?" ... Yes G, I'm just waiting for M to get back. "He's been back for awhile. We've blah blah blah." Nobody said anything! Augh! Anyway, we get going, and after some minor glitches we get some quests done before I pass out. Unfortunately, this is just another instance where I'm following people around who know what they're doing. I'm sure I could figure it out on my own (after all, I am a WoW player), but since I'm playing with people who've already been there done that, I'm wandering around behind them and picking at leftovers, it seems like. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be playing with friends, it just seems like it's going to get frustrating never having any idea what's going on until there's a town portal and the quest is over. (Speaking of town portals, I need to get myself a new wand, now that I've got more than a couple hundred gold, and I also need to get that scepter I found to G, who could definitely use it.) I think I may play on my own for awhile, get used to questing and figuring out where stuff is; then maybe I'll take the lead and be like, "Hey M, G! Over heeeeeeeeeere, ya slowpoke losers!" Haha, okay not really, I wouldn't call them slowpokes, they both really like to run. *snicker* (Love ya, guys, haha.)

TEETH!

That is all.

Human Revolution

After enjoying watching, but not playing, Deus Ex and Deus Ex: Invisible Wars, I'm very much looking forward to actually playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Human Revolution has been in development since 2006 (announced in May 2007), and is finally, FINALLY being released by Square Enix in August.


The graphics are absolutely fucking incredible, in my opinion, but I'm not fond of the art style. It's got a terrific cyberpunk feel to it, with hints of steampunk here and there. The only thing I could wish would be the use of less sepia and more.... not sepia. I think the art director for this game went a little crazy on the "historical picture" aspect. The gameplay looks outstanding, with transitioning between the 4 different pillars exceptional. Also... being a prequel means I won't have missed out by not having played the other 2 games. I also am ecstatic that they're using a regenerative health model, rather than forcing you to halt all activity until you manage to scrounge together enough food or medpacks. Your health won't regenerate quickly enough that there's no challenge, however, so getting through the game isn't going to be a breeze. Thankfully.

Oh, let's not forget the music. The Music, man. The music is fucking outstanding. Reminiscent of Daft Punk's Tron: Legacy soundtrack, the music is one of the things I'm looking forward to most about the game.

Unfortunately, because it's a prequel, the weapons system isn't quite the same. Deus Ex and Invisible Wars both used a single depleting ammo source, whereas Human Revolution will have different types of ammo/weapons, to be upgraded as necessary. Having ammo that could potentially run out during boss fights is going to be annoying, but it will be pretty realistic... for as far as the Deus Ex games are realistic, anyway.

Okay... I had more I was going to say, but it's taken me 3 hours to write this much. I give. There may be more later.

Angel Tears (or not)

RAIN. SWEET, SWEET BEAUTIFUL WONDERFUL WET COOL REFRESHING RAIN, OH HOW I'VE MISSED THEE IN THIS HEAT.

Oh, so... it's finally raining here. Temp cooled down a bit, heat wave broke, and there are storms rolling through. I'm so thankful, it's been nearly too hot to function, and so dry that everything died. It's very sad. But with the rain, my rose of sharon are coming back to life, and maybe the grass will turn green again for a minute.

I fucking hate Barney. I really really REALLY hate Barney. And you know, with all the people I've seen that claim to hate it, I have to wonder why the hell it's still on the air after all this time.

I got expensive chinese food last night, and just ate the eggdrop soup that my hubby didn't eat because it wasn't very "flavourful". I thought it was delicious. A little thick for my tastes (gelatinous, even), but the flavour made up for it.

I'm feeling very ADD right now. Can't really concentrate on any one thing, and if I do manage to focus, it's not for very long. I've been getting distracted by the TV, internet, hubby, baby, dogs, etc. I mean... AUGH WHY CAN'T I THINK????

It really sucks being broke. I really wanted to go get some candy last night (was craving something ultra-sweet) but it was a no-go because I spent my birthday money on chinese food and beer (hahahahahah) and didn't have any leftover for sweets. I ended up having some birthday cake ice cream, which was too cold.

My oldest isn't here, she's with her granny a couple hours away. I miss her already, but hope she's having fun out there.

I know someone on the TOR Beta, and all I have to say is this - An Englishman should not have a FuManChu mustache. Not ever.

I have no idea what the hell I'm doing right now. I think this is a sort of stream of consciousness experiment, but gone horribly awry, as my consciousness never streams anything long enough for me to get it down on paper (uh.... monitor?). Most things that go through my head are extremely fleeting.

I think I want to play KH or DMC, but it would probably make my son cry because I'd change the channel while he's sitting in his high chair (if he wasn't in his high chair, I wouldn't care). I really don't feel like upsetting him right now, he was a royal pain in the ass last night and I do not want a repeat performance.

I've run out of boring things to say.