Ever wonder why comics are dying?

So I finished watching the online June 11, 2008 episode of the Colbert Report, and they had on David Hadju. This person had written a book about comics books called "The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America", which from the blurb on Amazon is an examination of ...geez, I was just going to copy and paste it, but really, there's no really good blurb I can pull out w/o doing the whole thing. Anyways, if anyone cares, they can go on Amazon or any other online bookstore website. Anyhoo, as I watched the episode, I was first thinking that this isn't one of the regular comic book historians b/c I'd never heard of him. Then I was shocked and horrified. Not at the attack on comic books in the 1950s, heck no. But how horribly Hadju presented the history of rise of the Comic Code Authority, and the demise of numerous comics and publishers. He couldn't even present his own thesis on the show! Colbert had to try and help him stay on his thesis about what the govt was doing! If I was a non-comic book reader, I'd be like "who cares?" *huff huff*
Yes, I was arguing w/ the guy as I watched the episode, and yelling facts and names at him. And I'm not upset only b/c of his horrible presentation, but b/c I know how much he left out, simplied and completely ignored in the interview. I wrote a paper on the persecution of comics in the 1950s, covering the USA and Canada. It was for my Level 400 History course, and yes, I got top marks for it. Yes, I know it's a 5 min interview, but if your argument is that videogames/death metal/TV shows are a scapegoat for society's ills just like comics were in the 1950s, state that! Don't go describing how parents held book-burnings w/o linking it to the brainwashing that occurs at Christian camps. I really don't think this guy has anything new to bring to the examination of comic book history, and his presentation certainly hasn't helped. And no, I never read his book. And I don't intend to.

Insurance Woes

No, it's not that I need to make a claim *knocks on wood*, just that I updated my address, and the rep takes over 10 min to "make changes" and had me on hold the entire time. When she comes back, she immediately tries to upsell me their inclusive package, and only bases her quotes on my current rate. Then at the call closing she slips in that my monthly deductible's going up by $4. You better believe I was mad, and quickly pointed out that she should've told me that after putting me on hold for over 10 min, and certainly before she tried selling me the other options. And then she tries to go w/ "oh I'm sorry, but that's the new rate." Like heck it is, I wanted an explanation. Supposedly it's merely b/c of my postal code, which is in a 5 yr old area, w/ a 5 yr old house which hardly hears any sirens in the area. I pointed out the illogic of a higher rate in a safe new suburban neighbourhood vs downtown only a few streets from the homeless shelter. She could only say that's what that statisticians come up with. Of course I ask for a manager and she offers me a 24 hr callback from an officer. Well I point out that since they close at 8pm EST, that leaves them 1/2 hr to call me at home. So I'll see if I get a callback. *sigh* I wonder if they'd be worried if I mentioned I worked for the federal Dept of Justice? And yeah, it's true, after you work in customer service, you really can't stand poor service.

And I don't know if anyone else gets this feeling, but everytime I talk to an insurance person, I always feel like they're going to put a curse on me if I don't take whatever they're pushing.

Wanting to move out already

Now, some people might consider this mean or rude or ungrateful, but I completely remember why I'd moved out in the first place. On the 2nd day that I got back. The Saturday was when I had less than 2 hrs of sleep, so of course I try to sleep in on Sunday after getting to bed around 1:30 am. Now, I'm one of those people who aren't comfortable sleeping in strange places, so I only get a light sleep (lighter than usual). I eventually get up around 11:30 am. My dad b!tches me out for sleeping in. Excuse me?!! I vacuum the flipping living room and basement the day before, move hundreds of kgs of furniture and I can't sleep in?!!? Anyways, yesterday my dad was talking to my brother on the phone and he just tells me to get changed (I schlup around in ratty old T-shirt and shorts around the house b/c it's more comfortable). Completely out of the blue. So of course I ask why. Then he starts screaming at me to put on my clothes and decide whether I want to go out for dinner or not. WTF?! So now everytime he pisses me off, I just tell me "No wonder why no one want to live with you." B/c really, who wants to live w/ that kind of abuse?

Anyways, work was interesting today. Had a big meeting. It's wonderful getting a mug for just getting employed by them, and not having to work 1 year for a keychain and then 5 yrs to pick something outta a catalog. Tomorrow will be running around a former-convent, if I can get any energy b/c it'll be a really early morning.

Still unpacking. My desk looked so clean before I opened boxes. Also planning on going down to Anime Expo to see Seki Toshihiko. *drool* Argh, but I'll probably panic and freeze and/or freak out. So expensive though. Have to renew my passport, get plane tickets, rent hotel, get spending money. And only a month to do it all. I did get days off work (which was much easier than I'm used to from my previous employer), but H wants to do other stuff and go to other cities also. I'm thinking "dude, you may be on summer vacation but I'm not." But on the other hand, it'll be totally cool to travel w/ her, and we haven't seen each other for a year. So I'm really hemming and hawing. I guess I'll ask my supervisor if I can get a few more days and see if it's okay. Only thing is that during that time period, tons of people will also be on vacation also.

Moves and Jobs, Oh my!

So it's been a hectic few weeks. I started my new job on May 13, and it's a steep learning curve. There's a lot of policies and procedures that I don't know about, since I don't have an HR or law background. However I've been asking questions and unless people tell me to sit and study up on stuff, I'm asking people if they have anything they want me to do. I figure even if I can't figure out the policy, I can still figure out the scanner/copier. So apparently I've been doing really well by being proactive on stuff. Still tons to learn, although it seems that the general Excel level around the office isn't too high, so I've been able to impress people with that. Of course now that the move is semi-complete, I guess I might have some time to brush up on Excel, learn how to do drop-downs, pull data from other worksheets, etc.

Yes, the move. It was horrid. It's not to say that I left all the packing to the last minute. I'd been packing manga/dvds/comics since before my last post, so for at least 2 weeks, I'd already been putting stuff away. However, I still was up to about 1:00 - 2:00 am every night for the last week (and this is when I have to be up at 7:30 for work), and then on Thursday, I think I was up until about 3:00. I go to work, and then I'm up to about 5:00 am still packing. In my severe tiredness, I made a scrambled egg concoction of carrots and honey mustard on honey-slathered toast. Needless to say, I woke up around 6:30 am with a stomach ache and couldn't really move until 7:00 am. Commence packing again. Haven't even gotten around to dismantling furniture when the movers arrive at 9:30am. Even with the movers and my bro and his fiance helping, we weren't out of there until about 11:30. The movers did not like the comic book boxes b/c they were so heavy. Anyways, after all things are unloaded, it was about 12:45-1:00. Instead of collapsing and napping (what any sane person would do), my dad harps at me to move some of the furniture back. So I end up vacuuming the living room and basement carpet, and moving yet more furniture around. Get down to the room, and start trying out to figure out where to put my furniture. Take a 30 minute doze and commence measuring again. Don't get to bed until about midnight and it was mostly b/c my legs were starting to fail.

I don't want it to be the same layout as my brother's (I'm moving into his old bedroom b/c it's in the basement so it's quieter and cooler). After much hemming-hawing, measuring, using place markers, I end up with something similar anyways b/c that's kinda the only way to have it quiet and fit everything. So freaking annoyed that a lot of my furniture was too big. No, actually that the room was several inches too small. Nothing really set up still, desk is on the floor and I'm typing there using my old computer. Bed is set up, and so are my IVARs. TV's plugged in. Still get some cable channels, but none of the free ones. Go figure. Haven't hooked up my PS2 or DVD player.

But that doesn't mean I was finished moving on Saturday! Heck no, for the last 3 days, I'd been at the apt picking stuff up like food, smaller furniture, dishes and cleaning supplies. Cleaned the bathroom already. D is moving out today, and then I think tomorrow we're supposed to clean more, then carpet cleaner's coming on Friday, and then it's move-out inspection on Saturday.

So yeah, the apt building wasn't so bad at first. I had a bathroom connected to the bedroom which allowed me lots of times of wandering around half-naked. Big bathroom with lots of counter space and floor space. Undersink cabinet was a bit small but that was b/c it had drawers. Shower/bath was big and had lots of shelving for bottles. I could have 2 body washes, 1 facial wash, 1 conditioner, 1 shampoo and razor in there w/o having to put them on the outside where I could hit them when I get out. Basement bathroom is small, 0 counder space, and just have enough room for 1 body wash and 1 shampoo. Everything else is on the outside. Now I remember why I had a 3 compartment dispenser; so I could put my shampoo/conditioner/body wash in there.

Back to apt, it was only in the last 2-3 months that I started using the workout room there. and all my furniture fitted comfortably. However after the pipe burst in February, they still haven't fixed the parkade elevator. And they also haven't fixed the A/C so it's always between 80-82 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) in the apt. Yeah, we have to go outdoors to cool down. And then they were jacking up our rent again. If we went month-to-month it would've been over $1400/month. And they got new building managers, and they're yelling at us for having boxes around when we're moving and showing the apt w/ their shoes on. A lot of people are moving out of there now.

Still Waiting

Well, a lot of changes in the past week. Went in for job interview on Thursday, got offered the position later that day. Handed in my resignation on Monday, and went home early on Tuesday b/c I really didn't want to take any more calls. Then find out on Thursday that my former workplace will be closing its doors at the end of June. The hilarious part is that 2 days earlier, my former Team Leader was telling me that the site was doing fine and they were overstaffed. Kinda annoyed that I'll be missing out on the severance pkg, which works out to about $2500. Still waiting for the feds to say my security clearance is fine and then I can start working.

New job is a temporary contract, but it pays much better and will be dealing with internal Canadian people, instead of annoying American customers. Quite annoyed that almost everyone is telling me that I'd better start buying new clothes, as if I didn't have business-appropriate clothes. Just b/c I don't wear them b/c I don't need to, doesn't mean I don't own them. Yes, I'm a t-shirt and jeans girl (well I'd prefer a tanktop, but then there's the issue w/ my skin condition that's not so pretty), but I can dress up. Even getting used to putting on daily makeup again. There was a time in high school when I was totally into makeup. Then I realized that I was getting into the experimental makeup and I was collecting shades that I couldn't wear in public and wasting a lot of money. So I quit cold turkey.


Also will be moving out of the apt soon. Back to the house with my Dad. Argh! Anyways, have been packing stuff up. Yesterday, it took me 8 hrs to sort and pack my comics. Taking a break from doing that, b/c I'm completely exhausted. Not just from standing and lifting, but also b/c my new job is days instead of nights, I'm trying to get up earlier. Unfortunately I still go to bed around the same time.

Anyways, figured out the Vista compatibility. So I can once again use Sonique. It's stable and keeps track of where I left off on my playlist. Not like stupid Windows Media Player. Anyways, awesome song from Jam Project(which includes Rika Matsumoto and Masumi Okui) "Forever and Ever"

Review: Iron Man Movie

Awesome. Wait, is that a little too short? Okay, well it was very funny, dealt a bit with the issue of the industrial-military complex, developed Tony's character very well, had lot of believable and not-obvious CGI special effects and didn't have any slow spots to make you fall asleep. Pepper Potts was undeveloped, doesn't seem like she'd be capable of reconnecting the device to his chest or figure out which switches to hit to blow up the reactor. Seems like they could've stuck anyone in other than Gwyneth Paltrow. Did not recognize Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane. It was a bit of weird timing for Stane to tip his hand so completely at the benefit. You'd think he'd want to keep his dealings hidden for longer. I liked Yinsen's character. Shaun Toub played him extremely well. Jim Rhodes character was sorta important to be there, pretty forgettable. Not sure how they'd have met. Quite annoyed at the end of the movie that Tony was missing his hankercheif from his suit jacket when Pepper had been fussing with it for quite a bit.

But it was quite the geek movie, and with Stan Lee there of course. I liked the suit testing scenes. Yes, it was cheap comedy, but it also shows that genius isn't just instantaneous. There were a lot of product placement shots, not just for Stark Industries. Heh. I spotted Verizon, Burger King, various car brands especially Audi, and Dell. I wonder if that Malibu house if for real. I'd love to live at something like that. I'd say the storyline was quite believable, that someone like Tony would be completely distanced from the day-to-day business and focussed on the fast living (obvious adrenaline-junkie with the total disregard of safety on his first flight) and tech-building. Finding out that his weapons are sold to anyone, being injunctioned by the Board of Directors, being exposed to war as more than just numbers. It was all done very well. Robert Downey Jr did a great job.

Migraine just keeps getting worse...

So really for all intents and purposes, today was going to be the day that I start applying myself on building and polishing my resume. I spent Saturday doing my usual stuff of going to Warp 1, grocery shopping for the week, listening to Quirks and Quarks and DNTO. Basically relaxing. Sunday was somewhat different from my usual stuff since I cleared out my 2 months of charity requests, didn't go onto Facebook, and worked out much later than usual. Played a lot of Rune Factory, a bit of Professor Layton, almost up to date on Animal Crossing.

So today begins, I somehow still manage to wake up at the same bloody time. Must be neighbour's alarm clock. And flipping D's too. Do some reading and Rune Factory in bed, eat brekky. Make cucumber and daikon pickles. Open up my resume, and use another of the tries on Microsoft Office. I figure I'd better get Wordperfect working instead, so try to see if any of Corel's patches will work. Realize I don't have much room on my HDD so it'd be a good idea to burn off my Pokemon episodes. Start on the 2nd disc, and decide to preview the 1st one since the computer came w/ 3 or 4 programs that can burn discs. Find out that all the previous 10 discs I burnt won't show all the files on my DVD player. Haul out my old monitor, hook up my old computer and find out that the files are corrupt. Toss them all away. Decide to try and use Windows Explorer/Computer to attempt burn. Find it causes my computer to crash.

By this time, I'm under the desk disconnecting my plugins for when I hooked up the old computer, and my cellphone rings. It's my supervisor telling me my 3 week LOA was denied and I have to go in on Wednesday. Well, I'm somewhat less than thrilled, and she tells me to ask the OM or SOM to find out why. Although I could probably guess, most of which comes to the fact that they have fired/lost so many agents that they can't afford to let any others take a break. Now I'm thinking if I should see if they'll approve a shorter LOA, or play my trump card that I'll quit if they don't give me 3 weeks. I have to decide if they do decide to call on my hand, whether or not I'm bluffing. (I'm not so good w/ card analogies, since I don't play much cards). There's really no point in staying, I won't get another raise, and it's not going to do anything more for my "career". However, like most places, it's really so you can keep in touch w/ your friends. And yes, I'm one of those people where it's outta sight, outta mind.

So after I rebooted the computer, I'm trying to find the patch for Corel, and now ALL of Corel's sites are down. Get error 500 which is very strange for a multi-national company. It tells me to save my resume in ASCII or html format, but I've never done that before. And of course w/ Corel's websites down, I don't know how. Which is precisely why I'm blogging to vent. Already taken 4 Tylenol Extra Strength. After using T3s, I need 2 extra strength pills all the time. Argh!!!!

Well the expected happened, but it doesn't make me accept it anymore

Yes, so I was capped for no troubleshooting again. And it pissed me off. For one thing, I've never EVER been capped for Quality. Actually until this past year, I've never been capped for anything. And I wrote a big long comment on the CAP. And it was completely expected, after all she told me about it last Monday, and only delivered it today. But really, it's obvious that it doesn't matter what you say about a CAP because they rarely withdraw it. Well only if you threaten to quit. But considering that the environment that's going on right now, they're highly encouraging people to quit. A lot of tenured reps are getting targetted. Most of us blame it on the site director. A lot of us suspect it's so that they have less to pay out for severance once they close the centre. I haven't told them yet that I'm going to quit. I'm wondering if I should write up a rant, and make my OM listen to it. Just a small measure of revenge.

And the hilarious part is that I just got 2 customer compliments and highest points in PostCall Survey. So exactly why am I getting CAPped? For defects that didn't make a huge difference to the customer?

So I went home early. After I showed my friends my comment I wrote on the CAP. And I'm just playing Rune Factory. Which I haven't had much time to play. I'm trying to get my Animal Crossing caught up so the date matches w/ real life. And then there's Professor Layton. That's loads of fun. Didn't make it thru defeating Wallace on Pokemon Emerald Green.

Huhn, well with being home early, I won't need to have my shows recorded. Yes, I'm watching "Back To You" and "Criminal Minds". The former for Kelsey Grammer and the latter for Shemar Moore. LOL, one who's prized for his brains and the other for his body. And yes, I did adore Kelsey as Beast in the X-Men movie.

Lately...

Well, let's work on reverse chronological order here.

Looking at the 4/09/08 Comiclist and completely shocked to see this: Aqua Leung. Which I first thought was a typo. Leung's a Chinese surname, and although in the summary there's nothing about the character being Chinese, and being about Atlantis it's way far away from China, it's still a start. And more a surprise that neither of the listed creators are Asian.

So last night I got drunk. On a whole bottle of Smirnoff Ice. Which I've had before. I was going to get Mike's Hard Lemonade, but the bar didn't have any. Is that still popular? Haven't seen ads for it in a long time. I like vodka-based drinks b/c you can't taste the alcohol. And Smirnoff Ice is tasty. Anyways, the special occasion was my friend's B-day party. And since I didn't go w/ anyone, when I got there, I knew no one but the birthday boy. And I've come to the conclusion that even when drunk, I don't become extroverted. I cannot strike up conversations at all. I can giggle incessantly, but that's about it. Then some of my work acquaintances showed up so it was much better. And I found out a lot of stuff going down at work. All of which is crap.

So it may just seems like my usual rant about work, but it's really not. B/c everything is true and worse. They downsized an Operations Manager but didn't even let him clean out his desk. Just called him into the office, told him he was gone and walked him out the door. So he couldn't even say goodbye to anyone. My friend quit b/c Upper Management is forcing the supervisors to enforce punitive measures against the agents. He put in his 2 weeks notice, but they gave him the option of leaving that day, cleaning out his desk, and paying him to stay at home for 2 weeks. Yeah, so instead of transitioning the change, making sure that agents were aware, supervisors getting the agents were told about the agents, they'd rather all the paperwork be unfinished and unsorted. Just to get him out. Probably b/c he's pretty honest w/ us. Agents are being walked out the door every day, and the Site Director has everyone in our project under the whip.

I've been placed on a Corrective Action Plan(few steps towards getting fired) based on monitors that I was never coached on but because I didn't follow all the steps listed in the troubleshooting. And when I was first placed on this CAP, they let me do some of my previous duties b/c they were shorthanded. Well they're still shorthanded, but now they won't let me do any of that anymore. And my supervisor has another monitor where I just answered the customer's questions but didn't probe and waste more of her and my time. She first wanted to talk to me about it on Apr 4, but didn't b/c I was finished my shift by the time my call ended, and for some strange reason didn't want to stay to talk w/ her. She didn't seem to want to accept that I didn't want to miss my bus, and preferred to go home after a long day's work and hour-long call. So she told me to see her first thing on Monday. Well come Monday, I go over (thinking that if she's following the doubling of monitors that she's supposed to do on me b/c of my CAP, she's just going over some regular monitors) and she tells me about that Quality monitor and how they're debating it still but would talk to me about it later. So the rest of the week pass by, I'm getting all stressed and losing sleep. And then she says she wants to talk to me on Thursday, and basically that they have found stuff that they can pin me on. Then she remembers that she's off on Thursday so will talk to me on Friday. Well Friday comes, and I'm telling pretty much everyone that if they escalate it to CAP 3(1 step before employement review) then I'm walking. Well, it turns out they changed when her shift started(b/c my supervisor friend quit) so will come get me when she starts. Well, 4 hrs pass by and nothing. And I have my friend's bday to go to. So I tell her I'm leaving 3 hrs early, which give her about 1 hr to coach me in. And when I come back from my lunch, she has some 2 hr meeting. So that means 2 more days to find another job.

Wrestlemania XXIV

Well had been late getting back home from shopping so missed the 24 man brawl. Initially when I saw that it was going to be $55 to order it, I was going to do my usual thing and watch it at Silver City. Until I saw that a ticket is $30. So w/ D and I watching it, it's more sense to just order. And no screaming or spilling idiots around either.

Missed part of the Belfast Brawl b/c we'd ordered the wrong version of the PPV. When ordered it on the Shaw digital menu, only gave 1 option. Ended up getting the HD version, so the Shaw tech had to credit it back. It seemed too short w/ no blood :( But it wasn't bad, went at each other w/ authenticity. Some of the camera angles weren't good. Like when JBL threw the trash can against Hornswoggle, and we didn't really see what happened. But the shot of Findley diving thru the ropes and getting smacked w/ the garbage can lid was aweseome0

Money in the Bank was pretty good, not that long though. Awesome moves by Morrison and Benjamin. Poor Benjamin going thru the ladder like that, though love the look on on Carlito's face. I think they got cheaper ladders this year though, w/ the ladder twisting out under Benjamin. Predicted that CM Punk would win, and I was right. That was so blatantly obvious that Jericho gave Punk his leg, so that he could hang there. MVP also did a good show. Run in by Matt Hardy was so cool. Kennedy was ok. Jericho wasn't as good as he's been in the past, but he still put on a good show. Carlito did pretty well too, but I wouldn't say that it's enough to put him in the A-list.

Yeah, I missed the Festus/Santino thing. Don't really care about the Jesse & Festus team. Just not interesting. But D says that Mick Foley was on. So I'm sad I missed that.

Expected the Flair vs Michaels match after they showed the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, but it's the Batista vs. Umaga instead. *off to watch* Well that wasn't too bad. Really the match to give Batista something to do in Wrestlemania. Though I think he threw out his back trying to powerbomb Umaga. And really, that's all anyone needs to do to stop the Samoan spike, just block the arm. It was still pretty good. Nice to see the wheel kick from Umaga.

Oh, they showed the 24 man Battle Royale. I was trying to see the end of it on the WWE website, but their stupid thing doesn't work half the time. Wonder if they'll still have it on the website. Well Kane hasn't had a title shot in a long time. And his style does sorta work more for ECW. Yeah, I'm predicting he'll win. Unless it's a DQ. ...and it's already over. That was completely lame. Totally retarded. "outsmarted"? OUTSMARTED? What's so smart about doing a chokeslam on someone?!! Completely denigrates Chavo's abilities as a wrestler and champion.

And they're showing the Ric Flair flashback, so it's time to catch up on my post here. Off to watch! ...Wow, that was a truly awe-inspiring match. Excellent spots from both, and truly great show. Flair did moves that he hasn't done in a while, and they told a great story. The first moonsault from HBK was a rib-cruncher. 2nd one was pretty but completely wiffed past Flair. Well, that was definitely the way to go for a final match. And so classy of Flair not to stay in the ring for a couple mins listening to the fans. Just quietly left. I wonder if they also told them to make the match long b/c the prev matches were too short.

Oh, the crappy womens' match. Not looking forward to it. Probably be playing my DS. Playing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Blue. Yeah, I have Mystery Dungeon Time too, but I'm still not finished Blue. Gotta take the story line missions, not just accumulate money and rankings. I'm already gold. Yeah, whatever Snoop Dogg. Guess I'll go watch now....And yahoo, Beth Phoenix won! Cause really, Melina and Beth can wrestle, whereas Maria and Ashley can't. In fact, it really doesn't look like Maria and Ashley even practiced. They were pretty darn bad. And Maria, you should choose a hairstyle that looks good while you're wrestling, not just when you come down to the ring. And why were they showing Santino when Melina was doing cool moves w/ the feather fans?! Lumberjacks were useless. That was funny when the lights turned off and Lawler goes "is the Undertaker coming out early?"

Wait, they're doing the review of the HHH vs. Orton vs. Cena match. It's only 7:17 MST. Show started at 5. Doesn't seem like it's going to be a 3 1/2 hr. B/c there's only this match and then Edge vs. Undertaker. Grrr. Okay, I was wondering why the marching band was playing "God save the Queen" until D explained it to me. I bet "God save the ___ " came first. Ugh Cena. Well at least we don't have to listen to his entrance though. *off to watch* Woohoo! Cena didn't win!!!!! Yaay yaaay yaaah! Not as good as if HHH won, but still Cena didn't win!!! It was pretty good, although we were both screaming at the TV that they'd better not tap out to Cena's STFU. HHH put on a great show, Orton was kinda out of most of it. Cena did his usual schtick.

Oh yeah, there's still Big Show's match. I still don't know who this Mayweather guy is, really I'm no boxing fan. Yeah, boxers box, but worth 20 million for a match? That's just obscene. And especially when they show his place and the piles of cash around. I dunno if he's a philanthropist but doesn't seem like it. That seems to be the problem w/ that culture, is just promoting the bling and nothing else. Not expecting every celebrity to be like Angelina and Brad, but some charity would be nice. *off to watch* Wow, they really got their $20 mill or however much they paid for Mayweather to show up. Floyd did a great job and took a lot of hits. Quite impressed. And it didn't seem the Big Show was easy on him or anything. I was throughly entertained.

Who the heck was that chick they have on anyways as guest announcer?

*waiting thru the lead up to the Edge vs. Undertaker match* That was a really good match! There were some slow parts, and some of it felt like a TV match instead of a PPV. But they ended really strong. And of course Taker winning was awesome. I was wondering why Vicky wasn't there when they had the Batista vs. Umaga match. And wondered where the 2 Edge clones were when they didn't come out w/ Edge. Also wondered why they had the Smackdown title as the last match when it's usually RAW. But w/ Taker winning that makes sense.

And they actually ran the show until 8:55 when it's scheduled to 9:00, so that's really good. Usually the show ends anywhere from 15-30 min early. Overall, it was definitely worth it to buy it, if only to initially see Flair's retirement match, Money in the Bank match. But turns out everything but the women's match was good!

Performance Managed out the door

*ahem* Yet another tirade of the ineptitude and discrimination abound at work. So this time, I get put on a CAP 2 for things that I was never coached on . Oh, sorry they coached me on it by counting stuff they told in general to the entire team, none of which actually pertained to the issues that I lost marks on. I tried to protest but really there was no point. Nothing I said would have actually changed their minds. (I suppose if I threatened suicide it would get it overturned, but really no one would believe me. But then I'd show them. Oh yes I would show them. And I didn't mention whose suicide....No actually that would do nothing. This is Conversucks after all.) Anyways, so it's another 60 days in the slammer. Which is really bullcrap. Considering there was apparently 1 or 2 other people on our team that actually got 0% on monitors (I only lost 40% b/c I didn't troubleshoot), I don't see our team being very large if they actually applied the rules fairly across the board.

And this was just before I was applying for another team, mostly to get away from the bullsh!t that kept being flung about how we're supposed to be the creme de la creme of the center, losing out on bonuses b/c they can't figure how to adjust the scores for our specialized work, having management's work dumped on us b/c they've pissed off so many managers that they don't have enough to cover the work that's required. Yes, so it's a bit difficult to update my resume with the mood I'm in.

So very tempted to walk out the door, well to really go home early actually. I have a lot of games I'd rather be spending time with. But I didn't. Decided to just spread my misery. And ended up being stuck on call after call while in Res. So that I ended up taking my lunch in last 45 min of shift, followed by my last break and then going home.

And I played Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon for about 1 1/2 hrs. Finished only 1 day though, but that was mostly b/c I was reading FAQS b/c their manual didn't cover the stats or how much crops sold. Didn't know I had a cold b/c I was awake too long, just knew I had some status change and didn't recover all my RP when I woke up. Although that's good advice, should go to bed early. And it would probably help more if I didn't have sleep apena. Well it's not diagnosed, but could definitely explain my high blood pressure when I'm a bit overweight, but don't smoke, drink or do drugs, cut down on shellfish, eats lots of veggies.

To be enfranchised

Ahem, so it's election time where I live. Our premier, in effort to rig the election, only gave his opponents 29 days to campaign. Yeah, that's really fair. Not!

And b/c I still hadn't changed my address w/ the govt, I would need to vote in a different division, which would take me about 45 minutes to get there...at least. Or I could just walk up 3 blocks, show 2 pieces of ID and vote. Think I'll take the latter.

Yeah, so even if it wasn't my day off, I would still vote. It's my hard-won right (being female and a minority). However my roommate, is lazy and doesn't know anything about politics, says that he won't. Well, then he can't complain about the govt. He whines, "Oh but I pay taxes!" Well then why don't you pick who manages your money? Oh wait, that's right. He's always flat broke and doesn't know how to do that. Well then I guess for him, anyone is better than himself.

Videogames Live 2008

Well, I got tickets before it sold out, but I got them really late b/c I was trying to get a group together but no one replied. And that pissed me off. Anyways, my seat was in the middle of the row on the 2nd balcony so it was pretty hard to see a lot of stuff. And whoever's doing the light show was blinding a lot of us. And I also go there a lot later than I wanted, so I couldn't find where they had the programs. Didn't play any games, or do much watching. Really sucks when you don't have any of the next gen consoles.

There were some pieces that were the same as last year, like the MGS, Sonic, Mario, Halo, Jade Empire, and medley of classic games. But they also had the debut of Mass Effect, and Castlevania. The ESO and choir were much better this year. One Winged Angel was awesome, although I missed the Final Fantasy stuff. Having Martin Leung there was very fun, as well as the other composer doing the jazz version of his composition. But I didn't catch what he composed, but it did sound familiar.

Didn't get a shirt this year b/c it looked the same as last year. And I don't play Halo, and not interested in Donkey Kong, or Mario. Yeah, brought $50 and didn't use it. At least getting there was super easy w/ the LRT. Anyways, am I going next year? Well even though I went by myself, it was still very fun. My hands are tender from clapping, and voice a mite sour. It's awesome that videogame music is getting recognition, and I wanna keep supporting. I only hope they change it up bit more, a lot of stuff was the same from last year.

Yeah, hands not doing so well. Also cut them up a bit when I dropped a jar of aloe tea. And it was completely full too! And so tasty! And on sale this week! I need another day off to pick some more up! *sob* And it really is only good when you pour boiling water on it.

UPS sucks monkeys' balls!

So I stayed home b/c I think the copious amounts of pizza I ate yesterday made me sick. Yeah, the company finally decided to "honor" the Res team. And of course since everyone was using their hands, and there was a lack of handwipes, well, sanitation was dismal. So far I've managed 2 apples, 1 glass of milk and 1 slice of toast. And that was since 10:00am.

Anyways, the side effect of being home all day was that I could wait for the flippin' UPS person to show. And I waited. And waited. And then refreshed the UPS tracking site. Waited some more. Refreshed UPS site. Yeah, bullsh!t that they attempted delivery. So I call them up, flaming mad, and the rep said that he'd forward my issue to a supervisor at the depot site, and also take off the brokerage fees that UPS charged. Well that at least mollified me a bit. But still doesn't really compensate for the extra hours I woke up to wait for them, when they were supposed to deliver on the 11th, and the website didn't update on the status, saying it was sitting in Winnipeg since the 7th. So every day I got up 1 1/2 hrs early waiting and waiting. Then I called them on the 12th, and lo and behold they attempt delivery on the 13th. Yeah, I'm mightly angry with them.

Elusive sleep

So for about the last month, I've been ...wouldn't call it living, surviving would be kinda close but doesn't convey the futility...existing on about 4-5 hrs of sleep a night. I'm really not kidding. Even when it was my vacation, I didn't get any more sleep because I had to get up early for the Fedex/UPS guy, people would call me in the morning. And then there was the fire alarm in the morning too. And of course my roommate D, is deaf and likes to set his alarm really early because he "gets too much sleep." Yes, that was his response when I asked him why he sets his alarm 2-3 hrs before he has to go to work, and then doesn't do anything but going back to sleep. So I've been having migraines for the last month too b/c of this, and major bags under my eyes.

This weekend was the last straw. The idiot's alarm goes off at 10:30, waking me up. Yesterday I was kinda up but then StatsCan calls me for their annual survey which took 40 min. And I wasn't able to go back to bed. So since I had to call some places, I was up doing that. Was on hold for 30 min to PC Bank. Today idiot's alarm goes off again. So I go play Animal Crossing to get sleepy. And then the stupid snowballs keep falling in the water, so it takes me over an hour to finish the watering/talking/delivery session (usually it's about 1/2 hr). Just when I'm about to go back to sleep, my brother calls me to make last minute plans to go out to see the kids b/c she had her birthday recently. So I can't go back to sleep at all, I've got a huge headache, I'm starving and exhausted. And yeah, I had a "I'm sick of people interfering with my sleep!" tantrum. Tossed my phone at the bed a few times, smacked it around a bit. But gawd, I'm really sick of people. All I want is some peace and quiet.

And I spent the afternoon climbing around the giant jungle gym at WEM with the kids. Gawd, my knees hurt. They have bruises. And then b/c Melissa wanted to sit on me when we went down a fast (and small) tunnel slide, so I'd land on my hip or back. My arms are kinda sore too b/c I'd be pulling myself up the tunnels instead of crawling. Or lifting random little kids up b/c they couldn't get to the next part. And had waaaaay too many McD's fries. Then Melissa wet herself b/c she got too excited and didn't go to the washroom when she should've.

Anyways got a funny story about Pokemon Emerald. I'm using my Lv. 36 Lileep, who can't be switched out due to Suction Cups, but does have Ingrain (gains some life every turn). All I have for moves are Astonish, Acid and Constrict. Lileep has horribly low Attack and Special Attack stats. I'm going against a CPU trainer, and her earlier pokemon used Torment(can't use same move in a row) on my Lileep. I'm fighting a Mightyena and it keeps using Swagger(which causes my Pokemon's Attack to rise but also be confused). And I keep using Yellow Flute (cures confusion). We kept trading off on this until the Mightyena ran out of Swagger (yes it was a very long battle), and then I killed it w/ Constrict and Acid. Then it was on to her next Pokemon, killed the next 2 really quickly b/c of my boosted up Attack stats, and Ingrain gave me back all my HP. Yeah, that was very satisfying.

Geekfest on Colbert Report

Wow, major squeal fest watching the Jan 29 episode. First Joe Quesada w/ his Wrist Strong bracelet and announcing that Colbert is a presidential candidate in the Marvel U. Then Jon Stewart coming on w/ his tape about Conan O'Brien. It was just too cool. It's so nice with you get to watch them in a different element. It was so weird to see Jon Stewart at that younger age. He's definitely grown into his looks. Or he has a lot better stylists now. *grin*

So anyways at work, I got my 5th yr anniversary gift. I ordered a crystal bowl. It's a lot smaller than it seemed in the picture. It has a leaf pattern on the bottom. I ordered it b/c there really wasn't anything in there that I really wanted (well they had some Mikasa tumblers, the pattern was only ok), and I figured I could use it as a gift. It's worth a bit if I recall....b/c I searched for it on the web.

This morning I was woken up by the fire alarm. Yeah, it was at the audio warning stage (there's first flashing, then a steady beep, then it goes to a really fast beep...and beyond that I'm guess is when we have a real fire or something). So I got some clothes on (didn't really wanna have to face -32 degree Celsius weather in t-shirt and shorts), and was filling my hockey bag. I'm starting to run out of room, there's a few too many plush. But it stopped when I was in the middle, and so D decided to see what was going on. Apparently something in the parking arcade. Gawd, I'm so tired. I was tempted to call in absent, but I figured since it was so cold today and there were so many absent yesterday (about 50% of agents) they wouldn't believe me today. *groan* Yeah, I hauled my cold butt in. Had tights under my pants, mockneck longsleeve shirt, pullover, fleece hoodie, winter jacket, knit gloves under leather mitts and wool socks. My feet were warm even though I only had runners.

Review: Royal Rumble 2008

Went to see it at the movie theatre. I'm starting to think just for not having to listen to a bunch of hooligans, smell unwashed masses, or have crap tossed on me, I'll just spend 3x the cost to watch it at home. I was planning on going there alone, but D had the day off and he said he wanted to see it so I took him w/ me. As usual he was late & slow, keep hanging around me and was a general nuisance. Stupid teenagers behind us kept calling the wrestlers "faggots" and "homo", and I'm just thinking 1)you're guys watching sweaty men in skimpy tights grapple w/ each other 2)Professional wrestling descended from Roman-Greco wrestling which used to be done in the nude and has a homo-erotic history 3)if they are homosexual, they could kick your ass so bad you'll be tasting sh!t. Anyways, on to the matches.

Ric Flair vs MVP
Wow, MVP's such a rude jerk to come out in the middle of Flair's speech. *sarcastic* It wasn't too bad. Flair's getting to the age where it's mostly chops, punches, back body drops, and figure-fours. And yes, he survives another retirement match.

....actually I can't remember the next match, lemme check WWE.com. I think it was:
Chris Jericho vs JBL
Which ended in a DQ. Disappointing? Not really. It had a good story backing it up, and they were brawling as expected from a personal match. Seeing JBL strung up there was pretty satisfying. I wonder if this means a permanent return to wrestling?

Rey Mysterio vs Edge
Really good match. Also a personal match. When Vicki came to take the 619, that was cool. Which will make Edge's betrayal all the more painful. Yeah, I'm predicting by Wrestlemania, the storyline will have them breakup. What's interesting is the concept of the widow moving on after the death. I think they're starting to get people to agree that it's just we don't want Vicki w/ Edge b/c she'll be betrayed, not that it's bad for Vicki to see someone after Eddie's death.

Jeff Hardy vs Randy Orton
Really good match. When Jeff starting hitting most of his special moves, I knew he was going to lose. But it still left me, a Jeff fan, satisfied. And yes, the idiot behind me was calling Jeff "faggot" a lot. But really that idiot did for anyone he didn't like.

Royal Rumble
Yeah, it was totally cool that Undertaker and Shawn Michaels were 1 & 2. Although I miss when they used to show the guys drawing their spots. It was always a good bit of comedy. You know the ECW championship means nothing when the ECW former and present champion are competing for a spot to challenge a belt at Wrestlemania. Shelton Benjamin lasting for less than a minute is bullsh!t. If you're going to tout him as the "gold standard" (and bleach his hair that awful colour), call him the "best natural athlete", then let him have an appearance like that! Cody Rhodes did a good job, he's definitely going to be a good performer. As for Cena appearing...that totally ruined everything for me. It was a good show up until he appeared. And of course all the marks were screaming in there. Hornswoggle should've won b/c he was never thrown over the top rope.

Overall, was it worth the $13.73(ticket) + $9(food)? Sorta. The crowd, fighting for arm room, smelliness really killed it for me.

Another year ...lived?

So it was my birthday a few days ago. It's probably a little childish, but I don't think it's my job to create a birthday party, it's my friends who are supposed to do that and remember when it's my birthday. And now that I'm on Facebook and they have birthday apps on there, there's less excuse. And so I had no birthday party, a few people wished my happy birthday but not from people I thought I was closest to. And so, I spent my birthday being treated to dinner by my brother and his fiance b/c they were in the area. Yes, I'm kinda pissed....Okay make that plenty pissed.

And it didn't help that I barely got any sleep over the mini-vacation. Woken up too many times too early. Fedex woke me up but I got my Pokemon movies. And then RJS called me at flipping 10 am. I'm not sure why people think that if you're woken up, you'd actually wanted to be called later. Oh yeah, probably b/c some people can go back to sleep easily. And so I ended up w/ only 5 hrs of sleep, hunting around the apt for some DVDs that I'd borrowed. I'm at the point right now where I'm narcoleptic if I'm not actively doing something.

Oh, and I was reminded I was a woman on my birthday. Thank you body. *sarcastic* So I've loaded up on steak, beans, spinach, and eggs. Last night I had steak w/ spinach/greens/tomato/red pepper salad and baked beans. Yeah, and I still haven't finished reading all my comicbooks or manga. Or make room for my new figures...although I did manage to change the bedsheets...not b/c of any stains. And I think my Amazon order came in too. Heh, all my Amazon announcements now are about yaoi. Before it was Pokemon and yaoi. Pokemon bestiality is sick.

How to become a good Houseguest

Is to have a bad one stay w/ you. Gah, V had to emergency stay w/ us after T booted him out b/c his gf was coming up for Xmas. So that's fine, but then he kept staying and staying even though he was able to move into his apt on Jan 1. Yeah, so all your furniture's in storage b/c your dad didn't help you move like he was supposed to. But there's nothing wrong w/ sleeping on the floor and eating takeout. Today, V finally moved out. And he managed to vacuum twice and wash dishes about twice. Didn't give us any money, offer to buy groceries or buy us pizza. And that's even I pointed that out twice. Even just left the sheets and blanket in a pile, couldn't even fold them neatly. Anyways, T and V are planning on rooming together in Vancouver, and I was thinking of going. But I don't know if I could stand it. H is right, I'm totally anal-retentive. ...But I go every morning! :))

So tired, H had her crisis w/ her friend that she's known for 12 years. So she's going back to Quebec. Which sucks. B/c she's just going to drop back into her depressive self-abusive pit. Hopefully the older woman who also works there can help keep her straight. She really could do a lot more if she had her issues sorted out. I'm sorta the opposite, I'm pretty stable but I've got little ambition, get discouraged easily, and really have no plans.

Oh, but it's not H's crisis that got me tired. Well it did in the way that I was up to 3 talking to her about this and that. Mostly it's b/c stupid job made me come into work 4 hrs earlier for stupid training. And they don't even have anything straightened out b/c there's a whole bunch of systems that're diff.

So it's 2008

Yes, Happy New Year. According to the Gregorian calendar anyways. The city fireworks this year were 10x better than last year. I really liked the spinning ones that explode out of a shell. I suppose I should learn some fireworks speak to explain it better. But it’s kinda late.

So I have another figure to find a place for. This time I was able to find the Beast Marvel Legends Icon one. It's really big, about...30 cm...so 12". There were 2 of them at the store, but one of them had the hand broken off. So it was pretty easy to decide which one to get. And it was originally $69.99, but I got it for $29.99. I might've actually paid the original price though b/c it's my Hanky-poo. Box was somewhat damaged, and I really hate all the dang twist-ties. Anyways, he has a lab coat and glasses, but the glasses don't come off. They look like they would, but it seems that they were glued into the slots. Which is really too bad, he has such pretty blue eyes. :D. Anyways, he's has 30 points of articulation...unfortunately not all of them make sense, like having 2 hinge joints at the knees and elbows. His feet are quite articulated b/c his first metatarsal moves independent of his other toes. But on his hands, his thumb doesn't move. And with the way that they built him, it renders some of the articulation points near-useless. Like the shoulder, it has a ball joint and there's a hinge joint too, but you can't bend him at the hinge b/c his deltoid region just smacks into his chest b/c they're both very large. I'd say only about a 3 degree bend. I'm not sure if I can actually bring his arms to his side. It was a major pain to take off his lab coat. His hip joints, I'm still not sure what's with them. There's 2 ball joints from what I can tell, but I don't think there's a hinge. So if you try to get him to sit, he has to lie on his lower back (there's a hinge joint at his stomach). I can't get him to sit on his butt. He was and still is very stiff. Feel like a physiotherapist when I was playing with him. One of his knee joints still hasn't bent. It'll be a real pain to make clothes for him. Here's someone's review and pics.

Yeah, so I also have 2 Beast Mavel Legends 8" figures (one was a gift b/c she didn't know I already had him, but that's okay b/c one's Dark Beast but which one? *heh heh heh*), and in comparison, they have better articulation b/c you can do much more w/ them. They sit up proper, can almost cross their arms, and almost sit in lotus position. Right now, they're showing their Pokemon(Bulbasaur and Pikachu) to each other.

Yeah, it's gotten desperate w/the manga situation....Uh, not just the space issue. That's reached orange alert a while ago. I mean the out of print stuff. Well, mainly the yaoi. Yes, I've been searching for the 3rd Volume in the Finder Target Series, Vol 6 of Kizuna, and no one seems to have it. Amazon.ca sellers have priced them to over $100. Damn capitalists! H used to be able to get me them, but she didn't swing by that Montreal store this time, so I'm SOL. Yeah, so I've taken it upon myself to order them w/ all the sales going on. My poor poor credit card. Actually I think it's committing suicide. A big crack has developed thru the card above the strip.

So I'm sure I haven't blogged about my Xmas holiday. Mostly b/c as I'm typing this in Wordpad, I have my computers hooked up to each other but not to the Net. No, I still haven't connected my new computer to the Net. Haven't installed all the anti-virus, protection progs. Or backed all my data. In the process of doing that. Yeah, I have to find a decent burning program. Can't seem to overburn on the one that come w/ the computer even though I changed the settings. And then there's the issue that not all files seems to have transferred over. Was checking some of my files, and they're not all there, so I have to move them over again, and do a manual verification for each folder...oh crap, I've burnt a few discs already. $@#$%!!!

Anyways Xmas holiday. B/c it was 1 day. Got Boxing day off, spent the morning w/ H shopping. She was supposed to get my Xmas present, but still hasn't. Only spent about $100. Then I left her to meet up w/ T and his gf for lunch. Hope I made a decent enough impression w/ the gf that she'll still let T see me. *sad chuckle* After went to my brother's for dinner and played w/ the kids. The girls seemed to enjoy their presents. What surprised me was that they really like the Mickey Mouse parachuting figure. Got it from the ...uh...coin slot machines. P, my brother's fiance, got me a jewelry chest but it's like uhm... I don't really wear jewelry. I have to consciously think about putting anything on. Doesn't help that my ears always react to my earrings and start leaking pus. So she was nice and said she'd just return it and get me something else. My brother said she should've asked him what to get me, but she said she wanted it to be a surprise. Heh, my brothers know not to get me anything girly. Yeah, so I got "I am America (and So can You!)" and "America the Book: Teacher's Edition" from my big bro. Then my 2nd bro ordered something from my list online. My dad gave me money. And it wouldn't be a family gathering w/o a fight, so this time it was my Dad first b!tching at me b/c I didn't grab the plate to pass to my brother. Then when I told him to try on his present (turtlenecks size 10-12 youth) b/c last time he whined the jacket was too small, he b!tched at me for telling him what to do, how there wasn't time and my bro needed to drive me home. When at the time, he was trying on clothes that P bought during the sales. Does that make any sense?! Anyways, it turned out to be too small so I was completely logical as usual.

So V is staying w/ us right now, until he's able to move into his apt. It gives D someone else to bug, although it means I can't leave my knitting on the futon. Yup, only 14 more rows to go on the pattern, and then about 5 rows of black and I'm finito the Hellsing 5' scarf. Which is pretty fast I think for only starting it in mid-Nov.