Money Money Money

The past week can be pretty much define as 'money coming in and money going out'. Money going out started while hanging out with Carolyn last week. She took me to Dave and Andy's for celebratory frozen yogurt, then we came back and made spinach-and-artichoke dip and rented Rope and The Shop Around the Corner (which is about 100 times better than You've Got Mail). Money coming in was from Starbucks, of course, where I spent 12 hours on the register last weekend, screwing up a bit now and then but, according to my co-workers, not as badly as they did.

Yesterday, Carolyn, Laura and I hit Kennywood for the first time (for me, anyway), for about 7 hours. We hit all the big coasters and a couple of the smaller rides. I got soaked on the log flume, slightly sunburned and was nauseous by the time we finished the Thunderbolt, as it had been a while since we'd eaten. It was a major boobage day, as well. Laura and I had to make some, ahem, adjustments after a couple of rides, and Carolyn's shirt flew up on the Pitt Fall and she flashed the waiting crowd (I begged off that one - afraid of heights). Quote of the day came from Carolyn - while waiting in line for the Exterminator (awesome ride - slightly painful but totally worth it) - to explain her technique for demolishing a jawbreaker the size of a softball: "You just suck." Stated emphatically and matter-of factly, I might add.

As the sun started to set we piled back in the car and hit TGI Fridays for some mixed drinks, an appetizer and dessert. After having eaten nothing but a pretzel and a lollipop that turned my lips blue in the last 6 hours, the strawberry daquiri hit me a little harder than normal and I had Carolyn drive just to be safe. We hit Geagle for chips and dip and rented Thoroughly Modern Millie, which we - thoroughly - enjoyed (although I was the only one to stay conscious throughout).

I had another shift at Starbucks today and made plans to work nearly 20 hours this weekend, including almost 12 on Friday alone. It's gonna suck, but I don't work until then so I need the hours. Ran into Samantha H. (of CD 2002 fame) today while working. Chatted briefly - she says her contract at CMU is up soon, she'll probably stick around in Pittsburgh until October or so doing freelance. I should really spend the next few days figuring out another source of income, and getting started on some projects which will justify part-timing it for a while. I would feel a bit better about my current setup if I was knocking out some design stuff in the meantime. Maybe some furniture or art projects, at least.

I also need to decide on a second income. I'm guessing I'll have to just get a second job for at least a while, until I can find some artistic endeavor which provides extra cash every month to balance my budget. I didn't feel like I could concentrate on any design-stuff until I had a steady job, and now that that is off the hook, and I know my schedule at least a few days in advance, I can start to think about these things.

I started keeping a dream diary. We'll see how long it lasts. If nothing else, perhaps I can make some cash in the future as a screenwriter, using the plots from my crazy-wacked out dreams.

I have an appointment with the vet on Thursday to get kitty's stitches removed and ask the doctor a few questions about some things I've found on kitty. I don't expect the news to be good, and it's making me sick to think of it. Since I can't do anything until then, however, I'm trying not to think about it. At least I don't have to worry about the job situation as much as before. It's a comfort, at any rate. I still get a little heartsick at various things, though. Missing my friends who seem to keep getting farther away, missing my cat before he's even gone. Wondering where my life is going, and how far off-track I am.

I have never been so keenly aware that I am the only person currently controlling my life.

Approved!

Finally, the iBOT got the FDA approval it's been seeking for the past few years. I saw this wheelchair on one of its field tests while I was working for the NPS. We took it up to Marin county for testing (well, they did, I tagged along). Rough wooden stairs, gravel paths, black sand beaches (the last one gave them some trouble, and they blew a tire on the bridge over). Raising it up to full height and trying to push him over - all taken in stride, er, so to speak.

Seriously though, this thing is ultra cool. I hope insurance companies cover it like mad, because it solves so many accessibility problems.

Starbucks training is proceeding apace. I found out that in addition to insurance, I get 401K, stock options, paid vacations, personal days and, most importantly, an assload of free coffee. After tasting 6 types of coffee today (including Brand X!!), I was jittery until 7 o'clock, then went over the caffeine cliff and crashed until 9:30. Now it's time to tackle the kitchen. *shudder*

Audial Voyeurism

I can hear a woman crying through my open window. I mean really sobbing her heart out. I think it's coming from one of the apartments in the building next door but with all these windows around it's hard to tell. I really want to go give her a hug or something. It sounds like she's alone, I can't hear any other voices and she's obviously not trying to be quiet. I wonder what happened... sad movie? breakup? bad news?

Just leaving your window open in a city is an interesting social experiment. Especially when you don't really have a view to speak of, except a blinds-covered window across the alley. It leaves you with nothing but sound to interpret what's going on in the outside world. Snippets of conversation. Blaring music from passing cars. Various sound effects. It'd be a cool idea to record them or write a story, based on sound alone.

Kitty's recovering nicely from his surgery. No pain meds, no collar, just a big-ass scar across his *other* shoulder. Now he has 3 different lengths of fur in his head and neck area.

He was also intrigued by the crying woman, if his dash to the window was any indication. I wish I could lend him to her or something, although he'd probably be a shit and not allow himself to be cuddled.

So... any suggestions on how to tell my mom that I spent *another* $400 on my cat?

(By the way, I point my finger and laugh at you Xanga fools. Blogger rules.)

Very Bad News, Redux

Last night when I woke up from my nap, my cat settled on my stomach for a good neck-scratching and purr session. While I was scratching his neck, on the opposite side of his surgery scar, I found a lump, approximately marble-sized.

The denial was hard to get over. I kept convincing myself that I hadn't felt it, it wasn't really there, I was just being paranoid. I checked him again while he was standing up and couldn't feel it, until he turned his neck and bunched his muscles together.

I wish I had known about this before all this happened, but it's too late now, as it's a pre-existing condition and too late to get coverage.

I'm taking him to the vet in a few hours. Possible surgery scheduled for Monday morning, depending on what the vet says. It shouldn't be as big of a deal as it was before, but I really don't want to keep putting him through surgery and 2 week recoveries every 3 months, that's ludicrous. He should have at least a few years to get to the average age for indoor cats, but he is already considered 'senior'. And I know as well as anyone that average age doesn't mean you don't go sooner.

I can't say it enough. I hate cancer.

Employment!

Yes, it's official. I am now an employee for a member of the Fraternal Order of Evil Corporations Bent on World Domination^TM. Well, at least it's not Nike or Krispy Kreme.

PSA

I'm in the middle of preparing my Andrew account for meltdown, so the blog will be slightly messed up for a bit. Pictures will be missing, etc.

Not sure where it will be going until we get the server situation figured out. Possibly my Verizon webspace. Check this page or fly.to/dragongirl to find out where it goes.

By the way, contact info is as follows:
email: wendybuffett [at] yahoo [dot] com
or: wendybuffett [at] alumni [dot] carnegiemellon [dot] edu
AIM: wendybesigner
phone: 521.3647 (home)
cell: 512.7667 (never charged)

Music of the Moment

The past few days have been rather music-laden. Instead of doing car-stuff today I ended up downloading a bunch of songs (RIAA can spank me), mostly stuff I've heard from WYEP or Joel. So my current playlist includes erin mckeown and Fountains of Wayne, from the radio, and Prefuse 73 ala Joel, although I think my appreciation of it is rather shallow. Also a couple of other random ones, Gillian Welch, Susan Tedeschi and The Doors (Peace Frog). Eventually I may get around to Sigur Ros, since I really loved one of the videos on their DVD (which I will not even try to spell here) - the one about the boy playing with dolls, if you've seen it.

Hopefully between my newly discovered audio influxes I can begin to address that embarassing problem of being musically ignorant.

I started buying new treats for my cat because they were on sale. Now when he throws up, it's bright orange. I'm not sure how worried I should be about that.

I am the Whore of Babylon

Quiz created by Polly Snodgrass.

WATER OF WATER. Pretty lady! Fair and gentle, your empathy attracts others to you. Possibly psychic, you are pure emotion and are more likely to act on feeling rather than practical thought or logic. You think that's just fine because imagination is important. You are the Whore of Babylon with her cup of abominable things, the Medium of Endor and in the mundane world you usually make a good wife and mother. You shine when you are able to give emotional support to others.

So, will Satan be signing my paychecks personally, or....

Apparently, as long as I have guaranteed medical benefits, my soul is a bargain at $6.50 an hour.

The interview at Starbucks went well, I think, but not as well as the pet store in Monroeville. I should hear back from both of them in the next week.

At this point I have no real desire to get an actual job. I'm not sure if it's fatalism, desperation, fear or laziness. Probably all of the above. I feel like slacking off for a bit, working nothing jobs and waiting for the economy to pick up. When the jobs arrive, I *strike*!

Where's an Animated Skeleton When You Need One?

Bad Idea:
Riding your bike uphill when you haven't done any exercise in months (puff puff)

Really Bad Idea:
Riding with bike fanatics who race each other up the big hill on Forbes (wheeze)

Really Really Bad Idea:
Riding at midnight after a long day, when the only thing you've consumed in the last 5 hours is Guinness, wine and vodka (whump)

If I don't wake up tomorrow, you'll know why. Urgh. That little idea lasted about 2 minutes (after I made Joel fix my bike and held everyone up).

On a more positive note, I am now resolved to move about strenuously at least once per day, even if I don't change into the proper clothing. And I still really want to go hang out in a graveyard, possibly at night, even more possibly with alcohol involved, the temptation of which made me overlook that pesky little sledgehammer of reality until it hit me in the chest, quite literally. :(

The Big Light Bulb in the Sky

After running around in the rain, faxing the NC DMV to transfer my registration to Pennsylvania, I collapsed on my bed for a breather and looked up at my overhead light fixture.

Suddenly I realized what happened to all those fruit flies we had last week. Eurgh.

Naked Fairy!

In the spirit of wasting time productively, this is one of the photoshops that I'm working on for the hell of it. She has a background planned out but right now it's in colorful blob form. She's reading a book, lying by a creek in the forest.

Click on her for a bigger picture. At this point, she's about 75% finished, I think. Maybe more, maybe less, depending on feedback (pretty please). Any anatomy tips are particularly helpful as I'm working without a model.

I made a list today of things I should be doing with my time, rather than, um, nothing. It's 2 pages long. I have it divided into things I have to do M-F 9-5 and things I can do whenever. Working on the naked fairy was one of them.

I've also discovered, I think, that the way to get stuff done is to make a to-do list the day before.

It's nearly August, and I still don't have a job. I want to cry.

Funk

On Wednesday Carolyn and I had a rather expensive night out, starting with dinner at the Road to Karrakesh, ice cream at Dave and Andy's, proceeding to drinks at Bar Louie and Pirates of the Caribbean at Loew's (arr! I liked it), then finding ourselves hungry again we hit Ritters for a late night snack.

As far as I can recall, that was pretty much the end of the week. I think I did some productive things at some point earlier, but that all stopped a few days ago. Not sure why, I think it's because there's something I really need to do (get my car inspected) that I can't do until I do something that's rather difficult (empty the really heavy piece of furniture out of the back of my car). Although I think I'll just get it inspected and hope that the extra weight doesn't fuck up my emissions test, since apparently emptying out my car is such a gargantuan task that the mere thought of it frightens me out of any sort of accomplishment.

I had happy plans to help Jeff and Willy demolish and rebuild their new house, but was overcome by the weekend funk and unable to get anywhere near ready to go until after 5 pm both days, at which point I didn't know if they were even still there. I suck.

Also, apparently my mom's relationship with her boy Bill is now not as good as it was earlier in the week. On Monday they were ridiculously in love. On Thursday, all men are shits. For some reason she seems to think that I know what happened. I guess it's because I do a good impression of being psychic when I'm at home, as one must be to interpret what she means when she says things (my mom apparently dislikes using nouns).

Blegh. Maybe I'll just take a couple of sleeping pills and try to start regulating my sleeping habits. Or get a job at Ritters and work 3rd shift.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

Subject: Account Expiration Notice

Dear Sir or Madam,

Userid: wwb
Owner: Wendy W Buffett
Sponsor: Melissa Cicozi
Suspension date: 08/14/2003

This Andrew computer account has begun the suspension process because
it has lost its eligiblity. If no action is taken to renew the
account's eligibility this account will be not be usable for services
such as login, Blackboard, and reading of Email after the suspension date.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*sob*

What... what will I do without you, Andrew? WHAT WILL BECOME OF ME?!?

I am nothing now... NOTHING.

*curls up in corner and weeps*

New Template! (duh)

Yeah. Rather than clean the apartment and battle fruit flies, I decided that redesigning my blog was the *real* emergency. I stole code from Xanga and .::says me::. and fought a lot with tables. Planning on doing more orange dragon sketches for your randomized viewing pleasure. (Go on, hit refresh a few times. Teehee.)

Comments/suggestions are welcomed.

Friendster

Yes, I'm on it now. I had a great time today following the sagas of the fictional characters on there. Have any of you Friendsters seen those? Chewbacca, Harry Potter, Macgyver, Satan, Hello Kitty, Jose Cuervo, Gold Bond Medicated Powder - the list goes on and on. Their bios are fantastic and the comments they leave for others are hilarious. I also highly recommend 'Giant Squid' and Leeloo from the Fifth Element. Multipass.

Oh, and I stumbled upon (don't ask me how) a pirate named Captain Scrotum. Hilariously enough, the random person who set up the good Captain's account decided to use a picture of Don Marinelli, one of the co-heads of the ETC (he comes up first when you type 'pirate' into the Google Image Search). That's a nickname I never wanted to match with him. I laughed for about 10 minutes straight.

Other thoughts today - it is H-O-T my friends and brothers. The rambling self-indulgent post last night (what, you didn't read it??) must have done some good because I got quite a lot done today. Deposited my paychecks, grocery shopped, figured out (finally) the Beeler House Bill and Security Deposit Situation, spoke with no less than 3 of my possible employers (and now have an interview with the Brookstone store on Friday afternoon), e-mailed my resume to one of said employer possibilities and... let me check my list here... oh yes, mailed bills, took a shower and got dressed. Not in that order, of course. Why must I put those last two items on a to-do list? Well, I figured it prudent since it's not like I do those every day.

You think I'm kidding.

Wondering what to do for the various birthdays, both past and present. And I need to clean this apartment. After all, the least I can do since Laura's birthday week is marked by school stress, family stress and apartment stress is to combat our burgeoning fruit fly problem and sweep the floor.

Life in-between

My life feels complicated right now. It's a good thing it doesn't include relationship complications or else I might be going insane. I'm glad for my forethought in avoiding such things.

The temp job I was working is in the awkward stage right now where I'm waiting for the people at work to go over my revisions. There's no point in me coming in until they do, but I can't start anything else until they finish the revisions and I come in to do the (hopefully) last round of revisions. So the job isn't over, I can't start a new one, and I'm not getting paid. Ouch.

In the meanwhile I keep trying to avoid life, as it makes me nervous. Bills I have to pay, debts I have to decrease, jobs I have to apply for, projects I need to work on. The apartment is a mess. We have no furniture to speak of and we've developed a fruit fly problem in the kitchen. My clothes are everywhere. I feel drained until 11 pm when I'm suddenly filled with energy, but of course it's too late to do anything outside and I'm afraid to do anything inside for fear of keeping up roommates/neighbors. Although I'm not sure if that's politeness or a convenient excuse. Also, I'm starting to get back on my night owl schedule, when for the last few weeks I had been practicing the relatively normal midnight/9am habit.

I know for a fact that there are better things for me to be doing, but I've developed (and cultivated, actually) this fatalistic view that whatever I'm doing, it can't possibly be the Right Thing, because the Right Thing would be to get a job. That is difficult enough in the sense that the job market blows goats currently, but also because the more time I spend away from school, considering every possible career choice, the more I realize I haven't a fucking clue what I want to do. Where should I look for a job? How should I approach it? I'm not sure what to rule out and what to launch myself at in desperation. I know that the odds are that I will find a completely random job and from there build a career that I probably can't foresee at the moment, but that in itself overwhelms me. I don't do well with blank canvases or projects without many limitations.

I was chatting with Amanda B. about her upcoming move to Sweden for grad school (she says a mass e-mail is forthcoming) and it got me wondering if I should be seriously considering some sort of graduate school (oh, wouldn't mom love that) or looking for a job overseas. What better time to do random work in another country? But I have no idea where to start, or even in what industry I should be looking. I told Amanda she was inspiring me and she told me 'the sky's the limit'. I told her that was the problem.

I feel like I'm in limbo, some post-graduate purgatory which I'm sure I'm sharing with many others. I don't even think of this apartment as permanent. Laura and I drove through different parts of Pittsburgh the other day and I saw the other little neighborhoods that I would kill to live in, just because of the feeling they gave me. Point Breeze. Mexican War Streets. It's not like I'm taking advantage of the fact that I live in Squirrel Hill, really. I never go outside; it's too expensive. I know that there are things I could be doing, productive, even enjoyable things, like reading under a tree or drawing in a graveyard (for some reason I am very attracted to Pittsburgh cemetaries as outdoor painting sites).

I am also becoming aware that I am 22 years old, out of college and 500 miles away from my family. I have a car, I have friends in this city, I have no job to wake up for in the morning. And I rarely ever go out to do things. Somewhere in the back of my consciousness I am aware that this is not normal. Not that abnormality has ever stopped me before, but I'm rather afraid of wasting away my youth in front of a computer.

This seems to be a constant pattern in my life - avoiding anything productive because I am avoiding what is important, and my guilt at avoiding what is important prevents me from either enjoying or accomplishing anything. One would think I would simply break down and do whatever it is that is important, but it seems that whenever I accomplish something, I merely have to move on to the next Important and Unpleasant Thing, until everything I am doing is unpleasant. There are times when I have no choice, like when I was in school. The Important things piled up too quickly, and there were deadlines. Ah, to have deadlines back. To have authority figures capable of rendering a silent gut-punch with their quiet disappointment if I failed to do something correctly. I have never been my own authority figure, and mothers 3 states away are easily avoided.

This problem, I feel, is the crux of all the difficulties in my life. I am beginning to realize that if I could solve this one problem of acting like a human instead of a cat, great things would happen. This obstacle seems insurmountable, but I feel as if paradise lies on the other side. Can you imagine all that I could accomplish, were I to cast aside my doubts and fears, face reality, ignore the call of inertia? I could pull myself up by my motherfucking bootstraps, that's what would happen, and I would conquer the world, or at least my part of it. I would have plans instead of daydreams. I would have accomplishments. I would have Something To Show For It. The idea is heady.

Sometimes I feel like the air is viscous, like the gravitational field that surrounds me is somehow heavier than anyone elses (all puns aside). I often feel that the floor is calling me, I must get low, I must be still and horizontal. Fighting against it constantly is draining and only makes it harder. I need some sort of crutch. Heretofore it's been another person to pull me off the rug and get me out the door. Is there something else that will work as effectively, something I can control, or at least access without the assistance of others?

I wonder what it could be that I am missing. Why am I so good at self-denial about everything else, but cannot avoid this indulgence of doing nothing at all? What is it that beckons, why can I not avoid it? All of the personal lectures and to-do lists and guilt trips are completely ineffectual. It's a wonder I do a damn thing at all. I have such a high threshold for boredom. And so little energy. How does everyone else do it? How can they accomplish everything without exhausting themselves?

I wonder if other people reading this (whoever that is) react with surprise or doubt that someone like me exists. It reminds me of when we read 'The Glass Menagerie' in 11th grade English. Some of the students couldn't understand why the girl (I forget her name, Clara? Laura?) acted as she did. They couldn't comprehend that people were so shy that they avoided social situations. My teacher had to explain that people are scared or terrified of leaving the comfort of what they know and interacting with strangers. I, of course, understood completely, and I in turn was shocked that others couldn't grasp the concept without help.

Is that what it all stems from? Social Anxiety? I know that I have it. Perhaps should even be medicated for it, although I hate to think that way I'd be curious to try and see if it actually did help. Could you imagine, feeling relaxed around people, with no awkwardness? of course, there are probably other, healthier ways of getting to that point, which in my paralyzing laziness I am also neglecting. Also the fear and paranoia. I don't like to leave my bedroom, I'm self conscious walking across our living room because there are no blinds on the back windows, and the people in the apartments across the way could watch me, if they wanted. I can only relax in the windowless kitchen and my bedroom cave. I don't like to be on edge in my own apartment.

Frankly, I don't even know what my problem is. I don't know exactly what I'm struggling with, what its source is. Perhaps if I knew that I would have a better idea of how to cure it, but as it is I am fighting with the symptoms, and they are rather amorphous. Its some sort of mental or physical poison, and here I am without so much as a medical dictionary, trying to treat myself as best I can.

And why do I complain about it so often? It's like I'm almost proud that I've gotten nothing done. Have I really changed so little from high school, still trying to adapt the slacker persona rather than the hard-working nerd (which, I found out my senior year, I hadn't shaken at all. Everyone thought I got straight As anyway, and all I was left with was bad grades). Is that what's stopping me? My instinctive reaction to accomplishment is to avoid it at all costs to avoid drawing attention and praise to myself? How is that possible when I yearn so much to get something done, as I said above? Maybe it's a pity-party. Oh, poor me, I can't accomplish anything, look at all of my good excuses. Meanwhile I loll about like a slug, complete with slime trail to the kitchen.

I don't know what to change. Is it my diet? Is there some vitamin I'm short of? Is it my lifestyle, or am I not using some mental technique that's out there... what am I doing wrong? How do I solve this? I'm so frustrated with myself it makes me sick. I don't want to have to fight myself with every action and thought. I don't want to fear doing every day fucking things or being myself or just doing what I need to get done.

Goddamn, I feel like I should be in Jim Cunningham's video from Donnie Darko. I AM A PRISONER OF FEAR. Do I get a gold star for making the declaration?

Christ. Enough of this self-indulgent bullshit. I doubt anyone read this far. If you're going to read any long-ass posts, read Ayako's, they're far more interesting. Off to chat with Ayako, go to bed, and then check at least 5 things off my fucking to-do list in the morning.

Ow, my brain hurts

Wow.

I just finished watching Donnie Darko with Carolyn. I am so out of it now. I'll probably end up watching it again before I return it on Monday, but I'll need some time to let that sink in first. I mean, it was ... amazing ... but it's also overwhelming.

It was a dark movie fest, these past couple of days. Yesterday was Brotherhood of the Wolf. I'm usually a fan of violent movies, but this one creeped my shit a little. I'm not sure what the big difference is between explosions/gunfire/impaling (because you know someone always gets impaled on something) and knives/people eaten by monsters/scary bone-n-chain weapon type of violence, but whatever it is I can't handle too many like that. Great action movie, though. And I admired the gothness of the corset wearing FREAK at the end.

Interesting photography exhibit at the Carnegie in the little gallery. Photographs by one photojournalist during the 40s-60s, covering black urban life in Pittsburgh (lots of Hill district stuff). Carolyn was my knowledgeable tour guide.

Cool cafe - Cafe Zinho. On Spahr street off of Ellsworth. There's no sign, but it's the one with the bright purple and yellow windows. Expensive but pretty cool. Bring a friend, pay the $2 split fee.






What the hell am I doing with my life?

Damn these introspective movies.

Happy birthday to my sisters

ghetto homemade birthday cards are all the rage

adorably annoying

When I got home today, there was no toilet paper left on the roll in our bathroom. No biggie, I get a new one from under the sink. However, I then glance down on the floor and see about 1/4 roll of toilet paper folded haphazardly on the floor, directly under the empty roll.

Cute kitty. *sigh*

My job is probably over tomorrow, but I got a call from a different temp agency saying they have a whole bunch of legal-type jobs for people with mad typing skillz including, perhaps, your oh-so-humble-narrator.

Got my first paycheck in the mail today. About $200 bucks but then I started in the middle of the week. It's something, but I want more. Money money money money. Preferably enough so that I can buy this, and enough to go to Frisco for Ayako's 23rd. Why does *everyone* have to be born this month? Tomorrow, my sisters turn 29 (damn we're old), next week it's Laura's 23rd, then Jeff's 20-somethingth, then Aya on the 30th. And me with no money! Highly embarrassing.

Oh, and a follow-up to the last post - I was editing that safety warning today and it included adding a note: "This procedure may be performed by one person when the need arises." Bwaahahahaha.

OMGROFLMAO

My temp job is basically reformatting a whole bunch of safety documents for labs at US Steel, so there's a lot of instructions on how to work with certain factory machines. I was going through one particular document today and noticed it was giving instructions that required a 'top man' and a 'bottom man'. Instantly my mind plunged into the gutter and I began to read every instruction... differently than intended.

I started cracking up at this section (bold text is safety warning):

Check the progress of the bottom person. Do not introduce the charging tube into the charging hole until the bottom person is ready. When the bottom person is ready, place the charging tube into the charging hole. Communicate to the bottom person as to the alignment of the tube and make necessary changes if needed.

Ensure that the bottom person is fully aware that you are inserting the charging tube before doing so.

(...vaguely incindiary instructions about movement and discharging the load into the hole...)

Alert the bottom person before removing the charging tube. Once the bottom person has been properly alerted, remove the charging tube from the charging hole and store it in a safe place.

snickergigglesnort

What can I say, the job is boring. I have to take entertainment where I can find it.

Oh, and the other day a couple of my co-workers caught a glimpse of some doodling I had done while waiting for files to upload. One of them asked why I hadn't gone into Art instead of Design. I began my usual answer, and then burst out laughing in the middle when I realized what I was saying:

"I thought I'd be more likely to get a job if I went into design."

Hoo-ah. That was rich.

Oh! The little deers

I was cruising home through the Friday evening bumper-to-bumper traffic in Monroeville, trying to get on 376, when I spotted two fawns galloping around an island of grass, freaking out as the cars whizzed by less than 10 feet away. It's that kind of thing that reminds me of how girly I can be, or at least my reaction to it. Squealing. Covering my mouth with my hands, giggling "oh my goodness, sooooo cute" and not watching the road.

I'm getting to really enjoy my car. It's a nice escape from work, my own private little bubble of color, light and sound, and I rather like tooling around like a madwoman (although somebody honked their horn at me today when I blew through the intersection in Edgewood as the green left-hand-turn arrow disappeared). Too bad it's a gigantic gas guzzler, and I still can't parallel park (I gave a huge love-tap to the car in front of me trying to park in front of my apartment. I was stuck up on the curb for like 5 minutes before I was able to get out and try again. I was starting to gather a crowd of helpful onlookers. *blush*)

And oh shiznat, I got a voicemail from painter-lady who says she wants to paint that fireplace starting Wednesday morning, and I am still being employed in Monroeville from 8-5. I thought I might ask if I could take half a day off and come in late or something, since I'm doing things faster than they expected, but I hesitate. They seem laid back, but that's a pretty rude thing for a *temp* to do. I suppose I could make up a family emergency or something. I'm just working on a project, not like I'm answering phones or anything. Well, I could always ask, I guess. Feh.

Now with titles

Blogger has a sexy new template, and I figured out how to add titles to my posts. Because user friendliness is my biggest problem here.

I tried to post my religion results but it makes blogger eat itself. I'll sum up. 100% Unitarian Universalist, 96% Neo-Pagan. I got neo-pagan as an answer for emode's religion quiz, too. Need to get me that Book of Shadows.

I've been working in Monroeville starting yesterday on a 2 week assignment. It's kind of fun, fighting with Word makes the hours fly. I'm afraid I'm working too fast and running out of job, tho, and my chair is very loud.

Lovely today. I ate lunch outside on the grass, in the shade of a big tree. Still managed to get sunburned.

Applied for jobs at Lane Bryant, Brookstone and Kauffman's yesterday. Pet store today. So desperate for steady income, but yay for $800 from the current job (minus taxes, but still. Yay).

I am being forced into a non-nocturnal schedule, and it hurts. Badly. Coffee is now a requirement.

Just finished reading Order of the Phoenix. B&N called this afternoon to say that it was in, so I picked it up, started reading around 4 or 5 pm and just finished, 12 hours later (870 pages). I took a few bathroom/snack/meal breaks so it wasn't quite straight through, but close enough.

Wow. Just... wow. It's a lot to take in. I had the fleeting thought that I should read it again, since so much happened, and then realized what I was thinking and laughed at myself.

Perhaps at a slightly more... sedate pace.

Whew.

What a useful site. I never knew something like this existed.

CIA World Factbook.

Just got back from Geagling with a bag of baked Doritos (so happy). Pulled out a cheesewad - there may be some chip in there, but it mainly looks like a giant wad-o-powder cheese. Kind of like that giant Cheeto that was making all the headlines. Not quite so impressive, though.

It reminds me of the Fried Fried Fried that Ayako found in our O-Fries one time. It was just this ball of.... fried. Fried what? We didn't know. I said it could be a cockroach, or a piece of rat, or something, but Ayako ate it. I couldn't believe it. I watched in shock as she crunched on the Fried Fried Fried. You could *hear* the grease.

She left me a voicemail this morning. A rather irate voicemail, wondering why the hell I hadn't returned her calls for the past 2 weeks, and if there was something wrong with me or if I suddenly began hating her for some reason.

I get that a lot. I have some sort of lesion on the part of my brain that most people use to remember names, birthdays, and to call people back. I do it to everybody. EVERYBODY. There is no rhyme or reason.

**half an hour later**

Just talked to Ayako, and we got on the topic of men (of course). I remembered the link I had once shown her of Valerie Solanas' (she shot Andy Warhol) SCUM Manifesto, which I think I got from my friend Amy, the uber-feminist cheerleader (yay). I dedicate this one to all the ladies out there who keep complaining that all men are penile-minded shallow assholes who are incapable of feeling human emotion, and wondering where the hell all the decent guys are. Apparently, it's due to the fact that "The male is a biological accident: the Y (male) gene is an incomplete X (female) gene, that is, it has an incomplete set of chromosomes. In other words, the male is an incomplete female, a walking abortion, aborted at the gene stage. To be male is to be deficient, emotionally limited; maleness is a deficiency disease and males are emotional cripples."

The fact that I am currently hormonal has nothing to do with me enjoying this manifesto so much. Grrr. (And no, I don't take this seriously, nor do I believe most women do. It's fun to read, though.)

Didn't make it to the Harry Potter party last night, as Laura fell asleep (and I thought it rude to awaken her for something she's not interested in, anyway). I went there this afternoon and they are, of course, sold out (they would have been last night, too, I didn't think to reserve one) so I'm on the waiting list and should expect a call on Monday. In the meantime, I'll be trying to dodge spoilers. Cry.

Met with Lynn Smith, muralist extraordinaire today. She said she'd be willing to try to work with me on an upcoming project - marbelizing a very large fireplace in July. She also recommended that I e-mail the editor of the post gazette home section about an article he's doing on Pittsburgh muralists, to find more jobs.

Before I shot off the e-mail, though, I updated my portfolio page. I was full of boundless energy while coding so it went quickly. After a while I realized that I was so hyper because all I'd had to eat today was a Frappucino. Whee!

Laura and I just finished rearranging the kitchen, culminating in a Friday night dish exodus from our respective bedrooms. We're thinking of making it a competition - whoever has more dishes during the Friday Night Dish Exodus has to load the dishwasher.

And I'm reconsidering Jeff's idea to put at least one of our computers in the main room, since we're both bedroom hermits. Maybe once we have furniture, we'll be more apt to spend time out there.

#spastic# 3.5 more hours till Harry Potter. #/spastic#

Wh00t.

What's up frigidaire. You are
16%
pickup-able! You're cold and unapproachable, like a big glacier that's unapproachable. And cold. Unlike the Arctic tundra, few even venture to plant their flag in you. You're definitely not a Scorpio, unless you were born between October 23 and November 21. The bad news is that you'll end up miserable and alone, probably knitting doilies out of cat hair. The good news is that this is apparently what you want. Honestly, I don't even feel comfortable talking to you right now, so I'm just gonna go… yeah… wash my friend's hair.

people more pickup-able than you (99%)
people just as pickup-able as you (0%)
people less pickup-able than you (0%)

Based on the 1,150,058 submissions before you.

Hells yeah. Now if only my friends could master my arctic frigidity, I wouldn't have to keep consoling them when they get molested. (j/k)

I can't hold it in anymore. I am so fucking excited about the Harry Potter book coming out tomorrow night that I spontaneously start giggling and clapping my hands at the thought. Seriously considering going to B&N for the midnight party to get my hands on a copy ASAP (using my non-money) and staying up all night to read it. Yes, I will fight my way through the costumed frea..uh, fans to get at my OOTP.

Carolyn and I went to the 3 Rivers Arts Festival yesterday. We walked through the stalls, didn't buy anything (both broke and jobless) except junk food. Unfortunately this group of artists was at least half photography and jewelry, although they had the occasional offbeat cool stuff. One creepy stall had realistic mice, cockroaches and vulture sculptures, plus a horseshoe crab shell with a face painted on it. I was intrigued but Carolyn was creeped so we moved on.

Afterwards we hit Whole Foods to get supplies for Zucchini Fritta night, picked up a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and went back to Hobart to slice, bread and fry. Good stuff, and I now have another way to cook veggies. This week has had more instances of drinking than ever before in my life. Not necessarily volume, mind you.

I'm meeting with Ms. Muralist tomorrow afternoon in the Starbucks on Forbes/Shady. The last time I met someone in a Starbucks was in high school for some important school thing that I didn't get (my interview for Princeton, maybe?). Hopefully this time will go better. Wish me luck.

Possible job on the horizon. I'm meeting with a muralist who works in the Pittsburgh area to see if she would want an assistant/apprentice/contractor. To that end, I finally got some pics of the work I did with Lisa this summer. Unfortunately not of the whole room - maybe when I get around to fixing my digital camera (and thereby getting the pics off of the memory card) I can show more.

And this is dedicated to Ayako. *shudder*

Had a Big Day Out with Carolyn G. today. I picked her up this afternoon and headed for the South Side. Must have walked the length of the Carson Street shops 3 or 4 times. I picked up applications from the Bead Mine and E-House and then left them at Taco Loco, idiot that I am. After dinner and more walking we hit Grecianland Pastries (remember that place?) for coffee and dessert. And lots of talking. Boys, mothers, high school, body image, anything else that came to mind. Afterwards we came back to Hobart and rented Empire Records and Touch of Evil (although I recommend The Third Man for Orson Welles film noir, if you have the choice). Ms. Griffel mixed us up some Amaretto Sours from my newly extended liquor collection (liberated from Beeler) and we finished up around 3 am.

Willy needs to go to Inner Vision for their knives and Groovy for their comic books/action figures/large amounts of toys. Everyone else should go to the Culture Shop and E-house.

Lots of pretty things I can't afford strengthens my job search resolve, which unfortunately all but dissipated last week, to my great disgust. Also, I want to go to Greece. Good night.

I've always known I was a geek. I had hoped that it would become less prominent, eventually, but it appears that the combination of a decent computer in my room and an excess of time has proved the opposite.

I'm working on a couple of pieces of fantasy art in my (all too vast amounts of) spare time, hoping eventually to throw them up someplace like deviant art and see what kind of comments I get. The pic above is the first shade layer of something I plan to call curiosity - you can't see him yet, but the dragon is holding up a kitten by the scruff of the neck for inspection. Hopefully it'll come off as cute, and not horrible (I didn't intend to imply the second half of the cliche).

I e-mailed a couple of trompe l'loeil painters (that is *such* a bitch to spell) today to see if they wanted an apprentice. I get the feeling painting walls would be preferable to working at the 'O', who is, consequently, hiring. I can't help but think that would be on the same level as meatpacking. I should just go work at a slaughterhouse, for chrissakes.

That thought makes the fact that I applied to Starbucks last week slightly more palatable. Slightly.

I've beginning to think I will never have clean clothing. The washers in the basement haven't accepted quarters in 2 weeks, and I was in desperate need of laundry before then. If I had money I'd be buying new clothes.

I've been flashing back to the mid-90s today. I discovered, while unpacking, a shoebox full of old tapes I dubbed in high school. Wow. I forgot how good alternative radio used to be. Especially when it comes to chick rock - who do we have now, Evanescence and the Donnas? Pssh. On my girl-band tape I had the Cowboy Junkies, Portishead, Bjork, Elastica, Hole, the Juliana Hatfield 3, Liz Phair, Veruca Salt, Babes in Toyland, the Breeders, Sonic Youth and PJ Harvey. What happened to female-lead bands? No wonder all the 14 year old girls nowadays flock to Avril Lavigne. Jeezus.

I'm itching to do some mural painting. Or any painting/drawing, for that matter. If anyone wants to trade me some cash for art, let me know. I take requests. Please?

Neegaa

Yeah, I stole this off of g.tobin, but I simply had to pass it around. A pilot for a series called 'Tokyo Breakfast' - rich Japanese family speaking ghetto english. Gotta see it.

Urmph. Haven't been updating.

Summary (hah!) of the past week or so:
Laura and I went to the movies last Wednesday and saw X-Men 2 and The Matrix: Reloaded (we originally had just planned to see X2 but when we walked out of the theatre the Matrix was playing in 15 minutes, so we said what the hell. We should have stuck with the original plan.) X2 rocked. The whole franchise raised a bit in my estimation when I watched the first one again a few days ago and noticed the eensiest bit of foreshadowing for the second movie. Love X-Men. The Matrix 2 sucked. As Laura said, 'It was a 2 hour music video.' Don't waste your money, wait 'till it's at the dollar movie or McConomy. Or a coupon from Blockbuster. Sure, the graphics were nice and all, but the rest of it was downright painful.

Then, graduation weekend. Fwoomph. First, I stress because my family's all coming into town, and I picture them all together, with my friends, and start to freak. Laura calls me up Friday morning and suggests a Pamela's breakfast, so I rush to get ready and meanwhile Ayako calls from her cell phone, wishing me good luck and telling me to take lots of pictures, sorry she can't be there. So I head to Pamelas, Laura shows up with roommate Pam in tow, and we sit right down at a table. When the waitress stops by, Pam asks for another place setting, and I look at her, ready to ask who else is going to be coming, when I turn around and see Ayako standing next to the table! Holy shit! She totally surprised me, I had no idea. She had flown into NYC a few days previous and Greyhounded it to Ptown. Hot damn. The weekend was much better after that.

I chauffer(sp?) my mom, sisters, and Emma all over Pittsburgh for a while, head up to my aunt and uncle's place with 3 Mineo's pizzas and feed Bruce, Gram, the 3 cousins and Elizabeth's boyfriend (Russ? maybe?), a 20 year old hot hot hot Scottish boy who may be a ballet dancer. (Cousin Elizabeth turns 17 next week and is a ballerina.)

After family stuff I head back to Beeler, pick up Aya and Laura and head down to Taste of India so they can eat dinner (I get chai). We then head to Ritter's for dessert and cruise back to Beeler, where Laura crashes and Aya and I watch X-Men. I stumble back to Hobart at 5 am, sleep in, throw my cap and gown in the car and meet the fam at Morewood for a campus tour. We finish up early, I put on my robes (stupidly happy, feeling like a witch from Harry Potter), and we head to the UC to wait for Aunt, Uncle, and Gram to arrive. Jenny and Mom get teary over Dad-stuff but I, oddly, do not. Perhaps because I'd been thinking about it so much and it had just occurred to them that this is the one thing he really wanted to see. I had fully expected to cry at some point but only got a little misty-eyed at commencement.

The ceremony. Tons of people I hadn't seen in a while. Jamie and Brooke do a fantastic speech (a marriage ceremony to design, swearing on an iBook). I'm halfway through the line because thankfully they send the CD kids in first (I'd hate being #2 or 3). Asa Sherill strikes a pose on stage with Cicozi and his diploma. I just concentrate on not falling or knocking anyone/thing over, including my cap which I forgot to pin to my head. As I walk up the stairs I hear my row (8 people) clap and holler 'yeah Wendy!' quite loudly. Mentzer flashes me a grin and I send a wry grin back, but manage not to blush, probably because all blood has drained from my face from sheer nervousness. Shake Bruce's hand and grab the diploma, hug Cicozi, get my pen, walk down the stairs and get my robe caught on some guy's foot (but luckily I'm off stage by then). Dazedly walk to the back of the room but get pulled aside by Eric, Bob-o and Liza for handshakes.

Wander around the ceremony afterwards, unsure of what to do. Laugh at the life-size cutouts of Dan Boyarski (attending his daughter's graduation elsewhere) that people are posing with. Don't see too many people. I deliver the 100 foot extension cord to Josh Space as requested - many jokes follow about making extension cords be the official honor cords of ID majors. I agree wholeheartedly.

Afterwards, the 9 of us converge on Girasole in Shadyside for a lovely lunch, I get presents and money (yay!), then we split. The family heads to Uncle Bruce's for drinks, Aya, Laura and I hit the Blockbuster and Coffee Tree in Squill. We pick up Chocolat and Laputa: Castle in the Sky. We stop by G'eagle to pick up chocolate for the movie (you've got to be crazy to watch that movie without some chocolate), settle back at Beeler and have a movie fest. Between movies Aya and I go down to the O and pick up a small fry. Laura marvels at our ability to eat continously. I once again stumble home around 5 am.

Next day, commencement. I'm late. I drive to Beeler to park and pick up Sarah at the house (Jenny and Mom had left earlier that morning), we walk to the stadium. GSIA is already lined up. I walk through them only to see the CFA parade approaching, and hitch a ride when I see Brooke pass by. The ceremony is boring but as I'm sitting nearby Jamie I'm entertained by sarcastic remarks throughout, as I try to keep my cap from blowing away and poking someone's eye out. The student speaker sucked ass. Joel Wolpert has a great middle name, I find out from the program: Abiogenesis. If you remember spontaneous generation from Biology class - life from nothing - that's what it means. Random, but great. (Info courtesy of JSpace) Better than that guy from CD whose middle name is Janas (sounds like Janice). Ouch.

After the ceremony, Sarah, Aya and Laura and I head over to pick up my car (no ticket for parking near a hydrant! Yay!) and cruise over to Lawrenceville for the Church Brew Works. Chris Blue (Doulgeris) and family walk in a little after us. Love seeing families of people you know. :) Good food, hasty trip back to the airport to meet Sarah's flight. The rest of the day Laura, Aya and I spend lounging. It takes us an hour just to get out of the car once we get back to Beeler, spending the time going through Ayako's Ridiculous Memory of Birthdays. She knows her orthodontists birthday, swear to god.

More time lounging and being silly at Beeler. We say goodbye to Pam, who's going to UPenn for grad school. We head to Aladdin's for dinner, then downtown to drop Aya off at the Greyhound station. *sniffle* Plans are in the works for a trip in mid-August to visit San Fran.

End of weekend. I spend Monday recovering, try to do shit today but am foiled by overwhelming tiredness. Finally get around to cleaning part of the kitchen, which I discover is largely covered in a disgusting gray/brown sticky coating that can only be removed by full-strength Lysol kitchen cleaner and a scrubby sponge. Ew ew ew. Now 2 cabinets are contact papered and I can actually put dishes *away* when emptying the dishwasher.

Job search continues. I need to make somewhere around $1200+ per month to cover all my expenses. Not sure the best way to do that - 2 or 3 part time silly jobs, one full-time and another part time job? How related do they have to be to design? How much spare time do I want? Do I want to dress up? Do I want to wear a uniform or a paper hat?

I should stop worrying and just apply to every job I find, and decide then. First I need to leave the apartment. Damn this comfort zone, I need money.

Yay for the BBQ coming up this weekend. Boo for people leaving.

Mad props to Jeff for figuring out the whole 'you have 2 weeks to find a new server' thing. Hopefully the transfer will go smoothly.

See all you Pittsburghers this weekend!

Forgive me for any typos, my cat likes to sit in front of my monitor while I'm working. :P

Not too much going on - it appears that my mom finally came to the realization that if I move home, the cat comes with me. She is suddenly more willing to work with me on the whole 'self-sufficient by Friday' thing. God. Graduation on Saturday. Where did the time go? So anyway, it appears I am staying in Pittsburgh indefinitely, and I'm applying to temp jobs because I figure that's the quickest way to earn decent amounts of money. Meanwhile, I continue to get my portfolio together. If you're feeling up for a crit (and apparently you are), cruise over to my spot on coroflot and tell me what you think of my boards. They're what I'll be using when I actually see people in interviews.

Results on kitty's tumor came back this past Tueseday - apparently he doesn't need any chemo or radiation rihgt now - the doctor got everything out (clean lines, they call it) but this type of tumor tends to recur often, so we have to keep a close eye on it and get him checked more than we ususally would. His sutures come out Tuesday afternoon (along with his collar, so that's good). I have 2 more temp places to hit on Monday, then the rest of the week I'll probably be packing up stuff at Beeler and getting my robes and returning my keys. My mom and sisters are staying in the Hampton Inn in Monroeville. Not sure if Emma the super-cute puppy will be accompanying them or not. Maybe once I finish moving in and get a broom and a vacuum, I can get rid of all the frickin cat hair that I'm currently covered in.

I'm hoping this didn't have too many typos, given that my test at RHI said I had 97 wpm with 100% accuracy. But then, I could actually see what I was typing, and my left arm wasn't falling asleep. Although my fly was open. Cheers, Willy. :) Time to call Ayako for venting. Later children.

I just realized X Men 2 opened this past weekend. Motherfucker. I can't believe I didn't go see it - that's one movie I would have gone to see alone, damn the torpedoes. Something for this week/end, perhaps. Any p-towners interested?

My kitty finished his pain medication this morning but is still bumping around in his 'lampshade' (Elizabethan collar) and finds it very hard to get comfortable while he's sleeping. He's such a sweetie, though - he's kneading my shoulder right now while he's lying on his back. Sooo cute. I loves me kitty. I was supposed to get the lab results back on his tumor today but the doctor never called and the office was closed before I realized it. This was another one of those who-drained-my-life-force weekends.

Thanks to Ayako for the loan! Yes, it is a loan, and I'm an asshole for not calling you yet to thank you personally. If I don't call you tomorrow I'll hurt myself.

you're fuck.


What swear word are you?
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Good news! Surgery went well, and kitty still has ALL 4 LEGS. This is a very good thing. If all goes well tonight I can pick him up tomorrow.

I'm going to do a little more research into kitty chemo and see if it's worth the pain/cost if that becomes an option. We'll get the pathology in a few days. The doc said hopefully we won't even have to worry about it, but it's good to be informed just in case. Once again, I plan for the worst and hope for the best.

I realized yesterday that I don't have a whole lot to focus on in my life besides taking care of myself, which isn't a whole lot of fun. As far as I'm concerned, my cat takes precendence over most things in my life. He's my child, now. And why not? I'm only 22. I have very little to be responsible for right now. There's a lot more stupid stuff for me to be concerned with or spending my time and money on other than the beloved pet I've had since I was 13.

And many thanks to Mr. Space, who yesterday gifted me with his very nice Palm Pilot IIIc with accessories. I appreciate all of fortune's little life preservers when you suddenly get dumped into the ocean of crap.

Kitty update:
He's at the vet right now, surgery is scheduled for tomorrow late morning/early afternoon. The surgeon said he doesn't think the leg will have to be taken off but he can't be sure until he gets a better idea, maybe not even until he's doing the surgery. That's the good news. The bad news is that depending on what type of cancer it is, exactly (which we won't know until the tumor is examined after surgery), he may have to undergo chemo. He said chemo's not as bad for pets as it is for humans, because they're going for 'comfortable' and not 'cure'. But I'm sure that'll be expensive, too (groan). The other possibilities are that the surgery will fix everything (slim), or that the type of cancer will be so agressive that chemo won't do a damn thing and then he won't have much time. Either way, doc says the tumor has to be removed because it's getting big enough to start interfering with things soon so it should improve quality of life anyway.

Surgery total is $900-1100 depending on how long the surgery takes and what he might need to use during the operation.

Let's add up my major expenses for this month, shall we?
$1100 - surgery
$1000 - rent, pet & security deposit for Hobart St. apartment
$600 - biopsy and vet visit
$425 - rent & utilities for Beeler house

Well, it's not like I'll be the only recent college grad in debt. That's how I plan to handle mom's complaints - don't pay the credit card bill this month (or at least, just the minimum due), and I'll get it when I get my job. Interest and everything. Still, though, ouch. And with all this, I haven't been working much at all for Barb, so the income is very very low. But shit happens, right? According to my sister, it always happens all at once, too. Which is nice, because you get a break once in a while. So I've heard. ;)

I bought some chocolate truffles and fresh bread on my way home. A little indulgence right now is a good thing.

I miss my baby. Even if he did bite my hand at the vet. He's such a bastard, I love him so much. Currently highly emotional, and going to finish my boards tonight and search desperately for a job tomorrow.

Geography Quiz

I got 147 out of 150. I think it was Nebraska that gave me some trouble. Damn rectangular states.

Last two links came from .::says me::., FYI.

Jeff and I were supposed to join Joe, Lisa, and others at 'Art All Night' in.. Lawrenceville? But we both ended up falling asleep in our respective apartments until midnight and decided not to go 'cuz we were too tired to go out by then. Party animals, that's what we are.

The Oracle of Starbucks Personality type: Clueless You don't go to Starbucks much; when you do you just tag along with other people since you have nothing better to do. You would like to order a Tazo Chai Crème but don't know how to pronounce it. Most people who drink tall white mocha are strippers. Also drinks: Wine coolers Can also be found at: The mall

My streak of life-suck continues.

Upon arriving in Pittsburgh, exhausted, I moved a bunch of my stuff into the new place with the help of Ms. Foley, locked my cat in the bathroom and went to Ritters for comfort food. The next day, I took my cat to the vet, where the doctor checked the lump and said she was very worried and she wanted to keep him for tests. He stayed there most of the day, I picked him up that afternoon and wrote a check for $500 for the X-ray, bloodwork and biopsy surgery. Kitty was very pissed at anything that came near him and drugged up to his eyeballs. They'd shaved his neck so I got my first look at the tumor - the size of a film canister. Everyone wondered how we missed it, and I don't have a good answer for them.

The biopsy results came back yesterday - malignant tumor, cancerous, needs to be removed. The vet says his entire left arm and part of the shoulder will need to be amputated. I scheduled a surgery consult today for Tuesday afternoon. The estimate for the surgery is $800 to $1000. I don't know if that includes post-op stuff, like medication, physical therapy, etc. My sister's taking up a collection at work to ease the initial financial blow - I will have a job, one way or the other, in a few weeks so it's more of a loan than a donation. If anyone's feeling generous, $20 here and there would help a lot. And it'll be paid back in a few months.

I feel so horrible for my kitty. He's actually doing very well now, the last couple of days the excretory adventures have stopped and the litter box is doing its job. He's been very affectionate, even to Laura when she came over (he hates strangers usually) and purrs pretty much all the time. Still a bit scared of anything new - he freaked out this morning when I took a shower and hid in my computer box.

It's horrible, knowing the future. I keep staring at his left leg, that perfect little paw, knowing it will disappear forever in a week or so (the surgery itself isn't scheduled yet).

At the same time, it's horrible not knowing the future. Will all the cancer be removed with the surgery? Is it worth all the pain and suffering? Will it really extend his life or just delay the inevitable by a few painful months?

This just all has a terrible ring of familiarity. I hate cancer.

Bad sad news.

The vet found a lump on kitty's shoulder. It's all bad signs. I'm not sure if what she told me might happen are the only options or just the worst-case scenarios. I'm going to take him to a vet when I get to Pittsburgh and they'll do a biopsy.

He might lose his leg. She said the other options were chemotherapy or just coming to an understanding between me and him about how to let him live it out. Like I said, I don't know if those are my only 2 choices, or just what happens if the biopsy doesn't come out well.

Not a good pet day, all around. We came back and he pissed on the wall in my room, right in front of me, then ran over to the other side of the room to crap - I chased him out of the room, grabbed him and locked him in the bathroom with his litter box. When I came back in from cleaning up the urine, he'd crapped on the tile floor in the corner and stained the grout. I don't know anymore if he does it out of anger or because he's sick.

My stomach's in a knot about all this. He's only 9, I didn't think things would start to go badly for a few more years, but I guess that's how these things happen. Plus, bodily function things are probably only going to get worse, and I feel bad that Laura is going to be trapped in the drama of my cat's excretory functions. I suppose she doesn't have to move until the end of May, so there's 5 weeks of gimme room, but I feel bad. First allergies, now this.

It's going to be a difficult trip back to Pittsburgh.

Upon my return home, I settled back into my role of resident animal wrangling computer geek, installing spell check and fixing the printer, interspersed with the occasional poop/urine clean-up call. My cat pissed in the bathtub. Sure, of all the places to go, it's one of the more preferable, but really... *why*?

Anyway, pictures - courtesy of mom's digital camera.


Emma, in classic prissy dog pose. Like I said, ridiculously adorable.


Emma as a puppy.

(image deleted for complicated reasons)
I met mom's new boy, Bill. He's currently divorcing, has 3 kids, and is very nice. He brings mom tons of flowers (mostly potted), which she then shunts to Sarah for triage once they start to die. Jenny laughingly suggested that mom take some of the extras to the cemetary, but everyone agrees that's bad form on multiple levels.

I'm getting nothing done and drinking lots of diet coke with lemon. It's pretty nice, actually.

Well, since nobody accompanied me home (spllllbbbttth), I made my longest solo trip ever today, successfully. Once I got out of Pittsburgh, anyway, since everything outside of Oakland is apparently one giant detour. Squealed my tires merging onto Boulevard of the Allies. Mwa HA.

Sped the whole way, miraculously avoided cops left and right, all in the pouring rain. 75MPH+ at all times, baby. Sang horribly to myself at top volume, yelled insults at the drivers in front of me (why, WHY do people brake on the interstate when there's nothing in front of them? The car slows itself down if you take your foot off the gas pedal! Honest!).

Now I'm home, my grandmother was surprised (but I think I accidentally blew her birthday present surprise for Sunday when I was fixing my mom's outlook account, OOPS). The cat is happy to see me (and the feeling is mutual). Emma is just the cutest fucking dog in the whole world. I'm serious. Nothing can compete with her. I almost want mom to bring her to graduation just because she's so ridiculously adorable. My cat is pretty, in an aloof, untouchable bastard kind of way, but Emma... I mean, she *wiggles*. No wonder the cat hates her.

Previous sister/money-related dramas were miraculously resolved with the magic 'co-sign' elixir. I'm meeting my mom's new boyfriend tomorrow night. Caron might be stopping by for a visit on Sunday, bringing Jim (bed-wetting alcoholic punk) with her. Any additional alterations in my drama level will be duly noted.

**** PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT ****
Due to random family stuff, I am driving to Charlotte this weekend,
leaving Friday morning and returning Monday night. 8 hours each way.

If any of yinz would like to accompany me to the land of pork, tobacco,
and Krispy Kreme, let me know. You know you want to.

You can stay at my place for the weekend, or I can drop you off anywhere
along the way

***OR***

if the Blackwood hotel is open for visitors, I can meet him somewhere in
BFE and drop you off for a fun-filled weekend with the Davester.

Caveats:
-there are 3 seats available in the car, don't care who fills them, so
friends/SOs are invited
-my grandmother's 80th birthday is on Saturday so I'm booked for that day
-there are 2 spare beds available at my home + a comfy couch
-I will be transporting a cat on the way back (yay!) so mind the allergies
-I'd prefer not to have to drive more than an hour out of my way to drop
people off, but we can haggle.

I'd just really appreciate anybody riding/driving along with me (driving
not required) through the beautiful vistas of the Appalachian mountains.

If you're interested, let me know by Thursday evening - e-mail or call
412.512.7667.

Please pass this along to any Pittsburgh-types that might be interested
in southerly travel, whether I know them or not.

Yeehaw.

**** END PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT ****

Sorry for the barrage of media types I'm using to get this message out, but this is pretty darn short notice.

My life went to shit starting around 9 pm last night, when Homemade Pizza Night turned into the Vomitous Evening of Extended Pain and Suffering. I spent the next 5 hours forcefully ejecting said pizza at the laborious rate of 2 upchucks per hour and passing out in uncomfortable positions on the bathroom rug. My whole body is sore, I'm shaky and exhausted, and there is Intense Drama at home. I'll rant on that later. Probably to Ayako (bwa ha ha).

One thing I gleaned from this experience, besides the fact that I'm not eating pizza or anything with mushrooms for a while (shudder), is that when you're crawling around on the floor in agony, it suddenly makes sense why bathrooms should be cleaned at least once a week. Oh, and don't eat or drink anything for at least two hours after you throw up, or it will be DENIED because your stomach is inflamed. That snippet courtesy of a 3 am phone call to my uncle the M.D. to see if I should go to the ER.

Life is pain. I'm going back to bed.

I love it when my horoscope sounds like a scolding mother:

Loosen up before you become paranoid. Concentrate on enhancing your looks. It's time you started to enjoy life instead of always worrying.

Right on. Chill out, dress up, and go party. Thanks, mom. ;)

Wendy is a Plankton-Eating Sumo Monkey with a Battle Rating of 4.6.
Unleash your own Food-Eating Battle Monkey.

I beat David but I lost to Jeff. Those Cabbage-Eating Skeleton Monkeys are hard to handle.

I continue to stay optimistic that I will find employment once I get off my ass and look for it. Laura and I did a major shopping excursion today to Monroeville and I dropped $200 on nice clothes for work/interviews. And it's all covered by my Visa gift card from Christmas. Yeah, baby.

We also stopped by the John Harvard brewery and bought a 1/2 gallon of micro-brewed root beer. One major plus for Pittsburgh- lots of microbreweries. I like them.

I'm hoping that between the two of us, Laura and I will motivate each other to make cool shit for our apartment. We should have a home furnishings competition between all us design kids, with some sort of wacky prize.

By the way, apologies to anyone that I didn't say goodbye to after the Lisa/Joe BBQ - I was running out the door and didn't have time. Great seeing everyone, even if I didn't talk to you! Yay for Carnival and lovely weather.

Spent 4 hours on Midway today, checking the booths for environmental sins and generally observing the mayhem. Everyone watched me and Barb suspiciously, walking around with our clipboards and checking the paint can labels. Some of them took the other route and were gratuitously kind. Heh. Power wielding is fun.

By the time I got home, I was beat. I passed out on my bed for an hour or two, still clothed, and realized I had a bunch of 3" screws in my pocket the whole time. I woke up around 10 (too tired for Dave Attell) and realized I was sunburned. Yay.

Bumped into Mason at Midway, resuming his status as APhiO concessions expert. We chatted for a few minutes about design jobs (more specifically, the general lack thereof). I also spotted Aliyah Omer, my floormate from freshman year, who invited me to a party she won at Mario's in the South Side, but I was way too tired and nas-T to go.

My energy levels keep fluctuating wildly. One day I'm hyper, the next I'm sedated. Hopefully I'll be feeling energetic and sociable this weekend and maybe hang out with some designers. I heard rumors about the BBQ at Joe and Lisas, but I have no idea where they live.... well, I suppose Jeff & Willy would know. Any plans for a Pamela's takeover? After 11 dinners? And who's going to the concerts? I must take advantage of socialization while I can, if my Worst Case Scenario comes true.

Every time I have to work with Microsoft Word, I inevitably end up feeling like Karen facing Milkman Dan.

"I hate you, Microsoft Word."

A current-events update to everyone's favorite 'Why did the chicken cross the road?' answer compilation:

GEORGE W. BUSH
We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road or not. The chicken is either with us or it is against us. There is no middle ground here.

AL GORE
I invented the chicken. I invented the road. Therefore, the chicken crossing the road represented the application of these two different functions of government in a new, reinvented way designed to bring greater services to the American people.

COLIN POWELL
Now, at the left of the screen, you clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.

HANZ BLIX
We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed access to the other side of the road.

MOHAMMED ALDOURI (Iraq ambassador)
The chicken did not cross the road. This is a complete fabrication. We don't even have a chicken.

SADDAM HUSSEIN
This was an unprovoked act of rebellion and we were quite justified in dropping 50 tons of nerve gas on it.

RALPH NADER
The chicken's habitat on the original side of the road had been polluted by unchecked industrialist greed. The chicken did not reach the unspoiled habitat on the other side of the road because it was crushed by the wheels of a gas-guzzling SUV.

RUSH LIMBAUGH
I don't know why the chicken crossed the road, but I'll bet it was getting a government grant to cross the road, and I'll bet someone out there is already forming a support group to help chickens with crossing-the-road syndrome. Can you believe this? How much more of this can real Americans take? Chickens crossing the road paid for by their tax dollars, and when I say tax dollars, I'm talking about your money, money the government took from you to build roads for chickens to cross.

(courtesy of princess, via misc.market)

Crazy weather day today. Blizzard with gale-force winds, then calm and sunny! In 5 minutes or less.

Just read the lineup for Carnival - definitely going to have to check out some of the bands this year. For the uninformed, the list includes They Might Be Giants (with the Yves Jean Band), the Buzz Poets (with a Week in July), Jurassic 5 (with Dooley 0), and acoustic stuff Mike Farnya with James Tobin. Plus tons of campus bands. Finally, a concert! If I have to go sadly incognito, even, I shall attend.

I'm considering that I should apply for a job in tech support/customer service, as I seem to be doing pretty darn well with my mom's computer problems. Well, and that everyone working at Microsoft (except for friends and family) needs to die a horribly painful death, or at least spend 3 hours figuring out how to install a printer over the phone with someone who has yet to understand the concept of the minimize button. It almost makes me want to go into computer science to fix this shit.... almost.

As Ms. U did such a fantabulous job of summarising the Roadtrip of Insanity (best said while spitting through a thick lisp and shrieking, ala Fezzini), I will not add any thought here, aside from the fact that I have probably driven more in the last week than in my entire life, combined. And what a learning experience it was. Particularly the 2 block ghetto tour of New Jersey, complete with dogfight at the crosswalk. Stimulating.

The trip and my accompanying retreat into my bedroom has distanced me from war-stuff, not being able to check CNN or listen to the radio/TV, and it's taken on an air of unreality and distance. I half hope that will continue, and half am ashamed about it.

Laura and I are looking for a 2 bedroom place in the area, so we plan to do apartment hunting sometime this week. Fun! I love looking at living spaces. More enjoyable with a friend.

Thus ends the regular post. What follows is self-indulgent worrying angst, which you shouldn't read unless you're extremely bored.

A lot of major changes are looming in the next two months and I feel the need to purge my uncertainty. I am fearing even more my return to Charlotte to the casa del madre, seeing as how my mother is becoming progressively insufferable. Aside from the almost weekly reminders of her mistreatment of my cat, resulting in him declaring war on the carpet, resulting in him being locked up in a bathroom for hours/days on end, resulting in an even more vicious attack on the outside world when released, etc. etc. vicious circle, I am noticing now (whether through the filter of age or distance, I'm not sure) that she has a tendency to snap before she thinks, avoid doing difficult things that may be fruitful and chooses instead to do difficult things which end up causing more trouble than they are worth.

For instance. Last semester she opted not to call and discuss our recent financial statement with the HUB, saying that it was too much trouble to deal with. So I didn't get any financial aid. Which is more a problem for her than me, but still. A telephone call was so difficult? More recently, her computer monitor broke, and she ordered a new one, which for many convoluted reasons ended up being late and broken. So instead, she decided to buy an entirely new system with a flat screen monitor and WindowsXP, when she was just getting used to Windows 98 or whatever she had. She then called me for tech support to get it back online and set up her Outlook account, which apparently sometime in the last week sent out an old copy of my resume and a virus to everyone in her address book, and then despaired because she didn't think to get all of the information she needed off the old computer before she dismantled it. She then had decided that she was going to give her old computer to my sister, who only needs a very basic computer, i.e., my laptop, or my iMac. Instead, she wants to give the massive computer with CD burner and the ability to run all of the graphics and modeling software that I use (and has it installed on there) to her and didn't think that perhaps I would get more use out of it.

So I tell her that I could really use that computer, and I'd be more than happy to give Jenny one or both of my computers as compensation, and she says, okay, I'll talk to Jenny about it, but you can't have the computer until you take the cat.

What the fuck. Does she think I don't want to take the cat? Does she think I want to leave my cat in her house, where she ignores him and doesn't take care of him and screams at him for being what he is, just because he wakes up her prissy annoying yapping little dog, that she paid hundreds of dollars for, months before the cat was going to be able to leave?

I don't remember her being this manipulative. I guess it's because before, I never *did* anything. I think I'm somewhat of a non-entity at my house, the strange vampire girl who hides in her room and likes boy stuff. I know my mother still doesn't understand me (gee, like I've never heard *that* before). She doesn't understand my taste, or what I'm talking about most of the time, if she bothers to listen. I know I tend to ramble when people let me, as I usually can't get a word in edgewise in my house, let alone control the conversation, and I tend to hijack people who are too nice to outright leave when I gab on and on, telling minute details about uninteresting things and repeating stories I've already told them. (Hence the blog, it never walks away.)

I know Sarah is still highly confused about me. She's attempting to come up with some sort of rule of thumb for my tastes and interests so that she can retain her title as 'good gift giver', and if it doesn't fit exactly, it's at least better than pink flowers and rhinestones, or purple everything as my mom is wont to default to. And vests. I will never understand her insistence that I should wear vests and overalls. Most of the time I think Sarah is just bemused about my strangeness, and occassionally frustrated that her dress-up doll turned out to be a tomboy even past the age where that sort of thing is acceptable and cute. I know I'm being overly cynical here, but I need to get it out somewhere that it won't cause damage.

Jenny, I think, understands me far more than I understand her, or at least doesn't try to understand me competely. She's rather content to share my preferences in things like color, scent, music, etc., and leave the vast majority of my life undiscovered. I'm always grateful that she ends up being my champion against my mother and Sarah, even if she does tear me to bits sometimes with chiding and scare me with her common sense, that makes me feel stupid and useless in comparison.

All in all, it's a rather convoluted and complicated relationship I have with what's left of my family, and I think with my father gone it's turning what were once better situations sour. Usually most of the drama seemed to come from my father, being rather short tempered and impatient when it came to what was taken as normal by the family females. Now I'm seeing my mom as less of an indulgent and sometimes pathetic figure (comforting her after fights tends to breed that image) and more as her own person, sometimes severely flawed. I wonder how she is the adult figure sometimes, with how she runs her life.

The fact that I'm so adept at wasting time when it comes to truly important things is less immaturity, I think, and more a personality flaw. It's not that I don't understand the importance of what I should be doing, it's that I simply do not have the energy and motivation to do so, and more often than not am scared and indecisive about what my next course of action should be. I'm terrified of making a mistake that will ruin my life, and end up doing nothing instead. I'm sure it's some sort of outbranching of a lack of confidence and self-esteem, and somehow related to my hesitancy to leave the house or interact with people, even friends. I hate feeling eyes on me, I hate having to catch myself before I do or say something socially unacceptable, and try to avoid an occasion where speaking to myself or wandering about in a daze is something to cause worry.

So, getting the courage up to run a simple errand is quickly overriden by whatever excuse is handy at the time, whether it be the weather, shop hours, using too much gas, wanting to get multiple errands done at once, not having clean clothing, etc. The more time I can spend in my cave, under my rock, the better, and it's something that's very difficult to avoid unless I have made commitments to others to be in a certain place at a certain time. When I am outside in the big bad world, the wish to return to my room grows stronger as time passes, especially as my energy drops and I want nothing more than to have dinner and curl up in bed. The pull is almost magnetic at times, and there are few reasons sufficient to prevent my return.

Which is why I cannot do as Steve once suggested, when I told him that happiness for me was being in bed for eternity. He said that maybe I should find an occupation suited to that, like being a writer (which I can't help but think was a subtle suggestion that design should not be my chosen profession). I replied that the fact that I would like to be in bed for all time is exactly the reason why I need a profession that gets me out of the house. Nothing was ever accomplished, in the long and grander scheme of things, by staying in bed constantly (unless you count creating influential children, and I can't exactly picture myself being a brood mare).

I wonder sometimes where I can get ahold of some of this motivation that people speak of. The only reason I may have appeared to have a work ethic, and I know I wasn't fooling many people just by staying up late, was overscheduling and procrastination. I could have easily done the work that I did in enough time to be home for dinner every night, but wiled away the hours instead chatting, daydreaming, reading, and generally doing anything other than the work at hand. I realized after a while that when projects were slow, leaving the house was an impossibility, and signed up for clubs and responsibility merely to impel myself to walk out the front door at least once a day. Having Ayako to drag me out was helpful too, and sometimes I think we were mutually beneficial in that respect, although I suspect that she doesn't have problems getting out of the house to get things done, or to be productive in some fashion. My inability to function effictively annoys and sometimes frightens me. I suppose that's better than high school, when I sought the darkness of my bedroom as an escape from life, rather than an avoidance of it, and was unaware that 'staring at the wall for hours on end', as my mom put it, was a Bad Thing. Still, what has that knowledge given me, besides angst and the inability to enjoy my unproductive days and nights without guilt?

I can't think of any substance, reason, internal motivation or excuse that is likely to turn me into the efficient person I long to become, and it worries me a great deal. I see myself eventually becoming homeless and never leaving my cozy cardboard box over the heating vent in some alleyway. After the days I spent never leaving the third floor, I know that hunger and thirst are ineffectual motivators.

I do wish to be self sufficient, if for no other reason than I can tell my mom to shut up and leave me alone when she decides to hound me incessantly about some responsibility I'm no doubt shirking. Not the healthiest of motivations, I agree, but it seems to work for a wide variety of people.

I suppose introversion is the root of my problem. I could happily and comfortably fold in upon myself (as some of you have seen me do), curl into a dark corner, and take up permanent residence inside my brain. All I need to amuse myself can be found within my room, I've known that since I was a small child. I think even a padded cell would do, although I would miss the music.

I'd hate to default to chemicals to solve what is obviously a personal problem. Perhaps I should check out some psychoanalysis books to figure out how to get over.. whatever it is I have to get over. Of course, that would require leaving the house. And having clean clothing...

A U.S. official told CNN that Friday night's air strikes were the start of "A-Day" -- the opening salvos of a massive bombing campaign meant to instill "shock and awe" among Iraq's leadership.

What the fuck. WHAT THE FUCK. Is this a pissing contest? Our bombs are bigger than yours? This is NOT a valid reason to kill indiscriminantly.

I am so freaked out. Verge of tears. Everything seems so trivial but I have to worry about stupid shit like jobs and cars and hotel rooms. I think maybe getting away, going to the coast and staring out over the ocean... I think I need this, before I crack.

I want to go to the anti-war demonstration this afternoon and do sidewalk art with the big bucket of colored chalk downstairs, but I'm afraid I'll get arrested. Besides, I have too much to do. Goddamn. *sob*

"..it's great to have the employ of the commander of the Autobots in the National Guard..."

I think I would have chosen She-Ra, myself.

Huzzah for the KGB.

How useful.

Life is too serious right now for suitable comment. Here's some stupid stuff:


:: how jedi are you? ::

Tartans in the news, and news in the Tartan:

Tartan Crime & Incident posted on Fark.com.

Anti-war rally confronts pro-war rally at CMU fraternities.

Rum-induced attempt of a CFA sophomore to hit World Bank speaker in the face with a homemade blueberry pie fails miserably.

Fifteen-year old CMU freshman falls 18 feet through Wean skylight with only a cut finger to show for it.

Is it just me, or did this place suddenly get more interesting than usual?

I was in a good mood this morning. I wore my green, drew a shamrock on the house marker board, and enjoyed the warm walk to work. The day then deteriorated for various reasons I won't bother going into, ending with an Associated Press article advertising the 48 hour ultimatim to Iraq. On the way home, I found out the Uni-mart has been closed down for some time, and therefore couldn't buy the Guiness or Harp I was intending to swig while watching ol' GW announce the war. I walked home more quickly than I have in some time, needing to get home and drown my sorrows, walking out my tension and fear and nervous energy.

In the absence of Irish beer, I just opened the bottle of wine that's been sitting in the kitchen since June and downed 2 glasses during Bush's speech. I can't even say what I'm feeling about the world situation right now, except incredible apprehension.

I envy Jeff and Dave being in the lowcountry for the next few days, alligators or no.

A few observations about the day:

1) it is edging past warm, and onto downright *hot*. I should have realized that Pittsburgh could go from sub-freezing to sweating in under a month.

2) due to the weather, a group of fratties was playing shirtless frisbee next to Forbes. It's a sad fact of the school that the reality was less appealing than it sounds.

3) I'm sitting in a cluster where the computer names are based on Harry Potter (I'm on Hogwarts. Yay!)

4) People in the clusters are now singing along to whatever obnoxious cell phone tone happens to explode at random intervals.

I wonder how much this will change in the future. Will people still be constrained by stationary electronics and have to spend the first warm, sunny day in months inside a sticky, humid room filled with people to get work done? Why have we as humans constrained ourselves to this, where we have invented and come to rely upon complex machinery that prevents us from the simple pleasure of working outside in good weather? Is it worth the trade-off?

I'm still hoping that technology will solve its own problems. It occurs to me that's a rather stupid and naive way of looking at things, but there you have it. I don't know that there's any other option, at this point. Our path seems inexorable. We were put on this earth to create things that function beyond our scope, therefore expanding our (and nature's) capabilities to previously unknown heights. It would be nice if we had a better premonition of how these things will affect the future, or at least that we didn't have to deal with some of the difficulties of innate human nature. I wonder if we're really the pinnacle of evolution at this point, or just a flawed experiment that hasn't blown up yet. Either way, I think humans have purpose, and I greatly respect the heights that we could reach, as much as I loathe our depths. I really hope we don't destroy ourselves (or everything else) anytime soon.

Got the quiz above from Dave. Posting this one instead because I didn't like the answer I got from the M&M quiz. ;)

The geeks are out in full force this March. Yesterday the fence was covered in fake plastic grass. I'm serious, the whole damn thing was astroturfed, with no explanation besides 3 flags and a golf ball on top.

Today I was in the Wean cluster messing with Solidworks and as I left I realized that KGB was playing Capture the Flag With Stuff. (This is at 9 pm on a Friday night, mind you.) And next week, world-famous hacker and ex-con Kevin Mitnick will be speaking on campus. Wh00t. CMU 0wnz3rs j00, MIT. Ph33r u5.

Two mathematical celebrations today:

1) Happy Pi Day! (Today is March 14, 3.14, get it?) Pi is chalked all over campus and there's a special showing of the movie in McConomy today at 5:30. I love nerds.

2) Google tells me it's Einstein's birthday. What a coincidence, Einstein born on Pi day...