For those about to debate ...

I'm a total Reality TV addict. "Big Brother"; "Survivor"; "Amazing Race"; "American Idol" ... it's my crack.

I know, I should be all mature and above reality TV (whatever), but goddammit ... I *love* the cheesiness of the shows.

Sometimes, it's fun to just shut my brain down and have some dumb fun for an hour or so.

Anyone else?


{and the icon is true ... I made cookies tonight. chocolate chip.}

Recent Lessons Learned:

1) Wireless keyboard and mouse for the Mac are the best things *ever*. Granted, they're a bit slow on the uptake after having been turned off for a while - they do take a minute to get their bearings, and realize that "hey! I'm connected to a computer!"

2) Patton Oswalt is wickedly funny. Add him to the list of men that I can say - "let's have gay pagan babies". Then, check out his stuff. Really. :-)

3) Bottomless Mimosas - never a good idea for me. Granted, I was only drinking from Kellie's glass, but still. The equivalent of two Mimosas knocked me onto my ass for about 4 hours today. Sure, they taste good ... but when I come home and have remorse over drinking them - well before I can even have a hangover of any kind, that's never good.


That's about all for now.

I'm going to crash - and maybe I'll write more tomorrow. Or something. :-)

My teeth have been fixed (except for one - which needs a veneer), yet I still think that I have a horsey smile.


I like that some of my hair color is fading into pink. I may try a streak or two of it at some point. Or, I may just stick with the red, and let it fade to pink.


Many people have said it before - but it stands to be repeated: Keith Olbermann is made of Awesome. This really showed how awesome and brilliant he is: Bush and Cheney Should Resign. If you haven't read it ... go, read it. I'll still be here!


( putting a picture behind a cut, to save f/list space! )

This isn't really about the film Empire Records - it's about my tenure in Retail Hell - Music Store division.

I'd gotten into working at music stores in early 1996. The first store was Camelot Music (now FYE Stores) - and I was there for about 4-5 months.

Since the company was on a slow and steady decline, I never got the shirt part of the "store uniform" - instead, I got to wear Dockers-style pants with polo or button-down shirts, and my name tag. Our employee discount of about 15% extended to immediate family - the five-finger discount applied to anyone we wanted, especially ourselves.

I was neutral towards my co-workers - never said anything when one would go into the back and spark up, took part in the five-finger employee discount with a couple of them, even flashed a male co-worker while I was hopped up on Paxil.

Sometimes, I got to do the displays - ones that weren't "company sanctioned", too. My personal favorite was a shrine of sorts I'd made for the release of Metallica's LOAD -- box set, CDs, t-shirts. All that was missing were the candles.

Even though there was no intent of making it my life's work, I still read the music industry magazines to keep on top of things. Which is how I found out that the company was going bankrupt, and would be closing a lot of their stores. So, when the manager at our competition (Musicland / Sam Goody) offered me a job at the store, I jumped ship as soon as I could! And yes, a few co-workers were blindsided by that closing/laying off.


Then, I went onto Musicland for several months. I was an assistant manager-type, which meant that I got to open and/or close the store. Near the end of my tenure there - when I was demoted to sales, I discovered how "valuable" I was, when I heard a manager say, "oh, we like Carly because she can work days."

No five-finger discounting here. They checked our bags when we left, to make sure that we weren't making off with stolen goods. A few of my co-workers were dumber than a box of rocks - but, what was I to expect? The manager was married to a dentist who decided that he'd rather work at Wild Oats grocery, so yeah, she was just a total ray of sunshine.

One of the few good things was one morning, for a few of us that were opening the store, we'd gotten there early - so we got breakfast at McDonald's, and sat in the back room, watching Mallrats. That was quite fun.

In terms of the crap, well, there was the music. If it wasn't Celine Dion, it was the rap. And don't even get me started on the Christmas music that started in early November and didn't end until January. Then, there was the assistant manager that decided to come up with a quiz for us sales people. Mostly asinine questions like - "What section is R.E.M. located in?" or "Where would you find 'Ghost In The Shell' videocassettes?" I came up with more "intelligent" questions like, "Why is it Ben Folds Five, when there's only 3 members" (I didn't know the answer, so it was mainly a rhetorical question.) and "Are Cliff Chenier and C.J. Chenier related?" (They're not.)

Needless to say, those questions were shot down, as being "too hard". Ah yes, I forgot. I'm working with people whose musical horizons are either "rap, rap and rap" or "Celine Dion and other (un)Easy Listening". Pardon me for wanting to play the Charlie Watts jazz CD, or maybe some Green Day.

When I left, it was because I'd gotten work as a temp. They probably didn't deserve it, but I gave my written notice, so I wouldn't have anything bite me in the ass in the future.

And that, my friends, was my tenure in Retail Hell.

Today was not such a stellar day for me. The morning started out okay - went downtown in search of the Keds tennis shoes I'd shown previously (struck out, there) - when I was en route to another store, I decided to bypass the crowds by going across the street, and into Urban Outfitters for whatever reason. I did get Med School in a Box, which I'd wanted to get for a while!

And, I had a seizure about halfway through the foray in the store. I don't remember much of anything that happened, just that I started feeling really weird - and even though i wanted to will it away, it never happens like that. So, I called Kellie and tried to tell her what had happened, as well as making sure to sit my ass down.

Scary as hell, and yes I did feel somewhat embarrassed, even if I was in a store full of self-absorbed teens and 20somethings. :-X

I managed to get home okay - and took a nap when I got home. Just what I usually need post-seizure.


( updated photos of my hair )

Okay, I'm perfectly inept when it comes to making icons. I've got an insane number of images that I'd love to have turned into icons - but I don't know how to resize them!

If any of you could walk me through the process ... or even help me make the icons, I'd appreciate it! :-)

I'm demanding a do-over on today.

This morning got off to a crappy start, in that I forgot my wallet/ID case that has my bus pass and office key in it. Which I didn't realize until I'd gone to reach for my bus pass.

Then, stepping off the bus, apparently I mis-stepped or something because I ended up with a fierce pain in the top of my foot/ankle. Same thing had happened with the left yesterday - today it was the right.

Now, I'm at lunch, trying to recover from feeling frustrated and a twee bit overwhelmed.

If anyone wants to join me, I'm more than happy to have company in being frustrated/grumpy.

Okay, so I woke up this morning to an obnoxious Red Menace stomping all over me, rubbing his face against my nose, sitting on my head, etc. as his way of demanding to be fed.

Then, I spent the entire morning forcing myself to stay awake. It got to where I'd had my coca-cola, and then needed to go to Starbuck's to get more caffeine. It kinda-sorta helped. Now, I'm debating over where to get lunch, and what I want.

*sigh*

At least, tomorrow afternoon, I get to go to the dentist and get the permanent crowns put in/on, or whatever it would be called. I just need to get dosed up on Advil and some Ativan, so I can keep from being so damned antsy. Also, I will make sure to play some Portishead, Hooverphonic and Olive to calm my rattled nerves.


Now, I need to get more caffeine to keep myself awake - and maybe even get something to eat - I'll just wander around aimlessly, until I find something that sounds remotely good.