Deviant Scribe

So I’ve been a bit distracted, but this is the sole reason why. Everytime I think I have second, I don’t. It has taken me 10 minutes to type this one sentence. Not sure yet whether I just suck, or she is just going to get into everything. I thought I was oh-so smart. Moved the furniture, baby proofed the room. Alas, the child has found every weakness, every hole, and every small square inch of space I thought I had gone over. Then there is the inevitable hull breach. It’s like they have a built in homing beacon, or they are actually equipped with some sort of in-brain device that hones in on areas that can be breached. It’s quite amazing.

Lunch today was a feat. I expect the mess, and I expect the random miss from spoon to mouth..but as photographically depicted, today was exceptional. Today we were pulling acrobatic moves and pushing the foot up and through the seat area of the highchair. She would chortle gleefully, and then shove her foot in her mouth whenever I moved into launch position with her meal. This resulted in food on her feet, which she would then suck off. I was laughing way too hard to take a picture of that, and then when I realized the camera was within reach she put her foot back down, and looked at me calmly like I had imagined everything. Yes clearly, Auntie Sarah is the crazy one. After I took this pic the foot came right back up, and kicked the spoon out of my hand. Launching apples and plums ALL over the carpet and my brothers pants.

I’m sure experienced Mothers are laughing at me. I’m not even the biological parent, and I am absolutely exhausted with her at the end of the day. All the tireless discoveries, and the constant vigilance keep me on my toes. She is so much fun though, I love playing with her and making her laugh. I also love having music on, and influencing her taste. So far we are a big fan of classical music, and early 80’s. I figure punk will be later. We’ve been reading some books but I get once sentence in before she tries to eat it. All in good time!

Tags: Random-ness // 1 Comment »

So I have been fairly sick over the coarse of the past few days, and as a result have not been interested in writing. Not in the slightest. I was all set to rant about facebook, in regards to how many people I have sent messages (lengthy) too and how many have NOT replied….but being that I received several replies recently…this argument is no longer valid. Sorry facebook. I love you.

So even though I have told all five of you that I will be back to writing soon, this time I really mean it. I just cant be bothered with any thought process at the moment, since every square space of my brain has been infiltrated with this cold. My first Canadian cold. How touching:)

Thanks Canada.

Tags: Random-ness // Add Comment »

Well. It has been three months since I abruptly quit my job with the evil conglomerate bookstore. Since there is absolutely no chance in hell that I will ever go back to that company, I think I can safely talk about what actually happened. I still will not admit the name of the company, for fear of retribution. Since there are only two really big evil corporation booksellers, I’m sure you can figure this out. One, I rather like. The other, can burn in all seven fiery pits of hell.

Lets go back to when I was still desperately trying to stay in Chicago. This would be mid June. Right before I left to visit my family, and when I was still thinking I was going to get that room in the city. To say I was stressed, is severely understating my state of being. My blood -alcohol level was sky high, and my stomach was as twisted up as a mall pretzel. Before my trip I had emailed my boss (evil angry cheerleader) who I thought I was on relatively decent terms with, asking her for a possible transfer and for feedback regarding such. She had inquired when I last saw her if I had found a place to live yet, cooing sympathetically at me and telling me things were looking better at work. I relaxed, and put all that on the back burner. Work seemed to be OK.

During the middle of my trip I learned that a coveted position had opened up, so I emailed her and asked to specifically be transferred to that store in Northern California. I knew the store manager, had several former co-workers there, would easily fit in and could get to work immediately. No reply was given over vacation, but I was not surprised or worried at this point.

I come back on Monday, slept most of the day to recover from the overnight bus ride from hell, and got back to work on a Tuesday. As expected my entire area looked like it was cleaned up by Ritalin infused pre-schoolers. Nothing was in the right place, piles were everywhere, and fellow staffers apologized for the state of things. I was unfettered. This was expected. I was gone for a week, right?

So guess who should walk in, unannounced, at 10am sharp? The angry cheerleader. My stomach plummeted. At first she was all smiles, telling me we could discuss my transfer later but she was conducting interviews in the morning for new positions opening up. I only nodded, and apologized for the state of things. I was desperately trying to clean up, and was now completely disoriented at the sight of her. She nodded and said something to the affect of understanding, and left me alone.

The rest of the morning had me straightening up the section,checking off change-outs, and writing down items I needed to restock etc. I was on the floor the entire morning (remember this). I probably was not responding to help when asked as promptly as I should have been, but I was out there in full view.

Throughout the day angry cheerleader pops in and out of the section. I say nothing to her because I am so busy, and frankly would prefer to avoid conversation altogether. It was after lunch that she calls me into the office to talk about the transfer. I could sense the chill emanating from her, and she was very abrupt in her mannerisms. I wondered what the hell was going on.

Never, in the history of any job EVER, has anyone belittled me like this. According to her I was the embodiment of a horrible employee, and if she could have her I would be demoted. So there I sat …in the hot seat of the GM’s office with my jaw on the floor, as she recounted all the reasons why I suck. Some of them were:
I moved to slow.
I always asked questions. (Asking for help is bad?!)
The place was a mess. (First day back from vacation?)
I never replied to emails (not true)
I was never on the floor. (not true)
I refused to be a part of the team. (not true, but I hated that damn meeting I had to go to)
I was difficult. (no)
I looked disheveled and was very obviously going through a rough time. (ouch)
The rough time was physically apparent. (ouch ouch)

….and that wasn’t even all of it. My transfer was outright refused, with a smile and a shrug. I think I poorly defended myself, since I was in complete and utter shock with the realization there was nothing I could do, yet. All I could do was bite my tongue hard, to keep from saying”Do you really, truly know that everyone hates you?” I also refused to acknowledge most of that list. I told her I wanted video proof of me NOT on the floor (I knew she was lying AND she waved that off), and that I did not appreciate the comments in relation to my appearance. She only shrugged again and said that I should not bring my problems to work. I stood up at that point, lest I call her a fucking bitch and said “We are done here”. And walked out. She said a few things at me when I walked away…but I have no idea what was said (remember this). Ever been so incredibly furious that sounds completely fades away and all you can hear is your heartbeat? Thats exactly where I was. Next stage in anger would have been me completely snapping and going after her.

I remember having to walk around the building to attempt to cool off… and then standing outside shaking, wondering if I should take up smoking. I thought about just leaving, just walking out right then but I didn’t want to screw over the store as a whole. So with every bit of willpower I could muster, I swallowed my pride and finished my shift. Ignoring her completely.

When I left I called the one person I knew in Chicago that could get me completely drunk within 20 minutes. He picked me up, and I cried the entire way to the liquor store. Mack was fairly brilliant, and had me soaking in Jameson within an hour of the end of my shift and was crudely vehement in his descriptions of my catty bitch of a boss. He also made a lot of sense, and told me I needed to fight this somehow because she was obviously just super pissed that she had to replace me.

You see, the accusations are totally just…wrong. Up until that week I had been receiving positive feedback. I had no idea, no incline that I was heading on the fast track to a demotion. No one had laid down any sort of action plan, no one had complained about me, nothing had been directed at me to improve on. Like I said in the beginning, things seemed to be running smoothly. How can anyone improve on anything if they have NO idea they are doing things wrong? Also…making any sort of comments about a persons appearance is unacceptable and can end up with a nice lawsuit if you insult the right (wrong)person. This bitch had a lot of nerve. I started to feel a little better, and then Jameson took me over the rest of the night.

I don’t know what God I had appeased, or what karma I had earned, but apparently one of the comments she made sotto voce were directly related to my appearance, and was overheard by a customer, who formally emailed a complaint. I came in the next morning, dreading any sort of confrontation but was met with hugs, sympathy and one high five. I don’t know who this person was…but I love them. I wish I had a copy of the email…The general manager called me excitedly into the office and showed me what can only have been the meanest complaint ever written, about the angry cheerleader herself. I read it about five times, told her what audibly happened on my end, and then we started to discuss who I can complain to, both of us smiling ear to ear. Apparently the email was circulated about the gossip starved staff, since nearly everyone in the building asked me about it. Everyone was aghast, and told me I was awesome. Not expected, but always appreciated.

Apparently as I walking away, Angry cheerleader made a few disparaging remarks about me. Whether they were meant for me to hear or not, she didn’t bother checking the other side of the bookcase, where someone was standing and listening. A person who seems to know me through various customer service interactions is the one who made the complaint. Apparently her mouth didn’t stop there, because two other employee’s, one being a manager ALSO formally complained. I wish I could say I was shocked…but I hardly bat an eye at this. Angry Cheerleader had absolutely nothing nice to say about anyone at this particular store. Everyone was just horrible, and she even referred to one of my favorite managers as a “total bitch”. Angry Cheerleaders professional demeanor is rather lacking, one might say. So this incident was just more fuel to my fire.

I have a copy of the formal complaint I typed out, but I won’t post it here. It’s quite long, detailed and boring to those that have no idea what the lingo is in reference to. Lets just say I spoke with Human Resources several times on the phone, and in the end I was slated for an impending transfer as a supervisor to wherever I wanted to go, no matter what : )

When I was in California a position never opened up, and while this is hardly the fault of the company itself, I decided to leave it alone and part ways. The experience over all really soured my taste for that particular bookstore, and I think its best if I just leave things as they are.

So there you have it,in case you were curious. I wanted to write about it SO badly, when it was all happening. But I had to resort to secret folder writings, since I was trying at first to take a possible transfer. Could care less about it now. I do hope that the poor person that was forced to take over my position has better luck then I do, and I can only hope the Angry Cheerleader was reprimanded justfully. I have my doubts, but at least I got the last laugh

Tags: Rant // 2 Comments »

Inspired by my own rant against trashy, vile music we ( there are two of us this time. I am not going insane, someone else has helped me collaborate) have decided to present to you the “Top 25 songs that will be played in hell while you wait”. Or as I like to refer to it: Hell’s Top 25 Smokin Awful Hits.

Whenever I picture Hell, I always think of a Beetle juice-esque setting. A waiting room, with various people waiting eternally for their number to be called. My hell has more variety, a spice..if you will. Aside from the waiting room you also are forced to sit in a movie theater with no exits, and watch various failed TV sitcoms (like Manimal). Your eyes are stuck open via device Clock Work Orange style, and custom made giant headphones are attached to your head. There is no way to get them off because we bound them up nice and tight for you. So now you are forced to sit back, relax and cry to yourself as the headphones pipe in my custom made CD for your endless torture. Why do I get to pick? Because I am already partially employed.

So here it is, in no real order because I detest them equally: Hells Top 25 Hits. (With few side notes.)

25. That Don’t Impress Me Much-Shania Twain

24. I Think We’re Alone Now-Tiffany
Hello 80’s mall tours! Never mind that I worshiped her as a child. My own adolescent self should be smacked for that.

23. Barbie Girl-Aqua

22. Save Your Soul-Jewel
Or anything by Jewel. Seriously

21. Jenny From the Block-J-Lo

20. Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue-Toby Keith
This song leaves me speechless in all its glorified propaganda. I can think of a million other ways to pledge your allegiance to the flag, and not offend the rest of the world and make them think we are all this retarded. I think “shocking” material+red neck artist+country twang= big money and a Mardi Gras float. The volume is turned up with this monstrosity. Brace yourself.

19.I Will Always Love You-Whitney Houston

18. Pieces of Me-Ashlee Simpson

17. My Way or the Highway-Limp Biskit
Enjoy Fred Durst’s stellar vocals! (another band I thought that would do well with a different singer)

16. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous-Good Charlotte

15. Show Me How to Live- Audioslave

14. Last Kiss-Pearl Jam

13. Neil Young- and it will be a surprise mystery track. I can’t stand this artist, and I can’t bring myself to listen to anything long enough to figure what the song is called.

12. What if God Were One of Us- Joan Osborne
(Ears should be bleeding by now)

11. Mandy-Barry Manilow

10. Strong Enough-Sheryl Crow

9.Afternoon Delight- Starland Vocal Band
There’s a reason they hey locked everyone up in the room in one of my favorite movie’s (PCU), with this song on full volume. It programs you to kill.

8. Harajuku Girls-Gwen Stefani

7. Beep- Pussycat Dolls

6. Crucify-Tori Amos
We agreed we would rather be crucified then to be subjected to this song. This is where I would start crying.

5.Black Parade-My Chemical Romance

4. Holla back Girl-Gwen Stefani
Repeat offender here. Sorry Jami…the song is detestable. This shit IS banana’s.

3. My Heart will go On- Celine Dion

2. Easy Lover-Phil Collins
Strange..I heard this at the supermarket the other day..a portal to hell, mayhap?

1. Ballad of Bilbo Baggins-Leonard Nimoy
If you have listened to this song ever, do it. Right now. You made need a whiskey chaser to help you though it. Ah the 60’s…I wonder if Spock winces at the slight mention of this one hit wonder. Was it ever a hit? Is this even possible? So many questions I have…

**This is the 2nd time I have posted this. First post vanished when I switched host’s. In case, you know, you care or something.

Tags: Random-ness // 1 Comment »

I’m guessing the gods have spoken. I had a huge, well written (to me, anyway) piece on my personal book review flaming and I lost ALL of it. Thank you word press. Thank you VERY much. I have learned my lesson, and will continue to not trust you and will type everything in word before I post.

Anyway, week two in Canada is drawing to a close. I love London, Ontario in the beginning stages of fall. The weather is mild and still damp, a big change from dry as tinder and hot as hell. California was in the beginning stages of Fire Season 2008 when I left. When I look out the fifth story window all I can see, as far as the horizon stretches, are trees. Green trees. Such a novelty.

The baby is back, after a five day stint with her Mum. If we ever get the stroller back then I can take her out for walks, and field the inevitable “Oh is she yours!’ question. I always have biting comments on the tip of my tongue, but most would land me in a bit of hot water with the not so mounted police. Stuff like “Oh I just found her!” and “I got a great deal on her!” are probably just unnecessary. Sometimes I have issues with humor.

On that same note…my issue with humor has apparently raised the ire of a member of the reading community known as Good Reads (can be reached here goodreads.com). Fabulous website, where you can list the books you want to read, as well as ones you have read and are intending to read. The reviews are the fun part, and since comments and forums of all sorts are the feeding grounds for obnoxious people, hell bent on displaying their views with complete anonymity…I figured I would eventually cause trouble with my opinion. The review? Fight Club. My issues? I don’t like the author. Upon reflection it does seem a little harsh, but I still agree with..myself. The man knows his target audience.

Now let me reiterate that I actually have little against Chuck Palahniuk on a personal level. Even if I did, my opinion of him is of mere pittance. He makes millions of dollars, his rabid fan base will shank at his command, and I am just another voice on the Internet with writing tools. I am truly a dime a dozen, I am certainly no special or unique snowflake. I truly find him uninteresting, and his style of writing just isn’t for me. Under normal circumstances the opinion would be left alone at this point..but no…working at bookstores, being told I have to read it constantly and having friends that salivate over every sentence this man scrawls has built up the anti- Chuck mentality, and has only provoked me to taunt. I can’t help it. I have always been this way. People preach the Church of Chuck and I immediately want to run away. It was the same way with JK Rowling, R.A. Salvatore, and Robert Jordan. Any author or musician crammed down my throat will be met with much resistance. Eventually I may come around, on my own terms

I do admit that it’s easy to blame him. He is the author, so this post might be a slight retraction to my review. He honestly is hardly the issue itself. It’s his legion of fan boys. I regret the focus on him, and think I will write another review on Choke, solely dedicated to his fans.

Here is my review:

Dear Chuck,

I have tried to like you. Really, I honestly have. I tried to read Rant, I tried to read Choke and then I attempted this book. Rare is the moment where I realize I enjoyed the movie much MUCH more then then the novel it is based on. I simply do not like your style of writing, and I have been ridiculed by fan boys who will defend your honor to the grave. Your style comes off as unique, but I can feel the pretentiousness like a piece of meat stuck in between my teeth. You know full well that a vast majority of your audience shops at Hot Topic, and you lead them by the fishnets to your thin plot lines, monotone voice and the “gritty” and “edgy” characters that seem to recycle themselves with your stories. (You wake up in Miami. You wake up in Des Moines. You wake up in Botswana…straitlaced man meets crazy man: life changes. Rinse. Repeat.)

I have been told that I do not “get” you. That I do not understand the basics of a male love story, a male writer who understands the male psyche and who can convey what it really feels like to be, a male. Perhaps this is the core of my issue, being a hapless female who fails at trends. Either way, I have friends that adore you and for that reason only I will not completely denounce you on the internets. Keep appealing to your trendy fan base and keep raking in the dough. Maybe someday I will swallow my pride and appeal to the masses just like you. And James Patterson.

Best wishes

Sarah

I honestly have been told, by more then one person that I do not get him because I am female. That irritates the shit out of me,and makes zero sense, since many of his fans are female. For the record his books were actually in the window of that store. I highly doubt he was responsible, and that there was an emergency Chuck shipment to mall stores everywhere…but seriously? I also meant this to be rather tongue in cheek. Was not trying to win any awards and impress the good reads community with wit and verve. Brian’s comment was sufficient, and stated simply that he did not agree with me. “Billy” from Georgia however, seems to think I have a little to learn.

I think you are reading too much into things, you need to quit trying so hard. All those “trend whores” are not out to get you.

…”but I can feel the pretentiousness like a piece of meat stuck in between my teeth”…
Ouch. You are going to blush when you think of writing that line when you’re older.

In my opinion, Chuck Plkjsdlkjf is a pretty good and interesting writer, Fight Club is a really good book. Don’t get all upset by which mall store your friends shop at and blame that on Chuck.

First off, the trend whores are out to get ALL of us. Billy has obviously succumbed, and only wants to brainwash me and make me buy a My Chemical Romance teeshirts. I just know it!
Second, my “piece of meat” comment will never make me blush. Pretentiousness makes me grit my teeth. I see it all over the place, including Billy’s post.
Third…third…was the misspelling of Chucks last name an attempt at humor? Either way, here is my reply. I’m wishing now I made fun of this person more.

..I think you are reading too much into things

(Maybe you are reading too much into my review?)

…Ouch. You are going to blush when you think of writing that line when you’re older…

(Plenty old enough to know when a campy, horrible remark is just that. This certainly was not meant to be taken seriously or verbally de-constructed. Come on.)

..In my opinion, Chuck Plkjsdlkjf is a pretty good and interesting writer..

(You are mostly certainly entitled to your opinion, and the attempt at humor (?). He certainly has some measure of talent and business sense, because he is cranking out the books and has established himself as a “best seller”. But to me, he is as uninspiring and as formulaic as a fellow bestseller James Patterson. Fight club was just not interesting to me.)

…Don’t get all upset by which mall store your friends shop at and blame that on Chuck…

(Good line! Since the mall store I mentioned above had Chuck’s books in the window at one point, I’m going to continue to have fun with my comparisons. I doubt Chuck himself gives a damn. He has another movie deal.)

So as long as people like this comment on reviews I make, I will continue to tease the hell out of them. If they can’t see that I am mocking the very essence of their own posts, then so be it. Don’t even get me started on Stephanie Meyers fans. I’d like to thank Dave by the way…I have modeled my new found geek trolling voice after your own.

My brother just showed me an article on Chuck Palahniuk, in his Suicide Girls book. Now who’s the trend whore?

**Edit: I just noticed that his last name is spelled wrong on 70% of the internet.
***Edit: Billy apologized to me. I guess I win?

Tags: Rant // Add Comment »

So I have had a temporary place to sit and type as of late, its just that most of my free time has been taken up by a rather demanding ten month old who is constantly on the lookout for an escape route. I have barricaded the living room with the self patented “Baby Barrier” (aka: Chairs, boxes and tables ) and Evelynn will look for weaknesses, with the diligence of a laboratory tester. When a breach is found, the baby pushes though quickly and speeds out of the barrier with impressive velocity. Shrieking with laughter. One might say this is fairly cute.

My table is a card table, perfect height. Right at the edge of the kitchen. Right next to a window where I can see endless trees and busy great lakes fueled skies. Right next to the sliding door and…Right next to the goddamn tarantula.

Nightmare the tarantula is my least favorite thing about the apartment. Let me reiterate that I hate, HATE, with every fiber that exists within me, spiders. I can’t even merely glance at her without unsuccessfully suppressing the shudder…that involuntary shudder that you feel at the base of your spine. My biggest fear is that she will get out, so I have about three thick books stacked on top the cage. Along with an emergency heavy flower pot for instant death, sitting to its right. As a reminder of what I can do if an escape is successful. Nightmare was the ill-fated product of my brother and his ex’s relationship, and was bought quickly, but fell to the wayside simply because it’s demands were simple. As a result, this is an extremely hostile spider that does not want to be petted. I have read that one needs to immediately handle the spider when they are bought..to build a relationship and set some boundaries, potty train and learn your basic commands. Now she is territorial, and has reared up twice at the sudden movements near the case.. My jaw hit the floor the first time that happened, and I couldn’t even stand near the case that night. Which is ridiculous, because unless a gamma ray accidentally hits this thing and it grows 50 feet…there is NO way its getting out. And if there is a gamma ray on the loose outside, then a bitchy tarantula is the least of our problems.

Let it be known this case is in a strictly off limits area. No fears of baby-tarantula meetings.

Since the rearing incident Nightmare and I have come to an understanding. I have shown pack leader abilities, and have asserted my dominance. I can sit near the cage now without glancing at her every 10 seconds to make sure she is not suddenly on my arm, and she can relax knowing that I will, without a shred of doubt, never, ever, EVER pick her up. We now can co-exist peacefully, until I find a pet store that will take her.

As soon as I find my camera, I will take pictures of everything and everyone. Until then you are just going to have to use your imagination. We are sans baby the next couple of days, and I am using this time to thoroughly clean the apartment and explore London. There will be another Tim Horton’s visit. Mark my words.

Tags: Random-ness // 6 Comments »

So I made it. I am now an unofficial temporary Canadian. Yesterday was a jet lagged, baby niece infused fog. Today I am much more alert despite achy thigh muscles and a raging headache.

My sudden departure was a split decision, made by the family and I, to try my luck here and see how I like Canada. The opportunity arose when my brother (who henceforth shall be known by his real name …Bryce) suddenly became single and had some room to spare. I am in London, Ontario for those not in the know. The little piece of Canada in between Buffalo, New York and Detroit, Michigan. London looks like various other Great Lake cities, but I am obviously in a different country. The air is so clean, with a decidedly Fall tinge, and the people are relaxed, friendly and so ready for Hockey season.

I have already purged my brother’s apartment of All Dressed chips and Five Alive. So it’s a good thing I am headed out today with Mum for a food run. The novelty of having my for real actual Mother nearby, is very appealing. I even called her last night for baby advice. Which was fairly surreal. Even more surreal? Is that I had already tried everything she recommended to get Evie to sleep. I either remember how to take care of babies back from my high school days or this crap really is instinctual. Either way bedtime was a triumph after much beta testing from the baby.

I’ll go into more detail later. Have quite a bit to do here. Aside from heating up some perogi’s. Thank you God…for proving me with inexpensive perogi’s to indulge in. Now all I need is 1300 calorie a slice deep dish pizza and I can start to amass the Chicago spare tire. I saw my favorite ex-city from the plane the other night. The view was absolutely stunning. A half moon hung lazily over the neon glow that dropped sharply off into the black abyss of the lake, viewed from 25,0000 feet in the air. I imagined I could make out the Sear Tower from my seat, and I could map out the distance of the cities I lived in easily with the grid. Flying has become much easier.

Off to attend to the niece. The “toss the bottle onto the floor where I can’t reach it” game has started. She is winning so far.

Tags: Family // 1 Comment »

For parts well known.  And, for reasons I will explain in detail once I arrive. Let’s just say that once again my life has changed dramatically. And I am really looking forward to it.
<3

Tags: travel // 2 Comments »

Well Hurricane Gustav turned out to be a big wussified clump of moist clouds by the time it reached the Big Easy. Well not really, there was some damage, an over-topped levee and now residents of Orleans parish are not being allowed back in yet. Which puts the festival aptly called “Decadence” on hold. (Sorry boys) and has my sister texting me in a sullen funk over the lack of good times in Pensacola. Equal discomfort all around. But I know all of you are happy as hell that the coast guard will not be boating up to your apartment doorsteps.
As for being the “mother of all storms” however. ….Uh, no…sorry Mayor Nagin.  It f-ed up Haiti pretty good but the gulf decided to play for our team and take the piss out of it, rendering the super hurricane not so super once it kissed the Louisiana coast. All seriousness aside: New Orleans? I really would like to attend Mardi Gras in late Feb 2009. So please, no more hurricanes kthnx.

Aislynn status is: On the way back home. A few parishes were still being blocked off, but it would seem the clean up isn’t too bad, and everyone can come back and get ready for the next evacuation. Really, I hope not : /

Mike and I are in the middle of a Windows Vista Hatefest and have been trying to figure out why I can’t talk on ventrilo suddenly, for no reason. At all. I’m perilously close to calling Toshiba and unloading on a tech. This is just the tip of the iceberg, of the myriad of problems I have been having. Allow me to list off a few examples. This is just coming from my personal experience, and I am hardly a computer person. So this list is more basic laptop function.

Vista will do the following randomly, no rhyme or reason, whenever it feels like it:
Reject the disc I am watching
Not read the disc I am watching, after I’ve been watching it
Make the volume switch from headset to speakers (without my touching anything)
Make the volume switch from speaker to headset (same)
Pretends like it has no idea what I just plugged in (Like my camera, the headset, the same microphone it was using just fine earlier)
Refuses to read the disc I want to watch, until I restart the computer two to three times. Its like owning an OCD computer that has to tap the doorknob three times before opening it.
Loves to move files to where I can’t find them
Makes it impossible to find the soundcard
Will suddenly give me a different drop down menu then the one I had before when downloading a file. This perplexes me.
Has issues with Winamp. Sometimes? It just doesn’t want to hear music.

And almost every single one of these issues will fix itself, if I restart the computer two or three times. Which is ridiculous. Mike rattles off more problems, and more holes and flaws with things I didn’t even know about aside from my own list. So I hate you Vista. I hate you with a passion. I would love to downgrade this thing and happily hammer away on a lesser peon operating system.

The vent issues may have been temporary fixed. I can be heard fine now. But who knows? Maybe Vista will decide it’s had enough of my lip and will shut me down.
All hail Vista, the fascist of Operating Systems.

Tags: Random-ness // 3 Comments »

No one has a good feeling about this. Aside from the fact of what happened, exactly three years ago yesterday. For those that know my sister-she is well on her way out at press time. According to her NO one is taking any chances and everyone is being smart and leaving. Unfortunately also, according to general opinion, New Orleans can’t take a hit. At all. Unless its the side without the surge.  All anyone can do is hope and pray for the best.

If anyone has any more questions regarding Aislynn, and you were not able to get a hold of her, you can email me or even call. I have all the info. She left last night, to beat the traffic and has a place to stay (other side of Lake Pontchartrain). If things look worse, she will be heading upwards more (Think Baton Rouge). The weather channel has all these interesting links to traffic cams leaving the city, which is just depressing to look at but very interesting. It looks like they will open up both sides of the highways tomorrow (called contraflow) to ease congestion, to which my sister and I agreed… is totally cool. It’s like breaking the law with full sanction by the Highway Patrol ! I’m very pleased that mostly everyone is taking this seriously and actually leaving. As much as I adore that city, the loss of life can be avoided.

A bit of a morose post to be sure, but on the eve of another possible catastrophic storm hit, I felt it was necessary. Good Luck New Orleans.
<3

***Edit:  Aislynn texted me at bout 6:30 pacific time. They will be evacuating Slidell (where they are now) and heading somewhere safer tomorrow. Will keep everyone posted.

***Super Stealth Edit: The sibling will be heading to Florida. Away from the storm entirely. There was a text this morning announcing the departure, and there was recently another text informing me that they were still enroute.  More to come!

***Not so stealth Edit: Aislynn is in Florida. Actually she has been for a few hours, I just neglected to post. Here’s hoping this was just a drill and the storm won’t be too bad.

Tags: Random-ness // 1 Comment »