I'm struggling with the idea of wasting a third of my income on a crappy apartment. I honestly am considering going the "homeless" route - people manage to hold down jobs etc. while living in a car. The van down by the river is sounding pretty good if it means I pay off my debts sooner and can, maybe, eventually, own a home rather than rent. My current plan is to find a nearby Walmart and park over by the RVs. Possibly being homeless is less upsetting if chosen and planned for then when you are forced into that kind of situation. By the way, in case I decide against car living, anyone interested in sharing an apartment should drop me a line. I'm looking at places between Boulder and Westminster and my rent tolerance is at about 400$. I have a buddy who'd like to split rent - if we found a third person that could bring the price down to close to 350 per person for a decent place. |
Almost done with school! I highly recommend to anyone considering going back to school that you go get a real degree from a real college if you have the option. I didn't have the option but I wanted to warn anyone with a choice that I've found my trade school experience to be, largely, a waste of time. Basically, if you have a pulse you will graduate an A+ student from Acme Ed Inc no matter how little or much you put into it and I think most employers know this. Just FYI. |
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That company, American Apparel, creeps me out. Reminds me of all those heterosexual male centered "barely legal" amateur porn videos...ick. http://store.americanapparel.net/4318.htmlIf you click on the image and watch the video you'll see what I mean. I've always been a little disturbed by the fact that all their female models look to me like 14 year old heroin addicted ghetto nymphets but now....just ick. I'll leave it at that. |
Ok, so I need to learn about two things: balance and focus. That's my job right now. |
One more thing: My family is going through some death and near death fun. Also I am attempting to deal with that, finish school, and not quit (or get fired from) my shitty ass job since not having worked anywhere permanently for five years tends to look pretty fucking bad on a resume. So hopefully those of you dogged enough to still think of me as a friend now feel slightly updated. |
You know how there are all those cliches about "men of power" in stupid plaid outfits getting cozy on the golfing field, making deals and generally seeing to the business of the "old boys club"? Well it seems that it's all true. Every stereotype you have ever come across about rich corporate types and the wannabes who make up their entourage is painfully true. I mean, it just seems so...obvious! If you were Satan wouldn't you feel embarrassed going about in a tail and horns and wielding a pitchfork? Apparently evil has no imagination. |
Back in the day I discovered that my plan to make banana bread for all my wonderful college friends was to be foiled by a shortage of bananas. But, then, as a I gazed morosely into the fridge I noticed that my left over steamed zucchini looked remarkably similar to mashed bananas...And my weird version of banana zucchini bread was born. ( Once upon a time I baked a loaf of bread...Collapse )Mmmm! Bread:) |
Here are some snapshots of my painting and a half. ( Painting+1/2Collapse )And THESE are my lasagna gardens. ( Grow little plants, grow!Collapse )Aside from the vegetable and herb beds there is a flower patch out front and a window box that we planted and then discovered it had no drainage (goodbye flowers). The flower bed is also in danger since it is inconveniently placed - it will have to be moved to avoid being stepped on to death by Zak. We planted a number of miscellaneous large-to-small pots full of stuff: strawberries, mint, dill...One large tub full of radishes, carrots, cucumbers and nasturtium and another long box full of lettuce, allysum, peas, and nasturtium. Sadly the box has become infested with evil tiny black bugs that are eating all the lettuce (Bah. Grr.) but everything else seems to be thriving. The reason for all the nasturtium is because we'd heard that, as well as being edible, it repels plant-devouring bugs. This, we have since discovered, does NOT include tiny black bugs that eat all your lettuce (the little bastards). Just FYI. Since planting everything we've been watering every day for about two hours total - one hour in the am and one hour at night. Any less water and the plants begin to wilt and their roots start to dry out. There has been very minimal amounts of weeding thanks to the many tough layers of newspaper we put down at the beginning. This is vital in my yard since the entire thing is taken over with really insidious kinds of weeds. It's so bad that there basically isn't any grass at all any more! So to anyone interested in lasagna gardening DON'T FORGET THE WET NEWSPAPER! One further word: both Lisa (who has read just about EVERY gardening book ever published) and I highly recommend the books Lasagna Gardening and Lasagna Gardening For Small Spaces by Patricia Lanza. They are precise, fairly comprehensive, and the method definitely works. I would note, however, that the BEST way of doing this is to make the beds in the fall and let your compost layers cook down. Otherwise you can do as we did and buy tons of precomposted material. It's fine to do it that way it's just that buying compost is so expensive while making your own is super easy and cheap. |
I decided to paint faster and so I set a goal of being able to do one painting a week (inc idea, drawing, etc). In the last three weeks I've only managed one and a half but that's still very good for me. I have hope:) And an added bonus is that if they all suck I won't have any qualms about selling them come August... Gardening has also been figuring largely in my daily activities and has been coupled with quality Lisa and Katie time. The Insta-garden! http://ourgardengang.tripod.com/lasagna_gardening.htmLasagna gardening is the bomb. I keep walking around the yard thinking of all the OTHER places I could slap down some wet newsprint. My inclination is to cover evey inch of space with garden, possibly including the roof:P Very addictive. |
Ok. I have tried to avoid politics, tried to maintain harmony and peace in my little corner of the web but I simply can't restrain myself any further. The problem is not "illegal" immigration. Come on in! Have fun, eat ice-cream, work a crappy job, speak your native language exclusively - whatever. The problem is that we live in a welfare state. I am a libertarian: in my opinion taxation is immoral regardless of what it does. I reject violence except in self defense and this extends to coercion through threat of violence*. SO, getting back to illegal immigration, I want to see our **welfare system (based as it is on taxation) collapse. To that end I support overloading it. This is why I DIDN'T sign the petition to deny certain tax funded medical services to illegal immigrants at the LP dinner tonight. Why welfare and not XYZ, you might ask? Believe me there's LOTS I'd like to see collapse: the whole alphabetical madness of government to be precise. Illegal immigration just happened to be the subject of the petition that was being passed around. However, I'm not ENTIRELY certain about my prediction. I wonder if I have missed something - is there some way that illegal immigrants using the welfare system will strengthen instead of destroy it? *Since I base my actions and choices on principles rather than the ends justify the means philosophy of utilitarianism no arguments that start "yes, but..." are going to convince me. Save your breath and instead look up consequentialism and deontology. **When I say welfare I mean everything from food stamps to medicaid. "Why do you want poor people to starve?" some clever soul is going to ask (or, knowing my comment-less journal, think but not say). Well, by saying that I don't support one way of caring for the destitute because it is immoral I am NOT (read very carefully) NOT saying that caring for the destitute is immoral. I simply propose we find a way to help them WITHOUT coercion. |
👁 ImageCalvin and Hobbes: philosophy at its best. |
👁 ImageRainbow Brite goes to college...is that a beer??? Though I spoke harshly in comments about this show, I really just resent the pony aspect. Beyond that I don't really have much to say. |
I am contemplating returning to the call center of doom for a few months. My bank account is getting to that dangerously low level when Steps Must Be Taken. In the good news column it's been rainy these last few days (actually almost a week!) and there was a perfect rainbow arch on April 30th! And who DOESN'T love rainbows?!!! 👁 ImageNow if I only had a pony and a bunch of freaks in moon boots to hang out with my life would be complete. |
So hard, so draining, and yet...so compelling. http://singlemothers.org/SMO/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=38I honestly think that all people who are planning to have kids should consider their support network. I suspect that couples get complacent about this issue and subsequently find themselves completely overwhelmed. And that's my unsolicited opinion for the day:) |
It was a historic moment.
You scored 73 Industriousness, 19 Centrality, and 15 Causticity! |
You're a mitochondrion! The mitocondria is a "power plant" of the cell.
Nothing could ever get done in the cell without you creating energy. Since
both the Citric Acid cycle and Oxidative Phosphorylation happen inside the
mitochondria, you are critical to every eukaryotic cell. You are always
a hard worker, no matter what you are tasked to. Most of the time, you tend
to be working in the background, but that often suits you just fine. You
get along with almost everyone, and aren't these the most important things?
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| My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: | You scored higher than 84% on Industriousness | | You scored higher than 10% on Centrality | | You scored higher than 26% on Causticity |
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..MALL NINJA!!! http://www.geocities.com/suketh.geo/gun/mall_ninja_1.htmlHighlight: "It's okay for me to talk about my job, as long as I'm not specific. I am the Sergeant of a three-man Rapid Tactical Force at one of America's largest indoor retail shopping areas. Although there are typically between fifteen and twenty normal security officers working the beat there, we decided a while ago that it would be best to have a specilized force for violent individuals. We use modified electric vehicles and can be anywhere on a given floor within eight and a half minutes." Dude, don't piss off mall security! |
I don't completely agree with this article but I thought it made a few good points... http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/essay40.htm"Smart people, or at least those whose brains have good first gears, use their speed in thought to overpower others. They’ll jump between assumptions quickly, throwing out jargon, bits of logic, or rules of thumb at a rate of fire fast enough to cause most people to become rattled, and give in. When that doesn’t work, the arrogant or the pompous will throw in some belittlement and use whatever snide or manipulative tactics they have at their disposal to further discourage you from dissecting their ideas." Bastards. I wonder how many people have had professors who argued like this and how many of those people ended up kind of intellectually stunted or became convinced they were dumb or turned into little acolytes. |
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And yet I was born here... |
