a vacation from my vacation

So we're back. Got home around 3pm I think.

Didn't win anything, but what can you expect when we put all of maybe $6 into the slot machines? Neither of us are really big gamblers, even when we could better afford to be. Justifying dropping $20 in one sitting with little to no chance of breaking even let alone gaining any more than that, just doesn't sit well with us.

But I will pay for lottery tickets. Go figure. I usually only buy $5 a drawing, sometimes $10 if the jackpot gets really high.

Viva Las Vegas!

Takin' a road trip for the next few days, to Vegas.

Gonna stay at Excalibur... go see Blue Man Group... and do some walkin' of the Strip of we're up to it... Maybe we'll win some money, but usually our luck isn't very good. We'll see.

Will be back Tuesday (leaving Sunday morning).

Have fun kiddies!

ideas, ideas…

Thanks to Beth for spawning another idea for my dragon sculptures...

Birthstone dragons!

Although I'm trying to determine whether I should make the dragons the color of the month's birthstone, or make them in various colors holding a "gemstone" that I simulate (whether by natural mineral or faux with polymer clay).

It may be easier to just make them in colors of the month's birthstone, although I'm wondering how I'd go about doing that with April's birthstone, which is the diamond. I'm thinking either plain white, or mixing mostly translucent with a little bit of white.

For June, I'd give buyers a choice of either Moonstone or Pearl. I'll have to skip the other birthstone for June (there are three), which is Alexandrite. It supposedly changes color depending on the type of light that hits it, green for sunlight, and red for artificial light or twilight. I could probably try to simulate that with powders, but I'm not sure if I have any that shift between red & green. There are those that do a red/blue, green/yellow, and blue/green shift, but no red/green. I'll have to experiment with that when the time comes. 'Cause just red & green mixed together makes brown.

For October, which has two birthstones, Opal and Tourmaline, I'll probably go with Tourmaline. Opal is a tricky stone to emulate, so I'll have to work on that before offering it up as a choice of color. Tourmaline can be a range of colors, but I think it is typically pink for the birthstone for October. (correct me if I'm wrong, please.)

For December, which also has two birthstones, Blue Topaz or Turquoise, either one will probably be offered, as Turquoise can be emulated fairly easy from what I can tell.

I won't be able to emulate the luster of these gems, but I should be able to get the color fairly well.

Just a note if anyone reading this decides they want to inquire about a birthstone dragon... please give me at least three months advance notice (although that can be negotiable, depending what is already on my plate), especially if it is in a month where simulating the color may be a bit tricky so I'll have time to experiment and work out the colors. I haven't worked with very many faux stone techniques yet, so plenty of advance notice would be greatly appreciated.

Speaking of faux stone techniques... anyone interested any buying me a specific book from my wishlist? It's #8, and would come in quite handy for this new series I have in mind, even if it doesn't have instructions for all the stones I may need to emulate for this project.. And I may be willing to work out a "trade" or discount for a finished piece. ;o)

part-timer

I applied for part-time seasonal work at the JoAnn Etc. store near my house.
Mainly 'cause it would be extra money if they decide to hire me, and it's a craft store so I think it would be a good fit.

Their application is small (half a page), and all it asks for is your info (name, address, phone #), what hours you can work, and the question: Do you have any previous retail experience?

Yes, I do. But gosh, it's been like, nine years I think? I worked at a Blockbuster Video for about six months back in 1994. But it still counts, I did do retail!

Now I wonder if they're going to call me in to chat for an interview. I think it would be kind of cool to work there.

If that fails, then I'll try Michael's. It's a little further away, but I'm sure they'll need seasonal help, too.

I wonder if they pay minimum wage to part-time seasonal workers, or if the starting pay is a little more than that? Even if they do pay only minimum wage, for the hours I offered to work, it'll be an extra couple hundred dollars a month. I listed I'm willing to work in the morning on the same days I go to my regular job, as well as Saturdays. It will make for some pretty long days, but that way it still gives me at least two days off, Sunday and Wednesday.

So we'll see how that goes.

yuck.

I didn't feel like going to the store to buy a broom, so I power-sprayed the dried hamburger off the walls with the water hose.

And, so that it wouldn't stink up our yard as it dried up again, I picked up each piece and threw it in the garbage.

I feel dirty. Must go wash hands for the fifth time. blech.

WTF, Yo?!?

That stands for, WHAT THE FUCK, YO?!?!

Yo as in Y-O. No mispelling there.

Some immature mother-fucker decided it would be cute to throw raw hamburger at our house sometime between the time Josh got home last night (around midnight) and this morning (abt 7:15am) when he left for work (early day today for training).

I say again, what the fuck, yo?!

He called shortly after he pulled out of the driveway to ask what had exploded over our garage on the walls of the house. While on the phone I went outside to take a look (he was already gone). I looked closely. Hmm. Long, brown, stringy stuff. Looks like a combination of bird shit and worms. But bird shit isn't that consistent of a color, and they aren't shriveled enough to be worms.

I look on the ground, and find a piece of parchment paper, the kind you'd find separating pre-shaped hamburger patties. Only this stuff didn't come from pre-shaped hamburger patties, but is the stringy shape of freshly ground beef.

What the fuck. Hamburger?!

Great. Our neighborhood is relatively quiet, nothing bad or strange happens around here. The neighbors sometimes complain to us about the weeds that pop up in our front yard and that we take what seems like forever to get rid of, but otherwise, it's rather peaceful around here.

Until now.

About half the neigbhors have kids, so this could've been done by any one of them. For the height of where this vandalism landed, I'd have to guess it was probably a pre-teen to teenage loser who thought he was being cool or funny.

This is akin to having one's house egged. I'm either going to have to go buy a broom to clean this up (ours is broken, so for sweep jobs I either use the vacuum or use the end of the broom and bend over to sweep stuff up), or use our water hose to force-spray this shit off the walls.

Yes, I took pictures.

And if it happens again, I'm definitely calling the cops to file a complaint. It's unfortunate we don't know which spawn-of-satan in our neighborhood did this.

What.the.fuck.

not enough time in the day

Everytime I visit a craft store I come home with more ideas for dragon sculptures but it doesn't seem like I have even half the time I want to have to be able to work on them all.. I bought a couple bags of "accent marbles" while I was there 'cause they were on sale for a buck each, and there's like 20 marbles in each. Ok, they're not small marbles, they're like an inch in diameter so 20 is a lot for that size and for that price. They're cool metallic colors, kind of remind me of the rainbowish colors that oil in a puddle of water makes.

Anyway, I picture these marbles as being dragon eggs, or dragon treasure, so I picture making a series of dragons curled around these marbles protectively.

I already had six white pearled marbles and was starting on a dragon to go with one of those, but it's been time consuming as I'm taking all strides in making the thing's fingers & toes as intricate as possible. Why? Because I end up being too much of a perfectionist and think they should look more realistic, so I'm spending a lot of time on them. I need more time, dammit!

Damn job. Damn bills requiring me to have that damn job.

Bah. Why can't I just win that nice fat Powerball?

to the DMV

I went to the DMV today to have the lens restriction removed from my license. The lady to whom I paid for the replacement almost sent me on my way without getting a new picture taken until I pointed out that on my original license I'm wearing glasses. Derrr...

My new picture wasn't really all that bad.. I actually like it better than what was on there before.

Do you know the DMV in AZ only requires your vision to be 20/40 in order to not need the lens restriction on your license? I thought it was at least 20/30, but it's not.

Now I have to wonder for all those drivers out there who seem to be totally unaware of what exits they need on the freeways until the last possible second, if maybe their vision is only 20/40 and they just couldn't read the signs until it was almost too late to exit? But then that wouldn't explain the fact that you get at least two to three miles warning of what exit is coming up, so I guess they simply just don't pay attention. That's nothing new, really.

My, what big teeth you have!

I have a confession to make.

I haven't been to the dentist since I got my braces taken off in high school.

And before that, even if I was just getting my teeth cleaned, I was utterly terrified and would usually whimper or cry while I was laying in the chair waiting for the dentist to show up and start working on me. Not an all-out bawling type of cry, but the silent, wipe away the tears and sniffle type of cry.

Open enrollment is coming up here at work for the various insurances that are offered (medical, dental & vision), and I'm thinking I should probably pick up dental insurance and at least make one visit to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned.

Although I'm afraid when I do, the dentist will find all sorts of things "wrong" and will insist on putting fillings in half my teeth, even though I only see one or two spots that may warrant any work, and minor work at that.

Why do I fear the dentist so? Probably because of having to have three teeth pulled in one visit before I got my braces on. And I can't stand having a needle stuck into my gums, even with the topical numbing crap they put on beforehand.

But, I'm sure my teeth could probably use a cleaning, so I'll at least go in for that much. If they insist that I need any fillings, I'll have to mull that one over, considering my anxiety about having dental work done.

*shudder*

Anyone have any referrals for good dentists in the NW valley?

My road rage

What a way to start my freaking day.

The 139th reason I hate my job? The southbound exit at Ray Road. I swear that turnoff will be the death of me someday.

When exiting at Ray Road to turn west, there are two right turn lanes. There is a "YIELD" sign there. I typically take the left of the two lanes as I have to get into the left turn lane for the next light (which is probably about 200-300 feet from the exit ramp) as quickly as possible.

Today, some dumb broad in a big-ass red car (it may have been a Lincoln or Ford, I don't remember), who was in the lane to my right, decides as she's driving along that she wants to be in my lane.

Taking absolutely no notice that I, in my little green Saturn, am currently IN that lane.

Fucking bitch. Good thing my brakes are good. Good thing my reflexes are pretty decent. I slam on my brakes, so startled at her sudden utter need to be in my lane and nearly hitting her as a result that I forget to lay on the horn. She stops too, suddenly realizing maybe she should look before she moves over, and sees me, screeching at the top of my lungs at her and gesturing. Since I'm not moving any longer she decides its okay to proceed and continues on her way, effectively cutting me off.

Fucking whore. She's damn lucky we were going maybe 10 mph so braking wasn't a problem. If it were a straightaway and we'd been going 30mph or more, she would've been in my fender before either of us realized what was going on. I don't think she even bothered to glance into her mirror, let alone over her shoulder. She would've seen me if she had. Her peripheral vision must be worthless, 'cause the front of my car was about even with her driver's side mirror, so even a casual glance to the slight left would've meant she saw me.

I wonder if I had ended up hitting her who would've been at fault. I'd like to think she would have since she was cutting into my lane without looking. I think that, yes, she would have been at fault, now that I think back to an accident that a friend of ours (or our friend's ex-gf, rather) was in which was similar.. She pulled into a left turn lane which was rather long and was approaching the light when a jackass in the lane to her right jumped out in front of her, and she clipped his car like I would have this lady's car if I hadn't been able to stop. The driver who pulled out in front of her in that case was found at fault, if I recall correctly.

I wonder, if I had hit her, how much damage either of us would've sustained, and wonder if the damage to my car would've been more than it is worth. Like I said, I wasn't really going very fast, but even damage done at 10mph can be costly, and my car's total worth is only like $1500.

Feh. I'm just P.O.'d that people just don't pay attention when they're driving. Good thing I was today.

Grrr....

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