Well, this week has kind of sucked. I'm looking for a new job since I quit my one at Kohl's, but there haven't been any replies yet. Not to mention that for the last few days, I've had terrible stomach aches and I have no idea why. It doesn't seem to matter what I eat or when, or even whether I eat or not. Plus, I'll be absolutely starving about 10 minutes after I eat anything. It's like my digestive system has decided it doesn't feel like digesting anymore, and just kicks all my food onto the next organ to deal with. Blargh. How am I supposed to find a job if I can't even stand up for long periods of time without crumpling over in pain?

Also, Halloween was kind of... eh. I really wanted to go trick or treating since I FINALLY had someone to do it with, plus it wasn't snowing that night for the first time in years, but noooo... someone had to go and lose his nerve after his sister laughed at him. Even though later anime fans OUR AGE came by trick or treating and recognized us as L and Misa. I mean, they went totally nuts and wanted to take our picture and stuff. Well, I guess I at least got to hand out candy...

Maybe it's because he's hardly ever trick or treated before, even as a kid, but he just couldn't get it through his head that YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD TO TRICK OR TREAT!!! I mean, people still mistake me for a high school sophomore; by the time I might really consider myself "too old," I'll have kids of my own and just go trick or treating with them. Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday, after all! Well, I did let him know how unpleased I was, so hopefully we can actually do it next year...

Oh great, the election's tomorrow, isn't it? Bah, I have to finish going through my amendment book. Oh, what fun.



Sites I love:
Anime Lyrics - Find out what they're singing about in all those weird anime songs.
Cosplay.com The pictures here range from amazing to absolutely terrifying. But there's lots of great costume ideas and inspiration.
The Institute of Official Cheer - I have no idea how to explain this site, only that it's one of the most hilarious places I've ever been on the web, but in a very sophisticated way. James Likeks' humor isn't for everyone, but for those it matches... Hours of entertainment.
Court Records - The best site for Phoenix Wright fans. You know who you are.
Behind the Name - Find out quite possibly more than you wanted to know about almost any first name out there. Great for making good names for original characters.
I Can Has Cheezburger? - I can't explain. Just go.

So, as of last week, I'm officially 20 years old and no longer a teenager. Ha! Good riddance! But wait... does that mean I'm getting OLD!?!? Hah... no... Still look the same as always... good... *twitch*

After stalking the sight for over a year, I finally got myself an account over at ICHC, and started making my own lolz. So, if you like that kind of stuff, yoo can see mah lolz heer! I don't have too many yet, but, well... I think they're funny...

Oh, and I finally quit working at Kohl's after a year there. Last week, my manager had another hissy fit, calling me "irresponsible" and "a burden on the store," and I realized, "If that's what he really thinks of me, then why the hell am I working here?" I don't really know where I'll be working next, but meh, I don't really care right now. Hopefully somewhere that doesn't have as asinine of a business policy. But GAAH, doesn't it seem like everywhere you go, the store has it's own damn credit card? What ever happened to making money off the stuff you were selling, huh? No, instead we have to take advantage of gullible credit card freaks and charge them a 29% fixed APR to run the store. Whatever people. I totally agreed with the customers at Kohl's that told me to back the hell off the Kohl's Charge thing. Alas, I got in trouble once with one of my managers when I agreed with a disgruntled customer about the whole credit card thing. Heaven forbid! I certainly shouldn't be agreeing with such an uninformed customer! Oh, if only he knew all about the BENEFITS!!

Okay, I'm falling asleep now. Oyasumi...



Sites I love:
Anime Lyrics - Find out what they're singing about in all those weird anime songs.
Cosplay.com The pictures here range from amazing to absolutely terrifying. But there's lots of great costume ideas and inspiration.
The Institute of Official Cheer - I have no idea how to explain this site, only that it's one of the most hilarious places I've ever been on the web, but in a very sophisticated way. James Likeks' humor isn't for everyone, but for those it matches... Hours of entertainment.
Court Records - The best site for Phoenix Wright fans. You know who you are.
Behind the Name - Find out quite possibly more than you wanted to know about almost any first name out there. Great for making good names for original characters.
I Can Has Cheezburger? - I can't explain. Just go.

So! News! Things! Happenings! Well, looks like they changed the site layout again. :looks at news, realizes that happened sometime in July: Fail.

Anyway, due to a stupid, messed up schedule for this semester (not to mention a teacher who I refuse to put up with) I'm only taking two classes at the moment, which will leave me a bit more time to focus on various art related things that have gotten neglected over the past year or so. As for why nothing along those lines happened during the summer, well... I admit, this summer has been my summer of love. Jeremy and I are so in love with each other that the issue of marriage isn't even a question. We want to get married as soon as we can, which alas, probably won't be until after we graduate from college. Ugh, that seems like an ETERNITY right now!

As for other news I went to Nan Desu Kan (our local anime convention) last weekend, and it was the usual combination of suck and awesome, as always. It's a real roller-coaster ride for me, that con. We went to some cool panels, like Vic Mignogna's and some about general cosplay tips, and we also ended up at some real awful ones (chrispatton), like one where the energy of the entire room changed when it was revealed that Remy and I were the only non hentai/yaoi/yuri fans in the audience. Gee, that's what I get for looking for acceptance in the anime fan community. That panel was totally not what it's description said it would be about!

Also, a note to some stupid fangirls that turn up: Believe it or not, I am not actually the character I'm cosplaying as. In other words, if you have some insubstantial, trivial, and pointless little fangirly issue with the character I'm cosplaying as, you have no right to take out your beef on me. Case in point: I cosplayed as Misa and Remy cosplayed as L from Death Note. Why? Because we both like the series and naturally fit the part with our body/hair types and faces. But apparently seeing Misa and L sharing a chair together just hit some kind of bizarre nerve with this girl. Hey, it's not like I'm shipping L/Misa or anything; I honestly thought it'd be fun to be a kind of cracky pairing. So anyway, this girl ran up to L/Remy all happy and squealy and offered him some Pocky. So he took it. Free food after all. Then she turned the box to me, so I stuttered a, "Oh, uh..." and reached out my hand. But just as my hand reached the box, she yanked it away and said, "Yeah right, like stupid Misa gets anything!" and skipped off. Yeah? Well I bet you spend every night in your parent's house masturbating to Light/L porn and are a disgrace to your family! How's that, huh!? But I just make this "aww" face, trying to stay in character until she left. I turned to Remy, who's already eaten his Pocky, just in time to here him say, "I love getting free stuff from people!" I just give him this, "Thanks, that's reeeeeal considerate." look. Apparently he hadn't heard any of that.

Well, that's enough ranting for now. See you later!



Sites I love:
Anime Lyrics - Find out what they're singing about in all those weird anime songs.
Cosplay.com The pictures here range from amazing to absolutely terrifying. But there's lots of great costume ideas and inspiration.
The Institute of Official Cheer - I have no idea how to explain this site, only that it's one of the most hilarious places I've ever been on the web, but in a very sophisticated way. James Likeks' humor isn't for everyone, but for those it matches... Hours of entertainment.
Court Records - The best site for Phoenix Wright fans. You know who you are.
Behind the Name - Find out quite possibly more than you wanted to know about almost any first name out there. Great for making good names for original characters.
I Can Has Cheezburger? - I can't explain. Just go.

Holy crap, I actually got out of the state! Seriously, it had been about four years since I'd vacationed outside of Colorado. Lemme tell ya: You can only go up to the mountains so many times before they all start looking the same and you get sick of nothing but pine trees in every direction. So off I went with my boyfriend on a romantic adventure! With my mom. Well, maybe not as romantic, but hey, she paid for everything. So, where did we finally escape to?

Wyoming!

...

...Okay, so it's only one state away, but you'd be surprised at how much of a difference that can make. I went to Yellowstone, the obligatory Everyone Must Go There Once National Park. People come from all over the world to see things like...



This! Uh, yeah... This mysterious glowing pool of overexposure... Actually, this was just the first "thermal feature" we came across, so I decided to take a picture of it. This is probably a bit more accurate:



Ah, boiling water getting violently spewed out of the earth! That's more like it! Of course, there's lot's of just plain pretty stuff too, like these blue pools:



It was so cold that day that it was really hard to even see some of the other pools; there was just so much steam obscuring everything. It's easy to see why every year a few people and animals get killed by these things. They're just so warm and pretty and nice... I forget exactly which it is, but supposedly one of the pools has a bunch of bones at the bottom of it. Still, you'd have to be pretty stupid to accidentally fall into one of these things, as they boardwalk and rail the crap out of anything remotely dangerous. But hey, they probably just don't want lawsuits over their heads from the morons who want to jump in a geyser. Stupid stupid people and their stupidity!

Here's a view of the area:



Huh, I guess I can see why some people think it might randomly explode someday, what with all the cracks and steam and seeping, but I doubt it will happen anytime soon.

Here's a view of the lodge we stayed at for the night (because it was way too expensive for us to stay there any longer than that):



I believe it is actually the largest log cabin on earth. I wouldn't doubt it, because it really is stinkin' huge when you're in it. Ah, nothing shows mankind's dominance over nature better than a five story building featuring hundreds of logs in every possible direction. Awesome! (Oh, it's not like I just loooove wanton forest destruction, quite the opposite, but seriously, if you're going to level an entire forest, then you might as well do something really cool with it.)



Here's looking waaaaay up high with my dingy camera. These aren't really 'floors', but counting the beams and stairs, they would make it five stories high, I believe. According to the little sign posted on the stairs, that alcove way up top is called the Crow's Nest, and was part of the building's designer's childhood dream. Back in the day, there would be an orchestra in the upper parts, and people would dance on the hardwood floor below. This of course means that they haven't let anyone up there in the last fifty years, as the structure has become unstable and is now unable to support all the fat American asses that might try to climb it. :headslap:

There was plenty of wildlife to see as well, and no shortage of ugly-but-delicious buffalo as well, who know perfectly well that they can meander down the roads and the puny humans will rush to the sides of the road to let them through while they ooh and aah and take pictures:



Well, there were a couple baby buffalo in the pack, that might help. Daww! They're vaguely cute in that not-as-ugly-as-the-adults kind of way!



Lot's of elk out too, but oddly enough, we only saw females:



But being the bird-obsessed freak that I am, my favorite of the animals I snapped was the Mountain Bluebird that flew and perched really close to us, all amidst the steaming pools and geysers:



Random bird fact! Bluebirds and Bluejays don't actually have any blue pigment in their feathers whatsoever. The blue color comes from light reflecting off the unique particles on their feathers, which look plain-old brown if back-lit.

I kind of feel sorry for the park rangers sometimes. All they're trying to do is move people away from the Grizzly Bear that's wandered over, but all the tourists do (ourselves included) is go, "What? Bear? Where?? I wanna see a bear! Where's the bear!?" We were shooed off, but we did get to see it from far off. I have photographic, brutally zoomed in and enlarged evidence!



Beeeeeaaaaaar!!

Well, I've probably bored you enough by now, so in conclusion, I present the obligatory photo of Old Faithful and us, cleverly positioned to hide the hoards of other people.



(Oh, and you can only see our backs because I think it would be tacky to be smiling stupidly into the camera when a giant geyser is erupting behind us. That, and I don't like randomly pictures of myself on my own web page, or anywhere, really. If for some reason you MUST see beyond the internet barrier and satisfy your curiosity, you may go here.)



Sites I love:
Anime Lyrics - Find out what they're singing about in all those weird anime songs.
Cosplay.com The pictures here range from amazing to absolutely terrifying. But there's lots of great costume ideas and inspiration.
The Institute of Official Cheer - I have no idea how to explain this site, only that it's one of the most hilarious places I've ever been on the web, but in a very sophisticated way. James Likeks' humor isn't for everyone, but for those it matches... Hours of entertainment.
Court Records - The best site for Phoenix Wright fans. You know who you are.
Behind the Name - Find out quite possibly more than you wanted to know about almost any first name out there. Great for making good names for original characters.
I Can Has Cheezburger? - I can't explain. Just go.

Okay, here's the beef: I work at Kohl's, as I've mentioned before. Yeah, it can be annoying, but it's not that bad. However, I've worked there for six months now, and my boss is treating me crappier than he ever has before. I mean, I can see him getting away with treating the n00bs a little rough, just to see which ones are keepers or not, but I've stuck around far longer than most of the useless teens that pass by. I've graduated to the shiny gold tag, dammit! The shiny gold tag!

But no. Lately, anytime he's at work the same time I am, he spends at least half the time right at my register, hovering over my shoulder, pretending to be helpful and bag so customers don't get the wrong idea. But all he does is tell me all the stuff I'm doing wrong. Maybe if I actually sucked at my job, I'd understand, but I do everything he says. I ask if their purchase will be on a Kohl's charge. I ask if they want to get a Kohl's charge and save 10% plus twelve additional savings a year, slowly crushing my soul in the process. They say no. 99% of the time they say no. Do you think anybody else is having better luck? Not really. But apparently falling under the goal is all my fault, because he can't seem to get over the fact that I don't get 5 @&$#ing charge cards every shift.

I try to offer why many customers don't want a Kohl's charge, but he doesn't care. Actually, I'm pretty sure he's just too much of a moron to realize that the economy is in a slump and that a lot of people have wised up the scheme of department charge cards. In his head, I'm just not trying hard enough. Fine. Like a give a damn about the company.

Lately though, he takes issue with every last thing I do. Customer needs help? I'm not fast enough giving it to them. Heaven forbid I might want to inquire about the problem a bit before I decided on the right course of action. Oh, oops, I forgot to go into detail about the survey slip with their receipt, the one where the customers get absolutely nothing for filling it out. Seriously, if you want people to go out of their way to take a survey, they're gonna want something out of the deal. And now, I can't even say 'thank you' right. I say thank you, but not at the right time or right way, I guess. He says stuff like, "I know other people have talked to you about this." No, actually, they haven't. He's the only one that takes issue with how I work. I try to say this to him; he cuts me off every time I try to answer or explain myself. I've talked to some of the other employees, and while he is an all around bastard, I'm the only one he bullies like this.

But you know what the worst thing is? He threatens to fire me over these stupid things, in front of the customers. He says stuff like, "If you can't even do that, then you better start looking for another job." or, "I'll have to let you go if you keep this up." Seriously. There's a line of people waiting to be checked out, here. It's absolutely humiliating. After a few hours of this constant abuse, I can't even do my job. I have to either leave or take a long break to cool off.

I talked to one of the other managers yesterday about getting moved to another department where he won't constantly be hovering over me, and I think it worked. She still works under him (he's the store manager, the rest manage other specific things), but I told her it's that or I quit, and I've had more than one manager tell me that I'm a good worker and that they don't want to lose me. So hopefully all that beef is over, but I dunno, do you think I should look for another job anyway?

(Edit: Dinked around with the text colors - Hopefully it's easier to read now.)



Sites I love:
Anime Lyrics - Find out what they're singing about in all those weird anime songs.
Cosplay.com The pictures here range from amazing to absolutely terrifying. But there's lots of great costume ideas and inspiration.
The Institute of Official Cheer - I have no idea how to explain this site, only that it's one of the most hilarious places I've ever been on the web, but in a very sophisticated way. James Likeks' humor isn't for everyone, but for those it matches... Hours of entertainment.
Court Records - The best site for Phoenix Wright fans. You know who you are.
Behind the Name - Find out quite possibly more than you wanted to know about almost any first name out there. Great for making good names for original characters.
I Can Has Cheezburger? - I can't explain. Just go.