I didn't exactly have time to do these on time.

1. Do you like to shop? Why or why not?
   Well sure. Though I tend not to wade through shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, and I'm not about to be at a store at 6am for a "special sale". It's fun to look around at stuff, and it's even more fun to shop when you're with a few family and friends to talk while you shop.
2. What was the last thing you purchased?
   In person, or online? Technically the last thing I bought was lunch at Steak 'n' Shake.
3. Do you prefer shopping online or at an actual store? Why?
   It depends a lot on what I'm wanting to buy. Clothes, I often would rather buy in person, because I want to just wander around until I see something I want, and have a chance to try it on and all that. Except Victoria's Secret stuff; that, I'll browse their catalog then buy online (they have very little of their total selection in their stores). I'll buy books and electronics online too, if I'm not in a hurry or don't have a chance to get out and buy something. And I bought my current computer online, because there are a TON more buying options that way rather than going into a store to buy one.
4. Did you get an allowance as a child? How much was it?
   Yes I did. You'll be embarrassed for me when you hear what though: it was a quarter a week. Twenty-five cents. Of course, that was just for either setting or clearing the dinner table, and taking out the trash every other week (both of those, I took turns with my sister). If we helped raking leaves a lot or mowing the yard or something, then we'd get extra then.
5. What was the last thing you regret purchasing?
   You know, I'm not really sure. I don't regret buying too many things, because I try not to spend impulsively. Nothing comes to mind right now, anyway. Probably something years ago bought as a kid or when I was still in HS.

I'm not sure how to take this one. It's a Flash movie of Gollum with his own rap video. Just... wow.

I was born in 1977. So some of the 80s I was too young to hear the music for, at least when it originally came out, and some of it I wasn't. Most 80s music I've heard probably far later than when it came out, up through about '88 or so, because I really didn't pay attention to music much at the time, and my parents tended to listen to older or just plain different stuff on the stereo at home.

Some songs I should've gotten. Quite a few, actually. Of course, listening to unrelated music on your headphones on the computer doesn't really help in coming up with lyrics to a song it could've been anywhere from a month to 5 years since you last heard it. One or two I got 'cause I just plain guessed and got lucky (though one was quite obvious even if you didn't know the song). Some songs feel like maybe I've heard them once or twice, but I can't think of them even with a lyric right in front of me. There were at least a few that I'd almost bet that I'd never ever heard. And hey, we never had cable at our house, so of course I never watched MTV growing up. (I suspect that even had we had cable at the time, there wouldn't have been much MTV watching anyway, especially for a little kid.)

I'd actually had this one described to me by my parents, but they never sent me a link. A friend of mine just did, and it's hilarious. It's a pictoral illustration of the differences between Italians and other Europeans. Go watch!

My husband and I actually went out on a date. As in, dinner and a movie. We hardly ever do that. Dinner was great -- Mongolian barbecue cooked right in front of you, with calamari and everything. Yum!

We ended up not seeing our movie, and having to have our tickets refunded, along with at least a dozen other people. We wanted to see Matrix: Revolutions, and we'd gotten done eating 45 minutes or so before it started, but we went ahead and bought the tickets and didn't see a point in driving around elsewhere just to waste gas and end up back anyway. So, we went inside. First fuckup: while the tickets ended up having the correct theater number on it, the guy tearing tickets told us the wrong theater. I didn't even notice, but J did. However, he figured the tickets were wrong, because he's had that happen before, and had never before had a guy taking tickets tell him wrong.

So we didn't notice anything wrong, and were standing waiting for the Matrix 7:20 showing to get out (according to the little electronic Marquis above the door). After that, a few people went in to clean, and came back out. It still listed the 7:20 showing, and it was a little early, so we went on in and sat down. We talked while the ads ran, etc. Around 10pm (our movie was supposed to start at 10:15), J had to pee, so he got up and went to the restroom. Upon coming back, it still said the 7:20 showing on the marquis. Okay, no big deal. We wait, and abotu 10:25 the commercials and previews start.

Then the movie starts. Not Matrix, but a cartoon drawing of an elf soon morphing into Bob Newhart in an elf costume. ??? We were in a sold out showing of Elf. That explained why it appeared to be a packed house to the point of standing room only. We left the theater, and saw they'd finally changed the marquis to say "Elf 10:25". Damnit!!! And that meant that Matrix had already started, and we'd missed the beginning 10 minutes or more of the movie.

So we went to the manager. He didn't really seem to care, acted like there was nothing he could do about it (and before we left we'd already seen at least a dozen other people with the same complaint, so he could've grabbed a theater where the movie ended at 11 or so and shown another reel of Matrix, which I imagine they did indeed have). He sent us over to this lady near the front of the lobby to get a refund, and that was that.

I was disappointed, and J was seriously pissed. He's planning on writing a letter to whatever regional or district manager there is and telling them all about it, especially the part about how the manager didn't much give a shit to truly rectify things.

The evening wasn't a total wash. We ended up going to the nearest 24-hour Walmart and buying Two Towers Extended Edition for $25 (for 4 disks!), and I also picked up a couple of adjustable handweights (extra weights that screw onto them) that I'd wanted. And this with the rare ability to not have to wade through tons of people at WallyWorld. However, it still sucks we didn't get to see any movie at all and wasted an hour of our time (wasted 'cause we could've done all that same talking at home, rather than driving all the way out there and sitting around watching crappy movie theater ads). Especially 'cause we don't go out and watch a movie in a theater all that often; we usually wait until it's out on DVD and buy it if we care that much, or occasionally rent one that's a "good rental" but we don't want to keep.

1. List five things you'd like to accomplish by the end of the year.

   Ooh, 5? That might be difficult. I'd like to lose maybe 5 more pounds, though I'm not sure that will happen. I just bought a $45 heavy-duty 6' foldout table from Home Depot, and wayyy before the end of the year (as in, this weekend), I'd like to set up my two computers on it, and have my computer desks dismantled. And preferably I'd also like to have some big blocky organizer stuff on top to put things in (computer floppies & CD-ROMs, reference books, etc.).

   I'd like to get a bunch of stuff filed in the filing cabinet that I've been remiss in filing for several months, perhaps also reorganizing the folders again (with maybe a bulk "Old Stuff" folder for all the really old bill stubs and receipts and stuff, so they're not mixing it up with the newer stuff).

   I'd like to go through more stuff we have in the basement and find places for it or (shudder) throw some of it out. Maybe set up a couple big metal shelving units to put stuff on that will actually stay in the basement. Um... get another set of templates and such set up in MovableType for my 2004 Resolutions (I'm adding "Floss and mouthwash" to the list).

2. List five people you've lost contact with that you'd like to hear from again.
   Let's see, I'd like to get back in touch with Chris and his wife from UMR. Hopefully they're still in KC and the phone number's still good, but it's been over a year by now. I'd like to see Heather from HS again; it's been 6 or 7 years since I last saw her. I need to give Jane a call; she's always so busy with her husband and two (unless she's had another) kids, so we haven't talked in quite a while, and I don't think she has our new number. And I'd like to get to see my aunt Marianne again. I got a beautiful card and letter from her when she sent a check as a wedding gift (she couldn't come). I about cried. But it's been several years since I've seen her. (Then again, it's been several years since my dad's seen her too.)
3. List five things you'd like to learn how to do.
   Speak German, or at least understand and be able to read it somewhat. Drive a manual transmission car. Come up with my own cross-stitch patterns (I want to do ones of each of the three cats we've had so far). Snorkel. I can't think of a 5th thing right now. Might edit this later if I come up with something.
4. List five things you'd do if you won the lottery (no limit).
   Pay off the house. Get us both new cars. Go sightseeing all over the world (specifically, a lot of the rest of the US -- including Hawaii, all over western Europe, and Australia). Put aside some so any kids we have can go to the college or university of their choice, sky's the limit. Help out any relatives (real ones, not claims of "long lost 5th cousins 3 times removed") with anything they need.
5. List five things you do that help you relax.
   Play computer games. Read. Nap. Laugh. Play with the cats.

To whomever apparently tried to comment on the bookmarklets post and got an error (I happened to see the error in my logs): I fixed it. There was an error in my template that screwed things up with PHP, but it's all better now. So if you still have something to say, go ahead and fire away.

I've been listening to Radio Paradise via streaming audio (I found them in Winamp 2.whatever's Library under the broadband section). They play a very wide selection of music from almost all different genres. They just played a song by Frank Zappa called Don't Eat That Yellow Snow. I hadn't heard this song before, and I had a hard time not laughing out loud in my cube. Too damn funny.

If you haven't heard this song, you should give it a listen.

I didn't get shit done this weekend. Caught J's cold (not his fault; it was bound to happen), and nothing I took helped, except for the Tylenol I took last night to get rid of the sinus headache I got. At least pain relievers can be trusted to work for me. So... I didn't scoop the litterboxes even though they really needed it, I didn't put away all my clothes that are out 'cause I either left 'em out or they were washed in the laundry, I didn't do any website work. All I did this weekend was get my car unlocked & finally get spare keys made (3 of them, damnit!), sleep either in bed or on the couch downstairs (I had to sleep in the spare bedroom twice to keep from waking J), and play a little DDR. Oh, and play a few mindless computer games and read. So the most productive thing I got done was get a couple As on some DDR songs that we hadn't been able to get before, and read more in the book I'm reading. That's it.

Oh, and the website work -- not only am I working on those templates for the new Bruno board, I also got a look at some other websites who do different CSS layouts. I find mine... lacking, by comparison. I'm most definitely NOT a graphic designer, by any stretch. So, I'm thinking of improving upon my designs. I'll be keeping a lot of stuff, i.e. general color themes & stuff, and some of them won't change much at all. But I do need to work on a couple of 'em, so I think that'll be my next project, since I'm starting to run out of them and I always feel the need to be doing something different. Content's not going to change, of course, but I definitely want to smooth things out.

Edit: It was pointed out, that playing DDR sounds awfully hard for someone who's sick. I was using the controller, not a DDR pad, so the only movement involved was my thumbs. Although, it was a small miracle I could concentrate hard enough to even read the arrows.

I started getting sick today from J's cold, so when I came home I had a 2 or 3 hour nap 'cause I was (and am) exhausted. Got up around 8:45 or so, got dressed and we decided to go grab some food. I almost asked him to drive, but I didn't. We got outside, and I realized I didn't have my glasses on. So I took my car key off the rest (via a little plunger-type thingy, so I didn't have to take it off a ring), and went back in for them while he started the car warming up.

So we're eating dinner, and it's quiet and we're both kinda bummed out, and then we're leaving and I get my keys from my purse. One problem: no car key. Apparently when I'd attached the rest of the keys back on the car key while it was in, I didn't do a very good job, and it'd fallen back off. I dug through my purse, and it wasn't there. So we checked all the way back to the car for it, and it didn't turn up. I'd fallen off in the car. The now locked car. It fell off on the base of the gear shift.

I tried calling the police to see if they'd do it, and it rang for 2 and a half minutes with no answer. J suggested I call my dad to see if he had any suggestions. He said he'd come up with a wire hanger & pliers to bend it with. Just to try, I called the police back again, and they answered after a few rings. The guy said they're not allowed to do it anymore (apparently no one is anymore, 'cause the St. Ann guys won't either). So we waited, and my dad got there pretty quickly.

He and J tried for a good half hour to get the damn thing open. Tried all 4 doors and everything; they even tried to get in around the seal. Nada. Zilch. Nothin'. So finally he drove us back home, so I'm home now with no car, and the key sitting right in plain view. At least it's down right miserable outside, and is supposed to be through afternoon tomorrow, so it's not likely someone will smash a window and drive off with it. I'm gonna call AAA in the morning (by this point it was so miserable outside that we weren't about to wait for them to get there), and J will I guess drop me off back at my car on his way to school or something. So much for sleeping in to try and get over this cold ASAP.

I'm gonna take a nice long, hot bath, with a cup of something hot and a book, and shave and all that. And take some Nyquil. Hopefully that'll all make me feel better.

I stumbled on this in a few LJs and thought I'd take it (since it's not one of those LJ-specific quizzes).

My life is rated R. What is your life rated?

1. Using one adjective, describe your current living space.
   Fabulous!!
2. Using two adjectives, describe your current employer.
   The company? Um... humongous and ... um ... ethical (according to our 4+ hours of training on ethics, that is).
3. Using three adjectives, describe your favorite hobby/pasttime.
   Hmm... I'm not sure what my favorite is, but I'm sure anything I picked would be fun, relaxing, and enjoyable.
4. Using four adjectives, describe your typical day.
   Ooh, hard one. I guess I'll pick a typical weekday, as there are far more of them. Routine, humorous (I laugh at least 5 times a day), tired, and anticipative (can't wait for Friday and the weekend).
5. Using five adjectives, describe your ideal life.
   Relaxing, fulfilling, lazy, happy, cushy.

I'm once again amazed (even through my current fog) at how fast an entry goes up now. MT runs light years faster on this server than it did on my old PC at home, and of course there's no waiting for the files to get uploaded via FTP. That's so nice.

I'm so incredibly tired. I just haven't been getting to bed soon enough. I've been sleeping well while I sleep, but 5-6 hours a night just isn't enough for me.

And I haven't been writing much either. I've had stuff to say, and I sure as hell had a rant I almost posted Tuesday night. I wanted to, but... I think this is the first time I was actually worried someone would read it that I didn't want to. And it's a rather unfounded fear (you'd know why if I explained more), but besides the fact that things that happened immediately after the situation did serve to dull things a bit (no, not any sort of... substances), but I also found it far too difficult to set up a public/private system similar to Live Journal. Besides, the person who caused the situation has since apologized, so while I'm still a little ticked the real anger I felt is no longer really justified.

I've had other stuff to say besides going off on a rant, but I've just not felt like making the effort. My efforts of late have been poured into template creation: I'm working on converting the Bruno message board (aka "das brunogekritzel") into a phpBB.com/">phpBB2 board. I already know how to move the posts over, because that's what I did with my own board. Right now I'm focused on creating a style, as it's called, for the board, that's based on what it looks like now.

I found a relatively simple style called aallixSilver that I'm modifying (rather... heavily, actually) to have the color scheme (and not bloody table cell backgrounds, and not do a table layout for everything, table or not. Sheesh!) and so on. This is actually a lot of work, and it's taking a lot of my time. Plus, I've actually edited the phpBB code in a couple places to facilitate some stuff, which is a little harder because I have to track down what's where, without really knowing how the code works. Thankfully it's been template variables I've been setting, or changing how they're set, and since it's easy to find those all-caps things that get referenced in a template, I find that and then see what the php variable is and how it's getting set. Bleh. I just hope they don't put out a new version for a while, 'cause I'm sure I'll forget the changes I made and lose 'em during an upgrade. Should've taken notes. Oh well.

Damn, I am just so bloody tired. And it's not anyone's fault but my own. And, I'm probably going to get sick in a day or so. J woke up sick as hell Tuesday with some cold or other, and he's only now getting better (he was feeling a lot better last night). And I woke up with the usual after-cold drainage (from the last one), plus the barest beginnings of a "lumpy" throat that usually don't accompany the usual drainage. So I took some Equate (generic) cold & sinus stuff hoping it'll do something to stave it off, plus had a full little glass of OJ to take my vitamins instead of a bottom-of-the-glass amount of water.

Friday Five questions will be forth-coming once I have the chance to look at 'em, and can be coherent enough to understand and answer them. And after I update my Resolutions, which I don't think I've done all week. Once more, with feeling: Bleh!

I've been thinking about something. I've actually started getting comments on things on my site from people I'm unaware of ever having met. (These have pretty much been on my Funny Forwards.) I have MT set up to email me whenever I get a new comment to something. What I'm wondering... am I supposed to reply to every one, either as another comment, or in an email? I mean, I like getting them, and I suppose I should thank them, but I don't want to seem desperate (adding my own comment) or worse, stalkerish (sending an email). I really don't know the proper etiquette, if you will, of comments. Of course I comment on stuff if I have something more substantial than a "thank you" to say; if someone makes a comment that makes me think of something specific to mention, I usually do. However, so far, I haven't responded back to any of them just to say "thanks for commenting", and I don't think it'd be honest of me to just come up with some nice-sounding BS just to pretend that I have a more thoughtful reply.

So... should I just be happy that people are commenting, and stick to only saying things when I really have something to say? I mean, I want everyone to know I do see and read all the comments made and all, but I'd feel rather silly and ingenuine saying "Hey, me too, and thanks for commenting!" on every single one. I don't get constant comments all the time, so it's just not something I'm used to. I guess I ought to just say here, that yes I do see every comment on every section that has 'em enabled, and yes I appreciate them, so if you don't hear from me via or don't see a reply, it's not because I didn't see it or don't care. I just don't have anything constructive to say.

1. What food do you like that most people hate?
   Um... not anything, really. I have found quite a few people who don't like mushrooms, and I love 'em, but I doubt that "most people" hate them. That's probably the closest I get though.
2. What food do you hate that most people love?
   Well, an overwhelming number of people I know like pepperoni, and I really, really don't. It's not to the point where I would rather starve than eat it, but I won't eat it if I can help it.
3. What famous person, whom many people may find attractive, is most unappealing to you?
   I don't find Angelina Jolie attractive at all. Those lips... eek. And something about her seems a bit misproportioned at times. I also never really found Tom Selleck attractive, even when he was younger and all that. I just don't get it.
4. What famous person, whom many people may find unappealing, do you find attractive?
   That, I really don't know. Most of the famous people I find attractive, are also drooled over by plenty of others. I can't really think of anyone I find attractive, male or female, who doesn't have his or her own following already.
5. What popular trend baffles you?
   Well, for starters, I don't really get the whole high-cut thong visible under low-cut jeans. I think it's silly looking, and rather cheap. I could imagine a prostitute going for that look maybe, but not anyone with any healthy amount of self-esteem and self worth.

It occurred to me last night, as I flossed for the first time in forever, that if I'm going to have more pleasant experiences at the dentist's office from now on, I'm going to have to start flossing every day, or as close to that as possible. So next year, I'll have not only the three resolutions from this year (to exercise, scoop the cats' litterboxes, and take my vitamins), I'll also have another one: floss & mouthwash.

Now all I have to decide is whether I'm going to use the same colors for next year's resolutions, or whether I want to use some different ones. (The layout will stay the same, as creating that was difficult to begin with.)

Apparently, spiders can be affected by various psychotropic drugs, and spin rather... interesting webs depending on what they're on. I never would've thought they would be affected by some of the drugs they were given; apparently raw nervous systems can experience drug effects.

I've been editing and adding a ton of links to my Outside Links section... the top, by far, category in it (yes, I have enough links that separate categories for them, each with their own page, is necessary) is the list of PvP Forumites' various websites and journals. A distant second is the section of links to all the webcomics I read on a regular basis. The rest are a pittance compared to those two.

I know I'll come up with more links; I just need to remember to add them when I visit.

Oh, and I was worried that I completely forgot to check for new Saturday Scruples, but I just looked and there still haven't been any new questions posted since October 11. If they don't update long enough, I'll probably forget to check and miss when they start up again.

Thursday night, J and I went with a friend and his date to the Lemp Brewery haunted house tour. It was alright; they actually got me to jump & yell out once, and I had a general sense of unease through most of it. Then Friday I decided last minute to try dressing up for Halloween, in spite of the fact we weren't really going anywhere. I put on this awesome dress I found in Springfield, MO, along with a wig and my wedding slippers. The wig was all I could find in a pinch that was remotely close to what I wanted, and I used my wedding slippers because I couldn't find any others on such short notice. Picture 1. Picture 2. I'm definitely going to find a good costume shop to get a better wig (or else ask on the forums for a good shop to buy one online), and going to find better shoes/slippers (again, asking around to see what footwear would actually be appropriate). Finally, I'm going to lose 10 or 20 pounds 'cause most of the pictures make me look horrendously fat (I know I'm overweight, but damn, not that much, am I? -- and no, I didn't put the worst fo them up). I might see if I can find out what shades of makeup would be the most appropriate as well, instead of just doing a way-bolder version of what I might usually wear.

Saturday, we tried to finish organizing going to see Alien with as many forumites as possible. However, there were too many things in the way, and too many of us couldn't see it at this or that time. So we tried to organize to at least still have dinner at the Pizza Kitchen. I managed to even screw that up. We were going to pick up Krall and meet Helm and a friend of his for dinner. We went to the one just off Olive. We went and picked up Krall in St. Charles, then swung back to the restaurant. We were supposed to meet at 7pm, and we arrived at 7:05; at 7:30 we knew something was up, 'cause we'd been seated but Helm and his friend hadn't gotten there.

We figured it out finally when we went to the theatre practically across the street. All we could see from their signs on the building was it was an AMC theatre, which the West Olive is, which is the one we thought we were eating right by. Clue 1: they weren't showing Alien. Clue 2: we found a little security system (or other system) readout that said "Creve Coeur AMC 12 Plex". Oops. Apparently one of the other two Pizza Kitchens within a 5-10 mile radius of each other, was what we should've headed for. So we never met up with Helm, and since he wasn't able to see Alien later we couldn't apologize at the time. Anyway, we did buy tickets at West Olive, then drove to Talayna's for a Cannoli & stuff. We saw the movie, and it was awesome, then we dropped off Krall and headed home for bed. Definitely not everything we'd planned, but I know I had fun (so I can't be accused of speaking for myself).

Today we just stayed in, did some work to close up the pool for good, and a bunch of J's friends from the UMSL arcade came over to game & stuff. They had this game called Burnout, where your whole objective is to cause a massive wreck and rack up as much monetary damage as possible. Was interesting. I played a little Devil Dice upstairs, which was nice. Read a little. Napped. Nice quiet Sunday.