I know I've taken this quiz before, but I don't remember what I got on it... probably about the same.

-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! --

Now, I'm not OCD in a way that prevents me from living life, or even seriously slows me down (i.e. I don't have any ritualist checking of door locks, oven burners, etc., and I don't have to wash my hands 10,000 times a day, etc.), but I am particular about things. Like formatting this quiz: I'm so picky about having current (X)HTML that I took out all the font tags, put in style attributes to replace them where necessary, etc. I refused to just copy/paste it. Which takes time, but I did it anyway. So it's more stuff like that. And I dunno where the moderate schizotypal comes from...

My contacts started feeling normal, more or less, yesterday. Hey, it only took 10 days, right? Of course, I still take a few false starts per eye to get them in, and often am driven to cuss and scream and pound things when getting them out (excpet for that one night that is turning out to be an exception). But hey, I've got 1/3 basically nailed, right?

*yawn* I wonder if J's parents will open up the hot tub tonight or tomorrow... since we're going to be there this weekend, and I have some hella sore muscles. That would feel awesome.

Wedding shower shopping stuff...

Ooh, and I'm proud of myself. My husband's best man is getting married next month (3 weeks from this weekend, actually) and I'm invited to his bride-to-be's wedding shower. They're registered at Target, so I went yesterday afternoon to see what they wanted, etc. Well, as I suspected, there's nothing on their registry that would really qualify for a good bridal shower gift. I don't know her well enough to do lingeree type stuff (and I'm not sure it'd be appreciated anyway since there will be a lot of family there). So, I went to see what some of the items actually looked like. Well, the bedding stuff they want is really awesome, and so I figured I'd try and find something to compliment that. Boy, did I ever! I got a little basket (we're talking 1.5" deep, maybe... 5"x7" or so, with two cute little handles). I found a variety of nice smelling candles in this nice, deeeep maroon very simlar if not identical to the color of the bedding. I got 3 pillars, one tallish and two shorter, plus a couple little ones that are (annoyingly) slightly bigger than votives. Plus, I got 3 glass holders for the pillars, and found two hanging silver-and-glass holders just big enough to hold the little ones. (Most of the small-candle holders were votive sized, so that was kinda difficult.) The bag is going to be way too big, but all the smaller ones wouldn't fit the basket at the bottom (they all had 3" bottoms), and the only ones wide enough at the bottom to fit the basket were of course roughly 14" wide and 16" tall. So I imagine this may be the first time I use all the tissue paper in a package...

I'm going to put all the candles in the basket with the 3 glass plates, wrap that in some tissue paper, then wrap both holders in some more paper, then stick 'em all in this huge, beautiful gift bag, add a card, a little more paper, and the ribbon cluster that goes wonderfully with it. I'd take pics of what all I bought, but I don't think I'll have time before we head out tonight. Maybe I'll take the camera with me and take pics Saturday before I put it all together (the shower's on Sunday), then post when I get back. That way the 0.00001% chance she'll see it before she gets it (I assume she doesn't know of my site or LJ, but one knows what assuming does...), will be a 0% chance.

It was just a really fun, girly moment for once. I don't do it often, and it's fun on the rare occasion. Ooh, and the candle scent is blackberry-something, and it's not the headachy super strong flowery kind of scent, but rather mild and quite pleasant.

Edit: I went to Target.com to find links to the stuff, and while I didn't find anything I actually bought, I did find the bedding I was matching (was looking for stuff to go with the dark color).

A coworker of mine and his wife, both of whom I'm friends with, just found out recently that they're expecting. Yea, baby! They've known a few weeks, and waited to tell anyone but parents so they could have some of the earlier tests run to make sure everything was OK. He told another coworker/friend and me at lunch Monday, and he's planning on telling our team about it at tomorrow's staff meeting. She told all her coworkers today, so I figure with all that it's OK for me to post this now. (I waited, because I can't be 100% certain no one whom I work with is reading this, ya know.)

Very awesome.

(Of course, my second reaction after "Oh, wow, congratulations!" was "NOT ME YET! PLEASE NOT ME YET!!" even though I know it can't happen anyway. I want to have children, but I'm so not ready just yet. I don't think I'm selfless enough yet to give up that big a chunk (read: all) of my free time and sleep and all that.)

*cough*... three days late.*cough* But who's counting?

If you...

1. ...owned a restaurant, what kind of food would you serve?
   Um... good food? Probably a relatively wide range, with some healthy stuff, some way bad for you stuff, and stuff in between. Some appetizers, a little pasta, a little from different meats, several sides to choose from... probably a variety and not centered on one specific type of cuisine.
2. ...owned a small store, what kind of merchandise would you sell?
   Um... odds and ends of all kinds that people have trouble finding at other stores... You know those things you might see at Walgreens, Walmart, or a hardware store, but they're only there a couple weeks, and when you run out and look for 'em again you can't find 'em anymore? Yeah, that stuff.
3. ...wrote a book, what genre would it be?
   Probably scary stuff.
4. ...ran a school, what would you teach?
   Well, don't most schools teach all the different subjects? Or something? Or do I get a choice on what kind of school? In that case, I'd probably run a HS that taught all the basics (math, science, English, and history), but focused heavily on things like art and music.
5. ...recorded an album, what kind of music would be on it?
   Um... no idea. I don't sing all that amazingly, and the only other music I can do is play piano, so it'd probably end up being a bargain-bin solo piano album.

You are the grammar Fuhrer. All bow to your authority. You will crush all the inferior people under the soles of your jackboots, and any who question your motives will beeliminated. Your punishment is being the bane of every other person's existence, because you're constantly contradicting stupidity. Everyone will be gunning for you. Yourdreams of a master race of spellers and grammarians frighten the masses. You must always watch your back. If only your power could be used for good instead of evil.

What is your grammar aptitude?
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I wouldn't have said I'm a grammar Nazi, per se -- I just got every last answer right. (And yes, I'm a closet grammar Nazi: I cringe every time I read "your" when the person should've used "you're", and "should of" drives me bonkers, but I rarely if ever correct anyone, whether on the internet or in person.)

I finally got both contacts out without either diving for an inside or outside corner, and in less than 15 minutes to boot. Boo-fuckin-yah!

Friday Five'll be up tomorrow some time... 3 days late, but I just haven't had time or cared enough. But for now I can go to bed happy for once. (If you would believe, I was pounding walls and throwing stuff about this time last night... I couldn't get either out and had to use a plunger with both. Thankfully I didn't break anything or put any holes in anything.)

I found out Wednesday that I have 5 weeks after that day to go through final testing, after which time (barring illness, injury, etc.), I should be eligible for my black belt. This is a very exciting thing for me.

However, I can't help but feel like I don't deserve it. The thoughts at the forefront of my mind about it, are that I'm not tough enough, I'm not fast enough, I'm not instinctive enough, and that I'm just plain not worth, nor will I be in a mere 5 weeks. Hell, even though at the previous Thursday's instructor meeting I was basically told that my quite unique teaching style is a good thing, and that I'm a good instructor, I feel that I'm the worst of the 5 of us brown belts, that I'm not good at it, definitely not good enough at it, and probably never will be.

It's almost all I can think about regarding black belt. I feel that I'm nowhere close to deserving it, and that I'm not even 100% deserving of the brown I now wear. I mean, I keep thinking I ought to be red or even maybe purple. I cannot stop feeling that I'm not good enough. I don't react to situations fast enough, I tire out too easily in a fight, I'm not strong enough or flexible enough, I can't come up with good, solid, 100% effective combos off the top of my head with no time to prepare (i.e. as when I'd have to in a real situation). I don't hit hard enough, I don't take hits well enough, I don't teach well enough. I don't remember all the different breakaway techniques I should off the top of my head. I definitely don't spar at the level of a black belt (though, to be fair, I don't ever get to practice this much at all, so...).

About the only damn thing I do well at, and I refuse to shortchange myself on this one -- I know for a fact I'm good at it -- is forms. I can learn a kata pretty well, and remember it with a minimum of practice, not to mention get damn good at both my targeting and style as long as I practice. I'm good at that, and I know it. But that's all I'm sure of. The rest... I just can't be that good. And being good at kata alone does not make a good black belt in and of itself, no more than one player on a baseball team can carry the team to the World Series all by himself. I need to be better at all the rest.

I know that from here on out the remaining 5 (or more, possibly) adult classes are going to be "beat up on Kate" night, more or less. Not everybody will help out with that every time, though it was definitely "everybody beat up on Kate" night this past Wed. night. And I know I can make at least some progress with the kind of intensive, stepped up training I'm expecting. But (a) will that stick, or will I lose it as soon as the intensity goes away again? And (b) will it be enough? And I have a feeling that I'm going to get awarded that black belt on the day I'm due, or perhaps a week after depending (schedules like that are never set absolutely in stone, nor should they be). And while I should, and will, be proud to be awarded my black belt, I will still have that nagging feeling that it was too easy, and that I haven't really earned it. While most people think it's pretty cool to be given stuff without even trying, the thought kind of bothers me. It's not so much that I'd be disappointed in my grandmasters for being too easy on me, really, but... I dunno. It's that I'll feel like I got lucky, and I was dealt with too leniently, and that I haven't really and truly worked for it.

*sigh* I know I'm being harder on myself than I should be, and I know that they won't give it to me unless they believe I'm ready, and if a 10th degree and 5th degree grandmaster both feel I'm ready to be given the rank of black belt, I must have done something to earn it, and I'm probably as good as they think I am. Who would know better than they whether I'm ready, right? It doesn't change that I feel this way, and that I'm going to have a damn near impossible time changing that. I don't know what I can do to change it. And I don't know if I can manage to tell either of them this face to face. I don't know what good it would do to tell them, or if it'd fuck things up too much to do so, or what. But... yeah, it's driving me crazy.

And damn, am I ever fucking sore from Wednesday night. Heh. It's almost like the 2nd day is worse than the day after for these types of things. The bruises don't really bother me, but damn the bottom half of my back, my thighs, my upper arms, and my chest are all seriously muscle-sore. I really ought to buy some Icy-Hot or something.

First, I'm proud of myself. Yesterday, I got both contacts in almost right away, and in the right spot when they went in. So, yea about that. And, they bothered me a lot less. Also, I got the left one out on the first try last night. But, the right one dove right for the inside corner, and damn if it isn't already sensitive from every other time it's been there, so I grabbed for the plunger. I just can't figure out what I'm doing so differently for the right eye than the left, especially since the right one was the first to come out right at the office when I practiced. But at least they're starting to feel better. Heh, I even napped a couple hours in them last night. The funny thing is, while they were a little dried out (not where they bothered me, but... my eyes, plus my throat & such, are almost always dried out from an evening nap), they felt pretty damn good after I woke back up. I was about an hour past when I should've taken them out, but I didn't wanna. I did anyway, but damn, they were just startin' to get comfy. Of course, tonight I get to try and put make-up on with them in. That should be... interesting. Especially eye makeup. I won't be doing eyeliner, that's for damn sure. But shadow & mascara should be alright.

I had a really, really weird dream right before my alarm went off this morning. I was at J's grandmother's house, but (a) it sort of wasn't her (but supposed to be), and (b) it wasn't anything like her house. It wasn't in the country at all, it was bigger, it was multistoried with huuuge, tall windows... way different. So anyway, she was telling me about this massive ant or something that was a good inch long, and asking me if I'd seen it. I hadn't, but then for some reason she wanted to climb out a window to go find it (???). She just wanted me to wrap my belt around her and kinda help lower her when she went over. Weeeird. Of course, I said no, and when she tried climbing out anyway I pulled her back in and pointed out I wouldn't be able to catch her if she fell & stuff.

So anyway... then it gets weirder. And grosser. We find the ant... and it's landed on these... I dunno, bloodied, absolutely humongous but dead (I think?) house flies. When I say humongous, I'm talking about that the first one I noticed was bigger than my hand, heel to fingers, thumb to pinky. And the second one was half again as big. They'd somehow hatched or something out of a big plate of food. Spaghetti maybe. (That's why I'm unsure about "bloodied", as it could've been sauce I was seeing.) Anyway, it was super disgusting and freaky and stuff. The ant went away out another window (we're now in the kitchen). Did I also mention it's full night outside, and while there are street lights somewhere outside there are no lights on in the house, or at least in the part we're in, so the only light is coming in through the huge windows.

Then, out of nowhere but not a surprise to dream-me or dream-grandma, two of my coworkers, L & Jess are there. And J's there too. Basically we're trying to dispose of the flies. The idea was that we kinda shoved 'em outside (I think either L or Jess touched 'em to push them off the plate & out the open window). Then, we were going to get some lighter fluid or gasoline or something and pour it out onto the things, then toss matches down and burn 'em, and then get a fire extinguisher to put it all out. Mostly grandma, J and I were watching, with me sort of trying to help, and Jess & L were actually doing all the work, with Jess leading the operation. I think we'd either gotten everything together or were about to when my alarm went off.

Needless to say, I was rather... disturbed for a good 5 or 10 minutes after I woke up.

More in a bit... this is long enough, and I want to spend enough time on a whole different topic that's a bit more serious than these, so I'm going to separate it out.

In case you haven't noticed already, I've been doing some site tweaking. Any page that doesn't already have navigation (i.e. monthly or categorical archive pages that point to next and/or previous months or categories), that is done in the site's main layout, should now be getting its own generic navigation both at the top and bottom of each page. This includes the main page, the main archives page, any comments pages, site prefs, etc.

Partly it's for a new theme I'm working on that kinda needs something at the top to get stuff lined up right; partly it's because I wanted to take some of the main navigation and copy it where it's more obvious. It's not all the site nav, as that's still under the "Site Links" section. But, I figured I'd make it easier to get to some of the main "points of interest", as you could call it. And of course, if one of those general links is where you already are, then that part won't be a link but it will be just text instead.

I had an eye exam today to get a thorough eye exam, and to see if I could get contacts. It was at a new place, because our vision program changed and the other place was no longer on it. A big added bonus is that this place is a lot closer than the old one.

First I did the works -- puff test in each eye (I kept blinking so she changed the machine back to auto instead of manual, which is supposed to make it be able to guess when you're going to blink and then puffs you right before -- worked great); peripheral vision test where you look at a central lit dot with one eye, and click the plunger button every time you see another light flash somewhere else; bright light shone in each eye to determine whether the areas where the fluid drains off the eye were open (narrow angle glaucoma test); actual prescription test and eye chart reading.

Then we discussed contacts. He said that since my eyes each had a very small astigmatism, he would recommend either gas permeable or toric (?) lenses, rather than soft ones. Plus, soft wouldv'e been bad anyway because of my allergy problems. In the end he decided gas permeable would e better (which is nice, because they're also cheaper).

I now have contacts. They're in right now.

Only read after this point if you're not squeamish about eyes...

This was quite unexpected, because I figured I'd get to try some "plain" ones (i.e. no prescription) to see if I could get them in and out, and to see if they'd fit, etc. It turns out they stock so many of them in so many different brands and prescriptions, that the ones I was practicing with were the ones I'd be taking home. Wow. So, first she showed me how to properly clean and rinse them, and told me what all to do at night. Then, she had me do it with the right lens. After that, she had me put it in. I had a couple false starts, but then it was in. And annoying as fucking hell! Then, I repeated everything (cleaning, rinsing, etc.) with the left one. That one I had more trouble with. I finally got it in, but I must've looked away just as it went in and I blinked, because it was all the way over to the outer corner of my eye. So I made several attempts to move it, which entails "garbbing it" with your eyelids, looking away, then closing the eye and looking over toward it again. No go 00 I couldn't get hold of it at all.

So finally she had me use the little plastic plunger -- you just push it onto the center of the lens, and it seals to it, thus pulling it out. After that, I tried again, and this time I got it in right. Of course, fooling with that one made the right one less noticable, and when it went in the left one was annoying as hell. That's when I finally figured out the ones I had in were for my prescription. I was quite surprised.

Then I got taking-out practice. I tried with the left one first, no go. The way you take them out, is you open your eyes as wide as you possibly can, then you pull the outer corner of your eye way out (stretched), then up, then look straight ahead or way in, and blink. That's supposed to push them out with your eyelid. However, it was NOT working. I actally finally got practice moving it back into place, because one try of it pushed it to the outside corner again. This time I was able to garb it and move it, only too far. Then she said to do the same thing but with the inside, and I got it centered then. At that point she had me try the other eye instead. AFter about... I dunno, 4 or 5 tries it popped out. Then she said to go ahead and put it abck in. After that I fianlly got the left one to come out as well, followed by successfully putting it back in. And they don't really pop out, or they didn't for me. They just kinda hung loose from an eyelid instead, where I could grab 'em with my fingers.

Once that was done, I went back in the room for a double-check of the "what line can you read?" stuff. Then, the doctor dripped a wee bit of stain in each eye (well, more like brushed it on a bottom lid, which was a bit uncomfortable) and looked back in them with a blue light. The stain was quickly gone as my eyes watered it back out.

So now I have contacts. I'm to wear them 4 hours today, then 5 tomorrow, 6 the next day, etc., until I get to where I can wear them all day. No wearing them to sleep in, or in the shower, or swimming. I know how to clean them and soak 'em overnight and rinse 'em and all that, and I have bottles of cleaning solution, conditioning solution, and a can of the saline rinsing solution (it's a can 'cause it sprays instead of drips). I'm also going to get some additional stuff in the mail, or something.

But damn are they annoying me. I know I'll get used to them, but right now they're driving me insane! And every time they feel different or start to annoy me less I'm paranoid hat they must've moved out of place or something. I'll be wearing them for about another hour and a half tonight, then I get to have fun trying to blink 'em out. I'm sure it'll take me a good 10-20 minutes... possibly for each eye. And I'm sure J will get a kick out of it if he decides to watch. Ah well, I'm sure I'll get the hang of getting 'em in and out in no time, eh?

(I put this under Blog Questionairres 'cause I guess that's the closest these things come, and I'm not adding a Memes category 'cause I don't plan on doing that many.)

(_) I never have been drunk
(x) I never have smoked pot
(_) I never have kissed a member of the opposite sex
(_) I never have kissed a member of the same sex (It'd be an X if we figure romantic-type kissing)
(x) I never crashed a friend's car
(x) I never been to Japan
(x) I never rode in a taxi
(x) I never had anal sex
(_) I never have been in love
(_) I never had sex
(x) I never had sex in public
(_) I never have been dumped
(x) I never shoplifted
(x) I never have been fired
(x) I never been in a fist fight (karate class practice doesn't count)
(x) I never had a threesome
(x) I never snuck out of my parent's house
(_) I never been tied up (sexually)
(x) I never been caught masturbating
(x) I never pissed on myself (I assume diaper-age doesn't count here)
(x) I never had sex with a member of the same sex
(_) I never had sex with a member of the opposite sex
(x) I never have been arrested
(x) I never made out with a stranger
(x) I never stolen anything from my job
(x) I never celebrated New Years in Times Square
(x) I never went on a blind date
(_) I never lied to a friend
(x) I never had a crush on a teacher
(x) I never celebrated Mardi Gras in New Orleans
(_) I never been to Europe
(x) I never skipped school
(x) I never slept with a co-worker
(x) I never have been fisted or fisted anyone
(x) I never have thrown up in a bar
(x) I never paid for sex
(x) I never danced in front of people in my underwear (again, being a toddler doesn't count, right?)
(x) I never use all capitals if I can help it.
(x) I never flashed my tits/bits at a party.
(x) I never have slept with an ex
(x) I never had sex with four or more people at the same time
(x) I never had sex on the beach (though I've had the drink of the same name -- very good)
(_) I never rode in a train

1. What was the last song you heard?
   The last song on the radio, since I haven't put my headphones on at work yet. That would be "Angel is a Centerfold" by the Jay Giles band. I only took notice because I first heard the song as done my Captain Jack as a DDR song, and (a) that's the only other time I've heard it, and (b) this wasn't that version. After they played it, they said who it was by (never heard of 'em), and they also said that it was their biggest hit in the 10 years they'd been together (perhaps their only real hit?), and that they broke up after that.
2. What were the last two movies you saw?
   Difficult question. I have real trouble keeping track of what order I've seen movies unless it's been in the past 3 or 4 days. I do know the very last one was 40 Days and 40 Nights. After that I'm not sure. It could've been The Italian Job, 'cause one of J's friends brought it with him last Sunday, but I didn't end up watching it. A couple weekends ago I watched most of Devil's Advocate on TV (I'd already seen it though). J and I watched a good chunk of a Vin Diesel movie on TV in the last week and a half or so. (No idea what the title was... Diesel was a street racer who also liked to hijack tractor trailers so they could sell the goods they had.) But I'm just not sure what the absolute most recent was, because it could well be neither of those.
3. What were the last three things you purchased?
   Whatever the last 3 things were to ring up at Shop 'n' Save Monday night.
4. What four things do you need to do this weekend?
   1. Finish sewing my craft project, or at least put a gigantic dent in what's left to do
   2. Pick up all my clothes off the bedroom floor
   3. Gather together all our remaining tax stuff so I can mail it to J's mom (she's a mostly-retired tax accountant and can do it all in a small fraction of the time on her computer program than we ever could)
   4. Finish updating my resolutions since I'm probably no going to get those caught up before it's the weekend

   There are other things I know I'll be doing this weekend, such as spending some fun time with J, and hanging out with some St. Louis area PvPers but those aren't "need to do" things; they're "really want to do" things.
5. Who are the last five people you talked to?
   In order from most recent to least: James at work, who was asking where Tim keeps some certain technical manuals (he wasn't in yet); Sonya, with whom I exchange Hellos this morning when I came in; a lady in the elevator; J this morning and last night; one of the others at the karate instructors' meeting last night (either John, my dad, Jim, or Brenda). (It's hard to distinguish which of them I spoke to last, since we were all talking to each other back & forth.)

My heel hurts. *whine* I've had a heel spur for something like 6 months now; 4 months ago I went to my regular doctor, and he told me (a) what it was, and (b) to buy a specific OTC shoe insert and take some prescribed anti-inflammatories. The inserts helped minimally, and the anfi-inflams hardly at all.

So, since my insurance doesn't require referrals, I made an appointment with the same orthopedist office my mom went to for her heel spur. I went in this afternoon, and they did x-rays on the spot & all that.

After talking with me and pushing on my heel in different places, and looking at my x-rays (I didn't get to see 'em though ) he decided I needed a cortisone injection. My internal reaction: aw shit. I've heard how those things hurt, whether for bursitis in the shoulder or heel spurs, etc. He let me lie down no problem 'cause of my thing about needles, and didn't pull this "this won't hurt much" or "little pinch" now crap. First he sprayed this liquid stuff on and said "this is gonna be really cold". Damn, was it ever! Then, just before the needle, "Ok, going to stick you, it's gonna hurt." He wasn't lyin', that's for sure. At first it just kinda burned a little, kind of like an antibiotic injection or my Depo shots (one of which I just got yesterday, dangit!). Then the pain shot halfway down my arch and a lot more hurty instead of burny. Ouch!!! Damn, that hurt.

Immediately, I noticed when walking on it (which was a couple minutes 'cause I stayed lying down to stay calm, then sat up, etc.), the actual heel spur pain was totally gone. In fact, since my foot was still super cold nothing at all hurt. (No, I wasn't numb). He warned me, though, that walking or not the injection itself will probably hurt off and on some. That, it has done. It likes to pulse, but not with my heartbeat like a throbbing headache, and not consistently. Plus, by this evening it bothered me to put full weight on it for any length of time. So while the heel itself is 100% better already, there's that whole injection thing. And, if I rub my big toe up over my 2nd toe, which I do fairly often it would now seem, my arch where the pain was during the injection hurts too. I'll have to stop doing that.

Anyway, he said no more standing or walking on bare feet at all indefinitely. He gave me another scrip for Naproxen, though my other ones it turns out were Lodine (Etodolac brand) but I couldn't remember at the time. Refills this time. I'm supposed to take 'em regardless of whether I feel any noticable effect. And, he said that if my insurance pays for orthotics then I'll be back in 2 weeks; otherwise keep using the inserts I have and be back in a month. (Apparently of all the plans my company provides, relatively few have the one I have, which is non-HMO and non-CCP. So, they don't know automatically for sure whether they pay for that or not, so they have to call & find out.)

As long as the injection pain goes away, and the spur pain doesn't come back, for at least a couple months, I'll be happy. It'll be the first time I've been pain free in my heel for months.

What Is Your Animal Personality?
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Things have finally settled down. Domain is working again, subdomain now exists again and I can add others if necessary in the future.

Basically, things got FUBARd when Pro accounts got moved from one physical server to another. Then I messed 'em up worse because previous to that I'd added one of my DBs directly with phpMyAdmin instead of thru CPanel (the overall control proggy Pro accounts have to configure stuff), because CPanel wasn't working for that at the time. Then, since the subdomain had "disappeared", and I couldn't re-add it or any others for that matter, I figured I'd try to help by renaming the folder for it to something else and deleting other references to it.

Turns out I'd confused the everliving hell out of CPanel, plus some other stuff was a little horked from the initial move I think. Basically, a DNS reset and some serious fiddling w/ server stuff for the account, everything's back to normal. All I had to figure out was why the images in the subdomain weren't working right; I had to go and put the subdomain's URL back in the hotlinking protection. Whoops!

Now I'm off to sew, and at some point I'll have to catch up my resolutions updates.

I got inspired, kinda out of the blue, and started working a new layout design. However, the DNS was reset yesterday morning to fix a different issue, and I can't upload what I have to show anyone or do anything further with it. It's so frustrating! Hopefully it'll be up again soon; should be by tonight or tomorrow.

Grr!

Edit: As you can see, it's up again. Right after I posted this, I went to the CW Cadre's private forum to see if there were any posts and found an announcement that it's back up, and sure enough, there it was. Will post an explanation & other info about it in a bit.

What was...

1. ...your first grade teacher's name?
   Judy Kiehne. I actually kept a little bit in touch with her through my mom. She passed away last year, not too long after she retired from my old grade school. She is definitely missed. She was a wonderful teacher, and a kind person.
2. ...your favorite Saturday morning cartoon?
   Why, Warner Brothers cartoons, of course! They showed lots of 'em Saturday mornings. It only started to suck when ABC got the rights to it (instead of... I think CBS or 11 before it was WB), and they started chopping 'em all to hell. I mean, imagine watching a full on Wabbit Season cartoon with all the shooting of Daffy resulting in his beak being here, there, & everywhere, and having all the good bits cut because it was "too violent". Puh-lease! But yeah, those would be my alltime favorite.
3. ...the name of your very first best friend?
   Amanda Stevens. We were best friends from Saturday school (Saturdays for 4- & 5-year-olds that aren't in kindergarten yet) on up through 6th grade. We were friends after that but we kind of drifted when we hit middle school.
4. ...your favorite breakfast cereal?
   Hmm... I'm not sure I had one, or that I can remember. I know I ate Cheerios a lot, 'cause that's what Mom bought. And there were those 10-packs of little single-serving cereal boxes in different kinds. I liked a lot of those. I didn't like any cereals with dried fruit (raisins included) or dried marshmallows though. Still don't. But there were Frosted Flakes, Sugar Smacks, Cocoa Puffs... all kinds of stuff I liked.
5. ...your favorite thing to do after school?
   Well, in gradeschool I usually just came home and played or watched TV, assuming there wasn't any homework to do first (which was usually incredibly easy if there was). Middle school... I guess TV, and HS whatever. Nothing really stands out.

J's cousin brought over 40 Days and 40 Nights last night, so we watched that after dinner. I tell you what, that was a hilarious movie! The premise is kind of hokey, but I loved it. Very awesome.

We went to this little restaurant called New Orleans Crab Shack (or something very close to that), really close to us. We've been there a couple other times, but we took J's cousin this time. Awesome food. They have gator, they have catfish, they have red beans & rice, they have jambalaya and ettouffe... wonderful, wonderful food. I was the only one who got an entree that wasn't huge gobs of food; both of the guys had to take some home. (J took home a piece of fried catfish, and his cousin took home about 1/3 of his red beans & rice.)

After that we stopped by the liquor store next door (the restaurant is squeezed between that and a bar, go figure...) to grab some beer & check out their prices. They actually had a really good price on Cabo Wabo tequila. Didn't buy any, but a damn good price for such good tequila (Cuervo is rotgut by comparison). J got some Corona, and his cousin got some Michelob Honey Lager, I decided I'd better not have anything. The man working the counter was really cool. He didn't card J and guessed his age exactly (J held up his ID anyway, just in case cameras were rolling & he didn't want the guy to get in trouble, since he is well over 21 and all). We talked a bit, and he was pretty neat. He's from Ethiopia, and talked about how stupid and political all the fighting is with the tiny country that wants to break off yet has no usable farm land, and fights with the Ethiopians to take a bigger chunk of land that is actually usable, etc. How they fight every so often, then it dies down; sometimes 1 country, sometimes 2, etc. Kinda had a rolling-eyes attitude about the whole thing. Then he gave us a couple sticks of incense out of the stuff at the register, just 'cause we'd chatted and stuff. One we burned last night; it was really, really cool smelling. The other I dunno if we'll use; it's got a fairly heavy musky odor to it, and while that may be popular, neither of us really prefers it. But I might have to find out what the other one was... I think we'll have to come back, they had better prices than the store less than a block away, and they had a pretty decent selection to boot.

I do feel sorry for J though. I woke up just before 5am to definitely not peeing sounds coming from the bathroom. Either something he ate for dinner ~8 hours previous was bouncing, or he'd picked up a stomach virus. Either way, he worshipped for, I guess, a good 10-15 minutes. An hour later when his alarm went off, he called in sick to his teacher (he's student teaching for anyone who didn't know), because while he hadn't needed the toilet again he said his stomach was just churning away, so he didn't want to go in and risk barfing on any students. I hope he feels better; that kinda thing just sucks ass to have.

You're a Harp!

What Type of Alcoholic Beverage Are You? brought to you by Quizilla

*hic!*

How evil are you?

Big surprise. I wonder what all you have to answer to get swung either Evil or Not Evil...

[And why is it these copy/paste codes never have width & height attributes for image tags, never quote the 0 for the border attribute, and never use alt text? Well, I suppose not never, but damn near. I mean how hard is it, really?]

One of the two elevators in our building isn't working right, and is up to shenanigans. The thing has started skipping the 3rd floor. We have 4 total, and if you get on at 1, and press the 3 button, it'll go straight to 4 whether it's called there or not, even if the 4 button wasn't pressed at all. Then it'll also skip it on the way back to 1 (I've heard it skips 2 as well, but I've no way of knowing it myself). I'd heard about it happening last week, but it didn't do it to me so I didn't think much of it.

I got on the elevator this morning (one of two -- the other one seems to work fine). There was a guy on it. He didn't come out (as is usual if someone's in an elevator when it reaches a bottom or top floor), and he also was still wearing a jacket and carrying stuff. Sure enough, he'd gotten on at 1 already and gone up to 4 and come back, with it not stopping. 3 was even still lit. Well, we tried again. Stopped at 4 instead. We said the hell with it and got off there and took the stairs back down to 3. I went right, he went left. The elevators are right by the entrance to the west wing of the building, where I was headed. As I got to the wing's doors, I saw the elevator doors for that elevator just closing. After we'd given up and departed, it finally had decided to stop at 3. Empty. ??? I think it's haunted, or there's a gremlin.

Pele's had apparently a massive hairball for several weeks now, or at least that's what we theorized. For a couple weeks she just wasn't washing much at all and was getting greasy and flaky on her back starting halfway from her neck all the way to the base of her tail. Plus, we were finding vomit (usually food or watery, though dried) in odd little places rather frequently. (She's very quiet and doesn't make typical cat-throw-up noises so unless you're 2 feet from her you'd never know she was doing it. So she was either doing it while we were gone or when we were in another room.) Other than that she was fine -- playing and sleeping pretty much like normal, save not spending much time on our bed. However, she hadn't succeeded in throwing up anything but food remnants or water. Then, she evidently started washing again because she stopped being greasy and flaky and became her nice soft, shiny, clean, self again. Except we still kept finding spatters of kitty barf here & there. We guessed she managed to either pass some of it or it got shifted to where she wasn't feeling uncomfortable washing.

We were going to use a dropper to give her ~6 drops of vegetable oil to help her throw up or pass the stuff, but we haven't yet. Today, I came home and found she'd thrown up a sizable, though not monstrous gob of hair. Yea x 1. So either she got rid of some or all of it finally. Plus, she actually threw up on the tile (instead of the carpets in various rooms which she keeps hitting). Yea x 10!! I told her copiously what a good kitty she is, though I'm sure she doesn't have a clue what I'm saying, let alone why. But damn, it's just so much easier to clean up on tile than on carpet. And now she's hairball reduced, if not hairball free, for the time being. Good girl!

(Yes, we've tried the tubes of hairball treatment gunk they're supposed to like. She hates the stuff. I smooshed some on her paw once, a tiny amount, and she wouldn't lick it off but couldn't stand it there. She finally flicked her paw hard enough it hit the floor. Of course, then she didn't make the connection and just saw something mouth-sized on the floor and immediately ate it. But that's not enough to help much, and it's not something we can just make into a game so she'll keep eating little bits of it. I think maybe 2 drops of veggie oil twice a week might be a better option, followed of course by a few kitty treats.)

I feel much more accomplished now than I did catching up my Resolutions postings this morning. I've scooped the cats' litterboxes (I'd gone a week!!) and if you go by stitch count I'm over halfway done sewing my craft exchange project. (J's got a conference thingy tomorrow, so he probably won't be home until 9-10pm tomorrow night, meaning I should have lots of uninterrupted sewing time to get it done in.)

Now I just need to talk myself into flossing tonight, and it'll be a full day for a sleep deprived, 8-hours-behind-a-desk day.

I didn't do shit this weekend. Certainly not a pertains to my daily goal stuff. I slept, I ate, spent a little time playing computer games, slept some more... Well, I did a LOT of sewing, 'cause I need to get done with my project and get it mounted, framed, & sent. I give myself till Tuesday evening to be done sewing it, then Wednesday I'll try and leave work a little early so I can stop by Michael's to find mounting stuff and a nice frame. Then I'll try to mail it Thursday. Fortunately we live close to a huge post office, and also fortunately I can answer "no" with a clear conscience when asked if it has batteries in it. Cloth, paperboard, and whatever the frame's made out of, and that'll be it. Then, I can start working on the original project I started on and hopefully get it done in about 4-6 weeks, and send it out as well. (I may only be sending this small part because of time constraints, but I started this project already, and damned if I'm not going to finish it. Besides, I think my craft person will like it even more than this one.)

I really, really need to find a way to sleep better Sunday nights. I slept terribly. And all the sleep I got this weekend was catch-up, and desperately needed, so I'm not sure why I slept so poorly. But ~4 to 4.5 hours of sleep is just not enough.

You are the Moon card. Entering the Moon we enter the intuitive and psychic realms. This is the stuff dreams are made on. And like dreams the imagery we find here may inspire us or torment us. Understanding the moon requires looking within. Our own bodily rhythms are echoed in this luminary that circles the earth every month and reflects the sun in its progress. Listening to those rhythms may produce visions and lead you towards insight. The Moon is a force that has legends attached to it. It carries with it both romance and insanity. Moonlight reveals itself as an illusion and it is only those willing to work with the force of dreams that are able to withstand this reflective light. Image from: Stevee Postman.

Which Tarot Card Are You?
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