I never know whether to love or to hate my job. I think it's as bipolar as I am. Dammit, I'm so sore... again I state that they need to fix the scheduling. I am not fond of getting 2000+ piece trucks with only four people to unload them. As a matter of fact, I find it pretty annoying.

Mind you, not quite as annoying as learning that next year I'm going to be forking over twice the amount of money for insurance with half of the coverage. Nah, that's a little different. Still annoying though.

-

Moving on, it looks like I may be getting involved with the next TMNT Fanfiction Competition again. I'm not in much of a state to actually run it this year- besides real life stress, some stuff has gone on this year that has me half out of the fandom door as is. But I've rather enjoyed working on it in the past three years, so I have no problems being a staff member. Now if we could just determine who's actually the host.

(dizzy) I haven't logged onto Stealthy Stories in forever. Things are already getting... fun.

-

Bah. This kinda sucks. (gestures towards life in general) Definitely a booze night. 'Cept I have no real booze, 'cause despite what I may say, I really am still a fetus in that they won't let me buy it myself yet. I do however have Mike's Hard Lemonade. I'm told it doesn't really count, but it has alcohol in it, okay? I pretend it counts. XD

I'm going to echo everyone who reads the Naruto manga and wonder what the hell Kishimoto is thinking. Or what drug he's taking. The things he's doing to his characters right now is awful- I've seen fanfic writers nail these characters better than he is. I'm still reading simply because I like to see stories to their ends, and I've always loved the secondary characters and want to see what happens to them. Though right about now I'll admit to being increasingly worried about how he'll ruin them too, or just plain ignore them. He's already thrown Hinata under a bus, after all. This whole thing with Sakura makes that blow about ten times worse, by the way.

At least one manga remains awesome. As per usual, One Piece leaves me running around like my head got chopped off because of how great it is. :D

But why does Oda have to be so good at mean cliffhangers ;_;. Now that I've significantly calmed down and considered that panel... I wanna guess it's Doflamingo. And really hope we finally figure out what his Devil Fruit ability is.

Anyways, Youtube Friday. The video that I wanted to use got removed from Youtube! I'm so sad. It was a really funny one, too.

So I had to rush through all the videos I've watched this last week for something suitable to share. There's only been like one that really stands out in my memory though, so here it is. Enjoy!

Ah comics. I do love them. They're so pretty, and they tell a good story.

But then, almost as often, they frustrate the hell out of you >.<. Whether they be manga or American comics. Both have their pros and cons- personally I think the American comics have prettier art (in color, too). That said, Japanese manga tend to have much better plot continuity.

Take for example, Deadpool. He's only my most favorite comic book character ever right about now (I'm only missing ten issues of the '97 series GO ME). But what the hell is Marvel doing to him?

I can understand his sudden popularity giving rise to a new series and some more guest appearances, etc. But now it's getting positively ridiculous. They're making the same mistake with him that they did with Wolverine, and now there's just too much. As someone at a community I visited recently put it, 'Deadpool's like sugar. He's good in small doses, but too much and your teeth will rot'.

It wouldn't be so bad if maybe the writers wouldn't ignore just about everything from past Deadpool comics. And I do mean everything. Deadpool #900 came out recently (and I do like it, for the most part) and therein Wade Wilson gets like his fifth contradicting back story.

Note to writers: Just because your character has been previously established to be so crazy he can't quite get the facts right about certain elements of his past doesn't mean we don't remember them. Wade's mother has now died when he was young, lived long enough to abuse him before kicking the bucket, and now she's passed in childbirth. WTF. If you make his dad an alcoholic birthday clown or something, I'm kicking your asses (one of the few things I've never seen changed is that he's military and lived longer than the mother).

More rage- WHAT THE HELL. Okay Marvel, I can almost understand zombie!Deadpool. He was hilarious in Marvel Zombies. But the Deadpool Corps?! No, no- we don't need a lady!Deadpool, dog!Deadpool, and kid!Deadpool in a monthly title. By the way, Deadpool already has his own loveable cast of characters. Where's Al? And Weasel? I haven't seen them since Cable and Deadpool (the only series besides the five issue Suicide Kings to have any kind of continuity to the original series). What about Bob? I know he was in a few issues of the current Deadpool title, but more of him would be cool. I love Bob. Outlaw was fun in Suicide Kings. How about some of Siryn? And speaking of a kid!Deadpool- WTF THERE IS ALREADY A POOLBOY FROM THE ORIGINAL SERIES IF YOU'RE SO DESPERATE.

(sigh) And if you can do absolutely none of that... could you at least get rid of the voices in Wade's head? He was crazy enough to begin with, and trying to pass off his comic awareness as a case of schizophrenia kinda sucks.

Putting rants aside, I still love Deadpool. The current series has some good moments, but I'm not much of a fan of the spin offs. Suicide Kings was excellent, of course, so naturally it's the only one that's a mini-series. But there is hope! Joe Kelly's (original writer who made Deadpool awesome) going to be writing the crossover with Spiderman issue! YAY! Kelly, please fix him! Make him awesome again! Take over the series and bring back Al and Weasel and explain all the stuff you couldn't do before!

Please?

Dammit, wanna sleep.

So the assembly was fun. I really wish I could've gotten more out of it. The talks in the afternoon session are usually the ones I like to pay most attention to, and they even had some really good speakers this time. But, due to my messed up inner clock, my body thought it was nap time instead. Man, my neck is so sore. >.<

And so now it's back to work. I feel like it should be Thursday, since I had two days off... but no, it is in fact Monday. Which would be like the end of my work week instead of the beginning. Well, except in that I have to work tomorrow too... so that makes it more like my Thursday (which is on Sundays). And then instead of having a weekend, I'll just be getting a day off. So then it's more like I'm working half of my weekend instead (even though everybody but one person will be working that day too, so I'm not needed).

...Work schedule, I hate you. I'm too tired to make sense of you, let alone remember if I have any bills due today.

EDIT: Ohshit. So I made cookies last night in honor of having 75% of my plates clean. Well I woke up this morning and found I'd left the oven on. That isn't going to lead to anything bad, is it? Well... besides my electric bill (DAMMIT).

I swear to God- next time I have a religious event to attend, I will remember to ask to have the day off for the night before it too. For some reason it slipped my mind this time though, and thus I'm just waking up at a time where I'm used to going to bed. As is, I've had two and a half hours of sleep. My hair is still wet from my shower even! (is so unhappy)

I think someone needs to teach our new manager how to effectively schedule people. >.<

This week is going to be the first really good example of it, and maybe it'll motivate him some. Kathy has been put on a leave of absence, much to my absolute glee. I could dance! Yay!

However... Jackie is going to be leaving us after tomorrow. She wasn't with us for long at all, but out of that old lady group, she was probably the best worker. And may I mention one of the few besides me who works on Sunday and Monday. DAMMIT.

Next, they messed with James' schedule for the week, for some reason. So he's probably not going to be there on Sunday.

Squire is grocery two days out of the week. As you may have guessed, this is also on Sunday and Monday.

So in a nutshell, if everyone shows up for work as they're supposed to on those two days, at most we're going to have four people. Not impressed here, Mr Manager. Especially seeing as you scheduled eight people for last night and you're making me work on Tuesday, thus giving us nine people for that truck. What the hell.

Moving on to happier things- yay One Piece! Mihawk, it's been so long but you're still so awesome.

And now it's time for Youtube Friday!

I love this song. Why do so many songs fit One Piece so well? Fate, I tell you. Fate demands that people make as many awesome AMVs about it as possible, so that we may watch them. :D

Damn, am I bored. As much as I hate having to work (ASDFGHJKL; KATHY GO DIE ALREADY. Yes, she did it AGAIN. Yes, I want to kill her >.<), at least it forces me to do something.

Whereas on my days off... I don't really do anything at all. Can't really afford to do anything interesting most of the time. And even though I'm always thinking about cleaning most of the time, procrastination is sewn right into my genes, so it never happens. I haven't done the dishes in months. Yes, I'm aware of how disgusting that is.

So... yeah. Instead, I kinda just... do nothing. It's very relaxing, doing nothing, even if it leaves me feeling very unfulfilled at the end of the day.

Anyone wanna see what I did instead? >.>

I was so sure I had discussed this elsewhere, but do to the reaction seen by some who know me in whiteadelphi's post about it, it seems that I did not. In case you haven't seen it, in a recent issue of Tales of the TMNT (by the angelic savior of TMNT comics that is Tristan Jones), Leo is seen reading One Piece.

You heard me. I know have canon proof of two of my fandoms existing in one space. Hyesssss.

What really makes me laugh is that it's Leo reading it (heehee- and as he got the comic from Mike, both of them are fans XD). I know I'm not the only person who now wants to see him trying to use Santoryuu. XD

Anyways. Seeing that issue brought up again reminded me that I was going to icon it. But dammit, it was much harder than I expected. When I color, I rely heavily on the magic wand tool, which was impossible to do with this page. As it's pure black and white and absolutely not gray, magic wand couldn't tell the difference between what I wanted to select and the rest of the image. So for the majority of it, I had to go in and select in the hard way. >.<

It took five hours to color Leo alone. I gave up after that and went ahead and made the icon (points to userpic). BUT... the problem with icons is that you lose so much of the detail when it comes down to resizing them. And after all that coloring, I used less than a tenth of the picture. ;_;

Therefore, I've slowly worked on coloring the background too. Got a little more sloppy with that, but I am pleased now. And here's the final coloring. ^_^;



And now that that's said and done... I suppose I should go and try to do some chores. >.<; Gah- I am so unmotivated to do so. It's state would by now have bothered most people to be utterly disgusted, but it's only now kinda getting to me. As I stay in my room most of the time (and I don't care that that's a mess XD), I usually don't have to see the rest of the place. So it's out of sight, out of mind, etc. But then also... I have no sense of smell. I'm SURE that something should smell by now. I was surprised to learn from my stepdad that even mold has a smell. Does that mean that water that's been sitting in the sink for weeks does too? Or what about the stuff on the floor?

Smells aside (they confuse me so ;_:), I do want to someday have a presentable home. If I ever make some physical-will-actually-want-to-come-over-to-your-house friends, I would like my place to not make them gag. And since I can't afford a maid, I need to do it myself.

...Can this last for longer than a week or two? (crosses fingers)

P.S. Nickelodeon bought TMNT? Score. Despite what some of the other members of fandoms are thinking, this is probably a good thing. Nick is actually very good to their more serious shows. Pi is pleased. :D

Last night Kathy made work a living hell. It was so bad that I was finally driven to seriously complain about her to management, but I couldn't even articulate properly. Just... RAGE. The woman needs to be fired.

( Rant, rant, rant )

(deep breath) Still kinda angry. But HA. She's not here tonight. ^_^

Ah, Youtube Friday time. Seizure warning on this one, people. But it's very pretty. :D

So tired of being sick. I've been achy all of the past week, to accompany my sore throat and lack of a voice. My weekend was helping with that. Yesterday, in fact, I remember happily thinking to myself about how much better I was feeling.

Three hours later, I'm suddenly way dizzy and vomitting. Awesome, body. Way to move onto the next bug. So that's like, two months now since I've actually been healthy for longer than a week? 

(looks at last paycheck) Dammit, I can't afford to be sick. (grumbles and goes to work)

I really hate some of the people I work with. Not just the more annoying ones in the ICS, but everyone else. Though some of the recent additions to my crew really do take the cake, what with them exaggerating my every move to the manager over us. Yesterday I had my second talking to, but this time I hadn't even said anything bad. So freaking annoyed. This keeps up, I'm going to start complaining about them and I don't even need to exaggerate.

But yeah, besides them? Got plent of bastards too. We have new overnight managers, and while one of them is really cool, the other is a complete asshole. When we got back from lunch to pull pallets, we found we couldn't because he'd left some of the power equipment in such a way that we couldn't pull pallets around it. I was so pissed.

And just in case we get yelled at today for taking so long to get our job done? I took pictures. I'm so not taking the blame for that.

I'm kinda debating if I should move to another part of the store. Problem is, I don't like many of the other positions much either. :/

Anyways, enough of that. Youtube Friday is here, and there's a new episode of Avatar Abridged. :D

I loved Abridged!Sokka, by the way. XD

Heehee- I should totally review the chapters more often. I always mean to, but as I usually end up reading them right before work (and thus leave), I never seem to take the time to do so later on.

But Chapter 560 is up already! Yay!

( One Piece continues to be awesome )

GAH. No chapter next week? ;_; Pi is sad.

Okay, so remember how I mentioned that I seemed to be getting sick again but that was okay because I was used to the illnesses and would be taking precautionary measures?

THE WORLD IS CONSPIRING AGAINST ME.

The temperature drop in my town was really sudden. Last week it was still in the high seventies and now we're in the low fifties. Which you know, is just great when you forgot your jacket at your mother's and can't get it back until Tuesday. Which is also the icing on the cake when it's been raining for two days straight.

But no big, I thought. I get rides to work, and usually one of my co-workers is nice enough to give me a lift home. And my work is all indoors, so I figured I'd be fine.

Yesterday we had no truck. When they called everyone in the store to go do a cart run, we decided we could go do a few things to help. We didn't stay long, of course, because it was still raining and we had to go inside to take our break. Despite that, we were the only ones who did go out there in the first place, while everyone else chose to ignore the page.

The minute we got back from break, they called specifically for the ICS to go do a cart run. GAH, that pisses me off so much! We'd be happy to go, just don't make it sound like we're not doing anything! 

Er, and scratch out happy. No coat, remember? I love the rain, but despite that I won't willingly stay out in it for nearly two hours (at night, mind you) when it's getting cold outside.

I declare these new managers are retards. What part of 'I just got over pneumonia' translates to 'I'm totally fit to go outside without my jacket and do hard labor for you!' >.<

Grr... well after I was already pretty soaked, I got to borrow a rain slicker. Unfortunately, it did nothing for my head or my feet. By the time we got back inside I looked like I'd just taken a shower. As for my feet, my shoes have holes in them so my shoes and socks were puddles. When it finally got around to lunch time, I actually had to buy new socks. I spent nearly all of lunch sitting in the break room with my shoes off, as they felt so much better.

So anyways, by the end of the night I was already starting to cough again. My voice is hoarse this morning (will probably be getting laryngitis after all) and to top it all off, I threw up. And we have a nice big truck today with barely anyone to unload it.

If I get sick enough that I can't work again, I'm demanding paid days off this time.

Gah, I was so busy yesterday I had no time to post a video for Youtube Friday. I didn't even bother to when I got home, I was so tired. It seems I'm getting sick yet again. Feels like my sinuses. At least I have experience with this one though- I got laryngitis and sinus infections all the time when I was a kid, so I can bite them in the butt pretty early now.

New wave of sickness may be due to stress, as well. Work was fun for that last night... I'll talk about that some other time though.

Anyways, here's the video for Youtube Friday, a day late. XD

I decided to start reading another manga. I've heard good things about Soul Eater. I haven't watched the anime yet (it's supposed to be getting dubbed soon), but so far the manga's pretty good. ^_^

One of the things that got me interested in it however was the random AMV I stumbled upon. It was pretty cool, so I looked for more and found this. Enjoy!

My visit with my parents is steadily improving. Mom isn't acting so weird anymore, at least. Though I'm still very unsure what made her so depressed in the first place. Hmm... maybe she's like me in that regard after all. I don't necessarily have to have a logical trigger to shift from a high to a low.

Anyways, tomorrow me and her are going to hang out, just the two of us. I'm really excited- I love doing things with mom. We won't have too long to hang out, as we still have a lot of packing and cleaning to do later, but it should be fun.

In the mean time, I think I may need to call some people at work tomorrow. I got the day off as it's my parents fifteenth anniversary (alas, it looks like they won't be doing anything for it... kinda sad), but this is looking serious enough to warrant my attention as early as possible.

You see, ever since I've been working at Wal*Mart, I've always chosen to go into work to pick up my paychecks. I'd cash them and then take them to the bank on my days off. Direct deposit was always an option, but I like going to the bank. The people there are nice, plus it gives me an excuse to get out of the house.

However, recently the company has decided to go paperless and so everyone had to sign up for direct deposit (or get this strange cash card, which is stupid as you have to pay for it to get your money). Not much I could do about it, so I signed up.

Now logically, I'd think direct deposit would get you your money faster than the paper checks. Those have to travel to the store, after all, but as direct deposit is electronic, I'd think you'd get it earlier. Therefore I've been watching my bank account for my money. Strangely, nothing's come through- and now that it's the time of week that I would normally have picked up the paper check, I'm a little worried.

Perhaps I did it wrong? I'm sure I entered the right information, but I suppose I could have made a mistake. I sure hope not. But if the money isn't in my account by the time I wake up, I think I'm going to give the store a call to see what's up.

(needs teh moniez)

Working with CSS is surprising. All the stuff I thought I wouldn't get is simple, while the things I thought would be easy are becoming rather tedious.

Either way, my new layout is a work in progress. It's made by toledan_night, but I have been playing around with the colors, and a few other things. Not done yet. :D

In the mean time, if you and I are buddies on AIM, you may get linked to some weird questionaire thing by me. If this happens, just ignore the link. There's a spam meme going around.

Work yesterday was very interesting. It was 2300 pieces, but we had tons of people. Apparently we got three new guys while I was gone.

Originally I decided to help Billy throw the truck until the line got full, then go out and help. But then the manager came back and had me come out. And not for reasons I was expecting.

He said there were too many people. So instead of doing the truck, he wanted me to go bin some things that first shift didn't get to.

Pardon me as I'm still shocked over this. The hell? I've never been pulled off a truck before! And I wasn't the only one who got pulled either.

What really bugs me about it all is that after we were done and allowed to work on the truck again, we got done around seven. We could've been done earlier with all of us on it, and then we could've gotten break packs done earlier (there were tons). This system makes no sense.

Anyways... the guys were pretty happy to see me back. Billy was ticked that I didn't call him when I mentioned how hard of a time I had getting groceries with my grandma gone (he made me get some after work before he'd take me home XD).

Two of the new workers are Jackie and Janna. They're at that stage right before you can call someone an old lady. I'm really tired of working with people like that. For some reason, all of the almost-old-ladies that work in the ICS barely do any work and are bitchy as hell. It's like having three Kathy's. >.<

Ah. Must get ready for work again.

So here's Youtube Friday. I declare that there really needs to be more good AMV's about the sixth One Piece movie. Of course there is Kaizoku no Bouken 2, for which I am grateful for, but... I'm a greedy fangirl who wants more. XD

As is, this is the next best one I've seen. Doesn't hold a candle to the other AMV mentioned, but it's still very nice. :D

There's nothing quite like waking up in the morning only to go 'Ah shit. I have to go back to work today.'

I am preparing my body for the pain. And wondering if I need a doctor's release to go back there. They wouldn't take a doctor's note though, and it's not like I was injured. Just sick. :/ I guess I'll find out when I get there.

I read the newest OP chapter. I love Mihawk's reaction. XD

Also, Kuma scares the crap out of me for some reason. Even though it keeps being hinted that he's not exactly their enemy, he is still extremely frightening. When they realized it was 'the bear-guy' after having first thought it was Kizaru (also scary), I was like OHSHIT.

I think this is about to get epic. So epic that I really want the rest of the crew to show up, because it'd be pretty sad if they missed out.

The first thing one needs to know about me is that I like to be entertained. I consider making a living to be a necessity and hence I do, but really I wouldn't bother if at the end of the day I couldn't sit back and relax with a variety of shows and comics and stories to amuse me.

I don't think I've ever spoken in detail about how many random shows/comics (etc) I have picked up, much less the ones I've merely dabbled in. I usually like something in all of them and will gladly rant and rave if the opportunity presents itself, but won't say much otherwise. Also, the things I like tend to range from the really awesome to pretty stupid, and sometimes a combination of the two. Seriously. I can provide a list if you're curious. It will be long and the fandoms will have very little in common with one another.

However, if I'm going to geek out I'm going to do it right and thus I only do it over a few things- mainly my favorites and new movies (simply because other people are usually also interested in those at the same time).

But alas. I don't think I do my favorites the justice they deserve. I can geek out to my hearts content but I think that mainly just cues some of my flist when to skip over my LJ for a while. XD

Clearly the only solution is to employ logic and write a fan essay. I seem to have the luck to have an flist composed of people who will bother to listen to structured reasoning.

I'll probably write fan essays for all my shows at some point, but for now I'm going to go ahead and start with One Piece. Because I've never loved something so much only to have so few people respond to my ravings. It's quite sad... ;_;

So with that, I turn to you guys! I already plan to address it's best points as well as its flaw, along with any complaints I have already heard against it. But I'm sure there's several more I haven't heard, so consider this your opportunity to slap me upside the head and tell me what you don't like about it.

Though I will also be very pleased if you could tell me just what you do like in your own favored shows/comics/movies. I think one of the main reasons why One Piece gets so ignored is because it doesn't exactly broadcast all it has to offer. Unfortunately, I jump onto just about any show that looks like it might be interesting, so I'm not as picky.

Heh. That said, I'm not trying to force any of you into liking it, either. You don't even have to read the essay when I'm done with it (though naturally I hope you do)! I just would like something more to work with than my own opinions when I write this thing, and who better to ask than you guys? :D

My fever broke on Sunday. Which did me no good as I was supposed to wait that twenty-four hours to go back to work first, which would have me to work on Tuesday. Which is my day off.

(sigh) Another week without pay. It's a good thing that raise should be kicking in now, because I'm going to need the extra forty cents. :(

In the mean time, clearly I need to visit with that brother who let me stay at his house more often. I mean, I've known his family since I was a baby, and I actually played with his daughters when I was young. They were both much older than me and are married and moved out now, but I liked them too. As is obvious by the fact that they offered me their home, they are very kind.

They've also completely redone their house since the last time I've been in it. They had a couch made out of Italian leather. Yes, I chose to sleep on that instead of the bed. It was the comfiest piece of furniture I've ever had the peasure of sleeping on, and most likely the most expensive (I'm betting at least five paychecks). It was heavenly.

I think the only problem with the house is that it seems to exist in this place where all wireless tech is consumed into this voic of nothingness.... Translation- I had no net access. That wasn't so bad though- was probably good for me, even.

Anyways, I'm home now and very tired. Being sick does that, unfortunately. The medicine is working very well, but my cough is still bugging me some.

Now have an entertaning video. I found this guy on the Nostalgia Crtic's website and must declare that his opinions on manga so strongly resemble my own that I would defer to him on any future manga/anime I may pick up. :D



You may be surprised to learn that I have watched enough of all of these here (besides Fullmetal Alchemist) to have an opinion. Ha! I certainly have! I plan to change my lack of knowledge on FMA too- several have told me I would like that show, so I hope to look into it soon.

Small note on Naruto- I go ahead and give it a thumbs up because I like the supporting characters. A good cast is one of the main things that keeps me interested in the fandoms I get into, and I have to say that the characters in Naruto are enough to keep me in despite all of the other horrors one must endure with it. 

The poor soul, trying to thrive despite it's mangaka. ;_; 

...Did I mention just how refreshing it is to see someone basically state all of my opinions nearly word for word? 'Cause just in case I didn't, it was wonderful. :)

Every once in a while, I do regret that I live all by myself. On hindsight, it was probably really stupid of me to want to move so far away from my parents (by parents, I'm referring to the mother/stepfather grouping and not the father/stepmother one). I did it because originally they were supposed to be moving to Colorado and I didn't want to leave Idaho seeing as how big my family up here is.

But now, I kinda actually see said family less than I did before, with the exception of my grandparents (and this time we are referring to the paternal grouping). So you know. Kinda pointless. And on top of all that, I don't get to see my mom whenever I want to anymore either.

I tend to miss my mother frequently as is, but there's very few things that make you cry like a baby for your mom as does being sick. Being alone in a basement feeling absolutely miserable for days might make anyone do that, though. Hell, I would've taken my stepdad even. His lap makes a good pillow when you're feeling ill. (misses)

I don't even have my grandma this week to help me out, as she's over in Vegas right now.

...So yeah. Kinda wishing I had moved somewhere closer to mom now. Somewhere within easy driving distance? ;_;

In the mean time, my needs for companionship while I'm ill have been answered. A brother from the Kingdom Hall called me to see what my time for field service was last month and I told him how I wasn't feeling well. He and his wife are going to be gone this weekend, so they've offered their home to me and my friend who I haven't seen in forever because she's always so busy. She has decided that someone needs to look after me while I'm ill, and has informed me that she's making chicken noodle soup and sugar-free apple pie.

This woman makes everything from scratch, a feat I shall never even dare to attempt with my cooking skills of uber fail. It is always delicious.

...This is also a good chance for me to watch some One Piece with an actual human being again. Back when I had only the one DVD set, we watched it together in one shot and she loved it. Obviously I have many more now and we can't watch them all, but maybe a few.