Men!

The fan pointed at my head is for air circulation for me. Not for your sweaty BO drenched body to stand in front of. PEE-YEW!

PS. As stated on here before, we shouldn't punish for being rich. Nor should we take from what is rightfully theirs & give to those who haven't earned it.

Question for the populace angry about tax cuts for the wealthy: if they EMPLOY everybody, how do you think they'll make up the $ they lose? Lemonade stands?

This is why infringement sucks

So I was poking along in Twilight Land today. Just killing some time before I had to go to a family baby shower and I went to see how Twilight Guy was doing. This post was at the top and made my jaw drop! For those that don't want to click... someone got a hold of Stephenie Meyer's manuscript of Midnight Sun (the companion book to Twilight) and POSTED IT ON THE FREAKING INTERNETS!!

How could ANYONE do that? Her response is to now put the book on hold. This is why copyright infringement is illegal. It ruins things for the actual artist, and then for those that are trying to follow along in the "game". Cheaters ruin it for everyone.

She provides a link to the actual manuscript that's been posted, in her way of taking control of the situation, but I'm not reading it. In fact, I'll be writing my first fan letter to her. I want to tell her that I'm sorry and upset by this and that I want her to finish it. I encourage any of her fans that read my blog (not many readers, but I think most of them are Meyer fans) to also write her. Her posting made me very sad for her as she's always been very gracious and appreciative about her fandom. If this had happened to Jo (it kinda did) I'd want the same thing.

I want to read what she had polished up and got ready for public consumption, not the work in progress. (Although it'd be kinda fun to read it later and make comparisons... but in a learning the process kind of way, not cheating and getting ahead way.)

Its the same with music and movies. I'll admit to have downloaded things in the past, but I put a stop to it in our house a few years back. It's dishonest and takes money from the artists. They're just trying to make a living and support themselves like I am. They work hard for what they put out and they deserve to get fair market value back.

Do you post photos online?

THIS is really important!!

In a nutshell:

Right now, as a poster to photosharing sites like flickr and photobucket you have some rights to your photos not becoming "public domain". As in, Google can't help themselves to your photos for advertising. There are currently 2 bills going on in congress that are practically unadvertised that will change your rights. Now, I'm not a professional photographer like Lorie, so this won't hurt my income, but that also means that IF I were to have private photos (of my theoretical non-existant children or anything else that I consider a private posting) they're no longer protected and those sites would be able to sell them or use them for their own purposes without compensation OR credit given. This could also affect layouts posted to such sites (which will screw over the designers that you used). NOT COOL (a more official like link)!

How do we fight back? Click here and fill out this quick form (it literally takes only like 1 minute) and it will instantly send an email showing your opposition to this stupid notion to your 3 reps on Capitol Hill. Support the arts and protect your family!!

4 in 24

That's right folks. I know I said in this Tweet that I was hitting my 3rd of the day, but afterwards I remembered the one I hit on my way home the previous night.

1. Coming home from school just before 10pm on Tuesday night- I cross 2 RR tracks on my way to the freeway from campus. Normally it's okay because I'm not fighting the traffic to get to the much closer on ramp and I bypass an annoying freeway in the process. Except when I get stopped by a freight train. Fortunately I haven't had to wait longer than 5 minutes for one yet.

2. On my way to work Wednesday morning, 7:15-ish- I cross 8 RR tracks every morning on my way to work. That's right 8 SETS not 8 actual tracks (that a total of 16 rails folks). 3 of these sets are side by side so I can potentially be sitting and waiting for 3 trains at once. I haven't been that fortunate yet... I have had 2 going at once before. These tracks are hit and miss, Amtrak uses them as well as freight lines. Every time you see the guard rail going down you just pray it's a passenger train! This time it was. :)

3. On my way home from work, rushing to the bank and then off to school, 4:15- A train derailed! Great! So now I have to drive around trying to figure out how to get around it. And you know that line about "To protect and serve" that the police are supposed to go by? Where was my service when I went down a deserted industrial street only to find yet another block? There was an officer sitting in his little police SUV with the car door wide open. I rolled down my windows and called to him (I wanted to know where I could get around). He IGNORED ME! It was like I wasn't even there. Serve my @$$! I'm usually one that tries to not bother police officers, I know they get a bad rap and they lay their lives on the line every day just like firemen, but that guy really pissed me off!

4. Coming home from school just before 10pm on Wednesday night- Another freight train! I was in front this time so I was able to get my own "stock" video. LOL I hope to U/L it soon. Just so you can see what a freight train looks like in the dark, because I know NONE of you have seen that before! ;)

I just don't understand, I live in Anaheim, learn in Fullerton and work in LA county, WHY do I have to worry about trains bugging me so much? When I was like 7 and we moved to Downey, I hated it because it was too small town (yes, I was aware of crap of that at 7... what 7 year old gets that stuff?). The trains drove me nuts even then. It was cool to sit there and count the cars and all that, but I KNEW that we never saw trains in LA... I felt like I was in hicks ville in suburbia!!! I dunno, I find that funny. Am I alone?

Riding coattails or just parallel careers?

Natalie Portman was just announced to star in the latest remake of Wuthering Heights. (Before I start going off… please let it be known I love both actresses…) Am I the only one that sees this as a slap at Keira Knightly? Both girls are equally lovely & got their real start in Hollywood in Star Wars Episode 1. Few people I’ve talked to realize this but KK was the “fake” Amadala while NP was off being Padme somewhere.

I just feel like that after KK’s awesome work on Pride & Prejudice (Trena will disagree and say that the BBC mini was better, and it was, but you can’t compare a 6 hr. mini series to a 2-3 hour movie) NP is scrambling for a similar role. It’s different enough that you can’t immediately compare them, but the time period is parallel. I dunno. I just felt like it was a bad ruse to put herself out there again (it’s her turn again… they’ve been ping-ponging for years). At least do a book that hasn’t been done in awhile, like Jane Eyre. I’d say another Austen novel but that’d be too obvious.

Both girls have now starred in an adventure trilogy and done an outlaw thriller (Domino & V for Vendetta). I didn’t see Love Actually but I think that it’s the same type of chic flick/feel good movie as Garden State. NP does more indie films while KK does more of the bigger Hollywood flicks. I dunno. I guess it’s bound to happen when they both look so similar (and yet they don’t… odd).

ETA: Okay… apparently Jane Eyre has been done a lot too… WH had been done to death in the last 10 years though. I know! Someone come up with a NEW idea!

I want to play so bad...

This having my computer down is driving me nuts! I so want to goof off with a little creativity!

I finally bought a Starbucks customizable tumbler. I don't know how long I've been looking but I finally found one by chance last Thursday. Now I get to use my template that I bought (don't ask me where because someday when I get my EHD working again I'll find it and let you know then) awhile back and CREATE something fun for it.

I know I said I'd get a new header... but it's not working for me right now (creating, not the actual act of installing one). I'm still pretty fond of this one so I'm not in a super rush anyway.

Lately I've been getting less jazzed about some designers and more so about others. It's not so much something the designers did, it's more like I'm just getting more inspired by a different style lately. The problem? I've been cut WAY back on my DSB budget. Well, I dunno if cut back is the appropriate word as much as I was given one. Bummer. I know where my hard earned money is getting dumped next time I can buy though. :)

Houstan we have a problem

Sorry for not posting lately. My computer (Buttercup) and the internet were sleeping together. Eventhough I thought I'd bought protection for Buttercup, either the condom had a hole in it or some beotch from the internet poked a hole in it for me because Buttercup got a nasty disease. She's now at the clinic trying to rid herself of all the nastiness. Since then, The Green Fairy (laptop) has been very scared of connecting to the world wide web while at home. Do you see my blogging dilemma now? It's made for a lovely week for school as well. Thank heaven Spring Break is finally upon us.

SO in the mean time...

Ever Twitter? I do now. For you that don't know, it means I can update from my cell. As I can't seem to find a spiffy box to just put in my sidebar here yet, just go to my link and it'll tell you what I've been up to. :D

http://twitter.com/PixieMegh

Hi ho hi ho

It's off to court I go... that's right folks... once again I got called in to jury duty on my LAST day of torture. Whatever. I'm not happy but I can think of worse things... white hot pokers in my eyes, a root canal without drugs... you get the idea.

Long Time No See

The last few weeks have been crazy hellish. Thus, I’ve posted only crap (quite literally mind you). The sad thing is there still isn’t much to write about. I’m overjoyed about the last Harry Potter book coming out a week after the new movie. I’m sad at the same time. I really don’t want it to end! My butt has been glued to LG15 and Mugglenet the last few weeks when I manage to find some spare time. Yippy!

We depart for Arizona tomorrow to visit some friends. She just had a baby boy and I’m SO excited to meet him. The boys are having “poker night” tonight as well… so Trena , my sister-in-law and fellow D&D widow (yes, I said D&D), and I are meeting up with my other SIL, Sarah (the one with the adorable kids), and the 3 of us will be running around Disneyland. Fun pictures and eventually layouts will ensue! I’m excited as I haven’t taken lots of pictures lately.

Meanwhile back in reality I’ve got a MOUNTAIN of homework this week. I honestly have no idea how I’m going to do it all. Hopefully Matthew doesn’t have much homework left and he can do most the driving this weekend! Remind me why I’m going to school? I’m taking this crazy “Liberal studies science history” class… know what it really is? Quantum physics theory. Is that the same as quantum mechanics? You’d think I would know because I’M the one taking the class, but not so much. It’s VERY interesting and I think I understand it mostly, but now that we have to regurgitate it back to him in the form of a take-home assignment, I’m not so sure. Time will tell.

Until then have a happy President’s Day weekend and we’ll see

*Ahhhhhhhhh*

Sigh of relief, it's finally over... now to wait for grades.

I skipped a paper... it was only 10% of my grade & I was getting a high B anyway. I can't tell you how many times I've done that and somehow ended up getting credit anyway. I don't think it'll happen this time around... but that's okay. I mean... I didn't do it right? hopefully the test & other paper due for that class will bump my points up enough that I'll end up with a low B.

Most important lesson of the week? Trust what you know... don't venture onto new food territory while driving... it could be hazardous.

I was up until 1 am last night typing up yet ANOTHER paper (yep, 3 due today, see why I ditched the least critical one?). Anyway... so I got up again at 4 to finish and beat my usual alarm... by 5 minutes. I've been running on low sleep all week so last night's measly 3 hours almost killed me today. Everyone at work kept asking me hard questions like "were are the spare envelopes?" Well... at least they're hard when your brain is fried.

I pulled over on my way to school and got a sugar free RockStar (the ONLY energy drinks in the store were either that, ones I'd never heard of or Red Bull... nasty). I'd remembered Matthew saying that RockStar was pretty good so I grabbed one. Well, grabbed is being nice. I had to pry the sucker out of the cold case with a crowbar and watched it finally pop out and do a slow-motion triple back flip to the floor. Fortunately the thing didn't' explode, bu now I HAD to buy it because it was all dented and ugly. So I get back on the road and pop the top (red, it's going in my metal embelly box) and take a swig of the other-worldly neon yellow elixir.

When I awoke from the subsequent black-out I was only a few hundred feet up the street. I didn't spit it out all over the car nor did I manage to hit anyone so no long term damage. LSD comes back to haunt you years later so I'm hoping that there will be no flashbacks when I'm holding my brand new grand baby or something.

I promptly rolled down my window and poured it out along Bastanchury Road. I'm sure the stuff ate through the asphalt and created a massive fissure. I'll have to wait until next semester to see.

Someone had likened the stuff to a liquid Shock Tart... they left out the "Radioactive" part. I called my "better half" (ha!) and left him a nice message about how I now want a divorce on grounds of attempted murder by poisoning. When he called back he said eh hasn't tried Sugar Free RockStar. Like it makes THAT much a difference!

Anyway, I marched up to one of the convenience stores at school and begged the kid behind the counter for Monster. It's not a Pepsi product, damnit! I thought it was. At least there was an Amp Tall Boy alternative. I'm now sipping my neon elixir of choice and all is right with the universe again. G'night!

I'm ready to die now

School sucks and Gmail is broken. How am I supposed to finish all this crap?!?!?

Just 23 more hours...

Money sucks

I registered for school this week. 9 units=$1,505. That's right. I have to pay the full-time rate, eventhough by all other counts, full time is 12 units, not 7+. I wouldn't mind so much if I really could AFFORD it but somehow the government has decided that I'm not broke enough to constitute giving me help. I find it especially aggravating because I know people who have a higher combined income, rent nicer places than I do, have kids and still have more money to get by... but because they're not married to their significant other they classify as an unemployed single mother, therefore get school money. WTF?!?! And they wonder why the divorce rate is higher and there are more single parents out there... because it pays to be in that situation. I work full time, go to school "full time" (or at least PAY like I do), I'm just BARELY scraping by and I don't qualify for financial aid!?!?!?!?!?

Let's also not forget that because I am married but have no kids that I'm not getting a tax break. Let me see... I'm married, can't afford to have kids, so I'm on the pill. You'd think that because I'm being responsible and not bringing children that I can't afford into this world that I'd get some incentive. I want a pat on the back for not being on welfare thank you very much. Where's my friggin hand out? Everyone else gets one... where's mine?

I work hard for what I do. I want to be able to say I paid my way through school, but c'mon. I should get a tuition break or SOMETHING for being self sufficient. It's not like I'm going to an expensive private university... I'm going to a state college. Not even a state university... COLLEGE. Not UC Fullerton... CSU Fullerton. Do we see the difference? C'mon give a girl break folks! And what am I going for? Teaching... so I can slave away for the state and give other kids a free education. I thought we had this system built upon the concept that everyone deserves an education. Why are they making it so freaking hard for me to get one then? And I'm not going into a field that will just make me rake in the big bucks either... I'm going to turn my education around and perpetuate the system... I think I should be going for free thanks! Veterans and teachers get free school!

For those that are still here. Thanks for bearing with me. It's been a crazy week.

DSFX is moving... we're getting ever closer to opening. Laura got my 1st item up. I thought I'd have more quickpages ready to go by now but I've hit a snag. Seems that eventhough I've set my defaults to 300 dpi... they haven't been saving there. UGH! Thank heaven I've been saving my PNG and my JPG files for my LO's! I'm going to have to remake a bunch of Instant FX pages though. GRRR!

Today I've been trying to re-organize all my digital kits and such. The way I've been doing it was essentially saving onto the hard drive 2x each. So now I'm trying to cut back on the excess file usage. My Picture It has been freezing a lot lately and I'm hoping its due to that. If it's another issue I don't know HOW I'm going to be able to run PSE4 when I get it. *fingers crossed that it helps*

Love you all... thanks for reading my rant! ;)

PixieMegh

Since I’m “un-Christian” I’m getting political today

Why do so many people feel the need to criticize the Christian-ness of others? I know that by simply discussing this point I’m about to contradict myself… but in my one and only point of defense (or justification) I don’t DO what I’m about to criticize. (Does that make sense?)

I really don’t believe in attacking other’s beliefs. Everyone is entitled to whatever they want to believe. Whatever floats your boat right? As long as you’re not infringing upon my rights or those of others I don’t really CARE what you do. Do I disagree with things in this world? Hell yes! Will I vote according to the dictates to that? Yes, and that’s my constitutional given right. Every other citizen has that right.

Now to where I get cheesed. If I do something that you don’t like, believe something that you don’t like etc. don’t get on your freaking high horse and say I’m being un-Christian. Because flat out, you’re judging me at that point. And how did that little phrase go? Judge not, lest ye be judged. Don’t tell me I’m unchristian because I support someone who believes in actually punishing criminals. Those types are usually the same ones who bash people for having a different lifestyle than they do. Puh-leeze!

I am a sarcastic person and a proud Republican. Get over it.

I’m done now.