Things I should be/could be doing right now besides this:

• Sleeping.
• Working on Magic & Destiny.
• Reading World War Z.
• Searching more dillegently for my digi camera picture transfer USB cord.
• Dishes.
• Knitting.
• Organizing something to start packing.
• Packing up more books.
• Getting new water for my fish (since I am slowly suffocating them w/bad water).
• Writing on a short story of some kind.
• Lurking around Farm Town on Facebook.
• Brushing Kiera.
• Playing Plants vs. Zombies.
• Cleaning off the folding table in the living room.
• Write out the awesome plot ideas I had for Magic & Mercy.
• Did I already mention sleep?

Yeah. Just kinda doing a whole lot of nothing right now. I really wanted to upload a picture of me being an uber dork for a new Facebook profile pic... but I can't find my USB tranfer cord thing. Grrrrr. I know where it should be... but I can't find it. My living room is a mess! Argh! The OCD in me is shutting down parts of my brain as we speak. I just can't function like this! Grrrrrrrr. Oh well. It's not like the picture's really going anywhere... hopefully I don't accidentally delete it before I find the cord. Okay... I'm off to go find something better to do now.

Seriously, I want another Halloween Blizzard of 1991. I was too young to fully appreciate that when it first happened. I didn't understand the glories of being snowed in and not having to go to work and all that. We have had a few snowfalls so far this season that have made things fun, but not nearly that fun. I want more snow, dammit!

I got sent home early from work today because it was slow, so I was happy. And I got sicker as the day went on. Just blech. Stomach didn't feel right, it was squirmy all day; haven't really eaten much because of it. Except crackers and 7Up. I called in sick at Lane Bryant too, since I was supposed to close there tonight. Ugh. I came home (after stopping at my dad's to get more quilts from my closet) and zoned out in the chair. I watched A Knight's Tale and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang---wasn't able to last night because people kept on calling me to wish me happy birthday and then talking for 2 hours! I liked Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Robert Downey, Jr. is brilliant as Harry. I've decided I want someone like Harry---just without the whole burglar part. It was a good movie, I liked it emensely, and will recommend it freely. It's apparently based off a book, so I will go investigate the book someday. I don't think I've ever seen Robert Downey, Jr. in any other movie. I haven't seen Iron Man (his apparent big come back), so it was nice to see some of his acting abilities. I just knew he was a drug fiend back in the 90's, but nothing of any acting. And it was nice to see Val Kilmer in a movie again. Haven't seen him in anything decent since... uh... Ghost and the Darkness was good... Batman Forever was good. Um... Williow? So yeah, good to see them in good roles and decently acting again.

I got a humidifier at Target before I came home. My apartment is so freaking dry, I woke up this morning with the Gobi desert down my throat. Which didn't help the whole starting to get sick thing. So now it's humming nicely over there in the corner, pumping out a nice cool mist of moisture into my parched apartment. Kiera doesn't quite know what to do with it. She'll come up to it slowly and sniff at it, inspecting the noise, then she'll get into the mist stream and freak out. Hehehe. Silly kitty. And speaking of animals, I need to seriously de-slime my fish tank. I don't think the filter can handle the amount of slime and junk that Titus produces. Gold fish (especially those of the fancy variety) produce a natural slime that clogs up filters, pumps, and makes the tank get 5x more grody than normal. And I've been slacking on keeping it clean, so the rocks and the fakey plants are uber gross. I need to clean it so bad! Argh. Oh well. I definitely need to get a new filter tomorrow. Titus' slime has broken this one, totally overwhelmed it so that no matter how much I try to clean it or change the carbon filter, it just clogs up. I think I might get a larger tank filter. A 20 gallon for my 10 gallon tank. That should be able to handle it, huh? Too bad my scum sucker had to go and die before Titus made all this scum... he missed out an an all-you-can-eat buffet.

I guess that's all. I should get to bed so I can drag my ass out of bed for work tomorrow. I can do 6 more hours! If I make it through those 6 hours, I don't have to work any job until Wednesday! I get a three day weekend! HOT DAMN.

Friday after work I called North Star Publishing (NSP), since I hadn't heard back from them about Coven Wars, which I sent to them back in April. Well, I should back up a smidge. I sent my contact at NSP an email on Sunday, since it's been over 90 days since I sent my "manuscript" to them, and according to my coworker Jeff, who has gotten a few books published through them, he said that if it's after 90 days it's more than okay to send them a little "reminder" thingy. So I did. And I got an email back from my contact, Seal Dwyer, saying that she'd really like to chat with me about my book.

Wh... wha... huh...Wha-WHAT!? /hyperventilating

Well, I called her Friday after work, and had a loverly little chat with her about my book. She hasn't read all of it (apparently this fall is the largest catalog of books they've put out as a company, so they're kinda busy) but she's read most of it, and of what she has read, she really really likes it and thinks I have a definite and great writing style. "So what would you be willing to do to get this published?" she asks me. Uh, anything! I want to say. "Would you be willing to do signings and appearances?" Yes, please. "How would you market it?" Well, I work at a bookstore, so I'm sure I can ask our regional buyer what I can do to market it in the store, I also live 5 seconds away from a coffee shop, so I could ask them if I could do something there; I have online access to multiple sites and ways of doing online marketing and selling. "Would you be interested in marketing it to the pagan community?" Uh... well, I never thought of that, but I wouldn't be against it. I guess since my book deals with magic and all that, she assumed figured I was pagan myself, which surprised her when I said I wasn't ("Nope, I'm Lutheran."). I'm not sure what being a pagan has to do with writing good fantasy about magic, or that's the assumedly only market audience that reads books like this... I was thinking more of marketing in the fantasy/romance section... but... we can do pagans as well, I suppose. *big confused shrug* So we discussed what I can do for "homework": come up with some ideas of how to market my book and how to get it out to the masses and the proper markets/audiences. And if I get her some decent ideas by October 1st... I could conceivably have a published book by March 2009.

Hoe. Lee. Fuh. King. She. It.

So we left it at that... so I'm like... pretty damn sure I'm getting my book published. And Seal was also excited at my answer to her question "What is your plan for this book? Are you looking to do any more?" And my answer was, Well, yeah, so far I'm thinking of doing a series on it... there's roughly 6 books in the series. I think she almost jumped through the phone! Hehehe. She was very happy to hear that, since she didn't want me to be a "flash in the pan" or a "one hit wonder" in the publishing world. Also, with my homework, I get to work on getting some blurbs for press releases and marketing. Basically, people saying they liked my book and what they liked about it. I've already tapped my coworker Lynn for a "blurb", and maybe I'll ask psychologizer and my friend Erin, since they are the only ones who have read the whole thing (or almost the whole thing, I'm not sure how far along Erin is...). I'm also thinking... and this is an incredible loooooong shot... of maybe tapping into my "professional author network" on Myspace for some assistance... like, maybe asking Patti O'Shea for a huge professional favor, you know, MN author to MN author. She's a local MN author (and NSP has this affinity for all things MN based) and I'm thinking, "Hey, if I get a nationally published, award-winning author to maybe look at my book and say a sentence or two about it... that would look AWESOME on a cover!" However, that is a huge risk, since she could say "No, my agent/publisher/whatever won't let me do unagented/unrepresented reviews", or just say "No" out right and not give an explanation for it. But... I won't know unless I ask, right? Maybe I'll message her on Myspace, since she is one of my "friends" there. Hehe. Hey, can't hurt, right? Or at least I could ask her for some advice, I think she could do that without violating some weird contract thing. Either way, it'd be a kick to talk to a successful author and get some ideas on how to do things and all that. I might try that later this week.

So yeah. Hot damn! I'm buzzing about that and trying to wrap my brain around different ways to market my book. Well, one big one is that I work at Barnes & Noble, and I can talk to our regional buyer about what needs to be done to get the book into the stores and also online. That's one big one out of the way. Then I can put shameless self-promotion all over my websites (LJ, Myspace, Facebook, etc) to get my friend base and online recognition. Maybe I'll also look into getting that website, amycanwrite.com, that we talked about a few months ago, that meowvatar and jilrani all offered to help me with. Then I can have my own web page that's linked to B&N.com's page of my book, and have listings of any and all appearances I may do. Yeah. Hot damn. I'm excited! If anyone has any ideas on anything else I could do, please let me know! I'm still looking for more ideas. More ideas for Seal, the better!

However, now that I'm almost a published author... and true to my over-analytical nature, I'm second-guessing what I've put in Magic & Madness, i.e.: the sexy scenes. I'm thinking... maybe I should tone them down a bit... maybe go back to what I had before? That would open up the market/audience a little more, and I'm sure my family would be more likely to buy a copy if there wasn't sexy party scenes in there (they'll have to get around the swears, I ain't taking those out!). Maybe I can talk to Seal about that when we're more certain I'm going to get published. It still has to get edited, which Andrea is working right now, so maybe I can squeeze a quick rewrite into the editing process. Won't be a bit deal, just take out a few paragraphs, rewrite a line or two, and it'll be basically the same damn story. Just not as graphic. And now, that I'm basically going to be writing at least six books in this series, I sat down tonight and wrote out a summary of what's going on in each of the sequels, to get some sort of ground work laid out for the plot of each one.

The way I had the series laid out before didn't quite make sense, and they weren't too connected, but I think the way that I've reworked it, the 6 books are more connected, and some characters from Magic & Madness make appearances in some of the following books, in major and/or supporting roles. The whole story and world that I've created makes a little more sense now, but it almost changes what should have happened in the first book! Ack! But I can fudge by that by introducing/explaining that stuff in the second book, Magic & Destiny that I'm working on right now. "Hey... that's a different title than what you said it was going to be back when you last talked about your books?" you might be asking... yes *groans* I changed the freaking titles again for the sequels. Arghs! The original ones I had before just didn't quite fit as well with the new story lines that I had developed. But I know that in the following years between now and when I get to those next books, I'll prolly change the titles again. Argh. And with how I've just reworked the uber plot outlines, I think the series would make more sense if I changed the whole series name. Yeah. I know. *le groan* And if you've read the whole first book, especially the last chapter, you'd definitely get the new series name I'm toying with, which is: Relic Chosen. Why can't I just get these stupid books to be happy with the titles I've given them?! Why must they keep on insisting on these new, and much more awesomer, titles? Oh well. Such is the plight of the author, no? These books do take on a life of their own, and they will tell you if something isn't right.

And I've also been toying around with the layout of the title itself. And I've been influenced by the other series I've been reading (J.D. Ward, Karin Tabke, etc.) to make the layout more like: Magic & Madness: Book One of the Coven Wars/Relic Chosen. Sounds and looks pretty good, so far, I think. And, since I've been talking about changing the sequels' titles, here's an updated title list of The Coven Wars/Relic Chosen series:

1. Magic & Madness
2. Magic & Destiny
3. Magic & Honor
4. Magic & Blood
5. Magic & Sacrifice
6. Magic & Mercy
7. Magic & Peace (TBA)

Yeah... yeah... I know you caught that last one I tried to sneak in there. Yes, I'm contemplating a possible 7th book. Depends on how things turn out in the last two books, the crises of the world may be coming to an end then, but we never know. That's always a possibility to have a 7th book, to kind of wrap things up... but I'm not really counting on it. I'm really not looking forward to it! I mean, I like the world of magic and characters I've created, but I think the time I get to #6, I'll be ready to move on to a new series, book, character, whathaveyou. I'm also tempted to do a "glossary" page, of some of the terms and stuff I've kinda made up for my books. I got the idea from J.D. Ward and her Black Dagger Brotherhood novels. She's made up some terms for the vampire world, so she put in a glossary page that is very helpful to flip back to every once in a while. And I know when Teresa attempted to read my book, she got confused at some of the terms I used, that would have been explained later on in the book (if she bothered to read the rest of it). But J.D. Ward also has the character explain the terms to each other, along with the glossary... so I'll work on that one. Maybe I'll have someone go through the first drafts and find all the weird words I put in there so I can make a glossary page. I tend to skip over those words since I'm so used to them and I've read that silly story so many times. And... yeah... I guess that's all the awesome news on the Amy-hopefully-getting-published-front. I'm going to stop rambling. w00t!

Oh, I also got a new fish today. His name is Titus. I'll hopefully have pictures of him soon... if he lives that long. I remember what happened the last time I was all excited about a new fish... he got decapitated by the water filter and his little head eaten by another fish! aCk! Poor Fitzgibbinz! Hehe. But Titus looks like he'll survive.

Thursday morning I woke up and was greeted by a long tangled maze of hair. My hair, longer than shoulder length, had felt the need to do a Cousin It on me during the night, and had swept over my face, wrapped around my neck... and was a basic all-around pain. Once I gained cognition, I exclaimed angrily, "I hate my hair!" And decided that I was going to cut it off. But I woke up too late to get a hair cut before work, and I thought maybe that I could either get it done on my 30 minute break, or just put it up in a rubber band and just take a scissors to it in the break room. I decided against both options, and resigned myself to getting up reasonablly early this morning (Friday) and get a hair cut before work.

When I awoke this morning, I still hated my hair, which cemented the fact that something must be done, and quickly! I went to Fantastic Sam's and got a hair cut. I think the lady chopped a good 5-6 inches off my head. My hair feels so light and lovely! I have naturally thick, wavy hair (my sister shares the same curse), and now I can have light, airy hair for spring and early summer. About 2-3 times a year my sister and I get our hair thinned when we get our hair cut; the hair person just takes a scissors and grabs chunks of hair and makes 1-2 random cuts into the section of hair, and then combs out the cut pieces. The hair people tell me and my sister that there's enough hair on the floor after we get our hair cut and thinned to make a decent sized wig. And that's on our heads normally, people! I went to work today with my new 'do, and I felt great. Nice light hair, it's just touching my shoulders, nicely layered so it has "body and won't be as thick and flat". Yay! People (those who noticed) said they liked it. w00t!

( More randomness hidden as to not clog up your Friends Pages! )

All righty... that's about all for now. It's late and I have to get up to go hang out with jilrani, calmingsilence, and their little one at Rosedale tomorrow!

I think my Oreo mollies are insane. I don't know why, or what's going on with them, but they are insane! The larger of the two just mopes around on the bottom of the tank, or in the faux broken pot, and doesn't move... then out of the blue he'll just spaz out and splash around at the surface. Scares the crap out of me when it sounds like something is dropping into the tank. Weirdness. Then the other mollie just sorta follows his lead, because I guess he's a just a loser and can't do his own thing. Hehehehe. My guppies are just the same old spazzy as they've always been... just herding around each other and chasing each other around the tank. *le shrug* I dunno what's going on. And Stretchy Steve is still Stretchy Steve, chilling out behind the tank heating element.

I'm watching Emperor's New Groove right now... because my two Red Bulls and large iced caramel-mocha latte that I had at work have made me a bit manic at the moment... and I love this movie!!! I just can't stand how funny it is, no matter how many times I watch it. "Llama faaaace!" Love it!! I need to get it on DVD... my VHS is slowly wearing out. Watched it waaaay too many times in college. The roomie and I would just put it on as background noise while we did homework, and eventually we could basically recite it line-4-line. =) Ah, good times, good times. Did you know that the original story line for the Emperor's New Groove was supposed to be serious? And that Sting was supposed to provide the soundtrack to the movie, with all these serious emotional songs and stuff? Then somehow, it got changed to the funny movie that it is now? And when Sting found out about the change, he was pissed because all the sappy songs he wrote for the movie and soundtrack wouldn't be used? It's true. Look it up. =P

So.... uh.... yeah. I really don't have much to say right now... I just had to report on my psycho fishies. I might take advantage on my new-found hyper awareness and work on touching up the last chapter of Magic & Madness. With the Lulu.com provided first-draft, I noticed that I could work on a few paragraphs here and there, since I think it was 2 o'clock in the morning when I finished that chapter. Some things could be spruced up a bit, I'd say. I also can't wait to hear what Lynn has to say about my book. She's reading the rough draft right now to see how everything is flowing; since I'm still paranoid over the sex scenes in the book. I'll have to ask her Thursday how she's liking it so far. I get nervous when I know people are reading my stuff, because I want it to be good and I want them to like it.

There he goes spaztically splashing again... hehehee.

Oh, one more thing before I go. Lately I've been noticing some weird book combinations when I've been working at the register. So I've been taking notes on the combos I've seen:

> The latest Ann Coulter book and a more explicit sex position book.
I didn't think uber right-wing Republicans even acknowledged the missionary position, let alone any others! Ha!

> An anorexic self-improvement self-guided workbook and a cupcake recipe book
Uh... okay... odd... o.0

I guess that's all for now. Must go do other things!

*ascends to podium and loudly clears throat*

This message is for the couple that comes into Barnes & Noble every few weekends and uses $2 bills and numerous Presidential Dollar coins to pay for things in the Music/DVD department... *shuffles papers absently* Ahem...

Whoever told you it was okay to buy something with eight dollars' worth of $2 bills and $21 in dollar coins was wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. Why you've decided to listen to their advice in the first place... let alone repeatedly is truly beyond our comprehension... but we, the Head Cashiers who have to open the next morning after you "grace" us with your quirky choices in monetary surplus, would greatly appreciate it if you'd just use a few normal $1 bills and maybe a $20... maybe invest in a check book? Or perhaps an ATM/DEBIT card? I know the banks that you frequent in order to gain your stockpile of excessively annoying and heavy moneys also have such services to aleviate the weight of $20+ in metal. Coins are heavy, or do you just like to carry around a pound or so of clanking coins? You need to stop buying things with dollar coins... unless we're going back to the Middle Ages where things cost "a few silvers"... or maybe you've been reading too many Role Playing Novels or just playing too many rounds of Final Fantasy 7 where you need an over abundance of gold coins to purchase a few Potions or Magic Experience Points. For if I have to come in and open on yet another Sunday finding you've deposited your small mining operation of coinage into our registers, I may have to kick you in the face.

You have been warned. That is all.

*leaves podium*

So... besides that, I discovered this afternoon when I came home from work and was watering Ozwald my Amaryllis, that Ozwald has grown a dude! I saw it and exclaimed "Ozwald has a dude!" Let me explain... he's sprouted another little stalk that will eventually sport a new set of blooms for me to enjoy! Yay! I was so excited I had to call my sister and tell her, since she's the flower/plant nut in our family. She definitely picked that trait up from our mom. I'm happy if I can make a potted plant thrive for longer than a week. Which I have! Ozwald has been growing and doing his thing since I brought him home around Christmas time. Yay! Heheheehe. And I also have pictures developed of Ozwald, and some of my current fishes. Remember Fitzgibinz? I have numerous attempts on this roll of film to take a picture of him... but he was just too small and indescript to really make out... and my camera isn't cool enough to take fun through-aquarium-glass shots like that. Although now I have some smashing shots of blurred and out-of-focus aquarium decorations. Oh well. At least I remember what he looks like! Woo! Now I have to take a picture of fully bloomed Ozwald (he has four flowers!) as well as his new dude... maybe it's his twin? But more like his younger brother, since he came out after Ozwald. And his name is Oscar. I called Ozwald Oscar one day, but I knew that name was wrong... I knew it started with an "O". And then my sister and her in-laws have a new kitten named Oliver... too many O names to remember! Sheesh!

Now I'm watching Beauty & the Beast... love this movie. One of my favorite Disney movies. And I like it because it reminds me of my mom. My mom, my sister, and I went to go see it in the movie theatres when it first came out, and my mom loved it. I'm pretty sure it was her favorite Disney movie, too. And I also remember she didn't like Aladdin all that much... but she said it had too much magic in it. I just think she wasn't a big fan of the big magic duel at the end and stuff... and maybe the fact that Aladdin was lying and tricking people throughout the movie. While Belle is a strong woman and stands up for herself, a trait I know mom wanted to instill in her girls. I know my mom had an odd relationship with magical stuff. When I first started reading fantasy books (6th or 7th grade, because Shannon was reading them and they seemed cooler than The Hardy Boys [but I still love the Hardy Boys!]), she basically limited my reading selection to Dragonlance until I was older. I think she might have read one and figured it wasn't too bad, so I was to stick to that. She was under the whole fear-and-ignorance based idea that if you read fantasy or did fantasy games (i.e., D&D) you'll become all obsessed and crazy over it and then end up killing yourself over it or doing something else equally extreme (like those few-and-far-between real life news stories of some poor introvert who just got too into their game and couldn't differentiate between the story and their lives and they did bad things). But I think overall my mom was pretty open-minded about most things that had to deal with fantasy related stuff. We'd often have talks about "how I really felt about fantasy books" and if I "knew it was all make believe." I think it was because I had a very very active imagination when I was little, and mom just wanted to make sure I was still grounded. Which I supposed I should thank her for; I know now, at 26, I still have a pretty active imagination and sometimes find myself getting caught up in things. If I watch a scary freaky movie at home (my dad's), and I had to go down in the basement, I'd have to turn on all the lights in every room I went in---even if I didn't need anything in that room---and then walk up the stairs wth my back to the wall to I could keep an eye on what was behind me. (I still maintain the belief that there is something down in my basement... I can feel an entity or presence of some sort down there following me whenver I go down there... o.0 )

Right now I'm reading Monster Planet, the 3rd in David Wellington's zombie trilogy; and I have to read it during the day and/or with other people in the house because I get really paranoid and kinda freaked out that just maybe there could be a zombie waiting for me under my bed, in my closet, or outside in the alley beyond my bedroom. If I hadn't had someone to keep me accountable with my imagination, I'd probably be a nervous paranoid wreck just huddled in the corner under blankets unable to function. I can't watch my scary movies here in my apartment just because... it's scary! And it's still not homey enough for me not to not turn on the lights in one room before I leave another and all that jazz. I even sleep with my bedroom door shut... even though it's just me here. I can't sleep with a door open. But I can sleep with my closet doors open... although I do stare at the open door for a few long moments before I settle in for the night. Yeah. I'm a whuss, but that's okay. I embrace my scaredy-catness. =P

Aww... the Beast is dying... for sad! Must watch the sadness now! =^_^=

I think next Tuesday I'm going to go to IKEA and buy myself a couch. I need more seating space in my apartment. Right now I just have my leather chair... which is MY chair... and an old, craptastic swivel orange rocker that is about ready to bite it. So I need a couch. And I know where to put it, and what to move around to make it work and all, but I need to get a tape measure and see what dimensions I'm working with for said couch. The one I'm looking at at IKEA is this one, but with black cushions and the birch wood frame. I think it would fit... but I need to go to Target and pick up a tape measure and measure things out. I'm also digging this bookcase here, since I'm in major need of more bookspace. However, this would have to go in my bedroom, since my living room is full to the max. Not that I'd mind having the bookshelf in my room, I have the space, too. I purposely kept my bedroom sparse in case I needed to shift things around and add things later. And amazingly I can afford this because I got some moneys from my grandparents' account... it's a kinda complicated story as to why I got the extra moneys, but I have it, so I can actually afford a couch. Which is good, since for my birthday, as a belated present, my sister's MIL gave me $20 IKEA gift card, which I was putting towards my IKEA Couch Fund. And now I don't really have to save that money and wait forever to have enough to afford one. Woooo. I think I can swing a $300 couch. I don't need and fancy one, or one that's going to last fifty billion years. Just as long as I can sit and lay on it and watch movies and stuff; and it can life up to any abuse my friends and family put against it. Hehehe.

Oh well... I guess that's all for now. I'm getting hungry and I'm trying to figure out what I have at home that I can eat... hmmmm.

Oh, and this morning I found one of my silver mollies face-down in the gravel dead. I gave it a burial at sea before work.

Blargh. That's all I have to say about that right now. I'm chilling in Dunn Bros after getting let home from work early today. Hells yeah! But... I really haven't done much with this new freedom I was given. Well, checked email, LJ, Myspace, Facebook... etc... I guess that counts as something. I also did some shopping on OldNavy.com to see if I can find some decent pants and stuff. All the pants I have for work right now suck in the worst possible way, so I need to find pants; and Old Navy really has the only pants that fit me decently. So, we'll see what happens. And then I also realized when I was driving home from B&N, I could have stopped by Petsmart and gotten a new pleco for my tank... it's getting kinda scumtacular. But... now I'm here at home... do I really want to drive back to get the fish? Maybe. We'll see. And I still owe my guppies their early Valentine's Day present... two female guppies. ;) Hehehe.

Last night was Mardi Gras, and Jessica and Sunny (work buds) and I went out to Drink (that's actually the name of the bar!) in Block E of Minneapolis to partake of the Mardi Gras funness! It was great. Had a nice hurricane drink, and two shots, and danced my butt off. And had fun laughing as older (maybe 40?) balding business man dance like an ass on the dance floor because he got there at the same time we did and within an hour he was smaaaaaaaaaashed. Almost started a fight with his stupid dancing shinanigans. Stupid drunk people. But it was fun. Got beads (nothing was shown to anyone... ;P) and a feather boa and a fun jingly jester's hat. It was a good time out with the girls, drinking and dancing and "clubbin'" as it were, which I never really get to do much. I think that if psychologizer comes to visit, we'll go to a bar and have fun... now that I finally realize I have some sexxy clubbing wear in my closet! Sheesh! I've had it forever, and I just realized last night I should have worn it... shows you how much I go out and hit the bar/dance scene. Oh well. Whatever. However, I went out and did the Mardi Gras drinking thing on a work night, and I had to wake up this morning at 545am... and I got home from Jessica's at about 1am. Ooooops! Oh well, I wasn't drunk (I don't really drink too much), and I downed about 20 oz of water right before I went to bed, so I woke up with a bit of a headache, but the shower took care of that. I was mostly hungry when I woke up, so that was good. Then I also had a short day of work, so it all worked out. Work was boring anyway, so even if I was feeling more of last night (alcohol or lack-o-sleep wise) it wouldn't have been the end of the world. Must go out and party more often.

Well... that's about it for now... I really don't have much else to do online, and my chai is gone... and I have a buttload of laundry to do (I have quarters now!!). I also might start putting my college pictures into a photo album and get them out of the photo box they've been in for about 8 years while I watch Across the Universe tonight. I bought it today with my belated bday money. Yay! So... I guess that's all.

Happy Lent, people! Don't give up anything I wouldn't! ;)

I was feeding my fish this morning and I was trying to locate the ever elusive Fitzgibinz to say good morning to him, when I noticed something was stuck in the little filter slats of the water filter. I looked closer...

It was the severed head of a... little... tiny... fish.

Fitzgibinz got stuck in the filter sometime during the night!! *le heart-broken sob*

While I was trying to figure out if the head was sticking into the filter or out from the filter, one of my silver mollies came up and started vaccuuming some of the sludge off the filter... and discovered Fitzgibinz's head! AND STARTED TO NIBBLE ON IT! Before I had a chance to stop it (how I'm not really sure...) slurp! there went Fitzgibinz's head into the mollie's mouth. Not really caring about my apartment neighbors I shrieked: "He ate Fitzgibinz!!"

I sat there in front of the tank for about five minutes, trying to figure out what I had just seen. I mean... I saw another fish eat a baby fish... and I'm not really sure I can rule out the "I think you just ate your kid" thought that was running through my mind at that moment. So... yeah. Sad way to start my Friday. And I had just been telling my sister last night that when she and Luke come over sometime tomorrow, they can see little Fitzgibinz. >__< I'll have to tell them tomorrow that Fitzgibinz is no more. How sad! And I actually witnessed his final demise! Ack! Horrible! Now I glare at the silver mollie with murderous annoyance, knowing he ate Fitzgibinz's head. Just... wow. It was kinda cool... because I'm morbid like that... but it was also horrible because I wanted little Fitz to live. *le sigh*

Now I'm not sure if I want my fishies to reproduce anymore... maybe I'll have to break down and get one of those baby fish separater things from the pet store (along with a bottom feeder to start working on the scum that's been building slowly in my tank). That's going to cost me more money... talk about insult to injury. *le pout* ACK! He's back for more! The silver mollie that ate Fitz is just attacking the filter slats digging for whatever is left in them. Oh my god. It's horrid.

Although, KDWB just put Beastie Boys' "Girls" on the radio... and I ♥ that song... so that's helped to ease my disappointment.

I found him tonight! I was watching Batman: The Animated Series Volume 5 tonight while I was working on my California Road Trip scrapbook... and I looked over and saw some little gray blurp dash around the plant in my fish tank... and when I crawled over there to investigate, thinking the mollies had produced a second batch of prodgeny... it was Fitzgibinz! A little bit bigger since the last time I saw him (it's been a week) and still thriving! He's been grooving in the plant, the faux Oriental lantern and the faux Japanese "broken" pot in the tank. Yay! I was so happy, I had to call my sister to tell her. She's been finding it funny how excited I get over my fish. But it's Fitzgibinz!!! How can you not get excited!? I definitely need to post pictures of him soon. If I have any that are decent. Heheheheee. Yay for baby fishie coming back from the dead! Grow, Fitzgibinz, grow! And I think another mollie is pregnant. It's really fat. The belly just looks distended. So I dunno if it's just bloated, is one of those "you can provide fresh food and water for a month for less than a cup of coffee" children, or if the mollie is indeed preggo (my sister hates it when I use that term but I'm going to use it here because I highly doubt she reads my LJ).

And speaking of my sister... my sister got a job at my local Dunn Bos. Hehehe. Just down the block from my apartment. Yay! She's a barista! She called me and left me a message one day saying she can see my house from her work, which she thought was kinda neat. (I think it borderlines on stalking.... :P ). She works weekdays 7am-12pm... when I'm either at work or sleeping. Grr! But I think Tuesday I'm going to have to get my butt out of bed early so I can go and "harrass" her at work. Hehe. It's fun, giving her some of my barista-days advice. I think she'll do good. It's only her 3rd or 4th day, so she has a lot of room to improve. However, when you work in a coffee shop, contrary to popular belief... working in any kind of coffee shop is hard. People just don't understand how much work you have to do in a coffee shop... and how much more you have to do if the shop is a "cafe" with any sort of food other than coffee pastries (scones, muffins, bagels, etc.). Coffee shops have a lot of turnover because the little teenagers just think it's an easy summer/after school job for them to do. Nopers. It's work, children. I saw a lot of that when I was at Dunn Bros, Caribou, and also at B&N's cafe. The little teeny-boppers just came and went every other month because they didn't really want to work. *le sigh* But my sister and I share a very dedicated and strident work ethic, so I think she'll do fine. Hell, she's the lead landscape designer at her husband's landscape/garden/lawn business, and her designs and decorations are earning them a lot of business right now. I think she can sling a few cups of joe around.

So... I'm pretty sure you've all heard this somehow or another... but Heath Ledger died. *le sob* No fair! He can't die! He's the Joker! The Joker can't die!!! *le cry* I heard about it by scanning the headlines of a customer's newspaper Wednesday morning at work. It just totally blew my mind for about two hours. Just out of the blue... he's gone. Now, if it had been Britany Spears, I would have been like, "Oh, really? Finally... that was a matter of time..." But Heath? I had heard he had a little drug problem a few years ago, but I never really thought of him as one of "those" actors, who was bound to have some tragic drug-related death. Apparently, from the news my sister has dug up via Austrailian news sites online, there was a bottle of sleep pills in his room, and a few other mental-illness related drugs. Although I'm now hearing of "drug paraphenalia" in his room that would suggest harder drug use... but we really won't know what was going on until his autopsy and tox-screen come back. *le sigh* Now going to see the new Batman movie is going to be bittersweet, as well as watching 10 Things I Hate About You and A Knight's Tale. For sad.

I've also decided that this coming fall I am going to take a vacation. Yep. Not just a trip, like going down to St. Louis. An honest to God vacation. Like how I was planning on going to Baltimore this spring? Well, I've moved that to this fall. In April I'm going to be in St. Louis seeing my friend Phil graduate seminary and find out where he's going to be placed as a pastor. So I can't go to Baltimore then. So I'm thinking of going in the fall. That why I can see the New England/East Coast leaves change and all the fun fall colors over there. And it'll be kinda cooler, so hopefully the main tourist season will be winding down by then. Yeah. Now I just have to get a hostel guide for the United States. I have one for Canada, but that won't do me any good right now. I think my 2009 vacation will be to Ottawa... only about 2 years over due. Hehehe. And the hostel information I'm finding online isn't very helpful. I can't seem to find any hostel info on the Baltimore city website, only hotels. And hotels are going to be way more spendy than hostels. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to get there. Flying would be way faster, might be a little more spendy, but I'm not a big fan of flying all of the sudden. I think my return trip from Portland and the evilness of the flight in and out of Denver turned me off to flying. I am however thinking of maybe taking a train! How fun would that be? It'd take about a day and a half to get from MN to MD; with I think a stop for a few hours in Ohio or somewhere around there. And I think it was about the same price as a round trip plane ticket the last I looked at Amtrak tickets last year. I'll have to double check, since now I'm going in the fall instead of the spring.

The only hesitation I have is that since I'm going to be on a train for about a day, I'm going to need to do something to entertain myself. Do I read? I can't read in the car... so would I be able to read on a train? Do I bring my laptop and watch movies and write on stories? But that's about the same as "reading". Or do I just bring knitting along and pop on some headphones and do that? But I can only knit for so long before my wrists and thumbs start hurting. So yeah. That's my dilemia. Do I take Dramamine and try to read and do stuff, or just take Dramamine (I never travel without it!) and sleep and zone for the trip? The last time I was on a train, it was in Spain going from Madrid to Barcelona. And I got a little motion sick on that train (not barfy, just queasy), and really couldn't sleep. But it was a tiny ass train, too. So... I dunno. I do have some time to think it over. I might ask my sister how she felt on the train. She and her husband took a train to Seattle for their honeymoon, and that took them about 2 days. So yeah.

I guess that's all. I'm getting kinda sleepy, and my Bacardi Twisted Green Apple I had while scrapbooking is kinda making my head fuzzy. ^_^ I'll catch y'all laterz!

Yeppers. I love me some buttered noodlez. I inadvertently made some for lunch today. I wanted macncheez, but my milk had expired and smelt a little too rank to use... so I just made the noodles and then melted the butter without the milk and cheese sauce mix, and then mixed in the noodles with the melted butter, added some salt and delish. But then I had the amazing idea to sprinkle on some of the cheese sauce powder and stir. It tasted nummers! However, I added a little bit too much salt... so it's kinda like... >_< mouth-puckering. Oh well. Before my system started shutting down from the 10% less-than-lethal-dose of salt for the day... it was good. I'll have to make it again. Yeah. Buttered noooooooodlllleeeez!

I think... maybe... Fitzgibinz is gone. I haven't been able to find him since I last posted about his appearance. Hmmmm. But he could just be very good at hiding. *shrug* We'll see. Although I think he may have a) died, 2) gotten eaten by one of the other fishes, or third) gotten sucked up into the filter (e.g. Finding Nemo). Yeah. Oh well, I've told the other fishies to start making more babies... except my guppies. I have 6 males and 0 females. And I think they're getting to the breaking point with their sexual frustration. The whole group of guppies are chasing after this one poor male, who I've nicknamed Grapey... *snickers*... and the poor guy tries sooo hard to get away from the other guys. But then he gets accosted by the mollies, and he runs back into the horde of the other guppies. Poor Grapey. And I need to get a new filter for the tank... the water's looking pretty skanktastic. And it could also stand a 2/3 water change. But I'll do that this Saturday when I have more time and devote to my babies. I need to take a shower (still!) and finish my DBT homework for this evening's class. Yay. I also need to go the bank and change over my loose change into quarters so I can do my laundry; go to the post office and mail off some belated/still within time birthday cards to friends; maybe get some gas...? I think I can hang off on getting gas for another day. *shrug*

Soooooo.... yeah. I've started my new Bargain Section comic. After almost everyone I know at work asking: "When is the new one coming? Is there a new one? Is this the new one? We need a new one." I've decided to come out of my self-induced indefinite hiatus from comicking to start assembling new comics for a new issue. Yay! *Muppet cheer* The new one is called Bargain Section: Playing House. And most of it will be comics about me and my adventures in my new apartment, as well as new fun work-based adventures with the recent holidays and weird-ass customers (because we all know there is never a shortage of those). And I've been slowly working on finishing the first part to Thessla Moon... and trying to find time to finish reading Rogue Angel: Secret of the Slaves, and get my ass in gear for Coven Wars 1. I have just over 6 months to finish that beast! Just too much to do and not enough time to do it! I should really just bring my laptop to work and type there. Screw work. Hole myself in the cash office and type. Get paid to write. But I guess that's what I'm trying to do here in the first place. Huh. I still need to email North Star Publishing to see where they are at with my manuscript! Dammit. Ugh. I guess I'm going to have to finish this up, get ready for the day (finally!) and head my butt over to Dunn Bros to check the emails and stuff before DBT.

Blah blah blah. Uh... yeah. I think that's it for now.

What? You're still here? It's done. Go home. Go. *shoos you away* Go.

If you can tell me what movie that comes from... I'll give you a free baby fishie!

So I discovered yesterday as I was getting ready for work... that there was a new little something something in my fishie tank. I had to go investigate, since a fish tank is a supposedly secure environment and things really can't come and go as they please. Or so I thought. Well... upon peering into my fishie tank... I noticed... a new little someone in my tank! My mollies had a baby! Yay! He's about this big: [          ]. So adorable! I love him! And I was so happy that my fishies made a baby, I fed them extra before I left for work and told them I wanted more! (I also fed them extra so they wouldn't eat the new one.... I suspect there had been more babies... but they got themselves eated.) I decided to name the new one Ftizgibinz, since I really can't name the other fish, since they all pretty much look alike. So yeah. I have my little Fitzgibinz, and I tried to take a picture of him today, but my camera is a stupid "film" camera and isn't good at taking uber up close pics, so I had to manage.

Other than that... uh... it's colder than a witch's titties outside. BRRRRRR!! But I braved the half block walk from my place to Dunn Bros to check emails and stuff. And I figured I needed to write up my Rogue Angel Comic review soon. And I need to send a follow-up email to North Star Publishing about my manuscript I sent to them a month ago. So yeah. I finished Rogue Angel: God of Thunder last night and started RA: Secret of the Slaves last night/this morning. I'm about 1/4 of the way done with it. I'm on book #8 of the series thus far. I think there's going to be #11 coming out soon... I have #9-10 on my bookshelf right now, waiting for me to read them. And speaking of books waiting... I've had to give myself a book allowance. *le sigh* My finances are really cut tight the last month, so I can't really afford to buy books that'll sit on my shelf idly waiting for me to get to them. So I came up with a system: Book of the Month. I have a list of the books I've been placing advanced orders for at work, and assigned them a month. So February is Dragonlance Lost Chronicles Volume Two: Dragons of the Highlord Skies. March is... I think Claymore Volume 11. I have a list somewhere in one of my pants pockets. So that's my plans so far. Hopefully it'll work. But I have to make it work. I'm going a little bit more than "paycheck to paycheck" at the moment. *le sigh*

I came to Dunn Bros, thinking that maybe my sister would be here. She applied here to work during the winter months, when her job as a landscape designer/installer was put on hold. She told me that her application had a smiley face on it, so apparently the manager liked it. I'll have to call her to see if she actually got the job. It'd be funny to come to Dunn Bros and see my sister as a barista. Not that being a barista is a bad thing, I did it for a few years. And part of me misses it... and even thinks about applying at Dunn Bros or Caribou for a few nights a week to supplement my income. I miss those tips. That was my spending money for the week, and the paycheck went to pay the bills. I may do that in the next few weeks or so, see if I can work Saturdays and maybe a few nights during the week. I can't wait until October to get my yearly raise; my money and income is just not quite enough to afford my life right now. *le frown*

Oh well. I guess that's about all for now. I need to make a pit stop to the Little Author's room and then I'll work on my Rogue Angel review for another post. I hope you're all staying warm in this deep freezer blast that's settled over Minnesota. Stay warm, and if you have to go outside, make sure you count all your body parts when you get to where you're going!