Saturday, January 12, 2008

Wii

About ten days before Christmas, my elder son informed me that he wanted a Wii.

[insert gales of increasingly hysterical laughter here]

Ten days, y'all. Uhm... nope. Even Santa doesn't have those skills.

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Due to a variety of events in life, I didn't manage to do most of my Christmas shopping (even the Santa stuff) until December 24th. Sigh. That seems to be a bit of a pattern in my life, although usually I do a bit better and get most of it done on the 23rd.

I'm aware that's a relatively insignificant improvement.

The only time I varied from that pattern was when I was expecting my younger son whose due date was December 6th. Somewhere in my feeble gestating mind I managed to hook onto the quite rational idea that I really did NOT want to be out prancing about doing last-minute Christmas shopping with a newborn in tow, so I got the shopping done in October that year.

So of course? The child was twelve days past his due date. I'd had more shopping time than I'd thought. But considering the fact that I was the size of a small island nation by my third trimester, it was just as well that I'd managed to get the lead out a bit earlier that year.

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Oh anyway, my point? Was that this year I was insanely doing my Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. And that my elder son had unreasonable expectations which I'd had to crush the previous night by gently explaining that Santa and I had been e-mailing each other and that although a Wii wasn't in the offing for Christmas, it looked pretty good for his birthday. There was much disappointment and I felt like the lowest lifeform on the planet, although I did reassure him that this type of thing had happened to me before and Santa always came through with some great surprises in matters like this.

My mother had very kindly offered to have me drop the children off at her house so that I could get all the Santa stuff and other desperation measures taken care of. I dropped off the boys around 10:00 a.m., and reluctantly turned my tires toward Toys R Us. I was playing Trans Siberian Orchestra's "Christmas Eve Sarajevo" at full blast on my speakers both to energize me and drown out the screaming "NO NO NO! I do NOT want to do this!!!" in my head -- I'm not a graceful last-minute shopper even though I put myself through it on a regular basis, and crowds are not my thing... yes I'm aware that I'm an idiot -- and managed to force my car into the parking lot of said megatoystore with minimal trauma.

Thankfully, the store wasn't that crowded all things considered. All the other idiots must have gotten most of their shopping done on the 23rd. Heh. I had my list and blazed my way down the aisles.

"T-Rex for the younger?"

Check

"Mario Kart for the elder?"

Check.

"Tool bench for the younger?"

Check. My God, this thing is huge. I hope it fits into my trunk. And what the hell is with this some assembly required crap? Isn't that supposed to make it, say, smaller?

"T-Rex Skeleton for the elder?"

Check. Some assembly required. Again. I'm going to hate myself for this.

"Roboquad for Amanda?"

Check. Don't look at me like that. Santa said I could have one.

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Once all the above and an assortment of other items including enough batteries to power the afore-mentioned island nation were in my cart, I made it to the checkout line. The cashier was amazingly cheerful and friendly considering the insanity surrounding her, and we talked a bit as she was ringing up my purchase. In the course of that conversation I mentioned my elder son's belated Wii request and the futility thereof.

At that point, a lady came up to the checkout station and said, "I don't want you to think I was listening in on your conversation, but I'm one of the managers here and, well, it's my job to pay attention to what's going on. I heard you mentioning the Wii, and just wanted to let you know -- now I'm not making any promises -- but that if you stay around here until right before noon, there's a very good chance you could get one."

!!!!!!!

It was 11:20 at that point. Of COURSE I was going to stay until noon. My God, a chance to save my son's Christmas? Was worth every minute of hanging around that store.

I went out to the car and loaded all my purchases. Well, I tried. I shuffled things around in the trunk to make room for the gigantic yet still "some assembly required" toolbench which looked like it would fit, but then found the box was about one inch too long to make the drop down into the trunk which would enable me to shut it.

Huh.

So I did what any reasonable and sufficiently desperate woman would do. I turned slightly to the side and very classily kicked that damned box until it finally gave in. Success!

I then quite prudently put all thoughts of the eventual extraction of same out of my head -- one can only deal with so much at one time -- and went back into the store where I waited. And waited. And probably made the girl in the electronics department nervous as I randomly walked around while buying absolutely nothing...

And then right around noon, the Wiis very quietly came out of the back room to those of us in the know who had been awaiting their arrival. I got the third one out.

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As I drove toward my mother's house, a TSO variant of "Joy to the World" started playing from my CD, and I very inappropriately sang along, "Joy to the world, I got a Wii!"

Christmas morning was a success, what I can remember of it at any rate. I'd been up until 3:30 that morning trying to put together various toys, and cursing the name of whatever moron thought "Some Assembly Required" was a freaking GOOD idea, so I was a tad bit sleep deprived and the caffeination process didn't fully kick in until about 10:00 a.m.

The kids were up at 5:00 a.m. So yeah... tired. But happy.

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The elder son played with the Wii at my parents' house where my sister's boyfriend set it up for him. We brought everything home later on that day, but the Wii wasn't mentioned as he was too busy playing with his other toys and games. Until today that is.

And now I can't hook the wretched thing up. The cable box is plugged into the little thingies I'm supposed to plug the Wii doohickies into (don't you love my technical expertise??). So now I'm trying to figure out if there's something on the cable box I can plug the Wii into or what.

Yes, I've read the manual. It is Not. Helpful. Sigh.

Oh well. If anyone has a clue about this, let me know. Any offers of assistance will be greatly appreciated, and if I do get the thing hooked up? Might have more time for blogging.

Just saying. ;)

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Catch it While You Can

The picture post is back, however briefly, and is the second entry below this one.

I have some readers from Second Life and for those of you who really prefer to keep your SL and RL separate, you may wish to avoid that post.

I, on the other hand, have apparently set up bleachers outside my RL window. The concessions building is coming along nicely as well.

Later, kids... work to do.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

More Randomness

Just a thought:

If you've put an invoice in an envelope, mailed it to my office, and it arrives still reeking of your perfume? You might want to reconsider your entire marination process.

Thanks.

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Also, y'all missed me posting a picture of myself. Again. This one made it nearly 15 minutes before I took it down... but that only because I had about 8 phone calls coming in one right after the other.

Okay, Okay... (Back by Popular Demand)

Here's the picture of me I keep threatening to post. Ignore the hellishly over-piled bookcase behind me. Yes, this is what I normally look like when I'm at the computer, and yes, those are Tinkerbell pajamas.


And just to offset this, here's a picture of me in my house in SL, playing the piano there. I snagged it from Tycho's blog (hope you don't mind, Sir Tycho!):



Now I'm going to save this as a draft, write another post, and immediately post the next entry above this so my face won't be at the top of my blog.

We'll see how long this stays up. Every other picture I've posted came down within three minutes. Heh.

Monday, January 07, 2008

Better...

Sorry for yesterday morning's rant, y'all. I do well most days... yesterday, obviously, was not a banner day. I'll be back to the general lunacy now, or what passes for it at least.

This particular post isn't of the funny variety though, so feel free to jump over it. Twice, perhaps. I'm feeling a bit introspective today, so that's what's feeding the blog at this moment.

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I'm currently sitting at work listening to a CD sent to me by some friends of mine from Second Life, MacKenzie Rasmuson and Case Munro of the glam rock group Friendly Fire. I'm an officer for Friendly Fire's group, along with Tycho Beresford and Isobela Cappalini as well as Dee Junkers, and I've got to say we have the most awesome group of fans and most incredible leaders in Mack and Case as I've ever seen (seriously, all you people ROCK!!!).

Friendly Fire streams live into Second Life, and the concerts are simply a blast. There's a lot of audience interaction and I have yet to be disappointed by one of their performances. The music style is (and correct me folks if I'm wrong) glam rock meets punk, with a decidedly political bent at times. There's a good drive to all the songs, and I always feel better after listening to them play.

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Music has actually been a lifeline to me over the past year or so. At some of the more overwhelming times I'd need just some relief, any relief, from the thoughts that were running around in my brain, decisions that needed to be made, choices and the consequences thereof (and just who has to pay the price)... and music has been my escape. I can sit in my car with Nickelback's Rock Star blasting from the speakers, singing at the top of my lungs, and have absolutely nothing else on my mind beyond the sheer joy of the music and outrageous lunacy of the lyrics.

When I'm lost in music, whether listening or playing on my own, I'm in another world. And it's one I rather like.

I've been involved in music somehow since infancy. My grandmother was a concert pianist, and I started piano lessons at age five, followed by choir at age six, and violin lessons at age ten. I don't play the violin much anymore -- it's such a "use it or lose it" instrument, and sad to say I've pretty much lost it -- but I finally have a piano in my house again, and I haul out the sheet music every now and then, stumble through some pieces, curse my fumbling fingers, and get back to practicing. It's a slow process, retraining my fingers from typing to playing, but it's worth it. I can sit and play for hours and when I look up at the clock I'm invariably shocked at how much time has passed.

Don't ever ask me to play in public though. I have this teensy (okay, huge) bit of social anxiety and anyone standing near me when I'm practicing causes my fingers to fumble even more ferociously until the point where I'm so frustrated I want to scream. My music is for me alone... but I'm grateful to all those musicians out there who share their talents with the rest of us.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Hormone Rant

Okay boys, y'all might want to skip this entry. It deals with periods, and not the punctuation-type.
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Alrighty, any male-types who don't want to read this should have run away by now. Yes, I'm being sexist but frankly I don't give a shit about that today.

So... y'all remember back in April of last year when I was dealing with the Periods from Hell? Like the 22-day one? Yeah, that was some bliss, wasn't it?

Feh.

Well, since that time I've been back to normal. Until THIS month, that is. I'm on day 9 of the bleeding, and it's not showing any signs of stopping. AGAIN. The previous month was a 24 day cycle, which is within the realm of normal for me, and I just had to deal with the sanitary supplies for six days which is, again, normal. This month I was due on Christmas Eve, it didn't show up until the 29th, and it's Still. Here. Dammit.

*kicking random inanimate objects*

And to top it all off, I had the mother of all headaches yesterday which was stopped by nothing. I finally laid down in the late afternoon hoping maybe a little rest would help it out, fell asleep, missed a shift working in Second Life, and didn't wake up until around midnight. Urrrrghhhh!!!!!!

So today I'm tired, cranky, still bleeding, and the kitchen needs cleaning.

Okay... /bitchfest off. We now return you to your regularly scheduled insanity.

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Another Note to the Women in this Office

My dearest co-workers,

I appreciate your concerns about my social life. Yes, since starting the divorce process my house has decreased its testosterone level by the count of two males, one human and one feline. However, please do not let this distress you overmuch.

News flash, girls: remember that old saying about how a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle? Well guess what... it's true! I'm not sitting in the corner sobbing, wailing, or gnashing my teeth over having a 3:2 male-to-female ratio in the house. In fact, I can live with it quite nicely.

That said, the profiles you ladies keep sending me from Match.com, like the one where the guy advertises that he has all his teeth as a freaking selling point? Pure comedy gold. Keep 'em coming.

Sincerely,
Amanda

P.S. Uhmmmm... Mom's friends? Please see above.

Kthnxbai.

(I swear to GOD people... yes, this is really happening. You can't make this shit up.)