Jan 21: Hard at Work

Sweet Dreams Puppy by bunni711 on polyvore.com

So, I've been working hard all day, trying to take care of the pile of homework due on Sunday.  Well, I only have one chapter left for labs and quizzes in networking.  I did get that problem with my lab solved: they have an online chat for technical problems.  They guy I talked to was named Mike Law, which sounds like my claw.  Yes, I did just make that joke...

I also have to make a graphic for multimedia, which I was just working on.  I think I'm done with it.  I played around a bunch and decided that it would be a lot more useful to use Expression with a drawing tablet.

Ugh, I guess I really haven't done anything other than work today.  I had some ham salad which was dyed an excessively pink color.  It makes me wish for unprocessed foods.  I did eat an apple, with a big mountain of peanut butter, though, which I completely underestimated when globbing it onto the plate.  We had KFC for dinner and it was pretty yummy.  Sometimes that place makes me sick, though, and the chicken can be really greasy.  Well, I feel alright so far and it's been a few hours since we ate.  Fingers crossed for not getting sick.

I started The Pelican Brief.  I'm not really far enough in to have much of an opinion on it.  The only thing I have to say is that I'm not sure I prefer the writing style.  I'm starting to think that having an easy-to-read writing style is a real gift.  I'm going to have to have some people test read parts of my book to see what they think about how easy it is to read.  I think that could really make or break a book.

I came up with some cool thought last night as I was lying in bed not able to sleep, but I can't remember it.  Chances are, I was half delirious and it would make no sense whatsoever in the waking hours.  I had a weird night and I swear I hardly slept.  However, I am functioning, so I guess it wasn't so bad.

I still have to take a peek at the Javascript book.  I'm not sure I'll have time to work through it before the weekend is over.  I'm making decent time on the labs, though, so hopefully I'll have time.  Unfortunately, the extra work load means that I won't have time to start on my resume for technical writing until after the weekend, and I believe it's due Thursday.  I hope that's enough time for some decent workshopping.

I'm afraid all I have to talk about is school!  Well, I will tell you that I haven't won any contests on Polyvore, but there are a couple that haven't been judged yet.  I'm off of contests for a few days, at least, so I can do some work and relax.  I'm hoping to have some time to get on and make something fun, but we'll see how things pan out.

Jamie's nephew is over, and is asking us adorable questions and believing silly stories about bugs in his nose that will bite him if he picks it.  Still doesn't make me want to have kids, though.  I'm glad to have him sent back home after a few days!  I don't think I have the stress tolerance for kids.

James has been playing games all day, as usual.  I woke up before him this morning, actually.  It was kind of a miracle.  I found a tattoo competition show to watch after I woke up, which he didn't like.  I guess I have a thing for competition shows.  Which reminds me that I still haven't gotten around to watching Face Off.  Maybe I'll go do that now.  Or read - not sure yet.  Goodnight!

Love,
Christen

Jan 20: Living in the Fog

The Age of Aquarius by bunni711 featuring fancy hair accessories

This lovely artwork was for the Aquarius contest, which I actually submitted less than 10 minutes before it closed today!  I had been working on it earlier today, but took a long (long, long) nap and woke up pretty much just in time to finish it up and submit.  I think I'm going to lay off these contests for a little while.  There are new ones all the time.

So, today has been another foggy day.  I keep waking up late and it makes me tired for the rest of the day.  I'm going to have to employ James to get me out of bed earlier, I think.

I finished Wicked, finally!  I was disappointed, though.  There was a lot of hype about it, and it didn't meet the expectations I had.  I thought the idea of the book was good and the character development of Elphaba (a.k.a. The Wicked Witch of the West) was excellent (up until the end); she was a heroine, lovable, relatable, but the ending wasn't handled well.  It was quick and didn't flow with the rest of the book.  I think he spent way too much time going into the minutiae of her growing up and left the most important part until the very end, where he didn't spend enough time or energy finishing the book off.  It could have been really great if not for the rushed ending and overlong descriptions of her life before Dorothy.  Elphaba is probably a favorite character of mine now, but there were so many unexplained elements that he went out of his way to highlight, that I just couldn't give it more than 3 stars.

Wicked : The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

View all my reviews



I will miss Elphaba - the author really did a great job of developing her character and giving her immense depth and personality.  Ah well, it's hard to have it all.

I finished most of ch. 2 homework today for networking.  I had planned on starting it after lunch and getting ch. 2 and maybe some of ch. 3 done, but then I had a good long nap and also got derailed with Polyvore.  What can I say?  Anywho, I ran into a snag with one of them and had to e-mail the prof about it.  The lab said it was completed when I finished it, but when I went to send the results to her, it said the lab was incomplete.  I tried it twice, too.  Well, hopefully she'll get back to me soon about it.

I also have to make that graphic soon and find some time to read at least some of ch.1 in Javascript.  I finally got Microsoft Expression Studio 4 installed (it's free for students), but haven't played around with it yet.  I need to get on the ball!  Step one is waking up early enough so that the whole day isn't shot by sleepiness.  Ugh!

I'm going to start The Pelican Brief, hopefully before bed tonight.

The Pelican Brief by John Grisham








I don't think there is much else to say.  We watched some more Warehouse 13 and we got Subway for dinner, which was yummy.  James and I tried the new chipotle chicken and cheese sub, which was alright (good, but nothing to write home about); we shared that and a chicken marinara melt.  Then, Jamie's parents brought home some yummy snacks, including my favorite m&m's: peanut butter.  So, pretty good day.  : )

Love,
Christen

Jan 19: Taking Care of Business

Kate Bosworth and JewelMint by bunni711 featuring clutch handbags

This is my entry for the Kate Bosworth/JewelMint contest on Polyvore.  The top five sets get a year's subscription to JewelMint.  I would love to win!

So, I'm close to finishing Wicked today, but may not be able to finish until tomorrow.  I'm ready to move on!  I just haven't been reading that much lately.  Now I'm going to be pretty busy with homework, too.  The upside is that it's only this week that is going to be ridonkulously busy, and the rest of the semester should be relatively relaxed as far as work goes.  I mean the frequency, not necessarily the difficulty.

I got my grade for the letter of intro and got a 90.  The teacher left comments, but I'm not sure why she took off so much.  I'm debating e-mailing her about it.  I think if I do the workshopping, it will help my grade.  James and I are also thinking of dropping the class (before the Ws of course!), but I think we should probably just take it.  It will save me in loans and I think I can do better with workshopping and with the help of the books - we didn't have them for the first assignment, after all.

I spent most of my day working on the networking homework.  The labs turned out to be pretty easy and maybe a little fun.  Or, at least not boring.  The quiz wasn't hard either, so I'm only worried about how much homework I have to get done before Sunday.  I have to do 4 chapters worth of labs and quizzes (ch 1 got knocked out today), plus a summary paper on one of many videos about Windows Server 2008.

Jamie and I got some sandwiches in town today because his mom was making Kielbasi, which neither of us are particularly fond of.  We also got some chocolate and I ate too much glorious, glorious chocolate.  Mmmm...  See, this is why I'm having trouble!

We watched some Warehouse 13, which is becoming a favorite show, and we watched the new 30 Rock and The Office.  I have yet to start the new Face Off season, and by now there is another episode online.  Eep!  Ah well, life is swell.  : )  (Curse my quickly changing moods!  And sometimes bless them, I spose...  They do make life interesting, at the very least.)

I haven't crocheted in what feels like forever.  I'm going to have to find some time soon to finish up old projects and get back into my hobby.  Unfortunately, it's going to be work, work, work for me for the next few days.  I also have to work through ch. 1 of Javascript and make a graphic on Microsoft Expressions.  Those shouldn't be hard, but I hardly have time it seems.  I shall get it done, though, as always.

Love,
Christen

Jan 17 & 18: Losing Track of Time

Birdies in a Tree by bunni711 on polyvore.com

I made this one a few days ago.  I'm pretty excited because it got a like on Polyvore.  Pretty much I've been entering all the contests I can on Polyvore lately.  There are quite a few going on right now.  I've already entered 4 and there is one more going on that I have yet to make a set for.

Sorry about not posting yesterday, it got away from me!  Not much went on; we went to my house to pick up my prescription and my wallet.  We visited and loved on Teddy bear.  James and I played some cards and we watched our Tuesday shows:  New Girl and Raising Hope.  I wasn't in that great of a mood most of the day, but I think it's mostly anxiety for the new semester and stuff.  We had one of Jamie's favorites for dinner:  chili cheese dogs.  They were pretty delicious.

So, today I haven't really been feeling that great.  I was having trouble breathing earlier for some reason; I think it may have been a stuffy nose and congestion.  I feel fine now though.  I spent a lot of time on Polyvore today making sets for their contests.  I've been making almost exclusively fashion sets lately.  Well, I will get creative again with them soon.  I noticed today how much time I spend on there.  The time completely passes me by.  I was on for a little bit (less than an hour) and noticed it was 9:30.  Then, I looked again and it was suddenly 10:30!  I had no idea I had been on that long!

I watched this week's episode of The Bachelor.  It was pretty interesting, but some of the stuff really does seem planned.  One girl goes home and another girl shows up out of the blue?  I don't know...  Jamie and I started season 2 of Warehouse 13.  I really like that show.  They always have cool artifacts popping up and such.

Ah, not much else to talk about.  I've been reading more and am getting towards the end of Wicked.  I'm also losing the lead I had on my book reading.  : (  I'll hopefully catch up, though.  Two of my books came in, finally.  Actually, one of them got here on the 12th, but it was being held at the UPS place because Jamie has all of his packages held there.  But I got my online access code and we got our book for networking, so we can do that homework we had missed.  I'm not quite in school mode yet.  It's very strange taking all online courses, but I kind of like it.  It makes me want to get an at-home job.  I'm not sure if I'm ready for freelance web design, though.  It would be fun, but I think I would have trouble networking to get clients and such.  Also, I really want to have a steady income; that's very important to me.

Welp, I'll leave you there.  I've had a strange day.  I have been very tired and, for some reason, very sensitive to sounds.  Well, I'm feeling alright now, so hopefully there won't be any more silliness tomorrow.  I will have to start on that networking homework.  Oh, and it seems like Javascript is going to be more like Visual Basic, eep!  I think it'll be alright though; I really hope so!  I'm not much for programming languages...  I liked html, though, so hopefully making websites will distract me from the fact that I'm programming.

Love,
Christen

Jan 16: Took 'em Long Enough

Octopus Loves Shoes by bunni711 featuring blue pumps

Hello, Mr. Octopus, I do love your shoes!  That little octopus is one of my favorites so far.  Jamie said it's his favorite, too.  <3

How is it that I always end up writing my posts so late?  Today has been a long day, but I got everything done that I needed to and now I can finally allow myself to relax!  I was going to call the cell company after lunch, but various things happened which kept me from it.  James and I watched some Warehouse 13 during lunch, and then he made a cool superhero for his DC Universe Online game.  It's a fire-shooting rock dude, so we were trying out a bunch of volcano-themed names, which were all taken.  Then, I suggested the name that finally worked (which is really the best one, of course!):  Kaptain Killauea!  Please tell me you get the pun!

Anywho, that took a while.  He was just starting the game and wanted to be able to hear it.  After that, I was so tired that I took a nap.  By the time I woke up, it was time for dinner.  So, yeah...  It took a while, but I got around to it after dinner.  I ended up being on the phone for about an hour, once again.  The lady I spoke to left me on hold for long spans of time without the music, so I got to listen to a lot of people chattering on the phone in the background for an hour.  The call was confusing.  Apparently, the ticket number I was given didn't have enough numbers in it.  Then, she asked me some oddball questions that had nothing to do with my case, and I was just wondering to myself, do they not keep records of all this?  Do they really have no idea what my case is about?

Well, after a long wait, I finally got my minutes!  Now I don't have to call them anymore and listen to that ridiculous saxophone music, which I believe was meant to set a mood, not entertain waiting customer service callers.  Hooray!

I got my prescription ordered, too, and we're gonna stop by my house tomorrow to pick it up and visit with my family and Teddy.  I miss him a lot for some reason.  I think it's because he hasn't been feeling well and I just want to be there for him.  He's feeling so much better now, so I really don't need to feel bad or anything, but he is my baby.  And he is just so darn cute.

Lastly, I got that darn book re-ordered.  I got it from Amazon for a little more than a couple of other places because I've ordered from them before and I'm more confident that I will actually get the book and have it shipped in good time.  I signed up for the student prime shipping thing, so it should be here Thursday (I hope!)  Also, I get $5 in mp3s, so I feel a bit better about it.  If I trade it in after the semester is over, I might get almost $20 back for it, but there aren't a lot of places taking it, so it might actually be a good deal.  These textbook companies must be filthy rich.  : P

I did do some Polyvore art today, but didn't publish any of it.  There's another contest for Kate Bosworth's new jewelry line called JewelryMint, which is like Shoe Dazzle for jewelry - it's one of those services where you get recommendations and then pay $40 a month and get a new piece of jewelry (or pair of shoes like Shoe Dazzle) every month.  Anywho, if you win this contest (top 5), you get a year's subscription - that's 12 pieces of jewelry!  I would really love to win that, so I'm nitpicking on my submission.  I like it, though, I think it's probably ready.

I really need to start reading more.  I don't think I even read like 3 pages today.  Ugh!  It's kind of a record since I have been reading so much lately.  I guess I can blame it on Polyvore or anxiety or something.  Well, I shall read more tomorrow.  I really want to stay on track to read 50 books this year, and I never know what could come my way to derail those plans, so I want to leave as much extra room as I can.  I'm ahead right now, but I need to start reading more so I don't get behind.

Welp, that's about it.  I'm pooped.  Time for sweet dreams.

Love,
Christen

Jan 15: Make a Wish

Make a Wish by bunni711 on polyvore.com

I made the artwork above today.  I'm pretty happy with it and decided to post it before some of the stuff I made before.  I am so ridiculously tired!  It's been one of those days.  : P

So, the cell company never called me back.  I'm going to have to call them yet again.  I am beyond over this whole deal.  Ugh!

I'm back at Jamie's.  We watched the Golden Globes and Ricky Gervais was awkward.  I think he's funny, but I think he rubs people the wrong way sometimes.  It was pretty boring, though.

I haven't read much today because I've just been out of it and I've been hanging out with James.  I made a couple of things on Polyvore - actually both were elephant themed.  I made another one, but didn't publish it yet.  I'm not sure if I'm happy with it.

My refund finally came through for that book.  Now I can order another one, but I'm not sure where to order it from.  Some of the sites that have the book for cheap have pretty bad online reviews, and the more reputable ones are more expensive.  Plus, I left my wallet in my mom's purse the other day and realized it after she had already left for work today.  Silly me...

Well, I think that's about it.  I'm not looking forward to calling the cell place again.  I'm pretty put off by the whole deal.  Anywho, at least I don't have any homework due in the immediate future and I can (try to) relax a little.

Love,
Christen