h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's been another really busy week, and work's still been tiring me out quite a lot.

I went for an open MRI last week, for my knees. My lower legs and feet have really been hurting lately... but, as it turns out, things haven't gotten any worse and I won't need knee surgery at all at this rate.

I've *still* got this bronchitis, if it's not better soon, I'm going for respiratory therapy and an antibiotic.

Not too much else has been going on. I went for that wedding the weekend before last, and brunch the following day. It was a good time, although I imbibed in a bit *too* much (I can't keep doing that to myself, argh!), and I enjoyed meeting more new friends and acquaintances in this circle I've become part of.

Last weekend was kind of low-key- went to Chinatown for dinner and some bits of groceries Saturday night (I ahd some REALLY spicy squid, and K had bean curd in garlic sauce, yummo!), and went along to bowling with K and his parents on Sunday afternoon. We had a pizza for dinner and just hung out a bit, it was really nice.

Watched some good movies (and some not-so-good ones which were so bad, they're great): "Network" and the first two seasons of "Soap" from the Netflix with K and the roommates, and I got myself "Coffee & Cigarettes" and "Mystery Science Theater 3000: the Essentials" on DVD last week. One of the MST3K ones, "Manos, the Hands of Fate", is just god-awful. I almost wet myself laughing. Also watched "My Best Fiend" and a couple of others. Next on the agenda is "El Topo", which I've heard is great, but have never seen.

And I've actually found some time for reading in bed! I've been reading "Last Call", and old one I hadn't gotten to yet, and a new Bentley Little horror one called "The Resort". His stuff is pretty decent. K's also been reading me a pulp detective yarn some nights, to put me to sleep. That one's been a lot of fun, too.

That's about it, really. No thrilling interaction with nature lately, although now that autumn is rapidly approaching and it's getting cooler out, a lot of good suggestions have come up, such as apple picking and some hiking expeditions. I'm really looking forward to those, maybe can get some photos!

Got a new house plant Tuesday, it's called a Jade plant, and they say it's "virtually impossible to kill". Which is a good thing, as I've managed to kill off a palm, a hibiscus, and two Banzai just this past year. My pepper plant, bamboo, the air plants, dracaena, and one other one seem to be holding up all right in spite of my valiant efforts to overfeed, under-water, or otherwise torture them. I really would like to grow some herbs- basil, dill, parsley, and coriander, espeically, but I'm afraid I'll kill those, too.

Finally got the Dali print, I went for "Musical Tempest", because I wanted the red in the room, and it goes well with the Day of the Dead figures I collect. I also found a red glass hurricane lamp, the panels of which are the "La Calavera" card from the Mexican "tarot" deck (I forget what it's called). That, and a Hello Kitty toothbrush, has been the extent of my retail therapy of late. Oh, and a new Ba'Gua mirror for my entryway which I got in Chinatown... the old one fell off the wall and broke on my head. (Who says I don't have bad karma? )

Okay 'nuff rambling on about all of this day-to-day nonsense... I'm off to investigate everyone's threads and see what's been going on, and how Terri's birthday party/ houseguests went.

That wasn't actually short at all.

You know the jade plant is also called the money plant and is used as a cure in feng shui?

Oh, and I almost forgot something pretty big. Shows where *my* priorities lie...

Some work-related nonsense:

1) It seems my company has lost SO much money over the past two years (due to gross incompetence on the part of management, etc.), that the only feasible way for them to pay their debts is to give in to a merger they've been fighting for three years. What this means in terms of my future emplyment is unknown- worst case scenario is I get laid off and go back on unemployment till something better comes along. Which could take a while, the unemployment rate in Illinois is still around 9%. Best case scenario is we wind up working for people who manage better, treat people better, maybe even *pay* better. Time will tell..

2) One of the managers, who can't see fit to notice that the person who sits next to me sits on work for days, letting things accumulate in her inbox indefinitely whilst making endless personal phone calls, has assigned two of her minions to monitor K and myself and ensure that we, under no circumstances, do any "socializing" at work! I'm the bloody Training Assistant, but if K needs help, I have to send it in an email or something... if we're caught talking to each other without a member of management or one of their Nazis present, we're to be reprimanded. What bullshit!

>You know the jade plant is also called the money plant and is used as a cure in feng shui?<

No, I didn't know that! What purpose does it serve? I hope I have it in the right spot!

PS, Kaz: the shop where your pressie is coming from expects one in the first week of October- which is really soon! Yay!

Sounds intriguing!

Thats sounds absolute shit at work - what utter crap!

As for feng shui it depends what school you follow, one bases everything on where your front door is and one bses it on the compass. I always preferred the latter due to the orientation of the earth must have more effect than the front door! In which case it needs to be in teh south east section of your apartment or your main room.

Okay, well, it's actually set right now between my living and dining rooms (to soften the corner of the big doorway), southeast corner of dinign room, southwest of living room. I may need to move it a bit. I have only just begun to learn about Feng Shui (hence the Ba'Gua mirrors), and am trying hard to balance out the energies throughout the place. Especially in my living and dining rooms, as those are where I spend most of my time at home, even sleeping.

Thanks for the help, Kaz. If anyone knew, I knew it would be you!

as for the intriguing little pressie, I do hope you don't mind wearing bracelets sometimes...

As for the shit at work...

On count one, I'm just rolling with it. People from all three companies interested in merging have been visiting, and I just try to work hard, be pleasant, and make a decent impression, just in case. If I get laid off, it's not going to kill me. I've been there before and have hit the ground running every time. And this time I have not only a solid support system of friends here- Kaz, JEllen, Terri, Abbi, Vix, and Hellbound especially, but also have people around in RL these days who would help in any way they can.

As far as the second thing, we're going along with it to some extent, but not entirely. And when someone mentioned to me a "conflict of interests", I politely told them that if push came to shove, they wouldn't want to make me choose. Because they'd be hunting high and low for someone of my caliber to replace me in no time flat.

Hi PC, hi Kaz.

I'm heading over shortly to cat sit and if I can figure out how to work her remote - watch the debate. The kitties are so dear, I figured I would spend some time with them.

Work sounds annoying and oppressive, PC. Wish you could find a better job.

JEllen

Southwest is relationships!

Good to hear from you PC, i was fearing you might have drowned in a gooey puddle of cuddle!

"My Best Fiend" sounds like a good movie!

I have been in similiar situations like that cr*p at work...but not for very long. I was hauled up before the Headmaster in my first job & told that it was bad for the image that i had a long haired Sri Lankan boyfriend meet me from school in his battered Ford transit.

I took the creep to an industrial tribunal long before it was trendy to do so & got the union on my side, won the case & he ended up being the one on the dole queue. If you can't do something similar, i would suggest you only stick it out long enough to find somewhere else to work, these people are tossers.

Tempting to do stuff: resist resist, now i have a fellow RL fiend, we find ourselves tempted an awful lot!X2!

I inherited a money plant with the house; along with all the other plants it is lined up along the front of the house, under the french windows, not a lot of choice since it needs light & to be outside at the moment. But when it starts getting too chilly i will have to bring them in, but it will have to be just to the other side of the glass, it's the only light source in that room. I honestly know bu**er all about feng shui, is there an idiots guide to? I will probably find i am doing it instinctively , that's what usually happens with stuff like this!

So, Kaz, has the expo finished? Time to reflect, relax & work towards the next one! I should be doing all this but have been slightly distracted by the barfday stuff & imminent arrival of RK ()& am currently diverting energies into writing blurb to try & sell property in France, it's good fun actually & sorta creative also, "a change is as good as a rest" as grandma would have said! I will undoubtedly get back into art stuff as & when, these things go in cycles, i am learning to accept that. It's NOT being lazy, it's realising that "there is a season" etc.

Apart from the dreaded evil lack of money spectre, caused this month by me stupidly over spending on party preparations (i have more than even I could drink left over; yet no food or fags!) the only real cloud on the horizon is a severe attack of Absolute Hatred from The Ex, to the extent it decreed i am Not Allowed to Be In The Audience at its gigs. Well tough mate, if you choose to play in a public place & me & MY mates choose to watch you, if you can't handle it, your prob not mine. Honestly, sulking & pouting at age 40 is a bit undignified.

Anyway, the party proved i am not short of a mate or three in RL, so if i have to finally delete this one from the list, so be it. Probably about time i started getting a bit more realistic, but i do have some sort of compulsion to cling onto the past.

Oh well, whatever, never mind.

zdt

Hello all, I'm celebrating my Certified status finally with a blass of Paul Mason Mocha liquor stuff and I'm a bit and listening to the debate. Best way to do it IMO. But I couldnt' decide which post to respond to. Sucks about your work thing PC. Bush is lieing as I write this. Of course. Does he ever open his mouth and not lie? Fu... But anyway.

Yes, we listened to the debate last night as well, I found the way Dubbya went all squinty-eyed whenever he didn't like what Kerry said to be quite amusing. As well as his very carefully enunciated New Big Vocabulary Words: vo-cif-er-ous and pro-lif-er-ate. While tautology usually annoys the hell out of me- especially when one is doingit to appear more intelligent than they actually are, it happens every day around me- last night, Dubbya's repeated use of the same two Big Words had me in stitches.

Planning a quiet evening with K tonight, we got paid today, and the combination of stress over picking which bills to pay and which not to, combined with some super-spicy veggie chili we had for dinner late last evening, the poor boy's stomach is a mess. I, luckily, just have a ferocious case of gas.

He's got to deejay tomorrow night from 10:00 PM till 3:00 AM, I don't know if I want to hang around the bar by myself for five hours, so unless someone else comes along and I can keep the alcohol intake to a slow but steady flow, I might come home tomorrow night and venture out again Sunday. That, or if he'd planned to crash at the condo, perhaps I'll hang out there and read for a bit. Dunno. I was thinking about possibly going to see the Ramones movie on Sunday.

Glad to hear you're all doing all right. Terri, wish I could help out by buying a bit of that wine and foodstuff off you.

Congrats on your certified status, Hellbound! It's about time!! Mocha liquor stuff is yummy! I haven't had the inclination to do a lot of drinking since the wedding, I way overdid it and am kind of disgusted with myself for it. Maybe I ought to stick to the nice yummy liqour stuff and avoid hard liquor entirely!

Kaz, thanks for letting me know about the southwest quadrant being for relationships- that can't hurt, either! I really appreciate your sharing all of this info with me, I have only a VERY basic knowledge and it's really cool to learn from someone who knows a lot and in whom I can trust.

Terri, as for the Ex who's being a complete shit, you may well have to erase that one from the list of friends. I've had to do that myself recently as well. As much as it sucks to do that, sometimes you have to, for your own peace of mind.

But you're right about going to any gig you like with your friends- if you don't like the audience, don't play a public venue. Otherwise, it's just tough s!!

I spoke with one of my sales reps today down in Louisiana, he was asking about the sitch. I explained about the possible merger, he told me that two of the three companies, were they to buy us out, would likely lay us all off, but the third, with whom he is affiliated, would not, as they do not have their own customer service or manufacturing departments at this time. So, hope, pray, or do a little that it might be THAT company which buys mine.

The really nice part of the conversation was that this sales rep told me that if I was laid off, were I to come down to Louisiana, they'd hire me for their office in a flash- he thinks I'm fantastic. That really makes me feel better. Even if I'm not up to relocating, maybe I could use some of these guys as a reference later?

Work is the only real worry right now, I still have a littl ebit of that overtime money saved up, and I'll be all right financially till spring, whatever happens. It does take a huge load off having someone around in RL to share this stuff with, and who gives so much moral support, as well as having good friends here on whom I can lean when I need to.

Hi all

I had to learn about Feng Shui when I had the shop, everyone expected me to become an expert on all new age and pagan topics! I learnt a lot in that time!

Terri, I got the expo extended a week!

Working on the November one, next years Natures Designs, another one of stones, bricks, lichen, ivy and stuff that grows on stones and bricks and one based on the busyist road in London!

Oxford Street is a pedestrian nightmare, but look up and you will find fantastic architecture, such as badgers! Yep there are stone badgers on the roofs of one of the buildings in Oxford Street! Anyway, it will be an ongoing internet project, first some pictures, then a map, more pictures, explanations, history etc etc. Hopefully in a few years when its looking good, someone will ask me to exhibit it and help with the costs!

The November exhibition is 'Fungi Fever', due to my state at the time. There may have to be 2 Natures Designs next year, but they love my stuff and at the end of this expo I will be giving the manager her favourite photo! Bribery and corruption!

Tomorrow, its Borough Market to get cob nuts and then the little zoo by the Thames. On Sunday I will catch up with Hellbounds journal as I can see I really need to catch up with happenings with her - hope everything is well Hellbound and talk more soon.

Sorry, PC for cluttering your journal with all my stuff, but look on the postive, it means its all in an easy place for you to read!

>Sorry, PC for cluttering your journal with all my stuff, but look on the postive, it means its all in an easy place for you to read!<

Exactly!

I don't mind you all "cluttering" my journal- I like reading your stuff no matter where you post it. And not only is it easy to read when it's all in one place, it makes for lots more interesting conversations for all!

I'm looking forward to seeing photos from "Fungi Fever"!!

I've fallen behind on Hellbound's journal as well, and haven't sent anyone any email this week. I've just been so wiped out from worrying about work and not sleeping so well the past couple of weeks. So of course then I get lazy and don't respond to stuff till there's so much backlog I don't know where to start or what to comment on. I'm such a dunce!

Hey Kaz, if you like things like the stone badgers, you MUST come to Angoulême, there are wonderful gargoyles all over the place! Not just on the churches but on "ordinary" buildings. Much of the town dates back to the Middle Ages, tiny cobbled streets everywhere, you could take some great photos.

I read somewhere that lichen on the walls is a sign that a place isn't too polluted, we have loads here so it must be a good sign.

zdt

Hey all!

I had a nice weekend, more or less, although the bronchitis came to a head (and at last seems to be better, thankfully- always gets worse before it clears up, you know) and I've been really needy/neurotic/paranoid due to all the tension and stress from work. Luckily, although I was quite unreasonable at times with K this weekend, he's the sort who likes to calmly talk things out, tell me if something I've said hurts, and ask me "where is this coming from- have I done something, or is this a reaction to something established that I need to be aware of and learn how to work with".

Friday night was nice- I can't remember what all we did (and I weren't even drunk ), Saturday we walked the dogs, had brunch, walked the dogs, stopped at K's place and hung out with his roommates and his friend J. We ran out for kitty litter, then went for a walk looking for a place for dinner. Had a lovely Indian dinner- samosas for an appetizer, I had shrimp biryani and he had chicken Jaferezi Sp?). I hung out at the condo with the puppies whilst he deejayed (wasn't up for 7 hours in a bar with my hacking cough, etc.). Yesterday we slept till around 1:00 PM, went for a Mexican lunch/dinner, went browsing at the record store he used to manage, watched "Putney Swope" at my place, then went back and walked puupies again before bed. And he's reading me another story- a Micheal Moorcock fantasy trilogy book. Cool stuff.

Still want to see that Ramones movie- maybe next weekend, I dunno. I'm wondering if I'll be invited along for bowling on Sunday with K's parents again. Maybe I oughta bring my ball this time?

Thank you all for encouraging me to get past my trepidation and just go for it- I seem to have at long last found my soulmate, and am happier than I remember being in my whole life. K and I were talking the other night, he commented on how well we connect. Sometimes he'll be thinking something and I'll say it, or vice versa... or he'll say something like "hold it", and I'll respond with "now, hit it!", which was just what he was waiting to hear. And a couple of weeks ago at work, he emailed me a question... and I had sent my answer five minutes previously. To think what I could have missed, had you lot not encouraged me to follow my heart and not give up no matter how scared and insecure and neurotic I was feeling. Because, truth be told, I'm not the only one who feels that way! I just wish the same for all of you who haven't found that, yet. But it will come, I believe that.

I hope I've not offended or hurt anyone by being out and about weekends, and by devoting Wednesdays to preparing dinner and watching videos. I love you all so much, you're my best buddies, and I cherish all of you very much. (And once I get things sorted with my long-distance phone company, who've been utter dunces in processing my credit card payments of late, I'd like to arrange a phone call now and again to each and every one of you who's available and willing!)

Tonight I'm just washing some clothes, burning a few CDS K's lent me- the Plasmatics "New Hope for the Wretched", the Urinals' "Negative Capability... Check It Out!", and Miles Davis Quartet "'Round About Midnight" (what a mix!), and enjoying a glass of wine with some crackers and cheese. If anyone's online tonight and fancies a chat, gimme a holler, eh?

I'm here. Not much time to chat as usual as I'm at work. I sympathise with work hassles, my other job is worrying me. The manager wants to implement 12 hour shifts rotating through day and night duty. I have big concerns over this although she says it isn't compulsary, I feel I need to put my objections in writing now.
Glad you've met your soul mate

Yes, Meg, m'dear... get your objections in now, and in writing! You always need something to back you up, it seems...

I wish you luck with your won work sitch, you have a family to consider. I'll be thinking of you and hoping for the best.

Thanks for being happy for me. I know I am... for a change!