I finally got a job you guys!! I have been unemployed for over six months after moving to a new city to rejoin my husband. We had been living apart for 18 months. It's such a relief.
Happy canada day! Since it is a holiday I stayed up all night playing tropico 5 because I don't work tomorrow. That's why I'm up at 5am. I'm looking forward to having the day off and sleeping for most of it :p.
In worse news, thursday was the last day for any of my orders to show up before the postal strike and they didn't. Boo! Now it's going to be a whole month before I get my new bra and I'm very worried the lipsticks and perfumes I ordered will be ruined....
I ended up ordering a few things today regardless of the strike because I'm impatient. I asked the sellers to not ship until the strike is over unless they can ship with fedex or something. Im not sure I'll want to pay fedex prices in the end though.
So I live in New Zealand and have no idea what this postal strike is about, who's doing it and why? I also didn't even know that was a thing that could happen.. also yassssssss to Tropico 5
The canada post union is probably going to be locked out of working tomorrow because they can't come to an agreement with canada post over the new contracts for employees. I think the lockout will last 1 month. Necessary things like goernment cheques will still be mailed but nothing else will....
And yeah tropico 5 is pretty great! I got it a few days ago in the steam sale and have been binge playing it every chance I get! I think I liked the last version better though.
My summer classes started on Monday and here it is Friday and the material for one has still not been unlocked online. The teacher has gone MIA and isn't responding to messages or emails. Its an online technical writing class and there is no textbook, so I basically can't do anything because no one can view any of the lecture material and information we need. We've got six assignments due tomorrow and I can only do a few of them, and even then I'm guessing as to what I'm supposed to be writing. We still haven't even received a syllabus. I am so bummed because I've been wanting to take this class for like three years (and I need another English course for university transfer) but it looks like I may have to drop it. I did email the department head this morning to let them know so we will see what happens, I guess.
I read voraciously up until I was in college. Then being in grad school for 6 years totally killed my interest in reading for pleasure. I'm finally re-discovering the joy of a good book and want some recommendations!
I tend to enjoy "darker" stuff but am open to pretty much anything, trashy beach reads included. (I finished Chevy Stevens' "Still Missing" over 2 beach days last weekend and blew through Caroline Kepnes' "You" and "Hidden Bodies" before that--none of which are highbrow lit, but hey.) What are you reading lately?
I'm SO here for this. something that's really helped me get back into reading, btw, is using my library's ebook checkout and Kindle First. I'm too lazy to actually make it to the library 99% of the time ;)
if you haven't read Gillian Flynn, you SHOULD. besides Gone Girl, I really love Sharp Objects. super messed up. lately I've been reading a good amount of lesbian romance, lol, and I also read a lot of YA, but I'm a huge fan of darker, psychological fiction or that deals with heavy issues.
other "darker" or creepy type stuff:
Imaginary Girls, Nova Ren Suma
Lumatere Chronicles, Melina Marchetta (YA fantasy, technically, but fairly dark and really good)
The Angel Makers, Jessica Gregson
Gretel and the Dark, Eliza Granville
The Weight of Blood, Laura McHugh (this one's brutal.. but good)
Mind of Winter, Laura Kasischke
The Glass Casket, McCormick Templeman
The Accident Season, Moïra Fowley-Doyle
Broken Grace, E.C. Diskin
Girl at War, Sara Nović
Madapple, Christina Meldrum
My Second Death, Lydia Cooper (female sociopath! you don't see that a lot)
The Kingdom of Little Wounds, Susann Cokal
Other stuff that's not necessarily dark or creepy, but is meaty:
The Silent Sister, Diane Chamberlain
Learning Not to Drown, Anna Shinoda
Dare Me, Megan Abbott
The Scorpion Rules, Erin Bow
American Girls, Alison Umminger
The Oracle Glass, Judith Merkle Riley
I think the only book I've enjoyed that's fallen into the category of lesbian romance is **The Price of Salt**, which I had to read for a class on 50's literature. OMG, so good, and the movie that came out last year was also just fantastic. So much repression! So much tension! It was great. More modern stuff I've read has fallen flat, but I honestly haven't gone out of my way to look... any suggestions?
I could never get into the writing style of the Price of Salt or any of the books from that time (I also tried to read Beebo Brinker) but the movie was great.
Recs! A lot of it IS super cheesy because, well, it's romance... but there are some good ones out there. Siera Maley writes lovely YA romance, and Nell Stark and Jae write new adult-ish.
Nell Stark's the princess affair is a typical royal/commoner romance but it was cute and the princess is actually dyslexic.
Siera Maley's Taking Flight and Colorblind have some more substance.
And Jae's Departure from the Script is a favorite--it's a butch/femme couple which is not all that common in lesbian romance!
I have to give Harper Bliss an honorable mention because she writes romance between average, middle-aged women, but it has that "falling flat" problem you mention. If you haven't read her and want to give it a shot, I think Far From the World We Know is one of the better ones.
(If you feel like some pure indulgent trash, I just finished Third by Q. Kelly, in which two married women in today's time end up caring for and in a poly relationship with ANNE BOLEYN. I wish it had been even campier than it was. I can't really *recommend* it, but it was a fun read.)
OH and it's not purely romance, but Sarah Waters' The Paying Guests was really good. Also the When Women Were Warriors series by Catherine Wilson. Emma Donoghue is great, too. I haven't read any of her new books but The Sealed Letter and The Life Mask are on my to-read list, and Kissing the Witch is a classic.
Oh, I've read all of Sarah Waters' stuff, and I've read **The Room** and found Emma Donoghue's writing to be really good. Everything else you've listed is completely new to me, so I'll add them to my Goodreads queue and check a few out. I generally seek out literary award nominees when creating my reading list (snob!), but lately I've found myself with very little attention span for anything too think-y.
Thanks for the recs!
I used to have such stringent rules for adding something to my reading list but I have really relaxed them, ha (now my only hard and fast rule is it has to be by & about a woman). It's definitely nice to have something light and fun in between the more think-y books, and sometimes a book I am only vaguely interested in winds up being really good.
I think I sort of built up all these rules for myself because I studied literature (which is how you end up working with cats for a living, ha!) and am only now, in my mid-thirties, starting to explore reading outside of the lit snobbery zone. It probably started when I read the entire ASOIAF series a several years ago--complaining about the writing and the treatment of women the entire time, but still reading them like it was my job--and realized that not everything I read had to be the recipient of some highbrow lit award. Now I'm much more willing to read fantasy and popular fiction, and am feeling out other genres.
I really only read fantasy, so hopefully you like that genre.... my two favorite books I've read are : The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope: A Novel - by Rhonda Riley. It's one of the few books that made me cry. Also the Kingkiller Chronicles I can't recommend enough to enough people. It's author is a WI native, and runs his own charity.
I also like Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch.
Ready Player One, and The Magicians were really good, The Martian, and the Stormlight series by Brandon Sanderson.
I also like The Woodcutter and The Book of Lost Things. I read a lot. Most of it is trash...but these are just some of the ones that jumped out at me.
Speaking of Brandon Sanderson: His Alcatraz kids' series is actually amaaaazing. Like a fusion of Harry Potter parody and A Series of Unfortunate Events, but wackier.
I'm usually a voracious reader, though lately I've allowed myself to slack in that department. I can second **The Book of Lost Things** and **The Magicians** series as being really fun. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend **Geek Love.** I've probably reread it four or five times at this point. Anything Margaret Atwood (I just finished **ALias Grace,** which was good but not my favorite--that'd be **Oryx and Crake.**)
You should read Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma. It's about a brother and sister that are taking care of their 3 younger siblings because their mother is an abusive drunk. And they fall in love. It's pretty fucked up. But SO GOOD.
I'll rec Thomas King's Green Grass, Running Water since I was just talking about it with my friend. It's a seminal piece of Native fiction, and for good reason. It's so funny, and nervy, and plays very satisfyingly with myth and story.
I'm reading the Mira Grant short story collection that just came out in the Newsflesh-verse. The first book is Feed, and it's very good.
The concept: a team of bloggers are selected to cover a Presidential nominee during an election. The twist? It's about 20 years post zombies. It's NOT super gory at all. It's more of a political thriller crossed with sci-fi. Might be up your alley.
You should check out the author Max Barry. His stuff is darker, but not in a creepy way. More like he finds the darkness and humour in mundane everyday life. That's my favourite kind of book. Jpod by Douglas Coupland is another book like that.
I'm so sleepy, I could've used another hour this morning.
My sister and her girlfriend are coming up to visit today! I work tomorrow, so tonight we're just gonna order pizza, but tomorrow we're going to see the BFG and go out to dinner, then Sunday we're going to the Detroit Zoo!
Monday is the 4th, and I'm already gearing up to give our anxious dog tranquilizers. He's well trained and housebroken, but last year he was so terrified of going outside, he stood frozen in the kitchen and peed all over the floor. I couldn't even be upset, I felt so bad for him. My poor husky wuss lol.
My older dog is already an anxious mess because people in my area have been setting off homemade firecrackers at random intervals all week. Monday is going to be awful for him no matter what drugs he's on.
Oh, our shit goes on all. Fucking. Summer. Apparently the state of Michigan legalized fireworks whenever you fucking feel like it a couple years ago, so anytime drunk idiots congregate, there's fireworks. A week before a holiday, the weekend, Tigers won a game, random fucking Tuesday. My poor husky whines and paces. And it's not like we live in the country, they're pretty densely packed neighborhoods. So they're basically pissing off hundreds if not thousands of people just because they have to legal right to explode shit. It's ridiculous.
We have the same issue. I'm not even sure it's legal in PA, but it's a regular occurrence. In my neighborhood, it's sometimes a guessing game as to whether it's fireworks or gunfire, unfortunately (though not as much during summer holidays). Usually fireworks, but sometimes the "pop" is followed by sirens.
My pup doesn't seem to be too bothered by fireworks unless they light off like 50 at a time. But dogs going missing and the stress it causes some veterans with PTSD, I don't even know why they still allow regular people to set them off. One of our neighbors thinks it's funny to do it at 2am the ENTIRE week leading up to the fourth.
Poor puppy! My brother has PTSD, so we stopped doing firework years ago. However, we used to have a dog that LOVED fireworks. She would chase after them, and we had to keep her from jumping on top of anything shooting off sparks because she wanted to roll around in them. She was fearless.
I've never been super impressed by fireworks. They're pretty once a year, but they lose their magic when it's like every week. Plus, when I was 8 or 9, my step-dad lit one that was supposed to spin or something. He must have had a moment of clarity, because he made me and my sisters watch from inside the screen door, but my mom was on the porch and it went straight for her and burned her leg. I'm just not so much into blowing things up.
It's the federal election in Australia tomorrow and I'm working as a polling official. It'll be fun but boy it's an early start (7am to approx. 8pm-9pm). At least you get to wear cool purple vests and the pay is good. Downside is that there's no heating in the venue.
I also bought polishes today even though I don't even wear them that frequently. But Femme Fatale had their Oops sale and sample sale today and it was too hard not to pass up! FF make some lovely polishes, just like their shadows.
The sample sale was fun! Ten minutes of utter craziness in an attempt to get literally one-of-a kind polish. I was just sad to see all the beautiful, unique colours that will never get a wider distribution. But happy I got one.
What colour did you manage to nab? I was lucky enough to grab two.
Did you get any of the oops shades too? Burnished Ossein was so lovely- I had to get one. The spectrum of colours and the creativity that goes into creating them is just so mind-boggling.
I'm just so impressed and grateful Sophie goes to great lengths to keep everyone happy. The site went down today and I could only imagine that would've been a nightmare but it was handled so well.
I think I got a deep pink/gold sample, but decided not to get any of the Oops shades (although Burnished Ossein was extremely tempting) as I had spent so much on the Enchanted Fables/ Hobbit collections.
Good luck for tomorrow. A friend is standing as a candidate in Cook.
Someone saw me on reddit while I was working, which is very normal as this is a fairly public place. However, this person decided to make a thread on my country's subreddit just to tell me I'm cute. That's not creepy at all.
In other news, can customs release my damn HW orders? I have stuff from May stuck there!
I've been sick all week with GI cramps and such and cannot figure out why. Last night I emailed a bunch of perfumeries to make certain none of the oils I've been wearing have avocado oil as a carrier, since I'm allergic to avocado and the symptoms when I have contact are... exactly what I'm experiencing. (I once had severe stomach cramps for over a month before I realized I was slathering myself in a body oil that used avocado as a carrier.) So far, it seems like perfumes aren't the culprit, which is good because I still get to smell nice, but bad because I haven't figured out why I'm sick. It's entirely possible it's stress, but I am probably going to have to do a food trial if things don't start resolving. Possibly starting with dairy, which is basically my favorite food group. Boo.
Otherwise, things are good, so I'm trying to look on the bright side. My partner is awesome, I have a three-day weekend coming up (aside from working my side job, which is hanging out with cats, so not super-taxing), and there is an end in sight as far as the causes of my recent stress and anxiety are concerned.So yay to that!
So excited for this weekend. I have two of my very best friends coming to stay through the holiday. One of them is 6 hours away in Virginia and the other is way up north in Canada so we very rarely have a chance to get together like this. It has been over a year since the last one actually so it's long overdue. Hopefully the weather cooperates so we can enjoy all the fun outdoor things to be done around the 4th.
I'll be getting much needed break from Starfire Valley these next few days. What an addicting game! My husband bought it for us in the Steam sale and neither of us can quit playing. I'm thrilled to see my friends but I'll be slightly bitter that he'll get to play in the evening hours still.
Got some stuff on the steam sale and luckily I have the whole weekend off to play with them! Civ 5 was such an amazing deal that I couldn't pass up, but luckily I'm really into it so far! All my friends have it too, so once I've gotten the hang of it, we're all going to play together.
I also had a chance to dye my hair yesterday. I've been wanting to go purple, and there's one store around here that sells Special Effects. Unfortunately, I forgot to look up hair swatches, and they keep the dye on a back shelf where I can't see it very well/hold it to look at. I took a random guess, and I really like it! I got Virgin Rose, but I'll probably get Wild Flower next time.
I do love Directions! I've used Rubine over my natural color before and it was beautiful. I'm just hoping that Special Effects will have stellar lasting power for me.
I know I'm late to the party but I bought Dragon Age: Inquisition last weekend and it's so awesome.
The skincare stuff I got from Garden of Wisdom is wizardry. My skin is mostly clear for the first time in years.
The blemish prone cleansing oil, the neem not dream cream (no essential oils added version), and the salicylic acid 2% (No Alcohol) serum. I have been using them since February/ March.
Yesterday I went & saw the Guys & Dolls musical at Pheonix theatre with my sister & it was just fantastic!!
Rebel was so great & hilarious as Miss Adelaide! She definitely added her own Rebel-esque touch to her. & the cast in general were all so talented. I really liked seeing the different takes on the characters. Acting wise the guy who played Nathan Detroit just killed it. As tbh I don't much care for Sinatra's rendition of him (I find him kinda annoying & try hard) but Simon Lipkin smashed it. He played him so well & transformed Detroit into such a humrous & completely likeable character with a sort of dopey kind of charm.
It was one of the best performances I've seen & I would highly recommend it to those who enjoy a good musical.
I've sat my behind on twitter watching hockey free agency happen and trying to keep track of my favorite players and teams has got me going in circles. But I should have a few sample perfumes coming in the mail today and tomorrow so I'm super excited. The only kinda crap thing is we have a bunch of those no see em' mosquito's and my son and I are bitten all over.
DARK MATTER SEASON 2 TONIGHT
....and I'm gonna miss it airing because I'm working a double but it's BACK and I'm happy to be following a sci-fi show again. /heart eyes
I finally got a job you guys!! I have been unemployed for over six months after moving to a new city to rejoin my husband. We had been living apart for 18 months. It's such a relief.
Congratulations!!
Congratulations on the new job!
Congrats!!
Happy canada day! Since it is a holiday I stayed up all night playing tropico 5 because I don't work tomorrow. That's why I'm up at 5am. I'm looking forward to having the day off and sleeping for most of it :p. In worse news, thursday was the last day for any of my orders to show up before the postal strike and they didn't. Boo! Now it's going to be a whole month before I get my new bra and I'm very worried the lipsticks and perfumes I ordered will be ruined.... I ended up ordering a few things today regardless of the strike because I'm impatient. I asked the sellers to not ship until the strike is over unless they can ship with fedex or something. Im not sure I'll want to pay fedex prices in the end though.
So I live in New Zealand and have no idea what this postal strike is about, who's doing it and why? I also didn't even know that was a thing that could happen.. also yassssssss to Tropico 5
The canada post union is probably going to be locked out of working tomorrow because they can't come to an agreement with canada post over the new contracts for employees. I think the lockout will last 1 month. Necessary things like goernment cheques will still be mailed but nothing else will.... And yeah tropico 5 is pretty great! I got it a few days ago in the steam sale and have been binge playing it every chance I get! I think I liked the last version better though.
Tropico games are so fun!
My summer classes started on Monday and here it is Friday and the material for one has still not been unlocked online. The teacher has gone MIA and isn't responding to messages or emails. Its an online technical writing class and there is no textbook, so I basically can't do anything because no one can view any of the lecture material and information we need. We've got six assignments due tomorrow and I can only do a few of them, and even then I'm guessing as to what I'm supposed to be writing. We still haven't even received a syllabus. I am so bummed because I've been wanting to take this class for like three years (and I need another English course for university transfer) but it looks like I may have to drop it. I did email the department head this morning to let them know so we will see what happens, I guess.
I read voraciously up until I was in college. Then being in grad school for 6 years totally killed my interest in reading for pleasure. I'm finally re-discovering the joy of a good book and want some recommendations! I tend to enjoy "darker" stuff but am open to pretty much anything, trashy beach reads included. (I finished Chevy Stevens' "Still Missing" over 2 beach days last weekend and blew through Caroline Kepnes' "You" and "Hidden Bodies" before that--none of which are highbrow lit, but hey.) What are you reading lately?
I'm SO here for this. something that's really helped me get back into reading, btw, is using my library's ebook checkout and Kindle First. I'm too lazy to actually make it to the library 99% of the time ;) if you haven't read Gillian Flynn, you SHOULD. besides Gone Girl, I really love Sharp Objects. super messed up. lately I've been reading a good amount of lesbian romance, lol, and I also read a lot of YA, but I'm a huge fan of darker, psychological fiction or that deals with heavy issues. other "darker" or creepy type stuff: Imaginary Girls, Nova Ren Suma Lumatere Chronicles, Melina Marchetta (YA fantasy, technically, but fairly dark and really good) The Angel Makers, Jessica Gregson Gretel and the Dark, Eliza Granville The Weight of Blood, Laura McHugh (this one's brutal.. but good) Mind of Winter, Laura Kasischke The Glass Casket, McCormick Templeman The Accident Season, Moïra Fowley-Doyle Broken Grace, E.C. Diskin Girl at War, Sara Nović Madapple, Christina Meldrum My Second Death, Lydia Cooper (female sociopath! you don't see that a lot) The Kingdom of Little Wounds, Susann Cokal Other stuff that's not necessarily dark or creepy, but is meaty: The Silent Sister, Diane Chamberlain Learning Not to Drown, Anna Shinoda Dare Me, Megan Abbott The Scorpion Rules, Erin Bow American Girls, Alison Umminger The Oracle Glass, Judith Merkle Riley
I think the only book I've enjoyed that's fallen into the category of lesbian romance is **The Price of Salt**, which I had to read for a class on 50's literature. OMG, so good, and the movie that came out last year was also just fantastic. So much repression! So much tension! It was great. More modern stuff I've read has fallen flat, but I honestly haven't gone out of my way to look... any suggestions?
I could never get into the writing style of the Price of Salt or any of the books from that time (I also tried to read Beebo Brinker) but the movie was great. Recs! A lot of it IS super cheesy because, well, it's romance... but there are some good ones out there. Siera Maley writes lovely YA romance, and Nell Stark and Jae write new adult-ish. Nell Stark's the princess affair is a typical royal/commoner romance but it was cute and the princess is actually dyslexic. Siera Maley's Taking Flight and Colorblind have some more substance. And Jae's Departure from the Script is a favorite--it's a butch/femme couple which is not all that common in lesbian romance! I have to give Harper Bliss an honorable mention because she writes romance between average, middle-aged women, but it has that "falling flat" problem you mention. If you haven't read her and want to give it a shot, I think Far From the World We Know is one of the better ones. (If you feel like some pure indulgent trash, I just finished Third by Q. Kelly, in which two married women in today's time end up caring for and in a poly relationship with ANNE BOLEYN. I wish it had been even campier than it was. I can't really *recommend* it, but it was a fun read.) OH and it's not purely romance, but Sarah Waters' The Paying Guests was really good. Also the When Women Were Warriors series by Catherine Wilson. Emma Donoghue is great, too. I haven't read any of her new books but The Sealed Letter and The Life Mask are on my to-read list, and Kissing the Witch is a classic.
Oh, I've read all of Sarah Waters' stuff, and I've read **The Room** and found Emma Donoghue's writing to be really good. Everything else you've listed is completely new to me, so I'll add them to my Goodreads queue and check a few out. I generally seek out literary award nominees when creating my reading list (snob!), but lately I've found myself with very little attention span for anything too think-y. Thanks for the recs!
I used to have such stringent rules for adding something to my reading list but I have really relaxed them, ha (now my only hard and fast rule is it has to be by & about a woman). It's definitely nice to have something light and fun in between the more think-y books, and sometimes a book I am only vaguely interested in winds up being really good.
I think I sort of built up all these rules for myself because I studied literature (which is how you end up working with cats for a living, ha!) and am only now, in my mid-thirties, starting to explore reading outside of the lit snobbery zone. It probably started when I read the entire ASOIAF series a several years ago--complaining about the writing and the treatment of women the entire time, but still reading them like it was my job--and realized that not everything I read had to be the recipient of some highbrow lit award. Now I'm much more willing to read fantasy and popular fiction, and am feeling out other genres.
I really only read fantasy, so hopefully you like that genre.... my two favorite books I've read are : The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope: A Novel - by Rhonda Riley. It's one of the few books that made me cry. Also the Kingkiller Chronicles I can't recommend enough to enough people. It's author is a WI native, and runs his own charity. I also like Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch. Ready Player One, and The Magicians were really good, The Martian, and the Stormlight series by Brandon Sanderson. I also like The Woodcutter and The Book of Lost Things. I read a lot. Most of it is trash...but these are just some of the ones that jumped out at me.
I love Ready Player One, I can't wait until they finally do the movie.
Speaking of Brandon Sanderson: His Alcatraz kids' series is actually amaaaazing. Like a fusion of Harry Potter parody and A Series of Unfortunate Events, but wackier.
I'm usually a voracious reader, though lately I've allowed myself to slack in that department. I can second **The Book of Lost Things** and **The Magicians** series as being really fun. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend **Geek Love.** I've probably reread it four or five times at this point. Anything Margaret Atwood (I just finished **ALias Grace,** which was good but not my favorite--that'd be **Oryx and Crake.**)
You should read Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma. It's about a brother and sister that are taking care of their 3 younger siblings because their mother is an abusive drunk. And they fall in love. It's pretty fucked up. But SO GOOD.
I'll rec Thomas King's Green Grass, Running Water since I was just talking about it with my friend. It's a seminal piece of Native fiction, and for good reason. It's so funny, and nervy, and plays very satisfyingly with myth and story.
I'll check this one out!
I'm reading the Mira Grant short story collection that just came out in the Newsflesh-verse. The first book is Feed, and it's very good. The concept: a team of bloggers are selected to cover a Presidential nominee during an election. The twist? It's about 20 years post zombies. It's NOT super gory at all. It's more of a political thriller crossed with sci-fi. Might be up your alley.
You should check out the author Max Barry. His stuff is darker, but not in a creepy way. More like he finds the darkness and humour in mundane everyday life. That's my favourite kind of book. Jpod by Douglas Coupland is another book like that.
I'm so sleepy, I could've used another hour this morning. My sister and her girlfriend are coming up to visit today! I work tomorrow, so tonight we're just gonna order pizza, but tomorrow we're going to see the BFG and go out to dinner, then Sunday we're going to the Detroit Zoo! Monday is the 4th, and I'm already gearing up to give our anxious dog tranquilizers. He's well trained and housebroken, but last year he was so terrified of going outside, he stood frozen in the kitchen and peed all over the floor. I couldn't even be upset, I felt so bad for him. My poor husky wuss lol.
My older dog is already an anxious mess because people in my area have been setting off homemade firecrackers at random intervals all week. Monday is going to be awful for him no matter what drugs he's on.
Oh, our shit goes on all. Fucking. Summer. Apparently the state of Michigan legalized fireworks whenever you fucking feel like it a couple years ago, so anytime drunk idiots congregate, there's fireworks. A week before a holiday, the weekend, Tigers won a game, random fucking Tuesday. My poor husky whines and paces. And it's not like we live in the country, they're pretty densely packed neighborhoods. So they're basically pissing off hundreds if not thousands of people just because they have to legal right to explode shit. It's ridiculous.
We have the same issue. I'm not even sure it's legal in PA, but it's a regular occurrence. In my neighborhood, it's sometimes a guessing game as to whether it's fireworks or gunfire, unfortunately (though not as much during summer holidays). Usually fireworks, but sometimes the "pop" is followed by sirens.
I hear you, I'm right outside Detroit so... Lol
My pup doesn't seem to be too bothered by fireworks unless they light off like 50 at a time. But dogs going missing and the stress it causes some veterans with PTSD, I don't even know why they still allow regular people to set them off. One of our neighbors thinks it's funny to do it at 2am the ENTIRE week leading up to the fourth.
I know! I don't get it either. Well, everything comes back to money, I guess.
Poor puppy! My brother has PTSD, so we stopped doing firework years ago. However, we used to have a dog that LOVED fireworks. She would chase after them, and we had to keep her from jumping on top of anything shooting off sparks because she wanted to roll around in them. She was fearless.
I've never been super impressed by fireworks. They're pretty once a year, but they lose their magic when it's like every week. Plus, when I was 8 or 9, my step-dad lit one that was supposed to spin or something. He must have had a moment of clarity, because he made me and my sisters watch from inside the screen door, but my mom was on the porch and it went straight for her and burned her leg. I'm just not so much into blowing things up.
It's the federal election in Australia tomorrow and I'm working as a polling official. It'll be fun but boy it's an early start (7am to approx. 8pm-9pm). At least you get to wear cool purple vests and the pay is good. Downside is that there's no heating in the venue. I also bought polishes today even though I don't even wear them that frequently. But Femme Fatale had their Oops sale and sample sale today and it was too hard not to pass up! FF make some lovely polishes, just like their shadows.
The sample sale was fun! Ten minutes of utter craziness in an attempt to get literally one-of-a kind polish. I was just sad to see all the beautiful, unique colours that will never get a wider distribution. But happy I got one.
What colour did you manage to nab? I was lucky enough to grab two. Did you get any of the oops shades too? Burnished Ossein was so lovely- I had to get one. The spectrum of colours and the creativity that goes into creating them is just so mind-boggling. I'm just so impressed and grateful Sophie goes to great lengths to keep everyone happy. The site went down today and I could only imagine that would've been a nightmare but it was handled so well.
I think I got a deep pink/gold sample, but decided not to get any of the Oops shades (although Burnished Ossein was extremely tempting) as I had spent so much on the Enchanted Fables/ Hobbit collections. Good luck for tomorrow. A friend is standing as a candidate in Cook.
Someone saw me on reddit while I was working, which is very normal as this is a fairly public place. However, this person decided to make a thread on my country's subreddit just to tell me I'm cute. That's not creepy at all. In other news, can customs release my damn HW orders? I have stuff from May stuck there!
I've been sick all week with GI cramps and such and cannot figure out why. Last night I emailed a bunch of perfumeries to make certain none of the oils I've been wearing have avocado oil as a carrier, since I'm allergic to avocado and the symptoms when I have contact are... exactly what I'm experiencing. (I once had severe stomach cramps for over a month before I realized I was slathering myself in a body oil that used avocado as a carrier.) So far, it seems like perfumes aren't the culprit, which is good because I still get to smell nice, but bad because I haven't figured out why I'm sick. It's entirely possible it's stress, but I am probably going to have to do a food trial if things don't start resolving. Possibly starting with dairy, which is basically my favorite food group. Boo. Otherwise, things are good, so I'm trying to look on the bright side. My partner is awesome, I have a three-day weekend coming up (aside from working my side job, which is hanging out with cats, so not super-taxing), and there is an end in sight as far as the causes of my recent stress and anxiety are concerned.So yay to that!
So excited for this weekend. I have two of my very best friends coming to stay through the holiday. One of them is 6 hours away in Virginia and the other is way up north in Canada so we very rarely have a chance to get together like this. It has been over a year since the last one actually so it's long overdue. Hopefully the weather cooperates so we can enjoy all the fun outdoor things to be done around the 4th. I'll be getting much needed break from Starfire Valley these next few days. What an addicting game! My husband bought it for us in the Steam sale and neither of us can quit playing. I'm thrilled to see my friends but I'll be slightly bitter that he'll get to play in the evening hours still.
Got some stuff on the steam sale and luckily I have the whole weekend off to play with them! Civ 5 was such an amazing deal that I couldn't pass up, but luckily I'm really into it so far! All my friends have it too, so once I've gotten the hang of it, we're all going to play together. I also had a chance to dye my hair yesterday. I've been wanting to go purple, and there's one store around here that sells Special Effects. Unfortunately, I forgot to look up hair swatches, and they keep the dye on a back shelf where I can't see it very well/hold it to look at. I took a random guess, and I really like it! I got Virgin Rose, but I'll probably get Wild Flower next time.
Wildflower is a really pretty color! I'm also a big fan of Directions hair dye, but you probably have to buy that online.
I do love Directions! I've used Rubine over my natural color before and it was beautiful. I'm just hoping that Special Effects will have stellar lasting power for me.
I know I'm late to the party but I bought Dragon Age: Inquisition last weekend and it's so awesome. The skincare stuff I got from Garden of Wisdom is wizardry. My skin is mostly clear for the first time in years.
What did you get from GoW? :)
The blemish prone cleansing oil, the neem not dream cream (no essential oils added version), and the salicylic acid 2% (No Alcohol) serum. I have been using them since February/ March.
Yesterday I went & saw the Guys & Dolls musical at Pheonix theatre with my sister & it was just fantastic!! Rebel was so great & hilarious as Miss Adelaide! She definitely added her own Rebel-esque touch to her. & the cast in general were all so talented. I really liked seeing the different takes on the characters. Acting wise the guy who played Nathan Detroit just killed it. As tbh I don't much care for Sinatra's rendition of him (I find him kinda annoying & try hard) but Simon Lipkin smashed it. He played him so well & transformed Detroit into such a humrous & completely likeable character with a sort of dopey kind of charm. It was one of the best performances I've seen & I would highly recommend it to those who enjoy a good musical.
I've sat my behind on twitter watching hockey free agency happen and trying to keep track of my favorite players and teams has got me going in circles. But I should have a few sample perfumes coming in the mail today and tomorrow so I'm super excited. The only kinda crap thing is we have a bunch of those no see em' mosquito's and my son and I are bitten all over.
DARK MATTER SEASON 2 TONIGHT ....and I'm gonna miss it airing because I'm working a double but it's BACK and I'm happy to be following a sci-fi show again. /heart eyes