After working another long week, (38 hours this time) I finally have a little room to breathe. I've got the next three days off to rest and recuperate, plus I'm taking some time off next week to go laptop shopping with my mom. We've both finally saved up enough money and I am SO excited to be so close to getting myself the laptop I've been wanting for over a year now. :) Plus, after I'm finished purchasing my lovely new Apple, I can start saving up for the other pieces of technology I've been craving, such as an Xbox 360, a new iPod, and of course lots of video games/music to go along with them. *squee* My poor 20-page-long Amazon wishlist has been sadly neglected over the past couple of months! It'll be nice to get back to shortening it.

Also, words do not describe how happy I am that the new Hellboy movie is finally coming out. I saw previews for it last night and I'm still squeeful. Unfortunately I haven't seen any of the other cool movies that have come out this summer, which is just terrible, but such is the danger of working life. (And not having a car) That's OK though, since I think we're going to go see Iron Man next week after laptop shopping has concluded. I'm amazed at how many interesting movies are coming out this year. Last year it seemed like we had hardly anything worth watching and now my list is so long, I can't keep up with it. On the bright side, maybe now we'll go see more movies since I can finally afford to pay for my own ticket, which makes it a little less expensive. (Though not if gas prices keep skyrocketing)

My writing hasn't been going so great, again thanks to my job. I'm so exhausted when I get home that trying to do anything creative is just too much for me to handle. I have managed to do a little work, though, and Episode 3 of Dreamfall is almost finished. I swear it's forthcoming, plus I'm going to use the extra time off this week to see if I can't get Episodes 4 and 5 done as well. No promises, though, because I've also got to spend time on other things, like catching up on chores and another project I've got going that I'm keeping under wraps for the moment.

The job hasn't been that peachy, either. All but a handful of my friends have left. Yesterday is probably the last time I'm going to see one of my best friends there, and it seems my superiors have decided that they just can't be bothered to train me for anything new and different, which means that I get to be a cashier stuck doing the exact same job day in, day out, from now until doomsday. I am not the sort of person who deals well with monotony. Especially not minimum wage monotony that's so exhausting and painful it's keeping me from my real work. Writers: don't quit your day job, but don't let your day job take over your life, either. Mine is dangerously close to doing so, not to mention I've developed a creeping depression because of it. Things will change soon-- I'll make sure of it-- but I am sad that a job I once enjoyed has so quickly turned sour. And I miss my friends. Not all of them are gone, but the ones I was closest to have moved on, and it makes me sad. Bright side: all this emotional turmoil will make for a wonderful story someday.

And that's your window in to the life for Amanda Cales for this week. :) Have a cookie.

Damn. Do I know how to neglect this thing, or what? Heh.

Unfortunately most of the things that are happening to me at the moment I'd either like to keep to myself or share with close friends, so blogging about them publicly seems a little dumb. Suffice it to say I'm exhausted but happy, with increased hours at work, a little more money, and the same friends I've loved hanging out with ever since I started this job. Wednesday is going to be my 7 month anniversary, which isn't as pretty a number as 6 but there you have it. This weekend was awesome for various reasons, some of which involve large amounts of caffeine. (Well. Large for me. Since my sensitivity to caffeine is practically legendary the rest of you would probably laugh at how little I actually consumed, but whatever.)

Recently I've spent entirely too much money on clothing, though who can blame me when one of my favorite shops ever was absolutely bursting with $3, $5, and $7 racks full of adorable tops and jeans? You can't beat getting a great pair of jeans for $7, I don't care who you are. But the fact that my dad got a shiny new laptop and my mom got a shiny new iPod on Saturday, thus totally outstripping me on the technological front, has kind of made me realize I should probably start saving up if I actually want to catch up with the rest of the world and listen to my music on something that doesn't look and feel like a paperweight. On the bright side, I can occasionally borrow my dad's laptop when he isn't using it, which might help my writing productivity. I'm a little behind on my Cool Secret Project, mostly because of work, but I haven't abandoned it by any means so it'll be nice getting back to that.

I also went to my very first play on Saturday, and even though it was a high school production and I got there about forty five minutes late, I enjoyed it anyway. ^_^ One of the boys I know at work was in the play too, so I had a great time cheering him on. Next time I'll try and get there a little earlier so I don't end up camping out on the steps upstairs during the first act... *grin*

And that's pretty much all my news. :) Hope life is treating everyone well these days. It's been good to me the past week.

Well, if any of you have been wondering where I am, I got sick. Yes, AGAIN. Gah. Though I think this time it might have been more allergy than germ related, since I contracted my "illness" on Wednesday and I'm already feeling pretty much back to normal. (Though my voice still sounds like crap) Regardless, I've been out of the online world since about Wednesday. My evil 37 hour week is finally over and I'll be working a mere six and a half hours on this likely-to-be-insane Easter Sunday. Yay. I've got a lot of days off this week so maybe that will help me catch up with all the things I've been putting off (*coughwriting&voiceworkforJustincoughhack*) and also give me some time to relax and hopefully keep from burning out on my job completely. Dunno what I'm going to do about next week, though. We'll see...one crazy part of me is half considering throwing open the floodgates on my schedule and going full time just to have something different to do, but I doubt with my "limited availability" they'll like that suggestion. Something to think about, though. I would like more money, especially since I've been saving up for a laptop for almost a month now and I've still only got about $750...(I really am excited to get a laptop, though, because I think it will vastly improve my writing productivity, not to mention my online presence. In fact, I'm sure it will be a good thing for me all the way around.)

Anyway. I'd better get upstairs before mom finishes making pancakes, and also I should probably make some attempt at getting ready for work this morning. =P

As usual, DRS inspired me to write. I've begun revisions on my Top Secret short story which will be seeing the light of the day soon-ish. My plan is to polish it up a bit then post it on our restricted critique forum, which is viewable only to a select few Dead Robots listeners. I'm going to get some feedback on it and then maybe, just maybe, I'll be putting it into a collection Justin's going to be putting together in the next few months of short stories written by the Dead Robots. I'd like for it to be available. I'd like people to read it and send me money for it. Finally, I think I'm ready to handle that. When I first wrote it, the story was very personal and very...startling? I guess that's a good way to put it. I wasn't expecting to come up with the story I ended up writing. Very unusual for me, since I generally believe that everything in life needs a plan before it'll work right. I certainly wasn't ready to share it, though I think I'm past that now. Good to know that the fear does eventually wear off. I'm sure I'll get all nervous again when the time comes to actually make it public, but for now I think I'm going to make publishing it a solid goal.

I've been working on coming up with a lot of goals recently. Things at my job have definitely reached a plateau. I'm bored, put simply. My friends are still wonderful, but interaction continues to be limited by my superiors, and it's just not enough anymore to keep me interested in what I'm doing. So I've started thinking about what I can do to change that boredom. I'm also pursuing several new hobbies, using the money I earn during the week to fund projects I'm hoping will help increase my happiness and give my creativity several new outlets. Writing is good, but sometimes I need to do something creative that doesn't involve the written word. There's also a possibility I might be able to sell some of my creations later on, though that's not a concrete goal at the moment. I'll post further updates as things develop, since I'm sure you're all WILDLY interested in the minutiae of my daily life. ^_~

Anyway. I should probably get to bed. Tomorrow's going to be a full day and I'll even be getting up early. Huzzah. XP Ah well. Two of my favorite people will be there tomorrow so at least it won't be a total wash! Good night, world.

I'm tired. I'm a little depressed. (Was more so earlier but now for some reason I'm feeling better and even a little hopeful.) I just ordered these three books off of Amazon. (Though I have to note that my Amazon wishlist is still 22 pages long, even though I've bought almost a dozen items that were featured on it now...)

Here's to payday only being two and a half days away. I've almost got enough saved to make reservations for Dragon*Con, and once that's done it won't be long before I have enough to buy myself a laptop. :) Then maybe I can start utilizing my time a bit more productively when it comes to writing...

Oh, and today I also learned that I am not such a terrible podcast host. :) Yay.

Well, after several weeks of hard work, I have collected roughly $800 and opened a checking account. I feel all grown up now. :) Things are going OK at work, but they've been doing some really strange things with everybody's schedules recently that have the employees very upset. I'm lucky that I don't need this job, otherwise I'd be joining them. They go on and on about being short staffed all the time, but now that the big Thanksgiving rush is pretty much over, they're cutting back on our hours...until Christmas rolls around. I'll bet you anything the week before Christmas, everybody will be working an obscene number of hours again. They actually had me working ten days straight with no days off the week before and of Thanksgiving. Of course they didn't see it that way, since their system works from Sunday to Saturday, but that's what happened in reality. Unfortunately reality doesn't seem to carry much weight in that place...I dunno. I can honestly say I've learned a lot from this job. Not all of the lessons I've learned have put humanity in a very positive light, either. But I do have the advantage of not needing this job, and for now it remains a mostly fun drain on my time that I'm willing to put up with in exchange for money. There are people at work that I like a lot, many of whom I will get to see tomorrow, (there are always more teenagers working on Saturdays and Sundays than weekdays, for obvious reasons. The result is that I get to spend more time with people closer to my age on the weekends, which is very fun) and it's a lot of fun to have enough money to spend over two hours on your computer shopping on eBay, Amazon, and ThinkGeek. =D So yeah. Being a cashier is OK, but it'd be a lot better if my bosses would just take a few chill pills and start thinking with their brains as opposed to their computers and their egos. I am also getting a little tired of being treated like a dumb animal, but that's a rant for another blog post.

As for everything else in my life...well. I'm catching up slowly but surely, but I can't say I'm doing a particularly stellar job. NaNo has eluded me completely this year and I'm still no closer to finishing String Shift or any of my other novels. Sigh. The podcast is still going well, though the holiday season and job stresses are taking tolls on all of us. B vitamins are helping a lot, both by keeping me healthy and alert. Fatigue is my major enemy these days. Unfortunately even if I don't go into work until 1pm, I still have to get up at 7am so mom can drive me to her work since we carpool and my job is about 30 minutes away from my house. So I end up twiddling my thumbs at her work for several hours while I wait for my shift time to start. Because it's not like I'd have anything else to do with my time, after all. Sigh. Everything else is all right. I finally got my hands on a copy of Tomb Raider: Legend, which was a whole lotta fun and I feel like I've reconnected with an old friend after having purged the wrongness that was Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness. I was a little disappointed in the shortness and repetitiveness of Legend, but it's most definitely a step in the right direction and I can't wait to get my hands on Anniversary. It pains me that Legend actually came out almost a year and a half ago and I just now got to play it. Ugh. That is one nice thing about having a job-- money. Oh yes, the money and I get along very well. I just wish I was making more. (Being paid less because this is my first job sucks. A lot.)

So yeah. Things are pretty good. Not having to worry about Christmas is awesome. In fact, the only thing I have to worry about this December is my mom's birthday. =D Yay mom!

Well, I think I've finally managed to catch up on most of the projects that got put off due to my illness. My "To Do" list is shrinking by the hour and things are starting to run smoothly again. Once I catch up with all the dishes and do a load or two of laundry all my boring mundane chores should be totally dealt with. :) I've gotten back on the writing horse and am continuing revisions on String Shift, and thanks to some encouragement from the awesome folks over at the ISBW forums I've decided not to give up on TSW. I also have a LOT of new story ideas burgeoning in the wings, and I'm keeping careful track of them in my diary. Some are little more than a few random scenes that have flashed through my brain, but I'm working on bringing them all together, organizing them, and making them a little more coherent. (There's nothing worse than having to hunt down scraps of story ideas that have been scattered through a dozen different notebooks) Sometimes it's really nice just to sit back on my bed and scribble down some random thoughts in a notebook. :) I've actually gotten several character profiles done that way recently...there's a particular story idea involving space pirates that I'm really psyched about at the moment. It was inspired by a dream I had last year, and the thoughts I wrote down in my bedside notebook are really kickass. In fact, I'm heading upstairs in a few minutes to do some more work on the plot and some of the different alien races. =D Fun!

In other good news, the spring rains came today. Earlier this month the weather was cold, bitter, and thoroughly wintry, and then the last couple of weeks have felt like diving straight into summer. In the middle of March. But the weather gods seem to have settled down finally and we're experiencing some deliciously humid and cool Spring weather. Mom and dad have planted some seeds on the back porch and they're all sprouting beautifully. We've got herbs, (dill, chives, basil) some flowers, cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, and cucumbers. All of them are sprouting great, except for the lavender and sweet peas. (Flowers, not the actual peas) Those haven't come up it. It may be the seeds are too old, and that's OK. All of our old plants are doing really well, too. One of my two silver maple saplings didn't survive, but that's OK because the other one is doing fabulously. Seriously, this thing is taking off. It's huge, and it's putting on new leaves almost every day. It has literally gained several branches in a matter of hours. And, of course, because of the rain, everything's bright green and lovely. =D The humidity is sky high, which suits me, and when I step outside I can hear the little spring tree frogs singing their hearts out from every direction. And when I take Bruno for walks in the mornings, I get to see all the beautiful flowering trees. We've got all sorts here in Broadacres - Bradford Pears, Dogwoods, Redwoods, Weeping Willows, (My favorite - long, graceful sheets of fluffy pink flowers swaying gently in the breeze) Tulip Trees, and a dozen others I can't name. There's also an abundance of daffodils, hyacinths, and phlox blooming, which smells and looks amazing. Even the ugly, battered old tree in our front yard that the power company has mutilated to keep it out of the power lines is blooming again. Three cheers for spring! =D

Oh, I almost forgot - the baked goods biz has been doing great this week. I've introduced a new item, pocket pies, (You wanted me to make Cornish Pasties, Hel? ^_~ Well, now I can make you some fine pasties when I visit or any other time) which are selling really well. In fact, they're going so well that the batch of blueberry muffins (previously everyone's favorite item) I made for Tuesday's sale weren't even touched because everybody was so jazzed about the pies. I made one batch stuffed with sausage, eggs, and cheese, and another with a cinnamon apple filling. I made $15 in one day, which is more than I usually make in an entire week of sales. Awesome, huh? Mom and I are also discussing making things like casseroles and waffles, both of which I already know how to make. I can't wait to experiment with chocolate waffles. XD

I don't have oodles of extra cash, but I am slowly but surely buying things that I want and need. This past weekend I went out to Kohl's and bought a 14 day sampler of facial care products from good skin, which KICKS ASS. My face hasn't felt this good in...well, ever, actually. All the facial products I've tried up until now haven't really worked consistently, or they work only for a little while and then lose their effectiveness over time. They're also usually really expensive because they have to be all natural since I have uber sensitive skin and can't usually abide chemicals. But this stuff is a perfect balance of natural ingredients and chemicals. It's nice to encounter something that doesn't sting, cut, or make my face feel like dried leather. *coughProactivcough* =D I use their "all calm" system and would suggest their products to pretty much anyone who stood still long enough. I also bought a video game off Half.com, (great deals, btw, my purchase only cost about $7.50 and that's with shipping) the sequel to my all time favorite First Person Shooter, "No One Lives Forever". It's kinda old, I know, but the first version is SO much fun (I've lost track of how many times I've played through it) that I'm psyched about getting it anyway. And holy CRAP is it hard to find affordable video games these days! Everything at EB was $30 or over (unjustly so, I thought, seeing as how some titles were several months old or far too crappy to justify those kinds of prices) and eBay has gone completely insane. I guess the second handers decided they couldn't cheat people using reserve bids or buy it now auctions so instead they're going to hike up the shipping prices to make up for the fact that they're listing a game they bought for $50 at .99 cents. Dumbasses.

Anyway, I should go. I've already been down here an hour longer than I planned and this entry is probably already too long to read. Ja ne! :)

Well, I didn't get as much writing done today as I hoped I would. But that's not to say I had a bad day. Actually I enjoyed myself immensely. I took the dog for a really fun walk and took a long, relaxing nap afterwards. (To make up for the fact I was awake at FIVE AM THIS MORNING, grr) This morning, even though I was up very early, I got back on track with my Japanese lessons and actually listened to a few new episodes instead of just rehashing the old ones, and I learned quite a bit. Mom has had a lot of helpful suggestions on the short story front and, in a surprising turn of events, has purchased a fish! Said fish is on her desk at work. He is a beta named Bob. =D (She did that just for my benefit, since I am often complaining that things with long, complex names really just need to be called Bob) I am hoping to weasel a trip up there sometime this weekend so I can see Bob. She apparently went to Petsmart with Kimberly and along with Bob spotted a very beautiful Doberman/German Shephered mix for sale...if he hadn't been so expensive (and large - he's only two years old and he's already Bruno's size) I think we would probably have a new dog by now. ^_^() Not that I mind. Secretly I'd love to get another dog as a companion for Bruno, and also just because I think it'd be a lot of fun. Having said that it would probably morph into a horrifying disaster of epic proportions but there's nothing wrong with having a fantasy, I guess.

I also purchased Holly Lisle's "Create a Language Clinic" since it was on sale today. Not sure if I'm going back for the other clinic e-book, about creating cultures, even if it did look pretty cool. My debt to mom has finally been erased through baking revenues, it actually only took me a couple of months not counting my off time for the holidays. That's not bad, but sometimes it is kind of depressing to spend time baking something only to find out the next day you barely sold anything and made a whopping total of $6. Speaking of that, I need to make cinnamon raisin muffins tonight. And I need to start working on mom's website for the business sometime soon. I put that off for a long time, first because of forgetfulness and then because of the short story deadline. But I just realized it might help revenues considerably, so I think I'll redouble my efforts to get started on that. (I hate how you intend to do something and then thirteen other things come out of nowhere to keep you from doing it and a week later you realize you've done squat and end up feeling really guilty about it)

My dad says I have too much stress. He's probably right. Unfortunately I'm kind of fond of my stress in a really screwed up way. Need to work on that.

I can't think of anything else to write and I need to get baking, so matta ashita ne. :)

I now have my own eBay and Paypal accounts! =D So if any of you want to send me money for anything...say, perhaps, as a small birthday or Christmas gift...then all you have to do is point your Paypal or other online money sending device to my email address, which is: amanda@amandacales.com! And if you're interested in my eBay account, the name of it is (creatively enough): AmandaCales. But that won't really be interesting until I start buying and selling things, which should be pretty soon since I'm very excited. :)

Send me money! ^_~

I’m baaaack. =D And I’m happy to be back. What kept me away, you ask? I became a harbinger of DEATH, DESTRUCTION, AND DEFORMITY, of course.

Yeah. I got a cold. =P

Got it on Monday. Probably from where I went shopping and then went off my diet for a couple of days afterwards. (Important lesson learned: When spending time in a germ-prolific environment, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES OF ANY TYPE EXCEPT PERHAPS EXTREME STARVATION, eat food that isn’t on my diet. Especially not sugar or wheat. Because if I do, I get a cold. And I hate colds.) This meant that I was out of commission for, well, a week. On the upside, I didn’t vomit like I normally do when I get a cold, and I got caught up on all of my podcasts except for The Writing Show and MOREVI: The Chronicles of Rafe and Askana.. Mostly because I kept falling asleep during the latter. Tee, I love ya dude, and you’ve got a great story, but fever + exhaustion + nice cozy bed + relaxing, non-violent podcasts = Amanda is now asleep. While the iPod is still plugged into her ears and running. XD I was originally going to listen to Spherical Tomi, but unfortunately I was too disoriented from fever and the plot line was too despair and violence oriented. My poor fried little brain couldn’t handle it, so I switched to Morevi. I’m going to finish Morevi first, then try ST again now that I am fully recovered. Not bad, huh? Got sick and recovered in less than a week. I still sound like I’ve got cotton up my nose, but I feel absolutely fine. Lots of energy. Almost too much energy, if you ask my dad. ;) Poor guy. I think I’ve been overloading him a bit with my enthusiasm lately. Sorry, but I can’t help it. After you spend three days of your life stuck in the same bed hour after hour with every bone in your body feeling like it’s on fire, when you finally get rid of that feeling it’s hard not to be enthusiastic about doing absolutely everything as soon as possible. I nearly exploded on the fourth day when I was finally starting to feel good, but I couldn’t come downstairs to the computer or cook anything yet because I was still dripping germs and I didn’t want to infect anybody. But now I’m back and I can get on with the important things in my life, like working on my novel, cooking, collecting highly personal information from all of my friends, and shopping! XD

( Only fools buy retail. )

In other news…I got on a podcast! ^_^ Yup, the voicemail I sent to Mur Lafferty at I Should Be Writing was edited into her latest show. [link] (Remember, this is just an MP3 file, and as such can be opened and listened to in any MP3 playing program!) I encourage you all to download it and hear my tiny little voice asking a question about her novel! I’m so happy. :D If you don’t want to listen to the entire show, just fast forward to time index 36:40. That’s precisely when my voicemail message starts. =D I can’t wait to send more voicemails to more podcasts. As soon as my voice heals from my sickness, I will do just that. Tuesday should be about right. ^_^ I’m so excited. I’m going to target Michael and Evo next…mwahahaha…

In all seriousness, though, this is why I love podcasts so much. Not only are they a portable, easily accessible media, but I can really get involved with them. There are real people behind them, not corporations or offices or groups or businesses. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those things, sometimes I just really want to reach out and talk with the person who’s actually behind the curtain. And with this media, I can. It’s no wonder it’s taken off so quickly. I can both learn and contribute to these shows, and I can send feedback directly to their producers, editors, writers, or whoever! All of the above! I can chat with other fans of the show on forums, send in content, submit articles, whatever I want. Podcasting truly utilizes the internet to it’s fullest capacity. Or, at least, it comes a lot closer then anything else ever has. You can send e-mails, post on forums, send voicemails or Skype messages, IM, video, audio, MP3, add Foley and other production effects…it’s amazing. It’s what radio should be, but isn’t, and never will be. I love it! :D [heart] Not to say that all podcasts are created equal…there’s a lot of crap out there, just like there is with anything you open up to the public at large, but if you get ahold of decent quality podcasts like Skepticality and ISBW, they all interlink with each other. I haven’t heard a subpar podcast in forever, because I’m referenced by what I already love to other things that I’ll love, like being referred from Slice of Sci-Fi to Dragonhearth. (This is seriously my new favorite podcast. If you like fantasy, D&D, or Tracy Hickman, listen to this podcast!! It's amazing)

( In which I reveal that I am sekritly a forty year old 340lb. male pedophile before asking for all your personal info. XD )

Well, I think that’s everything. Minus all the coughing, nose blowing, dizziness, exhaustion, and a general feeling of lighting on fire from the inside, it’s been a pretty awesome week. I did have some very fascinating dreams while I was sick, though. Most of them were Doctor Who themed since I was listening to Slice of Sci-Fi during the night when my fever would keep me awake, and they talked about the show a lot. However, how that led to me having massive elf ears in my dream world, I have no idea. XD But the Doctor was definitely there. Actually, lots of people were there. I can’t remember what I talked to them all about, but they all seemed very supportive, and they were all people I knew. Some were fictional, some weren’t. It was fun. ^_^ I do so enjoy talking with figments of my imagination.

Matta ne! - A