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.

My stuff came my stuff came my stuff came OMG I am so excited SQUEE!!

I'm going to go learn how to draw dragons now. =D

Seriously. Don't do it. I had to. =D

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Today, thanks to a little pre-planning, I skipped the Superbowl hordes at my grocery store of choice and stayed home. I spent the day out on the town with my parents, braving the chilly weather to shop. I got some new clothes which I'm looking forward to wearing tomorrow, as well as lots of yummy smelling things from the Yankee Candle shop. I ate good food, listened to good music, and generally had a good time. Today was great. :) I have tomorrow off too, which is even better because I've got a lot of chores to catch up on. ^_^; And then on Tuesday I get to go back to work and play with my friends! Hurray! ♥

Life is good.

Tonight, I went shoe shopping. =D

Lest you think me totally shallow, I do actually need new shoes. The ones I was wearing to work I got second hand from my mom, and while they have been loyal and comfortable shoes, they no longer offer me any support and need to be replaced. So I went in search of comfy shoes that I can wear to work where I'll get lots of support since I'm on my feet all day long. I went to Ross first, but unfortunately they didn't have anything great in the comfortable/supportive department. What they did have were a pair of really fun brown snow boots with a slight heel and those really fun little fuzzy ball things at the end of the laces for only $15.00. Total steal. And then I found these.

Oh yes.

I have converse.

=D

Greatly satisfied by my converse purchase but still in need of comfy supportive shoes, I headed over to Payless on my mom's suggestion and found some of the most kick ass tennis shoes ever created. Pictures forthcoming. Funny thing is that I didn't find a damn thing in the women's section, but when I went over to the men's section everything suddenly got really comfortable and neat. You'll understand better when I post pictures later, but these shoes are seriously kickass. Hopefully they'll be as comfy as I think they are tomorrow when I go in for my huge eight hour shift. :) In the meantime I'll try very hard not to rant about how women get shafted when it comes to comfort, style, and ease of use in regards to clothing, footwear, and pajamas.

In the meantime-- time to podcast!

Having another day when things are going well, but for some reason I'm cranky about something. At the moment it's the dog. All of a sudden he's discovered his inner escape artist and I'm just tired of constantly having to deal with his latest problem. This morning I was cranky after I woke up. Not 100% sure why that was. Maybe more freaky dreams I can't remember. I do seem to recall something involving the Doctor that wasn't fun. Who knows. As usual I should be happy but I'm not.

Spent most of the morning shopping, which was fun. Dad came along and bought some discount DVDs at McKay, my favorite dimensionally transcendental bookstore. Their prices still aren't as good as Half Price Books, especially where their video games are concerned, but it's better than nothing. Then mom and I ventured into the Asian Market next door to Barnes & Noble, an interesting if somewhat...*ahem* pungent place. Their fish counter did not inspire confidence and I would be wary of buying anything "fresh" there. However, their selection of rice noodles was top notch and dirt cheap. Alton was right - frequenting your local ethnic market really is like visiting a different country.

Oh, and the little Asian girl stomping through the aisles, eyes wide, pigtails askew, was absolutely adorable. I think she was the daughter of the woman running the register. For some reason Asian kids are always mind numbingly cute. Maybe it's because they're usually quiet. Come to think of it I don't think I've ever seen an Asian child throwing a tantrum in public...

After that we headed down to The Shrimp Dock, the only place in Knoxville to get quality seafood. It has all the right things: Knowledgeable staff, good turnover, and it's always packed with people. They also had some delicious looking samples but alas everything involved breading or crackers, so I couldn't eat any of it for fear of wheat intoxication. But their hush puppies smelled divine, and tasted much the same according to mom, who has more leeway in that area.

We got some GORGEOUS whole Red Snapper that was on sale for $8 each and then a couple of Mahi Mahi fillets for me. Tonight, we cook. As usual, the pirate-ey guy behind the counter commented unintelligibly on my shirt. (Today it was my yellow "Death from above!" T-shirt from Dominic Deegan) He looked confused when I told him it had to do with a webcomic. I swear, I'm buying a package of bland, boring gray T-shirts before I go there next time.

After that it was off to Fresh Market, which was packed full of loud, insane people that upset mom and dad and were totally lost on me. (I didn't even realize the place was busier than usual until they mentioned it in the car) We got lots of cool stuff and I found some nagiri sushi that had some of the best looking tuna on it that I have ever seen. The nice little Asian man who I think runs the sushi counter there offered me some chopsticks and soy sauce to go with my sushi, even though I could have easily gotten them on my own without his assistance. I guess maybe it made him feel better to offer them to me directly? Who knows. People do seem to love coming up to me when my parents aren't around.

Here's to hoping my mood for the rest of the day will be better.

Life's been irritatingly quiet lately. For the most part I've been bored out of my mind this week, but some cool stuff did happen on the weekend. My parents helped me track down a comic book store so I could take advantage of Free Comic Book Day, which was on Saturday. We found this really cool place called Trinity Comics after like, two hours of searching/getting lost/going to a place called Collector's Universe which was huge and dark and dusty and like some kind of tomb where every body was too hardcore to be nice. Not cool. But Trinity was AWESOME. They had freakin' STORM TROOPERS in front of their door. And a fat Jedi. I have to admit the Storm Troopers kinda scared me a little bit. I was half expecting them to yell "HALT!" or something. XD I'm such a wimp. But it was a really cool store. They had SO much stuff at wonderful prices, everything from comics to figurines to stickers. We brought home some really nice comics, including a yummy X-men comic with Wolverine and Phoenix in it that only cost $1. Awesome. Mom even got herself a very nice 80 page Batman comic, which is neat 'cause mom's not really the geekiest person around. :) The free comics were pretty neat too, though unfortunately they were out of the Spiderman comics I wanted. Sigh. And the girl behind the counter was super nice. I was wearing my NaNoWriMo 2003 T-shirt and she actually asked me about NaNo and then wrote down the website address! Nobody's ever asked me about my shirt before. And if they had, I wouldn't have expected them to actually show interest like that. Most people ask you questions about what you do or what you like, their eyes glaze over while you explain it to them, and by the time you're done they've already forgotten what you said. Certainly they don't write down site addys. But this lady was really cool. I hope I see her at this year's NaNo meet. :) (if the Knoxville group ever reappears, that is. At the moment everyone's fallen completely silent, and I do mean EVERYONE) I can't wait to get some money so I can go back and go through their sale boxes in the back. Some of the comics were only 25 cents a piece, and I saw many fine Star Trek comics that I feel sure are begging me to take them home. =D

But other than that, things have been quiet. I've been doing a lot of reading about dogs in preparation for my dog walking business. Learning a lot and applying some new methods to Bruno which so far are simple and effective. I've also decided that buying/understanding rollerblades is quite possibly the most difficult, unenjoyable thing I've ever had to do. Which sucks, because it doesn't need to be that difficult, it's just that no one could be bothered to make the process simple. Dumbasses. Also, I hate sporting goods stores. Anyone who insists you pay $15 for a roll of socks is just mean. Even if they're super high tech no sweat socks that supposedly make you invincible. Calling the place "Dick's" is appropriate, I think.

On the bright side, I have several lovely new LJ icons. :)

Dude. I am EXHAUSTED.

Spent most of today shopping with my mom. We got everything done in three hours, which was nice. She likes it when I say things like "yes, chef!" XD The catering business is going pretty good. Mom's really excited about it, I'm enjoying my tasks as a sous chef, and there's a strong possibility I'll be making some money off of baked goods soon. I'll be launching my first baked good endeavor tomorrow, when I make some Apple Cinnamon Muffins for the folks at work. They promise to be kickass. I'm going to make a practice batch with spelt flour and stuff for us to try tomorrow so we can work out any kinks -- though as good as I am with muffins, there probably won't be many.

We found a nasty little surprise waiting for us when we got home, though. As mom opened the door on her side of the car, she noticed something a little odd in that gap between the floor and the door. Apparently it was an extremely large black widow spider, hanging quietly on her web with a swollen egg sac nearby. Once again, I am stunned at the sheer luck our family possesses, since mom could have easily slipped or put her foot in the wrong place and gotten bit. Even if she hadn't died outright, she could have been very sick and that would have been bad for everybody. Equally horrifying is that we might not have noticed it soon enough, the egg sac could have burst and we would have had a car full of spider kidlets. Mom would have been on the loose, too, and aside from the bright red hourglass on her abdomen she blended in quite nicely with the rest of the black car. Even after mom pointed her out to me, she was difficult to see. But, we caught it in time. Nobody was hurt, and dad got to be the Awesome Manly Protector of the Household by killing the spider, disposing of the egg sac, and protecting his loved ones. I, of course, am absolutely terrified (and when I say terrified, I MEAN it) of spiders that can kill you, and as such was extremely relieved that it all went as well as it did. Actually I think I'm going to stop blogging about it now because just thinking about it is making me freaked out again.

After that, we came insdie, ate a bunch of food and crashed for awhile. I started work on my characters again. Dissatisfied with the direction in which Mike Stackpole's exercise was taking me, (I felt like I was going around in circles) I decided to purchase Holly Lisle's Create a Character Clinic e-book for $9.95. As usual, she kicks ass. :) Her entire method is based on asking questions about your character, of your character, and of yourself as well. It's fun, surprisingly simple, and I'm already getting better results. Stackpole's exercise was good, but it was geared towards spur of the moment character creation. I'm dealing with characters who have already been born, lived, and died, and it doesn't work so well for that. But I'm very satisifed with CCC, and I strongly suggest it to anyone who's interested in writing, even in a non-professional sense. It's absolutely worth every penny. Visit her store at http://www.shop.hollylisle.com.

I just hope I can get everything done by Sept. 1st, or the folks at the ISBW forums will have my hide...

That's pretty much my day in a nutshell. I'm about three inches away from face planting this keyboard, so I'm going to go to bed now.

Operation: Fun Saturday has been successful! =D

Got up at 8am this morning after a fun night staying up and listening to Dragon Page: Wingin' It. Hilarious as always. I think I might send them a couple of voicemails for their next show. Woke up to the Ballad of the Serenity, which was pleasant. XD I ♥ my iPod. Had a hearty breakfast of mac & cheese shells (homemade, of course), eggs, homemade oatmeal, strawberries. Joked around with Dad, which was nice since I don't usually see him on Saturday mornings because he and mom leave pretty early to get him to dialysis on time. We talked about the news, snakes on a plane, (I told him he should shout "Easter is totally snakes on a plane!" at anyone who bugged him about this insipid holiday) and he gave me a book on Dianetics (Scientology) to read and examine, as well as Brave New World and my very own copy of Atlas Shrugged. ^_^ All his books are mine anyway when he finally shuffles off, so we're pretty free about sharing them. XD (Just kidding, dad...♥) Then we left. Morning weather here in Tennessee is just as gorgeous as it's afternoon and evening weather! Heehee. It was so much fun. And the azalea bushes are so pretty, though it is a little hazardous having to walk through the Bumblebee zone every time we step out of our door. I'm not particularly afraid of Bumblebees, but they are a little startling since they're so loud. (And my family usually wears very bright clothing, so it's only a matter of time before one of us gets landed on... XD)

Dropped dad off at dialysis. Hugged him and wished him well. Then mom and I sped off into the sunset!! Er, sunrise. Well not really, the sun was already up but HEY, I am using poetic license here. We headed over to her workplace (I finally got to see it! I poked around everyone's cubicles... XD) and got some directions so we could go see the lawyer with which we would discuss financial stuff that I don't really understand nor wish to. I sat out in the comfortable waiting area and read my book. Which kinda started to make my head hurt after a few pages. (Damn wordy philosophy books. XP) I also watched the Weather Channel and from the overly perky newspeople I ascertained that it was going to be a beautiful sunny day both here and in Georgia. Which, interestingly enough, is literally a straight shot downwards from where I live. I think there's even a highway here that just goes right down into Atlanta. How cool is that?

After the lawyer place mom and I went straight to Turkey Creek to scope out the terrain. That place has really grown a lot in the last six months! I was very impressed. I remember when we first got here in June last year the place was pretty barren. Basically just a Wal-Mart and an Earthfare. But now it's got loads of clothing shops (including Rue 21! ♥) and restaurants, and Cook's Corner (they play Food Network on their TV 24/7! =D), and a theater, and a Borders is coming soon, and of course there's the Target and the Goody's, to which we went first. That place is awesome! Deals everywhere. Mom and I bought loads of clothing and only spent about $150 dollars. And I finally found a broomstick skirt for myself! Yay! I've wanted one for ages! The one at that nasty mall shop was $70, but I got this one for only $16. ^_^ I'm wearing it now. It's so comfy and swishy! Dad said I looked good in it. And I do. I also got a Happy Bunny shirt ("You're pretty! ...ugly") and a really gaudy ice blue Hawaiian shirt to clash along with the one dad likes to wear to the clinic. It's hideous. I love it. I kind of *ahem* outbusted my old red one...you have not known irritation until you have worn a shirt that's too small for your boobs. XP

After we finished out clothes shopping we lunched at Mimi's Cafe, which was really enjoyable. It was such a relaxed place, and it had a lot class too, without being snooty and over the top. We sat at the bar, which was very pretty. We got to watch the bartender lady make coffee and drinks and stuff, which was fun. I like watching bartenders work, what they do is very interesting. And I had the best salmon dish I think I've ever had in my life. It was certainly the best piece of fish I've ever eaten. It was a salmon filet set on a bed of stir fried vegetables and jasmine rice and bathed in a sweet honey teriyaki sauce. It was so good! The vegetables were amazingly fresh, and the salmon was cooked to perfection. Somehow they actually managed to make the outside of the filet crispy and delightful without overcooking it or burning it. Mom got a quiche dish that came with fresh fruit and a salad, which also looked good. And they also brought out this bread basket that had this most amazing fruit bread. It was SO good. Their butter was also fresh and creamy...mm. I cheated a little on my diet here and there, (wheat, honey, butter) but overall I did very well and I enjoyed myself immensely. It was an entirely refreshing experience, and there was so much variety on the menu I would have no trouble going back and ordering something entirely new but just as tasty. I can't wait to dine there again. :)

During lunch mom and I decided that we needed some good flip-flops to go along with our new clothes, and since Goody's didn't have any good ones, we decided to go to Target and check out the selection there. Cost us about $50 bucks, but we found some really great ones. I actually bought a pair of shoes specifically to match an outfit! O_O I never do that. But I did. I got brown flip-flops and black flip-flops. They're so comfy. It's literally like being barefoot. XD Which I would be all the time if I could be. I find wearing regular shoes, even sandals, to be extremely cumbersome and heavy, and I trip over them a lot. But with flip-flops I don't have that problem, because they're so thin and light. ^_^ I'm really happy about them.

We didn't get to visit the World Market or the Rack shoes place, because we had to go pick up dad, but we still had a lot of fun and hunted down a lot of great deals. I really enjoyed myself today. The weather was beautiful, I got new clothes, and I had a great lunch. And, above all, I got to spend some fun quality time with my mom and dad. ^_^

I was remarking to mom in the car as we drove to pick up dad how relaxed I feel here, in this state. Back in Missouri I just felt so tense all the time, and I didn't even realize it until we got here. Ever since our first day in Tennessee, I've felt like I could finally let go and relax. In fact, I've been really looking forward to the warmer weather for just that reason. I have pleasant visions in my head about lounging around with flip flops and bathing suits on and soaking up the sun, or sprawling out on my bed with my fan next to me and just hanging out and not doing much. I feel like now that I'm here, with the weather the way it is, I can just totally unwind and relax. It's really strange. Enjoyable, but strange. I guess I was always wound pretty tight back in MO, and there's no mistaking that the climate here is much nicer then it was in my old home state. Everything's just better here. Even the people are friendlier. Stupid, perhaps, but overall they're quite a nice bunch of folk. I actually have random people come up to me and say "Hello", or "Good Morning", or sometimes just random nice things! It was pretty shocking at first. Sure, I could do without the whole Baptist thing, but I suppose it's not so much worse then Mormons. Back in Missouri everyone was always so mean. Hateful, angry, depressed...very mean. They were stupid, they were fat, ugly, and their philosophies were horribly corrupted, and it's like they knew it and they were just out to make everyone else as miserable as they were. It was really disturbing. I'm amazed how different things are here in the South. I don't think I'll ever leave, to be honest. (Not counting when I travel) In fact I'm still seriously contemplating actually going deeper in. Tennessee doesn't actually qualify as deep South, even though it is a Southern state. It's sort of like the kiddy pool of America. XD You can get your feet wet and experience some of the climate and cultural differences before diving all the way in. I really love living here. I don't miss Missouri at all. Not even a little bit. In fact, the only thing I do miss about my old place of residence is Whole Foods and Half Price Books...both of which were in Overland Park, Kansas. XP So really, Missouri? Not much to miss.

I think that's pretty much everything about today. ^_^ I hope all of you guys on my F-list had good days as well! I noticed it was kinda rainy and cold up where you are Leah, hopefully that wasn't too much of a downer. I'd make some equally prophetical comment about the weather for you Hel, but they don't show international weather stats on The Weather Channel. =P Lamers.

Snakes on a plane!