In your arms, I wished to die...

so, here I am updating Livejournal from Meggi's DSi, which I was just looking at sex toys on. That, I think, is pretty wicked-awesome. :)

Yes! I live. I have had crap for internet for a very long time, and whenever Dad wasn't on it I was too worn out from the lack of staff at my job to really care. I hope to reconnect with all of you, and have missed you all VERY MUCH.

Life is interesting. Bigger update soon.

♠Dev

So apparently it is literally impossible for me to sleep without medication.

I've always had sleep problems, but that combined with the complete lack of a steady schedule with my job seems to have abolished any hope of natural sleep, no matter how exhausted I may be.

Oh well.

The main reason I am posting is to prove that I am, in fact, alive. Hello.

The secondary reason is to try something I have been meaning to try for a very long time.

I am infamous for hitting a stopping point with my artworks, and never finishing them, because I am afraid of messing up what's there. This fact, combined with the fact that most of my favorite pieces are rather old now, has brought me to this.

I will post links to some older pieces that I was very fond of, and wish to revisit. You, friends, will assist me by voting on which one you want me to do first. Whichever piece gets the most votes after one week will get an updated version with the skills and perspectives I have gained since the original conception.

I appreciate any of you willing to help me out by voting.

Here they are:

Videric - Sanctuary
Cerritus
Earthling
GlamRockHurricane
Wonderous

Thanks.

I show off my new icon, which I find hysterical.

I also tell you that if you thought there was no connection between Mr. Men and Dexter...



You were wrong. Click for more.

♠Dev

Today is my one-year wedding anniversary. And we still haven't sent our thank-you cards, lol.

On the one hand, I can't believe it's only been a year that we've been married, only a year since I wandered my food-poisoned, Pac-Man shirt clad sleepy self into a car for an hour car trip with my ex {the good one, not the psycho} to pray that everyone showed up and it didn't rain, and that I didn't puke on my new bride.

A year since I saw that beautiful owl float up the grass to be mine for the rest of our lives. A year since everyone I love was in one place to celebrate US.

On the other hand, it feels like I've had this lovely lady forever, and I can't imagine my life without her. We've been through a lot of bullshit, and a lot of joy, and all of it would have been meaningless without each other.

I was just telling her the other night, to steal a line from a wonderful film, that she makes me want to be a better man. And it's true. I never would have been so driven to become a real adult if I wasn't trying so hard to take care of the both of us. My life would have fallen apart completely when the finances here got rough, if I hadn't already pursued a better job to try and support her.

She's the most fascinating, frustrating, confusing, supportive, loving, devoted, beautiful mess. And she shaved my head.

~♠Dev

Okay. As I said, broken guitar = drums. Annoyed email = guitar, free drums.

Well the damn guitar they sent me has the same stupid problem that the other one had.

So ( this is the email I sent them. )

So I got my replacement guitar in the mail the other day, still haven't had a chance to test it, and it's starting to storm now so I probably won't today either.

But they didn't tell me what to do with or send me a return sticker for the drum kit they sent.

So I guess I get a free drum kit.

~♠Dev

So it's freaking gorgeous out and feels like fall and I have to go TO WORK and super bust my ass because we have our season start {big deal} walkthrough tomorrow morning.

*sigh* At least I'm under evaluation for department manager training. I know I can do it, they just have to figure that out.

So most of this is that I'm trying to get back into the habit of posting, but part of this is just to share the stupid.

I have Rock Band. Rock Band is good. My guitar stopped working. Not good.

{The tilt mechanism stopped functioning properly, and then the whammy bar completely wouldn't register.}

I Googled what to do. I found the EA replacement site. It had a nice, easy-to-use question ticky-box process. They mailed me a box, and a sticker. I put in guitar, I put on sticker, I left at UPS store. All is well, I wait patiently.

I get box from EA!


...it looks too big. It feels too heavy.

Sure enough, I open it, and they sent me the drum kit.

*sigh*

I email them, asking what to do. They don't really answer me, but at least say they've 'waived the 60-day warranty' {when they have a longer period than that anyway} and updated my claim status. So I guess I'll just see if I get another sticker or something.

People don't read!

~♠Dev

I just wanted to post a happy post, a short post.

There's something that Meg does that makes me really happy, in I guess a husbandy kind of way.

First of all, when we have a whole chicken for dinner, she strips the meat off the thing better than anyone else in the house.

Then, when the leftovers sit for awhile and don't get eaten, she makes the best chicken salad in the world out of them.

Something about this just makes me happy and proud all the way down to my toes.

*grins and eats sandwich with joy*

~♠Dev

So first of all, I have to say,

OMFG TINY TOONS AND FREAKAZOID ARE FINALLY ON DVD!!!!

Now I just need Earthworm Jim.

Second of all I'd like to explain something.

My house has been a disaster my entire life. Any of you who have been here know that the entire upstairs is a giant pile of crap. I will admit that some of it is mine, but most of it is either my dad's, or his mother's, because this was her house.

I was impressed three years ago when my dad managed to clean out the space and the spare room enough to rearrange things and get Meg in here. It's a small room that she has but it is her own, with a closet and all.

However, for twenty-two years, any time any of us would make a dent in that mess, Dad would fill it. It got especially frustrating after Meg moved in, because we would love to have our own space up there, even if our tub doesn't work. And it would be much easier to get our rooms together if we had somewhere to pull everything out, and put it back in properly.

I have been asking Dad to deal with this forever, so has Mom. This has intensified with Meg moving in, because the two of us would be more than happy to pay rent if we had more than two rooms. No matter what, nothing has really come of it.

(While they were out of town, AmVets called to see if we had any stuff for them to pick up. We said yes, and Dad ended up adding a box of his mother's shoes to the pile, so that was something.)

Today I had to be at my store at nine a.m. for a meeting. And I decided when I'd gotten home that I'd had enough and would do something about this, especially given the extra daylight I had.

The main problem that has always appeared when Meg or I have had the inclination to work up there, is where to start. There is so much that it is overwhelming.

I just fucking attacked it like a wildcat. Just picked a spot and started going through boxes and bags.

Four or five bags of trash, two boxes of trash, four bags of giveaway, and four boxes of giveaway later, we have a dent, and have uncovered the chair we planned on using.

Which is covered in tiny mouse poop, and stuffing.

I send Meg down to talk to the 'rents about it, and long story short, Dad actually got the chair outside, and got rid of some other big stuff.

This may not seem like much to you, but after two decades of this shit, I'm ecstatic. Not only did I actually get him to help, but in less than three hours I'm seeing floor. I now have hope that this CAN happen, and I can have living space.

(We got rid of a baby mouse a year or so ago, and the only signs we've seen indoors is the one chair, so we're hoping that one mouse came in with something and was all she wrote. If not, well, we have a cat. *g*)

So there it is, folks. Progress.

And in other news, ( World's Smallest Snake )

~♠Dev

My parents are out of town, and I've been off from work most of this time. Which is fantastic. While Meg and I may not be able to afford our own place yet, we can at least tell we are emotionally ready and responsible enough to do it.

We've been trying to help the dog feel less lonely, so we've been watching movies down here and bringing the cat down. The dog has major separation issues, she was a stray we rescued from the pound. She used to chew up something of mine every time I went to school. We also let her sleep in the room with us until she decided to go downstairs the night before.

So, she was cutting some pretty foul farts all day yesterday, but it happens, so we just covered our mouths and noses and let it go. We tried to let her sleep upstairs with us again but she just kept being super noisy, and before that she had barked her head off at nothing. Meg finally decided {at 6am, when we still hadn't really slept} to take her out, and have a cigarette, and see if she calmed down.

Apparently the second she went out the dog had severe diarrhea. She waited out there for a bit, the dog seemed okay, so she brought her back in, closed the downstairs door, and came back up to bed.

This morning we got up, and I swear to god, the dog exploded.

( Cut for ew. )

I freaked out completely when I found blood, until I realized she had cut her nose open trying to get out the door. Then I just felt like the world's worst mommy, upstairs sleeping while my baby was exploding all over the place and hurting herself to get out. I know she gets really upset when she has an accident. She was so upset this time that she almost wouldn't come back in the house.

So we've spent the morning cleaning all that up. She gushed a bunch of water at one point, but she had been chugging water so that's all that was. She's been sleeping and I think she's okay now, but I'm not really over my own feelings of abandoning her when she needed me. And I'm not sure what to do about her nose.

~♠Dev

So.

Dad spent literally ALL DAY yesterday working on the car, and checking things online, and working on the car.

IT IS WORKING. DAD GETS CAKE.

We have driven it around a bit today, and other than needing some coolant, which we bought, it is fine.

So I put my stickers on it, which is good, because we almost couldn't find it in the parking lot.

~*~

We went out to get a little bit more theatre makeup for my Joker costume, which I am wearing tonight. We have done a test run, Meg is awesome, and we have re-dyed my hair. I am having some interesting issues with the temperature today, so the outfit will definitely be going on last.

Dark Knight, here we come.

There will be photos as soon as I can get the camera developed, I promise.

~*~

I found a really neat website, <http://www.mynewplace.com">MyNewPlace</a>, which helps you search for listings in your area in a really user-friendly way. May be able to get a cheap apartment in the area after all. We'll see.

Things are looking up once again, and, while money is tight, at least we got the damn car. My parents will be going to West Virginia for awhile, because my great-grandmother is not doing well, so we will have the house to ourselves. This will be less stressful than last time, because we haz car, and I will have money tomorrow for food.

Right now, I kind of love everyone.

~♠Dev

So we've had tons of ups and downs with the God damned car.

But we finally found a guy to pass us and give us the damn inspection certificate despite its problems. Meg and I both called in a minor emergency, to go in late to work, so that we could hit the MVA and get our damn sticker, and take the car to work.

Having our own car means that my dad can go to West Virginia to spend time with his dying grandmother, who was more of a mother to him than his real mother.

We take the car to work. Interesting things happen. Turning on the right-hand turn signal makes the air conditioner turn itself all the way up. Whatever. Things that didn't work are working and things that worked aren't working.

Meg gets out ahead of me, takes her friend home who lives around the corner from the mall. Comes back, parks, turns the car off. I manage to get out very early, am very excited.

CAR WON'T START. Doesn't even try to turn-over. No sound, nothing.

Someone nice offers to give us a jump. The under-hood light and interior lights come on when he hooks the cable up. Still won't start, but at least makes a pop sound.

Dad comes up to the mall. Hooks up cables. Lights come on, him mouth drops open because that makes no sense. Almost worth it. Car starts, we go home.

Halfway home the air conditioner turns itself off. Whatever.

We park in front of the house, turn the car off. Dad says out of curiosity, start the car. Once again, pop sound, then nothing.

Obviously the car has a short. I don't know where to take it to get fixed, or how much money it will take to fix.

AND I JUST WANTED MY GOD DAMNED MUTHER FUCKING CAR ALREADY.

*sigh* This is my life.

~♠Dev

My mechanic is a moron. (The battery will not work as long as the alternator is broken.)

My life is psycho. (My parents need to GO AWAY.)

And if I could find two roomates, I could rent the house across the street.

3 bedroom, two full baths, finished basement, beautiful backyard with patio.

Only $1700 a month.

*sigh*

Split 4 ways that's only $425 a month each.

Anyone want to move to Montgomery County? (Who won't eat my food?)

Today was a good day.

When I was coming out of the mall after my shift today, there was a HUGE rainbow in the sky. No matter how far we drove, until I assume we went under it, it was amazingly clear. I could see both ends of it, and was trying to imagine what it would look like if I could see the whole thing.

When I got to work this morning, there was mysteriously a single pair of a style of jeans we ran out of months ago, one that I had wanted very badly, that happened to be my size. When I was returning stuff that didn't fit anyway.

When I got home and checked my email, earlier, I had a message from Fandango saying that there were tickets to Dark Knight available in my area. I now have two tickets to a midnight showing at the theater I normally go to.

Tomorrow morning I will drop off the window motor from my car, and hopefully he will be all passed and ready so I can go get stickers on Friday. This way we could drive ourselves to Baltimore to the Peter Murphy concert on Monday. We never did find the part we needed for the horn, but my mechanic talked to his inspector friend again and he said he'd pass it if we fixed everything else. It will be late, but maybe I'll just owe a fee.

The lady who sold us the car finally cashed her check, so I can stop pretending that $300 isn't there. Because now it isn't.

Meg's opening by herself tomorrow, with her keys. I'm so proud of her. I've had that job, I know what it takes, and it means a lot that she's gotten this far. Both of us are frustrated with things at our jobs right now, but we're sticking it out.

And there's a chance we'll have somewhere to move to in the area. I had mentioned to a coworker back when Meg and I spent three days without the parents that I was desperate to get out of here, because things went so smoothly while they were gone. I asked if she'd want to live with us somewhere, and she said sure, she was sick of her parents too. That was the end of it, until today.

She asked out of the blue if I still wanted to move out, and I said we'd been thinking about it but we were mainly focused on getting the car situated. She said her friend had just come back to town and wanted to find a house to rent somewhere. Said friend has purchased a home before, so I actually trust her to find a place. She literally just got back today, so no prospects yet, but I did at least tell her I was interested.

I have my credit card, I can pay for the car repair. I can pay that off, and buy my PS3 to get Soul Calibur 4. I can pay that off and get a laptop. I'll be building my credit AND getting stuff I've wanted for years.

I've also been very good and not used it on random crap.

Well, I'm getting up at 7:15 and going with Dad to drop Meg off at work. On the way we'll drop off the car part, and then he'll take me to the MVA Express to get my ID renewed. I'll be glad to have one that actually looks like me that doesn't say "UNDER 21 UNTIL..." in big red letters that keeps doormen from actually reading the date. Then Henry will come over, Magic will be played, and Megans will be picked up. Followed by watching of Aliens, at some point. All in all, it should be a good day.

Despite some crappy occurrences, I think life is still looking up.

~♠Dev

PS: My Joker costume for the DK premiere is almost complete! I just need the tie to get here off of eBay and find some gloves. *^_^*

So apparently it has been two weeks since I last posted here. I'm trying to get better about this, so here I am. ( Life update time. )

Oh, and does anyone have any tips for paint coming off as it tends to in old grey cars? Is it safe to just ignore it or should I get it repainted?

I'm doing my best to ignore the immature spazticity of my parents.

The car, our fantabulous '91 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, now has his happy little temp tags. On the 23rd I will go and have it inspected, and when we return to the MVA I will investigate vanity plates, for I want my car to say 'Snikt.'

This is where I brag that the odometer reading is less than 106,000 miles.

The steering wheel cover, antenna bobber, and air freshener are all installed.

By the end of the month, the baybeh will be legal, and we shall be free.

First I had the plague.

Now Meg has the plague.

We're not dead. Just close.

Taking a bath made me need to lie down. I guess I'm not going back to work tomorrow.

Taking Meg to the doctor tomorrow.

Bah.

My body hurts.