jedibuttercup

Not to get all photo-nerdy, here; but I have a philosophical objection to today's theme. I'm one of those people who clicks like crazy and feels blessed to have one really excellent pic of any given scene; but that doesn't mean I'm not proud of the rest. They're just... not quite perfect? But there's nothing to be ashamed of about them, in particular. So just dug up one particularly interesting "not perfect" shot, and decided to call that enough for the day.

( Day 13 - a photo that you're not proud of )

I've never exactly experienced rural living myself, either ... but I come from rural Southern roots on my mom's side, and I spent a lot of time camping with my family as a child. I suppose that's where I acquired my abiding love for wide open spaces and gorgeous natural vistas. :)

( Day 11 - a photo representing country living )

Alas, most of my vehicle photos are of me standing next to them and thus ineligible. So you will find none of my new Malibu here. But I did find some fun shots!

( Day 09 - a photo of a vehicle )

For this one, I pulled a picture taken in the sky; a picture taken looking up at the sky; and one showcasing the sky. Sort of, anyway. Memorable moments, all three.

( Day 07 - a photo of the sky )

All of Day 5 are family related. I know, I know; I could have gone through my local ComicCon photos, or some of the awesome locations I've been, to find smile-worthy shots. But I'm a sap at heart.

( Day 05 - a photo that makes you smile )

(I need to get my hands on a scanner again; most of my pictures from 2004 and earlier were taken on a film camera, and I didn't take all that many in the years 2005-2008 as those were my most overweight years. So most of my pics for this meme will continue to be relatively recent.)

( Day 03 - a photo of an animal - Cat in a Box, Lorikeets, Pup in Clover )

Still writing and pinning; don't worry. But in the meantime, because it's been ages since I posted pics and it's a pastime I rather enjoy, I'm snagging the 30 day photo meme from kaylashay!

( Day 01 - a photo with water in it )

I know, I disappeared off the face of the earth immediately after promising a new chapter. *wince* Sorry, writer's block got in the way, and then Real Life popped up and demanded my attention for awhile.

I spent nine hours Wednesday just balancing my accounts. Agh. Remind me never to wait four months to do that, ever again. I thought I had about $500 more than I actually do, because I'd forgotten to record a few things like, oh, my summer course registration fee, the auto insurance payments that were being automatically deducted from my account, etc., etc. *slapping forehead* But now my records on my checking account, student loans, car loan, and credit cards are all in Quickbooks, properly totalled and categorized, and the relevant bills all sorted in my filing cabinet. I felt nicely accomplished afterward.

If it weren't for the promise of unemployment checks starting next week, things might be looking a mite grim, though. Oh, I'm not short on money at the moment, but I only have about a month and a half of cushion for future bills; if I didn't have a source of income, I'd have to put in my 30-day notice with the next rent check. Thankfully, however, it looks like the government will be paying me about 80% of what my employers were, so all I have to do is cut back on things like books and DVDs and fast food and I should be fine until I get hired somewhere.

Thursday I spent some time with Meadhbha. We were meant to have a sewing get-together, but she didn't bring the necessary equipment, so we did a bit of shopping and watched movies instead. The first was "Court Jester", which I am informed is part of the Top Three necessary videos for any SCA member's education. (The other two, of course, are "The Princess Bride" and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", both of which I own). It was highly entertaining, but a bit winceworthy, as many of the older comic musicals are. The second movie we watched was "Moulin Rouge", which I never would have seen on my own. Ewan McGregor might be a significant draw factor for me, but my dislike for Nicole Kidman balanced that out, and did I mention that I'm rather picky about musicals? I'm glad to have seen it the once, I suppose, so I can say that I have -- it was quite the experience -- but never again.

Yesterday morning I filled out some applications and voted. Gotta love the Oregon mail-in system, but it took awhile to read through all the informative pamphlets. I may tend to vote Republican, as most of my family does, but I'm registered Independent; I believe in weighing up the facts for oneself and making the decision that feels right, regardless of what the party line or public opinion might be. After that, I spent some time updating some of my other personal files.

Mom's sick. The injectable medication she's been taking for her severe osteoporosis has been making her ill, not as bad as most of the other options, but still not good, so they sent her in for an EKG Thursday to check for the cause of the chest pains she's having and Friday they scoped her upper GI tract to make sure there wasn't any damage there. I hate this. Sometimes it feels like she's been eroding away in tiny fragments for years, and she's only 46. She sounded awful on the phone last night. But at least there weren't any immediately apparent problems.

In slightly better news, my brother scored a 92 on his ASVAB. As long as he does well on his physical, there seems to be no immediate obstacle to his gaining his choice of Air Force career -- air traffic controller. Apparently, due to the high stress nature of the job, applications for the post are a little thin, so he has a decent chance of getting it. Also, as he already possesses an Associate's degree, he'd go straight to Airman First Class. Mom's tense over it, but it's not like he'd be in any combat danger like our friend DS, who is in advanced infantry bootcamp right now and will be on the ground in Iraq after the turn of the year.

Tomorrow, after church, I'm off the parents' house again. Every year, we throw our own private All Hallows' Eve party and watch a collection of horror movies. Not the gory ones, though. A couple of mildly spooky ones like "Sleepy Hollow" are good, but we usually follow them with old cheesy 50's type horror pics like "Them!" or "The Birds" or "Creature from the Black Lagoon". And of course, hot cider and caramel apples and ceramic pumpkins filled with candy.

I did avoid my duty once, 1999 I think, and stayed at Fox instead to host a party.

( Here are a couple of pics from that one. )

Anyway. I suppose I'd better get back to The Mandalorian Armor if I want to have a review for it up within a week of starting it. I bragged about my reading speed, but I'm afraid my AD/HD tends to reduce that drastically when my interest is flagging, and Boba Fett was never the draw for me that the main characters are. Sure, he's cool, but in the end the stories of the various bounty hunters have relatively little impact on the vast story arcs that hold the Star Wars universe together. What I'm really looking forward to is reaching the Thrawn trilogy again, the first EU books I ever bought, but I have the rest of the Bounty Hunter Wars to slog through first, followed by The Truce at Bakura, the first seven X-Wing books, The Courtship of Princess Leia, and Tatooine Ghost. *sigh*

*sniffle* I have a cold, too. First of the fall season; joy. *cough* Hmm. I think I still have a few packets of Earl Grey tea left, and I suppose it's about time I got the lap blankets down out of the cupboard ...