A Chain of Bad News, then a Bucket of Awesome

Right. So. Bad news.
Links have been adding to the chain of insanity these past weeks. Mom is a waitress and she hurt her knee in July. Weeks later, right before work, she broke (or fractured) her thumb. Then the restaurant she worked at closed. She's bored and out of a job. She's still looking, but she isn't finding much.
We had some plumbing problems last week. The seal around the toilet's base gave out, so Mom called a plumber. He was super creepy and called her 'mariposa' and 'carnitas', claiming to have forgotten her name. Before he left, he gave her his 'personal number' that she could 'call anytime.'
Aaaand he didn't fix the problem. The plumbing also backed up into the bathtub whenever we ran the washing machine.

So Mom called them again and had them send a different guy. He suggested that they blast out the pipes with a high-pressure hose (which would end up flooding our neighbor's house). Mom thought that he was crazy and checked his licence before he did anything. It had expired. She told him about this and asked if he had changed it or something. He replied that they did have a new licence number, but he was eating so he'd have to text her later... A while later, he gave her one that turned out to belong to someone else's company.
Mom reported him for not having a licence.

Just today, a water line (or maybe a fire hydrant? Not quite sure) broke in the street. The neighborhood probably lost thousands of gallons of water and they'll probably raise the price on our water to cover it.

Luckily, they just turned the water back on.



Bucket of awesome??
I met a person and traded contact info today. =)

Our neighbor was epic enough to give us a free pass to a week at the racket club, so we went over and swam in their pool. Actually, Alena swam and I read in the shade (I hate bathing suits so I swim fully clothed. That's fine for the creek or the reservoir, but not for a public swimming pool). Halfway through, a friend of mine (the Yugioh kid) came over, so I talked to him about Yugioh and tried to not let him splash me. Suddenly, a girl that I had noticed called out and asked "Hey! Girl in the skull shirt! Do I know you from somewhere?" I responded that I didn't think so. I went back to talking to my friend and got on the subject of The Hobbit (TRILOGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!). She swam over just when I was fangirling (which meant squeeing and jumping on one foot while flailing my arms) and asked if I was performing some kind of 'Japanese pop dance move.' I said that I wasn't, but that I did like Japanesy things. Then she asked if I liked anime.
By the end of the day we found that we both liked Neil Gaiman, Monty Python, Hayo Miazake, Nyan Cat, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, fangirling, DeviantArt, and glasses. She's 15, lives near my Dad's house (For now. She's moving soon, but she's going to stay in town) and doesn't often make friends. We swapped DeviantArt usernames.

I think I'm taking huge steps toward being a bit more social. =)
Which reminds me!! I have decided that 'friend' is an appropriate term for people I know and get along with.
So the people that I previously called 'people I know' are now called 'my friends' and the people I previously called 'my friends' are now.... Actually, I haven't gone that far yet. I'm thinkin that I should apply each of these terms to Vulcan, because they have very distinct social hierarchies. Here are some words for friends (found 'em here):
t'hy'la- friend/brother/lover*
katravahsu- associate/friend
telansu- someone with whom you share a close platonic relationship
fainusu- someone that you know well
ne ki'ne- trusted friend/warrior

I think that my newly promoted friends will be called 'katravahsu' and my close friends will be called 'telansu.'  Cool? Cool. Cool cool cool.

*This happens to be Spock's very special name for Kirk. Oh, Gene. You are a sneaky bastard.

Geek Day

Okay. Some of you may know that Geek Pride Day was on May 25. I told you that I'd blog about what I did on that day, but I didn't follow through with it. I'm here to make amends.

Geek Pride Day was disappointing for me.
I planned on going to watch MIB III with Dad and Holly, and wearing my towel 24/7.
It was not so.

We ended up going to my great-grandmother's house in Santa Barbra. Don't get me wrong- I love my grandmother and I have many May Twenty-Fifths ahead of me. I was just hoping to do something else on that day.
Anyway, I decided to wear:

• A towel (purple terrycloth with tiny tassels on the ends)
• My Community TShirt (Cooper got it for me)

• My leather wrist bracers (that I made)
• My utility belt (basically a huge multi-pocketed glorified fanny-pack)
• My D20 spiral necklace (also from Cooper)
• My blue lightsaber (hooked on the utility belt)
• 3D glasses (with the lenses popped out)
• My pocket protector (stuck in my back jeans pocket. I made it for the occasion. It's made of watercolor paper and silver duck tape, and it has "Good Omens" in red letters taped to it. Unfortunately, I forgot to put the front flap on it... Fail.) in which I put:
• A HB 2 wooden pencil
• A ballpoint pen
• A purple and black mechanical pencil
• A Pivot Precise V5 Rolling Ball pen, size: "fine."
• A little phillips screwdriver (with a purple-tinted transparent plastic handle)

I must add that my grandmother (my Dad's mother. Not my great-grandmother) was being cold to us since the day before. I think that it may have to do with Holly's pregnancy. She likes Holly, and she's very happy about the baby. She was even nice to us! Just as I was getting used to her being nice, she mentioned that our great-grandmother might be offended that Holly and Dad didn't get married before having a kid. She seemed really weird about the whole thing, and was convinced that my great-grandma wouldn't be okay with it. Dad called his grandma and told her and she was happy for them. My grandma, on the other hand, stayed strange for the whole day.

Anyway, as soon as I walked in to my great-grandmother's house, grandma gave me the cold shoulder.

"Great." I thought. She's being weird again.

After a while, my great-grandmother asked me if I was wearing glasses. I explained that there are 3D projectors now and that you have to wear special glasses and that I took them home then popped out the lenses. Then I explained why I was wearing such strange things. She was surprised to hear about the 3D movies, but she was okay with my costume.

We left for a restaurant after a few minuets. On the way out the door, my grandma stopped me. She approached me in that predatory way of hers: leaning forward, hands behind the back, face drawn in a portrait of lurking disappointment, and eyes shining darkly like a hawk's.

"Don't wear your towel to the restaurant." She said, eyes drilling into mine.

"Oh. Um, I think I'm going to. It's clean." I said. I was in full Hitchhiker mode and I wasn't going to relinquish my towel any time soon.

"Why?" She asked, menace growing in her voice.

"Because you have to know where your towel is." I replied, quoting from HHG2TG.

"Leave the towel." She demanded.

"Uh, I'm with them." I said, gesturing to Holly and Dad, who were standing right behind her. Dad carefully looked away and moved past us.

"Rahel, why are you wearing a towel?" She asked, taking a step closer. I leaned back.

"Because I am celebrating a holiday specific to my subculture." I said, standing straighter and looking her in the eye.

"Don't embarrass your grandmother." She said, referring to my great-grandmother. "Leave the towel."

With that, she slowly moved away.

With great reluctance, I took of my towel and laid it on a chair. It was one of the most difficult things that I had ever done. I had been wearing that towel all day. It was one of the first rules as a Hitchhiker.

I got my subtle revenge on the way to the parking lot though. When everyone was filed out, I said "Huh. I thought that the towel was the most normal thing I wore today. I mean, look! I have a pocket protector... A D20 necklace... A LIGHTSABER..."

To her extreme embarrassment, everyone laughed and agreed.

When we got out of the restaurant, the wind was moving like a freight train and I only had 2 shirts. It was FREEZING. I hadn't brought a sweater, jacket, cape, or any protective material of the like because  I was counting on my towel to protect me.

My teeth were chattering uncontrollably when we all got into the car.

When we came back, my towel was still there, unharmed although slightly crumpled. Thank the gods. I put it on and wore it for the rest of the day. I even slept with it to make sure that I had it near me until 12:00 AM.

HAPPY PAST GEEK DAY, EVERYONE!!

Well, that's my account of Geek Pride Day! If any of you did anything, PLEASE post it in the comments! We all want to know what you did! Don't be shy. I don't bite.

.....Much.


PS!! I might just re-dress in my Geek Getup and take pics sometime soon! We shall see. =^.~

STAR testing, Asterisks, Technology, HTML5, Kids These Days, and Teleportation

I took the California's English Language Arts STAR test for 10nth grade today.
It was so easy.
I must ask. Do people actually not pass this? I don't think that it's based on a bell-curve...

Besides feeling quite secure about acing the test, I had quite a laugh. One of the short essays we had to read then use to answer questions was a speech by Bill Gates. (or maybe it was a written announcement. I'm not actually sure.) As much as I'm unsure of Bill Gates*, it was a very funny and motivational speech. I don't remember the exact words, but it was something about the food chain and how glad he was to be in this day and age (where he wouldn't be eaten by beasts). This speech was then followed up by this dude griping about kids these days, technology, and people's dependence upon gadgets. Although I do think that technology should be handled carefully**, I giggled while reading the whole thing. It was just too funny! I could just picture an old man furiously writing the thing, frowning and shaking his head.
Anyhoo, it made me remember the dream I had last night. In my dream, I was standing outside of the Ojai Library with some people I know around me. I'm pretty sure that some of my close friends were there too, but I wasn't paying attention. I was working on a website using HTML5. On a chalk board.
That's right. I was standing there and working out a website by hand. I remember stepping back, a blissfully maniac grin on my face, and telling everyone who would listen "It's done! What a great site. Look at that! I figured out how to work divs. Isn't it beautiful? What an amazing site. And it's finally finished... Now I need to get to a computer. The world needs to see this!" I don't quite remember what the website was for, but I remember the pride I felt when making it. It was mine. My child. My creation.
And I did it in 'real life.'
I just thought that was cool.

You know, something very similar happened to me in a dream months back.
I had just read a ton of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. (From The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.) I was at the part where Ford had just found a teleporter on a ship (that they were stuck in. And that was about to blow up.) and they were trying to make it work. Just as I drifted off, I tried to picture the teleporter. It looked like this:

Except that it was 3D, the font was beautiful and curving, and that it glowed. (And yes, the dotted and dashed purple lines are supposed to be glowing. Sue me.)
Anyway, all you had to do was jump into the string of words and you could take off....

I thought that this was pretty awesome. =)

PS!! Okay. Why the asterisks, I'm sure you want to ask? I just finished Good Omens. IT WAS AMAZING. So amazing in fact, that I'm going to write another post about it RIGHT NOW. =D

_____________________________
*Okay, Windows lovers. Sorry to crush your dreams, but I'm not a Gates fan. Windows just isn't my operating system. If you like it, then that's fine... I'll just stick to Linux though. =^^=


**Seen the Matrix? I have. Lemme tell you: I am waiting for the machines to strike. Or us. Whoever lands the first blow.