Life *is* pesky that way.

My brains are mostly just soft-boiled today as we still don't have A/C working here. But I can dab some Cholula behind my occipital lobe and spice things up a bit.

My brains are mostly just soft-boiled today as we still don't have A/C working here. But I can dab some Cholula behind my occipital lobe and spice things up a bit.

Or go for ice cream (guess about where I'm caught up to in Natter?), to chill 'em back out.

I'm really wanting to try to transition more in this direction career-wise. Any advice for someone with a degree in Liberal Arts (and zero urge to acquire one in English) looking to aim in a more edit-y/proof-y direction? (ie software I need to learn beyond being excellent in Word already, resources, etc.)?

It sounds like you already have some decent experience, between actual job duties and helping your friend with a newsletter, which is good. My advice would be to check out journalismjobs.com and idealist.org -- they've given me every job I've ever had. Taking one-day classes in HTML (and other web stuff -- I don't know it myself, but job listings would tell you what's in demand), Quark, PhotoShop and Adobe InDesign/PageMaker wouldn't hurt, but a lot of the software stuff can be learned on the job if necessary.

Good luck!

Post duly marked!

Thanks Lyra!

The tail end of Monday is moving ever sooooo slowly.

Does that seem right to you?

P-C, there has been much great advice here, so I'll keep this short. This appears to be a sucky Monday all over, but I think yours takes the cake. You can get out of it, though, and following some of the advice I've read here would be a good start. Whatever decisions you make will be just fine as long as they are yours.

I am officially stressed. What if I fuck this up and pick the wrong person?

vw, if it turns out that you've picked the wrong person, then you'll deal with that when you find out. To a certain extent, there's really no way to know now. You're doing everything right with interviews and applications, and it sounds like you have better than even odds of getting someone good to great.

I'm too lazy to go back and check and make sure I'm on the right day, but I think I am in under the wire, so happy birthday vw!

For my crappy Monday, everything started off crummy, but we finally got the lens that we were supposed to get a year ago, and I still love my hair, so I guess things can't be that bad! I'm hoping to have hair pictures this evening, but I'll have them at least by tomorrow.

Evening, Bitches!

I'm very annoyed at the Sprint store. Also, at the fact that for like, the first time ever, I've gone over my minutes. And I still have 2 weeks left in the month. How the heck did THAT happen??

However, I talked to the HR woman, and she signed off on the referral bonus form (I got someone to come join the company so I get money!) finally (she'd LOST it, I was supposed to be paid a couple months ago), so...I went and bought a new TiVo! Wheeee!!

Ok...I'm off to have birthday cake for breakfas

Oh, I did that! Well, it was just cake. No birthdayness. I brought it to work, and my coworkers were happy, rather than cursing me for breaking their diets. I think it's cause two of them are pregnant, now...

I think VW should ask future roommates if they are the President of Burundi.

I think Toto was about to hump the poor guy's arm

Ooh, perhaps not the best way to meet a roommate...

So I decided to be a guinea pig and got the Photo Finish color correct in green this weekend.

Excellent! THanks for the report--being a very pink person myself, I was quite curious! I may have to try this...

Cripes, are my motives that transparent? (thinks about it) Eh, they probably are

Heh. That's OK--I'd be all wanting to go out gothly with you, even knowing your motives, Jilli!!

Also, Cindy is as ever, wise. Even if I don't always agree with her 100% (I've been catching up in Natter on the abortion stuff, fascinating reading!!!) I always see her point and am intrigued to read about it, and I usually DO agree!!

Then there was the very very pretty Oz-like boy in a black wifebeater and black Utilikilt. Mmmmm. We wanted to take him home with us

I liked ALL the pretty boys in skirts. It was AWESOME. Though I already had a pretty girl to take home. Or, to take me home. As the case may have been. :)

As for P-C's situation...heh. Well, my advice would be to move home, and know that that'll definitely kickstart a big fire burning to get a job the hell away from there...worked for me!!

I think vw should ask potential roommates if they iron their jeans. That will help separate the demons from the humans.

P-C, I'm not sure if this is going to be depressing or reassuring, but I'm probably your parents' age and I still have times when I feel I suck at being an adult. We all think our parents somehow coped better, but it only looks that way from the child's perspective. As others have said, you're at the point at which you need to define your relationship with your parents. Your parents went down a well-defined path dictated by their culture, and in many ways, the simplest thing for you to do is to follow the same well-worn path. If you don't think that will make you happy or fulfill your obvious potential, you have to have the courage to choose another way. If you do, your parents will be unhappy. It's not your job to make them happy.

Beth, if it's a medicine contest, I win. The important thing is that you're taking care of yourself.

P-C, just dropping in to second a lot of the advice above. And to repeat something Ginger said that deserves to be repeated:

It's not your job to make [your parents] happy.

Oh, PC, I'm so sorry, man. I don't really have any other advice to offer, but I've been reading and I feel for you. I hope you're able to figure things out without a lot more pain and suffering.

I just got home from dinner with the parents. Dinner was wonderful. I got this HUGE prime rib with wonderful sides. As far as presents go, I got the beautiful picture I've been wanting for my living room and a gift certificate to my favorite store. Plus, my parents had found the cutest card to give me from Toto. It's got a little westie terrier on the front of it holding a balloon that says, "I love Mom." Then on the front it also says, "It's your birthday, Mom, and I'm hoping you have a great day." Inside it says, "Because when you're happy, I'm happy (and much more likely to get what I want)!" Then it's signed, "Love, Toto George xoxoxo." So damn cute. It about made me cry.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes today, guys. I really appreciate it. It's been a rough year, but as my wonderful roommate pointed out to me last night, I've come a long way...even if I don't always feel that way or can see it. Here's to hoping that next year will bring even better things.

Oh, and MUCH ~ma to Stephanie. I'll be thinking of you lots, girl. Good luck!