I’ve decided, since my life is too boring to fill a blog on its own, that I’m going to do (at least) monthly posts about interesting pieces of news that I’ve found throughout the month, with commentary on each.

October 5 – Police: Girl, 13, rode in cardboard box atop van. This story is just plain dumb. It’s along the same vein as the story about the kid who stood up through the sunroof to take a trip around a parking lot while being held onto by his mother/grandmother/aunt/female relative. EXCEPT – this trip was down a highway. Why the cardboard box couldn’t be collapsed is anybody’s guess. Why they needed a cardboard box that couldn’t fit into a minivan is anybody’s guess, too. Throw another one into the “just plain stupid” category…

October 6 – Lung stolen from exhibit of human cadavers. If you needed a lung that badly, I hope you’re not willing to do the surgery yourself…with a non-working organ. I guess it could make a pretty nice mantle piece. Definite conversation starter… “Gee, Harry, when you said you were coughing up a lung, I didn’t realize you meant literally!”

October 12 – Cops: Intoxicated 21-year-old steals ambulance. This one is pretty self-explanatory. Drunk guy thinks it’d be a good idea to swipe an ambulance to get home. Sometimes you just have to use the emergency services to get home after a good night of heavy drinking.

October 13 – Man found asleep in closet … with a corpse. This is pretty self-explanatory too. What the headline doesn’t tell you is that they were both alive when they went into the closet of the vacant home. The problem with this story is that it’s so bizarre it’s funny, but at the same time sad because they were stupid enough to do life-threatening doses of narcotics.

October 14 – ‘Lottery winner’ causes riot at Ohio coat store. She’s just loony enough to incite a riot at a coat store, but the patrons really should have been after the woman, not the coat store. I’m sure they could’ve figured out who she was & hunt her down right quick. I can only imagine how she’ll be treated once she gets out of her punishment.

October 14 – Deputies say man tried to eat pot after arrest. I’m not quite sure how this guy figured this would help, but apparently when you’re under the influence of drugs, out of sight really is out of mind, for everyone. Until the blood tests come back, anyway.

October 14 – Facebook ‘poking’: So annoying, it’s criminal. I’ve always despised this “feature” of Facebook. But this specific instance is because the idiot’s got a restraining order and technically broke it by poking the girl’s profile.

October 15 – Rare disease turns 3-year-old’s muscles to bone. It’s actually called Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva. Every bump, every bruise, every muscle strain in his body turns his muscle to a bone-like substance. They’re doing the best they can to let him act like a little boy should, but worry about what will happen in the future.

October 22 – Police: Dad ran over ‘Westernized’ daughter. If you’re living in a “Western” society, shouldn’t you expect your daughter to become a little “Westernized”? The story doesn’t explain how the daughter was becoming “westernized” but I would guess it’s probably not just wearing Levis…

October 27 – Church of Scientology guilty of fraud in France. It’s a shame we can’t catch them in the act here. That’s my only comment on this story.

So that’s all for October.

I’ll see you at the end of November, if not before!

Always, Jett

There are many times when I have been in the mood to blog, but I am unable to fire up my browser & do such things. I’m either out, or at my desk, or just otherwise unable to get to a computer. I refuse to attempt to blog on my phone. Bad for the thumbs. So I have sometimes turned to writing on paper (so 8-bit!) and converting it to electronic form a day or two later (as I’m doing now). It’s just an excuse, really, but it’s another explanation as to why I’m so consistently inconsistent. It also gives me an excuse to still buy cute paper journals & an excuse to carry around my tote bag with the purple horse & my name on it.

To that end, expect a second entry sometime this afternoon! See, told you.

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve written here. I’ve got excuses. I’ve been very busy. I’ve been desperately scrambling to empty out my two-bedroom apartment and stuffing it all into a 10×10x6 storage unit. I gave up the keys to my apartment on September 29th. We’re still working on organizing, adjusting, and just trying to adjust to the two of us living together, completely.

I’ve finally gotten myself a full time job, with benefits. So I’ve been working on paperwork for that. I get to actually have a full-time doctor – a single person who’ll deal with my medical woes instead of just whoever’s available to deal with me at the time I show up at the county clinic. Perhaps now that I’m in Richmond, I can talk to my doctor about my medical problems and finally get a legitimate, permanent fix.

I am so happy where I’ve gone, and where I’ve been the last 9 months. I went from temporary positions that were few and far between, a temporary nanny, and being held up by my friends and family, to moving in with my boyfriend and landing a permanent job with benefits.

I’ve been able to hold steady employment since the beginning of July. Which was a surprise in itself, because the original temporary contract was only supposed to be three days. The receptionist I was replacing was going to have a simple heart operation, and be back the next week. She turned out to need emergency triple bypass and wouldn’t be back for at least a month, if she made a speedy recovery. I was asked if I would stay – it took about a nanosecond to think it over & say yes. She’s been having complications and difficulties recovering completely, and so I believe she is planning on going into early retirement. So far my contract’s end date has been pushed back 3 times, and it is highly likely I will continue to be here until my staffing agency says I’m a free person again, in a half year. Then I will be an official employee of the company I’m working for.

So I’ve gotta write about this, and I want to be descriptive enough to understand, so it can’t just be Tweeted.

I convinced my boyfriend to turn on his airconditioning using a very simple description of an unique tactic: “Just seal off the downstairs vents like the crazy people worried about Anthrax a few years back, use plastic wrap & duct tape!”

The two-floor apartment, when the a/c is on, will get nice & cool downstairs (even with the vents shut), but still be fairly uncomfortable upstairs. Upstairs is where the two of us typically are: the second bedroom is the computer ‘lab’.

So I’m looking forward to seeing how well my triumph in logic will work.

Bye for now!

Jett

Hi all!

This post is about Balticon 43, which was this past weekend. I traveled to Hunt Valley with Paul Fischer & Martha Holloway, who are the head & brains (a joke!!) of the New Media track at Balticon. I was already with them for the week prior, playing nanny to their daughter.

Friday I spent most of the day caring for Darth BonBon. After 5, I was free for the weekend. I had hoped to catch Cowboy BeBop in the Anime movie room, but got waylaid by errands & preparation of the hotel room I was sharing with Susan Z & Podcasting’s Rich Sigfrit. Two awesome roommates, just let me say. Friday I had also hoped to sit in on Hard Science for Beginners, and Kamikaze Costuming, but got sidetracked again by errands and a strong need to eat. After I gave up trying to go to panels, I started drinking, and made a rum & Coke without realizing I had the incorrect proportions. There was far too much rum in my Coke. It took that single drink, an appletini that was graciously bought for me, plus (I suppose) fatigue from nannying all day to knock me on my rear. By about 2:00am Saturday morning I was kindly escorted to my room by two people who followed behind me to make sure I didn’t fall down before I got there. When I got in, I was saved embarrassment by Susan & Rich not being in the room, where I proceeded to get sick several times in the bathroom, and I may have fallen asleep for a short time. I awoke to the sound of my phone ringing beside my bed, so I crawled out of the bathroom to my phone. Yes, on hands and knees. Rich was calling, asking me where I was. I managed to grunt/mumble “room.” That’s all I remember of the conversation. If there were other questions and answers, I can’t recall. He showed up shortly after, finding me half-asleep on the floor beween the two beds. He, laughing I’m sure, picked me up and put me in bed.

Saturday

I fell asleep, and woke up around 9am to a headache. I drank water all morning, & made sure my stomach was stable enough to eat before I tried food at lunch time. I missed the Getting Started panel at noon, which I believed was getting started costuming. I made it to Calls For Cthulhu live, which is always a treat. I made it to part of But Honey, It’s for the Studio.  I went to Steampunk Spectacular live, which rocked. I saw Mr. Adventure live, which was funny and awesome as always. After that was the New Media Party & costume contest. I went as the Jett star system from Nathan Lowell’s podiobook series. I didn’t win, which was ok, I didn’t expect to. I don’t remember when I went to sleep, but it was probably around 2 or 3am.

Sunday

Sunday I got up & played DS games with MA, Doug, Christiana Ellis, and Zach. We started out playing MarioKart, and then we collected about 4 younger kids who realized we were playing Pokemon games. After that we set up a mic & I hung out while MA, Doug & Zach did a recording. Was much fun, can’t wait to hear it. Sunday was also Stranger Things at noon, which was a blast. We got to see an interview of JC Hutchins, and a new episode of ST called Disconnect. After that, lunch was had and then I went to Anti-Social Media, Into the Blender live, and caught some of the live Vintage Gamer show. I was there to help Viv from crawling up the curtains from nerves at Into the Blender. It was very awesome to be able to sit & even be a little in on their show. Sunday MA & I also recorded the two of us talking about & applying our makeup. She’s got audio, I’ve got video. I should have it off my Flip by Friday night. That was fun, though I’m worried about how much you’ll actually get to see from my video.

Monday

Monday was wind-down day for the con. I went to Sci-Fi Trivia and got fourth place. I got to pick Season One of Calls for Cthulhu on DVD. I’ve got the third copy in the run, I’m so excited. After that, I parked myself in the hotel’s hot tub with Susan & Rich, then had a burger in the hotel’s restaurant while everyone milled about & said their goodbyes. I left with Paul & Martha about 5pm, and made it back to their house to prepare for more nanny duty this week.

So I think I covered everything. I met a lot of new people whose names I won’t remember until I’ve interacted with you at least three more times. I’m sorry, it’s just who I am. Twitter helps, so if you keep chatting with me I’ll remember. I also got to hang out with people I’ve already met & just can’t physically hang out with except at cons or very rare get-togethers.

I had a blast, and I can’t wait for next year!

Jett

Okay, so the Obamas got a dog. Good for them.

No, seriously, I’m glad they got a dog. That means he can at least keep one promise he’s made in his recent political career.

However, I really don’t think it’s all that important. It’s especially not important enough to be front-page or headline news, nor is it really necessary to be debated on whether or not he should’ve gotten that type of dog.

I’m very frustrated with how important this dog has become, when what I belive is more important is being ignored or pushed aside – how terrible our country’s economy has become, and how long I and many others have been unemployed. There’s also the troubles in the middle east, and pirates kidnapping and terrorizing tradeship sailors in the waters off Somalia.

So it’s halfway through March already.

Not much has changed. I’m still unemployed. I’m still living in limbo, halfway between my own place and my boyfriend’s place.

But last month, a few amazing people – two, to be exact – stuck their heads together and did something amazing. They set up an online ‘charity’ of sorts. A chip-in page for me. It was unsolicited, unexpected, and it made me feel … incredible.

I was blown away by the idea that people, some who I have never physically met, and some I’ve never even spoken to, would actually give up their hard-earned money to me, who just can’t seem to get a leg up.

It makes me feel a little better, to know that I know some of the most caring, supportive, and generous people out there. And I want to thank everyone – those who donated, and especially the ones who set this up – from the bottom of my heart.

This was going to be a video post, but it was hard for me to even write this, and you wouldn’t want to watch me be all teary and emotional anyway.

Again, to you all, thank you.

Forever, Jett

So another long gap between posts. Which isn’t too terrible, since I can condense everything that happened in February into a single post and people can just skip over all of it & move on with their lives.

February held Valentine’s Day, my birthday, and my boyfriend’s birthday, all within two weeks of each other – the 14th, the 17th, & the 24th.

So not much was done for Valentine’s, considering I’m still jobless & can’t spend money. And, he scolded me several times for even considering buying/doing something for him. So what did I do? I bought cake mix, icing, & a card to make cupcakes that individually spelled out I Love You in red icing, with mini cupcakes with X’s, O’s, & hearts on them. Sappy, yes, but they were good, and he thought it was cute. Extra bonus for me, since I had been craving cake/cupcakes for ages!

Next came my birthday, and we stayed up ’till past midnight so he could be the first to say “Happy Birthday!” and he gave me my birthday present – a Flip Mino HD video camera. The thing rocks, and it’s already been put to good use – check out my YouTube page and see for yourself! http://www.youtube.com/user/jettmicheyl

The boyfriend’s mom & her husband took us out for dinner for his (& technically my) birthday, also, on the Friday between his & my birthdays. They took us to this place called Bookbinders, and I had the best piece of steak I’ve ever had. It was really nice, and I’m sure it was really expensive. They all (‘cept me) had wine, and we had just been served our desserts when the lights went out. It turns out someone had hit a power pole down the street.

The Saturday between my birthday & his, my parents & my brother came down and spent the day at my place for a birthday party. My grandmother, uncle & aunt came down, too. Mom bought a cake, and big party platters and we hung out at my apartment. The boyfriend’s mom even stopped by for a bit. She had never seen my apartment before, and she brought me flowers.

After that, we had a party at a sports bar we frequent, and invited a bunch of local friends. The guest list was about twenty or so, but less than that showed up for various reasons. We brought the leftover cake (which had only had the bottom row cut), and tried to get people to eat it, but we had very few takers.

After people started leaving the bar, a small group of us went to a friend’s place & we played Rock Band! I have a small obsession with Rock Band. My brother actually came with us, and we finally got him comfortable enough to sing! I have a video of it, he says he looks stupid, but that’s a lie. We stayed out until about 3am, I think.

By the time the boyfriend’s actual birthday rolled around, we had both partied so much that his actual day was kinda glossed over. I still had no money for gifts, but the weekend had kinda taken care of that. I had managed to hide the identities of some of the guests from him, so a few of them were a surprise for him. The boyfriend’s father & his wife took us out to dinner a few days after the boyfriend’s birthday, to a really nice Italian restaurant.

So that’s February in a blog post.

Still trying to find a job, no luck there. I’m just spending my time applying for jobs, poking the staffing agencies from time to time, and taking care of my apartment and the boyfriend’s apartment.

Fun fun.

Sayonara,

Jett

It truly has been quite a long time since I’ve written here. I’m wondering if my blog notifiers for Twitter will even remember how to function! Simply put, I have no excuse other than I’m lazy. I don’t make time to blog, just like I don’t make time to podcast. Which is horrible, because I keep saying I’m going to, which kindof makes me a liar. I don’t want to be a liar. And I’ve got plenty of time, since I’ve been jobless for the past two and a half weeks.

That’s right – I’m jobless. Circuit City was using me as a temp, and that contract ended on January 2. There was a possibility that they would hire me back in a different position, but since they’re going out of business, that’s not going to happen.

I do have four staffing agencies working  to find me opportunities, plus I’m applying through multiple job websites. I had an interview at an attorney’s office today (1/20) and I’m very optimistic. I had a great interview, and I’m going to be considered in three different opportunities, so there are plenty of options at this office.

So that’s my recap of the last month. Things are tight, and will only get tighter until I find another job. But hopefully I can come back here at the end of the week and proclaim good news.

Until then – peace out.