Shhh... don't tell anyone, but... I'm in love.

With pearls.

Yes, I said it. And yes, I'm admitting that I have a problem. I have been madly in love with pearls for a number of years now. (Since approximately age 21, I think) My collection is becoming staggering. Of course, a lot of them are probably imitation because I don't go so much for the genuine whatevers as I go for the "look, a pretty!" that I feel like I need at the time. So, I am signing up for a pearl forum because I've got some questions I want answered.

I've got this really kickass bracelet of (I think) freshwater, maybe black pearls with a green/blue luster to them on elastic with no separating beads or knots. They are shaped like eggs. They have ridges around the center of them. They're funky looking. I love them. I got them at the Smithsonian Natural History museum for less than $10, but they are apparently real (per my tooth-test).

I have a sterling silver ring from Premier Jewelry with a cultured pearl mounted in the center of a lopsided heart. My mommy got it for me for my 21st (I think) birthday.

I have three bracelets of what I guess are nugget pearls, one in white, one in black and one in multicolored with silver beads between them. The white one has a clasp and is on what looks like nylon line; the other two are on elastic.

I've got a strand of pearls that were passed down from my mom's mom's mom (yersh) that I think are real, but I don't honestly know.

I've got a freshwater pearl and crystal necklace and earring set my mom got me for Christmas a couple years ago from Coldwater Creek. I don't think I've ever worn the dang things, I should fix that.

I've got a pearl choker from Honora that was my graduation present for college from my aunt. It's really nice.

I have miscellaneous fake pearl earrings, and one pair of nice black peacock earrings my stepdad gave me for Christmas or a birthday or something. I also have a slightly less pretty black peacock pearl mounted on a sterling silver ring.

The pride and joy of my pearl collection is one I got at Busch Gardens at The Oyster's Secret. With my season pass, I paid $15 to pick out an oyster from a bucket and have it shucked in front of me. Because I pride myself on the whole big things come in small packages thing, I picked the smallest oyster from the bucket (after watching two people in front of me pick the biggest oysters and getting a rather disappointing pearl). My rationale: the smaller the oyster, the bigger the irritation caused by the injected bead. Makes sense, right? Well, the guy shucked, dug through, and pulled out one very pretty silver-blue perfectly round and LARGE pearl. I don't remember how big he said it was, but based on the size and color (and perfect roundness) he said it was worth around $62. Personally I think that's a decent return on investment.

I want to get it put into a cage or something to wear on a necklace. I just don't know how to go about doing it.

today's one of those days where I feel like using incorrect grammar to express the complete disarray my brain is in due to stress and burnout! yay!

also I had very tasty chicken basil chili for lunch today. it sounds like a weird combination, and it kind of is. but it was pretty tasty in spite of not being a traditional chili. I still really love the cafe's roadhouse chili with beans and corn though. people have told me they're glad for a change and were getting tired of the other chili. I can't say that I agree, but I do realize I'm the woman who could eat macaroni and cheese for a month straight and not get tired of it.

I also decided that I did not feel like wearing 'work clothes' today. I decided instead to wear my favorite pair of jeans, a Disturbed tshirt and my favorite Maryland sweatshirt. I do not look professional today at all. and I like it that way.

this week's weigh-in will be the determining factor for whether or not I keep my subscription to WW going. If my loss is at or greater than .5 or thereabouts, I'm going to discontinue the subscription because I don't need the tracker. I have been monitoring what I eat mentally, haven't been tracking, and am still losing steadily. I'll still have access to the forums and the subscription doesn't run out till December anyway. woot. :)

also of note - Rob Dougan's Furious Angels album is my current repeat playlist. not sure what I'd classify the music as, besides win. it kinda makes me want to dance in my chair. and that's a sign of a good song right there.

It's that time of year again... yes, Ubercon. The stress-filled, sleep-deprived insanity that lasts from arrival on Thursday to departure from Kevin's on Sunday/Monday. The only place where I can sit at a table full of people with a badge hanging from my glasses bridge and not be the weirdest one at the table. And the event that causes the most stress in my relationship with Justin.

This year should be better, since neither of us are scheduled to 'work' this con. I'm running three Peggle tournaments, and Justin will be lending a hand with setup of LAN stuff, but other than that I think we're free. Which is awesome, because seriously, I don't think we've ever actually *enjoyed* an entire con. Last year I was in such a bad mood I didn't even go to the staff party Saturday and there ended up not being one on Sunday. Though we did do some testing for Shane, and I got some sexy dragon levels out of it on Brena. Still, it wasn't as fun as the parties usually are. The parties always involve massive amounts of drinking and flirting and random makeout sessions, everything captured on numerous cameras and later we get to have 'wait, what?' sessions over leftovers from the con suite.

The haircut is cute. It requires a lot more work than I'm used to, but I'm sure it will get easier as I learn how to work it. Also, Julie and I dyed my hair last night, and it's awesome, as always. This afternoon I have to do laundry and get us packed. I'm thinking we can fit everything in two suitcases, plus our pillows - because Justin and I of course want our memory foam neck pillows. We didn't have them on the trip to Oklahoma last weekend and I for one woke up with a crick in my neck. So there that is.

Last weekend's trip to Oklahoma was just beyond trippy. In your mind's eye, picture one woman wearing a Victorian wedding gown, another woman wearing a black vinyl dominatrix suit, and two pugs (also costumed) as ring bearers. Justin tripped on a piece of rebar set in concrete as we walked from the horse trailer and flatbed truck buffet area to the spot under the mesquite tree hung with lanterns where the actual ceremony was taking place. Justin and Julie both observed independently that it was the weirdest wedding ever to be held in white trash Oklahoma. Just sayin'.

I'm so not motivated to work today. I've gotten about 1/3 of the way through the library day assessment forms that were sent in by students. I really just can't make myself do any more today. It seems like there's no point. All I want is for it to be 3:00 so I can leave here, go shopping with Julie, go home, have a brownie and do laundry so I can get us packed. Maybe play some Mario Kart with Julie. We'll see. I hope this weekend is better than every other Ubercon I've ever been to as far as stress levels for me and the Justin go. I really don't think either one of us needs a meltdown this weekend.

getting a dr's appt. done + getting another appt. done early + obnoxiously bright colored new tote bag + Subway = WIN WIN WIN

In other news... too awesome for words.

I got to thinking last night, it's about a month to the boyfriend's birthday, and I need some ideas. We've been together almost three years. We'll be celebrating two weekends in a row, in order to fit in the family and the friends without making it stressful.

For starters, I want to have an 'us' weekend, where we turn off the phones and just relax. I'll make a trip to the grocery store before that weekend to get ingredients for all his favorites, and so we won't have to go to the store during a relaxing weekend. I'll give him a massage and generally spoil him, but since I do that pretty often it doesn't seem special enough for his birthday. He claims he doesn't want anything for his birthday, though I know he needs some new jeans. I want to get him a new computer, but he says that's too much and I don't know what to buy for it to be his dream computer, you know.

I'm also thinking about inviting people over to Kevin's house the weekend after his birthday for a big group drunk, so I'll have to plan a cake etc. for that. I know it's a month away, I know I have time but I'm feeling so stuck for ideas!!!

I got my earlobes pierced for the first time when I was very young, about six I think, at a jewelry store at the mall. Somewhere along the road, they closed (or so I thought). Around age 13 or so, I wanted to get them done again, and my ever-so-helpful asshole of a father decided to 'check' and see if they were actually closed by pushing fishing line through them. Ignoring the fact that it was a stupid action, it actually worked, they weren't closed, and I started wearing earrings again. When I was 17, I got a second set of holes in my lobes for my birthday. I got those done at Wal-Mart. They've been fine for years now.

For a belated 18th birthday present, the guy I was dating at the time paid for me to get a pinna piercing on my right ear. Not knowing any better, I got it done at Hot Topic in the mall back home with a gun. It was fine for a good while with daily cleaning, there's some minor scarring on the back of the ear, I took it out and left it out about six to eight months after I got it, and haven't tried to put it back in. About three months after the pinna piercing, I bought a DIY gun and pierced my lobes a third time, and did a pinna piercing on the left ear. Needless to say, those have all long since closed. DIY guns = not a good idea.

I'm living in a better area for getting this stuff done now, and I would like to do some more piercings. I'm having trouble finding anyone who has a preferred piercer in the College Park, MD / DC area. One of my friends has an artist for piercing and tattoos that I like, but he's located in northern New Jersey and that's not a trip that I want to make just to get my ear pierced. It seems that in this area there's got to be some good piercers and tattoo artists. It's just dang hard to find them.

So here I am in class, extremely bored. I log in here, to kind of browse about and entertain myself. Or attempt to. I hit the random journal button. Find a journal by a freshman chick from Canada. Interesting enough, read it a bit, then go back. Hit it again. Three times in a row I get non-English posts. Two in Cyrillic alphabets, one in all question marks which I assume means I need some kind of downloaded font. Thank you, Seamonkey. I go back, and hit it again. Alright, an entry in English... but with enough typos that it's going to take me four times longer to decipher it than it is to actually read it. I give. And I come back here to write.

I had Subway for a late lunch/early dinner. Roast beef on white, double American cheese, light red onion, light honey mustard and oregano. Honestly, I still can't tell if the oregano changes the taste of my sandwich at all. It makes me look cool to the other people in line though, for sure. I suppose. I also had two cookies and a soda. Not that I should have had those last three items, but I decided to do it anyway. Even with not staying perfectly on points every single day and even with toppling off the diet wagon every single weekend for the past month, my weight is going down steadily, and I am proud. The eat-whatever-you-want, portion-control-is-key method actually works. I am no longer so much of a skeptic.

I had a rather meaningful conversation with a friend of mine earlier in the day. She is my very dear friend, and I care deeply for her. I wouldn't ever want to change our relationship in any way, because it has been a damned long time since I had a female friend who a) didn't have some kind of ulterior motive, b) didn't need me to take care of her but let me do it anyway because it makes me happy, c) didn't use me to make herself look better to potential boyfriends, and d) just loved me for who I was. Besides, if I didn't have her, the Short Hot Redheads Club would only have one member, and having a one-member-club seems like a really silly idea. Plus, I wouldn't have anyone to go shopping with. I wouldn't have anyone to debate doing girlie things for myself with. I wouldn't have anyone to bake cookies and brownies with, I wouldn't have anyone to share pants with from time to time. Most importantly, I wouldn't have anyone to rant with about how all the 'lesbians till graduation' have screwed the rest of us women over. I love you, girl. You damned well better know that. :)

May I say I'm ready for my class to be over now? I want to go home, sit down in front of my computer, mess around on whatever game captures my interest for a couple hours, and then go to bed. I'm also very excited that I don't have class tomorrow morning and I don't have to be at work till 1:00 p.m. I get to sleep in on a weekday!!! Holy cats!!!

"I think labels are generally used to benefit those who invented them, and those who invent them tend not to be those upon whom they are foisted. That said, labels can be tools of empowerment or marginalization, depending on who is using them and why.  

Consider the difference between being called a “funny freakin’ Jew” at a dinner party by, say, Larry David or Mel Brooks, or being called a “funny freakin’ Jew” by, say, Hitler or Sarah Palin’s pastor. In the former cases, you sort of high-five, laugh, and move on to the port and cheesecake. In the latter case, you go directly to the gas chamber, do not pass go, do not collect your moose-antler door prize."

-Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

Never read one of her books, never heard of her before just now, honestly not sure how I got to this particular article but I did, and I'm glad that I did, because I have a couple book purchases to go ponder now. Or maybe I'll just add her to my list of heroes. Because she's awesome.

I absolutely hate it when people try to pigeon-hole me. I don't fit your cookie cutter, I am sorry. Argh. Hi. This diet thing is makin' me cranky.

My name is Kait. I'm a 24 year old graduate student in the field of library and information science. Currently I'm working in the User Education Services department at UMCP as a graduate assistant. I'm a voracious bookworm, music junkie, and gamer nerd extraordinaire. I also like to rot my brain with any number of silly/sarcastic/caustic/blatantly rude webcomics, LOLCats and GraphJam. I love Star Trek, Star Wars, chocolate, science fiction movies and Law and Order and its ilk. I love piercings and tattoos, I hate my tiny feet and my curly hair and my nearsighted eyes. When I finish growing up, which won't be for a while, I hope to have a family in addition to having my friends and enjoying what I do. I'd also like a job in an academic library where I could take the occasional class in history, since I really miss my history classes from college. I'm currently participating (sort of) in Weight Watchers, trying to lose some weight to get back in to a smaller size of pants and not die as I walk up the hills on campus here. I discovered this morning, much to my surprise, that Gatorade has fewer points than Tropicana pink lemonade. This makes me a little less than excited, since I prefer the pink lemonade, but I am now of course thinking that I *should* have the other. Eating like a responsible adult honestly does not excite me. I miss the days when I could live on Dr. Pepper, cinnamon toast crunch and skim milk with a side of peanut butter M&M's.