So recently I've had a string of people telling me I can't do this, I can't do that. Or my favorite comment, what did I know about hard, I'm white. So let's start from the beginning, Corset cares about a handful of people very deeply and these people are all on the skint side for Holiday season this year so Corset wanted to do something special and get everyone something nice. This started the first 'can't'. I told a co-worker what I had planned and they laughed at me, told me I couldn't afford to get them everything that I had laid out, not on what I make at my job. I said I would get another job. They told me I couldn't do it in time for presents. They told me I couldn't work that much and still pass all my finals. I said watch me. This was four weeks ago.
Last night my final grades for the semester were posted. I have a 4.0 for this semester. I also work three jobs all averaging twenty hours a week and this Friday I will get the last paycheck I need to buy the last of the presents for the people I care about. I did it because only I can dictate my life. Not my coworkers. Not my friends. Not my family. I chose. I have never made more than 22k in a year. Yet for the past four I have independently supported myself. Pulled myself out of a self abusive lifestyle and into a place where I am so close to finishing my degree I can already see graduation caps. It doesn't matter how poor you are. Where you came from. What you look like. It matters how much you are willing to give up to make something of yourself. What matters is how hard are you will to push and how many times you are willing to stand back up and say, I'm not ready to give up yet. It will be hard. There are times where you will cry. You will scream and swear and when those times are hard and you're not sure you can take any more that's when you have to lift your head high and say I'm better than this and I deserve better than this.
There will always be someone in the world that wants you to think that you have no worth. Someone who wants to tear you down to bring themselves up. Don't let that be. It's like they say, Stand up for what is right even if you are standing alone. You can't wait for someone else to make the first move and do the right thing for you.
Corset climbing back on the soap box,
Signing off.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Skyrim.
Well then, raise your hand if you are familiar with the Elder Scrolls games. Good! So you probably already know about Skyrim and that it came out in the end of November and is a highly addicting game with a few highly irritating problems. My next question, who remembers the cluster fuck of glitches that occurred when oblivion was first released. I do! I know that months and months later they finally re-released the game in a special edition glitch free kind of way but by the time they did that I was torching my copy refusing to pay for another.
So you should be happy to hear that Skyrim is no where near that bad. I've ran into a few incidinces where my game has frozen. I found one area where a mammoth falls out of the sky repeatedly instead of walking. If you approach it, the mammoth falls to the ground dead. That was entertaining. Then there was the update. Oh Skyrim why? I woke up one morning and found I still had the urge to play and it was ok if I was five minutes late so I started up Skyrim and the 360 prompted me that I needed to install an update. Ok this happens. I hit accept. Then I check my cell and I have half a dozen texts from various people warning me that the update includes bugs and do not for any reason do it. Well damn.
Now what these bugs are I haven't done hard core research into. From my understanding it's made some quests unbeatable. I haven't found them yet. Then again I've only clocked ten hours since I installed. Word of advice to the wise though, if you are looking for a fun quest, choose the misc. with the offbeat title. Things like, Haunted House, or Go Visit the Museum. or Drinking Contest! I've had a lot more fun with those than some of the main line quests. Then again mine has a bug so that despite the fact I chose to have a tail, they still all mistake me for a Nord and my clairvoyance spell has decided it wants to rail road me into joining the rebellion.
Well, no major complaints on my end. All the bugs I've been able to take with a grain of salt and a laugh. We shall see when I turn my sights toward the main mission later this week. Oh and by the way, unless you move slower than a dead sabre cat, don't waste money on a horse.
Corset signing off.
So you should be happy to hear that Skyrim is no where near that bad. I've ran into a few incidinces where my game has frozen. I found one area where a mammoth falls out of the sky repeatedly instead of walking. If you approach it, the mammoth falls to the ground dead. That was entertaining. Then there was the update. Oh Skyrim why? I woke up one morning and found I still had the urge to play and it was ok if I was five minutes late so I started up Skyrim and the 360 prompted me that I needed to install an update. Ok this happens. I hit accept. Then I check my cell and I have half a dozen texts from various people warning me that the update includes bugs and do not for any reason do it. Well damn.
Now what these bugs are I haven't done hard core research into. From my understanding it's made some quests unbeatable. I haven't found them yet. Then again I've only clocked ten hours since I installed. Word of advice to the wise though, if you are looking for a fun quest, choose the misc. with the offbeat title. Things like, Haunted House, or Go Visit the Museum. or Drinking Contest! I've had a lot more fun with those than some of the main line quests. Then again mine has a bug so that despite the fact I chose to have a tail, they still all mistake me for a Nord and my clairvoyance spell has decided it wants to rail road me into joining the rebellion.
Well, no major complaints on my end. All the bugs I've been able to take with a grain of salt and a laugh. We shall see when I turn my sights toward the main mission later this week. Oh and by the way, unless you move slower than a dead sabre cat, don't waste money on a horse.
Corset signing off.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Certified Nursing Assistant.
The blog of a girl who who loves to charge blindly into life. The blog of a girl who was tired of death long before she signed up for the class, long before she passed the test, long before watching someone wither away should have ever been an option. Call my cynical. I probably am but this is what I noticed in the life a a Long Term Care Facility Certified Nursing Assistant.
My first day on the job was so full of excitement. Two days before I took and passed my test I was hired as a full time Aide. I was walking on air. They introduced me to the other full time gals and guys that would become my second home for 40 hours a week plus overtime. Day one they teased me, it was harmless right? Then I met the nurses. They all looked so tired. Nothing like the ICU nurses I remembered from my childhood but they still acted the same. Self righteous and better than everyone. My first day, such a whirlwind of activity. First day turned into first week, first week into first month. Light teasing into harassment. Self righteous into god complexes and those willing to walk slowly when a code was called.
This was what I remembered wondering about as a girl. How did they tear each other apart like rabid hyena's and still come together at just the right moment to save a life? Well the answer to that was, they didn't always. I remember going up to a nurse I had offended and begging her to come look at one of my patients, I thought something was wrong. What did I know I was a CNA. Hours passed, she told me she would get to it. She never did, not until I got a nurse from another unit to verify what I had been saying all along. Something had been terribly wrong.
Then they told me what had happened that day. Funny thing, I didn't remember most of it being that way. Then I was the bad guy because I called the state inspector. The thing that really got to me, I could live with poeple dying around me. It was sad but I could accept I had done all I could. As a CNA what I could never live with was the way the employees treated each other. They harrassed, sexually assulted, some slept with husbands of others, and all talked behind each others back. How could a field that is supposed to be about the greater good and helping others be just as equally about being self righteous and hateful? Why did they do it?
To everyone. Employees came and went like a revolving door except the five of us who were full time. No one was able to pass through without the gossip and attacks being directed at them just as brutally as they did toward those who they called close friends. After a time I started to become ill. It took me a while to figure out I was only ever ill on the days I had to work. I would vomit and have headaches. Part stress, part dehydration from the vomiting, I cut down to part time. For the second time during my work at this facility I had betrayed them. Until they hired someone else, they were short some days and they never let me forget. Not that I had an alternative life style, not that I had reported the facility to state, not that I had gone to my superiors for abuse and been told it was all in good fun.
I wasn't laughing. Eventually I moved states. I thought myself to be free of them. Even now one of them will text me or shoot me an email, why don't I talk to anyone any more, I told them, I wasn't laughing. Now for the second time in my life I am working as a CNA. I want so much for it to be different. Tomorrow is my first day all over again. I know it will be filled with excitement and new job joys. Even know I know somethings will never change. The nurses will be self righteous and 'overworked' the CNA's will pick up their slack and huff that the nurses don't work. I am ok with this. I know I do it to. I have saved lives. I say with pride. The patients think me proud and self righteous. It comes with the job. You have to be that way or they won't trust that you are capable.
My biggest hope? That this time I will not be walking into a den of wolves. That this time I will not have to call the state and tell them I can't accept what happened as part of life. They say ever facility is different. I have worked in one. Another whose opinion I hold dear has worked in six. In all she has reported that they still back stab and gossip like school girls. I am more willing to turn the other cheek. I have faith that there are those who go into nursing not for the pay but to do good in the world. They still exist don't they?
If any CNA reads this I hope you can leave me messages of hope. Something to say that it's not always this way. While bad things do happen there are those who live and act with good intentions.
Am I cynical? Am I jaded? Maybe.
Corset looking for the good in the world
Signing off.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
I see the Moon
I've had this on my mind for the past few days. I've know this since I was a little girl but I don't recall who wrote it originally so I can give proper credit. Since I've been singing it a lot this week, I'd like to be able to tell people when they ask. I am normally a pretty good googler but this one has me stumped. Now I would not recommend listening to it on youtube or anything. I also remember hating whoever was singing it. It's one of those things you want to set to your own tune. I am working on some art associated with this song. Maybe in the future I will finish it and post it up.
Now if you want a song worth actually listening too, Try Chris Rice I see the the Moon. Or Ayreon. You know. Whatever floats your boat.
Corset missing someone,
Signing off.
"I See the Moon
I see the moon
Over the mountain, over the sea, Back where my heart is longing to be, Please let the light that shines on me Shine on the one I love. I see the moon; the moon sees me Down through the leaves of the old oak tree. Please let the light that shines on me Shine on the one I love. I hear the lark; the lark hears me, Singing a song with a melody. Please let the lark that sings for me Sing for the one I love. I kiss a rose; the rose kisses me, Fragrant as only a rose can be. Please let the Rose that comforts me Comfort the one I love."
Now if you want a song worth actually listening too, Try Chris Rice I see the the Moon. Or Ayreon. You know. Whatever floats your boat.
Corset missing someone,
Signing off.
Monday, November 14, 2011
The Joys of Retail
Have you ever wandered through a retail store and thought what in gods name are those people doing? They circle certain patches of product like vultures, they try to ring up every sale no matter how long the line, they avoid returns like the plague and see fitting rooms as the door way to hell. It's a little bit hysterical to watch them. Especially at holiday rush hour and double fun if you have a friend willing to sit with you and ad lib them all.
Well Corset is easing back into blogging so let's do a break down of the things I said before. If you see an associate circling product, it's for a couple reasons. With the exceptions of places like Wal-Mart, in retail it's a big no no to sit behind your register and wait for a customer. They want you to be active. What does that mean? Active means you approach every customer and push selling by striking up conversation and 'wardrobing' in every possible way. Now wardrobing is just a silly way off adding on extras the customer might not have thought of. Like You want a shower curtain so obviously you need new bath mats, matching towels, a new tooth brush holder, soap dispenser, bath room curtains, etc. If it can be remotely connected to what the customer is buying, they want it to be suggested in a cute little, did you know kind of way. Or the associate is lazy, it's so they appear busy and the manager or guys behind the camera in loss prevention don't call down and remind you that if you don't want to do it their way, there is someone out there willing to replace you.
Now if the associate is expected to be wooing customers on such a personal level then why do they try to ring up every person who even attempts to enter a check out zone? I bet you know this one. Sales goals. Even if you don't get paid commission the company wants to know that you are pulling your weight. They do this by setting sales goals and if you don't consistently meet a certain percentage of that goal, you go on probation because obviously if you are doing it right, you will be meeting the goal. Every transaction is added up and you can track your goal during the day, an example. If you work an 8hr shift, in some places that means you will have a sales goal of roughly $2500. This brings us to returns.
I find this aspect of the system poorly set up because in my opinion it leads to customer neglect. Just as every sale you ring up brings you closer to the magic number, every return you ring, subtracts from it. So if you are providing good customer service by helping the person everyone else treats like a leper, you're shooting yourself in the foot at the same time.
This brings us to the fitting rooms! Now granted many places don't have these but a lot do, or some equivalent where customers pile merchandise without care to let you find out where its home once was. In my example we shall use the fitting room. When trying to find the right pair of jeans or the right top for the whatever occasion, it's not uncommon for people to pick up and set down over ten items. While good for you your looking for something in particular, the sales associate is loosing progress trying to put it all back. For every moment that an associate is having to return merchandise to a shelf, another associate is taking their sales. Not only that but it's quite a lot of work. If you're staring down a pile of jeans from ten brands and companies and that's only one side of the fitting room AND it's not even noon yet if you try to tackle that, you'll be at it for a while. Now remember, you have 8 hours to sell $2500 worth of merchandise. Now subtract the Three hours you are spending being a good human being and putting things back where they belong. So if you want to be a decent human being and help out with the fitting room you are really trying to sell $500 worth of stuff an hour in a place where most of the purchases are going to be $50-100 total. Now that doesn't sound to hard until you remember you are competing with five other people to get those sales.
Retail can be a bit cut throat. I can't imagine what those poor men and women in commission sales have to go through.
Having been on both sides of the counter,
Corset signing off.
Well Corset is easing back into blogging so let's do a break down of the things I said before. If you see an associate circling product, it's for a couple reasons. With the exceptions of places like Wal-Mart, in retail it's a big no no to sit behind your register and wait for a customer. They want you to be active. What does that mean? Active means you approach every customer and push selling by striking up conversation and 'wardrobing' in every possible way. Now wardrobing is just a silly way off adding on extras the customer might not have thought of. Like You want a shower curtain so obviously you need new bath mats, matching towels, a new tooth brush holder, soap dispenser, bath room curtains, etc. If it can be remotely connected to what the customer is buying, they want it to be suggested in a cute little, did you know kind of way. Or the associate is lazy, it's so they appear busy and the manager or guys behind the camera in loss prevention don't call down and remind you that if you don't want to do it their way, there is someone out there willing to replace you.
Now if the associate is expected to be wooing customers on such a personal level then why do they try to ring up every person who even attempts to enter a check out zone? I bet you know this one. Sales goals. Even if you don't get paid commission the company wants to know that you are pulling your weight. They do this by setting sales goals and if you don't consistently meet a certain percentage of that goal, you go on probation because obviously if you are doing it right, you will be meeting the goal. Every transaction is added up and you can track your goal during the day, an example. If you work an 8hr shift, in some places that means you will have a sales goal of roughly $2500. This brings us to returns.
I find this aspect of the system poorly set up because in my opinion it leads to customer neglect. Just as every sale you ring up brings you closer to the magic number, every return you ring, subtracts from it. So if you are providing good customer service by helping the person everyone else treats like a leper, you're shooting yourself in the foot at the same time.
This brings us to the fitting rooms! Now granted many places don't have these but a lot do, or some equivalent where customers pile merchandise without care to let you find out where its home once was. In my example we shall use the fitting room. When trying to find the right pair of jeans or the right top for the whatever occasion, it's not uncommon for people to pick up and set down over ten items. While good for you your looking for something in particular, the sales associate is loosing progress trying to put it all back. For every moment that an associate is having to return merchandise to a shelf, another associate is taking their sales. Not only that but it's quite a lot of work. If you're staring down a pile of jeans from ten brands and companies and that's only one side of the fitting room AND it's not even noon yet if you try to tackle that, you'll be at it for a while. Now remember, you have 8 hours to sell $2500 worth of merchandise. Now subtract the Three hours you are spending being a good human being and putting things back where they belong. So if you want to be a decent human being and help out with the fitting room you are really trying to sell $500 worth of stuff an hour in a place where most of the purchases are going to be $50-100 total. Now that doesn't sound to hard until you remember you are competing with five other people to get those sales.
Retail can be a bit cut throat. I can't imagine what those poor men and women in commission sales have to go through.
Having been on both sides of the counter,
Corset signing off.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Uh oh.
Blogs will resume on Monday the 14th!
Maybe sooner.
Probably not.
Corset being Corset.
Signing off.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Christmas in July.
Is it just me or has everyone else noticed that Christmas sales are starting early, the decorations and trees are cropping up sooner and that this has been reoccurring for the past few year. I remember about two weeks before Halloween I was looking for some supplies to finish my costume and the seasonal section of the store was decked out in red and green with an automated santa laughing at me. I felt like I had fallen through a worm hole into the future. Where was all my Halloween gear? I asked an associate. Well it was hiding in a corner. They were already putting it on sale to get rid of it so they could replace it with more Christmas gear.
Yikes.
Then it got worse. Last week I was speaking with someone where they proudly announced they had finished their Christmas and New years shopping. I haven't even bought a Turkey yet and Thanksgiving is in two weeks. Whipping out the Christmas gear wouldn't even be on my radar for a few more weeks if it wasn't for everyone else flaunting that they have done it already.
What ever happened to Thanksgiving day decorations! When I was in kindergarten we had turkey center pieces and I even say an inflatable turkey on someones yard! There was an entire isle at the grocery that would get dedicated to random things redone to be decked out with falling leaves and turkeys and indians and pilgrims. I mean, I know the thanksgiving in cartoons is a lie. I did take a history class back in the day, but damn it, I loved those old decorations. I also remember some cartoon that come on early that day before football hit about the first thanksgiving.
I demand Thanksgiving nostalgia. Where after Halloween you put up turkeys and not Santa and the napkins are covered in leaves and not snowflakes. While it's not often depicted like what actually happened I don't think that is a reason to gloss over and forget. If nothing else you should remember what it symbolizes in fiction if not in fact. I'm so tired of political correctedness going through a rewriting and erasing the things that people think we shouldn't look at. Covering your eyes won't make it go away and if we lose sight of our past its going to come back and bite us in the future. So leave the N word in my Tom Sawyer books. Teach me about what happened to the Indians. Instead of telling me, We changed our minds! It never existed. Tell me why it was wrong. Don't blind me, educate me.
Corset putting up Turkey decor.
Signing off
Yikes.
Then it got worse. Last week I was speaking with someone where they proudly announced they had finished their Christmas and New years shopping. I haven't even bought a Turkey yet and Thanksgiving is in two weeks. Whipping out the Christmas gear wouldn't even be on my radar for a few more weeks if it wasn't for everyone else flaunting that they have done it already.
What ever happened to Thanksgiving day decorations! When I was in kindergarten we had turkey center pieces and I even say an inflatable turkey on someones yard! There was an entire isle at the grocery that would get dedicated to random things redone to be decked out with falling leaves and turkeys and indians and pilgrims. I mean, I know the thanksgiving in cartoons is a lie. I did take a history class back in the day, but damn it, I loved those old decorations. I also remember some cartoon that come on early that day before football hit about the first thanksgiving.
I demand Thanksgiving nostalgia. Where after Halloween you put up turkeys and not Santa and the napkins are covered in leaves and not snowflakes. While it's not often depicted like what actually happened I don't think that is a reason to gloss over and forget. If nothing else you should remember what it symbolizes in fiction if not in fact. I'm so tired of political correctedness going through a rewriting and erasing the things that people think we shouldn't look at. Covering your eyes won't make it go away and if we lose sight of our past its going to come back and bite us in the future. So leave the N word in my Tom Sawyer books. Teach me about what happened to the Indians. Instead of telling me, We changed our minds! It never existed. Tell me why it was wrong. Don't blind me, educate me.
Corset putting up Turkey decor.
Signing off
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Thinking Like A Geek.
Or if you want to get nit picky, I'm thinking of ThinkGeek.com. Now usually I don't want to talk to much about websites and the stuff they sell because in most cases I really don't care. If your like me you don't have a lot of money to throw around on the internet. Think Geek is my exception. It's not that I buy from them really often. Maybe twice a year. The big Christmas splurge and then an untimely end of summer small shop for a birthday present.
I hope you've already Googled the site to see who I'm talking about. Or are you doing that now?
Well for those who'd rather read about it than look it up, the wonderful thing about think geek is the vast variety. It's the only place I've seen where you can buy a licensed Dr. Who coat or sonic screw driver then turn around and get some t-shirts or even a new bib for the baby all in style. There are USB Doomsday devices and T-shirts and one of the only places I have found that sells all my favorite geeky shirts in baby doll cut instead of the atrocious unisex they try and pawn off on people. I can buy caffeinated lolli pops or candy coated hibiscus flowers. They have night vision goggles and cameras, they have bacon scented car air fresheners and they have my favorite tech humor books. Whenever someone asks me what I want for a birthday or Christmas I can say just go to think geek. If it's to expensive, that's ok they have a clearance section and they also have a point system. The more you buy the more points you get to get something shiny and fun for free and some of the free items cost upwards of $50 on their own. So getting it for free makes me squee like a preteen at an anime con.
It's more than just that though. I have never had a poor customer service experience with think geek. Once for Christmas I placed a large (it was for me!) order and when it arrived, I had received a duplicate of one thing and was missing another less than two weeks before Christmas. I was in panic mode but I emailed them and less than a day later they had the replacement items on their way out to me in overnight delivery before I ever had a chance to send the duplicate back. There was no harassment. No being told to call a number and waiting on hold for hours on end. There had been a mistake. They apologized and fixed it. If only all companies were this polite and obliging.
Even on their facebook page, if you comment, they will reply to you. They hold contests to win free money and they donate to charities that they let the masses help decide what charity deserves. What's not to like? Well, being who I am they sell games and books and amazing shirts so I wanted to work for them. I'm not sure I can forgive them for only have a branch in Virginia and a bunch of jobs I'm not qualified to do.
I don't know who I am kidding. Think Geek would probably have to triple charge my credit card and refuse me my money back before I actually got miffed at them. It's hard to find problems with a company that treats you right and packs each box with pouches of monkey breath so your things come to you in one piece. I think the only thing that could place thinkgeek.com any higher in my good graces would be a Think Geek credit card. Oh how I don't need it but I want it. I would be perpetually thousands of dollars in debt to them but I don't think they'd mind as long as I paid every month.
So Think Geek I guess what I am saying is my top hat goes off to you!
Corset Signing off.
I hope you've already Googled the site to see who I'm talking about. Or are you doing that now?
Well for those who'd rather read about it than look it up, the wonderful thing about think geek is the vast variety. It's the only place I've seen where you can buy a licensed Dr. Who coat or sonic screw driver then turn around and get some t-shirts or even a new bib for the baby all in style. There are USB Doomsday devices and T-shirts and one of the only places I have found that sells all my favorite geeky shirts in baby doll cut instead of the atrocious unisex they try and pawn off on people. I can buy caffeinated lolli pops or candy coated hibiscus flowers. They have night vision goggles and cameras, they have bacon scented car air fresheners and they have my favorite tech humor books. Whenever someone asks me what I want for a birthday or Christmas I can say just go to think geek. If it's to expensive, that's ok they have a clearance section and they also have a point system. The more you buy the more points you get to get something shiny and fun for free and some of the free items cost upwards of $50 on their own. So getting it for free makes me squee like a preteen at an anime con.
It's more than just that though. I have never had a poor customer service experience with think geek. Once for Christmas I placed a large (it was for me!) order and when it arrived, I had received a duplicate of one thing and was missing another less than two weeks before Christmas. I was in panic mode but I emailed them and less than a day later they had the replacement items on their way out to me in overnight delivery before I ever had a chance to send the duplicate back. There was no harassment. No being told to call a number and waiting on hold for hours on end. There had been a mistake. They apologized and fixed it. If only all companies were this polite and obliging.
Even on their facebook page, if you comment, they will reply to you. They hold contests to win free money and they donate to charities that they let the masses help decide what charity deserves. What's not to like? Well, being who I am they sell games and books and amazing shirts so I wanted to work for them. I'm not sure I can forgive them for only have a branch in Virginia and a bunch of jobs I'm not qualified to do.
I don't know who I am kidding. Think Geek would probably have to triple charge my credit card and refuse me my money back before I actually got miffed at them. It's hard to find problems with a company that treats you right and packs each box with pouches of monkey breath so your things come to you in one piece. I think the only thing that could place thinkgeek.com any higher in my good graces would be a Think Geek credit card. Oh how I don't need it but I want it. I would be perpetually thousands of dollars in debt to them but I don't think they'd mind as long as I paid every month.
So Think Geek I guess what I am saying is my top hat goes off to you!
Corset Signing off.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Sleep and Alcohol
Well there are somethings I have noticed over time and some things I have been told so I thought I'd share. Did you know that if you consume a moderate amount of alcohol you are effectively botching your sleep and the more alcohol you consume the potentially worse it can get. Well, now you do but I bet you want to know why so let me tell you what I think and we'll start with some definitions. A moderate amount of alcohol means that your blood alcohol levels average is 0.06–0.08%. That's not a lot of alcohol to get there. However do not despair, approx one 12oz beer can help lull you to sleep without the side effects I'm about to get into.
Now the thing about moderate alcohol consumption isn't that pop! You sleep poorly. It triggers chemicals in your body as it is metabolized and removed from your body and in most cases this happens only in time to ruin the last half of your sleep assuming you are getting from seven to eight hours. There is some preliminary studies to show that the adverse effects could take as much as three days to correct the changes done to sleep patterns.
So what are the changes? Well as far as I can tell what happens is shallow sleep is induced leading to awaking multiple times during the night as well as rebounding REM. The rebounding REM is associated with nightmares and vivid dreaming due to the brain attempting to wake and the general activity induced. The after effects of the poor sleep lead to the additional drowsiness during the day as well as trouble focusing.
There are also studies shown that suggest alcohol increases sleep apnea symptoms. It is unfortunate that sleep is commonly used as an aid for insomniacs however poor sleep is debatable better for you than no sleep.
While on the subject of alcohol I thought I'd throw this out there since so few seem to know it. The effects of a hangover are caused by dehydration, a side effect of drinking. If you want to not get a hangover when you are done drinking alcohol for the night, drink several glasses of water. You will have to hit the bathroom a bit more often but I'd rather excuse myself for a moment than deal with a pounding headache in the morning.
Corset hoping to have raised some questions and peaked an interest,
signing off.
Now the thing about moderate alcohol consumption isn't that pop! You sleep poorly. It triggers chemicals in your body as it is metabolized and removed from your body and in most cases this happens only in time to ruin the last half of your sleep assuming you are getting from seven to eight hours. There is some preliminary studies to show that the adverse effects could take as much as three days to correct the changes done to sleep patterns.
So what are the changes? Well as far as I can tell what happens is shallow sleep is induced leading to awaking multiple times during the night as well as rebounding REM. The rebounding REM is associated with nightmares and vivid dreaming due to the brain attempting to wake and the general activity induced. The after effects of the poor sleep lead to the additional drowsiness during the day as well as trouble focusing.
There are also studies shown that suggest alcohol increases sleep apnea symptoms. It is unfortunate that sleep is commonly used as an aid for insomniacs however poor sleep is debatable better for you than no sleep.
While on the subject of alcohol I thought I'd throw this out there since so few seem to know it. The effects of a hangover are caused by dehydration, a side effect of drinking. If you want to not get a hangover when you are done drinking alcohol for the night, drink several glasses of water. You will have to hit the bathroom a bit more often but I'd rather excuse myself for a moment than deal with a pounding headache in the morning.
Corset hoping to have raised some questions and peaked an interest,
signing off.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Chicken Tikka Masala
Tikka Masala is absolutely something people must try at some point in their lives. In either Chicken or lamb, both are quite intriguing but please don't buy it from the grocery. Make a night of it and go out to an Indian restaurant and enjoy yourselves. Now here are some things you might want to know. Chicken Tikka Masala consists of roasted chicken cut into cubes served in a creamy orange coloured sauce. The sauce tends to be thick and involve tomatoes but the tomato flavor isn't particularly present. Now it is a curry so expect some spice. The wonderful thing about this dish is there are dozens of ways to make it and even just changing out the chicken for lamb can alter the flavor in the best way but the main ingredients tend to be as follows : Chicken, Yogurt, cream, tomato, onion, chili, coconut. The rest of the spicing is really up for debate and any Indian cuisine that's worth its salt will be served with Basmati rice. Now you can make your own at home but since the Chicken is marinated in spiced yogurt then cooked in a clay oven, you tend to loose something. This is how I do it though.
Now MY Tikka Masala isn't this pretty but Wiki has it right. This is what it looks like if you go out to eat. <3
Now you want to mix all of the above and let it sit in the fridge over night if you can but if not at least give it a few minutes. Then remove the chicken and discard the marinade. I have a clay pot that I bake the chicken in, a pan works just fine too. But like I said, I've never mastered how to make it as well as the restaurant does. Depending on how small you chopped the pieces depends on how long it takes to cook. My way tends to be a half hour. Or I have my man grill it. Now while that is cooking::
Mix all of this set together in a pan on stove top. When the chicken is done cooking, add and let simmer for I give ten minutes to let the flavors mix. Serve over basmati rice.
Now MY Tikka Masala isn't this pretty but Wiki has it right. This is what it looks like if you go out to eat. <3
Corset signing off.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Sleepy Sunday
Blindfolded girl using fire to light her path. This one makes loads of sense. Well it does to me.
Wondering where time has gone,
Corset Signing off for a sleepy Sunday.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Aristotle
Ok. For quite some time Aristotle has rubbed me the wrong way and I think I've nailed down the reason. All Aristotle did was develop a brilliant system that meant he was always right. Now bear with me, Aristotle defined ethics as being an inexact political science and an art of how to achieve the highest intrinsically valuable, practical and supreme good. This supreme good is happiness. To Aristotle Happiness is an activity of soul in accordance with complete or moral virtue. Or another way to define it would be to live well and rationally, do well rationally, and function rationally. The mean between the extreme.
Oh Aristotle! Why can't I finish a sentence about you without having to define a half a dozen words or more!
Now what is soul and morals? Let's start with soul, believe it or not, it's easier to understand. The soul is broken down into two parts, the first being the irrational soul. The irrational soul is fairly vegetative. It controls appetite, nurturing, growth, it controls primal functions to survive. On the flip side you have the Rational soul. The Rational soul's primary function is to have the capability of virtue.
Virtue in and of itself, is not a natural thing according to Aristotle. We naturally have the capability to acquire it but it is not of nature. Virtue is also considered a mean between two extremes. Now to break Virtue down into two parts. There is Intellectual Virtues which we are taught through school and family. Then there are Moral Virtues which we learn through observation and habit. Despite my readings, I have not found a virtue that is simply one or the other. It looks something like this.
Well corset hoping one day to say something outrageous enough to warrant hearing from a reading,
signing off.
Oh Aristotle! Why can't I finish a sentence about you without having to define a half a dozen words or more!
Now what is soul and morals? Let's start with soul, believe it or not, it's easier to understand. The soul is broken down into two parts, the first being the irrational soul. The irrational soul is fairly vegetative. It controls appetite, nurturing, growth, it controls primal functions to survive. On the flip side you have the Rational soul. The Rational soul's primary function is to have the capability of virtue.
Virtue in and of itself, is not a natural thing according to Aristotle. We naturally have the capability to acquire it but it is not of nature. Virtue is also considered a mean between two extremes. Now to break Virtue down into two parts. There is Intellectual Virtues which we are taught through school and family. Then there are Moral Virtues which we learn through observation and habit. Despite my readings, I have not found a virtue that is simply one or the other. It looks something like this.
But oh my Aristotle! All of those terms that you ask us to look at, all of your virtues are broad open terms. While every will say that you should have these traits, to everyone they have different meanings. Where is the line between Courage and being Fool hardy? Well say's Aristotle, if you want to know more you should ask the prudent man! Well who is the prudent man? He is of course the one who has lived in happiness. Well he has dedicated his life to his so by his own teachings he is the prudent man. Circular logic to the rescue? I feel as if I am missing a vast important piece of Aristotle. Oh my. Maybe next week we will see what James and Kant have to say about this. Or if I am feeling up to the challenge I will talk about Nietzsche. If you're like my class everyone reading this and a few who won't know why let out a collective exasperated disgusted sigh.
Well corset hoping one day to say something outrageous enough to warrant hearing from a reading,
signing off.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Artistic Nude?
So I was living life one day, like you do, when I noticed someone was selling a gorgeous artistic nude, my only problem was that there were smiley face stickers covering up particular bits of the art work. The artist noticing my confusion approached me and told me those were not part of the picture, he had to cover them up because the art was on display in a local restaurant and a child might come in and see it. To which I responded, so what? Children fall into two big categories when it comes to artistic nudity. Eww coodies/meh, or There's better on the internet. Well we went back and forth for a few moments but it came down to this, why are children allowed to see movies depecting people have sex and all the naughty bits there but it someone presents the human form in a still tasteful manner, it's all of a sudden something we should be ashamed of? This makes little sense to me.
The first argument we discussed was parents prerogative. If they do not want their child to see nudity on display, they should have that right. What this means is that in his case, they were right to tell him to cover up the bits. A parent should get to chose if they want their child exposed and how they want their child to learn about sexuality.
The Second was that in the light of liberalism, if people stop acting so shamed by the human form and repressed their children less then there would be less in the way of bullying of gay children and those who have different body shapes. Later on in life as well, they would grow to be more comfortable in their own skin and would have a general increase in self confidence. If you think even remotely like me the second sounds awfully optimistic, however I do see the basis where this is coming from and while I don't think it will be in such a dramatic manner, I can see the benefits of letting children grow up aware of the human figure.
This led to our third great disagreement. The differences between male and female nudity. It is excepted a lot more commonly to see an image of a naked woman and call it art however if you even show full male in a movie you are looking at an R or X rating. Yet you can show full frontal of a woman? How does this work? Not well was my answer but we had to agree to disagree on this front.
Then, as it happens when talking about artistic nudes, we began to discuss, what is art? Is a picture of a naked woman with an innocent gaze holding a type of cloth in one hand to cover herself art? Or is it in poor taste? How about naked fae dancing under the moon? Oh my said we. We are roaming blindly through the realm of opinion. One mans art is another mans trash. So does it really matter if a man is forced to cover up an artistic nude? I think so.
What do you think?
Corset signing off.
 |
| Parisian nymph painted by Jules Lesebvre |
The first argument we discussed was parents prerogative. If they do not want their child to see nudity on display, they should have that right. What this means is that in his case, they were right to tell him to cover up the bits. A parent should get to chose if they want their child exposed and how they want their child to learn about sexuality.
The Second was that in the light of liberalism, if people stop acting so shamed by the human form and repressed their children less then there would be less in the way of bullying of gay children and those who have different body shapes. Later on in life as well, they would grow to be more comfortable in their own skin and would have a general increase in self confidence. If you think even remotely like me the second sounds awfully optimistic, however I do see the basis where this is coming from and while I don't think it will be in such a dramatic manner, I can see the benefits of letting children grow up aware of the human figure.
This led to our third great disagreement. The differences between male and female nudity. It is excepted a lot more commonly to see an image of a naked woman and call it art however if you even show full male in a movie you are looking at an R or X rating. Yet you can show full frontal of a woman? How does this work? Not well was my answer but we had to agree to disagree on this front.
Then, as it happens when talking about artistic nudes, we began to discuss, what is art? Is a picture of a naked woman with an innocent gaze holding a type of cloth in one hand to cover herself art? Or is it in poor taste? How about naked fae dancing under the moon? Oh my said we. We are roaming blindly through the realm of opinion. One mans art is another mans trash. So does it really matter if a man is forced to cover up an artistic nude? I think so.
What do you think?
Corset signing off.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
NaNoWriMo
Oh my shame in having forgotten NaNoWriMo.
Otherwise known as the National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write approx 50,000 words (about 175 page novel) in one month, both starting and ending at midnight and it runs the duration of November. You can track your goal via the official site and I believe there is even prizes available to be won. At nanowrimo.org you can also sign on to forums for support and meet fellow writers which I think is a nice concept. Especially when you have a bad case of the block and couldn't form a coherent sentence to save your life, that's a good day to have a support forum. Now a few things to note, when you submit your work to the word count it just about automatically gets deleted. They also have a system set up to scramble your work so there is no fear of thievery. Also to be eligible for the prizes, you have to meet the 50,000 word mark.
Otherwise known as the National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write approx 50,000 words (about 175 page novel) in one month, both starting and ending at midnight and it runs the duration of November. You can track your goal via the official site and I believe there is even prizes available to be won. At nanowrimo.org you can also sign on to forums for support and meet fellow writers which I think is a nice concept. Especially when you have a bad case of the block and couldn't form a coherent sentence to save your life, that's a good day to have a support forum. Now a few things to note, when you submit your work to the word count it just about automatically gets deleted. They also have a system set up to scramble your work so there is no fear of thievery. Also to be eligible for the prizes, you have to meet the 50,000 word mark.
See? Doesn't that sound easy? So why don't you head on over and see what kind of adventure NaNoWriMo can take you on.The rules state that, to be an official NaNoWriMo winner, you must…
- Write a 50,000-word (or longer!) novel, between November 1 and November 30.
- Start from scratch. None of your own previously written prose can be included in your NaNoWriMo draft (though outlines, character sketches, and research are all fine, as are citations from other people’s works).
- Write a novel. We define a novel as a lengthy work of fiction. If you consider the book you’re writing a novel, we consider it a novel too!
- Be the sole author of your novel. Apart from those citations mentioned two bullet-points up.
- Write more than one word repeated 50,000 times.
- Upload your novel for word-count validation to our site between November 25 and November 30.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
William James on Absurdity
If you have forgotten how I defined Absurdity you can always recap to when I talked about Melville.
Well as always William James' work is a joy to read. However sometimes he says some things that irk me the wrong way. He starts the particular piece I was reading by basically telling Walt Whitman, Enough! Not everyone is a pathological optimist! Anyone who has read a great deal of Whitman, knows he doesn't have eternal optimism, though at does persist more often than not. James' focuses on Logotherapy or meaning centered therapy based on the premise of despair surrounded by the struggle of life and asking the question, Is Life Worth Living? Unless my history is off the answer to that question is yes because I do not believe that James' committed suicide. Instead he created steps to make the world work a touch better.
Steps
1) Understand the Essence of courage. What he means by this is do you believe in something enough to stake your life on it? Is it worth living for? If the answer is no, then he saw suicide in your future.
2) Understand the Essence of faith. Meaning to believe that the possibility exists.
3) Make the connection between courage and faith.
So what this breaks down into is the premise that you have faith in possibility that something exists and courage to bet your life on it.
Of course it's all a lot more complicated than all this. James was a psychologist as well as a philosopher making for a potent combination of, at times, despair. As always I challenge you to question my work. If you know better, tell me so! Philosophy is at its best when discussed among people with differing minds!
For someone who is a little less bleak, tune in tomorrow to hear a bit about Schopenhauer.
Corset signing off.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Corset Baked A Cake!
Cake is also known as filler. For someone who had nothing to do on Halloween I didn't have time to write anything. After taking a test on absurdity. Perhaps I will sit down and write on it this afternoon.
I thought I would mention the cake is layered. The Chocolate covered half is choco cake. The vanilla half is vanilla cake. I did bake both halves in the same pan. Some heavy duty foil made it come out nice with the swirl and there was no seam when it was done.
Corset signing off.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Halloween is upon us!
How dare Halloween fall on a Monday. Instead of dressing up as a ghostly bride or fiendish vampire, it's a Monday. There are no parties tonight. Everyone has to beware the upcoming work week. As the year rolls into it's final quarter deadlines are approaching and my fun is being spoiled. All the parties have come early, however a few new children have come into the world early as well leading to some cancellations. So in the spirit of not being a grump, I shall spend the day in class, baking, and working. Unfortunately I will be unable to romp around as a moogle. However if you see an adult themed red riding hood in a black corset, well then, maybe you found me! Hehe. Though more likely you are harassing an innocent bystander.
Now for a bite of history,
Did you know that Halloween comes from All Hallow's Eve and is followed by All Saints day. Now what this means is that all through the year, the influence of evil rises up in the world and it hits a pentacle on all Hallows eve. The day where devils roam the earth and spirits rise up. Then on all Saints day, the Saints come forth to smite the evil and return the world to the way it should be. Now this is the little bit I was taught as a youngun while I begged my neighborhood for candy. Being deprived of my favorite holiday activities, I am hoping to hear from you. What were you taught? What's your Halloween like?
Hoping to hear some interesting Halloween bites of knowledge,
Corset signing off.
Now for a bite of history,
Did you know that Halloween comes from All Hallow's Eve and is followed by All Saints day. Now what this means is that all through the year, the influence of evil rises up in the world and it hits a pentacle on all Hallows eve. The day where devils roam the earth and spirits rise up. Then on all Saints day, the Saints come forth to smite the evil and return the world to the way it should be. Now this is the little bit I was taught as a youngun while I begged my neighborhood for candy. Being deprived of my favorite holiday activities, I am hoping to hear from you. What were you taught? What's your Halloween like?
Hoping to hear some interesting Halloween bites of knowledge,
Corset signing off.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
The Colony
So, Netflix watch instant has come out with something of an entertaining prospect. A show that aired in 2009 called The Colony. It is a show that takes a group of ten strangers and deprives them of sleep and food for thirty hours to simulate the stress associated with a natural disaster then makes them walk eight miles to an abandoned factory that will be their sanctuary for the next ten weeks. The point? They are trying to simulate if a group of survivors in the apocalypse could actually withstand threat and rebuild. It has some entertaining qualities about it. It's nice how they have overlapping professionals studying them like rats in a box. So why don't you go watch them get harassed by raiders, scavenge food, make bad choices, get robbed, and decide they need a shower more than fresh food. What you weren't expecting spoilers where you? Go watch it. I'm always telling you guys my opinion. Why doesn't someone go watch an episode and tell me what you think for a change of pace.
Hoping to see an elusive comment,
Corset signing off.
Hoping to see an elusive comment,
Corset signing off.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Pumpkins!
Yes THIS is why you don't get an intelligent blog today. Stay tuned tomorrow for something post apocalyptic.
Corset signing off.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Ah Absurdity, my good friend.
So in quoting one of my professors did you wake up today go to leave the house and say "Better take my umbrella in case a whale tries to explode on me today!" Sounds pretty absurd right? Well let us take a moment to define absurd and we will be quoting Thomas Nagel on this one. "In ordinary life a situations is absurb when it includes a conspicuous discrepancy between pretension or aspiration and reality." Or As he later trims down to, "Some respect in which pretension and reality clash or collide."
Bearing that in mind I am going to start a few day process of trying to take the absurd seriously based off four strategy that I am in the process studying using the following in no particular order::
Schopenhauer- The great turning
Camus - The Embrace
William James- Logotherapy
Herman Melville- being Melville...
All of these will accomplish taking absurdity seriously by combining the meaning or life + Courage.
You know just for absurdity's sake let's start with Melville. Many of you will know him as the man who wrote Moby Dick. Recently he has come into my world as the man who Bartleby the Scrivener. The man who preferred not to. I'm not going to re account the story. It's widely available on the net for free if you want to pause here and go read it, it is fairly short and highly absurd. The real question I want to explore is whether Bartleby is courageous or cowardly and I'm not sure its that simple. You see on the one hand he was defying social norms which does take a great deal of courage but on the other apathy towards the situation can also lead to defying norms. I'll be honest, everything about this is shaky to me. Trying to put a clear cut line on a vast combination of emotions doesn't lead to the best results. If you think you caught me rambling trying to get you to read a good piece of lit then you caught me. I like reading Melville. Bartleby is by far his best and worst work all rolled into one. I find the story to be one of a man grown apathetic and simple would prefer not to do something more than he would prefer to do it. I find the concept of him wanting to sit on his rump at work doing nothing and getting paid to be absurd but that is social norms talking, or is it survival instinct? If everyone gets something for nothing and no one is doing any work then how do we have anything. Well we don't. So is there a situation where someone who has been working a job for the past 30 years should get to just take the last few off and still show up to work and get paid? If so then who do you expect to pick up their slack? Where is a situation where you can look at your boss or professor and say "I prefer not to." and that be ok?
Liking William James better than Melville,
Corset signing off.
Bearing that in mind I am going to start a few day process of trying to take the absurd seriously based off four strategy that I am in the process studying using the following in no particular order::
Schopenhauer- The great turning
Camus - The Embrace
William James- Logotherapy
Herman Melville- being Melville...
All of these will accomplish taking absurdity seriously by combining the meaning or life + Courage.
You know just for absurdity's sake let's start with Melville. Many of you will know him as the man who wrote Moby Dick. Recently he has come into my world as the man who Bartleby the Scrivener. The man who preferred not to. I'm not going to re account the story. It's widely available on the net for free if you want to pause here and go read it, it is fairly short and highly absurd. The real question I want to explore is whether Bartleby is courageous or cowardly and I'm not sure its that simple. You see on the one hand he was defying social norms which does take a great deal of courage but on the other apathy towards the situation can also lead to defying norms. I'll be honest, everything about this is shaky to me. Trying to put a clear cut line on a vast combination of emotions doesn't lead to the best results. If you think you caught me rambling trying to get you to read a good piece of lit then you caught me. I like reading Melville. Bartleby is by far his best and worst work all rolled into one. I find the story to be one of a man grown apathetic and simple would prefer not to do something more than he would prefer to do it. I find the concept of him wanting to sit on his rump at work doing nothing and getting paid to be absurd but that is social norms talking, or is it survival instinct? If everyone gets something for nothing and no one is doing any work then how do we have anything. Well we don't. So is there a situation where someone who has been working a job for the past 30 years should get to just take the last few off and still show up to work and get paid? If so then who do you expect to pick up their slack? Where is a situation where you can look at your boss or professor and say "I prefer not to." and that be ok?
Liking William James better than Melville,
Corset signing off.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
No! Life is not fair.
You will have to forgive corset today. She is in the mood to rant.
So, I have having a dialogue and the topic of unemployment came up between I and another person. They were complaining they had done everything and could not find a job. Fair enough this economy is tough cookie and everyone wants a piece. Well she started talking and I asked for her to clarify something she said. What I had heard was she had only been looking for jobs that paid over $12 an hour. She could live off min wage but didn't want to, she liked her designer clothes. I knew I must have heard her wrong. Well another chimes in, a man this time, he wanted $10/hour because the insurance was so high on his pimped out Mustang.
I just stared for a moment when I heard this and to give benefit of the doubt, I asked, "So you won't even apply for anything less than $10-12/hour despite the fact neither of you have a college degree because you think you deserve the money for your unsupported lifestyle?" The answer was no. How were they paying rent? They didn't know, they expected family to support the essentials.
A bit rude granted but I was having a jaw drop moment. I knew for fact at least one of the two was on unemployment. So I was prompted to ask if they had ever applied to fast food joints, Wal-Mart, retail. They looked back like I had sprouted a third head and I had enough when the man who is on unemployment looks at me and says those jobs are for the poor people.
Granted I know it's hard to swallow your pride when you've had a good paying job. I had one that was 10.5/hourly and I loved it. Living on my own I scraped by but it was what I was trained to do. I didn't wake up one morning and decide I wanted life handed to me so I could wear designer jeans. I still don't wear designer jeans unless they show up in Good Will.
Well to get back on topic, I left. I was going to get nasty if I stayed near them but they did raise some interesting questions. I have heard so many excuses as to why people can't and won't get jobs. Now granted some are valid. There are people who can not work but I don't think it's that simple. I think society is running around with rose coloured glasses on!
I'll never forget the day when a 40 year old man stomped his foot and said "It's just not fair!" Trust me! I know. Life isn't fair. Life requires work. Relationships require work! When you get hired to do a job they expect you to work! They won't hire you because you were prom queen five years ago. They want people who know the meaning of a hard days work or at least willing to accept it as part of life to earn a paycheck. I don't know what happened in history. This concept is really getting under my skin. I can't seem to go a day without running into someone who seems to think they should get things because they want it. Or who don't understand that when mommy and daddy cut them off, they have to balance a bank account. I really don't get it. And! As if that isn't bad enough, it goes the other way too! I have met people who lived in poverty who thought they should get hand outs just because they perceive life as being rougher for them than everyone else. So obviously they should get a job despite not having the experience and being unwilling to work as hard as the next guy.
What happened to good old fashioned work ethic? What happened to society that didn't need to lean on one another in a pity party? Where did the people go who would see they were in a bad place and pull themselves out of it? Where there is a will there is a way and apparently now also an excuse. It may be easier said than done but if you are willing to work for it there are ways to improve your station in life. There are ways to rise above what you were.
I've been in poverty. I've lost my home before. I've been part of the middle class with more toys as a kid than I had any right to own. Coming from someone who lives on the financial rollarcoaster bouncing between poverty and the middle class, suck it up. It won't be easy it won't be fun. Apply for the jobs you are too good to take. Say no when someone offers you a bad choice. If you don't like where you are, find a way to change it or let it go. Nothing is permanent.
Cooling off, a lot of people also don't realize that you can't just submit the application and be done anymore.
You need to do follow up calls. Shine your resume and write a cover letter. If you don't have work experience, volunteer, it looks good on a resume. Don't think cause you take a min wage job you are stuck there. Take the job and keep applying elsewhere. You can gain some money and life experience while working on the next upgrade. Whoever told you life was easy was a liar, but that doesn't mean you have to give up. I at least, believe in you. In the good that resides in everyone.
Corset feeling like ranting,
Signing off.
So, I have having a dialogue and the topic of unemployment came up between I and another person. They were complaining they had done everything and could not find a job. Fair enough this economy is tough cookie and everyone wants a piece. Well she started talking and I asked for her to clarify something she said. What I had heard was she had only been looking for jobs that paid over $12 an hour. She could live off min wage but didn't want to, she liked her designer clothes. I knew I must have heard her wrong. Well another chimes in, a man this time, he wanted $10/hour because the insurance was so high on his pimped out Mustang.
I just stared for a moment when I heard this and to give benefit of the doubt, I asked, "So you won't even apply for anything less than $10-12/hour despite the fact neither of you have a college degree because you think you deserve the money for your unsupported lifestyle?" The answer was no. How were they paying rent? They didn't know, they expected family to support the essentials.
A bit rude granted but I was having a jaw drop moment. I knew for fact at least one of the two was on unemployment. So I was prompted to ask if they had ever applied to fast food joints, Wal-Mart, retail. They looked back like I had sprouted a third head and I had enough when the man who is on unemployment looks at me and says those jobs are for the poor people.
Granted I know it's hard to swallow your pride when you've had a good paying job. I had one that was 10.5/hourly and I loved it. Living on my own I scraped by but it was what I was trained to do. I didn't wake up one morning and decide I wanted life handed to me so I could wear designer jeans. I still don't wear designer jeans unless they show up in Good Will.
Well to get back on topic, I left. I was going to get nasty if I stayed near them but they did raise some interesting questions. I have heard so many excuses as to why people can't and won't get jobs. Now granted some are valid. There are people who can not work but I don't think it's that simple. I think society is running around with rose coloured glasses on!
I'll never forget the day when a 40 year old man stomped his foot and said "It's just not fair!" Trust me! I know. Life isn't fair. Life requires work. Relationships require work! When you get hired to do a job they expect you to work! They won't hire you because you were prom queen five years ago. They want people who know the meaning of a hard days work or at least willing to accept it as part of life to earn a paycheck. I don't know what happened in history. This concept is really getting under my skin. I can't seem to go a day without running into someone who seems to think they should get things because they want it. Or who don't understand that when mommy and daddy cut them off, they have to balance a bank account. I really don't get it. And! As if that isn't bad enough, it goes the other way too! I have met people who lived in poverty who thought they should get hand outs just because they perceive life as being rougher for them than everyone else. So obviously they should get a job despite not having the experience and being unwilling to work as hard as the next guy.
What happened to good old fashioned work ethic? What happened to society that didn't need to lean on one another in a pity party? Where did the people go who would see they were in a bad place and pull themselves out of it? Where there is a will there is a way and apparently now also an excuse. It may be easier said than done but if you are willing to work for it there are ways to improve your station in life. There are ways to rise above what you were.
I've been in poverty. I've lost my home before. I've been part of the middle class with more toys as a kid than I had any right to own. Coming from someone who lives on the financial rollarcoaster bouncing between poverty and the middle class, suck it up. It won't be easy it won't be fun. Apply for the jobs you are too good to take. Say no when someone offers you a bad choice. If you don't like where you are, find a way to change it or let it go. Nothing is permanent.
Cooling off, a lot of people also don't realize that you can't just submit the application and be done anymore.
You need to do follow up calls. Shine your resume and write a cover letter. If you don't have work experience, volunteer, it looks good on a resume. Don't think cause you take a min wage job you are stuck there. Take the job and keep applying elsewhere. You can gain some money and life experience while working on the next upgrade. Whoever told you life was easy was a liar, but that doesn't mean you have to give up. I at least, believe in you. In the good that resides in everyone.
Corset feeling like ranting,
Signing off.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Filler Art!
I am proud of her expression and her hair though. I think it turned out nice.
Corset signing off.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Don't Rest Your Head
Well guys, it has been a bit since I have done a RPG so today I will do a quick run down of one I just finished reading. Now if you want a twenty page break down of every little detail, I'll save you the effort, I write these game blurbs so people can say 'huh I'll look into that' or 'no thanks' not to nit pick.
So Don't Rest Your Head is a RPG based around insomnia and the first thing they brought to my attention was d6 dice pools. Every PC has three dice pools labeled Discipline, Madness, and Exhaustion. You always roll your discipline, madness is optional, exhaustion is GM discretion. The GM rolls dice from a pool labeled Pain. Doesn't that sound promising? Now the reason for dice pools is because there is consequences depending on which catagory 'dominates' when you roll. So say you roll your discipline and choose to roll madness as well. Oh no! All your high dice was in Madness. Well that's not a bad thing per say. It just means that things will go your way, but now one of those madness dice is permanent.
I bet your asking why is that a bad thing. Well on your character you get x amount of exhaustion and x amount of reactions. Depending on the dominating pool, depends on what box you check off. If you collect to much madness, you go insane and become a nightmare. If you collect to much exhaustion, well you collapse into a coma and are probably going to get eatin/left for dead, unless your party really loves you.
However that's not the only thing you have to worry about. The GM rolls dice too. If Pain dominates, first of all things don't go your way, your plan probably just got ruined, and the GM can force you to check off one of your boxes for either madness or exhaustion and if you haven't been careful this can destroy your character.
It's ok though. It's not all hopeless. There are also two bowls in the middle of the table. One labeled Despair, on labeled Hope. The characters can spend hope to reduce the amount of dice the GM roles and they can also spend Hope to unmark the boxes that will end up destroying the character. However the only way to really get Hope is by the GM doing aweful things to you. the players get Hope when the GM spends Despair to make your lives hell.
This game seems to be very much about consequence. Nothing happens without a consequence. Even winning a situation has effects on your character that may not necessarily be positive. If you want to sit down and read the rules, its less than a hundred pages and about half way though it will just start talking about the world they have roughed out for you. So really, you are looking at 20 pages of rules. It is classified as being technically horror. Some call it adventure. I call it a game. The world is sketched out with some major players and enough fluff to hopefully spark some creativity or plot. The character sheet is half questionnaire so if that doesn't float your boat, I'd steer clear.
If you really really want to hear about some of the fluff, it gives me Neverwhere vibes mixed with the Sci Fi Alice Mini Series.
Beware the Wax King!!
Have I raised some questions? I hope so.
Corset signing off.
So Don't Rest Your Head is a RPG based around insomnia and the first thing they brought to my attention was d6 dice pools. Every PC has three dice pools labeled Discipline, Madness, and Exhaustion. You always roll your discipline, madness is optional, exhaustion is GM discretion. The GM rolls dice from a pool labeled Pain. Doesn't that sound promising? Now the reason for dice pools is because there is consequences depending on which catagory 'dominates' when you roll. So say you roll your discipline and choose to roll madness as well. Oh no! All your high dice was in Madness. Well that's not a bad thing per say. It just means that things will go your way, but now one of those madness dice is permanent.
I bet your asking why is that a bad thing. Well on your character you get x amount of exhaustion and x amount of reactions. Depending on the dominating pool, depends on what box you check off. If you collect to much madness, you go insane and become a nightmare. If you collect to much exhaustion, well you collapse into a coma and are probably going to get eatin/left for dead, unless your party really loves you.
However that's not the only thing you have to worry about. The GM rolls dice too. If Pain dominates, first of all things don't go your way, your plan probably just got ruined, and the GM can force you to check off one of your boxes for either madness or exhaustion and if you haven't been careful this can destroy your character.
It's ok though. It's not all hopeless. There are also two bowls in the middle of the table. One labeled Despair, on labeled Hope. The characters can spend hope to reduce the amount of dice the GM roles and they can also spend Hope to unmark the boxes that will end up destroying the character. However the only way to really get Hope is by the GM doing aweful things to you. the players get Hope when the GM spends Despair to make your lives hell.
This game seems to be very much about consequence. Nothing happens without a consequence. Even winning a situation has effects on your character that may not necessarily be positive. If you want to sit down and read the rules, its less than a hundred pages and about half way though it will just start talking about the world they have roughed out for you. So really, you are looking at 20 pages of rules. It is classified as being technically horror. Some call it adventure. I call it a game. The world is sketched out with some major players and enough fluff to hopefully spark some creativity or plot. The character sheet is half questionnaire so if that doesn't float your boat, I'd steer clear.
If you really really want to hear about some of the fluff, it gives me Neverwhere vibes mixed with the Sci Fi Alice Mini Series.
Beware the Wax King!!
Have I raised some questions? I hope so.
Corset signing off.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Apple Cider Vinegar.
So tis the season of allergies whether it be the falling leaves or pets or dust mites, for a lot of people, the allergy season never truly ends. It just goes through cycles of not so bad to worse. Well as money is a big ticket on a lot of people's minds, I started looking into options that were not prescription or OTC medicine. With Allegra at over $40 for a 45 day supply and Claritin and Singulair not far behind, I began looking into other approaches. The thing that stood out to me was apple cider vinegar. Or specifically it has to be only raw, organic vinegar. I guess the 'dead' stuff means that all of its positive effects are null and void. Now what really surprised me about the acv is that where a lot of these online stunts of pushing natural remedies is also flooded with comments about how it didn't work. With this, the worst case scenario I have found is well, it didn't cure me but it makes it so when spring rolls around I can breathe instead of suffering until winter. So what do you do with the cider?
I have found two predominating amounts you should consume.
Either mix two table spoons with equal amounts of water, first thing in the morning before you eat, and up to three times a day. Or you mix a quarter cup with equal amounts water and drink that before you eat up to three times a day. The amounts are very close so I'd probably start with the smaller amount and work my way up if that doesn't work.
Now depending on how out of control your allergies are and how long you have suffered them uncontrolled this changes how long it takes it to come into effect. If you catch them right off the bat, you can get rid of the symptoms theoretcially in less than three hours. For long term control you are expected to take this every day for about three days before you start seeing drastic improvement.
Well readers, tomorrow is grocery day so I will be picking up some apple cider vinegar and we shall see if the test holds true. I'm going to give it a go until the bottle runs out then report what I have found for better or for worse.
How about you guys? How do you deal with allergies?
Corset pondering a remedy,
Signing off.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Foiled Again!
Yes. I foil pet attempts to torment poor stuffed animals. I love squid plushies and happened to be looking to own a new one. Any suggestions? As a brief heads up, Corset has been working on expressions so tomorrow I will probably be extreme faces day. Then maybe later in the week I will tell you guys about Don't Rest Your Head. Don't hold your breath much though. Next week is test week again. We'll see what it brings.
Reminding you to stop and ogle the sunset or swing like your five years old again,
Corset signing off.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
DIY Moogle Costume
So. Halloween is fast approaching as I'm sure guys have noticed, if for no other reason than I am harping on it. Now either you have to worry about the kids getting all gussied up as vampires and power rangers, or you have a Halloween party coming up and have the conundrum of what to wear. There is also the issue of rising prices of costumes, and just about everything else. This leaves less money to go around. So heres one way to skimp on Halloween. Find a Do It Yourself costume concept. For this demonstration I have made a DIY of a Moogle and hope the Final Fantasy corp won't come barging down my door for doing it.
Now this worked for me but a lot depending it could always use some tweaking. Here's the low down. You attached the extra large pom to your pipe cleaner via sewing or in my case gorilla glue. Then once that is dry or attached, you want to repeat to attach that to the animal ears headband. I found a pair of bear ears at the dollar store and most Halloween shops have them on the cheap. Ta da! A third of the way done. The hard part is actually the arm and leg warmers. You want to do some measuring before you hit the fabric shop. Get enough elastic to go around the legs without cutting off circulation. Ditto with the arms. Then simple sew it in. I'll let the professionals handle how to sew elastic into fabric, I had the girl who cut the fabric do it for me. The length of the arm and leg warmers is really up to you. This concept was designed with a short strapless dress in mind and I know October in my neck of the woods gets chilly so my leg warmers hit my thighs to my shoes. The wings I found were fairly easy to hand sew. I simply bent the wire into the shape wing I wanted then hand sewed a tube in my sheer fabric to slip the wire into. Then to hold them on I just sewed on some twine hoops, much like they do for children s wings. Now those who know what a moogle is, know it has a red nose. I don't like clown noses. I talk funny with them on so I used some costume make up. Also used a bit of costume make up to whiten my skin a bit and add whiskers. Then TA-DA! Moogle girl, corset was! The great things about moogles is the accessorizing. This is for a plain some what sexy moogle. But you can dress them up or down. Add paw gloves for effect if you want. The way I described, cost me about $10 to build the whole thing.
 |
| snagged the moogle off here http://www.myconfinedspace.com/2006/05/17/moogle/ |
Corset hoping to see some more moogles on the street,
signing off.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Penguins In Sweaters!
No this is not going to be about a child's movie. I'm actually referring to the New Zealand oil spill. The poor blue penguins were caught in the mess and unfortunately they are having some trouble staying warm. As if that isn't bad enough, they can't even prune their feathers because of contamination. If I was a penguin, I'd be pissed. Well looking for solutions, the idea of penguin sweaters came up and a call was sent out the knitters of the world. Apparently it worked surprisingly well too. It's an adorable end to an awful tragedy. Though as far as the ecosystem goes, the work is far from over. Things like this make me say Go Hyundai! With there hydrogen car that made it cross country. Maybe if they make good on promises we can finally get off this fossil fuel dependency we seem to have.
Corset wishing for a safer environment,
Signing off.
Corset wishing for a safer environment,
Signing off.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Quidditch
So. Quidditch is an international sport. I mean like colleges have competitive teams of it! This was news to me. A quidditch fan told me during the match today. Perhaps later this week I will break down the experience of quidditch.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Pumpkins!
Speaking of the art at carving Jack o Lanterns, Corset and her SO took some time to go a carving and Corset is obviously not the carving master. (It's a bat) However due to a lost lighter delima, there was to be no candle lighting either. So Corset popped some old glow sticks and got some funky glows going on. Hey you never know, one of these days, Corset might even learn how to change the time stamp on her camera with a broken lcd screen. Fingers crossed for Christmas. Corset wants a puppy, a camera, and a drawing tablet. Come on Santa.
Any who, while carving my lantern to show the neighbors there were people here encase of something silly like a zombie apocalypse, corset started talking about Halloween itself and the loss of kids trick or treating. Having noticed a larger amount of things like Trunk or Treat where children meet in a parking lot and get candy without the work involved, it led me to ask why and with the group I was with, the answer was soon clear. It was a ramification of the shift in society where both parents work and neither actually raise the child. They rely on school, extra curricular, and sitters to instill core values and this leaves some of the finer things in life undone. No parent has time to take a child door to door and it has become unsafe for a pack of children to roam the neighborhood alone, so where does that leave everyone? Gathering in a parking lot for half an hour to get free candy. Well sigh.
Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, it's just not the same. It's all instant gratification with no work involved and there's no staying up to romp the neighborhood to see all the houses all neat with Halloween gear. No Walking for hours to make up for the pounds of candy you will eat that night. No treats with friends as you explore your stash together.
Well Humbug! Corset says. If it ever comes up in Corset's case, Corset will be going door to door getting candy the old school way.
Corset hoping someone will dispute her opinions in a rational well thought manner,
signing off.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Jack o Lanterns!
So have you carved your vegetable yet?
The topic of Jack O Lanterns came up for corset today while standing in line at the grocery. I hadn't bothered with a basket and had a pumpkin in each arm, the largest I could find in the bins, and they were getting heavy. So the woman in front of me moved her things up a bit since there was a stall so I could set down the pumkins. Well we got to talking. Were they for eating or for carving? Well in a sense both but that isn't the point today.
I told her I wanted to carve them and my SO had told me he would help so I bought two and she commented off hand, she wondered why they were called Jack O Lanterns and why Halloween. Well if I'm not mistaken, pumpkin carving at halloween is fairly new as far as History goes, I believe it was around the 1860's. However people have been carving pumpkins and turnips to put lights in them since about the mid 1600's. It was originally turnips too. Fun right?
Now let's get back to Halloween. We will start with fact then move on to fun. Back in the day, in the British Isles the pumpkins were carved and lit to be placed on door steps to ward off evil spirts. The families would also traditionally leave a treat at the door to appease spirits so there would be no tricks that night. Two birds one stone. Trick or Treating and Pumpkins all in one go. Of course both are more complicated so lets not loose sight of the point. Besides it wasn't until the 1830's that these carved veggies became jack o lanterns anyway.
But lets have a bit of fun. There is a legend roaming around that goes something like this:
Corset loving the fall season.
The topic of Jack O Lanterns came up for corset today while standing in line at the grocery. I hadn't bothered with a basket and had a pumpkin in each arm, the largest I could find in the bins, and they were getting heavy. So the woman in front of me moved her things up a bit since there was a stall so I could set down the pumkins. Well we got to talking. Were they for eating or for carving? Well in a sense both but that isn't the point today.
I told her I wanted to carve them and my SO had told me he would help so I bought two and she commented off hand, she wondered why they were called Jack O Lanterns and why Halloween. Well if I'm not mistaken, pumpkin carving at halloween is fairly new as far as History goes, I believe it was around the 1860's. However people have been carving pumpkins and turnips to put lights in them since about the mid 1600's. It was originally turnips too. Fun right?
Now let's get back to Halloween. We will start with fact then move on to fun. Back in the day, in the British Isles the pumpkins were carved and lit to be placed on door steps to ward off evil spirts. The families would also traditionally leave a treat at the door to appease spirits so there would be no tricks that night. Two birds one stone. Trick or Treating and Pumpkins all in one go. Of course both are more complicated so lets not loose sight of the point. Besides it wasn't until the 1830's that these carved veggies became jack o lanterns anyway.
But lets have a bit of fun. There is a legend roaming around that goes something like this:
Once upon a time was a boy named Jack who had been stealing from the villagers. Well one day they came to get him to punish him for his crimes. Fleeing the town he ran into the devil in the road who told him it was his time to die. So the boy bargained with the devil. Turn into a coin so he could pay the villigers for his theft with it. Then the devil could disappear and have them guessing over who stole the coin. The devil saw many sins being committed in this way so he agreed and turned into a coin int he boys pocket. However the boy also had a cross in his pocket which removed the devils powers from him. Jack kept the devil until he swore he would never take his soul. Well the boy grew old over time and committed many wicked acts so when he died he was barred from heaven. However due to his deal he was barred from hell as well. Having no where to go, the boy carved out a turnip as they had been his favorite in life and crawled inside. The devil taking great pleasure in his loneliness threw him an ember from hell and the boy forever roamed the earth looking for a place to stay. He became known as the Jack of Lanterns.
Of course now days it's just not faces you see carved into your veggies. It can be celebrities and comics, to politicians and creatures of the night. A lot of places even sell stencils to help you bring your creation to life. So in spirit of a messy afternoon take up a gourd like veggie be it pumpkins or turnips and carve away! Let's see how things turn out? I know my pumpkins will be warding away evil tricks of the night. As will the bucket of candy.
Corset loving the fall season.
Signing off.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Filler Monday!
Well Corset had a handy bit o life coming in to distract her and so I didn't get as much written as I hoped over the weekend. On the upside I did finish my short story. Maybe some day I will tell you guys about it.
Hoping you had a nice weekend
Corset signing off.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
The Parking Delima
If you have ever driven anywhere, you have probably seen some people gunning it for a spot or doing drive by's for half an hour to get the spot two spaces closer to the door and it prompts me to ask, what the hell?
This is prompted by I was trying to get out of a parking lot today and the lot was full, there was another one with obvious spaces right across the street. Any ways, I backed out and someone had taken up residence on either side of me with their indicator on claiming the space as their own. So I back out feeling very much like I am caught between two bears and a honey jar. No sooner than I am out of the way, they both speed forward trying to get the spot first because they both thought they found it first. Well neither one backed down and their cars ended up bumping noses.
Feeling generous, I put my four ways on and got out of my car to make sure everyone was ok. The first thing either was had to say to me was, "Tell that person to get out of my spot." Well neither car was actually damaged and it happened in a parking lot so the police didn't care which left a matter of supreme importance undecided, Who got it first.
I didn't care. It was a spot. I had chosen it because I got there early enough in the morning where the lot looked abandoned. It's not heartbreaking to drive to the parking garage across the street. So I go to leave and then one of them calls after me, "Wait, you had to have seen who got there first." I shrugged, "Yea the blue car." I didn't know who drove which one but it became clear when the other vehicle owner declared me a liar and a whore.
I'd had enough. I left. Let them duke it out. But I just couldn't shake it, what makes people so damn crazy over a parking space especially when there are usually more nearby. In this case the parking deck across the street was actually closer to the destination. Both cost the same. Why here? It can't hurt your pride that much to walk ten more feet in either direction. If you are running late you will actually save time by choosing a spot farther away and just walking than circling like a vulture. This genuinely distresses me that people would be willing to put possible life in jeopardy over a set of lines on the pavement. Alas, today I come with no opinions or answers. Maybe someone can enlighten me?
Corset Befuddled
Signing off.
This is prompted by I was trying to get out of a parking lot today and the lot was full, there was another one with obvious spaces right across the street. Any ways, I backed out and someone had taken up residence on either side of me with their indicator on claiming the space as their own. So I back out feeling very much like I am caught between two bears and a honey jar. No sooner than I am out of the way, they both speed forward trying to get the spot first because they both thought they found it first. Well neither one backed down and their cars ended up bumping noses.
Feeling generous, I put my four ways on and got out of my car to make sure everyone was ok. The first thing either was had to say to me was, "Tell that person to get out of my spot." Well neither car was actually damaged and it happened in a parking lot so the police didn't care which left a matter of supreme importance undecided, Who got it first.
I didn't care. It was a spot. I had chosen it because I got there early enough in the morning where the lot looked abandoned. It's not heartbreaking to drive to the parking garage across the street. So I go to leave and then one of them calls after me, "Wait, you had to have seen who got there first." I shrugged, "Yea the blue car." I didn't know who drove which one but it became clear when the other vehicle owner declared me a liar and a whore.
I'd had enough. I left. Let them duke it out. But I just couldn't shake it, what makes people so damn crazy over a parking space especially when there are usually more nearby. In this case the parking deck across the street was actually closer to the destination. Both cost the same. Why here? It can't hurt your pride that much to walk ten more feet in either direction. If you are running late you will actually save time by choosing a spot farther away and just walking than circling like a vulture. This genuinely distresses me that people would be willing to put possible life in jeopardy over a set of lines on the pavement. Alas, today I come with no opinions or answers. Maybe someone can enlighten me?
Corset Befuddled
Signing off.
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