Hurt my knee playing tag at work today. One of the kids tagged me, I overbalanced and landed on top of him. He was just fine, but I landed pretty hard on my knee and it was several lovely shades of red and purple for a while afterwards. I actually wouldn't be surprised if I woke up tomorrow with a bruise there, but it's slightly swollen now.

Spending Fourth of July weekend with mercury973 up in Seattle. Haven't packed yet, but that's not surprising. I'm excited, even if it means I'm missing my mom's birthday, which is on the fourth.

And now, an updated book list.

( Book list as of June 30th )

I plan on bringing several non comic books with me to read during my trip and I have a few books that I'm in the middle of, so hopefully I can catch up quickly.

So aside from Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson died today. I was never a fan, but the world of music wouldn't have been the same without his contribution.

In related news, ohnotheydidnt has been suspended, probably because they broke LJ. Again.

In other news, the fire alarm went off at work today. Since the only people in the building were those at the summer camp, a couple of janitors, and the prinicpal, it was unexpected to say the least. Turns out the alarm went off because somebody (probably one of the janitors since all the kids were accounted for) left the hot water running somewhere and the steam set the alarm off. We got all the kids out and onto the field behind the school and played games until we got the okay to go back inside. Thankfully, the rest of the day was uneventful.

First off, happy birthday to arlessiar! Hope it was a good one.

There is a stack of books in my room. It's a pretty sizable stack and as an effort to sort of jump start my reading, I'm going to try and go through all of them this summer. There's exactly 19 books, all of various shapes and sizes, and any books I buy, borrow from the library, or acquire through other means, will be added onto the reading list. By books of course, I mean something I can buy from any average, run of the mill bookstore. Things like monthy issues of comic books will not be counted, but trade paperbacks of comic books that I can buy from a bookstore or borrow from the library do count.

And now, the current list. I'm writing this all down here as something more for me to keep track of, rather than for people to read and comment on.
( Books! )

Actually did go driving with Dad today. Did mostly parking practice, but he made me drive down to the empty parking lot and back without too much yelling. I've gotten to be a much better and more confident driver since the last time I was driving with him, which I think helped.

I finally restart work tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to it. Three weeks of sitting around doing pretty much nothing gets old fast. Plus, I miss the morning bike rides and earning money. And I'm actually going to be earning more money in the summer because I work five days a week instead of four.

I woke up this morning, turned off my alarms, and because I was out with Meryl and Kim and got home later than I expected, thought "oh, it's only 7:30, somebody will come in after 8 to make sure that I'm ready for driving lessons" and went back to sleep.

Unfortunately, everybody forgot I actually had driving lessons this morning, so instead of waking up somewhere between 8 and 8:30, I woke up at 10:30.

To make matters worse, if I was ever late for a driving lesson they'd stop. Now, I did call later and apologize, but that won't solve anything.

At this point, I'm not sure what to do. I can do driving lessons with Dad, but I'm not sure if I want to because he's constantly yelling while I'm trying to concentrate on the road, and I can't drive with my sister because she's a distraction, and not old enough to be in the car with me.

Every once in a while, I forget exactly why I shouldn't drink milk, do something stupid (like drinking a large glass of iced chai), and then I'm reminded exactly why I shouldn't do things like that.

Note to self: next time I do something like that, I should try and get it mixed with the evil soy milk (or any other evil milk substitute). It might not taste as good, but at least it'll taste better than just soy milk (ick) and I won't feel miserable later.

You ever have one of those nights where you don't feel quite like going to bed yet, but there's nothing to do?

In other news, today was the day for work-related meetings. It wasn't too bad, the site meeting was much more interesting than the federal free lunch training. (If you can call sitting in a room for an hour and a half watching a powerpoint presentation training. I don't, personally.)

I'm working in the mornings again this year, with the possibility of afternoon hours working as an aide for one of the kids. (Or two kids, if the rumor that Houdini's coming back this summer comes true.) The afternoon thing might be shared between me and a coworker, or one of us will get it for the whole summer. My boss has to call the inclusion office and ask.

But we've got about 20 kids signed up for the summer already, which is good, and most of them are kids we've worked with before, which is even better. And we'll have some minions older kids that are going to be volunteering at the site helping out.

Bought Sims 3 today, but then found out that I need to update my computer. (I thought I had the right OS when I bought the game, but it turns out I was wrong.) My dad has the OS I need (Leopard) but I can't find it. His office is like a black hole sometimes, things just disappear. It's entirely possible it's at his shop, which is just as clean as his office, only bigger, but I'd have to go and look and it's kind of far. I guess I have to keep looking because I know it's there, and I'm not paying Apple for something I already have.

And on top of all that, my eyes are itching. Stupid allergies. I'm on two different medications, and it still doesn't take care of my problems.

Bank problems were resolved. Not the way I wanted them to be, but at least they're resolved. (I'm not getting into it because it's confusing and will probably just upset me again.) Plus, I got my paycheck today! For some strange reason, my boss decided to send it in the mail instead of doing the usual direct deposit, but hey, it's money.

I have work related meetings on Friday. One's for the federal free lunch program, which means that I'll have to go out to the Portland Public Schools headquarters (which is quite a ways away) for the stupid meeting. Then back over to where I actually work for the summer program meeting. Then back to more free time until the 22nd.

I realized today that I'm going onto my third year working for Parks and Rec. It's been fun. (Not to mention educational.) Hopefully I'm still employed for many more years to come.

Sister and I had a discussion on New!Trek fans, or whatever they're calling themselves. Now, I know some of the people on my flist are New!Trek fans, and really, no offense is meant by this at all, I swear. But she and I both agreed that it's annoying because Star Trek used to be something mocked and generally regarded as something only for geeks and losers. But now those people who mocked Trek fans have since jumped on the Star Trek bandwagon after seeing the new movie and now it's the new "in" thing to be a fan of. (I don't know why this is bothering me as much as it is. I've never been a huge Trek fan, but it's been something I've been exposed to from a young age, mostly because my brother's a big Trek fan, and it's kind of become some sort of family thing, because my brother got into it through our parents, especially Dad, and it's kind of been spread around.)

Also, I don't think Chris Pine or Zachary Quinto are attractive. At all.

In other news, I might be doing things with Kim tomorrow evening. And Meryl's going to be in town this weekend for the first time in ages.

Because I'm an idiot sometimes, my phone was in my pocket while I was driving around today, and fell out without my noticing. Unfortunately, it got run over by a truck. Fortunately, it still works. Yes, it's damaged, but for the most part, the phone still works. (For now at least.)

More bad news, is I don't have the money for a new one. Though my dad is offering to sell me his old one whenever the new version comes out. (Which they'll be announcing this week. Whee.)

EDIT: To make matters worse, I just found out I was charged a few hundred dollar's worth of overdraft fees and I wasn't even overdrawn in the first place, and now I am overdrawn. So it's off to the bank first thing tomorrow.

It's no secret that I am terrified of spiders. I hate the nasty things with every fiber of my being. Unfortunately, they seem to enjoy popping up all the time, usually when I'm busy doing something. (They enjoy appearing in the bathroom for some sick, strange reason known only to them.)

Yesterday morning, one showed up in my room. My mad scramble to get dressed, get my stuff, and get out of my room was legendary. I still have no idea where it went. I was so scared it would turn up again, I actually slept in my old bed in my sister's room last night. Wherever it is, it's probably hiding somewhere plotting to return again when I least expect it.

In other news, half of the comic book store's weekly shipment accidentally got sent to Nevada yesterday, so I had to go back today to pick the rest of what I wanted up. The bus ride over there was fairly uneventful, but the bus on the way back kept having problems. Eventually the bus driver finally announced that the bus was dead and we could either wait for the next one or walk our destination. I walked, made it just in time for a different bus to take a different bus to where I could transfer, and made it home a little later than usual. I think at one point I will ride my bike there, but I'd have to make a day of it because of the distance.

We had some pretty awesome thunderstorms about half an hour ago- apparently most of NW Oregon is under a severe thunderstorm warning.

Return of the King is on tv right now. I'm convinced that Elrond's whole "Arwen is connected to the ring" speech is really just something he made up just to get Aragorn off his ass and actually doing something about that whole King of Gondor thing.

I have done absolutely nothing all day. It was pretty nice except I spent half of the day thinking it was Sunday instead of Monday.

But my knee hurts and I have a blister on my foot from the ankle brace. Time for some chocolate Oreos and strawberry ice cream.

I got my permit. :D

I called my grandpa but he was out and he called me back later and sounded very happy about it. We're going to start practicing tomorrow morning.

Work today was crazy. I'm glad it's over. (On that note, my hands smell like bleach and vanilla. I was wiping tables and making ice cream with the kids, so it's not totally random, but the combination is odd to say the least.)

Found out last night somebody's been using my toothbrush. (How do I know? Because it was wet. I hadn't used it since yesterday morning. It shouldn't be wet.) So I tossed it and bought a new one today because ew.

I twittered about this the other day, but I'm on two different allergy meds and I'm still having reactions to stuff. I hate this time of year.

I FOUND MY PASSPORT!!!

This means that tomorrow morning, I can go down to the DMV and get my driving permit. :D

Of all places, it was in the living room, on the bookshelf, hiding behind my swimming trophies. I just glanced up there randomly, not expecting to see it, and there it was. This of course, means that it was on the table and somebody moved it, probably when they were changing the tablecloth.

My big question now is, who thought it was a good idea to stick my passport up there?

In other news, I rode my bike to work today. I was glad to be back on it, but I was way out of practice.

Also, tomorrow is the last day of work until June 22nd. Three week vacations for the win.

I passed my driving knowledge test! However, I did not get my permit yet, because I have to show them some sort of proof that I'm a legal resident. (Passport, birth certificate, something along those lines.) So I figured, hey, I need to find my passport anyway, it's either in my room, or the living room.

After a frantic search around the living room, I found my checkbook, a whole bunch of British coins, and various books (all mine) but not my passport.

Went up to my room after dinner. Now, it needed to be cleaned anyway because there was a whole bunch of stuff from my old room that needed sorting. And I needed to do my laundry. Well, while searching, I found all sorts of things, including (but not limited to):

-$7.16
-Various shoes
-Assorted clothing, including 3 different coats, running shorts, and several pairs of dress pants
-An unopened dvd of Disney's Sword In The Stone
-Lots of books, including the first Animorph book I ever bought (which is not the first one, by the way)
-Whiteboard
-Giant multicolored fish (it's a model, either for a costume or a prop, I forgot which)
-Glasses case
-Assorted jewelry and hair things
-Frying pan (no, seriously. I have no idea how it got there either.)
-Various empty shoe boxes
-Spare Atlantis patch
-Old toys
-Dust
-Umbrella
-Christmas garland (it used to hang over my windows but it fell down)
-A bunch of notebooks (there's notebooks of mine scattered all over the house, all with something written in them. It's a habit.)

But no passport. I'll look again tomorrow since the only thing I'm going to be doing before going to sleep (aside from this) is clearing all the crap I found off my bed.

Also, I changed my moodtheme because I wanted a little variation. Not sure how long I'll keep it, because as nice as this moodtheme is, I'm not too thrilled with some of the art used. (Generally, I like the more recent looks for characters over their older looks. Sometimes the looks are down right fugly, other times I'm just being picky.)

This was floating around on my flist. It was honestly harder than I thought. Fortunately, it gives me an excuse to use my shippy icons, which I rarely use.

o1. Name your 15 absolutely favorite fandom ships (try to pick different fandoms)
02. Ask people to see what trends and similarities they notice about your ships.

1. John/Rodney (Stargate Atlantis)
2. Merlin/Arthur (Merlin)
3. Lorne/Parrish (Stargate Atlantis)
4. Dean/Castiel (Supernatural)
5. Booster Gold (Michael John Carter)/Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) (DC Comics)
6. Rodney/Teyla (Stargate Atlantis)
7. Robin (Tim Drake)/Spoiler (Stephanie Brown) (DC Comics)
8. Eowyn/Faramir (LotR)
9. Crowley/Aziraphale (Good Omens)
10. Carrot/Angua (Discworld)
11. Mick/Beth (Moonlight)
12. Jack/Ianto (Torchwood)
13. Guy Gardner/ Ice (Tora Olafsdotter) (DC Comics)
14. Middleman/Lacey (The Middleman)
15. Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon (DC Comics)

Okay, I cheated and put several pairings from the same fandoms. So sue me. (Though I honestly have no idea why Atlantis or the DCU are so shipable. I had other pairings I considered, but cut them because I didn't want to saturate the list more than it already was. Also, Dick and Babs have too many aliases, and one of them is spoilery, so I didn't use them.)

Going to try to take the knowledge test at the DMV tomorrow. If I pass, I get a learner's permit, saying that I am cleared to (legally) learn to drive. If I don't pass, then I can try again the next day. I also have a doctor's appointment in the morning, so hopefully I can cram all that in before I go to work.

Didn't manage to go to take the test on Friday because I left my ID at home. Was supposed to take it today (even went across town to take it) but they were closed due to Memorial Day weekend. But Dad did let me drive around a parking lot he found. This whole driving thing is easier than I thought. I thought I did pretty well aside from accidentally slamming on the brake the first time I stopped.

I'm going to try to take the test some time next week though. I'll be in the area for two days next week anyway. (Doctor's appointment on Tuesday, and my weekly trip to the comic book store on Wednesday.)

I'm finally going to learn to drive.

I mean it. I'm studying the manual and I'm going to take the test tomorrow. If I succeed, then in my family's great tradition, my grandpa is going to teach me how to drive. Because nothing says education quite like an eighty year old man screaming at you in a parking lot.

I must be insane.

Why does my family always try to tell me what I should or should not be doing? I know they mean well, but it just comes across as meddling and patronizing most of the time and it drives me nuts.

I need to get a better job. You know what? I've been over this already. I love my job, and frankly, there's so many people without work right now, that I'm lucky enough as it is to have the job I have and have it be one I enjoy.

I need to learn to drive. Okay, maybe I do, it's a useful skill, but I don't want to right now. I'm happy riding my bike or taking the bus or just walking. I love walking. I will learn at some point but right now, I'm fine without.

I need to move out. No, actually, I don't. Housing is expensive, and I can do more good at home than I can living on my own.

I need to read more classics. This is actually a variation on an old argument stemming way back to grade school that falls into three categories: "read more ____", "read less ______" or my personal favorite, "read books that are appropriate for your age". For the last time, I'll read what I want to read. I read because I enjoy it, not because I have to. And for the record, I find a lot of classics boring. Sorry, but it's true.

I need to write more. This last one is oddly flattering, but as glamorous as it sounds, being a writer is not a good living. And unfortunately, I rarely finish whatever it is I start writing. Which is why nothing's posted. Too many ideas and none of them fit together. I've got pages and pages of stuff that's either hand written or typed that has no real beginning or end. I have a hard enough time just getting the ideas on the paper in the first place. It's crazy, but it's how I roll.

In other, less ranty news-

I just found out that I get a pension. (Unfortunately, due to the economy I lost $50. Fortunately, I still have $145 left.) I work part time so I don't even get any sort of benefits, but apparently I'm a member of the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System. Yay?

Sister's off to Hawaii in a few hours. Odds are she'll be long gone by the time I wake up, so bye Christine, hope you have a nice flight.

The birthday party celebrating me, my aunt, and now including my aunt's boyfriend (who hasn't even been around for that long!) is later today. I'm only sort of looking forward to it, for obvious rant related reasons.