Welcome to Gaia! ::

@pirhan: i wait until i'm done cleaning/rearranging before i play with the things i find. Turns out video games fall behind my dresser and i forget that i had them so i had to replay fable 3, and then i found the game Prototype so i'm replaying that too lol.

As far as the knives go i open hundreds of boxes a day at work and i don't like box cutters because the blades are so thin that i've had them snap off and send tiny shards of metal flying before not to mention since they don't have a lock they can open or close unintentionally so i carry a pocket knife.

Also over the last decade or so my hometown has grown and there are a lot of punk kids/thugs that are into jumping people for street cred. I've been outnumbered before and when you're outnumbered the odds don't really go in your favor so i do what i can to even the field. I will not be made a victim for their petty crime/street cred and i will defend myself with whatever force necessary i've been attacked before just because i seemed like an easy victim because i'm only 5'5"ish. The sad thing is i don't live in a big city with gangs and ghetto's i live in a medium sized suburban city with a bunch of kids who have never been disciplined who think that they own the town and everyone will just let them have their way. Literally got into a fight once because i walked through a group of teenagers to get into the gas station to pay for my gas and they didn't like the fact that i walked through their group of like 8 people that was blocking the doors so when i walked back out one of them started swinging at me not expecting a fight because his "bro's" were there so i slammed him into one of his bro's to get them out of my way and opened my car door and grabbed the crowbar from under the seat and they all ran off. The clerk at the station did nothing but watch because he didn't want them to trash the store if he got involved.

Its really pathetic and sad that adults are cowering in fear of these little groups of teenagers that think their gangsters and walk around talking trash that they can't back up acting like their some tough guy because they've watched a few UFC fights. In reality if their not with their bro's they won't even make eye contact with the person that walks past them because they are too scared to even flinch.

That got longer than anticipated and i totally forgot to add what i've been up to. I'm interviewing for another job this week so hopefully that goes well because the pay and benefits and hours are phenomenal so yeah really hoping to get this job. Other than that i need to buy some insulated pipe wrap and some insulating material for the vents because it seems like our heating bill is unnecessarily high in the winter so maybe 30 bucks worth of insulation on the pipes and vents will help.

@ Teh_plague: That's crazy. Do you know if the mayor/council is doing anything about those punks?

@ Anghared Starwing: That's a really interesting site!

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What I did today - almost sleep in and missed my massage and facial. It's unlike me now to sleep past 9am. It was a hot stone massage and while it was lovely, I just couldn't "let go" so she couldn't do as much as she wanted. It's crazy how tight and inflexible I've become since May. It's pretty depressing actually. emo

It's late, but I feel awful for not being on here more lately, so here's a quick update on me ninja :

My mom has lung cancer. She lives in Texas and I live in Arizona, so I've been spending most of my free time on the phone with her. She's going through treatments now, but they're not sure she'll even make it to the end of the treatments. We've had a huge swarm of bad luck lately (my mom's cancer, then my uncle died, then his son died, and I adopted a puppy and it died, plus other things), plus Lily has been sick and I'm dying to have a good Halloween, so I've been major busy and barely getting my schoolwork done on time. Hence why I haven't been around here much lately.

On a positive note, a couple weeks ago Lily, her Nana, and I went to a folk music festival up in Prescott to benefit the museum there, which was completely awesome. And it rained on us whee And this weekend we went to the state fair, which was pretty nice. Oh, and I think tomorrow I'm going to bake up some of our pumpkins (which I've been using for decorations) and make a pumpkin pie. heart Oh, and we've opened one jar of my sweet pickles and one of my dill pickles, and they were very tasty.

Just wanted to let you guys know that I didn't fall off the planet!

Love,
Mystic

Mystic, I am so sorry! There's nothing I can say to make it any better. Just know that I'll be praying for you, and that this won't last forever. heart

God be with you.

@pirhan: Nothing that i know of, you can probably find some of the nonsense that happened this summer on youtube or whatnot. Under Wisconsin State fair mob/riot thats an example where the media was involved but it happens pretty often and nobody does anything about it.

@Mystic: sorry to hear about your string of difficulties heres hoping that things start to turn around for you and yours soon.

I got a new job, currently waiting for my drug test results to get back from the testing center so i can start working at the new job I already know i passed because i've never done drugs in my entire life so i know as soon as they finish the paper work i get to start, Its full time plus mandatory overtime and the pay is absolutely awesome so I wont be living paycheck to paycheck anymore and i'll be able to do more than just pay rent and buy groceries and then be broke all month!!! I'm thrilled about that. Plus i'll be doing something i already know how to do Heat treating lol. The same process that i use to harden steel for knives only on a much larger scale with much bigger heat sources and such. I basically look at a sheet of paper and it says how hard they want the piece to be and i put it with all of the other ones that are supposed to be heat treated that way and then i put them all into the furnace at the same time and pack the furnace with as much as possible while still making sure it'll have even heat distribution and whatnot. Its a full time 3rd shift job where i'll be working 7pm to 7am so yeehaw.

Thanks guys for the good wishes, I'm just hanging in here waiting for things to work out. I did apply to be a substitute teacher at our school here, I'm just waiting for my fingerprint card to come back and then I can get workin'. I'm really excited about that, it's been over two years since I worked, and it means I'll have money for Christmas! I've put my search for a regular job on hold for now, so we can go spend a couple of weeks with my mom at Christmas once this semester is over. I'm a little bummed about that because if I don't have a steady job I won't be able to move out and leave my boyfriend before Christmas, so the holidays are going to be a little strained, but at least I'll get to see my mom. I'll get back into Gaia as soon as things aren't so hectic at school and home, lol my classes have both thrown big projects at me this month stressed

i got my first little return today from the winter garden: a few skinny asparagus spears, some kale and some buttercrunch lettuce. i made a salad with them and my parner discovered he does like kale after all, just not from the grocery store. will post pictures of my tiny haul later in my garden thread.

got the front bed entirely set up, with a pea trellis and everything

been playing skyrim. not impressed with it.

my birthday is on friday, so we're having a big party at my sister's house

the noisy neighbors finally got evicted, we talked to the landlord, he's trying to sell, so im desperately trying to connect him with my sister because they need a house and a close babysitter and i need neighbors who wont shake my house with loud music.

Today I went with my mom and sisters along with my little niece to Masterworks. It's an art museum here I work at during school holidays for the art camps they put on. They were holding an event where all sorts of local vendors were selling their goods. Everything from authors to jewelers to glassblowers, card makers and more. I ended up buying this super adorable knitted hat for my niece from one of the vendors who I happen to know through a group that we both belong to of progressive / collaborative artists in Bermuda. She makes amazing textile stuff with rope and thread, like colorful coiled baskets and accessories. She even does tapestries and screen prints although she wasn't selling much of that today. It feels good to support fellow local artists; especially when the work is as original as hers is. Anywaaay. Then later I went to the movies. It was a good day.

Here's a picture of the hat: