Pomegranate Seeds of Hell

It's been a long while since I've posted here (or anywhere), but Ive finally settled into my new job. 

Speaking my new job.... there's the perk of tasty eye candy.  This one guy, whose name I've yet to learn, has the most ogle-able ass I've come across in quite some time.  Seriously.  Every time I find myself walking behind him, my eyes are pulled by some magnetic force to stare at it.  Luscious.  I only took notice of my eyes wandering tendencies a couple of days ago,but, thinking back, it's been going on for a couple of weeks.  And, did I mention luscious?

Right.  So my brother finally has a job; he starts Wednesday, so financial doom is no longer on the horizon.  It's quite a relief, actually.

I've also found myself pulled (temporarily) away from gaming.  It seems I've randomly developed a small obsession with Harry Potter fanfiction.  Especially the stories that have Dark!Harry and Dumbledore definitely not painted the as the paragon of all thing good and pure.  The sad thing is, it's improbably difficult to find anything well written (in terms of plot).  Given the astounding volume of Harry Potter fanfiction, one would think I'd find more than 1 in 100 quality stories.  Of course, I'm not a huge fan of the whole black and white theme that pops up in the original works, nor am I overly fond of the blatant prejudices JKR displayed both for and against her versions of light and dark.  It's why I was never so much into the series in the first place - overly stereotypical for tastes.  But, apparently most of the fan base that shares my POV on the matter can't seem to find an original spin on things beyond 3 or 4 plot ideas that emerged before HBP was released.  I can honestly say that 99% of what I've trudged through is fairly verbatim in terms if plot-line.  And I'm excluding the Severitus challenge answers from this statement because that actually has fairly rigid guidelines to follow.  But, oh when I dig up a gem to read, it makes the seemingly fruitless search that much more bearable.  Additionally, the fandom, by nature, lends itself to epic-length fiction.

And now, I'm thinking it's time for bed.

I swear, the season opener of Supernatural had more fanfiction cliches thrown in than fanfiction, itself, does.  The best was Becky, the Mary Sue: Sam's superfan, sitting at her computer and writing Wincest while saing the words aloud.  Nice homage, Kripke, with that lovely shout out.

And the one-liners.  Holy shit  The whole angel condom line had me cracking a rib (not really - but I was literally rotflmao - mostly because I was laying in the floor to watch).  

Oh, and Castiel, the beautiful bastard, was only dead for all of 40 minutes of air time.  The online spoilers and trailers were misleading, there.  Good times - I so need to find me a Misha Collins icon.

I still think the guy from Lost doesn't fit well with the image of Lucifer, but I guess I'll have to wait and see how well he acts since this week we only got to see see him pre-possession.  

I forgot just how awesomely goose-bump inducing the Supernatural season 4 finale was. But, as next Thursday brings the season 5 opener, I decided to refresh my memory of every detail from 'Lucifer Rising' since I knew they would show it tonight.

As soon as the first note of 'Carry On Wayward Son' invaded my ears, my entire body got one of those shivery chills - seriously, from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. Next Thursday can't come soon enough; I love this show (and it's all thanks to wisteria_blu - love ya for that XD).  Though I do kind of have doubts about the casting of Lucifer.  He's just not beautiful in the way I would imagine The Morning Star to be.  But, still, if the rumors of this being the final season are true, then my guess is he'll probably do superbly in the role, because I cannot imagine the series going out any other way than spectacularly in its totality... as in the entire season is going to be so disturbed and fucked and beautiful and frightening in that perfect way.

I can't wait! *SQUEE* (That's right, I'm going full fangirl, now.)

Okay,
I know Ted Kennedy was an important figure in this country, but is it really necessary to preempt programming on 6 television stations (3 cable, 3 non-cable)?  Pick 1 non-cable channel, and pretty much anyone with television access is covered. 

Seriously, I have plans to watch the Little League World Series this afternoon.  It took me for-freakin'-ever to figure out which channel it was moved to (and suffering through several minutes of watching the damned funeral mass until they finally posted the channel it was moved to).  So I'm satisfied(ish), but what about the people who were looking forward to watching ESPN2's original programming for the day. 

Anyway, why is it sch a big deal to televise someone's funeral.  I don't remember any television crews at either of y grandfather' funerals, nor was there one at my great-aunt's.  I don't recall seeing my ex's father's funeral on TV, either, for that matter.  Not that I either wanted or expected such a thing.

And this is just my opinion, but it seems more like grandstanding than mourning/celebrating someone's life.  He certainly wasn't one of my loved ones, but if he was, I definitely wouldn't be in favor of having the entire nation given access to my family's pain.  Not to mention that I can almost guarantee it seriously diminishes the grieving process - makes it become a competition of sorts: who's the most upset, or who's doing the best job of holding it all in for the cameras?

And the important thing today?  It's the bottom of the first in the Chi Taipei v. Mexico game.  I'm thinking I'll go for Chi Taipei.

So, the auto-interview ended with an on-the-spot job offer (with pending drug test - to be taken Monday - that will come up clean so no worries).  I also got my unemployment benefit determination - maximum amount for 24 months which will make up for some of the difference between new and old job.

So, good news.

it would be even better news if my brother found employment, but wishes and piss in the hand and all that.

So I have an interview tomorrow... I'm not sure if that means anything or not.  At the end of a online application, the company had me schedule an interview, which I did.

What I don't know if is that happens for every online application or if my answers to the assessment questions passed some required level to allow me into the interview phase.

I also have to call my former place of employment to find out where my vacation payout is; I was told I would have it no later than Thursday, but I don't.  I'm giving them until Monday for the money to show up.  If it hasn't, that still means I'll be calling soon enough to get it by next Thursday - and just in time to pay my rent.

Still no news on unemployment benefits, either.  I'm going to have to figure something out really soon because I have all of $100 to my name, right now, and that's barely enough for the electric bill. 

I really hope I can get a job really soon.

So yeah, if anyone has a few thousand dollars to spare, the 'I need to pay bills' fund is looking for replenishment.  :)

I'm scouring job sites and chain/franchised store sites.  Over at Career Builder, I see that Belk is hiring.  I'm not huge on department stores, but I need a job, so I look.

They want a Cosmetics' Counter manager.  I check out the description and find that I'm actually pretty close to qualified.  Only... I can't remember the last time I put on makeup.  I think it might have been my cousin's wedding in 2006, but I'm pretty sure it was actually a classmate's wedding back in 2003/2004 (I don't remember if it was during the first or second semester).  I'm pretty sure that, while not in the job description, is actually probably quite the necessity for one who would work at a cosmetics counter.  

Too funny.  Suffice it to say, I won't be sending off an application to them (unless I become desperate, in which case, does anyone have any makeup recommendations for me?).

"I'll hurry up and go as fast as I can".

I hate that sentence and its numerous variations.  I'm adding it my list of 'Words, phrases and sentences that get on my nerves'.  "Intensive purposes" still maintains its spot as the one I hate the most.

5 days until G.I. Joe (you know, counting today and Friday and the fact that I won't get to see it until Saturday).

I'm oozing with excitement for that Snake Eyes ninja-fight they keep showing in even the television trailers.

Or, by it's more common name, methyl ethyl ketone (AKA: MEK or 2-butanone).  It has such a nasty smell - like ass and acid mixed totgether.  A little got on the tips of my thumb and forefinger; I washed my hands 3 times, and I can still smell it.  

Back in undergrad, MEK was used in a pratical joke against the 2nd floor RA of my dorm.  He was a jerk, but I don't know if it was more amusing or pitying.  One of the guys had grabbed a phial of MEK from chem lab, crawled through the ceiling (he lived next door to the RA) while the RA was gone and poured the contents of the phial to the area rug that the RA kept by the door.  It took him about a month to figure out where the smell originated (and, honestly, I think someone finally told him because the smell had also permeated the hallway on that side of the floor), at which point he threw out the rug as a lost cause.  College was good times.

I just saw a fic for a Supernatural/Jonas brothers crossover.  

It wasn't the incest label - both fandoms, so why there isn't an underage warning, too, I don't know - that got me (dude, Dean/Sam is second only to Dean/Castiel in my SPN favorite list).  No, it was the fact that it's a crossover with Supernatural and the Jonas brothers.  I could maybe see something like that in parody, but event that would be a stretch for me.

I feel like there needs to be some brain bleach handy - or something.

Thirty minutes until a company-wide, week long vacation starts. 

I'm so freakin' impatient for this break that I keep checking the time.

I swear time is moving backwards. 

Actually, the morning went by quickly enough.  It was after lunch that the torturous waiting began.

I'm so leaving 10 minutes early.  And getting some greasy, nasty Taco Bell to celebrate. 

At least we get tomorrow off, too; otherwise, they might have found an impression of my head on the wall in my office come the 13th.

Breath of Fire.  Right.

The character's dream also charges for a stay at an imaginary inn so I can heal up my party.  Plus, since it's a character that is in my party, I think that any money he takes from me in the dream world should automatically be returned to me - given that I might need it to buy him some equipment later on (if I use him for anything other than digging up shit).

I'm mostly enjoying (re)playing the game.  I don't think I finished it the first time (way back when) because I wasn't privy to the existence of walkthroughs.  And you so need a walkthrough for that game unless you want to spend a week just trying to find an obscure crack under an obscure jar in a secret passage that can only be found by falling down a hole under a box.  And maybe if I didn't have a job, I would actually spend the time doing it without the walkthrough.  I feel sorry for the people who went to all the trouble to figure every single thing out for this game.  They couldn't possibly have had a life outside of the game for at least 3 months, if not longer.

Also, Breath of Fire promotes group sex.  No.  It really does.  If you have the patience to play it through to at least just after TmKey is stolen, there's this scene where 4 members of your party wake up from being knocked out in the same bed - it was 2 of each gender, so I hope the boys had protection during that little orgy.

I was reading this fanfiction and saw the following description for a shirt (a specific type of men's shirt, at that):  white, ribbed tank top.

Is it just a southern US thing, or aren't those typically referred to as wife-beaters...  Because I'm fairly certain that the term came about from numerous instances of the stereotypical, wife-beating, lower class men wearing those in movies while beating their wives.  No.  Really.  I'm pretty sure this has been the depiction for quite a long time (longer than I've been alive).  It's to the point that when one say wife-beater, their mind will automatically flash to an undershirt as described above with any thought for offense.

So I find it freakin' hilarious that someone describes it as above, and from that point on, any time I see the words in text, my brain auto-translates to wife-beater (so much so that I have to concentrate to see the words as their actually written).

Why is everything in the land of pop culture revolving around Michael Jackson?  Yeah, he did some absolutely wonderful things for the music industry, but he was one hell of a screwed up person.  Even if one doesn't believe any of the child molestation charges/accusations/etc, the man was practically the poster boy for self hatred. 

Why am I not seeing any tributes (or some other honor-type thing) for Farah Fawcett or Ed McMahon (or David Caradine who died a couple of weeks ago).  They had jut as much influence in pop culture in their respective areas as Michael Jackson did in his, yet I haven't heard anything about them other than 'this week in famous people who died' stories.  Less than 24 hours later, at least three different Michael Jackson tributes were running simultaneously (MTV, VH1, BET - and yeah, all music channels, but where were their counterparts' tributes for the other two?  And BET? Really?  The man did everything he could to rid himself of any physical traces of his heritage.  Come on...).

It reminds of back when Mother Teresa and Princess Diana died.  Two great women in their own rights, but one overshadowing the other for many, in my opinion, invalid reasons

I don't even really know what the issue is.  I actually don't care that much about any of it; I didn't know or meet any of them, and I honestly can't say that their lives or deaths have gad any impact on my life (other than the apparent bout of soapbox brought on by cultural imbalance).  I think it just gets on my nerves that the entire world seems to put one on some sort of golden pedestal while not paying even a respectable homage to other people just as important to society.

So... The game Shining Force, in a round-about way, promotes cannibalism. 

In the mage town (I forget the name... something with an 'M'), there's this witch/wizard who has a machine that turns people into animals.

If you talk to him/her, you are given the option to be turned into an animal.  I was curious, and there was this area of the complex that only permitted cute animals that I wanted to explore, so I chose to become an animal (it was a chicken... not so cute but it got me into the other part of the complex - worthless though it was).

Anyway, with the success of my character's transformation, the witch/wizard gets all sorts of excited that it worked and waxes idiotic that now all the world hunger problems can be solved by turning people into livestock. 

Yeah, that's right, Shining Force; you get the 'Soylent Green Is People' award this year (or, rather, I assume, 1993 as that was its release year).

It's been quite a long time since I've seen storms as heavy as the ones we've been experiencing for the last month.

In fact, I'd say it was a tornado, in a completely different state, about 7 years ago.

Seriously.  Every single storm we've had this month have been severe thunderstorms that provide my nerves with: cloud -to-ground lightning, hail, electrical outages and a boss who originally thought it was my fault that an instrument fritzed due to said electrical outages.  Oh, yeah, and having to pull over to a stop in the emergency lane on the interstate during one of these storms because visibility was from my eyes to the windshield, and the hail threatened to break said windshield.

Driving crap and work related idiocy aside, I'm really quite enjoying these storms.  I used to hate them.  But after I stupidly went outside to watch the sky during the aforementioned tornado, I kind of have a love for this kind of crazy weather.  If getting struck by lightning or hail wasn't an issue, I'd so be outside letting myself get drenched to the bone.

I started replaying Shining Force II for something like the 10th time.  Every time I replay that game, I name the main character after one of my current obsession.  This time, I used Hiruma.  E21 scores!  Then, if  I remember to grab the turtle, I name it after one of my cats (past or present).  Only, this time, instead of picking my current cat's name (he was it last time, anyway), I decided to go with the most awesome manga/anime cat ever created: Karupin.  I can't remember if I get to name anything/anyone else in the game, but you know it's going to end up with the trifecta of my recent anime/manga obsession by using Hikago.  

And, now, for something completely unrelated as well as for a good laugh (or, at least, I though it was funny):

The road to hell is paved with samurai sword wielding potheads

Enjoy.

I just found out that Psych is getting a new opening theme song in the upcoming season. That s so wrong. You don't mess with perfection, and it's, apparently, previous opening was so suited to the show. You know. Unless the new theme is going to be even better... though, it would be disappointed if the new theme song is meant as a setup to change the overall tone of the show (which I suspect may be the case, given last year's season finale).

But the opening they've had for the first 3 seasons is truly awesomecakes. It's a matter of 'f it ain't broke, don't fix it'. And I seem to recall when the theme song for Monk was changed, there was such a fan outcry that it was changed back and the writers actually poked fun of it in one of the episodes.

Either way, Psych is good stuff, and I'm quite anticipating the start of the new season.

I'm so tired this week.  My ankles hurt.  The thing that I wrote about last night?  Today, proof was given (and, apparently acknowledged if attitude is anything to go by) that I was, in no way, at fault.  I'm still going to be stressing over that for awhile, anyway - and keeping an eye out for other stuff, just in case.

Softball has been good this week.  I had the sweetest hit last night.  It was so awesome that I forgot to run and only pulled a double instead of the triple it should have been.  It also turns out that I hit it off the end of the bat (it actually felt really good, like I hit with the heart of the bat - an unusual occurrence because I'm so ahead of the ball - so I was surprised that it was the end).  It was such a long hit that it went over the LC fielder's head (and he was playing back on me - I've known him since I was 9ish, so he knows better than to play in on me just because of my gender).  The point is, that I hit it off the end of the bat and it sailed almost to the fence.  This means that I'm actually capable of hitting it over should I ever actually get my swing's timing down (this is quite unlikely because I was known for being ahead of 60mph pitches).  But it's gratifying to know that I actually am still strong enough to hit a home run (we discount in the park home runs because I'm not fast enough to get more than a triple no matter how well I hit).

I have a feeling I'm going to be sleeping all weekend to recharge.  Except I have to take some work home with me.  Of course, I only have enough space on my memory stick to be able to do about an hour or two of work, so that's not a big deal.