quote:

Originally posted by Sentinel Earth 1:
ASK for what you want. Don't make someone else guess what's in your mind because it's impossible.

Ah, but when that happens... *sigh*

I am personally fixated on the concept of "matched energy" in relationships. Anything less, does not work, imho.

And the dune shots are seductive and lovely.

Today a coworker, who I'd felt kind of annoyed by before for no real reason, mentioned that he liked the Aliens vs. Predator movie and hoped for a sequel. So now I have a reason to hate him, yay.

quote:

i don't think many of us can overcome our conditioning and be a caring and involved partner yet still play the field. there'll always be exceptions, but i haven't come across many.

Do or Do Not - there is no try.

In other words, you can't have it both ways.

Still suffering from the sore throat I got upon my return to my less-oxygenated homeland. Seaside was a good place to go, minus the fact I had to come back.

Oh, and I had a lovely chat (or two) with a lovely lady from a lovely EVIL COMPANY #1 that I'm applying at.

More evil to follow, stay tuna-d.

ps. I can add 'cook for USMC' to my resume after this weekend, heh. My friend's friends are the people I sometimes prepare breakfasts for. Especially when they're alienated in a weird place.

dispatched the rat living in the basement, although he was not easily slain, as the trap only wounded him. big fucker. disgusting and cute. had to catch him and improvise killing tools. sucked, lemme tell ya. if there are others (and i think there are some smaller ones), they're keeping to themselves for now. traps are set. i hate this shit.

Tried to install the IKEA Kvadrant triple curtain hanging system (warning kids, do not try this at home).

Both the process and the result are far more embarassing than I ever could imagine Colin's parallel parking efforts could be.

Now if only I can find the receipt so that I can return the bits I haven't opened yet.

Woot!

Found the receipt!

IKEA is the outpost of an alien race trying to invade Earth silently. Just look for a comet bearing a very similar name, some piece of news about two brave Poles who knew what's going on, and tried to blow one shop up, and analyse the names of the 'products' (hostile alien lifeforms, more like) they try to sell to humans (you can start with 'toys').

Nothing human in IKEA, I'm telling you!

ps. On the bright side of things, I had a brief skype chat with my future wife. I haven't told her my IKEA-conspiracy theory yet. You think she might be discouraged from marrying me upon hearing that?

Thanks folks, your advice has been more helpful than I can have hoped. The girl and I are going to have a looong talk when she gets back in town, and hopefully things work out the way I want them to. If not, oh well. Que sera, sera.

FP may be able to parallel park, but I can put together IKEA furniture! (He says, laying the groundwork for future embarrassment.)

Vesper,
I believe you. For a long time, IKEA didn't sport their Swedish colours over here: red letters instead. How two-faced is that?

I use men. For putting IKEA stuff together.
Cements the relationship A tip for Val?

Aisha in Norway

My room is like an IKEA explosion... (I sort of went overboard with it).
But everything I put together on my own (plus a few other things around the appartment for my brothers). It stopped being fun after the first one hour of putting things together. Way too much work for something as overpriced to begin with.

What I really miss are my garage-sale days. Now those were shopping adventures worth their weight in gold.

Booked a flight to Vancouver - woot!

...and my new book popped up on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Congratulations!

danke schöen

There was a huge demonstration in my area of the city today. The state legislature passed some laws directed at the illegal aliens in the state. Boy are they miffed. Still, you have to give the US one thing, these people are here, illegaly, and yet they feel free to gather and demonstrate without much chance for reprisal. It is a sticky situation. I admit that I hire them for odd jobs. They have also revitalized the economy in this area. I do not see them as a source of much crime. And yet, I am strangely ambivalent about the whole topic.

I think the main problem with that is that the legal aliens are wondering why the hell they bothered to come to the US legally if they could have just snuck on through. That and they fact that the jobs they would have been working are now being given to illegal immigrants for less pay. Sound familiar? Yet it is a legitimate concern. But yes, you definitely have to admire the nerve (and verve?) of the illegal aliens that gathered and protested.

The Progressive American Labor/Immigration Conundrum

1. We are in favor of giving illegal aliens a break since they're just here to work.

2. We are in favor of a living wage for the working poor.

Problem: In a reasonably free market economy, an in-flow of undocumented workers, most of whom are saving for homes and retirement in a cheap, third-world country depresses wages at the bottom of the labor market. This makes it impossible for those at the bottom of the market working toward home purchases and retirement in the US to secure a wage at which their goals are possible.

In order to work through the problem without sacrificing one of those two priorities, a fundamental change in the nature of government in the US would be necessary, requiring either a complete rewrite of the Constitution or so many amendments that it might as well be rewritten.

And yet we never talk about this.