It’s a freaking VH1 special …

November 8th, 2007, by The Goddess

ZOMG!

15 Minute Lunch takes us back in the time machine to the 1977 J.C. Penney catalog. What a trip …

Strap in, shut up and hold on. We’re going back.

Go visit for the photos. Stay for the captions. My favorite was with the matching his-and-hers bathing suits:

“And nothing showcases your everlasting love more than the commitment of matching bathing suits. That, and an appreciative blonde with a look on her face that says ‘I love the way your junk fights against that fabric.’”

I’m not going to tell you which outfits I had, but I will admit that I unwittingly committed several fashion offenses because I wasn’t the one doing the clothes-buying in that year. I’m not culpable!



We’re so ‘Enterprising’

November 8th, 2007, by The Goddess

I was talking to my BFF (that’s Best Ferengi Forever) and watching someone clumsily count to two on their fingers. So I did the Vulcan peace sign (the “V”) and counted “one … two,” which set us off into gales of laughter.

Someone who could overhear us giggling asked what we were doing, and my BFF said we were going to hell. I said we were in the process of booking the flight. And my friend gets the award for Quote of the Day …

“We’re using our frequent-fryer miles.”

It’s not as funny in the translation, but we think we’re fucking geniuses. :)



Hoe on the go

November 6th, 2007, by The Goddess

My next work trip is closing in and, alas, the angels are singing hallelujah because I was just asked to go a day earlier than scheduled. Mostly because Goddess likes the airlines to believe she’s a terrorist because she doesn’t buy her ticket until two days before takeoff.

Alas, as the only soul who hadn’t yet made a reservation, I was the obvious choice to go out and get the party started set up. And thank God — the sooner I can start using the corporate card, the happier I will be. And when I come back? Many hangovers Payday will have occurred. w00t!

I’m just glad because I had wanted so badly to book a few extra days but, alas, I’m not exactly cash-flow-positive. So, hurrah, I get to work remotely, but it’s also time (mostly) to myself before the rest of the team arrives. Am psychotically in love with this job today.

Good thing I didn’t unpack much from my last trip!

Speaking of being a hoe on the go, I’m uploading 90 photos of Lake Tahoe to Flickr as I type this. Check ‘em out!



If only the navel upon which I gaze could answer me

November 6th, 2007, by The Goddess

I read in Michael Losier’s book “Law of Attraction” something about how if you have an empty wallet, you’re generating negative vibrations that continue to keep you and money separated. Whereas, however, if you always keep money in your wallet, you will feel good when you look into it — you will feel that, yes, I can afford things that I want. And therefore, mystically, because you do not feel that cash is a problem in your life, more cash will be attracted to you.

That’s a nice fucking thought when I only have a dollar left till payday. :)

Well, maybe there is something to what he said after all. I won’t complain about my pay level but what I will grouse about is that my net pay doesn’t go far enough. The only reason why I take pause at voting for Hillary Clinton (which I will. I already have the bumpersticker) is that I just KNOW my taxes are going up. And the government already eats a third of what I make — I am aware that electing a Democrat to office surely means giving up even more of my hard-earned dollars. Oh well. It’s a small price to pay for running the country right for the next four or hopefully even eight years.

But to Losier’s point, I do have some emergency money in my pretty, shiny new wallet. Nothing much — a half-tank of gas is about all it will get me — but I wanted to experiment with this “feeling like I always have money” concept, as it is a foreign one and all. And I don’t know whether it’s the Law of Attraction or the universe having one fucked-up sense of humor, but freelance opportunities are falling out of the sky.

And for as expensive as my life has become (*sigh* — and not in a luxurious way), boy those extra dollars to pay the phone bill would sure be nice. But I don’t think I can take them. Not timewise — fuck, I lose enough sleep as it were; might as well be productive, eh? But I worry that in my quest to get ahead, I could cause myself to get even-more behind. I can’t explain it (here, anyway) but the phrase “opportunity cost” says it nicely.

It’s just like when I attempt to get ahead of tasks. I had joked with someone that procrastination is rewarded, and as always, there is a huge nugget of truth behind the humor, because nothing could be more true. So when it comes to making more money, do I plug my ears and go “la la la” because it could bring me more grief than rewards, or do I forge ahead like all the other people who have no concern for anything but themselves and hope that a few hundred dollars here doesn’t cost me thousands later on?



Making the ‘Goddess’ an official moniker

November 5th, 2007, by The Goddess

So I had this bright idea last week, that I should get licensed in my field. Because, hell, I’m looked at as the designated “expert” on certain topics anyway, so why not actually get the piece of paper that justifies it?

The problem is that in order to get the license I want, I have to be licensed in something else. The test alone for the first license is six hours; the test prep materials alone are hundreds upon hundreds of dollars. The second test seems easier — at least, I do know the subject matter fairly well — but again, money money money.

But it’s all an excuse. Not that I’m rolling in dough (trust me, the output is starting to exceed the input again), but the real thing that is knocking off my frog socks is the fact that whoa, I’m investing in this career. That I’m officially sucking it up and saying I’m going to be a goddess of this particular field. Which is kind of exciting, actually. But still — wow. This is my equivalent of getting married and having kids — I’ve actually got a direction to go in now.

My boss loves the idea, BTW. Which puts on the pressure to follow through with it. And I know it will make me exceptionally valuable to this firm, not to mention that all the joking around that, “I can do this just as well as those other guys,” well, I can try it out for real.

I don’t know whether I’m excited at the prospect of learning/doing something huge or whether I need someone to hold my hair back so I can throw up at the thought of knowing what I’ll be doing with my life for the next couple of years. Maybe what I need most is someone to kick my ass and remind me, “Yeah, that thing you said you were going to do? DO IT.”

Am feeling oddly grown-up right now. And not liking it one bit. :)



Bloo

November 5th, 2007, by The Goddess



Oceano, originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn.

This might look like hell freezing over or the inside of a meat locker, but no … it’s a delightful lil’ seafood place called Oceano inside the Peppermill hotel in Reno, Nev.

Check out the full photoset here — I put the photos out there unedited because, really, why would I want to tone down the cheese that is a twee wannabe-Vegas gambling town in the mountains?

Sadly, the photos do not do this casino justice. You really have to be there to believe it. In the meantime, my corneas are permanently damaged from this certainly not-eco-friendly eyesore. :)



(Verbal) ‘diarrhea, cha cha cha’

November 3rd, 2007, by The Goddess

I love how so many bloggers apologize for being away for a few days, because they are doing such a disservice to all four of their readers. Me? Meh. *waves to the two of you who read this crap regularly*

November is also National Blog Posting Month, which requires daily posting. So here I am, kicking off my month on Nov. 3. Don’t EVER have high expectations of me — I’ll do my best NOT to meet them!

I’ve been catching up on sleep and that’s about it. I set my alarm for work on Thursday morning, let it play for an hour, said fuck it and turned it off. And slept till nearly noon. I’ve never done that before. It was awesome. Am fairly certain it was the highlight of my week. Well, that and the tranny who waited on me when I went out to dinner that day who couldn’t get anything right but had a mad-fierce prance.

I’ve sort of had it with incompetence. I was telling one of my friends about the insufferable ineptitude with which I’ve been dealing this week, and how I just don’t have it in me to fight anymore. And he said it didn’t sound like the Goddess he knew — that I don’t let stupid shit slide, as a general rule. And I felt stupid for not fighting for my due, when he put it that way. But can’t “being too tired to fight right now” serve as a plausible excuse for the time being? I mean, it’s taking everything in me to look at the bright side. I can’t focus one extra iota of attention on anything else. Once I get back my strength, I’ll be fine. I promise.

One thing I do know is that I’m ready for a new car. Going from driving a veritable tank in Reno to my twee wind-up Matchbox wonder has sucked mightily. I liked sitting up high and when I wanted to merge, people let me merge because they certainly wouldn’t have won a fight against my big, bad Pacifica. Now I’ve got to deal with idiot D.C. drivers again who think it’s cute to shine their headlights into my car and tailgate me at 80 mph. (And the sheer irony is that I got a speeding ticket for doing 36 in a 25. Am counting blessings that I wasn’t caught at my “normal” speed!)

Oh, terrific — Maddie just shat on the carpet. Again. Talk about something I don’t miss while I’m traveling. Good news is, as soon as I pay off these expenses, I’ve got another trip waiting for me. …