Had a busy week. Still playing catch-up with the Illustrator class. I spent 5 hours in the computer lab on Wednesday finishing ONE assignment. It worries me a little that it took me that long, but I actually learned a lot about the program through all the trial and error and I feel much more comfortable with it now, so hopefully subsequent assignments will be less... er... challenging.

Evil Childe was sick last week, and she stayed home from school on Tuesday so I could take her to the doctor. Three hours and several tests later, the diagnosis is: Nothing. Which is great and all, I�d rather have it be Nothing than Something, but it�s very strange to me how absolutely Nothing can be causing her to have pains in her stomach and side that are severe enough to bring my little perpetual motion machine to a pathetic couch-lying, whimpering standstill. She seems much better now though, so the Nothing has apparently moved on. Does that mean she now has Something? Jeez, I sure hope not.

I finally got around to coloring my hair this past week. All the gray had been getting on my nerves for some time now, but I�ve been too poor to get the stuff to cover it up with. But it was so worth the wait... my hair is now the perfect shade of darkish, lightish, golden-ashy brown. See, I�ve had a horrible time finding the right hair color... my skin is pale, but it�s not that dramatic white-pale that looks great with almost any strong hair color (black, red, pale blonde.) No, my skin is sickly pale, sort of ashy with a pinkish cast. One would think that would make me a definite �cool� season and that I�d look good in ashy shades of blonde and brown. One would be wrong about that. Ashy shades make me look lifeless and plain as dirt. And golden shades make my face look fat and red. Ditto that for light colors, while any color darker than light brown usually just look harsh. (I know this is fascinating stuff, but whose diary is this anyway? That�s right! But would it kill you to try and LOOK interested?)

Anyway, I am very pleased with the new hair color... on me it looks like dark hair, a definite COLOR instead of that non-descript dishwater blonde I usually end up with, yet it�s not too dark and the subtle golden highlights keep the color from looking flat. I even used some Fructis deep conditioner on it, and this anti-frizz stuff from L�Oreal, and for once my hair is really SHINY. I colored my eyebrows too, and now I only have to pencil in the outer third of them. (I have really weird, terribly high-maintenance eyebrows, and a fetish for keeping them nice.) And suddenly I look pretty darn good with just a little dab of powder, a touch of mascara, and a little bit of brownish eyeliner and mauve-ish lipstick. My lips, eyes, skin and hair all look DIFFERENT from each other now. Imagine that!

Speaking of girly stuff, yesterday I went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few miscellaneous toiletry items since their prices are so much better than Jewel on stuff like that, and I found a couple of new things. Hand cream that�s supposed to last 24 hours, an olive oil face soap, and a really rich goat�s-milk body wash. My skin gets really dry and unbearably itchy in the winter, but I�m too lazy to continually slather on skin cream every day. So I�m always looking for a product that will moisturize me in the shower, without making the tub so slippery that the Prince suspects I�m trying to cash in on our life insurance policy. Bath and Body Works Shower Cream is nice, but their prices piss me off, not to mention the fact that they�ve managed to discontinue every scent I�ve really liked. The goat�s-milk stuff cost less than $3, has a subtle fragrance and silkened up my skin very nicely when used in conjunction with the cute little exfoliating gloves I also bought yesterday.

I�m also very pleased to report that our Wal-Mart�s remodeling project is shaping up the store very nicely. In my hometown back in Ohio, the Wal-Mart is pretty nice for a discount place. It�s clean and organized, carries decent stuff, and the people who are employed there mostly speak English and have IQ�s above 90. Not so here in the Chicago �burbs. This store, while generally clean of actual dirt and vermin, still has always had a generally messy and disorganized feel to it, and far too many of its employees seem borderline retarded. Seriously... behind the customer service desk, right under a drop-slot on the wall, in full view of the customers, there used to hang a hand-lettered sign directed at the customer service staff��Please Do Not Knock On Wall To Summon Accounting Staff.�

But they�ve done a whole lot of revamping in this store. The floors have been redone with some nice-looking wood-type stuff, the aisles have been widened, they appear to be attempting to bring some kind of logical order to the location of the merchandise, and yesterday, I swear I did not hear one single totally inappropriate, moronic PA announcement made by an employee. I don�t know if they�ve hired smarter people or if they�re just making them stay off the PA now, but whatever the reason, it was nice. (I could do without �Wal-Mart TV� blaring at me from every corner though.)

I even saw empty FREEZERS sitting around, waiting to be filled. I think we�re getting an expanded food section! Joy! I am so sick of the prices at Jewel I could barf.

Speaking of which, yesterday I spent four hours getting groceries and stuff, and between Jewel, Aldi and Wal-Mart I spent a little over $200 and got enough stuff to feed us for most of the next couple of weeks. That little chore sapped all of my ambition for the day though, and I didn�t get another blessed thing done. We went out to eat last night and then to the bookstore instead, and I drank good coffee while thumbing through humor books and art magazines while enjoying some live music. My idea of a good time! Well, as good a time as I can have with my clothes on for under $50. I even picked up the premier issue of a drawing magazine in hopes of gleaning a few tips from it, and the Foo Fighters CD I�ve been wanting. There are two songs on there I really like, and after the first listen-through last night, I think I�m going to like most of the rest as well.

(Yeah, yeah, we�re getting to the end of this thing.)

Today I have too much to do, too little time, and no idea of where to begin. The apartment is a clusterfuck, even more so than usual, and filthy to boot. I HAVE to do laundry and clean the kitchen, but I�d like to get a little more accomplished around here than that.

My homework... yeesh. I�ve got 116 assignments in various stages of completion or not-startedness, and I�m starting to lose track of what I need to do when. My schoolbooks, notes and supplies are spread far and wide, and I really need to bring some order to the whole mess and figure out some kind of time schedule for getting this all done. I think I need to go out and pick up a planner so I can pencil tasks in on specific days instead of having everything listed on various To Do lists with a projected completion date of Whenever.

I�ve also got a couple of errands to run, and an assignment that really should be worked on in the computer lab, and criminy! Why am I still sitting here blithely typing out a minute-by-minute recap of my entire last week? Time�s a-wastin�!

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Last Five
Crappy job crap, weird neighbor, and someone whose baby I apparently want to have - 2006-05-08
Live from the dump - 2006-04-09
Kind of like a muzzle for your brain - 2006-03-29
...and then she fell ass-first into my cereal bowl - 2006-03-28
Playing catch-up - 2006-03-27

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