The demons are gone!

Amazon sucks. Way back on December 5, I ordered a pile of stuff for Christmas presents. They all said they normally shipped in no more than two days. A week after that, I placed an order for my printer and two small gifts. I've now had my printer for a full week, and the first order still wasn't even being processed as of yesterday morning. Yesterday afternoon, I got a lovely email from them saying that there were problems with the order (no shit) and they were going to send the other items on ahead, free of any extra shipping charge, as a convenience to me. Isn't that sweet? It takes them thirteen days to say a single word about this problem, which means that two of my Christmas presents will be late, and then they try to pass it off as doing me a favor?! Anyway, the two presents that will be late are for M, so it doesn't really matter all that dreadfully, although it bothers me that he won't get two of the better thingies until January--which is the new estimated date of delivery, those bastards. What really bugs me are those thirteen days. There was also something interesting about Wednesday--it was the last day to order with free shipping and still expect it to get here before Christmas. Those fuckwits waited until it was too late to order it from someone else without paying out the ass for shipping to send me this notice. Argh.

This came through to a women designer's mailing list I just rejoined for inspiration: How to Make an Annoying Webpage. There are lots of those pages but I was particularly pleased with the scrolling text effect.. haha. :)

I'm being productive today.. what? You said I'm sitting on my rump typing this silly journal entry and that doesn't count as productive? Oh. Well. I have been productive and I intend to get back to it as soon as I get done with this! Great, now I'm arguing with imaginary people. Isn't it funny how you never feel quite as good as you do just after being sick? Technically, I'm not completely well. My voice apparently sounds worse today than yesterday, and there are a few coughs and sniffles, but I feel like I have boundless energy and enthusiasm. I've been doing laundry and paying bills and burning CDs and cleaning, and I'm just about to go off to wrap presents. We need to get this placed cleaned up.. we're planning on taking a bunch of video clips of the house and all, which needs done ASAP. I frankly haven't done a single bit of housework while I've been sick.. well, I did clean the toilet, as it was making me queasy and I figured that if it was bad enough to make me clean it while feeling as terrible as I did, it was probably bad enough to be dangerous for human use in general. So with luck, I'll get far enough on that this afternoon that we can do the final touches tomorrow and get it over with. I also want to make peanut butter balls and some fudge, because my ass is not nearly large enough. That might have to wait until next week, though. Hmm. Maybe not the fudge..

I think my parents miss me. I haven't seen them much lately, what with being sick and busy and all that. Mom called three times yesterday and twice today. The second time I had to tell her that I couldn't go to Ashland to shop with them. M and I are going to go see the Return of the King tonight, and I knew if I went, I wouldn't be back in time for that. I do need to finish my shopping, though, and I have no clue when that will get done. Anyway, I should get back to my productivity.. nothing will get done if I just sit around talking about it instead of doing it. :)

Movies and Social Commentary

So we went to see the triumph of Aragorn and his motley crew tonight.. Nice way to spent an evening and $14 (including a drink and a large bucket of popcorn, which the boy promptly spilled down the aisle before the film--they refilled it, at least.) Our theater is cheap.. although not as cheap as it used to be. I can still hear the answering machine recording in my head: Chakeres University Cinema, Where All Seats for All Shows are just One Dollar and Fifty Cents. It greatly increased their sales.. they used to charge $4.50 and show movies which had been out for two months.

I got a nice Christmas card from blookum today, and that brings to mind a burning question.. did I send her one already or did I forget? She moved, so I didn't know where to send a card to begin with, but then I had her address later, and so I'm not entirely sure if it was in the second batch I sent out or not. I think I did, but I'm not sure. I might be too young for this sort of absentmindness, but does it really surprise any of you? I sent cards, btw, just to people whose address I had, so if you didn't get one, that's probably why. :) Well, I did ask one person for an address, but I did so weeks ago so as to surprise her with a card. I doubt it actually worked, but come on, my secret lover needed some Christmas cheer. She should just be glad we didn't send her what we once sent to M's friend--canned meat food product.

Crap, the secret's out again.

In other news, I got extremely pissed at our society today. Do you have any idea the depths that we have sunk to? Do you realize how far we have sunk into the degradation of mankind? Okay, it's like this. Reality television is awful, and the "reality" of what goes on is very limited. I mean, in your real world, how often does the ugly man you're being forced to pay attention to turn out to be a millionaire? I guess it's real in the way that people are always enticed by sex and money, which is the theme of those shows. Meanwhile, the economy is supposedly beginning to look up from the hellhole our esteemed leader has sunk us into. Let us not question the figures, public, because they clearly show that it's all heading uphill! Rejoice, for salvation is being handed to you by the very people who plunged the nation into a recession! Whee, happy times are here at least.

Stop laughing at my melodrama, I'm trying to make a point here. I heard a commercial for the newest reality show today. Guess what the ultimate goal is now? Thirteen people compete in a vicious contest for (and I can't make shit like this up) a JOB! Yes, that's right, if you're lucky, you'll be awarded that most desperately unattainable thing--employment in 2004! Wooohooo! Donald Trump is hiring, folks, and in grand style. "It's not personal, it's business," he says with a leer at the camera. I could deal with people drinking blood for a chance at $50,000. I could deal with morons traipsing around an island in the pursuit of hot sex. But to watch rational human beings "think outside the box in order to outshine each other to get to the top" is sickening. Who are these asshats who come up with these things? What kind of life do you lead when you think the ultimate form of entertainment is watching someone get a job? It reminds me of a parody skit of a game show in Russia, where the contestants won basic food items if they answered the question correctly. Is this what our society has come to? Is this really who we are?

*sigh* Also, paradisecowgirl linked to Project Censored, and it just depressed me further. I appreciate what they're trying to do, but I can't help but feel like it's hopeless, and I hate feeling so jaded. They're preaching to the choir, because statistically speaking, the audience they want to reach doesn't bother with reading other views than their own. There was a really interesting study done back in the spring, where it was determined basically that anti-war people were using the internet to research history, read opposing viewpoints and seek information, whereas the pro-war people were just.. not. These are, of course, the same ones that claim that the protestors were ignorant and uniformed or otherwise they would agree with everything said. It scares the hell out of me. I don't intend to get political, hough, so I'm done with the subject now--although I make no effort at denying that I do blame the economy on the current administration, as evidenced in the preceeding paragraphs. I don't consider that "political" though, I consider it "good with math" and "possessing reason."

Anyway, I think I'll go see what M is doing. Probably reruns of Mash, but that's fine too.. I have a good book and grainy fudge, so all is well with the world.. even if there are Mash reruns and morons on TV. I'll leave you with one thought: I know that text isn't sexy, but when you design something cool for your website and decide to call it navigation, please make it large enough that us ancient 24-year-olds can read it without squinting. Morons.