archived notes for Nov. 1999

11.29.99 - In the world of Steph, all is still somewhat sane.

Today/tonight my religious leader leaves for South Africa, and boy you can bet all us priests are a little twitchy about that. I'm, like, the second senior Kemetic Orthodox priest in the US as of around noonish tomorrow/today, and don't you think that's a little nerve wracking?

Yes, as did I.

But all will go well. I know it will. There's no reason to panic just yet, and probably won't be any reason to panic at all. Everything, as they say, is going to be A-okay.

I'm planning on redesigning the Notes page, and then grinding away at the Vent page. Both were sort of laid out on the fly, and I don't really like them the way they are now. I also added a "favorite icon" thingum, which I think is kind of cool. You'll only see it if you're using IE 5.0+ and you bookmark one of the pages. It's up there at the top of this paragraph, too.

In other news, the site I'm working on for The Company is pretty snappy, even if I still don't necessarily like ASPs. There are some cool things, and some "WTF?" things. Have no fear, I don't have any plans to switch this site over to it. I rather like Apache, even if I wish sometimes you could do with it what you can do with ASP pages without having to write an entire CGI program.

Or something like that. Yeesh. I gotta shut up before someone realizes I have no idea what I'm talking about.

11.28.99 - Yesterday was Dave's birthday. We had Japanese.

Japanese food, that is.

Tonight we had Mexican food, or pseudo-Mexican food. Let's be fair, Chevy's is not exactly real Mexican food in the vein of a little mamazita sitting in the back stirring up mole and rolling out tortillas with her twenty daughters and nieces and two sons. It's some guy named Bob who's pulling this job because financial aid just barely gets him by in college, or because he needs money for Christmas. Which is cool, but it's no more authentic than Häagen-Dazs.

I have to learn how to deal with NT servers. Blech. I've been directed to 15Seconds by Andy-Andy, and now I have to actually set about learning the usage of this...stuff.

My Vent today is...well, you'll see. I really do apologize for my recent morbid slant. If you really want to read a less maudlin Vent, I'll give you this one I wrote once but never posted. I won't keep this link up longer than a week -- I don't know what I think of this particular Vent. I don't think it needs to be part of the permanent collection, so I'll just offer it here for a little while.

And if that isn't good enough for you, you can always check out The Jesus Homepage.

11.27.99 - I still have no life.

Thanksgiving is over, but not the crushingly long twelve hour shifts I've been pulling since Weds. Not that it's that bad (I get the 28th off), but it's not exactly conducive to writing.

Still, I did muse about what oils I want now, and drew up this wish list. Just in case it matters :)

I bought Dave's gift. Dave probably knows what it is, but that's okay. I also bought myself a copy of the new Metallica CD where they play live with the SF Symphony Orchestra, and a copy of Nothing Like the Sun by Sting.

Jeff wants to do a whiteboard cam, but because we do write current project information on the boards this will probably never come about. It's a pity, too, because I do draw a lot on his whiteboard. My own whiteboard is adorned only with a couple PERL and site layout ideas, some marching orders, Dave's Dots ^TM, and the Amazing Talking Jeffhead Oracle ^TM, whose current oracle is, "I am become death to coupons."

Profound.

For anyone interested, I did add a little bit to an online story I do. I will warn you that it's what is termed "speculative fiction", and it has to do with my alter ego (the one who works at The Company, programs for a living, and hopes to be a fiction writer someday). I don't know that it will make a lot of sense if you don't read fantasy genre fiction, and I'll add as a final note that I've written a lot better fiction (and better HTML -- I haven't redesigned the site in over a year, which means it looks kind of cruddy. That all said, if you just gotta read something by me, here it is.

Anatomy of Imakhu Stephanie's work whiteboard. The Jeffhead Oracle TM du jour back then was "This is the song, la la la la, Elmo song."

11.23.99 - Hm. A rather amusing "note" from 11.15.99 that I never posted:

That's it!

NO MORE!!

Y'know, it's very very bad when you've begun to memorize your credit card number because you KEEP USING IT TO BUY ESSENTIAL OILS ONLINE!

Not only have I become the online coupon junkie of St. Charles County (hint: I got $50 worth of products for $18), but it's not like I'm even buying something that's all too particularly useful outside of making cosmetics, offerings, and medical remedies.

But, but...then I look at a site like, say, Nature's Gift, and I think, Ooooh. Linden blossom absolute....

This has got to mean something's wrong with me. I was never like this with clothes or make-up. But give me an arts and crafts thing to blow money on, and you got me.

sigh.

11.21.99 - It's Sunday here in Mooville. Cleaning crews and stray employees wander through the halls of The Company. I, in dreary sweats and a t-shirt, sit alone with my music playing very loud, and no one to talk to.

So I talk to myself.

Seriously, I like this shift. I get things done. I get to sing to my music. No one bothers me. I get to think.

My meditations for today involve Sailor Moon, essential oils, and, of course, Ben Affleck.

Oooh. Ben.

11.19.99 - The project at work is slowing down -- the reason I haven't been writing is because between that and Kemet.org, I haven't had any time for anything else.

Linden flower absolute really smells grand. It's all the stuff I like about roses with none of the stuff I don't. It's less obtrusive. More delicate. And it has absolutely no value medically except that it cheers me up whenever I smell it, which works for me.

And Bast seems to like it.

Today the tagetes order came in, as did the carrier oils (avocado, sesame, macadamia nut, walnut, wheat germ), lecithin, green clay, and beeswax I'd ordered. Tagetes is my first bad purchase since I don't see me treating corns and verrucae anytime soon, and I don't really know why I bought it. Coupon madness must have effected my brain adversely.

I'll have to blame Donna for that.

Vents today number in two. One I was supposed to post a few days ago, it's some notes from SimuCon. The other is about some medical stuff involving me.

11.14.99 - Oh boy. She went and got depressing again, kids.

That's okay. I'm not depressed. But it did need to be said.

So, like, I have a cable modem now. Whoosh! Happy Steph!

And I am happily buying up lots of aromatherapy stuff. WHOOSH! Happy Steph!

I have at least two other Vents already written, so content is en route. I prefer to trickle them out so this will appear to be a daily-updated site, but you know how it goes.

I bought more aromatherapy stuff. You want to know what it is? Oh good. I LOVE making lists of things I've bought:

Avocado Oil
Macadamia Nut Oil
Walnut Oil
Wheatgerm Oil
Sesame Oil
French Green Clay
Liquid Lecithin
Beeswax Pellets
Borage Seed Oil *
Peach Kernel Oil *
Chamomile Water *
Jasmine Water
Lavender Water
Palmarosa Oil
Grapeseed Oil
Sweet Orange Oil

(* denotes something I'm having imported from England -- oooh! she's gone international!)

I bet my mom would be so happy if I just spent this much on clothes....

11.11.99 - Back? Well, maybe. Sort of. It depends.

A brief and uninteresting Vent on my life. A list of things that could be part of the beginnings of a perfumery factory, or could be my cryptographic instructions on how to construct a nuclear bomb. You decide.

And a tip for those of you who need it, from Dave: "Your user information and passwords are confidential. Remember: Netjer will never ask for your password!"

11.05.99 - No really, this time I mean it.

No Vents or notes for a while.

In a typical display of catmind philosophy, I went out and bought a $70 program for use on making this site and I'm not going to use it for a while because I'm cutting myself off from per-Bast.org (ow! ow!) for a few days. I have to finish some Kemet.org projects (the bookstore, the links page, some loose ends that need wrapping), answer all those people who need letters from me (I promise, Renee, tomorrow), finish my other webpage (which hasn't been updated since January of last year), and finally, get some writing done in that book I keep talking about.

I need to finish it. I just really gotta get Myr's story out of my head before I go nuts from it. And I can't do that when I'm trying to think of something for Vent. I just want to go forward with writing so badly, I couldn't begin to tell you what finishing the damned thing means to me.

If I find any that are worth it, I'll post some scans of the heroes and villains I've been writing about. I do a lot of sketches of Myr and her friends and antagonists as I write; it helps me solidify what the characters are like. I'm a little reticent to do this, however, as there's always the possibility this book will just never get published, and putting my stuff on the web sort of feels like jinxing it.

We'll see.

In the meantime, there are many fine diaries out there that you might consider. Here are a few I keep an eye on:

Excerpts from Life
(my co-worker Dave Dean's site -- maybe he'll write for me?)

Squishy
(Pamie's site -- usually humorous)

It Came From the Porch
(incredible online journal by 28-year-old Trey from Mobile -- Trey is a leukemia patient, and writes about his life and the struggle with cancer)

11.04.99 - Whoo hoo. I totaled up my finances for the month and decided to buy a copy of Allaire HomeSite 4.0.1 and SailorMoonR. Tee hee! I am in loooove with HomeSite. I love editing just the straight HTML; for the last year I have been using a notepad editor for my websites, but I think I deserve a full-fledged program now that I'm trying to do webstuff for work too. I would have purchased DreamWeaver, but it was $300 and I really can't afford it. But HomeSite has keen "design" options, too, and that makes me happy. ^_^ And because I am reading so much manga lately, I am also using Japanese smileys.

I wanted to warn you, Dear Reader, that Mercury retro is in effect. While your Darling Author really doesn't hold much faith in such things as astrology, she has noted a marked increase in Bad Stuff Happening during these periods of time, and would like all of you to Watch Your Collective Butts during this time.

For those of you Already Afflicted by Astrology, I have a bit of humor for you this evening. It's not written by me, though, it's by my evil roommate, the gregarious Jeff. I wrote the intro, though. Go check it out.

11.03.99 - Links, links. I spent time looking at links.

Man, I really admire well-made sites. I look at Powazek's site and I weep. I glance at Kottke's site and I want to commit seppuku. Don't get me talking about Lance Arthur again.

I'll probably eventually give up and just buy myself a URL for my venting, because per-Bast really isn't the place for it. Gimme some time to think about it. The money, plus the cost of upkeep, is the only thing keeping me from doing it.

I will say -- even though I don't really know these people (the most I can say is that Derek Powazek once told me the recipe for salsa I posted on glassdog's boards sounded really great, and Lance Arthur wrote me back when I wrote him to tell him his site was whizz-bang), they sure have made me look at the world differently. I look at promotional materials and packaging now and think, "Hmmmm. Now how can I apply this to a website...."

I still haven't written back to all those people I was supposed to. Blech.

Oh, and I talked about C.S. Lewis and fiction in my Vent today.

11.02.99 - Yup, it's time to clip the cat's nails again.

I have stuff to write, but right now it's not going to happen. The cat says, "Go to bed." My typos say, "Go to bed." And against my protests (I have to answer Libby's mail! I have to answer Jennifer's mail!), I am finally saying, "Go to bed."

Amber likes to jump up on my lap when I'm at home, press herself against me, and lick my fingers as I type. Did I mention she only does this when I'm on the computer? Hm? Hm? My cat is jealous. What's really funny is watching her trying to gauge when to jump and where when I'm rocking (my computer chair is a glide rocker). She's a lousy calculator. I have scars from her little mistakes. Oh yes.

The Live album is very inspirational (Now we walk in the dream / but dream no more / to live a life in love / to hear the voice in the wilderness / the other side of the door) and I really couldn't tell you why. I get some inspiration from every album they put out, and I've never been able to pinpoint the reason. I could say it was because this song makes me think of X or Y, but the truth is I'm the only one who seems to get a religious experience out of listening to Live. And it's probably something I'm drawing from what's not actually being said, rather than what is, which is sort of what happened with Star Wars. I drew up a mental story from a relationship that wasn't there. And now I'm writing about it, because George Lucas didn't.

Music is a religious experience for me.

I couldn't tell you why, though. But then, faith is often like that.

So anyway. Sleep, before I confuse all of you even more.

Barbara, by the way, if you're reading this -- I am burning that candle you gave me for New Years. It smells wonderful. I hope you are getting better. Everyone take care of yourselves. The worry seasons are coming in on cold breezes, ripping the last of the leaves from the trees. I felt it today, I stepped over the tattered rags of maple, ash, and oak. Take your echinacea and goldenseal root!

My word I learned today: raconteur.

11.01.99 - A little late, but enjoy by halloween Vent anyway!