http://laughingsquid.com/god-hates-twitter-westboro-baptist-church-plans-protest-at-twitter-headquarters/

These hate-mongering fuck-tards are protesting my old daycare center. Right now.

Wish I had the day off & a sign that says "God Hates Hate".

Anyone planning on catching up tp them at twitter?

Between the ever growning insanity of my day job, and the fact that I'm not only vending Edwardian Ball the next two day, but am booked for the first 3 weekends in February and am now turning down shows for lack of time to make new product, I have been a ball of stress. I've barely been sleeping, and my stomach has been all fucked up. Also, my RSI had been coming back with a vengence, and Monkey's contract ended here 2 weeks ago. We've been told that he MAY be hired on full time. When is another question. He was my main helper at work (not necause he's my BF and being nice, but because that was part of what he was hired for), and it's been really hard without him.

Al Gore gave a talk to us here at work Monday. Yes, THAT Al Gore. He was pretty damn funny, actually. I don't have the time or writst strength to go into it now though.

I can't wait for this weekend to be over. I'm both very excited & nervous as hell. I've put a ton of money & time into my new product line for the Ball, and I hope to gawd I do well.

Maybe after that I can actually relax for a couple of days before starting up again. As much as I'll hate to miss it, I'm feeling a huge sense of relief that I'm not vending on the 30th for Hubba (I had prior plans). I'm going to do the Abney Park show the following weekend, the Hubba at paradise after that, and isn't Big Hubba the week after that? Then there's big hubba & steamcon in March.Ack!!!

Of course, as a friend of mine recently reminded me, a lot of people would kill to have my problem right now.

What problem, I asked?

Too much work, he replied.

True. So this isn't complaining, it's venting. I AM super honored & stoked that I get to vend at the Edwardian Ball, and I'm always happy when I can vend a Hubba. Still, if you haven't heard from me in a while, or a seem to look rather zombieish as of late, that's part of it.

I won't even beGIN to go into the day job right now. Speaking of which, I'd better go get back to it.

Some of you were at the tea tasting hosted at Whittles's old house last summer. The ladies are back, and it's a puerh sale!

Red Circle Tea Tasting this Saturday and Puerh Sale

The full moon came twice last month, and helped us welcome in the new year. What is almost as astonishing as a blue moon? We are actually having a Puerh sale!  This weekend we'll be sampling those teas as well as some of our green teas also on sale. This is a great chance to try some of our best Puerh before our prices go up on the 16th. Bricks, cakes and loose teas, cooked and raw. Come find a tea to keep you warm through this cold winter.  Learn the basics of Puerh storage and aging good tea.

Thanks! Sina and Carnie

www.redcircletea.com
www.redcircletea.com/blog

I'm a bit of a mess today. Will my xmas gifts arrive in time? Why are shipments late?!? WHY AREN'T THEY HERE YET?!?!? Rawr!!! When will the latest experiment results post? WHY HAVEN'T THEY ALL POSTED YET?!? What's the mutherfukin' hold-up?!? I'm in good company though, since nearly everyone here is in the same state about both things. We are like an agitated beehive up in this lab today, yo! In other news, going to Death Guild tonight, it looks like. I've vended WAAAAAAAAY too much this month, and I really need a night off. I have now danced myself into a state of soreness, so I don't know how well I'll do with that tonight, but I'll try. Spitting Cobras Saturday at Annie's: Awesome rawk fest! Rube Waddell & Golem Sunday: mindblowing fun. Hora pit. danced til I was nauseous. Wow! Ok, too scatterbrained to write complete sentences now. I'm going to go try to do some nice, calming science. (mental picture of me in a bathtub full of culture tubes sighing "Science, take me away!" calgon style) Today's highlight so far: Lunch at my new favorite Thai Place (which is conveniently located directly under my office) with elusis . YUM!

Is anyone coming from, or going to, anywhere near San Leandro on the night of the 18th, and would you be willing to drive my friend Jenny to/from Hubba? The from is more important, as that is after BART stops running. She is willing to pay gas/bridge. She usually doesn't go to the big show because of commute restraints, but she's in this month's Hubba film & really wants to see it in person.

Less than 7 hours until a 4 day weekend. U officially declared this a "fuck off day" during the morning meeting, and had it seconded. I *will* be doing some work, but it's kinda my choice & at my pace.

Tomorrow the day of thankful feasting with friends & family. Tonight, Kareoke at Cat's (which I never get to do because of my work schedule). thurday, the one MEAT a year I can always make it to.

I'm a pretty damn happy girl right now.

3 14-year-old girls from Brooklyn, saying what we've always wanted to say. *loves*

My leopard gecko, Loca, just passed away.

I first met her when she was a couple weeks old. She was one of a clutch of baby leopard geckos at the local petsmart. They were all cute, small, and pretty identical. A few months later, I began working there. As I spent more & more time in the animal department, I began to notice that one of the leopard geckos was much smaller than the others (the others had grown quite a bit by then). She was thin, sickly, and had a massive shed buildup on her feet. The others had bullied her away from food for some time, and no one had noticed. I put her in her own tank & nursed her back to heath. She had lost most of her toe tips from the shed build-up, and always had to have help shedding skin on her feet from then on. She had an under bite (probably from malnutrition), she was undersized. She had abnormal growths on her head (it made her head heart shaped). I fell in love. When my ex asked me what I wanted for Christmas that year, I pointed to the damaged, sick little animal & said "her". I didn't really expect her to live that long. She turned 9 last June.

Her life has been plagued by multiple health problems. When she was 3 or so, she was blinded in her left eye by an overzealous vet. Her abnormal growths were mostly harmless, but once one got an infection & had to be removed (it promptly grew back & never misbehaved again). The vet (a much better one) even made her a tiny cone to wear so she wouldn't scratch at the stitches. It was prettymuch the most tragically cute thing I've ever seen. Through all this, she was the most active, most personable, most lively leopard gecko I've ever met, and I've met a lot. Inspired by her, I became the top rescue and rehabilitation person for leopard geckos in Sonoma county. None were ever as awesome as my tiny, cutely deformed, spunky little girl.

She was with me through my entire marriage, my divorce, and my various relationships & moves afterward. Other than a few months when I was pretty much couch surfing & she had to live with my friend Deanne (one of the only people I would've trusted her with), she's been with me continuously for almost 9 years. No other animal has been with me that long. Very few people either, for that matter.

She started getting sick again about a year ago. Her bad eye was prone to infections, but this time was worse that I'd ever seen it. After multiple vet visits, we got it under control, but it kept coming back. She's had various physical problem ever since, getting worse & worse. Leopard geckos can live 25-30 years under perfect circumstances, but she got off to such a bad start, it was amazing she lived as long as she did. I know I gave her a good life. I know I did much more for her than most people would have. I have spend thousands of dollars over the years making her as comfortable as possible. As her body started failing, I guess I started preparing myself for this. Still, til the end, she was active & happy, eating well, and exploring her home. Just yesterday she came out of her cave and was wandering around, looking good. I thought she would pull through this one, but I knew I wouldn't have her much longer even if she did. She was losing sight in her good eye, and her digestive system had begun to fail.

In the past few weeks I have given her much love. I've tube fed her when she was too sick to eat, I've washed her eyes out when they were bad, and sometimes I've just held her & told her how much I loved her. I'm so glad when I saw her yesterday I didn't just walk by. I stopped & talked to her, told her she was a pretty & that I was so proud of her (yeah, I know she wouldn't have any clue what I was saying, but at least she heard a loving, soothing, familiar voice).

Goodbye Loca, Lady Loke, Loke Geck. You were always my tough girl. There will never be another like you. Thank you for being with me through everything. Sometimes, you were all I had.

Why I love my work: Pictures from my department(and friend's) group halloween costume: Fucked up clowns.

Saturday night I did NOT want to do full face paint like Friday. I kinda felt like my halloween may have peaked Friday night, and I had no costume-gumption left for Saturday. As 8pm rolled by, I wondered what I could do with either short purple hair or long blue dreads, mostly gothy or thunderdomey clothes, and no lipstick (I'm out) that wouldn't just look like me.

Oh yeah, the cannibal chick from doomsday. No shit!

The face make-up was a bitch, but I pulled it off pretty damn well, and went on to Sunshine Biscuit for murder ballad fun.

No one there had seen Doomsday. Still, I won the costume contest. it was awesomely fun, even though there were only about 20 people there. Still, most of them were good friends & great to hang with in a non-crowded-club kinda setting.




I like 'em rare, extra crispy!