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Archive for the 'sand people' Category

our prayers have been answered

Published
by
mylifemypace
9 months, 3 weeks ago
in married life and sand people
. 0 Comments

Or not. I’m ever the cynic, so although I’m hoping against hope that what I hear is true, I’m prepared for it to all be a sham. “So, stop stalling and give us the news already!” you say?

Well…

*drum roll*

Not-so-dear brother-in-law finally broke up with his super-psycho-super-fugly girlfriend!

Yep, your eyes are not deceiving you. Against all odds, it has finally happened. So why am I still so pessismistic about the whole thing? Well, for many reasons.

1. Not-so-dear brother-in-law claims they broke up in December. Yet we only hear about it now. Even though he got into a big fight with my husband over her and not-so-dear brother-in-law could have easily ended it by telling my husband that she was out of the picture. But since I have no idea when exactly they broke up, it could have very well happened after that fight (though not likely based on the double entendres that were coming out of sister-in-law’s mouth during another visit around Christmas). Now, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he broke up with her after the fight. Then why didn’t he tell my husband sometime before now knowing that it was mainly her being such a pervasive negative part of his life that led to the destruction of my husband’s and his once quite close relationship?

2. They are still living together. Not in the same room, but in the same condo, in rooms that are right next to each other. Not to mention that it took them breaking up before he finally admitted that they were living together even though it was more obvious than global warming. And we all know that continuing to see and talk to each other everyday doesn’t really constitute a break-up, does it?

3. They’re still doing stuff together. Albeit it seems that it’s because they have so many mutual friends since she didn’t allow him to make any friends of his own. But still, in that situation, I’d make new friends. Again, just like reason #2, doing stuff together after breaking up doesn’t really constitute a break-up.

4. She seems to still be pining away for him (thank you, Facebook). Which makes the fact that they still live together and do stuff together extra scary.

5. I really cannot believe that this crazy psycho bitch actually let him break up with her without forcing him to stay by threatening suicide or some other crazy thing. So, really, it could all just be a big fat lie.

I think I have some valid concerns here, don’t you? I believe that when you break up with a person, you should always cut all contact for a period of time so that both of you can process the break-up and move on before resuming a friendship if such a thing is so desired. Somehow magically flipping a switch between doing the nasty every night to being just mere friends doesn’t seem too realistic at all and is just asking for failure and more drama. Not to mention the fact that no new love interest is going to be willing to date you with your ex looming so close, which then makes you think you’re undesirable, leading you to fall back into the arms of your ex.

Despite all these reasons, I try to remain cautiously optimistic because not-so-dear brother-in-law’s bout with this batshit crazy girl has taken him down a notch…or five. Two summers ago when he was here with passive aggressive cousin-in-law, not-so-dear brother-in-law acted like he was the shit and that he was better than me (we all know that he’s not even close to being in the same league). But now, he’s actually having to take an extra year to finish school because he needs to raise his GPA to be competitive for optometry school and because he needs more time to study for the OAT. Seriously?  Not to be a total snob, but optometry school is nowhere near as competitive as med school and his GPA is too shitty even for that?! And we all remember how he claimed many times over that he needed to go back to school during summers and breaks early to study for the OAT, what, TWO years ago?! And after more than two years of “studying,” he still hasn’t taken the damn test?! Again, the OAT is nothing compared to the MCAT. I know plenty of people who sucked at the MCAT but aced the OAT. What does that tell you? Of course, that super-fugly-super-psycho girlfriend totally dragged his ass down. The kicker here is she did just fine and is graduating on time and has gotten accepted to professional school. Gotta love that, right? Anyway, my point is that hopefully, if I am right, the reason he finally dumped her ass was because he finally, now that all of his peers are moving on and he’s not, has realized that she fucked him over badly and realizes that if he doesn’t want to become a complete loser, he has to get rid of her. If this is, in fact, his reasoning, then I have hope yet that he won’t end up back with her because there’s nothing this guy hates more than failure. That and the prospect of mother-in-law finding out her golden child is a failure must scare him more than anything. But do these things scare him enough to counteract all of the things he has going against him listed above?

What do you think? Will this break-up stick?

an open letter to the latest idiot who scraped my prius bumper

Published
by
mylifemypace
10 months, 2 weeks ago
in sand people
. 0 Comments

Dear Mr./Ms. Idiot,

Who exactly taught you how to drive? Oh, that’s right. Probably no one. Because that’s the only explanation for why you backed your vehicle into my innocent little Prius, not only leaving your nasty beige paint on my car but also taking a little souvenir paint chip with you. More importantly, were you raised by wolves? Because what decent human being damages another human’s property and then runs away without admitting the wrong that they’ve done? Do you feel good about what you did? Ha! I hit your car and I got away with it! I’m so proud. Is this what you teach your kids too? Maybe that’s why this nation is going down the drain. People like you who think you are above everyone else. People like you who expect to be treated like kings, but refuse to treat other people with common decency. Well, just you wait until someone treats you the way you deserve to be treated. It’s not so fun, is it?

Signed,
Angry Prius owner

ipod nation

Published
by
mylifemypace
1 year, 3 months ago
in sand people
. 2 Comments

I like listening to music. I used to like it quite a bit. Not so much anymore because I don’t spend as much time in my car as I used to. But I still really enjoy listening to my favorite music. Which means I think iPods are cool. Even though I never really got into them. I never even managed to fill my 4 GB iPod mini. I have yet to put any music on my iPhone (out of pure laziness and unwillingness to organize my music collection). So, iPods are great, but at the same time, really annoying. Sure, they’re great when you’re waiting around at the airport or trying to survive a transatlantic flight. But there really is no need to perpetually have those damn headphones in your ears listening to your particular brand of emo music. I love music, but not that much. I don’t need to be listening to it 24/7. And I hate it when people are so busy listening to their iPods that they don’t notice their turn being called while in line at the bank. Or when they’re listening to them during class so loud that everyone can hear. Or when I’m trying to talk to them. Unfortunately, iPods have turned our nation into mindless music zombies, too busy listening to our music to notice anything else going on around us. That’s why there’s legislation in some state or another attempting to ban listening to iPods while crossing the street since it’s dangerous to not pay attention to all those cars zooming around you. As iPods continue to permeate our society, I’m sure that we’ll be ripe for the taking in a couple of years.

who said that science isn’t for women?

Published
by
mylifemypace
1 year, 3 months ago
in lab/graduate school, medical school and sand people
. 0 Comments

I keep reading and hearing all this crap about how women lag behind in math and science. They try to point the finger at our education system and/or attitudes at home, etc. I’m sure some of it is true to some extent, but I just don’t really see what they’re freaking out about. Maybe I’m spoiled, but everyday, I see plenty of women around me engaged in scientific research. In fact, 61% of our current MD/PhD students are female. Yes, that’s right, women outnumber men in our program. Of course that’s just our program, but I wouldn’t be surprised if other programs have similar compositions.

Maybe I’m too unsympathetic, but I just don’t believe in this whole women don’t pursue careers in math and science because people-made-girls-think-they-weren’t-good-at-it-and-they-believed-it crap. I never encountered any of that at all during my formative years. I had nothing but support from my teachers and my parents and I didn’t attend fancy-shmancy private schools either. Besides, if someone tried to feed that crap to me, I would never have believed it in the first place and would have set out to prove them wrong. Nor do I believe in the whole women-are-intimidated-by-the-male-predominance-in- the-science-world crap. It’s 2007, people. There are plenty of women in high places. Look at Hillary Clinton. What about all those doctors on TV? There are plenty of “strong women” on Grey’s Anatomy and House. It is more accepted than ever for women to pursue once-typically-male-dominated professions. I won’t lie to you and tell you that we’re given the same respect as men in these fields because we’re not. And certain fields, such as surgery, are still very much male-dominated and hard for a woman to break into. But you’re not going to hear someone respond to your interest in surgery by telling you that you’re never going to make it because you’re a woman (not unless they want to get sued, of course). Sure, they’ll try to dissuade you by warning you about how you won’t have a family life to speak of and how hard it’s going to be, but these things ring true for men as well.

So why does it appear that fewer women pursue careers in math and science? Well, maybe it’s just because they don’t want to. Maybe it’s cooler to pretend to be an airhead cheerleader than to admit to being good at science and math. Maybe it’s because of the misconceptions that keep getting passed along about how women can’t have careers and be good wives and mothers too. Sure, it’s harder for women to juggle both, especially in academia when any kind of extended leave would also lead to a dearth in publications and productivity that may threaten their careers, but maybe the rules of academia need to be changed a bit instead of blaming the situation on the environment that women grew up in. I’m sure the fault lies a little bit in everyone, so why not spread the blame a little so that everything can change, not just our K-12 school system? Because if academics requires too much sacrifice without enough reward, it’s not going to matter how much our teachers and parents support young girls in math and science, they’re just not going to find these fields attractive career options.

iphone antics

Published
by
mylifemypace
1 year, 3 months ago
in sand people
. 2 Comments

So I bought an iPhone last week.  It was awesome.  Until I noticed a stuck pixel at the very bottom of my screen.  I also have a stuck pixel on my DS Lite that’s been there since day 1, so I’m beginning to think that I’m just unlucky with things with LCD screens.  And, of course, once I was such a defect on my brand new $400 toy, I became obsessed with it and couldn’t stop noticing it.  So my husband told me that I should exchange it.  I debated it for awhile because knowing my luck, I was going to end up with one that had more stuck/dead pixels in more annoying places.  But it bothered me to no end, so I took the plunge.

We went to the Apple store and got attitude as we were told that there was no way to guarantee that we would get any better, blah, blah, blah.  But they obliged anyway.  I couldn’t see any dead/stuck pixels while I was in the store, but sure enough noticed at least three on the way home.  What’s more, the my replacement creaked whenever I squeezed its sides while holding it.  And there was light leaking out of the bezel.  And last but not least, when I loaded up a video into it, I noticed the dreaded negative black effect that has been plaguing the iPod Touch.

Of course, I wasn’t going to keep something that was worse than what I started out with, so I made another appointment at the Apple store and went back the following day.  Unfortunately, it was quite backed up and I ended up waiting forever.  During that time, another guy came in because of some problem with his iPhone touchscreen.  The person who took care of him took forever in the back with his iPhone, which was no good for me since that meant I was stuck waiting.   He finally came back out, but with who I thought was an expert in iPhones.  Instead, this guy turned out to be some sort of manager and informed the guy next to me that they had discovered that his iPhone had been unlocked and that unlocking voided his warranty.  Instead of accepting that he had been caught red-handed, this guy feigns innocence and then becomes all belligerent and demands to have his phone back and to speak with a manager.  Of course, they deny his request for a manager and he refuses to leave, leading them to call security, who does in fact show up and he is escorted to the back where he can no longer disrupt the peace of the Apple store.

I was just amazed at this guy’s audacity.  You did something you weren’t supposed to do to your iPhone and now you’re mad that Apple won’t fix it for you?!  It’s people like you who caused Apple to release this latest update that bricked not only unlocked iPhones but also some innocent non-unlocked iPhones and broke all third party applications.  I don’t like AT&T either, but I swallowed my pride and signed up because I wanted an iPhone.  What makes you think you’re somehow entitled to not follow the rules?  And then when you’re caught, you want to be treated like everyone else who actually followed the rules? Give me a break already.  It’s always the few who ruin it for the many.

Ranting aside, I was eventually seen and got some more attitude about how the screen is supposed to be like that (riiiiiiight), but still got a replacement.  I was planning on not leaving the store until I had a good iPhone, but after belligerent guy, I figured it wasn’t a good idea.  Luckily, the replacement iPhone screen was good and my problems were solved.  So finally, I can add my contacts, music, and videos to it.  Took long enough.  Not that I’m complaining too much since I know that I’m lucky to even have one.

human signs

Published
by
mylifemypace
1 year, 7 months ago
in sand people
. 0 Comments

Or sign wavers as I like to call them are everywhere. Especially on weekends. They litter practically every street corner waving their annoyingly colorful signs in your face as you drive by. Some, like this guy here, have arrows that are signs. Others have just plain old rectangular signs. Some are super creative and spin their signs and wave them around wildly, so much so that it kind of defeats the purpose since people can no longer really read them as they drive by or their arrow now doesn’t point at whatever business they’re trying to promote.

I don’t really care about these sign wavers except to think that what they’re doing is absolutely pointless and a health-risk to them. Not to mention humiliating. I wouldn’t want to be caught waving a sign around like a shmuck by anyone I know. The thing that irks me the most is the health risk part. These people are making around $10/hr for dancing around with a huge colorful sign, but that’s eight hours in the sun, with no sun protection (the savvier ones where light-colored clothes that cover as much of their body as possible, but damn, they must get hot, and most aren’t so savvy). I’ve checked out some of the solicitations for this job and there’s no mention of “wear sun protection” or anything even close to it in the descriptions. Shouldn’t these people be warned? How much is your skin and your life worth? Is it worth it to earn $80 in one day when you’re risking skin cancer? I know that there are many other jobs that involve a lot of sun exposure, such as farm workers, construction workers, etc. But these actually serve a purpose. We get food and buildings from these workers. Does having some guy dance around on a street corner waving a colorful sign really get people to buy new houses or cell phones? Both of these things are big purchases and not something that someone would just randomly buy just because they saw somebody dancing around with a colorful sign telling them to check these things out. I would think that the actual return is pretty damn low. So why should people be subjected to such indignity and risk? I think it’s just exploitation of people who are down on their luck and I wish it would stop.

inspirational music for life’s (annoying) little moments 1.12

Published
by
mylifemypace
1 year, 11 months ago
in for life's (annoying) little moments, inspirational music, married life and sand people
. 0 Comments

You know what’s really annoying?  When I try my darndest and it still isn’t good enough.  It’s okay if it’s not good enough for me…if my standards for myself are too high.  But it’s not okay when it’s coming from someone who has absolutely no right to judge.  Yes, I’m talking about you, Mother-in-Law (actually, all of my in-laws, but Mother-in-Law is the one who started it all).  You, with no education free-loading off of the welfare and Medicaid systems and now your kids because free government money just isn’t enough.  Who gave you the right to judge me?  Ever think of taking a good hard look at yourself?  So evil woman that she is, she cannot admit that I’ve done good.  Ever.  I think she would spontaneously combust if she did.  We visited her this weekend (God knows why…I must have still been delirious from passing my quals) and my husband told her that I’d passed my quals and practically begged her to acknowledge it somehow.  But she didn’t.  I’ve had strangers congratulate me.  But not her.  How can you expect me to treat you with respect if you don’t afford the same towards me?  And to add insult to injury, she did not speak to me at all and repeatedly brought up not-so-dear brother-in-law as if to minimize my achievement (though how would I really know since she was speaking Chinese the whole time).

What happened this past weekend is but an example of her outrageous behavior towards me.  How do you expect me to treat you like a mother when you don’t treat me as well as you treat strangers?  Throughout this entire marriage, all I’ve done is bend over backwards and then some to do everything that she wanted of me.  And what did I get for my trouble?  A whole lot of drama.  And disrespect.  And more drama.  Now no one in his family talks to me even though I did my best for them too.  I’m a super-introvert and I’m super-selective about who I talk to, but I made the effort to try to befriend all of his siblings even though I would never give such people the time of day in real life.  And what did I get for making such efforts?  A whole lot of nothing.  Worse yet.  I got stabbed square in the back.  I can’t believe I felt bad about skipping Christmas with them.  I don’t anymore.  In fact, I’ll be sure to skip every Christmas from now on.

So, in honor of Mother-in-Law’s refusal to admit that I’m smarter than her entire family combined and to treat me with any respect despite my best efforts to treat her with respect when she doesn’t deserve it, my song for this week is: Joe Purdy - Can’t Get it Right Today.  Because I just can’t get it right with her.  Or the rest of my no-good in-laws.  But guess what.  I don’t care.  They just better know never to ask me for anything ever again.  You need a kidney?  Ha!  You can’t have mine!

As usual, feel free to send song suggestions to me here.

a wii for mii afterall

Published
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mylifemypace
2 years, 1 month ago
in married life, reviews and sand people
. 0 Comments

I guess I should be happy.  I got my Wii after all.  But somehow I'm not.  And it's all thanks to the people at Amazon, who told me that my Wii was delayed indefinitely thereby causing me to waste two days moping about not being able to get one and trying to chase one down only to them then ship it!  Seriously, WTF?!  They kept insisting that they had absolutely no idea when my order would be filled, but then they shipped it two days later?  How could you not know, liars?  And thanks to their mishaps, I had to cut short my trip out-of-town for the holiday to come back and retrieve my Wii from my doorstep before thieves could, which could have been avoided had they shipped it when they promised before Thanksgiving.  Just because they sent me my Wii before I expected (which was sometime in June 2007 based on their "we have no idea" answer) doesn't mean that I'm any less mad at them nor does it mean that I'm going to go right back to buying stuff from them.  Nope.  I'm going to be trying my best not to ever buy stuff from them ever again, thank you.

And now, time to move on to a much more important topic: how so very cool my new Wii is.  If you've read any of my posts about how much I love my DS Lite, you'll understand why I love the Wii: it's like a DS Lite but on a TV.  The Wii remote is like the DS stylus, only better because you don't have to write on your screen…all you do is wave it around.  And the games are not so complicated that unskilled-at-video-games people like me can't possibly play them, just like the DS Lite.  We only have Wii Sports right now (waiting for Christmas for other games to come in the form of gifts :P), but it's quite entertaining.  I especially like the tennis since it's something I've been playing in real life and I can play regardless of the weather outside (unlike tennis in real life).  The bowling game provides all the fun of bowling without the smelly shoes.  I can't wait to get Trauma Center!  Though I have to wonder how silly we look to outsiders waving our little Wii remotes around like we do.