La-la-la-LIMBO

By Hieronymous Bosch

No, not that limbo.

The other one!

Happy Holidays

A few years ago when I celebrated Christmas at my in-laws for the first time, I noticed tons of pictures.  Pictures from the 80's/90's of my husband and his siblings with Santa Claus.  My mom in-law took her kiddos to see Santa and get pictures every year.  It was really nice to look back at the pictures of everyone with Santa Claus.

I used to be 'Santa's Helper' and photograph children at the mall with Santa.  I thought it was cool that my mom in-law kept up on photos with Santa for so long.  When I was Santa's Helper I would see people return year after year with their kids.  It was cool to know that their parents were keeping a yearly record of their visit to Santa.

Last year I asked the mister if he would please come take a picture with me and Santa.  He said no.  After a little bribing he agreed to do it.  He managed to weasel his way out of it last year.  But this year I tried again and was successful!  The mister is not a fan of photos or Santa but he did it.  He even smiled.  So I am taking the photo, framing it and presenting it to mom in-law on Christmas Eve.  She is going to be so excited when she sees it.

Mission Accomplished!

Anyhow, I just wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season.  Sometimes this time of year ends up stressful for people.  Sometimes commercial greed gets the better of people.  Sometimes reflecting on an unsatisfactory year can dip people into depression.  Think of the positive things in life.  Cherish what you have and make goals to achieve what you don't.  Happy holidays everyone.

Did you know I live near a large body of water?

Most people wouldn't think so.  I am not a beach person.  I don't like the cold ass Pacific Ocean and fine sand is one of my many pet peeves, so I avoid it.  I do however, enjoy hikes and tide pools.  I live within a 10-20 minute drive from the Pacific Ocean depending on where I am going.  The popular spot around these parts is Pismo Beach which I avoid like the plague.  It's usually riddled with our version of leafers "Bake-O's" (from Bakersfield).  Since our Doggy Parade was over so quickly that Sunday I thought it would be nice to take my sister hiking around the Avila Sea Caves (area is also referred to more commonly as Pirate's Cove and the tide pools at Shell Beach.

Check out the 2nd pano shot to see what I was doing.

Christmas Dog Parade

Last week I heard about a Christmas Dog Parade happening at Avila Beach.  Dog parade?  What the hell?  I was told people would be dressing their little fur babies in costumes and parading them down the street in Avila. So I figured, heck I don't have Sunday plans I will go.  My sister accompanied me to Avila and I brought my fat little fur baby too.  No costume for him, he was just hanging out with us enjoying the madness that ensued.  Honestly it was less than five minutes of dogs trying to do what they wanted instead of walk in an orderly parade.  Some dogs were okay but most of them wanted to sniff around and play.

Snarky sitting with my sister looking on at the crazy dogs.

12-12-12

Nabbed from Geocaching.com

 I was really hoping to get some better pictures than the boring ones I took on 11-11-11.  Alas today was a work day so I had to work with what I had.  So you get to tag along for my entire work day, hooray?  I had planned to start taking pictures as soon as I woke up but I forgot.  Sorry folks.

Tag, I'm it!

I've been tagged and it's been ages since I played any variation of a tag game. This one should prove to be easy as it involves typing and not chasing. Kathryn has tagged me in a friendly game of:

Blog Hop - My Neighborhood

For this blog hop I am going to share the sights I see most often where I live.  Nothing near downtown or anything.  I am hoping to get some pictures of Christmas decorations where I live soon.  Hopefully BEFORE Christmas; time is just flying by!  This hop was started by Kathryn and I am glad I get to play this time.

Why no more Facebook?

"Bless me father, for I have sinned.  It has been about I don't know how long since my last Facebook session.  These are my sins..."

What the frak is she going on about now?

Well I did it, AGAIN, I got rid of Facebook.  But instead of caving and enabling it again, I actually am allowing the 2 week expiration to run out on it.  So it will be gone FOREVER!  I can't recall when I axed it so the 2 week time may have already lapsed.

  "Lord Flying Spaghetti Monster, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. R'amen."

Reddit Gift Exchange: Secret Santa

A dear friend of mine encouraged me this year to join redditgifts.  Since I have the wonderful habit of taking up what he suggests because it ends up becoming fun (like blogging and the mcchris message board) I did it.  This will be my first time being a part of a gift exchange through redditgifts.  I have been a part of other Secret Santa exchanges and after I got burned once I have had a sour attitude about it.  This was from a gal I had known for a long time on the mcchris message board.  She even promised to make it up to me and never did.  Yeah I am still a little sore about it, so what?!

SpongeBob SquarePants Underoos

Once upon a time I had an iguana that I would go rock hunting for.  I would go check out the dry Santa Maria riverbed and fish out large, flat rocks for my iguana to bask on.  I was out early one Saturday morning, hunting for rocks and I had spotted the perfect rock.  It was smooth, flat and large enough for my iguana to lay on perfectly.  So I decided to abandon some of the other rocks I had piled up and opted to lug the perfect one back to my truck.  Once I got to where my truck was parked I discovered a problem with my plan.  How the hell was I supposed to hoist my rock up to where the road was?  I was too short to throw it up there and I didn't have a container for my rock.  Then a stroke of genius hit me, I could fashion a container out of my blue jeans.  Then all I have to do is hoist it over my shoulder and climb on up out of the dried up riverbed.  My plan was flawless!

Click to enlarge.

Buildings are pretty too!

While in San Francisco I got a few shots of some buildings.  Some are okay, some not so okay.  A few of them came out hazy because I snapped them through the windshield of the car. Don't judge me!  So here ya go, a few buildings in San Francisco.

Transamerica Pyramid; tallest skyscraper in San Fran.  I just happened to be walking by it so I snagged this shot.

Chinatown, San Francisco

After the 10k run it was time to eat.  Not just a nibble, I mean eat!  I had my mind on dim sum the whole time I was in SF and I was ready to get to Chinatown to replace the calories I had worked off.  I deserved it right?  We ate at the Imperial Palace Restaurant, their reviews are not so great but I had eaten there several times before and never had a problem.  Thirty bucks for us to eat until we felt like we were about to pop and I even had beer!  I don't know about you but that's a damn hell of a deal!  I was obviously so hungry I failed at taking pictures of the mighty feast.  My sister was able to snap a few teaser shots.

The Hundred Dollar Store

That damn store you can never go to and escape with spending any less than a hundred dollars!

What store could she be talking about?
It must be some high end boutique.

No, no.  I'm talking about THIS:

Mermaid Series: San Francisco

 Another item on my sister's 30 by 30 list is was running a 10k.  She already had a 5k mud run under her belt and she invited me to do a 10k with her.  I was not a runner, WAS being the operative word.  I hadn't run any distance further than two miles since high school.  Why run when I don't have to right?  Well I kinda had to because I told my sister I would.  And then I decided that being 3 years older I was not going to have my little sister pass me up.  And now I kinda like running.  I actually am starting a half marathon running program just for fun.  I don't have the gumption to sign myself up for anything.

The run my sister signed us up for was the Mermaid Series 10k Run in San Francisco.

Yep, that's my bib and running shirt.

Japantown

Before race day we decided to take mom to some shopping and food.  We visited Japantown and spent a good bit of time wandering the area, checking out the shops and finding some yummy food.

The concrete Peace Pagoda designed by Yoshiro Taniguchi was presented to San Francisco by the people of Osaka, Japan.

Walking the Bridge

  My little sister made a list, she really likes making lists.  One of her lists is 30 by 30; she picked 30 goals she wants to meet before she turns 30 next year.  I would love to say she will accomplish them all but I think she may fall short on a few.  Which in my eyes is totally okay because she will complete most goals and will be a home owner very soon.  Buying a home was not on her 30 by 30 list and since buying a home is costly (and time consuming/stressing), she may not be able to do the whole list.  One of her goals was to walk the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.  So off we went to tick an item off of her list, with mom in tow.  Rain was in the weather prognosticator's report but looks like we scared the rain away.

Our walk started at the opposite end of the bridge.  After a few good shots from this angle we walked on back.

Eating in Little Italy

When my sister told me we were going to San Francisco, we discussed places to have dinner.  She was very keen on having some Italian food.  She is currently taking Italian at school so she wanted to try some of their food.  I am going to admit, I am not a huge pasta or pizza fan.  But that's nothing a little cheese with an extra side of cheese and wine can't fix right?  I want to apologize in advance for the lack of pictures.  I was starving, and was the only one that did any of the 4 hours of driving.  Did I mention the hike through Lombard Street was before dinner?  I know my sister was constantly killing her iPhone taking pictures but I don't have access to her phone and she hasn't posted pictures for me to steal from her.  She emailed me her iPhone photos, so I will be sure to credit the pictures she took.

Pilfered from their website.

My mom wore flowers in her hair.

So here I am driving several hours up north with my final destination being San Francisco.  About an hour from our destination my mom confesses that she has never been to San Francisco!  What?!  How could we not know this?  Granted we never asked and she never just volunteered the information but we live 4 hours away.  I assumed she had already been.  She started with the kids thing late in life so I guessed she had been to San Francisco in her 20's.  We were all shocked!

Book: Grasping at Self Worth

Being a writer, it always makes me happy to see people giving it a go and trying to get their work out there.  I , myself am far to lazy to worry about publishing my rubbish.  Who would pay for it anyways?!  Any how, there are people out there that try.  Bryan is one of those people and I wish him the best of luck.  Bryan Maine recently asked to have a guest spot on my blog.  Never had a guest blogger before but I figured why not.  We exchanged a few emails and he wanted to share an experience from when he first started working in a preschool in Japan.

Before I get to his guest post, I wanted to let everyone know he has a book Grasping at Self Worth that he has written.  It's got a kickstarter page so if you are interested in helping out a fellow writer, check out his kickstarter page here.  Now without further ado, I give you Bryan Maine.

11-11-11

It's that time!

What time???

Time for 11-11-11.  

What the hell is that?

Well, it's the 11th day of the 11th month, so for 11 consecutive hours I take a different photo on the hour.

Why is Susie lagging at blog posts? - Part 4

I couldn't wait to get on the road again... because the life I love is sleeping in my bed.  Oh I couldn't wait to be on the road again.

I woke up sicker than a dog Monday morning.  The plan was to stay one more night in Garden Grove and stay with one of Joey's family members.  But the heat from the previous day and my flu (the beer probably didn't help) had other plans.  Not to mention the A/C dried out my throat and sinuses so bad, I just wanted to die!  So we decided to meet up with Joey's dad for a quick lunch before hitting the road again. I was weary about lunch because breakfast didn't go so well.  Anyone remember Lard-ass?

Why is Susie lagging at blog posts? - Part 3

The big day!

"Time to wake up sleepy head, your brother is getting married today." - me

Mister is being a sleepy bum.

Why is Susie lagging at blog posts? - Part 2

Answer:  Because she was too busy enjoying food, drinks and friends.

Why is Susie lagging at blog posts? - Part 1

When I'm not busy complaining about first world problems, I am off enjoying the first world amenities.  Friday the mister and I drove down to Costa Mesa in preparation for my brother-in-laws wedding.  

Pilfered from Westin

Heart attack in a can: REVISITED

I now interrupt your irregularly scheduled programing of, "Why is Susie lagging at blog posts? - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4." to bring you an important news flash:

Knockoff Lunchables

I remember when Lunchables hit the market store shelves.  I remember how the novelty of them was alluring to me, as a child of course.  I blame the bright packaging.  And then I ate one.  BARF!  So nasty.  For you that don't know or remember, here is what a Lunchables looks like:

Darkness and Structure

I am going to break this last set up into time chunks.

So I am starting off with the Capitol Museum.

In the many times I had been to Sacramento, I had never walked the extra 2 blocks to see this building.

Pretty Flowers

Up close and personal.  Here is my not so sad attempt at using the macro setting on my camera.  I probably should have taken pictures of more than JUST flowers but I had so many flowers at my disposal.  While strolling around in Capitol Park I walked through the World Peace Rose Garden.  Though I am not a fan of roses, the sight was wonderful and the smell was otherworldly.  Did you know that roses are the official flower of the United States?

 This is my favorite shot of all of the flowers I took pictures of.  Read on and you can see the rest that made the cut in order of which I liked the best to the least.

Depth of field

... it's been done a million times.  I know this.  But I have never really tried to take pictures that required me to mess with the focal point.  I will share my favorite shot/s first.  

This was taken at the Vietnam Memorial in Capitol Park.  I thought I did okay with changing my focal point between the flowers and the memorial wall.  My next photo is my fail at depth of field.  It was also the memorial wall but I didn't like how it turned out.

Pet Peeve Friday

Okay so I am not a real-a-tor; or a realtor for that matter.  But damn it why do so many people say it wrong?  It seriously bugs the crap out of me.  There is no extra 'a' or 'i' between REAL and TOR.  I am not even talking about people that are new to the English language, I am talking native speakers that choose to say things wrong.  WHY?!  Dear lord why?!

Susie Appreciation Day?

The stars must be in my favor today or something.  I came to work to a yummy bacon and egg breakfast burrito from the Migrant Ed administrative assistant.  It was delicious!  Sure beat the heck out of my attempt at being healthy.   

Breakfast burrito > Rice Chex

A few minutes later the receptionist brought by the two little wind-up toys pictured above.  It's no secret I like to have wind-up toy wars.

 

I appreciate the little thank yous I get doing my job.  I am very confident that I do a great job at work.  But it gives me warm and fuzzies when people remember to say thank you.  And I get super warm and fuzzy when the thank yous are in the form of food and toys. 

So since I am feeling super warm and super fuzzy today, I feel like adding to my blog roll.  I need more reading material, more often.  So if you feel like being added to my blogroll shoot me a message.  What's the worst that can happen?  More traffic to your site?  OH NO!

Any who, I hope everyone is having a great Wednesday.  I will be sharing my Sacramento adventures with you fine people shortly.

My other wind-up warriors.

 Thanks Karen and Maribel for making my day!

Time to dust off the old camera.

Fujifilm S5100

Well, after months of procrastinating I finally did it.  I grabbed my old camera, dusted it off and slapped new batteries in it.  I haven't used this camera in so many years, I think I am going to run through a quick how to.  I might as well use it to its full capabilities rather than just point-click.  I have a crap camera and iPhone for that kind of stuff.

Paying top dollar to be a corporate billboard.

Pilfered from GoComics

I was in search of a long-sleeve thermal or long-sleeve t-shirt the other day.  I had a hell of a time finding something that didn't have a brand name printed all over it and the high price tag attached to the brand name. I just wanted a simple, one-colored, neutral shirt. I finally settled on one. It was not quite what I wanted but I took it. You never know when a hood will come in handy right?

I dunno!

That was my answer when my husband asked, "What is it?"

Sunday afternoon I came home from my mom's house with tripas.  She had put some aside for me and since she knew I liked them she called me to get some.  So I came home and was absentmindedly popping tripas in my mouth when I asked my mister, "Hey, you want some tripas?"

"What is it?"

"I dunno just come over here and try it."

He comes into the kitchen and pops one of these in his mouth:

I guess I am lucky my husband is an adventurous eater.

Dear Mc Donalds #2,

Post-production title: Dear Susie, when will you learn?

On my  lunch break I decided to run to the optometrist to get my new glasses.  After I got my glasses I figured I would stop at my closest fast-food, filth-hole and you were the closest one.  I should have known better from previous experience that your sandwiches are terrible.  I should have ordered a soft-serve ice cream cone because you have yet to find a way to fuck that up.  But no, I was stupid again (or just maybe a little insane). I decided to try something I had not tried from your selection of over processed filth.  I wanted to try your Filet-O-Fish sandwich.

Light, flaky white fish.  Tangy tartar sauce and melty cheese.  A delicious favorite at 380 calories.

Liar

I'm a liar.  I admit it.  I know how to play the game.  I got called out on it.  I didn't like hearing it and I didn't like admitting to myself that I am a liar.  No one likes to be called out on their bullshit.  Being called out forces you to be introspective.  It makes you see the ugly inside yourself.  I looked in and hated myself.  But also loved myself for having the talent to fib.  And then I became conflicted and angry.  So I shouted mean and angry words because of my displaced anger.

Nothing lasts forever.

Especially fillings that are circa 1980's.

I brush.

I floss.

I also have a fear of the dentist.

Since I hate the dentist it was a rare occurrence that I would actually go to the dentist.

Unless something was causing me discomfort or a filling came loose, I avoided them at all costs.

 Did you know that amalgam fillings typically last about 8 to 10 years?

My old amalgam fillings were failing me.

They were starting to fall out.
Aside from falling out, some fillings had allowed decay to occur under the filling.

This ultimately lead to a few (many) root canals being needed.

The tooth at the upper right of the x-ray is a root canal that I recently got.

Amalgam contracts and expands with temperature change and moisture.

So over time they allow decay to occur under the tooth and around the filling.

So how do I fix my problem of failing old fillings?
I had to make an expensive choice to restore my old as dirt fillings.

Expensive?  But don't you have dental insurance?

Yes, yes I do but there is an annual cap that they will cover after that it all comes out of pocket.

So my choice was work to on my teeth little by little as they got progressively worse.

Or I could just get all of the old fillings restored using composite resin in a short period of time.

I bit the bullet and went with the more expensive option.  

I figured my fillings were way beyond their expiration date and I didn't need more root canals.

So to get the root canals and crowns that go with the root canals was costly.

Restoring my failing fillings was also costly.

The only thing that makes me happy is knowing I won't have to worry about more root canals.

I am better prepared now by knowing the life span of my current fillings.

I also have made it a point to use my free teeth cleanings twice a year and have my free full check up once a year.

I would like to say this is why I am afraid of the dentist:

But there is more to my fear than a crazed dentist.

But I look at it this way I can either get over my fear of the dentist or I can end up without teeth.

Or I could look at it this way.... I could have no teeth and have bought this for the price it cost to get all my fillings restored and crowns done:

The Nissan Versa will not be of any use to me if I want corn on the cob.

Heart attack in a can?

That's my hand holding 32 ounces of heart attack juice.  I had to capture the size difference of my hand compared to the giant can of energy.  There is a better picture of the product down below.

Energy Drinks + Susie = No good

Fuck The Fingerstache

Here she goes again; Wanky Ms. Wanks-a-lot!

Aww come on, it's not always like that.  Oh, wait, umm, yeah it kinda is like that.  Whatever!  Opinions: I have them.  I will now share my opinion on the fucking fingerstache.  God I hate those stupid things.  It's not clever and it's gotten beyond old.

This is not clever/funny anymore.

I found Sarah Silverman's long lost sister!

I had a bit of the writers block?  Yes, the writers block and then I had to take it back old school, "Cause who gives a fuck about hos?"  I have had a few topics on my mind but nothing stood out until today.  This is number one on my list cause bitches be cray-zeh.  The next one hits closer to home for people that are parents who deal with bully kids in school.  I don't have kids but I will be damned  if my little nephews have their asses handed to them or no good reason.  {{EDIT: I never saw myself as a bully but damn I was a bit of a tyrant :( Mean!  Karma?  I didn't have any kids so my sister's boys have to pay for my dumb ass. Post coming shortly!}}

Skinny Jeans

Being a working girl that wears jeans on the daily causes a lot of wear and tear on my pants.  Why you ask?  Well I do crawl around under desks quite often.  [Insert inappropriate joke here.]  Really though wearing slacks or even worse; skirts to climb up ladders and under desks is just bad juju.  Let's just say my jeans have seen better days.  If they don't have holes in the knees already, the material is getting pretty thin and on it's way out.

My problem?  I hate shopping for jeans.

Why?  Skinny jeans.

The hot trend for jeans for a while now has been the skinny jean.

Here is what they are meant to look like:

Clerks (AV Edition) Part 3

Now back to our normally scheduled programming and the final installment of my adventures as an AV clerk.  You can read about Part 2 and Part 1 if you feel the need.  My 3 part saga was interrupted by life and work and mostly just life.  But now for what you have all been waiting for, the end! 

Bite your style!

Okay so the above video has nothing to do with the post aside from being a biter and following Kathryn's lead with sharing girly stuff like nail polish awesomness and polka dots. (I know, I know... I'm not Aussie, but I wanted to play along!)

The song popped into my head when I thought of myself biting her style (err rather blog post Nailed).  I hadn't bothered painting my finger nails in quite sometime.  Probably because I stopped buying the stuff and I got lazy.  Since this summer was full of weddings and lady parties, I started following suit and painting my nails too.  Now I have been considering getting my own nail polish and rebuilding my polish collection.

Pissing In Public

I interrupt your Clerks (AV) Edition broadcast to bring up a beef I have in my apartment complex (in general really).

Public Uriniation

Last night my mom and I had a lovely dinner.  On my way back home I saw this billboard:

Baño=bathroom in Spanish.  So peeing outside is a good thing?  Es fácil ser hombre con carácter= It's easy to be a man with character.

Clerks (AV Edition) Part 2

If you have been following along with my posts regarding my employment at an AV store this is part 2: Angry Customers.  You can enjoy the prologue here and part 1 here.

Angry customer destroyed a T-Mobile store.

This guy from Manchester tore up a T-Mobile store because they refused to give him a refund.  That's some anger right there.  The guy wanted a refund for something that was out of his terms and conditions so he had himself a hissy.

Clerks (AV Edition) Part 1

Carefully examine this picture.

You see that picture, can you point out how has a panty fetish?  Or gets their jollies by exposing themselves to other people?  How about who just bought some new lingerie for their special evening tonight?  

Karaoke

You're doing it wrong!!!

I'm not sure when it happened but it did.  My friend tricked me into singing a song at karaoke once and since then it's been a thing for me.  It's fun!  I'm tone deaf, so what?!  I have a good time and so do my friends.

After a long week of too much work and not enough play I figured I better do something about it.  We all know what happens when you don't let off a bit of steam and work stress.

reeeeddddrrruuuummmmm

"Wendy? Darling? Light of my life? I'm not gonna hurt ya.  I'm just gonna bash your brains in!  I'm gonna bash 'em right the fuck in!"

I gots a real cool codpiece too!

Uh that's a dildo.... a strap on dildo.

Once upon a time I worked at Diamond Adult World.  A while ago I read a post from Gaijinass which for some reason popped into my head after remembering the above clip from Metalocalypse earlier today.  (Don't ask me how my brain connects the dots, it just does.) I can honestly say I was in AV in school (you know to fetch the VCR/TV cart for movie time) AND I worked in AV after high school (yes, adult videos).  No, no I wasn't IN them, I just sold and rented them at the local porn store.  Now when I hear a lame song by Savage Garden or N'Sync I can now say, "Uh an AV store song!" in disgust instead of saying, "Ugh a porn store song!"  It will sound much politer in public in the US... probably not so polite sounding in Japan though.  I wonder which would be the lesser of two evils in Japan?

Where have you been Susie?

Two weeks Susie, two weeks and no blog post.

Where the hell have you been?!

Do you not love your blog anymore?

Don't worry I am here!  

Don't cry.  

I was busy doing this:

No, no!  I wasn't getting married.  I did that last year.  I was busy being a part of a wedding.  My god weddings are a tiring and costly thing!  I am so glad to have had a tiny wedding without a wedding party because being a bridesmaid was so daunting.  I am honored to have been a bridesmaid in my friends wedding.  I really hope I don't have to be one any time soon again.  It's hard work!  

Being a part of the wedding party is tough work.  You have to prepare, rehearse, help decorate the church/reception hall and help clean it all up too.  **Note to self: Remember when helping clean the reception hall, change shoes/clothes.**  I wore heels for over 10 hours, my feet are still not the same.  That's the longest I have ever worn heels in my whole life combined!  In the end, I am happy to say that the bride and groom were appreciative of the help.  And their wedding and reception went well, at least I think it did.  I am happy to report there were no Bridezilla moments or cold feet or any of that nonsense.  

The wedding party.

I am happy my friends had a beautiful ceremony and a fun reception.  I am also happy life can go back to normal and no more planning is needed for their wedding.  Congrats Derek and Nina!

Smells like violence up in here!

Finish Him!

Let the weekend of violence begin!  Or rather end.  First it starts off with a mean spirited little girl shoving another little girl face first onto a hard wood floor.  The pusher did not even have a look of remorse in her eyes for hurting another little girl.  For NO REASON other than the little girl is mean.  The mean girls mom passed it off as the other little girl "fell".  Then later the confessions of how mean this little girl really is comes out.  The mean girl has a hard time playing nice with other kids.  She is also a biter!!!  Mom sweeping the bad behavior under the carpet is NOT going to fix the little girl's problems.  Don't even get me started on why I think that bad mommy is bad.  All I have to say, is I have my bad habits and in my assumption I am not going to screw up another life for my poor choices.  Some people don't stop to think about that when they decide to parent a child.  Like I have said there are good parents and then there are breeders.  More on that later!