Saturday, September 30, 2006

Potential Workaholic

At five o'clock today, after I'd been at work for over 8 hours, I was thinking about what I would do at work tomorrow. Then I realized today was Friday, and I was sad. Sad that I wouldn't be coming to work tomorrow. Should I be worried about my mental health?

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Hello, Again

My new job is AWESOME!! (and I’m not just saying that because I know my boss has my url; it really is awesome). I’m having so much fun. I can’t tell you any details of what I actually do, because it’s hush hush, top secret, and I’d have to kill you if I did, but suffice it to say that I’m saving the world and you all owe me a huge debt of gratitude (monetary thanks are not required, but always appreciated).

MASOCHISM

To celebrate my first day, I went over to Jacque’s apartment Monday night and partook of my most favoritest activity in the whole entire world: exercise! Yippee. I don’t know why I’m still friends with that girl…Oh, yeah, it’s because she fed me pizza and goldfish crackers.

QUALITY TIME WITH THE FAMILY

Amy: I went to the doctor today, and it turns out I don’t have strep throat.

Pops: They already got the lab tests back?

Jody: They can’t rule out strep that quickly.

Becky: Maybe they can. Maybe they have new techniques.

The entire family (yes, including me) then spends fifteen minutes debating (shouting over each other) whether or not strep throat can be diagnosed in less than 24 hours, whether or not Amy needs to find a new doctor, whether or not Kaiser doctors are as useless as Group Health doctors, whether or not Amy’s doctor is hot, thus causing Amy to overlook his inadequacies at diagnosing strep throat, and whether or not Amy will ever succeed to find and marry a hot doctor, like we’re all expecting her to do. I mean, who goes to USC to major in environmental studies? We all know her real motive…

THE JOY OF PETS

The dog got a bath in the downstairs bathroom, and now the walls are dusted with a layer or long, golden fur. It makes them look soft, like someone used carpet as wallpaper. It’s interesting to live with this dog; she sheds like a maniac and drools all over the kitchen floor, so you’re socks get wet from walking around and you have to watch out for fur in your food. Fun times!

Izzi, where is that letter you promised me? It had better be in the mail already, or else I’ll come hunt you down in London, and I so don’t want to have to do that.

Monday, September 18, 2006

I Feel Brand New!

Alright, Izzi, I'll spare you the pain. I caved in and bought it. Now I can take pictures of it with the flash. Jacque, you're probably right about the tax; I wasn't thinking it through clearly. That's why I keep you around.

I love this coat so much. This is the first time I have ever looked forward to winter! It's also the first time I've ever owned a designer label (DKNY). I feel so sophisticated.

I also got my hair "done." Basically my whole life, all I've ever done with my hair is get it trimmed or cut shoulder length, straight across. A couple years ago, I started getting it very lightly layered (very lightly). I've been pretty bored with it lately, though, so I got it more drastically layered this time. It still looks long (actually, it looks longer than it did before), but it frames my face much better. Plus, it makes me look older! Hooray for not looking 14 years old! Photos of coat and haircut, or perhaps coat with haircut, will be forthcoming.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

I Hate Making Decisions!

I had lunch with my new boss today. I’m getting really excited to start working, but I don’t start for another week. Can’t wait any longer!!

I went to go look at “my” coat again, just to make sure I wasn’t inflating its wonderfulness. I wasn’t. It’s wonderful. I love it all the more confidently having seen it a second time. And the general assembly (minus Becky) thinks I should go for it. I was talking about it with my dad last night, and I decided I should wait until I receive my first paycheck, and then if the coat is still there, I’ll buy it. If it’s gone, I’ll take it as a sign from God that it wasn’t meant to be mine. I was happy with this plan, willing to take the chance. But no, fate, or perhaps God himself, decided to rush things along a bit. When I went in to see it again today, I asked a sales-woman if it would be going on sale any time soon. She told me two sad things: 1.) It’s new, so it’s not going on sale any time soon, and 2.) They won’t be getting any more in; it’s a one-time thing. If my size sells out (and there are only two to begin with), that’s it.

Seeing that my heart was breaking, she offered me this salve: if I open a store credit card, I get 15% off. Furthermore, tomorrow is a special “Shop for a Cause” promotion where you donate $5 to some charity and you receive 20% off anything you buy. So 15% plus 20% off. But only tomorrow. So I have to decide RIGHT AWAY if I should go ahead and charge it (having not yet received any paycheck and having no idea when I can expect to receive the first one) or if I should wait and pay full price when I get the paycheck, and risk it being gone already. I hate being a grown-up. I can't make decisions! I mean, do I take this offer as a sign from God that I should buy it, or what?

I took pictures of it, but I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to take pictures, and I was too chicken to ask, so I didn’t use the flash (I didn’t want to attract attention). In other words, the pictures are fuzzy, so I artificially sharpened them. They look pretty pixelated, but you get a better idea for the color/texture of the coat.

I’ll let all y’all know what I decide about it. In other news, I’m getting a haircut tomorrow, and I’m trying to figure out if I would look cute or absolutely disgusting with bangs (that’s “fringe,” Izzi). I’ll probably chicken out and end up with just a trim. Again, the goal here is to look more my age, and less like a 14-year-old.


Two hundred and forty-one dollars. That's what I figured out, and that is certainly manageable, I believe. Here, I'll show my work:

Start with $325. Subtract 20% (the 15% will apparently show up on the credit card statement).

325*0.20=65

325-65=260

Our sales tax is (I think) 8.9%, so add that.

260*0.089=23.14

260+23.14=283.14

Then take 15% off (I'm assuming this is how they'll do it).

283.14*0.15=42.471

283.14-42.471=240.669, or roughly $241.

Friday, September 15, 2006

How Much Is Too Much to Spend?

I have fallen into a forbidden love. I’ve been looking for a winter/fall coat lately, one that is stylish and doesn’t make me look like a preteen. All the coats I’ve owned lately make me look 14 years old, which is funny, because when I was 14, I wore coats that made me look like a 40-year-old housewife. Anyhoo, I know coats are pricey, so I expected to pay anywhere up to $250 (which is the absolute upper limit, right?) I was at the mall, casually browsing, when I stumbled upon, basically, the perfect coat. I mean, my ideal coat. I don’t know any fashion lingo, so I don’t know how to describe it. I think it was…wool? It has a hood, which is rare in that type of coat, but which is something I always look for in a coat. I mean, for goodness sake, I live in Seattle. I hate umbrellas, so I pretty much have to have a hood to keep from getting my hair soaked. In deciding to get a new, stylish jacket, I resigned myself to the fact that I would not be able to have a hood and that I would have to carry an umbrella from now on. And then I find my dream coat, and guess what? It has a hood. The coat is pinkish, brownish, tannish (I think?). I tried to find a picture online, but neither the store nor the brand has it listed on their website.

Anyway, it was beautiful and cute and oh-so-me. And $325. Do I take it as a sign that it was not meant to be? Or do I suck it up and take it like a woman? Because, let’s face it, there are quite a few women out there who wouldn’t hesitate to drop that much money (and more!) for a pair of strappy heels they’ll wear maybe twice in their life. So, if I did buy this coat, I wouldn’t be the least-sensical woman in the world, right? I’d be in good company. Well, lots of company, at least. I mean, I am not the type of girl who spends money for a label. I’d rather shop at J.C. Penney than Abercrombie or Hollister. I avoid overspending whenever possible. I’d generally buy the cheaper version of a product, even if it’s uglier or more boring. So don’t I deserve a little indulgence, especially if it’s on something that I’ll wear for at least two seasons? And that’s another thing! I’m not one to change my wardrobe every season or every year or even every five years. So it’s not like I’m going to be buying a whole new coat next winter. I’ll likely continue wearing this one for a few years, whereas if I buy a cheaper one that I don’t adore as much, I may end up being tired of it in a year. I’ll have to buy another cheaper coat that I don’t love, and I’ll get tired of that quickly, and then I’ll have to buy another and another. In the end, I’ll spend more money overall and on coats that don’t suit me as well. It would be financially irresponsible not to buy this coat.

Furthermore, some of the coats I've seen, uglier, more boring coats, have been over five hundred dollars, so it could be worse, right? In comparison, $325 isn't so bad!

There. I feel I have justified myself in case I do cave in and buy it. And I probably will, just as soon as I get my first paycheck. I was planning on buying myself a first-paycheck gift, anyway (though I wasn’t planning on it being over three hundred dollars).

The weather turned completely sour yesterday, what with intermittent rain and temperatures dropping thirty degrees from Tuesday, and this provided me with ample opportunity to imagine myself wearing my dream coat. Someone mentioned that this was likely to be a big snow year, and my first thought wasn’t of Christmas or skiing or walks in the snow at night, but of me in that jacket, being warm and snuggly. It has invaded my psyche. I must go see it again and make sure I wasn’t just romanticizing it, that it really is perfect and wonderful.

Do stores still do layaway?

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Surprise, Surprise, I'm Tired

I’m glad I don’t work (yet), because this was a long weekend and I think I need a couple days to recover. I'm so pathetic. I didn't even drink, I just didn't sleep. I went bowling with Jacque and we didn’t get back to Jacque’s apartment until 5:30am. Then she had to leave again at 6am for a church function. She didn’t get much sleep Friday night, either. I don’t know how she does it. I’d be completely useless after all that, but she got up bright and early this morning to go to work. Crazy girl. I myself slept for a solid two hours before heading to church, then slept for a couple hours after church, then headed back out on the town.

I rarely ever bowl, so it's no surprise I totally stink at it. I bowled as I always do: one game is bad, the next is decent, the next is embarrassing, the next is amazing (I got a turkey shoot!) and the final games are bad again. My high score was 168, but my average was in the 70s.

In other news, my room has been fumigated and two large wolf spiders lost their lives this weekend, so hopefully my monster problem has been solved, at least for the time being. I can rest easy again, except now I'm a little paranoid the bug spray will poison me. Ah, sweet sweet paranoia.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Finally, I Can Buy Drugs Again!

I posted three new photo albums on my msn site...and I just now realized that I should probably provide the link to that site, shouldn't I? Anyhoo, three new cities. So now there should be Carcassonne, Arles, Nice, Limoges, Tours/Chenonceau, Dinan, and St. Malo. Yes folks, all that for the low low price of $29.95! And if you buy now, you'll get three more cities in the next two days, FREE!

Okay, enough. Here's the link: http://karenzicus.spaces.live.com/ Yay! And here's another teaser:


That there's Chenonceau castle. The back wing
of it is built over the river, so you can cross over to the
other side just by walking through the castle.



Also, um, I got a job! Yippee! After four hours of interviewing, they owe it to me, right? I haven't received the offer letter yet, so I don't know the details just yet, but I'm super excited. I can't wait to start (in two weeks)! Before long, I'll have an income again, and health insurance! I haven't had medical or dental (or vision) coverage in a year and a half. Now I can get all my meds again! Yay! Inhalers and prescription Speed, here I come!

Of course, I'm also interested in the job itself, not just the benefits. I'm so excited to get back into molecular biology; it's been too long. I can't wait to hold a pipettor again, and set up a PCR mix, and use beakers and flasks and graduated cylinders, oh my! Next stop, Nobel Prize.

Friday, September 08, 2006

You Go Ahead, Let Your Hair Down

Le sigh. "Scrubs" premiered last night, with two (TWO!) episodes! All is right with the world. I remember in the past I've had to wait until November for it to premier, so I totally wasn't expecting anything good to be on last night when I turned the TV on. But lo and behold, there was my precious Zach Braff doing the open narration. Swoon!

Alright, I've made a decision. I realize that I still haven't written about my three week trip around France (it's kind of daunting; I mean, THREE WEEKS??) and I haven't posted pictures. I was working on loading my pictures into Flickr, when it informed me I couldn't do something I wanted to do, so I've decided I officially hate Flickr (I didn't like it much before, so this was the proverbial final straw). I was thinking about how I could possibly just display all my pictures easily on the internet, and the only thing I came up with was to post them on my MSN space. It's odd, because I started my MSN space last October for the sole purpose of uploading my photos for all the world to see, and now I'm struggling to find a place to upload my photos for all the world to see.

So, as much as I hate to do this, I think I'm gonna post my photos on my MSN space, while continuing to blog here on Blogger. I know it's stupid, but whatever. I'm over it already. Here's a teaser, though:


Amy as Dumb Blonde

In other news, I spent all of yesterday being obsessed with a new favorite song, "Put Your Records On" by Corinne Bailey Rae. The chorus to it was running through my head ALL DAY LONG. It's good. Y'all should check it out.

So, to recap, go to my MSN space to check out my photos of France and other stuff, and go out and listen to "Put Your Records On." I will try to write something about my trip...someday...

Thursday, September 07, 2006

A Monster Under My Bed

The last couple nights, I’ve been half-awoken by a scratching sound in my room. I worried that it might be mice in the walls or something, but assumed I was imagining it and didn’t worry too much about it.

Last night, I was sitting on my bed, reading, when something black, multi-legged, and HUGE dashed out from under my bed and across the floor. It stopped to rest in front of my bookcase, so when I overcame the shock, I approached it for a closer look. Now, I had already removed my contact lenses, and I’m very nearly blind without them, so I couldn’t get close enough to see the monster without actually touching it, and that just wasn’t gonna happen. But I leaned in as close as comfort would allow, and the horrible thing suddenly took off running TOWARDS me. I almost died of heart attack. It took me a long time to catch my breath after that, and then I had to work up the nerve to walk over near it again, and grab my most textbook-like book off my bookshelf (“America” by the Daily Show staff.) I then took a good five-minutes to work up the nerve to throw the book onto the rotten creature, but the thing scuttled out of the way just as the book landed. It went and hid in another bookcase, where I couldn’t reach it, so I had to go to bed knowing there was a disgusting beast lying in wait for me. Of course, I couldn’t fall asleep then, so I lay in bed praying it would stay put and not decide to crawl all over me in my sleep. As I’m trying to force myself to think of other things (raindrops on roses and all that), I hear the scratching sound of movement I’ve been hearing for the last few nights. GREAT! I don’t have mice, just the hugest spider I’ve ever seen in my life, not including tarantulas. Needless to say, my sleep was fitful at best.

So now I’m trying to get up and start my day, but I’m afraid to do anything! I certainly can’t spend any time in my bedroom, but every dark spot on the wall or carpet that I see in any room of the house, I mistake for a spider. And I’m paranoid I have spiders crawling all over me. Ick. I’m gonna go sit in my car with the doors locked and sob. See y’all later.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Bit by the Fashion Bug

I’m kind of amateurishly obsessed with fashion, meaning that I’m obsessed with it, but have no sense of style. Furthermore, I’m too scared of violating fashion rules, or of attracting attention to myself, to actually do anything interesting with fashion or try any new looks. But still, I love to shop and I hatehatehate being too poor to do it.

I hate it so much that, whenever I’m too poor to buy new clothes, I dream about shopping. I dream about finding the most adorable clothes, and not being able to afford them. IT’S TORTURE! I dreamt about shopping the other night, and my mind conjured up an adorable, short-sleeved knit top with a low-cut, rounded neckline. It was so cute! I want it! The worse part is, not only do I not have the money to buy it, but it also doesn’t exist! It was just a dream! Oh, the injustice of it all!

Le sigh.

I currently covet these from Urban Outfitters, in ivory, magenta, or navy (or all of the above, of course), but especially navy:

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Quickie

So, I had my big interview yesterday. The company has all of 16 people, and 10 of them interviewed me. Nice. I spent 30 minutes with each of them (don’t do that math; it won’t come out right). I feel pretty good about it, but I really have no idea how they felt about me. I won’t hear back for at least TWO WEEKS! Yikes!


Okay, that’s all that’s happened lately. Tonight, I help Jacque move into her very own apartment! So exciting! I’m hungry now, but what to eat? I’m craving something deep-fried…