Katherine E Bennett

Reposting this list on my LJ, with embedded links, mostly for my family's useage. It still puzzles me to some extent, when talking with other people, to find that their family does NOT have a tradition of making Christmas gift lists. Without a gift list, how can people possibly know what to shop for? How can people be at all assured of receiving things they want?

I guess the idea is that you're supposed to know the person well enough to know what they want or need, and that the receiver is supposed to be gracious enough to appreciate whatever they get. Which is fair, I guess. But this way seems much more ruthlessly practical.

Cards are 60% done and will probably be sent out this week sometime. Need more stamps!


( Christmas list below cut )


Also, oh man, you have GOT to see my hair.

( I miss... )

....Japan.

I had a good Halloween yesterday! After getting out of training, I went over to baka_deshi's house for the party! We carved the pumpkins we'd bought on Thursday. Here are the ones I carved:
( Cut for large images )

We also had all sorts of delicious and adorable Halloween themed foods, including mummy hot dogs, ghost bears, and arm buiscits dipped in quicksand (peanut butter and cinnimon, as far as I could tell.) We had a LOT of candy prepared in case of trick or treaters, but sadly the wet weather I think discouraged many kids. We did get a few, all very adorable, as well as some "Trick or vote!" canvassers.

Dressed in our costumes (I was Robin) we walked to the grocery store and back to get marshmellows and matches to light the pumpkins. Didn't see many other costumes at that hour, but of course as I was going home at 2 AM I saw plenty. :p Ah, college towns.

It was a great way to spend my first Halloween in three years, and I can't wait for christmas!

So it seems that after 2 years of living in a Japanese apartment block, I underestimated the importance of noise controls on my new living space.

Especially if I'm going to be working a night shift. --Well honestly, working a day shift wouldn't be much better; people tend to throw (very) loud parties with floor-thumping music late on week nights.

Brought to you by now 3 straight hours of an industrial-grade vacuum pump running directly beneath my window, making speech impossible, let alone sleep. Apparently they are digging a hole, in the next lot over, and using the vacuum to suck up the dirt they dig up. Why they are doing it this way instead of, for example, hauling away the dirt in wheelbarrows the old-fashioned way, I do not know, if it's not to be deliberately obnoxious to all of the surrounding apartments.

I GOT THE JOB \o/

After biting my nails all of yesterday (they were supposed to call to let me know yesterday, but they never did) I got the call this morning and I am in! I need to go buy something expensive in celebration. Maybe a mattress.

Tomorrow I go in to fill out paperwork, and I start monday the 27th.

I don't normally like to do all that many politics on this blog, but this really just took my breath away:

1. Health care. You've heard all the pretty phrases from Obama and Biden about how health care should be universal. And we all feel bad for the uninsured guy with a bad hip, emphysema and diabetes. But here's the problem: He's not you. You're not going to be that guy for another fifty years.

In one breathtaking paragraph, this guy has managed to combine outright falsehoods, misleading implications, faulty logic, and vile amorality. I just... wow. I can't mock this. It speaks for itself.

There is a Daisou 100 yen shop in the Seattle downtown, easily accessible by buses! This means I will never have to do without cheap, adorable non-grocery consumables again! \o/

Okay, I wasn't going to do this yet because I didn't want to spend any more chunks of money until I got a job (still haven't yet, btw :( ) but I've decided that today I'm going to go out and buy a desk. Sitting ont he floor like this is starting to give me serious back and leg aches. >__<

In other news, absolutely no progress on trying to get my missing money back from Japan. Nobody I've talked to has been any help at all -- the embassy says there's nothing they can do, the JET program says it's not their problem. But it really should be. It kind of IS their job to take care of legal scuffles that the JETs find themselves in, and it's beginning to look like this is what this is going to have to be. :\

Also no job yet. Starbucks finally got back to me and said that they "will not be following up on my application at this time." I'm not panicking yet because I still have a second interview on Tuesday from the first IT help position I interviewed with back in September. I really, really hope that goes well. If that turns out to be a wash too, THEN I'll start panicking.

Spore, as you may know, is a recent video game in which the player designs, creates, and 'evolves' a custom critter through different stages of historical development (animal, prehistory, industrial, and space-age.) There has been controversy on both sides in response to the game: some people who are offended that it seems to be promoting evolution, and some people who are offended that it seems to be promoting intelligent design. The mystery of how it can offend both groups at once is, I feel, best summed up in the second to last paragraph of this person's post:

Please understand my beliefs

Some of you may remember that four months ago, when I usually have my birthday, I decided to defer my birthday on the grounds that I was in a very bad position, living-wise, to receive any new gifts. I asked people to wait on my birthday until August 18th (well, now September 18th.) Therefore, my birthday is tomorrow!

Apartment Warming amazon wishlist is here! Go wild! Please?

For non-internet related things, the new address, starting tomorrow, is:
5222 University Way NE
Apt. #301A
Seattle, WA 98105

(Also -- this friday is Talk Like A Pirate Day. Arr!)