Like, oh my god, I'm like, back in the Valley! Ugh, whatever!

For those of you that ever thought that Valley Girls talked like my subject line, you'd be wrong. They did in Clueless, but not down here where I live, and I am in The Valley. Not that I can speak for the air headed teenage population, but, just so you know, I am a Valley Girl now, and I still have relatively good diction, thankyouverymuch!

Anyway, I am back in the Valley; Dad and I split from Alameda around 11am this morning and got here around 7ish. The drive was amusing, if just because of the following:

• A recollection of last night, in which I attempted to get friendly with my Dad's cat, Roy
• I also signed my dad up for eHarmony.com, and we laughed loads over my dad's answers (he was honest, don't worry!)
• We dined-and-dashed at the Apricot Tree, this horrible road-side restaurant. Service was extremely slow for both waiting, ordering, and serving, plus the usual "can I get you your water/check/ketchup/clean flatware" stuff. If we'd bothered to ask for the check and then get change, we would have been there for another hour. Do I feel bad? No. :P
• I got to explain all about the tracks I put on last year's Turkey CD compilation. Basically, it's a CD of your favorite songs that you've found in the past year, and Dad had never heard of many of my choices, which went on the 6 "Ultimate" volumes (there were 2 "original" volumes, based off the original Turkey Tapes from the 80s). Dad especially liked the addition of Elvis' "A Little Less Conversation" and John Sykes/Blue Murder's "Cautionary Warning".

Of course, my Dad picked me up pretty early yesterday night (7:30ish), so I had to rush home from Classic Bowl in Pacifica, where I'd gone with Crystal, Maggie, Richard, Evie, Eva, and Harry. Stephanie and Katia had been with us earlier in the day, but they both had other obligations that took them away early. Crystal gave me a nifty new journal, and Katia gave me a new addition for my bookmark collection-- an Aslan (Chronicles of Narnia) bookmark! YAY!

I didn't get to see "Memoirs of a Geisha" like I originally planned; the 5:50 show at the Century 21 was sold out, so that's how we ended up going bowling. I hope I'll be able to see it (and go ice skating, another canceled plan that we'd made for SF) with Scott in San Diego when I go on the 29th; I'm staying through the 2nd! Mom even gave me a nice new outfit and 2 new sweaters to wear down there, plus some hair glitter, a necklace and earrings, and a jeweled barrette. I do think I'll look smashing... ^_~

I ended up forgetting my flash drive there... keeerap! But at least Mom bought my laptop (she already gave me $80; she owes me $920. I shaved about $500 off for her payment toward my Driver's Ed lessons and the bits of money she gave me over the course of two weeks. She'll probably pay in installments, so it'll keep me afloat until I get paid for working at the bookstore (gotta call tomorrow and go in on Thursday, before I leave for SD) and the ITR job (training starts on the 9th). Worse, Jimbo and Richie put Stepmaniamax on my laptop, and I tried to burn it onto a CD and DVD, but the software or somesuch shit wouldn't let me.

So... staplerx or richlikesmaids, where did you get Stepmaniamax from? And if I can't download it or get a CD/DVD of it from either of you two, could someone please help my mom burn the CD? ^^; That would be nice...

Long story short (as I'm never good with recalling many events after not updating for a while), I've finished and sent off my fic for the dmhgficexchange, and I've got my last entry for the yuugiouxmasfic ready as well (though both are late). I had a good time with my friends, and while I ended up mostly broke (of my own funds) I did leave NOT broke, which is a good thing. I plan on buying Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari, because I got addicted to it at the party at Bob's house (while I played Jimbo and Marc). I ended up falling asleep at the aforementioned party, during Life of Brian. ;_; I couldn't help it! Mom waking up for work at 5:30am had ME waking up around then too, so I was exhausted by 8:30pm...

WDKY22 is also done, but I'm still waiting for someone to get back to me. LuvinAoshi has updated several chapters of an FMA fic in the meantime; I wonder if I've been forgotten about? ;_; Why can't there be a mass list of people willing to beta for certain pairings in certain fandoms? a_white_rain, doesn't that sound like a good idea for a community or something? (I ask you because you're in charge of weekly_ygo)

I would like to thank pockyken, schmollieollie, winterwing3000, and rhapsody_dragon for cheering me up when I was a bit low at first! Also, MANY, MANY, MANY huge thanks to guardian_kysra for the faboo present (I will be scanning the pic part of it soon-- can I color it in Photoshop CS, too?) and the New Years Wishes. For any last minute well-wishers, please donate to Kysra's Scanner Fund! Contact me for more info or sort back through my journal a few entries to find the donation post. If we don't get enough by New Year's, I'll donate the rest myself. :)

Mom and Dad really frustrate me at times... for various reasons which I suppose I can get into later. But how many people think that sometimes their parents are much more immature than they are?

To Do:

• clean room, now that I've brought a ton of stuff with me from SF
• scan pics, including the unfinished/uncolored WDKY 1000 review/2nd Anniversary pic (inc. icon for winterwing3000) and Kysra's Christmas pic for me ^^
• free up disk space for the new Stepmania, Hana Yori Dango j-drama episodes, and Sims 2 again
• Go to the mall to get Proactiv (anyone use it before? How were your results? Is it worth the $60 for the full package?) and Katamari Damacy set
• Call the bookstore to let Mike know I'll come in for paperwork on Thursday
• Free up enough disk space to torrent/seed the Full Moon Sagashite Episodes (probably in sets of 3 episodes a piece, for ricoddr)

And finally, some fantastic news... I'm published! I think I may have announced this before, but in the time I was away, I actually got the book "Authors of Tomorrow" in which my "Success Comes Second" essay was published. Now I'm competing against 250+ other people for a $1000 scholarship from Elder & Leemaur Publishers! ^^ Wish me luck! (It'd be nice to write a funny short story/1st person POV about my recent adventures, esp. those with dad. "The Journey South" or somesuch would make a good title.)

...I feel like I'm forgetting something... but whatever. Tomorrow: Palomar with Dad and Steve. TEH YAY!