Category Archives: Life

The one thing that I would change about my Kindle Fire is the keyboard. The OS doesn’t let me switch to Swype or FlexT9, a similar app that I’ve actually purchased from Amazon’s Appstore. The Kindle’s keyboard isn’t entirely like that on my iPod, but it works better on the iPod, because it’s so much smaller. However, the size of the Kindle Fire keyboard isn’t the only thing that bugs me, it’s the content. The dictionary doesn’t contain basic words like “recognize”. I’m constantly doubting myself because I type a word but it shows the red line indicating that it’s not a real word. Basic works that you would expect a dictionary to know are missing, while it includes hundreds of useless words.

It’s also sexist. What do I mean? The Kindle Fire’s dictionary doesn’t include any word that describes female anatomy. Vagina? Nope. There’s no vulva or clitoris, either. There’s not even any nipples.  Of course, “penis” was in the dictionary. Now, I’m sure it wasn’t Amazon’s intent, but it means that the Kindle fire doesn’t include medical terminology for the human body, but it’s oddly suspicious that it’s only words that describe female anatomy. One could argue that Amazon wants to avoid words for possibly adult terms, but then again there’s that reference to “penis.”

Am I actually offended? Well, no, but I am curious.

Do-it-myself, that is. I kept seeing all these sunburst mirror tutorials made with a little hot glue and some clothes pins. Everyone kept saying how easy and cheap it was to make. Everything was at the dollar store. I was convinced that I could do it, too.

So I headed to the dollar store and found me some clothes pins, but they had no mirrors I could use. Michael’s had some, but they sure weren’t $1. While there, I picked up some wood glue and some scrapbook paper for decorate the shit out of my future mirror. This sure was more expensive than everyone else’s project, but I figured I could decorate the clothes pins with pretty paper until I found a mirror. Of course, I needed an utility knife to finish it off.

I went home and glued a bunch of paper on a bunch of clothes pins, but that’s not any fun, and I couldn’t find the right mirror, so I stopped for a while. The other day, I randomly found the right type of mirror at the dollar store and picked it up, so I finally sat down glue my pins onto the mirror. I found out/remembered a couple things:

• Hot glue is hot
• I sure use that burned finger for everything
• Hot glue is also messy
• Apparently, it’s harder for people–like roommates–to remember that having two pairs of scissors allows you to keep on for non-food stuff. Mine was nice and sticky from popsicles. Yay.
• Lining up clothes pins is a little harder than I figured
• The whole thing wasn’t much fun

I lucked out, I had exactly enough clothes pins and hot glue to finish the project. It’s drying, upside down, and I’m afraid to move it. You see, the glue acted less like glue and more like little silicone grips. I think it’ll work fine. I mean, it’s not like the pins will fall off. Maybe I should have gotten better glue. This is only a glue gun and sticks from a 100Yen store in Japan.. from like five years ago. Does hot glue go bad?

Anyway, let me know if you want pictures. I don’t think I like this whole project after all. Everyone else’s look so much better..

Wednesday we went to the Wisconsins Dells, a tourist city about two hours south. We headed out to Robyn’s to meet up with people Wendy piked into Robyn’s car and I went with Ashley and Nate–who drives like a madman, so we made crazy good time even though we missed our exit.

We had season opener cards to get into many attractions free or super cheap, so we were going to mini golf, but I saw that one of the water parks also had mini golf and such, so we decided just to go there, instead. First, we took a bus tour of the Dells on the Wisconsin River, which had a few stops at places with views and concession stands. That took enough time that we headed to Noah’s Ark, which is billed as “America’s Largest Waterpark,” but I’m sure it really isn’t. We were going to do dry stuff like golfing first, but it turns out that the golf and other dry activities were all under construction. This makes me sad, because I had been looking forward to that more.

Even though I didn’t plan on getting in the water as I’m not a fan of it, we did decide to go on one ride. It looked fairly dry, but my shorts and tank got wet enough that I said “Fuck it!” and we wound up going on a few more rides, including one of those Splash Mountain-like coasters with the giant splash at the end. I wound up having a lot of fun; although, the walking was hard on me feet and I soon ditched my shoes for walking barefoot on the pavement, which was hotter and only slightly less painful.

We finished off at Uno’s, an “Italian” grill that had some pretty good noms. I had been hungry, but wasn’t by the time we got there,which made me sad. At dinner, I became ridiculously tired, and wound up heading home with Robyn while Ashley and Nate stayed to hang out with her cousin. On the way home, we had silly conversations fueled by geekery and lack of sleep.

Yesterday, I was incredibly tired, a little sunburned and so sore. No one else seems to be as sore as I am, but my legs definitely felt like lead. The bottom of my feet are still sore, of course, but I slept pretty well once I finally fell asleep. Even though I spent the entire day outside in the hot, hot sun, coming home to a humid bedroom was definitely much worse. Last night, I realized that my ankles are sunburned but not my legs. How does that work?

Robyn asked if I’d go to Wisconsin Dells next year. I can’t say “Yes” without hesitation. It’s the same thing with Wizard World Comic Con. I had fun, but it’s the type of thing that I just need time to recuperate from. Noah’s Ark was, luckily, free, and I didn’t spend a whole lot (besides being double charged at the concession stand, which I called and sorted out as soon as I realized), but I need long periods of down time, it seems. I’m not like people who can do things repeatedly.

Yesterday, Wendy and I headed over to Robyn’s to watch Sherlock with her friends. I’d heard plenty of good things about the show, and was planning on working. I wound up paying far more attention to the show than I expected. It was both witty and clever. Despite there being only three episodes in each season, it’s pretty good. We didn’t quite finish both seasons, but I’m looking forward to that eventually.

So, have you ever been to a water park? Does anyone out there hate the idea of swimming suits as much as I do? Do you look for bad tattoos on people when their clothes are off? Ever done anything that you weren’t excited about but wound up liking it anyway?

I’m no fool. I know that I burn. I know my white skin doesn’t tan, not really. I know that I should wear sunblock and, in fact, I did on Saturday, which I spent all day at the pool. I diligently checked my skin for any signs of mistreatment from the sun, even though it was cloudy most of the day. I saw nothing and.. then I guess I forgot all about it–until, that is, I realized I was bright red, but only in splotches. I’d burned one shoulder, one leg, one half of my chest and all my upper back. Even though I had the tub of sunblock in my bag, it didn’t go to any good use. I saw every one reapplying, but thought nothing of it.

Obviously, burns happens when you least expect it, and you need to reapply product before you see them. I don’t know why that didn’t occur to me. I guess it’s because I never spend that much time out in the sun? Luckily, it looks worse than it is. It’s a little uncomfortable but not itchy. There’s no blistering and I don’t think it will even peel. The red has quickly faded, at least to me.

In the end, was it worth it? Absolutely! I’ll be more diligent next time, but I had fun with old friends and making new ones. I dipped my feet and waded into the lake. I played with others’ kids and enjoyed some grillin’ food. I felt so normal and stress-free! I needed that. Even though I’d only had an hour of sleep, I enjoyed  relaxing under the best-placed tree I’ve ever met! And looking at this:

Mission Lake

Saturday evening, I invited a few friends over to play games and have a lowkey birthday bash. I was worried it would be too boring for people, but it wound up being quite fun. A smaller group of us went out to dinner beforehand, and I enjoyed some food from Olive Garden. We retired to my place, where we played several rounds of a game called celebrities, which I found online. Everyone liked it more than I figured, and it was funny to see glimpse into how people thought. We enjoyed some snack foods and a movie–Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Everyone left at a different time–and not everyone who I invited could show up–but it was good nonetheless.

There were no presents or alcohol, but that’s okay with me. There was a little cop-pulling-one-of-my-friends incident, but that seemed to resolve itself. All in all, a success.