Some hugely drastic changes -- Part 1

ARRRRGH, I just spent the whole morning working on this post -- so that I'd have the rest of the day to do my homework -- and Firefox crashed, and even though I saved frequently, NOTHING GOT SAVED! That can't be right... but I can't find my post anywhere!

So... from the top! There's so many things that have been going on, but because I'm now running out of time (THANKS, DUMBASS FIREFOX!), I'll have to settle for doing this in three parts.

However, I will tell you of the major developments up front, and this November, as many of you know, my best feline friend in the world, the most smartest cat ever, Violet, died horribly.
` This was her just after the last time I left off my blog posts:

Yes, she's really dead. However, we got a new kitten that really reminds us of Violet! He's even super-smart like her, so we can have the same kind of Special-Cat love for him. (Not to say that we don't have Special-Ed-Cat love for Vada....)

What else? Well, in September, Lucas was in a couple more acting projects -- you can view one of them below -- it's HILARIOUS!! And he looks like a little boy!

Then, since October began, my fiance Lucas has been teaching karate at his third dojo -- our house! Also, we got two new roomates and they don't appear to be psycho!

I myself have also changed, going through another stage of childhood development -- so now my brain's less backwards than before! YAY!

So, time to re-write my journal entries (working from my notes). What's first? The weekend of September 11 and 12. I didn't write about this, but I took plenty of pictures....

CESSNA SQUADRON ATTACK! Head for the... oh, never mind!

There were also some really old planes as well. Here's a photo of a biplane I took from my house:

This went on all day, and both Violet and I were watching intently. I have more pictures of all this on my Flicker account, link below.


September 12, 2010:

Lighthouse Par-tay! Lucas and I were invited, and conveniently since it was at our next door neighbor's house, he was able to slip out and come back with a couple guitars! Rock out!

Everyone liked him, and they liked me, too! The kids did, especially. I spent probably most of the time with the kids, and they thought I was awesome, and commented that I was different from the other grown-ups.
` Yes, I got along with them so well, it was like... I was one of them! I even encouraged them to use their broken glow-bracelet to write on the patio! Here's a picture of the fireworks, taken from the balcony, with the kids down in the yard playing with their glow-bracelets.

And here's a close-up of the fireworks, with Whidbey Island and a ferry in the background:

A good time was had by all -- I even got invited to the youngest girl's birthday party at Sky-something-or-other, which is basically this place that's one huge trampoline and... it sounds like fun! (I didn't go, though.)
` I took plenty of photos -- even of Vada keeping tabs on us over the fence, and of Roommate Troy and his Naruto crew, who were hanging out downstairs with Roommate Andrew.


In the following days...

The crazy, terminally-ill guy who had taken Michael Tuckman's TV station hostage has finally died. In his last week of life, Tuckman offered him millions of dollars so that he could at least have whatever he wanted, and so his widow could have something, but he refused.
` Now the TV station is up for auction, and we're hoping that Tuckman gets it.

I'm getting over my (allegedly Rick-induced) infections (more than one kind!), and my car is getting fixed enough so that I can get tabs so I won't get pulled over again! 'Cause I got pulled over, right in my own neighborhood in fact! (I got off easy, though....)

I'm in school again now. I'd study as much as I need to, yet I need to give back a library book. Decisions, decisions!

Also... it turns out that at least one of the kiwi plants is a female after all!

Yay, baby kiwis! They're too late for the Farmer's Market, though....

Speaking of sex, Lucas was very amused to find gay porn downloaded onto his MacPro, as Rick did not delete it off the 'downloaded' display. *Ahem.*
` Yes, it's pretty obvious now that it was Rick who stole Lucas' debit card and used it to download porn off of Lucas' computer. And it's gay porn!
` So not only was Rick a closeted alcoholic and a closeted JERK, but he was also a closeted closet case! No wonder he never had a REAL girlfriend!

Cutest picture of Vada and Violet EVER!

Also, I was going to show you these clips of a movie that Lucas is in -- it's a Sci-Fi comedy. There are many clones of Lucas in this movie, so he's 'beside himself' on screen once more.
` In these clips, Lucas sings this messed-up military song that's really funny, but they were only up for a short amount of time (just to show the actors snippets of the final product), so they're not there to see anymore.
` In fact, I was originally going to start my next post at this time so that I could put them up for all to see, but then, even more things happened:


September 25, 2010:

I wrote this letter to the Skeptalk email group:

You're not going to believe this, but I'm at someone's house right now and retired NFL player Norm Johnson is trying to get my fiance and some other people to sign up for MyShoppingGenie, which is a network marketing scam.

[I included these videos, which are taped off someone's TV screen. It's a news investigation, and I found, in my own investigation, that all this stuff is true, and more!]



[Here's where it really gets crazy....]



I included other links as well, and collectively we were able to put together a better picture of what was going on (which was difficult because My Shopping Genie, which is only the latest name for this scam, had a huge number of web pages saying "it's not a scam!" because, you know, they're trying to prevent you from seeing other people's accounts).

Before I go any farther, yes, it really was Norm Johnson. Here's a really bad picture of him and our friend Mark Johnston the Jack Sparrow.

Neither of them have made any money so far, but they sure have a lost a lot, since they have to pay a mandatory thirty dollars each month. Also, here's Lucas getting enthusiastic:

I don't think Smeagol bought it, though.

Basically, the investigator guy was right, but Lucas thought it was all just sensationalism and refused to look at all the other stuff I had found because he was convinced that they were so biased that they were not even worth clicking on!
` This despite the fact that his previous network marketing ventures had never worked out. Gee, I wonder why? Well, there's a great explanation for that. There's a lot to it, although I think it's put best here.
` To condense the ensuing weeks, Lucas basically refused to look at all the stuff I'd found, he wouldn't even read the emails of the other people on Skeptalk explaining to him the difference between network marketing, franchises and movie distribution (he kept saying, "I already know this stuff!").
` Finally, he did his own damn research and agreed it was a bad idea for various reasons, though not because he already knew that over 99% of network marketers lose money because the structure of the business is mathematically set up for failure.

He wasn't convinced that this scheme was no different than others, and he was insulted that anyone would point out the fact that it was run by a poor, persecuted scam artist, so he set out to look for information on My Shopping Genie in particular.
` Among other things, he found that their patented copycat software is inferior to other versions -- one of the things that he wouldn't listen to when I told him! -- and that they won't even tell you how much money people generally make on average.
` Probably negative-900 dollars, just like all the other ones!

It was a crazy couple of weeks for me, in any case!

September 26, 2010 -- Lucas and Mark Johnston were both in contest entries for GoDaddy! Not long after, we could view them online!

Though the original links were broken, I found the one Lucas was in. It's very different from the movie clip I saw where he's playing a guard -- he looks like a little boy! Ha!

Unfortunately, the 'embed' feature doesn't seem to be working, so you'll have to click on this link to watch it.

"Did your mother dress you today?"
` "No?"
` BLEEP!

There were two others I saw on the queue, and I thought at first glance that they must be the other two -- Mark's and the old lady with the shopping cart that Lucas knocks over in Sex-A-Peel, but they were both the same video! Evidently, he's thrice-over popular!

I remember the one with Mark had the guy asking, "Do you have a tattoo of a rainbow on your back?"
` "No."
` BLEEP!
` "It's a prism!"

And the one with the old lady: "Did you come here alone?"
` "Yes."
` BLEEP!
` "Well, I thought I did."

Ah, if only lie detectors could actually function like that, they would actually be worth a whole lot!


September 29, 2010:

A couple mornings ago, the wrench that Lucas has been using to keep his wood cabinet shut was mysteriously missing. Also, there was a 'Vacant' sign in mailbox! According to the one of the postal workers, the only way that could happen was if someone were to fill out 'change of address' forms for everyone in the house!

I smell a Rick!

In other news, Mike the Mechanic and Joel with his minibike (and Max and Sylvia the collies) have been over, and Mike's been fixing Lucas' clutch, which apparently was almost at the snapping point.

The wrench went missing in between the time when Mike started to fix the truck and when the clutch parts came in, while Lucas' truck was sitting up on blocks for a few days. Perhaps Rick saw that Mike was over again and wanted to frame him?

P.S. Here's Lucas defending Violet from one of the collies! (She's on the railing.)

September 30, 2010:

Lucas has done some more talking to the postal workers, and apparently the 'Vacant' sign just had to do with our mailman reminding himself that Rick didn't live here anymore... or something like that. We're still trying to figure it out.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll be back with Part 2 -- October! -- fairly soon. (When I say 'fairly', I mean THIS MONTH.)
` It's now almost four in the afternoon -- it took me FOUR HOURS to do just this much. (Once again, THANKS DUMBASS FIREFOX!) For more of my excellent photos on Flickr, check out the September 2010 set! There's a lot more that I didn't have room for!

Oh jeez... I had planned to have had my homework done by now, but of course, I'm so DETERMINED to finish what I should have done in September that I finally DID IT... and now Andrew's all blasting music and stuff in his room, below my office.
` In case y'all wonder why I'm still not so enthusiastic about blogging -- it takes a while. And also, fiascos like this sometimes still happen. Well, gotta go.