dysphoric dreams

Jake "The Bulldog" at the bus stop

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 03:17:00 +0000

Jake "The Bulldog" at the bus stop
Originally uploaded by Christel Weixelman

We got a new fish. Right now we have Suzuki the pleco, Truncated Butt the heart parrot and Jake "The Bulldog" the blood parrot. So far Jake is traumatized like most blood parrots, and TB cared about him for about 10 seconds, then went back into hiding.

Burninated

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:00:00 +0000

This makes the third time I've burned myself on the boobs. It's not like they really have that much surface area so I don't get why this is such an issue. Last time it was boiling hot tea down the front of my shirt, and the time before that it was boiling hot lentil soup down the front of my shirt. This time was slightly more interesting and gross.

I was heating up some wax in the microwave, because yes I do my own... waxing. And our microwave is on top of the fridge because that's the only place we have room for it. I heated up the wax just slightly too long and it was completely liquid, rather than still kind of viscous like it's supposed to be. I didn't know this when I took it out of the micro and I spilled it on myself, primarily landing on the left side of my left boob. It hurt but I didn't think it was really that hot until I applied the fabric strip to pull the wax off (fastest way to remove it really, since it's super sticky) and took off a good deal of my skin with it. Joel went and got me some Solarcaine (bad idea! Do NOT spray lidocaine where you don't have any skin left. Oh god, it burns ussssss!) and some big bandages and surgical tape, and now I have a big bandage all taped to my boob. At least it's not where you can see it this time, when I have clothes on anyway. Not really into the side-age look I guess. I can guarantee there will be a dark colored scar there for a year minimum. I can still barely see where I spilled the tea before, and it was over a year ago. Maybe two.

I'm actually surprised it doesn't hurt that bad. Keeping it covered and protected makes a huge difference. I am a huge weenie with burns. I usually have to keep ice on for the rest of the day in order to even function. This time I just went ahead and did my waxing, though it was rather painful till I got it bandaged up. So the moral of this story is ... what the hell is wrong with me?

I did finish up five Art-O-Mat blocks tonight though. I really need to get a bunch of those done. They ran out a really long time ago.

I need to get some sleep now. I'm so very very tired. And I have to work from 9 to 11 tomorrow pretty much. I got a second job at a particular big box retailer that really likes the color red, and I have to close there after I get off my other job. I have an hour and a half in between during which I fully plan on getting lunch/dinner at Panera Bread. But Wednesday I don't work at all till 4pm. So there will be some sleeping in. I just have to get through tomorrow.

So obviously

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 01:54:00 +0000

Joel passed the drug test and got the job, or else I'd have been on here bitching. It pays well and he likes it ok.

I got a second job at Target. I have orientation tomorrow evening. We'll see how long I last. I'll be in Jewelry. The extra money should be nice anyway.

Captain Kragen the tiger barb went to be with Jesus this afternoon. Well, I'm not actually sure it was Captain Kragen. It could have been Munch or Fin or Detective Benson. They all look the same. We got a bad rash of algae and though that didn't bother them (we couldn't see them because it looked like the Chicago River on St. Patrick's Day) the algae killer we put in the tank caused the PH and alkalinity to drop. Some of the fish didn't take that so well. One of them died last night and one died while I was at work today.

We've been calling the heart parrot cichlid Truncated Butt, or TB for short. He is much bigger and seems fine, though he still hates us.

Yay! Joel got a job.

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:27:00 +0000

Finally. It's been a year now. He got it through a staffing agency. It's in Kent. It's for some company that makes business cards for huge corporations and he'll be working in the warehouse driving a forklift and keeping track of orders and accounts. He just has to pass a drug test which... should be ok. It's been at least 10 weeks.

I'm thinking about moving into a studio in this same building maybe this summer. It's too small in here but I like the location. Studios come up for rent pretty often. Joel can now afford to stay in this apartment himself if I move, so it's all cool.

Google Image Search Survey

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 03:50:00 +0000

The rules:
1) Answer questions and type into google image search
2) Post pictures from first results page

1. Age at next birthday:

2. A place you'd like to travel:

3. Your favorite place:

4. Your favorite objects:

5. Your favorite food:

6. Your favorite animals:

7. Your favorite color:

8. Town where you were born:

9. Town where you live:

10. Name of a past pet:

11. First name of a past love:

12. Best friend's nickname:

13. Your screen name/nickname:

14. Your first name:

15. Your middle name:

16. Your last name:

17. Bad habit of yours:

18. First job:

19. Grandmother's name:

20. Your college major:

I love/hate Lush

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 08:07:00 +0000

Lush, if you don't know, is a bath and body company out of the UK. They have a store in the Westlake center in Seattle. I went there to buy a shower gel last week and the clerk asked me what kind of hair I have. I told her it was dry and frizzy and she gave me a sample size of one of their solid shampoo bars. I tried it tonight and it's so much better than the stuff from Whole Foods I've been using. It's almost 10$ for a 3.5 oz bar, but it's supposed to last a really long time, so maybe it will not actually wind up costing that much more, if at all. The sample one they gave me doesn't even look any smaller. It's about an ounce I'd guess, so I'll see how long it lasts me. Usually my head itches after I wash my hair, but not this time. And my hair feels so smooth. It was the Trichomania one that they gave me. Smells coconutty. I want to try the solid conditioner too now. Maybe I can get them to give me a sample when I buy the shampoo bar.

I've been using Joel's old seriously crappy lap top since my computer died in June. I am looking for another one now. Probably on Craigslist. I'm kind of looking for an old classic iMac, though if I found a really good deal on a PC I wouldn't pass it up. I gave joel 35$ to pay for a year's membership with Flexcar so that once I find one I want I can actually go pick it up. Plus I need to go to IKEA. Really bad.

There's a vegetarian hot dog place by the convention center called Cyber Dogs which I have been trying ot get Joel to go to with me since I got here. We finally went yesterday and he really likes them, so maybe we'll go back soon. They have soy cheese there too. I got one with chili, salsa, avocado, soy cheese, and some other stuff on it. It was a huge amount of food.

I'm in the Itty Bitty Art Kit Book!

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 09:56:00 +0000

I'm in the Itty Bitty Art Kit Book!
Originally uploaded by Christel Weixelman

Published by Scholastic. I guess they aren't out yet to buy because I searched the ISBN and didn't find it. They will sell for $9.99. They actually used a composite of two of my nail art pics. The photo credit is in the front of the book. I got two copies as per my contract.

New job

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:23:00 +0000

Business has been dreadfully slow, and not gotten any better since black friday, so I decided it was time to start looking for another job. I got hired at the new Inspa location that just opened. The dress code is 100% different from what Penney's and I owned only one piece of clothing that would work for the new job. I will have to wear khaki pants, white dress shirts, and navy blue sweaters.

I took all my stuff to Crossroads Trading Company to see if I could trade it in and they only found two items worth buying (to be fair, most of it was out of season and not from trendy mall stores) a pair of uncomfortable leopard print pumps and a top from Hot Topic. I found a pair of khaki pants and a white dress shirt there for only 5 cents more than the store credit I got, so it was a pretty good trade I thought. I went to Goodwill, Value Village, and Salvation Army and am now up to 6 pairs of khaki pants, 4 white dress shirts (including one that I already had) and two navy blue sweaters. The white dress shirts are proving hardest to find. There's not much out there that isn't stained, butt ugly, or covered in multicolored embroidery or some other crap. Plus I'm just picky about them anyway. If they're not fitted then they make me look huge. They kind of make me look huge anyway.

I think this should hold me until I start getting paid there. Tomorrow I have to call Penney's and find out how to move my 401K over. I also have to go down to Inspa and do all the hiring paperwork. The pay is kind of different. They have a no tipping policy and they pay hourly, not on commission. The non-booked rate is the same for everyone, and the booked rate varies depending on experience and what you do. For me the booked rate is twice the non-booked rate. I did the math and it works out to being the same or better than I was doing at Penney's. The only way I'd be making a little less is if I was booked 7-8 hours a day, but frankly if I was booked that much I wouldn't be complaining about it. What sucks is that I will no longer have cash coming in all week long (though lately that hasn't been too reliable anyway). What also sucks is that I will no longer have large chunks of my income that are mostly untaxed. What also, also sucks is that I won't have a 20% discount at Penney's anymore. And my commute will be slightly longer. And no more free haircuts/color cause Inspa doesn't do hair. But I will get a full 40 hours, and eberyone there I met seems pretty nice and they have an autoclave for the implements which I really like. And the reviews on the other locations mention them being booked all the time for nails, especially in the summer and around the holidays. So I hope it will be worth switching because I love Penney's, but unfortunately I need to be able to pay my bills.

gossip

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 06:33:00 +0000

So I was reading The Stranger Beside me by Ann Rule today at work and Oanhy's client was sitting across from me getting a pedicure. She asked me if that was Ann Rule's book about Ted Bundy and I said yes and she said well I knew "Meg Anders", the woman he was engaged to for a long time (also while he was committing the murders in WA and CO). She said she had been in denial for a long time about it, and that Ted had always been very good to her and her daughter. She also said that Meg had been upset with Ann after the book came out but she didn't extrapolate on why.

An open letter to the person who stole my coat from the coat closet at work

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 06:02:00 +0000

Well why'd you do it? Didn't you think I'd need it? It's the middle of November! So are you some kind of mean jerk or something? What are you gonna do with it anyway? It's not even a nice coat. It's not even a CLEAN coat. Geez!

Bento breakfast and lunch for Nov 10 - 07

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 07:17:00 +0000

Bento breakfast and lunch for Nov 10 - 07
Originally uploaded by Christel Weixelman

Okay, the only reason I am posting this one is because if I don't my mom thinks I am not eating. The breakfast is from Wednesday which I did not eat. I got up to get ready for work on Wednesday and my parrot cichlid that I have had for over a year was dead from ick. I didn't go to work and I felt too sick to eat. We treated the tank asap, but my other parrot cichlid died Thursday afternoon. I didn't feel at all like making a bento Thursday night. I took a soy yogurt and an orange. Joel wanted me to make daal when I got home from work today so I figured I might as well pack some for tomorrow.

oh hell

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 07:33:00 +0000

This morning my beautiful fish Boo Boo passed away. The tank had an outbreak of ick from the new fish and it just happened too rapidly for me to have time to do anythingfor him. Suzuki the pleco and Futomaki the parrot cichlid are both still alive but barely hanging on at this point. I am not handling it too well.

Happy Pills

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 06:38:00 +0000

Happy Pills
Originally uploaded by Christel Weixelman

I made these at work today. They'r for sale on Etsy.

Stuffed Things!

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:10:00 +0000

Stuffed Things!
Originally uploaded by Christel Weixelman

Can't ... stop... need more... yarn.

blood parrot cichlid - crochet style

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 02:00:00 +0000

blood parrot cichlid - crochet style
Originally uploaded by Christel Weixelman

Oh yeah. I also made this. :P

Boo Boo and Futomaki

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 01:55:00 +0000

Boo Boo and Futomaki
Originally uploaded by Christel Weixelman

This is our new fish, Futomaki (that's Boo Boo chasing him). He's a purple parrot cichlid. Joel said that for the last hour Boo Boo has been trying to "make tuna paste" out of Futomaki, so Joel has been putting various pieces of crockery in the tank so there are lots of hidng places. He is also telling Futomaki to "quit being a wiener" and defend himself. Sigh.

What I Did Over Summer Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 10:35:00 +0000

I got a Totoro bento and you don't. :P

I have used it every day since I got it. And, um... I went to a used/vintage clothing store today and tried on 5 dresses and bought one. It was, of course, the most expensive one. But it was still only 22$. It's black with 3/4 sleeves and an a-line skirt. It's just above my knees, and though I prefer them to be just below my knees (I do not have pretty knees), it fits very well otherwise and is generally awesome. And it is polyester so just myabe I will not ruin it.

Then Joel and I walked to the post office that has a 24 hr kiosk and on the way back we went to a Mexican restaurant and I had three chicken soft tacos (which I only ate 1 1/2 of) with rice and beans and chips and lots of pico, hold the cheese. Joel got chicken taquitoes. We gave the leftovers to some homeless guy and rode a bus home cause it was raining and i did not have my coat. Now my throat hurts. :(

Elliot

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 10:23:00 +0000

Elliot - hand made stuffy swap
Originally uploaded by Christel Weixelman

This is supposed to be a baby elephant but it kind of looks like something from the cantina band to me. It's the most complicated animal I have attempted, to date. Joel asked why his bow tie was on backwards and I yelled at him that he wouldn't understand because he is not a girl.

If you want to get hit on in Seattle...

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 05:12:00 +0000

and you are a girl (are there more men than women here or something?) you need only do one of the following, in my experience.

-be under 30
-be taller than you are wide
-have breasts
-show skin in any quantity
-wear high heels, lip gloss, or perfume
-walk by a construction site

Washing your hair appears to be optional. I'm not even sure that you need to HAVE any hair. If you do all of the things on that list you will not be left alone. Get a fake wedding ring set at Claire's for 8$ and wear it. It will cut down slightly on the ridiculousness.

Yay!

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 01:52:00 +0000

I got a fat check from Art-O-Mat in the mail today so I got to go grocery shopping. I had already made tomorrow's bento up, but I got lots of great bento-y food AND a package of plastic swords for only 99 cents. They are boring colors kind of, but who doesn't love a plastic sword? For tomorrow's bento I was kind of trying to use up some of the odds and ends we've had in the fridge for too long, as well as some of the stuff from Joe's freezer that I would normally never buy and don't have a clue what to do with it. I used a frozen pie crust, some organic blueberries, a few tablespoons of sugar and a muffin tin to make some evil little blueberry pies that fit very well into a bento. They are not the cutest things but they do taste good. It must be the partially hydrogenated lard. I ate one today, saved another for a future lunch, and the other three joel can have.

As you can see I also have some salmon salad wraps, dried cranberries, a little edamame, some oldish broccolini, and the rest of that yellow bell pepper cut into flower shapes. I'm kind of actually looking forward to having lunch tomorrow.

eww

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 23:01:00 +0000

So yesterday I fell and busted up my knee pretty good. It was bleeding a lot when I got home so I just stuck a band-aid on it as quickly as I could so I wouldn't have to deal with it. Today as I sat down I felt the skin on my knee break and all this liquid comes running out from under the bandage. I have a raging infection going on here. I had to swab it with alcohol and re-bandage it and now it hurts even worse than when I initially skinned it.That was the last band aid so I guess I'll have to go get more now.

bad night

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 12:18:00 +0000

I have these dreams all the time where I'm trying to get something done and my body just won't cooperate. I'm trying to call someone and I can't dial the number, or I'm trying to walk and my body just feels heavy and limp, or like I'm trying to move in a big pan of jell-o that someone is moving around. I can't get my nerves and muscles and brain to work in synchronicity and it's literally a nightmare. Sometimes I nearly feel that way in real life as well. Small tasks become impossible, and I have tons of accidents all the time. I get covered in deep black bruises that I don't even remember getting and I run out of band-aids. It's been one of those weeks. If you have to tell somebody that you're lucid then are you really even lucid?

This one's for you Shavonne!

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 01:21:00 +0000

I know I don't update my blog often enough. I know that bored people are depending on me to do it. I don't know how reading this could possibly be better than say, staring at a wall, but just for you I will write something.

So firstly: My friend H.B. is in like the fifth band he's been in called Electric Tape , and they are having a show next Wednesday at the High Dive in Fremont. So I did their poster for them and I don't have to pay the 5$ cover to get in! Here it is. I think it turned out kind of awesome. I'll also be doing a poster for their show coming up in October.

Secondly: I saw a dead body about three blocks from where I live (on Summit and Pine) the other day. It was in an alley. I walked by on my way to work. There were two cops there and a medic wagon. His head was obscured by trash cans, but he was stiff and his arm was kind of sticking up in the air. I know from watching Law and Order that that means he was most likely moved post-rigor. In all likelihood he died of an overdose and his junkie friends freaked out and moved him, but I've been making jokes about the "Summit Street Killer" since then anyways. I used to get off the bus one block away at Pine and Belmont every night, but I have started riding up to Broadway to get off. More people and distinctly fewer dead bodies in that area.

Thirdly: Joel's friend Joe is moving so we got a lamp from Ikea, two huge bottles of Margarita mix, and a freezerful of assorted vegetables and fish. I think I might have to pick me up a bottle of Midori because when you mix it with Margarita mix and a splash of blue curacao it tastes like liquid Skittles. Like I need the calories.

Fourthly: I think it's kind of crazy how much Jbox and people on Ebay mark up bento box stuff that can be purchased extremely cheap locally, so I decided to open my own online shop with decent prices and shipping that isn't way overestimated. Most of these things weigh just an ounce or two. My shop is called Kawaii Bento, and I am thinking of putting up a bento related blog to help get it going. I don't expect to get rich off of it (apparently you have to mark things up 600% to do that) but it's a great excuse to go to Daiso every day. Here are a few of the awesome things I offer:

Dress code

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 04:43:00 +0000

I've been informed that all the salons in our chain will be complying with a black and white dress code by the first of January next year. I'm fine with black, but I'm too messy for white. Solid white anyway. Black and white prints are ok. This is kind of irritating because I fairly recently bought a bunch of new clothes, few of which are black or white. But I will probably be due for new ones by Jan anyway. I also fairly recently lost a black skirt I really liked. I have no idea what happened to it. None. The other reason this kind of sucks is it will make it harder to buy 99% of my clothes on clearance at 75% off or more. There is little left to pick from at that point so being limited to two colors is going to make that even harder. But I like the whole 60's mod look so the actual colors (non-colors) are ok.

I've been oof for a month and just started back up at work this week so I'm soft and mooshy and out of practice. So tonight I have a raging case of tendonitis in my right arm. I'm keeping heat on it. Hopefully it will be better by tomorrow.

Yay!

noreply@blogger.com (Christel) — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 23:49:00 +0000

I finally got my stupid manicuring license. I'm going tomorrow to figure out a schedule and then I will start on Sunday. I already know I will be working Sundays because she said she doesn't have anyone that day. I used to work Sundays in Anchorage for the same reason. I'm a lone heathen. :P

I ordered a bento box from ebay for my lunches because the food court is closed for renovations and will be for a while. There is a Qdoba across the street but that would get expensive to eat there every day, plus I'd get really fat because even without any cheese or sour cream my burritos there are like 850 calories. I kind of doubt if I will get the bento before Sunday, but I guess it's possible. She said she upgraded my shipping to priority and it's coming from CA. I got a pink one with two tiers and it comes with an elastic and chopsticks, and I also got six little divider cups and two sauce bottles with fruit guys on them.

Of course after I ordered it I found out that there is a Daiso (Japanese "dollor" store chain) on 4th and Pike and they have a lot of that stuff for really cheap. Oh well at least when I can affor dto get more accessories I can go there. I still need some fake grass and animal shaped picks, and some of those tiny soy sauce bottles would be good. And maybe a gyoza press, since it's one of the few packable foods I like to eat cold and it's generally cheaper to make your own. I'm becoming more willing to try onigiri too, but not with any nori on it.