I'm still around ...
I'm still around -- I just haven't felt like writing much. It happens, I suppose; at one time I wrote a lot, but these days it's coming rather sporadically.
I notice that the new seasons of LJ Idol started some time ago ... I wish you all well, but I just can't bring myself to care about it too much. Last season I did was fun when I did it, certainly. But schmoozing turns out to be a big part of it in the later stages -- just like American Idol it's equal parts a talent competition and a popularity contest. I have never been exceedingly popular, and therefore lack the inclination to do too much schmoozing online. I don't really have the time, either. So.
Maybe next season. Who knows? I did enjoy the writing bits.
work situation
My work is still rather sporadic. I suppose I'm officially a freelancer now, as I've taken on a few projects for which I have yet to see any cash input, though I've delivered the goods already. The main one is a doing graphics for an educational company -- here in Texas we have this test called the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. The TAKS is a standardized test, ostensibly part of the poorly-implemented "No Child Left Behind" initiative, and it's meant to measure whether students are learning what they need to know at grade levels 3 through 10.
As I understand it, if a child doesn't pass this test, then they're held back in their grade until they do. So the teachers end up teaching to the test, as opposed to teaching kids how to think critically and find out information on their own. And there are a few companies that have sprung up around this test. Mine provides 'practice' tests, modeled after the TAKS, and meant to look and feel the same. The kids take these practice tests so they're not too freaked out when they see the real thing.
Originally I was going to do formatting for them -- that is, taking raw text and massaging it in Word to make it look like the test it's practice for. Turns out that I don't have a version of Word that will talk nice to theirs, and since I can't be arsed to drop $699 on Micro$oft Office 2007, I'm out of luck. Did I mention that at the moment, rhianwyn and I have one car between us? This complicates matters a lot.
(I did find a student version of Office on eBay, but I don't know if they want me to do formatting any more -- read on.)
The guy that interviewed me noticed something on my resume. Seems I've got more experience working with graphics in my little finger than any of those people have in their whole bodies. So I got tapped to massage graphics, not text. Suits me fine! I love doing that.
Thus far I've done three tests for them, and I'm champing at the bit to do more, but they haven't fed me anything new as of yet.
my health
I recently tested my blood pressure with a little wrist monitor -- it came out at 120/85. Yay! I'll just keep eating the garlic, thank you very much.
But one of my front teeth needs a friggin' root canal, which is going to run me over $2000. If you have any other idea on how to deal with this, I'd love to hear them -- all I can think of is a) bite the bullet, b) go to UT Dental School in San Antonio and pay maybe 30% less, and c) have the thing pulled and a bridge put in, but I don't know how much that's going to cost.
on to other people
So much for me. Ariann is still doing well, though we're seriously considering changing schools for her. Turns out the principal is an arch-conservative, and her heavy-handedness of the last 4 years is filtering down to the kids now. (We, it should be said, can in no way be termed 'conservative,' aside perhaps in appearance.) Due to a few ... problems that we've had, my daughter is now scared of her, and I have nowhere to turn: there was one incident that prompted me to go over the principal's head, only to find out that she oversees herself. Yes, in the Texas Charter School system, Lisa the principal is her own boss.
Yay!
As for Gina -- rhianwyn -- she's got high blood pressure just like her mother, but her boss is being a little less of an idiot, which is nice. She still makes me laugh, which is great.
All in all, life is pretty good, even though this Yule will be pretty skint again, as I wasn't able to find another good job as soon as I would have liked.
in the works
I'll make another post shortly, that details where I've been spending my time online, and the various places I can be found, other than on LJ.
I notice that the new seasons of LJ Idol started some time ago ... I wish you all well, but I just can't bring myself to care about it too much. Last season I did was fun when I did it, certainly. But schmoozing turns out to be a big part of it in the later stages -- just like American Idol it's equal parts a talent competition and a popularity contest. I have never been exceedingly popular, and therefore lack the inclination to do too much schmoozing online. I don't really have the time, either. So.
Maybe next season. Who knows? I did enjoy the writing bits.
work situation
My work is still rather sporadic. I suppose I'm officially a freelancer now, as I've taken on a few projects for which I have yet to see any cash input, though I've delivered the goods already. The main one is a doing graphics for an educational company -- here in Texas we have this test called the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. The TAKS is a standardized test, ostensibly part of the poorly-implemented "No Child Left Behind" initiative, and it's meant to measure whether students are learning what they need to know at grade levels 3 through 10.
As I understand it, if a child doesn't pass this test, then they're held back in their grade until they do. So the teachers end up teaching to the test, as opposed to teaching kids how to think critically and find out information on their own. And there are a few companies that have sprung up around this test. Mine provides 'practice' tests, modeled after the TAKS, and meant to look and feel the same. The kids take these practice tests so they're not too freaked out when they see the real thing.
Originally I was going to do formatting for them -- that is, taking raw text and massaging it in Word to make it look like the test it's practice for. Turns out that I don't have a version of Word that will talk nice to theirs, and since I can't be arsed to drop $699 on Micro$oft Office 2007, I'm out of luck. Did I mention that at the moment, rhianwyn and I have one car between us? This complicates matters a lot.
(I did find a student version of Office on eBay, but I don't know if they want me to do formatting any more -- read on.)
The guy that interviewed me noticed something on my resume. Seems I've got more experience working with graphics in my little finger than any of those people have in their whole bodies. So I got tapped to massage graphics, not text. Suits me fine! I love doing that.
Thus far I've done three tests for them, and I'm champing at the bit to do more, but they haven't fed me anything new as of yet.
my health
I recently tested my blood pressure with a little wrist monitor -- it came out at 120/85. Yay! I'll just keep eating the garlic, thank you very much.
But one of my front teeth needs a friggin' root canal, which is going to run me over $2000. If you have any other idea on how to deal with this, I'd love to hear them -- all I can think of is a) bite the bullet, b) go to UT Dental School in San Antonio and pay maybe 30% less, and c) have the thing pulled and a bridge put in, but I don't know how much that's going to cost.
on to other people
So much for me. Ariann is still doing well, though we're seriously considering changing schools for her. Turns out the principal is an arch-conservative, and her heavy-handedness of the last 4 years is filtering down to the kids now. (We, it should be said, can in no way be termed 'conservative,' aside perhaps in appearance.) Due to a few ... problems that we've had, my daughter is now scared of her, and I have nowhere to turn: there was one incident that prompted me to go over the principal's head, only to find out that she oversees herself. Yes, in the Texas Charter School system, Lisa the principal is her own boss.
Yay!
As for Gina -- rhianwyn -- she's got high blood pressure just like her mother, but her boss is being a little less of an idiot, which is nice. She still makes me laugh, which is great.
All in all, life is pretty good, even though this Yule will be pretty skint again, as I wasn't able to find another good job as soon as I would have liked.
in the works
I'll make another post shortly, that details where I've been spending my time online, and the various places I can be found, other than on LJ.