'...you mean a lot to me, you've got a heart of gold...'
Question(s): if I don’t renew my ‘subscription’ to the packages of extra userpics (frak you, LJ, DW is so much better with userpic allocation), what happens? Do my userpics still remain, just that I can’t access them anymore- and then if I renew later, they’ll be available again? (and are the ones that remain determined by…the date they were added?) My account is paid up til 2012, but I forgot the userpic packages weren't part of that deal. *facepalm* I’m not sure what I’m going to do, ‘coz…userpics are awesome and fantastic and all, but they’re damn expensive and…if I’m saving to move out, argh, I have to try and be more miserly fiscally responsible, etc. etc. (incidentally, my childhood nickname at school was 'Mrs Miser'. Don't ask me why I was apparently married)
It doesn’t seem like shelling out for userpics is a huge deal, but I mean, I’m ordering a Confessor dress (Kahlan’s pretty white dress, yesss!) and my earphones decided to crap up on me, so…it all adds up. Gah. >_<
Speaking of, does everyone else have this problem with headphones? I spend $20 on them, and then a couple months later, one earbud stops working or sound intermittently comes on which is so annoying. Am I just cursed with technology or do you all have to replace yours every three months? Srsly, what gives? O.o
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RL: Mother and I had a really good convo on Sat about life and my options and what’s best for me. I wish human memory wasn’t so terrible, because this is the most important conversation I’ve ever had in my life and I barely remember anything from it. Basically, she was like, ‘Your father might let things go on indefinitely, or he might be at the breaking point. But either way, you’re not going to be happy here. I think it would be best if you had your own place where you can do what you like and not have to worry about people scolding you or telling you what to do. ‘
And then as I started flailing about ZOMG, HOW WILL I SURVIVE, she went, ‘And I haven’t spent all these years looking after you only to abandon you now!’ Just the droll way she said that made me laugh and it was so damn reassuring. *squishes her tight*
I had a lot of qualms about this moving out business, but we had a good long talk and examined the cost of things, just on average. The scenario we evaluated looked like this:
Centerlink allowance - (bills + rent) = -$200
So, based on the allowance I’m getting now (which would, I think, increase for at least the short-term, and that hasn’t been factored in, ‘coz we’re looking at worst-case scenarios here), I would have to use $200 from my savings each month. Which isn’t that bad. I could survive for at least a year if the situation turns out like that.
The only problem is that things like furniture and appliances also haven’t been factored in. So…while I don’t need a helluva lot, things like a fridge and a bed? *wince* That’s gonna bite into my savings quite a bit. I’m gonna have the sparsest living room ever, lol, ‘coz I only need a couch, I’m not gonna bother with random chairs and a big dining table or anything! Downsizing FTW. :P
I’m not sure what of my current possessions I’ll be allowed to keep, either. I don’t want to assume everything I have in my current room is my own and I can take it with me, but I figure my study table and chest-of-drawers would prob be snurchable. I hope. (at least my laptop is my own, mother's eased my mind on that count *pets laptop*)
Anyway. It’s my birthday next month. So hopefully my relatives will give me money and I can put that toward the necessities. The good thing is that stuff like a fridge and whatnot are one-time purchases, at least they better be, lol!
But the great thing is that I really feel like I can do this. My mother knows me better than anyone else in the world, and if she honestly believes that I’m capable, well. She did caution me that, ‘There will be difficulties, let’s not look at this through rose-colored spectacles’ GLASSES, MOTHER, NOT SPECTACLES but she’ll be there to help me along the way. And that’s just- it’s such a huge relief. *breathes a bit easier*
We spent yesterday afternoon and some of this evening looking at some units. I’m not wanting to get too hopeful- a lot of possibilities are struck off because they’re ‘not central’ (our term for ‘too far from the shops and bus-stops’) or too expensive or ‘seedy-looking’, lol. But I know that even if I do find a place that looks good to me, it’s going to be tough getting approved- I’m 22 (turning 23 on July 23rd, hee) and I have no references to convince them that I’m responsible and won’t trash the place. *eyeroll* But one can only try.
Tomorrow, I'm going to my first ever open house inspection. I'm pretty nervous because, hello, newbie, never been to one before and I'm not sure what the protocol is. Do I wait on the street, do I go stand in front of the unit in case the agent's there, what? I'm hoping there's a group of people so I know who to stand with- but then again, that also means I have competition! Argh. I'm thinking between a nice little old lady and me, the old lady's gonna win, y'know? So yeah. We'll see how that goes.
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Fandom: I posted for the first time at hogwartsicons- and I actually received some lovely comments from people complimenting me on my icons! I know I’m not the most talented icon-maker around (and tbh, I cringed at some of the ones I posted, I’ve been working on it for a while and some are from months ago when I was still learning how iconing works) but I only posted in order to get points. So it was a huge surprise and really thrilling that a few people actually commented, totally encouraging. ^_^ (the best part was lotrangel17 actually using one of my icons as a userpic! *squees*)
And here are some of the icons I’ve submitted to hp_stillness and sortedchallenge:
Teasers:
001
002
003
004
005
006
007
008
009
010
011
012
013
014
015
016
017
018
019
020
021
022
023
024
My fave is #16, tbh. I know I still have a lot to learn and ack, the high quality of icons submitted alongside mine makes me embarrassed, lol, but it's points for Slytherin whether they suck or look decent, so yay!
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Vidspam: I love Alex. <3 I'd watch him talking about anything, tbh. He's so funny and cute. And I adore his snarkery about Pottermore, haha, 'coz this is exactly what I was thinking but was too afraid to say... (btw, if anyone has not discovered Alex Reads Twilight, you need to go watch that RIGHT NOW)
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