2892: Girl's Night Out
I am to Neopets what Ethan Siegal is to Transformers, but pickier. There are things of theirs I will not buy, simply because they... suck. [Example: Shaped Gummy Lollipops, or whatever they were--$5 for a bit of candy??]
Unfortunately, because there is a link between redeeming the codes for the damn things and visible evidence of having done so on my account, I'm "doomed" to buy at least one of every Key Quest plush of theirs, because otherwise there will be an empty space in my display case and... well... I already got most of them, might as well complete the set 9_9
To my dismay, Series 4 has already come out, which I discovered when I happened by Toys 'R' Us [how does one "happen" by there...? um...] and they had not only several S4 out but ALSO a buy one, get one free sale going on! Unfortunately, someone had looted the rares [Hallowe'en Acara, JubJub, and Kacheek: ALL UGLY], so I didn't quite get them all for cheap, and no other toy store in the area I checked had the others--discounted or otherwise. The Targets and Wal-Marts in Germantown and Frederick might, but that's a LOT of driving for one day as is =p
To my further dismay, I'd forgotten that ToysRUs.com sells the Neopets plushes individually--that is, I could buy 50 of the rare ones and ignore the commons, as opposed to, say, at Target.com I would have to buy the whole box for more per each than buying them individually in-store and only get one random rare with it--and by now they're pretty much cleaned out of anything I could resell for a bundle. If evidence shows, I won't have too much trouble finding the rest, but it's annoying having to wait! I kind of feel like a bad hunter XB ...just imagine what I would've been like in prehistoric times =/
My eBaying is basically trying to get some compensation for my habits, ultimately. I'm still not good at it enough to get a consistent profit, all things factored in, but it excites me anyway, the seeking and acquiring. A bit like binging and purging, tho =p All the same, I do buy stuff I like, even if I already have it [how I support what I like], and though it seems like a waste, I remember that people will spend $$$$s on THEIR HAIR, and everyone is just going to have money that goes wasted by one means or another. My father earned half a million in day trading... and lost half a million in day trading. If I break about even, that's not too bad.
Also on blowing money, I previously complained [but am too lazy to find where I said] that food is THE biggest expenditure there is, and anyone who measures the value of something in terms of how much food they could buy with the same amount of money is unclear on the concept. [In contrast, NOT buying something desirable even though it costs less than food is insanity.] This is interesting, because I'm tempted daily to buy lunch even after I brought plenty to eat for the day.
The odd thing about leaving home is I've somehow manage to get locked into eating the same few things from day to day, compared to what my mother would make [and my father would order out]. Personally, I don't have the patience to spend a lot of time cooking for myself [and Char isn't much more adventurous], so lunches taken to work end up being a limited selection of frozen items available at Sam's Club [chicken pot pies, this week] and/or sandwiches [always salami, though I'll never get tired of it] and/or leftovers from dinner(s).
At NIH, more than at any other job I've had, there is a significantly wider variety of selections more or less immediately available to me, between the canteen and the Mall down the road, and I'm constantly tempted to actually buy a whole three-course meal for $9 and actually eat well while at work for a change. Some of it may be, hey, I'm not going to be around much after this, might as well live it up while I can! :p
That, and maybe I miss the variety of my family's dinners. Chars and I have a varied diet, but it's the same variation, if that makes any sense, and all I can think of in terms of preparing food for myself/ourselves is how uninteresting it is spending MUCH more time on preparation than consumption.
Char* says the "silent" alarm I got [to avoid having the BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ one go off] is still audible--which makes sense since it's basically a vibrator 9_9 --but it wasn't a jarring awake. If I keep having to get up before him and the Vibralarm doesn't work out, we may need separate rooms in the house after all :( though I imagine my schedule's always going to be the temporary one of all things considered.
*Incidentally, I saw license plate "CHAR" today! ...it would've been too inconvenient to get a photo, tho =/ and, really, just mentioning it is just as good. Also, "BUT DAD"--I did get that one, but I've not really had much motive to go through the hassle of getting it off that camera ¬_¬ mostly 'cause it doesn't seem to stand up to the initial humour. [Tho, what does it mean, specifically? Why would an NIH employee have that plate? Irony?]
Trite closer: I think dreams are a Rorschach test of the random impulses in our brains. Why else would I keep dreaming [things I don't want to happen that I won't say else I jinx them into coming true]? =/
Unfortunately, because there is a link between redeeming the codes for the damn things and visible evidence of having done so on my account, I'm "doomed" to buy at least one of every Key Quest plush of theirs, because otherwise there will be an empty space in my display case and... well... I already got most of them, might as well complete the set 9_9
To my dismay, Series 4 has already come out, which I discovered when I happened by Toys 'R' Us [how does one "happen" by there...? um...] and they had not only several S4 out but ALSO a buy one, get one free sale going on! Unfortunately, someone had looted the rares [Hallowe'en Acara, JubJub, and Kacheek: ALL UGLY], so I didn't quite get them all for cheap, and no other toy store in the area I checked had the others--discounted or otherwise. The Targets and Wal-Marts in Germantown and Frederick might, but that's a LOT of driving for one day as is =p
To my further dismay, I'd forgotten that ToysRUs.com sells the Neopets plushes individually--that is, I could buy 50 of the rare ones and ignore the commons, as opposed to, say, at Target.com I would have to buy the whole box for more per each than buying them individually in-store and only get one random rare with it--and by now they're pretty much cleaned out of anything I could resell for a bundle. If evidence shows, I won't have too much trouble finding the rest, but it's annoying having to wait! I kind of feel like a bad hunter XB ...just imagine what I would've been like in prehistoric times =/
My eBaying is basically trying to get some compensation for my habits, ultimately. I'm still not good at it enough to get a consistent profit, all things factored in, but it excites me anyway, the seeking and acquiring. A bit like binging and purging, tho =p All the same, I do buy stuff I like, even if I already have it [how I support what I like], and though it seems like a waste, I remember that people will spend $$$$s on THEIR HAIR, and everyone is just going to have money that goes wasted by one means or another. My father earned half a million in day trading... and lost half a million in day trading. If I break about even, that's not too bad.
Also on blowing money, I previously complained [but am too lazy to find where I said] that food is THE biggest expenditure there is, and anyone who measures the value of something in terms of how much food they could buy with the same amount of money is unclear on the concept. [In contrast, NOT buying something desirable even though it costs less than food is insanity.] This is interesting, because I'm tempted daily to buy lunch even after I brought plenty to eat for the day.
The odd thing about leaving home is I've somehow manage to get locked into eating the same few things from day to day, compared to what my mother would make [and my father would order out]. Personally, I don't have the patience to spend a lot of time cooking for myself [and Char isn't much more adventurous], so lunches taken to work end up being a limited selection of frozen items available at Sam's Club [chicken pot pies, this week] and/or sandwiches [always salami, though I'll never get tired of it] and/or leftovers from dinner(s).
At NIH, more than at any other job I've had, there is a significantly wider variety of selections more or less immediately available to me, between the canteen and the Mall down the road, and I'm constantly tempted to actually buy a whole three-course meal for $9 and actually eat well while at work for a change. Some of it may be, hey, I'm not going to be around much after this, might as well live it up while I can! :p
That, and maybe I miss the variety of my family's dinners. Chars and I have a varied diet, but it's the same variation, if that makes any sense, and all I can think of in terms of preparing food for myself/ourselves is how uninteresting it is spending MUCH more time on preparation than consumption.
Char* says the "silent" alarm I got [to avoid having the BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ one go off] is still audible--which makes sense since it's basically a vibrator 9_9 --but it wasn't a jarring awake. If I keep having to get up before him and the Vibralarm doesn't work out, we may need separate rooms in the house after all :( though I imagine my schedule's always going to be the temporary one of all things considered.
*Incidentally, I saw license plate "CHAR" today! ...it would've been too inconvenient to get a photo, tho =/ and, really, just mentioning it is just as good. Also, "BUT DAD"--I did get that one, but I've not really had much motive to go through the hassle of getting it off that camera ¬_¬ mostly 'cause it doesn't seem to stand up to the initial humour. [Tho, what does it mean, specifically? Why would an NIH employee have that plate? Irony?]
Trite closer: I think dreams are a Rorschach test of the random impulses in our brains. Why else would I keep dreaming [things I don't want to happen that I won't say else I jinx them into coming true]? =/