this isn't just in my mind,
we're suspended from space and time...

International Talk Like a Pirate Day! awesome. We're going on a cruise in February to the Bahamas, I'm going to try my best to play a pirate on an island.

I took the initiative to talk to a financial aid counselor on Wednesday. Not really anything I didn't know, but I felt like I had to talk to a real person rather than finding info from the internets. I feel better knowing what kind of paperwork I need to turn in and having a time frame for everything. I have a completed application, the form to get my official college transcript released to UMES, and twenty-five dollars (non-refundable, of course!). Supposing I'm accepted, the financial aid party begins. We make too much money for federal aid, but not enough money to just pull it out of our asses and pay cash. That wouldn't be a bad thing, but keeping up with an old house isn't the cheapest living arrangement. And so, we press on...

And now for something completely different: 6g lobes! very exciting. I feel the need to be more tattooed, but stretching is a *much* less expensive mod, and it's very gratifying. I was skipping two gauges at a time previously (just 14g to 10g), buuut skipping from 10 to 6 was a little more intense. I think I'll stick to one gauge at a time from now on. It's getting to the point now that my co-workers are noticing the size changes. A teensy tiny part of me feels like I'm sticking it to the man just a little bit, and I like it! As per our company dress code, no piercings other than ears are permitted, and absolutely no visible tattoos. Indeed, we are a conservative financial institution. But, I am not a conservative representative for said financial institution. Sadly, I would rather have a consistently paying job than dress/be tattooed/be pierced as I wish I could be. Sometimes we have to make choices that are a means to an end. When my 401k is fully stocked and I don't have to report to someone else for my daily chores, it's on, you best believe it!

In other news, threadless.com has some awesome tees. I got a nine-dollar penguin (!!) shirt and a twelve-dollar non-penguin (is there any other distinction??) shirt. Black, with glow in the dark thingies all over. It don't get much better. Seriously, go there. It's the perfect time of year for new tee shirts! You can wear them under a HOODIE.

Also, more new Pyrex came into the family. Three pieces (one with a lid!) for ten bux. Goodwill, Salisbury. I think I may photograph my queendom of Pyrexia one day, just to watch it expand visually. I think I'm up to maybe twenty pieces now? ... I just had to go count! I was close - twenty-one patterned pieces. Do the batty bat :-D