Price is Right Birthday Exravaganza

Today for my birthday Wig and I went down to Foxwoods to see The Price is Right Live. It was hosted by Growing Pains star Alan Thicke. It was basically the same as the TV version - you sit in the audience, you got a big price tag shaped name tag and if they call your name you get to go up and bid to win prizes. The difference though was while on the TV show, the remaining three people when the first winning bid went up onstage got to stay and bid again the next round while at the live show four new people were called up each time. Also on the TV show, each person who wins a pricing game gets to spin to win a chance at the showcase. Instead, the live show called up different contestants to spin the wheel and different contestants for the showcase and there was only 1 showcase instead of one for each contestant. This way, more audience members got the chance to win something. They were also giving away $25 Lowes gift cards to either 20 or 25 people - they'd call 5 names between rounds - and a $100 Macy's gift card at the end of the show. My name was never called, despite the fact that it's my birthday and I totally deserved it. But the show was still highly entertaining. It was fun to be able to shout out suggestions for real than at a TV, Alan Thicke and the announcer who was a local Connecticut weatherman were hysterical, and they also show clips of classic Price is Right through the year including hysterical bloopers and prizes from different eras. After Price is Right Wig and I ate a Hard Rock Cafe. While I was originally planning on eating at Tavern on the Square (3 locations in Harvard, Central and Porter Squares in Cambridge) ever since I saw it on Phantom Gourmet, the fact that Hard Rock was right there and neither of us had been in years, it seemed the right thing to do. We were properly seated in the corner with Godsmack memorabilia since Wig was wearing a Godsmack shirt and the waitress was telling us how Sully Erna always comes to Foxwoods to gamble and eat hot wings at Hard Rock. I got a delicious fruit girly drink where you get to keep the glass and the food was delicious. It was pricy but not more so than Texas Roadhouse or Cheesecake Factory and the atmosphere was worth it for hard rock fans like us. Also visible from our seats were memorabilia from Anthrax's Scott Ian, Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi, Everlast, Offspring, Hoobastank, and Foo Fighters. And there were some good music videos playing too. We didn't stick around Foxwoods to gamble, but we'll be going back when we have the money to stay for a weekend, cuz there's so much to do there. Traffic on the way back was a little congested in some places since we were hitting the tail end of rush hour but it was more or less smooth sailing both to and from since it was straight down 95.
When I got home my gift from Flav was waiting for me. Her gift was actually purchasing and coming into contact with something Star Trek themed LMAO. (she really can't stand Star Trek) it's an ID/business card/cigarette case with Spock groping a topless woman (it's a collage of sorts) and the caption "Spock attempts the first Vulcan Breast Meld" It was one of my favorites on Etsy for quite a while and it'll come in handy to hold my business cards and such these upcoming cons. Other than the delicious Hard Rock Cafe meal with souvenier glass, Wig is getting me the new AC/DC Backtracks boxset and I got a $50 gift card from my parents and a combined $250 from my grandparents and aunt (which is mostly going to bills).
Now Wig and I are relaxing and watching Ninja Warrior while my kitten Frankenstein continues to stare at my Sprite. It's been a good birthday. Except for the fact that I'm a quarter-century old and still gone nowhere...:(

Etsy Weekend Sale

The CreateCrochet Team is having a 10% off sale this weekend. Search for the tag crochet10percent from today, November 13, to Sunday November 15. In addition, my free shipping deal is still going on until the end of the month. So 10% off AND free shipping, you can't go wrong!

WTF?

So I took the most bizarre, disquieting survey earlier. I just HAD to screen cap every question. I can't believe this was an actual e-Rewards survey...

The clincher? I ended up not qualifying for the survey! Apparently, I'm too confident in my sexual interests and desires for their study... Sorry about the 2nd picture, it's on the Large setting on the uploader and is still too small. If I try to enlarge it it gets blurry. But you still get the idea from the other three.

Also, my sister has finally joined the workforce. One of her friends works at a seasonal store in the Cambridgeside Galleria (ie, it was all Halloween costumes but now it's going to be Christmas stuff like decorations and wrapping paper and gifts) and convinced her into applying and she got the job. I think she starts tomorrow. She's happy because right now they're just setting up the merch so she doesn't have to deal with people at all. I give it a week before she get's sick of it and quits or gets fired for mouthing off LOL.

Etsy Updates

New item in my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=34228859

Free shipping on all items until Nov 30th

New Twitter: @stringtheory101

Check it out!

Seasonal Update

I have to get back in the swing of blogging more frequently. It's been too long since the last time I updated. So even though it's 2 months before New Year's I'm going to make a resolution to update my Blogger, Twitter and FaceBook on an almost-daily basis.

So I think I'm having a quarter-life crisis. I'm turning 25 this month. On the one hand that's not old at all, but on the other it's 5 years from 30, and nothing I had planned to have accomplished by now has come to fruition. I'm still living at home, and I'm no closer to starting my career and getting married. I realized that subconciously I've been trying to recreate my youth. Over the past year or so I've been slowly collecting all my favorite childhood shows on DVD, the most important being Peanuts specials. For some reason, Snoopy will always stick out in my mind as being a big deal when I was growing up, and recently I've been rewatching the specials I already have on DVD or VHS and have been trying to collect the rest that are available on DVD (no small feat as there were over 130 made between the 1960s and early 2000s and not all of them are on DVD yet) I've been on the Peanuts wikipedia page and I found out there's a Charles Schultz museum in Santa Rosa, California that I MUST go to - and there's even a statue of Charlie Brown and Snoopy in Santa Rosa center. Other series from back in the day I've amassed in my nostalgia stupor include Garfield, Adventures of Pete & Pete, Darkwing Duck, Inspector Gadget, Clarissa Explains it All, Alf, and Punky Brewster. Not to mention all the old movies I have as well. I'm too young to be freaking out about my age and trying to recapture my youth, but right now the desire to relive the simpler times in my life is at full force. But it's not necessarily a bad thing. Those were some great shows and the fact that they're on DVD and I can watch them whenever I want is great - especially when there's bonus features because I'm a trivia whore.

They're having a Price is Right Live event at Foxwoods now through the 18th. Being the game show whore that I am and the fact that it's only 2 hours away and $25 for a ticket, me and Wig are thinking of going next week. Who knows? We might luck out and win some awesome prizes. It's worth the shot. I'd fare a lot better on Cash Cab, Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy though, it's less up to chance and more reliant on my unending cache of useless random trivia. Also I just found out that there's a little sci-fi convention being held the 21st and 22nd in the Framingham Sheraton (the castle on the Mass pike) and fucking Brent Spiner is going to be there. Only my favorite actor who played my favorite character in the entire Star Trek universe. And tickets are only $35 for the whole weekend. I've already started overnights for the season, and getting weekends off is normally impossible this time of year, but my manager is a fellow nerd and he totally understood. I only really need Friday off so I can sleep and be well rested and get there early then I can do my normal Saturday overnight after I get back from the con. I don't need to go Sunday unless I miss Brent on Saturday and he's going to be doing signings on Sunday too. But I think Sat will suffice. But if I couldn't get the days off, I could function on a couple hours sleep and still work and go to the con. I can forgo sleep for one weekend for Brent Spiner. I know I'm being a total spaz right now, but this is a big deal. I've been a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation since I was eight and Data has always been my favorite character, so this is a lifelong dream.

In other news, I had a couple Etsy sales a few weeks ago. Two in a row. I also joined an Etsy Team. It's the CreateCrochet team and it's wicked fun. Every month there's a new challenge theme. This month's is "winter" and the possibilities are endless. You make your item, list it, and it gets featured on the blog and in treasuries. Every week there's a featured seller and I was the featured seller 2 weeks ago. I got much love for my brain slug amigurumi as usual and a bunch more hearts but no sales. We're also doing a swap right now where we were matched up with other members to convo back and forth and get to know each other and make each other surprise gifts. I have to work on the swap and the winter challenge item plus some new ideas I have for the shop. I don't know what I'm going to do for everyone for Christmas yet. I have a lot of ideas that cost a lot of money but no money to pull them off, but I don't know what I can crochet for everyone that I can get done in time. But I'll think of something and pull it off last minute.

I actually had a decent Halloween for the first time in years. Me, Wig, Inyx, Sin and Ed went into Salem. It's so overrated and overcrowded and has been totally ruined by the tourists. But the highlight of the day was seeing a DeLorean decked out just like the one in Back to the Future! Complete with a Marty McFly and Doc Brown for photo-ops. They were collecting donations for TeamFox for Parkinson's Disease research and any donation allowed you to take a picture in the driver's seat. I love the Back to the Future trilogy and I love DeLoreans because we share the same initials, DMC. My dad used to joke I was named after the DeLorean Motor Company, and I'm even considering keeping my maiden name when I marry just to keep the coolest initials ever. More pics on my flickr.

I had a job interview a couple weeks ago. While the position was in Beverly I had to go to the main office in Sudbury for the interview. It was for a part-time music teacher for a daycare/school called Next Generation Children's Center. I thought the interview went really well but I got a rejection letter literally 3 days later. With my license still pending and no experience, it's next to impossible to get a job in anything remotely teaching related. But I'm not giving up yet. I have a list of online resources for private school job listings someone my mom knows sent her for me, and there's the option of private lessons. I'm also seriously pursuing the idea I had for a children's book: Hayden Go Seek. I don't know whether I want to do it like an I Spy book or for younger children where you lift open flaps to find items, but the plot is that you have to find specific orchestral instruments, parts of the musical staff and composers. Also my eBay sales have been steady. No huge hauls but I'm getting a few bucks for things I don't need anymore (or promotional items I got for free or for as little as a penny!). Although I'm having some issues with a couple buyers not having paid yet. They're already late, it's been over a week, but I try to be understanding and lenient. I mean, there could've been a death or medical emergency and they haven't been online in a week. Who knows? But if I still get no reply or payment in a few days I will file a claim with eBay. This is the first time I've had this problem on eBay, although I had it once on Etsy. Generally I get paid instantly or within the first 3 days. I pride myself in having 100% positive feedback and everyone praises my fast shipping and communication. I'd hate for my reputation to be tarnished.

And my car has been in the shop TWICE in the past month for leaking coolant. The first time was a cracked something-or-other valve and then 2 weeks later the radiator went. When they were replacing the radiator, they found that the transmission lines were rusted and one broke so those had to be replaced. Fortunately, the guy that does all my repairs is a close friend of my dad's and didn't charge any labor. I still owe my dad and my grandmother a ton of money for helping me with car parts and repairs. :(

And we have a new kitten! Heather's friend couldn't keep him and she didn't want to see him go to the animal shelter, so she brought him home. We were supposed to find a new home for him but we got too attached and kept him. His name's Frankenstein. He is the most obnoxious pet I ever owned but he's adorable. And my parakeet Gemini died the other day. Sad, but not devastatingly sad as I wasn't too attached to him, and he was old for a parakeet and I think het got sick in the past couple months.

I saw Boondock Saints II: All Saint's Day. If you haven't seen the first one, what the fuck are you waiting for?! And if you have, see the sequel you'll fucking love it! It was much like the first one with the action and the spurts of comedy but it had a deep backstory that Saints fans will appreciate. Wig and I both give it two thumbs up.

Well, I think I'm going to work on some crochet projects and rest before my overnight shift. I'm going to try to blog more often so my few readers know what's going on. Until then...