antimony

As a woman whose commitment to independence has also been calling in sick on a regular basis, Natalia feels Darkity's pain. Natalia is also going through a difficult and stressful time, and has suddenly found herself surprisingly willing to hand all housekeeping and sanity-maintaining duities to her companion. And he, though usually a bit of a slob, has risen admirably to the occation. Natalia suspects he secretly preens about being so useful.

I got home from Atlanta yesterday. I was there for a weeklong exam-prep seminar. I've mentioned on the forum that I am an actuary, midway through the 9 exam process of becoming fully credentialed as a Fellow of the Casualty Actuary Society. So, this exam covers a number of topics: Loss Modeling Survival Models Credibility Theory Simulation Interpolation and fitting It took 4.5 full days to take a sprint through all of the material, including problem solving techniques. I would guess that the material covered would take about 3 full semester college classes. Unfortunately, outside of a handful of colleges with actuarial science programs (which generally only prepare people for the first 4 exams, anyway), the whole actuarial exam thing is all self-study. I've been studying for two months now, and the seminar I went to was basically an opportunity to fine tune which topics need more study, and to learn useful clues to look for in the wording of problems to simplify solving. I have 5 weeks left before the exam. I have scheduled for myself 32 hours a week outside of work for studying: 4 hours per day - Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri Tursday nights off for dance class and sanity 8 Hours per day Saturday and Sunday Ooof. This is going to be a rough 5 weeks. To get in at least *some* excercise, I am planning morning yoga a couple of mornings a week. I'm home for lunch today, and doing laundry. I will have to fit chores in at odd times, and will be needing all of my boyfriend's support. He's a sweetie though, and very understanding. I was talking to a number of actuarial students this past week whose spouses/partners didn't get it. Like, "Come on honey, you've been studying for like 2 hours. I'm sure you'll be fine. Put it down and spend time with me!" That's the nasty part, most study guides say that it takes 300-500 hours of study time to pass each of these exams. That takes a lot more than 2 hours each saturday morning. I had a boyfriend like that, and my abject misery at failing exams over and over didn't help the relationship any. Anyway, I have to go move the laundry to the dryer and head back to work. Oof.

I must say, even though I am not usually the kind of person who waxes poetic about commercial services... I could have the turbotax people's babies this morning. I've been using Turbotax for the web for the past 5 years (Which is cool on its own, since they have PDFs of my last 5 tax returns available right there online.) It's a great tool, I've been really happy with it when I didn't have very complicated taxes. Since I don't own a house, I usually take the standard deduction, super easy. When I first moved to California, though, That first year I had to file state taxes in both California and Kentucky. At that point in time, Turbotax only let you do one state tax return. It was a total headache. States don't make it easy, at all. Anyway, this year, I have to file taxes in both California and Missouri. I was looking forward to the messy process of trying to figure out if I should file resident or non resident in each state, and figuring out how to deduct one state's taxes in the calculation for the other and all that stupid crap, when, lo and behold, Turbotax for the web tells me it can do up to 3 state income taxes and make them all work amongst themselves correctly. Dude, how awesome is that? I have to pay a whole new fee for each state's return, but I know that that extra $30 is saving me hours of confusion, and I sure as hell know that my time is worth it. I did all of my taxes in an hour this morning. I think this deserves a trip to Starbucks.

It's only boring if you don't find insurance interesting, which I guess most people don't. But I really like it. I mean, yeah, it's esoteric, but I dig esoteric-ness. I'm glad I could make you feel like your papers are less daunting! :-)

The 4th Actuarial exam. Basically, to become a fully credentialed actuary, there are 8-9 exams you have to take while working full time (It takes people on average 7 years to get through the whole series) Each one takes 300-600 hours of self-directed study time. They suck. But when I'm done, I will have letters after my name and job security in a field I love. If you're at all curious, the site Be an Actuary has background on the profession. I know it sounds pretty dull, but I enjoy it.

/me posts to amuse Rheliwen. I feel your pain, though. I'm getting prepped for an intensive 5-day examination prep seminar next week. Ooof.

I'm doing a bunch of laundry. I just cleaned up my nails. I'm getting a lot done tonight. I should get up and put in another load. I feel kinda bitchy. I didn't like what my boy made for dinner tonight. And he made a huge wok full. It was this weird mish-mash of stir fry, with tofu, over rice noodles. That part was fine. But it was drenched in this insane sauce made of a mix of all sorts of bits from the fridge and pantry. He really likes mixed up cacophanies of flavor... I don't. And this was a mix of barbecue sauce, and 2 or 3 different chinese and thai sauces. I felt bad for telling him I didn't like it and making something else, but I just couldn't eat it. After yesterday's rant, I went for the bpal this morning... I was reminded how much I love Stardust. And I don't even *like* florals. It makes me so happy. I haven't worn BPAL to bed for a long time either, I need to pull out something yummy tonight.

Now that I've totally geeked out on some of the forum blog technical details, I think it's time to settle into actually posting. --- This spring it seems that I'm traveling like mad. This would be great for someone who liked traveling, but I don't. I can't help it. I hate sleeping away from home. even the nicest hotel comes in 2nd place to my own bed in my own room. Last week, I was in England. Five days in Oxford, and 2 in London. I was totally enchanted by Oxford. London, on the other hand, was so gray and dismal. I loved the museums, but beyond that... Also, I don't think of myself as a prude, after all, I loved living in San Francisco, but... Walking down what seem to be normal downtown shopping streets and seeing sex shops and casinos just mixed in with the cafes and stores just seemed odd and a littledissonant. Also, what's with all the betting parlors? On every block, almost. I unfortunately missed out on two places I wanted to go: I was planning to take a day trip to Stonehenge, but when I called the tour company, they were totally booked. Then I thought I'd take the train to Bletchley Park (where they cracked the Enigma code) but their museum was going to be closed until April 1. I was sad. Everyone has been asking me about the food. Well, Oxford and London were both covered in very nice French boulangeries, which have great coffee, tea, and chocolate croisants. Many of them also serve sandwiches where they take a length of baguette, make a cheese-heavy sandwich with it, then smoosh it on a panini grill. The long narrow shape makes them much easier to eat than the kind of paninis we have here. Also, the Indian food is spectacular. I can see why people joke about it being the national cuisine of England. The non-ethnic restaurants we went to were less impressive. They really do sadly overcook their vegetables. I had fish and chips at a pub in Oxford (it was away from the tourist areas and was populated mostly by locals (I got chatted up by a handful, so I'm sure they were local). They served it on a regular plate, and it didn't taste any different from fish and chips you would have in the US. On the plus side though, the pub had Strongbow on tap. I love Strongbow... --- I took lots of pictures, so hopefully soon I will have some to post!

Ooops. Excuse the double post.

The only one that works for me is Stardust, everything else is vile.

In her post, please be upstanding for the mayor of simpleton, Clover asked: Even though I'm writing this here, I'm going to "ping" her post, so that when she goes to look at it, she'll see that this post is in reference to hers. Hi, Clover!!!

Click on "Comments:0" (or however many) at the bottom of the entry, then on the entry's page "Fast Reply" or "Add reply" work just like they do in the forum. As for trackback, what it does is connect posts. So lets say I write a post in my blog in response to this one. I come here and get your "Trackback URL" then when I've posted my post, I click on the trackback button at the bottom of my post, give it this post's trackback URL, then *your* trackbacks section will include a link to my post. That way, you'll know that I posted something in my blog referencing your post.

I 'm glad to hear we're not the only couple like this! My boyfriend does 90% of the cooking at home, so I am generally extremely flexible about what he makes... but this was just too much. The sauce just tasted sour (from the barbecue sauce) while the seasoning was such a mish-mash it made me even more nautious. I almost never say anything when I think he's goten a little over crazy with the seasoning, but this was just so far over the top, I physically couldn't eat it. Eh. At least he was understanding about it.

I am happy to enable. I adore them! The difference between the Modal and regular cotton is seriously huge. And to add to the easiness, they go through the washer and dryer just fine, and only get softer with washing. I love my diva pantie-poos, but I'm not much for careful laundry. I don't know, now I'll have to look it up... Ok, they don't have one here, but I know there are other mongolian barbecue places here. Come to think of it, it's been a long time since I've had mongolian barbecue... Though I am usually careful to put together something pretty un-mixed-up. Now I'm hungry, damnit! Seriously. I broke out my bottle of 13 today, and was reminded of how unusual and wonderful it is. It's like being surrounded in a very faint cloud of cocoa-scented cactus. I can't have a bad day when I smell so good.

Evanesce wrote: I think right now, most people's blogs consist mostly of "this is my first post" and a few exploratory entries, trying to figure out what they want to say. I'm hoping that once people realy figure out what they want their blogs to say, and settle into their voices, there will be a lot more to comment on. I've always wondered how people on the forum built personal friendships. I don't think of myself as shy, but I've also never just out of the blue PM'ed people, and it's been on only very seldom that people have out of the blue PM'ed me. maybe I just don't sound interesting or inviting when I type. But I do certainly wonder. As for the chat, I've ducked in a few times and it was empty, but I guess I should stay in so when someone else comes by, then it *won't* be empty. I hope it takes off... I really enjoyed the #bpal IRC chats we used to get going. I'd love to see that become a regular thing. On an unrelated note, I think I'm going to be the first to use the trackback function. I love trackback.

Although I regularly clear out the older, rageddy pairs, I'm afraid I can never pass up a cute pair of underwear. My collection has a few basic categories: 1) meshy, lacy sweet nothings for days I feel sexy. 2) Thongs from Club Fife I've been a monthly member for about a year now, and I *adore* them. 3) Other random things like dark colored bikini panties for my period, cheap VS cotton panties bought on sale, etc. I absolutely, positively recommend Club Fife. They are spectacularly soft, almost like whisper-thin cottony suede. They're not the most glamorous looking panties, but they are the most comfortable underwear I have ever worn by *far*

I'm wearing a boring bra, plain cream-colored. I have a very particular brand of bra I like, and I wear an unusual size, and they are *crazy* expensive. I snap them up when they turn up inexpensively on Ebay UK, but that happens so seldom, so I have very little choice of style. Panties, on the other hand, are a total playground for me. Today, it's a string bikini in a red, black, and white newspaper headline print. I have something like 80-90 pairs at this point... Though I am thinking it's time to cycle some of the older pairs out of the collection to make room for more. I *love* shopping for underwear!

I'm really tired and out of it. It's not even the sleep thing, I managed to sleep from about 10pm-4am last night which is enough to make it through the day just fine... the hard part is the damn eating. I 'm not hungry at meal times, and ravenous in between. I should be back to normal by wednesday. I do have a BPAL-related confession, though. When I moved, I got rid of my low side-by-side dresser, replacing it with a tall chest of drawers. Unfortunately, that means all of my cosmetics and perfume have been relagated to inconvenient storage. I keep meaning to get a table to put in the bay window in my bedroom to use for all of that stuff, but I haven't gotten around to it. Because of that, I've only been wearing Beaver moon when I remember to, and Anne Bonney when I go out. I have a box with about 60 5mls sitting in it, totally unused. Seriously, how stupid am I? I either need to pull them back out and enjoy them, or swap/sell them away so someone else can enjoy them, and just work on constructing a solid stash of Beaver Moon, Samhain '04, Embalming Fluid, Anne Bonney, and Snake Oil. (I feel even worse, because there are a couple of *seriously* sought-after unavailable blends in my stash that I've possibly only tried once and held on to for almost 2 years. I have no idea what I'm waiting for. I feel selfish not getting them out to someone who would really love them.)

Like a lot of other people, I have some blog-like things elsewhere on the web, but I don't update them much. On the other hand, even if I don't post often, I am lurking here at the forums a lot, so maybe I'll be more inclined to post. Anyway, I just got back from a week in London, so hopefully soon I'll have a bunch of pictures to post.

Sorry to be pedantic, but water is not actually the only substance whose solid/liquid line on a phase diagram has negative slope (i.e. expands when it freezes) pure Bismuth does too. In the process of looking up phase diagrams, I read that apparently silicon and Gallium are thought to as well, though complete phase diagrams have not been created for either one.

Samhain '05 simeels exactly like I remember Samhain '04 smelling when I first got it. That said, I didn't really like Samhain '04 when I first got it, it took a couple of months of sitting in the dark getting to know itself before it became the gorgeous perfume I love now. I've decided to continue to wear Samhain '04 this fall (I've got about half a bottle left) and let Samhain '05 age until I'm done with the older one.

This is a funny one, it kind-of layers. All around me there is a cloud of thouroughly Jack-smelling pumpkin, but if I sniff my wrist directly, there's very little pumpkin, and it smells a lot like gourmet pumpkin cocoa mix... there's a kind of dry-ness to it.

I love fig and clove, so I wanted to love this... But the honey was super-super sweet, and it clashed with the patchouli. Ylang-Ylang is preretty on other people, but it makes me think of Prell. This is definately a super-yummy scent for anyone whose skin doesn't over-amp honey (unless you like that kind of thing, of course)

On me the juniper really digs in, puts down roots. The scent is really grounding. That said, it's a lot more, um, lively than Zombi. It's a hiking smell, and it definately captures the smell of a forest stringly enough to make me a little nostalgic. The moist soil is prominent, but not dominating.

It's definately related to Zombi. Also, it shares a little bit of feel with Anne Bonny. (Though I like Anne Bonny a lot better). The patchouli is very earthy, for sure, and the civet is not gross and pee-like but it is really heavy. It's a very grounded scent, like digging your toes into moist dirt plus roses.