Photophobic

So dad's currently jamming out in the kitchen to a certain 90's era boy band that I forgot he actually...likes...all un-ironically and everything.  He's also improvising his own percussion accompaniment utilizing his hands and various everything around the kitchen.  Thankfully he doesn't know the words, because I really don't think I can handle my dad singing "I want it that way" anywhere in my vicinity.  Dad's like the anti-hipster, he only likes popular stuff ten years after everyone hates it.

In other, totally unrelated news, mom just handed me a book about migraines because she wants me to be more sympathetic or something.  Oh, mom, I'm not unsympathetic, my caustic sarcasm is merely a byproduct of my intense worry for your general health.
Anyway, this book tells me that you can have migraines without the headache bit (kinda a non-sequitur if you ask me,) and that these are called migraine equivalents.  This made me think back to a couple weeks ago when I was taking care of Diedre's dogs and had to invade someone's driveway because I had an attack of severe photosensitivity, as I have on a few other occasions (like at midnight while being driven back home from my grandmother's house--good thing I couldn't drive yet.)  I know, I'm always photosensitive, but sometimes it's like I'm staring into the sun and I literally can't keep my eyes open because it hurts so bad (even when the sun clearly isn't out, see above.)
This symptom is, at least, fairly infrequent; usually it's something about the outside light and my glasses, or if I just woke up and turned on the light or went outside.  Occasionally, it's happened after about ten minutes of playing video games (with my glasses on, but not always the same pair has done it, so I don't know what's up with the glasses thing.)  The weird thing is, it's not right when I step outside or whatever, it takes a few minutes to kick in and make me want to gouge out my eyes, which is how I get halfway down the road before aughing.  At any rate, it has occurred to me that these might actually be migraines, or rather, "migraine equivalents."  Well...shit.
Hopefully, I'm wrong, but I'm not sure what I'd rather my photophobia-that-goes-away-in-a-few-minutes was instead, so maybe not so hopefully.

Take home message here is, stop shining shit in my eyes, and yes I'm totally serious.  They're very broken, okay?

Random Pictures Day!

So I have a lot of random pictures which I like to take because something amuses me.  They're not very good pictures but they're usually from my cell phone, so low quality is expected.  Of course, since this blog post was halfway written in February and I forgot about it, the pictures are from allwhens, and not just recent whens.  Apparently I also had another picture in here that got eaten??? so I took it out but I'm not sure anymore what it was so you may have just missed out on the greatest picture of all time or something, sorry.

These are just so creepy they're so so creepy.

I'm not sure what whoever was thinking when they made these, but they never should have combined Christmas trees and the torso-less horror of bisected Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

No carts here..

 

Wait, there they are!  They're everywhere!

If you've never noticed before, notice that I apparently go shopping late at night and no one else is around. I literally have no idea why I was at the grocery store so late, nor do I know why the shopping carts were everywhere but where they were supposed to be. I think perhaps they were slowly surrounding me, but I'm not entirely sure. It seems I escaped just in time. (Maybe with lots of spare time, they were moving pretty slowly.) Really, check out your local grocery store lots and keep tabs on the movements of the shopping carts in your area. We need to make sure they're not plotting against us. Maybe they just don't like being corralled like cattle into tiny pens, but you can never be too paranoid.













So one night when I was driving home from Chris's house at late o' clock, it was super foggy.  So I was all bad driver and took pictures of it (with my cell phone as usual) and now you can look at the creepy emptiness pictures, but I won't take a picture on a non-foggy night so you can compare it.  Just trust me, there's usually stuff there and it doesn't look like a horror movie set.

Spooky.

One day I will figure out why this stupid blogger layout is so stupid and fix it accordingly, but this seems unlikely as I have no clue what's wrong with it other than it hates my guts. (EDIT: I changed some stuff.  Okay, almost everything.  Hopefully Blogger will stop chewing up my stuff and spitting it out but I can never tell; lemme know if anything looks utterly bizarre.)

Well, it looks like it's time to go take more random pictures as I'm out for today.

Have some dinosaurs.

Om nom nom.

Really, Facebook?

I feel bad because some of my friends have a terrible habit of only communicating through Facebook.  They seem to have forgotten that there are other ways to contact me, even...far better ways to contact me considering that I logged in this morning (and Facebook immediately sent a "we missed you!" email...) and found a note from someone from two months ago that I really wish I would have gotten in a reasonable amount of time.  Anyway, I recently learned that several websites, applications, BROWSERS track your geographical location.  I thought that kinda wasn't cool, so I ran around trying to fix it, which is when I found really old note.  Also, this guy sent me a friend request, which I find hilarious because he was one of the few people I absolutely hated in junior high and high school.  I'm really not sure what he's smoking, as I know he knew I thought he was a jerk.  If you want to know who it is, it's that guy that I always complain about his parents getting him a yellow Hummer as his first car.  Anyway, he seems to have gotten on the "friend people you never talk to!" Facebook bandwagon.
Ultimately, I kinda want to delete my Facebook, but it's insanely difficult and it won't actually disappear for forever anyway, though it's much less forever than, say, your Hotmail account.  Dilemma, dilemma.

DVDs Hate Me

I have a beef with the DVD production industry (I guess that's who I'm supposed to blame?)  When I want to watch a movie, I want to watch that movie.  And only that movie.  Other than maybe the first time I watch a DVD, I am entirely uninterested in previews.  Previews belong in the theaters, when people care, not 12 years after every movie in the previews has a greatest hits special anniversary edition DVD format.  Honestly, is there really a problem with just opening to the root menu?  Is it really necessary to force me to push menu 30 times (or failing that, root menu; or, if the DVD really hates you, the skip button?)  I mean, they claim I can push menu at any time and it will go to the menu but they. are. lying.   Disney DVDs are particularly obnoxious with this, putting almost as many minutes of previews as actual movie on their discs and neither root menu or menu buttons take you to the menu.

You may not know this, but I am plagued with inferior DVD players.  My TV has a DVD player in it, which, in the past, when it was my sister's, worked reliably.  At that time I had an old TV (no, a really old TV,) so pretty much anything was an upgrade (though I honestly miss that TV.  It worked.)  Anyway, when the color started to go on that one, I inherited my sisters TV and she got my parent's old TV (I am, by this point, really tired of how many caps are in this post.  I hate acronyms.)  I guess the color on that one went fairly soon after my getting it, cause now that I think of it, this is my third set.  Anyway, at one point it worked reliably and now it doesn't really.  The disc player usually works on the first try, but more often it complains that I should "Please check the type and scratch of disc."  So I had a separate disc player (you have no idea how my family goes through external disc/tape players, it's ridiculous.)  That one worked right up until a few weeks ago, when it decided every disc ever had an irreparable debilitating scratch (but only about a third of the way through the movie.)  So I eventually got tired of that and dug an extra out of the attic.  Why do we even have extras?  This one, aside from having a ridiculously blinding red light ALL THE TIME, seemed to work far better than its' predecessor.  I "fixed" the light with a bit of electrical tape and was more or less satisfied with it.  Today, I felt like watching The Lion King because I love it so and had the songs stuck in my head.  Now, my DVD player seems to hate it immeasurably and won't play it without pausing every 15-20 seconds.  Maybe I should just watch it on the internet.  At least then it'll be high definition.

Disney, why do you like "modernizing" your movies when they get released on disc?  Take The Lion King, for instance.  When you finally are able to skip to the menu bit, they make you watch a 6 minute, poorly done CGI Zazu flight sequence before it actually gets to the menu (I think you can at least skip this part without confusing the disc, but the first time I didn't expect it.)   As if that wasn't enough torture, they then have Zazu (not even the original actor) explain the menu items.  Come on, Disney, nobody wants to listen to Zazu for longer than they have to.  That goes for the Morning Report song also.  (Plus, it shouldn't auto-play the "extended version," it should auto-play the theatrical version, duh.)
Also, don't put CGI menus on traditionally animated films.  It's stupid.

Weather, Cut it Out

Seriously, Weather, this rise to 60 degrees and then drop of 40 in a few hours, it's...it's not working out.  Weather, you have, in the past, been both wonderful and horrible to me (usually being wonderful when I have to stay inside and horrible when I could actually go outside and do something productive, or exercise even.)  But I find your mood swings and temper tantrums have finally gotten to me and I can no longer ignore them.  Really, Weather, you make it difficult for all of us when you act this way, and you do it in public, too, and that's just unacceptable.  So, I'm sorry to say this, especially as Valentine's Day is so close, but we have to break up.  I need my space, you see, and you need someone more...mercurial.  Oh...oh, Weather, don't cry, especially when you've gone and made it so cold...Weather, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, let's try again.  We can make this work, I know we can.  Maybe if you could have a bit of a sunnier disposition and not get so angry at me, and I can stop spending so much time with Central Heating and Air Conditioning.  Please, Weather, let's work together on this.

Heavy Meta-Dreaming

So last night I had a dream in which two of my friends (first Scott and Diedre, then it kinda morphed into Scott and Kelley for some strange reason) were buying me a d'annyo (apparently a crab in my dream instead of a weird spelling of a fish I had in my fishtank at one point).  Scott and I went to Diedre's fancy new house (it was epic fancy, but not mansion).  Her family was all displeased that I showed Scott where she lived now, but I successfully made the case that he'd never find the way back on his own anyway.  At some point Diedre became Kelley or something weird, because after that I woke up and told Scott and Kelley about the dream in a "hey, I had a dream about you guys last night!" manner, and we went to Kelley's house.  My laundry was at Kelley's house because Chris's mom had like...stolen all my clothes to wash them or something, and Adam was at Kelley's house singing an epic musical about my underwear (though he didn't know they were mine at the time, which I guess maybe makes it less weird...ish.)  So I told them how my underwear had gotten there, a mystery to my waking self.  Then, a grey squirrel came in the open window and everyone wanted to pet it (and did,) only every third or fourth time I petted it, it bit me.
After that, Chris called me (like I'd asked him to) to make sure I'd woken up.

Then, I realized that I'd had a dream about a dream and referenced something that had happened in another dream as an actual event.  I can't decide if my brain is just that broken or I just woke up that many times to remember that many dreams, as I've heard whenever a dream spontaneously changes location/people you've actually woken up and gone back to sleep.
It was all so very meta.

Fashionista Vista

So, for Christmas I got, among other things, a Macy's giftcard for Too Much Money. So I figured I'd go check it out since I haven't been in...might actually be a decade now. Apparently ruffles are in. Woo...ruffles...
Whilst navigating the strange terrain of the long-running department store, I came across several items which should not exist, and frankly, some of them I'm not even sure what article of clothing it's supposed to be (I hate it when someone tells me I'm wearing a dress as a skirt (this is a purely hypothetical situation as I do not buy ambiguous articles of clothing.))
Also, the sixties seem to be continuing their comeback. Aren't we tired of sixties fashions yet (again?) I saw way too many peasant blouses and paisley prints, it was getting ridiculous. Half of the clothing looked like it came right out of the old Bond movies and I'm waiting for the beehive to come back.
Alright, Macy's, let's go!

This is how you do ruffles.

This is NOT how you do ruffles.

 Ruffles, though I don't really care for them much, are feminine and can be good.  To your left you will see ruffles done the right way.  To your right you will see...wtf were they thinking?  I get the little cravat look you want to pull off, but it honestly looks like a Macy's employee took an extra large shirt and stapled all the extra fabric together down the middle (while it was on the model, no less!)

This is...borderline acceptable, I guess.

Vests are another easily misunderstood piece of clothing, aside from Macy's websites' confusion as far as "what is a vest" goes.  Vests are for if it's too cold for just a shirt but not cold enough for a jacket; alternatively, "I wore this shirt yesterday but today you won't notice because I'm also wearing a vest over it."
First we'll discuss short vests (i.e., normal vests.)

Yes.

No.

 First up, the floral print looks fleecy and warm vest.  Clearly fits in the "too cold for shirt, too warm for jacket category," has some sort of feminine print and is slightly formfitting without making you feel like a tube of toothpaste.
Hoodie vest:  always no.  Aside from the fact they had the model wear a black (hoodie) vest over a black shirt (almost like they're ashamed to show it off,) there is no reason to have a hood on it.  At all.  No woman with her hair done is going to wear a hood unless it's absolutely friggin freezing outside, in which case, they're going to wear a parka and not a cotton vest.  Also, it looks ridiculous.

Also yes-ish.

 Long vests:

Cute.

Failing miserably.

Faux fur: I agree with the sentiment, but it always looks terrible in such quantity.  Same goes for actual fur, actually.  Actually...that whole outfit is miserable.  I hope models don't actually have taste.

Heeeheh, 60s

Bonus!:  
What is this?  It is simply a travesty in and of itself.  It's like the designer woke up one day and said, "You know what?  It doesn't matter what my stuff actually looks like, so I can just totally phone it in today and people will still buy and sell it!" and then went back to have a venti chacha coffee at Starbucks.
(It's called a Cha Cha Vente Tunic and I have no idea if that's a style or a brand.)  Also, tunics are so 60s again.  This thing comes in black, "concrete," and the ever-present mauve, none of which make it look any better.





Dresses (specifically cocktail dresses, as Danielle and I perused many of them yesterday:)
Wow there are so many bad dresses I have to just pick some and stop.  It will be a plethora of pictures!

Shouldn't do one sleeve.

This is an oversized shirt, not a dress.
Definitely not a cocktail dress, Macy's...

Cute, but watch the hemline there, junior!

Oversized shirt now comes in ruffles!

Not as bad as the grey one.

MORE RUFFLES MAKE BETTER!

Some simple rules for everyday:

• A dress is not an oversized shirt.
• Ruffles do not clothing make.
• Juniors sizes (ages 12-16, generally) should not have hem that far above the knee.
• If the model looks silly in it, you will look sillier.
• Stop it with the fringe/paisley/animal prints already!  Some is okay, but market is now flooded!

Some things I found in the actual store:
[EDIT: Post will be edited upon the re-discovery of my micro SD card converter. =P ]
[EDIT EDIT: Gave up on finding the adapter, bought a card reader finally.]

This...is just wrong.  I appreciate your willingness to not wear fur and/or leather, but this by no means suggests you're allowed to mix faux fur and pleather in a hideous combination, and no, I don't care how cold it is outside.  Although, if I catch you wearing this, I will make sure you are burning with shame within ten seconds, so, yeah, I guess it can be pretty warm.  What could save this?  Not being quilted shiny pleather, for one thing.  Better faux fur would probably also help, but mostly what would help is not looking like an 80's reject.  (And this from someone who actually loves 80's fashion like an idiot, too!)

This is an abomination.

I'm not even sure what this is, but I am sure the designer should probably be shot.
I think it's a blouse?  Maybe?
Or a dress...?
This is a RUFFLES NO.  Also what's up with the cheesy flower-pin thing going on these days?
I'm sorry, just imagining someone wearing this is making my head hurt.










Lastly, my favorite clothing item at Macy's...

Wait...what?