January 6, 2000

Once again, I apologize for not having updated for so long. I just had a really hard time figuring out what I was going to do for the January design. Usually I base the design around holidays, but you know what? There are no holidays in January. Well, there's Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, but there's not really a whole lot of cute fun little graphics out there that are based on MLK Day.

Besides, a stark black-and-white look feels appropriate for January anyway. I look out the window and all I see is stark black-and-white, or at least shades of gray. I am completely ready for the sun to start setting later than 4:30 PM. I realize that we are past the winter solstice and that therefore the days are getting longer, but still, they're not long enough. I go to work when it's dark and I come home when it's dark, and considering the hours I'm working right now, that's really sad.

In hair-related news. I've decided to get my hair all cut off. Not shaved! Just cut dramatically. Right now it's almost past my shoulders, and I want it cut above my jawline. And layered. And maybe bangs. I am just sick and tired of constantly dealing with my hair, and trying to get it to look like it has more body, and styling it and crap. No more! I'm cutting it off! Short hair for me!

In Y2K-related news. Well, I suppose you've all realized by now that the world didn't end. I for one could not be happier. I was sort of half expecting the Rapture to occur on New Year's Eve. It didn't happen when Y2K hit first, in New Zealand, so that was sort of a relief, and then it didn't happen when it hit Seattle, where I live, and that was a big relief, and then it didn't hit when January 1 had arrived everywhere in the world, and I breathed a BIG sigh of relief. I guess I didn't REALLY think the Rapture would happen, but I was a little nervous about it anyway. I mean, what if all the religious fundies were right all this time?

I would have been really pissed if the Rapture had come. For one thing, I got all these Christmas presents that I haven't got to use yet. How can the Rapture come before I get the chance to play Jenga or Pop Up Video trivia even once? Huh? God wouldn't be that mean.

Now all I'm worried about is that the "this isn't really the millennium" freaks are right, and the Rapture will happen NEXT year. If we make it past next year, I'll be able to rest easy.

I was reading in the news that Sears is charging a 20% restocking fee on all returned generators. Personally, I don't think they should take them back at all. I mean, what, did people think they were renting these things? Come on, you bought it, you're stuck with it. Aww, you have 5,000 cans of strained green beans in the kitchen? Well, too bad. Whose fault is that? I have no sympathy for these people. Do you realize that some people actually tried to return their bottled water? I mean, come on.

I did watch the ABC New Year's Eve coverage all day on the 31st. It was much better than the crap on PBS. PBS had a good idea, which was to cover various celebrations around the world as New Year's hit, but the coverage just SUCKED. The crappy announcer kept breaking in, every 30 seconds, to remind us what exactly we were watching. This was rather disturbing when what we were watching happened to be a symphony or some other kind of musical number. "Hi, you're listening to Sibelius' Fourth Overture." Well, actually, I'm listening to YOU, and YOU SUCK! The announcer was really horrible. So I switched to ABC, and Peter Jennings was much better.

I think I liked the Eiffel Tower celebration the best. The fireworks there were totally spectacular, and I'm always impressed by the creative incorporation of a massive building into a good fireworks show. It looked like the Eiffel Tower was a spaceship about to take off; now those are some good visual effects. Seattle, on the other hand, was a total wash. I'm sure you all heard on the news about how the mayor canceled the official celebration. There were no news crews here to cover the fireworks. Nobody cared what Seattle was doing. Seattle's mayor is a big party pooper. They quoted him in the paper the next day as saying "I am not a wuss!" Yeah, whatever, Mayor Schell. We all know the truth.

Anyway, I was sort of hoping that the fireworks that they set off from the Needle would somehow incorporate the Needle -- make it look like a big UFO or something. My hopes were in vain. They just shot off some regular-looking fireworks that lasted about three minutes, and that was it. What a let-down. Especially considering that the private show that Bill Gates did supposedly lasted for fifteen minutes and was totally spectacular. Mayor Schell sucks.

At any rate, happy Y2K to everybody. My only remaining question is, what the hell do we call this decade? The 80s, the 90s... the...? The zeroes? The naughts? The zips? I'm confused. Let me know if you have any good suggestions.

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