kiffie: VW Bug on the back of a tow truck. (Towed)
2017-12-19 05:07 pm
Entry tags:

(Not) Having A Ball

Turns out the grinding/shuddering noise was, in fact, significant!

I took the Bug in for her rear wheel bearings, and got her back with the car equivalent of a note pinned to her lapel:

Her front ball joints are bad. They'll need to be done. Soon.

Thankfully, "soon" is not "now" -- I'm not in the danger zone, yet. We're going back in a month for a recheck, to see how much they've progressed toward unsafe levels of no. If they're still okay in a month, I'll put it off another month, and then lather, rinse, repeat.

This isn't me being a procrastinator. random and I are moving within the month, and our funds are pretty much exhausted. I'm still trying to find a second job-- at this point, I'm considering returning, if briefly, to food service just to make ends meet --and any work on the Bug's wheels is on the expensive side.

It cost around $600 to get the bearings done. My folks helped out, there. But they're also helping pay for part of the cost of moving, so asking more of them isn't something I can-- or would want to --do.

And it'll cost around $700 for the ball joints. Cheap for a car. Expensive for a Bug.

And expensive for a kiff.

Hopefully, the Bug holds out for a while. At least until I can get my financial feet back under me.

kiffie: A bird-headed torc terminal. (Torc)
2017-11-27 04:12 pm
Entry tags:

On Employment, and the Search For

I currently have a job.

It's a good job. Good hours, nice company culture, tolerable co-workers.

But SLO is expensive to live in. It's doable, and I've been doing it for a long while. But I've never been comfortable. And some changes are happening that mean that, despite the small buffer I've built for myself over the past few months, I'm going to be passing through the narrowest of straits, soon.

And there's no guarantee that I'll come out the other end with anything but lint in my pockets.

So, I'm looking for a second job, to help ease some of that uncertainty.

The problem is that I've had two jobs, at once, before. Both times, I worked far beyond my limits, sometimes to the point of true exhaustion. It was neither pleasant nor terribly rewarding.

Right now, though, I don't have a choice. I'll be doing that, again. And I do not look forward to it at all.

So, wish me luck in finding (yet more) employment. I'll likely need it.

kiffie: Star Trek's Enterprise-D. (Enterprise-D)
2012-12-11 03:33 am

Drabble: Love

Oh god I hope this isn't gonna be a running theme -- kiffies drabbling at been-o-clock at night.

Love. )
kiffie: Karmann Ghia decklid script. (Ghia)
2012-10-17 11:34 am
Entry tags:

Good News, Bad News

Good news:

Kiffies has a job as a pizza jerk/delivery kiffs!

Bad news:

Voodoo decided that her starter was no longer a necessary part, and made me (and a Friendly Stranger) push her out of the Alberston's parking lot.

I hope she gets her shit together by tomorrow, because I have work at 9am. B|
kiffie: Star Trek's Enterprise-D. (Mousie)
2012-09-14 11:19 am
Entry tags:

Gotdangit

Why am I watching "Ghost" again?

This is why I shouldn't own movies.
kiffie: Star Trek's Enterprise-D. (Grr Fish)
2012-08-28 10:52 pm

Aakfjahgjk

For the last few days, I've been trying to draw, and while I have been able to, I've only managed little 30-40 minute chunks at a time. Why?

Because it's so damn humid, I feel like I'm in a sauna.

It's not hot! It maxed out at 80 today, and maaaaybe got to 70 in the house. But it's humid beyond belief. And you don't know annoying until you can't hold a pen for how much your hands are sweating.

*sigh*
kiffie: Star Trek's Enterprise-D. (Wibbly Wobbly)
2012-08-03 11:44 pm

When I'm Bored...



I run both of my phones off the same jack and then call myself.

Probably only hilarious to me.
kiffie: Star Trek's Enterprise-D. (Dan)
2012-07-23 11:51 am
Entry tags:

:D :D :D

Job interview in Petaluma tomorrow! :D

Downside:

Petaluma is 3 hours North of me. Looks like I may be moving. :/
kiffie: The Rum Tum Tugger making bweeface. (Tugger)
2012-07-22 11:16 pm
Entry tags:

Well, Damn

I just found out that Deep Springs, which I'd always been interested in but could not attend, will begin admitting women as of the 2013 schoolyear.

As most of you know, I've just graduated.

Timing! ( ._.)9
kiffie: Star Trek's Enterprise-D. (Dan)
2012-07-15 11:58 pm
Entry tags:

Hilarity is...

...finding one of your dad's old comics on an archive site.

I haven't seen a lot of his comic book stuff, because he didn't get to keep most of his pencils. But, it looks like someone on a He-Man forum went on a scanning spree.

Oh god there is more than one I AM GOING TO CALL HIM AND TELL HIM EVERYONE ONLINE CAN SEE HIS ART BECAUSE I AM A BAD DAUGHTER.
kiffie: An A. seemani tarantula. (Bobling)
2012-07-10 10:33 pm
Entry tags:

Where I've Been

Or, why kiffies have been more MIA than usual.

Last week, I found a gas leak in my house.

I called a stove repair company, as I traced it to somewhere near the stove. Stove guy said no, it was under the house. Landlord called the propane folks. Propane folks said that gas leaks weren't a priority, and made me wait four days. During that time, the smell got worse.

I scrambled to get Hermes out of the house, just in case, and made a great effort to stay mostly gone, myself.

Finally, on Monday, the gas guy came, turned one little bolt, and said, "Yep."

(_ )_
kiffie: A male bettafish. (Frankie)
2012-06-08 04:17 am
Entry tags:

Awwww yeeeaaaah

Eight pages, people.

Eight.

Whooo!

Now, I never wish to see a plant sample or a mounting board or acetate paper ever again.
kiffie: Star Trek's Enterprise-D. (Owlship)
2012-06-07 09:18 pm
Entry tags:

You know...

Once you accept that you're not getting any sleep, you don't actually get tired.

...

Of course, that may also be the giant bottle of fruit juice and horrific adrenaline talking.

God, I'm going to fail so bad at this final paper.
kiffie: Star Trek's Enterprise-D. (Tiny Crime)
2012-06-03 11:31 am
Entry tags:

Dear Underwood

It should not take me half an hour to load a ribbon.

It's been half a day, and I still look like I lost a fight with an ink bottle.

No love,

Kiffies
kiffie: An A. seemani tarantula. (Bobling)
2012-05-31 03:30 pm
Entry tags:

Wherein Kiffie is Actually Afraid of Spiders

Last night, I was showering.

I look up. There's a daddy longlegs chilling on his web, just above my head. I figure, eh, I won't move him. He's high enough up that he shouldn't get wet, and I wasn't planning on taking a long enough shower for the steam to hurt him. I soap up my brush, then look back up... just in time to see a freaking tarantula sling skitter across the ceiling after the daddy longlegs.

I was out of that shower so quick, you have no idea.

The tarantula is, maybe, the size of a quarter. It looks like it wants some delicious daddy longlegs for dinner. Except daddy longlegs webs aren't nearly sturdy enough to hold a T, even a baby. So it flails all over, trying to get a grip and pull the other arachnid in. By now, I'm getting cold, and annoyed. The little jackass ruined my shower. I hop back in, but stay as far away from him as I can, and keep watch.

The tarantula evidently accepted defeat, because it climbed down off the ceiling, and tried to come into the stall with me... only to realize, too late, that the shower walls are not climbable. I feel there should have been a very tiny "Oh shi--!" as it tumbled into the small crack between the shower and bathroom wall.

I didn't see it again, so I can only assume it found its way back outside where it belongs.

And never tries to get in my house again.

Gah.

...And, for the record, the idiot daddy longlegs needed to be rescued five minutes later. Because they are dumb, and it tried to rappell into my hair.
kiffie: Star Trek's Enterprise-D. (Steve)
2012-04-29 05:13 pm
Entry tags:

So.

Nearly every review I have seen for The Avengers has, thus far, been positive.

It doesn't premiere here until mid next week.

HHHNNNNG.

Photobucket
kiffie: Star Trek's Enterprise-D. (Torch)
2012-04-12 09:27 am
Entry tags:

Secret Avengers #25

THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS, MARVEL.
kiffie: Star Trek's Enterprise-D. (Harry)
2012-02-15 10:16 pm
Entry tags:

Squeeky, of the Many Vetbills

Yesterday, my mom called me and said, "Squeeky had to go to the doctor today."

"Why," asked the kiffies, "did he fall off the roof, again?"

"No, he couldn't walk."

Squeeky, in his infinite ability to get into every imaginable bad situation, had gotten into a fight. His leg was... well, let's just say that he was doing a great impression of a pirate. Nothing broken or missing, but certainly out of working order.

The rest of the TMI story here. )
kiffie: Star Trek's Enterprise-D. (Harry)
2012-02-06 05:34 am
Entry tags:

What Sucks

Laying in bed, looking at the clock, and realizing that you're not getting to sleep that night.

That just happened.

I have a full 5 hours of class, straight, tomorrow. Three of those are delicate labwork with bacterial cultures.

( ._.)
kiffie: Star Trek's Enterprise-D. (Wibbly Wobbly)
2012-02-01 05:59 pm
Entry tags:

Things

1) School is eating me alive. With only 1 1/2 quarters left in my college career, this is getting ridiculous and stressful.

2) Hermes is doing well, and is at least giving me something to look forward to when I get home.

3) Comics are one of the few things keeping me sane, lately. Just picked up Winter Soldier, and I like it a lot. The news that DC is releasing a Watchmen prequel... not so much.

4) Pretty sure I splattered some form of horrid bacterial soup on my pants, today. That stain will be interesting to explain.