» Child Labour

This happens every weekend.
Since I was raised in a technology centered household in the 90's, I learned a lot, and quickly. I started using the internet at the age of four, and things have progressed rapidly since. Needless to say, I have more advanced skills than the average trained monkey.
My father's fiancee claims to know a lot about computers, when actually she doesn't. She also has a thirteen year old son that is operating mentally and socially on the level of maybe a nine year old (either this, or I was less stupid when I was his age) and thinks he knows about computers.

I'm forced to live there on the weekends with my father, and since he's too busy with her or whatever he claims (all I know is I'm the one always fixing things) so I'm the one that always has to fix their computers, which seem to have seirous problems all the time. I'm paid nothing, and I get all sorts of verbal abuse from his fiancee and her son.
This QOTW made me go check online just how much it would be for me to actually charge for me fixing their things.
This month alone, I've installed a wireless network, installed antivirus programs, troubleshooted problems, and been on hold with tech support just to prove that there was a significant problem I couldn't fix.

And this list is only the stuff I can remember. (prices are for Best Buy Geek Squad)
Wireless Network Setup (Two Computers)- $159
Antivirus Install- $129
Antivirus Install- $129 (I did this on two different computers)
Antispyware Install- $29
Antispyware Install- $29 (also on two machines)
Software Install- $29
Software Install- $29
Software Install- $29
Software Install- $29
Software Install- $29 (at least five pieces of software)
Network Troubleshooting- $79
Network Troubleshooting- $79
Network Troubleshooting- $79
Network Troubleshooting- $79 (and most likely even more than this, also.)
System Tune Up- $49
System Tune Up- $49 (twice on one machine, even.)
Peripheral Setup- $49
Add a Device to an Existing Network- $129
PC Setup and System Customization- $129
I'll be assisting in Data Migration (Transfer) next weekend- $229
PC Setup and System Customization- $129
2-Hour Basic Training- $229
2-Hour Basic Training- $229
2-Hour Basic Training- $229
2-Hour Basic Training- $229
2-Hour Basic Training- $229 (I've provided more than ten hours in the past two years, I can say this.)
This adds up to a grand total of $2598, without taxes, and this is only the stuff I can remember.

So, since I'm an unpaid geek filled to the brim of teenage angst, I plan to have as much fun as I can with the systems there every weekend starting next weekend, ranging from me finding the kid's passwords on his computer and making copies to all, to installing a backdoor to his system and controlling it remotely, to simple things like a keystroke logger and me just generally messing up things internally and externally.

The spoiled little brat will have no idea what is happening to his new $1200 computer (I fail to mention she just bought this kid a new dual core media center PC with 17" LCD just so that he can play his ninny little games with his so called friends. When I was his age, (less than three years ago) all I had was a quickly aging windows 98 machine that couldn't even run open office properly, and it was a great starting computer, as you couldn't mess it up any more. But this kid... damn is all I have to say.)

They're none the wiser, because the kid IS a moron (he was caught deleting part of the system registry a few months ago) and when things will start to go wrong in the next few weeks, I'll not be the one at fault, as since I have to fix it, then why would I do such a thing? I'm a good big sister apparently!

/end rant
(Mon 20th Feb 2006, 6:33, More)

» Awesome Sickies

At the largest speech event in the state of Kansas...
I'm going to just admit it right here. I'm a speech nerd. I'm a policy debater in school, and have watched this stuff since I was five. So I've kind of had this ingrained into my mind and it's kind of screwed me up.

In January, our debate team was at the state competitions, and my coach needed an alternate for the alternate. Me being the daughter of the rather influentual school administrator that was going to be judging there any way, my coach asked me to come along.

First day is fine and dandy, with me just sitting in the back of the room drinking water and trying to read the judge's ballots. We're tied for first at the end of the night, so we go out for dinner at some fancy Italian place. I order some pasta dish, and it's okay. We get back to the hotel, have a pep talk, and we go to bed, for it is going to be a long Saturday.

All is well until around 5:45am, when I wake up feeling ill. A few minutes later, I'm running to the trash can in the room (which mind you, has no liner) and throwing up. I get dressed, and ready for the day. 6:45 comes along, and like clockwork, so does the vomit.

I'm certainly feeling off, so I decide to stay far away from my team and instead with said father. We stop at Mickey D's, and I order a large sprite, and some fruit. I'm slowly sipping along, and about another hour, in a black pinstriped suit, I am running toward the ladie's room. My vomit tasted sweet. There were chunks of strawberry in it.

Meanwhile, my coach sees that I'm sitting out for the rounds, and he is not too pleased with this. It takes him a while to figure out the intensity of my sickness.

This happens for a few more hours, until I'm exhausted, and people passing by stop to ask me how I'm doing, and make small talk. (I'm notorious on the circuit here because of my family's position in this sport (both brothers quite successful, and I would later be seen as a rising shining star in another speaking event) One of those people included a judge that was going in to the round. I think he voted for us out of pity, because here is a little novice being dragged out here, and sicker than a dog.

My father and I eventually were sent home, because I wasn't getting any better, and my coach was nice enough to realize that it was very possible that if I did not get better, I was going to have to go the ER because I was that dehydrated and couldn't keep anything down. I stopped vomiting after I got home.

It all seemed better until a few hours later, when I had the worst liquidy shits that to this day make me terrified to fart. Several ounces of Pepto-Bismol later, I feel okay, but exhausted.

Net gain: being probably the most respected novice on the squad, black shits for almost a week (due to the pepto), giving my family a really bad illness, and a shiny medal. Oh, and a taste aversion to flavored non-carbonated water because the taste reminds me of my sickly-sweet fruity vomit. I gag everytime I stupidly grab a bottle and nearly get sick all over again.

Except the kick in my figurative balls was that we only placed second in the state.

And it made me smile to find out my coach had the exact same sickness at the national tournament a few weeks ago.
(Fri 9th Jun 2006, 9:21, More)

» Your Weirdest Teacher

I have a few...
In year 8, my science teacher was obsessed with my hair. She would make up excuses to pet, yes, pet my hair. Like a cat. I swear. If I had dyed it (which I did several times over the course of that year) and used a particularly pungent smelling dye (most of the time, it was a citrus smell that lingered for days), she would be over there smelling my hair, or telling me how soft it was. She always was obsessing over my hair. Scared the crap out of me, for good reason. She adored me for some reason, and to be honest, I didn't like her and she was really mean to everyone else. But hey, it was an easy a.

Also in year 7 and 8, both years we had a lesbian gym teacher. Year 7 was particularly scary, as she constantly watched us getting undressed, and was rumored to be in a relationship with one of the girls in her class, which is very believable due to the findings of a diary of said girl and what was said, and just the fact that this lady was scary as hell.
She (the gym teacher) lives down the street from me, actually.

In years 4, 5, and 6(!) I also had a scary teacher lady that also adored me for no real reason. By year six, I got tired of it (and the school as a whole) and transferred to the 'strict' school in the city. I got the lesbian teacher. It was quite an interesting year for me. That year is a whole different story.

And, finally, in year one... This lady was the scariest. She wrote in cursive and always gave me A+'s for no reason. She smelled of sharpie and always followed me home. Oh yeah, that was my mum. That was the weirdest teacher ever. Thanks mum, you ruined my chance at ever having a social life very early on...
(Fri 11th Nov 2005, 2:25, More)

» Personal Hygiene

Ear Cheese
I have stretched ears to a width of 5mm, as seems to be the 'in' thing to do with the teenage population, I guess.

I usually clean my plugs every day or so, to clean off the gunk (dead skin cells, lymph, and in some cases, a bit of blood or pus) that accumulates on the jewelry. It happens on all piercings, but gets much, much worse at increasing sizes.

Lovely stuff really, as you can see. It's bad enough on it's own, but the smell of the stuff is absolutely rank. It's really indescribable, but somewhere between the smell of rotting cheese and ass. (Thus, the name "ear cheese".) I've not had it happen to me, but with some of these little buggers that don't wash their jewelery, the stench can be smelled several feet away from them.

However, it does lead to childish fun by wiping it on your housemate's nose and watching their reaction.

Length? Oh, around 5mm.
(Fri 23rd Mar 2007, 4:18, More)

» When animals attack...

Honestly, I was playing with it!
Besides the usual scars and scratches and bites I 've acquired from having cats, this was the worst...
I remember the day... September 18, 2001. I had came home from school, and saw a cat just sitting there on the sidewalk. Me, being the cat person I am, started petting it. It seemed friendly, so I picked it up (this was the stupidest thing I could've done. ever.) Of course, the cat does not like this, and soon, the cat is attached to my arm. And he wouldn't stop biting. I swung my arm as hard as I could possibly, and he flew off. Upon further inspection of my arm, I saw that I had four rather huge holes in my arm and some scratches. I was a bit more foolish then, so I went inside and grabbed the perscription strength antibiotic cream and rubbed it all over my arm. Parents come home, see the arm, and say it looks worse than usual and that they'd make me a doctor's appointment the next day. All of that was forgotten when we went to some dinner thing and a family friend, who happens to be a nurse saw it. Told us to call a doctor once we got home. We did. Since the cat didn't have its shots, and it bit me that hard... he said that I'd have to go to the emergency room. To get rabies shots.
I freaked out and started to cry. There was NO WAY I was going to go get bunches of shots in my stomach. We get there, wait for what seems like an eternity, and my name is called. There is two bottles sitting out, one with a bright pink fluid and one clear. The bright pink bottle is much larger than the clear one. I'm told to sit down and relax, while they give me the first shot in my arm. (That was the tetnaus shot with the clear liquid.) Then, the second shot also in my left arm, with a bit of the pink liquid. I then see them taking out the biggest syringe I've ever seen in my life and also filling it up. I start crying again. I get another four shots in the bite holes... Then am told that they're going to have to split up the rest of the shot.. in my ass. At that point, getting shots in my stomach sounded great.
After that was all done, we're handed a sheet of paper telling me when to come back during the next two months.
My arm was also swelled up and very red, and I had to go on antibiotics to clear up the infection.
In gym class the next day, my teacher looked quite weirdly at me when I handed her the note that said I was to be excused from class because I couldn't sit or do much of anything because of the pain...
Needless to say, I don't go petting stray cats much anymore.
(Wed 8th Jun 2005, 1:02, More)