every time I say things are good out loud...

the universe laughs.

Once again I need a new homestay student. Before I start sounding all self-pitying, I'll interject that there's actually a good chance I can get one organised pretty quickly. But tonight I'm all uncertainty and frustration. Just once I wish I could sort out my budget and have it stick. I'm trying so hard to get money together to buy my friend's car in May (and it's an awesome deal, trust me) and I'm happy to work my butt off to make it happen. I just need a chance to do that.

Once everything's back on an even keel...I'm going to keep my mouth shut and try to slip under the universe's radar.

i don't often pine after riches

but some days...

(middle item)

Who would you like to have afternoon tea with?

the book i won't be reading this week

I finished the Cory Doctorow book and I'm looking around for something new. I decided to go non-fiction and happened across a book on DailyLit called 100 Ways to Succeed/Make Money by Tom Peters. Now I'd like to make some money. I _almost_ signed up to start reading it.

And then I read these recommendations:

In no small part, what American corporations have become is what Peters has encouraged them to be. (The New Yorker)

Peters is...the father of the post-modern corporation. (Los Angeles Times)

We live in a Tom Peters world. (Fortune)

I think I'll pass.

money money money

It's the first pay after the start of the new financial year and there are about 40 extra dollars in my pay...yah! Next fortnight we get the back pay from our pay rise that is being retrospectively paid from January (it took that long to finalise the certified agreement)...double yah! And in August when I go up one pay increment, triple yah it will be!

i'm so excited!

I started my Cafepress shop after I got a cool computer art program as a gift. I was enjoying making designs and I figured, 'why not?' because maybe someone else would like them, too. It took a while to work out how to do things properly. I didn't realise, for example, that the seller can choose which dark t-shirts to use for each design. I thought I was stuck with the whole range in every case. I also made a couple of really stupid mistakes with designs, like using white to fade something out on a design ~ it looked perfect on the white t-shirt, but I had dark t-shirts with the same design on them that looked really unprofessional and bizarre until I spotted the mistake and fixed it.

All in all, the store had few designs for a while. I also had to learn how to go about promoting the items. My efforts here have been pretty basic, like learning how to make it easier for web search spiders to find and list the item pages for various searches.

Anyway, recently I have wanted to get back to designing, which I haven't done for several weeks. This week I want to try my hand at some cute Halloween designs. I went to my shop owner's page, only to find that I've had SIX sales since I last checked the site!! I mean, I know it's only six sales, but you have to start somewhere, and that's six people who are walking around in four different US states, wearing my designs.

How cool is that?!! ^_^

if only i was a scum-sucking parasite

If I was a lowlife paparazzo (or would that be paparazza because I'm a girl?) willing to lurk outside people's homes or invade their privacy every moment of the day, I'd have it made. Apparently one half decent photo of Jake and Reese together could pay off every cent of debt I have, buy me a new car and an overseas holiday and leave enough change for me to put a deposit on an apartment. Does Photoshop count?

If you happen to have a camera close by, one new couple will earn you the really big bucks.
"Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon are Hollywood's hottest and newest couple and we haven't seen them together yet," says Splash News Online editor, Gary Morgan. "So a picture of these two will guarantee you a six-figure sum."
Morgan has some of his best men (armed with lots of lenses) stationed around the Brentwood/Westwood area where Witherspoon and Gyllenhaal have been working out and eating out.
The Hollywood hotties have apparently been dating for two months, but they are "taking it slow, having meals at home and being cautious," according to a Witherspoon pal.
"The last place you'd ever see them is at The Ivy," says Morgan. "This isn't Posh and Becks. The last thing they want is attention but we are dying to find them and give it to them."
Paparazzi are also perched outside their million-dollar mansions just in case one half of the couple drops by to visit the other.

In case you missed it, I loathe paparazzi. But it gives you a bit of insight into why they do what they do, no?

Oh and did I mention he's hot? I know the subject came up several times in my head while I was trawling Google images breathlessly looking for a photo to add to this post.