Annoyed.

Yes I am.
Here's why. As you know, I'm a business owner, I own my own beauty salon. We've actually won awards for excellent customer service and outstanding hygiene etc. Even been nominated for local business of the year.
Now, I'm proud of my salon, and props to my two sisters for helping me kick-start it.
What's pissing me off, is that the other day (Friday), I get some government bitch complaining to me, at my house, because I haven't employed any migrant workers or ethnics.
Fuck off lady. I AM a fucking immigrant myself! Wanna see my bastard birth certificate? or my documentation for when I moved here... Or hell, even one of my passports or citizenship papers! Don't play the bigot card with me woman!
Then, I had to point out to her, that it's not my job to hire people, I just own the place. The management side is up to Melonie.
But she pissed and moaned saying that we as a business were being racist... So I went down to the salon, pulled out the records for C.V's (resume's), application letters and interview notes.
The reason my staff is British (Because I do have an Irish girl working for me) is because I staff who are competent in their jobs and fit the criteria in terms of personality. Polite, friendly, presentable AND TO POSSESS GOOD ENGLISH SKILLS.
In a beauty salon, the last thing you want to see as a customer is someone who looks like they slept in a field doing your nails.
Also, my clientèle like to have a natter, can't have a chat with someone who doesn't understand a damn word
And I've read through the C.V's, yeah, the nail bar doesn't require anything in the way of quals... Just a quick 2 week basic course that I do pay for (£250 per person as well I might add) but even with Kari's departure we're fully staffed with Nikki, Kayla and Lucy and Bex manning the boutique/tanning booths.
But hair and the dermabrasion... I need someone trained for that and Melonie feels we don't need an apprentice stylist. Though it is something to consider. And as I was saying, I read through the C.V's with this woman and not one of the rejected foreign applicants had the skills necessary for the job! Plus I think a few were illegals anyway. If Kamilla can get the job with homeland security as an immigration officer, I'm going to have her look into a few people because we do get some shifty fuckers applying. I've wanted to phone immigration before because some people have failed to provide proper documentation, but I also don't want to be done for slander/time wasting and as a small business, running back-ground checks isn't at all profitable.
After 3 whole hours of setting this bitch straight, she apologised and left. 3 fucking hours of my life wasted because some bitch we rejected claims we as a business were being un-fucking-fair!

Ok yeah, so contrary to what I said above about her playing the "bigot card", I am a bit bigoted... But who isn't? I just feel that some people, because they're immigrants feel they are owed everything and anything. And they're not. Myself and Melonie have the right as managers to refuse employment to whoever if we don't feel they are right for their job. Just because you're from Serbia or whatever doesn't mean you're instantly entitled to come and take money out of my bank account every week... Like you don't already rob me blind through the government with taxes as it is.
Fuckers, the lot of them.

My dear Rielle

First of all. Lady J, for when you get round to reading this, the links to the new blogs.

http://broken-cantbefixed.blogspot.com/?zx=78db410c0097d09e
http://elloria.blogspot.com/
http://lettersofthewasteland.blogspot.com/

Right. Now for this weeks update. And I must admit, this is seriously last minute since I've been preparing the two new blog projects, so I'm going to talk about the most important thing in my life.

Yes that's right, I'm going to talk about my daughter, Rielle. She's almost 18 months old and I can't believe how quickly she's growing up.
It doesn't seem two minutes since I brought her home from the hospital. Nature is an amazing thing!
I've had a look back at some of my previous posts on here and I can't believe how scared I was of being a bad mother... I wasn't scared of being a bad parent per se, but of failing my daughter. I guess a lot of women think that way with their first child.
But I can remember on the very first night she was at home, I was feeding her at about 2am and I thought "How can I fail her? How can I be a bad parent? How can anyone be a bad parent?"
From the very first moment I met her, I loved her. I cannot describe to you just how I felt... But on that night, as I sat there... The love radiated between mother and daughter and I thought about all those children who don't have the parents they deserve. Children who get beaten, abused and neglected. I can't fathom how a parent could do that to their child.
I thought about that and I cried my eyes out. Though I'll admit, some were tears of relief because I knew that my husband and I will always be there for Rielle. No matter what! And on top of that she also has her aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, godmother and her dog. She'll never be alone, there will always be someone there for her, and I am truly thankful for that.



Rielle and Nikita are inseparable! They are the best of friends. Sure, Rielle has her cousins Sabrina and Pagan and her friend Amelia... And she loves playing with them, they get along great.
But aside from her bond with her proud mum & dad, no bond is greater in Ri's life than that between her and her pet dog.
Nikita is brilliant, she's the present I've ever got Rielle. From the day I brought her home as a pup, Rielle loved her, they played together, napped together and helped each other. It's because of Nikita that Rielle can walk. Yeah, I'd like to take credit for it, for the one who encouraged her and kept her motivated, but I'll be honest and tell you it was Nikita.
When Rielle teetered, she'd grab onto Nikita for stability, on a few occasions, when she fell onto her bot-bot, Nikita helped push her up. Diamonds are not my girls best friend... Her dog is and should I or Damo, for whatever extreme reason, fail to protect Rielle (And believe me, we'd die protecting her) then Nikita will be her last and greatest line of defence.



And as well as walking, she's talking. It shocked me at how early she learnt this stuff. I don't know why but I was always under the impression that children learnt to talk at about 18 months old... Rielle was 11 months when she started with her first words, now she's stringing along basic sentences.
Though, thinking about it, that's not at all really surprising. Since before she was born my husband and I have been talking to her, reading to her and whatnot. Her favourite show is Sesame street (I can't stand it, never could when I was a kid, can't now) but it seems to be a useful learning tool and it is, in my opinion working. It must, it's been going since 1969.
When I was little/growing up I always had my sisters to contend with and watched shit (Awesome shit) like Thundercats and Transformers. Also back in the late 80's we didn't have the type of T.V we have now. There are whole channels dedicated towards babies and toddlers and helping them to develop mentally as well as being fun. I think that's a great thing. It gives my child the head start I never really got (aside from my brilliant mother, but with two other children to look after, her attention was naturally and understandably divided) She did the best she could and I love her for it. Because I (in my opinion) turned out to be an intelligent, women, loving wife and devoted mother.
I'm certain that if there is some form of afterlife, that my mother is as proud of me as I am of Rielle. And that's damn proud!



And speaking of intelligence. I don't mean to brag... But my daughter is fucking smart!
I mean, she's 17 months old and she knows how to work my laptop. Not properly mind, but she knows how to flick the screen up. Turn on the power and find MS Paint (Because she loves drawing)
I have a mouse which is tiny,it's designed for laptops (incase you're using it on the go so it packs away easily) and it's perfect for Rielle. I have everything on single click so she can access things easily. Like I said, she knows how to access Paint, she knows to click the left button, she knows how to select colours.
Some people may be reading this thinking "psh" (because some people are dickheads) but in my opinion, for a 17 month old, that's quite an accomplishment.
And like any child her age, she's inquisitive. Into everything. But I've noticed she likes to tinker, basing my comparisons on my sister Jessica. This is... Different to me (I know all kiddos are different). Jessica liked to touch and feel and become acquainted with her world. Rielle likes to open things and see how things work. She likes to be shown things and try it herself.
Her dads great with this type of thing too as he's by profession a builder. Put a load of crap in front of him and he can make something creative with it. If something is broken 90% of the time he'll be able to open it up, see how everything works and fix it.
Rielle seems to have picked up this talent.



I'm unfortunately (for me) going to have to end this post here because I love my daughter and I'm damn proud of her and I could honestly talk about her all day. BUT I can't. Simply because I actually have to take care of her, I can't sit here all day talking about her. I have a responsibility to her and like I said earlier, I won't let her down and I'll always be there for her.
There isn't anything I wouldn't sacrifice for her, just to see her smile.

Spiders are scary little ninja bastards!

I'm fighting a war. A war against spiders. Every night before bed, I check my sheets for them, shoe in hand, ready to brutally end their lives with way more force than necessary. Sometimes I find one and even if I kill it, I still can't go to sleep because it confirmed my fear that sometimes there are spiders waiting in my bed for me.

I used to pretend that I wasn't afraid of spiders. It made me feel cool - like I was braver than most people.
If someone called me on my bluff and asked me to dispose of a spider, I would put on my battle-face and do my best to get rid of it without letting the panic bubble to the surface.

I don't pretend any more.



I HATE spiders. Spiders are like little pieces of death wrapped in scary. Even if a spider was like



I'd be all



Sometimes when I express the hatred and fear I feel when I think of spiders, someone will be like "But spiders have families too!!" Like somehow that will make me become sympathetic and understanding toward spiders. But that's exactly the point. Spiders have families and their families are also spiders. We should kill spiders because they have families.



When I was younger, my sister would say "Sweetie, don't be afraid. You are way bigger than a spider." Well guess what, Lillian? I'm bigger than a grenade too. Were you trying to raise me to be some sort of unconquerable war-machine that isn't even afraid of grenades?
If you were trying to do that, you failed. I'm afraid of a lot of things that are smaller than me - like bees and wolverines and centipedes. I'm even kind of afraid of ants a little bit.



Spiders are fucking scary. That is a universal truth. I don't know why. I don't need to know why. All I know is that when this:



comes crawling across the floor at me, my brain interprets it like this:



That is a spider with a swastika and the words "I KILL YOU" carved into its flesh and it has knives and guns strapped to its legs. That's how scary spiders are.



P.S. I just saw a spider on my stairs and I tried to squish it but I missed and now I can't find it.

UPDATE: Remember how I was like "P.S. There was a spider on my stairs and I tried to squish it, but no"?
IT WAS ON ME. At least I think it was the same spider. Maybe it was just a part of the other spider's clone army. I don't know.
The point is that I was like "happyhappyunaware" and then I looked down and there was a big, black spider crawling on the couch next to me and I ran away yelling "getitgetitgetit!!!" because I'm super brave.
Then my husband was like "I know what would be a good idea! I should try to stab the spider with a knife!" (because he's a clever bastard... Not) and he took a dagger out of it's display case and tried to stab the spider and he missed and the spider ran away and now there's a fucking spider in my couch.

UPDATE: Okay, this spider is a survivor. First, it escaped being crushed by me on the stairs.
Then it got away when husband was trying to stab it with a dagger and it ran behind the couch. Tip: don't try to stab spiders - squish instead:



The husband and I tore the room up looking for it and we couldn't find it. Then, I looked up above me and there it was. On the ceiling. In a completely unreachable spot. Little ninja type bastard!

UPDATE: Now it has a friend.

UPDATE: husband just killed the spider's friend using a box of biscuits O_o



The original spider is still too high to reach.

UPDATE: The spider has been slain. It was an epic battle. First, I made a spider-free island in the middle of the living room where I could watch the action while still being reasonably sure that I would not become part of it.
Then my husband made a long, poke-y weapon and he climbed up behind the couch and went in for the kill.
The spider did not die easily and its death will probably be avenged in some fashion by its clone army, but for now it is gone.

5 greatest movie sequels (in my opinon)

Yes, sequels. Normally the one thing that makes movie fans cringe to know that there's another of those films on the way. (Normally slasher/scholck horror crappy teen flicks)

But every now and then a movie sequel comes along and totally blows away your expectations and even surpasses the brilliance of the original.
Here are my top 5 favourite sequels (Though they're probably at the top of every greatest sequels list)

5. The Dark Knight



Why's it so good?

Christopher Nolan's special genius lies in building his comic book films around a theme and making them stronger for that.
The theme of Batman Begins was a city's response to fear (good drinking game: count the uses of that word/variations on it during Begins).
This time, it's about the fine balance in our lives between control and chaos. Oh, and Heath Ledger's Joker perfect balances Bale's fiercely controlled Dark Knight.

How does it stack up to the original?

The action scenes are better, everyone's settled into their roles in an established world, and Ledger blows every comic book performance ever off the screen.
There's a reason this enjoyed such phenomenal financial and critical success: it's made by a team of experts at the top of their game.


4. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior



Why's it so good?

This sequel has become one of the classic dystopian films of all time, taking the world from the first film and making it much more wild and provocative environment. With sweet car chases and timeless costuming and villains, this film has garnered a major cult following and deservingly so, it’s an adrenaline-filled cinema experience.

How does it stack up to the original?

Mad Max was a great movie, though cheaply made and with some quite hokey dialogue. But it's vision of a post apocalyptic Australia on the total brink of collapse was brilliantly executed.
The sequel brought total anarchy to a world already gone mad and upped the ante on every scale and Mel Gibson played his role as Max excellently, the lone wanderer trying to just survive any way possible.

3. Toy Story 2



Why's it so good?

Pixar's first sequel displays all the artistry and attention to storytelling that you'd expect from the studio, and bodes well for the upcoming Cars 2 and Monsters Inc. 2.
The new characters - particularly Jessie - fit in beautifully with the established crew, there's that hilarious cinephile space-set opening, the themes are deepened and developed, and that Sarah McLachlan song will slay you every time.

How does it stack up to the original?

This is one of those films that provokes debate: is it as good as the original or actually better? Frankly, why bother trying to choose?
They're both sublime pieces of film-making, both in terms of animation, character, voice work and scripting. Certainly the technology has taken another step forward for this one, but it's polishing an already-brilliant stone.

2. Terminator 2: Judgment Day



Why's it so good?

The action, the pace, Sarah Connor's biceps, the clever early switcheroo where you think Arnie's the bad guy and Robert Patrick is the good guy - only you're wrong - and the further considerations of what time travel means for the present are all effective.
But it's the effects and the set pieces that really blew my socks off - and they continue to stand up even today.

How does it stack up to the original?

The first one (My personal fave of the Terminator franchise, though there is no denying the brilliance of T2), as strange as it seems, was more horror movie than action movie, a sort of slasher film with sci-fi trimmings.
The second sees Cameron pull the same trick he did with Aliens, switching genre, upping the ante and producing something entirely different (the bad guy's now the good guy!) while still feeling like part of the same franchise.

1. Aliens




Why's it so good?

Cameron's genius here lies in manipulating the tension, beautifully structuring the switches from build-up, to carnage, to unbearable waiting, to action.
The Colonial Marines who accompany an understandably reluctant Ellen Ripley are each fleshed out as individuals, and the plot brilliantly conceived to showcase every character and then kill most of them off horribly.
Why does it beat Terminator 2? Because T2 doesn't have a single acid-veined Xenomorph in it. That's why!

How does it stack up to the original?

Entirely changing genre, from haunted-house-in-space to balls-to-the-wall action, proved the masterstroke here.
This is a defiantly different film, one that's as good as (or arguably, better than) Ridley Scott's original, but not directly comparable because it remains true to the spirit of its predecessor without ever threatening to retread its steps.