Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Kim Lumpkin's LiveJournal:

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Saturday, July 18th, 2009
1:56 pm	Future Trip Plans Last year's Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Orlando was seriously the most fun I've ever had at a theme park, so I am sorely tempted to go again this year. However, after careful consideration, I've decided I probably won't go this year in lieu of saving up for a longer trip to the park next year. There are a couple of good reasons for doing so: 1. Next year will be the 20th anniversary of HHN, so they'll probably plan something really big (or at least bigger than usual). 2. By next year the new Harry Potter section of Islands of Adventure will be open, and of course I will have to go to that, so I can plan to do both HP and HHN around the same time. If any of you are anywhere near Orlando and have ever considered going to HHN, by all means do so, especially if you are at all a fan of haunted houses, horror, and amazing makeup and sets. And if you do decide to go next year, let me know, maybe we can plan a meetup :) back to my lazy Saturday... Love, "Kay" Current Mood: calm Current Music: "Ease on Down the Road" from The Wiz (Comment on this)
Monday, July 13th, 2009
9:41 am	Calling all adobe and/or photoshop whizzes I recently took my “4 of 2” book to Office Max for scanning, and since I’m still not terribly adept at working with image files, I have a couple of issues/questions: 1.The whole book is saved as a series of pictures in a single file in adobe format, which is great for scrolling through the book, but doesn’t allow me to post any of it in livejournal or facebook (as far as I can tell). I will hopefully have my own website someday for my work, but for now I’d like to post it (or at least parts of it) for my friends to see (the ones who haven’t already, hehe). I’m assuming this will involve saving it in .mpg or .jpg format, but I have no clue how to do so…any ideas? 2.To add the typed lyrics to the book where I wanted them, I used the very primitive method of gluing them onto the pictures – with rubber cement. Of course this was extremely foolish since over time the rubber cement darkened and is now very visible in spots, so dark in some places that it makes the text impossible to read. I need to find a way to clean up these areas on the images and replace them with clean type, which should be pretty easy in a file, but again I have no idea how. Any advice on either of these things would be greatly, greatly appreciated! Love, “Kay” Current Mood: busy Current Music: Jerry Reed - "East Bound and Down" (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, June 27th, 2009
5:12 am	Wow I was just reading back entries of my LJ and realized how much I've slacked in updating in the past couple of years. I really do need to work harder at updating more because not only is it fun to look back at what was going on in years past, but it can be useful for retrieving information that may have been forgotten (cat's birthdays for example). I realize that Facebook is currently way more popular (and admittedly easier for sharing pics), but it's not that great for blogging. Myspace is a bit better for blogging (especially for longer stuff like my book excerpts) and sharing music, but it's still not as good as something like Livejournal that is specifically designed for it. I'll probably continue to use the other services, too although I've been using Myspace less since I've started using Facebook), but I'm sticking with LJ for most of my blogging needs (blogosphere heaves a sigh of relief). Still don't think I'll ever use Twitter, though, I could never keep up with that! For those of you who use mutliple sites, what do you like best about them and what do you mostly use them for? Summer school is wrapping up at my school, and once again I'm very relieved to have been signed on for another year. Enrollment is still down thanks to the economy which has hit the economically depressed area the school is in especially hard, and every year I'm sure is the one the principal is going to tell me they just can't afford to keep me on full time, but they always do. Since it's such a struggle for parents to afford to send their kids to a Catholic school, I'm even more motivated to do all I can for these kids, and every year I get a little better at it (I hope!). Stuff I'm looking forward to this summer: Mom's visit Bruno Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Venetian Pool Beach days Snorkling (Hopefully)new bed shopping at IKEA Beyond that, I'm trying to decide when to use my free ticket for Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. It's good for up to 7 consecutive days, and while there's no way I could use all seven (for one thing, I couldn't afford that long of a hotel stay), I'm sure I could manage at least 3 days. I'm dying to try out the new Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster that will be opening any time now, and I am off all next month, but July is just tooo hot to be walking around theme parks. I'm toying with the idea of going to Halloween Horror Nights again this year. I'd have to pay separately for HHN of course (about $60 for admission and another $60 for a much needed express pass), but it would be cooler in October. They just announced some of the themes for this year's HHN houses - so far there will be a Wolfman house (to promote the new movie no doubt), a Saw house, and a Chucky (Child's Play) house. Doesn't sound quite as cool as last year's all-original house themes, but still could be a lot of fun. Ok, enough boring rambling - my mp3 player should be fully charged by now, so I'm off to run. Have a great day/weekend everyone! Love, "Kay" Current Mood: thankful Current Music: Jonathan Coulton - "I Feel Fantastic" (Comment on this)
Friday, June 12th, 2009
5:57 am	Random stuff percolating in my brain (aka too much Red Bull) I just don't get racism and prejudice. I can't wrap my brain around it. Is it that much of a mental stretch to see that every single group of people on earth has both good people and jerks, idiots and geniuses? It just seems so obvious to me that you can't overgeneralize about an entire race, religion, etc. Maybe I just need to stop reading the junk people spew on public forums *sigh* Obama critics love to say stuff like, "Government created jobs won't stimulate the economy." I never really understood the logic behind this. Don't government jobs pay real money? And won't a lot of that money be spent on restaurants, electronics, cars, etc., just like private sector job money? Either way the economy gets stimulated. ALso, our infrastructure, once the envy of the world, is beginning to fall apart and that's just not something we can depend on private industry to take care of. It took us a long time to get into this mess (and I know that both Republicans and Democrats are to blame), and it's gonna take awhile to get out of it. Just seems like another no brainer to me. Someone's been skinning and gutting cats in a couple of neighborhoods about 25 miles south of me. Sick bastards, I really hope they're caught soon. In happier news, my brother is still keeping out of trouble, yay! He's actually working two jobs now and helping my dad with the rent. It's like invasion of the brother snatchers (but in a good way)! Ok, I need to get ready for work, then a fun day with my gal pals, possibly involving a drive to the beach. Summer has definitely arrived here! Have a great weekend everyone... Love, "Kay" Current Mood: busy Current Music: Magnetic Fields - The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
4:57 pm	Huey Lewis and the State of the Art Hearing Aids News In my ongoing quest to find a hearing aid that will help me not feel lost in most social situations, I am trying out a demo of some new ones that, while not quite top of the line, are a good step above what I currently have. In the office of the hearing specialist, I was watching the waiting room tv and Huey Lewis was on talking about how much he likes the ones he wears (the ad even has "Power of Love" and outro music). I'm sure some might feel a bit depressed about Huey Lewis plugging hearing aids, but I thought it was so incredibly dorky it was cute. My favorite part was when he said his are in two different colors so he can tell in the box which is which. Honestly, Huey, it's not that hard, hehe. Love, "Kay" Current Mood: amused Current Music: "Power of Love" in my head (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 2nd, 2009
5:13 am	So far so good My brother's been doing very well, not only working, taking care of my old car, and keeping up with his probation requirements, but he's also addressing some health issues that he's needed taken care of for some time. One thing that surprised me is that he's not even 40 but has arthritis in his back, jeez. I hope he can stay on track... In other news, the office of Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic that I've been volunteering at on Saturdays for about 8 years now is closing :( I'm also bummed because I can't go to the last session (today) since I'm proctoring an SAT exam at my school. But I've been assured that there will be a final party at some point, and I'll be sure to be there! On a happier note, as some of you may know (and I'm sure I've mentioned before), one of my favorite bands is a smart pop punk band from Mobile, Alabama called Pain; although they're no longer together, they've been working on a DVD retrospective for what seems like forever; I ordered my copy yesterday and I can't wait to get it! I've never had a chance to see them live, they only have a few videos, so the chance to see live footage and other goodies is very exciting. Please check them out at thepainpage.com or their videos for "In a Band," "Square Pegs," and even an animated video for "Jabberjaw" (yes, the theme song from the cartoon about the shark) and see if you like 'em. Ok, time for my morning run...have a good weekend, all! Love, "Kay" Current Mood: awake Current Music: Pain - "Right On" (Comment on this)
Sunday, April 19th, 2009
8:54 pm	I need time off to recover from my vacation! Ok, that header is kind of misleading because I really didn't do all that much during my week off, just lots of family time, which was a bit stressful at times but overall very nice, too. And I actually slept too much. But the new car hasn't arrived yet, and once it does I'll need time to take care of the paperwork between Car Max and my credit union, so that'll take some time. It's hard to be patient! But I know it'll be worth it. Love, "Kay" Current Mood: optimistic Current Music: My bro watching TV (Comment on this)
Monday, April 13th, 2009
8:02 pm	The winner and still champion... Well, I finally found a car, and it is a Mustang once again! What can I say, I love them and they fit me well. This one is a beauty, too...red with tan leather seats. It's a 2008 with just 15,000 miles on it, for just under $16,000. Not bad, eh? Anything newer was just out of my price range. I found it through carmax and it's coming from North Carolina, so it should be here in a week or so. Heh, I just realized my first Stang was white, and my current one is blue, so now I've had red, white, and blue...how's that for patriotic? :) Love, "Kay" Current Mood: relieved Current Music: Mustang Sally (in my head) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, April 10th, 2009
12:20 pm	Bad Luck Some jerk rear-ended my brother while he was stopped at a red light yesterday on his way to work. Luckily a cop saw everything that happened (it was totally the other guy's fault), but Tim's in way too much pain to deal with police reports or insurance agents, so I don't know how it'll all turn out. He did go to the hospital and got some pain pills, and he has an appointment to see a specialist on Tuesday, but that's not doing him any good right now. I'm really glad he's ok, I just wish there were something I could do. Current Mood: anxious (Comment on this)
Monday, April 6th, 2009
5:40 am	I hate car shopping My mom, dad, brother and I went to a few dealerships as well as Car Max yesterday without much success. We found the exact lovely Mustang I wanted, but it was just too much. My dad and brother did a great job of being the hard-ass negotiators, but the best deal the dealership could offer came to monthly payments of $335 for 72 months...and that's with $5,000 down! Not exactly the bargain I was looking for. Then I test drove a super nice Pontiac hard top convertible, but that was too much, too (keep in mind that we were the only customers on the lot at each of the dealerships). My dad's been wanting me to at least consider a nice low-mileage used Cadillac for some time, so I sat in one at Car Max and it was pretty nice...the fully automatic seats have this killer lower back support, and there are other nice features - it is a caddy after all! My mom kept raving about how comfy and roomy it was, and my dad and brother said they know I'd really love it if I drove it, but I dunno...it's certainly not the sporty, zippy car I had in mind. We couldn't test drive it there, so I will probably be doing that at a dealership some time this week. I guess part of the problem is that I just don't know what I really want. I just want a car I like for about $3000 down and about $250 a month for 5 years, which doesn't seem too unreasonable, especially with car companies supposedly doing so badly, but it seems like it'll be harder and take longer than I thought. Oh well, let's see what this week brings. Love, "Kay" Current Mood: frustrated Current Music: The morning news (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 4th, 2009
11:16 am	What's goin' on? Well, my brother Tim got out of prison last Friday, and he and my mom have been staying here in my apt. since then. She goes back Monday, he goes whenever he finds a place. He already has a job (started today) with some people he worked for before prison, so that's good (take that, bad economy!). And it's nice to have my mom here making meals so I don't have to buy or make them myself :) It's been a bit exhausting though, and I haven't had the mental energy to do any writing, drawing, or reviewing. It's also not always easy managing the use of my car between myself and Tim, but he's been very reliable so far. Speaking of Old Blue (my 'Stang), I'll be giving it to him as soon as I find a new one for myself (we start serious car shopping tomorrow). I figure with $3000 to put down and a good credit rating, I should be able to get a pretty sweet deal since car dealers are so desperate these days. Plus, if I get another Stang (the new orange ones are really sweet), I should get a nice customer loyalty discount since this will be my third one. But I'm not 100% certain what kind of car I'll get since I haven't even test driven anything else yet. Job's going well, I just hope we get enough new enrollments to meet our budget. And I'm officially a chaperon for this year's grad night at Disney Studios, yes!! That's about all that's new with me, hopefully car shopping won't be too stressful (yeah right!) Love, "Kay" Current Mood: awake Current Music: "Time Warp" (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 19th, 2009
5:58 am	Good thing I don't believe in horoscopes... I usually check my horoscope online just for the heck of it, and this morning while having breakfast that included Red Bull and a Caribou Coffee bar (with caramel!), I read: "Balanced activity may be difficult this morning. Stay grounded the best you can by taking cleansing breaths and by avoiding caffeine and sugar." oops Love, "Kay" Current Mood: dorky Current Music: "Your Horoscope for Today" - Weird Al (Comment on this)
Monday, February 16th, 2009
1:59 pm	New Chapters Up After some tweaking, I have posted chapter 7 of both The Day the Music Died and An Innocent Man in my myspace blog kaylumart. Check them out, won't you? Love, "Kay" (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 25th, 2009
4:39 pm	Marathon Musings Today I ran in the Miami Marathon for the second year in a row. The bad: My time was bad. I mean embarrassingly bad. It's my fault though; I knew I hadn't done enough distance training. I just thought that regular conditioning, plus holding back at the beginning and fueling more, would compensate. How wrong I was! The good: It was still a great run. The course is so pretty, it's no wonder people come from all over the country to run in this marathon (we had a record number this year). And the volunteers and people cheering us on are just AWESOME! I even saw a baby clapping, hehe. And I did finish and got my lovely finisher's medal. As long as you finish, you've succeeded I say. And now that I know what I did wrong, I WILL beat my time next year, dammit! Love, "Kay" Current Mood: sore Current Music: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, January 4th, 2009
4:20 pm	It's over... Well, the Dolphins are done for the season. They're certainly capable of playing much better than they did today, it's just too bad one of their suckiest games had to be in the playoffs :p I'm still glad they made it as far as they did after last year's dismal season and hope they will build on that and go even farther next year. I mean, going from just one win one year to the playoffs the next is pretty damn impressive! So I hope they're not too discouraged, and at least it was a home game so they don't have a long depressing flight back. Anyway, congrats for making the playoffs, 'Fins, and see ya next year! Love, "Kay" Current Mood: calm Current Music: "Code Monkey" (Comment on this)
Friday, January 2nd, 2009
10:45 pm	So it's 2009 Since I didn't exactly succeed in following my resolutions last year, I'm recycling them for this year :) I actually made some progress in the filing department, but I need to do better, especially at home (my work area is actually in better shape, and a few of my fellow teachers even seem to think I'm organized, hehehe). As for the writing, I have the Writer's Market Companion which I bought with a Barnes and Noble gift card my dad got me for my b-day. I got it mainly for the section on electronic submissions :) Haven't use it yet though...time to put the sucker (and me) to work! I certainly don't envy Obama for the mess he will inherit when he takes office, but I'm damn glad someone so thoughtful and articulate will finally be in charge. Here's wishing him and his cabinet all the luck in the world, and I hope those who were opposed to him can lay their cynicism aside for the good of the country...Lord knows we need it. In other news, I've finally broken down and joined Facebook - yay for another giant online timesucker! Seems like fun though, and I've already come across a couple of people I know whom I'd never expect to see on there! What else? Hmm, well, I'm still writing reviews for culturecartel.com, but it's frustrating because the administrators haven't updated the site layout in like forever and I'm eager to see more stuff happening with it, especially now that I'm the official writing editor. I'd love to do a few "special reports" on things like the Miami book fair. That reminds me, I should do my year in review article soon! I'll be doing the Miami Marathon again this year, this time hopefully raising some money for students at my school for students whose families are having trouble covering the tuition costs. And I have a new goal for 2010...a 50-mile ultramarathon to Key West! It will truly be awesome or kill me, or both. Ok, time to poke around facebook while I'm still conscious... Love, "Kay" Current Mood: optimistic Current Music: "Can't Smile Without You" - damn you, Hellboy! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
10:35 pm	No, I Didn’t Forget – My Big NY Post to all of my LJ Friends! Even if the messages are short, I still want you all to know that I mean what I say in each and every one of them! ( Read more ) Phew, that took awhile! Here’s to the Internet bringing such a widely diverse group of mixed nuts together…onward to 2010! Love you all, "Kay" Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: R.E.M. "Stand" (in my head) (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
3:29 pm	Quick question Should I post any more of my novels-perpetually-in-progress on my myspace blog? Current Mood: curious Current Music: See previous post (1 Comment |Comment on this)
3:21 pm	When styrofoam attacks! It's quite windy here today, and when I was out running this morning, I saw a rather large block of styrofoam rolling along the road; before I knew it, a strong gust of wind picked it up at least a foot off the ground, and it headed straight toward me. I tried to jog out of the way, but the wind was going in the same direction, and the cube ended up hitting me in the shin. Thick styrofoam + impact at high speed = ouch! Current Mood: silly Current Music: Xanadu soundtrack (Comment on this)
Sunday, December 14th, 2008
8:51 pm	Good/bad update First (to get it out of the way), the bad: - my gym replacing a broken water fountain with two water coolers, which are often out of water and/or cups by the time I get there, grrrr - seeing a a dead (roadkill) squirrel while running - my car apparently leaking transmission fluid (not good!) - not having enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do (and being too tired when I do have time) Now, the good! - a cute little girl bringing me a paper cup of water from aforementioned water cooler while I was working out on the stationary bike (awww) - one more week before Christmas break!!! - the short-lived but great British sitcom Spaced - winning a grant for my school That's about it for now...have a great week, everyone! Love, "Kay" Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: "Father Christmas" - the Kinks (3 Comments |Comment on this)