Don’t Cry Over Un-spilled Blood

OakMonster.com - Almost a first-time blood donor

Today is the 5th anniversary of my mom’s passing.  And I have planned on donating blood in her honor.  This would’ve been my first time ever donating blood. That’s right. Would’ve been. Read on. My older brother has been giving blood for years on his birthday and either on mom’s anniversary and/or her birthday.  Here in the U.S., you have to weigh 110 lbs./50 kg. to be able to give blood among many other eligibility requirements.  For 19 years, I never weigh enough. Finally, I’m fat enough to qualify! I checked the Red Cross website and read up on what...
Continue reading...

Five for Friday: New Things I Learned This Week

Of course, I’ve been stuck on a writer’s block lately despite having all the time on my hand. So, I thought writing about 5 new things I’ve learned or am learning during the week would be cool. 15 minutes a day to a clean house Sure, I have all the time in the world now that I’m going on the 17th month of being mostly unemployed. But cleaning is still not my favorite thing to do.  Pinterest proves to be a useful and inspiring time suck as I found a few tips to help me get on top of this...
Continue reading...

London Delayed Air

This is what I have to say about the Olympics Spoiler Hysteria

(See what I did there?) Welcome to the OakMonster’s traditional Olympics rant!  I’ve ranted about Athens. I’ve ranted about Beijing. And now, my dear readers, I shall rant about London. The opening ceremony? I watched a portion of it live over the internet and then I watched the whole thing through–well, almost the whole thing through–with my fellow west coast residents and tweeted my way through the time delayed broadcast.  So very British and so very Danny Boyle. And I love it. (And yes, I *did* catch the TARDIS “parking brake” noise during that crazy British pop medley. Not my...
Continue reading...

Be a Better Pinner in One Step

Be A Better Pinner: Click it before you repin/like it!

There are several websites out there, in addition to the official Pinterest Etiquette, that will tell you the many steps you need to do to be a good Pinterest citizen. Yes, you should be respectful, be authentic, and report objectionable content. Don’t copy the recipe/instructions/part of the article into the comment. Be clear with your comment. Consider your audience. etc. etc. But the cardinal sin of Pinterest is to pin blindly and not checking for the source of the pin. Hello, my name is Oakley. I have been a bad pinner. When I see something cute/funny/yummy/geeky/awesome on Pinterest, my instinct...
Continue reading...

5 Things To Do When You (Feel Like You) Suck At Everything

Have you ever have a day when you wake up and feel like a total failure of a human being? Yep. Welcome to the land of the unemployed. I’ve been out of a full-time employment for over a year now. While I have been freelancing steadily since August, it was never an easy transition to go back to sending out resumes, waiting by the phone, and getting rejections.  And when working on-and-off like I have been, constant fights with EDD over unemployment benefits never helps either. After so many turn-downs and/or lack of responses, not only I start to doubt...
Continue reading...