Working on a technique of writing I haven't done before. I'm am doing the same story but from two different point of views (Concertina's and Olivia's). I posted Concertina's on my DA account already and currently working on Olivia's. Olivia's is taking longer since I am still trying to find her voice and I have to make sure the events line up right. I hope that I have the second story up by the end of the week.

Overall it is rather interesting exercise.

Hey guys- I was just playing the new Ratchet & Clank, downloading stuff on iTunes with some gift cards I got for Christmas, watching anime, and I thought it'd be a good time for a post. You know, since I wasn't doing much of anything.

Christmas came and went. This year was easily a marked improvement over last year, simply by virtue of it being at home. Not a lot of presents, but that's not an issue in the slightest since I'd been working enough lately to get myself a good number of things I'd been wanting- the new Daredevil Omnibus, a ton of manga and the Star Trek Blu-Ray. And honestly, I'm getting to the age where I shouldn't expect to be able to get whatever I want every year. Aah, growing up sure is fun on a bun sometimes... My uncle picked my up the 8th Sandman trade, which was awesome of him. His wonderful missus had heard a radio program about it, and asked me if I was familiar, so I told her just about everything I knew, including that I had the first 7 trades. Honestly didn't cross my mind that she would pick it up, even with the holidays so near. And she told me she picked up another related gift that's still on its way. Hooray for extended Christmas.

Pretty mellow weekend, which was actually nice. Went and saw Invictus Saturday night by my own self. Slow story, but really compelling and insanely well written and acted. You will believe rugby can change a country.

The new Doctor Who special aired Xmas day, and I got around to watching it two days ago- it brought back camp by the truckload, The Master and even some surprise guests in one form or another. I admit to having teared up during certain moments, but the main plot was just so ridiculous and absurd. I'm looking forward to what's coming this weekend for certain, but I'm surely glad RTD is on his way out- he blew the last of his wad on this one.

Sunday, had sleepfighter and lichifruit over to finally finish Simoun and start up on Twelve Kingdoms. Simoun was a strange one. It's easy enough to find a summary, so I won't prattle on about it, but the naming was as engrish as you could get and the world was built up in one of the oddest ways you could imagine. There were some interesting facets to be sure, but by and large it was too haphazard to warrant a return.

And today my mother and I went and saw Sherlock Holmes. Robert Downey Jr. has done no wrong in my eyes lately, and this film is simply a tribute to his continued brilliant streak. Certainly, the camaraderie was unintentionally elevated to Ho Yay out the wazoo, and there was a pinch of unnecessary action, but on the whole, I found it to be a smart, vastly entertaining film, and I'm livid with anticipation for the sequel.

Also, HOLY SHIT NEW HUNTER X HUNTER!! AND NEW GENSHIKEN ONE-SHOT!! GO READ 'EM IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!!

Have a Phobia:
http://www.phobiaguide.com/

Stormtroopers and there Day Off:
http://wildammo.com/2009/08/09/what-stormtroopers-do-on-their-day-off/

Badass Woman:
http://www.badassoftheweek.com/koepcke.html

Make a Snowflake:
http://www.flurrious.com/

Learn about Coffee:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/coffee

And Lego Artworks:
http://www.boredpanda.com/20-incredible-lego-artworks-by-nathan-sawaya/

• 00:00 "I approve of this monster." Tell me that doesn't sound like something Norman Osborn would say. #
• 00:39 @ Missouri Lounge, keep seeing people I haven't seen in over a decade, this is surreal. #
• 01:15 Timothy Dalton narrating End of Time = Uuunnnnnnff. #
• 01:21 @yatonogami I KNOW AND IT'S JUST HIS STUPID SEXY VOICE BUT STILL #
• 01:44 D-Donna... Y U DO DIS RTD?! #drwho #

(I just wrote this out for a convo else net and felt a need to share)

1) chop off the root end
2) cut in half form root to stem
3) peal
4) set cut sides down -- slice from stem to root not quite cutting all the way trough at the stem end.
5) cut across the cuts you made in 4 -- the onion should fall away form the knife in little square pieces.

Does that make sense? How do you dice and onion?

The rest of my family left early this morning for the Galapagos. Last night after Christmas dinner they where all running around packing and what not -- so Robert and I escaped for a bit.

In general Christmas was nice. The mince pies where not very popular I may not do them again. However the log cake and the saffron bread where both hits.People generally seemed to like what I got them, and my niece was quite well behaved.

Today was good until I got home. I got to see Wonderland that my mum taped for me (good because when SyFy is not alienating it customer base or producing crappy or campy B-rated monster horror flick they can be awesome, see: Tinman) and my dad in a surprising turn of generosity gave me money for the holidays.

Then I got back to my home.

It seems that my problem roommate is at it again, and quiet frankly I was getting use to her being quiet and hiding in her room. That and I just found out that my PS2 had the parental controls set. So now the PS2 is mostly useless and my mum had given away the DVD players that my sister had left behind.

....

....

Well there is Hulu so I can listen to something as I clean and if my roommate deiced to spaze out again so I do not here it.

Finally finished up Sandworms of Dune. And by finally, I mean the series, since I blazed through the book in under 24 hours. Pretty much only putting it down to sleep. So even though I wasn't 100% thrilled with the book, the fact that I went at it virtually non-stop should say something.

And now sitting down two minutes later, I return triumphantly to say I bodychecked a golden lab to successfully defend my cookies in progress. Totally worth it.

( In case anyone cares about Dune spoilers? I dunno. )

Christmas recap will have to come tomorrow or later tonight, unfortunately. Just another reason to never ever divorce. As usual, Glen's kids from a different marriage spend Christmas Day at their mother's and the following day at their father's. Effectively, two Christmases and it's always bothered me. Partially because I'm an impatient bugger but shh. I figured that was going to change now that Jocelyn was around, given that she's four or five and isn't going to wait around for them... but no. We still have to wait. Jocelyn just gets to open all her presents from Santa and wait for everything else tomorrow or later tonight. I know I'm opening some stuff tonight, but I don't know how much or who else.

This time next week, it'll be 2010 and I'll be at my own computer, which will be a very nice feeling. I'd be quite happy in Halifax if I had my stuff here and had time to explore the city again rather than have just shy of two weeks and stranded because I can't drive anywhere in someone else's car.

Anyway, I think I smell cookies, so that's a good sign to wrap things up and go get some before they're all gone.

The flash card that I had trouble getting photos off of, well I finally did. I do not have photoshop to fix them up but I think there is enough of them that I can start posting them on my DA account soon, as in tonight and tomorrow soon. I will put up better photos when I get photoshop back but for the moment I am so happy.

This is a highly addictive site.

For instance one will find:

http://www.thisblogrules.com/2009/12/extinct-modern-technology-presented.html

http://www.theircircularlife.it/frameset.htm

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1ltPoj/v1kram.posterous.com/liu-bolinthe-invisible-man

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2sI046/home.bitworks.co.nz/trivia/human.htm


And for something completely unrelated, Terry Gilliam interview:
http://motherjones.com/media/2009/12/terry-gilliam-three-reel-circus

So I've been quiet recently. Why is that? Because I have eighteen CDs I get to listen to over the course of the next week. I've already taken back eight and found another favorite in with the mix.

Dad usually hits up the library while we're home, so I tagged along, found the most recent Franz Ferdinand album, plus a metric crapton of additional stuff. Some of it's been crap, admittedly, and there's been a few where the last song is scratched (or an Oasis album I found that was scratched so badly it wouldn't play the last half of the CD) and this has only been a problem when I couldn't get One Vision off a Queen compilation.

An added bonus is that I can now find the Celtic stuff I hated as a kid but liking now. Of course Nova Scotia's going to have a glut of it, since it, y'know, comes from here, but it's nice to see a lot of it.

And I finally got around to reading again! Got into Discworld and finished Mort and was pointedly not expecting the twist at the end (see what I did there) and enjoyed it immensely. If I hadn't moved on to Sandworms of Dune because I told myself I'd finish the entire series this year, I would've jumped forward to Hogfather. I particularly enjoyed Death being, well, Death. I think I'm definitely going to have to get into the series now. Oddly, I now find myself wanting to read a few of my old favorites from a few years ago. Rainbow Six, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers... strange. Of course, I may not get through Rainbow Six, not because it's long or boring, but because that book is so well-read that I think it might fall apart if I try again.

Things have been relatively quiet on the home front, though. Dad's just as eager to get out of the house sometimes as I am, so we head back into the city. It's amazing, really. I haven't lived in this town since I was 19, and even then I mostly confined myself to my room, but I still recognize a ton of places around Halifax and can still navigate even when so much is changing around me. I still know where everything is and it still strikes me when I've definitely noticed something change. Still haven't brought myself to visit the park yet, not after the hurricane. I doubt I even will.

I was rather surprised to notice I've lost ten pounds. I guess as much as I don't like the holidays right now because I want to be more thoughtful than I really am, the constant stress and at this point having to resort to buying gifts with someone else's money, at least I don't put on holiday weight. And yet I get the feeling it's because there's not tons of pop in the fridge. Maybe if I can just keep this going long enough, I can more or less ignore the pop in the fridge when I get back. That'll certainly put me on the fast track to losing weight. Another five pounds and I'll be back in business - putting on muscle is much easier.

Today I made mince pies, saffron bread, and the cake part of the log cake. Mince pies seem to be everywhere in England, but are quite uncommon here in California so I missed them. Thus I decided to make some. I used my muffin tin as the base, and cut out a little star for the too of each one. I think they are quite cute.

Yes, yes, yes! Two more days until I can get a computer that is not literally falling apart. 40 gigs, six years old, and my computer has only now started to crap out. Not bad.

Anyways, RP to-do list, since I'm actually getting out of my funk:

( TO DO LIST )

After the apps and drops I should have a total of only NINE characters! Shinigami, Mewtwo, Fate, Keiichi, Etna, Maka, Mariya, Samus, Hayate. That leaves one free slot with my self-proclaimed cap of ten. I'm vaguely considering Kim for Mayfield, too. So 5/4/1. That shouldn't be too bad, especially since I had about 15 just a month ago.

So the day I dropped the computer on my foot (which is only a bit bruised, thankfully -- the foot I mean not the computer) I also drop the iron, which then broke. This was not a good thing as I needed it to finish up my Christmas sewing.

However Robert's mom very sweetly lent me her iron, which she claims not to use much -- not doing much sewing. Though she told me that when she was girl she used to iron for 2 hours a day. Thank goodness standards have slipped.

So I was able to make my niece's present yesterday, and also make pane forte for Robert's sister's family. (She lives in a big house with lot of people including her husband, 3 children (all teens now), her mother-in-law, and some other people I can't keep track of. So I just make something good to eat for all of them. )

Today's project is pastry cream to fill the log cake.

You are 39 % extrovert and 61 % introvert.

Independently of any order of importance :
You are imaginative and creative, you have always new ideas, and you know how to apply them.
You are also able to have an in-depth thinking, you think before acting, and you know how to communicate your knowledge.
Finally, you are attentive and cautious, you take into account the needs of others before setting up the defined goals.

( More... )
http://www.testcolor.com/personalitytest/personalitytest.php

That I am considering not going this year. Most of the people that I see there I have no connection to or if I had once that I have no more. There are a couple of people (you know who you are) that I truly do want to see that I see so little of but... well the part of my life connected to those people is over. I have a new set of friends that I feel a better connection to and more at home with and honestly want to be around for New Years. Still if it comes to it, well I will go to the New Year Party that I have been for a few years now. It just that the excitement that once came with the oncoming of the epic party has faded and makes me wonder if I am hanging on to a part of my past that I have nothing to do with anymore.
And there are those couple of friends that I rarely see that I will have the opportunity to do so. I have over a week to deiced what I will do.
I'm rambling but it that time of year (one of a few times during the year) that I reflect what I have done. And wonder why I haven't done enough.

I droped a computer on my foot. I was getting out some wrapping paper and the was a to be recycled computer next to the closet (our guest room has lot of electronics we don't want any more -- getting rid of them is a pain) which I knocked over and the top corner hit my foot. I have nasty bruise starting, but my mom looked at it and nothing seems to be broken.

Speaking of wrapping I've now shopped for and wrapped all my mother's stocking stuff, plus I some finished my sister's present, maybe I'll get my niece's done too. So just a bit of warping and some enjoyable cooking to go.

• 14:21 Lauren won't stop being the worst kind of oldfag. >:| #
• 17:02 It truly amazes me how the most dizzyingly happy things can also come hand-in-hand with beautiful melancholy. #
• 17:03 (I'd give context, but it's even sillier than what I just wrote) #
• 20:44 There is something oddly appropriate about "Daddy Needs A Drink" coming on as I walk into Safeway... #
• 21:11 Imagine hearing this as you walk in, florescent light, tabloids and haggard couples at every turn: tinyurl.com/ykp6bul #