Check out that leer, and those smug eyes. Go digging for what? Bodies? I didn't click the link, but this is what I assume, from the ad itself. (Not that going out digging isn't... nice... but I have a suspicion that this is a "dig your own grave so I don't have to" affair.) Good going, Facebook, you could start nightmares about tanned blonds with shovels; why didn't I think of that?

...to those Americans on my f'list. I have much to be thankful for, so before I start putting food in my stomach, I'd like to take note of that - because that tradition is a good one, even if the rest of the holiday is a bit "eh?" worthy. Firstly, I'm thankful for a great family, and wonderful friends, who support me through thick and thin; you guys rule. Without you, I'd probably be a sobbing mess in some corner, and this way I'm far more functional and do at least a bit of good. Secondly, I'm thankful for my cat, who becomes more and more my fuzzy little child - she provides the support when all the walls fall down, and some entertainment as well. Thirdly, I'm thankful for a home, in both the metaphorical and physical sense - even if it can get irritating during a remodeling.

And of course I'm thankful for the internet, which has made me a functional human being, but that's a "no duh" kind of thing.

Eat too much, try to be with the family you can stand. That's our tradition, pretty much.

A few days ago, the remodeling guys taped thick paper to the floor, because they were painting and didn't want it to get everywhere. I thought very little of it, other than the fact that, "Yeah, that's going to tear pretty quick, thick or not."

Last night, my cat discovered that if she takes a running start, she can slide across the paper like a slip'n'slide. She proceeded to do this, over and over, and I knew that if I grabbed my phone or a camera, she'd stop doing it. Her little fun ended when she went careening sideways into a bunch of tools and knocked them all down; after that, she refused to leave my room for a little while.

In light of our remodeling, my parents asked for just one thing that I wanted. I named it as an mp3 player, and they obliged with a Philips Aria. It's pretty fancy, with video and picture capabilities; much fancier than it needs to be, but I appreciate the extra effort my dad went to. He doesn't just look up gadgets to buy people. He reads pages and pages of reviews, talks to his equally tech-savvy coworkers, and goes the whole nine yards. So when he gives me something, I know it's gotten favorable reviews from a wide range of people.

There's just one problem. The mp3 player hates my computer. Oh, they'll sync up, and I can transfer things over to the player. But that's once a restart. If I disconnect it and forgot a piece of music, I'm out of luck, unless I want to restart the computer. Plus, ten minutes later, something about the USB connector gives the computer a blue screen of death. So, in short, the computer refuses to believe that the player exists, and the player wants to kill the computer.

Since the laptop's name is Moriarty, I've named my mp3 player Sherlock.

Tomorrow -- if I have time -- I'll see if it's just a bad USB cable. In the meantime, I have a feud on my hands. Hopefully it's just a bad cable, which would make my life much easier. If it is... then Sherlock and Moriarty will cohabit, and maybe legitimize those Sherlock/Moriarty slash fics out there.

Surfacescapes Demo Walkthrough from Surfacescapes on Vimeo.

We're getting closer and closer to what was considered "fun ideas" in science fiction only 20 years ago. Obviously, this system wouldn't be good for everyone in its current state. Munchkins would likely find its ways to be too standard, unless characters are completely customizable in that regard ("But I can fire off 3D6 more than that!"). The character generation method isn't shown in the video, so I couldn't judge it on that. (Heck with the munchkins, they don't deserve toys this shiny.) I really like the interactive and fun nature of the whole thing, and I know some DMs who would love that world map and slide show aspect.

Never mind that the table PC itself is going to be extremely expensive.

An advertisement on the side of Eljay tells me that I can get a degree in bounty hunting. I was not aware of this before. Does it come with a free helmet and grappling hook? Is my diploma burned into the back of one of my victims bounties?

Well, it'd never work out, my bounties would always get away from me (or kill me); I'd be too busy trying to come up with a cold-sounding one-liner.

Okay - back to writing.

My custom layout died today, for unknown reasons, so I have something temporary up until I find the time to customize a new one. I'm not sure where you went, layout, but I liked you - a lot. Before you, I used to change my layout all of the time. Then I stopped doing that and was content. And now, I fear, I'm going back to my old habits. RIP, layout.

Also, because of the sheer Bayhem, I now own Transformers 2. Bring on the explosions, baby.

(I know, I know. It's like being a hardcore fan of Beast Wars and Beast Machines - it's unnatural. But I can't change my love of eye candy. Just think of it like the alternate universe fanfiction that you know is bad, but can't stop reading because of the crack.)

I just woke up from a really disjointed sleep cycle... woke up at 11:30, ten minutes after I'd gone to sleep because I was exhausted, no idea why; then 1:30am, because cats were having sexy-time outside my window; then 9:00, because the television got turned on ridiculously loud, and now noon because my cat wanted food. I feel rested, thank god, but I also had a dream where I was a loony tunes-type supervillain who exploded oil drums all over her nemesis' (Drew Carrey's...) best suits. And I had other villains (apparently I was in a villain coalition) like Deadpool and the Joker telling me I was doing it wrong. We also fought the loony tunes power rangers at one point, who were generally useless and just had tacky one-liners. We opposed a regular superhero coalition, full of regular heroes like Captain America and Batman, but we hardly fought them, and when we did they kicked our asses. No idea who Drew Carrey was when he suited up - but I did not want to see him in spandex.

On the one hand, it was awesome, because Matt Damon was in the villain coalition and he kept morphing into various comic villains that he had played in the movies (in this universe, he had apparently played all of them). And he had played them all really badly and with a lisp. So he would morph into them, for like 15 seconds, say something corny and Mr. Freeze-worthy, and then become a regular jackass again. I distinctly remember Batman punching him in the face for one of his liners.

On the other hand, I had apparently become a villain because I was an abused kid who worked for her abusive dad at his car repair place, and I wore flannel because it was cheap at a shop nearby. So the parts where I had to be normal sucked. I don't even think anyone called me by my villain name, so no idea what it was.

Still beats the spider nightmare I woke up at at 1:30.

It's raining today - or at least drizzling - which makes me a very happy Crow, indeed. It motivated me to stay home from computer lab, in order to take pictures and to bask in my favorite weather. If you put me out there and refreshed my memory a bit, I might even burst into Singing in the Rain, that's the level of love we're talking about here.

I was feeling a little depressed last night, because of things that were always out of my control, and silences, but that's all gone now.

see more Funny Graphs

I'm tired of trying to live up to everyone's expectations of me.

Boss-lady doesn't have A/C, and she didn't have a fan going, either. Normally her insulation is pretty good, but she had her doors open wide. I felt like I was boiling in my skin. (After a shower and our A/C, I feel a whole lot better.)

I was going to be productive and wash my car, but, hell no. Normally I can take a little heat, but not right now. Not with the whole "body trying to kill me" thing.

And -- see? Cats agree that pancakes are dericious! (I can haz maple syrup?)

Me: Hey, kitty, isn't this picture cute?
Dagny: MEOW! FOOD NOW, MOM!
Me: You ate an hour ago!
Dagny: DON'T CARE.
Me: But look at this one!
Dagny: I AM UNAMUSED BY YOUR SHENANIGANS.


Boss-lady's computer is still not fixed, so no work today. Again.

Good news, I'll be posting way more often now!

Just kidding.

For me, the day began 36 minutes ago, and yet I already want it to end. Perhaps I'll feel differently after I get through the math quiz, but I doubt it. I just want to crawl back into bed and go to sleep.

I've been watching videos of people playing Batman: Arkham Asylum and wish that I were any good at that sort of game. It looks gorgeous and amazing. Maybe... if I ever have money again...

Edit 3:18pm: Still want the day to end. And guess what? There's a math quiz on my birthday. Happy birthday to me.

Happy birthday, redsilkshadow!

*yawns* I should really be in bed, but my brain is too awake, and so is the cat -- who refuses to leave me alone enough to rest.

She picks up an odd, raspy sound at 2AM that makes me think of a drunk person flailing around and croaking about how much they want nachos.

...

It'd be nice if I could work a little writing into my schedule, instead of just being tired all of the time. My "D&D" game is suitably amusing and entertaining, and so is WoW, but between lab hours and assignments I barely get any writing done during a semester.

It's a habit I'd like to break.

I guess my only free day to speak of is next tuesday, at the moment, but would anyone like to come and see Ponyo with me? It looks adorable and is playing at several theaters around here. And, really, how can you go wrong with Hayao Miyazaki?

It doesn't necessarily have to be tuesday.

EDIT: The Santa Monica Cat Show is next sunday, and I was thinking about attending, but that might be too early for other folks. I was planning on leaving around maybe 10 or 11. Admission is $10. We could carpool or something.

(as asked here.)

( Behind door number two... )

Thanks fer all yer top five questions. I'll definitely answer them tomorrow, when I feel lucid again.

I had some World of Warcraft raiding tonight, at 7, after wanzerfaust left my house and I took about a half hour of a nap. The nap turned out to be semi-important, because I woke up 100% disoriented and with a weird pressure in my stomach. But food was ready, and the raid was ready, so I brought my food in and ate at the desk. While I waited for raiding to start happening.

Unsurprisingly, it didn't help the pressure and made it ten times more uncomfortable to sit up. But I irritably continued, and we downed three bosses before the pressure became unbearable and I felt like throwing up.

Which I did, running into the bathroom before a boss pull, removing everything in the contents of my stomach.

I felt much better after that, thank the gawds, and continued to down two more bosses before a vote was called to stop things. Which I definitely voted "YES" for, and we did, and that was around 10pm. I've been asleep ever since.

Now I just woke up, and am starving. I also feel a bit confused and unsteady on my feet. But that's kind of normal for me after I wake up.

Ask me my Top Five [Whatevers]. Any top fives. Fannish, not fannish, whatever! And I will answer them all in a new post (or possibly the comments).

It looked really fun. Ask away, about anything.