theuberviewer:
It's not that hard to believe that I haven't posted here in three months. That's been due to a combination of having nothing to say and being super busy, which is why I've decided to end the streak with my State of the Viewer address.

2009 has actually been a productive and favorable year. I haven't dealt with the same issues, and those I have dealt with have been with a different approach. First, I graduated. I got my bachelor's, and through a series of events that were WAY beyond my control (which I care not to go into because of frustration and time) I didn't get into my first choice, so I ended up staying in town. It really wasn't a problem since everything nearly fell into place.

During this time however, I was in the land of the unemployed, which pissed me off. I submitted some resumes and applications, but heard nothing. Thankfully, out of the blue, my old job hired be back and I didn't miss a beat. I must say, the paychecks were rather nice (and shall be even nicer now, despite the fact that I now have to wake up at 7:30 every day). So things on that front turned out well, and there's the possibility of it getting better if I manage to get the dream job as a TA that I've been shooting for.

As far as personal life, I've gone through something of an evolution. How I am with friends has somewhat shifted. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I seem to be hanging out with a different group of people, and connecting on different levels, and I like that. Relationship wise, this was the area with the most improvement. I went out on my first date with a girl that I talked to for about a month, and it went well enough to warrant a second date. Everything was okay; however despite the fact that she was willing to do a lot of things (and I mean a LOT of things) and she was bisexual, she talked about her ex(es) way too much, one of her latest (and most devastating) in particular. I closed my eyes on it the first time, but the second made it all too clear. Some of you may wonder with why I bitch about having a girlfriend so much that I would do something like this. It's actually simple and twofold: I still have standards, and I really don't care. I've had too many other things to worry about to make this a focal point in my life. I've had to focus on school (and now even more so), and I need to take time and re-evaluate some goals that I set for myself a year ago, and be hard pressed to finish as many as I possibly can.

That's actually it, as nothing's changed with regards to family life. This address is shorter than in years past, but that's good. I've actually been thinking less and doing more. Granted, things could change when I get my master's, but that bridge isn't too close. In the meantime, I need some sleep, and I have to find time to write another entry elsewhere.

galleon_lore:

A bright, shiny nickel to anyone who can take the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie version of Bad Day and de-chipmunk-ify it. The original version sounds like it's being performed by someone who was just clubbed over the head, and the guys who voiced Alvin, Simon, and Theodore did it WAY better...I'd just like it to sound like they weren't sucking helium at the time.

I've been playing with it in Audacity, but frankly, I suck at this. The best I can manage is a version that sounds voiced by robots, each word independantly-enunciated as though coming from a speech synthesizer. (of course, there's a decent chance that's the way they were told to actually sing it, to improve clarity when the song was chipmunked.)

You know, I never know why so many music snobs frown on covers. Yes, okay, so the performing artist isn't technically performing their own work. I can understand having a problem with that, if the performer lacks talent, or has no idea what the song is about and mishandles it, or doesn't care two shits about the song's meaning and is just trying to cash in on its popularity, etc, etc. But more often than not, it seems to me that the performer sees what the original artist was going for, then proceeds to step in and do right what was thoroughly botched the first time.

Then again, I suppose I'm biased. Most covers I've run across tend to be of old classic rock songs, and we all know that I find the original versions of most of those monotonous as Hel. One of these days, I need to work on pinning down exactly what quality it is those songs share that makes them suck to me.

galleon_lore:

Ceramic is a BITCH to drill through.

Managed to smooth out the rough edges well enough that the two halves fit together again, though the process took a lot of chiseling and, afterward, a lot of glue. Secured the elastic straps and velcro that will hold it together while I sculpt on it. Still need to finish perforating it, but that's a tedious process (and I've already broken three drillbits). 

More importantly, I need to patch it, and for that, I need more Mighty Putty, or some similar, sturdy substance that can be sculpted easily and will set permanently without any troublesome processing (heat, etc.). I might grab some while I'm down on 3rd street for G!M!N!, provided I can afford it after dinner. I also intend to correct a few of the asymmetries in the design. Not sure how much putty that'll take, but anything's a start.

Getting there. Slowly, getting there.

You know, it's occurred to me that the vacuformed helmets are going to be a bitch to get off the molds. All that concave detailing it going to make it impossible to just pull them off...especially regarding some of the more....interestingly...shaped helmets, like the Hammerhead. I'm actually going to have to pulverize the clay mold after the plastic cools, and hope to all the gods that the plastic is sturdy enough to survive the process. because there won't be any second chances.

Trials and tribulations. Alas.


Also, I just rewatched all of Glee, and I noticed something. The dance that the club does at the end, to My Life Would Suck Without You, is a montage of key moments from the entire season. That...is pretty freakin' cool. I've caught references to the cheerleaders' glee club auditions, Tina's glee club audition, Kurt's football tryout dance, Rachel and Mercedes' constant diva-offs, the mashups, the hair-ography, and, if I'm not very much mistaken, that goofy balloon thing the celibacy Club did.
I'm not sure what the cowboy hats were about. I'm sure I'll figure it out the next time I watch it all through. Which I wil. Repeatedly. All the while hoping and praying that the show doesn't jump the shark in the second season.

galleon_lore:

Okay, I have heard some DUMB portmanteau name combinations for character relationships before, but this is just over the line. It is a travesty, it will not stand, and I refuse to tolerate it.

I DEMAND that whoever coined the term 'Puckleberry' for the Puck/Rachel Glee pairing, as an act of contrition, leap out of a helicoptor onto the tallest rusty building spire they can find. Immediately.

That is all.

...

Also, hello? Why is there so little Glee femslash available? No series that has a CANNON lesbian couple should be this deprived! Annd the friction between Rachel and Quinn is hateslashfic fuel!

And if I might make one personal request? Tina! Gorgeous asian goth chick! I know, she had/has a thing for Artie, but come on. She sang 'I Kissed a Girl' for her glee club audition. Fanfics have turned characters gay based on a whole lot less than that. Some femslash involving Tina would be appreciated. I've only ever found one, and it was WAY too short.

*facepalm* What am I thinking? I know EXACTLY who to pester about this. I KNOW a lesbian who watches Glee and writes fanfic. Michelle! This is a job for you! *flashes the Jaded Romantic Lesbian signal into the sky*
Write me Glee femslash starring Tina!

galleon_lore:

Apparently, the house is out of gas.

We might have known this sooner, had the gauge not broken. There are people coming out to repair the gauge on the 6th, and I'm told that they're also refilling the gas that day.

I do not know who's paying for this. It's 400$ or so, which, even if it were split three ways as it should be, I cannot afford. Half is completely out of the question. My next paycheck has to cover a lawyer's services for dealing with a speeding ticket, my tag renewal, the other half of my chunk of the rent, gas (for Quasar), food, at least two birthday presents, and January's cellphone bill, leaving me with....nagara.

Actually, there's a good chance all that will take me down into the negatives, leaving me with less than nagara.

If someone's planning to front us the money for it, that's very kind, but they should know that I'm not taking any loans. I owe too many people too much money, I officially consider my credit overextended. I'm not asking for it and I refuse to be held indebted for it. If Elf can afford his third half, then we can just ask them to fill the tank halfway for him and I won't use the shower or stove here until I can afford to buy my own half-tank and the rights to use the Burrow's heating facilities again.

If they do that, that is. I don't know. I never actually SEE the gas people, for all I know it's being done by magical tapirs in the night.

Gas is a luxury, anyway, I can live on microwave dinners and shower at mom's for a while if I need to (and I'll have to do so for the next few days, regardless).

On a similar note, this constantly-checking-the-tank bullshit is really annoying. What does it take to have them come out monthly and just top us off? Can we arrange for that sort of service? That would put an end to our recurring dryups and keep us from having to buy entire tankfulls in big expensive bursts.

Edit: Spoke to Anne. Apparently, the minimum to have them come out at all is to fill it with 50 gallons, which costs about 250. Still more than anyone here has, which means no heat at the Burrow for the foreseeable future.
She says that we all need to sit down and discuss our finances and bills and such, which is true...I don't think I made myself entirely clear, she still seems to think that 'next month' is a topic for discussion if Kaust doesn't get paid. No. If Kaust doesn't get paid, then he's gone, and unless we can get another roommate in there by next month, then I'm probably gone, too. And Elf can't afford the place on his own, so that's it. End of the Burrow. Which would SUCK.
Anne also said to give him the ultimatum: Bills are due by the 11th, so that's his deadline. She IS the landlord's representative, so I suppose that's the final word on the matter. I'll tell him tonight, before I leave for work. if I see him.
Although again, I don't she gets that without Kaust ( a bill-paying Kaust), we're pretty much done here.
I'm wondering whether I should start packing, just in case...

galleon_lore:

 ( Piper's story... )

galleon_lore:

So, I asked myself, "Self, can we afford to swing by McDonalds and score some cheeseburgers before work?"

To which I replied, "Of course you can, you brainless cracktard. It's called the Dollar Menu for a reason."

Thus offended, I responded, 'Don't take that tone with me, you smug, smirking little smurf."

"Smurf?" I asked, confused. 'In what sense am I a smurf?"

And I, in my infinite wisdom, simply said, "Don't question me. I work in mysterious ways."

Unable to come up with a suitable retort, and seeing that taking an autocrossbow to my verbal opponent would have been a bad idea, I took the autocrossbow to the conversation instead, ending it forevermore.

The time I spent writing this is time I could have spent playing WOW, or Fallout, or NWN., or working on my helmet or the Brachio Blade. This sort of thing must be what my teachers meant when they always put 'Does not make wise use of time' on my reprt cards. Although I always questioned that, as there really was no wiser thing to do with my time than to do everything in my power to ignore every insipid bit of drivel that poured through their mouths from those psychotic, ill-educated brains of theirs.

galleon_lore:

It is rum...not just any booze, but specifically rum, that causes me to want to vomit.

I managed not to actually vomit this time, but it was a very near thing. Next time I drink? No rum!

Apart from that, New Years was lots of fun, I got very happily drunk and spent time in the company of some good friends, and have a cautiously optimistic outlook on the upcoming year. Even called and wished my sister a happy birthday, like I do. Talked to Maria and wound up telling her part of a drunken bedtime story involving a six-legged whale named Bobilo, which I have no doubt will be inducted into the Tales from the Land of Boogertree epic.

Discovered a Mellow Mushroom on 3rd street. Planning on dinner there Monday, prior to G!M!N!. Speeding ticket and tag renewal to be addressed at next payday. Elf lent me his copy of Fire Red, so I can finally catch a fucking Ekans. Quasar's difficulties post-catstop seem to have tapered off.

The future seems clear of any cataclysmic difficulties...for now. I am not foolish enough to expect this trend to continue, but I am serene enough to appreciate it while it lasts.

At least two things were said that were awesome enough to warrant quoting on LJ, and I have forgotten both of them. Ah, the wonders of alcohol. Oh, well.

Happy New Year, one and all, hope your evening/morning was as pleasant as mine, and I am now retiring to my very wonderful couch to sleep it off.

Oh, and Grin? Catch me a stupid Murkrow already!

galleon_lore:
Woohoo!

( VICTORY IS MINE! )



Okay, so it could have been done a bit more elegantly...A lot of parts needed to be glued back together, and I still need to sand the separation on the back half smooth, because in the end it DID take a chisel and hammer to crack the thing apart, but the POINT is, I finally got the fucker cut in half.
Still need to finish perforating the visor, which I'll do as soon as I can pester Elf into telling me where the charger for his cordless drill is (I wore the poor thing out), and, of course, I still need to patch that missing chunk.

This is what we call a clean slate. Now that this bullshit is done, I can re-sculpt the helmet around it and actually have a vacuformable mold.

Progress. Woot.


In other news, it turns out Stephen has become a big fan of making home movies and he knows script peoples, audio peoples, and peoples with really good cameras. What he DOESN'T seem to grasp is that this project is nowhere near ready to film yet. I wanted to get the costumes ready before I even started the script, and the script done before I even started the sets...all of which I'm paying for out of pocket, and at the moment, my disposable income is in the negatives.

Still, it's good to know these resources exist.

Granted, I don't need ALL the costumes done in order to start shooting...a lot of the unmorphed scenes can be shot if we just have appropriate sets and props...there's almost no unmorphed combat planned, so training's not much of an issue. Coming back to shoot the morphed scenes later, once I have all the costumes done, is actually a pretty good idea...it gives those who care to train time to do it, and it gives me time to find stunt peoples for those who don't (helmets are awesome. No need to even have the same people in the costumes!). I could shoot those parts YEARS from now. The trouble there would be filming the scenes where morphed characters stand alongside unmorphed characters. I can't bring people back after months and years to stand alongside guys in cosrtumes and expect them to still look the same as they did when they filmed the old footage.

Hmm.

Ah, well. I cut a clay helmet! Progress! Woot!

Michelle visited on her way...somewhere. Not quite sure. Not important! I got to meet someone I''ve known for ages now. Now I just need to arrange visitations from Kit, Backie, Questy, Nath, Zenny...gods, but I know a lot of people I've never met...

Probably ringing in the new year at Sprinkles' place, though I think I'll also be swinging by to visit Myk on the way out there. He's having another bonfire. Why does he keep doing this on nights I have plans? I love bonfires!

Sigh.

galleon_lore:


"This girl?" Scratch said derisively, looking down his nose at me. "A Lifeweaver? Please. Even if she's one by blood, she can't possibly be trained. Still has her hair, for gods' sake."

I looked back up at him cooly. "At a glance?" I began. "You are 26 years old, the older of a set of twins, the other a girl. Your mother was also a twin, it runs in your family. You had the Sneezing Pox when you were eight, Dream Fever when you were twelve. You're the only person in this hall who doesn't have lice, because you bathe with a fleabane shampoo that was brewed two months ago. You have at least four sexually transmitted diseases, and you own a cat, white fur, orange eyes, male, three years old, second born of a litter of six."

Scratch's smirk had faded completely by this point. "I was eleven when I had Dream Fever," he corrected softly.

"You still had it on your twelth birthday," I replied. "The symptoms had faded, is all."

There was a long pause.

"We should talk, you and I," he finally said.

"Oh yes," I said vehemently. "We should."

galleon_lore:

Have I mentioned that I'd really like to go to Disneyworld on my birthday? The 5th is a Tuesday, so I'd have it off. Disney offered free birthday admission in '09. If the same deal is available in '10, then...well. What better way to spend a birthday? I'd swing for the gas. Hel, I'd drive. Quasar can make that trip.

I just don't want to go alone, because that'd be, well, boring. So...who wants to come with? Pay your own admission to Magic Kingdom, and call being my companion for the day your birthday gift to me?

Just a thought.

Hmm...better wait until the year rolls over and see if they'll still be doing the free admission deal before making any solid plans, yeah?

galleon_lore:

Gay Movie Night is many things, but it is never, never dull.

I think the most exciting part of G!M!N! this week was when Sprinkles sliced herself open with a steak knife and bled all over everything she owned.

We patched her up as best we could with some stuff we grabbed on an emergency CVS run, but....no. We figure it's a stopgap measure at best. She's probably going to need stitches.

Gods, but that girl's got a lot of blood. Not as much as she had yesterday, of course (Ba-dum TISH!).

Anyway, yeah, it was messy. I hope she'll be okay.

Myk had a bonfire tonight, but we missed it, of course. G!M!N! takes precedence. I'd hoped we could do both, but by the end of the night, given the givens, it just wasn't an option.

Damn, my Birthday is the day AFTER the next G!M!N!. So much for my hope that someone would get me HSM3. We've watched the last two, in sequence, over the last two Gay Movie Nights. Would have been nice to round out the trilogy. 

Hey, that reminds me...did I add tickets to Alhambra's stage show of HSM to my Wish List? I need to do that...

I pulled out the rent to give Anne. She's very likely to throw another hissyfit when she finds out I'm only giving 300$ this month, but I meant what I said. I'm not paying for Kaust anymore. $300 is a third of the household expenses, and then some. If the house comes up short after I've paid my share, it should not be my problem. This needs to be handled properly...the utilities get paid, what's left goes to the rent, and if the rent comes up short, the landlord, or her representative (Anne, I suppose) works the problem out with the tenant who failed to pay. Going around hitting up the other tenants who actually paid their share for extra money is NOT DONE.
I really hope Kaust gets ahold of some money soon. I don't want to see him go, I don't want to have to hunt down a new roommate, and I really, REALLY don't want to move again.

Also, how do I read this stupid gas meter? It's pointing straight down, which either means that the tank is completely full or completely empty. Or that the guage is broken. Ugh, electric heating is SO much simpler.

matt_ferrell:
Some photos from "Sunday School" at Club Eclipse last night.






( Seeeeeeeee )

matt_ferrell:
Photos from Christmas morning with Nephew.
The cats also got a present. Catnip.
So they were happy too. =D




( Seeeeeeee )

galleon_lore:

Got called upon to work a double. 15 hours where I'd only expected to work for eight.

Tired. Hungry. Cold. 

I am also in need of a shower and a shave, but those two things can wait until after I've addressed the first three. I shall turn on my shiney new space heater, find something to devour, and then pass out. Gods willing, I will wake up in time to grab that shower and shavey goodness before I have to leave for G!M!N!.

Well. best get to it. That food's not going to eat itself.

...Although that might explain where it all goes. Hmm.

skreyola:

Angels came to tell of the birth
of a precious Savior on an evening still,
a generous offer from God on high
to all on Earth: Peace, Good will.

The peace was not as later thought,
not direct from man to man,
but 'tween disloyal subjects and
the heavenly King, a perfect plan.
(c) 2009 by Skreyola, All Rights Reserved

We like to say the empty trio of words, "Peace on Earth", but the context is important. The angels declared a two-part message: "Glory to God in the highest," the action of angels and men, contrasted with the offer from heaven, "and on Earth, Peace, Good will toward men."
God deserves the glory. We don't deserve the peace and good will.
And the only way peace between man and man can come in this life is when one or both of them has peace between self and God. It is only God's love that can lead a man to act without selfishness.

galleon_lore:

Another Christmas come and gone. Another chunk out of a finite and rapidly passing lifetime...well. rapidly passing, maybe. Finite, not so much. Anyway, got lotsa stuffs, spent time with the family, all that good stuff. Hope everyone's went so well.

Well, except for Figment, because that'd be hope wasted, I KNOW hers was terrible. She and her friend both crashed here last night. I'm glad I was able to do that much for them. I can hope things improve from here, though. That might do some good. *hope hope*

In other news, I have somehow gotten myself inexplicably entangled in a sketch comedy project. As a writer and possibly an extra. Gods preserve us all.
Never tried sketch comedy before. Methinks this will likely be an unqualified disaster. 

Taking care of that stupid traffic ticket will have to wait. I, being unfortunate enough to have a birthday in the first week of January, must instead pay to renew my tag. This is the first time I've had to do this (and it came as a nice little surprise, too). It should surprise no one to learn that I am more than a little peeved at the notion that I have to bribe the state just to be allowed to operate my own property. It pissed me off enough when I had to bribe a private company just to tell the state I could drive my car, but at least 'insurance' serves a theoretical purpose. This tag business is boldfaced extortion, plain and simple.

Luckily, the only January birthday that occurs before my next payday is my own, so I don't have to worry about wringing any more gifts out of my bank account's current contents. Well...there's Mara, but as I still have her gift from LAST Christmas, I'm not really worried about securing another one. Such gifts roll over, as far as I'm concerned. Which is good, because I think by the next time I see Lolli, a few dozen gift-giving holidays will have likely passed.

I wonder at which house I'll be celebrating New Year's. The Burrow or The Lair. The nature of the holiday makes driving a bad idea, so it's one or the other, not both. It'd be nice to see in the new year from my new house, but I'd hate to miss Sprinkles' and my traditional druken, singing, leaning-on-each-other stagger through the enighborhood. (Good times.)
Maybe I'll flip for it. Or have someone else drive. Donno.

galleon_lore:

Happy holidays to all. Peace on cookies and good will towards reindeer or something. 

finshded all my chrtsms shoppng but got almost no slep today becuz uv it. Sooooo tyred.

Oh, and christmas with family fun al always and woot and stuff. Yeah.

Skitty, just in case you were wundering, got home all safe and sound and no splodey, due to sleep or curse-thingy. So more woot.

Nighty-night now.

grindcorean:


I'm fairly sure I've posted this before, but THE SNOWMAN is my absolute favorite holiday cartoon. No dialogue, just music and this song. Enjoy, and if you haven't seen the whole cartoon, do so here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2067664373050394413
Would it help to know David Bowie does the spoken introduction?

matt_ferrell:
On December 23rd, Austin and I went roaming around St. Augustine. =D






( Seeeeee )