Happy Thursday! Weather's been nice here, how's yours? I wish I would have spent more time outside, though. Went for a bit of a walk today, but that's the first time in ever. I'll try harder.
Hung out at Green Forest today with Jacqi, having blended drinks and looking at craigslist. Should probably be doing that more often, too. Hanging out with Jacqi, I mean.
I told you I rewatched Scott Pilgrim a couple weeks ago. Since then I've jumped back into bass quite enthusiastically. Learned the bass part to that Metric song that the Clash at Demonhead plays in the movie. Gonna work on a Doors song next. It's a little tough because I haven't played in so long, and my hands are unstretchy and weak right now. But we're working on it.
Been playing guitar regularly for a couple weeks now, too, and my callouses are just about to come in properly. I got my basic chords down almost perfect, but we're working on that, too. My strategy is to learn specific songs rather than just chords out of the blue, because then if they have a chord I don't know, I'll have to learn it in context with other chords and I think that will help me better in the long run rather than just trying to get them down by rote.
It's amazing how much muscle memory plays into this. That's how I learn, too. Hand-learning, not head-learning. So the key is practice, practice, practice.
Started a workout regimen that I've followed the entirety of this week. Two miles in a half an hour and then some free weights. Gonna be Clark Kent for Halloween, so I gotta get ready.
Got a couple hours added onto work this week, so that's nice. Gotta get ready to go pretty soon. Decided I'd bang this out now instead of when I get back just in case I go on another adventure like that one time. Turns out they're just paving the shoulders?? I don't know if that means they'll be doing the actual lanes coming up, or if they're just going to leave it at that.
Oh yeah, I also entered some stuff in the fair. Same 77 year old guy as last time. So look out for those, they're all poems this year. Thinking about entering a pie or something, and of course a funny shaped lemon. Also thinking about getting a "season pass" which is only $30, less than the price of three individual days. And I love the fair, so I think that'll turn out to be a mighty fine deal.
See you guys later.
-Steph
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Geek
Happy Thursday! Do you know what kind of Thursday it is? It's a BLACKJACK THURSDAY. I don't think we've had one of those in years. And I wouldn't have noticed except for I was looking up movie times yesterday. What did you do to celebrate Thursday the 21st? I didn't do much, I only got dressed to walk to CVS, and then I put pajamas back on. =/
Since last week, I tracked down and subsequently watched Superman III, Superman IV, Superman Returns, and Superman: Brainiac Attacks!. From best to worst they were: Superman Returns, Superman IV, um, and the other two tie for worst ever.
I guess I'll have to go back to Salzer's and rent the Donner cut of II, though, and then I can tell you which one's my favorite. (But it's going to be I or II).
But then I also watched Megamind, which is about superheroes/villains, and then Dylan Dog and Scott Pilgrim, which are both comic book movies. (You may also notice the Brandon Routh theme in the last two as well) Well I guess I just like comic book movies.
But I still need to see Thor and the Green Lantern and Captain America's coming out tonight. Not enough time for all this. Too busy Minecrafting.
I mean working. Today is my only day off this week! $$
Been listening to a lot of John Williams and Mumford & Sons. Played some guitar today. I even tuned up the ol' bass and tried to remember what to do with it after that. I forgot there was a bass battle in Scott Pilgrim, and that was cool. I want to say "I forgot how much I love bass," but that's something that's impossible to forget so I'll skip it.
I guess Comic Con's going on right now. Maybe one day I'll make it down there. =/
Earlier this week it was very warm and sunny and almost very much like summer, but now it's gone all misty and gray again. I just...what is this I don't even
Well. I've rambled on enough. Not really feeling it today. Maybe something cool will happen this week.
-Steph
Since last week, I tracked down and subsequently watched Superman III, Superman IV, Superman Returns, and Superman: Brainiac Attacks!. From best to worst they were: Superman Returns, Superman IV, um, and the other two tie for worst ever.
I guess I'll have to go back to Salzer's and rent the Donner cut of II, though, and then I can tell you which one's my favorite. (But it's going to be I or II).
But then I also watched Megamind, which is about superheroes/villains, and then Dylan Dog and Scott Pilgrim, which are both comic book movies. (You may also notice the Brandon Routh theme in the last two as well) Well I guess I just like comic book movies.
But I still need to see Thor and the Green Lantern and Captain America's coming out tonight. Not enough time for all this. Too busy Minecrafting.
I mean working. Today is my only day off this week! $$
Been listening to a lot of John Williams and Mumford & Sons. Played some guitar today. I even tuned up the ol' bass and tried to remember what to do with it after that. I forgot there was a bass battle in Scott Pilgrim, and that was cool. I want to say "I forgot how much I love bass," but that's something that's impossible to forget so I'll skip it.
I guess Comic Con's going on right now. Maybe one day I'll make it down there. =/
Earlier this week it was very warm and sunny and almost very much like summer, but now it's gone all misty and gray again. I just...what is this I don't even
Well. I've rambled on enough. Not really feeling it today. Maybe something cool will happen this week.
-Steph
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Late oClock
Happy Thursday! I would have been here like fifteen minutes ago, but it seems like they're paving the whole world these days, and my exit was closed off and I had to go halfway to downtown and then circle back on surface streets. I was in so much of a hurry once I got here that I almost didn't stop to wash my hands--but then I noticed that they were literally streaked with a blue-black...ness, so sanitation won out in the end.
Speaking of, I got some new wart removy pads for my mystery wart (for those of you who don't know, I started the summer after high school with at least three on each hand, which is like, I don't even know how that happened) and they're very much more effective than the ones from six years ago. That is to say, I've put two on, about 30 hours each with a day in between, and now I have to wait for my disc of skin around the wart to grow back before I can put on another.
Don't be ashamed of warts, just informed! They are spreadable! So don't go touching people with it if they're not okay with that! I broke out with them due to stress, since I'd had the first one as long as I could remember (no one ever told me it was a wart). But if you pick at them and medicate them, your immune system will kick in and get rid of it for you. They're sorta gross, but they have no nerve endings on the surface so they're not too much of a bother if you don't care either way.
That's my public service announcement for the day.
Gee. Now I don't know what else to say, with this deadline of about thirteen minutes and all. I picked up the first two original Superman movies the other day on a whim, and aren't they just the cutest. Nobody in town has III, which is evidently because it's the best and I shouldn't bother with the fourth. But I will, because I'm a dork like that.
OH Sorry, Facebook, for spamming these over the last week. For some reason a backlog of about a month and a half of blogs were never imported. And I wanted to tag everybody in the AX review, so I had to get all the others in first. Hopefully this will import quickly, or at least ever. If not, I'll just have to do it myself in a couple of days.
Speaking of hooray!technology, Windows update restarted my computer in the middle of the night again and BROKE everything. Firefox, MSN messenger, Hamachi, WMP. It deleted some .dll that is normally in some specific folder AND and less specific folder, so it took like two hours of more and more furious google searches (in IE) to find the fix. And even then Hamachi wouldn't work, so that had to be deleted and reinstalled. Before I could start up my Minecraft server and see if that had been broken...which it wasn't! And then me and Carolyn went exploring and found all the secrets.
Ok, have a lovely.
-Steph
Oh, and I sat through Transformers 3, and was terribly terribly bored.
Speaking of, I got some new wart removy pads for my mystery wart (for those of you who don't know, I started the summer after high school with at least three on each hand, which is like, I don't even know how that happened) and they're very much more effective than the ones from six years ago. That is to say, I've put two on, about 30 hours each with a day in between, and now I have to wait for my disc of skin around the wart to grow back before I can put on another.
Don't be ashamed of warts, just informed! They are spreadable! So don't go touching people with it if they're not okay with that! I broke out with them due to stress, since I'd had the first one as long as I could remember (no one ever told me it was a wart). But if you pick at them and medicate them, your immune system will kick in and get rid of it for you. They're sorta gross, but they have no nerve endings on the surface so they're not too much of a bother if you don't care either way.
That's my public service announcement for the day.
Gee. Now I don't know what else to say, with this deadline of about thirteen minutes and all. I picked up the first two original Superman movies the other day on a whim, and aren't they just the cutest. Nobody in town has III, which is evidently because it's the best and I shouldn't bother with the fourth. But I will, because I'm a dork like that.
OH Sorry, Facebook, for spamming these over the last week. For some reason a backlog of about a month and a half of blogs were never imported. And I wanted to tag everybody in the AX review, so I had to get all the others in first. Hopefully this will import quickly, or at least ever. If not, I'll just have to do it myself in a couple of days.
Speaking of hooray!technology, Windows update restarted my computer in the middle of the night again and BROKE everything. Firefox, MSN messenger, Hamachi, WMP. It deleted some .dll that is normally in some specific folder AND and less specific folder, so it took like two hours of more and more furious google searches (in IE) to find the fix. And even then Hamachi wouldn't work, so that had to be deleted and reinstalled. Before I could start up my Minecraft server and see if that had been broken...which it wasn't! And then me and Carolyn went exploring and found all the secrets.
Ok, have a lovely.
-Steph
Oh, and I sat through Transformers 3, and was terribly terribly bored.
Thursday, July 07, 2011
AX 2011: a look back
Happy Thursday! Before we get into the good stuff, happy Thursday birthday to Ringo! 71 today! Here's to 71 more!
So this Anime Expo was full of ups and downs. Some would say it evened out, but it's the AX so it still was amazing. Let's start.
Early Friday morning I arrived at Carolyn's to help finish the costumes! They'd been up most of the night working on them... and we mostly got them done before we headed off to Rina's. Steven's a better driver than last year! Then we headed down to LA.
We got there quick enough, and got into our room rather more quickly.... but it wasn't the upper floor room that has access to the free food! Seems as though the AX is still as unorganized as ever, and out of the three different prices they quoted to Carolyn, what they ended up charging was something else entirely! But it was a junior suite and we had two bathrooms, and there was still plenty of room for the eleven of us. ^_~
Carolyn got to work hot-gluing the last of it together, while me, Steven, and Rina wandered around downtown looking for more glue sticks and a box. We went to Ralph's, Rite Aid, Walgreens, and a mini Staples, and we did find a box.
When Minecraft happened, I had the crazy idea that I wanted to be a Creeper for the AX. That faded, but after a while we did find some Creeper cosplayers and said, well, it can't be that hard. THEN Pokemon came along, and everything went crazy. So my cosplay was as Red, the original trainer from the first series games. With a Creeper head. Carolyn and Steven went full-box cosplay, dressing up their characters like Team Rocket, which is something you can actually do in Minecraft. Steven got a Creeper head, and Carolyn used Israphel from the Yogscast youtube videos, so she's actually got three cosplays in one. Rina put together a Professor Oak costume together, and her sister grabbed a Charmander. The last box we found was for Rina, so she could fit in to our Creeper family.
What I liked the most about mine was that I had the box head on -- which was great on its own, having a masked costume really frees you up -- but I could leave it at the hotel and still have a complete cosplay. Secondarily, I loved having a backpack full of supplies, and I never had to take it off, just order people to get this out or put that in. :3 Thirdly, I loved having regular clothes, so I could wander around downtown or even back and forth from the hotel without being too hot or uncomfortable.
What I liked the most about our group cosplay was the smiles we brought to the faces of those who recognized it instantly. Pokemon AND Minecraft. One one else but us! Plenty of people in box heads, and plenty of both Pokemon and Ashes running around, but we had this complete anomaly thing going on, drawing in stares from everyone, whether they recognized one, or the other, or both, or none. (Believe it or not, but there was a guy who recognized the Minecraft side, but didn't know what the Pokeball was). We got to hiss at a lot of folks, stare at them as they passed, and everyone wanted a picture WITH us, which hardly ever happens.
Since the boxes proved to be rather impossible to travel in, our game plan was to pack up the legs and stuff into the main box, walk it all down to the expo, assemble, and then traverse down the hallway to the exhibit hall in costume. I generally wore my head there and back because it was easier than carrying it. Then just to get across the convention center, it probably took half an hour each time. Shuffling along and then stopping for pictures every three feet. That's my favorite. ^^
So we cosplayed down to the exhibit hall lobby and back (except for that one time where it was blocked off at the end for the "bomb threat"), because it would have been impossible to get those costumes through the exhibit hall aisles and crowds. So that's another trip to the hotel and back each day. Exhibit hall was super crowded the first day, and carpeted, which was new. I haven't really seen any new anime in a couple of years, so it was hard to be super interested in the wares. But I did finally buy the Cactuar plushie I've had my eye on for a while. In years past, its always either been like 40 bucks or sold out. I got mine for $20.
But the exhibit hall hasn't been my focus since we started cosplaying seriously and going for more than one day at a time. I love cosplayers! But again, since I haven't been keeping up on anything other than Naruto, I didn't see too many people who wowed me. It was more like there was just the same cosplays as ever, and I didn't need their picture because there were fifteen more of them around every corner. So I ended up mainly taking pictures of Pokemon, because, hey, I gotta catch 'em all.
We forgot to watch any new anime, too. Last year we watched ICE, which was horrendous, and Ninja Nonsense, which was amazing. (But I made up for that this week, because I just watched all of Durarara!! in the last two days. WATCH IT IT'S SO AMAZING WHY DIDN'T I WATCH IT A YEAR AGO) We saw some of the AMVs, but some of those were the same as last year, and the rest weren't outstanding. We waited in the standby line for the Masquerade, so at least it was free, but the cosplay and the skits were pretty bad here, too. So those are a couple of the "downs" of this year.
Oh, we also managed to get into the Hatsune Miku concert, who is a computer-based pop star I'd never heard of before. The singing is all this software, and she was a hologram prancing around on stage. The audience was IN LOVE. I.... liked the glow sticks.
The funniest thing that happened was this little boy who asked me if I had a knife. His mom had told him that we were Team Rocket Minecraft, and so I told him that they were, but I was a good guy. This was in the street, so Steven and Carolyn weren't even in their costumes. But I was. He said "do you have a knife?" and I put my face closer to see if I could hear him correctly, and he backed up a step lol. No, did I have a bat? I thought he said "hat," so I said "...yes?!"
"What can I use to fight those bad evil people?!" he asked with much seven year old angst. Apparently he'd been raised in a household were it was common -- nay, expected that upon meeting Team Rocket, for one to knife them.
I told him not to attack bad people, but to report them to his local police officer. "Nurse-- Officer Jenny" I managed at last.
His mom finally coaxed him away, and I said, "Have fun!"
And as he skipped away, towards the convention center, he said in quite a gleeful voice, "What a FRIENDLY Creeper!!"
XD
My other favorite quotes of the AX:
*Steven and I are sitting there with our Creeper heads on*
Steven: You're quite handsome.
*Alex asks if the ground is sloping, which it is*
Rina: I don't know. I don't have a level.
*The morning is bright so Carolyn asks Steven to punch the sun. He tries and fails*
Steven: I can't reach.
*Some cosplayer at the Masquerade is taking off parts of his/her costume*
Me: Oh no, your hat! Oh no, your...thing!
Kid on the street: Do you have a knife?
And our collective motto: ADVENTURE ON, (name here)!!!
Oh, another high point was during the intermission of the Masquerade, things were so disorganized that we all ended up watching Youtube on the MC's iPhone.
Oh, they also tore out our food court, which was the source of equal joy and despair in years previous. It was a creepy three stories into the ground, the bottom level hosting a semi-deserted food court with three or four intermittently shut down eateries. All gone, our beloved AX hangout. Shocking.
So we spent a lot of time walking back and forth, walking to find new foods, sitting in lines, and sitting in event rooms. Seems that between all this, somehow, we hardly spent any time at either the convention or the hotel room. But we were always back so late, and woke up rather early (for us) so I don't know where the time went. It was also a shortish AX altogether, since on the last day we just packed up and went home, instead of scouring the exhibit hall for last minute deals like we regularly do.
So that was my... 11th Anime Expo, twelve years since my first time. Hahaha, that's half my life so far. I was a tiny 12 year old, between 7th and 8th grade, and I cut my hair short to cosplay as Omi from Weiss Kreuz. I know it was that year because our 8th grade graduation/dance photo has me with the longest hair I've had since I cut it short the first time, and every summer after that it's been as short as it is now. That was so long ago--I remember searching fansites on my dad's computer for Weiss songs, and letting them load in the browser-based WMP for like two hours just for one four minute song. Those were the DAYS.
Oh man, I found it on Youtube, and just listening to it reminds me of all the stuff I was into back then, like reading those FFVIII fanfics that don't exist anymore. And if you ever wondered why I go by "Aya" or Ayan on the internet, you have Weiss to thank for that.
It's good, getting back to ones roots. Another year, another experience. How different will next year be!
-Steph
So this Anime Expo was full of ups and downs. Some would say it evened out, but it's the AX so it still was amazing. Let's start.
Early Friday morning I arrived at Carolyn's to help finish the costumes! They'd been up most of the night working on them... and we mostly got them done before we headed off to Rina's. Steven's a better driver than last year! Then we headed down to LA.
We got there quick enough, and got into our room rather more quickly.... but it wasn't the upper floor room that has access to the free food! Seems as though the AX is still as unorganized as ever, and out of the three different prices they quoted to Carolyn, what they ended up charging was something else entirely! But it was a junior suite and we had two bathrooms, and there was still plenty of room for the eleven of us. ^_~
Carolyn got to work hot-gluing the last of it together, while me, Steven, and Rina wandered around downtown looking for more glue sticks and a box. We went to Ralph's, Rite Aid, Walgreens, and a mini Staples, and we did find a box.
When Minecraft happened, I had the crazy idea that I wanted to be a Creeper for the AX. That faded, but after a while we did find some Creeper cosplayers and said, well, it can't be that hard. THEN Pokemon came along, and everything went crazy. So my cosplay was as Red, the original trainer from the first series games. With a Creeper head. Carolyn and Steven went full-box cosplay, dressing up their characters like Team Rocket, which is something you can actually do in Minecraft. Steven got a Creeper head, and Carolyn used Israphel from the Yogscast youtube videos, so she's actually got three cosplays in one. Rina put together a Professor Oak costume together, and her sister grabbed a Charmander. The last box we found was for Rina, so she could fit in to our Creeper family.
What I liked the most about mine was that I had the box head on -- which was great on its own, having a masked costume really frees you up -- but I could leave it at the hotel and still have a complete cosplay. Secondarily, I loved having a backpack full of supplies, and I never had to take it off, just order people to get this out or put that in. :3 Thirdly, I loved having regular clothes, so I could wander around downtown or even back and forth from the hotel without being too hot or uncomfortable.
What I liked the most about our group cosplay was the smiles we brought to the faces of those who recognized it instantly. Pokemon AND Minecraft. One one else but us! Plenty of people in box heads, and plenty of both Pokemon and Ashes running around, but we had this complete anomaly thing going on, drawing in stares from everyone, whether they recognized one, or the other, or both, or none. (Believe it or not, but there was a guy who recognized the Minecraft side, but didn't know what the Pokeball was). We got to hiss at a lot of folks, stare at them as they passed, and everyone wanted a picture WITH us, which hardly ever happens.
Since the boxes proved to be rather impossible to travel in, our game plan was to pack up the legs and stuff into the main box, walk it all down to the expo, assemble, and then traverse down the hallway to the exhibit hall in costume. I generally wore my head there and back because it was easier than carrying it. Then just to get across the convention center, it probably took half an hour each time. Shuffling along and then stopping for pictures every three feet. That's my favorite. ^^
So we cosplayed down to the exhibit hall lobby and back (except for that one time where it was blocked off at the end for the "bomb threat"), because it would have been impossible to get those costumes through the exhibit hall aisles and crowds. So that's another trip to the hotel and back each day. Exhibit hall was super crowded the first day, and carpeted, which was new. I haven't really seen any new anime in a couple of years, so it was hard to be super interested in the wares. But I did finally buy the Cactuar plushie I've had my eye on for a while. In years past, its always either been like 40 bucks or sold out. I got mine for $20.
But the exhibit hall hasn't been my focus since we started cosplaying seriously and going for more than one day at a time. I love cosplayers! But again, since I haven't been keeping up on anything other than Naruto, I didn't see too many people who wowed me. It was more like there was just the same cosplays as ever, and I didn't need their picture because there were fifteen more of them around every corner. So I ended up mainly taking pictures of Pokemon, because, hey, I gotta catch 'em all.
We forgot to watch any new anime, too. Last year we watched ICE, which was horrendous, and Ninja Nonsense, which was amazing. (But I made up for that this week, because I just watched all of Durarara!! in the last two days. WATCH IT IT'S SO AMAZING WHY DIDN'T I WATCH IT A YEAR AGO) We saw some of the AMVs, but some of those were the same as last year, and the rest weren't outstanding. We waited in the standby line for the Masquerade, so at least it was free, but the cosplay and the skits were pretty bad here, too. So those are a couple of the "downs" of this year.
Oh, we also managed to get into the Hatsune Miku concert, who is a computer-based pop star I'd never heard of before. The singing is all this software, and she was a hologram prancing around on stage. The audience was IN LOVE. I.... liked the glow sticks.
The funniest thing that happened was this little boy who asked me if I had a knife. His mom had told him that we were Team Rocket Minecraft, and so I told him that they were, but I was a good guy. This was in the street, so Steven and Carolyn weren't even in their costumes. But I was. He said "do you have a knife?" and I put my face closer to see if I could hear him correctly, and he backed up a step lol. No, did I have a bat? I thought he said "hat," so I said "...yes?!"
"What can I use to fight those bad evil people?!" he asked with much seven year old angst. Apparently he'd been raised in a household were it was common -- nay, expected that upon meeting Team Rocket, for one to knife them.
I told him not to attack bad people, but to report them to his local police officer. "Nurse-- Officer Jenny" I managed at last.
His mom finally coaxed him away, and I said, "Have fun!"
And as he skipped away, towards the convention center, he said in quite a gleeful voice, "What a FRIENDLY Creeper!!"
XD
My other favorite quotes of the AX:
*Steven and I are sitting there with our Creeper heads on*
Steven: You're quite handsome.
*Alex asks if the ground is sloping, which it is*
Rina: I don't know. I don't have a level.
*The morning is bright so Carolyn asks Steven to punch the sun. He tries and fails*
Steven: I can't reach.
*Some cosplayer at the Masquerade is taking off parts of his/her costume*
Me: Oh no, your hat! Oh no, your...thing!
Kid on the street: Do you have a knife?
And our collective motto: ADVENTURE ON, (name here)!!!
Oh, another high point was during the intermission of the Masquerade, things were so disorganized that we all ended up watching Youtube on the MC's iPhone.
Oh, they also tore out our food court, which was the source of equal joy and despair in years previous. It was a creepy three stories into the ground, the bottom level hosting a semi-deserted food court with three or four intermittently shut down eateries. All gone, our beloved AX hangout. Shocking.
So we spent a lot of time walking back and forth, walking to find new foods, sitting in lines, and sitting in event rooms. Seems that between all this, somehow, we hardly spent any time at either the convention or the hotel room. But we were always back so late, and woke up rather early (for us) so I don't know where the time went. It was also a shortish AX altogether, since on the last day we just packed up and went home, instead of scouring the exhibit hall for last minute deals like we regularly do.
So that was my... 11th Anime Expo, twelve years since my first time. Hahaha, that's half my life so far. I was a tiny 12 year old, between 7th and 8th grade, and I cut my hair short to cosplay as Omi from Weiss Kreuz. I know it was that year because our 8th grade graduation/dance photo has me with the longest hair I've had since I cut it short the first time, and every summer after that it's been as short as it is now. That was so long ago--I remember searching fansites on my dad's computer for Weiss songs, and letting them load in the browser-based WMP for like two hours just for one four minute song. Those were the DAYS.
Oh man, I found it on Youtube, and just listening to it reminds me of all the stuff I was into back then, like reading those FFVIII fanfics that don't exist anymore. And if you ever wondered why I go by "Aya" or Ayan on the internet, you have Weiss to thank for that.
It's good, getting back to ones roots. Another year, another experience. How different will next year be!
-Steph
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