Fuse the Sky

Your belt buckle turned up on our doorstep.

I'll be in Louisiana for a chunk of the weekend, so if you turn up to retrieve it before I get back, it's in my room, on my trunk.

"How could he DO that to me?"

"Honey....okay. How do I explain David to you in a way that respects the fact that he's your father, while bracing you for what may be a lifetime of disappointment?"

"I think you just did!"

-Ruby and Audie, Ruby & the Rockits

Does anyone happen to know where my tie is? The nice black-and-gold one, not the hideous pink-and-blue paisley abomination. THAT one, I had no trouble finding.

Sigh.

I am inordinately tired lately.
I spent almost all of yesterday in various stages of sleep, having some of the most bizarre non-restful dreams on record. Wound up pretty much skipping out on plans to go shopping with Skitty in favor of more sleep. The only thing I did that was in any way productive, apart from cleaning the litter boxes, was when I dragged my ass off the couch to give Sprinkles a lift to work.

Ah, well. Might go shopping with Skitty early on today instead. Depends how awake we are. I DO need to get a significant chunk of downtime before my lovely Wednesday ten-hour shift-o-fun, though.

Sigh.

On a related note, does anyone know where my copy of Order of the Phoenix is? I found the rest of my HP collection when I was last at Claridge, and grabbed them so as to have something to do at work, but OOTP is mysteriously absent. Finding it's going to be especially difficult, because if memory serves, that's the only book in the set that doesn't have 'Property of Jareth valentine' written at the bottom of page 308.

I need to find it soon. I'm reading them all in order, and I've just gotten to Goblet of Fire. So that one's next.

ALL of the Ruby & the Rockits fanfics on FF.net are Jordan/Ruby!

No, seriously, I'm not exaggerating. There are only fifteen and they ARE all J/R.

Woot for incest fic! ACTUAL incest fic, not that namby-pamby Life With Derek/Brady Bunch/Popular/Step by Step step-cest crap.

(Of course, half of them start with the revelation that Ruby's not really Jordan's cousin, which I kind of feel is missing the point. Sigh.)

Incidentally, a bright and shiny nickel to the first one who can find me a good Parent Trap Annie/Hallie fic (besides The Sister Trap. I've read that one already.).

11 y/o Lindsey Lohan on 11 y/o Lindsey Lohan. Hells yeah.

....Okay, yes, I'm sick in the head. We all knew this already. Don't look so shocked.

Okay...so I was dreaming I was walking through the grocery store, when a giant hairy monster appeared. It was a unique monster, it had a name and everything(it's name was Goad), and as I'd been through the grocery store a million times and this particular random encounter had never spawned before, I knew it was important that I beat the Hel out of it while I had the chance.
So, I conjured up my keyblade and started whacking away at it, immediately realizing that, while completely passive (it never did hit back, nor did it even seem to notice me), and while not having much in the way of defense, it had three and a half metric fucktons of HP.

It must have taken me a good ten minutes to wear it down. I was expecting it to go POOF, like every good monster does when you keyblade-whack it, but instead, lo and behold, it had ANOTHER HP meter under the first one. It had only half the HP of the last time, but its defense stat appeared to have doubled, so it took just as long to take it down.

I must have gone through this six times before it finally ran out and ceased to be a hostile little red blip and became a friendly (and non-hittable-by-Keyblade) blue blip, at which point all it did was drop its purse and wander off a few feet.

The purse was the size of your average coin-purse, but it couldn't be moved...the thing was way too damn heavy. may as well have been glued to the floor. Furthermore, any attempt to touch it harder than the slightest brush caused it to clink loudly, drawing the monster right back to it. I had to play a move-silently pickpocketing game on the purse, trying to get it open and steal its contents without Goad noticing.

I pulled it off twice (you could only take one coin at a time, they were also normal-sized but ludicrously heavy) before I got dragged off-screen (into the next aisle) and Goad and his purse vanished.

So. Now I have two unique, improbably heavy golden dream-coins. I gather that these are extremely rare items, but fuck if I know what Goad-coins do. And until they invent a DreamFAQs, there's no way to possibly look it up. So. Anyone care to interpret this one, beyond the obvious that I play way too many video games?

People I owe

Mom: $200 - Various items/favors/bills.

Skitty: $350 - Orlando trip.

Sprinkles: Appr. $200 (pending appraisal of ceiling damage). 1 carton of eggs.

Kaiser: $20 - Chainmail credit.

Jared - Appr. $30 - 1/2 Birdthday dinner (Bert)


People who owe me

Maria: $111.13 - Orlando trip.

Sprinkles: $200 - Carpet.

Kaust: Appr. $666.67 - 5 months rent/utilities.

Kaiser: Appr. $200 - Windshield replacement. 1 Copy of Pokemon Fire Red. Materials to resurface gear table.


I think that's everything. Any of these figures seem off? Am I leaving anyone out?
Speak up now if so...I'm trying to budget here, so if I owe you money and it's not on here, you get bumped to end of the pay-back priority list.
Also, if you owe me money and I've forgotten about it, and you don't say anything, then you are a douche. A big one.

(On that note, I am owed $20 by Christian's brother, from a loan I made a good nine or ten years ago, that he claims never happened. If anyone ever gets the chance to steal $20, or $20 worth of stuff, from him, please do so. I don't even care if it ever gets back to me, as long as he loses it, the fucking deadbeat.)

Looking at it all in black and white(or blue and gold, as the case may be), I'm actually surprised to see that I'm owed more than I owe. I'm theoretically not broke! Woo!

I'm watching Ruby & the Rockits.
Gods help me.

This show actually deserved to be canceled after a single season. The dialogue's dull, the characters are boring, the plot pretty uninspired, and Alexa Vega looks awful as a blonde.

Really, the only reason I'm interested at all is because there's a character who has a crush on his cousin, and I find his denial amusing. In fact, as soon as I've watched it all, I'm going to go hunt down some Jordan/Ruby fics.

You know, the lyrics are goofy as Hel, but the music's all right. I do love Alexa's voice. But she just couldn't carry the show by herself. This show is the anti-Hannah Montana, if you will...it tries to coast on nothing but the star's talent, whereas the star's talent (or lack thereof) is the only thing holding Hannah Montana back.
Hmm. Hey, someone add this to our When-We-Finally-Build-A-Time-Machine To Do List: Go back and tamper with the Hannah Montana original casting auditions so that Alexa Vega gets the part of Hannah instead of Miley.

Last night's housewarming part was kind of a bust. Nobody showed up except the usual suspects...at least, not until after I left. Except one guy. So I guess that was something.

Skitty can't get the time off work to go to Louisianna with us. That makes me sad. The trip won't be half as fun without her. Someone remind me to call bert and let him know, so he can cancel her RSVP.

Jared found a kitten out at Watco last night. I have dubbed him Howler, because he is the loudest thing to ever grow fur. Friendly little thing. Tiny. Jared didn't seem to know what to do with him...I almost got the impression he expected ME to offer to take him in.
Yeah, no. Not gonna happen. I'm already paying to support one cat, a turtle, a fish, and half a Kaust. And even if I COULD afford more pets, my next one sure as Hel would not be a cat. Perhaps a lizard, or a mongoose, or an exotic insect of some sort. But no more vermin. This house is overrun as it is.

I think he may be planning to try and sell mom on keeping him, the argument being that there hasn't been a black cat in residence at Claridge since I walked off with Prism, which is, of course, a serious breach of tradition.
Sad thing is, that argument might actually fly.

He...you should have seen the little guy's reaction to his reflection. Priceless.

*hot vampire chick, who started the episode by draining a jelly donut, walks into the room with a box*

"Heeeey! Who wants to see me empty a calzone?"

Me: *blink blink, hand shoots up* Me! mememememe!


Edit: Aww, dammit. I'm gonna miss her. She was even cooler than that goth chick Justin dated in season 1.
On a related note...does anyone think Justin's ever going to date another human? The only non-monster he's dated since Miranda has been Harper...and she's only marginally human.

Cream of mushroom soup is an excellent antidote to dried-out leftover chicken.

I just finished reading the Diadem series again. And, again, I was struck by just how EVIL the protagonists are.
And I don't think the author meant it that way, because the books go through a lot of trouble to emphasize that these kids don't kill, try not to hurt anyone, and don't want to rule anyone or have power over anything.

And yet...These kids keep ranting about how having the power to do something doesn't give you the right to, meanwhile imposing their own beliefs on entire cultures whenever they find anything to which they decide to staple the word 'evil', and getting away with it because of their phenomenal magical abilities. They go around destabilizing the social structures of entire planets! You cannot upend feudalism in a day, telling the population that from now on the nobles and peasants have to rule jointly by democratic process. You cannot destroy the Matrix and expect an entire population of teenagers who've never seen the outside world in their lives to be able to feed themselves.

And for the love of the fucking gods, how judgmental can you get? If someone's told that they have the choice of implanting computer chips in the heads of babies or being mindwiped by the chip already implanted in their own, then NO! They are NOT a coward for not choosing to become a drooling vegetable over helping to enslave others! Especially not when the computer would just chuck your catatonic husk on the pile and have the next guy chip the babies anyway!

And having to listen to these self-righteous brats ramble on and on about how evil they AREN'T, when they're doing the exact same thing as all the 'evil' people they've fought (i.e., whatever they want).

It just goes to show: The good guys are just the ones who don't know any better.

To be fair, the first few books, when the kids are the underdogs striving against higher powers, are actually pretty good. it's only after they beat the big bad and gain their own castle at the top of the world and decide to go world-hopping that they become unwitting tyrannical despots. it's actually an amusing read...provided you're willing to pretend that all those 'codes' and 'puzzles' aren't immediately clear upon first glance and that Pixel really IS 'brilliant' for being able to solve them after only five minutes of cyphering. *rolls eyes*

Also, Score's not a very creative transmuter. I approve of his battle tactics (turning air into laughing gas, custard pies, molasses, tar and feathers, making swords go droopy, etc.), but when you think about it, there was really no need for the whole 'we have to find gemstones to amplify our magic' sidequest; not when he could have just made some at any point.
And WHY was it always such an issue to find shelter on every world they went to? If you can turn anything into anything, you can BUILD a shelter. I don't care if you're a crappy architect, ANYONE could whip up some giant-size legos and slap together a house.

Planets to mention: Antarius, Fernovia, Lyra, Draga, Dondar. 

Explain why Ranger claws can cut through anything effortlessly, but can still be used for traction and climbing.

Clarify Jareth's magic; not GOOD luck, just an improbability field, makes the improbable probable. Manifests as miraculous survival because he's always throwing himself into situations where his survival is unlikely.

Potential story arc: Travelion crashes into Blade whilst traveling through intraspace, impact knocks both vessels back onto the physical plane, crashland on planet (reason Blade was late to collect Yaridovich). Which reality, which planet? Need to pick a worthwhile adventure to have while there. Do Rangers fight, or team up? Only five Axems, six Rangers. Pair one Ranger off with ornyk to balance. Not Tommy for a change. Stephen perhaps?

Purple, Camo, Gray, Black, White...dammit. Regret sending Stephen off to Oz. if he were still on Terra, I could have featured the Lightspeed Megazord in the next chapter.
Consider alternative...Turbo powers are tech-based, White Zeo Subcrystal is still on Oasis. Powers are neither bound to Stephen, nor in his posession. Zord-1 creates replica morpher, creates a temporary White Turbo Ranger? Shayla? Nicki? Enforcer Knight, maybe?
Still won't work with Electra in a coma. Do the same for Black Turbo? Shayla as White and Nicki as Black? Or just have FutureLecca step in and do it, but that exposes her presence to the PresentRangers.

Consider bullshitting myself a Mythica Protozord...Fu, Kirin, Phoenix and Pegasus are present, but not Wyvern. Something else forms torso? Fox's Crocodile? Mythica Predazord? maybe...

I designed an autocrossbow in my sleep last night.

I wanna build it. Somebody fetch me a cordless drill, a compound bow, and a bicycle.

Fallout 3.
Vault 106.
As part of the Vault-Tec experiments, psychoactive drugs were released into the air filtration system ten days after it was closed.

The drugs are still there when your character enters, making the entire level one big acid trip.

The disturbing thing? The broken computers appear to function, and they contain journal entries FROM YOURSELF. Giving yourself advice, informing yourself of your own desires, and referring to you as 'we', i.e., "We should just stay here and relax."

Not disturbing in and of itself, no. Cool, yes. But not disturbing. The thing that disturbs me, just that little bit? The style of those notes matches that of our own internal dialogues just a LITTLE too closely. Granted, it's only one nameless inner voice talking, not a whole slew of individual personalized aspects, but it's that 'we' that I can't help but find significant.

The obvious inference here being that under normal circumstances, my thoughts are similar to those of anyone else under the influence of psychoactive drugs (or at the very least, under what as normal a person as a video game programmer can possibly be THINKS the influence of psychoactive drugs ought to be).

I'd reached this conclusion long ago, of course, but it's still unnerving to see actual evidence of it.

And once again, I'm back to driving home east between 7 and 8 in the morning and getting my eyeballs burned out of my head.
Thank you, DST. Because gods fucking forbid that anything GOOD come out of winter. Like, oh, say, less sunlight.

Let me just clarify this concept, and see if it comes across as DANGEROUSLY INSANE to anyone else. People invented clocks, yeah? Devices designed to quantify time and measure it out in regular increments, right? And then they instituted a program wherein these devices would be ADJUSTED TO MATCH THE WEATHER. Do I have this right? PLEASE, someone, tell me I'm overlooking some crucial detail that makes this whole thing NOT STUPID.

Please.

Pretty please.

I would say that someone needs to write an Un Lun Dun/ Skullduggery Pleasant crossover, but, frankly, having Deeba and Valkyrie Cain in the same story would be more than a little redundant. Seeing as they're, ya know, THE SAME BLOODY PERSON.

Aaaand nobody, with the possible exception of Skitty, knows what I'm talking about. Oh, well. That's frequently the case.

On a similar note, the other night I dreamed that I was playing Fallout III, but with Un Lun Don's storyline. It worked supringly well. The Concern instead of the Enclave. Super Mutants and Ghouls replaced with Smombies and Smoglodites. The UnGun replaced with a combat shotgun variant. It was a lot of fun.

Oh yay, one of my favorite South of Nowhere fanfics, to which I'd long since lost the link and for which I was was unwilling to wade through the abbetoir runoff of FF.net's SON section, finally posted an update. Meaning I got sent an update email with a link. Woot.

Also, made some progress on the next PRN chapter. Not a lot, but some. Which is a lot, by comparison, as I've gotten nothing whatsoever done for ages.
I've said this before, but it really doesn't do a lot for my creative process, having half my cast MIA on a dimension-hopping train. I keep running against situations where I'd like to have someone say or do something, only to dejectedly remember that he or she is busy shoveling coal into a steam engine somewhere. Sigh.

While I'm talking literature, I have a couple declarations of Shenanigans to make:

Shenanigans, Diadem! It is not possible for the sun to rise in the north. West, sure, I can buy that. But no planet ever spins against its poles. Not gonna fly, unless 'North' means something pretty different on Pixel's world. And don't think I missed it when Oracle, who supposedly consists entirely of illusory magic and has no physical substance, flipped those playing cards over.
Shenanigans, Animorphs! There is no reason whatsoever that Ax should be unable to use thought-speak whilst in human morph. Not when he's still capable of doing it in any other animal form. And by the way, that part in the first book, when you described Andalites as having three vertical slits in place of a mouth? I saw that! Don't think you can just never mention it again and expect me to buy that they never had any sort of mouth at all!

Hung out with Grin, Skitty, and Elf. Went to Toys 'R' Us to find out that I had been decieved; Arceus will not be available until Saturday. Booo.

Went to a nifty restaraunt and ate food. And a decent portion of other peoples' food. Silly people and their silly little stomachs. There were too many noodles and I could not finish them all. Damn...should have brought them home with me. What remained would have made a good side-dish for a steak or porkchop or something. They were good noodles. Oh, well.

Went and saw Where the Wild Things Are, AKA, why nobody should ever breed, ever. Good gods, but the protagonist was a brat. Am I actually supposed to feel sympathetic towards him? Sheesh. Ah, well...grin knows the guy who works the theater, so admission was free. Woot.

Delivered Sprinkles' B-day gift to Roger. Received unexpected compensation, meaning that I actually broke even after spending money on dinner and movie concessions. Woot again.

Turns out, Walmart is not only out of Marauders, they've also sold out of those halloween swords with which I was hoping to outfit the Silver Ranger. Booo. Knew I should have bought those when I had the chance instead of waiting for them to go on sale.
Ah, well.

Then we came home, Grin and I traded some Pokemon, I watched most of the Rifftrax of Transformers II (Mocking Shia and Megan? Hells yeah!), and played some more Fallout III until Skitty decided it was time to go home. She wan't feeling well. Poor Skitty. Must be weird, not being able to regulate your own body temperature.
But then, we all already knew that MY hypothalumus doesn't function normally.

All in all, a decent day.
Tomorrow, trainyard. Weee. Must find something worth reading...

“You aren’t going to break up with me?”
“Nope.”
“And you don’t think I should break up with you?”
“Nope.”
“Why the hell not?!”
“Because I still want to be with you.”
“But I’m gay.”
“I got that.”
“I kissed your sister.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Twice.”
“Yes.”
“I probably will again.”
“Cool.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

-Carly and Brian, 'Enough Changed'

Safeflight quote for windshield replacement: $172.95. After labor, before tax.

Pricey, but not as high as expected. Hmm.

Of course, this is assuming I got the model right. I know it's a '99 Saturn with 4 doors, so I just flipped through the Saturn models until it listed a '99 4-door sedan.

*shrugs*