Fuse the Sky

The biggest problem with not having internet at home, apart from an inability to keep track of my extremely unstable finances, is that instead of posting stuff to my LiveJournal as it happens and the impressions are still fresh, I have to save them up for the weekend when Kitty works and I can steal the internet at the hotel, by which point I've already forgotten fucking everything.

So. Um. Anne's birthday party went well.

There is talk of Bert adding an apartment over the garage when he re-roofs it, just for me, which would be awesome, but is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Gary's dead and his memorial service is today. I shall be attending. I don't really miss the guy, but he was a big enough part of my family for long enough that I think this is worth a few hours of my time in a silly dress-up outfit.

That's about it.

Still no internet. Power about to be shut off. Life pretty much unpleasant.

Being without internet has impaired my ability to keep tabs on my finances and thus caused me to overdraw both my checking account and my credit card by roughly five bucks each, resulting in a total of about 70$ in fees just to bring them both back up to zero.

Curently exploring options re: living arrangements if forced to vacate Lair. Vacating lair looking like a better option all the time, even if not forced.

Elf refuses to get rid of any of his cats, or even let them live outside. I would not object to finding another place with Elf, but I am not willing to share a house with four cats if there are any other options available. At all.

There is an option I'm planing to discus with my mother when I see her on Tuesday, but I'm not going to jinx it by going into detail here unil I know for sure.

Kity is taking me out for breakfast this morning, because she is awesome.

That is all.

I am very pleased with the progress I've made on the Cynin helmet design.
On the whole, there are only a few minor glitches for me to iron out. The greatest of which being that, even with pilot holes drilled, the sculpey horns still tried to crumble when I attempted to screw them to the helmet.
Other flaws include the individual plates having a tendency to shift, scratching thepaint, superglue leaving an annoying white residue on the finish, and the inside of the visor leaving black marks on the wearer's nose.

Still incomplete are the inner foam padding needed to keep the helmet secure on the had, and the gem to be set into the forehead (which I'm having trouble locating. Grr.)

There's also the fact that the whole deal is extremely flimsy, but that's not a significant problm, since it's just a prop. No one's expected to actually take a blow to the head wearing one of these.

I plan to make some more as soon as I get around to it. I should have enough sheet metal left to make one more. After that, I'll have to buy more, which of course has to wait until I get paid.

Turning sheet aluminum into costume components is a fun and effective endeavor...I've now made an arm, a leg, and a head. None are completely finished, but all are going well. I'm actuallly considering trying my hand at throwing together  few armor components for Killa, he being the Cynin with the most involved costume. It'd be less sturdy than vacuformed armor, but a good deal cheaper and easier, and, more importantly, I can actually DO it with what I have on hand. It's certainly worth a shot. Bonus: if it comes out well, the style of his armor will actualy match his helmet. None of the others will be able to say that.

Also need to buy pantyhose for the Cynin to wear over their heads beneath the helms, so their necks don't show. Sould I go with color-coded, or make them all black? Color-coded I'd haveto buy five pairs, black I can get away with three.

One of these days, I need to get around to buying an In-Loader so I can make holsters to fit. It's kind of integral to all the Cynin armors.

Once I get Maxx back, which hopefully won't take TOO much longer, I'll take a few pics of what I've made and post them here.

Due to shortness of funds, there is no internet at the Lair.
Currently using the internet at the hotel to post this.
Access will be sporadic until situation is remedied. 
Preferred method of communication is, at this point, text mesage.

Quasar still making funny noises. Meeting Kristyrae for lunch today. Finished Red Cynin helmet.

No further bulletins at this time. 

Valentine out.

So. Depending on half a dozen variables, I may be moving again soon. Long story short, we're two to three roommates shy of being able to make the rent on this place. Kaust's out of money, and Elf and I just can't swing it alone between the two of us. We're payed up through the end of the month, but then, unless things change, we're drifting. There are options...two of them, to be specific: Elf and I move back in with our respective parents (which we DON'T want to do). Or he and I move into Echo's old place. Echo doesn't stay there anymore, when he's in town, he stays with his grandmother. So Echo's mom, who owns the place, isn't making a dime off it as is. That'd pretty much be a win-win for all concerned. (Hell, with the money she'd make renting the place out to us, maybe she'd be able to save up enough to break away from that psychotic, abusive, deluded two-year-old she married. Can I get a halle-fucking-luyah?) We may even be able to take Kaust with us, perhaps station him in that side room. And it cuts my commute to work considerably, which would probably make up in gas whatever more it cost me in rent. The details still need to be hammered out (I don't know how much anyone's been told, really), but it's looking like our best bet.

Most significant glitch: Apart from the hassle of packing up and moving, I'd have to repaint a couple rooms, which I really don't have the funds for at the moment. Although there's a case to be made about that...I promised Sprinkles that I'd put this room back the way it was if I ever moved out...but this isn't my choice. It's not exactly ME bailing on HER here, is it? (Wow, that last sentence sounded a lot less asshole-ish in my head than it does in print.) And, in theory, the whole reason she wanted the room restored was so that she could get a new roommate in to replace me ASAP, so that the household would still be able to make rent...which really isn't an issue anymore, since the place'll be pretty much abandoned. Although I imagine her mother will still rent the place out...I understand this is her only source of income, after all.
Well, I plan to stick to my word. Chaotic alignment or not, I like to foster trust and establish credit, especially where my personal comfort is concerned. It just might not happen right away (if it happens), since I'm being pretty much forced into this.
If nothing else, I'll be peeling down my stars and taking them with me. Probably my carpet, too, although pulling that up and transplanting it will be a pain. That pretty much just leaves the walls needing a coat or two of white primer, maybe some minor patching where I've hung shelves and fixtures. Hell, I said it when I moved in and I say it now, a bare floor and walls of a uniform color will be leaving the room BETTER than I found it.
I'd just buy more carpet if I thought I could afford it...I don't even know if this piece'll fit my potential future room.
Ugh, and I'd have to reset my wards again. Blarg. And change all my contact info. Again. Dammit, I'm still getting mail at my LAST address.

Sigh.

I don't want to move. I REALLY don't want to move. I've made a home here. I never would have moved in the first place if I'd known that I'd be moving again one measly year later. Years pass in the blink of an eye for me, a home should last a fuckload of a lot longer than that.
Dude...the beginning of July. That'll be EXACTLY a year after I moved in. First getting back together with Kitty, a year (to the hour) after we broke up. Now this. Weird how I seem to be doing everything in annual increments lately.

Well. Maybe worrying about this is a bit premature. Maybe it won't even be an issue. Maybe things'll turn around, and we can stay.

We can hope, right?

Okay. To those of you out there who think I'm just talking out my ass about making this movie?
I just took inventory and worked out roughly how much I've spent on costumes and props thus far.
It came out to FOURTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS.
That's one thousand, four hundred dollars American. And I didn't even count most of the unfinished props in my room, like the Zoey horns, or the Zoey scalemail, or the Diskette disks, or Jhinn's sword and blaster.
And I'm not even close to ready to shoot yet.

THIS MOVIE'S GETTING MADE.

...
Although it may be a while, seeing as I've recently been informed that Power Morphicon II is happening in LA next summer, and of course I HAVE to go to that. So now seems like a good time to start saving.
(Although how cool would it be to have my movie shown there? Never gonna happen, I know, but wouldn't that ROCK? Maybe at PMIII...)
By the way, who's planning to come with? Elf I know. Kitty? Kaiser? Kaust?

I'm currently thawing out some beef and chicken, and I'm planning to stir-fry it as soon as it's ready.
Just wish I had something to make with it. I'd kill for some mushrooms.
Maybe I can scrounge up come macaroni noodles or something...
Tomorrow, I'm meeting with a friend of Nicci's to discuss constructing some sort of symbolic chainmail collar or necklace or something. I can make something for him, or, if he wants to make it himself, I can show him how. Although we may have to order the materials. it all depends on what he has in mind. Either way, I just might make some moneys tomorrow.
Oh, and he's gonna feed me. And I get to hang out with a couple cool peoples. Yays.

And then on friday, I'm dragging Kitty out to dinner. IF, ififif, I have time between recieving my paycheck and having to head to work.

I did my nails. again, for the first time in forever. I love having them painted like this, I really do, and it sucks...a lot...that I have to undo all this work every week just to sit in my car where nobody ever even sees me, let alone gives a crap.
Maybe I can borrow Elf's work gloves. Or maybe find myself a pair just like them, if he dun wanna lend them or they don't fit. I could get away with wearing those at work, I think.

Oh, while I'm posting, does anyone remember what 'Pern' stood for? I know it was 'Potential earth-' something something, but I can't recall the rest.

If I were a Horseman of the Apocalypse, I would be Legendaries That Move Around the Map.

Wow. I just made a reference that you have to be at least two different kinds of geek at once to get. Go me.
Umm...what I'm trying to say is, I finally caught Suicune. Yay me.
And now I get to start Leaf Green over from the beginning with a different starter to get the next stupid Legendary Dog. Joy.

In other news, how cool is it that my relief, who has no car and is very poor, tends to spend the night at the post and take over as soon as he wakes up, which is usually about an hour earlier than he should...an hour for which I still get paid? Security Guard Impersonator is the best job ever!
Also, Quasar seems to be running a bit rougher these days and I'm wondering if that missing motor mount thingywhatsit is coming into play. Mom? Did Mr. Mechanic happen to mention how much fixing that would cost? Or where we might find a replacement part?

I've run out of turtle food, can't afford more, and have no idea when I'll get a chance to buy any more feeder fish for Link. So, last night, I decided to bring a mason jar to work in the hopes of scooping up a few tadpoles from the retention pond at the trainyard that I could feed to my turtle.

Didn't catch any tadpoles. What I caught, surprisingly, were feeder fish. Lots and lots of tiny, minnow-esque fishlings.

So...no tadpoles, but plenty of turtle food. Success? Failure? Succailure? Fuccess? You decide.

I even caught a couple tiny freashwater snails, purely by accident. I threw those in, too. With any luck, they'll help keep the tank clean.
Gods, I never get over how happy it makes that little turtle to have fishies to chase. :)

Who wants to help me build a giant hamster wheel and attach it to the side of my house?
And, while we're at it, does anyone know how to wire up a generator to a giant hamster wheel?

"Don't don't don't don't don't!" is not the sort of command I know how to follow. It's not even a sentence! There's no predicate! I had no idea what I was supposed to NOT do.
In the time it took to say that, "Don't close the door!" could have been said two or three times.
Hell, if she'd gotten as far as the verb, as in 'Don't close!", she'd have gotten results.
I had to guess at the verb, so I gambled on 'slam', and stopped the door from swinging so hard. But that wasn't good enough,  because it turns out that apparently, no matter how gently you close it, the bolt slides loudly enough to resound throughout the house.
Oh, well. I'll know better next time. Just hope she didn't get in too much trouble over that.

Old habits. It's been well over a year since I shaved my head, and to this day, when getting out of the shower, I still catch myself reaching back to wring the water from my hair. Go figure.

Also, I've been watching enough Soap lately that this question's come up...and I've never really been clear on the concept of monogamy, so I'm hoping someone with a better comprehension of the rules can clear it up for me.
Does it count as cheating if you genuinely thought that the person you slept with was your significant other, even if it later turned out not to be? It's happened at least twice in the series now, and I'm never sure how upset the potential cheat-on-ee is supposed to be and how much is overreaction.

*looks around*
So, this is Level 40.
Not bad. Nice place.
Don't for the life of me see why it has to stop here, though. Anyone know of any patches that raise, or better yet, remove the Level Cap in Neverwinter Nights?

....ish thing. Okay, so all we did was hit a Japanese steakhouse.
I really need to remember to bring Kitty and Grin along to these places more often. I get to trade them my inedible veggies and get triple the mushrooms in return. Yay. First time I've ever not left the teppanyaki table still hungry.

Then we went back to Grin's, gave him our gifts (ever Sonic he Hedgehog shirt we could find that he didn't already own), and helped him out a little with the reorganization of his room. Which is starting to look pretty cool, by the way.

Everything went more or less swimmingly until Kitty and I left the room, at which point Grin's natural luck prevailed and the waterbed sprung several leaks. Well, that's what happens when one tries to sleep on a water balloon. One of the world's sillier inventions, I feel.

Anyway. Apart from spending 30$ that I really really REALLY shouldn't have spent but can't bring myself to regret, it was a good time.

I'm trying very hard not to justify expenditures like that with the "Well-I'm-making-more-money-now" excuse. Yes, the extra shift brings in a lot more cash, but A) it's a temporary post, not something I should get used to relying on, and B) if I keep frittering away all that extra money on stuff I don't need just because I CAN afford it, then I may not as well be making the extra money at all. I mean, I'm all for spending the money one has to enrich one's life and one's experiences, instead of just sitting on it, but that really only applies to money one HAS. And I'm technically in the hole, living on credit.
I do not enjoy this status. I wish my net worth to be positive. I don't care if I've only got a dime to my name, that's still better than the -700$ I have now.

Ah, well. I'll get there.

Tuesday: Grin birthday thingy maybe?
Wednesday: Meeting with friend of Nikki's re: chainmail collar. New Yahtzee.
Thursday: Kittyday. PR:RPM catch up. Maybe get her to finish helmet.
Friday: Work.
Saturday: Work.
Sunday: Too much work.
Monday: More work.

Ugh. Sleep now. While I can.

This one's obviously aimed mostly at Maria...

Chase the Morning. When Mag's singing her line about the sheltered rose. What the FUCK is Shilo singing behind her? I can't make out the words there for the life of me.
Not that it matters a LOT, since I always sing Mag's part anyway. But I'd still like to know.

Maria couldn't sleep. Popped up on AIM and asked me to tell her a bedtime story. So I came up with this:


The Happiest Dead Cow
by Jareth Valentine

Learning that the creators of So Weird had a KICK ASS third season planned, but weren't allowed to produce it because the tones were considered 'too dark' for a children's show. Fi being posessed by Bricriu and having to be excorcized, Jack's past life as a medieval knight explored more fully, Molly's former alchoholism, Fi having to descend into Hell to free the soul of her father....THIS IS SOLID GOLD, DISNEY! Produce. This. Shit.
I'm slightly less annoyed, though, having learned that they couldn't have done it anyway. Carla had already decided to quit the show. Replacing Fi with Annie has always been the biggest mistake the show ever made, but I'm willing to cut it a little slack in light of the fact that the actress CHOSE to leave. I'd always assumed they'd just decided to replace her. Glad I was wrong. Shows that sometimes the people making these decisions AREN'T fucking idiots.
Still. S3 was crap. They should have just let it end and not bothered. Then at least they could have come back in ten years (which would be, oh, around about NOW) and make a So Weird movie of all those awesome ideas still floating around out there.

Sigh.

I wonder if I can find myself a download of the first two seasons? I know there were episodes I missed. Including almost everything with Bricriu in it. And he's important.

While I'm on the topic of Disney making things shit, let's talk about T'Witches.
Part of me really wants to call it the worst adaptation of a book to a movie in history...but I can't even do that. Because it wasn't. The T'Witches movie had characters of the same name, who wore the same necklaces, as the ones in the books. But there the similarity ends. Let's ( Compare/contrast... )
So, yeah. T'Witches movies? Crap. Pure, unadulterated, watered-down, cliched, shallow, unappealing crap.
Yeah...I'm done. Nothing else to see here, move along.

"Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana."

They're doing it again! Aaaaah!
Well. At least this time it's three GOOD shows. Raven won't be strutting that fat ass and fat ego of hers around the set. This could be okay.

Interesting point: This means that Wizards takes place in the same continuity as Suite Life, Hannah Montana, TSR, Suite Life on Deck, and Corey in the House.
This just leaves Sonny out of the loop, because they keeps making references to the Hannah Montana show.
And of course, both continuities keep making HSM references. So HSM exists in its own little world. (Miley made a guest appearance in HSM2, but she wasn't neccesarily appearing as Miley STEWART, so that's okay.)
Nobody's mentioned Camp Rock yet, so that could be happening anywhere.
I wonder in what universe Jonas is taking place. It'd be nice if Disney'd mix it up and at least give a nod to some of its older shows...maybe throw in a reference to Even Stevens or Lizzie McGuire. Or Phil of the Future.
Ah, well.

Sweet! Ferngully! I haven't seen this movie in...
Hey, wait...I know this song...that's...
*blink blink*
*glances at calendar*
Fuck.
Um.
Well.
Happy belated anniversary, Lecca!