March Recap Leads to April Resolution: Knowledge

So I like super slacked on updating at the end of the month like I was supposed to. Sorry, but it happens a lot that I don't feel like writing anything because I don't know what to write. Let's jump right back into March, shall we?


March 31st 2011:

Wow, being creative was a little bit hard. While I really tried to create awesome things of art or words, it turns out that to me being creative is baking. I baked a lot of cookies, like sugar cookies with chocolate chips and snicker doodles. In the beginning of the month, I decided to cut my hair IN HALF length wise, freeing myself of boob-length hair and the lack of fun things to do with it when you don't have a handmaiden to help you do your hair.

In honor of Mardi Gras (Kristy's "cultural heritage holiday") me, Kristy and Carol went to Harry's Whole Foods to seek out a king cake to devour.. sadly, the cakes there were really sad looking so we decided instead to raid the pastry items (12 little cakes for $10!!) and get dinner from the awesome assortment of things they have to offer. Once we got home we decided to have a Fancee Partee with our little cakes, sandwiches and sparkling juice. That meant dressing up in snazzy jammies, donning hats and posing for photographs before we could inhale our food and watch A Midsummer's Night Dream.. because we were fucking fancy, dammit!

we're kind of awesome like that...

I also decided to bake for St Patrick's day and went really crazy with it.. Last year I made Irish Carbomb Cupcakes and they went over really well so I decided to give them another shot and see if I could make them better. They did turn out better, but now I have plans for NEXT year to make them the most wonderful chocolatey-Guinnessy cupcakes in the world. In addition to my beer/chocolate combination of delight, for my roommate that doesn't drink I decided to make  Green Velvet Cupcakes. Sadly they didn't rise to the occasion so I mutilated them into cake balls with no coating of frosting or white chocolate ganache. Next time they will be wonderful and cute, dammit.

Don't you want a bite?

That was really about all I got done creativity wise, which didn't help me maintain February's resolution of being healthy. Surprisingly, by the end of the month I was actually down to just below 150 pounds, go me!


April is going to be all about Knowledge and learning new things, be they random bits of trivia or just how to do something new. Hopefully this will get me in gear to start studying for SATs or ACTs or whatever it is I will have to take to get into culinary school... hopefully.

March Resolution: Creativity

I used to be an arty kid. I would doodle and design and sing and dance and did theater. Not any more. I'm lucky when I sing in the car with someone else and when I get an idea about something.

Time to change that.

By the end of this month I want to have filled my life with the fun of being creative again. I'm not putting a daily requirement on this, as I know for a fact that you just can't make yourself feel creative. I want to do something at least every week, even if it's just writing a crap ton of haiku like I did the other day.

Time to seize the joie de vivre once more!

February Resolution: Be Healthy Recap

So passes the shortest month of the year. It was a good month, full of snow and ice and frozen yogurt and holey shoes and lots and lots of breathing.

The goal of February was to be healthy. I think I did pretty well. There were days that were harder than others, especially when it came to walking. For the first part of the month my car was still broken so in order to get to work I had to walk... but once the car got fixed, back I slipped into my laziness spiral of sleeping in until I had to get up. Drinking water was a bit easier, since I carried a 20 ounce bottle with me just about everywhere I went. There were some days where I drank a lot more than others, but from what I hear that's pretty normal. Plus, I would have probably died if I had drank 80 ounces every day, since that seems to be the most I could drink.

There was a pattern to my drinking that I started to notice after the first week. I would drink very little for one day, maybe 20 ounces if not less, and then the next day I would drink between 40 and 80 ounces. My constant seems to be 20 ounces a day, which isn't bad considering that I used to drink maybe 20 ounces in a WEEK before this month.

Sadly, I never made it to the gym with my roommates to rock out the treadmill or any of the classes that they took. I'll keep trying, though, since the gym they joined has an awesome rate of like $10 a month for a year.. and the visitor pass is $5. We'll see how that pans out.

On February 2nd I weighed 154.8 pounds, but on February 4th I went down to 152.4 pounds. By the 16th (after a weekend of eating horrible for you food and Valentines chocolate and not enough water) I was back up to 154.3. But by the 23rd I was down to my lowest yet at 150.2 pounds. And finally, as of the writing of this, I'm sitting at 151.4 pounds.

I have a goal for how much weight I would love to lose in this year, and by looking at what I did in 28 days without even really changing anything other than water intake and walking a bit more, I have confidence that I'll be able to reach it by next February.



The numbers:

Total Water Intake: 770 ounces = 5.8 gallons
Total (known) Miles Walked: 11
Total Weight Lost: 3.5 pounds

February Resolution: Be Healthy

I love food. A lot. Like... more than I should. I like reading about food, looking at pictures of food, watching people make food, listening to people talk about food... yeah. I'm addicted to food.

So here begins the start of what will probably be the hardest month for me to follow: being healthy. And by "being healthy" I mean not eating whatever I feel like, when I like. It's gonna be hard, I'm surrounded by food at work so I snack off and on all day, telling myself that it's okay because I'll work it off or that it's "quality control". And once I get home I find myself wandering the kitchen, peering in the fridge and our various food hiders. Out of boredom, usually. If I actually ate when I was hungry, I would probably only eat one or two times a day. But I don't, I eat when I'm bored. Which is bad, from what I hear.

It won't be easy, there will be many days that I want to scream "fuck you, I'm gonna be fat and happy!" and eat a bag of cookies or something.. and then I'll feel bad. Because I get eaters remorse when I'm trying to be better about things.

To start off the month, instead of jumping straight into some crazy diet or something, I'm going back to the basics: drinking enough water and exercise.

Right now, the exercise is easier than drinking water. For the last couple of weeks I've been walking to work because my car is messed up. According to le Google Maps, from my house to my place of employment it is a whopping 0.8 miles if I take one way and 0.9 miles if I go another. So, round trip, I can get between 1.6 and 1.8 miles of walking in. Which isn't bad at all, really, considering that normally the only time I walk anywhere is around the mall, at a con or at a LARP event. In addition to walking to work (I'm not even going to mention actually working, since it's a given being that I'm a waitress in a place with 2 levels) I have started to dance on Wednesday's again with Jodi. Right now it isn't much, we're still trying to come up with the actual routine, but once we have that ironed out, it'll turn into a really good workout.

Drinking water, on the other hand, is harder for me because I like flavour. I know, why not just get the little packet things that you add to water bottles? Because those things are crap for you, being made of Splenda if they're low calorie or just tasting horrible. Plus, I'm addicted to coffee. But I've found a way to get a couple of ounces into my system, so we'll start there. Actually, I've done really good on drinking water today, I'm on my third bottle of 16 ounces.. so, I've had 48 ounces of water all told today. [Edit: After actually measuring my water bottle I found that it holds 20 ounces of water, so I actually drank about 50 for the day!] And like 8 ounces of coffee, and the same for soda. It's been a really good water day.

So, here's to being healthy!

January Resolution: Happiness Recap

Here's a recap of all of the things that have brought me happiness this month. This is how things are written in my daily planner...

1. Having Jodi as my best friend
2. Being lazy & fat with good music
3. Food, pretend tattoos and silly kittens
4. .75$ movies
5. Greek yogurt
6. -
7. "Reliving New Year's Eve" party
8. Shrimp tempura rolls & Menchie's
9. Fluffy bed
10. Sailor Dalecks! (The Picture)
11. "I told you to make a list!" -Katra Tsikalas, Admin (I play-tested a game)
12. I worked!
13. -
14. Spartacus!
15. A: "I hate bending over after an orgy." F: "Me too." (Cathe misheard a conversation)
16. Donating money for sick kids
17. Sushi Bites & Beacuase (The Video)
18. -
19. FREE CHOCOLATE! OMNOMNOM
20. DHU as Daphne Addams
21. I didn't walk home
22. Music
23. Chow Baby Grill
24. Rolling 5 20s as Rayleigh
25. -
26. Jodi & Rachael time
27. -
28. -
29. Never Have I Ever
30. Jodi Time!
31. I decided what phone to get. (The Phone)

February is going to be "Be Healthy" month.
We'll see how it goes.

Just a Few Things (with links!)

Weather Update:

So, the snow has finally melted. The leaves have finally dried out, which makes me happy because they crunch when I walk on them now instead of being soggy, slippery things. It's still cold, but at least it isn't snowing.

To express what it was like living in the Atlanta area, I share with you a couple of videos. I didn't make these, my BFF Jodi showed them to me, but it sums it up pretty nicely.

This is what it was like in the beginning: It's Snowing in Atlanta?! Yay!
And this is what it was like a week later: It's colder than a midget in a refridgerator

And that's all I've gotta say about that.

In other news, due to either time or the cold as balls weather, my car started to act up. It makes a Sound that hasn't been identified yet. I'm hoping to be able to take it somewhere this week to get it looked at. All I hope is that it's something simple that won't cost me an arm and a leg, as I only have 2 of each and I need them both. But, that means that I'm walking to work until it gets fixed, which means exercise.

An acquaintance of mine from the nerdy LARP world has started a blog, so you should check it out. Meet Adam Jones . He writes some amusing things that make me laugh, but I'm kind of simple so his humor might be too classy for you to get. Oh, and he writes haiku sometimes about things that are questionable.

I have 3 cuts on my right hand from work. They hurt, a lot, because they are all in areas that come into contact with things, like my pockets and writing instruments. But at least I didn't loose a finger, that would suck even more.

Yesterday, or the day before yesterday, I was tricked back into playing A Witch's Tale for the DS. I had gotten stuck in a castle back in October and had quit.. and then I got distracted and forgot about playing the game. I showed someone where I was stuck, he got me unstuck, and then I got sucked back in. I am still stuck. The boss that I was supposed to fight didn't show up, which is lame because that means I missed a step somewhere in the level. Boo-hiss.

And that's about it. I mean, I could fill you in on the tiny detail things that I've been up to, but I don't know you well enough to share some of those. :D

Snow! I'm pretty sure that crap is evil.

It snowed on Sunday the 9th. At first, it was pretty... the crisply white snow coating the lawn, street, rooftops, tree branches.. it looked like something off of a greeting card.We were all excited by the prospect of a Snow Day.

Look at the pretty snow! Let's drink hot chocolate!

Five days later, Thursday the 13th, the city is still mostly snowed in. Our cul de sac is under probably 3 inches of snow and ice on the roads with probably about 4 to 6 inches in the yards. It's the ice that keeps you from being able to drive anywhere though.

The tiny black parts are the road. The rest is DEATH.

Like... this morning I thought I would drive to work instead of walk the almost mile like I did yesterday. Apparently, I thought wrong. I got out of the driveway well enough but the moment I hit the street and tried to turn, I was stuck in a patch of ice. The wheels were turning.. but they were turning on ice, so my ass was stuck in the middle of the street. With the help of Frank and Cathe I was able to get my car from the middle to the side of the street. Hopefully nobody hits my car. That would suck and I would cry.

After getting the car back to safety I called my boss back (she had called while I was trying to move the car) and then I called the co-worker that I was going to be working with. She had had the same idea of trying to drive instead of walk and had gotten stuck in her street as well. Now, while my walk takes 15 minutes in good weather and about 20 in the snow, her walk is an hour in the snow. So, there was no way that we were going to make it to the cafe to open in the next hour and a half.. which leaves me not working again today.

Good thing I managed to get in that 10 AM - 2 PM shift yesterday. Hopefully tomorrow will see me at work for about the same amount of time. My co-worker is just going to walk without waiting to hear from our boss what time she would like us to come in, since it doesn't really matter and we got like 15 customers yesterday that were within walking distance of us.

The sidewalk has become an icy deathtrap. But the snow is still pretty!

But, on the plus side of this snowedinness.. is that a word? I've gotten my laundry washed, if not put away yet, and yesterday Cathe and Frank got the couch that was in the garage into the upstairs living room, which gives us more seating that isn't the floor. I might bundle up and trek out to my car to retrieve my sewing machine from the trunk and make some little things with scraps of fabric I have laying around my room. I'm thinking something like this: Coffee Mug Cozy Thing. It's simple sewing, being a rectangle, and I have the supplies and the time to do it. So, we'll see if I manage to be creative and/or productive today.

At the very least, I'll put away my clean laundry and make my bed.

Oh, and my roommate Mish just tried to leave for work. She just got stuck in the same place I did.

Evil fucking ice.

Videos!

So, remember how back in October I was involved with dance rehearsals nearly every moment of my life for months at a time? I finally have a link to the video that isn't from Face Book!

Fan Dance Awesomeness!

We actually did 2 performances, this video is from the first. Sadly, the second performance is the better of the 2.. with no dropped fans. The only bad thing to happen during it was that one of my fans broke in my hand. Not that you can tell, I'm that professional. :D

Sleep is for the Weak!

This is how I feel every night. That might have something to do with the fact that I stayed up until 5 AM last night, trying to sleep. And by "trying to sleep" I mean I read a book until my hand started to cramp from holding it up. And then I slept until 4 PM... so, my sleep schedule is a bit fucked up at the moment. Which always happens to me when I get bored or hate life or something.

Always.

Since I was like 13 or something, I've stayed up all night long and slept all day. It sucks. Because I know it's something that I need to work on fixing, and I do try.. and then it happens that I stay up until 2 AM one night and then the next it's 4 AM and then before I know it, I'm awake at dawn. And have to be to work in a few hours. Sigh.

Last year after I started my new job I did really good at sleeping at night and being awake during the day.. but I've started to back slide since November. I chock it up to having someone to talk to at all hours and then not having someone to talk to at all hours. When I have someone to put my interest in, I tend to behave like a normal human being.. with responsibilities and stuff. But the moment it's up to me to take care of myself, (read, once I'm single or have no one that shows an interest in me) I go straight back to staying up all night. And I don't even do anything most of the time. I'm just... awake, existing... bored. And I want to go to bed, but I can't for some reason.

Oh well. I didn't intend to actually write anything tonight, but it gives me something to do for a few minutes to beat the monotony of the night. Did I mention that I have work at 10 AM? Yeah, and it's a nice long shift for once.. we'll see how that works out.

Maybe I'll post a photo of myself looking like a zombie? Sounds like a good idea.

January Resolution: Happiness

As I mentioned in the last post, it's time for resolutions to take place. And I have come up with mine. Instead of doing 1 thing for the entire year, I'm going to give myself monthly resolutions. It comes down to me not knowing of 1 thing that I want to improve about myself, but several that I know need work.

So, for January, my resolution is to find something every day that brings me happiness and share it in some way with either the people that make it possible or just as a note to remind myself. This will, hopefully, help me focus on the positive things that are in my life rather than all of the negative.

There will be some months where I focus on a physical thing, such as watching what I eat or walking or dancing. And others where I am simply creative in some way.. and others still where I am totally honest about how I feel.
This will hopefully help me to come to terms with some of the issues I have with myself and what I see as my limitations.

New Year, New Me

Well, let's quickly disregard everything that was written in the last post.

It seems that I am good at cursing things to ruination by writing them down.. which is kind of silly, but it seems to be so. Every time that I write I am happy with a situation or person, that happiness ends in such a way that I am the opposite of happy.

The short story: I like douche bags. Not the hygiene kind, the male kind.

Moving on.

It's almost 2011. Holy cow. And with that realization, comes the sudden desire to come up with a resolution to keep or break for this new year. I have never done the resolution thing, so I think it's about time that I gave it a shot.

So, I'm trying to come up with one. It's hard work, really. There's the general ones that everyone does, like lose weight or save money or travel or be kind to puppies or do some great good. I don't want to do one of those because they won't really mean anything. I want to do something that will change how I see myself for years to come.

Or something.

I don't know.

It's hard, because I want to do these crazy things, but I know that I won't be able to motivate myself to do it past a certain point.


I just had a wonderful idea. Instead of a Yearly Resolution, I'm going to have a Monthly Resolution. That's like.. 12 Resolutions instead of just 1. I think that's a fab idea. Plus, it'll keep things from getting dull. Now I need to come up with my January Resolution. It'll probably be something simple like tell people why I like them or something. We'll see what I come up with on January 1st.

'Tis the Season...

I'm not quite sure what it is the season of, but I do know that it is in fact a season of something.

Any whoo.

Yeah.

First of all, let me get the over-whelming sense of guilt that I have going on every time I look at the link to this thing... and then write nothing. Seriously, there are times that I want to write something but then I have to go off and do something else... and by the time I am able to write something, I have forgotten whatever it is that I was going to write before. So I do nothing and feel like a piece of crap. Not like anyone reads this thing anyway, it's more like I'm pretending that people read it and that makes me feel even worse because I feel guilty for keeping the words away from myself. Yeah, it doesn't make any sense to me either.

Maybe if my life were filled with exciting things on a daily basis, instead of kinda amusing things on a weekly basis. Or something. I dunno. But I do want to write more, I just don't feel like being boring and crap.

That being said, here is a recap of what I've been up to of late, just in case. In case of what, I haven't a clue, but that's what people say.

In the beginning of November, my last update actually, I had been talking to this guy that I have known for a few years, and had a bit of a thing for. Up until now, however, one of us has been dating someone else and we're both the kind of people that just don't talk to the opposite sex whenever we're attached to someone. So, even though we both liked each other and had things in common, our interactions were limited to the random times in a year that we would be at the same NERO event.

Fast forward to last October (2009) and the end of my current long-time relationship. Sadly, for me, he had just entered into a new relationship (as in like that week) and then moved to Texas. Of course, thinking about it now makes me happy that nothing had happened last year, as I was in a very bad emotional state over my breakup and in general just hated life. It has actually kind of made me a better person, though I will never admit as much to my ex. That would be kind of awkward, along the lines of:

Me: Thanks for treating me like crap and allowing me to realize that I am actually worth more than what you tell me I am. Also, I hope you've learned that you can be an overbearing asshole and you should actually care about the person you supposedly love instead of just using them for your selfish needs.

Actually, maybe I should tell him. But I won't, because that will mean actually talking to him and while I have recently re-added him as a friend on FB, I am not to the point that I can see what he is doing on a daily basis without either feeling total rage at the injustice of it or feeling joy because he has gotten fat and his girlfriend is a total ditz with a big ass. But I digress. I think. Maybe.

So, to get back to my little story, my emotional state was not the best (to say the very,very least) and I was generally very unhappy living in Savannah. Thus, when the topic of moving came up I jumped on board, head first, naked into the fires of this idea. Which is how I found myself living in a 6 bedroom house with 5 other people (2 of which I had only met for a weekend and 1 of whom I had never met) and their cats at the start of December. Oh the joys of having friends that love you. Seriously, without my friends I am sure that I would have fallen even deeper into the depression that my life was at that point in time. So, a huge thank you to my friends for being there for me.

At the same time that I was rebuilding my sanity and love of myself and life, he was living in Texas with his girlfriend. Fast forward once more to this fall and I am single after a quick thing that I don't know if I even can consider a real relationship. And he becomes single after his girlfriend fucks around on him. Being the embodiment of compassion (and seeing a chance after so long) I rekindled our friendship. And found out that he had had the same feelings I had had and had never acted on them for the same reasons that I never had. It was shocking, and nice, and... and..  I don't know what else.

It was just nice to have someone to talk to and be honest with and to care for them in the same way that they cared for me. And then, to both of our surprises, we realized how deep our feelings actually were. Here's where it gets a bit sappy and silly and cute and all of those other words that mean Disney personified. We realized that we actually loved each other. Not that "I think I love you because I'm lonely" love, but real love. The kind that you feel once in your life, if you're lucky. The kind that makes your chest tighten whenever you see or talk to that other person and when you miss them because you haven't spoken to them for five minutes. We realized that we felt that for each other, and it kind of scared us, or at least I know it scared me. I hadn't felt that way even for my most recent long-term relationship and had only felt it once before and that had been after being together for months.. not just talking to for weeks.

Feelings are funny things. They aren't logical, or shouldn't be. Despite wanting them to be logical and not random, they will always do things that you don't expect. Like make you fall in love with someone that you haven't actually seen in person in over a year. Things like that. But I have no regrets about it. I have a few worries, mostly remnants of past relationships that always seem to become issues.

But I want this work. Like, work forever. And, to make this happen, I am trying to be true to myself and the feelings that I have. Even stranger, and even more scarily, I am not planning for the future. For once in my life I am going to let things happen as they happen without worries for the future. If I have learned anything this year, it is that sometimes you need to let things happen and go with the flow. So, while I would like for things to happen, I am not going to push them into happening. I am going to let nature take its course and just go with the flow of life.

Hopefully.

I Really Love Pumpkin Creme Candies

So much do I love them that for the last month I have had a package of them sitting on my desk. And I have to keep myself from eating all of them in one fell swoop by limiting my delicious candy intake to like 2 a day.. or hour... It's really quite sad the addiction I have for pumpkin cremes and candy corn. But, it is an addiction I only have during the fall holidays, much like my love for pumpkin. Dear god do I love fucking pumpkin flavoured items.

Anyway. Yeah. Life has been extremely busy these last few months. Since August I have been rehearsing for a carnival on Halloween weekend. It was hard, the hours were long, the sweat was much.. but it was all worth it. We did really well and everyone complimented us and even asked for an encore. Once a video gets uploaded, I will share the link for all of my lovely readers... that don't follow me on FB. Haha.

In other news, I've been talking with this really cute boy that I've kinda had a mini-crush on for a few years. Apparently, he felt the same way.. which is kinda awesome. But yeah.. it makes me happy, so we'll see how things go. He also wanted me to post a picture that I drew. It was originally a bear-shark.. but I think it looks like a shark-manatee.

What do you think?

Let's Talk Nerd

It is commonly known that in the geek world, the fall season is busy. There are a crap ton of conventions and other such nerdy things to attend and spend a lot of money on. This past month I have attended Dragon*Con and AWA (Anime Weekend Atlanta) as they are in my backyard.

This was my first year attending DC and I went for only Sunday, as it had the most things that I wanted to attend. First, some things that I had always heard about the insanity that is Dragon Con:

-There are a million-billion people there.
*Not quite a million people, but it was pretty damn close. There is a reason this convention has spread out to numerous hotels.

-It is a constant party.
*I didn't attend any parties but when we were leaving at like 2 AM there were a lot of random groups of people dancing outside, so I believe it.

-There's too much going on at one time.
*That is the honest truth. Thank god for the fact that the program went online the week beforehand so that I could go through and see what was going to be going on so that I could plan accordingly. Without having done that, I would not have had nearly so good of a time.

So yes, there are a million people doing a million things while they party. But it is so freaking worth it to go at least once in your life. Just keep calm and have an idea of what you want to see/do and everything will go just fine.

As for my experience, it was pretty tame. I didn't dress up, though some of my friends did, so I didn't have to worry about messing up my costume or getting all gross and having people take pictures of me every few feet. We found a really good parking place 2 blocks away from one of the hotels for $3. Waiting in line kind of sucked, but when doesn't it? The first panel we hit was actually in the same area as the badge pick-up line so we went from one line to another. But watching The Guild with Zaboo and Vork was awesome, plus we got to see an episode that hadn't been aired yet.

We hit the smaller dealers room for about an hour, mostly because of the crowd. It was really hard to move because the rows were pretty narrow and people just don't know how to move. From there I went to a book signing for Sherrilyn Kenyon, which also moved slowly. For those of you people out there that don't know how to behave at a book signing, here are the rules:

1) Don't bring the entire series to be signed. 1 or 2 books is all you need a signature in. If anything, start at the beginning and work your way through if you can hit multiple signings.

2) Don't hold a five minute long conversation with the author. They won't remember you in 15 minutes. This experience is for YOU, not them. Say hi and thanks for writing/drawing/creating this thing that I love so much, keep up the good work, have a good day and then LEAVE. The next person wants their 2 minutes too.

3) Don't bad talk after you leave a signing. Just because they didn't say "OMG, let's be best friends for life, you should move in with me!" does not make them rude. Yes, their jobs are to make their readers happy. But that doesn't mean that they should be expected to act like your best friend. Just remember this: If you had to do 7 or more hours of talking/signing/picture taking in a day for nearly an entire month.. how would you feel? Would you really be able to be 100% patient and nice? I know I wouldn't, so don't expect them to be.

Anyway, rant aside...

I'm glad that I got to get a book signed, even despite the line and wait, because I'm that sort of nerd. I like to see the person that creates the world that I lose myself in for hours at a time. I like to say "thank you, you made things better for me by writing this book". So far I have gone to 2 book signings, one for Kim Harrison and now the one for Sherrilyn Kenyon. But there are still others on my list, so hopefully I can one day mark them off.

After the signing we walked around some more, got some lunch, hit a few more panels and had fun. The last thing that we did was probably one of the most fun things I have ever done at a con: Dub Your Own Hentai. Yes, ladies and gents, we went there. And waited for like 2 hours in the holding cell of doom so that we could watch animated porn and make it funny and slightly less awkward. Because, honestly, hentai rooms are always kind of awkward. Everyone knows that everyone else is getting turned on and trying not to show it, until they just have to go to the bathroom to take care of business.

At least with this panel the point was laughing and not getting off. And oh god was it funny. I almost peed my pants laughing it was so funny.. and because I couldn't leave the room to pee or my seat would get taken by someone else. But it was worth the pain and agony to hear the things some of the people came up with. We had Sean Connery, Kermit the Frog, Forrest Gump and a few other normal accents and voices dubbing our porn. You can be sure that I'll be going again next year.

So the highlights of Dragon Con 2010: watching the Guild, getting a book signed, watching porn with funny stuff said during it.


Two weeks later Anime Weekend Atlanta rolled around and we went. Now, some history. My first convention ever was AWA in 2002, so this con has some nostalgia for me since I lost my Con Virginity to it. I have only missed 1 year since then and can't wait until I can say "I've been going to AWA for 10 years" even though that will make me one of the Old People at the con. ;_; How did it happen to me?

Anyway, Friday night I went with Carol and our friend from out of town because there was a panel that I had to miss the previous year going on. The Ouran Host Club Challenge. Basically the way it works is each Host Club member has a team of fans and they do various challenges to win the prize. The prize just so happens to be the love of the main female character, Haruhi. We close Team Glasses, Kyoya, as our team. I participated in the first challenge, the Fluffy Bunny Marshmallow game. Basically, we played telephone with marshmallows in our mouths. It was hilarious. Our friend participated in the Dance Off and won an iron on patch, that he gave to me (squee). Carol helped in the last challenge which consisted of making wedding apparel out of crepe paper. Sadly, our team didn't win, we tied for third place. But it was a lot of fun and it makes me even sadder that I missed it the year before... but I won't miss it next year. In fact, I will go in costume from the same show to be even more awesome.

Then we went to Wal*Mart to buy food and hair dye. Carol lost her badge in the parking lot. We dyed my hair red so that I could be a proper ginger Companion. And then we played Rock Band for hours before going to bed for a few hours.

Saturday morning had us in costume and ready to go to the con.
Our costumes were:
Me- Amy Pond (Dr Who)
Kristy- Donna Noble (Dr Who)
Carol- Gwen (Torchwood)
Cathe- no costume but she had the Dad Cat from Azumanga Daioh.
Joy- Yoruichi(Bleach)
Michelle- Soi Fon(Bleach)
Frank- Kisuke (Bleach)
Dennis- James (Pokemon)

While they waited in line for badges I hit the artists alley to say hi to a few friends and got stopped like 3 times to have my picture taken. That kind of set the mood for the day. I'm guessing that all the pictures that didn't get taken at DC got taken at AWA to make up for it. Seriously, I think this year had me stopped more than any other year, which is awesome. Next year will be even more epic if we get to do the Kyoshi Warriors from Last Airbender like we wanted to do this year.

As is pretty normal for AWA, we spent a lot of time in the dealers room and in video panels. We watched the Iron Editor, which is basically Iron Chef with AMV's. The winner was awesome, the loser was so bad that we didn't even think that their entry was a real video. Sad, yes, but the winner was pretty awesome. If I can find a link to it, I'll post it.

We had dinner at Chow Baby that isn't Chow Baby anymore.. but will always be Chow Baby to us. For those of you that don't know what Chow Baby is, here's the simple version: Salad bar do it yourself stir fry. And boy is it awesome.

After dinner, Kristy, Cathe, Joy, Mish and Frank left for home because it was like 10. Carol, Dennis and I stayed since I only had the one day pass and wanted to make it worth while and they didn't care so much about going home. To our luck there was a panel that we wanted to go to. It was an MST3K style anime room run by some pretty funny guys, one of which had been a judge during the Iron Editor panel. He was still asking for a cheeseburger and fries when we got there. We watched Sailor Moon S, which is horrible but not as horrible as Sailor Moon Super S. As huge Sailor Moon fans, Carol and I spent the next hour in teenage happiness as the things we hated/didn't understand about the world of Sailor Moon were poked fun at.

Then we went home and slept. The End.

So yeah, my September went by pretty awesomely. Plans for next year are already in the planning stages and money is slowly being stored away to pay for them. Here's hoping that I get to do the costumes I want to do.

-Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica (either the Marine or New Caprica)
-Kaylee from Firefly (cover alls AND the layer cake dress)
-Renge from Ouran Host Club (school uniform)
-Kyoshi Warrior (full make-up and green outfit)

I Did NOT Forget About This Thing

I've just been pretty busy with real life stuff. That's kind of a lie, I haven't really been busy enough to not write anything, I've just been kinda lazy. It happens to everyone though, right? And the added fact that there hasn't been a lot of really interesting/entertaining stuff to write about. I don't want to be one of those people that says "And then I had crinkle chips with my sandwich.. which had spicy mustard and Muenster cheese and ham..." because that's kinda boring, even though delicious and I would totally eat that. Mmm Muenster cheese...

Anywhoo, to give the illusion that my life is full of interesting/entertaining things I guess I should post something about what has been keeping me occupied recently.

Number 1 is that my sister had her baby on last Tuesday. While 20 days earlier than her due date, the new addition to our family is in good health and temperament. I shall be able to see this for myself when I go visit my family in a couple of weeks. My mom has texted me a few times saying things to the extent that I will fall in love with her and that she's an angel baby (because she reminds my mom of me, of course) and she will be an artist/president whenever she grows up. Ahh babies, they make even bitter girls like me smile and giggle. Until they start to scream, puke or poo.. and then I can hand it back to whoever the lucky parent is.

Number 2 (heheh, poop) is that in October there will be a LARP event over Halloween weekend for NERO Atlanta with my friends doing the brunt of the work. To help them out, and because I'm kind of a sadist, I've been rehearsing a dance routine inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender and the different styles of bending and the Kyoshi Warrior girls. The song is about 5 minutes long.. we have 1 minute and 30 seconds of the routine done. So, on my Wednesday evenings I shall be rehearsing that at Jodi's house and then on some Saturday's we will drive across town to dance at Caycee's house. We went to Caycee's this past Saturday and got to dance on a ROCK in a STREAM. It was totally epic-looking. Like, I felt like I was the girl that I was portraying. Can't wait until I can order my own fans to snap around the house and annoy the crap out of my roommates with. ^_^

Number 3 is work.. I worked a lot last week and the week before. Like 8 days in a row worked a lot. It was worth the money, just not the sleep problems. I'm a night owl by nature so having to wake up at 6 multiple days in a row to be bright, cheery and coherent is really not something I enjoy doing. The plus side to that is that I can drink coffee all day long to keep myself to the level of caffeineation that I need to be at to deal with running up and down stairs and doing dishes in The Pit, which is only slightly cooler than the outside temperature but way more humid. Don't get me wrong, I love working at the cafe.. I just wish I didn't have to wake up so early most days of the week to do so. But, once the weather cools down I'll be able to walk without wantneeding to take a shower because of the sweat-tastic heat.

But yeah.. that's what keeps me going. That and the prospect of Dragon*Con and AWA in September. Can't wait for those, might even be able to go and cosplay. Nothing new, probably Sakura from Fate/Stay Night for the third or fourth year in a row. We'll see.

Sometimes life is that Exciting

So, tonight was pretty entertaining for a few reasons. The first being that I didn't stay home playing DDO (Dungeons & Dragons Online). It's an MMO based in the D&D world of Eberron and pretty fun. It's also free to play, which is super fantastic for poor kids like me. Myself and the other residents of Nerd Palace have all created characters and I've been playing by myself to get the hang of things since I haven't played a PC game in over a year, and that had been World of Warcraft, which has different commands. I've made 2 characters, one is a wizard and the other a cleric.

The second reason being that I went and saw Iron Man 2 in theater for $1.75 with a few friends. Yes, you read correctly: $1.75 for a movie.

There is this wonderful place about 15 minutes away from my house that shows movies that are out of regular theaters and are about to go onto DVD for really cheap, which is awesome if you're poor or really wanted to see a movie but don't want to pay an arm and a leg to go when it first came out or don't want to spend the money to buy the DVD. Plus, when the ticket price is that low you can totally splurge on a big box of candy, popcorn and a drink and not break your wallet. The best part about this place is that on Tuesdays they have a special price of $0.75! Yeah, it's pretty sweet and I go at least once a month when I'm bored and don't want to stay at home. The only draw back is that each movie only has a limited amount of showings each day, sometimes only 1 for the entire day.

Ohohoh! So, when we got to the theatre we were early and got the best seats in the house (you know the ones, middle of the middle) and before the lights went out a group of 9 girls in varying styles of lolita clothing came in and took up an entire row. It was awesome because outside of a convention I've never seen girls dress up in loli-gear. One of the girls was wearing a pink wig with 2 pigtails.. and she moved the detachable pigtails from the top of her head to the sides so that people wouldn't complain about her hair being too big. It was really funny. Plus, it was freaking Iron Man and you would never expect to see girls in babydoll skirts and Maryjane's to be there.

But IM2 was pretty awesome and I can't wait for the Thor movie to come out because hopefully that means the return of the Hulk (Edward Norton Hulk, not that other crappy one). To be honest, I'm not really that big of a comic book nerd but I really like Iron Man and all the other Avenger characters because they have really good stories to them. So, yeah, you should totally see mister hotty pants, Robert Downey Jr, being a sarcastic, self-centered jerkface. Plus, the tech level is pretty sweet. It'll be cool if one day computers and stuff work like Tony Starke has. Not that I'll ever use it since I'm terrified of technology getting to the point where it can think for itself and then overthrows humanity. (Terminater, the Matrix and Battlestar Galactica have fueled this fear)

After the movie we went to Steak and Shake for food since things didn't go as planned and we left later than we wanted to be able to get food before the movie started. And by "didn't go as planned" I mean Frank had to wait for a cop to do a search on him because he had been spotted trading a gun for drugs in the parking lot of Big Lots.

The quick version is that Frank's dad was in town for a few days and parked his RV in the Big Lots parking lot. Frank had some of his dad's guns and brought them so that his father could have them back. His dad gave Frank some pain pills to give to Joy because she gets really bad migraines. Apparently some good citizen saw this take place and called the cops. After straightening out the gun situation, the cop ran Frank's ID to make sure he wasn't wanted for murder or something else. Therefore, we didn't leave on time.

So, we went to eat and stayed for like 2 hours telling stories and being totally irresponsible with ourselves. I'm still being irresponsible, actually, because I have work at 7:30 (4 hours from now) and I'm not asleep. In fact, I probably won't go to sleep tonight and will just crash after I get off of work at 1. The glory of working at a coffee place is that I'll just load up on the bean juice until my eyeballs pop out. With my luck I'll overdo it and won't be able to go to sleep. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it in 9 hours.

Sometimes I wish I were Veruca Salt

So, I spend a good bit of each week (usually at 3 in the morning) drooling over things that I want to own. Etsy is totally to blame for this, of course, it isn't some flaw of my making at all. At any given time I have a few pages of things that I want with a firey passion. From soap, lip gloss, corsets, nerdy shirts, cute jewelry, and steam punk accessories.. I have it all listed. And about once every month or so I go through removing things that other people have bought and paid for. It makes me sad to see some of the things go.. and yet, some things I have had my eye on for a year or so and they haven't joined the list of things deleted. It gives me hope that one day I will have money to splurge and that item will become mine. So that I can be happy and share it for like two weeks before I decide that it's only for ___ occasion or ___ costume/character. I am more interested in the idea of owning something than in owning it in actuality.

When I go shopping, for example, I will find something that I think I cannot live without. To test this, I walk around the store with it as I look at other items. Usually by the time I am ready to leave the store the decision on whether or not I NEED it has been reached and I either put it back where it belongs or go to check out. This works wonders when I don't really have the money to spend on yet another tube of chapstick (which I am addicted to because I hate chapped lips) or even a box of Pocky. This even works on clothes, which I hate buying.. which is why my newest clothes are all from thrift stores and are things that I don't actually wear in real life, but in my fake life known as LARP. It's weird, I know, but it's how I go shopping. Hell, who am I kidding, I do it at the grocery store too.

I'm pretty sure that this is a skill that parents everywhere learn after their child is old enough to want things, but it's just something that I do.

But the thing that sucks is when a holiday that is known for gifts comes around and I'm asked what I want I say "I dunno... can't think of anything..." and then end up getting a gift card for a book store or something else that I'll use with glee. And then the next time I go look at Etsy there will be a dozen or so items that I could have asked for, staring at me like "But... you could be wearing us NOW, dimwit" and then I pout.

SO, if ever an occasion comes around and you want to get me a gift, just ask for a link of my favorite items on Etsy.

The First: An Introduction of the Main Characters

So... yeah. I've gone and started a blog. Now I just have to think of funny things to say so that I don't feel dumb. I guess I could explain why I have started this thing (idle curiosity) and the meaning behind the name (it's the table number that I sat at on my birthday and I couldn't think of anything else) and who I am (a newly 25 year old who stays up too late playing FB games or reading at least 4 times a week).

Well, that wasn't too bad. And they say that blogging is hard. Heh... famous last words, methinks.

Anywhoo (STFU Lich Cat!).. yeah, maybe I should start with a list of characters that will frequent my daily, weekly and monthly ramblings.


**The Roommates**

*Carol: We used to work together back in Savannah in the cafe at Barnes & Noble. After finally being convinced that she wasn't a spy for the store manager we became friends and spent a lot of time sitting on her living room floor, sewing and gluing things together in the name of creativity. I once got high on her porch while spray painting papermache and chicken wire armor for her and Kristy. Carol also has really big boobs and milk products hate her.

*Kristy: Also another B&N refugee that I befriended after we started to compare the buttons we had on our messenger bags. She introduced me to LARP and hardcore costume making for conventions. It was her idea to make the aforementioned armor. Kristy has an online comic that she doesn't update anymore, despite my threatening to baby gate the computer room until she does. She also cannot fend for herself when it comes to food, a prime example being that she once ate a tortilla filled with cream cheese for dinner.

*Cathe: Kristy's girlfriend and cat fanatic. She works at a vet and I'm pretty sure she's a profession student since in the 5 or so years I've known her it's only in the last 7 months that she hasn't attended school. When we go to conventions she is usually turned into the Bag Bitch while we get our pictures taken as she does not do cosplay with us. Cathe eats nothing but fruits and vegetables because she loves animals too much to eat them. She is also addicted to Fallout 3.

*Joy: One of Kristy, Carol and Cathe's Final Fantasy 11 guild members that moved from California to live with us because we were that freaking awesome. I wish I were kidding, but that's basically how I know her. Joy is completely random in anything that she does, which can lead to hilarious things. Her only flaw that I can see is that she's a vegetarian and fills the fridge with Tofurkey and Not Bacon. Gross.

*Mish (Michelle): Joy's girlfriend who moved with her from California. She is very quiet and shy.. like, when we met she was totally absorbed into the Bleach game for the DS. I think we may have exchanged like 10 words the entire weekend. She joins Cathe in the living room and plays Mass Effect 2 on another TV while Cathe plays Fallout.

*Frank: Joy and Michelle's roommate from California who decided to join them on their cross-country drive and move. He's the token boy for the house.

**The Cats**

*Patches: Kristy's childhood pet, making her really old, like 14 or something. She has creepy eyes and three legs. (Orange, calico)

*Kit (Lich Cat, Skinny Bitch): Cathe's childhood pet, also making her really old. She's really skinny, has no teeth and patchy fur. She screams in the middle of the night because she's either lost or wants something. (Black and White)

*Maggie (Magrathea, Fat Maggie): Cathe's rescue cat. She used to have a gang, back when she was a stray. Being a stray means that she is obsessed with anything related to the food or outside. She is the bane of my existence because she always wants to get in the sink or on the counter or steal peoples food. (Brown and stripey)

*Simon (Dr Tam, Dr Spit): Simon once had a sister named River but she died last year from kidney failure. The remaining Tam Cat has a horrible case of herpes eye and is allergic to his own feet. He's also kind of skittish but really sweet.. if it weren't for the fact that Maggie taught him bad habits. (Black)

*Quincy (Quincers, Basement Cat): He made the move from California and lives downstairs because Kit tries to kill him whenever she can. He is enormous and afraid of everything. Seriously, everything. (Grey and fluffy)

*Maya (Twiddles, Kaylee, Yama Maya): The most recent addition to the house known as Nerd Palace. She was a baby stray that was brought in to Cathe's vet office and came home to be given medication and human interaction. After a few name changes she was adopted by Joy and spends part of her day scaring Quincy and showing Simon just how much she loves him by jumping on his head, back and tail a million times in the day.

**Other People**

*Jodi: My best friend of 10 years (holy crap) from Savannah, she lives down the road from me once more.

*Steve (Scuba): Cathe and Kristy's former roommate, Jodi's current boyfriend. He wears Hawaiian shirts nearly everyday.

*Mickey: He runs the Superhero game that me, Carol, Kristy, Jodi, Steve, James and Frog play on 2 Monday's each month.

*Heather (Pixie): She can kill you with her knowledge of how to save you. She works for the county as a rescue person.. normally that means she sits in front of WalMart and makes snarky comments. She is made of glitter and doom.

*James: Mickey's roommate. His girlfriend is Jen.

*Frog: One of Mickey and Carol's friends. His wife is Emily. Carol hangs out with them every Tuesday.



So, I think that might be everyone that will be mentioned at least once a month. Wow.. that's a lot of writing. Maybe I should leave it there for the night and go check FB...?