Talking Soup

The time has come, my friends. I am a writer. I play Pokemon and other silly video games. I have participated in online LJ RP games. I have long discussions about various sci-fi shows and watch things like Star Trek, Farscape, Doctor Who and Firefly. I respect William Shatner. I watch anime with a somewhat religious fervor at times. I have conversations about the merits of certain weapons, the various histories and lifestyles of the Middle Ages, and complain about historical or logical inaccuracies in movies concerning the era. I have been to a Renn Faire. I have gone to sci-fi and fantasy cons, as well as anime cons. I read comic books, webcomics and manga. I play WoW. I collect Magic Cards. I'm an amateur astronomer and I listen to shortwave radio. I can readily quote Star Wars.

In short, I am a full blown nerd. And the time has now come to tackle the last bastion of nerddom, to venture into the fearsome, Mountain Dew-soaked, Cheeto-stained basement in the nether regions of the House of Nerd.

Yes, my friends. I speak of Dungeons and Dragons.

I am, as we speak, in the process of building a character and will soon start a campaign involving my similarly nerdy Ithaca friends. I am learning all about Spot Checks, Ability Modifiers, and D20s.

With this, I say my final farewell to the world of coolness, fashion and all semblance of sanity. Farewell, Lady Gaga, Eat, Pray, Love, 24, and True Blood. Goodbye, Justin Bieber and Louis Vuitton. Auf wiedersehn, mainstream media. To make a nerd quote, "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." I go now to the Land of Fun, the Plane of Silliness, and the House of Nerd, and never shall I return to hipness, coolness and popularity. Good night...and good luck.

Just be glad I'm not LARPing.

Holy shit, you guys. I just got back from seeing Toy Story 3 and...

Dear God. I feel like Andy. I mean, I was a kid when I saw the first one, and though I skipped the second one until Pat forced me to watch it the other day, I still sort of grew up with it, you know? And now I'm 23, pretending to be an adult, and I haven't played with toys in years and...

I won't spoil anything, but the movie was spectacular, and absolutely heartbreaking. And it made me cry, the first Pixar movie to do so (no, I didn't cry at Up or Finding Nemo--there, I said it! Don't get me wrong, I loved them--just didn't cry). Mostly because by the end of the movie I felt pretty much the same as Andy; when you have to leave your childhood behind, put your toys away and move on. The movie in itself was like growing up; painful, but in the end, you're better for it and things are generally okay.

You all need to go see this movie.

Also, for all of you who saw Brave Little Toaster as a kid? Yeah, prepare to be traumatized again.

Also, my hair is blue.

I attempted to dye it blue a few months ago, but it sorta failed and ended up more seagreen than anything. I've gotta figure out a way to bleach my hair without having that effect, though I don't think there is one. Anyway, tried it again yesterday with a different shade of blue and HOT DAMN. It's a really deep blue green. I also got it cut last week so it's super short.

I'd post pics if I had a camera :\

I've been so unbelievably BORED lately. Which is probably part of the reason I haven't posted anything in, like, months. Plenty of stuff has happened, but most of it is big, overarching real life stuff, the kind of things that are just sort of there and that you can't focus on 24/7. Boring stuff.

Let's see...I got a new job. I'm a part-time caretaker for an old lady with Alzheimer's and dementia. There's a total of five of us who look after her 24/7, and it's all under the table, working right in the lady's house. We get paid by one of her daughters. It's pretty decent money, but I really need a second job. My parents are currently paying my rent, but I'm 23 and that's really got to stop. I can't keep mooching on them forever.

Money's been tight all around, which is one of the reasons why Julie has decided to move back home to Minnesota. She needs to get out of here, or at least get away from her current job, which has been crushing her so bad that it's actually painful to watch. I'd like to keep living with her, but this is probably what's best for her.

It also means Pat and I need to find a smaller, cheaper apartment, and that we're both going to be paying more overall for rent. Which is also no good, for one thing because Pat will be paying more than half, which isn't fair, and because my parents will be picking up my half. I'm such a leech.

Speaking of parents, I'll be heading home sometime in July for the annual star party at Yosemite. It'll be good to be back for awhile. And I swear one day I'm gonna drag Pat and Julie with me.

I've gotten thoroughly addicted to Glee and Supernatural. Well, not Supernatural so much anymore. Julie found it first and then we all marathoned basically the whole thing in a matter of weeks. I don't have much desire to see the next season, though I'll try it out. Glee just continues to be awesome, with really great comedy and well-rounded characters. It makes for a hilarious parody of high school in general.

Saw Ironman 2, loved it, saw Kickass, loved it, and I think that's all in the way of movies.

Meanwhile I was pretty addicted to World of Warcraft, but last week my account got hacked and stolen. I'm still waiting to hear from Blizzard, but in the meantime I haven't been able to play at all. Ah well. It's nice to have a good long break from it.

On the anime front, the three of us here have been marathoning Yu Yu Hakusho...I don't really know why, but does there need to be a reason? It's awesome either way. I've also been steadfastly watching the Darker than BLACK OAVS (AMAZING), and two new shows called Durarara and Angel Beats, which are both pretty sweet in different ways. Also Hetalia, since Heathers got me hooked.

I'm finally writing again, specifically a new novel. This is the Jin novel that I'm pretty sure I've mentioned a few times. Basically, space dragons and evil robots. It's fun so far, though for some reason I'm not as crazy-into-it as I was with my previous novels. I've just been so...blase about writing in general, but I'm getting back into it. I think the lack of significant RP lately has something to do with that. I love Route 47, and I think it's gonna keep going for a good while, but it's been so slow for almost a month and a half now that it's become this casual thing, instead of taking up a good portion of my day like before. IDK. I'm just really unmotivated lately.

Another reason that I'm glad I'm going back home soon, even if it's just for a week, is that I think I'm needed there. I swear, I love my brother but he's going to kill my parents with the stress he causes. If it's not drug addiction and the police, it's fights with the neighbors. This is a major reason I want to become financially independent, because my parents have enough to worry about with Ben around. He really does seem to be trying to do better, but it's not happening fast enough. The best I can do is try to take my burden off of them.

Ah well. Life goes on, even when Israeli commandos are killing activists, the Koreans are at war again, and the oil at the Deepwater Horizon just will not stop flowing.

THIS IS AN UPDATE.

Yes I am alive. The reason for my lack of posting is uh. Laziness and post-graduation now what/lawl future/lawl real life/fuck it I'm gonna sit on my ass for a few months ness that is now graaaadually wearing off. Yup. Mostly because I haven't been writing or doing anything productive this entire time and it's catching up to me in the form of OH GOD MY WORTHLESS EXISTEEEEENCE.

It's almost three AM, which explains this incoherence.

ANYWAY. It is almost Christmahanukwanzaayule again. Hooray! I have no money with which to buy presents for people. Boo! I'm relying at this point on tiny things that are cheap but awesome. Which reminds me, HEY, CMAK AKA kuribohcoast I NEED YOUR ADDRESSSSSSSS or you won't get presents and I will be sad ):

Oh, another reason for my lack of posting? I am now officially a WoWfag. Yeah. Inorite? Well, it's fun, when it works and when the patches update alright which they're not right now, and I'm not addicted (yet) so. It's sort of the same as RP in its addictive qualities, however, in terms of like "As soon as I finish this tag" which in WoW's case is "As soon as I finish this quest!"

But at the very least I think I'm ready to make a concerted effort not only to just generally write more but to really get to work on the edits/rewrites for Motley Crew. If not Pentagram as well. But, lol, for those of you who have known me awhile, you know how well my declarations of "I'M GONNA DO IT THIS TIME" go, so we'll see. At least I have a sort of method this time for keeping myself working on the edits. Plus new ideas keep springing up. Now if only I could buckle down and actually start either North or Jin or something...

I also need to finish my resume WHICH I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON SINCE AUGUST. Laziness and an unwillingness to enter the real world much?

Currently we have all just gotten back from Darkover con (which was awesome), we had our own Thanksgiving at home (I made Cornish game hens and didn't set anything on fire!), Julie has a book deal for her co-authorship with Tammy for the Tortallverse (Cara's in on it too), Pat still has his steady job and I'm...still at Michaels.

*sigh*

Also as of today the kitten is sick. Pogo has gotten a cold like this pretty consistently around this time so hopefully it's nothing serious. If she's still sick in a few days/she gets worse we're taking her to the vet, pet health program or not.

Oh and the second season of Darker than BLACK is out, and is about halfway over, and is awesome. That is all.

So I got a Twitter. Mostly so that I could follow the Iran Election stuff, which has pretty consistently been the number one trending topic over there. Anyway, you can find me at TalkingSoup, if you so desire.

As for the business in Iran, well, things are pretty damn shitty, with the police beating the shit out of protesters and anywhere between twenty and a hundred people dead, depending on who you're listening to. My Iranian tweeters all seem to be legit and accurate, and basically, it's ugly over there. Plus they're dropping acid on people from helicopters. Nice.

I support their movement wholeheartedly, but I can't help but be reminded of a Carl Sagan quote: "If we like them, they're freedom fighters. If we don't like them, they're terrorists. In the unlikely case we can't make up our minds, they're temporarily only guerrillas." Are we Americans so enthralled by this movement only because they're trying to depose a leader we despise? Because they're trying to create a less theocratic--read: less Muslim--state? I sincerely hope not. Hopefully it's just us and our love of freedom.

ANYWAY on the less heavy side of things--okay, some of you out there know that I'm a fan of the show Soul Eater, and I've been meaning to read the manga for some time now. Even more so since the show ended on a rather...weird and poorly written note. And I just started reading it, mostly skimming through chapters 1-38, which is where the story diverges. And man. A chapter after the story starts diverging, and I'm already liking the story so much more. No wonder I felt so weird after Buttataki Joe showed up--the anime crams things together and explains things really stupidly, plus there's a lot of OOC stuff happening, now that I think about it. The manga just makes so much more sense. Plus the writing and general storytelling is better.

I'm a little leery of the art, but it's starting to grow on me.

Certainly giving me pointers on how to play Soul better, too.

I also finally finished Kanon, which I started, god, must be several months ago. It's a great show, though it suffers a bit from LotR syndrome--that is, it ends in about five different places. It's a sweet show all around, though.

So I was playing Pandemic II yesterday. And I get everyone except Madagascar. Bastards close their ports as ever. So I start ignoring the screen and figure I'll just annihilate the rest of the world.

I look back like ten minutes later and I see this:




Oh my god. What. What. IT'S MAGIC. IT'S FUCKING MAGIC. THEIR PORTS WERE CLOSED. HOW DID THAT SHIT GET IN?

So now the whole fucking world is infected and it's all THIS BEAUTIFUL TOXIC SHADE OF RED and I start buying things like Hemorrhaging and Insanity (LOL! I LOVE PARASITES) and soon they're all dropping like flies, but it's a parasite so it takes about a year. And I look back awhile later and:




THAT'S RIGHT MOTHERFUCKER! JUST AS FUCKING PLANNED! HAHAHAHHAHA TAKE THAT MADAGASCAR!!

And then for the first time ever:




WHAT NOW, BITCH? WHAT NOW? I JUST WON THAT SHIT!

WHERE IS YOUR GOD

NOW?!?!


Oh, and the name of the disease?

Edward Cullen.



P.S. LOL

Just so everyone knows, this Friday is the Day of Silence, which means I'm going to be shutting up for the whole day. Usually I just don't talk for that time period, but this time I want to go the whole nine yards. In other words, no verbal or textual communication of any kind, starting Thursday at midnight and ending Friday at midnight. So no LJ and no AIM.d

And for my RPmates, that means no tags too. Sorry!

Warning, TMI incoming.

AKA Kate Syndrome. Kate who has been known to break her tailbone and then get pneumonia and then a kidney infection. Everything EVER will go wrong, medically.

So about two weeks ago I broke out in hives. Epically. Sounds gross, right? That's because it is gross. Sounds funny, right? No. Not funny. Was late to classes due to the not funny of oh-my-god-the-itching-kill-me-now-pleeeease.

Went to Health Center. Gave me prednisone and claritin and hooray, I was feeling better by the first day. Think it might be soy milk. No more soy milk.

Then, a few days ago, sore throat. I can track this by now. Sore throat, gross nose, coughing, it's how all my colds progress.

Two days ago. Random extreme dizzy spell that happens to me very rarely--vision and hearing go skewy, dizzy, almost fainting. Even threw up this time. What the fuck. Went to Health Center again, but apparently it's nothing to be too worried about, something brought on by a combination of things.

Yesterday, the hearing goes in my left ear. I figure it's just my ears refusing to clear cause it's a cold and that happens. But it was achy and not going away today. So went to Health Center again. Turns out it's an ear infection. A bad one. Like, really bad. Pus bad. Implication is that there's a chance I might not get full hearing in that ear back. And now it hurts like a bitch. Am on amoxicillin for it.

Slept all day, skipped classes and work. Will have to call in to work for the whole weekend. Hope they don't fire me.

Just got a call from Julie saying she totaled her car on the way to Syracuse. She's completely fine, but the car is dead.

This is on top of my brother dropping out of college, Elwood getting sick and needing pills forced down his throat, everyone in the house having a cold, and Kate having another kidney infection.

You'd think this stuff would have all happened on Friday the 13th. Go figure.

Lol yeah haven't had an update in awhile. Not much has been going on, aside from me going absolutely insane over homework and such. Last week was a nightmare. Actually the week before that was too.

Also, I have acquired a real-life stalker! Well, stalker is too strong a word. This guy commented on my glasses on the Commons and then followed me into one of the stores. He helped me out while I looked for some stuff and actually bought me two bracelets. And then he walked me to work an hour before my shift started, since I didn't want to lead him straight to the house. Saw him again the next day coming out of Autumn Leaves, though he didn't follow me that time. He seems like a nice enough guy, but I'm not one to really interact with strangers all that much. I figure I gotta buy him a coffee, at least, for the bracelets. *shrug*

ALSO, this is a call to everyone on my Flist. I need your help, for srs. I've got this survey for my Research Methods class and I need everyone who's willing to fill it out. You don't have to if you don't want to! It's about anonymity online and how it affects people's behavior.

Click Here to take survey

Thanks in advance!