Eru

Funnel clouds.

Fri, 08 May 2009 00:38:08 GMT

Right outside my apartment.

Woo. Lawks.

I'd better get out the red shoes; I might need 'em. Of course, Piper will make a lousy Toto... He could always EAT the Witch of the West.
And mew sadly at her when she didn't deliver herself immediately unto his food bowl.

Clean passport.

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:47:42 GMT

This week has been so busy it doesn't seem real.

I've got a hell of a lot of pictures to unload from the camera, plus some batteries to replace.

Was in a fashion show this week!

Wish I had not already volunteered to test computer program regression on April 25th; there will be a Cary funday that Saturday with the NCRF. Sadness. Still, work is important and I'm glad I have a job that pays the bills.

I want to get out and meet some people! See a movie and talk about it afterwards over food. Will likely end up staying home and cleaning things so that my sanity will be assuaged for the rest of next week.

What a beautiful day.

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:58:33 GMT

Easter is an excellent time for new beginnings, so I've been changing around the bedframes today.

Backstory: I bought a gorgeous brass four-poster bed off of craigslist in November, but I haven't yet purchased a full-size mattress to go in it for many reasons: A) No way that's fitting on my itty bitty car, B) Eeek expensive unless there's a really good sale at a place that also offers delivery, and C) I was in such a hurry to enjoy my bedframe that I built it up around the twin bed that I've had for a zillion years and the twin mattress was trapped where the full-size ought to go.

So today I moved the mattress and box spring over, pulled the bed lifts from the twin frame and transferred them to the four-poster frame (That was an interesting experience, by the way. I felt pretty damn macho afterwards, especially since I was performing all of this manual labor in a pretty little cotton sundress with scalloped embroidery across the top.), tightened all the screws, and carted the twin bed frame into my handy-dandy walk-in closet, where the frame is now acting as a supplementary hanging rack. HaHA! Everything can be used, even if it's in storage.

The original plan was to move the whole twin bed into the second bedroom of my apartment and set it up as an art/guest room permanently instead of just an art room with a queen size air mattress when necessary (I LOVE GUESTS, BY THE WAY. Take note, friendslist!). I might still fall back on that idea, but with my current interest in sewing, there's an ironing board and a clothes rack taking up the space where the twin bed would go. Plus, a bed in there would just be bulky with the current arrangement of art supplies/cloth pieces. More shelves would be a boon, so that's a thought for the future.

In any case, the twin mattress and box-spring themselves will be stored underneath my lovely tall bed on the bed lifts. Haven't bought the full-size mattress yet, but there's a sale I've been eyeing...

Yes, the battle to create a non-college-dorm apartment continues.

Pollen. Even I am affected.

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 07:21:48 GMT

Icon says it all, really.

My cat is the cuddliest little fluffbucket in the world, and if that description disgusts you with its nauseating feeling of "Oo's a good boy den?" then you haven't met my little fluffbucket. You also haven't experienced the joys of Fluffbucket's 4am requests for food, some including claws. Must clip them soon.

Molested the bird with a new toy today (and by "molested" I mean, "hooked the colorful wooden balls and bell in an unused corner"), and he has predictably chosen to roost in the section of cage that is farthest away from said toy. Fortunately he's hanging out near the food so he has something to do while he shuns the interloper.

Both of my babies are going to get fat. Or they would if I didn't cautiously portion out the healthiest food I can find for them.

I have no idea what I'm going to do this weekend. One thought would be to get my camera back; the State Senior fashion show is next week and I want pictures. However, my camera might be in Wilmington. Hm.

Have decided that I'd rather have a posse of sassy and loyal friends than a typical "dating relationship" any day. Call me immature, but I'm way more comfortable with guy and girl friends laughing out as a group than a 1-on-1 meeting over coffee with that "date" tension coursing through the air. Ugh. For one, I don't like coffee. For two... Dating doesn't interest me right now. It never really has, save as something that other people do. I take it too seriously, or else take it too lightly when the other guy is serious.

And although my mother deserves grandchildren like burning, I'm not currently inclined in that direction seeing as I still deserve some playtime to myself after being so serious for so long.

Been so tired.

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:41:00 GMT

Faire was lovely and wonderful, but it's over now and back to productive real life. I've been exhausted with the changeover, yet somehow manage to stay awake until 12:30ish... Only to rise (or stagger towards the alarm clock and grumble) at 6:30am. Feet hurt, haven't had the energy to fully unpack my car, got bruises from carrying the bigass basket around everywhere as well as the large multicolored one on my wrist from an archery snafu, and I CAN BARELY WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR. :DDDD

As it is, mental preparations for Fairy Fest are helping me get through my day. Whee, what shall I be, and can I make it with stuff I already have?

I've also made the mistake of falling back on caffeine as a crutch to keep me going during the workday. Not a good idea, as it kept me up last night and will probably keep me up tonight, too. Note to self: get prepared to sleep now and drink some warm milk.

Love, love, love to all the Rennies who made this year a resounding success. Huzzah!

Also, bwinter gave me highly attractive Wien actors excitedly performing the Time Warp on DVD. It's utter magic.

Two of my Rennmates intend to eventually play Elizabeth Bathory and her husband, and as such, are on the beginner's path to learning Hungarian. I immediately gave them video links to Vampirok Balja and dared them to sing the finale song at Faire.

They were VERY pleased with the prospect. :D

The Cat in the Lap.

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:52:01 GMT

Is worth two in the bushes. Or something else clever and logical.

Tanz arrived yesterday! Along with two other delicious, delectable bits of German-ness! It was like a clown car: the DVD's kept coming out of the international protective sleeve. My goodness, bwinter! Also, putting Tanz der Vampire in the red disk sleeve... Appropriate and appreciated.

Even the stamps are lovely; what's the name of the pictured tower? Is it a church spire? I'm guessing that the turreted building with the green roof once served as a palace or similarly suited civic building.

Aside from work annoyances, today has been a pretty darn pleasant day. The maintenance men fixed my cold water tap yesterday (taking a shower with only hot water is an adventure, I tell you), and hopefully the weather will dry out enough this weekend so that they can see to the leaky roof and touch up the water stain in my bedroom.
Bought two specialty kites for Faire tomorrow. Hopefully the breeze will be strong enough to get them off the ground and send them soaring up high where they can flap meaningfully at each other.
Also have two pieces of Armstrong-looking tartan flannel to wear tomorrow. INVINCTUS MANEO.

Also took part in a fitting for the State student's Spring Collection. I get to wear a sundress this time, and we're walking over a pond!

Bit of Random: I teased my hair last night and put it up into a Gay Nineties/Gibson Girl bouffant (Whims are fun if you have enough hairspray.). As expected, my strong-jawed face looks much better with a pouf of hair to balance it. A giant pouf.

Faire.

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 03:35:40 GMT

Today I saw a fully armored war ferret poo in the grass.

This was only 15 minutes after opening.

Then the fairies made a giant kite out of a blanket and two sticks, and what with the weather and all, nearly blew away thanks to said kite.

Renfaire is awesome.

Next week I'm going to shove an arrow in my bodice and pretend to be dead on a hilly tussock.

Okay, LJ.

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:08:46 GMT

You are doing strange and random things in a definitely NONCUTE way. Stop it.

The sister and the mother will be arriving in Raleigh for one or more weekends of Faire, but I do not know which. Dad's birthday is on the 27th, must remember to call him before drowning in the pre-Faire hooplah. Am tempted to go camping with everyone else since call is at 8:00am, it's a 40-minute drive from the site to home, and I've always been one for Camping Happy Fun Time, especially when the campsite has bathroom facilities with hot water showers and people will have laptops I can play Elisabeth on.

Yes. I will spread the sickness to everyone I can touch. :)

If the weather turns out to be as English and wet as the forecast threatens, we likely won't have many patrons on the first day and will spend most of it ENTERTAINING OURSELVES.

This mostly consists of an endless stream of Monty Python and Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy jokes with a healthy helping of Princess Bride, Star Wars, and whatever the hell else thrown in. I ought to make a piecemeal leather book cover to hide my Terry Pratchett novels in- there is a nearly 18-year-old girl on cast who has read Twilight but /not/ Pratchett, and she's far too intelligent for such a fate. I'm bringing Maskerade and Wyrd Sisters; that should do the trick.

Every piece of bread in this house has to be kept in the cabinets so Piper can't get at it. I love him to pieces and he's very intelligent where discovering food is concerned, but once he finds it, he only gnaws about 1/3 of the bread away and slobbers all over the rest. Then when I come home and discover his forgotten meal dragged across the floor in plain sight, he cries and yips like he's starving.

My little purrbutt is full of lies.

We drink your blood and then we eat your soul!

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 02:27:42 GMT

Weekend was spent being busy!

In between Renaissance Happy Fun time, I took the cat to the vet for a follow-up check up- he's received a clean bill of health, by the way- finished up a few little bits of the Faire garb before the St. Patrick's Day parade (and then walked in it, right behind the Tae Kwon Do kids and the multitudes of Irish dancing groups!), and spent most of Sunday up at the site, scampering around and rolling in the sandpits. Ate out a lot with everybody, too, got to know my fellow actors better. Talked to Mom finally last night, whee!

FAIRE IS THIS WEEKEND YOU GUYS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Today after work (We are STILL in a backlog.) I fetched pretty pictures and paid my taxes.

The finale to Tanz der Vampire fairly bursts with exuberance; it desperately needs to become a staple at parties, especially costume parties. :D How awesome would it be to have wildly differing groups of costumed people (from biker gangs to Marie Antoinette ladies to 50's preppies to Greek gods to Sailor Scouts) slap on fangs at midnight and showcase their own clique-y dances in turn?

Must not forget to bring garb to Sewing class tomorrow.

This is the most time I've spent on LiveJournal in the past 18 months.

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:15:15 GMT

And Piper promptly puts his furry butt in my face and tries to bite my hands as I type. Thank you, honey.

Remind me not to chortle with a slight taste of revenge when it's time to take you to the vet tomorrow for your follow-up at 8:30am. Sadly, for me that is sleeping late.

Tomorrow is the parade! Woo!

Skirt v2.0 is still slightly undone, but I can just tie it on with a bit of string. Now for a more important question: food?

Why do you people have to present amusing things at 12:05am?

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 08:55:03 GMT

I'm supposed to be awake and moving in less than 6 hours, which means that in-between now and then should be a period of dulcet unconsciousness, by which my body will regenerate its depleted power sources and thus be ready for more overtime tomorrow.

Truly, this idea I had to work from 7:30am to 7:00pm is good only to a certain point. I might be too pooped to party after the parade on Saturday.

Today I got out of work just as the rains came, and beside me, ready to turn left at the same intersection where I always turn left, was a truck dragging a--I kid you not--giant spool behind it. He took the turn too wide and nearly whacked me with his giant spool. D: Then somehow he got in front of me in the vaporous rain and took the same off-ramp towards the Interstate, slowing down towards the highway instead of speeding up.

Odd.

Nonetheless, getting out of this backlog is really important to me, and not just because having 3 times the normal workload hanging over one's head is unnerving: since we authorize/deny health information, getting the job done impacts other people's lives. And since the particular contract is Medicaid oriented... I see no point in making people with few other options for help wait to find out if their services are authorized or not just because the person completing the phone calls only works for 8 hours. Whether auth'd or not, at least they will know. (If denied, they can start getting ready for an appeal a little earlier.)

The most frustrating thing is when the provider has no operable voice mail and it's impossible to find an appropriate person to take a message. If the low-rung data entry personnel can't reach you, what about your clients? It's a difficult situation all around.

But particularly my thoughts rest with the family and friends of a lovely actress who has taken the next, mysterious step in human existence. I wish them comfort.

What to do...

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:49:44 GMT

Just got back from German class.

I SHOULD really a) eat something and prepare for bed because work is in a ginormous backlog of horror and ick and they need us to work overtime to get rid of it all, b) finish sewing that second skirt I made so that it's ready to wear for the parade this Saturday, c) do crafty things with feathers and arrow bolts because darn it, I need props too, d) do some basic cleaning before 10:00pm and then partake of Choice A.

What I'm probably going to do?

Look up the YouTube vid my German classmate told me about featuring Mate Kamaras in Tanz der Vampire playing the gay vampire son.

So predictable.

Edit: AND I'VE FOUND IT OH GOD.

Slowly getting better about this posting thing...

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:20:02 GMT

Subjected carpool buddy to German musical today. He liked it. :D

It's also extremely possible that he got the new job in Ohio that he wanted, so possibly no more carpool buddy for me. Sadness. It's nice to have someone to chat with when en route to work, particularly if they share the same interest in zombies and Star Wars that you do.

It confounds me how my feet can hurt after a day of sitting down at a desk, yet somehow they manage to do so. Perhaps I ought to take up walking so that they don't forget what it's like to bear my scanty weight- OH YES, I'll be walking a LOT during the next three weekends:

Saturday M. 21st- St. Patrick's Day Parade (late because of weather)
Sunday M. 22nd- Rehearsal at Faire site
Saturday M. 28th- FAIRE
Sunday M. 29th- FAIRE
Saturday A. 4th- FAIRE, Tartan Day! Come be Scottish. :D
Sunday A. 5th- FAIRE, Last Day!

Which reminds me, I have 2 comp tickets, and they're going to the highest bidder. Art, fanfic, and certain kinds of sexual favors will be accepted. :)

I'm told the Tortuga Twins (which set, I don't know) and Zilch the Torysteller will be there; volunteers also have the opportunity to buy tickets at a discount (Hello, family members!). These tickets are waaaaay cheaper than Charlotte's, too, so if people without inside connections want to come, please do!

It will give something for our town fool to do. You can't miss him- he's the big dude with all the bells.

Le site: http://www.ncrenfaire.com/index.html

The German, it has taken over my brain.

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:43:29 GMT

I've spent most of this weekend listening to the soundtrack of a musical sung in a language that I barely comprehend, being only up to chapter 17 in the beginner's book, and I am loving it. It's hard to sing along, but one can try!

It also occurred to me that in the 3-CD disk changer I now have: the 2001 Essen recording of Elisabeth, the Romeo+Juliet soundtrack, and the second CD of the Moulin Rouge soundtrack. I sense a common theme. Perhaps multiple common themes. This grouping was not intentional.

"Shall I believe that insubstantial Death is amorous and keeps thee here in dark to be his paramour?"

Yes, that would be so.

In other news, yesterday was supposed to be the Raleigh St. Patrick's Day parade, however it was delayed until this coming Saturday (March 21st) due to the fine English weather we've been having (Soggy and chill). If anyone in the Triangle area wishes to experience a FREE exhibition of North Carolina Renaissance Faire costumes before the fair itself, head down to downtown Raleigh this weekend!
I'm told we'll end in in Tir Na Nog, our Irish pub sponsor, and we'll all be in character and brougue-ing up a storm. I'll be hanging out with the Irish princess and the bagpiper if anyone wants to find me. :)

Piper is recovering nicely from his dental experience; the grey puffball is conked out on my lap currently, as comfortable and warm as could be... And I will have to move him in a little while so I can make it to NCRF practice. There will be fur all over my skirt when I do.

Time to go!

But none did like Elizabeth!

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 04:18:20 GMT

One of the ladies from my German class let me borrow the Essen cast recording and the 2005 Vienna revival DVD of Elizabeth, something that bwinter wrote eloquently and excitedly about in addition to Tanz Der Vampire, thus piquing my curiosity to the point where I didn't forget the titles and thus knew what my classmate was talking about-- Enough to say, "Hey, I'd like to see that..." And for her to say, "Do you want the DVD or the CD? Or both? :D"

THANK YOU SO MUCH, bwinter.

If at all possible, I will find Tanz Der Vampire next!

And one day... Oh, one day... To see the productions in person would be even more powerful than the DVD.

Ich spreche Deutch.

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 11:46:42 GMT

Well, it looks like those German classes are going to come in handy in a way I'd never previously contemplated; the old sewing machine that Mom gave me (and which has been carted around ever since college) is a Pfaff Hobby 342. A German company!

Most of the English sites I've seen have moved on to 1140 and up, but there's still plenty of German forums discussing the 342, as it's apparently a hardy little machine that can still work well as long as it's kept up and German families won't replace what isn't kaput.

Much like my family, actually... Every time I open a "Green Behavior" book and look at the things I can change about my lifestyle/spending habits, it's an experience of, "But we already do that!" Buy in bulk, grow your own food, reuse old rags as washcloths instead of paper towels (Mom still has some of our old cloth diapers for scrub rags), pass on clothes to younger family members or donate them to Goodwill, etc. Thus why the old Pfaff Hobby 342 is now sitting in my living room instead of in a landfill somewhere. Why waste what works? I think even Mom's current sewing machine is circa late 1980's, and she just took it to have it cleaned a few weeks ago.

This sewing-centered post brought to you by the North Carolina Renaissance Fair. This SUNDAY is our dress rehearsal, and NEXT SATURDAY is the Raleigh St. Patrick's Day parade, which is free to the public and we will be walking in it, so all the various bits and pieces of the costume had better be ready.

Yesterday, my cat Piper had periodontal surgery. Six of his rear teeth went bye-bye, tidy little sutures bracing the wounds closed. He is now sacked out on my lap like a furry water bottle lump. This does not surprise me as he was scampering all over the place last night in search of food.

I did mention that he'd had mouth surgery yesterday, yes?

I love my big dumb cat.

Kitty love.

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 14:06:50 GMT

This morning, I woke up in a cloud of comforter with a purring silky weight pinioning my legs in place. Perhaps this could be like every morning, but today his little ears flicked at my foot.

He has not woken up.

I wonder if I did the right thing in putting the thyme, lemon balm, and chives all in the same pot (Lemon balm has an aggressive tendency, but the chives and thyme currently outnumber it.). It's taken them about a week to adjust, and certain sections of the thyme don't look as green as they could.

I just checked the lettuce (I finally, finally found a mesclun mix- at Big Lots, no less!), and those shoots are coming up well. Common knowledge would have me plant another round in about three weeks to ensure a steady harvest; I hope I gave the plants enough space, otherwise I'll be transplanting them to the pot where I jokingly buried the potato... Which has sent up a number of leafy shoots itself.

No news on the lavender yet. I'm looking forward to spring, however; maybe this year there will be flowers beyond the lovely white blooms the basil has put out.

"I think that midget stripper gave me herpes."

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:51:14 GMT

...Best outtake line ever.

Life has been busy in the Eru domicile with incidents of a medical nature. Not only have I the breadwinner been to three different doctors in as many weeks, but Piper the cat will be going in to the vet for periodontal surgery this Friday after the results of today's yearly checkup. Surgery on my baby, oh dear.

Add to that a heinous backlog of cases at work (thus requests for overtime), a new database system chock full of bugs, PLUS a new boss, and I've occasionally been so tired by the time I get home that I want to curl up and cry. Which is stupidly depressing.

The sewing classes and NCRF practices, on the other hand, are wonderful beyond words. It's so refreshing to spend time with people who are bubbly and happy, eager to continue with the task of building characters and keeping all the fun within a family-friendly historical context.

Somehow it happened that my character, Margaret Fawkes, has developed into a hapless do-gooder.

She found a Scotsman (played by a former vendor at the Faire AND a bona fide bagpipes player) washed up in a burlap sack on the beach, thought he was a sack of cats, and thereby opened the sack to free the mousers, discovering to her astonishment a rough and bawdy Scotsman instead of useful feline creatures. Nevertheless, Margaret lets him live in the woodshed behind her family's house and tries to keep him out of trouble-- namely trouble with her lovely Irish cousin Siobhan (distantly related through Margaret's mother and played by a VERY Irish-looking young lady) who came to the English seaport in order to find a rough and ready husband (plus small army) with which to reclaim lands stolen from her by a male relative.

Can we see the trouble brewing here?

Siobhan is set to proposition anything of a male persuasion that walks on two legs, and despite the fact that Irishwomen of the day could end a marriage contract in as quickly as a year, Margaret has no intention of allowing her pretty young cousin to be wedded to Seamus McHaggis for even an instant. It would be a marriage of two people with no skills; Seamus was the black sheep of a well-respected Scottish clan before he was disowned, and knows little else besides drinking, fighting, and womanizing (Which is rather hard for a Scotsman to do in ENGLAND IN 1575 as the English despised the Scots. Seamus would be hard-pressed to organize a drinking song, much less a group of battle hardened men.), and Siobhan lived as an Irish noble and so barely had to do anything resembling a job. Presently Siobhan's well-meaning attempts to help with the family business generally end in... a mess.
Margaret also bears the burden of keeping any attempted "trysts" a secret from her parents: Master Fawkes is a metal-worker/craftsman with big, burly arms from working with the forge, and Goodwife Fawkes is a harridan with a frying pan/ladle/broom/hunk of unused material. Should either one of them get wind of a romantically inclined Scotsman leaving the designated woodpile to woo one of the young ladies within the house...

Pain would ensue.

Margaret would prefer that not happen, despite how comical -I- think it would be. Young Margaret Fawkes also has four older brothers who are off serving in the Queen's Army: John, William, James, and Samuel.

I'll let those of you in the know think that over and have a giggle.

The icons need some serious cleaning.

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:30:48 GMT

Maybe I should start an icon cage fight?

But anyway, I started off the Year of the Ox on Sunday (the day before the New Year change) by giving my apartment a thorough cleaning, or at least as much of one as I could given various and sundry delays due to car battery, NCRF practice, etc. Sweeping, cleaning out old papers, vacuuming, doing laundry, moving the painted chairs to where they need to be (i.e., kitchen.).

Then I ordered Chinese food because you're supposed to have a surplus later (the actual meal would have been fish for the homophone-play with "surplus", but I got shrimp and chicken as a compromise-- dragon and phoenix!), and I've pretty much been subsisting on that all week. I also wore new shoes on New Year's Day to symbolize a fresh start.

Today a coworker gave me a bunch of oranges, which is incidentally another traditional Chinese New Year food, as SHE had a surplus of those at her home. I love oranges. The New Year's mojo must be working. Anybody in my area want some oranges?

I still have a lot of cleaning to do before this place will look tidy enough for guests, but it's much further along than it was before. I want to recycle and re-use as many items as possible to make the atmosphere cute. Recently I've gotten into the habit of saving the "warm-up" water from my shower in the mornings to refill the toilet tank after flushing. It's not as cumbersome a task as I'd thought it'd be, plus I'd had no idea that I'd been wasting that much water before. The only lights I use have been replaced by CFLs and/or LED Christmas lights, and it's really made a difference in the energy this place consumes. Wearing a sweater when I get home also helps.

Oh Piper. I love this cat. He considers my lap to be his personal pillow, yet when my male cousins came visiting this past weekend, he streaked so fast for the back rooms that he whacked my ankle with his head loud enough to make a "CLONK."

He didn't stop.

I'm also re-reading the manga Skip Beat. I started on it at the end of 2007, and the manga-ka's still going strong in Japan, which makes me thrilled. The main character. Is. Hardcore. Plus, unlike some other "Fame! Stardom! Entertainment industry!" shoujo mangas I've picked up, this one actually explores how difficult it can be to discover a character, improvise under pressure, and get your name out there. Kyoko starts out at the absolute bottom, trying like hell just to live and survive, much less serve vengeance upon the rock star/idol who wronged her by becoming even more famous than he is (<--Reason for entering the entertainment world.).

You really can't help but root for Kyoko, even when she's being terrifying with her vengeance ghosts (They STALK people.). Actually, I root for her even harder when she's pissed. XD She's so determined! The parts where she's dressed up as Bo the Chicken are also fabulous, because... You know at her heart that she is a goofy, sweet, caring girl, and her lowly job in a chicken-suit on a variety show puts that into focus even more than the occasional teary-eyed bobble-head drawing does. Not afraid to get down and dirty and anonymous before earning her way to the top. Also: A CHICKEN!

I also love that she's so focused upon her goal ("SHOUTARO. MUST KILL.") that she completely forgets to swoon over the admirable hotties who turn up (Yes, there are hotties. It's a shoujo manga. It's the Law.). Even better, they don't swoon over her, as they are focused upon doing their own jobs. In short, this is a solid character-driven manga and well worth the read.

Find it somewhere and enjoy.

I've always relied on the kindness of strangers...

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 04:17:06 GMT

Or, in this case, family and carpool buddy.

Oh car battery, at least you chose a less chilly night of a very chilly week to go kaput.

But seriously. The men in my life are awesome. Car pool buddy had /just/ arrived back home from being four hours away for work all week and was about to get himself some well-deserved dinner when I called him for help ("Please come take me home. It's cold!"), and my uncle and cousin drove down from their house in Youngsville (nearly an hour away) to take me back to my car, jump it and get it home, also removing the battery itself to take it to a mechanic in the morning.

But the women in my life? Fail at emergency contact. (Except for the sister. Sort of. She called me back about an hour and a half after I first called her.)

After the car wouldn't cut on, I called Mom first, but her answering machine message had morphed into this garbled static-y thing that freaked me out so much with the thought of "Oh shhii- Radioactive energy has taken OVER MY CAR AND NOW MY PHONE" that I grabbed my purse and other random Important Things and got the hell out, cold and gathering darkness be damned. I had gloves.

To be honest, I wasn't thinking very clearly, but if horrific radioactive bursts HAD heralded the zombie apocalypse, I had a suitably heavy steel candelabra in the trunk and would probably not have perished within twenty minutes. The forty-five plus where I hung around waiting... Maybe not so much. Still, I ran down the list of female relatives and acquaintances on my phone before trying Aunt Cathy (and thus reaching my heroic uncle) and no one picked up. I know Mom never checks her messages and the sister's heavy working hours ARE weekend evenings, but has our familial communication quotient gotten so low that one of us could be dead or dying without the others noticing or calling the police with "What's happened, she was supposed to call me at 7:30!"?

That's certainly an exaggeration-- however. If I did keel over and die on a regular Friday night, or else had some other kind of emergency where I couldn't reach the phone, I'm confident no one would discover the situation until car pool buddy turned up on Monday.

By then I'd be stinky. :(

I'm hoping to rectify this sad hermitage with revels at the Renaissance Fair; surely out of 50-odd people (Some QUITE odd. :D) there will be a few who live nearby and will want to do silly things not necessarily revolving around Fair itself once the happy weekends are done-- though tangential relations are always fun!

The Queen Elizabeth for this group is AMAZING.

Cold as ice!

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:16:21 GMT

Although it gave me the opportunity this morning to dawdle along and take pictures of the snow before it melted, I'm missing my carpool buddy something awful. Energy conservation and less car mileage aside, the guy gave me a copy of Dead Alive for Christmas (Running in blood! Running in blood!), and we can rant about movies/politics/weird stuff/whatever on the commute to and fro.

I want someone else to discuss my zombie movie idea with- hell, I want a group to help me MAKE it.

What Diary of the Dead Should Have Been.
I don't know about the rest of the art school graduates out there, but for every pompous art 'director' kid you had in the film department, there were at least three horror film/game geeks who actually knew how to work the camera and had an emergency plan set for when the flesh-eaters rose. Emergency plan as in, we know who we're calling, we know where we're meeting, and we're all bringing our own improvised weapons plus a First Aid kit and provisions.

I was expecting maybe a little bit of that when going into Diary of the Dead. Pffft. Mr. Romero's college kids had obviously never played Resident Evil, contrary to most college kids going into the film/video/computer field I've ever met, who HAVE.
Far closer to what I think an actual teenage response to a zombie outbreak would be is showcased in Dance of the Dead. It's a love-letter to geeks everywhere and features an angry chick in a pink prom dress ripping off her stiletto shoe to stab a zombie in the eye! :D (You guys don't understand. I've had DREAMS about some endangered girl using the shoe attack! I've even made mention of it on this journal! And this movie had the glee to use it. So sold.)

ANYWAY.

Modern-day film geeks. Making a slasher movie. Zombie outbreak. Level-headed geek response by kids who brought bigass shovels to the set anyway.

Cast of Characters:
Camera Guy Mike, A.K.A. The awesome dude who runs the technology on the set, is always calm, and can bench press 200 lbs. Hey, he needs to carry his equipment (Those cameras are his babies.).
Clarice the Makeup and Effects Chick, who loves exploding squibs when it's time to rain limbs. Big time Peter Jackson/Evil Dead film fan.
Stan the Van Man. Always knows where his keys are. Roommate of Camera Guy Mike.
Jessicas 1 and 2. One of them a closet pyromaniac, the other a burgeoning scream queen/social networker who is always plugged in, all the time.
Andrew+Chris. Boom operators and all-around techies. Alien vs. Predator is serious business. Chris is also a co-writer of the original project before zombie outbreak: Psycho Schoolgirls From Hell (working title).
Danielle. The other co-writer. Perky at 2am in the morning! Suggested the working title.
Ed. The director. Has a megaphone.

And so on and so forth.

Whether played straight (my initial thought) or amped up for comedy, tell me this would not be a fun movie to watch.

...

*watches Dance of the Dead again*

Potatoes.

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 05:04:09 GMT

Notes on the Inauguration: I have never, repeat NEVER, heard a politician enumerate in so many words what I personally believe to be the true ideals of America.

Our forefathers brought forth onto this earth one of the greatest experiments in government the world had ever seen, and for such a young, stumbling country, we have served as a beacon of hope to countless people over the few hundred years of our existence, always evolving, always striving, pushing to be a better haven for freedom and tolerance. Keeping a place like America as America is hard work, because it is always difficult to rise above the base in human nature and also refuse the temptation to act in a way that appears patriotic-- yet has no true connection to the ideals set forth in the Constitution.

Honesty. Courage. Justice. Compassion. Mercy. Responsibility.

All of these virtues should be fundamental in our makeup, the core of who we are. They're hard to learn and even harder to put into practice, but most if not all of us have at least an idea of what they are.

I also think that living without these guiding principles will deny us success in the pursuit of happiness. How often will a person who lies lie to himself? He will be afraid to take chances, or to trust another person in knowing that he himself is untrustworthy. But a person who tells the truth, who takes responsibility for his own actions even when those actions do not show him in the best light or may not be popular...

That is a man to admire.

To make the America future generations deserve, we can't run from the garbled mess we have now. We may have to be a little less comfortable, we may have to work harder, but we'll survive and keep on kicking.

Amidst all the English-Irish-German ancestry I have (My forefathers crossed a great ocean to find a better way of life- immigrants all.), there's also some Scot: Clan Armstrong.

The Armstrong motto: Invictus Maneo. "I remain unvanquished."

All right, world. Let's go.

Well. It's snowing!

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:36:22 GMT

I think I'm going to turn on the LED Christmas lights just for the heck of it. :D

And if my work is actually closed today, I'm going to go out and play.

What a great week for the kids. First they had the weekend, then a day off in honor of an amazing man, now a snow day on the day of our new President's inauguration. I hope everyone pops back inside to watch when it's time.

Yay, America!

Edit: This stuff is STILL coming down. The radio says it's supposed to keep going until noon. Everybody in the Triangle area, keep warm and stay off the roads!

Edit Edit: Okay guys, I just saw a flock of Canada geese flying through the snow. How cool is that?!

It's 8:30 in the morning, and I am so excited! Everything outside is an opalescent white and it feels like a fresh start. &hearts

Ooh la la, brouhaha.

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:34:54 GMT

I have got to do something about these icons.

Anyway, much ado about the possibility of snow in the south, and my workplace was one of the few up and running today, performing the enviable job of social work Medicaid authorization. It's far more glamorous than it sounds. We get headsets. With cushy foam. And two monitors per CPU for our old Gateway computers.

At the end, there will be cake.

As a New Year's resolution (which I've only gotten around to now because Chinese New Year is fast approaching and that one is my absolute last deadline for doing things properly as I spent the three weekends around Christmas in someplace elsewhere than my own space and could do no sprucing up for the simple reason of not being present-- and of also being TIRED), I'm going to persevere with LJ until it stops kicking me off/timing me out. The wireless connection here does not work well with LJ, oh no. Perhaps I can reintroduce the two without someone's hair getting pulled.

The ceiling cover in the "communal/stair area" of my apartment building has been left askew for over a week now. I noticed this a while ago when coming home one evening, innocently heading towards my door and the distraught (read: hungry) mews of Piper from within, when I chanced to look up into the Black Hole That Leads to the Attic. My imagination being what it is, I expect to hear skittering soon, whether it is real or not.
Or maybe long black hair will start to trail out of the dark space nnngaaaah.

~~~~
I have a Red Lion Amaryllis that I bought out of pity and admiration just before Christmas because the grow set had been thrown in a bargain bin and this little fighter was already trying to bust out of the package, and boy is she gorgeous. Giant red trumpet blooms at the end of a 12 inch stalk, two open so far and three more on the way with a fourth in bud and a second stalk just waiting for its chance to put on fireworks of its own. She's lovely to look at during all these grey days, that's for sure, plus the personal symbolism of "Red Lion" doesn't escape me.

The evergreen seedling is still in its itty bitty pot, but is chugging along like a good little spruce seedling (a miniature live tree for next year?). I really wish I'd labeled the bottles of herbs before I planted them; the spearmint is obvious, but two of the bottle inhabitants look pretty similar and I'm not familiar enough with what I was throwing in there to tell the difference.
Although the parsley remains persnickety, the basil's gone insane despite the cool weather. I've got three stalks of it now and had to make egg-tomato-basil sandwiches last night to get rid of some of the bigger leaves, because really the plants are getting very high. Oh my Italian food loving heart soars.

If only the cherry tomato would follow suit. Perhaps when the sunlight lasts longer...

It is very cold.

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 23:16:37 GMT

I just spent the last three-and-spare-change hours hanging out with RENFAIR people. It was wonderful.
This will be standard until about the week before the fair, which starts the last weekend in March.

Also, I walked the runway for a College of Textiles student on Thursday night, so it was a lot of running around in the cold and preparation and putting on make-up that is still somehow on my face and a sticky bra (which luckily never came near my face), and that was ALSO wonderful. She was interviewed for NPR! Get your name out there!
Also, the show doubled as a fundraiser for the Go Red! campaign sponsored by the American Heart Association. :D The speaker wore a different red outfit each time she came out onstage.

Got out of work late on Friday but still managed to get to a model call for a Green Fashion show that is supposed to take place on March 14th. Local designers creating recycled/organic clothes, should also be fun. I had a chance to talk with the organizers and they are pretty darn driven. Go Green!

My sewing class starts this Tuesday. I'm not sure if we're supposed to bring something in progress or just turn up. Either way, I'll probably be sewing a Renfair costume as a project.

Boy am I glad livejournal actually loaded today. There's a limit to how much I'll use Facebook.

Also: HI GUYS. In reference to the last post I made about three months ago, the walnuts were actually not stolen (they'd hidden under the car seat) and I used them to make banana nut bread for my German class on the last day. It was delicious, and I'd never even tried that recipe before. Go me.