GTFO 2011

So in about 12hrs 45min it'll be 2012. Unless that is, you live in lets say Japan. Or some other place on the other side of Earth. I have about 5hrs to get ready for a small get together tonight here at the house. And I'm crossing my fingers that no one brings up my birthday at midnight. Thus far, even in their drunkest, the boys all remember this little rule. Nicole will feed you and give you lots to drink as long as you "forget" her bday. It's a win-win.

I'm hoping that 2012 will be a better year. I know that, as far as bills go, we'll be down 2 or 3 this up coming year. The jeep will be paid off, as well as Athena. We might even be able to pay a big chunk of the vacuum off. Which will free up something like $300 a month. I'm thinking of paying my card off and possibly closing it. Or paying it off and putting it in the safe where I can't touch it. Maybe i'll even get lucky and snag a full time job. Which would be epic on so many levels. I'd actually have money, and I'd actually be able to help out with the bills or whatever. And it's not that I'm not looking for one, there just arent any out there that I can do. Sadly, I'm not a trades person with a skill like carpentry or welding or the like. And that seems to be all that the temp places are looking for. So maybe with the new mall area opening, I can either snag a 2nd part time or a new full time. Either would be great, as either would be more money.

And with as much as I've been taking the Jeep out, maybe this year I'll be able to try for a license. Not that I want to get a car, or be able to take the Jeep out alone. I don't trust driving, or people. And I have a good feeling that if I even took it out alone, something would happen and it would automatically be MY fault. I know Mike wants me to have it, and yeah, sometimes it would be good to have it, but I really don't care for it. But we'll see...

And with the new elliptical that Mike brought home for me, I hope to drop some weight. I'm really sick and tired of being fat. Yeah, as far as other people go, I'm probably not actually fat. But I remember weighing 115lbs and looking half good at one point in my life. I'd like to get back down there. I'm going to see if Mike will help with this by not bringing soda home, or if there is soda in the house, it needs to be kept where I can't have 6 a day. In the last few weeks I've heard at least 5 people say "I stopped drinking soda and lost like 30lbs". And I know for a fact most of these people are not active. So maybe cutting soda and actually being active will do me some good. I figure maybe an hour a day on the elliptical and busting out my Wiifit and doing yoga stretches will do me some good. I know it wont happen over night, but I'm sort of hoping to look less like a beached whale if we go back to NJ in the late summer. That will give me about 6-8months to bust my ass. I'll toss in bike riding too once the weather gets nice again. Maybe by our anniversary I'll look closer to what I did before we got married. And thats less of a hippo.

So those are the goals. Kill off a few bills, find a full time or 2nd part time job, and stop being a lazy fat ass. We'll see what gets done though....

FUN FACTS! If you're wondering why the 2012 up there looks like a dragon, its because this year is the Year of the Dragon according to the Chinese New Year. In fact, its the year of the Water Dragon. The last time it was the year of the water dragon was 1952. So our guardian this year is a water dragon, which means calmness, being able to see things from other P.O.Vs, and getting things done right if you take the more patient path.

A Comparison

The photo for this one is at the bottom as its sort of big. I tossed it together in photoshop just now to make a bit of a comparison and changes type chart.

I recently stumbled upon a huge pile of drawings I did between what I think are the years 1997-2001. When I opened up the folders I quickly wished I hadn't. I am my own worst critic when it comes to my drawings and this was like a blow to the face with a brick. I sat there looking at this pile of scribbles and thought to myself "My gods, at one point in time in my life I thought these were actually good. What was I smoking?". To that last question I answered myself with "Nothing obviously, or your parents would of kicked your ass"...

Another thing that came to mind was that I was one of THOSE people. Those Weeaboo* people who make fan characters and squeal over attractive cartoon males. One of those people who would try very hard to learn to copy one anime style in hopes to draw some amazing fan art that will some how get back to the eyes of the original creator and they would call and go "Young lady! You are of great worth and talent! Please come to Japan and create beautiful cartoons with me!"

Granted, Thanks to these.... Drawings... I was able to take at home art classes to help me improve. I was also given lessons at the Everson Museum of Art (which I'm sure weren't cheap, but hey, I got them free). I even toyed with the idea of going to a real art school for college, learning 2-D animation, and creating a cartoon that would take the world by storm. 

I've been drawing now for something like 15yrs. That's like almost half my life. Though I don't draw nearly as much as I used to. I remember days when I spent hours upon hours pumping out one drawing after another. But now I'm lucky if I manage to squeak out a single drawing a month. I have to say though, I now know the meaning of "Quality, not Quantity". Even if I only draw one thing a month, its multitudes better than all of that crap I was piling up at 15yrs old. 

And even if my style has changed for the better, I still have to thank Sailor Moon for getting me going....

You can click the image like always to make it bigger. Just watch out for your eyes, that first drawing might cause blindness or insanity.

Also-- *Weeaboo as defined by Urban Dictionary: Someone who is obsessed with Japan/Japanese Culture/Anime, etc. and attempts to act as if they were Japanese, even though they're far from it. They use Japanese words but usually end up pronouncing them wrong and sounding like total assholes.

Of Idiots and Fishes

So I thought the other night, what could I write about next in my blog as nothing is really going on. Then I remembered that I always have awesome stories from work about complete raging idiots and their absence of common sense when it comes to animal care.

Most of my best examples are from the fish dept. Mind you, most of the people who come back there usually have some semblance of how to care for fish. But we get a few gems in there. Usually they all root around the same problems; tank size, fish size, and quantity. I don't know how many times a day I have to repeat myself when it comes to the bigger fish. Of course years of silly myths do not help. Also, people are cheap. They don't want to spend $150 to set up a proper tank for a single $5 fish. That just doesn't make sense in their minds. Which is sad. I get the same thing when it comes to things like hamsters, and smaller lizards. People don't seem to understand that these are living creatures and you, as the owner, need to set up and recreate something that is as close as possible to their natural environment. 

Goldfish. Goldfish are the biggest issue. Years people have grown up being told "goldfish grow as big as the tank you put them in". Which is obviously wrong. They grow like everything else, and by containing them you only risk killing them or making their lives miserable. I have to argue with 3-5 people a day about goldfish, and out of those people maybe 2 will listen. Goldfish are big, dirty fish. So, they need big tanks and very powerful filters. I had one woman tell me I was lying out my ass and just trying to make money when I explained to her proper goldfish care. I even showed her a goldfish care book and a copy of TFH magazine with an article on goldfish. Everyone is obviously lying. So I refused to sell her a fish and she stormed out with the typical "I'll just go to walmart" threat. 

Cichlids and Oscars. Oooohh big mean fishes! What fun you are to own. I was brought up around quite a few rather larger and aggressive fish. If I had the room and money I would have a huge tank with these fish. They have bright colors and act differently than little community fish. They're social to a point, fun to watch, and are much sturdier than most fish. That of course draws people over. People want big fish, people want cool fish. But, most people don't understand what they're getting into. The same thing with the goldfish usually happens with the Oscars, Jack Dempsies, Red Devils... Huge fish, and because they start so small as babies, people think they can stuff them into 5gal tanks. Then you get the idiots who only want them because they're "mean" and "eat live foods". Yeah, Oscars are known for being a bit moody at times, but you should try to make them meaner. It'll only result in problems. And feeding them live foods is stupid. Oscars can live quite well on pellets, frozen and freeze dried foods. It's not cool to watch them gorge out on goldfish, and you are not cool for starving them all week until you can come and get live feeders just to watch them ravage the little fish. You're an idiot, and I will tell you that to your face. I actually just told someone last night that I wasn't selling them any fish at all because the only reason they wanted them was because they were mean. That's immature, childish, and ignorant.

I swear, people should have to come to the store with a list of tank size and what fish they have before they're allowed to get any fish. Because telling me, when I ask what size is your tank, that you don't know and making those arm gestures to a size tank that doesn't actually exist, makes me insane. How do you not know the size tank you bought? And when I take you over and go "point at your tank" and you try to tell me its between a 20H and a 55, thats even dumber. And don't be a jackass when I explain to you that you have too many fish. Unless you're a retard, you should know that retail only survives as long as customers buy things. So the fact that I won't sell you things is only to help YOU. I'm not making any money when you walk out empty handed, but you are getting more time and health out of your fish. I'm sorry that no one explained tank sizes and fish limits with you, and that you want "lots of little fishes". You CAN have lots of little fishes when you get a bigger tank or get rid of the completely asinine mix of goldfish, silver dollars, and guppies you have crammed into a 20gal tank. And just so you know, I give zero fucks that your brother has some magical tank thats the size of a 45H but apparently holds 175gal and 6 Oscars. No, you can't have the meanest gold gourami we have in the tank so it'll "get rid of your goldfish". You're an idiot and I hope Centro is driving by when you leave and forgets how to use the breaks.

The Holidays

So it's officially Holiday Season 2011. It's only the 4th, and I feel like Xmas is next week. I've gotten almost nothing accomplished shopping wise, thanks in part to a failed holiday job, lack of hours at my regular job, and the fact that I'm going "halfsies" with everyone to get gifts for certain people just to make sure I feel like I helped. 

We went out last night and got our Xmas tree. It's sitting down in the game room waiting to be decorated later tonight. And so far theres only one present under it and it's not even for someone in this house. I always find that sort of depressing, when you look under the tree and there ARE presents, but nothing there thats actually for you or for anyone in your house. With any luck There will be, at least, a present for Mike and a present for Al given that money goes alright. And probably presents for the animals because, well, they're cheap and they don't really care what they get. The ferrets are happy if I throw wrapping paper at them, and as long as Athena can eat it, shes golden.


I really think working retail all this time has like... Jaded my enjoyment of the holidays. I find it gets worse every year. I look at Xmas as a day where I need to be ready, like some grand quest. Next week I'll start working on a game plan so I know how to deal with everyone in a timely and less stressful way. I figure my parents will, as usual, be the easiest to deal with. We just go over Xmas Eve and do presents, hang out with family. But then we have what I like to call "The Clark Family Circus" on Xmas day. It'll be wake up, open presents here if any, get dressed, go to Donna's, find out we're not actually opening anything because Rob and Jen aren't there yet, then drive BACK to the city and probably over to Becky's or Terri's who both own homes way too small for their own good. We'll be stuck there with 10 screaming kids and way too many adults for far too long while I think to myself, for another year, "I'd of gladly taken a card or a hug or something over this bottle of $1 store soap/lotion I can't use...". Mind you, I still say thank you and at least give it the credit of a sniff to see how it smells. But in the end, I wont be able to use it because my skin will break out in a rash or something. At least they remember "Nicole likes peppermint".... Then we'll end the night by driving all the way back to Donna's place, wait around some more for Rob and Jen, while the night whittles away and I'm thinking to myself "I wonder if Damon wants to go to Jews Go To The Movies Day this year...?"


And then I'll have a week of lull until I start getting asking if I'm throwing a New Years/Bday party.... 

5min Sketches

For whatever reason, tonight I had this massive need to draw something. And that something was a very fast and very impressive (to me anyways) body sketch. Rare is it that I leave my characters naked, but this one needed it. I figure its good for me anyways to try and work on bodies. I always do such a wonderful job hiding anatomy flaws under their clothes, or with hair or props. 


And if its one thing I'm amazing terrible at, its the male body. Females are so much easier to draw. Theyre curves, and smooth lines. Guys though tend to be much harder for me. Theyre too blocky, and the places things go on them sometimes doesn't make sense in my head. And muscles? Forget about it. Unless you want me to come up with something that looks like a geriatric Son Goku. 

So, I quickly entertained myself with a quicky nude sketch of Nate.

And then I tried to color it.

I think I'm a bigger fan of the sketch...

 

Baby Betta Fish

My new "baby betta fish". I just had to give this a try. Me and Barb sat there looking it over and have come to our guess that it will most likely be of the Crown Tail variety. We're not so sure on the gender though. We think because it has the horizontal stripes on its sides, it'll be a female. But, its bottom fin looks too long to be a female. So, time will tell! 

I should probably look up the time span of betta fry showing what they are....

Athena's Dog Food Trial

So I'm a member over at this site called BzzAgent. They have people do trials and test products out to help the companies better their products and such things. Recently I was sent my first "invitation" to join up in one of these test panels and it was for dog food. Science Diet to be exact. Since I work for Petco, I knew about this food quite some time ago. 


The "All Natural" crowd is getting bigger, and better. Dog food has come a long way and some of the kibbles and wet foods are made with such high grade ingredients that a human could probably safely ingest this stuff without problems. I'm a big advocate of getting people off of Kibbles and Bits and onto Merrick, Blue Buffalo, etc. The health of my own dog at nearly 5yrs old, being fed nothing but exceedingly high grade food and treats, is a great example of how these foods do work.

Science Diet though, has never been on my list of "Things I'll feed my dog". The ingredient list is loaded and littered with corns, fillers, and who knows what. It boasts a "#1 vet recommended" label on the bags, but thats only because they pay the vets to push it. I personally have my vet tell me "You feed way better foods than Hill's". So when the new bags showed up on a pallet one night we were slightly confused. Taking up the bag, it says things like how its first ingredient is real chicken, there is no corn, and no artificial colors. Well thats nice, at least they're actually putting real meat in their food for once. Their site also goes on about how it has so much "more" than brands like Natural Balance, Innova, Blue Buffalo. Then why are you still being stocked in the "essential" section and not the Holistic or All Natural aisles? 

Athena has been fed a rather large mix of All Natural and Grain Free foods all her life. Everything from Merrick Before Grain to Innova EVO, Natural Balance Alpha to Blue Buffalo Wilderness. Currently she's eating the Lamb-Chicken-Rabbit Alpha formula and loving it. 

Yesterday I took a small sectioned dog food bowl and poured her regular food on one side and the Science Diet Balance on the other and set it down in front of her. I got a very confused look from her before she stepped forward and smelled the bowl. I'm guessing she might of thought that the "new" kibble was a treat and went for it first. She took up a mouthful of the kibbles and promptly spit them all over the floor and gave me a very nasty look. She then nosed the pieces around the rug before going to the side of the bowl with her Alpha in it.

The second test, later that night, was to mix the foods together in one bowl. I've done food mixes before and have seen her nose through it picking out only the kibbles she likes over the other. So I thought, well, if she goes through this bowl and leaves one or the other, then we'll know. She did what I thought she would do, and quickly dumped mouthfuls on the floor and picked out Alpha and left the Science Diet on the rug.

Tonight when its time to feed her again, I'll fill her bowl with nothing but Science Diet and see how long it takes her to try it, if at all. But thus far, I think I know who the winner is between the two foods.

Skyward Sword

Yesterday was the day I had been waiting almost 2yrs for. Skyward Sword, the next game in the Zelda series, finally came out. My brother and I were promptly at the mall by like 1130am, just after opening, to get our copies. I lucked out quite a bit with mine, as I had a pile of trade in games and my newly acquired employee discount. I managed to get about $50 in trade in value from a pile of old ass games, and then my discount on top of that. So for a $70 game and a $40 guide book, I only paid $9 out of pocket. I call that an epic win. 

Other than that, how has the game been so far? Pretty damn good. I'm only as far as the boss door in the first temple, and have a loooong way to go before the game is beat, but everything I've seen so far has been wonderful. This game seems to move more fluidly than past games. And even though the graphics aren't as shiny as say CoD MW3 or the like, I think it looks pretty good. The whole world is very colorful, and there are tons of things to look at. I spent a good chunk of the 12hrs I played yesterday just looking around Skyloft. I wandered around just checking things out, going into houses and looking at all the towns people. 

The controls took a bit to get used to. You spend most of your life with a joy stick and buttons, and then leap into having to actually swing your arms and block with a shield. It's a little tedious at first, but once you get the hang of it, you don't even think about what you're doing. Flying the giant Loftwings took a few tries before I was able to move them around the skies more gracefully. I almost got the feeling of waving a conductor's baton while making it fly around. 

The equipment screens will take some getting used to. They're completely different from any other Zelda game I've played. But once you get the hang of it, it too gets very easy to use. I think the only thing I'm not a fan of are the shields. Usually you get a wooden shield which is quickly upgraded to the awesome Hylian Shield. But because this game is the "beginning", there is no Hyrule to make said shield. So all through the game you get a basic shield that you have to upgrade. I've spent about 300rupees buying brand new shields as mine keep getting destroyed. There IS a way to get the Hylian Shield, but its not until the very end of the game, and is, apparently very hard to get at all. So I better get used to these other ones. The swords work the same way. You start with a basic sword, and use that until you get the Goddess Sword. And from there it keeps upgrading through out the game until you finally see the Master Sword created for the "first time". But that too is far into the game. 

The cast of characters have been great. They're all new, not reincarnations of the old ones. Even Link and Zelda look a bit different, but still recognizable. I have to say that I think I know who my least favorites are though already. Groose, this big, jerky, ass from the Knight Academy Link goes to, and Girahime, the main villain. Groose makes me nuts because hes just so... Stupid. He's your typical big, muscle headed, oaf who wants the girl all to himself and will bully everyone around him to get it (even if the girl doesn't want him). Also, his hair style makes me want to shake him. Girahime, the big bad guy in this one, has since been renamed "Emo-Lord". He has the worlds most epic of Em-overs, and talks about how he feels in the most epic of emo ways possible. He dresses in a leotard, and wears what I'm assuming is 45lbs of mascara on his eyes. He sort of gives off this Marilyn Manson sort of vibe, only in spandex. I really can't wait for the end of the game when I can shove the Master Sword through his body.

As for characters I like, Fi stands out the best. She is the guardian soul of the Goddess Sword, and the one to get Link moving on his adventure. I think what I like about her is the way she talks. She's incredibly intelligent, and talks almost like C-3PO. She's so damn blunt with everything that sometimes, it's actually pretty damn funny. Where Navi (in OoT) was obnoxious and really should of ran into a giant bug zapper 30seconds into the game, and Midna (in Twilight Princess) was cocky and self serving, Fi refers to Link as Master. She is always helpful, and doesn't constantly demand things. She will offer help only when you ask it of her, or if it is seriously needed. Otherwise, she hides in the sword and waits to help. I've added pictures at the end of this of post of the bigger things I've mentioned.

As I said up there, I'm only nearing the end of the first temple. So when I've gotten much farther in, or beaten it, I'll give a much better review of the game. As for now, I'm loving every minuet and it was well worth waiting for.

Fi, the spirit of the Goddess Sword who helps you though the game

Girahime, the Emo-Lord. I don't think his mommy loved him very much...

Groose is the red haired twit. I think he has a "my head is too small for my body" anger complex.

The Loftwings you fly around in the game. Link in the only one who has a "Crimson Loftwing", as they were thought to be extinct.

There once was a book like no other

I think one of the things I pride myself in is my ability to dream like a champ. I've always been into dream reading, and own multiple dream dictionaries. I also keep note books by my bedside to keep track of certain things that come and go from my dreams. I recognize people and things from other dreams that show up every now and then. And there's even a small mountain town that makes visits quite frequently into my head at night. I have, to date, 6 dreams that have taken place in that town.


This dream though.. When Mike woke me up to let the dog out last night, I had to write down before I forgot it. It was so different, and had such a mix of things that it sort of threw me off a bit. The only part I really remember in absolute detail was the very end before I got woken up..

I'm in a car, alone, in the drivers seat, but the car is driving itself. I'm watching the wheel turn and the pedals move, but I'm not doing any of it. I think to myself "oh, this must be one of those new smart cars". It drives me to this building that looks both run down and very nice at the same time. Old, big, covered in ivy, but very fancy. Lots of towers, and archways, and big windows.. So I get out of the car and look up at the building wondering where the hell I am, look back at the car and its not there. I get a good look at what I'm wearing and its like a weird mix of steam punk and the girls school uniforms from Ouran Host Club. My hair is longer, but in ringlets tied up to about the middle of my head.  

I head into the building and it gives off the feeling of a school. There's lots of doors on either side of the hallways, and weird looking lockers.

For whatever reason, I really pay attention to how it all looks, everything has this... almost sepia tone, sunset light coming through dusty stained glass windows look.

So I'm walking, just looking around and I see some people coming at me. A girl with wild black hair, glasses, dressed like a boy, which my head seemed to register as "Vriska". She actually sort of scared me. And a boy was with her. He was shorter, looked scared of her, dressed very plainly.. I remember my head gave him a name, but I cant remember it now. 

 

The girl sees me and comes at me yelling and wanting to know why and how I got there. I back up into the wall with her still in my face. She starts like... petting my hair laughing... while the boy just stands behind her watching me with this "I'm sorry I can't do anything look" on his face.

 

Then everything blinks away and now I'm just with that boy. I'm holding his hand walking with him and I get that weird overly strong sense of love towards him. We seem to be walking in a basement.

 

There's pipes over head.. And we're heading for a locker.. He asks why and I say "I need to talk to Vriska..."

 

We get to this random, stand alone locker, open it and I start pawing around in it.. Then theres a loud "Get of there now" behind us. we look up and that crazy girl is up in the pipes watching us. I push the boy behind me and try to talk to the girl but she screams "why does everyone call me by Vriska? My name is Donna".. For whatever reason, Im trying to like... calm her down. So I give her my name and she gets this head tilty, confused look.

 

She comes out of the pipes in the ceiling and grabs my hand. I try to pull away but she gets really close and asks if I like card games. I say yes, if I know how to play. She starts dragging me through the basement till we see a group of really.... odd looking people.. I remember one girl specifically. She was very tall, skinny, long black hair, eyes so light blue theyre nearly white. She looked like a creepy gothic doll. She smiles at me and all that I can think of is that shes insane... 

 

The Vriska girl pushes me into a chair and hands me a pile of these Pog looking things. She says to start matching up the symbols before the timer runs out. All the little pogs have things like fairies, and magic type stuff all over them. So Im trying to match them up, and everyone is laughing like a bunch of lunatics at me.. And it blinks out... Now im up in the hall near the front door again.

 

I see a stretcher with a white sheet covered body going out the front door. A guy walks up next to me and hes incredibly tall, thin.. Hes got shaggy auburn hair, like the color of fall leaves in the sun. Blue eyes that sparkle almost green. He's amazingly handsome. I start following him and listening to him talk, which is in like silly rhymes. Then he stops me, takes my hands and says "There once was a book like no other, and my 2 favorite pages were about a girl of the ravens and her love of a man of the doves".. Then he kisses my cheek.... And mike woke me up to let the dog out...

A Retail Rant

As some of you may know, I recently acquired a holiday gig at GameStop. For the non-gamers, GameStop is a video game shop that specializes in selling tons of pre-owned games, systems and such things. Sounds like a job I could get into, right?

I'm starting to think that might be wrong. I've been there for 3-4ish weeks now and have to some amazing conclusions about this job. And They all make me wonder a few things. Like, am I really that much of a gamer? I like to think I enjoy video games as much as the next person. I love certain game series to the point that I will get them as soon as they're out. I own trinkets based on said games also. Hell, I even have a tattoo for one of the games that I grew up playing. But I go into this job and listen to the staff and customers talking and I think "jeeze, maybe I DON'T know much about games.."

I'm also coming to the conclusion that I HATE rewards/member cards. I understand what they're generally good for. I get that companies can see how business is doing by how many people use these cards. But you know what I hate? And I've said this a million times for Petco also, I HATE that I am forced to stand there and force these cards down people's throats. Specially when they cost money. I've been buying my games at GameStop for years now, and in all those years have never owned one of their Power Up Rewards cards. I don't want to spend $14 a year on a card I'm never going to use. "But it comes with a year subscription to the worlds most popular gaming magazine!" argues my boss. Yeah, and I could write a short story, print it and put on the cover "world's best short story", doesn't mean its true. And the magazine is mostly compromised of things around Sony and Xbox. I don't own either, and never plan to. Also, I'm lucky if I buy one or two games every two or three years. How often do Pokemon and Zelda games come out? So no. I'm not going to force silly cards down people's throats that I myself really have no interest in. 


The speed at which they expect you to learn things is another thing I'm getting irritant with. I understand the holidays are around the corner. This is not my first retail holiday season. I like to think I'm a retail vet when it comes to Xmas. I understand you need me and the other girl to learn pretty fast. But, if you want me to learn this shit, would it not be prudent to schedule me more than 4hrs a week? And during those 4hrs, don't expect me to learn to run your terribly set up register system, how to sort, gut, and file all the games in the store, pay attention to every person in the store, and then throw manager-type end of the day paperwork at me and expect me to just know it like I'm Kreskin or something. And don't give me "oh its easy" when it's really not. Why and how am I supposed to know what the year to date percentage of your trade in value is? Why is it that I need to know near calculus to do something that is obviously the manager's work? You know what "Take the YTD Sales ÷ WTD Pre-owned x The % of Sales - Yearly blahablahablaha" means to me? Absolutely nothing. Nothing what so ever. So don't give me a snarky attitude when I look at it and then you with a most lost and confused expression.

So all in all, working for GameStop is going to be a massive test of my patience. As much as I need a 2nd job, or well, a single full time job, I really don't want to stay after the holiday. I have to say, I pretty much hate this job and I've only been there 3 days. So a warning to all you nerds out there who "OMG I wanna work at a video game store!", It's not all standing around playing games and talking nerdy with each other. You better be able to do 15 things at once, and perfectly on your first day, or you're out. The perks are pretty nice, I guess, but not worth it for the level of stress you will have to deal with, not due to customers, but due to the work environment. I've been with Petco for 4yrs, and have dealt with some pretty dumb shit in that time, but GameStop has made me much more frustrated in 3 short shifts than Petco has made me on its worst days.

Late Night Drawing Fits

So its going on 1am, I'm tired beyond normalcy, and no amount of chocolate ice cream topped with pepsi is going to keep me going. "I should go to bed" I tell myself. "You are pretty damn tired after all."

"No!" says my brain. "You want to draw something! You know you can feel it in the back of your skull"

"So that's what that is. I could of sworn it was an exhaustion induced headache..." I say back. And then I realized I was talking to myself again. Which at 1am usually isn't very odd.

"What should we draw then? If you're so smart up there." I said to myself.


"Why don't you try and draw Rini a little less cartoony?" My brain demon chimes back.

And so I did. In about 15min I had a pretty good looking sketch. A bit messy, but thats how it works. Nate was still online so I start ranting at him to look at my pretty picture. He said, other than it being a smudgy mess, it was pretty good and should get colored.

Problem there in, is that my wacom only likes to work some of the time. Usually I cant get very far into a drawing before it starts lagging, or skipping. So I tried my luck, and behold, for this one night little wacom thought it would work with me, rather than against me.


After a half asleep, blurry eyed attempt, and 45min of work later, I had something that looked pretty damn good for my mental state. 

A midnight release

 

This is my first mobile post. Apparently Blogger has a mobile app. Wee.. Now I can blog on the go.

Anyways. Tonight was my first midnight release with gamestop. Modern Warfare 3 came out tonight. It was a complete mad house, but at the same time completely under control. People started lining up before I got there at 7pm.

I and the other new girl got to pass out free gifts to the early people. There were hats, shirts, dog tags and bumper stickers. I got a shirt and tags for myself, so that was cool.

Photography Rainbows

Was bored and felt I needed something to keep my occupied today. Even if for a short while. Went onto deviantart and found this lovely photography meme that seemed easy.


Obviously, the point was simple. Take a camera around your house/neighborhood and get a photo for each color of the rainbow. They had to be brand new shots, no recycling old ones. For the most part this was pretty easy, until I got to the end. Mike is a bit of a purple-phobe, so there is almost nothing in the house within the shades of lavender and plum. I had to get crafty with indigo and violet. Luckily, Napoleon is pretty close to indigo and I have loads of markers.


In case someone needs a list of what each color is:
Red- oil lamp on my dresser full of spice scented, red oil
Orange- lamp shade with the light on
Yellow- close up of one of my tanktops
Green- anacharis plant in my rasbora/shrimp tank
Blue- cobalt glass bottle and vase
Indigo- Napoleon, my male betta
Violet- markers

Dia De Los Muertos

I don't think I have ever really drawn something for a holiday that isn't massively US related. And thats if I draw something at all for ANY holiday. This though was completely out of the blue thanks to Nate. He sent me a link to a doll that is, apparently, very popular for Dia De Los Muertos. Its called a Catarina Figure.



I don't really know much about this holiday except for the fact that everyone paints their faces in very cool looking skeleton-esque ways, throw huge parties, and celebrate all their dead family and friends. Sounds like a blast to me. So, here's Nate and Rini showing off their skull faces, just a few days late.

To sell a book

So I've been thinking. What if I put together a mess of my drawings, sketches and doodles and made a book to sell? Would it be worth it, and would it cost me any money? Apparently it's not as hard as some people make it out to be. Specially since there are places like lulu.com out there. They will help you build a book, set a price so that the print charges, their charges and your royalties are covered for as low a price as possible. In fact, if I made a small, 32 page, black and white sketch book, it would only cost people $24 to buy. A color one would be $26.

I didn't think the price was too bad. At those prices, I would be getting $5 from each book sold. Doesn't sound like a whole lot, but if I were to sell a good amount of them, thats some extra spending cash. I would just need to FIND people to buy them. I have quite a few people on dA that watch my gallery, but none of them are really very active. I have friends and family, but I foresee them saying and thinking "well I can look at them for free". So that would be where my fall out would be. Unless I make said people show off my book to friends and such and see if I can get buyers that way.

The other problem? Coming up with a minimum of 32 pages worth of work thats good enough to print. I have a lot of drawings and such, but nearly all of them fall into my "crappy" pile. Some people beg to differ on their quality. 

But, we'll see what happens. First things first, I need art for said book. So when that step is complete, we'll go from there...

All Hallows Eve

Aaahh Halloween. If there's one day in the year I need to have off and celebrate, its this day. Skeletons and pumpkins, ghosts and monsters. You can keep your Christmas and Turkey Day, just leave me in October.

This year we had a bit of a scare. I picked up a 2nd job for the holidays, which in itself is fine. We need the money, even if its for a short amount of time. But normally I only work one job, and things like Mark always giving me Halloween off don't seem to really sink in. Luckily the dude at Gamestop is pretty cool. I explained that I had completely forgotten about even bringing it up, as I'm used to just NOT working that day. He said it was no problem, he was sort of late giving all of us notice about the midnight shift anyways. So I'll be going in on Tuesday to finish my paper work before I have to race off to Petco for truck night.

This year I live in a slightly more kid friendly area, as we're between an elementary and a Jr High, literally blocks away from each other. So there should be a good amount of kids this year. We'll be having some friends over for movies and games and such. Normally I would just wake up and get into costume and spend the day in it, but this year I'm rocking out my new RenFair costume. I'll have to wait for Mike to get home to help me into the corset. I'm still toying with the idea of adding some of my Woochie makeup to it to add a little gore. But we'll see. I'm not sure if I want to chance the blood gel and such near it.

I do need to go through our DVDs and see what we have for monster movies. I borrowed dad's copy of the new Wolfman, I will of course toss in Nightmare Before Xmas, and from there I guess we'll see what happens. Normally I watch the live Ghost Hunters episode, but over the last few years, it's been getting pretty dull. 

I still need to go out and make sure the fog machine is still working alright, figure out where it's going, along with my newly fixed up skull fogger. I have to hunt down the spider webbing and get that up since we will be having a dry night this year. And, move the pumpkins out there. I want to make sure it's all ready early, since everything is happening on a Monday and all the kids will be out pretty early. I figure being ready to go by 4pm is a good goal.

Kwaidan- Japanese Ghost Stories

This post will be a little different than normal. I'm actually going to put more than one photo in it. The rest of the photos will be at the end of the post though.


Recently I hit up B&N for some new books. I had read everything on my overly piled book shelves at least 3 times or more and needed something new. Thanks to Nate, I have a new set I'm getting into, so I needed the 2nd book. And on my way up to the register I stopped at the bargain and discount shelves. They had all sorts of Halloween/monster/ghost story books on sale, and Gods know I don't love myself some Halloween. This one book happened to catch my eye pretty fast. Usually I trust that instant grab of attention, so I picked it up and gave it a once over. Seemed pretty cool, and I've always wanted to read old Japanese legends and such. So off the register it went with me (along with another book about monsters, but thats another post).


I have to say that after I finally opened it up and read a little bit, I was extremely happy I grabbed it. The book is made up of a collection of stories Lafcadio Hearn translated from old Japanese texts while visiting the country sometime between 1850-1904. So they're not "retold" or "altered". Just translated over to a new language. Along with the stories, which are pretty cool in themselves, there is a ton of very old Japanese art work that was painted for the stories hundreds of years ago. So the whole book is pretty awesome to just look at, let alone read. They also kept some of the Japanese words in the stories with sub-notes on how to say it and what they mean or stand for. Luckily for me, I've been watching anime for years, so I've got a pretty good grasp on how to say some of the things without completely murdering it. Probably not saying it perfectly, but better than normal. I even actually recognized some words right off the top of my head and didn't need the sub-notes.


So yeah. If you're looking for a really nice book to read and gawk over and love scary stories, check this one out. Currently its being sold at B&N for $7.98. Not sure if they have a digital copy out, but I think this is one of those books you need up close to really appreciate the art work in it.

Story title pages look like this.

Smaller pieces of art are scattered through the stories.

Along with much larger pieces at the end or middle of the stories.

Homestuck

I really am curious if this post's image will be animated like it should be or if it'll sit there doing nothing. The animated one is awesome. So here's hoping.

ANYWHO. I'm amazed I haven't put up a post about this yet. Specially since I sat for a week straight and read 6000 pages, painstakingly, making my eyes almost bleed from so much monitor exposure. But Homestuck is one of those things. Those things you can't stop looking at, or reading, or watching. There is so much... random going on that you can't help but want to keep going just to see where the chaos will lead next.

I have to say that I probably wouldn't of even thought of reading it if it wasn't for a few fanarts I saw on Deviantart one night. There were drawings of these odd little grey skinned, horned kids wearing zodiac symbols. And even though they were all by different people, they all matched. Was it some new Japanese anime out? Was it some game I had missed? Nope, it was a new-ish comic out by Andrew Hussie, the same guy who spewed out the older, and just as popular "MS Paint Adventures". So I looked it up, and the first page wasn't exactly exciting. I figured I'd give it a shot, and about 25 pages in I was hooked. I really had no idea what was going on, but it was... different. By page 100 I was flying through the comic wondering what was going to happen next. A week and 6000 pages later I was staring at the "Next Page" button going "Y U no have MOAR PAGES?!".

Now, I am one of like a million people waiting, ever so patiently for 10-25 when the next page, which will be flash animated, comes out. I have to say that I am extremely excited to see what happens.

Dear Mr. Hussie, it better be good.

A slightly different look

So I got bored and played with some settings. I even made myself a nifty title banner in adobe. I think it looks a little less boring now.

In other news, I got myself a 2nd job for the holidays. I should hopefully be starting soon at GameStop, for, like I said, the holiday season. Maybe if I get lucky they'll keep me after that. But, I've learned to never keep my hopes up on things till it actually happens. I figure this will help out a bit, even if just for a little while. I will though still keep my eyes open for a full time job. That's my ultimate goal of course. Mike and I agree that a full time job at min. wage is better than a part time job at nearly $10/hr with nearly no hours.

Day... Some number I've lost count on

I really should update this more. I usually have all sorts of ideas on things to put up, but I'm obviously too lazy to actually follow through. ANYWAYS....

I've come to the conclusion that I would like to try out a micro-reef tank. Actually, I plan to convert Napoleon's tank, when he passes away of course. "But I thought salt tanks had to be big?" is what everyone keeps asking me. And no, they don't NEED to be big, big is just generally easier. And most fish people want to keep require massive tanks. But, if you stop and think and look at the tiny critters that live in those tanks, you can set up a very small reef.

What small critters am I talking about? A Yellow Watchman Goby/Pistol Shrimp pair. They stay pretty small, and have a symbiotic relationship which makes them interesting to watch. The shrimp has poor vision and can't keep track of everything going on around him, so the Goby keeps watch (like the name suggests) for predators and dangers. How does the shrimp pay him back? By building them a home, as the shrimp is a great tunnel builder.

What stuff will I need to accomplish this task? Actually, not a whole hell of a lot. But, that small list does cost a little bit. I'm guessing I'll spend about $150 to convert the tank over fully. Better filtration will be done with a Zoomed 501Nano canister filter($50) Lighting will be done with a Ultra Reef mini bulb ($10) I'm hoping to get my starting water, substrate and live rock from Donna for a small monetary contribution ($50) and then the actual live stock. I've looked around online and the average cost of a set pair of goby/shrimp is around $30. So I'll probably go someplace like ABCReef to see if they can get something like that in store to save me the crazy overnight shipping costs. Also, a heater ($20).

Of course, I have a few years to plan this out. Napoleon is doing very well. So It'll be something I work at buying over a course of time and setting aside.

An Update of Sorts

I haven't updated in quite some time. I think the whole project 365 is pretty much dead. I just, for the life of me, cant keep remembering to take photos. I will though try to add a photo to each update I do make though. Just so that there's something to look at. And speaking of photos-





Mike and I recently went to NJ to see some friends and go to the ocean. Why? Because I've never seen the ocean in my life. Also, we had to pick up our pug-ugly dragon statue that Matt was working on. We didn't end up bringing the dragon home with us (he's not finished with it) but we did spend an awesome day at the sea side and then at the boardwalk. Apparently never having seen the ocean is some kind of sin in life, so Matt and Kristi sought to fix this problem as soon as possible. And in doing so, I nearly drown, was beat up by the ocean, bruised, battered and massively sunburned. But it was more fun than I've had in a long time. I think Mike really enjoyed getting me to go into the water (which I am very scared of). I still can't swim, and don't think I'll ever learn, but thats fine.

The boardwalk was tons of fun. It was like a mini state fair near the water. Lots of games, candy shops, and kiddie rides. I won a very awesome Yoshi plush in a crane game. We picked up candies, ice creams, and such.

We hope to make this a yearly trip, and hopefully next year Damon will be able to go with us.

Day Fifteen

Looks like I'm on a bit of a drawing kick.

For whatever reason, I've been picking up my pencils more and more recently. Nothing too awesome, and usually just sketches and doodles, but its far more than I've done in the last few years. I still don't honestly know what my muse is, but sometimes I wonder if its not staring me right back in the face on a usually daily basis.

I've been using my prisma pencils a lot too. I always forget how much more fun it is to color things by hand rather than on the computer. There's no room for error, you don't get Ctrl+Z. You need to make sure whatever goes on the paper, is what you wanted.

More than that though, I'm starting to like my pencil sketches more and more uncolored. Maybe it's because I put so much time into the first sketch that I don't want to screw it up with a blotchy pen or coloring it wrong and destroying it.

Lets see how long this actually lasts though...

Day Fourteen

Alright, so updating this thing proper.

Just recently went to the Ren Fair in Sterling, NY over the weekend. It was the Highland Fling/Celtic Weekend. This is one of the few times I can get Mike to dress up in costume, so I enjoy it. It was also Damon's b-day, so that was fun.

This year I had a brand new costume to wear. Normally I either rent one, or just wear normal clothes, but had always wanted my own good costume to wear. We found a seamstress on ebay that had amazing reviews and ordered a dress, specifically made for me. When it showed up finally after 2 months it was better looking than I had expected. So kudos to that lady.

I think next year though, I'm going to see if maybe me and mike can go alone. Not that I don't love going places with friends, but some times its just funner with the two of us alone.

Day Thirteen

I miss the old days. What old days would those be? Back when I had fun RPing in a Pokemon chat room with my 2 best friends in the world. Aaahh the days of being a complete nerd, and everything was so much easier.

I remember how I used to race home from school and try my damnedest to beat my sister to the computer. I had a nightly date with my boys. We all met up in the Safari Chat and either shot the shit or RPed that we were members of Team Rocket, or gym leaders or the like. I don't think I can remember anything more fun. It was in those chat rooms that I learned I could draw. It was because of my boys that I kept on trying. And because of that, they are usually major subjects in my drawings.

The characters have obviously changed over the years. They went from poorly drawn people in terribly plain clothes to people with the wardrobe of royalty. But every now and then I like to look back and dress them up the old way. And no better way to do that than with Rini and Nate donning their old colors and insignia.

Day Twelve

Yup. I think I am still of the mind set that some things should not be made into live action movies. And now I would like to add Fairly Odd Parents to that list of "please don't mess this up anymore".

Grow up Timmy Turner just came out about a week or 2 ago and I didn't get a chance to see it on TV. So I did what any person would do and ran off to the pirate bay to download it. I must say that it was actually kind of hard to watch. I love Fairly Odd Parents, and try to catch it whenever possible. When I stumbled across the news that they were making a live action, made-for-tv mini movie, I had my doubts. Nick chose, of course, a cast of people who either already work for them and have their own shows, the people who voiced the characters already or actors who are already pretty notable. You figure a pretty well known cast will do a good job. Eeehh....

The human picks for Cosmo and Wanda were kind of off. I would not of picked those two. And where I can kind of see Wanda in Hines, I do not see Cosmo is Alexander. He's a bit too old, and not nearly as loopy as one would need to be to be Cosmo. And the guy they picked for Jorgen was way too small. Jorgen would need some 6ft+ body builder to be played right. Oh well...

I think I give this hour long special 3/5 stars, for at least keeping the voice cast true and making it as outlandish as a usual cartoon episode.

Otherwise- I Wish this movie sort of never happened

Day Eleven

I think this will be one of my longest posts to date. If not the longest one I end up making, as I try to keep this pretty short and sweet. I would also like to say that this may or may not contain spoilers to the movie. So if you weren't one of the insane people at the midnight showing last night, I would probably turn back. Unless, that is, you want to know what to expect.


I got my tickets almost 3 weeks ago. I sat up till nearly 330am, fandango in one Firefox tab, my bank account in another. I was getting tickets if it killed me. And luckily I snagged five. Me, my brother, Mike, Damon and Jen were going to see Deathly Hallows part2. I don't think I have ever been so excited over a movie before. I've been a fan of the movies before I even picked up the books. And I think it was the coming of Prisoner of Azkaban that finally had me borrowing my brother's books to read them.

I think everyone really expected a lot from this one. It was the final movie. The end of something we all grew up with. Most of us in the theaters had read the books, we knew what to expect, but at the same time had no idea what was going to happen. I guess thats the great thing about turning books into movies. You know the story, but you never know how the movie will change things. I actually walked into the theater well and prepared to cry at very specific points.

I guess I'll start at the beginning. The horcruxes were, obviously, a massive part of the final book/movie. I wish they would of covered more of WHY those object were chosen. For those of us who have read the books, we knew why. But for people like Mike and Damon who never picked a book up, the boys had to keep leaning over asking us girls whats going on. It was really a bunch of silly little things that they missed that made huge impacts on the story line. Like Teddy Lupin. He was never even brought up until a point in the movie where you went "when the hell did that happen?". And the battles at Hogwarts were awesome, but I was hoping for more of the chaos in the books. I wanted to see Trelawney throwing crystal balls, Giant Venomous Tentacula attacking people, and Peeves being a blatant bastard. Of course with all things they skipped on, the things they didn't were amazingly well done. The dragon and Gringotts was great. I think that was probably Mike's favorite part as he loves dragons. Every bit of action in the movie was huge and full of amazing effects. I admittedly was one of the people in the theaters the whistle when Ron and Hermione finally kissed, and cheered on when Molly went psycho-mom on Bellatrix. But I think of everything that happened in the movies two characters stand out the most. Neville and Snape.

I've always been a big Neville fan. And this movie made him out to be so awesome. I think his finest moments were screaming Voldemort down closely followed by beheading Nagini. He was just such a kick ass, take names later character in this movie.

Snape though was probably the biggest pull on my heart strings. I don't think anyone on Earth could of done a better job than Alan Rickman did. He finished Snape's roll in the story with a bang that choked me up faster than when Dobby died.

I had tons of fun last night at the premiere. It was full of nerds doing random song routines from A Very Potter Musical, people in poorly done costume, and loads of fan girls squealing over things. I like to think of myself as a "high class" nerd. I like to geek it out with the rest of them, but know how to act like a mature person while doing so. While the girls in front of us were dressed up in Hogwarts uniforms, I wore a simple red and gold Gryffindor jersey (circa The Goblet of Fire). I think Mike had fun too, though he's trying to play the pissy ass husband who was forced to go. And Damon is another story all together. He was told there would be explosions, death and destruction, which there was. But obviously not enough. I think he would of been much more entertained if the whole of England had exploded and everyone from the Potter-verse had died in a fiery nuclear explosion. And we know the only reason he went was because it was Jen's b-day gift. Otherwise, I really don't think either of the boys would of gone of their own accord.

Either way, it was an amazing end to an amazing set of books and movies. If you're a fan, I highly recommend you get to see this before it leaves the theaters. I think in light of the movies..

All was well

Day Ten

Everyone, meet Latis. What is Latis you might ask? She's a very, very tiny goldfish. So tiny in fact that my pinky nail is almost bigger than her body. So small that she only needs one flake of food to be fed a day. And so small that she has to live in a betta vase till she's strong enough to out swim a filter intake. I know one day she will need a much larger home, but till then I can hope that she never gets bigger.

I love goldfish. The way they look and the oddball breeds they come in. I think they are a classic staple of any fish collection. Too bad they have so much going against them. They need large tanks, strong filters, and can make a clean tank go bad in a matter of hours. If goldfish stayed small, lets say quarter sized or so, I'd totally keep them more often. Sadly, all the goldfish I've owned either got way too big, too quickly, or made such a mess of their tanks that I got rid of them. The fact that its going to take Latis a very long while to grow to tank size, makes me happy. Specially if I keep her on a very strict diet. It'll help keep her smaller, longer.