The Joy REV-6

So, a long, long time ago I drew a picture of me holding two guns, one with the word "Joy" written on it, the other with "Satisfaction". At the time, I only had one Nerf Maverick REV-6, and realised that it would work good for the two gun setup. Now, a year and a half later, I've finally completed Joy:

Satisfaction is going to be the finalized version of the mods I've done to this gun (I've learned some stuff along the way), and it's going to be silver. I'll probably also make a Joy mk. 2 should the improvements I have in mind for Satisfaction work as I think they will.
Now, for the fun stuff; modifications include shaving the restrictor posts off of the swing-out mechanism to allow for easier loading of the turret, removing the air-restrictors, narrowing the plunger tube for increased pressure, stretching the plunger spring, locking the rotating mechanism slipper-clutch, relocating the trigger spring, and filling the AR space with foam and straws to further improve pressure. The range doesn't appear to have been greatly affected, at least not on all barrels (there are a couple that really launch the sonic darts far, though), but the power behind them is definitely greater and the accuracy has been improved.

'Primavera' Means Peas.

I know this to be true, because no matter how appetizing that pasta primavera dish on the menu looks, it always comes to you with loads upon loads of unmentioned, often times hidden, peas. Little green balls of vegetable yicky that you were not expecting when you ordered that dish that looked so good not more than fifteen minutes prior (if it takes longer, then it's a busy day, and as such you should tip accordingly). Of course, I know this now, but I still make the mistake of ordering the primavera from time to time just because nothing else on the menu looks all that good and so I end up with peas. I don't like peas (of course, if the place is clearly not busy and the order still takes over fifteen minutes, you should also tip accordingly, and inspect your food for stray bits of stuff that oughtn't be in there (peas not included)).
Also, they put peas in fried rice; you can see them if you look hard enough and you're getting it at the mall. If you're getting it at a hole in the wall, though, you may have to ask to inspect the fried rice before you order it, otherwise you've committed yourself to a whole chinese takeout box thingy of rice with hidden peas that are darker than those found in the previously mentioned primavera, and this is not a good thing to do. Of course, if you like peas, then I hate you and you should probably stop reading all my carefully thought-out tips on how to avoid eating the hidden peas of life.

Also, I got to work at plant two last night.

Sometimes, on cold days, I stand on the roof and fish for cattle; once in a great while I eat a head of cabbage for no reason in particular.

HaHA! Crackers.

... have absolutely nothing to do with this post. I did, however, snag the last pack of cheese n' peanut butter crackers from the vendin' moe-sheen a couple nights ago... though I don't think anyone was too broken up about it. Jackie and Rob have also decided to "accidentally-on-purpose" forget to give me breaks as of late, due to having accidentally done so twice this past week. Now they just wait until I start to look a touch worried that I've been forgotten about about, and then Rob comes up and says "No breaks today, Ryan. Jackie said to work you like a dog." and so I says, "'kayy..." and Rob looks dismayed that his clever tactic didn't work so well.
But, since I seem to always blog about what I did at work, I'm not gonna today... mostly because everything I could say I've probably said already (though it's pretty much confirmed that I get two weeks off for Christmas this year, starting December 23rd). I'm still employed is I guess the important part, anyway (also, Khira has applied, so maybe she'll get to join in the fun soon, anyway). I've also got to go out and get my mother a license plate frame for Christmas today... not sure why she wants one, but that's what my dad said, so I might as well get it (and it's a lot cheaper than the steam cleaner I was considering getting her... especially since she'd probably use it twice and then put it in storage). So that'll be one other Christmas present I actually buy for someone this year.
It's gotten increasingly harder for me to formulate lists for people as the holidays approach each year, I've noticed... and now I've got not only my own family asking for a list from me, but also Nixie's mom asking. The heck is the deal here? My own family (not including relatives) pretty much got two things to work with: the three volume set on the Grand Unified Field Theory of Classical Quantum Mechanics, and a T-mobile phone card. Nixie's mom might get a short list including lots of goofy fun things that I don't have and probably don't need, but I'd be better off with in the long run. The rest of the family, well... I'm sure I'm going to get two bags of microwave popcorn and a sun-visor CD-holder from my Aunt (same thing I've gotten the past three years from her... nevermind that I don't have a CD player in my car), and probably money or something from the grandparents. I'm not eligible for presents on my mom's side of the family because I'm over eighteen, and according to my aunt (mom's younger sister), once a kid reaches age eighteen, they don't count any more. My mom's side of the family is full of bitchy-types, I tell ya...
Anyhow, that's about all I can think of to yammer about for now... aside from my nose feeling like it's been cemented shut with mucus... lovely.

3534 of Plant 1

So, it seems it's been a while since I've updated this... and I feel I probably should. Just got home from the factory (got paid fifteen minutes overtime... holy smokes!), and I'm not really tired, but not really awake either. I slept for a good part of yesterday before scurrying off to school, and then I got a little more sleep over at Nixie's before she had to run off to work at Timmy Horton's, so I'm fairly rested at this point.
I got to run two machines consecutively last night; number four and number five. Number four is a machine that makes lenses for some sort of doo-dad that they make on number six (I was talking to the woman who operates that machine, and she has no idea what the thing is, either), and number five works hard spittin' out a shit-ton of puddle lamps for me to sort into lefts and rights. I'm always uneasy when it comes to running two machines at once, as I don't do it very often (though it pretty much guarantees my machine won't break down and send me off to the grinders for the fourth night in a row), so I was understandably frustrated when it seemed like number five kept getting backed up while I was attempting to keep number four going steady.
Neither of the machines can really be run on their own by separate operators, however. Number four moves wayyy too slow and you can get way ahead of it in a matter of minutes, and while number five is considerably faster, the amount of work involved with inspecting the parts is considerably less, and so you'll just end up waiting for parts to build up. To a person who hasn't run them before, however, they don't seem to compliment each other very well; too slow to run separate, but too fast to be together unless the person knows how to time things.
So, by this morning I had them both pretty well caught up and was waiting for parts on both of them. I've also determined that none of the "specialty" cutting tools designed to cleanly cut clear plastic are worth the material they're made of. The press on number two cuts about once every ninety tries, and the heated clippers on four take forever to melt through the plastic (though they are damned hot... I'd know), so I dunno why they haven't replaced them with something better (probably the same reason the grinder drawers are repaired with packing tape and not welded).
I've also been informed by just about every material handler there is that a person does not want to be a material handler. I've also learned that it's possible to add "fsckin'" to the beginning of pretty much every word in a sentence, as evidenced by a co-worker doing so during lunch break.
Lastly, Khira's looking into getting a job as an operator on the same shift as me... lookie what you get to look forward to.

xD

My Mind's Gettin' Away From Me

Not that this is news to anyone aside from me, but, ehh, that's life. I just downloaded about every version of the song "Save It For Later" I could find, and not all of them are the same song, but it's a good exploratory exercise that generally broadens my musical horizons. Right now it's the version by Splender... good song. Also, I'm about to go to bed for today... a little odd how I'm suddenly getting hungry at around four-thirty at night and am wide awake until about eight-thirty-ish, but I suppose I shouldn't be overly surprised by this; I do work midnights, after all.
On that note, Larry the foreman got fired on Wednesday, so now we've got Shawn the foreman, who is probably younger and a lot less experienced, but he's being better received than Larry was (found out he was "probably German" and "likely a nazi" from the gossiping of my fellow operators, so apparently he was pretty bad). Long story short, I've been trained on machine M3, which is the metalizer (and the only one in plant one, though they have three in plant two). This means that now that I've been trained on it, I'm likely doomed to operate it for a long while. This may not be the case if employees keep dropping out like they are, though... three people fired and four on the verge of it in the past week. Fun stuff, considering one of the "on the edge" ones just started two days ago.
Nixie and myself went to The Rainforest Cafe for dinner today, as per my promise that we'd go there upon my receiving my first paycheque from Hick's. It was a little strange, as the last time I ate there it was with my parents; never realised how expensive that place was. We also went and saw the final performance of the Romeo Theater Company's production of "Alice in Wonderland", which wasn't bad (and they had a cast of a hundred and forty-six people, plus the crew... I've never seen a high school production that big before). Other than that, I don't really remember much of the day... went on the Orion drive at around three-ish.
Also, as Khira mentioned something about getting lost in the fog, it was rather spectacular. I believe it was Friday night, but when I pulled onto Industrial (the road where the factory is situated), it was so thick that I couldn't see more than two or three feet in any direction around me; we need more foggy days like that. Fog is the best for drivin' (maybe not for driving, but definitely for drivin').

Also, I believe my torso just went upstairs without me. That could prove problematic.

A note to myself...

The next time Larry comes up to you in the middle of making your three-hundred-and-fifty-third steering wheel and asks in an almost overly friendly manner, "Ryan, are you staying over?" the answer is most decidedly NOT "Sure, why not?"

... twelve hours on machine nine is hell. Maybe if you're on seven.

Also, to those two people who were trying quite diligently to get a hold of me yesterday (you know who you are), you now know why you didn't.

And a very good day to the rest of you.

I'm Still In Existence

Though it's definitely not a typical one (not to mention the forty-eight hour week I just worked at the factory... and the fact that I get paid for a fifty-two hour one xD). I slept most of yesterday, from about ten in the morning to about ten-thirty at night, and then I spent the majority of the night with Nixie, since there was a Venture Bros. premiere last night. It occurs to me that I haven't really had much human contact outside of my fellow factory workers this past week, so for those who I'm in contact with on a fairly regular basis, you may find that I'm slightly more withdrawn than usual. It's all rather surreal, actually... feels like I've finally managed to reach the backstage of humanity.
Firstly, on the topic of the Venture Bros, I require some decent reference pictures of Triana Orpheus' friend Kim, as I'm having trouble discerning her outfit. I'd ask Doc Hammer, as he posted a rather useful D.I.Y. guide for Triana's outfit, but I suspect Kim is a little bit less based on anyone in real life. Regardless, if I'm to pull off the look for ACen, I'm going to need something to go off of in designing my costume; I can only get so much from Hank:
"Holy cow! look at my date, she's a super-villain! Possibly a Medusa. Dean, I am not kidding, she has ropes for hair and a shiny costume. Oh, no fair! She's wearing goggles! Told you she woulda dug my Batman costume, but no..."
SO, if any of yous guys has good reference (or just a sick fascination with seeing me dressed up as a hot cyber chick), let me know.
On the topic of being withdrawn, I visited the local mall recently after having avoided it for the past several months due to it going downhill back when Nixie was still working there (and I was unemployed still). It was an experience, to be sure, and not a very good one; aside from it being the same building, it's nothing at all how I remember it from my high school days. Hot Topic is just a shell of a store now, and it's full of people who wouldn't have been caught dead in it three years ago. It almost feels like a part of me died going in there... left me feeling awfully depressed, despite all my jeering at folks who looked like they'd bought the place out trying to be as goth as possible. Well, whatever... I've washed my hands of the place as of late, and I'm looking into getting more authentic goth/punk attire from the original companies in England and so forth (DogPile bondage pants are first on that list). Hopefully I'll be further withdrawn from society as a whole next time I go back there... it's kinda neat feeling like you're no longer expected to be a part of what's around you.
In the meantime, I've got work again tonight, which means I'll probably either be put on one of the seven machines I've been trained on, or they'll try me on two or three new ones that are sure to end up shut down at some point and I'll end up sweeping the rest of the night. Ah, factory life is fun...

First Day as a Factory Worker

So, I've just gotten home from my first night working at Hick's Plastics, and I'm feeling pretty tired, but I figured I'd do a blog about this now before I forget and go to sleep and then later get involved with other things until work. Firstly, I enjoyed it thoroughly; yes, it's eight hours of doing the exact same thing over and over, but once you get a sort of rhythm going, it just kinda flows and the hours go by pretty quick (unlike retail where you're staring at the clock every thirty seconds).
I only had two things irk me, the first being the break-replacement who lets you take your break, and then when you come back, you realise you were gone just long enough for them to mess up everything you did. Steering wheels are all facing the wrong way, the clippers are on the wrong side, the towels are a mess, the weights are all out of wack... generally unpleasant, and you have to wait until you can cycle back through all your things before it goes back how it ought to be. The second wasn't so much an irk as it was an almost panicky feeling: quality inspection. There are two quality inspectors, one was pretty much training me today (as the person assigned to train me kinda disappeared), the other was just walking around doing her job. The guy who was training me was cool... he'd refill whatever needed refilling and make sure I wasn't having issues with the machines. The lady, however, was a nightmare. She didn't talk, she just kinda walked up, inspected the parts I'd made, kinda looked like she was pondering something, and then proceeded to walk off with one of my parts... I have no idea what happened to it. So, a little unnerving.
The only other thing was the awkwardness of the breaks; it's ten minutes of not working, so what do you do? Well, I sat there and stared at the ceiling for exactly ten minutes. Maybe I'll find something better to do tonight, but for now... it's difficult to figure out what to do with yourself.

Musings from English Class

Not that today's English class was particularly thought-provoking, but I did get a chance to let my mind wander for a bit while the rest of the class (all ten of them) sat and did pretty much nothing, effectively making our professor re-think her strategy of not calling on anyone. There were several short stories that were assigned to be read (as I wasn't there, I didn't get them, though they sounded interesting), and I would have loved to have commented, but I had no idea what was going on, and so I sat and doodled counting machines with the number 01134 printed out an infinite amount of times on very long ribbons of paper. This is, of course, something for the first page of Shade, but it seemed applicable here.
For the most part, the class seems to be a great environment for me to temporarily escape into Shade's world, if only for a brief moment; a little nonsense is good when you're being forced to analyze other people. I know they say you're analyzing their writing; their thought process, but it's a sham. You're delving into whatever it is that they've written, and you're picking that person apart bit by bit until you know exactly what makes them tick, and then you've got your right answer. This is similar to taking apart a beetle (in my head it is, anyway). You start with the obvious parts: the outer shell, the wings, the legs, thus assuring that your unwilling subject won't be able to even attempt escape. Then you begin picking it apart with whatever you have handy: toothpicks, pushpins, screwdrivers, twigs... anything that can effectively poke a hole in the thing. And after you've managed to slowly torture the thing to death, made a large mess, and overly grossed out any onlookers not intrigued by this sort of thing, you realise that you have no idea what it is that you're looking for. Amidst all that grey and pus-coloured mess is the answer you seek, but you've no idea what it is; you haven't the slightest idea what made that beetle tick, and you never will, because you exhausted its life before you could reach what it was that was allowing it to be in the first place. I view over-analyzing literature in much the same fashion; I understand that the premise of the class is to give us a better understanding of the English language as a whole, but how do analytical and argumentative essays play into this? Is the English language only here to pick things apart and prove your point? Who the hell gives a damn why they decided to make the characters jacket blue instead of orange and green plaid? Words are a beautiful thing, and yet they get trampled on and made into something unpleasant in the name of education.
This is not, however, one of my musings from English class. As I sat there, amidst the mostly disinterested looking ranks of fellow students, my mind off somewhere where teeth can fly and what you perceive something as means nothing at all, the droning of the professor brought me back into attention long enough to get some people observing in. People observing is not the same as people watching; I'm not really sure of all the differences, suffice to say that they are there, and I'm sure they're darned effective when they're known. My English professor has a rather sing-song way of talking, a kind of up and down and up and down that makes it difficult to really want to grasp the gist of what she's saying. This is often neutralized by the incredibly monotone voice of a girl who (for reasons far too obvious to even mention here) sits by herself at a desk towards the front of the class. This girl has the uncanny ability to recall, verbatim, almost any useless fact on anything the professor says; today it was birds, and I felt as though some very, very boring computer voice was reading some book on the care of birds to me. And then she switches it up and talks about something else that she really doesn't need to be talking about. You wonder how long this has gone on in her life. This is apparently what having a military family that constantly moves around does to you. At some point in her life, mindless recitation will prove to be enough of a hindrance that she'll actually only say one sentence, and maybe in varying tones, until then, I'm probably going to wish I had the ability to yank people's eyeballs out of their sockets with my mind every time she opens her mouth.
In other, more pleasant news, I begin my new job tonight (there will undoubtably be a blog about how it went after I wake up tomorrow), and I'm rather enthusiastic to start. Nervous, yes, but still enthusiastic. Now, I'm off to nap before headin' out for the first night of the rest of my life.

"It means they've changed something..."

I was reminded of The Matrix this morning whilst I was at work, namely the part in which they describe how "deja vu" is a hiccup in the system that hints that some portion of the program had been altered. In 7-Eleven's case, however, you don't give a sense that you've done or seen something before but, instead, you suddenly get an odd blue bar across your register screen that says "PLU Updated". It doesn't really seem very important when it pops up, but then you go to ring someone up for something a couple minutes later, and all of a sudden you've got two prices to choose from for damned near every item. Upon inquiring about it later (had to wait until seven this morning before there was anyone working there besides me), I learned that it doesn't just apply to cigarettes, but to any item that can have a price change (or may have a coupon available). So, if I all of a sudden start seeing "PLU Updated" hovering in the air somewhere... I'm gonna know that something's probably different... or that they've cut the hard line.
I also got to experience my first truly unruly convenience store customer (and a good thing, too, I've only got a few days left). I found out later that she was drunk, but that was after she forgot to ask me for lottery scratch-off tickets, asked if she could pay with her card, and upon doing so demanded to know why she didn't have her scratch off tickets. There was a bit bit more confusion (I still have no idea what she actually wanted), and I just about backhanded her out of the store about twice, but at least I can say I've dealt with an angry drunk now. M' a little disappointed that the coppers didn't check in on me last night... woulda been fun to re-iterate that'n to them.

Just A Few Thoughts

Firstly, I have to record down another odd dream I had last night (more like unpleasant, though not necessarily bad). Seems like the dreams I have involving my room swarming with insects are usually the most vivid, leaving me to wake up in a cold sweat, eyes darting all over the room trying to find all the bugs crawling all over the walls that had been then moments before. Yech.
I don't recall how it started, save to say that I was working on some sort of MegaMan-powersuit-type figure and I needed to add directional exhaust vents to the chest and back. I didn't feel like using epoxy-putty, so I was looking for stuff that looked close that I could just glue on. This led me to a "nature collecting kit" that was probably around eight years old. It contained samples of leaves and roots and insects, all sealed in small plastic containers, and meant to be inspected or whatever. The kit also contained some grey plastic pieces (I assume they were meant to aid in displaying the containers) that had the basic shape I'd been looking for (I was going to have to paint them yellow before gluing them on). I grabbed a handful of them, and in doing so, managed to bump one of the insect containers, and what looked like a cross between a cockroach and a very large winged ant crawled out and onto the floor, followed shortly after by a big centipede, and then all sorts of bugs started crawling out all over, so I slammed the lid shut and taped the box closed so no more could get out. At this point, the majority of the bugs were the same as the first that had crawled out (no spiders this time... thank goodness), and I pretty much just saw them as cockroaches. They were crawling all over the ceiling, sticking towards the edges where it met the wall and the corners of the room. There was also a large black mouse or rat crawling around on the walls as well, which didn't really strike me as odd at the time.
After a period of unsuccessfully trying to smash some of the insects, a girl who I don't remember very well (knew her perfectly well in the dream, but m' drawing a blank on the face now), came in and started helping me get rid of them. I believe she was joined by a younger boy and they were both standing in front of a door that would have replaced one of the windows in my room, and lead out to a balcony. They were either squashing them on the windows, or using a spray... or both. After killing a few, several birds that looked similar to pigeons flew up and started throwing up on the opposite side of the window. The last thing I remember is an elderly gentleman slumped over in a plastic deck chair on the balcony, with the pink bird vomit running down his face (this, too, was a familiar face, though I've no clue who it was now).
That being said, the rest of my day went quite well; attended to my physical, which was the final step in my new employment, and the entire process probably took about eight minutes tops. I then proceeded to turn in all of my necessary paperwork at Hick's Plastics, took my operations and procedures quiz, and was told I start November 9th (as my employment at 7-Eleven goes until the seventh). I'm quite excited to start, as this seems much more up my alley than the convenience store clerk business; kinda wish I could start sooner. But, alas, two more weeks of mumbling cigarette customers, unpleasant regulars, odd lottery tickets, morning coffee rushes and The mad dash to make sure the taquitos aren't burnin'. Oh, and my older sister wants a picture of me in my smock... yippideedoo.
The only other item of the slightest bit of importance was that I had my first walk-out class in my college educational history; English professor never showed up, so all eleven or so of us that had actually turned up signed a sheet of paper for attendance, dropped it in her mailbox, and that was that. It's an awkward feeling, I must say.

First Day of English

As I mentioned earlier, I started my English course today (just got back from it, in fact), and it turns out my professor is a bit of a nutter. The class as a whole is probably going to be pretty much the same as that corner you got assigned to your first day in math class back in high school; surrounded by people you don't really know, but you know the whole lot of you are going to be good friends by mid-semester. The class is pretty much the same deal... I think. There are fifteen of us in all, and we all had to pipe up at some point in the class, so the immediately social ones were brought to our attention straight away. There are a few of them that I suspect I'm not going to like much, but that's the way these things go.
As for the professor, well, she's a little on the loopy side. She's apparently half Irish, half Japanese, and her Irish heritage definitely shows through (whenever describing something one might do in their down time, the words "Having a Guiness" or "Having a beer" always seemed to come up). She's also very fidgety, which probably just comes from first-class jitters, but it was undoubtably somewhat distracting. She also has a llama that she takes great pride in, and takes every opportunity to dazzle us with their exploits (she drove down the freeway with it sticking its head through a car moon roof... I chuckled at the mental picture). Shortly after introducing herself, she proceeded to have the rest of the class say a little something about themselves; 'cept she didn't do it down the rows or however one might do that orderly-like. No, she's got a firm "never just call on someone" policy, because she apparently disliked that tactic back in school. Instead, she employs the ever popular "stare at people until they feel awkward" tactic, which pretty much leaves everyone to glance about with nervous amusement trying to surmise who will crack under the pressure and put a temporary halt to her psychological game of musical chairs. This whole process took up a great deal of the class period, but eventually everyone broke (or just spoke up to get it over with), and then we dove right into poetry.

God I hate poetry.

The Upside-Down Golden Arches?

It's been a little while since I last updated this, and with my new found wireless connectivity, I can now sit lazily on my bed and type out a blog, so here we go. Let me start by saying that I've been awake since about one this morning, and have spent the majority of that time watching anime (finished both Texhnolyze and Eat-Man '98 in that time frame, as well as getting a fair amount into Ranma 1/2). Now, as I've my first English class for the semester at five, I figured I ought to get to the gettin' on whatever it is I need to do to get prepared for class. During my anime watching, however, I began to notice that the McDonald's arches are probably the most frequent thing used to represent a fast food restaurant on screen (this goes for more than just anime, also; I noticed the golden arches towards the beginning of The Fifth Element as well). However, every anime I've ever seen use the arches always uses represents them as a W rather than an M, which I'm assuming has a lot to do with not wanting to pay McDonald's any licensing fees because they're richer than all git due to America's chronic obesity issue anyway. I guess all I'm really driving at here is that I had no idea how influential American fast food was on the Japanese culture.
As I can't seem to think up anything else really worth yammering about, I'll cut this short with a factoid I learned a little while back: People have driven on the right-hand side of their vehicles in Europe since the Roman Empire, when it was necessary to be able to strike an opponent from your chariot with a sword held in the right hand, whereas people in America drive on the left-hand side since that was where the brake was located on the covered wagons.

What Day is it Again?

Three days in a row of working the graveyard shift at 7-Eleven has taught me a lot about the concepts of sleep and time-shift. Firstly, after that third day, sleep starts to seem like it's the best thing ever; I've probably gotten about fifteen hours of shut-eye over the past day, and those who know me know that this is quite an accomplishment, to be sure. Secondly, my insistence that the day doesn't officially "start" until eight in the morning isn't widely accepted during the night shift; night becomes morning at around three-thirty now (though I still have the habit of telling people "good morning" when they come in, and then turning around and saying "have a good evening" when they leave). Lastly, it gets damned boring until about five in the morning; I need to figure out how to make my fingers respond faster than my brain if I'm going to ever be able to handle the morning coffee rush, because these people get damned impatient; if the line gets over four people long, people with papers just start throwing money at you, apparently. On the plus side, not a lot of cigarette sales. Unless the bar just got out, then you get a few people looking for wine-flavoured cigarellos (and a curious fellow with bloodshot eyes asking Nixie "where the trees at?")
In other news, Taco bell has finally decided to recognise the goth plight and come out with a suitably themed taco (and for only eighty-nine cents!):
Behold, the BlackJack Taco. The only thing that makes it different from a normal taco is that it has mozarella cheese along with I think cheddar and colby, and there's a pepperjack sauce on there. Oh, and the shell is friggin' black... almost forgot that bit. Nixie's not a huge fan of the sauce, but the fact that there's a black taco is pretty awesome.
Lastly, I've started playing an online MM RPG, mostly due to seeing the advertisement for it too many times whilst watching anime. Adventure Quest Worlds is a browser-based Flash RPG, and is by the same people who created Adventure Quest and Mech Quest. It's also cheesy as all git, has really lacking animation, and the attacks are pretty monotonous, but at least it's not FarmVille. Whether or not I'll really ever make it past level four and be able to do some serious damage (without paying the twenty bucks to make my account "cool" and allow me to have cool-looking weapons) remains to be seen, but it's keeping me out of trouble for now. Let's just hope there's no pizza delivery place in this one... though that seems to be their thing with these games.

Apple: Not as cool as I thought it was.

Back in days of yore, I hated Apple products. Schools got 'em cheap, they ran OS9, and they were prone to crashes, program errors, and just seemed to add misery to an already miserable experience. Later came the iBooks and iMacs, designer colours, mice that you could remove the panels from and switch them around to annoy the library staff, and laptops that had built-in carrying handles and looked strangely like a toilet seat. This is where I think the Mac craze first started; once the iMacs released, they took the clear plastic with silver backing and some sort of clear, bright colour and applied it to anything electronic. But they still sucked. In fact, the only amusement I remember getting from them was using the "snapshot" function and leaving the notice that the image had been saved to the clipboard up until the computer got impatient and started talking to you in its clunky, vaguely-female voice.
And this dislike of them continued throughout high school, until my senior year. I was talked into taking a Visual Technologies class (which is just a fancy way of saying "graphic design") by my art teacher, whose husband just happened to teach the class. I spent the majority of my first semester at odds with the teacher due to the fact that I disliked Apple products (at this point, white earbuds were everywhere, whether they had an iPod or not, and that only added to it), and he was definitely a big supporter of them. After a while, I'd found that OSX was ideal for graphics work (after nearly losing a huge Photoshop file while saving on my PC), and decided to get one. And, lo and behold, I received my awesome new PowerBook G4 sometime later, and had the privilege of showing off the top of the line in Apple laptops (at the time). It's obviously an antique by current Mac standards, but it does its job (and I had it before they were cool xP).
And so began my quest to turn others over to Mac computers (probably influenced, at least in some part, by Hawk from Applegeeks). First my friend Alex got onto the bandwagon, then several other people. However, this was after they decided to go from this:

The PowerPC G5 processor, to this:

The Intel Core 2 Duo processor. With this atrocity came the built-in webcam and a lowered price, making Apple computers much more affordable than they'd been in the past. This served as a foundation for the popularity that Macs have achieved today. And now, not only are they powered by the same shit that a regular PC is, but they all come in the shiny aluminum finish. Add to that the lack of anti-glare screens and the promise of being "made of all recycled materials", and I'm starting to see that they aren't a niche market anymore. I can get a PC that can do graphics work just as well as any Mac can, and it won't get viruses if I just leave it disconnected from the internet. So, they're not that great anymore; as soon as I get the money, I'm gettin' one of these bad boys:

The HP with Voodoo DNA Blackbird 002. Seems my like of Apple products is a cyclic thing... maybe one day I'll think highly of them again, but as long as they keep putting out this sort of crap:

Doesn't everyone's digital camera already do digital video anyway? What the hell is the point? It's a friggin' mp3 player; play mp3's on it.

Well, whatever... I've still got these:

And I don't see Apple gettin' into the iGoth scene any time soon.

"Mopping is a battle you'll never win."

And I have to say, truer words probably haven't been spoken. Now, this isn't true of every store, I'm sure (not sure how many stores out there require you to mop the floors several times a day), but it about hits the nail right on the head for 7-Eleven. It doesn't matter how empty the store and parking lot are when you start mopping (and, in all honesty, it's a pretty small store, so it should only take about twenty minutes, if not less). As soon as two aisles get finished, like clockwork, two people walk in that decide they want something right in that aisle that you just mopped, so now there are footprints that you'll have to go back to later and RE-mop. So, after you've mopped the entire floor about three times over, I've found that it's wise to wait until the people die down again, and then do some spot-check work. Granted, the floor gets a helluva lot more dirty before it gets clean, but it does get there.
Keeping with the theme, I've also noticed that people who want a pack of cigarettes mumble. I'm going to go ahead and say that cigarettes must cause your internal volume to go way down, because these people do not project. They walk forward (and it's pretty obvious what they're after... they've got this sort of "smoker-vibe"), they set their money on the counter, and then... nothing. Maybe a short breath, but that's all you get. Their mouth is clearly moving, and they want cigarettes, but you'll have to use that telekinesis if you want to figure out what kind of cylindrical death they want without them getting an extremely annoyed look on their face. Or, you may get the masters who have perfected the art of setting the money down and gesturing towards the wall with their heads; all the while talking on a cell phone. According to my co-worker, this is pretty much normal.
All in all, however, I think I've been out of work for far too long, as these past three days have kinda burned me out (though that could have to do with my hours getting progressively earlier and earlier), but I start my official midnights position on Saturday. Hopefully the ability to get free coffee whenever I want isn't going to be too crucial.

Excuse me, 7-Eleven...?

... Yeah, I need to go to the bathroom again.

That pretty much sums up my first day of work at the 7-Eleven convenience store. You see, they have this thing where employees get free slushies and fountain drinks, so I just kept refilling my cup with Mt. Dew whenever it got empty. Well, Mt. Dew, like most other sodas, goes right through you, so you're pretty much doomed to be peeing out your eyes for the following six hours. I think I've learned my lesson, though. No more over-doing the free soda; this I can not say will be true for Nixie, as she's learned she is also elligible to receive free slushies and soda (and coffee, but she doesn't like it). So, no matter how many days I go without a free drink, she'll more than make up for (and possibly bankrupt the store on soda charges in the process.)
Also, let it be known to Nixie (and to anyone else), that I am not going to have an update on this if I've been at your house for the past day and a half. It just doesn't happen. If I could figure out a way to write blogs with just my mind, then things would be different, but as it is... No keyboard, no update. Besides, why would you need to read what I've been doing if you've been around me all day?
In closing, I'm going to go take a nap, so here's a picture of Shredder in the bathtub that I obtained off of The Rubber Chicken:

Almost Forgot I Had This...

Actually, that's a lie; I'm still a full-blown blog-junkie and I'm constantly saying "I should blog about this" when something remotely interesting comes up. Fact of the matter, however, is that I'm lazy and haven't really been pushing myself to make new posts lately. This is a bad habit to fall into, however.
So, top news this entry: Nixie is now officially a model. I accompanied her to a photo shoot maybe a week or so ago, and when she received the photos from the photographer, she submitted them to a site called "Model Mayhem". She mentioned that it's a difficult site to get accepted into (I can't say one way or the other on that), and so congratulations are in order as she's finally getting some exposure. Let's hope it doesn't go to her head too much... heh.
Also this entry, zombies:

Went and saw Zombieland for the midnight showing on Friday (Thursday night, technically), and despite having to go to AMC to see it (moronic MJR doesn't bother with these things unless it's incredibly mainstream and guaranteed to be popular), it was friggin' amazing. Nixie also enjoyed it quite a bit, and we'll likely be seeing it again next week some time. Also learned that the extra two dollars and fifty cents extra you pay for AMC buys you more piece of mind. When the new twilight movie trailer came on (yes, I know it's a title, but the capitalisation is meant as a sign of respect... bahahahaha), Nixie responded with her usual extremely loud "boo", which at MJR is usually overpowered by the cheering of brain-dead, spoiled high school girls. At AMC, however, there was a very nice booing reverb that followed, and in one of the rows behind me was quite a memorable quote:
"I don't see why people hate that movie so much; it was truly one of the great comedies of 2009. That, and I managed to remind the entire theatre I was an asshole by laughing through the entire thing."
And so I learned that geeks who truly appreciate zombie movies go to AMC, and don't bother with MJR and their "clap along" theme song.

Nuclear Explodey.

Last night, as it seems has become my evening ritual, I was watching the History channel. At some point, a program came on detailing the steps that would be taken by the American government should a nuclear device of at least ten kilotons be detonated in a major American city (in the case of the show, Washington D.C.). It detailed all that it could on the DEFCON and COGCON systems that have been enacted in order to keep the government from falling into anarchy, and to preserve as much life as is possible. While that's all fine and good, I couldn't help be compare the COG (Continuity of Government) system to the system used to preserve humanity in the anime Blue Gender; consider those not of governmental importance to already be dead, and shoot through them if it means accomplishing your goals.
It's rather sickening how the elected officials get top priority over the people who actually elect them. Kinda makes you wonder if people who vote realise that basically all they're doing is deciding which people's lives take priority over their own. This is not, however, the reason why I bring this particular program up. From the very beginning of this (and other History Channel specials on relatively awful things that could befall the human race), I couldn't help but wish that it actually would happen. Call me insensitive, but I think a massive catastrophe such as a nuclear detonation would add some interest to this otherwise mundane world in which the government wallows in their own paranoia that something disastrous might happen that would prevent them from being the high and mighty power they are. If anything else, at least a nuclear weapon would actually be getting some use; as they are currently, a nuclear arsenal is merely a way that a country can proclaim that their dick is bigger than some other country. They're not being used, there are no plans for them to ever be used, and human "morality" has otherwise proclaimed their use to be taboo. There is no conceivable reason for any military force to have them, other than to provide extra leverage when they feel like waving their stick at another nation.
So, in my opinion, either blow some city to kingdom come with them (because, lets face it, that's all they're really good for), or dismantle them and get off your high horse already. As they are currently, sitting in silos gathering dust until the alleged governmental equivalent of the Easy Button is pushed, the only thing coming of them is paranoia that another nation that isn't the United States is going to acquire them. And why would they want to do that? Because they don't like the idea that people can sit there and point an atomic bomb at them, and all they've got to fight back with are a few outdated guns and maybe a stinger missile or two. And people wonder why America is hated...
So, I will sit, and I will wait for the "inevitable" point in which America gets attacked with a nuclear weapon. At least then we'll finally get to see our fears realised.

And now, I leave you with some words from Jack the Ripper as heard in the movie From Hell:

"No man amongst you is fit to judge the mighty art that I have wrought. Your rituals are empty oaths you neither understand nor live by. The Great Architect speaks to me. He is the balance where my deeds are weighed and judged... not you."

Gravitational Field Equation, Near Light Speed, and the G.U.T.

Astronomy this semester, coupled with several nights spent watching doomsday scenarios on The History Channel, have started to get me interested in the physics behind it all. This is not to say that I want to run off and take a physics course (in fact, I failed physics in high school, but that was due to lack of effort), but I would like to start getting a better handle on it.
My astronomy instructor mentioned that Einstein's notes for his Grand Unification Theory (G.U.T.) are available in book form at most book stores, so I figured while I was online, I might see if I can see how much such a piece of literature would cost. Seeing as how even Einstein couldn't figure out what his notes were telling him, I don't expect to understand it in the slightest, but I'd still like to see what he came up with before he died. But, I digress; while my initial search didn't really turn up what I was looking for, I did stumble across an article published back in 2006 that mentions a new exact solution for Einstein's Gravitational Field Equation (something I also don't know in the slightest), and the possibility of near-light-speed travel by the end of the century. While I realise that "the end of the century" is beyond my lifetime, it's hardly the millenia I would've figured it would take to get anywhere close to light speed.
The physicist who came up with this solution also mentioned something about changing our perception of exploring the "far reaches of our universe". This I don't quite believe, as something travelling the speed of light would take something like a hundred-million years to even get from one side of our galaxy to the other, so something going near light speed isn't showing too much promise of getting very far in that aspect, but it may allow people to see new solar systems, which is in and of itself pretty cool.
Anyhow just thought I'd mention something about this because I found it interesting. Now back to my hunt for the published version of the G.U.T.

edit: I found it... s' in three volumes and is one-hundred and sixty shmuckers... maybe for Christmas xD

If The World Were Black and Grey...

So, I was in the middle of editing Nixie's History paper, and I was listening to the song "Day After Day" by Inward Eye, and there's a part towards the beginning that sounds like it says "what's black and grey" (I've since learned that all the lyrics websites put it down as "what's black and gay"). I found it to be a bit inspirational, as most of the time the world is viewed as largely black and white, with a grey area for middle ground. And so I thought to myself, how would the world be if it were only black and grey?
- Bright white printer paper would be a figment of your imagination
- There wouldn't be a spectrum of colour that you could reveal by passing white light through a prism
- White supremacy would seem rather foolish
- Children wouldn't get their PB & J on white bread
- There wouldn't be a whole lot positive, what with only the negative and middle ground covered
- Sin City would be a non-fiction documentary ('cept for the coloured bits)
- Oz would look the same as Kansas, just lots more overly-dressed little people
- Colour television sets would make about as much difference as whether a burned out light bulb is turned on or off
- All photography would be what is considered "artistic" nowadays (even though "artistic" photography is just how people who can't draw it justify themselves as being artists)
- Rainbow Brite would've never come to save the Color Kids
- For that matter, Murky and Lurky would still be terrorizing the countryside in the Grunge Buggy
- I'd probably be too miserable to come up with all this crap

Until next I get inspired while I'm supposed to be doing something else...

I have no idea.

I was in the middle of watching an episode of Heat Guy J when a peculiar advertisement thingy caught my attention:



With something like this, you're bound to be curious what the right answer is, so I did a Google image search and came back with this as the result:



Seeing as how there's a "Worth 1000" watermark in the lower corner, I can only assume that this is a photomanipulation and not an actual living animal. That being the case, I think it's safe to say that MOST Americans have been had.

Cedar Point and Some Good News in Gaming

This past Saturday I got to go to Cedar Point (again... this is like the third time in three months), except I think I only went on about five rides the entire time. This was due to two circumstances; we got there late, and it was a Halloweekends weekend. Getting there late isn't so much a reason why we didn't get to ride on much, though, as the line lengths kinda prevented getting on any of the good rides with any sort of haste (hell, the Mean Streak had a half-hour line, and that's rare). We were also there to experience the haunted houses that are only open a few times a year, also; what with Halloween not being a year-round thing and all. I went in one of the haunted houses years ago when I went with my family, and I remember being outright terrified by them, so I was a little bit skittish about going in them again, but I figured that I knew well enough that it was going to just be a bunch of people in costumes that I wouldn't really have too much to worry about.
Turns out they're a lot cheesier than I remembered; most of the people are right out in plain sight, and don't make much effort to scare you, and the ones that do are usually conveniently hidden by a strobe light or a wall and jump out shaking a can of beans or something; Nixie wasn't much impressed. Of the four we went in, the one that was themed like a toy factory was probably the best (and not just because it had a long hallway of dolls urinating that you had to avoid). I also learned that Nixie makes it a point to try and best all the people in the houses; this gets annoying after she stops to have a conversation with one of the people in costume for about the umpteenth time, and you're really not in the mood for her antics.
So, after a day of that, I was sitting around yesterday having a look at the new Game Informer, and I noticed two previews that caught my eye. The first was a short glimpse at the upcoming Fable III (frak yeah, Fable III), which is once again set in the future of the past game, and looks like you'll have to be a king this time (not really my thing, but the Fable series has been good for me, so I'll get it for the sole reason that it's Fable). The second is one that I didn't expect to come out at all, let alone for the 360: Magnacarta 2:

Which had originally come out for the PC eons ago. It doesn't look like Calintz is going to be in this one, but as I didn't really expect a new one to come out, I'm just glad to see that the franchise isn't dead. There's also a pretty innovative battle system contained in it, so I'm all in all quite pleased with these few future offerings.
And, as I won't generally voice any enthusiasm for upcoming gaming releases, this is big news.

Lotta Weird Dreams Lately...

So, it seems like ever since I posted about having a dream a while back, I've actually been having dreams I can remember, it's a little odd. Not sure if something in my head just clicked into "save mode" once I decided I should record my dreams, or if I just never noticed before, but for the past two nights, I've remembered my dreams.
The previous night was another school-based dream, once again probably high school, and my math teacher was Duff Goldman from Ace of Cakes. There wasn't really much to it other than I couldn't get this one math problem (in fact, seemed no one in the class could), but I was the only one who had copied the problem right, so the fact that I got it wrong still made me feel like an idiot when I reflected on it later. Anyhow, the problem was explained to me, I got it, and then I woke up.
Last night was a little different; this one was more of a movie-based dream (a space-horror movie, to be exact), and I'm pretty sure it was a recent film, because I knew that something bad was going to happen if they did certain things, so I was doing my best to try and prevent it. I think it had Jodie Foster in it (though the actual movie probably didn't) and maybe Morgan Freeman... Some big name actor, anyway. Anyhow, they found this cassette-looking thing on this abandoned space ship in the cargo hold, I think, and I knew that if they tried to force it into the player, it would break and all hell would break loose, so I kept trying to keep them from putting it in the player. I knew that the tension over the whole thing was building, but it didn't seem like a dire situation, and I finally snatched the cassette away and threw it someplace where I figured they wouldn't be able to find it, which was probably a lousy idea in retrospect, because I think that ended up breaking it, and now I couldn't get to it to use it to solve any problems.
Luckily, right then I woke up and didn't have to worry about any weird alien things or whatever was going to come out of it. Oh, and I think Jodie Foster was running around video-taping ghosts before the whole thing happened... doing her usual "I'm obsessed over something to a fault" routine.
I'm starting to hope I forget my dreams again soon, otherwise I might actually believe Khira when she tells me I'm losing touch with reality...
In the meantime, Lego bricks for eyes:

French Toast!!

It would taste a lie to say that I haven't had The Toast Song stuck in my head all day. I also learned that, according to my sister, people need to have a valid reason for taking a picture of their food. I was not aware of this; I figured that chocolate milk was a valid reason for doing anything.

A Dream I'm Likely to Forget Unless I Write It Down

It's rare that I have dreams that I actually remember, so when I do have one, I'll probably stick it in here so I can remember it later.
It started out with me taking some sort of a skateboarding class that was likely being taught at my high school. I say this because it was taught by one of my high school gym teachers, and it seemed too small to be a college course (the fact that skateboarding generally isn't taught in school at all is irrelevant, as this was a dream). Anyhow, the goal of this class seemed to be to come up with four different skating runs (I think that's what they're called, I'm not much of a skater in reality), which were demonstrated to us at the beginning of each class, and then everyone in the class took turns trying the run on the course (which, oddly enough, was just a straight line with ramps and rails). If I remember correctly, this took place within the span of four days, which really didn't seem that short while I was dreaming it, but it seems kind of weird now that I think about it. I was able to do each run perfectly the first time through, so the class itself was sort of an "easy A".
After the conclusion of the class, there was a time lapse of sorts (don't you love when your dream skips over the unimportant parts?), and suddenly it was the next semester and I was taking the class again for whatever reason. I'd done the first two runs fine, and I could remember the fourth, but I was at current required to do my third run (which was referred to as "run 29" in the dream), but I couldn't remember what it was for the life of me, and I actually started to realise I knew nothing about skating. So, for some reason, I was able to stall to try and remember while my instructor proceeded to explain that your level of skill on a skateboard was directly proportional to how well you skated on the Golden Gate Bridge. According to him, a beginner can skate across the side railing over the entire bridge, intermediate can go up one of the cables, experienced can go up and over one of the support towers, and advanced could do the whole thing and then grind a cloud. That's some hardcore skating, if you ask me, and I'm kinda glad my alarm went off just then so I wouldn't have to prove that I was of beginner level.
Upon half-consciously oozing out of bed and turning my alarm off, I promptly returned to bed (which I always do), and fell back asleep. The dream continued, only I was now in some sort of martial arts class and the instructor and all the other students were all anime-styled animals. The current lesson was to punch a punching bag (which was really just a big cylindrical bag filled with what looked like the juices that come in shrink-wrapped steak, only blue), and then to let the bag come back and hit you. The punch itself was actually more of a side-chop with a padded hand-guard, and I think the actual point of the lesson was to get pissed off at the punching bag. I was standing in line waiting (I really wanted to do this for some reason... I guess I wanted to get pissed off at a punching bag), but the class was coming to an end and it looked like I wasn't going to be able to take my turn.
Suddenly, some sort of villain burst into the room and did something unfavourable and then dashed off, leaving the instructor (who was some sort of a bear or raccoon or something) to tell us to calm down and not do anything rash. Seeing as how this was me, I immediately flew off after him and was suddenly dressed like a Shinigami from Bleach, though I don't think I had a sword. Several other students followed me and we began trying to shoot the villain out of the air. After some time, the very unhappy instructor came flying after us yelling to calm down and get back to class, but I was too focused on shooting this guy down, so I kept right on going. That is, until the instructor did some sort of attack in which a big green energy wall shot up between me and the villain, in which case I was reluctantly forced back to the ground. This did not, however, deter Uryuu Ishida (the Quincy, for those not familiar with Bleach) from using some sort of spirit-particle bladed weapon to smash through said wall and continue the pursuit.
At this point I woke up, and realised I should probably watch less anime before I go to bed.

... nah.

Some Reasons Why Guidos Would Make Good Zombies

I actually came up with this idea last night whilst talking to Nixie. She brought up one of the trailers for the movie "Zombieland" (which looks amazing), and then mentioned that if there was a midnight premier, that we ought to go dressed as zombies. This is nothing new, of course, because to Nixie, a midnight premier is just yet another excuse to get all gussied up as someone else and try to act in character (she's more enthusiastic about that sort of thing than I am). Regardless, I was adamant about the idea because the last two midnight premiers we attended at the theatre that's closest that offers a student discount is, unfortunately, overrun by rich high-school-age kids who probably don't understand what "work" is. A large portion of these are Guidos, which I said I didn't feel like dealing with after the Harry Potter premier, to which she said "Yeah, but we'll be zombies, we can eat their brains."
"Maybe," I said in reply, "But I highly doubt your teeth are sharp enough and your jaw strong enough to gnaw through a skull that thick."
And thus I began to realise how similar a zombie and a Guido are, and so, here are some reasons why Guidos would make good zombies:
1. As stated, the skull of a Guido is quite a bit thicker than that of your everyday citizen. This means that they're less likely to just be killed by zombies, because no zombie is going to want to go through that much work to get so little brains as a result.
2. Guidos travel in groups, anyway, so the need to form a seething mass comes naturally.
3. Guidos like to "juice" themselves up, which makes for a relatively fit zombie; and fast, strong zombies are scarier.
4. Those spray-on tans would probably have a temporary preservational effect on their decaying skin, making them last longer (not to mention their heads are harder to blow off due to the thick skull).
5. Guidos are mindless, blathering idiots to begin with, so becoming a zombie isn't much of a stretch for them; they'll adapt right away.
6. A Guido has a need to see himself as superior to others, and as such will likely become a zombie pack leader, allowing the other zombies to kill and assimilate more effectively.
7. Because all those trashy, brainless girl zombies need to have someone around that they can relate to.

That's about all I can come up with for now, but as I think up more, I'll definitely add them.

In Other Harry Potter Related News...

So, Nixie wanted me to go to Wal-Mart after we left Meijer this evening, and I said I wasn't going to because it was out of the way and I didn't have enough fuel to be wasting on a trip to that god-awful place. So, with an "aww", we pulled out of Meijer and started heading back to her house.
Now here's where things become unfortunate: I somehow managed to pull out behind a minivan (not an SUV, Nixie) which had the ominous glow that can only come from a vehicle with flip-down movie screens. Whoever designed those things should have gone a step further and either a) thought to frost or otherwise tint the back window so as to not announce to other vehicles that you're watching a movie, or b) made the thing project directly on the back window, complete with a station other people can tune into so they, also, can enjoy this movie. The second one has been taught to us since grammar school: "Did you bring enough to share with the rest of the class?"
That being said, I'm always drawn to pull closer to try and identify what movie they're watching. This is unfortunate, as these vehicles are usually family vehicles, and they don't need a glorified go-cart seemingly riding their ass like any other obnoxious driver. Regardless, I pulled closer, and soon saw what looked to be a Harry Potter movie. Upon mention of this observation, Nixie's curiosity shot through the roof and it was suddenly "Get closer! Get closer! A red light! Stop close behind! I want to see! Dammit, get CLOSER!!!" and so it continued, with some poor family probably mortified that they were about to be gunned down by some drunken, adrenaline-crazed teenagers.
Long story short, we followed that van all the way to Wal-Mart... funny how these things just happen sometimes.

Pop Rocks and chocolate milk taste horrible together.

Also, there's a troll in the dungeon.

Thought you ought to know.

Four hours of Algebra is bound to take its toll

It's not like me having four straight hours of Algebra is an unusual thing; the class is scheduled from 6:00 to 9:55. However, our professor usually gets the lessons done pretty quickly and lets us go early (because I don't care what I paid, four hours of math is friggin' long). Anyhow, we had four sections to cover tonight (all on graphing equations... yippideedoo), and by the time we got around to the final lesson, the numbers on the paper made less sense than the doorknob mounted on one of the cieling tiles. Here are my notes:

And, in case you missed it, my own little contribution to mathematics:

Note to self: You should probably eat something at some point in the day before a four hour math class, and sleep might be useful, too.

The Nixian - English Dictionary: Word of the Day

Today's word: derk
Meaning: a combination of the root words "dork" and "jerk", this word is used when neither sufficiently describes an individual's behaviour on their own, and there's no time to say them both.

Lookie What I Finally Got Around to Getting...

Oh yes, that's the Collector's Edition of Batman: Arkham Asylum for the xBox 360. Now, I wish I could say that it was all mine, but Nixie has decided she's paying for half of it, so I guess I have to share...
Ah well, not much that can overcome this sort of majesty.

Nixian - English Dictionary: Word of the Day

Today's word: oxagonalish
Meaning: 1. something vaguely eight-sided i.e., "The main part of that building is kinda oxagonalish.
2. a somewhat off-the-wall middle name when giving a stray cat a full name i.e., "Tumbles Oxagonalish Galazka

The Nixian-English Dictionary: Word of the Day

My girlfriend sometimes slips up when she's talking and from that we get new words that I like to call "Nixian".

Today's word: Speakle
Meaning: used when referring to a language being spoken by a group of people i.e., "Americans speakle English."

Brickshelf Updated [finally]

I uploaded two new exos to my Brickshelf gallery this morning, first was the Blue Lightening HM, a mass-produced high-mobility exo:
The second one I haven't really come up with a good name for yet (I've been bouncing back and forth between Banshee and Wasp), but it's meant to be a highly modified obsolete lifting-oriented industrial exo, with more points of movement, and the modified fork-lifter arms have been converted to swing up and down and can be used as melee weapons. I also tried to make it look like it had a SHO (super high output) fusion reactor added to its back to increase mobility:

More pictures can, of course, be found at my Brickshelf gallery, which can be found here. I don't update it as often as I probably should, and I've got two other exos that I haven't taken pictures of yet, but I'll be getting those up eventually.

A Little Out of the Blue, But...

At about 1:30 this morning I got pulled over for the first time in my four years of driving, and I made a few very interesting observations that I probably never would have if I were still able to say that I'd never been pulled over. Before I go into these, let me just state that I am not going to complain about the police system, being pulled over, ticket prices (I didn't get one anyway), or any of the other things that normally make people roll their eyes or sigh heavily when the topic of being pulled over is brought up.
Firstly, I always thought I'd be extremely panicky and maybe even be shaking slightly when I got pulled over for the first time (I also hoped that I'd be able to go my entire life without having to go through this, but that's not really possible, as far as I know); this turned out to not be the case. I guess I've read and heard enough tips on what to do when pulled over that I knew what to do by instinct, and so things went smoothly and overall it wasn't an entirely bad experience, overlooking the fact that I was, indeed, pulled over.
Secondly, you get this undeniable feeling that your proverbial driving "wings" have been clipped after the officer drives off and you slowly pull out of the church parking lot you decided was the best place to be stopped in. I'm not sure how long this feeling of paranoia is going to last, but I hope it's not for very long, because driving is a lot more enjoyable when I don't have the unfortunate feeling that my every move is now being watched. It's a heck of a lot less fun when you realise that driving isn't meant to be fun anymore.
And so, at least for the next few nights, I won't be darting around the usual winding back streets clearing my head and improving my driving skills (something I think everyone should really do; the majority of drivers are horrible), but will instead be sitting at the computer sulking because I'm afraid I'll get pulled over again.
... I don't expect this slump to last for more than a week, though xP

Never Blogged Before

As it clearly states, I've never written a blog before, and I don't suspect anyone will follow it, but the concept has been around forever, and this seems much more productive than creating a MySpace or a Twitter account, so here we go.
As this is my first posting, there's not going to be a whole lot interesting until I get the basic hang of things, and actually have things I feel like posting. Instead, this is more or less an introductory thing in order to say that I've actually begun this thing. Anything else about me that is needed to be known can be found in my profile (it should also shed some light on what I intend to post here... maybe).
So, until my muse strikes me with something awe-inspiring, or I have something I'm proud enough of to post, this will be my farewell... for now.