Rockers and Rollers: a book review

If you're a fan of AC/DC and/or cars, then you'll love lead singer Brian Johnson's autobiography, Rockers and Rollers. Set up more like a collection of anectdotes than an actual memoir, Johnson relates stories from his life from the point of view of what automobile he owned or his friends/family owned at the time, stating that the two constants in his entire life were cars and music. Johnson writes exactly how he speaks (except it's actually intelligble LOL) so every line is a hysterical piece of northern English slang and euphemism, and he doesn't mince words. I've never laughed out loud more in my life while reading a book. From the first (and only) car his father ever purchased, to trying to talk bassist Cliff Williams out of impulse-buying an Aston Martin while on tour, to the start of his successful racing career, every chapter is the kind of story guys would share over pints. You feel like Johnson is your buddy the way he casually writes, like he's going to give you a clap on the shoulder and share a laugh with you at the end of each tale.
The cars mentioned are predominantly European, so if you're an American muscle car nut you might not be up for hearing about Aston Martins, Porsches, Renaults, Ferraris, Rolls-Royces and the like. But a passion for motors is a universal language, so any automobile aficionado regardless of what makes and models they prefer will be able to understand how Johnson feels. The stories involving his fellow bandmates, not just in AC/DC but in his earlier band Geordie, will give you insight on his relationship with fellow musicians and life on the road.
Even if you don't know anything about cars and don't care, the way Johnson tells the stories will have you howling. It's a quick read which you can breeze through in less than 3 days but you'll be thoroughly entertained, and it's a reminder that rock 'n roll and cars have always gone together like peanut butter and jelly.
I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Christmas Haul

It was a pretty good Christmas. My mom was beside herself that my dad broke down and got her her own Wii and my dad is very interested in learning how to sync music to his new iPod. His only concern is figuring out the most effective way to listen to it at work while keeping the bluetooth headset required for work in one ear. The cats got stoned on catnip and Frankenstein was totally enthralled with his first Christmas ever. I got lots of great stuff.

A new peacoat
A new bathrobe
New pillows with satin pillowcases
Slippers in the shape of Gir from Invader Zim - my favorite gift as I had a pair like 4 years ago but they got wrecked and had to be thrown out when I had a bedbug infestation
Peanuts Collection 1960s and 1970s Volume 1 on DVD
Watchmen on DVD
The Essential Weird Al on CD
Rockers and Rollers: An Automobile Autobiography by Brian Johnson of AC/DC
Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk
$50 Kohl's gift card
Various candy and skincare/beauty products in my stocking
No pads for once LOL (inside joke from back when my grandmother was still alive)
$250 from my grandfather.

My other grandparents are paying off a medical bill as my gift and I haven't gotten the gift from my aunt yet but I can only assume it's yet another Nintendo sweatshirt from Hot Topic (seriously, I looove Nintendo but three's enough). I haven't gotten Wig's gift yet. I asked for Parker Lewis Can't Lose on DVD (only the BEST forgotten show of the 90s) but if he couldn't find it, a new ring or 2 to replace the 2 I lost at work this Season.

My grandfather, uncle, and my mom's cousins Raymond and his partner Tom and Julie and her husband and 2 daughters all came for dinner at our house. Olivia is 2 and Sophia's 3 months. Olivia's one of those toddlers that is too smart and clever for their own good. And y'know the old saying kids say the darnedest things. Raymond was telling a story of when he took her to some Santa's Village thingie and they're waiting in line and some other kid was acting up she goes "It OK Unky Raymond. I think he's retarded" Like where'd she learn that word? When we babysat her a few weeks ago she just turned to my mom and addressed her by her first name, like "Hey, Carolyn!" and my mom's like "Call me auntie!" Also it was quite funny to see how enthralled with my uncle Richard both Olivia and Sophia were. My uncle Richard's waaaaay out there. He's tapped. So they're just staring at him like "WTF?" He spent half the party watching Christmas Vacation and the other half watching Elmo because we put it on for Olivia but she wouldn't stand still...but he left it on, even after my mom's like "Y'know, Rich, you can change that..." no response "...unless you want to watch it..."

After the horde of people left I headed over to Wiggy's where Wig shit a brick when he got his special edition Nintendo DSi. We watched Santa Claus Conquers the Martian (Mystery Science Theater version of couse) which is our new Christmas tradition after it went over so well with him and Gahmstead last year.

...and WTF Luis Guzman is in Crocodile Dundee II? Sorry that threw me off. It's on TVLand right now and I look over and I see the one Hispanic actor who's in EVERTHING...besides Danny Trejo, but he's technically only in everything directed by Robert Rodriguez...and Bubble Boy.

Anyway, after the movie Wig gave me a different kind of Christmas gift if you know what I mean *wink-wink, nudge-nudge, say no more* We called it an early night soon after because even though it was Christmas it was still a Friday which means he HAS to go over Jack's with the rest of the gang to play 360. LOL.

Christmas Eve was fun too. In the morning after the overnight shift was over, a huge group of us went over to Denny's, including Ed our manager. I'm surprised we weren't kicked out for being loud, obnoxious and continuously talking about vaginas. Something about Christmas vaginas and everyone was replacing the word Christmas with Vagina in song titles...yeah, we're very mature. A couple of them were noticably drunk. How professional. Jason actually passed out in his aisle and John got a hysteriacal picture of him just curled up on a couple boxes. Not that Ed can do anything cuz John's also got a picture of him asleep on a shelf. See what I miss when I'm closed off in the RZone? Neither of them were as drunk as this one kid who was actually drinking AT work, having smuggled in old-school alocholic egg nog in a water bottle, but he didn't come to Denny's. Probably for the best. Good thing Season and the overnight shift are over tonight because he wouldn't have had a job still anyway.
Anyway, that was one breakfast/dinner/whatever that was chock full of innuendo. And male cleavage (Mikey makes some really convincing cleavage when he squishes his chest up, which is odd because he's a skinny guy and doesn't have man-boobs or anything). God we were there for like, 3 hours just stuffing our faces and laughing hysterically. And Ed paid for the whole thing as a Christmas gift to us - despite our protests. But we all threw in for the tip. It's bittersweet. I'm so glad Christmas is over and hours and general foot traffic in the store are going back to normal and I can get back on a normal sleep schedule, but I was finally starting to have a real rapport with some of the night crew (I don't see them much because we're in our own respective sections but after work we started getting to talking only in the past week and Dan's a funny-ass guy...and he's the only other person I know so far besides me and Wig that have see Dayjob Orchestra's video dubs on YouTube! I also got him addicted to iCarly LOL) There' always Facebook, which I HAVE to friend everyone on, especially to nab copies of John's pics of Jason and Ed sleeping and Mikey's hot tits LOL.
After stumbling home from Denny's I slept a little and headed over to Wig's. His friend and drummer Mikey was over and we all watched Dragonball Evolution and the Invader Zim Christmas episode. Then when Gahmstead came home we watched Dodgeball which I FINALLY got to see. Hysterical. Dragonball wasn't bad but it wasn't great. If you're a fan of the original manga and anime, it's worth renting because they get a handful of things right like character personalities and the balance of action and comedy, but took a lot of liberties with the backstory. I don't think they even used the term Saiyan once. If you're not a Dragonball fan, this movie doesn't hold up much as just an action flick. There's some cool martial arts stuff and a fiery lava Mount Doom-esque landscape where the final showdown happens and there's an evil alien (played by Spike from Buffy and Angel) trying to take over but it's too cheesy even for people who like cheesy.

All in all it was a good end to a mediocre year.

OK, I haven't watched Little People, Big World in a little over a year. Why is the TVPG rating in huge white letters filling the entire screen for about a minute and a half at the beginning of the episode now? It's annoying. This isn't the kind of series where the content is a big issue with potential viewers and you really need discretion. And what's TLC's obsession with people with dwarfism now? First it was Little People, Big World, then the Little Couple and now The Little Chocolatiers about a dwarf couple who run a chocolate shop. I love little people (mainly because they make me feel tall and there's few people who can do that when you're 5'1") but they're just normal people with normal jobs and normal day-to-day business. They just happen to be 3 or 4 feet tall. I will give the Roloffs credit for giving other people with dwarfism inspiration that they can do anything and everything they desire and their size won't make it impossible. But I think some of the other dwarves in these newer series are just jumping on the bandwagon. Another thing that I wonder is why so many dwarves prefer the term "little people." I think that's more condescending than dwarf or midget. Well maybe not midget, midget can be pretty derogatory. But I don't see anything wrong with dwarf. I mean the condition is called dwarfism so it's more of a technical term if anything. Maybe it's because it's also a term for a fantasy species and they don't want to be compared to faeries and orcs. But I think little people calls more attention to their height. Calling them little is, well, belittling...Plus it compares them to the famous toys from Fisher Price. They're not individuals, they're choking hazards. If I had dwarfism, I wouldn't mind being called a midget, but that's my preference. Obviously everyone has their preferences. I mean, I'm the kind of person who doesn't mind being called a guinea. It takes a lot to offend me. I mean, they're just words. Words only have power if you let them. Some words, some epithets, have a darker and sinister origin than others but in this day and age they are just words and they only hurt if you let them hurt you.

Sory about that. There's a Little People, Big World marathon on right now and it reminded me of those things that have been on my mind before. Anyways...

Yesterday I got to go to a Christmas party at Wig's uncle Kevin's house. They've invited me to many different family get-togethers and parties in the past but it's always on a Sunday and I always work Sundays and I'd always hear about it last minute so I couldn't request it off. But this time around I'm working overnights so I got to make it this time around. Kevin lives literally 2 blocks away too so it wasn't out of the way which was good because of the snowstorm. This was finally the first time I met more of Wig's family besides his grandparents, although I went to school with his cousin Joey from kindergarten to eighth grade so I knew him and I had met Kevin and his wife because of their volunteering at the school when Joey was a kid. Wig's aunt goes "I remember you, I had to send you to the principal's office in 2nd grade when I was a lunch mother." Everyone remembers the negative LOL. Wig has 5 uncles and 1 aunt on his father's side, then of course their spouses and then cousins. So I was one lone guinea in a sea full of Fitzpatricks LOL. Wig's youngest cousin Aidan, his uncle Brian's son, looks a lot like Wig did when he was that age. But everyone in that family looks like everyone else. They got some deep-running genes. But now I have a pretty good idea of what my son's going to look like. They did a Yankee Swap and I ended up with a Snuggie LMAO. If you're not familiar w/a Yankee Swap, basically everyone pitches in a surprise gift, then you pick a number and everyone picks a gift in numerical order. You can keep what you end up with or trade with someone before you. The first person gets to pick from everything at the end since there wasn't anyone before them to pick from the first time. Wig ended up with a 2-pack of stainless steel water bottles, and I've been wanting one so I made him give me one LOL. Well, I said I'd never pay for a Snuggie, but if someone were to give me one I'd use it. It is useful for knitting or crocheting or playing DS, and it's warm. A lot of people say to just wear a bathrobe backwards, but the Snuggie's got the length of a blanket with the sleeves of a robe. A bathrobe only goes to like, your shins or ankles, you can cover up your feet with a Snuggie. But they do look retarded. But it came with the book light! Now when I want to read in bed I won't go blind and die of radiation using my ultra-violet super bright desk lamp!

Now I'm trying to unravel a huge knot in a skein of yarn (y'know, I keep buying Red Heart and I NEVER learn) so I can finish the scarf for Wig's sister. I have 4 days! Thank God Christmas is almost here. I'm working overnights the next 3 nights and then I have Christmas Eve and (obviously) Day off. I'm working overnights Saturday for recovery but I don't know about next week yet. Basically, my manager Rob told me last Tuesday to only do overnights for the next 2 weeks because it'll be better for everyone. This Season hasn't been too kind for me stress-wise. I don't know what set me off but I kept having panic attacks. I should be used to this, this is my 8th Season, and although it was noticably worse this year compared to the past, I should've still been able to make it through. But basically for my sake so I wasn't going through weird sleep schedules and having panic attacks or getting sick and for the store's sake so no one had to put up with me stressing out and yelling anymore I haven't worked during opening hours since last Tuesday. I just wish he would've thought of that sooner. Because after Friday, it won't matter! Sure it'll still be busy with returns and kids coming in with their gift cards and Christmas money, but it won't be as busy as it has been. Ed said they might have one or 2 more weeks of overnights. It'll be nice to have the differential for another 2 weeks but it won't be necessary for restock and all that.

On the one hand I'm glad the new year is starting soon because it's an opportunity to start new things and hopefully things will go better this year. But on the other hand, it's another year gone. Time's moving too fast, and I feel I have less and less time to acheive my goals. But I'm going to remain positive and work harder in 2010 and pray that this year I'll actually get married!

Popping in

Just popping in so the blogosphere doesn't think I'm dead. Lately I've been busy with work or being in pain because of work. If it's not my back it's one of my knees. Or my feet. Or my arm. I've been constantly getting headaches too and while they're not severe I hope it's not a sign that I could end up getting cluster headaches like my dad. Plus I've started getting panic attacks at work, something which none of my coworkers have any sympathy for. It took them 15-20 minutes to get someone to cover for me so I could go to the break room to calm down. And yesterday my manager Steve told me I should just quit. The only people seemingly on my side and willing to help me out at work are my other managers Ed and Aaron, who actually produce helpful solutions. Ed has recruited not one but three people to work RZone overnights with me and on nights I'm not there so more stuff is getting done. And the other day Aaron actually ran over to Shaws to buy my Advil when my backache was unbearable. Aaron also almost looks like Rick Astley so whenever he's working I have Never Gonna Give You Up stuck in my head the whole time. This time of year's always horrible and there's always some things that get worse and some that get better. I try to remind myself that there's only 3 weeks left, but those are going to be three loooong weeks.

When I'm not working or in a stupor trying to recover from work, I'm working on 3 crochet projects - 2 scarves, one for Wig's sister and one for his mom, and a blanket for our friends Katie and Fetus' baby. They found out they're having a boy and are naming him Seamus Joseph Conley. Fetus is fiercely proud of his Irish heritage. I have a feeling the middle name Joseph is for our friend Joe Tilton who died last September. Fetus was really close to him. All three are made up of granny squares so I'm seeing granny squares in my sleep right now. Other than that most of my Christmas shopping is done. I have a few more people I need to get gifts for and I don't know what to get them yet. My dad finally broke down and got a Wii for my mom so me and Heather are going to get Wii Fit Plus so now she doesn't have to complain that I won't move the system into the living room. Me and Heather are getting dad an iPod Nano and I got Wig a Nintendo DSi bundle that we had on Black Friday because it was too good to pass up and his DS is broken. Heather asked for Aquasaurs, these prehistoric fish you hatch in an aquarium.

Speaking of which Heather's actually STILL working despite threatening to quit when the manager failed to have the schedule out on time and then told her last minute she had to work when she already had plans. Instead the manager apologized and said it was all his fault. She's actually going to stick out through the whole Season and however long into January ToyZAM is open for. She might even transfer to Spencer's once it closes (they're owned by the same company) but that's a might. She jokes that she's going to work for three months every 19 years.

So after seeing many Etsy CreateCrochet Teammates and a few of my close friends make fan pages for their Etsys (Etsies?) I jumped on the bandwagon and made one too. I'm planning on some fun Fan-only promotions in the future. I've spent a lot of time in the past couple weeks networking and connecting with everyone on the CreatCrochet team- following any blogs or Twitters they have, favoriting their shops, and becoming fans on FaceBook. The more connections, the more word spreads. The CreateCrochet team is a great community. We recently did a swap where we were matched up and got to know our partner through convos and we had to make a secret gift for each other. I was matched with a woman from Vermont and it was fun getting to know her. I felt bad because she had a mild stroke and it's crazy because she's only in her late 20s. But she's doing OK now. She made me a reuseable Swiffer pad and a scrubbie and I made her a set of regular-sized and mini brain slugs (Mommy and Baby to represent her and her 2-year old daughter) in the same variegrated pink I made Flav's out of. I'm aiming to join a couple more teams, one for my jewelry and hopefully find some local ones. If you're on Etsy and not on a team yet look it up. It's a great way to network, get your items some more views, get tips and support and have fun doing your craft.

Tonight I'm getting together with a group of former Toys R Us Medford coworkers. It's something we do 2 or 3 times a year to catch up, have some drinks and have fun. We'll be going to Border Cafe in Burlington. Jill usually orchestrates the plans and other regulars always include Lynnette, Noelle, Joanne Ellard, Amy Struppa, and Melissa Cashman. Last time we got together Aimee Walkup was back in the area after moving the North Carolina and getting married. It was funny because a lot of us were wondering whatever happend to her after she quit and boom there she was. LOL. But I look forward to getting buzzed on margaritas before pulling an overnight LOL.

I wonder when we're putting up our tree. Probably this weekend or next weekend. My dad has a reputation as a Scrooge or a Grinch because he hates Christmas decorations. He just doesn't like the hassle of digging them out, putting them up, and then having to clean them up after the holidays. I'll admit the tree is a bit of a pain in the ass, hauling it upstairs, putting it together. (I'm allergic to pine so we can't have a real tree. Real trees are a hassle too though. Cutting it down or going to the lot and picking one out, hauling it back home, trimming it, watering it, sweeping up shed needles) And of course our cat Wyatt always has to try to climb it, and we have no idea what the new one, Frankenstein, is going to do when he first sees the tree. But I can't wrap any gifts until the tree is up because I have nowhere else to put them. If I try to shove them back in the back of my closet while they're wrapped, the wrapping could get ripped. So, no wrapping until I can put them under a tree.

Beating up a zombie to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now is one of the greatest moments in cinema history. Why don't I own Shaun of the Dead on DVD? Watching it edited on Comedy Central is subpar.

Price is Right Birthday Exravaganza

Today for my birthday Wig and I went down to Foxwoods to see The Price is Right Live. It was hosted by Growing Pains star Alan Thicke. It was basically the same as the TV version - you sit in the audience, you got a big price tag shaped name tag and if they call your name you get to go up and bid to win prizes. The difference though was while on the TV show, the remaining three people when the first winning bid went up onstage got to stay and bid again the next round while at the live show four new people were called up each time. Also on the TV show, each person who wins a pricing game gets to spin to win a chance at the showcase. Instead, the live show called up different contestants to spin the wheel and different contestants for the showcase and there was only 1 showcase instead of one for each contestant. This way, more audience members got the chance to win something. They were also giving away $25 Lowes gift cards to either 20 or 25 people - they'd call 5 names between rounds - and a $100 Macy's gift card at the end of the show. My name was never called, despite the fact that it's my birthday and I totally deserved it. But the show was still highly entertaining. It was fun to be able to shout out suggestions for real than at a TV, Alan Thicke and the announcer who was a local Connecticut weatherman were hysterical, and they also show clips of classic Price is Right through the year including hysterical bloopers and prizes from different eras. After Price is Right Wig and I ate a Hard Rock Cafe. While I was originally planning on eating at Tavern on the Square (3 locations in Harvard, Central and Porter Squares in Cambridge) ever since I saw it on Phantom Gourmet, the fact that Hard Rock was right there and neither of us had been in years, it seemed the right thing to do. We were properly seated in the corner with Godsmack memorabilia since Wig was wearing a Godsmack shirt and the waitress was telling us how Sully Erna always comes to Foxwoods to gamble and eat hot wings at Hard Rock. I got a delicious fruit girly drink where you get to keep the glass and the food was delicious. It was pricy but not more so than Texas Roadhouse or Cheesecake Factory and the atmosphere was worth it for hard rock fans like us. Also visible from our seats were memorabilia from Anthrax's Scott Ian, Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi, Everlast, Offspring, Hoobastank, and Foo Fighters. And there were some good music videos playing too. We didn't stick around Foxwoods to gamble, but we'll be going back when we have the money to stay for a weekend, cuz there's so much to do there. Traffic on the way back was a little congested in some places since we were hitting the tail end of rush hour but it was more or less smooth sailing both to and from since it was straight down 95.
When I got home my gift from Flav was waiting for me. Her gift was actually purchasing and coming into contact with something Star Trek themed LMAO. (she really can't stand Star Trek) it's an ID/business card/cigarette case with Spock groping a topless woman (it's a collage of sorts) and the caption "Spock attempts the first Vulcan Breast Meld" It was one of my favorites on Etsy for quite a while and it'll come in handy to hold my business cards and such these upcoming cons. Other than the delicious Hard Rock Cafe meal with souvenier glass, Wig is getting me the new AC/DC Backtracks boxset and I got a $50 gift card from my parents and a combined $250 from my grandparents and aunt (which is mostly going to bills).
Now Wig and I are relaxing and watching Ninja Warrior while my kitten Frankenstein continues to stare at my Sprite. It's been a good birthday. Except for the fact that I'm a quarter-century old and still gone nowhere...:(

Etsy Weekend Sale

The CreateCrochet Team is having a 10% off sale this weekend. Search for the tag crochet10percent from today, November 13, to Sunday November 15. In addition, my free shipping deal is still going on until the end of the month. So 10% off AND free shipping, you can't go wrong!

WTF?

So I took the most bizarre, disquieting survey earlier. I just HAD to screen cap every question. I can't believe this was an actual e-Rewards survey...

The clincher? I ended up not qualifying for the survey! Apparently, I'm too confident in my sexual interests and desires for their study... Sorry about the 2nd picture, it's on the Large setting on the uploader and is still too small. If I try to enlarge it it gets blurry. But you still get the idea from the other three.

Also, my sister has finally joined the workforce. One of her friends works at a seasonal store in the Cambridgeside Galleria (ie, it was all Halloween costumes but now it's going to be Christmas stuff like decorations and wrapping paper and gifts) and convinced her into applying and she got the job. I think she starts tomorrow. She's happy because right now they're just setting up the merch so she doesn't have to deal with people at all. I give it a week before she get's sick of it and quits or gets fired for mouthing off LOL.

Etsy Updates

New item in my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=34228859

Free shipping on all items until Nov 30th

New Twitter: @stringtheory101

Check it out!

Seasonal Update

I have to get back in the swing of blogging more frequently. It's been too long since the last time I updated. So even though it's 2 months before New Year's I'm going to make a resolution to update my Blogger, Twitter and FaceBook on an almost-daily basis.

So I think I'm having a quarter-life crisis. I'm turning 25 this month. On the one hand that's not old at all, but on the other it's 5 years from 30, and nothing I had planned to have accomplished by now has come to fruition. I'm still living at home, and I'm no closer to starting my career and getting married. I realized that subconciously I've been trying to recreate my youth. Over the past year or so I've been slowly collecting all my favorite childhood shows on DVD, the most important being Peanuts specials. For some reason, Snoopy will always stick out in my mind as being a big deal when I was growing up, and recently I've been rewatching the specials I already have on DVD or VHS and have been trying to collect the rest that are available on DVD (no small feat as there were over 130 made between the 1960s and early 2000s and not all of them are on DVD yet) I've been on the Peanuts wikipedia page and I found out there's a Charles Schultz museum in Santa Rosa, California that I MUST go to - and there's even a statue of Charlie Brown and Snoopy in Santa Rosa center. Other series from back in the day I've amassed in my nostalgia stupor include Garfield, Adventures of Pete & Pete, Darkwing Duck, Inspector Gadget, Clarissa Explains it All, Alf, and Punky Brewster. Not to mention all the old movies I have as well. I'm too young to be freaking out about my age and trying to recapture my youth, but right now the desire to relive the simpler times in my life is at full force. But it's not necessarily a bad thing. Those were some great shows and the fact that they're on DVD and I can watch them whenever I want is great - especially when there's bonus features because I'm a trivia whore.

They're having a Price is Right Live event at Foxwoods now through the 18th. Being the game show whore that I am and the fact that it's only 2 hours away and $25 for a ticket, me and Wig are thinking of going next week. Who knows? We might luck out and win some awesome prizes. It's worth the shot. I'd fare a lot better on Cash Cab, Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy though, it's less up to chance and more reliant on my unending cache of useless random trivia. Also I just found out that there's a little sci-fi convention being held the 21st and 22nd in the Framingham Sheraton (the castle on the Mass pike) and fucking Brent Spiner is going to be there. Only my favorite actor who played my favorite character in the entire Star Trek universe. And tickets are only $35 for the whole weekend. I've already started overnights for the season, and getting weekends off is normally impossible this time of year, but my manager is a fellow nerd and he totally understood. I only really need Friday off so I can sleep and be well rested and get there early then I can do my normal Saturday overnight after I get back from the con. I don't need to go Sunday unless I miss Brent on Saturday and he's going to be doing signings on Sunday too. But I think Sat will suffice. But if I couldn't get the days off, I could function on a couple hours sleep and still work and go to the con. I can forgo sleep for one weekend for Brent Spiner. I know I'm being a total spaz right now, but this is a big deal. I've been a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation since I was eight and Data has always been my favorite character, so this is a lifelong dream.

In other news, I had a couple Etsy sales a few weeks ago. Two in a row. I also joined an Etsy Team. It's the CreateCrochet team and it's wicked fun. Every month there's a new challenge theme. This month's is "winter" and the possibilities are endless. You make your item, list it, and it gets featured on the blog and in treasuries. Every week there's a featured seller and I was the featured seller 2 weeks ago. I got much love for my brain slug amigurumi as usual and a bunch more hearts but no sales. We're also doing a swap right now where we were matched up with other members to convo back and forth and get to know each other and make each other surprise gifts. I have to work on the swap and the winter challenge item plus some new ideas I have for the shop. I don't know what I'm going to do for everyone for Christmas yet. I have a lot of ideas that cost a lot of money but no money to pull them off, but I don't know what I can crochet for everyone that I can get done in time. But I'll think of something and pull it off last minute.

I actually had a decent Halloween for the first time in years. Me, Wig, Inyx, Sin and Ed went into Salem. It's so overrated and overcrowded and has been totally ruined by the tourists. But the highlight of the day was seeing a DeLorean decked out just like the one in Back to the Future! Complete with a Marty McFly and Doc Brown for photo-ops. They were collecting donations for TeamFox for Parkinson's Disease research and any donation allowed you to take a picture in the driver's seat. I love the Back to the Future trilogy and I love DeLoreans because we share the same initials, DMC. My dad used to joke I was named after the DeLorean Motor Company, and I'm even considering keeping my maiden name when I marry just to keep the coolest initials ever. More pics on my flickr.

I had a job interview a couple weeks ago. While the position was in Beverly I had to go to the main office in Sudbury for the interview. It was for a part-time music teacher for a daycare/school called Next Generation Children's Center. I thought the interview went really well but I got a rejection letter literally 3 days later. With my license still pending and no experience, it's next to impossible to get a job in anything remotely teaching related. But I'm not giving up yet. I have a list of online resources for private school job listings someone my mom knows sent her for me, and there's the option of private lessons. I'm also seriously pursuing the idea I had for a children's book: Hayden Go Seek. I don't know whether I want to do it like an I Spy book or for younger children where you lift open flaps to find items, but the plot is that you have to find specific orchestral instruments, parts of the musical staff and composers. Also my eBay sales have been steady. No huge hauls but I'm getting a few bucks for things I don't need anymore (or promotional items I got for free or for as little as a penny!). Although I'm having some issues with a couple buyers not having paid yet. They're already late, it's been over a week, but I try to be understanding and lenient. I mean, there could've been a death or medical emergency and they haven't been online in a week. Who knows? But if I still get no reply or payment in a few days I will file a claim with eBay. This is the first time I've had this problem on eBay, although I had it once on Etsy. Generally I get paid instantly or within the first 3 days. I pride myself in having 100% positive feedback and everyone praises my fast shipping and communication. I'd hate for my reputation to be tarnished.

And my car has been in the shop TWICE in the past month for leaking coolant. The first time was a cracked something-or-other valve and then 2 weeks later the radiator went. When they were replacing the radiator, they found that the transmission lines were rusted and one broke so those had to be replaced. Fortunately, the guy that does all my repairs is a close friend of my dad's and didn't charge any labor. I still owe my dad and my grandmother a ton of money for helping me with car parts and repairs. :(

And we have a new kitten! Heather's friend couldn't keep him and she didn't want to see him go to the animal shelter, so she brought him home. We were supposed to find a new home for him but we got too attached and kept him. His name's Frankenstein. He is the most obnoxious pet I ever owned but he's adorable. And my parakeet Gemini died the other day. Sad, but not devastatingly sad as I wasn't too attached to him, and he was old for a parakeet and I think het got sick in the past couple months.

I saw Boondock Saints II: All Saint's Day. If you haven't seen the first one, what the fuck are you waiting for?! And if you have, see the sequel you'll fucking love it! It was much like the first one with the action and the spurts of comedy but it had a deep backstory that Saints fans will appreciate. Wig and I both give it two thumbs up.

Well, I think I'm going to work on some crochet projects and rest before my overnight shift. I'm going to try to blog more often so my few readers know what's going on. Until then...

Canobie Lake Nostalgia

Today Wiggins and I went to Canobie Lake Park. It's been far too long since either of us been and we'd never been together. It was a lot of fun. Early September is the best time to go because a lot of people are already back to school so it's not packed, there's no lines, but it's still warm out. We had $4 off coupons which were going to expire Friday so we went today instead of next Wed for our anniversary. We tried to go last year but there was going to be a thunderstorm and they had already closed the park by the time we got there.
So we went on almost all the rides. The only exceptions were the kiddie ride, the Log Flume, the Round Up which is now called Zero Gravity for some stupid reason, the kiddie rides and the ferris wheel because it was closed :( It was Wig's first time on a lot of these rides, including the Boston Tea Party, where he totally underestimated how soaked we were gonna get, and the Turkish Twist which totally blew him away. I found out Wig loves rollercoasters and he insisted on riding in the front cart on the Corkscrew. Of course I had to play my requisite games of Skeeball. I ended up getting a deck of Japanese Harry Potter trading cards, only because it was the most random item you could see at a prize booth at Canobie Lake. I would've gotten more pictures but I forgot to charge my camera's batteries and then my cell phone started dying. I still got some good shots from the Sky Ride and a picture of a guy dressed as a huge grim reaper promoting Canobie's October Screeemfest (yes, there's 3 Es in scream).
It was great to finally rekindle an annual tradition. Next trip will be Funspot.
Now we're back at Wig's watching Sex Drive, which is heesterical. Seth Green as a sarcastic smart-ass Amish is comedy gold. And they're driving a '69 Pontiac GTO Judge, which is one of the greatest American cars, next to the Corvette Stingray and the Ford Mustang. It's your typical teenage roadtrip comedy but it's really funny so if you're into that kind of comedy you'll be thoroughly entertained. And now Nibbler is attacking Wig so I'm going to save him from the cute fluffy ball of death.

Halloween in August

Just came back from seeing Halloween II with Wiggy. It was awesome. It totally showcased Rob Zombie's signature style he's honed in his first remake and in House of 1000 Corpses and Devil's Rejects. It rocked. It was uber gory and fucked up. I wonder if Rob Zombie's going to make his own Halloween III too, because the way it ended left it open that way. So if you like horror and gore and shit, this is the movie for you. Also watch for a hilarious surprise cameo (2 surprise cameos if you're familiar with G4's hosts)

Keeping Up Appearances

Haven't blogged in a while, so just posting so the few people who do read my blog or who will eventually come across it don't think I'm dead.



Since I last blogged, I saw AC/DC at Gillette Stadium. The concert was AMAZING but traffic to and from Foxboro SUCKED, especially trying to get out of the parking lot. It took me 3 hours to get home. THREE FACKING HOURS! But man, I'd go to the ends of the Earth for AC/DC. I hate to admit it, but they're starting to show their age a little bit: Angus looked more tired than usual and I think he slipped up on the TNT solo and he picked the intro the Thunderstruck which is always does hammer-ons and pull-offs live. But he still kept going non-stop the entire time and except for those 2 little off moments was as perfect as any performance. As always, they put on the most high-enegery, electrifying rock show ever.



That same week, I drove to Hartford, CT for ConnectiCon, the last anime convention of the summer. ConnectiCon's a big one because we always have the Artist's Alley Networking Party. It's a way for fellow artists to get together and share their craft and make connections to get their work out there and also to unwind and get drunk and have some fun at the end of the con season. Sales were great, and I sold a Super Mario Invincibilty Star to a cosplayer who was doing a spot-in Billy Mays impression selling 1Up Mushrooms and throwing in the invincibility for free. You can see it on YouTubes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojwo7ioDEIo and buy both 1Up mushrooms and Invicibility stars at my Etsy, stringtheory101.etsy.com.

And if driving to Foxboro and Hartford wasn't enough, the following Tuesday I then went to Mansfield to the Comcast Center for Mayhem Fest, which has effectively replaced the new defunct Ozzfest as the must-see metal festival of the summer. This is only Mayhem's 2nd year but they were able to get big names both last year (Disturbed) and this year (Slayer). Slayer was a BIG DEAL to all the metalheads there. Marilyn Manson and KillSwitch Engage were also headlining. KillSwitch played their cover of Holy Diver, which, no offense to Dio (especially since Ronnie James Dio is a fellow mini-guinea and we's gotta stick together) rocks harder than the original. We left early to try to beat the crowd, we like Marilyn Manson, just not that much. We stayed for the popular songs like Disposable Teens, Dope Show and Beautiful People. He did his cover of Sweet Dreams too. But with leaving 15 min early and our optimal position in the parking lot, we made a "Leaving Comcast Center" record of 5 mins! We hit a little bit of traffic on 95 because everyone was rubbernecking to watch firefighters put out a burning bus, which I can only assume was a Fung-Wah or Lucky Star bus since they have a history of exploding or tipping LOL.
So between AC/DC, ConnectiCon, Mayhem Fest and work, I spent more time on major highways and in traffic in 2 weeks than I have in the 7 years I've had my license.

And now that the con season is over, I can relax on the amigurumi a bit and work on other crochet or craft projects. I made some new guitar pick earrings and I finally finished the Shit Pickle amigurumi. The Shit Pickle is a cartoon pickle covered in shit that bounces around and repeats its name a la Pokemon. He's got a big buck tooth and cross eyes and is only there to be annoying. He is the creation of independant filmmaker James Rolfe, who is world-famous on YouTube for his Angry Video Game Nerd webisodes where he reviews the crappiest games and consoles of the 80s and 90s with hilarious results. I was inspired after seeing the Shit Pickle in some of James' videos and seeing that Shit Pickle had a bit of a cult following. Other fans have gotten tattoos, drawn fan art, made a Shit Pickle version of Monopoly, cookies, and decorated their XBox 360s. So I said, man, a Shit Pickle would be easy to crochet! So I did. Then I emailed James Rolfe about sending him the first and so far only Shit Pickle. I also asked for his permission to sell them on Etsy, but he said they don't know what they're planning on doing with Shit Pickle for merchandising right now. He's tied up with contracts from Spike.com and MTV (they own GameTrailers.com which hosts his newer Nerd videos) and he's an indie filmmaker running his own small business so I respect his rights. It's different from Nintendo characters where it's such a huge corporation and they're already making millions and they'd barely notice one person on Etsy selling 1Up mushrooms.
Another project I was able to finish was my Pint o'Guinness. Wig's friend Fetus, being fiercely Irish, always drinks Guinness when he's over Wig's. I thought it'd be cool to make an amigurumi in the shape of the trademark curved glass, complete with a big head of foam. I was working on a rug using the same crocheting and increasing in the round I use for amigurumi to make a spiral design, and it was coming out pretty well but it was getting tedius, so I stopped for a while and made an Oreo cookie. I also plan to make some more scrunchies. I have too many ideas for crocheting and not enough time to do them. I'm also trying to get my name out over the interwebs more so I can get more traffic to my Etsy. Sales have stalled out since last month, but I'm hoping they pick up soon.
But that's all for now, hopefully I'll write sooner next time.

Sightseeing and Other Things

So, Wednesday, Wig's cousin JT flew in from Mississippi. He's originally from Texas, which is where his mother - Wig's crazy aunt Marilee - moved back in the 80s, but didn't spare any time moving away from her once he was 18. So, he moved to Mississippi where his father is. Anyway, he's up here for the week and is staying w/Wig. Wig's mom Susan has his grandmother's van for the time being because she (Phyllis, the grandmother, not Susan) isn't in the best of health right now, so Susan went to pick up JT from the airport and Wig and I went on for the ride. I stayed w/the van while they went into the terminal to find JT and everything was fine until literally a minute before they came out when a statie told me to move. So I think I'm just going around in a circle, but I somehow ended up on the far end of the terminal, then spent about 10 minutes following signs until I got back to where they were. Fucking Logan airport. Then we went to Phyllis' for pizza. Phyllis had two mild strokes about 2 weeks ago, but you wouldn't be able to tell just by seeing her. She looked really good considering her recent health. Apparently, she also had a stroke back in November and didn't bother telling anyone, not even her 3 children. Wig's family is fucked up, but more on that some other time. I think her deteriorating health has mellowed her out, because when she saw me, she gave me a big hug and I don't think she's ever hugged me once in the 8 1/2 years I've been with Wig LOL.
So Wed we just chilled since it was about 8PM by the time we got back and JT was kinda tired. We played some video games and watched TV and the boys smoked. JT likes pot too, and he's into the same kind of music and video games as Wig and Gahm, so there was no awkwardness at all. I finally played Portal - which is an awesomely addictive puzzle/shooter game for the PC/360/PS3. If you've ever heard the phrase "the cake is a lie!" or the song "Still Alive" (not the Pearl Jam one) this is the game they're from. Basically you have a gun that makes holes in walls, ceilings and floors that transport you to other areas and you use these portals to get through mazes and move cubes around to unlock doors. The computer, GLaDOS, says some really bizarre, funny things and then sings the ending credit theme, "Still Alive" which is incredibly catchy and has some fucked up lyrics.
Today we wanted to show JT some of Boston so we took the train into Fanuiel Hall. We just walked around and looked at the shops and bought some Boston Chipyard cookies. We watched one of the street performers - an escape artist get out of a straitjacket and ropes while hanging upside down. Then we came back and got some subs and then I dropped Wig, Gahm and JT at Jack's house - which is where Wig and Gahm go every Friday and Saturday night to hang out and play video games.
Also this week Wig, Gahmstead and I made the best investment of our video game collectors' lives. Toys R Us was having the greatest sale ever: Guitar Hero: World Tour Super Bundle (that's the full setup w/drumset, guitar, microphone and game) for $99.99 regularly $189.99. But that's not all. You also got at $10 gift card. Then factor in my 10% employee discount plus a 15% off coupon and a $10 off coupon. It ended up coming to $61. That's split 3 ways between me, Wig and Gahmstead. While my mom and Heather would definitely play Guitar Hero with me (they loved the PS2 version), I don't really have the room in my room or in the living room for a drumset, and I'd play it more frequently w/Wig and Gahm anyway, so we're keeping it at their house. That also decided whether we get the Wii or the 360 version. If we got the Wii version, I could take it to my house whenever, I don't have a 360. But Wig and Gahm do, and the 360 has a lot more downloadable content so we settled on the 360 version. Sunday we christened it and me, Wig, Gahmstead and his girlfriend Janice rocked the shit out of it. Then Wednesday I finally got the AC/DC Live Rock Band track pack (yes, Guitar Hero and Rock Band instruments and games are 100% interchangable, at least on 360). My only beef is the pitch recognition on the mic for both Guitar Hero and Rock Band isn't very accurate. Or I'm just a shitty singer...No I can sing all right if I don't overdo it, but trying to follow the pitch bars can throw you off, especially if you naturally sing lower than the pitch bars want you to.
But I can't do my Brian Johnson impression as usual because it doesn't register as the right pitch, which sucks cuz I can't sing AC/DC songs without doing a Brian Johnson or Bon Scott impression.
Speaking of AC/DC, the concert at Foxboro Stadium is next Tuesday and I CAN'T WAIT. First time in 8 years seeing them! And I'm going to be completely decked out in AC/DC gear. I got the limited edition AC/DC Chucks, I have an AC/DC shirt, AC/DC skirt, AC/DC hat, AC/DC hairclips - even AC/DC underwear :) Then Thursday I'll be leaving for ConnectiCon, the last convention of the year unless we go to Another Anime Con in November. This is the big one, as almost everyone in our anime circle goes and we have the Artist Alley Networking Party. We book a suite just for Saturday night and get tons of pizza and booze and everyone shows up and just networks and draws and gets drunk. Expect tons of pictures on my Flickr, and when I get the chance I'm going to upload pics from past ConnectiCons too.
Tomorrow Wig's sister comes back from Texas where she's been staying w/Marilee - the crazy aunt and JT's mom. Marilee's coming back with her to see Phyllis. I wonder if I'll finally get to meet Marilee. From all the stories I've heard of her, I kind of want to avoid her at all costs, but it's been 8 1/2 years and I have to meet her sometime. It's kind of a morbid curiosity, like "I have to see for myself how bat-shit insane she is." Examples: She "doesn't believe in" cellphones. Something about brain tumors I guess; in high school, she lied about having cancer just to get attention; she tried tightening something broken on her car with her teeth and broke all her teeth; she shot at her cheating husband and HE went to jail for kicking out her car windows; she attacked a carjacker with a field hockey stick. Yeah...so I'm gonna just leave on that note there, cuz this woman's too fucked up for words. Talk to you later blogland.

Semantics

So I get home from work tonight and check my email and I got a message from eBay that they removed my listing for an extra Gravitation (an anime series) DVD I'm selling. Here's the message:

"Dear nintendofanatik (kawaiirocker@hotmail.com),

You recently listed the following auction-style listing:320396012230 - Gravitation - Vol. 2: Stars on the Rise (DVD, 2004)
Unfortunately, we had to remove your listing because the following information violates our policy:
Item Condition: "Like New"
Please refrain from using "like new" in your listing for items that are already used. This is because buyers who are looking for brand new items are directed to your listings. To make it easy for buyers to find what they're looking for, sellers need to make sure their titles and item descriptions accurately describe what they're selling in the listing. That's why listings can only include keywords and other information that are directly relevant to the item for sale, and sellers should clearly describe both the item and the terms of the sale. Here's more information on our search and browse manipulation policy: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/search-manipulation.html
Please note: violation of this or other eBay policies may result in forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings, limits on account privileges and account suspension.
Your listing(s) may be eligible for relisting through My eBay. If your listing is eligible, you will see the listing in your Unsold Items page within My eBay. Listings that are not eligible for relisting will not be visible in the Unsold Items page. To relist your item, sign in to eBay, go to My eBay to your Unsold items, and select the item that was canceled -- it's highlighted with a yellow banner. Before relisting, please make any changes necessary to ensure that your revised listing is in compliance with the law and eBay policies. You might want to check your other listings for similar violations as well.
You can review our listing removal policies and seller rules by clicking the links below.
Thanks for your understanding.

Sincerely,
eBay Trust and Safety team

Why eBay may remove your listing:http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/questions/listing-ended.htmlKnowing the rules for sellers:http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/policies.html

H5477"

Now, here's the description of the term "Like New" from eBay themselves: "Like New - Item still in shrink wrap or looks as if it was just taken out of shrink wrap, no wear and tear, all facets of product flawless and intact."

The DVD in question has only been played two or three times and has absolutely no scratches or blemishes and no damage to the packaging. It definitely fits the "looks as if it was just taken out of shrink wrap" It is the the poster child for Like New. So what did I do wrong? I wrote them back and tried to be as civil and professional about it, stated my argument and asked for clarification, more information, and proof that I violated something. I wanted to ask - or demand - that they relist it or reimburse me the fees but I didn't want to push my luck. eBay can be industrial size douche nozzles sometimes. But on the plus side, a 3-pack of EA Sports golf balls that were a promotional giveaway with the Tiger Woods video game that I got for a penny is currently at $2.18, and on the Etsy side I sold a Brain Slug to Australia.

In other shit news, my Grand Prix broke AGAIN. It was the something something valve, I dunno my dad had Hogans' Heroes on too loudly in the den for no reason. Saturday I came back w/Wig after a fun day of going to Garment District and Harvard Sq w/Wig and Inyx and I drove it fine to and from Revere, but an hour later when I went to drive Wig home the car wouldn't start. Later, it started long enough to move it out of the driveway so I could take my mom's car to work the next day, but yesterday when my dad drove it around to see what it was, it would just stop running. It was fixed today, but it's costing me $215. Between my last Grand Prix literally falling apart on me and this one having a $200+ repair every 2-3 months, I've finally lost all faith in Pontiac and GM in general (some of you are probably like, "What took you so long?" but I had a lot of misdirected pride as my dad used to be a GM mechanic). It's moments like these when I really really miss my Dodge Spirit, and I realize, I have way too much emotion over a plain ol' early 90s sedan.

Anyway, Wig finally got a flickr. He's in my contacts as Wiggimus. Right now he's only got pics from this year's Digital Overload, but more'll be coming. There'll also be an Umbilical Cord flickr as soon as there's band pictures.

Sleep now, then tomorrow shipping sold things, stitching, bitching, and who knows what else.

PortCon, Wheel of Fortune, and the Death of Many Legends

So I didn't have a chance last week to blog about PortCon Maine, which was actually 2 weekends ago, so time to blog about it now.

It was just Inyx and I, as Wig had the opportunity to make $120 and get some of his old parking tickets paid off and get his license renewed in exchange for working with his father and uncles. We got up to Portland quickly and checked in. The convention was back in its old location, which was the South Portland Sheraton but is now the Wyndham, which is a much better location than where it was last year. It's right across from the Maine Mall and only a few blocks away from a lot of major restaurants and a Hannafords.
After an easy set-up, we headed over to the Maine Mall for a quick dinner at Panda Express. There was a David's Bridal there and Inyx thought it'd be fun to look around. I saw a couple on display that I kind of liked because they had old-fashioned elements, but I didn't see any I really wanted to try on, but Inyx weaseled her way into getting a fitting and tried on a dress herself and sent a picture to her boyfriend in Maryland to see if he'd freak, but nothing fazes him. We also went to Michaels because I forgot to pack my glue gun. Then we went to the hotel's pool and hot tub.
Sin arrived the next day after a delay because her friend Ed's car was in the shop and business went as usual. Friday night we went to Old Country Buffet with a group of other Artist Alley people. It was us, Sin and her group, Zodi-ack! a mother/daughters business also from Massachusetts, and a couple of Zodi-ack!'s friends. The food was decent, because OCB is really luck of the draw, depending on when you go there's shit to choose from or there's a good spread. At one point, someone got a taco, and another said "They serve tacos? At a Chinese food place?" And her friends are like "This isn't a Chinese food place! What made you think that?" and I go "Did you think the 'Old Country' was Thailand or something?" And hilarity ensued. I think the staff was happy when we finally left. Then we went swimming and hot tubbing with Sin and her crew.
Saturday after Artist Alley closed we all went to Olive Garden. Instead of squeezing into Ed's car, we threw Sin, Ed and Anzu into Inyx's truck bed, because it was only around the corner. I don't know if it's illegal in Maine to ride in the bed, but it is in Mass. But Anzu kept making Mexican migrant worker jokes and talking in a bad Mexican accent. On the way back from Olive Garden Sin's sitting up on her knees and dancing and waving her arms and when Inyx took a wide turn she flew forward and landed in Ed's lap. I have 4 videos of the entire trip to and from Olive Garden with the stop at Hannaford's to buy booze, including Sin's spill. They'll be up on YouTube eventually. Hannaford's wouldn't let us purchase the alcohol because not all of us had ID.
We all decided that the entire crew for PopCult and Plastic Love are going to dress in steampunk for ConnectiCon so now the race is on to get some Victorian-ish clothes and accessories that look like they came out of a Jules Verne novel. It's going to be fun. ConnectiCon is alway the big con because we have the Artist Alley Networking Party. Fortunately, it's not until July 31 so I have a lot more prep time.

After I got back from PorCon, Wig and I met up at Dunks w/Flav, Ricky, Alison, Jay, Gantz, Tony and Joey. Alison was down in Boston to celebrate her birthday. Mark and Katie also arrived and later Doug. We spent most of the time looking through yearbooks and photo albums reminscing about high school. Wig and I left early because I was exhausted after 2 conventions in a row and very little sleep. I've actually been out of it for a while, sleeping til 1130 and noon most days. I'm trying to get myself up at 9 to get shit done, but 10/1030 is all I can muster.

Yesterday, I drove an hour to Marlborough to Solomon Pond Mall because the Wheelmobile was there holding try-outs for Wheel of Fortune. As everyone knows, I'm too good at that game and it's my goal to get on there and/or Jeopardy. The ride was easy, just 93 and 495, but long, but it took me 20 minutes to find parking. But I only had to stand in line for an hour and a half before they began to call out names from my application group. Alas, they didn't call me :( But while I was at the mall I took the opportunity to get the AC/DC Chucks and also ended up getting Thundercats Season 2 volumes 1 and 2 for $9.99 each and Season 1 volume 1 for $20. Considering when they first came out, each volume was $60 each, this was a great value.

Of course, you all know that last week was the Week o' Celebrity Deaths with Ed McMahon dying at 86 on either Monday or Tuesday and Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson dying Thursday. Then yesterday while in line at the Wheel of Fortune event, Wig's brother texts him to say Billy Mays died. At first I insisted it was a prank because so many deaths already happened last week somebody's starting a rumor. I couldn't look it up on my phone because internet on my phone sucks. Wig called his friend Guru to look it up online from a reputable news source and it's unfortunately true. The report so far is that he was unresponsive yesterday morning but no foul play is expected. Saturday he was in a minor plane accident and hit his head, but he insisted he was fine and didn't go to the hospital. My theory is he had a concussion that he didn't treat and fell asleep and you know you're supposed to keep concussed people awake. But we'll see what the autopsy says. I'm devastated, he was an icon. Easy to parody, very memorable. I won't be able to laugh at the YouTube poops anymore. Would it be in bad taste for Wig to continue on with his spot-on impression? What will become of the reality show Pitchmen? And who will promote products like OxiClean and Mighty Putty now? Vince is good, but nowhere near the same caliber of Billy Mays. Incidentally, Wig wants to create a tribute song in the style of Dethklok, the death metal band from the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse. One of the suggested titles is "Sinfomercial" I'll post lyrics as soon as they're written. He already has one line about Zorbeez sopping up your blood or something. Meanwhile, jokes about Michael Jackson molesting small boys continue on even after his death while simultaneously everyone praises him for his memorable music...much like when he was still alive. And Farrah Fawcett's death seems merely a footnote. Who's going to die next? With all the rain and celebrities dropping like flies, someting apocalypic is going on...It's been a fucked up summer.

AnimeNEXT - FailCon 09

OK, this year's AnimeNEXT wasn't as fail as last year's AnimeNEXT, but it still fell short in many key areas such as organizations, communication, and quality panels/workshops/gaming tourneys. This year instead of the Meadowlands in Secaucus, they moved it to the Garden State Exhibit Center in Somerset, which is a much tinier building and they actually had half the convention in the Doubletree Hotel directly behind it. So the Artist's Alley and all the panels, workshops and gaming room were in the hotel while the Dealer's Room and shows were in the exhibit center. Also all the other hotels were across the street, like the Holiday Inn we were in - and this street was very busy. It's funny watching a bunch of otaku in full cosplay trying to dodge oncoming traffic in a Frogger-esque manner. The only plus the Secaucus location had over Somerset was there was a variety of restaurants within that one center within walking distance. I'm talking not only Dunks and Burger King but a Japanese restaurant, Red Lobster and Outback too. There was a variety in Somerset, but you had to drive everywhere.



One major fail was Artist Alley set up. Not only was half the Artist Alley in the hallway which made it very narrow and impossible to maneuver through the hall as retards just stood there in the middle staring at tables, but they didn't assign tables in advance. Instead, the artists had to check in on Friday morning barely 2 hours before the Artists Alley opened and picked locations on a first come first serve basis. On the one hand this was good because Inyx could pick a location that best suited our setup, but on the other hand it wasted a lot of time and added a lot of confusion.



Despite its shortcomings, AnimeNEXT was still pretty fun. The car ride wasn't so bad. There was hardly any traffic and we made good time. Thursday night we just settled into the hotel, got some Burger King and some bagels for the weekend at the nearest Stop n Shop. They had mylar balloons that said "ORGANIC" on them for display to proclaim that their produce was organic and I wanted to steal one but no one would let me. Friday we set up and got the ball rolling. Sales were slower than usual but not terrible. Inyx's boyfriend came up from Maryland and I called up my old Berklee buddy Zac who lives in Jersey and he drove over and we all went to the diner down the street. Everyone hit it off with Zac right away and we were all laughing our balls off the whole time. We were talking about great movies, music and sex...LOL. Saturday we did better sales. 3 of Flav's scarves sold. I didn't do as well as AB, but I still sold a bit and again the Brain Slugs were the hit of the con. Wig accidentally flooded the bathroom and there was water EVERYWHERE. It wasn't entirely his fault, the toilet was running a lot all weekend to begin with so it didn't help when he clogged it on top of that. But it was fixed while we were busy at the convention. Sunday went by fast and we went to Ruby Tuesdays for end-of-con dinner. It was my first time at a Ruby Tuesdays. I enjoyed their burgers immensely. And throughout the whole weekend was the usual anime/geekery/sexual innuendo-inspired hilarity that usually occurs. Inyx's boyfriend Chris is a great guy and he fits right in w/the crew.



The best thing about this weekend: My brain slugs are so popular, the guy who does the voice of Brock on Pokemon, Bill Rogers, bought Inyx's off her. So now a fairly famous anime voice actor owns something I made.



The car ride home was a little slower. We tried to avoid going directly through NYC, but the Tom Tom wanted us to take an exit that got us off 95 so we ignored it and trudged on, ending up on the New Jersey Turnpike and lots of traffic. It was mostly people trying to get on George Washington Bridge and some backup at the tolls and after that it was smooth sailing again. Still, we left the Ruby Tuesdsays at quarter to 7 and didn't get back to Revere until almost 1. Good thing I don't have to leave for work unitl 2 tomorrow. I still need some sleep. If I remember anything else specific I should share about the trip I'll post it, and I'll also post the pics on Flickr either before or after work tomorrow.



Also I'm another tweet sheep. Follow me if you care, it's orGAZm. I only joined because the owner of TShirt Hell was doing contests for money and free shirts, then I got hook on following my favorite comedians, Star Trek: The Next Generation cast members and such. In fact, if it weren't for Twitter, I wouldn't know that Kevin Smith was

Epic Con Blog 2009

Haven't posted in months so here's what's new: got engaged, officially graduated but haven't physically received my diploma because they forgot to order it, still can't find another job and still eking out a living at Toys R Us. And of course, convention season started!

The annual tour of northeastern anime conventions kicked off as usual with AnimeBoston. Thursday we packed up and met up w/Inyx and drove in with her truck packed with the new layout which is ten times easier to pack, set up, take down and looks a lot better too. We drove in to Government Center and parked at her work for free and took the train from there to Hynes to check in. Then Inyx went back to get the truck so we could set up. Everything went off without at hitch and we were lucky enough to be located right next to a back door in the ballroom the Artist's Alley was located in that led directly to the loading dock elevators. Ran into Sketch as usual then didn't see him at all for the rest of the con. When you're the northeast's most famous cosplayer/artist and you just finished a life-size replica of a Tardis from Dr Who (I think it's from Dr Who, I'm the only geek in the world who hasn't ever seen Dr Who) you're in high demand and you're gonna be everywhere.

The new display setup

Everyone crashed at Inyx's in Revere instead of getting a hotel room because it was mad cheap. So it was me, Wig, Sin and Sin's minions Ed, Travis and Jacob (who are brothers whose last name is Snape - no joke!) plus Inyx and her new roomie Jaila were all crammed in this tiny house. Sin and her posse were in the living room on air mattresses and Inyx let Wig and I use her room in the loft while she bunked with Jaila in the downstairs bedroom. Some people showered at night so there was no fighting over the bathroom for once.

I ended up running into a lot of people I knew at this con, which isn't too surprising since it's in Boston. But still the list includes: Nick from work and two former coworkers, Joey Andelman, Manny who used to work with Gahmstead, Phil who I used to work with at TRU, Tonisha an old friend from middle school, Chris, and Fred who was actually on the staff (which basically consisted of standing around making sure people had badges, were in the correct line for registration, not loitering, didn't have dangerous props, or just standing around for no reason). I ended up going to Fire + Ice with Nick and one of his friends on Friday night, which was pretty neat. Kind of a waste because it's all you can eat but we could only eat one bowl. But I made an interesting concoction of Udon noodles, chicken, bacon, broccoli, baby corn, and beansprouts with szechewan sauce. It actually tasted pretty good. I got a pretty good margarita too.

Views from directly under the Pru and the Hancock building

Inyx also ran into a lot of old friends she hadn't seen in a while either like con staff member Billy who was away going to med school for 3 years, one of her ex-girlfriends and a couple other old friends. Her co-worker Sarah also came to the con and helped sell buttons so we had a lot of help this year even though regulars like Ninja and Xaqu didn't come with us.

We made a ridiculous amount of money this year. Not only was I selling my jewelry which only got a smattering of sales in the past, but I had the amigurumi too. Inyx had bought a brain slug for herself and put it on a headband and was wearing it around which caused everyone to want one. I ended up being able to make 2 more at the con before I ran out of googly eyes for a total of 5. They were so popular we decded to raffle off the last remaining one for $1 a ticket or 5 for $3. We sold like $20 worth of tix, maybe more I don't remember so I ended up getting a lot more for the brain slug while the lucky winner ended up getting it for I think $9. Throughout the weekend Inyx kept adding more things to her brain slug so she had the most ridiculous mess on her head. First it was wearing one of the speech bubble clips she made, changing them out so sometimes it'd be saying "WTF?!" or "Ha ha...wait, what?" or "I heart Yaoi" or "Epic Fail!" Then she bought glowsticks for the rave, but everyone was too tired to go to the rave and even if we wanted to the line to get in was pack, so we had our own rave and wore the glowsticks around the booth. I wore them in my gauged ears as hoops. The brain slug ended up with one on its head. Then she bought little ears from some anime that were supposed to be for ball-jointed dolls and a soot ball keychain and put those on. Then the people running the Artists Alley made a special Artists Alley pass for the brain slug. At one point there was a tiny espresso take-out cup on there too but that one I didn't get a picture of.

Anyway, we made a lot more than we ever did in the past. We have over 100 new button designs plus the patches and speech bubble hairclips. Friday we did over $700 while I did $87, Saturday we did over $1000 and I did $100 and Sunday we did over $800 and I did $59. My numbers included selling Flav's scarves for her. Unfortunately they didn't do as well as I expected them and we only sold two. I dropped the price from $24 to $20 on Sunday to see if that'd boost sales but it didn't. But I sold one Slytherin and one Gryffindor 1st edition. One was for the discounted price so I owe Flav $44 out of my total. Also the deal with selling my own products through Inyx is the first $50 I make I get 100% but the rest is half. I ended up pocketing $105 which already went to bills :( Still, it's exponentially better than I've done in the past which was like, $17, $12 etc. I was also reimbursed for my registration as payment for all the work put in at the table so that was $90 back which I spent mostly on food and video games. I always tell myself I'm not going to waste money on overpriced anime merch in the Dealer's Room...and instead I spend it on import or hard-to-find games. For $30 I got the Japan-only Nintendo 64 version of Animal Crossing (in America it came out on the GameCube) and for $20 I got the original Mike Tyson's Punch-Out (before they changed it to just Punch-out after the domestic violence thing), Rygar and Back to the Future for the original Nintendo. I also spent it on some pretty good pad thai from the aptly named Pad Thai Cafe on Boylston. It wasn't as good as the crispy pad thai from Tom Yum Koong but it was still tasty.

Nothing particularly epic happened this year but I saw some great cosplays and witnessed a small Asian man scramble up the partition between escalators because someone bet him money to do it and the escalator was crowded. I also saw subway Twister since Friday was also a big Red Sox game and the green line was PACKED, so when this guy and his friends were trying to get off they were joking about going up and over and he got up on his seat and joked about it being Twister so Inyx said "right hand yellow" so he put his hand on the stop request tape that's yellow. There'll be more pictures on my Flickr, like all the random and unique cosplays and other funny stuff. Next stop is AnimeNEXT in New Jersey meaning I'll probably get to see Zac too. That's June 12-14. So until then I'm just gonna fight this cold and go to work and try to make some more amigurumi

Who Watches the Watchmen...in IMAX

So as you can tell from my subject line, I got to see The Watchmen. Wigster and I went to IMAX yesterday. The movie was EPIC. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to read the graphic novel before seeing the movie, which is half laziness half inability to buy it half not knowing anyone who owned it to borrow it from (except Ricky but that doesn't help because he's on the other side of the state). Still, I went into the movie with certain expectations from what I've read in Entertainment Weekly and what bits and pieces I did know about the comic. Ironically, Wig and I know more about the Watchmen than his brother who actually works in a comic book store for a living. Ironically, Wig did get to read part of the comic and it was one of the few parts that was changed. It was Rorshach's flashback to when he was looking for a kidnapped girl, and he found out a guy murdered her and fed her to his dogs. In the comic, Rorshach handcuffed the killer to a furnace then gave him a hacksaw and set the house on fire, watching as it burned to the ground and no one escaped, whereas in the movie he handcuffs the man to the furnace but instead hacks him to pieces. I loved the cinematography and the aptly chosen and placed music. Entertainment Weekly complained a bit that the scenes were too close-up and cramped in their effort to look like a comic book and it prevented scenes from playing out and moving naturally. I think the comic book panel-esque scene blocking was perfect since it IS a comic book. It made it look like a live-action comic book which was the intention all along. My only beef was: too much blue penis. Don't get me wrong, I'm not offended or uncomfortable - I love cock. But it was unecessary. I mean, Dr Manhattan doesn't need to wear clothes - he's beyond clothes at this point since he's pure energy and time and whatever - but he can. Sometime's he's got a blue Speedo-thing on, and he can even dress up in a suit and tie. Why doesn't he wear that blue Speedo all the time? I mean, is he beyond modesty too? I don't understand how the other characters didn't get distracted in the middle of important conversations. Imagine, "We're close to nuclear war. We got to...um..." *eyes slowly shift downward* "uh....Jeez, John! Cover up, I can't concentrate!!" At least it was proportionate. I was expecting something gargantuan the way everyone in the media was commenting on it. I just feel bad because the guy has perpetual blue balls and there's nothing he can do about it. They'll always be blue...


Anyway, a random fact: David Hayter, who wrote the screenplay adaptation of Watchmen is also the voice of Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid video game series. He also co-wrote the screenplays to X-Men and X2. You never know, that might be a question on Cash Cab. I could've just won you $50. You'll be thanking me.

But we also enjoyed Fuddrucker's because Phantom Gourmet has some "March Meal Deals" and one of them was a 1/3 burger, fries and a soda for only $4.99 which is mad cheap for Fuddrucker's, plus we haven't had it in forever. One of the most delicious hamburgers you could ever eat. We had, like an hour to kill because we went straight there from doing errands so we wandered around Jordan's, which is a labrynth of furniture. Everytime I go through that store, I just go deeper and deeper into the bedroom section or the home office section and then I don't know how to get back to the theater. But we made it back to civilization in due time. I always try to pick out what kind of furniture I'd get for my future house. They had sculptures that were giant versions of Monopoly pieces. They had them all: the racecar, the shoe, the thimble the top hat. I want them! But they were $70 each. Still they're so deliciously random and kitschy. There was also an ottoman that looked like a giant dice, so I'd love to get all those together and paint a floor like a giant Monopoly board so I could play giant Monopoly. The money could be beach towels LOL. Do you find it wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly? (Think about it...thank you Steven Wright)

So yay I got a new phone finally. I decided to renew my contract with Sprint just one last time (because I have a severe learning disability and I can't tell shitty service from good service). It's just cheaper. With my grandfather's government discount, my plan is only $35. I don't want to spend extra - even if it's for a better plan - right now. So, I have another 2-year contract and once that's up I'll be finally at a better paying job and I can move on to a slightly more expensive but significantly better plan. Besides, I wanted the Samsung Rant and that's a Sprint exclusive. It's so pretty and shiny and purple and it charges properly!!! I'm excited to have a great phone for once. YAY!

Amusing Friday...A Musing Friday

I had a funny moment w/a customer today: she just happened to be quite large and she decided to take advantage of our Buy one Get on Half Off on the 20-packs of Philips AAs. She literally said, "Never have too many batteries. I eat through them...not literally." I'm thinking, "Did she just make a fat joke about herself or just making a joke about figures of speech?!" So I just politely chuckled, but that phrase choice is just priceless right there.
Then Flav and Ricky stopped by unexpectedly, so that was a pleasant surprise. I couldn't persuade either one to buy a Wii though. Although I will admit, if you're only casually into playing video games, the DS would be the better choice. It's more casual-gamer-friendly and there's a bigger variety.
Everyone is familiar with my cheesy string of composer puns (I'll be right Bach, can you Handel it? I'm going Chopin...etc). Well, today I came up with a great idea for a children's pop-up book that teaches about classical music and composers. It'd be titled "Hayden Go Seek." It's so clever I'm afraid it's already taken, so I'm going to have to research that. It's a slightly better idea than my old classmate James Peters' movie idea: "Bach to the Future." I don't think that the great German and Austrian composers of the Baroque and Classical eras realized the extent of punniness their names would amount to.
Then I was looking at stuff on Etsy, namely stuff with skeleton keys and vintage typewriter keys, and I found one made with a really rare typewriter key for a punctuation mark known as an interrobang, which is a combination question mark and exclamation point. Y'know, for when you have to exlaim something incredulously like "He did what?!" Instead of using both a question mark and and an exclamation point you'd just need the interrobang. First off, I just love the name: it combines the word interrogate with BANG! It's a question with pizzazz! Actually, it's because "bang" is printer's slang for exclamation point. It kinda makes sense. It's for sentences with a bang. But now I'm thinking "Damn, that would've made a great band name, or company name." You already have a built-in logo. But now it's too late. Wig would never rename Umbilical Cord and I don't have the wherewithal to start my own band, and I'm kinda already established as StringTheory101 on Etsy. But yeah, the interrobang. It was invented in the 60s and was basically only used in printing and on typewriters for the 60s and 70s. It was a fad - and I didn't think you could have punctuation fads. That'd be like not using semi-colons anymore.
So when I got home from work today and brought in the mail, there was one of those "We're sorry we missed you" things from the Post Office for when they can't drop off a package cuz they need a signature. So it's for me, it's certified mail and it's a letter, not a box or anything like that. So I'm hoping this is my long-awaited degree from Berklee. We'll see tomorrow before work. Woot. Also my tax return dropped into my bank account either yesterday or today so now I got a huge chunk o'money with which to pay bills. Yay! And it'll be gone in less than a month...
Where do all those people come from in the Verizon commercials? I mean one minute there's no one, and the next there's an army of IT guys and operators. And if you need that many people per account making sure it's working right, then your service isn't as good as you make it sound. I think I'm gonna stick with Sprint and their pretty laser light shows LOL
Well, that's enough amusing musings for now. I somehow lost 3 hours because last time I checked it was 8 and now it's 11...so I think it's time to put the computer away and either do something productive or call it an early night and get some much-needed rest

Long Time No Post

Yeah, I've been lazy, I know. I haven't updated my blog in weeks. I haven't been on Facebook either. I'm not good at this online social networking thing, so sue me LOL.

Anyway, I've been surviving, doing the same ol' same ol'. A couple weeks ago Wig's father took us to see Gary Charone perform with his Who cover band at Tequila's in Danvers. Fitzy (yes I call my future father-in-law by his nickname. I call my future husband by his nickname. They're both Seans, it's just easier this way) has been close friends with Charone since high school and actually used to tag along on Extreme's tours once in a while. They even have an inside joke together. ("Sides of cows," since Fitzy knew a butcher and could actually get a whole side of a cow worth of steaks and would give some to the band) It's not the biggest deal knowing someone from Extreme since the band was made up of people from Medford and Malden, but Extreme was pretty big in the 80s and 90s and Gary Charone was also in Van Halen. Anyway, the show was awesome. I don't know a lot of Who music, basically the common songs like Baba O'Reilly, My Generation, Tommy, etc but they put on a hell of a show, especially Charone who was all over the place. I kind of hate going to see shows in small, cramped bars and clubs like that because people just shove you around, you can't see shit and it's wicked hot and stuffy but I endured. The funny thing is they had to temporarily shut the show down because the fire marshall had to make sure we weren't over the max capacity. So they made everyone leave and stand out in the parking lot until the bar was completely empty, then shuffled us back in single file so they could physically count us. We lingered as long as we could and were some of the last people out so were were some of the first back in which meant once we got back we were right up front near the stage, which improved the cramped situation a bit. The show continued and it was funny, Charone kept leaning against the people in the first 2 rows, especially this one large girl, and at one point he just laid right on top of the first 2 rows' shoulders. I'm surprised no one dropped him LOL. Anway, we were supposed to meet up w/him after the show but because of having to stop in the middle and how late it was and how long it probably would've taken to wait for him, we didn't stick around and Fitzy said he'd call and try to set up going to a rehearsal instead. Wig's already met him twice, once when he was younger and again probably 3 or 4 years ago. It's good that he's got some business connections as he tries to get Umbilical Cord off the ground. Too bad his dad's marriage didn't work out, his former stepmom Maria had a lot of connections - including being friendly enough with Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant to have gone bowling with him on numerous occasions.

I also finally took up exercising daily again. Since purchasing Wii Fit, I did it every day or almost every day - up until early September when I got really sick for a whole week. I just couldn't get back into the swing of things and then was really busy w/the holiday season, but since 2 weeks ago I've been doing it daily again (except for last Friday, Sunday and yesterday). When I was weighed for the first time since Christmas, I had dropped to 131...I was floored. Last time I weighed myself i was 135 - how did I lose 4 pounds doing nothing?! In the past two weeks I've fluctuated between 128 and 132 as I get reaccustomed to exercising and trying to improve my diet. No matter what, I'm finally in the Normal BMI bracket. Sure the Wii balance board isn't the most accurate piece of machinery, but it is pretty damn close.

Then Sunday, I got my car towed for the first time ever. Not realizing it was going to be considered a snow emergency because there wasn't that much snow on the ground, I parked on Wig's street all night and when I left at midnight, the entire street was empty. I'm like "FUCK!!!" So, I had to call home to get picked up then drive over to Export and pay $122.05 in cash to get my car out. I didn't get home until 130 between getting yelled at over the phone, waiting for my mom, calling Export, then actually going to Export and getting the car. The stupidest thing is the fact that Wig's neighbors recently moved out and I can park in their driveway until the house gets rented or sold again but I don't like doing this often because I don't want to suddenly be smacked with a trespassing charge. Plus everyone knows how much of a bitch it is to back out of a driveway on Harvard St, especially when this house is right by the intersection of Main St. So I usually only use it as a last resort. I should've parked there Sunday, but I forgot about the fact that they tow people off that street when there's a snow emergency. Still I got my car back no problem - except that I'm $123 broker with a $25 parking ticket on top of that - at least I have a little more time to pay that. Good thing my tax return should be coming in the next week or so.

I was supposed to spend today getting a lot of things done and I failed. After my workout I was going to take pictures of some of my finished jewelry and post it on Etsy, post some more stuff on eBay, apply for a substitute teaching job, play some violin for the first time in almost 2 years, and finish some Brain Slugs. So far, I've taken pictures of my jewelry and posted them on Etsy. It doesn't help that I didn't wake up until 1030. Then I sat half-naked and watched Crocodile Dundee instead of getting dressed - I'm so lethargic in the morning and it takes forever to get me moving regardless of how much sleep I got, and I don't know why. But finally I got up and did my workout and it was about 1PM by time I was done. So I had some lunch and got to doing the pictures - which took forever because the lighting in my room sucks and it took forever to get halfway decent pictures. I also had to check my email since I failed to do so yesterday and was pretty backed up - lots of surveys and Publisher's Clearing House entries LOL. Then I could finally start posting to Etsy. I posted, like 7 new items. I have a bunch more guitar pick earring and 2 new hemp necklaces. I finished that about halfway through Jeopardy. I'm going to apply for that sub job now and then either do some crocheting or reorganize my DVDs, books, CDs and games. Probably the crocheting, cuz the organzing takes hours and I don't want to be up all night. But I've been putting it off for too long and I won't have time the rest of this week. We'll see. But I wanted to get a blog in so that all two people who read my blog don't think I'm dead, which is almost worthless because one of those two people I talk to on the phone on an almost-daily basis. LOL.

Pwned

So for the past month, the website T-Shirt Hell has been having a 10% off sale and emailing their subscribers with the regretful news that they're closing their doors. Today founder Sunshine Megatron sent out the "last" newsletter with the news that ha-ha it was a practical joke. An early April Fool's joke. It was a very clever ploy to up sales and thus save the company in this shitty economy. They fooled EVERYONE and it worked. So many people thinking it would be their last chance to get these hilariously offensive shirts ordered them like mad. Except me, cuz I'm broke and can't justify buying a $19 shirt, no matter how funny or clever it is. But I'm greatly amused. I think more businesses should try this tactic to draw more consumers in. Imagine if Circuit City is also just fucking with us? Nah...it wouldn't work with bigger corporations. But it's certainly effective for little privately owned businesses, especially with cult followings.

Anyway, haven't blogged in a couple of weeks so time for an updatey. Last week was my grandfather's retirement party. It was held at Anthony's in Malden which is one of the many Spadafora businesses strewn about the city. My grandfather had a very cushy government job for the DCMA/GE doing quality assurance for airplane parts and stuff. The party consisted of the majority of his coworkers and close family: my parents, me and my sister and my aunt, uncle and cousins. They did a roast - with hilarious visuals via PowerPoint - where they poked fun at classic "Choff" traits like his intense skill for getting away with napping at his desk, his alter ego Al Coupon (a play on Al Capone if you didn't get it) and many inside jokes that I only really ever heard reference of such as the infamous "third chair" and the term CFC which I forget what it really meant but it's more common meaning was "Can't find Choff." After 43 years with the DCMA, everyone was sad to see him go and after all the ribbing there was plenty of bittersweet moments too, and he was also presented with a beautifully framed and engraved picture of the USS Constitution which is reserved only for people who worked there for 35 or more years. It's about time my grandfather retired, but everyone in my family are workaholics. I think he's going to go stir-crazy with nothing to do at home - that is between trips (my grandparents have and always will be avid travellers).

Valentine's day was rather inconsequential. Wig and I were thinking about going for lobster since neither of us had it in a long while. But then I had a total girly moment and was having a hard time deciding what to wear and getting really frustrated. Wig almost insisted I wear a skirt cuz he loves how I look in a skirt and I almost never wear them. But I wasn't liking how any skirt/top combinations were looking, plus it was too cold for skirts and I didn't want to be too dressed up for a casual restaurant. Finally Wig surrendered and freed me from the skirt requirement and I wore my skinny jeans with a long black shirt with some beading on the hem and these new black high heels I got a Hot Topic a while back. Meanwhile we were debating about the lobster, since there's no "in between" lobster restaurants - it's either really expensive and fancy like Legal Seafood or it's a clam shack kind of place like SeaWitch, and we didn't want to spend too much but wanted to do something nice for Valentine's Day. So we decided to save lobster for the summer since it's more of a summer meal anyway and we'd go to this place in Rockport where you can sit outside and watch the sun set over the ocean while eating the freshest seafood, which would be more fitting. So instead we considered Cheesecake Factory or Outback for their "middle of the road not too casual but just casual enough" atmosphere and "special occasion" pricing and settled on Outback since we hadn't been there longer. They have an awesome new S'moretini which is vodka, Kahlua, chocolate and marshmallow flavoring with crushed graham cracker around the rim and topped with marshmallows. Damn it was strong. They also have the Bloomin' burger, which has pieces of a Bloomin' Onion on it and comes with the same dipping sauce, which is perfect since Wig hates onions so I can't order a Bloomin' Onion since it's too much for just me. So I still got to have a little bit of Bloomin'. They should make individual sized Bloomin' Onions. Then we decided to stay in and watch The Love Guru which I rented from Blockbuster Total Access. It was really funny, but that immature retarded kind of funny (which I'll always love). All the jokes were, like, cheesy middle school jokes. I'm like "Did a 12 year old write this script?" but we enjoyed it nonetheless. Then I busted out my "surprise" a red negligee I bought at Kohl's. It's hard to find sexy lingerie that fits my tig ole bitties and supports but with the help of Flav I lucked out and it went over very well and Wig and I went wild. In contrast my sister was downstairs in the living room watching TV with her boyfriend and wearing feetie pajamas LOL.

The sucky thing was I also started to come down with a cold on Saturday, which still hasn't fully gone away. One nostril is still completely stuffed up and I can't even blow it. But then it starts to run. I never understood the physics that make it possible for a nose to be both stuffy and runny at the same time. But I should be right as rain in a day or two. My colds always are somewhat extreme for a few days then gradually improve. At least I'm nowhere near as sick as I was back in September when I had that virus that left me practically comatose.

Also, Flav and I are getting into shape. I picked Wii Fit back up today and although I was rusty, I came back pretty strong. When I got weighed in at the end I was shocked to see that I was now 131 lbs and 24. something-or-other BMI and finally made it down to "Normal" on the BMI scale (I'm literally just under the line between Normal and Overweight so I just made it). Last time I weighed myself (at Christmas at my grandmother's house cuz she still has the same electronic digital scale she's had for over 20 years!) I was 135 so this is amazing since I haven't really changed any exercise habits until today and barely changed my eating habits. But Flav and I are going to walk a lot more now that it's warming up again and we're going to start doing DDR again too. What I need to do most myself is tone. I'm a little jiggly in places and I'd like to firm up. So wish us luck.