| (no subject) |
[Nov. 29th, 2009|02:38 am] |
For anyone interested, I just scanned all my pictures from July 08 to current pictures I did just today. Most are in one sketchbook. I know, sad, I used to go through a sketchbook in about a month. Well, maybe I can get back on that. Anyway, no idea where anything earlier is, probably in the shed or something. I'll find them. Sometime. Y'know, maybe.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v357/sparky0018/Sketchbook%20July%2008%20-%2009/
So there's my sketchbook album. Ponies, Invader Zim, Harry Potter, and now, my newest obsession, Dr. Horrible. omg, Horrible... *_*
EDITZ: Oh man, I wish I could find my old sketchbooks now. I looked through two big, fat binders of all the stuff I thought was most impressive years and years ago, and some of it's really pretty good. I miss my Darkwing art. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 8th, 2009|11:27 pm] |
Mary told me about a bowling ball and bag set that she thought I'd like but prolly wouldn't use. Well, I don't generally bowl because I'm not passionately into it (translation: I really really suck at it.), but a lot of the reason is that I can't stand using house balls. They're chipped and gouged from careless handling, greasy from the lane oil and chicken fingered little kids, and the finger holes are never right.
So this was just too good to pass up. It was the ball, the bag, a pair of Etonic shoes that I'm sure won't fit, a felt bag (presumably to wipe lane oil off), a GripSak, and a (still dirty) rag, all for $25! Ha! Mike says that in all likelihood, it came from his own proshop. Other than the Internet, he's the only one whose sold them for a thousand miles. John, the proshop guy, is going to redrill and plug a crack I hadn't noticed, sand it down, gloss it up, and make the finger holes fit for me, I think. The damn thing looks like it was used to bowl down the street, it's so covered in scratches. But John will get it looking great, I know it. And he'll do it for close to free! :D
Holy crap, my skin is so soft. It feels like satin! What did I use?? |
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| "Why is your Lake Titicaca not filled with boobs and poop?" |
[Aug. 12th, 2009|09:23 pm] |
We´re in Puno now, on the edge of Lake Titicaca. We´re going to see the islands tomorrow. I have a bag full of chocolate covered soda crackers and 2.5 liters of water to get me through. :D
I´ll try to fill in all the gaps at another time. There are a lot. In brief, I climbed a mountain, took a bus up another, went commando, got spit on and almost run over by a llama several llamas, spent 9 hours on a bus, hogged the extremely handsome and knowledgable tour guide all to myself, lost my phone, and almost stole a cat. |
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| Hola from Peru |
[Aug. 8th, 2009|03:00 pm] |
This is our third day in Peru. The first was spent in Lima, where there are only miniature taxis on the road that routinely ignore pedestrians and basic traffic laws. The sun never comes out because there´s too much pollution, and the only precipitation is acid rain. It was the first time I´ve ever been confronted by a beggar who got down on his knees for a few soles. (So-less; it´s Peruvian currency, worth approx. 1/3 USD.) The whole place made me very uncomfortable, but everything was cheap. Even here in Cusco, a big bottle of water is only 1 sol.
We went to see the Basilica Minor of San Francisco aka Saint Francis, underneath which are catacombs filled with bones. Mary says the catacombs in France were much creepier. Perhaps because they were more extensive. I got pictures of the basilica. Even inside, where you aren´t supposed to take pictures. I only got a few of the catacombs, though, because that was when I remembered that I have to save the picture before snapping my phone shut and slipping it back into my pocket. It´s a shame; there were some good ones. And I can´t seem to send them to myself either, or even call out. I think I can receive calls, though. Weird.
So now we´re in Cusco, and I couldn´t be more excited. It´s stupid, really, because it was a Disney movie that interested me in Peru in the first place. I´ve wanted to visit ever since, but never thought I would, and here we are! The capital city of the Inca empire. I have some good photos from here, too. What I wouldn´t give for a digital camera, though. My cell phone is only so good.
So yesterday, we got up at 3am and flew over the Andes to arrive in Cusco about 6 or 7a. We took a cab to the Flying Dog hostel (which has an adorable logo) for 2 soles and slept until noon. Then we had a small breakfast of bread, butter, and coca tea, and than walked around and got altitude sickness. Mary had the worst, I think. We took some photos with some people who were dressed up and had THREE llamas with them! (Most only have one, if any.) They were nice, but kept asking for more money and toys for the children. On our way to the Plaza del Peru (I think it´s called), I bought two sweaters from a man who followed me across the street to sell them. They´re very soft, and only cost $10 each, or 60 soles, so I wasn´t upset. I did get uncomfortable when other merchants saw me buying something and flocked over, also hoping to sell things. After a whole day of that, ¨No gracias¨ became something of an automatic response. Lunch was in a fancy restaurant called Paititi, aka El Dorado. They had leather menus and gave us free pisco sours. I ordered alpaca, but I don´t think I like it much. Mary said it tasted like boot. After that, we walked around more, then took a cab to Qorikancha, the most important Inca temple in Cusco. When the Spaniards came, they built a priory on top of it, which it still there, and still occupied by monks. But parts of Qorikancha still exist, and are still being excavated. You really can´t fit a credit card inbetween the stones, not even a fingernail or a slip of paper. They´re smooth and exact. The steps outside are terrifying; I walked down, but refused to walk back up. I was still sick and getting dizzy spells at the time. The view from the top is fantastic, though.
We took a cab to try to find the Good Shepherd bakery, which Mary wanted to visit, but couldn´t. So we asked him to take us back to the hostel instead. ...maybe that was the 2 sole ride. I can´t remember. I was feeling awful by then: exhausted and out of breath, a tight stomach, and a splitting headache. I went straight to bed at a quarter to 6, and woke up intermittently all evening. Mary, Elea and Fio dressed up pretty and went and got dinner, and Mary brought me back some margarita pizza at ohhh....I guess 9 or ten. Then they prettied up again and went out dancing. I kept waking up briefly due to the uncomfortable bed and my headache, and once I heard someone say that it was 5a. It wasn´t until I heard a man´s voice that I sat up to give him a talking to for being in our room that I woke up all the way. He was a doctor, and was bending over Mary, asking about her symptoms. She´d been sick since 2a and hadn´t gotten any sleep for throwing up. He gave her some saline and four prescriptions, one of which was for bismuth! I think he gave her some broad spectrum medicines: bismuth, a pill for nausea, an antibiotic, and something for parasites. He was very nice and also took the time to write down instructions and what she should and shouldn´t eat.
Mary is still resting. My headache only went away a couple of hours ago. Probably only because I took some Motrin. Elea, Fio, and I went and bought lunch at 12.30, bringing everything back so we could eat with Mary, for whom I bought fresh chicken soup. They want to go to the artistic district, which I would like, but am not looking forward to. I feel so exhausted and out of shape. I could barely make it back up the hill to the hostel after picking up lunch. Fortunately, I´ve had a chance to rest, wake up, and write this post because they´re waiting for someone to deliver our tickets to Pisac. It´s almost 4 now, and dinner is only a few hours away, but I´m still full from lunch. I had the house special: Pollo Inka...Fe. Inka...Fe was the name of the restaurant, including the ellipsis. It was tiny. My dish was a chicken filet wrapped around spinach with cheese under it, and some bacon chips on top, I think. There was also white rice and tiny cubes of potato, all doused with some amazing sweet sauce and parsley. It was fantastic, and I shouldn´t have eaten the dessert that I bought: torte de chocolate con manjar blanco, which Fio explained was another name for dulce de leche. It was much more delicious that I let on, because Mary can´t have chocolate.
And that´s all for now. Still haven´t found any shot glasses. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|10:30 am] |
HEY I'm BACK again.
So, kids, time to stock up on your cloves and flavored cigs, because there's a strong likelihood that Mr. Medicare the president is going to sign into law a ban on kretek - the substance that fills clove cigarettes - and flavored tobacco in cigarettes. I won't bother with a news link, because searching will provide numerous, hot-headed returns, but here's the Wiki on the Act: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Smoking_Prevention_and_Tobacco_Control_Act The interesting bit is that menthol is a flavor, yet it isn't restricted.
Lea and Mary will NOT be pleased. Cloves are like....fine, aged port wine to them. You know, compared to Bud Light/regular cigarettes. Damn, I'm hating this country's government more and more.
AT LEAST WE'RE STILL RICH, RIGHT?
Oh wait, we're up to our eyeballs in debt and excessive government spending. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|09:40 am] |
I am, on a daily basis, consistently dismayed by the astonishing levels of indiscretion, callous uncouthness, and outright rudeness displayed by those to whom I generously (if loosely) refer as my fellow human beings. I'm being hilariously pretentious, am I not? But it's true! People they may be, but I wish they could act like it instead of like trained dogs, walking and driving and making jokes that are at once lewd, tasteless, and (worst of all) uncreative/unoriginal. (I have nothing against racy humor, so long as it's humorous rather than merely disgusting and/or relying entirely on puns.) If they must behave like trained animals, the least they could do is train themselves to cover their mouths when they cough - and by "cough" I mean "let loose a tremendous, sticky roar, complete with flying sputum mixed with copious amounts of cigarette tar."
Honestly! |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 18th, 2009|10:30 am] |
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Apparently, the Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on its website daily to meet their quota for getting free food donated every day to abused and neglected animals. So I put their website on my journal layout. Not that many people watch my every infrequent move, but if anyone sees it, it might be considered a good deed to pass it on. |
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| Web 2.0 |
[Jun. 17th, 2009|01:53 pm] |
Ha! Very nice. Web 2.0, a word. More like a description, or a proper name than anything else. I've never heard anyone actually say or use it. It's disheartening what our language is becoming. We can get on just fine with a dictionary of words from the 1700's. There's no need to introduce proper nouns, slang, multi-language hybrids, or especially anything containing a number into a collection of official, proper, and authentic "words." No word is ever spelled with a number. I think I'm slightly insulted. Granted, I use Internet slang, too. Like n00b, brb, omg, lol, etc. But I wouldn't consider them WORDS. Next thing you know, they'll be seen sneaking about in high-level business documents! o__o
maybe I'm just a prudish old stickler. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 5th, 2009|10:27 pm] |
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I WANT ME SOME CHICKEN RINGS AND ONION TENDERS! |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 28th, 2008|10:03 pm] |
So there's this one person is a friend (?) of mine, and she's spoken perhaps eight or nine whole sentences to me for the entire past week and today. I didn't think friends were supposed to ignore their friends like that. I've tried to talk to her a couple of times, but I'm either a) brushed off irritatedly or b) screamed at.
Let's say someone (monolinguistic of the English variety) has a bunch of Asian friends who invite them out someplace. Then they laugh, talk, and joke with each other - in Chinese. Is it wrong and bad if that person feels left out and somewhat unwelcome? Is it selfish? Is it punishable by cold shoulder? Loss of friendship? I've tried, and been pushed away; even chased away. So I get the message, and I'll try not to be such a monstrous annoyance anymore. The question is: When will I be spoken to? |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 29th, 2008|03:10 pm] |
| [ | I feel |
| |  weird | ] |
I had the strangest dream last night. Jeremy Brett was traipsing about, dressed in a blue and yellow cheerleader's ensemble, complete with a shoulder length blond wig. Professor Moriarty (who looked quite a lot like Snidely Whiplash) had a beverage holder with two paper cups in it. Holmes (Brett) ceased his traipsing when brought face to face with the hot beverages, gave a sniff, and became irate, telling Moriarty that he'd been into his good coffee again and had had just about enough of this infringement. Moriarty claimed that the exact same coffee was found at some sort of crime scene. This disturbed Holmes, because, coupled with other clues that I can't recall, they all pointed directly to Holmes himself as the perpetrator of some crime that I also can't recall. Moriarty then told Holmes that if he could think like a villain, he wouldn't simply spray here and there, but would spray down everything. So Holmes did. I don't know what he was spraying, but it was evidently something that destroyed evidence - like bleach on blood. All the while skipping about in his adorable little boots and striped, pleated skirt.
Then I woke up.
It's the sort of dream that makes me wish I remembered all of my dreams. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|04:40 pm] |
Ok, so I want a GPS navigational device. However, I have some very stringent standards to which it must adhere. Otherwise, well, I just don't want it.
It must:
- Update itself in real-time: Construction, congestion, accidents, etc.
- Update itself periodically: Maps and restaurants. (No lists. Restaurants must be up to date.)
- Have detour/reroute capability: In the event that I wish to avoid an undesirable route (like one blocked by an accident)
- Have automatic detour/reroute capability: In the event that I accidentally deviate from the route.
- Talk to me. Duh.
It would be nice if:
- I could talk to it.
- It were Bluetooth compatible! (So that I can call the number of the address/business entered. Assuming it can give me the number. Which would also be nice.)
- It had a touchscreen.
- It were an international unit. (At least Europe)
I do NOT need:
- XM satellite-ready. (I totally have Sirius.)
- MiniSD card slot.
- Built-in MP3 player/media player.
- Built-in FM transmitter.
- Speed limit indicator.
- 3D maps.
- Picture viewer.
- Other superfluous crap.
Maybe I'll print this out and take it to Best Buy or something. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 5th, 2008|04:27 pm] |
Also,
Mom is considering driving down to Florida this year. It is 1,187 miles, and Googlemaps says it would take just over 19 hours to get there. Assuming no stops. Whoo-ey.
So mom's truck gets an average of 18 mi./gal., with a trip of 1,187 mi., which equals about 66 gal. one way. On the slightly pessimistic side, gas costs around $4/gal. which, multiplied by 66, gives us $264 worth of gas one way, times two (to get back home), is $528.
I'm guessing that's not too bad compared to the costs of three round-trip flights, each of which is around $600 - though two of those wouldn't really count because Nancy would be paying for them. As usual, I'm the odd one out. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 5th, 2008|02:42 pm] |
It sure has been awhile since I've used this thing.
You'd think there'd be something interesting to report, but hey, this is Southern Maryland. It's close to summertime, so the girls are all skinny and naked, and the boys are all horking loogies and cursing. I didn't get the CPFCU job, but then, what made me think I would? Eight other applicants? There's got to be someone in that bunch better than myself. After all, unintelligent folks don't bother applying to credit unions for jobs.
We had a hell of a storm last night; it was fantastic. Except for the part where - last I heard - five tornadoes had killed seven people in Calvert. That's sad, and a little too close to home. The wind and (mostly) rain raged from around...seven or eight, at least where we were - it had been going on for some time elsewhere - until around...gosh, I don't even know. Four? Five in the morning? The power went out at about midnight, and only just came back on an hour or so ago. Incidentally, it's very strange (when you think about it) to get rained on while you're in bed.
Dad has been an ass today. Not drunk, but very rude nonetheless. So I've elected to continue ignoring him.
I need to pack some things for this weekend: mom and I are going down to Norfolk for their Harborfest, and we'll be staying in Williamsburg the rest of the time. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 7th, 2008|05:33 pm] |
The last three weeks in summary:
So, Colin Meloy's solo was neat. Since he was all by his lonesome, he engaged the audience to sing bits that he wasn't supposed to, and vocalized things like drums and guitar solos. When he came out afterward, he was very pleasant and conversational, even though it was cold and drizzly. I tried to take some videos with my cell phone, but perhaps the close range to the electronics screwed it all up, because there's no sound other than the occasional faint hiss.
Next, Mary Mac's house warming weekend was nice. :D There was pizza, cookies, tea, cute t-shirts, a retro club, thrift stores, and rain. It was great to see her. She sent a card thanking us for coming and bringing presents; it's so nice that it makes me want to write back. There was (supposedly) an impromptu challenge to find the ugliest (?) item for sale possible. I won by immediately locking eyes with a bright pink sombrero with gold trim. I wanted it, but it was $36. At a thrift store! Damn thing'd only run you $10 tops, at Vintage Values. (At least before everyone was kicked out of the flat tops and they jacked the prices up.) The rain on the way back was incredible; Lea and I stopped at a Perkins to eat and bought mom a French silk pie. She was very happy with it.
The next weekend was especially busy.
First, Lea had to work on Saturday, then she joined mom and I at the Celtic Festival where I bought some Welsh cookies. Then we went to Rae's house that evening to celebrate her birthday. A friend of hers (Lindsay?) did my eye make-up fantastically. :D She kept saying that she felt like a whore, though, which makes me hope that she's ok. Then, we went to Midnight - an event held at an establishment called The Meeting Place. Rae's mom and sister went with, along with two of her friends, Lea and myself, and of course, birthday girl Rae. Lea, Rae, and I all won the evening's drawing and walked away with one cd each! (Lea and I left ours so Rae could rip then to her computer.) There was also cake for Rae's birthday and the place has a full menu, which was really neat. The evening was great and I think everyone had a good time. Unfortunately, after only perhaps two hours of sleep, Lea woke me up saying that she had to go home, because she was suffering what appeared to be the same stomach bug I'd had a few days previously. She missed two days of work because of how sick she got, which meant that we couldn't spend any of the day with Larry like he'd hoped.
Finally, this last weekend consisted of Lea working again, and then an hour or so at Fashion Bug, ice cream, drunken madness, grocery shopping, more ice cream, and Stargate. Fashion Bug was selling regular items for half the price, and clearance for 30% off. I found a great pair of jeans I wanted that had just been marked down (but were NOT on clearance) and they wouldn't give them to me for half the new price. >:( I'd think that if you're going to treat something as clearance, it could be on the clearance rack. If not, then the new, lower price has become the regular price, and thus, should have been given to me for half of that price. Especially since I'd asked about the difference between "just marked down" and "clearance" previously, and was assured that they were distinct and separate. (I'd used a coupon on the marked down, which stated that it could not be used on clearance items.) After that, I bought us Brewster's ice cream and we went home. Dad was drunk on the porch with classical music blaring so loudly from inside the house that we could hear ir in the car with the windows up. When he saw us, he proceeded to take the remainder of my Welsh cookies (which were on the table outside) and threw them into the yard. I overreacted to this. We left and went to Solomon's Island to wander about a bit before mom called and said we could meet her at the grocery store. After THAT, she got us all more ice cream! :D We went home and dad was napping. Put the groceries away, etc.
And last night, we had pizza, which was awesome. Now, I think I shall go watch more SG-1. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 25th, 2008|12:44 pm] |
I gotta wonder...
Why would a beauty company use something that smells like a dead bird in their spring ad? |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 15th, 2008|11:57 pm] |
WOAH LOOK I have the Internets back! I had to drill a hole in the wall to make it happen, and I still can't figure out why - the airport being on one side or another of a thin wall shouldn't make a difference. (Especially when the signal was going through nothing more than a pane of glass.)
But it did! And I have Internets again. :D |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 29th, 2008|04:19 pm] |
| [ | I hear |
| | Yann Tiersen - La valse des monstres | ] |
I only just realized that I'd misspelled "Mozart" in my last entry.
TO DO:
- Spray tile grout with grout sealer.
- DO TAXES OMG
- chores :( (Laundry, dishes)
- Eventually find missing tracks from Kill Bill Vol. 1 and ELO - Eldorado. (Why would someone upload an album with missing tracks? Eh?)
- Help mom assemble desk/entertainment center.
- Go through music communities I have joined and weed out the ones that never have updates like ever. (Well, of course, you only find that out AFTER you join.)
I may or may not manage to get one or two of those things done. I really feel more like eating pizza and watching Stargate. |
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