| Werewolves . . . overanalyzed! |
[Jul. 25th, 2008|11:34 am] |
I was playing Neverwinter Nights last night, a game I've had lying around forever and only just installed. Games last me a LONG time because I play them obsessively for a while, then forget they exist, then have to restart the game because I don't remember what I did up to that point. Heck, I still need to finish Daggerfall.
Anyway, one of the quests involves hunting down these recently infected werewolves and giving them a magical necklace that turns them back to normal, but of course you have to beat them half to death before they'll accept it because they're crazy, aggressive weeeerewolves! Awoooo! I also had to hack through a lot of normal wolves and dire wolves to get to them.
But does that really make sense? Normal wolves don't run up to gnaw on people, they're scared of them. In D&D world, wouldn't wolves be even MORE scared of humans? Instead of "Holy shit, those two-legs can hurt me from afar with their bang-stick" it would be "Holy shit, those two-legs can hurt me from afar with a barrage of fireballs." They should be running away gibbering, not rushing up to attack.
Okay, I'm straying from my original point, which is that werewolves don't act like wolves at all, so where does the wolf part come in, aside from appearance? An aggressive were-animal should be something like a were-polar-bear or a were-grizzly.
How about a werewolf that acts like a wolf? He'd have crippling social anxiety around everyone except his closest friends and relatives (his pack) because ZOMG HUMANS ARE SCARY! Maybe at night he'd run outside and kick the neighbors' garden gnomes over to express his hostility. His friends would get exasperated as he kept peeing on their furniture to mark his territory. And, to his embarrassment, he'd have erectile dysfunction EXCEPT when his girlfriend was ovulating. |
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| Dr. Horrible: The Early Years |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|10:50 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
Okay, it's not the same caliber (or budget) as the original, but still it made me laugh.
"I'm just enjoying this library book . . . that I'm planning on NOT RETURNING!"
I've had the actual Dr. Horrible songs stuck in my head ever since I watched it, probably because I watched it . . . easily ten times. I HAVE NO REGRETS! Still, it's odd waking up with "It's a Brand New Day" running through your subconscious before you're fully awake. |
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| Writing frustrations, and a moment of (Dr.) Horribleness |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|06:13 pm] |
I'm recovering from a couple years of writer's block.
I used to write. I wrote fanfic. A lot of fanfic. Enjoyable, but I wanted to write something original, partly because there's always the possiblity, however remote, that it could be published, but also because it would be something totally, utterly from my imagination. So I thought, "Maybe fanfic is sapping my creative urges. I know! I'll stop writing fanfic and all that pent up energy will be channeled into original writing!"
The result of this brilliant plan? Well, at first I sat and fidgeted in front of the computer, trying to write and failing. Then eventually I just stopped fidgeting or even thinking about writing. Once in a while I'd remember how I used to hammer out stories, how I'd get a sentence stuck in my head that HAD to be written or a story that HAD to be told, and I'd feel lost and unhappy because I wanted that feeling to return SO BADLY. Maybe I never wrote for a living, but I always defined myself as a writer. I had an itch to create and to share--even when I was writing crappy Mary Sue fics that I was too shy to share--and when I lost that, when I discovered I COULD lose that and go on living . . . it hurt.
Well, anyway. I just started working on a fanfic a week or two ago and the experience is odd. On the one hand, I'm really, thoroughly enjoying the creation process. On the other hand, I can tell I'm woefully out of practice. I'm having to think about things that would have just fallen into place before . . . sentence structure, which point of view to cast a scene from, word choice . . . That's frustrating. I hope I find my stride again. My greatest fear is that I'll never regain the ability I had.
Enough hand-wringing, onto topic number two! I found Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog through ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) dextradawn's LJ. If you haven't seen it, I ask you, nay, I BEG YOU to watch it, for it is glorious and hilarious and the tunes are catchy. ("With my freeze ray . . .") I also snagged a Dr. Horrible icon:
Thank you, Dextra!
The last installment of the Singalong Blog is tomorrow. CAN'T WAIT!!! |
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| Is can be tired? |
[Jul. 13th, 2008|11:47 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  curious | ] |
I went to a block party and I'm exhausted! There's this family that's put on a huge party and clam-bake for the past twenty or so years . . . I went and hung around with people, played basketball in the street, played the most informal game of softball ever in the park, and once again attempted to like beer. FAIL on that last point, but oh well, they also had five kinds of pop.
It wasn't a "get smashed" party anyway, there were tons of little kids running around nearly getting trampled. I talked with a guy from LA (nephew of the guy throwing the party) who worked in video games (testing) and is writing a fantasy book. Now I regret not asking for his e-mail addy because, hey, fellow would-be fantasy author, but he disappeared from sight an hour or so before I left, so finally I just shrugged, gathered up my nephew (I'd offered to drive him home since he wanted to stay longer than his mom), and headed out.
I'm exhausted, must have been all the sports. (BTW, basketball? I suck at it. So much.) Also feeling slightly buzzed, which is bizarre because I had maybe, [i]maybe[/i] an eighth of a cup of beer before concluding, yes, it's just as rancid tasting as I remembered, and "accidentally" knocking over the cup. Plus, I drank it, like, five hours, so . . . ??? |
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| . . . STILL ALIVE! |
[Jul. 12th, 2008|07:16 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | content | ] |
Man, I am awful about updating this poor journal.
Okay, general updates:
I drove back from New Mexico in two days. Not bad, not baaaad. ^_^ Of course, I was chugging caffeinated drinks the whole way.
Sadly I did NOT get the coveted Alaska job I mentioned before, which would have been doing vegetation surveys. Too bad because I could've stayed with my aunt who lives in Anchorage and it would have worked out PERFECTLY. Argh. I also got narrowly turned down for a greater sage grouse job in Idaho. C'est la vie!
Right now I'm unemployed and have just enough to make it through the summer. I just sold a bunch of Nirvana ponies (you know, the rare variant ponies from Argentina and places), which definitely helped. Also, I applied for a job in Montana that's basically a volunteer position (seriously, only $300 a month! though they do provide housing) but would be worth it because a) I'd learn a lot about trapping lizards and mammals and such and b) I'd be getting in with the Montana department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks, and getting in with the government is always a good thing.
So that's the job front. On the school front, well . . . I'm really confused about what to do with the upcoming school year to make transfering to a 4-year school as easy as possible. More about that in a different post, there's too much to get into here!
On the pony front, I just started writing again (as in, yesterday) and am happy with the story so far. I also want to start on my JLA fic again, Watching the Watchers, as it just got it's 40th review on FF.net and I feel kind of guilty about abandoning it. (For you Boostle people: Read it, it has Ted! Lots of Ted! And it will have Booster in it eventually!)
Okay, that's it for now! Um . . . still alive! Woo! *pumps fist in air* |
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| Cats in Technicolor! |
[May. 13th, 2008|11:30 am] |
So my brother's taking care of my cats and he made these You-Tubes for me . . . MY BROTHER ROCKS.
There's a second You-Tube video, but I'm not sure what happens when you put two You-Tubes in the same post. MAYBE IT EXPLODES. D: So I will hold off on the second one for now. |
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| I'm alive, I'm aliiiiive! |
[May. 13th, 2008|09:41 am] |
The subject works better if you sing it like that one part in the Last Unicorn theme song.
Anyway, I AM alive and I am in New Mexico and I am working with prairie chickens. :D
The job only runs until May 31st sooo I'm now looking for another job. I've got a phone interview in about two hours for a job in . . . ALASKA!
No, it is not on one of the stinky fish boats. ^_~
I'm hoping it goes well, we'll see!
More updates later! Muchly! |
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| Off, off, and awaaaay! |
[Mar. 20th, 2008|07:43 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  eep | ] |
Today I start driving to New Mexico . . . 1600 miles. :O Wish me luck! |
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| The five dollar bill: now with added hideousity! |
[Mar. 14th, 2008|02:33 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | confused | ] |
The bloated, off-center heads and the army of tiny, jaundiced numbers on the newer bills was bad enough, but this, this is a thousand times worse:
What is with the HUGE. PURPLE. NUMERAL?
The USA: protecting our currency by making counterfiters too embarrassed to copy it. |
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| WOOT! Job acquired, cap'n! |
[Feb. 27th, 2008|08:18 pm] |
I GOT THE JOOOOB!!! *dance dance dance*
It's in New Mexico, it's radio collaring lesser prairie chickens, and it's 100% AWESOME! I am going to learn how to use a NET GUN, how Batman is that?!?
They provide housing and I get my own bedroom and they have HIGH SPEED INTERNET. *swoons* Excitement abounds!
In other news, my gay cats are still gay . . . Remy just chased Booster down, grabbed the back of his neck, and . . . straddled him. For about two minutes. They're both neutered, but NOTHING STANDS IN THE WAY OF TRUE LOVE. |
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| *pace pace* |
[Feb. 25th, 2008|05:35 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  anxious | ] |
So, the lesser prairie chicken job.
I have a phone interview in one and a half hours.
NERVES! |
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| This is your brain. This is your brain on geek? |
[Feb. 23rd, 2008|05:28 pm] |
So I have a $25 ThinkGeek gift certificate that expires next month.
WHAT TO BUY? |
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| He is only half listening. |
[Feb. 22nd, 2008|07:58 pm] |
I feel bad that I take so many more photos of Booster (yes, he's named after Booster Gold ^_~) than of my other two cats. But he's just such a . . . what's the word I'm looking for? Charmer? Extrovert?
Ah yes. Attention whore. |
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| Dear car, why do you hate me? |
[Feb. 15th, 2008|06:22 pm] |
My cars have mind control rays. That's the only explanation. Once in a while they do something sneaky thing to show that they're just biding their time, waiting until the days when the machines shall rise up and crush their human masters.
For example, the time my Ford Escort (sometimes called Fred Escort) hypnotized me into forgetting that I'd driven it to Fred Meyers, resulting in my walking six blocks to my apartment while carrying 20 pounds of kitty litter. Or, this was another good one, when my backpack accidentally got locked in a classroom and I didn't figure out until after all the teachers had gone home. (I have a class that runs till 4:30 PM.) And my car keys were, of course, in my backpack. I had no money for the bus, so I four miles home, hunted around for a dollar in change and my spare car keys, took a bus back to the school, and drove home.
Today's incident: I went to the post office to mail a few packages. I parked, shut off the headlights, took the packages out of the car, and locked the doors. Did you see what I missed there? That's right. Turning off the engine. So then my keys were locked in the car which sat there purring smugly away. Fortunately I had my cell phone in my coat pocket so I called my parents who gave me a ride to my apartment to get my spare car keys, then back to the parking lot. Stupid car. Stupid mind controlling car.
Also, my dad pointed out that someone had stolen two of my hubcaps.
I'm still searching for my summer job. (They're posted as soon as the organizations get funding at the start of the year, so you see things like "Apply by January 25th. Job starts in June and runs till August.") I'm getting anxious because I haven't heard back from ANY of the ones I've applied for, except for the lesser prairie chicken technician job, which I couldn't do because it started a month before this quarter is over. Rrrgh.
It really gets me how many jobs want a bachelor's degree, too. Yeah, I'm sure some guy with a bachelor's can't wait to work for eight dollars an hour. YEAH. |
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| Blank-eyed, soulless ponies . . . Squee! |
[Feb. 14th, 2008|09:12 pm] |
So Hasbro is releasing totally blank (unpainted) ponies for a limited time!
Linkie!
( The official Hasbro blurb )
HOW FUCKING AWESOME! (It's almost enough to make me forgive Hasbro for this Core 7 crap. Almost.)
To any comic people out there who've thought about making your own superponies, this is a sign from above, I'm telling you! It'll be a lot easier than scrubbing the symbols off a pony with acetone, believe me. ^_~ |
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| Eating pizza at 6:37 AM |
[Feb. 13th, 2008|06:37 am] |
I meant to do another LJ post last evening, but instead I staggered in after finishing Forest Measurements class, watched a few episodes of Will & Grace (I have the boxed sets and it's my destressing show), and went to bed.
Forest Measurements is my uber-class for the quarter. Instead of running a normal length of time, it lasts from 12:30 to 4:30. Tromping around in the woods. Measuring trees. And yesterday? I decided not to bring my snowpants because it's been warm (mid-30s) for a few days and there's about six inches of snow left around here. Little did I know that we would be driving out to Riverside State Park where there is THREE FEET OF SNOW.
Anyway! I should be studying for the Wildlife Biology test I have in a few hours, but instead I'm sitting here checking LJ and eating cold pizza.
Time when it's appropriate to shout "BOOSTER! No, no, no!":
1. When he forgets to stop at stop lights.
2. When he proclaims that it's "Naked Wednesday."
3. When your cat is named Booster and you leave the kitchen for a minute and you come back to find him licking the pizza.
I would be a liar if I said I threw that piece out, though.
I figure exposure to germs builds antibodies. |
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| IT LIVES!!!! |
[Feb. 11th, 2008|11:43 am] |
Man! I have not been on LiveJournal in a while! *waves to everyone*
I've been having an action packed year . . . In September I quit my job (which I should have done years ago, I loathed it, despised it, hated it with the passion of a thousand suns) and headed back to college. (I flunked out the first time, years ago, in a bout of depression.) I was flipping between majors the first time, this time I'm in Natural Resources Management. I picked up a part time job that is almost identical to my old job except for two important differences: first, I get paid slightly more per hour and second, it's temporary. It's amazing what a difference that makes. "Yes, I may be bored out of my skull right now, but at least it's only for six months! HOORAH!"
More updates later, right now I must scuttle off to the job in question. |
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| *quietly gives in to plot panic in the corner* |
[Oct. 30th, 2006|09:00 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | intimidated | ] |
So I'm doing NaNoWriMo this month; I even bought a crappy $100 laptop off eBay for it. But now it's two days away from November and my plot is being difficult. Well, not so much difficult as nonexistant.
You see, I've been trying to outline. And every time I try to write up a summary to begin, the plot CHANGES. All I know for sure is that it involves an 80 year old princess and wacky hijinks. Other possible characters are a young squire (sometimes dead, sometimes living) and a dog (possibly a talking one.) I don't know, the thing just doesn't want to gel.
My other option would be to go with my sci fi plot idea, which follows the trials and tribulations of a group of genetically engineered lizardmen who were in the employ of a Star Warsian evil empire that recently collapsed.
What do you think? Part of my says, "Stop worrying about it and just write what comes to you," the other part says, "Are you crazy? November 1st will roll around and you'll be staring at a blank piece of paper!"
Oh my God, it begins tomorrow at midnight! Panic, panic!! |
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| It wants your SOUL. |
[May. 12th, 2006|11:14 pm] |
Oooo, look, I've briefly remembered that I have a LJ! ;D
Today I went looking at apartments in Browne's Addition, which is sort of shunted off to the side of downtown Spokane. Very nice area, lots of big maple trees and such and huge Victorian houses. It was a ritzy area built up in the 1890s and since no one needs a sprawling three story house big enough for ten kids and assorted servants any more, the place is seething with apartments.
But this entry isn't about apartments. It's about TERROR.
The terror of SCARY STARING STATUES.
( Click . . . if you DARE! ) |
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balanced
rawr
geeky