Meme thing the second

Katie's questions:

1. Blue agave has suffered a sudden blight, resulting in its swift extinction. Consequently, tequila only exists in secret stockpiles controlled almost exclusively by the wealthy and influential. How do you cope?
I do not cope. After a proper period of alcoholic mourning, I will do whatever I have to do to convince or threaten the wealthy and influential into parting with said tequila. I will also probably drink a lot more vodka to compensate.

2. Like Athena from Zeus' forehead, one of your characters has sprung fully-formed from the page. Who would you want it to be and how would your first interaction play out?

This is a terrible, mean question of you, not least because I am having trouble picking one purely out of feelings that I shouldn't separate some of them. Can I have Key and Asher as a pair? I mean, I would love to see any of them rendered in the flesh (let's not start on the list of reasons I'd want Kat, Ban, Aari, or Tobias running about).

That said, I feel my first interaction with Asher would play out a lot like Asher's first interactions with Key and/or Eva, which is to say absolutely ridiculous, very funny, and somehow ending in utterly ridiculous antics. Key would probably just give me deeply suspicious stares and do his best not to talk to me while he figured out the best way to gtfo my house without me noticing.

3. Where do you want to be in 10 years? Take that however you want.

Bora Bora, having become filthy rich off either 1) my writing or 2) assassination.

4. I could bury you alive, but you might crawl out with a knife and kill me when I'm sleeping. Suggestions for other viable alternatives? (Throwing you in the lake or feeding you poison birthday cake are right out.)

Listen, I know you want to keep me alive so there's always the possibility of murder later. That said, combining my sweet tooth and love of alcohol will probably yield favorable results.

5. Do you give love a bad name?

Well, I mean, who wouldn't be the one you love - even if your love is like bad medicine (especially when you're rocking stockings and a dress)?

Meme thing the first

1. Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2. I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3. You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4. You'll include this explanation.
5. You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.

Jeb's questions:

1. If your very life depending upon eating vegetables, which ones would you eat?

Poisonous ones. Er, I mean, probably broccoli and green beans and carrots and maybe zucchini.

2. Ben flings Mumble at you, screaming, "Get to tha choppah!" WHAT DO YOU DO?

Catch my poor, traumatized, awking bird, set him safely to the side, and throw the fuck down because this shit is BANANAS.

3. What is your favorite number and why?

Uhhhhh.... thirteen steps to the gallows and eight knots in a noose; erm, I mean. Thirteen, I suppose. Numerologically speaking it is associated with destruction and rebirth and an all or nothing take on the world, and according to some mythology somewhere there are thirteen steps on the ladder to eternity.

4. When are you going to make an honest woman out of me in Bora Bora?

As soon as I can get the books written oh god don't leave me baby

5. Did you know that I need you more tonight? That I need you more than ever?

It's 'cause we'll never be wrong together, most especially because you and me could write a bad romance.

Sleepin' Through the Evenin'

Once again I have been remiss in not updating more often :\ However, I almost have an excuse, that being the wind-down at the end of the semester. I had to put together a presentation for my digital libraries class to showcase and document the creation of a digital collection of classical piano recordings and their accompanying sheet music that was my term project for that class, while keeping my group members calm (in another class) that we could get our paper done on time, so things got a little hectic. But school is done for the semester now and I'm just waiting on my professors to stir themselves to post my grades, so here's to a month off.

Oh, right. I'm taking a class in June to keep one of my assistantships, since I've been informed that to take away a professor's GA only to assign her a new one a month later is not something my department wants to do, and they only hire me if I'm taking classes. Oh, well. I also have two other jobs this semester, since my boss at the med library pulled some strings and got me hired for June-August and my old boss at the main campus library also offered me a position. What this means is I will have some money, but I will also probably hate myself in the month of June. Whatever, this shit is under control.

I've spent a lot of time lately on the couch playing video games and reading. Still working through Warbreaker, which is quite intriguing, and have almost finished Parallel Myths, which is providing an interesting crash course in world mythology. From there I have The Hero With A Thousand Faces waiting, which I'm kind of nerdily excited about.

I have been clocking in hours on the PS2 like it's my job; I beat Shadow of the Colossus in two days and wanted to die at the end. I must salute Jake for giving me the timely advice to do it all on my own and not look up a guide; however, he did not warn me about how things turn out in the end (which he shouldn't have), so I was left an empty shell of a human being for a little while as I absorbed just what had come of my character's quest to resurrect the girl that I can only assume he loved. Moved on from that to Tales of the Abyss, which is also giving me that sinking feeling - the same one I got when I personally had to walk Cloud over to Sephiroth and fork over the Black Materia in FFVII. Great times. Good game, really enjoying the characters in this one; Tales of Vesperia is clearly its spiritual successor.

Writing actively on my book(s) has been put back on hiatus of a sort. I decided while sleeping a while back that I needed to get all my fucking background info for the world and the characters finalized and then start this shit over one. Last. Time. So I've been working on that, which is how I ended up reading Parallel Myths and buying The Hero With A Thousand Faces and The King Must Die, but what can I do. At least it's all progress.

Ben and I have gotten mired in a lot of anime, and maybe we'll finish one of the following that we're in the midst of: Death Note, Hajime no Ippo (surprisingly awesome), Battle Athletes (lulz), and Code Geass.

Also! Katie, Jeb and I are going to New Orleans this weekend (just in time for the oil slick). I anticipate ridiculous foolery and hurricanes and hopefully not waking up with no memory of the night before.

Suddenly, job offers

Oh, come on, guys. Suddenly, not only does my old boss at the main campus library want to give me a summer job, my boss over at the med library has informed me that he's trying to convince them to hire me for June and July since I won't be available for most of May. And here I thought I was going to be jobless....? This in addition to a summer class and working for a professor as a GA. When it rains it pours, I guess >.>

Nothing else exciting happening over here, except I realized yesterday that I've written nearly 30,000 words in the last three weeks if you include last night's writing. That is bonkers. Also Warbreaker is great so far.

Now, on to the real reason for this, even though I don't have enough people paying attention to this to really complete the goal here:

1: Put your music player on shuffle.

2: Post the first line from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.

3: Put the songs in bold when someone guesses both artist and track correctly.

4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!

5: If you like the game, post your own.

I am doing this with a playlist, and not all of my music, because that would be right out (if you can guess the playlist, I might have to award a real prize).

1. She's got a smile that it seems to me reminds me of childhood memories

2. You and me, meant to be; immutable, impossible

3. Hey Gloria, are you standing close to the edge?

4. Beautiful, dirty, dirty, rich, rich, dirty, dirty, beautiful, dirty, rich

5. My reflection, dirty mirror, there's no connection to myself

6. Brother Pele's in the back, sweet Zina's in the front

7. I'm wakin' up at the start of the end of the world

8. I see you blowin' me a kiss, it doesn't take a scientist

9. Shakedown 1979, cool kids never have the time

10. It's been one week since you looked at me, cut your head to the side and said 'I'm angry'

11. I've been watchin' you, can't believe just what I'm seeing

12. I know you want pop, you want dance, you want rock and roll

13. Cruised into a bar on the shore, her picture graced the grime on the door

14. Uptown, another endless night

15. Look at him, look at me; that boy is bad, and honestly

16. I am sitting in the morning at the diner on the corner

17. People don't you know, don't you know, it's about time

18. Your love is nothing I can't fight

19. And I've known, we're just like old friends

20. It's about time for a party at my house, and it wouldn't be the same without you

Truthfully, I am incredibly bored at work.

I Don't Want To Be Perfect Any More

Okay, Katie has beaten me about the head until I made another post. The writing exercises have evolved into me just writing every day, and the more I do it the easier it gets and the more I tend to write. Before I know it I might actually have a whole book, if only I could write in a linear fashion. What this also means is that my reality disconnect is getting worse and worse, so I have to be prodded to do things like this that are actually some form of contact with the outside world aside from AIM and my weekly excursion to Flying Saucer.

School is...school. I am essentially sleeping through two of my classes and getting an A because I learned nearly all the subject matter via actually working in a library. It might also have something to do with the fact that my final project for one of them is an 8-12 page literature review... that we're doing in three person groups. Ah, well, it leaves me more time to build my digital library for my digital libraries class, which is actually teaching me a great deal and making me work besides.

I finished reading Tigana a while back, and I have to say it was very enjoyable. The reviews on Amazon are all 'oh my god the characters are so amazing I've never read anything like this,' and to some extent there is a grain of truth there. The characters are very well done, with very personal motivations for what they're doing. It's not 'let's save the world because it's the right thing to do,' it's 'let's take this king out because he screwed over our country, even though doing so is going to get a lot of other people killed in the crossfire,' which is a refreshing change. I also read the newest (I think) book in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, which was enjoyable per usual and a good quick read that was a much-needed break for my brain. I've just started Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson (who happens to be the man finishing the Wheel of Time books) and I am certainly intrigued by it, though I haven't gone much further in than 30 pages at this point.

Katie knocked me off the Lady GaGa train with this amazing mashup, which I had on for a few days almost continuously while writing horrible things, and then I knocked myself off that by acquiring pretty much all of BT's music and I've been tripping on that ever since (These Hopeful Machines is a great album).

Also, Ben bought me Settlers 7, which is waaaaaay more fun than it has a right to be, and one day I will play through FFXIII.

Carried Away By A Moonlight Shadow

I feel off the map for a little while. My bad. And just now I almost got 100% distracted from this again because of the seductive wiles of the internet. FML.

I have taken up a new writing exercise in which I pick a time, any time I choose and never the same time two days running, and do whatever I have to do in order to be writing at that time for the next fifteen minutes, minimum. Doesn't matter if I have to blow people off or what - I'm there, writing, for fifteen minutes. Not staring at the screen or pretending to work but actually writing something. It's been working wonderfully, and now that I'm getting back into the habit of writing coherently every day it's starting to not be so much damned work.

Speaking of work I have come into possession of a kettlebell, which is apparently what the Russians use to abuse themselves into shape. It is also working quite well in a way that has both my hamstrings and obliques begging for mercy, which makes me happy. I also think it is rather cute, for which Katie has decreed I am eff'd in the head for thinking an 18-pound cannonball with a handle can be cute. Hi pot, how's the weather over there (ilu, Kate)?

Also my Zune is back (oh god rapture), and by my Zune I mean they sent me a new one, and so life is much, much more bearable, especially at work.

...if anything else exciting has happened while I have been AWOL I have already forgotten about it, which should come as no surprise.

Oh wait. I now have three gigs of DJ Mystik. My high school self has expired of joy.

We May Be Some Kind Of Crazy

I have to say, getting a tattoo wasn't really what I expected - though I'm not sure what exactly I did expect. I got raised eyebrows from both artists I talked to at the shop when I told them I wanted to get my feet tattooed (and have since gotten varying degrees of incredulity from nearly everyone I've told since), but they basically said 'well, that's going to hurt' and left it at that. And it did hurt, I suppose - more like stung. I spent the majority of the time chatting with Teri, who was doing the inking, and drinking grape Crush except for when she got out towards my big toe, at which point I put the bottle down and opened my mouth to say 'that hurts the worst of everything you've done' and then she moved to my arch and that was...breathtaking. I did manage to hold completely still for the whole thing except for involuntary twitches of my calf when she hit particularly sensitive spots. I'm still sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop, though, since the tattoos never bled and have yet to scab over, itch, or peel (though I did hit my right foot against the bedpost on Saturday and I think I literally made the D: face because it felt like sandpaper on a sunburn). My only real complaint is that this has made my favorite sitting position (legs tucked under) completely impossible for the time being.

In other news, Jeb graced us with her presence on Saturday and Sunday, during which time she and Ben did their level best to make me spontaneously combust, thus ending my torment and hopefully taking both of them out in the process. We took her to Flying Saucer, which she enjoyed up until she ate so much she KO'd herself, and made her watch Zombieland once D&D was over. She and Ben also spent a fair amount of time laughing at how excruciatingly painful I find listening to one of my professors lecture is - I had to sit through two lectures this weekend because I had an assignment due and some of the information could only be found in the goddamn lectures. I really just want this woman to learn the meaning of brevity, because you seriously do not need ten or fifteen minutes to explain a concept that could be covered in three concise sentences.

I have been playing FFXIII so much that I haven't even really thought much about writing, which has actually been a nice break since I am seldom not thinking about writing in some way. Once I got into the swing of the battle system I found that I actually really like it, even though it's very different from the norm and takes a bit of getting used to. Lightning is amazingly socially maladjusted - so far the only main character she hasn't punched is Hope, but that's because he's like twelve and broken and I'm waiting for that shoe to drop too. There's a lot of kinda shady stuff going on that has me waiting for everything to go straight to hell in the blink of an eye, and the characters are all different enough that you spend quite a while watching them interact and slowly realize that they can, in fact, work together and function as a group, which seems kind of novel. Normally if main characters don't get along they're still willing to stay in your party, but these guys tend to just walk the fuck away, leaving you with two mini-parties as everybody gets over themselves. The leveling system is also very interesting and I must admit I rather like it - kind of the bastard child of the class system from Tactics and a much-improved sphere grid from FFX.

And speaking of brevity, I believe it's time I shut up and went to lunch.