Fortune Favors the Bold

SO! HALLOWEEN!

2009-11-02T18:08:02Z

So Halloween was pretty fun. I find it sort of funny that people generally assume I do lots of awesome stuff for Halloween, when really, I don't normally do a lot. This year was DEFINITELY the most I've ever partied. Friday I went and helped out MEK with their event. I helped set up a little and judged the cosplay contest. There was even a little dancey dancey. Also, I played pool. It was fun not to be the WORST EVER at the game.

I was playin' for keeps!

Anyways, it was fun to hang out with people, I ate WAY too much candy though. Bad Cat.

Saturday there was a little get together at the Kappa house. I played Rock Band, made spinach dip, and had fun hanging out there. I just wore my Scribblenauts hat then, which was probably for the best. My Ash costume was sorta smokey from the Applebees. Curse you Applebees.

Still, I like my Ash costume a ton. It's comfortable to wear, and people seem to respond positively to it. I find it a little hilarious because it's A) Not a costume worn by anyone in any of the games B)Is not Ash's current nor first costume but C)Everyone still knows who I am. If I go to Yule Con (which I might try to do just so I have something to do!) I will probably wear it.

How did this apple get on my desk?

Also... man... I am SUCH a fandom poser. After seeing all these references to "Cuanta Vida" on Fandom Secrets, I decided to see what the big deal was about. Oh geez. I need to stop fawning over fandoms I'm not actually in. Of course, I asked Andrew who he usually played when he played the game. He answered Spy. @.@

WTF I CAN'T EVEN PLAY FPS GAMES!!!

Let's get spooky

2009-10-29T02:05:15Z

So I've been browsing the community 'Fandom Secrets' today- mostly because I had to kill time between getting home and tutoring a kindergartener. Math tutoring for five year olds is nutty. It's kind of awesome that doing a dot-to-dot is legitimate practice. (She has trouble identifying numbers 11-19, so finding them and putting them in order is good practice, and she gets bonus color time.)

I think after reading what all these people have said- albeit anonymously, I want to say a few really strange, really crazy things about me. No seriously, this is probably some of the weirdest stuff I've told about myself.

I walk a lot, and am always wary of being hit by a car. When I was younger, people overhyped gang violence in our area (honestly, magic marker tagging on stop signs is hardly a turf war) and for a week in middle school I was sure I was going to die in a drive-by. Part of my brain- the overly dramatic part, I'm sure, always sort of hoped that if I was hit by a car, or shot, etc- and died on the pavement, that I'd have enough time to draw something with my blood. Something like a heart or a peace sign. Of course, nowadays that would end up as internet fodder, wouldn't it?

I grew up conservative Baptist. I don't think this is a bad thing. I have had friends and roommates and boyfriends from a whole spectrum of faiths and outlooks on life. I really enjoyed sitting in on the dorky philisophical debates people at my old school would have in the hallways of the freshman dorm, especially listening to people who had an opinion different than my own, so I could weigh my own thoughts against it. But to be honest, I didn't do a lot of revolutionary opinion changing until after I came back to Texas...and started reading fanfiction. That's so terrible!

Whenever I make a sudden movement (like spinning in my computer chair, or nearly tripping on something)- I automatically envision a worst case scenario where I somehow snap my wrist due to crazy lack of balance or something. Sometimes I see this exact sort of thing happen when I'm taking care of my nephew- Worst Cast Scenario vision. I see him jumping on a sofa and automatically envision him breaking his arm. (I saw a kid break his arm last year after jumping 2 feet from a jungle gym- it just takes a bad angle!) Sometimes I wonder if this is just me being (over)protective, or if I am creepy.

On the flip side, sometimes I worry about my obsessive fangirl nature. One of my biggest fears is that I will get so wrapped up in my own world (not necessarily fandom, but maybe work) that I neglect my family. I want to be the kind of mom that is there for her kids- not the kind of mom that throws lunchables in a bag in the morning and hot pockets in the oven at night. I get more scared about this after a long day of work, because I'm often just so *tired*- I wonder how much energy I could devote to multiple other people. I know a lot of this is that I stay up too late- mostly so I can talk to Andrew etc. and that a responsible grown up doesn't go to bed at midnight... But then I also think about what Chef Copeland said about this career path and how much it demands, and how restaurant people are always working when everyone else is on vacation.

There's a good chance I'll take leave whenever I have kids. At least when they're little. I don't have a problem with daycare etc. for younguns but I want to make sure I forge a strong bond with my children.

thelonebamf @ 2009-10-23T22:32:00

2009-10-24T03:46:21Z

I apologized to Andrew last night for not being the sort of girlfriend who dresses up as a sexy bunny on Halloween, and in fact being the sort of girlfriend who dresses up as a 12 year old boy for such holidays.

Yeah, I'm a cosplayer- but to quote Chris, "Not in the fun way".

It's probably TWBB's fault- new episode next friday- yay!

Anyways- I watched all of Ouran Highschool Host Club. In like 3 days. I haven't been on that kind of anime binge since highschool when I watched all of Blue Seed and Evangelion in 5 days. Go pirated VHS tapes, GO.

Err.. and then I go out, get a boycut and start cross dressing. Er... (No, just kidding. I was in desperate need of a haircut and the Ash costume was almost done by the time I started watching Ouran.) The show was cute, I enjoyed it a lot. Is it weird that I associate Tamaki with Usagi from Sailor Moon? Especially when all the host members were like "Yeah, we're antisocial freaks but then he was all smiley at us and told us to join this club, so how could we say no?"- it was like that scene in the Sailor Moon R movie where all the inner senshi are thinking about when Usagi was more concerned with playing on the beach or eating their bento than how weird and scary they were.

Also, I was totally waiting for Takarazuka star Benibara to be revealed as a dude- like... secretly a dude as a flip of Haruhi's situation. Y'know, he liked to sing and dance but is disguised as a girl because he has more success as a guy pretending to be a girl pretending to be a guy than just a regular male lead. No? Nobody else was waiting for that? Oh.

In case you're wondering, I heart Kaoru.

This is how I deal 2/2

2009-10-14T05:14:00Z

I wanted to write a letter (I still may) to the Shares, detailing what we could do to accommodate them, what we were unable to do, and explain my regrets. Unfortunately (for them) this is how the letter currently reads:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Share,
I hope you enjoyed your visit to Texas, my family was eager to meet you. I thank you for your interest in the wedding as well as the future Andrew and I are building together. However, most of all I would like to thank you for your most recent immature and irrational behavior, hereby assuaging any guilt I currently felt about not being able to meet all of your requests. Here's a tip should your other sons ever feel to inform you of a future marriage, rather than learning from their brother's experience and just eloping: If you want your child to bend over backwards to change their plans and the plans of others to make you happy, don't follow that request with insults and unkind words. It's obvious that even changing the selected date and time of our wedding would not be enough to satisfy. We cannot make you happy, but we can make ourselves happy, and that is what we are going to do.

KTHNXBAI,
Cat

Basically, as Andrew and I were puzzling over this issue, trying to figure out what we could realistically accomplish, Andrew's dad called him stubborn (for daring to question him and get more information about the situation) as well as likening him to Mrs. Share. Those of you who read my entry about my visit in August of 2008 will recall a similar accusation was made about me after that trip, along with my being chronically depressed and antisocial. Comparing someone to Mrs. Share is pretty much the worst insult Mr. Share can come up with.

He also forwarded (without no comment to show any form of disagreement) a letter Mrs. Share wrote to Andrew. (After receiving one too many upsetting and irrational emails from his mother, he blocked her address from his inbox.) The letter detailed more requests to include Jewish traditions (some of which I have no problem with, and will probably do because I am not a spiteful person) as well as again demanding a date change. The letter ended by telling Andrew that because he has not followed any Jewish traditions to this point, they don't want their name on the invitation (OH NOES. PUNISHED.) as well as a reminder that it is Andrew's duty and honor to uphold Jewish tradition.

It's just dumb, and it doesn't do anything to encourage us to meet their demands. My parent's names will be on the invitation, and that's fine. I'm actually relieved that we have a clear cut reason to back us up in our decision to carry on with our plans. We're setting a precedent now- not so much for the Shares (I wouldn't deign to teach them a thing) but for how we're going to deal with them in the future.

Thankfully, we love each other enough to deal with this. We find each other's company calming and are able to talk these issues out. It's not easy for us to just say no to these people. Neither Andrew nor I are confrontational people by nature- but neither are we going to send the message that it's okay to walk all over us.

In short, don't change your tickets. We're still on for saturday morning.

01022010

This is how I deal 1/2

2009-10-13T03:33:36Z

Well, those of you who know what's been going down this last week are probably wondering how this weekend went. For those of you just tuning in, Andrew's parents came in to town on wednesday, Andrew himself was here Friday evening. They all left today. Now, Andrew needs no reason to drop in whatsoever, but the supposed reason of this trip was for his parents to meet my family. I guess to make sure we all speak English or something. Andrew was pretty much working down to the wire the days before this trip to finish getting a paper ready for publication, so I'm beyond appreciative that he was able to come. I would not have been able to make it through this weekend without him.

I didn't see Andrew until friday afternoon. As I mentioned, his parents came in earlier and took that time to go and check out the chapel and reception venue Andrew and I selected, both askign for information on making changes to our wedding plans (more on that later) and finding out exactly how much money has been paid (and then questioning Andrew on why it's so much). I've written about this previously, so I won't go in to detail.

Andrew came to see me directly, but had to leave quickly because he had to go and tend to his parents, check into the hotel they selected (which was a million miles away and not a very nice hotel anyways...) so that he might escort them to the restaurant we were all eating dinner at. Although Aviva herself suggested we have an engagement dinner, apparently she was so upset that she wasn't told we were.. having.. an... engagement dinner. Um.

We had a party of 14 guests with friends and family. The food was great, the waitstaff was friendly. The Shares were a bit late... but whatever. Andrew even got one waiter to change the "fireplace" dvd to one of clownfish. YES. Nothing livens up an engagement dinner like an 8 year old exclaiming "I just saw a fish pee!"

We ate, there was small talk. At one point, my dad stood and gave a toast which was just a few minutes but nice. He them opened the table to Andrew's parents, asking if either of them might like to say anything. There was some awkward silence. Then Aviva stood and talked about Jewish holidays and sang a song in Hebrew. No actual mention of her son or his future wife. Erm. After that Mr. Share spoke about... Andrew being a high school drop out. (This is sort of a joke. He skipped his last two years of high school and went straight to college, in a program not unlike TAMS except with less weirdness and it's not just science and math.) Mr. Share never actually explained this, so I'm sure a few people at the table were confused. Eventually he said Andrew was lucky to have someone he cared so much about. So that was nice, I guess.

There was food and it was awesome. OM. After it was time to leave, Andrew had to drive his parents back to their hotel. Caroline and I went to Chris' where Andrew would join us later. Mrs. Share accosted me in the hallway to talk about live bands and music. A lot. I freakin' needed to go to the bathroom! Anyways, we met at Chris', there was some GTA, and eventually I went home and crashed. Andrew decided to stay at my place rather than driving BACK to the hotel, which was fine. It's not like we don't have enough beds. Also, I had my competition in the morning, and that was so super early.

OH YEAH! 86'd!!!
So... the competition was fun. I don't think I was as nervous as other people, but I was feeling the time crunch. I did in fact make sopes. HILARIOUS. Chef Copeland sorta made me embarrassed a little, he went so far as to tell the judges (IN FRONT OF EVERYONE) that he was secretly (WELL NOT SO SECRETLY) rooting for me. Snrrk. Andrew expected to be a little bored, asked if I'd let him play Layton, and of course I agreed. But surprisingly he was glued to his seat the whole time, watching the whole thing. I think he was really proud of me, he kept repeating the good things the judges said about my dish.

ROUND ONE- [Given Ingredients: Shrimp, Blueberries, Pears, Endive, Sundried Tomatoes]
I made sopes (HAHA) which were undersalted. D'oh. I topped that with a salad of mixed greens, endive, pear and tomatoes and made a blueberry dressing. I cooked the shrimp in a little oil and topped the sopes with that. It was not as well seasoned as I would have liked, but oh well. After the round was over and told Andrew I was sure I was out, but this was not that case. SURPRISE.

ROUND TWO- [Given Ingredients: Veal cutlet, Quinoa, Boniato, Daikon, Mushrooms, Dried Cranberries)
I looked at the ingredients and went "Spluh?" although, apparently I was the only one who knew what to do with quinoa. I sauteed a little bell pepper and mushroom and made a pilaf with that. I used the other ingredients to make a stuffing and make a roulade with the cutlet which I served on top. I added a little squash on the side. Again, seasoning was an issue as was portion size. :( But I made it through! Yay! One of the chefs was apparently *very* disappointed with what we were offering him, just overall. He said he didn't feel like any of us wanted to be there. I was kind of hurt.

ROUND THREE - [Given Ingredients: Marshmallow, Peanut Butter, Grapefruit, Puff Pastry, Pistacho]
I TOTALLY CALLED PEANUT BUTTER. But yeah, man. I considered making it to round 3 a success. At this point I was up against the reigning champion, a girl who has already graduated and was pretty confident so I wasn't gonna bank on a win. I made my "banana split" idea. I cooked banana slices with butter and brown sugar. That went into a bowl of puff pastry and was topped with peanut butter marshmallow whipped cream, a little candied grapefruit rind and a dusting of pistachio. I knew I didn't really have a chance based on presentation. In retrospect I can think of a presentation right now that might have put me in a better position but oh well. 2nd place was awesome and Copeland was pleased that I was still happy after taking second. Uh... yeah!

It was cute, Chef Copeland is such a proud Papa. (He hasn't had the two boys yet.) He took Andrew in the hallway to see all the pictures from past contests (there are a lot of me and my cakes). Andrew was OMGWTFBBQ at my duck pizza. XD

Afterwards I was TIRED. Andrew's folks called him saying we should all go to lunch with my mom. I was ready to fall over. We told them to just go ahead (note: I was at school before 9 and left at 2) but apparently that didn't mean anything because when we got home at 2:30 they were still there still undecided and still trying to get me to go out. NO MEANS NO. (More on this theme later.) I trudged into my room to change and bless my mom, she got the Shares out the door. Andrew and I left later, got fair tickets from Chris, got a quick bite (I was starved) and went to the fair.

OH YEAH STATE FAIR! [It was awesome.]
I ate fried butter (just one piece) and I had barbeque eggrolls (tasty!) and I bought fudge and a deep fried smore and other things I'm sure. We went on the bear ride and the tilt a whirl and we rode PADDLE BOATS. Andrew and I looked at turtles as we paddled around. It was really relaxing and tranquil, and I almost forgot how nice it was because of all the dumb stuff that happened later this weekend. Let me just say "GUYS, TAKE YOUR LADY ON A PADDLE BOAT!" We walked around and held hands and it was totally romantic.

Did I mention we were wearing our Scribblenauts hats the whole time? Well we WERE and that was awesome too. Everyone wanted to know where we got them. (Seriously within 5 minutes people were asking us.) Little kids wanted our hats. Some lady took a picture of our hats. BEST HAT.

We came back home and my mom chatted us up for two hours about her day. Apparently in less than 24 hours my mom lost her patience with Aviva as well and told her to STOP because no one was accusing or attacking her. Yeahhh...

I crashed, but had to be up at 7 because my mom wanted the house to be double spotless for lunch on sunday, when the Shares would be joining us. I could barely see straight, I was so tired. But the house was nice. I trudged to church, taught kids, came home and prepped for lunch. Andrew showed up first and we went to get ice. The plan was to eat lunch, talk a little, then go out with my nephew for a while before bringing him back in the afternoon, giving Andrew and I some time to spend together. APPARENTLY THIS WAS NOT A GOOD ENOUGH PLAN.

Mr. Share gave a speech at lunch detailing how I am genetically an honorary Jew. (Andrew suspects this is for his wife's mental wellbeing... uhh.. thanks, I guess.) He went on to detail what he and his wife would like to see at the wedding. (You know, that wedding happening in a little over two months? That one that's been in the works for over a year? Yeah, that wedding. That's the one!) All they wanted was-
1. For us to change the date/time of the wedding (really it would be the date because the chapel is booked on saturdays forever at all times.)
2. To have a Rabbi present. (I have no problem with this at all, not even with him saying a few words or a prayer or whatever.)
3. To have a chuppah (little tent/canopy to represent the new home) - which is a little problematic for me... only for aesthetics. I don't even want ornamentation on the pews because I don't want to touch or change the chapel at all. I'm hesitantly agreeing to flowers on the altar! Every chuppah I've seen is a big mass of tulle, and... no. Please no. If the chapel has one that fits with the design of the chapel, I'm game- but otherwise, no thanks.

In short, while I'm all for family harmony, and while Mr. Share presented this in a rational way, the more I think about it, the less I want to make these changes. The invitations have to be ordered this wednesday (so we have time to get a sample, proofread, order, SEND OUT etc) and I don't think I can reorganize all of our planning in one day. Mr. Share offered to pay the fees any of our friends would have to pay to change their plane tickets but... I don't see why I should inconvenience all of our friends when they have been behind us from the start. (As opposed to discouraging us from marrying, demanding a prenup, or suggesting their son date another person altogether.)

Also, seeing as the Share family doesn't really abide by the Sabbath in that whole... no work, no travel by car, no electricity thing... this seems bonus dumb. More on this in the next entry.

So, I'm ready to go with the Andrews, Andrew is ready to go, and other Andrew is ready to go. But we can't. Why? Because we have to go to North Park Mall (STUPID FAR AWAY) to get Andrew measured for a tuxedo. SHORT VERSION: IT TOOK SEVERAL HOURS, AND ALL THAT WE GOT WAS THAT HE WANTS A 36 SHORT JACKET AND THEN AVIVA TOOK A LOT OF HUMILIATING PHOTOS LIKE SHE WAS AT SIX FLAGS. WE WERE NOT AT SIX FLAGS. WE WERE IN A NEIMAN MARCUS. I WANTED TO DIE.

Andrew and I planned to go to IKEA to pick up vases for the tables, but we couldn't because we had to take my mother home and the store was going to close before we'd have time to get there. Great. Instead we just went out, ate spaghetti and had a nap. We came to my place to watch IT crowd and such. Andrew... amazing guy that he is- went to the hotel to drop off his mom's phone, grab his gear, and came back to stay at my house, just so he could be here in the morning. Yeah. I love him.

Today we went to eat Pho, and then to MagiQuest with my nephew at the Great Wolf Lodge, which was awesome. It was a lot of fun, but it seemed that whenever we weren't occupied zapping crystals and returning the power of flight to pixies, Andrew and I were preoccupied with all this parent stuff. Sigh.

He's supposed to try and talk to his dad tonight. I hope that works out for him.

This entry is labeled 1/2 because I wanted to make a separate entry, more or less the letter I would like to send to Mr. and Mrs. Share. I've been wrestling with a few issues for a while now, and frankly my head hurts. Ow.

I kind of wanna make a halloween costume...

2009-10-09T01:56:35Z

I don't know if my church is doing a carnival like last year but... I kinda want to make something. (I HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO BE DOING, OBVIOUSLY.) MEK is having an event, I wanna dress up. Maybe a pokemon trainer? LOLZ... REVERTING TO SECOND COSPLAY EVER....

That's right, I crossplayed before crossplay was... no, let's forget that, it's still not cool.

Oh man, I *should* put this on the MILP blog, but it's just too good...

So, today was nuts. My family went crazy over picking a restaurant for dinner tomorrow, it's so silly. But all of that PALES in comparison to the phone call I got today. I was on my way home from getting my eyebrows waxed (STUPID. I AM NOT DOING THIS FOR THE WEDDING. I NEED TO STOP BEING AGREEABLE...) Whennnn....

Cat: Oh, a message? Huh. I don't recognize this number.
Voicemail: Hello, Catherine? This is Katherine from Marty Leonard Chapel... um... can you... give me a call? There's something you should know.
Cat: DID SOMEBODY'S FUTURE MOTHER IN LAW VISIT A CHAPEL TODAY? I THINK SO! Let's watch!

Lady at Chapel: Oh, yes, um, well I've just been mulling this over for an hour now, and well I decided I should call you.
Cat: What's that?
Lady: Well, your... well Andrew's mother came to visit the chapel today-
Cat: Yes... (I KNOW WHERE THIS IS GOING...)
Lady: And well... she was asking about changing the date of the wedding? She wanted other options, I mean, I told her I was happy to give her the information but the only people who could make changes were you and Andrew.
Cat: @_@ Oh... yes... well... thank you for that. This... isn't new.
Lady: Oh, well I just... I mean, I didn't know if I should call you, but I thought if I was the bride I would want to know. I wanted you to be prepared so you had that words.
Cat: (OH I HAVE SOME WORDS!) Yes... I... bless your heart (I AM FROM THE SOUTH, SHUT UP) I... I appreciate the heads up.
Lady: She said she was in town for some... meeting?
Cat: We're having dinner... not a meeting...
Lady: Maybe that's not the word she used. She was also looking for some restaurants for a rehearsal dinner so I gave her some recommendations. I hope that was okay.
Cat: No, that's absolutely fine. Thank you for that.
Lady: Well and she told me how she was Jewish and that there would need to be a Rabbi present, and I let her know that that was up to you and Andrew. I *do* have a Chuppah...
Cat: I thank you for handling this so deftly.
Lady: My social worker instinct kicked in. I tried to counsel her
Cat: (CAN I HIGH FIVE YOU YET?) Oh my, thank you.
Lady: I brought up grandchildren. I told her, "You know, there is a chance grandchildren will result from this marriage. You don't want to do anything that would cause you to be excluded from their lives. My grandchildren are the most important thing in the world to me." Her whole countenance changed after I said that.
Cat: That was so sweet of you. I really do appreciate it.

The lady sounded so embarrassed and not at all sure how to bring this up. I tried to respond as smiley and good naturedly as I could to her, because I think she needed it and obviously she was just amazing. I am sending her a card.

HEY GUYS, I MADE IT THROUGH A WHOLE ENTRY WITHOUT TALKING ABOUT METAL GEA.... damn.

MEMEs are better than rants!

2009-10-05T01:49:31Z

NAME A FANDOM AND I'LL TELL YOU MY:
- OTP
- Runner-up
- Honorable mention(s)
- Crack pairing(s)
- Ship everyone else seems to like, but I don't

((stolen from ippopi))

Why should this be hard?

2009-10-05T00:16:07Z

So Jennifer brings three GIANT binders of invitations over so I can pick one. Seriously 10 minutes and I'm like "Yeah, that one". Font? "Uh... that one. That's good." She goes on for a bit about how the names and the wording of the invitation are supposed to be in different styles of font and how there's all this complicated wording since Andrew's dad is a doctor and mine is a pastor... whatever. I'm sure someone has a degree in stupid invitation wording. These things end up in the trash anyways! I don't even think my mom has one of Debbie's anywhere.

My mom insisted we go shopping for dresses because HOMG I need more dresses. Or something. I don't know. We went to the dumb stupid mall of dumb. My mom was like "Oh we need to go to Macy's." Uh... no we don't. Dumb dresses are a hundred million dollars and apparently this year "Epileptic Vomit" is the color scheme of choice. ~_~ I know my mom wants to do nice things for me before I run off to a far away land where they don't have stores but... c'mon mom.

And on the way there my sister is giving me a giant lecture about how hard it is to pull together a rehearsal dinner. You have to invite everyone that has come from out of town. (Uh... okay. 90% of those people are old school buddies, which is fine with me but it's gonna get weird. And by weird I mean awesome.) You have to send *written* invitations. (WASTE OF PAPER. THIS IS WHY WE HAVE PHONES.) You have to do such and such and such and such and why haven't you planned this out already? IT IS ONLY THREE MONTHS AWAY. I'm like "Dude. It's a reservation at a restaurant. I get a head count, I tell people to show. IT IS NOT ROCKET SURGERY." Apparently I am not doing it right. Or something.

And of course sister #2 is so peeved because I am having my rehearsal dinner on the night she has a CONCERT to go to. WAAAAH. (Look lady, don't get mad at me that we only told you a week in advance. You dump my nephew on me with no warning at all. I DO NOT MIND BECAUSE HE IS FAMILY AND I LOVE HIM.) So she can only go to the dinner for a little bit. WHY CAN'T WE DO IT ON SATURDAY?? WAAAH>>> CONCERT!1!!!?? (Um, because I have an f-ton of things going on that day, also it is a day for my dad's dialysis, and on those days he is not up for a lot afterwards.) I'm not talking about a 4 hour event here. 2 hours, tops. Let's eat dinner, let's chat. Yay let's go home, I need to sleep and be ready for 86'd.

Seriously sisters. CHILL OUT. I AM NOT STRESSED (well *now* I am) BECAUSE IT IS NOT IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO GET STRESSED OUT.

Keeping Voodoo Doughnuts on speed dial just in case.

In other news- the mgs_slash girls (well....99.9% girls) like me? T_T It's so neat to be part of a fandom!

Do not feel obligated!

2009-10-04T01:33:53Z

This may seem counter intuitive, but... I started a journal just for my fandom (read: Metal Gear) stuff. I guess it's like an art journal, except a lot of it is likely to be fanfiction stuff. It's not all finished pieces, a lot of it is prewriting and WIPs. It's basically there so other interested fangirls can come and make constructive comments and such. (Also so I can post any het stories and art, which aren't allowed on mgs_slash, which is easily the most active metal gear community on LJ.)

At any rate, if you *are* interested to see what I'm up to in the fandom department, you can go Go check it out. Or don't. That's cool too. I just thought I'd put it out there for anyone that was interested.

Who even uses these anymore?

2009-10-02T20:20:21Z

Don't You Just Love Being In Otacon?

Generated by the Advertising Slogan Generator. Get more Otacon slogans.

OH NOES.

It is good to know that he would care.

Your Big Boss Battle by samu_sama

Username

Your Battle Armor

Weapon of choice

Your Ally in battle

greggiepoo17

Friend that back stabs you for the enemy

insomniel

The Big Bad Boss

Solid Snake

Do you Live?

Well....Sorta. You made up with the bad guy and got married??

Your Chance Of Winning

32%

OH NO IT'S A MGS ICON! RUN, RUN!

2009-09-29T02:55:24Z

So I'm writing a fanfiction. I haven't given fanfic writing a try in... a lot of years. Seriously, the last one I can remember writing was at some point back in highschool. It wasn't very good, but gosh darnitt I am such a Nightcrawler fangirl. (There is a bamf doll on my desk as I write this...) If I didn't have a few X-men fics under my belt I wouldn't have much claim to the title.

No, dumb comics and doodles seem to be my bread and butter when it comes to fandom. However, I have a rather voracious appetite for MGS fiction, it would seem, so it was only a matter of time before I tried to write something myself. I mostly plan on posting it on whatever LJ community will have me... I know you guys (who even reads this anymore?) are probably tired of my rambling about a video game series that 95% of you aren't even mildly interested in.

Anyways- I'm still tinkering with it. I had an idea that was tickling at the back of my head and I wanted to get it down. It's nothing terribly interesting, cloning blues mostly- but I had this conversation looping in my brain and the only way to get it out was to put it on paper. Or uh... a word.doc at least. Despite what Andrew says, I don't fancy myself a great writer. I can write down my thoughts clearly enough, I suppose- but when it comes to writing entertaining prose, I am absolutely clueless. Also, I don't know how to punctuate properly. This is what Beta readers are for. Geez, I didn't even know what a Beta reader was until recently. I AM LAMESAUCE.

Oh geez, I use words like "lamesauce". Why would anyone want to read something I wrote? At least I haven't let capsspeak infiltrate my fanfic. YET.

Ugh, anyways - I don't even know what the point of this entry was. Probably just to highlight how pathetic and aimless I am these days, even though I need to be doing wedding things and cleaning my room. When I say "cleaning" I actually almost mean "packing". OH GEEZ I AM MOVING AWAY IN THREE MONTHS.

Also... Andrew is apparently fighting scary Gamestop dragons to get me my Rooster hat. T_T Whatwhat?

I think I post just for the sake of the icons...

2009-09-28T19:08:52Z

This post is about FOOD! Not Metal Gear! DUDE IT'S LIKE WHOA.

So I enjoy my volunteer position at El Paisa. I'm officially addicted to tacos (seriously, I didn't go in on Friday, which meant a three day taco deficiency and I was just counting down the minutes til lunch today...) and it's a friendly work environment that doesn't send me home in tears at the end of the day. Also there is tea. Sweet tea. GLuggluglgubbb...

But the other reason I like it is that while yes, I am learning a lot about efficiency and time management and how the restaurant works together as a team, a lot of my jobs are just sorta... menial. Okay, normally that would be bad, but it is made *less* bad by 1) My MP3 Player and 2) My stuff going on *outside* of the kitchen. If I'm just standing there shucking tomatillos, I can spend some mental energy coming up with recipes for later use.

I am so determined to rock the house at this competition. There isn't really a lot I can do to prepare. The ingredients we're going to be given are a total surprise until the clock starts counting down. The time we have to think about what we're going to make is part of our total cook time. AUGH.

So the best thing I can do is make a mental catalogue of recipes I can
1)Prepare proficiently
2)Make with limited time
3)Make with likely staples
4)Change out ingredients in
5)Show my amazing mad creativity skillz with

I doubt beef tongue is going to show up in the black box, but things like fish/shrimp might- so it's good to come up with a general plan for a fish dish. Same thing with fruits. Some of the things I've come up with are:

1. SOPES... okay, this would be ambitious but I think it would be a great appetizer and if I managed my time properly, there's no reason I couldn't pull it off. You take masa (corn flour) and add some water, salt, and lard to it to make the masa. Make this into flat rounds (roll it out and cut it would be the way to do it at school) toast it lightly in a cast iron skillet, then form it into a cup while still warm and fry. Top this with some kind of lightly dressed greens and some kind of grilled meat (I think it would be amazing with grilled shrimp or maybe crab meat and some kind of salad with corn in it) and maybe some kind of quickie salsa around the plate. Wouldn't that be pretty?

2. PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME... I was thinking about what kinds of crazy things we might get in the dessert basket. I was thinking about peanuts. Maybe I could make an upscale version of a banana split? Make a flavored whipped cream (strawberry whipped cream is awesome) and make some kind of edible cup or shell (like out of phyllo) place some slices of banana in the bottom, top with the whipped cream and toasted peanuts (or even toast and grind the peanuts with oil and sugar for a peanut butter) and some kind of chocolate drizzle, maybe some fresh fruit on the plate

3. GRANITA? I don't know, I am sure there is some reason why I should make a granita out of fruit or something in the freezer and pair it with the fois gras they will clearly be giving us. (HINT : WE WILL NOT BE GETTING FOIS GRAS)

Still thinking of ideas... we'll see what I come up with on the day. I just really want to do well and prove to the universe (and myself) that I know what I'm doing and belong where I am. SELF VALIDATION THROUGH COMPETITION!

What's this?

2009-09-28T02:07:13Z

Metal Gear Business of the Day

1. Saw Philanthropy. It was pretty much awesome. Otacon only had a bit part (voice over) but that's fine, I was kinda expecting that. It just meant that I am still able to speak in coherent sentences now and can actually pull myself away from watching the movie long enough to write this LJ entry.

2. PROMO ART FOR PEACEWALKER ASDKAJSDJ!J!L@JK!!!
http://kotaku.com/5368716/enjoy-the-metal-gear-solid-peace-walker-tgs-promo-book/gallery/
I like the design of "Strangelove" who will no doubt blow things up. Um... am I wrong to assume that that's a dude? He is fully clothed, after all. Someone drew fanart and it looked like a chick, but maybe it was just *that* kind of fanart. ASKLDJASDSD!!! IT'S OTACON'S GRANDFATHER/DAD/DON'T CARE.
I'm actually really interested in this game. WHATWHATWHAT? Female characters I might cosplay as? NOWAI.

3. I'm crunching on ice.

4. I got to wear (if not own) a Scribblenauts hat. All was well with the world for about an hour. Photos on my facebook.

5. Give me a call guys. I'd love to hear from you. :)

I HAVE SEVEN MILLION METAL GEARS TO PROTECT ME

2009-09-26T18:39:17Z

Let me just go on the record, right now and say, my boyfriend is better than yours.

There, I said it.

Friday nights are kinda iffy for phone conversations. I'm usually not doing *anything* because I have no social life and all my friends live on the moon, but he goes to game club and that runs til midnight. Often, after that - people go out for food and sometimes even more games of the video variety. By the time he gets home, it's something like 1 or 2. Depending on what either one of us has going on saturday morning, that might put a crunch on time.

But we chatted last night and man.

I talked about Metal Gear.

A lot.

And when I say I talked about Metal Gear, I mean I talked about Otacon. And when I say I talked about Otacon, I mean I talked about really minute weird details that would only be relevant if I wrote an incredibly introspective fanfiction.

Not that I'd ever do that. Er.

Oh geez, I seriously talked about this crap for at least an hour.

And omigawd he actually responded like he was interested. Hand that boy an academy award.

No, no, I mean I guess he was a little interested. He's played the games, and he thinks it's cool that I'm having fun with all my comics and junk, but it's not like this is a terribly new fandom for me. (And it's not like it's the first time I got obsessive about something and yammered on for ages about it.) I mean, it wasn't *just* about Metal Gear- there was stuff that wasn't Metal Gear and how it... related... to Metal Gear. Erm.

Look, just take my word on this guys. If you can hold a conversation about your girlfriend's latest (recurring) craze at 1 in the morning, when the main topic is the fictional character whom most of your mutual friends would consider your romatic rival... and sound interested... yeah. You win at romance.

Just sayin'.

ON NOES

2009-09-26T04:35:19Z

Cat's writing fanfiction. It's weird. Don't worry, there is not lots of make outs.

YET.

No, I just had a little conversation that kept tickling in my brain and I needed to write it down or it was going to bug me forever. Thankfully, my comics have endeared me to the MGS fangirls on LJ, so I have two offers for beta readers, so at least I can get some input before just totally putting stupid crap out there. LIKE I HAVEN'T DONE THAT ALREADY.

Geez I'm hungry. I didn't meet my taco quota today. :(

86'd looms ever closer...

2009-09-24T01:23:29Z

So October 10th. Looks like it is going to be the day that lived in infamy. Famously. Seriously, so much stuff is happening around that time I think I'm going to explode. Ugh! Probably I am just devoting too much mental energy to the whole thing.

Alright, so I mentioned this briefly on facebook, but I think I'm going to go into a little more detail here because I need to sort out my thoughts/gameplan for the upcoming competition.

You know, I wouldn't have ever said "Oh yes, I'm a competitive person", but I guess... I am? I enter a lot of contests, I used to do a lot of cosplay competition, now it's culinary stuff...But I don't usually compete with the notion that I have to win. I don't know, I enjoy the planning, I enjoy the making, I enjoy the competing, winning is totally a bonus. That's what we're taught to do anyways right? Maybe it takes away my super competitive edge or something, but I really just enjoy the process. It's not as though at this point I'm making a major investment in any of the competitions. Paying 10.00 and giving up a saturday morning is hardly a sacrifice.

Anyways, so to date, I've actually competed in... wow... six competitions at school?
-Pumpkin Carving (1st place and Best Theme for my Alice in Wonderland Pumpkin)
-Gingerbread House (Best Architecture and President's Award for my Notre Dame)
-86'd Chili, Burger, Pizza (1st Place), and Mini Cakes

After winning 1st place in the Pizza competition (and a place in the upcoming 86'd throwdown) I went into the mini cake competition with a light heart and honestly, I just wanted to play around. I think Chef Copeland appreciates that part of my personality. Other competitors have commented how they are always interested to see what I'm going to do because it's always "outside the box". It may not always work out, it may not always win, but you can usually peg which entry is mine. Let's face it, I've got style. :)

So, I won the pizza competition, which was hilarious in itself because during my 3 weeks in back-of-house at the school restaurant, working the pizza station was easily one of the most taxing and difficult weeks I had at school. Ever. Seriously. The thing is, it shouldn't have been that difficult! Pizza/bread was supposed to be Vicky's and my way of easing into this whole restaurant thing. There were days when I just felt useless, and was positive Chef Hubbard thought I was a damn fool. But, and this was the thing that made Chef Copeland jump with joy- I learned something from that week. I mean, I definitely am not the best at *anything* I do. I'm like... the anti-Wolverine or something. However, I am proud of the fact that I am a quick learner. I make observations, file them away, and pull them out when I need them. (Ha, case in point- my handy pomegranate trick that baffled all of the Chef Instructors during the cake challenge. None of them had ever seen that way of quickly separating pomegranate seeds from pith. Thank you, Alton Brown.)

At any rate, my pizza was really tasty. I was actually kind of nervous about placing in the competition. I mean, I was proud of what I had (although I seemed to have like 20 extra minutes to waste, so I had to watch my timing to make sure the pizza was hot and the greens were cool)- but there were other people there that were so proud of their creations. One guy made some kind of pulled pork pizza. Pulled pork? LABOR INTENSIVE! I mean, all I did was sear some duck breast! And I just seasoned that with salt and pepper! Eep!

Anyways, for those of you that are interested, here's how the pizza went down- basically, I took the dough, stretched it out (thankfully, restaurant taught me you need to stretch it more than you think, since the dough shrinks up during cooking) and grilled it with some olive oil to get nice grill lines. That was topped with a layer of caramelized shallots. I used shallots as my "sauce", because I was cutting the duck breast, and Chef Copeland told us in American Regional that duck breast gets discolored if you slice it and pour a sauce over it, so I figured the same logic applied to under it... Anyways a slice of duck went on each piece (each pizza had six) and then I turned those pieces around so the points were outward. This left a little cavity in the middle of the plate. There I put a salad of mixed greens and frisee lettuce (frisee looks like mad scientist hair, so it gives a nice height to the dish), that I dressed with an apple cider vinaigrette. Sprinkled all over the whole thing were toasted pine nuts and a few thin strips of proscuitto that I crisped up in the oven. Lastly, on top was a thin crisp I made by toasted parmasean on a silicon mat in the oven. It had a little sage and pepper on it. It sounds complicated, but since the dough was already made... it really wasn't.

The cakes... well like I said, that was just for fun. I made a lemon cake (which was actually quite tasty on its own) and decorated them to look like little nigiri sushi. I used white sprinkles for "Rice" on the bottom later. I ended up using fondant, even though I don't like fondant, just out of interest of time. The "wasabi" was green tea frosting, and the "ginger" was made of shavings of cantelope. (This was an inclusion that baffled everyone that was putting together the supply trays.) I had intended to serve a pomegranate syrup on the side as "soy sauce", but it burned. Stupid Cat! Still, the judges knew my intentions and told me they appreciated the amount of though I put into composing my plate. I'M A CLEVER GIRL. I basically started my presentation by telling the judges that I just come to the contests to play, which made Chef Copeland laugh. He thought that was awesome. Well it's true.

But I can't help but feel a little anxious about the upcoming contest. This one is set up like the show "Chopped". You start with 4 cooks, and there are 3 rounds. At the beginning of each round, everyone receives a "black box", which has some random ingredients. All of those ingredients must be used to create a dish (appetizer, entree, or dessert, depending on the round). On the TV show, people will sometimes get things like sea urchin, but I don't think Chef Copeland is that mean. I should probably brush up on my urchin cooking skills just in case.

So, I'm nervous. #1, Andrew will be here. He's going to come to the contest to watch (yay) but man... how embarrassing would it be to get eliminated in the first round in front of him? He's not coming to town just for this, mind you. He had his ticket before I knew the date of the competition. It just worked out that way.
Of course, his parents will be here too. Ugh, last thing I want to do is see them and be like "Yeah, I forgot how to make a salad. I got kicked out WAY early! LULZ!" Not that I should care what they think. Heck, I spend like 7 minutes a day telling Andrew not to care what they think. I need to take my own advice, probably.

But... since I don't know what's in the box, it's not like I can prepare. The best I can think of is to watch lots of Chopped online or something. See what kinds of things people make, how long it takes, what mistakes are made and stuff. (Sloppy plates vs pretty plates is one I noticed.) Just sort of reviewing basics and plate compositions and having some ideas under my belt is a good way to go. Just a few ideas where I can plug in various ingredients, but still have a game plan? I don't know why I'm freaking out about this. It is totally extra, and I didn't even have to compete in any of these at all and even if I lose I am still heaps better than people that don't care, or something. PROBABLY OR SOMETHING.

Ugh. Alright. So.

PHILANTHROPY IS IN FOUR DAYS HOMG YES.

Love and Peace... OR ELSE!

In other news, apparently people like my Metal Gear comics! I just hope I can keep coming up with enough dumb jokes to keep it going. Yaaaaaaaaaay!

Stole a meme from Tracy

2009-09-23T02:26:51Z

Cause I miss her!

The All About Meme!

1. Name (and what should I call you?):
2. Birthday:
3. Where do you live: i
4: What are you studying/What's your job:
5. What makes you happy:
6. What are you listening to now/have listened to last:
7. Why you're reading my LJ:
8. An interesting fact about you:
9. Are you in love/do you have a crush at the moment or name an important person in your life:
10. Favorite place to be:
11. A favorite quote:
12. Best time of the year:
13. Weirdest food you like:

RECOMMEND
1. A film:
2. A book:
3. A song:

FANDOM
1. Favorite Fandom:
2. OTP/OT3:
3. Icon/Fic Journal:

PLUS
1. One thing you like about me:
2. Two things you like about yourself:
3. Put this in your lj so I can tell you what I think of you? (Entirely optional.)

You're all probably starting to worry about me.

2009-09-21T19:59:18Z

Is it worth mentioning that I haven't even started playing MGS 1 yet? I should probably clean my room up so I have a nice environment in which to enjoy it.

But don't worry about me guys, I'm fine.

Just repeat after me, "Beep, beep! I'm a Jeep!"

Don't you wish your icons were cute like mine?

2009-09-21T04:15:25Z

Seriously, this is the best icon ever.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/once-upon-hawp/52467
Okay, you can watch this if you want. It's adorable and it's where the art came from.

Also... I uploaded that comic I drew. Which will apparently be one of... more than one. I posted it on a mgs_slash as well as my DA. I hesitate to post it on facebook, if only because there are people here that don't need to see it.

I uh... I mean all the kiddos I'm friend's with. Of course.

Updatey Update!

2009-09-19T15:06:24Z

Yeah, I'm not even commmiting real time to talk to you guys... I just have some time from now til when I have to go start my magical cake making. I'm making cake that is supposed to look like sushi. The cake isn't even that remarkable... I just wanted to make something fun. I already have a spot in the showdown, so meh. If I don't place, it's fine. SUSHICAKES!

Anyways, in other news....
I got MGS1 last night! Found it at movie trading company. Guess what I'll be doing in my evenings now? Who needs friends when you have a codec? Strangely, I'm keen on having the PS1 version as opposed to the remake. No idea why.

Umnnn... PAC night is tonight. I don't know what I'm making, but I'm going with Raymond and Caroline to H-mart so I'll just pick up whatever looks good. It sounds like there are a lot of newbie freshman that aren't able to bring food so I have to make up for it. Om nom nom. Cooking all day.

Funny enough- even though I'm not working today, I am going to El Pasia with Holly for lunch. I'm going to try something that isn't tacos. The Puerco Asada is awesome... but I've been thinking about flautas... all so good... why isn't there a sampler platter? Oh well, it's not like I don't have time to try everything ever.

Also... SCRIBBLENAUTS! Yay! My nephew thinks the game is hilarious. He likes to make animals and have them eat each other. He's so eight years old. I wish I had the hat. :(

Umm... other than that, not a lot is going on. I entertain myself by drawing (or thinking about drawing) MGS comics... Ooh yeah, I got prismacolors for 50% off which is nuts. Awesome, but nuts. So of course the first thing I draw is a MGS comic. What a dork.

Philanthropy in 8 days! SQUEEEEEE!

Okay but seriously...

2009-09-16T04:43:30Z

As totally lame as it is... watching Snake and Otacon have conversations on my facebook is freakin' hilarious.

It is marginally less lame if I think of it like writing a comic strip... except without pictures. Well there are pictures... they just don't change.

Okay, so it's like writing a comic strip, except its one of those ones where it's happening in a codec conversation and it's the dialogue that's the funny bit.

Yeah.

That's not lame at all.

I'm posting!!!

2009-08-25T16:21:15Z

Consider it a rebellion against facebook and twitter and the whole... micro-update thing. I'm seriously not doing anything drastically important so you deserve to hear about all the... totally... not important things I'm doing. Um. Er...

Okay, it's a sad fact of my livejournal entries that they tend to show up when things aren't actually happening. So what I *can* do is share some amazing and awesome things with you people.

-- A Very Potter Musical
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmwM_AKeMCk
It's probably around 2 hours, I mean, it's a legitimate musical, but it's TOTALLY AWESOME. No, it's really funny, tounge in cheek- and great. Find some time to devote to it if you're a HP fan. My favorite character is actually Voldemort, of all people.

-- Being Human
http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/369/index.jsp
I don't have a link to a place where you can watch the show, unfortunately- but this show isn't particularly hard to torrent. There's only 7 episodes (one pilot and then the series) to watch. It's kind of awesome, and I would love a cd of the soundtrack. (Even the episode where the ghost listens to terrible depressing music.)

--Whitney Lee Photography
http://whitneyleephotography.com/
Looks like I found the photographer for our wedding. Yay!

--Comic Anthology
Clearly I have so much time (and nothing else that needs doing) so I should draw a comic anthology of 5 page comics or something. Included are "Doctor Whom" and "Too Much Vampires".

--Externship
Doubletree never called me back, but I've got a volunteer position. So that's good. Arrrr.

Okay, that's all for now. Later you guys.

Making some decisions!

2009-05-23T01:55:11Z

First an update, and then some more stuff!

American Regional - I was TERRIFIED of this class. I had heard countless rumors about the teacher, how hard it was, how he kept the class for an hour to yell at them... oh man, I was freakin' out. Yeah. Actually, not so much. He's strict, but fair. He expects a lot, but I mean- why would you pay 250.00 a day (what it comes to) to not learn anything? I've mentioned that he reminds me a bit of Mr. Bondies- I'm sure some people take issue with him and his methods- but if you don't learn a TON from the class, it's your own dang fault. The class is set up a bit more competition style- with us in groups of 4, and definitely being compared to one another and the chefs picking a "best dish" from each category. I have mad plating skills, it seems- but that's not always enough to win the super best. (My potatoes can beat your potatoes, though- I'll post pics when I get them.)

A-kon - Uh... apparently right around the corner! Man, I have been so busy with school and work that I haven't thought about it at all. I'm actually kinda glad that there's no time for a real panel (just one on stenciling and one on iron lolita) because I'm kind of out of touch with the up and coming trends. (It seems that lately the division between Cosplay Loli and EGL fashion has become greater. Cest la Vie... Sailor V.... whatever...)

Sailor Moon- Made it through episode 59. Man, the whole together-apart-together again saga of Mamoru and Usagi gets ya right here. Doesn't it? No? Oh well.

Today I made some somewhat hilarious

Faust Ragnarok: Oh. How has your battle with Andrew's mother
been going? I've been told about some of the past salvos she has
fired in the great marriage war.
The Lone Bamf: Haha, nothing that dramatic. She is firing a lot of
ammo- but not really scoring any hits
The Lone Bamf: I have sort of explained that it's like when the
kids on the playground are like "Miss Cat! You eat elephants!"
The Lone Bamf: It's so ridiculous I just sort of blink at them and
go "Uh.. probably?"
Faust Ragnarok: Are elephants good?
Faust Ragnarok: I've always wondered >_>
The Lone Bamf: With enough ketchup, anything is good. (My
wine/beverage teacher has had elephant. she said it's the only meat
she's ever had where you can have a 1'x1' chunk of meat with no
bones) but Andrew had a ninety minute chat with her recently, and
things seem to have been quiet since then. Although now she's
asking him if she should visit us here. Cause.. Andrew is aware of
whether or not my family is prepared to receive guests?
Faust Ragnarok: So has Andrew moved down here?
The Lone Bamf: no, he's still at school in Bloomington
The Lone Bamf: which makes it that much more hilarious.
Faust Ragnarok: Heh.
The Lone Bamf: momz can be crazyz
Faust Ragnarok: Do you guys have any idea when el wedding of
fantabulousness is going to be yet?
The Lone Bamf: Jan 02 2010
Faust Ragnarok: I hear that.
The Lone Bamf: FREE YOUR SCHEDULE
The Lone Bamf: THERE WILL bE PUNCH AND PIE
Faust Ragnarok: 01022010...
The Lone Bamf: whoa!
Faust Ragnarok: Mirror immage!
The Lone Bamf: I never realized!
The Lone Bamf: PA:LINdROME WEDDING
Faust Ragnarok: Yup./
Faust Ragnarok: You still planning on doing two shindigs? One for
the normies and one for your friends?
The Lone Bamf: that is the game plan
The Lone Bamf: it might require some creativity, but that's what
we want to do
Faust Ragnarok: I can go to both, I like fancy suit and tie affairs,
that way it looks like you have at least one normal friend.
Faust Ragnarok: And I can go to the bathroom every 5 minutes
and change suits and put on a fake mustache so it looks like you
have lots of normal friends! It can be like an episode of Three's
Company.
The Lone Bamf: That sounds effing AWESOME
The Lone Bamf: we are doing what we can to make it a little
interesting
The Lone Bamf: I have roped an old school buddy into playing
some video game music on the piano during like... seating and stuff
The Lone Bamf: yeaaah
Faust Ragnarok: And you of course have hired male strippers to
dress like Otacon and Nightcrawler to escort you down the aisle?
The Lone Bamf: Man... how have I not thought of that idea?
Faust Ragnarok: Apologize to Andrew for me...
The Lone Bamf: What about Snake and Otacon action figures,
positioned to be making out on top of the cake?
The Lone Bamf: XD
Faust Ragnarok: YES!
Faust Ragnarok: That would be awesome.
Faust Ragnarok: But make the cake a giant pair of boobs, with one
on each nipple so as not to be indecent, and they are leaning over to
embrace eachother...
The Lone Bamf: HA
Faust Ragnarok: That way there is something for everyone.
The Lone Bamf: Man, I need to draw this out for the cake
people
Faust Ragnarok: Yeah, they'll get confused if you don't.
Faust Ragnarok: And see, the boob things works, because then
Nightcrawler can pop out of one, and Otacon can pop out of the other.
And they can wrestle in the remains of the cake. It's like jello
wrestling, but it will emotionally scar anyone who watches it.
The Lone Bamf: man, do you suppose I could get animatronic
action figures?
Faust Ragnarok: Oh yeah.
Faust Ragnarok: They may not be as small as a normal action
figure, but you could probably get something decently small.
Faust Ragnarok: And if you order them from japan they can
probably even make out with eachother.
The Lone Bamf: y'know, forget action figures. LIFE SIZE
The Lone Bamf: on the buffet table@
Faust Ragnarok: Right next to all the good food items to really
make the guests uncomfortable.
The Lone Bamf: the cocktail weenies
The Lone Bamf: but now I'm thinking we need footlong hot dogs
Faust Ragnarok: Hehe...
The Lone Bamf: and hoagies
The Lone Bamf: and banana splits
The Lone Bamf: popsicles
The Lone Bamf: and cream filled eclairs
Faust Ragnarok: You realize if you translate "cocktail weenies"
from innuendo speak it means "penis-sex penises?"
Faust Ragnarok: I never realized that before trying to think of
phallic foods to go on the buffet.
Faust Ragnarok: Also carrots.
The Lone Bamf: Hahahaha!
The Lone Bamf: sorry....
The Lone Bamf: I'm so cracking up over here
Faust Ragnarok: Yeah, this is going to be the best wedding ever.
The Lone Bamf: I'm just imagining the poor caterers
The Lone Bamf: mouths open
The Lone Bamf: stunned
The Lone Bamf: "and that's sort of my vision for the event"
Faust Ragnarok: You may have to cater it yourself, or rather get
your friends to cater it.
Faust Ragnarok: I will do my part.

Get ready to party, guys.

I cannot sleep enough...

2009-05-07T01:40:41Z

I don't think I'm sick... as I don't have any other symptoms of being ill, but man, these days I just can't sleep enough. I'm up early, that's true- but these days I generally catch a nap in the afternoon. I dunno, I was asleep by 10 something last night and that was pretty great.

Let's see... highlights of recent days:

I'm in Garde Manger II... which is crazy buffet foods again... new GB coming up in a week. Yeeha. Then it's on to International and American Regional. Freaaak.

AVID tutoring ends the 14th. It will probably be the end of my AVID tutoring forever.

Career Fair tomorrow... yay! I like careers! All manner of restaurants, hotels, etc will be there. That's cool. My school posted SUPER LATE- but apparently the American Girl Bistro was looking for people. They had a job fair yesterday and today. I WISH I HAD INFINITY TIME.

Andrew's mom is freakin' insane, and blatantly racist. I'm not even talking about the "don't eat so many bean burritos" diet tips, or the "are your parents US citizens" letter... she actually sent Andrew a letter detailing what she wanted in a wife (well good, when she gets married she can pick her pleasure) and included things like "attractive", "Has money in savings from work or parents", "slim", and "white/Caucasian". If there is a way to interpret that besides "this girl is a dirty, poor, fat and ugly wetback", I would love for someone to enlighten me. It is SO STUPID but the constant stream of idiocy is grating on me and stressing me out. How can someone be SO BACKWARDS? (that wasn't everything on the list either but meh.)

I beat Chrono Trigger (three times!) and am having way fun with that. Video Game poser no more! (Okay, okay, so I never beat FFVII...)

I have to write a paper about eggs. I don't WANNA.

I am about 20 episodes into Sailor Moon. Can someone explain what the random "haunted house by the seashore" episode was about? HOW WEIRD.

Today I invented a new game with the kindergarteners. It involves one or more of them lying as still as possible on the floor- while I build structures out of blocks on their forehead (or a bridge from forehead to forehead). Record tower size : 8 blocks.

Free comic book day was awesome. Got some comics, of course (although I think I liked last year's pick more) but the highlight was the GALLERY OF SUPER SAMMICHES. Mr. Pat Binder had no idea what he was getting into when he started drawing free pictures that day, but he drew no less than six pictures of heroes eating sandwiches. What???

I miss my friends. It feels like I don't get to see people often enough. I miss you guys. Maybe when school is out (for everyone else) things will change. I hope so, anyway.

YOU MUST CHILL

2009-04-01T01:46:18Z

Okay guys, I apologize in advance. This is going to be the most stereotypical LJ entry I have EVER made. Why? Because it's going to be 60% me going "OMG FAMILY CHILL OUT! I DON'T WANT ORCHIDS!" and yeah...

HOWEVER- to those of you reading this, I have a wide query to make-
I know it's weird, because I haven't sent out invitations yet- but I think it's safe to assume that if you read my LJ, some sort of wedding notice is on its way to you.

I'd like to make an open casting call to anyone who thinks they might like to:
-Play/Sing music (at the ceremony or either reception - Classy nerd music only. If you play Anybody's stupid canon, I will chomp your face)
-Help set up things of the table/chair/music equipment variety
-Bake cupcakes or some such thing for the awesome nighttime party (coughcoughyouknowwhoyouare)
-Something else I haven't thought of, but will clearly remember as soon as I post this entry
*at the time of the ceremony

OR Maybe you know
-A printmaker
-A rockstar photographer (could just be for the less formal night time party)
-A way we can get projector (and a portable screen?) for like.. giant size video game tournaments (would have to be freestanding screen)
-Someone who has too much time and would like to make a ton of origami or kanzashi flowers (because I really am not keen on real flowers... really not...)
-Someone that had a wedding recently that was catered by something awesome (that you could get me a name for)

JUST AS IMPORTANT
I need some masters of chilling out to help me keep my cool. My sisters have gone a little... overboard (hopefully it's just early days excitement and they will mellow out) so if anyone wants to grab some tea, play some zsnes online, or just give me a call- Color me appreciative.

Okay...
So... we've been engaged almost a year (wow...) now. I got my cute little cake ring (first clue this wasn't gonna be a typical wedding) which has yet to be replaced (and likely won't be) by a more traditional engagement rock. I so don't care, and diamonds are bad anyways. Well... can be. Often are. It's not like I'd be wearing it to school (jewelry is not dress code) anyways.

A year. A year. Lots and lots of months. We told the family in early June. Lots of months.

I was not the kind of little girl who played dress up in her mom's closet and clomped around in heels that were too big. I did not prance in front of the mirror and imagine my wedding day. Since I was old enough to think about weddings, I have been of the opinion that the wedding party day is not nearly as important as the years that follow, and people make a big deal out of it.
Still, I bought a book or two (like DiY Weddings and Offbeat Bride) and sifted through the internet, poking at interesting websites and bookmarking my favorites.

For a year. Lots of months, remember?

I mentioned (innocently) to my mom that we picked January for the wedding (I won't lie, I picked a month I thought would be easiest for Harry and the Potters to make it to...) she immediately phones sister 1, who is in quick contact with sister 2. "HURRY! SOUND THE ALARMS, KID SISTER IS GETTING WEDDINGED!"

This was two days ago. I've gotten (at least) a dozen emails, two phone calls, and a handful of text messages. Andrew and I fell in love with the idea of retro future- we've been doing a lot of research into that. I found a dress I love, jewelry I'd wear AFTER the wedding because it's so lovely (actually some steampunk stuff that's really sweet looking) and downloaded Time Lord/Star Chart brushes so I could give them to whoever ends up printing invitations.

Yeah, I might has well not have bothered. I'm not sure how to make it clear to my sisters "No, I really thought about this. This is what *we* like." because even all caps and italics aren't cutting it in the emails. Sisters don't like the dress I like. (I should wear my sister's old dress?) Don't think I should have a "whimsical" wedding cake. Nobody seems to listen when I say I'm not into orchids (including twitter... some orchid person is now following me???) and it's ridiculous.

I know, sister 1 has been married and did lots of planning. Sister 2 has been to countless weddings. However, I'm not a total doofus when it comes to planning. I plan panels for A-kon, tea parties for 50 all the time. I'm the go-to girl in my classes when people want direction and advice. None of this is on the scale as a wedding, but I mean... I do have skills. I don't need anyone to tell me what I like.

In all honesty- I know you guys are awesome, and you will come and party and enjoy yourselves- but 80% of the people in attendance... this will be one of MANY weddings they will attend in their lives. They won't remember much. They won't remember what kind of cake they ate. They won't remember what my flowers looked like. They won't know that someone played the prelude to FF1 as the wedding party came down the aisle. But for me and Andrew- this is our *one* wedding. We will remember all this stuff. I want to remember that we did something that was ours, that was special, and that we loved- not that I caved in to what my family thought was best to get out of a fight.

I don't want to be a crazy psycho bride- that's not my style... I just wish they'd cool their jets- listen to what *we* (cause it's not just me getting married) have to say- and use their amazing planning skills to help us create the wedding we want (and really, it's nothing TOO out there), rather than the wedding they think everyone wants to see.

Now if I just knew how to tell them that.

Your death, METAL GEAR SOLID style! by hyperlimited
Name
Age
Favorite color
How you die	You get blown up from your OWN claymore mine. Watch where you put those things...
Who freaks out when you die	Otacon