Alice in Hyrule

i just finished final fantasy x. wooh. took me about 80 hours. crazy. i didn’t even have all the celestial weapons. the ending wasn’t so hard as it was long. you had like, 3 big bosses and then all your aeons to get rid of by your own hand. there was no saving in between and no time to heal between battles. you just had to roll with it.

leonard has final fantasy x-2. i’m toying with the idea of going over to pick it up right now, but i have hoarded the ps3 for too long today. i think i’ll give christopher a shot and start on my long awaited book that i finally got via interlibrary loan. i have been wanting to read the forbidden game trilogy for about a year now! the wait paid off because i was able to get an edition that had all 3 books in one.

finished breaking dawn (the third longest book i now own…the two others being harry potter v and essential psychopathology and it’s treatment…kind of a strange yin yang there, i know). However, i will say very little about it because i have a strict promise with myself that i do not talk about books until at least a month after they are published. that way, people that are dying to read them (ie harry potter) will have already read them so i don’t risk offending anyone or spoiling the surprise for the truly dedicated. if it takes you more than a month, you probably don’t care enough to have your heart broken if you hear something that spoils it for you.

having said that: breaking dawn is nuts. things happen that you think might, but they don’t. it sped up my heart as well as broke it. i actually cried in 3 spots. nuts man. nuts.

and that’s all till those of you that i know read this and are also getting through the book (sarah v., lauren p., kyle s., ruthie m., andrea k., jessica s., leah d….etc) have completed it. (let me know when you do because i want to freak out with you as well as share some theories…)

also in books, belly laughs is a really quick, hilarious read for anyone thinking about pregnancy, which i am…THINKING NOT DOING!……………………………….yet…………………………….tee hee
it had me laughing out loud which doesn’t happen with many books. not very informative, but jenny mccarthy has a way with words.

in other news: christopher and i have been sick since flugtag on saturday. i swear to you that i now know that the phrase “puking your guts out” is VERY literal. i thought my intestines were going to come up through my mouth. poor christopher had it worse though. i have no idea what set it off. my guess would be undercooked chinese food, but i didn’t have any. is food poisoning contagious? *shrug* anyway, we’re almost recovered.

on the topic of internship: PRAY FOR ME EVERYONE IN THE WORLD! i cannot find an internship to save my life. “have you applied everywhere you can?” you may be asking. my response: yes. i have. i lost count at 31 facilities. basically the main problems are 1, funding has been cut by the government for mental health *grr*, 2, positions are for a whole year (mine is only 15 weeks), and 3, facilities only want to deal with particular schools.

the most frustrating part though, is this: a good portion of the places that have rejected me want me to contact them as soon as i complete my degree!  what??  i was stunned and flattered by the first few, but each time it happens now i just have to grit my teeth through thanking them kindly.  they want me for a job after i get my degree, but i can’t get my degree until they give me a job!!!  freakin catch 22 out the arse here people!

well, the good thing is that at least i know there are plenty of jobs that i could get as soon as i pass over this mountain.

i have a couple places that i am really pressing hard for, but worst comes to worst, i’ll just get a part time job/volunteer for fall and finish my degree in the spring. totally sucks to do it that way, especially when i worked so hard to be ahead of the game!

poodle (well scottie dog) skirt costume (with full tuille skirt beneath):

last but not least: birthday pictures. not many, but some.

yuna melinda and “the boy who decided that a candy necklace and dora the explorer party hat was a costume”

matador leah

band fag tyler (literally)

matador leah and sailor hallie getting pwned (BY ME) at star wars trivial pursuit

matador leah, sailor hallie, “ceiling” fan leonard, “creepy uncle” matthew playing pop5

creepy uncle matthew and bathing beauty ellie

drawing on my balloons!

see?!?!

good thing sailor hallie brought me more!

that way bathing beauty ellie would having something to drag around to us all night…and i do mean ALL NIGHT. someone that will remained unnamed (HINT: CHRISTOPHER) decided that it would be ok to give a 2 1/2 year old a jumbo sized candy necklace to play with. one would hardly think that he should be surprised as said child was LITERALLY bouncing off the furniture till midnight when she crrrraaaashhhhed on the floor…but he was. “look! there she goes again jumping from the couch to the chair!” he would declare with utter shock every few minutes…gee…i wonder why?
playing smash brothers

pop 5 again

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fabbity fab band: dirty martini
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fabbity fab book:

panama city waste disposal at it’s finest

a girl in heaven:

mom in wonderland:

********people who look like people update*********

once again, i had no camera, but i swear i saw someone who looked like a middle aged clemmie from reno 911.

i did, however, have a camera on hand when i spotted the missing mario brother (he’s working at marble slab…who’d have thought?):

********update complete******

great book

i really want this

some interesting things i overheard recently:

“you could fly this plane from atlanta to panama city beach on 42 pounds of potatoes”-random passenger behind me

“we have a redneck walmart in my town”-random person behind me at a training session for work

“piglet?…why…are you swimming…in the popcorn?” -pooh

dooce had a great link on her site recently. i had to repost cause it’s hilarious. baby care cartoons (enjoy!)

another attempt at art:

this was taken through a window. it’s like a ghost building outside

this is just plain funny. found this swept up in some leaves.

my “happy it’s almost spring” present from istopher:

so this last week i saw people that look like the following but i couldn’t get pics

it’s amazing how often i see people that look like they are from a piece of brian froud art.

i want to read this:

last weekend was amazing. i went indian crazy and made some amazing things. i found a great book at the library called the spice box and the recipes, unlike ones i’ve tried online, appear to be authentic and better yet, easy. here’s some of my goodies:
making naan

pea and potato curry (with our naan)

making paneer

matter paneer w/chipatis!

making ghee

blueberry tofu bars

the carrot

more pictures can be found at my flickr page.

i finished my wrist warmers!

the taupe sweater i was working on is being torn out. the size i made was way larger than i need. i’m tellin ya man, big needles are deceiving!
i’ve also decided to rip out my lys sweater and make something more simple from the yarn like the march basic. it would get more wear and with the little time i have to craft now it’s all about utility!

i can’t believe i’m going to say this, but we’re going to panama city beach for spring break. (?!?!) i know, right? well we’re actually going to visit mom as this will be our best chance to see her before we move to the other side of the world..err..country. so, i’m making her a yoga bag. out of fabric that completely personifies her.

yes…she is a bright orange kinda gal.

i have to say that when i look back on my life so far i’ve done a lot of things that i was at first sour that i’d never be able to do. i’ve been to europe (and then some), i’ve seen niagara falls, i’ve been to hawaii for christmas (malakaliki maka!), and coming soon, panama city beach for spring break. of course, if i were you i wouldn’t waste my time scanning mtv shows trying to catch me in a bikini. i might wear business suits now, but i’m still a little goth tart at heart. forshiz.

BEFORE YOU READ ANY FURTHER! i found an almost too good to be true deal on ebay for bamboo needles. i got a lot of them and they are fabulous. here is the seller’s store if you wanted to check them out. the shipping took a little longer than i’d have liked (i had a pattern i was chomping at the bit to start), but the price is unbeatable. it would have cost me over $100 for these in a store and not to mention some of the sizes are hard to find anyhow. let’s continue, shall we?
so i’ve started some awesome knitting projects and they are as follows:

from twinkle’s big city knits:

if you are thinking about one of the projects from this book, here’s some caveats…1, you need big needles that are expensive. i lucked out and found my size 19 (!) needle on clearance for 4.50…regularly over 15 bucks. 2, the yarn is SUPER bulky. yes. SUPER. that’s size 6. there’s not much selection and it will make a small ding in your wallet. (this project is about 12 bucks of yarn ON 40% OFF SALE!) 3, don’t be fooled by the sizing. this is super bulky large knit. there is a tremendous amount of stretch in the projects. i have a 36′ chest and the size i am making is 32′ and it’s still a bit big.

from a random blog

i am super excited to finish these. SARAH: you might want to try this pattern. here is your motivation: you love this type of glove, you already have the right needles, the yarn (supposing you don’t have it) is your basic inexpensive worsted weight, it’s a quick pattern, it’s uber cute, we can match if you have a pair…email me if you need any more motivation…

and lastly, from berroco:

this is an ambitious undertaking so it will probably be put away and taken out over the course of the next few weeks, but it’s uber cute and i have some great yarn for it! berroco actually has a ton of great (free!) patterns for those of you looking for something to do.

my goal is that after i finish the twinkle sweater and orange glovies, i will move on to these leg warmers. i’ve not done a project with so many color changes, but these look adorable.

we saw AVP II last night. during the majority of the movie i was thinking “wow, i can’t wait to get home to watch the first one” cause this one was awful. but let me explain. i will say that it was filmed very well. no cheesy graphics or any such bologna. they broke a lot of social mores in film (ie killing children/unborn babies…a lot of them), but it was nice to see a non b graded movie push the audience.

having said that. ok, a couple things that really bothered me, but i think i can explain them out. first off, the film starts out at the end of the last with a predator watching a recap of what happened on that ship. then the pred gets all mad and goes off to find the aliens who have boom, crash landed in middle america. PROBLEM: who the crap was this pred? he couldn’t have been someone in power because 1, he would have alerted others that he was leaving as a good leader should and 2, he looked like the bruce lee version (skiinnnnyyyy) of preds. i mean, i had no idea that anorexia had spread across the universe!

alright, so revenge pred gets to earth and starts hunting the aliens meanwhile they are all impregnating the city folk. la di da. bad plot. blah blah. so, here’s where i get a little pissy. preds kills innocents! woah! not cool. one of the reasons i love pred so much is because he is a freaking warrior not some alien jerk that has no respect for rules of war. i was upset about that until i was finishing off my morning yogurt. here’s the difference: this pred isn’t on earth as a test of his predatorhood. he’s there to get rid of the aliens and oh yeah, he’s pissy about his friends getting killed. surely the rules of predation no longer apply. sucks to see a pred take the low road, but oh well.

ok, so the plot was over all dumb, but it got me thinking about something else. so, when the alien impregnated the predator, the result was a predalien right? hmm…then does that mean that when aliens impregnate humans they are part human too? what parts of us to they absorb? that would make a great dinner conversation.

some good books:

no, it’s not what you think.

this is our new venture into adulthood…a real tv stand.

yummy dinner; salsa and black bean soup:

florida was great! it was a little cold the first couple days, but the last day was excellent. here’s a small photo story:

leaving my baby

grandpa, uncle don, aunt debi, mom, and grandma:

my favorite goat…i can’t resist the jheri curl

mom and i on HER dock…pretty view

STORY: we’re in the car on the way to the beach and mom says she thought about getting me a plastic shovel and pail so i could play. of course everyone laughed. i waited patiently for their laughter to die down and then informed my mother that my father in law had, in fact, given me a plastic shovel in both hawaii AND oregon. so there. the next thing i know, mom slams the breaks and hits a hard left into a store. “what are we doing mom?” “getting you a pail and shovel” LOL.

it’s a pretty sweet set. pail, shovel, sifter, boat, and um, watering can? i laid them on the beach side by side and asked my uncle don “which one of these is not like the others?” (tee hee)

no i didn’t make it, but check out the bride in the background! i didn’t get a picture of my sand creation because i had to run away from it quickly to see some dolphins, BUT, just so you know, it was a delicious looking banana split sand sundae.

mom, me, and uncle don finding shells:

STORY: mom told me stories about “re conning the head.” for several years i’ve heard about it and couldn’t quite understand what she was talking about, but i can now say that i have done so myself. i have re conned the head. the “head” is actually one of the sections of this amazing miniature golf course. the “head” is a replica of the easter island statues. evidently this is a privately owned facility which mom discovered one night with a friend and they decided to check it out. turns out that the “head” has stairs in it that lead to the very top which gives a great view of, well, down below. although we were in broad daylight, mom insisted that i re con the head with her ninja style. here’s our story:

“hey mom, how’d you get over there?”

“you have to climb the fence moe!” (note: although i could have just walked through the front, mom was adement that i go full ninja and told me i had to jump the fence. sweet isn’t it? mothers teaching their daughters to tresspass…so is the beauty of life…i am forced to rebel against the law to please my mother.)

there’s more stairs than you’d think

DUCK! there’s a helicopter!

hi grandma!

I AM NINJA!

so that was the reconnaissance mission. that course was amazing though. it boasted many a photo opt.

so my grandparents are pretty much the coolest old people on the planet. they still hold hands and kiss! lol! super cute.

so i’ve started a new section on my blog and it’s called “people who look like people.” ever see someone that looks a lot like someone else? i do. and i’ve started taking pictures. please note though that it is difficult at times to take someone’s picture without their knowledge, so please excuse the blurriness. oh yeah, and try to suspend disbelief. these are just people that i think look like someone. TIP: if you are having trouble seeing what i see, squint your eyes and shake your head slightly while you look at the pictures. here are my first submissions:

= todd packer from the office:

= mark twain:

= abe lincoln:

(for matt: “no, i didn’t say abe lincoln! i said HEY BLINKIN! hold the reins man. damn.)

the return <3

so the trip was great and i had a marvelous time.  my mom is awesomely awesome in a way that i never saw till this trip.  she rocks hard core!  and if you ever find yourself wondering how i got so cute:

recent good reads:

if you haven’t joined yet, you need to join www.shelfari.com and add me as a friend so i can get some more book suggestions! i’m mvelusc

although i will also be knitting up a storm, i have many books to get through over the break:

i finished the other day. it was alright. nothing big.

some great cd’s:

we leave for oregon on monday.  i’m super psyched!

the bible isn’t all boring kids. proof

here’s the first spittle from a baby on my shirt!

a total don’t look now moment:

will wonders never cease?:

special breakfast! i don’t know what got into him:

cheesy potato soup with soy bacon bits:

happy birthday kim kim!

i truly wanted to steal her daughter. she came into the office and while everyone was singing happy birthday to kim, walked over to me and said “i like your shoes” to which i replied, “i like yours too!” as she had on some really rad sparkely flats. the she smiled and hugged my legs. i could have cried it was so sweet. the rest of the party kind of went that way. she would come up to me and smile and hug me. at the end i told her i was taking her home so she grabbed around my neck and i pretended to take her out of the office. surprised at the lack of protest, she called my bluff and i took her back to her parents (but not before she was distracted by the candy dish and i held her up to choose her poison).

the most delicious chip ever (extra curly):

when i was little my grandma jones used to pick out all the curly chips in the bag and give them to me. she thinks i’m special!

a common occurrence in clarksville…with commentary:

i was waiting to get an oil change and was flipping though reality magazines. they have some really bizarre ways of advertising their product. for example:

here is a taste of just a few comments i had on this piece:

******************ADDENDUM**************

my ever so smart, darling, adorable, cleaver, witty, and not to mention miniaturized version of me, lauren, has pointed out the the following picture/diatribe combo is inaccurate as the dog in the following picture is actually a boxer, not a pit bull…but i’m leaving it in here for a few reasons.  first, to show that i am fallable.  yes, it can happen.  2, to show that even someone that knows a bit about dogs can get the breed wrong and therefore misreport events thus strengthening my argument.  and lastly, because i spent a while writing in and i don’t feel like deleting it.  so there.

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nothing says “buy property from me” like a pit bull:

i think that the lady just didn’t think about how pit bulls are viewed in society but just wanted to show that she is “just like you” and has animals. however, i must give her props for actually owning a pit bull. my mom thinks that they should be eradicated because she’s seen so many people hurt by them in the hospitals she’s worked at, but what most people don’t realize is that it’s not the pit bulls fault! there are a lot of shitey people in the world and some of them train these dogs to fight. the staffordshire terrior (pit bull) is actually one of the most loving and devoted breeds of dog out there. their attacks are due to their desire to please their owner.

aw..a schnauzer…that’s better.

my love dove got me monopoly for the pc since he has lost all the confidence he could spare loosing to me in RL. here’s what i did to the computer characters, just to give you an idea of how fierce i am.:

need a closer look?

my properties…this is what i do to my victi..err worthy opponents:

new pretty shirt:

made it from the same pattern as:

so flipping easy. i highly recommend it as an easy project for new sewers

i will make 1 item of clothing free for the first person who can leave a comment explaining why this is funny. hint: think about something i like and combine it with what this literally is. (oh, and these are soy if you were wondering…but that has nothing to do with the answer). think kids. think:

i finally joined wardrobe remix as i have been drooling over the site for weeks now. it will take a lot of dedication to keep it up as i need to get over the fact that i don’t generally like having my picture taken. but this shall pass as i know i am making a difference in the world by sharing my POV on fashion and accessories.

i can’t help it but i started 3 books and i am halfway through all of them. i keep trading off as i just can’t stay away from any of them for long enough to finish one.

the dark hills divide: the land of elyon: i read a couple chapters of this earlier this year and wasn’t taken. i picked it up again at a whim and have since fell in love with it. mostly i think this is due to the characters being close representations of the people i love so much in real life. most of the characters pick on each other relentlessly but there is no ill will and no one takes offense. that’s just their sense of humor. i dream of a time when i can have friends like this. i already do actually, but they are few in number and spaced out geographically. we need to get together and start a commune.
the book actually got me thinking a lot about why it is that people are put off by me. like i said, i like to pick at people, but i have realized that most people are very insecure and anxious about how they are perceived. any jibe, no matter how innocent plunges them into defense mode. i have not made them laugh but rather made them feel like they need to make sure they perform double time to counter act any possible damage i might have created by making those around us think badly of them. for example, once upon a time i met a girl and she asked me my major. i said psychology and she said, with a truly perplexed/disgusted face “WHY?” i could not help but to crack up. i thought it was hilarious. she laughed to and thanked me for getting her joke.
taking a cue from her, i met someone some time later and asked their major but this time when i asked the question “WHY?” with what i believed to be the same facial structure/vocal timing as my mentor, she became visibly insulted. i told her i was just picking at her but it was too late. she was insulted that i could possibly “challenge” her like that even if only in jest. the only thing more frustrating than this is that when people are one on one with me, they actually CAN take the jokes. it’s only when there are others around that my prods become “insults”

shucks. anyhow, so yeah, the characters in this book are fabbity fab.

the silver crown: this one is strangely addictive. a normal girl receives a crown on her 10th birthday then all hell breaks loose. i think it’s so interesting because it’s a modern (well, modern for the 60’s) story mixed in with seemingly ancient mysticism. but even the “older” feel is updated. think: baz luhrmann’s take on romeo and juliet. updated old style. me likey.

theodosia and the serpents of chaos: theo is an adorable chicka who is hella smarter than most of the adults around her. they all treat her like she can’t take care of herself but i find it strangely familiar that the adults are actually the ones that are being taken care of by her…it’s not like they can magic away ancient egyptian curses.

sorry, but i just couldn’t get into ender’s game. i like to think i’m pretty good at suspending disbelief, but a 6 year old that smart that isn’t an idiot savant? sorry, it’s just not in me.

halloween breakfast:

death in the rearview:

einstein bagel’s mascot:

halloween edgar allen poe signature for dinner

taste the rainbow

x men sign outside my office window

yeah! new sweater. only took about 3 hours. great knit fabric at a major discount:

lastly, i started reading ender’s game today. i am really wishy washy about it. i’m not really digging any of the characters and my willing suspension of disbelief is being stretched to it’s limits. i’m not sure if i’ll be able to get through in.