One Chord Wonder's Little Blog of Horrors

Extreme Makeover - Tiny Apartment Edition

2009-05-10T22:21:00.000-07:00

My roommate and I have been fighting over him constantly being in the living room. I wake up. He's there. I go to work, he's there. I come back from work, he's there. I go to sleep, he's still in there.

When I told him he should think about taking it down a notch before I turned homicidal, he said he didn't want to spend any time in his room because he didn't like it in there. And since his room is basically an air mattress (admittedly a step up from my current pile of sleeping bags on the floor) and a mountain of dirty clothes, I couldn't blame him.

As a compromise, I offered to remodel his room - something I had wanted to do anyway - to try to make it more appealing than the living room.

In my rage, i forgot to take some before pictures, but here's what's been accomplished so far:

My roommate dresses mostly in browns and greens ("he dresses like a shrub" a coworker once pointed out), so I picked green for the paint.

As far as I know, my roommate isn't into magic, but I thought this vintage magic poster was cool so I rasterbated it anyway.

The top left corner is blackened because the spray adhesive I bought wasn't working too well and soaked the paper. The rest of the poster is full of airbubbles because I switched over to tacky glue because the spray adhesive wasn't working too well. Sigh. Still, the air bubbles aren't as noticeable when a camera flash isn't pointing right at them.

The (formerly in the living room) desk may or may not stay in here depending on what I find at Goodwill over the next few weeks.

2009-04-04T00:08:00.000-07:00

I recently went to see the Metropolitan Opera's transmission of La Sonnambula, which left me pretty goddamn frustrated.

I should note that I love the idea of New York Operas being beamed into movie theaters across the globe, and it may prove to be a lifeline now that I live in a small town (albeit one relatively close to at least 4 cities with their own opera companies). I've been trying to see as many as my schedule and interest allows and I'll continue to do so.

And I should note that I'm a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to music and not the sort to complain, or you know even notice, when a singer goes for the high B-flat instead of the high C or other common complaints I see when browsing amazon reviews or youtube comments (which are actually often insightful and learn-ed on non-Andrea Bocelli opera videos, which I only mention because youtube comments are usually so insipid that I wonder if the awful IMDB forum users mass migrated). I don't think I'll ever go to an opera put on by a reputable opera company and think "Gee, these guys just aren't up to my standards". Not that I wouldn't like to have one of those ears, but that sort of refinement seems as distant to me as a superpower.

My approach to opera is much more base: I like hearing pretty voices singing pretty music surrounded by pretty sets. I'm always a little disappointed when I go to a show and they've opted for a minimalist set (the Prince Igor production I saw used only scaffolding, the Carmen I saw only used a white backdrop), but even that I can take in stride because, like with shoegaze, I understand that sometimes it's just about the music, man.

But La Sonnambula presented the first time, I think, where I would have preferred a blank white scrim or ugly scaffolding to the grandiose set it used. The story originally takes place in a small village where the townspeople will believe in ghosts before they believe in sleepwalking, but some one at the Metropolitan Opera saw fit to transpose the setting from the quaint village to a modern day Manhattan rehearsal hall. The villagers are now chorus members, the engaged couple at the center of everyone's attention are now literally and figuratively the leading tenor and soprano (Juan Diego Flores and Natalie Dessay, by the way, who are both fantastic singers and it's a shame they were usurped by their garish surroundings), and the "cleverness" goes on and on without actually going anywhere.

Out of context, the set is wonderful - when the host of the broadcast gave a pre-show tour of the set, I misunderstood and thought she was actually showing us around their rehearsal space and I was marveling at how nice it was. In the context of the show, it's a disaster. The idyllic storyline makes little sense in a modern day setting and the jarring juxtaposition continually pulls you out of the story. And the worst part of it was a minor set piece - a cast aside minature model of the Metropolitan opera stage showing an actual mountain village set laid out meticulously - a tease for what we could have had.

My roommate expected them to gradually ease into a the opera's actual setting and costuming...as a sort of bonus meta-story about how an opera gets put together starting with rehearsal stagings to dress rehearsals to performance. And while I think that would have also distracted from the actual story, it would have been interesting to see it executed.

I don't normally mind modern time and space transposition, not only in opera, but across other mediums as well. It's something that compliments both the author and the audience with its twin implications that the story is timeless and that any of us could stumble across feelings as profound as the character's while running our everyday lives. But sometimes the details of the stories aren't timeless, and ignoring that and proceeding with the updating anyway will only undercut the emotions of the story that could have been timeless.

It's also something I think better left for material that has been and will be performed in a straight fashion time and time again. While I may be mistaken about how often La Sonnambula is performed, I can't recall another instance in the 15 years I've been sporadically going to see operas where I had the chance to see it and since I don't know when I will be able to see it again, I feel cheated.

The Finished Tree

2009-03-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to get a good shot of this because I don't have a DIY lightbox in Wisconsin quite yet. But here it is, finally finished:

Revisiting Perler Bead Sprites

2009-01-31T08:45:00.001-08:00

Some sprites I've been able to make since moving to Wisconsin:

Wisconsin Death Trip

2009-01-26T21:58:00.000-08:00

I think Wisconsin might be trying to kill me. Or the universe might be trying to kill my new roommate (his house was struck by lightning a month before we moved to Wisconsin), and now I've just been sucked into that vicious vortex.

The drive to Wisconsin became pretty horrific around Milwaukee because, as it turns out, Texas windshield wiper fluid freezes and windshield wiper fluid is actually kind of a necessity on salt-ridden freeways (who knew?). Semis and SUVS kept kicking up dirt and salt at my windshield badly enough that my windshield started resembling that frosted glass you put in shower stalls so people can't see ANYTHING. And because of the lack of moisture from not having functional wiper fluid, any attempt to wipe it away would just streak the whole mess across the windshield and make it less like frosted glass and more like glass with white paint thrown across it.

And yesterday morning, after waking up, I found this huddled in the corner of our living room:

I don't know if this is common or not in Wisconsin, but a kid who lived about 15 minutes away from me back in Texas awoke to find a bat in his room and it turned out to be A Big Deal. So after some lengthy debate with my roommate, we decided to play it safe, drama queen it up and go for a series of rabies shots. I just got back from the ER for the first one.

In case you are curious about the bat: after calling animal control who told us to call pest control and calling several pest control places who were all closed because it was Sunday, we just put some gloves on and tossed the bat outside and haven't seen him since - I'm glad he's apparently ok because I like bats, but post internet research says we were supposed to keep him somewhere and get him tested for rabies.

NP: Rolling Stones - I am Waiting

2009-01-23T20:10:00.000-08:00

I've made the trek to Wisconsin, but I am still busy with moving stuff, so here's just another quick update:

NP: The Undertones - It's Going to Happen

2009-01-08T23:11:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update on the Dragon Quest tree:

NP: The Kinks - Australia

2009-01-02T19:44:00.000-08:00

Finished little Domingo today:

NP: Blondie - Accidents Never Happen

2009-01-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

Another chance to browse my bookcases:

A good overview of my hobbies and some would-be hobbies is on display here: music (both playing and listening to), movies, cooking, French, math, and on the far right side (it's hard to see) are 3 books on how to be a ninja.

Philip K Dick on the left, Flannery O'Connor in the middle, and HP Lovecraft on the right.

See more of my books throughout my blog or on my flickr.

NP: Kitchens of Distinction - Breathing Fear

2008-12-30T22:44:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally gave in and got an ipod recently and I've neglected my videogame stuff in favor of meticulously uploading albums and looking for podcasts. I considered writing a post gushing about how great ipods and podcasts are, but I'm not sure the internet needs more pollution about nearly decade old technology.

That said, I'm not sure where this blog is going. It was originally intended to just be advertising for my currently defunct etsy store until I realized there's no reason to come to a blog just to see updates on an etsy store, since you can just go to that etsy store. I turned it into a "personal blog" to give people content you can't find on etsy.

I'm not some one who is into self expression for the sake of self expression, so personal blogs are a hard sell for me. I always liked personal zines, but those take a lot of time, effort, and money so it weeds out a lot of the people who put less effort into their public diaries than they would a fart. Back in the day, a few skims through livejournal and I concluded personal blogs were something to be avoided.

But about 5 years ago, I stumbled across a teenaged girl's blog that detailed her to day to day life. On its face, it was mundane stuff - she had an asshole ex and an afterschool job and she spent her spare time reading and cutting herself - but it was well written and hit all the right notes. It was just angsty enough to emphasize, but not so angsty it delved into self pity. It was arty enough to be interesting, but never dwindled into pretense. Smart but not pedantic, introspective but not naval-gazing, and so on and so on. I felt a bit like I was reading the blog of a Daniel Clowes heroine.

Then she got a new boyfriend and spent most of her time blogging about how awesome he was, and I lost interest. But it did leave me with the impression that personal blogs can be awesome. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to write about my day to day life because I'm not sure I have the skill nor the inclination to make it as interesting as the teenaged girl did, but I am going to make it a resolution (oh, let's make it a New Year's resolution, simply since the timing is convenient) to try to pollute the internet a little more.

So expect personal-style posts about tv shows, movies, books, poker and so forth. I'm not sure what it will accomplish, if anything, but I'd like to give it a go. Of course I'll keep updating on the video game crafts since any glance at my stat counter instantly reveals that's why people visit this thing, and I'm not one to deny people what they want.

NP: Sonic Youth - Incinerate

2008-12-24T21:17:00.000-08:00

I finished the second Metroid I was working on:

And some works in progress shots:

Hopefully this is looking more like Pelle and less like the beginning of a Jackson Pollock painting.

The going is, uh, slow on little Domingo. He's a little boring to work on.

Another Dragon Quest monster. I was thinking of creating at least three of these (the already completed Godbird + WIP Face Tree + ????) using primary color backgrounds. Maybe if I have the stamina I'll make a full ROYBGIV series.

NP: The Only Ones - Some One Who Cares

2008-12-23T22:48:00.000-08:00

I'm a fan/user of the website 43 Things - the idea is to put together a list of up to 43 goals and then publicly document your progress. You can choose from already created goals, make up your own, whatever.

Most of my goals have been sitting on my list for a year or more with little to no progress made. Occasionally, I delete a few either because I decide they're stupid (Beat all the Zelda Games) or because they're not going to happen in the foreseeable future (Eat at In-N-Out Burger...yeah, I reach for the stars). And some of the ones I have accomplished, I haven't so much "accomplished" and instead just did once or twice so I could check it off and list something else. Did I go letterboxing once? Sure. Did I go letterboxing twice? Nuh-uh.

But even though my list is mostly stagnant, I still get a kick going through other people's goals and entries, and I occasionally stumble across a potentially valuable resource regarding lock picking or juggling. So when I saw that 43 Things was coming out with a book called Dream It, List It, Do It, I went to Barnes and Noble and bought it.

Now for some reason or another, I thought the book would focus on a handful of goals and include personal stories or resources - something along the lines of Get a Hobby or You Can Do It!, only broader in scope than the former and hopefully not as lame as the latter. And because it was holiday season and I hate crowds, I didn't bother to even crack it open to look at it first, for fear I'd waste precious seconds around noisy strangers.

But it's not a journalistic look at goal-pursuing nor a conglomerate of resources. It's mostly just one long list of goals, with the occasional anonymous personal paragraph about, say, dancing in the rain or a resource sidebar about, say, changing your name lazily inserted in intervals. And what's most infuriating about the book is the empty boxes next to each item, as if this book is actually going to function as 4,000 things to do before I die checklist. I'm sure I'll be checking off "Start a non-toxic housecleaning company" or "Become Aquaman" any day now.

I'll give 43 Things a pass for trying for the quick buck, because they're an expansive social networking site that keeps their advertising revenue to the ubiquitous but innocuous google ads and because I was too big of a dolt to skim the fat little book beforehand, but really, I feel burned.

NP: Brian Eno - True Wheel

2008-12-21T18:11:00.001-08:00

I finally finished it:

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, and I've already got plans for my next big Dragon Quest-related project.

NP: Portishead - Half Day Closing (Live)

2008-12-15T19:17:00.000-08:00

Well, my resolution to lessen my focus on the needlework is officially done for now. I spent the day sick in bed and instead of reading or drawing or any of the other million of things I could have done, I opted to put some dvds on and stitch.

So practical productivity for today was nil. Videogame needlework productivity for today was off the charts...well as off the charts as these time consuming projects can be.

Here's some updates:

Domingo from the original Shining Force game was some magical squid thing that hatched from an egg. When you start him off, he's horrifically weak, but if you give him a little time and attention, he turns into a killing machine.

The standard Ramia update. I am still plug-plug-plugging away at it while trying to keep my eyes from rolling to the back of my head.

Well, this probably looks like some random squiggle at the moment, but it's really just the start of Pelle, a centaur with a giant chin, also from the original Shining Force game.

And another metroid I am working on per a request. The metroid is finished, I just need to do to the background.

Also, thanks to benjibot for pointing out that the Phoenix Wright needlepoint by rgcainmd is posted on the Sprite Stitch forums.

NP: Mission UK - Severina

2008-12-14T18:38:00.000-08:00

I thought I had left the giant chicken in a rental car I had after a minor car accident (not my fault) put my own car in the shop. But I found it, floating around my closet, and got back to work on it. And here's where it stands:

I'll estimate that I've got about 20-30 hours of background stitching left before it's finished. That's a lot of boredom ahead. I may start in with a few other needlepoint projects to keep me sane.

Because I'm moving in less than a month, I'm mostly in limbo. I don't want to start any long term projects or finish any bulky ones that will just contribute to the pain in the ass that is moving. That means my perler bead Megaman will probably lie in pieces for at least a month longer.

Here's a few ideas I may or may not carry out after I move:

- A complete series of The Shining Force in my usual framed needlepoint

- Topiary

- Video Game Quilts

- Needlework Pillows (I finally found a place that carries tapestry wool)

- Automata

NP: Siouxsie and the Banshees - This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us

2008-12-09T22:37:00.000-08:00

So I decided I will be shutting down my etsy store sometime tomorrow, probably during the afternoon after I get off work (I want to get some recent orders sent first). I'll make the metroid and Zero needlework that two people requested and then that's that for the time being. Other than that, I've got to start focusing on getting ready to move to Wisconsin and my christmas shopping.

Also, check out benjibot of Sorrytown, USA did using my tutorial. Awesome.

Some one over at Pixelgasm also used it to make a fantastic Phoenix Wright needlepoint, but unfortunately Pixelgasm moved recently and a lot of the posts were lost and they've yet to repost it. But it was awesome. Trust me.

NP: Joy Division - Warsaw

2008-12-01T21:39:00.000-08:00

So it turns out, if I'm not doing video game fancraft, then I just don't have a whole lot to blog about. Luckily, I've gotten a few requests from people through etsy that I need to start working on (so much for the resolution to not do any more needlework for a while...once I thought I was out, they pull me back in), so I should have new pictures soon.

NP: Mission UK - Wasteland

2008-11-23T21:05:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd post my progress on the Dragon Quest god bird:

Assuming I decide to shut down my store on etsy, this may be the last needlework I do for a while. I was looking at my 43 things today and I realized how much stuff I've had up there for ages and haven't even started pursuing because I spend so much time on these things.

I'm sure I'll be aching to decorate my Wisconsin apartment with them, but until then, I need to do some other things.

NP: Wire - Mr Suit

2008-11-21T21:06:00.001-08:00

I managed to finish this today:

It'll go up on etsy in the next few days if the person who requested it no longer wants it (it's been a while, so that's a distinct possibility).

While I'm at it, I should note that I'm also seriously considering shutting down my shop. I enjoy the idea of these things floating around strangers' houses and the extra income is nice, but running the shop and having a full time job is starting to take its toll. Then again, I've had a rough couple of days, so it may just be my bad mood talking. I'll have to mull it over.

Oh, and an update on that giant chicken:

NP: Psychedelic Furs - Midnight to Midnight

2008-11-19T21:03:00.000-08:00

I played another round of Arkham Horror tonight, and while the game is supposed to take 2-4 hours (according to the box top), I have found I can lose much more quickly than that.

While playing, I took some notes - yes, seriously - just to illustrate how ridiculous the game is. That's assuming I am literate and understood the rules correctly, which isn't really a safe assumption.

10:10 pm - I choose Amanda Sharpe, the student, at random to be my investigator and Nyarlathotep to be the villain I'm not so secretly rooting for.

Amanda, like all the investigator choices, gets a certain amount of items drawn at random at the beginning of the game, but I won't bother to recount them here since I never once used any of them.

Now the point of this game is basically to not let things get too fucked up and let Nyarlathotep wake up. Gates to other worlds are opening and spawning monsters almost every turn and, as a solo investigator, I can't allow 1) the number of open gates to reach 8, 2) the town to get too freaked out and overrun with monsters (measured by "the terror track" which goes to 10), 3) myself to take too long (measured by Nyarlathotep's "doom counter"). There's a few other official ways to wake up Nyarlathotep, but they are of no concern to me right now because I will have already lost before they're even remotely a possibility.

If Nyarlathotep wakes up, and he will, I can still fight him, but as you will see, that method doesn't work out too well.

10:15 - The game opens with a gate leading to the City of the Great Race opening up in the graveyard and it spits out a Star Spawn monster. Because a gate opened up, the doom counter moves to 1 (Nyarlothotep's doom counter goes to 11).

10:18 - Because of some movement limitations, I can't make it over to the graveyard so I bum around my side of the board and try to collect tokens I'll technically need but never have a chance to use. While I'm doing this, not only does another gate to the Plateau of Leng open up, but something bites me and I lose some stamina and sanity. Sigh. Doom Counter is now at 2.

10:24 - I manage to make it through the dimensional gate and into the Plateau. The Plateau turns out to be a quiet place to rest for now, and I gain back one of my stamina points. This is the only good thing that has ever happened to me during this game.

While I'm exploring the plateau, another gate opens up back in Arkham. Doom count = 3.

10:27 - I'm still exploring the Plateau (you must spend 2 turns exploring in order to have a chance of closing the gate afterwards). While I'm exploring, the humidity gets to me and I lose that stamina point that I got back the last turn. Sigh.

Back in Arkham, another gate opens up to Celeano while I'm dying of heat in the plateau. Doom Count - 4.

10:30 - This is a good turn...I get through the gate and back into Arkham and manage to close the gate. And another gate doesn't open up, although there's a sudden surge of monsters in town.

10:33 - Again, I can't manage to reach anymore gates so I have to bum around and pretend like I'm not wasting valuable time. I find out something horrible about my family tree and lose some more sanity.

A gate to R'lyeh opens up. Doom Count - 5.

And this is where the kiss of death comes: Miskatonic University starts doing experiments on monsters, and if I don't kill the monsters off, they will multiply and break out into the streets.

10:36 - I try to make my way to Miskatonic U, but can't quite make it.

No gate opens up this time, but a monster surge fills up the outskirts and the terror track makes its first advance from 0 to 1.

10:42 - I try to kill off one of the easier monsters in Miskatonic University and fail.

No gate opens up again, but that just means there's another monster surge.

10:45 - I fail to kill the Miskatonic University monster again, and all hell breaks loose. The streets fill up with monsters, the terror track instantly goes to 10, its highest setting, and because there is so much shit going on, Nyarlathotep wakes up.

Now I've been avoiding going into stat mechanics, but it's kind of important here. My maximum fight stat is 4, which usually means I can roll 4 dice and hope one of them hits 5 or 6 for a successful attack. But I have to temper this against Nyarlothotep's combat rating, which happens to be -4, which happens to mean I have 0 dice to roll to get the 5 or 6 that I need. See the issue here?

Of course, I got a magic spell in the beginning of the game that would let make 9 additional dice rolls (at the cost of my sanity, however), but wouldn't you know, Nyarlathotep is resistant to magic.

He takes about 3 turns to devour me.

10:55 - I've now managed to efficiently and thoroughly lose a 2-4 hour game in just under 45 minutes. And I actually did relatively well this game. I never once lost a turn or got booted to the "lost in space and time" square, which is where I spent the majority of my time the last few games.

NP: The Jam - Away from the Numbers

2008-11-18T21:10:00.000-08:00

I have to wake up in about 6 hours, so I need another quick post. Looks like I'm going to have to showcase another bookcase...I'll do two, since one of these bookcases is admittedly pretty boring.

The boring one: top shelf holds my poker books, bottom shelf holds my occult books on the right and a healthy mix on the left, the stuff on the floor is holding the broken bottom shelf up.

My graphic novels shelf - a few favorites include: Scott Pilgrim, The Sandman series (missing volume 3 due to the cat knocking shit over), Hellblazer, Fables, Daniel Clowes stuff, Will Eisner stuff, EC Comics Collections.

The Hexen 2039 book on the top shelf is pretty intriguing. An artist created a time travelling alter ego who makes diagrams and illustrations to construct all these connections between things like the Wizard of Oz, nazis, and US military experiments.

England's Dreaming focuses on the Sex Pistols, mostly, but its discography in the back pretty much laid the foundation for my musical taste.

There's also an Exploding Dog book on the same shelf. I've always liked using Exploding Dog pictures and their titles for mix tapes.

NP: The Smiths - Vicar in a Tutu

2008-11-17T21:13:00.000-08:00

Truth be told, I sometimes get a little emo making stuff with the intention of selling it. And since I ran out of Megaman blue today and was too sick to make my daily trip to the craft store anyway, I decided to use the downtime to start making something specifically for me.

I settled on the god bird from the Dragon Quest series; it's always ridiculously hard for me to pick a Dragon Quest character because I go into this "They're all so cute!" mode usually reserved for pet stores. She has a couple of different names throughout the games she's in, but the one I remember is Ramia. My mom calls her "that giant chicken".

I'm hoping to finish her before I move to Wisconsin.

NP: Talking Heads - Girlfriend is Better

2008-11-16T20:52:00.000-08:00

Aside from mailing a few things out, I took the day off from videogame fancraft and instead played the Arkham Horror game as promised. I played it twice and, as promised, the game tore me a new one each time. It took me about 4 hours as Dexter Drake, the magician, to finally lose to Azathoth and only about an hour before Cthulhu destroyed Ashcan Pete, the "drifter". Ashcan Pete probably shouldn't have tried to steal $8 from a Miskatonic University student, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Now I have to stop my futile attempts to save the misguided citizens of Arkham and get back to videogame stuff....I'm planning on trying some pendant experiments as well as making some stained glass triforce suncatchers. I've also had a couple of requests for more megaman needlepoints, so I'll have to get on that.

NP: Adam and the Ants - Ants Invasion

2008-11-14T21:35:00.000-08:00

I don't know if it's the Thomas Ligotti stories I've been reading lately, the recent e-mail I got from Chaosium, or if the stars are just right, but I have been jonesing for some great old ones. So, armed with a 15% off Barnes and Noble coupon, I finally gave in and bought this Lovecraft-based board game.

According to one amazon reviewer, the point of the game is not to win; the point of the game is to see just how badly you lose. Sounds great to me. And what's its other main selling point? It's meant for 1 to 8 players. The days of playing Monopoly against myself are over.

Unfortunately I won't be playing it tonight, as it apparently requires 5 hours and a PhD just to ~~play a game~~ get through the rulebook. I probably won't be playing it tomorrow either, as I have a job that frowns on people calling in sick in order to play board games. But Sunday...Sunday I will be taking on Azathoth. You guys can place your bets now. I'd go with Azathoth for the win.

NP: The Editors - Someone Says

2008-11-13T19:21:00.000-08:00

I finished this tonight:

Not sure how I feel about it - I used white plastic canvas this time instead of my usual clear, and it's not very forgiving.

NP: The Dickies - You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla)

2008-11-12T23:41:00.000-08:00

For those of you who remember the big Megaman in perler beads that I was working on: I threw him out in a fit of rage after an ill fated ironing attempt.

But I'm trying again - this time using a technique that Doctor Octoroc devised. Instead of making one big fat sprite, you divide them up into sections and construct a pretty intimidating layered base out of foamcore. Honestly, I'm not sure I have faith in my abilities to make the foamcore base. Maybe I should have stuck with ironing.

It's probably going to be a while before I get to test my foamcore finesse, as I'm about to run out of a shade of blue. Here's what I have so far:

Just lying the pieces on top of each other for now:

NP: Comsat Angels - Red Planet Revisited

2008-11-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

Now for sale on etsy:

$12 + shipping & handling

Check out my neat background. I've seen a lot of etsy sellers using what looks like scrapbook paper for their backdrops, so I thought I would give it a go myself.

NP: Public Image Ltd - Rise

2008-11-11T00:35:00.000-08:00

I don't know if it's just me, but I like shifting through people's bookcases the first, second, third time I'm invited over (I'm not usually invited over more than that).

Now I intended to put some new coasters up on etsy and take some Work in Progress photos of, uh, some works in progress. But I am so tired and lazy and I really just want to sleep or die. So, instead I'm going to make this relatively easy on me and post some pictures of one of my bookcases. The rest of my bookcases will be posted on later dates, to avoid another irritating (for me and you!) gigantic, image heavy post.

Let me also point out I haven't read a lot of these books. I work in a used bookstore where the inventory is unpredictable and the employee discount is amazing. I have a bad habit of using my discount to buy books with the "I'll never be able to get them this cheap again" excuse.

Note: I was hoping to get some flickr-like notes added to them, but I don't know how to do it outside of flickr and figuring it out would destroy the point of this fuss-free post. I'll post some short notes here as well as keep the links to flickr operational, in case you can't wait to see the rest of my books.

Notes: Far left book is a Mark Twain book containing his "dark writings". While 'The Mysterious Stranger' isn't included in the volume, I'd recommend reading it, or at least checking out this youtube excerpt from a Mark Twain-based claymation movie.

The green book to the right is called "Me in My Bag" - a neat book where a photographer goes around London asking 100 people what's in their bag/purse/backpack and taking photos of the contents. Unfortunately, most people are boring and they carry boring things.

My Tiny Life by Julian Dibbell - all about life in LambdaMOO. I like to wander around the now mostly empty MOO every once in a while; it's like walking through cyber ruins.

Notes: Far left is a collection of modern day retellings of Dante's Divine Comedy, complete with modern day illustrations.

Next to that is perhaps the coolest book I own. I will get around to making automata one day.

And next to that is one of my second life handbooks. I like wandering around Second Life from time to time, but I don't think I'll ever "get it". I will say the goth in me really likes having the name Switchblade Constantine.

Notes: The orange book is Sniffin Glue, a compendium of one of the most famous punk zines from back when punk was still interesting.

On the right is my ever-growing collection of Chaosium Call of Cthulhu RPG books.

And that's that.

I also have post titles now. Imagine that! I mostly listen to my Pandora station while posting, so unless I can come up with a particularly clever post title (Magic 8 ball says: Outlook Not So Good), I'll be abrasively announcing whatever's playing when I start the post. I mostly just feel I need a clear cut divider between posts.

2008-11-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

I love stoopidgerl's photostream so much that it hurts. It makes me want to take up photography (again) and strive to make every picture I take look vibrant and awesome, rather than perfunctory and "well, you get the idea"-ish.

2008-11-08T20:15:00.000-08:00

Now for sale in my etsy shop:

$12 + shipping

Some one contacted me and suggested I try making Chrono Trigger coasters - a very good idea, I think - and this is what I managed.

I might try making another set of these, only including as much of the body as I can fit. I find something unsettling about their disembodied faces staring at me. But I will put these up in my shop for now and see if they garner any interest or not.

2008-11-07T18:54:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, my friend Joe - who generally has no creative inclination of any kind...who really has no inclinations other than to drink beer and play poker - told me he wanted to learn how to make soap. And so I made fun of him, as you do.

There is still a part of me that balks at crafts as being for grandmothers and hippies. It was only in the past few years that I realized the carte blanche aspect of crafting allows for almost all of them to be used to make something "cool". But, at least when Joe mentioned it, soap-making was one of those rare exceptions where I saw no potential - unless there's a way to make your own soap molds, in which case I'd make a Dragon Warrior slime shaped one (note to self: find out if this is possible).

Then, during an etsy browsing session, I clicked on a thumbnail for what I thought was a piece of cake (in retrospect, this may have been a stupid assumption...like the time I assumed that orange stuff on sushi was cheese) but was actually a piece of soap. That got me to start reading all the descriptions of handmade soaps and I was impressed with the variety of scents, nutrients, molds, etc.

So then I decided I wanted to make soap too, and I finally got around to trying it for the first time tonight. I bought an opaque soap base, which I assume is the soap-making equivalent of a cake mix. You basically just melt it in the microwave, throw in some drops of scents and coloring and pour into a mold and let it sit there for about an hour.

One of the soaps I found most intriguing on etsy was an orange creamsicle soap, so I dug up this recipe and got to work. And while I was waiting for the vanilla part to harden, I went ahead and made a peppermint scented soap as well. The verdict in poorly taken photographs:

Top of the soap

Bottom of the soap

I should definitely work on getting the bottom more even and not so jagged. And, more obviously, I should learn how to swirl colors throughout the entire bar and not just the bottom.

I took a shower (shocker, I know - maybe this will be an upside to this new hobby) and used a creamsicle bar. It worked fine, I think, and smelled good - but I don't think the scent "stuck" to me as much as I would have hoped. Then again, there's no one around for me to shove my arm into their face and ask if it smells like a popsicle.

I'm not sure I will ever get interested enough in soap to start making it from scratch, nor am I sure I will ever try to sell it - but I will keep messing around with it. People who know me can probably expect some of it for christmas.

2008-11-06T18:30:00.000-08:00

Now for sale in my etsy shop:

2008-11-06T10:34:00.001-08:00

Last day for free shipping on needlepoint in my etsy shop

So it is official: I am moving to Wisconsin. I am not moving as soon as I thought I would be, which has its pros (I can save more money) and cons (I am not moving as soon as I thought I would be), but I should be knee deep in cheese by February.

So, in the meantime, I will continue to work on this blog, my flickr, my etsy shop, and I may even attempt to get some one - anyone - to look at my deviant art page, which I have neglected to do in the past.

I will also be attempting to make this blog more than just some place to compile my etsy shop updates, since that's kind of redundant. This means I'm going to have to write about myself and what I am doing, which is kind of foreign to me.

Here's a few ideas for the future:
- posting a pictoral tour of my apartment (you know you want it)
- posting more "Works in Progress" posts
- posting more tutorials
- maybe start some massive project like benjibot's quest to cross stitch all of the original dragon warrior monsters
- take up some new crafts and post pictures, failures and all, of the progress
- maybe I'll do another survey or two, but let's face it: they're kind of stupid

Also I'll be refining the blog in more mundane ways: adding widgets, adding tags, changing the layout, networking, etc.

2008-11-05T23:23:00.000-08:00

Last day for free shipping and handling is tomorrow

Now for sale on etsy:

$40 + shipping and handling

2008-11-04T01:37:00.000-08:00

Now for sale in my etsy shop:

2008-11-02T13:59:00.001-08:00

So I spent most of Halloween night building a cheap, DIY lightbox and re-taking photographs of all items to give my shop a more professional "I didn't just throw this on my floor and snap a picture because I would never do that" look.

I still think it needs some tweaking, but it's coming along. I'm also planning on changing this blog around as soon as I can get a spare minute to sit down and figure out the code.

Anyway, now for sale on etsy:

$25

The free shipping and handling deal is still on until Thursday.

2008-10-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

Since my sales have been on the slow side, I'm offering free shipping to US customers (sorry Europe) on all needlework for the next week.

And I also put this guy up:

$20

2008-10-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

Now for sale in my etsy shop:

$20 + shipping and handling

2008-10-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

For my friends and family who read this, you might want to just skip this post entirely, unless you've all been harboring a secret, burning desire to make these sprite things as well, and just have never worked up the courage to ask me how to do it.

Sprite Stitching 101

So I've been being a bit of a showpony around the internet, spreading pictures of my needlepoint sprites around various forums in a way usually reserved for stolen pornographic footage and email chain letters. And if my attempts to show off aren't ignored entirely, then I'm usually met with other sprite fans asking how I make them.

Now, even though I am trying to sell them (ahem: My Etsy Shop), I have no issue with instructing other people how to make them. I've been the beneficiary of free information too many times to be into the KFC secret recipe way of doing things.

So in response to the vast multitudes (read: handful (read: small handful (read: just a couple of people))) asking for this, here is my tutorial, Getting a Pattern:

First I should confess: whenever one of my sprites is met with admiration, I am always a little surprised. I am very lazy, very clumsy, and very sloppy and I learned how to make these things mostly by skimming a needlepoint book during my lunchbreak at work. I tend to take a "just wing it" approach to these things, and many of my methods and preferences developed from laziness. So if you're a cross stitcher who spends time separating strands, preparing fabric, paying attention to your needle size, making sure the back looks neat, and so on, then you're already much better than I am and making these should be a simple matter of transitioning past the X-stitch.

Preparing the Pattern and Getting Supplies

*** Now because I tend to act first and work out the problems later, I cannot really help you much on how to prepare your work regarding how much floss you will need or where you should position your sprite on the canvas, etc. I will tell you that I will be using 14 ct plastic canvas, which means you will get 7 pixels per inch using the mosaic stitch and 14 pixels per inch using a cross or half cross stitch. If you already have a preferred method of preparation, I would recommend sticking with it. ****

1. Before going to the craft store, find whichever sprite you want to stitch and save it to your computer. I personally prefer using The Shyguy Kingdom since they have such a large selection. I would recommend using a simple sprite to start off - think a small NES character.

For the purpose of this tutorial, I am going to make Edgar from Final Fantasy VI because he is small enough to use the mosaic stitch, but complicated enough that he has some shading and thus some more in-depth color matching will be needed.

2. So first I right click and save the sprite sheet for Edgar to my harddrive:

I want to do just regular old Edgar, so I will cut and paste the top left sprite into a new file on Photoshop (I am assuming you already know how to do this, but if I am assuming too much, just let me know) and save it as a bmp file. I am also going to note the size of the new file (16 pixels wide by 24 pixels long) for later.

Optional Step: If going back and forth between your home and your craft store is a big deal, figure out which color you want for the background now by using the fill bucket in the background to see which color looks good against your sprite. I usually wait until after I have finished stitching my sprite to figure out what my background color will be, but I also work next door to Hobby Lobby so frequent visits is not a big deal. When you have found a color you like, save it and PCStitch will also give you the floss number for that color.

Now I have regular old Edgar, all by his lonesome:

Ignore the fact that he looks green on this website. I don't know why that happened. The actual file on my computer does not look green, and that is the important thing.

*** Note: This next step will be a doozy, and it is ONLY TO FIND OUT WHICH COLORS YOU NEED VIA PCSTITCH. If you are doing something simple, like the original Megaman, you can run the sprite through PCStitch to get his exact colors or you can just go to the craft store and get black (310), white (5200), a fleshy color (I use 945 most of the time, but PCStitch recommends 744 in the case of Megaman), and whichever light blue and dark blue you happen to think matches up the best (by the way, PCStitch recommends 3846 for light and 3843 for dark in the case of megaman). If you are doing a complicated sprite with a lot of shading or colors, I strongly recommend using PCStitch or whatever your already preferred method is if you're an experienced stitcher. It would suck to finish one of these things, then stand back and realize it looks kind of weird because you got the wrong shade of blue ***

3. Since Edgar is has some complicated coloring going on, I am going to run him through PC Stitch first. PCStitch is a great program you can download as a demo for free (you can't save or print in the demo but we won't be needing to do that here anyway).

After opening PCStitch, go to File > Import and import the bmp file you saved earlier. The first screen will allow you to crop the picture. I don't need to crop any of Edgar, so I'm just going to hit next. The next screen allows you to erase parts of the picture. Again, I don't need to erase any of Edgar, so I'm going to hit next. Now here is the important screen:

I am going to click the "stitches" option and enter in 16 pixels wide by 24 pixels long (from before when I noted the dimensions of the image in photoshop). For this particular image of Edgar, it should not matter, but I generally unclick "smooth colors" as well. It also does not matter for this tutorial (we are just using the program to get the DMC colors), but, depending on your project, you might also want to make sure the cloth count input matches your fabric or canvas. If you haven't used PCStitch before, definitely play around with it. Now that I've got Edgar to 16x24 pixels, I will click Next yet again.

Next screen is to adjust for brightness...no need for that here. Next.

Now the next screen is for floss colors. It is also not important for this tutorial, but it is a fascinating screen you should play around with when you get a chance: see what a picture will look like if you make with 14 colors or 200 colors. See what it will look like if you only use metallic floss or rayon floss, etc. But I digress: FINISH.

Now I've got my edgar pattern. I am going to go to View > Zoom to 300% and then View > Display Stiches As > Colored Blocks + Visible Symbols (or ctrl-F5). And I get this:

At the bottom of the screen is a row of colored blocks that correspond to the pattern. If you roll your pointer over the block, a pop up will tell you the DMC Floss number and the color name. In my image, the example is #809 - Delft Blue. Write down all the color numbers for your craft store shopping list, and if you own PCStitch, save the pattern for future reference. If you don't own PCStitch, just remember all the above steps (it will be a snap after a few times) so you can retrieve your pattern at your leisure later.

In the case of Edgar, we need 310, 319, 333, 433, 704, 796, 809, 3045, 3776, 3823, and 3825 (and if you filled in the background in the optional step, you should have a background color for that too). Most small sprites will only need 1 bundle (with leftovers to spare), maybe 2 for black and larger fields, for each color in the sprite, but the background usually uses up 3-5 bundles easy.

4. So now you've got your floss shopping list. Now if you don't already have some, add 14 ct plastic canvas (in Houston at least, in Hobby Lobby it comes in sealed packages with 2 sheets each for around $2.39 while Michaels sells them individually for around 79 cents a piece - both stores keep them near the larger plastic canvas usually in an the aisle next to the DMC floss), embroidery scissors, and needles (I prefer tapestry needles around size 20-24 as they don't prick my fingers). I usually hold off on the frame and mat until after I finish the sprite since I don't plan ahead, but if you already figured out how large it is going to be, add those to your list too - Walmart usually has some bargain frames that come with mats for $3 on display in the aisles of their stores.

If you plan on doing a lot of these, you might also want to pick up a copy of a stitch encyclopedia or sampler. I use this one. It isn't necessary for this tutorial as I will link you to diagrams of the stitches.

Now you are ready to begin stitching. I recommend finding a DVD set of a tv show you like and settling down for a marathon viewing because the stitching will take you FOREVER.

Stitching Your Sprite

This will be more free-form than the last section. I like to stitch the outline of my sprite first so I can lay the mat over it and make sure it will fit (I've learned from past mistakes), but if you prefer doing it from inside out, that's fine too. There's probably a "correct" way of doing these things, but I sure don't know it. I just know this works for me.

1. I usually just eyeball where I need to begin stitching on the canvas and can't really help you with knowing the best, prepared way to begin. If you are also an eyeballer, for your first sprite, I recommend just starting near the middle of the plastic canvas until you have gotten used to how they will translate.

You could, of course, figure out how big your sprite will be (remember, 1 inch = 7 pixels for mosaic stitch or 14 pixels for half cross stitch), how much space you will need for background and for a bias around your canvas all ahead of time so as not to waste canvas....but I can't say I do that. Then again, I have recently had some major issues with a few sprites, after hours of stitching, not fitting into the standard mat size because I did not plan ahead to make sure that they would...so fair warning.

2. I usually start with the outline, and I usually start with that in the top left corner and work my way counter-clockwise. I use all 6 strands of the floss, because I like the full look it gives.

Since Edgar is small, I will be using a mosaic stitch, which looks like a perfect little pixel. For larger sprites, I use a tent, or half cross stitch. Here are examples:

This megaman sprite uses the mosaic stitch - only the sprite is done in mosaic...we will get to the background later.

Wart is done with a tent stitch. Notice how each pixel is basically half a cross stitch

If you are new to needlework, here's an explanation of how to start a stitch. I use the waste knot most of the time:

E-How: Your First Stitch

To sum it up: You basically just make a knot in your thread, push through on the front side (the side everyone will look at when you are done) and work your stitches over the tail on the backside until it is secure enough to cut the knot off.

The mosaic looks like a cross-stitch, but it isn't. Here are two explanations the mosaic stitch:

Stitchopedia's explanation of the Mosaic Stitch

Threadneedle's explanation of the mosaic stitch

Here is an example of a tent stitch, which is basically a cross stitch with only one side of the X, if that makes sense:

Stitchopedia's explanation of the Tent Stitch

Threadneedle's explanation of the tent stitch

When you start to get to the end of your floss, push your needle through 3 or 4 stitches on the back side to anchor it and then cut the excess thread off.

So now you should be able to stitch the sprite. I personally just follow the pattern on PCStitch on the computer screen most of the time, and occasionally print out simple, easy to follow sprites through Photoshop if I plan to work on it outside of the house (you must buy PCStitch to print out patterns...I'll get around to it eventually). Some people like to graph the patterns themselves or you could even use a bead sprite you've already made for a pattern.

I usually just do outline + black first and then do the colors in whichever order strikes my fancy.

Here's what I've got done tonight:

Stitching the sprite alone takes me about 4 hours to do.

Preparing for the Background

1. Now it's time to start getting ready for the background. I keep a couple of mats on hand to do this, but if you don't have a mat yet, it's not necessary.

The openings for the smaller mat measures 3 inches wide by 4.5 inches tall. The larger mat opening measures 3.5 inches wide by 5.5 inches tall. I'm going to center my sprite inside the mat (if you don't have a mat, just use a ruler to figure out how big the window should be) and count the holes on each side. Then I'm going to remove the mat and trace a rectangle with a pen, adding 2-3 holes on each side for a bias.

For Edgar, that means I am going to count 10 holes up and draw a line across that row. Then I'm going to do the same thing on the bottom. On the sides I'm going to count 7 holes out on each side and draw a line on that column. Here's a picture with the rectangle:

2. Now it's time to choose the background color, if you haven't already. I have a whole stock of DMC floss, so I usually just put them up against the sprite and figure out which one I like best. When I first started stitching, I would just bring the finished sprite in with me to Michael's or Hobby Lobby and hold the floss bundles up against it until I decided which color I wanted.

Remember, you're going to want several bundles of this color because doing backgrounds definitely eats up floss like none other.

I go compare a lot more colors than this, but that's just to demonstrate. I like the yellow (#973) the best, so I'm going with that.

Stitching the Background

1. For Final Fantasy characters, it's become a tradition for me to use a variation of the Scottish Stitch:

Stitchopedia's Explanation of the Scottish Stitch

But there's tons of stitches you can choose from, you can consult Stitchopedia or, if you have one, a hardcopy Stitch encyclopedia. I try to stick to diagonal stitches because I find that they cover the canvas better.

2. I almost never follow stitch diagrams exactly for my background stitches. I like to mix it up by making the stitches wider, longer, etc. For this sprite, I'm going to make the inside cushion of the Scottish stitch a 7x7 square. I'm also going to make the border around the cushions 3 holes long because this will allow me to create an interlocking, Celtic-like pattern.

I've adjusted the contrast so you can see it better...this is the beginning of my scottish stitch, complete with the waste knot. I always start in the bottom right corner of the background.

This is the first square finished, as well as the start of the border. Now I am going to kick back and watch 24 while I finish up this background, which will also take me about 3 or 4 hours to finish.

So a good chunk of season 1 of 24 later, and I'm done. As with everything, I don't go in any exact order when it comes to filling in the background. Now I just have to cut out Edgar, leaving a bias around the needlepoint....

and then I get to frame him:

And that's that.

If you liked this tutorial, please let Digg know that you dugg it

2008-10-24T17:13:00.001-07:00

Now for sale in my etsy shop:

$20 + s&h

2008-10-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

Now for sale in my etsy store:

$25 + s&h

2008-10-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

So my laptop broke about 2 weeks ago and has been being nursed back to health in some Best Buy tech center far far away. It is still gone and I miss it. I look out my window and sing 'Somewhere Out There' each night.

So my etsy updates have been, uh, a bit slow. Or nonexistent. Or whatever. I have a lot of catching up to do, so this will be a very long, very image intense post. Click on the picture to get magically whisked away to that particular item in the shop.

Now for sale in in my etsy store:

Still here? I should also note that I am in the process of trying to make my shop more interesting to browse...most of the items for sale now have multiple pictures and I'm thinking of giving each a lengthier description. If you have any suggestions, I wouldn't mind hearing them.

2008-10-02T12:44:00.001-07:00

Well I'm reopening my shop in order to try to raise funds for moving and for poker. I'm admittedly a little rusty on the mechanics of Etsy, but hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things. Shipping charges listed here are for the US, I've got "everywhere else" fees on the actual listings.

So here's what I'm listing today:

Locke from Final Fantasy VI:

$25 with shipping

Kefka from Final Fantasy VI:

$25 with shipping

The moogle from Final Fantasy VI (see a pattern?):

$25 with shipping

And now the two big ones:

Bowie from Shining Force 2:

$110 with shipping

The Dr Mario Viruses:

$85 with shipping

I'll be listing new things every other day or so...maybe every day if energy and ethusiasm allows. Wisconsin or bust.

2008-02-17T12:22:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while, so here's a random update: I'm trying to make a lot of stuff to sell sometime during the summer so I can use the money for a poker bankroll. Because they're not going to be on sale for months, I'm usually not going to post the stuff I've made right away and instead wait until the summer. But because I'm a show-off who hasn't updated for a while, I'm going to post a few right now:

Bowie from Shining Force 2:

White Mage from Final Fantasy 1:

And here's something I made for a friend for Christmas:

2007-12-17T20:48:00.000-08:00

So I actually finished two more Shining Force 2 pixel art things forever ago, but I don't believe I've ever posted them:

Some Close Ups:

For those of you who have never played the Shining Force series, just smile and nod.

2007-12-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

What bill do you hate paying the most?
Student Loan. I often forget about it because it's the only bill that's not set to auto pay and I refuse to set it to auto pay for some reason or another. Then they call me up whining "Where's our money? We want our money!" like a bunch of crybabies.

Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner?
My cat ate off my plate when I wasn't looking once.

If you could go back and change one thing what would it be?
I would have gone to a real school and not some hippie liberal arts school. Fucking psychiatric medication putting ideas into my head....

Name of your first grade teacher?
Mrs Holly. She used to have a shelf full of silly figurines and she'd let kids take a figurine and set it on their desk for the day if they were profoundly good or smart or whatever. I once fell down during recess and basically broke my face, so I got to pick out a ghost figurine to put on my desk.

What do you really want to be doing right now?
sitting atop a pile of money and cackling

What did you want to be when you were growing up?
My careers plans changed so frequently.

How many colleges did you attend?
All of them

Why did you choose the shirt that you have on right now?
I spilled Dr Pepper on my Undertones shirt and this one was on top of the washing machine.

What are your thoughts on gas prices?
I would like them to keep going up. Sure it'll piss me off, but it'll piss off everyone else more, and that's the important thing.

If you could move anywhere and take someone with you where would it be?
I'd take Joe to New York or Boston and we could split or Atlantic City winnings.

First thought when the alarm went off this morning?
It didn't go off and I didn't get up until 3:30 pm.

Last thought before going to sleep last night?
That I should get up early and get things done.

What errand/chore do you despise?
I hate going to the bank with a passion.

If you didn't have to work, would you volunteer?
Probably, I need something to do. I probably wouldn't show up to my volunteer job half the time, because I don't like working that much.

Get up early or sleep In?
Theoretically I like getting up early. Theoretically.

Favorite thing to do at night with the opposite sex?
sit atop a pile of money and cackle

Have you found real love yet?
I made this turkey sandwich today that was pretty golden.

When did you first start feeling old?
When I was 23 or 24 and stayed up all night. I could do it no problem between the ages of 18-21, but I nearly died that time.

Favorite 80's movie?
Since I'm assuming this question was intended for John Hughes-ish answers, I'll refrain from saying my favorite movie made during the 80s and just say Pretty in Pink because Duckie was awesome.

Your favorite lunch meat?
turkey or bologna. I don't know why bologna gets such a bad wrap because it's delicious.

What do you get every time you go into Costco?
I don't go into costco, plebe.

Beach or lake?
Beach, I guess

Favorite guilty pleasure?
I'm digging Gossip Girl.

Favorite movie you wouldn't want anyone to find out about?
I don't really feel guilty about any of the movies I like.

Who from high school would you like to run in to?
I already hang out with the one person i care to hang out with.

Norm or Cliff?
Cliff. I like lonely, socially awkward people who really have a thing for trivia. Go figure.

'The Cosby Show' or 'The Simpsons'?
The Simpsons. There's no contest for this, because early Simpsons was fantastic and Cosby Show was always crap.

Have you ever had to use a fire extinguisher for its intended purpose?
No, but I used to spray one around for unintended purposes in the hallway of an old job.

Last book you read for real?
Atonement. It ruined the movie for me, because the book was decent and the movie sucked.

2007-11-08T23:11:00.000-08:00

So I signed up for an internet craft swap for retro video games. I was a week late sending it out, as is my style. Since 3 out of the 4 of you who read this blog have seen me working on at least some of it but never got to see it completed, and I felt like I should give you some closure:

That's all of it lumped together.

This is made out of paper tiles glued onto a wooden box. I think (hope?) it looks better in person. It looked a lot better than the first paper mosaic I made, which I refuse to post pictures of here on account it looks like a 5 year old's art project.

Standard needlepoint. Not cross stitch, Joe, although that was close. Not crochet, Corinne, which wasn't close.

Stained glass triforce.

I don't see any point in posting close up of the Dragon Warrior wolf or the coasters since they've been posted here before.

By the way, everyone is getting some variation of the above (speaking generally: coasters, suncatchers, magnets, etc) for Christmas because I have no money, but shitloads of time. So if you have any requests*, you better start getting them to me. **

* I reserve the right to deny any requests.

** I can also make sock monkeys.

2007-10-30T18:29:00.001-07:00

1. First thing you wash in the shower?
Like I shower

2. What color is your favorite hoodie?
Black. So, so black.

3. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?
Don't touch me.

4. How are you feeling RIGHT now?
I'm about as happy as one can be filling out an internet survey

5. Tell me about the last dream you remember having last night?
I don't remember, but I'm sure it was fascinating and insightful and much better than whatever stupid dream you had last night.

6. What are you craving right now?
fame and fortune

7. Do you floss?
No. My teeth are too ridiculously close together so flossing is more of a chore for me than anybody else.

8. What comes to mind when I say cabbage?
Gross.

9. Would you dance to the taco song?
Is there a taco song? Either way: no.

10. Have you ever counted to 1,000?
Possibly?

11. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it?
I lick it sensuously.

12. Have you ever met a celebrity?
I've seen celebrities here and there, but nothing much more than that. I served Prince a Pepsi without ever seeing him. He was pissed we didn't have Coke. I was also pissed we didn't have coke.

13. Do you like cottage cheese?
Uch.

14. What are you listening to right now?
I'm half watching Reaper.

15. How many countries have you visited?
US and England. I'm so worldly.

16. Are your parents strict?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

17. Would you go sky diving?
No. I'm afraid of heights and cheap thrills.

18. Would you go out to eat with George W. Bush?
Eh probably not, I'm just too busy.

19. Would you throw potatoes at him?
No, thou shalt not waste thy potatoes.

20. Is there anything sparkly in the room you're in?
I have a strict no glitter allowed policy.

21. Do you rent movies often?
I'm trying to get back into the Netflix swing of things after paying for 6 months of it without getting anything new.

22. Who sits in behind you in your math class?
I'm not in a math class, or any class for that matter, but nevertheless: I always sat at the back.

23. Can you count backwards from 74?
Well, I'm not retarded.

24. Who are you going to be with tonight?
Poker fiends and barflies.

25. Brown or white eggs?
White.

Was that racist?

26. Ever been on a train?
Yes, but nothing fancy. Nothing with compartments with beds in them or anything. I'd like to do that eventually.

27. Do you have a cell-phone?
Yes, I'm a whore.

28. What is your best friend doing tomorrow?
I would need friends to be able to answer this.

29. What was the last CD you bought?
I don't remember....Serge Gainsbourg - Comic Strip, maybe? I mostly buy records, and the last one I bought was Echo and the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain

30. Ever walked into a wall?
All the time. I have all the grace of an ostrich.

31. Favorite time of the year?
It used to be around this time of the year, but thanks to the weather refusing to go cold until November these days, it has changed to about 3 weeks from now.

32. Do you like your life right now?
No.

33. Have you ever crawled through a window?
yes, it's standard procedure when you want to get into strangers' underwear drawers.

34. How often do you talk on the phone?
Almost never. I hate it with a passion.

35. Are you too forgiving?
Yes, unless I fundamentally don't like some one, I can't hold a grudge. Even when the offender deserves to die. And they all deserve to die.

36. Do you own a gun?
No. But I own a dagger.

37. Have you ever been in a castle?
Yes, but just the standard roped off tourists trap sorts.

38. Do you like your hair?
It's ok. It's purple right now, but for some reason, some parts of it just refuse to take to the purple.

39. Are you emotional?
I suppose, if incessantly seething with rage counts as emotional.

2007-09-04T23:19:00.000-07:00

1.) If you were a doll, the accessories packaged with you would be:
Chucks and a black leather wristband

2.) You have an irrational fear of:
I am fetal position afraid of heights but it doesn't stop me from going up on the gigantic ladder at work because I am more afraid of looking like a pansy.

3.) What type of food do you eat at your grandparents house?
They're all dead.

4.) What weight were you when you were born?
5 pounds

5.) What would you do if you were stranded on an island with the person you murder, and cannibalism.
Is this a question?

6.) What would you do if you found out you had been cheated on?
Stab some one, probably. I don't think I'd really care one way or another about the cheating, but you know, any excuse to stab some one.....

7.) Do you stalk anyone on myspace?
No. Fucking "This profile is set to private" my ass.

8.) I find the thought of childbirth:
vomit inducing. Even the thought of some bloated, sweaty pregnant ~~cow~~ woman turns my stomach.

9.) Next door to my house is:
I've never met my neighbors.

10.) My feet are:
in pain. I brilliantly tried to climb onto a garbage dumpster in the rain.

11.) My preferred style of jeans is:
I know nothing about styles. So long as they don't flare out or have butterflies embroidered into them, they're ok by me, I guess. I also have a little bit of a thing against paying for pre-ripped/faded jeans, but I'm starting to no longer care since they're just going to end up that way anyway.

I used to have a favorite pair of jeans that got torn to shreds in the back, in the front, everywhere, but I wore them anyway even though they probably should have gotten me arrested for indecent exposure. My mom eventually threw them out when I was looking. I'm still pissed.

13.) Know how to cook?
I know how to cook, but I don't know how to cook without making a mess or having the smoke alarms go off.

14.) What do you want to be in life?
I want to be competent enough at something that I can say "Fuck this" at any given moment to any given person.

15.) What is the worst way you were dumped?
To have a worst way means you'd have actually have to be dumped first. And to get dumped, you'd actually have to enter into a relationship.

16.) What child-related smell do you not like?
I'm not sure what this means. Do children have a variety of odors I'm supposed to associate with them? The only thing I'm coming up with is shitty diapers, but that's kind of an easy choice. I mean "I don't like the smell of shitty diapers" is kind of up there with "I hate traffic" for most obvious opinion.

17.) What sea creature scares you?
Aside from dolphins, they're all pretty scary. I guess barra barracuda.

18.) What color hair do most of the people you are around have?
I'm guessing this is some myspace way of separating the (blonde) sorority girls from the (not blonde) outcasts? Let's just say I'm not in a sorority.

19.) What object have you broken most recently?
bones and hearts

20.) Name your favorite cartoon character.
There's a bunch, but I'll stick to Tweety Bird, the loveable sadist, for now.

2007-07-19T23:29:00.000-07:00

This one is unfinished. Oh well, I am tired and I have a busy day of nothing ahead of me.

1. Where were you 3 hours ago?
Getting raped by crazy pre-flop betting at a poker table.

2. Who are you in love with?
Myself.

3. Have you ever eaten a crayon?
No, I've never been very adventurous when it comes to all matters culinary. I wouldn't even put cheese on burgers until I was 12 or so. It was just too crazy.

4. Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?
Well, I'm in my parents' house and my mom is a pretty typical Dr Phil loving suburban mom, so there's bound to be.

5. When is the last time you went to the mall?
I don't remember. I don't go to malls very often. I'm not really anti-mall though. I'm just anti-people. I'm especially anti teenagers and housewives. But I'm actually all for pooling a variety of stores into one indoor, air conditioned, convenient location and rounding it out with a movie theater and a selection of restaurants. I'm totally for that. Shame about the teenagers and housewives.

6. Are you wearing socks right now?
Pfft. No.

7. Do you have a car worth over $2,000?
Eh, it probably won't be worth $2,000 when I'm through with it. I tend to have that effect on automobiles.

8. When was the last time you drove out of town?
Over a year ago when I followed the Epoxies around Texas.

9. Have you been to the movies in the last 5 days?
I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix along with the rest of the planet. Unlike the rest of the planet, I just thought it was OK. I really think the only appeal of the movies is to see a group of kids reach sexual maturity, like the Up documentaries, only for puberty.

10. Are you hot?
I'm just here to look pretty.

11. What was the last thing you had to drink?slim fast or champagne?
I don't think I've ever drank either.

12. What are you wearing right now?
Cargo pants and an Adverts t-shirt.

13. Do you wash your car or let the car wash do it?
I just let the rain take care of it.

14. Last food that you ate?
I made these s'mores cupcakes that I don't think are very good. Still, I ate one because I spent forever making them.

15. Where were you last week at this time?
Like I can remember last week.

16. Have you bought any clothing items in the last week?
I seriously doubt it.

17. When is the last time you ran?
When I was 14.

18. What's the last sporting event you watched?
I watched the basketball world series a few years ago when it was Detroit vs LA and Detroit just pummelled them even though every one on the LA team took paycuts just because they thought they'd be guaranteed a ring or a trophy or whatever they get for winning. I took some pleasure in that.

19. What is your favorite animal?
Right now I'm pretty thrilled to have these fist-sized frogs that come and swim in my parents' pool every night but leave or hide or something during the day. Man, they are the greatest.

I think if I had a daemon though, a la the Dark Materials trilogy, it'd be a bat.

20. Your dream vacation?
Probably just sitting around at home, going out to see movies here and there and such. I don't really like to travel during vacations. I realize you're probably sitting there thinking about how ignorant and narrow-minded I must be for not wanting to travel, but you can go fuck yourself.
I find the act of traveling (packing and plane trips and such) exhausting and since the average vacation is only a week or two, you feel like you have to do a shitload of stuff and not waste your time and that winds up being exhausting too. And on top of that, I don't think it's possible, at least not for me, to really get to know a new place in a week or two. So unless "dream vacation" can mean "Move around from place to place for the rest of my life, spending a year on two in each location without having to worry about money or jobs or anything of that sort", I'm not going with "travel".

21. Last person's house you were in?
Corinne's parents.

22. Worst injury you've ever had?
I've never had a really bad one. I've had to get stitches twice, but for stupid things.

Let's just say I got bit by a shark when I was 8, because that would have been cool. At least in retrospect it would be cool. At the time, it would probably suck.

23. Have you been in love?
I stalk myself.

24. Do you miss anyone right now?
I'd like to see Corey again, but with my current schedule and the current rate of gas, Katy might as well be in Japan.

25. Last play you saw?
I don't know, but it was probably shit. Most plays are shit. I used to like plays and musicals as a kid, but after I started getting into movies, they seemed stupid, pretentious, and childish. There's something embarrassing to me about adults "putting on a play."

I still like opera and Shakespeare though, so go figure. Something about those transcends all the silliness. That or just haven't gotten rid of all my pretense yet.

26. What is your secret weapon to lure in the opposite sex?
Whenever I discover it, you'll be the first to know.

27. What are your plans for tonight?
I'm going to sit at Borders and watch rabid children running around in wizard costumes.

28. Who is the last person you sent a MySpace message or comment?
I left a consoling comment on the profile of my favorite Last Comic Standing comedian (who was booted off, of course).

29. Next trip you are going to take?
You can see above where I bitch about travel. I don't remember the question number, but I'm sure you can find it. I believe in you.

30. Ever go to camp?
a couple of times as a kid. Didn't like it then. Wouldn't like it now.

31. Were you an honor roll student in school?
I was. And I was one of those annoying ones that didn't put forth all that much effort either yet still managed to get a better grade than you. Of course, it screwed me in the end because I went to college with next to no study skills and the "I'll just teach myself everything the night before the test" mentality and now I'm quite the opposite of an honor roll student.

32. What do you want to know about the future?
I'd like to know when I'm going to die. OKCupid says I'm going to die in a month, but the Deathclock is giving me another 20 years. They're toying with me.

33. Are you wearing any perfume or cologne?
I'm just wearing my own pungent stench.

34. Are you due sometime this year for a doctor's visit?
I've gone to the doctor's more time this year than the rest of my life combined, I think. Thank you, OKCupid, for the paranoia. I doubt I'll go again unless my side starts hurting again.

35. Where is your best friend?
Undiscovered

36. How is your best friend?
See above.

37. Do you have a tan?
I do, actually. I still paler than everybody, but I should be even paler.

2007-07-19T22:41:00.001-07:00

From Corinne.

1. Do you straighten your hair everyday?
Everyday.

2. Do you worry about the size of your boobs?
Everyday.

3. What's your favorite girly magazine?
Morbid Curiousity

4. Would you kill for chocolate?
No, and I can't stand those "Give me the chocolate and no one gets hurt" t-shirts worn by overweight soccer moms that watch the View and read Cathy comics. They seriously make me want to kill somebody. Same goes for the "I'll eat ice cream if I get my feelings hurt" cliche.

I'll stick to my fried chicken and baked potatoes.

5. Jeans or Skirt?
I only wear skorts.

6. Do you wear clothes/shoes/jewelry that's uncomfortable?
Only if Chuck Taylors count as uncomfortable, which admittedly, they kind of are. Not in a high heel "This is painful" kind of way. Just in a "gee, you know there really are footwear alternatives that offer better arch support" kind of way.

7. Did you ever spend all day/night getting pretty for a guy?
Everyday.

8. Would you leave the house without makeup on?
No way. People don't think I wear much make up, but what they don't know is that I'm actually black.

9. On a scale from 1-10 how fun is shopping?
It's amazing if it's a music or book or movie or dumb shit store. It's life threatening if it's a department store.

10. Are you spoiled?
Yeah.

11. Do you think lip gloss is the best?
No. I only just started putting much-needed chapstick on last week.

12. Do you freak out if you miss your favorite show?
People get stabbed.

13. Do you yell a lot?
I never stop yelling.

14. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?
However long it takes me to put my shoes on and find my glasses. Unless it's the rare day where I decide to change clothes. Then however long it takes me to find a different t-shirt.

15. Do you wear sweatpants/pajamas to school/work?
Everday.

16. Do you like skater boys?
Well, seeing as how I'm not 12.....

They don't offend me though.

17. Is pink truly the best color in the world?
It's all I wear.

18. Have you ever dressed unlike yourself to impress a guy?
Everyday.

19. Gold or Silver?
Silver

20. Do you dress up too much for holidays?
People do that?

21. Do you like wearing dresses?
No, I hate it with the fire of a thousand suns and whoever makes me wear one can rot for all I care.

22. Do you write a lot of mushy love poems?
Everyday.

23. On a scale of 1-10, how much do guys confuse you?
10

24. What makeup could you not live w/out?
Prosthetic noses.

25. Do you fall in love easily?
Everyday.

26. Do you have a boyfriend?
Several

27. Do you think you have the best friends ever?
Well 2 or 3 of them are probably going to read this, so, uh.....yes? Best ever. Nobody's better.

28. Do you consider yourself pretty?
I'm the most average person ever. Here's a chart that proves it:

Very scientific.

29. Do you think guys will open this, even though it says girly questions?
I think this question doesn't apply here.

2007-07-10T23:10:00.001-07:00

So I shut down the etsy store because I'm being given open ended overtime at work. And while it's not as fun, I guess, as making cross stitch moogles, I can make what I'd make from a cross stitch moogle in an hour, instead of 8 hours and a lot of pin pricks and frustration when the cross stitch moogle gets left behind at Denny's and tossed out even though the waitstaff knows full well they're just going to see me again tomorrow. And so on.

So if you're here looking for pictures of "art"work, you might want to just leave until September. For the two of you who are here for the surveys, here you go:

1. Are you taller than your mom?
Yes, but everyone is.

2. What color is your shower curtain?
I've got frosted glass doors. If I had a shower curtain, it'd be the color of mold.

3. What is the closest thing to you right now that is red?
A pig heart.

Not really.

4. What is your ring tone?
Standard ringing. I tried doing the whole expressing yourself through ring tones thing because I hate the standard ring anyway. But as it turns out I hate the sound of a ringing phone because I dread having to talk to anyone, not because the sound is unpleasant. Ergo, I began to hate whatever Smiths or Joy Division tones I had as well.

5. Does anything hurt on your body right now?
Everything hurts right now. My wrist hurts because I shelved heavy books in a stupid manner. My feet hurt because I've been working 12 hour shifts. My stomach hurts because I eat disgusting food and can't take the hint. My side hurts because God hates me.

6. What color is your favorite pillow?
I just have one really, so I guess that's the default. It's white.

7. What is your favorite video game?
Of all time is probably Maniac Mansion. Also I have a real fondness for the Dragon Warrior/Quest series.

8. Had a nap today?
No, naps are the worst. I just feel groggy and disoriented afterwards.

9. Gold or Silver?
Silver

10. Is there an animal that creeps you out?
I dread cicadas.

11. Who was the last person you rode an elevator with?
I don't know, but they were probably pretty pissed when I purposefully pressed all of the floor buttons.

12. Did you go ice skating as a kid?
Yeah.

13. Ever have stitches?
Yes. And I like having them. I'm not a fan of grossing people out with the standard vulgarities, but something about disgusting wounds just does it for me. I will show that stuff off and delight in the groans.

14. Favorite non-alcoholic drink?
Coke

15. How long ago did you hug someone?
Don't touch me.

16. What's something you want to do before you die?
make an automaton - a good one

17. Have you ever caught something on fire?
I'm a flamer

18. Have you ever seen a ghost?
I've taken pictures of orbs. Does that count? I went to a haunted spot a few months ago, but all I saw was a redneck.

19. Have you ever seen northern lights?
No.

20. Do you know how to use chop sticks?
Too white.

21. Name something good that happened today
I came in 7th at my poker tournament. That's not all that great though.

22. What room are you in?
Living room.

23. Are you worried about something you can't control?
Not really.

24. Do you take daily medications?
Nope

25. Ever been in a fight?
No, but I have hung back and tried to look menancing a number of times.

26. Do you read shampoo bottles?
every night before I go to bed

27. What time is it?
'bout that time

28. Innie or Outie?
Extreme innie. You outies disgust me.

29. Ever used a Ouija board?
Yes. But if you had asked "Have you ever used a ouija board and gotten it to do anything the slightest bit interesting ever?", you'd have gotten a different answer.

30. Sweet or Sour?
Sweet

31. Sun or Moon?
Moon

33. Favorite eye color of the opposite sex?
I avoid eye contact at all times.

36. Time of day you were born?
When the moon was full.

37. Do you know your blood type?
Funny you should ask, because I don't, but I'm supposed to find out.

38. Do you know how to kill a zombie?
Don't beat them, just join them. It's like pulling a band aid.

40. What would you spend 5,000 dollars on right now if you were handed it?
A chinese junk.

41. Name something annoying in public transit?
What isn't annoying about public transit? How about a 10 minute trip taking an hour?

42. Which animal(s) remind you of yourself?
I took a test to find out what my animal type was, and I was told I was a bat.

43. Whats your background on your pc?
Adam Ant

44. Did you grow up in the city or country?
Suburbs

45. Would you ever consider going on a reality tv show?
Only if it was one that no one watched ever and therefore I could get the invasion of privacy experience without actually having my privacy invaded. But I'm not sure such a thing exists because i used to read the blogs of some people who were on the reality tv show Kept and they said they got approached all the time by people on the street who watched the show. And really - who the hell watched Kept? Except me. I'll watch anything, I swear.

46. Have you flown in your dreams?
Probably. I mostly just have nightmares about annoying people though.

47. What's one thing you're really good at cooking?
I usually like the soup that I make.

48.kisses or hugs?
Don't touch me.

49. You have 10 dollars to spend in the dollar store... what do you get?
I will build a gigantic army of little green men.

50. Ice-E flavor?
Blue raspberry can't be beat.

2007-06-14T15:10:00.000-07:00

Now for sale on etsy:

2007-06-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

So my store is in a rut after the decimation. I've been too busy playing poker and sitting around to make stuff, but I'll get my second wind eventually. Until then, here's another survey:

1. The phone rings. Who do you want it to be?
Publisher's Clearing House

2. When shopping at the grocery store, do you return your cart?
Yes. There's a circle of hell reserved specifically for those who don't.

Question 3 has disappeared.

4. Do you take compliments well?
Not really. I'm torn between my kneejerk reaction to make a self-effacing comment and my kneejerk reaction to be diplomatic and polite and just say thank you. I will implode one day.

5. Do you play Sudoku?
Like none other.

6. If abandoned alone in the wilderness would you survive?
Yes. I would turn feral immediately.

7. Do you prefer hot pockets or pizza rolls?
I prefer a potato skin.

8. If ur house was on fire, what would b the 1st thing u would grab?
First, I object to the abbreviated newspeak used in this question. Second, I thought my house was on fire once, and I ran back in and grabbed the cat. I'd like to make a joke here, but deep down I would know the truth. Then again, this is before I had the Wii, so maybe things change.

Anyway, it turned out my house wasn't on fire. My neighbors were just douches.

9. Who was the last person you slept in the same bed with?
You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.

10. Who do you text the most?
Joe, but only about poker and Denny's, so don't go getting a bigger, fatter head about this, Joe. You suck.

11. Favorite children's book?
Alice Adventure's in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass

12. What color are your eyes?
The color of envy

13. If you could do it over again, start from scratch, would you?
Not from scratch. I wouldn't mind doing it over again knowing what I know now. But what tool wouldn't take that option?

14. Any secret admirers?
I have to beat them off with a stick.

15. When was the last time you were at Olive Garden?
I was probably in shorts and a Mickey Mouse t-shirt. And I'm pre-empting any "So you were there last Tuesday?" comments with a middle finger and some choice words.

Question 16 went looking for question 3.

17. Where was the furthest place you traveled?
Just London

18. Do you like mustard?
I generally do not need mustard, but I won't bitch and moan if I get it.

19. Do you prefer to sleep or eat?
I can do both at the same time.

20. Do you look like your mom or dad?
Mom. My twin looks like my dad. Between the two of us, we can rule out any true paternity questions.

21. How long does it take you in the shower?
About 4 minutes. I'm disgusting.

22. What movie do you want to see right now?
The Golden Compass

23. What did you do for New Year's Eve?
I shot off a Friendship Pagoda. It's remains the highlight of my year.

24. Do you think The Grudge was crappy?
I thought it was crappy, but fun. The Grudge 2, however, was a crime against humanity.

25. Do you own a camera phone?
No. I used to. I took maybe 2 pictures with it, and I really wish I had been able to get those pictures to a more permanent home, but wasn't willing to shill out the cash. Camera phones suck ass.

26. Was your mom a cheerleader?
Based on genetics, probably not. But I really have no idea, and I'm not going to ask.

27. What's the last letter of your middle name?
æ. Figure that one out.

28. How many hours of sleep do you get a night?
Between 2 and 12.

29. Do you like care bears?
I do indeed. I bought a book on how to crochet care bears with the intention of altering them to create my own line of care bears. But I intend to do a lot of things.

30. What do you buy at the Movies?
I recently put my repulsion to movie theater meat aside (thank you for years of trauma, bagel dogs) and started ordering hot dogs. I sometimes get a slush. I sometimes get a soda. I sometimes get twizzlers. I sometimes get popcorn. I'm very adventurous.

31. Do you know how to play poker?
I do. I play in a league several nights a week. However, this question did not ask if I knew how to play poker well, which would have yielded another answer entirely.

32. Do you wear your seatbelt?
Most of the time.

33. What do you wear to sleep?
Whatever I wore that day.

34. Anything big ever happen in your town?
I was born.

35. Is your hair straight or curly?
straight until it gets to a certain length, then it gets kind of wavy and strange.

36. Do you dye your hair?
I dye it black. It looks jet goth fake black at first, but after a shower or two (which, for me, means in about a week or two - I am disgusting), it starts to look like a very natural black and I feel a bit like a fraud.

37. Do you like Liver and Onions?
I'm not sure I've ever had it.

38. Have you ever been in love?
I think you might actually have to like people first in order for that to happen.

39. Do you like funny or serious people better?
I suppose I'll take an always serious person over some one who is constantly cracking jokes - so long as they're not too much of a tool anyway, but really, both suck. There are times to be funny and times to be serious and times to shut up altogether.

40. Ever been to L.A.?
When I was a kid, I think. I've really got no desire to go back.

41.What is on your mind right now?
Lisa needs braces. Dental plan. Lisa needs braces. Dental plan.

42. What's your favorite song at the moment?
Blonde Redhead - S.W. is what I've been listening to the most lately.

43. Do you hate chocolate?
I don't hate it, but I don't exactly go around wearing those terrible "Just give me the chocolate and no one gets hurt" shirts either.

44. What do you and your parents fight about the most?
I don't really fight with them, but I wasn't too happy when they kept scheduling repairmen to stop by the house on my days off instead of their own days off.

45. Are you a gullible person?
I'm not you-could-sell-me-the-Brooklyn-Bridge gullible. But I am gullible to the point I'd look up gullible in the dictionary to see if it's there. It's not, by the way. I checked.

47. If you could have any job what would it be?
A movie critic who only had to see movies I wanted to see anyway and who didn't actually have to write anything.

48. Are you easy to get along with?
At work and other places where I have to get along with people or life just gets more difficult for everyone involved - but mostly for me, I am a fucking dream. This is because I learned the hard way that I have to get along with everyone or life just gets more difficult for everyone involved - but mostly for me.

Outside of work and the like, I don't want anything to do with almost anyone.

49. What is your favorite time of day?
Probably around 10pm - 12 am.

50. Are you a generally happy person?
I am a generally rageful person.

2007-05-20T23:06:00.000-07:00

This one sold before I had a chance to post about it here, but whatever, I'm going to post it on here anyway because I have nothing else to show off and I can't take it:

Also, if I deleted you as a friend on myspace, it was (possibly) an accident. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to clean house and get rid of all the people I approved for some reason despite never having spoken to them online or off. Then after clicking on what I thought was just two or three people and unheard of bands , I was down about 30 or 40 friends. I either hit the "select all" button on accident or MySpace fucking blows. It's really a coin toss.

This better not cause one ounce of drama in my life. And I swear to god if it does, I will delete every last person and just be friends with myself and Tom. Suck on that.

And now for a survey:

1.You have $5 and need to buy snacks at a gas station. What do you buy?
$5 worth of Mounds. I used to hate them as a kid, but I can eat them all day now. So based on this, I've theorized that it's a candy bar for grown ups.

2. If you were reincarnated as a sea creature, what would you want to be?
Cymothoa exigua. I'd let you look it up on Wiki yourself, but I'm in a Cliff Clavin kind of mood. It's a parasite that drains all the blood out of a fish's tongue until the tongue atrophies and disappears. That's pretty awesome in itself. But to make it cooler, the parasite actually replaces the tongue. The fish can continue to use the parasite as a tongue without any harm coming to it, but it now has to share the food with the parasite. It's like a marine version of a pain in the ass roommate.

3. Who's your favorite redhead?
I couldn't think of anyone so I went to a "Famous Redheads" website. I managed to get through the Ds without finding anyone I give a fuck about. I'll just go with the girl on Newsradio since I can't think of anyone.

4. What do you order when you're at IHOP?
A potato product of some sort. Perhaps a chicken product of some sort as well, if I have gotten a paycheck recently.

6. Describe your favorite pair of underwear.
I've got some Magilla Gorilla boxers.

7. Describe the last time you were injured:
I had to get 3 stitches when I cut myself opening up a can of cat food. I really wish I had a more interesting story than that. I'm going to drive recklessly tomorrow.

8. Of all your friends, who would you want to be stuck in a well with?
Sting. I don't own any of his albums, but he's a good digger.

10. What is the wallpaper of your mobile phone?
Whatever the default is.

11. Fizzy drink?
Coke. Glass bottle > Can > Plastic Bottle

12. What type of top/teeshirt are you wearing?
I put on my Psych Ward Sirens shirt when I got home from Roller Derby.

13. If you could only use one form of transportation for the rest of your life what would it be?
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

14. Most recent movie you've watched at the cinema?
Probably Spiderman 3. I have been too busy with poker and video game

15. Name actors/actresses you've had the hots for?
I never dig actors. I'm too aware that they're just playing parts and that I have no idea what they're really like and that they're probably tools in real life. I'm so deep.

16. What's your favorite kind of cake?
White cake with sugar icing I guess. I've kind of gone off cake in the past few years. When I moved out and got my own apartment, I realized I could buy cake whenever I wanted so I'd buy one pretty much every time I went grocery shopping and just eat it myself. But the gorging has taken its toll - I now no longer associate cake with special occasions and therefore don't think of it as much of a treat. I instead associate it with a nauseous, bloated feeling.

17. What did you have for dinner last night?
What was yesterday? Saturday? I think I had McDonald's.

18. Look to your left, what do you see?
A Charles Addams calender and this big thing of drawers I use (sort of) to sort those beads I use for my fan art crap.

19. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
Only if I have to.

20. Favorite toy as a child?
Construx

21. Do you buy your own food?
Not usually. I live with my parents now so they do most of that, even though I have my own kitchen and fridge. Whenever I do demonstrate a hint of independence and go grocery shopping myself, my food goes rotten because I either eat out or eat whatever my parents bought instead.

By the way, did you know when potatoes rot, it's really fucking terrible?

22. Do you think people talk about you behind your back?
I swing between the opinions that I'm not interesting enough to talk about ever and that everyone has it out for me and I will have my revenge one of these days, when I get 'round to it.

23. When's the last time you had a sour gummy worm?
Never. I don't touch sour shit.

24. What's your favorite fruit?
Apples

25. Do you have a picture of yourself doing a cartwheel?
No. I've only one pose, and that's deer-in-headlight.

26. Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?
I am single for life. Till death do me and just me part.

27. Have you ever eaten snow?
I've opened my mouth while it was snowing, so I guess that counts.

28. What color are your bedsheets?
Black

29. What's your mom's favorite flower?
How the fuck would I know?

30. Have you ever done ballet?
Of course not, but I went to the ballet once (not counting all the times I've seen the Nutcracker) to give it a shot. I wasn't really feeling it. But after going, they wouldn't stop calling me trying to get me to come back like some date from hell.

31. Do you listen to classical music?
Yes

32. Do you have a "wacky noodle"?
I don't understand the question and I will not respond to it.

33. Do you watch Spongebob?
I do!

34. Last food you ate?
I had chicken strips and fries at the Roller Derby.

35. Do people consider you intelligent?
I consider myself smartest person in the universe, ever.

36. What time is it??
'bout that time

37. Is your away messager on?
No, I never use messengers anymore precisely because I'm always away.

38. Have you ever tried gluing your fingers together?
No. I'm not retarded.

39. What curse word do you use the most?
I prefer the kinder, gentler curse words like "hell" and "damn"

41. What time is your alarm clock set for?
one's set for 6:30, another is set for 7:00, and my cell phone is set for 7:00, 7:05, 7:10, 7:15, 7:20, 7:25, 7:30, 7:35, 7:40, 11:00, 11:05, 11:10. Also my DS is set for 6 am, but I never really use it as an alarm anymore.

42. What CD is currently in your CD player?
I always just play these terrible mixes I make myself. And they're terrible because I don't try to make a mix, but I just glance through my mp3s and pile on stuff that looks interesting at the moment before I go on a drive. I wind up having stuff from the Labyrinth soundtrack next to Joy Division next to the Dickies next to Kelly Clarkson.

43. What movie do you know every line to?
Girl on the Bridge

44. What is your favorite salad dressing?
I don't eat salads. I eat fried foods mostly.

45. Would you ever date someone covered in tattoos?
I wouldn't date anyone, ever.

46. How old will you be turning on ur next birthday?
26.

47. Do you enjoy giving hugs?
Don't touch me.

48. Last time you had butterflies in your stomach?
My panic attacks are usually random. I can lose my job or get yelled at or have to give a speech or whatever and not feel a thing. But I can run an errand like going to the post office or grocery shopping and be all "oh god. I don't know if I should be doing this."

49. What's the way people most often mispronounce any part of your name?
"J" is pretty easy to get right

50. If you were to become famous, would you drop your last name?
I'd probably just change it. I'd either be a tool and get some kind of punk rock name (I've never come up with something that goes well with J. - and I have thought about it, because I'm a tool) or I'd be an even bigger tool and name myself after dead royalty or a god or something.

2007-05-17T12:35:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like my internet is back up for the time being. Fingers crossed, knock on wood, rub a buddha belly or whatever you're supposed to do.

Now for sale on etsy:

2007-05-10T11:50:00.000-07:00

First things first, check out what was on my porch last night:

I'm not sure where this thing came from, but I'm guessing Brazil. I'm also pretty sure its name is Shelob.

And I realize there's no frame of reference in this shot, but I wasn't about to risk my arm getting eaten just to stick a quarter, or a Mack truck, next to it. Suffice it to say, it was big. There are astronauts looking down on us from the moon and wondering "What's that big black spot?"

Also, a side note: Can you believe I've had a couple of hundred dollars worth of photography lessons?

And now business as usual - now for sale on etsy:

2007-05-10T01:18:00.000-07:00

1. While driving down the road, and looking for an address, do you turn the radio down?
Yeah. I also inadvertently run red lights and stop signs because I'm too busy looking for the street name or the address number. I once ran a red light downtown and then immediately ran another one while looking in my rear view and wondering "Did I just run a red light?"

2. What TV family would you move in with?
Maybe Full House? I really like their house.Blogger is a free blog publishing tool from Google for easily sharing your thoughts with the world. Blogger makes it simple to post text, photos and video onto your personal or team blog. I'd have to gas them all while they slept, of course, but damn, I'd love a house like that.

Does the Cheers ensemble count as a family?

3. What is your favorite piece of clothing in your closet?
Day glo stilletos

4. If you could quit your job right now, and be anything you wanted, what would it be?
I'd be a drifter.

5. What do you think of when you look at the stars?
Revenge

6. When you add someone into your cell phone, do you use their real name or their nickname?
I just assign them a random series of 10 numbers. It makes incoming calls confusing, but I've just gotta be true to myself.

7. If you use their real name, do you add their last name?
I even put their middle name.

8. How much information do you ask for before you sleep with someone?
Two copies of their bank statement and I'm good to go.

9. How long do you date someone before you sleep with them?
Date?

10. If you could say ONE THING to the president, what would it be?
My cousin used to put his hand on my head and massage my scalp and explain "This is a brain sucker, do you know what it's doing?" to which I'd answer "Sucking my brain?" to which he'd retort "No. Nothing" to imply I had no brain to suck.

11. If you could meet ANY president, dead or not, who would it be?
Millard Fillmore. I'd beat him up for admitting New Mexico as a state.

12.. If you could get rid of the holiday season, would you?
I might change them around a little, but I wouldn't get rid of them entirely. I think I'd make Halloween a week long and require kids to dress up as something scary. No Power Rangers or anything lame like that, kids.

13. If you could go to any state, which one would you go to?
Massachusetts

14. Would you ever get a personalized license plate?
No, it would just make it easier for eye witnesses to remember.

15. If yes, what would it say?
DONTFUCKWITHMEWITNESSES

16. If you could go back to college, what would you major in?
Film studies or animation

17. Before you go to sleep at night, what do you think of?
Revenge

18. What is your favorite kind of weather?
Gray and foggy. Cold enough that you ought to wear a jacket but warm enough that you won't go apeshit if you don't. Raining slightly - not enough for there to be puddles that will soak through your shoes so you're sitting around at school or work with wrinkled wet toes, absolutely miserable and homicidal. I also like the weather right before a giant storm.

19. Do you find it a bit unnerving doctors call what they do practice?
No.

20. If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?
No.

21. If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation?
No.

2007-05-06T14:57:00.000-07:00

Now for sale on etsy:

These are the original Dragon Warrior slimes in fridge magnet form. For those who don't remember or just never played the game (blasphemy, by the way), you usually encounter the blue slime first. He's the easiest of the easy. He's also pretty much the mascot for the entire Dragon Warrior/Quest series. You'd think the mascot would be a dragon. But it's not. It's a slime.

Then you encounter the red slime right after the blue slime, and he's only slightly harder than the blue slime. Much later on in the game you will eventually encounter a metal slime, and he is near impossible to kill because he is near impossible to hit.

The Dragon Quest series isn't terribly big here, but they are fanatics about it in Japan (go figure). I read somewhere that they're not allowed to release new DQ games during the week in Japan because too many people call in sick to work or skip school to go buy the game.

This is the Sea Slug from Dragon Warrior 2. It's also a magnet. I don't know whether or not he'll sell. He's a minor (forgotten) enemy from a minor (forgotten) game in a series that never made it big in America. But still....it's a slug sitting in its own drool. If no one else wants it, I wouldn't mind having it on my fridge.

These are Excite Bike coasters. It was a bike racing game, but the tracks had all kinds of obstacles from ramps to oil slicks and such. If memory serves, no one played the actual game very much, but instead focused on making their own ridiculously hard tracks.

2007-05-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

Now for sale in my etsy shop:

2007-05-01T23:32:00.000-07:00

1. What is your favorite street sign and why?
Well, I can tell you that I hate "Megan Street", because I have to listen to my little sister say (either in person or in my head) "You know, one day I'm going to steal that sign" every time I pass it. I don't know why, because her name is Dorothy.

No, I'm kidding. Her name is Megan.

2. Who is one person you go out of your way to avoid?
The cast of Everybody Loves Raymond

3. Quick- tell me three things about your number one friend!
He is the coolest guy in the world
He is married to or living with or something the coolest girl in the world
I have never met nor seen either one of them

4. What celebrity would you most like to join on a train ride through eastern Europe?
Scott Walker

5. Referring to the celebrity you selected in question 4, what would you get them as a souvenir of your trip together?
A slab of Eastern bloc bacon

6. Think of all the education that you received. What class (not just a subject- a specific class) did you hate the most and why?
Probably this Shakespeare class at Macalester. The professor was 200 years old and super conservative academically speaking. There was an urban legend about him being a chemistry professor once, then being invovled in some classrom explosion. And while he recuperated in the hospital, he started reading Shakespeare and became a fanatic. The point of the urban legend was to explain the way he graded our papers, which was with the surgical precision of a scientist. I've always been considered by my professors to be a decent paper writer (let's face it: some people have a way with words and others....uhh, errr....not have a way? - Steve Martin), but he always tore the shit out of mine.

One of my other professors saw me looking over one of my papers, which was so marked up in red that you couldn't even read the original black ink, and expressed sympathy that I had to take a class "with that asshole", who according to her, was always just an asshole and never a chemist.

That said, I grew to like him by the end of the semester (as did the only other 4 - down from about 30 - remaining students in the class). That said, he's probably dead now.

7. Recommend a TV show I should see. If you're one of those self-important hipsters whose knee jerk response is "I don't watch TV," then tell me where you get off thinking the sun rises and sets out of your ass.
Veronica Mars is my currently airing pet and I've started what I think is a fairly successful crusade to get other people to watch it (I'm pretty sure I'm the only reason it wasn't cancelled after season 2), but it has been spotty this season so I might have to be on the lookout for a new flavor of the month.

As for shows long gone, Twin Peaks.

Or you could give up on tv for now and play Dragon Quest 8, now available for the PS2 at a reasonable price. Very reasonable considering the 100+ hours of gameplay.

8. If you had to spend $100 on the person who posted this bulletin before you, what would you buy for them?
A robot toy for Owen

9. What is your biggest complaint about MySpace?
That a multi-billion dollar site never actually works properly. It has more errors than I had on all those Shakespeare papers put together.

10. What time is it right now?
1:56 in the a.m., Wednesday, May 02, 2007 A.D.

11. Write a three sentence story about a Ford Taurus.
How about a limerick instead?
There once was a blue Ford Taurus
Owned by a slut named Dolores
She ran into a pole
Death took its toll
They could only find her head

12. Grade the story you just wrote (be objective!)
The Shakespeare professor would have given it a D because of my lousy meter and tasteless rhyming scheme.

13. What is one thing that you should have done that you have yet to do?
I should have had my tonsils removed in elementary school. I am a procrastinator.

14. Tell me something I probably don't know.
What I don't know could fill a dictionary

15. What is your favorite t-shirt?
The razorblade one I got at a Buzzcocks show. It is all faded and cracked now, sadly.

16. Describe something you might do to get attention in a large crowd.
I keep to the shadows.

17. How are you doing with your New Year's Resolutions?
Resolutions?

18. Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Caddyshack?
Fast Times

19. Tell me about a silly purchase you've made in the last year.
I bought a sword at the Renaissance Festival, even though I was all "What's there to buy at the Renaissance Festival? A sword? What the fuck do I need a sword for?" before going. I didn't even really buy a sword. I bought a sword in a box that I was not allowed to open (and therefore see the sword I had bought) until I was off the fairgrounds - and that's what killed me. I had to know what was in that box. I paid $20 to find out what kind of sword was in a box. I am the biggest sucker for the easter egg surprise ever.

But it is a pretty cool sword. It just sits around my room in its sheath totally useless, but looking kind of cool.

20. What do you have on your refrigerator door?
Some bad drawings that I did myself.

21. If you had to give up baseball or beer, which would you give up?
I could give up both in a heartbeat and never look back.

22. Do you believe our cell phones are wiping out the bee population? And how easy would it be for you to give yours up?
I haven't heard this story. I'd be open to giving mine up, but not to save the bees.

23. Scientists discovered a new mineral, which has the same properties as Kryptonite. If you were given this mineral, and it would foil your arch nemesis, HOW would you make sure they got it, and WHAT would you do, once they were out of your way?
I'm not a doctor or anything, but if something has the same exact properties as Kryptonite, wouldn't it actually be Kryptonite? I mean I'm pretty sure if a = b, then b = a. That said, I'd probably A) throw it at them B) cackle.

24. If you were told that you had to go back in your life and change one thing...and no copping out with the "I wouldn't change a thing" answer....what would it be?
I wouldn't have eaten that M+M.

25. Answer quickly: chicken or egg?
chicken

26. (In memoriam of my Subway days....)
White or Wheat? White
Footlong or 6"? Footlong. When I worked at MRC, I used to get the largest size at Quizno's at lunchtime, challenge myself to eat it all by the end of the day, and then email everyone in the office (well, my friends in the office anyway, of which there were 3) announcing when I had finished it off.
American or Provolone? Swiss
Oil or Vinegar? Lather it up with oil
Salt or Pepper? Salt
Here or to Go? to go

27. What is your favorite professional sport and why?
Jai-Alai. I don't see any need to explain.

28. So, over all, how retarded was the original writer of this survey? Do you think they were born that way or is it self inflicted?
We're none of us perfect.

29. What’s your favorite quote (And I’m talking like a *real* quote, not your own personal motto. Meaning, cite who said it—it’s not hard to Google quotes, so Google away if you need to.)
There was a little Spanish Flea. A record star he thought he'd be. He'd heard of singers like Beatles and The Chipmunks he'd seen on TV. Why not a little Spanish flea? - Homer Simpson

30. would you rather watch Growing Pains or Full House?
Full House by a longshot.

31.If you could have anything to eat right now ( regardless of calories, availability, allergies etc. )what would it be?
The heart of an unborn child. Or doritoes.

32. If your life were made into a movie and you could pick ANY actor/actress in the world to play YOU, who would you pick and why?
Gisele Budchen. Because why not?

33. What is the silliest thing you have set to record on your TIVO?
I don't have TIVO, but I'd record the kids version of Trading Spaces. I used to have my tv set to search for any and all episodes of Top Cat and alert me as to when they'd be on.

2007-04-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

I have been sick and have been feeling too sorry for myself to get much of anything done. My store hasn't sold anything in a while which I'm actually kind of glad about for now because I can't be bothered to make trips back and forth from the post office in my current emo state.

But I do have some stuff in the works as well as some ideas, and once I conquer this uber cold or flu or whatever it is, I will take the video game fanart world by storm. Or something.

In the meantime, to make it feel like I've gotten stuff done when I haven't actually accomplished a goddamn thing, I'm going to post pictures of things I finished ages ago but for some reason (embarrassment) never posted here or on my myspace, complete with explanations:

This is my dishwasher. Taped to it is a perler bead rendering of the hellvine from one of the Dragon Quest games. To date, this is one of the biggest pain in the ass pieces I have ever finished. The megaman might give it a run for its money though, should I ever acquire enough blue beads to finish it.

This is Oddler, aka Odd Eye, after he goes apeshit in Shining Force 2. For the time being, you'll have to take my word for it that this thing looks a lot (well, a little) better from far away. Perler Beads only come in so many colors, and sometimes its hard to get all the variable colors in, say, a fleshtone, to blend smoothly.

Maybe one day I'll get around to taking a picture of this thing from the far corner of the room. Or maybe I won't. Also, I just noticed I hung this up backwards.

This is Peter from Shining Force 2. This is after he morphs into the phoenix from a big nerd. I wish I had come across his 'before' picture before I made his 'after' picture into a cabinet decoration, because I'd really have Peter the Nerd hanging in my kitchen. But the 14 year old's website I found at the time only had his promotion picture.

And this would be King Galam after he goes apeshit (or does he start off apeshit and you return him to sanity? it's been too long since I've played) from Shining Force 2. I even made the frame for this one, and I think it looks nice but I decided it was a waste of time and beads for Peter and Oddler. Also, it's very boring to do.

I thought I gave this to my little sister, by the way. In other words, I thought it was hanging in an apartment populated by a stinky dog in Austin. But I happened to come across it recently lying around the guest bedroom in my parents house in Houston. Some one's got some 'splaining to do.

And just to show that I do have range beyond video game fanart but not beyond geek fanart, here is a comics fanart thing that I did. This is using a process called rasterbation (notice how I will classily not make any puns).

It's basically a DIY way to make a dorm room poster - it allows you to take a small image (and you can use any image you want) and turn it into a tiled poster you can print off your own printer. If you want to make one yourself (it's free, excluding the printer ink and the paper) or just see what the fuck I'm talking about, go to The Rasterbator.

I didn't want all that ink and paper to go to waste so I tried to make it a bit more permanent (that is, I can take it with me whenever I finally move out of my parents' house) by decoupaging it to foam board and then wrapping electrical tape around the edges. I don't recommend using foam board because it's hard to cut and it comes out all jagged (hence the electrical tape border). Whenever I come up with a better method, I'd like to do a series of vintage magician posters, but that'll have to be for another time and another garage apartment (my walls are out of room here).

* Also I apologize for the crazy spacing or lack thereof (and I mean that: it is either giving me no spaces or crazy wide open ones) in this post. I'm pretty sure it's blogger that's retarded and not me. Maybe it's me. I had it laid out quite elegantly in my little editing box, only the actual thing never looks like the preview or the editing box. After an hour of messing with the format and the HTML to very little avail, I am just going to let you deal with it.

2007-04-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

Fucking finally:

So the final counts:

Number of times I bled for Godzilla: 8 times

Number of fingernails I ground down to nothing by accidentally slipping my finger into the grinder: 3

Number of burns from touching hot lead: 2

Number of tumors developed from breathing in lead without adequate ventilation: Only time will tell!

Lessons learned: I really need to work on my soldering. I really should learn how to make letters properly instead of winging it. I really need to check myself before I wreck myself.

2007-04-19T00:19:00.000-07:00

The godzilla saga continues: I ran out of copper foil and cancer causing lead so he's been put on hold for a few days.

2007-04-18T23:44:00.000-07:00

Now for sale in my etsy shop:

2007-04-15T02:00:00.000-07:00

1. Ever kissed a blonde haired, blue eyed person?
No. And what's with this question, nazi?

2. Can you see a phone right now?
I can see my cell phone, sure.

3. What are you listening to?
Gnac. Is that suitably obscure enough?

4. Where is it coming from?
Speakers

5. Last thing you ate?
I just shoved a chocolate chip cookie into my mouth. I don't even really like chocolate chip cookies.

6. What was the last thing you saw on TV?
I rewatched a few early Veronica Mars episodes last night while working on the Moogle. It was back when Logan was just a psychotic jackass.

7. Who was the last person other than family you saw?
I passed a jogger (yes, people jog at 3 in the morning where I live) on my way home from Denny's.

8. Song stuck in your head?
Well, I'm listening to Gnac, but I'm thinking about Sweet Child O Mine.

9. Last movie you went to?
Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I forget the actual name of the actual movie. It has colon in it.

10. Do you have a tan right now?
I am a bit darker than usual, but I'm still paler than the average person's ass.

11. Do you dance while getting ready for... whatever?
The can can

12. What are you wearing?
A thong

Not really.

13. What is the most people you've been in front of?
I've had to make "The projector is broken. You will not be seeing this movie tonight" type announcements before. So maybe a couple of hundred?

14. Have you ever watched the show RockStar?
Lukas Rossi 4eva

15. Have you ever taken a bath/shower while you were drunk or high?
Sounds like something I would do.

16. Do you like techno?
Only in two minute increments. It's like pixie stix in the form of music. And, I mean, I like pixie stix, but I wouldn't want to eat an entire meal's worth of them.

17. Have you ever been to a night club?
Sounds like something I would do.

18. What is one country you want to go to?
Singapore. They rate their bathrooms there like we rate our restaurants.

19. Have you ever made out on a plane?
Sounds like something I would not do.

20. Have you ever jumped up on a stage that a band was playing on?
No, and in most cases, it kind of pisses me off when people do.

21. Do you have leadership skills?
Well, I'm no Jack. But I'm possibly a Ben or a Sawyer.

22. Are you musically inclined?
Not really. When I'm learning an instrument, I progress really fast early on, but I plateau extremely quickly. Like it'll be amazing that I'm ALREADY playing Michael Row the Boat Ashore, but it will soon dawn on you that I'm never going to get past the Michael Row the Boat Ashore level.

23. Have you ever sat on a roof and looked at stars?
Yes, but not in a dreamy, "I'm just a speck of dust" emo way. It was in a highly scientific way.

24. Ever done that while talking on the phone to a boyfriend/girlfriend?
Fuck that.

25. Does the song "Stairway To Heaven" make you sad?
No. Why would it?

26. Do you have alcohol in your room?
Sounds like something I would have.

THE THREES:

1. Name 3 schools you went to:
North Harris, Macalester, U Houston

And that's just the colleges. And that's not even all of the colleges.

2. Name 3 things in your purse/wallet:
movie ticket stub, finished sudoku puzzle (5 star difficulty, put that in your pipe and smoke it), Itzik the clown magician business card

3. Name 3 things you do when you're really stressed.
nothing to calm me down, I like to feed the ball of rage that wells up inside of me.

4. Name 3 places you go on a daily basis:
downstairs, bathroom, maybe the front yard if I'm feeling adventurous

5. Name 3 favorite fruits:
I really only like apples. I sometimes eat bananas.

6. Name 3 of your favorite foods:
baked potato, french fries, baked potato soup

THE WHERES:

1. Where do you live?
a suburb of Houston

2. Where is your phone?
right in front of me

3. Where is/are your parent(s) right now?
asleep

4. Where is the last place you took a ride to?
Denny's?

THE WHATS:

1. What did you just eat?
Well not Denny's food. I mean, I'm already sick.

2. What color bra/boxers are you wearing?
Black

3. What is the closest item near you that is blue?
Blue yarn for a slime plushie I'm trying to make

4. What is your favorite color?
Black

5. What is your favorite website?
I suppose I read television without pity more than any other, but again, I like to feed that ball of rage in my stomach.

6. What kind of surgery have you had?
I've had a colonoscopy. I wish I were kidding.

7. What do you wear more jeans or shorts?
Shorts, obviously. *

THE WHENS:

1. When did you start school?
Mid 80s

2. When is your birthday?
September 1st, but I am, in fact, a scorpio.

3. When did you last go to the mall?
Probably more recently than I care to admit. I am very uncreative when it comes to shopping.

4. When was the last time you bought a pair of pants?
Probably longer ago than I care to admit. I've been wearing the same pair for 3 days now.

5. When did you last ponder your existence?
When I noticed earlier today that we were out of Doritoes.

6. When were you last at school?
Not so recently

7. When did you last see your dad?
Recently

* I forget that now that I do these embarrassing surveys outside of my private myspace page, people who don't know me might actually read them. I know what you're thinking: "yeah, right. you wish". And you're probably (definitely) right. But just in case: that "obviously" was meant to be snotty. I don't think I've voluntarily worn a pair of shorts since I was 7 years old.

2007-04-15T01:26:00.000-07:00

Well, that 1-up mushroom sold within hours of me putting it up so I thought I'd follow up on its popularity by making a needlework moogle, which is a cat or a bat or something from the Final Fantasy games. And if you're wondering why I don't have a picture of my progress on the needlework moogle, it's because I apparently left it at a Denny's. That or it got buried underneath the crap in my car. Either way, it's never going to be seen again.

I'd start another one, but I don't have the stomach to make the exact same thing over and over again so it's going to be a few weeks at the very least before another moogle is born.

The godzilla stained glass is coming along at a slug's pace:

I decided instead of making each little tooth and black space between the tooth individually, I'd instead just make one big white line of teeth and use lead to draw the lines between them. Of course, I decided that after spending a few hours grinding down a dozen teeth.

And you can't tell by the above picture, but the lettering at the top is red glass, not black, and it can be very hard to distinguish between tiny red glass shards and blood sometimes. That said, the following count may not be accurate:

Number of times I have bled for Godzilla: 5 and counting

2007-04-12T23:28:00.000-07:00

Now for sale in my shop:

It's the 1 Up Mushroom (my mom didn't know). This thing took me forever. I figure some one could probably use it as a gift. Maybe a get well soon gift, since these things give you a second shot at life. You probably shouldn't give it to some one terminal though. That's just poor taste.

2007-04-09T21:01:00.000-07:00

Works in progress:

Megaman Pixel Art - I need to order a lot of blue. And in case you can't tell (I forgot to put in the standard quarter for comparison purposes), this is a large project. He's already nearly a foot and a half long and I've yet to get past his crotch.

He is very likely to be ruined during the ironing process.

Godzilla stained glass - this is more of an experiment than anything. It's my second stained glass project (Selma the Fish being my first), and my first attempt at my own design.

Number of times I have bled for Godzilla: 2 and counting

2007-04-09T20:52:00.000-07:00

So I'm now selling those silly beaded video game characters on etsy.com. And in case you want to buy or just browse any of those silly beaded video game characters, my shop's url is onechordwonder.etsy.com

I'm going to use this blog to update what's going up for sale in my shop, show whatever I'm working on now (which may or may not be for sale when finished), and do dumbass surveys usually reserved for 12 year olds.