Take the Challenge

This one's for you, lizalou. Yeah, your quiz was challenging enough for neowolf and I (I retook it with her tonight to try and improve our score), so we decided to create a challenge of our own. So, get prepared to face the fury of...a crazy-ass quiz we just made up.


Create your own Friend Test here

Don't think you will actually know any of the answers just because you know us. This is a true test of logic and a mind-bending cloister of trials. Are you ready? Then get going!

“I Love Technology...

...but not as much as you, you see, but still I love technology, always and forever...”

I'm finally getting settled into my apartment. I have all the amenities like a microwave that pops popcorn, blazing fast internet, and a shower head that's high enough that it doesn't force me to do squats in order to wash my hair. I even have curtains up in my office now. Yay! It's like I really live here now.

This afternoon my parents came over for a little while and I fixed them dinner (a rather complicated meal for someone who hasn't done a lot of cooking in her life beyond box meals and simple recipes) and it turned out well, even though I couldn't find my measuring spoons anywhere. (I still can't figure out where they went...) It was an accomplishment and made me feel really good (and I'm excited for leftovers for lunch tomorrow).

My parents also brought over my mom's old computer. She recently upgraded to one that wasn't so crappy, but I have fond memories of this old, glitch-prone PC. It was my computer originally and it got me through my first several rough semesters of college, even though I eventually had to buy a Mac so my teachers would actually help me on my projects. Still, this antique running Windows 98 still plays a mad DVD (once I figured out a way around its inability to see a DVD in the correct drive on its own). The ol' compy completes my media center in the living room, allowing me to play DVDs with higher quality than my PS2 (which has issues with subtitles and sound to video syncing). It also allows me to play music through my higher quality surround sound speakers that got relocated from my Mac since I wanted to use them for the TV and all my games and movies.

But most importantly, the old computer plays my old video games--games my laptop refuses to play because they're just too old. Ah, Unreal... The cheesy gore and polygonish graphics. The kick-ass techno music and freakish alien grunts. I have missed you. Truly.

Between these newly rediscovered old favorites and the other revitalized virtual console games on my Wii, I'm resurrecting all kinds of fond memories from my past. Kirby's Dreamland... (I think you bought this for me on the Nintendo, didn't you, Brandi?) So much fun! I can't wait until Super Mario Bros. 3 comes out. It will so be mine all over again. Oh yes, it will.

I am such a techno-geek.

Robotech Lives

I experienced an incredibly geeky moment this evening with neowolf when we finally watched Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. We've been anticipating it for months, but I wasn't about to let myself get my hopes up too much. I have been disappointed too many times by crappy sequels to beloved shows.

To my great surprise, Robotech: SC exceeded my expectations. They actually listened to what fans wanted and hired people to work on it who were talented but were also fans themselves. They did everything right, including hiring the orginal voice actors to play roles from the original series. And all of this for something that started out as little more than a rip off version of a Japanese anime. Despite all the ways in which anime has been dumbed down and demeaned in this country by its new breed of fans who only enjoy mangled, cheesey dubs and watered down characters, I have pride in the fact that there are still fans who give a damn about the consistency of what they're watching. Robotech is cheesey and dorky, but it started out that way and that's part of what makes it awesome. At least it doesn't pretend to be something it's not. And yet, despite its faults, it has a certain undeniable charm, and always manages to tell an epic story that keeps me hooked to the end.

But when you come down to it, what makes Robotech truly great is the characters. That's why I was so relieved to find all the familiar voice actors popping up througout the movie. They're the ones who really brought those characters to life in the first place, and they were excited to be a part of them again. The only one missing was Cam Clarke (Max or Lancer/YellowDancer), but everyone else played at least one role. And to Mark Hamil--who even admitted that he was actually playing only a guest role in the already complete cast--I can only say that I have your OPF right here, jackass. It really ticks me off when arrogant actors belittle their fans. On the other hand, kudos to Dan Woren who said he wanted to be there when they make a sequel in another twenty years--and actually pleaded that the writers not kill his character this time around. (Poor Roy Fokker...)

Congratulations, Harmony Gold. You've sold your product to me all over again. Even with bad singing and an even worse song. We have won, I think.

Look Up, the Sky is Falling

Around 2:00 today, our lights in the office flickered and the power surged. Since power outages and failing machinery are not an uncommon occurance in our ancient building, we initially wrote it off as another reason to whine to our landlord. But then we saw the thick, towering plume of black smoke billowing up from a spot in the distance toward the northeast--directly in my line of sight from my workstation. Of course, I spend most of my time watching my computer monitor, so I hadn't noticed the smoke before then.

We watched, mesmerized as flames leapt up through the smoke, high above the buildings in the foreground obscuring our view. The column of smoke rose thousands of feet into the sky before it fanned out, covering downtown in an eerie umbrella, and the flames continued to grow in intensity.

We quickly began searching for news about the fire and finally found out that there had been an explosion at a chemical plant two miles away from us. The chemicals burned like gasoline, fueling the fire to such an extent that the firefighters could only try to keep the fire contained because they had no hope of putting it out. They immediately called in Hazmat teams because of the threat of dangerous chemicals, and area schools, businesses and homes were evacuated. They closed several of the bridges, and we watched through our window as traffic on I-70 became more and more congested.

Then we noticed sporatic chunks of ash falling from the sky and blowing through the streets. I even collected a couple from our parking lot on the way out (wearing gloves, of course). It was very light and spongey and crumbled easily in my fingers. Hope it isn't radioactive.

Luckily, no one was injured in the fire--which is truly amazing considering the impact it has had on the community already. Not to be paranoid or anything, but it does make you realize how many dangers we have around us all the time, how many potential disasters we survive every day--like driving home from work. We tell ourselves we're safe because we couldn't possibly deal with the fact that we are really fragile creatures.

Internet Enabled

I'm back on the internet, baby. Just thought I'd give a shout out to anyone who's listening before I curl back up and try to let my body fight the virus wreaking havoc in my bloodstream.

One Room at a Time

Well, I'm moved in! Mostly. Everything is moved, but not necessarily all unpacked. I would have made a post earlier in the weekend, but I don't get internet until tomorrow. So, here's the sumup of what happened and how:

To my surprise, my parents had already made quite a lot of progress on getting stuff moved before I even got off work. They had already taken one load of stuff over and were packing up the second when I called them. I met them at my apartment and we unpacked my bed and a crapload of boxes. Then, back to the house for the dressers and couch. And a crapload of boxes. Did I mention I have a lot of stuff? Well, I was pretty much set up already since I had lived in an apartment in college and all...

Anyway, we got the majority of the big stuff moved on Thursday and I spent the night at my new place. M came over and helped my put together the TV stand (which I managed to almost destroy the next morning when I put the back on backwards...shouldn't work on such things when you're tired. Thank you, dad, for saving the day!). I slept well but woke up early. I was excited to get to work. Mom and I got to work on cleaning out the incredibly nasty cabinets in the kitchen, bathroom and closets. The shelf paper was ancient and had not been put down properly so it was curled up on the edges. I don't even want to think about what kind of grime and bacteria was running rampant through those shelves. Blech. But, we got it cleaned and heavily Lysoled and put down fresh, pretty shelf paper to cover up whatever else might have been left. Neowolf came by to help clean and organize and wash and all that good stuff--even though she was pretty sick. Poor girl. My mom also got sick during the move and ended up with a sinus infection.

Neowolf and I got a lot accomplished on Friday (even got my TV and game systems all set up), and dad built the other shelves I'd purchased for me since I couldn't be trusted. Saturday he brought my desk in pieces and we put it all together again (though I didn't get my computer set up until last night). Slowly, the place started to come together, and I even had Shivaindis and BBD over on Saturday night to enjoy my new TV with some Babylon 5 action.

Sunday was a shopping day. I went back to the house for the first time since Thursday and it was kind of strange. I packed up some other stuff and then mom and I went out grocery shopping so I could get my pantry stocked. Then, we went back to the house and dad went back to the apartment with me to help carry stuff in and we went over to Microcenter to pick up a few things. It was a lot of shopping, but I found some really good deals on things I needed.

All in all, everything went very smoothly. I'm tired, but satisfied, and I LOVE my new place. I can't wait to get it fixed up like I want to and get the last box put away. I'm definitely getting closer...one room at a time...

Official

I have the keys to my new apartment on my keyring, but as of this moment it is echoingly empty. And it's supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow morning--again. But that's not enough to stop me. I've got everything packed and ready to go, so I'm going to get started anyway, despite the weather.

Is it five o'clock yet? I'm getting antsy.