[18 May 2008|12:50am] imeric12 okay, so I guess if I don't update my lj every 23 seconds I get yelled at by someone who forgot to take THEIR midol. so anyway =D I've mostly spent this week hanging out with Megan, as well as Donny, Matt, Auston, Chad, Calan, Chris, Dustin, etc. Today, worked our fucking garage sale for half the day... which mainly just consisted of me sitting in the garage, watching The Simpsons on my laptop and hoping that most of the people decide not to buy anything so I don't have to get up. After that, we got thai food and watched the hockey game. Around 7 I went to play tennis with Megan and her sister. I totally rocked =D Then we dropped her sister off at her house and chilled here for a while and just watched some random movie on cw50. it was retardedly predictable. At some point or another, Christina's mom called Megan, so we went and hung out with Christina's parents (Tina was at a musical at aaw) and played some vicious games of Pass the Pig, hahaha. Eventually Tina came back, so we played one more round, then headed home. Now I'm sleepy but I don't feel like sleeping. hungry for once, so I'm taking advantage of it by wolfing down leftover thai. and oatmeal cream pies and black licorice and iced tea. woooo. Tomorrow I'm going to the fair with Jenny because she wants to buy an elephant ear. Carnies are creepy and I have no money, but it should be a pretty good time. I like summer =) post comment

Sunday Secrets [18 May 2008|11:42pm] postsecret http://postsecret.blogspot.com/2008/05/sunday-secrets_17.html PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. -----Email Message----- Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2008 12:33 AM Subject: "Battle" postcard. You just made mine a little bit easier. Thank you. Florida PostSecret Exhibit Over 400 postcards are now on display at the Brevard Art Museum. 1463 Highland Ave | Melbourne, FL | 321-242-0737 | facebook event page Here are some exhibit comments from when the exhibit was in Canada. I flew from Calgary to see if my secret was here. It is. . . I'm still shaking. Weird - and an unsuitable display for this museum. I've been here twice already. It's disgustingly comforting to know that people share my shocking secrets. I held my breath for most of the time in the exhibit to keep from crying. I cried in the bathroom. I parked in the no parking zone to come see PostSecret. The PostSecret exhibition tour is directed by International Arts & Artists and will be traveling through 2010. "Each of the PostSecret books gives you a window into the human soul. Sending in a post card is a cathartic experience. Laugh, cry and connect with insightful journeymen in the human experience. Read the books. Share them with friends. Subscribe to the blog." -- Amazon Reviewer, Irish Eyes All four PostSecret books are available at bookstores or Online. 189 comments|post comment

*death* [17 May 2008|11:49pm] ricerurouni [ mood | exanimate ] Apparently I have too much stuff. Or not enough energy. Or both. Most of the "small" stuff - books, video games, knicknacks, nonperishable food that Alex will never eat, clothes, speakers, small bits of furniture, hamsters & hamster paraphernalia, etc. - is either in the car or safe at the new place. (No, the hamsters are not in the car.) The "big" stuff - small couch, bookcases, desk, chairs, endtable, bedside table, cat & cat paraphernalia, probably something else I'm forgetting - is going to be handled by the two burly moving guys I rented along with the UHaul for tomorrow. All I have to do at this point is get up, get Alex up, drive us to the truck depot, and get back with the truck before 10:30 when the movers show up. Then all the four of us have to do is get all the big shit up to the apartment before my reservation on the freight elevator expires at 1. Then all I have to do is unpack before I die of exhaustion. post comment

not really about anything... [18 May 2008|12:15am] officialgaiman http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/05/not-really-about-anything.html Let's see -- spoke at Maddy's school yesterday, to about a hundred 13 and 14 year olds. Survived. The pear tree and the cherry trees are coming into blossom too. Tomorrow, without the glorious leadership of Bee Boss Sharon Stiteler, I get to inspect the Kitty hive and go and see how the queen is doing... I'm currently spending most of the time in the gazebo at the bottom of the garden, alternately writing a sort of outline for something and proofreading The Graveyard Book. This is the US edition of The Graveyard Book, and now I'm taking all the corrections and fixes I did to the UK manuscript when I was in Australia and transferring 90% of them over to the US version (only 90% because I'm letting a few Americanisms that my UK editor had problems with stand -- particularly the ones my otherwise wonderful UK copy editor and I butted heads over. )(There's me at two in the morning on Skype muttering, "Look freak out can't just be a newfangled Americanism -- it's in Fanny Hill, for heaven's sake...") [For the curious, http://fiction.eserver.org/novels/fanny_hill/09.html five lines from the bottom.] .... If you're on the upper East Coast and sad that you won't get to see me at MIT as all the tickets have sold out, you could -- and should -- down your sorrows in Cory Doctorow. As you will learn over at http://www.cbldf.org/pr/archives/000357.shtml you can learn all about it.... What: Cory Doctorow Benefit Reading For CBLDF When: Sunday, May 25 at 5 PM; VIP After Party at 7 PM Where: Comix, 353 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10014 How Much: General Admission: $20/advance $25/day of show; VIP Admission: $100/advance only, includes preferred seating, copy of the book, & After Party with open beer/wine/soda bar Tickets: General Admission tickets available at http://comixny.com/event.aspx?eid=416&sid=1302; VIP Admission available at http://store.fastcommerce.com/prod_cbldf-ff80818119f1676e0119f2fbcdc91642.html You should go. ... I know that David Tennant's Hamlet isn't till July. And lots of people are going to be doing Dr Who in Hamlet jokes, so this is just me getting it out of the way early, to avoid the rush... "To be, or not to be, that is the question. Weeelll.... More of A question really. Not THE question. Because, well, I mean, there are billions and billions of questions out there, and well, when I say billions, I mean, when you add in the answers, not just the questions, weeelll, you're looking at numbers that are positively astronomical and... for that matter the other question is what you lot are doing on this planet in the first place, and er, did anyone try just pushing this little red button?" There. Thanks. Sorry about that. ... This came in from Laurel Krahn -- I've already mentioned Fourth Street Fantasy on this blog, one of my very very first American conventions, the one at which I first discovered the joy of talking to Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden (amongst others) and failing to argue with Steve Brust: Any chance you could mention the return of Fourth Street Fantasy Convention in your journal/blog thing? We've extended the pre-registration date from May 15th to May 31st to give us all more time to plug the convention, it also gives those who haven’t registered yet a bit more time to gather the funds together to do so. June 20 - 22, 2008 in Minneapolis, Minnesota with Guest of Honor Elizabeth Bear. More details at http://www.4thstreetfantasy.com/ My friend Lillian Edwards pointed me at the TechnoLlama blog, where over This, this and finally this post the entire matter of Dr Who knitting patterns is discussed to within an inch of its life. I crochet, and I'm a Doctor Who fan, so I've been following the thing with the knitted pattern a little. I've always had a set of Lil' Endless on my mental list of things to eventually crochet, but now that you've mentioned that DC is a bit strict about things I think I might just keep them to myself instead of writing up a (free, not to be sold) pattern. What would your feelings be about crochet/knitting patterns of your characters? It's not just The Endless I have in mind, I've done a seven legged spider before, and there are several other characters or concepts that I think would make neat projects. As long as things aren't being sold in quantity, DC Comics is incredibly unlikely to grumble about it. I don't mind at all, as long as it's not commercial. I don't mind anything that's creative, and I especially don't mind if people ask nicely first. (I mind, very much, things like people selling on ebay CDs with PDFs of the complete Sandman books on them.) (Nobody is going to complain if a fan turns a Barbie into a Death -- although I heard that DC said no to one of those appearing in a book of photos of interesting Barbie dolls. Nobody is going to grumble if a fan puts up a "how to make Barbie into Death" guide online. If someone put up a how to guide, and then one day hundreds of Death Barbies turned up on eBay, I can see Warners lawyers trying to close it down...) ... Had a conversation with Paul Levitz the other day about Gaiman's Law of Superhero Movies, which is: the closer the film is to the look and feel of what people like about the comic, the more successful it is (which is something that Warners tends singularly to miss, and Marvel tends singularly to get right) and the conversation went over to Watchmen, which had Paul explaining to me that the film is obsessive about how close it is to the comic, and me going "But they've changed the costumes. What about Nite Owl?" It'll be interesting to see whether it works or not... 32 comments|post comment

nuff said bitch [17 May 2008|08:48pm] kristenalyse this is the happiest ive ever been post comment

This is how I procrastinate [17 May 2008|04:32pm] nomadicjack Poll #1189544 random procrastination Open to: All, results viewable to: All Dogs or cats? View Answers Dogs 3 (60.0%) Cats 2 (40.0%) Neither 0 (0.0%) Rate the month of May, with 10 being "It's my favorite month" and 1 being "Uh, May is the worst." View Answers Mean: 5.80 Median: 5 Std. Dev 2.04 1 0 (0.0%) 2 0 (0.0%) 3 1 (20.0%) 4 0 (0.0%) 5 2 (40.0%) 6 0 (0.0%) 7 1 (20.0%) 8 0 (0.0%) 9 1 (20.0%) 10 0 (0.0%) What sites are your favorites when it comes to wasting time on the internet? View Answers Is the bus a good place to pick up chicks? View Answers That's brilliant idea! 1 (20.0%) As good as any, I guess 2 (40.0%) I wouldn't do it 2 (40.0%) Sounds tacky to me 0 (0.0%) post comment

Pirate Joke [17 May 2008|12:24pm] mlik [ mood | amused ] What does a pirate use to seal his boat? ( Picture under the cut ) 3 comments|post comment

WHAT THE HECK? [17 May 2008|11:35am] mafoo_kun86 [ mood | pissed off ] I'm pissed off and hungry right now. As I've mentioned before, I don't like starving myself when I don't need to and right now, I want food. I was planning to come up to Pierpont and grab Quizno's before heading off to the S3FL lab, but I forgot that today they're closing Pierpont for maintenance. I thought to myself, "That's fine, I'll just stop by Mujo", and what do I find? Mujo is closed on weekends for the spring/summer term. Darn it, I want a decent filling breakfast/brunch/lunch. I refuse to get a vending machine brunch. Why are there so few places to eat on North Campus? This plain sucks. I could probably walk up to that diner on Plymouth road to get my brunch, but I only have 20 minutes before I need to be at the lab and it would take me at around 15 just to walk up there. This plain sucks. Ugh, it looks like I'll have to starve until some time after 3pm. I mean, I could get snacks from the vending machine, but those of you that have seen me eat know that I'm a big eater and I don't like snacking. If I just grab something like a granola bar before I go to the lab, that would be worse for me than not eating at all. That granola bar would jump-start my metabolism and then my stomach would ache and growl until I get enough food to appease it. I'm better off just running on low metabolism until I get get a decent meal. This just really makes my day start off well... ugh, at least it's sunny outside. post comment

Virus Again? or does Norton plain suck? [17 May 2008|10:16am] mafoo_kun86 Last night, I decided to play a little Halo (I reinstalled the game a while back due to boredom) and was surprised to find something flashing on my screen during the game. Experience told me that some kind of alert popped up on my screen and I should alt-tab out to see what it is. Surprise, surprise, the alert window came from Norton telling me that my Norton firewall went down. Before I could even think, all of a sudden, another alert came telling me that Norton AntiVirus just went down as well. One after one, I received alerts telling me each of the services on my Norton Internet Security package shutting down. At first I thought it was a malicious hacker or virus and instinctively pulled my ethernet cable. From what I could gather, somehow my Norton got "de-activated" (by activate, I mean the thing you do when you install the software and enter in the pin numbers). That's strange, because I'm sure I had properly activated the software back in the fall when I installed it; not to mention, there was still around 70-80 days left on the antivirus/firewall subscriptions. I don't know what happened, but I can't get it to activate. For now, I'm just going to have to use my laptop until I get back from S3FL later today to deal with this. Worse comes to worse, I'll uninstall Norton and just install AVG Antivirus and Comodo Firewall, like my laptop. Either that or switch to another commercial software like NOD32 (which I hear is pretty good as well, though it's antivirus only and does not come with firewall), though AVG is free. I'll figure out something. post comment

Mixed (fun)bag. [17 May 2008|01:45am] mlik [ mood | disappointed ] Back from the bar. It was nice to see Pam and Nadia (friends from high school), but I don't think bars/clubs are the way to go when you are trying to have a conversation. That and the cigarette smoke is really irritating. Another thing is I take offense at the implication that there is something wrong with me for not liking going to these places. Way to insult somebody you just met. I don't drink or keep up with music much anyway. At least there was plenty of cleavage. That reminds me, I need to buy milk. 2 comments|post comment

Changes and No Changes... [17 May 2008|12:47am] mafoo_kun86 Well, today I learned that one part of me still didn't really change. *Sigh* At one point, after seeing a little message, I was ready to yell out to myself "Do what ever you want, because I don't care anymore". But that would have been a lie. I probably wouldn't stop caring; but then again, back then (a few years ago), I have to admit there were times that I didn't care. Back then, I had became too self-centered before I began to introspect. There were so many times that I wished I could have had a second chance; but thinking back now, I get the feeling that perhaps she did give me a second chance, but I was too caught up in my own masochistic self-denial/abuse to see the hints. Of course, there was also the fact that I had tried not to over-interpret every little action to avoid misinterpreting things again. But I think this time, I'm actually making progress in terms of letting go of her. Normally, this kind of thing would taunt me for the entire day, but I got over it in about an hour. The more I thought about it, the more I understood that this is inevitable; there was nothing wrong with that and I shouldn't be upset or jealous. After all, we're just friends, and nothing more... So yeah, onto other topics, I was starting to get bored of my LJ layout again. Too many dull colors; it needed something a little brighter and I was kinda tired of seeing fall/summer and winter colors, so this is more like a dash of spring. I still itching to design a new wallpaper for my desktop, but I just don't know what to do. Not to mention, I don't really have the time to spend on such a design project when I have an upcoming Thermo exam, a Therm homework assignment, and our S3FL Go/No-Go demonstration (which will determine if we can compete in the national competition). Plenty of work ahead, joy. Now, I think I'm going to sleep. post comment

Laugh-Out-Loud Cats #838 [17 May 2008|12:08am] hobotopia_feed http://apelad.blogspot.com/2008/05/laugh-out-loud-cats-838.html Laugh-Out-Loud Cats #838, originally uploaded by Ape Lad. post comment

Weekend! [16 May 2008|08:21pm] mlik [ mood | excited ] But first, one thing: it turns out I've been confusing Gore Vidal (Caligula) and Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Carribean). How embarassing. At least I'm pretty sure neither of them is Al Gore (the Internet). Oh! When Fallout 3 comes out this year (fingers crossed!) I will definitely buy it. I don't even care if my system will run it or not, or the fact that I haven't bought a new game when it was actually new since Civilization 3. That one was actually the collector's edition too-it came in a can. It wasn't worth the extra $10. But Fallout 3 comes in a jan-u-wine Vault-Tec Lunch Box! If it says Vault-Tec on it, it must be valuable, right? That means it's from before the war! Anyway, weekend stuff. Tonight I'm going to Richmond Hill to see people I haven't seen in a long time. It's Pam's birthday (so it says on Facebook). It'll be fun. I wonder which persona I should wear. Saturday is cleaning day. I need to do laundry and get out of this funk. Moo Moo needs that bath that I've been putting off too. Oh! It's also a good opportunity to buy things that go boom. Sunday, I'm going to see Megan again! Woo! We're going mini-golfing. Indoor though, because this weekend's weather sucks. Monday, I'm going to Waterloo for Snuggles's 30th birthday. Haha, everybody's getting old. I just ate McDonald's Angus burger. So disappointing. I hereby pledge my allegiance to the one true King of Burgers. Nothing beats a Whopper... except two Whoppers. Seriously though, the Angus burger has an interesting bun, and a fairly big patty, but it's light on toppings. Bring back the 69 cent hamburger sale, and we'll talk. Oops! Better get ready for tonight! 6 comments|post comment

i hate you. [16 May 2008|08:22pm] carolita05 [ mood | too many emotions ] [ music | love is a battlefield ]  why did you leave Edward?  Why! post comment

News: PAX 2007 DVD Now Awailable [16 May 2008|06:44pm] pennyarcaderss http://feeds.penny-arcade.com/~r/pa-mainsite/~3/291832409/ http://www.penny-arcade.com/2008/05/16/pax-2007-dvd-now-awailable/ Tycho : Several people (3) asked about this set's whereabouts, and I am happy to announce that it just hit the store. (CW)TB post comment

News: Page 2 [16 May 2008|06:12pm] pennyarcaderss http://feeds.penny-arcade.com/~r/pa-mainsite/~3/291806328/ http://www.penny-arcade.com/2008/05/16/page-2/ Tycho : I guess Gabe wrote little intros for these pages. Hmm. Here's the second one: Page two of our four page prequel comic is now available over on the Greenhouse site. We actually have a very complete back story for this universe. Everything from how Gabe and Tycho met each other to the Brahe family's generation spanning fascination with the occult. The game has a ton of content in it if you end up liking the setting. -Gabe out He's not wrong, actually. I'm not scheduled to do it or anything, but I have two lectures I am hungry to write. ... post comment

my friend d. payne never got a doctorate degree OR became a major in the military. only recently hav [16 May 2008|10:38am] dinosaurcomics http://www.qwantz.com/archive/001224.html about - archive - cast - comments - sexy exciting merchandise - messageboard - search - reader art - links Project Wonderful - Your ad here, right now, for as low as $0 May 13th, 2008: Here's an experiment which could be pretty rad! I'm going to link to the Flickr images tagged "haylookit" here for the next few days, and maybe INDEFINITELY. If you have something you want thousands and thousands of like-minded strangers to see, try uploading it to Flickr and tagging it with "haylookit"! And if you want to see something that some stranger on the internet thought you'd like, click here! AWESOME IMAGES ONLY, PLZ UPDATE: Guys this is awesome. 38 comments|post comment

Comic: The Fangspire, Part One [16 May 2008|07:00am] pennyarcaderss http://feeds.penny-arcade.com/~r/pa-mainsite/~3/291789934/ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/05/16/fangspire-part-one/ New Comic : The Fangspire, Part One 3 comments|post comment

News: The Fangspire, Part One [16 May 2008|07:00am] pennyarcaderss http://feeds.penny-arcade.com/~r/pa-mainsite/~3/291797440/ http://www.penny-arcade.com/2008/05/16/fangspire-part-one/ Tycho : We ended up taking a shine to that exterminator we made for some reason, but since we like to retain our conceptual agility we thought it was time to return to the news. With Gabriel leaving town, we saw an opportunity to indulge ourselves in questions like "what happened in there, exactly?" There are three such indulgences, so hopefully we weren't the only people curious about these events, which take place in the womb of the Ancient Earth. I've been inundated with news really from the moment my cohort left, most of which will have to be left to our ... post comment

hear me on this week in geek [16 May 2008|12:26pm] wilwheaton http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wwdn/~3/291777952/hear-me-on-this.html I don't do a lot of interviews, but for reasons that are best left a mystery, I've done a whole bunch recently. One of those interviews was with a podcast called This Week in Geek. My episode is now up, so if you wanted to listen to me talk about geeky shit and don't want to wait for a new Radio Free Burrito, your long painful wait has come to an end. Hey, when you're done, check out the Radio Free Burrito Mix Tape. My iPod thought I should hear it recently, and it totally doesn't suck. post comment

Future in the short term update: Moving this weekend [16 May 2008|12:33pm] ricerurouni [ mood | cheerful ] [ music | Weird Al - Why Does This Always Happen To Me ] Into a totally sweet studio way closer to work. I've already made arrangements, don't need any help, but maybe I'll invite folks over for a mini-housewarming sometime soon for my mini-apartment. Tuesday there was a major power outage so they sent everyone home hours early. My soon-to-be landlord needed me to sign some documents but couldn't fax them to me due to said outage, so I decided to just head over. Upon arriving at the closest train station, I found out I'd have to wait half an hour for the bus, which was hardly worth the 1/2-to-3/4-mile journey, so I walked it. The place has a free Metro shuttle for residents, but I don't quite count yet. >.> The day was lovely enough for me to immediately start sweating all over my work clothes, but the walk was invigorating, and now I know how to get to and from the station. (I think they have the shuttle so their residents don't have to look at poor people, except as a sort of blur whizzing by. The area's obviously undergoing the same rapidly uneven gentrification as Merrifield, with recently-renovated "luxury" high-rises brushing shoulders with lower-to-middle-class neighborhoods and crumbling storefronts. I couldn't care less, though I'm sure my mother's going to tell me to never walk home after dark.) I get a four-day weekend over Memorial Day due to holiday + day off. That will rock. My parents are going to be visiting for about half of it, so some time will be invested in exploring nearby Alexandria. It's a nice area, or so I'm told, so maybe I'll actually Do Things after work on occasion. (The new place is only 15 minutes away from the old place by non-rush-hour Beltway, so I should be visiting Alex pretty often as well.) The weekend after that is Swat Graduation, and the weekend after that is Alumni Weekend, both of which I am apparently attending (though I'm not sure what I'll be doing for the latter - guess I'll bring a book). So I'm going to be a little crazy for a while, but it's the good kind of crazy, where I can blog about my adventures afterward instead of sitting around being depressed. I have lots more details about the apartment and such, but I think I'm going to sit on them until I've at least seen the place again. It's expensive, but just having a mini-washer and dryer in the apartment is worth an awful lot to me. :) 12 comments|post comment

Camera shopping? [16 May 2008|08:22am] mlik [ mood | curious ] Since there are three paydays this month, my options are 1. pay down debts (current projected debt-free day: end September 2008) or 2. buy a digital camera, since I don't have one. (There's also an option 3, which is getting a PlayStation and getting into the guitar hero scene, though it's hardly a priority.) Buying a little camera isn't going to cost me much in interest. What are the price points and expectations of quality? I'm thinking I should look for something under $300. Features wanted: - durability. I have dropitis. A wrist strap would do. - battery life. Probably measured in I want to shoot a few rolls (remember those?) worth in a day with the flash on. - most of my pictures would be posted to the intertube. I have a bunch of pictures from the previous camera which was a Nikon Coolpix S4. Being able to print the occasional 4x6 would be nice. - bwa? Features not wanted: - not keen on touchscreens. Fingerprints, smudges, etc. - guh. Oh, and Moo Moo is so quiet sometimes I can't find her, like this morning. She's a ninja-dog. 6 comments|post comment

xkcd seo [16 May 2008|03:13am] bramcohen Here's an interesting search query challenge for relevancy ranking: xkcd metallica. Currently google doesn't, but yahoo does, give the right answer. Let this be a lesson to you. If you want your web site to show up in search queries, and have words encoded in audio, video, or images, include a transcript! 6 comments|post comment

Drunken air part two [16 May 2008|06:35am] officialgaiman http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/05/drunken-air-part-two.html This is a film that Sharon Stiteler took yesterday of our bees buzzing around in my plum trees. I actually started wanting the bees because of the plums, because there were never any bees when they were in bloom... 3 comments|post comment

Laugh-Out-Loud Cats #837 [16 May 2008|12:13am] hobotopia_feed http://apelad.blogspot.com/2008/05/laugh-out-loud-cats-837.html Laugh-Out-Loud Cats #837, originally uploaded by Ape Lad. post comment

Security Holes [16 May 2008|04:00am] xkcd_rss http://xkcd.com/424/ 124 comments|post comment

Moo Moo the cat! [15 May 2008|09:59pm] mlik [ mood | amused ] Hmm, who knew there would be a downside to training Moo Moo to jump on things? She can jump in my lap from the floor, and then she can climb on to the table from a chair*. But how is she going to get down? * but only when properly motivated, such as with orange slices. post comment

May update [15 May 2008|10:03pm] scotty2hotty715 So It is time for an update but I doubt you care. Well I passed my classes winter semester but my GPA is still plummeting.  I am not really looking forward to fall and winter classes because they are all in the same building and it is going to be a heavy workload.  I'm taking a full spring and summer course load.  I'm taking Spanish, a mechanical engineering course then I will take another Spanish class and a math class.  I got another job while my other job is closed.  This year I will work less hours than last year.  Last year killed me.  I want to do better in my classes but I have become so dumb that I can't focus anymore and cared less about the workload because I know I will not be hired at a good company. I moved into a new place.  It is a big house very close to north campus.  My roommates are nice.  It takes about 15 minutes to walk to the engineering buildings.  I do not want to bring my bike to go to campus.  I was considering learning to skateboard because it looks interesting to do and a quick way to go places.   It looks like I gained fifteen pounds since last year.  The year before that I lost 35 pounds.  I do not know if I want to gain more weight or lose more weight.  I plan to go to the gym everyday except for days I have exams.  I plan on going early in the morning on most days.  I am trying to be as active as last summer.  I am slowly adding more machines into my routine .  It is going to be like last years workout routine except I am going to only run on the weekends and only do certain machines on weekends because I won't have time to do them during the week.  My muscles are still sore.  I plan to increase my strength slowly.  I plan to either max out  the machine or lift a weight that is double my body weight by the time summer ends, which ever happens first. It makes me sad that no girl has ever really cared about me.  I realized this when I did my Spanish homework.  It asked questions of at which age did you first do something.  One question asked at what age did you go out on your first date.  It made me sad that I had no answer.  I am such a loser.   I see this general trend in my life that odds are always against me.  Bad things happen to me for no reason.  I have horrible professors, get to pick last or be picked last, and no girls care about me even when I do nothing to upset them.  It does not look like I will find someone soon or even later in my life.  I know my mistakes but I can't undo them or really make it better. post comment

For Kids Who Can't Read Good And Who Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too [15 May 2008|08:43pm] mlik I am trying to rekindle my lost love for books. Wait, it's not really a lost love, it's more like I'm covertly trying to find out what goes on behind the paper curtain. I was writing out the Scrabble words for each letter sound (ay, be, see, dee, etc.) and not knowing the word for E, I looked it up on Wikipedia. That lead me to an article on Gadsby, which lead me to Lipograms and the novels Ella Minnow Pea and A Void. Now I have a hold on Ella Minnow Pea at the library. It sounds interesting. I'm also more than halfway through I am America (and so can you!). Me slow reader. :( post comment

From the news [14 May 2008|10:28pm] mlik Last October, my friend Amanda told me of the phenomenon of nipper-tipping, that is, mobs of (teenagers) pushing Asian fishermen into adjacent bodies of water. It reminded me of an episode of CSI called Fannysmackin'. It also reminded me of when we used to meow around the back of Chinese restaurants. When I first heard about it, I did some searching and opinion was mixed. Yes, these fishermen may be fishing without a license, overfishing, and whatnot. But was it a racially-motivated hate crime? And now the Human Rights Commission has come back and said yes, yes it is. Vigilantism isn't cool, kids! Yay, Harry Kim gets his revenge! post comment

Drunken air [15 May 2008|11:06pm] officialgaiman http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/05/drunken-air.html Under the plum trees, covered in blossom before they get leaves (so they look drifts of snow) the air is so thick with the scent of plum blossom that it's like walking through wine. [Edit to add: this is what the plum tree looked like yesterday -- film courtesy of the birdchick, who was filming our bees.] 21 comments|post comment

It Was Too Soon for Rings [16 May 2008|12:00am] overheardedu http://www.overheardatcollege.com/?p=2808 Prof #1: Is there a cellphone there? Prof #2: Oh, I thought it was a present for the midterm. Mount Royal College post comment

Geek Tour 2008: San Jose Super-Con - Updated [15 May 2008|09:19pm] wilwheaton http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wwdn/~3/291195353/geek-tour-2008.html This weekend, the 2008 Geek Tour rolls into San Jose for Super-Con! Original Announcement: May 17-18 Super-Con San Jose, CA When I worked on NUMB3RS, I met the guys in charge of Super-Con in San Jose. In fact, they were a big part of making Alt Con 9 (the fake con in the show) look and feel as real as it did. I haven't been to San Jose for a convention since the only way to get there was via mule train, so I'm looking forward to traveling up the coast in more modren style, perhaps by zeppelin or auto-gyro. I don't have a lot of details for this one, and I don't even know if I'll get a chance to perform from my books, make balloon animals or just stand around making lists of things. However, I'll have a booth of awesome, where I'll be hanging out on Saturday and Sunday, trading books and pictures for shiny gold rocks. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to visit with some cool people while and angry guy complains about it. That's always pretty fun. I'm hoping the copies of Just A Geek and Dancing Barefoot that I ordered at great expense to myself arrive today, because if they don't, I won't have any of them for this show, which would be sad. [see Update at bottom]However, I should have shiny new copies of the second printing of Happiest Days, and 2008's chapbook-o-rama, Sunken Treasure. Uh, this is also pretty goddamn cool: The original cast of MST3K will be getting together -- reuniting, if you will -- for the first time since the exciting rock climbing portion of the film began. I'm kind of excited to listen to whatever they have to say, and hope I can trade them shiny gold rocks for their automagraphs on my copy of Manos: the Hands of Fate. UPDATE: FedEx and UPS came through for me. I have the second printing of Happiest Days, as well as copies of Just A Geek and Dancing Barefoot. This means that, if you like, you can trade me shiny gold rocks (or Kongbucks) for The Complete Works of Me, Wil Wheaton. Of course, now I have so much stuff to take and no time to ship it, so it looks like me and the 101 are going to spend about 5 hours of quality time together tomorrow. And again on Sunday. Good thing I have Dimension X on my iPod. post comment

crying hey man this is babylon [15 May 2008|03:29pm] wilwheaton http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wwdn/~3/291179006/crying-hey-man.html I came to Soul Coughing at almost the same time I came to Burroughs, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Underworld, and jazz that went beyond Kind of Blue. See, this is why the loss of Tower Records is going to seriously hurt a generation of young artists, because it was in a Tower Records that I found all of these things. Sure, it's great to have the convenience of buying and instantly downloading records and stuff, but the damn kids today who will grow up without ever setting foot in a record store or talking to a hardcore music geek who works there just don't know what they're missing. And they're missing a lot. It was one of the most inspiring and eye-opening times of my life, and whenever I listen to Ruby Vroom (which I'm doing right now) I'm reminded of that time. I can feel it in my brain and in my bones. I remember staying out all night with my friend Dave just because we could, not really doing anything more than listening to music and being "artists" -- whatever that meant. We had no real responsibility other than getting home alive, and it was when I really started writing. I filled up tons of thick spiral-bound notebooks with my efforts to figure out who and why I was. When I read them now, they just make me sad. It was a great time. I miss it sometimes. Okay, I miss it often. I miss it right now. 1 comment|post comment

One Spirit [15 May 2008|04:50pm] marimbagirl [ mood | blah ] I love my apartment. Having moved in 3 days before school started last fall, this is the first time where I've been able to really enjoy having a kitchen and a TV and a balcony. Even though I'm still uber busy, the fact that it is May just keeps me relaxed and feeling all around less stressed. The classes I'm in are super fast-paced. I had 2 exams this week already. They're intense and sometimes I'm up later than is typical for me to get the assignments done because they're due every single day, but I like them a lot and I'm learning. I got my baton today! My bell choir will be very happy on Sunday - no more pencil conducting. I'm practicing a lot more than I thought I would. It's not EVERY day, because I do want to relax a little too. Plus the stupid music building is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. And things come up. Like yesterday I couldn't because I was literally in class all morning and gone all afternoon/evening. Today I didn't because at the time, a nap sounded more fun. But I've already worked up a Bach chorale prelude and I'm going to start a Widor symphony and have a lesson with SME soon. He says I can pay him in Chipotle burritoes. I visited Pastor Kurt yesterday and sorta helped him clean out his fridge. He's off chemo and almost done with the radiation. People keep bringing him food but he can't really eat it so it rots and he's too weak to clean all the time. But mostly he wanted someone to talk to. His birthday is this month and I came up with this brilliant idea to get him an IPOD (mostly because he said he wanted one) so Pastor Mack is organizing it, a million people are donating money, and I'll help him get all his music onto it. He's doing OK I guess. He was always a skinny guy but somehow he's swimming in his clothes. He's tired and ready for his 4-week break from treatment, coming up in about a week. They'll re-evaluate in June. They already know the tumor has shrunk, so maybe it shrunk enough to operate on? Unfortunately though, the cancer isn't localized. And the surgeries are super risky because the pancreas is so hard to get to, and he's not eligible for most of the options. I'm scared that he won't want to go through with a second round of treatments... he's basically miserable. And the prognosis isn't good because pancreatic cancer is almost always a death sentence, and they caught his so late. But like I said to Bobby yesterday... it's just so hard to imagine him dead. I hope he doesn't give up... What do you say to a guy when he says he hasn't ordered Netflix because what's the point? He'll be dead in a month... ... ... .... post comment

Take a USAmerican Chicken, Make It Lame [15 May 2008|08:00pm] overheardedu http://www.overheardatcollege.com/?p=2806 Girl #1: Oh wow! I don’t have to do the video presentation until June 10. My group is doing Jesus de Montreal. Girl #2: Like the chicken? Girl #1: …Like a Canadian? University of Central Florida 1 comment|post comment

introducing sunken treasure [15 May 2008|12:42pm] wilwheaton http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wwdn/~3/291083740/introducing-sun.html Tuesday night, I asked Andrew (my editor and good friend, for those of you who are just walking into the theater for the first time) if he thought we could put together a chapbook for the 2008 Geek Tour . . . and have it ready to give to the printer about 18 hours later. Andrew is a fucking rockstar, and over the next 90 minutes or so of manic IMing we put together something that I'm massively proud of. The result of a fucos that can only be born in terror is something really, really special. See, the other chapbooks I've done (and I try to do a different one each summer) are all pretty cool, with nifty bits of stuff that's awesome, but this one is different than anything I've done so far. My author's note! Let me show you it! Every summer, I make one of these limited chapbooks and  take them with me on the inevitable summer convention tour. In the past, I’ve pulled material from whatever I’m working  on, as sort of a fall preview, but this year the book I’m working on is so top secret, I’d have to print the chapbook on self-destructing paper, and while that would make it a very limited edition, the costs associated are kind of prohibitive. So for 2008’s limited edition chapbook extravaganza, I’ve put together the first ever Wil Wheaton Sampler. With the help of my editor Andrew, who is a former ninja warrior and recreational time traveler, I’ve pulled together things I like from all three of my books, my blog, and this groovy collaborative fiction project I play with called Ficlets. I’ve also included, for the first time anywhere, one of the scripts I wrote for a sketch comedy show at the ACME Comedy Theater. If you like what you see here, and would like to read more, come visit me online. I’m at wilwheaton.typepad.com. Namaste. Wil Wheaton May 2008 I was going to call this Wil Wheaton's Hot Cocoa Box Sampler (Farkisms FTW!) but I have a tradition of using song titles that I didn't want to break, so this one is called Sunken Treasure, with the subtitle "Wil Wheaton's Hot Cocoa Box Sampler." Hee. Awesome. I am so proud of this. It's one of the things I was working on during my massive deadline panic. The collected stories are some of my favorites, and I'm thrilled to include outtakes from Happiest Days as well as a script from ACME, which I've never reprinted anywhere before. As always, this will be limited to 200 copies, and will become available at Super-Con this weekend in San Jose. If I'm lucky, I'll sell about half of them this weekend, and I'll have the remaining 100 to bring with me to the rest of the cons on the 2008 Geek Tour. I don't have any plans to sell these online, but I like this little book so much I may change my mind on that later this year. Oh, speaking of the 2008 Geek Tour, I'm adding another stop next month, which will be announced in its own post a little later today. post comment

News: Holy F-ing S [15 May 2008|05:28pm] pennyarcaderss http://feeds.penny-arcade.com/~r/pa-mainsite/~3/291074577/ http://www.penny-arcade.com/2008/05/15/holy-f-ing-s/ Tycho : Don't ask what: just click, and be enriched. (CW)TB 3 comments|post comment

Def. Not Gayer Than That Daughter [15 May 2008|04:00pm] overheardedu http://www.overheardatcollege.com/?p=2807 Guy: I feel really gay right now, no, seriously. Am I gayer than Martha Stewart? Vassar College post comment

quick, slightly detailed update [15 May 2008|10:43am] thighmaster182 started classes. just got done w/my first religion exam on Hinduism. that class is NOT EASY. i actually studied hard for it and i still dont think i did so hot (probably a high B at best). 20th century Africa is interesting and my professor is really funny. other than that i am bored as hell. i am reading at the rate of like 2 big novels a week. im currently on Catch-22 and i am very excited because i went to Barnes and Noble yesterday and bought this fat-ass anthology of short stories. but not the ones that i have read a billion times. modern stuff from authors from all around the world. i got really into short stories this past year (go to www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories to read some good ones). so that should keep me busy along with the novels. oh yeah and i do puzzles. i am over the internet and tv, basically because i dont really have them. still on the job hunt. also remember how i mentioned a date awhile ago? yeahhhh..his name is maurer and he is back in arkansas and we are talking a sick amount right now (like hours a day literally). i really wish he was around here because he is a lot of fun. i am probably going to visit him this summer, i dunno its weird its not like i am going to say hes my boyfriend because thats retarded and i am newly single and hes far away but i like him a lot. we will probably keep talking and see each other when we can. but we are having a get-in-shape contest. which is good. because i need to. going out to livonia after class. nertz tomorrow. cottage/home for saturday and sunday. gimme a calll also EMU just hired their first ever female president. and now we have our first female band director. its going to  be a good year. 1 comment|post comment

t-rex was racist against taxi drivers a few years ago, but that's faded. he's forgotten it, so his w [15 May 2008|07:34am] dinosaurcomics http://www.qwantz.com/archive/001223.html about - archive - cast - comments - sexy exciting merchandise - messageboard - search - reader art - links