(no subject)
So....these month-and-a-half hiatus type things really need to stop happening, self.
Um, since I don't know if I'm going to get around to documenting the travels (I hope I do, if only so I can remember them later, but I have such an ennui about the whole thing) or posting pictures (...we have 14 gigabytes worth of pictures and movies. Fourteen. I wish I was joking). But it was amazing, if foggy, due to forest fires in upstate Alaska.
Things I did learn on the trip: ziplines are fun, everyone should ride them at least once; helicopters are surprisingly a lot smoother of a ride than I thought they were; glaciers are very cold, windy and treacherous, and drinking the water running on top of it is not always the best idea as it is freezing and filled with prehistoric creatures (...not that that stopped me, or anything. Would have helped to realize this thought before sticking my hand in freezing water); float-planes are noisy and landing them can be kind of rough, but take-off is awesome (in that you are riding on water - novelty~!); bartenders are the best people on a cruise ship; if you go on a cruise and your food is free, eat in the restaurants all the time and not the buffet because the food is all sorts of amazing; sleeping on water is harder than I thought, especially when the boat rocks; Canadian beer is not so bad, but being served Irish beer in Canada is depressing; the north-west has practically no humidity and that is so not fair; and vacations are awesome and coming home sucks. Especially now that I don't have that fantastic food anymore. It's been almost two months and I still miss the food.
At least one reason I haven't been on is that I am pseudo-employed again. And by pseudo I mean that I'm just back at B&N, because I'm a masochist my friend asked me. We lost a bunch of people - kids going to college type thing - and so my part-time hours are magically full-time hours for the time being. Joyous. But! I need the money. And as soon as I'm back to official part-time I'm going to try volunteering around at some places (as no one wants to actually hire me) to pad up the resume some. I think it's a plan. We'll see.
Birthday was fun! Surprisingly so! Most of mine have, well, sucked or at least not gone according to plan, so it was nice to have simple plans - get steamed crabs for the last time this year, then go out drinking at a few local bars - go simply perfect. Got to drink by the water, and the bartender didn't even charge us for most of my drinks, got two free shots (and one of them was Justin's stupid Wild Turkey, why do I let myself fall into that, why), what more could you ask?
So incredibly far behind on any and all manga. Brother Bob marathoned most of the OP anime - from Jaya to Shabondy I kid you not. Thank god for the faster speed settings, although it makes everyone sound like chipmunks. If you can, find an episode where Brook laughs or sounds horrified and speed it up, it's fucking hysterical - and I caught some of that but I am woefully behind the manga. Still, spoil me! I love spoilers! I will catch up...soon, I hope.
Been reading a lot more. I highly recommend Peter S. Beagle's We Never Talk About My Brother and Jasper Fforde's The Big Over-Easy. I actually like the Nursery Crimes series more than the Thursday Next series. I'm on the second one, The Fourth Bear, now. They're this perfect mix of hard-boiled (no pun intended) crime stories and humorous satire.
And Beagle, oh man, Beagle. I am in love with this man's imagination. The things he comes up with! Everyone has to get We Never Talk About My Brother. It's a collection of short stories - and don't even begin to tell me you don't read short stories - and you need this book if only for the story "Spook," which is hysterical and awesome and clever and makes me talk in run-on sentences so you know it has to be good. One of those stories where I want to tell everyone what it's about but that would ruin the fantastic surprise. And if you've ever read The Last Unicorn you need WNTAMB for "The Unicorn Tapestries". I might try to type up a passage later, if anyone is interested in reading a bit, just because this collection is so good it needs to be shared.
Speaking of good, I think I liked Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box more than the first one. I'm almost finished (pffft I almost finished it in three days); all I need to do is find Puzzle 90 and solve most of the bonus puzzles. And I never knew how limited and sad my gaming life was until I played the beautiful wonder that is the tea-making mini-game ♥__♥ Seriously Level 5, I am in love~ And awaiting the next one. Also, Okami game for the DS? Exciting!
So yeah. How is everybody else?
Um, since I don't know if I'm going to get around to documenting the travels (I hope I do, if only so I can remember them later, but I have such an ennui about the whole thing) or posting pictures (...we have 14 gigabytes worth of pictures and movies. Fourteen. I wish I was joking). But it was amazing, if foggy, due to forest fires in upstate Alaska.
Things I did learn on the trip: ziplines are fun, everyone should ride them at least once; helicopters are surprisingly a lot smoother of a ride than I thought they were; glaciers are very cold, windy and treacherous, and drinking the water running on top of it is not always the best idea as it is freezing and filled with prehistoric creatures (...not that that stopped me, or anything. Would have helped to realize this thought before sticking my hand in freezing water); float-planes are noisy and landing them can be kind of rough, but take-off is awesome (in that you are riding on water - novelty~!); bartenders are the best people on a cruise ship; if you go on a cruise and your food is free, eat in the restaurants all the time and not the buffet because the food is all sorts of amazing; sleeping on water is harder than I thought, especially when the boat rocks; Canadian beer is not so bad, but being served Irish beer in Canada is depressing; the north-west has practically no humidity and that is so not fair; and vacations are awesome and coming home sucks. Especially now that I don't have that fantastic food anymore. It's been almost two months and I still miss the food.
At least one reason I haven't been on is that I am pseudo-employed again. And by pseudo I mean that I'm just back at B&N, because I'm a masochist my friend asked me. We lost a bunch of people - kids going to college type thing - and so my part-time hours are magically full-time hours for the time being. Joyous. But! I need the money. And as soon as I'm back to official part-time I'm going to try volunteering around at some places (as no one wants to actually hire me) to pad up the resume some. I think it's a plan. We'll see.
Birthday was fun! Surprisingly so! Most of mine have, well, sucked or at least not gone according to plan, so it was nice to have simple plans - get steamed crabs for the last time this year, then go out drinking at a few local bars - go simply perfect. Got to drink by the water, and the bartender didn't even charge us for most of my drinks, got two free shots (and one of them was Justin's stupid Wild Turkey, why do I let myself fall into that, why), what more could you ask?
So incredibly far behind on any and all manga. Brother Bob marathoned most of the OP anime - from Jaya to Shabondy I kid you not. Thank god for the faster speed settings, although it makes everyone sound like chipmunks. If you can, find an episode where Brook laughs or sounds horrified and speed it up, it's fucking hysterical - and I caught some of that but I am woefully behind the manga. Still, spoil me! I love spoilers! I will catch up...soon, I hope.
Been reading a lot more. I highly recommend Peter S. Beagle's We Never Talk About My Brother and Jasper Fforde's The Big Over-Easy. I actually like the Nursery Crimes series more than the Thursday Next series. I'm on the second one, The Fourth Bear, now. They're this perfect mix of hard-boiled (no pun intended) crime stories and humorous satire.
And Beagle, oh man, Beagle. I am in love with this man's imagination. The things he comes up with! Everyone has to get We Never Talk About My Brother. It's a collection of short stories - and don't even begin to tell me you don't read short stories - and you need this book if only for the story "Spook," which is hysterical and awesome and clever and makes me talk in run-on sentences so you know it has to be good. One of those stories where I want to tell everyone what it's about but that would ruin the fantastic surprise. And if you've ever read The Last Unicorn you need WNTAMB for "The Unicorn Tapestries". I might try to type up a passage later, if anyone is interested in reading a bit, just because this collection is so good it needs to be shared.
Speaking of good, I think I liked Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box more than the first one. I'm almost finished (pffft I almost finished it in three days); all I need to do is find Puzzle 90 and solve most of the bonus puzzles. And I never knew how limited and sad my gaming life was until I played the beautiful wonder that is the tea-making mini-game ♥__♥ Seriously Level 5, I am in love~ And awaiting the next one. Also, Okami game for the DS? Exciting!
So yeah. How is everybody else?