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Below are the 25 most recent friends journal entries:[<< Previous 25 entries]
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10:13 pm
gobi
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/51283505/20459) [Link] |
[Running] Slow n' Steady
I got lost again, but at least I'm making up for the miles missed last weekend. Only one more extra mile before I make up the difference and I'm back on schedule.
First time I've been over a ten minute mile since february. Partly because of how hilly the area is, partly because it's been a rough couple of days, partly because I just wanted to prolong the run and clear my head.
Then again, this is the longest time I've run since the half-marathon, so figures I'd be a bit slower at the longer distances after so long.
In any case, the hills are good training and once I finally, finally figure out how to not get lost, I think this new route will do wonders for my endurance.
Tags: running
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09:20 pm
raykat
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/52837363/1320434) [Link] |
RP stuff
Oh, hey guys, it's universally bad form to app a character if they happen to share your exceedingly common first name, right? All kinds of wrong, yes? Shouldn't even consider it, right?
Dropped Zorin at Poly last week. Apologies to Millennium-muns, you guys are fantastic and I really hope you get a much better player for her (and ones for Doc and Rip too, especially Doc), because you deserve better. People whose characterization senses I trust have said nice things to me about my Zorin, but I never could get over the sneaking dread that I was doing something horribly wrong whenever logged into her account.
This takes me down to just Yumie, and I'm not sure how much longer she'll be around. Gah, I've had her so long that it's difficult to imagine really dropping her, but she's a mess and difficult to make do anything these days. And it doesn't help that I have little idea of what do with her anymore, or even what I can do with her. The City isn't... very Iscariot friendly, honestly. Which probably explains the other Iscariot-player retention/activity problem. Unless it's me, and if it is me, I wish to God people would just tell me already so I could work on whatever the problem is, because otherwise how am I going to know, you know?
I've been really burned out and blocked on the RP front for a while, and I'm not sure if it's just been my characters not working for me as well as they once did, or because of real life stress zapping my ability to relax and just play and not think of things I should maybe be doing instead and it always feels like there's something. Probably a combination of the two, and I'm kind of bummed about this, because I miss the old lols.
Current Mood:  blah
Current Music: Birthday Massacre - "Lovers End"
Tags: failget, poly, rp stuff
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04:23 pm
keefry
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/40690046/854668) [Link] |
it's not an orange that you can sit with
Current Mood:  amused
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02:24 pm
andshewalkedon
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/41984527/7856077) [Link] | I finally got around to watching Across the Universe (a sleepover, bowling, and wicked good homemade quesadillas may have also been involved) and I adored it.
The movie was a series of portraits, full and vibrant and stunning portraits, of the music of the Beatles. In a nutshell.
Every single visual and character and plot was just a backdrop for their songs.
Which is especially fantastic, because music is generally the secondary character, the reaction to something else ... shadows of reality and emotion. But in this movie, everything is blossoming from a song, every scene is an evolution of the lyrics and melodies. And it's painfully beautiful.
It makes me want to immerse myself into The Beatles discography and never come up again.
Because music is about singing along, getting in on the joke.
Sanity for 2-3 minutes, at least.
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07:52 am
thecrimsony
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/53867992/6458647) [Link] |
Marvel Comics: We know our target demographic...
http://www.marvel.com/videos/398.SDCC_%7Eapos%7E08%7Ecolon%7E_The_Marvel%7Eslash%7EDisguise_Fashion_Show
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10:56 pm
rowangirl
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/72480713/1648980) [Link] |
Colorado
So here I am in Colorado! We got here last Thursday. I had exactly two days back from California before flying out. I've seen a whole bunch of family since we got here, and that was nice. My Grandmother's funeral went off without a hitch, everyone seemed pleased. I've gotten to see my cousins on my mom's side a lot more than usual, which is really great. We were super close as little kids and then kind of drifted apart as we got older. So it's nice to get to spend time with some of them again.
Evelyn has been a handful this trip. She has finally reached the Terrible part of the Terrible Twos. She is SO strong-willed and stubborn, it's amazing really. Everyone comments on it. She has her adorable and funny moments of course, but by the end of the day I am just completely worn out from having to watch her. And I'm splitting it with three other people! She has managed to turn herself in a complete mess since we got here. She was running and fell face first on gravel and scratched up under her nose, she got nipped on the tip of her nose by a dog, she fell into a bush and scratched up her legs, and to add to it, today she was running down my Grandma's gravel drive way and got two new cuts on her legs. ::sigh:: She looks like a street urchin. But she's having a blast!
So far the only negative of being here is that I miss Chris. I don't think that we'd gone a day without seeing each other in... a really long time. So to not see him for five days now has been weird and slightly unpleasant. When I get back I think that we only have two more weeks until his school stuff starts, which makes me sad. I feel like this summer needs to go on forever.
Speaking of this summer needing to go on forever, I feel like it's all slipped past me already! But really, I've packed a lot into this summer so far. I've seen a ton of movies, gone to comic book meetups, playgroups, and the zoo. In June I went to the museum and saw the Da Vinci exhibit, I saw Eddie Izzard, and we took a mini road trip to see Roger Clyne play in Gruene, TX. In July I went to a bullfight (bloodless) and the roller derby, saw Less Than Jake, went to San Diego and played in the Pacific Ocean, went to Comic Con, met some more board people, took a Ghost Tour of Old Town San Diego, and went to Colorado! I'd say that I've pretty much milked my summer for all that it was worth. So good job there! :)
If I have to write a little paragraph about what I did this summer, I am so set. ;)
Current Mood:  sleepy
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09:48 pm
gobi
[Link] |
[Running] New route tomorrow
My mileage is starting to increase. My current route is convenient because it's exactly one mile, I have a handy spot for my water bottle, and I don't have to drive. I'm not really liking the idea of running around the park eight times though.
Going to try this route tomorrow. It's hillier, which will help me slow down my pace, and let's me keep my handy water station. The only drawback is that I'll have less face-time with the neighbors, more traffic to dodge and it's 2.2 miles, so it might be awkward to track in my log. Oh well, I'll give it a shot.
Tags: running
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05:27 pm
karen25
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/46773329/4551438) [Link] | I need to be straightening up right now because OMFG Jacob is going to be here in 16 hours!!!!!!
But instead I'm reading old LJ entries...Jacob told me today that he'd read my old entries and they were moving. So I went back and read some. Wow, I'd forgotten how upset/weepy/broken up I was several months ago. I was barely holding it together from minute to minute I guess getting better, makes you forget how bad you were. It is nice to be better - no breaking down crying in the grocery checkout line. :P
Anyway, I found this quote and it is hilarious, I want to restate:
"......I did, however, buy some cheesecake brownies. Cheesecake brownies never judge. They never tell you that you have an anger problem. They never fit funny on you or tell you they just aren't willilng to work on the relationship anymore or are dry clean only. Cheesecake brownies *always* come in a 'tall'. They never destroy a whole roll of toilet paper for no reason besides they're bored. Cheesecake brownies *always* put you first, because you're worth it. They never set the machine to make 15 copies and then walk off without resetting it. They don't lay on your lap sleeping for an hour then wake up and bite you for no reason. No, they don't."
Ha! I am insanely funny.
I accidently deleted an entire payor at work today. You know, Devon Energy? Huge company, big employer in OKC? Yeah, our database doesn't, not anymore. Not now that the Shambler has gotten involved. They are not mad at me, but if IT cannot restore it from backup there is a possibility the rest of my temp assignment will be me rebuilding the record by hand. :\
But, that's not important. What's important is, OMFG Jacob will be here in 16 hours!!!1!!1!!!1!!!!
::scurries off to clean::
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02:39 pm
conatonc
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/6617622/1270301) [Link] |
Whoo, Fall Concerts!
So, this summer in Houston was extremely slow for concerts. There was even a Houston Press Cover Story examining why so many acts just skip town. After attending basically a show a week through March and April, I've been to exactly 3 Houston shows since May. Radiohead, Less Than Jake, and Tilly and the Wall. If I go to Nine Inch Nails in a couple weeks, that'll be 4. Not very good.
But since I got back from Comic-Con, the fall concert schedule has started to firm up. Currently, there are 8 Houston shows on my list from September through November, not to mention ACL in Austin at the end of September and the tentatively scheduled Roger Clyne 2-night stand at Gruene Hall in New Braunfels the next weekend. I'm pretty excited, because a lot of these are people I haven't seen since I moved to Texas. It's worth mentioning, though, that there's already one notable exception. I bought The Hold Steady's new album, Stay Positive, the first time I've really listened to them, and they're pretty fucking awesome. They're doing a full tour in support of the album in the early fall, and guess which Texas city they're skipping? Well, yes, San Antonio of course, but Houston, too. As usual, Dallas and Austin get shows, but even El Paso is getting to see The Hold Steady this fall. Not us here in H-town, though. Anyway, here's the list so far:
NIN- 8/16
Drive-By Truckers- 9/24
Flogging Molly- 9/25
ACL- 9/26-28
Roger Clyne- 10/3-4
Opeth- 10/17
Brave Combo (Dallas-based progressive polka group)- 10/18
Dredg- 10/23
Ben Folds- 10/24
Of Montreal- 11/12
You'll notice that the 10 days surrounding ACL and the Roger Clyne shows are insane. I really wanna see The Drive-By Truckers do a full show, but I also have to teach the next day, plus there's Flogging Molly the next day, then ACL the day after that.
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09:16 am
gobi
[Link] |
[Do] See you on the other side.
Taking mom to the hospital today, getting what has been described to me as a routine procedure. Hard to believe getting screws in your spine is routine, though. Science. Will be offline most of the day, planning to be there when she wakes up about eight hours later. [Update: She's okay. Groggy. Belligerent. Usual.]
Also taking this day off as opportunity to sit down somewhere and finish the next step in rewriting the long-delayed Do test flight document. Hopefully will have a complete, cohesive, all-in-one-place set of notes along with the outline and revised flowcharts for every procedure at every scale.
Tags: do, writing
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10:14 pm
gobi
[Link] |
[Running] Midsummer Night's Squeam
Funny what half an hour can do. Go out at 8:30 and it's the evening is starting to cool. Not too dark. People still out. A nice breeze.
Go out at 9 and the muggy pitch is only interrupted by swarms of gnats hovering, waiting to ambush your face and mouth.
My sweat is the frosting. Gnats are the sprinkles.
Had to cut the run short. Will try my luck tomorrow morning. For now, I will wash off the summer.
Tags: running
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02:52 pm
gobi
[Link] |
[Do] A little treat.
In case you need a bit of reference for what the skies of Do would look like at the far-reaches of temple's light.
Looks a lot like Maine, apparently.
Tags: do, media
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08:14 am
weaponx2032
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/72974119/287631) [Link] | So I stare at a pill. I know that when I take it, the stabby bitey pain in my humerus will go away. I also know that in several hours that the pill will wear off and the pain will return, which will require another pill. I take the pill, knowing that in the long-term it will do nothing to fix the cause of the pain, just help me believe that it is not there. Only time can heal this. Time and splints and casts. Until the pill kicks in I will feel every shift and movement of my poor broken bone in this splint and it will create pain that I have yet to experience before, pain that I have yet to overcome, pain that I don't know how to deal with. The pill slowly starts to take effect, the pain lessens, yet before it does I focus on it. I concentrate on the pain with every fiber of my being. I take note of where it hurts and how, and how I feel when it hurts a certain way, only then can I increase my threshold for suffering. Make myself stronger where I am weak. Prepare my mind for the next pitfall that will injure this vessel. Until this point I have had no major injuries, no serious ailments. This is new pain to me and I plan on beating it.
Pill kicked in fully. Pain gone. Back to Who.
Current Mood:  indifferent
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06:36 pm
conatonc
[Link] |
San Diego was Great!
Well, I'm back from a week in San Diego. It was so awesome to get there on Monday instead of Wednesday for a change. It allowed us time to do things in San Diego that didn't involve Comic-Con. After 5 years of going and often taking one extra day afterwards to do things in town, we got smart and did things in town before we were exhausted from the convention. On Sunday, my friend Jim called me up and we set up to meet the next day in town. Jim is one of my oldest friends (he's four days older than me and our parents put us together when we moved into the neighborhood when I was about 2), but we hadn't talked at all since I attended his wedding in San Antonio in 2002. Since then, he and his wife have moved to Virginia, finished their Air Force commitments, and moved to San Diego.
So Jim picked us up after we got settled in to the hotel on Monday and took us out to the beach. We spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach and swimming in the ocean. It was a beautiful, spectacular afternoon. We had an early dinner after that at Nick's, a restaurant in walking distance from the beach and recommended by Jim and his wife, Eddie. On Tuesday, we went to Sea World. We got there around noon, after navigating San Diego's trolley and bus system, and spent the rest of the day taking in shows and attractions. The best part may have been the last show we attended. The sea lion and otter show is a goofy comedy act during the day with a pair of super-talented sea lions, but in the evening they do a show that parodies the rest of the shows in the park. Since we had seen almost all of those shows, that last one made perfect sense and it was hilarious. I sort of bugged Judy and Jenn into leaving around 8:30 instead of waiting around for the fireworks show.
Wednesday, we considered going back to the beach, but ultimately decided to stay downtown and check out the Maritime Museum, something Jenn and I have been wanting to do for years. Turns out that besides a pair of tall ships, the museum also has a Soviet submarine and a couple of other boats. The submarine was an excellent surprise and fascinating to go through. The tall ships were also great. We had to cut the museum short a little early as I got a message from my friend Ryan, who had made it into town and was having lunch. We joined them later on and got to hang out and talk until it was time to start Comic-Con.
Comic-Con was great, as always, but I'm not going into deep detail here. I wrote about it on the SFCB and I'm doing a big feature piece for Popmatters.com about it, so I'll post the link when it goes up on the site. On Thursday, though, we got out of the convention and went to Old Town San Diego to do a ghost tour. It was a pretty cool walk through a part of town I'd never been to, although the ghost stories weren't very spooky. On our way back to the trolley, we caught the fireworks show from nearby Sea World. The one that starts at 9:50 every night that we didn't wait around for. It was over before 10:00, so we were very glad that we didn't wait around when we were there.
The last thing we were going to do on Sunday was take a shuttle from the Convention Center to see Coheed & Cambria play at a casino about 20 miles outside of town. But there was no shuttle to be found, after walking the perimeter of the building for 45 minutes and circling the entire thing 2.5 times. So Scott and I hooked back up with Judy and Jenn over at the nearby Seaport Village and had a relaxing evening instead. We got back on Monday afternoon, and I'm pretty much done for the summer now. I have two-and-a-half weeks left of vacation before I go back for a week of staff training, and then school is back on. The bummer is that Judy has to turn right around and leave for a week in Colorado tomorrow morning, so I'm gonna be a bit bored and lonely for the next week. But I'll deal.
Current Mood:  chipper
Current Music: Opiate for the Masses- Manifesto
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06:00 pm
fmphoenixhawk
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/9410046/1406133) [Link] |
So I've been given "A"
1. Reply to this post and I'll assign you a letter.
2. List 5 songs you like that start with that letter.
3. Post them to your journal with these instructions.
No order here...
1: AI Sentai Tachikomans (AI Combat Team Tachokomans) - It's silly fun
2: Amish Paradise - I like Weird Al.
3: Astral Voyage - We all need some peaceful music once in a while
4: Ain't My Bitch - METALLICAAA!
5: All God's People - Ahh, Queen.
Tags: more meme fun
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07:55 am
gobi
[Link] |
[Running] Back on schedule for the marathon.
I missed about a month of running because I was wrapping up a handful GenCon-deadline projects for Greg, John and Ryan. Now that my part of that heady chaos is complete, I can get back to the pre-marathon mileage training. If you recall, the goal of the training is to increase my mileage a little bit every week until 36 weeks from now, when I should be able run a full 26 miles.
Unfortunately, missing a month means that I have no more cushion-time between now and March. The full training program will take every week for the next seven months or so. I'm not sure what I'm going to do in winter when the ice is thick enough to skate on. Oh well, I'll run across that bridge when I come to it.
In any case, last week was all about just getting used to running at all. I didn't track my time and didn't run my usual route, so I wouldn't be compelled to keep a record. I know I am slower now than I was a month ago, but not terribly so. Plus, I don't seem to have gained much weight in the interim, which definitely helps keep a consistent pace.
This week I'm officially re-starting the mileage training program. Too much time has passed to start up where I was before and even then I missed and skipped so many days that I may as well re-start anyway.
For the morbidly curious, my running log is here.
P.S. Did I mention that once I run the marathon, I'm getting "26.2" tattooed in Helvetica Bold on my upper arm, with the date of the marathon below it?
And then each time I run another marathon, I'll add another date. It should look pretty cool.
Tags: running
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07:07 pm
gobi
[Link] |
Skype: SolisItalic
I'm finally on Skype. My name is SolisItalic. Ping me if you want to chat about Do or or just chillax.
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08:57 am
weaponx2032
[Link] | last night I got into a car accident.
Yes, i'm ok(only a fractured arm)
No, I wasn't the driver
No, I don't wish to talk about it
and sadly, this means I will not be attending D-Con.
and it was my right arm. so this post was brought to you by Mr. Lefty
In good news, I get percosets.
Now, time for Dr. Who.
Current Mood:  sore
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02:11 am
shadmere
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/7364964/1353262) [Link] |
Heh
Your results:
You are Apocalypse
| Apocalypse |
| 67% |
| Dr. Doom |
| 67% |
| Lex Luthor |
| 62% |
| Juggernaut |
| 48% |
| Mr. Freeze |
| 47% |
| Magneto |
| 44% |
| Kingpin |
| 44% |
| Venom |
| 30% |
| Green Goblin |
| 28% |
| Dark Phoenix |
| 27% |
| The Joker |
| 26% |
| Poison Ivy |
| 21% |
| Mystique |
| 20% |
| Catwoman |
| 17% |
| Two-Face |
| 16% |
| Riddler |
| 11% |
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You believe in survival of the fittest and you believe that you are the fittest.
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Click here to take the Super Villain Personality Test
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11:04 pm
rowangirl
[Link] |
Fin
Today was the last day of Comic Con. I survived! I ended up not even going inside the convention center today, there wasn't really anything left that I felt like I needed to do there. Instead, Jenn and I walked around a little tourist shopping plaza for most of the day. We had a really nice time as it's very cute and the weather was nice and cool. I bought way too much stuff (including a kick ass hat) but I don't feel horribly guilty since I didn't really buy much at the Con for myself. Before today, most of the stuff that I'd bought had been for Evelyn!
The convention itself was pretty interesting. I really enjoyed the panels that we saw, but unfortunately getting into those panels can present a bit of a problem. Jenn and I stood in line for two hours (TWO HOURS!) to see The Office and Pushing Daisies panels. That's just not right. The problems are many, and I don't really feel like getting into it here, but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any kind of easy solution. I think that the best solution would be cutting down on the number of tickets that they sell, but they aren't going to do that since they'd lose money. We did see some great panels though. My favorites were Dr Who, Dr Horrible, and Mythbusters.
Oh! We also got to see the guys from MST3K doing a live riffing of a movie at a local theater! It was amazingly awesome. I was laughing so hard a some points that I thought I'd never be able to stop. I really hope that they do more of those. The movie was "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and it was not nearly as horrible as people had lead me to believe. I've see much worse movies (unfortunately). I think that "Manos: The Hands of Fate" was much more unwatchable.
This whole trip has been good, but honestly I think that the first two days were my favorite. Chilling out on the beach, feeling the warm sand, and soaking up the sand was a wonderfuly relaxing experience. I felt just as good after that as I do after a great massage. If I lived somewhere with such a great beach, I would be there all the time. I can totally understand why people become beach bums. Jumping and playing in the waves was also a lot of fun. I honestly can't remember the last time I laughed so much not because something was funny, but just because I was so happy. Sea World was also a blast, I really enjoyed the shows a lot more than I thought I would, and seeing the animals was great. Honestly, I would come back out to San Diego every year just to be a tourist even if Comic Con wasn't going on.
I got some sad news this morning, my grandmother on my dad's side passed away earlier today. It really didn't come as a surprise, and while it's sad, I think that this was really the best thing that could have happened to her at this point. She's had so many strokes that I've lost count and she wasn't herself anymore. I was talking to my dad about it a couple weeks ago and he said that there is no way she'd want to be alive in the condition that she was in. I think that she's much happier where ever she is now, and hopefully she's with my Granddad again. It always sounded like they really loved each other.
I hate to leave this on such a down note, so I'll add that I'm really looking forward to seeing Evelyn again. There are babies and toddlers all over the place here! I'm constantly surprised by how many small children are around in the middle of down town. Apparently San Diego is having a little baby boom. I seem to be far enough removed from Evelyn being tiny that babies are adorable again. I've found myself staring at them when we go out to eat and walk down the street. I'm starting to feel that tugging feeling in my chest again, but there is no way that I'm having another kid any time soon. My biological clock will just have to shut the hell up for a while. I'm the last one out of my Mommy Friends to get the Baby Itch again though. Three of them already have another one and two more are trying! Crazy.
Anyway, I should really go make sure that I have everything ready for tomorrow morning. Hugs all around!
Current Mood:  thoughtful
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02:27 pm
gobi
[Link] |
DIY Bachelor Curtains!
I think my camera has uttered its last breath, so no pics for this little project. But...
The infernal dayball is stabbing its burdensome rays into your home. Stab stab stabbity stab with these rays. Time for some curtains.
I'm frugal about home furnishings though, so I decided to finally get some use out of those yards of fabric months ago. I've also got a fistful of 1.5" nails, several yards of thin hemp rope, and jumbo binder clips.
Hammer the nails at the corners of the windows. Extend the rope between the nails, overlapping two or three times. Tie a knot so that the rope is nice and taut between the nails. Fabric is heavier than you think.
Grab your fabric, cut to the proper dimensions to cover the whole window, plus about three inches on either side and three inches at the top. Fold in the left side and the right side to cover up your sloppy cuts. Then fold the top edge over the rope, again to cover up your sloppy cut along that side. What you're doing here is making a half-assed curtain hem, without sewing anything. 'Cause I'm crap at sewing. :P
The folding-over-the-top process might be tricky if you're doing this on your own, so you might have to do one corner at a time. In any case, when you've got the top edge folded over the rope, keep it there with a jumbo binder clip. Do the same on the other corner and, if necessary, put one more binder clip in the middle.
When you fasten the binder clip over the fabric, don't get the rope sandwiched between the fabric and the clip. You want to be able to pull the curtain open to the left or right and those binder clips will let you do it. Kinda like shower curtain eyelets.
I just did this process to make curtains for my living room, bedroom and in a hallway. The hallway in particular looks pretty decent for a bachelor pad.
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11:40 am
karen25
[Link] | Why can't I be a sexy female villain? Why do I have to be Dr. Doom? I was hoping for Dark Phoenix. ::pouts::
Your results:
You are Dr. Doom
| Dr. Doom |
| 83% |
| Green Goblin |
| 72% |
| Lex Luthor |
| 68% |
| Poison Ivy |
| 67% |
| Apocalypse |
| 66% |
| Catwoman |
| 64% |
| Mystique |
| 64% |
| Magneto |
| 61% |
| Mr. Freeze |
| 57% |
| Two-Face |
| 56% |
| Riddler |
| 47% |
| Kingpin |
| 47% |
| Juggernaut |
| 44% |
| The Joker |
| 42% |
| Dark Phoenix |
| 36% |
| Venom |
| 33% |
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Blessed with smarts and power but burdened by vanity.
 |
Click here to take the Supervillain Personality Quiz
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11:13 am
gobi
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/62177431/20459) [Link] |
[Do] Are pilgrims from the worlds or the temple?
In the current draft, a pilgrim is a child who has come to the temple before the age at which the temple elders would allow them to willingly become a monk. In order to make that decision with the full breadth of understanding of what that decision means, the child is told to go on a pilgrimage, help people, and experience the world.
I wrote this so that starting characters would have some Worldly bonds when they begin their pilgrimage. The character creation process begins with a flashback to your childhood before arriving at the temple.
Exploring the developing outline, I'm seeing more clearly the reasons why I was doubting this structure at first. In older drafts, I never addressed a childhood before coming to the temple. I added in that bit so there'd be some connection to the worlds that would create some motivation to leave the temple after the pilgrimage.
Unfortunately, this creates some initial steps where you have to know a bit more about the setting and prolongs the tutorial. The former is something I'd been trying to avoid from the very inception of the game. The latter isn't necessarily a bad thing on its own, but I'm having trouble smoothly parceling out the basic system into increments for the tutorial and having one less step might make that easier.
As mentioned in this post, Ryan and I figured out a fairly elegant engine for creating Worldly bonds in play, so that's one less reason, y'know?
Okay, so this is the decision I have to make:
- Pilgrims are worldly children who, for whatever reason, have found their way to the temple. They're raised until their teen years, the Age of Choices. At that point they must go on a pilgrimage before they can decide to become a monk.
- Pro: This gives an opportunity for players to inject a bit of the setting into their characters. After describing their childhood and what forced them to leave, each character gets a couple Worldly bonds.
- Pro: The "for whatever reason" bit has created a variety of orphans, castaways, exiles, and runaways. Sometimes it's a bit of a stretch, though.
- Pro: There is a whole universe of character options. You can have the full Green Lantern Corps with regular humanoids teaming up with flying eyeballs, bird-people and dragonfolk.
- Con: There is a whole universe of character options. Unless there is some initial discussion at the beginning of the first session, players may make wildly incongruous characters.
- Con: I have a natural inclination towards minimalist design, so removing this step from the tutorial is very tempting. The only thing that this tutorial step gives you is a Worldly bond, which is just elegantly created in-play.
- Con: If characters come from the worlds, then players have to learn about the worlds. From the inception of this game, I wanted to avoid making players read lengthy "Setting" chapters before being able to play.
- Pilgrims are children born and raised in the temple until their teen years, at which point they must go on a pilgrimage to make up for their lack of worldly experience before they can decide to become a monk.
- Pro: It makes it easier to come up with a character concept because you don't have a whole universe to choose from.
- Pro: The whole group of pilgrims have probably known each other their whole lives.
- Pro: Pilgrims won't have a worldly name. I don't have to worry about proper names anymore. :P
- Con: Pilgrims won't have a worldly name. She'd just be "Pilgrim Fiery Horse" rather than "Pilgrim Lei Shen, the Fiery Horse."
- Con: You won't get as many characters with crazy funkiness.
- Con: With no initial bonds to the worlds, is there any real player motivation to help anyone? (Maybe I'm cynical for thinking that way.)
- Compromise: Keep Option 1 in the background material, but design the character creation process so that it begins after the children arrive at the temple.
- Pro: I don't have to go into much mechanical detail about the pre-temple childhood. With that lack of mechanical attention, players who want loopy Worldly characters can do so while those who wish for Templeborn characters can have those, too.
- Con: This feels like a copout, that I should stick to one idea and be that. Just mentioning the life before the temple is opening a can of worms, especially if it gets no mechanical attention.
Tags: do
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11:10 pm
fmphoenixhawk
[Link] |
Hmmm...
Your results:
You are Apocalypse
| Apocalypse |
| 83% |
| Dr. Doom |
| 74% |
| Magneto |
| 74% |
| Venom |
| 72% |
| Mr. Freeze |
| 71% |
| Juggernaut |
| 71% |
| Lex Luthor |
| 61% |
| Kingpin |
| 56% |
| The Joker |
( Evil! )
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Tags: muahahahahaha!
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08:50 pm
raykat
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/69770652/1320434) [Link] |
Relevant icon is relevant
So, it's been a while since I've done a real entry here. Life's been very meh.
Saw The Dark Knight last weekend. It was, as many have said, awesome.
But is it time for Batman to tone it down a bit? :O
I don't recall Batman being a knife-user in any incarnation I've ever heard of, so idk where that part of the vid came from. Somewhere Dark Knight Joker is complaining about his bit getting stolen. Or LOLing over it.
In not so awesome news, I got a ticket the other day. This is... not good.
See, I've got a bunch of points on my license. One might be inclined to suggest I have something of a speeding problem, though I would argue that I do not drive fast unless road/traffic conditions actually allow for it. If you are composing a lecture for me while reading this, I ask that you save your time, please. Trust me, I've heard it all before multiple times from EVERYONE, okay? >.<
Anyway, because of the many points on the license, I'm worried I might end up with a suspended license for several months to year, and since public transportation in my area is virtually nonexistent and I must drive in order to work anywhere, I'm sort of freaking out. And I can't take a class to get out the points because I already did that earlier for another citation earlier this year. Because of this I'm thinking of hiring a traffic lawyer this time, because, yeah, I am that desperate. I'll report back on how that works out.
Has anyone ever tried this? How'd it go?
Also, that cop was a jerk. But then again, they usually are. Honestly now. We had pulled into a parking lot and weren't on the road, so there was not enough road noise to justify YELLING at me as soon as he cop-walks up to the rolled down window. "IS EVERYTHING OKAY, MA'AM? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Thank you for the sarcastic melodrama, Officer. I kind of wish I'd been composed enough to respond: "Quite frankly, no, sir. I'm running a bit late to work and have severe menstrual pains. Think Carrie. That was probably more than you really cared to hear, but I've always been told it's best to be truthful with officers of the law and you DID ask."
Current Mood: blah
Current Music: Sting - "Shape of My Heart"
Tags: movies, real life
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