Hey, so, if people are coming out to southern CA in July of 2010, like say for a wedding or something, and you want to go to Comic Con later that week, Comic Con 2010 single day memberships go on sale today.

Given how quickly 4 day memberships sold out, you may want to purchase early.

1) I am making brine for my turkey. Water, apple juice, salt, rosemary, garlic, brown sugar, bay leaves, and peppercorns. it smells amazing.

2) I'm not gonna lie, I'm seriously thinking of wearing these: http://www.converse.com/#/products/shoes/chucktaylor/112491 as my wedding shoes.

3) I got new books!

4) Also, I get to go christmas decorating shopping for the first time on Sunday! It is very exciting.

5) You guys.

I just want it to be said that dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets are made of win. They are much better than boring nugget shaped nuggets and infinitely tastier than creepy Mickey Mouse Head shaped nuggets.

Plus, I like to pretend the tyrannosaurus rex nuggets are really raptors. GRAR!

also, I am out of tea, earl grey hot. >:(

um. there was something else I was going to say, but I have forgotten it in the time it took me to make the frowny face.

OH. Now I remember! Y'all, 4 day memberships with preview night for Comic Con 2010 are ALL SOLD OUT. ALREADY. 4 day memberships are still available, though. So, you know, for the people who uh, were maybe coming out here in July for Nerdtopia Does Giant Party With Maybe Some Vows Thrown In who want to do Comic Con as well might want to start looking at passes. :D? :D?

also, on an unrelated to most of this note: you guys, HOW AWESOME IS SUPERMAN, HUH? I MEAN, SERIOUSLY. ALSO, I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE ELSE THINKS, MARK WAID, BIRTHRIGHT IS FABULOUS. A++++ work. I like it better than Kingdom Come (what? I DO. Because you know who's utterly amazing in Birthright? LOIS FUCKING LANE. THAT'S WHO. ALSO THE KENTS. AND ALSO CLARK. AND JIMMY. AND PERRY. AND SUPES.)

as you were.

protip: rum cake is amazing.

also, so so so many people fail at understanding the basics of capitalism that it constantly amazes me. i'm not saying capitalism uber alles or anything, but jeez oh pete's, it is not actually a crime for a company to want to make money off their product.

an in conclusion: Ruthie Henshall is awesome.

grown up stuff is hard. especially coupled as it is with laziness and being anti social. As for example!

1) Nerdtopia now has an extra freezer. Why? The primary reasons are twfold:
a) So we can buy a 1/4 of a cow and thus have various cuts of meat for aaaaaaages.
b) Fewer trips to costco.

The boything will say that the other reason we got it was so he could have giant tubs of ice cream, which barely fit in the freezer we had before.

I will say that the other reason we got it is so I can pre-make things like casseroles and cookie dough and biscuits and chicken broth and save things like vegetable ends for the making of the aforementioned chicken broth.

We are also trying exciting adventures in preparing ziplock bags of meat in combinations we use frequently. So about 1/2 lb of ground turkey, some strips of bacon, and half a kielbasa sausage thing for when we make chili. We are seeing if this helps with the prep time later on.

Um, on a similar note: seriously, what do I *do* with ground meat? Chili, meatloaf, salisbury steak, meatballs, spaghetti sauce, sloppy joes...we eat them all and they are all delicious, but my brain, it is running out of things to make.

2) We also have a new dishwasher. The dishwasher that came with the house worked, but kind of sucked. Then it started leaking, we think because it was improperly installed. So then we stopped using it and it turned out to be a decent drying rack for dishes. However it also turns out that while my mom and family never use dishwashers, I am just lazy enough to not want to wash the ninety BILLION dishes we somehow generate in a very small amount of time.

3) I also bought a bin for flour. And one for sugar /o\ Because apparently i cannot stop baking. And also 40 lbs of multigrain allpurpose flour and 25 lbs of sugar to fill them.
/o\ x100000000.

4) We went to the farmer's market for the first time, since we have mutually decided to incorporate more vegetables into our lives. Me for the iron and the general desire to be healthier and him 'cause uh, well. 'Cause he likes them, coupled with some form of meat and also salt. Things were so cheap! Also, I got apple butter! and some tasty rosemary sourdough. and some delicious delicious orange juice. Anyway. Lots of stuff, all of it looked good, and we're going to go back when we've run out of the stuff we already bought. But there were lots of people and I maybe got a little overstimulated.

5) I have bought many cookbooks! And by many, I mean 4. Two by Alton Brown (I'm Just Here for the Food and I'm Just Here for More Food, which are less cookbooks and more like a handy guide into HOW cooking and baking work, a Better Homes and Gardens one that was on sale in the bargain section of Borders, and also The Pioneer Woman Cooks. 'cause uh, she makes food that the boything likes and also that I like because there are pictures of what the stages should look like. I'm thinking I might try the America's Test Kitchen books next. Or that How to Cook Everything book. Or I shall just continue to use allrecipes.com.

Um. That is it, really. Hi guys, how are you?

also, video game rec, for the no one that is interested:

Borderlands is a FPS/RP hybrid in the style of Diablo II. Apparently what this means is that it is addictive like crack and has randomized loot.

hm. SGU is growing on me. I don't know how much of that is that I intensely disliked BOTH Jack/Daniel and McKay/Sheppard and this show doesn't have any of that to get into my way and how much of it is that everyone on that ship is faily in some way and they all know it and are still trying to make the best of a bad situation and being faily while doing that AND the lack of a bailout from earth -- iow, the show I signed up for when I was watching SGA.

Also, I really appreciate the fact that we will say something while watching the show like "WTF SUN?!?" and then the show will have a character that goes "WTF SUN?!?" and then I am made happy! Or all the times people in the show will voice, "Wow, this is Plan Stupid from Outer Space" and also the people who died. What are we, at 4 in a total of 4-5 episodes? Awesome.

so, anyway, I like it. It sufficiently amuses me to keep watching.

Though it is not very stargate-y. I still give them props for trying something new when it would have been very easy to fall back on the tried and true.

fox1013 says pretty much everything I think about Glee and she is much better at expressing things, so you should go read her. This includes my opinion of the last episode, "Mash-up," which mostly made me go like this: >:(

The only thing I want to say about the episode is that it was a TERRIBLE musical. All the others have been pretty excellent about having music that furthered the plot while also being, you know, SINGING AND DANCING YAY, but this episode was just...not good.

Also, Finn made me all >:( too. But my tinhats are all still firmly in place.

ALSO, THEIR VERSION OF "HATE ON ME" MADE ME REALLY HAPPY. LIKE THIS: :D :D :D :D :D with some dancing.

So, it turns out that I will be GMing (for the first time zomg) a new Shadowrun campaign while our current GM takes a break from trying to kill us horribly.

I have never GMed before. And I'm not actually sure how to do it. So, any advice would be awesome. :D?

aaaaaaaaaagh things that force me to make decisions aaaaaaaagh

I HAVE ACHIEVED FLUFFY BISCUITS.

Music that is currently making me happy:

Queen: The Platinum Collection (esp. Disc 1) - (there's a reason any CD left in the car for a sufficiently long time turns into Queen's greatest hits)

Bon Jovi: esp Slippery When Wet. And Blaze of Glory.

Styx: esp "Renegade"

Foreigner. "I want to know what love is." Because um. because i like singing it really loudly while cleaning my kitchen. /o\

Journey: Journey's Greatest Hits.

eta: Also! Shamelessly! "All For Love" by Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, and Sting.

eta2: WHAT WON'T MEATLOAF DO FOR LOVE?

um. what's making you happy today?

my kitchen smells strongly of vinegar, as I have found that vinegar cleans just about everything. And between them, a paste of baking soda and water cleans off stuff that has baked onto my cooktop and grease spatters from things like bacon (we like bacon here A LOT), but leave streaky residue (oh noes!) behind. Vinegar cleans that. Also, it cleans my drains! and my big green container full of ice tea...stuff. We make iced tea 2.5 gallons at a time and store it in a green plastic 5 gallon thing, and after a while, stuff settles to the bottom and cakes on and is kind of icky, so that needs to get cleaned.

I'm also apparently in some kind of fanatical nesting phase, 'cause it's after 2 am and I'm seriously considering cleaning the bathroom.

the boy and his friend are playing Dead Space: Extraction which is doing some very interesting thing with game storytelling, given that it is a prequel to Dead Space, and thus we all know how this story has to end.

Our other friend is sitting across the table GMing her V:tM game and I am here talking to you guys.

MOAR ABOUT NESTING: I'm also getting kind of weirdly fanatical about putting my flour/cornmeal/baking stuff into airtight containers on my counter. All I lack now is a spice rack, and the boything is determined to get that for me soon.

ALSO! I got a nylon scrubby brush thing which makes me feel much better about doing dishes, because now it's not quite as icky.

that is my exciting evening, you guys.

I have an excellent sweet cornbread recipe! but I want a savory one too.

ALSO, I HAS A NEW CAST IRON SKILLET. I AM VERY EXCITED. AS I'M SURE YOU COULD TELL FROM THE CAPS.

CAST IRON SKILLET YAY!

Remain awesome, dude, seriously.

Love,
S.

*

Dear World (where by World, in this case, I mean Australia):

...REALLY?

No love,
S.

wow, this is a darker show than either of its predecessors.

we here in nerdtopia are reserving judgment. So far, I like: Nerd Boy! Young Hot Officer Dude! Ming Na! The Crazy Dude! The Stoic Guy in Charge!

I do not like: the medic! Robert Carlyle.

uh. other than that, we mostly talked about how it was visually very different.

javert, most interesting character in Les Miserables, y/y?

So, we tried running the revamped Ony 25 after midnight with a randomly pulled together group of guildmates and that went about as well as could be expected. The big adds during Phase 2 killed us after we got Onyxia back on the ground.

At least none of us died to Deep Breaths!

Also, I forgot I had been trying to level my one-handed maces, and so I had a crappy crappy one handed mace as my weapon instead of my two handed Staff of the Sorrowful Chieftan. Ooops.

for many and various reasons, we have (apparently) abandoned our GURPS campaign (awesome system! highly recommended! especially if you like ridiculously overpowered characters) and have, instead, picked up Shadowrun 4th Ed as our current game.

AHAHAHAHAHAHA OMG.

So, my character is basically half japanese, half persian, and what would happen if Parker from Leverage and Fiona from Burn Notice had a love child by way of Dexter Morgan (she's also ex military, cybered out the wazoo, and has inappropriately violent reactions to emotional stress since she doesn't know how to cope with squishy feelings in any other way but berserking). In two game sessions/three adventures, she's picked up 2 long knives, 2 swords, 2 heavy pistols, 1 shot gun, 1 submachine gun, 1 sniper rifle, 4 grenades, and killed like 6 people (antagonists), 18 zombies, headshot but did not kill another guy, and our group of three has blown up a hotel room (to the tune of 1.2 million nu-yen), burned down a bar, blown up 2 police cars, and stolen 3 cars from a used car lot.

I'm so entertained, I can't even tell you.

So, my characters to date:
Twi'lek space hooker!
Pseudo roman female cavalry officer!
Crazy street samurai!

(I always, always play female characters. Apparently I also have a tendency to want to play slightly damaged, highly pragmatic characters who like to dual wield weapons very very quickly.)

-That the world is full of hypocritical assholes.

It's good to know that when someone is an asshole and apologizes SINCERELY multiple times without trying to justify it -- just straight up says "I was wrong for what I did and I am sorry" -- that as a society we go, LOL YOU'RE AN ASSHOLE and just ignore it.

Because no one else in the world has ever been an asshole or done something that hurt someone else.

Fuck you world. I hope the next time you do something that requires an apology, everyone just throws it back in your face.

1) ran heroic TOC 5 man. Learned that I am not really a good raider at all. Or...well. A good player. Things get confusing, I rarely know which way I am facing, and then there is a large repair bill at the end because I don't recognize "the green stuff" when I am standing in it.

2) loremaster is a pain in the ass to get.

3) we almost did For the Horde, except the raid leader failed at recruiting healers and then didn't listen when the 4-5 people who'd done the raid before recommended starting anywhere but Darnassus and Exodar. Whatever. I'll get my black war bear eventually.

4) I'm really amazingly terrible at being a kitty druid. Sadly, boomkin/casters in general bore me, I find being a tank amazingly dull, and healing also seems to be beyond me. Possibly I should just l2play.

5) Grunty, the murloc marine, and the zergling pet will fight if they are near each other. Awesome or AWESOMEST?

in unrelated news, DEAR POTC4, YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD TO ME.

in not really related but somewhat amusing news, I like my new SC2 icon:

the last of the five things!

( from lj user = trcunning, five things patrick wishes would fit on the tour bus but don't )

( from donella, top five best animals )

please to keep making me happy with people saying mean things to each other and then singing and sometimes dancing and doing hilariously inappropriate things.

also: kanye west.

and I see on the soundtrack listing that "Hate on Me" is on there. A++++++

<3

s.

Hardison and the Leverage gang vs The Shady World to "Hate on Me"

in my head, it is very fun.

i'm a little drunk! wooooooo! not a lot. just a little. ANYWAY. (I was drunk at the beginning of writing this post. That was on Thursday night.)

Things I find ridiculously charming from work: "I would have kicked him in the no nos."

ETA: Tricia Helfer is playing Sarah Kerrigan/the Queen of Blades in SC2! Andrea Romano did the voice direction!

Five things listy whatsits!

from pearl_o:
( five things i love best about roy harper )

( five vids I'd like to see )

from annaalamode
( five reasons I (Sheila) should make a piloticians vid for anna to regulate (for her birthday) )

( five reasons to be a nerd )

( top five all time comic con moments )

( top five fave Kevin Smith characters )

and now I am going to post, because otherwise I will forget. I have some more lists to do, though.

man, it's been hard staying quiet.

WOOOOO CATACLYSM WOOOOOOO.

NGL, it looks amazing.

top five things blah blah?

(bored and at work)

a vid for a show that deals with time travel (SCC, Daybreak, SG*, etc) to the song "Shadows of Tomorrow" by Madvillain. It would be very offputting and interesting.

Reading! I've been doing a fair amount of this, also playing Starcraft.

Have Read:
Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Allison Goodman- I loved the storytelling and then went *facepalm* at the hamhandedness of the metaphors. But you know, it has a duel weapon wielding ass kicking girl, some dragons, some kind of suspicious but well-meaning Set In Pseudo China, and a LOT of gender. Female lead, a main trans character, some interesting hints at complex sexualities. Interesting treatment of differently abled people. It's also, plot-wise, VERY predictable. Like, predictable to the point where knowing the premise pretty much let you know what was going to happen through to the end of the book.

Some ARC I got of an Ilona Andrews book - meh. I got bored 3 pages in. I didn't like her other series, but this one was free and I was like, "Well, maybe I just didn't like her other characters..." and no, it just turns out I think her books are boring.

Fire by Kristin Cashore - I really liked it! fox1013, I am totally good to talk about it now!

Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey. YAY.

Am Reading:
The Faded Sun Trilogy - CJ Cherryh. As near as I could tell, it was about space ninjas, and also I really liked 40000 in Gehenna.

One More Bite - Jennifer Rardin. Vampire assassins for the CIA! It is still amusing!

Rosemary and Rue by an author whose name escapes me but it is an ARC and it is in my room far far away.

Quiver - Kevin Smith. Because Arrow Family is the second DCU family of my heart. Also, because it is the Speedys Kick Ass Show.

Upcoming Reading:
Banewreaker duology by Jacqueline Carey. I really liked this set the first time I read it and want to know if it holds up to rereading for me.

Nightworld, vol. 3 - LJ Smith. I got it for free at Comic Con!

Books of Magic - Neil Gaiman. Because I just realized I had it.

Romance novels by Nalini Singh (yay!), Julia Quinn (semi yay! So far, I have not liked anything quite as much as her Bridgerton books), Stephanie Laurens (IDEK. Let's just leave it there), Mary Balogh (I like to read hers when I want to cry!), and Loretta Chase.

eta: I still think my Roy mix was one of the best fanmixes I've ever made. (if I still had webspace, I'd reupload the music. Oh well)