So.

Newfangled cell phone (I have entered the 21st century! What do all these buttons do?!), Soul Calibur III for five bucks, and an awesome night out with friends, which was filled with Repo: The Genetic Opera, and for some reason Ronald Reagan.

Today was a good day, oh hells yes.




... Neil Patrick Harris as a Batman villain! Batman musical numbers!

I dreamed last night that I was in Toronto with a few friends. We slept over at this dark, mildly creepy hotel (that I'm pretty sure was influenced by the one I used to work at), and in the morning, we went to this crazy donut shop that sold the mother - nay, the LORD of all cinnamon buns. It was huge, about twice the size of a regular donut, and it had warm chocolate drizzled on top. The korean lady behind the counter (again, probably an echo of my old boss) was yelling at me about something, even though I'd already paid, and eventually I had to pull a runner and bolt out of the store, with this crazy Korean lady chasing after me and yelling obscenities.

Ok, enough about the cinnamon bun, the point is that I was very disappointed when I woke up back in my bed in my dinky little room in Halifax.

BUT! The dream has done one thing, it's solidified my resolve to save up and travel. I'm going to Toronto, dammit! And other places after that! I don't care if the city won't match up with my biased, overly-optimistic memories from my last visit, it could be a dingy little smog-filled hellhole for all I care, but it has at least two good friends and my brother there (not to mention a few Broadway shows and a subway system!), which is enough to recommend it alone.

Important lessons learned this week: LISTEN TO YOURSELF and belieeeeeeve~ because otherwise you will end up screwing yourself over and kicking yourself for eternity.

I have twenty minutes 'til Canada Day is over, so I'm posting this while I can!



Spent the day sleeping, watching Freakazoid DVD commentaries, sleeping, more sleeping, watched some fireworks, and then caught a bit of the timely Due South marathon on CMT. I'd stay up and watch the rest, but... work tomorrow, agggh. At least I only have five more days until I'm free from chambermaiding, but that's another journal entry in itself.

Stupid neighbourhood fireworks going off and making me all paranoid... stupid local shooting incidents that are making me paranoid about local fireworks!!

I don't write in this much anymore, but there are times when something pisses you off so hugely that you need someplace to vent. Given that it's the middle of the afternoon, and there's nobody around to rant to, I'm going to have to do it in here. This isn't going to be a very coherent rant, because I'm not very good at marshaling my thoughts together when I'm foaming at the mouth, and there's a good chance that this is going to spiral off into a whole other tangent, but anyway.

First, check out this article: Dear Pixar, From All the Girls with Band-Aids on Their Knees

Then, check out CartoonBrew's entry about it. Read the comments, if you're in the mood to get angry: Dear Pixar, How About a Chick Flick?

( The Rant Ensues )

So it's been a little over two weeks since I've moved back to Halifax. I haven't written anything here in forever because... well, nothing's been going on, really. I'm on the job hunt, have a new haircut and coat, and have accumulated a stack of library books that practically reaches my ceiling (Jack of Fables! <3).

More to the point, now that I'm back in Halifax and all settled in, does anyone want to hang out? This goes for anyone and everyone in the area, regardless of how well we know each other.

You never realize how deeply ingrained certain habits are until you try to quit 'em. I decided to stop biting my nails, and I've been doing pretty well for the last few days, but... jeez, I didn't realize how unconscious the response was. I'll get stressed out, anxious, nervous or even just bored, and then suddenly I've got half my fist crammed in my mouth. Not cool, brain! Not cool!

From now on, I'm carrying a pencil or pen to click, a glob of clay to moosh around, and a nail file in case any of my nails get roughed up and I get the urge to start gnawing away at them. It's like a breaking-the-habit utility belt or something. As long as I have something for my hands to play with, I'll be ok.

woke up at 6:30. Had class at 8:30 where a VERY IMPORTANT ASSIGNMENT was due by 9:00. Checked mail at 7:00 - no warnings about school being closed because of the weather. Had breakfast. Checked mail at 7:30. Still no warnings. Turn computer off, take a shower, get dressed. 8:00. Drag carcass out of apartment. Long, cold walk to school. Building is completely shut down, lights off, doors locked. Long, cold, severly PO'd walk back home. Check mail.

School closed. Mail sent at 8:10.

... my liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiife.

... back to sleep now. Ugh.

Coraline Coraline Coraline Coraline Coraliiiiiiiiine~!

I'm so very very glad that I finally got to see this movie. Beautiful, eerie, terrifying, colourful, intelligent, fun, everything that I wanted to see and more. I love it when movies are even better than I hoped they'd be, especially given how rare it is to see a quote-unquote "kid's movie" that doesn't completely patronize its audience.

Off to do fanart~!

I'm listening to an epic instrumental number called 'Seize the Artifact for Tallness'. This will never stop making me grin.

... also, DAMN YOU TRURO FOR ONLY KEEPING CORALINE IN THEATRES FOR TWO WEEKS! ARRRGH!

Tried out some yoga today, which made my back and shoulders very unhappy with me. That in itself is reason enough to keep going to the classes, as one of the roomies pointed out, although the new-agey vibe of it all was very bizzare to me. Everyone in my family is an aethiest, and any kind of spiritual stuff with chakras or healing crystals or whatever was either laughed at, dismissed, or frowned on. I still remember my mum flipping out at me when she found a book on Wicca under my pillow in junior high. I'm too skeptical to believe in this stuff, but I can definitely see the appeal. It's not going to be easy to get used to a class that sings 'the sunshine song' at the end of every lesson, but I need to do something about my muscles and slouching, or else I'm going to turn into a hunchback. Plus, it gives me something else to do at school on Tuesdays. Maybe I'll start hitting up the gym, too.

... I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can be done with school and back in Halifax by the end of April. The next two months can't go by quickly enough!! Halifax is looking better and better every day, since people actually, y'know, salt their sidewalks there, and you can get across town without paying for a cab or driving a car.

One more clay keychain update for the road! I think I'm going to start selling these guys online once I can go to Micheals again and get some more professional looking rings, because the paperclip rings aren't very appealing.

Tonight, I completely and utterly failed at baking cupcakes. Note to self: 1/2 a cup of shortening does not mean 'misread the recipe and use an entire cup'. The end results taste sickly sweet and oily, kind of like deep-fried pancakes.

At first I was pretty down about it, mostly because I hate screwing up and looking like an idiot in front of the roomies, but the cupcakes failed so much that it's actually kind of funny, in an OH GOD WHY kind of way. These cupcakes are a crime against humanity and shortening.

Ah well. The next batch will be edible, since we did everything else in the recipe correctly. I think I always have to fail massively at something once or twice before I can get it right.

( More clay keychain thingies under the cut! )

In other news, I think I've lost another USB stick, and can't find my tablet pen. This is getting ridiculous... I'm seriously considering getting any new USB sticks surgically grafted to my skin, it seems like the only way I'm guaranteed not to lose them.

So on the one hand, I fried up some steak for dinner tonight and had fun going "MWAHAHAHAARR, I SHALL FEAST ON THE BLOOD OF THE INNOCENTS" while draining off the excess meatjuice into the sink. On the other hand, I turned what was once a fairly reasonable piece of meat into a charred lump that basically tasted like a soggy leather boot.

I am displeased, and also need to learn how to cook properly. That supper was pretty revolting.

... This post may or may not have been an excuse to use this icon.

Just as a warning, my parents got me a camera for Christmas, so there'll be some unrestrained camwhoring in this journal. Not Myspace-style camwhoring, thank god, but it's the first time I've been set loose on the world with a camera, and I'm making the most of it.

Anyway, I'm all signed up and getting ready for Animaritime 2009, and have been working on dinky little Nintendo-themed clay charms to put on keychains and cell phone straps. Hopefully they'll go over well in Artist's Alley; the clay Kodama figures that we made last year were pretty popular, so I thought I'd try making something that was a little more functional. It feels great to be working with clay again.

( Photos under here )

Oh! Oh! Oh! Check out this magnificent bastard! He's my new roomie.



I found this big lug in my bed after getting home from Bolt over Christmas break. It was great timing, since the movie, while hilarious and adorable, really made me miss Ruby. This picture doesn't get the full size of the ginormous plushie across, he's easily big enough to take up half my bed. Turns out my second cousin won this guy in a contest, and dropped it off at our house. I was nominated as the one to take him home, because my parents weren't gonna keep him around the house, and Ben can't very well take him on the plane. I'm thinking of making him pay some of my rent.