Classic Games

Cousins can teach you all sorts of things. Movies your parents will never let you see, a new set of video games, and how much fun you can have with a simple stick...i mean magic powerful staff of awesomeness.

My cousins lived on the side of a large hill, surrounded by forests, coyotes, free roaming deer, and it was almost a mile from the main road to their house. Their "driveway" was where i first learned to drive despite the constant jostling of potholes in their gravel road as we announced our arrival with a glaring "ARRROOOOOOGAAAA" horn my dad had salvaged from an old car. Later, I learned how to drive their manual transmission tractor when trying to pave down some of those potholes when they got "Really bad".....which means our car got high centered.

We usually stayed over a weekend, so our adventures as kids were as follows: Daytime - outside, each of us with some kind of "weapon" fending off the valley from dragons, trolls, our brothers, bears, harpies, and the dog who would get a little rambunctious in our fort. Dusk - rush inside and snag what food we could before retreating downstairs to play video games, or watch forbidden movies while the adults remained blissfully ignorant and left us to our own devices. The next day would repeat until we went home, while the dog chased us down the driveway.

It was here that i was introduced to things like Kings Quest, Sims, Myst, Super Smash Brothers, Mario kart, and a variety of other games. But mostly, in this post i want to talk about Kings Quest.

Thanks to Influence Bad (also introduced to me by these cousins) for introducing me to DOS emulators, and reminding me how many hours i wasted on this game.

Yeah, by wasted, i mean downloaded again and am playing again and wasting more hours following around Prince Alexander, in his garish costume and dainty yellow scarf which he somehow managed to retain despite a SHIP WRECK as he searches for Princess Cassima, who's being driven so crazy locked in her tower that she's talking to birds.

Man i love this game!

Even now, more than a decade later, i'm still remembering little quirks about this game: Like if you keep touching the rotten tomato in your pack, it insults you.

Other news:

Back to the saw dust. I ended up adding the coffee table to the project list with the pair of end tables. Since they're made the same, and have all the same cuts, just at different lengths, it made sense to do it at the same time. Dad agreed and we're going over the cut list tonight to get everything in order. With any amount of luck, these will be BUILT this week or next. Then i can get onto finishing, sanding, staining and varnishing which i don't need a second set of hands for.

The value of Gal Pals

Having grown up in a neighborhood brimming with only boys, I've never had many Gal Pals. My female friends always tend to be less silly delicate girly and more sassy geeky smart.

Don't get me wrong, i love my guy buddies and always appreciate the "let's blow shit up or play with something dirty" as opposed to the "let's go shopping". I've had some great times and they've been great friends. But there were always problems they weren't very good at helping with. Like relationships problems, body image issues (not everything is solved with "tell her she's pretty"), and those occasional times when you just need to freak out about a guy.

My early attempts to be feminine were hilarious, now that i'm looking back. I didn't have the Cosmo-approved friends to steer me until relatively recently unless you count my girly-girl sister...and we still disagree on the value of pink. So i took the Tough Girl road from grade school through college. Leather jackets, tank tops, jeans and ever single item of make up that i own can fit into a pouch inside my reasonably sized purse. I was....am tough. Tough on myself, tough on others. At times...way too tough. Needless to say, this made getting some of those feminine friends difficult. But, in time, i found a few and for some reasons that are beyond me, they've stuck around.

To clarify, by feminine, i don't mean the girls that always wear dresses, know the latest trends, or have $300.00 purses which...let's face it....are ugly and only go with one outfit.

I mean the girl friends who are there for you on days when you have a doubt about how beautiful you are, who are there to give you a second opinion for necessary shopping trips and who aren't afraid to throw around the word "cute!", who's honesty is refreshingly anti-BS but not mean, and who remind you to be thankful for the blessings in your life.

Gal Pals are the girls that you band together with when gloom threatens to enter your head. You can laugh over the ridiculousness of price tags, wardrobe malfunctions, surprises your body throws your way, and Men are from Mars moments.

I pretended like i was strong enough to not need these kinds of friends for far too long in my youth. I pretended like these things were irrelevant and worthless knowledge for far too long.

Something happened in the last day that really brought me down. Something that would be difficult for guys to understand the profound effect it had on me. Something that can't be fixed with the "but you are so beautiful" response Boyfriend Jon . It wasn't PMS. It wasn't just insecurities cropping up. It was so much more than that; deeper and more complicated. And i was able to turn to some of my Gal Pals for help with the untangling.

So, after a few hours, some emails, some texts, and some time talking.... i got my reassurance, honesty, laughs, second opinions, scoffs, and ultimately, relief from what was going on in my head. Together we formed a plan that doesn't force me to go this alone nor feel like i have to be carried.

I have Gal Pal support and it means so much to me. They're there to help me when my toughness runs out and i need a booster shot of some attitude and sass.

Jump start on spring cleaning

Given that there is a light dusting of snow on the ground right now, "spring cleaning" is just a euphemism for "My apartment is messy again and i need to clean it by Friday".

Molly, the Wallet Thief/Poop machine dog, will be returning to my apartment starting this weekend. Although it will just be for half of a day before she goes back to my sister's place, i still need to dog proof it again so she doesn't go all insane on me again. I was of the opinion that she will love anyone who gives her food and pays her the slightest attention. But Miss Molly had other plans. My mom, or family dog whisperer, thinks that because Molly is a rescue, that she has some anxieties about being in strange places and she shows those anxieties by....removing food from her system ASAP. But, since my parents and my sister will be out on overlapping vacations in a couple months, it's important that we get her used to coming over to my apartment minus the anxieties.

Taking care of Rusty on the other hand is simple. He's like a cat. Feed him on time, pet him and otherwise let him sleep and he's golden. So we're starting Molly on a weekly scale and trying some old tricks like blankets that smell like my sister to see if we can curb some of the less pleasant results.

On the plus side, since she's only coming over after work until my sister gets home...if she does decide to have 3 am diarrhea...i won't be the one cleaning it up. This is a GOOD plan :)

This will be a weekly deal though, starting one day, maybe going over night, so i need to keep my place tidy or within a few minutes of cleaning up. So I decided to start doing some purging. I already Craigslist-ed a multitude of other things that were just taking up room and letting me stack papers on top of it.

The only problem with this plan is that now i have no where to put the stuff that was on top of/inside of/carefully balanced by these things. Now, it's all just in a heap on the floor...mostly in my bedroom. When i can't walk around my bed to the other side...that's a problem. As in, why, for instance, do i still have the unbroken down box that the most beautiful red kitchen aid in the world came in......IN MY BEDROOM?

Tonight is cleaning up the remains of my staining/varnish project and putting away my tools. Then i'll give the kitchen a good wipe down and check the floor for things Molly might think are treats. When that's done, i'll probably clean out my fridge. I know of two science experiments in my freezer that I've been pretending don't exist.

After that will be the bedroom tackle project where i will strive to whip my possessions back into an orderly fashion. Also part of this plan is purging my clothing of things that done fit or are ripped...which i haven't done in about 2 years. So i called in my girly girl sister to not only give me a second opinion, but to fold the "keep" pile for me...cause she's got that awesome quirk of loving to fold clothes.

Also, I bought a summer themed bed in a bag kit. Cause while i LOVE my gorgeous red Ikea duvet cover, with all the dark furniture in my room, it makes things feel depressing in summer. But with Target's "Jasmine" kit...it'll be light and soothing for summer months. Except i ordered a full size and after reading the reviews, i'm thinking i should have ordered a queen size. I'll see when it gets here.

Weather in my valley

There are some things that never fail to amaze me. Like when a weather report is reasonably close to what actually happens in Seattle.

Today, they predicted snow. And as the day was drawing to a close, I received a text from Boyfriend Jon that simply stated "Snow!" . Since his work isn't too far from mine, i went and snuck into one of the few offices that was both empty and had a window.

And this was what i saw:

Unfortunately, taking the picture through tinted windows really diminishes the vibrance of the colors. It was like BAM rainbow, akin to an episode of Emeril Lagasse when he's really getting into the meal.

I think i'll be digging for gold in the valley. :)

Carpentry plans and haircuts

My carpentry skills, were there still guilds to establish standards today, would probably be at or near a journeyman level. I have long graduated beyond birdhouses, and jewelry boxes to designing and building furniture.

Heres the DVD stand made in early 2010:

And the TV stand made later the same year.

I can easily figure out how to make sturdy, functional, but still "delicate looking" and light weight (when compared to my father's thick and heavy style that takes two people to lift always). Not to mention, mine break down so they're lighter to move.

Dad and I have fought some over my style. He was convinced that it wouldn't be strong enough without using thicker wood, or different joints. Indeed it took a lot of "My design, dad, I want it this way". And once he got used to the idea (also known as me sitting on top of the finished product to show how strong it was) he usually starts his smug strut to his friends about "look what my daughter can do." In some ways his being difficult is a tactic in order to make me think about why I want it a certain way and if it will actually be the best way to do it. And more than once, it has helped me catch flaws in my design.

My pieces are beautiful, and I'm not abashed to say so because I took so much care in making them. But they're still very simple. Straight lines, simple joinery, and up till this point, the most complicated thing i had taken on was drawers. The two pieces above were always planned to be a part of a complete set, which eventually will include a pair of end tables and a new coffee table.

Well, I'm starting to get the itch to play in some sawdust again and the wheels in my head are a turning. I whipped up some design sketches over the last few days, slowly refining it from scribbles on napkins and post it notes, down to this design for the end tables:

This will be one of two end tables to go on the side of my couch and armchair. The dimensions are completely non-standard, but they will work much better than my current (hand me downs from my sister's college years) tables or anything i can afford to buy. The Red Couch of Awesomeness should be around for as long as possible so I designed these end tables to be taller than average to work with the high arm rests. I freaking can't WAIT to be able to reach over to put a drink on the table without thinking about where the edge is.

Best part of all: the legs will be detachable! My current end tables and coffee table are designed that way, and it's made moving from apartment to apartment so simple. I had to do some serious brainstorming on how to be able to reach the wing nuts while still having a drawer though. I finally came up with this (the table as seen from above with the top removed):

What i'm most proud of is the design of how to reach the wing nuts without loosing stability for the drawer skirt. The thing on the left is an example of how the bottom shelf will be affixed to the legs. I've also considered bolting it through a hole, to make it more stable but there's still time to refine.

In other news:

If you read waaayyyy back to 2009, or look at my Rants and Raves tab, I got a haircut from "Just a Trim" that set off a tirade. Just to remind you, my hair was falling past the middle of my back or below my breasts, but since it had started showing some serious split ends, i decided to get a few inches max taken off. I told the lady i wanted it to fall just at the top of my breasts. What i got was a collar bone cut and she took off about six or seven inches. I was furious and upset.

Yesterday, my hair was back to the same length and bad condition and i decided to save some money and ask my mother to cut my hair and gave her the same parameters as before. Hair should fall at the top of my breasts and do a straight cut, no layers.

My hair is EXACTLY where i asked for, looks and feels healthier, and it was very cheap. I just treated my mom to sushi by way of thanks.

What I want to know is how my mother, with no professional training, can give me a better hair cut than the woman who claims to have been doing this for several decades?

Single Awareness Day

Even trying to make Valentine's day sound less lonely makes it worse. Calling it Single Awareness Day spells out SAD. And it makes me mad. I hate this holiday with a passion. Yes, BAH HUMBUG to you too.

I can't escape it. Co-workers who are "trying to be nice" to the single folk bring in big bright pink chocolates and WALK THEM AROUND so everyone gets reminded that this horrible day has arrived. News pages are plastered with "Don't forget the roses" and "How to NOT screw up this Valentine's Day" and questionnaires are going around Facebook trying to gauge how women measure love. This, I think, would be quite a feat since I'm certain most women have the meter called "when i see love....i'll know it" which causes them to miss out on smaller gestures.

Certain women at work have been having a competition to see who's boyfriend/fiancée/husband will do the best valentines day. They've even been bringing in PRE-Valentines Day flowers. What the fucking HELL!? I feel so sorry for those men who are guilted and manipulated into that level of ridiculousness.

And i know my father in his traditional romantic form will buy me pink (and he knows i hate pink) roses to match the ones he got for my sister (who loves pink). He will then personally deliver two dozen red roses and baby's breath to my mother's workplace past all the very jealous women working there. And if i somehow manage to avoid meeting up with him today, they'll be waiting for me on my doorstep when I get home. I know it's his way of showing me he loves me, but it just makes me dread the day.

I cannot, in any good conscience, celebrate a day that was so fervently endorsed by greeting card companies, and chocolate factories which gives the obvious shaft to men and does nothing but make single people feel bad.

If the man in a relationship doesn't go out of his way, spend more money than he normally would, say and do everything perfect.....then the woman is fully justified in complaining about how he ruined valentines day. Oh and don't get me started on the girls i know who will be shoving rings in my face going "I got ennngaaaaaaggeeeeddd!". Although, given that Cristy got engaged on Saturday...i will say congratulations to her.

And I've spent most years out of my life single on Valentine's Day. I know how much it hurts to be reminded. I know the desperate searches online for a date for tonight. The banding together with other single friends just to not be alone. To proclaim how happy you are to be single while you yearn for some company. Why would i celebrate a day that does this to so many people? That has done this to me so many times.

This year, I am not single. Boyfriend Jon is a wonderful man who has made the effort to show me so much love the rest of the 1 and 1/4 year we've been together. I have outright told him he is forbidden to show me any more love today than he does on any other day. No flowers, no chocolate, DEFINITELY no teddy bears, no hearts, no cards, no streamers.......are all on the "you will get in a lot of trouble" list for today.

You know what we're doing for Valentine's day? Nothing out of the ordinary. IF we get together tonight, we might order a pizza and continue the game of Plants vs Zombies we started last night. Same as normal. That has become more than enough for me.

It's Monday; any utterance of the words Happy and Day in the same sentence, might be met with a shotgun.

Final pictures of Corset back

Finally have some pictures of the corset back!

What i would have done differently:

1. Used a thick ribbon or non stretch material to make the lace up chord
2. Had enough lacing to do every loop instead of every other
3. taken the loops up higher so the shoulder straps wouldn't fall off all night long
4. added some kind of stiffener to edges where the loops were so it wouldn't bunch
5. Made the modesty panel bigger and secured better

But, despite all the things i would have done differently...I had an amazing time with hands down, the best boyfriend in the world.

How many guys could or would pull off this and look as dashing????

Other news this weekend.

Boyfriend Jon had one of his two turtles pass away this weekend. Filbert, the Eastern? Painted Turtle, who had been a part of Boyfriend Jon's life for about sixteen years, died sometime between Friday and Saturday. We had a small ceremony to bury him out in my swamp. Considering that the turtles typically live a maximum of two years due to "owner incompetence" but can live up to 25 years, Filbert lived a fairly long and happy life.

The other turtle, Predator, we are convinced will survive a nuclear fallout.

3am Poop Patrol

Well, i knew there would be more adventures with the Wallet Thief/Molly dog. Just didn't expect them to be so gross.

I picked Molly up from my parents place and made the mistake of sitting down. Within minutes i had both Molly and Rusty (my parent's dog) weighing me down.

When I finally managed to dump them off my lap and stand again, Molly was only too happy to go with me. She even approved of Boyfriend Jon joining us for our adventure.

I'm pretty sure that Miss Molly didn't get into anything while she was at my apartment. Boyfriend Jon kept her on the couch until i had finished checking every corner for anything that potentially might smell or taste good to her. Meanwhile she chilled in the round chair in a position that maximized her belly rubbing potential.

After that, she joined in on a Halo Reach party. And by joined in, i mean that she sat on my lap and pawed at my hand because i wasn't petting her or paying attention to her, which is so wrong of me to be RIGHT THERE, but not adoring her.

By the end of the night, she had met three dogs from my complex, left her mark all over my area, chased a squirrel, checked every single corner of my apartment for food (while i watched her like a hawk ready to snatch anything out of her mouth), and been pet enough that she fell soundly asleep at my feet around 11:30. I settled in for what i thought would be an easy night.

(insert ominous music here)

At around 3am, i was woken up by Molly beginning to move around. Figuring she needed to go out, i got up and pulled on my robe. When i turned around to find her (time lapse of maybe five seconds), she was just finishing laying an extra gooey turd right in front of my front door. I yelled "Molly no!" but was by far too late. I clipped her leash on and led her out back since opening the front door would have smeared her 'present'. Thankfully, i live on the bottom floor and have some grass out in my swamp. Molly sniffed around for a good fifteen minutes, but kept trying to go back inside rather than finish off her dump. Finally, the cold won and i let her back inside.

I proceeded to clean up my carpet while Molly sat and wagged her tail, completely content now that i was awake to pay attention to her again. She was utterly non-perturbed that I was gagging at the smell. When it was clean, i used a large flattened cardboard box to block off part of my room, and then closed her in so she was next to my bed and had about five feet of space to walk around without getting into trouble.

For a half hour, I argued with her that she was not going to be allowed back onto the bed. Her attempts to thwart my decree ended up shaking my bed as her wiener dog length, and cocker spaniel weight hampered her jumping up successfully.

Just as i was dozing off again, i was overwhelmed by another round of stench. I flipped on my light and was greeted by another set of presents . Looking at the clock, it had just turned 4am. Luckily, I had tissue in my room and was able to clean enough of the mess up so that i could open the door without smearing it all over.

We repeated the process of standing outside in the cold while she sniffed around without pooping or peeing as she got a dose of sleep-deprived crabby Anne. Twenty minutes later, when I felt sure that she was done with those kind of gross presents, i let her back in. I got out my carpet cleaner and got to work cleaning up the mess in my room and lighting a scented candle to mask the stench. No sooner did i turn around then i see her walking away from yet ANOTHER gooey puddle.

By this point the only thing keeping me from dragging her back outside is how cold it is out there. So i took the cardboard box and blocked her into the kitchen where at least the linoleum would make cleanup easy. I then start cleaning up THAT mess while she watches me by standing on her hind legs and looking over the box. I put her bed in the kitchen with her and finally went back to sleep around 5:30 am.

I will say that the best thing about Molly is that she doesn't bark, or whine, or make much noise at all. Just soft snoring, or humphing when she's smelling around. Occasionally, she'll growl a little bit, but usually it's only when something like a squirrel is taunting her from the other side of a window. She doesn't even bark at other dogs. It definitely was a winning trait with my whole family.

And of course, upon waking up around 7:30 to let Miss Molly out again...there wasn't a single dropping anywhere in my kitchen. *scowl*

I talked to my parents (Molly's weekday guardians) and they said she went through a similar episode the first time she stayed at their place, so it might just have been distress at a new place or that she managed to get into something after all.

All I know is that all day Sunday, I nursed a headache. And when Mom offered to take Molly for the week like she normally does for my sister, i gave up/in.

If i hadn't had them as a backup, I would have tolerated it. But it just solidified in my mind that as much as i really want a dog right now, my lifestyle is not ready for it. Anyway, Molly is back with her companion Rusty so she's much happier.

Hodge Podge of Happenings

Today I'm at the point where I've become so tired, that i'm actually wide awake. Most of my alertness, i'm convinced, comes from this massive headache which has a firm grip on not one but both of my temples.

My lack of sleep comes from a late night talk (good kind) with Boyfriend Jon as well as the start of a cold which had me producing very unladylike snores which kept waking me up. I ended up banishing myself to the couch so as to not interfere with his slumber. If not for the headache taking hold almost as soon as i opened my eyes, i might just still be there.

No, I haven't gotten around to taking pictures of the corset back and for this I apologize. I know what it's like to be following a how to and not have any results pictures. Between celebrating the official end to Boyfriend Jon's soft diet after his surgery, Wallet thief/Molly-proofing my apartment, and doing the normal prep for the work week; i haven't even taken the dress out of my back seat.

Our celebration included going to see "The King's Speech" to see what all the fuss was about since it's the predicted front-runner for the Oscars. We had already watched the other contender "Black Swan" and had mixed feelings when leaving.

I had gone into "The King's Speech" dreading a similar story to My Fair Lady. I was instead surprised to see the marble scene poked fun at by Helena Bonham Carter who handled her character flawlessly. The wife of a man plagued by his inadequacies trying to gently find a solution while helping to fend off ridicule. Colin Firth played the king's frustration, humiliation and embarrassment so palatability, that I couldn't help but root for him. Though i don't typically call him a favorite actor, he undoubtedly was an excellent choice to play the King.

My one grip was that I completely did not feel Geoffrey Rush 's character as an aspiring actor was either poignant or plausible. I felt like it had been thrown in there as something to fill the void of the character's time outside of helping the king. Though to be honest, i can't think of a better option. All other aspects of his character were magnificent. I have said before that sometimes it takes stronger emotions like anger and indignation to overcome hurdles and this was the epitome of that. The time Lionel spent with the King was excellently orchestrated by the writer. Everything from the diagnosis as being not biological to their unfolding trust and friendship was a wonderful journey. I understand why it is the forefront for Best Picture of the year.

All said and done, the movie was excellent. There are even twists and turns that you won't notice until it is pointed out. But the best part of this movie is that it will make you laugh at the sheer ridiculousness that begins to work. Even though I am lucky to be rather good at public speaking, I will evermore hear one of the lines running through my head when I do get stuck: "Fuck!Fuck!Fuck!Bugger!Fuck!"