8:59pm: YES.
We're 94% moved in.  I'd say completely, but the couch gets delivered on Wednesday, we haven't made the bed, and the TV setup's not finalized.  Plus there's tons of laundry, still about a half dozen boxes of kitchen shit at Mom and Dad's, Spork hasn't been acclimated yet, and we haven't switched electricity into our name yet.

BUT YAY COMPUTER.

I'm a man who is aware of his priorities.

4:58pm: So.
This is for you, Spork.  Daddies are coming home.

We decided Seattle just wasn't right for us, and landing there without any job prospects or a place to live was a BAD idea.

So we're leaving for home-- our true home-- on Saturday.

We're glad for it.

So now we have 2 more days to enjoy Seattle as the best vacation destination ever!

11:04pm: GOOD NEWS EVERYONE
It's a suppository!

No, that's not it.

Right-- the last hurdle has been crossed.  With a modicum of luck, we'll be closing on the house between the 16th and the 20th, which means we'll be home with mom and dad for Christmas, in Minneapolis for New Year's, and then to Seattle shortly after we get home.

The house inspection came and went with almost no fanfare-- just a little mildew in the shower they'd like us to take care of before it becomes pervasive, and the air conditioner unit needs to be worked over; the mildew problem is maybe 5 bucks worth of bleach and CLR, but the AC'll probably cost about 200 bucks, which is still well within the bounds of reasonability.

If you pray, pray that things go well! If you cross your fingers and throw salt over your shoulder, do that.  Just send as many good vibes my way as you can!



Again, good tempered with bad... we can't take Spork.  Looking into alternatives, but 99% certain he's being left behind. :(

10:48am: Why am I not sadder?
My grandfather died last night.  He was 88 years old, and had been in really poor health for the last year or so, so it didn't really come as much of a surprise.  I hadn't seen him, face to face, in nearly 10 years, and I only talked to him over the phone for a minute or so each year on Christmas.

Now I feel guilty that I was more emotionally affected by the death of my dog than the death of my dad's dad.  What's wrong with me?

11:10pm: We Were Prepared!
(Holy CRAP, how old is that user pic?)



Bitch went down faster than Pody during fleet week.

5:33pm: CCA Interview in 25 minutes.
Butterflies in stomach.

Kind of want to throw up.

Standard "Chasing your Dream" prerequisites, no?

1:36pm: Stupid Botcon...
Stupid credit card debt, stupid tooth needing to get extracted, stupid cat getting sick and then turning out to be something I could've fixed by buying urinary tract health cat food, stupid decision to have the convention in April, stupid stupid stupid...

I'm going to be difficult to talk to all week.  My mood is going to be in the absolute crapper, so if you don't feel like getting depressed just by being around me... you might want to give me some space.

1:16pm: Since Jenni's doing it. (WoW post.)
EGADS, the Parseltongue icon is outdated. :D


The corpse at the top of the screen is Fathom-Lord Karathress, the final boss in Serpentshrine Cavern before Lady Vashj.  Last night, on our second earnest attempt, we got Karathress down-- our fifth try of the night, and it just ran smooth as silk, I tell ya.

What's next?

HER.


The first 30% of her health ticks off super easy, and surviveability is high.  Would've been higher if we weren't just attempting her for fun.  We're going to start her in earnest probably Friday of the coming week: Monday's earmarked for our first A'Lar kill (We can do it! We're riding the high from a MAJOR victory last night, so it's a good chance we'll still be "in the zone" come Monday), and Wednesday we'll clear all five previous SSC bosses before attempting Vashj on Friday.

We can do it!

4:15pm: Creamy delicacy of arcane Spaniard cooks...
I suddenly find myself with an irrational desire for flan.

Not the Kozy Shack stuff you get at the grocery store, which is actually a completely passable flan, but real flan... from a real Mexican or Puerto Rican restaurant.  We went to La Marginal the other day for Chris's birthday and DAMN if I didn't love every single flan-inspired dessert they had (which was LITERALLY every dessert... there was coconut flan, flan de queso, flan on top of this insanely moist chocolate cake, and a really light and airy coconut milk flan).

Flan.

It's what's for dessert.

10:19am: Joining the 21st Century
So yeah, I got with the times this morning around 7:45 AM,  using my tax refund to bankroll something glorious.

Now, some of you technophiles might say "32 inches?  Fie on that!  You need true 1080p etc etc! 42 inches! A dozen HDMI inputs!"


Blah freakin' blah.  We got the Vizio 32" LCD, spent a decent amount, and are now realizing we need to replace just about every single cable and cord we've owned.  Did you know most new TVs only have one set of composite AV jacks on them? Everything's five-part component now!  It's true!

So the thing has two HDMI slots on it-- one is earmarked for the cable box, naturally, and the other will be for the XBox so we can play it in HD.



Needless to say, I'm EXTREMELY happy today... well, also extremely sleepy.  I didn't get to bed until 3 last night and Chris woke me up at 7:15 to check to see if my tax refund was in.  Indeed it was and off we went to Wal-Mart to pick the thing up.

In absence of proper connections, I've been occupying myself playing Puzzle Quest on XBox Live.  I didn't notice it on the old system, but the little puzzle gems have runes on them!  HD FOR THE WIN.

4:23pm: I'm pretty sure I know who.
Who posts the most?

2:13pm: Mememememe
Me in Bold:
1. Father went to college
2. Father finished college (twice!)
3. Mother went to college
4. Mother finished college (tiwce!)
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home (No doubt.  We had built-in bookshelves in every room, all of them crammed, plus boxes and boxes of books in the garage)
9. Were read children's books by a parent (It was important for us to be read to, in order to help teach us to read)
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18 (Flute, Acting, Piano)
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18. (Well, right when I turned 18)
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs (I've bought books on my own, but that's been pretty much it)
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
16. Went to a private high school
17. Went to summer camp
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18 (except for what I bought intentionally, with my parents' money, from the thrift store, yes.)
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child (both my mom and my brother are extremely talented painters)
23. You and your family lived in a single family house
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
25. You had your own room as a child.
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18 (only because it was the "office" phone that we never bothered to remove)
27. Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
28. Had your own TV in your room in High School
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16 (we went to England when I was 6)
31. Went on a cruise with your family
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up.
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family. (maybe vageuly at best?)

8:38pm: "By the way, Bill, you have a box at home."
A box? I asked as Chris and I drove home from the pharmacy.
"Yeah, an Amazon box, but the address looks like it had been corrected and I can't see a return address, and it said 'gift' on it."
I wonder who it could be from, I mused.  I didn't get onboard with the wiigii secret santa thing, and I'm not expecting a gift from anyone else...
"Well, there might be a card inside."

I walked through the door of the house and saw the box sitting on the table, and the handwritten address to "William Heaston", the wrong house number, a question mark next to the ZIP code.  But somehow it got to me.  I saw the customs declaration sticker on it and wondered who could be sending me things from overseas.  The currency was listed in AUD.  That narrowed it down to exactly four people, one of whom I don't talk to anymore, two of whom I don't really know well enough to elicit a random gift-giving

It was taped up really tight, and I could barely get all of it off without the aid of a bladed implement.  I opened the box halfway to see something fuzzy inside, and I pulled it out and it's a stuffed wombat, and immediately my eyes began to water.  I knew exactly who it was from, and I remembered the exact conversation that probably inspired him to send it.  The Stuffed Wombat is an Emergency Wombat, and is to be kept in the car for such a purpose.  That is extremely important!

Additionally, a neat tea towel with Australian slang-- Strine-- written on it, and a little paperboard construction kit of a Frilled Lizard.

Marcus, thank you so much.

10:31am: Another Meme!
Wikipedia meme, this time, ganked from both newsy891 and kil_michaelmcc, you're supposed to go to the Wikipedia Homepage and click "Random Article".  The title of this article will be your band's name.  Clicking "Random Article" again results in the title of their seminal album and clicking "Random Article" 15 more times results in the titles of the songs on said album.

Band Name:

Torbjörn

Album Title:

Full Footballers Wives Cast

Track Listing:

1. Spirorbis
2. Babina Greda
3. Enrico Banducci
4. Ken Beck
5. Dudzai Musawepwere
6. International Roaming Access Protocols
7. Chess Composer
8. Grey And Black Four-Eyed Opossum
9. Perris Valley Historical and Museum Association
10. External Cause
11. Kokusaikaikan Station
12. Crianlarich
13. Colt
14. Dillberry Lake Provincial Park
15. Fecal Anthropology
16. (Hidden Track) Henyey Track

I'm assuming we're some sort of alt-country synth-pop outfit with 18 musicians and maybe three lead singers.  We'll be at Bonnaroo and Voodoo this year, and might be at SXSW if we sign with Foggia records, an indy label headquartered in Italy.

5:36pm: This is it.
I've decided that I am going to bite the bullet, and sell off pretty much all of my collection.  Part of the reason is money: I need a car, I need to pay off my credit card debt, and I need to be able to afford to live away from the largesse of my parents.  The other part of the reason is economy of space.  The house is cluttered and dusty and not terribly eyecatching.  There's just too much crap around.  The final part, and this was one of those "Shit, I'm a grownup" revelations that every 26 year old man should have: I'm just not attached to them anymore.  I'll buy the shit out of Animated because, well, they're all flawless so far, and the occasional G1 reissue or figure that catches my eye at a Botcon or whatever, but as it stands, I'm gonna get out of the "amassing" aspect of this fandom.

So I went through my collection today and hand-picked 20 figures that I would not be selling.  This is in addition to any figure I've had since I was a kid, have some sort of emotional connection to, or the whole of G1.  This is the list:

1. Cybertron Downshift -- Awesome vehicle mode, awesome robot mode, awesome transformation.  One of my favorite TFs ever.
2. Cybertron Cannonball -- He's a pirate.  That's all that needs to be said.
3. 20th Anniversary Prime -- 1, I wouldn't be able to get any money for him because of saturation and 2, because he's still fuckin' awesome.
4. Universe Nemesis Prime -- Black repaint done right.  One of my favorite Prime figures because he's just so imposing.
5. Botcon 2007 Alpha Trion -- Another of my favorite toys, in my favorite color, and with a wonderful new head sculpt.
6. Classics Jetfire -- The Next Best Thing to owning a G1 Jetfire.
7. Classics Bumblebee -- Because he's cheerful.
8. Galaxy Convoy -- One of the few figures I actually harbor physical lust for.  Best Prime in ages.
9. Beast Wars 10th Anniversary Megatron -- A flawless rendition of my favorite Megatron.
10. Beast Wars 10th Anniversary Optimus Primal -- Because Megatron needs a nemesis.
11. Robot Masters Lio Convoy -- Fun little Prime figure, far superior to his larger counterpart.
12. Tako Tank and Ikado -- My absolute Holy Grail set.  Would not part with this for anything.
13. Heinrad -- Testicles.
14. Hooligan -- There's a lot of character in this little guy.  He's also an awesome looking toy.
15. Beast Wars Neo Sharpedge -- Another of those "flawless silhouette" figures, especially when holding his sawfish blade and missile as a long staff.
16. Beast Wars Torca -- The most bizarre Fuzor of them all, and a really well-executed toy all around.
17. Fire Convoy -- The first major gift received from Chris.  Sort of explains it, doesn't it?
18. Classics Twin-Pack Tank Megatron -- Another of those "flawless silhouettes".  Great design top to bottom.
19. Energon Sharkticon -- Again, the "flawless silhouette."  Great transformation, and fantastic in both modes.
20. Energon Tidal Wave -- Because Cannonball needs a ship.

So that's it.  With a few other exceptions-- junker figures that wouldn't sell due to breakage or poor condition or missing parts-- they're all going.  Ebay.  dr_fangsatx.  Check him out if you're interested.

8:39pm: goddamn memes.

EDIT-- Oh yeah: for those of you who haven't seen this meme on dozens of other pages, here's the link.
Linky.

12:43pm: Bow before your new god

9:55pm: WoW Post? ME?
Yes, from me. (I need to update my icon. I don't wear that helmet and haven't in dozens of levels.)



That IS a Spectral Tiger Mount, and that IS my character!  I am uber.  Bow, please.

10:40pm: Now what will I do?
Like many others, I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last night, and, like many others, feel sad that a great story has come to an end. 

11:05am: Freakin' Lolcat Meme.

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by GumOtaku on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

10:42pm: :\
Stupid vacations overlapping.  Chris left for Las Vegas this afternoon while I was at work, so I haven't seen him since this morning.  And he'll be back on Monday night.

I leave for Botcon Tuesday afternoon, and I'll be gone seven whole days.  This means that in a span of 12 days, I'll see him for one of those days.

I'm lonely.  Pity me. :(

7:13pm: omg botcon.

9:32pm: Ratatouille
Saw a sneak preview of it tonight, and was, naturally, something to behold.  It's a Pixar movie, but saying more than that: it's a Brad Bird Pixar movie.  He directed The Incredibles, and before he was involved with Pixar, The Iron Giant and the bast years of The Simpsons.  Ratatouille is true to form a pitch-perfect Brad Bird creation.  From the overexaggerated facial expressions on the cartoony but not too cartoony human characters, to the slapstick action comedy, to the incredible depth of character and sincere message.  The animation was unquestionably Pixar's best, although it might've been the projectionist, but it seemed a little dim when compared to The Incredibles or the almost blinding Cars.  There's mood lighting, and then there's just plain dim.

In any case, I'm still chewing on the movie, digesting it, but first impression is that it's my favorite since Nemo, and looking at it from a pure storytelling standpoint, it's on par with Incredibles's message about the importance of family and priorities.

Beautiful film.

9:45am: Tim. Tim. Tim.
You're 31.

Happy Birthday z4nd4r!

9:35pm: I haz a new fone
It's nowhere near as awesome as Vasqe's hat (it occurred to me just now that NO ONE that reads this LJ will get that joke), but it's pretty darn sweet.

It's a Samsung M500, and it has a camera and an MP3 player and I have the Lion version of the Transformers theme play whenever I get a call! 

It's Autobot Red!  Except the wallpaper is the Movie Decepticon symbol.  It's a paradox.

Or maybe it's Punch and Counterpunch.  My phone is REAL nearby.  In my pocket.