Food and Fun

Last night I had my annual/semi-annual gathering with Jaime, Laura, and Becca. We ate at Maido on Frankfort avenue, and it was AWESOME. Among the generic hibachi grills/sushi bars, it is the only "for-real" Japanese restaurant in Louisville. A little pricey, but for the amount and quality of food you get it is well worth it. I'll be dragging people there for dinner on my visits home for quite some time now, I suppose. We then went back to my house for a night of video game fun. We eventually played a bit of DDR, then decided to be innovative and attempt to play other games using the DDR pads as controllers. Crash Team Racing worked very well. You could sit on the mat and hold your foot on the accelerate button, using left and right to steer and easily punching the fire button when you needed to. The difficulty came in the lack of the R1 and R2 button, so no secret hopping-over-ledges-to-get-a-boost and such. Spyro the Dragon proved to be much more difficult. One person breathed fire, one person charged, on jumped/flew, and the other steered. Steering was really the most difficult part, and we often rotated positions to give the steerer at hand a break. We managed to clear the first world, though it took some time to do it. It is definitely something people need to do as teamwork activities at those terrible business retreats. Lastly, we attempted Soul Caliber II. That mostly involved 2 people flailing and beating the DDR pads like the ape people in 2001: A Space Odyssey. But if you think DDR is good exercise... All in all, it was a very fun evening. I'm mostly glad that I still see some highschool friends on a regular basis (even though it may turn out to be only as regular as once a year), it's always a joy to gather again.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

If anyone remembers the christmas cactus I rescued from the gloom of props storage last year, I'd like to announce that it is blooming like crazy. It's ready to be re-potted, too.

 A more general thought: every now and then, I am forced into some situation (being stuck in an airport lobby, for instance) in which McDonalds is the only feasible means of nourishment. I usually buy something, eat it, gag in disgust, and make a dramatic proclamation that I will never, NEVER, eat McDonalds again EVER.

However, deep in my heart, I know the next time I stop at a rest station on a long trip and that's the only food for miles, I'll shrug off my promise to myself and eat again....only to be disgusted again....only to swear I'll never eat it again. What is it about us humans that we constantly and even knowingly make the same mistakes in life, over and over and over again? Happy Thanksgiving!

Incredible

Finally saw The Incredibles last night. It was, well, incredible! I will agree with Jaster that Syndrome looks surprisingly similar to Checkerboard Nightmare, perhaps with a little Freakazoid thrown in. Anyway, I'm going to blow glass today for the first time since the spring! I'm super excited, although I'll probably just make some cups to get back into the swing of things.

Rudolph with your nose so bright...

So, I figured as long as I'm on this Hero's Journey, I might as well consult an Oracle. Delphi was a bit too far away, so I settled for a Christmas-themed flower supply store in Wallingford where--after venturing through a "Winter Wonderland" of frightening yet festive robots--one could enter the private chambers of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

As I went in with my props-mates, Rudolph offered us a clicking, jerking, animatronic greeting. We chatted with the beast, and he sang Happy Birthday to one of my co-workers, all the while rolling his vacantly-painted eyes in a creepy, robotic fashion.

Finally, I asked the Ora...I mean Rudolph to tell my fortune*, and he told me, "You will wake up happy." Satisfied with my consultation, I went looking for a cyclops, or perhaps a hydra, figuring that's my next course of action. There weren't any at the park.

 *For a moment, I thought about asking why Bono counts "1, 2, 3, 14" in that U2 song. I mean, that's a pretty big leap from 3 to 14. I'll save that question for another Oracle, I guess

Moving here and there and everywhere

It's been a busy week on my gas tank!

I drove up to UConn yesterday to see a show that Carleton designed lights for at Eastern. The lights were quite awesome and there were some kick-ass masks in the show. It was actually the first time I've ever seen his lighting before (not counting photos, which look pretty, but you miss out on a lot if you don't see it in person).

 I woke up early this morning to transport his fish, Ivory, back home so that he doesn't have to worry about it when he frantically packs to come home for Thanksgiving. I'm also going to bring Mr. Laguna home from work for the holiday. Fish is very excited about flaring at his new tank neighbor :)

 I can't believe next week is Thanksgiving! The year is rushing by, but I don't mind the holiday getting closer, as I am ready to go home for a visit. I hope I can arrange visits with everyone in that short of time, but I'll be satisfied with a bit of Halo 2 and a trip to the Pie Kitchen.

And to Guadi's. I'm going to the Guad, and no one can stop me! But they may accompany me if they wish ^_^ If I do that I may try and visit Sheldon, since no one will be on campus due to the holiday and all.

 Well, Ivory seems to have settled in nicely from his move, off to work with me!

Big Change

No, I'm not quite dead yet! I am having some journal changes though. Brendan's frequent praise of Newsbruiser has inspired me to give it a try, and my new journal is taking shape (I'm still working out a theme, I have terrible design sense, if anyone with *good* design sense can offer advice, i'm all ears). HOWEVER, if you guys still want to use LJ to keep track of my going-ons, I've made an LJ feed for it, so if you friendify , things will go on as if nothing had ever changed *cue mysterious, dream-like music* I still have my eye on you guys! :)

Big Change

No, I'm not quite dead yet! I am having some journal changes though.

Brendan's frequent praise of Newsbruiser has inspired me to give it a try, and my new journal is taking shape (I'm still working out a theme, I have terrible design sense, if anyone with *good* design sense can offer advice, i'm all ears).

HOWEVER, if you guys still want to use LJ to keep track of my going-ons, I've made an LJ feed for it, so if you friendify , things will go on as if nothing had ever changed *cue mysterious, dream-like music*

I still have my eye on you guys! :)