Wilderness Survival Class

For yesterday’s adventure, I went to a wilderness survival class with Josue and his wife.  It was essentially a 5 hour hike through a canyon throughout which we were taught a variety of survival skills – edible plants, fire making, etc.

Here is what I learned:

Nightshade berries are delicious – they taste like little cherry tomatoes, but don’t eat the unripe ones or they will make you sick.

Scavenged and ate a salad of watercress, lambs quarter, speedwell and mustard flowers.  Watercress was the most abundant but it’s really spicy, so you need some milder edibles to eat with it.

Identified poison oak.  Red berries and coffee berries are a laxative and will make you throw up if you eat too many.  Cherry holly leaves have cyanide, don’t eat them.  Was shown a few other poisonous plants which I remember by sight but I don’t recall their names

(one is this decorative flowered plant that they use on freeways a lot. They have straight stems that are tempting as marshmallow roasters, but the stems are poisonous too)

The stems and branches of the mule fat plant are really great for making bows and drills and other tools because they are so straight.  Willows look kind of like mule fat, but have medicinal bark.

Ragweed tastes terrible, but if you are starving, you can boil it and eat it.

Learned how to make a twine rope out of yucca leaf fibers.  It ended up coming in handy, too, because my ponytail rubberband broke at one point.  I used my yucca twine to tie up my hair.

Made soap from yucca leaves.  There’s really nothing to it, you just tear up the leaf into fibers and agitate them in water.

Roasted yucca fruit over a fire I helped start.  Yucca fruit are good to eat if you cut one open and it’s still white inside.  They taste too soapy when raw, but when you cook them they taste rather like summer squash or corn.

(If you haven’t gathered by now, yucca are extremely handy plants.)

Ate a prickly pear cactus pad.  It was yummy!

Learned to start a fire with flint/tinder and with a bow drill.  Though I got the coal started with the bow drill, I needed Josue to help me stabilize the bow.  Co-op for the win!

All in all, it was a really fun day and I learned a ton!  The worst part, of course, was the hike back up out of the canyon.  I got a bit too much sun and spent most of the rest of the day asleep.  For all my LA friends, if you’re interested in this sort of stuff, check out this guy’s classes.  They are affordable and good learnins.

February Free Event

This month’s free event was a Nature Photography Workshop at Franklin Canyon, which is a little nature preserve snugged away in the middle of Beverly Hills that I had no idea existed.  The local canyon parks have various hikes and workshops every month, and they always catch my eye as I scan EyeSpyLA for free events. 

It was a pretty casual arrangement.  Basically one of the park’s volunteer naturalists led the group on a trail and gave tips here and there.  She also worked with people individually to help them learn how to use their cameras.  I was able to finally get some guidance on taking distant shots and landscapes to some success, but man I’m starting to crave a zoom lens!

Anyway, it was super fun and I’m really glad I went.  Here are the results from the day:

https://picasaweb.google.com/102954115822334585421/FranklinCanyon2012

With a few favorites:

Anyone recognize this place?

Looking ahead to March, I most definitely want to return to the Annual Festival of the Kite.  Still, I’ll keep an eye out for any other interesting events that show up.

January Free Thing Recap

I did two free events in LA in January, and both were pretty neat.  The first was a free pipe organ concert by Hector Olivera.  Unlike many other musical concerts, for a pipe organ concert you have to go to where the pipe organ is, and seeing as pipe organs are generally in churches in the choir loft and the pews face the opposite direction, there was that awkwardness of sitting facing away from the performer.  The first half was just stuff on the pipe organ and it was super cool.  For the second half, he performed on his symphonic touring organ, which is the kind that has synthesizers for all the other instruments in the symphony.  While technically impressive to watch him hammer out all the instrument parts himself, unfortunately symphonic organs just don’t sound very good.  It’s like listening to a midi keyboard.  Nevertheless, the performance was good, and free, and they had homemade baked goods as refreshments, score!

The second event was a workshop given by graffiti artist, Galo “MAKE ONE” Canote.  It’s part of  a program by the Craft and Folk Art Museum called “Folk Art Everywhere,” which has various workshops held in different cultural centers all throughout LA.  He gave us a lecture about his work and LA street culture, then had a workshop on very basic lettering, showing us the most basic way to deform letters without losing their inherent structure, and we all practiced lettering our names with markers on papers.  Basically it was “How to make a locker sign.” It was cool, though, and I learned some things for sure.  As a bonus, everyone who came was given free passes for the Craft and Folk Art Museum. 

February Free Events that look promising:

• Nature photography workshop at Franklin Canyon
• Astronomy walk at the observatory
• Staged reading of Sophocles’ Ajax

We’ll see what other events pop up

Thoughts On the Train

Nick and I decided to take the train up to San Francisco just for the hell of it, because neither of us had been on a proper Amtrack ride before. It was really, REALLY nice. Perhaps you are wondering if you should try out the train on your next traveling adventure instead of flying and driving. Here are some observations that may help you decide.

First, if time is a luxury for you and you aren't in any hurry, then I'd say go for it! Certainly if you are on a tight schedule it would be way more convenient and not much more expensive to fly from LA to San Francisco (and we are flying back so we didn't have to take an extra day), but the time it takes is really the only downside to the train. Fortunately, if you aren't on a schedule and aren't in a hurry, there are plenty of things to do to fill up that time. Also, there's no "get there an hour early and suffer through security" that eats up that time. The train shows up at the stop, you give your ticket and get on. Boom, done.

The seats on the train are comfortable and have a million miles of legroom. There are no rules about bags having to be stored overhead, so you can just sprawl your stuff out at your seat (and if you're short like me and can't actually reach the footrest in front of you, it's nice to be able to use your bags as one instead). There are power outlets at every seat. You can get up and wander around at any time. The windows are large and the views are pretty, and it took me back to memories of being little and staring out the car window on any car ride, absorbing the landscape.

In the lounge car, they have even more gigantic windows and seats facing directly out, in case you are into the sightseeing part. They also have big booth tables and free wi-fi, and several people were just at these tables working away on laptops. One lady had even brought her scrapbooking project, and had her crafts spread out on the table. I think she was working on it for most of the train ride. Nick and I spent several hours at one of the lounge tables playing Magic: The Gathering.

The lounge car also has snacks that you can purchase, and either eat there or take back to your seats to eat. The diner car had some decent food, but that's the only other negative about riding the train - since space is scarce, if you have a party of less than 4, they will seat strangers together to fill up the booths. There is nothing I hate quite so much as awkward socialization with strangers when I'm trying to eat, but if you are an extrovert then this could be really exciting for you.

So, in spite of it being an 11 hour ride, I spent that time napping, gazing, playing Minecraft, Spacechem, Poker Night at the Inventory, playing Magic with Nick, watching a movie, and so on. It was no different than having a particularly lazy day at home, except there was no Mr. Davis to snuggle. When we got to San Francisco at 10:00 at night, I didn't feel exhausted the way I normally do after even the shortest of flights.

In conclusion, if you've never been on an Amtrak trip, and you have some time to kill and are in no hurry, and perhaps have many personal projects that you'd like to get some work done on, then yes, try it out at least once!

Goal Progress Report

1) Free thing in LA every month. August's free activity was the Independent Shakespeare Festival's free performance of Hamlet in Griffith Park. It was really fun, and a fantastic performance! I'm glad lots of people came out and joined in on the picnic.

Also, Insomniac's Wrap Party was at Six Flags yesterday, so I suppose that can also count as a free event. As part of the gift package they gave us all free passes to the water park to use in September, so at the very least that'll be my September free-thing. I'll try and scare up a good public event as well. Potential events include...

Chinatown Summer Nights on 9/10 (http://chinatownsummernights.com/). Seems to involve food and music.

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy has lots of nature-related events throughout September: learning about snakes, stargazing hikes, wilderness survival skill lessons, etc. However, these are usually a bit of a drive and often parking is not free, so I'd want to get a bit more organized with a small group before doing any of them.

An Interfaith Choral Concert on 9/11

The Dubnoff Outdoor Festival on 9/24 in North Hollywood - food trucks, games, prizes, various bits of entertainment

Citywide Yard Sale in Santa Monica on 9/24

Vintage Paper Fair on 9/24 and 9/25 in Glendale (http://vintagepaperfair.com/) - old photography, pinups, brochures, post cards, stuff like that.

Redondo Pier Car Show, if you like cars, on 9/25

2) Games. Nick and I have been playing Deus Ex, and I like it very much! I'm actually doing more watching and back-seat gaming with this one, which leads me to question, does this count as playing? Perhaps I should explore back-seat gaming in an #AltDevBlogADay article

3) Sewing. I'm making things! With patterns! But I can't say what they are because they are for presents.

Goal Progress Report

1) Free Thing in LA Every Month. Since my parents were in town in July, we went down to El Pueblo and then on to Little Tokyo where a music and arts festival was going on. It mostly made me hungry for Japan, but was a nice walk, and I'd never been down near MOCA before to see all that artsy stuff, so it worked out well. The rest of July was filled with non-free events (NASL and MLG).

For August, I was thinking of hitting up the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival, because my parents' visit made me homesick and it reminds me of Shakespeare in the Park in Louisville. I'm thinking of trying to catch either Love's Labour's Lost or Hamlet, either the weekend of the 13th or the 20th. If you want to come have a picnic with me, let me know!

2) Games. I have actually been playing a TON of games recently, but a lot of it has been research for work, so I don't think it counts for this goal. Other than that, I've been enjoying Outland immensely. If you haven't seen it yet, it's a really fast and snappy platformer combined with color-switching bullet hell (like Ikaruga). Unlike Ikaruga, though, the platforming aspect of it lets you pace yourself, and learn more slowly, so you get less panicky and spammy.

The other game I've been playing a lot for fun is Sanctum, which is a first-person-shooter tower defense game. I really like the solutions they came up with for constructing defenses in a first person view. It's also a very mild shooter, since once the defense starts, you usually just teleport to various locations in your map, and shoot from a stationary position. Running and gunning is entirely optional.

Meanwhile, there were a few re-releases (other than Stranger's Wrath) that I was looking forward to, but I've completely forgotten which ones they were now, doh! I guess when they pop up in the PSN store, I will remember :)

Vacation

With Resistance 3 wrapped up, and with me transitioning onto a new (SECRET) project at work, it was a perfect time to take a nice rest.

My parents came out to visit, which was great. I really am not quite used to only getting home at Christmas, so I get pretty homesick during the summer, and it was wonderful to see them. We did a few cool things: went to the botanical gardens, walked around El Pueblo and Little Tokyo, and saw a Dodgers game. Otherwise, we pretty much just sat around and did nothing by the pool, or took naps.

I had two days between their leaving and the MLG mini-vacation, which I spent sleeping for the most part. There were a few instances of taking Mr. Davis out for a walk, of course, and some reading, but the rest was blissful, blissful sleep.

This past weekend was MLG, and Nick and I stayed at a hotel down in Anaheim. It was super fun! I really love watching Starcraft in a great big riled up crowd, and man what a crowd it was! On Saturday I got there early to snatch a good seat, and Nick and I rotated out for food and breaks so that we could keep our spot. Everywhere else the chairs were packed and people were standing in the aisles, but the matches were fantastic!

We did decide to head back home today, though, and watch the finals on the stream at Nick's place. This was for two reasons: Nick lost his wristband and it would have been really expensive to buy another for just one day, and we surely would have had to get there at like 8am again to get a seat on championships day, but the matches go on all day, and it would have been incredibly exhausting to stay there until the grand finals. I don't mind, though, because I had great fun on Friday and Saturday, and would rather assure that this last day of vacationing is nice and relaxing.

Tonight I will mentally prepare myself for the return to work, and then tomorrow it's back to makin games!

Goal Progress Report

1) Games. I've been doing pretty good on this front recently! Been playing a TON of Realm of the Mad God, which is a browser-based MMO fantasy-themed bullet hell shooter. It's extremely easy to jump in and out of, and it's not a grind to build up a character. Death is permanent, so if you die you just roll a new character. You unlock different classes as you level up the base ones, and it's just a generally great time killer. I might do a more in depth post about this.

Racettear: An Item Shop's Tale was on sale on Steam, so Nick and I have been playing that the past couple of days. It's a game where you run an item shop in an RPG, and you have to acquire good items to sell and haggle prices with customers and stuff. I think it's great!

2) Free things in LA. Still have an eye on that festival in Little Tokyo for this month, stay tuned.

3) Sewing: I am going to sew something for-reals! I'm assembling a pattern and everything! I really should acquire an iron for this, I think.

4) Plugging along. Contemplating selling my PS2 and all my games, we'll see...

Goal Progress Report

1) Free thing in LA every month: I went down to the Fiesta de las Flores at El Pueblo today, ate 2 churros (probably a mistake), watched some folkloric dances, wandered up and down Olvera Street, and took lots of photos - https://picasaweb.google.com/lisa.deanne.brown/FiestaDeLasFlores

This place is really one of my favorite spots in LA, I love it! So, free thing for June checked off, though I MAY consider going down to my CSA farm next weekend to pick blackberries. Only if I can get some folks to go with me, though.

Thinking ahead to July...
- FIFA Women's World Cup. The Goethe-Institut is broadcasting select matches for this, and I'm considering wrangling up the Insomniac soccer crowd to go watch together. Matches run from 6/26 to 7/17, so it's a little flexible. http://bit.ly/jZKpwW
- Obon Festival at the Buddhist Temple in Little Tokyo. I am a big fan of these cultural festivals, may as well add another to the list! http://bit.ly/iBcoMO

2) Video Games: More LA Noire. Now that PSN is back up, I can get Outland, but I have to get around to it.

3) Financial: I've been having little mini stuff-sales that bring in bits of cash and help me de-clutter. It helps that I'm in another "stuff purge" mode. Otherwise, just plugging along!

Goal Progress Report

1) Games: Nick and I played a fair ways into L.A. Noire on Monday, and I am really enjoying it. I feel like it's a sort of love-it-or-hate-it game, as it is very much like Phoenix Wright. That is, it is a highly cinematic, low-impact sort of game that it is easy to play as a pair while lazing on a couch, finding clues and identifying liars together, trading the controller back and forth, and guessing the outcome of a case well before we solve it (which I find very gratifying). I am anxious to get back to it, but I would like to continue playing alongside Nick, and as it is crunch time for the programmers on R3, it may be a bit yet.

2) Financial: Today was a glorious day! I sent in the final payment for my small private student loan. GOAL ACHIEVED! Now all that money will in turn go towards the last big beast of a federal loan. I'm working on ways to break it down into short-term goals for myself, so that I can stay focused and pay it off as efficiently as possible. With my current budget, I can be debt-free by October of 2014, but I feel like I can keep pushing that further and further.

3) Free Thing in LA Every Month: When at the soap box race, we swung down to El Pueblo for a bite to eat, and I noticed banners for La Fiesta de Las Flores, which takes place June 18. I'm definitely going to hit this up, but am still perusing EyeSpyLA for other free events of interest in June.

Goal Progress Report

1) Sew 3 things. 3 of 3 complete! I have reached my goal of sewing 3 things with the sewing machine this year! I decided to try and think of more things that I could use my scrap fabric for, and ended up making a sort of hanging pouch to keep my books and notepads in when taking a bath. Just because I've completed this goal doesn't mean I'll close up the sewing machine for good, but I will stop reporting on it unless I do another project.

2) Free thing in LA each month: Yesterday, Josh Noble and I went down to see the Redbull Soapbox Race, which was really fun. It was craaaaaaazy crowded. The entries were judged on speed, creativity, and showmanship, so all the cars were decorated in ridiculous ways. My favorites were a food truck soapbox car and one that was done up to look like a Mexican ice cream cart. There was even an Angry Birds entry, and feathers flew everywhere as it zoomed down the course. There were a few spectacular crashes, too! We didn't end up seeing all the entries (there were 40!) but it was a fun time and we ended up grabbing lunch in Chinatown and eating at El Pueblo, which is fast becoming one of my favorite spots in LA.

3) Games. Still slacking on this, as I've been playing League of Legends pretty much exclusively all month. It's going to be hard to re-focus until after Gold, but I do still intend to get Outland once the PSN store is back up.

4) Financial: Nothing exciting to report here, just plugging along.

Goal Progress Update - lost count

This is what happens when the Gold deadline approaches, I fall off the wagon! Here’s an update all the same.

1) Free thing in LA Every Month: Alas, I fell off the wagon and missed an event for April. I had one lined up - a free pass to the Renn Faire, but when the day came Nick and I were so low-energy that we decided it was best to stay in. However, I am determined to make May count. Here are some ideas

Tomorrow - NASA/JPL open house. Science! http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/open-house.cfm

Friday, May 20 - Jazz and Steel Drums. I like steel drums. http://bit.ly/mErrAv

Memorial Day Weekend - DOG SHOW. I have a secret, guilty pleasure for watching dog shows. The genetic manipulation just utterly fascinates me! I need someone dog-nerdy as me to come, too http://bit.ly/ioKx4u

2) Sew 3 things. 2 of 3 complete. That’s right, I completed my second sewn thing! It’s a pretty simple project, a sachet I made as an apartment-warming gift for Josh when he moved. It’s filled with dried lavender leaves from last year’s herb garden, and dried thyme buds from this year’s. Simple enough that I need to buy another lavender plant and make more (last year’s plant didn’t make it). I also have an idea for project number 3, but it will actually require me to go buy fabric instead of using stuff from my scrap pile.

3) 20 minutes of games every other day. I’ve really fallen off the wagon with this one. Part of it was that my game plans were disrupted with the PSN outage - no Outland and no Portal 2 (I wanted to get it through steam to get a free PC copy), and no updates on HD Stranger’s Wrath. The other part is that Nick and I have been watching the NASL Starcraft II matches, which just makes us want to play Starcraft II. Oh, and League of Legends. Lots of League of Legends. Fortunately, PSN seems to be stirring with signs of life, so Outland may be soon within my grasp.

4) Financial. Lots of frugality for April. We had an easter egg hunt at work, and amidst all the candy, one of my eggs had a Target gift card (groceries!) and another had a free commissary lunch. I am super excited about paying off the private student loan next month, which I guess makes me a big ole nerd.

Weekly Goal Progress Report #12

Missed a week. Oh well! Forging on...

1) One free thing in LA per month. I think I'm going to take a rest on the events and instead check out the California Science Center either this weekend or next.

2) Financial: Been stickin close to the budget, and as such I will pay off my small private student loan in June, which is a big deal to me. Otherwise, budgeting isn't terribly exciting.

3) Sew 3 Things. 1 or 3 completed. Some mending, but no updates on the next project. I contemplated making a rain coat for Mr. Davis, but that might be crossing the line. Tips for good beginner sewing projects welcome!

4) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: I've been a busy gamer, recently! Still charging through Okamiden and enjoying it immensely, and I'm dabbling about in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, plotting to try the multiplayer eventually. If I had the time to devote to games that I did in high school and college, I feel I would be the sort of person to just play the crap out of Assassin's Creed. Meanwhile, I hadn't played League of Legends or Starcraft II in awhile, so I took them off the "doesn't count" list. Well, now they have to go right back on! The HD Stranger's Wrath is supposed to come out this month, though I haven't heard any updates on release dates or price. Still, that is the next game on my radar.

Weekly Goal Progress Report #11

Switching up the order to keep things fresh

1) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: I think I've reached my limit with Lost in Shadow, unfortunately. At first its slow and cautious pace seemed fitting with the mood and the teaching of mechanics, but it's stretching on for too long. I'm certain there's some sort of changing moment to be had, but I'm tired and anxious to move on to other games. Maybe I'll come back to it someday. Meanwhile, Okamiden came and I've been playing the crap out of it! I enjoy it very much, and it warrants a post all to itself. More lunchtime Minecraft this week as well.

2) Financial: I did my annual credit report (which you can and should do once a year, here) to make sure my credit card was closed properly, which it was! I found another error on the report, though, so I submitted a dispute and it's already been cleared and removed from my report. It was a way faster turnaround than what I was expecting!

3) Sew 3 Things. 1 or 3 completed. No updates here.

4) One free thing in LA per month: Starting to think ahead to April. I haven't run across any events I'm interested in yet, but there are still several free museums I am interested in, so perhaps I'll check one of those out in April. Ideas include the California Science Center, MOCA, and the Museum of Television and Radio. Sound interesting to anyone?

Weekly Goal Progress Report #10

Switching up the order to keep things fresh

1) Sew 3 things: 1 of 3 complete. Just some mending this week, as I got my set of bobbins. I think that'll go a long way in encouraging me to sew more, since changing thread when you only have 1 bobbin is a pain. I think I'm getting the hang of the darning foot, but sometimes my thread breaks so I might not have it attached properly. I really wish I knew someone in LA who knows sewing machines inside and out so they could come give me a crash course in these attachments. LA friends? Any tailors or seamstresses?

2) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: More Magicka! I think we've just about beaten the adventure mode, but I'm not sure. I've also been Minecrafting a bunch lately. The latest updates fixed monster hit detection on multiplayer servers, so the Insomniac server is much safer. Also been playing Shining Force, which I don't think counts since it's a game I've already played. BUT! My copy of Okamiden should get here soon!

3) One free thing in LA per month: Oh man, the kite festival was amaaaaaaaaazing. There were so many kites in the sky of all shapes and sizes and types! It was beautiful! I particularly liked the dragon kites. The atmosphere on the beach was really nice, too. Everyone was super chill, and maybe your string got tangled on another kite but whatevs, there were a billion kites up there so how could anyone complain! They had a big 25ft wide kite that had a cord so thick that you could see it all the way up to where it attached. My favorite was a teeny tiny butterfly shaped kite that someone was just dragging along behind them on a short string, and it still fluttered up in the air like a pet! So cool. Definitely going again next year.

4) Financial: I updated my annual mileage with my auto insurance company, since I haven't driven back and forth across the country in a few years, and they sent me a reimbursement check on my insurance payment for the lower mileage. Nice! I wasn't expecting it to kick in until the next time my premium was due.

Weekly Goal Progress Report #9

1) Financial: It was a tough race, but I'm deciding to go with Lockheed. The main reason is, even though USAA sounds more awesome, there are a few little things I need to be able to do that they can't, and everyone's response is that they recommend to also keep a small local bank account in addition. Well, the small local bank account is the one that I'm looking for! So, credit union for now, though USAA definitely sounds super awesome.

2) One free thing in LA per month: Kite Festival is tomorrow! Nick and I also snuck down to the Lantern Festival last Saturday for our Anniversary. Got to see some shadow puppetry and a dragon dance, very cool stuff!

3) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: Finished Stacking. SUCH a delightful game! I would recommend it to anyone with a PS3 or XBox to buy, it is certainly worth it. It's very low key to get through the whole story, but there are plenty of extra puzzles to solve for the completionists. Also, we've been playing Magicka this week, which is fun and hilarious! But it keeps overheating my laptop, which is unfortunate

4) Sew 3 things: 1 of 3 complete. Nothing to report here, though I did order some extra bobbins. Woo.

Weekly Goal Progress Report #8

1) Financial: Bank of America started blocking connections to Mint.com, which annoys me, and I'd always felt bad about having an account with those jerks anyway, so I'm investigating local credit unions to switch my checking account to. So far, Lockheed FCU is in the lead, but I'm still collecting opinions and recommendations.

2) One free thing in LA per month: For March, I've settled on the Festival of the Kite! I'll set up a facebook event like I did for the dragon parade, that seemed to work well enough

3) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: Still playing lots of Lost in Shadow. It remains simple platforming and puzzle solving, but I still have a hunch that something is going to change in an exciting way, so I'm holding out.

4) Sew 3 things: 1 of 3 complete. Today, I experimented with the darning foot to mend a hole in a pair of pants. I've never used any of my sewing machine's attachments before, so it was a bit of an experiment. The hole is mended, though it's a bit of a patchy hack job. I feel like I have quite a piece of machinery here that I don't appreciate.

Weekly Goal Progress Report #7

1) Financial: Wrapping up February's budget on a good clip. Cutting back on eating out is tricky, but hopefully with Saturday's grocery shopping I can add some variety to my foods to bring for lunch (I want to make a pork pie, which should freeze well in pieces. YUM).

2) One free thing in LA per month: Time to start thinking about March. There are several events I have my eye on, so maybe my LA friends could help me choose! Here they are:

Chinese Lantern Festival at El Pueblo, Saturday, March 5. They'll have LION DANCES so this is super tempting!

Long Beach Mardi Gras (what is it with Long Beach and the New Orleans culture stuff anyway?), including a parade, on Saturday, March 5

The Festival of the Kite at Redondo Pier, on Sunday, March 13

St. Patrick's Day Festival in Costa Mesa, Saturday, March 13. Looks like a lot of dance troupes and musicians.

LA Friends, I await your input!

3) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: Started Lost in Shadow this week. I am enjoying it so far for its aesthetics alone. So far the gameplay is pretty basic platforming and environmental puzzle solving, but I keep getting taught new things that make me think the game is going to ramp up. We'll see!

4) Sew 3 things: 1 of 3 complete

Weekly Goal Progress Report #6

1) Financial: After some budget reworking and tightening up a few categories here and there, I realized that I can actually beat my 5-year student loan payoff plan and pay them off in 3 1/2 years. Gogogo!

2) One free thing in LA per month: I actually got in an extra bonus free thing this month. At work the HR department gets tickets to various venues, and every so often calls on us to nominate someone who has done something awesome to

give the tickets to. So, apparently someone thought I was awesome! Nick and I went and saw the LA Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and it was very nice. Especially because we were able to take the metro and avoid driving in the rain :)

3) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day: Slacking on this goal this week. I played a bit of stacking, and have been playing Minecraft at lunch every day. I really need to start up Lost in Shadow!

4) Sew 3 things: SUCCESS! I completed Mr. Davis's kitty quilt, thus accomplishing 1 of the 3 things to sew this year! It's a little patchy, but he doesn't seem to min

d:

Weekly Goal Progress Report #5

I missed a week! Curses! Oh well, moving on!

1) Financial: Since eating out is my Achilles Heel when it comes to spending money, I made some huge batches of food that can be frozen and eaten over the month (the lentil soup and the kimchi borscht). I also nabbed some knitting needles and extra yarn on Freecycle.

2) One free thing in LA per month. The Golden Dragon Parade was a big hit! There were lots of dragons and lion dances and that was fine by me. Photos here. There was also an awesome moment at the end where they set off a bajillion firecrackers at once. There are no photos of that because I was too busy gawking. The parade was really long, but fortunately there was this fast food dim sum style place right next to our spot, so we feasted on dumplings. It was a smashing success!

3) 20 Minutes of Games Every Other Day. More Donkey Kong, and LOTS more League of Legends and StarJeweled. The latter two are moved to my "doesn't count" list. WoW is moved off that list, since I haven't played since my Cataclysm binge over Christmas Break. I also got Trino off Steam, since it was made by some of my ETC friends. Using the mouse to control it isn't so bad, except that it's really easy to get stressed out and accidentally click outside the game window. I also got Stacking off of PSN, which is wonderfully charming. How can a game about matryoshka dolls not be?

4) Sew 3 things: Alas, I'm slacking on this one. I have the fabric cut and measured for Mr. Davis's blanket, and I have the batting, but I have yet to fire up the sewing machine. Meanwhile, I have picked knitting back up, but that doesn't count for this goal.