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Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: Friday I'm In Love by The Cure

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friday roundup

Friday Roundup - Deltarune, Moving, Et Cetera

what's this?! a friday roundup?! yeah, actually, so let's do it!

while visiting wifey i replayed deltarune ch. 1 and 2, and played ch. 3 and 4. toby fox has me right in his grip once again because damn what a good opener.
had a pretty easy time with ch. 1- i played it on the flight to the west coast. distinctly remember being too tired to do the post chapter content so i just had kris go straight home. sorry kris, the time change was fucking me up.

while i had an easy time with the spamton fight in ch.2 (something i struggled with last time) i didn't remember the berdly fight being that annoying?? god damn that sucked. but all and all pretty good- i did queen first try which was something i struggled to do last time.

without spoiling anything i really did enjoy chapter 3 and 4. ch. 3 especially, though ch. 4 was extremely emotionally resonant with me. i wish i would've beaten the boss while i was still there, but no, it was on my return flight. can't exactly scream and cheer on a crowded plane at 10:30 at night... or, you can, but people really won't like you.

speaking of wifey, we're getting ready to move in together finally!! i couldn't be more excited about it- i just have to finish my course of therapy and i'll be all ready to go... considering how well it's been going i should be able to do that soon?!?! AND i might be able to get my driver's license soon?!?! AND i've been working on a game again?!?!?! what the hell!! who am i?!

i might want to start a dedicated devlog journal... i think i will. that'll be a monthly update instead of weekly, i think. so keep an eye out for a post about that.

anyway, i think that's about it for now. til next time!

I am all eyes, I am all ears, I am the wall and I'm watching you fall, because faith is mine.

It's Friday! Whoohoo! One and a half more days left in my week! Then, I'm going to go do some shit.

Yesterday was a bit wild. I had to deal with a really difficult patient who didn't want to go to the main hospital. Unfortunately, due to past behavior, that was the only place we could accommodate them. They had some truly wild suppositions about how neurodivergence worked. She finally agreed to go, but goddamn. That was a long call. It wasn't my error, but I would prefer that I take that rather than one of my younger coworkers, who probably would have been driven to tears. I just shrugged and went "that's not how ADHD works at all?" (In my head, obv. I didn't poke that bear.)

Aside from that, two more Cardiac appointments opened up and required me to fill them, and it just felt busy. Then at the end of the day, I got to update windows, which is always fun. Apparently, I had 11.2hb2, and I needed 11.2hb3. Whatever. We'll see if everything works today.

After work, I made bacon and French Toast Casserole. The french toast casserole came out really well. I used croissant bread and I really liked it. It was delicious and custardy with brown sugar sprinkled on top to get crispy. The bacon was...okay. I had ordered from Costco, and I ordered the Kirkland bacon. I much prefer Sam's Club's bacon. It was very salty and also very fatty. I have like a centimeter of left over grease in my pan. It's just a lot. I have another package, and I think I will use it mostly for cooking. I'll get some kale or spinach and cook it up with some bacon and maybe parmesan.

Not sure what I'm going to make today. Going to have to look in the freezer. I think we have some brussel sprouts left, so maybe I'll use some of that bacon on them. Bacon, onions, and maybe some red wine vinegar. If I had sugar dusted pine nuts, I'd use that, too. I like that salty sweet with a little crunch. Mental note, get some pine nuts for future endeavors.

I'd like to bake something, but with the dog requiring a walk at lunch time, since he will no longer go out with Jess solo in the mornings, there's no time to throw together cookies during break. Maybe tomorrow evening I'll make some. Or Sunday morning before game.

Okay, time for me to go forth and get myself together. Everyone have a excellent Friday!

The ashes of memories, buried, are blowing, blowing in the wind

It's Thursday, which means it's halfway through my week (since I work on Saturday.) Today should be a bit quieter than yesterday, but yesterday wasn't too bad.

The apartments are doing emergency work on the plumbing lines, so we were without water between 9-4 yesterday and probably will be again today. It's annoying, but not terrible. I just need to remember to fill the water pitcher and coffee pot before it's time for it to cut off. Not difficult, since I tend to get my second coffee around 8.

I had a little trouble getting to sleep last night, so I listened to a few of the "vocal coaches listen and react to _____ for the first time." And for blank, insert "Ghost". It put me right the fuck to sleep. I'm still a wee bit tired today, but not too bad.

This weekend, we're going to go see Fantastic Four. Also, I've been craving a maple frosted donut, so before the movie, we're driving up to York, PA and having lunch at Smokey Bones, and then getting donuts from Maple Donuts. It's the only place that I can reliably get a maple donut outside of fall. I've never eaten at Smokey Bones, so I'm looking forward to that.

Somehow, my debit card got compromised. I looked yesterday and found a $209 charge from at ATM in Via Corsica Italy. I had to kill my card and get a new one. Thankfully, Jess has a card for that checking account, so we're not screwed. I will be changing my PIN on the new card, definitely. I'm also going to change the passwords on my accounts. I don't know how they cloned my card, but I suppose scammers will find a way. The funny thing is that my sister's card was ripped off just a couple of days ago.

I continue to be annoyed at people at work, as I looked at a weirdly scheduled coronary MRI, and found that it was completely botched. There's a question about "does the pt have an artifical joint in the area being scanned." And someone put yes, for a knee replacement. The MRI is of the Heart? WTF? How stupid are you? Shoulder replacement, sure. Knee? no.

We had no less than 5 cardiac scans cancel for the next week. I filled them, but good lord. One or two is usually tough enough. Still, I love it when I can call a patient who's scheduled in October and intimate that we've been keeping an eye out and we got this cancelation, and I thought of them. They're usually so grateful and happy.

The big bosses continue to be happy with me. As far as I know the meeting is still on for 8/8, so we'll see how that goes. Apparently, one of the sites mentioned how much they appreciate us filling in the cardiac slots so they don't go to waste. They mentioned an uptick in the profit margin on those since I took over, and my boss's boss was quick to attribute that to me. So yet again, I look golden in front of the big boss.

And on that note, I'm going to hop off and get myself together. Everyone have an awesome Thursday!

Entry tags:

Disability rights movement history.

Watch on YouTube

Good information to know, as these protests are rarely if ever taught in schools or anywhere else. Even I didn't know about most of them (I knew about the capitol protest but not the others). Also relevant in the modern political climate.

It's just too bad we still had a long way to go even before Trump took office. So many companies and even government facilities don't abide by the law or don't do enough. Like even if they put accessibility stuff in, a lot of times those installations are difficult or impossible to use without calling for help from an able bodied person, or they break down and don't get repaired for a long, long time. Employment discrimination is still done, the employers just hide their reasons for it. (I was at least once fired for being autistic, but of course that wasn't the reason given. The reasons given essentially boiled down to a list of autistic traits the employer didn't like about me, though.) Oh, and most importantly, disabled people on SSDI or SSI still lose their income and health care if they get married.

Entry tags:

Don't ever volunteer information to potential bigots.

Family says daughter expelled over prom date choice at Christian school

Prom night is a big deal for high school seniors. Emily Wright, who attended North Cobb Christian School, says her prom was at a venue off campus, and she invited a friend who doesn't go to the school.

"It was off property. I did sign a form allowing her to bring a guest," said Tricia Wright, Emily's mother.

Wright says the only limitation on the form was related to the age of the guest. Ten days later, Emily was called into the principal's office.

"I was asked, 'Is there anything we should know about the guest you brought to prom?' And I knew exactly what they were talking about, so I said, 'Yes, he's transgender,'" said Emily.

"I got a call from the principal who said, 'Ms. Wright, I've been informed that Emily brought a transgender guest to prom. Were you aware of that?' I said yes. She said, 'Well, I'm sorry, Ms. Wright, we're going to have to expel Emily,'" said Tricia Wright, Emily's mom.

Tricia Wright said she was stunned. Emily was worried.

"I cried very hard. I was just thinking that my entire future was in jeopardy. 'Where am I going to go to school? Where am I going to graduate?'" said Emily.

With just weeks left in the school year, Emily enrolled in a public school so she could graduate and go to college.

"I was asked, 'Is there anything we should know about the guest you brought to prom?' And I knew exactly what they were talking about, so I said, 'Yes, he's transgender,'" said Emily.

Not victim blaming at all, just informing: if someone like a principal or other person in a position of power asks you a question like that, especially when there was nothing on the form against someone's gender, the proper answer to a question like this is "No." You could also ask the principal "Why? Did I miss something on the form?" This at least forces the other person to acknowledge that there wasn't in fact any rule against transgender people on the form, and what's more... I don't know how to say this exactly, but "admitting" something like "he's transgender" gives the oppressor a sense of legitimacy, like they're making you admit you know you did something wrong. By answering "No" and making the oppressor bring up what they think is wrong, you are both taking some degree of control of the situation away from them, and also disagreeing with their assessment -- because from your point of view, and from a rules point of view in that situation, you did nothing wrong. No rules were broken.

Also, answering "he's transgender" is outing someone against their will, which is bad in and of itself. And even if it wasn't, that information isn't any of the oppressor's business. They do not have any right to ask, or to know, that information. Especially in this situation, where there was nothing on the signed sheet about this one way or another. That information is, from a rules standpoint, utterly irrelevant, because while the principal is trying to say that she broke a rule, she did not in fact break any rules. The principal is just being a bigot.

On a related note, I am reminded of a post months ago that pointed out that when a fascist or other bigot asks a question like "Are there any Jews in this household?" what they are really asking is "May we have your permission to arrest and murder guests of yours and/or friends/neighbors?" And so it is not a lie to say "No." Because you are answering the question they meant, not the question they asked. You are not saying "No there are no Jews here" when you answer "No" because you are truthfully answering their actual question, saying "No, you may not come in to harm my guests, friends, or neighbors."

So, 'Is there anything we should know about the guest you brought to prom?' is actually asking 'May we have information we are not entitled to so that we can punish you and your friend for who and what they are?' And thus the proper answer is "No."

It just so happens that the answer in this particular case is 'No' regardless of the interpretation. "No, you may not have information you're not entitled to that you can use to punish or oppress us," AND "No, there is nothing you should know about my guest which is relevant to the rules as written on the permission form."

In the grave of the ocean, right there, where it dips and connects with the fire, burning with me

Good morning! It's Wednesday and I am realizing that I completely forgot about going to the farmer's market yesterday. Oh well. Guess I'll jist order some stuff. It's nice, but expensive, so I'm not sorry to dispense with it for this week. I'll just put in a little order and get what I need and not pay bougie prices.

Yesterday wasn't too busy at work, though I did do a lot of wheeling and dealing to get people in sooner. I started work on the "fix my coworker's stupid bullshit" project and opened up a few slots, which I felt good about. Today, I shall continue on that, and see what the day brings.

I've noticed that even when the coworker who normally calls patients is here, I'm getting a lot of emails to r/s things, I think because I'm faster on it. I feel like I'm being groomed for something, but I don't know what.

So we're a medical provider, which means it's unlikely that we'll ban people outright from being seen. It takes a LOT. But behavior problems do have to go to the hospital campus, where we have more security. Best of all, you can't tell patients *why* they have to go to the hospital. This resulted in a fairly unpleasant call in the afternoon, but I dealt with it.

We'll see what today brings! They're not my patient, so I probably won't have to talk to them again when their attempts to keep their appt at an outpatient center fail, but there's always a chance. They should never have been scheduled there, but see also yesterday's "my coworkers are fuckups at times" rants.

Jess has game tonight, one that I am not in, and then I have a game on Sunday that they're not in. It's a very light schedule, and I'm kind of jonesing for a game. We ended up cancelling our Sunday game last week, as one of our player's internet was out. As a results it's been 2 weeks since my last game!!

I uploaded the music for the Crooked Moon, which is not due to. be played until Sept, but I wanted to have everything ready. Roll20 has a jukebox function that lets you play music in the background and this module has a soundtrack that you can buy and add in. So, we'll see how that goes. It could be super immersive, it could be a massive pain in the ass. We shall see.

I'm looking forward to starting the module, but we have so many games that we're trying to fit in, and it's a lot. I've 100% done it to myself, but wow, I have no chill. lol

I think a few games will be ending soon, so that's something.

Okay, time for me to get myself ready for work. Everyone have a wonderful Wednesday!

Current Mood: enraged

Entry tags:

No more GOP, no more Democrats, no more money or religion in politics.

I am so fucking sick and tired of this constant back and forth between the Republicans and the Democrats, having to stress out constantly for four or eight years every time the Greedy Old Pedophiles party and getting only four or eight years of a semi-respite in between. But only a semi-respite, because the Democrats never fix anything the Republicans broke and they never fucking do anything against Republicans. At best they sit back and let it happen, at worst they play along.

My proposal: if our democracy survives, and Trump and his fascist fuck-monkeys are properly ousted and imprisoned, then the Republican party needs to be completely dismantled, and all the Republican politicians put in prison or executed. Same goes for any Democrats who voted with the GOP and didn't fight fascism when they had the chance. Just imprison and/or execute them all, set up ranked choice voting, set up some political parties that range from far left to "left of center" and make any policies/stances even remotely close to racist, fascist, or "bigoted 'Christian' nonsense" crap be grounds for that person being banned from politics and investigated heavily because obviously they're doing something shady.

While we're at it, ban wealthy or formerly wealthy people from politics entirely. No more owning class politicians; you have to be part of the working class to be a politician now. No more lobbying, either. All campaign funds can only come from a non-partisan fund all parties draw from equally; no more using your own money or PACs or superPACs or even donations. If you get caught taking a bribe of any kind, you're put in prison and banned from politics forever. If you have any personal friendships with corporate leadership or shareholders, you can't be in politics either.

If you've ever been a pastor, a priest, a reverend, a rabbi, an imam, or any kind of clergy, you are barred from politics. If you even just led a church youth group or bible camp, you're also banned from politics. In fact, given how the evangelical Christian scum have gotten their fucking claws so deep into the government, I daresay you shouldn't be allowed to be religious at all and be in politics. People who get voted in should swear in on law books or a copy of the constitution. Even wanting to swear in on any kind of religious document at all should be grounds for being recalled and banned from politics.

TOTAL separation of church and state! I'm even thinking it might be best if only atheists and agnostics are allowed to run for political office. And maybe also people who are spiritual but are not part of any organized religion. AND we need to get rid of tax-exempt status for churches and other religious organizations. There is absolutely no good reason for them to not pay taxes.

I am not even fucking kidding. Religion can be a good thing for people in some ways. But politics and religion go together like ice cream and diarrhea. Or peanut butter and horse manure.

From seraph skies and now to chaos bound

It's Tuesday, and I'm finally feeling like I've almost caught up on my energy deficit from the concert. My back is no longer hurting, but the blister on my heel is still a bit cranky, but it was pretty impressive, so that's going to take a few days to go away.

Something I forgot to mention in relation to the concerts, I think is that if you have something of high decibels coming up soon, I highly recommend the Loop Experience ear plug. They did a really good job, without muffling things too much. Very pleased with the purchase, 10/10, would get again. Won't have to, since they're reusable, but still. Also, pretty comfortable. They've got three ear tips, so you can get the fit you need.

I'm definitely having a bit of post concert depression. I looked forward to these two shows since April, and now they're done. They were awesome, and I have great memories, and people on Facebook and TikTok and Reddit that I talk to about it, but it's done, and there's not another one to look forward to. There's always a chance that they'll do a second leg, or the ReSkeletour, and I'm willing to go anywhere within 3 hours to see them again, but that probably won't be announced for a while.

It's really funny, for a band whose whole schtick is that they're Satanic Metal, an inordinate amount of their songs are about coming together and hope. They're your typical Swedish Socialists, I suppose. Also about community. Sure, it's community under Satan, but it's a warm and welcoming community. Apparently, the lead singers version of Satan is about acceptance and love. They did the Metallica benefit album and chose a Trans summer camp for kids as their charity. (Which I love them for)

Eventually, I will stop being Ghost 24/7, but right now I'm reveling in having a fandom. It's not a ficcish fandom, but it's more than I've had in a long time. It's a nice feeling.

Work was bugfuck yesterday, and I had not one, but three cardiac MRIs to fill. Ugh. I got them done, but it was a pain in the ass, trying to get that done, and keep up with the phones. Plus some other people's mistakes to fix, which is always fun. (They were out of the office.).

Today will probably be busy again, but we'll see if there's anything that needs to be filled in. I do have a few days to clean up. My coworkers are idiots, and can't figure out how to schedule properly. I know I've talked about it, but they have a habit of scheduling on the half hour for specialized appts, which tanks the entire time that those are scheduled for. (ie, Cardiac MRIs are scheduled for 60 min, between 11am-1pm. Scheduling at 11:30 means that the whole two hours is obliterated.) It makes me crazy. I've been going in and trying to shift people so that we have a more appointments. So far, I've opened a Cardiac and a Breast MRI, with plans to get a couple more today. The breast MRIs, we're booking in Sept, and the Cardiacs are in October. It's just bad.

I know it's not technically my job, but someone's gotta do it, and I'm in the position where I can do it, so I shall.

Tomorrow, we shall be a bit quieter, which is always nice.

Okay, time for me to go forth and get myself together. Everyone have an outstanding Tuesday!

(no subject)

Marie sent us a foot massager, addressed to "Mabel Ledger". We received it yesterday, and tried it right out.

This is what dreams are made of, this is what they're afraid of, a rhyme with no reason

Happy Monday! I gotta admit, I could use another day off, but alas, back to work.

After a stellar concert, we got up at a reasonable hour for brunch with friends. Sadly,

poisontaster felt crappy and had to take a rain check, but we still had a nice fandom brunch with chaneen.

After that, it was time for a long, slow ride home. Traffic was a bear, but we made it home by 2, and slumped onto the couch. Bad choice. All the adrenaline that had carried me through the morning went away, leaving me a little ball of tired and achy. I went to bed early and crashed out, sleeping soundly through the night, except for getting up one time for the bathroom and to get my morning pills ready. (Once I realized that I didn't have a pill case, I knew if I didn't fix it, I was going to have trouble getting back to sleep if I didn't do it.) I'll put the rest of my pills into pill cases tonight, and make up them for the week. Honestly, if I'd have tried to do it during the day yesterday, my tired would have resulted in mistakes. From like 4pm on, I was a lump. I did go out to walk the dog, twice, but that was the extent of my ability, and if I didn't love that dog, I'd have told him to poop on the floor, I was so tired.

Today will undoubtedly be psycho, so that'll be fun.

It's Music Monday, and I have two offerings. The first is a fan video of the last song of the night from Philly. The audio, as usual with fan recordings is a little rough, mostly because of 20,000 fans singing along with the music at full volume.

Watch on YouTube

(warning for shaky cam and concert lighting.)

The second is my new favorite song of Ghost's, off their new album. It's called Peacefield, and it's a banger. It was the opening song for the concert, and it's perfect for that.

Watch on YouTube

. (warning for quick cuts/strobe like cuts)

Thank you to Jess for introducing me to Ghost. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of both concerts we went to. We had the early entry for Baltimore, which was super cool, and let us get concert shirts and get to our seats and all early, and the VIP swag we got was awesome. I have been using the Yeti bottle since we got it, and I love it. It keeps beverages super cold forever. And then Philly we had the super cool time in the line passing out bracelets and getting to know people. Then, we had the killer seats and a great view of Papa.

And now, I shall go forth and get ready for work. The tummy is not super happy this morning, which is not unexpected. Everyone have the most excellent Monday!

Entry tags:

palestine

Fuck Israel with a chainsaw

I don't know how many of y'all are still following the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in the abominable colonial monstrosity known as Israel, but as someone who is still following all that, and watching daily reports of them committing war crimes by bombing hospitals, killing reporters, and shooting children in the head just for being Palestinians, it is becoming increasingly obvious to me that there is nothing Israel can do anymore that would cause those who have drunk the pro-Israel koolaid to turn on them. IDF soldiers and Israeli leaders could literally rape a thousand babies to death, film themselves doing it, and release the footage online for anyone to watch while encouraging people to wank to it, and the Israel supporters would call the babies terrorists who deserved to be raped to death.

Entry tags:

general update

General Update

Howdy, y'all! I have been home for about three weeks and will be here for another four weeks, then I'll head back to Shanghai. The school year was rocky, although not nearly as bad as Clown School. However, it's not a place I see myself staying long term, which means when I get back, I'll start looking for jobs again. I really really want to be in an international school again, and I REALLY want to stay in Shanghai. It's an amazing city, and I plan to spend a lot more time feeding my soul next year instead of giving so much of myself to work.

That said, I am taking a summer class on using sketch notes in the classroom (credits toward recertification), and I'm excited to try those out in class next year.

I took a road trip to the Oregon Coast with my bestie. We spent a little time in Portland (hello Powell's!) and then drove up and down between Tillamook and Newport, poking around. I added a bunch of birds to my life list. I didn't get great pictures, alas, but I'm not really interested in investing in photography at this point. I am, however, determined to get some binoculars that work with my glasses. It was frustrating to see eagles and hawks soaring but not be able to really identify them. (Or to see some sort of sandpiper scuttle away as I squinted at it.)

On the subject of birds, I started my life list officially a few years ago, and I decided I would add birds as I saw them from the date I decided to start the list. So even though I have seen golden eagles, for example, I wasn't going to add them to my list officially until I saw them again. It's encouraged me to keep my eyes open and observe familiar places with fresh eyes. We saw a bald eagle as we were driving away from Cape Meares -- I said, "Holy shit! A bald eagle!" and made Erin pull over so I could take a pic. My favorite new-to-me birds from this trip are: white-crowned sparrow, pigeon guillemot, Brandt's cormorant, common murre, and a chestnut-backed chickadee. The rangers at the Yaquina Head Lighthouse were very helpful pointing out the birds that were hanging out nearby. I also saw a great blue heron walking along the tidepools and successfully spear a fish. It was really neat! A fellow tourist asked if I had seen the puffins yet, and I said no! She said she heard there were some at Cannon Beach, which was too far north for our plans, so alas, puffins remain unobserved.

Like many people, I am super into K-Pop Demon Hunters, so Erin and I listened to the soundtrack a lot on the drive. I also introduced her to Six and Hadestown.

On the subject of musicals and theater and art, one of my goals for next year (as a teacher, I view life in terms of school years) is to take advantage of the art scene in Shanghai more than I did last year. I plan to ask our drama teacher about plays, but I also happened to see ads for a production of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake and a production of a Macbeth musical called Lady M and I went ahead and booked tickets for myself for each show, so I have that to look forward to. Mom and I are going to see Alison Krauss and Union Station in concert next week, and then right before I go back to China, we'll go see the Idaho Shakespeare Festival's production of Dial M for Murder. (ISF has really moved away from Shakespeare over the last few years. They only had one Shakespeare play this season, way back in May. They should probably change their name to something like the Theater Festival, but ISF is a beloved brand, so they probably won't.)

Oh, I also watched The Residence, taking advantage of Mom's Netflix subscription, and I really enjoyed it. I would watch many more series or movies with Cordelia Cupp!

Alright, that's it for now. I'm going to lie down in my cool bedroom and either knit or read (lbr I'll probably nap). I hope you all are well!

The altar is lit with black candles the darker, the better, so thrilling, it's killing you

It's Sunday morning, and I feel like I was beaten by a shoe. I just popped some ibuprofen, but lets face it, they're not miracle workers. We're in Philly, coming off our second Ghost concert and getting ready for brunch with friends. Okay, mostly I'm sitting here mainlining the coffee. The room has a netspresso machine, and I've gotta say, it's not bad. I'm actually kind of digging it.

Yesterday was a good day. I got up, did my work. I was on admin duties, which means that I was going through the faxes and emails and scanning orders. There was enough that for about an hour I was busy. After that, I took a few calls, had breakfast, it was quiet enough that I was just kind of chilling for most of it. Combined with the OT from last week and next week, I will have paid off either the hotel or the tickets, so yay!

After that, we got ourselves together and headed out. Traffic was a little slow in places, but we pulled up to the hotel/casino right at 2:35pm, and they were kind enough to check us in a few minutes early. After that, it was down to the casino to find a late lunch/early dinner at the Pan Asian restaurant, Luk Fu.

Despite the concept, the food was pretty good. Jess had Char Siu, and had the Korean Short Ribs. Both were excellent as was the lychee cheesecake we finished with.

Then it was back to the room to prepare ourselves for the ritual (that's what Ghost calls their concerts). I went full slutty goth queen, complete with nuns veil. (the veil didn't stay, because I took it off to get on the hotel-provided shuttle bus.)

Pic beneath the cut.

( Read more... )

The boots turned out to be a less than good choice on my part, but I looked pretty good in the fishnets and skirt.

Once we were all ready, we hopped the shuttle bus to the venue and stood in line for an hour and a half. The sun came out and we roasted. But I had fun in line, passing out the bead bracelets I'd made. People got so excited about it! Some traded, but I was passing them out to anyone who wanted them.

I had thirty two bracelets, plus three that were kid sized. Despite the whole Satanic Pope thing, Ghost is a good band for kids. Very theatrical and fairly tame. Sure they're going to be singing what amounts to Satanic choir music, but there won't be profanity or violence or any disparaging of women. It's a safe introduction to metal for them.

The kids bracelets were my favorite to hand out. One went past me, and I offered her a bracelet and she lit up and traded me one. The other two, just as we started moving towards the entrance, there were a couple of girls, and I went up and asked their mother if I could give them bracelets. She agreed, and good lord, for some elastic and plastic beads, they were so happy. The older one told me it was her new favorite piece of jewlery. The people in the line were super cool and super chill.

Eventually we got inside, and found our seats. They were 12 rows up, right beside the stage. They were amazing.

The concert was wonderful. Ghost has a no-phones policy--when you go in, your phone gets secured in a Yondr pouch, so there's no video or audio of the performances. It's just you, and the connection with the band. I fucking loved it both times. No screens blocking your view of the performers, or bright lights facing back at you. Just you and the band and Papa Perpetua V.

It's funny, out of makeup, the singer comes across as a slightly awkward dork. But he puts on the makeup and mask, and boom. He's still a dork, but a magnetic one. Like a tiny powerhouse who just owns the stage. (Good lord, he tiny. His thigh is probably smaller than my upper arm.)

The music was amazing, though again, there were a few songs I didn't know well and one I had never heard at all. The boots started to kill my back, so I sat down for a few of the songs I didn't know and got up for the ones I did. The sets were amazing, more so since I could see them, and they sounded great.

After that, we got a cab back to the hotel, and changed into comfy clothes, and then wandered the casino floor in search of cheesesteaks. Then, we ate and crashed.

All in all, a good and sucessful day. Soon we will go meet up with

poisontaster and chaneen. Everyone have an amazing Sunday!

Entry tags:

brunette saga

(no subject)

I did not originally plan on brunifying Princess Toadstool/Peach; compared to Paula and Natalie, I had figured she has been too consistently blonde in game and illustration alike in too big a franchise to possibly brunify now without alienating too many people from my planned YouTube playthroughs of Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

The other day, I discovered that even outside of original-NES graphical limitations, her hair was in fact brown in the Japanese cover art for Super Mario Bros. 1 and 2, along with at least one other official image of 1. With various enemies also being colored differently, and Bowser himself having a slightly different design, the thought assimilating those in question to such images seemed like an interesting context to put Brunstool into.

Looked into LazyShell yesterday, and it turns out that the character graphics from Super Mario RPG's opening cutscene, factory entry cutscene, and "Thank you" shot in the ending are hardcoded. Even if I were to write Bowser off, especially with at least four views of Bowser's visage underneath his castle (one thankfully accessible through LS), I did manage to brunify all of Toadstool's other graphics, which use different, mostly identical palettes (unlike in Earthbound, there are hundreds in all, including some unused), and really, deviating from canon is sort of a point of ROMhacking. (Yellow covers both her hair and Bowser's snout and hands in the clowncopter graphic above his castle, so I was limited to the two browns used for the sack Toadstool is stuffed in as a template for all other LS-accessible graphics.)

So far, someone on Discord has recommended Lunar Compress to seek the remaining three depictions through, but I have just had some trouble actually utilizing it through a command prompt. Waiting to hear back about that.

He Is. He's insurrection, he is spite, he's the force that made me be.

It's Ghost Concert #2 day and I'm super excited. I can't wait to go forth and have a good time. First, though, work.

I did my fit test and makeup test. I wasn't 100% thrilled with the makeup, so I didn't take pictures. I'm will have Jess take some tonight, though. I decided on the vampire palette of reds and blacks and silvers for the eye makeup. I really had problems with the eyeliner. If I can't get the liquid liner to work, I'll go to the dark blue one. That seems to go on super well.

We decided that we're going to check in around 3, and then hopefully go to Luk Fu at the hotel for dinner at 3:30pm. After that, we shall go get ready, and hop the shuttle to the concert. I'm not planning on getting there super early, since we have seated tickets and we're not VIP. You can't get in til 6:30PM.

Yesterday was busy. I took 39 calls, and spent most of the afternoon calling people back to offer sooner appts/and or putting out fires. I've still got a few people to call to try to reschedule after one of our doctors decided to be out of the office when patients were scheduled. So, we're moving the patients that week. That's my project today.

Then we had dinner and took Yoda out for a nice walk. He's still behaving weirdly post 4th of July. He won't go outside without me along with. I'm his safety mama. It's annoying, but he was really traumitized by that and the car alarm beeping. I feel bad for him, because I'm not able to go long distances, so he's getting comparatively short walks.

I hadn't posted because I needed a couple of days to digest, but on the bloodwork from his vet appointment on Monday, Yoda's liver values weren't great. The function was fine, but he showed a lot of a ALT (I think). The doctor thinks it might indicate Cushing's Disease. He wants to watch and retest in 6 months. If it goes up again, we'll do more labs. If it's Cushing's, then he has a 2-4 year life expectancy. Which makes me sad. As much as he drives me crazy, I do love him very much.

Nothing we can do for now, though.

I wish we could do Philly for a couple of days, but alas. Overnight will have to do. Tomorrow, we shall go to lunch with our friends Chaneen and

poisontaster, which will be awesome, then homewards bound.

Hopefully the Live casino is nice, and the shuttle runs frequently.

Okay, on that note, I've got a little bit of packing to do! Everyone have the best Saturday!

(no subject)

Yesterday's shift was scheduled to end at 3. Mom asked me early on if I'd like to go to the beach when she comes to pick me up.

I eventually took her up in order to get dinner and dessert there.

Got another double buffalo burger and stadium pretzel, but got a canned horchata nitro cold brew for my drink this time. For dessert, I ordered a cup of cotton candy ice cream with gummy bears, but it was nothing like what I ordered last year at Dairy Queen; it was a light blue instead, didn't contain any sugar crystals, and tasted somewhat plain.

Made my way back to Mom afterwards, and decided this time to dip my feet in the water before we left; didn't bother having an actual swim with my ankle still in pain as before (been neglecting to ice it lately).

When they finally reach you, you will have seen through, that dark is the season

Happy Friday! We're almost there! I'm a little sleepy today, but overall good. Today (and tomorrow) is for getting through the day so we can begin our little weekend adventure.

Yesterday was a busy day. First we dyed Jess' hair. They wanted a dark blue, but they left the dye on a little long, so it ended up being more of a blue/black. It looks super cool, now, and I'm sure it'll turn great colors as it fades. Not to be outdone, I ordered hair dye. The box showed it as blood red, but the final product was a little less blood and more fire. Despite that, I like it.

The the Torrid came late, so I didn't get to do a fit check, so that will be today. I've got two possible outfits, so we'll see which looks best.

My eyeshadow palette came early enough that I did an eye makeup test yesterday, but today I'll do the full test, with foundation and color correction. Plus, I had an idea for the eye makeup that I want to try. Pictures tomorrow. I fucking love this palette. It's De'Lancie Warcraft red and black. It's gorgeous and heavily pigmented. I'm at the point that I want my makeup to show up on my face. Especially behind glasses. I don't want to look natural. I want to look like I'm wearing eyeshadow, dammit.

Fortunately, the demanding patient called the main line and ended up escalating to management. So that's off my plate. Instead, I had really sweet old ladies yesterday. Which was a nice change.

Tonight, I shall pull out the suitcase and get ready for Philly. I've got a few products that I definitely need to bring, but I'm going to wait for the makeup test tonight before I lock it all in.

Tomorrow, I'm on Admin duty, which just means that I won't be on the phones as much. I'm okay with that. I'll be scanning orders from the fax and email box, and only handling overflow calls if needed.

Then, it will be off to the City of Brotherly Love for a whirlwind visit. I'm hoping to get in right around check in, and take a few minutes to relax. Then, get ready and off to the concert. There's a Phillies game at 6, so I'm hoping the shuttle bus is as good as the hotel says it is. We'll have to get down there early, just in case there's a line.

I have one more thing to get here today, since it looks like my nail polish is not making it in time. That's a purple purse that's a little bit bigger than what I have, because the Yondr pouch they secure your phone in is a little bit bigger than the purse I normally use.

And on that note, it's time to get ready for the day. Everyone have a wonderful Friday!

best moments of the year so far

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Initial bite reaction

There's this phenomenon I have experienced for decades that I'm pretty sure I've never talked about before, because I've never really known how to explain it, and I keep forgetting about it, but I've always wondered if others have it or not. So I finally thought I'd take a stab at describing it.

See, when it's time for me to eat something, and it's been a while since I had something to eat, like a few hours, and I take my initial bite, quite frequently I'll take a bite and have this reaction that's deeply uncomfortable. It's not pain... it's like... it's like if an orgasm could be a negative experience, or even just an uncomfortable experience. There's an intensity, and shivering or shuddering and it roots me to the spot. It lasts a few seconds, and during that time I can't take any other bites because I can't really move until it's over with. Then it's over with, and I go on eating.

It doesn't happen every time or with every food, either. If there's a pattern to its comings and goings, I have yet to find one, beyond what I described above. Oh and I think it's only ever with food, not with drinks, but with the way it slips out of my memory so soon after it happens usually, I can't be sure.

Because a vision softly creeping, left it's seeds while I was sleeping

Two and a half days to go in the work week. On the plus side, I found that I'm on Admin duties on Saturday, which just means scanning faxes and emails into the charts, which is nice. I won't have to take many calls, which will be much easier. First two days of actual work.

I have basically become concierge appt setter for this one person, and OMG, I dislike them so much. I called the other day, because the appt got cancelled because it wasnt' authorized. Now it's been authorized, and they seem to feel that we should be able to magically get them back in at the date and time they want. They're very fond of telling themself to take deep breaths, the implied reason being that otherwise they'll lose their shit at me. I'm going to call them one more time. but after that, it's over. If they don't want either of the slots I've got, they can get fucked.

My shit, of course, did not come yesterday. According to UPS, it got there too late. So I'll be doing laundry either later tonight, or first thing tomorrow. Ugh. I one hundred. percent understand that weather delays happen, but I want my stuff!

The rest of the stuff for the concert continues apace. I've got a bunch of bracelets, so we'll see if people will want them. There's a bit of a gatekeeping situation with Ghost. Some of the hardcore older fans think the new fans are goofy and "the reason no one takes Ghost seriously." It's like, my dude, the *band* doesn't take themselves seriously. They encourage the costumes and bead trading and all that. They're happy when their fans are having fun. And being a douchey gatekeeping asshole doesn't seem that fun. On the other hand, with my nuns veil and bracelets, I'm happy as hell. I'm hoping to get a little Mummy Dust, which is faux Satanic Pope dollars (so serious), but we're probably out of the section for it. So I will possibly get the batwing hoodie, and call it a day.

On the plus side, my boots fit. I've been wearing them around the house to break them in. Hopefully, it's enough that I don't get blisters, but we'll deal either way.

I've become a bit of a fan of Londontown Lakur nail polish. The colors are vivid and long lasting, and they go on super smooth. I'm waiting for my next one to come. IT's called around the chimney and it's darkest brown with red flicks of holo.

As you can tell, not much going on over here. I've updated my wardrobe a bit, went on a makeup binge, and now I prepare for concert.

And on that note, I'm going to go put on pants. Everyone have an outstanding Thursday!