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Thursday, July 9th, 2009
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7:11 pm - psssst
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| Monday, June 22nd, 2009
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9:54 pm - Performance Mode
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Big Lab Project Mach II is off the table at the moment, I haven't heard anything in 2 weeks (and I thought I was going to be in Philly by now). Instead, Big Stem Cell Project continues! It's kind of tedious (sterile technique basically equals "Don't touch anything, and if you do, hose yourself down with ethanol) but I think/hope it's making us lots of money, at a time when we really need money.
I've been watching True Blood while finishing up my Isara poncho. I see why everyone's been talking about it, it's very entertaining. Many of my relatives on the Gulf Coast are exactly like these people, for better or worse. Just fewer vampires (I think).
And since I'm working on Valkyria, I started up the anime tonight... very different tone from the game, but I'm enjoying it. Ringo says there's a shower scene in episode 4, which I must get to ([sniffles] Gundam Seed nostalgia!). And Isara kicks ass (in her lovely calm, collected manner), which I love.
But the REAL winner anime of the season is OBVIOUSLY Sengoku Basara, which I CANNOT GET ENOUGH OF. IT'S DELICIOUS HISTORICALLY-IMPAIRED CRACK AND I HEART IT. I squeal with glee every time Takeda and Yukimura start going at it. <3 <3 <3 IT'S AMAZING AND I WISH EVERYTHING WAS EXACTLY LIKE IT. (I exaggerate to keep with the MANLY SPIRIT of the show. [burning fist])
current mood:  hot
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| Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
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9:01 pm - Transplant Medicine
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30 Rock had more accurate transplant medicine in it last week than the last 5 years worth of House.
(Dr Spaceman said HLA and cytotoxic crossmatch!!! ♥♥♥!!!)
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| Sunday, May 17th, 2009
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3:50 pm - So, um, Otakon.
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I have suddenly found myself on the east coast for a few weeks this summer, and might be able to escape from work for a couple days to hit up Otakon. I've never been, so... do you recommend it? ^_^
(I'll be in Philly, and working, so I'd probably rent a car and drive down Saturday morning and leave Sunday night... I could use points for a free stay at the Marriott Inner Harbor, so overall not a huge expense for a short little con visit. Anyway, I'm strongly considering it ^_^)
Big Lab Project Mach I is complete, ish. I will be back in St Louis for their audit the first week of June, but only for a couple days. I hopefully am done with that city forever. :D The lab kids seem to be doing pretty well, they've got another month or so of practicing before they go live, and I think they'll be in good shape. Yay!
As soon as I got home from Mach I, they sprung Mach II on me. Not entirely unexpected, but a much quicker timeframe than I'd anticipated.
I'll be working in Philadelphia quite a bit starting in the middle of June, and off and on through July. Maybe longer, depending on the staff and their learning curve.
I'm nervous, since I'm told these lab kids are TERRIBLY behaved. I shouldn't have to go into a professional environment and yell at people, but I will if I have to!
I am also nervous because the lab is in a fairly unsavory neighborhood, I'm told. The current supervisor was mugged on his way in. And not "Hey you, gimme all your money" mugged, "Clubbed over the back of the head and woke up with no wallet" mugged. I think I will bring mace. Sorry, City of Brotherly Love. :(
current mood:  tired
current music: omokage modan, hitoto you
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| Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
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9:23 pm - Continental breakfast
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Okay, this time with feeling.
I'm in St Louis. And this will be the last time, really. A few weeks out here and then done. Really. Really really.
(They gave me a promotion at work last week, which dulls the pain a little bit. #^_^#)
I bought American Gods to read on the plane, and it's very good so far. I'm a mythology nerd.
It's unwieldy to bring Shiro-chan (the sewing machine) along with me when it isn't Convention Crunch Time, so I brought some hand-sewing projects instead... mostly weird vinyl pieces for Miharu. I plan to hit the knitting store by the office this week for yarn to crochet a Darcsen poncho. (We'll see how that goes, I've never crocheted a piece that big, but I think it'd look oh-so nifty.)
So, let's get this project over with already! [fiery eyes]
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| Saturday, April 4th, 2009
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2:41 am - It is cold and I am at work :P
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| Monday, March 30th, 2009
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6:41 pm - Post-con depression
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Wow, did Animeland Wasabi get lucky weather-wise. Thursday was the biggest blizzard of the season, and this morning was a semi-surprise icy commute that dumped a few more inches. How they managed to squeeze in 3 beautiful sunny Colorado days for the con between that, I just don't know.
But! I had a lot of fun at the convention, because I have some of the coolest friends in the world. #^_^# Bev did another knockout job on the cosplay contest, which started ON TIME and finished EARLY, which is basically unheard of in the cosplay world. Dahlia and Lilacwire did a great job with the looooooong process of craftsmanship judging, Teca rocked the greenroom (everybody POSED on stage! OMG!), Ringo rocked the fashion show (with her CROOOOOOWN), and Josh and Nathan and Nick and all the crew were just super awesometastic. :D Go Team DCCS!
There was just a HOLY GREAT turn-out for the CLAMP in 3D Land group! We had THIRTEEN PEOPLE, with characters from Box 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, & 8! A very nice spread, guys~! :D For those who don't know, these costumes are from the box art for the 3D Land figures; the figures themselves are wearing their standard costumes, but the box art is a full series of matching Chinese-style outfits for LOTS of CLAMP characters (41 characters, to be precise, but there are repeats... like 3 Syaorans, 3 Sakuras, 2 Akiras...). Al took a lot of awesome photos of us, and here are a few!
( Photo Intensive! )
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| Monday, March 2nd, 2009
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8:38 pm - Cosplay in Japan, the 2008 version
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| Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
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8:41 pm - here comes the americans
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Still in St Louis... I miss everybody!
I've been slacking on the full Comiket write-up, but here's a photo to remind myself to keep at it.
Obama-kun Daisuki! XD
current mood:  lonely
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| Tuesday, February 10th, 2009
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9:54 pm - Pointless Happy Post
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I had a great snowy evening. I got home from a crazy day at work (I had to call a bunch of New York labs trying to find the one that effed up), played with the bunnies, cleaned a bit in my living room, assembled my tax documents, took a nice long bath, and ate a couple matcha manjuu with some nice hot tea. Now I'm going to crawl into bed, read some manga, and hope the pager doesn't go off. :D
(I also like sweater capes and calypso music.)
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| Thursday, February 5th, 2009
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9:36 pm - Watch me
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I'm way late to the New Years Resolution boat, but I've been out of town and such so I take a pass.
Last year's:
*Get my CHS: Accomplished! I'm now a super-elite Immunogenetics assassin.
*Tend the Gakuen: Not so accomplished! I didn't successfully publish ANYTHING. But I did just renew the domain name until 2012, so surely that counts for something...?
*Keep running: Accomplished, ish! I moved away from high-impact, which is better for my knees (and no matter the distance, I never, ever got a runner's high... I mostly just thought "Man, it'll feel good when you stop running). I lost a happy amount of weight and feel pretty good.
*Use More Vacation Time: Accomplished! Went to Greece! That kicked ass.
For 2009:
*Spiffy up the house
This includes, hopefully, refinancing. (Which will depend a lot on what my house can appraise for now in this shitty market. But damn the rates are AMAZING.) I'm currently on a cleaning spree trying to get things nice-ified before my next trip to St Louis... once I actually LIVE here again, I have some improvements to dive into. Like installing new closet doors, redecorating my bedroom, and adding some more effing shelves to the Room of Shame.
*Keep off the weight
America's favorite perennial resolution! I gained a few pounds back during and after my vacation-time, so I'm back on the diet as of this week and intend to get back into better shape. My company just got a group-rate at 24 Hour, so I'm definitely getting in on that (but again, waiting until I live in Denver again).
*Really, Seriously Consider a car
I'm notorious for being anti-instant-gratification. I stretch big decisions out for-ever. (And I always eat the cereal marshmallows last.) But Shiro-kun is getting up in the years and the miles, and I need to at least have options if he dies. Perhaps I can make a list. I love lists.
*Use More Vacation Time
Definitely want to continue this one, because it keeps me sane. My parents want to take a family vacation in the fall, and let's not forget the "OMG What do you mean D*C and NDK are 3 days apart" madness. After Big Lab Project is completed (and before Next Big Lab Project starts), I think I'll take a little time off just to sit around and drink tea all day. #^_^#
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| Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
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6:35 pm - Tales of a shut-in
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Stupid Missouri and its stupid snowstorm. :P I spent the day working from the hotel to avoid the snow, only to have it dump another 4 inches on us tonight. This is a pretty bad storm (no one likes to see images of overturned semi-s on the news) and I think I'm getting a little bit of cabin fever.
To occupy my time, I've been sharpie-coloring my wig for my upcoming (really! i mean it this time!) Miharu costume and watching episodes of Doctor Who.
I also read Twilight. Yes, I know. My boss handed it to me and said "OMG it's so good, you need to read this!"... and I had to pretend I wasn't already aware of the book and the 19,000 internet pages of fandom-wank associated with it. And I didn't hate it, until Bella (whom I already found tiresome) decided to do the "Lone Shoujo Heroine" routine and I said "FUCK, I'm done with you, I sincerely hope you are mauled by wild dogs". I liked Edward's family, though. I will give it that.
Tonight I tried to replicate the Lavender Earl Grey Latte, aka the London Fog Latte (I was sad when I got back from Japan and the barista said she'd never heard of a Lavender Earl Grey... until I read the description of the new London Fog and then I was sad FOR THE BARISTA), with stuff in my hotel room. I had Earl Grey tea, natch, but also half a carton of skim milk leftover from breakfast, and various sugar/creamer packets. I wasn't able to get the lavender flavor, but just an Earl Grey latte is pretty nummy on its own. :D
As far as Big Lab Project goes, things are going pretty well! (Weather delays aside.) I've got one more sample to run to finish my validations, which isn't bad at all... the training is a little delayed since one of the 4 employees quit (it's been rather taxing listening to both sides bitch about the other), but I'm feeling accomplished nonetheless. Onward!
current mood:  cold
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| Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
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11:09 pm - It sounded like a dying giraffe
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Sonic's caramel latte tastes like Nescafe with a shot of espresso in it. Now that I think harder on this, that's probably exactly what it is.
The caffeine is doing a nice job of keeping me awake, since I am STILL AT WORK blargh. Actually, I did get a power nap this afternoon (thank goodness, because jetlag has me waking up at 3am), but I really really didn't want to be working a case tonight.
At least the money can go towards paying off my Japan bills! My delicious, delicious Japan bills. Nothing says "AMERICA" like going on an extravagant vacation during a recession, right?!?
The short trip report is, I had a GREAT time and I hope everyone else did too and I love Minako-chan to itty bitty crumbly pieces. <3 <3 <3 It's tough to be back... but it IS nice to have my mattress and comfy pillows. XD And I have a lot of work to do if we want to publish by Winter Comiket 2010! (I really want to rewatch Genshiken now. ^_^)
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| Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
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4:40 pm - LOL CUPCAKES.
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Surely you've already been hit with this, but I'm gonna toss this up here anyway for posterity <3
Alain of Idolatry Studios gave us this absolutely GORGEOUS photo set from our shoot last weekend, and I think I lost a couple hours last night, just staring, enraptured. The remarkable effort he put into lighting the park at dusk (... and full-on evening) made for an amazing set. I know how many hours you must have logged in MSPaint to give me that flawless skin, and I heart you for it. XD
Since I realized I never really talked about these costumes, I will now!
Firstly, Code Geass is awesome and CLAMP designs are even better.
So when CLAMP did the DVD Box illustration for the first season, Lauren and I immediately went "OH GOD VERY VERY YES." Because she always looks precious in pink wigs, and as Becky so rightly put it, "I always knew, deep down, that you would cosplay Euphie." ...and I like CC, so that was decided. I bought 10 yards of black moire at the winter Wesco sale to prep.
At which point we began EVIL PLOTTING to snare a Handsome Prince (or two) ;)
Teca is an amazing detail-oriented cosplayer, and she looks hella hot in that Suzaku wig, so we begged and pleaded for her to move on from Fersen's blingy-gold white coat to a CLAMP blingy-gold white coat. She acquiesed, and convinced(? still not sure how much arm-twisting was involved, but I'm grateful for every second of it!) Ellome to join up as our Lelouch. EVIL QUARTET ACHIEVED!
We set the target date as "Competing at NDK". It took a lot of liquor to get me to agree to that, because well... I don't exactly have the shiniest competition track record. I'd lost so many times that competition really just seemed like spending most of your Con-Saturday to end in inevitable disappointment. But these costumes are really too ginormo for hall-wear, so going on stage seemed like the right choice.
Teca found the world's most horrible dance-remix of the Pizza Hut song (It seems about a 60/40 ratio People Who'd Sung the Song at Camp to People Who'd Never Heard It, I was in the clueless group) and lo the skit was born. I doubted my ability to dance in 7-inch platform sandals, so the choreography was toned down for me. ^_^
(Somehow Teca managed to talk Nick into going on stage as Rivalz... still not sure how she managed it, but yay! XD)
Oh, and yeah, 7-inch platform heels. They're actually quite comfortable, if you'd believe it (being open-toed makes all the difference), but I'm a slow-moving landmass. I don't know that I'll be aiming for Matchy-Matchy with Lauren again anytime soon, but I was SO pleased with how the entire group looked with our CLAMP long-legged proportions. I think it was totally worth it, and I hope you guys agree!
The black chrysanthemum sheer was a random Denver Fabrics find... I found 3 cuts of it buried in the flat-folds and bought them all. All-black costumes can lose all the detail in photographs, so I wanted to punch it up and use lots of contrast.
Anyway, back to the timeline: as summer approached, we'd collected pretty much all the materials we needed. But we were deeply entrenched in Dragon*Con costumes (Cloth Road <3), and decided we'd make the Geass dresses in the 2 weeks between D*C and NDK. OH GOD. ((T____T)) Every day after work, I went to Lauren's (... plus a day or two where I might have played hooky, eh-hem) and sewed and sewed and sewed and serged and sewed. It was grueling and we barely made it (I was sewing the trim on the bottom of the corset on Friday) but all's well that ends well!
Melissa and Josh (and a cadre of other helpers!) were a HUGE help as our stage ninjas at the convention, and they get lots of hugs~~ for helping us nab a masquerade win, which still makes me warm'n'fuzzy inside.
But, epic victory requires EPIC PHOTOS, right?! To reunite the group, Ellome flew out here from Cali to go to Casa Bonita for the shoot, and it was made of awesome and COLD and awesome. Afterwards we looked at the raw photos on Nick's giant TV and squealed a lot. XD
So there's the Tale of the Big Black CC Dress. And P.S., my mother still refuses to believe that Teca and Ello are girls XD
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| Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
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7:38 am - Ice, and 2-Buck-Chuck
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When I got to the car rental place at 1 a.m., a couple hours into an ice storm, I decided "Whichever car I can get the door open on, that's the one I'm taking".
>____<
I actually got in a Versa first, but after 20 minutes of scraping and defrost, I still couldn't get the second windshield wiper to function properly. So I ditched it for an HHR, and while I'm not crazy about the huge blind spot (made even huger-er by the constantly accumulating ice), it did get me safely to the hotel.
By the time I got to the hotel, the back door was frozen shut again and I had to climb in the back seat and kick it open, but still. Safe and sound.
Okay, Midwest America, I concede; icestorms do suck as much as advertised.
Today I opted to stay at the hotel and do work from here instead; it's not an icestorm, just regular ol' snow, but since the ice never melted from 2 days ago, the streets are icky and I've got paperwork to do. (Plus they closed the road I take to get to the lab. Sigh. Really, Missouri? I hate your transportation project and long for the days of T-Rex.)
I picked up some Charles Shaw wine (aka "Two Buck Chuck", although now it costs $2.99) at Trader Joe's, because that's what the internet told me to do. Then I proceeded to get sloshed on it last night. It is JUST as good as I'd heard, but to call it "The best $3 wine you'll ever have" is a bit of a disservice, as it's some of the nicest wine I've ever had, period. Smooth and a little sweet with zero aftertaste. I think I'll have to find room in my luggage to bring some home with me #^_^#
Saturday's photoshoot was made of AMAZING and I had such a great memorable time at it; huge thanks to Alain and Nick and Team Gino's Pizza for being so wonderful. Made it even harder to come back to work out here T_T but this week will fly and I'll be back in Denver on Friday night. See you soon [chu]
current mood: cold
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| Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
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5:27 pm - ♥!!!
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I watched the Tegamibachi ("Letter Bee") anime special last night, and loved it ♥
This surprises no one, I'm sure, because I heart the manga so much that anything vaguely letter and/or bee related makes me giddy with delight. But honestly, it was a good little special and they'd better give me a TV series. (I want those character sketches SO BAD.)
The art direction was all over the place. The director couldn't seem to decide if he wanted to go for a 2-D Storybook feel, or a dimly-lit gloomy feel, or a sweeping-landscape-dreamworld feel. (The almost compulsive need to identify every scene location by name made me laugh.) But that said, I didn't think any of the styles were a total miss. The CG battles look a little silly if the overall vibe is Storybook, but otherwise I liked it. It's German fairytale mixed with classic shounen elements, so I won't fault the staff if it comes out looking a little confused.
I would caution against them using the dimly-lit gloomy feel, because then the comparisons to Fullmetal Alchemist might bury it. (But I loved the look of the firelight scene when Nakata Jouji's character and Lag discuss Gauche's gun, so... well, just run with it either way. ^_^) Aria as a blonde (and relegated to carrying around stacks of papers) IS just Riza Hawkeye with glasses, which is a bit disappointing; I look forward to some of her flashback stuff.
I bet the audition process for Lag was awesome. "Can you yell and cry? Can you fight and cry? Can you eat and cry? Can you cry in your sleep?" If you don't find his near-constant poro-poro sobbing at least a little endearing, then run away from the series now, because it doesn't get any better. It's one of the reasons Niche is such a great partner for him. And speaking of Niche & Steak, the fansubbers misinterpreted a line about Niche as being about Lag and assumed he was a girl ;^_^ and granted, he's young and Miyuki-chan plays him with a higher voice (and he cries a lot), but Lag is a boy. ...Now I have that Always Sunny song in my head again.
I still totally want a bedazzler-ed sawed-off shotgun. And shiny Bee hat. Okay, let's just assume cosplay is inevitable. XD
I leave for St Louis again on Monday, for another two week stint. It's cold and sunless there, but the hotel is nice and they do the dishes for me. But before all that, delicious turkey! Have a nice Thanksgiving, US FL, and a pleasant Thursday to the rest of you! <3
current mood:  giddy
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| Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
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4:32 am - GO VOTE!
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It's 4 a.m., I'm still at work, and I had some Nerds Halloween candy for the first time in years :D
I don't know if I'll be up for hardcore partying tonight, but we'll see. Sorry. :P
AND SRSLY VOTE! XD XD XD
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| Thursday, October 30th, 2008
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9:45 pm - Adventures in Cheater-Art
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My mother called last week and invited me over on Sunday to visit.
Little did I realize this was a clever trap to get me to carve her pumpkin for her contest at work. D:
I haven't carved a pumpkin in 10 years, and when I did it was of the "Triangle eyes and jagged teeth" variety. But Mom had her web browser open to all these amaaazing pumpkins and I'm like "I may do creative stuff, but vegetable is not my usual medium of choice". Oh Mom. ^_^
Anyway, we (I) managed something okay anyways, leaving no dead pumpkin soldiers in my wake. :)
(Mom lost an eye to cancer 25 years ago, so we were going for the Cripple Vote in the contest ;) She lost the carving contest but won Employee of the Quarter, so I think it all evens out.)
Then tonight I tried out my knitting loom (because I'm waaaaaay too tense for regular knitting) and spent 2 episodes of Heroes and 1 and a half episodes of Supernatural making this:
Pretty cute for a few hour's work!
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| Thursday, October 16th, 2008
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2:10 pm - niko niko
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Today is a good day! (I think it's good to note days like this ^_^)
I rode the bus to work, which went without a hitch [knocks on wood for the ride home]. Thanks, RTD! I wanted to practice taking the bus for snow days when I don't want to drive (i.e., all snowy days) and this was A+ Very Successful! :D
I still feel a little ill, but better than yesterday. It's a strange Jetlag/Foreign Viruses/Seasick combo, but I'm killing it with a steady diet of tea, Emergen-C, and throat lozenges! Mmmmm, nothing can survive THIS much vitamin C!
And earlier, I had a positive conference with the Boss Man who liked the work I've been doing. [yay!]
Greece Anecdote #2 (Minako-chan will be pissed that I told this one before she could):
The Lonely Planet guidebook says Greece is "surprisingly good for vegetarian diets", to which Mina and I say "Um, where?". Because yes, you could eat spinach & cheese pie and yogurt 3 meals a day (... and yes, I probably could) but otherwise you're in trouble. Which led to this great moment on our bus tour of Mycenae:
Woman: Does the restaurant have a vegetarian option? I don't eat meat.
Guide: It will be fine, the restaurant will make arrangements.
Waiter: [brings out "special" plate] Where is the vegetarian customer?
Woman: [picking at food, which appears to be moussaka with the bottom scraped off] ... is this really vegetarian?
Waiter: [without irony] Oh yes! Just try it, you'll like it. There's ...baaarely any meat.
current mood:  chipper
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| Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
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11:27 pm
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Oh dear! I had another donor last night, so I've gotten very little cleaning done at my house. T_T But I did manage to sew two cute new dresses for Greece tonight, with Lauren's help of course, so that's a big step forward! :)
I need to do a little shopping, then do laundry, then pack. And get some bunny noms. Doki doki!
It looks like some dates are set for my work trips, and it's a bit of a doozy. At this point, I'm scheduled to be out of town November 9th through the 21st, and then be gone again December 1st through 19th. Yikes! (But they're delaying the launch so I can have a New Years vacation, which I'm quite pleased with.) I'm hoping to get to come home halfway through the December trip, 'cause I'll miss you guys! Does anybody know anyone in St Louis? :D
(I'll need to buy a portable sewing machine!! I'll be the coolest girl in the STL Marriott.)
Tomorrow's goal: Get up the guts to ask Boss-Lady what you'll be paid for this! XD
current mood:  cheerful
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kinomakoto's journal
