***stardust

1.01.2005

eeeeeeeeeeep! all these new relatives who I don't know and don't know what to do with ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Just got a phone call from a name I didn't recognise, thanking us for the magazine subscription we got her for Christmas.. then asking how our Christmas was, when am I going back, how did my semester go, the usual, and somewhere in that, I worked out that it was someone somewhere in Beth's family (there's like 6342980 of these people and they're all really close and I barely know a handful, I'm so bad at names and faces).. she was really really nice, very sweet, thanked us again and said she hoped Mel and I could come out to dinner next time like Beth'n'Dad did last night - so I think that means it was one of Beth's sisters, cos I think that's where they went last night.

Craziness. I feel so bad, they're all so nice and welcoming and sweet, only a) I've never had a large, close, extended family, so idek what to do with it all, and b) I don't usually remember who the person talking to me is. -______-;

*Ananda Daydream * 4:20 PM * (0) stars grow bright *

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Now, as frustrating as it is to die in a game, especially when you've played for an hour and a half and you *know* you haven't saved (having been under the impression that this was the sort of game where you *can't* die) is...

I think I found something worse.

*Dying* in the game.

And going to what seemed to be Hell.

*shudders* Despite the amounts of Faust I've been reading and Mackie I've been writing.. And *in* spite of the rather cartoonish graphics of an old 256-colour game at some ridiculously low resolution.. Watching anguished faces cringe at being shoved into a barrel by a demon's pitchfork, two persons grappling with each other and consequently ripping the flesh off one's face..... *shiiiiiivers* Not exactly the best thing to be doing late at night, in a silent house, with only a black cat for occasional company. -_-;;;

Sooo, happy new year! *laughs* Had a fabulous time over at Bethie's, same group (only sans Laur, due to a previous engagement; Erik showed up late and had a terrible headache..luckily, he *finally* had the sense to go home shortly after midnight) as the Great Northern Pizza shindig the other day, so it was great fun. We played the '90s edition of Trivial Pursuit (and, alright, I give in, it wasn't as bad as I'd thought it might be), and it was ridiculously close. *giiggles* Jeff had all the pieces in first, then Daf'n'I did, but it was Bethie'n'Nate, who had all the pieces in last, who actually won.
But EEEEEEEEEEEEE omg!!!!! There was U2age and I *FLIPPED*, Mackie stalks me again!!!! ^________________________^ It was, who had the question, I think it was Nate'n'Bethie, yeah.. it ran something along the lines of "What writer with a price on his head left a crowd of 75,000 people and stood onstage with U2 in 1993?"
One of the first Mackie-speeches I ever got hold of, and still a huge favourite. One of my absolute favourite authors.
And to top the craziness off - I *JUST* read an account of that particular occasion last night, as I was flipping through the Propaganda book (which Megs got me for Christmas cos she rocks like that <3) for a bit before going to bed, skimming for Mackieness.

We'll not even go into the very odd sound I made as I tried to swallow back my, eh, enthusiasm. *giiiiiiggles* They didn't even get to "U2" in reading the question before I clapped my hands over my mouth, wide-eyed and excited, and let out a rather garbled muffled SQUEEEEEEEEL!!!
I am such a dork. *giggles* whee.

Took us until.. heeee right about 11 O'Clock to finish the game (someone asked the time, Daf said 11 O'Clock and I answered "Tick Tock" *giiggles at own dorkiness*), after which we managed to actually get in an episode of Monty Python. *giggles* One I'd seen before, but not for a good long while.. The Lumberjack Song, The Man With a Tape Recorder Stuck Up His Nose.. homocidal barber.. s'aaaalll good yo. Flipped channels briefly cos no-one present was exactly a major fan of Regis (who was filling in for Dick Clark this year).. some random dizzy reporter down in Times Square talked to people with blank smiles and pithy comments.. and then one of the guys standing near by, once the camera was on him, kneeled partway down in front of a woman who hadn't seemed to be paying much attention, and said his resolution was to ask the girl he loved if she would marry him, fumbled with a small box which he opened toward her...
And never have I seen a more disinterested face, I suppose she might've just been caught entirely off-guard, but it seemed to me far more like "oh fuck, I can't stand this guy, how do I turn him down on national television?"...
The camera cut away just after he asked.

Watched the ball sparkle and slowly descend, everyone said happy new year.. Daf'n'Jeff snuggled and kissed a bit.. and the rest of us found a new topic of conversation, pretty much, it was rather an anticlimactic moment. *laughs gently* But what's a new month, a new year.. time is time, I really don't see what our compulsive ennumerating of it is really worth...

..*laughs a bit* and I've probably been writing Mackie-stories too long.

Hung out there 'til about 1.30, Julie decided she should drive herself and Matt back before she got too tired to drive, Jeff decided about the same, as he still had to drive back home to Attica.. So, came home, talked to Mel briefly before getting kicked out of her room *giggles*, came up here, checked messages and e-mail, then scrounged around The Underdogs for a new game to play, having beaten Beneath a Steel Sky after two nights of playing. ^^;
And then, of course, spent another hour at least trying to get them to *work*... Blue Ice, I can't get to work yet, tried the suggested sound-device download, to no avail - still crashes at me, so I dunno. Cosmology of Kyoto, though, I was determined. *giggles* Took me a bit to sort out how to set it to open in 256 colour mode, as it didn't automatically..I'd set my display down to 16 bits already, however it didn't exactly agree with my current windows skin. Sooo, I didn't realise that the 'run in 256 color mode' box wasn't checked for rather awhile. ^^; S'all good though, got it now, and spent a..well, I suppose a cheerful, fun hour wouldn't quite be the way to describe it.. seems to be set around the same time period as the anime series "Hundred Stories" I watched awhile back (there are references to some of the same stories in the game), so it's pretty dark and bleak. And creepy. You've got random demons popping up now and again, starving beggers and lepers everywhere, servants of richer men who'll casually slice off a child's head...
Thankfully, the game's old enough that it's not really graphic by any means, the characters are very stylized, cartoonish...but it's *still* freaking me out.

ANYWAY..

I really can't remember if there was a reason I was posting, other than to make the first few comments about going to hell in a game.

...luckily, due to the spiritual elements all around, there's a way back out.
In the game, that is.

*Ananda Daydream * 5:14 AM * (0) stars grow bright *

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

12.29.2004

Oh goodness, now Erik's in a slump too.. the world conspires against us all again, the minute one of us's happy the rest of us are down...

Fight the slumpage! Laugh at the picture spazz with her digital camera. Cos I take some rather random pictures..

So, I just got my Hallowe'en pictures back. (Whee for not having anywhere reliable to develop photos in Fredonia. x_x; ) Here's Daf, who was in her boyfriend Jeff's garb from India, and me, in my..what was it, gothic tempress? *giggles* whatever, costume, in the WilliC as we were leaving the Masquerade Ball.

Because I realised I never passed around pictures of the wedding. *giggles* (Well except to Megs, who's an even bigger picture-spazz than I am and was already asking for pictures when I got home that night. *G*) From left to right, that'd be Kevin, Jeff, Beth, Dad, me, and Mel. (Daf and Laur, there're pictures of us as well, remind me to send at some point.)

Bear being the cutest thing ever. *giggles* Sleeping in my sweater drawer down in Fredonia. (Scanner didn't take too well to the littleblotchies from it being too dark. apologies. x_x; )

Heeee this came out so cool. *G* Red'n'white icicle lights that Meghan'n'Justin put up at Eagle Street, hiding behind part of the curtains.

Back home again, this is how our kitchen looks at the moment. *G* I love Christmas lights. Somuch. <3 From here on, these're all from my new digital. ^_^

The coolest picture of a stove ever, yo.

What the decorating spazz that is me did to the ceiling fan in the kitchen. *G*

The best picture of Bear yet taken. ^__________________^ (And one of the best I've taken in awhile period. With the possible exception of the stove. *G*)

Frost on the window in.. well, what was Matt's room, and is now essentially Lawrence's. *giggles*

And look! ..it's scary, but Grandma's actually been getting me clothes that I'll wear. Still a little uncertain on the colours of this, but it fits really well and the collar's awesome. *G* (Yes I took pictures of myself smiling, but they're blurry and things. *giggles* If you really want, I can send.)

And that's it for now, I'm sure I'll fling more pictures at y'all later.

..feeling a bit better, Erik seems to've cheered up a bit, I sent him pictorial proof that I've worn a skirt. *giggles*

*Ananda Daydream * 1:33 AM * (0) stars grow bright *

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

*huuugs to Laur* ..I hope things sort out for you soon, I wish I could be more help.... :

Meanwhile, my break's been going rather well, despite what my lack of internet presence might lead you to believe. I got a digital camera for Christmas and it's fabulous. <3 4.0 megapixel Kodak EasyShare. Not top of the line by any means, but plenty enough for me for now - flawless photos (when the light's enough or the flash is on) without any glitchies or blotchies, so it's allll good. Christmas Eve was spent over at Beth's with everyone, then Christmas day over at the grandparents' with Mom and Matt... and all went unexpectedly well, I can safely say that's the nicest holiday I've had in..probably a good couple of years.
And I baked nine different kinds of cookies to distribute to people. *giiiggles* Out of my mind.
Yet somehow, they're nearly all gone already. ^_______^ I win.

Bear and Curi are doing well and getting along quite nicely, watching the two of them's always entertaining.

Y'know.. I should post pictures. *giggles* Will link a handful later, for anyone interested - don't worry, I was good, I resized them all to about the size of normal photos. (And kept the full-size versions on my harddrive for my own use later, but in this respect at least I'm considerate of anyone clicking around, and resize things.)

...

..I feel horrible, I just finished talking with Laur on aim and she was all upset and I was absolutely no help, and now I'm posting an annoyingly cheery thing on my blog. *laughs softly, shakes head* I'm just a patchwork bundle of contradictions, as usual.....

Another Great Northern Pizza shindig with the high-school gang tomorrow, that'll be nice, to see and catch up with everyone again..

Best news of all: just over a week until Megs is here. ^____________________^

*Ananda Daydream * 12:17 AM * (0) stars grow bright *

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~