You know you're in love with a complete nerd when he uses Jonathan Coulton's "First of May" as some sort of mood music.

I just want to get this out there as quickly and painlessly as possible.

I’m a bum. I’ve got so little money this year for Christmas gifts that if I don’t keep things to a very, very strict budget I’m going to make myself miserable, stress out and flip my shit a little.

I’m hoping to be able to come up with some awesome but inexpensive gift ideas, so anyone on my list who’s reading this, here’s a heads up. I promise, next year will be better than this year (I’ve already got the gift idea mostly mapped out, but it takes a bit of time, which is why I can’t do it this year), so please don’t feel like I’ve let you down. I’m not being cheap or lazy, just an unemployed student who’s stretched so far her wallet may eventually snap. I will make it up to you at some point, I swear. I’m thrilled to have been laid off and given a chance to finally finish my education, but it’s rendered me penniless (in a completely unglamorous, un-Bohemian sort of way).

As for myself, I’ve got pretty much everything I need. I’ve got games, movies, enough journals to keep my busy hand scribbling for the next ten or so years. I’ve received so many really awesome new journals over the last year (Sarah and Jay alone have given me a ton of really gorgeous ones) that I need to get to that I’m starting to feel a bit guilty. My Moleskine’s halfway filled right now, so I’ll be moving on to another one fairly early into the new year. I kind of slacked off on journaling for a bit, but I’m into the swing of it again and loving it.

If anyone feels the need to give me something, make it really small and cheap so I don’t feel like a douche. In fact, if you have anything you don’t want anymore and want to give me a present that cost you nothing at all, that would make my day like you wouldn’t believe.

Moving on... I haven’t been posting here on LJ for a few reasons. First of all, my name on here is so ungodly stupid (ffgamegirl? Oh, man, if I had a time machine I’d go back and bitchslap myself for that choice) that I cringe every time I see it. It’s outdated, unprofessional and veers off into goober territory if you ask me. The ff is passable, but putting girl in it makes me flinch and wait for “attention whore” or “post ur tits!” every time I post somewhere on the site. Secondly, I migrated over to Blogger for a few things. I’ve got a writing blog, a book review blog and another infrequently updated blog for my internet serial project, Rain.

I’ve been working on Rain for a few months now, and I don’t think I ever mentioned it here on LJ before. It started off as something to pass the time while I was working nights, and late this summer I decided to take it to Facebook and Textnovel to get it out there and see if it was amusing or creeping out anyone that wasn’t me. So far it’s got a very small readership, but I think that’s due mostly to be being the absolute worst promoter in the history of amateur writing.

Here’s the synopsis, if anyone’s still reading this long-ass post. The description on Textnovel falls under the classification of “jacket copy,” which still makes me chuckle every time I see it. As if.
________

Addison has a crippling phobia of thundershowers. When the ghost of her apartment's previous tenant finds her cowering in the basement, waiting out a storm, an unlikely bond is created. Not everything in the city is what it seems, though, and as the pair wander farther from home they encounter a great many things that even a psychic woman and a non-corporeal being aren't prepared for.
________

There’s a bit more to the story than that, but it’s constantly changing shape and direction as it goes along.

Anyway, that’s the gist of the post. I’ve been gone a long time, I’m working on a project (for good or bad, only time will tell, I suppose) and I’m dirt poor. I guess I should be depressed a bit about some of this stuff (well, at least the money), but I’m still so thrilled to finally be finishing my degree and not wasting my nights on a landfill that feeling bad only lasts me a few days at a time at most.

Soup! Miso and pho both do the trick nicely.

Sam routinely ignores me when he's in his standoffish phase. I wouldn't say it hurts, but I wish he'd be consistently friendly.

I'm sure there's at least one point in time when I had my feelings hurt, but I can't remember it now. I was a weird little kid.

No, but a few weeks ago while Eric and I were walking to the store in Sharpsburg some drunk outside of a bar said "You're lucky he's with you," as we went by. I was a bit tipsy (we were at a Christmas in July party), so I just laughed and kept walking, but later on I still couldn't figure out if he was hitting on me or insulting me. Who knows?

On the way back from the store, another drunk guy yelled "I LOVE YOU GUYS!" at us, which was so much funnier. Eric made a heart out of his hands at the guy and we kept walking.

I've been told several times by family members (meaning well, I'm certain) that I should give up writing horror and "Do something like Harry Potter. That stuff is huge!"

I suppose it is huge, for the very small handful of people who are in the right place at the right time and grab the attention of the right agents, editors and marketers. All book fads are like that. One person catches a massive wave out of nowhere and the rest of the writers try to jostle for position on a smaller, much less lucrative and often outright tepid wave.

While it sounds like my parents (and grandparents) are urging me to do something second-rate for money, what I really think they want me to do is branch out and tap some sort of never-before-seen genre vein. I don't think that's going to happen, not in a million years. Reason number one for this is that I have zero interest in writing YA, children's or romance/Nora Roberts/whatever the female members of my family keep lending each other. I'm sure there's a lot to like in those books, and some may actually be stellar (who knows, right?), but I have absolutely no inspiration for that kind of thing and no clue how to go about writing it.

I'm stuck with suicidal ghosts, sentient dead malls, ravenous autonomous shadows and ambivalent succubi for the rest of my life, and I'm rather happy with it.

The return of Castle Dracula.

This article is absolutely hilarious. It makes me feel so much better to know that no matter what I may have said in an unsuccessful interview, at least I wasn’t one of these assholes.


Next time I interview, if there’s a hot guy in the room I’m going to brag about how much I like sex. Why yes, it’s a hobby of mine, actually - Are you free tomorrow night? *wink*

This isn’t what I mean. Seriously.

http://www.kltv.com/global/story.asp?s=10758038

I still have stuffed animals in my bed. And on my floor. And pretty much everywhere.

I think it was Sarah? I'm pretty sure she's the one who got me into LJ. Possibly Tim. I can't remember. And yes, everyone's still on my list.

How do I insert screen names on LJ, by the way?

Reading/English, and yes, yes it does.

http://jessicarbrown.blogspot.com

Looks like the Oaks isn’t playing it this weekend despite the poster on the wall. So, VIPs at Loews or what? Need to buy these early so we can make sure we’ve got seats.

Also, special showings for Gone the Way of the Flesh next Friday at 10:00 and Repo: The Genetic Opera the following Saturday at 10:00. Anyone interested?

http://kotaku.com/5157822/violent-gamers-immune-to-pain--of-others


I knew there had to be a scientific explanation for my not giving a fuck every time I see someone get their ass beat by bizarre anime-style demons.

Photos taken with Eric’s LG Chocolate (formerly mine), as my new Verizon VX6900’s 2MP camera is a bit unreliable.

Strawberry shortbreads dipped in chocolate ganache. These were made with a standard shortbread recipe with a few tablespoons of freeze-dried strawberries mixed in.



Chocolate mud cupcakes filled with strawberry pudding frosted with strawberry buttercream and chocolate ganache. Again, freeze-dried strawberry was used, this time with Wilton brand buttercream (I don’t have a stand mixer to make homemade badass buttercream with, so I usually don’t even attempt it. The stuff I can make with a hand mixer isn’t even worth it.) thinned with a bit of milk. The ganache is the same used for the cookies, only chilled, beaten with a mixer and thinned slightly with milk. Trying to pipe this stuff without thinning it is a pain in the ass.


As many photos as I’ve been taking recently, I’ve decided I’m going to need to pick up a camera soon. Any recommendations?

http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/paprika-novel-gets-an-english-translation-this-april/

Looks like I’m going to be hitting up Amazon.co.uk again soon.

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while but Adagio doesn’t offer my usual purchases (pouchong, coconut pouchong) as blend ingredients. In fact, the oolong section for blends is pretty weak.

I made an entirely black blend based off the flavor of my favorite homemade cookies. I’m actually making some for Eric for Valentine’s Day, so I’ll get to taste a few soon. :)

http://tinyurl.com/cm5ycg

Anyone with any artistic talent reading this, want to help me get rid of the default label? Please?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28900351/page/1/

Where do you even get “press-on commas,” anyway?

Also, I’m glad to know there are other people who avoid businesses with shitty signs out there in the world.

The day Eric and I first hooked up, most likely. I can't think of any other days with memories I'm attached to more.

Ohhhh, Today's Groundhog Day! I completely forgot.

Our neighbor from up the street, whom I’ve never met before, came to the door asking if we’d seen a kitten. Apparently her seven-month-old calico went missing from the house.

Ranger and I searched our yard and there are absolutely no tracks to be found. However, it’s been snowing for a while so theoretically the cat could have gone anywhere and her tracks could have been covered already, depending on how long ago she went missing.

I really hope that cat’s behind a couch or something.