:: ScaryWhiteGirl.net ::

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web www.scarywhitegirl.net

It's Wednesday already, and I'm very pleased with that fact. Even if it does mean that I have to run around like a madwoman tonight. Well, that's more because I had decided on a couple of things that I was gonna do tonight, and then had a couple more added on top of that. Not complaining yet, just trying to situate everything so that it all gets done. :)

One of these days, I really need to take my CDs home from work and rip them to my computer. And then, put them on my iPod. And then, I really won't need CDs at work anymore... hurrah for iPods! :) Maybe I'll do that Friday, since my Saturday appears to be wide open at the moment... I'm sure that will change... it always does...

But tomorrow, dammit, I'm gonna make bean bag thingies, and work on my quilt, and that's about it. Maybe watch a movie. Basically, though, not run around. :)

I think soon I will have a rant about mislabeled songs on LimeWire, because Bobert asked me if I liked The Cure's version of "Tainted Love" better than Marilyn Manson's last night. And then pointed out that I had two messed up tracks on the latest Lacuna Coil CD. *grumble*...
.

:: Dawn 2:12 PM [+] :: (0) comments
...

So this was the weekend of "not-quite-as-planned". Nonetheless, a good weekend all around.

Friday night, I tried to go to Michael's graduation. The sun foiled my plan. So I drove back to Carbondale, and went to see my sister at work. I told her I was not at graduation (obviously), and that if she wanted to hang out till about 9:30 or so, I was free. Well, she told me that she and the Staples crew (which now includes some new gamers) were going to Mugsy's, and I should go with. So I did. And it was fun. :) But it meant I didn't see X-3 Friday night. That's okay, Megan said we could go see it Saturday when she got off work.

Saturday, we were going to play Hunter. That got cancelled, as Bobert had family in town. Then Megan texted me to cancel our plans to see X-3. So I went to the Student Center to find some unwitting LARPer to kidnap and take with me to X-3. This did not happen; instead, I ended up making a character and becoming Ventrue Primogen and Keeper of Elysium within about 30 minutes of entering play. Yeah, they're apparently that desparate for Kindred... ;) Afterwards, I went and drank with the boyz for a while, which was an excellent time. :)

Sunday, my dad and some of our family's friends were in town, and I was going to hang out with them, but that never happened. Then Megan was going to have me help her hem pants, but that never happened either. So I watched movies and quilted. Rockin' good time, let me tell ya. :)

Yesterday was Day of Meat, but I ate very little meat, and instead did sportsy type stuff. Ultimate Frisbee, regular frisbee, and bags. Whee! :) I'm surprising not all that sore, for all the running around I did. I did discover, however, that I'm highly out of shape. :( But Thor says we're gonna do Ultimate Frisbee every couple of weeks, so I'm totally down, and hopefully can get into better shape as a result. Mostly, I'm in okay shape, I just can't run without getting badly winded... and that sucks... :(

This week is already shaping up nicely. Tonight, I do the usual Tuesday stuff. Tomorrow, I will likely be going through bags of soon to be discarded clothing from abnormal (but still appreciated) sources. Thursday appears to be open, so that will be the night I make the bags for our own set of bags. Jim says he will have the boards done by Friday. This will rock muchly. :)
.

:: Dawn 1:26 PM [+] :: (0) comments
...

End of the Work Week Wisdom:

"I know by now that you'll arrive
By the time I stop waiting"
--"I Miss You" by Bjork

It's been in my head for a couple of days running, now, so it somehow seemed appropriate.

One graduation down, one more to go. If the one tonight is even slightly less hot than the one last night, I will be glad. Still, it was good to see a couple of my friends graduate. :)

X-3 tonight, after the graduation, in theory. I really want to see it tonight. I'm just hoping that the prediction on how long graduation will take is accurate, cuz the latest show they have is 10 p.m., and it will suck muchly if I don't see it tonight.

In other news, blah. My brain is working overtime lately, and I want it to stop it. D.J. gave me good advice on how to make it do so, but I'd rather not go with his option on too regular of a basis. Stabbing it with a Q-Tip is similarly not an option. Stupid brain.
.

:: Dawn 11:31 AM [+] :: (0) comments
...

Yeah, I have no idea why I forgot to post yesterday. Probably was just ready to go home pretty much all day, and kept thinking about that instead. Of course, that doesn't entirely make sense, because I've been ready to go home all day today as well. :)

The office is insanely boring when you're the only one in it. And I mean that quite literally. Everyone else is out of the office. Someone stopped by to drop off a dissertation for my boss, and I am so starved for human interaction that I talked to him for as long as I could without seeming odd. As much as I enjoy my hermit time, I can only take it in small doses. An entire day's worth is sucky.

Ah well, at least I'm going to do stuff tonight. My Marion kids, a.k.a. Jerome and Ricky, are graduating tonight, so I'm going to see them do that. Thrilling, I know, but I'm hoping sincerely that between them graduating tonight, and Michael graduating tomorrow, I can be done having friends who are still in HS. Cuz really... I graduated 14 years ago... :) Well, I am one of the oldest in our group of friends, and Jerome is the youngest. The age difference between him and the oldest of the group is almost 20 years... which is weird, but whatever. We all like each other anyhow. :)

In case you missed it the other day, check out the Arctic Monkeys. People are saying they're going to be the next big thing. I certainly hope so, because they're different enough from what is usually on the radio that I like them. And I'm hopeful that maybe if someone who is a little different can be successful, it'll bring back a little diversity in music... oh, I would be so happy... :)

Tomorrow will be similarly dead at work, though someone should be coming in for an exam. So that's at least something. :)
.

:: Dawn 2:55 PM [+] :: (0) comments
...

Between my ongoing interest, a conversation with Cindy on Friday night, and going to the Highland thingie on Saturday, I'm back into working on genealogy full swing. It helps, too, that I got exceptionally lucky with finding stuff yesterday. Certainly helps that the Mo. Sec. of State has an index of death certificates from 1910-1955 online, and scans of the death certificates from 1910-1923 or so. w00t for that! :)

Now, to see if I maintain the interest, and actually update my genealogy webpage... :) And maybe work on my great-grandpa's "History of the Vogel Family"... which, unfortunately, I keep disproving the information in... *sigh*... this is why I'm documenting the hell out of all of the stuff I find, getting as many sources as I can, and all of that. Yes, it pays to be a history major and a genealogist. :)

Couple of bands to mention: Demon Hunter (thank you, Jerome!) and the Arctic Monkeys. Nothing alike, but both pretty good. The former is a lot like Avenged Sevenfold, but not quite. They might be a Christian metal band. Not sure on that yet. The latter has a lot of similarities to the White Stripes, but in a way that doesn't completely grate on my nerves. :) And I think I may be beginning to like MSI. Wha?!

And because we're just covering everything in this post, my TMBG quilt is finally coming along nicely. Like, to the point where it looks like I could finish it within this lifetime. Maybe even within the year. :) When I was at Goodwill on Sunday, I almost bought a large tie-dyed T-shirt for use in a future T-shirt quilt. I resisted the urge. :) Instead, I bought a pair of jeans, a cute shirt, and a very kewl dress. Megan asked me if it was a sassy dress. I think it might be. :)
.

:: Dawn 1:45 PM [+] :: (0) comments
...

Back and such. I was sick-ish on Thursday, and stayed home. On Friday, I was busy for most of the day, and then cut off from my computer for the rest of the day. Today, I was still cut off from my computer all morning. There are still problems with it. But I haven't seen the Systems guy since 10 a.m.... whee...

So I had a pretty nice weekend, all around. Friday night was Deadlands, though it was a small game. Emilia almost got to become Queen of the Fairies, until they convinced me I wouldn't last five minutes with that job. :) She ended up getting knocked out in combat, which was fine, cuz I needed to leave... but I dunno what ended up happening.

Saturday, I got up at 5 a.m. so I could catch a ride to Springfield to see my friend Dubs compete in the Highland games thingie... it was fun, but god I was tired... because after Springfield, we went to E-ville for Ashes, and didn't end up leaving E-ville till about 1 a.m. I stumbled into my apt. at about 3 a.m. Sunday morning. Craziness!

But the Ashes game was a LOT of fun, especially with about 10 characters from C-dale being there. We sat around and made fun of the locals. Good times... "checkpoint!"

Working out my plans for the week. Tonight is either D&D playtesting or the normal wrestling. Tomorrow, I may or may not be hanging out with my sister. Wednesday appears to be open, and I may do laundry that night, just cuz. Thursday, I'm probably going to the Marion HS graduation, and Friday, I'm probably going to the Murphysboro HS graduation, and then seeing X3. Saturday is still in the air, as is Sunday. Next Monday is the Day of Meat. Most people call it Memorial Day. We do not. :)
.

:: Dawn 2:43 PM [+] :: (0) comments
...

Argh. Aggravated today. I'll be fine after work, but for now, I am aggravated.

This is what the "make me happy!" playlist is for... but somehow, think starting out with "Bat Country" just made me angry... ;)

Other news of the day:
- VAST is FINALLY touring, and coming to Little Rock and Chicago, both of which are about 5 hours away from C-dale. This is probably the closest they're going to get, so I think we're gonna have to road trip it. I'm okay with this. Though I still wish they'd play St. Louis. *sigh*
- The weather might be turning normal again. Maybe.

Mantra for the day: at least it's Wednesday.
.

:: Dawn 1:41 PM [+] :: (0) comments
...

I know I never posted the 2nd post that I previewed at the end of April. That's mostly because at the moment, the plans it covered don't seem to be panning out. That's okay, though, I have plenty of other things to distract me on a regular basis. :)

Mostly, of course, this involves the Sims... which isn't terribly productive, but it is fairly entertaining. Bryan tells me that he has a copy of Sims 2 which I can have, which, of course, means that I'm gonna have to upgrade my video card and RAM... but you don't see me complaining much... ;) My computer needs a bit of an upgrade anyhow, especially as it's like 3 years old... :)

(Related conversation:

Me: "Yeah, I finally figured out that I bought it in 2003."
Grant: "Oh my god, it's ancient!"
Me: (patting the monitor) "Don't listen to the big meanie, you're not ancient.")

Right. :)

So I guess that's gonna be the next purchase... though I suppose I'll sort poke around and price things and see if it's gonna be just some upgrades, or a whole new computer... cuz I want a flat screen monitor too... :)
.

:: Dawn 1:42 PM [+] :: (0) comments
...

Well, it would seem I'm diverging from my usual preference of getting hooked on a TV show after it's already off the air. Grant and I watched the pilot and first episode of Lost yesterday, and now I want to watch all of it. :)

It's so much easier to just get hooked on non-current TV shows, because then you can either buy, rent, or borrow the DVDs, and watch them on your own time. If you're watching a current TV show, you either have to wait for a long period of time before it's available on DVD, or (*gasp*) actually catch it on actual TV.

Yeah, there's TIVO and such, but not all of us have those. Hell, not all of us even have the option of watching TV when it airs, because some of us (read: me) don't like TV much, and don't have cable. Yet another reason why it's easier to just get interested in non-current shows.

Well, at least we won't get to watch any more for a couple of weeks, and if we space them out cleverly enough, the 2nd season might be on DVD by the time we get done with the first... of course, I'm not really even sure about what season they're on... though a comment from Megan makes me think it's currently the 2nd season, and somehow that sounds about right to me... :)
.

:: Dawn 1:44 PM [+] :: (0) comments
...

I think that Fridays actually have more hours in them than any other day of the week. Someone should fund a study to find out if this is true. Not it! :)

I don't really have any real EotWWW this week, because I'm feeling a bit lazy and not particularly wise. I dreamed about sleeping last night, which sounds very weird, and I assure you, it was. It seems to have ended up leaving me feeling a bit fuzzy headed, which is annoying. Specially cuz I've got some Settlers to kick ass at tonight! :)

I suppose the EotWWW could be that ninjas totally flip out and kill people, a fact which has been proven twice in as many weeks. But that's blatantly ripped off from a website, and, well, what are you really gonna learn by that statement?

I have to find something that pirates are the best at, other than being sexy, to turn into a poll.

This incredibly random post is brought to you by Friday, dreams of sleep, "Serenity" (my iPod), and the letter Q.
.

:: Dawn 1:27 PM [+] :: (0) comments
...

So yeah, VAST has a new quasi-CD out. I say quasi-CD, because it's not actually a physical CD, much like "Crimson" and "Turquoise" were originally done. It's available as a download for $5.99 here, and that's a really good deal for a "CD"... :)

As to the music, well, I like it. It's very much in a similar vein to "Crimson" and "Turquoise," which means a bit lighter and mellower than the stuff from "Visual Audio Sensory Theatre" and "Music for People." There are a couple of songs that almost start to rock out, but it doesn't quite qualify as rocking out, when it comes to VAST. :)

At any rate, it's definitely worth checking out if you like VAST, which I do. :)

No tour dates still. Other than in Texas. And only 2 of those. :(

::..::

In other news, the rain from yesterday is done, and it looks like a somewhat clear day... for today... it's supposed to rain again this weekend. This makes me an unhappy camper because Brat Pack is playing the beer garden at Copper on Saturday night, and it's on the list of possibilities for what we're gonna do Saturday night. If it rains, it goes off of the list. :(
.

:: Dawn 10:21 AM [+] :: (0) comments
...

New Asian place in Marion is definitely worth checking out. It's called Sao's Asian Bistro, and it is DAMN good... :) For those local folks who are interested, it's at the same light at Steak 'n Shake in Marion, next to the Harley dealership.

Of course, going there for lunch ended up keeping me out of the office for the bulk of yesterday afternoon, so I didn't post. :)

Today is a day of lots of rain, and what the hell happened to it being May? This is very non-May like weather, in my book. I should be having to open the windows when I get home from work, or be bitching about having to turn on the AC already. It's been cool enough outside in the afternoons that I don't need to open up the apartment, and the AC is totally out of the question. I still have a fleece blanket on my bed (with my summer time sheets, because of those like 3 days when it was warm enough for them).

Not to say I would mind a mild summer... in fact, I could totally deal with that... but I really do want the opportunity to wear some of my summer clothes and not freeze half to death in the process. Yesterday afternoon, I put on shorts when I got home from work. Went to the driving range later (yeah, I know... I didn't hit but like 5 golf balls this time, though...), and thought about putting on jeans. Decided I definitely needed jeans before going to Hangar.

(Fun conversation:
Megan: "So we're going to the driving range, and then to Hangar, and then to Applebee's."
Me: "So it's the same plan as last week?"
Megan: "Yeah, but without the drama... we hope..."

Hurrah for lack of drama! :) )

Right, I think I'll stop rambling now. :)
.

:: Dawn 2:10 PM [+] :: (0) comments
...

Two parts for the post today: one about the weekend, and one about me being a consumer. Hurrah! :)

The excursion to St. Louis was a great time, and I got to do all of the things I wanted to do, too! :) Grant and I went to Laumeier for a little bit when we first got there, and wandered around. Cromlech Glen is still technically closed, but we checked it out anyway. It really is one of my favorite places in the whole world. :)

After that, we went and wandered around the Loop, both of us finding CDs to buy at Vintage Vinyl, and spending a whole lot of time at Phoenix Rising. I used to really like that store, when it was mostly sort new-age-y stuff. Then it got really pop culture-y, and I didn't like it so much. It's still more along the pop culture-y lines, but I think I've learned to appreciate it for what it is, and not lamenting what it used to be. So we browsed for a good long while, and I, surprisingly, did not buy all of the pirate stuff... :)

We got dinner with Megan, Robert, and Leslie at a Thai place, and it was tasty, though mine was a bit spicy... and I even got mild! Ran right across the street to the Pageant, and got pretty decent spots on the floor.

The opening act, Michael Leviton, was this geeky looking guy with a ukelele, with very clever lyrics. I liked him a lot. :) TMBG, of course, rocked. A good long set, with two encores, and they played "Istanbul," which is what really matters. I'm pretty sure they've played that every time I've seen them. :) Megan and I tried to start a conga line during "Dr. Worm," and failed, but then another one came by, so we jumped on. :)

I was so tired and so sore when we got back to C-dale, but it was so worth it. :)

::..::

After spending a lazy Sunday morning-into-afternoon recovering, Jesi and I went out shopping, and I finally bought myself an iPod. Yeah, I'm a little late in jumping on the bandwagon, but waiting this long meant that I could get a 60 gig, in black.

60 gigs. My iPod is bigger than my computer's internal hard drive. This makes me cry a little on the inside. But it also makes me happy, because I have ALL of the music from my computer on my iPod, and still have room to spare. Almost 8000 songs on there at the moment, and it's over 30 gigs... so I really did need the 60 gig version... :)

Still figuring out some of the details on how to make it do what I want, but I've got a basic knowledge of what I can do... luckily I know plenty of people who have had theirs for a while, and can help me figure out what I can't get on my own. :)

So I've got it set up on my desk, with tiny speakers which sound mostly like crap, but hey, it's slightly better sound than the internal speaker on my computer, I can listen to any song I own whenever I want, and I can stop burning so many CDs to bring with me to work... I can just load them onto the iPod and go from there... w00t! :)
.

:: Dawn 12:51 PM [+] :: (0) comments
...

Rather than the normal format for End of the Work Week Wisdom, I will direct you to Everything I needed to know I learned from listening to They Might Be Giants. So it's like 30+ pieces of wisdom for the price of one!

Except I don't get paid even when I post only one... damn... :(

In other news, it's absolutely frickin' gorgeous outside, and I'm sitting inside, at work. This, my friends, blows chunks. The boss is out of town, one co-worker is off running errands, and the other is at lunch. I think I'm gonna try to bust outta here early, since I need to go mail one pair of Docs off to their happy new owner... any excuse to enjoy a little of this weather!

I'm hoping desperately that it will be this nice tomorrow, because I really wanna hit Laumeier before the show. If it's like this tomorrow? We're golden. :)

I'm also hoping that maybe my new Docs will arrive today, though I won't start breaking them in till next week... breaking in new shoes tomorrow is just gonna make my feet super grumpy. So screw a bunch of that. :)

Blah... this will be the longest. afternoon. EVAR. Must find something to entertain myself with!
.

:: Dawn 1:16 PM [+] :: (0) comments
...

So Saturday is the TMBG show, and I'm super duper excited. It's been over 3 1/2 years since I saw them last, so that's one of the main reasons why I'm excited. I'm also excited cuz Megan is going again, and we always have fun when we see them together. And Grant is going as well, which is super duper awesome kewl. (It's also kewl that the other folks are going, but I'm mostly happy to be going with Megan and Grant! :) )

So the last time I was going to see them, which was the 7th time, I posted this. Just in case anyone wanted a recap of the first 6 times I saw them. :)

I am very proud to say, though, that TMBG is my most frequently seen band. Even though I've missed at least two opportunities to see them that I know of. Shame, because that would make this an even 10... :) Not that I'll stop at 10... there were people that they interviewed on "Gigantic" who had seen them a LOT more... I suspect those were New York people, who probably get a lot more opportunities than I do... ah well...

Anyways, yeah, Saturday is gonna be a great day... I totally can't wait! :)
.

:: Dawn 3:09 PM [+] :: (0) comments
...

I think I've decided that sports and I just don't get along. I really don't think there's a single sport that I've found that I'm actually good at, and very few that I can get by at.

I did play tennis for two years in high school, but the truth of the matter was that anyone who wanted to play tennis at our HS could. There were always exactly 10 girls on the team. This is just enough for 1st-4th singles, and 1st-3rd doubles. Anyone wanna take a wild guess at what I played? :) (*)

My parents had us play sports when we were growing up, and I sucked at those too. I would stand in the outfield during softball, and draw in the dirt with my toe. If I heard the crack of the bat hitting the ball that signified it was going for the outfield, I panicked. (Interestingly, I can still identify that crack of bat hitting ball.)

In soccer, I was almost always on the back line... whatever they call that... the one time they let me play forward, I started kicking the ball in the wrong direction. No, I'm not kidding. (In my defense, it was right after halftime, and we had just switched directions.)

There was also the time that I got hit in the back with a thrown kickball, and fell down. That sucked. There was the other time when the boys were playing kickball, and the girls were standing around DEEP in the outfield. One of the girls yelled "BALL," which meant scatter like bunnies. I stood still, thinking there was no chance in hell it would hit me. Apparently, that is the definition of "no chance in hell."

So yeah, I think from here on out, I'm gonna stick with the whole spectating thing. Cuz even sports that aren't really sports, like bowling and golf are kicking my ass. We went to the driving range last night, which I knew would be comedic. It's also hurty. After hitting something like 30 golf balls, and missing at least that many times, if not more, my right shoulder is telling me that it hates me and never wants to speak to me again.

::..::

(*) Third doubles, for those who were wondering. This means that you're playing with a partner to help you not miss the ball, and that you're the worst of the partner pairs, as well.

:: Dawn 3:34 PM [+] :: (0) comments
...

Wow.

I am currently constructing what may end up being the strangest background I've ever written. The writing part isn't necessarily all that strange (though I do have some interesting bits that I still need to cover that could get strange), but the format is definitely out of the ordinary for me. As per the usual, I'm keying various parts of the background to appropriate song lyrics, which are already burned to a CD. What may make this unusual is that I may end up scrambling the 14 sections around to fit a somewhat more logical progression. Except that it wouldn't be logical, exactly...

It's very hard to explain without giving out the details, but I'd rather keep the details a secret. A few select people have heard about the truth behind the story, but yeah, since I'm playing the character currently, I'd much rather keep the truths to myself (and a select group who have already heard them).

Quick version, though, for those who are interested hearing about the non-confusing part of the character: Daisy Green, Malkavian architect. If you've read House of Leaves, it's the daughter from that novel, as a real person, and all grown up. She's also, for those who know the name/reputation, the third(*) coming of Dr. Lucas Webster.

Yeah, that's right. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

I've been wanting to play this character for a while now, and I'm finally getting the chance. *happy dance*

We'll see how it all pans out...

::..::

(*) The second coming was already taken. Cross Burchelli handled that quite nicely. :)
.

:: Dawn 2:50 PM [+] :: (0) comments
...

Okay, so I said that radio in southern Illinois sucks, and honestly, it's more of a matter of radio sucks, period.

Addressing just the southern Illinois aspect first, for those of us who are not fans of country, and need something other than classical music in the car, the options used to be one of a couple of classic rock stations (though I use that term very loosely), or one of a couple of "alternative" stations (again, loosely). Well, in the middle of March, one of those alternative stations became Jack Rock... or something like that. But it's basically a pop station now. (As an aside, I think we had some other pop stations before this, I just don't know this for certain.)

So my options just became "or death." :)

Well, not exactly. But in the mornings, all three of the somewhat acceptable stations play syndicated talk shows. I LOATHE syndicated talk shows. So this means that in the mornings, my options are no music at all, or a CD. Then, once there's a CD in the car stereo, why bother taking it out for the very brief drive home from work? Or on the short jaunts around town? Or, particularly, on road trips, when the stations are just going to fade out halfway through the trip anyhow?

Additionally to this, the type of music that I really like is goth music. Yes, I have a special fondness for bits of classic rock, all 80s pop/early alternative, and 90s alternative rock. But goth music is what I really like. Now, when you listen to an "alternative" station these days, what you're mostly getting is emo crap. This extends beyond the southern Illinois stations (which are emo crap / metal) even onto things like internet radio stations... unless you can find yourself a good goth internet radio station... and then, most of the time, you're listening to OLD goth music. Whether this is because there aren't many goth bands putting out new music, or because their new music is hard to find, I'm not sure... but I think it's the latter, turning the whole thing into a very vicious circle.

So I listen to my internet radio, and I discover bands that are kinda catchy... though they have an annoying tendency to be emo or emo-esque, as just about everything that people are putting out for the mainstream market these days falls into that category. And thus I end up listening to emo crap, and bemoaning the fact incessantly... but dealing with it anyways, because the other options are limited.

Having recognized all of this, I really am going to try harder on the whole "discovering new goth bands" bit. Because that's what I WANT to be listening to. And that is, in the end, what I'm going to like.

::..::

In other news, I had a great weekend, particularly with the listening to about half of the BBC "Hitchhiker's Guide" radio show in the mornings, while we were having breakfast and otherwise getting ready for the day. I am astounded as to how much of that series I remember. I'm also pleased with that fact. :)
.

:: Dawn 11:14 AM [+] :: (0) comments
...