A Safe Space for Moogles

I'm a week from turning 25, and I still feel like I have no control over my own life. Case in point: despite my misgivings I'm getting down the names of some colleges to apply to. I'm absolutely dreading going back to school,* but I just don't have any other options.

*little black raincloud over mooglehead*

I was actually researching degrees in game art, because as long as I have to go back, I might as well go for something really cool, right? :D ...Apparently that was a bad idea. Dear readers, my search took me into the dark and slimy underbelly of the American educational system, where degree factories tart themselves up with glittery programs and beckon the unwary into dark alleys. I'm not sure I still have my wallet.

True to form, it took me most of the afternoon and well into evening before I thought to look up some actual job openings in the field. Turns out nobody in the gaming industry's actually looking for someone with a 'game design' degree. Art, yes, animation, yes, architecture even. But a holder of a game design degree from Art Institutes may as well tattoo 'sucker' on her forehead.

...Yes, I'm aware of the irony, considering where I got my associate's. Don't think I'm not kicking myself over that.



*Except in the case of the school in England, but that's my 'infinitesimal chance' school - I'd have to sell a kidney to pay for it.

I had a moment of weakness and got a Tegaki journal - it's like a blog with drawing instead of writing - and spent the weekend getting hand cramps over my inaugural post. I finally finished it Sunday night, and, because I am a moron, promptly hit the back button and lost everything.

...Luckily I'd taken a screencap first. Here it is, if you're interested - it's not that great, I'm not used to painting, but I was pleased anyway. ...I think my next attempt will be lineart. Something a bit less labor-intensive. *flexes hands* XD

You ever write one of those scenes, step back, and realize that you needed to write it out, but it's not going to make it into the fic proper? It's like, okay, now I know what happens and how it all fits together, but I'm still a little frustrated that I put in the time and it's not going to go into my total wordcount. *grumbles and puts my Mythbuster muses away for the night*

How to prevent rape! No, for real this time.

Reason number 20394 why I love the President.

Also, I rode my bike up a Big Hill today! I was tempted to give up halfway through, but I made it all the way to the top! And then my thighs exploded and I died.

Spam email title of the day: Extend Your Ki to Get a New Job

Not that I'm not desperate enough to try it, but I'm gonna need a metric buttload of hair gel...

So my mom comes home and goes "I got us tickets to Transformers! I am the best mom ever! :DDDD!" And she is, but then I had to tell her that I'm already going with some friends on Saturday. (She was too thrilled about me having friends to be disappointed, her lack of interest in giant robots notwithstanding.)

Also, given the speed at which I write, this is kind of comforting.

So, I got me a Dreamwidth account. (Same username as everywhere else, obv.) ;P I'm planning on making it a creative-stuff-only journal - all the fluff and smex, none of the drama! - but, y'know, you won't be missing anything if you don't follow DW. I'm too much of an attention whore. XD

That said, here is the inaugural ficbit. Beast Wars/101 Dalmations possibly via Kingdom Hearts, utter fluff. ;P

Also, my right shoulder has been feeling kind of tense lately. Like my shoulder blade is poking out through my skin. ...If I grow a wing, I will not be amused. Okay, yes I will, but everyone else should be on the lookout for sentient goo in a box.

And now that I'm done with fluff, it's back to writing hard, rough robot smut. *hikes up sleeves and gets to work*

After reading most of Sweet Baby James. It's a blog about a baby who was born with several birth defects and his parents' struggles in caring for him, up until he passed away shortly after his first birthday. Going through the posts about his life were kind of hard because I knew how it would end, but it was only after I passed that point that I started to want to cry.

The parents talk a lot about their faith in God in the context of everything they go through, and it kind of mixes my feelings up a little. On the one hand, reading about it kind of makes me happy, because it gives them hope in the face of all the pain and disability. It makes me remember my own church in high school, and how it helped me come out of my shell a little after I escaped middle school. Thinking "God has a plan for this, even though it hurts right now and I don't understand it"... well, that's important, isn't it? Hope. It's better than falling into a void.

On the other hand - part of me kept saying "God is too cruel" when they start writing about that. I don't think I would have been able to keep any faith at all, if I'd been in their situation.

Reading the blog also makes me rethink wanting a child, but I know I won't be ready for that for a long time.

......I really need to go to bed.

Just in case somebody hasn't: Amazon.com is stripping sales rankings from gay and lesbian novels, romance, YA and nonfiction - thus making them impossible to find in searches and best-seller lists. Supposedly it's a measure they take with all 'adult' material, but explicit het publications have escaped the purge while anything with a homosexual bent is Presumed Porn. Shame, Amazon. Shame shame shame.

And because the Internet's greatest tool of revenge is Googlebombing: Amazon Rank

And to think I thought you were such a wonderful place to get cheap video games. I guess it's back to rummaging through the used-games section at GameStop for me.

In other news, I was out today and saw my first Canada goose of spring. He was waddling along in the middle of an intersection like he owned the joint - and hell if the rest of us in our big scary cars didn't suck it up and drive around him. For all our civilization, guys, we are still nature's bitches. XD

(Incidentally, this was right after I realized it was Easter, thanks to a big sign in the window at Target saying 'o hay closed for Easter.' WTF, self, you used to go to church.)

And lastly, because big cats are awesome:

( Quizthing! )

So I just finished Small Favor at work tonight. Without giving too much away, let me say that I really want Ivy and Mouse to have a playdate together. With lots of fussing and chasing butterflies. ...I may be a sap.

Also, I'm getting unholy images of a Dresden Files/Phoenix Wright crossover. Maya channels the wrong spirit, gets in over her head again, Phoenix looks in the phone book under 'W'... okay, somebody slap me before I get out of control.

In other news, 'Spider-Man' rescues autistic Thai boy. D'awwww. X3

What with the s_d debacle, I've been thinking about how integral fandom communities are to their chosen worlds.

( On intellectual property rights, censorship, dreams, and Han Solo. )

So I went to another volunteer site (idealist.org, for the curious and/or desperate), and emailed a few places and - holy shit! - somebody emailed me back!

Granted, it was to ask me for samples which makes me think that this lady hadn't even read my email or resume, because I have links to my Coroflot portfolio in both places, but still! Somebody's actually acknowledging my existence! This has never happened before! I'm all a-twitter. *swoons on couch*

...in other news, this site is made of win.

My cousin had a baby! Well, my cousin's wife, heh. Anyway, it's a boy, seven pounds and fifteen ounces, and his name is (no shit) Jaxon.

Speaking of odd names, the wingthing got on a naming website and picked out a name for herself. She's now Pari, which apparently is Persian and means 'fairy eagle.' (Note that this is not her birth name.)

Also, two things that are awesome: Cracked.com's Why Megatron Should Have Fired Starscream Years Ago, and Advent Children Ghostbusters. I lol'd.

Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to (lj)psychokitty013: the newest member of the Mythbusters Club! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! *lightningflash*

...ahem. Look, I take my victories where I can find them.

( Mythbusters versus Transformers, 26-50 )

In other news, girly cramps suck, heating pads are yay, and there's a park in South Korea dedicated to phalluses. All of these things are Things You Need To Know, but may not be related otherwise.

I haven't been truly sick in something like five years, which is incidentally the same amount of time I haven't had access to whatever Yuck is being passed around schools via my mother. Two weeks ago Mom started teaching again and promptly came down with a miserable flu-like bug. It passed to Dad, and now that they're both recovered I've got it. -_- And so the Cycle of Life starts spinning again.

*groans, crawls under blankets and is not seen again for a week*

EDIT: Because everyone likes Internet presents.



Christmas Gift Toy & MySpace Layouts at pYzam.com

Chimpanzee helps raise two white tiger cubs! I adore the obvious affection on the chimp's face. *squees* And look, more pics here.

Warms my fluffy little heart, it does. ^_^ Speaking of fluffythings, I went ahead and filled out an application for the animal hospital today. So, we'll see what happens.

And also, some porn I owed (lj)sister_dear from this meme. You thought I forgot, didn't you? Well, I didn't! ;D *waggles fingers at* I was just, uh... busy. Yes. Ahem.

Anyway, this plays with the recent fandom-convention that Jazz has doorwings, he just hides them under his roof. (Look, his toy has doorwings, okay? It's perfectly legit.)

( Whoa, Jazz. When'd you get wings? )

The bad news: coming back from another fun-filled day of whoring myself out to the corporate world, I discovered I had a flat tire.
The good news: when I discovered it, I was in a Goodyear parking lot. ^_^ So, it's fixed now, but it may be a good idea to get new tires soon just in case. *worried look*

ANYWAY: Flist, advise me. There's a part-time job opening as an Animal Caretaker at a local animal shelter. The catch? It's on weekday evenings, which means I wouldn't get to see my People then. Guys, I am enough of a hermit. Besides, evening is my writing time.

But... it'd get me some monies, and it's better than retail by several orders of magnitude, and it'd make Mom less likely to get on my case. So do I go for it, or hope like hell I get some hits before my birthday and Mom pushes me into retail?


LASTLY: I found something awesome. I Am Emily X: the blog of a woman who volunteers as security for Planned Parenthood. And there's a fundraiser going on right now that raises money according to the number of protesters she encounters! :D

I... IsigneduponOKCupid.

*hides face in hands*

It was a moment of weakness! I was bored! Look, you can't live on the Internet like I do and not get the occasional urge to trollbait. (Because I totally put 'just looking for friends!' on my profile, but trolls never read profiles, they just check to make sure you have a vag before they hit you up for teh s3xx0rz.) I'm a bad, bad moogle and I'm going to hell.

Still not employed, though starting my own sarcastic greeting card company sounds better all the time. (I could start with little cards that say, in a nice friendly font, "Bathe." It'd be a big hit at cons.)

SPEAKING OF BORED. Look, 'Boots, I made avatars! :D

Briar and Laramie in their formal "goin' diplomattin' " gear:


(I was going to give Laramie a nice shiny tunic at first, but then I found that cloak, and he just looked so comfy and safe in it, and Briar made pleased noises so I think it's a present from him. ^_^;;;)

Aaaaaand, harem'Mis anna 'Lios:


('Mis's sword's name is 'Loyal Pawn.' How could I not use it? Also, omg'Lioshair. The Prince probably pets it a lot.)

....and, um, mirrorverse'Laramie. *hides*


(He subscribes to the Anakin Skywalker Fashion Catalog.)

I'm pretty much ready for my portfolio progress assessment on Tuesday, so I plan to get some senior project work done tomorrow and Saturday (as well as my regular class work). So, still argh, but not as argh as last night. We'll see how long it lasts.

In other news, things I found while tooling around the webbernets:

This list is hilarious. I can imagine Ratchet using some of those terms. Or some of his own. UPTWDT (UnPlugged The Wrong Damn Thing), anyone? ;D

Monkeys Control Robot Arm With Their Minds. No, really.