- Record an audiobook, with prizes.

- Colorless coke cans: pretty stylish.

- John Scalzi is in ur Yuletide, checking out ur slash requests.

I'm going to now enjoy the last of my Friday 13th with movies, cleaning, and making food.

- I am an excellent builder. And people let me use sharp objects. In fact, they prefer me to use sharp objects to anyone else, as I am precise and careful and basically fucking awesome with sharp objects. My calling as a villain has obviously been ignored all these years...

- Aero. Social. Night. Free food, and the entire department gets drunk. Was wingman for some random dude, had beer bought for me, and got into an intense discussion with some dudes, as I am the token gay in the department now (well, the token OUT gay). This was actually awesome.

- Hookah.

- I have no homework due tomorrow. I haven't had homework not due on a Friday since... I cannot fucking remember when I didn't have homework due one a Friday since I started engineering. This is intense.

- Who wants to dare me to write porn while I'm intoxicated?

- Math exam: Fail.

- Exam in three hours: Feeling ok.

- Plane making = AWESOME.

Can I just skip all the boring classes? Seriously, I have never felt so freaked out in a math exam before.

As you all know, I am not above rescuing other people's cast off clothes. In fact, I've gotten it down to a science. It's really all about timing and location. If you are anywhere near a college campus (which I have either been on one or at least 20 mins away from one... my entire life) then you have access to some hip secondhand clothes, oftentimes entirely free. Recently had a good haul, because some sorority girl decided to clean out her closet. This means a lot of "hip" basics that are off-trend, which is never something I care about anyway. Some basics are always fantastic. Like cableknit sweaters and henleys and button-up cardigans.

Just when I was thinking I needed more of those things too.

There is also something vaguely karmic to some of the things I find, like stuff from Holister or American Eagle or Other Trendy Mall Store I Am Always Afraid to Go Into. I have to wonder how much the original owner paid for it, and how often they ended up wearing it (usually... not much from the looks of the stuff). Also, the whole Green movement means that instead of in the dumpster like I would have had to find things (no, I do not jump into dumpsters) they are conveniently in boxes out for anyone to find.

I just have to make sure to throw some things of my own in the box, lest I accumulate too much. XD

Back to math study.

Guys, stop being entertained by my rants, they are OBVIOUSLY SRS BUSINESS.

Ok not. I'm actually amused.

It did in fact take me most of the week to recover from the REPORT RUSH, and now I'm still picking up the fallout (protip: my mental state is almost in direct proportion to the state of my room. Currently it's in the middle of cleanup). Need to do laundry like bad. And take a shower, ew. There are reasons that stereotypes about engineering and science exist, after all.

Have felt the need to say "grow the fuck up" a lot lately, but I'm cranky.

Two exams next week, one I'm not worried too much about (Fatigue Structures) the other I'm going to spend most of the weekend studying (Diff Eq II). Got the paper assignment for Diff Eq II (yes, we get to write a PAPER in a MATH CLASS, yay!) just need to figure out a topic. Since we're in build phase for Senior Design I won't be writing much of anything else, so good!

Speakiing of Senior Design, I have been put IN CHARGE of the tail section. Which may seem lame, but we have a very specific and bigass tail. Bruce Lee and I will be making it, I've got to get some sketches to Texas Team Lead by like, Monday so when I use the CNC machine it won't be tragic. Foam is expensive!

Also, everything appears to be due the Monday before Thanksgiving, which is not good, since I have the flight test that Tuesday. GREAT TIMING. Especially you, Propulsion!

Going to take a shower now, go print off some more math study materials and hole up in the pretentious coffee house. Or somewhere that serves tea and has food.

Now, I'm a "team player". I say this without the usual cynicism and sarcasm involved. I'm going to go as far as to say I'm the type you WANT on your team; I'm OCD organized when it comes to data, I'm adaptable to different collaborative tools, and I'm honest. I won't bite off more than I can chew and when I do I will call you in enough time for there not to be a panic and for us to get it all done yay.

Well so long as everyone contributes properly I won't have to.

I love Team Lost in Translation. A lot. Words cannot describe how much I love this group; I've been in bad design groups that didn't utilize the fact I am a bossy bitch when I need to be or assumed I was stupid and never let me touch a damn thing. No, this group allowed me a fair bit of freedom in the amount of analysis I did (hell, I was the only one on two subgroups; structures AND controls) and they respected my opinion.

Also, I was always the one called to ask if we were having a meeting and when. So I'm kind of like a secretary, but without the dumb.

I wasn't the group lead, that went to the guy with the most experience (rightfully) and I've never had an issue with him. He's the right kind of leader; he knows his shit, he can delegate, and he picks up the slack when someone is not assigned something. Texas Pilot is a fantastic team lead, and I'd want to work for him in the real work.

Now, there's a blot on our excellent team. Dumbfuck. See, Dumbfuck has a lot of theoretical knowledge. He really does. But it's almost TOO much. He gets tripped up on minute details and frankly? Has been half the reason we were behind. See, aerodynamics is something that you have to like to want to do. Most of this team? Structures. Propulsion. We were lean on aerodynamics and controls. Now, I helped cover controls. But I'm shit at aerodynamics.

Aerodynamics was the class with Professor Collicock, who I hated, so it's no wonder I absorbed basically none of the subject matter.

Anyway, so Dumbfuck has no sense of time. Or reality. Or "hey, just fucking estimate it already". Sure, you don't try to estimate in industry. But you also have better analysis tools than we did, and we don't have the skills for Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) so we're left with using equations and shit the hard way. Intentional, I know.

So Dumbfuck usually thinks he's smarter than the professor of the class and usually reprograms all the PROVIDED programs to help us with these long ass calculations and thus takes A LOT LONGER to do things.

He also doesn't know when to stop doing analysis and to start, I don't know, pulling out his shit for the report.

See, right now? 1 am? I am working on the final draft of the report for our plane before we start building. The end! The last bit! IT IS FINISHED. Well, provided that Dumbfuck gets his shit done. I asked for everyone to send me their bits by noon (giving myself a buffer of time for late people to get their shit in by like, 6, as I knew that would happen). There was one dude that got his stuff in by 10pm, but that was ok. I was awake.

Dumbfuck sends me his shit at 12:30 am.

Missing a deadline by that much and bringing everyone down as we wait on your slow ass? That is how to get on my bad side. Either cut down on your fucking blather that you're writing, pick out the IMPORTANT PARTS LIKE I ASKED, and just move on, or give it to someone else already. Your extra bit of detail is only going to make us go over the page count and since you're such a confusing fuck already I can't make heads or tails of the half-finished thing you've sent me now--

Have I said fuck enough yet? FUCKITY FUCK FUCK FUCK. AM I NO LONGER PG-13 RATED YET? WHERE IS MY GODDAMN TEA?

I'm leaving up a "Things I want done by the time we all meet in the afternoon" list on the team's Google Groups page (yes we are very high tech) and going to bed.

Halloween was awesome.

+ Epic costume parts quest for Drak's Wolf costume. We managed to make ears and a tail out of feather boas and floral wire that actually looked appropriate. I think that we are good.

+ Going to Red Lobster dressed as Yuri Anime girls. I was obviously the magic girl, Drak was silent sword girl. A little girl dressed as a princess totally approved of us (well, Drak had a pink wig and I had my green/blue one, I certainly would have approved at her age).

+ Tasty food at Nanomatt and Nija's place. Nanomatt and I are both introverts with very socially able girlfriends. This was never more apparent then when they finally met each other. XD

+ Nanomatt's Generic Anime Badass costume was impressively hilarious.

+ Going to the Asian Student Association party proved to be the best party in town, actually. Even if Drak got annoyed that I am apparently "catnip to Asian guys". This came with several great events:

- The Cat in the Hat totally served a ninja at breakdancing.

- A kid came over and asked Drak to teach his very cute girlfriend to dance. No rly.

- I dance better in a corset and a skirt that hides my spazzy legwork.

- Nanomatt and Drak had a slow-motion sparring fight, including high kicks and a very well done falling backwards thing. Try to imagine this in the middle of a dance floor.

- The nerds from B-town included a kid dressed as the First Doctor from Doctor Who, which was impressively dapper.

- His girlfriend was a construction worker, and we taught her how to man-dance. In fact, this was probably one of the single most hilarious things I have witnessed ever.

+ After the clubbing party times, we went looking for a less crowded place (being at the hottest party in town means that it gets CROWDED, thankfully we'd partied out by then). We witnessed a great many fantastic costumes and Drak and I made out on the window of the Republican headquarters. >.>

+ Then there was cuddles and pumpkin spice tea, the end. XD

I now need to run to a group meeting and hope I don't fall asleep. I am done for shenanigans for a while now. There may also be pictures sometime.

You know, complaining about fanon/canon does make me feel better sometimes. It totally let out my stress about the presentation my group has tomorrow. Also, I think the increase in writing is directly proportional to the amount of times I've thought about stabbing a bitch lately.

Of course, then Dumbfuck had to get all, "mmmrrrr I don't think that'll work" about our numbers.

So let me break it down. We are the third group to go on tomorrow, but we all have to watch the presentations. So we have to have everything ready by 9am. At about 11pm our Propulsion subgroup tells us that the engine efficiency number was wrong again (we learned yesterday we were working off of an underweight estimate) and Dumbfuck decides that hey, the wing that he told us to use should actually be this other wing and can we change all out data?

Mind you, changing the wing changes... not much as far as scale goes. So the numbers and configurations we'd present wouldn't be super best case account for everything, but they would be good enough and get the damn point across. We spend a half hour trying to tell him this. It's especially bad for APB*, who is working on the 3D model and if you change anything about the wing chord he'd have to go in and PUT IN POINTS BY HAND for the airfoil. So APB is like, "fuck this shit."

And I've just done a pretty complicated tail sizing analysis and am also like, "fuck this shit."

And the Malaysians are doubling all, "fuck no." Especially my man Superfly**, who does most of his fuselage calculations BY HAND. Cause he's hardkore. I am not this hardkore. I use matlab and spreadsheets and code them in such a way that when Dumbfuck changes his mind, I don't spend hours redoing shit, merely AN hour. Which is still enough time for me to be Not Pleased.

So we decide to go through with what we have anyway, and fix it all for the final report. Honestly, we're at a buildable configuration, it's just not OPTIMUM. Fuck. That. Noise.

And then Superfly and Bruce Lee*** and I went to McDonald's and I talked about my adventures in video gaming, working at a factory, and how the Air Force is sometimes Fail.

But our shit is SEXY:

( OUR PLANE IS SO SEXY IT BLOWS MY MIND. BETTER TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS OR SOMETHING. )

Yeah, that's all. I am clearly on adrenaline jitters atm.se

* Angry Polish Bastard. Yes, he approves of this. No, we are not racist bastards, we simply spend too much time together.

**"He's so fly that the Japanese girls like him." -- Did I mention I love how international my school is lately?

*** "If anyone doubts my control data I'll kick them in the head. No one fucks with an angry Malaysian."

Got a major presentation on Tuesday for Team Lost In Translation (yes, we call ourselves that now) and it marks the end of the design period and the beginning of the build period for the plane. Which is a big deal really. And our team lead says he'd love help with building and that he's not afraid to let me use power tools. POWER TOOLS. We're still punching through the last few theoretical bugs (like, our weight estimate was wrong) and I'm still trying to convince everyone to wear a tie (come on, it's one presentation, don't be nerds).

ALSO.

IF YOU LIKE GANGSTERS, CRAZY ENTERTAINING PSYCHOS AND ADORABLE HEROICS WITH A GOOD SENSE OF HUMOR...


GO WATCH BACCANO! NOW BEFORE IT EXPIRES.

Note, if you are queased out by gore, it's prolly not your cup of tea. I've been dating Drak long enough to really no longer be bothered. However I'm sure most of you are with me on the sick sense of humor.

I HAVE DECIDED AFTER SEEING THIS THAT I HAVE TO COSPLAY JACUZZI SPLOT (yes that's his name this tells you how awesome this show is) BECAUSE HE IS MY HERO AND THAT DRAK MUST COSPLAY NICE (again the names are RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME) BECAUSE SHE IS HOT AND BLOWS SHIT UP.

Also, Otakon dudes? Remember that one skit that involved the people dancing and it looked kind of Western and there was that chick in the red dress and it was supposed to be on a train and shit? IT WAS ABOUT THIS SERIES I GET IT NOW.

Um, yeah. >.>

I've also been writing, will likely babble about wordcounts and shit like that on DW so as to spare most of ya'll that crap. ^^

When you give up the day, you gain clarity.

Concrete stained with yellowed lights
Which sometimes flicker with the wind
Scattering debris of those who ran around
In such a damn hurry hours before

Staggering under the weight of reference books
Looks like just another academic hangover
Anti-social vamipre in a devil's pact
Trading knowledge for creature comforts

The strains of disco kings lament
No after hours; the sound's in your head
Only janitors and criminals, fallen saints
Keep watch on those dark stretches

When you give up the day, you lose yourself.

It's getting colder up here in the upper Midwest, so I'd like to remind ya'll of something.



Just say no.

And this is coming from someone that wear pants in the summer because she has no body heat. There are classier and still as comfortable ways to stay warm. Invest in a good coat and waterproof shoes and you'll be set.

/rant

Edit: Here, have a ridiculous video! SPOILER: IT HAS A UNICORN.

I am selling one of my old costumes. I think it's outlived its usefulness for me, plus it was actually owned by my ex first. And I have a lot of my own costumes now. XD So time to purge!

Note that the picture is HUGE, to get the point across. It's under a cut, Jana.

Yes, I do like cheesy pre-made costumes sometimes. This one is actually better made than most, too.

for one week, recommend / share:
day 1: a song
day 2: a picture
day 3: a book/ebook/fanfic
day 4: a site
day 5: a youtube clip
day 6: a quote
day 7: whatever tickles your fancy


Clothes Swapping Websites

As most of you know, a fair amount of the "hey where did you get that" items in my closet were either salvaged from relatives, the free box on my floor, and yes, the occasional dumpster (washed, of course!). I realize that my ability to do this is somewhat dependant on my being small and able to alter clothes decently, but the art of not having to always buy clothes is an ancient one that everyone can benefit from. So this link was kind of pertinent to my interests. Haven't tried any of the sites yet, though, but I found it interesting that there are sites popping up (there is for books, and I've used it several times, why not for clothes?).

Though, I wouldn't mind organizing some kind of clothes swap fun times with several of you con-going types (or the ones near Indiana at the very least). Hell, I'd even mail some stuff out, ya'll know I'm not against sending out packages (in fact, I find it fun). XD But not until after this semester. I just like supporting things that are less throwaway.

That and I'm a magpie.

In other news, I stood out in a field near a rope course tower and caught a rocket being dropped from it. We were testing the parachute, basically. It was cold and it started raining on my bike back, so that's another mark against rocket science. However, I talked to everyone and we were all like WTF about the exam, and the prof is the sort that kind of EXPECTS 30% averages, so I'm just hoping I'm in that average. That or the kids that would screw over the curve die or something. Whichever is more convenient.

And I have decided that yes, I am doing the Dark Snow White (or rather, Queen Snow White) costume. It's more white than black, but white can be very gothy sometimes. The sleeves are fantastic, and I'm going to be adding some more deconstructive elements as I find random bits of time to play with it. And it was very satisfying cutting into my old wedding dress. Something very cathartic. I had originally intended to sell it, but it wasn't that particularly amazing of a dress (lovely, but cheap, as there was no way I was paying a lot for a one-time dress. my prom dress got more wear, as my sister wore it to her junior prom and then bought a gorgeous vintage reproduction which she then used as her bridesmaid dress... we are sensibly theatric in my family).

I think the fact that I can use it in a costume without feeling regret or that pang of "oh crap, I am no longer heteronormative or even believe in this institution" is a good sign. Blah blah cry moar. It comes in steps, people.

I am also excited to try the goth!Bowie, as the velveteen blazer I own is so dramatic. Debating cod piece. I guess it will depend on which day I wear it. Audience is important concerning these things.

Would rather be writing more ff_kissbattle Trick or Treat prompts, but I have a Trade Study to do. This time it's the effect of spar placement to the torsional strength on a combination wing! ...And wow, you know, I feel smart sometimes knowing what that means.

Alright, that was a good break. I am well fed, well-rested (mostly), and I have costumes! I spent last night sewing sleeves for my Dark Snow White (which has a bit of a Snow Queen vibe) costume, because yeah. I will prolly add more to it if I decide to ever wear it to a con, but it's fun to play with for now. I also now have two sleeves on my Auron coat (with the intention to do some fun stuff with the other sleeve later) and an aviator cap. Still need to sew some buttons onto the flaps of the cap, but that's hand done anyway. XD

So now that I'm looking at things, there are many things afoot on the internet!

- The Annual FF Trick or Treat Meme (which I will start writing for after I finish this one thing)

- Yuletide Nominations coming up soon! Even though I think it's a little ass that ALL FF has been banned. Seriously, cause like, there's a reason there's a FFI-FFVI section with no separation on FF.net. CAUSE IT'S SMALL FANDOMS. Not that I actually ever write FF for Yuletide (and I am not volunteering The Breakfast Club this year, I want to do something else! It's like a popular small fandom or something).

- Themes poll on Imaginary Beasts Am tempted to volunteer for this month (theme is Winter), but I've been shit for hobby time management as of late.

And here's two days in one, cause I forgot yesterday's:

for one week, recommend / share:
day 1: a song
day 2: a picture
day 3: a book/ebook/fanfic
day 4: a site
day 5: a youtube clip
day 6: a quote
day 7: whatever tickles your fancy



Muppets. Mad Men. Win.

It's nearing that time again, and since I'm home, I am going through my inventory of stuffs. Keep in mind I am a magpie when it comes to costuming materials, so yeah.

I also have the misfortune of a Final Design Review being on the Tuesday of Halloweek, so no crazy costume for the first part of the day. I will however be extremely dapper and try to talk the whole group into wearing ties (even if I have to loan them out, as I have a TON of them), even the other chick. Because how fucking professional and awesome would that be? I think it would be a lot of awesome.

Ones that I want to do if weather/timing permits:

- Steampunk!Edea, because I spent a lot of time on that, and it will likely be cold and that costume is nice and warm! Will however likely be a half-day costume, for a Mon/Wed/Fri type day, as I only have two classes in the morning on those days. Yes, some days I switch costumes midday. Because it's fun.

- The Aviatrix, because it is my most comfortable costume, and I rock it. I mean, I just do. Clearly the spirit of my GG makes this so. I am on the lookout for a proper aviator cap, but I've yet to find one I can afford (they all tend to be tres expensive, probably because they are BADASS, though this one is very very tempting and I already have the goggles...), so yeah. That flight jacket (which I picked up for $10) was probably the best purchase evar, it always picks my day up when I wear it. And the wings I put on it, ah, I got at Space Camp. >.> I really wish I could still fit into my Space Camp flightsuit, but I was like 11 when I went).

- Lady GaGa's leather jacket and shiny panties look from her Lovegame video (you'd have to watch the video to get a better look, trust me, I've watched it A LOT). Likely only for when Drak wants to go out places, as it will be appropriately slutty, and yet, there is something cool to her pantlessness. I still need the shiny panties and a better blonde wig. I will likely wear the black stockings with the flames on the sides, as that will fit and add my own touch to the outfit. GaGa would approve, I think. Will be scrapped if it is balls cold or the shiny panties are not acquired (for modesty's sake, I am wearing black boyshorts underneath). I can't help it, I love her.

FIRST TAKE NOTE OF SOME CRAPPY PICTURES I TOOK OF COSTUMES I DID LAST YEAR. I may be taking some pictures tomorrow of others. Depends on what is going on. But I have a camera on hand at least.

Anyway, here's a poll!

( I have no shame, basically )

Back in B-town for the weekend, as I'm on break. Communication will be spotty as I may not give a rat's ass what is going on. XD Any immediate pressing concerns are well, not on my mind. XD Ha.

for one week, recommend / share:
day 1: a song
day 2: a picture
day 3: a book/ebook/fanfic
day 4: a site
day 5: a youtube clip
day 6: a quote
day 7: whatever tickles your fancy

LUXIRARE

Some anonymous chick with crazy food tastes, and crazier clothing tastes, and skillz with both. Ridiculously interesting for reasons I am unsure of how to explain. Edit: Maybe the gorgeous photography helps.

for one week, recommend / share:
day 1: a song
day 2: a picture
day 3: a book/ebook/fanfic
day 4: a site
day 5: a youtube clip
day 6: a quote
day 7: whatever tickles your fancy

I"m going to reccommend The Book of Franza by Ingeborg Bachmann. Because it is the most impactful book of my adult life. And it's technically an unfinished work. My god, what a book.

So, yeah. No classes because of the EXAMS OF HELL, which was good. I needed the break. Woke up late but not too late, and got my hair cut! It's slightly emo boy looking, slightly mod. And red again, though not like tangerine like I've had in the past.

or one week, recommend / share:
day 1: a song
day 2: a picture
day 3: a book/ebook/fanfic
day 4: a site
day 5: a youtube clip
day 6: a quote
day 7: whatever tickles your fancy

Propellor Girl Takes Flight

Because it very much reminds me of AJ from my two robot zombie stories.