I just needed to focus on something completely frivilous. I am excited to be working with a science teacher now--even if she's a life sciences teacher, and the last life science class I had was freshman year of high school--and being able to share the massive undertaking of setting up some foundation documentation for the big hugeass MMO team.

But my brain hurts, and the mathematics reading I'm doing has given me a headache, so since I'm ahead of schedule, here's a little something silly. I've been playing with colors. And making silly essentials lists.

( there is apparently a site just to make colors and palettes? funtimes. Girly talk on things. )

Good:

- Louise Black on the new season of Project Runway I know, a lot of you are going "huh?" Well, she's one of those people on etsy that pops up a lot of you're looking up steampunk or victoriana, as I tend to. I'm just geeked to see one of my favorite subcultures on the show, in some form. XD Kind of like how Stella was fun for her leatha rocker chick awesomeness. Anyway, here's her etsy. I'm just waiting for a cosplayer to show up on a season now. THAT would be fun.

- Season 3 of Mad Men! SOON.

- Warehouse 13 is on Hulu, so I managed to watch the couple eps out. Cute! I think it's a keeper.

- I have new shoes! These lovely old man meets hot chick oxfords and some pink Chucks. Yeah, pink. They had purple ones with a little rainbow on them, like the gayest most FANTASTIC shoes ever, but they didn't come in my size. While I'm tiny everywhere else, my feet are a standard size 8. XD I've never had pink shoes, I figured they'd be fun.

- I finally finished Tender Is The Night. Oh F. Scott Fitzgerald, how do you twist my heart so? It was good. Jazz Age writers really speak to me.

- I get grant money for my next semester of school! Yay Independent status! This is what happens when you take forever to get through school!

- I am Kain. The badass vampire, not the angstmuffin dragoon.

Bad:

- Have about 600 words of my FFEX story written, which is 400 less than the minimum. Considering that I originally planned to do three connected minimum 1000 word vignettes, I may just scale back to two (or...one). Character POV I've never written before, and since it's not for my own entertainment, I'm paying more attention to canon details. I've got a couple days yet. Tomorrow night I'm setting aside time to just sit and punch it out. Actually working at work means I haven't had much time for that. XD

- Mathematical research. Oh my god, no wonder the cirriculum hasn't changed much.

- Kings has ended. :< That show would have been great over a couple seasons. Jerky NBC jerks.

- Ha ha, oh god summer's almost over.

Whatever:

- I seriously need to get some stuff out of my wardrobe. I'm fixing up my problem of not wearing certian things with my level up in sewing, but those take time, and some things can't be made awesome. I'm taking stuff from this personal style series thingie into consideration as I narrow down my clothes horse-ness, and maybe limiting my color scheme a tad.

- Playing with ideas of things to make for etsy. XD Could be tragic.

Ok, now that I am DEFINITELY off all pain meds and BSG is over and I have a tendency of starting projects at random times, I figured I'd let ya'll know I started a comm.

we_r_nerdpunk

This is basically the result of several random conversations I have with people, and my sort of coming out as a bit of a dork when it comes to clothes and girly stuff. While I still adore lots of the places I watch as far as straight up aesthetics or fashion or decorating, I've found that there's a real lack of super nerdy places (other than cosplay related) having anything to do with aesthetics. So yeah. Also I was dared.

Please post stuff! Cool shit you see! Questions you have! WHATEVER. Just make it somehow related to fun things like clothes and decorating and dorkery. Think of it like Vogue with robots. Or something.

>.>

I clearly need to do one of these once in a while. XD Skip everything else if you need to, but check it out, Jay McCarroll is making fabrics!. I'm not into the whole 60s and 70s thing overmuch, but even I think some of those are darling and perfect for the etsy crowd and I would make something for my mom out of said fabric.

( closet reorganization )

( paper thin tees and wtf is up with that? )

( style categorization, thoughts )

If it's not obvious to everyone, something that has always brought me joy is being able to make things. Sure, they're not always good or beautiful, but being able to say, "I made that" is like, basically what brings me joy in life. This extends to hacks and various other things that I consider on the creative side. And as much as I bitch about math, I'm in a very "making things" career field. And I do love science. It's hard sometimes, but the second joy of my life is to be able to point at something and be like, "I understand why that works".

That said, it should be obvious I'm somewhat addicted to "making things" type of reality television. Sure, there's drama and hell, sometimes I like that, but the bottom line to the things that I watch on TV is there's a level of... creativity I like. I really don't like watching people be idiots. I don't really like Desperate Housewives, or House, or Dr. Who. House can be clever sometimes, but... hrm. I want to like it. But I have way more fun watching people trying to put clothes together (or a room, goddamn you Top Design). I mean, there are other shows I like (Battlestar Galactica and Mad Men are at the top right now) but those are almost like movies to me, and fall heavily into my obsession with tragedy thing.

Anyway, that whole babble was to preface the fact I watched the Project Runway finale. AND I WAS FUCKING EXCITED.

( leanimal! )

I've also been watching Metalocalypse. Omg, hilarious. It reminds me of Minion J's stories about his Dragonforce fixation. I've watched all the episodes I've been able to find online. It's kind of nice they're ADD short, because I don't have to devote much time. Toki's my favorite. I kind of want to hug him. So I found this nifty cover of the Metalocalypse theme song. I have an obsession with classical instrument covers of metal songs. >.>

OH, and tijuana_pirate! I HAVE HACKED MY SEASON 1 PROJECT RUNWAY DVD. NOW ALL I NEED TO DO IS BUY SOME BLANK DVDs!

And check out phoenixmonthly if you haven't yet, kids.

~Cendri

Have about three hours of work left (because I decided to just go home instead of staying super late on Friday, due to leaving early for headache and hanging out with my mom other days) for today. Might take care of the annoying sort of tendious things that take a while so that starting Monday I am all set for things. Considering I only have a three day week and all. XD

Because of Otakon and all that, I felt very dramatic yesterday, so I wore my Edea hat to work. And played around with my tripod (it's a mini-pod) since I found it and the timer function on the crap camera my parents have. Darn Wardrobe Remix you're such an addictive little community. Then again, I used to be very camera-shy (I preferred to take pictures than be IN them), so maybe this has been a good thing.

And here's Step 1 of my process of making those hairsticks. Because it's fun to take pictures. Lord, I miss having my own camera. But there's talk of me getting a Canon Rebel for a graduation gift, so that's one more incentive to graduate. I'll get my own little snapshot camera for those times when I'm not being an Artiste.

Back to sewing and packing and working now.

~Cendri

P.S. Working outside is awesome. Thank you battery life on computer and parents for building this deck.

I have been following with some amusement the epic struggle at work between the minions and our Political Game guy. The minions, while sometimes annoying, do get their shit done, and done well and cause me the least amount of problems. I went and had lunch today, where the gloves were off and they got to air their frustrations. We also shared humorous stories of weirdos we've known.

Granted, when I talk about "weirdos" it's with a certain sort of self-deprecation. Teasing is a family past time, and to keep it from abuse, you have to offer a little of your own strangeness. Minions apparently want Otakon pictures really badly for this reason.

Anyway, there was a comment about Political Game guy being a middle-aged prima donna (he is). So I took a sip of my tea and suggested they buy him a tiara and leave it on his desk. This idea seemed to please them greatly and there was much plotting. I may have inadvertently started something, due to being somewhat dry humored.

I'd like to think I have a healthy level of fantasy vs. reality, and like having reminders that I am in fact a dork (but I like being one). Hanging with the minions provides good perspective. I just wanted to say, I appreciate all my friends, and their quirks and everything. I enjoy knowing quirky and varied people. The world can look so grey otherwise. A lack of self-consciousness is something I'm getting back and I enjoy finding people that I don't have to worry about looking silly with.

In other news, hairstick materials all found, I laid out the materials and took a picture (which I haven't uploaded) in order to do some in progress shots. Because those are fun. I am excited about some of the materials I've found for them. ^^

And random fashionista picture. I have worn that purple sweater several times lately. But it's so comfortable. Plus, I love the couch at work. I may go sit on it later today.

So far so good today.

~Cendri

Raining, and my connection at work pissed me off enough that I fled to a cafe. Happens to be one of my favorite places to eat, so I feel much better even if walking here was a little soggy. Hostess recognized me, which is something I like about regular places; familiarity and a homeliness.

Sat everyone down and made them talk to me about wtf was up, what they needed, what the hell wasn't clear and all that, I am glad I'm going to the library after this, I need focus without distraction and the feeling of being WATCHED. I hate this thing going around that I wasn't working, now I feel jumpy to take breaks, which just snowballs into worse focus--so I said screw that and hence I'm out of the office all day. But not anywhere as distracting as HOME, which is horribly distracting, considering all my projects. I guess I'm perturbed this stuff didn't come up a month ago, when I had far more time and far less things to handle. But since everyone was busy with grants and they weren't exactly looking at anything to give me feedback...

But food is good, and I am feeling good. They're really on the ball today, not five minutes after ordering my food was out. Then again, I came in around 1pm, which is when lunch is usually ENDING for people.

Will do my Monthly Music Post sometime today, likely when I'm taking a break from spelling out every. little. detail. of crap. I'm not that innovative and intelligent, geez. I even avoided jargon! Why are we still not communicating?

Other good things, to keep my mood up:

- Went out with my mom last night, as she hasn't done that with me for a while. Purchased lots of ribbon and other jewelry-related things and finally used my Kohl's gift card. Bought those extremely skinny jeans (what the hell, you're only young once and I have great legs. at least they're pants, not tights) and went a little over budget over another Vera Wang article of clothing (I know it's a white button-up shirt, which may sound silly, but it is the most comfortable and flattering white button-up I've ever tried on, and it was marked down quite a bit from what you see on the website and is made of the softest cotton I've ever touched). My mom also found me some luggage (I was going to borrow their luggage set, but we found a really nice set that was marked down to a ridiculous amount... plus it's red) which is rather well-timed, considering Otakon.

- Sub-point: I need to get more hips or something so I can wear women's sized pants. Other than Levi's, Junior's pants are full of ill-fitting skankery. Seriously, I do not like my pants so low that I'd have to shave to wear them. I also do not have a ghetto booty. Or a desire to have lacing, bling, or other things on my pants. Junior's section, you FAIL. I know, I'm complaining about being too small... but there are frustrations in things being too huge in areas that are not easy to fix with a sewing machine

- I have started first_seventhe's hairsticks. I'm using wooden knitting needles as the base (they were cheap and nifty) and debating painting them. I think they will be cute.

- I am extremely fond of this cafe... I look forward to graduating and living in this general vicinity so I can walk here for breakfast or lunch on random days when I need a pick-me-up. It's probably a good thing that I have a high metabolism, good food is such a mood lifter for me.

- Ha, one of the waiters wanted to know where I got my hat (this fedora came from Delia*s, actually... it's my first fedora. got it in high school). I think I may have inadvertently caused hilarity, especially if he checks out the website. XD

- Um... yeah, mostly just waiting until next weekend. Gah. NEED VACATION.

~Cendri

P.S. Ever have one of those experiences of bumping into someone and then you don't know their name OR where you know them from and so you ask for the name, it doesn't jog anything and it bothers you for a while until it suddenly dawns on you?

Yeah, just had one of those. I ran into someone from the card factory (DARK TIMES THOSE WERE). Man, that was awkward. I remember he got fired over drugs, now that I think about it and liked to get into philosophical arguments with me and hit on the one trashy girl that sat at our folding table (I was sorta friends with the OTHER chick at that table, because she wasn't lazy or stupid and had a lot of interesting things to say which no one bothered because she had a thick accent... one of these days I'm going to write this all down, I swear).

Though, it did produce this little gem of a conversation:

"Hey, so how did your wedding go?"

"Wedding was fine, marriage was a shambles, I'm dating a hot woman now."

"..."

"Mind if I get back to work? I'm actually on the clock and have a lot of stuff to get done today."

"What do you do?"

"Educational video game design."

"Definitely a step up from the factory."

"I've leveled up in life, even if I'm a few random encounters short of having some decent levels Engineering Class."

"Alright, I forgot that you didn't speak plain English, nerd. Nice to see you."

Man, craaaaazy Friday. Some highlights!

+ The issue with The Intern has been resolved and now he sort of jumps a little when I look over in his direction. I AM NOT SCARY. Seriously, I'm 5'2", tiny, and overall NOT SCARY. Just because I appealed to a higher power and they smacked down on you for playing at work and my evaluation determines how well you did on this internship does not suddenly turn me into The Devil. Alright, maybe that IS a little scary.

+ I have been given use of the Proposal Minion. This means I have someone that will fix up my things and get them publish-worthy. Whoo hoo! I have been given some more control over our curriculum and I have some teachers to interview soon. I will not let the power get to me.

+ Exciting things with phoenixmonthly! Letters are going out and awesomeness is happening. And Afterdark still has very few submissions, but that kind of makes me feel good about humanity? Is that wrong?

+ Prolly going to take Caricature off the wordpress so I can fix it up and make sure I have enough stamina to try and submit it to indianconundrum. I mean, what the hell. I can be a real hobby writer then.

+ Dorky fashionista picture.

+ I will do some massive costume work this weekend, as Otakon is coming up. SOON. OMG. Oh, the WIPs.

+ FSTs. Of crazy. Suddenly realized it's nearing the end of the month and I need to put together my Brick FST.

I kind of secretly love having all this stuff to do? I don't idle well. It usually involves waaaaay too much time browsing etsy and flickr.

~Cendri

Is a good day. Got all but the very top portion of the seam done on the bodice of my dress. And I tried it on and there were no ripping sounds! Even if I can't button it up all the way. But since this is an Edea outfit and she believes in crazy necklines, I am working with that. There will be black lace involved.

For first_seventhe's fashionista pic today, I even ended up a little steampunk in my normal wear.

That's basically what I did today besides possibly getting into a monthly fic mag. More on that later.

~Cendri

Funny how I suck horribly at math when I'm being tested or have to use it, but told to explain the math behind some randomly generated problem and I can do it with no issues. Maybe it's a confidence thing. Hrm.

Minions and I had to go fast food today for my budget, and there was much joking about lessons learned from the McD's cups. And pointing out by Minion J (who is proficient in several languages) that they got the German part wrong. Whoops. Much fun BS going around.

Oh, and yesterday I got to corrupt children. I'd nearly forgotten about it, until about an hour before I had to go. I proved once again I have all the directional capacity of a drunken pidgeon and nearly got Minion M and I lost trying to get to the school. Then there was fun sitting on the floor time, letting the quiet kid with the Iron Maiden T-shirt talk, practically getting mobbed by excited eight year olds when I mentioned Boba Fett, and deflecting some pseudo-sexist comments about the One Girl In The Class. I had a strangely easy time keeping them interested in the conversation, which was kind of surprising considering I had one of the biggest disciplinary cases in the class in my group (a fact I was told after, by the haggard looking teacher's assistant). Overall, I remembered why I like kids, and why I like being around them for times when I'm not taking care of them. Kids don't let you down like adults do, everything's still amazing to them, even if a couple of the preteens wanted to pretend they were Too Cool for some things. I think I may have to volunteer at a Wonderlab someday. I need Fun School again, enough of this Boring College Stuff. XD

first_seventhe's fashionista pic for the day: I don't always dress like a boy.

I had more random babbles, mostly concerning hunting down a Palm OS version of Tetris for my mom that was free, but that was just silly.

Oh and I'm reading Corey Doctorow's book Little Brother which reminded me why I love cyberpunk and dislike teenaged protagonists until they get knocked around a bit (as sad as that sounds). So far the beginning teenspeak was a little offputting (and a little fanboy hackerish, if you ask me) but once things got Serious it stopped dominating and only popped up during Technical Lessons, which are thankfully brief. I most appreciate that there is literally no subtlety to the book, which works here. It's like a young Tyler Durden smacking you upside and saying THIS IS YOUR LIFE. Ever so glad that Doctorow does ebooks and people like to convert things to Plucker format so I can put it on my Palm Pilot and basically have the Most Portable Book Evar.

Though, I probably shouldn't be reading that and The Difference Engine at the same time, as that has made me paranoid. I mean, I was probably one of the few kids that when we were asked to bring floppies in for assignments it was like, encrypted beyond belief. Oh, the aftereffects of being the daughter of an electrical test engineer. If I had a penny for every time Dad came home complaining that they shut off the port to his workstation because he was playing around with open source code...

Now I believe we will go to the greenhouse. Yesterday was too wet.

~Cendri

Camera is on its last legs, but I'm still having fun with it. Temptation to buy myself a cheap digital camera is strong, as I intend on holding out for an SLR.

Pictures of my workspace and my mom's art studio space mixed in with each other. Just click the pictures to the right, as they're newer. The ones to the left are older. Or just click around. XD

More fashionista pics for first_seventhe:

+ With trenchcoat.
+ Without trenchcoat.

Basically, I looked like a gangster yesterday. It was awesome. Today I look like a girl. Pictures tomorrow. XD

As much as I love wardrobe_remix I am starting to get annoyed by the lack of... variety. True, some things are "in" right now, and some of them pretty horrid, but is it too much to ask to see some people that don't dress like hippies and art students? Maybe I'm just an old man at heart, but a lot of what I see just looks... messy. XD Or overly girly (I have my girly days, but they are far tamer). Maybe it's just me and my dislike of the BILLOWING SHIRTS. OF DOOM. I miss kilt guy. :< He was dapper.

Started reading The Difference Engine and am thus far intrigued. Hopefully since I didn't go eat with the minions I'll have time to read it. I have to wait on this phone conference to end before I can use the microwave for my lunch... *grumbles* but that shouldn't go on TOO much longer.

Going to the greenhouse today, should be fun. Greenhouses are lovely, and this means we're finally getting to the garden. Yay!

~Cendri

P.S. In picture related things, this isn't a half bad list of web-based editing softwares. I still like Photochop, but that's just because I'm familiar with it now. And play a lot with the various things.

P.P.S. One step closer to a Star Trek computer of my very own.