amazingadrian

I've been very busy lately.

( What's up )

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Now playing: Savage Garden - Carry on Dancing
via FoxyTunes

So, it has finally come to this. It seems that all that fear mongering by the Republicans during the election has lead to a man killing three police officers over fears of an Obama gun ban. It's just discusting to think that good people are dead now because some brainwashed loony beleived whatever the Bush lackies where saying at the time of the election.


Also, check this out: A rare pink dolphin was discovered recently off the coast of Louisianna.

Also, it seems as though jobless benefits are running out, even though the recession is not quite yet reversing. This could make a bad situation much worse, depending on how the recovery is handled.

Tomorrow, I am leaving for Chicago. I am going up there for the 12th Annual Gathering Of The Gargoyles. I don't expect to get back until the 1st, which, of course, means that I'm not likely to be available until then. I'll post a report about my adventures when I get back, just like I did last time. I also got a better disposable camera too, so hopefully the pictures will be better. It's a Kodak waterproof; was on discount. *shrugs*

Right now I'm printing the commemorative cd's for everyone from the Guardians who will be going this year. It'll be just like it was last time, only this time MaSuTa is the contributing Guardian. He's put together a rather eclectic selection of songs this time. It's not all bad. I'm listening to the first print now to make sure it works, and then I'll copy the other's copies. We're doing two disks this year, since it's no secret that MaSuTa has a...different...taste in music. The other disk is being handled by thdrgngrl   . While what he's given me isn't stuff I would normally go for, it really isn't all that bad.

So, yeah. Hopefully everything will work out on this trip. It should be a lot of fun. A welcome chance to get out of the house and see some of the states.

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Now playing: Days of the New - Take Me Back Then
via FoxyTunes

Here's a list of the best superhero and supervillain casting the movies have ever seen. I'd have to agree with this list.

Here's a recent review of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots. I'm surprised at some of the shortcomings that the reviewer says the game has. It sounds almost like it's trying to hard to be a magnum opus for Snake, since this is the "last game" of the series.

Also, I'm not sure how many people read my archives, but today saw the resolution of a request made in this post by an individual known as Blanka. The two of us were able to work out what the missing cartoon was and he found it eventually on youtube. I thought I'd share it here again since it is a rather amusing cartoon.

"Gramps"

Well, I'm back home for the weekend, and went to see Indianna Jones and the Legend of the Crystal Skull with the family.  I've seen the other Indy films on home video curtesy of my parents, but this was my first experience with the series in the theater.  I must say, the film was a lot of fun, and I was delighted to see that Harrison Ford still has it in him to play such a demanding role.  I was surprised at how much of an Indy film it was. It's almost as if the series didn't skip a beat since Temple of Doom, since it has the same quirky humor, the same seat-of-the-pants feeling, the same cinematic styling, and many of the same in-jokes.

Unfortunately, I can't give a better synopsis of the film than that without giving away the plot, so let me just say that If you go to this movie expecting to see an Indy film, you won't be dissapointed. There were only perhaps one or two parts where incidental things happened that didn't seem to fit, though that may have been a result of poor editing on one of them. Good fun!

Next movie I'll probably see is the new Batman and maybe the new Hellboy. Though I may end up having to choose between the two. I'm going to give up Caspian until the DVD release. :(

My second graduation is next Wednesday.  Since I am a postsecondary student at the SCSDB, I am being invited to attend the ceremony there. Our first practice was last Thursday, and we have another on Tuesday.  Even though the class is very small (less than 50), it seems as though we're going to be in for a looong ceremony. We have three student speakers, and just about all of the head faculty have speeches, some of them coming up to speak three times (Yes, three speeches from the same person). The ceremony is going to be for High School and College level students, as well as the postsecondaries like me.  I don't know why they have so many speeches when the graduating class is so small, nor do I understand why the walking path is so convoluted. Most of the staff here are long-winded, so we could be looking at a graduation that takes 3+ hours. They told the students not to fall asleep, as if they've had problems with that before. Why don't you try streamlining the graduation a little bit then, huh?

This week I plan to finalize my preparations for my trip to the Gathering of the Gargoyles in Chicago. I really hope it doesnt set me back as much as I think it will, but once I know (initial) transportation costs, I'll have a good idea of what my cheapest total will be. Room is automatically $300, splitting with tarelgeth  this year. Last year, travel costs were around that much, but this year the con is farther away, so expenses could be $400-$500.  If my guestimate is correct, the absolute cheapest spenditure at this con will put me $1k in the hole, which is semi-tolerable if I cut unneccessary spending during the summer (student loan gives me about $2k left over after tuition and books, which shouldn't have been all that much this semester). Unless if I get a really comfortable job and the next Gathering is a lot closer, this will probably be the last one I attend for a while. 

I really have been feeling kind of under the weather lately. After waking up this morning with a sore throat, I'm beginning to beleive that I may have finally caught what everyone else was catching. I beleive I know who I got it from too; we had that one lady friend of my roommate's show up here suddenly the other night, and she slept on the couch. She was sick, though I really have no idea why she came here to stay...it's weird, since it's not like she's my roommate's girlfriend or anything...Anyhow, she only stayed for one day, but pretty much made herself at home here, so I'm not surprised that I'd be coming down with something.

My immune system is pretty good though, so hopefully I'll just have a few aches and then get over it. I'm still quite functional, and I would prefer to keep it that way. Also, sorry ryanohki , but it doesn't look like I'll be going to the Cooper River Bridge Run this year. My mom and I are concerned about money, especially me, since I want to attempt going to the Gathering of the Gargoyles in Chicago. I need to try and save my money. It is looking to be way more expensive for me than last year's event.

Here's a meme I lifted from skunktaur.

 

Finally got my own con pics developed. The camera that I used was a Fujifilm disposeable. I'm never using a disposable camera or Fujifilm again; the quality of these are apalling.

These are the few that I took that are actually good enough to share. All have been touched up a little but otherwise not edited.

 
As for my life, school is out now, so I'm relaxing.  We'll be going back on the 20th, and I'll have several things to take care of to make sure I stay afloat. Going to take this time to hit all the workable places and try to get a job flexible enough for me to go to while schooling.

I'd rant about how Lindon Labs are going to kill Second Life's economy with their decision to ban "gambling" services there, but my heart isn't in it right now.  Suffice it to say that I don't think they have any idea how much SL is dependant upon those things. And it's not just slot machines getting the shaft either; sploders and lucky chairs are going out too from what I've heard. Every game that pays you something. It's the SL equivalent of dropping a nuclear bomb on wall street.  What makes matters worse is that these places have the highest traffic in world, and there are a ton of buisnesses set up around them that actually have nothing to do with gambling. So yeah, this will hurt everyone. Virtual government is just as much a putz as the real one.

(as an aside note, I'm putting these up because they are just too damn cool. http://www.oddee.com/item_87762.aspx and http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/3112670.stm .  I want to try and meet some of them.)

conpics crossposted to gargoyle_clan  .

I'm going.  To the Gathering of the Gargoyles on June 21.  I got my Greyhound tickets, so I'm committed to it.  I always have misgivings when I do major things like this, but I should be able to cover it.  Advance tickets were only $29; normal price would have been $59 or so, so I saved some money there.  The thing of it is, I'm not sure if I'll be eligible to get  advance tickets for my return trip, so I'm looking at $80 just to travel. This is on top of the $65 I'll be paying for the initial cab ride, which amounts to over $100 even before I set foot in the con.  I figured the entire trip total would be a little over that much, but I underestimated the cost of the return Greyhound tickets.  So..I can discount $100 right out for travel-to get there and back.  Which means I should have a little under $150 to spend on food, swag, and necessities.

Ways I will save money at the con (aka, what actually makes this trip possible in light of my recent financial troubles):
1)I intend to eat at the cheapest places possible, with the exception of maybe one (nonexcessive) night out with my friends.  Unlike a lot of people, cheap resteraunt fare doesn't bother me.  If the bus doesn't stop anywhere like that, I'll stick to appetizers and snacks, or opt to skip the meal.  If I can eliminate lunch from the menu, I'll save just that much more money.
2)

tarelgeth has previously reserved the room I will be using, and has generously offered it for me to stay in, so I won't have any lodging costs!  Depending on how much money I have remaining, I can offer him some reimbursement from what I can afford, and that should be it.
3)I plan to ride back to the Greyhound station with mremaknu and thdrgngrl in order to split the final taxi cost three ways, making it less expensive for all of us.
4)Limit myself steeply in what I actually buy at the con.  This shouldn't be a problem, as I'm only a casual Gargoyles fan, and am mostly going only to meet and hang out with my fellow Guardians. This is sort of like our unofficial con. So just a souvineir t-shirt is fine, though depending on the artists there and the prices, I might commission some people.

Orinarily, I probably wouldn't do this; but I figure you only live once, and wether I go or not I'm looking at needing student loan to keep myself afloat, so it won't matter in the long run, and if I keep my spending to a minimum, it shouldn't matter in the short run either.  Plus, the SCSDB seems to be finally getting off it's ass about getting me year-round work, so hopefully I'll have something lined up for me by the time I get back. And hopefully, it won't be too late, though I might still need a student loan anyways. 

So here's hoping everything works out! I think this will make a great first con, as it won't be as crazy or as hectic as one of the furry or anime cons that come through Atlanta.  Plus, If I can make it to this one all right, I'll prove to myself that I actually can do things like this, and that might be the push I need to get up off my ass about other things.  I intend to meet some of the people I've been rping with, experience a fun weekend with them socializing outside of a computer, have a real summer vacation for a change, maybe meet some new people, and just generally relax away from everything for a weekend.  I want to prove to myself and my parents that I can actually go off on my own and manage myself without assistance.  I want to see if my hunch is right about being able to con on the cheap.  I want to experience this and meet my friends while I still can.