even monkeys fall from trees // there are technicolor ghosts all around us

i am margaret. i am an underemployed aerospace engineer. i love to read, drink tea, and draw. my favorite author is jane austen. my favorite tea is jasmine pearl. i like pirates. this blog is dedicated to my daily happenings and mental ramblings. i tend to write like i think, in short sentences and with lots of unnecessary punctuation.
[email: tophile at gmail dot com]
[aim: tophile or ameldamene]

kurosaki ichigo is just a normal guy... who can see ghosts. he hails from the japanese manga Bleach, created by Kubo Tite the image was taken from a manga scan by intuition, edited in adobe photoshop 6.

what else is there?

i have an art page.
i have a webcomic.
i have a guestbook.
i have a store.

brad	eli	jenn
katy	sarah	spam

antagonist
cascadia
chat rouge
chugworth academy
diesel sweeties
girls with slingshots
orneryboy
pointedly foolish
questionable content
scary go round
the devil's panties
wapsi square

eyezmaze
iloveegg
jk rowling
muffin films
mumbleboy
popcap games
pucca club
strindberg and helium

flashkit
internet movie database
itchy robot
the republic of pemberley
the literature network
webmonkey
we're here
well styled

tuesday december 6, 2005

(3:47PM) i'm going to take advantage of the slow-but-functional state of my computer at the moment to update. not that i have a lot to say except to complain about my computer... OH! but it has been functional long enough that i was able to tone and post page 21 of Pointedly Foolish. the new layout of this page should, computer willing, be completed this week. yay! look forward to Hana Kimi pretty-boy goodness. maybe for my next layout i'll use on of my own drawings again.

monday december 5, 2005

(6:53PM) due to a distressing relapse in the "wait, what is an operating system again?" illness my computer has been suffering from since august, i will be unable to update pointedly foolish on time this week. until i can will my computer to function long enough to scan and tone page 21, i can't post any new pages. nor can i finish the new layout for this page. i've got an almost finished layout for this blog but until my computer cooperates, it won't be going online. so, cross your fingers that my computer will retain consciousness for a while...

saturday december 3, 2005

(4:35PM) something frozen is falling from the sky right now!!!

friday december 2, 2005

(2:55PM) after that nice long radio silence i have a thrilling tale to share about my week. on Weds night i was involved in my first car accident where i was the driver. i'd stopped behind a car trying to turn left across traffic and was quite thoroughly rear ended. she had to be going at least 40mph when she hit me, my glasses flew off and i was pushed into the back of the car in front of me. despite all of that my car and myself remain relatively unharmed. i suffered from the shakes for about 2 hours after the accident, but that was just from the shock. my car will need a new rear bumper because it's cracked, but as far as I can tell, that is all. on weds i take it in to get the damage appraised. i had no idea the Focus is such a tank! by the way, my car still upholds the title "Chick Magnet" because it was a woman driving. you should have seen her car. she has a bumper shaped impression in her hood. her front bumper was lower than my rear. i'm amazed her car could still start, actually. the car in front of me wasn't even scratched and though there's some marks on my front bumper i'm not worried about it, i don't think i hit him very hard.
on thursday my mom and i made homemade marshmallows. we were inspired by the absolutely best hot chocolate i've ever had which was served with made from scratch marshmallows at a cafe in NYC. they are very good. ABSOLUTELY better than store bought jet-puffed marshmallows. mmmm. easy too, you just need an electric mixer.
i have nothing else to share at the moment.

saturday november 26th, 2005

(8:16PM) if you read this blog, even rarely, i am sure you are aware that i am a somewhat fanatical lover of Jane Austen. today, i went with two other Austenites to see the new Pride and Prejudice movie adaptation. i have to admit that it was not entirely repulsive. it is evident that a great deal of though was put into the screenplay, to make an only 2 hour movie out of such a fine novel. i was mostly happy with it until about halfway through. if you haven't read the book or seen the movie you probably should stop reading now AND GO BUY THE BOOK, WHAT PLANET HAVE YOU BEEN ON FOR THE LAST CENTURY?! because i'm going to make some particular comments that give away the entire story. firstly i would like to say that Mr Wickham was overly simplified. by this, i mean that the audience is not presented with enough of his character and manners to feel indignant and shocked at his duplicity and impertinance. the film does not present any of his behavior that would give the audience reason to believe Mr Darcy's assertions of his bad character. i was unconvinced of Mr Wickham's insincerity which made his elopement with Lydia as reprehensible as it should be. speacking of Lydia, i would have liked to see more evidence of her shallowness, which would help in the illustration of the "lack of propriety so often shown by your three younger sisters, your mother, and even occasionally by your father." nextly, i would like to call your attention to the romantic aspects of the story. i found it difficult to supress my groans at the cheesiness of a hollywood ending. the relationship between Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett was sensationalized, though i will admit that i was, as always, overcome with joy when they finally come together at the end. another point of contention i have is with the language. i have read Pride and Prejudice enough times to be able to quote it faithfully and a great deal of the dialogue in the movie was not in Jane Austen's words. though it may be correct in the meaning of the words, the actual language was more modern. as was the character of Elizabeth Bennet. this adaptation has her being more willful and scathingly outspoken than the novel. i did find myself laughing out loud at a few of the statements that came out of her mouth. i suppose it makes some sense, since a great deal of the story was left out pertaining to character building, the easiest way to get across the idea that Lizzie is not your average girl is to have her speak outrageously. Mr Darcy was tolerable, i suppose. He was handsome and at times he pulled off the stiffness that is associated with his rank and pride. i'm not speaking of the actor necessarily, but the role he played in the film. i do think he started off a bit too romantially, though. meeting her eyes in the ballroom, glancing away embarrasedly... Miss Bingly was as spiteful and grubbing as usual, i have no objections to her. i absolutely rave about Mr Collins, by the way. perfect casting, perfect characterization. Mr Collins was at once the correct combination of creepy, snivelling, and pretentious as he should be. his dance with Lizzie at the Netherfield ball was superb, though i expected him to stomp on someone's foot when he said he was "light on his feet." gah, gives me shivvers of repulsion just thinking about him. excellent job on Mr Collins. i also liked this adaptation of Lady Catherine DeBourg, though i'm sure the casting of Judy Dench helped. to a normal person, i think this would be an excellent film. to someone as stupidly exacting as myself, it was not perfect, but definately in the top five of film adaptations of Jane Austen novels. so, despite my nit-picky criticisms, i can grudgingly say i wouldn't mind seeing it again.

sunday november 20th, 2005

(9:23PM) a whole week with no update? oops... i've seen Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire twice already. my two word review: HOLY COW!!! unlike Prisoner of Azkaban, i think they actually did a good job of cutting and modifying the book to fit in a 2 hour movie. when i walked out of PoA, i was dishappointed. when i walked out of GoF, i was gasping for air. OMG. i'm not going to give away anything, don't worry. i'm just saying that this movie has you wringing your hands and sitting on the edge of your seat from about ten minutes into it until the very end. i'm getting chills just thinking about parts of the movie. woo! on saturday night, i got to hang out with kelsea and ewok sarah! kelsea called on saturday, just to say hi and catch up and she and ewok sarah invited me out to dinner and we watched a movie. awesome! man, i missed those girls. ewok sarah is studying aerospace engineering at NCSU, just like i did, and she's in her senior year. meaning that she is in senior design, AND on top of that she's team leader. GO SARAH! and kelsea is applying for vet schools, i hope she gets in, my fingers are crossed. in other news... i'm going to NYC for Thanksgiving. my plane leaves tomorrow evening around 5:45pm and i am flying back on thursday night, so don't freak out if you can't find me. this week is also the celebration of the 20th page of Pointedly Foolish. though I will be out of town, i'm going to commandeer my sister's computer to put the page online for tuesday, so make sure you check it out! in celebration, make some tea, read a good book, take your local tea-lover and/or brainiac out to dinner, save the world, or send sarah and i virtual high-fives.

PS i'm almost done with a new layout for this blog.

sunday november 13, 2005

(1:44PM) i just wanted to share my current favorite song with you because i want you jump around your room dancing and shaking your booty (because that's what i'm doing)!

Franz Ferdinand - Do You Want To
From thir newest album You Could Have It So Much Better

friday november 11, 2005

(1:21PM) I love my sister. Though, I must say I was a little confused when I loaded her page and saw the Pointedly Foolish logo. Also from Katy's site, you guys have to watch this video. I nearly fell out of my chair, I was laughing so much. That was exactly the inspiration I needed to get cracking on the next page.

thursday november 10, 2005

(3:42PM) Sarah gave me a car. It is a 1:60 scale model red Cooper Mini collector piece from Target for $1. LOVE IT. She gave it to me at trivia last night and I spent the whole time pushing it back and forth across the table. We tied for second place, by the way, but lost the tie-breaker. Oh well. The topic was Musicals and the ones we missed were musicals i've never seen. AH! My crowning glory that round was the first question, "What actor played the title role in the original The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway?" Do you know? (highlight here for answer: Michael Crawford) Have I ever told you that The Phantom of the Opera is my favorite musical? I am now going to try to carry my drafting table downstairs without taking it apart... let's see how many holes I can make in the wall.

saturday november 5, 2005

(10:38AM) bird and moon. love.

friday november 4, 2005

(5:08PM) hella headache. muchly in need of a new layout, still love the colors but i'm tired of looking at the boy. i have to finish the next page of PF this weekend, maybe i'll work on a new layout too. PF first though, i think katy will eat me if i do another quasi update. braaiiins. my computer is slug-paced these days, i don't know what to do about it. it's been kinda touchy since the recent breakdown and i'm afeared it's going to go senile again. it's not like it's a grand-puter yet, it's only 5 years old. i guess that's middle aged for a computer. mid-life crisis? i think i'm just anthropomorphising (love those big words). i am desirous of tea.

tuesday november 1, 2005

(3:49PM) i'm sure i've said it before, but it takes me several tries to get the layout right for a page of pointedly foolish. this usually entails outlining the panels and drawing quickie sketches of what belongs where. every now and then i succeed so far as to draw a layout with sketches that make me laugh aloud. it is like telling myself a joke i know the punchline to and still laughing when it comes to the point. an odd simile, i suppose, but correct. that happened today. i am laying out what happens in the next few pages (lots of action and nonsense) and every time i look at this one drawing, i giggle. my point is that even if it does not suceed in amusing or even making sense to anyone else, I get a great kick out of pointedly foolish.

monday october 31, 2005

(9:02PM) a lot of you expressed an interest in seeing my costume, so here it is. i am a punk rock princess. i realize you can't actually see my tiara in any of those pictures, but i am wearing one. a fairly poor turnout of trick-or-treaters this year, but there was a very awesome wedge of cheese walking around the neighborhood. i wish i'd thought to take her picture. the costumes at the halloween party i went to were all very lame, sarah and i were definately the best dressed. i love my tie.

PS my eyelashes are blue ^_^

(6:00PM) HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

friday october 28, 2005

(4:04PM) today was payday, so i went to the mall after work. i intended to buy myself some new shirts for wearing at work. the dress code requires that i not show any skin in my midsection, EVER, which is something my current wardrobe cannot comply with. the reason for that is because they do not make shirts for girls that reach past my belt buckle. so i was at the mall looking for shirts. i could not find any long sleeve shirts that were long enough to cover my stomach if i so much as bent my elbow. GRR!! where do they keep the tall girl clothes!? am i going to have to start buying boy's shirts? i KNOW they make those longer than this. grr. so i left the mall having bought exactly zero shirts (but having drooled excessively on three very awesome coats in nordstrom). as i was walking down main street to my car, i realized that i was at least 6 inches taller than everyone else walking on the sidewalk, which means a lot at a mall like Southpoint. am i really a giant? i mean, i know 5'10" is a little taller than the average girl, but to be 6inches taller than everyone around me, men included? no wonder i can't find long enough shirts. GEEZ! so basically it was one of those frustrating "i hate clothes and short people" afternoons.

tuesday october 25, 2005

(5:00PM) It is officially scarf season, yesterday was the first day. And if it's already scarf season, then sweater season must not be far off and then I will indulge in "pretty boy in sweater" love. I don't know what it is about boys in sweaters but I love them. Even moreso, a boy in a sweater wearing emo glasses. WOO! BRING IT ON! Do you have any clothing related weaknesses for your gender of choice? Glasses and sweaters. Mmmm. ^_^

monday october 24, 2005

(3:23PM) wow, i'm almost as bad as sarah about updating. this weekend was a blast. sarah and eli came to help me celebrate my birthday with an old fashioned sleepover. we made brownies a'la mode and played pop culture trivial pursuit (eli and i beat sarah! gasp!). eli introduced us to the wonders of tenimyu with flippy hair, headfangs, toast, and flowy shirt dude. and then of course there was the insanity that was our conversations... most notable quote comes from eli, "do you fuck for sex?" because that's not what she meant to say. our banter caused my father to snort his drink twice (we tried for three, but he went to sleep too early). thank you guys for an awesome party!

wednesday october 19, 2005

(11:50PM) So, I couldn't go to sleep tonight without telling you what happened at trivia tonight. There's this other team that's usually there who we have a kind of friendly rivalry with and one of the guys makes balloon animals and hats and stuff. On Sarah's birthday he made her a truly unique hat with lots of colors and wiggly balloons. Trivia guy told him it was my birthday and requested a special hat for me. So I turned bright red when the balloon guy came over to my table and gave me a balloon penis hat. Yes, you read that correctly. It was quite anatomically correct, which I learned when I accidentally popped part of it and two tiny little balloon balls fall out... So... When people ask me what I got for my birthday I will be able to tell them I got a blow-up penis to wear on my head.

monday october 17, 2005

(5:02PM) what a weekend, that was fun. Jenn is now 21 and i got to be there for it! of course it still isn't fair i'm always the one on top in the back seat, but when the rest of the occupants are so agreeable... i can't say it's all bad (understand i mean there were six people in a 5 seatbelt car and i was the lightest, eli you have a dirty mind). anyways... i got to have sushi with sarah and susan yesterday and poor susan wouldn't give up on the sudoku puzzle no matter what. i drew some very funny looking "supposed to be old men actually looks like a girl in a mustache" pictures while trying to figure out the appearence of Mr Producer for the next PF page. if you're lucky, i'll scan them for your amusement. i also had fun drawing britnuh and justtan. the only unhappy thing i have to share is that i am working from 7am to 3pm M-F this week and i HATE waking up at 6am. that is all.

friday october 14, 2005

(3:10PM) So.... I said I'd do a longer update didn't I. Hmmm. What has been going on in my life? I worked a lot last week. I cut myself closing my swiss army knife. I bought a new pair of jeans. I drew page 16 of Pointedly Foolish. Speaking of which, PF is now going on a one-a-week update schedule. The time it takes me to make a page of PF is embarrasingly long, but I like to think that the quality of the drawings produced is fully worth the time spent. If you disagree, don't tell me because i'll cry. Oh, and my birthday is apparently next week (Oct. 20th). What do I want for my birthday? um... I don't know. Be creative, draw me a picture, write me a poem, compose me an opera. What else has been happening... I got Sarah hooked on online comics. I'm always proud of myself for making my friends as geeky as myself. Reading comics, drinking copious amounts of tea, being a pretentious indie music snob. Bwahahahaa! THE NERDS WILL TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!! Speaking of music, i've taken an interest recently in Sufjan Stevens and Apollo Sunshine. So you should give them a listen. And I really am going to redesign this site soon, I promise.

(12:09AM) I am still alive, folks, I promise. It was a long week, last week. The Michael's i'm working at opened today, the Grand Opening is on Sunday. I don't have to work Friday, but I do have to work on Saturday. Saturday also happens to be Jenn's 21st birthday! I just pulled out all the hair on the back of my hand, stupid bandaid! I'm sleepy now, so i'm going to bed. I'll make a more lenthly update tomorrow.

thursday october 6, 2005

(6:21PM) they had me doing overstock on the candle aisle today, i've been sneezing up a storm since i got home. stinky candles. i really like my new drafting table. it is perfect for drawing Pointedly Foolish. three guesses what i'm doing tonight and the first two don't count.

wednesday october 5, 2005

(11:27PM) the sky feels very close tonight. it is cloudy and somewhat drizzly and the clouds look close enough almost to touch. do you ever feel that way? it's ominous and foreboding. if this were Bronte a novel (such as the one i am currently reading), i would expect some terrible news or an unexpected visitor. by the way, i know nothing about beer and that was the topic for the second round of trivia tonight. i don't remember the beer questions, so don't ask. i got the guinness one right. i do however remember that i was geek-ishly proud of knowing the answer to "what is the name of the group that GI Joe is always fighting against?" the answer is COBRA. WOO! go me and my young interest in boyish cartoons (yes, i watched He-Man and Transformers too, i always thought Optimus Prime had the coolest name).

tuesday october 4, 2005

(6:52PM) when i got home from work last night i was so tired, so i'm sorry if my monday posts were a little weird. i really need to do laundry today. after dinner tonight i am going to break in my new drafting table by getting started on the next page of PF. my posts are very boring these days, i'm sorry.

monday october 3, 2005

(10:38PM) like the true internet stalker that i am, i want to congratulate the person in chapel hill who loaded my webpage 30 times today. i really wish those stat counters would give me names because then i could ReALLy stalk my stalkers. though, coming from chapel hill it's probably just Sarah P.

(10:21PM) i may end up teaching a beginners knitting class! ain't that neat? i worked late today and they asked me to come in tomorrow so i haven't broken in my new drafting table yet. well, new to me, it's brett's old one. it is sitting all ready for me to draw the next page of PF. maggie (the cat) is now back up in NYC with my sister where she belongs. i am now sad and lonely and there is not purring furball in my lap. i am going to get myself a cat.

friday september 30, 2005

(8:52AM) i am sorry about the radio silence for a week there, but it was unavoidable. on monday i got hired to work part-time at the neew michaels opening up near southpoint mall. on tuesday, my first day of work, i had fun opening boxes and stocking shelves (did you know they make two color posterboard? for example, purple on one side and blue on the other). but tuesday morning before work, i went to check my email and my computer, which myst have somehow restarted itself overnight, showed me a black screen with the ominous words "Operating Sytstem Not Found." so... i did get it to reboot that morning and check my email and i made sure to back up my most important files on my iPod because it really freaked me out. when i got home from work, my computer would not wake up from idle. the monitor wouldn't turn on and none of my pressing of buttons and vigorous shakings of the mouse could rouse it. so, hoping against hope i tried to restart it. "Operating Sytsem Not Found." please forgive me for having somewhat of a nervous breakdown around now, much as i complain about it, i do like my computer and want it to last at least a few more years. so tuesday night i tried desperately to start my computer from the windows CD so that i could either restore or repair my hard drive. no such luck, it even got to the point where my computer refused to admit that there were hard drives installed in it. so i gave up and turned the computer off, and even went so far as to unplug it from the wall (i don't understand it, but that sometimes works). on wednesday morning (since i didn't have to work) i tried again. i could not convince it to repair my hard drive BUT i did succeed in installing windows on my second hard drive. so, since then, i have been re-installing all my programs and copying over all my important files (it seems that the only part of Kau that was kaput was the boot sector, i can still access everything). it almost feels like a new computer because it looks different and isn't full of all kinds of unneccesary programs. so that is the story of my week. the end.

friday september 23, 2005

(9:42AM) grr. i'm so angry with myself. tonight is the last Jump, Little Children concert at the Cat's Cradle and it sold out before i could get a ticket. it actually happened yesterday but i was so pissed off i didn't write about it until today. we've opened the windows in the house, but since it got up to 85 in my room yesterday, i'm probably going to spend most of the day in the cave-like downstairs (cave-like because it is vast and cavernous and at least 5 degrees cooler). that being said, today will most likely end in another completed page of PF. when i know what i'm doing, i can do a page a day, but since i'm still not sure how to lay out the action, i may ink tomorrow instead. and since i won't be at my computer to amuse you this afternoon, you should go play this game.

monday september 19, 2005

(11:16PM) how is it possible i wore through the knee on this pair of jeans i have been wearing for less than a year when it took me three years to wear out the last pair? at least it is fashionable to wear holey jeans these days...

(12:20AM) i feel like blogging but i haven't anything to say. my newest goal in life is to own this pair of socks along with half of the inventory listed on that webpage. which of course got me thinking about knitting a pair of socks which is not likely to happen any time soon. by the way, i really want a cat (i'm gonna miss Maggie when it's time to take her back to katy).

saturday september 17, 2005

(12:05AM) Methods other than song by which one can be killed softly. You should check out their other lists too, my kinda humor. As you may know, I am catsitting for my sister. If I leave any of my dresser drawers open for any period of time, Maggie (that's the cat) will jump up into the drawer and then somehow climb behind the drawer. So if I come into my room and find that i've left the drawers pulled out, I make sure to check behind them before pushing them back in.

thursday september 15, 2005

(11:15PM) Jump, Little Children will never do a live show I don't enjoy. So it was incredibly depressing yesterday when Jenn and I went to see them at their last concert at the Lincoln Theater. It was a fabulous show, and that's what makes it so depressing. This is their last tour, their Farewell Tour. I will only get to see them one last time, at the Cats Cradle later this month, and then Jump will be no more. Sigh. Jump got me through college, cheers me up when i'm sad, their songs are so familiar to me that they comfort me when i'm lonely. Old friends, so to speak. What do you do when your favorite band disbands?

tuesday september 13, 2005

(3:30PM) Happy 1 Month Anniversary Katy and Brett! I just realized what the date was. I wanted to point you all to the Pointedly Foolish webcomic once again and to say that I added a couple of drawings to the gallery over there. I'm still working on an idea for a design for EMffT here, but that'll probably be a few days. I've got another person hooked on Hana Kimi, the truly awesome manga by Hisaya Nakajo. If you like shojo titles, you should definately check it out. It is pouring rain all of a sudden. Another good title is W Juliet by Emura. Are you not proud of me? Every sentence in this entry is capitalized whereas I usually don't touch the shift key.

sunday september 11, 2005

(3:37AM) an all-day LotR extended edition three movie marathon takes approximately 13 and a half hours in case you were wondering.

saturday september 10, 2005

(11:22AM) yesterday Jenn called me around noon and said, hey! i'm in durham! let's do something! so, after walking around the mall for a bit and our usual stop for books at barne and noble, we decided to go to Duke Gardens so she could take some pictues for an assignment, lines and textures. it was so awesome, i hadn't been to duke gardens since middle school. we saw a bamboo grove and tons of flowers and the strangest hummginbirdlike moth ever. then i had dinner in chapel hill with sarah and company and we went to see The Interpreter. it was not bad, i enjoyed the repeated allusion to "dead" and "gone." and i've been thinking about a new layout, i haven't gotten an amazingly stunning idea yet but i'm sure it will come in royal purple, blue, and OP.

wednesday september 7, 2005

(5:42PM) on monday morning, i opened the front door as usual to go out and get the newspaper. all those years where shadow (the cat) would leave half of a mouse, a dead squirrel, or a disembowelled baby rabbit on the floor in the garage still didn't weaken the effect of one very dead cardinal smack dab in the middle of the front porch. shadow is deceased so unless it was the gift of her ghost, this bird broke its own neck on the front door. WHAT IS IT WITH ME AND BIRDS!!!! i leapt back inside trying not to cry or vomit and abandoned my quest to retrieve the newspaper. it was not until tuesday morning that i had worked up the nerve to bury the poor thing. and only today did i find the courage to write about it. and another truly disgusting detail you would probably rather i not write, it left a nice bloody smear on the porch and it's going to take me at least another day to steel myself for a proper hosing off. i don't like dead things. but i do like lychee tea. try some today, it's good for dead bird nerves.

thursday september 1, 2005

(4:20PM) all my family are alive and well in south louisiana, a giant tree fell down in my grandfather's front yard, some wires were plucked off the side on my grandmother's house, and my aunt nancy has a hole in her roof but otherwise they escaped unscathed. it's quite remarkable, considering how devastating katrina has been everywhere else. yesterday i got to spend the afternoon hanging out with none other than jenn! we went to barnes and noble where i got some GRE study guides, then to a southern seasone where we both geeked out over some tea. we had dinner in a japanese restaraunt because i was craving soba and jenn was in the mood for some udon. we went to chapel hill then because we were going to see a band called Aloha in concert at a place called the Wetlands which we'd never been to before and we didn't know what time it started. so we found it, concert started at 10, so we had some coffee and wandered down franklin street. the concert was pretty good, i just wish they hadn't used such long bridges between songs, they were all kinda mellow and down tempo and the transitions were as well, so... but it was fun! i told you i'm taking care of my sister's cat for a while, right? well, she is stalking the newspaper right now. it's quite cute. this website really needs a new face. i'm tired of ichigo and his pen. it's been five months! holy cow. someone pick a color, any color.

monday august 29, 2005

(12:28AM) anyone tracking hurricane katrina? keep a lookout for houma and baton rouge, louisiana, i've got family there.

sunday august 28, 2005

(10:41AM) have i told you that my dad put the house on the market? yeah. it showed twice yesterday. i thought i was going to be done with realtors after mom's house... now dad's? geez. i have to clean everything before i leave the house in case someone comes to show it. i went to the movies, yesterday. Sky High. very cute, "it's not like i'm wonder woman or anything." hehe. what else? um... i hope you have all been to see the first page of Pointedly Foolish, i'm very excited that it's finally online. i need a new computer.

friday august 26, 2005

(12:45AM) Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Pointedly Foolish!

wednesday august 24, 2005

(11:47AM) i just stumbled across one of the coolest features google has ever made. it's a new beta service they're testing called Google SMS. you send text messages from your cell phone asking for directions, definitions, anything google can tell you basically, and google sends an sms right back with the answer. it is so awesome!

tuesday august 23, 2005

(9:01PM) jenn is back in raleigh and you know what that means... HALF PRICE SUSHI!!! tuesdays and thursdays at Sushi Blues on Glenwood Ave. WOO!

(4:59PM) happy tuesday! i need to learn how to draw flowers. can you teach me? or better yet, buy me some flowers and i can practice drawing them ^_-. hehe. i don't know why i'm in such a good mood, i've spent all day working on one page for MB&TT (hehe, shortened it so i don't have to type the whole title). this time i'm telling the truth when i say i'm almost done with the webpage, i just have to write the character descriptions and get sarah p to write a short bio and greeting. i guarantee that the main page and first comic will be online by friday or else (did i really just threaten myself? yes, i think i did).

sunday august 21, 2005

(12:26PM) i decided not to throw out the original miss brain and the tea comic website layout (by the way, i can't wait until it goes online and i can start calling it by its real name and not 'the miss brain and the tea comic' because that is definately too long to type every time i talk about the dang thing). i found what the problem was. IE apparently has problems if every single cell in a table is not independently defined with a width and height. god forbid i should only define the top cell in a column. i guess i must be stupid in my belief that columns stay constant in width. is that common knowledge or something? and if you think i haven't used enough sarcasm, just you wait, i've still got the character pages to make.

PS. i am never using <insert string of obscenities> stripes in a web layout again. (or until i forget how @!$#&*% annoying they are, whichever comes first)

friday august 19, 2005

(4:52PM) kyaaah! i am taking care of my sister's cat while she and brett are off honeymooning and she is the absolute sweetest cat ever. while i sit here at my computer fussing over webpage layouts and trying to get my drawing skills back, she's curled up in my lap purring like mad. awww!!!!!!!!! i love cats. guess what! fall is on the way and concert season is getting started! Of Montreal will be playing at the Cat's Cradle on tuesday, who wants to go? also, this is the last season Jump will be touring so get ready to do some serious rocking out, i will be journeying to every jump show i can find within 50 miles. who's with me!? they're at the Lincoln Theater on sept 14th. I AM SO PUMPED!! man i wish there was someone worthwhile performing tonight... i feel like going to a concert.

thursday august 18, 2005

(1:18PM) yeesh. it's been way too long since i've had paper and pencil in front of me. it's gonna take a few days before i feel confident with miss brain and the tea again. BUT i have almost completed the website. i need a test viewer. someone who can look at the website in internet explorer, netscape, safari, and firefox and tell me if there are layout issues. it appears to be fine in firefox but my computer has IE issues and the layout gets all screwy. any of you guys still use IE or netscape? maybe i'll just scrap this layout and do something else. it's kinda pissing me off and being the perfectionist that i am, there's no way i'll be putting it online if it doesn't work in all browsers. damn stripes. what was i thinking, i bet i could make a brand new layout and put it online today without all the issues. i'm rambling and talking myself into remaking it... that's it. i'm starting over. grah! just forget i wrote any of this.

monday august 15, 2005

(3:34PM) and now i'll give you the details of katy's wedding day from my perspective. saturday morning, woken up by a cheerful katy for breakfast around 8:30 (the B&B owner makes breakfast between 8 and 9). delicious waffles and homemade blueberry syrup. then, the six of us staying at the B&B (sarah, sarah p, erin, josh, katy, and i)arranged flowers for the reception etc. and that took a surprisingly short amount of time. we were done by 12:30 when my mom came to bring us lunch and help with the flowers. it started to rain during lunch. after lunch josh and sarah put together the 'deluxue metropolitan arch' while katy, sarah p, and I watched mom make boutiniers and bouquets. things went a little crazy around 3:00 but sarah, erin, and I had agreed the night before that we were going to sequester katy in the cabin around 3:30 to give her time to relax, take a bubble bath, practice her vows, and just basically not have to worry about anything until the ceremony. so at 3:30, mom was having some problems with reservations at the hotel all of the pellegrin family were staying at and she was freaking out and brett had called about the flowers and was going to be on his way soon and things were getting a little hectic so sarah, erin, and i pulled katy into the cabin. we showed her the lavender bubble bath and lotion erin had brought as well as the nice silky blue dressing gown she could strut around in before getting dressed and told her she had nothing to worry about, we'll be back at 5 to help her get ready. in order to keep anyone from bothering her during this relaxation time (how relaxing can it be when people keep knocking on your door?) we stationed a guard at the end of the walkway leading to the cabin. the sun came out around then. i took first shift and had to turn away the photographer and my mom. from my post, i got to watch the caterers set up the tables and bring out the flower arrangements we'd made earlier to place them at the tables and around the garden. i had josh call and remind dave (best man and brett's brother) to bring the boom box for the music for the ceremony and it's a good thing we did. "Oh shit! the boom box! -click-." brett and dave arrived around 4:15 and they and josh started lacing the moonflower vines up the 'deluxue mediterranean arch'. erin and sarah were using this time to shower and get dressed and around 4:15 erin relieved me of duty (i saw a centipede and a red caterpillar) and i went in to take my shower. when i came out it was nearly 5, when we told katy we'd be back, but i had enough time to get angela (brett's sister) to help put the paper stars and keys on the tables (the finishing touches). when we went in to help katy she was sitting around as calm as can be. i didn't get to hang around and socialize with them for very long because i had to find carrie (brett's sister) and tell her what songs to play when because she'd agreed to work the music during the ceremony. then i had to put my dress on. all this while still running interference for the cabin. i had stationed angela on guard duty and she wasn't letting anyone in unless sarah, erin, katy, or i said they could go. when the priestess arrived at 5, dave and i went to the porch on the cabin to sign the marriage license. then i got to sit in the cabin for a while with katy and dad while mom was pinning boutiniers on the people we'd made them for. at about 6:00 katy started getting nervous, pacing around the cabin and saying she was going to barf. sarah and erin were in and out with hugs and hair supplies and calming words. at 6:30 mom and dad knocked on the cabin door, it was time. i met dave at the gravel walkway and carrie started the processional. we walked down the aisle and took our places. then katy came up arm in arm with mom and dad. poor dad, he was trying so hard not to cry. katy was so beautiful and brett was smiling so wide when dad handed him katy's hand. the ceremony was beautiful, katy and brett had written their own vows and had almost everyone in the audience in tears and grins. i think i was standing near an ant pile because i could feel that i was getting bug bites on my ankles but i didn't want to start dancing around in front of everyone trying to brush off the bugs so i have a lot of bites on my feet. but it was so worth it. we recessed to cole porter's song true love. katy and brett were beaming. we had a recieving line at the entrance to the tent where the reception was (just up the hill on the edge of the garden). we hugged everyone and i was complimented on my dress several times. the food was fabulous, the music was swinging, and we had a grand ol' time. the music stopped at 10 because county ordinances didn't allow loud music after then, everyone but katy and brett's closest friends was gone by 11 and the rest of us shared the last of the open bottles of wine and had another round of toasts with another bottle of champagne. the party broke up around 1:30am when katy and brett retreated to the cabin where erin and sarah had scattered rose petals and lit candles. and then we all went to sleep. and that is what happened.

(11:02AM) it is official, Katy and Brett were married on August 13th, 2005 at around 6:30pm. the ceremony was beautiful and touching, the reception was a brilliant success.

wednesday august 10, 2005

(11:40PM) i can be such a girl sometimes... i was complimented on my hair tonight by the cute short waiter with the emo glasses. i am resolved to wear my hair down every trivia night from here on out. too bad i tower over him by at least 4 inches, if only the cute tall waiter... but he wasn't working tonight.

sunday august 7, 2005

(10:30AM) currently seeking suggestions on the best old timey jazz love songs of all time. either vocal or instrumental, i will accept both (extra thanks to those who have a copy of the song in question). send suggestions over AIM to tophile or in email to tophile at gmail dot com. deadline is wendesday.

saturday august 6, 2005

(1:45AM) i have recently rekindled a longtime romance with peanut butter and jelly. when i first started making my own lunch in elementary school, it was peanut butter and jelly. and then in middle school i phased out the jelly and just had peanut butter. in high school i felt i had outgrown peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and grasped at something a little more 'grown up'. i ate bagels. and maybe when i do grow up i'll eat bagels everyday for lunch again, but right now i'm partial to peanut butter and jelly.

thursday august 4, 2005

(12:41PM) i forgot to tell you about the car incident. the car would be the white mustang convertible my father rented while in florida for the wedding. the incident in particular is my dad's magnificent attempt at parking. you must understand first that the vehicle my dad usually drives is a rather rugged Jeep Wrangler. when you move on to the pictures, perhaps you will discern the irony. and now without further ado i give you the gallery: one two three four five six. and for those intersted, a short video on how a tow truck rescues a car that is resting half in and half out of a ditch.

tuesday august 2, 2005

(10:35AM) i have returned from my most recent adventure. russell's wedding was very nice and i got to play in the pool with all my little (and not so little) cousins. on the way home we took a detour through atlanta to see SPAM. he took us around georgia tech's campus and i got to see his office. yummy thai food too. we went to ikea too!!! that is the most awesomest place ever. i am finally home again and for longer than three days! i don't know what to do with myself! i haven't been keeping up on miss brain and the tea because i haven't been here long enough to finish even one page. now though, i'm home for a bit, after some warmup i will be back to work on it. and the webpage. i still have to fix that. so nice to have my own pillows and a pot of good tea in the morning.

wednesday july 27, 2005

(11:43PM) tomorrow i embark on another weekendlong excursion. i swear, i haven't been in NC for a weekend in a month. this time, i'm headed for florida for my cousin Russell's wedding. this makes cousin number three and the only wedding i have left this year is my sister's. speaking of which, it was my pleasant duty to taste wedding cakes today. so yummy. and i'm still looking for a date, anyone (male preferred) who knows how to swing dance and will be in NC on the 13th of august... let me know.

tuesday july 26, 2005

(12:24PM) thankfully my copy of harry potter and the half blood prince arrived on thursday so i had it to read on the train on friday. i will not regale you with the full story of my trip to NYC, but the highlights include a bird dive-bombing the window of the train where i was sitting, the man next to me playing guitar, and a blissfull uninterrupted first read of Half-Blood Prince. i had a ton of fun in the city with katy eating unusual food and going into shops with the most awesome stuff possible. we also danced the night away in the most awesome bar i've ever been to. for full details, ask me in person. i don't feel like typing it all out. i'm DYING to talk about my opinons on Half-Blood Prince but i can't do it online. i know for a fact how horrible it is to be told the ending of a book (even if it's a joke and they didn't even have it right but you don't find that out until you've read it - so sarah, don't worry, that team name at trivia night was incorrect) you desperately want to read and have been closing your eyes and ears constantly so you don't accidentaly read or hear any spoilers. i may write about my opinons and post them separately so you can skip them if you haven't read the book. yeah i think i will. but i have to finish reading it again first. i was so desperate to know what was going to happen that i flew through the book the first time and i'm reading it again, slower this time, so i can catch the details i may have missed before. um... yeah, i think i'm gonna go do that now.

wednesday july 20, 2005

(10:11AM) i am back in NC again. the luau was fun, maybe i'll post pictures later. the flight back to NC last night was very exciting. for at least an hour we flew around and between massive thunderclouds that kept flashing colors at us with lightning. i had never seen lightning from the air and it was terrifying and beautiful at the same time. i took some video out the window of the plane to prove that i saw it and the video doesn't do it justice but at least you can see there was lightning. oh, by the way... you guys can stop voting now. we have a comic title and logo. i think i fixed it so you can still see the results though. and please don't tell me anything about harry potter, my copy doesn't come in until tomorrow.

wednesday july 13, 2005

(11:46PM) WE WON WE WON WE WON WE WON WE WON WE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wow so that was incredibly exciting. every wednesday night i've been going out with sarah p and some of her office buddies to compete in trivia night at City Beverage (it's a bar/restaraunt/retro coffee lounge). there are three rounds (10 questions each) in the game and the team with the highest score at the end wins. the first round is general trivia, the second round is themed, and the third round is missing link (four questions, answer to the fifth is what do the above four answers have in common). well this week the themed round was harry potter. HARRY POTTER!!!!!!!!!!! OMG. we kicked so much ass. we got a perfect score in the first round, we got a perfect score in the second round (go me and my harry potter idiot savant knowledge), and would have had a perfect score in the last round except for one question. AND WE WON WE WON WE WON WE WON WE WON!!!!!!! I AM SO HYPER AND EXCITED AND GIDDY BECAUSE WE WON!!!! we've never won before. i am not going to be able to sleep before 4am, i know it.

tuesday july 12, 2005

(11:31AM) happy new year! i just felt like exclaiming. i was working on the brain and tea webpage last night and i finally got it looking right! or so i thought... i personally use mozilla firefox as my browser of choice and it displays the layout correctly but when i tried to view it in internet explorer... wow. IE can't do tables apparently. and it is bad because the background is striped and when the table doesn't line up correctly, you have disjoint lines. so it may be even longer before you can enjoy the comic. i have to make it work in IE because i know a majority of people favor it. and it's not like i don't have all the column widths specified. grrr. why is IE so stupid? in other less irritating news,

i have recently discovered the iTunes Podcast subscription service. loving it. all kinds of fun BBC and Public Radio podcasts to listen too, i just wish there was one for the Prarie Home Companion. i love that show.

i have to clean and vaccum my room today. my plants have bugs so i had to take them outside to spray them with natural pesticide (no nasty chemicals on my plants, organic all the way) so they won't die and turn yellow. and i have to vaccum just to make sure there aren't any little buggies hiding out in my carpet waiting for some nice little houseplant to chew on. i guess i should go do that now.

friday july 8, 2005

(11:20PM) for my amusement, i give you a practice sketch for the miss brain and the tea page i'm currently stuck on/working on. it has to be one of the funniest things i've ever drawn. the expressions on the faces are classic.

(10:56PM) OK. i need some music. i need some music right now. world peace would be nice too.

thursday july 7, 2005

(10:57AM) not good. this is very not good.

wednesday july 6, 2005

(11:29AM) obviously i lied when i said i'd have miss brain and the tea online within a week... i've been a little busy with my sister's wedding planning, job applications, and other more important things (something more important that comics? never!). i will be trying my hardest when i am not busy with any of the above things to finish putting together the rest of the comic website and getting it to you. i've been stuck on this next page anyways. much fun will be had when i start posting, because i'm gonna put up some of my 'practice' sketches which are hilarious. i've also been boning up on my Harry Potter knowledge in tense anticipation of the release of book 6, The Halfblood Prince. and also because i hope trivia guy will have a harry potter themed round soon. i've ordered book 6 from a british bookseller, so my copy won't arrive until around the 21st so PLEASE don't tell me ANYTHING about it until i've finished reading it. thank you. advance notice - i will be out of town july 15th through 18th. and again around july 30th. the first is for a bridal shower party thing being given by my mom's family for katy and brett and the second is for my cousin russel's wedding. 3 cousins and 1 sister are getting/have gotten married this summer. this must be a true summer of love.

tuesday july 5, 2005

(11:24AM) i love fireworks. here's some pictures i took at the state fairgrounds last night, if you like them, i can send you a full-sized file (they make awesome desktop wallpapers). one two three four five six seven

friday july 1, 2005

(5:57PM) someone told me something funny today. an aero buddy of mine is working for boeing in washington (the state) and he was trying to look at my website from work and it was RESTRICTED. i had no idea i was so notorious there were companies that had my wesite banned from work computers! maybe that's why boeing never wanted to hire me... anyways... i am feeling really cool right now, i have a website that has contents so controversial and questionable, it is RESTRICTED. MWAHAHAHAHA, MAWAHAHAHHAA, MWAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAA ^_^ hehe, i am infamous (or notorious, whichever you like better).

wednesday june 29, 2005

(2:33AM) i have a layout for miss brain and the tea. i haven't put it where you can get it though, so don't piss yourself trying to find it. i am tired of stupid HTML tables and javascript i don't know how to use. i am going to bed. i just wanted you to know i am within a week of putting the comic online.

tuesday june 28, 2005

(5:57PM) this is my teapot.

(5:26 PM) we had the most amazing thunderstorm yesterday afternoon. every time lightning struck, the smoke detectors in the house would beep. then the kitchen windows (where i was sitting) would rattle with the thunder. i didn't blog about it yesterday because i was afraid my computer would blow up if i used it (the smoke detectors were beeping, i mean come on!). heck, it was scary enough just sitting in the kitchen, i was all ready to make a mad dash to the closet under the stairs if i heard a tornado coming. it was quite exciting! this morning i went to cedar creek to see the teapot exhibition. it was awesome. this was one of my favorites. speaking of teapots, i bought a new one at a southern season the other day. i have to take a picture of it for you.

saturday june 25, 2005

(11:20AM) headache. the movie was awesome yesterday, Howl's Moving Castle is on my want-to-own list. got to hang out with two of my favorite people too, eli and sarah. it was madness but in a good way (er... well mostly good).

friday june 24, 2005

(12:00PM) hey everybody! i have webspace to start putting up miss brain and the tea! so it's time for you people (all 4 of you) to put in your last votes for a title! well okay, so you probably have several more days... i have to come up with a snazzy site design and make some kick-ass graphics, but there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel! the end is nigh (but in a good way)!! hehe. i'm going to see Howl's Moving Castle (that's the disney site) this afternoon. i'm so excited! i love miyazaki films and i've been looking forward to this one being released. Hayao Miyazaki is also director/animator of Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Kiki's Delivery Service, Castle in the Sky, Naussica, etc. this is margaret, geeking out.

tuesday june 21, 2005

(12:54) i [heart] snarky social commentary. hehehe. saw this in the newspaper this morning and i had to share.

monday june 20, 2005

(9:57AM) i don't know why the cjb banners are suddenly showing up on my site. they shouldn't be. i'm fairly certain i paid for this year's no-ads already. like in february? i'll have to look that up and let them know i don't appreciate it. grr. in other news, WE HAVE A TIE BREAKER!! YAY!!! though it is probably eli because i told her yesterday she could vote as often as she wanted (and so can YOU)... but we now have one title with more votes than the others! yay! poll is still going, so vote some more, people. speaking of eli, the things that come out of her mouth sometimes.... gah. where is my "happy place"?

eli was in raleigh yesterday to celebrate her birthday (which is actually next weekend) and we went to see the new Batman movie. some tips for future movie-goers: 1. forget you ever heard of batman, everything you knew about him, just forget it all.
2. do not, under any circumstances, rely on your common sense (cough cough, microwaves, cough cough).
3. eli would like to point out several of christian Bale's good points, arms, legs, chest, etc.

best line in the whole movie, "does it come in black?"

saturday june 18, 2005

(11:41PM) i'm kinda bored. i wish sarah p would check her email more often (poke poke). i have at least 4 people that come to my web-page and they all have a different favorite title. what to do... we have our favorite of course, but it would be good to know what you guys think too so if you still haven't voted, GET TO IT!!! i have been stuck on the comic for a while. there's a scene i have to draw that is difficult for me. i don't know how to do the staging for it, the layout. oh well. hey, maybe i can work on drawings for the miss brain and the tea webpage, when it goes online... it is unusual to draw them outside of the comic, though. i have one very cute colored pencil drawing of the two girls, but i won't show it to you. sore wa himitsu desu. you don't even know their secret identity names (MWaahahahahahah!!). ok so some of you might... but the rest of you are supposed to be in suspense, all excited about miss brain and the tea! i'm boring aren't i. there just isn't anything else going on for me besides getting turned down for every job i apply to which really depresses me when i think about it, so i try not to (enter more angsty self loathing here). which is why i go on about miss brain and the tea so much. why did i have to go and talk about that. now i'm depressed. i know how to cure that though, i'm gonna go read sarah's script for miss brain and the tea again ^_-.

thursday june 16, 2005

(6:30PM) my dad was supposed to get in tonight, but his flight was cancelled. i wonder what's going to happen now.

P.S. VOTE ->

(6:15PM) my keyboard is disgusting. it needs to be stripped, cleaned, and re-assembled. bleh.

tuesday june 14, 2005

(4:48PM) approval recieved, new title candidate is "Pointedly Foolish". me = brilliant. you = vote or die.

(3:56PM) only one vote so far. i guess i have even less people visiting my site than i thought. oh well. i just came up with another title idea, but i have to run it by my partner before i let you guys have a go at it.

saturday june 11, 2005

(4:55PM) Ladies and Gentlemen, we need your help. sarah p and i have come up with a couple of names for the comic we're working on about Miss Brain and The Tea. we want you to tell us which one(s) you like. you can vote as many times as you want. when a suitable amount of time has passed, i'll end the poll and probably go with the title that you guys tell me is best. the poll is in the column on the right, go vote now.

thursday june 9, 2005

(11:50PM) since i know that some of you enjoy looking at some of my dumb sketches, i am posting three for you infinite amusement. i was working on drawing a security guard for miss brain and the tea. these are my "variations on a theme". the first one is absolutely horrid and brings to mind that bald dude from dragonball z and as such was instantly scrapped. the second was my attempt at brainless-musclebound-goon and since i have absolutely no practice drawing musclebound anything... well, you can see for yourself how un-anatomical and girly that man looks. so, since my two previous (actually there were way more than two previous iterations, i just put up the "best" ones) attemts failed, i decided to draw a more sophisticated security man. he's more like a secret service agent, but he's the only one that worked so it is likely the final Mr Security Person will be wearing a suit.

P.S. as soon as i find a host, Miss Brain and The Tea will start going online at the rate of one or two pages a week. anyone know any good webcomic hosting services other than keenspace? they suck.

wednesday june 8, 2005

(3:32PM) how is it raining in the front yard and not in the back?

monday june 6, 2005

(6:54PM) hello everyone! i'm back! my cousin sarah's wedding was beautiful. i had my fill of cheek kissing and half-hugs at the reception. and i caught a STING RAY! holy cow it was awesome. we had to cut the line to let him go, he really wanted to keep the hook.

wednesday june 1, 2005

(10:54PM) well folks, that's it. i'm all packed (assuming i don't wake up at 3am because i remembered something i forgot to put in my bag). the good news is that it all fits in my little blue duffel bag so i don't have to haul the mondo-giganto backpack! HURRAH for Girl Scouts and learning to pack light! i never did understand the girls that needed a whole suitcase for a two night camping trip when all my stuff fit in my school backpack... anyways, this'll be the last time you hear from me until the 6th, when i come back home. until then, you must amuse yourself with your own petty problems and baseless worries. or you can just read a book. or something.

(8:26PM) it has been decided. mom tells me we're going fishing two days while i'm there which means extra clothes for fishiness. i will be taking the enormous backpack (that probably weighs more by itself than all the stuff i am going to put in it combined). yay.

(7:49PM) crisis averted. i found a nice skirt and shirt in my closet at mom's and a pair of shoes that won't kill me. of course, i may not be as fomally attired as i'm supposed to be, but i don't really care. laundry is drying as i type, and all i have left to do is assemble what it is i'm taking and find a bag big enough to fit it all in. i'm not keen on taking dad's enormous backpack for just 4 days, but i'm not sure it's all going to fit in my tiny little duffel, not if i have to bring dress shoes.

(3:30PM) so who wants to host Miss Brain and The Tea when it finally goes online? OMG!!! I'M LEAVING TO GO TO MY COUSIN'S WEDDING TOMORROW AND I HAVE NO DRESS!! we'll talk about this again later, i gotta go!

tuesday may 31, 2005

(9:36PM) "don't call us, we'll call you." bastards.

tuesday may 24, 2005

(4:57PM) maybe you can help me out with a little problem i've been having... william shatner released an album recently. yes. captain kirk. WKNC has been playing tracks from it quite frequently. i don't understand. is it like Dan Flavin's fluorescent bulb sculptures - something simple that i don't understand and therefore do not appreciate like i should? or is it really just crap?

monday may 23, 2005

6:27PM) they had cherries in the grocery store today. CHERRIES I TELL YOU!!!

(9:13AM) so i have a job interview this morning and i was looking for a pair of black socks to wear with my suit pants (because i don't know if they'd appreciate goldfish socks or little kitties) and i have come to the realization that the only pair of solid black socks i have is a pair of ribbed knee-highs. don't ask, it amused me.

(12:42AM) this meme is because brad told me to.

Total volume of music on my computer:
7.41 GB (that makes 4 days and 22 hours worth of no-repeat music)

The last CD I bought:
Funeral by The Arcade Fire

Song playing right now:
"Wheels" by Cake from the album Pressure Chief

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me: (AKA my favorites at the moment)
Float On - Modest Mouse
The Infanta - The Decemberists
Such Great Heights - The Postal Service
Evil - Interpol
Wraith Penned to the Mist and Other Games - Of Montreal

Five people to whom I’m passing the baton:
sarah
eli
spam
katy
tobie

sunday may 22, 2005

(2:00PM) my hands are sore. i must have bruised them with all the shoveling and stuff yesterday because i had a lot of trouble pouring the hot water from the kettle into my teapot this morning. i had to use both hands, one to hold the handle and the other to hold my hand closed over the handle. i am sure that if there had been anyone watching, they would have had a great kick out of it.

saturday may 21, 2005

(10:19PM) today i dug ditches. dad decided today was a good day to fix the drainage problem in the front yard, so, that's what we did. i'd say we dug about 40 feet worth of foot and a half deep trenches in North Carolina's famous RED CLAY. i'm going to have blisters. what is amazing is that we finished it all in one day. dug the ditches, laid the drainage pipe, and covered the holes back up. and now i am going to go and roll around on my bed before passing out while 'reading' my book.

friday may 20, 2005

(6:25PM) so... it's been a week then, eh? i've been drawing a lot, learning about comic artistry, and turning my fingers black. on weds i went to trivia night with sarah and co. and we tied 5 ways for 3rd... third doesn't win anything though. too bad. i finally gave my plants some fertilizer, they were a little yellowish around the edges. it's been stormy the last two days and i'm loving it! i'm serious, i like wind and rain and thunder.

monday may 16, 2005

(11:55PM) yay, more black ink on my hands. that's the problem with using waterproof permanent acrylic ink, it doesn't wash off very well. i can tell i'm getting better though. smoother lines, more even weight, and i've finally found paper that doesn't bleed the ink in ugly splotchy wiggles when i draw. HURRAH!

(5:52PM) i have black ink all over my fingers. most especially under my fingernails because i can't seem to scrape it out (no idea how i got it there but why not, it's everywhere else). and just so you know, drawing motion lines is not fun. tons of tiny little lines with a ruler and a nib pen. i think i'm going to paint my fingernails black so you can't see the ink under them. bleh.

friday may 13, 2005

(6:42PM) current favorite song - Wraith Penned to the Mist and Other Games by Of Montreal

(5:51PM) long time no update. not much to say on my end. i have been listening to wknc almost 24-7. i have draw two pages of Plausible Impossibility (that's the current working title). i am very nervous driving my car near birds. i washed my car on wednesday. i went to trivia night on weds with sarah and associates again. we lost. i made brownies. i wonder if they do curbside white/office paper recycling...

monday may 9, 2005

(6:07PM) i am particularly fond of the alien attack.

(12:43PM) in a rather futile attempt to make a little bit of money, i have opened a shop on CafePress. over the next week or so, i will be making high def images of some of my drawings and stuff and turn them into t-shirts and posters and such. if you have any suggestions for such merchandise, let me know and i will have it available.

sunday may 8, 2005

(11:42PM) my car has been nameless for about two years now. today i was forced to realize that it is The Chick Magnet. this is a misleading name because the birds it attracts are not of the leggy gorgeous variety, but the flighty, feathered sort. twice this year it has nearly been side swiped by geese. yesterday it had a very close call with a kamikaze sparrow in sarah's parking lot, and today it had a full-on collision with a small unfortunate whiteish bird. i had just picked my father up from the airport and was exiting the interstate when a white thing collided with the windshield and dishappeared. i was so upset i nearly pulled over to let my dad drive the rest of the way home. i have heard of (and seen) birds dart underneath moving cars because they do not see the tires but i have never seen a bird dive-bomb the front windshield. and it's not like you can't see my windshield, it is grimy and covered in pollen. had i seen the bird beforehand i would likely have caused a car accident while taking evasive action, but it seemed to pop into existence right at the instant it met the glass. it was very Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". all i can really say is thank goodness it wasn't a goose.

thursday may 5, 2005

(11:26AM) my margaret is in full bloom today! it is a variation of dahlia called margaret. isn't that cool? i have another plant blooming right now too. it's been blooming since febuary i think. i'm not sure what it is though, my mom could tell you. Happy Cinco De Mayo! did you know they discovered a new dinosaur? from the artist's rendering i think it looks like a giant hairy chicken with 4 legs.

tuesday may 3, 2005

(12:20AM) so i just got around to reading monday's funnies in the news and observer. i've never really cared about the strip "Get Fuzzy" but i have a newfound respect for it after this. firstly because Rob mentions the hitchhikers guide with reverence and secondly while he is mentioning the guide with reverence, he is wearing a 6x9=42 t-shirt.

monday may 2, 2005

(10:25AM) if you've known me for any period of time, you know of my love for ryan adams. reading the newspaper today, i found a tiny little blurb (it's a miracle i saw it at all) that says ryan adams & the cardinals are going to be in raleigh in june! so i REALLY want to go, tickets go on presale on thursday.

sunday may 1, 2005

(10:30PM) so i kinda got bored and made another one. this is the first time i'm actually planning out my comic pages before drawing them. with ameldamene, all i did was come up with an idea and draw it. with Miss Brain and The Tea i am laying out my ideas in thumbnail views before actually drawing them. it's like a storyboard. so Miss Brain and The Tea seem to be all i can talk about on here. someone get me a life, please.

(5:31PM) sarah wrote me the beninning of a script for a Miss Brain and The Tea comic! so in the very far future, you can look forward to that (it's gonna take a long time for me to draw). BUT to keep you entertained in the short term, i have made two desktop wallpapers, Miss Brain and The Tea! do enjoy. hung out with sarah last night and came up with secret identities and street clothes for MB&TT. i'm not gonna give them away though, because it's too cool.

friday april 29, 2005

(11:30PM) IT'S APRIL 29TH!!! and you should all know what that means. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is now in theaters near you! went tonight with jenn and sarah to see it and i must say that it totally rocked. you must see it for yourself (and make sure you stay throught he credits).

(12:30AM) i know you've been waiting for this sarah... character sketches for Miss Brain. Miss Brain and The Tea are "The Drastic Duo". A superhero team that causes a lot of unnecesary damage while saving the world (how is that different from other superheroes?). Miss Brain took me a lot longer to draw than The Tea because Miss Brain is just too curvy for my poor cramped fingers. i have realized that i have no talent for drawing busty girls which strikes me as somewhat funny since most male comic artists seem to have no problem with it. maybe their weakness is in drawing more normally proportioned girls. by the way, i am especially proud of the lower left hand sketch. i have never drawn "i'm gonna kick your ass six ways to sunday" this well, it's all in the eyes.

wednesday april 27, 2005

(6:01PM) I GOT A CARD FROM ELI TODAY!!!!!!!!! ^_^ totally made my week there.
P.S. "you know you want to know" except i really don't ^_-

monday april 25, 2005

(7:37PM) i painted my fingernails blue! tonight is going to be another fun kitchen experiment, dad decided to make lasagna. so he sent me to the store for some parmesan and ricotta cheese. on my drive back, i was radio station surfing. there are some songs that usually don't interest me unless i am in the right mood and then i totally trip out. for example, when i heard a random rob zombie song on the radio. i couldn't help myself, i started grinning like an idiot. it reminded me of one of the best AMVs i have ever seen which was The Powerpuff Girls set to the song More Human Than Human by White Zombie. you can find it here, down towards the bottom of the page. i was also reminded of my sophmore year at NCSU and all the mad-crazy things eli and i used to do that related to heavy-metal music (*cough cough* SUGAR *cough cough*). and then lastly i remembered seeing a movie preview recently for a movie directed by rob zombie and i remember having to stifle a few guffaws so as not to disturb my fellow theatre goers. moral of the story - rob zombie songs make me smile for very odd reasons. more margaret music trivia: pat benetar songs always make me think of eli, but i think everyone knew that already.

saturday april 23, 2005

(10:11PM) so i had some fun this morning. scanned a couple of old pictures, drew some new ones... i won't give you the story behind TheTea, but i will tell you that it is funny. expect another superhero shortly. and if sarah can come up with some scripts, you may even get some illustrated superhero stories. so back to the pictures, i am very proud of myself for playing with action poses instead of my usual girl-with-arms-at-sides 3/4 view. and i really had fun drawing the bad guys. KASPLOW! tea bag to the forehead and he's down for the count!

thursday april 21, 2005

(2:37PM) i got in late last night, the plane was a full hour and a half late arriving in NY, so that means it didn't land at RDU until almost 11:30pm. i was in texas for a job fair and then i was in nyc visiting my sister and picking out a bridesmaid dress (no, not one of those ugly frump lace and sugar dealies, this one is awesome and it sucks i don't get to wear it until august). and it looks like i'll be going back to texas again soon. my uncle richard got me a job interview at bell helicopter. in other fun news, during my two or three hour wait at LaGuardia i found a newsstand that sells bubbleyum bubble gum. when was the last time you had bubbleyum? it must have been middle school. it's the only bubble gum that actually makes good bubbles. all the other ones lose elasticity shortly after losing flavor, but bubble yum goes on forever. i am hopelessly nostalgic.

tuesday april 12, 2005

(10:54PM) so, change of plan everyone. i am going out of town for a week. i'm just sad i'm gonna miss the jump concert.

sunday april 10, 2005

(1:11PM) it passed by my window just now, the bicycle built for two.

friday april 8, 2005

(4:50PM) it is a good time to be a student at NC State. at least it is if you are a pirate captain... student body government elections were this week. running for student body president is "The Pirate Captain" and he recieved over 40% of the votes. you have to have over 51% to win though, so it's going to a runoff. i just think it's great that someone running as "The Pirate Captain" could interest students so much that there is a record turnout of voters. of course, i don't know how great it would be to actually have a pirate for president, but maybe in three years someone should run for US president under a pirate flag. heck, i'd vote for 'em.
P.S. if i had a valid student ID i'd have voted for matthew waligora for student body treasurer

tuesday april 5, 2005

(8:37PM) much fun to be had with an anagram generator. for example: even monkeys fall from trees = monks venerate smelly offer.

monday april 4, 2005

(9:15PM) i graduated from nc state. i don't want to cheer for unc. therefore... go illinois! hehe.

sunday april 3, 2005

(12:14AM) AAAH! so i knew that Jump was producing a new EP called "Between the Glow and the Light" and that it was coming out soon. what i didn't know was that IT WOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME AT THE APRIL 14TH SHOW IN CHAPEL HILL!!!! I AM EXCITED!!!! whew. that is a lot of excitement for one night.

(12:00AM) it is time for us all to forget to change our clocks ahead an hour and wake up too late for the morning cartoons. today is also a pythagorean triple day (4-3-5) and my dad's birthday. happy birthday dad!
PS. jump, little children will be at the cat's cradle on april 14th. i am already planning to go. i am dragging sarah p and her roommate monica. you should also go.

friday april 1, 2005

(6:17PM) happy new year!! you'll never guess what i did today! well, you probably can, since you're looking at it. i love it! fabulous! who would have thought i could use neon green, fuschia, and yellow to such great ends? i want to use another exclamation mark! yes! okay. last layout here. RSS in the future (soon as i figure that out). and guess what! i have comments again!! i really missed them.