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Origins 2008
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Jun. 30th, 2008 @ 07:01 pm
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I got a photo of me and Feedback (winner of "Who Wants to Be A Superhero"), and a giant Pikachu. What else can I say?
Anyway we (JD and John and I) went geocaching a lot, and I have a new "mad scientists plotting to take over the world" board game called Mwahahaha, and we saw Kung Fu Panda (it was very fun). I also pre-ordered a party game called "Rorshach".
At the convention I kept trying to find a particular author/podcaster (Mur Lafferty) to get her to sign a book for me, and didn't see her. Then I got a text message to meet her for dinner! So I (and my 2 friends) went and had dinner with her (at Buca Di Beppo - I'd never eaten there before) and a bunch of other podcasters I know mostly from Twitter & listening to their podcasts.
It was really fun. Then we ran into her again the next day and got a photo with her.
Also she had just bought some Steampunk brass goggles... from a seller of props/Renaissance clothes that happens to be FROM MY HOME TOWN and I didn't even know it. How do you hide something like that in a town of under 5k? I dunno. But cool!
In fact one of the [married] podcast guys said I could come over and play games with him sometime (he lives in my area) which is pretty exciting. Though he is now convinced I am a vampire since I happened somehow to not show up in the photo. Very odd.
Then we wandered around and demoed some games, and since I won I got to spin the "prize wheel" in that game booth, and by the time we'd all demoed etc. we ended up with enough "prize money" to get one of their games free! And I won a t-shirt. And so did John. And I also got a button, and so did John. JD didn't win anything. ;)
Then I went to the area where you could paint your own free miniatures, and realized the two guests in the middle were SCULPTING the miniatures (you know those tiny little 15mm high type minis) which floored me, so I went in and talked to the one guy for awhile (the lady was too busy). And he told me all about it and said how easy it is (which is a lie) and I bought some sculpting compound and then bought a miniature of a pattern he had made (it was a Drow elf with two swords) and got him to sign the package. And he told me to join a yahoo sculpting group, so I did.
Also I saw a painter there named Ed Beard Jr. and I don't know who he is, but I bought his two instructional DVDs (one on shading, one on dragons) and got him to sign them too.
Also I went to a creature drawing seminar with an artist named Andy Hopp, and whether I got anything out of it or not, he was really funny. Then he also hosted "IRON ARTIST" and a bunch of artists had to use some paper cups and yarn and foamies and markers etc. to make crazy creatures using the SECRET ingredient: GOOGLY EYES. And the one who won (by audience applause & best use of googly eyes) was the only girl up there that wasn't an actual professional artist. Hehe.
But I was annoyed that on top of my hefty hotel fee they charged $23 just to park in the hotel lot.
I spent a ton of money this week, but hey I have memories. Also I spent less than half of what Tore's last camera lens cost, heh.
Also I bought a HUGE awesome book of mythological creatures [actually I only got this a Barns & Noble, not the convention], which floors me because it's full of ones I'd never heard of and I thought I had a pretty broad knowledge of them already.
I am itching to try drawing or sculpting or something now with the new info, but first I have to do a couple of commissions.
I met "everyone on my list of podcasters I hope to meet" which was awesome and unexpected.
I met this guy http://www.havegameswilltravel.net/ Paul Tevis
and this girl http://murverse.com/ (and her husband and little girl "the Pink Tornado") Mur Lafferty
and this guy http://www.unquietdesperation.com/ Chris Miller
and this guy http://kjtoo.com/
and this guy http://www.lifebridgehealth.org/physdir.cfm?id=14&action=detail&ref=24660
(who is an infectious disease doctor and was wearing a t-shirt that said "I am not a doctor" :) )
and this guy http://www.thevintagegamer.net/
and "Andrea Gideon" and "Shannon Farrell" who may or may not have web pages.
and this guy (and his wife) http://www.vandermore.com/
and Mario Dongu who has no web page ;)
...and Feedback, and sculptors Gene Van Horne and Sandra Garrity and painter Ed Beard Jr, and artist Andy Hopp.Current Mood:  happy |
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JD and John are here!
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Jun. 25th, 2008 @ 08:16 pm
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We are having a blast! You wouldn't believe all the awesome geocaches we've found.
Ok probably you would.
Two of the best ones: One was in the woods inside an actual log that some hard core individual had cut a chamber into and fitted with a hinged plexiglass cover, then slid the geocache into the inner chamber. It was laying face down in the forest, so until I accidentally kicked it over it was totally hidden!
The other was this big, elaborate, gorgeous masoleum that was actually a "did not find" but we had fun investigating it (and the 90000 mosquitoes enjoyed us too) - we were afraid to go too deep into the environs due to the poison ivy. I did find (and catch) a lil garter snake though. Eee, cute snake. John found a big painted turtle, too. I didn't take my "good" camera with me because someone else is borrowing it at the moment.
JD and John and I went to Bob Evan's this morning to reconnect with some of their friends from the area. Or actually missionaries. God brought them together today even though it wasn't really planned - how cool is that? They shared some amazing stories of how God was working in their lives, protecting them on the field. There was a great story of a snake hanging itself but I am feeling too lazy to type the whole thing out. But anyway, if God can get a dangerous snake to miraculously hang itself in the closet in the night, how can anyone doubt His protection? He is protecting us in ways we never even suspect!
So anyway this has be a real joy and I am just plain having a lot of fun. Not necessarily relaxing, I mean we keep running around finding more caches ;) - but I am having a lot of fun. I fully expect Origins to blow my mind this coming weekend. I will take duct tape.
I am on a quest to find Paul Tevis, Mur Lafferty (so she can sign my copy of Playing For Keeps), and Kris Johnson. Though KJ has said he is going to actively avoid me because he's Evil. Officially evil, even. Hmm. Things like this make me want to start a podcast just so Tee can be my nemesis. Actually if Mick Bradley is there I'd like to find him too, though he has no idea who I am because he isn't very active on Twitter. Origins is where the "Ash Can Front" was isn't it? I am going to wast...er, spend a lot of money on games I think. Yes some of this is rambly and aimed at me, because I will later compare my Origins vague concepts to what it was *really* like. Hehe.Current Mood:  ecstatic |
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News (and rambling) from Nyc
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May. 14th, 2008 @ 10:04 pm
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Hopefully it doesn't bother anyone that I refer to myself as Nyc. It just sounded better than Rach. Rach just doesn't sound good, at least, not coming from me and not in print. You have permission to call me Rach of course. Or Nyc. Wow this is too meta even for LJ.
( rambling and emo garbage and news and all sorts of junk )
Cat anecdote: Harry, for some reason, in the middle of the night last night tried to open the attic door.
This does not work out well since cats have no thumbs. So I woke up to "ka-ching-ka-ching-ka-chink-ka-ching-ka-chink-ka-ching-ka-chink-ka-ching" as he tried to open the doorknob with his paws. Strange kitty.
OH AND: Thank you so much JB! She sent me a little clay raven! And some other stuff too! Stop being so nice! ^_^Current Mood: happy |
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Apr. 21st, 2008 @ 02:38 pm
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I had a wonderful time visiting JB and Jared! And their 3 cats that seem to be in 9 places at once. She already journaled the whole thing in her LJ, but I will add my own bits for the sake of my own memory.
First, when I got there we had AWESOME Chicago style pizza. It was AMAZING. If we had pizza like that around here... uh, then I guess I'd be in Chicago. Anyway, when I got there JB had a pile of FUN STUFF to give me! Oh my goodness I didn't expect that. She was bursting with awesome. Then we watched Cloak & Dagger, which it turns out was one of those movies that Jared "knew existed but couldn't find anyone else that remembered it, and couldn't remember the name to explain it" so I'm really glad I had it with me! Also it's quite a fun old movie.
We hit many craft stores and I made several runs to drug stores to get medicines. Bleh.
I was sure that I would keep everyone up all night coughing. They SAID they slept ok, so I hope they really did.
I found my first geocoin and my first travel bug! Geocaching is so much more fun when you do it with someone you enjoy hanging around. It was awesome to drive around and then hike to find the secret treasures, and avoid muggles... everyone go try it right now! That juvenile correction facility was pretty scary. Security was driving around right near the cache. Ack. And we found a jar of pee, as outlined by Jen in her journal. Erk. This one was a real pain because we had to walk 0.25 miles there, and then 0.25 miles back, and the cache was over 500 feet off of what the GPS said it was, so we wouldn't have found it at all except Jared diligently trashed the place until he found it, huzzah! So major points to Jared and his stick (he still had that stick when I left on Sunday).
We saw Forbidden Kingdom, then the next day we went to some flea markets that were liberally sprinkled with oriental weapons. Why do they always have those at flea markets? The world may never know. We were really looking for old skeleton keys. JB did not find her keys - but now she is on a Quest, huzzah! Flea Market may have been the only place I left without buying anything. ^^;
I got a really dumb fortune from the Old Gypsy Fortune teller machine in Beef-A-Roo. A dumb fortune and a great Coconut shake. Beef-A-Roo is a local chain type thing with interesting fast food ambience. JB swapped fortunes with me - is that legal?
I stole Jen's copy of Nanny Ogg's Cookbook. I really want to make Wow-wow sauce. I even googled it and discovered it is an actual recipe from the 19th century! Who'da thunk?
Anyway this is sort of an abbreviated post (though it's long for me!) because I just heard the Dryer break in the other room. Argh. I will now either go take a nap or take clothes to the laundromat. I still feel wiped out from this cold & trip, probably more than I ought to.
JB and Jared are awesome! Move to Ohio! :D
And the rumor that we had anything to do with the earthquake that happened while I was there is a complete lie. I don't cough THAT hard.Current Mood: bouncy |
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Prayer request
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Mar. 9th, 2008 @ 07:20 pm
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Please pray for my mom, if you get a chance - she's having some severe neck/pinched-nerve/shooting-down-her-arm pains and will be trying to get an appointment as soon as possible. I am not sure I have ever seen her in this much pain and it hurts just to watch her! No idea what is making it pinch, it just occurs randomly. I know these are not the sorts of pains that are easy to treat.
And don't tell me all about how you know what it is, and please don't suggest something to help it. She's had pinched nerves before, just not this badly. She's using naproxen and ice. Er, that is not a mixed drink. >_>
Also BELATED BIRTHDAY WISHES!
Happy birthday JD and JB! I am such a terrible friend because I didn't even get cards out on time. >_<
(Happy birthday Tombfyre too, I just noticed yours is today - see LJ notices ARE good for something once in awhile!)
Grr, LJ is acting slow for me.
This weekend was a blizzard and church was closed today - it has to be quite the storm for that to happen!
They are closing the Pat Catan's in Medina and that is going to severely frustrate me.
Or at least moderately frustrate me.Current Mood:  anxious Current Music: AudioSurf..w00t! |
| » Not exciting to anyone but me. |
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Last night was the Youth Group Christmas party, and I baked chocolate chip cookies and took a ton of "white elephant" gifts (things I had around the house that I no longer wanted or needed) that were really not all bad - one was a hair straightener (like an anti-curling iron) and one was a wireless headphones (that used an fm transmitter - pre blue-tooth)
It went really well!
Today is Choir practice, then tomorrow is the Choir Cantata (and soup dinner afterwards), then Monday is the "Church Staff dinner party".
Yesterday I got a clay commission! WHOA! So I need to make time for that somewhere. It's a "realistic style tiger". That should be challenging. Sorry, folks waiting on kiribans...
Reviews might be next week. I daren't worry about them.
I REALLY wanted to put this dream behind an LJ cut because it's long - oh it finally worked. Good.
( And here is a long flying dream )
Dec. 15th, 2007 @ 10:32 am
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| » Busy - AGAIN |
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Wednesday they spontaneously told us we had to switch to new cubicles at work.
You can just imagine the crazy amount of cubicle stuff I had to move. Now I am moved and people have said my cube looks like "a living room" "Petitti's garden center" and "HarryPotterville" all of which are accurate. XD
The we had to fill out our "Annual Review" which is a big scorecard where you rate yourself from 1 - 5 "Take responsibility for actions" and "Integrity" and other things you can't really rate from 1 - 5. Blah. Stress.
THEN Friday I had a blind date. It was fine, but that was definitely added stress. Not to mention it was in a town I am not familiar with so I had to keep calling him for directions. (But he got to show off his new Blackberry Pearl and Google Maps app.)
TODAY I just got done picking a Christmas tree (pre-cut).
Now I am charging my camera battery because I am about to go take photos for a couple's 65th wedding anniversary open-house. Afterwards they have requested I eat dinner with them.
After that is Choir rehearsal for our Christmas cantata.
TOMORROW I teach Sunday School, then I teach the 2 - 5 year olds in Church. After church I will go to the youth pastor's house, with the youth, and prepare for the afternoon's nursing home Christmas service. After that service I have more Choir practice. Then evening Church. After evening Church is Christmas Caroling. And after Christmas Caroling is the open house at the Senior Pastor's!
I took Monday and Tuesday off to recover.
Dec. 8th, 2007 @ 11:03 am
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| » Bleh. |
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Tomorrow I have a jewelry show and I had "lower GI issues" today (nice euphamism, huh?). Groan. I had taken the day off but not for that reason. I was supposed to go to someone's house and help her repair a necklace tonight, and I cancelled. I'm sure she and her kid don't want "lower GI issues". I tooled around while feeling sick anyway, and drove down to Orville to visit the big Smucker's plant and store. I bought jelly!
I don't know how I'm going to get up in time for the show. I'm supposed to be on the way by 6:30 and I just don't know how that is possible, though... I'm sure it will work out. I also don't know exactly how much space I have to arrange my stuff. I bought a little white Christmas tree to display some ornaments for sale. I wish I had made ornaments! ~rimshot~ I feel terribly disorganized (yeah, not unusual, hehe). Sunday I am singing in the evening ("Thank you Lord for saving my soul - it's sort of Thanksgiving-y and one I already know), and after church is a "teen fun dinner thing" affectionately called SNAC(k) Sunday Night After Church. I now have to attend these since I help with the teens.
Monday is an STC meeting about "Social Networking" and, frankly, I bet I know more than the presenter. I'm hoping they talk about the Open Social platform, I bet they won't touch on it.
Tuesday is a meeting at our youth pastor's house. Wednesday night is preparing for Thursday: Thanksgiving! How do married people with kids do all this stuff with little kids too?!
Nov. 16th, 2007 @ 08:48 pm
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| » I'm making a note here. |
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I had an amazingly jam-packed weekend. It even spilled over into Monday!
(Note: Jam-packed does not actually involve jam.)
( Read an awful lot more, mostly not-too-angsty )
Nov. 6th, 2007 @ 07:41 pm
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| » Synopsis |
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A ton has happened in my life over the last month! My uncle had a heart attack, and while my aunt was at the hospital she collapsed with an aortic aneurysm! They had a five minute window in which to operate, and the call her the "miracle patient" because the doctor who did those operations had JUST LEFT... and then came back in for something, and so he was there to do the emergency surgery.
But then her colon ruptured later, and so she's filled with infection. They moved her to Cleveland clinic, and found the infection there. They said it should have killed her five days ago!
God has sure been good to her! She's improving, but not out of the woods yet. Who would have thought that her husband's heart attack was the less serious of two conditions?
This week was fair week, and so two nights I was manning our church's fair tent and handing out gospel tracts. I had a pretty good time, though it always makes me sad when people go out of their way to avoid your church booth. All I can do is hope we planted some seeds.
And also on Tuesday I am going to a balloon twisting seminar. :) Can't wait for that. Hopefully I can figure out where it is.
I'm frustrated because I misplaced ALL my Prismacolor markers. Arrugh! Where are they? I cleaned even...
Aug. 25th, 2007 @ 11:38 pm
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| » Tiny Random Entry. |
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I took a nap and had one of those "I'm dreaming that I'm dreaming and then I woke up and then realized I was dreaming and woke up for REAL" sort of not-quite-lucid dreams. Aren't those weird? :) (*cough* yeah it was a flying dream)
My Aunt Linda and Uncle Roy both went into the hospital with catastrophic heart problems on the same day, two weeks ago. My Uncle had a heart attack, and he's out now (but will need some stints and probably a defibrilator). My Aunt is still in the hospital, after having an aortic anyurism. She was moved to Cleveland Clinic today, which is a good thing.
I am prayerfully considering working with the youth in my church. This is a Big Deal ministry change because it will require more of my time. But hey, I'm a single and I have nothing better in this world to use my time for other than ministry! So God willing I will do that. I look forward to it in a nervous kind of way. I will have to stop working with Awana to do this, and I've worked with Awana for like 17 years. Whew!
Saturday I went to Hobby Lobby and a lady was doing a craft demo, so I sat there and painted a picture. It was awesome fun and I signed up to do product testing. If I get to do more product testing I will also get paid - and cookies. :)
Aug. 19th, 2007 @ 09:58 pm
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| » Gaelic Storm |
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Yesterday I went to a Celtic concert by a band called "Gaelic Storm" - they're the ones that did the Celtic song in the middle of Titanic (I suppose that was their 15-minutes-of-fame. They were great, but they weren't quite as good as "Leahy" (They are an even better Celtic band! All brothers and sisters too, whew!)
Today I got an oil change, then made two batches of cupcakes. I also bought a board game called "Shadows over Camelot" - it sounds great, and it plays with up to 7 people so I am going to take it tonight to a friend's house. He and I are both amateur magicians, actually, and last weekend we went together to a magic lecture. It was so cool! I learned how to eat razor blades. And (yes!) how to swallow those long 2"x60" animal twisty balloons. Is that wrong-and-right-at-the-same-time or what? ^_^ I can't figure out when I will be able to apply that - definitely not for the Bible clubs at church (I mean, because little kids would want to go home and try it, brrr scary!) Anyway his daughter is going to the same college I went to (Cedarville).
So I had an awesome week! Also I got to redesign my company's website and logo! I'm SO HYPED! I'm still in process with it, but it's super exciting to me. I've always wanted to do things like that.
And last night I had one of those lovely "wandering around two inches off the ground for no apparent reason" dreams. ^_^ Startled a couple of people when I jumped off of something.
Jul. 21st, 2007 @ 03:31 pm
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| » My week has been good! |
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Well I had an exciting week! I got to work in Flash MX 2004, a program I like that I don't get to use too often. I get to make an interface! It's fun, and I actually got to use a little bit of actionscript. Wee! I like programming, it seems so cool and geeky and glamorous. But I know I couldn't do it for a living. I just don't get it. Not even object oriented programming.
And the other exciting thing was this: Tuesday my church usually has volleyball, but no one showed up (for one thing it was like 90 degrees) so I decided I'd go on a walk. I went out and hadn't gone more than a half block when there, looking up at me, in the middle of the sidewalk was a baby bird! A really *tiny* baby bird - not a happy little fledgling. This little guy didn't even have feathers, just pinfeathers. Awwww! So I had to stop and grab him and take him home. So I dumped all my art markers out of my box and put him in, on a rag, and fed him some mashed up cat food soaked in milk (that's what you feed baby birds. Really!) and then I walked him over to a friend's house (she has kids and she's a home mom so I knew she'd be home to take care of him - I couldn't take him to work!). So she has a new little baby. ^_^
I went over tonight to check on him. One of his legs seems to be either broken or else congenitally lame, so I helped her splint it. Or at least TRIED to splint it. I don't know how you make a good splint for an inch of leg.
We'll see...
And one more good thing: I got my quarterly 401K report and it's gaining POSITIVE interest. Finally! THANK YOU GOD!
So how was your week?
Jul. 12th, 2007 @ 09:44 pm
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| » Yet Another Quiz |
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| What color is your soul painted? Yellow Your soul is painted the color yellow, which embodies the characteristics of joy, happiness, optimism, idealism, gold, hope, liberalism, sociability, friendship, death, courage, intellect, confidence, communication, travel, movement, attraction, persuasion, and charm. Yellow is the color of the element Air, and symbolizes the sun, grain, and the power of thought. 
Click Here to Take This Quiz | 
Quizzes and Personality Tests |
Not sure I agree, but how much can you get from <10 questions?
Jun. 25th, 2007 @ 11:31 pm
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| » Stupid Girl Tricks |
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I tried some stupid Nair stuff on the little fuzz on my upper lip (you know, girls don't want fuzz on their face anywhere ever) and it BURNT MY SKIN OFF. So now I'm running around with this horrible flaking burnt skin covered by a layer of flesh colored makeup peeling off around my mouth and look like a ZOMBIE.
Braaaiiinnnnss...
Jun. 25th, 2007 @ 03:31 pm
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| » XD |
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Just because I'm fat, thirty-something, single, live in my parent's house, play on the internet, buy Faerie magazine, listen to podcasts about how to be a better DM and which security flaws are in Vista, and collect pokémans on my Nintendo DS does not make me a loser. Though it does come pretty close! XD
Hmm I should put that in my e-harmony description. ;)
Oh and unrelated thing, check out my tumblr : nycteris.tumblr.com
I put all the best crazy links and pictures and quotes I find there.
It's so awesome it makes me want to break out in lolcat syntax.
IM IN MAI TUMBLR POSTIN MAI LINX!!
Jun. 15th, 2007 @ 09:19 am
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| » Whee. :) |
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Little kids are cool.
Last night in church it was my turn to take care of the 2 - 6 year olds, so, duh, I took all my balloon twisting stuff and amused them with that.
But you know what made them run around in ridiculous glee the most?
I kept taking the balloon pump and poofing blasts of air at their hair - they thought that was the best thing in the world and kept shouting "DO ME DO ME"
because I could not mess everyone's hair up fast enough for them. ^_^
...and one kid wet his pants. Every up night has a downer somewhere I guess!
May. 24th, 2007 @ 11:38 am
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| » Geocache! |
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Triptychr inspired me to buy a Magellan eXplorist GPS unit so I can go geocaching, and boy it's fun! He has almost 20 caches so far! Geocachers call people who are in the area of the cache but not looking for it (as in, unaware of its existance) "muggles" and I have to say (sorry!) that is kind of appealing, to think that you are out there about to find a treasure no one else even knows exists. I think that's part of why it's so fun. Secret knowledge.
Anyway there were two caches in the Rec park behind my house!
Later I was down in Wooster at Secrest Arboretum with my parents and Grandparents (for Mother's Day) and tried to find one there. I couldn't find it, but I found two other people looking for it too! None of us found it.
Then the refrigerator broke down.
A Mother's Day to remember. Aww.
May. 15th, 2007 @ 10:05 am
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| » No more evil cyber twin. |
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Eh that thing gave inappropriate responses (like telling someone to get their hand out of their pants) - and I don't know how to customize it not to say stuff like that, so I just deleted it.
Apr. 15th, 2007 @ 07:58 pm
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| » My Cyber Twin |
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This is my cyber twin. Click to Chat with her. :D
Apr. 14th, 2007 @ 05:30 pm
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