The Daily Adventures of Mercat

No, seriously, she does.



Well, okay, it's not brand new. '67 and it needs a lot of work, but she liked it. Sometimes... she is too dramatic for me, though. Her reaction to bringing that car around was a bit much. Then again, maybe I'm an ungrateful, spoiled child. Or I've been too bitter this year (which is true). Or I just don't see that reaction as legitimate... also probably true. Considering my reaction to things I like is usually over-excited jumping-up-and-down-ness. I dunno, Grandma's just kind of a drama queen.

OMG LAURA PICKED OUT HOLOGRAPHIC-SEQUINED CHUCKS FOR ME. I'M SO FUKKEN EXCITED YOU HAVE NO IDEA. NEW YEAR'S HERE I COME

In addition, my new opal, YAY, so I have a replacement ring so I have one fewer finger that feels naked. Plus, in the right light, it looks red and not blue. (It is probably the most gorgeous opal I've ever worn, ffs.)

That sweet antique-postal-box bank... And some Tortugas stuff (tie-dyed shirt, sweatshirt); a calendar (magnetic poetry!); ladybug earrings; I feel like I'm missing something. Oh, Laura and I got a shared copy of Beetle the Bard, but something else is missing...

Wow, how the heck did I come away with one and a half books for Christmas? Usually I have, like... a dozen. At least. Not that I'm complaining, I just can't remember that not happening for many years back.



Also I totally just got online because omg I did not get the #1 thing I asked for which was the Indiana Jones compeltely soundtracks! I mean honestly! D: (Lol, again, complaining facetiously.)

I finally feel all better, minus the Cough That Will Not Go Away (fuck you, sinus infection). More shopping tomorrow, paint for Laura's room and linens for me (Linens 'N' Things going out of business at the new year, fyi), also need to hit up Border's and a toy store. Two more stickers and I can get three limited edition crystal skull action figures with thrones! You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. I WANT THEM SO BADLY. I wish I could afford enough to have 13, lol. (I would need an entire German and a Russian army to get them, though. That is, of the figures they sell. WHY WON'T THEY RELEASE THE NEXT WAVES. I WANT TEMPLE AND CRUSADE FIGURES SO BADLYOHMYGODIAMSUCHANERD.)

OH. OH. I remembered what the other thing was. MOM GOT A ROOMBA! I am so geeked out, it's ridiculous. I want to make a Roomba cover. Dad saw you can hack them to sing midi songs. Some cats ride them around for fun.

I can't set up a poll, but I need your opinions; do we name it

>Rosie (dad's suggestion--you can guess why)
>Rupert (Laura's suggestion--she's been watching too much Family Guy)
>HAL 9000 (Laura's and my suggestion--I'm sorry, Dave, I can't vaccuum that)

For me, Rupert is right out. I'm leaning toward Rosie because midi isn't threatening enough for HAL and there isn't enough capability to fadingly sing Daisy as it works. (Or... shuts down. Or anything.)

SO YAY OMGROOMBA tell me your thoughts and let me know of any awesome Roomba shit you can think of. (If we had two, I'd make them joust. Possibly Roomba/Kitten joust.)

So Monday dad texted me that his hygienist was selling a 2004 Saturn for $7000 with 27000 miles. I have given up on car shopping for time reasons since school started back up, so I just said yes because I knew I couldn't find a better deal. Well Tuesday night I went out to dinner with mom and dad and gma and gpa and Vince, and dad and I were talking about my car, and I joked asking dad if I could have it by Tuesday for driving people for the field trips so I wouldn't have to clean my Taurus, and he said yes.

Well, on the way home driving back up Wilmington Pike I thought my lights on the dash and my headlights were dimming and I couldn't see anything. The radio and clock were still fine but I couldn't see my spedometer and my inside light was dimmer when I checked it. So I called mom and we talked and I said I'd just drive it back to school since there was enough street light and we could check it later. Well as I slowed to a stop near BP and Ritters the lights went all the way down and the clock had dimmed and then the car nearly stalled, so I just pulled right in to BP and called dad to come pick me up.

So jokingly I had thought to myself that I hoped the Taurus wouldn't be upset about a new car, because though I never gave the car a name (well, other than the Parrotheadmobile--I never could assign a "gender" of character, as it were), I still kind of personificated it with the whole Jimmy Buffet thing, and I did hear Margaritaville just a few days before. So I think it's appropriate that the Taurus wanted to go out in style (NOT Otis; and also Chester the "mouse" in the trunk), and I think that this required its own entry.

Taurus, you were a good sturdy car and you had a good character. Even though it's probably just you alternator according to Dad, I'm glad you decided to "go out in style" (even though I won't get the new car until later and I have Laura's now).

RIP.

I am just not destined to get a car. We went to check out that other Honda, guess what? The whole place is for sale, locked up (gated), nobody there. (BUT ALL THE CARS WERE, DAMMIT) *le sigh*


There is a good discussion going on over here about strong female characters (in any/every series). It's a lot of good reading and thought material, but I'd really encourage you guys to fill it out, too. (Just, over there, not here.)

Well, I am a happy camper, for sure. Generally I have just been in a good mood (I think because of hanging out with people and also seeing Indy IV again, and then Serenity, and then trivia night tonight), but I am sure part of it has to do with the 3 3/4" Indiana Jones Hasbro figures. Those things are freakin' addictive! ...I think I have twelve now. I definitely did not anticipate that, and there are more I want to get. Yaaaaay! (Weirdness, though?: the ark does not open, at least as far as I can figure...)

Other news: the thing I was trying to come up with the other night about Indy IV; it was Marion's shoes. The first time I saw the movie I was all "is she wearing Aldens?! Oh hell yeah" but then upon this last viewing, I realized if you look at her ( major spoiler ) shoes... they are no doubt familiar? Cuteness abounds. (Or geekness. We're not sure yet. The data is inconclusive.)

What else what else what else.

Oh, so I have a comm, mercat_inc, that I set up initially as an art journal. If you have it friended, you might want to unfriend it, because I decided that if I do end up getting my webcomic up and running, I think I'm going to have a separate comm, and also I finally have a FANTASTIC use for mercat_inc. Unfortunately it's just to annotate my collection of ideas and projects and resources, and keep them organized and systemized... So something no one else would be interested (and anyway, I'd rather keep my "ideas" sort of private for now). [EDIT: Ignore all this, nobody had the community friended anyway, lol.]

OH MAN, weird dream last night. I don't remember the whole thing, only the end, where my parents drove up next to the garage (which was double-doored and built into a hill, a.k.a. not really our house) in the light-bluish-periwinkleish Honda Civic I saw yesterday. Only it had giant matching antlers on the back. And then, as I looked at it, I realized the antlers also looked like wings, and the front and back were extended and sculpted (and painted to match) and to the sides of the front driver/passenger area was a matching statue of liberty and masthead. CRAZY. So I asked my parents if they'd bought it for me, and they said yes, and I named it the Jackalope, because of the antlers. It was very Foys-ish, but weirder and awesomer. So now I really want a blue car, especially if it's that color. Still debating whether to keep it the parrotheadmobile, or make it more Indy-themed, or buy a small set of mounted antlers for the dash and name it the jackalope. This is, of course, after I even get a new car. So yeah, awesome car dream (oh, and then in the dream we pulled the statues and antler-wings off to make it more driveable).

Things I found out today: Walmart now has two (that I've seen) Indiana Jones birthday cards, no longer the Father's Day card. They're "limited time only" so I'm debating whether that means be a dork and just buy them, or wait and see if they don't disappear before my birthday... and hope I get them. Oh geez! What is a geek to do...? I have the feeling I'll just buy them, because I'm definitely going back to that Walmart by the mall, it has the 3 3/4" scale vehicles which I haven't seen at the other Walmart! Oh geez. Our house room is going to be soooo dorky next year... =)

Ooh, ooh, tonight was trivia night again! SO FUN. Amazingly, though we usually fail on sports questions and I am the least sports-oriented of all on our team, I was still able to answer the first two for us: Don King (which I knew from the Simpsons where Homer becomes a boxer) and polo (the only sport where you are forced to play right-handed, for safety's sake). (I remember reading that on some trivia challenge, and that people also submitted then [and now] cricket and jai-alai. No real idea, but I'd think you could play cricket [Krikkit...?] left-handed, and I honestly have no clue whatsoever about jai-alai.)

Also, the final question was a song/artist: "My Ding-a-ling" which I knew as soon as I heard the crowd cheer (yep... I'm a dork.) and then proceeded to guess "I swear it's some artist like Chuck Berry", so Lara wrote down Chuck Berry and we got the points. XD This sort of stuff is why trivia night is the bomb! (Also, Dudley Do-Right was a TV show theme tonight, and Raider's March was a movie theme, though I think everyone got Raider's March. [who knows, I may have been the only person to get it in the first second, though, lol.])

Finally: there is going to be a fandom-based fundraiser which is being run over at livelongnmarry in support of equal marriage rights. I think it's really cool. I'm wondering if I should offer up an ambigram commission? I mean, it's something I enjoy doing, and though I'm no professional, I've had two friends say they want tattoos of the work. (One of them is newer, though, and not posted. I haven't posted a lot of the newer stuff, which I think is a bit cleaner.) The only thing that makes me worry is that tattoo art gets ripped off a lot, it seems, and I think any other uses of the work might end up in some sort of crediting-copyrights-something fiasco? I dunno. Maybe I'm too paranoid. But I really do love the challenge of ambigrams, and I think it's a viable skill for me to offer up for this. Something simple that I will actually get done. I'd really appreciate any thoughts on this.

Check it out, those three weird silence points in the film? Totally intentional. And completely annoying to boot. I don't think it happened the other night when I saw it at the Greene...? (So just a Regal thing? Seems pretty pointless to me.)

Seven things that thankfully didn't happen in KotCS. ( SPOILER )

Hmm... totally taking car recommendations if you have any. Speedy isn't my thing but neither is boring. (Found a gorgeous blue PT Cruiser, but methinks it has more miles on it than mom and dad would like to invest in.)

The six most badass stunts ever pulled in the name of science. Yeah, pretty much, though #3 is disgusting disgusting disgusting. (Also, check out how small the rockets are on that rocketsled.)



Desk jobs will be the death of me. (I accidentally just typed dearth. Freudian slip? Or maybe just the fact that THIS KEYBOARD SUCKS)

Dearth Vader lol?

Serious postings and discussion later. Guuuuuh.

So the silver Beetle sold, oh well, but that means I actually get more of a choice of cars.

How about this beauty, anyone have $2.5M sitting around I could borrow? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Other-Makes-mercedes-300-C-1960-jaguar-Indiana-Jones-Hollywood-MOVIE-Nazi-Military-Staff-CAR_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6472QQihZ019QQitemZ290233746534QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

1937. Jaguar. Used in Raiders. I THINK I'M IN LOVE HERE



Seriously I think I'll try to find a PT Cruiser because I like them dammit and Laura will hate me, lol. =D Ooh, ooh, ooh, a cream one. Those are freaking gorgeous. (Let's face it it's the closest I'll come to a classic car for a good long while.)

Oh, man, you HAVE to see this.



I DIED. XD

Speaking of RDJ, I watched A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints today. Not bad. Any world where LaPoof grows up to be RDJ is all good in my book. =P The movie is kind of depressing, though. I'm not really one of those people who enjoys movies about "coming of age" tough stories. Or sports stories. What is that one, Love and Basketball? Boring as hale.

So I'm hoping I can drag some people to IJ4 again tomorrow. We shall see. In the meantime I'm trying to hunt down the poptarts, the lunchables and all the Burger King toys, of which I have the box (which actually scared me, I opened it when I wasn't paying attention) and the boulder. I WANT THE JOURNAL, grr.

Seriously, Ohio, wtf. It's May. BE WAAAARMEEEEERRRRR. I am frickin' freezing my butt off right now. (Apparently I adjusted easily to Hawaiian temps.)

ANYWAY. Today is better. It's 9:35 and I didn't get enough sleep but it's better. I also forgot to come back to post again, heh... I am a failure at posting lately, no? Well I think I mentioned the Letterman thing and new TV spot which made me feel a little better, and then when I went upstairs to bed I noticed my holographic nail polish (which I only use at Christmas) and realized this would be another perfect time to use it. =) And then since I'm still on Hawaiian time I laid in bed for probably an hour trying to be tired and thinking about a steampunk pirate flag design (finally had a good idea) and trying to get a little more excited. I set my alarm (I just use my phone) to the Raiders March (yeah... that's my ringtone) in hopes it would shock me out of bed (which, it hasn't lately), and somehow it worked.

So now I've been up for two hours and I'm at my dad's office waiting for my appointment. I don't know if I mentioned that my sister's been having terrible luck with cars? The dented the Camry twice I think and then the engine in mom's car broke when her best friend started it (last fall) and then in February she spun out and totaled the Camry. So, she jumped on the opportunity to buy a "good" car (aka a fashionable one) and mom and dad said okay as long as it was not all flash and only what the insurance would cover. So a few weeks ago they found a Selica she liked, and bought it. Well, the other day they got it home and my dad got keys copied, and the first ones were crap and didn't work, so he went back to get replacements... and it snapped off in the ignition. So now Laura's new car is sitting in the driveway and she's driving my Ford and I don't have a car. Not that I need one, I don't have any immediate plans, but still. It's so fun to tease her because not much of it was her fault (Carroll's parking lot is BAD, but she did back into my car without looking that one time in the driveway). But I dunno, her Selica kind of scares me. It's a hatchback, with a sunroof, and a thing-I'm-totally-blanking-on-the-name-of (spoiler) on the back, and because it was less than the insurance she's putting the rest of it toward a fancy stereo (HD radio I guess?) and wants to buy some fashion brake lights for $40 off ebay. It just makes me nervous that it's going to get broken into or stolen or it looks sporty enough that she'll just be encouraged to be a worse driver than she already is. (She plays with the radio and talks on the phone [AND TEXTS WTF] too much for my comfort.)

Aaaanyway. Well mom and dad were talking about gas and stuff and they were saying that if I'm going to be driving all over creation (visiting people, going to camps for the next few years, etc.) that they want to look into getting a more reliable car and one with better gas mileage. One of dad's patients is selling a silver Beetle (I used to be obsessed with this blue Beetle at the car lot next to Carroll, but I kind of got over it) that they are considering. I mean, yeah, Beetle, new car, etc. etc. But I dunno, I will miss my Taurus (lots of space for leis, among other things) and also they just strike me as... light. Small. Sort of dangerous. My dad pointed out, well, it's like 14 years newer so there are probably better safety standards, but... did I just imagine the bad accident record? I might have, I don't know. Or that might have been just the first models when they reintroduced the Bugs? Or maybe I just don't want to lose my parrotheadmobile. =( (I... do not have a Jimmy Buffet icon. !) Or maybe they've just lost all their novelty since they were introduced? (Haha, the Pokebug.) Or my taste changed from novelty to classic, because I would take a PT Cruiser any day of the week. (But that has more trunk space, I think, too... Not that I ever need it. I suppose I'm just a bit of an engineer.)

GAH. I don't know. I mean as for getting a new car, it's a nice $7000 Bug, good chance. If I don't take it will I find another good deal? I do kind of dread the jimmybuffettmobile breaking down on me, even though it's My Car.

And honestly, silver is boring, that would need to be remedied. Paint something on the sides or something. Or make it a woodywagon.

Okay well I blogged myself out for a little bit and I'm tired of talking about cars (unless you're going to buy me a '57 chevy), so, I'm audi (yeah, I get that from my dad...) for now.

Back later hopefully with Totally Awesome Hat Pics.

Good day today. I wasn't sure it was going to be a good day, because Islander Exchange Club plans were falling through and so were my plans to hit up the swap meet. But Islander Exchange Club just ended up going to North Shore again doing the usual rounds, Waimeia Bay and then Haleiwa for lunch, and you can't go wrong there!

So we drove up to Waimeia Bay and had breakfast, I definitely got about eight bug bites. Well the waves were already CRAZY so we just sat and chilled on the beach, not really sunning or napping or anything because it was cloudy and sort of spraying-sprinkling. Eventually it stopped and the sun sort of came out, but there was nooooo way we were getting in the water because about every ten minutes there'd be this HUGE break of waves. It was insane. So we were just sitting around and I felt something land on my back. It felt like, I dunno, a half-rotten blueberry or something, just, kind of mucousy but more solid. Anyway so I reached back to see what it was and grabbed it, and as soon as I saw what it was (a bee), it stung me. I don't think it stung me before that because I didn't feel anything. But I was just like "oh, shit." and dropped the bee and smashed it into the sand with my sandal. Luckily enough Katie Reed (who's 20th birthday it was! woo) had brought ice in the cooler to keep the cream cheese warm so I numbed my finger and it wasn't too bad. I just always forget how much bee stings hurt more than most other things until I get stung again. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain but I'm not very good at remembering it. As soon as it's gone, I pretty much can't recall just to what extent it hurt. (Man, the first time I got stung it was on the inside of my ear, and I can't imagine that happening again, it must have hurt sooo bad. But I was at summercamp and I don't remember it hurting enough to cry or anything.)

Anyway. So about an hour before we left Katie really was pumping to get in the water and got some people to go in with her. Bascially just swim out to right before the wave break and try not to die. ;) The benefit with the bigger waves was that you got a break in between because they were so big. As opposed to the last time we were there, where the waves were just like a tumble-dryer where you just totally got pounded and it as soon as you stood up you'd get knocked over again. So most of us stood there watching them dive through the waves and they came out when the big break started to come, which was a good thing because these waves were flipping everything left and right. Insane! So there was this BIG guy standing next to us (crazy long hair, too!) telling us we should get in. I took some video (which I'm going to try to edit together and post on youtube or something) and sent some to mom and dad and Laura and Savannah, and we just stood there for a good while and watched the waves break like crazy. So Katie decided since it was her birthday she really wanted to jump off the rock since it might be her last chance, and Tom Middleton wanted to because he hadn't done it before, so they went to do it and Tootle went with them. I guess what happened is that the big guy trying to convince us to get back in the water said he was going to jump off the rock, so Katie decided to get some encouragement from him and go. So they all went up there and jumped off all at the same time, which made me kind of nervous, especially when the guy jumped in right after them! Those waves were crazy. Dang.

So after that we all packed up and headed back to Haleiwa for hulihuli chicken (which apparently means "turn turn" chicken) and Matsumoto's (YUM. I think I put "Yamamoto's" last time I wrote about it) and shrimp. I got Pina Colada shave-ice with ice cream and adzuki beans, and really the beans and rice make it. You wouldn't think they do, but they DO. Other shave ice just does not compare to the real deal! And then we hastily drove down the shrimp trucks, and I got garlic shrimp again, which was delicious. (I felt kind of bummed because Katie skipped lunch because they didn't take credit cards, and then her parents called and reminded her about the whole UD/Chaminade fiasco, which upset her, and I was remembering Dad being a little upset because he couldn't park anywhere when we came here, and then I got a little sad missing mom and dad. BUT. Still a good day.)

I am still sad that the legit woody wagon with board that we saw parked in front of the gas station the first time we went up to Haleiwa was not owned by the owners of the shop like I thought it was. I skipped getting a picture for dad because I assumed it would be up there when we went, but it wasn't. =( It made me want an old car like it so I could make it a real woody wagon. I LOVE THOSE OLD CARS! Every time we've gone up to North Shore I see just about one nice old car that makes me ooh and ah, but I don't think I've seen any nice 50's Chevys. Though I did see a red and white one similar the other day on the bus down to Kahala mall! Verruh nice cars.

Anyway so tonight was White Sunday, which is a Samoan holiday. The mass was beautiful! Their music and dancing was amazing. =D I wish I had pictures, but I don't. I'll have to see if I can get some from Genny!

I am kind of sad that it looks like I won't be able to go to Maui for more than a day or so because of the student recitals concert (and Hokule'a! maybe), but DARN I guess that means I have to come back!

38 days until Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! Oh geez oh geez exciting. I can't wait~~~

This is a pretty rad poster: http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/04/05/new-3d-indiana-jones-4-banner/

Yup =D

I can't believe I kept forgetting this! This year marks the 50th anniversary of the plastic lawn flamingo, though the original company closed last year and someone else bought the molds (and is making them).

They're kind of awesome. I think I may have already said this, but if I get a pair one will be named Phydeaux.

Also, re: 1957-- '57 Chevys, bitches.

re:re:1957-- INDIANA JONES IV WOOT WOOT

Also the re-edited Young Indiana Jones dvds came out a few days ago. It's going on my Christmas List for sure.

So... yeah, that was 50 years ago. Scary. Makes me think back to my HOLY CRAP 10 YEARS AGO revelations. Gah.