The Daily Adventures of Mercat

I'm alive! I'm posting! I know!

My lappy's hard drive took a dive the day before the semester started and I just got it back a few days ago. I have a lot of stuff to catch up on, but in the meantime enjoy this paper I wrote the other night about the book Cradle to Cradle (and the Biomimicry Institute) for my LEED class while I nearly pulled an all-nighter. It got a little bit ridiculous.

( In Which I Did Not Write a Technical Paper )



I can't even believe I wrote that. Apparently when I stay up late (and then only get 1.5 hours of sleep) my brain transfers function from "ability to form coherent sentences and thought patterns" to "creative but wildly ridiculous thought patterns".

IDEK

I was actually rather productive today, despite my alarm deciding not to go off on time. I started my grad school applications, which is a daunting task, particularly since I have no idea who I'm going to ask for recommendations. My boss I guess? I just don't have any particular comraderie with any of my professors. =/ By which I mean, I actively dislike a significant portion of my department, and the others I am apathetic towards. Anyway.

I also paid some bills, started the FE Exam application process, and tried to fix OneNote (still no luck--Windows' "help forms" are practically worthless considering in four days I've had one response that actually provided me with zero answers, only more confusion). Tomorrow I'm going to work on stuff for my portfolio, which is also intimidating since I'm not actually an art major, and I therefore don't have much to pull from. (Man, what if you were just an engineer with no arts background? What at all would you put in a portfolio?)

Dad and Laura went out to get a Christmas tree, which I didn't help put up at all, though I'm not terribly upset about that. At the moment I'm feeling more "busy" than "Christmasy", although turning on Christmas music won't get me riled up now about how it isn't even Thanksgiving.

I kind of do want to go out shopping, though. Every few weeks I feel the need for crass commercialization. I think it's kind of a "getting out of the house" thing combined with a "need to buy groceries" and "looking for visual stimulation/inspiration" type thing. The curse of being artistically inclined, sometimes, I swear.

Anyway, prompt time, before I go do something entertaining this evening.

My probably number one example for "any place I would like to visit one day" is the Angkor Wat in Cambodia. However, also on my list are visit Australia and all the National Parks, although "go everywhere" is pretty much the rest of my list, to be honest.

I'm thinking for next year, in order to keep up the "daily posting" but with something more substantial than a prompt, I might start doing Hardy Boys read-alongs. I haven't nearly read as many detective/spy/mystery novels since college/discovering the internet in high school/etc., and I kind of miss the genre as a whole. Plus, Hardy Boys books are really easy to page through. I think I can conquer one in about three hours total. Plus, it's been ages since I read the whole collection anyway, it'd be good to recall some of the plots.

A review of Avatar that pretty much sums up my feelings on the subject. The more I read about it, the less and less interesting it gets. =/ Meh.

I love Bill Nighy:



I, for one, am all for it. I also need to find more films with Nighy as he's been underused in everything I've seen him in (as Slartibartfast, Davy Jones the pirate, and Shaun's stepdad in Shaun of the Dead).

How to store and organize cats. Rather adorable, yes?

I didn't even know that people still didn't know what an address bar is, except maybe grandmas and grandpas and the like. I just... bwaaaaaaaaaa?



My kitties need to learn how to do that ASAP. Except they just expect you to turn on the sink, put noms in their bowl, or give up your cereal milk for them. Not nearly as multitaskable.

Woah, research on reversing the effects of aging. That kind of stuff is crazy!

Ohmigod. OHMIGOD. Elemental emission spectrum scarves. SOMEONE BUY ME ONE, HOLY SHIT THEY ARE AWESOME. I would wear it more than my physics scarf, even! It's a bit more subtle and colorful than my energy/displacement/pi scarf. <3


More later, maybe. Like the real goings-on in my life, not just a million internet links. =/

Yeah, so, don't send me to Second Time Around to look for things. I stumbled upon the Pink Panther Complete Cartoon set (we've been struggling to figure out how many dvds they put out for the 40th anniversary) AND THEN I found the complete movies set WITH Shag's art from the 40th anniversary, which they have since discontinued.

...So that put me back $90.

Plus then I found Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Stardust, a couple other dvds, and a Foreigner cd. And I nearly got Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb for ps2 but that would have put me back an additional $28, which seems rather excessive considering how long it's been out. And the fact that it was, in a previous life, a Hollywood rental disk, which by my guesses probably means it was treated pretty shittily.

Anyway, so overall, I spent $150 which was just kind of D8 soooo yeah. I don't need to spend anything for a while.


And then I got home and tried to use up my Sideshow gift card that came with my crystal skull figurine, but I didn't know you could only use it on certain items (all the expensive ones, of course...) sooo now I have a $25 "gift card" that is basically worthless to me, because all I want is the Indyfans dvd and maybe the decks of cards (which happens to total $22... that I can't use the card on). I mean, there are a couple of different more expensive things in the store I like, but I either don't really want them, don't need them, or they can't be paid for using the card. Uggghhh. (Although I've had the Dressing a Galaxy book on my wishlist forever, I really just can't justify $200-300 on a book.)



BUT I did get my room organized a bunch today, as well as the stuff from shool, so there's not much left to do with that.

Surveying starts tomorrow (ugh) which I'm hoping gets fucked up because of all the rain and we have to spend time doing nothing or having classes cancelled or something. I do not want to spend eight hours a day outside in the rain letting my boots fill up like lakes, thankyouverymuch.

SO HAPPY SUMMER TO ME D: That was my whole break, roughly speaking.

Although I did figure out one good thing today, I can open up some space on this computer if I put all my music & video files on an SD card (which, interestingly, the new specs allow for 2 TB) and since both my laptops and the mp3 player I'm looking at (Creative Zen X-Fi) all have SD slots, I could just keep my media files in one place (and back them up on my external drive) and that way I wouldn't have to worry about syncing my iPod or not having music on my netbook or anything. So, it will take a little bit of an investment, but it sounds like a plan.

My only upset currently is that the X-Fi doesn't necessarily work with MediaMonkey, and there are no Rockbox setups for anything Creative has, and I absoltely refuse to use Windows Media Player. I hate that thing. So I just have to hope for a miracle with MediaMonkey. Hoo boy. (Except... that doesn't necessarily work with Linux? So I'll have to keep running XP.)

[EDIT] Oh, and I actually got mom to want to watch Family Guy (Blue Harvest, because of the Airplane! and Blues Brothers references). She didn't pay much attention, but I'm glad I have it on dvd now so I can just pull it out and laugh heartily.

It's also significantly funnier if you hear the opening titles in your head as Peter saying them, since in essence he is, and it actually makes a lot more sense.

...Somehow.

OH MY GOD I GOT A ONE ON MY PLAYING AUDITION! :D I don't know how that happened. But I am really excited. So January 2-4 I am headed off to Wyoming, where I still have to do a marching audition, but which I am not at all worried about. Marching, I love. Marching, I can do. (Their vis staff was not able to get to the camp, so we were done early and everything. It was lovely.)

Oh my god, I miss drum corps so much. I can't wait for next summer. Just need to do more pre-conditioning this time around, and I'll be good. Arm strength, ability to run... Especially since everydays in June will be a mile high and cold. Breathing block will be miserable. And it sounds like Troopers is big on running laps.

But I'm glas I made the choice I did... It was interesting to hear the guys at the camp talk about how vets would go off to the "good" corps for a year or so and then age out back where they had family. Basically, the impression I got from my audition at Phantom was right... They are mostly interested in winning, not in who you are. Apparently one of their friends was the center snare for Phantom--center snare--and the staff didn't know his name until several days into everydays. That's ridiculous. And not to say every winning corps is there, but it just makes me feel better about not going to Crown. I think it's insulting to get money out of camps for so long and waste my time, not to mention... that. So much a different type of family, it's not even funny.

As for my computer, UDit is completely useless. Every time I email them about a message I am getting (no matter how minor) their general response is a lame question about retrieving data I already gave them, and "if that doesn't help then bring it in". So once again, they proved completely useless and with several hours of programs that didn't work, I finally found the solution through Google (I ran the fake program name as well as the "trojan" name). Oh, I don't know if I got that far in explaining before--it turned out to be an adware file that only looks like a windows security message telling you that you have a trojan (mine was Trojan.Zlob.G, but the file itself was merman.exe) and recommends you download a removal program (Program Defender 2009). This is fake safety software that "runs" a diagnostic to find the issue and fails partway through, prompting you to upgrade. So then the hackers get your money. And the multitude of anti-spyware programs I now have downloaded got rid of the fake security program, but to get rid of the adware (the fake windows messages) you have to start your computer in safe mode, go to Applications, find the "Google" folder and delete the two fake files in it. (I was worried at first, but there's nothing else there--it's not actually a Google folder.) So, once again, UDit is a failure and I fixed my own computer simply with Google-fu.

And now, lots and lots of linkspam because I've been a terrible, terrible tab user lately. And no lj-cut because I am CRUEL.

I rather love this Neil Gaiman poster. And speaking of zombies, I just watched 28 Days Later, which is a pretty good movie but feels... incomplete, somehow. But it did remind me of watching Sean of the Dead, which I somehow connected to that from the fact that I finally got my Phi Rho paddle, and I thought it looked like a cricket bat, and Christine and I somehow determined we are going to play cricket with my paddle and bouncyballs. Yesss. I miss Nookball a lot, haha.

This may be the saddest PostSecret ever. Not the most depressing, but one I could never understand... That's a sort of compromise I could never make, and it must be terrible to be in fear of something that other people think is so great about life. Wow, that was a really concise version of what I think and probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense... Maybe I'll expand upon it more later. I don't know.

Harrison Ford doing J. J. Adams Comedy? I'd be up for that. He's really entertaining with dry humor.

Daniel Craig wants Moneypenny and Q in the next Bond movie. EXCELLENT. Craig should be my new best friend. I want Q back and I think they should keep John Cleese. He can do srsface just fine.

The interesting source of phrases such as "in the limelight". Cool beans.

FSM nativity, pirates included. I love it. (The displays of FSM lights are awesome, too.)

I am totally doing this in my room. Now just to find tables...

This freedom-of-religion article showed up on my friendslist somewhere. I've had that sitting around but today I randomly stumbled upon an article discussing it (and atheist messages) which I think is really interesting. Another article about atheism where I think the more interesting topics are unrelated--digital ghosts and older people's mentalities. My dad said he read an article about the testing of older folks, and that it's not the idea that "old people are grumpy" but rather, they lose the ability to censor themselves, so to speak. Which is interesting in contrast to the idea that they are like children.)

A really interesting article about the "anti-wedding" which I may have posted when I was talking about feminism. It has a lot of good points. Sorry about the awkward formatting, the link to the actual article was really messy.

Thylacines can open their jaws up to 120 degrees... That's so, so disturbing.

The octodress. Is it not amazing? As creepy and fucking disturbing as ocotpi are, they are really cool as a deocrative element. (However, when they decide to take over the planet, we are doomed.)

This is some pretty cool art with lamps and such in nature. Awesome.

I forgot about this Pushing Daisies soundtrack that was coming out! SO MANY SONGS, I LOVE IT

Pretty cool article about major movie studio logos. I forget what the original reason was that this was so fascinating... Some tidbit I can't remember at the moment.

Pretty cool old "music video" from 1928.

I like these alternative Christmas Tree ideas.

Someone commented on Betty Page's death calling her "spectacularly singular"... I don't know why, I really like that phrase. And it's true.

So tonight I went out to dinner with my parents and grandparents and my aunt and uncle, and we got to talking about Facebook and the fact that my dad has one to keep in touch with people, and then of course my grandparents being my grandparents we started arguing about the morality of employers checking the Facebook profiles of potential employees. Of course I just gave them my solution--lock your damn facebook. But it's interesting what some people might think about what's on your profile, and different points of view on that. And talking to some people, it's weird to have parents on facebook. I was just looking back at an older post from when dad joined, and I said "WHAT" like it's weird but I think moreso it was just unexpected. Laura apparently didn't friend him, but she, who knows, might have something to hide. (Partying, probably.) I don't necessarily want dad to see my excessive cursing or the fact that I'm no longer Catholic (not that he'd necessarily see "pastafarian" and "church of heathus christ of ledger-day saints" not as humor only), but you know what? Laura's cursed in front of him, he knows we watch shit-for-tv or movies sometimes, I don't care so much. I don't curse in front of him or my grandparents, that's good enough for me. But other people talked about having family finding out about photos on facebook that they didn't want their parents or others to see, and you know what? I don't really get it. If you're worried, make it private, friends-only. If you're concerned about your little brothers and sisters showing your parents... Here's a grand idea: don't do anything in your life you wouldn't be proud of. If you make mistakes, admit they were mistakes and move on, but if something is a concern to your image, don't do it! I don't understand why that's so hard for people... I mean, from peers to politicians, what's so difficult about making good decisions? About thinking things through... Honestly.

Oh my god there is a hilarious skit on Robot Chicken about the construction of the Raiders temple. IT IS AMAZING. Hopefully it will be up on youtube superfast.

OH MY GOD. THEY CAN TAKE IMAGES OUT OF YOUR BRAIN NOW. You have no idea how long I have been waiting for this sort of technology to get started... I want to record dreams like crazy.

Whew, I think that's everything for now.

Auditions tomorrow. I'm nervous.

My computer is fucked up... I have a trojan, or so it keeps telling me. "Fix by clicking here" and nothing happens. ARGH.

Ah, banking. I think one day I will need to hire someone to do my money for me because I am too laid back about it. I keep rough estimates in my head and that's about it. (You should see my checkbook, it's a shame. Good thing I pretty much never use it.)

Sometimes I am too much of an engineer. Now, I know I say that a lot, and what I mean when I say "too much of an engineer" is not that I love engineering (I'm finding the math to be more and more of a chore, and I'm pretty sure any purely-desk job is going to be the death of me) but that my mind is inherently practical. I know it's too simplistic but for the sake of polar opposites (the extremes of a spectrum) there's the engineer and the artist. The artist goes around freely while the engineer is anal-retentive about everything. My issue is that I have the practical, logical side of the engineer inside the artist, but I know that I have the skills and the intelligence to handle the engineering side. (I'm just learning I don't really enjoy it so much.)

The whole main stupid point of this is that coming home from being AWAY away for school, I've noticed some social abnormalities that drive my mom insane but work for me. And I have the distinct feeling living with someone who was not a careless college student would be somewhat awkward or a social challenge. For example, I don't really clean. I mean, I keep things clean enough to work, but I don't organize my stuff because what gets used most is where I need it and I organize things by memory. Where was that little craft part I needed? Oh yeah, I last saw it organizing my closet so it's on the craft shelving in my closet on the supplies shelf in the bits box. However this drives my mom insane.

Anyway, that's just an example. This thing will be the death of me because I won't want to keep track of finances, or make elaborate meals (elaborate meaning, like... normal), or keep things as well maintenanced as they should be.

(Except for some reason I file things on my computer to an inane degree. If they invented tag systems for storage rather than folders, I will die happy.)

DAMN YOU LAZINESS WHEN DID YOU KICK IN (Seriously when I was in gradeschool I used to be super-driven, I don't know what happened.)

Hm... I actually have the initiative to post tonight. I think because it's more of a linkspam and also I'm trying to make my internet time more efficient so I waste less time on it. (Now, I use "waste" as a turn of phrase, because I feel that it's just like reading for me, and I think I learn a fair amount online.)

ANYWAY.

Gah! It just started raining again. DAMMIT. Plz to be stopping raining! I want to dooo stuuuuff. (Well, not now, but, tomorrow and stuff!) Although I am enjoying the cool weather.

The people in the room... below me, I think... are watching some horror film, and it is fucking LOUD. Not really a problem as it's only 9 pm, as opposed to the jerks up stairs who pick up the drumsticks at 11 and go until two.

I'm kind of sad. Hawaii is really starting to feel like home to me, in the sense that I'm getting more familiar with it and less nervous about doing stuff. I mean, I was comfortable here pretty quickly, but I'm starting to be less nervous, saying hi to people who are only acquaintances and riding the bus by myself and stuff. =( I mean yeah, I am PSYCHED to get home home and be with everybody and see Indy IV (and The Fall... PLEASE GOD let the Neon or Little Art Theatre pick it up!), but I do think I will have left a small piece of my heart here. (I think I would like to live here, but maybe only on occasion. I don't think I could stand being so far away from everything for very long, in the sense that I like to travel around. I mean, if I had to, yeah I would have no problem living here. MINUS THE FACT THAT ALL THE AIRLINES ARE CLOSING GODDAMNIT)

SO LET'S GET DOWN TO BWEEZNESS.

Bond--> Quantaum of Solace? Personally it sounds like they're trying to hard with that title, but then again maybe there is some required amount of Cheez(tm) that you need in a James Bond film; Moonraker and Die Another Day had it in the plot, and this one's trying to cram it all into the title so the movie itself doesn't suck? Maybe. I dunno. Just a theory. Anyway, Amy Winehouse doing the music? Should I even know/care about/like any of her stuff? In general I don't listen to the cRap on the radio today (uh, "hip-hop" and "pop" these days aren't much better), but seriously. Amy Winehouse? Granted, I have not had a TV since the end of January, but everything I've seen about her in the news boils down to this. Grammy, drunk, jail, drunk, maybe drugs? And more drinking. Plus her eye makeup is FUCKING SCARY. And her hair. (WHAT IS THAT?!) So I'm really hoping "no", at least until someone provides me with evidence that she doesn't suck.

"Nora Roberts Inspires Indy Bookstore." Now, what I want to know is this: 1) Did they mean "Indie" and not only that but 2) did they miscapitalize "inspires", "indy" AND "bookstore"? You'd think people who wrote about books would know that sort of grammar rule. I think I learned that in first grade when we started having writing competitions.

Well hello, FSM. You're looking delicious today! (Also: these people are eloquent and have a good point. They are very good at expressing the "whole point" [the REALISTIC point for those of you with no funny bone] of Pastafarianism without resorting to ridicule or sarcasm. Many wins were had.)

Tangent: Hmm, methinks my English skills are devolving with me being here in Hawaii. It's either the lack of work I'm doing, or maybe it's me spending too much time on a certain lulzy website. But I'm struggling to come up with the right phrases that I usually use. ("Phrases" is not what I wanted to say. I also was trying to come up with the word "conducive" two minutes ago but decide on "encouraging.") This isn't a huge problem except that my internal train of thought has a certain rhythym/meter/flow to it that forgetting words just fucks right up. Oh, grammar.

Also: IE WHY ARE YOU FROZEN. I know I hate you but please unfreeze so I can watch videos again. =( Anyone with Firefox skills out there? I can't watch videos/flash in firefox anymore because it is soundless and freezes after two seconds. And now back to your regularly scheduled linkspam.

In light of the fact that lots of people I know are getting tattoos, I have to point this out. Barring the fact that they prove UV ink to be really super safe, it will probably be the closes I'll come to a tattoo.

I don't have a link for this, but Maggie Gyllenhal is looking RAD in replacement of Krazy Katie Holmes. Holmes was just so... blah... in that role. (Blase... where are my accent shortcuts when I need them...) Other than Indy IV and The Fall this could be one of the biggest things I'm looking forward to (movie-wise) this summer. IF ANYBODY FINDS OUT IF THE FALL IS PLAYING ANYWHERE IN OHIO I DEMAND TO KNOOOOOOOOOOW

44 days until Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! DISCUSSION TIME~~ (Those tildes make it sing-songy. Because I said so, that's why.) Right on. SO. I've seen a lot of "all movies are these days is sequels! Blah blah blah whine bitch whine" (and hey, sometimes I am on that front, too). BUT. Everyone saying that Indy IV is just the first of a new trilogy (OR, the in-between for Indy and Mutt trilogies) is kind of pissing me off. Um, and scaring me.

Yeah, Mutt's character looks cool. But he just can't be Indiana Jones, and I think if you take that character away from it there wouldn't be so much of a universal market. Just sayin'! I mean go for them if they'd go through with something like that but I don't think I'd be too pressed to care other than seeing/buying the movie. Basically what it boils down to is that Indiana Jones is the summation of all the people who've worked on it, and a lot of it came from Ford. Good comparison: everything Johnny Depp did to create (Captain!) Jack Sparrow and create a character that would be interesting. (Not that Ford really redirected the story at all waitaminit minus cutting the sword fight I ALMOST forgot that for a second.) So, yeah.

In other Shia news, someone on the Indy forum I read started calling him LaPoof because of his hair. I lol'd. Also, there's a new video about his stuff on the site, and it's pretty interesting. You'd be hard pressed to get me to admit this in general, but I watched it twice and giggled like an idiot every time. Basically proof I'm going to love this movie no matter what.

And based off of that, I had a premonition of my upcoming post immediately after the movie comes out: It will be something like "*GLEE!*" in a significantly larger font.

Ohhh geeez exciiiitemeeeeeent

Hm... yeah, still did nothing today.

I got Dudley Do-Right today in the mail (finally!) and yes it is hilarious, but only if you are entertained by small things like I am. Alfred Molina is hilarious, his Snidley Whiplash laugh is pretty funny. Brendan Fraser is okay, it kind of seems like they're playing off his George of the Jungle role though, and he's not very Dudley-ey. The only time he seems like Dudley Do-Right is when he says "I love you" to Nell, and then that's a voice thing. Though if you appreciate the old Dudley Do-Right cartoons, they did pretty well with what they had. Eric Idle makes it awesome, too. Honestly, Sarah Jessica Parker pretty much ruins it.

I definitely think that the main problem is that this generation doesn't appreciate old humor, or old techniques of anything, really.

Um, and the movie's kind of dated (CLEARLY from 1999), but not in any way that takes away from it.

Yes! So. After watching that I kind of just sat around and bitched at my computer for not doing anything I wanted it to (firefox + youtube = sucks).

71 days until Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! Today's trivia: More reference time! This time we're going to my new favorite TV show, Pushing Daisies. (Incidentally, it's not coming back until next fall because it takes so much work for each episode. I AM SAD, but at least it got renewed at all!) Anyway, in the... oh geez, fourth episode? There is a guy escaped from prison who is on the search for some diamonds and is dressed up roughly like Indiana Jones. It's rough, but close enough to count. I don't think you can do fedora + leather jacket + shoulder bag and say it wasn't inspired by Indiana Jones. Because it's a fedora, and NOT an outback or Aussie hat or anything like that.

Evidence, though the pinch on the hat isn't really deep enough in that shot. (Not like you care, haha.)

Aaaanyway. I wish Pushing Daisies was on reruns or something. =( OR THAT THE FALL WAS FREAKING OUT ALREADY... It's supposed to be out "at a limited run" in April but there's no trace of where and I really, really want to see it because who knows how long it will take to get to dvd?! Auuuuugh, curse you League of Extraordinary Gentlemen for sucking some serious ass.

Demyla's totally crushing on Lee Pace, too, which is good because it means I can drag her along in my hunt for Pushing Daisies desperateness. muahahaha I am evil.

You know, every so often, I get really interesting thoughts and questions. I remember reading something--I think when Ep III came out--about how it was clearly marketing and not precisely storytelling that all the new technology was created for. Obviously, that's one challenge of creating prequels, but SW IV, V, and VI all were in a period where technology had mostly hit its peak and wasn't going anywhere (I believe I've heard the term stagnating somewhere), and it's only 20 or 30 or so years later.*

So all this makes me wonder; when my generation is old, will we have the advantage of growing up with a completely new form of technology, so much so that we don't fall as much victim to advancement as the older generations of today?** I mean, Nana never really understood more than enough to check her email, and Grandma and Grandpa are weary enough of it now (though Gramps uses AutoCAD well at work, and I would presume Grandma uses Office plenty), and it's interesting to watch Dad hook up musical software and a keyboard for Miss Shoup, though she doesn't really like it. Or Father Ken not understanding installing/using iTunes. I mean, the technology we have doesn't seem to be going anywhere other than getting faster, better, or used for new things, but I'm not really sure we have many new places to come up with something revolutionary for (excepting, perhaps, time travel, but that's a whole other matter).

Just a thought.

Funnily enough for Christmas I got one of my favorite books from when I was little, the Time Warp Trio book 2095. I think I read it before second grade, because I remember drawing the Sell-Bots and I'm 99% sure it was in the second-grade classroom. Hmm, I must have read it when it first came out because that would have been some part of 1995, and it was published in '95.

Anyway, it makes me wonder if I'll be alive or what I'll be doing in 2095, and how much life will be different from now, or how close it will be to the book. I mean, it's been about twelve years since that was imagined and though we don't have holograms or anti-grav devices or sell-bots there are those FUCKING ANNOYING video ads at the mall. Which in 88 (!-hee) years will have "matured", as it were.

I hope I'm alive then. If I am I'll be in New York on September 28th. Just so you know. (Under Teddy Roosevelt's statue at the Museum of Natural History. We'll party.)

(Also, this book is THE definitive reason I collect synonyms for puke. I think it was the tomboy lit-nerd in me.)


*Now I suppose I should put some more research into it, but how established was the technology in Ep I, II, and III? I mean... where did podracing go by the time Luke rolled around? Although, to be fair (I suppose), Anakin was obviously some sort of genius and may have completely fucked up all the worlds' technologies with his new stuff, and the war. (As for continuity in the Star Wars universe I don't think I want to touch the books with a ten-foot pole. Except the one I got for my tenth birthday which I wish I hadn't given away...)

**Then again, my generation--which has GROWN UP WITH COMPUTERS, mind you--is none too adept itself. Watching my cousin or my friends try to install something is sad and hilarious at the same time. Though I take pride in not being an idiot computer-wise, nor being socially ignorant like all the newbs online who join communities and have NO CLUE to just sit back and absorb the tone of the place before doing anything. Ugh.