The Daily Adventures of Mercat

I have created a tumblr.

Consider this my resolutions for 2010:

To be healthier; eat better and get in shape more.

Journal more personally and perhaps protect my identity a bit more than I am generally wont to; thus, the tumblr. I think most links will be posted there unless I get a lot of protest? Idk, maybe I will post daily summaries of what's happening over there.

Can I get your opinions on that?






ALSO I totally bought the Indiana Jones puzzle game on my ipod. OMG. I love it. Totally worth $4.

Idk why but I've been tab-hoarding for weeks. As a result, running roughly 220 tabs was causing firefox to crash constantly. So, here is several days worth of tab writeups, which might mean whatever I wrote sounds a few days old. That would be because it is, but it's probably not too important.

( LOTS of articles )

( a second set, many more articles )

...I read a lot.

Can't remember if I posted this before, but today I felt like a walking Sprite can. Green coat, yellow bag, navy and white shoes. I fit the profile, trust me.

Things I did over the weekend instead of rehearsal, #thingsIforgotbefore: figured out how to juggle. Now all I need to do is practice enough so I'm not throwing stuff forward when I do it, and that way I will be able to stand still and juggle, and everything will be cool with the world.

For all you Twitter users out there: is there a way to only recieve "@" texts to your phone? I can read other stuff online, but it might be nice to get "@" messages when I'm just sitting in the airport texting or whatever.

Did I mention how excited I am over my Timbuk2 Metro bag? It's perfect. It's designed to fit composition-notebook sized things, which is hard to find in a medium-sized purse, and I don't want a full-on messenger bag size. Also, it's designed to last nigh on forever for people who are bike travelers, so the external material is weather-resistant to boot. (To the point most people call it waterproof.) And then the liner is vinyl, and it has a million awesome pockets, and a key loop, and a water bottle mesh, and it fits ALL my purse contents AND my netbook WITH ROOM TO SPARE. Fuck, I love this thing. I really really do. Plus all the pockets are covered and there is not only super-strong velcro but buckles on the flap that would definitely prevent this from being easily pick-pocketed. I AM SUCH A HAPPY CAMPER RIGHT NOW :D

Also, I went to Subway tonight for the "support Chuck" campaign or whatever, and I forgot how much I miss walking down Chaminade's campus to get a turkey sub at Subway and a Mountain Dew slushie down the street at the gas station and then walking back upstairs to my room and just surfing the net or watching a movie or whatever but just enjoying my slice of Hawaii. I miss it so freaking much.

Oh, I'm trying to figure out if I can attach one of my fake hibiscuses to my new bag (since it's all atrociously yellow) without poking a hole in the material that would let water in. Or I'm thinking I can paint some purple or green or blue stuff on there, but I don't know what. ~decisions~

I've come across a few interesting articles lately, thought I might pass them on.

I actually have no idea what this is, but it seems pretty interesting on the first read. (And to be fair I mostly just scanned it, my thoughts were a bit too scattered at the time to really try to understand it.)

Dude versus Dad, or, too much insight into why I take a lot of things too seriously.

Post-Americanism. I don't know about you but I am all for a slice of Humble Pie. You should never get too cocky about yourself, it leads to big disasters. Also? The sense I get from that article is "America no longer holds the records for biggest stuff!" Uh, hello current events, but the world can't go on forever with a My Cock's Bigger contest. We're starting to see the effects of overpopulation and limited resources as it is. I think it's a good thing that we're not at the top anymore and I'm hoping we can use, to put it stereotypically, good old American ingenuity to put us in a new direction for a BETTER planet and not just a BIGGER one.


Oh, and another thing about Iron Man: I guess it's doing pretty damn well this weekend. GOOD FOR IT. I think we need more movies like it, in the "plot is not boringly overdone" genre. Also, I forgot to say when reading the credits, yay Lucasfilm for ILM and Skywalker Sound. I kept thinking those props guys must have been having a field day. ( SPOILER )

also the fact that it's been nearly a decade since 1999 and SEVEN YEARS almost since 9/11 is continuing to blow my mind.

Also I think I posted about this before, but I have a strong desire to build something similar for severely less than $3000. My only problem is my lack of experience in programming and robotics, but honestly, remote control + iPod dock + projector + media system doesn't sound too terribly challenging, unless you're insistent upon a universal remote.

Well I was just about to post a very excited and happy entry for today but the Dorm Assisstant/security just came down and Silkie's mom had called because she's missing, sort of. I don't know to what extent but her mom is worried enough to call campus security, and none of us (her roommates) have seen her since Friday and we thought it was odd she left without her stuff and especially without her computer. So.

But, uh, back to what I was going to post.

Otherwise, today's been a good day.

OH HEY my roommate just got back. Talk about timing. Well that's good. I hope everything was okay. I guess she's downstairs checking in with the RD (the official term for dorm security as Genny informs me) and the police, so... yeah. Hm.


OKAY, SO. Today was a very fun day, in an extremely geeky manner, though I just sort of realized it. This morning my dad called me to wish Max and Kyle a happy birthday, though Kyle is in Argentina now. So after wishing Max happy birthday what they did was put me on speakerphone (in Yellow Springs) so I could wish Kyle happy birthday over videophone to Argentina. Ha. A quarter of a world away... craziness. Technology really is somethin'.

AAAAANYWAY. So I had plans to go see Iron Man (and the new Indiana Jones trailer!) with the xkcd kid yesterday but he never called me back, and I just wasn't in the mood to do much of anything today so I slept in (finally) and ate lunch and ended up going to see Iron Man by myself this evening. It was totally worth it, I needed some time to just chill, and let me tell you, Iron Man is badass.

I mean, I was totally geeking out the whole time. I felt like such an engineer, it was ridiculous. I was just like "ooh electromagnets!" and I'm such a gadety person, just... really. His computer setup was my favorite part. Just, can I have that drafting table yes please. Not even the 3D aspect! I just want a digital drafting table, and I was thinking about that article I read that Windows is working on a new prototype of computer that's basically a coffee table with everything transmitted with I dunno infrared or bluetooth or something, but I mean seriously. Would that not be the most badass drafting table EVER?!

Plus I just really enjoyed the movie. Lol Stan Lee. Also I think I enjoy movies like this and Batman because they way they wrote them, they're not too much of a stretch from real technology. I mean like that drafting table, the first thing I thought of was that Windows prototype and if I could use that to my advantage in the future in making a drafting table. (Except his computer was totally a Mac, and yeah, I geeked over that, too.) Obviously suits like that aren't very feasible, but they took the time to make it pseudoscience and a plot that hits close to home. (Mmm terrorism.) I don't mean on a personal level, just, current-events wise, I think that adds to making it feel more plausible (...for a superhero movie).

Also can you say Air Force?! Hell yeah. I think hometown pride is getting a little bit of a hold on me. (Hm and yes I did not really understand the "stabilizers" pseudoscience, so someone's going to have to explain that to me before I pass judgement, but I don't think it's very plausible. But not bad enough to detract from the plot either! YAY WRITERS) Anyway the "thanks to the USAF" list went by too quickly and I wonder if WPAFB was involved at all (probably not) or ( SPOILERS )

And the casting with Robert Downey Jr. and Gweneth Paltrow was good, neither of them have annoying quirks that detract from the movie. I am extremely enthused with the plot. It was fun, like a superhero movie should be, with some predictable jokes, but nothing too campy. (Same thing like the Batman thing; Superman is just too far out there for me to really appreciate it, I think. Oooooor they just need to get a good enough plot line.) ALSO, NO SERIOUS ROMANTIC SUBPLOT. Dear writers, I cannot thank you enough. If I have to see one more movie where they detracted from the story to add in a romance, I think I would kill myself. This was PERFECT just with the hint that it might come in a sequel or whatever and them flirting. SO much more realistic (omg people flirt and don't fall right in love?! what?! it can't be) that it just totally meshed. ( SPOILER )

Lol so yes I'm going to be buying this one on dvd. Kind of like Batman did, you just walk out of the theatre going "BADASS! fuck yeah" which is always a great feeling.

AND CAN YOU SAY NEW INDIANA JONES TRAILER? SEVENTEEN DAYS FOLKS and yes I missed yesterday. =/ I got distracted watching a heist movie. (Entrapment, pretty good. Definitely entertaining enough, though I'm not sure what the purpose of the whole-laser dance thing was, and it was just a tad predictable, though not in any bad way. I am just really in the mood for a movie that catches me up so I'm not thinking about what's going to happen next or something that totally throws me for a loop, like The Prestige did, especially like Prestige did. I called part of it and it STILL had a plot twist. YES.) Anyway, YAY NEW TRAILER! I'm sure you can find it with Google. As soon as it came on I was just like "ark music what?" and they actually show they crystal skull in the trailer (along with lots of other things, hm) which makes me wonder what exactly is going to happen. Still hoping it's not aliens, buuut we'll see I guess. And even if it is, like I said before, I'm still going to love it. Just sitting there watching the trailer I was smirking like crazy and trying not to jump up and scream "YESSS!" or do a dance or anything. Pure excitement. I love it. I love it I love it I love it and now I definitely can't wait to go home oh my god.

Hm, I guess I owe you for yesterday, too. Okay, another Temple scene that was cut. There was supposed to be a scene where a guard got hit by some lava from the caves and it broke him from the Black Sleep of Kali, and Short Round sees it, which would make the scene toward the end where he wakes up Indy come less out of nowhere. I never had a problem understanding it (I just presumed that fire woke you up, I mean really that's all there was to it) but it really would have made more sense to leave it in, especially since it was a shorter movie. Meh, whatevs.

Oh! Another thing about Iron Man. ( SPOILER )

Ha, so, I think that's mostly everything. It really was a great day, and tomorrow I have lots of fun plans, too. =) I really need to get those history take-home tests done, but... eh, it'll happen, no worries.

Oh hey, is anyone out there comic book fans? I've never been a comic book person, though with the influx of superhero movies I've really enjoyed them mostly (blech sans Spiderman) and in the middle of thinking "oh yay for a plotline with a non-totally-dependent female and no unnecessary romance" it hit me, are there really any badass women superheros out there? (Superheroes? Dammit I hate pluralizing that word, it never looks right.) I mean, there's obviously whatsherface from Fantastic Four but honestly that movie wasn't any good, and there's always Wonder Woman but let's be honest she's flying around in a corsetish thing and underwear. That's not really badass and she's some moon princess or something which is obviously not my kind of superhero as I've already covered. I guess there's sort of Storm and Jean Grey from X-Men, but, eh... not really. They don't really scream "badass" to me. =/ (Lol, Batman? Definitely.) And let's be honest, I think Wolverine has pretty much been the most well-known character from that series anyway (and not just the movies). Most all the other ones I can think of are sidekicks in a fashion, but I know that's because I don't know very many female superheros. Ultraviolet? Elektra? I don't know anything about those. From the ads they looked like they were sort of antiheroes in that revenge sense, but I mean I could be completely wrong. (Also, I don't think the movies were a terribly big hit.)

Okay, Catwoman comes to mind as a badass, but she's not exactly a hero. I dunno what to call her anti-hero? She's not really a bad guy, so she's kind of a badass with all the crap she does to tease Batman and whatever, but she's not a superhero either. Plus, let's be honest, the movie was not by any means great, and I'm like the one person who walked out of the theatre who enjoyed it. (YES I LIKE CATS A LOT OKAY lol)

So. For anyone out there with a bit (so pretty much any) more experience in comics than I, are there any badass female superheros out there? My drawing hand is itching.

perhaps I have been reading too much feminist stuff lately, I'm not usually one to jump to arms about something like that, especially since it was not an offensive trigger or anything

Maybe just not marching corps this year really has me missing all the BAness... =P