The Daily Adventures of Mercat

First of all, happy holidays, merry christmas, all that jazz. It still doesn't feel like Christmas... which sucks. This semester just took so much out of me, mentally.

I was going to do a whole special holiday post and go "caroling" on people's journals this year, but damned if I am just not too tired. Ugh. I think I will do a christmas recap later.

Instead, Laura, Max, Kyle, Chris, and I got bored and went out to see a movie on Christmas, the first time in my life I have ever done that. I was a little pissed because I wanted to see Sherlock Holmes or Imaginarium and Imaginarium isn't out anywhere locally as far as I can tell and everybody else decided no, Holmes was going to suck, so let's see Avatar.

I was a bit reluctant because of all the Dances With Smurfs crap I've seen about it, not to mention the fact that I hatehatehate most CGI because it comes off looking fake. Maybe not the textures, but the laws of physics never seem to apply. (Not to mention Uncanny Valley shit like Polar Express, GOTDAMN.) But Chris as drunk as fuck and my whole life I've been trying to fight Max and Kyle and Laura when they team up and it just does not fucking work, okay? Ugh. I hate them when they get like that.

Anyway, the non-spoilery summary, it's pretty good. Yes, Dances With Smurfs. Yes, visually stunning. Yes, has lots of lame moments. Dialogue was actually better than I expected. Anyway, I'd say, if you're interested, see it, but it's not some great epic, and it has lots of eye-rolling moments. (At three hours long, I do mean lots.)

( and now, the spoilers, warning for discussions on race, gender, engineering, and more )

But as for April 22, Happy Earth Day!



I'll just be over here, depressed that in my lifetime we will probably run the earth out of resources. Awesome.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
I went shark diving, I saw an Indiana Jones movie on the big screen, and I made a complicated Halloween costume by myself.


2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don't know if I made any hard-set resolutions for last year; I did go through with my relax-and-find-yourself and celebrate-the-year-of-Indy plan, but I don't think I really came through on much else. (I think I made a resolution to exercise more, and I think it fell through.)


3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
The Vanderhorsts have a new baby, Danielle.


4. Did anyone close to you die?
Grandpa McGarvey.


5. What countries did you visit?
Hawaii... which is part of the US, but some people want it to go back to being another country because it was illegally taken over (technically, annexed) by the US. So, I'm saying that sort-of counts as another country, bwa.


6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Some peace of mind when it comes to different friends, and maybe more idea of how things are going to play out after UD (internship; grad school; that sort of thing).


7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May 22--Indy IV. Why? I've only been looking forward to that for, oh, nine years or more.


8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Being more confident in my beliefs, and figuring out that engineering is nice but not everything I wanted.


9. What was your biggest failure?
Procrastinating on large projects too much.


10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Well, this sinus infection that won't go away right now, and puking on Chrismas... Those are probably the closest things I can think of. Lots of temporary injuries in Hawaii, but those are all in the name of fun and adventure, so no worries.


11. What was the best thing you bought?
MY NEW FEDORA, MY BABY <3 (Oh, and my bitchin' cell phone.)


12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My friends. Some days they are my saviors.


13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Friends who dump plans repeatedly and don't listen to what you're saying when you're concerned about their choices; I'm thinking of two particular people. One of them is Chris, and the other one, not surprisingly, I didn't see over break at all. Here's a hint: she dropped plans so often there is now a term for backing out named after her.


14. Where did most of your money go?
Hawaii, and Indiana Jones stuff. But even in Hawaii, it was mostly Indiana Jones stuff. :D


15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Oh, I don't know, there was this movie that came out, you know...


16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Oh, damn, good question. I'm not really sure, but probably something we played in marching band, like Kung Fu Fighting.


17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? happier
ii. thinner or fatter? maybe fatter; I was probably still gaining weight from marching then.
iii. richer or poorer? about the same, but I spent a lot, so I'll go with richer.


18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Going to the beach in Hawaii, and hanging out with that bunch. They were fun and we don't really get the same chance to hang out here.


19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Wasting time doing nothing... internet, tv, younameit.


20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I hung out with family... and got sick.


22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Not particularly.


23. Did your heart break in 2008?
No more than usual... and I'd say by the end here it healed more than anything.


24. What was your favorite TV program?
PUSHING DAISIES WITHOUT A DOUBT. Also The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, House, Family Guy, Robot Chicken.


25. Did you know anybody who got married?
I went to Hannah and Alex's wedding... And some other friends got engaged and I think I missed their weddings, but I never heard any more than engagement. (Andy and Melanie; Amanda Godwin and her beau)


26. What states did you visit in 2008?
Hawaii, Indiana, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and the ones in between that when we drove.


27. Where were you when 2008 began?
Home with the cats.


28. Who were you with?
Just my kitties.


29. Where will you be when 2008 ends?
At Lara's house, with her family, and Kevin and Lara's sister's boyfriend.


30. Who will you be with when 2008 ends?
The folks I just mentioned, and I thought Christina was going to come, but I guess she was busy.


31. What was the best book you read?
I don't know, I didn't read a whole lot, but I just read Wicked (again) the other day and it was really good.


32. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Good question... Maybe the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain?


33. What did you want and get?
My fedora, and Indiana Jones stuff, and Indy IV (and seeing it in the theatre and having fun watching it).


34. What did you want and not get?
A drama-free social life... *sigh*


35. What was your favorite film of this year?
I think you know.


36. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I went to class and went to dinner with my family, and I turned 20. (My dad turned... 48?)


37. Where did you go on vacation?
Kauai, Outer Banks, Wisconsin and Indiana if you count drum corps events.


38. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Be more me, and buy some nicer clothes for dressing up. I think it worked.


39. What kept you sane?
Not much, really. And I don't know if I qualify as sane.


40. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Haha, "fancy". Oh, probably Lee Pace, what the hell.


41. What political issue stirred you the most?
The election, the issues with the Olympics in China, and Project Chanology.


42. Did you have to go to the hospital?
Nope.


43. How many concerts did you see in 2008?
Pfft, no idea. I don't really go to "concerts" per se, but I see a lot of musical performances.


44. Did you have a favorite concert in 2008?
Drum Corps finals?


45. Who was the best new person you met?
Hmm, maybe my Hawaii Islander Exchange friends.


46. Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?
Who didn't? But you make mistakes so you can learn, so it isn't a total waste or shame. (That is, unless you don't learn.)


47. What was your most embarrassing moment of 2008?
Pissing off band senior over something really stupid; I'm sorry I did something that pissed him off but I'm not exactly sorry about doing it in the first place. (It's a complicated situation, but things smoothed over.)


48. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
We only have a limited amount of time, so do your best with it. Never sleep in as often as you want to. And don't be afraid of death itself, because you'll feel about the same as what you remember from before you were born.


49. What are your plans for 2009?
Write more, think more, waste less time. Get in shape and do well with Troopers. (Meaning, no pussing out.) Live my life as who I am and don't let other people get me down about it when they have no room to talk (or even, sometimes, when they do).


50. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

Get out from that kitchen and rattle those pots and pans
Get out from that kitchen and rattle those pots and pans
Well, roll my breakfast 'cause I'm a hungry man

[Chorus:]
I said Shake, rattle and roll
I said Shake, rattle and roll
I said Shake, rattle and roll
I said Shake, rattle and roll
Well, you never do nothin' to save your doggone soul

Wearin' those dresses, your hair done up so nice
Wearin' those dresses, your hair done up so nice
You look so warm, but your heart is cold as ice

[Chorus]

I'm like a one-eyed cat, peepin' in a sea-food store
I'm like a one-eyed cat, peepin' in a sea-food store
I can look at you, tell you don't love me no more

I believe you're doin' me wrong and now I know
I believe you're doin' me wrong and now I know
The more I work, the faster my money goes

[Chorus]

Shake, Rattle And Roll

Well, here we are at the last day of 2008. And what a year it was. This was the year I took a break for myself and sat down to figure things out; school, job, me, all that jazz. I suppose I should do a year in review thing.

( 2008 )





So later I can write about what I want for 2009. I grew in 2008, a lot. 2008 had a lot of downs, but a lot of adventure... And most importantly, I feel like I know who I am. (I spent too much money but I was indulging to relax as well as for Indiana Jones stuff; I'm not sorry but I will have to start watching my budget more.) I've kind of turned into a little bit of a jerk but I've caught it and I want to work on it for next year; and just within the past week or so I've finally been able to let some things go. I didn't write about them at all yet, but I can finally let go of one weight and forgive someone else.

It feels really good to start a new year that way.


Yeah, sorry, no Christmas stuff (again), I'm running out of time!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! May 2009 be everything you want it to be, and more.

(That was our team name tonight at trivia. We decided we were probably going to be a failure, and in the end we did have to throw our last card to lose [which we did hilariously], and then we tied as losers. FRUSTRATING.)

Lots of tabs to clean up, and then I owe you all some Christmas cheer.

This may just be the stupidest person I've ever seen. Ignore the title; someone reposted it to make fun of creationists, but clearly this is just crazy. I mean, seriously... Light spectrum much, honey? Damn.

I found an atheism wiki. I'm just tucking this link here because I often want to make a point about some fact, but I am terrible about actually remembering the fact itself and not just the point it was trying to prove. (Just another reason in the long list of Why I'm a Terrible Public Speaker.) Not sure how quality the wiki is (meaning updated, etc.), but it's here to remind myself to investigate.

Oh, wow, no, there doesn't seem to be much at all in regard to science. Or rather, not nearly as much as I was hoping. But there are a lot of discussions on the aspects of different religions, so that should be interesting.

Dear god I had too much sugar tonight. After that Mountain Dew wore off I had the Jack's Bar of Gold, and ever since I got home I've been shaking like crazy. I mean, just my hands need to do something, but it's driving me insane and I can't wait for it to wear off.

So I somehow got linked (probably through Neatorama) to a website called People Who Deserve It, which is all about reasons to punch deserving people in their faces. Sounds like my particular branch of outlandish, hyperbolic-violenced humor, right? Correct. And here are two of my top punchees:

Grown man who refuses to eat crusts. THEY DO NOT EVEN COUNT AS CRUSTS ON AMERICAN BREAD, OMG IT'S SO WEAK AND THERE'S NO CHEW AT ALL! (And yes, I do realize that by being humorously hyperbolic I open up room for hypocrisy; you're kind of supposed to ignore that for the sake of the humor. I don't understand why people always feel the need to point it out... Anyway, in this case, the hypocrisy stands in that I was pointing out to Alicia earlier this evening how ridiculous it is that I don't chip-cut pickles. I just don't. I only eat dill pickles anyway, but for some reason when I was little I was convinced that chip-cut ones taste different, and obviously in a bad fashion. And that's stayed with me, for some reason.)

The Eew-Not-Tuna! Guy. I'm not being too hyperbolic on this one. People need to growthefuckup about the smell of tuna. It's not that strong, it's not that gross. I ate it every day for FOUR YEARS in gradeschool, and I LOVED IT. Oh, and bell peppers go on this list, too.

Pictures from a guy whose job it is to be a film location scout in NY. Pretty cool shit. I am totally jealous of his job.

A Russian Professor's theory on the US's collapse... in two years. I'm sorry, but I just don't see it. I quite honestly think the US is too proud, for the time being at least, to fall, literally, to pieces; in addition, I severely doubt they would return to affiliation or possession of other countries if they were to break up. First of all, we no longer live in such an imperialist environment; and the US was (or is, depending on your views) an empire itself. Hawaii would be independent, no doubt. Perhaps captured later on for strategy, but for as long as possible I'm sure it would be independent. My guess is something similar would happen with Alaska, though I am sure their independent streak is slim to none; more likely they would fall in with Canada (who speaks English, and is attached closely, and has societal ties with US culture) than Russia (who is on another continent and, by dateline, the "other end of the map", and who speak Russian and dislike American culture). Texas and the south falling to Mexico? No. This is Texas we're talking about. They always have that underlying flavor of secession as it is anyhow, there's no way they'd go crying to Mexico or some shit. California under Chinese influence? Doubtful. Unless China could exert it's hand in a production-based strategy, and exert it heavily, I think US culture would stay far too intact of its anti-communist ideals. That whole central part falling into cahoots with Canada? Undoubtedly. Maybe not legally part of the country, but I think there's enough Northerner feeling. Ohio, though, I might add, I would see more likely hooking up with the South, despite its connection to Erie. I mean, seriously, have you talked to anyone from Xenia or Fairborn? There are places north of here people already consider The South. Scary thought. Atlantic states joining the EU? Don't you kind of have to be a part of Europe for that to work?

Fascinating from the point of view I have from my history classes' focus on imperialism in the World Stage, I can tell you that much.

Formulating energy out of roads being driven, kind of a cool idea. However, an article referred to this as a "green solution"; maybe you mean more "green" than the situation is currently, but since when was driving cars a help to any green project?!

FUCKING CREEPY AS SHIT BEACH SCULPTURES. Oh god the nightmares I am going to have. (...Metaphorically. I don't actually get nightmares.)

Ugh, I'm too tired for this Christmasing. Tomorrow, I swear.

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.)

Dad had me run out to the store to get supplies for chex mix, and ugghhhh I feel like crap again. I was hungry and grabbed a cookie on my way out, and now I'm not really interested in eating. Everything ends up tasting like stomach acid. :C Although I am really craving shrimp or sushi or something equally delish at the moment... (And by "at the moment" I mean "since I came home from Hawaii".)

Anyway, the list of things under the tree for me... My parents said they were going to keep it small since we decided to MOVE all of a sudden this year (seriously... still weird) and that our gifts would mostly be the house and new furniture and those sort of things. Buuuut I guess they had a little too much fun buying stuff.

Both mom and dad got Laura dvds of "A Christmas Story"... greaaaat. Now she can watch it all the time. That movie really annoys me, for some reason.

Probably one of my favorite gifts was a lamp and lampshade that James got for me... it's so flipping awesome. The shade is this burnt-orange-silk looking material with a brown damask pattern on it. Laura picked it out but seriously James whatthehellit'ssocool. Laura also got me this antique wooden stamp that used to be used for printing wallpapers, and an tibetan-looking chime, and a set of tibetan prayer flags.

I made Laura a scarlet-and-gray pillow, and now I feel bad that it was kind of cheap because she and James' gifts are so awesome... =/ But otherwise I didn't really know what to get her and I know she likes to spend. So, I dunno.

Otherwise:
--Pushing Daisies Season 1 (!!!!!! I didn't put this on my wishlist because I was going to buy it myself, but YAY! Also, I need to remember to buy mom The Big Bang Theory for her birthday gift.)
--DIAGNOSIS MURDER SEASONS 1-3 OMG YAY. I DID NOT EVEN KNOW THEY MADE THEM PAST THE FIRST SEASON, WOO-WOO
--Galoshes! Unexpected but particularly useful on UD's puddle of a campus.
--underwear... you can never have enough.
--"dark blue" Lindt truffles (milk chocolate outside with dark chocolate inside)
--waffle house moneys!
--a "one minute organizer" book... strangely the only book
--SpongeBob Christmas Special DVD
--seat covers for my car
--a fuzzy and warm Dayton beanie
--chapstick
--advil
--UD socks
--gloves
--orange tictacs
--my sister's old athletic iPod nano strap... stained blue by a backpack-highlighter leak, I am sure. I am also worried I will be sweating blue or stained blue myself. (I also had to restrain from making "I BLUE MYSELF!" jokes, as no one in my family watches Arrested Development.)
--TWO OF MY DAD'S ANTIQUE CAMERAS OMG THEY ARE SO COOL. One I think is maybe just a pin-hole, but the other one is the type where you flip the front out and it has this accordion-type thing behind the lens... SO COOL.
--a really wicked tin-covered wooden side-table for my room. It's made out of recovered Indian furniture... It's wicked. Not as cool as the velvet-and-polished-tin-stool from Europe that I wanted, buuuut significantly cheaper. And probably looks more well-traveled because it is older, and it looks a little grungier (read: oxidized).

I got a piece of pizza down, no trouble, but I still can't get rid of this taste in my mouth... And my head kind of hurts. I'm not as tired, though, which is excellent. I mean, I got at least 12 hours of sleep last night, that's rather excessive.

Yep, this may qualify as the worst Christmas ever. Not because it was necessarily awful or something, or I hate the new house, and uncle Steve didn't even get in a fight with anyone; no, I just got fever chills after Christmas dinner (about 3 pm), tried to sleep it off for two hours, and then puked in the car on the way home. Awesome. I felt good for about ten minutes after that, and then you feel like shit again, and my back was killing me, and my mouth has this awful taste in it though the pain's gone away, and there really isn't anything I want to eat. Bleeeeh.

Also, this totally means I have to figure out how long my last record of not-puking is. I have a pretty solid gag reflex and I can't for the life of me remember the last time I vomited. It's been at least three years. Bleh. (And now I would trot out my list of synonyms for puke, a la 2095, but I really don't feel like it.)

I'm kind of excited about some of the stuff I got, though. Laura's bf, James, got me this really sweet lamp, and then she got me some other decoration-type stuff for my room. Mom got me galoshes (yaaaaay) so now I have shoes to wear on The Campus of Many Puddles. PLUS she and dad got me Pushing Daisies season 1 and Diagnosis Murder seasons 1-3! ROCK ON.

And, since I didn't really do a special Christmas post, I think I'm going to do the twelve days thing again. That was fun.

So, on the first day of Christmas, LJ gave to me: Darlene Love singing "Christmas (Baby)" "...(please come home)"



On the second day of Christmas, LJ gave to me: a very mod-art Christmas and Darlene Love singing "Christmas (Baby)".

Well, I guess we're sorta all-moved-in. Stayed here last night, but now Laura's here, and mom made a few more trips home, and we have more food and we've actually cooked and eaten a meal. I miss Xenia. =/ And more than that, I think I just hate all the light pollution of living in the city, not to mention the fact that we are ONE BLOCK from a vry overly-lit campus.

Dammit, UD. >=/

You know what, though? I have really awesome friends. Even though it felt kind of cheap and lame, I really wanted to make mix CDs, so I made a mix of my favorite Christmas songs, and two songs from How I Met Your Mother, and people really liked them. =)

( and now I talk about Catholicism, atheism, and Christmas )

That being said, merry Christmas, happy holidays, season's greetings, happy Hannukah, happy new year, pick your favorites. Or none at all. Or a different one completely. The point is, Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men.

To me, that is Christmas.




And I'm really hoping I get the Indiana Jones soundtrack collection tomorrow... LOL. This post needs some levity.

[Error: unknown template qotd]Well, uh, it was the summer and not the holidays, but we hit the airport flying out of Alaska (Gustavus?). Yes, we hit the airport. It was a tiny little two-strip runway with one main building (Delta and Alaska Airlines, or something like that--anyway, probably smaller than your average post office building) and a few shacks from small plane owners who flew for hunting trips and tours and that sort of thing. So anyway, we're on this medium-sized plane, backing out to fly out. (Oh, it was small enough you still got on the plane from a set of stairs on the runway... That was cool.) And I guess the pilot just wasn't paying attention, because the guy on the left wing was waving like mad, a lot of people on the plane were yelling (except mom and dad because they figured the pilot couldn't hear us through the door). Grandma and Grandpa were flipping the fuck out, let me tell you. Max and Kyle and Laura and I were just kind of bemused.

So anyway, the guy keeps going and clips a beam of the building with the tip of the wing. He broke probably a foot off the end of the wing and broke a good four or six foot section off the beam of the building. And it was one of those big, square beams, too, probably 1'x1' or 2'x2' or something like that. I don't remember exactly.

Anyway, so then we all had to unload, and we would have had to wait forever for them to get another plane in there, and Uncle Steve was desperate to get back because we had 50 pounds of frigging halibut in our luggage that was going to go bad. So we all marched our stuff over to one of the tiny shacks to see if the guy could fly us out to a larger airport, and we were going to have to leave some of the luggage behind because you only have so much weight per passenger (and we would be taking two small planes for the ten of us as it was), and I was incredibly pissed off because mom and dad and Uncle Steve were going to make me leave my bag here and take their fish for my weight instead. (And by this time, two weeks in Alaska, I was absolutely disgusted with halibut. And I haven't really eaten any since, either.) But eventually they got a plane that had been slightly larger than the one we crashed to some to that airport rather than going straight back to the continental US, (it was slightly out of the way, maybe flying out of Juneau or something? I can't remember) and we were all able to get on there and end up in Chicago or something, I don't remember exactly.

Anyway, that's the story of how we crashed a plane into an airport.