The Daily Adventures of Mercat

Spent yesterday playing Pandemic 2, you can probably guess why. Let me tell you this: firstly, fuck Madagascar. Secondly, do not play this game unless you are willing to give up about six hours of your day. I mean it. That's how long it took me to successfully beat it, and I ended up pulling an all-nighter to write my papers that were due at noon. Oops.

So, swine flu? Not a pandemic yet, but being the slightly-paranoid be-prepared-for-anything-and-everything type of person I am, I am definitely tempted to Go Buy Shit.

Also I have to return my pistachios to Target because apparently there was a recall? Don't know if that was related to that salmonella outbreak or anything.

SO, Friday night was the best, most epic party ever. Two POD kids had a joint 21st with the theme "dress as your favorite Disney character", which, let me tell you, is a perfect way to get DEDICATED INVOLVEMENT at a costume party. You know how Halloween costumes are so half-assed now? Yeah, well, this party was not. Only I'd say a half dozen girls wore... clothes... with a princess crown, but everyone else DRESSED THE FUCK UP AND IT WAS AWESOME.

See, because when you throw a costume party out-of-season, peops are actually really ingenious. Candice went as Esmerelda and used a blue tube top as a corset. David went as Prince Eric and it was hilarious because he had jeans, hiking boots, and used a red tie as the sash. Carl didn't want to bother dressing up at first but I FINALLY convinced him, and though he was originally going to go as Gaston he went as the Hunchback which I might add is both simply and hilariously achieved by shoving a pillow up the back of one's shirt. Phil went as Prince Philip from Sleeping Beauty, and he actually had a broadsword until the cops rode by and he decided to go inside and put it away. Let's see, there was a hilariously drunken/smoking Winnie the Pooh, a Wizarding Mickey, a Mr. and Mrs. Incredible (Josh and his gf), HOLY SHIT MARK WAS THE BEST BUZZ LIGHTYEAR EVER, he made it with boxes and duct tape (and we decided the trumpet section is having a Pixar Day next fall during band camp), and a hilarious sultan/genie, an Aladdin and Jasmine, Jen went as Cruella DeVille and was upset she couldn't find a cigarette holder but me in my costuming-obsessed hoarding manner had one so we walked over to my house to get it, and there were at least two people running around as Pongo and Perdita, though I thought I saw some other dalmations at first. I had been looking for an excuse to dress up as a pirate again (I haven't worn that outfit in about two years!) and to be quite honest I do not trust a large group of drunken people with a $300 hat, so I went all out and determined that I have enough clothing to dress two or three pirates and enough accessories for probably four. Seriously, I have more jewelry than I can wear at one time. Oh, and there was a group of Muses and a few other characters like Mickey running around, too. Oh, and we had Cogsworth, too, though for the first couple of hours I thought he had basketball lines drawn on his face.

At one point a bunch of people grabbed a bongo and a flute and a tambourine and a couple of pots and held an impromptu dance party in Art Street's amphitheatre, which went on for at least a good hour, maybe two. But that party went SO FUCKING LONG (at 3:30 Candice and David and I finally left, and people were still going) and everyone was being friendly and chatty (minus a few moments of drama and some poercelain bus driving) and it was just AWESOME. And I talked with the crazy kid dressed up as Pongo for a while (he went to Centerville and does Rhythm X) and he's rooking out with Bluecoats this summer on synth, so that's exciting. I love POD people and DCI people and everything. =)

Also I found out I am very bad at flip cup.

Anyway. And then yesterday all I did was curse Madagascar and write two horribly bullshat papers on Henry IV and the establishing scenes of Romeo and Juliet vs. Julius Caesar.

I didnot realize Romeo was such an emo, and now I hate that play more than ever.

WOO, good weekend.



ALSO--CHUCK: FINALE AND FOOTLONG is TONIGHT so WATCH THE SHOW and GO TO SUBWAY and yay. :D ~I'm exciiiiteeed~

Also, I went out to dinner with Melissa and Kim And Friends to celebrate the birthday again; we went to Spaghetti Warehouse (yum) and Melissa got a Tiramisu Martini (yuck) and we all sang to her (yay) and she and I got hot brownies with ice cream for dessert (yuuuuummmmm). :D

Fun times!


ALSO I STOLE A CONE FROM ACROSS THE STREET, AND SHIT I FORGOT TO TELL ANY TRUMPETS AT THE PARTY.

Damn. Well, we'll find it in my trunk soon enough.

So YAY Halloween shopping today! Definitely needed to get some capitalism out of my system, haha. I found a cute bat at Pier One and I got some fun stuff at the Halloween store. I got a knife for my costume and a pair of metal handcuffs for the pimps and 'ho's party (and a suitcase at the thrift store, yay!) and then also I couldn't pass up an "Arabian dagger" and an actually semi-quality metal snake band for an Egyptian costume (which I intend to use when I finally get my shit together and go as a Gorgon).

At the thrift store I finally found a green vest and also a sort of Mandarin vest that I plan to use for a steampunk outfit. I am dangerous when I go costume shopping--sure I have one outfit I need stuff for, but then I see a million other things that I want to do *eventually*... And this is why I have soooo many boxes full of costumes and props around the house, hehe.

I also got the chain (for my swiss army knife!) and the paint (for the suspenders), so basically all I really need is the purple gloves and the makeup latex, I think. No wait, I need to buy the socks from Sock Dreams, but that's it. I went to Hot Topic to see if they had the hexagon shirts in stock... But I didn't see anything at all. I don't think they had room for it, all the costume area was trashy girl outfits and bizarre raver stuff (I mean, more bizarre than their usual fare).

So tomorrow it's off to the Dayton Mall to check the other Hot Topic, and also any other Halloween stores down there; I know there's a Spirit store (I think I went to Halloween USA today), and hopefully at least one other. I was kind of upset that the Halloween store today didn't have Joker accessories (just full outfits), and they didn't have anything Indiana Jones at all (I need the fake whip). And Walmart and Target haven't either... Frustrating. Plus I want to find some of the fake dust that the Halloween Store had the past couple of years, I'm hoping that will dirt up my outfit sufficiently. Maybe I will have to take sandpaper and paint to it too, I don't know.

No luck on my purse run, either. I went all over the mall just looking for a khaki-ish military-ish messenger bag, because this one's kind of dying and for some reason it gets black all over EVERYTHING I put in it. I don't really know where I can find one... But I really need a new purse. Blaaaaaaugh. It was kind of funny how I just marched right in every store to the back to find their purses, looked over the wall for a second and then marched back out. Definitely on a mission. Sometimes the staff didn't even ask me anything, lol. TOO BAD FOR YOU =P

Whaaaaat eeeeeeeelse. Oh, I made a Best Buy run to see how early they open Tuesday, and I'm guessing the skull with dvd is going to run me about $50... Totally worth it. It will make a sweeeeeet Halloween decoration (jk... sort of). But I did find a FIVE WAY mp3 splitter, and the sound jacks are also input jacks, so that you can hook up a couple mp3 systems like a mixer. Which, I don't know how useful that will be, but a five-way splitter? Most definitely.

So yesterday. I'm forgetting something at the moment, but let's start with Capture the Flag. It is a fun game. But let's face it, it's a war game and everybody knows it; when you play it, everyone tries to cheat the rules to their advantage-- I have never met anyone that did not try to exploit the loopholes. As soon as our team left the game meeting to set up camps, I realizes this game was going to create a little drama, as one of the first things we did was create a fake flag. Loooovely. Anyway, we had a half hour to hide our flag, let the other team know where jail was and get ready. It's actually a pretty good set-up, all of campus and all the surrounding housing areas are out of bounds, as are the insides of buildings. The pathway from the campus entrance all the way down behind Stuart served as the boundary, and it was fairly even. We knew the instinctual place to put a flag was Serenity Pines, so we set up the decoy flag there with Candice and two of the other mello girls. Our jail was practically all the way across campus in front of KU in that amphitheatre area, which turned out to be a very bad idea for us. I think with about five or ten more people on each time it may have been viable; it at least kept the other team busy and away from the flag. Apparently the fake flag kept them going, too, the only problem was that there were a lot of people keeping busy at the jail, and then the rest of the team was at the decoy; leaving just me and Brooke to watch the flag. The basic idea was that Brooke would hide in the bushes around the corner from the flag; it was sort of in a corner next to VWK so the other team would pretty much have to pass her to get to it and she could walk out behind them and tag them and scare the shit out of them. My best part in capture the flag is hiding in a dark shadowy place as a lookout and scaring the shit out of anyone who comes by.

I was actually surprised by how many people wear black... When Katy took some art class I remember her telling me that black actually stands out in nature because of its complete lack of color, so I pulled out my green pants and actually my purple sweater worked really well, too, even though the inside of the hood is white. The secret to not being noticed I think is more in being completely still, which I lot of people can't handle. I don't know.

So anyway they really didn't send many people up our way towards the top of Stuart, I think because they didn't want to have to climb the hill that was on their side. I saw Tony come around behind Stuart Hall, up the back road. I jumped the gun and called for Brooke and went around her way and didn't see where he went, so at first I was afraid he was hiding in the bushes. But I went back to my tree lookout (I just leaned up against a tree for most of the hour... I could see the road behind Stuart as well as the hill in front and road in front of VWK, so I could basically see any direction the blue team would come for the flag unless they came through the bushes behind VWK, which turned out to be that they didn't even know the flag was there until laaaaaaaate). Anyway, so no one was really up our way but I was very afraid people would be because although as a team we'd agreed there would be more from our side up there backing us up, but no one was, they'd all left to be where the action was, I suppose. Standing there on lookout for long enough made me realize some of the failures of our plan, lol. I'm way too much of a strategist. Like the fact that I should have stayed hidden more than I did, because I think all that did was attract everyone to the fact that our flag was up there. Although Doug was scouting around too and I think he was the first one to figure out our flag was up there, because he then came around the front. It was rather funny, I watched him walk away down the street by VWK and then double back and creep up in the shadows.

Okay, so this part is the best part of the night. I am watching him sneak up towards the flag, but he doesn't know Brooke is right around the corner. I am trying not to give too much away, because I'd realized we'd been abandoned at our post and with only two people we actually can't afford to tag anyone and have to escort them down the hill to at least the other players, let alone back to the jail. So I am just waiting for Brooke to have to get him, hoping we can get it to all go quietly. At that point I see three blues come around behind Stuart and I'm just praying they don't see me in the shadows. I should have just let them go quietly and assumed they didn't see the flag, but by then I was too scared they were going to just walk up and take it, so I took the risk to scare them off, which incidentally I think did more harm than good because they realized I turned back. (I couldn't just leave one person guarding the flag... though I doubted anyone came with Doug, he was being too sneaky, like I was.) Instead I waited until I was out of their line of sight and they had passed the bushes, and then risking Doug knowing where I was I ran across behind the bushes and that was when I chased them a little and turned back. I realized that they noticed I had turned back, buuuut I had to, even though I really didn't want to. =/ Anyway, so I come back and I'm assuming Doug is as stubborn as I am, that he's still waiting in the bushes. I see some guys come out for a smoke and Brooke scared them where she had been hiding, and I heard the guy say he was going to pee there. Well I found out later that he had already had his pants down, and then when Brooke scared him he went over to where I assumed Doug was, and I hoped he didn't get peed on. Well later I found out (when he and Brooke told me about it) that he was still there (which we found out when we got stormed right at the end at eleven... that was a disaster letmetellyouwhat) and that he didn't get hit (at least I don't think so) but he didn't let the guy know he was there, he just was silent and hoped nothing happened. (Which, I knew he was that kind of intense about the game like I was-- I mean, he wore camo-- so I was happy to see that my guesses were right on that front.)

Yeah, anyway. Ten minutes left in the game we started getting company, they ran off knowing the flag was there and I think had gotten chased off by maybe Josh (the red captain), but as Andy ran down the hill he told the rest of the blues to get up to the top and get the flag. And there were like six of them, and then we were fucked. I knew our only hope was to try to delay it past eleven, which we think we succeeded in but they never rang the bell so it didn't end until they got the flag over to their side (which was 11:03, by the by). Although we were pissed off because they totally swarmed us when we had to replant the flag, which technically we were supposed to get ten minutes to re-hide, and they were supposed to go back to their side. And I was screaming "RED FLAG" at the top of my lungs which was the signal to get reds up the hill for backup, which GOD KNOWS WHY everyone was just CHILLING AT THE PINES when clearly the rest of the blue team not in jail was up the hill. Blargh.

And as for all's fair in love and war, they crossed Baujan field to hide their flag or some shit (which was not only against the rules but illegal for all students), and hid it in a place with one point of access (the rules said two, but they counted "up" as a direction), and then they didn't admit to who was on their team when they swarmed us, which was the entire point of the makeup (lol, pep band facepaint) even though people were showing up late just to watch the game, intentionally. So I was pissed about that because Josh (trumpet Josh) and Peter both lied to me about Josh being an observer, so I dismissed him from my strategy and ended up having to kind of fight him off. (Though I laughed when he tried to tackle me out of Peter's way and I spun around and he slipped on the leaves and fell... karma)

ANYWAY. So afterward we all bitched and then we all got together for a party at Peter's house and a bunch of played Peabone (also Mao also Jackass) which is the game where you know the card structure but you have to determine the rules as you go. It's fun as long as the rules people make as they go are fun, but they made me rather uncomfortable and I tried to be a good sport but eventually just gave up and took my deck and left. =/

So that was yesterday and today... yep. =)

I'm starting to think I want to upgrade to a paid account... So I can have a few more icons, but also maybe better layout and management stuff... I don't know, I keep thinking about it but I never register. And I keep telling myself the next time they offer permanent accounts I'll get one... So I don't know. Meh.

JAMES MARSDEN WAS CYCLOPS?!

WHAT THE HELL, PEOPLE?

WHY DON'T YOU TELL ME THESE THINGS


...Yeah, I hated Cyclops, but still, James Marsden is my new hero for Hairspray and Enchanted. Dammit, now I have to watch those movies again. Though I guess it means I can skip the third one, which is good, because I just LAAAAAAUGH my ass off. Hoo boy.


In other news, my dad bought me electric socks for the game tomorrow. I don't think I'm going to wear them, they require also wearing HUGE batteries on my feet that would pull the socks down. I'll just wear two layers of warm socks.

Um, yeah. Candice told me about this awesome video on YouTube by Niel Cicierega called No Place Like Home. I didn't finish all of them yet, but it's pretty clever and it makes me want to make a movie next summer. ;) Just reminds me of Brett's silliness, too. Also, I want to take the scarecrow's song and make it a full-length thing of some sort.

POD Banquet was tonight, it was good. Very good, the videos made me all happy. =) Spot did a really good job with them.

Also I will be back later to post about some more thoughts I had on the "audit" and stuff. I also had a really cool name for a band name or song name or something today so I'll have to see if I can remember it. Yeah, I <3 references too much.

And I was way too excited in the past month or so to remember that Kim F was a huge Monty Python fan and Melissa is a huge Marx Brothers and Charlie Chaplin and Pink Panther fan. (I <3 you two!) I'm glad I'm no longer the only person I know under 25 who would know what I'm talking about with them. =D I'm sooo going to miss everyone next semester in Hawaii (though I keep wanting to post "I GOTTA GO WHERE IT'S WAAAAARM"), because I now have all these awesome lets-hang-out-and-be-weird plans, so, I guess I will just have to talk to everyone about living together again after next year. =D

So, yeah, NaNoWriMo did not pass more than a few days, but I really don't care. Anyone want to start a writing project of some sort? Or a movie script, or a band or something? Those are things I've always wanted to do, and it would be fun. =D

Allright, here's a nice post full of links again. I know... you all probably don't click on them at all, but they also serve as bookmarks for me. Every once in a while I like to go back and look at the random shit that keeps me entertained. Feel free to be sharing yours as well, I'm such an information whore. Why do I spend so much time online? Because I'm generally learning about something. Yeah, I'm weeeeeird like that.

Have I mentioned that I love Billy Joel? Especially this song. (The movie's not too bad either, not as bad as Uptown Girl... that one's slightly creepy.) I'm also on a Billy Joel kick because we're playing his stuff for POD (Movin' Out, Uptown Girl, Tell Her About Itand Honesty)... and my CDs are at home! So I was forced to search YouTube, because I can't seem to find any other sites that actually play music. Phooey. Anyway, beside "Only the Good Die Young," this is my top Billy Joel song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuxBL6mpfCs&NR

THE FUCK, YOU ASSHOLES. There is already a list for the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, as well as the Seven Wonders of the Natural World, and many others. This was the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, not the world in general. This makes me extremely pissed off, because this makes for a lot of uneducated folk who are now just getting stupider. GodDAMN. YOU PEOPLE ARE GONNA FUCKING KILL ME SOMEDAY.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061017/od_nm/britain_stonehenge_dc

Let's review. At my gradeschool, when I graduated, my class was not allowed to play on the jungle gym, nor play kickball, football, or four-square. You couldn't bring balls, yo-yos, mini-skateboards (the finger ones), pokemon cards, or tomagotchis to recess. Oh, and we weren't allowed to play with the jumpropes, either, and you weren't allowed to sit on the curb and do nothing. When my sister graduated, you couldn't touch anyone (because, according to our retarded principal, "touching leads to hugging, hugging leads to kissing, and kissing leads to other things"), you couldn't play with anyone not in your class, you couldn't play with anyone not of your gender, and the rules I stated above still applied. The more I learn, the more I hate St. Brigid. Really, I didn't learn much there, and what I do remember the most was not pertinent to a specific class. Fuck you, Sister Lois, fuck you. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061018/ap_on_fe_st/playground_tag_ban_3 (Honestly, one of the best things I learned was how to skip school. Up to fourth grade I got very good at it, then decided to stop. I brought a bag of cereal with me to school and then when I asked to go to the nurse (who would tell you lie down), I would chew it up and spit it out in the toilet. It fucking worked, too.)

A link from my dad. All I can say is. Awwww... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu0odyrIqyk

This would be totally totally awesome in a haunted house if you made the makeup a bit more realistic (and by realistic I mean if someone who does stage makeup or cosplay makeup does it. Because I HATE childish, cheap, or trashy costumes. They have become the BANE of my existence.) http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/feature/costume_entrystatue/ (Also, these are awesome: http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/feature/costume_contest_cage/ http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/feature/costume_contest_chameleon/ http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/feature/costume_contest_egyptian/ )

=^n.n^=

Yeah, I've been so bad updating LJ lately, but don't worry LJ, I'll never leave you! lol. I love you for your communities. I've been doing more... personal blogging... lately, because I need to. Plus there is not much to say here. UD is awesome but, of course, me being me, I have already got myself all nice and well in BusyWorld. Marching band (the Pride of Dayton!), New Engineer Program, POD intramural coed softball team, plus classes, and next week I'll start working, too. Hahah. Anyway, I really do love it here, but I miss everyone back at CHS and all my friends all over the US... which is why I spend so much time on Facebook now. (Highschoolers, get your asses on there. You think it sucks now-- I did-- but it picks up as soon as you get into college. Like, exponentially.) And I miss drum corps, plus I'm freaking out about which corps to register for to go to camp(s?) and stuff, and whether I would make it... so I'm actually PRACTICING on days I don't have band. OMG SHOCKER. =D

Reminder: September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! (I created a reminder event on Facebook for it, and..yeah. It exploded. 212 to 1804 people in about 36 hours. Hahaha.)

Hmmm: Muppets+Weezer FOR THE WIN. (Also, "Ugh, drummers." I LOL'd.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9drquEiyV0M

Let's see... I got replacement Llama shoes for my birthday ones (they were too small) so I am excited for when there is a good day to wear them. Liz came in last night playing the chords (ish...) for "Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" by Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole, which is an awesome song that just shot into popularity due to its use on those stupid Rice Krispies ads. The song is absolutely gorgeous, though. Anyway so she's learning the chords for that and I'm going to have my mom bring my uke in so we can both play. =^n.n^= And maybe I will figure out a little of that HAPA song, too. God, I love Hawaii, lol.

Here's a link to the song: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3090180824233343584&q=somewhere+over+the+rainbow+by+iz&hl=en

Hmm...so... I guess I should update here more. I will try, I promise! =^n.n^=

I guess I kind of owe it to everyone to update, heh. I was out of town for DCI Finals in Madison before band camp, which totally rocked. It was awesome because Fishcer, Johnny, Sofa, and Caleb all got to come up and we got to hang out a little. House on the Rock is totally the best museum ever. (Except maybe COSI. I am extremely biased, lol.) Although the whale kind of bothered my with its size (I really want to know how accurate it was) and the squid made me go: "KRAAKEN!" and then: *shudder* Cavvies rocked with their robot-ness, everyone else was pretty much lame, except possibly for Southwind, b/c they're the only other show I really remember anything substantial and good of. Madison... good-ish music, cool guard uniforms, but not together. I DID cheer for Steven (snare for Spirit of JSU who Liz knows) and Kyle (baritone for Southwind who's actually in my class, how shit is that?!), much to the chagrin of my friends sitting in front of me.

OH, and the Madison Alumni Corps kicked everyone's asses out of the water. They got at LEAST five standing ovations, and it just rocked and rocked. So many sad stories to go with it... Dan (the REAL color guard captian) has AIDS and my dad says he probably would have died this summer if he didn't have the project to keep him going (and actually get him out of a wheelchair and walking again-- and he's only my dad's age). That is just so, so sad. =^u.u^= I'm gonna keep him in my prayers.

OK, so band-- believe it or not it's harder than Carroll's in some aspects. I feel the burn more at practice, although we generally actually get water breaks. I kinda need to work on my chops, though... being on 3rd trumpet isn't going to help me get into corps. All the drill is generally blocky and sharp, not really any smooth shapes to fudge. The people are awesome... I have a wonderful POD (Pride of Dayton) family, which I got when everyone got married to their family at the POD Wedding. My dad is Adam the drum major, and my moms are Laura the bass drummer and Melissa the clarinetist. Oh, and my dad has a mistress (his girlfriend) who is Annie in my section (yay trumpets!). Everyone seems really awesome, but it's hard getting so many people's names and there is a lot of open hostility on some rare occasions.

School itself is not that bed, but it's keeping me busy enough. A lot of my classes are REALLY interesting, and my tablet PC kicks total ass. If you have the chance, buy the program Windows Office OneNote. It's the best program for people like me who like to collect information but have no way of organizing the randomicity of it. IT IS THE SHIT. (OMG plus it has this desktop "post-it" pad of practically infinite space or pages, which is perfect for me because I keep thinking about things in the middle of thinking about something else. YAY)

The band parties are awesome... we had a game night where we went to the band frat house and we played half a game of Reign of Thrones (or something with thrones) and Guitar Hero, which I am totally now addicted to. It's another excuse for me to buy a PS2 when they go down... DDR (+ boards...expensive!), Guitar Hero (+ controller... expensive!) and Ghost Recon.

Well, I think that's about it... of course I'll keep remembering little things here and there but whatev.

I love you all! =^n.n^=