I was going to do something about Faye from Questionable Content, but then I got distracted by the sequel to Inda and The Sims, so now I'm all mellowed from my annoyance. So, short version:

Dear fans of QC,


That was therapeutic.

 To those time-travelling Girl Genius fans on my F-list: There are currently a weeks' worth of updates up. I haven't read them, since it'll be a dull week elsewise, but I figured I might as well let you all know. (I'll probably give in to temptation on Thursday, anyway.)

To those Girl Genius fans who do not know how to time-travel:
Warning: Peering into the future may have one or more of the following side-effects: Dizziness, nausea, a longer wait until the next update (especially common the further into the future one looks), being mistaken for a minion of the Other by those who have not yet seen the update, and mimmoths. All time-travelling is done at your own risk. I humbly suggest not looking more than a day ahead, which is, admittedly, all that is usually available, if that.

To those on my F-list who do not read Girl Genius: What are you waiting for? Go read some.

I was going to write something about the webcomic Questionable Content, but I wanted to use links, and that probably wouldn't go over too well at work. Tonight, then.

I just typed up a form including the name Ned Coates. Sadly, he does not appear to be either a member of the Watch or a rebel against Lord Winder.

One little compliment can make you feel amazing. So give me a compliment, anything in the entire world, even that my shoelaces are pretty. Put this in your journal. And once you get some comments, put that entry in a memory or tag and when you are feeling down, just go to that entry and this will remind that you're not so bad in other people's eyes after all.

---

Also, it was interesting to see what songs got taken from Wednesday's post. No one went for The Engine Driver, which surprised me a bit.

Reposted to LJ because FP ate my formatting, and this is one of my better one-shots. Approximately 5300 words. Font size is a bit odd, but it won't bite.

It rained this morning. As a result, we took the underground path up to work, and walked through Nathan Philip Square, where they were setting up for an art show. It's lasting the weekend, I think. When we students at work went down to the 7-11 to claim our free slushies, it was sunny, which was good for the art show.

Nice stuff there--there was a neat painting done with watercolours, smoke, and rust, Another stall had landscapes done in what looked like paint and coloured steel. Really expensive, though, so I ended up not getting anything.

I was looking at a gothic-ish collection of dioramas after work when someone called my name. Since I wasn't with anyone, and it was definitely not my dad, I was a bit confused, and figured someone else was being called. I looked anyway, and someone was smiling at me. Took me a second to recognize my Indigenous Studies professor from first semester--in my defense, he never wore sunglasses in class. Rather pleasantly surprising that he recognized me and remembered my name, even if it was only a class of thirty or so that I'd been in. Apparently he was watching his girlfriend's stall (which featured the dioramas) for a bit. We had a nice little talk.

I think, now that I've planned out all my required courses, that I might take the second half of his course next year. If nothing else, I know that I like the professor.

Also relating to school--my roommate, whom I have never met, has found me on facebook. What a strange thing that is. I hope we get along. And that the rest of the rooms are taken, otherwise the utilities will be expensive.

Does anyone on my f-list know how to make broth for pho? I tried a recipe a couple weeks back, but it Did Not Work, and using a bouillon cube just doesn't taste as good. Besides, I've got the time to try some cooking.

Two points of interest from the "not covered" section of the university's health insurance plan:

- Declared or undeclared war or act of war
- No payment shall be made for a dental accident claim if the injury in the result of an accident caused by an object wittingly placed in the mouth

Um... ok, then.

My skin is a mess, again, and I'm pissed. If this isn't one of those famed  times where one's skin gets much worse before it gets much better, I will be even more so.

There is a new kid at work who looks like a kid who went to my highschool, except I don't think she is. But she's really familiar. 

I saw Wall-E yesterday. It's adorable.

I might be doing an Oxycore run next, depending on when I ascend. If I do it on or before the 12th, so that I can use the bonus turns from Labor Day, Oxycore. If not, Teetotaller Pastamancer, so that I can get leash of linguini and the stainless steel pocketwatch for the Oxycore run that will follow it.

I have a room! It's small, but there's a common room, and I'm not planning on spending all my time in my room. The master bedroom is much larger, but the girl who my mum heard about the house from in the first place already signed the lease for it, so I'm out of luck there. It's a very nice house--the previous owner got it from her parents, who had built it. All hardwood floored and everything. Got to buy a bed for it, though. I might get one of those bunks that you can put a desk and stuff underneath, to save space.

Managed to get into German, French, and one second-year linguistics course (the development of Indo-European languages). The other two were full, so I've got three third-year courses instead--syntax, semantics, and morphology. With any luck they will not be too reliant on second-year courses, but since only the introductory linguistics classes were required, they shouldn't be. However, I'm going to keep checking to see if either of the second-year courses opens up before start of term. I've also got a bird course recommended by my previous roommate and a spare, which I tentatively filled in with Mohawk before remembering that I could try for the third-year courses. It's still there, but something else will probably take the space.

Sushi today! I liked it, but mum was disappointed, which makes me feel bad. Salmon maki is omnomnom, as always.

11:59: Course registration unavailable until July 3, 2008.
Refresh
12:00: The maximum number of students is currently on the system. Please try again later
Refresh
Refresh
Refresh
12:05: Got in.
12:07: Signed up for French class. Hit "Add".
12:14: Page still loading. Rrrgh.

More, no doubt, to follow.

The cat is currently sitting on her hind legs at the bottom of my bed, with her front paws hanging over the baseboard. It is adorable, and I must rub her. Now I have hair stuck to my nose, though.

12:23: ARGH WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'VE BEEN BUMPED FROM THE SERVER? THIS MEANS I LOST MY FRENCH SPOT!
12:24: And now even the page that tells me I can't get in right now because there are too many students isn't loading. I will kill it. Kill it dead.

List of problems (disambiguation page)

Well, I laughed.

We went to a Canada Day party today. There was a dip made out of three layers--cream cheese blended with icing sugar, caramel, and crushed Skor bars--meant for dipping apples. At first I was very happy with it. Then this kid came and took a swipe out of it. Nothing wrong with that. Then, the apple slice practically glistening with spittle, he stuck it back in. Uh, yeah. I considered taking some more from the other side, but then some other kid did it. And a third person, this one an adult. No more apple dip for me, thanks.

I talked to a freelance editor and got some interesting information from her. It seems like an interesting possibility for part-time work, although I don't think I'll qualify for anything until I've finished my BA.

House-viewing appointment has been rescheduled to Thursday. With any luck, it will go well. This place is much closer than where I was last year, although it's on the opposite side of the university. Doubt it'll be furnished, though, which is a pity. A fridge and oven would be nice, though...

Today I got paid an obscene amount of money to do the following:

• Hand out cards to clients to track service speed. Most of this time was spent either doodling or conjugating.
• Arrange tables and swivel chairs for a meeting, then put away.
• Copy and paste the charts from yesterday into one main document.
• Print half a dozen documents and staple.
• Make minor spelling corrections to a page-and-a-half document
  
• Read Pratchett.
• Waste time on the internet.

I wish this week would never end. On Monday it's back to data entry, stats log sheets, and half hour lunches. Next year I must get a job with that department.

There was a courier yesterday with what looked like plastic cleats on, sans the shoe part. More bemusing was the fact that he appeared to have tread marks from a bike on his lower calf. Still, very nice legs. (What? It was a slow day.)

Went to a buffet with the little sister and went omnomnom for an hour or so. It was very nice, especially since there was maki of the salmon variety! And lots and lots of lovely shrimp! And mussels, and General Tso's chicken, and wonton soup, and crab legs, and many other things worthy of omnomnoming.

Also found mum some used copies for 4 of the first 5 books of the Belgariad. She really liked the series, and used to own the whole thing, but apparently lost it when we moved.

One of her co-workers has a daughter who goes to Mac. Said daughter was volunteering in mum's classroom for the past few weeks, since she is considering going into teaching. She's just got a room in a new house--the owner takes over on Canada Day--and there are five or six other rooms available. Mum got the guy's number, and now I have an appointment for the 5th.

And I have a bunch of new folks from the friendolocalypse.  Wooo!

Ahahaha! Beat the Naughty Sorceress while still level 13. She beat me three times first, though. Still. Fastest HC run, lowest level for beating the NS. I bought the spooky elemental trophy once I'd freed King Ralph, then ascended.

Not sure if I actually made it back to the Kingdom, though, since I submitted my new class (DB) and whatnot with about two seconds to spare before rollover. I hope I did. Eighty turns on the first day I get to play would be nice.

Work is dull, dull, dull. Although there was some sort of appreciation thing going on today. There was chocolate-covered cheesecake, iced tea, cookies, and watermelon. Also chicks in cowboy hats doing some sort of dance. I just wanted the cake.

Finished the war in three days. This is my record. Helps that I was going for the Pink Heart of Spirit and not the Silver Wossname, admittedly, but it gives the same stat boost, so nyah.

Don't think I'll be ascending tomorrow, though. I've never done a Seal Clubber before, and I have no idea how to get my moxie and muscle high enough with the equipment I've got to make this work. I'm usually level 14 when I challenge the NS, and I'm only just 13 at the moment, too. I suppose I'll be spending some clover adventures in Spookyraven Manor, and maybe the Haunted Bedroom.

Still, this is turning out to be my fastest hardcore run. I'm very pleased with that, especially since this is also my first hardcore run with a consumption restriction.

 Train was 20 minutes late arriving at my station, and at least five minutes later arriving at my destination. Lovely.

Since the other student said I wasn't needed till later, and the group manager wasn't there, I did a batch of my old stuff before getting reassigned. My very exciting assignment was thus: Go through about a thousand pages and find out how many incidences of a certain code occurred. It was less than a hundred.

Still, managed to be more interesting than data entry, so...

Then I got drafted to take minutes with another student, and type them up myself. Blah. No idea how to do this, so I've stolen the format from my previous department's minutes. Hopefully I'll get other work soon.

Pity I probably couldn't get away with a nap under my desk here...

I need a spice rack for next year at school. Seasoning is much easier when one is not going through a series of plastic baggies.

Also, I should make a recipe book. Or journal. Something to keep food ideas in, at least, so that I don't get into a rut and resort to buying maki. (Not that maki is a bad thing, just that maybe I shouldn't be eating out quite so often.)

And now I'm back to craving salmon rolls. Maybe Monday...

(KoL going nicely. I got the War Hippy Fatigues, started the war, finished all the hippy sidequests, and opened two of the frat boy areas. Go me!)

So, it's the little sister's birthday. She was going to have some friends over and do supper, but it seems at least two of them are rude enough to cancel a couple hours before dinner, so now she and the other one are going out.  There appear to be no other plans for supper, so I'm not quite sure what's going to happen to me. Been craving salmon and green onion maki since five-ish. No way to get any, though. Burgers seem to be the best choice at the moment.

Wednesday morning the boss said I'd done a really good job with getting my numbers up. Then she called me into her office Wednesday afternoon because of Epic Form Entry Fail. They still can't replicate what happened, especially seeing as one of the things that was wrong is supposed to cause the system to refuse to proceed. That was weird. And bloody scary.

Boss called me into her office again today. Given how the week had been going, I wasn't too eager to go. She said the students had brought the department's figures up really quickly, and they were almost caught up, at which point I actually felt myself go pale and wondered if they were cutting jobs. No, I'm just being moved to another area for a week. It's not data entry, so it should be more interesting.

KoL is going nicely. I've got about a thousand or so experience till level 12, and I'm nearly done level 11's quest. Need to boost my elemental resistance for Lord Spookyraven, but my moxie is high enough that if I survive the first hit, I'm golden.

I finished the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker duology yesterday. My OTP failed to occur, which I am somewhat sulking about. It was pretty obvious it had a snowflake's chance in hell from the beginning, but I think that was the first time I've gotten so excited over a pairing I was almost certain wasn't going to happen.

I had an odd dream. There was something about kids who I thought were the ones from Narnia, but really weren't, using man made wormholes in bodies of water to travel. Also a film on powerful female figures in popular media, all of which didn't exist or were... different from their original characters. I believe this line, spoken by the dream-film's narrator, sums up the sheer oddity of it best:

"When flying Keira Knightley shoots at you, you get shot."

Cue Keira in her costume from the last PotC movie flying by as though holding onto a flutterboard in front of her, and then randomly flipping onto her back and shooting a pair of hand pistols at who-knows-what.

A brief dialogue:


Dad: So if I were to eat a pound of steak, once I had finished eating, I'd weigh a pound more.
Sister: Yep.
Dad: And if I did the same with chocolate, the same thing?
Sister: Yes...
Dad: And if I weight 200 pounds, then ate a pound of chocolate, and then didn't eat anything else for a month, I'd never weigh more than 200 pounds for that month?
Sister: 201.
Dad: Oh, yes.
*pause*
Dad: Does wawa mean bird or water?
Sister: Wha?
Dad: Bird or water?
Me: In what language?
Dad: In the language it comes from.
Sister: Look, if you eat a pound of wawa, whatever it is, you'll only weigh a pound more once you were done eating it, ok?

Course registration starts on July 3. I'm looking forward to it.