So for those of you who don't know me personally, I have a lot of issues. One of them is that a very good friend, who I looked up to as an older brother shot himself this fall. Even now, I have a hard time accepting it all. It's left some very odd holes in my life, one of the more understandable ones being that I tend to totally freak out when confronted with self-inflicted gunshot deaths in books and TV shows. As a result, despite my deep love of the X-Files, the whole idea of getting through that Season Four finale, where Mulder apparently kills himself, has been repugnant, to the point of me experiencing physical nausea.

Well, tonight, I am sufficiently wasted to give it a try. So far, I'm doing okay. I don't know if I'll make it yet, nor if I'll remember it tomorrow, but I'm trying.

BTW, my capability for spelling when totally faced is a constant source of wonderment and amusement for me. I haven't misspelled a single word yet.

... unfortunately, it kills all its pupils. Hector Berlioz said that. He was cross-dressing a century before Monty Python, but he has a point.

Working on some things, including continuing on my novel. Damn Bertie keeps frigging taking over. Now I want to write a full backstory for him. Stupid guy's just gonna get killed off so the REAL MCs can escape. He needs to shut up, sit down, and let my story happen.

Anyway, how about a meme? This is a fun one. I picked it up from roflcopter_down . He gave me the letter "F".

1. On request, I will give you a letter.
2. Think of 5 fictional characters whose names begin with that letter.
3. Post their names and your comments on these characters in your LJ.
4. Invite other users to participate, and give them a letter.

Fox Mulder-(The X-Files)- I can’t not pick him. I’ve been an obsessive fan of X-Files since high school, despite having played it down a lot in recent years. Dana Scully, I love you, you’re a good agent, and I’mma let you finish, but Fox is the X-Files. It was his obsessive quest that got him his “esteemed” position in the basement, you were meant to debunk him, and even you know it. Fox is one of the reasons I got so into X-Files. Duchovny’s a gorgeous man, but even more, I see so much of myself in Fox. I don’t really want to sit and list what makes us alike, but I can really relate to him, and seeing him overcome obstacles keeps me hopeful. Much as I adore Fox though, I’ve never totally crushed over him like every other fangirl I’ve met. He’s Scully’s, and that’s final. Besides, Skinner is conveniently separated from his wife.

Faramir of Gondor-(The Lord of the Rings)- But Tibia! How can you mention Lord of the Rings and not talk about Frodo? Easy. I don’t like Frodo. I never have. In fact, I fucking hate Frodo. But I’m talking about Faramir now. He’s got a glory-hog for a brother, and a power-hungry tool of Sauron for a father, but he still manages to be a hero and not totally piss his family off.

Fotir jal Salene-(Winds of the Forelands series)- Fotir is a minor character at best, sadly. He’s another excellent man who just doesn’t get enough love. He’s living in a world where his race is seen as an enemy, and his refusal to be prejudiced against the Eandi estranges him from his own race. He’s always willing to fight for what he believes in, and those he cares about. He doesn’t let it bug him that some of his own race consider him a traitor, he’s more concerned with what’s good for everyone, regardless of race. Plus the dude can smash shit and set it on fire with his mind. Is that not awesome on its own?

Firefoot, Lord Tangaloor-(Tailchaser's Song)- I’m not a cat person, but Firefoot is deserving of worship, even if he is a central character in Tad Williams' ripoff of book inspired by Watership Down. Aside from being the only cat deity in the book who didn’t die, turn evil, or make some other idiotic divine gesture, he’s just plain cool. When he’s first introduced as a character, he’s in the disguise of a dirty old crazy tomcat named “Eatbugs.” I just love his mad ravings.

Fang, Cardinal-(Monty Python's Flying Circus)- “Poke her! With the Soft Cushions!” Seriously. If you were expecting me to say “Ford Prefect”, go zark off.

And hey, I heard you like memes, so I put a meme in this meme so you can meme while you oh gods shoot me now please. I'm sorry. I happened to see it while I was typing this, and I couldn't resist. Anyway, I'll be hauling my drunk ass off to bed now.

So at 11.19 p.m., I went over to the NaNo site to see how close I was getting. I'M LOCKED OUT! IT'S OVER FOR ME! FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKK! I've lost again. AUGH! So my count's at 47,535. I would have frigging made it if the NaNo site hadn't already made 3k disappear. I want to just bang my head against stuff for hours. I know the forty minutes wouldn't have made much difference, but I'm still just pissed. My icon is Mulder, vicariously stomping on my computer for me. So much for me getting my money's worth for my donation to them. FFFFFUUUUUCCCCCKKKKK!


In other news, I estimate that I've watched 4x20:Small Potatoes about forty times. I'm sitting four episodes away from Gethsemane, and I can't even seem to make it to that disc. I wonder how many times I can watch it before someone drags me off to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time and I'll be happy to see the nice young men in their clean white coats and they're coming to take me away ha ha to the happy home with trees and flowers and chirping birds and basket weavers who sit and smile and twiddle their thumbs and toes and they're coming to take me away ha HAAAAAAAAAAA!



Anyway, I'm going to go play a game. Give it a try. It opens in a new tab.

My mom bought spotted dick for Thanksgiving Dinner. She just totally rocks.

I was there for about six hours. I was doing laundry, and after my bro and I cleaned up the kitchen, I got back to work on my novel. 38247. If I can clear 3k a day for these last days, I can make it. When I finish the scene I'm working on, it'll wrap up chapter 4. So far, my shortest chapter is 8600 words. I'm not sure that's a good thing.

Even if I don't hit 50k by the end of November, I'm not going ahead on my next project until I've cleared it. I doubt very much it'll tell enough of the story for even a first book, but it's a milestone I intend to meet.


So off to finish the scene in which Bert gets interrogated by a cop on his way home. Hurr.

Both with the NaNo and watching all the X-Files episodes. It's become quite clear that I'm just avoiding 4x24:Gethsemane, and there seems to be nothing I can do about it. I KNOW it's not Mulder. I KNOW it's not a suicide. I KNOW it just keeps going. But after last month, I just can't face it, and I know I can't. I'm fully aware of how stupid I'm being, but I can't just make myself do it.

As for NaNo, I'm still plugging away at it, but I remain about 8k words behind schedule. I'm going to hit 34k before I go to sleep, though. It's only 50 words away. Rusher's going into the house to wrap Kyle's wife for burial. It'll be a short scene, but surely more than 50 words.

I'm totally pumped, too. I heard back from the artist whose work inspired a composition of mine, and I've got permission to go ahead! Whoooo! I am absolutely thrilled about that, but I really want to win NaNo. All the winner posts are depressing the fuck out of me. Oh well. I can only keep plugging away.

So hey. If you don't know me, I live alone and don't have any friends. If you ever wondered why, here's an example:

I see this picture.

There's a costume contest going on in a NaNo sprint, heroes and villains. Dana Scully is my hero, so I do this:

That is all.

So hey. Mark Snow is a goddamn genius. I cannot stop watching 4x12:Kaddish. The bit with the Bach piano variations just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. And gods, his use of cellos! I know that tune, but I'm not placing it at the moment. It's just the one instrument, playing that simple melody, but it's just absolutely captivating. I want to get my hands on everything he wrote for X-Files and Millennium, and listen to it forever.

I'm actually supposed to be working, preparing music for the dual choirs tomorrow. But, I am watching Kaddish again, and playing some scratch-off lottery ticket I bought so my total was over $5, and I could use my debit card, since I never seem to carry cash. I'm also watching the fog outside. I can barely see across the street. I love weather like this. In fact, if I wasn't so damn far behind on this music, I'd totally be parked down somewhere on the waterfront, with Mark Snow CDs, either reading, writing, composing, or drawing. It feels like a good night to break the things that are holding me back.

I did write about 2k words on the DS this afternoon/evening, though. It's slow and difficult typing, but it's progress. I feel bad, though. Since I decided to bring Bert and Kyle in earlier, I'm now writing about a lot more of their pain, fear, and grief. I'm getting far more attached to them. They're also taking things their way. I know it sounds weird to talk about a character taking charge of the story, but they are. Bert especially. He was just going to be introduced, the son of his father, who at the moment, was more important. He'd fall off the radar for a while, then come back at the end, giving his life for Guynifar, the FMC. Now, he's bringing his own vision, memories, history into the story. I honestly can't pin down what's influencing it, though.

I edited an old entry into a list of projects/progress/ideas. Seemed like a good idea, if anyone cares. lol I'll keep editing and updating that post, at least every time I post a new main entry. It's an attempt to make myself focus and FINISH stuff, instead of running off in a totally different direction, and adding to the pile of unfinished things that would have been absolutely awesome.

Anyway, I didn't win anything on the lotto ticket, the fog is so thick I can't see across the street, and I've got three more songs to do before I sleep. So, yeah. Guess I'll go work for a while, even though it is, like 11.30. lol

Shit, I'm sorry. Said I wasn't going to make this a personal journal, that I'd keep it project/art/music/writing related ONLY.

As such, the last entry got deleted. I'm going through a rough patch, I need to sort it out, I won't post again until I have something worth posting.



Sorry.

I picked up my bass today. It's actually a Milestone IV. The protective film's still on the pickguard, but the screws are corroded. Oh well. I have tons of screws from piano hinges that'll work. I only got about 20-30 minutes of playing around before my left wrist just felt weak and tired. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm capable of playing guitar/bass. *sigh* I was looking forward to being able to record some of my stuff on real instruments. Maybe I'll develop some tolerance over time. I can only try. In any case, I was kinda regretting spending the money anyway, then today I found out I'm in desperate need of new tires. Well shit. No idea what I'll do now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the dog comes through his checkup okay, I'm fucked if something's wrong and needs treatment. I'll be having a hard enough time right now.


I'm sitting at about 23k for my NaNo. I got some writing done waiting for my car, and I'd love to hit 25k before I stop tonight. It's early enough. I started making notes about changing some things. Originally, I'd planned for it to change direction and go in a more high-fantasy thing, but I'm second-guessing how well that'd work. It's still likely to end up as a multi-book series, though. In other writing news, my psychologist read my shitty X-Files fanfic. She thought it was funny, but it's still the dumbest shit I've ever written.

In any case, I'm going to get back to the writing.

...so that we could have today: I salute you.  You are the true heroes, the shining, selfless examples we should all aspire to be.  And to Brandon, I salute you in a special way.  You could have had the world, but you gave it up because you believed in what you did.  Though I am pained your sacrifice was so great, I refuse to let it mean nothing.  Your bravery, selflessness, and conviction are an inspiration.  Thank you.  I am just so sorry it ended the way it did.







It feels somewhat trite to post anything more than that, actually.  But I am, anyway.  Work on my NaNo plugs away.  I failed miserably yesterday, I quite literally wrote nothing at all.  I just wasn't interested at all.  Today, I met a fellow NaNoer at a coffee shop, and it was a real boost.  I logged a bit over 1800, and wrapped up a big scene.  Just a bit more to finish the chapter.  It was great.  I'm hoping to hit 20k overall tonight, but I've got some things to take care of at my workshop before I return to writing. 

In other news, I finished a drawing I started in late October.  The thumbnail over there is a link to the drawing in my Fiend's Fridge gallery.  All the info's over there, so I won't bother repeating it.  I'm trying to sketch more, even if it's just ten or fifteen minutes before bed.  I'm sketching in ink because every art book I've ever seen insists it will help develop skills faster.  If you can't erase it, you learn to think it out.  So last night, I sketched the dog sleeping, and my left hand.  They were easy references.  The page looks like shit, though.  Oh well.  I'm doing this to improve.  I also bought an electric bass today.  A blue Peavey Milestone.  I paid $180 for the bass, a soft gig bag, strap, and to have them set it up for me.  I looked on e-Bay, and I'd be paying that for one to be shipped with no gig bag.  I can't remember now if it's the II or the III.  Truth is, I don't care much.  I just wanted something to start with, that I can fool around with and not worry about.  I'm picking it up Friday afternoon.  I've wanted one for years, but now, I'd kind of like to experiment with adding live instruments to some of my works, and I already play at the contrabass, so this seemed a logical step.  Now to get the guitar out of its bag and do more with it.  

I've been farting around with a free trial of Liquid Binder, but at this point, I wouldn't pay for it.  yWriter's free, and far more intuitive.  I'll probably keep playing, though.  The trial is good until December.  In any case, I'm off for a while.  I don't particularly want to go to the shop, but I've been putting it off enough already.  Back to writing later.

So I woke up in the middle of the night and screamed at the dog, "I know what happened to Jeyne Poole!"  He jumped, and stared at me, then flung himself back down and moaned.  Sadly, this is a common occurence in my life.

I also wasted an ass-load of time today.  Seriously.  I even wrote my first X-Files fan-fiction.  Nearly 1k words, and it's fan fiction.  I never write fan fiction.  I don't like it.  Hell, I never even created an X-Files fan character until today.  Agent Wolf Reuter.  Assigned to be Mulder's partner.  Don't ask me where Scully is, I don't know.  All I know is that Reuter is pretty much me in all respects.  It's a short piece, and about all it does is exist to prove why I could never be Mulder's partner, even if somehow, he was real, and I was in the F.B.I.  It's just meant to be a quick laugh, that's all.

(lol Fake Cut opens in new tab)

So I'm going to go for a walk, or something, and get the silly worked out of me.  I haven't done anything with my NaNo today, and that is bad.  As for Jeyne Poole, remember that "northern" girl in the direwolf cloak Jamie said farewell to?  The one to be married off to the Bastard of Bolton?  Well, Littlefinger took Poole into his care when Eddard was arrested, and his men were all slain.  Where else in King's Landing, of all places, were they going to find another northern girl, let alone one who could at least sort of behave like a noblewoman? 

lolemotiems.  Seriously, I have no idea where this conversation has even come from.  But if anyone's looking for an excerpt of my book, here you go.  Just don't steal it, this is my work.  And please excuse typos.  This is unedited, copypasta'd right from my writing program.

( Lulz. Guys being emo while drinking. )

Word count is up to 7084.  I'm getting tempted to stay up until I've passed last year's total: 8917.  I've been getting some great numbers in the day sprints.  Sometimes, I can only get on for one or two sprints at a time, but still, I'm averaging about 500 per 15 minute sprint. 

So down at the shop, I found an old external hard drive of mine.  Stuffed full of X-Files and Millennium pics, and other random fandom pics.  So to celebrate, I upgraded to a paid account.  So many pretty user pics!  Sadly, aside from the ones I made personally, I have no way of crediting the creator.  If someone recognizes one, let me know, please.  I'd love to credit the creators.

LOOK AT MY MOOD THEME!  patriciasings made an X-files mood theme, and I just happened to stumble across it tonight, after I upgraded my account.  Thank you so much for making it, sharing your bandwith, and the awesome installation guide.  I salute you!



So I am so caffeinated right now.  It's awesome.  I'mma go log on to the NaNoIntoTheNight room and sprint for a while.  WHOOOOOOO VAULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since my word count widget doesn't seem to work, I'm at 5597.  I've got an X-Files episode and a few O'Fallon's Pumpkin beers to finish before I sleep, so I'm going to plow ahead a bit more. 

I fixed my meter error on "Project: CR".  Next step is probably correcting the instrument levels.  I cranked the contrabass track up, but now it sounds like a CD skipping.  It also overpowered the fretless electric bass track, completely altering the mood.  I didn't like it.  Maybe I'll export each instrument track individually, and try mixing them in Audacity or CakeWalk.  I'd absolutely love to do a live instrument recording, for the instruments I can play: Contrabass, electric bass, bells, and timpani.  If I did the synth Atmosphere pad on the violin, I could do an entirely live recording.  I wonder if I could borrow an electric bass from someone.

I did finally get Garritan 3 working with Sib6, and I've also updated my desktop at work.  While I'm still stuck with the laptop as my personal computer, I'm now rocking a dual-screen setup in the office.  Gods, I love it.  I only wish Vista had the "Active Desktop" feature that XP had.  I don't like how I get stuck with one background image on both monitors.  Especially since my single-screen laptop setup has a collage of over a dozen separate image files that I can move, layer, and substitute at will.  That sidebar with its "gadgets" just doesn't cut it for me.


Well dang.  I seem to have finished my show and my beer.  All I've done on the writing front is finish what the robotic character was saying to his companion.  Admittedly, since he doesn't speak with contractions at all, and avoids colloquialisms, jargon, and cliches, he's usually quite a boost to my word count.  If anyone cares, the current death count is one, with three well on the way.  The "good" doctor will soon be breathing his last, and Val and Achilles aren't too far behind. 

In any case, I'm about to crash hard from all the caffeine I ingested today, so I'll crawl back to the bed while I can still reason out where it is.  Huuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrr.

Seriously. It is. Just say it. Being more or less asexual, I have no interest in the sensation itself, but it is still fun to say. Yes, I am amused by simple things. No, I am not "on" anything.

I'm working on my NaNo now. I'm at about 1700 words, taking a break to eat. The calendars I've seen all predict me at about 3300 tonight. Doubt I'll hit it before midnight (one hour away), but I refuse to get worried. Last year, I only hit about 8900. I'm still in a great position to pass that this week. I don't intend to stop for the night until I clear 2k.

Maybe I'd be doing better if I wasn't still stopping to double-check that the thing I'm writing about is what I think it is, but I'm trying to keep time spent on that to a minimum. I know I should be writing, not editing, but I want to be sure I'm writing what I think I'm writing about. Still, I refuse to be worried. If I can write a 7 page score of music from nothing in a twelve hour car ride, I'll be fine.

Speaking of that piece, it's for a project inspired by another artist's work. I've asked her permission to continue with what I'm doing before I do it. If I don't get her permission, I'm going to just save the piece for another project. It's in need of some tweaking. I made a slight error in meter at one point, and there are a few bits that may need to be trimmed or expanded, depending on the final version. But whether it even goes anywhere is still up in the air. I suppose I could always write my own story for the music, but that will have to wait.

Well, dinner is done. Back to writing.

It's "Wash some clothes!!!"  And I seem to have put a white sock in with my dark dress clothes.  White fuzz all over them.  Wheeeeee.


Still plowing through the X-Files series.  Gods, I love this show so very much.  I've been working on another drawing, too.  I'm about fourteen hours into it.  Maybe half done?  I'm not sure.  I still can't believe how soon Carter had Scully and Mulder breaking all the rules and putting their lives on the line for each other.  It's just astounding.  I know it's a dramatized work of fiction, but damn.  Five more eps in season 2 to go.  I should have 3-5 by the end of next week.  My mom bought me "I Want to Believe".  I won't watch it until I've made it through season 9, but I was pumped.  I've heard mixed reviews about it, and even though I was shocked to see how OLD Duchovny looked on the cover, I am looking forward to it. 

I don't know now how NaNoWriMo will go.  I've been trying to write, but in four hours, I think I had twenty words.  I'm not coping well with my grief at all.  Sib 6 is up and running, but I still can't get Garritan 3 working with it.  I can't seem to get a response from Sibelius' technical department, either.  I think my next step is to try G3 with Sib 4 over on my office desktop.  It'll be somewhat inconvenient to have to dumb down my newest projects to export them, but no more inconvenient than having no way at all.

I've taken a few rough export recordings and tossed them up on my Google account.  I'm paranoid about posting my work anywhere on the internet, but I do want to know what people think.  I know I only have an audience of three, maybe four reading this, so I shouldn't be worried about sharing, but I'm just paranoid.  I've had work stolen before.  In any case, here's the page.

The pieces are named by the date they were started.  06.07.07 was "finished" that day, at least as far as it has an ending.  It could still be improved and added upon, but it can stand alone as it is.  This recording of it is a test of the basic export feature of Sib6.  It's only using the most basic playback instruments, and no effects have been added.  The levels need a bit of adjusting, but I was more interested in making sure the export feature worked.  09.4.08 was plugged into my Korg DS-10 cartridge, and recorded in Audacity.  Again, the levels need adjusting, and no effects have been added.  It's also missing one or two of the instruments it was originally written with, due to the limitations of the DS-10.  This piece was never "finished".  It just ends rather abruptly.  I'm also not 100% satisfied with the voicing I've accomplished, it's not what I was aiming for.  Some of the composer/preformer data has been filled in, using various pseudonyms I work under.  If anyone downloads these, and wants correct data, as opposed to place holder data, just let me know.  Again, I'm paranoid about my work getting stolen, so please.  Don't use it without permission.  I'm actually quite generous with my permission, I just want to know about it.  Please just respect my work.

Buzzzzzzzz.  Time to fold clothes.

I was trying to plan something to get me out of the house Halloween night. Well, something has come up that will accomplish that, albeit rather harshly. I am not looking forward to it in any way, shape, or form. Sorry to get personal, I'm just having a helluva time coping.


As far as projects go, I've cleaned up my PC music library. I need to rip some more CDs, especially my X-Files ones. I've been listening to Gallagher's "Teotihuacan" obsessively since the 14th. I tend to like to listen to one song repetitively while writing, so I want to have them all at hand. Next up is getting acquainted with yWriter. It's a word processor that has some organizational features that ought to help me keep my story organized. Sib6 came in the mail, so I need to install that. I've also got to see if I'll need to buy a new processor for the laptop in order to run Garritan 3.0. It's asking for a 2.4gHz Pentium 4 or higher, and I have a Core 2 Duo. I have no idea if I add the two clock speeds or what.

I got bored and took one of those MP3 player quizzes.  The result was...... most interesting.  It's under the cut.


( Warning: Gratuitous use of F-Bomb. )

So the "y" key on my laptop is fucked up. I have to hit it two or three times to register. Oh well. I'll do something about that later. Gonna play some Dr. Mario for a while before sleeping. Maybe I'll start cutting the block for my next print tomorrow.

...... or are they? Sure as fuck doesn't feel like it. But enough of that. I said I wasn't making this a personal issue journal, no matter how bad things are.


So. Finally finished the soldering station.


I'm not sure what the next thing will be.  NaNoWriMo's coming up.  Maybe I'll focus on preparing for that.  I gotta bury myself in something completely, and SOON.  I can't believe I thought things were bad with my last posting.  I'd sacrifice so much to go back to that.  Rekindling my X-Files fandom is helping, though.  I just love watching the Scully/Mulder relationship.  I'll be diving into season two sometime this week.  I almost can't wait for season three: the Scully abduction always just blew me away, especially as it still affected her through four and five.  I gotta admit, despite the parallels to my own past, seeing their relationship is one of the few things that lets me forget what's dragging me down.  Fucking astounding.  I still have to leave the room when there's a military funeral on-screen, but this damn series just has me completely absorbed.  In other fangasm news, I picked up Volume 2 of the Gargoyles:Clan Building and Volume 1 of Gargoyles:Bad Guys.  Truth be told, I was hoping for a longer run than twelve issues.  Of course, I was hoping for more than two seasons' worth of cartoons.  I'd be all over DVDs of those if the entire damn series would get released.  Hmmmmmmmm.  I know that there was an official X-Files Pinball game, and a Phantom of the Opera Pinball game, but not Gargoyles.  Something to ponder.  lol  If I ever do the pinball thing, I'd probably just do several machines, whether official versions exist or not, 'cause there would totally HAVE to be a black silk boxers bonus in the X-Files game.  *wicked grin*


I'm parting out some more of my gaming collection.  I just spent nearly $400 to upgrade to Sibelius 6, with the Garritan 3 sound library.  I've gotten by for two years with Sib2 and no sound library, and even if Sib7 comes out early next year, I'd still rather just be one revision off than three.  Part of the expense is that I'm buying an entirely new Sib6 program instead of upgrading.  I've got a colleague who could use any version of Sib, but has no means of getting it at all.  So when I get my new installation, I'll deregister Sib4 and give it to her.  Guess I'll need to scrape up a few more bucks for an updated Reference Guide, too.  I finally installed Audacity, so between that, and an updated composing program, I'm planning on moving forward with my composing career.  I've got some roughed-out ideas for a collection of liturgical works that I may develop further.  In light of a few of my issues, it'd be awesome if I could go somewhere with those.  It might even solve one or two of my problems. 

On the reading front, I'm blasting through the Coe books, one every few days.  I'm on the third of the five original Winds of the Forelands series, and I'll follow with the two Blood of the Southlands titles that are currently out.  That ought to get me through the rest of October.  What I read next will depend largely on how the NaNo goes.  It could end up being anything from Crescent's Encyclopedia of Equine Anatomy and DeLort's Life in the Middle Ages to Gelernter's Mirror Worlds or Russel's The Social Biology of Totemism.  For recreational reading, I've got a compilation of stories by the owner of a local eatery.  I thumbed through it once, and I'm looking forward to a full reading.

Almost forgot.  I did upload art a couple weeks ago.  Older art, but art.  As for new art, I'm farting around with a sequel print to Seeking Comfort.  When I get that done, maybe I'll finally feel right about showing people Seeking Comfort again. 


Oh gods!  I just got a brilliant idea!  That arcade cab of mine-  I've got some older PCs, and the X-Files PC game.  Fuck yes!  It wouldn't have to be limited to X-Files, but maybe that's what I should do: throw a PC in there that runs the only games I play, add customized controls, and a kick-ass sound setup.  Now that is something to think about.  But later.  My wrist is acting up, and I want to go lay on the couch.

Happy Birthday Fox Mulder!  Yes, I am wishing a fictional character a happy birthday.  10.13.61.  I've known this for years.  I didn't get into the series originally until about late season 3.  We didn't have a TV at that point of my life, so I'd hike over to my grandparents, rain or shine, or six feet of snow to watch it.  I still clearly remember that season 4 finale.  I'd managed to talk my parents into renting me a TV while the rest of the family was out camping, and I was left home alone to fulfill an obligation (best left unsaid....).  I spent almost all night on a conference call with six or seven high school friends.  During the episode, the only conversation was a more-or-less constant stream of someone saying "FUCK!  NO FUCKING WAY!"  The overwhelming obsession faded in season six, and I got out of it.  I did still retain a deep fondness for the episodes I was most familiar with (and had taped illegally), however.  I was interested when the second movie came out, but my life status didn't really accomodate being an X-Files fangirl.  I also didn't really want to see it after missing three seasons, either, and said lifestyle demands honestly didn't leave me the time to pursue watching so many episodes.  My current state in life allows loads of time to watch TV, especially while working on projects and the like.  So I decided to start from Season 1 and buy used sets of DVDs, and catch up on my fandom.



Interestingly, I've never seen most of these episodes.  Reruns weren't something I'd see, and walking to get to a TV made it even more difficult.  And in the days of 14k internet, even if I'd have managed to find episodes on-line, I didn't have the patience to wait for them to load.  It's awesome to see what's essentially entirely new to me.  I'd picked up bits and pieces during my years playing the X-Files CCG, enough to know what each episode was vaguely about.  The actual story and subsequent character interactions are all new, though.  I've always been a Scully/Mulder pairing fan, and I am honestly shocked to see how much it was played up from the damned beginning. 

I'm not gonna go on an on and on, even though I could.  I did catch a few subtler hints that have me pondering, though.  Odd,  how in a career that discourages fraternization with assigned partner, both Scully and Mulder have histories of significant relationships with assigned partners.  Odder still how many past partners/lovers come back to work with the pair.  And just in season one, when they've presumably known each other just a short time, how far they go to cover each others' asses.  Mulder's a bit of a renegade, but Scully is anally by the rules.  Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice would say. 

I've noticed a few other things, but I've been rocking the Ichabod's Pumpkin Ale hard for a few hours now, and I'm starting to see a lot of parallels between Scully/Mulder, and other things.  I don't like that very much.  Nor do I like the feeling I get whenever I see a military funeral.  I've been through a lot since my original X-Files obsession, and some things I just plain can't deal with anymore.  It doesn't take away from my enjoyment, though.  Fuck, the dumbest things trigger those kind of feelings, just like AR said.  With another scheduled date for trial fast approaching, it's hard to avoid that getting triggered.

ANYWAY.  Soldering station is done.  Finishing up some Master System repairs, one of which will be sold.  That'll get its own entry though, after all I've managed to do with sheet metal, super glue, and sheer determination.  Even though it's all fucked as hell, life's gotta happen.  Anyway, off to fart around with an emulator on my DS until I fall asleep.

So I had a rather productive afternoon at the shop yesterday. I got my ancient 20" TV up on a wall mount. That was kind of a nerve-wracking process, actually. The bracket wasn't so bad to install, but I wanted it to tilt down, and when I lifted the TV up and saw it leaning, I got really nervous. It seems to be staying fine, though. It's easy to adjust, but it's not moving around on its own. I used double stick tape to stick the RF modulator right to the back of the TV. I'll probably add a small shelf on the wall under the TV for the DVD player. It's the silver box on the bench to the left. Otherwise, I need to disconnect it and set it somewhere else every time I do something on the bench that might cause it to skip. I mounted a power strip next to the wall bracket. That gives me about three or four more outlets in easy reach of the bench, depending on if the DVD player's running on mains or battery. There is an outlet straight down from the corner of the bench, I'll probably secure the cord to the wall to keep it neat and out of the way. I am really enjoying the extra space already, though. As you can see, I've been working on other projects already. One is the soldering station. It's so damn close to being done. I just need to cut and paint two more pieces to complete the box around the power outlet. There will be a small tray on top of that, for solder or for whatever parts I'm working with. I've attached two flagpole holders for my soldering and desoldering irons. I took a pic of it in its current state, but it didn't come out. I'm really hoping to finish it tomorrow. I've run into a few issues, so it's not as cosmetically perfect as I was hoping, but I figure I can use it for a while and see how it holds up before I fix it.



I also managed to finish the rough paint of this.  It's one of those models made of lots of wooden pieces that slide together.  The pic is a thumbnail link to the full size.  I need to dig through my massive spray paint collection and try to find some different shades of grey.  I thought about making the markings match my OC, Tibia, but I'd need to blend several colors on one piece.  I'm just not sure how that'd look with the model kit.  It's just styled in a way that lends itself well to solid-color pieces.  I'll probably experiment more with this.  It's something I can work on while doing another project, since I'm just spraying and waiting. 

I also started the next project after the soldering station, an adjustable benchtop power supply.  All I did was pop the bezels off the meter panels, and prime them for painting.  I was originally planning a steampunk theme, but I bought blue LED digital panels.  I'll do something artistic, but I'm just not sure what.  I've got the power board from a DreamCast, which puts out 12, 5, and 3.3VDC.  I could get 17V from that, but I'm not sure how many amps it can provide.  I may try something else.  I've got a printer power board, but I'd need to figure out the voltages myself.  It's easy enough.

As for the writing front, NaNoWriMo fast approaches.  It's never an easy time of year, though.  I thought about writing more this month, but I will probably do some outlining and organizing ideas instead, to save the actual writing for November.  I think I'll just continue on with Tibia, Kyle, Tin, and the rest.  I know where I want that story to go, and unlike the one with Kait, 'Neil, Thor, I haven't felt it needs to be totally rethought out to move forward.  I changed my settings so my location instead shows what I'm reading.  I won't go back and try and correct the older entries, but I thought it'd be neat for me to look back and see what I was reading.

Well, off to bingo.  After that, I'll be coming back to clean up around the house.  I'll probably put on Conqueror of Shamballa.  I just got through the FMA series last night again, so I'm ready for it.