Go Forth and bask in the Awesome

My article detailing the awesomeness of Dr. Strange is up:

http://www.gamingangels.com/2009/03/made-of-awesome-dr-strange/
Go forth, read, comment, go out and buy a few back issues, petition Marvel to hire me as a writer.

(Also, I think it says something about me that I already had 'Dr. Strange' as one of my tags...)

Edit:(link to article changed)

...sigh...

Why do I do this to myself? I despise pineapple, I dislike ham, and Im not really all that fond of cranberries. So why am I sitting down to eat a slice of ham on toast covered in pineapple, cranberry sauce, and melted cheese?



Okay, so I know perfectly well why. But I'm going to blame sleep deprivation and go work on tomorrow's comic.

Update: I have discovered why pineapples were placed upon this earth. I think I should use a straight cranberry relish next time though, rather than the cran-raspberry stuff I had on hand. Maybe a slice of the canned stuff? Regardless, canned pineapple now going on the grocery list as a standard feature.

Head Clearing

In the middle of trying to convey to others the awesomeness that is Dr. Strange. I need to take a step back and do something else to clear my head for a bit, so I thought I'd randomly share the current ten most listened-to songs on my iTunes playlist:

10. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
9. Everywhere - Fleetwood Mac
8. The Oblivion - DeVotchKa
7. 500 Miles - Peter, Paul, and Mary
6. Ashanti's Letterbomb - Dean Grey
5. My Dear Acquaintance - Regina Spektor
4. Curbside Prophet - Jason Mraz
3. Leaving on a Jet Plane - Peter, Paul, and Mary
2. John the Revelator - Depeche Mode
1. At My Window Sad and Lonely - Wilco and Billy Bragg

Very surprised. I was expecting a much higher Depeche Mode/Peter, Paul, and Mary ratio...

General whatsits.

Went to check out a new game store today, and decided to splurge and get a couple of new minis to represent the cleric and warlord in our current D&D campaign. Got a good start on them tonight, here's a pic of all the in-progress minis:

Somehow, I managed to stumble upon the female mini showing the least amount of skin out of any sculpt Reaper makes. Seriously - the two bulky fighters behind her are more naked. Hell, the male cleric has more skin showing. Regardless, this makes our party look a bit more representative of the actual characters:
The Munchkin figure just seems awesomely appropriate for the halfling thief, so I've no plans to replace him. Ideally, though, I will eventually find a better figure for my dragonborn fighter, and will be able to stop using an Abe Sapien capsule figure...

I've also got a good start on my Endpaper Mitts. Finally. The first attempt had a few problems. The biggest one was that the grey marl yarn I'd chosen as the main color and the self-striping green that I originally wanted to show off with the mitts had absolutely no contrast. The fairisle pattern just faded together into a grey-green. Then, when I took it off the needles, it turned out that the large in the pattern was going to be a bit uncomfortably tight anyway, so I've started over with a hair thicker black yarn as my main color, going to just use the larger needles called for, and we'll see how the green self-striping looks now. Fingers crossed.

Spring Cleaning

Managed to get some projects finished this week - finally. Got mom's socks all done, got a few store samples ready to go, and I think I could make a granny square in my sleep now. I've been trying to go through my Ravelry notebook and get some old projects a bit farther along, as well as getting photos on everything.

The big thing has been getting good photos of all the projects I've done for work, since my boss gave me permission to start a store Ravelry group. Turns out I've made a lot more of the displays than I realized. Ended up getting her to finally sign up for Ravelry, as well.

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Now playing: Modest Mouse - Bury Me With It
via FoxyTunes

I have officially ruined the mailbox

When I painted the mailbox yesterday, I started to get all panicky that I couldn't find the stencils to replace the house numbers on the side of the box. My panic was proven correct today, when we got a slip of paper in the mailbox from the postman saying we needed numbers. This really pisses me off because, well, it should have been pretty obvious that we'd just painted the box and needed to wait for it to dry before adding the numbers.

Then I discovered today painting the box that A) I have no f**king idea how to use spray paint with stencils, and B) if you paint that hammered metal stuff over regular spray paint, it bubbles up and makes the basecoat peel off in big chunks. Apparently I will have to sand and repaint the whole damned thing, and get it all done tomorrow, between going to work and everything else I have to do tomorrow. because the postal carrier can't be bothered to, oh, I don't know, LOOK UP AT THE SIDE OF THE DAMNED HOUSE?!?!?!?!

I really wish we could just switch over to some other method of getting all our mail, like how we can just use cell phones instead of dealing with a house line. FedEx should look into that, maybe.

The main point here though, is that I was right. Which makes me feel a little better.

General Updates

Started in working on the outside of the house today. The backyard in particular is going to take some doing. Two hours outside, and I only just got the patio cleared off and got a dead branch cut off of one of the trees. I really need to do something about the side yard, too. Maybe just till the whole thing up and cover it with pea gravel to make a nice path to the backyard that'll be a bit easier to haul all the tools and stuff I need from the garage without having to drag stuff through the house.

Going to set Tiwaz to work tomorrow on prepping the house for painting on Friday when I have the day off. We don't have a particularly tall ladder, but we should at least be able to get a decent start. I think I'll paint the mailbox, too. Just to make it stand out a bit. Don't know what the homeowner's regulations regarding mailbox color are, but hey, after two attempts to get a copy of the freaking rules, I say the hell with it - if they don't want it an interesting color, they should have told me when I asked.

Also starting work on a couple of apron designs that I think will go over well on Etsy. Haven't decided whether to screen them, or embroider them just yet. Grand scheme of things, I think that once I take my time into account, the two methods will cost about the same. I may have to do some tests as to washability, though. I've only really ever embroidered decorative items before, so I'm not sure how the floss will stand up to the sort of washing a BBQ apron's going to have to handle. Shall have to test it out on a kitchen towel.

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Now playing: Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
via FoxyTunes