Persistence of Memory

He's an interesting fellow, though considering that his purring sounds like a combination of night insect sounds and a rusty lawnmower, I have to wonder if he should be called Cricket instead.

I did take some pictures of Bane, but my card reader is being a bitch and refuses to read the MicroSD card for my phone. Then again, that card reader has always been a bit wonky.

Activities-wise, Bane likes:

1. Staring at the ceiling fan, his little head moving in tiny circles.
2. Playing at Indiana Jones, by getting on the blue tote, then the toolbag on top of it, then climbing across the top of my laptop backpack hanging in the closet, to eventually get to the big tool cabinet. (The backpack has thusly been removed to the other closet.)
3. Putting his face into my ashtray, then sneezing, causing ash to puff up like mad.
4. Stalking Shadow, often racing across the room and stopping just short of being too close.
5. Sharing my chair, often napping behind me, so I can't sit quite properly.
6. Trying to catch the mouse cursor, including putting a paw behind the monitor to see if he can trap it that way.
7. Trying to drink my milk. (And stick his nose in anything I'm trying to eat.)
8. Sitting in my lap, often napping. (I think he's still rather concerned about mega-bitch!Storm, so maybe he sees me as a protector.)
9. Sleeping with me, under the covers.
10. Sitting on my desk and obstructing my view of the screen.

I dunno, his little face vaguely reminds me of a Siamese. I guess it's the shape of his head.

He, unlike my dear Shadow, has a manly sneeze. I guess that means he's not gay.

Went to the animal shelter today. Rick, of course, swore up and down he would pick the cat. Yeah, well, there were only like two kittens, and a bunch of adults of varying ages.

So we ended up with...? A black kitten, but this one does not have the two small white patches that Shadow does. He's also extremely friendly, has a purr like a rusty lawn mower, and has already perched on top of the router.

Storm? Ooooo, she's pissed at life right now, hissing and growling. Shadow hisses... a little, but mostly he observes the new little menace from a safe distance. Both reactions were expected.

The only name that popped into my head was Bane, and Rick couldn't come up with anything interesting, so... Bane it is.

We have to take him back on the 22nd to get him spayed. Don't even have to pay for the little guy until then.

I swear, my machine hates me or something. Maybe it just enjoys being difficult.

The other day I went to update the audio drivers. And failed. Repeatedly. I was finally forced to go through the device manager and use the update driver option there, rather than the installer, and track down the temporary files which had been created (by the installer) in order to get them set up properly.

Then I tried, yesterday, to update the video drivers. I had a sneaking suspicion they were causing some issues with Sims 2 crashing (their age combined with the expaks I installed). That failed, too. Repeatedly. In the end I had to do the same thing as with the audio drivers, with an end result of no longer having the Catalyst Control Center installed. (I rather expect that the damn game will still crash on me when I give it another go, but I tried.)

Of course, then I installed Tropico 3, and spent the entire time it was chugging away waiting for some kind of failure message. Thankfully none occurred. It's kind of strange playing this version. The roads are cool, and it's nifty how they automatically curve depending on how you move the mouse. I'm not so sure about Juanito, announcer for the Tropico News Network. I wish he had more sound clips, because he starts to repeat himself after a while (but you can turn him off). And besides, I don't even have a radio station built in my test island, so how the hell is he broadcasting?

It was neat to see El Presidente puffing away running toward some rebels, then standing there oh so confidently and taking shots with a gun. He retreated once he was wounded. It's also cool that he automatically wanders by himself, harassing the construction workers to build faster, encouraging productivity at farms and other workplaces, and making speeches from the balcony of his palace.

Naturally, I made the mistake of dropping down too many construction sites and didn't have enough people to build them and/or work at them, but that's what a test island is for, right?

As usual, courtesy of my dad. Many pictures.

( Don't play with your food! )

I am shocked and appalled. For some reason I decided to listen to Kate Bush at YouTube (even though I have her CD somewhere) and realized that the song "Running Up That Hill" has been covered by multiple parties.

Placebo (bland), Within Temptation (an absolute travesty), and Kerli (save me!).

How could anyone do such awful, horrible things to the work of such an amazing artist?!?!?

Then I noticed a number of her other songs have been covered... usually with tragic results. I mean really... Babooshka covered by Mauro Pawlowski? Save me, save me!

Oh, I can't look anymore.

Well, I had an "exciting" morning. I was scheduled to hit the lab my doctor uses so they could draw blood to check a few things. When we arrived there was a line waiting outside the door, but we were soon able to shuffle in when the first employee arrived. So let's skip ahead to the fellow who signed before me.

He's up at the desk and I hear that he's there for glucose testing or whatever, and that it'll take three hours. I then hear him ask if there was any place he could lie down. The girl was somewhat confused by that, but before anything could be clarified he stated that he didn't feel well and his head went down toward the desk. I assumed he was feeling a bit dizzy, but then he toppled sideways like a felled tree. He's lucky he wasn't standing a bit more to one side or he might have bashed his head against the magazine table.

Nobody was fast enough to catch him.

He started making the most alarming noises... rather like snoring, but under the circumstances it made me a bit jumpy. Nurses were called in from other offices on that floor (the building houses many doctors and staff under the same medical group) and the paramedics were called in to haul him off to the hospital.

I admit, as I saw him lying there on the floor talking to the EMTs I had a vague flashback to my own recent experience. At least this man stayed conscious once he woke up.

And then they got to my bloodletting. Such a big surprise when it took them two people and four tries to tap a vein. :) And even then it was slow to draw. Oh, the joy of having extremely shy veins! (It was bad enough that my veins all disappeared for two weeks due to my hospital visit and being tapped numerous times. At least I can still see them right now, so they've not gone into hiding again.)

So, I finally got to watch Half Blood Prince. After all, even if I think half the movies are canon rape in the extreme, I want a full collection. It's that masochistic side of me coming out to play.

Yes, since I ended up pausing the movie the last time I did this so I could find a notepad and pen, I just brought them along this time, so I wouldn't be inconvenienced.

( “Shoelace.” )

...my mother came to stay for a week. The funny thing is that Shadow was napping over at the far side of the couch, under the side table or something, but didn't wake up until she'd been sitting over there for fifteen minutes or so. Then he shot out like he'd been scalded and fled to the bedroom, being the coward that he is around new people.

What amazed me was that he was back in the living room within a couple of hours, and even progressed in record time to sitting on the couch between us, eventually demanding to sniff her food and wanting attention. He even brought her a catnip mouse!

I told her that he was just infatuated for some reason and not to worry, because really, he's flamingly gay.

Really, though. He has never warmed up to anyone that quickly. Ever.

Yeah, I've kinda been missing for a month, right? I won't go into massive detail, but basically December has been one long month of illness. Thankfully, I finally got properly diagnosed (bleeding ulcer), and I'm fine now, and getting better. (Technically it only became a bleeding ulcer just recently, but whatever.)

I admit, having my new doctor tell me today that I'm not allowed to drink tea anymore was rather a downer—she gave me some samples of a tea I can drink, should I be able to stand it: Rooibos. I kinda balked at the no cooked tomato thing, but that might not be permanent.

On the "bright" side, I've lost ten pounds.

Anyway, I'm taking things easy. Meaning, I've been sitting on the couch reading actual physical books rather than glued to my computer doing various things. At some point I'll run out of things to read, so it'll be back to here. And besides, I got Tropico 3 for Christmas.

Rick came home today with a Wii. He's been playing "sports" games ever since, and he's even breaking a sweat (playing boxing for the moment). Ah, no, he's moved on to baseball and has been complaining about the lack of legs to run on for the little Wiible people. (And he absolutely sucks at the table tennis game.) I made sure when he made his Mii that the little dude had that cocky smirk on his face. Just had to have it.

On the plus side, he found out that the Wii will play Gamecube titles, so long as you get a controller (and card), so I now own a copy of Chibi-Robo. :) He's so freakin' adorable it hurts. No, I haven't played it yet.... Hopefully a little later this evening, when I may be feeling human (I hope). Rick told me he felt like he was buying gay porn bringing Chibi-Robo up for purchase, which I thought was hilarious. Even the dude at the store said it was a fun game.

I am still in pain, pain bad enough to bring me to tears, and it takes a lot to do that—I've cried more in the past week and a half due to pain than I have in the last ten years. I cried so hard earlier I ended up tossing my cookies (could have been coincidence, though, I guess). I am so sick and tired of being in pain.

I have an appointment tomorrow to have a mole removed, and I'm gonna ask Dr Person if there's some kind of muscle relaxant or something he can prescribe, because a lot of the time Doan's just doesn't cut it. I've been experimenting with gentle stretches, very recently, in the hopes that maybe the reason the muscles are going into spasms left, right, and sideways is just from lack of real movement. I dunno. The Mineral Ice is an interesting distraction, but I can't say that it's really helping in any meaningful way, which sucks. At least it's waaaaay easier to apply than Icy Hot.

Still, I'm taking the generic Claritin... still seeing a decided lack of "normal" headaches, which is still incredibly and exceptionally welcome in my life. I am cautiously optimistic that this will continue. I continue to feel stuffy, but you know...? Stuffy + lack of headache = win.

I figure, I've been in a shitty way for the past 1.5-2 weeks, so what better choice than to pour woe and angst all over my journal.

( Woe and Angst )

I admit, I've been sitting here listening to/watching Rick play Half Life 2, Episode 2, and giggling like a school girl over the bit about how Aperture Science might have "rushed" things a bit. That, and giggling over listening to Rick rant about this one scientist dude (Magnuson?) and how pissed he is that an endless supply of bullets to the dude's skull fails to drop him. Personally, I agree. Captain Obvious needs to die a gruesome death.

Then, of course, I had to go look up the "Black Mesa Microwave Casserole" incident, not that I've watched the video I found for it yet. I didn't remember it and neither did he, but I'll know soon enough, I suppose.

It's a good thing the apartment to our right is the complex office, and therefore isn't being bombarded with all this noise through the wall, and that the one behind us is their utility room, so hopefully there's enough distance with that and the hallway such that the bedrooms on the far side aren't being interrupted with the mass shooting, alarms, and other assorted noises of a strider attack.

For those that pay attention, I've moved the HP/Twilight fics from Misc. Slash to their own page, here. I've also added two new stories to that, both Harry/Edward.

... that I am really amused and liking the final track from Portal, Still Alive. It's so chirpily sadistic. I never imagined a game like Portal would produce a track I'd be so fond of, but it did.

Added the story Abused to Harry/Lucius Recs, and Haunted By Dreams Deferred to the Final Fantasy XII section of Misc. Game-Related Recs.

On the way back from Orlando I happened to notice a couple of signs which made me laugh.

Catholic Church
All you can eat seafood

I don't know why that struck me as funny, it just did.

→ Landfill
→ Senior Center

All I could think here was something like "Aw shit, Ethel kicked it. Joe! Pop her on a handcart and hit the landfill across the street. We get a discount."

( Sea World (one image included) )

Now Available

Please be aware that a new oneshot has been added under Final Fantasy.

Title: Worth

Pairing: Balthier/Vaan

Summary: They don't see his worth, it's clear, so he leaves. Someone comes to regret such haste.

A story, Surprising, has been added to the Final Fantasy VII section under Cloud/Sephiroth for Misc. Game Related.

Added a story to Misc. Slash. This one is actually an amusing crossover of Harry Potter/Twilight, weighing in at 61 chapters and 145k words.

( Domain of Heroes )

( Persona 4 )