Of Mediocre Makings

07:57 pm: I found a recipe for mochi~ yay now I can make it myself! I got every single thing on the list save for what we already had, and a few things like the roe or the rice cooling tub that was WAY the freaking hell expensive. $90 for a cedar one! WTF! I mean, SERIOUSLY, wtf. I shudder to think how much my bamboo steamer cost. ~___~;

But anyway, we shouldn't need anything from Uwajimaya for a long time. And prices have really gone up... a pack of 30 sheets of nori was about $3.99. The 50 pack I earned in an art deal was like about that much. It was rather scary... at least I have enough though. *nodnod*

I probably haven't mentioned it here, but my mother signed me up for a potluck at our church, a "Christmas around the World" thing, and she picked the Orient. Of course, I'm not going to do it all myself, so I enlisted her and Faith's help making it, and my uncle's car to get the stuff. I'm making sushi, mostly rolled californian, as they're analbanal about anything raw (hey, you eat SALAD raw, don't go there) and cucumber rolls. Faith is making Kuih Keria, a Malaysian sweet potato donut they eat around Christmas, she and I are making Yuan Tuen... or however that's spelled, for Chinese New Year Dumpling soup, and mom is making Kurikinton, a Japanese New Year food made out of sweet potatoes and chestnuts, and Faith is also making a Korean beef dish thing that sounds really good and you can wrap in lettuce leaves. There should be more than enough for people who actually want to try it. If anyone actually wants these recipes, I could post them.

Figure I'll snitch some rice flour for mochi, as I accidentally picked up the kind with red bean instead of strawberry or kiwi filling. AND POCKY IS DAMNED SPENDY NOW! It doubled from under a dollar to 2.50 or so! And everything else was kinda pricier too. Strangely enough, Yan Yan didn't even budge.

We met my friend BJ there and I went around shopping with her too, and she got me some sushi. I think mom was right about the nori tasting like cigarette butts now... it was way old and the sushi I had today didn't taste anything like the tuna sushi I made the other day. X_x

And to note: Cooking Sake IS allowed to be bought on food stamps. I'll definitely never need any mirin as long as that bottle lasts, and it WILL last for a while, as I'm not fond of sake that's too strong, and cold. I needed it for the tamago nigiri batter though, and it's good I can use it in other stuff.

Anyway, traffic was pretty bad coming out of Portland, but not as bad as it could have been, as it's been pouring all day today. We didn't let BJ walk to the bus station in the rain either- we dropped her off to a sushi place by the station because her dad wasn't answering.

Remind me to tell about the knives they had there, too. I about died when I saw them, then again when I saw the price. I got a small one that'll do a lot of jobs though, for $11. My uncle paid for it, and it has a bamboo handle and a case, it's REALLY sharp.

I did not get roe because they didn't have the kind I needed, and a six ounce jar was $11. Next time I'm in Seaside, I'm going to check the price of seafood... it seemed to me that even though the prices of food were higher there, seafood was less.

After we got back to Vancouver, we stopped at a little grocery place that had frozen rabbit and chicken feet. :(... then he took me to a place that served the best Chicago Dog, EVER. BRIGHT green relish, Vienna beef, you name it. He said he'd have taken me to a tavern where there was deli sandwiches and stuff (I just a feeling to take my wallet too!) but we were so late getting out of Uwajimaya that it was starting to get dark, so we headed back instead.

04:03 pm: You know, I was thinking about the Writer's Strike, and as usual I started thinking about the whole issue surrounding it- the lack of monies from internet views of shows and such.

Knowing what I do about the nature of the Internet, an idea popped out at me- what if the issue for the Big Media isn't the money at all, but rather the way they count the views of the shows? Or is there no way to tell? We know that writers get so many cents per DVD, time it is aired, so on, and that's a cut and defined way of deciding how much money they get. With internet, there's no garauntee. At all. A page view does not mean the video is being watched, and many times while loading a video, they pause it and then surf away. There isn't an as definite outline what constitutes a view. If they were to sell video files, that would be an easier way of deciding, but to be fair they'd only get one fee per person, as files can be lost, damaged and downloads interrupted, so limiting it by download makes for angry customers, and allowing unlimited downloads pushes profit down.
And then, with streaming media, there's also the factor of advertising dollars, which is very much ineffective in regards to internet based companies, and as I've seen with NBC's streams, has a very targeted audience for those services which aren't based on the web and limited to one country. A viewer from the UK wont be interested in American Family Insurance.

Just some thoughts on that. I don't think it has anything to do with money, other than the whole "tv/music/anime industry is shaking in it's boots over the net" thing. Actually, that thought would probably be better described here and here. It seems more like... things are going too fast for old, middle aged, pampered, wealthy and set-in-their-ways men. You just can't teach a dog new tricks.

I'm hoping our generation will be a lot more flexible than that. As the Internet gains power, new ideas and new ways of doing things are going to come out one after another like a paintball gun.

09:03 pm: Dear Christians everywhere:

You preach and preach and preach about being forgiving and tolerant and good and kind to all sorts of people, and you claim to follow Jesus and God's will and everything...

So, in that case...


WHY THE FUCK CAN'T YOU JUST SHUT UP AND BE TOLERANT? FOR FUCK'S SAKE.

- Mormon Girl, who, unlike most masses of Christians, actually practice said tolerance.

Also, if I see one more stinking freaking huge mass of FF7CC icons that are only of Cloud, Seph, Zack or one of the other overrated boring SOLDIER boys, I WILL SCREAM.

01:52 pm: I just had a sudden flashback just now, out of the freaking blue.

It was last year's Kumoricon, I asked Ellen if there was anything that need to be done. One of the laptops someone had loaned or something to the Creation Station wouldn't work with the printer. All right, I said, me and Mikey will take care of it.
We worked on that thing for a good half hour-forty minutes trying to find the drivers for that sucker, but we finally got them and installed them, printed a test paper and the owner or whoever was using it that was watching us had a nice test sheet from the printer. All was good. She went back to sit down, and me and Mikey went off to do something Turkish, I forget what...

Later in the night, while an event was going on, I was across the room from the computer getting Copics or something for the drawing I was doing... and Ellen was making announcements. One of these announcements were "And the printer was fixed by so and so! Apparently, the drivers were already on it, it just wasn't set as the default printer!"

...and I was pissed. I remember walking over to check if the test sheet we printed was still there, and it was, identical to the second one. We worked hard getting those drivers on there, the person who owned it (or whoever was sitting there having the problem) knew what we did, and we told Ellen we got it working. We TOLD the girl at the compy that she had to select the printer when in the print mode, or set it to default. That it'd work after that.

I have no idea why I suddenly remembered that, but maybe it's just surfacing now because it pissed me off so much I had to bury it. Lots of things pissed me off about that con, though, and yes, mostly involving Ellen.

11:41 am: I was just thinking, taking pride in what I say and write is something of a curse, in my opinion. I look everywhere else and all these "yay! cool! *droolz!!!!* omg u r so aewsum!11!1!" comments, anywhere, everywhere, get more responses than my "That's pretty cool here's why I think so. You're a great person et ctra et ctra." ever have.

*hangs head*

09:19 am: Today is Black Friday, and while talking with Mikey, I was just wondering about the name and why it's called Black Friday...

and then, I realized, why has nobody started honking about the racism in the name? 

I'd like to know why nobody's bitched about Black Mass either.

03:57 pm: What the bloody fuck? I pulled Demona's tail while playing with her, not hard, and she freaking sprayed me with brown butt goo that smelled like rotten fish. WTF IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD?!

10:48 am: I have a job.

FUCKING SWEET.

06:16 pm: *pries eye open* I hate winter. Soon as it even gets slightly cold, I start sleeping at any given moment. Fjhthf...

And GJ is to the point where it sucks worse than LJ... as far as features go. Icons still randomly disappear. I'm starting to think they walked away in disgust instead of fixing anything. Well, maybe at least the editing problem.

And, why is it the things in life that are the most important to someone always so damned expensive! Bleh... I'm going to take a (longer) nap. ~_~


It also looks like I can't make it to Write-in either, as nobody is here to take me, it takes an hour to walk there, and it's already started. A little long way to go for pizza and company on foot :/

09:41 pm: Uhhhh huh, and I'm sure the poor boy who can't feed himself now really feels all that better because they JUST wanted to buy marijuana. That homeowner has every right to defend himself with deadly force, that's still in the rule books. Never taken off. Remember claim jumpers? Jesus Christ, next you'll be telling me that it was the INTRUDER'S home~!

"Whine whine whine, those boys got killed doing something criminal! Of course it can't be their fault because the homeowner was clearly RACIST!"

STFU, bitch.

08:12 pm: I'm so sleepy x_x Mom woke me up at noon to get stuff at the store. OMG is she annoying when you're trying to sleep.

Uh... still kinda stuck on the story. I've been reading the No Plat No problem book though, and had my suspicions confirmed- being busier means you get more done even if you feel you can't add more in. And I don't mean by the "busier DOES mean you get more done!" I mean it in the way when I ask a non busy person to do something, it never gets done. If that makes sense. You'd have to read the book, probably. I slept too long so I didn't go to the library, though I probably should as it makes you feel like you're busy and have to write.

But I did get a very late breakfast. I wonder if those donut holes are still in the kitchen.

07:53 pm:

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09:57 pm: I have not written anything today yet.
I'm absolutely not motivated at all, despite getting tons of ideas yesterday.
Maybe it should just be a break day then, it's not like I'll be behind.
I should just sit, relax, and get ideas, and maybe play Sudoku.

11:09 pm: The Write-In was informative and helpful, as I'd stumbled on several writers blocks during the session, but with the help of the other writers I got past it.
What happened after the NaNo and as we were going home is a little less pleasant. In fact, I don't really want to talk about it, other than say I wish certain people had said something to me, so such things hadn't happened. As usual, some people don't know when to shut up. I do want to say I was afraid for my life for a little while during the ride home.
Though, there wasn't so much need to get so angry over Mom being her usual self. Live and learn, though it seems that the older generation of my family doesn't.
I've been having troubles with the fan in my power source, as well. I'm wondering if it's a failure of the fan or if the source is just getting old. I know that it's completely capable of handling the needs of the components, so I don't think it's overloaded.
Tomorrow will be the 30k mark, though!
Oh yeah, I have my NaNo widget on my (GJ) profile, not that I figure anyone will look at it, as I'm immensely unpopular and reclusive, and nobody gives a rat's ass.
Also, as soon as chance affords it, I'm moving to Scribblit.com. 18+ and fan friendly!

09:18 pm: Downhill from here!
I am finally over the hump at 25k even though I only wrote about 2k tonight, and past that scene that was causing me so much trouble. I had a little advice from the other NaNoers on the forums, which was if you don't like the scene, then end it, so I ended it. It didn't turn out anything like I thought it would with big Dramaz, but it was decent enough. But now, I can add more little Dramaz and build up to the major Dramaz. I think I'm going to need an adversary soon though, or something really big to end the story with. It might be something in the past that's coming to get them. Oh, that's good, a time guardian.
Well, at least I have some ideas now on what to do for tomorrow's NaNo Write-In. Even if I finish the 50k count I'm going to keep going and working on the story, because I think it's not going to be done at 50k with the way it's working. The story has only really got established now and it's already halfway through, so who knows. It might turn out to be a full length novel, even though I was hoping it to be a Young Adult story, which means kinda shorter.

04:34 am: Flunked.
So I didn't make 25k yet. I barely squeezed out 3k, and now I'm stuck on a scene that's kind of pivotal to the whole book and I can't jump ahead like I want because I need to know how it ends... and it's just not coming. Hurrrgh... Usually, this doesn't happen to me, I'm always full of half assed ideas and they always flow, but it's like the faucet shut off today.

01:16 pm: Evil Clocks
I woke up today, thinking it was about 4ish or something because it was so dark and the sun was in a strange place, then I looked at the clock and saw it was noon... I really hate daylight savings time.

11:12 pm: Celebrate!
I hit 20k tonight. I'm hoping to make 25k by tomorrow, which means I'll be halfway through already.

10:04 pm: More Word Count
Well, I made it to 13k today. I'd hoped for 15k but I'm kinda stuck on what I want to do with the story though. I'm hoping just writing through it will help, no matter the inane crap it is.
Heroes was particularly awesome today.

02:35 pm: Nano Write-in was tonight! It was great, being able to go there after hours (hee, I feel so bad doing that) and just writing away. They had pizza. PIZZA! It was nice seeing people I haven't seen in a while, two years I think... because with all the moving I didn't go last year, I think.
Sean is doing Nano this year too, I think I was the one that told him about it in the first place too, I think... I don't remember, but I'm pretty sure I was. I made a mention to him of it last year or something...
Bruce went with me, and sat there writing out recipes from books, but he said he enjoyed it and to tell him the next time it was, because he wanted to go again. That kind of surprised me, but later he told me he'd been a big library bookworm when he was in his early teens. Not exactly something you would expect from him, but I'm starting to understand him a little better and I'm realizing just how much smarter my family is to others around here.

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