Thursday, December 29, 2005

in further preparation

i'm locking down comments/notes/tags on all my flickr photos that are older than one month in preparation for the yahoo signin requirement sometime in 2006.

as you can see, i'm quite serious about abandonning flickr except as an old photo repository. (i'm keeping the account alive for photo storage only. i'll be breaking many, many links if i let it go at this point.)

it's a sad, sad day. but i'm sure i'll get over it.

lego + sushi = superfantastico

lego sushi, i'm not kidding.

it's hella cool! i wish i'd thought of it!

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

test one two one two

testing out blogger's photo ability for when flickr requires a yahoo login.



seems to work.

oh! that photo is of my new gloomy bear print! hooray!

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

happy days of holi

so, how are your holidays going, gibblets? nursing a hangover? counting down the days until the new year when the whole holiday season will *finally* be over?

yeah, me too.

xmas day at casa rakkaleff went according to plan. SANS hitting my head, thankfully! although, i broke my toe again.

missile toe

but it's been broken and rebroken for four months now so no news there.

leff, d and i saw king kong

king kong

and it was good! (for those of you keeping score, the 1976 version of kong is the first movie that i remember seeing. i also auditioned to be an extra in 1986's "king kong lives" but i was told that i was too young. also also, whenever i watch "king kong vs. godzilla", a rock legend dies. (i watched it the day kurt cobain died and also the day that joey ramone died. spooooooky!! (haha)) so, yes, kong and i go way back.)

after kong, we headed to the international district for chinese food.

four seas

i got the vegetarian mu shu and it was fantastic! (note to self: we need some hoisin sauce.) leff got a garlic eggplant dish that was yummy but he ate all of the leftovers while he was waiting for the xmas "dr. who" to finish torrenting so i only ate a few bites of it. (the eggplant not the dr. who)

we're heading back to the id this week for vinyl. leff saw a toy store while we were searching for parking and even though we have a huuuuuuge order in at kid robot (which includes a pete fowler monsterism figure but i can't remember which one), one can never have enough vinyl.

one can't.

i'm not sure what's on the agenda for the rest of the week. (leff's on holiday so that means 'sploring.) maybe capitol hill? maybe freemont? maybe more drinking?

if i was placing bets, i'd go with more drinking by three lengths.

Friday, December 23, 2005

words! i got words! get your hot words!

still on package patrol. last night's holiday bootay brought, among other things, a panda z from leff's dad.

panda z hearts tokyo

panda z loves tokyo circa the 1980's. i think he'd like it now too but i couldn't find a current photo of toyko in our library.

and my padre sent seasons 5 and 6 of seinfeld complete with a puffy shirt! EEEEP!

EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

d just invited leff and me to a sparkly, tinkly new year's party so i have to get a new party frock and some new shoes. i haven't bought a party dress in a while (look, live in memphis and baltimore. see if the need for fancy party clothes ever comes up. i assure you, it won't.)

i don't normally get excited about clothes shopping but, for some reason, i'm absolutely hepped up (without goofballs) about getting some grown up dressy clothes!

seriously, between the new couch and this new outfit, i don't even know myself anymore.

(that would be a joke. i know, humor might've helped you recognize it as such.)

xmas will be spent the same as every year. pizza in the morning, lots and lots of booze, my annual whacking of the noggin (i hit my head *really* hard every xmas. it's the tradition that i try to avoid but, alas, concussions and xmas seem to go hand in hand. must be the booze....). then some rest (i just hit my head, remember?), the familial phone call, a movie (this year, king kong!) and chinese food.

ah, the perils of being raised methodist. (add a wink, a nudge and we're out, people!)

Thursday, December 22, 2005

cute bunny!! cuuuuute buuunny!!

i know i've already plugged cute overload but jesus h. effing christ, you HAVE to look at this bunny!

do it!! click the link!! look at the bunny!!

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

big al saves the day!

big al's got a great song to download on this, the shortest day of the year in my hemisphere.

i hate christmas. bloody brilliant!

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

here are some words in english for you to read

ever have one of those days where you don't feel quite so cool? you know, like when you answer the door wearing a kerchief around your head all pirate style 'cause you've been cleaning and your mailman looks at you like you're some sort of freak, hands you a package and asks if you're from england?

of course not, kitten. this could only happen to me.

i had managed to shake off that not so cool feeling (which is totally different than that not so fresh feeling) until the ups lady delivered a package right when i'd been eating a blue stick of candy. so when i answered the door not only were my teeth and tongue blue but also part of my lips. i tried to mumble my way through the entire thing hoping that she wouldn't notice, but she kept smirking and staring quizzically right at my pthalo stained mouth so i was forced to show her the blue candy stick lest she think i had some weird sort of smurf related dental problem.

so totally not cool.

but enough about me, let's talk about things. cool things. like this hk radio

hk radio from leff's mom!

leff's mom got it for me for thanxmaskwanzikah. i love it! and the package that it came in was fun to play with too!

kitty blue

while we're looking at aqueous things, you simply MUST see the snowglobe that vaguely artistic sent to me!

A SNOWGLOBE FROM VAGUELY ARTISTIC!!!

omg! isn't it beautiful?

while we're on the subject of things sent in the mail, i'll show you all of the other rockin' things that arrived via post this week!

a fantastic mix cd and holiday card from wasted papiers!

A MIX CD FROM WASTED PAPIERS!!!!!

LOVELY CARDS FROM WASTED PAPIERS!!

wp is a mixmaster extraordinaire!

larry dimick sent a cuuute card with gentleman deery me included!
A LOVELY CARD AND GENTLEMAN DEERY ME FROM LARRY DIMICK!!

gentleman deery me is the red chap hanging out with luther and the playmobil deer. it's a good thing that ld found him because, according to her, he'd always wanted to live in seattle! what luck!

i also got this silvertastic card from t eh shed.

A CARD FROM IRREGULAR SHED!!

and it don't know how he did it, but he managed to send holiday greetings from not only his cat but also his as yet unborn son! shed's channeling abilities must be B3Y0ND L33T!!!

ok, enough about things. i have been doing other stuff besides being on package patrol lately. really, i have.

like, i proclaimed my love of cup noodle all hardcore style.

cup noodle, bitches!

and i ate some vegetables because i cut cute shapes out of them.

bunny carrot

and i finished addressing all the holiday cards

effing FINALLY!

but i haven't mailed all of them yet. yes, i suck.

also, i ate at cafe minnie's

starry

but i didn't eat their holiday decorations. i had an omlet called the clara bow. for some reason, clara bow tastes like chicken.

ok, so in retrospect that's not a lot. but i've been on the phone, like, nonstop, velvetcakes, because it's the holiday season and people like to talk during the holidays. and i've been reading, like, a lot because i only have ten more days left in 2005 to read 150 books. (it's not going to happen. i'm at 96 tomes and counting right now. hey, the move kind of cut down on my available reading time. shuddup!)

and, i know i did something else. grocery shopping? buying toys at tower? standing in line at the post office even though i only needed stamps because i forgot to bring my debit card and the automatic stamp machine doesn't take cash?

yeah, that last one. definately, the last one. le sigh...

k, it's that time for me to awkwardly end this post. so, uh, smell you later? don't take any wooden nickels? (who the fuck manufactures wooden nickels? i mean, is that even fun in a novelty way? wooden nickels are *SO* 1934. *eyeroll*)

Saturday, December 17, 2005

it's a ds cake!

so here's the mystery cake!

IT'S A NINTENDO DS CAKE!

it's a nintendo ds! hooray for me and d!

blogger ate my previous post about the party so apologies if you get a double post about the cake. stupid fucking blogger.

Friday, December 16, 2005

home cake and the new mystery cake

hey, ducks! i know that i mentioned in november that i'd be making a mystery cake and then, horror of horrors, i failed to come through. but this time, i'm not yanking your chain. tonight by 9 pm pst d and i will have made a new cake for her friend's bday party!

see, we even went to home cake to get some honest to goodness cake supplies.

home cake

home cake rocks. the only two downsides are that it's small and veeeeerrry crowded. but everything you need is in the space and the lady that owns it is very knowledgable and helpful so i'm not complaining.

we got a REAL CAKE PAN!! some piping bags, REAL food dye (as opposed to the crap you can get at the grocery store) and some edible glitter.

yes, edible glitter! no, i won't tell you what i'm using it for. just wait a little longer, honeycake, it'll make sense soon.

we've already baked the two halves of the cake. here's the batter from last night.

start of a myyyyyyyyysteeeeeryyyy caaaaaake

it's a chocolate guinness cake! we used this recipe. the batter was fantastic! i'm going to make a batch of cupcakes using the same recipe because 1) we need two cupcakes for the candles 2) i want a guinness chocolate cupcake.

k, i'm off until later. i have to crumb coat the two cake halves, make the aforementioned cupcakes and do dishes before d gets here to help decorate the cake. also i have to figure out how the hell to transport the beast once it's finished. (the cake, not d. d's not a beast! silly person!)

updates coming as available. i think this cake is gonna' rock!

Thursday, December 15, 2005

i may be hearting fred meyer

as some of you may know, i've been boycotting target. (this little chart may help to explain why. i try not to overpoliticize things on the blog but, well, looks like i let the cat outa' the bag on this issue.)

i've been looking for a replacement store and had heard good things about fred meyer. although it's not as trendy as target, i'd be willing to send my money their way simply because, as broadsheet reports, at fred meyer emergency contraception is available without prior prescription.

whether or not they are simply following washington state law or not at this point remains to be seen. if i find out that their parent company supports the opt out policy, you can bet i'll be cutting off any of my cash flow to them. but, for the moment, i can purchase toilet paper with a semi-clear conscience.

cute overload!

you know i love cute. it is, therefore, logical that i would love cute overload (found via mefi).

it's so cute it'll make your teeth hurt!

some more words and some more pictures

i think i might hire the robocommenter to handle all blog entries until after the holidays.

anyway, "what's the story, morning glory?" you might ask if you were still listening to that oasis cd. which, uh, i was this morning. shut up.

leff got us a new monitor.

new monitor!

you can't tell from the photo but it's a 19" flat screen swively model. and it's wonderful! our old monitor had gone all fuzzy and would buzz and get lines on the screen until you hit it, so we really needed a new one.

we're now using the old monitor as a coffee table until we can get it recycled.

what we're doing with the old monitor

hopefully, we'll be doing that soon. we might have to buy it a bus pass since the thing's so huge.

i saw narnia!

narnia

i wasn't disappointed! nope, not one bit! tumnus looked exactly as i'd always imagined him and i'm in LOVE with tilda swinton. (she's, like, the most beautiful woman! and i just found out that she's playing nico in the new movie about, well, nico. could this MAKE me any happier? (the answer to that would be "no" in case you can't stand rhetorical questions.))

here's another photo of some pocky that i ate so i can kind of segue into something else.

another pocky shot

the black sesame pocky may be my favo(u)rite ever.

yesterday was nice in small ways. the bus to upper queen anne had a busted meter so it was free ride all day. (not that $1.25 u.s.d. is going to break the bank. remember, these are nice small things)

i also discovered that there really is an hono(u)r system at the uqa branch library. i was checking out my books and one of them wouldn't show up on the computer. i asked the librarian what i should do since the chip wasn't reading and he said "oh no, see, there isn't an rfid chip in books with this sticker (*pointing to an orange sticker on the side of a book*). we don't keep track of these. just take as long as you need with the book and bring it back when you're finished."

i guess i looked really stunned or something because he just laughed at me and said "yeah, it surprises people to know that we have an hono(u)r system like that. but we haven't had problems with the books not being returned." see, another small, nice thing.

i can't remember what else happened that was nice. maybe it was sunny or something.

i finally made holiday cards!

bunnies in the oven

yeah, they're in the oven. fujiko likes to walk on wet ink. she thinks it's funny to have different colo(u)red paws or something.

will i have the cards mailed before the holidays are over? probably not since i haven't even mailed out the stupid mix cds of mine but you never know. i might find some time to run to the post office when i'm not doing something else.

which means, try not to expect your cards or cds until feb. and then try not to expect valentine's cards until some time around june. i work on the lunar calender or maybe some ancient one that predates the roman one. so, again, shut up.

ah, looks like i've come full circle by demanding that you shut up so perhaps i'll stop rambling now. i've got to write another to do list and do some of the things on it and then feel guilty about not completing some of the other tasks.

Monday, December 12, 2005

creeeeeepy!

i know it's a bit late for creepy things since it's not been halloween for so long, but trust me, you want to watch this.

click here, scroll a bit to "innocent escapes" and chose "pre-made" under "select a greeting". oh....mg! totally creepy stuff! (thanks to d for sending me the link!)

a big THANK YOU!!

i haven't been able to take photos of the wonderful things that everyone has sent yet (leff left the camera cable at work on friday) but i have to say a BIIIIIG THANK YOU!! to auntnanny, calvo, jme and chotda for everything!!!

i'll post photos and send personalized thank yous soon! THANKS AGAIN!!!

Friday, December 09, 2005

laptop battle

ooooh!! laptop battle is tonight at chop suey! it's super geeky and super cool which means that i should be there and/or be square!

i really am twelve years old

canadian jumbo

snicker! tee hee! haha! giggling!

hehHEHEHEHEheheh!!

reminder to self

oksana badrak opening tonight at roq la rue.

if you can't make it to the opening, hit the show before it closes.

also, take your vitamin.

de.lic.ious might start tasting like crap

you probably know this but in case you didn't, yahoo bought del.icio.us.

you can defend yahoo to me until the cows come home or whatever other little phrase you'd like to use to designate that a significant amount of time has passed, but i won't buy it. because i've seen what happens when yahoo purchases a company--it quickly turns to shit.

*cough* flickr *cough*

yeah, i coughed it. flickr annoys the fuck out of me these days and that makes me sad because it used to be wonderful.

oh well, de.lic.ious was tasty while it lasted. i hope this merger doesn't leave a bitter taste in everyone else's mouth.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

tee vee loves mee!

tonight i'm watching colours of infinity about mandelbrot sets on pbs and the season premier of season two of project runway!

eeeep!!

as if i have time for this

i've just started a myspace account. drop by if you want, there's probably chips and dip.

more updates and stuff

looks like it's been a while since i've updated this thing. sorry about that. i've been oot and aboot as my canadian exbf used to say.

he said other things as well but "oot and aboot" was the best.

let's see...what's new? well, d and i went to the dog park that's on lake washington last week.

a better pic of the dog park

it was *so* much fun i can't even tell you! the dog park is huge and there are lots of cute puppies running around wagging their little tails!

i met this guy

husky

at the shoreline. isn't he beautiful? he almost made me want a dog! that is until he licked the lid of my coffee mug. bastard dog!

the same day as the dog park, d and i also went to burgermaster. i got a banana shake because i love artificial banana.

burgermaster

an aside: most places in seattle that serve fries/chips also serve tartar sauce regardless of whether or not they also happen to serve fish. because almost everyone in seattle eats their fries/chips with tartar sauce. this is a local custom that i have adopted as it's quite tasty.

also in the same day, d and i went to archie mcphee, more archie mcphee, cookies where i got more cutters like this one

luther and the new fawn check out the new stag cookie cutter

(not pictured are the letter "x" and a small elephant cutter)

and we also managed to go to cupcake royale where i got one of their winter seasonal cupcakes. (a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese icing! *fainting*)

another aside: have i mentioned that life in seattle is, like, super hectic? i sometimes feel like all the dead time that i've had until now has suddenly been repaid in full. with interest. it wears me out. seriously.

j is now a katamari damacy convert since he came over for chocolate chip banana bread and games the other night. (yet another aside: i'm extremely jealous of j at the moment as his father used to own a showbiz pizza and, as a result, j got UNLIMITED TOKENS when he was little! *seething with jealousy!*)

oh! a hearty CONGRATS to the jam master j as he got third in a juried show! AND he sold the piece!! so, rock rock on, jp!! youse da man!!

uh, ok, where was i? sometime leff and i managed to squeeze in a trip to upq (upper queen anne) and all i can say is "wah??!?" because there's an assload of stores and food places that we didn't know about because we didn't finish walking down the ave the last few times we'd been up there. (we're a bit stupid sometimes.)

there's a great little toy store up da hill that has a rather large selection of playmobile. leff got an astronaut and i got an anthropomorphic rabbit that came with a chicken and a deer.

luther meets a new fawn

the solid brown deer, not the one with spots. the spotted one would be luther. perhaps you know of luther?

and on sunday, leff, d and i made it to uwajimaya (persimmons $1.29 a pound!!! reverse pocky!!! yummy house bakery!!! *SHRIEKING*!!!) and i heart rummage.

i heart rummage

i didn't buy anything at rummage this time since i'm currently low on funds but i got a lot of business cards so i can order later!

also i've somehow managed to get addicted to "the gilmore girls" and the first sly cooper game and i've almost finished reading got game: how the gamer generation is reshaping business forever by john c. beck and mitchell wade and what video games have to teach us about learning and literacy by james paul gee.

i'm such a nerd.

today i'm making more chocolate chip banana bread and trying my hand at ina garten's twist on julia child's apple tatin because we got some granny smith apples in the organic produce shipment last week and i don't feel like baking an apple pie. because that would be all american and stuff.

oh, one last thing, pants is on the radio tonight 8-10 pm est. i'll leave it up to you to figure out what that might be for your time zone. (i'm having a hard enough time subtracting three hours to get my own time zone correct.)

Thursday, December 01, 2005

colds taste like cherry

they do. because at the first sign of a cold, i take zinc. and the zinc i take tastes like cherry.

why do i mention it now? because i've caught leff's cold. thanks, leff. *shakes weakened fist at leff*

i lose my mind over my print gocco. you are there.

remind me to not update about the weather because it's now been snowing for about two hours. none of it is sticking, but still.

despite winter spittle, it's been a fairly good day. remember me going on and on about my gocco? you know, this beauty?

inside the gocco box!!!

well, today i made my first prints! and it was *SO* easy, i can't believe that i made prints! (seriously, printmaking likes to make me its bitch. and it often succeeds.)

here's a photo of what an one color inked up gocco master looks like.

inking the master

i adore that version of the robot! it makes me want to get out my oils and get messy.

and THIS is the photo showing orig drawing vs prints!

OMG!!!  I LOVE MY GOCCO!!

(you can view it larger by clicking on the photo and viewing all sizes, original, on flickr if you need to.)

the orig drawing is in the spiral sketchpad. i made the second drawing on top of it with the riso pen just to make sure that the image would transfer correctly to the master screen.

all of those other robots? they're prints! in total it took about 10 minutes! i'm totally hooked on the gocco now! it's so damn easy!

yeah, ok, there are smudges on some of the printed images but that's my fault. i've never been a clean printmaker since i don't necessarily view prints as a finished product. (it used to drive my prof, a master printmaker, quite mad. sorry again, wayne.) and i did cut off part of the image. but again, my fault for not correctly placing my drawing.

in summation, viva gocco!! long live gocco!!!