One degree

My copy of The Mysterious Geographical Adventures of Jasper Morello finally came in the post, all the way from Australia! It's just as good as I'd remembered, but on a BIG SCREEN. It also comes with a surprising amount of subtitles. There's like eight languages on there. (Maybe more like five, but still!)

I tried it with the Japanese subtitles and realised I still have a LOT of kanji to learn. Which kinda makes me want to cry.

Kanji is hard.

In any case, I realised the Kayla was right: waiting for packages in the post IS like waiting for presents (that you had to purchase yourself). You don't know quite when they'll arrive, and it's a suspenseful wait.

Well it's the end of the semester, and we've all got papers to fill out telling our advisor (Ned) how much we've worked this quarter. Which makes it really terribly awkward when I can't remember just how much I've done... I think... There's been like one project I've REALLY done this quarter, isn't there? There's like the Giant Project of Doom (AKA Concerning the aestetics of Steampunk) and nothing else, if I'm being totally honest.

Wait, wait! I've just remembered. I'm binding a doodle book. I should go check on that.

Good morning,

Murphs

PS: What's this I hear about a new President being inagurated?

There's a good chance I'm going to go see Abney Park in February. They're playing in Seattle for the Steampunk Party II (I totally approve of Roman numerals, by the way. They're classy.). So, this evening I thinks to myself, you know what would be awesome, you? And since it would be rude for me to not even respond to myself, I said, What would be awesome? And then I told myself that it would be magnificent to go to Steampunk Party II with steampunk-y faery wings (and goggles, obviously.). So, Ned and anybody else who stumbles across this corner of the internet, my long weekend will be spent debating whether I want cellophane or nylon wings, and then making them (probably cellophane, for aesthetics' sake.).

Tutorial for Cellophane: HERE
Tutorial for Nylon (and some type of sushi): HERE
The REALLY basic design behind mine: HERE

So I suppose this is really closer to DRAGONFLY wings than butterfly, like your average faery would have, mostly because... I dunno. Dragonflies just seem more steampunk than butterflies. Does that make sense? In either case, I'll probably use electrical tape for mine instead of floral like the cellophane wings tutorial suggests, because... It's steampunk, and going to be all gears and cogs instead of leaves and green.

Murphs

PS: But a later pair with leaves pressed between the cellophane layers would be pretty striking, right?

Japanese Pen-pal

So, my Japanese pen-pal, Yukiko sent me a letter. My god, they have weird stationary over there. I mean, I always thought it was a little strange how you received stationary from your animal neighbors in Animal Crossing, but I thought that all of those were a quirk of the game.

Either way, now I must find cute stationary to write back. I'll look like a dumb Amurican if I don't.

Murphs

PS. I want a cup like that, though.

Edge of the World

Do you think that if the world really was flat, people would try to jump off? I mean, obviously, suicidal persons would leap (presumably into the æther and their deaths) but I mean, explorers and their like. If there was an edge to the world... would anything work off of it? Would an airship still fly? What would lie under the world?

I want to live on a flat world.
Murphs

So. Bottles.

There are a lot of tutorials on Instructables for stuff to do with bottles. Planters, shelves, cups. But how about this?! There is no way in hell I could ever hope to top a man who made an island out of plastic bottles.
So then I wonders to myself; What can I do with cans? I'll tell you what. A solar heater. A MacGyver-type portable stove. Shingles for a roof.
I have it within my grasp to complete a miniature of a totally recycled home. And maybe later... a regular-sized one!

Enviornmentally yours,

Murphs

Hello, friends. 

Hard to believe we're already three days into 2009, eh? Makes me wonder if I should begin looking into my trip down to South America in 2012... Gots to make sure everything's perfect, right? Not going to get another chance, right? 

Anyway, a certain comic featuring jokes about DnD has come to my attention. The Order of the Stick is your basic satiric stick-figure comic. About DnD characters. Simply put, roll your Survival checks, my droogs. You might die laughing.

I luvs you, d12. 

Murphs

In 2008...

1. I finished writing a novel. 

2. I went to Japan, Greece and Italy.

3. I moved to the basement.

4. I became bizarrely interested in the indie-movie-channel.

5. I found out about steampunk.

6. I started listening to PodCastle. 

7. I decided on seven different places I could live (New Zealand's still at the top of the list).

8. I made some damn fine cookies.

9. I didn't fail the WASL. 

I didn't do much with my 366 days and 1 second, did I?

Murphs