You want to know something really weird? Even though I haven't updated since the seventh, (Sorry!) I've gotten sixty-seven hits. You people seem to like me more when I don't write. Is that how it is?
Anyway, you're probably all waiting for an update on Spatterdash!, aren't you? Well, the plot is in place and more or less all scripted out. I've got a rough copy of my front page. And Mr. Lasky is going to help me make the site look awesome, hopefully. I'm rusty on all my html coding.
So, I'll go back to working for now, since you're I'm just wasting time.

Yours,
Murphy

Dash it all!

I've noticed a serious flaw in the steampunk apparel I want to wear. Namely, I am far too skinny to properly pull of a corset. Or even a f aux corset! I'm definitely no Lolo. As most steampunk ladies find them an essential to a properly steamy wardrobe, I am at a loss. Truly.
I mean, it's not as if they're goggles or anything, but really. Advice?

Yours,
Murphs

Wormtooth Nation

Can you believe you're getting two posts in the same week? I haven't written you this much since RLA; I guess I'm just bored less now.
You may have noticed a new banner on the side there; it's way toward the bottom of my vast sidebar. Wormtooth Nation. It's as if someone mixed the grittiest parts of City of Ember with, apparently, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. As you've guessed already, it's brilliant and steampunk from any angle.
Don't let the picture up there fool you; this is no animation, not like the equally awesome Mysterious Geographical Adventures of Jasper Morello (I didn't give that the enthusiastic review it deserved, by the way.). Live action, this one. Sometimes the quality is a little iffy, but the good intentions, excellent aesthetics and wonderful story more than make up for it. Plus, it's that indie-movie quality that solidifies it as steampunk (though that may have been all the dirt... steampunk's pretty grimy...).

Still dedicated,
Murphs

Work, work, work...

Last you heard from me, I had set out in my quest to fully live steampunk. Well, I'm still working on that. But in more recent news, (Is it bad that I first spelled that 'moar'? Note to self: less time on the internets.) I'm about done with all my university application-type things. This has, by the way, simultaneously been the most grueling and boring task in my adolescent life. Do adults have to do this sort of paperwork all the time? My god.
That aside. Spatterdash! is looking up; I've got about twenty pages of draft, and I think this story is half-done. It's kind of hard to tell sometimes. But I can promise real, honest-to-the-gods pages online by the new year. Especially with the lovely large break I have coming up!
Would you believe that this is the last real week of lessons at SFCC? Next week is all finals and then... Done! (Until Winter Quarter. >.<) Even finals week will be super easy, except for the Japanese IV, just to see how good I am (I got a great big list of verbs! Huzzah!).

Yours,
Murphs

Upping the Game

I can't do it anymore.
No more sitting back with my steampunk. I've been pretty complacent until now. I tried, the way I half-heartedly tried a lot of other things. But this is not other things. This is STEAMPUNK, something I'm goddamn passionate about. So no more.
This is it, friends. Whatever happens in the next few years--graduation, university, Japan, whatever--steampunk is here to stay, and by god, I will do it myself. Even if I can afford to order all the absolutely gorgeous things I see on Etsy(Yeah, right.), I will not.
This is my steampunk declaration, my promise; no more half-heartedness. I will make outfits so that I may be SP everyday. I will work on jewelry, because I love it, and SP is a lot about the brickabrack. I will actually make Spatterdash! this time, and BY GOD I WILL KEEP IT UP. I will read the books, I will watch the films, I will listen to all the music I can get my hands on.
Let the game begin.

Yours sincerely,
Murphs

Æther Shanties

December First. There are nine days until I can finally--FINALLY--order Æther Shanties, Abney Park's newest--and if we are to believe Captain Robert, greatest--album. We were supposed to get it a while ago, like, August. But a heat wave hit Seattle, and cracked a hard drive in the Abney Park non-air-conditioned studio.
I will take this as a good thing, though, as this means that we, the listeners, get to hear Jody, the new background singer/dancer! (The link takes you to a wonderful picture of Ms. Ellen.) She was just wonderful at Steam-Con, and I expect, based on the things other people are saying around on the internet, that her vocals in this are going to be beautiful.
Some of the new songs include 'Until The Day I Die' and 'Victoria'. You should totally check out those two links, even if Victoria is one of the saddest songs I've ever heard.

Counting down the days,
Murphs

Suspicious.

This entry is titled 'suspicious' for two reasons. The first is that I think somebody at RLA is stalking my blog so that they can always have a brand-new entry on the Rivercity Blog exactly one day after I post. I'm justified in that it's happened at least five times since school began (or some other incredulous number). The second is that I am posting at all. It should probably be a pretty good hint to us all that if I'm posting on my blog, for god's sake, either something of fantastic magnitude has happened or I'm procrastinating.
You're all pretty lucky to-day; both have happened, but I'm only going to blather on and on about the latter. After all, it's the events that you're interested in, not my personal life, ね?
I'm supposed to be working on my take-home sociology class--which we all know I'm taking on a lark--exam. It's due tomorrow, at 11.55 PM, but I'm not going to be home at 11.55 tomorrow. I'm going to be at a gathering of the SFCC Anime Club; something I have, surprisingly, stuck to (which may or may not be accredited to the fact they're taking ten helpful members to Sakura-Con for a highly discounted price. Your call.). Does this club make me look callous?
But back to the exam. It's only seven parts (with about a billion questions in each part and a minimum of one hundred words--AHAHAHA!!!! ONLY ONE HUNDRED!?--to each part), so it should be pretty easy to bullshit my way through it. After all, I did get 100% on a horrendous paper on Ada Lovelace--the first programmer and involved with the Babbage Analytical Engine, if you've already forgotten my love affair with steampunk--that Ned wouldn't have accepted as litterbox liner.
Are you reading this, Ned?! You've over-prepared me! I could have increased my slack by about 25% and still be doing absolutely fabulous. So stop telling everybody you're preparing them for college; the instructor didn't even want MLA format. Are you reading this?
Should a certain awesome boyfriend read this; don't you dare take any blame. I'm just lazy (Oops, look like I gave away my personal life anyway. Haha, I'm doing it to annoy you all.)

It's okay if you're not reading this,
Murphs

Over!

So I know I haven't posted in a while, nor did I visit RLA last Tuesday, but my excuse is legitimate; I was studying (or pretending to study) for my SATs, taken on Saturday the seventh. But now that the SATs and the SATs recovery session is over, I can talk to you all again!
Hey. I kinda missed you; how have things been? Pretty good? That's good.
My days have been going by in a blur of study guides, school and staring blankly at the ceiling of the room where I reside. I've also decided to slowly work though my ridiculous amounts of Agatha Christie. So far, I've only gotten through Murder on the Orient Express, but a start's a start, ne?
I get to register for winter quarter classes on the sixteenth. From what I can tell, I'll be taking Japanese II, American Government (which is at 7.30 in the bloody morning. Is there no karma?), English (101? Something else?) and then a couple slacker-core PE courses (since I've been lying to most people I know and dropped Yoga day two). How does that look, Ned?
I say that, but I'll doubtless have already dropped by RLA by the time he checks my blog.
In other exciting news, it looks like the Zephyr, my dream of a zeppelin, is another step toward coming true. Of course, that may not be the name, but I do like the look of it, don't you? Zephyr.
Anyway, I've taken enough of your day. Go do something with the rest of it!

Yours,
Murphs

The Halloween Entry!

I know that yesterday was Halloween, and it's already seven on the first, but bear with me, yeah? I've been pretty tired recently.
The Halloween events put on by the clubs of SFCC were so much fun. Honestly, if I'd had people that awesome for the dances I attended in middle/high school (I only attended one high school event, I'll admit), I would have undoubtedly enjoyed them a lot more. I've also this to say to the International Club (the people who put on the after-carnival dance); please play something that's not rap-hip-hop-crap. Sure, they pulled out Thriller and the Macarena (everybody knows the Macarena). But come on.
Enough of my complaints. The whole affair was really terribly fun, and I won another costume competition (the first being the Anime Club's contest, thank you all!). I also danced in public again. Can you believe it? (I can't.)

Now that it's November, I'm probably not going to update as much as usual (which is hardly at all), since it's National Novel-Writing Month! I'm going to make it to 50,000 words this year, by hook or by crook, damnit! I've got a good feeling, since I'm already five hundred words deep.

Yours,
Murphs

Here you are, the Main Event

Steam-Con was the only place this week-end where one could shout, 'Hey you, with the top hat and brass goggles!'--two typically distinguishing features--and twenty heads would turn. That is, presuming the Fancy Welder's Society didn't have a get-together as well.

It was really a marvelous weekend, and I can describe it simply in two ways. One: awesome. Two: Next Year.
The people of the con were awesome. Polite, clever, funny, smart, well-costumed and well-versed in what steampunk really was. I was hugely intimidated by the lot, which leads me to my second description.
Next year was mantra between me and my traveling companion, Miss 'Lola Miles'. There was somebody with an absolutely wicked-brilliant costume; next year, we told each other. There was a panel we missed because I forgot my schedule book; next year. We missed a great deal of dancing (albeit badly) to a DJ's music; NEXT YEAR.
This isn't to say that despite all our next-yearing, we didn't have a smashing time. Among our many busy accomplishments, we saw Abney Park live, twice (once for the proper concert and once for a Victorian Sing-a-long), participated to some degree in the Girl Genius Radio Theatre, LARP'ed and found out how to steam-punk our table-top RPG--that is, assuming we ever start one.
Some things at the con were--to me, anyway, rather surprising. Most notably, the average age of the people there. While there was a smattering of minors and a fair few twenty-somethings, the majority of the con-goers appeared to be at least thirty. Perhaps it is strange of me to be surprised like that; who else has the money for SP?
Less notably, but more surprising for me is that the members of Abney Park has their children with them. Only Daniel, the bassist and Captain Robert, lead singer/drummer have them, but the three little girls were both adorable and disarming in their own way. This struck me as Miss Lola and I passed Capt. Robert and his two daughters (Isabella and Chloe, I believe) on their and our way to panels. Truly bizarre.
The aftermath of Steam-Con is not going to leave me soon, I can tell that. I have no desire to tone-down my steam-powered vocabulary anymore, nor to tuck my goggles away safe and sound back onto my lamp. I worked madly toward the end of my con preparations, and I believe though I will keep a slower pace, I will not stop working toward increasing my seamstress skills.
Now the hour is late, and I'm almost done copying all the work-book pages from Hai, Ima! that Ned lent me. It's chock-full of kanji, so it may help me and Joel in the Japanese IV class we're sitting in on.

Yours sincerely,
Murphs

What.

If there is a god, it was dropped on its head sometime around the beginning of time. For surely any sane or mentally capable god would not allow this and this to permeate the aetherweb. And yet, I grow ever-fearful that this is exactly the sort of thing that not only is common here, but is also what many people wish to read.
But I did not rouse myself from a pile of literature (No lie, I have three enormous stacks of books I've to read) to whine about the goings on of a public high school. No, I'm here to tell you how wicked-psyched I am for Steam-Con! There are seven days to go before Miss Miles and I (okay, and my dad) sally forth to Seattle.
While I am vastly unprepared, (ie: I haven't finished my steampunk wings, Shangri-La Postal Service messenger bag and armband, my aforementioned gigantic reading list, ect.) I look forward to this the way I did Sakura-Con (which I rather hope I'll be able to attend again this year, perhaps with SFCC Anime Club). Namely, I am ridiculously cowed about how ill-informed I will doubtless appear to these people.
NOW. Concerning previous comments!
Ned- I would like the record to show that I have never possessed 'overflowing self-confidence.' I apologize if any of you have EVER gotten this impression.
To Helios- If you are who I think you are (Brass Goggles?) Then not only have one of my many links worked, but I have international readership! Huzzah!
To Lolami- It is a true comfort that you read this and still choose to associate yourself with me. Excited for Steam-Con?!

Now don't mind me, I'm off to read,
Murphs

So. Lunchboxes.

I don't expect anybody to read this for a while, as the Fadeley family has a new baby and Ned is the only one who still seems to remember that I've a blog here. (Prove me wrong, friends!! Give me a comment, however banal!)
Anyway, I promised that I would post picture of my bento experiments all week, but in the end, I decided to put it off until Friday (Or Saturday. Whatever.). So here you are:
This is Tuesday's, which was for my sister.
Two plums, one peanut butter sandwich and about a quarter-cup of Captain Crunch.
In related news, our power was out on Tuesday.

Here is Thursday's, also for my sister. Again, two plums and Captain Crunch. However, as I could cook rice, the bottom portion of my box held about a third-cup of it, and for protein, I gave her a spoon of peanut butter.

Lastly, here's Friday's, for myself and the viewing pleasure of the Japanese Club. Another third-cup of rice, peanut butter crackers (Damn, I used a lot of peanut butter), baby carrots and cherry tomatoes. It's pretty bloody awful in my opinion, and my presentation on Japanese bentos was... lacking. Needless to say, the presentation Nazis of RLA would have been delighted to finally bitch me out on an awful project. Thank god they weren't there.

Nothing else really happened this week, so I'll leave you alone now.

Yours,
Murphs

Update!

I haven't posted in a bit--sorry! Surprisingly, I've found myself somewhat busy--one might even go as far as to say I've obtained a life. Now that I'm a) conscious, b) sitting in front of a computer and c) remembered to update, I'll fill you all in on my newly obtained social life.
I joined a few clubs, since it seemed the best way to meet others with similar interests. A few, by the by, means three in this context; Anime Club, Gamers' Club and Japanese Club (アニメのぶかつとガマのぶかつと日本のぶかつです。 How's that, Ned?) The last of these, it seems, is going to be the most time-consuming, mostly because I magically made it as the club secretary.
A long silence had taken the room when Yasuka-せんせい　asked who wanted to be secretary and I figured, hey, I've got good handwriting, Japanese or Latin letters. And so here I am. It's not such a hard gig, actually. I just take notes about the meeting (which I would have sort-of done anyway) and write stuff on the board in my excellent handwriting.
Last week's Wednesday was Club Day, so I have no report for you all on Anime Club other than what I learned almost a fortnight ago (たいやき Tuesdays!! If only I didn't have my whole Tuesday packed...). Club Day, however, was... 'an adventure,' as my mother would put it. If you see any SFCC publicity pictures with me in my nekomimi, that's the day they took them (When else is one expected to wear them? And where?) .
Gamers' Club also reports little; I don't play many multiplayer games (mostly because I've nobody good to play against), but it's really very fun to watch some people play Guitar Hero on those crazy expert levels.
Let's drift back to the Japanese Club for a time, though. Every week, one of our members is supposed to take a look at some portion of Japanese culture. Yesterday was tea ceremony (Ack! That green tea is bitter. No lie.). It was a lot of fun, I think. And I now know that macha is definitely not my cup of tea--if you'll pardon the pun.
The next presentation is to be done by yours truly, on Japanese obento lunches. I'm going to make one up for Friday to show off. Unfortunately, my lunch-packing skills aren't exactly on-par. So for Monday to Friday, you will all get pictures of my various lunch attempts for my sister (Monday to Thursday) and my show off one for Friday (Does anybody know where one buys うめぼし in Spokane?!).
So with that, I'll leave this alone until then, with the exception of one last comment. To all my elders, it's true. I like community college SO MUCH MORE than RLA. There's just something about the anonymity and picking the people I spend time with (not spending seven hours with forty kids I loathe) that is making even the heinously embarrasing monologues of my acting class worthwhile.
You were right (no matter how much it pains me to say so.).

Humbly Yours,
Murphs

What Is The World Thinking?

I mean, really. What could the world at large possibly have been thinking, letting me go to SFCC? Or ever graduating middle school, for that matter? I am clearly not mature enough to be doing the things I've been doing for the past three-or-so years. Most especially the past week. Scratch that, since April, when I was legally allowed to start driving a bloody car? Or was it March? See, there I go again! I am so terribly, terribly irresponsible. And generally terrible. What am I doing, taking classes with all these serious students who are clearly pegging me as one of them, based on the amount of males chatting me up (Which is trés creepy, in my opinion. If I'm in the library, trying to study, leave me the hell alone.). Luckily, once you tell them you're already seeing someone, they usually leave off.
Apparently, Jonathan and Seth were not kidding at all. And it was perhaps foolish of me to think that they were overestimating such things.

Yours,
Murphs

So much for that

So it turns out that I'm just as absent-minded in college as I was at RLA. While I'm sure my parents would be diasappointed in me if they knew this, I can't help but think; is this what I was looking forward to? I also wish I could get PE credits for all the walking/weightlifting I'm doing. Dead serious. My first class it on the third storey of the new building at SFCC and they are not kidding around with their stairwells (or weighty tomes).
Japanese looks like it's going to be a breeze. It feels like a free credit, based on the packet we received to-day.It's not like I can't use the review, but it shouldn't take but five minutes to fill out all the hiragana charts (excluding め and ぬ. I can't get those two right.).
In other news, I look forward to clubs.

Yours,
Murphs

Alls Well and Ends Well

Today marked the beginning of my last week at RLA. I bet you'll all miss my hyperbolic caricatures of our project-based school. I know I'll miss writing them. Don't worry, though. I'm sure community college will provide plenty of fodder for my outrageous adjectives.
I've jam-packed my schedule, too. Lots of classes, some of which I registered for on whimsy (A great word, there.). But if Ned puts in a good word and I beg hard enough, I'll have a full course load, complete with Japanese I. I have, of course, complained before about how flipping hard Japanese is, and how god-awful I am at it. One probably wonders why I persist in learning this unspeakably difficult language, for which I have no answer.
I will, however, spend my remaining three days at RLA (No real school Friday! Hurrah!) relearning all the Japanese I've allegedly learned in the past two years. So if you can't read my next post, I'm sorry. It's my personal babel fish.

Yours,
Murphs

RIP

Uhh Yeah Dude makes me feel indebted to write here to-day. I also want to write to assure you all that no matter who I have to kill, I will definitely continue here. I'm nowhere near as awesome as Jonathan and Seth, but I can try (and fail).
I speak of these gentlemen--previously unmentioned, but subtly referenced--because I have just listened to six episodes of their podcast in a row. By the by, my brain has been melted and replaced with a direct line to craigslist. Thank you, Ned, for the recommendation. I honestly don't know what I would have listened to in the past fifty hours of Final Fantasy leveling and playing Animal Crossing (don't you judge me), and I have just learned so much about America this past month.
(Are you reading this?)

Okay, I'm done now. I hope I'll be able to write again to you all (my adoring fans!) this Friday, once I get back from my last RLA camping trip. And in case you're wondering, yes. I am unbeliveably psyched that this is the last.

Yours,
Murphs

Exausting.

Have you ever noticed how very onomatopoeic the word exhausting is? I mean, really, doesn't it just sound like a really tired word?
In related news, I have, for the last time, held Rivercity to a mental ideal that it fails to live up to. This is the fourth year I've hoped and the fourth year I've been heinously disappointed. I also believe this is a fairly reasonable example of why I make a great pessimist. No hopes = no disappointment, friends.
I'm about as irritated as disappointed, I might add. Never has the naive We're a Different Kind of School attitude that certain individuals hold made me so angry. Worse yet, it seems to have morphed into a viral meme among the student body--When posed the question why did you decide to come to this school? by the new nurse, I expected the BS answer from one unnamed person, but some people--totally unexpected people, mind you--spoke up with absolute and sincere twaddle. Can ridiculous be transferred as a mind worm?
I hope somebody other than Ned magically remembers that I regularly post here so they can read that and hopefully gain my immunity to this infectious idea.
Lastly, I remind you all that if you want to see just how disappointed I am, there is a abject and somewhat vexed kitty several posts down.
Yours,
Murphs

NOOOOO

Oh god, my dad broke the television again. How is one expected to enjoy the final throes of summer without television? It's the ultimate in brain-melting summer activities.
I'll suppose I will just have to throw my father's order--Conform more, damn you!--to the wind and read until Tuesday.

See you all then!
Murphs

Up For The Task?

If I'm lucky, somebody from Brass Goggles has at some point elected to click on my webpage link, and is going to read this. This is highly improbable as I've been lurking a lot lately, but I hope so.
Have I mentioned the Pseudopod/Podcastle/Escape Pod triad lately? If I haven't, they're all weekly short story podcasts in horror, fantasy and science fiction. Why am I mentioning this? you think.
Well, I've been giving hard thought to asking the good people of Brass Goggles if aims should be made to a steampunk short story podcast. I'd like to think it'd be rather a lot of fun, but to be honest, I haven't the foggiest how I would even get started on a project of that magnitude (would I get credits?).
I can say for sure that at least one person is keen as I on this, (Vela-san, one of my penpals) but it takes a lot more than one person to get one of these things going. I've seen the work! There's websites, hosting, recording, mixing, picking stories, holy hell. The folks working at Pseudopod have a person just for getting though the slush pile.
To be honest, it's not so much the idea of all the work, (Hello, distraction from my own lame-ass life!) but that I know it couldn't possibly be a one-man project and as any Rivercity student can guess if not inform with 100% assurity, I really hate working with people.
So, here's to hoping I can get over myself and work for something awesome in a world of asinine.

Less than a week,
Murphs

COWARD.

I am so terribly, horribly cowardly. I thought you all should be totally aware of that, just in case you hadn't guessed it already. Just in case.
I'll let you know in advance that this particular entry is going to be full of trite. I know this because it took me five minutes to write that last sentence. I don't know how I'm going to write my version of The Sinking of Dalysium with such horribly crippling... damnit... writer's block! That's what it is. All this summer air and 2-star HBO movies are eating away at my vocabulary. I will blame these on my inability to make words (on a screen, piece of paper or coming out of my mouth).

Now that that's taken me forty-five minutes, I'll leave well enough alone.

Seatbelts,
Murphs

Lost it.

Well, I predicted it, and I was right on. I didn't win the writing contest (no big surprise). A nice lad from BC, Canada did. And I congratulate him. The winner's here. His post makes me wonder about Mr. Banwell's near-second, in a was it me? I hope it was me. I'll never know if it was me... kind of way. I'm a tad disappointed, obviously. In fact, I think the only way to really drive home how disappointed I am is with this kitten. He is as disappointed as I. But I'm not really into facepalm.

In other news, there's only fifteen (sixteen?) days left until Rivercity starts up again. I'm sort of looking forward to it, just because I'm going absolutely crazy at the house where I reside. Crazy enough to spend fourteen days at RLA. And I'm fairly sure that if you've been paying any attention at all, you know how I feel about RLA. Topping it off, I'm about 83% sure that at least four--if not five--of those fourteen days will be at another beginning of the year camp. And this year, I'm going to be rather lacking in close friends, as they've all graduated or are Running Start (like me) but their parents don't make them go to RLA. I am talking to you, Joel.
Of course, it's not like I can waltz away and not find a replacement cook. Otherwise, they'd find themselves all subsisting on instant ramen and I'd rather not have that on my conscience. The alternative to this is Ned making curry again, and I think that anybody who went to Yellowstone can attest that they don't want that again (it's a joke, Ned!).
Well, enough of that.

Yours,
Murphs

Nothing to Report

Once again, my cycle of interests has crested to video games. For about a fortnight, I will do nothing but play video games and watch movies down in the basement where I reside. And in fourteen days (or so), I'll turn to the waiting pile of books and say to myself, 'Hey! That looks good...' And then there'll be that. During this period, I will slowly slip into reading yet more manga, and watching anime on the computer again. That will last for approximately two weeks as well.
Hopefully, this vicious and boring cycle will grind to a halt in the face of studying. This is assuming, and I really to hope this is true, that I will need to study, something I haven't done since memorizing the times tables (my god, I am actually serious) about ten years ago.
In other news, though, I have finally submitted a short story to a contest! It's a sort-of advert for the man's newest leather and resin masterpiece (it really looks amazing) and I'm not really proud of the story I banged out yesterday, but I've a few hopes that I win. The winner of his contest gets a $75 gift certificate to his Etsy shop, and I've my eye on this cameo bracelet, something I could never afford but would stare at for a few minutes in want. I'll know that I lost by the sixteenth, so if you're keen on watching me go down like a lead zeppelin, tune in Sunday.
On the other hand, if any of you dig up any other writing contests, post a comment to tell me, or even email me. I want to get better at writing, even if I never do it professionally.

Yours,
Murphs

The '59 Sound

Once again, I find that I haven't written in more than a week. My readers will be somewhat pleased to know that I've a reasonable reason this time (Is that redundant?). I haven't been on my computer. I've got a pile of email to prove it. Well, not for long.
Unfortunately, it's not like I spent the time outside of my house, (mostly) but it wasn't here! I was actually watching movies. We've got the HBO and Showtime channels for three months, and I fully intend to use this wholly to my benefit. I love movies, but I don't get the opportunities to watch them the way I'd like to.
But, as it should make Ned happy to know, I am almost totally done signing up for all my Running Start stuff! All that's left is to wait. Sit and wait for the SFCC letter to arrive. Times like these, I know for sure. The postman is Satan. I can only imagine the mental anguish I will be in when I'm waiting for college rejections/acceptances (I assume it's like waiting for the Netflix times a million.).

Agonizingly yours,
Murphs

Simply Ridiculous.

I've told you all about my voracious reading appetite and how it's been sated only on manga lately. Well, manga and anime, if you think that subtitles count (which I don't). But I don't think this is a really clear picture of the absolutely ridiculous amount of time I've spent on this endevour. To clear this up, I present the time I've spent in this pursuit, according to MyAnimeList:
9 3/4 days' worth of manga has been read. That would be if I sat down for nine days and sixteen hours straight reading. In other words, I would be dead.
Even more ridiculous is the 13.1 days of anime I've watched. No lie. This is where my summer is vanishing to.
But really, I'm being unfair by saying that. I have spent so much time out of the house this summer versus last. Obviously I'm not including holidays in that, because no summer will be comparable to last summer's holidays (Japan and Mediterranean Sea, in case you don't remember). Really, though. Thanks to the brilliant thing called a driver's license, I can actually visit with my friends at my leisure.
I also like being able to go to the library whenever I damn well choose to.

Literarily yours,
Murphs

I WISH I WAS BORED.

Daaaamn I haven't written anything in a while. I guess there really just hasn't been anything to say. I've been doing about what any of you would expect, right? Watching anime and reading. My god, have I been reading. A couple nights ago, I read the entirety of Lirael in one go. I am being totally serious. Seven hundred and five pages, in one sitting (more or less.). I can't tell if that's a good thing, or a bad thing.
See, I would say I was SO BORED, except then I can't really blame the boredom on anybody but myself (One can never blame boredom on anyone but oneself.).
I know what I can introduce you all to! This is Synthonym. He's a steampunk too, (England-based) and we've been talking online for a bit. When the mood strikes, I can't get enough of his stuff. It really makes me wonder what Joel would think of it.
Well, I'll leave it all at that. Maybe something exciting will happen to me soon, or I'll leave the house where I reside. I haven't done that in a while...

Lazily,
Murphs

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, FINALLY.

I've managed to keep this from my blog for the past seven months, but now that my mum's court case is over, I think I'll post all the little details here, where all the world c an understand how much I loathe the American legal system. For starters, don't get me wrong. We've a pretty good legal system, but how great can any legal system be?

Starting point: Sunday, January 18th, this year. Chaos, Henry and Ruby, the family mutts (read: I'm a cat person.) maim a moose. Mostly Chaos and Henry and it was a calf, but still. These dogs brought down a moose. I think that gives any of you who haven't met them an idea of their size. Roughly 180 and 150 pounds, if you want actual figures.
Anyway, the moose is dispatched (A term used far too much in the proceeding days) and for two days we think all is more or less okay. Sure, we expect a fine, but what else?

Three days later, SCRAPS arrives at the house where I reside for what my mum thought was to take statements, but was, in reality, to cart away the three trouble-makers. The SCRAPS officer manages to lift and take away Henry and Ruby in his large vehicle, but finds himself unable to convince the largest idiot (Chaos) into the truck. Despite how angry she is with the officer (and my youngest sister home sick), my mum volunteers to take Chaos in the family mini-van to the shelter. She couldn't get up the driveway in the van, so she took him the next day after dropping me off at school.

You know what she did every day after dropping me off while they were in there? She went and visited them, everyday. Don't tell her, but one suspects she likes the dogs more than her offspring. I mean, really! She really did visit those dogs every single day. (This is also the period of time wherein my mum got into heated disputes with Nancy Hill, SCRAPS supervisor, about the treatment of our dogs, but that's a whole other can of worms, which I shall seal shut.)

So we had to fufill all the county requirements for owning a Potentially Dangerous Dog and two Dangerous Dogs (Ruby is only potentially dangerous, because all she did was bark at the moose.). This means a multitude of things, including but not limited to: keeping the dogs in a kennel with a roof (They could jump out!) pr the house at all times unless they're on a leash with a muzzle. Being walked by somebody fifteen or older (What the hell, really!?). This last bit was the most irritating as it left exactly three people in our house able to walk the damn mutts, my mum, my dad and me.

Moving forward, to March-ish. My mum loves to call this bit the time when we've been 'railroaded'. The dogs were, as she puts it, given an unfair trial (it wasn't really a trial, but I've forgotten what it was officially called.) and declared dangerous/potentially dangerous. This is the part my mother hasn't finished fighting 'gainst, but we're close enough to the end of the tunnel that I don't really care anymore. I got to actually attend this part as it was right after school and I couldn't yet drive.
This was actually the most embarrassing event for me, because my mum berated the prosecutor afterward and all I could do was stand there awkwardly and attempt to blend into the walls. (For the record, it doesn't work to press yourself against them and think beige beige beige.

Finally this week, my mum's trial came time and about three hours ago, came to its thankfully Not Guilty ending. FINALLY. I can stop hearing about this goddamned case. I'm sure that moose has already been reincarnated by now! Maybe I'm being a little selfish about this whole matter, but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, I don't know if I can stand to hear about it anymore. And now that the whole messy matter's been documented right here, you won't have to either.

Now you should go read something actually interesting, like Ms. Miles' account of Japan so far. She's a far classier act than I.

Blissfully,
Murphs

Melonpan!

Today I made Melon Bread. Sort of. The recipe technically called for melon essence (or pineapple extract), but there was none to be found in the house where I reside nor the local grocery store. So instead, I bought orange extract and replaced half of the recipe's lemon zest with dried orange peel. My family says they taste very good, despite the lack of melonness. I wonder where in Spokane one can purchase melon essence. Surely somewhere? Oh well. Here's two photographs of the completed buns: One Two.

Shoot me an email if you want the recipe!

(Or comment, for god's sake...)
Murphs

EXCITED.

So I just got my Nintendo Power (having neglected picking up the mail yesterday) and I have to tell you, I'M SO DAMN EXCITED NOW. I mean, even three hours ago, I was not feeling so great, but NOW... Now there's things to look forward to in life. Things like this. That's right. We've been waiting three years, and we're finally getting teasing art. That's it. No name. No info on the girl. No reasoning as to why Link's hair turned inexplicably more yellow. NOTHING. みやもと-さま hates gamers. Or he's a sadist. Because this is all we get.

Now that I'm done banging my head against the wall (because it's hard to convince yourself that won't make time speed up), I'll tell you about all of Nintendo's other shenanigans I'm excited about. For starters, I'm really looking forward to Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, due in September. But really, who wouldn't be? Super Mario Galaxy 2 seemed to catch the attention of the Nintendo Power people, but I'm always hesitant to accept a sequel. The grand Muramasa: The Demon Blade caught my attention in the previous issue, but I'm glad that at least we now know it's coming out sometime in Autumn this year.

But what I'm REALLY looking forward to (Besides this enigmatic Zelda) is the new DS Zelda, Spirit Tracks. (Really, it's called Spirit Tracks.) And hey, guess what? It's on a train. But that's not coming put till around the holidays, so it has nothing, absolutely nothing on the new Professor Layton. The one I saw in Japan but decided not to purchase? COMING TO A DS NEAR YOU THIS AUGUST. Or rather, a DS near me. This is the time, friends, to ChaCha, even though I loathe it, so I can buy Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (I still think they should have stuck with Pandora's Box.)

じゃ ね!

Murphs

Cookies

You know how in most of those slice-of-life anime/manga, they're always making those checkered cookies? You know what I mean, right? Why is it always those? I mean, they're kawaii and all, but they're ridiculously hard to make. And there's refridgeration involved! How can a home economics class have time to chill dough on three seperate occasions?! ...I suppose that they could be using a different recipe, but that wouldn't make it any easier to bake.
But I'm expecting too much out of my entertainment again. It wouldn't be entertainment if it was all historically/scientifically/physically possible, I guess.
In the mean time, I guess I'll just have to keep practising. That is what people who really like something do when they're bad at it, right? Practise?

Murphs

LAME.

Sometimes, my own lameness creeps up and pokes me in the back. I'm still here, lameass, it says. Today, it's my internet tabs. First one is my manga list on MyAnimeList.net. Apparently, I've read about five days worth of manga. I'll keep the anime stats to myself, they're even worse. My second tab is my gmail inbox. I get emails primarily from a) J-Box, which is a company in Japan that'll ship Japanese oddities to people like me, b) the Steampunk Forum updates and PMs, and c) the Spokane County Public Library, informing me that several of my holds have come in. The third tab on my screen is the Updated Topics page on the Steampunk Forum, which'll tell me when I can next make a move in Mornington Cresent. The forth tab, as I scan across the line, is One Manga, currently chapter 16, page 12 of Trinity Blood. I think that speaks for itself. My penultimate tab (I know, my god aren't there enough?!) is right now on Rock Paper Cynic. It's a lovely webcomic that I enjoy. The last tab here is this one. I'm typing in the Create Post page.
Maybe I'd feel less lame if everybody I knew weren't off doing exciting things.

Until then,
Murphs

PS: Ned, I am working very hard with my learn-Japanese DS game. But one can only study so much.

IT'S STILL JUNE?

Why does anybody ever look forward to summer? I mean, honestly. We're still in June and I'm already bored to tears. I've also got a raging case of insomnia, which doesn't help, but still. This is ridiculous. I'd so much rather be in school with something resembling purpose than sitting around at my house and scrawling half-funny phrases on sticky notes.
Whose genius idea was it to maintain this horrible school schedule anyway? All right, guys. Even though most of America is industrialised now, we're going to go ahead and let kids spend about three months out and let them forget everything. (This is twice as bad when you realise that school wasn't mandatory until AFTER industrialisation.) No wonder America's full of idiots.
I can stand a fortnight holiday. But three months of being an apathetic sloth? I think I may have to do something drastic.

Ack,
Murphs

Wednesday

Hey all,

To-day was my first official day of lazing about. I think that the best verb for my day would be draped over. I was draped over the chair when I fell asleep and I was draped over the desk when I was half-asleep and I started out the day half-draped over my bed. And I went to the library! What a satisfactory day.
I started reading Toradora! on the web, and I have to say, as per usual, I like the manga better than the anime. No offense meant to the anime version (still a great series), but I personally just like the style a bit more. The main characters look different, in a good way.
Unfortunately, you'll probably have to read my slightly inane reviews of manga ALL SUMMER (I'm sorry, please don't hate me...). I just have a lot of time on my hands and a lot of manga to read... By the by, did anybody else know that Densha Otoko (Train Man) was a manga as well as a live-action film?
Well, I've five dollars worth of library fines to read off (Minors can do that, you know.), so I best leave off and get started.

Yours,
Murphs

Summer

The approach of summer leaves me oddly melancholy, in the same way that finishing a video game makes me sad rather than accomplished. Summer means that I sleep all day and don't leave the house for weeks at a time. Though I hate school with a passion, it does give me some sort of direction with my days. What does summer leave me with?

Well, I think I can make it to school tomorrow. But I need to remember to replace the car-aspirin with a variety that doesn't make me fall asleep.

WHYYYYY

I've been spending more time than ever sleeping, but today my mother still said to me that I look awful, and that the circles under my eyes look worse than ever. Clearly biology has forsaken me. WHY, SCIENCE?
But really, I'm sleeping a lot more, so it's all good. Even more exciting, I'm passing out yearbooks tomorrow! As of right now, I haven't decided whether I'm going to write 'Stay brassy!' or 'Ludo Fore Putvarius' (We Thought It Would Be Fun).
In other news: Goddamn it I hate myself.

Yours,
Murphs

Been a while.

Unfortunately, my life seems to have slowed down considerably since I turned the yearbook data over to the publisher; I've nothing to do, really. Sure, sure, I study Japanese, read, ect, ect, but it's a bit dulling now. I haven't something I really have to get around to, and it's more than disconcerting. At least my school days have waned to a paltry nine more until summer break.
Maybe now I'll get about to comicking. And sleeping! Two things I've needed but not had the time for. I can return to my kitty-like sleeping schedule! Six hours of wakefulness a day, here I come!

Sleepily, doodling,
Murphs

Urk.

God, I hate this season. It's all pollen and sunshine and people see no reason why you don't want to go outside. I DUNNO. MAYBE IT'S ALL THE BUGS AND POLLEN AND SUNSHINE. BUT WHO CAN SAY?
...Forgive my vindictiveness. I'm feeling the effects of Spring. I hate Spring.
Another thing I hate: just about everybody at my school, which makes it slightly hazardous to be typing this post at school. I can hardly wait for the last days of school when I'll have the opportunity to just stand up in front of the school and tell everyone; My god. I hate you all. With a limited few who know who they are, I hate you all. Then I'd sit back down, fold my hands and let myself be stared at with anger. Or I may hold off and use words that no-one can understand.
Either way! Fun times.

...Yours.
Murphs.

Steam-Con

Guess who's going to Steam-Con?! That's right, yours truly. And it sounds like a certain someone else is too? (Lauren?) If anybody else finds themselves in Seattle around the end of October, look for the steampunk'd White Mage!

In other news, did anybody else know that there's an Animal Crossing movie?

Yours,
Murphs

To the time machine!

Today was terribly exciting! Not only did I get the hella awesome time at the Clay Connenction (Making pots: Spiffing! Making the pots: Not so spiffing.) but one of my steampunk pen pal's letters came in! I am perpetually disheartened by my lack of any cool stationary. I think I'll use this and this for now. Hooray for Flickr. I also plan to use the Halloween and Valentine's Day varieties when appropriate. I'll let you sift through for those, though.

Continuing on my original route, my holds on Hollow Fields came into the library and were picked up. And finished! Indeed, I was so excited to get going on these that I went straight home and read right through them. I am, however, deeply saddened to see that this series only ran three volumes long. Also, I MUST POSSESS A COPY OF EACH.
I do not believe the author here knows that her work is 100% steampunk, though, as no mention was made through the whole series, despite the plot relying heavily on clockwork, mad science and steam. And with gears and cogs adorning any somewhat boring surface. Luckily, the conglomerate of world knowledge, Wikipedia, has figured it out! Too bad it's only been updated to volume two.
While I'm thinking about it, I want you all to know that I don't only like this series because it's steamy. I also adore it because it has a really cute (and somewhat creepy) art style, and it's Australian! I always find myself carefully assessing (More carefully, that is. I'm pretty picky about my manga.) the general worth of manga outside of Japan. I know it's kind of biased, but there's just so much more coming out of Japan, they're the top of the game for manga and anime.

On a last note, I think that Hollow Fields should have its own anime. It seems (to me anyway, I'm probably totally off on that, though) that it would work nicely as an animation, mostly because there'd always be steam issuing off (or out of) something or cogs moving each other about. Just my two cents on the subject though.

Yours,
Murphs

Not Desperate. At all.

I baked cog cookies. By the time Lauren or anybody else who reads my blog (ie: people I see everyday) ...er. Reads my blog, they'll have already seen the cog cookies and odds are devoured at least a tooth. I don't know if a single one of cog teeth are still called a tooth, though... probably because there's no such thing as a single cog tooth.

Anyway. Picture. Here--> !!!

Deviating, I expect that by next week I'll have at least a prototype of my steampunk'd White Mage outfit. Yes. I am that big of a nerd; Final Fantasy and steampunk. Leave me alone! It'll be awesome, just you wait and see!

Sulking in a corner,
Murphs

By the by, hello.

As of late

Quick update; nothing much special as of now. Recently, I've been trying my hardest to read through the whole of the county library system, and also browsing manga online. Some titles (rated from best to worst) include: Black Cat, Maria Holic, Shaman King, all of the Kingdom Hearts series, restarted the Monster series (actually that belongs right after Black Cat.), Model (which is actually Korean, but I think it's considered manga), Shugo Chara, Beauty Pop, Akuma to Dolce... I think you get the picture here; I have cut out my life and replaced it with an æthernet plug-in to the back of my skull. And I'm still way lamer than Lauren!
Oh. Right. And for those of you still interested in watching Spatterdash!, I'm currently finishing a shorty for your viewing pleasure while I work on the main event. The shorty is currently called Amelia Notch and the Steam Soldiers. It's got pockets in space, things that go bump in the night and... well... automatron steam soldiers... I think we all saw that last bit coming. Actually, I just hope nobody thinks I'm ripping off of Monsters Inc. in any way. Because I'm not. Really. I had this idea before I remembered Monsters Inc.
Also: Hooray for the Steampunk Forum! I know more steamy-related stuff than I ever thought I could!
On another note: -_Q
In another another note, this was not, in fact, a short update. Blast! My apologies.

Yours,
Murphs

Inadvertently

I stumbled across this little number in the Deer Park public library; I usually go to Argonne, so this is a really lucky break for me! I had really just gone to peruse the discard shelf (twenty-five cents?! And lots of the older manga are on the shelves now!), but decided to check out the paperbacks and graphic novels. AND WHAT LUCK. The cover's a dead give-a-way, obviously, but the whole premise of the book revolves around a gigantic castle where children are taught how to be MAD SCIENTISTS. Simply spiffing. I'm probably going to loan it to a certain Ms. Miles tomorrow, 'cos it's not a hard read.

Yours (cackling),
Murphs

busy, busy

I haven't written in more than a week, and for that I apologise. I could give you a large and rambling post as to my elephant-in-the-parlour depression has finally made itself known, but I shall leave it at that and instead inform you of Spatterdash!'s progress:

I have nearly finished the first draft. I have begun work on the final, which will be posted on the smackjeeves Spatterdash! site. I shall begin the colouring once I'm at least half-finished with the final draft.

There you are, an update. Now, as to what else I've wasted my time with... I've been reading. Really. And I've been stalking the Steampunk Forum. I currently find myself with a steampunk pen pal as result.
On a more academic note, I've also been trying to absorb my Japanese text book and gain its knowledge. It's not working.

Yours,
Murphs

Hara-Hara

The Harajuku fashion thing was fun. More so that I had suspected it would be, and far, far more so than last year's (though that might have had to do with the company I kept.). I especially liked The Liquid Now, and I find myself quite curious as to how Ned convinced them to play. Ah well.
I was also deeply disappointed in RLA. NONE OF YOU SHOWED UP. DAMN YOU ALL... Mckyndree was there... How was I supposed to defend myself against her frighteningly unappealing lolita self with her demon spawn?

Murphs

Back in Brown

I have sold my soul to steam. I desire steampunk pen-pals, absinthe lollies and my own wax seal. The advent of garage sale season leaves me with bins to rummage through, in my quest for Victoriana. Heliosepia beckons, and it, like Rome, will not be built in a day.
Also, I'm feeling particularly eloquent to-day. Is is obvious?

But honestly, I find my speech growing more and more archaic with every passing day. I almost fear that I shall wake one morning and find myself speaking Old English. But I suppose that would make about as much sense to the personages I speak with as the tongue I use now.

...The Sandman hunts me. I shall hide under my covers, which are impenetrable by any beast that goes bump in the night. Everybody know that...

Murphs

It's not a surprise...

Unless it is. I have noticed that I've received three comments on my 'Wastes' post. That was nearly a month ago, and a third comment! Verily, I squee on the inside. I am, however, dismayed to find that the blog post about reviving the Thursday Throwdown (Here). I am not disappointed in the idea, nor the energetic response, but the dragging involved in the debate of the rights of same-sex marriage. Honestly, Usamah? Do you think a gay person would not be offended by your obsessive comparison to incest? It infuriates me to no end that you wouldn't even bother to listen (or read)--really listen (read)--the arguements of the other side.
But I suppose that you can't help being thick-headed, if that is your temperment. But sir; keep it to yourself!

Murphs

SAKURA CON!

konnichiwa, tomodachi. (Ned: The family computer doesn't do kana.)

Sakura-Con was a blast (The day and a half I had to enjoy it). And I have to say, while there was a lot more... flesh... than I'd of liked to see, there were a lot less fat people wearing immodest clothing than I'd feared, as well as less body odor than predicted. I mean, I know that when people ask Hilary at school, she's going to tell them she was totally disgusted by the amount, but really we only saw a few.
I don't know how many RLA denizens watch my blog or have ever visited it, but I'm going to tell you right here, right now: DON'T BELIEVE ANYTHING HILARY SAYS ABOUT SAKURA-CON. Did the all-capitals ('Upper-case' does NOT exist.) emphasize that enough? Because I mean it; don't trust anything about the convention that she says.
Anyway, at the con Lauren (Fellow Otaku. Herrroo!!) and I made several decisions about future cons we'd like to attend and the costuming involved. They involve Steam-Con in late October and Kumori-Con on Labor Day weekend in Portland.
They also involve steampunked Alice in Wonderland (One costume, two kinds of conventions.). I get to be the Hatter, and I have THE COOLEST hat design (With Lauren's help.) and I just hope that this idea will be able to be implimented. As soon as it's done, I have full intention of posting the video of our journey to the Con here.

Beware; 'What's a girugamesh?'
Murphs

Sakura-con!

Hooray, all! I am most officially going to Sakura-con, an anime convention in Seattle! It's too late for this year, but next year, I'm going to try again and go for cosplay. That way I'll be able to do more than one costume (Which would be AWESOME.). Right now I'm thinking Alice in Wonderland (Persons to be confirmed), Trinity Blood (Abel Nightroad, methinks.) and if I'm feeling adventurous, I might even dare to try for Shadow Over Innsmouth. Wouldn't I be a great Old Man Marsh?

Murphs

My family and I are going on our Spring Break holiday, starting in about five hours. I should probably be sleeping, but I have hella endorphins in my system right now for reasons only one person would really know about except me (and you know who you are).
I just felt the slight urge to warn you all not to even bother checking back until Friday, maybe Saturday.

Murphs

I haven't given you anything recently, so here am I, with only the tiniest explanation. I finished my parents' anniversary gift, something special for their 20th.

And with that...

Writing prompts are hard. Right now I'm trying to write a story that has to involve shadows in some way, and it is SO HARD.
That was actually just an opening. A fairly badly written one at that, but alas. The real content here is about how I am OFFICIALLY GIVING UP ON RLA. You read that correctly, friends. No more will I push forth and frustrate myself with the pettiness of these incepid pseudo-students. Nay, I push only to get through this hovel of learning and waste to my bright light at the end of the tunnel; university.

Murphs

Wastes

The Rivercity Values Committee is a grievous waste of an adolescent's time. Honestly, too. Most of that was not sarcastic. About up to the adolescent's time bit. Pretty hard to waste that, eh wot. Logic and precedent tell me that Chenoa is on a road to everybody hates you, paved with good, and misled intentions. And I haven't even seen the presentation yet (But I will probably recap the meeting and edit this post to include my oh so valued opinion on it.)!
Should Ms. Durheim ever wander 'cross this corner in the internetal (lol wordplay) abyss, THIS IS A REALLY STUPID IDEA. THE ONLY WAY TO RESTORE RLA TO ANY REPUTATION WORTH BOASTING IS TO ELIMINATE THE MAJORITY OF THE GOD-AWFUL STUDENTS. Mind you, she will not stumble across my blog, nor will she give merit to anything I say, because it is I saying it and not her. Needless to say, this is a waste of my somewhat valuable time (stories to write, books to be read, doodles to doodle) and I am already off to a bad start, what with Chenoa not informing the relatively newly-elected student government about anything until almost half-way through our terms.
This is, I think, a argument in favor of my declaration; that the student government become a monarchy and that the various officials choose their successors, new ones every semester. Mind you, my opinion is not usually paid much attention to, as I am typically quiet. While one might assume that this would give weight to the things I do say, it is not. Much to my own dismay.

HOLY EFF I CANNOT STAND THAT KNOW-IT-ALL BLONDE BIMBO.
Murphs

EDIT: As expected, the meeting was a waste of time. One must begin to suspect Chenoa is secretly a slacker and doesn't want any of us to know it. I mean, for the love of all that is right, the BS they threw at us is the same BS we've been trying to enforce for at least three years! What, do they think that now that it's on a fancy PowerPoint, that makes it official? That means that now we'll find it in ourselves to stop being asshats and get on with working?
Of course every high school's secret objective is to just push a bunch of students through the system; that's RLA's secret objective too!

This is an exciting day, friends. I can now drive myself around! Without my mum! I'm really just terribly excited about this marvelous event, for it means I can finally have a life and schedule all my own, instead of molding my life to the convenience of others'.
Today, I'm going to call up the people who put on the Spokane-area Renaissance Faire, (it's really more of a middle-to-dark ages faire, but that's only for picky people like me) see if I can get a job there. Because nothing screams loser like working at a Ren faire.

Can drive!
Murphs

Reread

I've been rereading the Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket, (If he ever happens on my humble blog, he has the greatest pseudonym ever.) and unfortunately, I've come to the conclusion that there was little to no planning of this series in the beginning (and a little at the end). Another conclusion I've reached is that it is extremely hard to motivate oneself to do anything if you begin to take Alice in Wonderland too seriously. I mean, what if this really IS just the dream of the Red King (Don't wake him. I don't want to find another existence)?
Tomorrow I'm not going into school. Instead, I'm taking my driver's test, hopefully getting my license (fat chance). I expect bloodshed either way.

OH THE HORROR.
Murphs

Back in Blue

Why, would you look at that! A certain H.T. has commented on me! I am honored.
To be honest, I haven't really found anything particularly interesting on the net recently, aside from a game and an anthology of Steampunk songs. The game is American McGee's Alice, a game made in 2000, that's only just now getting its sequel (release date unknown). I've fallen deeply in love with the soundtrack to this game, and was both parts surprised and delighted to discover that the composer was Chris Vrenna, of Nine Inch Nails. Isn't amazing how these things go?
In any case, I will be stalking 1UP news for updates on the sequel.

If you knew time as well as I, you wouldn't dream of wasting it!
-Murphs

Haven't written lately. Not going to apologise. My head is full.

So, my Mac is now handicapped. Sort of. It's also sort of broken? I think its sufficed to say that it is definitely unusable and I hate my dog. The one who knocked it off the table, stepped on it and broke the screen.

Bah.

Murphs

Oh joy, oh happy day.
Yesterday I beat Belias in FFXII. This on my twelfth try, mind you. And then, I go and beat Vossler in no time flat, which my friends have told me was supposed to be a fairly hard boss. Apparently I can't even do things in video games right. Any way, my sister's birthday was yesterday, and her over-night party begins today after school, so I expect I will get even further than I am right now (which isn't as much as I would have wanted).

Murphs

Aurrrghh!

I don't know where to find any really good training... learning.. chopsticks. They're for my little sister's birthday. (She's turning 12.) I'm trying to turn her onto Japanese culture, partially because I can't help it, partially because SHE NEEDS TO KNOW. I'm already in luck though, as she enjoys onigiri and wishes me to make her a Japanese birthday luncheon.

Murphs

Nothing to say

I haven't written in a while. Mostly because there has been little to say. I've been elected to the RLA student government, and we want to make a change and actually make it. I've worked hard on the yearbook, and picture day is this Friday. I'll be pissed if Chenoa gets any credit. I've become host to DnD, causing my character to leap several levels. I've been playing Final Fantasy XII and XII: Reverent Wings until my hands hurt from positioning on the controllers and DS. I've played Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility and also Rune Harvest: A Harvest Moon Fantasy, and I'm not particularly good at it. I've been watching the DVDs of Neon Genesis Evangelion, in which I've been rather impressed, as I like it and I typically do not find giant robots interesting. I've more or less given up on the project about Yucatan Mayans and the pop can temple. It was a wash dream anyway. I've begun outlines for Spatterdash! so I don't screw it up again. I've begun a required project on American History in the form of a project about the Irish Potato Famine and how it affected the American Industrial Revolution. And I cleaned my room.

Murphs

Hipsters.

Nothing seems safe anymore, especially not the countercultures these days. 

What am I talking about this time?

This article {here} tells all. 

I mourn for humanity. 

Murphs

{Not really}

Was gone.

Did you all miss me, blogonauts? You probably didn't, but I'm back anyway. I'm finally done angsting over my lack of Steampunk Party II.

Instead, now I just play Harvest Moon and Final Fantasy all the time. 

I think that's supposed to say something about me. 

Murphs.

I feel most disappointed. Due to my annoyingly young age, I cannot attend Steampunk Party II. It's only for those 21+. I am both disappointed and a little angry. God damn it. 

Murphs

More good news!

My Abney Park purchase arrived in the mail. Hooray the the US Postal Service and socialism!

In other news, my weekend and afternoons are taken until further notice, as I have become enamored with the Netflix's Instant Viewing movies. Or rather, that I can watch them so much. I mean, usually I have to go off-on with my movies and make sure that at least every other Netflix is one that somebody else picked out, but with the instant view, I'm in film heaven. (Also I can watch the original Hitchhiker's Guide series). I've got an awfully long list of things I really want to watch, and an even longer wait with the AGONIZINGLY SLOW internet access I have at my home where I live.
I mean, the kids at RLA know how slow the school internet is, right? Well, I think the school has fast internet. That's how bad it is.

Dying, slowly,
Murphs

What a depressing, unproductive week. Really. Just terrible and boring and I'm just tired of this week. End! I hiss at it, but it pays me no mind. It will continue to creep by at a snail's pace.

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