I can now play the first bit of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" on the piano by myself! *Feels proud* I really like this Synthesia program, it's fun times. I think I'll try to tackle "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" next, that one looks a little trickier because there's chords... :x My goal is to some day (years from now, I realize) be able to sit down and play some Journey -- they played it at the dueling piano bar we went to for the Nex Christmas party and I was like *hearts* and *sparkly eyes*.

In lieu of a holiday potluck which were originally going to do, we gathered everyone together and went to the new little Asian buffet. Somehow it managed to escape my razor-sharp casual observation that with the oriental-flavor of the restaurant name it was going to serve primarily Chinese food, but it turned out to be really tasty actually. And they had these wonderful little cheese-covered potatoes that were fantastically yummy~ I'd go back, but considering that they were in the midst of their grand-opening with only a couple tables filled, I don't think they'll be around long... *Sweatdrop*

I am so close to being done my Christmas shopping it's sick! If this damn weather would let up a bit, I would venture out and quickly finish up the last few items! It's really not fair how Alberta can go from a mild -5 to -30 practically over night... may I add that it's also very unfair how my car starter has developed an annoying habit of stopping to work as it gets progressively colder, which defeats the entire purpose. -5? It's good to go. But -30? I have to go out and start it by hand. Someone hates me.

I actually logged onto Guild Wars this weekend for the first time in... *strains* ...ages. I forgot how fun it is and how ridiculously AWESOME my necromancer is. Mason says I only have a couple more missions before I beat Prophecies, and then I want to start using my new ritualist~ With GW and piano, I don't know if I'm going to finish my Grievous picture in time for the contest deadline. >_<

One of these pretty Yamaha YPG-525 Portable Grand's is now mine! :B I found it for a really good deal on kijiji.ca. It was a little over my starter-piano price range ($500), but Mason pitched in half as an early Christmas present~ *Hearts* In a very roundabout return way, he ended up getting part of his Christmas present early too, his much beloved *goes to check name as per Mason's request* Odyssey 2-Ball SRT golf club since it was not-so cleverly hidden in the trunk of my car and we had to clean it out to go get my piano. My actual lessons don't start until January 6th, but in the mean time I have some built-in lessons that came with keyboard as well as this fancy program to play around with~

As a first, I've decided to make an entry into a user group DeviantArt contest. I don't usually pay much attention to contests because I'm exceptionally lazy and never manage to get entries done in time, but the theme was simply "Grievous in winter" and such a piece was coincidentally already on my to-do list. This does unfortunately mean that I'll have to haul ass to actually color a piece of art, which 1) I'm not very good at, and 2) will probably take me weeks because I really don't know how to use my tablet very well at all. *Shame cloud* D: In any event I've got the pencils finished and scanned in, so that's half the battle.


(The picture is obviously in two pieces right now because it's easier for me to draw that way, so you have to use your imagination that there's pretty snow and a dozen more droids in the background and you know... fabulous color.) >_<

Off to Whyte Ave tomorrow with Dad and Chelle for our annual holiday shopping adventure. There shall be donuts... there shall be shopping... and then afterwards there shall be a double-movie extravaganza! (And by that I mean going to see Bolt -- cute! :D -- and then being very ninja and sneaking into Twilight for epic lulz.)


EDIT: Fuck. I forgot Grievous' lightsabers. Fuckity wank bugger shitting arsehead and hole... *Debates whether to draw them in or leave as is* =_=;

Dear George Lucas:

Please stop being a goober. It's getting really annoying.

First off, can you immediately fire your script writers for having General Grievous refer to himself willingly, much less in jest, as a "droid"? He's a cyborg. A biodroid even. He is not one of your kiss-me-ass little "Roger Roger" assembly line bots. He hates being called a droid, it's already been established that he'll horribly maim you for the offensive reference; so how about putting two seconds of thought into dialogue before you throw random blather into his mouth.

As an upside, I was excited to see the good General (finally) dish out some cool kick-ass moves during battle in episode 7 -- but then you go and pit Ahsoka up against him where he proceeds to get his ass handed to him on a dinky padawan-sized platter? I mean... really? Ahsoka? SERIOUSLY? This guy is supposed to be a freaking warlord and the most renown Jedi killer the galaxy has seen and you let him get tromped by a rookie? D: HE SHOULD HAVE SKEWERED HER EFFORTLESSLY LIKE A PIECE OF BBQ'D PORK. (Ahsoka really irks me, I hate how she walks straight into the show being as talented as Anakin. Strong female support character, my ass... She's just unnecessary. I hope they kill her off eventually and that explains why she's not in RotS.)

Now I realize this is a show aimed for a slighter younger audience, but could you please recycle in some other Seperatist baddie to be humiliated every episode by the heros just for the sake of catering to the content advisory board? Grievous is not the pwnzee -- he's the PWNZOR. If you're going to keep featuring him in this show, then put him to work and actually let him kill off some good guys like he's supposed to.

:c I've been so stoked to see some of the carnage that Grievous supposedly deals out during the Clone Wars like all the Star Wars extended backstory says he does. I have yet to be impressed, Mr. Lucas. Could you please take your head out of your arse and stop fucking with the continuity of your own universe.

Kthanxbai.

It always seems to sneak up on me every year. There's not even much of an in-between as far as I can ever see: one day the trees are full and the leaves are green; then I go outside the next morning and all of a sudden realize that the leaves have all turned colors and are conspicuously no longer up on the tree where they should be. It's like "green... green... green... OMG BROWN! RED! YELLOOOOOOOW!" *Summer flails pathetically where it's been shoved off in the corner for another year.* It's a lot harder to wake up in the morning when it's still dark outside. A lot colder too. *Murffle*

A happy update on Toby -- he's all better! :D He's back to his old self: very hyper and eating like a greedy little pig, and now with a newfound love for pineapple juice~ He's pretty ecstatic these past few days at the new toy we gave him, and by toy I mean an empty Kokanee 12-pack beer box, it's like the greatest thing since romaine lettuce to that kid.

I bought my costume for Halloween finally -- after trying on a couple ones before that sadly didn't fit very well, I settled on a fun 20's glam girl type deal:

I think it's cute. Coleen has offered to help me curl my hair since curling irons and myself have never been properly introduced before, and I'd like to avoid the chaos that ensued when I used my hair straightener for the first time. I'm trying to convince Mason to check out some mafia boss costumes, I think we'd be a good pair~

I am experiencing what might be a rekindling of my love for anime. We found a site that offers practically every series you could ever want to watch in free streaming video, full seasons and episodes -- it's made of rainbows and sunshine and awesome, and right there at my fingertips when ever I want. I've begun watching Wolf's Rain again because I never actually managed to finish the series last time and would like to see how it finally ends. XD Last weekend I also watched the first episode of The Clone Wars, the new animates SW series; which wasn't bad because Asajj has the potential to be pretty badass, but she's no Grievous, which the episode distinctly lacked any amount in. He's supposed to be in episode 2 though so the badass-iness hasn't been forgotten, simply delayed. Preview of the badass-ness here.

I finished watching season 2 of Prison Break. I liked the new Mahone character this season, he's got that scruffy, frazzled, pill-popping thing going on for him; and he flip flops from being a giant dick to being really lovable. Poor guy, all he wants is to run off with his ex-wife and kid and now he's stuck in Panama federal prison and will probably be raped by some giant brute named Adolfo. *Hugs*

WHOA, okay and I went from wanting to punch Kellerman in the face in the first season to really loving him the second season. Where was this whole transition that I never noticed at the time from Paul Kellerman being an arrogant, annoying douche -- to Paul Kellerman in a hot black suit looking sexy with a semi-automatic sniper rifle? Yum~ I think the tides turned somewhere during the episode 213 line:

"You want to take the bitch down? You just found your inside-man, but it has to be RIGHT. NOW."
*Leads off rebel forces in heroic display and trumpeting cliff-hanger music*

♥ It's got that distinct "Come with me if you want to live!" vibe to it. Only without the unattractive accent.

They really are adorable. I've waited all winter to pull them out of the closet again and I think I forgot in fact how cute they really are. *Prances back and forth in her shoes.* :3

What a good weekend~! I haven't been to the waterpark in so long. Most of the Brenna-safe slides were closed sadly, but I got my fill of the tube ride and the wave pool, and took my first go at the toilet bowl ride which practically ripped my swimsuit off. I think I also have a faint case of whiplash from when it rockets you out of the tube. *Rubs sore neck.*

The pub was awesome, for a change we had the nice waitress and not the pissy one that snaps at everyone and denies us chicken wings. She even helped me find a new drink I actually enjoy, a Purple Haze, which is not as tasty as a Porn Star or Candy Apple, but is most definitely something I could drink again; and in this case probably the drink of the night which accounted for my giggliness. And made me play the tambourine. I BLAME THE PURPLE HAZE. Did I mention that I received glorious amounts of chocolate? And adorable Grievous-shaped eggs? And marvelous Taboo (which we most definitely should play on Games Night~)? And amazingly awesome castle-shaped cake? I love having seeing everyone together on nights like that, it fills me with happy~ Pictures will be up on Facebook eventually when ever I get the time to upload them.

Top it all off with a day full of Sailor Moon on Sunday and sister-bonding cuddles and you have yourself a weekend. Next weekend: watching Matt Serra get his UGLY FACE BITCH SLAPPED. Har har. Har har har.

Ooh! OOH! We may be getting half-sized cubicle walls at the office for our desks! To prettify! To decorate! (I am such a nerd and I don't care.)

I am sad to announce that I am a little on the unemployed side right now. Last Friday I was laid off from my job downtown, so I'm starting into my second week of depressing jobless-ness. I am also starting into my angst-filled second week of trying to get my new web portfolio to work in Internet Explorer, which I think we all know by now should really just be classified as a wasted effort. =_=; In any event, I'm adamantly chasing a job that I really want, and have wanted for quite a long time now, and am very slowly going into my second week of crazy because I still don't know if I'm being hired or not.

Hopefully none of the above will painfully bleed into a third week. We're keeping our fingers crossed. *so much sadness*

Last week Amanda and I had a splendid girly movie night filled with chocolate cake and squealfully cute Audrey Hepburn movies. I'd never seen any Hepburn movies and have since decided that both Breakfast at Tiffany's and Roman Holiday are both freaking adorable. I have also since decided that people need to start saying "darling!" with the Audrey accent because it just makes everything that much better~

Camping is coming up this weekend! I get to use my shiny new tent! More distractions from depressing job hunting! YAY!

And the first peak at the upcoming Clone Wars series in CG. Grievous! *glee* Asajj! *glee, but to a lesser extent because she's not as cool* Did I mention again, Grievous! *much more glee*

*Has an inkling to draw more fan art now but has no time because of angsty IE portfolio problems* DAMN YOU, BILL GATES! *throws sharks with eye lasers at you*

But hey, look, on the upside of it all I finally have a suitable reason to use the Toby avatar. Oh Toby, we *heart* you.

Countdown until Harry Potter book seven: OMG, only 32 days!