Grauh

I am back in NS, and still tying to catch up with the time zone. Will blog more when I do.

On My Way

Way too early tomorrow morning I shall be on a plane, en route to BC. I will, no doubt, strongly resemble a zombie when I arrive.

More Wishes

Wel, I went and updated my Amazon.ca wishlist (it's linked over there on the left somewhere). There were a few things -- a couple books and some PSP games -- that I'd forgotten to remove. And I've added a few things, but I keep forgetting things I thought of during the week and haven't added. Sigh.

Anyway, a few more things to add to the wish list below . . .

Practical Things

• knife sharpening apparatus -- for keeping my leather paring and bookmaking knives sharp, now that I spent a couple of hours in my teacher's studio getting them sharp. I'll need medium and fine ceramic stones (Spyderco makes nice ones that should be easy to find, or there's these ones from Lee Valley), and probably a coarse Diamond stone eventually, in case things get really messed up (here's the Lee Valley page on Diamond sharpening things -- the 6" is plenty big). Because the knives are flat on one side, kitchen knife sharpening apparatus are not generally good. Oh, yeah, and a strop. The most important thing is a strop and the grit that goes on it (once again, Lee Valley to the rescue).
  

Fun Things

• Inu Yasha season three box set DVDs. I already have the first two seasons and all the movies.
  
• The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana by Jess Nevins. MonkeyBrain Books, 2005 (official web site is here). I'm actually collecting rather a lot of Victorian fiction (especially science fiction), fiction set in Victorian times, nonfiction about Victorian times, and nonfiction about the history of magic, as reference for a novel that's been growing in my head for some time now, and is going to need to be started soon. I hope. To that end, movie versions of Victorian sf are also welcome. Jules Verne, especially. Even old black and whites. Maybe especially old black and whites. And The Illusionist and The Prestige, whenever they come out on DVD.
  

That's all I can think of right now. I think there was more, but it's gone now.

Holiday Wishes and Travel

I figure it's probably about time I made my holiday wish list, in case, you know, people don't know what to get me. Of course, no one has to get me anything. I'm quite happy just having you all around in the world. These things here listed are not in any particular order, by the way.

Practical Things

Of course, in my world, most practical things are also fun, so don't worry about getting me something practical when you want me to have fun. These ideas are both.

• art supplies -- I'm most focussed on book-making and printmaking right now (I have Intro Printmaking next semester), so things like paper, printing ink, bookbinding odds and ends, or gift certificates to art supply stores (Opus and Island Blue both have mail order, and of course there's Talas, but I don't know which if any of these do gift certificates) would be lovely.
  
• books -- Specifically books on bookbinding and books on books. I'll try to add all the relevant ones to my Library Thing list so people can see what I've already got. And I'll try to get my wishlists updated, too, so people can see which ones are at the top of my list. Or there's always the gift certificate route. Amazon (either .ca or .com), Chapters, Powells -- they're all fine (Powells has more used/antiquarian).
  
• light meter -- So I can figure out exposures for photography. I need something that has incident metering, but I think most of them do both incident and reflective these days. The ones we use at school are the Sekonic FlashMate or similar. I certainly don't need anything more complicated.
  
• PlayStation 3 -- Yeah, okay, no one's going to get me one. I'd be surprised if anyone can even find one any time soon. But I'd like the 60GB version just in case someone has too much money lying around. And it's in the Practical list because I can use it for work as well as play (on account of it can interact with the PSP).
  

Purely Fun Things

• books -- Yeah, books are fun. Niko likes books.
  
• Nintendo Wii (the console formerly known as the Revolution) -- that's pronounced "wee" if you were wondering, and yes there have been many jokes. I want to play Legend of Zelda in the worst way. And the Wii is backwards compatible, so I could play GameCube games, too. Alternatively, a GameCube would be cool, and cheaper, but won't play the newest Nintendo games.
  
• games -- EB Games certificates are good, or Futureshop, or you can get me the box set of all three Devil May Cry games. Or, if someone gets me a Wii or a PS3, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (or LoZ: Windwaker, which is GameCube, but Wii is backwards compatible) for Wii or Genji II for PS3. Also the Legend of Zelda game for DS if it comes out by xmas.
  
• DVDs -- I still don't have any Angel past season one, or any Farscape besides a few odd discs from season one. I'd really, really like the new Doctor Whos, though. The ones with Christopher Eccleston as the ninth Doctor or David Tennant as the tenth Doctor (though the old ones are cool, too). Those classic versions of Frankenstein with Boris Karloff and Dracula with Bela Lugosi are tempting, too.
  

I'm sure there are other things which I have forgotten. Maybe even important things. So I will update this list if I think of anything else. Plus, there are always those cool unexpected things that I hadn't thought of but which are perfect. There always seem to be lots of those.

Oh yeah, and travel. I'll be arriving in the Nanaimo airport on December 13th after an obcenely long cross-country flying marathon, and will be leaving from the same airport on December 31st 29th. So if you're on Southern Vancouver Island, I might see you over the hols.

Bookish

In a recent conversation with my roommates, Deva asked, "If you were a superhero, who would you be, and what would your superpower be?" (Yes, we have conversations like this all the time, though it's usually Ryan who asks this sort of question.) My answer? "I think I'd have to be The Bookworm." A superpower was more difficult, but we settled on knowledge, or the ability to find out anything.

So yeah, our apartment is starting to look even more bookish than ever. As if my and Deva's shelves full of books (mine neatly ordered, though rather over-full, and Deva's haphazard and sometimes spilling over at the edges) didn't make it obvious enough that Book People live here, there are now -- crowding the computers and printers and scanners out of their dominance of one third of the living room -- an assortment of book-making apparatus. The first was an unassuming marble cutting board for paring leather on, that simply looked like it got lost en route to the kitchen. Then came the sewing frame and finishing press I ordered from England. Neither is very large on its own, but together they take up a fair bit of room, and I haven't actually decided where they'll live permanently yet. Then this morning the parcel guy brough a big box containing a small wooden press (a standing press or nipping press, perhaps; it's a sort of generic "book press" according to the tag on it). And sometime later this week I'll be adding a small-but-heavy metal press, of the same ilk as the wooden one, but more heavy-duty. My book arts teacher has one a previous student wants to sell for a very reasonable price. There may be a smallish board cutter, too. Now I just need to find a parlour-size letterpress and I'll be set. For now.

Blogthings - What Gender Is Your Brain?

Your Brain is 67% Female, 33% Male

Your brain leans female You think with your heart, not your head Sweet and considerate, you are a giver But you're tough enough not to let anyone take advantage of you!

What Gender Is Your Brain?

I Wish I'd Made These

Well, not really, but the photographs (ambrotypes, specifically) and camera obscura installations that Stephen Berkman makes really fit in with some of the stuff I've been playing with. (Via Brass Goggles and crossposted to Camera Obscura Nova, my Livejournal.)

Now This . . .

This is a watch I'd rather like. Pocket watch, roman numerals, mechanical (which is to say not battery-run, as in you have to wind it), chrome (not a big fan of gold, I), window for peering in at the gears working away . . . Very cool.

Madness, Shapechanging, Art

The Journal of Mythic Arts Summer /Fall 2006 issue is now up at the Endicott Studio website, and my paper "The Artist as Shaman: Madness, Shapechanging and Art in Terri Winding's The Woodwife" is included. You can scroll down the page to find it (but be sure to look at the other wonderful stuff too), or if you must, skip straight to it here.

This was originally written as an assignment for a workshop/seminar I took at SUNY New Paltz in . . . 2003, maybe, or was it 2002? So it's really Heinz Insu Fenkl's fault that I wrote it in the first place. And, of course, Terri Windling's for writing a book that made me ramble on at such length. (The mistakes and the stupid things are all my own fault of course). The paper was first published in the Mythic Passages web journal.

Two Ronnies Mastermind

Watch this: Two Ronnies Mastermind (the usual warnings about having anything in your mouth apply).

The Shire of Bend, Oregon

Maybe the Tolkien Estate can sure them? The Shire of Bend, Oregon. I shudder. Many times.

School! Books! Etc.

School started up again on Thursday. I had Architecture, Culture and Photography with the lovely Mr Fish. Like Intro Photo, it should be a really good class, but lots of work. On Friday I had Graphic and Typographic Design with a prof who had a Scottish accent and a tendency to trail off at the ends of sentences, but I think he'll be easier to listen to when he's actually talking about design and not reading out the obligatory course descriptions and rules about respecting the historic buildings our school is in. I'll have that class twice a week (Tues and Fri mornings). Then Friday afternoons I have Intermediate Book Arts with Joe Landry, who also taught Letterpress in the summer (and who gave me an A+). It's going to be a really, really great class (even though I managed to cut myself while sawing a recess on the spine of my sewing sample -- Joe and half the class were out of the room fetching sewing frames, luckily) (for those of you who don't know, if it's pointy or sharp, I'll eventually stab or cut myself with it, though it's never serious). And that's what my semester is going to be. Only three classes, but two are 6 credits, which is kind of like double. So I'm still doing 15 credits -- the maximum anyone is allowed to take at once.

And I've just spent some time entering all the books I have out in the living room into LibraryThing. Go look if you want (you can search for me as "feynico"). Basically, you can see most of my geek books, some of my nonfiction and a very small amount of my fiction. The bedroom shelves will be next, but I'm going to need to get a paid membership before I'm done. There's a nice lifetime membership option which only costs two and a half times the yearly membership, so I'll probably do that (unlesss someone wants to get me a gift membership). I really like the idea of being able to keep a record of my books online, for insurance purposes, if nothing else. I'm probably also going to (finally) get some kind of book cataloguing software for offine, too. I had one all picked out a year ago, now I just have to figure out which one it was . . .

One Down . . .

It's been an ambition of mine (one of a short list of things I want to have happen before I drop dead) to have work on the Endicott Studio website or be mentioned there in some way (like if I had a novel published and they put it on the recommended reading list or something). Anyway, there will soon be a paper I wrote in the Endicott Journal of Mythic Arts. And not only that, but I'm listed in the "Contributors to the Journal of Mythic Arts" in the right column of the Endicott blog. I'm only two names down from Neil Gaiman!!

Swashbuckling

You Are A Pirate!


What Type Of Swashbuckler Are You?
brought to you by Maddog Varuka & Dawg Brown

I Rule the Freakin' World

I picked up my grades from the summer today:

Basic Book Arts ---> A+

Intro Photography ---> A

Survey of 20th Century Art ---> A+

Letterpress Printing ---> A+

Plus, I got my paycheque, a notice from Canada Post to pick up a parcel, and a notice from UPS that they'll try again to deliver a package tomorrow. All in all, a good day.

I Have the Best Job in the World

So have I said lately how much I love my job? I really, really love my job.

Twice this week, a nice FedEx person has showed up at my door with packages for me. One was two anime UMDs, for an upcoming special guide I'm planning on Anime on UMD (or Anime for PSP). The second was a Beta build of a wacky Japanese PSP game called WTF (which does not stand for what it stands for; it stands for "Work Time Fun"), with a t-shirt! So now I have cool stuff to review and write about.

Like I said, I love my job.

Mild-Mannered

What does Niko say when a Jesus boy asks her if she wants a Bible tract? Why, she politely says, "No, thank you."

And what does Niko say when said Jesus boy then asks, "If you die tonight, will you go to heaven?" Why, she says, "I'm not going anywhere."

And then turns around and yells after him, "I'll just be dead!"

Art for Sale!

Yes, finally some things I can sell! Buy a coelacanth print, and get a coelacanth card free! Pics and info here.

I'm going to have some photos for sale soon, too.

Punctuation Matters

Just ask Rogers about that single comma. Not enough attention to the details of punctuation may cost them a lot of money. (Via Neil Gaiman.)

Shiny Airship Watch

If anyone should ever wish to spend a tidy sum on a watch for me, this is the one I'd like.

Rayguns!

I really need these.

Oh, and I need this to be released in North America.

Joining Things

Yeah, well, you all know how much of a joiner I am. But I found a few cool sites that seemed worth the effort of registering.

• Library Thing lets you catalogue your books online, and searches various databases and bookstores so you don't have to type everything in. It even includes covers. You can add 200 books free, and then have to pay a yeary or for-life fee. I like the idea of having a list of books online, where I can access it from anywhere should I need it for insurance purposes. It won't be long before I have to pay, though, assuming I get around to adding all my books. If you want to look at my books (have only added a few so far), seach for me under "feynico."
  
• TV Shows on DVD is a site where you can find out if your favorite shows are on DVD and vote for them to be on DVD if they're not. You can also make want lists for existing and yet-to-be-pubished DVDs. Now everyone go and register and vote for The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne. Do it now. Please.
  
• My Livejournal. It's so much easier to keep track of other people's Livejournals when you have one of your own. I'll probably end up putting personal, daily-life type stuff, plus writing updates, here on Anagram for Ink, and use the Livejournal for visual arts stuff. No doubt they will cross over a lot. But there you go. One more thing for me to neglect.
  

Font Geek

What does it say about me that I was more excited that my 20th Century Art teacher complemented the font I used on my midterm paper than by the fact that she gave me an A?

Oh, it was 12pt Garamond.

The Usual

So, school goes along pretty much as usual. Photography is my favorite class. It's intense but lots of fun. Letterpress can be a bit on the dull side at times, but I've discovered I really like setting type. It should be really boring, but I like it. I'm going to buy a small letterpress, if I can find one on eBay that's both a reasonable price and in good shape. In the meantime, I bought a camera. This camera. Yes, I finally blew all of my birthday money, plus a bit more besides.

Now I'm saving up for a sewing frame and a book press for bookbinding purposes. With what's left in my bank account (aside from what I need to, you know, live) I'm going to buy PSP stuff to review, and probably a second hand PSP on which to run homebrew -- I have an idea for an article series for work, following my attempts to downgrade the firmware and get homebrew running. Potentially, therefore, the second PSP could pay for itself.

Hardcore

Some of you may know, either just from knowing me or from following my ramblings on this blog, that I am entirely non-religious, yet also fascinated with (and sometimes horrified by) religion. So someone I know who is a student of Zen (hmm . . . should that be capitalized or not?) was reading this book called Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies, and the Truth About Reality (by Brad Warner). I thought it sounded interesting, so I asked to borrow it. I just finished reading it this morning (and, since I only borrowed it Thursday afternoon, you can safely draw the conclusion that it was an absorbing read, and therefore also a quick read). Hmm. I expected it would be interesting and well written, from the things my friend said about it. I wasn't really expecting so much of it to resonate -- and resonate strongly -- with the way I already think about things, religion included.

For example:

It's only when people believe that their beliefs are above questioning, that their beliefs alone are beyond all doubt, that they can be as truly horrible as we all know they can be. Belief is the force behind every evil mankind [sic] has ever done.

Or:

Religions, the supposed institutional repositories of humanity's understanding of the deeper mysteries of the universe, have never offered anything more to me than sophisticated methods of avoiding the truth, of building elaborate fantasies in place of reality.

The older I get, the more I think the dangers of religion -- any religion -- far outweigh the benefits, though I know there are an awful lot of people, even non-religious people, who would strongly disagree.

There are simply too many interesting things in the book for me to quote them all -- too many times when I stopped reading so I could absorb something properly. Here's one, though:

Buddhism won't give you the answer. Buddhism might help you find your own right question, but you've gotta supply your own answers.

Hunh. I'll stop quoting now, and gushing. I think I'm going to have to get a copy of this book for myself, though, and read it a few more times. I'm not going to suddenly become religious, but this is, I think, something that warrants further investigation. Anyone want to read the book and tell me what you think of it?

Back to School

Yes, today it was back to school again. I had my first Letterpress Printing class, which is going to be very exciting. Real printing with real moveable type. The kind you can take out and move around in different configurations, without the use of a computer! Okay, I am being silly, but I think it will be a good class. The prof is not the mot dynamic speaker ever, but he knows an awful lot about the history of printing and book binding, and stuff, and seems to have a vast store of amusing stories that probably only book geeks actually find amusing. Luckily, I am a book geek.

Today we had a kind of show and tell with lots of samples (both real and reproduction) of manuscripts and early printing. Then we got a tour of the print shop (I think the third I've had this year, but I love it there, so that's fine with me), and we got to poke around in the basement, where all the type is kept and where we will be spending a lot of time in the next seven weeks. Yay!

I also spent a fair bit of time in the dark room, working on my prints for the portrait/self portrait project. My portrait negatives came out pretty thick; I'm not sure if it's a shooting problem or a developing problem. They're not beyond hope, though, and I got some decent prints from them. Quite a few were not in great focus though, which is a bit disappointing. Part of the problem is that my subject was moving quite a bit, but I very much didn't want her sitting still and posing, so the only solution would have been more light. I guess I should have used both of the lights I had, instead of just one, so I could have used a smaller aperture and therefore had greater depth of field. But anyway. She was a great subject, so I am happy about that.

Tomorrow I'm going to shoot some more self-portraits, even though I really already have enough for the project. I have some mad scientist ideas, which are just too much fun not to do. I do wish I had more props, though, so this is a project I may revisit in future. I also still need to make some prints for a sort of related project, which I may hand in as part of the portrait assignment -- a book of me playing on my PSP while also doing everyday things like doing the dishes and getting dressed. It'll be a day-in-the-life sort of thing, and each photo will have the time under it, but no other text (except possibly to say what I'm doing -- for example "9am, brushing teeth" or something).

And finally, I had Survey of 20th Century Art, where I handed in my take-home exam/essay (which is, I think, a decently written blather), and got back my slide test (only an A-, alas, but pretty good considering how little time I ended up having to study). So that was my day.

I Am A Moron

Someday, maybe I'll learn to take my own writing advice. You know, the really basic "never send out your only copy of a story" advice? Yeah, well.

As many of you know, I used to write the content (and do some other stuff) for About.com's Creative Writing for Teens website (now I do the PSP site). Well, a lot of the articles are tool-based, meaning you plug them into an online form, essentially, and it gets added to the database. Well, I developed a really bad habit of composing directly into the tool. And then I stopped doing the site. Leading up to my switch to PSP, I did start a word doc and cut and pasted the text from many of my articles into it. Except I don't know where I saved the doc. And now the CW for Teens site is no more (not just my version; About decided to remove it entirely). I have never been happier that Google caches pages--I found a lot of my old stuff that way. And the really old stuff I still have on the laptop harddrive. But there are a few bits and pieces that somehow never got saved anywhere but on the About servers, and which have disappeared from Google.

Yeah, so I feel a bit stupid. I didn't even think about it until someone emailed me looking for a manuscript format article I wrote. I did find that one, but now I have no energy left to email the guy back (even with a happy stomach full of sushi). Tomorrow, I guess.

It's not even that I'll ever need the stuff again. Unless I decide to pubish a how-to-write book, which I probably won't do. It's just mine. I made it. Geh. I will recover. At least it wasn't stuff I really cared about, like my fiction. Now that I have mostly saved in multiple places (some of it exists in various versions on floppy disk, laptop harddrive, cd-rom, Mac harddrive, and one or more hardcopies in a box somewhere in BC).

As soon as I'm done cat sitting, I'll be making sure updated copies of all my fiction is in multiple formats and possibly even different places (anyone want to volunteer to curate a hardcopy or cd of one or more stories? see, I'm paranoid now).

Nik Shoots People

I rescheduled the photo shoot with Deva's mom Judy to this afternoon. I'd hoped to photograph her in her sewing room, which has wall-to-wall shelves full of fabric and other crafting goodies, but it was so cramped I couldn't have got the tripods in. So instead we shot in the living room, with Judy on the couch, surrounded by fabric samples and all her many current projects. I hope the window behind her won't be a problem (the curtains were drawn, but they were pretty thin).

Ryan (Deva's son) had offered to be assistant, so I handed him my 35mm and he took pictures of me taking pictures, pictures of his grandmother, pictures of Sam-the-cat-who-has-thumbs, etc. His friend Mark was there, too, so after I took pictures of Judy and her crafts, I took some of Judy and Ryan, and then some of Ryan and Mark playing Yu-Gi-Oh cards. It was pretty fun. I've ended up with 4 12-exposure rolls of medium-format (120) fim, and most of a roll of 36-exposure 35mm film. And I just realized I didn't save any film for the Nik-as-mad-scientist shoot Ryan is going to help me with tomorrow. So I'll have to remember to stop at the NSCAD store and buy more film. 2 rolls should be plenty; I'm doing the mad scientist ones more just for fun (unless they turn out really well, in which case I may use some for the portrait project).

Anyway, that was my day. It's been really hard to get up in the morning. Possibly I am abusing caffeine too much and it's getting back at me, like it used to. Bleah. Oh well. Tomorrow is work, then mad scientist photos, then anime and hanging out with roomates, then more sleep. Oh, and I'll probably develop whatever film I have somewhere in there, too, and then print on the weekend. We'll see.

Blargh

It's hot. I know I shouldn't complain. After all, it was raining all weekend, and I wished it was nice. I don't mind, really, I just wish I only had to walk places in the evening, when it's cooler. The worst part is, I keep forgetting my sunglasses, so I have to squint a lot, or else walk with my eyes closed. Anyway, I'm not really complaining about the heat, I'm just tired and sweaty from hauling lots of camera equipment from school to home and then from home back here (where I am cat sitting) -- most of the way on the bus, I am glad to say. And I will have to haul it all back to school tomorrow (not on the bus), and then sign it out again on Thursday and repeat the whole process because my portrait subject was too worn out from company and sick people (S.O.'s dad in the hospital for a triple bypass) and wouldn't let me photograph her. I wanted to take the pics anyway, because, well, sometimes people are more interesting when they're tired than when they're all dolled up and ready for portraits. But she wouldn't let me. So Thursday it is. (Not, but the way, that I am complaining about that either -- there's no phone here, so she couldn't call and tell me not to come, and anyway we had a nice visit.)

Why, I wonder, is it so hard sometimes to write about things that happened without sounding like one is complaining? Oh well.

In other news, I raided my host's dvds the night before last, and watched Das Boot because I had always heard it was really good. And it was. Quite amazing, really, both visually and in the development of character. Very long, but well worth it. I'll watch something else tonight, but I haven't decided what yet. Last evening I went for a walk around Halifax's South End and decided this is the area I'd like to live in, should I decide to stay, and should I manage to find some kind of work that lets me pay the sort of rent normal people pay. I also went along the harbour front, where plenty of other people were also walking. It was nice in the fog, though, as all the usual busy sounds were muffled and things distant were obscured. Alas, because -- I presume -- I was dressed in the usual dark clothes and walking as quietly as I usually walk (which means people don't tend to notice me right away) some poor old guy in a hat thought I was stalking him. He made some humourous comment when he noticed me, but I think he really thought I was following him, waiting for the opportune moment to steal his wallet or something.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, my hair is all green now. Well, actually it was all green. It's now brown with a faded green patina and some brighter green streaks, due to an uneven bleach and dye (very hard to do this to one's own hair, even with last minute emergency roommate assistance). It was all in the name of art, anyway. In my photo class there's a woman with bright red hair and one with blue hair, so with me having green hair we made up the primary colours of light: RGB. So our photo teacher thought it would be fun to photograph the three of us. Therefore I dyed my hair all green. With the heat, though, I'm seriously considering shaving off the back, skater-style, or at least cutting that part really, really short. (If you can't envision what I mean, look at Sorcha's hair in "Meddlesome Spirits" (middle panel), only my hair isn't that long anymore.)

Now I think I'll make a salad, because I'm still too warm for cooking. I have some feta cheese and lots of different veggies (in many different colours!). Hmm. Except I just remembered I haven't any salad dressing. Maybe a sandwich . . . I have some nice gluten-free cheese bread . . .

Where the Hell Have I Been?

I expect one or two of you may be wondering that. Well, I've pretty much been where I've been all along -- either at home working or at school attending classes. Or, occasionally, buying art supplies so that I can do projects for said classes.

Last week was end-of-term for half-summer classes and mid-term for all-summer classes, which meant I had a final project and an exam to study for, plus a non-final project to work on. The final project was to make an edition of 17 flag books for Book Arts class (I actually made an edition of 19, so I could have a couple extras). It took longer than I thought. The flag book is a fairly simple structure, but I didn't quite realize how much longer it would take to make 19 of them. And, of course, I knew what I wanted to do and am too stubborn to simplify in order to get things done faster. So I was up pretty much all night one night, but I got it done and I think it turned out pretty good. I'll post pictures soon.

The mid-term was a slide test for Survey of 20th Century Art. I hardly studied. I always feel guilty about not studying, yet I almost never worry about not studying. I just don't stress about tests, for some reason. Anyway, I managed to cram titles and dates and artists into my brain in what little time I had, and remember enough of the lectures and discussions and readings that I think I did okay. Now I have a take-home to do for the same class, but it shouldn't take too long.

The other project was a work-in-progress for a self-portrait/portrait project for photo (that is, the project consists of both self-portraits and portraits of someone else). I wasn't as prepared as I'd wanted to be, but luckily the thing isn't actually due for another two weeks. I've since shot another roll of self-potrait stuff, which may or may not be what I was aiming for, but even if it's not, I think I can use it for a book project that popped into my head while I was out for a walk (walks and showers seem to be when I get all the best ideas, or occasionally in the middle of the night when I'm not really awake enough to manipulate a pen). I have a subject lined up for Tuesday for the portrait part, which I think should be fun to shoot. I may or may not post some of the results of this project later on, but I probably will add a few things from previous projects, as I know a few of you friends-and-family types are curious to see what I've been doing.

Right now I am cat-sitting, so I have lots of peace and quiet. Also I have a week and a half off school. I am trying to do lots of work, since my three-month review is coming up soon and I really need to get more content up. Other than that, I am reading and eating yummy, healthy food (I have been getting into some very bad junk food habits lately, which explains why the extra weight just won't go away). Today I went for a walk (I was originally going to hop on the bus to Value Village but it was raining very, very hard this morning; when the rain let up, I decided to just ramble around a bit). I ended up at Pete's Frootique, a fancy sort of grocery store with lots of organic things and local things and gourmet things and generally delicious-looking things to eat. I picked up a few ordinary things of the vegetable variety (I did splurge on a yellow zucchini instead of a green one -- they looked so lovely), and found some things I've been looking for since I moved here (like rice paper). And tea! I finally found Lapsang Souchong. And loose, too. They have many loose teas and so I shall be going back. Why I hadn't gone there before now, I do not know.

On the way back, I stopped in at a newsstand that had the best selection of magazines I've seen since Yates Street News in Victoria closed, and spent a pleasant half-hour browsing. I bought a couple things to read, and now I am back and blogging and there is some sushi in the fridge waiting for me to eat it.

Umm . . . I'm Not Really Dead

Just really, really busy. But after Thursday I should have more time and will actually write something about what I've been doing, and even post pictures of art. Art by me! Right now I have to go spend the rest of the day making books for my final Book Arts project, which is due tomorrow morning. Then I have to find a few minutes to study for my 20th c Art mid-term slide test. But first, more tea.

What country should you live in?

Which country should you REALLY be living in? The United Kingdom You have pride in yourself and pride in your country. You believe that history and culture is an important factor to the future of your country, and that traditions and values should be upheld. You love your scones and tea, and reading soppy romance novels. The UK is where you should be...

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

More Star Wars Geekery

Star Wars Death Star Explosion Aftermath: the usual warning about food and beverages apply. Especially right at the end.

Which Star Wars Character Are You?

Your results:
You are Qui-Gon Jinn

Qui-Gon Jinn 76% Chewbacca 72% R2-D2 70% Padme 68% Obi-Wan Kenobi 67% Lando Calrissian 65% Princess Leia 62% Boba Fett 60% Yoda 59% Han Solo 58%

Overall, you're a pretty well balanced person. But maybe you focus a little too much on the here and now. Think about the future before its too late.

(This list displays the top 10 results out of a possible 21 characters)


Click here to take the Star Wars Personality Quiz

Best Semester Ever

I am currently very, very glad that I decided to take classes this summer. It's all because Alvin, my last semester's photo teacher, kept saying how great it is to take Intro Photo in the summer. And it is.

So, right now I'm taking Survey of 20th Century Art, which is a twice-a-week, hour-and-an-half lecture course (all summer). It's not especially exciting, but certainly not the worst lecture course I've done. I'd like more background on the social and political conditions, but I guess there's just so much to cover that there isn't time. Oh well. I like the teacher, though; she's nice. Actually, I like all my teachers this semester.

I also have Book Arts, twice a week for four hours (for the first half of the summer). It's such fun! We make a book every class, and we've been working our way gradually from really simple pamphlet form to more complex sewn forms. We haven't done any multi-section books yet, but we have done one with an accordion spine, and part of the homework this weekend is to make a flag book, which is a variation of the accordion. Also, we have to make an "altered book." While I don't much like the idea of cutting/gluing/writing on an existing book, I do have a good idea, and a Value Village archaeology book that makes frequent reference to pre-flood things. Heh. Pre-flood. Here's a bit about my teacher.

And there's Intro Photo, twice a week for four and a half hours (all summer). It's a really good class, too, and everyone seems to actually want to be there (as opposed to just taking it for credit or because they need one more elective). I just spent my entire Friday afternoon in the darkroom, making prints for Monday's assignment. I might even go in Monday morning, if I decide later that my prints aren't quite "sparkly." I actually re-did some prints that I got a B+ on, because I wanted to get them right (I think Deva thought I was a bit mad, because a B+ is a very respectable grade). Anyway, thanks to my teacher (hi Adrian *), I think I may actually have figured out how to make good prints (or at least better prints). So, yes, still really liking photo, and still thinking about changing my major (about which more later).

*Not that I think he'll actually be reading my blog, but one never knows, and it seemed rude not to say hi.

Happy Birthday Deva!

Yep, it's my roommate Deva's birthday today. She's still one year short of being the answer to life, the universe, and everything, so I can't tease her about that yet. We don't really have anything planned (except a trip to Value Village when she gets back from renewing her driver's license). When it gets a bit closer to my b-day we'll probably have some sort of feast. Or cake. Or a feast and cake.

(Ah! I just realized it's now only 2 weeks until my birthday, until the day my age will no longer be the western world's magic number twice. Although the digits will add up to the western world's other magic number. Not that I find any particular sigificance in numbers, they're just fun to play with. Like words.)

PS3!!!

Okay, I knew this a few days ago, but thought I should wait to post it, on account if being too excited. The PS3 comes out in November, and won't be as expensive as many people feared! Here's the press release.

So now the question is this: Preorder from EB Games and try to scrounge up an extra 600 bucks by mid-November, or hope that someone gets me one for Christmas?

I'm anticipating that there will be interactivity with the PSP, at least on some games, so I'm going to need one for work (that's my story, and I'm sticking to it).

So yeah. I got some thinkin' to do. Preorder, or hope for xmas? Preorder, or . . .

T Minus One Month . . .

So, the date is May 2, meaning it is one month until my very own birthday. And speaking of birthdays, could everyone I know who wants me to remember their birthday please post a comment with the date of their birth in it. The reason I'm asking is not because I have forgotten when everyone I know is born, but because the big birthday summer season is fast approaching, and their are a couple of birthdays that I'm always convinced are a few days before or after their actual date. Now previously I have lived close to people and there were enough reminders that by the time the date arrived, i had it straight. But now, living far away from the bulk of my friends and relatives, and having packed the little book I started keeping with all the days noted somewhere in a box . . . Well, I think you can see where this is headed.

No, I'm not going to list the ones I always get right, because that would just make the owners of the ones I always get wrong feel bad. So there you go. Please comment with your birthday (and, you know, your name) and also the birthdays of anyone you can think of who isn't likely to read and/or comment on this blog.

Right.

So I spent much of this morning trying to get a decent picture of me to submit for my Guide photo at work. I finally got one I'm happy with and sent it off. My favorite, though, wasn't quite suitable (having part of my hand over my face), so I decided to make it my new profile photo. Here it is, bigger (yes, I did just re-green my hair):

More PSP Stuff

For anyone keeping track, I recently picked up Medievil Resurrection and PQ PSP games.

Also, here's a PSP on eBay with version 1.5 firmware (and a 2GB memory stick). You know, in case anyone wanted to get me a second PSP for my birthday. Because it would be very useful for work. And I'm going to have to buy one myself soon (and this is exactly what I need). Anyway. Birthday in a month plus a few days. Hint. Etc.

Edit: Ack! Someone used "buy it now" already and the auction's ended. But here's a firmware 1.5 machine in the UK (the Japanese version), and another. Plus, here's another in the US, and one and two in Canada. But best yet, here's a ceramic white Japanese machine from the UK. Any of these would work, but I like the white one best (probably because my current one is black . . .)

Flash for SW Geeks

Okay, all my Star Wars geek friends (and also the ones who aren't really Star Wars geeks but have seen the movies and will understand the references), go watch this: the sith rejects. Oh, it's a flash animation, so don't do it on a machine that chokes on flash, if any of you still have computers that old . . .

Argh! (Wireless Woes)

Maybe I'm just thick, but I can't get the wireless router to work right. It was working just fine, but then our ISP changed the batch of IP addresses assigned to us, which is perfectly normal, but they were outside the (rather limited) range that the router recognized as ours. No biggie, I just went through the setup wizard again, and changed the IP address. All was well. I thought I'd look into how to make it so I didn't have to do that anymore, and in the meantime, I'd just update it whenever it stopped working.

Then it happened again. This time, for some reason the router wouldn't update. I got tired of trying and just hooked up the wired router again. We've been happily running off it for weeks now, but I really need to get the wireless one working for, you know, my job. The PSP can only access the internet wirelessly.

So, today I decide to take a stab at it. It took a few tries, and switching to Netscape from Firefox (I don't know why, but it worked). I successfully update the info in the router, and get it to work with my PC laptop (on which I have been doing the updates). So then I poke around in the settings to see if I can figure out how to make it work properly. I change "DHCP server" to "DHCP client" reasoning that I am, after all, a client and not a server. So far so good. Then I plug in the Mac to see if it's really working. Alas, it isn't. So I swing the chair around to change the settings back on the router, and suddenly the PC isn't talking to the router anymore, and refuses to do so. Over and over.

Result of today's attempt to fix technology: much frustration and still no wireless. At least the wired router works without me actually having to set up anything. Bleah.

It's Alive!

Or live, anyway: About PlayStation Portable / PSP.

Things Not Photographed

Here's something really cool: Unphotographable: a text account of pictures missed. (Via Neil Gaiman.)

Road Trip!

Yes, I finally got outside the city! This past Friday, Judy, Randy, Deva, Ryan and I all piled in Judy & Randy's car and off we went. Inlandish, though I'm not entirely sure where we went (I think I could find it on a map, if I could find a map). Anyway, it was lovely, even though the weather was damp, and there was a river and many trees, and birds (a pheasant, even). Of course I took lots of pictures, mostly with my digital camera, since I'd forgotten to buy colour film.

Everyone at the park entrance:


Pretty green lichen on a tree:


Tree and river:


Next time, Judy says we will head for a beach.

All Sorts of Things

Er, yeah. I haven't updated in a while. Sorry about that. I blame it on end-of-term insanity and the incoherence that follows. But I think I have recovered now. I have a few bits and pieces of news, mostly school or work related. Let's see . . .

I got a scholarship for the fall. $800, so it won't cover everything, but it means I will have to borrow slightly less from the government. In order to actually get the thing, though, I am required (yes, really, actually required) to go to an awards ceremony in September and meet the donors. I think I can manage that. They are giving me money, after all.

I'm going to be taking summer classes this year. I wasn't going to, but a few things are offered in summer that don't come up very often during the year, like Book Arts, and other things are just better to take in summer (fewer students, better weather, etc), like Intro Photo. So I've ended up with a full 15 credits. Intro Photo and Survey of 20th Century Art all summer, plus Book Arts in the first half and Computer Image Making in the second half. It should be fun. I have about 3 weeks now to work and have fun before classes start.

End-of-term went reasonably well. I'm not sure how I did in drawing, but probably okay. Survey of 19th C Art I think went well, despite having very little time to study for the final. My Design teacher said I'd be getting an A+. He might have meant just on the toy design project, but I'm pretty sure he meant the whole term. Yay! That was a really good class.

The prototype of my toy design, the Puzzle Ship (it has more pieces, and can be made into different ships -- shown is the Spanish Galleon version, my favourite):



My photography final evaluation went well, too. I don't know what grade I'm getting, but I got the highest mark in the class on the quiz (16/18 -- one question I counted stops wrong, even though I counted twice; and one question I knew the answer but explained it backwards -- duh). Also, my teacher said my depth of field assignment was excellent and that all the extra work I put into the presentation of my final project (it was photos of trees growing around fences and signs and things, which I dry mounted onto heavy paper and bound in a big tome) paid off. We had a really good conversation about the class and other things (turns out he has a degree in nuclear physics -- how cool is that?), and when I said I'd come to NSCAD to study design, he said "Well, maybe we can lure you away from design." I said it wouldn't be that hard. I have been trying to resist the temptation to change majors, though. At the moment, I'm just trying to fit in as much photo (and other interesting stuff) as I can. As my teacher said, though, design is the program with the least room for exploring interests in other areas (I mentioned at one point that I am interested in everything). Anyway, photo was my favourite class this past semester, as you may have guessed.

Now, some non-school things. Support at About.com is working on transferring my PSP site to the live servers, so I shall soon be the PSP Guide, and no longer the Creative Writing for Teens Guide. I've been having a blast with PSP, so I'm looking forward to being able to concentrate on that and not having to worry about teenwriting any more. That should happen this week.

I've been accepted onto the Gamer Advisory Panel on the Playstation site (yes, the official one). It's not a really big deal -- lots of people are on it, but it's kind of cool. I have to get a bit more active on the message boards and stuff or they'll kick me off, and I'd like to at least get the chance to beta test something first (grin). I'll need to get a network adaptor for my PS2 first, though, but I should be able to get one cheapish on eBay or at EB Games. I think I get a free tshirt, too. At least one of the questions on the admittance test was "What size tshirt do you wear?" I suspect I got on because there aren't a whole lot of female in-their-thirties gamers out there.

I have a few more things to write, but this is getting long, so I'll stop and put more in a separate entry.

Another 1.50 PSP

Here's another 1.5 firmware PSP available online. A 2.00 version would work, too, as there is software to "downgrade" from 2.00 to 1.50 (but not from 2.01 or anything higher). Yes, still PSP-obsessed, but it's my job now. Or will be very soon.

Due to a Lack of Pictures Here

Here's some nice fungus I found in the cemetery behind our house sometime last fall-ish.

No Time At All

Aah! The end of semester rush is in full swing -- I have two major projects, some minor ones, and an exam coming up next week. And I'm getting the new About PSP site ready to go live, AND I'm still maintaining the About Teenwriting site until PSP goes live. Talk about no time! I'm still managing to play games (I have to for work now), but I'm not getting much time to read or watch movies, or write to people who probably think I am dead.

So, I'm not dead. I feel like it some mornings, but I seem to still have a pulse. I am still ambulatory and consuming too many chips and too much chocolate. I got my hair cut (Deva's mom Judy cut it, as I am too cheap and have too little time to go to a salon). I seem to resemble my driver's license photo again. Other than that, there is not much happening. School. Work. Haircut. Oh, and it's decided to be spring. I saw crocuses nearly two weeks ago (I think; time does strange things at the end of semester).

Also, I am finding it difficult to not change my major to photography. I really like design, but it is photo class that infallibly puts me in a good mood and makes me happy that I am in art school. Must . . . be . . . practical. I got my summer course schedule (note to self: hurry up and apply for a student loan, you git). I'll have Intro Photo (in case you are confused, I am currently taking Foundation Photo, which is the first year course) and Survey of 20th Century Art (which I am mainly taking as it is a prerequisite for History of Photography which I have registered for in the fall) all summer long. In the first half of the summer, I'm taking Book Arts, and in the second half, I'm taking Computer Image Making. I've ended up with 8:30 classes at least one day a week all summer (yuck) and also one day a week that's really long, but I only have classes 3 days out of 7. So, I guess there was some news. Now I go back to work. Or maybe I'll play Daxter for a while first.

Anime night tonight. Yay!

PSP Updates

So, I am working madly away to get the new psp.about.com site ready to go live. It's a lot of fun, too. Anyway, I broke down and bought Daxter yesterday. I think it's the first time I've ever bought a new release game for any system. I did trade in a PS2 game, though, so it was slightly cheaper.

Also, I found a place that has PSPs with version 1.5 firmware, brand new in the box. Version 1.5 is the highest version that will run all homebrew programs, which is what I want a second PSP for (because homebrew is probably going to be a significant aspect of the new job, and I can't really report on it without a machine that runs it).

Birthday Ideas

Yes, I know my birthday isn't for well over two months . . .

Since I'm going to be the PSP Guide at About.com, I'm going to need a few things, and it would be cool to get some of them for my birthday (I thought to myself). The things I'll need include PlayStation magazines, PSP accessories, PSP movies and PSP games. And maybe another PSP.

Even though I get all the latest news online, magazines are still a good source of information, ideas for articles, and so on. The magazines I'd like subscriptions to for work are (roughly in order of importance):

• OPM (aka the Official PlayStation Magazine)
  
• PSM (aka PlayStation Monthly)
  
• Pocket Games
  
• Game Informer
  
• Electronic Gaming Monthly (aka EGM)
  
• GamePro

Yeah, there are quite a few. I probably missed some (I purposely left out a really cool, but very pricey, English game culture mag). The top three on the list are the most important -- the first two are PlayStation and PSP specific, and the third is handheld gaming specific. The other three are also useful but not as vital.

Accessories. I'm coveting this case/stand, but essentially, anything other than Pelican's Face Armor and Disc Jackets, Intec's leather case, and the Sony items that came in the value pack woud be useful for reviewing. Things I actually need would include some kind of screen protector (those stick-on fim things) and Logitech's PlayGear Pocket. Oh, and a bigger Memory Stick (Memory Stick Duo or Memory Stick Pro Duo) -- say 1 GB or larger.

As for games and movies, anything on UMD (that's the PSP format tiny discs that come in a case like a DVD case but narrower) would be great (except for Lumines and Death Junior for games, and Hellboy and Van Hellsing for movies). I will probably have to scrape together the cash to buy a few before my birthday, but I'll keep anyone interested up to date. I don't own any music videos on UMD -- those would be useful for reviews.

And I've been thinking a second PSP would be a good idea. I'm going to be doing extensive coverage of PSP Homebrews, and running homebrew requires some clever hacks. It would be nice to have a clean system for playing approved games and movies, and another for messing around with the frowned-upon-by-Sony stuff. Ideally, I'd either like a ceramic white Japanese system, which would let me review both a different colour and a different version, or an older system running firmware version 1.50 (but not 1.51 or 1.52), which would be much harder to find -- eBay, probably -- but which would let me run every homebrew ever made.

Of course, there are rumours of a slimmed-down version of the PSP coming out around Christmas, but so far they are only rumours, and Christmas is a long way off.

There are always non-PSP things, too, like photography books and anime DVDs, but until I establish good press/pr relationships with companies that make stuff for PSP, I'm going to have to buy things to review and write about, and I can't quite justify so many magazine subscriptions on a limited budget. Sigh.

Early birthday presents are always welcome, of course. (heh heh heh)

Painting

Quite some time ago I had an idea to do paintings on wood in such a way that the wood grain showed through and formed part of the composition. I actually painted one -- a selkie -- but my skills as a painter were not exactly astounding. I also had glued on a sheet of parchment with calligraphy on it, then sanded down the surface so most of the wood grain was visible again before painting on it. I liked the way it turned out, even if it was a bit shaky, and used to have it hanging on my wall. I keep meaning to try that again, but when do I have time to paint? Geh.

Anyway, I was browsing blogs this morning, and came across a link to this artist, who paints lovely people on wood with the wood grain showing through (or else it's very convincing faux grain, but I think it's real). I especially like the one with the coelacanth. And the bug one. Lovely stuff, anyway. (Link via Fabulist.)

Coolest Geek Ever!

I think I mentioned that I'd applied to do the PSP (that is, Playstation Portable) site for About (for whom I currently do the CW for Teens site). Well, I went through prep (that is training that also helps the staff evaluate your ability to do the job). I was almost two weeks long, but I had a blast! So, anyway, I found out Wednesday that I got the job! Yay! So I have another week or two to build up the site, and then it goes live and I am the About Guide to PSP. Of course, I also have to give up teenwriting, but that's okay. I haven't been so enthusiastic about it lately. It's hard to write about writing when the only writing you're doing is writing about writing. I think this will be a good change.

Quoth the . . . Cat?

I realized I hadn't posted any pics of the kittens. Sam (aka Captain Samuel Morgan), who has thumbs, now lives next door with Deva's mum, so I don't have any recent shots of him. Poe, on the other hand, has become a huge furry black beast (alas, his brain doesn't seem to have grown along with his body) who likes to occupy empty shelves.



And yes, he talks. A lot, and loudly. He doesn't say "Nevermore," though. Just variations of "Meeeeoowwww!" (usually sounding like he's been abandoned and will never know companionship again, even if he happens to be standing right next to you).

Fey! Update! (Sort Of!)

Actually, all I did is finally move the web pages I did as a project for Computer class last semester over to their proper place. I still need to work on the calligraphy. Possibly re-doing the letters in Illustrator would help, but I haven't got time right now, so they'll just have to stay as-is for now. Now I just need to actually update the comic . . .

Ego-Boost

Yeah, okay, so I googled myself again. This time I found my Computer Games as Storytelling article linked in a list of references for a course on Introduction to Narrative at the National University of Singapore. Kinda cool.

Which Sci-Fi Crew Would You Best Fit In?

You scored as Serenity (Firefly). You like to live your own way and donâ??t enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you. Serenity (Firefly) 88% Moya (Farscape) 81% Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) 81% Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) 75% Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) 69% Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) 63% Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) 63% Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) 50% Enterprise D (Star Trek) 50% SG-1 (Stargate) 50% Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) 50% FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files) 25% Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com

We Have Wireless! And Snow!

I'm on my "spring" break right now, which means there's nobody else home--a perfect time to set up that wireless router I blogged about not long ago. You know, in case I mess up and it takes me all day to fix it. Well . . . I did not mess up. Even with all the fiddling and testing and playing around I did, it only took a couple of hours. The actual plug-it-in-and-make-it-work time was about ten minutes. If I'd know it was going to be that easy, I'd have done it right away. Oh well.

So now we have two PCs (Deva and Ryan's Dell and my Crap Machine) and a Mac (my Siog) plugged in the old-fashioned wired way, and I can connect wirelessly with the PSP. All for $3.99. Now I have a wired broadband router I don't need anymore, but Deva's mom has been talking about getting internet service again, so maybe she'll need it. Anyway.

One of the reasons I wanted to get a wireless router was for the PSP. I've applied to do the brand-new, does-not-exist-yet, About.com PSP site. It would mean giving up Creative Writing for Teens, of course. Two reasons why that will probably be a good thing: 1. I find that all my creative-writing energy seems to be going into that site, with not much left over for my own work; and 2. I've been wanting to get back into game reviewing for quite a while now (does anyone even remember that I used to review for the Electric Playground website?). This way, I get to review PSP games, gadgets and peripherals of various sorts. I think it'll be cool. Plus, I'll have a perfectly valid reason for why playing games needs to get equal time with doing art school homework.

Anyway, I feel very high-tech. (Yeah, yeah, wireless is not exactly cutting-edge. I'll be cutting edge when I'm rich.)

And now I am babbling, so on the the second thing in the title: snow. At the moment, there are just a few tiny flakes drifting down, and the sun is actually glaring out from some gap in the clouds and lighting up my keyboard, but half an hour ago there was a flurry of big, fluffy flakes. I tried to get a good photo showing the flakes; here's what it looked like from our balcony:



Click the image for a bigger version where you might actually be able to see the snowflakes.

Pretty Things

For an assignment in Design class, I went to talk to Andrew Kirk, a violin maker here in Halifax. It was an interesting visit, and I learned all kinds of cool things about violins and working with wood (the object of the assignment is to familiarize us with wood and woodworking, as we are designing wooden toys). Also, I took this picture:



(Click the image for a larger version.) Pretty, no? I took it with my little HP digital camera, which is turning out to be a pretty useful little device. I admit, I did crop it down a bit; I was thinking more about snapping pics of everything in the workshop than I was about composition when I shot it. I didn't realize how striking the reddish colour of the maple wood would look against the bright blue walls. I think I might even change the ink cartridge in my inkjet printer and see if I can get a decent print to put on my wall.

Ah!

(That was a Homer Simpson-esque "ah!" in case you were wondering).

I sort of knew this was coming, but now I know for sure: there's going to be a sequel to The Dark Crystal! Scroll down for a lovely picture. (Link via PuppetVision Blog.)

Going Wireless . . . Sort Of

When we set up our internet connection here, I had originally thought of getting a wireless router. No cables snaking all over the place, etc. But wireless routers cost more than wired ones, and nobody here has wireless machines, so we'd have had to buy adapters as well as the router (even my Mac isn't wireless, because I was cheap).

Except I didn't know that most wireless routers also have ports for wired machines.

Anyway, I've been wanting to play with my PSP online (the updated firmware includes a little web browser--is that not cool?). And when I get a DS, I'll want to try it out online, too. Both PSPs and DSs are wireless, with no way to access a wired network (well, you can buy a USB device from Nintendo that turns your PC into a wireless access point, but since my primary machine is not an XP box, and since the adapter *only* works with DS, well . . .)

So, just out of curiousity, I went to the Futureshop website to look at wireless routers. And I found this one. As I write this (and until the 9th of this month) it's on sale for $63.99. With a $60 mail-in rebate. For those of you who can't quite compute this, it means the thing will cost $3.99 (not including the tax on the whole $63.99, of course). $3.99!!! That's less that five bucks (less than fifteen if you count the tax). They're out of stock online, but they have a nifty feature where you can order online and pick up in-store. They are in stock in Halifax (and Dartmouth). So, yeah, I ordered one online and will find out tomorrow (probably) if/when i can go pick it up. $3.99! I'm still amazed.

So if you're thinking of picking up a wireless router, this might be a good time.

Now That's Halifax Winter

Here's what's on the NSCAD homepage this morning:

All daytime and evening classes are cancelled and the university is closed today, due to the snowstorm.

SNOW DAY! I haven't had a snow day since I was in elementary school.

Very Cool Art

Check this out. I'd love to have some of these lurking in my house. I'd love to make something like these. I tried once, with some fish bones, but it didn't work very well. Maybe it's time to try again. (Link via Neil Gaiman.)

You Know You're a Geek When

. . . your design class is looking at monograms and your teacher asks "What do the initials D.M. remind you of?" and you say "Dungeon Master."

Forget Heaven, I'm Going to Valhalla!

Do you deserve a seat in Valhalla? (15 Questions)
brought to you by Quizilla

Why I Love Value Village

(There's also a "Why I Hate Value Village" category that begins with insane pricing, but that's irrelevant for the moment.)

I love Value Village because you can still find very cool stuff there for relatively cheap (possibly that is especially so for the Atlantic provinces). Today, I found a Rolleiflex SL26 camera there. It's a "classic" camera from the late 60s/early 70s, made in Germany and sporting a Zeiss lens (Zeiss makes really good lenses for large format cameras). Anyway, they're not hugely expensive cameras these days, but they do cost more than the $25 I paid for mine. Now I just have to find some 126 film cartridges (I could swear I saw them at a Lawton's drug store a few months ago, but it might have been 110).

And I also found an old Nintendo NES game system. It's a bit cheesy, but how could I resist? It desperately needs cleaning, so I'll be off to WalMart for cleaning items (and junkfood for anime night). Woo hoo!

Bestsellers

According to the Lulu Titlescorer,

• The Coming of the Fairies has a 63.7% chance of becoming a bestseller
  
• The Secret Common-Wealth has a 69% chance
  
• The Madness of Kentaurs has a 35.9% chance
  
• The Stolen Child has a 41.4% chance
  
• Three Sisters has a 14.6% chance
  
• and Bunk has a 31.7% chance.

Of course, only the first three have actually been written (and only the first one revised). Scientific bestseller projection for books not even written yet! Amazing!

(Link via Neil Gaiman.)

Airship Teapots!

Yes, you read that right: airship teapots! Want one . . . drool . . . (Link via Kaja Foglio.) (For more airships and Foglios, read Girl Genius. 'Cause I said so.)

New Things

I wonder how long it will take me to remember to put "2006" on things?

Anyway, I had a quiet New Year's Eve. Watched some tv, read a book, stayed up late enough to say "Happy New Year" and went to bed. Then we had a turkey dinner on New Year's Day.

I spent most of the holiday recovering from the hectic end of semester. I tried to get in a little extra work, but mostly I did a lot of reading (mostly YA novels, a few magazines, a bit of non-fiction, and a handful of graphic novels from the library), a lot of gaming (on PS2 started Devil May Cry, played most of Jak and Daxter (since finished), and got all the way through Samurai jack: The Shadow of Aku, and on PC started Syberia 2 which I didn't think would work on the elderly laptop but did), and some watching of movies (a few rented things like The Brothers Grimm, and the latest Harry Potter and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe at the theatre).

And now the new semester has begun. The first day of class was Tuesday, and I had an 8:30 am class (this means getting up at 6:30--bleah). The class was Studio: Design, basically an introduction to the various categories of design (product design, communication design, etc). The teacher was, alas, still in Switzerland, so another prof gave us the course outline and our first assignment. I've since had the second class (Thursday morning), but I'm still not sure if the class will be really good, or a chore. It will definitely be a lot of work, and I should learn a lot, so I'm hoping it will be good. More on that as things develop.

Wednesday I had a much more reasonable start time: 10:30 am. This was for a lecture course in 19th century art. So far it's lecture-course-tedious, but the only homework will be reading and studying for the two exams. Then in the afternoon (1-5) I had photography. It started off really fun, with some optics demonstrations, so I think it's going to be good. There will be a fair bit of work--after next week, we'll have to shoot a roll of film (36 exp) a week, plus technical exercises and textbook reading. The text is really interesting, though; I'm finding myself really intrigued by the technical aspects. So now I'm trying to figure out how to fit more photography into my schedule next year. I'm thinking of paring down the art history classes to only the required courses (I have enough transfer credit to cover electives). I really wanted to take the one on the Arts and Crafts movement, but I can learn about that from books on my own if need be. Better to spend my class time learning practical things. I only wish I'd thought of that before I signed up for Survey of 19th Century Art; I could have possibly fit in one of the required ones instead and freed up more time next year. Oh well.

Thursday was Design again. On Monday I'll have 19th c, and then my first Foundation Drawing 2 class. I expect it'll be similar to part 1, with 5-hour homework drawings each week.

And so life goes.

• Currently reading: The Penultimate Peril (A Series of Unfortunate Events book 12) by Lemony Snicket (fiction)
  
• Currently reading: Winter World by Bernd Heinrich (non-fiction)
  
• Currenly playing: Devil May Cry (PS2)
  
• Currenly playing: Kya: Dark Lineage (PS2)
  
• Currenly playing: Syberia 2 (PC)