The Rosetta Stone

11:10pm: Sketchpost: Anubis
Kerplonk

I mentioned in one of the "Storyline tidbits" posts I made that my avatar is most recognized for the suit of armor he wears, made in the image of Anubis.

Finally decided to sit down and draw what that armor looks like...from the waist up, at least. The legs are fairly non-descript, though, so the fact that my "sketchpad" (yet another sticky note) limited the amount I could draw wasn't a big issue.

Anyway...that's it.

4:02pm: Looking for something to do on a lunch break?
Why not take a radio apart?

Pretty fun game, I must say. The gameplay is pretty simple: You have a screwdriver (more specifically a Plus/Phillips screwdriver). You have your brains (hopefully). Using nothing more than these two things, you take this whole radio apart piece by piece.

Have fun!

10:01pm: Didn't I draw this ship last time?
Well, sorta.

New and improved version of the spaceship I drew last time. Call me arrogant if you like, but...X-Wing, eat your heart out. ^_^

10:27pm: Note to self: Lay off the WWE a little.
( You know you watch too much professional wrestling... )

9:36pm: News of the good and bad varieties.
Good news: I finally got my first paycheck from TSA today. WOOT!

Bad news: Something's not quite jiving. Mainly the fact that, after a little bit of quick division, I found I'm effectively making $12/hour. Might sound okay where you guys come from, but you have to remember how much higher costs are up here (for example, $4.98 for a gallon of gas). Anything under $17/hour is basically insufficient for folks up here to survive on.

What really has me baffled there, though, is that it's roughly $7/hour less than what I should be getting according to the salary listed on TSA's website for my payscale...in fact, it's even lower than what the -lowest- payscale listed is.

I'm willing to believe this is because I haven't completed training yet, and may also have something to do with my being part-time, but still...kinda disappointing. Definitely something to take up with my supervisor on Sunday.

Still, it's a paycheck. That much I can/will not argue with. :]


UPDATE: Issue found out. A stipulation that was supposed to be added on was left out, shorting me about $150. Also, the salary that was listed was for a full-time position, so it makes sense that I'm not making that much, given that I'm in a part-time position.

6:16pm: Something for Halloween mood-setting.
Need some creepy, spooky music to set your haunted house to this year? Fire this up on your computer and hook it up to the sound system.

Need a mediocre escape-the-room game with excessive pixel hunting that's only good for eye/ear-candy? See previous. (Forewarning: There is a little bit of blood in this game, but nothing that's going to scare the bejeezus out of you or give you a heart attack or anything like that. I hate those kinds of games, so I would never recommend one to anyone.)

Seriously, as a game, "Absence" is complete garbage. The music, however, simply demands you to believe you're living in a horror movie. For the Halloween season, it is just perfect.

Then, if you have a few minutes to kill and want to get aggravated, go ahead and play the game, I guess. :b

9:23pm: Storyline tidbits: Article 237
This is another entry based on that dream-inspired story I've mentioned in the past in these four previous entries.

( A little more background info on C.R.E.S.T. )

10:47pm: One word:
OOPS.

For those too lazy to click the link or for whom it doesn't work: A group of Somali pirates attack what they think is a cargo vessel. It turns out to be a flagship of the French military.

12:17am: In other news...

My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul
xaq goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as Soldat J.
anher tricks you! You get a used tissue.
dmscv tricks you! You get a clothespin.
drewtiggy gives you 16 light yellow cola-flavoured wafers.
kitschyduck tricks you! You get a wet rag.
kjorteo tricks you! You get a piece of paper.
missblack gives you 7 pink cinnamon-flavoured nuggets.
stryck gives you 12 dark blue orange-flavoured gummy bats.
tillieyo tricks you! You lose 15 pieces of candy!
valkyreace gives you 19 pink cola-flavoured gumdrops.
yiffyraptor tricks you! You lose 18 pieces of candy!
xaq ends up with 21 pieces of candy, a used tissue, a clothespin, a wet rag, and a piece of paper.
Go trick-or-treating! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.

...I need to find a new neighborhood to spend Halloween in! O_o (Breaking from my usual tradition, this one has not been tampered with in any way, shape, or form.)

10:54pm: Wow, color ME mind-blown.
Dad asked me to go fill up the gas tank on the truck earlier today so that he could take it out and do some hunting. On my way over there, I decided to turn on the radio to see what was on, not expecting much.

What I got was an earful of awesomeness that I'd never heard before. So, memorizing a few lines of the lyrics, I looked it up as soon as I got back home and, in my usual "Internet Retriever" fashion (nickname that inspired the icon used for this post, BTW), found the answer rather quickly, learning that the audiogasm I'd just been introduced to was "Hero" by a band called Skillet.

I was rather impressed that the radio stations up here would have anything that awesome, since all they usually play is soft Christian Alternative/Rock or traditional Native music. This surprise went down the chute a bit once I found out that Skillet is, in fact, a Christian Rock band.

...Then I remembered why the band name sounded familiar: they're the same group that did "Monster", the title track of the WWE pay-per-view event "Hell in a Cell" (which airs tomorrow, for the record...no plans on ordering it m'self, though.).

So yeah...A pro-wrestling event with an overall theme of "Hell" gets its cover music from a Christian Rock band. Who would have seen that coming?

8:37pm: My WTFometer just pegged out.
Michigan gives legal warning to friendly neighborhood babysitter.

The part about this that shocks me, sadly, is the fact that nothing about this shocks me.

2:39pm: Only took...what, a year plus change?
Well, it all finally paid off, as today was my first day working with the TSA at the Nome airport.

I still have a few weeks of training and OJT to go through before I'm allowed to do anything more than...well, basically just stand there and watch, really...but I'm finally off the unemployment list. :]


Now I just have to deal with the system shock of my wake-up time shifting from 8:30 to 6:45. X_x

10:15pm: Q&A: Woobie shoobi-doo-wah.
Let's face it: we all had something very close to us that helped us get through those rougher points in childhood, our proverbial security blankets. A lot of us, including most of you I'm sure, had rather interesting ones.

( My answer to my own question )

Well, that's enough about my security blanket...what were yours?

11:11pm: Sketchpad got dusted off again.
A favorite character of mine, Wilren. Also the full-sized version of the new icon.

( Yeah, I basically Rule 63'd myself. )

12:03am: Writer's Block: What if calories didn't count?
Nope. Still doesn't do anything to change what flavors of food I like or how much my stomach can handle. Getting away with eating 50 steaks calorie-wise doesn't change the fact that I wouldn't be getting away with it bowel-wise, and that...just doesn't sound pleasant.

Besides, who am I to trust a genie? Somehow, someone able to fit inside of a lamp doesn't sound like the kind of person you go to for weight-management advice.

2:11pm: Woot!
A little under a year ago, I applied for a position with the TSA.

By the end of next month, once I get all the training, orientation, paperwork, and other essentials done, I will finally have that position. :]

The fact that all this training includes a paid 2-week stay in Fairbanks is simply a bonus. :]

11:04pm: From MMPR to MMA - Lateral move?
Jason David Frank, aka Tommy the Green (and later White) Ranger, to become a UFC competitor?

I dunno whether to find this awesome or really awesome.

12:43am: Hehehehe...
Today's Kevin and Kell strip made me chuckle more than most, enough that I felt I ought to call it to your attention if you don't read this webcomic (which you ought to. Is good stuff!).

( Joke and spoiler for the strip under the cut. Don't click until you've read the strip. )

7:10pm: Dunno how I forgot to mention this...
Something amusing that happened while I was in Anchorage the other weekend.

Was walking through Dimond Center mall trying to get accustomed to my new glasses, when I noticed some "music" coming from down the hall. I use the quote marks because I still have yet to recognize death metal as such. I'm sorry, but random deep bass guitar + incomprehensible deeper bass lyrics = noise to me.

In this case, it was decidedly -loud- noise...walking right by the speaker of the group that was performing (apparently part of the promotion of a new store opening) felt and sounded about as thunderous as a jet engine. Even inside the game shop I was going to check out, which was unfortunately less than 100 feet away, it was still pretty loud. A group of folks next to me in the manga aisle were noting how horrible it sounded, I got in on the discussion, and after a few minutes, we ultimately came to the conclusion that it basically sounded like a bear being raped with an auger drill. Laughs were had, manga was read, some gaming stuff was bought, and I said my goodbyes to them.

It was then that it hit me: The fact that they were a group of cosplayers (dressed as Ed from Full Metal Alchemist, the main character from Assassin's Creed, May from Hand Maid May, one of the pink-haired girls from Gundam Seed, and 2 other characters I couldn't identify) had gotten no reaction from me whatsoever. I'd been fully aware of it the whole time, even trying to figure out who the last two were, and it took me close to 20 minutes to even realize "Wait...cosplayers in a mall? WTF?"

Worst part about it, though, would be the fact that I failed to get a picture of them. :[

2:58pm: Here we go again.
( Yu-Gi-Oh! related gripings, feel free to ignore. )

1:34am: Wait...I have a DeviantArt account?
Yeah, been so long since I last used it that I'd almost forgotten about it myself.

But, I figured since I drew this little sketch the other day while taking a break from another playthrough of Metroid Prime 3, I'd upload it.

What it is with me and putting tails on spaceships, I'll never know.

The notes section on it pretty well describe everything there is to say about it, so I'm not gonna say much on it here.

I am, however, gonna point out just how mindblown I am that somebody Favorite'd it literally less than 5 seconds after I posted it. O_o!?

5:20pm: Ow.
Yesterday: Putting a wall up on the new house's boiler room. Finger got snagged on a splinter on one of the support beams. Bird finger got the bird.

Today: Was walking out there to help dad put up the last wall of that room. Went to step over from our porch to the new house. Simple enough to clear a 4' deep, 2' wide hole (not a hole in the ground, mind you...both houses are just a ways off the ground), right? Well, not if you only step 1.8' out...oops.

No major injuries thankfully, just some fairly bad scrapes, bruising, and a shared sensation of being scared out of our minds between me and mom.

I'm just grateful my left leg didn't hit...whatever it hit...an inch lower than it did. I've always had a little notch in my leg bone there, from a bike wreck I had as a kid. I'm fairly certain that if it'd hit there, the bone would have broken, so I consider myself lucky in that regard.

Legs, right arm, and left shoulder still sting like crazy, though. :[ Yeah, I'd definitely have to say that was some of the most not-fun I've had in a while.

12:09am: Whew.
Finally back home.

Anchorage is great and all, but home is....home.

Not much went on today...unpacked, attempted to install Portal on my desktop, found out it has to have a Net connection to do that (maybe I can talk my folks into letting me put it on theirs), had spaghetti for supper, then spent the rest of the evening helping the folks with the assembly of the boiler room on the new house. Got all the insulation put into the floor, then got the plywood screwed in on top of that, and put a large plastic drape on top of it to keep the rain off.

Place is coming along beautifully...I really ought to snap a few pictures of it to show folks some time. o.o

Anyway, g'night all.

8:29pm: So much for THAT plan.
Morning flight back to Nome, the one we were all scheduled to be on, was overbooked, and the airline was looking for volunteers to stay back.

Mom and I volunteered, figuring we'd get on the afternoon flight.

That one's overbooked too, as is the evening one, and tomorrow's morning flight. We're now scheduled for the afternoon flight tomorrow.


So uhhh, yeah...still in Anchorage. Still, it worked out decently, since we got a few errands we thought we'd have to pass on taken care of (mom got to go to a store she wanted to check out that sold stainless steel chopsticks, and I got something I'd forgotten I needed to pick up from Best Buy to get a few programs on my desktop working!), plus we took in the new Harry Potter movie (good stuff). On top of that, instead of getting up at 4:00 and making a mad dash for the airport like we did today, we get to sleep in until 8, take our time getting down there (especially since we have no luggage to check this time!), and take the direct flight home rather than either of the ones that stop over in Kotzebue (which would make the trip about 2 hours longer).

So yeah, all in all, I guess I can live with it. Only thing that really pissed me off was that they let us back on our flight after a few people failed to show...only to pull us back off because we'd already given up our seats to some of the standby passengers. Not funny. e.e

Oh well.

10:26pm: All in all, a good weekend. :]
Spent the weekend in Anchorage for one of our family's occasional returns to civilization.

Quite enjoyable, but tomorrow we head back up north. Had a pretty decent birthday haul, though:

-Reunion with mom (Yaaay, no more trying to cook/clean for myself and dad!)
-Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, original & A's, full series, w/ $40 discount due to cash register error and awesome manager. Now if only I could've gotten MSLN StrikerS too...oh well.
-Boondock Saints
-YGO 5D's Stardust Accelerator (DS)
-Kingdom Hearts RE: Chain of Memories (PS2)
-Chrono Trigger (DS)
-Portal (Windows)
-A quite enjoyable weekend. Even so, however, I'm ready to head home.

See you guys tomorrow. :]