*sigh*

"I'm tired of calling you, missing you, dreaming I've slept with you
Don't get me wrong I still desperately love you
Inside this weary head I just want us to love instead."

I have no idea why I keep apologizing for myself.

So, I came up with the idea a while ago then reestablished it a few days ago; then realized I should post it here so people can give me opinions/advice on how to create it!

Anyway, I want to make a Totoro hoodie. Not the kinds they have (with his face on it) but make it look like the person wearing it is totoro. [Yes, I'm obsessed.]

So, I was going to buy a couple appropriate colored hoodies, then cut pieces/sections out and fuse it into one hoodie.

Anyway, by this weekend I was going to find some decent hoodies for the project. I wanted to find some medium-thickness ones so I'd be able to wear it more often than a thick or really thin one; and I was going to try to do this method:

1: multiple hoodies cut together to make one, because the shoulders /back are one color and the stomach is another.
2: Sew the cream stomach portion over with cutouts for the little fur patterns on his chest.

I think the latter would be easier but it would look cheaper... 

I'm also thinking of adding green (leaf) to the top like the leaf seen in this scene...


Damnit, it's been done... Fuck you google.

Book Review:
Wolf's Trap, William D. Gagliani [Listed as W.D. Gagliani]

The quote on the cover sums up this book:

"Gagliani has brought bite back to the werewolf novel."
- James Argendeli, CNN Headline News

Gagliani has done a wonderful job drawing in readers and establishing an excellent beginning to a (hopefully) long series for Nick Lupo. Although the book incorporates some relatively cliche situations and plot devices (such as use of "Lupo" as the last name of the protagonist detective-werewolf), the book also presents the story in an interesting format.

Every character tells a part of the story, or rather their reaction to the same event - which is something that is often done by authors to retell well known stories in a new light [See: Wicked or Grendel]; but for Gagliani to make this a staple of his original story is quite interesting as it further develops the emotions and explanations of actions of each character in the novel. This in turn creates a wealth of interesting and appealing characters.

If I were to critique anything in this novel, it would be around the use of fairly common literary devices multiple times in the same work. Such as the use of deus ex machina - which brings about the perfect series of events to lead to a common goal, such as the foreshadowing through the use of Caroline (which brings to mind the super hero loved-ones scenario, where the people in danger the most are those in love with the main character - ie: Corinne, Jessie, Ben, etc.).

The addition of obscure music references was greatly appreciated (clearly Gagliani ties music very closely to his work) as well the added romantic aspects to the novel.

Overall, I would say this is a must read for lovers of science fiction, romance, and werewolves.

guess it's going to be one of those days

THE "i've always wanted to tell you" MEME

Reply ANONYMOUSLY (or not if you don't care) of things they've always wanted to tell you. It can be something sweet, a confession, a criticism. Anything.


Feel like I need to post this up every once in a while to correct all the things I do wrong.

Please reply if you're going to MFF and want to meet up.

Last time I saw you
We had just split in two.
You were looking at me.
I was looking at you.
You had a way so familiar,
But I could not recognize...
But I could swear by your expression
That the pain down in your soul
Was the same as the one down in mine.
That's the pain,
Cuts a straight line
Down through the heart;
We called it love.
So we wrapped our arms around each other,
Trying to shove ourselves back together.
We were making love,
Making love.
It was a cold dark evening,
Such a long time ago...
It was the sad story
How we became
Lonely two-legged creatures,
It's the story of
The origin of love.
That's the origin of love.



In other news, I've got ANOTHER test to take for the local county water reclamation... This one is for A.C.E. - which could possibly double the prospective income of the first position I was accepted for/test I took (and got a good grade on). This one is in November, which probably means it'll be a bit longer of having no job.money.place to live with banz. Yay. Hopefully they start hiring at the lower position I already qualified for and allow me to move up later.

Short version: Uhhh... broke, jobless, listless, several other words with a -less suffix.

( Don't bother reading this )

another day of the same old crap. i'm leaving

I was attempting to draw today (see FA journal about the 'gifts'/'requests' i'm giving away/asking for) and I absolutely hated everything that made it's way onto paper. Days like this psyche me out and I really don't know how to get around them... It'd be nice if I could see any progress in my work, but I feel like I'm stuck and not improving at all.

I know it's got a lot to do with my current 'life situation', since that's weighing on me heavily... but I still feel like that at times when I'm medicated or actually feeling good. It's really hard for me to get out of this mood when I can't get out of this setting or situation really... It's weird for me to be so dependent on something I hate so much... I can't live without this nagging, over-analyzing, worrisome shadow constantly lingering over my shoulder... and I want so bad to be free of it.

Can't really do anything about it.... guess I'll lay here until the worry lulls me to sleep.

Happy anniversary Banzai!

Well, it’s tough for me to follow the beautiful entry you wrote to me; but I’ll try my best…

It’s hard for me to truly describe what you mean to me. You’ve kept me going through the worst things I’ve gone through, been at my side – cheering me on. I’ve shared thousands of jokes and smiles with you, most of which feel like they are barreling out of my heart. You do your best at handling my wild side, especially when it’s focused on vexing (or tickling) you.

I could go on and on, but you already know what the end result will be. I love you and have loved the last five years of our relationship. I’m, frankly, glad that things have gone the way they have… only because I know how easy the rest of our lives will be together.

I know distance has been tough on us – whether physical or emotional; but at the end of every patch, I’ve been able to step back and go ‘Wow, this is something else’. You don’t know how many times a day I’m reminded of you and every time the memory rushes to my conscience so does a smile.

We have our differences, and they certainly are varied. But we’ve always been able to sit down and talk about what we have on the table and what to do with it. And I think that’s what makes us strong, between us we have several hobbies and we’re both willing (at least most of the time) to try them out. And in the years we’ve been together I’ve seen you change into the man you are today; even if it’s something as menial as trying a new restaurant.

I cannot wait until we hit the next chapter of our life because I know once we get there, there’s no telling what we’ll do.

I love you Craig.

What to do:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search (http://www.flickr.com/).
b. Using ONLY the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Mosaic Maker. Change rows to 3 and columns to 3 (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php).

( Mosaic of Me... )</a></div></div>
Off to Michigan we go.

I think tomorrow I'm gonna hunt down Swirlz Cupcakes - They make gluten-free ones everyday! (As in, different kinds everyday!!)

Also, I'm drawing. and listening to music... Two things I haven't done together in some time; due to lack of motivation and no desk (I'm pressing forward despite the latter.)

So, I rarely do 'big' posts on here; but I actually did some journal worthy stuff. I'll rewind ALL the way to Thursday.

Thursday started off like most days since graduation - waking up late after going to be really late. I pretty much lazed around and took care of a few random errands; but I actually had plans! I picked up Justin, then Trevor (treevoir ), then Matty (polomex ). We went out to Taste of Heaven, a quaint little place down in Andersonville and had dinner (and dessert - yum!). We drove around for a bit afterward and stopped at an Evanston beach, for all of 20 minutes :P. Afterward, I dropped everyone off at their respective abodes.

Friday started off a bit lame; I was stirred from sleep after only a few hours and informed that I had an interview all the way out in Brookfield. Bleh; with great reluctance I drove out there and chatted with three guys for Wind Access. Their company is pretty interesting in that they design and service scaffolding for Wind Turbines. I knew the owner of the company, so it was a breeze... I'm not really interested in the job because of its high amount of dangerous work (climbing to the tops of wind turbines...) and the general idea of the position. It was more of a technician job for a mechanical engineer. Nonetheless, I was able to leave the interview without doing something moronic, which is always good (yay for interview progress!).

In the evening, I drove up to see Craig and decided we'd be going to a hotel to make the rest of the weekend festivities a bit easier. So, we made some reservations (at an excellent rate) at Eaglewood Resorts & Spa out in Itasca. We arrived just after midnight and quickly doozed off.

Saturday brought some beach fun for both of us, although we started a bit late after a tasty breakfast at IHOP. We met up with Matt at Loyola Park after some tumultuous hunting for parking. We frolicked in the water for a bit then hung out on the shore, meeting plenty of interesting people. We then ran out of the city for some pizza, and onion rings - that turned disturbingly soggy AND GROSS - at Village Inn (<3_<3) and then dropped our passenger off at home. We got back to the resort and decided to hang out in the room, quickly falling asleep to thunder and rain. We got back up and decided to snuggle some more (because the weekend lacked it...):

Sunday started off even earlier than the previous day as we needed to get down to the parade before there was too much traffic. We found parking, although it turned out to be illegal and some ass stole some money from us. At least the car was intact post parade. We again met up with Matt and Justin, although Trevor decided to not show! *pout* But we had a good time hanging out, watching the parade float on by, and slurping at jello shots :P.
We drove back to Wisconsin, where this jem became real:
Yeah, that really happened.

We got back to Craig's and watched 'Noises Off' a wonderful 1990s comedy with John Ritter, Michael Caine, and Christopher Reeves (among others). After that, we drifted off to sleep - which ended the weekend nicely.

Anyway, there are plenty more details, maybe Craig, Matt, and Trevor will fill the rest in :P

But now: Band of Brothers Marathon continues!

alan wake.

I'm guessing most people know about it, but Microsoft/Xbox's "Project Natal" seems pretty intense....

I've read a couple things about it, but I finally went over to the site and actually watched the videos - and if they can implement all they are saying they can, I think it's going to be pretty awesome and it will probably change the way people use their consoles as well as get more 'non-gamers' into the market for a console.

*thumbs up for microsoft*

Why isn't there a 'Remove "Friend"' tool on LJ? There have been plenty of times where I've wanted to remove people - still do want to remove people because I don't care about them and I don't want them to be privvy to my journals;

Yes, I know I could set everyone else in a 'group' then only put that as my posting audience, but still...

Decemberists Concert = Excellent.

Seriously the best concert I've been to (thus far); luckily enough I've been able to say that about every concert I've been to... because they've all be the best :D