And in less dramatic and confidential news ...

I have now joined the ranks of DS owners. 8D

ratzeo gave me one of the shiny new "crimson and black" style last night for Christmas. And he and kyonkun furnished me with a few games to suck my life away practice with.

(He gave it to me earlier than originally intended, because I was complaining about being bored while I was sick. And a DS is manageable when your head is fuzzy, but has the benefit of being less brain-killing than extended Internet surfing. I have the best boyfriend evar.)

Now, ironically, I was actually well enough to come to work today, so I haven't gotten a chance to use it much. But I don't care, because ... well, now I'm on the road to recovery *and* have a shiny new DS. XD

( And then there was the dream. )

I just tried something different for the first time last night. It was a lot of fun, if kind of confusing, and kept me up for most of the night. Also, now my ass hurts.

As you've surely guessed, I played Rock Band for the first time last night. ... whut. music_enforcer and lunapome recently got it and let me come over to their apartment last night, where I joined them and ratzeo, zinjadu, miss_arel, and nekokoban (who did not play an instrument, but instead provided peanut gallery commentary :Db).

Having never played Guitar Hero or any other games of that ilk, I didn't think I could do anything besides vocals, and then I couldn't do vocals because I don't know rock music. But miss_arel took a break from drums and convinced me to try ...

... and ZOMG it's SO MUCH FUN. XD;;

Now, miss_arel did point out, quite accurately, that sometimes, on the drums, you're reduced to an angry monkey banging on things with sticks. (This is especially the case when you trigger your "Overdrive" mode, at least for me - you improvise for a specified amount of time, which means that no-improv-skills me just whacks things at random.) But! XD;; It was a lot of fun, and everyone was very patient with me as I learned. And also? I got to make a Gwen'maethor'roval avatar, how cool is that.

Since I essentially played for something like six hours straight, I managed to work my way up from Easy to Hard mode. However, this advancement came with two costs: one, I didn't have time to learn the more complicated combinations, so I still go into "angry monkey" mode at times. XD;; Also, the kick pedal is kind of a pain to use, and now I have soreness up my right leg (hence the ass pain). Not that this is going to stop me from playing at every moment that someone who owns the game will let me at their drum set.

Oh yeah, happy belated Thanksgiving to the United Statesians out there. 8D

It's a wonderful day today, and here's why:

1. It's Friday, duh.

2. Tonight I'm going over to watch Doctor Who with nekokoban - the last episode of season 1, and probably some of season 2.

3. Cathartic cooking! I don't know what it is, but cooking my own meal makes me feel good. Something about following the steps to get a desired result, which makes me feel both productive and fulfilled.

4. I've spent the past two days geeking with shadawyn about Warmakers stuff (irishninja's game) both over email and in-person. Fleshing out the backstory for our characters (who are twin sisters), RPing some conversations between them, and drawing fanart.

5. I've also been RPing with ratzeo over email. Since this is something like our fourth or fifth game together, we've decided to try RPing a romance between our characters. Unfortunately ... both of them have negative Charisma. XD;; ratzeo's character has both negative Charisma AND Wisdom, which is even better. And finally, both characters are teenaged. The result? Hilarity.

6. shadawyn, evil temptress that she is, just shared SilverJewelryClub.com with me, a site which offers designer jewelry essentially for free (for real). I haven't gotten anything yet, but I have stared at a lot of shiny things.

7. Tomorrow I'm going to dinner at The Melting Pot!

Edit for myself: Okay, self, you are not allowed to order any more jewelry until you actually receive one of your orders.

Hey, white parents? Just so you know, when your darling little precious decides to use traditional clothing from non-white cultures as a HALLOWEEN COSTUME, that ain't cute. It's ignorant and annoying.

I don't like opening the door of my own goddamn home to find some white girl who thinks being Chinese is like a toy, something you can pick up and toss around and then throw away when you're done.

Also? I think Halloween reminds me why I'm generally not good parent material. I like looking at kids in cute costumes, but that's not enough to make me enthusiastic about trick-or-treating in general, not when kids who jackhammer my doorbell or get all grabby about candy fray my nerves. The cute just doesn't overcome the irritating, for me.

Which is pretty much my reaction to children in general.

Now, my own celebration of Halloween was much more pleasant, because I got to hang out with people who are not eight years old (even if they act that way sometimes XD) at a Halloween party over the weekend. Also, the almighty lunapome lent her costume-making talents to the project of creating costumes for herself, me, zinjadu, nekokoban, and miss_arel as representations of fire, water, earth, metal, and air, respectively. It was nerdtastic and awesome. XD

The good: I finished my fic for ratzeo's game on Thursday night.

The bad: I stayed up until close to 1 a.m. writing the fic, thereby giving me 6 hours of sleep before work on Friday (I generally need 8-8.5 hours a night).

The good: I got to sit in on the adventure ratzeo ran on Friday, even though he split the party into two groups and I was supposed to play on Sunday. Watching Friday's game meant that my character could interact with niwatorimegami's character before he left the game - and, more importantly, I got to see niwatorimegami one last time before she left for Japan.

The bad: I stayed up super-late again, and I couldn't sleep in the next morning because it was the library book sale.

The good: I got to the library book sale early enough to be near the front of the line of people waiting to get in. A lot more people seemed to target the comic book section this year, so I didn't have quite as good of a haul as I'm used to, but I still picked up a few interesting graphic novels. I also snagged a few Octavia Butler novels from the sci-fi section, books by Ronald Takaki and bell hooks from the ethnic studies area, and a collection of essays by contemporary feminists about relationships between straight women and lesbians (I forget the title). I'm trying to educate myself more about homophobia (and transphobia too), and while this book isn't theory-heavy, it's a start. I also figure it's better to start from a source that is explicitly feminist, since I'm particularly interested in the homophobia that infiltrates feminist movements.

The bad: I had to get up at 7:30 to do that. Erg. After the book sale, I ran home to make lunch, then had to go to the grocery store, then had to leave again to meet up with nekokoban and miss_arel for a birthday party.

The good: The party was fun! Also full of nerdery, as we played Apples to Apples and Betrayal at House on the Hill. After that someone broke out The Great Dalmuti, but I was too sleepy and full of boozcohol to participate. I didn't drink enough to get drunk, but it was enough that I promptly fell asleep once I got into bed.

The bad: I got up early again to play in ratzeo's adventure. My poor sleepy self. Sad cries.

The good: The adventure. (Duh.)

The bad: I was supposed to leave in the early afternoon in order to meet my old classmates and talk (feminism) shop. However, I started feeling ill with whatever bug has been traveling around my office in the last week or so. I didn't feel like getting up and going anywhere, so I called in sick and missed the get-together, which was incredibly disappointing. I really don't get to see those women enough.

The good: I did feel well enough to sit at a table and roll dice, so I played the rest of the adventure, albeit fuzzy-headed.

The bad: I'm now sitting at work hit with both sleep-deprivation and desperately fending off sickness. Argh. D:

I was planning to implement a Monday-Wednesday-Friday gym schedule, but I'm too wiped to go, and I'd much rather rest now than get sick later in the week. I want to keep myself healthy and happy, and keep up the good routine I've been having lately.

Three more hours, and I can go home and collapse. I'm going to make this a good month, darnit.

I can't really focus on anything right now except for my need for the day to be over so I can go home and collapse.

But! In the meantime, have these words of wisdom from comics:

"It ends in a question mark. Like a Canadian statement."
-Bucky from Get Fuzzy, my favorite newspaper comic strip.

"Everybody always rags on Bats for playin' it harsh, but ISN'T IT INTERESTING how his worst villains are back in like, five minutes. Batsy's like the low-flow toilet of superheroes!"
-The titular hero of The Non-Adventures of Wonderella, a hilarious web comic spoof about the cheerfully ignorant Princess Dana of Diaphinus. This quote is extra amusing to me because I'm reading the latest volume of Manhunter, and Kate had that dream about Batman beating her up because she killed villains. Take that, Batsy. XD

"I've never known privilege, aside from being a white American with superpowers."
-Wonderella again. Seriously, read this comic.

"Oh, the brothers."
-Hayden Panettiere on Adrian Pasdar and Milo Ventimiglia. Okay, this isn't from a comic - but it's from a video on Adrian's YouTube account wherein Milo totally cuddles Adrian from behind. I refuse to apologize for this.

Even though I had decided not to register, even though I didn't take advantage of Paizo's call for volunteers. I actually didn't think I would go at all, because even though it sounded fun and other people were going (like ratzeo, irishninja, and zinjadu) I decided not to spend the money on registering.

Cue Friday night, when ratzeo comes home from the con and gives me a three-day pass. XD Apparently someone who had purchased one suddenly couldn't attend, and he gave it away to the first person who wanted it.

Saturday morning, I went into the con with ratzeo, and the first time we went into the exhibitors' hall, we were handed a flyer advertising an appearance by Greg Rucka. He was there to sign demos of a PSP game called Logan's Shadow ... but the reason we squeed like squeeing things is that he's *also* a writer of many comics that are good liek whoa, including the very run of Wonder Woman that I just purchased and fangirled over the other day. Oh, and also? I happened to have two of them on my person so I could read them during any free time.

So! We hustled to the location of the signing and hovered in wait for about twenty minutes (we were early, and Greg himself was caught up in an interview that ran into the signing time). I actually didn't have the guts to ask if Greg would be willing to sign my trades instead of the product he was actually promoting, but ratzeo was my courage and spoke up for me.

Greg was very personable, learning our names and chatting us up about the comic. He also joined in our general flabbergasting about the string of coincidences that set up this meeting - because seriously, that was almost too convenient to believe. He graciously signed my trades, and also gave us a copy of the demo (even though we don't have PSPs ^^;).

I, of course, did not have enough control over my faculties at the time to say anything coherent, or even express how much I love his story for Diana. I think he understood, though, based on my speechless glee. XD Besides, it was probably better that I couldn't speak, because we held up the line long enough as it was.

The rest of the day consisted of hanging out at the Paizo booth, a group of us acting as free advertising for the board games that were being demoed. I stayed in the exhibitors' hall mostly, because there were plenty of shiny things there to occupy my attention. Also, the only panel I was really interested in attending (about women in the gaming industry) was on Friday. That evening, I played in one of the open-call D&D adventures, using a character run by ratzeo on the previous day. It was pretty fun, though I've been spoiled by having campaigns from irishninja, ratzeo, shadawyn, and chasdini, so I was somewhat unimpressed. ;)

So that was my surprise con Saturday, which was far more awesome than should have been allowed, as last-minute as it was. Some would call this lucky. I'm sure no one's surprised, though, considering who was involved with most of it. :P

I'm afraid I don't have anything (yet?) for International Blog Against Racism Week, but I point you all toward the community: ibarw. Each day there's a link round-up for relevant posts.

I also recommend the entry on Race-related resources, which is just what it says, a thorough collection of links regarding (fandom and) race, particularly for white people. This is going in my Memories, so I can point anyone who whines that race stuff is too hard or complicated. Incidentally, I'd love to hunt down similar resources for myself, for when I want to whine that class or queer stuff is too hard or complicated.

Also check out the icon post for icons for white fans and fans of color alike. I snagged a few myself. *points*

Remember, that's Heath "10 Things I Hate About You" Ledger doing the Joker's voice. Dayum.

Hat-tip: Jenn

I stayed up until 1:00 last night finishing the book, and then discussing it with kyonkun. *iz ded*

( Spoilers under cut and probably in comments as well )

Hello again, f-list. *starts catching up*

This weekend I got to hang out with kyonkun, which was nice because our schedules have clashed and we haven't really hung out much since I got back from London. ( Harry Potter and shopping )

And now for some game blather. XD ( Hunter and Warmakers )

Today I finished Jose Saramago's Blindness, a book that lilisin sent to me months ago for my birthday. ( Book review )

Oh, and tonight I might actually get started on that London recap I keep promising. :P

The first issue of Cerise, the online magazine for women gamers from Iris, is now up!

Go. Read. And then write something to submit for next month's issue. ;)

Next time you find yourself thinking, I swear I've heard this all before, whip out one of these handy bingo cards!

-Anti-Feminist Bingo by Lauredhel from Hoyden About Town
-Anti-Comics-Feminist Bingo by Karen and Betty at Girl-Wonder.org
-"Geek Girl" Stereotype Bingo by tekanji at Shrub.com
-White Liberal Bingo by i_dreamed_i_was

... In other news, I'm trying desperately to avoid falling into OMG-I-don't-know-what-I'm-DOING panic over the 10 page research paper I have due on Friday. And, um, haven't started. >_> Wish me luck.

The ever-industrious tekanji of the Official Shrub.com Blog, working in conjunction with revena, has launched The Iris Network in order to bring together women in the gaming community.

There's an online magazine, a blog directory, and - what I'm most excited about - forums where female and/or feminist gamers can meet and geek out together. Without having to worry about sexist harassment, without having feminist discussions silenced or harassed, and without being excluded from any boys' clubs.

(Oh, and "gamers" really does mean any kind of gamer - electronic, pencil and paper, or LARP. Me, I'm jazzed about the tabletop forums.)

The official site announcment is here. Go! Join!

These past couple of weeks have been pretty crazy, and not just because of my illness and research paper panic. I also finished up my first ever roleplaying campaign just yesterday, after marathoning the last few sessions.

( herein lies woob and geekery )

"She's a female character, and one of two things can happen to her: she'll get raped, or she'll get pregnant."

No, it's funny, I promise. And so true. Extra points for the sci-fi (specifically, BSG) context.

(From Racy Li.)

I have my costume, yay! I spent much of Saturday performing a fruitless search at the used clothing stores on the Ave, but when I went back on Sunday with zinjadu I found a nearly-perfect dress. (Apparently, without ratzeo around, she became my source of luck. XD)

Elphaba's dress in Wicked is actually really different from the movie version (go to http://www.wickedthemusicaltour.com/images/productionphotos/tour/060310new/ and click on "Julia Murney as Elphaba 1.JPG" for a nice closeup). It's got a lot of textures and is even underlaid with different colors. Of course, I was never going to find/make/buy something like that. :P But the dress I did find is a solid black under-dress with a top layer of netting-type-stuff (which I can't for the life of me think of the name of) that achieves the texture variation nicely. The netting is in a pattern of flowers, but the dress is suitably gothic-looking that I don't think it looks frilly.

The only problem is that the under-dress ends at the arms and neck of the dress, so the skin underneath is still visible and would need to be painted green. But zinjadu gave me the idea of wearing a black shirt underneath, and I found one that has the right sleeve length and neckline. (Ph33r my super-technical cosplay skills. XD;;;)

Display & Costume provided me with makeup, hat, and cape, and I already have boots. So I'm ready to go. :D

I had a Campus Squirrel Encounter this morning. If you know what the squirrels on my campus are like (though I imagine squirrels at any large university display similar levels of audacity and voracity) you'll understand why this is a potentially worrisome event.

But it didn't seem that bad. I was eating a granola bar while walking, and a squirrel ran across my path. It stopped somewhat close to me, facing in my direction, so I decided to try and give it some of my granola bar. The moment I started prying off a piece, the squirrel rose up on its hind legs and waved its right front paw at me a few times, in a way that clearly said, "come on, give it here."

Upon reflection, I'm not sure if that was cute or disturbing.

Anyway. I also decided what I'm going to do for my Halloween costume. Originally I'd been thinking of being Death of the Endless (I just finished reading Sandman, thanks to zinjadu), but I found out that nekokoban is doing that. So I cast about for an idea for a little bit ... and then remembered that my costume last year was supposed to be Elphaba, but I ended up not dressing up because I was sick. So, hey, why not do it now that I'm on a crazy Wicked high? *points to new icon* 8D

It won't be serious; there's no way I could make or buy something that would match Elphaba's full-blown Wicked Witch costume. :P Just enough to evoke the idea: a dress of roughly the same basic design, a hat and cape - and, of course, green makeup. XD

Should be easy enough stuff to find. I think I'll be going shopping tomorrow ...

I'm lucky in the people I geek out with, because it's a mixed-gender group, mostly socially aware, and made up of generally good people. I don't have to worry about guys telling me I can't play something because I'm female, or looking down on what I'm interested in.

But I never hear the word "bitch" so often as in the middle of a tense battle in a game.

( Listen to my Chair Leg of Truth! )

x-posted to Shrub.com (!!!)

Still don't believe in male privilege in fandom?

I give you Exhibit A. Here we have a report on WriterCon from an articulate, intelligent-sounding man. An articulate, intelligent-sounding man who says this about slashfic:

"Taken in its rawest form, that situation would go as follows: the people who formed and maintained a fandom for years, purely from love of the world and its characters, find themselves invaded by a new crowd enthusiastically producing (and celebrating) a mass of stories built around a premise revolting to the original fandom group and glaringly OOC for the fandom characters involved [...] The fandom is being flat-out ruined for its builders by something utterly alien and utterly incompatible with everything they originally loved in it."

This casual dismissal of slash writers and readers exudes privilege.

( Shall we count the ways? )