[x] 095. get henna'ed by coffeechica

022/101 completed

[x] 040. stop using the elevator at work

020/101 completed

I guess I could have marked this off after leaving LJ, since that's what it meant. But now at new job and still not using any elevators. (Well, there isn't one and I'm the first floor, but sometimes I have to get up to the second floor..)


[x] 003. write again

021/101 completed

( NaPoMo 2009, x-posted from DW, originally written a few days ago )

[x] 76. get a professional massage

017/101 completed

For Valentine's Day, Rich got me a gift card to Tru Spa, good for a TruTheraphy treatment. It came in a gift box with three different mini bottles of the shea butter they use for the massages. Also, Rich made me quite an impressive card. Anyway, I had scheduled my appointment for today, figuring that by now, I'd be even more stressed out, especially still not having a job and all. And I was. And now I'm all relaxed \o/

The spa was really nice. The water in the sinks came down a slide on the wall, and the showers had an option for spray from both overhead and the handheld. And I was offered champagne and there were cheese&crackers and brownies in the waiting lounge.

The massage was also really nice. I got to choose which shea butter I wanted—Energize or Relax. I didn't want to smell like a candy cane, so I went with the relaxation one, which was tangerine and vanilla. There were moments where I'd close my eyes and almost fall asleep; it was that relaxing. My neck and shoulders feel so much better now. Everywhere else too, but especially my neck and shoulders.

[x] 011. get chasethestars.com back up and going

016/101 completed

I had this idea a few years ago for a one page portfolio and sketched out how it would work. Until last September, that's all it was—sketches in my notebook. Then I created the illustrations.. and neglected it again.

chasethestars.com used to be so active, a showcase of my creativity in various forms. Way back in the day, I used to update my websites with a new look at least once a month. Same as with my writing, I had lost that drive when I became too caught up in the real world.

Today, chasethestars.com has something again¹. Not as great as it had been, but it's something. The scrolling effect doesn't work in IE and the image map is the only bit that wont validate in XHTML 1.1. But hey, it's more than just sketches in my notebook now \o/

¹ And I needed a gauge of how much coding I still felt comfortable with. I should probably pull PHP and Javascript off my resume until I (re)learn it.

[x] 083. go to my first comedy show

013/101 completed

One of my other birthday surprises, which I had totally guessed, was a comedy show. Rich took me to The Comedy Store last Friday. There were 5 performers, but the only name I can remember is Mike Gunn (when did I start having memory fail?). All of them, including the host, were great though.

I think my favorite joke was about women's Viagra, that the name was stupid and he could've done better: Niagra, like Viagra, but for women, and the commercial would be of a young one under the waterfall. Also, I learned something new. Viagra for women? wtf? Uh, lube?

( + other things I can cross off my 101 )

For my birthday and our first date, Rich took me to Paris for a few days. This included dinner at Le Jules Vernes, the restaurant at the top of the Eiffel Tower. ( Read more... )



This was the poshest meal I've ever had (and most impressive first date) and it was a great experience (eating at the top of a world famous landmark!), but definitely not something I'd want to do often (super attentive waiters make me kind of nervous). When Rich first told me he was taking me to Paris, the whole thing felt surreal. Even weeks later, I still couldn't believe it— really? This boy is really taking me to Paris and dinner at the Eiffel Tower?? It still feels surreal now.

[x] 050. go on a date where I know from the start that it's a date

012/101 completed

( snapshots )

[x] 088. visit Europe

011/101 completed

My legs are sore and my throat feels raw. Much fun was had, which was especially nice after spending the morning sitting around completely bummed out. Everyone was out of town on iseebi's birthday (12/26) and I'll be gone on mine (1/18), so ( we celebrated yesterday ).



There are plenty of pictures and embarrassing videos (omg), which if posted, will be flocked. Thanks everyone for an awesome birthday! Less than a week till Part 2!!

My ditl submission. Their theme for this week is "under". Undervalued, misunderstood, oh there are so many unders that could work here.

[x] 018. ditl photolog for a special day

009/101 completed

( 01/09/09 - last day at the LiveJournal office )

I can post these now that (almost) everyone has received theirs. Originally, I was only going to make a few and send store-bought ones... but ended up making all of them. And some envelopes too, since I ran out. I can't measure or glue properly, but I can cut straight! Hopefully not many of them got smushed or fell apart too badly.





[x] 006. handmade cards

007/101 completed

Also, thanks deadmantalks, maidenus, and ferrell for your cards!

[x] 015. complete NaBloPoMo again
[x] 016. with public entries

006/101 completed

Like last year, it's nice to see all the cells on my sidebar calendar filled in. Number of entries per day were about the same as last year too. Word count was probably a lot lower though. And I really didn't enjoy it as much this year. A lot of it felt forced, mostly the part where I needed it to be public (by my own choice, but still). And wtf was this? Maybe I shouldn't be crossing it off my 101 in 1001 just yet. (though technically, one entry per day..)

There are two three bathrooms, four tvs, a jacuzzi, mini bar, and gorgeous views from the 35th floor. Even the bathroom scale is nicer - it weighed me 15lbs lighter than the scale in the first room after I had buffet desserts (to which our VIP pass let us jump to the front of the 2 hour line, woo!).

Pictures I took, and a video from Rich:


The only lame thing is that there is no wifi, internet is not free, and an ethernet cable is $13. Guess I fail at NaBloPoMo this year as far as live updating. Still writing every day, just not posting it until I get back.

[x] 074. stay in a penthouse suite

004/101 completed

Have I mentioned I don't know how to sew? Because I don't. In 5th grade (13 years ago), we had to make a drawstring bag out of a pre-cut piece of fabric and some string. That's the extent of my sewing experience. My mom fixes my buttons and torn seams.

So I'm pretty proud of how this turned out, considering I did it by hand with pretty much no idea what I was doing. I used this pattern from dA to start, and then kind of made up the rest (the zipper, lining, hook). It's supposed to be this crooked *shifty eyes*. Good thing the whole DIY look works with my costume. I also need to safety pin a felt heart and pocket watch onto his body.

Fun Fact #1: I didn't want to buy stuffing, so I cut open a stuffed Easter bunny I have. It was re-gifted to me for my birthday. My birthday is nowhere near Easter.
Fun Fact #2: I pulled the zipper from a skirt I got for one cent. It was a cute skirt, but two sizes too big for me.

[x] 009. sew something

002/101 completed

I have the starts of new 101 Things in 1001 Days in the back pages of various notebooks.. from the last two years. I made a new list, and unlike last time, I'm going to stick to it. Finished items are highlighted (don't ?style=mine).

Day 1: Monday, October 13, 2008
Day 1001: Monday, July 11, 2011

022/101 completed

( the list )

Write about one person a day every day for 365 days.
I found this project via Suki's Vox.

I'm going to do mine with a slight twist. I don't like the set number of words part, though I suppose that helps. I want to write as much or as little as I want about each person.

I'm also not making a list before I start. I'm writing about whoever I feel like writing about on that day because lately, I've found myself thinking about people I haven't thought about in years, people from 4th grade, people I've seen on the bus that don't mean anything to me but has intrigued me enough at some moment that I remember them. Or maybe I'll just have people who want to be on my list comment to this entry, and that'll give me a good amount to start off with ;)

And the last thing I'm going to do differently: in addition to writing these in my LJ (tagged *x365), I'm going to have a copy in my Netflix return envelopes. Or on index cards that I'll leave on park benches or on the bus or a table in a café. I haven't decided yet. Maybe I'll do all, depending on what's available at the moment.

( I was also thinking about bringing back my 101 things in 1001 days, or starting a 43things.. )

[x] 52. get a new camera.
testing it out:


also,
[x] 73. inspire/force someone else to do 101 things in 1001 days
first stacy did it, but i didn't post about it / cross it off, and someone else was inspired by it. so if i leave it marked as undone, maybe more people will do it?

bye bye my dear dell inspiron 2650. i am more than glad to be rid of you, especially after lugging your weight around all day, and uphill too.

you were the big purchase many of my tucker's paychecks went to. i paid for you all by myself; i earned you. you were my first laptop, and the first computer that was mine, not one i shared with my brother, not one my cousins let me use.

we had some good memories. you were there with me at ucsc. you caught the latter end of my camwhore days, and you came out of the beer incident without a scratch. okay, so i freaked out when it happened, but you were fine the next day, as if you never tasted a drop of miller's lite.

then after an inseparable year and a half, i left you. i forgot about you, under the bed, in the closet, hidden out of sight, out of mind. i had a newer, shinier, lighter toy.

and now, now i have traded you in for a thick wad of twenties, $800 less than what i paid for you 3 years ago, but probably more than you're worth now. i would keep you, but i need the money for yet another shinier, newer, bigger, faster toy. you were perfect for what i was doing 3 years ago, but now i need more, more than you can give me.

you will be happy with your new home though, and you will be played with and cared for again.

this entry is for url who said:
still no blogs on how infatuated you are with me I see....;-) j/k

so here is an anigif of him as bludgeon worshiping me and phae and our tailed toons.


i never thought i'd be sucked into playing an mmorpg, especially one that's costing my credit card $14.99 each month. when i first created my character, i thought i would be done with it after my 14-day free trial period. but the free trial did what it was supposed to, and i got hooked. i have paid for 2 months and 10 days to date.
[x] play a mmorpg for at least a month (number 40 on the list)

i am now level 36, 3 bars away from 37. i have met some cool people and joined their supergroup. i then climbed my way to the top, having caught up to and then surpassing them in level. i am now in a different sg, the one my boyfriend joined, also full of cool people such as that red demon worshiping my monkey girl.

my war mace tanker with ice defense isn't the best combination of powers, nor does it make sense with my character, but it's what i liked out of the choices i was given, and now that i'm this high in level, i'm attached and not going to go back and change it.

i did make a katana scrapper though, because that's the other combination that i seem to like. i started playing on guardian because of golgo, but erik is on virtue and so is my new toon. i've fittingly named her erik's friend, which'll probably become another mess around character that i become attached to and wish i had named super stacee instead.

i cannot believe how addicted i have become. every free second i have, i'm hogging j's computer. i share my account, he shares his game box, *g*. i wake up, and i'm logging in. i play throughout the day, and again before i go to bed. i probably spend more time on CoH than i do on my schoolwork; if i'm going to be paying a monthly fee for a game, i better be playing it for all it's worth.

city of villains will be out soon. i like this game because i've always wanted to be a superhero. but being a super villain will be even more fun *evil smile*. the plan is that i get to level 50 (which is the cap, which means i'll start getting tired of the game shortly after that point), then switch over to CoV.

my mouth is radiating with the flavor of garlic, and i'm sure it's what i smell like as well - garlic and sweat. gilroy is so hot, but not as hot as it was when we were in modesto.

the drive there wasn't too bad (mostly because i slept through it), except for the douchebags who tried to cut into the exit lane at the last minute, but whatever. we were directed into the parking lot to the spot closest to the entrance. we walked down the dirt path and were in.

tickets were $12/person, which i thought was a little much considering each food stand would be overcharging as well, same as they do at baseball games. we started walking around and i saw booths for frozen yogurt and ice cream, but not garlic ice cream, which was the main reason i wanted to go, since hearing of this for the first time two years ago.

we walked further back, and there it was! the booth that read GARLIC ice cream, with roasted almond, vanilla, chocolate, pistachio, and burgundy cherry listed underneath. i was expecting garlic ice cream, as in garlic flavored ice cream, not ice cream with garlic added to it.

erik got chocolate, mike got vanilla in a cantaloupe, and i just got vanilla. it was like i was eating ice cream after having eaten something heavy with garlic, and then eating more garlic afterwards. i was surprised; i really thought i wouldn't like garlic ice cream.

we looked at the rest of what was there, got some wood fired garlic pesto pizza called "who loves ya baby", and then found the line for free garlic ice cream. these were served on baby cones, two per person, and were more of what i was expecting when i heard garlic ice cream. it was still in a vanilla base, but the garlic flavor was so much more overpowering that you don't really notice as much as the other place.

there was food and there were drinks. and then there were arts&crafts booths with airbrush paintings, blown glass, and fairy wings and wands that didn't look too great. none of this had anything to do with garlic, yet they were there at the garlic festival.

i got what i came for though. all that was missing was deep-fried garlic, which could not be found. maybe next year.

online classes are done tomorrow. these are the fonts i'm turning in for my adv. typography final, but i'll probably have points taken off because i don't have the sketches that show how my letterforms were developed. i clicked squares on a grid to form what i saw in my mind. to churn out 6 pages of my "developmental roughs" would take longer than it took to actually make the fonts. fucking grading systems and the teachers who stick by them.

last night was my last motion graphics class, which i'm happy about because after effects is a pain to work with, especially when there is audio involved. i pretty much half-assed my final, but it's still better than my previous projects. i could have done this same movie in flash, and it would have turned out a lot smoother and clearer, but it had to be after effects. the title at the end came out pixelated when i rendered it out at half size, but it looks fine in the larger version, which times out every time i've tried to upload it.

apparently what i missed last week when i didn't go to school was the start of the id switchover. instead of laminated slips of paper, ai now has real cards. i had to take a new photo, and the result is possibly the worst ever picture of me. my lip appears bubbled up on one side, and it looks like some of my teeth are missing. i'm also wearing my ucsc sweatshirt in the photo.

if i ever work as the photographer who takes id pictures, i'd make sure the person looks good in it. i'd actually be a photographer and pay attention to composition instead of just speed clicking the button.