Day 303: Disgaea for PSP

Second night this weekend dressed up as a vampire but Friday I was out of a kid's show and today I'm a more adult vampire. It was too much carrying a full size guitar around as part of my costume. I don't really care for dressing up in such a generic costume but at least it's easy. As a kid I almost always defaulted to something generic. I think I went as a gypsy at least four times in a row. Back then the candy was the biggest attraction to Halloween but I have much more fun now.

Status: Gifted

Day 302: Czech and Dutch phrasebooks

I picked up these phrasebooks for my trip to Europe with Evan three years ago. The Czech one came in handy a few times but we didn't really need to use the Dutch book much.

Prague, Amsterdam, and Haarlem were the three main destinations of our trip. In Amsterdam we stayed in the home of an elderly lady. I found her on http://www.bedandbreakfast.nl/ and it was a great deal for the price even though we had to walk up four flights of stairs to get to our room. There was another couple staying there who were visiting from Edmonton. Every morning we had breakfast in the main floor of the apartment with them. They kept trying to lure us to Edmonton - "We have the biggest mall in the world!" That was really their only argument so I have yet to make it there.

Status: Dibbed

Day 301: Calculus textbook

It's been a long day so I'm just going to post this old textbook of mine from college. This should be the last textbook I had saved.

Today I dressed up as Marceline the Vampire Queen from Adventure Time. I went to work painted in white body paint and wearing vampire teeth. They were pretty realistic looking but it was difficult to understand my speaking and I kept biting myself on accident. I just returned home exhausted and did my best to remove the makeup. Wow, what a pain. I did my best and hopefully I can go to sleep without destroying my sheets.

Marceline!

Status: Recycled

Day 300: Sony PSP

It took me awhile to decide to let this one go but for my 300th post I'm passing on my PSP. This PSP was a gift from a friend I met at one of my first jobs working at Games and Gizmos - a games store on Capitol Hill.

Technically Games and Gizmos was my second job (after being a home health care aide), but it was still memorable. I have always believed that my accident had an impact on my getting that job. Just after submitting my resume I was hit by a truck while crossing the street.

The truck was a nondescript delivery style truck. I was crossing the street from where American Apparel is now to Rite Aid and the truck was making a left turn off John. I was clocked in the head by the side view mirror and the truck itself hit me to the side. My glasses fell off and I was bruised but other than that I was fortunate. I picked myself up, found my glasses (intact), and finished crossing the street. The guy working at Planetary Espresso gave me some water, and then the cops came, and after they took me home the experience finally hit me and I burst in to tears.

After I was dropped off at home I went to the hospital but I didn't appear to have a concussion and was just a bit bruised. We later found out that the truck driver was found to be under the influence. My mother sent him a letter. When I had my interview later I mentioned that I got hit by a truck after I applied for a job there.

Anyway, this friend from G&G knew I was a huge fan of Disgaea and gave me this PSP so I could play the port. Disgaea is still one of the best video games I have ever played and the port to PSP was perfect.



Status: Dibbed

Day 299: Radiohead CDs

I hope you don't think this means I don't like Radiohead, because it doesn't. They were one of the first bands that mattered to me and they were my first concert as an impressionable young teenager. I'd been to Board Stiff Cubed and a few ska shows but Radiohead was the first concert I went to that really mattered (not that Mephiskapheles wasn't awesome!). Their show at the Paramount had sold out but a girl at my high school had an extra ticket and kindly sold it to me at face value. Not more than an hour later someone offered here $100 and a stereo for the ticket she had already promised me. I went to the show and it was one of the most influential musical experiences of my youth.

Status: Dibbed

Day 298: Savvy Investing for Women

After I graduated from business school I conveniently decided I was interested in finance and read tons of books like this one.

Status: Donated

Day 297: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

I think this is finally my last Nintendo game. My DS ended up going to a friend and old coworker of mine who will be giving it to his kids. They're pretty damn cute. I got to meet them the other day when we went out for sushi but they were too shy to talk to me much.

The other day my friend introduced me to a tv show called Adventure Time that he watches with one of his sons. It's awesome and you should totally check it out.

Status: Dibbed

Day 296: Guitar Hero III and Guitar Hero World Tour

I'm posting these as one item because I actually forgot that I owned a copy of Guitar Hero III. I purchased the game in order to acquire an extra guitar and never bothered to take the game out of the box. My roommate discovered it when she was clearing out our closet.

I have almost no motivation to play the Guitar Hero series because I've already sunk hundreds of dollars in Rock Band downloadable content. I've got three years worth of music purchases that I can only access through the Rock Band franchise. There is also a lot of overlap between Guitar Hero and Rock Band tracks so there are only one or two that I'm interested in that are only on Guitar Hero. It's kind of ridiculous.

Status: Dibbed

Day 295: Bacon Salt

Bacon salt emerged early in the bacon frenzy a few years ago. I was pretty excited so I had to buy a jar. It's actually pretty good, especially considering it has no bacon in it. I tried it on tuna fish sandwiches, popcorn, and even oatmeal. The oatmeal was disgusting. I definitely wouldn't recommend it.

Status: Dibbed

Day 294: 4G iPod nano

This is the iPod that I took to Peru and Thailand. I'm getting rid of it because I bought a 5th generation iPod this year. I bought a new one solely for the genius feature. Earlier this year I had acquired a license to the game Dragon Age from a colleague but it required that I upgrade to Snow Leopard. I don't know what was going on with me at the time but somehow in the process of backing up all my files I ended up deleting them all instead. I acquired a bunch of new music from a friend who has similar tastes but I needed a way to make myself listen to the music I wouldn't normally listen to. I thought Genius might help with that but in the end I was disappointed. Every playlist I started would begin okay until an Arcade Fire song came on and the whole playlist would derail.

Status: Dibbed

Day 293: Full spectrum lamp

I asked for this lamp for Christmas one year. I discovered the benefits of a full spectrum lamp while I was house sitting. I got a migraine while I was at staying there and found that their lamp helped. I used to get them semi-regularly so it seemed like a good idea. A headache would kick in if I went too long with out eating. Fortunately, I don't get them often anymore. I'm not sure what changed but it's wonderful being free of those damn things.

Status: Dibbed

Day 292: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

I was raised going to a Catholic church although it was very Seattle progressive. I was pretty much an atheist from the start. As a kid it held no interest whatsoever except as the only way to acquire doughnuts and tamales. At home we pretty much ate rice, beans, and vegetables with dessert only on birthdays so any opportunity to get meat, junk food, and sweets held strong attraction.

I used to voluntarily attend a friend's Awana and then youth groups at some very conservative Christian churches. My mom asked her friends worriedly, "Should I let her go? I don't want her to get brainwashed." Of course she had nothing to worry about because I just wanted the candy prizes for memorizing bible quotes and the chips and soda and games at all the youth group meetings. I even did bible quizzing for a bit because there were some cute guys competing. There wasn't a moment when I took any of it seriously. 

For years I tried to convince my parents to let me stay home from church and then one year, at Christmas eve mass, my youngest sister flipped a nun the bird. Embarrassing, yes, but after that my parents let me and and my other sister take turns staying home with her. It was awesome.

Status: Dibbed

Day 291: H&M jacket

This blazer is a size 8 from H&M although I'm not sure how useful that information actually is. It is way too much to wear in my current office. I wear skirts and dresses to work but I can't imagine wearing a jacket like this. And while I enjoy wearing skirts it sure is a wonderful feeling to be able to put on jeans any day of the week again!

Status: Dibbed

Day 290: Beaded necklace

This necklace was a gift from a friend. It's even more difficult to pass on because she made it. I think she makes lovely jewelry but when I get dressed in the morning I never reach for this necklace. I tend to prefer pendants on silver chains, especially with a black acrylic design. I love Isette on Etsy. I hope someone out there will love this necklace because it deserves to be worn!

Status: Dibbed

Day 289: Gloves (for yardwork)

I've been searching for the right cause to cause to volunteer my time for a while now. SeattleWorks has a program called Team Works where you volunteer for a different organization each month in a team. I thought that would be a good way to get my feet wet but it turns out that if you aren't excited about the work it is really difficult to stay motivated.

Fortunately, my friend Tino has the pulse of everything and he thought I might be interested in the Seattle Architecture Foundation. He has been guiding tours for this organization for over two years now and he thought I would enjoy them. I went through the tour guide training in September which was loads of fun. Next weekend is my first practice tour with real (non-paying) guests. In preparation I took a bunch of friends out today for a mini version of the Design Details tour. It was a lot of fun and I'm feeling really good about my performance. I am looking forward to leading real tours with paying guests!

SAF conducts more than 300 tours a year in Seattle and Bellevue. It is a non profit organization almost entirely run by volunteers. Next time you have people to take sightseeing, or if you're just interested in learning more about our city, consider doing one of their tours! They are usually around $15 for a two hour walking tour and they are informative and fun.

Status: Donated

Unclaimed

All of these things still need a home :(

Orange Zipper
Family Guy UMD
Strength SP (?)
The Big Sister's Guide to the World of Work
French-English Dictionary
Miracle Fortress CD
Windbreaker
Alhambra board game
Lonely Planet - Thailand
Guerilla Marketing for Job Hunters
Stars EPs
Naha CD
Calculus: Concepts and Contexts
Talk Like a Sports Pro
Chess
When Things Fall Apart - Pema Chodron
Small Gods - Terry Pratchett

Day 288: Shoes from Nine West

I originally had plans to go to the Last Supper Club tonight but instead I bought a bottle of wine and stayed home finishing off season six of the office. I also folded clothes and went through hundreds of advertisements on the blog I Believe in Advertising. I've been taking a class in graphic design at the School of Visual Concepts.

This week I'm looking for examples of images that make use of scale and proportion to give a sense of time, space, and mood. I also needed examples of symmetrical and asymmetrical balance. I'm fairly far along in locating all my examples but I still have to decide what to do for the final part of my project: creating a design on a 8" x 10" piece of paper using only black shapes. The design should impart a theme from a selection of possibilities given to us by the instructor. Class is on Monday and at this point I have no idea what I will be doing.

Size 8 1/2

Status: Donated

Day 287: Blue skirt

You're not imagining things, this is an exact match to the purple skirt I posted previously. I actually purchased three of the same style of skirt. They worked out for travel in that they didn't wrinkle but in 100+ degree weather they weren't ideal. I'm still not sure what would have been ideal for that weather. I'm just not accustomed to that kind of heat and humidity. I put up with it while traveling because I'm having so much fun but living in a hot climate does not appeal to me at all.

Status: Dibbed

Day 286: End table from Ikea

Getting rid of the printer has enabled me to get rid of this end table. I wanted to get it out of the house ASAP so I passed it on to my mom. I can't recall the exact details but my mom works with poor families who need assistance with housing. They can always use more furniture.

Status: Gifted

Day 285: Nakama 2 - Japanese textbook

This is the second year Japanese textbook that we used at the UW. I'd love to go back to Japan but there are so many other places I want to visit. My next three big trips will most likely be Sweden, Hong Kong, and a trip up to Alaska in 2013 for the peak of Aurora Borealis. That probably covers the next three years, especially since my friend Emily and I both bought music passes for SXSW next year. Strangely, I think SXSW is going to turn out to be a bigger commitment than my overseas plans.

Status: Donated

Day 284: Jade Cocoon 2

An old favorite of mine, Jade Cocoon 2 is a classic monster raising game. The graphics are super cute and I  like the characters and story. I just looked the game up on Wikipedia and discovered that the characters were designed by the same designer who did the characters for Kiki's Delivery Service and I Can Hear The Sea. I can see the resemblance now that I think about it.

I discovered this game through friends of my old boyfriend's. They always had the most interesting selection of video games. I also discovered Gitaroo Man and Twinkle Star Sprites through them. Evan knew them through Gameworks but by the time I met them they worked at Speakeasy. Back in the old days when they had a cafe in Belltown. I remember going to the cafe after hours and they would drink free Mac & Jack's and play video games. The friends eventually moved in to a house in Northgate that was outfitted with every video game system imaginable including two American Neo Geos and a Japanese Neo Geo cabinet. Fun times...

Status: Dibbed

Day 283: Chess

This chess set is mismatched but at least all the pieces you need to play are there. I always think I should learn how to play chess but so far I haven't taken a shine to it. I'm not very good at games where I have to think many steps ahead. I think my mind just wanders too much.

Status: Dibbed

Day 282: Game boxes

This is a bit different than my standard posts because I've already tossed these boxes. These boxes held all my Dominion cards as well as the game Ricochet Robots. Both games suffer from excessive packaging. My Dominion cards are now in the box pictured below and I'm still deciding what to do with Ricochet Robots. The game pieces and board take up about a quarter of the space in the box. This is a huge issue since I carry my games to game night all by myself.

I'm letting myself post these on the blog because it was still difficult to get myself to actually toss the boxes. I considered storing them in the closet but I finally told myself that even if I stopped using the new storage box the old ones just weren't acceptable.

The final storage system!

Status: Recycled/Trashed

Day 281: When Things Fall Apart

This is one of two books I own by Pema Chodron. I'm keeping the other one but I don't see myself referencing this one very often because life is pretty good. I just returned from a seven course dinner at the Corson Building. It is a wonderfully intimate restaurant with communal seating and almost all the courses were served family style. The experience was probably three and a half hours long and the food and wine pairings were fantastic. It was fun and indulgent but it makes me really appreciate how easy I have it. I have wonderful friends and I can afford to occasionally treat myself like this. My youngest sister's highest spirits are not much more than my lowest moments. I'm never quite sure how much to talk about her but I don't think she reads my blog at all. I guess I'll find out if she does...

Status: Dibbed

Day 280: Picture Frame

This was a Christmas gift from my mother. I think she got this frame because she knows I like shoes. The photograph is of the two family pugs: Gryphon and Beaumont. Adorable but yippy little fellows.

Another cute photo of Beaumont.

Status: Dibbed

Day 279: Bust a Move 2: Dance Tengoku Mix for Playstation

This was my favorite playstation game for many years. It's an extremely Japanese rhythm game where you copy button presses to the beat to make your character dance. You know, like up, up, down, down, circle. The characters are really cute and the music is fun. In the picture below I'm dressed up as Comet, the rollerblading waitress.

The year I wore this costume I also participated in a BaM2 tournament at Sakura Con. I was staff so I couldn't actually win but I still had the fighting spirit. I made it to the last round and would have won except I was a little too overconfident. I chose to try to reflect an attack instead of dodging it. Reflecting an attack requires more precise timing but it sends the attack back to the attacker. I can reflect an attack 95% of the time but this time my timing was just a tiny bit off and I failed.

Status: Dibbed

Day 278: Japanese for Busy People I

This was the very first book I bought when I decided to learn Japanese. It's a pretty good starter book. There are two versions of the book but I bought the version that is mostly in kana.

During my first trip to Japan I was dependent on about a year of classes and what I had learned on my own. It turned out that you learn hardly anything in three quarters of school. My sister and I would say "Hai" a lot and we got teased for it. I also remember saying "Atatakai!" (warm) a lot and later discovering I meant to say "Atsui! (hot)." Given it was at least in the nineties "atatakai" was quite the understatement.

Status: Dibbed

Day 277: Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most

I'm tempted to cut of the cover for this book and paste it in my sketchbook for the graphic design class I am currently taking. We are supposed to collect examples of design in the everyday world representing line, form, shape, color, texture, space, and value. The colorful metallic cover of this book appeals to me.

Status: Dibbed

Day 276: Koudelka

Koudelka is the prequel to the Shadow Hearts series. I mentioned before that I'm a big fan of Shadow Hearts so when I heard about this game I had to track it down. I'm honestly not sure I ever got this copy to work but the back doesn't look bad so it should be able to at least reach playability without too much effort.

Status: Dibbed

Day 275: Autographed Naha CD

Naha is a local Hardcore DJ who was popular back when I went to raves. I still see her name around so she must be still doing her thing. I picked up this CD at a small show she did at Mr. Spot's Chai House in Ballard back in 2001. I wasn't in the habit of attending events alone back then so I'm surprised I made it out for that one. On the other hand, it was easy to meet people in the party scene so you were almost certain to bump in to people you know. There were always dozens of people to hug at every party but when I was no longer a part of that scene they just kind of dropped out of my world.

Status: Trashed

Day 274: Canon Printer

It's the printer that came with my Macbook Pro! I'm getting rid of it because my roommate is going to let me use her printer. I'm excited because then we can get rid of the little table under it and it will be easier to maneuver around my dining room table.

It comes with black ink cartridges but the color ink is out. This place I used to work for was split up and shut down and I was called in to make sure all the accounts were liquidated properly and the tax forms were sent out. I told the guy I was working for that I needed ink to do the job and I ended up with a tidy supply.

Status: Dibbed

Day 273: Nexus One case

I've been pretty good about not buying stupid crap but I had to buy some new vacuum filters off Amazon and of course I was about $4 short of getting free shipping. I'd been waffling about buying a cell phone case for awhile. Everyone is always like "Protect your investment" but I hate the way they feel. Anyway, I bought this one for my phone and whaddya know, hated it. It actually is a pretty good looking case but I can't stand the extra bulk. I'll stick to my cute little Android pouch.

Status: Trashed