I spent part of Monday helping my friend Genevieve decorate a cake. That was a lot of fun, and a pain in the ass. Fondant icing is just a BITCH to work with, and mixing the colors correctly was hard ’cause we started with icing that was already a funky pink color. (It was left over from Dale’s boobie cakes.) But, after four hours of kneading, pounding, cursing, and eewing over icing stuck to our hands, we were able to produce a pretty cool looking cake.

Tired out from the cake decorating, I was happy to head home, but my departure was delayed by an extremely flat tire. I was preparing to change it myself (yes, I do know how!), but Gen’s neighbor came home and graciously did most of the dirty work himself. (Gen and I loaded the filthy tire into the back of my car.)

Even after we used orange cleaner to get the dirt and grease off our hands, all I could smell for the rest of the night was the sugary scent of the fondant icing on my hands. And it thoroughly intrigued the cats.

And though I’d made it through four hours of mixing various dyes into icing and then a tire change without getting my clothes dirty, I was unable to make it through dinner without getting ketchup on my boob.

Skip ahead to Thursday…

Aaron asked if I’d help him do some painting in his new house, and though I wanted to join the crowd at the Cross Eyed Bull for Trivia Night, I agreed. I suggested that Dale bring Wil by later (after another commitment) to help out as well, and Dale kinda grudingly agreed since I told him Aaron was going to help us paint our place. After stopping off for some snacks, I got to Aaron’s and presented him with his housewarning gifts - a 6-pack of toilet paper and a 6-pack of Shiner.

About half the dining/living room had been done already. I helped out by using a brush to paint the chair rail trim and edges that the roller couldn’t get, while Aaron worked the, uh, roller.

At some point I was on top of a step-ladder and my mobile phone started ringing. Aaron answered it and it was Dale. He called to tell me he and Wil weren’t coming to help paint. Wil had a tummy ache and Dale decided to go to the Cross Eyed Bull.

Asshole. Bah!

So, Aaron and I perservered, working our way around until we met the already-painted kitchen. Then he took me out for a delectable to-go meal from Wendy’s. (The original plan was for pizza, but after 5 attempts to get the right restaurant for his neighborhood, we gave up.) After dinner, Aaron decided he’d rather go back to his apartment and sleep than start painting another room. So he cleaned off his equipment outside while I had fun with the shadows his porch light cast onto the yard.

After that, we went our separate ways. And that’s about all I’ve been up to lately. Aside from way too much time spent playing Morrowind.

Yeah, I’ve been feeling rather burnt out lately with the whole internet thing. So, I’ve not been posting, nor have I been reading much.

The feeling is starting to pass, so you should see more posts from me in the near future, but probably not as much as I did post-SXSW.

This is a sweet little flash animation of a singing kitty. While the voice may be annoying to some (like my husband), I found the lyrics to be very touching, and I kept playing the animation over and over, until Dale asked me what the heck it was.

Here are the lyrics:

Wishing on a dream that seems far off

Hoping it will come today

Into the starlit night

Foolish dreamers turn their gaze

Waiting on a shooting star

But

What if that star is not to come?

Will their dreams fade to nothing?

When the horizon darkens most

We all need to believe there is hope

Is an angel watching closely over me?

Can there be a guiding light I’ve yet to see?

I know my heart should guide me but

There’s a hole within my soul

What will fill this emptiness inside of me?

Am I to be satisfied without knowing?

I wish then for a chance to see

Now all I need <desperately>

Is my star to come…

Note: The subtitle at the end of the movie is roughly translated as “The person who lives here has moved from this address.”

Link swiped from Bad Hair Days.

It’s 3:00 am and I’ve just gotten home from seeing Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.

Even though previous discussions of “when are we going to see it?” always ended with a unanimous “not on opening day,” Dale found out this past afternoon that a nearby theater was going to have a midnight showing. Hoping that crowds and lines wouldn’t be as bad due to the hour and people just not knowing, we bought tickets online. Pretty sure there’d be a long line (but not knowing how long), Dale, Wil, and I arrived at the theater an hour earlier. And found a looooong line. The waiting wasn’t really too bad though, and we were mildly entertained by a trio that walked by; two shabby Jedis and one cardboard-costumed Jengo Fett.

We got into the theater about 15 minutes before showtime, and though the theater was already pretty full, we got decent enough seats. Though the crowd was talkative, and applauded previews for some reason, they were mostly well-behaved during the movie. And much more sedate than I’d expected for the first showing of SW II. Well, except for one guy who voiced the angst of many crowd members when during a drawn out love scene between Anakin and Padme, just burst out with an, “aw, GAWD!”

There’s so much I want to say about the movie, good and bad, but I don’t want to write any spoilers, so I’ll just say that I enjoyed the movie, but not as much as the last/first one, and certainly not as much as the first three. (Yes, dammit, I liked the Ewoks!)

Monkey Movie Review: Three and a Half Bananas out of Five

Disclaimer: You’ll probably only think this is funny if you’re familiar with games like Urban Terror.

Wil, Dale, and I went out to dinner tonight. Shortly after we were seated, Wil excused himself to go to the restroom. He game back almost immediately and stated that someone was “camped out in there.”

As he turned to walk back to check again, I helpfully suggested that he “open the door and toss in a grenade.”

Note: “Camping” in games like UT refers to basically hiding in a spot and waiting to be found, often in a room with only one entrance or something similar. Camping is usually scorned as a form of cowardice and because it can drag out a match much longer than necessary. It’s often hard to get someone who’s camping, because they can watch the exit but when you go through the door, you don’t know exactly where they’ll be. Thus, one solution is to open the door quickly and toss in a grenade, hoping that’ll kill off the lamer.

Yeah, I’m still around, just wrapped up in a new computer-based obsession: Morrowind. Dale, Wil, and I have been playing it since Thursday. Steve and Aaron came over Saturday night, went to dinner with us, and checked out the game. And then Steve went out and bought it the next day.

Obviously we like the game, despite the occasional crashes. And I’ve really come to appreciate the quicksave/quickload capabilities of games like this and Dungeon Siege. More than once I’ve accidentally attacked someone instead of talking to him. Oops. Better to just quickload your last save and try again, rather than have an entire town trying to beat you up.

Too bad life doesn’t have a quicksave button, for when things are going well. Then when you really screw up, you can just go back to that moment and not make the same mistake again.

I really should take a break from this game, shouldn’t I?

If so, what the heck is it saying?

The One (DVD rental) - We like Jet Li and his movies. A lot. (Well, except for Kiss of the Dragon.) This movie hadn’t gotten very good reviews, and I’m not sure why. The fight scenes were awesome, and so were the special effects. The CGI face masks they did for the dual fight scenes was seamless. And the scene in the beginning where Jet Li fights the four cops? Jaw-dropping. (The motorcycle scene was too. Heh.)

I also enjoyed the DVD extras of the behind-the-scenes stuff. It’s always so cool to learn how they pulled off a stunt or effect. I’ll probably buy this for myself some day.

Best line from the movie: “I am Yulaw! I am nobody’s bitch! You are mine!”

Monkey Movie Rating: Four and a Half Bananas out of Five

Ghost World (DVD rental) - The description on the back of the case wasn’t really accurate, but then I didn’t really know what to expect from this movie. I guess it was ok. Nothing exciting. Nothing compelling. Thora Birch was very cute. Dave Sheridan was hysterical as nunchuk-wielding Doug. The guys only watched bits of the movie, and none of them seemed impressed. Probably the lack of bare breasts and explosions.

Monkey Movie Rating: Two and a Half Bananas out of Five

It’s the latest in Web marketing innovation: Hijacked Web surfers, exploited Web browser vulnerabilities and malicious spyware all wrapped up together.

*swoon*

Yep. We (Dale, Adam, Wil, Aaron, Samira, and I) went and saw Spiderman tonight. My expectations were high, based upon the few previews and reviews I’d seen, and I wasn’t disappointed. Tobey Maguire was as nerdily charming as Peter Parker should be. And while Kirsten Dunst didn’t quite look right as a redhead, she was as pleasant to watch as always.

I almost choked on my SweetTarts when J.K. Simmons appeared onscreen as J. Jonah Jameson. I’m so much more used to seeing him as Vern Schillinger on Oz.

The action was good. The storyline and some of the fights were a little darker in tone than I’d expected, making this a little less of a kid film, but that was cool. While the CGI effects were a bit cartoony, I didn’t find that to be as detracting or distracting as they have been in other recent movies.

Monkey Movie Rating: Four Bananas out of Five

Yesterday I was sent out to “pick up a movie.” Sound simple, except the audience was going to be three or four guys and me. So much for bringing home Riding in Cars with Boys. Not sure of what they all have seen, but pretty sure of what they wouldn’t want to see, I picked up The Last Castle, The One, and Ghost World. (That last one is really for me. I can only take so many fights and explosions in one weekend.)

So far, we’ve only watched The Last Castle. The only real comments on it so far were “it was pretty long.” I don’t know if the guys are just tired, or what. But I liked it, despite its length. It was better than I was expecting it to be. It was as predictable and sappy as you’d expect an underdog-becomes-hero movie like this to be, but it was still worth the rental. Probably even worth purchasing for future viewings.

James Gandolfini and Robert Redford were both great in their roles, and the supporting cast (stereotypical as they were) filled out their roles nicely.

Monkey Movie Rating: Three and a Half Bananas out of Five

I am so glad that I don’t live next to these people.

The Bone Daddy’s BBQ debate continues.

Funny, that this is happening now, on an entry that’s 6 months old.

bwg rules! Look at what he sent me!!