NO PANTS WERE HARMED IN THE VACATING OF THIS BLOG

ohohoho. the sick fuck. XD Fi ought to appreciate that, especially. XXXD

so, stuff. had a very productive week-and-a-half, during which i was online even less than i'd initially thought. hence, the dearth of inane postage from me. am vewy sowwy. or something. >D

made tons of pies for the thanksgiving hol. was meant to make two; instead ended up making four. which turned out pretty well, although they need some slight tweaking. but given that all were recipes i'd not tried before, this is not much of a surprise.

other things accomplished:

* made the warmest comforter EVER. and it's washable! and cost less than buying one! ^^ ah, the wonder of fleece. and quilt batting. and sweatshirt heather. oh yes. am proud. though i think it needs a bit more stitching towards the inside, as there are four layers that need to be stuck together a bit more to make me feel completely comfortable with tossing it in the washer.

* finished the damnable brake boot for the '98 Jetta. and found out that apparently both the black upholstery thread AND the black all-purpose thread tend to do nasty bad things to the workings of my sewing machine, hence why all the stitching issues going on with trying to piece the damned thing together! i switched to invisible thread in what would have been my VERY FUCKING LAST ATTEMPT EVER (had it not worked, of course) on this particular boot---you don't even want to know HOW much time i've spent on this thing, beating my brains out trying to figure out what i was doing wrong. but! it's done, it fits perfectly, and it looks VERY smart in the car! matches nicely with the shift boot (which i also made); i took photos, but as they turned out like utter ass, shall have to take new ones. same with the comforter, actually. although all texture will be lost in both. a pity, too---the textures are great with both. ^^

* made Mariam's Gryffindor hat! it needs a teensy bit of adjustment, as the bit where i made it so it would grip one's head firmly is a bit too tight for comfort, but it's otherwise done! and i took a couple of decent photos of it...which, unfortunately, are sitting on my computer at home. unless i was a twit and FTPed them up already and don't remember. hang on while i check...nope, apparently not. i'll try to post it later, if i remember. it's got a nice splooshy pom-pom on top, and while it looks completely ridiculous on me, it looks great on my christmas tree---and more importantly, will probably look fine on just about anyone who doesn't have the gigantic pumpkin head that i do. XD

* bagels! whee! they're not hard to make, just time-consuming! and i also must add here that gigantic pots of boiling water don't really frighten me. i can handle those. but the thought of gigantic pots of boiling oil terrifies me to bits and pieces. hence, i doubt i'll be tackling donuts anytime soon. which is probably better for everyone anyway; as Spaz said, "why don't you just eat a whole stick of butter instead?" XD the occasional donut is okay, but i can take them or leave them, really. bagels, however, are wunderbar. ^^

* in various fits of insanity, i also made tortilla chips (made tortillas first, of course), puffy crackers, dill potato salad (two batches), and i forget what else. am out of Abuelita; need some more, as this is a most sad happening. made this recipe for some sort of dinner rolls that i'd never tried before that were really great; particularly when topped with bits of butterkäse cheese. num. ^^

* have also been contracted by various individuals to make various other scarves and knit apparel for them. am just excited at the prospect of learning how to knit my own damn socks so i can have socks that are a) warm, and b) don't fall down!**

of course, various other things were done, too. got some bits of christmas shopping done...oh, and found some quality F1 games for my Sega Genesis in the used bin at GameStop, too! the most expensive of these was Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge, and it was only $3.99, so i felt i was getting quite a deal. the other two were Super Monaco GP (of course), and Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II. the biggest miracle of all of this was that all three not only had reasonably well-kept nice hard plastic Genesis cases, but all three actually had their manuals, as well! O.O;;; and we figured, if we didn't like these games, it'd be a simple matter to sell them on eBay or something similar. the Senna game would probably make more than i spent on all three in total, just due to his hame being attached to it. *rolls eyes* eheh. but! SMGPII and the Ferrari GP Challenge are GREAT. SMGP is *okay,* although i think the look on my face when confronted with the random racing chick in the title screen was probably priceless. XD

the Ferrari game is great, though. ASSMGPII allows you to customise bits of how you set up your car, as well as whether you drive with an automatic, 4-speed, or 7-speed manual trans...but it's not nearly as customisable as the Ferrari game is. and half the fun of the Ferrari game too is testing your skill at figuring out what the real identities of the various F1 teams who hadn't had their names licensed for the game were. (Jordan, for one, didn't even have the advertisements hidden in any way from their livery! XD)

much other stuff occurred, as well. no ficcing, and almost no contact with the computer for a week. was rather nice, actually. although there is much i need to do which will involve me wiring my computer into my head for the next few months, i'm sure.

which reminds me. i have known for some time now that i desperately need to redesign the band's website. anyone here who's amassed far greater mad skills at this sort of thing than i have have any suggestions? i've got ideas, but the problem is finding time in which to implement them, as well as finding time in which to read and teach myself the new skills i'll need to do at least some of them. really, the problem is just plain time, as always. so i fling myself upon your tender mercies and ask for advice...?

eee, and we watched the tape of us from this year's Acen. it was horrifying, although not as much as i'd thought. damn is it hard to dance in those boots. shall have to endeavour to learn how, so that i don't look so much like a shambling old person next time. and Kevin was on the tape! i miss Kevin. ;.;

oh, what else? i'm sure there's more, but i just can't think of it right now.

i hope you all are doing well. ^^

(and by the way, and if ANYONE knows where to find an Initial D: Arcade Stage machine ANYWHERE near the Chicagoland area, PLEASE let me know. i don't know what i can do to pay you back, other than offer to write you some nice wholesome penguin yaoi, but...er, i'll try my best? o-ne-ga-i?? *bats eyelashes cutely*)

i'll do a friend plug here as well: go here and check out Sarah's webpage. not much to it yet, but photos galore. the ones at Halloween of this year are particularly great, featuring her and Eric (yes, our twitchy little drummercatboy) dressed as...each other. XD

also, for anyone not already familiar with the lovely and talented Fifichu, you ought to skip on over to Loveloev.com so you can check out the fabulous jewelry that she and several of her cohorts have lovingly assembled for purchase. they're really spiffy, and if i had money, i'd probably buy some. ^^;;; since i can't, why don't you go let me vicariously buy through you? ^^

finally (and i meant to mention this), but we finally gave in and got a DVD player (well, Spaz gave in and got a DVD player) while i was away. it is region-free. and does PAL-to-NTSC conversion. w00t. ^-^

right, that's all pertinent things (i think). post over. go home now.

** how sad is that? XD