*makes zombie noises* I LIVE!!!!

After suffering a temporary Internet death due to extreme embarrassment, I have finally been resurrected by some of the local necromantic talent and am beginning to feel like my old self again. =D And you all thought you were finally rid of me. Haha. Fools. Hail the dead! (You get a cookie if you recognize where the quote is from. XD Hint: RPG...)

Actually I did kind of get sick. Not cold or virus sick, more like "In regards to my body, sugar is like an illegal drug and makes me act like a old woman with Alzheimer’s and wicked cruel mood swings". Since I've spent about the past two weeks sneaking chocolate of all kinds, mostly milk chocolate which of course has a higher sugar content, it's no wonder I went a little crazy and alternated between wanting to crawl in a dark hole and fall asleep, or crawl into a dark hole and plot devious and largely homicidal plans for world domination. Mostly the former. But I've been clean for about three days now, which is standard detox schedule. I'm feeling much better already. :) Oh, just as a quick note: If anybody reading this has problems with corn syrup like I do, if you happen to buy a package of Hershey's chocolate bars or candies, check the ingredient list before you snarf three of them. Ugh. Corn syrup is liquid DEATH for me. Seriously. I'd probably be less sick if you stabbed me with a syringe full of liquid pain meds. *shudder*

In other, less liquid death related news, I have officially spent $250 of my birthday money! ^_^ The remaining $100 will be used as seed money for the at home costume and clothing making business I'm intending to launch. (More on this later) I have purchased...
- Two extremely witty T-shirts, which I will be wearing on the webcam once my face clears of zits and I figure out how to adjust the lighting on the damn thing so I don't look like the living dead.

- Several gorgeous Witchblade and Tomb Raider trade paperbacks/graphic novels that I got off of eBay for a song. Did I mention they were GORGEOUS? And that I could probably walk away with twice my weight in comic books for less than $100 on eBay? Oh, and just so you know--THEY'RE GORGEOUS!!

- An obscenely large stack of books, OF COURSE. XD Mostly works on the subject of legends or mythology, (to help me with my writing) Holly Lisle novels, "A Secret Atlas" by Michael A. Stackpole, my official writing hero, and one fantastic book on proper grammar which is both funny and informative, also purchased to help my writing. And it looks like it will. I've also ordered Alton Brown's two cookbooks, I'm Just Here for the Food and I'm Just Here For More Food. I can't wait 'til they get here! =D I got most of my stuff on the sale rack at Barnes & Noble, which for me is a very dangerous place to be. Very dangerous. Everytime I'd walk two inches in any direction I'd spot something else that I wanted to buy. At one point I had almost $90 worth of books in my basket. =P I got A Secret Atlas at Borders, though, which is an experience I hope never to repeat. Not only is their organizational system ass-backwards, but they're prices are exorbitant and utterly ridiculous. I'm never going back. B&N is much better. AB's books are coming to me from Amazon, along with an awesome Zyliss Y-peeler and Ellie Krieger's book, which are items my mom purchased. =D

- Several donations scattered about my favorite webcomics and Gaia Online. I do regret that I ran out of money before I was able to purchase anything from the ISBW store, though. But depending on how well my video game auctions on eBay do in the coming week, I may have enough extra revenue to amend that situation. ^_^

Writing Diaries, pt.... 13?:
Uh...well. I wrote about 4,000 words last week sometime...or maybe it was the week before that...I've forgotten. I've been procrastinating pretty badly, to be honest. I have, however, come up with a lot of different and interesting story ideas in the interim, mostly centering around time travel. Funny how I always seem to come back to concepts involving time travel or dimensional travel. I think I found my home genre. =P

Current Word Count for The Second World: 141,000

Cooking Stuff:
Not much to report here. Mom and I made some weekly menus and they totally bombed because we put too much stuff on them. There is no way I can keep up with making up to two new dishes every day of the week except Saturday and Sunday. Most notably, I made some trail mix yesterday that I saw on 30 Minute Meals. I adapted and modified the recipe quite a bit, but even though it didn't have any maple syrup or chocolate peanuts in it, it still turned out pretty good. I especially like it in cereal, and it's wonderful for breakfast. The nuts have so much protein and energy in them, as well as the rolled oats. It's really filling and I can see where it would be an amazing asset on the trail. Comment if you want the recipe, I don't mind sharing. :)

About that crazy sewing thing...
Well. I was talking with Hel a couple of weeks ago about Victorian fashion and corsets. (Miss you, sweetie! ♥) And it suddenly occurred to me how much cosplay costumes go for on eBay, specifically FFX Yuna costumes. I'd love to have one for myself, but there's no way I can justify spending over $100 on something like that, especially since I don't frequent any conventions. So why not make one myself? I've bookmarked several excellent cosplay websites, including one that actually teaches you how to make some of Yuna's outfits, and really it doesn't seem like it's too complicated. I could also make things for Renaissance faires and theater plays, which apparently are always in need of costuming. And beyond all this extra fancy stuff, I could just make my own clothing, which I've been wanting to do since I first saw Project Runway and discovered that it was not only possible, but actually pretty easy. I'm constantly dissatisfied with what I find in stores for my age group, and if I made all of my own stuff, I could finally get what I really want without having to scour the ends of the Earth to find it. (Or worse, scouring the Earth, finding it, and having to pay absurd prices for it) I would save money and be happy and comfortable, all at the same time. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. Plus, since both my parents already took a stab at the whole sewing thing, we've got all the equipment just sitting around, collecting dust. No sense in that, so why not put it to use? So now I'm teaching myself to sew. So far, so good. I haven't actually sewn anything yet, but I will be soon. I have to read all the manuals first, because I'm a good techie child and I actually do RTFM. =D

Oh, by the way... I will bite anyone who suggests that I need classes to learn how to do this, because I don't. Just like I don't need classes to learn how to speak Japanese. I have an excellent book, podcasts, Wikipedia, the Internet, and the little gray cells--I need nothing further. Although if any of you know any good sewing shows on television, DVD sets I could purchase on the subject, or know how to sew yourselves, I welcome your comments. :)

Everything else:

I updated my LJ userpics! ^_^ (Finally) Isn't River so pretty? *squishes her lovely icon* I also updated my userinfo a little. I still have hardly any hugs. :(

Song of the month - Well, I'm going to make a bad impression my first time out because this month I have two picks. (Goodness knows I'm too much of a fence straddler to pick just one. XD) My musical obsessions this month are "The Trick is to Keep Breathing" by Garbage and "What Your Soul Sings" by Massive Attack. They're both really great, calming songs, good for when you're depressed and need a pick me up or just want to lament something. Comment if you want me to YouSendIt them to you. :)

For you Gaians out there -


That's pretty much it! Matta ne, everybody!