MTAC recap.

MTAC was fun this year, though we weren’t there nearly as much this year, since we opted not to get a hotel room to save money. We also ended up not dressing up at all because we couldn’t figure out what costumes to wear that we wouldn’t be dying to get out of after a few hours. (The purpose of getting a hotel room: to easily change in and out of costume.)

On Friday, we went to see the Kaiju Big Battel screening. Louden Noxious and the Beav, the commentators on the show, were there to provide live commentary. One of the kaiju, Unibouzu, also made an appearance. We got pictures with him and with Louden. After that, we stopped by the game room, and Ben played Smash Bros for a little while. Then we decided to go to the Build Your Own Kaiju contest. Ben had to be at work later, so we couldn’t participate, since we couldn’t stay till the end. That was a little disappointing, but we watched them build the costumes for a little while, and I took a picture of one I dubbed Mr. Butterheart.

On Saturday, we arrived just in time for the Kaiju Big Battel press conference. Once again, Louden and the Beav were hosting it. Several other kaiju showed up, including the infamous Dr. Cube, who gave Ben a “Dr. Cube’s Posse” t-shirt. After the press conference, we contemplated getting in line for the cosplay contest. We started following the line down the hall…around the corner…down another hall…through the doors to outside…down the stairs…up the sidewalk….yeah, it was long. And the room wasn’t that big, so we figured it would be rather pointless to get in line. Instead, we walked around to the front of the hotel, and then I heard someone calling my name. Confused, I looked around. Then I spotted my niece, Meagan. She was there to play the taiko drums, but I hadn’t known anything about it, so it was a very big coincidence. I went and talked to her mom for a bit, and then we watched her perform. I was really impressed! She said she messed up once, but I didn’t notice.

After that surprise, we decided to see if we could get into the room for the overflow of people trying to get into the cosplay contest. We made it in without ever having to wait in line. Unfortunately, because we weren’t actually in the room with the people on stage, the pre-teens/teens/I-really-have-no-idea-how-old-they-were-but-they-were-acting-about-12 decided they would scream insults and stuff to the people hosting the event. Especially when they were having to stall for time (like it was their fault…sheesh) or accidentally mispronounced the name of a character or something. Ben and I were getting awfully irritated, and I was really wanting to chew some people out and/or have security call their parents, but I just tried to block them out as much as I could. It was mainly one side of the room, and not the side we were on, but it was just really ridiculous. I really hope my kids will have more respect for other people than those kids seemed to. Anyway, it was hard to tell details of the costumes on the screen, but from what I can tell, there were some decent costumes. At intermission, they announced the theme for next year, of course: ninjas.

After the contest was over, we went back to the game room. There was a Smash Bros tournament underway, and Ben tried to join in, but it was a double tournament, and he won’t let me play with him, haha. Okay, I’m not GREAT at the game, but I’m not awful either. But I probably would have declined anyway, because with that many people watching, I definitely wouldn’t have been all that good. Since nothing else was really going on, we left.

Ben had to work Sunday, so we didn’t go back. I stayed at home playing with my DS all day instead. It was kind of weird being there not in costume, but at the same time, it was kind of a relief. I think we got to enjoy parts of the con that we don’t normally get to, because we are usually stopping every 5 seconds to take a picture and it takes forever to get anywhere. It was kind of nice being inconspicuous for once.

Vera and Oscar are getting fixed today.

Ben drove them to the vet this morning and I’m picking them up this afternoon. I keep thinking about how scared they must be, and I keep getting emotional about it. Ben said they meowed the whole way there. Poor kitties. He called when he got there this morning and asked if we wanted to pay $24 for pain medication for them. I was like, um, yeah! I don’t want my kitties to be in pain.

The MTAC schedule is up!

Yep, Ben and I are still going to MTAC this year. No new costumes, though, and we are not staying in the hotel. Here’s a rough idea of what we might be doing each day, based on stuff that sounds interesting to me.

Friday -
12:15 pm: Kaiju Big Battel screening
2:30 pm: Build your own kaiju

Saturday -
12:00 pm: DS social?
3:30 pm: Kaiju Big Battel press conference
6:00 pm: Cosplay contest

Sunday -
1:15 pm: Guide to electronic music

No word on what the video game tournaments are, as they are set up by Gamestop. Maybe Ben can find out early.

As most of you know, Ben is working at Gamestop.

On Saturday, he went into work as normal. About 15 minutes after he got there, two men came in and pointed a revolver in his face. Ben was quick to react and gave them all the money and they ran out of the store. Thankfully he wasn’t hurt, but I can only imagine how scary that would have been. He said that there was one other employee there with him and about seven customers in the store at the time. He didn’t get a good look at the guys (their faces were covered) but the video cameras did get a look. They hadn’t found them as of Saturday night, and I haven’t heard anything else about it. Ben said they got away with about $1500.

Scary. I’m just really, really glad he’s okay.

Fondue night!

Ben, Wayne, and I had a homemade fondue night last night. There are pictures in the photo section, but here are some highlights.

Items to dip: For the cheese fondue, we had broccoli, celery, bread, and summer sausage. For the main fondue, we had chicken, beef, tortellini, and lobster. For the chocolate fondue, we had strawberries, marshmallows, brownie bites, and cheesecake.

The fondues:

I know I never write here anymore.

Most of what I do right now revolves around the wedding, so while the wedding blog is busy, this one is suffering.

I hope everyone had a good Valentine’s day. Ben and I are both kind of broke, so we just got each other cards. Ben also cooked me a romantic candlelight dinner that was ready when I got home from work on Thursday. We were going to watch “The Notebook” but it didn’t get here on the day that Blockbuster said it would, so we ended up watching “Aladdin” instead, lol.

Friday night we went to the ballet. We had front and center seats, which was really cool. The Nashville Ballet performed four pieces. The first one, “Octet”, was choreographed by Twyla Tharpe. It was a pretty good modern ballet with four women and four men in nondescript black costumes. Some of the timing was a bit off; it looked like they hadn’t rehearsed it quite as much as the other pieces that were performed.

The second was “Trois Gnossiennes”. First and foremost, the music to this piece was lovely. It was done solely on piano, with the pianist playing at the back of the stage. The ballet consisted of three parts. In the first part, two men and a woman danced in front of a red background. In the second, a man danced in silhoutte against a blue background. This was my favorite part of the entire night, I believe. And in the third, the same woman from the first part danced solo. Her hair was down, which I commented to Ben that I love because it seems to denote despair, since ballet is always so rigid. The entire piece was absolutely beautiful and moving.

The third was based on the legend of Orpheus, though the name of the actual piece escapes me at the moment. It was choreographed by the artistic director of the Nashville Ballet (he also did the Lizzy Borden ballet I saw last year). I really liked the beginning of it, but I thought the ending of it was a little weak, although I’m not entirely certain why.

The final piece was “Rite of Spring”. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. It was very primal and a lot different than most ballets that you see.

Afterwards we were going to go by the Melting Pot for cheese and chocolate fondue, but they were only doing their Valentine’s package for $148. Since that was nearly $120 more than I wanted to spend, we went back to the house and ordered pizza instead.

The winner of Picture of the Year 2007 is….

A tie!

Aidan

and

Faithe blowing bubbles

I have all these avatars saved on my computer, so I thought I would share.

I created these on AIM’s website to use as buddy icons.

Me as an M&M.

Me as a Simpsons character.

I created this one for this superheroes thing on Facebook.

Oscar and Vera say hi.

Picture of the Year: 2007

**Note: If you don’t see the poll, click the link at the bottom of this post that says “Read the rest of this entry.”

Continuing in the tradition that I started last year, it’s time to vote for the 2007 picture of the year. Remember, you can vote for it because it’s pretty, it’s funny, it’s cute, it brings back memories, whatever you want. Then the picture with the most votes by February 1 will be the Picture of the Year.

The nominees are:

Aidan Photo by Ben.	The rings Photo by Jessica.
Talcum Photo by Jessica.	Detail Shot Photo by Jessica.
Bamboo Photo by Jessica.	Union Station from behind the Frist Center Photo by Jessica.
Faithe blowing bubbles Photo by Jessica.	Aww… Photo by Jessica.
Musica statue and skyline Photo by Jessica.	Cookie Monster and Ben Photo by Jessica.
The kiss Photo by Jessica.

Read the rest of this entry »

Book update - December 2007

Books I read this month:
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury - Enjoyed it.
THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson - Way different from The Haunting movie that came out a few years ago. Enjoyed it.

Books I’m currently reading:
1984 by George Orwell

Read the rest of this entry »

We’re getting married!

Ben proposed to me on Christmas day!

The wedding probably won’t be until 2009 sometime (we are thinking spring). However, you can track our progress through our wedding website located at jessicaandben.com. Forgive the unfinishedness of it. I’m going to move it over to my paid hosting server to get rid of the ad at the top and make it faster, so if you experience some weirdness or slowness or anything, I’m sorry.

ETA: Yeah, apparently I can’t do that with godaddy hosting. So….moving back to the ad-supported account for the time being. I may pay up to get rid of the ads when the site has more traffic.

Say hi to Oscar and Vera!

Ben and I went to look at a kitten this weekend. I had seen him on Petfinder and thought he was really cute. When we got there, he was playing with his brother and sister. They said it was better to get two if you weren’t home during the day so they wouldn’t get lonely. And they looked so cute. So I got two. And here’s some pictures:

I’ve been lamenting about the lack of books I’ve read in the past few years. I used to read one or more books a week throughout my childhood and into college. But for the past few years, I’ve averaged maybe two or three books a year.

To combat this, I have obtained a library card and a list of books to read. This list is compiled from the Modern Library’s list of 100 best novels, and the reader’s choice list as well. I’ve gone ahead and marked out the ones I’ve already read.

1. ULYSSES by James Joyce
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
4. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
5. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
6. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
7. CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
8. DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
9. SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
10. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
11. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
12. THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler
13. 1984 by George Orwell
14. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
15. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
16. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser
17. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
18. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
19. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
20. NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
21. HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow
22. APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O’Hara
23. U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos
24. WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson
25. A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster
26. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James
27. THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James
28. TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald
29. THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell
30. THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford
31. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
32. THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James
33. SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser
34. A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh
35. AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
36. ALL THE KING’S MEN by Robert Penn Warren
37. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder
38. HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster
39. GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin
40. THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene
41. LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
42. DELIVERANCE by James Dickey
43. A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell
44. POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley
45. THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
46. THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad
47. NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad
48. THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence
49. WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence
50. TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
51. THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer
52. PORTNOY’S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth
53. PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov
54. LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
55. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
56. THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett
57. PARADE’S END by Ford Madox Ford
58. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton
59. ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm
60. THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
61. DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather
62. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones
63. THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever
64. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
65. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
66. OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
67. HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
68. MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis
69. THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton
70. THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell
71. A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes
72. A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul
73. THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West
74. A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
75. SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh
76. THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark
77. FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce
78. KIM by Rudyard Kipling
79. A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster
80. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
81. THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow
82. ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner
83. A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul
84. THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen
85. LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad
86. RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow
87. THE OLD WIVES’ TALE by Arnold Bennett
88. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
89. LOVING by Henry Green
90. MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie
91. TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell
92. IRONWEED by William Kennedy
93. THE MAGUS by John Fowles
94. WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys
95. UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch
96. SOPHIE’S CHOICE by William Styron
97. THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
98. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain
99. THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy
100. THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington
101. ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
102. THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
103. BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
104. THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
105. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
106. ANTHEM by Ayn Rand
107. WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand
108. MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
109. FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard
110. DUNE by Frank Herbert
111. THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert Heinlein
112. STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein
113. A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute
114. GRAVITY’S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon
115. GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
116. SHANE by Jack Schaefer
117. TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOLROOM by Nevil Shute
118. A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving
119. THE STAND by Stephen King
120. THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT’S WOMAN by John Fowles
121. BELOVED by Toni Morrison
122. THE WORM OUROBOROS by E.R. Eddison
123. MOONHEART by Charles de Lint
124. ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner
125. WISE BLOOD by Flannery O’Connor
126. FIFTH BUSINESS by Robertson Davies
127. SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING by Charles de Lint
128. YARROW by Charles de Lint
129. AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by H.P. Lovecraft
130. ONE LONELY NIGHT by Mickey Spillane
131. MEMORY AND DREAM by Charles de Lint
132. TRADER by Charles de Lint
133. THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
134. THE HANDMAID’S TALE by Margaret Atwood
135. BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy
136. ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute
137. GREENMANTLE by Charles de Lint
138. ENDER’S GAME by Orson Scott Card
139. THE LITTLE COUNTRY by Charles de Lint
140. THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis
141. STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert Heinlein
142. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving
143. SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury
144. THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson
145. THE WOOD WIFE by Terri Windling
146. THE DOOR INTO SUMMER by Robert Heinlein
147. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig
148. AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS by Flann O’Brien
149. FARENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury
150. ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis
151. WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
152. NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs
153. THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy
154. GUILTY PLEASURES by Laurell K. Hamilton
155. THE PUPPET MASTERS by Robert Heinlein
156. IT by Stephen King
157. V. by Thomas Pynchon
158. DOUBLE STAR by Robert Heinlein
159. CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY by Robert Heinlein
160. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST by Ken Kesey
161. SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION by Ken Kesey
162. MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather
163. MULENGRO by Charles de Lint
164. SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy
165. MYTHAGO WOOD by Robert Holdstock
166. ILLUSIONS by Richard Bach
167. THE CUNNING MAN by Robertson Davies
168. THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie

If anyone has any books to add, let me know, and I will add them to the list. It will be interesting to see how long it takes me to get through the list. I’ll do an update at the end of every month.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. :)

I had a fairly busy day. I helped my mom prepare our Thanksgiving lunch, and let my brother Steve test drive my new car. Then I got to visit with my brothers and their families for a bit, and we ate lunch. I got to see my nephew Alex for the second time. He’s getting so much bigger and stronger. I can’t wait to be able to spend more time with him. Immediately after eating, I had to head back toward Nashville to pick up Ben to go to Crossville to visit with his family, whom he hadn’t seen in months. We ate dinner there, and then headed back toward Nashville. Once here, we dug out all the Christmas decorations and put up the tree (after making a trip to Wal-mart for some more red lights, since we couldn’t figure out which bulb was causing them not to work on my current strand, and firewood). Ben started a fire in the fireplace, which was very cozy. I took some pictures.

Next year I think I need a taller tree.

I was looking through my Sims photos today and found a bunch of good ones that I hadn’t yet posted. So enjoy.

Kids and Pets

The Supernatural

Fun With Water

Proposals

Miscellaneous

My birthday weekend went okay.

On Friday night, we went and saw the Blue Man Group again. Ben and I were in the second row on the floor, which was really cool. It’s amazing how they always have the same look of confusion/wonder on their faces and never falter. We got to go to the meet and greet after the show, where we got our pictures taken with each of them. One of them even kissed my cheek to mark me with blue lip prints. After the concert, we went out to the Big Bang down the road to drink and sing along. It was pretty fun. I wish that even one of my good friends (besides Ben) would have been able to come out, but c’est la vie. Though I don’t really understand how it happens every year that the planets will align in such a way to cause all of my friends to be busy on the one day of the year that I really need them.

Saturday, I pulled myself out of bed and spent most of the morning cleaning. The housewarming went well, and several people stopped by. The after party was also fun, and I got to see my friend Michele for the first time in over 3 years, which was really cool. We played Scene It and our team came in a very close second to Ben and Wayne.

So, overall, I guess for one of my birthdays, it was pretty good. Pictures from both parties are up in the photos section.

Well, I am in my house!

There’s a few things left at the apartment that I will be getting tomorrow, but for the most part, I am moved in here. The Internet is up and running (as you can tell); however, the digital cable is giving me a headache (between Ben and I, we have called Comcast about some sort of problem with the cable at least 5-6 times in the past 24 hours…I keep getting him to call them because he is way better at getting them to actually do something than I am). There are a million boxes everywhere, especially upstairs, since we are still working on the floors in the bedrooms (I am basically in a cave of boxes right now). I would take and post pictures of the chaos, but I’m not really sure where the camera’s USB cable is. It took me forever to find my phone charger so I could charge my phone that had been dead since the beginning of the move. Here’s to hoping I can get everything straight before the festivities this weekend. Thankfully, I’m only working three days this week.

Lookie what I bought on Halloween night.

It’s Lilo!

I went and test drove a Mini Cooper tonight.

It felt like home. It was initially weird, since I’m so used to Ariel, but it became natural in no time. They didn’t have exactly what I wanted on the lot, but they found several others that were being shipped to the states soon that they could get and are going to call and make inquiries on them tomorrow. I could have my Mini as soon as Thursday. I have decided to name her Lilo.