skjam

It's holiday wishlist time once again, see holiday_wishes and wish_list and as usual, I'm doing a themed mix CD as my outgoing gift.

This year's theme is to honor the end of the Mayan calendar on 12/21/12, and the possibility, slim though it may be, that the world will end.

THE WORLD IS ALWAYS ENDING (2012 Edition)

( Tracklist and notes )

It's past time to link back to some of the goodies I've prompted.

First, a tale of New Year's Eve and the witch trying to capture the pause between old and new:

"Martina" http://kajones-writing.livejournal.com/56380.html


A story about false cognates:

"The Gift-Wife" http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/360324.html


A story of unwise men's gifts:

"Myrrh" http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/348204.html#comments


And a lovely picture of a ghost cat (I think I'll name it "Scully"):

http://bootheel.livejournal.com/59535.html?thread=176015



All these folks have generously donated their creativity free to random people from the internet, but they also like cash donations to support their work! Watch for your chance to participate.

Work has been going much more smoothly this week, with most of our folks in the office (please continue to send good thoughts towards Nicole.) Next week, however, we are going to have the maximum number of people out for extended holiday vacation. Could be iffy.

Caught up with more backlog--looks like one person's been sending angry letters every day more or less because at the time we hadn't responded. It was actually fixed nearly a month ago, but these letters hadn't been gotten to. Hope the customer is mollified now.

I went to the MAS Craptacular on Thursday, though I hadn't meant to--there was an issue with my Anime Detour registration. But that should be fixed now, and I already have a hotel room reserved. (Not so sure about ConVergence--I signed up two whole days after room requests became available, and they're now going through the list, won't be sending out confirmations until January minimum.

Anyhow, the Craptacular is the worst anime the club could find that is still something that can be shown in public. The audience is encouraged to MST, unlike the regular showings. The final show, "Needless", was firmly in the "so bad it's good" category. To give you an idea, most of the opening credits are for a post-apocalypse superbeing action show (which does seem to be the main plot), but then suddenly there's shots of schoolgirl lesbians for no apparent reason. The closing credits are entirely devoted to the schoolgirl lesbians. In the episode itself? No schoolgirl lesbians. No schoolgirls, heck, not even a school. And then there's the shirtless priest.

As a break from that, there was a game where openings and endings of various shows were shown out of context, and audience members had to describe what they thought the show might be about. Some guesses were mightily amusing, and I won a prize pack of two Yu-Gi-Oh! wall scrolls, and some rice cakes filled with bean paste.

Almost done with the wishlist surprises, though this last batch probably isn't going to arrive before Christmas. The incoming mail's been pretty sparse, with only a card from Ariana of Philadelphia. Very sparkly card, though. I'm hoping for one or two more packets to arrive by Thursday.

My local Hero Games group met for a one-off Champions adventure last night--lots of fun.

Hope you all are as well as can be expected,
SKJAM!

Work was better today, as a couple of our missing people were able to come in. Still no word from Nicole, though--even if she gets better we can't expect her back before January.

Got a package from Fredericksburg, VA, so it goes on the pile to open later.

And a mix from ana_leezwas finally obtained.

( Moosic Mix )

No word yet on Nicole, which I take it to mean she is neither worse nor better.

The building management has decided to end our contract with the little convenience store by the cafeteria. It will be replaced by more vending machines. This does not seem a good tradeoff to me, as vending machines are not known for engaging conversation or helping you find what you're looking for.

In brighter news, I got a package from Amazon--won't be able to tell who it's from until it's opened closer to the holidays.

And a mix cd from dazzamre, who chose to go with "My Favorite Superhero" as a theme. Well, if you consider Jack Harkness a superhero. (I have not yet seen Torchwood.)

( At the End of Time )

Thursday was dinner at Aunt Judy's house. The food was quite good, and I was happy to catch up with that side of the family.

Friday, I took the bus up to Sandstone, where my siblings and I had an early supper with our folks.

I picked up some more of my British comics collection for the Scans Daily community--hope you folks like 'em.

I also spent a lot of time on the Neopets site--on dial-up, Keyquest just won't work, so I played that a lot and even won a couple of times.

On Saturday, we visited Lena's Gift Shop in Askov, which features Scandinavian and local gifts--and is "the home of the rutabaga malt." I do not recommend the rutabaga malt, by the way, but if you're feeling adventurous... I got quite a bit of Christmas shopping done.

I did a fair bit of yakking with the folks too. Won one game of Dominoes, lost two.

Sunday, we went to brunch at the Audubon Center, one of only two times they'll be open this winter. (Last year had disappointing attendance, so they cut back.)

On the bus trip back to the city Sunday night, McDonalds was unable to fill my order in time, so they refunded my money.

Back home, I found that the folks at Wish List and Holiday Wishes had been quite enthusiastic about the prospect of getting a surprise from me, so I've got a fair backlog. Will need to concentrate on overseas delivery first, but with luck everyone will get their stuff by New Year's.

Hope your weekend was tasty!