First Laptop

in contradistinction to my vlog on the topic from yesterday, this will absolutely be an introspective end of the year blog post. this year was marked by going back to school, vlogging, finally starting a regularly updated blog, not going to hong kong, and... oh yeah, moving across the entire country. i was unemployed for most of the year, which was freeing, enjoyable, and miserable all at the same time. i maintained a 4.0 gpa for the duration of the year, which is a first for me. i did a lot of stuff. but at the same time, here at the end of another year, i feel like i haven't accomplished much.

perhaps it's just my nature to de-emphasize my own accomplishments, or to not see the positive side of some things [especially myself], which is decidedly a character flaw. next year, i hope to be more positive, engaged in the communities i participate in, participating in more communities i've been neglecting or avoiding [a.k.a. making friends locally] and many other things. one of which is that i'd like to talk to my sister more, and that i'd like to start making music again. at least more consistently. consistency in general is probably my main 'resolution' for the new year. happy eleven to you all, may God bless you this year.

25 To Knife

christin-chan is sleepwalking! well, not really. she just came out to use the restroom and scared me a bit. it happens from time to time. today i got laundry done, which has become something of an ordeal ever since we moved to a place that doesn't have a washing machine or dryer. laundromats. yay. it's okay, it's not that bad, just time consuming. while i waited for the laundry to dry, i edited a little something called this video. you should check it out if you haven't already. i'm quite fond of it, but i'm quite fond of most of the videos i make.

oh, another interesting note about the trip to the laundromat! i got there, lunch in hand, computer in the car, ready to edit video while i waited, and realized that i brought everything except the one thing you need to do laundry: the laundry. basically, i'm an idiot. but it's okay, all ended well, since i got to stop by the store to get ritz crackers [amongst other things] which christin used to make our fabulous chicken dinner, which we ate while watching buffy. i disliked angel as a brooding anti-hero love interest, so far i like him much better as a villain.

some other highlights of today include nothing at all. it was pretty dull, flat, uninteresting, other similar adjectives, et cetera. tomorrow is new year's eve, which i couldn't possibly care less about at all, but it means that christin will probably be working super late if her boss and husband go out for it. blech. i work until 8pm, which is when sears closes, but i'll be heading over there after that to hang out 'til it's time to return to the homestead. saturday is a free day for both christin and i, which should be nice considering we don't get a whole lot of time together these days. we may go see a movie and use the tickets mom and dad got us for xmas. thanks mom and dad! and now it's time for sleep.

Rorm Doom

one way we can all ensure that the night goes well is to have a nap in the day. i had one today, for the first time in a good long while. black friday doesn't count, that was more of a sleeping session or blackout than a nap. i didn't sleep well last night, so by the time i got home it was definitely nap time. long day. once christin got home, we had some dinner and watched our show. i hit level 70 on the paladin tonight, which was good, though i could've done it faster. shadowmoon valley is such a terrible zone, i couldn't stand it anymore. slow day, slow night. goodnight.

note: good next-night, apparently.

Dizzy Moose Rag

as you may or may not have noticed, the video didn't happen. i'll be putting one up tomorrow, just wasn't feeling it today as i thought i might not. it's so close to the beginning of the new year that i'd thought of re-launching my channel for its second year of activity, but since changed my mind on that because i feel that my viewership is too small for that to have any sort of effect. i don't know. i would love to take vlogging a bit more seriously, but i feel too disconnected from the world of those who engage in it actively. i've tried to become part of the team, but it just never feels natural. i'm not going to stop, i'm just not vying for exponential growth.

of course, i've been doing this dance with youtube for some time now, over the past year. i've gone from literally zero people watching to 237 subscribers [how many of those are valid is up for debate but there are way over 100 people watching regularly] which is something. i could promote harder or try more, i could be more consistent or pander to an audience to increase views, but i'm really just having fun. if it becomes a 'work thing' i don't think i'd want to do it as much. maybe it would. but i kind of don't want to put forth the enormous amount of effort [or hold out hope for the incredibly unlikely amount of luck] necessary to get to that point just to figure that out. but it's not like i'm totally ruling it out.

today was a lazy day, but i did a lot of thinking about video ideas and cleaned up around the house a bit. that was nice. progress! i ordered all of christin's books for school, well most of them at least, and mine as well. i'm finally 100% caught up on my youtube subscriptions, which is something i haven't been able to say for at least 2 months now. it feels good, but now i have less to watch, or at least listen to when playing wow, but that's what netflix is for, right? work was boring but felt short. hopefully tomorrow goes by just as fast, but i must say that i prefer closing to opening shifts. we'll see how it goes. goodnight.

Missed Anniversary

i may make a video tomorrow, but i haven't totally decided yet. it would be better than sleeping in, though i'm sure my body will completely disagree with that statement in the morning. today i went to nordstrom's and applied for a job at their warehouse, which would be cool if i got it. what i did get was a self-esteem boost when i took the written assessment they give you. when i walked into the testing room, dressed in dickies and a polo shirt with a hat and work jacket on, there was a well-dressed young man taking the test in the desk-stall-thing next to me.

when i left 10 minutes later, finished test in hand, he was still there.

so that kind of made me feel good about myself. maybe basic math and upc/sku order reading isn't his thing. it's not really my thing either, but i'm trying not to be insulting. it's hard to feel good about your superiority without also gloating about someone else's inferiority. and that's the trouble with competition: there always has to be a loser. there's more to be said, philosophically, on that particular topic, but i'll digress for now. perhaps i'll include it in tomorrow's video, which may or may not actually be a video that i make tomorrow. we'll see. i said that already. well, i didn't really, but i implied it. had leftover turkey and watched buffy tonight. christin is well. all is well, in general. for now. was that depressing?

A Place Of Your Own

lazy sunday, wake up in the late afternoon, because your alarm went off late and you missed out on church. yeah, that was the beginning of the day. the rest was interesting. we saw black swan, which was genius as i sort of expected. given the director's track record, it'd be hard for him to turn such an interesting idea into crap. portman and kunis' acting helped as well, and it was just really good. a bit raunchy for some peoples' taste, but i think it fit the story well enough. not recommended for children or the squeamish.

we got home and, surprise surprise, watched some more buffy. it's so good. i can't overstate that, really. we had potstickers for dinner, which were delicious, then ate some more xmas candy after that. mmm. it's nice to have a stash again. mwahaha! but i've got to get back to the gym soon if i want to keep from expanding further, which would be good. got the pally to 66.5 and i've only just now finished hellfire and zangarmarsh. i think i'm going to do everything in outland, even some of the stuff i've never done, like most of shadowmoon valley. i feel like i missed a lot of that expansion and it'd be fun to check it out.

note: turn on my computer and notice this sitting here. bad me!

Hellmouth

remember how i said today's blog may be interesting? no, definitely not. today was a good xmas celebration, consisting mainly of us opening our presents together with the babies. this was my first away from my parents, not counting the one where we were in another country, and i think i did well enough. called them and that was nice, got to talk to steven and julie too. christin liked what i got her, which was the first three rambo movies. yeah! we kind of have this tradition of me buying her a trilogy for xmas, so i continued it today.

after the festivities at home, we went to dan and sarah's and had way too much to eat, played with carter, watched toy story 3 [which was sad] and came back to the house. then we ate some more and watched buffy. we finished season one tonight and watched the first couple episodes of season two. the show is getting really good, and it's totally addicting. i'd imagine we'll be through the series in about a month or so, if we keep it up at this pace. good times. i played a bit of wow after christin went to sleep. hit 64 on the paladin, did an instance with matt and nikki and the gang on the shaman, which was cool. now it's past bedtime.