An graphic assortment
It's been about, oh, seven months since I last cleaned off my camera, and I was talking to Yoshiko and she mentioned she wanted to see my Clamp in 3D-Land and Clamp no Kiseki figures, so what the hey. Pictures, anyone?
I frequently go for walks around the neighborhood during lunch, usually either east or west with further variations depending on which streets I take, whether I follow the path along the creek, etc. This is to the east.
This creek runs all along the north half of Grimes and is picturesque no matter what the season is (in this case, last fall).
You'll eventually get to a cornfield no matter which direction you walk in Grimes.
Ah, America. (Actually, this is the best McDonald's the Des Moines area, and I'm not the only one who says that. Superior service, clean, spacious - what more could you ask for from a fast-food franchise?)
Decorating the tree. I did say these covered the last seven months.
The finished effect.
Some closeups on the "ornaments."
New last year were Shugo Chara, Tsubasa, Hikaru no Go, and a few others. What goes up this year will depend on my luck at AX and the evil of HobbyLink Japan.
This is from Christmas morning at my parents'. Alan arranged a diorama on his new computer game, and I thought it highly appropriate.
The whole set. After this picture was taken, the boxes were immediately opened and discarded.
The pieces as they were meant to be seen: on a chess board. (CLAMP probably did not intend for me to use one from Lord of the Rings, but it was the only board I had handy.)
I didn't mean to collect these, as they're really too expensive for what they are, especially the first six sets, but my employee discount was right there, and...
The reason for the extras in the back, by the way, is that you get an extra white queen and bishop and an extra black king and bishop. I assume this is for when you get pawns across the board or something and not because Fuuma and Kamui wouldn't stop fighting over who got the king's spot.
For those of you who prefer a more dramatic view.
My current setup at work. (It looks less cluttered in person, I swear!) It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but I cut out little chess squares for all the figures to stand on, and the effect is really neat. Like a Kingdom Hearts level or something. Yuuko's standing on the box of kleenex, commanding her army, and TRC!Shaoran's pulling guard duty over CCS!Sakura by the phone. Everyone else is arranged in suitably characteristic poses as well.
In April I bought some daffodils and brought them into work. (They're in a pineapple can because I didn't have a vase.) Roxas is intrigued by the new foliage.
My computer died late in February, and I eventually gave up on fixing it and bought a new, refurbished one. This is me gutting the old one to fix up the new.
I visited Ohio during Easter, and the boys (my brothers Roger and Alan and the visiting, related via something complicated Danny) made Easter baskets out of cutdown milk jugs prior to the egg hunt. Can you guess what Alan (right-front) is making? Hint: it involved making a rasengan out of construction paper.
Right, so apparently Alan decided he liked Naruto about two weeks before my visit (previously Roger was the only one really into it). He's nine, and that is one well-modded milk jug. It's even got the red spiral on the back. Roger's is a devil and Danny's is a wizard.
Later in the week we went to the Akron Zoo. I was really into their themeing for the South America exhibits. Made me finally appreciate all that decorating in Zoo Tycoon.
Hey, were you feeling depressed? How about now?
Last weekend the weather was really nice (until it started raining, anyway), and I ended up driving up to the lake with the windows rolled down. On the way, I discovered that we have a state/national/whatever park - Jester Park - up there, and it has beautiful trees, lots of nice places to grill, and a few animal exhibits, including this one. (Yeah, I have no idea what these are. Elk? Does Iowa have elk?) There were also bison/buffalo, but that picture didn't turn out as well.
There were also a million people camping there, all in rows in the designated areas. What's the point of pitching your tent/RV ten feet from a hundred other people doing the same thing?
No, this is not a picture of my manga collection. (Well, it is, actually, minus several dozen books on my bedroom floor in stacks, but that's not the point.) This is a picture of Clamp in 3D-Land sets 2-8. Oh, how set 1 taunts me. Especially since I could have bought it last year at AX but decided $35 was too high because I'd gotten a much better deal on set 2. Woe.
These things are ridiculously cute and detailed, by the way. I can't even feel bad about the cost of importing some of the sets from Japan.
The Tsubasa group.
Doumeki keeping an eye on Watanuki (and the pipe fox).
You know what series doesn't get enough love? Clamp Campus Defenders. They didn't even get a chess piece, while Tsubasa got three.
Likewise for Legal Drug, except I feel even more sorry for Rikuo because I don't have a Kazahaya for him to tease.
I frequently go for walks around the neighborhood during lunch, usually either east or west with further variations depending on which streets I take, whether I follow the path along the creek, etc. This is to the east.
This creek runs all along the north half of Grimes and is picturesque no matter what the season is (in this case, last fall).
You'll eventually get to a cornfield no matter which direction you walk in Grimes.
Ah, America. (Actually, this is the best McDonald's the Des Moines area, and I'm not the only one who says that. Superior service, clean, spacious - what more could you ask for from a fast-food franchise?)
Decorating the tree. I did say these covered the last seven months.
The finished effect.
Some closeups on the "ornaments."
New last year were Shugo Chara, Tsubasa, Hikaru no Go, and a few others. What goes up this year will depend on my luck at AX and the evil of HobbyLink Japan.
This is from Christmas morning at my parents'. Alan arranged a diorama on his new computer game, and I thought it highly appropriate.
The whole set. After this picture was taken, the boxes were immediately opened and discarded.
The pieces as they were meant to be seen: on a chess board. (CLAMP probably did not intend for me to use one from Lord of the Rings, but it was the only board I had handy.)
I didn't mean to collect these, as they're really too expensive for what they are, especially the first six sets, but my employee discount was right there, and...
The reason for the extras in the back, by the way, is that you get an extra white queen and bishop and an extra black king and bishop. I assume this is for when you get pawns across the board or something and not because Fuuma and Kamui wouldn't stop fighting over who got the king's spot.
For those of you who prefer a more dramatic view.
My current setup at work. (It looks less cluttered in person, I swear!) It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but I cut out little chess squares for all the figures to stand on, and the effect is really neat. Like a Kingdom Hearts level or something. Yuuko's standing on the box of kleenex, commanding her army, and TRC!Shaoran's pulling guard duty over CCS!Sakura by the phone. Everyone else is arranged in suitably characteristic poses as well.
In April I bought some daffodils and brought them into work. (They're in a pineapple can because I didn't have a vase.) Roxas is intrigued by the new foliage.
My computer died late in February, and I eventually gave up on fixing it and bought a new, refurbished one. This is me gutting the old one to fix up the new.
I visited Ohio during Easter, and the boys (my brothers Roger and Alan and the visiting, related via something complicated Danny) made Easter baskets out of cutdown milk jugs prior to the egg hunt. Can you guess what Alan (right-front) is making? Hint: it involved making a rasengan out of construction paper.
Right, so apparently Alan decided he liked Naruto about two weeks before my visit (previously Roger was the only one really into it). He's nine, and that is one well-modded milk jug. It's even got the red spiral on the back. Roger's is a devil and Danny's is a wizard.
Later in the week we went to the Akron Zoo. I was really into their themeing for the South America exhibits. Made me finally appreciate all that decorating in Zoo Tycoon.
Hey, were you feeling depressed? How about now?
Last weekend the weather was really nice (until it started raining, anyway), and I ended up driving up to the lake with the windows rolled down. On the way, I discovered that we have a state/national/whatever park - Jester Park - up there, and it has beautiful trees, lots of nice places to grill, and a few animal exhibits, including this one. (Yeah, I have no idea what these are. Elk? Does Iowa have elk?) There were also bison/buffalo, but that picture didn't turn out as well.
There were also a million people camping there, all in rows in the designated areas. What's the point of pitching your tent/RV ten feet from a hundred other people doing the same thing?
No, this is not a picture of my manga collection. (Well, it is, actually, minus several dozen books on my bedroom floor in stacks, but that's not the point.) This is a picture of Clamp in 3D-Land sets 2-8. Oh, how set 1 taunts me. Especially since I could have bought it last year at AX but decided $35 was too high because I'd gotten a much better deal on set 2. Woe.
These things are ridiculously cute and detailed, by the way. I can't even feel bad about the cost of importing some of the sets from Japan.
The Tsubasa group.
Doumeki keeping an eye on Watanuki (and the pipe fox).
You know what series doesn't get enough love? Clamp Campus Defenders. They didn't even get a chess piece, while Tsubasa got three.
Likewise for Legal Drug, except I feel even more sorry for Rikuo because I don't have a Kazahaya for him to tease.