(no subject)
Nostalgia
i miss Barbie dolls. and double dutch. and tying those dinky little friendship bracelets. but mostly, i really miss my Barbie dolls. my dolls were kick ass. Mom showed me how to sew their clothes when i was like 7 years old. i'd do stockings and bras and three piece corporate suits. pants were hemmed. dresses had flounces and darts and whatnot. skirts had pleats. blouses had button holes. i never mastered collars, ugh, that drove me crazy, but it was impossible for me to do collars! i got in trouble a lot, because i'd cut up clothes for the fabric. and i remember, one year, 6th grade, i think, or maybe 8th, Diane gave me two huge garbage bags full of fabric scraps. my girls hit the lottery that summer. i made the coolest wedding dress from blue silk and lace. that damned dress had a zipper! a zipper, i said!! granted, the zipper spanned the entire length of the dress, and covered the doll's entire back, but that dress fit perfectly. Vera Wang had nothing on me, is all i'm saying. i miss combing their hair, too. i must have ruined 3 or 4 pressing combs doing my dolls' hair. stupid plastic hair, it looked real, how was i supposed to know it was plastic? probably the first time i ruined the first hot comb. but no, i just figured the hair melted because the comb was too hot, i mean, i remember Sharon Haney burning my hair a time or two, and she never stopped pressing my hair. everyone knows that Black people need their hair pressed in order to get it straight. my dolls were Black, i was Black, goddammit, they were getting pressed hair! (i think it was the 3rd hot comb that Mom threatened to beat the tar out of me, and i finally decided to chill out.) but, ah! when i was 14, i discovered weak assed Vidal Sassoon curling irons. oh yes, those irons couldn't do a damned thing for dense, thick, curly hair, but they curled plastic doll hair perfectly! i had the teeny tiny little 1/8" barrel, which was perfect for doing waves and big bouncy curls. and even when i cut the dolls hair to make the shorter, stacked styles, those little curlers were great. i did roller sets, too. for the gheri curl look, or for spirals, or for a big fluffy cotton ball head of hair. i made special hair potions from conditioner and gel, and it hits me now, i literally spent more time on my dolls' hair and clothing than i did my own. course, the dolls' were much easier to comb, and fat girls didn't have very much clothing selection back then, so no wonder. i miss my Barbies! i'm down to two, now, and i haven't made them any clothes since before we left San Antonio. Mom & i made matching dresses for them, cuz they're twins, you see. poor girls. i need to buy more dolls. i miss them. i love those big headed Brats thingees. maybe i should buy one of those.
TV
the Ace boy from American Idol. i just... words cannot express. where do they come from, these pretty men? i want to put in an application for residency. i have a feeling i'll be skipping out on this year, too. but i don't know. that grey haired guy intrigues me for some reason, i'm not sure if it's a gimmick or if he really just feels the music that way. i'm psyched that he's there. loving Ann Nesby's Granddaughter, i think she's going to be my Fantasia, but i'm not too sure about her personality. i like the little blonde girl with the neat southern accent, and i almost like the diva with the mouth, but i don't know. gorgeous, she is, but she doesn't seem to me as if she's in it for the love of the music. and there is a White girl, a twin, i think, who almost makes me cream. she is that hot. good lord, she's just ridiculous. sad that there's no hot chocolate boys. like, none. just that fool with a bad case of John Legend-itis, and really, that's no fun at all. last year, i don't think i got past the 3rd episode, i didn't even watch the auditions. so, mebbe i'll give it a shot. who knows. i need the Apprentice to hurry and come back, too. Thursday just isn't right without it. ANTM is coming, yay. but i swear, each competition becomes more and more about Tyra, and Tyra, i don't hate you, yet, but you're getting there.
D&DO
Dungeons & Dragons is fun. difficult, but fun. it's the first game i've played where they haven't cut me any slack for being a newb. i mean, i literally cannot get past level 1. rather annoying. i like the idea that Team Speak is integrated into the game, so that groups can automatically chat with each other, but there's the issue with latency problems, and the fact that, you know, no one can actually hear me. but it's Beta. hopefully, by the time the game is released, they'll have worked all of that out. i don't see me getting all addicted to it, though. it's... i don't know, maybe i'm growing out of the MMORPG thingee. instead of feeling challenged, i'm just annoyed. i hate having to configure an entirely new interface, hate having to learn new commands, new spells, new rules. bah. but at least i'm cute. this is the very first game that has ever EVER given the opportunity to make realistic ethnically diverse characters. noses aren't all thin and sharply defined, anymore, there are round noses and wide noses, long noses and short ones; mouths aren't just thin or bow shaped, now the lips can be as full as i want them, the mouth as wide as i need. eyes are incredible. almond shaped, round, sunken or close set. thickly lashed or completely lashless. but the skin tones still leave much to be desired. brown is brown is brown. a muddy, drab, grey brown, which isn't exactly ugly, but most definitely isn't representative, either. any attempt to get yellow undertones or red just results in anglo looking skin with a tan. and the hair styles! yeesh. still, i'll take what i can get. yup. and at least i won't have people running around asking me if my character's supposed to be Black or if she just has a really great tan.
i miss Barbie dolls. and double dutch. and tying those dinky little friendship bracelets. but mostly, i really miss my Barbie dolls. my dolls were kick ass. Mom showed me how to sew their clothes when i was like 7 years old. i'd do stockings and bras and three piece corporate suits. pants were hemmed. dresses had flounces and darts and whatnot. skirts had pleats. blouses had button holes. i never mastered collars, ugh, that drove me crazy, but it was impossible for me to do collars! i got in trouble a lot, because i'd cut up clothes for the fabric. and i remember, one year, 6th grade, i think, or maybe 8th, Diane gave me two huge garbage bags full of fabric scraps. my girls hit the lottery that summer. i made the coolest wedding dress from blue silk and lace. that damned dress had a zipper! a zipper, i said!! granted, the zipper spanned the entire length of the dress, and covered the doll's entire back, but that dress fit perfectly. Vera Wang had nothing on me, is all i'm saying. i miss combing their hair, too. i must have ruined 3 or 4 pressing combs doing my dolls' hair. stupid plastic hair, it looked real, how was i supposed to know it was plastic? probably the first time i ruined the first hot comb. but no, i just figured the hair melted because the comb was too hot, i mean, i remember Sharon Haney burning my hair a time or two, and she never stopped pressing my hair. everyone knows that Black people need their hair pressed in order to get it straight. my dolls were Black, i was Black, goddammit, they were getting pressed hair! (i think it was the 3rd hot comb that Mom threatened to beat the tar out of me, and i finally decided to chill out.) but, ah! when i was 14, i discovered weak assed Vidal Sassoon curling irons. oh yes, those irons couldn't do a damned thing for dense, thick, curly hair, but they curled plastic doll hair perfectly! i had the teeny tiny little 1/8" barrel, which was perfect for doing waves and big bouncy curls. and even when i cut the dolls hair to make the shorter, stacked styles, those little curlers were great. i did roller sets, too. for the gheri curl look, or for spirals, or for a big fluffy cotton ball head of hair. i made special hair potions from conditioner and gel, and it hits me now, i literally spent more time on my dolls' hair and clothing than i did my own. course, the dolls' were much easier to comb, and fat girls didn't have very much clothing selection back then, so no wonder. i miss my Barbies! i'm down to two, now, and i haven't made them any clothes since before we left San Antonio. Mom & i made matching dresses for them, cuz they're twins, you see. poor girls. i need to buy more dolls. i miss them. i love those big headed Brats thingees. maybe i should buy one of those.
TV
the Ace boy from American Idol. i just... words cannot express. where do they come from, these pretty men? i want to put in an application for residency. i have a feeling i'll be skipping out on this year, too. but i don't know. that grey haired guy intrigues me for some reason, i'm not sure if it's a gimmick or if he really just feels the music that way. i'm psyched that he's there. loving Ann Nesby's Granddaughter, i think she's going to be my Fantasia, but i'm not too sure about her personality. i like the little blonde girl with the neat southern accent, and i almost like the diva with the mouth, but i don't know. gorgeous, she is, but she doesn't seem to me as if she's in it for the love of the music. and there is a White girl, a twin, i think, who almost makes me cream. she is that hot. good lord, she's just ridiculous. sad that there's no hot chocolate boys. like, none. just that fool with a bad case of John Legend-itis, and really, that's no fun at all. last year, i don't think i got past the 3rd episode, i didn't even watch the auditions. so, mebbe i'll give it a shot. who knows. i need the Apprentice to hurry and come back, too. Thursday just isn't right without it. ANTM is coming, yay. but i swear, each competition becomes more and more about Tyra, and Tyra, i don't hate you, yet, but you're getting there.
D&DO
Dungeons & Dragons is fun. difficult, but fun. it's the first game i've played where they haven't cut me any slack for being a newb. i mean, i literally cannot get past level 1. rather annoying. i like the idea that Team Speak is integrated into the game, so that groups can automatically chat with each other, but there's the issue with latency problems, and the fact that, you know, no one can actually hear me. but it's Beta. hopefully, by the time the game is released, they'll have worked all of that out. i don't see me getting all addicted to it, though. it's... i don't know, maybe i'm growing out of the MMORPG thingee. instead of feeling challenged, i'm just annoyed. i hate having to configure an entirely new interface, hate having to learn new commands, new spells, new rules. bah. but at least i'm cute. this is the very first game that has ever EVER given the opportunity to make realistic ethnically diverse characters. noses aren't all thin and sharply defined, anymore, there are round noses and wide noses, long noses and short ones; mouths aren't just thin or bow shaped, now the lips can be as full as i want them, the mouth as wide as i need. eyes are incredible. almond shaped, round, sunken or close set. thickly lashed or completely lashless. but the skin tones still leave much to be desired. brown is brown is brown. a muddy, drab, grey brown, which isn't exactly ugly, but most definitely isn't representative, either. any attempt to get yellow undertones or red just results in anglo looking skin with a tan. and the hair styles! yeesh. still, i'll take what i can get. yup. and at least i won't have people running around asking me if my character's supposed to be Black or if she just has a really great tan.