Feburary the 19th and 20th: Been a busy two days
Busy may not be the right word, but I found another mall in this town! Seriously, it's hard to find since only one bus route makes the stop there (red OF COURSE) and they stop at the back so if you don't know what you're looking for it's easy to miss, but I had an idea so I went off by myself yesterday and had a mini adventure. I didn't mean to go off by myself, I wanted to go with Olivia but then she was like "Yeah, so I stayed up until 4 am again" (you idiot!) "and my class I told you was at one is actually at two as well and I'm going to that one instead." "Well fine, I'm going by myself." "Why?" "Cause red route gets here one past the hour so you can't make it over which means we wouldn't be able to start until 4 which is too late." "Oh, okay..."
Right, so, red route was horribly behind (as in, half an hour behind it's hour long route, yesh, Friday traffic out of town is horrible) but I got to the stop with no problems and discovered that why yes, it is a small strip mall. This town still amazes me, it's only 15,000 people but it's really spread out and it's impossible to know it all. So, I found the pet store, the comic book shop (but was too shy to go in, and I really don't like American comics, it's the shading thing again...), and the yarn store! Went in, it's my first time in a proper yarn store, and OMG, sooooo pretty! And expensive, holy crap, really glad I have a mini supply of yarn already, but the stuff here was rather nice quality. Got a pair of double pointed needles easily, but I was sad I couldn't get a pattern for a vest they had on display there (I had imagined a knitted one that was very similar so I wanted to see the pattern to see how the shaping would work, I kinda understand how shaping works in knitting but it hasn't fully clicked yet and I think making this could be the final nudge).
After that I went to the mall proper (the one that is actually called the Mall, no idea what the correct designation for this one is) and I was proud that I managed to read a bus route map to figure out how to walk there (did have to hold it upside down to align everything but hey, what works right?). Went to the Waldenbooks, again they didn't have the books (or manga) that I wanted, so I asked about ordering them. They said yes they could, but I had forgotten that The Demon's Lexicon is $18 and you had to pay up front. That's too much for a book from an author I've never read, heck, that's too much for any hardback novel for me. I will buy books that have a MSRP of that, but with a coupon and I had forgotten to get any. So I'll probably end up waiting for April and the paperback to come out. And if I like it I'll get a copy of the hardback and resell the paperback, that's what McKays is for anyway (and I'll check there anyway, since it's a first book in a series and by a first time author I have a better chance than usual for finding it there, that's the pattern I've noticed with YA novels anyway).
So, went out back, waited for the bus, decided that the bus schedual was not totally truthful with where the buses came, went to the front of the mall bus stop (yes, this mall has two bus stops, for the love of cake I have no idea why) and bought Samoas (fine, "Carmel Delights") from the Girl Scouts on the way, and the bus came a bit later. Road it around, picked up a book from the library, and by the time I got back to my dorm it was 5:30 so I texted Chynna and asked if we were meeting up for dinner. She said that Angela and Olivia went off to build and igloo and hadn't been heard from since (somehow this both amused me and made me go "meh," guess it's in character for them) and we decided to meet up anyway. I went out, found the two of them in the field, hollered for them to come, Olivia and I simultaneously slipped on black ice at one point (but I recovered much better, yay years of ice skating) and we all had dinner. It was a very long dinner, think we were there for two hours actually, and it was pretty fun. Then we headed back to Olivia's and mine dorm (Chynna had never been in there actually. XD Funny since she and Angela are both going to be in here next year, and she was well impressed with the "speediest elevators on campus"). We ended up watching Zombieland in Olivia's room on my laptop and I think she liked it alright. But I don't like watching movies on a laptop and not being right in front of it I found, just doesn't look right.
Next day, morning, wake up, ugghhh, a cold. And my battle with the communists had started the day before, surprised to say that this hasn't actually happened before but I was fine for the rest of the day, getting upright does amazing things to your nasal cavities. Took me a bit of a while to get going but I eventually hauled myself out of my room to take photos of "place" and to return a library book. I'd already shot almost a whole roll yesterday in my room for place so I wanted this roll to be place other than my room, and it took me a little while to get into the groove but I think I have some good shots. Few more exposures left so I plan to get some more photos tomorrow and then head to the lab and develop both then and try to mat at least one print (two if I can get the other one right, need to experiment with the filters a bit more, thank god Media Services sells print paper as well!). Made it back to the dorm, had lunch, and made sure Olivia was up. Apparently she and Angela had stayed up until SEVEN this morning (....WTF mate?!?) but she had managed to wake up. Angela wasn't so lucky, her alarm clock didn't go off so she missed the bus and Olivia and I found ourselves in the mall again. So, off to the pet store where they had an adorable kitty that we petted. Awww, our roomies are never in we could totally hide a cat in there (and she had a story about how, when her dad was an RA, his floor had two people who tried to keep a baby leopard in their dorm room, "you can't make this shit up"). After that we walked around seeing what else was there; we found the Harris Teeter (TOLD you that you get a discount on everything with your Vic card >.>) and a small cigar shop that also sold used books and I picked up two huge photo books about NC for $20 combined, score! Plus, in the package my dad sent me he gave me $20 so I consider this part of his birthday gift to me now, and now no more book buying for me so I can save my money.
After this we went into the comic book store and it reminded me of one I went to once back home (it seemed to have gone out of business pretty soon after) and I liked it actually. They had some manga in the back but nothing I was dieing to buy right then and there (again, I don't buy any books without some form of discount, just a rule of mine and I can be pretty patient waiting for coupons). While we were back there (and I was giggling over Olivia's reaction to the male aimed fanservice figurines) Angela popped up! Apparently she had walked the entire way over (well, walked and jogged she said) and she left that comic store very happy. She loves American comic books as much as I love manga, were kinda inverses actually. And neither she nor Olivia can get my beef with the shading in American comics and I'm at a loss to explain it to them. I mean, it's like someone used a gradient tool once in PS and didn't bother to blend! And the highlights, too many and again too prominent! But I did recently figure out that I (unconsciously, now consciously) judge someone's level of art skill by how well they work with shading and that could also explain why I've never liked modern art either. And I must say, I've never really liked American comics, even before I read manga so this isn't me being an anime snob. And I do love webcomics because of the blends between Eastern and Western styles (art and plotwise, and plot comes first in stories for me) so I think I'm being reasonible.
On the way out I grabbed a flyer that says the High Country Comicon is set for March 27th! Pretty excited, it's only $2 so even if I don't see anything I like it's not a huge expense. Of course, it's probably going to be mostly a dealers room (hence why I'm saving my money) but I doubt there will be tons of anime or original art I like but I've got my fingers crossed anyway! They had one back in the fall but it was on homecoming weekend so it was too much of a hassle to try and find it. Turns out there is a comiccon in HP on the weekend I go back for spring break and I might check that out (I get a $5 discount for being part of the NC public college system anyway). We went around to all the stores again while waiting for the bus (and it wasn't nearly as off schedule today, guess I should make more of an effort to get out on Wednesday when the traffic is less) and we seperated once we got back to campus; they were off to the antique store while I had a headache raging and I was going to go back to the dorm. And I was thinking about this, and I'm going to bring up my headaches again when I talk to my doctor. When I brought them up, ah, bout three years ago she brushed them off saying she had girls who had to take meds every day for their headaches and I felt ashamed for bringing mine up. But guess what? SCREW THAT, my headaches can only be taken care of with either immediate fresh air or a lot of powerful meds, last hours, make me nauseous (or at the very least too queasy to eat anything but fruits and veggies), sensitive to sunlight, and a incoming change in weather or wearing a hat is enough to set them off. I shit you not, wearing a mere hat gives me headaches, I've been trying to wear hats more to try and get used to it but I've only made a bit of progress so far. I've got no idea what a doctor can do, but I don't know anyone else who gets headaches like these. I'm nearly positive these aren't migraines but I at least want to see if she has any advice.
Huh, a decrease in estrogen due to the menstrual cycle is a trigger for some people, I wonder if that could explain normal period headaches (God knows the female body gets cranky without it's estrogen...). Anyway, I went inside the student union for a drink and somehow ended up in a country music festival. There was a gathering of guitars, more than a couple of cellos (Jesus those things are tall!), a bounty of banjos and a few fiddles in a number of groups all over the place. Totally random but the music sounded alright when I was walking through, I swear I've been in the South too long if country is starting to sound good to me. XD
So I spent the rest of the afternoon reading and then going "Alright, this headache isn't going away, hit me meds!" and then being annoyed when they didn't work. It seems that I need to take meds, drink a lot of water, go for a brief walk, and then eat despite the nausea followed by a shower to get rid of a headache, really a pain but it seems like this is the best chance of getting it taken care of.
And gah, tired now, I want to read but everything seems to be going sideways so it's off to bed for me. Ugh, tomorrows gonna be busy, wait, today is going to be busy, hope I can finish my shirt as well, psh, I'll settle for getting the cuffs done at this rate.... signing off.
Right, so, red route was horribly behind (as in, half an hour behind it's hour long route, yesh, Friday traffic out of town is horrible) but I got to the stop with no problems and discovered that why yes, it is a small strip mall. This town still amazes me, it's only 15,000 people but it's really spread out and it's impossible to know it all. So, I found the pet store, the comic book shop (but was too shy to go in, and I really don't like American comics, it's the shading thing again...), and the yarn store! Went in, it's my first time in a proper yarn store, and OMG, sooooo pretty! And expensive, holy crap, really glad I have a mini supply of yarn already, but the stuff here was rather nice quality. Got a pair of double pointed needles easily, but I was sad I couldn't get a pattern for a vest they had on display there (I had imagined a knitted one that was very similar so I wanted to see the pattern to see how the shaping would work, I kinda understand how shaping works in knitting but it hasn't fully clicked yet and I think making this could be the final nudge).
After that I went to the mall proper (the one that is actually called the Mall, no idea what the correct designation for this one is) and I was proud that I managed to read a bus route map to figure out how to walk there (did have to hold it upside down to align everything but hey, what works right?). Went to the Waldenbooks, again they didn't have the books (or manga) that I wanted, so I asked about ordering them. They said yes they could, but I had forgotten that The Demon's Lexicon is $18 and you had to pay up front. That's too much for a book from an author I've never read, heck, that's too much for any hardback novel for me. I will buy books that have a MSRP of that, but with a coupon and I had forgotten to get any. So I'll probably end up waiting for April and the paperback to come out. And if I like it I'll get a copy of the hardback and resell the paperback, that's what McKays is for anyway (and I'll check there anyway, since it's a first book in a series and by a first time author I have a better chance than usual for finding it there, that's the pattern I've noticed with YA novels anyway).
So, went out back, waited for the bus, decided that the bus schedual was not totally truthful with where the buses came, went to the front of the mall bus stop (yes, this mall has two bus stops, for the love of cake I have no idea why) and bought Samoas (fine, "Carmel Delights") from the Girl Scouts on the way, and the bus came a bit later. Road it around, picked up a book from the library, and by the time I got back to my dorm it was 5:30 so I texted Chynna and asked if we were meeting up for dinner. She said that Angela and Olivia went off to build and igloo and hadn't been heard from since (somehow this both amused me and made me go "meh," guess it's in character for them) and we decided to meet up anyway. I went out, found the two of them in the field, hollered for them to come, Olivia and I simultaneously slipped on black ice at one point (but I recovered much better, yay years of ice skating) and we all had dinner. It was a very long dinner, think we were there for two hours actually, and it was pretty fun. Then we headed back to Olivia's and mine dorm (Chynna had never been in there actually. XD Funny since she and Angela are both going to be in here next year, and she was well impressed with the "speediest elevators on campus"). We ended up watching Zombieland in Olivia's room on my laptop and I think she liked it alright. But I don't like watching movies on a laptop and not being right in front of it I found, just doesn't look right.
Next day, morning, wake up, ugghhh, a cold. And my battle with the communists had started the day before, surprised to say that this hasn't actually happened before but I was fine for the rest of the day, getting upright does amazing things to your nasal cavities. Took me a bit of a while to get going but I eventually hauled myself out of my room to take photos of "place" and to return a library book. I'd already shot almost a whole roll yesterday in my room for place so I wanted this roll to be place other than my room, and it took me a little while to get into the groove but I think I have some good shots. Few more exposures left so I plan to get some more photos tomorrow and then head to the lab and develop both then and try to mat at least one print (two if I can get the other one right, need to experiment with the filters a bit more, thank god Media Services sells print paper as well!). Made it back to the dorm, had lunch, and made sure Olivia was up. Apparently she and Angela had stayed up until SEVEN this morning (....WTF mate?!?) but she had managed to wake up. Angela wasn't so lucky, her alarm clock didn't go off so she missed the bus and Olivia and I found ourselves in the mall again. So, off to the pet store where they had an adorable kitty that we petted. Awww, our roomies are never in we could totally hide a cat in there (and she had a story about how, when her dad was an RA, his floor had two people who tried to keep a baby leopard in their dorm room, "you can't make this shit up"). After that we walked around seeing what else was there; we found the Harris Teeter (TOLD you that you get a discount on everything with your Vic card >.>) and a small cigar shop that also sold used books and I picked up two huge photo books about NC for $20 combined, score! Plus, in the package my dad sent me he gave me $20 so I consider this part of his birthday gift to me now, and now no more book buying for me so I can save my money.
After this we went into the comic book store and it reminded me of one I went to once back home (it seemed to have gone out of business pretty soon after) and I liked it actually. They had some manga in the back but nothing I was dieing to buy right then and there (again, I don't buy any books without some form of discount, just a rule of mine and I can be pretty patient waiting for coupons). While we were back there (and I was giggling over Olivia's reaction to the male aimed fanservice figurines) Angela popped up! Apparently she had walked the entire way over (well, walked and jogged she said) and she left that comic store very happy. She loves American comic books as much as I love manga, were kinda inverses actually. And neither she nor Olivia can get my beef with the shading in American comics and I'm at a loss to explain it to them. I mean, it's like someone used a gradient tool once in PS and didn't bother to blend! And the highlights, too many and again too prominent! But I did recently figure out that I (unconsciously, now consciously) judge someone's level of art skill by how well they work with shading and that could also explain why I've never liked modern art either. And I must say, I've never really liked American comics, even before I read manga so this isn't me being an anime snob. And I do love webcomics because of the blends between Eastern and Western styles (art and plotwise, and plot comes first in stories for me) so I think I'm being reasonible.
On the way out I grabbed a flyer that says the High Country Comicon is set for March 27th! Pretty excited, it's only $2 so even if I don't see anything I like it's not a huge expense. Of course, it's probably going to be mostly a dealers room (hence why I'm saving my money) but I doubt there will be tons of anime or original art I like but I've got my fingers crossed anyway! They had one back in the fall but it was on homecoming weekend so it was too much of a hassle to try and find it. Turns out there is a comiccon in HP on the weekend I go back for spring break and I might check that out (I get a $5 discount for being part of the NC public college system anyway). We went around to all the stores again while waiting for the bus (and it wasn't nearly as off schedule today, guess I should make more of an effort to get out on Wednesday when the traffic is less) and we seperated once we got back to campus; they were off to the antique store while I had a headache raging and I was going to go back to the dorm. And I was thinking about this, and I'm going to bring up my headaches again when I talk to my doctor. When I brought them up, ah, bout three years ago she brushed them off saying she had girls who had to take meds every day for their headaches and I felt ashamed for bringing mine up. But guess what? SCREW THAT, my headaches can only be taken care of with either immediate fresh air or a lot of powerful meds, last hours, make me nauseous (or at the very least too queasy to eat anything but fruits and veggies), sensitive to sunlight, and a incoming change in weather or wearing a hat is enough to set them off. I shit you not, wearing a mere hat gives me headaches, I've been trying to wear hats more to try and get used to it but I've only made a bit of progress so far. I've got no idea what a doctor can do, but I don't know anyone else who gets headaches like these. I'm nearly positive these aren't migraines but I at least want to see if she has any advice.
Huh, a decrease in estrogen due to the menstrual cycle is a trigger for some people, I wonder if that could explain normal period headaches (God knows the female body gets cranky without it's estrogen...). Anyway, I went inside the student union for a drink and somehow ended up in a country music festival. There was a gathering of guitars, more than a couple of cellos (Jesus those things are tall!), a bounty of banjos and a few fiddles in a number of groups all over the place. Totally random but the music sounded alright when I was walking through, I swear I've been in the South too long if country is starting to sound good to me. XD
So I spent the rest of the afternoon reading and then going "Alright, this headache isn't going away, hit me meds!" and then being annoyed when they didn't work. It seems that I need to take meds, drink a lot of water, go for a brief walk, and then eat despite the nausea followed by a shower to get rid of a headache, really a pain but it seems like this is the best chance of getting it taken care of.
And gah, tired now, I want to read but everything seems to be going sideways so it's off to bed for me. Ugh, tomorrows gonna be busy, wait, today is going to be busy, hope I can finish my shirt as well, psh, I'll settle for getting the cuffs done at this rate.... signing off.