big nudes

i hate to say i dropped out of school, but that’s really the best term. i ’stopped taking classes’ and i’m back to working full time at timberline. still planning to go visit scott and annie for a week before christmas. still going to play lots of halo 2 and half life 2. actually, i’ll be playing more now than i was going to be before, since it won’t be competing with my studies.

every day i grew more satisfied with the decision to give the starving web-artist thing a real try. i’ve been filling pages and pages of my mini-notebook at work, it’s fantastic. i’m excited about delusions of adequacy again, trying to boil it down to the key elements. i don’t have the patience to do it for six years as a 30-strip volume manga version of a 26 episode manga. but i think i could handle 13 episodes. we’ll see how it goes, maybe i’ll get into it and want to do it all the way.

cut and paste. trim it down to it’s essence, get rid of all the ideas i crammed in over the years that don’t fit. what is delusions of adequacy about? at it’s core, it’s about four lesbians and a vampire, giant robots, and the nature of the universe.

there was/is more, but much of it will transfer into 3000 plus/psi/suits, million plus/the terrible terrible ordeal, million plus plus/mentalism, and various others.

expect plenty of sketch-o-rama in the coming weeks. especially once scott helps me get my badass website up and running. i’m purchasing a couple domains this weekend that will help that along.

i may need to go get a faster scanner though. i can do it though. full time = bank, even after paying rent to the folks again.*

the rest of this post will be about money i have recently spent or intend to spend, so read on if you dare.

*technically there’s a slim chance that upon looking at the winter term catalog next week i’ll see a ton of classes i want to take, but i find it unlikely. this is relevant because i don’t have to pay rent if i’m in school, i do if i’m not.

ye olde fashioned toy run!

a reference to the glory days of the toy buzz. i miss when we could post this kind of thing and people actually cared. the mass camaraderie in those days has been unmatched on the buzz since.

okay.

tuesday. got paid, hit the bank. hit tfaw (dark horse comics owned comic/hobby shop), nothing much that i needed, thank goodness. rite aid had halloween candy on sale, i got disappointing spiderman fruit snacks(more gummi bear than dots), awesome vanilla tootsie rolls(limited edition!) and single-serving whoppers for like a buck a bag. post holiday clearance = awesome.

mcdonalds for dinner(a delicious treat as long as i don’t do it more than once a month…) and headed home. after a shower and some food, mom, leilani, ryan, and i headed out to fries. i returned the clie, ryan bought vice city for his ps2. i forgot that he’s never even played gta3 so he was hella impressed when he popped it in and watched the credits.

then we hit the target out there so i could get a folding table, which i ended up not getting after all(they were either too big or too small, no just right for me…) but I did get half a dozen toys i’d been holding back on for the last few months.

i’ll go months without finding anything significant, nothing i ‘need’ and i’ll put my toy budget into japanese toys on hlj, or eating and that sort of thing. then i’ll have nothing large to buy and i’ll just blow an entire check on the little stuff i realize i’m now wading in.

two xevos 2packs, a playskool star wars 2pack(iggy and zuckus!), a gijoe 2pack, a gundam i hadn’t found yet, a star wars figure for my buddy in singapore, and also some housewarming presents for scott and annie. nothing major but it all adds up.

wednesday. hit the mall to look for a hellraiser deluxe boxed figure for luke who is snagging me the hella awesome 12″ skeletor that never got wide release stateside. no dice at suncoast, but they did have new halo 2 toys i didn’t know about: minifigure 5packs! the campaign 5pack this time is awesome; two nicely articulated, albeit still crappy looking, marines with battle rifles, one master chief with battle rifle, and two elites with plasma rifles. the elites aren’t very posable but look better than the full-size figure. and the mc 2.0’s helmet is still off, but less drastically than the larger figure.

which is good since the slayer 5pack is still just repaints of that mold. standard green, clear, white, red, and blue. red, blue, and white have clan color schemes and icons, and in addition to three more battle rifles, the set has two plasma swords. i am totalling giving one to the red elite, and two plasma rifles to the blue elite. yeah, the two elites are red and blue so they’re perfect for single or multiplayer. i want to get them a warthog now. unless joyride makes a toy of either the shadow or the covie bus… preferably the bus.

decided to wait on them though, as well as the full size halo 2 brute and the lion-thing from the clive barker twisted circus line by mcfarlane. that thing has it’s mouth open for the midget that comes with it to put his head in, and apparently a second midget bouncing around inside it’s clear plastic stomach. i know, it’s awful, but that’s the kind of stuff mcfarlane does that makes me respect them.

toys r us had nothing notable except the marvel legends fantastic four boxed set which i want very badly, and the jla watchtower playset. the f4 set has reed and sue in the classic blue spandex, johnny mid flame-on, ben in trunks, dr. doom, herbie the robot, franklin richards, and a superball with reed’s face on it. the watchtower is just a kickass space station playset that i would have loved as a kid and will make a nice display piece now. whenever i have room for a two foot tall space station playset on display.

hit eb, paid off my halo 2 and half life 2 preorders, and deus ex: game of the year edition for $6 used.. if i want, i can hit eb midnight monday night and pick up my copy. i won’t have time to play til after work on tuesday, but this saves me the trouble of going by the mall on my way home tuesday night. although now we’re having a meeting after work, naturally. and who doesn’t want to hit the mall at midnight to pick up the game they’ve already paid for?

then i headed downtown, hoping that the sam goody or suncoast there might have the hellraiser toy luke wanted. again, no dice. although eb did have katamari damaci and i couldn’t resist, for only $20. good thing ryan’s got a ps2. also snagged some dbz toys for like $2 each.

at toybliss i got the yoda i’d been looking for for awhile, and finally saw the art asylum electronic enterprise a toy. sixteen inches long, lights and sounds, and kirk-era goodness. i was going to pass, since i have a set of star trek trading figures in teh mail from hlj that i’m waiting on, and either this set or the impending second series later this month has the a in it. and where am i going to put a sixteen inch long enterprise anyways?

but then i hit the button. and it made the warp drive noise from the movies. and reminded me of why i love classic trek and the classic movies so much. one enterprise later i headed back to the lloyd center, got the halo 2 5packs after all, and then hit up freddies to get some kaiser rolls and hot pockets, so i’d have something for lunch other than cup-a-noodle. while i was there, i snagged a box of six microwaveable frozen white castle cheeseburgers, a pair of badass slippers, and a new pair of skechers shoes to replace my black mono converse all stars, which are open to the world in the heels now.

unfortunately i haven’t been able to wear my new shoes since i checked out in electronics vs clothing and so they still have the anti-theft tag on them. i’m going to have to either take them by freddies before work tomorrow(at 7:30am!) or carry them in and go by after work, or come home, get them, and go back out to freddies. bleah.

on the plus side, they were really comfortable in the store, and they’re steel toed. and they and the sandals were 25% off.

yeah. so that was a lot of stuff for two days, even for me. and yet, in the near future (ie before xmas, as i can afford them) i will be purchasing:

a new tv(27″ at costco for $190)
x-box live headset and x-box live wifi adapter ($30 and $85)
an x-box carry bag so i can bring my x-box up north and other places ($30?)
possibly a new x-box depending on how well this one handles halo 2 ($150)
a new video card so i can actually play half life 2 ($100ish)

and a dozen or so games that are under $30, plus two that aren’t.

x-box
50 — jedi outcast (25 used)
30 — deus ex 2 (15 used)
20 — prince of persia: sands of time
20 — doa 3
20 — ssx 3

pc
50 — warhammer 40k: dawn of war
50 — sims 2
30 — worms 3d
20 — gta 3
20 — vice city

and if i’m feeling really excessive, doa ultimate, metal slug 3, freedom force 2, myst 4(now with myst 3!) and halo pc. and the baroque cycle. and three leathermen. and a lot of legos. and etc…