Topicless thread

[stewartsage]

It's actually been pretty nice here the last few days.  But not today.  Now it's back to freezing.

[Nichi]

@Stew: Apparently there's a chance of snow for the rest of the week here. Doesn't seem likely, as it's not even raining :\

So, I went with the parents to Tyler today. Bought myself the first Adventure Time game for 3DS (Got it new, for the used price >:3) and a Portal turret (I was $.25 short for both after tax, but the guy in line behind me was kind enough to lend me the extra change I needed ^^), plus an older Magic booster pack. Also, mom bought me a giant box of hot chocolate (60 packs for under $6, of a brand I like >w<).

...and then we get home. There's another notice from the city yet again complaining about every vehicle in the frontyard minus mom's piece of shit; which her car gets a free pass because "ERMAHGERD. UT NEEEW". However, they consider everything else to be "undrivable uninsured junk cars that needs to be crushed"; somehow lacking the ability to run the license plates to realize that the vehicles in question are registered and insured, which basically boils down to "it's illegal to park a vehicle made prior to 2008 on your own property if you live in city limits; as it will automatically be flagged as a junk vehicle because we're fucking morons". Half surprised they haven't towed every vehicle minus mom's car in the middle of the night; it might be illegal, but somehow I don't think they'd care, as they'd likely find some ordinance or law they can twist around to let them get away with it.

EDIT: On a lighter note, I'm getting a bit Kari'd away with texting </super_lame_pun>

[Chocofreak13]

pent, you made me laugh so much with that pun. thankyou, it makes what i'm about to post so much better. -w-

Trip Diary: ShowHide

day 1
left in a rush after spending the morning preparing music. trip was uneventful and went quicker than expected considering my grandpa either knows the right way to go or drives like a speed demon. i'm betting it's a combination of both.

made it to waterbury without incident, had lunch with aunt garney (chicken soup). went out to try to find train station. waterbury is a sad, sad town. we found a platform but no walk-in station; this seems to baffle the older folks here who can't wrap their head around a train without a station. obviously they've never been on the subway before, lol.

went back to garney's and spent the afternoon chilling out. smoke started to get to me so i'll likely spend my downtime here in the bedroom me and mum are sharing. thank god there's a tv, lol, and she even gets cloo. there's also probably like, 50 internet networks around, but all of them are secured, just as i thought. oh well, guess i'm off the grid for a few days.

seems we're having dinner with a guy named david. i think he's garney's son. garney, grampy and possibly david are convinced that this coming snowstorm is going to prevent us from going. obviously they don't know me and mum. xD

the decor here is very pretty, even in an old-person way. i've seen some asian-styled lamps and most of the end tables here are hardwood with marble tops. despite the smoke, it's pretty cozy here. however, i am suddenly a bit weirded out since i just heard water in the corner, so either these heating registers are really small radiators or that was the gutters outside...

upon further review me and karen are not sharing this room, we're sleeping in the living room as previously agreed. our stuff is in here solely because there's company over.

dinner went well with a large potato being mine (the biggest potato i have ever seen, it was larger than some steaks, i shit you not) and animated conversation around the table. david turned out to be a delight as we chatted merrily about computers, and eventually the table chatted about certain people, dishware, and other things.

the evening rounded off with me getting in PJs amidst garney complaining about my decision to sleep in the easy chair. after i came out from brushing my teeth she started into me about my choice of dress (the skirt) and saying i should wear leggings, to which mum stood up for me (which was really quite nice ^^ ). we chatted a bit more and then i came back to the computer to work on some art. the smoke in here is driving me nuts but at least she turned on the stove's fan so SOME of it is going away....but it's not enough to prevent eye burning, nausea and headaches. ><;;


day 2: wake up in the morning to a sore throat and a blizzard. garney and grampy are convinced that we'll have to delay the NYC portion of the trip till tomorrow. of course they can think leisurely given that they're both retired. they don't seem to realize that if we don't take this chance, we likely won't have another one.

snow seems to be tapering off into rain. whether or not this is a good thing is up for speculation. the streets here are very poorly plowed if they're plowed at all and the trains are delayed from here to new york. 3 governors (CT, NY, NJ) have all declared a state of "snow emergency". snow emergency my ass. if you don't know how to deal with this weather, don't live here.

throat is still sore from smoke, but tea at breakfast helped a little. wish i had a travel mug so i could take some tea with me. stupid me didn't check to see if there are any sanrio stores in manhattan so i could get another one. maybe the anime store will know, if we ever get there.

further on into the day and we have realized that there is no hope and we are now stuck here in smoke-land another day. cue footage of me swearing and breaking things. there goes ANY reason for me even BEING on this fucking trip, and despite us going tomorrow, knowing my mother she'll forbid me from going to any of the places i had planned. couple that with the fact that we got up at 7am today and will have to get up at 5 tomorrow and i am more pissed than grumpy cat after being bathed in icewater.

well, at least the day isn't all bad. i was given sharp objects! getting art done is also nice since now i can get off my ass and actually be a comic artist like i'm supposed to. the tv's alright here (she gets cloo!), but i might watch something later on my computer if i get bored. i wish i could nap, but seeing as how i'm sleeping in a chair, that's not really possible.

these vegetable crackers my mother bought are really bland. when you eat something with no flavour, you start to realize that there was a time when eating was solely for sustinance and not for taste. they're alright, but they are sorely lacking in some key areas, such as not enough salt and too much oil. it's a snack, which i'm glad for, but all the same, it feels a bit like i'm chewing on a cardboard box.

shoveled the driveway mostly by myself, my grandpa was there in the beginning and the neighbors helped out briefly after he left. anything i can do to get in the fresh air. i'm currently in the most breathable room of the house (besides the bathroom) and my lungs and throat still burn. as much as i care for aunt garney, i sort of can't wait to go home.

feeling a bit bored with art and tv, i decided to watch some anime trailers and am now debating on whether or not i want to watch a movie.

ended up following my instincts and watching The Violent Years, a 1956 after-school-special type scare film about a gang of delinquint girls. i got a big laugh out of it, especially at the end where the film called for a "return to religion" as a way to save society from the perils of teenage wantonness and feminism. after this, i ate dinner with everyone, which was a surprisingly smoke-free and very delicious lasanga with garlic bread strips.

after chatting for a bit, i got ready for bed and worked on art some more, and as i sit here now typing and watching house mum is reading and the two of us are gagging on the smoke in here. how anyone can live like this is beyond me. perhaps it's due to my over-developed senses or maybe it's just my asthma, but it is literally hard to breathe here. if i had to stay a week i think i might have to go to the ER. thankfully, tomorrow means NYC and then home (and fresh air), which is a godsend despite having to get up at the ass-crack of dawn.

note to self: look up prices on limited edition One Piece Sanji Cookbook. if prices are too high or the book is too rare, look for scans.

day 3

all of this day is written in retrospect given that i was too busy to write it that day.

we woke up at 5. it was hard enough to get up, let alone get moving, so the day got off to a slow start. this was quickly remedied by us rushing around to get ready not only to leave for the train, but to leave the state. we managed to get our stuff loaded into the car (despite protests from my grandpa, since he was saying that he could just do it later) and headed for the station in the dark of early morning.

it was cold. very cold. and breezy, and we could still see the stars as we waited on the platform. it took about 10 minutes or so for the train to get there, and when it did we happily got on board and took some seats. mum paid for the tickets and we sat for about an hour, hour and a half, going from waterbury to bridgeport. getting off in bridgeport was interesting. the station was packed, and we had some time to kill, so mum got a coffee and egg sandwich and i got a pack of gum. the next train (bridgeport to grand central) came in quicker than we had expected and we'd have missed it had i not dragged mum back to the platform. finding a seat was damn near impossible, and despite my protests to mum that she was insane, just sit in a seat and i'll stand, she kept moving to the back of the train, managing to find 2 empty seats across from 2 guys, and we settled in for the rest of the ride, which took about another hour, hour and a half.

when we actually got to grand central, it took us about 10 minutes just to get in. i'm assuming it's because there was another train in front of us, but i could be wrong. either way, when we actually got out of the tunnel, off the train, and into the station, it was just glorious. we got spit out into the food court (lol) and after a quick pee break we were off into the wild yonder. we asked how to get to 3rd ave from a cop, and though he gave us clear directions, we were sent wandering. it REALLY didn't help matters that mum had read the numbers wrong for the consulate, so it took us about half an hour to find the damn place. once we did, though, we were able to be taken early and we got everything done smoothly. i returned an ID i found on the floor downstairs and took 20 minutes to find a power plug in the whole condo-sulate (the swiss embassy is in what amounts to an office space on the 30th floor of 663 on 3rd ave and 45th? street) so i could steal power from the swiss. we got out, and after that, the fun began.

thank god my mum had the foresight to grab some maps from some guy on the way out of GC. they saved our ass here, as i circled all the places i wanted to go while i was waiting in the embassy. we used the map to help us find our way first to Rockefeller Centre (on 50th street), where after a brief bit of wandering we found the Lego store, where we stopped in for directions and to check the place out. on the way to the centre, we passed Midtown Comics, which i wanted to go back for, but we had such a long and busy day that it completely slipped our minds.

after asking directions, we found our way to the nintendo world store (on 48th street). as i walked in, i saw a table with some items and i instantly knew what i was going to get for Pent (a special angel kirby ), so after picking it up we wandered around the store a bit. i got a picture of a large Donkey Kong sculpture, and after looking briefly at the pokemon plushies i wandered over to the Nintendo Museum setup. i got a video of the museum and all its displays (will post links on youtube later), after which we looked at the pokemon for a bit more and then bought Pent's item and left.

after this, we found our way down to the Bookoff USA on 45th. along the way we were basically dragged into a high-end cosmetics shop (because mum was dumb and took a free sample from them; rule #1 of cities: NEVER TALK TO ANYONE ), we spent the next 10 minutes with a fast-talking foriegner trying to sell mum a $700 eye lifter by first spreading the goop under just one of her eyes (which ended up burning her, oh joy) and  then by never letting mum get a word in edgewise and constantly lowering the price (from $700, to $600, to $300, to $100, and then claiming it was a "two-year supply"). after we were FINALLY ready to go, the saleslady (who was very pushy and reminded me of my cousin, actually) kept going, to which i shouted at her in japanese and literally pulled mum out of the store. ("URUSAI!! HAIYAKU, KA-SAN!!")

after cursing her for a bit, we made it to the store, which was just as god-tier as i remember. they rearranged their stock, which was honestly a good thing since they had all the anime dvds near the entrance to the basement, which holds all the manga and j-pop stuff. i also found a rack of cell charms and keychains, where i picked up something for me (cell charm of Portgas D. Ace from One Piece ^^ ) and went downstairs to check out the manga. funny thing is, their manga selection is about a 70/30 split, with the untranslated manga being in favour. still, i found their discount section, where i picked up Mahoromatic #3-5, Boys Be #1, Mamotte! Lolipop #2, and The Wallflower #7. after snagging all of them, i browsed the yaoi section, at which point i was excited to find Words of Devotion #1 (i had picked up #2 at the con last year for a buck), and then spotted their normal section, which had Doll #3 and Doubt!! #2. i was agonizing over whether to get the discount stuff or those, and mum stepped in and said she'd buy them for me. i was shocked, but she insisted, and said she'd pay for the yaoi too. after thanking her profusely, we looked around for a bit (i saw original, untranslated Kuragehime and Kimi ni Todoke!!!), then we went upstairs with our haul and discovered i had grabbed WoD with a higher price sticker than i had originally seen, so i ran back downstairs to get the cheaper one. when we got to the counter, it turns out that i had misread the sale sign, so only Bosy Be was $1, while the rest were $3 a piece. i was at a loss of what to do, and mum said she'd help pay for those, too. i was shocked, surprised, and super-greatful as i checked out for all those, and for another gift for Pent (Wild Arms DVD #2; surprisingly enough the DVD was cheaper than if i had got him a manga ).

we then began walking to the third and final place i wanted to go, Image Anime all the way down on 30th street. on the way while waiting for a crosslight, we encountered an old black man who asked us for 86 cents (he was very specific). after we told him we were broke, he asked why i dye my hair like i do, and mum responded with "because she likes it." he said i looked like a hooker. xD;

it took us forever to get to 30th, and then we found that IA was much further down 30th than we were (we were around madison ave, i'd say, whereas IA was past 7th street, so it took us about 4-5 blocks to get there). when we did, though, it was amazing. the place was lined with anime stuff of all kinds, from Kigurumi costumes to an entire wall of Figmas and Nendroids. the entire back was also crammed with Gunplas, and there was a glass case in the centre housing all sorts of assmbled figures, from Asuna figures from SAO to Bakemonogatari figures. they even had an Asuna tshirt. ^^ what caught my eye, though was a particular plushie....of Black Star. with mum's permission, i walked out of the store with him, a business card, and 4 copies of a local Japan Lifestyle magazine (they were free and super-cute).

with this began the grueling walk back to GC. not only did we have to walk back to Park ave (about 10 blocks, i'd say?), but we had to then walk the 15 up to 45 to get to the station. when we got there, we had to walk another 2 in the opposite direction (away from Park) just to get to the damn station. when we get there, we were exahusted, and just wanted to get back to CT asap. much to our horror, though, we had appearantly missed the recent train and the next one wasn't leaving for about 2 hours, at 4:30. we got our tickets (and got ripped off by the ticket agent >>; ), then went to the food court and shared some chinese (sweet sesame chicken, mixed veggies (which are all hers) and white rice, and a bottle of cold green tea for me). we went back upstairs about 45 minutes before we were scheduled to leave, and i called my sis on the way up, since she had called me. not knowing what to do (since there were no benches on the platform), we went in a news shop for a bit, but didn't buy anything (easily 200 different magazines there, about everything from fashion to porn to cowboys, and they didn't have any of the ones i read >>; ). not knowing what else to do, we went down and just hung around the platform till our train boarded.

we got on the train at about 4:10, and settled into our seats. imagine our surprise when a voice on the intercom told the passengers already on that we had to get up and go to track 11 (we were on track 21) to get on a different train since the one we were on was being redirected or something. so we slog ourselves over there, and despite tons of protests from mum ("are you SURE this is the right train??"), we were on the correct train this time. a brief call to garney (brief because this was the quiet car and we didn't know that) and we were on our way.

we got off in bridgeport with the promise from the conductor that the EXACT NEXT TRAIN behind us was the transfer train, we waited. and waited. and waited, because the damn thing was delayed. when we FINALLY got on, we found out that this was NOT the correct train, either he was misinformed, lied to us or was just stupid, and had to get off at the next stop because (thankfully) the next one bound for that station (Sudbury...? something like that) was going our way. lo and behold, it was delayed too.

i wanted to stand. i found karen a free seat, and i was going to stand, as you do on trains. but karen, being the stubborn ass she is, was having none of that and sat next to the stranger across from us and forced me to sit in the seat i had found her, behaving like an insolent child. i was seething for the rest of the trip, even after i scored us a free 2-seater further up the car. when we FINALLY got to waterbury, we embarked and waited, passing a guy offering taxi rides to folks (given the night we had had, i was having none of it, and told him as harshly as possible "NO THANKYOU!!!" and "I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL FUCKING CUT YOU!!!" ). we waited for about 15-20 minutes, at which point my grandpa picked us up (at about 8pm or so?).

the ride home was a fresh hell. i had on my headphones (which was tough given my ipod was dead and my iphone kept locking me out since the screen was so glitched i couldn't see the passcode numbers), and ended up falling asleep once or twice. mum reports to me that my grandpa was beyond pissed at us because we didn't just go to NYC and come right back, calling us "selfish and inconsiderate" because we wanted to do more in a city we had traveled several fucking days to go to. he ignored the facts that we weren't even initally going to invite him and that if we had gone on wednesday, as planned, we'd have been arriving back at about the same time.

we managed to get to our house at about 10:30, 11ish. by this point i had texted russell that i wasn't going to make it to the club, and texted Pent a few times to apprise him of the situation. we got out of the car, and despite mum telling him to just leave it on the pavement, my grandpa put it in such a way that she slipped on some ice, tripped over the bag and went tumbling to the ground, cutting and bruising her knee and hand. we (very angrily) went inside and tried to settle in....to which we discovered some things. 1, mum's knee was swelling. 2, i had forgotten my bag of clothes in my grandfather's car. and 3 (to my horror and disgust) by living in that house so long, EVERYTHING we were wearing was tainted with the smell of smoke. even our hair started to smell like it. i just wanted to sleep, given that i was angry and tired and crying and in a lot of pain, but the little voice in my head kept yelling at me that i had to eat SOMETHING, despite feeling like i wanted to vomit. so i had a frozen dinner, and promptly went to bed.


looking back, i feel that every vacation this family takes turns into some form of hell.

[Chocofreak13]

Epilogue (day 4)
today was rather uneventful as we went about our business. mum drove to work, and i took the car back home to finish the diary and hang out for awhile before i left to get her for lunch. had some tea and some soup, did some laundry, washed some dishes and just mulled about. feels good to have internet again.

left around 1pm to get mum, we drove around for a brief bit and she got a D&Ds sandwich and a box of munchkins for me and the group. after dropping her off, i took myself, the car, and the munchkins up to derry to visit my sister (since i obviously didn't want to see my grandpa after that reception). took a bath while i was there; spent a good amount of time soaking which was something i really needed. felt GREAT after, to the point where i had an
ecstasy-like moment of high where everything was so soft and nice and i just wanted to touch everything, my skin, my clothes, my hair, everything. after doing my hair and having an english muffin at my sister's, i left to get mum and arrived in plenty of time (avoided the highway--probably a good move). after that, we visited my grandpa since i forgot a bag of clothes in his car, an he apologized to us for his behaviour. after that, we ordered and picked up some pizza, garlic bread, grilled chicken salad (for mum) and ice creams, and went home where we promptly settled into comfort.

going to talk to my sister about whether or not she thinks i should go to my grandparents tomorrow, so i might, i might not.

[Nichi]

Sounds terrible for the most part :[
At least there was some good that came of it, though :3

Truth be told, it feels a lot of overnight trips I've gone on with my parents the past few years have usually ended badly. I think one truly polarizing example is with a family trip to Llano, TX for a cousin's wedding: the trip up there, as well as the wedding, was very nice, while the following day (The return home) was a special kind of hell due to a lack of sleep and hours of time wasted on tourist traps >_<;

[Chocofreak13]

i remember many a trip spoiled by a variety of factors. most pungent is the trip to florida when i was 16, after i had to basically strip at the Charlotte, NC airport because i was wearing my biggest pants on the plane, which just happened to be covered in metal, or when we actually got there and me and my sister got second-degree sunburns the first day and we were staying for about a week, week and a half and so were burnt the whole trip. >>;

[NejinOniwa]

So I scored my first complete set of uni credits yesterday, with last term's results coming in.

It feels good man.

[Chocofreak13]

*brofists*

[Nichi]

@Kari: That sucks :[

Urgh. My paycheck this time was fucking tiny; so much for knocking off part of what I owe on the doctor bill and still put gas in my car >_<

[LeaflameSD]

i dun kno: http://members.tripod.com/~IronSaviour/midis-3/slayer-raining-blood.mid

[Chocofreak13]

@pent: that sucks too. >>;

[Nichi]

Indeed. What sucks more is that I'm scheduled for Friday at Gamestop, and have to hope I get lucky and catch one of the employees who works on one of my "not at Pizza Hut" days to swap shifts, which is hard when they all work one day a week and I don't have their phone numbers >_<;

[LeaflameSD]

What sucks more...

@pent: that sucks too. >>;

@Kari: That sucks :[

[Nichi]

What sucks the hardest?

[Bella]

Sorry to hear about the trip troubles K. At least you got to go to NYC and find some cool stuff, though!

What train did you take? Amtrak or the MTA?

I've been buried under homework and feeling tres shitty which is why I haven't been around much.