I've got the germ of an idea for a post/essay about how the role of Santa Claus has changed from the time I was a kid, and how "believing in Santa" has become a bigger deal, and how all the Christmas movies where believing is a major plot point, even shown as a redeeming force of good against all the cynicism and evil in the modern world, or whatever. But so I'm not just basing it on my anecdotal evidence, I'm putting forward a slightly-more-scientific poll:

How old were you when you found out the truth about Santa, if Santa was ever part of your beliefs at all? Apparently, since I don't have a paid account anymore, I can't make it an actual poll, so please answer in comments. It'd also be helpful to know approximately how old you are now. Thanks!

Holy crap I'm leaving for Japan tomorrow.

I'll screen comments, so please leave me your address if you'd like a postcard.

I just came home from work, sat down at my computer, and wrote a short story. 2600 words. That's more than I've written in one day in years.

It's going to need revision, I know that already, but I actually got a draft of it down on paper. That's been so hard for me lately, but this one came pretty easily. I didn't even stop to eat dinner until after I finished it.

How is it that yesterday I was feeling so rotten, like I was never going to accomplish anything, and today I can write a whole story? I look at it, and I don't think, "this story sucks," I think, "Hmm, this story could stand to be paced better, but I should probably let it sit for a while before I revise it." And of course, I'm thinking, "this could be the first story I publish."

It's nice, not to feel like a failure.

The story is about a woman who finds out the truth about her origins, and that she's not exactly who she thinks she is, but what really matters is the person she's become, not where she was born. Stories always sound so lame when you boil them down like that.

God, it felt so good. This is what I want to do. I am going to be - no, I am a writer. No matter how down and depressed I feel, I can never give up on that. And I never will.

Wow, nostalgia city. I remember playing most of these games. My family definitely had Reader Rabbit, a slew of Carmen Sandiegos, Math Blaster, and Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, and Number Crunchers looks really familiar too.

The Top 10 Most Influential Educational Video Games from the 1980s

Does anyone remember the game where you had to take pictures of robots? I can't remember what it was called, you were walking around the halls of a building - a school, maybe? It played "In the Hall of the Mountain King" as background music.

So I woke up at 3 AM with a title for a book or a story in my head - "Firefly Blood." So now I'm trying to decide which sort of inspiration it was, either the kind that's too brilliantly awesome for the fully-conscious mind, or the kind with quotation marks around the "brilliantly awesome."

Now with both a new screen and a new video cable, my laptop finally works again, for the first time in months. I have Josh to thank, because when I tried to connect things it still didn't work.

Hurray for Lappy! Long Live the Lappy!

Here's my little black and white cat Muppet escaping from the box Josh closed him in, while his buddy Ginger looks on.

I've decided to finally post my webcomic:

http://www.actiasluna.net/if

The pages I've posted so far were drawn a whopping two years ago...ouch! But I've also done five pages in the last couple days, and I've got about 25 more or less ready to go, so I think I'm ready to give this a shot.

They show a certain ignorance of a caterpillar's life cycle, but it's cute.

One of my jobs involves taking pictures and writing up descriptions of items for sale in an ebay store. I thought it was funny that I came across ( this one: )

So, I spent this morning in the Emergency Room with a kidney stone.

ON MY BIRTHDAY.

I'm still waiting for it to pass. It's a good thing that they gave me some good drugs, because it's extremely uncomfortable.

Katie, you weren't kidding when you said being 26 sucks.

Here's a word puzzle that I came up with while playing a different word game on Facebook. The game made you come up with words using scrambled letters, and I came across the first word and realized I could make the other words from it.

I'm just curious if this is at all cool, or at least interesting.

Start with a six-letter word that is a synonym of skillful.
Take away one letter, and you have something you make with your hands.
Take away another letter, and you have a vehicle that could convey you on water.
Take away another letter, and you have the opposite of fore.
Take away another letter, and you have a preposition related to location.
Take away another letter, and you have one of the few one-letter words in the English language.

A note to whoever hurt the kitten that was living on my porch:

You suck. You really, really suck. I don't know if the vet was right and you kicked him in the face, or if something else happened, but if there's one thing this world doesn't need, it's people who willfully cause suffering, even in animals.

( What happened )

So...it looks like just about everything that's wrong with me could quite possibly be blamed on migraines. I've known that I had migraines for a while, but I never connected them with other symptoms that I've had throughout my life.

When I was a kid, I often had an unexplainable stomachache with some nausea. I can remember having them almost every day in second grade. Some of it might've been anxiety, but I just found out there's something called an "abdominal migraine" that kids have and it's often a predictor that the child will have ordinary migraines when they get older. I can see how having the stomachaches all the time would have made me anxious, and that would have caused more stomachaches, and so on.

Tonight, I had an experience I've had a few times before, of numbness/tingling in my face. I generally reacted to this by making sure all my facial muscles are working correctly - and they are - and that my brain seems normal - and it's no worse than usual. So it probably wasn't anything serious, but it was still weird and vaguely worrying. But then I thought - I wonder if that's a symptom of migraine aura? And lo and behold, it is! It's not the most common one, but it's a recognized one, and it makes sense because now I'm starting to develop one of those lovely one-sided headaches.

I mean, migraines aren't fun at all, but I've been asking myself for SO LONG "What is wrong with me?" and to finally have a probable answer for that question - and one that isn't life-threatening - is something of a relief. And I could be full of bullshit on this, self-diagnosing via Wikipedia, but if it gives me a little peace of mind, that's the important thing.

Well, I'm heading to Ohayocon tomorrow. If you'll be there, look for the stump chibis in the Artist Alley...and there you shall find me.

Oh, and that kitten I was looking for a home for in my last post? I found one. With me. His name is Muppet.

Yeah, I know, I only come on livejournal when I need something...

So now I ask, is anyone in the general Toledo vicinity interested in a kitten?



They all have homes lined up except for Black Ears, the kitten in the back. He had an eye cold in the picture but he's all better now and very cute and lovable. He's a very friendly cat.

Please let me know if you can give him a good home.

The company I work for has a couple polls up on our website. If you have about 30 seconds, would you please click on both of the links below and vote at each poll?

“In general, what is your biggest pet peeve about websites?”

“What is the longest period of time you've ever waited on hold?"

I've added payment info to my jewelry post from yesterday.

So I make jewelry with beads and stuff, and I was wondering if anyone was interested in, y'know, having some of it. So I'm offering it for sale here. As a "livejournal discount," I'll pay shipping on any of these if you're interested in buying.

First, some examples:



( Necklaces )

( Bracelets )

( Earrings )

( Keychains )

( Phone Charms )

EDIT 9/25: You can now order by going to PayPal and sending money to "shiamirei@gmail.com". Just send the money for what you want and put the item numbers in the comments field, and I'll send you the stuff ASAP.

I can also do custom work if you like what I have here, but want something different. Also, if you have any friends who are interested in jewelry and you send them here, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

What's a pirate's favorite element?

(I was pretty proud of coming up with that myself, but a quick google search found I wasn't the first.)