Tablesaw!

When I started this temp gig, I threw myself at it with abandon. I'd been feeling sad and anxious and worried about not having work and maybe never having work again and being unwanted by everyone, and then there was some work. Yay! Everything fixed.

What actually happened is that instead of resolving the stress and anxiety of not being employed, it was transmuted into a laser-like focus on this new job (again, only a temp job) so that I wasn't paying attention to friends or anything else. It had a new commute long, which was new, but I still felt like at the end of the night I was tired and didn't have time to do or see much.

My friends have been waking me up out of that, and I'm talking with people again, but it’s a small circle of people on my chat, text, and social meetups. Going from talking to almost nobody to talking to a few people again is making me miss the nice broad sweep of broadcast information that a journal gives me. And though I keep reading DW and LJ and Tumblr, I don't interact even in comments, much.

But my schedule is really SNAFU, so I'm not going to make any promises about that. Last week, I only worked 2.8 days because of the U.S. holiday and an extra day I took to spend time with my family on the beach. This week, I'm getting prepared to go to Portland, Oregon for a week and a half for the National Puzzlers' League Convention, followed by a family wedding.

I mean, really; the Con is two days away. The pre-pre-con party is happening right now, I think. I am probably the least prepared for this con than I ever have been for any con ever. I am going to show up on Thursday and I probably still won't understand why all of these people I know happen to be at the hotel. The whole things just feels so weird.

More pressingly, I have no idea what I'm going to do for the three or four extra days that I'm in Portland. I may, in fact, spend them mostly in a hotel room reading actual books. Which will be okay too. But it's more vacation than I'm really used to ever taking in another city on my own.



Rambly post is rambly. I defy editing.

I'm working on the Monday holiday, so I'm going to take Saturday off, and there are two competing amazingly geeky things to do, and I'm having a hard time deciding, so I'm polling opinions.

Things to consider (ETA: These are all things that people have asked me to help make a decision):

• Links: Planet of the Apes | OrcCon
• Distance: The Egyptian Theatre is in walking distance from my house, while OrcCon is a bit of a drive to the LAX area.
• Cost: Between registration and parking, a day at OrcCon will cost about $40. A ticket to all of the Apes movies is $15.
• Friends: Although the Apes marathon will undoubtedly be packed with Apes enthusiasts, I will probably not be attending with any previously known friends. On the other hand, a number of friends and acquaintances will be attending OrcCon either for boardgaming or role-playing. In fact, several of my friends are organizing a Houses of the Blooded LARP.
• Uniqueness: Strategicon is held three times a year, while Planet of the Apes marathons are . . . somewhat more rare. On the other hand, I have all of the movies on DVD and could organize a showing in my house (with booze, even), while gaming is often ephemeral.
• PKD: In A Scanner Darkly, the characters plan to attend a marthon of all of the Planet of the Apes movies. They do not plan to attend a LARP.

Woo. It's been a busy few days, and it still is. Shopping and parties and work work work—I won't really get a chance to relax until Tuesday, when my New Year's break starts (five-day weekend!).

The executive summary of gifts received is: lots of nice clothes, two fantastick backpacks, and an Xbox 360 for ojouchan and I from my nuclear family.

As I mentioned earlier, I ran a trivia game based on Wits and Wagers. If you've never played it, I describe it as a combination of Balderdash, The Price Is Right, and Vegas betting. Everyone gets asked a trivia question with a number for an answer. Your goal is to be the closest without going over. Everybody turns in their answers, and they're lined up in order on the betting board. Odds are assigned according to the order of guesses, and you get to bet on which one was the closest without going over.

So, in the poll below, I've reproduced the questions, my family's guesses, and the odds that were assigned to them. Your job is to see if you can be better bettors than they were.

For each question you can pick either one or two guesses. If you check two boxes, you'll split your bet, placing one "chip" on each, and receiving the basic return if that bet is right (if the odds say 3:1, you'll get 3 points). If you check only one box, you double your bet on one option, and the rewards are doubled as well if you're right (if the odds say 3:1, you'll get 6 points).



Obviously, no internet research is allowed. Also, the poll is set to display everyone's guesses once you've entered yours, but try not to let it effect your responses.

When my family played, the best team got 28 points from betting. Can you do better?

I decided to spruce up some of my old userpics. Nothing special, I just pulled up the original images, if I could find them; sharpened them up a little; and saved them again in a better format.

A couple weeks ago, ojouchan told me she hated one of my icons. I agreed with her, saying I was thinking about dropping it. But after a little while, we realized we were talking about two different icons—I liked one but not the other, and so did she, but vice versa.

And so, a poll:

Top Five Bad Haircut Decisions on TV Shows (from cnoocy)

• Felicity cuts her long curls short
• George O'Malley makes a mess of his head
• Cristina Yang's eyebrows are stolen
• Brock Samson tactically demulletizes
• Merlin Castell turns his model into a Super Saiyun

The poll is still open, and you should be able to fill it out using an Open ID (like your LiveJournal account).

There exists a meme in which one solicits prompts for one's top five somethings—as in "Top Five Numbers Between Zero and Six" and "Top Five Memes That Lead to Lists"—and then one creates said lists, to the merriment of all involved.

I believe I may indulge.

Also, you may have noticed, I'm going a little crazybonkers doing overtime today.

Feel free to suggest multiple topics, in this poll (Hello, paid Dreamwidth account!) or in comments or in random shoutings across the street.

The winter holidays may not be quickly approaching, but the summer holidays are, and it's time for me to face the fact that in two weeks I'm going to another state again. And this time, it won't be freezing cold.

I'm going to Boston, and I'm going for a convention of the National Puzzlers' League. I'm going to be there for a week. I'm going to do crazy things. It's just that I don't know what any of them are.

Well, that's not entirely true. The information regarding the official and unofficial convention activities seems to be coalescing, so I should probably do the same. So help me make some plans:
[Poll #312118]

The following poll was inspired by some conversation on ifmud about questions on the Cambridge exam for the Certificate of Proficiency in English.

Please don't look at the answers of others before you submit your own. Also, do not use any references. if you don't know an answer, just make your best guess or write "I don't know" as appropriate.

[Poll #299625]

Which of these sounds more natural to you:
[Poll #273176]

You know, sometimes, I just react. Many responses solicited, but one reader is required to ask something.

[Poll #181120]