Roller Coaster Tycoon

Click to view pics...



Dunno why, but had a random urge to go play one of my old favorites - Roller Coaster Tycoon. It's rather old, but it's still fun. It's just lucky that it runs (with proper compatibility settings) on my laptop as I haven't had much luck installing the expansions. Also lucky that the original was always the most fun. :P

If you've never played this game and get a chance to, I highly recommend it, especially if you are a fan of simulators. The main goal is complete the various scenarios in the parks the game gives you (such as "Have 200 guests and a park rating of 600 by October 31 Year 1") but it's also a lot of fun for just building roller coasters and watching the little people be morons - a bit like Sims in that regard.

And yes, the people in this game are quite stupid. One thing you should make sure to remember is to never make paths that are more that one square wide. Why? Because people will get lost on them. Seriously. They just wander around in circles. But it's quite funny to do on purpose even if a bunch of lost guests is horrible for your park rating.

Another thing to keep in mind is to never let your Handymen mow the grass. Yes, your employees are just as stupid as your guests and if you let them mow the grass THAT IS ALL THEY WILL EVER DO. Of course, this doesn't apply in parks without grass, but that's a small minority. Sad thing is, I've never even found a use for mowing the grass. Fortunately, handymen are the only employees with such a problem.




Here's a fun screenie. Though under normal circumstances your guests will object to paying $12 for anything, when it rains they WILL pay that much for an umbrella. Sure it's mean, but it's a pretty easy way to get that starting loan payed off. :P

It's that December time of year!

Let there be snow

We've got our first real snowfall out of the way. Nature had great timing this year. It started snowing on December 1. How's that for awesome? It didn't really accumulate until a few days later (ground too warm I bet) and now it's wonderfully snowy when I look out the window. The video clip I linked to is how I've been feeling the last few days (when I'm not sniffling, darn head cold...). It's from an old Christmas movie called "Frosty Returns", which has pretty much nothing in common with the original Frosty movie, but the song tends to get stuck in my head from time to time. :P

If you've seen the counter on the right side column, you'll see I beat NaNo once again! I'm quite impressed with myself this year. I wrote more than half of it by hand, though that took me until pretty much the beginning of week 4. And when I realized that I'd need to rush like crazy? I managed like 20k over the course of 4 days. Including the last day where I wrote over 7k! Can't you believe that? I still can't. I've still got a bit of story to go of course, which means I'll have to find some energy to actually pound out a conclusion. I want that free proof copy this year.

Only downside to hitting December is that it means I really need to start focusing on any Christmas knitting I want to get done. I have one item that I have to get done because the recipient knows about it. This person is rather picky, so it was just safer to ask about colors and patterns. Of course, that was months ago and there's not a lot that's been done on it since then. Thank goodness it's technically being worked on by two people, but I've done the most. Then again, the amount of work done total is rather pitiful so I guess it doesn't count. Other than that, I'm probably going to stick with small things for everyone. My hands actually still ache a bit from my 20k sprint, not to mention like 3 weeks of writing with a pen when I'm so not used to that.

I've also decided to start an "Obnoxious Christmas Sweater" for myself. There's been a few threads on Ravelry that were talking about them, and I just couldn't get it out of my head. I'm not going to stress about finishing it in time, but it would be cool to wear the thing to Christmas breakfast with the family. I'm not following a pattern, just basing it off a store bought sweater I love.

Straw Weaving

Yup, read about this a while back and had to give it a shot. It's so simple it's kind of addicting. Lots of fun!

Here's a few tutorials: [1] [2]

My favorite results come from having a double length of yarn through each straw. It gives a tighter fabric, probably due to more friction.



Another fun thing I've tried is working "circularly". *pokes picture above this* You need an odd number of straws, and since I've only got 4 right now I did this one with 3. Basically, you wrap across once, but instead of going back, you put the last straw next to the first and continue wrapping around. The odd number of straws ensures that you don't need to think too much about the wrapping pattern. Done with only three straws, it's a bit like the i-cord of the straw weaving world.


One thing to note, unless you keep things really loose (which makes for a rather sloppy product in my opinion) you won't really be able to see the strands that go through the straws. I don't know much about official weaving terms, but I believe you'd call these the "warp" yarn. You can see them poking out of each end in the pictures above, though you can thread them back inside, and sometimes when you fold your new fabric in half you can see them between the wraps.

Fort! I mean... writing cave...

I ran across a thread on the NaNoWriMo forums about writing caves. Basically, a fancy term for a fort to write in. And of course I couldn't NOT do this!

I sleep on the bottom bunk. It's already cave like and it's not a far stretch to imagine it as a fort. But it had to be something easy to put up and take down. And so I took this challenge upon myself, and a fort was born!

First off, this is my bed in all its messy glory:

Yeah, I'm a slob. Though to be fair, even when I do make the bed, it still looks messy. Why? First off, normal sheets don't fit quite right on a squashy futon mattress. Secondly, the bed is full sized, but my comforter and any of the blankets I've knit for myself are twin sized. They're from my old bed. What can I say, I like my old comforter too much to get rid of it.


Back to fort making, I knew for sure I had one thing that would be big enough to cover a side: A small blanket that I'd knitted which was pretty much only good for covering the foot of the bed. That would cover one end of the bed. I went through my drawers and gathered up old PJs that no longer fit or I just didn't like anymore. I tried lots of things to cover the sides with these, even going so far as attempting to create a "clothes line" type thing from yarn. It didn't work.

Went looking through my craft supplies I keep in the basement. I knew I had some old fabric from when I'd gone through a brief sewing interest period. It was big and orange, and I'd probably never use it. Luckily, and surprisingly, it was big enough to mostly cover the long side of the bed. You can't really tell from that photo up there, but the top bunk is only twin sized, which means that my bed sticks out from under it some.

It wasn't a perfect fit of course, there was space on either side that would need to be filled. An old nightgown and my shawl filled that.

Now for that pesky third side. I was pretty much out of things to put up. BUT I had a closet, most of which I hardly ever wear. And more importantly, these clothes were on hangers. So that third side was covered by shirts on hangers.

And so the finished fort:



And the inside:



Yeah, that's my knee. I'm laying down with my head on the pillow.

The only hard thing to put up and take down is the blue blanket since it's tied in place. Everything else is ridiculously simple. Currently everything is wrapped up in the orange cloth and is under my bed. November will be fun!

It's that time of year again!

Leaves changing, air cooling, and people starting to whine that it's too cold. I love this time of year.

Spent a good part of the day out in the yard jumping on my pogo stick, kicking a ball around, and generally just being 5 again. I am not a summer person, I am a fall person. I love the cooler weather, and I love the sound of my feet rustling through the leaves. It annoys me that most of the family is cold, and instead of putting on long sleeves or something, turn the heat on. But I do understand, I'm right there with them once winter actually hits.

Now that we're more than halfway through October, I really ought to get deciding what I'm carving this year. Pumpkin carving is one of the funnest things about Halloween. My favorite thing to do is carving characters that all the little trick-or-treaters recognize. It's especially cute when the really little ones make a fuss over them. Yeah, I'm a bit of a show off sometimes.

Last year I did Perry the Platypus, BUT I didn't manage to finish carving in time for trick-or-treat. And yet, I still don't know what I'm carving yet. So far I've put together a folder full of possible images - Mario characters, Phineas and Ferb characters, Kirby... I only carve things I love, which means I end up carving from a small pool. Currently I've finished a possible pattern for Kirby, one for Bowser, and am working on Norm the robot. And I still don't know what I want to do.

Ah well, I'll get there. Hopefully before this weekend when we pick out pumpkins though...lol

Dye dye dye!

Hehe, did some more dyeing the last couple nights.

No pics because camera's on the fritz.

Firstly, I soaked about 55 yds of wool in my sun jar (yes, I have a specific pattern in mind). Then I took it outside and poured two packets of orange koolaid on one side, and a packet of cherry and a packet of black cherry on the other. Didn't manage to exhaust the yarn the first day (End of august sun is in a different place than early summer sun, and I think it was cloudy too) so left it out again. Now it's the most gorgeous shades of deep orange and red. <3

The second yarn was an experiment since I really wanted some finished yarn to play with. I've got a pattern for this stuff in mind too and it's around 26 yds. I started by using a little of the leftover green from the sun dyeing experiment a few posts ago. Yes, I've been saving the leftovers in the fridge for this long. And no, I didn't end up using it all yet.

Anyways, it turned the yarn a kind of sick green, which totally isn't my thing. So I layed it out on some plastic wrap and sprinkled a little bit of leftover grape koolaid powder (which I had to crunch up 'cause the humidity had gotten to it) onto it. Just enough to make spots. Sprinkled a little more water on it to make sure it was still damp and heated some more. Sick green with purple spots...really not my thing...lol

So out comes some Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade. Mixed a whole packet into a bowl, but only put a little less than half of the yarn into it. The rest I put in clear water. I don't really feel like explaining the full setup, but let's just say I flooded the microwave. Fun stuff that is.

Took forever for the blue to exhaust. Since it was late and I was feeling pretty crappy by this point, my brother helped me carry the bowls of hot water to the basement and I left it down there. It was all exhausted this morning. It even dried quickly since it wasn't much yarn! :D

Spinning!

Eek! I'm making yarn.

A couple of days ago (mid week maybe) I was looking around on KnitPicks and noticed their roving. It didn't seem horribly expensive (as far as my thoroughly inexperienced guess was) and I'd always wanted to try spinning. You know, with something that wasn't K'nex and Poly-Fill. So I ordered some...and a real drop spindle! And it came rather quickly, compared with my other online orders.

I'm absolutely thrilled! Sure, the center of that ball is mostly barely twisted thick stuff, but I've gotten to the point that it's starting to look like I know what I'm doing.

I can't wait to try plying this stuff - probably back onto itself. I haven't decided if I want to ply the super thick stuff as well. Part of me also wants to just set the twist on the single to maximize my yardage... decisions decisions...

Either way I can't wait to make something from this, even if it will have to be small.

Sun Dyeing

Since it is now almost 7am, I can no longer say "tonight" and must instead say "last night". Anyways, last night after dinner I did some basic hand painting on a skein of yarn. 150 yards of some Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool. Nothing special really, but here's a picture of it draining. It's currently drying.





Of course, I'm 99.9% positive that this method works. Been there, done that. Still a load of fun to play with colors, but otherwise no adventure.

Enter dyeing yarn using the power of the sun. Unlike the previous skein, which is heated in the microwave, this method leaves the containers of yarn out in bright sunlight to cook.

Earlier in the afternoon, I picked up a large jar from the store. Plastic I think, but the important thing was that it was clear and could be closed well enough I didn't have to worry about spills. So earlier in the wee hours this morning (no, I haven't slept yet) I put the last of my white wool (which has provided me with enough yarn for three 150 yd skeins) into the bottom of the jar. I then poured my leftover dye over it. Wasn't enough yarn to actually use up all the dye, but a good amount of it.

I also had a partial skein of wool/bamboo/nylon sock yarn from my fingerless gloves. I mixed up a packet of orange koolaid into a zipper bag, then chucked the sock yarn in. The sock yarn was a white/green/dark purple-blue colorway, so no clue what orange will do. Hopefully something drastic. It wasn't my favorite colorway.

Anyways, I then took the jar and the bag out into our backyard. I left it near the end of the yard where it ought to get plenty of sunlight once the sun is fully up. This was somewhere between 5 and 6, with enough light to see by but otherwise the sun isn't actually up yet.

I just checked it a little bit ago. It looks like the orange dye has already exhausted into the sock yarn. From what I've heard, superwash wool sucks up dye quickly. However, I'm going to leave it out there with the jar so it can get some heat. Yeah, the water I used was warm. But where's the fun with taking it in now?

No pictures unfortunately. My camera chose now to start acting up and claim low battery. Which means that they're just not fully charged anymore. I'll probably go see if any of my wii remotes needs a fresh battery change.

Off to bed I go. Now let's just hope that it doesn't rain!

Happy Birthday!

Not much to say really. Having chicken wings for dinner and get to open presents later. I don't really do "parties" so it'll be a quiet night. :D

On Birthdays and Presents

I really wish people would stop asking me what I want for my birthday. Honestly, while there's plenty of things I wouldn't object to getting, there's nothing I actually want. I'd rather that, if someone wanted to get me something, they just surprise me. That's the fun of presents and the entire point of wrapping them up in pretty packaging.

Apparently, people have a hard time thinking of things to get me. That means, if I come up with anything to tell people, I'm pretty much guaranteed to get it. Which is nice I suppose, but it's totally not the point of presents. If I want something, I'll just buy it.

Snow Pics and Warmer Weather

Soon is a relative term I suppose. As promised, here's some fun pics of all the snow:

First up is a nice night shot of the snow piling up around our picnic table. It's still coming down pretty hard here.
















This is the same shot pretty much, except with the ordinary flash on instead of the fun "night" mode my camera has. Worthless as a picture of the picnic table, but great for showing just how much snow was coming down!












This one was taken several days later. It's probably still snowing, but not nearly as much. As you can see, the snow pretty much has buried the bench part of the picnic table. Compare this with the previous picture of the table and you can see just how much snow fell in a little more than a week. O_o










The weather has warmed up considerably since then, though the snow is still really deep for around here. The top layer has probably thawed and frozen several times since it first fell if judging by the icy crust on top is any indication. Too bad it's not strong enough to hold my weight. In fact, crunching through that crust is so impractical that no one has really gone off the shoveled paths. It's quite nice looking out the window at fresh, untouched snow.

That's not to say that I'm wanting it to stick around much longer. Today's nearly 50 degree weather felt wonderful!

I think the trees appreciate it as well. The last several days of above freezing weather has caused a few trees to start budding, especially one across the street that has lovely pink buds forming. It pretty much explains why I woke up this morning with nose and the upper back of my throat itching in a way that only allergies can do. I'm still in a fog from either the stuffiness or the allergy pills, but at least the allergy pills stop that awful burny itch.

If I'm going to be a sneezy wreck I want the snow to finish melting and spring to come. Right now, anything above freezing feels wonderfully like jacket weather. It always amazes me how 45 degree weather in the fall has people scrambling for their winter coats, but 45 degree weather in late winter/early spring gets people out in light jackets and occasionally even shorts!



Note to those on Ravelry who might actually care: I've changed my blog link to this one rather than my patterns one simply because my pattern one is boring. I'll still be using it to post patterns, but I add the patterns to Ravelry anyways so it's not like anyone will be missing anything.

Never assume anything

Ever. Really, I mean it.

For the past couple of days, the news has been telling us we were going to get buried in snow. 7-12 inches of it. Yesterday it was snowing real good, and so the main city schools announced that they'd be closed today. This was in the afternoon, so I'm assuming that none of the staff actually wanted to wake up early this morning. After all, we were supposed to get dumped on, right? Cue late evening and the snow pretty much stops. "They called off the main schools. I'm sure you'll have off tomorrow too," said my mom. "If not, me or Dad can drive you." Thanks mom... And you know of course I had to come. Actually, I am glad for the ride. If anything, I slept like crap last night and it probably wouldn't be a great idea to put me behind the wheel of a car even if it weren't all snowy out. Now I'm just hoping my evening classes will be canceled so I don't have to be here all freaking day.

I've got some cool pictures of all the snow I'd love to get up here soon. <3

Rain

Rain rain,
go away.
Come again another day...

...then again it may melt the remnants of that snowman. Go ahead and rain a little more. I want my scarf back.

I <3 Kirby

Look what I managed last night!