Behind the pretzels is our evening entertainment—Ticket to Ride – Nordic Countries (a limited edition version) happened to color-coordinate with the pretzels. Totally unplanned, and totally awesome (if you’re amused by things like that, which I am).

Sorry for the yellowish photo… I need to learn more about the white balance settings on my camera, and I’m too lazy to fix the color in Photoshop before uploading these fine and vital to documenting my exciting life photos.

I should also mention that a thieving hand sabotaged my arteestic still life photography. I was not surprised. They were delicious!

*my “Norwegian little sister” who is visiting this week

(Around this time I happened to be experiencing Crystal Quest withdrawals since I grew up in a Mac family. Worms would have been fun for me.)

But check out these awesome little polymer clay Worms and accessories by PlanetJune! Soooo cute! I need to get a copy of the game and see how I like Worms in 2010.

PlanetJune is a very crafty geek chick who also recently created and blogged about a highly detailed polymer clay R2D2. It even has a rotating head. Beautifully crafted genius!

I want to be her friend. Who wouldn’t?

We’ve given ourselves permission to smack talk during cooperative gaming sessions, so long as the smack talk and related emotions end when the Wii is turned off. Because some people have different strategies regarding the welfare of their teammates.

*clears throat and looks pointedly in the direction of some people*

It’s an incredibly awesome game and soooo cool to experience in multiplayer mode. Bouncing on each other’s heads, making Yoshi temporarily swallow your teammate, jumping into a safety bubble instead of dying, and so on. Ben and I played together from the start and immediately loved it from a nostalgic aspect (we both played and loved all three NES Mario games as kids). Then we started interacting on screen (bow chicka wow wow!) and suddenly we found ourselves exasperated by the other’s inability to do anything right. It was weird and enraging how our competitive “spirits” came out while we were trying to cooperate.

But now we’ve played more and become accustomed to each other’s (faulty, of course) style of gameplay. The smack talk is loud, foul, and would not sound good if taken out of context. But it’s fun. And safer than kicking wild hyenas! And as long as we both power down our smack talk when the game goes off, it works. Win win, even when you reach your fifth continue because you suck way more than you thought you did!

After trying to access various caches, I handed my database over to Ben to see if he could perform any forensics tricks. After a short while, he gave me the bad news that it was gone. I subsequently had a minor emotional breakdown, twittered desperately seeking someone else’s cache, and starting calling people. It’s possible that I sounded like I was drunk dialing, but I assure you I was not.

Meanwhile, Ben kept calmly poking around my database searching for I-don’t-know-what but that’s what he does with computers: he gives you the bad news but doesn’t give up. Bless his intensely dedicated computer geek soul.  And then Isis projectile vomited in the other room, and I was about ready to just delete my whole blog, because really, what’s the point? And then—wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles—Ben found the lost entry.

If you ever lose your most recent entry after upgrading wordpress and you have access to your database, check to see if MySQL created an automatic backup of the last version before you overwrote it. Not the automatic once-a-day backup, but another secret hidden one that was created just before you realized the dumb thing you did. Because I’m probably not the first person to have done that.

I’d ask Ben for specifics on where he found that entry in my database, but he’s currently engrossed in Grand Theft Auto III and he deserves not to be disturbed. Especially because he cleaned up the cat vomit in addition to solving my idiot problem. Benjamin, YOU ARE THE MAN.

• I missed Worldwide Dungeons and Dragons Game Day yesterday. *sadface* But one of my local friends is preparing to be a kickass DM, so there’s something D&D for me to look forward to. *happyface*
• I started another semester of classes at Utah Valley University, where I’m working toward a 2-year degree in Digital Media (technically it’s “Digital Communication Technology”) which sounds kind of vaguely Technical with a splash of Cool. And it is. I already have my bachelor’s degree in English/Creative Writing, so it’s kind of weird to be gunning for as associate, but hey, it’s achievable, man! And all of my general ed requirements transferred and/or are waived because of the pre-existing degree, so that’s nice.

  This summer I’m packing in all of my art classes that count as Digital Media electives: 2D Design (required, actually), Typography (LOVE this class), and Drawing I (because I’d like to be able to hand-draw something by which I’m not embarrassed). I’m the only Lady Student left in my Digital Motion Picture Essentials class, i.e. Making Crappy Short Films 101. Half of the class dropped after the first day when the prof presented himself as an egotist asshole. I get along with the 7 other guys, so the class is still fun. And I’m excited to be learning how to use Final Cut Pro.

• A few weeks ago, I applied for a part-time summer internship and was offered a position right away. I didn’t realize at first that it was unpaid, but I decided to go for it anyway for the college credit and potential resume/portfolio boost. After two weeks, though, it became clear that I was not going to benefit much from the experience, and I quit. It is very out of character for me to quit a job so quickly, but the fact that I wasn’t being paid made it easier. Oh, and the fact that the woman in the cubicle next to mine played her music at an unprofessional volume, AND it was country, AND she sang along. Gah.
• Quitting that “job,” however, has freed up my availability to pimp my freelance writing services and to volunteer more for the Sundance Institute, which runs a bunch of “artist labs and workshops” for film directors, screenwriters, etc. This is the first year they’ve accepted volunteers outside of the annual winter film festival. So far, I’ve just been moving boxes and doing inventory and asking a lot of questions. Not surprisingly, I love hanging out at the Sundance resort and doing “backstage” stuff for the incoming workshops. I’m hot for creative environments. Also, I’m really looking forward to sorting office supplies. I was serious when I told the venue/production manager that office supply stores put me in my zen place.
• Ben and I drove up to Boise, Idaho, two weekends ago, and life has been pretty busy since then. I have notes but need to formulate that into more of a coherent story. Stay tuned!

Cute as we look there, the rest of the night was spent fighting for control of our band’s tour schedule.

Phoebe had a hard time with our new arrival since it took attention away from her. We would have let her participate, if only she’d had opposable thumbs or a less whiny singing voice.

Loki would rather watch us play Rock Band than participate. Also, can you get him another beer while you’re up?

While in Colorado last week, my Aunt Jeanette lovingly donated her hair stylin’ services to me after hours. She liked the way the color was turning out.

Did I mention that the color was purple? The demi-permanent color streaks have sadly washed out quite a bit already. Next time, I going for more purple and more permanent!

And finally, here’s my sister as she watches the transformation. Not only is she smarter than me, but she’s also a much better dresser. (Geekiness, though? I win, hands down.)

What I did over my Christmas vacation

• Hosted a kickass adults-only Christmas party with kickass white elephant gift exchange and kickass imbibing of beer, cheese balls, and sugary snacks. The being-feverishly-knitted-at-the-time hat was stolen from me at the gift exchange, so I ended up with a Miracle Bread Stamper, Utah-shaped cookie cutters, and three packets of official Mormon orange jello.*
• Had a somewhat crappy pre-Christmas that I was in no mood to blog about.
• Had a good and snowy Christmas Morning at home, failed to go caroling at Senior Centers with friends in the early afternoon, and then Ben and I spent the early evening with a former coworker who is undergoing cancer treatment.
• Played our newly acquired Rock Band 2 (for Xbox 360). A lot.
• Played Killer Bunnies with friends and cursed the impracticality of the rules. It gets a FAIL for intuitive gameplay. Though the ways that bunnies died were amusing (for most of us, anyway).
• Played Rock Band 2 with friends, for which gameplay was more than intuitive; It was AWESOME.
• Met with my government-issued Employment Counselor to discuss taking classes at Utah Valley University—the cost of which would be covered because I was laid off from a company that sent jobs overseas. Signed some papers that were immediately wrapped in 4 rolls of red tape.
• Celebrated New Year’s Eve at home with Ben, with Fuzzy Navels and another new game, this time for the Wii: MySims Kingdom. It started off slow (survivable with a light buzz and sarcastic/inappropriate comments) but actually turned into an enjoyable game for me. Lots of collecting things and some puzzle-solving—a perfect blend for my OCD tendencies. Ben zonked out on the couch for a little while, and for some reason we watched the ball drop on TV. Every year we turn off the TV at 12:01 and wonder why it’s a tradition to watch it, and then make our first official resolution: Not to bother watching NBC’s “Rockin’ New Year’s Eve” next year.
• Saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Ben on New Year’s Day and most definitely cried in the theater. There were a few small incongruencies that didn’t make sense to me, but other than that it was a great movie. Also, see: Brad Pitt Is Hot.
• Flew to Denver on Jan. 2 where I met up with my mom and we spent a few days visiting my sister and her Norwegian holiday house guest (who happens to be my “little brother” from my year in Norway, whom Monique invited out after they became friends through that magical place called Facebook, and whom she is not dating because that would be some sort of weird incest even though they’re not related).
• Bought an ugly sweater at Monique’s favorite Arc thrift store in Denver.
• Attended an Ugly Sweater Party at Monique’s house and finally met a bunch of her grad school and French Club friends.
• Tried a weirdly delicious spiked blueberry lemonade at Bar Louie in Denver, which accompanied a $1 Tuesday Night Special burger ($3.50 with my desired toppings).
• Saw Marley and Me with Monique and her roommate. It’s a good thing we had some extra restaurant napkins on hand to catch all the chick flick crying that was going on. It’s been a long time since I’ve gone to movies regularly, but I don’t think there’s ever been a time when I’ve seen two tear-jerkers within one week. It’s like if there were a Lifetime Channel movie theater or something. But seriously, Marley and Me was better than I expected.
• Flew home on Wednesday, dropped off my bags at home, and drove up to the Sundance Resort for my training/orientation for the upcoming Sundance Film Festival. I have more to share about that, and won’t diminish its coolness by including it in this update-vomit.
• Met with a UVU adviser and registered for a full courseload of classes that, if completed, would award me with an associates degree in business management. Because I already have my BA, all the general education requirements were waived so I’m free to start taking electives in Digital Media. I’ve already attended a couple classes, but that is also worthy of a separate blog entry.

Next time there might even be some photos of some of the aforementioned events. Hey, it doesn’t take a BA in English/Creative Writing to know that you have to give your readers a reason to come back!

* There actually was a little vomit involved in Denver after eating some presumably shellfish-tainted restaurant chicken. Monique was sick, too, and is also allergic, and the non-allergic person who also ate chicken was not affected. I’m sorry to bring vomit to my blog. It’s a new high for me, to be sure.

** Distributed by the church. Seriously. “You can’t BUY that, you know,” said the giver. (I don’t like jello [brand name Jell-O or generic gelatin] much in the first place, but I certainly won’t touch it if it has shredded carrots mixed in. Is that a vegetable? Dessert? Trans-fat? I haven’t seen it in person, but many Utahns have reported that rumor to be true. I think I’d rather have a stapler in my jello.)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDBpQVhCMb8

“Eat this glowing mushroom and they’ll all fade away.”

Thanks for the link, redrabbit! (Psst… visit her cool blog, Where Aren’t They Now.)

If you haven’t played it yet, try it out! I haven’t gotten very far, so I’m not sure how it plays out… but the fact that the worlds are on a map that looks a lot like Alaska leads me to believe that Sarah Palin may be a boss along the way! Ooooo, fun! Let me know if you make it that far.

On a side note, it’s weird to realize that Nintendo’s amazing technology of the 80s can be recreated in a simple flash game played over the internet.

Edit: The cake was created by Gateaux, Inc. in Minneapolis.