gmonkey42

[Error: unknown template qotd]It often amounts to the same thing - the candidate I want to vote for is also the Democratic candidate. Well, sometimes I vote for the Green if there's no danger of splitting the left-wing vote and letting the Republican win.

The kids ignored the lack of decorations and Trick-or-Treated anyway! And I ran out of mini-Three Musketeers in about 10 minutes! Crap! I put up a sign that says "Sorry, I have run out of candy. Happy Halloween!" Argh, if I'd checked my e-mail sooner, I'd have known I wasn't going out tonight and I could've bought more candy. I've turned off the lights now so it's more obvious that there's no candy here. But I like handing out candy to the kiddies!

Ah well, it seems like all the neighborhood kids came in one big wave and there might not have been many more anyway.

I usually like South Park but sometimes there's an episode that's just one, 28-minute testament to how Matt & Trey Do Not Get It. For example: the one about the BP spill. They have a character called Hindsight Man, whose superpower is that he has really good hindsight. And sort of a silly, nasal voice, just in case the audience didn't get that this character was supposed to be ridiculous. And he goes around saying what should have been done instead of actually helping. The implication is that when someone says, for example, that the government shouldn't have turned a blind eye to BP and other oil companies' lack of compliance with safety rules, that person is stupid and they should be doing something concrete to help. Like making an episode of a cartoon, for example. What South Park, infuriatingly, fails to understand is this isn't just about saying what should have been done, it's about making sure we don't make the same mistakes again.

But you can't expect a couple of libertarian douchebags - talented, entertaining douchebags but douchebags nonetheless - to come out on the side of environmentalists against a giant corporation. Or to refrain from using over-the-top, exaggerated strawman arguments.

I'm still going to watch the rest of the episode, though. I have to find out who Mysterion is.

ETA: Oh. It's Clyde.

This will convince you.


Also I added the short video of my mine carts to yesterday's post, check it out.

Seriously, I'm not going to spend the day in front of the computer again tomorrow because I have to go to the lab for a thesis defense. BUT I did say I was going to post a picture of my house and I can't let you all down, now can I?


I planted some cacti too. And I've devised a system for placing torches to help me find my way back to my base underground. I still get lost though. There have been three times now where I just had to dig my way out and came up under the ocean. I have to plug the hole with a brick so it doesn't start flooding the mine. It won't fill the whole mine like in real life but it'll make a waterfall and make things confusing.

Also I have now mined enough iron ore that I could start making MINE CARTS. I made a video but when I try to upload it to YouTube, it just says it's configuring the video and it never finishes. I'll try again tomorrow.

And then I will go to the lab!

I actually did leave the house today; I was going to meet my classmate from Spanish to practice (and sort of tutor him because let's be honest, I'm the best student in the class apart from the one girl who speaks Spanish as a first language). But he didn't show up! I only waited about 20 minutes - we were going to meet at a cafe so I got a sandwich and tea and sat outside in the little plaza and there was a crazy guy ranting to himself the whole time. So I didn't feel like hanging around for too long.

ETA: OK, the video uploaded! Here it is:

I actually quit playing voluntarily this time. As opposed to quitting when it's midnight and I have to get some sleep because I have class in the morning. I fell in lava twice in a row. And when you fall in lava, all your inventory gets burned up and it's gone forever. I had just mined a bunch of ore and diamonds and about 80 units of red dust! And they're all gone!

The second time, I thought I was doomed after I dug through to an underground waterfall and got swept way down into unexplored caverns. But I dug my way out of that! I even had to kill some zombies and the only weapon I had was a stone sword! I had to use up my good pickaxe getting out, which meant I couldn't dig any ore on the way. So I went back to my house, made another pickaxe and went back in... and fell in lava again. At least I didn't lose as much stuff the second time but I did lose a fair amount of red dust. It only appears near lava, see, so mining it is dangerous. Especially when you're kind of bad at steering with the mouse.

On the plus side, I started a new map (I started it earlier today, I mean; the falling-in-lava occurred in this new map) and this one has islands. I built a sweet house and a dock and I'm working on a wall to keep away the creepers - creepers are vine monsters that explode. They suck. I had to repair my old house twice because creepers exploded parts of it. This one has a stone wall that they can't get over. I also had a boat but I crashed it. It's a known bug that the boat steering is a little wonky. That wasn't really the reason, I just didn't realize it would break if I drove it into a wall. I didn't think I was going that fast! I am better at driving boats in real life. Also at not falling in lava. I have never fallen into lava in real life.

How did I not discover this sooner??

I would like to go to bed but I cannot because my cat is sitting on my leg and scrunging her claws on my knee and purring.

First you trick me into liking a Jason Mraz song and now you've got me not only liking Death Cab For Cutie but actually wanting to get an album or two from them on iTunes.

...somehow I am totally unabashed about liking Shakira and Gaga but Death Cab for Cutie is kind of embarrassing.

On the plus side, Zachary Quinto apparently thought they were cool two years ago. So I've got that going for me.

We (the lab) had a weekend camping retreat at Big Creek. It was awesome. I'm tired. I brought my air mattress so I slept pretty well this time (unlike last time, when I forgot to bring anything to sleep on and it was just the tarp bottom of my tent and my sleeping bag between me and the hard, hard ground). We hiked to a waterfall, that was really pretty. And we did a little rock climbing there to get to the upper pool. It was one big waterfall, a pool, then another waterfall into a smaller pool then down into the creek. It was 2 miles each way, which doesn't sound far except we had to start on top of the ridge and go all the way down into the valley; it was pretty steep and there were a lot of switchbacks. So I'm pretty tired.

...I'm going to have a rest now.