It's That Time of Year

I am not a huge fan of holidays. I love spending time with my family, but the commercial monstrosity that is Christmas puts me off. Sometime during my teenage years I sort of turned into a scrooge, claiming that when I had a family of my own, we would not celebrate. I was tired of the terrible music, the generic (and horrid) decorations and the mad-grab for elaborate presents.

Since then, I have revised my stance a little. I still hate Christmas music (who doesn't?), but I have taken back my scrooge-like attitude. Instead of refusing to be part of the holiday, I have just made it my own version. Isn't that ultimately what being an adult is all about?

Every year, for as long as I can remember, my Mom has made ludicrous amounts of cookies to give out on Christmas Eve. My sister and I joined in on this tradition a few years back, adding even more cookie madness. Some years we would stay up into the wee hours of the morning, baking in a near state of delirium.

This year was the first year baking away from my mentors, which means I really get to shine. So I have been blasting Punk/Rockabilly music and making adorable gingerdead men:

Oh! Let's not forget my sugar cookies!

Sugar cookies are messy.

Other things I have been up to in the last week:

Star Wars snowflakes! 

(I think I like the Storm Trooper the best)

Legos and gummy worms!

(As you can see, I never want to grow up)

I hope everyone enjoys the last part of the year! See you in 2012~

News Flash!

After some deliberation, I decided to shorten the URL.

I am now at misabot.blogspot.com!

Hopefully all my followers will get this...otherwise I will go kind of sad.

As an offering for the inconvenience, here is a picture of my awesome Christmas tree.

And a up close shot of our tree topper!

Yes, that is a Beagle in a suit and monocle.

So Many Dinosaurs!

I think I am being stalked. By dinosaurs. 

Dinosaurs spitting water!

Dinosaurs eating Smurfs! 

Metal Dinosaurs!

It is also possible that I search them out...because I am borderline obsessed...BUT I like the other explanation. I found them all in the same weekend! 

Of course, I also found this:

I have no idea what a decapitated chicken was doing downtown. 

It is less than two weeks until Christmas and I just put up my tree. Now, I can be somewhat of a Grinch sometimes during this year. I do not enjoy Christmas music nor the commercial monstrosity that this holiday (or any holiday really) has become.  I do, however, love baking cookies and spending time with my loved ones. 

Since this is my first year doing holiday cookie baking on my own, I decided to add a little touch of flair.

Courtesy of ThinkGeek.

 I was stoked when I found these! I just ordered them, so hopefully they come in time before Christmas. I think I will blast punk music while I bake. Punk counts as Christmas music, right?

Gamer ADD

I love video games. My love spans from old school Mario to the new fancy graphic, incredibly interactive world of Little Big Planet to the gory battles of Mortal Kombat to Pokemon on the DS. Last year I gave up gaming for the month of November to focus on writing. It was a dark time.

As much as my world revolves around this intricate world of xbox, playstaion, DS and computer games, I have Gamer ADD. This means I get easily distracted by other games, life, etc and stop playing before I complete story-lines.

Here are some games that I loved intensely, but never finished.

I was about half-way through this when my game got saved over. 

I just couldn't bring myself to start over after 30+ hours into the story. 

It had the prettiest graphics and the most badass main character 

(even though the rest of the cast was reeally annoying)

To be honest, I am not sure why this one didn't capture my attention. Maybe because it ruined the fun of interacting with the village folk. I don't want to have to dance with everyone to get them to like me. 

This game had the BEST posters. I never got tired of the loading screens. 

Oh Arkham Asylum. 

I could go on for days about how amazing this game is...

I hear Arkham City is even better. I recently stood in GameStop for twenty minutes deciding between that and Dead Island, but I figured I needed to finish Arkham Asylum first. It seems silly starting the sequel before completing the original.  

So now the list of unfinished grows with every new game I start. To this day I have not battled Sephiroth in my beloved Final Fantasy 7. I have stood outside of the final showdown for years. Maybe part of the problem is that once I beat the final boss, or complete the last level, the game is over. Or maybe I just have too many games to play. I am overstimulated; overwhelmed by technology. 

I think I just need to complete the games I have before I move on to the next. Okay! No more new games until I finish the ones on my list. 

Which I will start right after I am done with Dead Island....

This Month...

I have felt like this:

Day: 22
Words: 10,879

I am a little embarrassed about the state of my novel. In the past week I have dribbled out less than a thousand words and it is a pretty painful process. To be honest, I have been avoiding my laptop. I just completely ignore the corner of the room it is in. Maybe my heart isn't in this one. I don't love my characters or the plot. What I should do is change to something I do love. What I will probably do is just not...

I know, disappointing.

I am starting to think that part of the reason it has been so difficult to write is because I am away from home. I joke about being the crazy cat lady. Yes, most of my posts on facebook are pictures of my kitty, but that is what happens when you are hardly employed. You spend lots of time in your apartment; with your cat. It's like having a sidekick...that purrs.

Cats are all about teamwork. 

So maybe this is not the year that I write a novel. Maybe next year. Especially since I only have 7 days to write 40,000 words. 

Yeeeaahh...

Shipwrecked

Day: 14
Words: 8550

We are now plodding into week three of Novel Writing Month, and every day I sink deeper and deeper into the hole. I am about 15000 words behind schedule (how is that even possible?!) and yesterday I spent hours in front of my computer without a single new word typed. I think I am in the pit of despair.

On the bright side, I have developed more of a plot since last week. Now the story is about a hit-man who falls for a girl who he is hired to kill, who turns out to be a serial killer. I still don't have all the details worked out, but I am pretty sure that one of them will die at the end. Happy endings really are not my thing. I am also killing off a grandma. Don't worry, she dies from cancer, not from being brutally murdered.

The downside of writing/thinking about serial killers all the time is waking up in the middle of the night from horrific nightmares. It is definitely something I could live without, since I am already behind on my sleep. Maybe it is the inspiration gods trying to reach me. Yeah, let's go with that.

Things I have done today instead of writing:

Stared blankly at the screen (not a good habit)
Baked my first batch of banana bread (it smells delicious)
Wrote this blog post (more for necessity than procrastination)
Obsessively checked facebook (siiiiigh...)

I really, really need to get motivated.

But! The good news is, all my loved ones are out of the hospital and well on their way to recovery. One less thing to worry about.

Here is to more sleepless nights and caffeine induced productivity!

Lost in Novel Writing Month

Day: 7
Word Count: 4945


Indeed. Greetings.

What a week it has been. I would like to say that I have been totally immersed in my writing and nothing else, which is why I have not updated my blog. Or that I wasn't 7000 words behind schedule. Unfortunately, I can say neither.

It's funny how life just hits you in the face sometimes. I knew that I would be taking care of my grandmother while she recovered from knee replacement surgery this month. I figured that it would be the perfect opportunity to stay motivated; having none of my usual distractions around. What I didn't plan on was having a close friend end up in the hospital.

Since I am a natural caretaker, I cannot just sit back when a loved one is in need. So naturally, I have been running around like crazy helping my grandma and friend while he is in the hospital. Which means I am fairly busy during the day and pretty exhausted at night. I have been trying valiantly to keep up on my writing.

I realize that part of the problem is that I didn't really plan for anything other than the main character to fall in love...and then try to kill each other. I need more events. Also, it is somewhat difficult writing about a serial killer when my very sweet grandma is sitting across from me. So I did what anyone would do and added a sweet grandma into the story.

Hopefully some burst of motivation and creativity will help me boost my word count. I know I am not the only one who is behind on words or stuck with an uneventful story. I just need to inject caffeine directly into my veins and write until I collapse.

I'm young. I can sleep when I'm dead.

Cheers!

Oh Shit, It's Almost November

November is Novel Writing Month. 

This year I will jump out of my comfort zone. Instead of writing about characters that are roughly based on the people in my life, I will fabricate new dark and disturbed ones for this serial killer love story. Even serial killers need love, right?

I have three and a half days to prepare. 

How am I preparing, you ask? By watching movies about serial killers, of course. 

Watch this movie. Seriously. It was the perfect kick-start to generating ideas. I had already entertained the thought of a female main character. It seems that men have flooded the serial-killing market. 

Men always get the best jobs...

Side-note: Where the f*ck did October go?!

Oh right...

Time really does fly when you are having fun. 

Reasons Why I Love Comic Shops

Comics! Well technically these are graphic novels, but you get the point.

Obviously the main reason to love comic shops is for the products that are sold, but there is one other thing that never fails to fill me with joy each time I spend time in one: conversations between employees and patrons. 

In a previous post, I have mentioned such a conversation when Yano and I went into Comics Ink. It involved a very heated discussion about the loss of the macho man hero in Hollywood. Ah, yes. Don't we all miss the days of men who used violence to solve their problems and never talked about their feelings? I know I do. (sidenote: check out my favorite webcomic)

A couple days ago we went to Dreamworld Comics, which is pretty amazing for two reasons:

• There are a ton of comics to go through (new and old)
• There is an entire area devoted to Batman relics.

While we were there, we overheard a few amazing conversations between the sole employee and various patrons. Here is a snip-it from my favorite one:

"The way to make big bucks is to sell yourself to fat chicks. You can make like $1000 a night."

Previous to this statement, he had been talking about selling old DVDs to make money. I can see how selling your body to lonely fat chicks is a much more lucrative venture. Now, when we heard this Yano and I both cocked our heads in confusion and disbelief. Surely he didn't actually think that this was something one could do to make money.

People really amaze me. 

This week is my birthday and I am heading back to my home town to celebrate. One day I will have friends in Los Angeles. One day. Anyway, I am sure there will be many (mis)adventures to share when I get back. 

In the meantime, here is a peak at my villain costume. 

Every villain needs a mask. 

October is...

National Dinosaur Month

I love this. 

(Artist: Aaron Horkey)

Badass dinosaur mask I found at the art store. 

Dinosaur fruit snacks!

My Birthday

This year I am turning 25.

What better way to celebrate my adulthood than have a Superhero vs Supervillain themed party?

I will not be going as Batman (unfortunately)

I haven't had a themed birthday since I turned twenty one, when I had a masquerade. Hopefully everyone dresses up again like last time. Also, I hope there is at least one scuffle between a hero and villain. I might have to orchastrate it.

I have been sick for the past week or so. Hopefully I will be better by my birthday. In the meantime I have to just suck it up, drown my symptoms in cold medicine and hope for the best. On the bright side, I am working three days in a row.

Money is always a good thing.

Some Days I Deserve A Cape

It has been a busy week. 

I went back home to help various family members move and clean out their old houses, which is not very exciting to talk about. So instead I am going to show off the various projects I accomplished before I left (but then didn't have time to blog about). 

As promised from my last post, perler bead 8-bit sprites! I know, I know...I have way too much time on my hands. Hazards of having on-call employment. 

Anyway, I decided to stick to Mario Bros for the first round. 

It all started when I got an early birthday present in the mail...

They turned out adorable! I love the little spiky one. I think I will do Zelda sprites next.

Last week I made Welcome Home Cupcakes for my brother. I figured he didn't get too many while on his African Adventure and we would have something to snack on as he recounted his journey. To read about his travels click here.

Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

I decided to brave making the frosting from scratch. 

I only have pirate cupcake papers. Pirates ate cupcakes, right?

I added raspberries and lemon zest for garnish. 

They were delectable. The raspberries added a nice mellow flavor to the frosting and the lemon cupcake was a perfect paring. I think next time I will experiment with the frosting recipe. 

In other news, I started a Tumblr (which is a mini blog type thing...I am still learning). It is called Dinosaurs? Anyway, you can follow it! 

Non Sequitur

I have been eating a lot of jello lately. 

The sun ran off to Northern California. It has been overcast for the past week or so. It is my last week of living alone and I am soo ready to have my apartment inhabited by another creature (other than my cats).

In other news, I am officially free from suspicion of stealing toys from children. Remember that guy who thought I made off with his son's 3DS after babysitting for them? Well the hotel found it. I hope he feels silly for accusing me.

I spent another weekend doing what I love most: wandering around a place I've never been to and taking pictures. This time I was in San Clemente, a little beach town right next to the military base. It is so interesting where friends end up settling.

Here were some of my favorite things:

This was outside a Christian Elementary School. 

I hope they teach the kids how to vanquish demons with swords. 

Preview for next weeks post: 

Perler bead 8-bit sprites!