It's a couple days from my birthday and E. seems to feel I need to link some things I like so that I can get free stuff. I've never paid much attention to my birthday, but the timing is really nice. Watchmen out Friday, so to celebrate my birthday, I'm making everybody I know come and watch it with me. And nobody had better shush me. I don't care if I'm ruining your movie experience.

I broke my cell phone charm a couple days ago. I'd like a new one, but I'm pretty picky about my designs. It's why I still don't have a vanity tag-thingy for my car front.

So I still have a wishlist tag, and my most recent list is here, complete with strike-throughs for what I've gotten.

I've also made a Jinx wishlist and have made inroads into one at ThinkGeek, which is currently just funny t-shirts, but they have cool things too.

Speaking of t-shirts, does anyone besides me hate baby doll tees? (Not you, Pug, I see you thinking about it already.) I've got broad shoulders and the mediums dig into my arms and the larges don't fit the rest of me. I prefer large shirts, since I have this tendency to tuck them in and mediums are too short to tuck properly half the time. (Also, E's asked my about some lol thing and all I have to say, E, is just because I think it's funny doesn't mean I'll wear it splattered across my chest.)

I'm more of a button-up shirt comboed with a sleeveless shirt person, anyway.

I'm not really one for presents, so don't feel obligated to get me something, because that means I'll have to remember who got me what and give them something for their birthday too. (And unless it's got a funny story attached, like Margret's "I don't get the joke, but you keep making it and here it is on a t-shirt!" gift.) I just really don't want to be shushed whilst squeeing over Watchmen and pointing out the differences. It's not like you can't watch it again without me.

While I do have a wishlist tag, I know some of you are lazy, or you know, driven insane by my ramblings, so I've taken hardship of whittling it down to more manageable (and up-to-date) terms. As well you all know, I am a terrifying person to shop for, seeing as how I never know what I want, never mind you trying to read my mind to figure out what I want.

* You may recall me mooning over Absolute Sandman ages ago. The final volume of the quartet comes out sometime November. Good gad is it pricey. (The money-saver in me is looking at the 'buy this as a set for $187 rather than the three separately for $300' and whining that it's a splurge I can't afford right now. But at least it's here for me to remember to look into.) (Update: E got me the first volume for my birthday. I hearts the shiny recoloring bunches and must remember to find her something supercool in return.)

* For the funnies, I've still been looking for the Chicks in Chainmail books. Carmen got me the first for my birthday (squeeness), and I have Turn the Other Chick, but still no luck finding the others.

*Speaking of books I've had no luck in finding, I still haven't found The Ship Who Sang. Sigh. (Yay, E! And way to go not communicating and making Carmen buy it too.)

* One final unfound book is Sorcery and Cecilia. I picked up The Mislaid Magician in hardback in a used bookstore (it doesn't even look like it's been read, poor thing). I'd prefer hardback because I hate mixing spines inside sets. Every time I look at my Jasper Fforde books, I cringe. One of them is hardback, the rest trade paperback and it makes me want to spend the extra money to buy The Well of Lost Plots with the same cover. Which reminds me, Kate, have you picked up The Eyre Affair yet? If not, I have two copies and would love to send one to you. Obviously not the one with the torn cover. ;) (Also from E.)

There are other books I'd like, but I'm one of those people who enjoys the pleasure of browsing bookshelves. If you're hard up for ideas, check my library for what books by which authors I have and see if there's anything I ought to have. (Example, Simon Green's Man With a Golden Torc has a sequel, but I haven't got it, primarily because I haven't seen it in mass market paperback yet. Please, however, no Pern books.) (Update: I haven't added books to the catalog in a couple months, so best to double-check any books with E. before buying something.)

*Moving away from books (slightly), I happen to have too many books and too little space. Should you happen to come across an inexpensive wooden bookshelf, give me a holler. I haven't looked too much into it yet, but it's something I need to look into sometime soon. (I got me some from WalMart and hopefully will not need more.)

*Gameswise, I love a good puzzle. Preferably pretty landscapes, but don't feel obligated to just look at those. My favorite one was six panels of unicorns in various settings. We've put it together so many times over the years that there are a dozen missing pieces. Just, dear god, please not double-sided. There's wanting a challenge and being masochistic. (Update: zomg, Carmen, you fail at life. *weeps over pretty double-sided puzzle and its three connected pieces*)

*Funny tshirts. I'm sure you know my brand of humor, and I'm sure you'll think of someway to inflict yours upon me. =D I'm still not going to wear a 'huge tracts of land' shirt. Look to demotivators for inspiration. (Which reminds me, Carmen, it's your turn for calendars this year. I expect the tackiest thing you can find. You have no idea how much I had to hold back from buying you a beefcake one this time last year, and if I don't see some Disney princesses or something otherwise ridiculous, I'm sending you beefcake. And driving down to superglue it to your wall.) (Update: Domo-kun is so adorable. E. doesn't want to let go of it and keeps showing me the pictures again.)

*If you may recall, I bought a Nintendo DS ages back. I own PuzzleQuest, Galatrix, Neves, Myst, Picross, Chrono Trigger (or Chrono Cross or whatever the hell of that game and its sequels has been made in DS form), and Hotel Dusk, which makes finding DS games I don't own *really* easy. I like puzzle games (research into the games above will show you they're all puzzle games, to a greater or lesser extent), so browse away. If you can't find anything, I recently borrowed a friend's copy of Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice For All and absolutely adored it. There are four games in the Phoenix Wright series (so far), and I'd love to get copies of my own. I'm also dying to get my hands on the Professor Layton games. I've also been eyeing Disgaea. (Update: I totally bought it.)

*Young Frankenstein, in widescreen, preferably. I somehow haven't picked it up yet, even though it's my favorite Gene Wilder movie. (Thank you Katie!)

My Amazon List is sorely lacking, as I don't really do much windowshopping via the internet, but I will try to update it.

So I went grocery shopping a couple days ago. It wasn't so much grocery shopping as stopping in Walgreen's and picking up some bathroom supplies and Saltines and Sprite for nauseous-but-hungry E. And whilst I was in there, I came across, of all things, Halloween candy. Weird, isn't it? Who buys candy this early? Halloween's a month away, I don't want to hand out month-old candy. But thinking about Halloween (and the mentions of further holidays down the line on the NWF Daily News' website) reminded me of another yearly thing. The CSC's Secret Santa exchange.

I wouldn't actually post this quite so early- it being not quite October right now, but we know how my mind works. Just because I remember it now doesn't mean I'll remember it two weeks from now when it ought to be mentioned. But now that I have mentioned it, everyone can start thinking about it. I will have to update my amazon list and hopefully you people will as well.

(And if you're thinking about getting me a book, be sure to check it against my LibraryThing account so that you don't feel silly getting me something I already own. I update it regularly, because I am OCD like that.)

It's that time of the year again- the scramble to discover what to get for your CSC Secret Santa.

Know your enemy! Er, recipient. Some of them have Amazon wishlists.
Lee is keeping track of all the movies she wants to own. You can skip over those- half of them I own, the other half are boring and you're better off buying her Bone memorabilia.
Carmen has forgotten she has a list- and since we already know she's a Patricia McKillip fan, this is useless. (And if you didn't know that, shame on you. You call yourself her friend?)
Odette is currently on a classic literature fix. (Good choice on The Eyre Affair there, btw. Bought it after thinking one of its sequels looked fantastic, and was not disappointed. Spent the entire book thinking to myself I needed to send it to you immediately.)
Pug is still on the hunt for Julian May (who I've been looking for in bookstores as well solely to judge how well they stock books, since only the big places have her) and likes having books related to his hobbies. Unfortunately, somebody's already gotten him a wok, so good luck finding him something touchingly odd to get.)
My list updates as my mood strikes me. Hmm, need to add Bruce Coville. I require light reading sci-fi funny.
(If those links don't work, you're on your own.)

They'll also be putting up posts (or commenting to posts) with ideas to help. (Here's one from last year, so that's not as helpful as one would hope. Pug has one from two years ago. Both Lee and I have wishlist tags you can browse through. I'll warn you now- every entry I make needs to be tagged sarcastic babble, so good luck finding what I actually want buried inside the post.

Happy sniping! Er, shopping.

And Carmen thinks she hasn't updated in forever...

I plead temporary (read: permanent) addiction to computer games as my excuse. Besides, anything terribly interesting that happens gets posted by Lee, since, well, living together. Such as the recent addition to our household of the conehead kind.

Well, It's not so much an addition to the household so much as an extension of the klutziest cat I've ever had. (Well, lived with, since he's Lee's cat...) Roscoe has gotten much more sedate with the addition of the satellite around his neck. Poor dude keeps scratching at it, which means he's not allowed to run around with it off for fear of tearing open his stitches. He's currently sleeping under my covers and making sleepy noises every time I go over and poke my hand under to make sure he hasn't suffocated or something.

Speaking of scratching and stitches, giving Roscoe his ear medication in the morning was something of a hassle yesterday. Five drops seems simple enough, until you take into account that the radar dish doesn't hinder head movements too much, which means there's nothing to grab onto to hold his head still. Combine his thrashing with awkward positions, and I accidentally hit his stitches and he decided he had enough of that and thrashed a panic attack that left my pants torn. Huzzah. Which meant I had to break out the emergency pants (read: tragic pale blue pants accidentally washed with bright red, never-been-washed shirt leaving said pants pink in certain (read: all) lights, complete with bloodstain looking spots from previous run-ins with strange liquids that had formerly just looked like dirt stains (which they were). They also have funny yellow speckles on one thigh. No idea where those came from.), since that evening was supposed to be laundry day for pants (as was all out of clean work pants). (The laundry plan didn't work out anyway, as Tuesday was the rescheduled date for dinner with aunt and grandfather, since previous date was washed out after got sick of waiting in rush hour traffic for life flight to clear out. Three hundred feet in an hour does not a happy driver make, so E. and I called off and went to IHOP instead. Very cold there.)

E. has gotten a Nintendo DS, along with a spiffy little game by the name of Puzzle Quest. It's basically the RPG version of Bejeweled, and am seriously contemplating buying a DS solely to play this game. (Along with Brain Age, which looks like fun, because I'm fond of smart-making games.)

Have gotten onto a strange reading fix of late- I'm currently bouncing between Jane Austen (because I am somehow a sucker for romances written in the nineteenth century, when everyone was genteel and never really touched, much less had sex) and Anne McCaffrey's older sci-fi novels. (Back when she was interesting and not writing a bajillion sequels. (And zomg, my internet spellchecker is trying to tell me that's written bazillion. Is bazillion seriously a number, or is it just a word used so freaking often it's made it into the slang dictionary?))
Am currently sulking about it all, since these books can only be found on the internet and in used book stores, and there's only two within decent driving distance (since the one on Beal closed, the liars- they're in the phone book, but I drive past there everyday and there's some crafty store there now) and I can only find one store and while they did have some McCaffrey, I've fixated on the Brainship books and the only one I've found is The City Who Fought. I used to own The Ship Who Sang, but I haven't seen it since E. was in middle school. (She probably loaned it to someone, the bitch.))

Furthering the off-track loaning comment, I've somehow become a lending library. I'm not certain whether to be proud (Whee, I'm a library! Bestest thing ever!) or annoyed (Mine! Rar!). So if anybody's in want of something, drop me a line and an updated mailing address. (I'm sure I have everybody's, but I also never delete old emails with addresses, which means I've got four different addresses for Stephen alone, one of which is in Florida and we all know when last he lived here.)

Along those lines, I'm transitioning over to a new email address (csc.elfhawk (at) gmail.com) since my yahoo address is again being bombarded by spam. (I kind of miss the 'enhance your dick' spams, since they were funny. Now I'm winning lotteries, vacation trips, and shopping sprees, if only I fill out this simple form...) So update thine address books. I will sooner or later get around to sending an email as well.

I need to get my scanner hooked back up. It's been sitting in the living room for over a month, and I've been having way too much fun with pens to not inflict it upon you. (Lee is awestruck by my trees. More struck than awe, to be true, but hey, any attention is good, right?)

I've never had any illusions about my lack of anything respecting tact. That being said, I'd like to point you in the direction of someone less tactful than me. To protect the stupid, her name shall be withheld. I shall simply say, this person is 18, writes like a 13-year-old AIMer, and whose name begins with M. (Also, same last name as me.)

So this person calls me up several days ago (maybe last week) to ask, "hey, Kat, what do you want for your birthday?" Me being at work (even if this has been, like, the most dead week ever), I point her in the direction of my wishlist tag (because I don't make decisions like this quickly, as Lee and mine's frequent fusses over food functions can attest. It's not like there's that many restaurants we agree on, so really, we ought to just start flipping a coin) and send her on her merry way.

She calls me up a couple days later (again, at work...) to say, "hey, I'm getting your present on ebay." Okaaaay, I think, and this matters why? But then she continues, "and I was wondering, does it matter if your present is used or do you want it new?"

...

...

Dear God in Heaven. How did this child ever manage to make friends once she left fourth grade? She's lucky she's talking to me and not someone who would take offense to that question. Because, provided she's not getting me food or clothing or movies, I *don't* care. Unless it was used by five-year-olds and torn to shreds or drooled on or colored on. Then I mind. But still, this is my birthday present we're talking about. I don't get her cheap used stuff for *her* birthday and call to see if she's okay with it. (Possibly I should start saving nail clippings to give to her this year. (Maybe start eating more calcium. Would that make nails grow faster?))

I'm rather dreading checking my mail for the next week. She might've sent me a reused envelope from the anthrax scare.


Possibly I should update the wishlist to 'please, nothing bought from strange, possibly naked people on ebay who burn DVDs and pass them off as real.' (Also, no canned air. I bought some from K-Mart around the time I got NWN2. Did you know you need ID to buy canned air? What's up with that? Are you checking my age or my address, dude? It's not like you can snort the stuff. (And if you can, please don't share with the class. We have vivid imaginations and don't need the help.))

If anybody else is going to do the ebay thing, please send me cash instead. That way, you'll have gotten me lunch and not recycled bed sheets that will go straight into the trash can.

Also, Laura, please speak to your twin. Anybody less passive-aggressive than me would have ripped her a new one on the phone (regardless of audience) and driven over to beat her up instead of just mocking her on an LJ.

Further musings upon stuff I want. (I rarely actually want things. I just go "hey, that'd be cool to have," dwell for a few minutes, then let it pass right out my mind, just as anyone tight on cash should. (This, of course, includes books, but since I look at so many, I end up getting something. It's not like I've got a 100% rejection rate with buying stuff. Every tenth or so item ends up getting grabbed, especially if I've gone "hey, that's cool" a couple times for it. (Thus the buying of books. I like looking at books. I like having books. I want E's job of shelving books. (I'm so weird...)) It's very possible I may end up back at that games kiosk to buy something, because I like games, and the eyeglass place is right beside it, and I need to go back and find out how much it is just to replace lens in frames are, because one should always have a back up set of frames. (Oh crap, now I need new sunglasses because my sunglasses are clips designed for my other frames with the old lens...)))

Er. Now that I've got everyone confused, on with slightly more organized chaotic musings.

Continuing from the last list (found by clicking the wishlist tag, or a couple days back, whatever)

9. One can never go wrong with a sweater. (Slightly oversized, preferably. I tend to layer. Four or five layers.) I'm always chilled. Also- slippers. Mine are getting worn. (I miss E's bear feet. I always snitched them and trod about the tile with them on, leaving E. to shriek about bare feet and tile. Hee.)

10. Puzzles. I heart puzzles, but alas, own none. (This yen for puzzles comes from the calendars and games kiosk in the mall that Liz and I wandered through after I picked out my glasses.) (Not only are they pretty, but they require manipulation. Nothing says success like a completed puzzle. E. used to have this cool underwater scene by the guy who draws whales (Christian somebody? You see his art on school folders all the time. He's like the Thomas Kinkaide of the sea, except with less pastels) that we fussed over for days to finish.) Got to admit that monochromatic ones just piss me off. (Damn desert scenes. How can I sort by color when the only thing not sandy-colored is the cloudless sky?)

11. A DVD holder of some kind. That isn't my bookshelf. Because I need shelf space, damn it. (Liz hijacked that bookshelf when I brought it in, and now that I finally got around to owning my own movies, it has no more room for books. (The contents of that shelf have been moved to behind my monitor, which I think looks nifty, but everyone else is going "do you read enough comics?" And Bullfinch's blends right in there, thanks.))

(Speaking of which, I get tons of junk mail at work, and yesterday's had something from Dell that had their latest deals. I haven't been in a tech store for ages, so is my monitor really such a dinosaur? I know the fact it doesn't swivel at all has annoyed the hell out of me since I got it, but those things made me feel my flat screen is more outdated than an Amiga.)

So it strikes me that I should get started on my wishlist. Except having me sit down to make a list of anything with only a short time period to mull is like asking a mouse to herd cats. So this list is bound to be added to, probably up until the actual holiday.

1. Pencil sharpener, not electric. I like controlling the sharpness of my point. (Electric just never gets it sharp enough.) I used to have half a dozen of these things floating around, and now I can't find a single one. (I even checked every art kit at the folkses and I apparently have already lost those.)

2. The Phantom Tollbooth A couple weeks back I had a craving for animated children's movies, and hell if every video store I went to didn't have it. (I then discovered it isn't out on DVD, and is approaching 40. Yikes.) So, either VHS or book. Obviously the book is better (even if I haven't read it, I know this in my bones because there isn't a single book-inspired movie out there that is better than its book, possibly barring some Harlequins.)

3. On the pricey side is this little gem. I adore Neil Gaiman. (This is one of probably four Sandman related books I do not have- one, because it just came out this month and 2, because it's $100, and I just had to pay for new glasses.) It also doubles as a personal weapon.

4. Speaking of Neil Gaiman, his latest anthology, Fragile Things isn't yet adorning my overloaded shelf, mainly because I don't go to the proper fiction section often, and bookstores tend to shove him in there. (Actually, I adore all anthologies. Provided you don't get me a Martin Greenberg anthology. And that's only because I might already own it. I swear, the man does nothing but think up ideas for anthologies and hunt down and harass authors until they give in and write for him. Actually, go find me Catfantastic. I only have 4 and 5.)

5. I keep debating whether or not I want the Star Wars prequels. The obsessive-compulsive collector in me requires owning all of them, the fan in me says William Shatner had better acting abilities than most of the cast, and the girl in me says 'hot boys fighting! Ogle now!' (She's easily silenced by putting in any movie on the shelf, because people don't make movies without eye candy.)

6. Keith Laumer. I think he's dead, most of his books are out of print, and I'm desperate to get my hands on any of his Bolos books. But just one. Because I haven't actually read any of his stuff and may not like the way he writes. (If this makes no sense to you, consider the Boxcar Children. The first 19 of these books were written by Gertrude Chandler Warner (And I can't believe I remembered that). Last I saw, the kids were into the 130s (and this was 1998) and hadn't aged a day since book three. They all say 'created by Gertrude...' on the cover though. It's the same way I came across the Bolos. I was in the W's of the sci-fi section, noticed an interesting cover, discovered David Weber and his Bolo anthology, annoyed the clerk about the original author, sulked for days, returned to store to get David Weber's Bolos anyway.)
(Bolo, btw, is also a type of tine for a cultivator.)

7. Any of the Chicks in Chainmail books. I originally found them when it was just the first book out, but as that was in a time of life where I had no cash to speak of, I never got it- nor did the library have it. I now have Turn the Other Chick and regularly bitch at the B. Dalton clerk about them never having any of the rest (he claims they do get them, so I know they're hiding them in the back for themselves). (This clerk, btw, sees me so frequently that he says he ought to charge rent. (Just because I had been spending every waking hour not working there does not mean I have a problem. I just liked being surrounded by books. Half the time I leave empty-handed, so there.))

8. Canned air. I'm never in stores where they sell it, apparently. (My poor computer needs it desperately. My cat sheds something fierce.)

That's it for now.