Forfeit by stink? O_o
That's some seriously bad sportsmanship!

Thankfully the horse pee perfume isn't catching on. On the train right now, people are smelling fine… Or maybe it's just that my nose is blocked up? :)

Ugh, got super sick this afternoon. Probably food poisoning. I have a midterm in two days and was really counting on having this evening to study, so it really sucks. Being sick away from home is also no fun. Fingers crossed that I feel better tomorrow. And that my apartment doesn't smell like barf.

And yet another reason why I hate riding on airplanes. During the very long flight from Vietnam to California (she was at her job as a flight attendant when she got news of my father's passing) she had to sit next to a korean woman who stank of kim chee… and that stuff is pretty nasty. According to her she had her hoodie wrapped around her head the entire time…

And now I'm wearing prosthetic teeth. And they're nothing like like my natural teeth in a lot of ways. Now I have an underbite with my lower front teeth, salivating tons, and my mouth feels really small making it hard to speak right. And eating isn't as pleasant… funny that I do taste my food with my palette as well as my tongue, but now I'm sorely tempted to remove the dentures when I want to eat. x_x

And I just learned how to strip mine in Minecraft. Just go to the bottom of the world, dig a 2x2 block long shaft as far as you want to go, then on either side of the shaft (separated by a 2 block gap), you dig out a single block wide two block high shaft as far as you can. Of course you'd want to put chests in the shaft to store all the ore and rocks you find and have an iron/diamond pickaxe along just in case…

Ow… I think I'll have these prosthetics adjusted tomorrow…

The whole gaming scene is an alien world to me. I was going to say Mars, but from what I'm hearing I'll go with Titan - they've got rivers of stinky methane.

—

Support is ending for XP: I need to upgrade but times are seriously hard. Maybe I'll have to start drawing furry porn - I hoped it would never come to this! :(

Ironscarf wrote:
The whole gaming scene is an alien world to me. I was going to say Mars, but from what I'm hearing I'll go with Titan - they've got rivers of stinky methane.

—

Support is ending for XP: I need to upgrade but times are seriously hard. Maybe I'll have to start drawing furry porn - I hoped it would never come to this! :(

They extended support for XP? I thought it ended in early April. O_O

Lonnehart wrote:
They extended support for XP? I thought it ended in early April. O_O

It did, on April 8th. I should've said ‘support has ended’.

Ironscarf wrote:

It did, on April 8th. I should've said ‘support has ended’.

I take it you're still recieving security patches for Windows XP?

I'm glad I picked up the OS disc for Windows 8.1. The only problems I've had so far up to this point was the adjustment from XP to 8.1. But if you're still getting those security patches I suppose you can hold onto it a bit longer 'til you get the money for the new OS.

It's always a pain with comps. I've always got plenty of money when I don't need to do the big upgrade, but at those times when the machine is creaking along on its last legs and I need to spend big to replace it suddenly I have no money left to do it.
I got caught out badly late in 2012 when my main machine was crapping itself! Way earlier than expected too :(
I'd been helping a friend out of financial dificulty for quite a while and paying expensive vet bills too, as well as doctors and dentist for myself… so I had NO spare cash.

Add to that all my spare comps were creaky old bastards too because THAT's the reason they're spares, but if the main one was old those buggers were waaay older and less reliable.

SO I saved specially for it, shopped around and got a nice slim fast pretty black ultrabook with a solid state drive, lots of ram and Windows 7. It's worked very nicely, uses way less power than the old machine too mich I love.

I convinced my mum to upgrade too because her old Vista machine is dying, so I (with her money) got her a blade thin shiny sliver Asus ultrabook with a beautiful high res glass touchscreen, ssd, and Windows 8.
And she hardly ever uses it. Only to watch movies in bed. STill uses the old dying Vista beast. -_-

Wow, an anicent fosselised shrimp has been discovered- They only carried one single giant sperm, longer then their own boddies…
This animal was basically nothing more than a testicle with eyes.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/fossils-from-a-tiny-shrimp-have-revealed-they-had-giant-sperm-longer-than-the-males-body/story-fni0cx12-1226917317159

That testicle with eyes had its own…. nevermind.

I think I'll keep a small fund available in case this machine I'm currently using needs spare parts. I've only needed spare parts a few times since I put this thing together, usually just to upgrade. My CPU may be only a 3.2 ghz dual core Athlon X2 260, but I haven't had to upgrade it for a long while now. I can still upgrade it though as the socket it is sitting in is still in use.

Some kind of laptop is definitely the answer for upgrading Windows, since we need another machine for the kids to do homework on and so forth. I'm reluctant to use linux - that seems too hardcore, even though the latest versions of MyPaint - which I use for most of my art - are not windowized yet.

Welp I've done it. I found my holy grail collectors item today, an 8" figure of the main character from my favorite manga:

He cost me a shameful amount of money. It's a figure from 2008 that apparently shelfwarmed, and I don't know if you collect japanese figures but shelfwarmer+before 2011=disaster. (many pokemon plush from 2010 no one wanted are now worth 200$)
I'm happy though. I've seen him go for cheaper but I'm tired of waiting, I don't think i'm gonna be spending money for a long while…haha.

Having been sick for the last two days I did almost no studying for the midterm that I had today. I think I did a pretty amazing job BSing on it though!
I'm still not feeling 100% but my family is coming out to visit me tomorrow, so I can make them take care of me. :)

Oh yeah, and that plus internet issues means I only just did the top ten, in case anyone was wondering why it changed mid-week. Sorry. D:

Skullbie wrote:
I'm happy though. I've seen him go for cheaper but I'm tired of waiting, I don't think i'm gonna be spending money for a long while…haha.

I always tell myself this to justify buying something expensive. It doesn't usually work. :P

@Scarf- Tablets can do all the computing stuff now that you need them for, way cheaper. And stuff like my Samsung Note tablet are basically portable cintiqs.
The disadvantage is that they don't last as long as a laptop- or at least I beleive that to be the case. Haven't seen that proved out so far.

@Skull- I don't quite get that… The figure has a replacement head and also comes with a small pastry, pasty headed figure, and a plate of pastry things? Those are some unusual accessories. :)

I remember years ago in the early days of the net I WANTED a valkaryie fighter from Macross/Robotech. I wanted that sooooo bad. There was only one company that imported them from Japan, these fantastic 1/144 scale plastic kits, fully transformable! I couldn't get the version I wanted. not the main character mech, I had to get one of the trooper versions because the others were all sold out. I was SO happy when it finally came and put it together right away, transformed it into all its modes, painted it up in an undercoat, painted all the cockpit super detailed, posed it for photos…
Then one of my cats knocked it off a shelf and smashed it into a bazillion pieces. T_T

Which model did you want? The VF-1A was the most common, having only one head turret and was used by the “grunt” pilots. The wingleaders were issued the VF-1J and had two head turrets, and the squadron commander piloted the VF-1S which had two dual head turrets. The most iconic of those was the fighter with the Jolly Rogers insignia and color scheme.

I do like how Macross portrayed what would happen inside a cruiser while it was transforming from its cruise to its battle mode. It gets pretty chaotic inside the ship as eveything gets switched around. Too bad it was the only mode that allowed it to fire its main gun.

I hate trading with minecraft villagers. They mostly use emeralds for currency which is ultra rare (while mining you only find a single block of it unlike other ores which you find in veins), or they will ask for large amounts if items for a single emerald. I wonder why they give me the worst trades… and then I see this video…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir9Uvn5rcIs

I think I'll stay awake in the minecraft world one night and let the zombie apocalypse kill them off. T_T

I wanted Rick's VF-1J!
I was planning to paint up my VF-1A as a 1J and modify its head… before cattageddon T_T

You didn't get some cheap Chinese copy, did you? I know THOSE toys tend to break… The one I had was made with plastic AND diecast metal. And it was from Japan. It made being 13-14 years of age great for me. It eventually succumbed to wear and tear though and I couldn't fix it anymore. :(

Nope, The VF-1A mecha was definitely made in Japan, and that's where it was imported from. It was a model so only as strong as the glue and bits it was put togther with.
Falling from a great hieght and having heavy books fall on it afterwards though isn't something models can reasonably be expected to withstand… My cat was throrough!

Same thing happened to a fully metal Eldar Dreadnaught that I put together and customised to look really cool with beaded dreadlocks. U repaired that though.

I should post up pics of them if I can find them!

Ow…. that was one mean cat… O_O

Not evil, just very, very naughty!

This converstaion has inspired me to make a mecha model pic thread! Because I found my old pics and I don't want to fill this thread with them :)

I will post one off the VF-1 and one off the Eldar Dreadnaught, back when they were still called that, not ghostwalkers or whatever the hell they are now. I never really got into Warhammer 40K but I loved the miniatures!

The VF-1 in “Gerwalk” mode:



My Eler Dreadnaught, I was too clever with the wacky camoflouge, it makes it hard to distinguish the actual shape of the thing:



My fave part of him was the beaded dreadlocks :)

Lonneheart he's talking the Bandai models versus the metal toys.


Illustrations for examples of toy versus assembly kit. Not meant to be item specific. I know doing a completely moveable model kit will result in a badly broken model and ruined finish from my fat greasy fingers 90% of the time so I was cosnsidering getting three and doing the various forms. I really wanted to do something like this:

Instead I opted for an F-14 model.

One thing I've wondered about the Valkyrie mecha from Macross… What is “G.E.R.W.A.L.K.” mode used for (I prefer to call it HYBRID Mode instead)? I know Fighter mode was used for combatting enemies in sky and in space, and Battroid mode was used for battling the fifty foot tall humanoid aliens on the ground.

My best guess would be like storming a fortress. Come in fast (but not TOO fast) with high mobility and accuracy, then land at a designated drop zone before transforming and engaging ground forces.

Oh.. by the way, Ground Effective Reinforcement of Wing Armament with Locomotive Knee-Joint was actually created due to an accident while designing the toy…. I think… :)

ozoneocean wrote:
a small pastry, pasty headed figure, and a plate of pastry things?

I'm curious about the pastries too.

So my family came to visit me today, and it's been kind of a disaster so far. I feel worse right now than I've felt the whole time I've been here, including when I was sick to my stomach two days ago. I was really excited to see them, but my little sister immediately (before even asking how I was doing or whatever) began complaining about how the bed and breakfast had messed up and given them two separate rooms and our dad was unreasonably upset about it. Then my dad spent the rest of the day having what my little sister calls a “worry tantrum.” Not the fun, silly kind of worrying that anxious parents do in sitcoms but the really stressful kind that makes you worry about things you weren't anxious about at all. I spent the whole day trying to prove to him that I'm doing okay on my own: my apartment is safe, my neighbourhood is safe, I'm eating okay, I didn't spend too much money on their presents, I'm taking care of the cat, etc. etc. etc. It was really awful. And about once an hour I would hear about the room thing again (“Don't you think it would be safer if we shared a room? There's no deadbolt on the back door!”). It feels like he's just been saving up all his anxieties while I've been away to dump on me today.

That must be hard Hippie. :(
But it sounds like he really cares very deeply. Probably feels like he's starting to lose you from the home now.

I hope he can get over it soon and just celebrate that you CAN take care of yourself and he doesn't have to worry about you. So the next thing? He'll probably start worrying about you worrying about him…

I can partly understand how your dad is feeling Hippie -my daughter, who's 11, is about to spend her first week away from home on a school trip. It's just dawning on me that before I know it, they'll be grown up and leave and this time will be over and I'll sit wasting away in a festering old armchair for the rest of my days, staring out of the window and waiting for the phone to ring until I eventually die of a broken heart and I'm discovered by a neighbour two weeks later, half eaten by cats.

Lets hope she has a nice time.

ozoneocean wrote:

@Skull- I don't quite get that… The figure has a replacement head and also comes with a small pastry, pasty headed figure, and a plate of pastry things? Those are some unusual accessories. :)

I remember years ago in the early days of the net I WANTED a valkaryie fighter from Macross/Robotech. I wanted that sooooo bad. There was only one company that imported them from Japan, these fantastic 1/144 scale plastic kits, fully transformable! I couldn't get the version I wanted. not the main character mech, I had to get one of the trooper versions because the others were all sold out. I was SO happy when it finally came and put it together right away, transformed it into all its modes, painted it up in an undercoat, painted all the cockpit super detailed, posed it for photos…
Then one of my cats knocked it off a shelf and smashed it into a bazillion pieces. T_T

It's gyoza! He has replacment head because it constantly gets cut off during the story.

I've given up on ever owning a valkerie. The high end line is called soul of chogokin, which does beatifully crafted die-cast toys for 120-160$. It is impossible to compete for the hereos, they sell out in minutes.

Ironscarf wrote:
until I eventually die of a broken heart and I'm discovered by a neighbour two weeks later, half eaten by cats.

Lets hope she has a nice time.

D:

Skullbie wrote:
I've given up on ever owning a valkerie. The high end line is called soul of chogokin, which does beatifully crafted die-cast toys for 120-160$. It is impossible to compete for the hereos, they sell out in minutes.

I guess I am fortunate because if I really wanted a Valkyrie I could get one of the kits (I think the Hasegawa 1/72 or 1/48th is the best) and probably do it up as well as one of the die-casts. Quarter scale would be cool because it would be 296mm long and 308mm wide. I couldn't fit one on my shelf. :-(
for 1/72 kit: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10016758
for 1/48 kit: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10242344
But it doesn't transform. It's a scale model not a toy. You hold it up and go oooo and ahhhh at the beautiful mad skill and awesome detail in the building not transform it making whoosh and zzzzt noises. The kit's detail is incredible and I'm sure there's insane photoetch and detail parts to dress it to the insane obsessive levels of detail of most historical 1/48 aircraft kits these days.

I was going to get the Warhammer armor kits but never found a price I liked enough to invest in one rather than a historical vehicle. I did do up a few sets of the space marines but did lots of modifications to them to make Aordians. I followed the general design mods to their jet packs when scratching the one on my 1/6th Aordian trooper seen in Battle of the Robofemoids. Twenty years ago I built a Star Wars At-At as a what-if German panzer and have the Trade Alliance tank model that'll be US Army probably in NATO tri-color camouflage. Olive Drab with huge white stars would be cool looking too all geared up like a World War II Sherman tank.

I had my Kampfpanzer Panther IIA2 German Reich 1960 was featured in a contest edition of a major modeling magazine. It was based on the book Fatherland as the reserve tank of the Wehrmacht in the what-if sci-fi novel about the Nazis lasting until the 1960's because the USA never entered the war. After that I met another modeler who copied my build and another who copied the unique paint scheme I designed on his what-if Wehrmacht 1946 vehicle.