Now I know what it feels like to be in a car wreck. I'm okay other than some burns from the airbag and a slightly sprained wrist. But damn does everything ache! Adrenaline is amazing stuff, I didn't feel anything yesterday but today I feel like one big bruise.

Behold my photos! (is it bad of me to be happy it was at least in my dad's truck and not my car?)


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I have no idea what the other guy was thinking, he was waiting to turn into a parking lot...only he turned into me. Like he couldn't see the giant Ford truck in the way?!

It's been a fairly interesting ride. I've had some serious ups and downs the past two weeks. One was starting a figure painting class, which has wound up completely fascinating. The other was my aunt Sara's passing (my grandfather's baby sister, also one of my namesakes).

I have...no go right now. I'm just tired. Not too up to conversation atm, but looking forward to seeing everyone at AWA. Not as prepared for that as I'd like, but I spent a big part of today cleaning jewelry I'll have on display. (how's THAT for getting around the "original art" percentage they slapped on us this year?) Speaking of, anyone need a pass? I got a second one with my table and have no clue what to do with it.

"The best thing about being a Sams is you don't have to marry one"

-Sara Sams Goza (one of my namesakes)

So true, we're insane!!!!!

Finally back in Georgia again. Rich and I are staying with my parents for a few months, should be interesting! It's nice to get in this extra time with them before Rich graduates and we move to California. Strangely enough, I'm having a ridiculous amount of fun re-painting our bedroom. I never realized how much I miss having colored walls! Spotty internet connection for now, but I'll be checking in.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/076041c13b/the-ballad-of-g-i-joe

I had no idea they knew how to play the clarinet!

Utterly, utterly BADASS image of the Discovery shuttle rolling to the launch pad.

Yesterday was beyond awesome! We'd invited some of Rich's labmates over to make sushi for dinner so we opened with an epic quest for sushi grade fish. Rich's labmate Sam is the resident SoCal student, and he GLEEFULLY (really, he was having so much fun!) took us, Tony and Danielle out for breakfast and to get the fish.

The epicness began with breakfast. I wanted to go because Sam suggested it, and the last time he suggested something I got to have REAL ramen (just like the kind I got in Japan with bowls big as our heads!). So Sam is my go-to guy for food suggestions. He took us to get dim sum (a first for me!) at this crazy place I never would have been confident enough to go in in my life. For one thing, everyone was speaking Cantonese! For another, I think we were the only non-asians in the whole mall. The waiters were impressed with our chopstick usage. Thank goodness Sam speaks Cantonese! Waiters kept running around with carts and carts and carts of food. They drop off little baskets with three or so dumplings in them and stamp a card on your table for each basket. OH MY GOD WAS IT GOOD! I absolutely fell in love with these little dumplings. I have no idea what they were called, but it was a mochi ball full of taro and rolled in sesame seeds and cooked. I could have eaten a million of them! I think we may have stayed for three whole ours just trying different things. Sam kept pouring us tea until we sloshed with it. We have to go back, because it was so good and so cheap! Each basket was just $1.50 and we rang up an entire bill of barely $40 for the 5 of us.

Then we rolled out of there (literally, we were so stuffed we waddled) to go find our fish. Sam took us to a grocery store called Mistuwa and we loaded ourselves down with sushi ingredients. I felt so spoiled! I'm used to maybe finding salmon and tuna (we get them at Harry's in Atlanta) but this place had freaking EVERYTHING. We picked out salmon, tuna, fatty tuna, sweet scallops and crab meat. Then we got avocado, carrot, cucumber and sesame seeds for extras. I also found some banana/chocolate pocky, which rocks my socks.

Ran back to the house and put it all in the fridge and then Rich, Danielle and I piled into my car to go to the beach. We were getting such a late start! I had figured we'd be on the road by noon at the latest, but we didn't even get to the beach until 4:30. And whoa does it get cold down there! In Pasadena it's almost triple digit weather, but you get over the mountains to the beach and it's barely 70 degrees! I swore I wasn't going to the beach again without getting in the water...so in we raced. SO COLD! Next time I go back I am going at high noon so I can back myself in the warmest part of the day. Plus, the pacific has a really strong current, waaay more than I'm used to back in Georgia. Unfortunately, I discovered that cold salty water + a windy day will give me a dizzy-making earache; so I wound up back on the beach a bit sooner than I meant to. It was fantastic just sitting there sunbathing though.

We fled the beach with just enough time to get back to the house and get started on the sushi. I was dead on my feet but persevered. Erin, Danielle, Tony, Adam, Rich and I went to town. It was SO MESSY! I will be much better organized next time. Now that I know what to expect! Sushi rice got stuck in everything. EVERYTHING. We rocked out to Japanese pop music and just had a blast. And drank so much tea and sake. I must have drunk two gallons of tea yesterday, AT LEAST.

I didn't last long after everyone left. We got everything cleaned up and I checked my mail and then CRASHED utterly and completely. I only got up a hour ago, which means I slept for thirteen hours. But it was all worth it! I want to have a sushi party back in Atlanta once we're all moved in.

Poll #1428236 Cinnamon Rolls- the eternal question!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10

Are cinnamon a breakfast food? Or a dessert?

The question is are cinnamon rolls a breakfast food or a dessert. Just had to make that clear since I messed it up in the poll.

I believe I would be making jewelry, children's books and art full time and selling it either at my own gallery or entirely online (ideally managed and promoted by someone who actually likes doing such things aka NOT ME). Hopefully we'd have moved back to Georgia permanently and bought a farm. And I'd be riding herd on four children!

Don't kill me, but I've been reading so much fanfiction I figured I'd give it a shot myself. Ignore if you don't like!

Avatar does not belong to me.
____________________________________________________________


Zuko was known to keep things to himself. It was not a particularly good habit of his, but it was well ingrained and rarely broken. Getting him to open up and reveal things about himself was harder than teaching Sokka table manners. It was a shame though, because so many things could have been different.

If he’d told his crew what happened, they might have respected him earlier.

If he’d explained why exactly he was chasing the avatar (instead of simply spouting about his honor) then maybe the avatar’s group would have sat on him until he saw his mission for what it really was and Aang would have had a firebending teacher a lot earlier.

If he’d told Sokka the reason he attacked so fiercely to the left was because he’d gone blind in the bad eye he would have endured far less ridicule for ‘letting his guard down’.

If he’d simply told Katara he loved her (but really, wasn’t taking a lightning bolt for her enough?) it might have been him she kissed instead of the avatar.

But he didn’t. So when they all left him to rule his broken country alone, he kept the pain to himself.

oh christ it's stuck in my head

In an irritating twist, my neck has decided to spasm out of control. That's twice in three weeks, and it's driving me INSANE. I feel like Zoolander where he can't turn right. (since I have to turn my entire body to look over my shoulder. let me tell you how much fun that is when you have to back a car out of a crowded driveway)

Rich and I will be in California until August 14th (when we partake in another epic 3 day cross country road trip), so we have a summer address! the c/o isn't absolutely necessary, I just don't want to confuse the mailman.

R and SK Otero
c/o Catherine O'Brien
315 Anna Maria St
Altadena, CA 91001

Yoinked from avocado_love

Fandom interview, respond and get asked about three fandoms

01: What got you into this fandom in the first place?


02: Do you think you'll stay in this fandom or eventually move on?


03: Favorite episodes/books/movies/ parts etc.?


04: Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?


05: Do you think that more people should get into this fandom?

I'm rolling with Avatar, Due South, and the Valdemar books by Mercedes Lackey

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sweeeeet, they have that pineapple tango stuff out here!

Rich and I are safe and sound in California. We also have internet now, thus the update.

It was an epic trip; we made it in a mere three days WITH the cats.

Lessons learned:

1. Don't keep the cats in the carrier. They don't like it and won't shut up. Let them loose and it will keep them quiet(er).

2. IF cats are loose keep a damned good eye on them because despite having the entire car to roam the spot they want to be is between your foot and the brakes.

3. shave the butt of any long-haired cat before putting it in a car. Using the litterbox in a moving car is apparently a little difficult (and very messy). We clipped Blitz's butt in a Subway parking lot. Rich says we got some weird looks, but I was too absorbed in the business at hand to notice.

4. keep loooots of cold water in the car.

5. learn to ignore meowing.

6. cover everything in a tarp...just in case.

7. check the oil level- twice!

8. Not many hotels will let you keep pets. Call in advance. Especially when there's a convention in town!

I share dashboard cat with you, more pictures later. (Rambo stuffed himself as flat as possible on the dashboard so we couldn't get a grip on him. It was actually quite easy to drive that way.)

so. sick. of. moving.

Rich and I finally, finally got the apartment packed up and our stuff in storage. The car is loaded for CA. It was an epic battle but we succeeded. Could NOT have done it without the aid and assistance of Rich's friend, Eamon. He was a HUGE help.

Things are now going to be insane: the cats are coming with us. I got my first taste of what's to come when Blitz threw up on the way to my parents. Rambo rode the whole trip in the litter box. If I have to bathe them every night at the hotel I will cry. I just want to get out there and quit stressing over everything. (do not even let me think about unloading that storage room in 3 months, I will die)

sleep now plz?

Escaped to Lake Martin in AL for the long weekend. Rich and I joined my parents and Izzy (the freaking adorable Maltese puppy my mom got- I think she's a muppet that barks) for the long car trip. I fell asleep, like I usually do on long car trips when I'm not driving. I'm especially prone to doing it in my mom's car because it's a loud vehicle and I can't figure out what anyone else is saying. My aunt and uncle graciously lent us their lakehouse and joined us Saturday night. It was so relaxing! The house is gorgeous and faces out into this little inlet on one side and the wider lake (Lake Martin is HUGE) on the other. There's a glorious lookout place from the second story balcony where you can watch the sun set from the porch swing. It was gorgeous even when it rained- which was most of the time!

It did let up enough for three pontoon rides; which are my favorite. I like spazzing out on the waverunners, but mostly when the sun is out and the water isn't frigid! Pontoon rides make me think and also relax (and imagine I'm a pirate, shh). On Saturday we ran over to the island the bald eagles are nesting on and were lucky enough to spot one drying out in a dead tree after the rain. They are SO BIG. I would not want one coming after me, that's for sure. All those stories of Mongols hunting wolves with Golden Eagles makes me realize what those talons could do to my face. squick. We were really, really lucky on Monday when we took the last pontoon ride- not only did we spot the mated pair, we spotted one of the juvies!


Also I just got a comment on my Batman My Little Pony drawing on DA:
"You've bastardized something very good, by mixing it with something terrible, and you have no feeling of regret.


Something is wrong with you.


-Also, your art is terrible."


People are insulting my art now...yay? Actually I laughed my head off and told Rich "Hey, people are insulting my pony art, I'm in the big leagues now!"

And now insanity ensues as I realize we're leaving for Pasadena in a week and the only thing I've packed are the dvds and the box of books that are going with us. (i fail!)

Battou- Wolverine may have made bagel sense and left you sad at the waste of money. To fix the sadness caused by this, GO SEE STAR TREK. It is very much for the win! (and I am not a big star trek fan either) Seriously, it's the first GOOD summer blockbuster. The actors are so utterly believable as the original characters, and the whole alternate timeline idea works out great. I really am hoping there will be sequels!

some highlights include:
-Sulu gets to use a sword!
-they make fun of Chekhov's accent!
-transporter room scene with Uhura, Spock and Kirk, you see it you'll know what I mean

is GOOD. GO SEE IT.