Barbarian Video Games

This is for my friend Eli:

Barbarian: the Ultimate Warrior: developed and published by Palace Software, 1987. For the PC. A fighting game, mortal combat style.

Barbarian: Psygnosis, 1987. A computer platform game but first developed for the Atari.

Barbarian: Titus, 2003.
For Gamecube and PC.

Kaan: Barbarian's Blade: developed by Eko Software and published by DreamCatcher, 2003.
Here are some pictures from amazon.com.
Third person player.
For PC.

Conan / Conan: The Dark Axe: developed by Cauldron HQ and published by TDK Mediactive, 2004.
For Xbox, Gamecube, PS2

Conan: developed by Nihilistic Software and published by THQ, 2007.
For the X360 and PS3. Role-playing Game.

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures: developed by Funcom and published by Funcom and Eidos, 2008.
For the PC. MMORPG.

(There is a list on Wikipedia of Conan Video Games)

Rudyard and Mr. Fish

Rudyard discovered when we went to the Ferret Shelter that you can sleep inside of Mr. Fish. Since then, he's used it as a bed.
Well, it was Weasel Time and Jack was awake and Rudyard was sleeping in Mr. Fish; so I picked up Mr. Fish and brought him to the bed and watched him slowly wake up. IT WAS SO DAMN CUTE.

Liam and the World of Aging Pets

Liam is getting old.
All the rats are getting old.
But I knew from the very beginning that Liam probably wouldn't last as long as the other ratties. It's his lung condition. It's so bad, there is red stress seeping out of both eyes now on top of his nose. He keeps falling asleep in the weirdest places and in the strangest positions.

He almost gave me a heart attack last night because he fell asleep halfway in the foodbowl. I thought he as dead. Then he woke up with a start and I gave him a yogurt raisin, which he took gratefully.

It doesn't help that I'm already worrying about Vincent. His tumors aren't doing any better, really. They are not worse either, but last time Sam and I tried to purge him of his flesh skin tumor it hurt. So we're not doing it anymore, not if it hurts.

I hate seeing age get the best of my babies.
I know that Vincent is old, and it registers in my brain he is an old man. His aging has been gradual and nice.
But this is the first time I look at Liam and think, "You are getting old." It's very sudden, and it makes me sad. I don't know if I'm ready for it. But then again, who's ready for that kind of thing?

Audrey's baby, Alice, died on Sunday. She's from the same litter as Vincent.

Sew Sew

First sewing machine project.
Realized fabric was a WEE BIT too thick. Next time I will try something thinner. :)

CUTE POSSOM

In addition to:

I also wanted to note, in a post all on its own, how awesome Sam is. After my number, I was really tired and I was prepared to just stand in the back of the crowd and just try to see Zoe Jakes and the rest of Beats Antique on the stage.

Sam took me by the hand and shoved the crowd aside and sideways to get me dead center and right next to all my buds.

That was the best thing ever.

Zoe Jakes is a Real Human Being

I've had a long long loooooonnnnng day. I woke up early, drove teens to a far away place, made them do physical labor while doing physical labor myself, and then drove them back.
That makes me sound like a slave-driver, but what we were actually doing was volunteering at Noah's Ark in Locust Grove, GA. Yeah, see? I'm a good person.

Then I get home and I get ready for this disaster of a show. NO COMMUNICATIONS galore. I've been talking to Owner No. 1 for the past several days (and that was kinda hard on its own to get in touch with him and talk things out) about opening the Beats Antique show. I've been psyched and nervous about it all week. I've been working on my solo to Tank! by the Seatbelts. I even performed it at Afterhours last night to prep myself.

I get there and no body knows who I am.
Owner No. 2 is there and its like I'm talking to a fucking wall. I was exhausted and tired, but I wanted to open this show so bad, I dealt with all of this crap.

So, O.No.2 says, "So you wanna go on at 10:15ish?"
And I'm like, uh, I was told I'm an opening number.
Okay so lets do that.
So what's going on? How is this working?
Band No 1, Band No 2, Beats Antique.
I was under the impression I would be dancing before Beats Antique. I've been talking to O.No.1 about this all week.
Oh, he never told me. Well, you wanna go on at 11:50?
Uhh.... okay. Is O.No. 1 here?
No, I don't know where he is and I can't get in touch with him.

Rrrrg.
Okay. So.
Okay. I figure its settled-ish. I don't feel 100% comfortable because I'd like to talk to O.No.1 first.

Well, at the time it was 9:15 (?) and O.No.1 doesn't show until 10:30 (?)
I confirm with him, everything seems to be hunkey-dorey. He's all smiles and "This'll be great, I'm so excited."

Yay! Excitement.
Well, then I go to eat food, but my nerves get the best of me and I can't even finish a FUCKING grilled cheese sandwich. Or my tea. Errrg.
Jessica and I walk back to New Earth from the Grill, Sam and Nat were still there talking about Wildlife Biology--which is fine, I was just all nerves and everything.

I get there and I say, Fuck it, I'm going in the dressing room.
Because OH YEAH, I forgot to tell you, I was told not to smoke pot in the dressing room (I don't smoke! What did I do?!) and that Zoe was going to be really pissed, and that they were under the impression they were getting the room to themselves.... so I took my stuff and left, because sure, a superstar like that needs her space I guess.
And then after that I ask O.No.2 where the hell should I put my stuff and he's like, why in the office, but it wreaks of weed its ridiculous. I don't want my shit smelling like pot! What the hell?!

Anyway. I get there and say, Fuck it, I'm going in to the dressing room. I meet Zoe. She's very charming. I introduce myself. And then she says, You need to figure out what's going on. No one knows who you are. Go talk to Nick.

So I ask around. Who is Nick? Nobody knows who Nick is. I finally find out Nick works specifically with Beats Antique only and he's the one who told me not to smoke in the dressing room. So I'm like, Hi, we've met before. I'm supposed to be the dancer no one knows about. And he says, well, no one told me. And we can't make space for you.

It's 11:50ish now. I'm super pissed. Sam and Nat are there at this point, they are pissed too. And if they weren't pissed, they had better be. So I look for O.No.1, and I ask what the hell is going on?

Pat pat, everything's fine. We'll get it worked out. I get to talk to the rest of Beats Antique. Oh, your number is three minutes. Okay. That's fine. No problem. Let's go ask Zoe, make sure its cool with her

Guess what? It's cool with Zoe.

ZOE JAKES IS A REAL HUMAN BEING. She was the first person to be helpful and nice tonight. She even told me Girl, you ain't dancing on the floor. I let people pull that shit with me when I started, and bla bla bla..... in short, I was dancing on the stage.

I probably would have danced on the floor or something that night if Zoe hadn't insisted.

She talked to me like I was a real person and let me bitch about the mis-communication world of New Earth. In retrospect, that was probably a bad first impression. But I figure I'll never meet her again, so I guess its okay. She was very nice to me.

Then everything happened correctly, and it was nice.
Beats Antique went on afterwards and they rocked. Now I'm going to bed. Goodnight.

Tired tired tired some more

I will be happy once this week is over. I feel like my schedule is brimmingly full and I am so exhausted all the time.
Tomorrow I've got Afterhours at the Library, then the next day I have to get up early at lead St G's Youth to Noah's Ark where we will be doing some physical labor by cleaning up animal habitats, and THEN the Beats Antique show. Oh, and then the NEXT DAY I wanted to start plaster casting with the Sunday school kids, but I may put that off an extra week. Maybe we'll just peel our latex molds off... and... now I'm not thinking anymore.
I don't know. No more brains for clara... so tired....OH and then I get to teach some and then go to Sulukule and stuff... and then I will sleep. Probably for 24 hrs. That will be nice.
Oh wait.
Can't.
Critters.

Igor

Car Window: Feedback!

I was thinking:
it would be so much fun to paint the back window of my car.
And then when I get bored of it, I'd scrape it off and do a new one.

But what to do? I have a sticker on it that says, "Owned By Ferrets" which can be moved about.
Maybe I could put it in one of my side windows or something.

I was thinking a super cool belly dancer would be fun.
Or maybe a giant ferret.

I can't decide.

Suggestions, anyone?

Oh Shameful, Shameful

Yesterday was a day of shame. But also a day of cute furry animals. Yesterday was a mixed day.

I have work this weekend, you see, and my shamefulness began when I went on my lunch break. I walked to Schlotzsky's. Yum. I was excited because I had a coupon for a free birthday sandwich. I was planning on going all-out today with my lunch since the largest portion on the payment was absent. I ordered a drink, some chips (I never ever ever never order chips) and then also a packet of cookies. Total was around $7, then take away the sandwich price with the coupon and it was around $3.

I handed my cashier my debit card. She swiped it, gave it back. Then told me it was declined.
Declined?!
What? How could my card be declined? And only on $3?!?

Miserably, I mumbled if I could just have my free sandwich and a cupful of water. I went into the far corners of the restaurant and ate alone.

To make myself feel better, I went to Pet Supplies Plus. They were having their weekly Puppy Adoption, so I knew that I could go get some puppy action while I was feeling blue.

First, though, I went into the pet store to meet their ferrets. There were two of them: one extremely tiny little black sable ferret who was only a couple of months old (I learned the age later, and that Marshall Ferret had sent him over too young. They still had to bottle-feed the guy!! Learn that everyone... Marshall Ferret is SO BIG of a ferret mill that they can't even keep track of their ferrets. Ferrets are way over-populated in the pet world. This makes me sad and makes my heart break), and another larger one who had white gloved-mitts and huge honking white blaze running down his head (that means he's deaf).

These two guys (although, I admit that because of the black sable one's size, I initially thought it was a girl) made me very happy. They rolled around and nipped me. When I went back and visited them today with Natalie, the little black sable one chomped my chin and just hung on. I think he's teething.

So that was nice; helped me crawl out of my shame hole.
Then I went outside to meet the puppies, and guess what caught my eye? Was it the litter mates that hung out in the pen together, and young and full of baby fur and splooshy little mouths? Nope.

It was this black lab. You could tell she had given birth recently, but she didn't have a litter with her. I found out while meeting her that she had lost all of her babies. Her breasts were still extremely heavy and stretched with the milk that was meant for her little ones.

She looked at me as I approached her; I offered my hand. She smelled them, thought me over, and then licked my fingers. She had accepted me. Now I could touch her.

She didn't flinch as I placed my hand upon her head. She didn't even look up at me. She sat there, with her sad quiet eyes, allowing me to gently scratch her behind her ear.

When I removed my hand, because I thought she didn't seem to care if I was there or not, she suddenly looked up at me.

It was like she was talking to me: "Don't go, don't leave."
"Okay," I told her, but I knew that I had to go soon. My lunch break was going to be over soon and I couldn't leave Keir there all by herself at the Young Adult desk. So, when I put my hand back on her head, she broke eye contact with me. I didn't even scratch her this time around, I just kept my hand there.

My insides were churning. She was so chill. All she wanted was someone to be there with her. She was lonely. Someone told me her name was Onyx.

Sewing Station set up

I'm excited. I still haven't sewn anything yet, still just looking at the machine in all its glory. I'm a wee bit intimidated, actually, but it'll be okay. I'll start simple. I've got red thread in, I'll just start with red monster bags and then move on up.

Revamping Sweet Dreams and other Belly Dance stuff

What in God's name was I thinking?!?!
How did I do all those movements so quickly?!?!
I have to change some things around if I'm not going to make myself look a-doofus when I teach this baby.

SO, guess who MIGHT POSSIBLY BE HELPING TO OPEN Beats Antique? Yes. Yes, that is me. I LOVE Beats Antique. I am so excited.
Christy was talking to us all yesterday during our Sulukule class, and I was tired and still getting over my bug, and then I realized she was talking to me and was saying that I might be the only Athens dancer at Beats Antique and was that okay? You know, if I'm there any?

I was like, Hullz-yeah!! I ain't gunna miss that; no mairm. Nary a bit.

And now I'm trying to figure out what... what the hell am I dancing to?

It'll be October 16th, so I could still get away with something Halloweenie, like Oogie Boogie (the original had three people but I don't have that video on me).

But I could also try Sweet Dreams.

OR.
OR MAYBE.
Maybe Cowboy Bebop. Which doesn't have a choreography, I was just humming it in my head. What to do, what to do?

Class Time!

I just looked at my old copy of Sweet Dreams. What the heck was I thinking when I wrote all that jibberish down? It doesn't make any sense. I've got most of it translated for class today, though, so hopefully it will be allllll good.

Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise.

Mostly just healthy. I added a link so you can see all my ferret and rat videos INSTANTANEOUSLY. Also, if you haven't guessed already, you can see how crazy I am.

This morning, Rudyard really wanted to play. But I had work. So I put Rudyard in Jack's cage and wrote a note to Sam pretending to be Jack, informing him that Rudyard had come over and if he were unhappy could you put him back in his room?