Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'News and Updates'.
-
So I finally reached my word limit for my NaNoWriMo story. Tonight I have 51,166 total words in the story. I had a mad dash of 6,970 words today, and it helped that I was finally writing about one of the major action sequences I had planned. I'm not finished yet... I'm getting there, and I'm still a little fuzzy about the conclusion. But after this, I'll have time to spread it out, instead of writing for a deadline. After all, I write as part of a hobby, and I don't really need a big NaNo event to inspire me. But I kinda wanted to just show that I can... plus, half the BZPers I know kinda dropped out early. Come on guys! Don't let a little thing like school (as your future) get in the way! Anyway, now that I got it done a few days early, that means I can spend the rest of the week stress free... or rather, stressed out by homework only. Meh. Edit: My 50,000th word was "seamless." XD, and I don't even know if it was the right description I wanted to give...
-
Okay, this time I have this excelent story idea. Problem is, I might finish it before I hit the 50,000 word mark. Or I might never finish it because, you know, I procrastinate. Or schoolwork. But I'll attempt NaNoWriMo this year. For reals. Basically the theme's gonna be the seven sins, as some original characters from my other (Non Bionicle) stories will become infected by em and such. Idea is really cool, but not exactly original. Kumata and Makaru might remember this story we were planning out a while ago... yeah, I kinda got the idea from that.
-
READ IT NOW!! Why? Cause I spent so much time working on it.
-
No, not my NaNo story. Which is coming along fine, if a bit below expected word count. But it contains some adult material, so it's not gonna be on BZP... ever. Rather, I have this one epic going, linked here, which I started posting a while ago but never finished putting up all the chapters I had written. (It wasn't completed yet, since school got in the way) I liked the general idea of the story and would like to continue it... if people would be willing to read and / or review it. But I supposed I should just be lucky people read my blog, since it seems to be an unwritten rule that people don't read AND reply to epics anymore. (At least not any of my epics for the last couple of years) So, just asking... anybody interested? (And like you don't even have to wait for me to post something, since there's like 9 chapters already posted and could give you an idea if you like the story or not)
-
You know when you want to watch a show online, and before you can start streaming, you have to watch 30-60 seconds of comercials? And then there's some glitch, which sends you on an infinite loop of watching the same comericals over and over without getting to the actual show? Luckily, the refresh button helps you out. I want to find life's refresh button. (Also, is there anybody I know who's not giving up NaNo?)
-
*sigh* I bought some bricks from the Brick Engraver guys at BrickFair this year, as did a bunch of other BZPers. But then their machine broke down before they could finish all their orders, so they said they'd take them home and mail them to us within a few weeks. ... and I haven't recieved anything from them. And I've sent them emails a couple of times, expecting them to say they've been busy and will get around to it eventually... but they haven't responded to my emails either. It's kinda a shame... that's at least $10 down the drain for me, and I know that I was also accepting a brick for Arpy too (and maybe someone else). Still hoping to open communications with them again before, like, next BrickFair.
-
So I just ran a list of all the sets I've bought in the last two years (in which I've also attended 3 conventions). Then I entered in all their store prices and calculated just how much merchandise I actually bought. It came out to be around $900. Of course, I am not taking into consideration the different sets I got on sale, since I usually only bought something when there was some sort of deal on it. BUT, I'm also not taking into consideration online brick purchases, which I didn't skimp out on either. (Like, I bought almost everything for the mosaic pieces I made, including the pricy base plates) So... I think I need to slow down my purchases this year, despite how cool some of the sets are looking to be. And, unless I can find another job, I'm starting to doubt that I'll have the finances to appear at BrickFair. (Bugger, why'd that have to cancel BrickFest. That would've been a sure-go for me) I guess I'll just consider 2009-2010 my Lego spending spree year.
-
I just purchased some news masks today, so that I am now just two short from having all the original Toa Mata masks in their main colors (by this, I mean I have all Hau, Akaku, Kaukau, Kakama, Miru, and Pakari masks in red, blue, white, brown, green, black, gold-ish and silver-ish) As of now, the only two I'm missing are a green Akaku and a green Hau. But yeah, that is the closest I've come to completely any Bionicle collectibles collection. (And I'm not even bothering with the Noble masks...) But that got me to thinking... what could I use these masks for? Then I came up with an idea; the Chronicler's Company!! Now, I have this one Matoran design that I love to death (example) that I've also brought to ever Lego convention I've attended. I've built the Matoran from my epic Time Disruption, Matoran from my other epic Kulagi's Kanoka, and for BrickfFair09 I built the Le-Koro Band. But obviously the Chronicler's Company has to be my next choice. (Which will be easy enough, since I've already made Maku and Takua before) This will require me to do some additional shopping tho. I have a red Pakari for Kapura (he wears a Red Ruru you say? Bah, you don't know what you're talking about). Hafu and Taipu will be easily... a black Pakari and Ruru from the Onua and Hafu sets will do. (Oh, and they'll have the masks that the game gave them, none of this after-the-thought mask-swapping stuff). But then there's Tamaru. His lime Rau exists, but I haven't bought one yet. And also Kopeke, who needs a sand blue Komau. (Sorry, I don't accept his 03 dark grey set as canon) Now, a sand blue Komau doesn't exist... but a medium blue one does, I just don't own it yet. :annoyed2: So, at some point, I will need to buy a Lime Rau and a Medium Blue Komau, in addition to a Green Akaku and a Green Hau. But since BrickFest got canceled (sadly enough) I won't need these masks until BrickFair 2010 (either I'll attend or send something in) so I might as well wait until I can find them all for a good deal. Until then, Ima gonna marvel at my current mask collection, which is looking up. (That, and the fact that I got rid of a ton of Nuva masks at the conventions... hehe)
-
Sadly, this is not an entry about NaNo. Instead, I was informaed last week that, in order to register for classes as a new transfer student, I had to take a writing placement test, oh, and BTW, the last one for the quarter is on Monday. So it was high school all over again; sitting down and writting quickly on a random subject for two hours. I hate writing like that; I didn't go into computer science without a reason, you know. I prefer to type. Because midway through my hand was aching. It was really sore when I finished. Yes, I'm not complaining so much about the actual thought processes that went into this (been there, done that) but rather the physical effort it takes to scribble out ten pages of a hand written essay. As I said, I prefer to type (and I've been told I even do that wrong) plus I prefer spell check. Also, I FINALLY got my email account unlocked, and better yet, I managed to hook it up to my phone so I can get my messages on the go! Woot!
-
"He threw his fish at his opponent, striking him in the face and knocking him to the floor." ... Don't you mock Marine Man, the sea surfing super hero, and his trusty sidekick, Bludgeon the Fish. :angry: ... I might have to save this for some other story...
-
This applies to everybody who has MS Word. There should be an option in Tools called Auto Summarize (at least in MS Word 03) So open a file with your story in it, and then select auto summarize and tell it to create a new document and summarize it down to 10% of the original. Then MS Word will attempt to summarize your story for you. Hilarity should ensue. Although I'm kinda annoyed that half the summaries are all "Character said." in some of my stories that have lots of dialogue.
-
Man, I feel a need to blog about something, but all the ideas at the top of my head are things we can't discuss here. (Explained: Politics) But yeah, I'm doing NaNoStuff. I've made good progress on my story, considering I'm still in the introduction phase. And I may even be able to make it long enough... what was going to be a slight reference may turn into a major side story, so that's always good. Still trying to figure out where exactly I can work in a car chase scene, but I'll figure it out eventually. Sadly, the general direction that this story is going will include some content I wouldn't feel comfortable posting on BZP, so don't expect to see it here anytime soon. Truth be told, this story is based off this series of stories I've written, none of which have ever been read by anybody else besides me, so I dunno if they'll make it public. Crazy thing happened in class today tho. Before class began, I pulled out my laptop and updated my writing statistics, and the person behind noted that I was in NaNo, which was kinda crazy. On the other hand, I usually sit in the back row when I use my laptop specifically so people don't peer over my shoulder and see that I'm surfing BZP instead of typing up lecture notes... which I hardly ever do, of course. School is meh. Life in general is meh. I feel a need to get out of this mehness, but I don't have any better alternatives at the moment, so it's just back to studying I suppose...
-
I almost didn't vote this year. I had registered myself in the city where I was going to school two years ago for the presidential election. But I have since moved back home, in a different count, which meant I had to go about changing my address... which turned into a more complicated process than I expected. (And I also had to do it a month and a half early, and thus I missed the deadline). So having messed that up, I expected my ballot to get forwarded to me from the city, but it turns out they don't forward ballots. So at the last minute, I called and got a replacement ballot sent directly to me. And since it's a mail in ballot, I got it filled out and put in the mailbox yesterday. Unlike the state to the south of me, who's mail-in deadline was Friday, my state's deadline is Tuesday (today) so I just made it in. So yeah, one thing went right this week.
-
My latest obsession is How to Train Your Dragon. Why? Because I bought the DVD and rewatched it a bajillion times, that's why. So I MOCed the main dragon, Toothless. Yay and stuff. I think he looks cool anyway.
-
Man, my computer hated me this week. 1st: My Google toolbar disappeared. I was sad, and despite my best efforts, I couldn't get it to reappear. 2nd: In trying to make Google toolbar reappear, I erased my stored passwords. When I tried to sign on to this email using the password I had written down, it wouldn't let me in and locked me out, forcing me into the catch 22 situation I blogged about the other day. 3rd: In trying to do updates to my security and stuff (while still trying to get my Google toolbar back) I fell for a malware attack, which pretty much ruined my computer's ability to connect with DE internet. *Facepalm* oh, and 4th: My ballot didn't arrive in the mail in time for me to vote. (There was a lot of change of address hassle I didn't deal with, and to get around it they were just gonna send me a second ballot... but it didn't arrive) *pounds head against wall* But, AHA, solutions! 1st: Google toolbar came back! I don't know where it went or why it went away, but it is back, and I missed it. 2nd: I eventually managed to contact tech support and answer a few questions about my account, and they should get me back into it in a few days. *crosses fingers* 3rd: After much research and running of multiple anti-virus / anti malware programs multiple times each, I got rid of the dang maleware. (The anti-malware stuff didn't do the whole job right, but I was able to find the right files to delete, and after that it seemed to clear up the rest) At first I thought my Internet was still on the fritz, since IE would not work. (Oh, and neither would Firefox or Chrome, it got to those too) But it turned out I needed to update how my servers connected to their ports or whatever. (AKA, the maleware altered them to point to a specific, likely infected, port, and even when the initial maleware files were gone, it was still pointing to said port. But I was able to go in and manually tell it to go back to its old methods, and now things work. Hooray!) The Maleware was called Think Point, BTW, and it looked like a legit Windows update at first glance... at second glance, it had too few options and wouldn't do stuff I told it to, which made it pretty obvious it was a fake. But I have been known to go off on people for not using common sense when dealing with files... and I fell for this myself, so yeah, stupid me. 4th: I think I can still vote if I call in and ask for an absentee ballot, which I will do tomorrow. It's won't nessesarily be counted on election day, but if the races do get tight enough, absentee votes could still tip the balance.
-
Because we took all their horns to make ice cream cones. ... yeah, I can't claim credit for this idea; I saw it somewhere at BrickCon. But, I must admit, it's a very cool idea. And since I had just bought the $10 castle set (for the pieces) I decided to make use of it.
-
My school email account is rather buggy when it comes to passwords. AKA, it keeps wanting me to change 'em, and then not accepting my old password. I've had this problem before with other stuff, and there's a useful link that will help you reset your password. Or so it seems. Their solution: We sent an email to your account that will help you reset your password. YES, they sent an email that will help me reset my password to my account that I can't get into because I need to reset the password. :annoyed2:
-
So I heard somewhere that they're revamping the Animorphs series. For those who don't know about it (and are thus that much more uncool) it was a late 90s book series about a group of teens who could change into animals who fought off a secret alien invasion. Real good stuff, but it ended like way long ago. So I heard that they're planning to re release the series, so a whole other generation can enjoy the stories. But... they're planning to change pop culture references to fit the current trends. In some ways, that's sad, because the books reflect the pop culture of my childhood from the 90s, so I don't want them to change. (And what's Marco going to call Rachel now since there isn't really a Xena show out there?) And what about the whole book about the Internet... its almost like a relic from an ancient age where they used such primitive systems. (Also, AOL) And the airport security they dealt with in that same book is nothing like today's. On that same note, one thing I remember about the book set in New York is that it identified the World Trade Center... sadly, that is no longer possible. So I don't know what to think about this new release. Of course, I probably won't buy any, since I have a majority of the series already. Although if I do happen to see one of the books I never got on shelves... well, I'll have to think about it, because when the Animorph series ended, I started funneling all my money into Bionicle instead, and there are still plenty of Lego products out there.
-
How to Train Your Dragon I saw it in theaters (sadly, not in 3D, but oh well.) I thought it was an excelent movie. Good animation, nice storyline, but its the flight scenes that were truly spectacular. I mean, I saw this and Avatar, but this seemed to make a bigger impression. Now it's mine on DVD. Sadly, my computer does not have any 3D capacities (and the disk doesn't come with any either).
-
Yesterday, I shipped out a bunch of packages, spending roughly $8-$9 on each one. (The extra $1 went to pay for gas ) So if you sent something to BrickCon, be on the lookout for a package returning to you (covered in lots of tape and brown paper. I felt like I was wrapping stuff up for X-mas). If you're curious as to the state of your package on my end, check my little side bar in my blog (see, it's just to the right) or PM me. I'll probably get the rest of the stuff out sometime mid next week.
-
So I was looking at one of those newspaper work puzzles, where you have to rearrange the letters to get a word. And I saw one was "lowalt" Obviously, it's an anagram for "LOL Wat?" Either that or tallow. But I digress.
-
Steampunk? Yes. This is as good as the halloween ep they did last year with the vampires! Chuck was also good. The actress who played Casey's daughter looked different, but it was a fun continuation from last year's ep involving Costa Gravas.
-
First, they started building it. By they, I mean the guys at the Lego Universe table at BrickCon. It's the tree Dojo from the game. So when the public came, they started building it. And then they drew a name. And then they finished building it. Then they gave it to the person who's name they drew. :br: It survived the trip home and in currently on display in our living room. It is super epic. I don't think I'll ever take it apart. (Except for the baseplates... but those are easy to remove)
-
Well, I'm back home. EW got me here safely, and he's staying the night so he can get some sleep before he has to drive even further to get to his home. The event was a blast. I didn't get to participate in quite as many events as I wanted to... for various reasons. Coordinator duties got in the way, and it didn't help that I ended up leaving half my system sets at home. (Don't worry, I only forgot them because I was making sure I had all the stuff that was sent to me... and it all made it up there.) But that just leaves more stuff to do next time. (I need to get into one of the building competitions) I got a TON of stuff. I've hinted at it, and I want to do a full blog entry about it, but I must say this BrickCon was very prosperous for me. And I hung out with a TON of AWESOME people! I got to meet EmperorWhenua finally, and he's as cool as they come. Sure, he can't follow my jumbled directions and he did keep on attacking me with a firesword, but he's as fun in person as he is online. (Although he punches harder in person). And Swert, when he wasn't talking about his job, was also a rad guy, and I'm glad I finally met him. And there was also Kayru and a few other BS01 members whos names I've currently forgotten. It was nice to meet you guys and gals too! Of course, there was also the crowd from last year, like Arkov (or whatever his current BZPower name is), Kopakanui, Letagi, Razlak, and Czar. Honestly, it was hanging out with you guys (and the new people I met) which made this weekend totally awesome. They say BrickFair is the best convention for Bionicle fans to meet up, but I don't quite agree because Brickcon was fun and way cooler than Brickfair because it doesn't spawn people who go and edit blogs to make other conventions look less cool. I hope to see you guys again next year if we can all make it back. Our Bionicle display was amazing. I was fearing that it might be a little weak without Breane to contribute, but it turned out nicely. Awards were given, and I hope to write up a proper news story tomorrow to show the winners off. And expect a few more news stories on the event in general. But it's late, and I have school tomorrow. (Although I don't have to be up nearly as early as EW. Poor guy, I hope he's asleep by now and not kept awake by my typing. )
-
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I did well this year. Okay, I spent more money, but I still got more sets, and then some. First off, this was a great convention for collectable minifigures. There were some being sold at BrickFair for ridiculas prices, but here not only did we all get one in our goodie bags, but there was also a minifig trading event and vendors were selling them for fairly reasonable prices. (Okay, not for the Spartans, but for others, yes). In my goodie bag, I got a skier. I traded my skier with Swert for his cheerleader. At the minifig trading event, I traded a spare lifeguard for a ninja. Then I bought a robot. And I showed off my Spartan, but kept it close to me so nobody could take it. The Lego Store event was also cool. They used the same technique from BrickFair, with a few additional rules. First off, we signed up for the damaged set event, and were placed in random groups. The groups were then sorted in order, and the order people signed up was the order in which they could enter. But on the first round, we could only grab one set. If we wanted to go through a second time, we'd have to wait in line again, and this time they reversed the list, so people who were first on the first round were last on the second, and so on. I was able to get in pretty early (I was the twelfth person on the list to go in, but like actually the seventh person to grab a set. Hehe) The first thing I grabbed was the Indiana Jones Temple of Doom set for 50% off. (I totally wanted that last year, but watched as every single copy got snagged up. This year, there was only one... and I got it. Muhahaha) Then I went into the store, and grabbed a brand new Hogwarts Express (3rd edition). They also had some Quidditch Match sets availible when the store opened, but within five minutes, they were all snagged up. Then I bought a Police Helicopter for the Dirty Brickster, a bucket of bricks for a last minute trophy (there's a story behind that) and a Knights Duel set just to get over the mark so I can save 20% instead of 10%. It was a lot of money, but it was worth it. For Dirty Brickster, my first turn was about 3/4 the way around the circle. First, I stole a new Quidditch Match set from somebody, but then the person that kid stole from went and stole my set from me, so I had it in hand for a total of 30 seconds. (And, no Swert, I wasn't angry or anything about it) Next I opened a smallish package and got a yellow Lego Semi Truck (at least the front part) which was a set from a while back. But a round later, it was taken from me. So as I went around, I passed this poor guy who was just begging for me to take his Hero Factory Coroder from him, so since I was one of the last Bionicle fans to be selecting something, I took it off his hands. After that, none of the other AFOLs even considered stealing from me. (But the best story was when Letagi and Arkov did this crazy stealing method which secured them a legoland bag with the Toa Mata on it (and some stuff inside) which is a story they must blog about in detail!) I also bought some stuff off Czar, who was selling some great stuff at his vendor table. First, I bought a clear trans blue plate off him for a couple of dollars. And then Letagi and I pooled our money together to buy the old technic competition Cyber Strikers from him. You might not remember them, since they were released back when I was just getting into Lego (1997) but they came with lots of purple and teal pieces. Letagi and I hastily built them in hopes of having a competition, but as coordinator I had to drop that idea in order to clean up. So we still have a fight to finish up! (He took the teal one home with him, letting me claim the purple half. ) Much thanks to Czar for giving us a great price on this set. ANd I was totally geeking out from the build, which was old school Lego with stuff like black pins and axles. I also got two Exo Force sets (they were giving these away like hotcakes, just like at BrickFair. I suspect these were actually from the same crates we saw at BrickFair) Everybody at the convention got one, and mine turned out to be the purple one again. But since I contributed to building five Bionicle trophies, I was given a second set too, so I grabbed the third one, so now I have one of each that were given away. (Although, to be fair, Andrew was the one who contributed the prototype pieces used in some of the trophies) Oh, and I won the Dojo in the LU drawing. But that's a story in and of itself, and I'm still in shock from winning it. More on that later.
