The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

Adventure!

I dunno, I’ve been really trying to do more interesting cooking these last few days. I’m not sure why. But on the way home from work on Friday, I went, “You know, I bet I could make something like that Zuppa at Olive Garden.” Of course, I knew nothing about it, really, besides there were potatoes and some sausage in there. I also knew that even though I was saying I was going to make something like that, I would probably end up making something that was nothing like that. But my vague plan sounded tasty, and Brer agreed that while I’d not be anywhere near my “target,” it would probably be a good meal. So, you know, I tried it. I fried some sausage, and mixed it in with some potato soup, which I then put a bit of cheese in. It was not bad at all! I ate it.
Then Brer is like “You should season shit,” and I’m like, “Fine, Mr. I Know How To Cook.” So I took the rest of it and added this Red Pepper Garlic seasoning I had. Then I taste-tested.
Man, that made the world of difference! It was fantastic! I stored that newly seasoned stuff for later.

Anyway, so that went well, and today I was like, well, I need to make something, and I vaguely remember reading about how you could like… fry ramen noodles and shit that I read when on an internet ramen quest for no real reason. So I just kind of made things up. I boiled some noodles, drained them, and threw them in a skillet with some chopped-up chicken and some oil and cooked that shit. I mixed in the seasoning from the ramen and some of the Zesty Lemon chicken flavoring stuff I had, and let the noodles get all brown, then ate. It was pretty tasty, I have to admit.

Am I learning something about cooking? I still say no. I dunno, it never feels like I’m really doing anything special. But I guess I am technically cooking, and to be honest, it’s all pretty fun to do. I don’t think I’ll ever be a particularly fantastic cook: my tastes are too bland and I am too much of a carnivore for that. But I can clearly fend for myself. That’s pretty awesome, I must admit.

For years, internet scientists had imagined it. Why else would they draw all that art depicting it? The Genderswap universe clearly existed, and I was finally on the cusp of proving it. The machine was set up, and all I had to do was pull the lever. My hand hovered over it, shivering a little. “Let’s do this,” I mumbled, and pulled. Machinery clacked to life, and an overwhelming whine of electrical discharge pelted my ears. Before me, I could see a light forming, growing bigger by the moment. The portal was being made.
Without warning, there was a person there, my height and my build, shielding eyes from the light. I gasped as this person took a step forward. I flipped off the machine. The instant silence was deafening. I looked across the room, and I saw… him. He looked… well, a lot like me, from the past, but not attempting to be an amorphous blob. He was clearly going for that sort of stubbly but not full beard look, with short cut hair.
“You’re a man?” I said, surprised.
“You’re a woman?” he said right back, in a voice quite similar to mine.
A beat later, and we both burst into laughter.
“Of course we’re both transsexuals in the other dimension as well. Just our luck, right?” he said, trying to catch his breath.
“Mm, so you know what happened? Where you are?”
“Of course, I was building the same machine. Genderswap Dimension, right? I guess I just took the first step before you. I’m Matthew.”
“Heh, of course you are. I’m Alexis.”
“Of course!”
We hugged.
“Lunch?” I asked.
“Sure. My treat, as long as your dimension doesn’t use some sort of crazy bizarro money.” Matthew said.
“Heh, I’m betting it is off. Your Presidents and whatnot should be women, right? Different pictures?”
“Eh, maybe they won’t notice.”

We discussed our dimensions over pasta. We had both been successful, it seemed. Besides the differences in physical bodies, pretty well everything had been the same between our two universes. We knew the same people, though the names were slightly different, and we had both, for the most part, done the same things. There were, of course, minor differences. For example. we shared dating experiences, which were pretty different before we both met our respective Brers. (His was named Bridget, apparently.) Growing up had a similar amount of despair, but of course, different problems based on the physical sex situation.
As we were finishing up eating, though, I dropped the question that I had been planning on asking my other self the whole time. Just because my other self wasn’t happy being born female like I had thought didn’t mean I shouldn’t ask it. “Are you happy?”
Matthew blinked. “Well, yeah. There’s been a lot of rough parts, of course, but I’ve got this family I’ve always wanted, my own house, I’m myself… thinking about having a kid… heh…”
“Lucky,” I said, smiling.
“Yeah, I guess we have that slightly easier than you two, huh? But yeah… happy. I’m happy. Are you happy?”
“Totally. Totally and completely. My life has had a lot of suck, but it’s all worked out. I am happy.”
“Good.”
“Heh, we better go before they realize the money you paid with has a different face on it.”
“Ladies first.”
As we stepped out of the restaurant, a shockwave rippled through the concrete. I lost my balance, and fell against Matthew, which did him in. We toppled to the ground. Other pedestrians didn’t fair much better.
“What the fuck was that?” I asked, getting up.
“…shit. Alexis, look.” Matthew pointed to the horizon. In the direction of my house, a giant beam of light was cracking towards the sky.
“The portal device…” I said softly.
“Probably,” he said. “Was your Brer back from work yet?”
I shuddered at that thought. “Shouldn’t have been.”
“Good. Keys, let’s go.”
I tossed him my keys and we raced to the car, to the house, and to what we’d find there.

Then there’d be adventures! Me and genderswapped me, doing, uh, whatever English Majors who somehow have a portal device do on adventures!
Man, this was a stupid idea. But I just couldn’t get the appeal of talking to myself, but a male version of myself who wasn’t miserable, out of my head. Something in the back of my head kept saying there was something there of value, but after like literally a week of trying to figure out what that kernel of genius is, I sure as fuck don’t know. I’m unsure there is one. I think simply there was some appeal in having a “Matthew” who was not the villain. So often in my mindscapes, male me has been this evil entity, this fake person who is attempting to keep me from being happy. He’s trying to take over my mind, make sure I’m never myself. I’m past all that now, and I guess I want to make amends to the person I could have been. I’m sure I would have made a fine male, but that’s just not what I got dealt. I don’t need to be jealous of this person who could have been, who doesn’t have the problems I’ve had. I just need to be myself.
Anyway, it’s out of my head now. I wash my hands of it.

I am sitting here, shivering, though I am not cold. My dog is asleep under the blanket at my feet. I feel bad for him, because he responds to “Dog” much better than to his name, which makes me feel like a bad dogmom. Still, he likes me, and I like him. We played earlier. He made little happy yips as we ran up and down the hall. He’s a good dog.

I’m mostly thinking about how limited my taste in food is. For whatever reason I have been reading descriptions of food all night, and how fantastic it is. Much of it looks fantastic, but much of it looks like it involves many vegetables, which has never really been my thing. Always more of a carnivore. But as I try to think of what I could eat like that which I would like, I really fail at it. There’s very few “food adventures” I can go on, because I just don’t like so many things. I have the fucking worst kind of palette. I eat the same foods over and over again, and while I really don’t mind that, it’s moments like this that make me wonder if there wasn’t something better I could do. I really don’t know.
I flipped through the holiday cookbook at work, and most looked unappetizing or just obscenely time-consuming to make. I want something that has recipes like the silly but delicious Tater Tot Casserole my sister-in-law taught me to make. Something where you’re combining a bunch of pre-packaged items for excellent results. I really don’t know if those things exist. Also, how lame would I be for owning a cookbook like that?

I have so much to do tomorrow. So much to do. Gotta do that thing, and another thing, and I am also working. It feels like I am always working. It’s not true, but the way I could be working at any moment, at any time, really doesn’t help things. Maybe next semester will be better. I suppose I can hope.

I almost have my Christmas shopping done. My finances are doing very well. If I can afford my house payments in the middle of Christmas shopping, I feel like I’ve got this covered, but who knows. I’m making a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. More pills for me, hopefully. I may be screwed super quick. Life changes.

I shouldn’t worry.

I’m still shivering, and while my nose isn’t running any more, the way that I can’t, like, breathe very well really means I am probably sick. I bend over to pick up something at work and I just have to stop and gasp for awhile. I should make a second appointment for that. More to do.

I should take my dog to bed. I should rest. I haven’t really gotten any serious rest in awhile. At least my hands are healing. They don’t hurt near as bad anymore, which is nice. I’m glad I bought lotion.

I’ll sleep. Getting videos cued up on my iPad is kind of a pain, but it’ll do for now. I should curl up and disappear into bed. Maybe. At least for awhile. At least until tomorrow. Not forever. I’m past that point.
Yeah.

It’s time again for another RAPID FIRE RAMBLINGS, the show were I talk about a lot of little things on my mind. Also, it’s not a show. It’s a blog post.

My knuckles have been bleeding. It’s ridiculous. I can’t move my fingers without my finger joints hurting, and there’s little breaks in the skin all over the backs of my hands. I really don’t know quite what I did wrong, but here’s my theory. My pills are making me use the bathroom a lot more than I used to. When I leave the bathroom, I wash my hands. This dries out my hands, and now that cold weather is here, it’s just gotten really terrible. I have bought some lotion to attempt to deal with this, but if you see my hands for awhile, uh, yeah, they look bad. It’s frustrating.

If there’s any wonder why I want to fix my work situation, it’s because of the silly crap like the last night or so, where, to get enough hours, I had to drive to St. Louis, drive back, immediately work until midnight, and then be back at work at 7 am the next day to work another eight hours. This, combined with me being passed over for promotions and being basically told the reason was me being overqualified? Well, that’s all pretty frustrating to me. I am frustrated at my job. Yep.

Recently, Gamefly has been having a lot of deals. I get a discount from them, too, being a long-time member, so it can get pretty cheap for older games! I’ve ended up buying a lot of mediocre games with split-screen co-op, like Hunted: The Demon’s Forge and F3AR. Why? I keep seeing them and thinking “Brer and I could have fun with that on the couch.” And I’m sure we will. I probably shouldn’t keep buying these things and planning like that, but I just can’t believe he’s going to be here in a month or so. Living here. With me. In a month. I want things to be fun. I want to have all the fun with him, as well as do all the things. We like video games. We should do them together. But yeah, maybe I should stop buying them… I have a stack of quite a few at this point.

There’s a small leak in the tubes leading to my washing machine. It’s not really a big deal. It makes the smallest little puddle after like… running it twice. But the location of that puddle is what is really annoying. You see, it is literally RIGHT IN FRONT OF the door to the dryer. I pull out some clothes, you know, to hang them or whatever, and a stray sock caught in the clothing will fall out and land right smack in the middle of that puddle. After I just dried it. That is frustration.

I am going to go to bed now, since I have to proctor a test in the morning. Goodnight. I’ll write something more substantial later.

I know why you come here. You come here for the cold hard facts. You want to know what’s really up in the world of toothpaste.

I’ve got you covered.

Freed from my mother’s house and the toothpaste she would often purchase for me and place in my bathroom like an extremely nice parent, I was free to buy any toothpaste I damn well pleased. When my tube was running out, I was excited by the prospect of a new, thrilling dental hygiene adventure. I went to the store, where I spied my normal toothpaste. Screw that! I looked lower on the shelf, and there was Crest Complete Citrus Splash toothpaste! It called to me. I have always been a citrus-loving person, and the idea of a toothpaste that did not taste like mint intrigued me. I had to find out. I purchased it.

Then, of course, my current toothpaste didn’t run out for like another month! This is the danger of those tubes that you don’t roll up like I was using. My dog even tried to eat the box the toothpaste was in during that month! Luckily, he was unsuccessful.

Anyway, I finally got to try it and, uh, wow. That was a mistake.

The taste is okay. It’s kind of like a watered-down orange soda? There’s nothing wrong with it. It is inoffensive on that front, and I am certainly going to use the whole tube. But I just didn’t consider how strong the mental connection of “Mint=Clean” is. It feels extremely wrong to brush my teeth with this stuff. Not to mention that, moments after I brush my teeth, I am normally using some minty mouthwash, which just kind of kills the orange taste in my mouth anyway. Add all this up, and realize that it’s not like I hate the taste of mint or anything, and I just really don’t see why I would need this sort of flavored toothpaste.

This has been one of my most boring posts to date! Stay tuned tomorrow, where I write about my experiences with a new brand of freezer bag! (Not really.)

I just survived a retail Black Friday, and you expect me to write a blog? No no no no no, here, have some links instead. I’ll be back tomorrow.

Okay, let’s get the pony links out of the way. I find this funny. I’ve also been using this because Power has been stuck in my head. Thanks Saints Row! Finally, here’s an animated gif. There. Survived that.

Oh, speaking of Saints Row, someone made Chie in their character creator, which is awesome.

Deptford often creates pieces of sheer genius.

This is one of the best combo videos I’ve seen. Pretty neat!

PARTY DOG.

TNG Season 8 is a great twitter account. Here’s one of their recent ones that made he grin.

Important work is being done in Battlefield 3.

Shepard. Wrex.

And finally, here’s something to fuel your nightmares.

Wow. I don’t know what to say! Such an honor. Um, goodness, thank you all. There are just a few people and nonspecific entities I’d like to thank… let me get my notes out here…

I’d like to thank my parents for their part in helping me to move into this fantastic house. They’ve done a ton, and while we, as per usual, still fight about so many things, I couldn’t have done it without them.

I’d like to thank Brer, for working so hard for such shitty hours in order to move down here with me. Like a month to go! It’s crazy! You can do it, love!

I’d like to thank video games for continuing to be entertaining. Lately life has been so crazy I haven’t gotten to play you, but you’ve always been there for me, and when I do get the time? Damn. I’ve had fun.

I’d like to thank my own perseverance and self-motivation. There was a time where I thought you guys were, like… gone. I didn’t think you existed. But over this year, you all have knocked it out of the fucking park, and my life is astronomically better for it.

I’d like to thank popsicles for just being generally delicious, even in the middle of winter.

I’d like to thank all my coworkers at Kohl’s, for being just generally awesome, but also being pretty damn awesome about my transition in particular. I expected at least some resistance, but have basically felt absolutely none. That means a lot to me.

I’d like to thank my brother and sister-in-law, for always being insanely supportive of me. No way I could ever thank you two enough for that.

I’d like to thank Aesa for randomly starting to talk to me more while she was on her trip, which has turned into a fantastic friendship I can’t believe I was missing out on before.

I’d like to thank Q for being such a good dog right out of the gate.

I’d like to thank the internet for being my lifeline.

I’d like to thank the phrase “I’d like to thank” for starting each one of these sentences.

Oh, wait, there’s the music. Well, I’m sure I missed a lot of people, objects, and general concepts, but I will do my best to be thankful for all for all of them! Thank you! It’s been great!

At some point, I started buying popsicles as a cost-effective but probably still bad for me alternative to buying a ton of candy. They were cheaper! I couldn’t just buy them and eat them immediately to keep me from going too overboard! They were tasty! Something like that! My go-to were Lemonade Bomb Pops, which were kind of expensive, but fuck, were they good. Sour and citrus and just… mm. Perfect.

However, recently, I spotted a new box at the grocery store. They were Warheads Freezer Pops. You know, the kind in the little tube where you cut off the end with a pair of scissors? Those sorts of things. They were really cheap, too, like a dollar for a box, so I bought some. I had no idea what to expect, though. The idea of what the box advertised as an “extreme sour” popsicle sounded like a dangerous proposition. Surely it wouldn’t actually be extreme sour? I mean, Warheads the candy are quite sour, but only for a few moments, and then they mellow out quite nicely. I’ve certainly had things more sour than a Warhead, but in popsicle form? Hm.

I’m happy to report, though, that they are completely tasty. They have a constant sour to them, but not overwhelming like the first moment of a Warhead the candy. It’s not subtle, constantly there, accenting the flavor of the popsicle in question. The flavors in the pack are pretty good, too. I’m not a huge fan of the Watermelon, which is probably my least favorite. Even that, though, I totally enjoy. The Blue Raspberry, especially is fantastic, but this is not surprising as I tend to enjoy anything flavored Blue Raspberry. It’s a good mix, and good stuff!

I’m thinking of attempting a switch over to them, if they keep being stocked. They are much cheaper than those Bomb Pops, especially if I eat them at the same too-fast rate as the Bomb Pops, which so far as proven true. It’d be a nice money-save! And having to freeze them might help keep me from eating too many of them.

Stay tuned for more popsicle-related rants and ramblings! (Okay, probably not really. Unless I really do keep trying new popsicles. But even then! Probably not.)

A friend of mine has started up an Ironclaw campaign that he wants me in on. I’d love to, though my schedule is shitty! He’s working things out to have me there, though, so I am ALL IN. Or something like that.

The system seems fine enough, as far as RPGs go. The rolling doesn’t seem too stupid, which is always a plus. What really caught my imagination, though, was some of the potential careers for player characters. I could make a Functionary, who is basically a bureaucrat in charge of running a household or business. So my special powers would be involved in being literate and knowing math. This appealed to me. Like, for serious. How ridiculous for someone like that to be in an adventuring party! How completely awesome for that to be the case! Of course I made one immediately, drawing up an interesting deer lady good at math and business and talking.

Tonight, my friend asked me to help him with some more background for my character. My character has the noble blood perk, and he just kind of asked me a simple question: what noble house did I belong to?
I, of course, had no answer, because the way I build characters is just… well, it’s very me.

In general, I create a character, by which I mean I start fitting together a list of rules and feelings this character has in order to be able to make decisions. This is “character building” to me, and even as I was filling out stats in this game, that’s what I was doing. Coming up with this person’s values and ideals. I would then, normally, just let this character loose, let them bump up against stereotypes and eventually non-stereotypes to build up how they react and who they are. They tell me by making decisions. This also ends up building the world, because they tell me what’s going on in the world and why things are important to them. They bring the world into reality.

This is why I rarely work in established universes like the one in Ironclaw. Because I don’t have simple answers to simple things when the character is made. Those are created as I go along, organically. Sure, in editing I make it all work out better, but I just feel like this makes more… real people, you know? I get the person to the state where I can talk to them and have a conversation with them before I do things like decide who their mother is and so on and so forth.

I know this isn’t the only way to do it. Armadox (the previously-mentioned friend) walked me through some stuff in the universe and we came up with some in-world answers to these simple questions that set up more potential interesting character interactions, which I’m all for. He also put up with me as I made sure these in-world things didn’t interfere with the voice I had built in my head for the character, which must have been frustrating, but we got it done. Certainly, sometimes I wish I could make characters like that, where everything just fits in like a glove. As handy as it would be, though, it really isn’t me. I can fake it, but I don’t put enough heart into it.

This, though, we worked out in an awesome way, and I am excited to run the character on Sunday. I am going to math the shit out of things.

I went on and on about how I wanted to write a normal blog and then the next day I wrote a LINKBLOG! SICK BURN! I am just burning you up ALL OVER! Linking go!

Let’s start with Pony Corner!
Have I mentioned I am still excited for Fighting is Magic? So, so excited.
The explanation for this pony picture just makes me laugh. Also the picture itself.
I stumbled upon a pony Vriska so, you know, look at it.
Pony Animated Gif One!
Pony Animated Gif Two!
And finally, this picture is just badass. It’s a shame it’s orientation makes it unsuitable as a desktop background.

Now, on to another corner! This corner has videos! Well, non-pony videos, anyway.
They finally revealed how Skyrim Co-op works.
A twist on a classic scene that makes me giggle.
An impressive display of pointless skill. Ocelot would be proud.

Finally, let’s go over to random image corner, and look at some random images.
This is actually a twitter post. Sorry to mislead you.
Warning: this animated gif may be smile-inducing.
I still find this one so stupid it’s funny.
In case you were wondering, Three Word Phrase is still amazing.

And finally, the last corner. It’s the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Official Movie Website corner. Because that website is here. The trailer is amazing. I cannot wait. Seriously.

Wow, I really had a ton of open tabs! My browsers can breathe easier now, without all those links around. See you tomorrow!