Originally published at KnitChick's blog. You can comment here or there.
Hi all!
A lot of friends have been curious about how I manage so many free things for my birthday (this year’s count – 64 offers received!) so I thought I’d put up a post detailing what I got for everyone’s reference.
This will be in chronological order of when I got the freebie/offer/etc, since that’s how I have them listed in my master list.
1. Anything from my Amazon or ThinkGeek wish lists.
2. Anything from my friend's shop, Novus Antiquae - I love her jewelry but I don't have the money to spare to buy it ALL which is what I totes would do. But seriously - buy her stuff, it's gorgeous!
3. A digital SLR camera that can do photos and video. I miss having a good SLR and I also miss making videos. I'd like to stick to Nikon, I already have a Nikon film SLR, but since I only have the one lens I'm still open to moving brands. :)
4. Xbox Live Gold time, or gift cards to iTunes, Amazon, Xbox, Nintendo, Starbucks, etc.
5. Help making some of my dream costumes that I don't have the skills to make just yet!
6. Artwork of my favorite Doctor and favorite companion from Doctor Who (Fourth Doctor, Jamie MacCrimmon). :)
7. Amigurumi toys! I suck at crochet but there's so many cute amigurumi out there :)
8. There's certain patches I'm looking to add to my jacket that I'm having trouble finding - specifically I want to add Chicago Bulls, Chicago Bears, and Chicago Blackhawks to the jacket since I have a nice Cubs patch. But I'm having trouble finding any, the only one I've found was a Blackhawks one for $15. :( I also am missing an Apollo 13 mission patch and a Space Shuttle Program patch (I have one on an old pair of coveralls from high school but I can't find it).
9. I love getting handmade gifts in general! Yeah I've got lots of stuff on my wishlist, but handmade gifts are special. :) (I'm particularly addicted to homemade soaps...I'm so sad I'm nearly out of my Jelly Baby scented soap from False Nostalgia on Etsy)
10. I would like the universe to stop beating on my friends! Be nice to us universe!
If you're getting me something that's not directly on the Amazon or ThinkGeek wish lists (which will supply my address), email me at maryjo @ ghostbusterschicago . com (without the spaces of course) for my address :)
(For those wondering - here's the guidelines I'm following:
Step One
- Make a post (public, friendslocked, filtered...whatever you're comfortable with) to your LJ. The post should contain your list of 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fandom-related ("I'd love a Sam/Dean icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.
- If you wish for real life things (not fics or icons), make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.
- Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ, or link to this post (it'll be public) so that the holiday joy will spread.
- Don't forget to post your list to Wish List as well as your journal. It's an open comm so you don't have to join to post. The more your list is seen, the greater the chance that someone out there can fullfill your wishes.
Step Two
-Surf around your friendslist (or friendsfriends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part:
- If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is
another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use--or even know where you could get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free--do it.)
Originally published at KnitChick's blog. You can comment here or there.
Today I have reached a milestone on a journey that has taken me nearly a year.
It began at Chicago TARDIS last year, when I picked up my copy of the book Outside In: 160 New Perspectives on 160 Classic Doctor Who Stories by 160 Writers. I spent the weekend adding lots of autographs to it – I know several of those 160 writers!
After the con I sat down to read. I decided to start like I always do – with my friends’ essays first. I chose to read my friend Sarah’s essay, and though she doesn’t know it (well, she will now I guess), she sparked an idea. Her essay talked about sound and how it was so important in the serial. I had not seen that particular serial and I thought, this would be even better if I had just seen the serial before reading this!
So I made it my New Year’s resolution to watch ALL of Doctor Who, in order, from Unearthly Child to The Name of the Doctor. After each serial, I’d read the accompanying essay from Outside In.
Tonight, I finished the biggest chunk, the classic series, with the television movie starring the Eighth Doctor. Since I’d already seen all of New Who before this journey, I have now officially seen all of Doctor Who at least once.
This has been an interesting journey to say the least. It started out slowly, with frequent trips to recreation land as I traveled through the wastelands of the first two Doctors whose body of work was nearly destroyed by the BBC. As I traveled on, I started grabbing DVDs from the library when they were available.
Reading the different perspectives in Outside In added an additional layer to the journey. It was fun to see how the different writers’ opinions sometimes meshed with mine and sometimes differed.
I’ve also gained a new perspective on the eleven amazing gentlemen who have portrayed the title role. Going into this, Four was my Doctor; Ten and Eleven were toward the top; One and Six were toward the bottom. Coming out of it, my ordering is way different. Four is still my Doctor, and ever will be MY Doctor. I may have started with Ten (my first episode was “Daleks in Manhattan”), but once I began to watch more of the classic series the more I fell for Tom.
The new Doctors have actually fallen pretty far in my rankings as I’ve discovered the different classic Doctors. One is more than just a cranky old man, when given the right situation he could be downright cunning and clever (oh how fun was “Reign of Terror” for clever manipulative One!). Two was more than just a clown. The team of Two and Jamie was simply fantastic!! Three could really kick butt when the chips were down, and what a snazzy dresser!! Four….oh, Four. My Doctor. He could move from playing dumb to throw people off the scent to cleverly manipulating the situation to his advantage to cheerfully taking his companions on mind-boggling adventures. Five was one of the few classic Doctors to fall in my rankings. While he was still an excellent Doctor, he was a bit too bland for my taste. Six, now that I’ve seen all of his televised adventures, was a way better Doctor than the writers gave him credit for. Big Finish really redeemed him, but I could see a glimmer of the real Six under the bad writing. But “The Two Doctors” was a great romp, really my favorite of the team-ups. Six and Jamie make a terrific pair, Jamie is a much better foil for Six than Peri. Seven flipped between clownish and manipulating with amazing skill and made me swoon every time he rolled his r’s. Once Mel left and he teamed up with Ace, they made a great team and I really wish they had gotten a season or two more – they worked so well together.
In ten days, Doctor Who celebrates its 50th anniversary. 26 seasons of classic Who, 7 seasons of new Who, plus a TV movie, two spin-off series, two spin-off movies, and a spin-off pilot. Not to mention countless Big Finish audiobooks and tie-in novels from multiple publishers. The show’s popularity is greater than ever – the anniversary episode will be broadcast simultaneously across the world, there’s Doctor Who merchandise available at mainstream stores like Hot Topic and Spirit Halloween, and Doctor Who cosplayers can be found in droves at fan conventions everywhere.
I can’t wait for the week after the anniversary, when Chicago TARDIS celebrates fifty years with three Doctors, several companions, and a number of writers. While I enjoy hanging out with fellow Doctor Who fans at other conventions or at the photoshoots my friend and I run, nothing compares to CT, where the focus is entirely on Doctor Who. This will be my first year staffing the convention, which will be a new adventure itself!
So here’s to fifty years! I’ve enjoyed my romp through the first 33 of them, and I look forward to spending the next ten days revisiting the other 17! And of course, I can’t wait to see what new adventures are in store when the Twelfth Doctor joins us next month!
jaded_jamie at Help to put a TARDIS Earth's orbit for the 50th Anniversary year...
to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who
The 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who will be momentous, what with the return of David Tennant and Matt Smith’s penultimate appearance in the lead role.
But that’s not the only celebration of the Doctor scheduled for the big anniversary.
A father/daughter team of engineering-inclined Whovians designed a light-weight TARDIS and plan to launch it into space via commercial rocket, with the aim of having it orbit the earth in perpetuity.
They’re very detail-oriented—heading off pedants by noting they replaced the usual frosted glass window panes with solar panels, which power the light on top and a camera to take pictures of Earth.
Since launching a rocket into space is, you know, kind of expensive, they’ve started a kickstart campaign in the hope that fellow Doctor Who fans will put up over $30,000 to put a flying phone booth in the same level of orbit as the International Space Station, so that somehow, someway, an astronaut could look out a window and say, “Hey look, there’s a little phone booth outside!”
SOURCE
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Originally published at KnitChick's blog. You can comment here or there.
Your results:
You are Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)
|
Honest and a defender of the innocent. You sometimes make mistakes in judgment but you are generally good and would protect your crew from harm.  |
Click here to take the Serenity Personality Quiz
(this will come as no surprise to most of my friends)
Originally published at KnitChick's blog. You can comment here or there.
This post was inspired by discussion in the Chicago NaNoWriMo Facebook group, about software. I’ve used Scrivener 1.0 for a while, and just upgraded to 2.0 thanks to the latest MacHeist bundle. I just recently downloaded the NaNoWriMo trial of Storyist. So I thought I’d spend a little time playing with both. This is my pre-NaNoWriMo review, I’m sure I’ll have an updated commentary about these programs after November.
Warning: This is a graphic-heavy post, I’ve included a number of screen captures of the programs (they’re loaded in a smaller size and you can click through to full size but they’re still not small files).
My undergrad degree is in Mass Media and Theatre, with some Communications (my degree actually says "Speech & Performing Arts" but the department changed its name a year later to Communications, Media and Theatre)
My graduate degree is a Master's in Library and Information Science.
I'm currently working as a cataloger. So I use the grad work more but occasionally my theatre background comes in handy :)
Originally published at KnitChick's blog. You can comment here or there.
Yes, I am now officially finished with school!! This Wednesday I turned in my very last paper and gave my last presentation, and now all I have to do is wait on grades.
I'm weird. I'm not a big holiday movie person. My Christmas movie would really be Ghostbusters II (what, it counts, it's Christmas time!)
I already did a wishlist post but basically - electronics, Doctor Who, and wishing for better/new jobs for me and my friends & family :)
Though kitchen gadgets for my future kitchen wouldn't hurt ;)
