With your eyes closed, tell me how to snark

I randomly picked an interview question to answer badly. The permission to give awful answers allays the terror of not finding the perfect and true answer, which can paralyze me to the point I never answer at all. The question I got was a lot more random than I anticipated... I answered it anyways.

With your eyes closed, tell me step-by-step how to tie my shoes.

1. first reach down to your feet.
2. check if you have shoes
3. check if your shoelaces are untied
4. if they are, tie your freaking shoelaces you're an adult gosh

Note, that's pretty uncharitable. What if it's a job interacting with disability or children? However trivial the example, plenty of jobs need you to demonstrate a strong ability to break down tasks into concrete parts and deliver them as clear instructions. Not to mention, some people just don't appreciate a good snark and/or will count my unwillingness to jump through dumb hoops on command like a purebred show-monkey against me.

In any case, showing the concrete steps and practicing each part with on-the-spot corrections would get the point across much more clearly. I have to know my audience to tailor my instructions. I won't pretend that I'm amazing at this task in the best of circumstances, it's worse when you deliberately deprive me of the tools I'd usually use to do it.

And I still like the snark answers better.

On the art of writing interesting PPGxRRF

Powerpuff Girls x Rowdyruff Boys pairings that would all be a hundred times more interesting than everyone automatically going after their counterpart:

Notes:

• A good shipper never let a little thing like incest get in the way off true love.
• In my head, all the gay characters are in the closet to increase dramatic tension. Except Bloomer. Everyone just assumes he is, especially in the bottom Right when he's REALLY too shy to bring up his crush on Buttercup.
• Yes, Butch is in a stable relationship with Bunny. What, do you think Butch isn't good enough for her? WHAT DO YOU HAVE AGAINST BUTCH, HUH!?
• This all started out with me picturing Brick as a cunning, popular guy with a cheerleader on his arm. The only puff remotely fitting that description would be Bubbles.

Why I shouldn't try to make sense right after lunch.

What an odd day, today is.

I feel floaty. Not all here. My thoughts as flighty as wind.

I'm also feeling slightly poetic.

This is how it feels when I am tired.

I cannot force my thoughts to useful ends, but neither will the thinking stop. I find myself flitting from thought to half-thought. No thought can do more than tease at greater revelations to be had, and their taunting leaves me yearning.. wanting.

And what is poetry but sweet flirtation
with meaning and significance?

It's not so direct as prose, nor so sensual as fiction.
It's not so dominating as scripture, nor so desperate as song.

It seems to me poems hint and haw,
arousing interest they satisfy not.

Meanings dancing and twirling, tempting to touch
then squirreling away like illusory flames


Time to take a nap.

Two Rages

A Rage face based on a friend of mine.

You think I'm in the middle a grand philosophic thought
I'm just wondering if I had Wendy's twice yesterday

And a person Raging

Fun With Photoshop: Realistic Mido

I have an extra credit project to make a realistic-ish digital painting.

While deciding what to do, I recalled that I had recently made this:

 It's only fair that I make a correctly loaded counterpart.

Vaguely based on Neville Longbottom.
(Though as I examine it I see more and more of HPMoR!Quirrel in his face.)

It's not finished yet. I still have to add highlights and smudge the shadow edges. I do have base color in my current version, I just took it out because this way looks cooler.

Lame Pun Pt II

The funny part is that it's self-referential.

Lame Puns Pt. I

Haha, it's like Crafty but with Kraft Macaroni Cheese? Get it? < / Don't explain the joke >

In Case Of Genies.

We all know what assholes genies are, right?

Always twisting your words around, granting your wish in a way that no decent human being would interpret it. Or worse, you might choose naively and have your wishes turn into a 'Be Careful What You Wish For' Aesop, causing you to waste a perfectly good second or third wish fixing the situation.

This is precisely why I have a plan in place in case I ever find a genie.

Protip: Don't wish for an orange for a head.

How Did We Get Up Here Again?

School project.

I was going to make the waterfall blue, except I printed it off before I remembered to. Somehow Mido's other hand got lost in the waterfall mist, I must have forgotten to merge that with the other Character layers before I moved stuff around.

The girl on the left is Quantum, the boy on the left is Mido. See my deviantart comics gallery for more of them.

The Good 'Ol Days of Dating

I remember when life was simple, in that horribly inaccurate sentimental kind of way that conveniently ignores how life was NOT as glorious as I'm making it out to be. Do you remember?

Those days were High School--the good ol' days! Days when I woke up (late) in the morning and knew how my day was going to go (i.e. straight into the ground.) I had a golden (piss) path set in front of me, and I picked ripe, succulent apples of (bullshit, useless) knowledge from branches pushed down to (the dirty floor) my level by shining (overworked) angels of wisdom.

And dating! Oh, the silly dramas I had then. I had so many more options available to me than I gave myself credit for! Life is so much harder now that I actually have to deviate from my normal schedule in order to find suitable partners in my age range.

That's all that you need, really. Why did I complicate it so? Every student in high school was guaranteed to be within an age range of about 4 years, and if you stick to asking in classes you probably won't get outside of a 2 year range. College is good for getting some options, but I have to check that the guy I'm asking isn't actually 20 years older than me and married, and similarly reassure them that I'm legal.

(On a side note, I need to start wearing make up again. People weren't asking if I what grade of Middle School I'm in or offering me the kid menu when I wore eyeliner.)

It's Tokyo, What Did You Expect?

Today we were learning about the Quickmask feature in photoshop. It was a simple enough exercise that I had time left over to propose a self-test of my selection skills--Does it look good spliced into another picture?

Clearly, the only sensible option for splicing a random animal into is a picture of Tokyo. I did so, but something seemed off.

What is this giant bird doing in Tokyo, anyways? It seems far too sedate. It lacks purpose, and while I am momentarily amused by the irony of a giant animal just standing around in Tokyo without any destructive inclinations, I cannot in good conscience leave a cliche unturned. BIRD NEEDS BE ANGRY!!!

Oh no no no no no no no no

I started up the diagram editor, and somehow I wound up making....

Is my mind STILL stuck on this subject? I'm not actually going to have to write this now, am I?

Hokey Pokey and Moldable Plastic

I REGRET NOTHING!!!!

In other news, I've discovered Moldable Plastic. It's fantastic stuff! I played around with it the other night and made a little rose ring. You just put it in hot water until it becomes clear and then you can play with it until it cool off into a shape, and then you can reheat it and start all over again! Haven't quite thought of any serious projects to use it for, but I'll think up a justification for buyi--I mean, uh... I haven't planned out all the specific details of whatever beautiful pendant-sculpture-thing I'm going to make with it. I'll think of something though, I promise.

(Come on, it's Moldable freaking Plastic! It's got to be useful for something, right?)

The lack of contrast makes it difficult to tell details.

Obligatory Funny Picture and Rationalist Slash Fiction

Remember how I promised in my Blogging Plan that I would draw a funny mspaint picture for days I miss? Well, I forgot to post. So here you go:

Self-referential humor is self-referential.

I wish I could say the delay was because I have been spending the last few days in deep contemplation about my priorities and formulating an awesome-tastic plan to take my life back. Sadly, it was filled mostly with truth or dare, junk food, vampire diaries, and star wars fanfiction.

~*~

At the minicamp I went to in California, we played version of a game called Cards Against Humanity using memes from a particular blog for the black and white cards. It's much like Apples to Apples, except the green cards are fill-in-the-blank phrases rather than an adjective to use as a theme.

The juxtaposition of two cards--"Lukeprog's love life" and "Rationalist Fanfiction"--began to hatch a peculiar idea in my head of creating a slash fic using prominent figures in the rationality community. It was just the sort of horrible, evil idea that I find impossible to resist trying. And try I did, on the plane ride back to Utah...

See also: Camp Orgy, tagline "It started with an innocent hug, but it became so much more..."

How to Answer "X or Y?" Questions: A Guide for Smartasses

Not much else to say about this. I thought about making a diagram detailing Amber Sweet's addiction to the Knife (from Repo: The Genetic Opera), but I decided in favor of this fun little tree instead.