Tis indeed good, this new piece of hardware- an MSI GeForce 9400GT with 512mb of GDDR2 video memory. [link] To be honest, its a marginal upgrade to the burned-out BFG 8600 it's replacing, as I don't have the funds for the new motherboard I'd need to handle what I'd really like to get. But with the included Afterburner software, it's actually quite more capable than it's predecessor. Variable overclocking means I can push the card to its limit when playing stuff like Mass Effect and Oblivion, and with the exception of the occasional odd stutter in Oblivion, it does its job quite well. And it's got a temperature monitor so I can help to avoid my last card's non-stop-full-throttle dewm. I hope.

Anyhow, aside from that, I've been making plans for my next cosplay bit. I recently went to Metrocon in Tampa in a full samurai outfit- kimono, hakama, straw jingasa, and my trusty shinai (see here for details- [link]). I even made it thru the con without losing a sandal! It was a blast, and the outfit even got a few comments, so needless to say I'm itching for the next chance to play.

A recent resurgence of my Star Wars side has inspired the next costume- I'm now on track to the construction of a Jedi outfit. The utility belt and lightsaber are complete, and I've decided to use a pair of my khaki cargo pants as the leggings. All I need are the robe and tunic, obi (cloth belt), and a pair of boots. I'll probably grab patterns for the robe and tunic, as my mom can sew quite well. The obi will be easy enough to put together. As for the boots, I'm gonna check the local army surplus store today as well as a few other spots. I'm kinda going for the generic pre-Clone Wars look instead of a particular character, but the color scheme has a lot of Ep 2 and 3 Obi-wan influence.

May the Force be with us...

Graphics card got here today. May be dead to the world for a bit as I fiddle with the overclock software and see what this beastie is capable of.

Yay Christmas! Easily the best time of year, even the wait for my next temp assignment can't dampen the spirit of things. And helping my church get in the spirit helped even more today.

Woke up to a somewhat empty house today- my parents had already headed over to help with the annual 'Hanging of the Greens,' but decided to let me sleep in. About the time I was eating breakfast, Dad got home and asked for my help moving some toys- one of the church members was hosting a Warhammer 40K tournament, cost of entry: one toy, which would be donated to the Angel Tree ministry's toy giveaway. [link]

After dropping off the toys and enjoying a quick snack break with the rest of the congregation, Dad and I headed over to the pastor's house to work on our parade float. A floating float... heh. [link] We'd entering the pastor's boat in New Port Richey's annual river parade for its third year, and got to work assembling our usual manger scene.

While the pastor attached the church's banners to the bars of his bimini top, Dad and I attached the pieces of the light-up Nativity to the large plywood board that would be placed on the boat's bow. That latter bit proved the trickiest- moving a 6-ft wide sheet of heavy particle board onto the bow of a small fishing boat is definitely a 3-man chore. Lifting the generator to power the whole setup (the nativity, colored light strings, and the 'amp of dewm' assigned to project music from river bank to river bank) was a close second, but we managed pretty well all around.

After getting the generator to shut up and do what we told it, it was off down the river to the rally point near the Catches seafood restaurant. Even at our modest speed, the 55° headwind was a facegrinder. Realize that this is Florida, so even a mild cold is a WET cold, and we were in the middle of a river on a boat with a bimini top and a banner on each side -think floating wind tunnel. But once we reached the rally, all went well. About a dozen boats with all kinds of wild/clever decorations and light setups, led by a duo of police department boats and tailed by a third, with our boat (the only Nativity scene in the parade for the third year in a row) just behind the lead cops.

Tho the crowd lining the river wasn't as jubilant this year (relatively frigid weather and a bad economy will do that, I suppose), it was still a pretty good turnout. Tho the microphone we had originally planned to use crapped out on us, our large-ish pastor made up for it, heartily sending out his best 'Merry Christmas' to all his voice could reach. Plenty of waves back reassured us the message was heard. Luckily the wind died down before our faces froze off, so all in all a good night.

Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season to all of you out there!

YAY, my day off of work. Time for some reflection.

:rant on:
___

-Most requested item: Zhu-Zhu Pets. WTF is it with these things? $10 wigs-on-wheels out-selling far more interesting stuff (like the Air Hog RC copters, Transformer models, and the good ol' Lego sets). We've been sold out of the silly hamsters and their accessories since at least Thanksgiving, so I finally got a glimpse of 'em when I found a Zhu-Zhu playset in the return bin. I'm pretty sure it didn't last the hour, tho. Still don't see the appeal, but then I've all but given up trying to figure out these strange humans.


-Most back-breaking chore: Unloading trucks. I'm now fully convinced that Wal-mart has mastered Dr Who-level technology. These trucks cannot possibly carry THAT much stuff! I keep stocking the boxes of cat litter, shoes, and whatever else goes on my side of the conveyor, but it just keeps coming, and the stack does not seem to diminish. Luckily, I haven't had to do too much unloading, just when they need extra hands, but moving that many pet supplies around cannot be healthy...


-BLARGH! moment: I came home from work hopin' to deface more of LA in Tony Hawk's American Wasteland yesterday. So I flip on the TV and the cable box (thru which the PS2 is connected), and tapped the Source button to switch the box's input. Then mashed it again. Then repeatedly pummeled it, soon giving up with a sigh. Bright House, our cable company, had updated the box's software or sumtin, and in the process nuked the function of the source button, as well as clearing out Dad's favorite channels menu. So now, with my computer in need of a graphics card and my PS2 in need of a screen, I'm stuck with no way to feed my video game cravings. BLARGH!


-Biggest woe: Internet Access. After losing my last job, and in the process losing my temper, my parents took away internet access. They stated they would keep it from me until I (1) got some help with anger management and (2) found a new job. The first has been taken care of. I got some counseling from my pastor, and have also been prescribed anti-depressants, both of which have helped- this my parents have admitted. As my last posts have stated, the second has been taken care of, too.

BUT. My mother seems to think the temp position counts, despite never having specified what KIND of job to find back at Ultimatum Time. I see this as her going back on the bargain- I've held up my end of the deal, I'd like to see them do the same. On top of that, I'm also the cameraman for my church now, so the videos need to be uploaded to YouTube by a computer that can handle such a task- ie, mine, which will be beastlier than ever before once I get my paycheck, a new graphics card, and a firewire port.

If you read this, Mom, good for you. I do hope you take the above into consideration. If you decide against returning my internet priveleges, I hope you have a better reason than 'I said so' or the like.
___

:rant off:

Sure hope the cable box gets 'fixed.' I'm itchin' to blow sumtin up. Might do some sketchin' in the meantime.

What is it with people these days? My second day at Wal-mart was Black Friggin' Friday. Now my first day as my church's cameraman is Youth Sunday! BLARGH! XD

*ahem* Allow me to explain, hehe. My church, despite being a smallish operation, puts videos of our pastor's sermons on YouTube. The man who -used- to operate the camera recently left the church for personal reasons, resulting in me being left in charge of taping the sermons. Now, this woulda been rilly kewl in its own right. But I'm already manning the sound board, so the uber factor gets a bit... meh. Still, I agree and take the camera home for a week of fiddling.

I come in this Sunday morning pretty keen on my duties. Once we get done with Praise (singing), Offering, and Communion, mute the pulpit mic and double-check the pastor's mic. To be honest, its not too hard, since the sound board doesn't need much fiddling once the sermon starts.

But then I get a surprise.

It's Youth Sunday, and three of the teens will be doing their thing. Of course, nobody told me this ahead of time, or I would have practiced a LOT more. So now, instead of just tracking our pastor as he moves around the stage, I have to move between three rapping teens trotting back 'n forth AND the pastor injecting bits of scripture in between a few verses. GAH!

But God must've sympathized with my panic, cuz it went pretty well. Tho I did jerk the camera a couple times and wasn't quite the smoothest at tracking yet, I don't think I made any major screw-ups. And the camera is a beast- unbelievable image stabilization, 1080i resolution, and quite a nice set of features all around, even if I couldn't figure out how to adjust mic input volume. To top it off, the teens doing the rapping were quite good, finding quite a set of rhymes to put out their spiritual message.

Still, the true verdict is still out- I need to get a Firewire port to put the video on the computer, so I haven't had a chance to properly review the tape. But once I do, I'll be sure to place a link here on my journal!