Nothing is Impossible

So, I cosplay once in a blue moon, too! I somewhat blame _sey for posting awesome looking pics for Berera. So after probably a year of saying, "one day I'll make Ozma!" I finally did. So any cryptic facebook or LJ posts I've made recently, well, now you know. It was actually fairly easy, though finding a pair of olive drab cargo pants in the middle of summer is a bit hard. I'm fairly happy with how it turned out (though I'm technically not quite done, as I need the wig and a correct belt and need to properly attach the patches) since the jacket is lined and fitted pretty well. There's a bunch of small things I hope only I notice because I made the damn thing. But hey, this is just for fun, I'm not worried about it.

( You probably just want to see pictures... )

I did nothing but eat and sleep all day, why am I so tired?
I also wanted to write something with more content.
But I'll just say I ate a cake that was baked yesterday. In the Ukraine. Mmm, tasty Marzipan-238.

I'm probably really late to the show and everybody's heard this song to death, but I heard this song at the AMA AMV contest of all places and really liked it. Can't help but feel better after listening to this song.

Anybody still in need of crash space at Otakon? Lindsay, Corey, Darcy and I wouldn't mind a fifth person to get the cost down to about $80 each for both Friday and Saturday night. We're staying in the Hilton which is connected to the BCC by skywalk!

(Comments screened.)

Well, short and simple, 4th of July was kinda good. Dave had a great turnout and his parents were really accommodating to all of us kids. I ate not only delicious BBQ on the 4th but also delicious NJ pork buns today. It made the drive home about an hour longer, but that is well worth it!

Drive up was actually pretty good. I was worried it would be long and boring and slow, but everybody was already AT their 4th of July destinations by the 4th so there was no traffic, and the long drive was good for some thinking time. Drive back was, well, NJ Turnpike, with less traffic than expected, but still took 4 and a half hours.

Oh yeah, and Terry stole my soul.

Of the three loves in my life I know that one will never let me down. Food.

Here's what tonight's dinner consisted of:

- cold salmon with cream cheese and caviar
- bacon wrapped and blackened scallops
- Lobster bisque soup (which was more like chucks of lobster with some bisque sauce on top)
- ribeye steak that looked like it jumped out of the ads in Steak Aficionado magazine because it was wonderfully marbled
- mashed potatos and garlic spinach that were fantastic
- foie gras that melted on your tongue
- dark chocolate mousse & milk chocolate mousse
- key lime pie that performed CPR on my tongue

( Pics of omnomnoms here )

They weren't kidding when they said Ray's The Steak is one of the best places on the east coast. We had a reservation and got seated promptly. Our waiter seemed a bit skeptical of us at first, which I understand given how relatively under-dressed and much younger than everybody else in there we were. Once we started piling on the appetizers and ordering from the limited time part of the menu, he knew we were serious about having a good dinner. And the kicker? Only $360 for FIVE of us, and that's with a 20% tip.

For tonight, I am happy.

That was a very nice concert. I'm very glad that I not only went, but went with my local crew. As much as I love the FF7 music, they had a nice mix of music from all the "early" (1-10) Final Fantasy games. In addition to Rosa's Theme (the love theme from FF4) and Terra's Theme (FF6), they played "Draco and Maria," aka Celes' Opera Scene from FF6. I was in rapture. And apparently, one of my friends knows the soloist who sung Celes' part from grade school.

:: Schmap Washington DC Eighth Edition: Photo Inclusion
Hi Ollie,
I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo has been selected for inclusion in the newly released eighth edition of our Schmap Washington DC Guide:
Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival
http://www.schmap.com/washingtondc/events_carnivals/p=341057/i=341057_9.jpg

(I didn't actually submit anything, they found a photo they liked on flickr and asked for permission to use it.)

I think I happen to know half the people that are credited with photos on that page, and another half has very unsurprising names. I thought it was cute.

Holy crap, Berserk literally just went epic.

1) Final Fantasy Concert this weekend. I was kinda on the fence on going but got some good news today that makes me think it'd be a good idea to have some fun. Anybody driving up from the DC area? Or from the Baltimore area that I could park at your place and drive in? Parking sucks up at the BSO.

2) Forced Vacation next week. It's not exactly forced, but there's little I can do next week in terms of work. I'll probably work Monday and Tuesday and call it quits. Which will be nice since I'll have some time to chill out. (See below.) Because I'd like to actually be a bit social, though, I want to hit up some of the Washington DC museums. I went alone a few weeks ago and that was nice, but I think going with people would be more fun, especially since some people seemed to be interested. So, tentatively, I want to meet up on either Wednesday or Thursday next week, around noon. For obvious reasons, going on Friday or Saturday would be out of the question.

3) Fourth of July Anybody doing anything? I have a policy against inviting myself to things, but truth is that most people I know just have open-invitation events anyway. Not even looking for a big party or anything, just some people to hang out with on the weekend.

4) Emooooo Well, not really. I'm taking it all in stride but between a number of things (such as the whole starting my thesis, working out who my advisor will be, housemate issues, boss telling me that the last month of work needed to be redone, and many more) I'm feeling a bit weighted down right now. Yesterday I was riding my bike and my brand-new pants got caught in the chain. Now there's a big old permanent grease mark on them. When it happened, I laughed, because I was glad that would be very likely the worst thing to happen to me that day. At the same time, all I could do was laugh because I really have bigger issues to worry about. I chill out and relax every day, but these bigger issues are not just things that get taken care of quickly. They're always there and always putting a bit of pressure on me. They're not even that bad, but really, it'd be nice to escape them just for a bit, just once, just so I can take a deep breath and just be happy for a second. (Dammit, I guess that did turn out a bit emo. Not what I intended.)

http://www.orobouros.net/2009/ama2009/index.html

AMA came and went! It was pretty small and slow and a bit boring but still fun. Still managed to get almost 400 photos, even though it felt like I was just walking around not doing anything most of the time. Even though I expected it to be a lot lower, probably like 40 people I knew actually made it to the con and it was fun to see everybody. My only disappointment was that despite the con had moved to the convention center, it seems not to have grown at all since I last went a few years ago. Oh well. Still fun, still glad I went.

And I know this is old news but PATRICK STEWART at D*C oh fuck yes!!

This is pretty cool. The first part is very quiet at the start so turn your speakers up, but don't be surprised if you don't hear anything for about 20 seconds.

Anybody want a dreamwidth invite code? I have one. First come, first served. But please don't ask for it unless you intend to actually post to DreamWidth occasionally.

NO HALO TONIGHT. :(

XBL chose today to go down for a while.
We'll try again next week!

TUESDAY TUESDAY TUESDAY!
7pm 7pm 7pm

Halo 3 on XBL!

It's been a while since we've had a good game of Halo! There's some new maps, some new game variants, and PLENTY OF NOOBS to mop the floor with. Join me (SquidUlysses) and Tina (PorkBuns) for some crazy Halo 3 action this week on TUESDAY. Post your gamertag here if you don't already know one of us. Fun starts about 7pm, and at 9pm we'll probably start taking on the new maps (they're worth it, buy them!). We'll start up with some warm-up games, then depending on party size go into matchmaking or just do private games. Unofficial end is 11pm. (All times Eastern.)

So yeah, I'm a bit sunburned but it's so worth it. I spent most of the day today on a friggin YACHT. Fifty-five feet long, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen with fridge, a living room, satellite HDTV, back deck, POOP deck, pilot house, bridge, dingy, and OUTDOOR grill. The thing carries 2,000 gallons of diesel, has two 450 HP engines, and could make it to Florida from the Chesapeake. Pretty friggin sweet. And the Captain invited me back, saying if I ever felt like going out, they'd love to have an excuse to go boating. I may indeed take them up on that offer.

And a photo of the Adagio...

I had no goal in mind, no itinerary set. I simply went forth into DC with my camera and wandered around. Despite it being rather hot, it was pretty nice and I'm glad I went in. Most of the time I was outside, and I only went into the American History Museum. Even walking back and forth, it didn't really take that long to go from one end of the mall to the other and back. That being said, my feet do hurt a bit after about three hours of walking in the heat.

Now, delicious food.

Tomorrow? Yachting on the Chesapeake, apparently.

I went by Hopkins today. This was an interesting sight in between plaques honoring donors who gave between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000.

( Some of my research efforts. Non-technical for anybody who's interested in what I do all day. )

Now, this isn't really anything big. It's pretty inevitable to find something like this. However, it is pretty nice to know that I can think ahead enough to see where this project is going. Apply a bit of thinking, a bit of concentrated effort, and it turns out I was right all along. Lots better than feeling like I'm just going through the motions because I'm being told to.

Maybe it's been from being in the lab all week, or from the rain keeping me in when I want to go out and enjoy the summer. In any case, I've been feeling restless for the past week or so. I also thought about how it's rare that I bother to go into town despite all that's there. So this weekend is going to be the opposite of Ollie-sits-around-mopey. Gonna go into the Mall to look around, and bring both my camera AND my umbrella with. (I don't trust this weather.) Then hopefully hang out with my buddies and get Kabobs.

After more than two hours I finally got home. Ugh. A bus flipped or something on the BW parkway and closed both lanes. I actually ended up taking an exit that took me back north, just so I could hop on Route 1 and go south. Probably still faster, even with the crazy rain and lots of traffic lights. And idiot Maryland drivers. Virginia may have some of the top worst drivers, but your average Maryland driver seems to be an idiot.

Was going to write up something cool (well, one of the many cool things) that happened today at the internship. Probably will do that tomorrow. I had an idea, worked out the details, made predictions, and the predictions were confirmed by simulation. This whole timing problem is a bit of a beast but apparently people are very confident in my abilities to catch all the details on my own.