Another discussion topic. Find your way to the first episode of Hetalia ~ it's a short Japanese animation that was adapted from a webcomic. The thing is... it personifies all the countries of the world, which provides endless entertainment and comedy.

I fell in love with the concept of Esperanto and was wondering what everyone else thought about it. Does it seem like a good idea? Have you even heard of it? :3

In exactly a week's time I will be back home (nyc) for winter break (wee!). As a form of procrastination, I threw on some outfits last night that I'm thinking of toting down to the city. I didn't try on everything, just a few signature pieces or things that haven't really made it out into the big bad city yet. ((bewaaaare, the photos are quite large))



( don't mind my silly face or the boots. )

Last night I was at a Christmas party. I was bored and had no one to talk to, and then I noticed that the host's granddaughter Maxie (a little over a year old) was watching me, so just for fun I signed to her, "Hi, Maxie" in case she knew baby sign. Well, after I did that she latched on to me for the rest of the party! My ASL is pretty rusty because I haven't used it for years, but I remembered enough signs to keep Maxie entertained for awhile. She kept going up to the food and signing "More food" and then when her mother gave her some food she signed "thank you," except she signed it to me instead of to her mother!

Hey all! I rarely ask for help here but I just want to make sure I'm understanding this correctly. I'm getting ready to make the decreases on this hat (Ravelry link) and the directions read as such:

"Rnd 1: *K6, K2tog*, repeat to marker
Rnd 2-3: Knit even
Rnd 4: *K5, K2tog*, repeat to marker
Rnd 5-6: Knit even
Rnd 7: *K4, K2tog*, repeat to marker"

This seems fairly straightforward but just to be sure, after round 7 I would go back to knitting 2 rows evenly, then start all over again. Or, after K4, K2tog, I would knit 2 rows evenly then start with K3, K2tog, etc until I'm knitting 1 and K2Tog till I get to the amount of stitches I need?

I know I'm probably over analyzing, but I just don't want to screw up. Thanks in advance!

I have a huge tub of soy yogurt that expires on the.. 26th I think. Anyone have any recipes that use it? Preferably more than 1/2 cup.

Hello! I have just discovered this wonderful community, and am positively squirming with delight at the chance to talk to others interested in language. However, my first question (probably the first of many) is about a Russian word.
Don't worry, I know that this isn't a community for translators, but I read the community rules, and it said that questions related to a single language were okay, so I hope this isn't breaking a rule. It is a bit of an obscure question, and I have also paid a visit to a Russian-learners community, but am waiting to find out if they will actually let me join first!

( I'll put the question under this cut, as I fear I have rambled. )

I feel empowered when the sun is up. Nothing can get me down. I am strong, confident, awesome. I have amazing hair, awesome friends, a great imagination and personality. I may not know what I want to do with my life as a whole, but I am creative and have several ideas on what I CAN do. When the sun is down, I feel listless and depressed. I think to myself, "Why am I doing all this? Everybody hates me now". I get very lonely. Give me some hot cider and someone to keep me company, or someone to talk to, and I generally spring right back up and remember that it's not so bad, really. Thank you Winter, for taking and providing, but still being generally lovely. You are a moodswung mistress and I love you. I have Before and After photos! I absolutely LOVE B&A pics, so if you guys have links to some yourself, I would love to see. c: ( pics under cut )

It appears I am very out of date. Eldest daughter's boyfriend (late twenties) has requested a pair of gloves and/or hat for Christmas. In my Wisdom (not) I bought a small boatload of superwash wool for making gifts. Today I realized that it wouldn't matter, superwash or not with these here boyfriends, because laundry goes from the washer to the dryer and that's what the care instructions have to be. "Lay flat to dry" is a foreign concept.

So I have 2 colors of acrylic yarn: dark teal and off-white. I am told that the color is less important than any design on them: cables, snowflakes and skulls are right out of the picture, argyle might be okay, maybe anime could be fun.

I am at a total loss. If need be, I'll make plain old PLAIN gloves, but thought maybe y'all could suggest a pattern, or at least a design to spice it up a bit. I know he likes D&D and Avatar (The Last Airbender) but I don't know his interests beyond that.
Maybe a geometric design that is manly?

In my day "manly" was black. Or Steel gray. Period. Cables were okay if you were Irish. (teasing)

ETA: emmacrew to the rescue. I'm gone from here, hard at play...

I don't recall seeing it posted here before, so I thought I'd put it up and see what everyone thinks.





Personally, I think it's quite accurate, though only for a certain value of "Americans" because it reduces all possible accents down to one.
Still, it's interesting.
See what you think.

The Jeeves & Wooster Edition of my fan-themed snowflakes.




Folded paper + scissors.

( Bigger pic at my LJ )

Here's a list in case you need more convincing :-> Chag urim sameach!

I Was contentedly knitting away on my lunch when I realized I had dropped a stitch when I had completed the previous cable. I discovered this when I needed to complete the next cable and my stitches were off. One would think after 10 rows this would be discovered. FARGHHHHHHH!

I invoked the power of Lucy. I took a breath and dove in to fixing the cable......without ripping out the rest of the work! I then remembered I had my camera with me, so I started snapping photos of the fix. I dun doo'd it! I am so frikken pleased with myself right now. I trouble shot, I problem solved, I fixed and all is well in whoville. (If only life and/or people were this easy to fix) Go SEE my accomplishment - Eleventybajillion photos under the cut! (moments like these deserve to be recorded in detail)

( Read more... )

As most of you know, because I've posted many entries in different communities, I recently dyed my hair pink, blue and teal. The first time I used Paintbox by Fudge, Xtremerz by Tessa and Punky Colours (also known as Directions) Turquoise mixed with a bit of Lagoon Blue. Paintbox and Xtremerz both started fading right away.

The second time, I used SFX Atomic Pink, SFX Blue Velvet and SFX Fishbowl mixed with Punky Colours Lagoon Blue. Since every other colour faded quicker than the Punky Colours, it was still turquoise when I redid it. Also, I want to note that my hair was still orange from the previous dye when I redid it.

Because SFX Blue Velvet is so dark, it made my hair purple (where it should have been pink) but became more pink with each wash.

This is the first time I dyed it:


( Time Line )

everyone. I am kind of new to blogging so please bear with me. I would like to know some people's thoughts on what it means to be pansexual. For a long time I have felt very alone in my way of thinking, though for me it is just the way I am. I tend to both express myself as well as explore and interact with people in a sexual way. Typically what happens is that as I get to know and like someone I become intensely attracted to them. This happens wether the person is female, male, transgendered, tall, short, petite, big and beautiful and even physically impared.

I am a reasonbly good looking 37 year old guy. I try to be honest with people about my feelings and my relationships, but many times it puts people off. My relationships with both women and men are always affected when I communicate my feelings and sexual preference. I have often been labeled as a slut or variations thereof and at times worn the label with pride or felt disgusted with myself over it. I seem to relate best to women and have even been married but a monogomous relationship with on gender somehow always feels unfulfilling in a way that is hard for me to describe.

I did try therapy for a while for some problems I was working through (mostly unrelated) and when all of this came up the therapist suggested I was a sex addict and wanted to treat me for it... That just didn't feel right, like being treated for having arms or something like that. I don't feel I am explaining this well, let me know if you understand please?

A friend of mine recently suggested I might be pansexual. That was the fist time I heard the word. I have read a little and I want to know more about what it means and if there is a community there I might share feelings and common experience with. While I am not overall a big fan of categories and labels, I guess I would like to know if I am alone in thinking there is something more to this than sluttiness or sex addiction?

my good friend is a drummer in a death metal band. his stage name is MYSTERIO. of course he needs embroidery.



i think it is SO FUNNY.

I'm currently reading with growing enthusiasm Skeat's Etymological Dictionary and, being a fan of Ariosto, was thrilled to find this word:

RODOMONTADE, vain boasting. (F.-Ital.) 'Crites. And most terribly he comes off, like your rodomontado;' Ben Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, Act v. sc. 2. 'And triumph'd our whole nation In his rodomant fashion;' id., Masque of Owls, Owl 5. - F. rodomontade, 'a brag, boast;' Cot. - Ital. rodomontada, 'a boaste, brag;' Florio. A proverbial expression, due to the boastful character of Rodomonte, in the Orlando furioso of Ariosto, bk. xiv; called Rodamonte by Bojardo, Orlando Innamorato, ii. 1. 56. Said to be coined from Lombard rodare (= Ital. rotare), to turn about, and monte, a mountain. See Rotary and Mount (1).

Question: Is this a word people actually use or is it very recherché? Would it be understood by people who are not into Ariosto?

Zusatzfrage: Wie ist das mit dem deutschen Äquivalent "bramarbasieren"? Verständlich oder sehr gesucht?

Iridescent Cellophane, is it made of Unicorn Tails and Babies First Giggles? Honestly, with the time I've been having finding the stuff it might as well be!

The plain clear stuff is 1-2-3 easy peasy to find, but I require the pretty iridescent stuff. I'm in Canada (Toronto, specifically) so please no suggestions for US Chain only stores! I need it in a bit of a pinch, so I can't order online.

Please and Thank You!

p.s. Hello I am New! I am new to crafting, but I enjoy it muchly.

I haven't tried this yet but I know people are always looking for an vegan "cream of mushroom" soup and this says it is!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/health/nutrition/17recipehealth.html?ref=health

( Read more... )

Since all of you gave me so nice comments to my first OOTD-post here, you get again an outfit now.

( onto the pictures )

Hi all:

I'm pretty frustrated, so I thought I'd share with you all, see if anyone's had similar experiences or advice.

Early in November, I ordered a sale dress from igigi.com for 29 dollars with free shipping. This dress, in fact: http://www.igigi.com/plus-size-sale/kamryn-dress-in-jade.html but in the pink. I snagged the last one in my size. I was pretty excited. I don't wear a lot of pink, so that would be exciting and I've always wanted to buy something from igigi.com but they're usually vastly outside of my budget.

I waited about a week and a half, expecting shipping to be slow since it was free but I finally checked my UPS tracking number and found that it had been delivered to me three days beforehand. But I had never seen it. What the heck, packages don't usually go missing for me. So I hunted around the house, front and back doors, checked with the neighbors and no one had taken a package for me nor did I find one. So, okay, looks like it must have been stolen or misdelivered.

So I send an email to the service@igigi.com email address. I get no response. I call UPS and the rep is very nice and apologetic and tells me that the shipper needs to file a claim for a lost package; I can't do it myself. She calls igigi's 888 number while I'm on the line, but the voice mailbox was full.

I send another email to igigi. No response.

I call their 888 number again. No one picks up (and I didn't leave a voicemail, because I was frustrated enough at this point).

I call again in a few days and still, no one picks up.

What the heck. I know 29 dollars probably seems like not much to get irritated about, but I want/need it back. UPS insures their packages and this isn't a return, so I should be getting a cash refund, not just store credit (like they do with their other returned sale items). But it's all premised on igigi returning my emails or picking up the phone so I can tell them they need to file a claim.

For a store that has such classy looking items and quite classy prices, their customer service sucks ass. The least they could do would send an automated form letter. Or have someone answer the damn phone. It's rude and I'm not planning on purchasing anything from them in the future if this never gets resolved, no matter how low their sale prices go.

Has anyone else experienced horrendous service from igigi?

ETA: Thanks for all the help and advice everyone!

Oh wow. I had the best fudge ever. Rachael Ray's Recipe is amazing. And almost vegan-so it was easy to swap out the condensed milk for coconut milk.
A note: butterscotch chips are CRUCIAL in this recipe. If you don't have them, it's not going to turn out the same. I'm incredibly lucky to live in the south and have access to this crappy little chain grocery store Food Lion-where they happen to sell "accidentally vegan" butterscotch chips. I bought 12 bags about six months ago and I've been hoarding them. This is probably the treat I'll be mailing to friends as fudge travels well.

Ingredients:

12 ounces chocolate chips (I used Trader Joe's)
9 ounces butterscotch chips (Food Lion brand is the only vegan brand I've heard of.)
14 ounces full fat coconut milk (do NOT use So Delicious brand or light, it won't set properly)
1 T coconut oil (optional, i thought it would help the fudge set)
1 t vanilla
8 oz walnut halves/pieces
1/2 c currants

Premeasure all your ingredients and have them ready to use before you start. I'm serious. If you don't, there will be consequences! (your fudge will set before you add the nuts and currants).

You will also want to line an 8X8 square pan with parchment or wax paper. My mom always used wax paper for fudge when I was a kid..I haven't bought the stuff in years because (i admit) I'm unmotivated about writing companies to find out their wax source. If you know of a company that sells vegan wax paper tell me!

Preheat a heavy pot over low heat. Add the butterscotch & chocolate chips as well as the coconut oil and coconut milk. Stir until the chips are melted and combined well with the milk. Stir in the vanilla and remove from heat. Add nuts and currants immediately and stir in.

Pour into paper lined pan and chill, covered in the refrigerator.

Try not to eat the entire pan alone. The holidays are about sharing, right?
http://kuntrageous.blogspot.com

Ice Ghost ©`09 S.M. Selby

One of my favorite brownie recipes had been the one-bowl brownies on the back of the Baker's unsweetened chocolate box. More sugar than flour, and most of the substance was held together by egg. I replaced the egg and some of the butter with pumpkin, and they turned out amazingly tasty.

My version:
4 squares BAKER'S Unsweetened Chocolate (I think I used a mixture of semi-sweet and unsweetened, since I had both and the little squares got mixed up in my supplies)
1/2 cup earth balance
2 cups sugar (I used 1 c. white and 1c. demara, because that's what I had)
1 cup pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (I used a little more than 1 c. combo of pecans and dark chocolate chunks, plus a bit more pecans to go on top so as to mark them as containing nuts)

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Line 13x9-inch baking pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Grease foil.

MICROWAVE chocolate and earth balance in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until margarine is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar. Blend in pumpkin and vanilla. Add flour and pecans; mix well. Spread into prepared pan.

BAKE 30 to 35 min. or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. (Do not overbake.) Cool in pan on wire rack. Remove brownies from pan, using foil handles. Cut into squares. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature.

They came out really soft and fudgy.

Hey fats,
We all know the makeup/beauty industry is generally a slim world. I've seen a few fatties working at makeup counters here and there, and they look like they fit in, but they are few and far between. I'm going to apply at a few counters, and wanted some inspiration from my fellow fats. If you work at a counter/store, or freelance can you please share your experiences with me. I'd also LOVE to see pics of you on the job, and doing your thing.
Also, can you recommend some brush belts that are good for large bellies and hips. Thanks!

Hello lovelies! After being inspired for several months by the wonderful OOTD posts I have finally got the gumption to post my own! I am very excited :)

I could probably dress up more often at work and day to day, but I'm pretty lazy so it's mostly jeans and a t-shirt for me. Luckily our staff xmas party was yesterday, so it gave me an excuse to try out a new look and dress up a bit.

Surprisingly enough, I was able to source the entire outfit from my existing wardrobe! Does that make me a frugalista or a fatshionista? LOL

Apologies in advance for the photo quality. I had a number of factors working against me so I did the best I could. (Apparently if you click on the image it will take you to a larger version?) 


Silk top: Michael Antoni collection from AE (really old)
Belt: Torrid (current) Skirt: (Reitmans, fall)
Shoes: Payless wide-width (also really old)

Your Canadian model is 24 years old, 5'6, probably somewhere around 250 lbs and wears around a 20-22 on top and bottom depending on the clothes.

*Edited for formatting & to include a better photo!

I received this e-mail today. Since I haven't purchased anything from them and have nothing to say as a result, I figured I'd pass this on to y'all. Here's someone from a plus-size seller who wants feedback from us fats, so let him hear you! (There's also a shopping code for a discount in the body of the e-mail."






Dear Friend,

My name is Alex Brodsky and I am the CEO of IGIGI.

I would like to thank you for being the most important factor in the existence and success of IGIGI - our customer.
It is my absolute commitment to you that you are delighted, satisfied, and overjoyed with your IGIGI purchase and the overall experience that you had while shopping with us. For me, anything less than that is not acceptable.

I invite you to share with me your experience of shopping with IGIGI. Please express your concerns, suggestions, and ideas to make our products and the overall shopping experience one of the best.

Please write to me personally at ceo@igigi.com to share your thoughts.

As a thank you for your help in creating the best product and the best shopping experience, I would like to offer you a 20% discount on your next order. You can use this coupon until December 22nd. During the checkout, enter the coupon code “THANKYOU09”.

Thank you in advance!

I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts,

Alex Brodsky

( Lookie! )

I made him myself.

I am a nerd. That is all.

The Band: Bizi (Or Bizii) (Peas in Hungarian)?


Heya everybody!

This is a really obscure question about a really obscure band. I wish to know if there is someone who can translate the Hungarian webpage, second link down, into simple text for me; that is, also click on one of the song links and go to the webpage it directs you to, and translate that for me. (OR) I want to know if anyone can find me some music by the band Bizi(i), specifically a song called Tokyo dreams. The thing is impossible to find, and my girlfriend really likes the band, and I kinda want to get it for her as a Christmas present. Any help, or none, is appreciated regardless. I'm supplying links to help out any those who know the band.

This Cd in particular is a pain: Bizi - Boom Boom Room (Promo)

http://www.musicstack.com/my/item.cgi?item=8985071&seller=1805&media=12&next=600&date=10%2F15%2F2008

http://mcrack.fw.hu/

3. Using your understanding of how sugyot are formed and how they work, create a small sugya, inventing texts as needed to fill in the pattern that you want your sugya to have. Your topic can be serious or whimsical, possibly a matter of law or of ethics. (28 points)

( Whimsy under the cut )

Hi all,

I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions for online resources (or offline books) for learning Malay/Bahasa Malaysia/Bahasa Melayu. The only free website I've found so far is this one, which I haven't poked through fully enough to really come to a conclusion about it, but, regardless, I like to have multiple sources so I can compare things.

Thanks!

I have a slight obsession with saving every fortune I get. Any ideas on how to display them? Right now I just tape them to my desk and stick them in my wallet or any pouch with a zipper.

This morning I tried to make brownies, which didn't turn out so great. The recipe is fairly simple (cocoa, flour, eggs, vanilla, butter) and I just replaced the omni ingredients with vegan ones. I used egg replacer instead of eggs and Nuttelex (a margarine) instead of butter.

It mixed up fine and the mixture tasted fine, but when I took it out of the oven it was bubbling and the oil from the margarine had separated out (there was a layer over the top of the rest of the mixture). I cooked it for longer but couldn't get it to cook properly (it stayed as a squishy chocolaty mess) or the oil to combine with the rest of the mixture. What did I do wrong? I can't figure out why this would happen.

( Lookie! )

I made him myself.

I am a nerd. That is all.

Hey guys,

Just wanted to give a heads up on the sweet Hannukah shirt on woot.com:

http://shirt.woot.com/Friends.aspx?k=11423

It's $10, and for $5 extra you can have it by Friday.

I finally finished all the x-mas gifts I needed to make! WOOT~! This is my first time posting here, but I've been watching it on and off for a long time <3 

Hi everyone! I have two FOs to share today, one a gift and one for me:

( Pembrokeshire Pathways ) ETA: sorry about the double LJ-cuts... somehow LJ screwed up the formatting on the cuts when I posted this. Just click one of the links and it will take you to the (nicely formatted) page with the pictures :-)

It just occurred to me that I have knit a LOT of projects that I have yet to share with all of you! I'll keep the comments brief, and won't waste space with ravelry links. You can search me on there as "shawnooke".
( Knitting abounds... )

So I've been with Keri for almost a year now and I love her with all of my heart. She is the best person I have ever met, and even though I've made mistakes she has stood by me and she knows I will always stand by her. When she first told me she was diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder when she was 18 I wasn't really surprised. She told me that because of her family and the way her life is that she would never transition, but then one day she sidelined me telling me she was really serious about transitioning. I was really upset at first, scared she would change when she started taking testosterone but I'm at a point where I am very supportive and I've let go of the selfish part of me that wanted her to stay how she is. I want her to be happy because I don't want to marry her and then when she's 55 being miserable because she never lived life how she wanted and then for things to become bad between us. I want her to live her life to its full potential, and I want to be there with her through it all.

Today she got her prescription for testosterone!!! We're both so excited. She gets her first injection on Tuesday, and I'm going with her. But even though I am feel that inside she is a male, there is still one problem. I feel like I will never be able to use male pronouns when I talk about her just because I've known her as a girl. She says she honestly doesn't care and that she wants to just be seen as how she feels on the inside, but I know that it would be hard for her to hear me calling her a girl all the time when really she is not.

So my questions to any transguys, or girlfriends of transguys or even ex girlfriends who dated their significant other before they transitioned are: Did you find it hard to start to use male pronouns? Did you find it easier once you started to see the changes for yourself? If your significant other was close with your parents before the transition, how did you explain to your parents? What are some things I can do or say to help make this easier for Keri, considering her family isn't very open to the idea of Keri transitioning?

Just for fun here are some pictures!

( me and keri! )

Bonjour! A mission team from my church is very involved with some projects in Haiti, and they would like to be able to post their mission statement in English and French. They sent me the English version and the start of a French version, but they say it's very rough. My French is not up to this speed yet to check word choice and details of grammar, so I was wondering if anyone here could help? Merci beaucoup!

( English Text )

So I had the most wonderful night last night!
I came out to my bestie in the whole wide Washington state as trans, and he was wonderfully accepting... thus far the most accepting person I've come out to in my family/friends.

also, I shaved the sides of my head... I'm not sure how much I like it myself

Maybe I'll like it more when It grows out?

Hey, all! I bought an adorable cloche hat recently, and I was hoping I could figure out how to duplicate it. Does anyone know of a sewing pattern for these types of hats?

Just checking in, my finals week is almost over and I need a break! I'm newly single, and I'm so bored. Its like I have no idea what to do with myself anymore. Blah. So my question is- What are your holiday plans? ( So it's not only text! )

Hey y'all:

I'm booking last minute travel to Puerto Rico in January (filling in for someone at a conference) and have a selection of US Airlines to choose from. As a Canadian, I know little about them -- can someone tell me of any particularly pro-size or anti-size airlines? recommendations or avoidances?

thanks!

Does anyone here have the Thunderdome Miniskirt from Torrid? I am considering getting it, but I'd like to know what you wear it with/where you wear it. Thanks!