"Let's all self-destruct at the same time!"

My clothes and stuff are ganging up on me. One of my favorite T-shirts was ignominiously slain by an oil-based dressing stain 2 weeks ago, so I replaced it at Goodwill this weekend [$5.00].

My favorite shorts expired last week, so I got some more off Ebay [~$22.00].

Then one of my pillows died, so I replaced it [$18.00]. While I was at it, I purchased some towels that actually covered me up [$25.00].

Then I discovered holes in my pajama top and [where else?] the crotch of pajama pants #2. Since I use a special type of long underwear as pajamas, it's costing me $140.00 for 2 replacement sets.

I have to get some new bottom fitted sheets for my bed this week. I only have 1, and it's stained as heck. I also need some new pillowcases. I'd rather not buy sheet sets, though, because I never use the top sheets, so they just stay in storage, using up valuable space.

While I'm at it, I could probably use another winter coat: one with a waterproof outer layer and an insulated inner layer. I've been using my current one so long that it's fraying at the cuffs, and it has permanent smudges all over it from dirt and/or the strap of my previous purse, which leaked dye whenever it got wet. >: Also it has some unpleasant history attached to it, so it really should go away.

And yeah, a second fleece jacket would be a wise investment. I spent pretty much the entire period from October of last year to April of this year wearing my current fleece jacket. I originally bought it to be the first layer of winter clothes, over which I would put my outer winter jacket to constitute an entire coat. Then, because I'm hypersensitive to temperature and would rather be slightly hot than slightly cold, I ended up never taking it off. I wore it in the office every single day. I wore it when I got home from work. I wore it on the weekends. I wore it on quick trips outside [like to and from the laundry shed]. I wore it when I took naps. I wore it when I did pretty much everything except sleeping, and, even then, I wore it on especially cold nights. :p I lived in that thing. I should get another, just to distribute the wear.

Does anything else want to wear out, while I'm spending money??? :p

I actually like looking at this sometimes...

Slant magazine provides some of the most pretentious, convoluted, obtuse, overwritten, horribly bad movie "reviews" I have ever read. Here's an example. Basically the author dislikes the movie for being overly sympathetic to all characters and not judgmental enough. But God forbid he come right out and say that. Instead we get Death by Adjectives and phrases like "limning a milieu with extraneous humanism," which sounds like it just came from the keys of someone who has recently discovered the thesaurus [or maybe the Increase Your Word Power! section of Reader's Digest].

As you can see [if you can make any headway in the impenetrable thicket of purple prose], the reviewers make it a point to dislike pretty much everything. Then they expound on their dislike with the grandiloquent bloviation worthy of those self-important people who think that they are too stupendous to crack jokes. To a man [and I think they're all men], they're acutely allergic to clarity of expression and direct communication of ideas. They clearly believe that, the more subordinate clauses their "reviews" have, the better they are.

I like to read stuff like this occasionally, just to roll my eyes at its egregiousness. It reminds me what not to do.

Now, if you'll excuse me, there's a milieu that needs some limning with extraneous humanism. :p

P.S. This also brings up the question -- if you hate movies, both generally as a concept and specifically as individual films, which the writers of Slant apparently do, why write about them in the first place?

Here is your certificate of doll ownership.

I've always found it very odd that people congratulate each other on the purchase of a new BJD, as if it's some great accomplishment. I understand that it may take a lot of blood, sweat and tears to save up for the doll, as well as a lot of patience to wait for the doll. However, buying a doll does necessarily require lots of hard work, skill and talent, in the way that, for example, writing the Great American Novel does or learning to ride a unicycle does. Neither is buying a doll a milestone like graduation or moving to a new house. The actual purchase of a BJD does not require any great exertion of admirable character traits; any fool with a credit card can buy a doll. So why do we act like it's so impressive?

Impldoll keeps surprising me.

They'll be going along, issuing their standard, run-of-the-mill, ugly dolls [discussion here], and then, all of a sudden, they'll come out with something cool. Today's deviation from their usual mediocrity is Impl Young Adela. She's an engaging little girl with a slight smile and a relaxed, open mouth that makes her look very lively. She also has heavily styled wingy ears. Her body is actually a pretty good double-jointed sculpt with pleasing proportions and graceful articulation. Tragically, however, she has a forehead tumor in the shape of an orange and purple turd. She's the sort of BJD that just calls out for some minor modding to reach her full glory. Too bad she's in 1:4 scale, a scale I refuse to get into.