If, however, you have no interest in clashing with me on Xbox Live, watch the video below instead.  Actually, you should just watch the video anyway because I’m not about to post my gamer tag here.

Quick summary:  some people defend the objectification and sexualization of women in video games by saying that men are just as objectified and sexualized.  What they’re saying is that massive, muscled, shirtless dudes serve the same purpose as female characters who have been reduced to walking tit shelves.  Well.  Maybe, maybe not.

But when love strikes, it strikes hard.  Behold!  The Brumbay Scarf/Wrap!

Unfortunately, my camera battery died after I took two photos. You will take these sub-par pictures of a half-finished shawl laying on a green towel and you will like them!

The moment I found this pattern – a free one available in pdf format here – I knew I had to make it.  It was another one of those “I know who would love that” moments.  However, I wasn’t that interested in the yarn called for in the pattern.  (I know, I’m terrible.)  For one, it’s too expensive for me to justify the purchase.  The five skeins called for in the pattern would set me back $100!  I need more than five skeins of yarn to justify that cost, thank you very much.

For two, I have some experience with Cascade 220 Superwash wool.  It’s soft, machine washable, and I know I’m comfortable knitting with it.  Win-win!  So, when I had some spare money, I ordered four skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash wool in Purple Heather (color #1969) from Webs yarn store.  The URL for Webs is www.yarn.com.  I also ordered lots of other yarn, but that’s another post for another time.  My camera battery died and I can’t take pictures of all the beautiful yarn I got, anyway.  Btw, Cascade 220 yarns are on sale until May 31st from Webs!

Now, I’m on my third ball of yarn and approximately halfway through the shawl.  I’m knitting it on a set of ChiaoGoo size 10 (6mm), 16″ circular bamboo needles.  I like using the bamboo needles with the smooth, superwash wool.  The pattern calls for size six needles (I think?) but my sixers have a blanket on them.  Also, I wanted the fabric to be more open.  See, we live in Mississippi.  It gets horrifically hot and humid here, and it stays hot from the end of April through at least September.  Well, typically.  The weather this Spring has been really weird and way cooler than normal.  Anyway, I want this shawl to be wearable in months other than January, so size 6 needles just weren’t gonna cut it.  If we lived further north it’d be a different story, but we don’t.

See that spot in the far left where the yarn has a nice, deep purple color? That's pretty close to the actual, real life color of the yarn. The blue in the top right corner is a pillow. I laid the shawl across the bed in our extra bedroom to take pictures of it.

Right now the wrap is about as long as my arm, but it’s kinda stretchy.  I’ll probably stretch it out just a teensy bit when I block it.  It’s already nice and flowy, and it’ll feel even flowy-er once I add the fringe.  I’ll have to use some black Cascade 220 Superwash for the fringe because, unfortunately, I just plain didn’t buy enough of the purple.  FAIL.  I think the black will look decent with the purple…  I hope.  But, I won’t make the tassels as big as they look in the pattern.  I don’t want the black fringe to interfere with the beautiful shade and texture of the shawl itself.

This pattern is just four repeating rows.  How awesome is that?  It’s simple enough to work on it while watching Supernatural with Hubbles, yet so gorgeous.  I’m only halfway done with it, but I will update you on my progress – and hopefully take better pictures – as I go along.  Wish me luck!

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If you’re interested in knitting this shawl but haven’t knit anything like it before, let me give you a few tips.

One:  Use needle point protectors.  In my pictures above, you can see a bright orange and a light green cap on the tips of my needles.  Those help keep the yarn from slipping off the needles when I’m not knitting.  I can’t say how much of a relief they are for me.  I, in my intense paranoia about anything and everything, always worry about my hard work being undone by just a couple of stitches slipping off the needles.  I’m using these, but you could also use something like these.  Whatever works for you and your budget!  If you know of some better ones, let me know in the comments.

Two:  Speaking of dropping stitches!  Use a lifeline.  Seriously.  This somewhat lacy pattern – it uses yarnovers (YO or YF) and knit two together (k2tog) – is not so complicated that mistakes are unfixable.  In fact, I was able to fix a couple of my little booboos.  That being said, my mistakes didn’t involve dropped stitches.  Which, by the way, I am pathetically unable to fix in any project.  And, I caught the mistakes only one row after I made them.  If you don’t know how to use a lifeline, here’s a good video from New Stitch A Day.  For the original webpage, go here.

Three:  Make sure you use needles that are appropriate for the yarn you’re using.  Bamboo is a little “grabby,” meaning that it isn’t as slick as, say, aluminum, and yarn typically won’t slip off of bamboo needles as easily.  But, if you have a super tight gauge or are using a really toothy yarn (like some acrylics), bamboo might not be right for your project.

Four:  Circular needles.  Please. This pattern is 132 stitches wide, and circular needles can hold all those stitches way easier than straight needles.  Personally, I’ve come to prefer circulars because they fit perfectly in my hands and don’t leave me flinging needles around.  The smaller arm movements don’t irritate my tennis elbow very much, either.  Very important!

Five:  Here are some higher level tips on knitting lace:  Lace Knitting Frequently Asked Questions from KnittingObsession.com.

Now what are you waiting for?  Go make this shawl!  It’s too beautiful to be left unmade.  Hop to!

“I will never play games with yearly editions.”  (Like Madden or Call of Duty.)

“I will never play the PS3.”

How many times have gamers said these things?  Judging by how many “I will never” comments are on the internet, lots of people swear off particular games for this or that reason.  What bugs me is that it usually boils down to a game’s popularity.  Disliking something because it’s popular only makes you sound childish, insecure, and sometimes jealous.  If you can’t think of a better reason to dislike something, you obviously have more problems than the popular things you hate.

Keep telling yourself that.

When I was younger, I didn’t like Abercrombie & Fitch because it was the popular and cool brand.  Some kids need to be trendy to feel cool, and some need to rebel against trends.  I was in the latter group.  Since high school, however, I stopped caring about whether or not something was popular or trendy.  Somewhere along the way I realized that I don’t need to shun trends to be an individual.  And thank God I quit wearing ten necklaces at a time.  Yes, ten.  On my neck.  All day, every day, for months.  In fact, ten might be a conservative estimate.

Pictured: possible exaggeration of my junior high style. I still felt like I was making a statement. In hindsight, it was a very tacky statement. (Click photo for source.)

I still don’t like Abercrombie, but now I dislike the brand because it’s stupidly expensive.  (Also:  racist.  Also:  dickishly exclusionary.  Also:  you could shoot a porno in their creepy stores and not be out of place.)  I’m perfectly happy with cheapo department store or thrift shop clothes, thank you very much.  I wear what I want and that’s that.

As for video games, I play what I want, no matter how trendy it is (or isn’t).  Some AAA games are really good – Borderlands 2, anyone?  How about some Dragon Age: Origins?  If they interest you, why should you let their popularity keep you from enjoying them?  If your reason for avoiding popular stuff is something like “I hate it because everyone else loves it,” you sound just as vapid and shallow as someone who tries to be trendy for the sake of being trendy.

Of course you shouldn’t shun Indie games, either.  Games don’t require a AAA salary or a massive marketing campaign to be great.  Journey, Fez, Super Meat Boy, Minecraft, and Braid all make that quite obvious.  Personally, I can’t wait for Mew-Genics, the upcoming game from Super Meat Boy developer Team Meat.  I mean, come on.  It’s cats!  Cats!

Another cat? I think not. The power of Speck compels you!

Now, if you want to expand your horizons by focusing on Indie games for awhile, or games from smaller companies, that’s totally cool.  It shows that you want to give something different a chance and try something new.  A few months ago, I got tired of eating Mexican food for dinner all the time.  So, Hubbles and I quit Mexican for a few weeks and tried some new stuff.  In the process, we expanded our culinary horizon.  We still love Mexican food and we still fix it for dinner occasionally, but now we have a great alfredo sauce recipe, too.  The principal can also be applied to games.  If you want to focus on less popular games in order to try something different, go for it.

Besides the shunners of all things popular, there are the really annoying console purists.  They straight up refuse to play anything but their special “chosen one.”  I’ve already covered this in “Console Wars:  Seriously?“  But, here’s the gist of it:  some people prefer a particular game console (or PC) over the others.  That is fine.  The problems occur when enthusiasts are dicks to people who dare to play another game console.

We have an Xbox 360 because that’s what life handed us.  It was cheaper and more convenient to buy a 360 from a friend who needed some quick cash than it was to buy a 360 (or a PS3) from GameStop.  Four years later, we have a ton of Xbox 360 games and Xbox Live friends.  We don’t hate the PS3.  We just didn’t end up with one.  You can drool over the PS3′s graphical superiority or its free online service all you want.  You’re happy with it, and that’s fantastic.  The issue is when you start putting me down for playing a 360 instead of a PS3.  This is one of those times when “it’s just a game” is a relevant statement.  Video games are entertainment.  They are a hobby, not the meaning of life.

"The gall! I can't believe they play that piece of crap!" For extra fun, say it in an Invader Zim voice. Remember Zim? The incompetent, doofy alien? Yes, you really do sound that stupid when you participate in console wars. (To be fair, you could totally mock us for how dusty our Xbox 360 is. We have some Spring cleaning to do.)

However, if you swear off particular games (or a console) because you dislike the company who develops or publishes them, that’s a completely different story.  There’s a game publisher Hubbles and I don’t like, and we don’t like buying their games.  The thought of giving our money to a terrible company does not jive well with us.  We do a thing called “voting with your dollar.”  Besides, we can pretty much get around the publisher by buying used copies of the games we want.  (The downside is that we can’t really support developers that way.  Boycotting a crappy developer is easier and less complicated than boycotting a publisher.)

Don’t swear off games because of superficial reasons.  If popularity bothers you, consider this:  some things are popular because they deserve to be.  Why do you think blue jeans are so popular?  It’s because they’re comfortable, durable, and easy to coordinate.  What’s wrong with that?  I know that some popular things are vapid and stupid – watch MTV or read a romance novel for proof – but that’s not always the case.  Valid counterpoint for the existence of shallow entertainment:  sometimes you need to turn off your mind and de-stress by, say, reading Twilight or watching Fushigi Yuugi.  To quote my wise big sister, “Sometimes you need a little fluff.”

If you have a legitimate reason for not playing a particular game, do your thing.  But, if you’re only boycotting a game because it’s popular, you should probably reconsider your reasoning.

Speck (left) and Ibsen (right) laying together like this form sort of a dichotomy, too. Speck: lazy old princess. Ibsen: rambunctious young nuisance. Opposites, yo!

I started out blogging only about video games.  I love them and always have, so creating a game blog felt natural for me.  Soon after I created WildBlueYoshi, however, I fell in love with knitting and crocheting.  Before long I was crafting as much as I was gaming – and I game a lot.  So, I decided to blog about my adventures in both.  I call myself a Domestic Nerd because knitting and crocheting are viewed as traditional, “domestic” pursuits,** and video games are typically considered a nerdy pursuit.

Ta-da!  That’s the short of it.  If you need further explanation for whatever reason, continue reading.

I’ve found some craft blogs that combine domestic arts and alternative – a.k.a. geeky or nerdy – entertainment.  For instance, plenty of crocheters make amigurumi versions of video game and anime characters.  A common knitting project is the massive Doctor Who scarf.  One knitter makes adorable little Totoros and things like that.  There is some really neat stuff out there for geeky crafters if you know where to look.  By that, I mean you use Ravelry and know how to Google “crochet yoshi.”  FYI, I fully intend to crochet a blue yoshi!

Proof of my domestic nerdery! Here, I combined my knitting (the kerchief on my head) with my Yoshi (and Mario) shirt. My next logical step is an amigurumi version of Yoshi. Btw, I made those earrings, too.

However, while I love these craft blogs, I always want to know more about the authors’ nerdier interests and hobbies.  What video games do they play?  Do they like anime and manga?  Which Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle is their favorite?  What do they think of Harry Potter?  Who’s hotter:  John Crichton from Farscape, or… Sorry, I started thinking about Ben Browder as John Crichton and lost my train of thought.

Anyway, there are plenty of people who like both crafts and geek stuff.  The only problem is that some of them (though not all) prioritize crafts over the geeky stuff.  Are they afraid of being mocked by snooty, anti-nerds?  Giving crafts and geek media equal attention in a blog seems like too much to ask, even though my fellow domestic nerds and I do exactly that in our real lives.  Sure, some anti-nerds tease me for my gaming hobby and stuff like that, but whatever.  I like what I like.  If that bothers you, get over it.  I’m not hurting anyone.  Worry about your life, not mine.

It makes me sad to hear a person professing love for comics or video games only to follow that profession with “Sorry, I’m a total nerd.”  Sorry?  Why are you sorry?  That’s just silly.  People who do bad things should apologize, not nerds.  Yes, I know that nerds can do bad things just like anybody else.  But, simple nerdiness does not call for an apology.  I openly admit to my geekiness, but you won’t hear me apologizing for it anymore!

I’m Katy Bug.  I’m a nerd and a crafter.  And that’s okay.

Two thumbs up! And scary neck! Ya'll are really getting a treat with this one.

This is where WildBlueYoshi comes in.  Since I love video games as much as knitting and crocheting, I blog about both.  I want a place where I can let my nerd flag fly while knitting up a storm.  What’s great is that I know there are plenty of others like me!  If there weren’t, then I wouldn’t have seen so many sci-fi fans, gamers, and anime cosplayers knitting at the last three Midsouth Cons.  In fact, the mere existence of websites dedicated to “Nerdigurumi” makes it obvious that I’m not alone in my conflicting hobbies.  Well, I wouldn’t call them conflicting, but I’ll be damned if that wasn’t a snappy line.

"Snappy? You mean like how I bite you if you move when I'm in your lap?" Sure, Ibsen, exactly like that. ANYWAY. Here's my cat, lying on a self healing mat that Hubbles uses for sewing, which is itself lying on a Dance Dance Revolution dance pad. If that doesn't sum up "domestic nerd," I don't know what does.

I know I have some fellow domestic nerds out there!  I’ve seen you.  I’ve even met some of you.  Don’t be scared.  As Jenny Lawson has said:  “Sometimes you just have to lean into the weird.”

In a nutshell, here’s what I want to say:  I blog about my favorite hobbies because I love them equally.  I don’t care if they’re exact opposites.  They’re fantastic and I have a lot to say about games and crafts.  If you think that’s cool, I love you.  If you don’t, I still love you, but let’s just be friends.  It’s not you, it’s me.  Cuz seriously.  I am weird.

If you’re a fellow domestic nerd, hit me up in the comments.  What are your hobbies and interests?  Tell me everything.  I need some late night reading.

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I plan to write about my personal gaming and crafting history soon, so keep an eye out if you’re interested.  “History” makes it sound so official, but it’s really just going to be me saying “I had a Game Boy and it was awesome and I love Yoshi and I knit to keep from going crazy and my cats want food so I’m going to stop writing this stupid run-on sentence.”  Anyway, stay tuned!

PS- Funny thing.  I stumbled on a video of Wil Wheaton explaining why it’s great to be a nerd.  I feel that it fits right in with what I tried to say up there.  HOOAH!

PPS – I found another great video for this post. This one has Felicia Day giving a little update for her Geek & Sundry YouTube Channel (which you should totally check out here).  Before she really digs into the “here’s what I have planned for the channel” stuff, she gives a fantastic definition of what “geek” means.  My favorite definition is “It’s someone who dares to love something that isn’t conventional.”  Whoomp!  There it is, baby.

**Knitting is an age-old craft, and was originally dominated by men.  The idea that knitting is only for grandmas or for women in general is much newer than the craft itself.  It’s also a very dumb idea.  While crochet is a newer craft – its earliest known references are in women’s needlework books from the 19th century – and was originally dominated by women, it’s not just for women.  Anyone who wants to craft should try it out, and anyone who doesn’t want to shouldn’t have to.  Don’t support crafting sexism!

When I accidentally paused the special "pop-up video" of Season 1 on this frame, I laughed for an inappropriate amount of time. I also almost peed myself, even though I had literally just peed. (In a toilet. I felt I should clarify.)

Recently Hubbles and I found The Guild on Netflix, and of course I demanded that we watch it together.  Can you believe that Hubbles was a Guild virgin?  The series started in 2007, but he had never watched any of it!  Never fear – Katy Bug has taken his Guild virginity, and the world is now a better place.   It was awesome for me because I got the joy of rewatching The Guild with my Hubbles, who will now get my Guild quotes and references.  And, since the show centers around a (fictional) video game, I can write on my game blog about all the reasons I love The Guild.  Booya.

Reason 1:  The Guild is really funny.  That probably doesn’t need any elaboration.  However, I should say that the first season is a little weak compared to the next five seasons.  It has some great moments, but the writing and timing hit their stride in the second season.  If you watch the first season and don’t feel like its your thing, keep watching anyway.  The second and third seasons hit the ground running.

Reason 2:  Video games.  Duh.  Obviously, I love video games.  I play them a lot, and it’s awesome for a show as great as this one to put a game at its heart.  Also, my gamer soul delights in seeing other gamers in media treated as complete human beings.  I mean, the Knights of Good are definitely over-the-top and ridiculous, but their roles in The Guild extend beyond “jobless loser living in Mom’s basement who serves as a foil for the main character and occasional comic relief.”  Granted, several of the Guildies have let The Game take over too much of their lives and they use it to escape confronting their real issues, but the story addresses that.

Reason 3:  The gaming references are great…  Most of the time.  The Guildies often use gaming terminology in regular conversation.  Sometimes the references feel forced or cheesy, but usually, they’re like the cherry on top of The Guild’s tasty sundae.  Crap.  That was an awful analogy.  For one, I hate cherries.  For two, it sounds creepily sexual.  For three, I’m hungry.

Anyway!  If you get the references, you’ll probably like them.  If you don’t – I’m not an MMORPG player, so I certainly didn’t get all of them at first – it just adds to the show’s atmosphere.  These characters play the game a lot, and it makes sense that the game terminology would spill over into real life.  Be honest, now.  How many of us have slipped out a LOL in real life conversation?

Reason 4:  Diverse characters.  There’s the obvious inclusion of an Indian (or a “Hin-jew,” as the half Indian, half Jewish Zaboo calls himself) and an Asian. What’s great about them is that the characters don’t feel forced and their presence isn’t an excuse for cheap or offensive racist jokes.

I wish that their backgrounds were explored a little more, but there’s only so much you can do in the typical five minute webseries episode.*  However, I like how their respective ethnicities were neither swept under the rug nor used as a tacky excuse to not develop their characters.  Zaboo and Tink aren’t boring, one-dimensional caricatures of Indians or Asians.  They’re just some unusual people living their lives and playing a video game way too much.  Plus, their character arcs make me happy deep down in my heart.

The closest The Guild gets to a racist joke is this amazing pun in season 6.

Besides them, you have the neurotic female lead, the incompetent housewife/stay at home mom, the horny, childish teenager, and the possibly autistic, cheapskate guild leader.  Of those, I think Clara, the incompetent housewife/SAHM is my favorite.  She’s utterly ridiculous and a terrible mom to boot, but she’s also hilarious and is played by the cutest human being over the age of 12.  Seriously, go look at Robin Thorsen’s IMDB page and tell me she isn’t adorable.  One thing I love about Clara’s portrayal is that, while she is overweight, her jokes don’t center around eating or being lazy – which brings me to my next reason.

Reason 5:  The overweight character is a person, not a joke.  It’s kind of sad that this even qualifies as a reason in this list, but that’s where we are with how overweight people are treated in media.  Too often, overweight characters are only used for mean fat jokes.  Not so in The Guild!  Clara’s jokes boil down to her marriage, her terrible mothering skills, and the fact that she’s the ditzy one of the group.  She’s so ditzy it’s painful, yet hysterically funny.  There are a few jokes about Clara mindlessly eating, but they have nothing to do with her weight.  She’s mindlessly eating because she’s pregnant.  As she says:  “My fetus made me do it.”  I nearly laughed myself into a damn stroke when she said that.

Clara is funny because she’s funny – not because she’s the butt of tired, hurtful jokes.  I cannot say how much I appreciate that.  What’s more, she’s confident.  She’s even in a pole dancing class:  “I have to stay nimble!  How do you think I had three kids in three years?”  Yeah, Clara sums it up better than I can.  I wish more movies and TV shows would take a hint from The Guild and not use overweight characters for cheap laughs.  Yes, being overweight is bad for your health (although everyone’s ideal weight is different), but overweight people are still people.  Let’s treat them as such, yes?

Reason 6:  Incredible, quoteable one-liners.  I could post pages and pages of some of The Guild’s great quotes, but you could also watch the show.  One of my personal favorites is when Vork yells “Aneurism!” because I really say things like that when something irritates me.  Here’s my favorite quote from season one:

“You can’t be confident and bald?” – Codex
“Um, your scalp is out all the time.” – Clara

And that’s why I love The Guild.  In over 1000 words.  Apparently I like this show a lot more than I thought I did.  Seriously, you should watch it.  If you don’t, I will be very disappointed.  If you’ve already watched it, did you like it?  Do you agree with my reasons above?

You can watch The Guild on its official website here or on YouTube here.  Amazon also has the first five seasons for sale.  Here are some links for you: Seasons 1 & 2, Season 3, Season 4, Season 5.

*Luckily there are some Guild comics that might help with that!  I haven’t read them yet so I can’t say if they’re any good.  I plan to get them whenever my finances allow, but that might take awhile.  In any case, a “season 0″ of The Guild sounds pretty awesome.  Have you read them?  Are they good?

Multiple Choice Coffee Mug by WildBlueYoshi
View Coffee Mugs online at zazzle

By the way, Mother’s Day is coming up.  Something tells me your mom may be the same type of morning person I am – which, again, means not a morning person at all.  She might also be as mean and cranky in the morning as I am.  If so, BAM.  You are set for Mother’s Day.  Don’t be a cheapskate.  Get your mama the gift that keeps on giving:  a coffee mug that reminds everyone around her that she’s mean as a badger in the mornings.

One page, from purlbee.com, helped me a lot when I was making a crap ton of Christmas gifts a few months back.  The biggest issue I had with yarn tails was on a ribbed scarf I made for my stepmom.  I knit it with two strands of yarn held together using a straightforward knit one, purl one pattern.  Very simple, very easy.  Until, that is, I had to finish the dang thing.  Because I used two strands of yarn held together, I had two tails to weave in on both ends of the scarf.  In the end, I had to bring in the big guns by begging for help on Facebook.  My lovely Marcy came through with that guide from the Purl Bee and saved Christmas!  Here’s the link again:  “Weaving in Your Ends” on www.purlbee.com.

The other time I needed lots of help was on my mom’s striped purse.  Lots of stripes = lots of annoying yarn tails to sew in at the end of your project.  Enter kitty.com’s tutorial to save the day!  I sewed the yarn tails into the reverse stockinette and garter stitch sections of the purse.  The final effect was really nice and smooth.  It was noticeable, but only if you were really looking for it.  For a non-knitter like Mama, it was no big deal.  Again, here’s the link:  “Techniques with Theresa” – guide for weaving in knitted yarn tails on knitty.com.

Some knitters use crochet hooks to weave in yarn tails, but I don’t know how to do that yet.  I’ll try to sniff out a good tutorial and post the link here.  In the meantime, if you know of a good online guide or have some suggestions yourself for using a crochet hook to weave in yarn tails, let me know in the comments please!  I can reward you with adorable pictures of my kitty cats.  (If you don’t like cat pictures, why are you on the internet to begin with?)

Now I’ve got to find a good tutorial for weaving in yarn tails in lacy knitted projects.  I’m making this gorgeous shawl (with different yarn than what the project calls for), but I’ll have at least six yarn tails to weave in when I’m finished.  In fact, I’ll probably have eight tails.  Is there any way I could just incorporate the tails into the fringe?  Looks like I’ve got some internet sleuthing to do.  Google, here I come!

That’s all well and good, but back in the day, I didn’t want to bother with signing up for yet another website.  One more username to remember, one more password to forget.  But then my friend Marcy (the awesome one who gave me a copy of I Am Alive) started pushing me to get a Ravelry account, I guess because I kept asking her for knitting advice.  She probably wanted to pee in my Cheerios or punch me in my stupid face for bugging her all the time, but making me get a Ravelry account didn’t require her to travel across the country.  So I got one.  I’m so thankful she didn’t pee in my Cheerios, or in my fancy natural brand version of Cheerios, because I love that cereal so much that I don’t think I’d notice if it tasted a little pissy.  Or did she?  It’s not as if I could tell!

One year later, on my Ravelry birthday, I’ve done almost nothing with my account.  That’s a real shame, since it seems like such a lovely and helpful community.  Besides having access to patterns and forums and millions of fellow crafters, I can keep track of my knitting needles, crochet hooks, and that too-big-yet-still-inadequate yarn stash.  And thus, I hereby vow to be more active on Ravelry!  Now go friend me.  (Or I’ll pee in your Cheerios.)

Fun fact:  my Ravelry account shares a birthday with Tasuki from the cheesy and wonderfully bad anime Fushigi Yuugi!  He’s one of my favorite anime/manga characters and I, as a normal and well-adjusted teenager, called him my anime husband.  (Normal people do that, right?)  So, this tiny and stupid thing makes me happy.

This turned out sounding like one big advertisement for Ravelry.  That wasn’t my intention.  Oh, well.  I’m not rewriting it.  I got stuff to do, homie.  Such as:  telling you why I’ve been a flaky blogger!  (The bit where I tell you stuff is beyond the mystical jump.)

1)  Tennis elbow.  I think it’s mostly gone, but I’m scared to make it flare up again.  The simple act of holding my arms out to type can make my elbow hurt, so using the computer gets dicey after awhile.  I hurt my elbow from crocheting for hours on end every day – cuz that afghan is awesome! – after writing and surfing the net all morning.  I haven’t knitted or crocheted in nearly three weeks in an effort to heal my little repetitive stress injury (or whatever it is).  The only problem is that idle hands don’t agree with me.  Translation:  I’m going mother-effin crazy over here, all thanks to a moody elbow.

2)  Depression.  It’s been flaring up right alongside the tennis elbow and pushing me into a nasty bout of the blues.  While it would be awesome to blame them on each other and bulldog my way into medical textbooks, we all know that no one would publish that.  Why?  Because it’s total crap.  (Also, it’s dumb.)  The depression happened because it likes to ruin my life.  End of story.

I’m working on myself and trying to push through those low moments, but it’s difficult lately.  My depression acts like an internal negativity coach who constantly yells at me and tells me that I suck.  Writing a blog post?  “You suck!  Read stuff by real writers instead!”  Getting up in the morning?  “Lay back down!  No one wants you around!”  Going for a run?  “Not today, missy!  Sit on the floor and cry while I tell you how fat and stupid and worthless you are!  By the way, nobody loves you!”  Seriously… Depression is a dick.  Luckily things like this are on the internet to help me realize that there’s nothing wrong with me outside of the fact that depression is a dick.

On to happy thoughts!

3)  Gardening season!  I will haul dirt around and get my tomatoes and marigolds planted no matter how much it hurts my elbow.  It takes time away from writing, but I desperately want fresh tomatoes this summer.  The sunshine is good for my mood, too, so there’s that.

4)  I’m playing for a wedding this weekend.  I have had to spend extra time at the piano in preparation.  Who knew that Pachelbel’s Canon in D could be so difficult when you have to perform it with another musician?  That eats into my writing time and irritates my tennis elbow.  It’s like a win-win, except the opposite.  At least I’ll be getting paid.  Or else.

5)  I’m training for a 5K.  Except that doesn’t really take that much time.  Including my (and Hubbles’) warm-up and walk home, my three weekly runs only last an hour.  Honestly I just wanted to brag.  I can consistently run 3.5 miles without stopping.  That is a huge deal for me.  Yeah, yeah, some people run marathons, but damn it, Katy Bug is going to run a 5K and that is awesome.  I’m not a fast runner and will probably be one of the last people to cross the finish line, but mark my words – I will cross that finish line.  While it sucks that Hubbles hurt his ankle and might not be able to run the 5K with me, I’m determined to run it.  Hooah!

This post was not organized well and I sound even crazier than before.  Who knew that was possible?  Whatever.  Life goes on.  Hopefully I’ll get around to posting my thoughts on the fabulous BattleBlock Theater soon.  That game is stupidly fun.  “Clench your butt, this isn’t gonna be good!”  Except that it is gonna be way good.

Ibsen kitty says "Tell me moar, hooman slave."

I was watching today’s live episode of The Destructoid Show as part of my usual Friday evening routine.  I’ve been watching the Dtoid Show for a couple of years, and it’s become my favorite way to consume GAME NEWZ.  After I type silly words here all morning, it’s simply easier (and more fun) to watch two adorable people talk about interesting stuff than it is to read about the interesting stuff.  Plus they make me giggle.  Another plus – when I spout random quotes from the show to Hubbles, he gets all confused.  Third plus – they give out free games.

Tonight, I tweeted at them that I was watching the live show for a chance to win a free game on Steam (though I got a mite bit confused).  AND THEY GAVE ME A FREE GAME.  I won a copy of Dungeon Defenders on Steam and Tara Long said my name.  Today is a good day.

Because I enjoy the Dtoid Show so much, I have wanted to send them a game that they could turn around and give to one of their viewers for quite some time.  Now I really want to give them something.  Question is, what game should I send them?  And… how do I do this?  I love video games, but I am not a technologically savvy person.  Derp.

But do not fear, dear reader!  I will lightly edit the spam comments before approving them.  That way you’ll know for sure that you are reading a spam comment and won’t feel obligated to reply or to take the comment seriously.  Oh, look.  I have a perfect example to ease your mind.  I edited this comment on Hubbles’ post, Four in February Fortnight Fairy-Tale:

I hope that this policy change will be sufficient.