I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas! If you know me then you know that I’m not a religious person and identify myself as an Atheist/Agnostic. But I did have a Christian upbringing and attended private Catholic schools growing up, so I do say “Merry Christmas” and celebrate this religious holiday, with all that entails! As long as we’re all celebrating Peace on Earth, who cares if I’m the biggest hypocrite on it, right? *L*

I ordered both sets of Team Fortress 2 Christmas cards from the Valve Store and framed my favorites in a collage. I only intended to hang them during the holidays, but even after all our Christmas decorations have been packed away, I still have these on my wall. I just love them too much to take down and pack away for another year. They make me giggle whenever I look at them, whatever the season!

Thanks to everyone who sent me gifts, either IRL or on Steam. I will probably be spending 2010 playing all of them. *L* BTW, I don’t give gifts with an expectation of reciprocation. If you received a gift from me then don’t stress about returning the favor. I only wish I could have given out more during that crazy sale on Steam.

Poupee Girl is having its annual New Year’s event. This will mark two years of regular and continuous use of the site for me (one Snapshot every day) and quite frankly, I can’t believe it! I thought that I would have grown bored of playing with what amounts to vectorized kamikisekaeningyou (紙着せ替え人形) by now. But the cute doll clothing designs and the upload of real fashion items by other girls continues to keep me interested enough to login every day — even if it does make me feel a bit childish! =X

Poupee as a service has really grown and improved a lot since I first started using it two years ago. There is much more English language support, site navigation is easier, and there are more payment options for foreign users (who now outnumber the Japanese users that the site was originally directed towards). Poupee Girl is definitely making a lot of money from the Jewel system, if not all of its recent site advertisements and Dress Up item endorsements. I wish there was a way to invest in Pupe or Ameba.jp stocks, because they certainly would have outperformed my Sony and Toyota stocks this fiscal year! ww

Speaking of fashion, I got some cool stuff for Christmas that I plan to post in my next diary update, including some new Hunter wellies that I bought for myself and a wicked-looking Berserk necklace that I received from JoHny. I can’t wait to post the necklace — it is totally “JoHny style” cool and I love, love, LOVE Berserk!!

I hope that everyone had a Happy Halloween! I spent mine watching zombie movies and playing L4D2.

Interestingly enough, I was actually invited to a Halloween party by an old gal pal of mine who I haven’t seen since HS. She recognized that the party was being held at a house on the same street as mine and was considerate enough to give me a call. What she didn’t know (and I didn’t tell her) is that I’ve called the cops on that house 8x since it came under new ownership. The residents often throw very loud and obnoxious parties with lots of people, who will sometimes cross over our property line. Once I discovered that it was the same house, I declined the invitation, because showing up would have been really awkward. =X

Valve upset me with their delays on Borderlands and the L4D2 demo, but their new Harvest Event map on TF2 made up for it and then some! I can’t explain why I love this event so much. The Thriller taunts? The Ghost that scares people? The new Achievements? The free Hats? I suppose that getting any kind of seasonal event like this for TF2 is something special; so it feels like Valve really outdid themselves by adding so much stuff. If I’m not playing Borderlands or the L4D2 Demo, I’m usually playing 24/7 servers of Event Harvest. Seeing people run away from the ghost while yelling “YIKES!” never gets old — or stops being cute!

I really love the Gift RTD (Roll The Dice) Mod. If a player dies, there is a chance that they will drop a Gift, and picking it up can give you a unique status effect or item. The first time that I played Harvest Event, it was on a server running this mod, and I was confused as to how I managed to spawn a Sentry Gun as a Scout! *L* I think that my favorite effects/items to get while playing on Harvest Event are Running Shoes, Nostalgia, and Darkness, because they fit the theme of the map and look really cool with its lighting.

Lookie what I found! Woohoo~!!
I would have preferred the Engie’s Cowboy Hat though, since I’m a Cali cowgirl. =PpP

The Oncidium (Sherry Baby) that I purchased back in October 2008 developed its first blooms earlier this week. It only bloomed once this year, so I’ve been taking advantage of every opportunity to display it. I usually move it to some area of the house in the morning and put it back in my bathroom at night, since I keep overhead lights running in there to get the most out of photosynthesis for my plants. My Grandma remarked that I should just buy a fake orchid for my room instead of going to all of this trouble, but part of the appreciation that I have for my orchids comes from growing them. =P I also don’t consider moving a plant twice a day to be that big of an inconvenience when it is for my own enjoyment. Now that I write it all out though, it does sound a little… OCD. =X I suppose that I am a rather strange person!

I went to the Main Street Mercantile with my Mom this weekend because she wanted to buy a lamp. While we were there I saw this adorable Tea For One set (still new) marked down to $15. Basically I used to have a thing for collecting teapots and tea sets, but stopped because they reminded me of my ex (not in a bad way). So, I was indecisive about buying it and finally decided that I shouldn’t get into the habit of buying things when accompanying my Mom on her own shopping trips anyways. But when we met up at the register, there it was! My Mom had noticed me eyeing it and decided to buy it for me. *L* She’s so perceptive. =P

I actually like the convenience of it a lot, since I usually brew tea by the cup. Now I brew enough for the teapot and just keep it in my room. It also encouraged me to do some knitting and have fun with potholder patterns. Here are the ones I’m using now — what do you think? The only drawback is that the yarn wasn’t as thick as I would have liked, so I end up using two of the potholders instead of one just to be safe.

So this is what my TF2 backpack looks like following Valve’s nerf. I couldn’t play TF2 for two days because they deleted all of the weapons that I had earned through Milestones/Achievements and didn’t restore them until today. I don’t mind losing the items, but I really hate how Valve has treated and divided the community over this. I vented my thoughts about it like hundreds of other people over on the Steam Powered Forums.

I filed my bond at the courthouse today and took my oath, so I’m now an official Notary Public of the State of California! Yayyy! Well, once I get my stamps and stuff from the National Notary Association anyways. I wish that everything had arrived at the same time so that I could have gotten a picture of it all together. Unfortunately, it is the law for me to keep this stuff locked up unless I am using it for notarial acts, so I only have one opportunity to have it out to admire/photograph (when it first arrives in the mail). I won’t know what my seal looks like for example until I notarize something for the first time. I’m so excited! XD

I can’t believe how much you have to go through just to become a notary in this state. I had to get my picture taken for a passport (international identification), get every digit on both hands (including part of my right palm…?) fingerprinted, undergo a state and FBI background check (filling out paperwork to go along with it), sit through a six hour course centered around ethics, and then pass a test based upon that lecture which ranged from the ambiguous to the convoluted. All of this within the same hectic day, just to have the privilege of charging $10 for my signature. =P LOL! Oh, well. I hope that my Dad will appreciate my going to all of this trouble just to notarize his DPAs and other stuff now that he is practicing law again. I love my Daddy~<3

Doesn’t this heart keychain look so cute and girly?! I was surprised to see an official Lexus product that was feminine for once, so I had to have it. *L* What I love more than the heart shape is the contrast between faceted crystal and solid silver. Something about that duality (delicate yet strong) really resonates with my attitude these days. I like the weight of the charm too, since it keeps everything from jingling around too much when I clip it to my purse or jeans. Why don’t I have any other keys on it? Because I can get in and out of my house with just this key and the buttons on it, plus a password. I couldn’t do that before having a Lexus, so I really enjoy the convenience and freedom of only having to worry about one key these days!

BTW, could you tell that I got new bedsheets? They’re called “French Twist” and I’ve wanted them since March. I bought them while they were marked down 40% during the Delia*s Memorial Day Sale and paid $17 altogether for the sheet set plus four pillowcase covers — WOW! Originally it would have cost $106. =P

Even though I’m still getting random crashes in Fallout 3, I’ve managed to play a little bit of Operation Anchorage. The premise is similar to Tranquility Lane: BoS Outcasts have uncovered an underground military training facility, but the only way to unlock its forgotten Tech is to interface with a VR simulation. That simulation is a reenactment of the events leading up to the liberation of Anchorage from the Red Chinese in 2076 (201 years prior to the events of Fallout 3). So, while it is a simulation, it is still the closest thing to going back in time in the Fallout universe. I don’t know how people can describe it as “just another Tranquility Lane glorified as an expansion,” because I’ve been too absorbed in the new story, new sidequests, new skins, and new environment to notice any similarities between the two. I really like the whole Cold War atmosphere too. The 1950′s anti-Communist, Liberty Prime-esque rhetoric always gets a laugh out of me. =P

I just started “Paving the Way,” so I haven’t progressed very far in the expansion yet, but I did obtain the Gauss Rifle! I was confused the first few times that I used it. I would have an opponent centered in my sights, yet somehow manage to miss the shot even at close range. I did what I do IRL and tried to compensate for bullet drop/windage. *L* Sure enough, I found that aiming a little above the head and to the right landed a headshot. I wonder if that was intentional on Bethesda’s part, or if it is just a bad bug? I’m all for heightened realism, but I’m so lazy that I just end up cheating by using VATS with my Gauss Rifle instead.

The picture on the right is just something funny that reminded me of Team Fortress 2. There have always been little coincidental things in Fallout 3 that reminded me of TF2, like the Medic’s Bonesaw, but the briefcases glowing red and actually being called Intel? That’s just going too far! *L*

Since I mentioned TF2, I also have to mention that I found a Batter’s Helmet last month! Woohoo!!

I was surprised to get my TF2 shirts on Friday, which was much sooner than I had expected and very nice considering the complimentary shipping (I didn’t have to pay California’s outrageous 8.25% sales tax either, despite both shirts being manufactured and shipped from LA). I have to be honest though: I wasn’t impressed by the print image quality. Even though Valve went with 20-gauge weave for the shirts (which is great for print transfer), it looks as though they used the bare minimum in print/color quality to reduce their manufacturing costs. Dithering is noticeable on the Spy print and worst on the Sniper print, where it adds a tacky dot effect to his teeth and other details. At $20 per shirt I’m still scratching my head wondering what I paid for in terms of quality. I was expecting Threadless print quality at that price and instead got something below shirt.woot! print standards. The artwork is so awesome too, so it is regrettable to me that Valve didn’t do it more justice. Or maybe they did this intentionally, thinking that it gave the artwork a more “rugged” and manly look? I don’t really understand men’s fashion after all! Speaking of which, even if they were tailored with guys in mind, both shirts are an incredibly huge fit (I bought the smallest size).

Being a girl though, I’m a bit of a clothing snob. I doubt that most guys care about things like the art print quality of a shirt (and baggy is probably a plus). *L* I will say that one thing I wasn’t disappointed with was the material and weave, which is 100% combed cotton and very soft. So, I might get out my sewing machine and resize them… or just give them to someone who will better appreciate them. =P

If you haven’t noticed already, I updated the Poupee Girl widget on the top of my diary to include my new Twitpic feed. TBH, I’ve always resented Twitter’s popularity and thought of it as the “ADD version” of online journals (which I refuse to refer to as “blogs”). But after seeing Ethabella’s Twitpic, I was surprised to discover that you can actually post and host high quality images to Twitter. I use my camera daily, but I only post 1% of the pictures to my diary and I’m too lazy to setup an online gallery for the rest. Posting the images in real time to Twitter just seemed like such a fun and convenient concept. I intend to only use Twitter for posting random pictures on Twitpic though, rather than keeping daily stalkerish updates about my life. =X

Six months after purchasing Fallout 3 Downloadable Content on Games for Windows Live, I’m finally able to download and install it. I’ll have to write more about my whole ordeal with M$ later, but for now I’m just happy to finally have access to the DLC that I paid for (Operation Anchorage, The Pitt, Broken Steel) and was being denied due to typical M$ ineptitude. I am NEVER purchasing DLC on GFWL ever again if I can help it. Ugh!