(no subject)

So a while ago ragdoll posted what looked like a fun meme, and I think a few other ppl have posted it since then.

Go to eLouai's DollMaker. Make a doll of yourself, trying to stay as close to what you really look like. Then, make another. MarySue!You. Extra points for wings.

It took me a while to get around to this, because I've been busy pretty much since the meme was posted, and it can take a while to sort through all the options on CandyBar to find features like yours and clothes that look somewhat like what you wear. Also, I had one big problem here: I don't generally write fanfic, and when I write I-actually-OWN-this-thanks fiction, I go out of my way not to make MarySues... I suppose every character is a little bit me, but I'm conscious to not insert "myself" in the story. So the second doll is the main character from something I've worked on for a while, or at least as much like her as it's possible to do with that program.

medoll, originally uploaded by verbminx.

( and now for a brunette. )

today's adventure.

So, I was up in my room napping a few hours ago, and I was awakened by a particularly loud thunderclap. I used to live in the state with the most thunderstorms per year (something like 100). There was often loud thunder, but rarely loud enough to shock me awake. Since I moved to Ohio, and especially this summer, the thunder has been loud enough to jolt me out of sleep on a regular basis, maybe once every few weeks: I think it may have something to do with the fact that I sleep on the second storey now. The Florida house was a one-floor ranch.* Is thunder a little louder if you're up a little higher?

I came downstairs to check on my pets, who are usually pretty alarmed by thunder. The storm had ended. I took Arwen outside to do her business, and as soon as I stepped into the courtyard I noticed something wasn't right. It didn't take long to realize that the patio umbrella had vanished.

So I got dressed, grabbed my keys and a bottle of water, tried not to panic, and left the house, with no idea where it had gone. I had visions of "HAVE YOU SEEN MY UMBRELLA? LOST SATURDAY AUG 20 DURING AFTERNOON STORM..." flyers that I would have to put out tomorrow, on the possibility that someone in a neighboring building had picked it up. But I was lucky... after a walk around the house, I quickly found it on the little lawn area that separates my building from the one to the south of it. It was slightly dirty and damaged, but at least not ruined.

I hauled it up to the gate, then realized the gate was locked. Propped it against the fence, went back around to the front door, came out the back door through the courtyard, unlocked the fence, and then had a hell of a time getting the umbrella back into its table and base. But it's home now, and that's enough adventure for me for one rainy summer day.

* I realize that "ranch" implies "one-floor", but there are split-level ranches, and in those places the bedrooms are often in the upper section.