Difference between revisions of "Ubernerd's All-Purpose Wish List"

Revision as of 13:24, 5 December 2009

Since several people have asked, my birthday is June 22.

You know what I want more than anything in terms of "stuff"? I want to spend time with my friends. So rather than getting me anything from the list below, I would ask that the money just go towards plane tickets to and from Boston, or to and from SF so I can fly out and see everyone.

Just Stuff

Seriously Wishful Thinking

• For all my friends to come and visit me whenever they can :)

• More time

• A non-shitty immune system

Wishful Thinking

• An honest-to-god nonstick baking pan. That stuff doesn't stick to. Really. I have 2 of them that both claimed to be "nonstick." They LIED.

• Adjustable shorty brake and clutch levers for my bike (link coming)

• Replacement fuel injector for the bike... the one I've got is elderly and incontinent, and about to shit the bed.

Now that you've read all the impossible stuff, here's the do-able stuff

• The cheapest non-Apple mp3 player I could find. Yes, it's only 2GB. I don't want anything fancy, I don't want video... nothing but just a wee bit of music. Why? Well, I just discovered that Southwest Airlines doesn't equip their planes with any kind of headphone jack, which means I'm always stuck on my flights listening to white noise and I don't want to bust out the laptop just to listen to some music.

• A GPS that speaks in a soothing tone (like Peter Heppner's voice) for when I'm navigating through ass-tastic locations downtown where there are too many one-way streets going the wrong way.

• Truly Victorian's Late 1880's Winter Coat Pattern

• "More bling". No really, it was sad when I discovered that Tom owns more jewelry than I ever have (then again, he is Italian...). I love things made out of metal and intricate pieces of chainmaille. I'm also desperately allergic to Ni and (most) Sterling Silver (sadly, this might make things real difficult for Zahnnie and other home-made jewelry-makers out there, unless they're willing to work in steel, white gold, or something else that's hypoallergenic).

• Custom fire fans from Eliza Blaze :)

• An easel-in-a-box (1. Cut a hole in the box...). Something compact and easy to store, like this, though I would love the the Cadillac of all easels

• A free-standing duct-tape dressmaker's form made from my measurements.

• Some bar-ware, for the bar. I have a sex-ay decanter from Steph, and Tom bought me the world's fanciest bottle opener and a wine fridge. The glassware I have so far is square-themed (the shape, not the video game company), so I'd like to keep with that where possible. Currently MIA (and in vague order of preference) are: champagne flutes, shot glasses, a cocktail pitcher, snifters, a couple silly pretentious-looking cordial glasses for good measure (every self-respecting bar has them), margarita glasses.

• Zoolander, special education edition :)

• Fo' shizzle - I went to Barnes and Noble on my sanity break, and I found some books, yo:
  • Asian Faces. Okay, I'm always looking for how-to books and always too cheap to sink the money into buying them. And this one's awesome because it has makeup tips for people like me who can blindfold themselves with dental floss. Plus, I mean, Yoko Ono. Can't lose with this one!
  • Knitting: Lingerie Style. This book was too interesting to not read.
  • Singaporean Cookbook from the Wei-Chuan School. See below about laksa paste and how I can't get enough of it. This book has all kinds of foods that I also can't get enough of. Avocado smoothie... mmmmmmm. Actually, any book from the Wei-Chuan cooking school is pretty awesome. They have a badass dim sum book too.
  • Pei Mei Cookbook vol. 1.
  • 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes.
  • The Fug Awards - the gofugyourself.com book about fashion disasters.

• Sexy Music - an ongoing list of CDs I will someday add to my collection (and why yes, you are correct - 2/3 of this list IS German industrial):
  • Covenant - Northern Lights
  • Covenant - In Transit (Live)
  • VNV Nation - Futureperfect
  • And One - Bodypop
  • Beborn Beton - The Best of Beborn Beton: Tales From Another World
  • Wolfsheim - Find You're Here
  • Wolfsheim - Kein Zuruck
  • Iris - Disconnect
  • Iris - Annie Would I Lie To You
  • Delerium - Chimera
  • Depeche Mode - Violator
  • Depeche Mode - Black Celebration
  • Cruxshadows - Dreamcypher ("Dear Tom, Happy Valentine's Day XOXO Rogue <3 <3 <3")
  • Leaves' Eyes - Vinland Saga
  • JEM - Finally Woken
  • De/Vision - NOOB
  • Death Cab for Cutie - Plans
  • Funker Vogt - Navigator
  • Melotron - Sternenstaub (LOVE!!! They come so close to touching that same deep love I have for Wolfsheim. Oh, sexy German mensch)
  • Within Temptation - The Silent Force
  • E Nomine - Das Testament (Special Edition)

When in doubt, I will always appreciate the following consumables

• Southwest Airlines Gift Cards. Southwest just opened up in Logan! Hooray! See you all soon!

• White gas for burnination (available in 1 gallon containers at the hardware store)

• Ultrapure Lamp Oil (also available at the hardware store)

• 1.5" Kevlar wick with PSA backing (available by the foot @flammaaeterna.com)

• Singapore Laksa Paste packets. I can never have enough of this shit, it's so good.

• Gift certificates from Bare Necessities or Bravissimo - it'd be awful nice to have more than 2 well-fitted bras these days. Odd sizes just do not come cheap.

• Anything off the Good Ol' Booze List will do no wrong

The Payloads of Sweet Sweet Lovin' that I've received

• A frame-able poster-sized print of this image of Tim Gunn superimposed over Iron Man for my workshop. It speaks to me in ways that posters and prints never have before. I love it so much - two of my favorite superheroes, together in an image that I never thought possible. - OMG Thank you Hilary! Now I have an original copy of the comic book!

• Wheels on Meals, a quality film about Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung running a roach coach in Spain. - Watched it once and got it out of my system...

• Chinese Beginner Level 3 classes at the CCAE - No longer near Boston, alas.

• A kickass EE job for Matthew in the Boston area - Thank you RMS, for an even better birthday present... a kickass job for ME! Now THAT is a payload of sweet sweet lovin'.

• Worlds of Amano. I love his work. I also like that some of his finer pieces of work are from a series entitled "The Chronicles of Arslan." Heh heh. Arslan. - Thank you Cat and George! I love it so!

• Super Pii Pii Brothers for the Wii. Seriously, words cannot describe how much I want this game. I don't even own a Wii and I would buy one just so I could play it and live out my dream of peeing standing up. My favorite part of the description is "spray a cat for extra points." - Damnit. That was an April Fool's joke. What a disappointment. I would have spent money on that game too.

• Spiral Light collapsible practice hoop - metallic orange and yellow, size Medium, Dance weight, with added "Mobius" travel feature.

• Eventually, a Supernova LED hoop - haven't decided what colors I want yet. I'd like to pick up a few more hooping tricks with the practice hoop first before moving on up to an LED hoop. If nothing else that will help me determine my desired hoop diameter. Or a Fire Hoop with Moonblaze wicks.

• Okay, that's it. I guess you can't fight fate. The more I think about it, the more I kind of like the giant cupcake/turd cake pan from Williams-Sonoma. Coordinate, though people! I think that at least 3 people that I pointed that shape out to have been like "oh I'm gonna get that for Kim because she loves baking cakes AND it's also unfortunate-looking turd paraphernalia". Max already seems to be plotting so I feel like I need to beware of putting this thing up on a wishlist since there is a distinct possibility that you all will turn this holiday season into a very Mr. Hanky Christmas. - Now currently a proud co-owner of the poop-cake pan of birthday delight. Thanks Z!

• CakeLove. Because I love cake. In that way. And I don't make cakes from boxes (the Krapp is the only exception). - Thank you George and Cat!

• South Park: The Movie on DVD. - Thanks Nick!

• Dynamite Warrior, a quality Western film in which Muay Thai fighters kick people in the face. - rented! Thank you Netflix.

• I have an idea. It's a really good idea. After spending a whole hour doing materials geeking with Ike (who LOVES safety clothes!), I have determined that I need this blanket in order to take over the world. CarbonX is the shit (and I have the opinion of a real-life materials scientist to prove it!). Hell, get me TWO blankets and if I don't need the second one for my GREAT IDEA I'll use it as a spare around the house (Ike has one, and I want to be cool like him too!) - obtained!

• Oh man, I really want a pandan cake for my birthday. Or even better, a pandan cream roll. Or for maximum pleasure overload, a pandan kaya cake. I've been CRAVING Singaporean foods lately and I haven't had anything from the Bengawan Solo bakery since my mother sent me that delicious kueh in the freezer box. Which reminds me... I think I'm going to go have some of that now. - Thanks to the Nonya Kueh recipe repository, I had me a pandan cake

• A Fire Mop! Hot, people. Like, the hottest janitor in the world, hot. I would totally make myself a nomex janitor suit a la Groundskeeper Willy if I had me a fire mop. - Refocusing my fire performance toy priorities. I think I'll live without a fire mop for now :)

• Those $20 or $30 bookshelves from Target are always welcome in my house. I prefer "mahogany" or "black," though I do have one in the "maple" color sitting in my living room, as it was the only one available at the time, so I purchased it even though the color looks like ass. | Hey screw you punk! I have the maple one in my bedroom and I like it! :) -Zahnnie 08:54, 3 August 2007 (EST) | Well, maple totally clashes with that foul blue shag carpet that came installed in my bedroom, so there! :) --Ubernerd 13:12, 3 August 2007 (EST) | Lulz. Shag. -Aurora 14:24, 3 August 2007 (EST) - I think I've got enough storage solutions for now.

• This lovely and modestly-priced screen from Hosanyi at the Galleria to finally make my newly re-done bedroom complete! Either black or rosewood colored (rosewood matches the rest of the furniture in my room, but isn't listed all the time on the website so it's one of those things that you need to ask Sam, the nice asian guy who owns the store, if he has any) - Hooray! Thanks to ardonite & vorsaga for facilitating my acquisition of FREE HAND-ME-DOWNS:)

• My own atelier and couture line - Hey, it's not much in terms of an atelier, but my bedroom/studio's good enough for now. And my goth/clubwear line will be called the Black Market... website coming soon.

• A tasteful CD/DVD tower rack (to organize the explosion of video games and DVDs underneath my TV). - DVDs moved out with the housemate. Hooray, there's no more mess!

• MoonBlaze Fire Poi Heads in 1/8" K2, size L, standard swivel option. Or, enough of the 1/8" K2 tape wick to make myself a pair. - An extra-large present to myself... :)

• A Tom patch (fixes small known neatness bugs) - Well, I sure patched *that* one, didn't I?

• A quality ironing board. I'm not picky about size. I just want to stop using towels laid out on a hardwood floor to iron my clothes and sewing projects. - Hooray for the hippies again! Or, at least their BBB discount certificates which keep getting mis-delivered to my door.

• shot glasses - YAY UTTER CHAOS IS AWESOME!

• A queen-sized down comforter, either in black, dark blue, or burgundy - cuz two people sharing a twin-size comforter = imminent kickage and turf wars over the blanket. - Hooray for Mom and the big sale going on at Ikea!

• An R3 (actually, any Roomba from the 500 series would be awesome). Cockfoster, my Scooba/butler, needs a cute little french maid companion to do a dry run of all the floors before he mops, otherwise he seems to smear everything around in a most unpleasant fashion. As with Cockfoster, I just don't want to pay for a Roomba out of principle, so if someone wants to get me one, they should email me first and I'll get them the super-discount code. - Heh heh... merry christmas iRobot. Thanks for accidentally sending me 2 of everything that I orderd for xmas this year.

• Truly Victorian's Tailcoat Pattern - Hooray for Mom!

• Truly Victorian's Butterfly Skirt Pattern - Hooray for Mom again!

• Truly Victorian's Bell Skirt Pattern - Hooray for Mom one more time!

• Truly Victorian's Four-Gore Underskirt Pattern - Hooray! My Mom is my fairy goth-mother!

• A kitchen-island prep bar-thing. Something like this. - Somehow, I turned around and left the house for a while and my shit-stacking glass table magically transformed into a kitchen island. I think I might need to just go away on vacation more often, just to see if my bedroom transforms into a design studio when I get back. (P.S. Thanks Tom for giving my kitchen the Queer Eye makeover! ... though seriously, WTF are you doing with so much hidden knowledge of interior decorating? HmmmMMMMmmmmm)

• Bar stools to match The Bar - Meh, I changed my mind, you cretins can stand while you raid my liquor stash.

• Black Joe Rocket "Trixie" Jacket. Medium. - I think I'm all set on riding gear for now... besides, there's other shit I need more than a new jacket.

• Fully-working or refurbished industrial-grade old-school leather-capable Pfaff (the older the better since back in the day they still used metal gears and none of that plastic crap). - Ohhh my god. I just bought the most awesome old-school industrial grade whoop ass dispenser. It's an old old industrial Singer with the motor attached to the table and an actual belt drive train. And it does harness-grade leather *spooge*

• 3 yards white sandwashed silk charmeuse. - And now it is the world's loveliest, most stain-attracting skirt

• A rolling pin. Really, I can live without one, but boy it sure looks ghetto when someone catches you making a pie and you're using a saran-wrapped roll of contact paper left over from your landlord's remodeling kit to press out the dough. - Tom loves me... and his cheap Italian imported goods store in Davis

• A nice blender for smoothies and daquiris. Metal gearing, glass pitcher, ice-crushing capabilities. Either red or brushed metal finish if possible to match the other appliances, but I'm not as picky about the appearance as I am about functionality. - I bought a blender with the BBB coupon I stole from those annoying-ass hippies that live in the house next door

• A Scooba 5800. Okay yeah, I know it's pathetic, but I just don't want to buy one. 2 years at the company and I'm still holding out for a freebie. I know I get a major discount, but I'm not buying, purely on principle. But if you want to buy me one, I'll send you the discount code, it's like 40% off retail price. - HOORAY FOR ASIAN CHEAPNESS! It only took me 2 years and 3 months to finally get a freebie! Thanks to finally being on the ball with email quick-draw, I now get to participate in a Scooba study where I can keep the toy. And it's a mega-Scooba too!

• Holy crap, I have a bar. It's an antique Chinese carved fold-out bar made out of solid elm, and I got it for, uh, I'd say less than 1/3 of the price that the bar I had posted up here earlier.

• This pretty pretty bracelet for my ToV character It qualifies for free shipping, and the discount code is SEPTB - Oh man. Tom got me a huuuuuge piece of amber set in silver vines... that's a piece of bling.

• For someone to take me fabric shopping so I can make this outfit for my ToV character - Oh damn, my ToV outfit is h0tt.

• A microwave (for those times when I could use an ass-tastic meal of Hot Pockets) - Yeah, the day after thanksgiving, I broke down and bought one because I got so pissed off at the fact that the one that I had just gotten for free and cleaned the shit out of crapped out after only one successful microwaving (a wet paper towel on a plate as a test to see if the bleach smell was gone).

• Lamps. Jesus christ, the one thing that my apartment did *not* come with was lights. There are about a million plugs (most of which are wired incorrectly and will blow up fuses, thus blacking out the whole house if you attempt to measure the current with a multi-meter), but no lights. So clearly the solution is lamps and surge protectors. - Yay for Caryatid, Rykilde, Zahnnie and all the other lovely ladies who pooled the cashz0rs for those two lovely lamps that now adorn my bar! Still need some surge protectors but I can probably steal those from work.

• "Coffin - The Art of Vampire Hunter D" by Yoshitaka Amano - recently discovered at the Barnes and Noble in Burlington on the gifts table in a nice gift-box set! - Yay for Barnes and Noble gift certificates!

• 5 piece dining set. The one I was thinking of buying is here, since it matches the latticework on my Bob's Busted Furniture coffee and end-table set. But basically, I'm looking for a reasonable looking dining table where I can host nice dinners. - Yay for uber-sales at JC Penney!

Ubernerd Goes Domestic!

Okay. It's about time I got my ass into gear and turned the apartment into the Gothic Palace it was meant to be. This section's my brain-dump so I can figure out what I want to decorate next:

The Bar

I love this room - it's going to be the showcase of the apartment because I love my bar. The theme is Victorian Hong Kong... that is to say, an exciting blend of AZN design and wrought iron candelabras that I have come to love with all my inner Goth. The color theme is black and red. And now, the bar will be a bar/dining room.

- Black or Burgundy Velvet (flat textured, not crushed velvet), enough for a voluminous looking new set of curtains. I'm envisioning maybe looking for stage curtain material - it's got that same look but it might not be as expensive.

- Black sheer fabric (also for the curtains)

- Bar stools (dark brown wood)

- A bamboo & iron fountain will go in the corner just beside the DJ alcove that Kilean has claimed for his equipment. This is where the dining table will go.

- Bob's sofa is going in this room with some AZN throw pillows. Moving it to the living room

- The Liquor Fairy series of illustrations will hang matted in frames around my bar. I've decided that the Liquor Fairy series, rather than being wholly impersonal, will be a series of illustrations featuring some of my good looking friends and their favorite liquors. Feel free to send me your name, a link to a photo of you, and a liquor of choice.

- A half-height handpainted asian curtain will be installed in the kitchen doorway. Hey look, store-bought no-ren.

- A thick black curtain will hang in the archway between the bar and the living room (this is why I'm looking into stage curtain material)

- I still have to figure out what to do with the corner of the room closest to the kitchen and the Blackberry Bathroom. Suggestions are welcome. I like swords.

The Living Room

The theme of this room is Medieval Hunting Lodge - in order to justify all the heathenous drinking we do in the company of a 12 pack of Gritty's. Now that all of the goddamn swords are gone... I can turn my living room into an indoor garden.

- The Soporific Futon is in this room (and will have fold-out capabilities once I get the screws from Nick)

- A couple sheepskins will be on the floor in front of the fireplace Freakin' expensive sheepskins...

- Bob's sofa is moving in here.

The Kitchen

Thanks to Tom's Fabuluth Interior Decorating Skillth, I'm finally tackling the kitchen. We're getting rid of the patio table since it's just piling up junk (hey Nick, you can have my patio furniture for free!). It's nice, but we've never used it for its intended purpose in the year we've had it. To be replaced with a kitchen prep island with butcher-block or wooden top. No more prep on that shitty-ass drywall-texture countertop that traps dirt and sauce.