Wandering through E-Space

"There's no point in being grownup if you can't be childish sometimes." -the 4th Doctor.

about me

My name is Romanadvoratrelundar, but the Doctor says it's too long, so you can just call me Romana.

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Outpost Gallifrey: The Doctor Who News & Information Magazine

moon phases

Darkly Dreaming Dexter
by Jeff Lindsay

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Doctor Who: Bullet Time
by David A. McIntee

American Gods
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A Great Deliverance
by Elizabeth George

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Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 10
story and art by Hiromu Arakawa

R.O.D. Read or Dream, vol. 3
stroy Hideyuki Kurata and art by Ran Ayanaga

Bleach, vol. 3
story and art by Tite Kubo

Godchild, vol. 2
story and art by Kaori Yuki

Death Note, vol. 7
story by by Tsugumi Ohba
art by Takeshi Obata

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pearl ribbed slipper-socks
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Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Big Fun...for the kid in all of us.

D.W.Q.M.: "What's wrong with being childish? I like being childish." -the Third Doctor

Before I forget, I've updated both my front porch and travel dog pages-feel free to check them out when you get the chance!

So as I'm packing a couple of vid games (Mario Party 6 and Double Dash) for my trip up north, I start mentally preparing myself for the 'why don't you bring up that Super Nintendo and leave it here?' that I'll probably get from my sister. She tries that every time I visit-even starts in on it 3 weeks before I get there. She hasn't said anything to me this trip yet, so I'm actually a little worried. She always tries to guilt trip me and it never works...maybe she's got something really good planned... ;)

My sister is a fan of the old cartridge games, just like me. I still have our old Texas Instruments computer with all the games (another thing she tries to get me to send up to her) lol. One thing we don't have, though-is our old Commadore Vic-20 computer-dunno what happened to that.

Our grandfather was the king of finding old computers at garage sales and making them playable for us-so when most kids had Nintendos (I didn't get mine until I was in college) we had the Texas Instruments and Commadore Vic-20, and had lots of fun playing them! :) I'm actually suprised we still have the TI computer-but we lost track of the Commadore. My favorite game on the Commadore was Radar Rat Race. You were a mouse that had to find all the cheese before the rats got to you-so you ran this maze, with a radar off to the side showing you where you, the cheese, and the rats were-all of this with 'Three Blind Mice' playing at high speed in the background. It was great!

Most of my friends who had Commadores had the 64, instead of the Vic-20. I don't know too many people who had the Vic-20. So yesterday I was walking past Big Fun in Coventry-I love their window displays with all the classic toys playing cards or old board games. I think Batman is the main display now-about a month ago it was Star Wars, and before that He-Man, I think...oh, wait, I digress. ;) Anyhoo, I was walking past Big Fun yesterday and stopped dead in my tracks. There, in the window, was a Commadore Vic-20!! I couldn't believe it! I started thinking about all the games we used to play...what a trip down memory lane that was! Big Fun is a great place for memories...the downside is it makes you realize how old you are becoming...aaahhh! ;)

posted by Romana1 on 10:57 PM | *

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

June Night Sky

D.W.Q.M.: Duke Juliano: "There's this man in Florence- claims that by arranging ground glasses in a certain order, it's possible to see the moon and stars as large as your hand."
Marco:"Is that a good thing?" (from the Fourth Doctor story, The Masque of Mandragora)

Today's astronomy post is brought to you by Sky and Telescope.

Happy Solstice, everybody! :)

Summer officially started at 2:46 am EDT, this morning.

Planets
June 25th-29th: Grab your binoculars! Venus, Mercury, and Saturn form a rare 3 planet cluster (a trio-3 celestial objects that fit within a 5 degree circle) low on the WNW horizon near Pollux and Castor, approximately 50 minutes after sunset. Watch how they come together from now until the 25th. :)
For more on this, and other events this week, check out this week's Sky at a glance.

I might have to skip out on this one, unless I can find another neighborhood to stargaze in-too many buildings around-don't want anyone to think I'm a peeping tom! I felt pretty weird when I tried to catch the young crescent moon earlier this month. (D'oh!) Who am I kidding? I'm going to try even if I do look weird. ;)

This day in astronomy

June 4th, 1948: Dedication of the 200 inch telescope at Palomar Mountain, California-the world's largest telescope for 2 generations.

June 24th, 1947: The term 'flying saucer' was coined when Idaho Pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing flying disks over Washington's Cascade Mountains.

June 30th, 1908: An asteroid the size of a ten story office building breaks up and explodes over Siberia with the force of a hydrogen bomb-killing many reindeer, but no humans.

Clear skies and happy viewing!

posted by Romana1 on 11:55 AM | *

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Proud Auntie, yes I am! :)

D.W.Q.M.: "There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish, sometimes." -the Fourth Doctor

The bib says it all:

She's getting so big! I can't wait to see her next month. :) :)

And Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there! :)

posted by Romana1 on 8:47 PM | *

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Doctor Who news

D.W.Q.M.: "Fantastic!" -the Ninth Doctor

Upcoming episode:
13. The Parting of the Ways -season finale this Saturday on BBC1.

If you don't like spoilers at all, I suggest that you stay away from the BBC's Doctor Who site (the link is provided for those who don't mind just a glimpse. ;)) I saw it, I didn't read any details, but all I gotta say is that it was pretty freakin'-frellin'-frackin' cool. 8-D.

According to Outpost Gallifrey, on Wednesday, June 15th, the BBC announced a third series of Doctor Who has been confirmed for 2007!!!!!! WOO-HOO! Now, if only the show would come back to the U.S. of A. *sigh*

Speaking of coming to the USA, someone in one of my lists has an interesting theory-he had just received his region 1 copy of The Leisure Hive dvd last week, and in it found a promo card with the 9th Doctor and Rose in front of the TARDIS on the front. The back was an ad from BBC America for the new 9th Doctor books. Although there wasn't any mention of them carrying the series, he found it very interesting that they were promoting the show by advertizing merchandise for it. Although BBC America continues to say they have no plans to air the new series, I'm not giving up hope just yet. ;)

Strange Doctor Who news-I found this both at Bloggity-Blog-Blog and at SciFi Daily about a missing Dalek, complete with a ransom note. Apparently they have found the missing Dalek.

WOW, you gotta love this show. ;)

posted by Romana1 on 11:42 AM | *

Monday, June 13, 2005

Marcon 40, part 2

D.W.Q.M.: "Your silliness is noted. Drive systems regenerating..." -K-9

Oh, before I get to the pics, I have a new item to add to my list of things you'll find at an Italian band procession: Car alarms set off by the fireworks. *bam!*

Also, thanks to my completely incompetent sunscreen lathering abilities, I am no longer 'alabaster white', but instead, a nice 'lobster red'. *OW!*

Okay, on with the show...

Here are a few pics from some of the displays at Marcon this year:

These pictures are of the Chaos Machine, presented by Steve Jackson (the Gaming GOH), and was located just outside the dealers room. This machine was really cool-you just drop a ball in it, and you have no idea where it would end up. Jackson also had a preview of a new Munchkin game, but I missed it. :(

This next picture is a picture of the NASA display:

Complete with a moon rock! (it's on the right of the picture-and it got a little cut off-sorry about that!) I'm hoping the pictures of the moon rock that I took with my film camera turn out better. The ones I took with my digital just show this glowing blob. ;)

It's Legoland at Marcon! This was just inside of the Dealer's room. I believe they were working on it throughout the entire con-adding bits and pieces here and there. Lots of mechanical whirlys and doo-hickies [sic], it was just as mesmorizing as the Chaos Machine outside. ;)

I also took several pictures of the 1974 replica of the Batmobile, but I forgot to upload them. D'oh!

One thing that was missing this year was the Klingon Jail-n-Bail. I was quite disappointed-no Klingons (with the help of Storm Troopers) arresting unsuspecting con goers and throwing them in jail to be laughed at. (btw, Jail-n-Bail is a charity-you pay $5 and give the Klingons the name of a friend at the con, then they track your friend down and throw them in jail for 5 minutes.) There's a whole list of trumped-up charges you can throw on your friend. It's lots of fun-especially when you see non-Trek types (like the Minbari Grey Council) in the jail. ;) Hopefully they will be back next year, because the theme for next year's Marcon is Roddenberry Universe. :)

posted by Romana1 on 11:48 AM | *

Sunday, June 12, 2005

room update

D.W.Q.M.: "I see you've done the TARDIS up a bit...I don't like it." -the Second Doctor

Dust Bunnies: 47, Romana: 100! Shazaam!!! *zzzzt!* ow! heeeey...

Not only can you still walk around in my room, but you can now sit in the living room again-horray! :)

I still have a little bit of organizing to do, but the bulk of it is finished. *whew!*

For now, though-I need to get some sleep-I have Italian Band tomorrow! Uh-oh, now where did I put my clarinet?

posted by Romana1 on 1:11 AM | *

Saturday, June 11, 2005

My room is like the TARDIS

D.W.Q.M.: "That is the dematerializing control. And that, over yonder, is the horizontal hold. Up there is the scanner, those are the doors, that is a chair with a panda on it. Sheer poetry, dear boy. Now please stop bothering me." -the First Doctor

or, "Holy crap I have alot of junk".

So today I started something that I planned to do last year...that I probably should have done long before now.

I am reorganizing and rearranging my bedroom.

For about a year, it's been an adventure everytime I try to walk around in my room. Actually, it's more like 'climb'. This is because I have been just tossing stuff in my room, and piling up boxes in the middle of it. All of the stuff that I have accumulated over the years-not just college years, but high school, junior high, even elementary school. I didn't think I had stuff that old around here. I moved most of it out of my room and into the living room, so I can rearrange my bed and a shelf.

Here are a few interesting things I have come across while cleaning:

-dust bunnies so big they fought me for my salad.
-50 cents and counting (not quite done yet and I keep coming across pennies on the floor.)
-a photo of an unidentified comet. An actual photo. At first I thought that my dad might have taken it, but it's on Fuji paper (he was a Kodak man). ;) I found it mixed with stuff from elementary-high school, so it could have been any comet. I'm going to try to identify the stars around it, but it looks to be quite a project.
-my 5th grade yearbook (which was also my sister's 2nd grade yearbook) ;)

The funniest thing I found, though, was a note I had written to myself in high school, perhaps junior high. It's on an undated post-it note, and probably written when I was angry at my parents for something. Scrawled, in angry letters, it said, 'Watch lots of Doctor Who and Star Trek: the Next Generation when I move out.' :-D LOL-if nothing else, I have certainly acheived that in my "adult" years. ;)

So I looked around my room, and finally being able to see most of the floor, said, 'Gee, this isn't so bad...'

Then I walked into the living room and screamed.

Dust Bunnies: 47, Romana: -2.

posted by Romana1 on 6:12 PM | *

Friday, June 10, 2005

Two years and counting!

D.W.Q.M.: "Mind you, I'm not wild about computers myself, but they are a tool. If you have a tool, it's stupid not to use it." -the Third Doctor

Hey, today is my second blogaversary! :) I started this wondering if I would ever be able to keep it up-I know I haven't posted everyday, but I'm doing better than I thought I would 2 years ago. ;)

The only major regret I have about my blog is that I really haven't done one of the things that I originally intended to use this blog for-which was to talk about my trading cards. I think I may have mentioned some of them a few times, but not on a regular basis. I was planning on talking about newer cards, and my opinions about the sets that are out there, and occasionally talk about my older sets, or older sets that I've found. I think I might try to start doing that now. (hey, why not? It's my anniversary after all.) :)

So, to get things started, I guess I'll give you a history (I'd say brief, but it probably won't be, cause I have a tendency to go on and on about stuff I love doing ;) of my card collecting.

I started back in the 80's with the every popular Garbage Pail Kids My friends and I loved these stickers-and would buy them and trade them constantly. Unfortunately, my mother didn't love them at all, and one day, the Garbage Pail Kids conviently found their way into the real garbage pail. *sigh* When I was finally on my own, I took a trip to Big Fun and purchased several cards for 25 cents a piece to "represent" my original first card collection. ;)

My next major set I'm a little ashamed to admit I have-they are New Kids on the Block cards. So why do I still have them? Well, I put my hard-earned allowace down on those cards, and even if I still don't have a complete set, I did collect them, so I'm keeping them! :p Nyah lol :)

Then I got into collecting Scifi cards, and well-it's all been downhill from there. ;)

That's all for now, (hey, that was quite brief-go me!) Sort of a strange topic to talk about on my blogaversary, but hey-it's my blog, and (imagine Cartman's voice) I'll do what I want. :) LOL. ;)

posted by Romana1 on 11:46 AM | *

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Moon like the Cheshire Cat

D.W.Q.M.: the Third Doctor: "Look, if you can't reverse the energy drain, the fabric of the entire Universe could be torn apart."
Omega: "What if it is? It will make an interesting spectacle."

So, if you're out and about 30-45 minutes after sunset this evening, grab your binoculars and try looking for the cresent moon. Look for Venus in the west-northwest horizon-the young moon should be near the lower right of the bright planet.

Why is this so special? Because few people ever get to see the moon when it is less than 30 hours old. :) For those of us in the eastern U.S., the moon will be about 26-27 hours old (from the moment of the new moon). Those in the west, 29-30 hours.

If you are interested, check out this week's sky at a glance and Young Moon Hunting from Sky and Telescope. The pictures of the moon from the second article are quite amazing-the moon reminds me of the faded grin of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. :-D

posted by Romana1 on 11:17 AM | *

Saturday, June 04, 2005

Marcon 40, part 1

D.W.Q.M.: "Come along, Benton" -the Brigadier

First, I gotta say it-the guy in the Hawaiian shirt-he totally rocks. :-D

top(l-r)-Joe, John; bottom(l-r)-me, Krismutt as K-9, Debbie, and Debbie's sister, Chrissy

Yes, folks-that's John Levene- Sgt. Benton from U.N.I.T. (go ahead and laugh, Jerm-I know you want to! ;) ) What they say about him being awesome and friendly around the fans-it's all true. He loves the fans, loves talking about his work on Doctor Who. He also has many great stories about working with Jon Pertwee (the Third Doctor) and he loves to tell jokes. He is very approachable-if you got a question-just ask-he loves to talk! :)

When I found out he was coming to Marcon, I was really excited-not only was he the first Doctor Who person that I ever met, but he was my favorite member of U.N.I.T.

The picture also includes some friends of mine that I hadn't seen in a while-imagine running into them at Marcon! ;) We were all at one of John Levene's programs, and I happened to look back, and I thought I recognized Joe and Debbie. I could see that Joe was also recognizing me, and I heard him say, 'that is Ella!' So, after the program, I got Alicia to take a picture of all of us, and as we were posing, John ran up and asked if he could get in the picture, too. We were like, 'well, DUH!' LOL. :)

Speaking of friends, here's a picture of me, Arthur, and Alicia at the masquarade Saturday night:

My eyes look a little weird because I tried, rather unsuccessfully, to fix the red-eye. I managed to get rid of the redness, but the end result makes me looked a little stoned. Oh, well.

I took pictures of the costumes in the masquarade, but my digital camera does not do them any justice, especially the one that Animal X wore. Hopefully the pictures I took on film will be better. (I just need to remember to get them developed. LOL)

I have a few more digital pics to put up-but it's getting rather late and I have to get up early tomorrow. Guess where I'm going tomorrow... back to Columbus! :-D Me, Perseph, Paul and Arthur are going down there to visit our friend Karen. (Karen was in Cleveland when we were in Columbus last week-how funny is that?) Time for more geeky fun! ;)

Wandering through E-Space

"There's no point in being grownup if you can't be childish sometimes." -the 4th Doctor.

about me

My name is Romanadvoratrelundar, but the Doctor says it's too long, so you can just call me Romana.

my profile

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Innnddddddyyyyyy.....!!!!

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Darkly Dreaming Dexterby Jeff Lindsay

Dragonsbloodby Anne and Todd McCaffrey

Good Omensby Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett

Doctor Who: Bullet Timeby David A. McIntee

American Godsby Neil Gaiman

A Great Deliveranceby Elizabeth George