My brother Sam gave me a cleaning gloth for Christmas.

This message was brought to you by the oversensitive word censors on the PlayStation Home Network.

A few of my friends have been asking what I want for Xmas. So here is a wish list to help. Links are only for reference. Feel free to purchase goods anywhere.

Charity:

• Donation to the Lance and Carla Burn fund

Digital Photography:
NOTE: I own a Nikon D80 so anything compatible with that (doesn’t have to be Nikon brand name)

• 20mm or less Wide angle or fisheye (Auto Focus) camera lens!!! Want! Want want want!
• TRIPOD!!!!!!! Lightweight but sturdy - carbon fibre or basalt (aka fiberglass)
• Tripod head
• http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom>Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 (MAC OSX)

• Lens cleaning cloth
• Speed Light
• Battery Grip

Kitchen

• Kitchenaid BOWL-LIFT Standmixer (white first, then black, then stainless steel)
• OXO cookie spatula - spotted at Call the Kettle Black!
• OXO cookie scoop - small
• OXO cookie scoop - medium Yes, I like OXO products.
• Scientific glassware (flasks, beakers, test tubes, etc.)
• Beaker mugs
• Cocktail Chemistry Set

Video Games:

• Sony PSP Slim
• Wii Fit
• Lego Star Wars for the PS3
• Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles for the Wii
• Playstation Network cards

Apparel:
I usually wear a women’s Medium, aka size 8

• Knitwear set! Cozy non-wool/animal and non-itchy (stuff like cotton or chenille would work) coordinating knitwear in teals, aquas, ice blues, black, or a combination (a set would include 2 or more of the following: touque, scarf, shawl, gloves, arm warmers, mitts, sweater, headband, legwarmers, socks, wrap).
• Anime legwarmers (any colour, the current selection is good).
• Winter boots (size 7 - black) - MOM PURCHASED!

Food:

• Pink Grapefruit flavoured syrup
• Bernard Callebaut chocolate
• Okonomiyaki

Bedroom:

• Medium density (not too firm, not too soft) real feather pillows preferred
• Pillow protectors for said pillows
• Duvet, down - King sized (my bed is not King, but we like giant blankets)
• Wamsutta Expressions nubby items in Lagoon blue or Kiwi green - a Linen N’ Things exclusive!

Fail-safe purchases:

• cookie cutters
• cookbooks
• Pocky
• Fruit cake
• A Smart Car

Gift Certificates:

• Cash
• Canadian Tire Money (not gift certificates, just the money)
• H&M
• Ikea
• La Senza
• Le Chateau
• Le Gnome (in West Edmonton Mall)
• McBain Camera
• Plastik Wrap
• Victoria’s Secret

Wish Lists:

• Amazon
• ThinkGeek

Other stuff:

• People to bid on my auctions that benefit Carla and Lance (new stuff being added Sunday night!)
• Less sexual harassment of women on Playstation Home.
• Same-sex marriages for everyone!
• That people treat others as equals and realize that we’re all different.
• Less dependency on fossil fuels.
• A bass guitar controller for Rock Band for the PS3.
• Hovercars.
• Just a big general ‘people should stop being dicks to each other’.
  

Last month, a friend of mine, Carla Hoffman and her husband Lance were both burned severely and lost their home and all their possessions in the Californian wildfires. Currently, they’re still in intensive care in hospital, and the doctors just started to let them come out of their comas (which were induced to treat their second and third degree burns). They’re still expected to remain in hospital for several months.

With the help of a few friends (and big props to John Parkin) I started to hold eBay auctions to help raise money for them. A few items are up right now, including some original Archie art from the 1960s, some hard-to-find graphic novels, and a few other things:
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/toyangel

This is just the start, I have more items to post and even more coming in from other artists, publishers, and comic fans around the industry.

Please take a look at the list and bid to your heart’s content.

If by any chance you have something kicking around your place you’re not using and wish to donate, please drop me an email at stephc@comicbookgirl.com or drop me an AIM at StephChantastic, and I’ll give you further details.

At the very least, if you can spread the word about my auctions, I would much appreciate it. You can link to our blog at http://letshelpcarla.wordpress.com. This site was set up by John to keep people up to date on Carla and Lance’s condition and to post new auction items.

Thanks very much.

While shopping at Kingsway Garden Mall in Edmonton, I walked into a store called Alexis. They had a huge, awesome variety of costumes in stock such as sexy firefighter, sexy police officer, sexy pirate, sexy geisha, sexy strawberry Shortcake, and sexy Care Bear. (Note: I thought the selection in-store was better than the website).

It reminded me of this great College Humor fake commercial for Girls’s Costume Warehouse (sic). Word for word, I think this commercial describes Alexis’ inventory:

Had fun at the Rock Band event at Happy Harbor Comics. More pictures are on the Facebook event page.

In an attempt to make my site more interesting, I’ve decided to add a poll. This week’s poll has to do with my career options. I admit, I’m only working for the public service for the pay, pension, and benefits. Sometimes I feel a bit brain-dead sitting at my desk, I’ve gained weight since working there, and, dear god, I have to use a mouse on those computers.

There seems to be some options opening up for me. So here they are:

Option 1: I can apply for a position higher than where I am at now.
Pros: More pay!
Cons: Still sitting at the desk, have to go through a competition to get the job. Still computers with mice.

Option 2: I can focus my energy getting something I.T. related.
Pros: Technology is much more my speed over processing. I get to go back to school. Can still work in the government. Can sneak in web design.
Cons: Not working while in school. I’d have to find said I.T. job.

Option 3: Go back to freelancing. Photography, colouring comics, doing art stuff, websites, blogging and other things. Basically everything I love.
Pros: I can do whatever I want. Whenever I want. where ever I want in the world. Ultimate happiness!
Cons: Pay sucks and will suck more than ever because of how high the Canadian dollar has gotten. Back to the poor house and no dental plan.

Option 4: Other.
You tell me!

After over a decade of trying, I finally got StephanieChan.com. The first time I looked it up, it was a porn site, back when porn sites bought any common name they could. It then went to some domain squatters and then the last people to own it didn’t seem to do anything with it. So I snapped it up and it’s finally mine!

What will this mean for ComicBookGirl.com?  That site will be retiring but still available online for the time being. 

StephanieChan.com will now be my main blog. At the time of this post, you can see one of the cookie cutter wordpress layouts gracing my site. I’ll be customizing it over the next while. As for content, I’ll throw some other stuff on the site, too like pictures, recipes, and whatever else comes to mind.

If you’re reading this regularly, and you want to do a link exchange, just leave me a comment on this post or email about that. 

I think that’s it for now. I hope you enjoy and come again.