Starting a Betta Sorority

So my first project of the new year is actually getting my Betta tank set up. I have all my equipment now and all I need is to finish resealing my 50 gallon tank and buy more Bettas. At this stage I am still removing the old nasty silicone seams. I have been and will be using the method explained in this wonderful video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-gS7gp-ehM . SO helpful!
My next step after the tank is ready to to buy more beautiful fishies! :) I have 2 already and I'm going to get at least 4 more. Then I'll quarantine them for a month (probably with this method: http://www.femalebettafish.net/how-to-quarantine-betta-fish/ ) then they will be ready to be together, starting with the least aggressive.
I have read a lot about starting a Betta sorority but if anyone has any helpful tips or resources about starting Betta tanks or cycling fish tanks I would appreciate the input!
I'll also be updating as the process continues :)



October 2014 Update: I was unable to get a Betta sorority started. Turns out that's a lot of hard work and i have trouble enough keeping one Betta alive, much less a whole school of them.This isn't really a goal for me anymore at this point. I would rather spend my time on creating things than having another responsibility of something else to take care of.

Sh*twrecked

Drinking games. The great college past time. Here's a list of my top favorites, not in any particular order:

1)Circle of Death (House Rules)
Aces) waterfall
Red) to the head (you drink)
Black) deal out (can split up the card among people)
8) pick a date (someone to drink whenever you drink)
9) It's rhyme time, bitches!
10) Rule master (all rules stack)
J) Thumb master
K) Categories
Q) Question master

(I'm also considering for house rules 4's - whores and 6 - dicks. lol)

And if you break the circle you have to drink the beer in the middle.

2) Drink.
A simple yet amazing game. Example: "SteveDrink." (yes one word lol) Then Steve drinks obediently. No questions asked, just blind obedience. That's how it goes.

3) COHERENT!
This actually has yet to be played, as it was just recently created by my bestie, but I'm sure it will warm its way into our hearts and become a new favorite. So when you're drunk and slurring your words as soon as you notice the specific incident you yell "COHERENT!" and the entire room drinks and you are safe from taking a drink. However! If someone catches your slurring before you do they yell COHERENT! and exaggeratedly point at you and you must drink, thus probably making your slurring and your attention to your slurring worse.

4) PTERODACTYL!
Everyone stands in a circle with their lips covering their teeth. If you show your teeth throughout the game you must drink (i.e. no smiling or laughing). Here's the hard part: you go around the circle yelling PTERODACTYL! at each other, then when you want the direction of the circle to change (or want to make your friends drink) you make a sound that you think a pterodactyl might make (Note: It really doesn't matter what the sound is lol).

5) Beer Pong
No explanation needed (for most). We have a few house rules but they change sometimes

6) Never Have I Ever
A classic. Those who have, drink.

7) Asshole
I for the life of me cannot remember how to play this game, but I remember the last time that I played it I had a hell of a time. I also know that I went from Asshole to President in one round which was awesome... for some reason lol

8) Simon Says
You drink when you do something Simon didn't say. This gets really fun when you have three step directions like "Simon says touch your right elbow after you touch your nose but before you touch your left knee."

Possible 9) Buffalo Club
No drinking your drink from your right hand (can add the limits of before or after midnight)
I have yet to try out this game as well.

LET'S HAVE A PARTY!

What are some of your favorite drinking games?

There's a Girl

There's a girl sitting a ways away from me at Starbucks. She is pencil sketching a picture of an African American woman in her notepad. She has been drawing for a quite sometime. I know this because her thigh has become gray with graphite dust. I envy her. I wish I still had time to sit at a coffee shop to people watch and draw. Instead I sit in a coffee shop and stare at lime green note cards covered in information about sensory receptors that I should really know by now. Sometimes I really miss my free time. It seems that even the free time I do have I partially spend worrying about what I'm not doing.
But this is my life now I suppose. Sometimes it's just hard to find joy and beauty in all the things that one has to do. I've found that changes of scenery can sometimes help. They can also be distracting though! All that being said, I did have a good night with some friends from school eating sushi! And you know what? I wasn't worried.

Dreams

I had a dream last night that I was playing hide and go seek with some little blonde kid and he was always it. Amanda and Rachel were there too playing hide and seek and Rachel hid in a wall lol. Then my alarm went off but I didn't feel like stopping so I turned my alarm off and kept playing haha.

I had a dream the other night that I was hanging out with people and we decided to go swimming so we were in this really crowded pool and I noticed I wasn't wearing anything and I was like "Oh shit...I'm naked..." lol and I had so much trouble getting my clothes back on but no one else seemed to notice/care that I was inappropriately in my birthday suit.

Then I had a dream that I was in a shipwreck.

BSG Beginnings

I have been working on getting started on making my Battlestar Galactica, or should I say Battlestar Valkyrie, costume. I am making an admiral's costume. So, as one of the purposes of this blog I am going to document my progress on my costume so I can keep track of it for myself and also I hope to post my entries on a BSG costuming site to help others make their own BSG costumes. It seems that there is a shortage of tutorials for them, especially for women. I haven't started sewing yet but I've made a list of what I will be using to make the costume. This list is subject to change as time goes on and I find out that I’m missing something haha

What You'll Need to Make a Female Admiral’s Uniform

Patterns:

-McCall’s M4745 (Men’s Civil War Costume – use coat B)

-McCall’s M5860 (The Perfect Jean Jacket – used as a reference to make princess seams)

-Vogue V8479 (Women’s dress pants)

Fabric and such:
-Navy Blue Suiting (I bought 6 yards of 'medieval blue melange' spring suiting (100% Polyester))

-Navy Blue Lining (I bought 4 yards to line the jacket)

-Fusible Interfacing (I bought ¼ yard)

-Silver Vinyl (I bought ¼ yard of shiny silver vinyl to make the piping – vinyl is used to make the piping of senior officers’ uniforms, not junior officers’ uniforms. Flat silver (gray) vinyl would also work nicely as long as it has some sheen)

-Gold Vinyl (I bought ¼ yard – see notes above for silver vinyl)

-Navy Ultrasuede (I bought ¼ yard, used for shoulder patches)

-Gold thread

-Silver thread

-Navy thread

Other Materials:

-1 Navy 4-in Zipper for the pants (not a “sports” zipper)

-Snap Buttons (it’s easiest if you buy a package with the application tool

included)

-Hook and Eye

-Rat Tail Cording (about 5 yards, used for piping)

Tools:

-Sewing Machine

-Various Sewing Machine Needles

-Hand Needles

-Iron and Ironing Board

-Pins

-Tomato Pin Cushion

-Tailoring Chalk

-Marking Pencil

-Sewing Gauge

-Measuring Tape

-Seam Ripper

-Sewing Shears (or plain scissors)

-‘Bodkin’ with Hook (see picture, used for turning tubes, don’t sweat it if you don’t have one – a safety pin will do the trick as well)

Accessories:

-Battlestar Patch (I bought mine from scifigeeks.com)

-8 Uniform Buttons (I got mine on eBay)

-2 Admirals’ Pins (eBay)

-Senior Flight Wings (eBay)

-Dog Tags (you can buy personalized dog tags at quantummechanix.com, but I am lucky enough to have an engraver for a brother so mine will be made by him)

-Law Pro Boots (I plan to buy mine at qmuniforms.com)

-1 ½ inch Navy Webbing Belt with Black Slide Release Buckle (I got mine at strapworks.com) (or you could make your own out of navy webbing and a slide release buckle)

- (2) ½ inch Black Plastic Slide Release Buckles (for cuffs)

Introductions and such

I am a new blogger and I;m really excited. I have 2, my other being on livejournal. I am planning on making both blogs very similar. My intent for these journals is to talk only about my current projects and ideas. Those being artist endeavors including but not limited to sewing, cooking, painting and drawing, other topics may include philosophy, poetry, short stories, books, and life. My goal is to make a journal that a stranger could read so I don't want to include a lot of personal information or person specific entries. I will however, include personal thoughts, but not complaints (e.g. school, money problems, family issues). My goal is to have an interesting, inspirational, and even instructional online journal that many people can enjoy. I will be posting my first official topic-related entry soon. Hopefully I will have some fabric soon to start my current sewing project. I am making a Battlestar Galactica Admiral's uniform, but I will talk more about that next time!


Just a little information about me: I'm 21. I live in St. Louis, MO. I'm a total geek/gamer chick and I love creating and viewing art. I also love baking and cooking, and philosophy. I'm currently reading Thus Spake Zarathustra (love Nietzsche!) which I also hope to talk about more in-depth in a future entry. I'm in school for psychology (undergrad) and planning to go to grad school for physical therapy. I'd like to be a physical therapist/yoga instructor and open my own practice. I may talk about the process a bit, though I don't want to get too caught up in that in this journal.