Class Picture

I talked a lot recently about the zombie Scarlet Witch that I found, and how it completed my collection...so far...of the Avenger zombies from the Marvel What If... episode. I said that I couldn't wait till Halloween when I got all my ghoulish figures out, and I could see what the three of them looked like together.

Well, I guess that was a totally true statement, because I absolutely could not wait. This morning, I finally gave in and got the box out and found the Captain America. Then I posed them all together to see what it was like. Here you go:

I love it. Cap is still, by far, the best figure of the bunch, but these are pretty great. It will be fun to put them up to stay for a while at Halloween time.

Breaking The Tie

I was posting the picture from the other day's post about finding the zombie Scarlet Witch on Instagram, and I was adding hashtags to it. As you write a hashtag, the app tries to autocomplete it for you with a bunch of suggestions. When I started writing #zombieavengers, the suggestion from Instagram said this:

That's right, #zombieavengers has 666 posts. Rish Outfield would love it. I almost didn't include the hashtag, because I didn't want to destroy the numerical perfection. But then I went ahead and did it. I guess...

Anklecast 51: Prime Shipping

When the mailman drops off a package on Ethan's doorstep, he is confused. It's addressed to him, but he never ordered anything...he's about to return it when he discovers that it contains exactly what he needed before he even knew that he needed it.

Afterwards, Rish and I talk about the option for sequels. If everybody loved something that one of us wrote, could we make the story go on somehow?

Right click HERE to download the episode, or just listen by pressing the play button below.

Wanda Zombie

A while back I did a post about finding the zombie Iron Man figure from the most recent What If... wave of Marvel Legends, how cool it would be with the zombie Captain America I got back in 2021, and I said that I'd probably get the Scarlet Witch zombie to make the whole squad (at least the whole squad that they've produced so far).

Well, that turned out not to be as easy as I thought. One day, every Target had at least five copies of the figure, but as soon as I decided that I wanted it after all, they were all gone. I couldn't find that Scarlet Witch figure anywhere I went.

I don't have as much of a taste for wandering the whole city going from one Walmart to another and one Target to another. My love for the hunt waxes and wanes, particularly on whether the hunts are moderately successful or not. So, each time I went out looking for Scarlet Witch, it didn't take long for me to be discouraged and just head home rather than making the whole circuit.

Well, yesterday, I finally went to a particular Walmart that I haven't been to in a while, and, although their selection of Marvel Legends was similarly poor as the other Walmarts and Targets I've visited recently, they did have that Scarlet Witch, so I grabbed it.

Here's the usual in the car picture:

I'm excited for when Halloween comes and I get Captain America out of that box to put him next to my Iron Man and Scarlet Witch. It's going to be a zombie Avengers. I really hope they make more of them. I'd like a Hulk, a Thor, a Hawkeye, and a Black Widow...were all of those zombies in the What If... show. I can't remember...I just looked it up, and apparently only Hawkeye was a zombie in that show. Oh well, what I've got is cool enough.

By the way, Rish thinks I'm an idiot for purchasing this figure at full price...especially since full price has risen $5 in the past year...because he said he just found one at half price this week. Of course, I had to counter with the fact that, owing to the fact that it took six stores before I could finally find one that had the figure, I could definitely not expect it to be on clearance anywhere around here.

I have sworn to only buy toys at Ross or on sale in the future at least a dozen times after finding something I'd bought at full price there for half off or more. But for some reason I always backslide and buy them at full price when I find them. I get that FOMO, assuming that I'll look back and think, "I had that figure in my hand, and I put it back." And I haven't seen Scarlet Witch anywhere for a while.

I suppose I might find it at Ross, because I'm sure they don't get their merchandise from the stores nearby, but rather nationally, but with this particular figure, I didn't want to risk it, becuase I really wanted to have the zombie Avengers. I'll change my mind and curse fate when I find it on the shelf on Ross next year though, I'm sure.

Easter Decorations

Now that we're into March, I figured it was time to get out my Easter decorations. I know that most of the country is totally snowed in, so it probably doesn't feel right to you, but here, it's very much well into spring. Pollen is everywhere, the allergies are pounding us, it's warm and it's green, so I'm putting up those bunnies.

First of all, there's the Bunny Brigade led by Marvel's White Rabbit.

I put them into a smaller cubby hole this time around, so their Happy Easter sign hangs a little low. I'll probably need to fix that by cutting the garland a little shorter.

Then I put up the Nitehare, because what says Easter like a homicidal looking pupil-less bunny rabbit with a gun.

I put up these two Fortnite guys, one is an actual Easter skin, the other is just a figure wearing pastels that made me think of Easter. I figured if I put them both together, and gave them happy Easter signs to hold, that they would communicate Easter to the person looking at them...who, let's be honest, is only going to be me, so I say it's fine.

I put up the two Bonnie figures I have from Five Night's at Freddie's. One is a standard Bonnie, but the other one is Easter Bonnie, and is painted up like an Easter egg.

My last Easter display is the Sentinel from Fortnite, which is basically a Gundam-looking character, but a rooster Gundam. Seemed perfect for my decorations. I gave him a bunch of eggs that he could be protecting for his harem of hens.

Is that silly? Am I stretching this too far? I'm starting to think that maybe...well, never mind. It's too late for introspection now. Plunging forward!

That's the last of the added figures, but I Eastered up a few things as well. Speaking of silly, here's what my AT-AT looks like.

Similarly, I changed out the head of a Halo figure to make it look like this:

Those are both similar, yet differently-sized bunny heads from the dollar store.

Another thing I got from the dollar store are these signs and Easter eggs.

I stuck them here and there on the shelves.

Then I got out these little felt bunny heads that I got at the dollar store, and stuck them on top of other characters because I thought they looked funny.

Yeah, that's far sillier, but it makes me smile, and precious little does that these days, so I'm going with it, and I don't care what you say.

Lastly, there's these cute little bunny erasers. I got the last pack of them at the dollar store last year, but yesterday, I found them completely restocked for the new year, so I bought three more packs of them. There's eight per pack, so I now have around 30...I don't think I have all eight from last year.

I put them anywhere and anywhere on the shelves. I thought it would be fun to have a sort of game where you see how many of the little bunnies you can find. I had my son do it this morning, and on his own he was only able to find about 15. He was very surprised when I told him there was at least twice that many.

My favorite, which was Little's idea, are the bunnies that got skewered on the various swords that my characters are holding.

And, it looks like we've made it to the end. If you're still reading, you're a brave soul. Thanks for sticking around through all my silliness. And a happy Easter to you...in a month or so, whenever Easter is this year.

Why Is It Always This Way?

I've been on a bender for a few months. I was perfect with the carnivore lifestyle all December long, but a person only has so much willpower. My family had treats at the house every day that I had to resist. My work had treats every day that I had to resist. TV commercials showed me treats every day that I had to resist. And so on and so on.

With no safe haven, my sugar addiction eventually broke through, and on New Year's Eve, I finally gave in and at things I shouldn't. As is always the case, that sent me into a tailspin that lasted for almost two months. I indulged in countless vices, everything that I used to eat all the time before I knew better. 

My health deteriorated quickly, of course, because I have diabetes. I am insulin resistant, so my body didn't have anything to do with all of that sugar. My vision started blurring. I started feeling pain in my joints. My mental clarity and happiness declined. My feet started to tingle and go numb.

I tried over and over to get restarted, but never even made it through a day of healthy living. But, at last, just before February came to an end, I managed to get through a whole day. Then two. Then three. It became a habit that I thought I could keep as long as there weren't too many temptations.

Today, it turns out, is employee appreciation day. I don't remember if my work ever did anything for this in the past, but this year, they decided to go out and get some of my favorite, most-tempting candy...wait did I say some, I meant a literal crap ton of that candy...and put it out for us to have as much of as we'd like.

I avoided the Lindor truffles. I avoided the Hershey's Treasures. I avoided the Ferrero Rocher. Heck, I even avoided the churros with caramel or chocolate sauce. But, after only a few days, a good portion of my willpower has been drained away again. 

How long will I last before I break down again? It needs to be much longer. My body can't handle much more of these swings back in the direction of unhealthy eating. Pretty soon, I'm going to start getting nephropathy and wind up on dialysis or I'll get neuropathy in my feet, and wind up having to get them amputated. 

God, I don't want to end up in that situation, and I have the answer right here in my hands if I could only manage to implement it. I've memorized the recipe for perfect heath, I just need to get the ingredients together and get it in the oven. Oh, wait, a baking metaphor probably isn't the right way to go in this case.

I guess what I'm trying to say is wish me luck.

Book Progress

February is over, and here are the books I read this month. A whole lotta Witcher this time.

1. Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
2. The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett
3. The Time of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski
4. Baptism of Fire by Andrzej Sapkowski
5. The Tower of the Swallows by Andrzej Sapkowski
6. The Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski
7. Season of Storms by Andrzej Sapkowski
8. Centaur Isle by Piers Anthony

That puts me at 15 for the year. My full list for the year so far is:

1. Memory’s Legion by James S.A. Corey
2. A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony
3. The Source of Magic by Piers Anthony
4. Castle Roogna by Piers Anthony
5. The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
6. The Sword of Destiny Andrzej Sapkowski
7. The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
8. Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
9. The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett
10. The Time of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski
11. Baptism of Fire by Andrzej Sapkowski
12. The Tower of the Swallows by Andrzej Sapkowski
13. The Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski
14. Season of Storms by Andrzej Sapkowski
15. Centaur Isle by Piers Anthony

I got one more book in despite having a shorter month. Of course, I loved the Witcher books so much that I was listening to them with every single spare moment that I had, so that makes a big difference. We'll see what I can manage in March now that I have no more Witcher books to listen to.