Random Acts of Kindness + Pony Swag · 12:29pm Aug 4th, 2012
Not that anyone should care about my personal life, but...
So, this last Thursday I was at my hometown Wal-Mart where I found 17/24 wave 3 blind bags; snagged those up on the spot. Next day I got up bright and early to do the rounds of other Wal-Marts in the surrounding area to see if I could roundup the remaining 7.
First Wal-Mart, nothing. 
Second Wal-Mart, only wave 1. 
Third Wal-Mart I don't go to very often so needed my navigator to find it, but the bloody thing refused to locate anything except for the one I was already standing in front of. 
Dejected I headed home with nothing to show for my efforts, then I got a flat tire (nail clean through). 
Now just to be clear, I don't drive; this was a bicycle tire. Still I wasn't looking forward to walking my bike the several miles all the way back home. Fortunately there was a Target just a few blocks away, so I figure I could check to see if they carried any replacement tires. Turns out they do, or at least the tube that goes inside (only 10 bucks too). 
Unfortunately I've never actually had to change out a tube before, so I was pretty clueless. 
I managed to fumble my way through about half the process and that's when it happened; some random stranger came up to me and not only pointed out everything I was doing wrong, but finished doing all the work for me. Naturally I gave every thanks I could. 
Anyway, the local Targets have been basically void of pony merch for the past month, but I figured, what the hay, might as well check while I was there. Turns out they had some Rainbow Collections, not something I'd ever much cared to look for, but at least now I wouldn't go home empty handed. 
Since there was another Target not too far out of the way home I decided to also check there, and low, I found 2/3 of the new mini-figure packs, and most of the royal wedding stuff 
(no Cuttie Mark Crusader flower-fillies though 
). So I grabbed up the minis a bride's mare Rarity, plus as gift for my cousin, a deluxe Cadance and Shining Armor.
All in all, not a bad end to what could have turned into a very lousy day. The fresh new pony swag was great (link), but the real highlight was that random act of kindness (and that's really the only reason I'm posting any of this). It's good to be reminded that MLP isn't the only genuinely good thing left in what sometimes feels like the endless bleakness of this world.
...
Oh, right this is an author's blog, so I guess you all would like an update on my stories. 
Well, my Carrot Top one-shot that I'd wanted to get hammered out is proving more difficult than anticipated. Along the way, however, I think I've finally figured out how to proceed with Ch5 of Elements of Insanity. If I buckle down and really work on that (instead of getting distracted by my Xbox) I could have that finished maybe by next weekend, though with proofing it would probably still be the middle of the following week before it'd be ready to publish. No promises on anything though.
Ohai. Proofer here. Glad to see you've gotten 5 figgered out. Do I need to harass you to keep you off Xbox? Cause I will. Assuming you give me the tools to do so.
And if not, I will simply look at your userpage disapprovingly. DISAPPROVINGLY I SAY.
271252
I should really get me a piplup mini or plush to sit next to my writing desk to always remind me of your condescending scowl. Not sure what you could do to usefully harass me short of daily PMs or such (my IM adress maybe). I don't play via XboxLive or anything, just single player stuff all by my lonesome (my current time killer being Dragon Age).
Anyway, I am in fact working on Ch5 at this moment. Then again, I'm not actually at home either, so I have fewer distractions. Progress is slow, but it is still progress. Which is more than I can more than what I can say I've had over past week or so.
IM's would work. And I wouldn't need to be playing with you on XBL to send you messages. I'd just need to be at a friend's so I had an xbox to send you messages from
I do, however, approve of this Piplup plush idea. It amuses me that was was essentially a throwaway choice of icon has come to mean something.