01.02.02 :: 13:29

Massively long blog entry part 2!

I got off work at 1pm on New Year's Eve. That was nice. Took Elf and Helen (again) to Kazuko's for lunch. It's Elf's favorite place in town and he was heartbroken that we'd gone on Saturday while he was helping Adam to move. After lunch we went by my mom's apartment so that Helen could meet them. For the writer in me, it was good seeing such a wide variety of people standing by each other. My father is 6'5" while Helen is around 5'3". It gave me a chance to mentally measure people :) My mom invited us over to have spaghetti dinner the next night.

I heated a pan of pre-made lasagna for dinner. The day/evening/early morning was spent gaming and watching anime. We almost finished a quest in Dynasty Warriors 3 (the last battle was owning us). Helen played through Sion's quest in the Bouncer while I napped on the couch. We then tested our mad driving skillz in Crazy Taxi 2. We finished watching the first DVD of Battle Athletes Victory. Didn't go onto the second one 'cause it's depressing and none of us were in a mood for it. I called my folks 15 minutes before midnight to make sure they were awake for it. Dad then called me back 5 minutes afterwards to ask if they were allowed to go to bed now ^^;

Tuesday was a mellow day and went much like my Sundays tend to. We all slept in until 11am. I played Final Fantasy X while Helen read though the first book of the Mageworld series (the title and even the authors are eluding me at the moment). It's a good book regardless. Elf worked on writing his kanji flashcard program.

At 5pm we motored over to my mom's apartment for dinner. Dad had Groundhog's Day on the TV while we ate. I dislike that movie, I really do. Drives me absolutely bonkers. I ignored it by focusing on my food, but food only lasts so long. When dinner was over they kept on watching it, so I went to pet ReRun in mom's bedroom. He bit me, but didn't draw blood, so it's only a half point for him. I decided that it was a good time to leave. Dad then pointed out that we didn't have dessert yet. I thought he was bluffing about having dessert, but he wasn't. I didn't want to endure any more stupid movie or psycho cat, so I *ahem* borrowed on a permanent basis one of the boxes of ice cream from her freezer and took it home with me :P

Nightman called my cell and left a voice message (my first one!). I rang him back and we jabbered on about FFX for a half hour ^^v

Helen, Elf and I went back to what we were doing before dinner. I was robbed during one of the boss fights late in the game (the zombie one). Grrrrr. I wasn't just robbed; I had my lunch money taken from me before being beaten down. I got my revenge when I tried again. Currently I'm puttering around in the Airship doing side quests and picking up odds and ends.

There are two ways FFX could be improved IMO. First, there should be a way to set a default party 'cause after a fight and swapping members around you can end up with people you don't want in as the active party. Having to manually reset it each time is kind of a bugger. My other suggestion would be a way to skip story scenes like you could in Bouncer. I had enough time to go check my email while I waited for the story to get back to the boss before I gave it another go.

Helen finished her book and Elf finished playing with his program and I was at a good stopping point, so we watched the first DVD of Battle Athletes (the OVA). I really wanted Helen to see Kris Christopher. Kris is, like, one of my heroes. If you've seen OVA, then how I write Xu should be somewhat familiar. Kris was one of the models I used when molding a personality and background. (I also used Janey from The American President and Noin from Gundam W, if you're curious ^^; )

BA reminded me that the future must have a pant leg shortage or something. Tidus is missing one. Jecht is missing one. At least 2 of the athletes in BA OVA are missing them. (The shorthaired chick who races Akari and Lahrri). So, a bit of advice from your friendly neighborhood bean: watch your pant legs like a hawk. We know they're going to be in short supply some day.

It was about 1:30am when that was over. Time to go to bed since Helen's flight left in the morning. I (being the stupid bean that I am) stayed up 'til 2:30am responding to an inquiry from a net acquaintance who asked for FFX strategies.

Through some miracle I was alert and feeling pretty good when I woke up at 8am this morning. Pepper kept landing on me as she alternated between wanting to be scratched and let out into the yard to do her business. I woke everyone else up when I got up. (Why should I be the only one to suffer? ;) Helen packed up her things and I took her to the airport. The guard doing vehicle inspections, well, wasn't IMO. He was a jovial enough guy, but my brain keeps thinking of all the ways I could easily worm my way through the lackluster security. I also think he knows me from somewhere 'cause he called me by my full name. My letterman jacket (which I've been wearing lately 'cause it's warm) has my name on it, but he couldn't have seen the back of it when I was in the driver's seat.

Gyah, reminds me of a gent inquiring about service this morning. I always introduce myself as Amanda when I answer the phone. I'm not sure if it's an accent or the phone line or what, but I've been called a lot of other things like Linda, Melinda, Melissa, etc. Anyhow, this gent decided to call me Mandy during our conversation. Grrr... I'm not a Mandy. It seriously tweaks my tail if you call me Mandy and you're not one of the three people that I'm okay with them doing it. My boss calls me Mandy (and he's not one of the three). It's funny, even his fiancée has scolded him for that. She pointed out that I don't act like a Mandy, so he shouldn't be calling me that. [/rant]

^^; Anyhow... I have to go down to my mom's shop after work and configure her new computer. It'll be sweet when I'm done. Elf's going to come down to the shop with me and run interference on the parental units so that they leave me alone while I work. Heh, that's a good friend =]

01.03.02 :: 22:35

I woke up this morning and just knew that I was going to have a rotten day. It’s not good to think that way, I know, but that’s how things ended up. I’ve been in kinda a blah mood since last night. It just carried over.

Yesterday I was livid because my dad kept putting on repairing the garbage disposal (which has been broken since Sunday). The kitchen sink was clogged because of it and I couldn’t do the dishes. I’ve been eating meals off of saucers and using plastic forks since Wednesday. It was very annoying, but that’s not what tweaked my tail. What pissed me off was that when mom’s computer had a fart on Tuesday night he insisted that I drop what I was doing with Elf and Helen and go down to her office and repair it immediately. (It was a stupid problem too; he’d accidentally changed the screen resolution and couldn’t follow my instructions over the phone on how to change it back). So I go down there to fix the problem, but he couldn’t be bothered to return the favor in a timely manner.

Well, he did make it by the house to work on it tonight. The disposal is beyond repair. He was able to unclog the sink so that I could wash dishes, but warned against flipping the switch to the disposal until he replaced it (Saturday, he says). Apparently, it’s caught on fire once already and he doesn’t want it to happen again ^^;;;

I also wasn’t in the mood for the joshing the Asst. Manager at the software store gave me yesterday evening. I’d gone down there with Elf with a list of things I needed; batteries for my VMU, a new PS2 controller, etc. (I’m considering asking my friends to start bringing their own controllers when they come to my place to play games. I’m getting tired of dropping $20-30 every other month to replace the ones they’ve broken --; ) I also needed a new wall calendar. I already searched Barnes & Noble without finding one that I liked. I was going to check out the shops in the mall next. I found a Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within one at the software store, but I still wanted to look around before I got it. I bought the other items I needed and Elf and I went on our way.

We found a lot of calendars marked down 50%, but they were all of things like puppy dogs, cats, Harry Potter, N*Sync, blah, blah, blah. Nothing that screamed “Amanda” y’know? I’d really like a domestically released FFX one. Lauren showed me where I could import one from Japan, but it was $35 before S&H. Ouch, that’s kind of spendy, and that doesn’t guarantee that it has US holidays on it. That’s my main reason for getting one, I never remember when holidays are. Anyhow, we went back to the software store to get the FF: TSW one. The Asst. Manager teased that I always come back around a second time and he shouldn’t ring up my stuff until the second time I come by. True, perhaps, I usually know what I want when I go to a store, but sometimes I find something on the shelf that interests me and I have to think about it. But I wasn’t in the mood for his (or anyone’s) teasing. While the FF: TSW calendar wasn’t what I was aiming for it isn’t bad. The pictures are nice and it has a lot of US and international holidays on it.

Work today was blah. Blah! I tell you. Frustrating! I just wasn’t doing well. I couldn’t think of the right answers to even simple questions and the customers were tap dancing on my nerves. I argued with one guy who didn’t want to give me the password he wanted for the email account I was supposed to set up on the server for him. Um, hello, these things aren’t psychically put into the mail server. Someone has to enter them and that someone’s me. If nothing else, think of it this way. I don’t even *need* his password if I wanted to read his email. I have administrator rights. I can go into the account and do what I damn well please --; I don’t give a flying cow about what people do with their email accounts (unless they spam out of them, then I care). If they want to subscribe to every pr0n mailing list they can find, more power to them. They need to be reminded on occasion that I do have the power of the BOFH, I’m just too nice / responsible to use it in mean spirited ways.

Around lunchtime (for me) I went to speak with Bob, one of the owners of the company. He’s a good guy to speak with when I have stuff on my mind. He was a pastor before he went into business. A good listener, and even better at giving sermons ^^; I’ve gotten into a rut with my job and I’m drowning in boredom right now. What do I do all day but go to work, answer questions that I’ve answered so many times in the last two years that they’re rote, and go home again. There’s no adventure to that. Bob was very sympathetic to my problem. He went on telling me stories (he tells a lot of stories, I like listening to them), giving advice, giving me Bible passages to look up later, etc. At times I felt like my eyes were going to glaze over from it all.

I hate when I feel like this. Like I’m teetering on the edge of just not giving a damn anymore. Toss it all aside and start on another path ‘cause the one I’m on is too beaten. He offered me some sabbatical time if I wanted to go study something else. Suggested taking a class or two from the community college. I could walk there from work. (Very stupid of them to put a college in the middle of downtown, IMO, but that’s a rant for another day). Or, just take the plunge. Quit my job and go find something else to do. He meant it in a nice way, not sarcastically. It’s good. He believes we shouldn’t let ourselves get into ruts. That everyday is meant to be a challenge and we should tackle it as so. It’s almost enough to make me want to buy a bus ticket to Toronto and leave for Canada tomorrow. I feel like one of these days, I might just do that.

After speaking with Bob, I needed some time to think. I left work early (with permission) and went home. Elf was sitting there playing Hoshigami. I’d brought Taco Bell home with me. I ate three tacos, which is a taco more than I usually manage. Even after eating a lot, I still wasn’t full. Instead of eating more I curled up on the couch to nap, but then I was cold. There’s no reason I should’ve been cold. The heater was set to 70F (I fear my gas bill this month) and I was wearing a sweatshirt. I grabbed an afghan from the workroom and tried sleeping again, but was *still* cold. I got the quilt from my room and put it on top of the afghan and then I was finally warm enough to sleep. I napped for a couple few hours. I’ve been having normal dreams lately, which is odd for me. It’s kinda disturbing, but I don’t remember more than fragments of them when I wake up. That’s also unusual. And my friends have been playing the main roles in them also every time.

I woke up to Elf shaking his fist at Hoshigami (again). That game is frustrating the hell outta him, but he keeps playing it. He says it’s hard, ridiculously hard. Personally, I think it’s good that I’ve finally found a game that challenges him :P When I poke my head in to see what he’s doing he’s still playing it when FFX is sitting right there to play instead. He may not admit it, but I think he’s enjoying himself ;) I’m still puttering around in FFX. I got all the monsters in two more areas for the arena guy tonight. Teaching Yuna the Steal skill and keeping her in the party instead of Rikku has done a lot to develop Yuna. I should have done that sooner, but oh well. I’ve still got plenty of battles to fight ^^

I returned the Goblet of Fire to the library ‘cause I just wasn’t reading it. I did read myself to the reserve list for it. Maybe when my turn with the book comes around again I’ll be more interested. I got another book that Sean recommended called The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie King. It’s a mystery (which I usually don’t read). It’s also a large print. [shakes head] I used to volunteer at the library, and I’d always found it odd / interesting that the categories with the most large print volumes were mysteries and westerns. I wonder, when my generation gets to be seniors, will the shelves be filled with large print sci-fi and fantasy? ^^;

I’m nearly finished with configuring my mom’s new computer. I know she won’t appreciate all the work I’ve put into it, but it has been a labor of love. I removed all the pre-installed crap. Installed the software applications she’ll need, including the ‘small, but useful’ utilities like WinZip, ACDSee, Winamp, etc. I configured her Norton’s Anti-Virus to require no interaction to do its thing. I also configured her Outlook and put in email address, birthdays, addys, etc. of family members and friends that I could recall off the top of my head. A lot of little, detail work that makes the machine all the better when she gets it.

Hum... I’ve been writing long blog entries lately. Oh well. My blog, no one has to read it ^^;

01.04.02 :: 22:16

I think today’s theme was being too blasted busy to have a rotten day. I did so much at work today, my head’s still spinning. During the course of the day I logged 22 tech calls (usually I do around a dozen), I finished what configuration I could do on my mom’s machine, I was pulled into a half hour meeting early in the day and then had to write a one page report afterwards. Gyah. I earned my keep today, that’s for sure! My boss has decided that hiring another technician would be a good idea since I’m often buried. (I dunno why he laid off the entire support staff except for me in the first place. I knew we had to cut, but he did it deeper than I recommended...) It’s odd how I can be bored and busy at the same time, but I manage it.

Lance lent me a CD that one of his friends did. Hearing Voices is the group name. They’re based out of Bend, Oregon. It was pretty good stuff. It was kind of like African rhythms with miradas and such. It lifted my spirits listening to it, so it was all good.

Elf is still grumbling about how Hoshigami “cheats like a fiend”, and yet he keeps playing it ^^; He was playing FFX when I came home for lunch today. He’s an odd one. He decided that instead of picking up the Al Bhed primers, he would just memorize the cipher :P Yes, fear the Elf, he now reads Al Bhed. He says he’s going to write an Al Bhed plug in for Editsu. Not that it’s really needed, but it might be kind of fun. Can you imaging Sowing in all that garble? ^^; He frightens me sometimes, really, he does...

01.05.02 :: 19:18

Today didn’t start until, oh, 4pm ^^; Before that I played some FFX, mostly being a lightning rod on the Thunder Plains. How in the hell do they expect you to dodge 200 bolts in a row? The most I can manage is 30 --; When I got tired of that Elf went back to Hoshigami and I took a nap.

I had several odd dreams. I was asleep on the couch with Pepper curled up next to me (even though there really isn’t enough room for the both of us when I’m stretched out). I kept having waking dreams. Y’know the kind where you wake up from a dream and you’re in another dream. I did that about ten times before I finally woke up for real o.O; Every one of the dreams were really short ones. I can’t remember them all, but for example I was watching Vera play a cool version of Evergrace that had the main swordsman gliding along rails like Sonic does in Sonic Adventures 2. I wanted to give the game a try, so I sat up and was ‘awakened’ into another dream. In one dream I was resting on the couch, sat up, looked out the window, and saw Vera and Mike standing on the porch about to ring the doorbell. I got up to open the door and was in another dream. And so on and so forth, it was just very odd.

My dad called shortly after I got up to see if Elf and I were interested in an early dinner (or late lunch in our case). We said yeah and had dinner with them. After that we went to the mall looking for a Hoshigami strategy guide, didn’t find one. Then we went to the market to pick some things up. When we got home we turned domestic. Elf changed some lightbulbs for me, I put Drano into the back bathroom sink to unclog it. (I didn’t even know it was clogged, I rarely go back there, but dad told me it was). Did dishes, laundry, cleaned around the house some, y’know the drill.

I’m making tuna casserole for dinner tonight (actually, I already made it, it’s in the fridge, just have to toss it into the oven). We have to go pick Austin up from the airport around 8:30pm. When we get home I’ll heat the casserole and we’ll have a yummy dinner :)~~~ Austin’s been gone for nearly a month now. It’ll be good to see him again :)

Oh! Another odd thing happened today (b’sides the dreams). I won 6 free pretzels from the pretzel place in the mall. Now the odd part, I don’t eat pretzels ^^; I buy pretzel dogs (hot dogs wrapped in pretzel dough) there and they give me a punch card for it. The punch card is only redeemable for a free pretzel. I usually give the cards to either Elf or Austin ‘cause they like pretzels. Elf wanted a pretzel when we went there the other day and I had a filled punch card in my wallet, so I gave it to him. When you redeem the punch card they have you put your name and phone number on the back and put it in a drawing. Neither Elf nor I wanted to put our name on the card. (I didn’t care about entering for the aforementioned reason and Elf was being his usual stubborn self :P ) So I just put my name and phone number on it and gave it to ‘em. I do feel kinda bad though. When the lady called to tell me I’d just been called twice by telemarketers and was in a rather snippy mood --; I will apologize when I go to the pretzel place. Dunno if I’ll ever be able to tell the right lady that I’m sorry for my ill manners, but I’ll at least try.

01.06.02 :: 17:49

After a week and a half of houseguests I’m finally alone again. I think I’ll soak in my solitude for a while ^^; I did a lot better than I thought I would. Usually I OD on human contact after a few days, but I kept mostly mellow and made it through. Personally, I think work has upped my tolerance. As much as I try, I just can’t escape people while at work ^^;

I need to finish putzing around in FFX and finish it. That way my brain will be cleared (I hope) and I’ll get back to writing. I’ve been a bad bean and foregoing my nightly writing practice to play FFX. Bad bean, no biscuit. I need to fire off the next part of Sowing to Helen for proofing. (I should have given it to her while she was here, oops ^^; ) And I need to rework the omake that’s going along with it. I thought I’d done it once already, but I can’t seem to find that draft. Oh well.

I’ve been asked a couple times lately what my favorite video games are, so I might as well put the list here for everyone to see =] Except for the arcade games, this list is from game systems / games that I've owned. In no specific order...

Arcade: Street Fighter II: Championship Edition, Shinobi, Bust-A-Move, Samurai Shodown (any of them), World Heroes. (Heck, just stick me in front of an SNK Neo*Geo machine and I’ll drop quarters into it. They always had cool games ^_^ )

Atari 2600: Keystone Kapers

NES: Tetris, Yoshi, Final Fantasy, Crystalis, Shadowgate, Déjà Vu, Maniac Mansion, Quatro Sports (one of the 4-in-1 “illegal” carts). Runners up: Solstice, Wrath of the Black Manta

SNES: Final Fantasy 6 (I didn’t have many SNES games).

DC: Capcom vs. SNK, Chu Chu Rocket, Sonic Adventure 1 & 2. Runner up: Jet Grind Radio (even though I really suck at it).

PSX: Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Final Fantasy 8 & Tactics, Suikoden 1 & 2. Runners up: Valkyrie Profile, Kartia: The Word of Fate

PS2: Final Fantasy 10, Dynasty Warriors 3

What makes a game great IMO? Simple math, really. If I more than get my money’s worth out of it, then it must be a great game. Take FF8, for example. I paid $55 for it. I’ve easily got over 120 hours in it (that’s a very conservative guess). That means I paid about $0.46 per hour of enjoyment. Every game listed here (with the exception of the arcade ones) has sucked up my time in a similar manner.

Here are some of the games that the rest of the planet liked, I had, but didn't care for:

Super Mario Bros. 3 [NES] (I suck at Mario games), Gran Turismo 2 [PSX] (I suck at racing), Crash Bandicoot: Warped [PSX] (same as Mario), Mortal Kombat [Arcade / SNES] (Please tell me I wasn't the only teen appalled by the graphic violence of this game).

Speaking of games, while I was at the software store this afternoon I saw that Legend of Dragoon has been added to the Greatest Hits. Who on God’s green Earth decided *that*? Were they on crack and picking games at random? I can think of at least a dozen games that are more deserving of the Greatest Hits designation than Dragoon. What about, oh, Xenogears, Valkyrie Profile, Persona 2, Final Fantasy 9, Star Ocean 2, or Dance Dance Revolution, hum? I know many gamers would jump at the chance of picking up Xenogears for $25 instead of the $50+ they pay on Ebay for a used copy. I hope, at the very least, they went through Dragoon and fixed the numerous grammar / spelling errors before republishing it. But that’s likely too much to ask for...

01.07.02 :: 23:11

Today got off on the wrong foot. And when I say today, I mean, like, 2am sort of today because I was still awake then. For some reason I just couldn’t sleep. I edited the omake like I wanted to and then tossed and turned in bed until 8:30am. At 8:30am is when the first call from a mortgage company came in. I picked up the phone, told them my dad wasn’t here, and hung up. By 8:40am the same company had called back a second time (different representative though). In a remarkably polite tone (for me, considering that I hate sales calls) I explained that he leaves for work 6:30am (true enough...) and that he’s woken me up (half true). Annoyed, I got up and readied for work. I spend about an hour playing Blitzball before heading out the door. On my way out the phone rang again. Foolish me picked it up and it was another mortgage company. I pointedly told them to take us off their call list and went to work.

I have a plan now. I’ve turned down / off all the phone ringers in the house. If anyone calls they can talk to the machine. I’ve already given most of my friends (I’m sure I’ve forgotten someone) my cell phone number. If they need me bad enough they can call me on that. Heh... ^^; I asked Brian to set my cell phone voice mail for me ‘cause I didn’t know how to do it. He record a blunt (if not rude) message like, “You’ve reached Amanda’s cell phone. Either she’s busy or doesn’t want to talk to you. Take the hint and leave a message.” ^^;;; I couldn’t have put it better myself...

Work was only marginally better at best. I was buried out of my mind today like I was on Friday. Blech. A customer brought his machine in without an appointment and I had to try to cram it into my workload. Pisses me off. You don’t just drop by the dentist office for a cleaning. Why do people think they can do that with their computers? What’s worse, there isn’t a blasted thing wrong with his machine. I tested it last week and told him as much. He brought it back and guess what, there’s still nothing wrong with it! Bah --;

I have to go to work early tomorrow for an office meeting. I’m not looking forward to it for several reasons. 1) The meeting is being held at 8:30am when I’m usually still asleep. 2) I’m not being compensated for being there for it. 3) Office meeting == scolding. 4) The meeting will likely start a half hour to an hour late, effectively wasting my time.

Hum, in one blog entry I’ve scraped against two of my major peeves: telephones and wasting my time. The first doesn’t need further explanation, but the latter might. While I’m not against wasting time, I prefer to have it be my choice of when and where. I can (and will) be terribly impatient if someone is late for a meeting, for example. I was there on time and it’s a courtesy I expect to be repaid. Don’t make me wait when you’re the one who summoned me.

I remember once when my temper got the better of me. My mother asked me to make some deliveries for the print shop before I went to work. (I worked at a pizza place then and went to work around 5pm). My last delivery was to the home of Patrisha Linus’s mother. If you’re not an Oregonian (or don’t know) Trisha was Miss Oregon about 5 years ago. She went on to get second place in the Miss America pageant. She does a lot of local carpet commercials, but getting back to the story... Her mother was having a garage sale and kept chatting with people while I was standing there waiting for her to sign and pay for the delivery. Finally I lost my cool and shoved the package at her and told her to sign for it so that I wouldn’t be late to my real job. That stunned her into going to get her wallet and paying for the package. Grumbling the entire way I got in my car and went to work.

A few weeks later at a performance put on by the Rogue Opera, Trisha approached me to apologize for her mother putting me off ^^; That sticks with me. It wasn’t Trisha’s place to have to apologize for her mother. Nor (socially speaking) would the reigning Miss Oregon have to apologize to a peon like me. It was a nice gesture though. Reminds me to be humble, y’know? (If anything, I’m surprised I didn’t get an earful from my mother about it ‘cause Trish’s mom and my mom know each other).

So... I guess the moral of today’s story is to not step on my nerves. I don’t have many of them, but ones I do have are sensitive ^^;

01.08.02 :: 16:15

Gyah, I’m tired, really tired. My insomnia went for a second night. I got about 3 hours of restless sleep last night. That sucked. I plan on going to bed early tonight, like, as soon as I get off work. Well, maybe I’ll watch a couple shows from the Discovery “You’re on the Case” Tuesday. Fall asleep to it or something.

I was right on almost all counts when it came to the office meeting this morning. My boss was a half hour late. It wasn’t a scolding, no, it was a waste of time instead ^^; We didn’t discuss anything of real importance. The most important idea thrown out there (IMO) was that the meeting should be held right after I arrive at work. (Not to be egocentric or anything, but I’m the last person to arrive in the day).

It’s been another insanely busy day at work. I’m writing this up during one of the calms before I get slammed again. That way I don’t have to do it tonight, I can just go to bed.

Doing this blog has become part of my daily writing routine. Usually I spend 1 - 2 hours a day practicing my writing (with the exception of the last month because I’ve been too busy). I figure that writing is like any other skill; you have to practice to get any better. Musicians play their instruments religiously, by the same token I read, write, and edit. I can’t remember who said it, but to paraphrase a famous author, “You have to write 10,000 words before you start writing.” This is just part of my 10,000 words, y’know?

On that note, I am getting back into the groove after the winter break. I’m nearing the final edits on two more parts of Sowing, not including the one I’ve already sent to Helen to be proofed. I’ve got outlines and starts written for two more parts. Quistis is still being a pain in the butt to write, but when isn’t she (for me, at least)? ^^;

Maybe I’ll beat FFX this weekend. I’m sort of playing around and putting it off right now. I hate finishing excellent games. I don’t want the magic to end, especially with this one. I was somewhat spoiled on the ending months ago and, well, I don’t want it to be over. It took me nearly a year to build up the resolve to finish FFVIII. I finished FFIX right away ‘cause I didn’t really like it. The more I like a game, the less inclined I am towards finishing it ^^; I’m backwards, I know.

01.09.02 :: 15:22

Ah, the joy of frustrating people and others trying to return the favor. It’s amusing (if not stupid) the mind games people engage in; myself included. Call it sensible or just being petty (which a lot of it is), but every person does it. Here are my encounters with it today.

Example 1: Me turning away a solicitor

At my work place solicitors come by to sell their snack foods: jerky, nuts, etc. In the past we’ve had problems with them coming into the tech area and disturbing techs who were on calls, so I banished them from the backrooms. (If they disturb a tech who’s working, I ask them not to return). So they’ve learned to ask the front desk people to call the techs out. I don’t exactly approve of this either ‘cause they’re still taking people away from their work, but I try to be tolerant.

On to today... One of them came in and I was up front with Hollie (the receptionist). We had, like, 4 lines either on hold or ringing, we were both looking for files. In short, it was a bad time to try to sell us some jerky. The solicitor asked if we wanted any and I said no. She then asked me to call up the techs. I told her that I was the only one back there right now (I was just up front to get a file).

She commented that I wasn’t one who bought jerky from her last time and then walked over to the doorway to poke her head into the back. (She didn’t cross the threshold, though, heh, she must be a regular). With Hollie and I both obviously busy she called over to us asking where the techs were. I repeated that I was the only one right now and I didn’t want any jerky. In a huff she took up her bag and left, muttering about how rude I was. She must have a learning curve like a cliff if she didn’t understand me the first time I told her that... ^^;

Example 2: Shredding a fanfic written years ago

The net exists on it’s own time scale, that’s obvious. A year in real time is forever in net time, that’s just the nature of the beast. So it came as a surprise when someone posted a rather long and flamey review of “Distant” to the ASMR message board recently. I have three responses to this.

1) I wrote that story about 5 years ago and they decide now is a good time to shred it. Missed the boat on that one, didn’t they?

2) The person who did the shredding is best friends with another net personality that I’ve crossed swords with in the past. (I don’t take kindly to plagiarism). So I doubt very much that the “review” was indeed a review of the story itself. It was taking pot shots at me. I won’t swing at a pitch in the dirt to defend the story; it doesn’t need it.

3) And finally, I would like to *thank* the reviewer (and I mean that with all sincerity). Love me or hate me, at least you’re still talking about me and my ego thanks you for it. Even more so, it’s not me but the story that got the emphasis. Please, keep talking about my works, that’s how careers are made :)

Enough of that.

I finally got some much needed sleep last night. I slept for a couple hours right after work, then played FFX for a couple hours before going back to bed. It wasn’t as solid as I was hoping. I think my body was to the point of being too tired to rest, y’know?

It’s been a bad month for power supplies in the Anderson household. Dad fried the one to the mini fridge I got him a few months ago. And the cord to my laptop power adapter finally died. I ordered new adapters for both of us for a grand total of $100. Note to self: treat power adapters like gold o.O;;

I’m really digging the Omega Ruins in FFX. I so much as sneeze in that place and all my characters earn a sphere level or two ^^; Is it just me or does Kimahri suck? I probably built him up wrong or something. He’s woefully underpowered as both a fighter and a mage. I’m thinking of skipping him over to either Auron or Yuna’s track to see if I can make something of him before I finish the game.

I also thought of another way to make FFX that much cooler. Auron needs to borrow a line from Arngrim of Valkyrie Profile. After Auron beats down an enemy and he’s standing there with his huge sword he needs to growl, “Die and be silent!” like Arngrim does. That would be cool and very fitting IMO =]

01.09.02 :: 23:29

I had a nice evening chatting with people tonight. Talked a lot of fic with Corvus and Nightbreak. Now I just need to get off my fanny and finish up what I'm working on. Heh, I'll use the excuse that my laptop is out for the count until the power supply comes in ^_-

It's funny how ya get into habits, but I have a hard time writing on any other computer but that one. The screen's tiny, the keyboard is tiny, but it's like I get good vibes off that machine or something. I have a hard time writing when I use my desktop system even though it's what I've used for years before I got a laptop. I half suspect that it's the 17inch monitor doing it to me. So much white space to fill, it intimidates me o.O Before that I had a 14inch one.

Corvus sent me a bunch of FF8 pics. Usually I'm not much of a Fujin fan, but this one was too sweet to pass up having as my wallpaper for a while.

01.10.02 :: 23:46

I had an odd dream this morning. It involved FFX and Sowing. I can’t say more beyond that (because it would spoil both FFX and the fic), but it had the author in me dancing. It was like a good omen for the writing to come. I’ve written about 2.5 pages of fic today :D That’s a lot for me to get done around all the other things I do during the day. Even better, it’s solid fic that ties in well with everything else… [grins broadly]

I had a frustrating day at work and finally snapped at a couple co-workers. It’s been building up for a while and I just couldn’t hold my tongue anymore. No one’s perfect, myself included, I know this and fully accept it, but I’ve been fixing a helluva lot of mistakes lately. Yesterday I fixed two people being given the same username (it took 3 days to sort that one out). Today, for 3 different clients, I added email accounts that they’d signed up for but hadn’t been put into the server when the account was created. What finally broke me was when a new account had special instructions going with it. Instead of telling me (y’know, the person putting it into the server), Hollie told the person next to her. I asked them both how they expected the special instructions to be carried out if they didn’t tell me?

I think my biggest frustration is the lack of communication. I try to tell my co-workers everything that might have even a little relevance on their job function. If a part of the backbone goes belly up for 5 minutes I let everyone who answers phones know in case they receive a call from a user who’s wondering why they can’t get to eBay. I log even the inane ‘cause the devil’s in the details, y’know? But this is how big of break in communication there is right now. Tonight at the end of the day all these people started coming into the office with chairs. I had no clue what they were doing. They just started setting up like they were having a meeting. I went back to my cubby and puzzled it over. After their meeting started my boss came by to tell me that some Linux club was having their weekly meeting here tonight and to make sure they leave when I do at 7pm. I would have loved to know that before 30 men showed up. Not that I was thrilled about being left alone with 30 strangers! Geeks are some of the most passive people out there, but the female in me didn’t like the idea in the least...

Tonight I got more writing done, exactly zero FFX played, but I squeezed in a couple games of Tetrinet with Helen and the guys from college. Man, it’s been forever since I’ve played. Now I remember why I stopped ^^; The special blocks are too blasted small. Even with my glasses on I have a terrible time telling the q and g apart, and they make a big difference. [Quakes herself by mistake]. The other thing that irks me is the Switch block. Now, I don’t mind someone using it if it’s a legit switch, but when someone purposefully screwed up their screen by stacking up a bunch of blocks, quaking themselves, etc and then switches... I just want to reach through the screen and bitch slap the cheap ass SOB.

But it was still fun to play with ‘em. We’ll have to do it again soon. My fingers need the practice. They were cramping up by the end of the second game. That’s odd in and of itself considering how much I type / play games. I should have some of the most dexterous fingers out there ;)

After only a day of Fujin I’ve got the urge to change my wallpaper to something else. (I’ve got some nice ones from Valkyrie Profile). Heh, man, I’m fickle ^^; Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow. I’m afraid if I switch my wallpaper I’ll get the urge to start playing VP again. I really need to finish that game in Normal mode (and get the good ending).

01.11.02 :: 13:44

I had a half-baked thought today... It’s about the current state of the music industry / mp3s / music copying, etc.

Consider this... How many musical artists are there nowadays? A zillion by my last nose count. How many hours are there in the day? Quite a few less than a zillion. So we’ve got a zillion artists contending for an hour of your time to listen to their music.

Enter the mp3. It’s a quick way to sample an artist to know if they even make the list for further consideration. A zillion artists contending for 5 minutes of your time is a lot more reasonable than them going for a full hour.

This is a good thing for both artist and listener. Life is a buffet table; you should sample a bit of everything. Music should be the same way, IMO. Instead of trying to stop mp3s, the record industry should be pushing them like crack dealers on the corner. If they’ve got a good product, the consumer will gobble it up. Let them try to monopolize the buffet table fair and square instead of cutting the legs out from under it and offering a McDonald’s menu.

I feel fairly safe in speaking for Joe Consumer by saying that if I find something I like, I go for more. I’ve bought plenty of CDs after hearing a track or two of it from mp3. I feel better about buying if I know that I’m going to like at least a couple of tracks on the CD. Okay, so maybe this isn’t such a half-baked thought. Maybe it’s just *common sense*. Will someone please beat it into the record industry for me?

01.11.02 :: 20:51

Yay!! I got in the power supply for my laptop today. Odd thing too, the box is marked “Adult Signature Required”. My co-workers were wondering if I ordered in porn or something :P

It’s well timed, I’ve been on a writing tear lately ^_^ I ended up with about 20k last night and spent part of today tightening that up and writing more. [Big grin]

I should find some time to play FFX this weekend. Alessar and I have been discussing it a lot lately and I really should finish it before he does ^^; I started the game before he did, think I have more hours, and yet he’ll probably finish it first. That’s sad. I’ve just been putzing about too much.

He sent me a draft of a mini-FAQ he wrote for GameFAQs. I gave some suggestions for Blitzball and he added those to it ^_^ Now I just need to sit on him until he finishes his Persona 2 guide. It’s a time saver, that’s for sure!

Yggy crashed while I was trying to write this. Stupid Windows ate the video drivers [punts it]. Fujin looks horrible in 16 colors. Anyhow... I’m watching some funky show on The Learning Channel right now that has lesbian cops in it. A black man was yelling at the lesbian cops to get out of town. Ah... So much for tolerance ^^;

01.12.02 :: 18:20

I had a really odd dream this morning, but I only remember fragments of it. I remember that I was roller blading. I’ve never roller bladed in my life, not once. Despite that, I was really well; didn’t fall on my butt once, was doin’ tricks, the GGs would have been proud! But that wasn’t the odd part. Heh. Coke had decided to start distributing their soda in this weird fountain / 2 liter bottle combination. You took the bottle to the fountain, filled it up, then took it to another machine where it was capped. I have no idea what the logic behind it was, but they were selling it that way for cheaper than taking a cup to the fountain. Weird... ^^;

It was probably because I stayed up way too late (early) discussing ideas for Corvus’s latest FF8 fanfic. We were up ‘til 4am chatting. It’s nice having someone to talk to who knows the game as well as me. Like we can delve into deeper topics and nit picking the little details apart.

I got some FFX in last night, still killing time roaming around the Omega Ruins. I’m ridiculously powerful because of it. All I want is 1.4 million gil so that I can bribe Ultima Weapon, but it’s like I have to look under every rock to find a single gil while monsters will throw sphere levels at me :P I only need about 150k more gil before I’ll have enough.

Pepper’s been scratching at her right ear an awful lot lately. It’s not red, there aren’t any mites, and I’ve been cleaning it out as I’m s’posed to. I’m not sure what to make of it. I went to the pet store, thinking maybe the blue wash stuff the vet gave me for general cleaning was irritating her ear or something. They didn’t have any ‘gentler’ formulas that I could try.

I’m lucky to have a pretty mellow dog when it comes to things like this. Pepper may groan, put up a half hearted fight, and flee like I’ve just beat her afterwards... but once I’ve got her down she stays put, doesn’t nip or anything. She does expect a treat, though. I think I can manage that ^^;

I finally got mom’s new computer set up this afternoon. It took about 3 hours to set it up (including a lot of *cleaning up* before that could be done), final configurations, and teaching her to use it. She’s already called me once to ask a question. Maybe I should leave my cell phone off for the next week or so..? Kidding ^^;

I discovered that the speakers lacked the power supply to them (gyah! Not another power supply!) --; I looked through everything, but the PS wasn’t there. I called Dell to get one sent to me. They’re going to swap the speaker set out. It should be here Wednesday according to the nice (but admittedly baffled) representative who took my call ^^

Tonight, the guys from the college are coming over ^_^ We’re going to the Outback for dinner. I’m not even sure who all is coming. I know that Austin, Elf, and Dev are. I think Neil is as well. I invited Brian, but he can’t make it. My parents might tag along too. We’ll be our own little rowdy group, regardless =]

I’ve used 2 hours and 19 minutes of airtime on my cell phone. Most of which were racked up today by calling Dell and making dinner arrangements. I still think that any-time tech support was the motivating factor behind this leash. [laugh]

01.13.02 :: 23:20

Today was more active than I would have liked for a Sunday. Especially when I was up ‘til 4am playing FFX this morning. Stupid bean. I just had to get enough gil to bribe off Ultima Weapon. Then when I did it Rikku *missed* three times. I know that Ultima is big, but he should be buried in gil for as much as I gave ‘im. Grr-berf. After Ultima came Omega. What a pansy! We need real Weapons, like those from FFVIII. Yeah, those were a pain in the butt to beat o.O; After finishing that dungeon I finally continued on with the game and went into the last dungeon. I could have finished the game, but decided to wait until I had a few hours sleep under my ear. Wouldn’t do to finish the game and not appreciate it, y’know!

I woke up at 8am when Pepper pounced on me and demanded breakfast and wuvin’s. I gave her both and then crawled back into bed. When I woke up of my own accord around 11:30am it was to discover that I didn’t have 40lbs of mutt on me. That was unusual. I looked down on the floor and saw that she was laying there on top of my FFX book and notes. I should have taken that as an omen or something ^^; One thing or another was going to keep me away from the game...

Austin had asked me to run some errands for him today. Last time he was here he was on a quest to find Golden Sun for the Gameboy Advanced. After checking 4 stores, we found it at Kay*Bees for $40. That was more than he wanted to pay, but it was the only copy we found. He bought it and went back to the college. A couple days later I went to Fred Meyers and found it there for $30. For most people it would have been too late, but he had a feeling that a cheaper copy would be found shortly thereafter and hadn’t opened the one he bought yet. He wanted me to go pick it up for him and we’ll return the one from Kay*Bees. ‘Kay, no problem. I scurried down there to buy it, and lady luck was smiling on him. Freddy’s is having a week long, unadvertised (they often do that), 20% off video games sale. I bought the game for $24! Fear the bean ^^v

When I got home I'd flipped on the Ravens – Dolphins and hopped online to do some chatting when my dad showed up unexpectedly. He wanted to talk, go through the mail, do some chores around the house, and more or less eat up the first quarter of the game I was intending to watch. [laughs] He left and I settled in again, but it just wasn’t to be. Mom called with computer problems and I had to go down to her shop to fix ‘em.

I won’t go into the details but the problem boiled down to Windows being its usual pain in the butt self and my mother flying off the handle. I mean, really, she was panic-freaking like. Dad was telling her to chill and that I would fix the problem. Well, there really wasn’t much of a problem to fix. Windows just wasn’t recognizing a couple of her fonts (a vital thing since she’s a typesetter) and she acted as though this was the end of her business. ^^; (Yes, I know, I can be the same way sometimes, but I’m not *nearly* as bad as she is!) So, I kicked Windows and made it behave. She was calmed down and everything was fine.

By now it was 4pm and the football game was over ;_; I settled in and beat FFX [notches controller] Hum... I can’t say what I thought about the ending of the game. To even give my opinion might spoil it. I will say that of Final Fantasy endings, VIII’s is still my favorite. I really liked the creativity of it. Sure, plenty of games show a victory party at the end, but how many of them show the party through a camcorder – bobbing and out of focus? =]

I called Alessar to gloat and let him know that I beat it ^^; He was also playing and about an hour behind me. I *just* beat it before he did [laughs] He said he’d give me a call when we beat it and then we’d gabber about the ending. As I was finishing up that call another one came in. It was my dad’s turn to be having computer problems. Once again I went into town and fixed a computer. So much for having a day off from work :P

I persuaded / guilt tripped / extorted ( ^^; ) my mother into making spaghetti for dinner. I thought it was a fair trade for fixing her and dad’s machines today (and I know they’ll be calling me tomorrow, and the next day, and probably every day for the next two weeks... ^^; ) I got to chapter 3 (I think) of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice while dinner cooked.

Alessar called after dinner to say he finished the game. We chatted about it for a while (and will even more tomorrow =) I also chatted some with Eibra. He had some suggestions for things to try. One of which added a bit more depth to the story. So it’s all good ^_^

I’m not sure what game I’ll take on next. I may give myself a few days off to finish some other projects. I’ve got books to read, fics to write, gyah, letters to write. Erm... Yeah, I’ve got plenty to occupy my time ^^;

01.14.02 :: 23:13

Well, the time has come. After a two month break I’ve uploaded the newest part of the SeeDfic. This one, I’m still not so sure about. I needed to bridge between story arcs and months after writing it... it still feels like a bridge. Oh well, the upcoming stuff is much better trust me. I really like the omake that goes with it. I think it’s one of the better ones we’ve written. I wonder how many of the borrowed characters and ideas people will catch. Some are obvious, like Ohta from Iron Chef, but others will slide in under the radar, I’m sure. If I remember right, we borrowed from at least 7 sources outside of the FF universe in this omake. It’s great ^^

My mother didn’t call me at all for tech support today! That surprised me. I called her during my lunch break to see if everything was under control and she hadn’t run into any problems :)

I went by the library and picked up Goblet of Fire again. They stopped stamping the books and started giving a receipt for them instead o.O; Odd... There’s also a position on the library advisory committee that’s open. I wonder if they have a place for a bean? [laughs] Right, like I have time for something like that. [shakes head at self]

I talked my boss into having our weekly meeting tomorrow after I arrive normally. That’s good for Lance and m’self. We don’t have to get up early. Yay!

I’m listening to the soundtrack to Persona 2: Innocent Sin right now and wishing (once again) that Altus would bring it to the US. If any of your Altus peeps are reading this, bring out Innocent Sin! My wallet commands it! =] Except for Arc the Lad, there aren’t any games coming out in the next half year that I have my eyeball on.

01.15.02 :: 22:31

I’ve officially started my plotting for Anime North 2002. I didn’t make it last year, so this year I’ll make up for it! I’ve got the time off work already. Going to make the hotel reservations tomorrow. Yep yep, well on my way (at least for me ^^; )

I slept 10 hours last night. Dunno why I’ve been sleeping so much lately. I slept 9 hours to night before. Usually I get about 6 hours of sleep a night. I feel like tonight’s gonna be another ‘sleep lots’ type of night. ^^;

The new speakers for mom’s computer came in today. All I really needed was the power source for them. I took that out of the box, resealed it, and sent ‘em back to Dell ^^; Mom seems to be doing pretty well with the computer. She’s running into little things, of course, but all in all it’s going well.

It's finally gotten to the point where I *had* to say something in the ASMR thread about Distant. That’s really the best answer I can give.

01.16.02 :: 22:16

My net connection is moving like a slug right now. How frustrating. I’m trying to get work done and I can’t cause it’s dragging its fanny along [shoves it to go faster]. West Wing will be on before I get this post to AE done! Blast, it’s not going to happen --;

If you happen to pick up the Official Playstation Magazine this month, check out the FFX article (not like you wouldn’t already). There’s some funny stuff in there. My favorite insert is titled “7 unintentionally creepy thoughts that I had while playing FFX”: 6.) So Rikku is an Al Bhed. I’d like to “Al Bhed” her. 2.) Is Lulu popping out of her top? Number 6 I agree with whole heartedly while number 2 I wondered the first time I saw Lulu in battle ^^; I like OPM, their editors / writers say a lot of the same things I think ^^

Today’s activity has mostly been around the ASMR board postings. Honestly, in a month it’ll be like nothing’s happened, but right now some people are pretty angry for one reason or another. Personally, I’m not angry, even though I’m at the heart of this discussion. I guess now’s as good as time as any to give part of my rant...

A couple years ago while visiting Havoc in Toronto I was telling him about how some fanfic authors feud with others. After I was done explaining different groups in the Sailor Moon community and why they dislike each other and whatnot he shook his head and said, “With all the problems in the world, why do you fight over the little stuff?” (paraphrased, I don’t remember the exact wording, but that was the gist of it). That was an excellent question. Why do people let themselves get caught up in little battles when there are big ones out there to fight?

I’m still thinking on that one. I don’t think the wisdom behind that question is something that I should explain. Think on it, that’s all I ask.

I finally figured out how to put my impressions of finishing FFX into words without spoiling it. After finishing the game, I’ve found myself content. Kind of like how your belly’s full after a Thanksgiving dinner, not longing for any more. That’s how I’m feeling. I don’t need to launch into the next game right away. I’m still digesting this one. It’s been quite a while since I’ve had this feeling, so I’m savoring it. That alone makes it a great game IMO.

01.17.02 :: 23:23

I think my body’s getting revenge on me for all the late nights I spent playing FFX. I slept 10 hours last night and felt bushed this morning. Too much sleep? Probably. I’m more accustomed to getting about 6 hours a night.

Today was one little adventure after another at work. The first adventure was when I helped a complete computer newbie with his machine. He was so green that during the course of the half hour conversation we had for setting his machine up (a process that usually takes about 5-10 minutes) I had to tell him where the shift, enter, space, backspace, @, and . keys were.. ^^; Call me “Saint Bean”, if you will ;)

Shortly after that I got to meet our new technician that I didn’t know about until I was shaking his hand. (Ah, the lack of communication strikes again ^^; ) I’ve been told that he’s very good, and that I won’t have to train him on the basics. (That’s always a plus ^^ ) He’s also a fan of console games and RPGs. I think we’ll get along =] Though he loves FF9 and dislikes FF8. We’ll work on that, I’m sure I can bring him around ;) Kiddin’.

The power supply for dad’s fridge came in today. I went down to his work and set it up for him. His co-workers rejoiced (I’m not joking, I think they like his mini-fridge as much as he does). I then went down to mom’s to make sure her computer was humming along. (I’ve been stopping by every day at lunch to check in on her). All’s well there.

I’m going to a LAN party tomorrow (sponsored by my workplace). Usually I avoid the LAN parties like the plague, but they’ve finally pinned me down this time. I don’t care for the games they play. I don’t care for most computer games, period. My work machine can’t play most games, which doesn’t bother me. But past experience has demonstrated that my PS2 is mobile and I’m willing to bring it with me to work if a TV is provided to hook it up to. So they’ve nudged me into bringing that and some games and being part of the ‘team’ this time. I think I’ll hide in my corner and answer tech calls all evening. At the very least I’m not bringing my new controllers with me! I think I’ve got some of the original PSX controllers that lacked the analog sticks I can bring :P Nah, I’m not that cruel, but not my brand spankin’ new Mad Catz one. I’d be pissed if it breaks ^^;

I spent a good chunk of tonight gathering and organizing notes for taking another stab at Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. I’ve been considering starting over, especially since Alessar informed me that at 45 hours into the game I’m about a third of the way through. I really botched the first 15 hours of game play by not having a clue on what I was doing. I could have built my characters up a lot better if I’d figured out the battle system. I also had a kind of funky idea for a guide to work on while I go through the game. If I ever get anywhere with it, I’ll post the results.

Jackie’s asked me to help her with some things. I like how we’re getting together again and talking more. There was too long of a stretch when we didn’t talk on a regular basis. I’m making the effort to be there for her, ‘cause I know she’d be there for me. That’s what friends are for! I’ve also been talking to Jamie tonight for the first time in forever. This is great ^_^

01.18.02 :: 22:52

That LAN party was a huge success for those who wanted to be there ^^; A lot of fun, I’m sure. There were 20+ gamers there, pizza, soda, etc. I took my PS2 down and kept trying to play through a level in Dynasty Warriors 3, but couldn’t. Twice the fuses blew because all those computers drew too much power. And I kept being interrupted by having to (heh) actually do my job – pause the game and answer a call. By about 5pm my nerves were frayed. I was tired of tripping over network cables, listening to complaints about computers not working, and being buried in what little amount of work we were actually trying to do ^^; I left around 7:30pm, which was as early as I could escape and maintain my manners ^^; Brian did offer a bit of a reprieve during the afternoon when he stopped by and joined the party for a while. Too bad I kept getting calls and couldn’t talk / play with him =/

I probably pissed off a few people today. Bah, oh well, it happens. My problem is that I sometimes make people feel stupid. Unfortunately, it often happens when the person really *is* stupid and it dawns on them while talking to me... ^^; Here’s how a typical conversation goes downhill quickly:

Me: "What email program do you use?"
Them: "I don’t know."
Me: "What icon do you click when you want to check your email?"
Them: "I don’t know."
Me: "Then how do you check your email?"
Them: "I click the Outlook Express icon."
Me: "... Okay, so Outlook Express is your mail program. Go ahead and open it now and we’ll check your settings."

A very nice (but frustrated) old lady called today. She was about ready to toss her computer out the window. "My kids gave me this thing and said it was easy! It isn’t easy when you don’t know what you’re doing!" I sympathized. Children shouldn’t dump computers onto their inexperienced parents until they take the time to train their parents on how to use them. I talk to so many frustrated 50+-somethings who “got one for [holiday]” and it’s as useful as a paperweight to them. Take responsibility for teaching your parent as they took responsibility for teaching you! I make damn sure my parents aren’t tormenting some poor Dell tech support person, for example. Anyhow, I’m not without my resources. There’s a very good tutorial on the company website for first time net-goers. I carefully detailed the instructions on how to get to it and open it. She felt better for getting her frustrations out and promised that she’d go through the tutorial. I hope she did, I think it’ll help :)

There was a very good documentary about the history of Chinese martial arts theatre on Encore when I came home tonight. Got sucked right into watching it. There was some Jet Li flick that followed it, but I was distracted by looking at pictures of Ayumi Hamasaki. Vera maintains that the woman is ass-less. Judge for yourself. Personally, I think Vera’s onto something...

01.19.02 :: 20:19

Today got off to a rough start ‘cause of some disturbing dreams I had this morning. I had three dreams in a row with the same theme; being ditched, excluded, the odd bean out. Each dream was different, but it just changed the group of people who were trying to be rid of me. That didn’t leave me happy at all when I woke up. I also woke up with a stiff shoulder and arm. A hot shower helped to loosen ‘em up a bit, but even now they still ache.

I decided around 1pm that moping around the house all day wouldn’t be a good thing, so I went to mope around the mall :P Nothing really caught my eye. I wish the software store would plug the GameCube controllers in so that I can try Luigi’s Mansion. I decided to give a cinnamon pretzel a try. It was mess, very messy. I was on my way home when dad called me. He and mom were going to go to Yreka for lunch and invited me to tag along. It was more interesting than anything I was doing, so I accepted and off we went.

The pass was clear. It was kinda neat seeing the snow coating the mountains. In a way, it was like skin with little hairs (tree) poking straight up. I always laugh to myself when we cross the border inspection station. Their idea of inspection is a helluva lot worse than the airport’s. Sometimes I think the only people they catch with fruit are those who are either very stupid or don’t lie about it. The inspectors do have my sympathy for having to stand in their little booths out in the cold asking people if they have any fruit or not. That’s gotta be a cold job.

On the way there dad told me stories of things that happened this week. The power supply I bought for his fridge blew out after two hours of use. Dad was livid. He called up the fridge’s manufacturer (for the 7th time) to complain. After gnawing on them for a while they agreed that the problem wasn’t faulty power supplies, something in the fridge itself was shorting ‘em out. They’re sending him a new fridge and a new power supply.

I tend to think a lot while riding in cars. It’s hard to engage me in a conversation, like my body goes on autopilot while my brain thinks. So what did I think about today? I daydreamed a lot about being a published author. Someday... Someday... I also thought some on some things I’d like to try for Sowing, but I’m not sure I will ‘cause it might be pushing things too far in the FFVIII universe. (It might actually fit in better with the FFX universe).

I’ve been thinking about a character with the ability to communicate with monsters. Not intelligent communicate, per say, more like a master / pet relationship. The basis from this has been laid out in games like FFT (Mediator) and Persona (demon contact), but I’m thinking one step further. The character would be able to Provoke, Threaten, and convince the monster to go away (the usual), but they could also do Invitation to get the monster to join your party. That’s nothing new, the twist comes in that the character and the monster count as a single party member (unlike in Tactics where the monster was its own party member). The character’s primary means of fighting would be via their monster companion (kind of like the Aeons in FFX).

Think about it from a story point of view. What if said character convinced a Bite Bug to act on their behalf? Do they have the facilities at their residence to maintain the Bug? Would the townsfolk consider them a freak for taking a monster as a ‘pet’? As the last part of Sowing indicated, I hope to do more with monsters. I’ll have to build things carefully, but there’s a lot that could be done in that direction in my opinion :)

When I got home in the afternoon it was nearly time for the Raiders / Patriots game to start. I watched / snoozed through part of the first half when my cell went off. Jeff was in town and invited me to go to the Outback with him and a friend. Again, the invitation was way more interesting than what I was doing, so I got up and went to the Outback.

Oi, that made the third time I ate in a six hour period. My stomach feels like it’s gonna burst x.X; Usually my meals are spread pretty far apart. Anyhow, Jeff’s friend was pretty nice, but I don’t remember his name ^^;; I half wonder if they were on a date and Jeff called me for back up.

Hum... The football game just went into overtime. It’s going to be another night of watching TV, I can tell already... ^^;

01.19.02 :: 22:38

Pepper is such a dumbass mutt --; She ran off into the night when I let her out and I couldn't find her. I searched the property with no success. I then started searching the neighbors' property with no success. Then one of the neighbors came out to see who was wandering around with a flashlight. (The Neufelds watch the place like a hawk, lemme tell ya). So a half hour went by and I still couldn't find her. I called my dad to come out to the house. Pepper responds to his commands better than she responds to mine.

I searched our property for the half-dozenth time and then went out to the back fields and spotted her out there. Gyah! She wouldn't respond when I called to her. I couldn't get back there from where I was 'cause of the blackberry bushes, barbed wire, electric fence, and 3 foot ditch, so I had to go around. When I got to a place where I could get into the field I called again and she came. She went under the barbed wire and started skipping along like all was well with the world. I took her back into the house and glowered --;

Mom and dad showed up right afterwards. I couldn't scold Pepper at that point 'cause she wouldn't know what she was being punished for. She needed a bath after rolling in the cow dung. I drew her a bath and vented my anger by scrubbing the shit off her (which probably felt really good, dammit).

I'll be going by the pet store tomorrow to find a long lead I can put her on when I take her outside. Dunno why after 8 years she decides to screw her training and leave the yard --;

01.20.02 :: 19:27

I woke up in time watch the Ravens get spanked by the Steelers. That was an anti-happy game. My dad showed up during the first quarter, saying that he came over to replace the garbage disposal. He then promptly sat down on the couch to watch the game with me ^^; He didn’t get around to starting his work until the Rams / Packers game after that one. (It occurred to him that mom might want to know why he was gone for so long, so he should get down to work. ^^; )

He also brought some shirts with him that he wanted me to wash ‘cause mom refused to. No probs, toss ‘em into the washing machine and dump some detergent in there. It wasn’t until they made it into the dryer that I realized why mom refused to wash them. He’d been repairing a diesel truck and his shirts *stank* of fuel. I think I finally have most of the smell out of the washer, but I’ve been running it a good part of today trying to get it cleaned out. Bad dad, no biscuit :P

If the Ravens / Steelers game was painful to watch, the Rams / Packers one was even more so. Gyah! A turnover in the first 20 seconds of the game! WTF?! I won’t berate them anymore. I’m sure the Packers are going to be kicking themselves for the next six months.

While watching the Packers get their fannys handed to them, I worked on Sowing. I’m at the point in the story where I’m pulling all the threads together and wrapping it up. Difficult writing, in other words =/ I’ve rewritten many of the scenes in this part two or three times already. It’s slow going, but I need to get it right, y’know?

I’m kind of tired of having my computers crash as often as they do. My one at work crashes a couple times a day. My one at home (Yggy) crashes at least once a night too. I’m not sure why. I’m not sure what I’m doing to make the machine so unstable. The only machines I have that don’t crash are my laptop and my Linux box. Maybe for all the difficulties I have, some other user won’t have problems; kinda like sucking it up for the good of the common folk or something.

That nutty thread on the ASMR board about Distant has finally been closed at the thread starter’s request. A part of me wants to gloat b’cause Carp firmly put her in her place (thus prompting the closure of the thread), but I should be better than that. Hmph. I’ll be better than that tomorrow and gloat tonight ^^; Thank you, Jord. Even if your response had very little do with me and the story, it was good to see someone stand up and speak their mind without the bullshit.

My new wallpaper is Freya from Valkyrie Profile. She's hot, very hot =] If you haven't noticed already, I have a disdain for desktop icons. I need to get off my butt and reinstall LiteStep. The berf5b3.txt file sitting there is the part of Sowing I'm working on right now. I'm not sure yet where it will come in part-wise. Probably late teens or early twenties depending upon how my Quistis writing goes. The WinAmp skin is "Moonlight Megumi" done by Helen :>

01.21.02 :: 20:50

I got home from work tonight and the doorbell was making an odd buzzing noise. I went outside to look and some one / thing had smashed the trigger in o.O; No clue what happened there. There’s no other damage to the house that I could tell (not that I would have an easy time telling it. This place needs to be repainted big time ^^; ) *ahem* So I gave dad a ring to come by the house and fix it (or at the very least make it stop buzzing). His recommended solution was to smack it. Yeah... sure... anyhow, I pestered until he agreed to come over and really do something about the problem. He snipped the wires, so it’s not going to be making noise period now ^^v Hum, the phones are taken care of, and now the doorbell. I’m one step closer to paradise ;)

We got the new work schedule figured out today (I get to tell everyone what it is tomorrow ^^; The joy of being a manager and saying “Do it ‘cause I said so” ^^; ) I’m not that mean, I really did try to figure out a new schedule that would work out for everyone, but I expect protests. We’re going back to weekend support and, well, someone has to work the weekend. I’ve decided to share the pain and put us on a rotation so that everyone works a weekend day every 2 to 3 weeks. We’ll see how it flies at tomorrow’s meeting.

After a couple weeks of idle searching I finally found where the Final Fantasy Mages forums went. I’m such a moron for losing track of ‘em in the first place ^^; Now I have to post carpet bomb them to make up for lost time ^^v

I’ve been thinking about the prisoners at Camp X-Ray lately. I’ve tried to divorce myself of my US patriotism when considering their situation. When looking at it as impartially as I’m capable of, I think they’re being treated fairly. Some British officials have had their tails in a knot b’cause of a picture of the prisoners being blindfolded, shackled, and with a mask over their face. Admittedly, that sucks, but the military insists that they only use those measures when moving the prisoners. Then I got to thinking... Federal marshals shackle dangerous criminals when escorting them in and out of the courthouse, so that isn’t anything new. The masks would have been the first thing I put on them m’self. I wouldn’t want them spitting on me. Not just b’cause it’s gross, but b’cause of what an insult it is. I’d rather not put the guards into the situation of having to swallow an insult when it could have easily been avoided in the first place. The only measure that baffled me were the blindfolds, then I read that the military did it to keep the prisoners from gathering information on their surroundings. Yeah, that makes sense... not that they couldn’t do that from their cells / cages, but whatever. A blindfold isn’t a terrible thing on a short-term basis.

I got a bit more writing done last night thanks to Nighbreak sweatdropping at some of the dialogue I’d written. It’d taken me hours to pound out a paragraph or so, but after he poked at it, it all started flowing a lot easier :) Thanks!

It's supposed to snow 1 - 3 inches overnight. Oi oi... I don't like snow. Let's get this winter thing over with and get on to spring all ready!

01.22.02 :: 19:52

There wasn’t more than a smattering of snow on the ground when I went to work this morning. I think the weatherman is on crack. When he says it’s supposed to rain, it snows. When he says it’s supposed to snow, it turns out to be a pretty nice day. I’m getting restless for the winter to end. I’m ready for spring... That’s my favorite season despite having allergies.

The weekly meeting went, blah =/ It was cut short when the router went nuts and people couldn’t get online. No fun. I gave the staff their new schedules. That didn’t go over so well either --; I tried to keep them as close to what they already had as I could, but there were going to be some changes. Only one person (b’sides the new guy) didn’t bitch. He later asked to have his lunch hour moved to a different slot, which I was happy to do when asked instead of being bitch at.

Bob jumped down my throat for the schedule on behalf of one of the billing / tech people. He works half and half and Bob didn’t want him to be included in the new weekend rotation. Bah, he said that the guy needed time to do his work. What better time to get things done then on the weekend when there are few calls, I argued. I also said it’d be fine to let the guy go back to being full time billing staff if doing half and half was too much for him. Really, I don’t want to see anyone getting buried with work, but as a tech I’m going to require certain things of him and this is one of them.

Bob wanted to teach me more about being a ‘good’ manager. He said I should have gone around the office and gotten everyone’s opinion on what a convenient schedule for them to work was. In my opinion, scheduling isn’t a democratic process. You’re hired by your employer to work certain hours. If you have a problem fulfilling the requirements of your employment, you should find some other place to work. I’m not as hardnosed as that, but that is the base thinking. Work isn’t there for your convenience. You shouldn’t expect your workplace to accommodate your lifestyle. On the same token, work shouldn’t make unreasonable demands without compensation. I’m careful to make sure everything is fair. I wouldn’t go for something if it wasn’t...

It just pisses me when I go out of my way to make sure no one gets ‘screwed’ more than anyone else in scheduling and still people bitch --; And when it came to getting screwed, I’m I did it to myself rather than someone else. Not really by choice, but I agreed to trade shifts so that I’m now working the late night shift instead of the evening shift I’ve got now. Bah.

I told my dad about my new shift (it starts next week). He was pissed at them and at me for not having the spine to tell them to shove it. He argued that I was the manager; I was there the longest, why did I have to work the shittiest shift? I told him why. B’cause I don’t have a family or children to go home to at night. I only have Pepper, and she won’t die if I change her feeding times to match my own. That was bullshit in his opinion. He said I shouldn’t accept that as a good reason. “Being single doesn’t volunteer you for the crap shifts!”

I asked Vera’s opinion and she said I should listen to my dad more often. I asked Austin’s opinion and he thought it was cool that I’d be able to sleep the mornings away.

I think that’s what convenience me that this isn’t a good idea. I remember when I worked graveyard at the pizza place. I’d sleep until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I had such a screwed up sleep pattern. (And for the record, I was a supervisor there too. I know how to assign tasks and make a schedule...) I don’t want to waste my day away sleeping. I’m going to miss summer if I have to work late! I’m looking forward to the crisp spring evenings and simmering summer nights. I like taking walks around dusk, watching the sun dip behind the mountains and cast the entire sky in orange. I can’t do that if I work this schedule. I’ll have to grow a spine...

Dad ran the idea by me of buying a space heater for my room and leaving the heater off for the rest of the house. His suggestion makes sense. I spend 90% of my time at home in my bedroom (where my computer and game systems are). There’s no reason to be heating rooms I don’t use. I think I spend most of my time in here b’cause this house is too big for me. Four bedrooms, two bath, one bean and her dog. Yeah...

The troll who started the thread on ASMR has popped up again just days after running with her tail between her legs. She sent a harassing email to Jackie. While I have very little say in how others behave, I would like to offer some advice to Ms. Troll. Get a girlfriend. Get laid. Get a dog. Get a life. Honestly, I don’t care, but whatever you do, get the hell away from my friends. Your existence annoys us and we’d all be happier if we just ignored each other, ne? I won’t visit your website, read your blog, write you emails, or cross your path if at all possible if you pay me the same courtesy. Fair enough?

[Smiles at Pepper, who keeps putting her nose on the keyboard] Okay, I have some wuving to go give. I'll wrap this up... ^^

01.23.02 :: 05:26

It’s 5 in the morning. Y’know what sucks at 5 in the morning? Having the toilet overflow. Yeah, that sucks. Having to fix it sucks too. It’s lucky that I even caught it, actually. It was the toilet in the back room. The noise of water running through the pipes when there shouldn’t have been any woke me up. Normally I would have rolled back over and gone back to sleep, but I decided to investigate. Poked around and found that the floor in the back bathroom covered in water --;

I took the lid off the back of the toilet and was promptly sprayed across the legs by a stream of cold water. That sucked too. Biting off any four lettered comments I may've had on the situation, I stuck my hands in there and plugged the tubing that had popped out back into place and then put the rubber stopper back in its hole (which I suspect was the problem in the first place). I cleaned up the water and deposited the towels in the washing machine in the kitchen. Now I’m nursing a bottle of OJ wondering how long it’ll take for my feet to no longer be ice cubes...

01.23.02 :: 05:26

No more toilets sprayed me down after this morning. Wai ^^

Work was pretty busy today. I helped one of our customers with his new Compaq laptop. Sorry, but Compaq’s on the bottom of my list of quality laptops. The two best manufactures are Dell and Apple when it comes to laptops IMHO (depending upon the OS you want to run). Y’wanna know why they’re the best? B’cause they’re the ones that come into the shop the least for repairs :P

Anyhow, the machine had ME on it (bah, the worst of the lot) and was acting really funky. He spent 45 minutes on with Compaq tech support. They took him as far as they could and then sent him to speak with me. (They were good techs, they gave him notes to read to me that told me what I needed to know ^^v) I worked with him for 45 minutes and got him as far as I could take him. I then returned the favor and gave him notes to read to the Compaq tech. The Compaq tech worked with him for *another* 45 minutes before kicking him back to me. The end result, the guy needed to have the OS on his brand spanking new laptop reinstalled. (Tells you a lot, don’t it?) Once that was done, I was able to guide him through the last few steps and he was off and running ^^v I wish I could thank the Compaq techs he was working with. It’s not often that I run across another tech that passes a customer off as well as he did.

Per usual I visited dad during my lunch break today. I took my lunch down with me and was sitting at his desk eating when he came buy and stole half my lunch o.O; Dad’s so hard to predict sometimes. On the days I bring lunch for both of us he tells me that I shouldn’t have ‘cause he’ll eat it and then won’t be hungry when it’s dinnertime. On the days I don’t bring him a lunch he gets pouty. It’s funny, but I just can’t win, y’know? ^^;

I wonder if I’m developing a facial tick or something. I have one muscle by the corner of my mouth that keeps spasming. Last year I had a muscle by my eye that kept twitching that was the result of stress. Weird... ^^;

01.24.02 :: 23:26

I’ve been in a Valkyrie Profile mood today. I read through some of the guides on GameFAQs. The game holds my interest ‘cause I like Norse mythology and it’s just fun, even though it does involve evil things like platform jumping. I wrote a rant / review of it on the Bahamut Infinite forums. I’ve been flip flopping between playing VP and Persona 2 since finishing FFX. Alessar suggested that I mail VP to him so that he can give it a try and that’ll keep me on the straight and narrow of playing Persona 2 [laughs] Nice try ^^

I ordered the FFVIII Ultimate Game Guide from Anime Nation today. Of course, it’s kind of belated at this point to still be doing FFVIII research for my fic, but maybe I’ll find something in there to inspire me on how to write Quistis. They have a sexy Belldandy figure, but I don't want to pay $40 for it o.O; I'll just stick with buying all the trade paper backs (new one coming out in March! ^^), DVDs, and the occasional toy.

The replacement fridge dad badgered out of the manufacture arrived today. I need to remember to take it to him tomorrow. I’ve also got to take him my tax forms so we can begin the yearly tradition of begging the government for some of my money back.

Only two noteworthy things happened at work today: I tried Pepsi Twist for the first time and I chose a new Yuna wallpaper for my computer. Pepsi Twist was okay. It probably would have tasted more 'refreshing' if it'd been a cold can that I drank instead of a room temperature one. The only drink I like room temperature (and will leave out to get it that way) is orange juice ^^;

Happy berfday Jackie! I hope it’s a great day for you and that you enjoy it. At least it’s on a Friday night and you don’t have class tomorrow. Go out and enjoy it! Heh, my mom’s birthday is this weekend as well and I haven’t gotten her anything yet. Oi oi ^^; Maybe I’ll go down to the software store and buy her a copy of Catz or something for her computer... (do they even make that software anymore).

(For what this entry lacks in length, I've make up with in links... hehehe).

01.25.02 :: 19:29

Today was dull, very dull, but that’s okay. It’s good to not have an adventure every day. Highlights of my day included my brother calling my cell phone to tell me his new number. My dad answered the phone though ‘cause I was driving ^^; Brian stopped by my workplace to pick some stuff up. He might come over tomorrow to play Dynasty Warriors 3 with me =] And the FFVIII book I ordered yesterday is on backorder ;_; That’s it, pretty dull, eh? ^^;

I wrote some more on a WAFFy SeeDfic scene that is complete drivel. It’ll likely never see the light of day b’cause it sucks, but oh well. I have to vent the female squishy feelings that are sometimes in me somehow ¬.¬;;

The Gamers.com weekly “Thinking Out Loud” newsletter is funny. It’s a nice way to kill 10 minutes on Fridays. The editors say things that are blunt and you wouldn’t get in a print publication. If you like gaming newsletters, I’d recommend subscribing.

Bah, I'm bored. I'm going back to playing Valkyrie Profile.

01.26.02 :: 22:23

Gyah, I’m a bit under the weather and I hate feeling this way =/ I shoulda known that my body was tellin’ me something when I kept sleeping 8 – 10 hours a night all last week. Usually I sleep around 6... When I woke up this morning I had an itchy throat and a headache. Still got the headache and a lot of phlegm in my throat. That’s what annoys me the most. Not being able to breathe or swallow freely. =/

Enough of that. I’ve racked up 12 hours of play in my current game of Valkyrie Profile... And I’d started a new game last night when I got off work ^^; Yeah, you can tell what I’ve been doing all weekend. When I wasn’t asleep I was playing VP. I’m in the middle of the 3rd chapter right now. I don’t know why I bothered messing with the Easy setting. Normal has a lot more stuff and is more fun to play. I think when I’m done I’ll send the game to Alessar like he suggested. I think he’d get a kick out of it ^^

Pepper’s being kind of a twat. Usually when I’m not feeling well she’s really sensitive and just hangs out watching me. Today she’s restless, keeps trying to get past the gate into the back half of the house, and insists that she has to go outside every half hour. --;

I did leave the house for a little bit. Mom’s berfday is tomorrow and I hadn’t bought a present yet. I went looking for a copy of Catz (‘cause she had it on her last computer and really liked it ^^; ) Couldn’t find one. Not surprising considering how old that program is. I bought her the Forrest Gump special edition DVD instead. It’ll be her first one. My parents are growing up so fast =~)

01.27.02 :: 21:12

I got into a big fight with PageMaker this morning. I couldn’t sleep (my body ached, but my mind wouldn’t rest) so I decided to format Sowing like my brother’s been asking me to. Then I’ll print it out and mail him a copy. That’s what I was trying to do, except PageMaker wouldn’t open. Grr. I uninstalled it and then reinstalled it. 90% through the reinstall (when it came time to install Quicktime 2.1 [snerk]) it kept faulting --; We went around and around for about an hour. Finally around 4:30am I kicked it hard enough and it started working again. Stupid program.

I went to bed around 5:30, when my mind would finally let me. I woke up around 11:30 to find Pepper in my face wanting to be let out. She’d wanted to be let out at 5:30, but I didn’t go for it. The ground was covered in snow and I had no desire to stand on the porch waiting for her to sniff it all before whizzing.

I got together with my folks to celebrate my mom’s berfday in the afternoon. We first went to see the Count of Monte Cristo. It was pretty good. I’m not sure I’d go see it again, but I’m not left wanting my 2 hours of life back :P After that we drove to Kfalls for dinner. There was ice, lots of ice, and it was cold. Bah, so glad I don’t live there anymore ^^;

01.29.02 :: 00:52

I’m not so sure about this new work schedule I started today. Pepper certainly wasn’t aware of it. She was hoping up and down on top of me at the usual time demanding to be fed. I didn’t want to get up. Not because I was being a lazy bean and sleeping in, but ‘cause I was still blasted tired from not feeling well. I got up anyways and took care of her and got ready for work.

There is one advantage to my new schedule; I can run my errands in the morning. That’s what I did today. Got gas for my car, went to the market, returned library books, and I ticked off the 10-10-220 guys. How? By spending a dollar to mail a one page letter to Canada o.O; I hadn’t realized postage had risen that much. And the lady wanted me to fill out a customs form for a *letter*. Excuse me? I admit that I’m not an expert on the postal system, but what on earth would I put on the customs form? "1 sheet of paper, 2 grams of anthrax" =P

I more or less did nothing at work today. There just wasn’t that much to do. I’m not complaining, mind you. I kept having coughing fits and talking on the phone too long made my throat all itchy. Having a bit of a lull was nice. I walked down to my mom’s at lunch (which was actually dinner for the rest of the west coast, but who’s counting? ^^; ) and gave her an article I printed out for her. I then walked down to my dad’s work to see how he was doing. He’d left early today o.O; I whipped out the cell phone and gave him a ring, but he didn’t answer ^^; Went back to mom’s and was rummaging around her shop looking for something to eat (b’sides ReRun’s cat food) when dad called. He was up at her apartment, so I walked there and raided her cupboards. Yum, Spaghetti-O’s. (o.O! Spaghetti-O’s is in Word’s dictionary.)

This evening I reaffirmed the fact that I have very little sympathy for people who want help but won’t help themselves. A customer bought a new computer (their first one) with XP on it. XP is supposed to be the OS for the completely inept. Nope, I found someone who can resist its ease of use. Anyhow, been helping him and his family for a week now. Tonight his wife called and gnawed into me ‘cause they couldn’t use their computer and accused us of not providing any help. I know for damn sure that I provided the resources to get them going. (Got them hooked up with online tutorials and carefully walked her husband through how to use his net connection. I do this for a living... I’ve done it literally thousands of times... I know what I’m doing). I asked her if she’d made use of any of the resources I provided, or even the ones that came pre-loaded on the machine. She hadn’t and didn’t see why she had to. Um... Maybe because you can’t jump into a car for the first time and expect to drive like Jeff Gordan? Bah, that got her immediately added to my ‘fool’ list. If you can’t be bothered to take the time to learn a skill and then complain when it’s not natural, you don’t deserve the ‘toy’ that goes along with it.

I’ve continued my work on formatting Sowing to print out and send to my brother. Gyah, I hate going through my own fics after I release them. I find so many errors / things I’d like to change --; I’m never satisfied with my stories. If I were to start writing Sowing today I’d toss out half the stuff I’ve done. It’d end up a completely different story. I guess... One way to look at writing is in terms of benchmarks. I just hope that I keep growing every time I look back to see where I’ve been.

Jackie hooked me up with www.quistis.dot.nu. That was a nice surprise =) Thanks Jackie! She also hooked me up with xu@rinoa.net, which is, admittedly, easier to remember than gbeans@tyrlen.org. If you want a rinoa.net forwarder you can get one from her.

I watched the first 5 episodes of Princess Nine tonight. I wasn’t sure what to think of it just looking at the DVD case in Suncoast. I learned not to judge an anime by its cover from Battle Athletes (which *does* have a story). I guess I just fear another Slam Dunk. Well, I’m happy to say that Princess Nine isn’t that. It’s more like BA and I’ll be adding it to my ‘buy’ list of anime. I liked it a lot ^_^ (Being a baseball fan to begin with doesn’t hurt ;)

01.30.02 :: 03:17

Man, my system’s getting knocked all out of whack by this cold =( Yesterday morning I woke up in time to go to work. Went and was miserable, then at lunch went to my mom’s apartment and attempted to nap (didn’t happen, I kept coughing). After work I was so tired. I made myself eat dinner and then slept for a few hours. Now it’s nearly 3am and I’m awake again. Got up ‘cause I kept having coughing fits =/

On a happier note, my bro called me at work today. (Unfortunately, I was pretty busy and could only speak with him for a few minutes). He’s going to try to come up here for a visit. That would be great ^_^ Heh... My bro and I... We get along great when there are at least a few hundred miles between us, but as soon as we’re in the same room together we start fighting ^^; Doesn’t matter, I still love him, miss him, and hope he gets the chance to visit :)

I’ve decided that ME is the evilest incarnation of the Windows family. I disliked ME to begin with because it eliminated DOS (a vital tool in some cases). Well, I found another reason to dislike it. Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Connection Sharing *do not* like to play nicely together =( The machine I was working on this evening was doing some of the stupidest things. I know that computers are only what you program them to be... And I have to wonder if the programmers at Microsoft even talk to each other when they’re writing components. Bah. I generally advise our customers to stick with Internet Explorer 5.5 SR2. It’s the lesser of evils...

I’m about half way through the first run on formatting Sowing for my brother. I’m taking the opportunity to fix many of my mistake while I’m at it --; Gyah. It’s also nice to reread some of the scenes that I’ve done *right*. Those give me a warm fuzzy feeling, so it’s all good. Just gotta keep trying!

01.30.02 :: 19:56

Well, when 6am rolled around this morning I called my dad to ask him out to breakfast. He met me down at the little café by the house. It’s one of those places where you walk in and everyone knows you and you can have a conversation with the guy sitting across the room (this morning the old folks were talkin’ taxes).

Anyhow, we ate and he had some advice from mom; get some Triaminic. After breakfast I went over to Albertson’s and tried to figure out what color I wanted (red, it turns out). I went home and took some thinking that it wouldn’t do a thing for me. I haven’t taken Triaminic since I was a kid. I stretched out on my bed and a few hours later my alarm went off o.O; It was the best sleep I’ve had since before the weekend. Thank you mom!

I got a funny call as soon as I came into work:

^^;;;;;

I’ve got one more dungeon left in Chapter 4 of Valkyrie Profile before I can go onto Chapter 5. Maybe I’ll finish that up before I go to bed.

01.30.02 :: 23:49

Grrr... Pepper’s back on my shit list --; She ran away again. Dad was the one who found her this time a couple houses away. It was friggin’ cold out there and my nose did not appreciate it...

I watched the end of Gasaraki tonight. Would someone care to explain it to me? My current impression is to be more disappointed with it than I was with the TV ending to Eva. Maybe I had my hopes set too high... I shoulda known that the kai weren’t going to hop in the sack together for a midnight rendezvous...

Name: Amanda Anderson
Nickname: Greenbeans
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Home: Centra Garden

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