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02.01.02 :: 00:36
I posted the next part of Sowing tonight. Now I need to get off my lazy butt, get out of this funk, and start writing quality fic again. [Stalks Quistis until she becomes an agreeable fanfic character again.]
I went home early from work today. I just needed a chance to rest. I feel like I’m on the verge of kicking this thing, but I keep pushing too hard and making it worse instead of resting. So, I rested this evening. I had some funky dreams too o.O; Won’t go into those... I’ve been sneezing a lot lately. Hopefully this is the last symptom mutation before it’s finished owning me.
I also played some more Valkyrie Profile. I *hate* those friggin’ cow lickin’ electro-balls-o-death that keep blowing my party into next week. When I say "DIE!!", I don’t mean that I’m the one going back to Valhalla, buddy! At least I’ve gotten good at beating down those dragon warriors that used to terrorize my party. Yeah, they aren’t so tough when you Sap Guard them.
02.01.02 :: 14:47
WAIIIII!!!!! My bro's coming up to visit =D!! I'll have someone to fight with for a week or two =D I'm jazzed. He'll be here late tomorrow night. My folks are going to the coast this weekend. They won't be here when he arrives. Heh.. ^^;
I've been doing pretty well with pulling tech solutions out of my fanny today. It's just been one of those days where my brain is pulling solutions from left field and they're actually working o.O; Heh, days like this make me look cool even though it's partially guessing ^^v
02.01.02 :: 17:48
[WARNING: The following post goes heavily into my religious beliefs. If you don’t want to read about God, then skip this post. In short, it’s my blog and I can talk about God if I want to. I’m not forcing anyone to read it.]
It’s odd that I’ve gotten two emails about this in one day. Actually, not so odd, they tend to come in waves. Anyhow, I’ll answer both here.
Email 1 is from a homosexual blasting me for my belief in God and challenging me to tell them about my God.
Email 2 is from a heterosexual blasting me for my belief in God and challenging me to defend it.
Wow, to be in such a cross fire, I’m honored ;)
I’ll answer the first email by telling you about my God. He is merciful and has forgiven me for my countless shortcomings. He gives me strength when I am weak, courage when I am afraid, guidance when I am lost, and hope when I desperate. He gives of Himself freely and overwhelmingly, all I need to do is ask. He lays His hand upon my heart and calms my spirit. Especially in times like this when I open myself for others to see what lies within me. This subject is something that is too important to me (and, I believe, Him) to not put myself at risk of rejection, flame, or threat.
To answer the second email. I do not believe being homosexual is the work of a demon any more than having the common cold is. It is not an ailment we are inflicted with, nor one in need of cure. For one devote to Him, is it really so hard to believe that He made us this way? Man is the one who insists on segregating the population into those who are sinners / damned / whatnot. For those who insist on condemning others, I ask this: Is God no longer capable of standing as the judge of our hearts so He had to appoint man in his steed? I trust God’s judgment a thousand times over man’s. My day before Him will come and there’s plenty to be held against me, but I sincerely believe that this isn’t one of the things He’ll condemn me for.
The reason I feel compelled to speak regarding God and homosexuals is because it breaks my heart when I think of those who have either turned their backs or were turned away by others. Why does man get to decide who may worship God? That’s what this comes down to. I can’t even properly express what an absurdity it is to think that God hates homosexuals -- to dare think that a Father hates His children. I question if those who believe this way are even familiar with the basic tenets of the religion?
I’ve had more than one person send me the oft beaten (and I think misunderstood) bit of wisdom of “God loves sinners but hates sin”. Thank you for pointing that out, now kindly include yourself in that classification as well. You have your sins to atone for, we all do. Don’t hide behind worn turns of phrase or mindless bigotry to justify pointing out another persons’ shortcomings. It’s not polite to point, as it were. To use this phrase to say that homosexuality of a sin is not only misleading in its accusation but gives the impression that you are above such things as sin. Humble yourself.
Whenever I write a response to an email on this subject or a post to the web I pray to God for guidance. I ask Him to speak with me and through me. My ultimate goal (if it’s all right for a ‘villain’ to reveal her plans before the end of the story) is to comfort those who have lost their way. Those who tell me that I’m wrong or challenge me to defend my God are nothing more then detractors from my calling. They may say and do as they wish, it’s not them that I’m interested in.
I wish to speak honestly, openly, and passionately with those who are afraid. I want to make it abundantly clear to those who are lost that they needn’t be. God’s love is greater than the seas, deeper, and more filling. He will not leave you stranded on the shores if you are willing to be rescued by Him. There will be sharks in the water, ready to attack, and high waves that seem crushing, but with Him as your boatman you will survive. And when the storm is over, you will rejoice at finding Him again. Don’t trust my word on that alone; I am but a human. Trust *His* promise on these things. It’s everlasting and greater than any other.
At times I think of myself as the polka dotted sheep standing in the Lord’s flock. And while all the white sheep are making their way, following Him, few of them look back to see all the other polka dotted sheep who are on the fringe, alone. I’ll leave the safety of the flock to reach out to the ones like me. It’s okay to be polka dotted and a part of the Lord’s flock! He’ll watch over us just the same regardless of the pattern of our wool. Not to sound too corny (which I already do), but it’s what’s on the inside that counts. All too often we forget that, I think.
With each email I receive I’m given another opportunity to speak of His love for us *all*. Not just those with red hair or the smart kid sitting in the back. I would encourage my brothers and sisters to get back to the roots of our teachings. To not just pay lip service to His love for all, but to truly believe in it and share it. Treat all people with kindness, be they kinsmen or not. Is that really so much to ask?
02.01.02 :: 23:21
I am what I am.
02.02.02 :: 08:00
Oi oi, I’m killing time until my parents call me in an hour. When I spoke to dad this morning he said I should go to the Dr. ‘cause I was up early again this morning unable to sleep. He might have a point now that I considered what time I went to bed... 2am and I woke up at 4:30am too congested to sleep. Bah, I say.
I’ve been idly working on editing Sowing while I wait. I also dug through my old IRC log files for the foundings of #fanfics. LeVar was talking about the other day and I was right in thinking that I’d have some logs from that time. I gathered the logs together and sent them to him. It was mid-June ’98 from what I can figure. He’s more of the channel historian than I am. He’d be able to get a better grasp on the timeline of events than I could.
I also changed my wallpaper again. I’m fickle, so sue me.
02.02.02 :: 22:06
I think I'm taking too many tests lately. This one is a (very) abridged version of the MB test. I've taken this test before in college and, well, this is what I am ^^;
ISTJ (Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging) aka Inspectors
You're systematic, thorough, painstaking, and hardworking...You get the job done and complete it on time...you are serious and sincere in whatever you do..you work well within a structure...follow the hierarchy...and are particularly strong and careful in keeping track of facts and details...
Cautious...generally seeking to maintain the status quo...you are at your best getting things to the right place at the right time....
Serious, responsible and sensible stalwarts of society...trustworthy and honor your commitments...your word is your solemn vow. Practical and realisitic, you have great powers of concentration....hard to distract once you have embarked what you believe is the best course of action.... ..
You like to apply past experience to present decisions...you can cite accurate evidence to support your views...you're down to earth and seek to do the right thing at the appropriate time...you find it hard to understand people who start an education but don't finish it...
You are diligent and persevering in your efforts...whether it be school, or work, or love...A half-finished job is not a job well done...you probably believe in "Say what you mean and mean what you say." Private by nature, you appear calm in moments of crisis...
You believe in work before pleasure...(gee, like posting before playing the online games on Storm Palace?)..while you don't SEEK leadership positions, you might find yourself in one...you build a reputation for reliable, stable and consistent performance...
You like to schedule....even your LEISURE time! It helps to you if it has a purpose, even if that purpose is sociability...to you, love means bigtime commitment, steadiness and consistency...you behave appropriately for what the situation demands (for example, romantic in the beginning, and so on)..
When you give your word and are ready to settle down, you follow-through... you expect your partners to act in a similar manner...you may stay in a poor relationship because of a sense of duty...you might have strong but unspoken reactions under that cool facade...
Logical and analytical...quick to point out flaws in other people...when you feel scorned in a relationship, you may not let your partner know it..when it's obvious that the relationship is really over, ending it is just the practical thing to do...
Things to look out for: you could immerse yourself in details...you could become rigid in your ways and be thought of as inflexible... don't forget to compliment people and be so concerned with getting the job done....you might overlook the long-range implications of your actions today...don't get stuck in a rut...recognize your emotions, and the values they represent... others might see you as insensitive...
Also, you're skeptical of new ideas you don't see immediate and practical applications for...you may impose judgments on others...expect others to be the way YOU'd be...become more tolerant of difference between people.
In other news, I gave Pepper a bath today and my bro is 2 hours south of here :)
02.03.02 :: 13:36
My bro arrived safely around 1:30am last night. Hehe, it was funny. I was getting worried, so I gave him a ring on his cell. “Where are you?” I asked. His response, “Standing in the driveway.” ^^; I went out and greeted him. He hugged me, cuddled Pepper, and the first thing out of his mouth was “She needs a bath.” Ha! I *knew* he was going to say that! I informed him that I gave her a bath that afternoon and that she was just naturally that ugly ;) Kiddin’ ^^
While waiting I watched Love Hina. It’s not a bad series. After six episodes I still haven’t decided which gal is my favorite ^^ That’s not all bad either. I wonder how many episodes there are. I’ve got 1 – 24 here and am fairly certain that’s not all of ‘em...
I went out to the kitchen this morning and was surprised to find that my bro had brought *8* kitchen garbage bags full of laundry with him o.O; At first I only saw 5, then I went around the table and found another stash of them. What the..? I thought the ‘bring your laundry home with you’ thing ended when you left college... ^^;
02.03.02 :: 21:22
Ah, it’s good to have Nanki here ^^ He’s just, a funny guy, charming, I laughed a lot today. I wish I could write down all of what he’s said, but a lot of the humor would be lost ‘cause delivery is important. I mean, he freely admitted that he rummaged through my boxes that I have stored in his old room, but I don’t mind. [laughs] It was funny watching him trying to figure out what to do with some of the things that I have in there.
After dinner he had an hour to kill before going off with his friends, so I showed him FFX. He was doing this to humor me and we both knew it. I’m a geek and he’s a prep who makes fun of geeks ^^; I wanted to show him some of my favorite FMVs from the game. I did, and then I showed him some battles, and then my guts decided to tie up in knots o.O; I hate when that happens. I handed the controller over to him and went to the bathroom until the pain receded. Meanwhile, he fell in love with Yuna and her summonings ^^; *That* was a surprise. I got a bigger one when he asked me to get him a PS2 and FFX for his berfday o.O;
Now, I don’t object to getting him that, though I’d ask my dad to chip in with me for it (it’s a spendy gift ^^; )... But I’d want to be sure he’d actually *use* it. He ‘inherits’ my old game systems from me when I get the newest ones, and I’m not sure how often he plays those. He said that he plays FF8 even though he didn’t like it (Nanki! ;_;) and was diggin’ what he played of FFX. I guess even if he didn’t use it for gaming, he could use it as a DVD player (which he doesn’t have). I’ll toss the idea around.
The other problem is that from mid-March to mid-April is when many of my friends’ berfdays are. In a month’s span I’ve got Nanki’s, Austin’, Elf’s, Adam’s, Mare’s, and mine. I dunno why we’re all Aries, but we are o.O; Hehehe... And it shows when we try to out-stubborn each other. (Elf and I are the worst about it ^^; )
Anyhow, Nanki’s a brat. He’s going to Portland mid-week to visit friends. I found out tonight that my dad is going to Portland mid-week for school. I want to go up to Portland. ;_; I’ve got friends I could visit. Plus I’m not going to get as much time with Nanki as I was hoping. Oh well... He’s an active person, not content to stay still for long ^^; I’d better get my torment of him in while I can then. [grins]
02.04.02 :: 23:34
I forgot two names in my earlier list of berfdays: Sean and Ysa-chan. It’s good that I was reminded, I knew I was forgetting some people... oops ^^;
Today was pretty adventure-less. Nanki and I went to “lunch” (lunch for me, anyways) at Kazuko’s, but I was late ‘cause I got stuck on a call --; While I ate he told me stories about what he did in high school on senior skip day. Things I’d never imagine doing. Hehe, I know which one of us got the mischievous streak (and the will to use it) ^^;;; Nanki and my folks went to dinner and a movie, but I couldn’t make it (of course). Oh well, can’t win them all. After work Nanki and I watched Tomb Raider.
I watched a couple more episodes of Love Hina. I thought episode 8 had me in stitches, but 12 did me in! [laughs] I’m glad no one else was around when I watched ‘em. It would have been embarrassing to have someone see me howling with laughter ^^; 8 and 12 are both Motoko episodes, so I guess it’s safe to say that she’s my favorite character. Though Mitsune is right on her heels! I like Motoko’s personality and Mitsune’s looks. Maybe mush them together into a single woman or something? =]
02.05.02 :: 15:40
Wow, I think I’ve used my cell phone more in the last few days talking to Nanki than I have the entire month I had it ^^; I guess it is useful when trying to locate someone who is always on the move. And probably why I don’t really need one. I’m one of the easiest people to find if you know what my 4 ‘hangouts’ are :P [Home, work, mall, or market and the last two I’m not there for long, only to buy something.]
I had a really odd dream this morning. I dreamt that I was given a pager as a gift, but this pager was the size of a Gameboy Advanced and it could play games. (It didn’t take carts, but it came preprogrammed with ‘em). It was pretty spiffy. Then a former co-worker of mine that I didn’t really care for got one of these game pagers and wanted me to configure it for him. It was way spiffier than my spiffy one was. It had 8 menu screens of games (including Mario Kart and a Gasaraki game o.O ) and a bigger, crisper, display.
So I configured this thing and then I had to go to class, or something like that. It got weird at that point. I was in an upper story classroom and my teacher told me to leave ‘cause I wasn’t welcome. So I took off my pants (I had blue running shorts on underneath, pervert!) and jumped out the window. I was also wearing a long coat with large pockets, that’s what I kept the pagers in. It was a tin roof and I was sliding down it from level to level. When I got to the edge, I’d jump to another part and then slide down it.
I’d gone down several stories before a teacher spotted me. It was Mr. Buck, one of my high school English teachers. He gave a startled exclamation and then went to get help ‘cause he thought I was in danger. I got off the roof through a window after he’d turned the corner, so he didn’t know where I’d gone. We then just missed each other in a stairwell when I kept hoping down levels without regard to safety. The dream was fun in a way ‘cause of how reckless I was, acting in a manner that I never would otherwise. It was weird.
I’ve decided to put up a capture of one of my work desktops. I can’t put up all my desktops, but another one that I commonly use wouldn’t hurt ^^; FYI, the Yuna wallpaper on the work desktop looks *a lot* better than my capture of it. The screen cap doesn’t do it justice.
02.06.02 :: 13:57
I’m playing with my blog layout a little bit, mostly just adding stuff that I think would be neat. I got off my lazy butt and added a link to Water, Wind, Metal & Wood. Sorry for being lazy ^^; I’ve also added links to some of the message boards I frequent. The biggest change is on the archive pages. I only have February done at the time I’m writing this, but I’ve added a calendar at the top with shortcut links to the day of the entries.
I had another odd dream last night. I dreamt that Cowboy BeBop and Trigun were from the same aniverse. The adventures of Vash the Stampede were actually a subplot in Cowboy BeBop, but Vash was so popular that they gave him his own anime. ^^; Hey, stranger things have been known to happen...
02.06.02 :: 19:51
Wai! My mom brought me spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner while I was at work. I love her spaghetti *_* [Gobbles it up!] She also made me a chocolate mousse pie for desert *_* Lance and I tackled it like the pair of scrawny techs that we are. And there are plenty of leftovers! I’m gonna be a well fed bean for the rest of the week ^^v Thanks mom!
I’m on episode 15 of Love Hina. Still likin’ it ^^ [bops to Sakura Saku] Y’know what started this? The Weird Al “Your Horoscope Today” AMV. The more of the series I see, the more fitting that song seems ^^;
02.06.02 :: 23:28
At #fanfic's prompting I've made up a friends test. Um... don't expect to do well on it. It's not an easy test... ^^; (Not really 'cause no one knows me, but because I'm a brat and chose obscure questions to ask...)
02.07.02 :: 00:35
I am listening to the news talk shows and I hear that they’re going to have some 9/11 heroes carry the WTC flag in the opening ceremonies. This upsets me... Now, don’t get me wrong, I fully agree that firemen / police officers / etc. are called upon to perform heroic acts. They deserve a solid pat on the back for what they offer our society. I was please to see the demonstrations performed at the World Series and Super Bowl... but the Olympics are an *INTERNATIONAL* event. I mean, duh, so why are we hijacking them to toot our own horn? If we’re going to do that, why not have some officials from *every* country walk with their athletes? Why not celebrate their heroics as well?
02.07.02 :: 02:26
Okay, I’ve been thinking s’more after talking to Sean about my previous entry. I still stand behind my reasoning, but there’s more to it than the argument I’ve presented. Even broader into one of my feel embarrassment for / gripes about the US...
See, I believe that you shouldn’t force your opinions or views on other people. For example, I don’t insist anyone read my fanfics. I might as someone if they’d like to read it, but if they refuse, that’s fine, I won’t ask again. There’s nothing worse than being guilted / shoved into doing something and then resenting it while you’re doing it. You’ll get no pleasure from it that way.
So, on a personal level, I’m repulsed by what the US plans to do for the Olympic parade. While the US did suffer the most injury from this tragic event, why do we have to continue waving our battle wounds in front of the world? Yeah, they know we’ve been hurt. They’ve expressed their sympathy and shown their support. And here we are a half-year later still jumping up and down waving our arms about it.
Maybe it’s just me or my dislike of being the center of attention, but it seems to me that there’s a need for stoic modesty. We can be proud and strong without the pomp and circumstance. It’s possible to be proud of your country / state / town without offending others. I love Oregon dearly and I don’t think I’ve aggravated many (any?) people because of it. There’s a fine line and I’m afraid that we’re going to stomp on it again...
02.07.02 :: 20:00
Here are today’s random thoughts:
- I need more forks. The dishwasher isn’t even half full and I’m already out of ‘em. Do they sell just forks by the dozen? They don’t have to match; I’m not that picky...
- I need to either get my hair whacked back to Haruka length or force myself to use hair clips ‘cause pulling my hair out of my mouth while eating is really starting to annoy me.
- Something to ponder: Why do some SUV owners insist on trying to wedge their vehicle into a parking spot labeled “Compact”? (Besides the amusement they provide).
- Rain is spiffy except when it gets in my glasses, then it’s kind of annoying ^^;
I really know how to stuff my head into the hornet’s nest [laughs] My last couple entries have gotten some people talking. Well, I do stand corrected. Their current plans are not to have the flag in the parade, but to have it at a special ceremony. Does that change my opinion? Not really. I still question even bringing it up... [shrugs]
I doubt I’m going to have Sowing formatted and printed before my bro returns home. Oh well, I’ll just keep plugging away at it and get it to him sooner or later (hopefully sooner). Since I’m using PageMaker to do it I’m taking advantage of formatting you can’t have in .txt format (like italics). I’m using every trick I know to compress the page count (and trust me, I know quite a few. PageMaker was my best friend in high school when it came to be report time. ;)
Today’s “Are you a friggin’ moron?” award goes to the customer who argued with me about whether our mail server was .net or .com. I’d sure as hell hope that I was right. Especially considering that I’ve worked here for years and I’ve configured literally thousands of email accounts...
02.08.02 :: 19:02
I’m bored, terribly, incredibly, bored. I’ve been bored all day. I shouldn’t complain, breaks from being brains slammed to the walls busy is a good thing. It’s just that I can’t think of anything good to do with myself except sit here and listen to music. I’ve read the boards, the news sites I visit, the gaming sites, bah. I don’t feel like writing. My muse isn’t with me. So I’ll just sit here and listen to music and wait for someone to call.
On my net adventures I did notice that Square has much of the contents from the Japanese FFX bonus DVD up in the “Behind the Scenes” section of their PlayOnline FFX guide. The art gallery is there, along with translated interviews with many of the designers. Instead of putting up interviews with the Japanese Tidus and Yuna, they did ones with the English actors. At least they didn’t make the English actors dress up like their characters like they did the Japanese ones. [laughs] Yuna’s English seiyuu spoke about how she changed her voice to play the part of Yuna. After listening to all the material, I wish she hadn’t ‘acted’. Her ‘normal’ voice would have done Yuna justice IMO.
I got the fic printed for my bro in time ^^v I had 10 copies total printed. Gave one to my folks, gonna fire a copy off to the grand parents, and Jeff wanted one. The suckers were $5 a piece to print (at cost). Parts 1 – 14 ended up being 300 pages. Note to self: write shorter stories o.O
My house is going to be invaded tonight. Austin’s showing up on my doorstep, which is good, he wanted to see my brother before he went back home. Things will be interesting when I get home. I just have to survive work to get there ^^;
02.10.02 :: 01:52
It's hard to think of what to write tonight. There's a lot I could say, but not here. I cried a lot today because things that I hoped for, it was pointed out, wouldn't happen. That was crushing.
So... When I picture myself right now... I see myself standing in an open field. The night sky is a blanket of stars. Where I was standing this morning beneath the branches of a tree... I couldn't see the whole sky. But now that I've stepped out from their cover, some stars that I thought were there really aren't and others are brighter than before. It's time for me to examine that sky... To find the star that twinkles for me alone and to reach for it.
My bro returned home safely. He gave me his coat because the baka shrunk it in the wash ^^; It's a black pea coat (I think that's the style he said). Austin gave me a lot of j-pop music videos and more Morning Musume video clips than any person should watch in a single sitting. (They're his favorite group if you couldn't guess ;) So far, my favorite ones of out those are the clips where these two guys were sneaking into the girls' rooms and waking them up. Those were funny. The snowman sumo wrestling was pretty amusing as well. The video for Utada Hikaru's "Can you keep a secret?" is cool in a freaky kind of way. The first time watching it I was disturbed, but then it made sense at the end and it was spiffy. I like the song too ^^
I got a pile of updates and software repairs done to Yggy today. I had to update Media Player so that I could watch the sumo snowmen. Since I was there I installed security updates, and a new version of Internet Explorer. Then I did Winamp, Real Audio, sound card drivers, and the list goes on. I don't remember all I've done today except to say that it was a lot ^^; All those little utilities that make life much easier =)
02.10.02 :: 18:49
Pepper and I seriously need to have a chat about our sleeping arrangements. She woke me up at 8:30 this morning with her tail in my face. That’s slightly better than opening my eyes and finding her nose-to-nose with me, but still! She was being such a brat this morning. She wanted to be petted, fed, and taken outside *now* dammit and nothing I could do would convince her otherwise. It’s pretty hard to ignore a 40lbs dog when she walks all over the bed on and around me. That’s one point I will give cats over dogs.
I went to the mall to get a fur cut today (didn’t feel up to it yesterday). The weekend is pretty much the only time I can do it ‘cause of my work schedule and the mall’s sucky hours (IMO). I got down there and they had a sign posted on the door saying that they weren’t going to be cutting hair until 4:30. I had to ask myself why they were even bothering. The mall closes at 6 on Sunday and they stop taking people in around 5. So that left a half hour to try to slide in and get in line. Bah. I was thinkin’ that I’ll just leave it ‘til next weekend, but then I remembered that since I’m working next weekend I start work late this week. I should be able to sneak down there and get a trim in that case.
I should stop watching the news shows while the Olympics are going on. People keep saying things that tweak my tail. Today’s quote from some *ahem* moron on Foxnews. “I admit this may be pro-American, but I believe that without the US there would be no Olympics.” [bangs head on desk] I don’t think I need to comment on this. I’ll let the quote stand for itself.
I’m feelin’ kind of better from yesterday. I can’t just flip a switch and make things all right, but I can accept things as they are and get over it. Just chilling today. Watching Olympic hockey and I had dinner with my folks tonight (pizza). Nothin’ exciting.
02.11.02 :: 23:29
This morning I woke up at 1am with a splitting headache. I don’t know what brought it on. I’d gone to bed at 11pm ‘cause I flat out needed some rest. Didn’t get too much ^^; I was up ‘til about 6am before I was able to sleep again. Blech, that sucked...
Work was blah today. Just couldn’t get into it =/ I’m not sure if it’s *me* that’s having the issue or if it’s the quality of calls I’m taking right now. Most of them seem to be either people who haven’t paid there bill and are wondering why they can’t connect (billing disabled their account) or they’re stupid. I think the stupidity is rubbing off on me ‘cause I haven’t been pulling good answers out of my fanny lately. I’m just not in my groove and it bothers me =/
After work I went down to Red Robin to sit and talk with dad for a while without mom around. We talked about Saturday and how my mother continues to act strangely. In short, it was just kind of a bitch fest for the both of us. ^^;
When I got home I sat down to pay bills. Going to send off my Anime North registration tomorrow (and take it to a different post office to see if they charge me $1.00US for postage like the other one did). The flyer AN sent to me had $0.65CAN postage on it. I’ll be tweaked if I’m paying more in US dollars for postage than they are in Canadian :P
The cable, phone, and power bills are all going up this month --; [chomps on the economy] I’m going to poke around and see what I can to trim those down some. Like, the phone bill had $3.50 on it for call waiting service. I don’t care if anyone calls me in the first place, why do I need call waiting? I’m also going to cancel my Red Octane account. Not because I’m not happy with it or can’t afford it, but I’m just not using it. That’s costing me, like, $30 a month and I think cable Internet service is going for around $30. Been thinking of ringing them up again to see if reaches to my house yet or not. Hum... get cable service and cancel the phone entirely [evil grin] I don’t think dad would let me get away with that, but I can dream!
02.12.02 :: 23:14
My sleeping schedule is totally screwed up --; Last night was another rough night with trying to get consecutive hours of sleep. My mom called me around 10am with an interesting proposition: play hookie from work today and go out and have fun o.O; Um.. Being that irresponsible would kill me.. and it's extremely out of character for my mother to even suggest such a thing. She's a workaholic. I thought it was just an odd dream until I spoke with dad at lunch and he confirmed that she had indeed asked me. Strange...
I didn't make it to the mall again for a hair cut. It may very well be the weekend before I get the chance at this rate ^^; I did get my letters thrown into the post though. Mailing from the main post office that's a block from my work it cost $0.60US. That's a bit more reasonable ^^
One of the first calls I took today was from a guy who didn't know how to use his mouse (couldn't double click, right click, left click, etc) and couldn't find the enter key on his keyboard. It was a rough way to start the day ^^; Fortunately, that was the worst of it. So today was an improvement over the last couple days.
My true leetness came not at work, but during my lunch break. I managed to run home, grab the reserve tag for Princess Nine DVD 2 off the fridge, run back into town and go to the mall to pick it up, ate lunch, then ran to my dad's work to speak with him, and I ordered Valentine's day flowers for both parents... All that in under an hour! It was one of those "man, I impress myself!" type of moments ^^
Alessar directed me to a not-bad (and I mean that in a good way) Legacy of Kain / Harvest Moon crossover fic this afternoon. If you're familiar with these two games, I'd encourage checking it out. The idea is so far out there that it actually works ^o^
My co-workers discovered RPG Maker 2000 today. Now they want to make a RPG. I said I'd write a script / scenario if they built the game, so that's how it's going. I expect this fad to last about a week before they get tired of it and give up.
We do have a story, surprisingly enough. It's going to be a parody Chrono Trigger / Final Fantasy VI ripoff. The basis of the story is that young Purge is terrorized once again by his 'friend' Lain's experimental dimensional warp machine. When she throws the switch, a character from FFVI is pulled into their world. The character to be named later (we haven't decided yet) is searching for the crystals that make up the musical notes of the Chrono Trigger. They're in Purge's world somewhere; they just have to find them. I won't spoil it beyond that ('cause we haven't come up with much more than that ^^; ). But that's our current amusement.
Pepper's asleep on my bed right now. That's all she's done today! When I came home to get the ticket she was asleep on the couch. When I got home after work she was in the *exact same* position still asleep on the couch. (Then she tackled me and demanded to be fed). Now she's out like a light again.
02.14.02 :: 14:22
No blog entry yesterday. Well, there is a reason for that. I was supposed to have lunch with my folks Wednesday morning, but bowed out ‘cause I hadn’t slept much yet (at 6am) and wanted to keep trying until I had to go to work. At lunch mom gave me some sleeping medicine to take. After I got home from work and was cooking dinner dad gave me a ring to tell me to take the medicine mom gave me ^^; I took it and played a little bit of FFX. (I wanted to get Valenor’s Energy Blast before bed).
I was sawing Z’s by 10pm, which is good. I slept like a rock until about 1:30am, and then I snapped awake. I tossed and turned for a couple hours before ‘forcing’ myself to go back to sleep. That’s how it went most of the night / morning. I kept rolling over and refusing to get up, so I had to go back to sleep. I did get up when Pepper tackled me and demanded to be fed, it’s hard to ignore that prompting ^^;
As per my dad’s request, I gave him a call after I woke up to tell him that I was alive and kicking. (He wanted to know if I got any sleep). The flowers I ordered for him and mom both arrived ^_^ Mom stopped by the office shortly after I arrived at work with a Valentine for me ^^ It was this stuffed animal that I’m at a complete loss to identify what species it’s supposed to be. I wish my webcam at work was operational, I’d take a couple pics and see if anyone can help me ID this fuzzy creature ^^; It’s all good :)
The Oscar nominations are out and I’m grumbling (what else is new? ^^; ). “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within” didn’t get nominated in the Animation category. Now, I wouldn’t expect FF:TSW to win (I’m not completely detached from reality) but it should have gotten a nomination. “Shrek”, “Monsters Inc.” and “Jimmy Neutron” were the three nominations. A fourth wouldn’t have hurt, especially when, IMO, the only movie listed above that can compare to FF:TSW graphically is “Monsters Inc.” (And that’s Scully’s fur going head-to-head with Aki’s hair ;) Bah, someday the ‘critics’ on this side of the ocean will realize that animation just isn’t for fluff. (Just as I was disappointed that Princess Mononoke didn’t get squat from Oscar when it was that movie’s turn).
Current release date on Arc the Lad is February 26th. I’m just waiting for it to be delayed again :P
02.15.02 :: 22:47
After a week of trying I finally managed to get down to the mall before work for a haircut. Heh.. ^^; Considering that he had it trimmed in 10 minutes flat, I wonder why I was having so much trouble squeezing it in. (Well, I know the reason, ‘cause I was sleeping weird :P ) This guy must have worked for NASCAR pit crew as a prior job ‘cause he had me in and out of there in no time ^^;
Only one other noteworthy thing happened today, and it’s not all that good ^^; I yelled at one of the techs for his attitude towards computer repair. See, he hates Windows ME. That’s an understandable dislike, but when asked to repair a machine his answer for every problem can’t be "get the customer to purchase XP and install that". XP is not a panacea to computer ills. Perhaps I’m too demanding of a manager, but I expect the techs to actually *fix* the problem instead of "sledge hammering" it into submission. Yes, that may require doing research on MSKB and perhaps extracting some ‘clean’ file onto a floppy to perform the repair. So what if you have to work a bit to fix the problem?
Lance gave me a mini-disc with his demo on it today. When he’s not our systems guy, he’s a DJ with Digital Confusion Productions. His DJ name is RiceCube. You can download a couple of his mixes from his profile page :)
Anyhow, I did my post-Valentine’s raid of the market for discounted chocolates =] They mark that stuff down so much. Waiting a day makes it so worth it ^^v
I took this test Pisces6 has posted ^^ Green, it’s a good color =]
02.16.02 :: 15:05
I had some funky weird dreams this morning o.O; In the first one I dreamt that a spider was trying to kill me. It was a little spider with a big, bulbous body, very poisonous. I’d try to escape the house, but it’d set traps for me. It spawned other lil spiders and they were hanging from a thread in the doorways trying to catch me. One industrious spider got itself a model helicopter and was flying that around my room. My brother thought I was joking when I told him to avoid it. He reached out to grab it and I batted it away. When I woke up the spider hadn’t killed me, woot!
In the dream I had after that one I dreamt that I was going through my email and my filters were funky. Like, for some odd reason I had all my junk mail transfer to a folder instead of outright deleting it. When I went to look through it I saw that it’d been putting emails from Ysa-chan in there o.O; Nooo! I put them back into my inbox where they were safe and fixed the filter. Then I saw that I had a folder for a Shakespeare mailing list that LeVar had signed me up for. There were only two messages in there from the last few months... and both of them were questions addressed to me --; It was reassuring when I checked my mail this afternoon and found one from Ysa-chan in my inbox (where it belongs!) And, oddly enough, LeVar called me a bit after that to ask my opinion of Princess Nine. I think my dreams have a leg up on me or something ^^;
My ‘big’ project this weekend is cleaning off my storage hard drive (named Tidus ^^). I burned a half dozen CDs of J-pop music videos last night and won’t be surprised if I end up with a half dozen more before I’m done ^^; I’m seriously considering formatting my machine and redoing the software. Stupid Yggy keeps freezing. I found that one of the ‘triggers’ are screen savers, but there are other things as well that just aren't working right. =/
02.16.02 :: 18:21
Last night while watching videos I thought it might be fun to put some of them up. I obviously don't have the server space or bandwidth to host them, so here's the next best thing: screen shots and my commentary. The first victim: Utada Hikaru - "Can you keep a secret?".
02.17.02 :: 20:13
Wow, talk about a completely random Sunday. I was having a good dream this morning when my dad woke me up to watch the Daytona 500 with him. I dreamt that I was interviewing to get a job as an editor / writer for a publication. I had the job in the bag; the interview was just a formality. That’s a good thing since the resume I’d come up with was fugly. I’d never design a document laid out like that... Anyhow, I was printing it out and just had to hand it over and then dad woke me up. Darn it :P
Dad was over ‘cause the previous night I’d suggested he come over to the house and watch the race since mom doesn’t like racing. He was non-committal at the time. Then he showed up to watch it this morning ^^; I thought he was doing it to bond with me, but then his true evil intentions came to light ( =P~ ) He had work to do on his laptop and wanted me there to help him when he got stuck. Getting to the race itself, man, it was wild [laughs]. Dad complete sucked when it came to the workplace pool ^^; But he was telling me that everyone sucked ‘cause of all the cars that were knocked out at the end.
Dad and I went out for lunch after the race. We tried to find mom to invite her along, but she was nowhere to be found, so it was just us. It was good to talk with him. We talked mostly about work and this year’s taxes. Um... I knew this, but he didn’t until he got to doing them, but the rebate most people got mid-year was actually a “pre-refund”. Meaning, that the refund you get this year is going to be less the rebate you got last year. (I’ll be getting $200 less, in other words). Dad was furious at first ‘cause he thought that rebate was an honest to goodness refund, but it wasn’t. I just wonder why lawmakers got their tails in a knot when deciding to issue it. The government wasn’t losing any money it’d otherwise have. It was just giving some of it back early.
Getting back to the randomness; a couple people I haven’t spoken with in forever talked to me today. One was my uncle (who I thought was still up north in the state prison ^^;;; ) He’s trying to get a hold of my dad. Dad doesn’t live here anymore; he hasn’t for months. O’course, my uncle wouldn’t know that. When I told him, he asked if I was living here with my brother. There was a bit of an awkward pause before I told him that Nanki had graduated college last year and lived down south. ^^;; I’m no longer the teen he remembered when he left town... ^^;
The other person was Janelle, an opper from ##sailormoon days. Man, that’s was at least 5 years ago, which is forever in net terms. I started going to ##sm right after I started posting College Life. I’ll have to return her email and catch up and all =)
I picked up Blaster Master: Blasting Again from the cheapy bin at Freddy’s yesterday. For $10 I was expecting it to completely bite, but it’s actually kinda okay. I’m not good at this type of game, but I can see some of my friends making more of it. I loved the original Blaster Master, and this game makes no bones about playing off that nostalgia. I used to play BM for hours and hours until I was sick the music. Then I’d pop in an MC Hammer tape and listen to that instead [laughs] Then my folks got me this game called Metal Mech, which was a NES knock off of BM. Wasn’t nearly as good. I’d rate BM:BA somewhere between the two in terms of fun.
I also played a bit of FFVIII (I’m floating between games again ^^; ). I complete screwed up the Dollet mission (by my standards). The X-ATM092 caught me three freaking times! I’ve never done that poorly before when trying to escape --; Oh well, it’s not like it matters that much. It just determines where you start and before long you’re raising in rank often enough. Anyhow, playing has motivated me a bit more on the writing front. Just gotta keep slogging away at it :)
02.18.02 :: 20:23
Woohoo! I’m getting cable Internet =D It’s gonna be installed the 24th [bops around happily]. I’ve wanted it for two years now, but couldn’t get it ‘cause I lived too far out. They’ve finally reached my area =D
I had an odd conversation with a customer this afternoon. The guy has a Win95 machine with a 28.8 modem in it. With his old ISP it reported his connection speed as being 115k. (Federal law limits dial up access to 53k, so 115k is impossible). However, it is possible to have the computer report that connection speed when it’s not configured correctly ^^; Anyhow, he wanted to know why he wasn’t connecting any faster than 28.8 with our service. I explained to him that he had a 28.8 modem and he’d need a faster one if he wanted to fully utilize the service. He insisted that he was connecting at 115k before. I pointed out that was impossible – a misreading. He then insisted that he could connect between 33k and 40k with his old ISP. I asked him if he was certain that he had a 28.8 modem in the computer. He said yes, and I told him that wasn’t possible then. His computer was misreporting the speeds. It was just... frustrating how he refused to understand that his little 28.8 wasn’t a wonder modem that could move packets like nobody’s business. I was explaining it clearly enough, I’m positive; he just didn’t like my answer.
Bah, no matter. I’m getting cable on Sunday! [dances] I’m going to be looking forward to that all week =D
02.20.02 :: 00:55
Today was a gloomy, rainy day. It was also a day when I was told a couple stories. I’m going to share the one my mom told me at lunch, ‘cause it’s freaky. Mom went to the Paperhouse this morning to pick up the paper she’d need for the day. There was a truck in the driveway blocking one side of it. She carefully went around the truck and picked up her order. When she left it was still there blocking the way. Eventually someone in the Paperhouse got tweaked that the truck was blocking their driveway all morning and went out there to investigate. It was then that they discovered that the driver was dead o.O; He’d had a heart attack in their driveway. On the good side, he stopped the truck before he died. On the bad side, he was dead x.X; At least his last act was to do something good, ne?
Anyhow... Sticking with the theme, it was an annoying / gloomy day. I just wanted to be left the hell alone ‘cause nothing anyone did was going to make me happy. (Well, not entirely true. Austin, Jeffy, and Lance all told me stories that cheered me up). But those were bright spots on a dark landscape for me.
I guess... A lot of my problem is that I am easily disappointed when others don’t live up to my expectations. (Probably a good thing I don’t want children, I’d be a horrible parent --; ) And today was filled with those types of disappointments. A good many of them came from my co-workers. Like after nearly two months of my nagging, the billing department finally got me the files on the customers who cancelled service (so I can remove them from the server). Usually, if it’s done on a weekly basis, it takes about a half hour to go through and delete the user accounts. But it’s been so long since it was done, I have a sizable stack of files on my desk and expect to be at it for hours tomorrow. (Lucky for me, Lance is nice and volunteered to help me catch up :)
I’m also disappointed that the ME computer wasn’t repaired the way I thought it should be. I kept my hands out of the repair, instead offering suggestions hoping that the tech would learn new things. After four days of piddling around he finally formatted the machine and reinstalled the OS. (I’m not even sure if he tried all the suggestions I gave him). But that isn’t really the part that disappointed me. It was that the customer asked for some of her personal files to be backed up, a request echoed by Bob. The tech said it wasn’t possible (what Bob told me) and formatted the machine.
...
It was possible. Nothing was wrong with the machine except for the Winsock not working. He could have set up a direct cable connection if nothing else and transferred the data to another computer to burn it onto a CD. At the very least he could have exported her address book onto a floppy disk, but he didn’t.
And then my disappointment sunk even deeper. Bob was onsite setting her machine back up and she had Japanese language support installed (‘cause she doesn’t understand English that well). I’d just walked in the door when Bob called to ask the tech how to install the language support. He didn’t know, so he passed the call to me right after I got my coat off. During the course of the day she kept asking how to install [blank] and Bob would call me to ask. He wasn’t even going back to the tech that was assigned the machine he was going to me. That’s a failure all around. By the end of the day, last I heard, she was up and going in Japanese again. But this job could have been done a zillion times better. In a way, I feel ashamed for the lackluster performance. The customer shouldn’t have been put through all that --;
Some good did come out of today. I got to help Nightbreak with his fanfic :) That cheered me up. Jeffy invited me to go to a nightclub with him and his friend on Thursday night. And he’s helping me get Yggy secured before I unleash her on the net 24/7 :) I wouldn’t want anyone hacking me for my fanfics, y’know ^^
02.21.02 :: 23:27
I finally grew a spine today. Fear the Bean! Erm... Yesterday was the straw that broke the camel’s back, as it were. I went to speak with Bob when I got him and it turned out that he’d wanted to speak with me as well. He wanted to know if there wasn’t any way to recover the data. At this point, it was too late. Bob wasn’t happy to learn that. I wasn’t happy to learn that what was lost was her *financial* data --; It was completely avoidable. --;
After speaking with Bob I gathered my resolve and approached Andy next to tell him that I was going to call the techs together for a meeting. We discussed several other issues that needed to be addressed and I came up with a checklist of things to talk about. The top of my list was to get off the night shift. My body has hated me ever since I went to it. I also don’t like how I’m the manager, but I’m only in the shop for three business hours. That’s not cool. I traded with the tech who’d fiddled with the ME machine so that I could work the second shift. That’s more reasonable.
Anyhow... The next chapter in that poor woman’s plight is that, because the tech didn’t use her OEM discs to reinstall her OS, she couldn’t get her software working (it was an HP machine). She brought it back today to have him install her OEM discs. [shakes head] I poked at the machine more this time. He wanted me to sign off on it as a done machine when he hadn’t finished it yet (he’d forgotten her Japanese language support again). I worked on it this evening between being buried in calls. It was nutty. Every night before the one I’d only get a handful of calls during my shift, but of course tonight a cable network would have to go down and affect our customers --;
Pepper was going nuts when I got home tonight. She’d been biting at herself all day to the point where she had a patch of matted, bloody fur on her side. I gave her a bath with the medical shampoo Nanki gave me, but I’m still not convinced it does much. I just wanted to get it so that she stopped biting and itching. She doesn’t have fleas. She’s never had a flea on her body and never will if I have anything to say about it. A bath did seem to calm her down, but I think just getting her mind off of biting did that. She wanted to play :)
However, Pepper does have doggie diabetes =/ The vet is honestly surprised that she’s still alive. He said she’d be dead years ago and she keeps kickin’ around. But it’s always kind of a creeping fear in the back of my mind that it’s the diabetes eating away at her. A couple years ago a family friend died of diabetes. I couldn’t bear to go visit her in the hospital. I wanted to keep my memories of her before the disease ate away at her. If Pepper starts down that road I’ll have her put down before it gets too bad. I couldn’t stand to see her suffer.
02.22.02 :: 01:11
I had an adventure this evening and this is the really compressed version of it. I went with some friends to a local club tonight and they carded me (duh, I look like I’m 17). Then they took me outside and asked me where I got the ID. I insisted the DMV. They didn’t believe me and called the cops ^^; The cop asked me where I got the ID. I insisted the DMV. The cop didn’t believe me. He ran a background check on me and found an old ticket that corroborated what I’d been telling him (else he was going to take me downtown ^^; ) So, a speeding ticket saved my bacon tonight and I need to go to the DMV tomorrow and get a non-damaged license.
After being turned away from the club, I walked a block to my mom’s apartment and watched the last hour of the figure skating competition with my folks. I didn’t catch the gold medallist’s performance, but I saw the silver and bronze ones. I blame Kwan’s fall on my father. Right before it happened dad was saying “the only way she won’t get the gold is if she fell... she just fell” doh!
I also watched the second Princess Nine DVD. That had be worked up at a couple points. (I get myself worked up in a knot ‘cause I want plot twists to happen that are from left field and then I wonder why they don’t happen and am disappointed :P ) Izumi actually says what I was hoping for (to take a stab at Ryo) before shattering my hopes and dreams ;_;
Jeff (besides backing me up when the cop was breathing down my neck) hooked me up with more Final Fantasy Unlimited today ^^v Woot!
02.23.02 :: 23:00
[Note: This entry has not been spell checked because I'm a lazy SOB (son of a bean).]
It's been a busy couple of days for me! I'm just taking a break to write in my blog before heading off to the next project ^^
On Friday I managed to get my sleepy butt out of bed so that I could be at the DMV first thing. I explained my problem with my ID and the lacking laminate to the gent at the counter. He nodded knowingly and admitted that the DMV had issued a batch of licenses without the laminate o.O; He replaced my card without charge because of it, but it still floored me. The DMV *knows* that there are flawed licenses out there (especially when everyone is paranoid right now) and made no effort to contact those people who were issued one.
Mom and I decided that we wanted to go to Shoji's for dinner. It's one of those Japanese places that cook your food at the table =] The head cook is a friend of my parents. When he asked our table if we were celebrating anything today my mom loudly announced, "We're celebrating my 24 year old daughter not being in jail tonight!" I could have slid under the table and died at that moment :P Mom then told him my story and everyone at the table had a laugh.
Both my mom and Andy had suggested I write a letter to the Editor about the grilling the officer gave me and DMV knowingly issuing flawed licenses. (I'm now 100% sure that it came that way. When I opened my wallet today to get some cash and the laminate reflected at me, it kept catching my eyes 'cause I'd never had anything reflect back before). I looked up the requirements and the max word count was 250. I didn't think I could stuff it into 250 words, so I wrote a letter to the Mayor instead. That ended up being two pages. When I told my mom today that I wrote the letter, she asked me to give her a copy. I said okay and then asked why. Our local state congressman has a print job in the shop right now and she wants to give him the letter and bend his ear some when he comes to pick it up ^^; Heh.. Sometimes I wonder why mom hasn't ran for a seat on the city council. She certainly likes getting into the middle of community concerns [laughs]
I slept for 11 hours last night / this morning. It was the longest, best sleep I've had in days. When I woke up I was completely refreshed and ready to tackle today, and I did with a vengeance. First stop was the pet store. I was looking for ideas on ways to help Pepper. Didn't really find anything, but I did buy her a new food and water dish, along with a mat to place under them. All of 'em were odie themed =] I also got her some chews that were advertised to "last longer". If you count lasting 5 seconds before being completely devoured instead of 3 seconds, then ya, they lasted longer ^^; I also bought a toy for ReRun as a sort of peace offering. We've been getting along better lately. He hasn't bitten me in the last few weeks and stalks around me more for wuvin' and playing. Of course, I bought the most annoying, maddening, drive ReRun up the wall (and my mom too) toy I could find, but that's just coincedence. Honest ;)
I went to the mall next to buy a new pair of boots. The ones I have had a few too many holes in them ^^; I found a nice pair of black leather ones for a good price. When I went to check out the manager told me that they were having a sale to get a second pair of shoes for half off. So I bought another pair of exactly the same boot. I'm set for a couple years at least now ^^v
I also went to the game store several times during the course of the day. I was trying to find a way to hook my game systems up in my room that doesn't make use of the daisy chain of RF adapters I have set up currently. Nothing we tried worked, so I'm giving up on that idea for now.
My 'missing' grandma called me while I was in there, though o.O; See, she's a full time RVer -- goes all over the place. Usually she gives us a call when she changes locations. Well, we hadn't heard from her since Christmas. When we called her cel, it never worked, and letters we sent to her last known address were returned. There was a flurry of phone calls between my dad and his brothers to see if any of them knew where grandma was. One of them finally called the police at last town we knew she was at to see if they could locate her. They did after a bit of searching. Her cel phone wasn't working and she didn't know it. The mail was returned 'cause she'd moved (not towns, but to a different RV park). All this took place within the last week. So, it came as a real surprise to have her call *me* and not one of her sons (she was randomly trying numbers on her new cel phone and after an hour of trying mine was the first one to work -- apparently the new cel's broken too ^^; ). I asked the clerk at the software store to lend me something to write with and I got her current address and phone number for my dad. When I saw him this evening I gave them to him and he freaked then called her. Ah, the family's reunited =)
Before I took grandma's info to dad, he asked me to pick him up a soda at the market. I didn't have any cash on me, so I went to Freddy's and got some. (I paid for Shoji's last night, else I wouldn't have went through the $60 I had on me in that short of time x.x). So I went to this little market that I don't usually hit, but it was close, poured the soda then went to pay for it. The cashier grumbled about breaking a $20 ('cause he didn't have much change). I apologized, but it was all I had on me. He then commented that he just won't open his shop tomorrow 'cause he didn't have change. I rolled my eyes, took the change, and went out to my car. I rummaged through the change I had in my ashtray until I found enough (mostly in pennies) and then went back into the mart and bought the damn $20 off of him :P
Anyhow, now that I'm home for the night I've been tackling chores around here. I gave Pepper another bath (she's been getting one every of couple days lately 'cause of her skin. It seems to make her stop itching for at little while). I've been doing laundry (a day early!) and I cleaned my room to make way for the cable to be installed tomorrow =D I've got everything ready for the installer; pulled out the cable line, have my network card installed and working, have a power outlet available for the modem, have my Win98 CD set out just in case. He just needs to plug that baby in and I'm ready to go =D
Oh, and Arc the Lad was officially delayed another month. Why am I not surprised? =P
02.25.02 :: 22:53
Woohoo! Woohoo! I’m on cable internet now =D I’m not sure if it’s fast or not, forum pages seem to load pretty quick. I’ve had it for over 24 hours and haven’t downloaded a single media file. Isn’t my restraint amazing? ^^;
Sunday was a good night for me b’sides the cable. Mom invited me over for tuna casserole =)~ I like how she makes it, very yummy ^^ She also made these super rich brownies. When I got home from dinner my stomach was killing me ^^; I thought it was the brownie being too rich, but now I’m pretty sure it wasn’t. That time of the month has come along and slugged me in the gut with a sledgehammer. The first half of my workday was spent curled up at my desk willing the nausea to go away. I made it to “halftime” (lunch), ate something light, and that seemed to settle my guts down some.
When I got back in there was a message on my desk from the Japanese customer. She wanted me to come out and help her configure some programs. It was a pretty quiet day, so I went out there and did it. She really wanted to have a tech there who knew both computers and Japanese. Honestly, I don’t fill those requirements -- I don’t even come close. But I have some friends who do! So I made a deal with her: when she needed computer work, give a call and we’ll do a bit of back scratching.. We’ll fix her computer and she’ll help my friends with their Japanese conversational skills (it can be so hard to find a native speaker sometimes ^^; )
Anyhow, I got back to the office with about an hour left on my shift. I took a couple calls and then went home and resumed moaning ^^; (I felt better while onsite ‘cause I was too busy to realize I was hurting :P ) I laid down for a couple hours and that helped. I’ll go back to bed before too much longer, just rest up y’know? ^^
The FFVIII Ultimania Guide I ordered a while ago came in today. I can’t properly emphasize how *cool* this book is. I wish I could read Japanese. Even from the pictures it has info I was looking for (like images of the flags for each country). I knew what Balamb and Galbadia’s flags looked like, but not the rest of them. If I ever do with Centra Garden what I was planning, those ’ill come in handy.
I started playing Saiyuki: Journey West this weekend. I thought the game looked lame, so I kept passing it up. I was wrong ^^; It’s not lame. It’s a strategy / RPG (Tactics, Kartia), but geared towards first time players. The system is very simple. It’s a good introduction to the genre game, but satisfying enough for the seasoned player to not pass it up =)
02.26.02 :: 22:22
I got an unexpected call at work this morning. The mayor had given the chief of police my letter to her and asked him to follow up on it o.O It surprised me that they’d do a thing about it. He asked me a few more questions to clarify points in my letter (exact time of the incident, the officer’s name and description, etc). He said he’d call me back within a week to tell me what he’s found out. I’m still flabbergasted ^^;
I was thinking this evening (I know, always a dangerous thing), about computers, Final Fantasy 8, and protégés. See, I’ve has plenty of people come up to me (usually parents) and tell me how good their children are with computers. From how they speak, it’s as if their children are protégés when it comes to mastering the machine. But when you sit the tykes down, they aren’t doing anything special; they’ve just learned how to do it while young. So... ability + youth != protégé.
Well then, I got to thinking about Final Fantasy 8 and how these 17 year olds “saved the world”. (Though, when you tear the story apart, you kind of have to wonder how immediate the threat was, but that’s another pondering.) Maybe they weren’t so special; they were just trained from an early age to do what they do. I already had that idea pinging around in the back of my mind, but wasn’t able to frame it in a ‘real world’ context until this evening.
Okay... One more story just to prove that the cops aren’t the only morons in this town, the citizens are idiots too. I’ve complained about how people don’t stop for pedestrians. The police decided to do 3 stings. The first thing they did was to announce the date, time, and location of the stings on the local radio, news broadcasts, and newspaper. It was an open secret that the police were going to do this.
Next, a week before the first sting, they set up construction signs that said “Pedestrian Crossing” at the target crossing. Yeah, just in case you couldn’t see the white lines across the lanes. On the day of the first sting they had a half dozen or so units lined up to catch people who ran through the crosswalk (if they didn’t stop for the pedestrian). The units were in plain view and there were a lot of them. The pedestrian going across the road wore a bright orange vest during the sting.
Would you like to guess how many people they ticketed in 2 hours? 34. They stopped and ticketed 34 vehicles in 2 hours for going through a pedestrian crossing instead of stopping. Even when given every reasonable warning that they were watching for this, people still did it. People are idiots.
The second sting was today. I don’t have the numbers on how that one went. When they hit the rumor mill (aka my mother) I’ll post ‘em. If they’re any more than 0 I’m going to be sorely disappointed with the people in this town :P
02.28.02 :: 01:00
A quick update since I’m sort of busy right now. Nightbreak, sorry I missed you tonight. I got home from work, read my email, and then crashed. I ended up sleeping a solid 2.5 hours o.O; I’ll try to catching up with you tomorrow.
Skuldie, I’m going to miss you when you leave, but I know that this is what you want. Find peace, find God, and please take care of yourself. I’ll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
I wanted to post the results from the second pedestrian sting operation. In two hours the police ticketed 57 people and towed away 2 vehicles. (The two towed vehicles were because the driver’s didn’t have valid licenses). The third and final sting is going to be March 6th a couple blocks down from where I work. I’m considering walking down there to watch and cheer on the cops :P
02.28.02 :: 22:15
Whoa, that’s just... the best way to describe today. The day was motoring along pretty well until I got back from lunch. After lunch I discovered the Lance had quit =( He was the co-worker I felt the closest to. I wouldn’t count any of my co-workers as friends, but he was the closest to that. Anyhow, so who knows what work holds for me tomorrow. ‘Bout the only thing I can be assured of is that there will be more weekend shifts in my future. Dammit.
During lunch I was almost flattened by a car at the intersection they’re going to do the police sting in next week. Now I’m definitely walking down there to cheer on the cops :P
Um... I could post this survey thing. I get one about 3 to 4 months. Here’s an abridged version:
LAST CD YOU BOUGHT: That would have to be the Final Fantasy X soundtrack.
LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN THE THEATER: Lord of the Rings. The next one I plan on seeing is Ice Age.
FAV TIME OF YEAR: Spring. I have allergies, but I adore the days getting longer and sitting outside looking at the mountains.. ^^;
FAV DAY OF THE WEEK: One in which I don't have to work the following day.
FAV CEREAL: I haven't eaten cereal since they still had cool toys in the boxes...
HAVE A STUFFED ANIMAL: More than you can shake a stick at. On the monitor: plush Cthulthu, Vivi, Garnet, teddy bear, Kero-chan. Shelf: Tonberry. Table: bunny, wolf. Love seat: Pinky, Brain, Intel Bunny, beaver, Mikey (Monster's Inc.), this unidentifiable one I got for Valentine's day, Cactaur. Bed: 3ft long frog / pillow. At work I have: Knuckles, Vivi, a handmade mouse from Chu Chu Rocket. And I'll stop there ^^;
HAVE A DREAM: Several. Before I die I plan on being a computer tech (which I am now), a teacher, and a professional writer.
TELEPHONE OR IN PERSON: In person, I want to look the other person in the eyes.
ARE YOU A JOCK, NERD, PREPPY, BAND GEEK, PARTIER, MOTOR, HEAD, STONER, GOTH, OR SKATER: I'm an adult, which also means I'm a prude and incapable of understanding such things ;)
FAVORITE SMELLS: Maybe not "favorite", but comforting... The smell of the fields on a hot summer day when the sun is setting and it's just about to cool down... and yes, that does include the smell of the cows...
WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING: "Get off me you damn mutt."
IS THE GLASS HALF EMPTY OF HALF FULL: Leave it with me and it'll soon be empty =D
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER: Any number on a check made out to me =]
PETS: 1 dog, Pepper. She's half Cocker / half Aussie Shepard. Weighs about 40lbs and likes to wake me up by walking on me and sticking her nose in my face.
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