09.01.02 :: 14:55

I just finished the other quest in Kessen ^^ [pleased with herself] Okay, that game met my 1 hour of gameplay for every $1 spent formula. (I bought it for $13.50 ^^; ) It wasn't a long game, but going around stomping other commanders was very satisfying :D I've already started on a review for the website. I'll probably get that up sometime today.

I watched Adult Swim last night. The new He-man was okay. I don't remember Prince Adam being *quite* that whiney though. And Man-at-Arms' daughter still kicks fanny ;) Transformers: Armada was like, huh? o.O The pint-sized robots are the real butt-kickers? [blinks] It reminded me of that arc in the original Transformers that featured those cassette robots. I liked those ones. The toys rocked :D And then there was InuYasha. I didn't think the dubbing was too bad, though I'm usually pretty forgiving unless it's outlandish (like Mitsune's). I watched a couple episodes of the fansub afterwards and kept cringing (because of grammar mistakes) ^^; Maybe I'm better off just watching the dub on tv since that bothered me less ^^;

09.02.02 :: 03:35

I crave biscuits and gravy ._.; It's 3:30 and the only place in town where I could get it (Sherri's) make really crappy biscuits and gravy. I could try to stay awake and go to Dolly Varden's at 6:30, but that's 3 hours away and I'm hungry now. Stupid cravings. Dolly Varden's isn't even the best. The best biscuits and gravy that I've ever had was from OIT's cafeteria. I know, what a surprise that a cafeteria does *anything* well, but there were a few things I really liked. Their biscuits and gravy, grilled cheese sandwiches, and their chicken rice soup. Oh yeah, I could go for a bowl of that as well :)~~

I watched the Final Fantasy movie while trying to be tired. I think I've gotten too used to staying up late, plus not caring. I think I'm more of a nocturnal bean and if left to my own devices and I'll slip back into that schedule. Man, Tuesday morning's going to be painful --;

09.02.02 :: 09:35

As I was laying in bed after forcing myself awake to get some biscuits and gravy (see, I hadn't given up on that!) my brain wondered if Dolly Varden's would even be open today. It's a restaurant, yeah, but it's also a hole in a wall owned by an aging couple ^^; I went down there and they were open ^^ I ordered the food to go and then sat at a small table with Gene (the owner). We chatted for a couple minutes before it was ready and then I scurried off home and ate. I feel better now :D

Augh! I spotted a mouse hopping across my hallway this morning. It's time for me to pull out the traps and wage holy war against the vermin. I will not have a repeat of last year's battle. This fight will be decisive in my crushing of the enemy commander! (My Kessen training will lead me true!)

09.02.02 :: 17:51

Okay, so the latest game I've been playing is Eternal Eyes. (I've been digging around the very cheap used bin lately, can't you tell?) It's a turn based strategy a la Kartia and Tactics. It also has the 'breed your monsters' feature that's been showing up in so many games since Pokemon hit the scene. My biggest complaint about the game so far is that it's slow. Slow menu loading, slow paced game play, etc.

Anyhow, I have this sheep looking critter that I've been fighting with. Usually I cast magic with my puppets because that's more effective than having them attack. When I finally had the sheep attack it floated over to the enemy and *LICKED* it to death. --; Where is the blood! Where is the gore! How come it's not a demonsheep from the depths of Hell!?

I'm so disappointed. Stupid E rated games :P

09.02.02 :: 20:22

Stupid Pepper :P She was rolling around on the couch on her back and rolled right off it. She landed on the floor on her back and then looked around like "Did I do that?" Yes, dear, you did. And after so many years of life I would have thought you'd have figured out where the edge of the couch is by now :P I just had to share that stupid Pepper moment ^^;

09.03.02 :: 02:26

Between you and me - dc Talk

Sorrow is a lonely feeling
Unsettled is a painful place
I've live with both for far too long now
Since we've parted ways

I've been wrestling with my conscience
And I found myself to blame
If there's to be any resolution
I've got to feel my pride away

Just between you and me
I've got something to say
I wanna get it straight
Before the sun goes down
Just between you and me
Confession needs to be made
Recompense is my way to freedom
Just between you and me
I've got something to say

If confession is the road to healing
Forgiveness is the promised land
I'm reaching out in my conviction
I'm longing to make amends

So, I'm sorry for the words I've spoken
For I've betrayed a friend
We have a love that's worth preserving
And a bond I will defend

I know you're hurting... Loneliness and unsettled are painful, betrayal is even more so. You promised to be my defender... but now you won't even speak to me. We need to talk. We need to listen. The world is not out to get you. You're still loved despite the prickly thorns you've covered yourself with. You have countless friends behind you... If only you'd stop throwing rocks at them... Think. Pray. And when you're ready, we're here for you.

09.03.02 :: 06:38

Augh... I didn't sleep last night (I suspected that I wouldn't be able to..). I went to bed at around 8:30pm and drifted off until about 9:30pm and then I started tossing and turning. That's how most of the night was spent, especially the stretch between 3am and now. Pepper just *had* to have her furry butt touching me. I'd shift position and so would she. I'd kick her off the bed and she'd be back up a couple minutes later. [Shakes head] I really hope today doesn't suck...

09.03.02 :: 20:19

I'm awake! [falls over half-asleep] I took a 1.5 hour nap when I got home from work and man, is it hard to pull my head out of the sleep / fog stage. With my luck, I'll finish eating dinner, be sleepy enough to go back to bed and then not be able to sleep again. If I'm not sawing Zs by a reasonable hour I'm going to find myself some sleeping medicine and knock myself back on my fanny.

I was working out of the CyberNet office today. Everything seemed almost normal for how a 'Monday' would be; lots of people tweaked off about one thing or another that happened during the weekend, people with billing issues, and the worst of the dense ones came out of the woodwork. The very first call I took today was from a cable customer who wanted to gnaw on me about his email not working.

I mentioned the outage in Tacoma on Friday in this blog already. Well, Sprint hadn't actually *fixed* the problem immediately. They'd put a stop-gap measure in place to keep things from getting worse (which had the effect of blocking the email routing for the customers on the cable network). Sprint got the problem solved over the weekend, but they hadn't removed the stop-gap, so come Tuesday the email was *still* blocked. Of course, it took a while for the techs on our side to contact the techs at the cable network, have them squish brains together, and then go after the Sprint techs in Tacoma.

The customer wasn't understanding the problem when I explained it to him (though I half suspect he was being purposefully dense, the concept isn't that hard). To put the problem in laymen's terms. Our 'post office' (mail server) was working. The cable network's 'post office' was working. But the 'road' between the two servers (which is owned by Sprint) was blocked. We had people standing at both ends of the road yelling at Sprint to get its act together, but it just takes time to get large companies like that to move their butts.

And I laugh at the lady who wanted a credit for the 3 days her email wasn't working. (Everything else worked fine, just not the email). When you divide it out for how much her email account is worth and then divide that by 30 days, she'll be lucky if she gets a $.50 credit :) People just want to be compensated for any inconvenience they can pin to you. Sorry, but the Internet is still an untamed beast and you have to take the good with the bad. In other words, suck it up ^^;

I ended up speaking with the #3 guy who hired me a few times today. I'll call him uberboss since I'm sure I'll have many bosses and mini-bosses to nudge me around once I'm pulled into the pecking order. Anyhow, uberboss asked me to email him our email addresses (well, anyone could do that, I had them fired off before he was off the phone). Then he called back that afternoon and wanted to take a whack at drafting a letter to the customers explaining what all's been going on with the company. I grilled him for 5 - 10 minutes to get a feel for what points needed to be hit and what he wanted to the overall tone of the letter to be. I got that done fairly quickly and fired the draft off at him... and got it back an hour later 'cause I'd spelt his email address wrong :P Hrm... yeah ^^; [sent the email again after double checking the address]

I still don't know for sure when I'll be moving to the other offices. I've been tentatively told next week. In the meantime I'll have to be shuffled around in my current location. Oh well, just so long as I've got a computer, net connection, and a piece of floor to call my own I'll get along ^^;

I caught the first 15 minutes or so of the O'Reilly Factor a couple times tonight. The lead story was about some girls who were kidnapped by their father at infancy, raised in Saudi Arabia, and their mother wanted them back some 18 years after the fact. Somehow (probably by being a big ass), O'Reilly managed to get the Saudi ambassador to arrange for the girls, now 19 and 24 to meet with one of his producers in London, where they were interviewed off camera. Though there is a lot of room for interpretation and it's easy to not accept what you don't want to hear, the producer passed along that the girls had no interest in meeting their mother or going to the US. The mother was understandable crushed and refused to believe it, and lashed out at O'Reilly. I don't think he deserved that, even though he wasn't exactly sympathetic either. He accepted the girl's opinions at face value since they were grown woman.

In that situation, it would make sense to me as well. They don't speak a lick of English, are both married, and don't know much of western culture. If someone came up to me and said "Hey, you were kidnapped as an infant and now I'm going to return you to Russia where you belong!" I'd be like, "Screw you, I'm staying here." This is where my life is, and at this stage it's too late to be uprooting me just to correct a wrong. It's sad that this meeting couldn't have taken place 15 years ago... and it is like their father who kidnapped them 'won'... but it is ultimately their decision. They were given the option to leave and didn't take it, so let them be now.

Weird thing for the day: I went on Gamestop.com to update my video game release dates. After I was done I typed in Eternal Eyes out of curiosity to see how much they were selling it for online. (I got it for $4 used and the store had about a zillion copies of it). The listing came up as $30.99 for a used copy and that it was on back order. Man, that game is barely worth the $.99 part, never mind the $30 + S&H :P

09.04.02 :: 07:41

Brr, like, BRR! o.o; Did you know that BRR is a word in the Scrabble dictionary? I didn't either until I got smacked with it once :P But I know how it's used. It's a word to describe the chilly fingers of fall that ran up my shorts when I stepped outside this morning to let Pepper do her business. BRR I say!

09.04.02 :: 23:20

I had a chance run in with my Aunt Ginny during lunch today at the market by my house. It was very odd to find her there because she lives in Ashland and she rarely leaves it or her house. (Uncle Fred had a stroke a few years ago and she doesn't like leaving him alone for long). Usually she comes to Medford once or twice a month and that's it. It was also weird for her to be at *that* market because it doesn't offer anything 'special'. There are bigger markets in town (heck, there's a larger Albertson's right across the highway). She with someone else and I'd just happened to go by there to buy some things for lunch. Wai! =) I haven't seen her, in, whoa.. probably before Christmas o.O; (I don't make it over to Ashland all that often m'self ^^; )

Justin called me after work tonight and invited me over to play Onimusha 2 and have pizza. (So no, I haven't read the manga yet :P ) *ahem* I didn't do as bad as I thought I would. He let me fight against one of the last bosses in the game and I kicked its fanny even though I bite at 'Resident Evil' controls :P Maybe when he's finished 0wNing the game he'll let me borrow it :) I've got my gaming for the next couple weeks planned out =D Eternal Eyes until Dynasty Tactics comes out until Kingdom Hearts comes out. Then I'll be playing Kingdom Hearts like a mad fiend =D

09.05.02 :: 22:15

I drew first blood in my war on mice last night. I caught a medium sized one in a trap in the kitchen yesterday ¬.¬ They won't get past my perimeter defenses this year...

We had another meeting at work today (I've had more meetings in the last 2 weeks than I've had in the last 3 years...) Today we talked about tech support and how it was going to work and whatnot. A lot is still up in the air. They're not going to move me over to the GP office until after the week of the 16th (if even that soon). That's good. I also got my schedule for the next week. I'm working 11am - 8pm Friday, Monday - Thursday. I'm also the on call tech this weekend. At least they don't care if I rack up overtime 'cause I don't think there's any way I can avoid that in this upcoming week ^^;

Mref, I have a lot on my mind, but nothing really interesting to say. Just a lot of random thoughts I guess. Every night after I've come home from work this week I've fallen into bed and slept between 1.5 and 3 hours x.x; I gotta stop doing that...

09.06.02 :: 11:20

I'm wearing my FFX Bahamut shirt today. It's black and had a picture of Bahamut (under stone version) on the front. On the back at the bottom of the shirt it says "Mega Flare" in Japanese. A bit of ill intended humor just occurred to me. I have "Mega Flare" written across my butt :P Could there be any more appropriate warning for a bean to give? :P

I discovered last night that the Freddy's by my house has installed 4 stations of self check-out counters. That was a kick. Scanned my 3 items, shoved a bill in the machine, got the change, and was out the door. I don't think I'd want to do it if I had done a full shopping trip, but it was cool for just the few things that I'd bought :) I first saw 'em when I was in Portland at the end of last year. I'm surprised it only took a year for them to migrate down to Medford :P

09.06.02 :: 23:15

I got my email address with the company today and have started to get company email. The first was an announcement that some internal server was going to be down this afternoon. Woot, it's nice that the admins tell people things like that ^^; The next was a welcoming message from the Human Relations lady announcing to everyone that we're new employees. [waves to her new co-workers that she hasn't met yet.] The next email after that was another welcoming message from the uberboss that was sent to everyone in the Medford and Grants Pass locations to explain things in more detail, though I'm pretty sure we all know what's going on already ^^; And after that, the uberboss sent us an email telling us what his schedule was going to be for the next week (what towns he was going to be in). *That* email was the one that really surprised me. I just wouldn't expect an important guy like him to tell the lowest rung on the chain where he would be next week and give out his cell phone number. (I already had it, though ^^; He gave it to me last week). But it does make sense since getting things taken care of here is one of his big projects and if anything went wrong he'd want to know about it right away.

I found out the other day that the boss and the uberboss both use ICQ to keep in touch ^^ When I came into work this morning the boss had added me to his list. (Which means I'll be able to keep my work ICQ when I finally get moved over to the GP office and set up with a new workstation :D ) I'm glad to learn that they're business type people, but not so anal-retentive that they don't make use of a Good Thing, y'know?

09.07.02 :: 21:07

I was bored and hungry last night / this morning (around 1am) so I went to Sherri's (think Denny's) with my laptop to get dinner and write some. They stuck me in a corner by myself, which was fine. The restaurant was doing a pretty good business for 1am. Most of the diners were bored teenyboppers ^^; No problems with that, they were over there and I was in my corner. Then a large group of them came in that grew to about 20 invaded my corner o.O; The way the tables were laid out I ended up being in the 'middle' of their group with them all around me --; I quickly finished eating and gathered up my things. The waitress came by and asked if I wanted to be moved to another table, but it was okay.

Shortly after I returned home the power went out :P It was only down for about 10 minutes, then went up and down a couple times during the following hour. I went around the house and reset the clocks after the first outage. When the power went out again I gave up and decided to reset them in the morning :P

Dad came by the house around 10am this morning. He wanted to mow the lawn in case it rained again. (Er.. there was a thunder storm last night ^^; ) He did a lot of other things besides just mowing the lawn. He took out the trash, reset the mouse traps, went through the mail, etc. He also noticed that my car had a flat tire o.O; He took it down to the gas station and got the tire aired back up.

I was on call tech today. It was moderately busy. Because of the power outage a lot of people needed to reset their cable modems. Unfortunately, someone had to *tell* them to reset the modem instead of them just doing it on their own :P (And the modem will reset itself if you don't do it manually, it just gets done sooner if you hit the button yourself :P ) Anyhow, when I wasn't doing that I was downloading manga. I was going after titles for me, Sean, and Vera. One of us had to go through all the hoops to get to the manga promise-land and I was the brave geodancer who went forth to the DAL.net and faced the gauntlet of FSERVs. I hope some of this stuff is good ^^;

When I was finished working my dad called me for dinner. Had dinner at Sherri's (the waitress asked me if I'd been there this morning o.O; ^^; ) and decided to get a fur trim. The haircut place had an hour wait, so I put my name on the list and then went cruising the mall. My first stop is always the game store to chat with the guys there and see if anything spiffy is coming out. Then I decided that I'd go to the book store and buy Love Hina 2 and sit at the haircut place and wait for my turn. When I got to the shelf with the manga I found 5 teenyboppers sitting on the floor reading manga blocking the shelf. I politely asked them to move and went looking for the volume I wanted. They didn't have it =/ After that I went to the video store 'cause they sometimes have manga. I looked on their shelf at the sparse selection and the assistant manager was quick to come by and point to two boxes they had in a corner filled with manga but had no self space for. There were some tempting titles in there, but they didn't have the early volumes of *anything* --; By the time I was down browsing the haircut place was nearly ready for me, so I just waited.

I've lamented before about getting haircuts and I'm about to lament again. Ysa-chan, would you come down here whenever I need one and tell me what I want so that I don't have to try to explain to the stylist that I just want a couple inches cut off? I don't speak their language, I don't think ;_; This was the longest amount of time anyone spent cutting my hair. (The gent in Toronto held that distinction before this lady). She kept hacking away at it while good-naturedly grumbling about how thick my hair was; repeating that she'd cut it down and then feel like nothing had been taken off. Thick or not, I don't know, I perfer to think of it as 'fluffy' :) I took a picture of the results. At least it's out of the way now ^^

After that I still had it in my head to find the Love Hina manga that I wanted. I went to Toys R' Us and looked (plus I wanted to look at the games ^^; ) Then I went to Barnes & Noble and they only had volume 4. The only other place that might have it is the comic book store which is closed until Monday :P It was just, odd that I couldn't find volumes 1 or 2 anywhere and 3 was in short supply. I guess it's good that people are buying it up, but I want to buy it up too!

Anyhow... getting back to the people in the mall who were just sitting there reading the manga off the shelf. That kinda bugged me and I'm still trying to pin down why. I know that B&N lets you sit there and read things, and that's a good thing. But when it comes to materials like the daily newspaper, magazines, and comics / manga I think you should buy those if you want to read them. Kind of like... Those are materials that you can have read in a short amount of time. You *can* stand there and read the entire thing, but then the bookstore and the publisher have lost out on the sale 'cause only the comic / manga might hold re-read value. Does that make sense? So it bothered me when I saw 5 teens sitting there in a pile of manga reading through the book store's profits. I don't claim to be a saint when it comes to this. Heck, I already admitted to downloading manga today... So it's like a grey area. If nothing else, I was annoyed that I couldn't easily step over them to get to the shelf because they were blocking the way :P

I did buy 3 books today. I bought Kodocha volume 2 and two books by Isaac Adamson; Tokyo Suckerpunch and Hokkaido Popsicle. Amazon has 9 pages of Tokyo Suckerpunch up. I don't think I could explain the book, so look at the link above to get an idea of what it's about ^^;

09.08.02 :: 18:20

I dedicated today to actually getting some things read instead of spending all day playing on the net. I read the first volume of Silent Mobius and more Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. And, uh, that's about it. I think I need to try harder ^^; I read the first chapter of Tokyo Suckerpunch last night. It reminded me of Sean though I can't quite put my finger onto why ^^;

During the nap I took this afternoon I had a dream with my dad in it. I dreamt that he came into the house and was loudly complaining about how the kitchen smelled 'cause I hadn't done the dishes. He wanted me to get up from my nap *now* and go do the dishes. I just laid in my bed and pretended to be asleep. Then it occurred to me that I almost always do the dishes as soon as I'm finished eating, so there aren't any in the sink. Then dad came into my room and he was all friendly and I woke up. [blinks]

It's been a relaxing and mellow day ^_^ Did laundry, napped, watched some football. The Chargers won today =D Now I'm watching the Cowboys and the Texans square off. I could almost hear the shout of outrage from Nick (co-worker) when the Texans got a touchdown ^o^ He's a *HUGE* Cowboys fan and if they go down to the Texans he will not be a happy camper tomorrow ^o^ (And I'll have to gently rib him some. It's all good =)

09.09.02 :: 11:27

I took Pepper to the vet this morning for some booster shots so that I can get her license renewed. By the time he was finished he'd given her 4 shots (I declined 2 of them) and performed a stool test. I think I'd make a bad parent... I want to do everything I can for Pepper but I don't have the money to run the half dozen tests the vet wants to run just to tell me that she's getting old. Dad keeps telling me to give up on her. Bah, she's still leading a happy life. There are rough days from time to time, but that happens =/ When I took her in this morning a couple of the people there were asking me if Pepper was a pup because of how energetic and bouncy she was. Nope, she's just really happy most of the time and loves going out, even if it's to the vet. Between the shots, the license, and food I ended up spending $130 bucks this morning. Ouch.

Grandma Lois will be coming through town on the 22nd and it's already becoming a stressful event. Mom's already told dad to find somewhere else to sleep that night, she doesn't want him spending the night with her while her mom is there --; So I'll have a mopey dad to cheer up that night =/

09.09.02 :: 20:42

Whoa, freaky weird injuries in the family today. I really bruised my right knee this morning when the vet asked me to lift Pepper up onto the examination table. (Actually, that was weird. Usually I can heft her up no problem, but I just didn't have the umph to lift her up =/ ) Then this afternoon mom stepped off of a curb wrong and twisted her ankle =/ Last I spoke with her she was feeling better. I hope she recovers quickly.

09.10.02 :: 12:08

I sympathize with the author of this article about media players fighting for file associations. (The article is tongue in cheek, not geeky :) There's been plenty of times when I've hauled out the beanie stick and beaten down RealOne to make it stop. ("Look! Stumpy can do stupid stuff!" [100]) Just yesterday, in fact, I had to help my mother beat down RealAudio so that it stopped blinking at her from the system tray. She thought she had a virus, and in a way, I'm not entirely sure she doesn't if ya know what I mean.

My advice on how to beat down RealOne. During installation don't give it associations to *anything* except the .rm-tachi files. After installation go to Start => Run and type in MSCONFIG and hit OK. This will bring up a configuration menu that you shouldn't go into (in other word, if you play around screw your machine up don't blame me ^^; ) Click on the Startup and you'll see any number of check boxes. These are all the programs that start up when your computer does. The one you're looking for is (depending upon the version) called RealTray (though anything with 'Real' in it is probably it. You'll also see a directory listing of where the file can be found, so use that to double check). Uncheck the box and then hit OK. The computer will tell you to reboot, but you don't have to right away. What you've just done is disabled RealOne from starting when the computer does. Don't worry, if you come across a RealMedia file that you want to watch, just click on it. RealOne will launch and everything will work as it should. Ha, see? This blog can sometimes be informative! ;)

09.10.02 :: 14:30

^o^! I love it when I do leet things even when they're not that leet but they fix the problem all the same =] We had a 2000 person mailing list to format. Nick split it up 3 ways and was expecting it to take the better part of an afternoon for us to format it. I stuck the thing into Editsu, ran a few find & replaces, made liberal use of cut & paste, and about 5 minutes later ICQed my part of the list back to him. The next thing I heard was Nick thundering down the hallway exclaiming "How did you cheat?!" I had him and Brian sent me their parts of their list and it took me about 10 minutes to process 'em and mash it all back together into a master list. I was proud of myself =]

09.11.02 :: 13:54

In grade school I was a pretty accident prone kid. If there was a loose ball in the gym it would find a way to hit me; that was my luck. I remember in 1st grade when I was out on the playground and I tripped over a soccer ball on the blacktop and landed chin first on the ground. After school that day Ms. Keenan ran out to my mother's car to assure that I didn't need stitches for my chin and that I was okay. Mom took the bandage off when I got home and check it out herself. It was just a gash across my chin, it'd heal with time, and I wasn't going to die from it.

Here is it, darn near 20 years later and I still have a scar on my chin. It's there every day that I look in the mirror at myself, but I only occassionally think about it. I've been thinking about it more as September 11th approached.

The US was injured, but it didn't die. Yeah, there'll be a scar, but after a while it won't dominate our day to day thoughts. (It shouldn't dominate our day to day thoughts, but that's another blog entry entirely). And this situation has given us a chance to see who cares for us even though we're "accident-prone". I remember thinking that Ms. Keenan hated my guts until she picked me up off of the black top and cleaned me up. By the same token, the British have staunchly stood by us more than I would have ever expected them to. (That's not an insult, but, like... Prime Minister Blair has his own country to run. He didn't have to take such a keen interest in helping us clean up our bloodied nose, and then stick around as long as he has to watch it heal). That's probably not a good analogy. I'll have to think of a better way to say it...

So, for this September 11th I'll rub my chin and reflect upon what lessons have been learned given the perspective that time allows. As a citizen of the US, there will always be a scar, but it's not going to be the focus of my life -- the distinguishing feature that I'm known by. There are so many other qualities that can draw people to our 'face'. Let us not forget how we got the scar, but also not dwell on it to the point of obsession.

09.11.02 :: 21:53

Wow, Dynasty Tactics is handing my ass to me in strips. It's so nice to be challenged =D

ReRun has pushed me just about as far as I'm willing to go. I went up to mom's apartment this evening to answer a computer question and when I wasn't looking the damn cat latched onto my hand with his teeth --; I have a bruise and it stings where he got me (I was sure to clean it out thoroughly when I got home). Last night when I went up to the apartment he was going for my arm but I stuffed a rolled up sock in his face before he got to the flesh. The time before that he got my arm while dad was sitting here watching him. I'm not sure WTF that cat's problem is, but I'm going to punt his furry hide across the apartment if he keeps it up --; A biting cat is not "fun", he's not "playing", if he were a dog there's a good chance he would have been put down by now for being so aggressive. So I'm buying any of my mom's excuses for him. His antics are tickin' me off --;

09.12.02 :: 21:19

Today has robbed me of my will to tech. I can only take so many mind numbing questions before I'm broken. It's a form of torture, I tell you! Let's see how many times in a row you can stand repeating the same thing to the same person?

"You need to click the Outlook Express icon for your mail. The one that looks like an envelope and says Outlook Express under it. See it? No, that's Microsoft Word. Go ahead and close that and look for Outlook Express. Okay, let's try this, read for me every icon on your desktop starting from the upper left corner. Your *left* corner. Okay, uh huh, yeah, My Documents is supposed to be there, now keep going. There! You said it! See where it is? Okay, double click on it. Not opening? Double click a bit faster. Ah, is it highlighted blue? Okay, hit the Enter key. It's on your keyboard. There you've got. Now let's get your mail account configured..."

Repeat that scenario for 8 hours and you'll have how my day went today ;_; And it was always worse when everyone else was gone. As soon as the door was closed the phones started ringing off the hook every customer needed hand-holding --;

09.13.02 :: 13:49

I lament! ;_; What was once the best Japanese restaurant in the valley is no more. Kazuko's was bought out, gyah, a half year ago with promises of another, better Japanese restaurant taking it's place. This place is Shiraya(? something like that). I can't remember how the name is spelled, but I know how I would translate it: slow as slug's snot. It took the server 10 minutes to get us a menu and then another 30 for our food to arrive (this is supposed to be a lunch type of place). I've ranted to Pisces before about how we're a fast food, everything now society, but I don't think I was that way in this case. I was running out of stories to tell mom when the server brought us our food in to go boxes (we asked him to when we realized that we wouldn't have time for the sit down lunch we'd been looking forward to most of the week). The food wasn't that great either =| Bummer deal.

I have gotten an insane amount of writing done over the last couple of days; about 25k worth o.O; And it's forward progress in the story as well! I just finished writing a lengthy story advancing scene! [cheers for herself]

09.14.02 :: 01:00

Blah =| Sorry to those people I ducked out on this evening. So many people were IMing me that windows were popping up like zits on a teen right before prom --; I left the computer and drove around town for a couple hours, stopped by whatever store I was near to see what sort of video game selection they had. Most of them were dismal. This really is a one game store town =| I've been half-heartly trying to find a copy of Jade Cocoon 2 in the stores here, but I think it skipped our valley somehow. (I've got plenty of other games right now, but I would like to play it at some point, y'know?)

I returned home and was still feeling pretty blah. I put Eternal Eyes back into the Playstation and started beating on it again. It really is a stupid game, but now I'm fixated on finishing it so that I can put the save file up on my webpage. Plus I try to maintain my policy of finishing the games I dislike so that I don't feel guilty when I bad mouth them. I'll never have someone say to me "your opinion isn't justified because you didn't finish the game". I'll slog my way through that SOB and then tell you point for point why its no better than an AOL disc :P Maybe I'm stubborn or twisted, I haven't figured out which yet...

09.14.02 :: 19:16

Grrrrr... All elections in Oregon are mail in and right now we're having a special election (ballots are due Tuesday). I voted on the two measures and submitted the ballot last week. Anyhow, I got a letter from the county today saying that they weren't convinced that I was the person I said I was and that I'd have to go down to the county offices to sign an affidavit. If this turns into another ordeal like the one with the cop that happened a few months ago I'm going to be pissed --;

I'm thinking about backing up all my crap and formatting Yggy. I did a bunch of maintenance yesterday (scan disc, clean up old files, defrag, installed Windows updates, etc.) and now when I try to watch anime it's all choppy --; I'm suspected that it's the Windows updates that did it, but I'm not sure. Being unable to watch anime on my computer isn't going to fly for long ¬.¬

09.15.02 :: 03:51

I meant to add a couple sentences to the SeeDfic that Chaos thought would smooth it out. Nearly two hours later (it seems like 15 minutes) 5k has fallen out and I'm ready for bed. Gotta love when inspiration hits :) Oh, and I finished Eternal Eyes last night. The ending was worth skipping ^^; At least I have the save files that I wanted and they're posted :)

09.16.02 :: 08:39

It wouldn't be a Monday morning without me having a restless night of sleep on Sunday night x.x I didn't fall asleep until around 2:30am and then it was tossing and turning between some weird dreams. I don't remember them entirely, but in one dream I was dragging a yellow 14' raft around the mall with me (already inflated). Even though it was yellow it wasn't a Sevylor, this this was one of the strudy self-bailers that you'd use for white water rafting. It was weird 'cause while hauling a caravelle around (measuring about 8') is possible, dragging a raft around is quite a feat for a single person o.O; I could also hop onto the forward tubes and drive it around like a car o.o; I did that for a while, but kept running into people (didn't hurt them 'cause it was a raft ^^v ) There was no frame on it, nor any place for the oars o.o;

Anyhow, I eventually found the kiosk that I'd borrowed the raft from and tossed up on the stop of their stand so that they could sell it. They were trying to sell it for $55,000, which I knew was way too much for it. (Rafts go for between $2,000 - $5,000). They were also selling a used GameCube for $90. Elf popped up and said I should buy it. I shook my head and replied that these people struck me as shady. I wasn't going to buy anything from them.

I woke up from that dream around 4:30am and shook my head. Then I rolled over and had another dream in which... I can't remember what lead up to it... but at the end some representative of the international community was scolding me for being a rotten American because I'd bribed enough people to win the World Cup for the US. I laughed at them and asked who the scoundrel really was if their oh so innocent players could be bribed in the first place? Nice to know that I was channeling the evil bean in me for my dreams ^^;

09.17.02 :: 07:39

I hope no one tries to gnaw on my butt today. I have a bad feeling that someone (a customer) is going to try to give me crap about something and I'm going to lose my cool. I have a short list of people on my pinboard who have tech issues that I haven't been unable to resolve yet. I can see any one of them calling me today to prod me along and give them a solution that I don't have. (If I had their problems figured out I would have called them instead of keeping their numbers on the list on my pinboard --; ) Well, one of them I can take off the list 'cause his issue was settled yesterday. So I do make occasional progress, y'know?

My sleeping schedule is all out of whack. I got home from work yesterday and hit the hay as soon as I had Pepper taken care of. I woke up after 2.5 hours 'cause my stomach was gurgling about being hungry, fed it, then took some sleeping pills and laid back down to sleep. Of course as soon as my head hit the pillow I was awake --; I was awake, but my body felt dead around me. I spent a good part of the night twitching. I'm not sure what causes that or if it's just my head playing games on me. Lay there and *twitch* the covers are flung off me. Lay there and *twitch* my foot hurts like I'd stepped on a nail. Very annoying.

I'm still feeling kinda 'blah don't want to talk to anyone'-ish. I hope no one takes offense when I ask 'em to let me be alone or that I'm not chattin' much. Just don't feel like interacting that much right now ._.

Kingdom Hearts comes out today, though I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high. It's not uncommon for new game distribution here to be a day or two behind the national rollout (like, I got Dynasty Tactics the day after it's release 'cause it hadn't arrived yet). I forgot my claim tag on the fridge this morning =| If I get a call that it did come out today I'd have to run home and grab it. (I keep all my claim tags on the side of the fridge so that I don't lose them).

Actually, I like how my fridge does more for keeping me organized than it does for keeping foods chilled ^^; Geek code and claim tags are on the side. On the doors I keep coupons (mostly for Papa John's and Suncoast ^^; ), a list of what bills I've paid this month (a habit I picked up from my dad. It's useful to be able to see the list and know where I'm standing this month), and postage stamps. I dread thinking about where I'd keep all these little bits of paper if not on the fridge o.O; I'd lose half of them! (Especially the postage because then I'd have to go to the post office to get more. And knowing my luck a month later I'd find $10 worth of postage under the couch where it had escaped to or something stupid like that :P )

09.17.02 :: 20:12

No Kingdom Heart wuv for me. Well, it wasn't unexpected, but really, the game stores should smack the distros for posting one date and then delivering afterwards :P (I bet you anything that if I went to Freddy's right now Monster's Inc. would be on the shelves ready to be snapped up ;) Ah well, that's how the gaming uh game goes. Blech, on second (or third or fourth) thought, it's probably good that Kingdom Hearts didn't come out today. I probably wouldn't be enjoying it if I were to play it right now.

When I went to Kay*Bee's to look at their games I experienced a case of exactly why I ask to be left alone when I'm in this sort of mood...

[Scene: Bean enters overcrowded (with merchandise) store. Approaches the glass cases that have the games and peers over the counter to read the titles (she wears glasses for a reason y'know ;) ]

Sales Associate: "Looking at some games?" [Sales Associate then walks right in front of the glass case to "help" her see the games.]

[Bean responses:]
A. "I was until your fat ass got in the way."
B. "I'm trying..." [Icy glare.]
C. [nods and does that little 'I'm trying to see around you' shuffle from foot to foot.]

[After nearly biting her tongue in half at the first two responses, Bean decides on option C. She nods slightly and then begins trying to peer around the man so that she can see the titles that are available. Sales Associate misinterprets this as indecision on the Bean's part and comes around the counter to speak with her.]

Sales Associate: "Let me tell you about our discount program."

[Bean responses:]
A. "How about you just let me look at the games?"
B. "I haven't bought $100 worth of merchandise from this dive *ever*. What makes you think I'm going to start now?"
C. [meekly say that she's not interested and keep looking at the games.]
D. [leave.]

[After more tongue munching the Bean elects to keep her mouth shut and just look at the games. The Sales Associate goes into his pitch and tries to press a discount card into the Bean's hand.]

[Bean responses:]
A. "I told you I wasn't interested, pig fucker, now leave me the hell alone!"
B. "Leave me alone." [Icy glare.]
C. [Accept the card, quickly finish looking at games, and flee the store.]

[Because anger management is an issue at this time the Bean locks her jaw shut and accepts the discount card he presses into her hand. She then goes back to looking at the game. The Sales Associate gives up on trying to sell the Bean on anything and goes to badger some other customers.]

Now, this is a fairly normal human interaction. Sales Associates bother people all the time, that's their jobs ;) But I could have easily turned a completely innocent man's day into a shithole if I'd let my tongue get away from me --;

Not that my temper didn't slip a few times this morning. The worst of it being when I slammed my fist onto my keyboard after my computer froze again --; I may talk about hitting computers but I usually don't practice it --; My co-workers left me alone in my office for the rest of the day after that (well, and I had the door closed for part of the morning). Just not a good day...

Oh, I went down to the county offices and got that ballot problem cleared up. They just wanted to see me sign the ballot again. When I offered ID to prove who I was they didn't want it (or even looked at it). So I signed the ballot again and I assume it was counted today.

09.18.02 :: 21:08

09.19.02 :: 07:38

• Congrats go out to Helen and her family. One of her sisters gave birth to a baby girl this morning, giving Helen another niece to adore ^^ She's in good health and they haven't named the child yet.
• Nick's oldest daughter lost her first tooth today while down at the office with her mom to pick up Nick. She was crying so much because of the blood. It's a good thing her mom was there to hug her and reassure her that this wasn't anything bad. Hopefully the tooth faery will treat her well tonight ;)
• The neighbors got a new puppy! He's a black miniature schnauzer named Murphy. Let me tell you, he's absolutely adorable :D He's almost all black except for a little tuff of white fur on his chest and you can fit him entirely in your cupped hands. He's extremely playful and was attacking the wild flowers while I was talking to the missus after work ^^
• If it goes through I'll be paid for a lot more overtime than I initially thought I would be. If I get what Nick says I should it'll be well over $100 extra in my next paycheck *_*
• Jackie started a mailing list to get the old #os, ##sm, and #!sm people back in touch and so far the response seems to be good! Already we've heard from people that I haven't seen in years. Oh my goodness, all the memories! I know in the great scheme of life, 5 years isn't all that much, but it's forever in net time!
• The smiley ( :-) ) was invented 20 years ago today.

I was going to write up a Beanie Smile Dictionary for this occasion, but I think I'll go play Kingdom Hearts instead ;) Gotta have my priorities straight and all ;)

09.20.02 :: 23:39

A short entry today 'cause that I don't think I have the energy for a long one. Menstruation has made me feel pretty sick all day. Usually I have one really bad day of cramps, but today it's been cramps, weakness, and a constant feeling nausea. Midol is only dulling the pain a bit and not even napping brings much relief. I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow. If anything, this feeling is giving me ideas for the SeeDfic. This is how I'd imagine someone feeling if they were hit with Bio :P Now that I've experienced it I can write it better.

I've read a lot of Liberi Tenebri today. I really do have to give the author props for taking a story that I know so well and making it an interesting read without repeating everything verbatim.

Jeffy's here this weekend. We're having a Kingdom Hearts gaming marathon. He just passed where I was in the game :)

09.21.02 :: 23:00

Oi, today was like asleep, sick, go out, asleep, sick, go out, asleep, and now i'm awake again, but not going out. The first time out Jeffy and I went to Costco. I planned on getting my dad a DVD player for his berfday. We found dad a simple (I hope) Samsung one and bought him the DVD of Monsters Inc. We also bought some other odds and ends and I ended up spending almost $200 there. It's hard to get out of Costco without spending a lot ^^;;

Dad's in a mildly foul mood today 'cause mom kicked him out of the apartment 'cause the grandparents are here =| I feel bad for him and for what things must be goin' through his head. Anyhow, so he was here this afternoon and mom called us to have dinner with her and her 'rents. We went to a buffet, ate, Jeffy and I returned to the house after dinner with the rest of them going to watch a movie at mom's. Dinner made me sick again --; Once that was done I slept some and dad returned.

Blech, no fun. Anyhow, Jeffy's been playing Kingdom Hearts. I wish I could be a better hostess, but I'm just not up to it right now ^^; I keep falling asleep while watching him; my body probably needs it. He's a heckuva lot further than I am by now ^^; And I've slept through enough of what he's done that I won't feel like I'm just replaying his game when I get there myself :P

I finished reading the main story of Liberi Tenebri today (through part 58). The last couple chapters have given me something to think about, though probably unintentionally. I explained what I was thinkin' to Jeffy, but I'm not sure I explained it well. Mostly it had to do with Quistian (Quistis) and people who wear glasses ^^;

OH! I picked up these cool glasses wipe things at Costco that work great! They had one of their demo tables out where you could try it. I wiped off my glasses and it's the cleanest they've been since the last time I took them into optometrist to be adjusted o.O (And that's not for lack of trying, I assure you. I've got the little cloths and cleaning fluids out my ears ¬.¬)

Ohhhhh... New record for me. ICQing Jeffy and he's only 32 inches away from me. [waves to Jeffy] Gotta love computer geeks ;)

09.22.02 :: 19:47

Spent most of today in bed (mostly asleep). When I'm awake I feel weak and nauseous. Gotta shake this by tomorrow =| I'm going to go to bed now and please, Lord, have mercy and let me pass out until my alarm goes off tomorrow morning.. z.z

Dad's going up to Portland on Tuesday for school and won't return until Friday. Mref, we're going to have lunch together tomorrow since it'll be our last chance before I'm transferred. I wonder what having lunch up in Grants Pass will be like. Probably boring since I couldn't run any errands while I was there and I wouldn't have anyone to eat with. Blech, shouldn't think about food right now --;

Helen's niece has been named: Tori Elizabeth. That's a good name, IMO. (Not that I get a vote, mind you, I just think it's a good name ^^ )

09.23.02 :: 08:24

I had a dream this morning that felt meaningful. I don't think I can get all of that meaning across, but I'll try. The setting for the dream was a couple urban blocks. When exploring this area it was a lot like exploring the Seven Sisters High School in Persona 2; you met with people and chatted. The reason I was in the neighborhood was because this was a writing community and I'd read the works of an author who lived here. I wanted to speak with the author, Min, but was having little luck catching up with him. I sent him messages that went unreturned, so I came here myself.

The 'common folk' were pretty nice. They didn't know me, of course, and offered a lot of general advice for a budding author. After a week or so I asked them about meeting Min. I was told to forget that, but if I wanted to meet more skilled authors I'd have to become a member of the community first. How could I do that? I had to prove myself by going to this warehouse and spending the night. The warehouse was like a dungeon from a video game sans monsters to battle (platforms to jump from and all).

One of the commoners had decided that she was going to be my guide since I was a nice enough person and she thought I'd make a nice addition to the community. I had my backpack with me that I always take to work with some supplies in it. She told me to also take my laptop with me. I thought that was odd since it was only going to be the night and I probably wouldn't want to sit down and do any writing... but I took it with me anyways. I was told that the higher ranked authors were in the warehouse now on a retreat. The higher up in the floors I went, the higher ranked the author. Min was on the roof, but I definitely shouldn't go up there. Stick to the ground and second floors and I should be fine. (The warehouse had, like 5 stories).

My guide left me at the door and I was on my own. I went around the ground and second floors and met the authors there. Most of them were sociable, but they weren't Min. I'd come all this way to speak with Min. So I started climbing floors. By the time I got to the fourth floor I'd attracted the attention of some of the authors and they told me to stop, Min was doing private mediations up on the roof. I wasn't ranked high enough to go up there. I switched around how I had the backpack and laptop secured to me so that the pack was on my front and the laptop was across my back, then went out the window. There was a ledge outside that I used for climbing up onto the roof.

When I got to the roof I looked over the edge at the people on the street below. They didn't look up to notice me, why should they. Then a voice brought me back from my musings. "Why are you here?" Min asked defensively. "I wanted to meet you," I explained. He shook his head, not accepting my answer. "I am the Alpha Author here. Have you come to take my authors from me?!"

I realized then that Min thought I was there to challenge him for his position as the best author in the community. I knew that I was better than what everyone else thought. They thought I was a newbie who had never written a story before. Min feared me because he knew that I was his equal if not better.

"Perhaps..." I drawled, eyes laughing at him. "But I really did just want to talk... To talk about writing with someone who would understand my passion..."

I didn't reassure him that I wouldn't take his place as Alpha Author, but it wasn't my intention to do so. To be Alpha meant to be the best, and whomever that was, it was. I also wouldn't take up a place as one of his Beta Authors either. I insisted on standing outside of his rank and file. I loved the art of writing and that was what had brought me to his part of the neighborhood.

I woke up when my alarm went off and have been thinking about the dream ever since. It does bear some resemblance to a situation playing out online right now. But I don't know the motives of the one I would call the Alpha Author. I will say that there's a community and a ranking of authors. I'm the new kid and have little standing within the community. We'll see how it plays out...

09.23.02 :: 22:42

When I got off from work this afternoon I went straight home and went to bed --; I slept until around 8pm when Pepper started hopping up and down on me like it was time to feed her or something. (It wasn't, I took care of her before I went to sleep. I'm very good about that). It's good that she woke me, I had some things to do this evening. I needed to re-air one of the tires on my car 'cause it's getting low (still need to tire store and get it fixed --; ) Then I went to say good-bye to dad before he left for his trip tomorrow morning.

Michi sent me the PLANITb Mix of Simple and Clean this evening :D It's growing on me the more I listen to it. Haven't played any more of the game though. No motivation. I'd rather be in bed asleep. I'm thinking about calling into sick tomorrow. I don't want to. What I've been doing lately doesn't require a lot of brain power to accomplish, but... =/

I got a generic letter from my new insurance company listing what medications will be covered during the next year. The entire class of ones I take isn't covered --; This does not please me. I'm not tied to any one specific "must have that one or else", but when *none* of them are covered.. augh --; When my dad gets back I think I'll talk with him to see what advice he has to give regarding this.

Oi, which reminds me... My dad tossed an idea off me this afternoon that I wouldn't have ever considered... My mom wants him to sell the house to me (like *seriously* Sell. The. House. To. ME!) and he wanted to know what I thought of the idea. I told him no (at least for now). If I were paying a 30-year mortgage on the house I'd *never* get out of this valley. I dunno.. if he were serious about selling the house to someone I might reconsider. I could probably do something with it as a rental if nothing else, but I feel like I'm not old / mature enough to be thinking of such things ._.;

09.24.02 :: 20:48

I stayed home today and slept (and sleep I did). When I was awake it wasn't for long before my head started pounding and I went back to sleep ^^; I know I dreamt a lot, but I only recall one dream right off the top of my head. I had the video output of Yggy fed through a projector pointed at the wall, making IRC 10ft tall. And Vera banned a lamer who was harassing me while I was away sleeping. (Yes, I often have dreams about sleeping ^^; )

The only productive thing I did today was write about a page of fic. I think that's a good thing, the urge to write has been burning in the back of my mind for days now. I'm not sure if the writing is any good, but the 'pressure' of getting some of these ideas down has been relieved. *That* feels good.

09.25.02 :: 10:30

I've been remarkably productive today, wai. Too bad the morning is dragging its feet so that I have plenty of time to get things done :P I answered some tech mail, took the cancelled accounts out of the server, and (after weeks of being baffled) tracked down someone who's fixed a problem on the mail server :D

I need to have a talk with Pepper when I get home this evening. She kept me up most of last night with her restlessness and making weird noises. I kicked her off the bed and so she laid on the floor and wrestled around. Kicked her out of the room and so she loudly did the same thing in the hallway. Stupid mutt :P She didn't settle down until around 2:30. When I rolled over to go to sleep my alarm went off and it was 6:30! How did that happen?! I was robbed!

09.25.02 :: 22:49

I went to the mall during lunch today. The battery in my watch was going dead. I took it into the jeweler / watchsmith I always take it to and it was immediately obvious that today was training day ^^; The woman working on the watches was struggling with the one she was working on currently and the woman who took mine in expect it to be a little bit before the batteries would be replaced in mine. I was in no hurry, so I dropped it off and left them my cell phone number. Walking out of the shop it dawned on me that my watch has two batteries in it (one for the watch, one for the back light) and she probably didn't know which was which ^^; Almost as soon as I thought that the woman called and pointed out that I had two batteries in my watch ^^; I agreed to letting her just replace both of them. (Though the back light battery usually lasts twice as long as the watch battery).

I picked up some lunch and Love Hina trade paperbacks 2 - 5. I bought the even numbered volumes from the video store and the odd ones from the book store. (Neither store had all 5, only even or odd o.O; ) When I went into the video store I asked her for Love Hina 2 and the manager asked me why everyone was looking for the volume. I explained about the bookstore, and commented that the book store has started to sell anime DVDs. She shook a fist at them and wanted to know more. I laughed, didn't she ever scope out the competition? ^^;

09.26.02 :: 18:56

My mom called me at work today to invite me out to lunch 'cause my Aunt Ginny was in town. I thought she said to meet at the Japanese restaurant. So I went down to my favorite Japanese restaurant and waited, then ordered, then ate, and wondered where the heck they were. They'd gone to the Asian Grill on the other side of town --; When someone says "Let's have Japanese" that place is the last to come to mind. I rate Jack in the Box's teriyaki chicken bowl as being more 'authentic' than their food is.

Anyhow, mom had ordered me lunch there and of course I didn't get it =| She told me she was going to give it to me tonight after work and I could have it for dinner, but then Bill (her pressman) spotted it and ate it =| Oh well, easy come, easy go. I had leftover spaghetti for dinner instead.

I'm working the late shift tomorrow. Then, on Monday, I'll start working on Grants Pass, bright and early at 8am. Lincoln and I are going to carpool. I also found out that in terms of cubby assignments I was put on the end of a row with Lincoln next to me and the boss on the other side of Lincoln. The boss also sent out an email *requiring* us to be logged onto ICQ at all times while at work [laughs] Finally, a boss who understands! ;)

09.27.02 :: 00:08

Final Fantasy X Spoiler Warning!

I just went through and watched some of my favorite FMVs from FFX and y'know what, they're still cool / power scenes. I think the arc between the wedding through them making out in the springs has got to be one of the most powerful series of game events I've seen. Watching them raid the wedding is always heart thumping. Tidus-tachi sliding down the cables is just so heart-pounding! Though, I did notice that Lulu is *not* sliding down the cables with everyone else. How did she get to the ground then? Hrm.

The whole wedding itself is cool. I mean, Yuna in her dress! *_* But I won't dissolve into a drool-fest right now. I've been wondering this (and have had mixed answers when I posed this question)... but if you marry the man that you killed, is it binding? I mean, Seymour is technically dead at that point, but he's still there by sheer force of will. Does it count? If so, does that make Yuna an unfaithful wife during her little tryst in the spring a bit later on?

Back to the wedding. Yuna stepping off the edge of the tower and having faith that Valefor would answer her summons was cool. When she looked back up at Seymour-tachi standing at the edge, I could just imagine her thinking, "This is true power; being able to rely on others," at Seymour. Because, really, that's a lot of what Yuna's story is about, putting her fate in other people's hands and trusting them to pull through for her. If her choices were good and people pull through, she would be unstoppable.

And finally the spring. I've wondered a few things about that scene even though I know I should take it in the romantic jest that it was intended. First, we learn in the International version of the game that Yuna has been practicing for some time on holding her breath (her record is like 2 minutes). I'd say she was holding it longer than that when she was under the water with Tidus ;) Next, how did their clothes not get into complete knots around each other (especially her skirt)? And finally, how did Yuna not sink to the bottom like a rock in those knee boots she's wearing? It would have been better of Yuna had stripped down to something more water-friendly and then went at it with Tidus, uh, yeah ;)

09.27.02 :: 22:04

I've come up with a great new game show idea! I'm going to call it "smack the OS" :D That's what I did most of today, smacking a fresh of WinXP around. More stable my fanny. I kept finding creative ways to bring it to its knees. And just so you know, Trillian and Office XP are its evil cohorts. Every computer I touch today has been prone towards crashing. Now even Yggy is taking a dive when I do things like write this blog and play mp3s --;;

The reason I was even messing with it is because I'm moving to the GP office on Monday. I thought it'd be nice to have a clean install / computer when I went over there. Lincoln, Brian, and I are going to be carpooling on Monday (with Lincoln and me bringing out computers as well). It'll be... interesting. I'm kind of glad that my schedule mostly matches Lincoln's. I'm not sure how I'd feel about this if I was going over there to meet a bunch of people I don't know w/o moral support y'know?

Jeffy has found a way to explain the power structure of Balamb Garden in network terms ;) Cid is the main machine. Xu, since she's such an organized hard-worker, is the file server. Dr. Kadowaki is the gateway, all things must pass through her before they're approved ;)

09.28.02 :: 17:46

Hahaha! One of the neighbors stopped me when I was going into the house this afternoon and asked me what I was going to dress up as when I went trick or treating this year XD Yeah, 25 and I still go candy begging.. but it's a community service! Where I live no kids go. I have to make sure that the neighbors get at least *one* visitor, right? ^^v B'sides, it gives me a chance to go around and gossip with 'em, and then they gossip about me the next day :P

And for the record, I'm going to be dressed up as a White Mage this year ^_^

09.28.02 :: 23:00

You were so right about Silent Mobius, Sean ^^ Episode 5 had me in stitches and episode 6 was like O.O! Kiddy's episode, yeah, that kicked butt ^^ And Lebia is my freaking hero because of her apartment. I would so dig living at her place ^_^ (And I'd even enjoy reading the manuals ;) Good thing I get paid in a few days. I'll go buy the second volume when I do :)

I totally botched my attempt to make dinner tonight. It kinda bogged me down 'cause what I made wasn't a hard dish and I was planning on munching on it for a couple days as leftovers. I was making pigs in blanket aka pronto puffs aka hot dogs baked in dough. Except by the time I was finished I had them burnt on the outside and doughy on the inside. Man I suck --; I'll have to come up with something else to munch on.

09.29.02 :: 20:00

Yay, the Chargers won today! ^_^ I pretty much wasted this weekend watching tv ^^; I got a couple things done like cleaning my car and the usual dishes / laundry, but not much else b'sides that. I'm kind of nervous about tomorrow. I hope everything goes okay at the new workplace.

09.29.02 :: 21:48

Alessar has posted this test a couple times, so I took it. I've never seen Angel Sanctuary. I wonder if the music is any good ^^;

Take the Anime soundtrack Quiz

09.30.02 :: 19:59

Welp, today was my first day with my new co-workers. All in all everyone seems to be pretty nice, though I'm not sure about a couple of 'em ^^; My cubby is in the corner of the office away from everyone but Lincoln ^^v I'm content to sit in my corner and go about my business. As I half expected, there was some dick-wagging going on to show us new people where we belonged in the pecking order. [rolls eyes] I'm also the youngest person working out of the GP office. (Part of establishing just how far down the totem pole they figured I reside). Oh well, it's not the first time I've been discounted because of my apparent youth ¬.¬

Brian, the tech from GP who filled in at the Medford office while Lincoln was on vacation, really went out of his way to help Lincoln and I get settled in today. The boss was gone all day at a meeting in Eugene, so we were kinda like "Uh.. What are we s'posed to do? o.o?" Brian showed us how the tech support was structured, how to use the phones, got us set up with the company's software, and even went so far as to make us each a copy of his technical manual! (Y'know, the techie's book of tricks that makes repairs so much easier ^^) As I said, he was very helpful ^_^

It was chilly here today. I don't think it got over 65F o.o [brrr] I know that soon enough I'll be longing for it to be up to 65F, but my body's still in warm autumn mode. It also been raining off and on. You'll hear no complains from me on that score. We could use the rain.

This football season has been downright weird so far o.O; I'm watching the Broncos / Ravens game and am just shaking my head. I got home in time to see O'Neal get tossed out on his ear for pushing a ref, then a personal foul, and then taunting o.o; Like, bam, Bam, BAM! came the penalties. Then the Ravens ground an entire salt lick into the Broncos' wound by scoring on an interception *and* a punt return. WTF? As long as the Chargers keep on winning, it's all cool with me, yo ^^v

Name: Amanda Anderson
Nickname: Greenbeans
Contact: E-mail
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