12.01.01 :: 10:29

I had some odd and vivid dreams last night. I recall them well enough, but I'm not sure I can put them into coherent order, so this is my lame attempt.

There were two groups. The group that I was a member of was casual, kind of like a group of friends from high school. But we shared one important thing, we protected an item so that the other group (the "bad guys") couldn't get it. But the bad guys were persistent and had a plan for destroying us. They got us all together for a trap. They'd issued us all invitations to various events that would interest us individually and then captured us. But I wasn't captured. And not because I was that clever, but because they didn't want me alive, they wanted me dead o.O;

The next part of the dream is me fleeing for my life. Their bounty hunter type person had tied me up with rope and was going to use quite a bit of gas to blow me to kingdom come. While she wasn't looking I slipped out of the ropes and started running (the way she'd done it, she couldn't actually see me to know if I was still there or not when she blew it up). I ran and ran and ran until I was dodging through a *ahem* white trash trailer park. (You know what I mean... Watch the movie "Tremors" if you have any questions).

I eventually came to a trailer that I felt was far enough away that they might not find me. I forced my way in and told this old guy in a bathrobe to just be quiet and act like nothing was going on. I hid in his sleeping quarters (his trailer was exceptionally small and still attached to a truck, so he was mobile). I tried to pull the shades down so that no one could see into the cubby, but managed to only get one of them down. So I hid under a blanket and remained motionless. By this time, my dream had morphed some and the bounty hunter was Lulu from FFX (gyah!) and she was with another non-descript person. They were searching trailer to trailer because she couldn't find any remains after blowing me to pieces. The old man (still in his bathrobe) answered the pounding on the door and told them that he hadn't seen anything. Lulu peered in the window of the cubby I was in and suspected that I was there, but couldn't do anything about it.

After they left, the old man thought it would be a good time to leave the trailer park. (Which was probably the most suspicious thing he could have done :P ) So he started driving north towards Seattle. (My dream started in Portland, go figure...) He was going along and then a motorcycle came buzzing up alongside us. It was Lulu and her henchmen, they were following us and making so attempt to hide it. I continued to cower in the cubby.

We made it into Seattle. We were going through one of the suburbs when we came to a sudden stop. The old man slammed on his breaks when a pretty young woman stepped out into the middle of the street. It was Yuna (who'd been in my group previously, she was brainwashed). She put her staff up to do a spell, and Lulu came to her right and another woman to her left. The three of them did a "Sister" spell that stole the old man's soul from his body and absorbed it into their staves. Yuna and the other 'sister' then put their pieces of his soul into Lulu's staff and she was all evil and cackling and crap.

Lulu then came forward so that she could search the trailer and find me. And I woke up at that point ^^; Whoa boy, maybe I don't want FFX so bad after all ;)

12.02.01 :: 00:59

Ow, my thumb hurts. I just finished a CS3 marathon with Brian. We went through the game once and then decided to go through it again with different characters. We got in at least 8 hours of solid playing today. Is it possible to bruise a thumb? It hasn't hurt this much since I played through the Bouncer. I had to take that game in half hour doses.

Anyhow, getting back to my thoughts on CS3. It kicks much ass (well, that's the point ;) The two player mode is a blast, I'm really glad they added it. I also like how you can now collect different items and weapons that are equipable. Overall it was worth the $50 in my opinion, though there is some room for improvement. Enemies still drop off the screen when too many are around you. There is slowdown from time to time (most noticeable when the other player is doing their musou attack). And it would be nice if there was a way for one player to give their arrows to another. (I love standing back and sniping from afar, while Brian charges right in there to mix it up).

Oi, after all that gaming, I'm beat. It's definitely time to hit the sack (and probably dream of musou attacks...)

12.02.01 :: 11:05

Ow, my thumb still hurts x.X Yeah, I'm gonna be taking a few days break from CS3 me thinks. Well, I have to anyways because Brian and I saved mid-level and I can't resume playing without ruining our save file. Heh. We've already got plans to resume the smackdown on Friday =D

The annual Anderson war on mice has begun. With the coming of winter the field mice migrate from the fields around the house into it. [grrr!] Dad laid out a bunch of traps last night and got six of the rat bastards. [grrr!] I picked up more traps this morning. I'm not too good at laying them. I'm always afraid I'll snap myself (did it once, and don't want to do it again). And my thumb is still numb.. gyah!

My plans for today include laundry, napping, football, napping, reading the second Harry Potter book, napping. It's going to be a busy, busy day! =)

12.02.01 :: 20:13

I've accomplished everything that I set out to do today; napped, laundry, football, and read some. The Chargers lost in overtime ;_; They're out of the playoff picture. At least the Raiders lost too. I can take some pleasure in their defeat =P

I went over to my mom's for dinner. I came into the apartment, sat on the couch next to her cat, ReRun, and tried to pet him. He, in turn, sank his teeth into my hand and we glared at each other. My dad was sitting across from me with his mouth agape. I gave ReRun my best "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" look before shaking him off my hand. (It didn't hurt, but he did manage to draw some blood). Mom came scurrying out of the kitchen and scooped him up, then put him in her bedroom. He howled and howled. Oh well... At least I got stuffed full of spaghetti ^^ After dinner mom let ReRun out and he continued to glare at me. Bah, stupid cat. Dogs are so much better...

The war on mice is going well. I've had to go to the store twice today to pick up more traps --; I did find some ones that had a cover on them so that I couldn't snap myself. Haven't caught any mice in them yet, but if they work I'll be picking more up. (That way I don't have to bother dad to come here and set the traps for me). I can also set them in some other places that I've seen mice, but didn't put a trap there 'cause I was afraid Pepper would stick her nose (or tongue) in it. There must be something magical about peanut butter that it attracts both mice and dogs.

12.03.01 :: 19:00

I've had an aggravating day at work. So, if you ever contact tech support, please don't be like any of the people listed below:

• Do not be like the 3 customers who called to ask if the Internet is broken. It's not. Do not insist that the servers are broken. They're not. Accept that your computer has an issue that it's my beleaguered job to fix it.
  
• Do not be like the 2 customers who scoffed at the restorative power of a reboot on a Win9x platform. That should be the very first thing you try before calling me.
  
• Do not be like the man who tried to return a broken modem 11 months after the purchase.
  
• Do not be like the woman who complained quite loudly about our "unreliable service" and refused to let us take a look at her computer when the offer was made to do it for free. It's not often you're offered free computer work by people who actually know what they're doing.
  
• Do not call to ask a question, start to get an answer, and then ask 2 more questions while I'm answering. Not only is that rude, I can only handle one issue at a time!

12.03.01 :: 19:00

Wow, Chaos and I got quite a bit of plotting done for the SeeDfic tonight. I'm glad, I really needed some help. I come up with great outlines, but sometimes fleshing them out (especially with regards to Quistis) breaks my brain. Thank you Chaos! [deep bow]

I started my Christmas shopping tonight. I found gifts for 3 people with a lot more shopping to go ^^; The only people I've completed my shopping for are my dad and Austin. Gyah, I dislike holiday shopping. I dislike wrapping. I dislike going to the post office to do the shipping. (I have a long standing gripe against the post office). In fact, I dislike most of the holiday season when you get right down to it ^^; I'm not going to bother putting up any decorations. No lights, no tree, no eggnog (which I find to be quite disgusting). Just puttering around waiting for the holiday to go away so I can resume going to the mall without it being crowded.

Man, now I sound like a Scrooge. Oh well ^^; Can't like every holiday, ne?

12.04.01 :: 18:23

I finished reading the second Harry Potter book last night. Now I'm caught up to where Chaos asked me to be. Wai! Now onto something that I don't find to be quite so.. dull ^^;

I'm going to be on the evening news tonight. A new virus called Goner is making its way through the next and the tv station wanted to interview a tech about it. She called up to ask questions and I answered them. Then she asked if there was anyone there she could interview. I scooted off to my boss to ask him if he wanted to be interviewed (the tv station calls us about once a month when they're doing computer-related stories). He said that he wasn't feeling well and didn't want to give an interview (plus he didn't know anything about the virus), why don't I do it? I didn't want to, not dressed for an interview today, but did anyways. I haven't seen it myself (I'm at work when the news is on). She told me they were going to edit it down to 'viewer' levels. Meaning that it would be dumbed down significantly. Blech. I probably confused the hell outta here with technobabble ^^;

While puttering about today I noticed that they haven't taken all the Santas down as they said they would. The 3 clinging for their lives Santas have been moved to more appealing positions. The headless splattered / crucified Santa is still where it was in the same position. I would have thought they would change that one first, but they didn't. I'm guessing they couldn't reach it or something. That one's at a major intersection through town ^^;

Work today was amazingly non-stressful. Most of my calls were along the lines of "huh?" People calling for the oddest reasons. Like the woman who called to warn us that there was a new virus going around, but it wasn't the goner virus. She was getting her tail in a knot over BadTrans. That one wasn't too odd. I can't even really some of the bizarre ones. They were so left field they left my mind...

12.05.01 :: 11:47

Today got off to a rough start. One of my co-workers called me for a ride to work (that's cool, I'd offered). I hopped into my car and the battery was dead =| I called my dad (who is a mechanic) and he said he'd come help me. I waited about a half hour before he made it. That gave me time to start cleaning the carpet like I've been meaning to. The idle things that get done while waiting...

The news station called again this morning asking for an interview regarding the Goner virus. I blinked and pointed out that they'd interviewed me yesterday. He was as confused as I was until we put two and two together and figured out that one of his co-workers had already done the story. They're doing another story on it tonight 'cause the local United Way got the virus. He asked me some more questions and said he'd call back if he needed anything else. Oi oi ^^;

12.05.01 :: 19:45

During lunch I bopped down to the shop my dad works at to see how my car was doing. I can proudly say that the battery didn't die because I was an idiot and left the lights on or something like that. He tried to charge it and the battery just won't hold a charge anymore. Gonna have to buy a new one. Good thing I got paid today.

The war on mice is going well. I will prevail against this vile enemy that leaves little turd trails all over my nice clean counter. That is so not cool =|

My thumb has recovered from Saturday's gaming fest. Just in time too because we have another planned on Friday. I can't wait to play more CS3, but I gotta wait for Brian. Maybe I'll continue working on my Persona 2 game in the meantime. I'm in the Factory right now mapping the blasted thing out. The fact that I keep falling down holes doesn't please me, but it needs to be done for the map. I better get something good out of this.

12.06.01 :: 11:55

A thought occurred to me suddenly and I thought I'd blog it down. If it appears that your tech staff has nothing to do than you know they're doing their job well. What's the logic behind that? Easy. If they aren't doing their job well then servers will be crashing, the phones ringing off the hook, and they'll be running around like chickens with their heads cut off. But if the situation is calm, under control, laid back to the point of being boring, then they're running a tight ship. At least that's how I play the game. Proactively address issues before they become issues and anyone calls to complain about it. Good tech support should appear effortless, even though it isn't!

Here's the "you just can't win" call of the day: A customer called to complain that I hadn't helped him disable his call waiting when we configured his machine. I pointed out that I didn't know he had call waiting at the time. He insisted that I should have known because it's my job to know such things. So know it's my job to know what options you have on your phone bill each month. Man... There's no winning with that sort of logic...

12.06.01 :: 15:49

I talked to my dad again about my car during lunch. He said I had bigger problems than just a dead battery. My car's been running on 3 cylinders and there was a recall out on the fuel injector. He ordered in the fuel injector. Fortunately I don't have to pay for it. It's a $200 part o.O;

There's going to be a FFX party / get together at my house the last weekend of December. Screw celebrating Christmas or New Years, we've got to celebrate the *important* events ;) So far only 2 people have said that they're coming over for certain (which is okay, I only started inviting people today ^^ ) I don't expect a large gathering, maybe a half dozen people. Helen's one of the people who's coming. It's going to be good to see her ^_^

12.09.01 :: 01:00

I've had a busy couple of days. I got my car back from the shop Friday. I couldn't tell you what was done to it except to say that some parts were replaced and a vacuum hose was left off purposefully to make the car run better. That still baffles me, but I figure it's not my area of expertise, so I'll trust those whose it is.

Brian came over Friday afternoon with his computer in tow. It was loaded with anime. Yummy. I leeched a lot of things off of him that I haven't seen yet. I'm in anime goodness for a month at least now ^_^ We played Customer Smackdown 3 and unlocked more stuff before his girlfriend called and he had to go. He left his machine with me so that I could use his burner. With access to about 20 gigs of anime and two burners I got a lot put on CD in 24 hours ^_- I continued playing and pausing to swap discs every 10 minutes or so. Stayed up entirely too late (like 4 in the morning-ish).

I woke up around 8 the next morning when someone called. I didn't pick it up because I figured the answering machine would catch it. Then I remembered that I'd unplugged the answering machine the previous night. Oops, I hope it wasn't important ^^; I played more CS3 and swapped CDs. While playing I noticed that the left stick of my controller had a groove worn into it and was covered in a fine powder. No wonder my thumb hurt, I play too hard...

Around noon Brian called me and asked me if I was up to anything. I wasn't. He invited me to a Christmas party going on at the National Guard Armory for the platoons in our area. I've never been to anything like that before, so it was interesting. The CO gave a presentation on an upcoming mission for Oregon's troops. They're going to Egypt for some peace keeping type mission.

I went home after that and puttered around. Watched the George Clooney Batman Returns Again for yet Another Sequel movie that they showed on TNT before the Matrix. Burned more CDs, played more CS3 (that game has been *so* worth my money), and worked on Sowing. I discovered that I lost the floppy disk that had my most recent writing efforts on it. I hope it's at work, but if it's not I won't be heartbroken. My recent efforts have all been crap anyways. It might be better to lose them and have to start over...

Jackie made me a super kickass Blogger layout. I haven't used it yet (obviously). Still trying to figure out how (just meshing the code together, but it's more than my brain can handle at the moment).

It took me about 4 hours to get Yggy to do more than view webpages this evening. I'm not sure what's up with that, but I couldn't get it to ICQ, IRC, or check my email. Usually if there's a problem it's the other way around. I can do all those things except view webpages. I'm not sure if it's because of the Squid server at work (I don't think so), how the computer was networked when Brian was here, or what. I'm guessing 'or what' because I was able to take my laptop online and it worked.

More people have committed to coming to my FFX party. Elf and Brian are going to come and Adam and Mare might as well ^_^ Wai, this'll be great, I know it :D

Tomorrow's going to be a busy day. Austin's coming over sometime in the morning and will be staying here until Thursday (when I take him to the airport). We're thinking of going to see Harry Potter in the afternoon. That evening my mom's going to make tuna casserole for dinner. I love tuna casserole :)~~~ He also has to try CS3. I just know he'll like it!

12.10.01 :: 22:52

This is my third attempt at writing an entry today; my computer crashes, the Internet break, dog ate my keyboard, whatever. I just finished playing some SSX Tricky. Needless to say, I suck a lot at that game. Oh well, sports type titles were never my strong suit. Personally, I think it should count even if I do go falling down the course and end up skidding across the finish line by a nose... It may be a broken one, but it's still a nose :P

Austin, my parents, and I went to see Harry Potter again yesterday. I still think I enjoyed the movie more than the book ^^; We then had tuna casserole at my mom's place. That was yummy! ^_^ Chomp Chomp Chomp! I could eat buckets of that stuff and not get tired of it ^_^ Psycho biting cat wasn't there, so he didn't have the opportunity to take another piece out of my hand. A shame since it's nearly healed now :P I had a nasty sneezing / runny nose fit while I was over there. Took an Actifed because that's the only thing mom had. I shouldn't have, that stuff knocks me right on my butt. I usually take a half of one and can handle it (a bit drowsy). As soon as I got home from dinner I fell into bed and made like a rock for a couple hours.

Okay, now I'm being ICQ piled. I'll wrap this up and write more tomorrow or something.

12.11.01 :: 16:08

My sleep has gotten weird lately. For the last couple nights I've fallen asleep as soon as I got home from work, woke up a couple hours later, puttered, and then went to sleep for 8 hours. I've been getting at least 10 hours a night and it doesn't seem to be enough. Guess I'm just tuckered out after work or something =/

I've been puttering around in my writing as well. I found the disk I thought I'd lost (a shame, really). I've got some ideas I want to weave into Sowing, but my brain's still ironing them out. Heh.. Sometimes I wish it were easier... Just shake my head and the idea falls out or something like that. That'd be less time intensive at any rate :>

I'm getting things ironed out for my FFX party. The release date has been upped to Dec. 18th. Ah well, I'm still going to have my party on the same weekend. I'll just have a week headstart on everyone else ^_-

12.12.01 :: 11:11

Considering my recent problems with sleeping it was rather stupid of me to stay up until 3am this morning watching Austin play SSX Tricky ^^; Ah well.. I woke up at a reasonable hour (at least by Pepper's reasoning, she pounced me). After I fed her I went back to bed and laid there for a good part of the morning just thinking. Sometimes I think I do too much of that. Just laying there. When I consider about what I've been thinking about, it's rarely anything profound. I spend a lot of time thinking about what I'm writing. I go to sleep thinking about it, wake up thinking about it. Is that a good thing or an obsession? ^^; I like to think it's a good thing. That the amount of thought I give to my writing creates better stories.

12.12.01 :: 18:26

Today sucked in all sorts of not good ways. About midmorning my vision got blurry and I couldn't see well enough to read. (I could walk around the room and avoid stuff, but I couldn't distinguish details). That lasted for about 20 minutes. I put a call in with my Dr. and his nurse said to call my optometrist, she also said that it was likely I was experiencing a migraine headache. I called the optometrist and got an appointment for Saturday. After I did that my head felt like someone was drilling into it. It hurt so much, it brought tears to my eyes from the pain. I asked my boss if I could go home and try to sleep it off and then come back to finish the evening part of my shift. He said sure and I went home.

I did get some rest while at home. I slept for about an hour before the phone ringing woke me up. I told my co-workers that if they needed anything to give me a holler. (I updated our accounting software this morning, so I was expecting the usual "something" to go wrong). The call was my mom telling me that she wasn't going to be at work for the rest of the day. I went back to bed after that and had a nightmare. Woke up with my shirt clinging to me from the sweat. I hate when I do that --; Austin said he heard me making weird noises while sleeping. He should have poked me awake or something ^^; I still have a touch of the headache, but it's not as splitting as it was.

12.13.01 :: 06:29

It's unholy early in the morning and I just dropped Austin off at the airport. I thought I'd jot down my observations of 6am before I went back to bed for a couple more hours of z's (I've had about 4 total so far). First off, it's dark. I'm not exactly happy about this. I like it when it's light at 5:30am. The day just feels *better* for some reason when it starts out on the right foot.

The airport was a driving adventure with more cones to dodge than a driver's ed. class. A pair of guards bundled up in parkas (it's not *that* cold) stopped us as the perimeter to inspect my car, which entailed one of them looking in the trunk while the other told me to not park at the terminal. Woo, that was thorough! Note to self: don't put bomb in trunk, they look there. A better place would be under the seat, in the glove box, or in my dimensional pocket. I shouldn't make light of the situation, but it's hard not to see a broken system when it's slapping you in the face. If someone did bomb my hometown I would feel pretty damn sorry for them for not being able to find a better target. Then I'd have to track them down and beat the crap outta them, but that's a given :>

I discovered that all the fast food restaurants that I thought served breakfast were closed. McD's was closed. BK was closed. Even Taco Hell was closed. I used to work the morning shift there when I was in high school so I *know* they did the 6am breakfast thing at one time. The donut shop was open =] I picked up a couple sprinkled donuts for a dollar. I'm kind of sad to see the way that place is going. It used to be 24 hours (now it's 5am - 8pm). They used to cost less and their donuts were better. They don't even make my favorite type of fudge anymore =/ [bites the winds of change]

I passed two joggers on my way back to my house. You go boys. Now, if you'll excuse me, my bed's calling.

12.13.01 :: 22:28

Today was a frustrating day at work, just a lot of callers that made me want to put my head through my keyboard. I still maintain that computer ownership (or at the very least, admittance onto the Internet) should be licensed. You need to have the basics before you're released onto the world. If you can't double click, right click, left click, or even read the frigging screen to find the "OK" button, then you're not ready to be online yet. Just my opinion, of course.

As soon as I got off work tonight I went home and started writing. I'm planning on doing some page updating tomorrow and uploading a file that has some Sowing scenes that didn't make it into the fic for one reason or another. I'm not sure anyone will find them interesting / care, but they might. If anything, it shows what directions I've been thinking and adds some depth to the characters. I also need to get Jackie's blogger layout up. It kicks much bootey!

Ysa-chan called me tonight too. It was nice getting to talk to her for an hour. It's been a while since we chatted, though I feel kind of bad about the whole timezone thing. It's late for her when I get off work ^^; Thanks for calling Ysa-chan :>

Y'know, it was a good call on my part to take a hiatus during the holidays. As I've filled out my appointment calendar in Outlook it's.. well.. *full*. Gyah, a lot of trips to the airport and shuttling people around to be done. And the library sent me a notice to let me know that my reserve on the 3rd Harry Potter book is in. I'll have to find some time to read it before I have to take it back.

I will comment ever so briefly on my thoughts about the Usama bin Laden tape. It makes me sick. It makes me sick to see someone, *anyone*, express joy at the death of another. Christian, Muslim, black, white, polka dot, it doesn't matter, we are *all* humans. All of our lives are precious. The people who died did nothing to deserve having their lives forfeited. They didn't volunteer to fight a war. They didn't commit a crime that earned them the sentence of death. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time when someone decided to steal a very precious thing from us.

Usama bin Laden is a thief. He has stolen our countrymen. He has stolen our innocence. His actions make me as angry as they do sad. Sad for him for being so twisted that he doesn't see what a gift life is. Death won't teach him the value of life. He does not deserve the mercy of death. I would be happy if he lived for a hundred years and spent every moment enduring the grace of life. Make him sit there and watch home videos of the people he's killed. Have him doing groundskeepers' work at a park and let his heart anguish as he watches children play on the equipment. Shove his nose into what he's tried to destroy. Because while he can steal life, he cannot steal love. He cannot break our spirit if we do not let him.

[sigh] I'm ranting. I'll go back to writing now. Sorry.

12.14.01 :: 22:09

Woohoo!!!! I got the blogger layout that Jackie did up! Man, Quistis, she’s so sexy *_* Many, many thanks Jackie. I love it and everyone else should too ^_^ You’ll notice that I copied the hell out of your format, but that’s the highest form of flattery, no? :)

Getting this done is probably the most productive thing I’ve done today. Work was pretty dull except for the last couple hours. That’s when the authentication server decided to stop allowing people online and the server in Grants Pass went down. Yay, grumpy customers calling and whatnot. When I left the CTO was still muttering darkly and growling at the servers. I offered to stay late and deflect the onslaught of calls, but he declined. There wasn’t much I could do to help him except stay out of his way.

I don’t know what’s up with it lately, but this one spammer has been systematically hitting various FF sites with promises to promote them more. Here’s the really stupid part, they email everyone but the owner of the domain. Helen and Chaos both got spam from them, but I didn’t. I got the spam message from B.I. (the FF site I do news for). Um.. okay.. They’re idiots. I considered emailing them and pointing that out, but it might encourage them..

I don’t really have any plans for the weekend beyond my optometrist appointment. Maybe I’ll get a haircut while I’m at the mall. I’m getting kind of shaggy. Oh! I picked up the 3rd and 4th Harry Potter books from the library today. Maybe I’ll just lounge around reading those. Sean tells me that the series gets better the further you read into it. Admittedly, I did like the 2nd book more than the 1st, so maybe the pattern will hold true.

12.15.01 :: 11:25

It's reassuring to know that my ability to suck at Scrabble is a consistent thing. It's not even that I'm a terrible player, it's just that Helen is that much better than I am. I'll forever be chasing after her trying to bring it within 100 points. I'm content with my one win an year that I manage to weasel out of her :) And heaven forbid I ever find myself in a match with Nightbreak, I'll have my tail between my legs after that one, I know it!

I fell asleep way too early last night. It's Friday night, you're not allowed to go to bed before midnight! But come 11pm and I was curled up in my bed with Pepper across my chest, both of us snoring lightly. I woke up around 8am when Pepper announced that it was time to feed her. After her demands were met I went and laid down for a couple more hours. Didn't really sleep, just laid there and thought.

I got up "for real" at 10am when my brother called looking for my dad. He keeps forgetting that my dad moved out of the house to live with my mom ^^; No matter, it was good getting to talk to my bro for a couple minutes. I should get ready to venture out into the world. Hmm.. shower and food.. yes, those are good ideas.. :)

12.15.01 :: 19:52

I’m in a remarkably good mood after just spending $225 on an eye exam and new lenses for my frames ^^; For the most part it was good news. Nothing unusual is going on with my eyes, but my vision has gotten worse since my last exam. I got new lenses in my old frames. (I love my old frames, they’re cool ^^ Wire, very thin with oval lenses). The best part is that my new lenses are about half as thick as my old ones were. Wai! ^_^

I also got my fur trimmed while I was at the mall. My dad asked which hair I had cut since he doesn’t understand the concept of trimming off uneven and split ends :P I helped dad pick out stocking stuffers for my mom. When I went back to the mall to pick up my glasses I picked up some gifts for the parentals. Heh, they’re going to sweatdrop, I know it ^^; I have such an odd gift-giving sense of humor sometimes...

I need to sit down and write a Christmas letter to my Grandma. I’m horrible at writing letters, especially when I can’t find my supplies. I’m odd like that (I think most people are), I have to use the right paper and the right pen or it’s not getting done. And of course I can’t find my engineering notepad. I should ask Austin or Elf to pick me up a couple more from the college’s SU. I also have to use black ink Uniball pens. Ballpoints are glumpy and blue just isn’t my style. Gotta have it all right if it’s a bean letter, y’know?

12.16.01 :: 14:52

It’s been a pretty typical Sunday here, laundry, football, and napping all around. I read a couple chapters in the 3rd Potter book between naps. I finished up my Christmas shopping last night :D And I got a lot of the wrapping done today. (Dad left off some of his gifts for me to wrap, blech, I dislike wrapping).

My dad invited me over to my mom’s place to spend the night Christmas eve. I suspect I’ll be spending the night over there one way or the other. I told him that I wanted to bring my PS2 with me so that I’d at least have something to do and he said okay. Now I just have to build up my resolve to spend that much time around them.. ^^;

12.16.01 :: 21:00

I had another migraine this evening while eating dinner with my parents =/ Dad kept accusing me of staring at him when in fact I couldn't see much of anything for all the spots that were in my eyes. Once my vision cleared up, but before the headache squished me, I went home and puttered some before giving up and taking a nap. Another nap, I swear I've slept most of today away.

I've been watching a lot of J-pop music videos lately and now have a list of MP3s I'd like. If anyone has 'em and wishes to donate, drop me an email, ICQ, IRC, etc. [broad grin] "White Reflection" by Two Mix (the video's awesome, IMO). "Please Smile Again" by Amuro Namie (likewise, a cool video). "Ottototto Natsu daze!" by EE Jump (weird video, but catchy song).

12.17.01 :: 19:55

I reordered checks tonight. ... Stop laughing! This is one of those things that I have difficulty with for no good reason! Dad told me, “Order from Current, order from Current.” So I tried ordering from Current and failed. Go me. I signed up for online banking and then reordered checks from them. Cost an arm and a leg for ye olde generic check, but oh well, I only use checks for end of month bills.

I’d come to realize that I’m looking forward to FFX with the childlike excitement that usually accompanies Christmas. Forget Christmas, my brains are riveted on the 19th when I get my greedy little paws on the game. I can hardly wait. I’ve been looking at FFX screens lately and trying not to spoil myself. Man, Yuna’s so hot, especially in her dress. [swooooooons]

I spoke with my dad at lunch today. He told me that the number of gifts for me at my mom’s place has increased. I quipped that Santa obviously hasn’t filed the retraining order against me yet =P He had an answer for that. Said he bought me everything he wanted for Christmas. He wants to play with my gifts after I unwrap them. Ha! Funny man. I’m going to be cuddling my copy of FFX ^^v

I’m about half way through the Potter book. I’m trying to finish it before FFX comes out (because you’re not prying me away from my tv after that). Today was a really busy day at work. I answered a lot of questions, but none of them were stupid (there’s a first time for everything..). The company Christmas party was moved from tonight to Friday. This is the third time it’s been moved. Choose a day and stick with it, please!

12.18.01 :: 21:21

This morning involved more exercise than most. I let Pepper out into the yard to do her business and she spotted a larger dog and took off after 'em. That's unusual for Pepper. She may be stupid, but she's well trained to keep within the confines of the yard. But the stupidity did shine through by chasing a dog that was bigger than her. Last time he encountered another dog she ended up with several stitches in her chest from the bite marks. Bah, stupid mutt! By the time I'd caught up and dragged her back to the house we were both soaking wet from the rain. Man, I'm out of shape. Need to play more DDR or something ^_-

I got into an absurd argument with a customer this afternoon. I was helping him configure his email address and we came to the step where he would type it in. He was like "joeluser ampersand domain dot com" and I was like "not ampersand, at symbol". He then argued that the at symbol *was* called ampersand and I was an idiot for not knowing that. I told him to use whatever symbol he wanted, when it didn't work he had my number to call me back :P (Austin later informed me that it's technically called 'commercial at'.)

Anyhow, I picked up a white elephant gift for the company Christmas party on Friday. Mwahahaha! I dislike wrapping, but I can set that aside to do a single gift the Anderson way. If you've read "College Life" or are Jackie, y'know what I'm talking about. I only did one layer of duct tape since I do have to work with these people after the gag is over, but that didn't stop me from using lots of streamers, plastic sacks, wrapping paper, ribbon, and scotch tape to turn a relatively small toy into something the size of a football. My grandmother used to do this to me every year. I look forward to the opportunity to share the pain ;)

Many thanks go out to Gabielle for tossing "Please Smile Again" my way!

I'm as giddy as a bean on Christmas Eve about tomorrow. The guys at Software Etc. said FFX wouldn't be in until the afternoon, but that's fine. I won't be able to get there until later anyways because of my work schedule. I full intend to drive my co-workers bonkers with my giddiness. [broad grin] I'm sharing the wuv!

12.19.01 :: 00:37

I finished the 3rd Harry Potter book tonight like I was hoping I would. I have mixed feelings on it. The ending definitely had that uplifting quality to it, but as far as the story was structured it seemed disjointed to me. Almost like two stories were mashed together midway through and then loose connections made so that they were somehow related.

I can tell you where the break happened, chapter 17: Cat, Rat, and Dog. So many things happened in that chapter that were unsatisfactorily foreshadowed that it would have been just as convincing if Rowling was pulling this crap out of her rear (not to be disrespectful). But events were happening that you’d never have guessed at. Like she was just pulling things out of thin air and tying them together.

That bothered me, a lot. There’s a difference between a plot twist and a plot hijacking, and I see the ending of the book as the latter. There was an inconsistency of the build up of the story that left me feeling uncomfortable. You knew that Hermione was up to something and had a pretty good idea of what. But everything with Peter, WTF? Where did *that* come from? It wasn’t hinted at in a satisfactory manner. If Rowling had established earlier in the book what, exactly, Animagi were so that the reader could start to entertain possibilities, I would be feeling a lot better about this book.

I guess overall I’m feeling disappointed. I’ve got Goblets of Fire sitting here. I’d borrowed it from the library, so I might as well give the Potter universe another whirl. I maintain hope that Harry and Cho might come to an understanding...

12.19.01 :: 12:04

While doing some regular server cleanup this morning I was thinking about how it would really do for people to be more honest, not just with each other, but with themselves. What brought this thought to my attention? The fact that at any given time at least 20% of the content on the cache server is porn.

Personally, I don't give a flying cow regarding what people do with their Internet connections, and why should anyone else? I bet if I sent a survey out to the members asking them what they thought of Internet porn I'd be flooded with responses of how disgusting it is. But if it were really that repulsive, why does the cache server have a healthy supply of it? I sincerely believe that it is not just a handful of "dirty old men" filling that server, not when thousands of people route through it. There are more people pulling up these materials than are willing to admit.

What's my point? Why can't these people be honest about their surfing habits? Now, the obvious answer is that they'll be beaten down by society for it ('cause they will), but go back to my earlier question: what business is it of society to judge? I guess I'm just frustrated by the dishonesty of it all. People lie about what they're doing and then go on doing it. This is a larger problem, drugs, sex, money, etc. Is porn bad? Well, that's a bigger question than this simple bean can answer.

This is something I'll have to think on further. Just wanted to throw the observation out there so that others could think about it as well.

12.19.01 :: 21:41

Games, games, games, games, games!! =]

Today has definitely been a game day. My boss announced that the company’s Christmas party was going to be an all day thing filled with plenty of games (what else would a bunch of computer geeks do?) I usually don’t join in with them because they like FPSs, which I’m not into at all, but this time some strategy games made it onto the play list.

So I went about trying to get my work computer up to snuff to play games. It didn’t work ^^; It’s not because I don’t have a cool machine, I do. It’s probably one of the best in the office. The problem is that the processor & heatsink are next to the AGP slot. When I put in any video card that generates heat the video freezes the machine. Gyah! We don’t have any non-AGP video cards in stock (I should know since I do the inventory), so I can’t move the video to another slot. I’m stuck with a great machine using a crappy Trident video card. Bah, it’s not good enough to even play FF8 PC with --; I bet it’s so crappy I couldn’t get it to play MYST =P

At around 5pm Lance came bopping by my cubby and said that I *had* to install the newest Yahoo Messenger on my system. I didn’t see why since we all use ICQ, why do I need another client for talking to my co-workers with? He kept prodding, so I did it and now I know why. It has some cool plug-ins! We wasted well over an hour making comics and playing this silly fighting game while taunting each other.

[Grins] I’ve managed to go three paragraphs without mentioning the ubergaming happiness that FFX is giving me right now. Let me sum it up in a word: Wow! The graphics are breath taking, the voice acting is better than I expected, I knew the music was good, and the story is engrossing. I’ll rant more later. My game is paused and I want to get back to it ^_-

12.20.01 :: 12:53

I was a hero this morning and a bit of self-control made it possible! I only stayed up until midnight playing FFX last night. I was thinking that I had work in the morning and I needed to be an alert bean. That bit of thinking paid off. My dad called this morning in a state of panic because mom's computer (for her business) was down and she was going to call in one of the stupid lame-ass high school "techs" that I dislike with a passion (can't you tell) to repair it. He didn't want her spending any money on the machine since her Christmas present is a new computer. Super Bean to the rescue!

I dragged my sleepy butt out of bed and went down there to see what the problem was. It took all of 3 seconds to discover that she'd burnt out the power supply o.O; (I'd never seen one that was literally burnt before, scary...) Her computer is 6+ years old, thus it requires and ancient power supply. I thought about where I could find one easily and it came to me; my Linux box is the same generation as my mom's machine.

I went home and stole the power supply and heatsink out of that machine. By this time I was late for work. I'd contacted my boss and explained what was up. He was cool with me being late to fix my mom's machine. I scurried back over to my mom's shop and put in the parts, had an allergy attack (it was so blasted dusty) and put it all back together. It worked! =]

As payment mom gave me some of the Christmas cookies she's been handing out to everyone but me. (I've had to steal them a handful at a time :P ) And ReRun didn't bite me while I was working, though he did meow at me a lot.

12.20.01 :: 22:31

I’m in a melancholy mood right now even though I have plenty of reasons to be happy. I’ve gotten holiday greetings from plenty of people. It’s good to hear from my friends via snail mail even though I talk to them on the net nearly every day. Hoshigami came in today. I’m rolling in games to play.

I’m still peeved about a conversation my father and I had at lunch today. I told him about getting mom’s computer back up and running, and how I planned on transferring the data from her old machine to the new one. He told me that he didn’t want me to do it because things always go wrong when I touch her machine. (Completely disregarding that I just fixed the damned thing). I reminded him that in computer terms the machine was ancient and that if you looked at it wrong it would likely break. It didn’t matter, he didn’t want me doing it.

I shouldn’t let it get to me. It’s an argument we’ve been having since I was in high school. My parents only seem to trust me (with regards to computers) when they need me to fix them. Any other time and I’m an incompetent child. Never mind that I’ve studied them passionately since junior high. Never mind that computers were my major in college. Never mind that it’s what I fricking do for a living!

[Heavy sigh] Frustration --; I could help them a lot of they didn’t piss me off so much. We have a cycle that starts by my refusing to help them because of how they treated me. They pull in some of the aforementioned lame-ass high schoolers, who fuck up the machine worse than it was. They flush a lot of money before asking me to take a look at it. I eventually agree and fix it. They condescend me, lather, rinse, repeat.

It’s enough to make me hate computers and want to growl at them for sucking the joy out of something I love. I know for sure that I wasn’t born too soon. A hundred years earlier and I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. I can’t see myself doing anything else. Sure, I love to write, but that’s more like a hobby. It’s not something I can make enough money to live off of. Computers are my profession and I hate being insulted. I get enough of that shit when people doubt me because I’m a female.

Sometimes I think I’d be better off remembering that no good deed goes unpunished...

12.21.01 :: 15:01

We had the company Christmas party today. Heh, the white elephant gift giving was fun. I laughed myself silly watching one of the owners (Bob, though they’re both named Bob) open up the gift I wrapped. I shouldn’t have been nice and given him a knife to cut through the duct tape with. He could have easily spent 20 minutes on that thing =] I ended up with a bag of dehydrated peas. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them. Maybe I’ll rehydrate ‘em and feed ‘em to Pepper or something. She’d eat ‘em. She eats toilet paper for cryin’ out loud.

I brought Yggy down to work with me and hooked her up to the network so that I could join in some of the gaming. I got stomped in Empire Earth, but I maintain that it wasn’t fair. I had to alt-tab out of it to take a tech call. When I tabbed back into the game I was dead. I wasn’t even in for 10 minutes ;_; I’m better off playing FFX. At least that has a pause button :P

12.21.01 :: 22:40

Okay, here’s my story of the day, provided by a gent who probably needs to be put back on his meds...

This afternoon one of the routers went down. It was the keystone of our network. When it fell it took *everything* else with it. Needless to say, this generated a helluva lot of calls from our customers.

It’s a company policy (not that I would play any other way) to always been as honest and forthcoming as possible. If our equipment fails, we don’t blame it on the phone company, we say what fails (in this case, one of the routers). A lot of people just nod and smile when you tell them what happened. Most of the calls I took were from people who were curious and understanding. They don’t care they just want it fixed in a timely manner.

The *real* computer professionals that I’ve encountered usually express their sympathy, offer a bit of advice if they have it, and leave us alone. Nothing’s worse than having someone hover over your shoulder while you’re under pressure. It’s that idea that distinguishes our ‘roles’ when this sort of emergency happens. Unless the server that goes down is the internal accounting server (the only one I’m personally responsible for) I run interference for the administrative staff.

Getting back to the story... I spoke with a gent during the downage who proved to be very amusing. Sure, it’s normal to get angry people on the phone. And I’m not always the most sympathetic of persons if you grate on me, but he was too much to not laugh. I wasted about 5 minutes explaining that we had a router down. He accused me of giving him the run around when I couldn’t tell him *exactly* why it was down. My usual answer to an accusation like that is: would you rather I waste the admin’s time with questions or that he gets on with it? Most people see the logic of that, but not this guy. He wanted to speak with the admin doing the repair himself. I flat out refused (almost with a laugh) and told him that the admin was too busy to be taking calls right now. Furious, the customer growled some foul threats at me and then said that he wanted a call back when the router was fixed. I happily agreed (if I’d be smart I’d have offered sooner, I don’t mind doing call backs) and wished him a good day as he clicked the phone down on me.

A couple hours passed and I continued to field inquiries. Then my boss came by my cubby and told me that the router was repaired, but not everything was back online yet. (The routing table had eaten itself and had to be rewritten. In other words, the network was being rebuilt in pieces). He told me what order they were putting things back online so that I could give customers more updated information and an ETA.

The first piece of the network to go back online happened to be the one that the gent from before who wanted a call back was in. When things slowed down enough I gave him a ring. He was a lot less hostile the second time we spoke, glad that we had things up again. He then had an odd question for me.

Heh heh, that amused me greatly. Anyhow, Brian and his brother stopped by briefly this evening to drop off a Christmas gift (a Gundam Wing Zero Custom toy ^^v) and get directions to Adam’s house. I was supposed to help Adam move tomorrow, but some other things have come up. I have to take Pepper to the groomers in the morning and dad’s coming to the house mid-morning to do work on it. Gotta be here to help him out.

I fell asleep for a couple hour nap after he left. I guess the activity from this afternoon left me more bushed then I thought. I haven’t even played FFX yet! Heh heh [evil grin] I did, however, sign Shuu to my Blitzball team before calling it a night yesterday. Any relation to Xu in FFVIII, eh, the fangirl in me says sure. When you work out Xu’s name in the Japanese version it can be read as ‘Shuu’. The Blitzball player is a female (as far as I can tell, she’s got lumps on her chest ;) and has short, dark hair. That’s good enough for me! I heard that Nida was supposed to be in there, but the strategy guide doesn’t list him as scoutable. Maybe they went with her instead? =) Or I could just be wet dreaming... ^_-

12.22.01 :: 22:21

I stayed up ‘til 4am playing FFX this morning and then got up at 8am to start the chores I had for today ^^; Go bean, go bean. I did get a lot done. Took Pepper to the groomers and got her looking spiffy again. [Grins] The groomer said that Pepper was one of her favorite dogs to do because Pepper doesn’t nip, bite, fight, squirm, or anything. She just stands there and wags her tail. That’s my dog ^_^

I also stripped the bedding off the beds and laundered it in anticipation of my party. That’s coming along nicely. This afternoon I finalized everyone’s traveling arrangements and figured out where they’re sleeping. (I’ve got plenty of rooms / beds, just needed to figure out who I wanted to put into which rooms).

Dad didn’t show up until nearly noon, and then he puttered around the house for an hour before getting down to work. (Mom's place lacks cable and he wanted to watch the football game :P ) I’d already gotten a lot of my chores done by the time he started his :P I’m not quite ready for the party yet, but I’m a lot closer now than I was this morning ^^v

12.23.01 :: 18:32

Welp, it was a pretty typical Sunday here. Napped a lot, did laundry, and the Chargers were squished again [sigh!] At least they have 4 more wins this season than last. They’re headed in the right direction!

My dad called me up this afternoon and invited me to dinner at a Mexican restaurant with him and mom. It was probably the only time in my life that I didn’t feel like Mexican. I love Mexican food, it’s one of my favorites, but I’d had it for lunch and didn’t want it for dinner as well ^^; I ended up going anyways. I was just going to have a drink, but dad insisted that I eat something and so I ordered some nachos. It wasn’t very good.

I think I’m spoiled. Around here there are more Mexican restaurants than you can shake a stick at, so I’m somewhat discriminating when it comes to good food. Unless it’s Taco Hell (which I expect to be bad) I don’t care much for gringo attempts. At one of my favorite hold in the wall spots by my house you have to order in Spanish because they don’t speak English. Very yummy food there :)~~~

Anyhow, watching dad eat was worth going down there. He kept saying, “Oh, the menu isn’t all Mexican food, look at that!” and then he’d point to a chicken quesadilla. Um, dad, that’s still Mexican food. He ordered fajitas without any idea what he was getting. They brought him a sizzling plate, a bag of tortillas, and a side plate with things like sour cream and pico de gallo. He just looked at with the most baffled expression on his face ^o^ I told him how to go about eating it. He didn’t trust me when I told him to put lots of the pico de gallo on there. [whistles] I would never cause mischief, oh no, I wouldn’t...

If I don’t have a chance to update this again before the holiday, I hope everyone has a good one!

12.25.01 :: 12:31

Merry Christmas, y’all!

Well, I’m back from my adventures sooner than I expected to be, but that’s all good. I went over to my mom’s place for Christmas Eve. We went to Red Robin for dinner and then to see Fellowship of the Rings. Man, my tastes must be different from everyone else on the planet. I thought that it was a good movie, yeah, beautiful cinematics, great actors, wonderful score, but boring as hell. After about an hour and a half I was ready to leave. I probably would have if I weren’t there with my parents.

[Shakes head] Now that I’ve managed to alienate the Rowling and Tolkien fans, I just have to wait for Episode II to come out in the summer and I’ll have the triple crown :P I would like to point out that these three movies were all based on books. And not just one shot books either, but series. Personally, I find that heartening. People are showing a desire for a deeper story that can’t be told in 200 pages. They want epics, so it’s all good.

Anyhow, after that we went back to my mom’s apartment and got ready for bed. I hooked up my PS2 and stayed up ‘til after 1am playing FFX. I’m, like, a half hour away from where I want to be with Yuna and her dress *_* I stopped short ‘cause my mom’s tv flickers and scrolls and does weird stuff. I wanted to see Yuna in all her babealicous glory on a nice, big tv.

I was woken up at the butt crack of dawn (6am) when the stocking next to me started to beep and vibrate. My dad was out in the kitchen getting coffee. I yelled at him to stop it and he gave me an innocent shrug. I stuck my hand into the stocking to pull out the vibrating gift and wrapped it in blanket, hoping that it would stop. It didn’t. So I pulled the paper off of it and inside I found a cell phone o.O I’m surprised, very surprised. I never seriously considered getting one because I don’t get that many calls, period. And the people most likely to call me I don’t want to talk to ^^; (“You want me to come in to work when..?”) It’s still cool though :>

We continued unwrapping from there and munching on donut holes (Tim Bits to you Canucks ;) Dad and I were sitting opposite each other with mom kitty-corner to us. We were throwing wrapping paper back and forth at each other with mom knocking it down and glaring at us ^o^ That was fun. I got the new mattress I wanted, and flannel bed sheets. All and all, it was a good Christmas :)

After we unwrapped all our gifts, mom and I decided that going back to sleep would be good. Dad stayed in the living room and watched Jurassic Park III while I tried to sleep on the couch. Heh, that must have been amusing for him. I’ve never seen the movie, but I think there’s a character named Amanda in it. Every time I heard my name I’d sleepily sit up and ask dad what he wanted. ^^; Around 10am mom got up again. They helped me pack my gifts into a box and then nudged me out the door. They’re anxious to leave on their vacation. In fact, they just stopped by the house to tell me that they're off. Wai!

12.25.01 :: 17:31

After 25 hours of playing I finally got to the part of FFX that has had me lusting over Yuna for months now. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed. [swoooooooons] After watching that scene, I’ve finally decided upon a theme song for Yuna in my mind (and should I ever decide to write a fic with her in it). I don’t remember the artist, or even the title of the song, but it goes... “I believe I can fly / I believe I can touch the sky / Think about it every night and day / Spread my wings and fly away” etc. Popular song, I know, but it seems fitting. At least for the first half of the game, might choose another after I’ve played more.

12.27.01 :: 00:16

Oiiiii [yawns] Just woke up from a nap. Ysa-chan gave me a belated Christmas call (the only reason it was belated was because of the time zone difference). That was nice, we chatted for a while :)

Man, if I were smart I wouldn’t have gotten up from my nap. Tired. [shakes it off] But no matter, I haven’t finished getting the house ready for my party yet. I’m almost done. The guest rooms are prepared; the kitchen is as clean as I’m going to manage at this time, same with the bathrooms. Just have to finish cleaning up the living room and my bedroom (the latter is in its usual state of organized confusion ^^; ) I finally tacked the posters that kept falling down back onto the walls. I was mostly concerned about my Gasaraki poster (it kicks much fanny) and the Yuna one I got for Christmas ^_^

I’m to the Calm Lands in FFX. I was going to write up my impressions of it thus far when I was considering what to blog this afternoon... but it would be extremely spoilerish and I’m still sleepy. I’ll save it for another day. I will say that I like how none of the characters are turning out the way I thought they would.

Okay, one last thing, the odd tech call for the day. A gentleman called because he wasn’t getting a dial tone on any of the phones at his residence. I pointed out that he would be better off calling the phone company if he was lacking phone service. His answer to that was that he just wanted to see if the outage was wide spread. Hum... I dunno about you, but I think I would have called a relative or gone next door long before I would have called my ISP. And contacting the phone company likely would have come before either of those steps...

12.27.01 :: 22:26

I’m officially ready for the FFX party! The house is presentable, all the traveling arrangements confirmed, the fridge is stocked, it’s going to be fun! The hardest part will be enduring work tomorrow before the fun begins ;)

I’ve been keeping an eye on ReRun while mom and dad are on vacation. He’s down at my mom’s shop instead of up at her apartment. So I’ve been stopping by there before work, at lunch, after work, whenever to be sure he has food, water, and attention. When I stopped by yesterday at lunch (for me, which is mid-afternoon for 'normal' people) I found that the pressman had knocked off early. Oops, yeah, so they’re going to be having a chat when him when they get back.

Anyhow... I went by there after work tonight to check on ReRun. He wanted attention, so I was scratching him at the base of the tail and behind the ears. He kept following me around the shop wanting to play, so we played. Then his play turned into biting. I kept slipping my hand into the sleeve of my jacket. While I’d prefer that he didn’t bite it, he’s not getting through the leather sleeves. When I got tired of that I went to the backdoor to leave. He then began hissing at me like I’d just kicked him across the shop or something. Stupid psycho cat! I try to be nice and he’s mean. Just see if I play with him any more while my folks are gone.

Pepper’s curled up all nice and cute on my bed right now. She’s been really mellow tonight. I tried to play with her when I got home and she wasn’t interested. She just wanted her kibble and then curled up to sleep. Maybe there’s something in the air tonight making animals act odd. There is a wind storm going on right now... [shrugs]

12.28.01 :: 11:51

[bops bops bops] Excited bean! Jeff and I are going to meet Helen at the airport when she gets in later tonight. I made a sign to hold up. Heh ehe hehehe =] Brian's going to bring someone over with him when he comes (I'm guessing his brother, but I'm not sure). And Jeff invited Ian to the party. Lucky that I've still got room to put people up if more come. This'll be great ^_^

I wanted to take a moment to offer my thoughts on two of Final Fantasy's staple monsters: Malboro and Tonberry. I've encountered both of them in FFX (unlike FF IX, where I couldn't find a Tonberry despite my best efforts). And I can't remember if there were Malboro's in FFIX or not, I don't remember fighting any...

Malboro's look grossly cool. They've got the tentacle thing going on and the large sickly maw. When I first encountered one I freaked 'cause of how seriously they kicked my fanny in FFVIII before Quistis could fire off her Degenerator. In comparison, the Malboro's in FFX are pushovers. I have yet to be hit with an all-encompassing status attack that leaves the party devastated. I'm kind of wondering if they even have one in this game. They must, but they're not as trigger happy with it as they were in FFVIII. I'm not sure if this pleases me or not. Malboro's were one of the enemies that I truly hated fighting in FFVIII, it's kind of disappointing that they're relatively easy to defeat in FFX.

Tonberry likewise looks cool. The cowl it wears is nicely textured and reminded me of sackcloth. Also, like Malboro, Tonberry is a pushover when compared to earlier incarnations. Make no mistake, it still has the one hit knock you on your tail attack, but a few well-placed sword swipes and it's done for. They aren't the bottomless pits of Hit Points that they were in FFVIII.

In a way, I'm kind of waiting for FFX to become hard. I see where it could be difficult in some spots, but a bit of planning takes care of that. Then again, I kept waiting for FFIV Hard Type to be hard as well ^^; Maybe I've played these games too much...

12.31.01 :: 12:38

Wow, what an amazingly cool weekend! ^-^ My party went well. Now it's story time!

Friday night, Jeff and Ian were the first to arrive around 8pm. Adam had called me to say that he wouldn't be arriving with Mare and Elf until 1am or so (it's a long drive). Helen's place didn't get in until around 10pm. We hadn't eaten dinner yet, so I took them down to La Burrita. I like that place. The food is very good, home style cooking, shredded beef, yummy pico de gallo, and very affordable. The guys like it as well ^^v

After dinner we went back to my place and Jeff started FFX. He got as far as the first save point before it was time to pick up Helen. We trotted down to the airport and plodded through the new security measures. I won't laugh at them anymore. The airport here (one of the smallest around) made Austin take off his shoes and inspected them when he left on vacation a couple weeks ago. It seemed like a silly idea at the time, but now...

Jeff held up the sign I made and waved it around trying to catch Helen's attention as she came down the hallway. It was odd. There were people coming out at the time we expected them to be, but it was way too many people. I've ridden the shuttle from Portland plenty of times; it's a twin prop that holds, like, a dozen people. There were more than a dozen people coming down the way. When we didn't spot Helen amongst all the bodies we panicked. The schedule didn't say that any other flights were arriving then. We wandered over to the luggage pickup to find out where this plane had come in from; San Francisco. We went back to the hall and waited for Helen's flight, which was apparently late. When more people started coming down the hall Jeff started jumping up and down waving the sign. I'm surprised Helen didn't turn around and re-board the plane when she spotted us ^^;

When we got back to my place Jeff tackled the PS2 and started playing FFX again. Ian couldn't stay, but promised to come back tomorrow for dinner. Helen and I played Scrabble. She kicked my butt most harshly to make up for my winning a game not long ago :P She got a seven letter word across a triple word score. While she couldn't triple the 50-point bonus, she might as well have. That hammered the nails into my coffin :P

Around 3am Adam-tachi arrived. Oi, I didn't think I'd manage to stay up that late, but I did. I hugged them and then went to bed. Everyone dropped like flies except for Jeff, who stayed up 'til 5am playing FFX.

Adam-tachi were up by 9:30am and in my bedroom waking me up. They needed to leave to finish moving. I tried to shoo them out of my room quietly b'cause Helen was asleep on the top bunk, but Mare tripped over Pepper (who yelped loudly) and everyone was awake after that.

Jeff glomped back onto FFX while Helen and I watched. After a while my stomach let me know that it was hungry. The three of us changed out of our jammies and quested to the mall for food and a PS2 memory card for Jeff. We got the card for Jeff, but nothing in the food court looked appealing. I took us to Kazuko's for lunch. Yummy Japanese food :)~~~ We picked up a bag of these rice cracker things Helen told me about.

When we got home Jeff reglomped FFX (see the pattern yet? ;) Around 4pm I pointed out that I had a promise to Austin to fulfill: take Jeff to Castles. Castles is an adult toy store. Jeff's never been to one and Austin decided that it was high time he was robbed of his innocence. Helen tagged along as Jeff was traumatized. Ah, a bean's work is never done! We went across the street to the Barnes & Noble after that so Jeff could recoup ;)

The best part of Saturday was that evening. I'd decided to make tuna casserole for dinner. I'm not much of a cook, but that's one dish I make well every time ^^v Adam-tachi, Brian, and Ian were going to come around for dinner, so I made a double batch. It was fun ^_^ [Wuvs on Ian] He liked it so much he went back for thirds. At first he thought I was on crack for putting potato chips on it as a breading, but it really is good that way! Though, if I do that again, I think I'll have to make more. Two casserole dishes of the stuff wasn't enough.

Elf didn't eat any of the casserole 'cause he hates tuna (heathen!) So I drove him down to Taco Hell for dinner. When we got back we found that Mare, Ian, and Brian were foolishly engaged in a Scrabble match against Helen. (Elf and I were the only two who had played her previously, so we knew better ;) Needless to say, they got squished. Even when they added their three scores up, Helen still had them whomped. For the next match we decided to team up against Helen. Elf and Mare were a team, Brian and I were a team, Ian went it alone, and Helen rolled her eyes at our silliness ;) It wasn't quite as bad that way. Helen still won, of course, but we were closer! Brian and I got second place being 40-points behind her.

We all learned some interesting new words from the Scrabble dictionary we were passing around the table. Elf and I already knew of QAT 'cause of Helen using it against us :P None of us knew HOAR. And that's where the ecchi-ness began ("I want a HOAR on my fence!"). [The Scrabble dictionary said it meant to give something a white coat.] As Elf would say, many of the dictionary definitions were dubious. ^^;

Brian offered to go to his place and get a tub of ice cream that he had. He wanted Elf to accompany him and Elf refused. Heh, I don't think I've laughed that hard in a while. I tried to apply beanie logic to whittle down Elf's resolve, but he's wise to my way. The logic went along the lines of since he didn't eat my casserole he had the choice of either getting the ice cream or doing the dishes. He wouldn't budge. Mare and Brian tried to convince him. Several ecchi comments later and Elf ran away from being physically picked up by Brian and carried off. Brian was mean and locked Elf out of the house ^^; I quickly unlocked the door and told him not to do that (it's cold outside!) So, Brian went and got the ice cream on his own and Elf sorta-but-not-really helped me with the dishes. It wouldn't have been bad except that I discovered that my garbage disposal isn't working and the pipes are backing up again --; They were repaired only a few weeks ago. Gyah!

Honestly, the last thing we needed at this point was more sugar, but we devoured it anyways. We were all pretty hopped up and extremely silly ^_^ I went to check on Adam's progress since he'd retreated to another room with a PS2 and FFX. While I was talking to him, Jeff actually paused his game and they all watched music videos and anime on Jeff's laptop, Zell. Currently, Jeff is madly in love with Ayumi Hamasaki and Evolution. I can see why, the Evolution video is great, IMO ^^ He's so cute. He'd pause his game every couple few hours, watch the video, and then resume playing like that was normal behavior ;)

Anyhow, I got sidetracked with Adam. He was playing through a part of the game that I liked and I wanted to watch again. Also, I turned on the electric blankets 'cause Mare was cold. I'd forgotten how nice those blankies are *_* I just laid there with a warm fanny watching FFX. Heh heh. I need to get one for my bed, me thinks...

Things started breaking up around 1am or so as people got tired and went to bed. Jeff only stayed up 'til 3am playing FFX ;P The next morning at 9:30am I spotted Adam-tachi coming into my room from the hallway. I got out of bed and met them in the living room before we had a repeat of the previous morning. Adam and Mare needed to go 'cause it was a long drive back. Everyone got up and wished them well. We then sat around the living room in our jammies and, surprisingly, Jeff didn't tackle FFX again. No, sitting like a row of ducks on the couch Jeff, Elf, and Helen worked on Jeff and Elf's laptops and talked about programming. Heh, my friends are such geeks. I love 'em ^^

We didn't do much beyond that. We played Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Dynasty Warriors 3, SSX Tricky, Soul Calibur, and SNK vs. Capcom. Around 8pm Ian came by to pick up Jeff and take him home. Then Ian got sucked into playing Elf in Soul Calibur. Those two are pretty evenly match. It was fun watching them play! I'd ordered in pizza for dinner. We munched and played games.

Once Jeff and Ian were gone we were down to Helen, Elf, and myself. We watched the Ah! My Goddess movie. I love A!MG *_* The manga is so funny, I highly recommend picking up the trade paperbacks from Darkhorse. I insisted that Helen had to watch the first episode of Battle Athletes Victory. We had to pause it twice because she was doubled over with laughter. BAV is another great series ^^ After that we watched some of the bonus stuff on the Monty Python and the Holy Grail DVD (like that scenes in Japanese).

Things were winding down after that. Elf curled up on the love seat to resume reading Goblet of Fire (heh, good thing I got that from the library ^^; ) Helen started reading a book that I recommended. Yeah, half the reason she doesn't get more art done is because I keep tossing books at her ;) I sat there and read this month's Game Informer. Not sure if I want to bother to renew my subscription or not. I only care about Playstation games, so subscribing to OPM is enough.

I moved Helen into one of the other rooms so she wasn't stuck sleeping on my bunk bed anymore. I also didn't want to wake her up when I went to work this morning. By my boss's reasoning, since we get off early today, we had to come in early to make up for it. Oi, my body did not like that one bit ^^; I made it to work on time, but it's past noon and I'm still sleepy. Gyah.

I went by my mom's shop before going to work to check on ReRun. He immediately presented himself and demanded attention. I petted him some before going to check on his food. He didn't have much, so I refilled his dish and then check to make sure everything was in order with the shop. I then made my way back through the shop and the backdoor, not watching my feet or nothing when ReRun suddenly hissed at me. WTF? I *know* that I didn't step on him. I yelled, "Oi! Back up off me, cat!" and he looked as startled as I was. Bah! I left the shop and went to work.

My parents should be back in town today, earlier than they expected. It was raining buckets in San Francisco and they didn't feel like staying. Oh well, at least I got the bulk of my party out of the way before they came back and ruined my fun ;) Helen's going to be here until the 2nd and Elf will likely be here until the 6th. Austin's arriving on the 5th. In other words, my house won't be a quiet place for a while still =]

Name: Amanda Anderson
Nickname: Greenbeans
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Home: Centra Garden

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