Wii Waiting

I was number 14.

Though I had only been planning on spending 6 hours waiting in line to get a Nintendo Wii, it turned into twelve. Neowolf, Dr Jones and I had decided to wait at the Walmart Supercenter near their house since it is open 24 hours and would therefore begin selling their Wiis at midnight. This sounded like a good plan, but a lot of other people had the same idea and the line began filling up very quickly--meaning I had to rush down there at noon. On top of this surprise, we found out that we were going to have to wait outside in the cold all day. The Playstation 3 campers got to wait in the warmth of the Walmart, but they made all of us Nintendo fans face the cold in a shady alcove outside the building. They were kind enough to bring us some free hot chocolate at one point though, and at least the wind was mostly blocked by the bushes.

The day was long, but the wait was worth it. My parents stopped by in the afternoon to deliver an extra layer of clothes for me and Big Bold D dropped by in the evening with dinner--soup from Panera's. We also made some friends in the line, discussed video games and Trogdor and debated whether an enemy in Zelda should be called "Iron Knuckles" or "Dark Nuts." In the end we settled for "Iron Nuts."

All was going well. We knew we were going to get a Wii.

Until 11:00. At that point, the night manager showed up and did a quick count of the waiters, only to find that there were more than 20. And the store only had 20 Wiis in stock. The day manager had counted us up three times before he left and there had been exactly 20 each time. Someone had snuck into line. Thus the drama began. Around 11:30 they finally moved us inside in groups of five (we decided to give our group a team name--Iron Nuts, of course). Along the way, one of the imposters must have ducked out because we were one less when we were counted inside.

We spent the next thirty minutes or so wishing that whoever had jumped in line would just give up and go home because the night manager had woken the day manager up and made him drive in (and he lives on the other side of town) and he was not a happy man. He made threats and said that if the person who had jumped in line did not fess up none of us were going to get a Wii. It was childish and ridiculous. And, in the end, we were starting to doubt the man's counting skills because he made a mistake counting us and the night manager had to correct him. I think that the extra person in the end was nothing more than a counting error from the beginning, but the manager wasn't going to admit his own mistake. And the fact remained that we only had 20 Wiis for 21 people.

Thankfully, one very nice, generous man who was actually an employee at that Walmart but had waited outside with us all day long offered to take a rain check so we could all get our Wiis. I guess he was going to be getting a discount too, so good for him. Whatever the case, we were majorly relieved to know that our 12 hours of waiting were not in vain.

Now it's time to play!

Busy Weekend

It seems like I have been going non-stop since I got back from Japan, and this weekend was no different.

I played flute on Saturday at a parish that was having its 100 year anniversary celebration as well as its Oktoberfest celebration on the same day. It was a big deal, and the archbishop was there as well as a bunch of different priests and guys from the Knights of Columbus all dressed up in their outfits. It was a big deal. And I felt only somewhat prepared. I played something or sang something on every single song, and also played some solos mixed in. I haven't played that much flute in probably a year and it was a bit stressful as well with all the pomp and circumstance. But it went off without a hitch and I was really satisfied in the end. Not to mention relieved. Whew.

I spent most of the rest of the weekend finishing going through my pictures from Japan. I'm finally almost ready to get them printed! It's really time consuming to go through that many pictures, let me tell you. I'm probably going to only print about 200 of them, but that's still a LOT! When you start out with over a thousand though...

Now it's the work week again and I'm already tired. Not a good way to start the week.

Home Again

I've actually been home over a week now, but between jet lag and emergency last-minute projects at work, I've barely had the time or energy to put away my suitcases, let alone post a blog entry.

I have finally managed to go through some of my pictures though and get a few teaser pics up on Flickr. (By the way, if you haven't noticed already, you can get to my Flickr page by clicking on the "LOOK" link above or the Flickr badge on the sidebar.) I have seven CDs worth of photos, so I'm going to have to be selective and upload a few at a time. I believe I managed to outdo any Japanese tourist with my 1,350 photos. Of course, I'm sure I'll end up deleting probably a third of them since many are repeats or different angles of the same thing. I plan on eventually making a slide show like I did for the last trip, but that took a long time when I had far fewer photos and fewer days in Japan, so I'm just putting some of my favorites up on Flickr for now.

Japan was awesome. It was hard to leave, but not as depressing as it was last time, partially, I think, because I felt so fulfilled on this trip. I saw everything I planned on seeing, I had a great time with my friends and experienced far more than I did the first time around. Overall, this trip was even better than the last by a substantial amount. Don't get me wrong. I loved the last trip. But this one was practically perfect. So many things could have gone wrong--such as the typhoon that only happened to veer away from Japan at the last minute--but everything seemed to go our way. Even the few rainy days we had turned out not to be so bad.

I'm not sure if it was because I was more familiar with Japan and the areas of Tokyo where we spent most of our time, or if it was because of my friend, Shivaindis, was always at hand to translate things for me, but I feel like I absorbed so much more this time. We went to some of the same places on this tour as I did before, but I never felt bored with the locations, perhaps because I didn't get the chance to fully explore them on the first trip. Everyone on the Pop Japan Travel staff was excellent as well, and I really enjoyed getting to know them all.

I can't wait to share more details of the trip, but it is getting late and I'm tired and I have the rest of the work week to get through yet... I hope you enjoy the morsels I put up on Flickr.

PS If you're here because you're a fan of my story, I apologize for not getting a new chapter posted yet. I promise that I'm working on it and hope to have it up soon!

One More Day

By this time tomorrow I will be in the air on my way to LA, and from there I will be heading for Japan. I am so excited that I literally feel sick to my stomach. But its worth it. As I was telling the girls last night, by the time I finally get off work today I'm going to be certifiably crazy excited. I can't wait!

But 4:30 is going to come awful early tomorrow morning... groan...

Hopefully I will be able to make a blog entry while in Japan. If not, you'll be hearing from me when I get back with all kinds of news and pictures!

One Week and Counting

Exactly one week from today, I will be in the air on my way to Japan. And I will be grinning like an idiot. Oh, wait. I'm already doing that just thinking about it.

Blue Angels

The Downtown Air Show is this weekend, and when I went on a walk with my coworker over lunch we got to watch the Blue Angels practicing over the city. It was pretty awesome. In fact, we can even see them from the window of our office every so often. This is the way to watch an airshow. No heat of the tarmac, no long lines for parking, no uncomfortable lawn chairs. And it's a pleasant diversion from work.

User Name Karaoke

I keep forgetting to post this, though I've had it figured out for awhile. Lizalou had this posted in her blog (and actually did it twice, the silly girl--one for general music and one for V6 alone).

Here's how it works: Open your playlist, pick songs that start with each letter of your username, but, the songs have to mean something to you. Don't just pick a song because it starts with a letter in your username.

Y Yoru wo Kakeru - Spitz

This is one of my favorites. Don't know why. Something about the angsty sound of it, Kusano Masamune's voice and the way it was used in Honey & Clover--which is where I first discovered it, of course.

E Endless Rain - X Japan

This song brings back some memories from Life Drawing class. Lizalou and I would sit through the long, four-hour class twice a week drawing naked people with charcoal and listening to music. At the time, I had only recently discovered X Japan, and I recall that this was one of the songs in particular that I enjoyed listening to and turning to look at lizalou with weepy eyes. X Japan always makes me weepy. Unless I'm listening to Desperate Angel.

L Libera Me - Fauré

Well, this is the namesake of my fanfiction... We sang Fauré's Requiem Mass at St. Lawrence when I was in college and I fell in love with it. This is one of my favorite movements. MPOD sang the solo, though I think we did this requiem the year before he was our director. Either way, I have good memories of it. I love the contrast of flowing haunting melodies against powerful themes in this piece in particular.

L Look Up! - Michael Bradley

Ah, good old Michael Bradley. His rendition of We Will Win almost made it into the "W" category. This one has to do with my screen name itself--how many of you can find a song really associated with your screen name, huh? That's right. I don't believe that this is a song Yellow Dancer actually sings (though it's been too long since I've seen Robotech all the way through if I can't remember) but I remember it was somehow associated with him. It's a great, overtly environmentally friendly song.

O Outpost 3J - Unreal Tournament & Overworld Jerky - Chrono Trigger

I was torn between two nice video game songs on this one. I decided to label them by game rather than composer for some reason. Anyway, Outpost 3J was one of my favorite levels in Unreal because of the music alone. It's a lot of fun. I have fond memories of decapitating aliens in this game while trying to ignore my crappy roommates, so this song is significant for me. The other song is not actually titled "Overworld Jerky," but I occasionally like to title the songs on my playlist that are unknown or in Japanese so that I can recognize them. This is the theme that plays in the 600 A.D. overworld in Chrono Trigger. I really love it. It's got a little bit of that happy angst I love so much. If you must know, I titled it after the jerky that fed a whole army.

W Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon

This song was my first encounter with Warren Zevon. That man writes some crazy lyrics, but I love them. They're so conversational and bizarre. I believe I discovered this song with Brandi, didn't I? I think my favorite line is, "I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's... and his hair was perfect." Or maybe it's actually, "A little old lady got mutilated late last night," which despite the gore is a lot of fun to say.

D Do I Have to do Another Eulogy? - Alias Soundtrack - Michael Giacchino

Michael Giacchino is an awesome composer, but I especially love the titles of the tracks on the Alias soundtrack. This one is right up there among my favorites for some unexplainable reason. I think it's mostly because of the first thirty seconds. I can never listen to it just once. There's something about the notes repeated in octaves through the orchestra with the beat behind it that I absolutely love. Plus, the title cracks me up and brings me back to when I was watching this series the first time with thecallowqueen and her roommate. Poor Emily. Like a number of people in that show, she had to die twice.

A Amazing - Poe

The House of Leaves is one awesomely scary book, and Poe's Haunted album is equally awesome and haunting. This is one of my favorite tracks because the lyrics really captured me. It's hard for me to pick a favorite from this CD though because I love them all! The subtlety of Poe's lyrics blows my mind.

N Nonstop to Tokyo - Rip Slyme (Pizzicato Five cover)

This song is so much fun! And soon (less than two weeks!) I will be on my way to Tokyo myself!!! I discovered Pizzicato Five on my last trip to Japan, and though I hadn't heard this song, I really enjoy Rip Slyme's remake. I picked up P5's CD at random, mostly because I've always liked the term pizzicato and because the packaging was a lot of fun. And the Rip Slyme boys are just so much fun.

C Curse of the Bloody Puppets - Devil May Cry - Masami Ueda

This one's just to pay homage to my Devil May Cry obsession. This track is from early in the first game and I love it's eerie ambience. The track is mostly echoey repititions of bass chords and howling sorts of noises over top, but at certain spots snatches of what sound like ghostly organ music break through. It has a perfect creepy feel for the castle on Mallet island where the game takes place.

E Eternal - Evanescence

This is an instrumental track I came across when I was looking up Evanescence music a long time ago. As is often the way with music found online, I can't be certain that it is attributed to the correct person, but it certainly sounds like Evanescene's stuff. It's pretty cool and dark, but my favorite part is the thunderstorm in the middle. I love thunderstorms! And the way it changes tones completely in the middle is pretty cool too.

R Red Hair is Better - Michael Giacchino

I wasn't going to put another track from the Alias soundtrack on here but I couldn't not use this one. I totally agree here; red hair isbetter. This is from the pilot episode and has a fun wildcat sounding thing in the middle (that's when she's stealing the car). She has the most fun awful red wig in this episode and it reminds me so much of Leeloo from Fifth Element.

2 25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago

These numbers were a bugger. I've always liked this song, even if it is all about doing drugs. We used to play it in pep band in high school and I remember I was always so impressed that the guy who played guitar could play the solo from this song exactly. It's a pretty fun solo, by the way, and my favorite part of the song.

1 1812 Overture

This number was super hard. But this is a great piece of music and it's significant to me because we would always play it during the week of the Midwestern Music Camp that fell on the 4th of July. I remember that they had bass drums (instead of cannons) and huge bells (instead of church bells) up in the balconies of the Lied Center during the part at the end.

Curse of Sephiroth

I was kind of in a hurry to finish Kingdom Hearts II when I did it the first time, but I wasn't too worried about missing anything because I knew I was going to go back and replay most of it to import videos for lizalou. But it bugged me that there wasn't much resolution to Cloud's story and he didn't make an appearance in the closing credits. I figured I had just overlooked something, and a quick check online confirmed my theory. You have to fight Sephiroth in order to get more Cloud goodies. Well, I never did beat Sephiroth in the first game. Never really even gave it a good try. But I thought I would make my best effort this time.

So, I started leveling up and gathering materials to synthesize all the ultimate weapons. I spent several hours on this, figuring that beating the game again to import the ending videos would be a breeze because of it (which it was, in fact). Then I headed down through the Great Maw (don't know why that name cracks me up) toward Sephiroth. I didn't know if I could beat him, but I figured I had a fighting chance at least at this point. I didn't look up any strategy because I wanted to see how well I could do on my own. I really had leveled up quite a bit, so surely I could last through a few lifebars (though Sephiroth has fifteen!).

I step up to him. He says something snotty. I get ready. There's an immediate reaction command. I thought I hit it in time. I didn't. Wham, bam, slash! I'm dead. Dirty bastard!!!!! I tried it again. I lasted half a minute and barely dented his lifebars. My best effort sucks. But so does Sephiroth. Asshole...

Air Dream Reset

It seems like I occasionally have periods of dreamless sleep, and then other times when I dream all night long and wake up remembering half of them. I am currently in the dreamhappy phase and I had loads of crazy dreams last night. I'll recount the one here that I remember the best.

I was at work, but we weren't actually in the place I work. The building was much taller and the walls were all windows so we had nearly a 180 degree view of downtown. Our office was on the top floor of the building and we were all busy at work when this bi-plane flies by doing aerial tricks within yards of our building. I think this part of the dream came from the stories my coworker, T, told us about the air show at their old office. Her company does the PR for the air show at the downtown airport and she said that sometime before the show the Blue Angels practice during the day and they used to be on the top floor of their office. She said it was pretty spooky because the planes would fly low and she'd always feel as if they were going to hit her when they flew over.

Anyway, in the dream, all of the planes in the air show were flying over and really close to the building. I got out my camera and was taking pictures, but then I saw one of the planes heading straight for us. I just knew it was going to hit. It was a small plane luckily, and we were already running by the time it hit, so we managed to make it to the stairs. I remember the entire trip out of the building fairly clearly, including pulling the fire alarm on the way down to alert everyone to evacuate.

Then, we were all standing outside watching the destruction and I remembered that I had left my laptop in our office. It had the only copy of probably two hundred pages of writing I had done and a whole bunch of other stuff that was irreplaceable. I couldn't believe I had left it up there. I was about ready to go back in when my coworker D dragged me back, reminding me that the place was probably an inferno by that point and unstable to walk through. (In real life, I do have most of my files from my laptop backed up, though this dream encouraged me to make sure.)

This is where the dream got cool. I was standing outside watching the building burn and kicking myself for not grabbing my laptop. I wasn't really upset about the expense of it, but I was devastated by all the hard work that I had put into the files on it. Then, suddenly, I was back in the office. The first biplane had just flown by. I had the chance to do it all over again. This time, when the plane that was going to crash was on its way I grabbed my laptop. I ran down the stairs and outside. Then, my parents showed up and I told them that I had used my special powers.

I mean, I've had dreams where you're half awake and you change the outcome because your conscious mind is influencing the dream, but this wasn't like that. And I even acknoledged the whole thing within the dream. It was awesome. Almost as cool as the dream I had where I was a telekinetic.

Design Misadventures #1

Since I have been posting a lot of these little design snippets lately, I've decided to make them into a series in order to more fully record the frustrations and creative new forms of torture I and my design cohorts often experience due to clients and vendors.

This is how the people fighting for our country make art:

Step One: Design ad in Powerpoint at the wrong dimensions.
Note: Artwork in Powerpoint is inherently RGB and 72 dpi (intended for screen art only, like slideshows.

Step Two: Print ad out in color.
Note: We have no idea what kind of printer this was printed on, but 72 dpi is not acceptable for printed artwork regardless.

Step Three: Scan printed ad so you can make it into a "digital pdf." (As opposed to an analog pdf?)

Step Four: Send "artwork" to graphic designer who will place your incorrectly sized, low resolution artwork complete with printer artifacting and a line through the middle into their layout.

Step Five: Load up on ammo and get ready to fend off an attack by several disgruntled graphic designers.

That's No Moon...That's a Kingdom Hearts

I finally picked up Kingdom Hearts II again and finished it. I'm going to keep this fairly vague so that lizalou doesn't get spoiled or anything, but I wanted to record my reactions.

I have to say that Xehanort is on my shit list for having far more forms and life bars than even a final boss should have. Plus, that dude has some scary lips. But, at the very least, I was grateful that he didn't go around saying, "Come into the darkness," every five seconds like Ansem did at the end of the first Kingdom Hearts. Boy was he a bitch though. That final form really pissed me off--especially with the Triangle/X alternating action at the end. Let's just say my carpal tunnel ain't doin' so hot today.

Christopher Lee is an amazing actor, but I believe the word he performs best is the word "fool." Apparently, the KH crew felt the same way since he managed to squeeze in the words "fool," "foolish," and "foolishness" before the end of the game more times than Ash did in Galerians. It was truly impressive. I don't claim to understand everything there is to know about Ansem, but I am pretty sure that he's a fool, whatever the case. In fact, he just might be a foolish fool.

Boy that Organization XIII is one clandestine organization. (I threw that in just for BBD in case he's reading.) They're so secretive I still don't entirely understand what they were after. I get the basics, but really what was the point of it all anyway? They made a heart shaped moon. And I'm going to make an educated guess it was made out of cheese as well considering the cheesiness of the dialogue--oh, and (here's another one for BBD) the pretentiousness as well. All of the Organization guys love their big words. It's almost painfully dense in the rare and antiquated vocabulary category. Come on guys, this is a kid's game! Still, that doesn't take away from the fact that most of the XIII guys are pretty hot. And we can't forget about Axel. Not all XIII members are given the same rigorous vocab training, it seems. Or maybe they are all given that training, but it just sticks better for some than others. This could shed some light on Axel's favorite catch phrase. Perhaps it is a byproduct of the trauma involved in remembering words. "Got it memorized?"

Poor Roxas. I've been saying that from the beginning, and though he didn't have an unhappy ending it left me feeling wistful. But I won't say more here in this mostly spoiler-free post. I'm sad to say that I really do like him better than Sora. But now I feel guilty for saying that. Sorry, Sora.

The Little Mermaid shall not be spoken of here, other than to mention I never want to hear about Ursula's poopsies again. I've also had just about enough of Seifer saying "Isn't this romantic?" because I went back and did the Struggle thing again thinking I'd get something good out of it but was sadly disappointed. I should have looked up the walkthrough before I wasted my time. I just had such hopes that there would be an extra Setzer something... I was also surprised that Rinoa never showed up after all--surprised, but relieved. Our luck her voice would probably be played by someone like Reba West (or whatever name she's going by now--why, oh why do English voice actors have SO MANY different names?!), although Minmei just might have been better than the chick who played Aeris. Ouch.

Overall I was very satisfied with the game--although some parts of Aladdin and Lion King had me ready to lose my lunch with the camera angle craziness (they got me almost as bad as Katamari Damacy). I have to say, though, that some points in the plot still left me a little confused. Maybe I'm missing something, but why are the creatures created from a person's missing heart called "Heartless" and the empty bodies left behind when a heartless is created is called a "Nobody." The nobodys have bodies and the heartless have hearts. Isn't that rather back asswards? And I thought the heartless were called that because they were what was left behind when a person lost their heart and there for had no heart. But now it seems that they do have hearts because half the point of this game was that while Sora was killing heartless he was releasing hearts and inadvertantly aiding the Organization's nefarious plan--whatever that was. I mean I know what they were trying to do, but I just don't get why exactly.

But in the end, the plot isn't so important to me. They certainly wrapped it up far better than I thought they would. In the end, it was about pretty people, adorable characters, fun gameplay and lots and lots of button mashing. I'll have to go back and play it again. Really. Because I should have known better than to choose "standard" mode. Maybe I'll just borrow neowolf's save point so I can see the extra secret ending in hi res...

Say What?

I'm trying to read some handwritten notes that were faxed over by a client. Ironically, one of the few things I can make out from the unintelligibly scrawled mess is this phrase: "increasingly difficult to decipher."

The irony hurts.

Poor Lonely Pluto

Pluto holds a special place in my heart--mostly because of Robotech and this line: "Life was returning to normal for the citizens of Macross City--if you can call normal living in a giant space ship near the orbit of Pluto." So, it is especially ironic, considering my most recent post, that Pluto was stripped of its planetary status today. (Incidentally, I am also a fan of Pluto because of Sephiroth's "supernova" attack in Final Fantasy VII. I don't know why that is "incidental" at all, but I couldn't help mentioning it.)

Frankly, it strikes me as a little silly that there are people out there debating whether or not Pluto is a planet while there are so many serious, catastrophic things going on the world. Obviously, I spend much of my time thinking about silly things too, so I don't have much room to talk, but my point is that I don't spend my research money thinking about them, and even if I did, my thoughts probably wouldn't make national news. And poor Pluto, anyway. I bet it's crying right now as it loops slowly around the sun on its lonely, distant orbit. Boo hoo. At least it has Charon to keep it company, eh?

If you are feeling Pluto's pain, maybe you should buy one of these bumper stickers. I can't believe someone's already created this when the news just hit today...

Read more about how Pluto got demoted here.

Robotech Sequel

Ah, I do love my Robotech. It's some good cheesy fun times. And though that last sentence didn't make any sense, it's okay because I'm talking about Robotech. Well, neowolf and I were reliving some of the Robotech joy last night and decided to research the wonderfully cheesy voice actors.

Robotech and Lupin III are among the small, very small, nearly microscopic collection of Anime that I can actually stand to watch in English. Of course, there is little choice with Robotech unless you want to watch one of the orginal Japanese series Harmony Gold reconstituted in order to create it. And, really, what would the story be without Minmei's horrid singing voice, Captain Gloval's Russian accent and the Narrator's constant melodramatic interruptions? Nowhere I'd want to be, at least. At any rate, I think it is no coincidence that most of the voice actors from Robotech also play roles in Lupin. This just might have something to do with why I like both of these English dubs.

After the reminder of how much we love these actors, we decided to look them up online and see what they looked like. We did a Google image search for Tony Oliver, the voice actor for Rick Hunter in Robotech. Obviously, "Tony Oliver" is not a highly unusual name, so we expected a few red herrings in the results. And yet, we both immediately chose the man who was in the second row from the top on the far left. And that was the correct Tony Oliver! It was like we already knew him somehow...

Here is a screencap of the results page:



In all of our researching, we noticed a similar thread. Many of the Robotech voice actors had "Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles" listed in their credits, but we had never heard of it before. (Of course I thought first of the Shadows in Babylon 5.) As we soon learned though, this is a new movie scheduled to come out in November 2006--created 20 years after the orginal Robotech was made. We were ecstatic! It's new Robotech with all the same voice actors we know and love--though it looks like Cam Clark isn't on the roster which means no Max and no Yellow Dancer...sigh. But Scott looks hot. And I can't wait to hear him say "MARLEEEENE!"

Oh yeah! You kick ass, Harmony Gold. I can forgive you for the hideous text effects in Robotech's opening credits. You were true to the fans and managed to get the rights to the characters to make this. Thank you.

Check out the trailer

George and Mary

Salton is not a holy company. They produce cheap kitchen appliances, half of which have a tendancy to explode or fall apart quickly after their first use. I use the term "produce" loosely since they don't make anything themselves anymore; they buy all their products from a factory in China and the cartons, instruction manuals, etc are all produced there as well. This isn't unusual, and if we're listing corporate, Salton is certainly not the only sinner.

Regardless, some poor schmuck in St. Louis has found a claim to fame through the grease spot left behind by his hamburger on his George Foreman grill.



Here's the article from MSN:

Virgin Mary Spotted In Foreman Grill Tray

A St. Louis man claims to have seen an image of the Virgin Mary, but you're not going to believe where he says her face appears.

John Milanos was cooking a hamburger on his George Foreman Grill last week in Missouri.

After he was done he says the holy mother's face appeared in the leftover grease.
The grease was in a small plastic drip pan that catches the grease and other fluids that run off the grill.

Milanos saved the grease in his refrigerator so he could show his friends and the makers of the George Foreman Grill.

So far, the company has not responded to Milanos.

Click here for a full slideshow if you dare.

I really think this could be a new marketing tactic for Salton if they're up for it. The front of the Grill packaging already has an image of George holding up a sign that reads "Lean Mean Grilling Machine" or some variation of that phrase. Why not add the Virgin Mary as well, praying for your health?

Why not? I hope I really don't have to answer that question.

Birthday Shock

David Hasselhoff is a bit of a joke around our office. Ever since I shared his "Hooked on a Feeling" video with my coworkers, we have been obsessive Hoff-haters. We scrounge around for any bit of gossip on him and have endless fun at his expense. We came up with numerous outrageous explanations for his recent surgery on his wrist that were actually more believable than the official explanation. The official explanation goes like this, "He was shaving at a gym in the Sanderson Hotel when he hit his head on a chandelier, showering his arm with broken glass." Uh huh. Right.

Some of our other, more memorable exploits include making paper airplanes with his face on the wings from a template on a website and enjoying this game when we're frustrated at work: Wax Hoff

Still, my coworkers took this pastime to new heights today when they conspired to get me out of the room so they could place a picture in a frame on my desk. I walked back in and froze in horror when I saw the photoshopped image of the Hoff and I sitting innocently next to my computer. Wait, innocently? Not hardly. I screamed, and now so will you.



This all came about apparently because the Hoff and I share the same birthday. To paraphrase Quentin Tarantino from his appearance on Alias, "Have you ever regretted being born?" And now I can say that yes, I have--at least being born on that particular day.

Happy Quarter Century

Cue the confetti and streamers. That's right, it's my birthday and I'm at home enjoying my birthday present to myself of a vacation day. It's the perfect ending to a wonderful birthday weekend!

Saturday I celebrated Big Bold D's birthday as well as my own at a picnic he organized. It was HOT. But the food was excellent and the company was great, so the heat was bearable. And the water gun fights were entertaining. Nevertheless, I did take a shower when I got home.

I also got to spend some time with my cousin Brandi this weekend which was great since it's been awhile since I saw her last. We used to spend a week together every summer so it was nostalgic to hang out on my birthday weekend and stay up until 3:30 am talking. What perfect timing. She came into town to go on the Lenexa Midnight Bike Ride with my dad and it was a happy coincidence that it was also my birthday weekend. I'm really looking forward to that Chicago trip, btw, Brandi. :)

Sunday afternoon I had an informal gathering at my place. We made friends playing the Fruits Basket card game where everyone is a winner because they're all friends. It was cheesy goodness. We watched some season 5 episodes of Star Trek: the Next Generation while playing, which only multiplied the cheesiness to a point somewhere off the cheesy scale. We watched "Disaster" and laughed at Worf trying to help Keiko deliver her baby and Captain Picard trying to relate to little children. Oh, and Geordi singing "I am the very model of a modern major general." But I don't think he can match Marcus' musical talent. ;)

Then, since we were already playing a game, we decided to watch the episode "The Game" and enjoy some Wesley cheesiness. That was the episode in which, according to Wil Wheaton, "Uncle Willy went to Booty Town" with Ashley Judd. Uh huh. Right. But the scene in which Troi makes a show of eating her triple chocolate sundae makes it all worth it (and became even funnier later when neowolf mimicked the scene while eating out of her bread bowl at Panera). But my favorite scene of that episode has to be when Wesley gets on the elevator with the nurse from sickbay and she's like, "I'm on level 47." Although the end when Data cures everyone with a strobing flashlight is pretty good too.

We ended the day with an episode of Samurai Champloo and a few episodes of Babylon 5.
All in all, I couldn't ask for a better birthday! I even got an email from lizalou today and that's always a treat! (I'm so happy you have the internet now, lizalou!) And Borders gave me a birthday coupon. How thoughtful of them. ;) I'm wearing my Hatsuharu hat right now (white side out) and my pendant made from an antique Chinese vase. And now I would like to leave you with a quote from the magnificent ST:TNG/X Men novel I got from neowolf and drjones.

"Now that I'm here, howzabout you show me that game you were tellin' me about--the one we didn't have time to play the last time?"
"Game?" said the Klingon.
"Yeah, what'd you call it... some kind o' holowhoozis?"
Worf suppressed a grin. "Ah, yes. My calisthenics program on the holodeck."
Wolverine pointed to him. "Yeah. That's the one."
He hooked Troi by the arm.
"Hey, Counselor--wanna join us fer some calisthenics?"

First of July

I helped out at neowolf's dad's fireworks show again this year, and this time we didn't get rained out. Last year it was so depressing because we put so much work into everything only to have a storm roll in right before the show and drench the place. We were running around like crazy people trying to salvage what we could and get to shelter before one of us got hit by lightning or something.

This year though there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was hot and did I mention that it was hot? But it was still fun. We worked hard and got to take a break and drive back into town to let Toula out and play with her a bit before we picked up lunch for everyone. It was a welcome break and saved me from a probably very major headache.

The scariest part of the day was not when we were loading the 8" and 10" shells, though you might have thought it would be. No, it the scariest part was when we were putting foil over the mortars to keep sparks from setting off other fireworks. I was standing on the opposite side of a trailer from another guy who was helping out when neowolf stepped on the back end. The entire thing tipped suddenly and I literally thought I was going to die for a split second. It was disorienting more than anything, but when you're standing on a trailer full of explosives anything unexpected is enough to send your adrenaline through the roof. I felt a little sick to my stomach at the time, but we all laughed about it afterward--when we were away from the fireworks. ;)

The show went off with only a few hitches. Some of the fireworks were rescued from last year and acted a little strangely when they went off, including the one I was responsible for firing. The pond cake was on a little raft in the middle of the pond and it was on fire for most of the show. We didn't realize why until afterward. Apparently it set the raft on fire and by the end there was absolutely nothing left. But it looked pretty awesome during the show. I was also responsible for running the disco lights during the Chicago medley and that was a lot of fun. I honestly did very little, but they looked really cool.

It was a lot of work and a lot of fun. And boy did that shower feel good afterward. I swear I had an inch of grime, sweat and suntan lotion on my skin by the end of the day. Ewww...

Belated Father's Day

I know you're all probably wondering if I'm capable of writing, thinking or doing anything unrelated to my geeky obsessions. The answer is no... I mean YES. Yes, I can. Don't forget that personality test way back when labeled me as a "Modern, Cool Nerd."

Anyway, I had a very pleasant weekend and got to have a good time with the family. Our plans for Father's Day the weekend before were thwarted in many ways, but we were able to fully make up for them this weekend. Dad got his GPS back from Garmin--or should I say he got a new GPS? Apparently they couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. Anyway, I got up early and went to the 8:00 mass with my parents. The Wiz (that's our nickname for one of the priests at our church) had an awesome sermon, the music selection was good and I got to see some of my friends from choir and catch up on gossip before we left. It was uplifting and the weather was invigorating--sunshiny but not too hot with a nice, cool breeze.

We wanted to go geocaching around the downtown area, so we went to Napoleon's Bakery in Westport for breakfast and we beat the rush and had some awesome croissants. Then we caught a couple caches in Westport before heading toward downtown. We managed to find five caches in all (and I found the first one myself!). It was a lot of fun, especially the last one we did in the Union Hill cemetery. Now, I know you're thinking "Why was the cemetery the most fun?" I'm not that morbid...not really. It was fun because this was a really old cemetery and some of those gravestones are really elaborate and awesome. The coolest part about it was this one grave though that a tree had grown around. The headstone was partially embedded in the tree and there was a knot in the tree higher up that looked like the profile of someone's face. The irony of the whole thing was that the name of person buried there was "Wood." Creepy, huh?

A Novel Beginning

My Devil May Cry obsession continues... And the fact that I just picked up the first Devil May Cry novel on Tuesday doesn't help this addiction any. I just finished reading the book last night, and I have to say that they managed to turn Dante into one angsty devil. Damn. It's sort of a prequel to the prequel game (DMC3) and it explains a lot of things about the games that were always a bit vague. Such as why Dante's guns have the inscription "for Tony Redgrave" on them. The answers weren't at all what I would have expected either.

When I first bought the book I was thinking that I might have to rethink some things in my story depending on what the novel revealed about the DMC-verse, but after finishing it I've decided that I'll keep my own AU version pretty much the same. I may reference a few things, but I like the way I imagine the relationship between Vergil and Dante better than the way it is in the book. Let me rephrase: I like both ways, but I'd rather write it my way. My way or the highway and all...

I almost didn't buy the book at all because when I did my cursory scan/flip through, I couldn't find Dante's name anywhere. I thought, "Oh sure, they just wrote a novel about some new character that we've never seen before in the DMC-verse. How boring is that?" But then I decided to give it a try anyway. I'm glad I did because it turns out the character named "Tony" is Dante after all. He doesn't remember who he really is for most of the book because his father's sword told him to forget his name after his mother died. That's not weird at all. Nope. Not at all. ;) It's really not all that weird if you've played the games. There are quite a few possessed weapons.

All in all, the story was really interesting and it showed some of Dante's vulnerabilities, as well as his unusual code of honor. And boy was it angsty... Dante's got a little bit of the typical superhero "everyone I love gets hurt" syndrome going on. And what's with Vergil? What a freaktard... And a dork. Like no one's going to think Gilver has anything to do with Vergil. "I'll just cut my name in half and switch the halves around. No one will ever know...BWHAHAHAHA..."

Though I think the translation might have had a few issues and I found multiple typos and grammar issues, I really enjoyed the novel and can't wait to read the next one. I wonder where it will take place in the series? I would like to see one that includes Trish...

Parallels

The other day, I was looking at my small collection of figurines, and because I have Devil May Cry on the brain, I looked at the figurine of Julia from Cowboy Bebop and immediately thought of Trish. That got me to thinking and I realized Trish and Julia really are a lot alike--at least visually.

Then I started thinking about Spike and Dante and knew that I had just discovered an eerie parallel I wasn't going to be able to just ignore. Spike and Dante are A LOT alike. They're both unnaturally good fighters with a knack for cheating death and a carefree, sarcastic attitude about life. They also both have an angsty past and an archenemy they're either related to or once had a sibling-esque relationship with. Oh, and their archenemies are both cruel, cold-hearted, have silver hair and wield a katana. Both Dante and Spike feel that their lives won't be complete until they have taken down this archenemy once and for all, though they're likely to lose their own lives in the process.

They both like fast vehicles and lanky blond women with an attitude and a penchant for leather. They love guns. They're both bounty hunters of a sort, though they tend to lose or waste as much money as they make. Neither of them eat a healthy diet, though they both somehow keep their bodies in tip top shape. They both have awesome hair. They're irreverent and flirtatious and say whatever pops into their mind first, even--or perhaps especially--if it will get them into a fight.

And as for the game and anime themselves... They both set trends in their industry and made a lasting impression. Oh, and they both have great soundtracks. Feel free to add any other similarities you might find...

I'm sure the list could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. It's no wonder I like Dante so much considering I had such an obsession for Spike way back when. How did I not make this connection before?

Ginnungagap

Last night was another Scrapped Princess wednesday, and we got to the episode in which they use the Strategic-Class Assault Spell Ginnungagap. We all commented on how they never say that word in the Japanese track and decided to check out the English dub to see if they say it, and they did. And it was really funny. So we listened to it three times.

I decided to look up the meaning of the word today and this is what Wikipedia says:
"In Norse mythology, Ginnungagap ("seeming emptiness" or "gaping gap") was the vast chasm that existed between Niflheim and Muspelheim before creation. To the north of Ginnungagap lay the intense cold of Niflheim, to the south the insufferable heat of Muspelheim. At the beginning of time, the two met in the Ginnungagap; and where the heat met the frost, the frost drops melted and formed the substance eitr, which quickened into life in the form of the giant Ymir, the father of all Frost giants. See his entry for the continuation of the Old Norse story of the Creation."

Now I dare you to say "Ginnungagap" five times fast.

Anime Updates

I've been watching a lot of anime and reading a lot of manga lately. Many of my friends have also been working their way through my collection so I've been talking about a lot of stuff I read or watched a while ago. I thought that, from a journaling perspective I should make note of all these things.

First off, I've been watching a lot of Ouran High School Host Club. As I believe I've mentioned before, the manga series is totally awesome. Unfortunately, beyond the first six episodes, the anime does not live up to the manga. Shivaindis and I were really disappointed at the way they began changing the story line and characters. Host Club is just fine the way it is; it's lighthearted, silly and utterly hilarious. There's no need to turn it into a typical shojo anime with romance and angst. That's not what it is! And why, oh why, do they feel like they must include Renge in every episode? Though I did appreciate her cosplaying as Quon from Rahxephon, Bones seems to be using her as simply a marketing tool for their other series. I used to have a lot of respect for Studio Bones--in fact, I was ecstatic when I found out they would be the ones making Host Club--but I'm quickly losing that respect. I mean, they took Nekozawa out of the beach episode! Come on, people! How can you have that episode without the freaky cat cliff?

Anyway, the next item on the list here is Death Note. As we know, I recently finished reading the manga--which was awesome. A recent phone conversation with lizalou revealed that a live action Death Note movie was in the works in Japan. And there was much squealing. A little research revealed that there are actually two movies on the way, and an anime series to boot! So much Death Note...ahhh...shivers. But, as shivaindis pointed out, just what are they going to make these movies and anime series about? That's a lot of media to fill. Are they going to be connected? Are they going to tell the same story two different ways? And what about L (this is the most important question to me)? If you want to check it out the movie website, click here. It's really a pretty cool website. If you click on the note and click around long enough Light shows up at the desk.

The other thing I've been really into lately is Angel Sanctuary. I know I've already made one post about this series, so I won't go into much detail here except to say that Kira is freakin' awesome and love him...even if he is the king of hell. We all know that he's not really evil anymore anyway... And poor Zaphikel. What a sad story. And Sevothtarte? Yikes. He/she/it is even more of a freak than I thought. Yeah, so when I go to Japan, Kaori Yuki's second artbook will be mine. Oh yes. It will be mine. As well as the Devil May Cry 3 Sound DVD book. There has to be one, and since I have the first two, I have to get the third one. And I want Bereznoff and Beary plushies. I just know they have them over there somewhere! I might even have to buy myself a Death Note, though, as shivaindis said, I'm not sure what I would write in it. Not that it really matters.

Ah, I can't wait to be in Japan again...

The Island

I should have seen it coming. After all, the similarity has already been discussed on some of the Lost forums I used to frequent.

So, last night I had a dream about characters from Lost, but they were on an island from the Myst games. It wasn't an island from a specific game, but it was quite obvious that it was connected because of all the puzzles and contraptions. The only part I remember clearly was Locke working one of the puzzles and getting really frustrated. He was totally obsessed with solving all the puzzles, of course, and started yelling for the island to tell him what to do.

Now they just need to make the game. It's a perfect marriage of two distinct stories, if you ask me.

I'd totally play the Lost game.

Worth a Thousand Words...?

So, I'm searching for pictures of business women on a stock photo site...

Can someone tell me what a pair of female legs in fishnets and spike heels has to do with my search? And why are half of the "business women" wearing shirts with only one button buttoned and their breasts pushed up so far you can nearly see their nipples? What kind of photo search is this? I didn't realize this was this was "StockPorn'r'us."

What a complete waste of my time and energy. Who uses these photos anyway?!

Surprise Visit

I had another odd dream last night. This time it was about lizalou. I suppose that makes sense because I was thinking about her last night as I finished up working on the DVD's I'm sending her. In my dream it was Memorial Day weekend and she had decided to come back to visit because of the three day weekend (that, on the other hand, makes absolutely no sense). In the part I remember the most, we were hanging out and talking and eating food (big suprise there--I'm sure it was my idea) and lizalou had that look on her face that meant she had a secret that she was waiting to reveal at the most opportune moment. Finally, she said, "Remember that movie I was telling you about?" Earlier in the dream she had mentioned a movie named CCI (stupid huh? That's the name of the company we share office space with) that had been filmed in Japan. "Well," she said with that mischievous grin of hers, "I had an English-speaking role in that movie." She was all excited about it because it was actually an American movie filmed in Japan and would be played in theatres in the US.

It was stupid on so many levels. Number one, lizalou doesn't like to act, though I think she could if she tried. Number two, lizalou wouldn't be excited about an American movie, only a Japanese one. Though, I suppose if it were filmed in Japan she would have likely been playing opposite Japanese actors and that would have made her happy. And number three, what the hell? But that's dreams for you...

No offense against lizalou because I've been really missing her and it was nice to see her, even if it was only in a dream, but I had kind of been hoping that I would have a Dante dream last night. I started writing a Dante scene for my story right before I went to bed and was looking forward to sweet dreams. ;) Which reminds me, I feel I must announce to all the Capcom people who I'm just sure would bother to find my blog and read it, you guys really need to make a Devil May Cry movie and you need to cast Josh Holloway as Dante. He's perfect for the role, and if you miss this opportunity, you'll regret it. I'll get down off my soap box now.

Self-Conscious

I had a really strange dream the other night. I don't remember much about it except that it included theCallowQueen and Big-Bold-D (probably because I had just seen them the night before). It also included a girl I was friends with in High School. I'm sure she showed up because I've been so addicted to Rent lately and she was a big fan of the musical. But anyway, we were all in this huge hotel—don't ask me where it was located because I don't know—and we were exploring all the labyrinthine corridors and found this hidden swimming pool. We ended up sitting down on the loungers by the pool and I was sitting in between CallowQueen and Big-Bold-D. Then they pulled out identical tiny cameras and leaned toward me, zooming in on my nose. I swear they were only a few inches away from me on either side, but their cameras were zoomed all the way out anyway. I just sat there, asking “Hey, guys. What are you doing?” But they didn't respond and kept focusing on my nose.

I woke up shortly after that, wondering what the hell that was supposed to mean. I'm not self-conscious about my nose or anything, so why were they looking at it so closely? I looked up “nose” as a dream symbol and this was one of the interpretations I found:

“To see your own nose in your dream, signifies a conscious effort to achieve whatever endeavour you chose to undertake. The nose represents energy, intuition, and wisdom. Alternatively, the nose symbolizes curiosity. You dream may suggest your need to learn more about a situation at hand.”

I'm still at a loss to interpret this bizarre scene though becuase of the extra layer of my friends looking at my nose... Oh well. Sometimes a nose is just a nose. :)

Secrets Don't Make Friends

Last night Shivaindis came over and we watched Ouran High School Host Club. I'm even more addicted to that series than I was before. The anime is just as much fun as the manga, and I'm hooked on the opening song. I really need to extract it or find it somewhere soon... Anyway, Shivaindis was on a roll with quotes, mostly inspired by Kingdom Hearts II and the 20 Ansems. Her interpretation of the crazy plot of Kingdom Hearts resulted in this statement: Wisdom + Handsome = Ansem. She also noted that KHI x 6 = KHII because there are 6 times the Ansem. It's sad but true. During the course of the evening she also revealed that if she were a seiyuu she'd totally play little boys, and that "you don't want to have to clean up after hell." She was definitely on a roll.

Along the way, she also gave me a great idea for a wallpaper series featuring various characters along with the phrase "Secrets don't make friends." This prompted me to search for some DeathNote artwork because Light is perfect for this particular series. I finally found a really nice site that had an archive of DeathNote scanlations. It took me awhile to devise a way of saving the images because they had protected them pretty well. I was almost to the point of just taking screen captures and piecing them back together in photoshop when I tried "copy image to clipboard" and found it worked.

I found a good picture of Light to use, but I also found myself rereading some of the story. I haven't been reading the more recent chapters because the absence of L just makes me sad, but I was getting toward the end of the scanlation archives and it suddenly occured to me that the story was ending. I was relieved in a way, because it was driving me crazy that it just kept going and going like the Energizer bunny. I was also relieved to find that the scanlations went all the way up to the end of the series (whew) because I didn't want to be stuck on a cliffhanger again. The ending satisfied me. The outcome was as perfect as it could be sans L, and I liked the poetic justice of the way Kira met his end. It was an unexpected surprise to read the end of DeathNote today, but certainly a pleasant one. Now I just need to write that DeathNote fanfic I started a long time ago...

But I have another fanfic to focus on first. In fact, I should get back to writing on it now. I'm multitasking by working on the KHII DVD I'm making for lizalou and writing on the next chapter of Libera Me while my Mac is processing files. Wish I had that Mac Mini though--I bet it would process those files in half the time. ;)

Speaking of Libera Me, though, Shivaindis gave me some excellent ideas on it as well. She was just a fount of inspiration last night. All I'll say is that I doubt anyone would have expected to find David Hasselhoff in hell. That's really not the bulk of the inspiration, but I just thought it was a funny thought. Ah, David Hasselhoff. We rewatched the Hooked on a Feeling video of his again on Friday at work. That thing kills me. He is such a freak...

Bugged

I have a story similar to theCallowQueen's story from a couple weeks ago.

Though I don't like spiders or roaches or other creepy, crawly creatures that have exoskeletons or feelers, I can generally handle their presence calmly and dispose of them without screaming and crawling up the walls. Still, I don't like it when I find a water bug or roach or spider in my bedroom or bathroom. It really gives me the jibblies. This is where I sleep and take showers and walk around barefoot and exposed; I don't want to have to tip toe around and examine every surface before I step into the shower. I have a vivid imagination and when I see one bug I instantly think there must be many more lurking in every shadowy corner of the room--and did I just feel something crawling on the back of the neck? You get the idea.

So, yesterday morning I woke up bleary eyed and stumbled into the bathroom without my glasses on. I paused when I saw what appeared to be a black fuzzball in the corner. It looked like fuzz from my rug or perhaps from the throw blanket in the other room. I didn't think much of it though and focused first on emptying my bladder. But then, as I sat there looking at that half-dollar-sized black spot on the carpeting I realized it had a very regular shape for a fuzzball. It was starting to look less like an inocuous soot ball from Spirited Away and more and more like a huge, creepy, crawly spider.

I finally decided to investigate further, though I don't know why I didn't go back into my bedroom to get my glasses--maybe because I was afraid it would crawl away and I would be left wondering where it went and when it would come out to play. So, I got down on my hands and knees and got closer. It was such a dark brown that it was hard to see any details, but I finally saw a leg twitch and promptly freaked out. It was big--the biggest spider I'd ever seen inside the house--and it was ugly, with thick, monstrous legs. It was kind of bunched up, so who knows how long its legs would have been when they were extended... Ewww...

So, I looked for something to attack it with. I remembered that I had put a spider trap behind the toilet a few months ago because I had found a large water bug in the bathroom and it freaked me out (but not as much as this spider did). It's extremely sticky, so I started to tear part of it off to use against the vicious spider and discovered that a large bug had met its end in the trap already. I did not need to know that. But still, I vanquished the spider but kept its slightly squished form to demonstrate my bravery to my mom.

Normally, mom is unsympathetic about bugs in my bathroom. She's very logical about the fact that my bathroom is in the basement and that there are often bugs in bathrooms, etc, etc, etc. But when I showed her this monster spider she flipped. "That's the grossest spider I've ever seen! It's huge! That's it! I'm spraying the basement. I'm pulling everything out, emptying the closets and everything and spraying. That's disgusting!" I was relieved that she was so eager to do something because I didn't know if I could sleep with the thought of bugs lurking in my room.

So, true to her word, she emptied everything out and sprayed until the carpeting and walls were damp. I felt slightly safer and less creeped, but boy was there a mess for me when I got home. It took me all night to clean it up, but it was worth it. I can rest easy again. I didn't ask mom how many bugs she found in her extermination because I really DON'T want to know, but hopefully there won't be anymore for a long time to come.

Stress Recovery

The last couple of weeks of my work life have been rather stressful. We've been busy to the point of being nearly overwhelmed, and I came home from work last Friday feeling like I was going to drop dead on the spot. Luckily, I didn't. Still, recovering from stress is about more than just getting some extra sleep. It's about sitting for awhile and doing nothing, clearing your mind completely and just letting yourself be. Exercise is a quick fix for stress because it helps you get the frustration out immediately, but it also has a couple drawbacks. First, when you're really stressed it's often because you're really busy, so you don't have time for exercise. And second, sometimes you are so exhausted from stress that you feel physically exhausted as well. That was me last week.

After another crazy day of last minute client demands on Friday, I came home and knew what my remedy would be: video games. At first I had been thinking about playing a little Devil May Cry and bashing the hell out of some demonic nasties (while watching Dante show off his hot self), but then I decided I should play a little more Kingdom Hearts II since it had been over a week since I last played it. I knew I was going to have to replay a little because I hadn't saved my last bit of progress, but replaying it wasn't a problem since a lot of cool things happened all at once the last time I played.

I had been astounded by how many awesome plot points were revealed in quick succession, including some Final Fantasy characters' appearances and the Tron level (Bruce Boxleitner! YAY!). But I had no idea that the revelations had only just begun. I think my brain 'sploded before the night was over. I'm not sure how I feel about the story they're setting up with Cloud and Sephiroth (and their voices are disappointing to me...) but the scene with Cloud and Squall (Leon) standing back to back fighting (this isn't a spoiler really because part of it is in the intro, though I doubt neowolf will even read this so why am I worried about spoilers?) was so awesome! Then there was the battle with literally 1000 enemies (the body count was up in the corner), and the surprising deadly turn of events with one of the main characters. I was totally freaking out. (Yes, I was freaking out over a game. We know I'm a geek already). Can you picture it? It was midnight or so, I was the only one awake in the house and I'm sitting there in the dark getting gushy about a Disney character. Pretty pathetic, huh?

Though I was excited to play this game in the first place, I had no idea it would be this complex. It makes sense considering how long it took them to release the thing. Shivaindis was telling me that rumor has it the head of SquareEnix freaked when he saw the game in its final state because it has enough story for ten games. That is so true. I don't have a lot of hope that they will actually wrap up the intricate plot since Kingdom Hearts 1 didn't really make sense in the end, and makes even less sense now. Still, I love the fact that there are so many diffferent bad guys that the bad guys are fighting each other as much as the main characters. It gives the game a lot more depth. I love the Organization XIII guys too for mostly shallow reasons because most of them are really hot.

Then I worked on importing more of the video from KHII to send to lizalou on Sunday and relived the angst of Roxas' story in the beginning and realized all over again how much I like him. I want to know what happens to him already! Poor kid. I guess I'm now officially completely addicted to this game.

But for now it's back to work... and stress. Oh darn. That means I might have to relieve my stress all over again.

Really?

I don't know if this could really be considered Engrish becuase it's not bad English exactly. It's just weird. We ordered a Japanese puzzle box to use in a proposal here at work and included in the instructions was this warning:

"The Personal Secret Box is not edible. Never put it in your mouth."

The box is about 4"x4"x6" and made of wood. Why would you try putting it in your mouth?!

New Bag, New Shoes

Today has been a fairly productive day. I am not a fan of shopping. We all know this. But, I went shopping today and actually found everything I needed. It was an expensive day... but sometimes you’ve got to spend a little to get what you want.

So, my day started out with a little something extra for myself. I know, I indulge myself far too much, but I had a coupon for my bookstore and I hate to let those go to waste when I know there are new books out that I need to buy. It turns out that my bookstore was running a sale on mange (buy 3, get the 4th free) but I didn’t think I’d be able to use my 25% off coupon on a book I was already using for the other deal, so I picked up a figure I had been eyeing for a long time. I brought it up to the cash register, but it was only then that I noticed the coupon was for a “book,” not an “anything in the store.” I said this realization out loud, as well as “Oh, I guess I won’t get this then.” That did the trick.

The lady behind the counter—who had an awesome slavic accent, btw—said, “No, no! I use coupon!” Yay! Edward Elric (complete with several changable arms—some with automail and some without red coat) would be mine at 25% off. I was feeling pretty good about this arrangement, so I handed her my coupon. But here’s where things get even better. I printed the coupon out from the internet, but two coupons printed on the page, the one for 25% off a book and also one for 25% off a kid’s book. You can only use one at a time—or so I’ve been told in the past. But she used both, along with the special manga deal! Rock on Slavic lady!

Feeling pretty good at this point, I moved on to DSW to look for some new tennis shoes. I have been exercising much more regularly lately, which is a good (and very necessary) thing, but unfortunately my old Nikes from school have seen better days. They’ve been giving me blisters and making my feet ache, so I knew it was time to bite the bullet and buy some new tennies. Unfortunately, tennis shoes are expensive!!! I tried on half a dozen shoes and none of them fit quite right. They were either too wide in the toe area or rubbed at my ankles. My first pair of tennis shoes was New Balance and I loved them, but I got them right after NB first came out and I think they changed them after that point because the second pair I bought rubbed my left heel and every other New Balance I’ve tried since then has done the same. There wasn’t a Nike to be found in DSW, so I was considering giving up and going to Famous Footwear instead.

Then I decided to try out some of the more expensive pairs I had been ignoring and I discovered a pair of Asics that used gel cushions. Gel is a beautiful thing. They were so comfortable! They were $70! Aiii! But they were really comfortable and actually fit my foot in every way. So, I bought them—with only a little apprehension since it’s hard to tell if shoes will be as comfortable after you’ve been running in them for awhile. I gave them a good test run later at home and they are so wonderful. Money well spent, I think.

Next stop, Microcenter. I’ve been thinking about my trip to Japan later in the year and realizing that I need a new bag to use as a carry on since I want to bring my lappy along. I wanted a backpack because it would be more comfortable to carry and I also wanted to use it on the tour to hold my shopping bags and stuff. Aside from the trip, it would also be useful when I hang out at someone’s place and need my lappy as well as drawing supplies. So, I did some looking and thinking and found a bag. It’s freaking huge. But, it has straps to make it smaller when it isn’t full, so it's not unreasonably big. It was also quite pricey, but laptop bags are all expensive and this was really fairly reasonable when you compare it to, say, a Crumpler Bag—though Crumplers are so cute and have the best names. Anyway, I tried the bag out when I got home, filling it with various things comparable to things I would be toting in Japan. I'm glad I didn’t go any smaller. I want it all to fit in the bad so I don’t get shopping bag hand. Last year I thought my fingers were going to break off.

So, I had an exciting shopping day! I also had fun with mom, who came along for the ride. She didn't have as much luck as I did with purchases, but I also have the unfortunate circumstance of being able to find something to buy in just about any store I go into. This is why my general aversion to shopping is a very good thing.

To top off my day, I decided to spend a little time playing Kingdom Hearts. I just met Auron in the gameand got all giggly and giddy about it. And his first line was “This is my story.” I squealed. It was the equivalent of a Terry O’Quinn moment for me, to which thecallowqueen can no doubt relate. He is just so freakin’ cool. And his limit break with Sora was awesome (it isn’t actually called a limit break, but I can’t help calling it that). I'm glad they included cooperative attacks in this game. They're a lot of fun. But where is that man’s sake jug? Auron’s just not the same without it.

Well, here’s to a good, productive day. As Auron would say, “That’s how it’s done!”

Sellout

It's finally happened.

Windows meets Macintosh.

The Story.


The Program.


Actually, I'd like to check it out, but you have to have Tiger in order to use it. Damn. Not that it really matters because I doubt I could play my old video games on XP anyway. Some of them I can... but not the classics. Sigh....

Muddled Language

A brief aside:Yes, I know it's been awhile. I appreciate everyone who has missed my posts and complained (really, I do appreciate it becasue it shows you care!) and I'm sorry for my absence. I can only blame lizalou (though it's really my fault) becuase I've been writing her letters about the kinds of things that I would normally post here. So, by the time I sit down to write a post I'm already bored with the stuff I could have written about and end up writing nothing at all. In the future, I will copy parts of my letters to use for the basis of posts because I'm writing the letters on the computer now. That should make everyone happy.

Now to the meat of the post. Beef stew. No, not really. Actually, I'm talking about instruction manuals. I'm working on a manual for a hand mixer at work right now, and they sent me the manual written by the factory in China for reference. I'm sure you can imagine where this is going.

Apparently, I've been calling beaters by the wrong name all these years. They are actually “muddlers.” And that dough hook? That's a “decorative tail” of course. And the beater eject button is properly called a “fork holder.” Where's the fork? My favorite sentence is “Inserting beaters.” Yes, that's a whole sentence, and it seems that at some point they realized they were actually called beaters rather than muddlers. Not all the sentences are fragments, but that doesn't mean they make any more sense. For instance, consider the following: “Hold with one hand the mixer from the handle and with the other place the beater. Put it in the hole, press and twist it until beater clicks into position.”

So, needless to say, this reference manual has been really helpful to me. I haven't laughed this hard since I got that email about the world's worst album covers.

Questions

This one's for you, lizalou. And I miss you already. This was quite the meme. It took for-freakin'-ever! But it was worth it. I wrote it totally stream of consciousness, so I'm sure I forgot a lot of important stuff, but I think I'll leave it like it is even if I do remember.

About You
Preferred name: Alia, though you can call me Al if I can call you Betty.
Preferred location: Taerynia, living at Northreach with my honey Arrowin.. or was it Cymon? :)
Defining age: 200. Here's hoping I get there. As I've been discussing with theCallowQueen, I don't know if I'll ever be completely defined. My definition keeps evolving.

Be Honest
Name: Alia. My name is so cool I don't have to lie.
Location: Kansas City
Age: Twenty and four

Define Yourself
What's true: I really am totally awesome. Oh, and I am a bit obsessive compulsive (a bit?!) and I worry way too much. I also care too much about many things and that can be a blessing and a curse. It's good to care about others, but its not good to mother them. I am not evil, though I like evil characters. And some folks say I'm a terrific writer. Actually, I don't know if any folks have ever said that, but I do like to write and I couldn't help the Homestar quotage. That reminds me... I like to quote things too.
What's misrepresented: I'm not really as arrogant as I made myself sound in the previous answer. Other than that, I don't think I want to think about this answer too much. Most of what was misrepresented has been set straight already, and if it hasn't then I probably won't be able to change your mind about it anyway. "If you don't know me by now..."
#1 goal in life: To be happy and to contribute to the happiness of the people around me. All the rest is details.
Habits:Popping various joints, saying "you know" at the end of a sentence (I've just noticed this one recently), comparing things, second-guessing myself, apologizing.

Things You Did, Good and Bad
As a toddler: Watched Sesame Street all three times it came on during the day; liked to play in boxes and take canned foods out of the cupboard and organize them; wrote on the carpeting with black crayon because it looked cool; tried and failed to pick up the texture of the carpeting with silly puddy.
In elementary school: Recorded fake commercials, imagined on the playground at recess, obsessed about the Lord of the Rings and watched Star Trek with crysania17; roller skated, played in the tree and went on vacation with Brandi; freaked out when dad set the yard on fire; freaked out when mom practically cut her thumb in half while trimming the bushes; scraped my knee when I was trying to hide from the bus and fell (don't even ask); collected Lisa Frank stickers; liked to ride bike with my dad.
In high school: Played flute in school, in the Youth Symphony, Flute Choir, at Church and in KCYouth Wind Ensemble; never got a 1 on a flute solo because I always got too nervous and screwed up; began writing the epic story I'm still working on now; played in pep band at basketball games and chatted with Mike and his bass clarinet named Brutus; roleplayed with Tess and corresponded with her when she was in Japan; watched and obsessed over Babylon 5; got hooked on the Highlander and watched it when I got home from school; met Shivaindis who first introduced me to the wonderful world of anime.
In college: Met neowolf and lizalou, and from there many others; began my true obsession with anime; pigged out on tostitos cheese dip, bean dip and pizza rolls; played final fantasy X and kingdom hearts with neowolf; made anime music videos; skipped video and photo class as much as possible; worked my ass off in design classes and stressed and fretted and cursed over many a project; sanded hundreds of tiny blocks of wood to use in a project for Swindell; wrote parodies and obsessed about basketball players with neowolf; sang at St. Lawrence; worked with the stage crew at the Lied Center with lizalou and inuki; watched the Kodo Drummers from the catwalk with lizalou and neowolf; helped create an anime club at KU which fizzled before our last year; drew enough pictures to make a bishonen buffet; accidentally sent my final paper in Sociology to Ed, my boss at the Lied Center instead of my teacher; hung out in the computer lab after hours and listened to Air; was introduced to Homestarrunner; got rearended but took the blame; discovered that nothing stops Willie Nelson; started the quotage book.

Things You Do
Read: This list would be too long if I wrote everything down, so I'll just list categories: Manga of all kinds, Fantasy novels, my friends' blogs, fanfiction, articles about KU basketball.
Watch: Anime, Lost, Alias, Gilmore Girls, KU basketball, homestarrunner toons, Red vs Blue, my computer screen, and all of the old shows I have on DVD.
Sports: Yeah right. The most I do is watch basketball... and attempt to not die while on rollerblades.
Write: The Windsword Chronicles (my story), Fanfiction, ocassional blog entries, parodies
See: I could get really philosophical on this one, but I've decided not to be pretentious. So I'll just say that I see Cymon right now reading on one of the "fart" chairs in my room, and that I have not seen Theo lately. Lizalou, did you take him with you?
Hear: At the moment, a creepy song from RahXephon--which I skipped. So, now I'm hearing "Little Wing" from Scrapped Princess. Much more upbeat!
Love: My family and friends; people with positive attitudes; eating salty and sweet foods together; getting giddy about writing and sharing it with others; sharing obsessions; quoting things; that moment after you've finished cleaning when everything feels so organized and fresh; buying a stack of manga with a personal shopping day and coupon; drawing a satisfying picture; getting the giggles; creating something I'm proud of; myself, for the most part.

Things You Don't
Read: The paper unless there's an article about KU--sad, I know; long forwards threatening you to pass them along for good luck or else; Non-fiction.
Watch: Reality TV (excluding the Apprentice); most TV, actually; sports other than basketball; most movies.
Sports: Pretty much everything
Write: Letters, though I'm trying to change this one for lizalou since she's got no inet; love letters; memoirs
See: The future, though I do get premonitions sometimes.
Hear:Rap, unless it's in Japanese; COUNTRY MUSIC
Love: Extreme selfishness; rudeness; hatred; closed minds; assumptions; misunderstandings when there is no attempt to understand; excessive whining (yeah, I know I need to work on some of these things too).


Favorites
Place(s) to be: In my room at my computer; with my friends and family, wherever they are; Japan; Lawrence; in my imaginary world; listening to good music in my car.
Thing(s) to do: Be silly; be creative, alone or with others; roleplay; play video games; listen to music loudly in my car while driving too fast down the highway; read manga while taking a relaxing bath with lots of nice smelling bath oil.
Person(s) to be with: All you guys--you know who you are, cuz you're reading this.


One Thing You Always
Wear: Watch; Underwear--sorry to disappoint; I don't really wear anything else with complete consistency.
Spell wrong: separately
Say wrong: superfluous
Complain about: headaches, not getting enough sleep
Compliment on: cute clothes, shoes or accessories
Wanted and don't have: A gazillion dollars; a laid back personality
Wanted and have: A laptop; great friends; video games
Promise and don't do: Let's not start this one... I've done far too much of this lately. But, the things that definitely come to mind are these: Update fanfiction, Watch what I eat, Exercise regularly, Keep in touch
Promise and do:Hmm... is there anything? I swear I have good intentions. I just take a long time to fulfill promises sometimes. Generally if I say I'll do something I do it; sometimes it just take a while. When I vow loyalty though, it's forever. Just like diamonds.


I made it to the end! Though it took a long time, I have to say this is one of the best questionaires I've filled out, lizalou. Thank you! It had just the right degree of randomness to get me thinking and remembering things I haven't thought of in a long time. Good luck to anyone who takes up the challenge of completing it yourself!

Wha' Happened?

It's been several weeks between posts again. What's my excuse? I don't know really. I've been really busy at work between our open house and all the jobs that came in afterward. It's good to be busy, but time has really flown. Leah-chan's been gone three weeks now, but at least we've heard from her and know she's okay even if she doesn't have internet yet. Damn! I should have used that for my excuse. I should have said I didn't have internet. But then again, we would have all known that was a lie.

I've also felt rather boring lately. Several times I have actually sat down to write an entry and given up because I had nothing interesting to say. I will blame part of my lack of creative blogging on the relocation of my creativity onto numerous projects at work as well as a renewed interest in writing on my Windsword Chronicles story whenever I can work it in. That reminds me that I'm supposed to send Big Bold D and M some of my story to read... oops. I will do it soon. I promise. I hope. I'm tired of promising things and not following through. It makes me feel pathetic and useless.

Let's see...what else...

I've got nothing. See? I told you I'm boring.

Currently listening to: Ed's Tank~Cowboy Bebop Boxed Set Yoko Kanno

Who Says Macs Never Crash?

I think this is a bit of a misconception that macaholics like to spread around. But, just to clear things up, I've dealt with as many crashes on Macintosh computers as I have on PCs. Luckily, this particular crash was not on my personal computer. (i.e., my stuff is safe). But, it still sucks because it was a work computer and a crash is never a good thing.

My coworker and I worked on trying to fix it most of thursday and friday last week, but in the end we decided it was beyond our capabilities. We know quite a bit about the inner workings of a computer, but when you can't even boot up from a CD, the options are limited. Our final conclusion was that not only did the system get corrupted (which likely started with a bad user) but the CD-ROM also failed. The only solution I could come up with was to take the hard drive out of the computer and move it into another computer, reformat, reinstall the OS and then put it back in the computer. But, we're going to hire someone to come take a look at it so we shouldn't have to do all of that ourselves. Whew.

With all of the bad computer karma going on around me lately, I spent Friday night backing up my own computer. And, in the process of backing things up I decided I should also organize my files so I'm not just backing up junk. Organizing makes me think of lizalou, which makes me miss her. She is the queen of organized computers, and I can only aspire to be merely tidy compared to her mastery of organization. But it does feel good to get rid of duplicate and triplicate versions of the same image...I've cleared up almost half a gig already. It sure adds up fast, doesn't it?

The rest of my weekend isn't much to write about. I refuse to comment on the debacle that was the KU vs. K-State game on Saturday. Sunday was a busy shopping day with the parents to find some new living room furniture--it's amazing how exhausting shopping can be.

I'll end this post with a comment I found on a troubleshooting website. "So, what did you do before it broke all by itself?" Nothing, I swear.

Here's hoping no more computers around me crash in the near future. Keep your fingers crossed. And as I was warning my coworker, you have to make sure you cross an odd number of things. If you cross two fingers on each hand they cancel each other out, so you have to make sure to cross your arms or your legs as well. ;)