Grey Shadows

Out of here

2009-12-24T10:13:00.003-06:00

I've moved my blog to Wordpress.com. It was inevitable, really...

If anyone out there still checks (even though it's been a couple years), then good on you for being crazy dedicated, and you might want to change your bookmark to:

http://greyshadows.wordpress.com

No Contest

2008-01-20T13:18:00.000-06:00

Actually, it is a contest...but still... The decision is no contest for me. Nero or Dante? Don't make me laugh. Check out the widget above for more info.

And I have to share that Vergil has arrived at long last and is guarding my office with his cold-hearted stare. He is all of ten inches tall, but intimidating nonetheless (not to mention pretty). Ouch. No need to poke me with your little pointy plastic katana, Vergil. I didn't mean it. Really. You're a very manly miniature plastic man. Ah! Is that blood?

'Tis But a Scratch

2007-10-21T15:14:00.000-05:00

...though it still hurts.

My poor car got a nasty dent in it's front driver's side wheel well. It was not my fault, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating. I was turning right out of a parking lot while the person in front of me was turning left. He headed out into the street without looking too closely and had to stop because there was traffic coming. That would have been fine because I was going by him to the right turn lane except he thought he was too far out in the street and decided to back up--without looking to see if someone was behind him. Crunch.

No one was injured--in fact, he wouldn't have even known he hit me if I hadn't hit my horn to get his attention. Still, now I have to deal with insurance. The most annoying part about it was waiting around for an hour for the cop to arrive and fill out paperwork. What a pain. Even though it's not my fault my insurance will probably go up. Grr...

And now my poor Quetzacoatl has a bad side. There were already two nasty door dings on the driver's side, so I guess this is just one more scar. Oh well. At least it's only superficial and didn't do any serious damage that impairs its ability to drive me where I need to go. The other driver was very nice as well and kept apologizing. I felt kind of bad for him because I know he got ticketed and he seemed like a very nice person who already has a lot of problems in his life--his wife has cancer, etc. Poor guy. Car accidents suck no matter what end you're on.

Thanks to you!

2007-09-30T19:18:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to thank any of you who voted for my fanfiction in the UFO awards. I actually won something. Lookie here! A major award! Even better than a leg lamp.

Disappointment

2007-09-20T12:45:00.000-05:00

My week has been pretty disappointing at nearly every turn--starting with my eye doctor's appointment on Monday. Luckily, it seems to be improving somewhat, though the seminar I had really been looking forward to yesterday turned out to be a major waste of time.

I was supposed to leave the training a Photoshop guru. Instead, I found that--judging by the super useful tips our facilitator was sharing with us--I'm already practically a guru. I know how to use the pen tool and everything. That's right. I can make a COB. Aren't you jealous? Apparently there was more than one person present at the seminar who would have been because they asked the facilitator to go into greater detail about this tool. I mean really...how much is there to learn? And he literally talked us through every step: click, drag, opt+click, drag.

What a drag. On top of that, many of the "techniques" taught in the seminar that weren't simply shameless self promotion on the part of the facilitator verged on offensively cheesey and not the kind of design I would care to pursue. You can call me a snob if you like. It's probably true.

Yes, I now know how to create a fake 3d lamp from scratch and make lightning with five filters or less. Because I'm going to use crap like that every day. And, if I"m "retouching" a photo I run into situations all the time when I feel the need to light the unlit candle in the room or open the wine bottle that the idiot photography failed to notice was still sealed. Even if I did encounter such a circumstance, I think I could probably figure out how to fix it on my own. To his credit, the facilitator was an amazing digital illustrator--if you're into hyper realism--but considering the majority of his audience were either photographers or designers and not illustrators, he could have improved his subject matter.

At least the day wrapped up nicely last night. I met some friends at AMC 29--just sounds weird with one less theater--to watch the Robotech movie on a bigger screen. It was overpriced, but fun and we all had a good time laughing at the cheese and ridiculous dailog. Ah, thank God for Robotech. And Flight of the Conchords. Listening to their goofy music in my car has saved my brain this week.

Devil May Cry 4 Lookalikes

2007-09-15T16:04:00.001-05:00

While I have been whining about this game for some time, some of my frustrations have lessened due to certain improvements in character design. I'm still frustrated that Dante is not the main character, and the trailer video posted on the official website is painful to watch since it mostly involves Nero (the main character who supposedly has nothing to do with Dante despite the fact that he looks an awful lot like him and his name is even part of Vergil's title from the first game) beating the shit out of him. It's rather sad.

At least Dante no longer looks like Bill Pullman as he did in the picture below:

He now looks a lot more like Josh Holloway, which is exactly as things should be:

But while we're talking lookalikes, Nero is looking more an more like Tidus. Though I've seen very little of him in action (other than him ridiculously handing Dante's ass to him) I just know that he's going to be a huge whiner. This is his story after all. Grrr...

Update 1: New Job

2007-07-25T12:37:00.000-05:00

I changed jobs near the beginning of this month. While I hadn't been actively searching for a job, I happened to find a listing for a job that really interested me at UMKC. I had been thinking more and more that I wanted to work in a University setting, and UMKC had been on my list of choices. When I saw the listing I kind of freaked out because I couldn't believe it. From the job description to the benefits and everything else it was exactly what I had been looking for. But the job had been posted for several weeks already. I was afraid I was too late to apply. I got my application and resume together that night and got it in the mail the next day. Whether I had already missed the opportunity or not, I knew wouldn't feel right about it if I didn't at least try.

The next week I got an email from UMKC. They wanted to see some samples of my work. A spark of hope ignited inside me, but I tried not to fan it into a flame. I didn't want to get disappointed. I hate sending samples without being able to explain my work, but I sent them off anyway and crossed my fingers. I got a phone call asking for an interview the next day. I couldn't believe it.

While I was excited about the possibility of a new job, I hadn't gotten it yet and I didn't want to lose my current job. Because of they way my bosses had immediately figured out about the last interview I had gone on a few years ago, I knew that they would be extremely suspicious of any out of the ordinary behavior. I was very careful about not telling my coworkers anything about the job and I found a way to ask for time off without drawing too much attention to it. I spent that weekend getting my portfolio updated, but my current job unwittingly managed to make my life as difficult as possible that weekend. A project that had already caused much strife in my emotional and creative stability several times reared its extraordinarily ugly head again.

It was a project I had never wanted to think about again. A project that had prompted a "pep talk" with my bosses that was anything but and had nearly led me to a mental breakdown (and an emotional breakdown that actually happened). A project that had put me in such a state of extreme stress that I could barely eat and often threw up in the mornings because I was dreading going into work. Ironically, it was a project aimed at university students--the very audience I was wanting to find a job working for. But in the end it wasn't the project itself that had stressed me out. It was my frustration with the fact that no matter how hard I tried to do the best work I absolutely could--it never satisfied my bosses. They would censor my ideas and restrain me at every turn, and yet they had the gall to tell me that I was not being crazy enough and not taking enough risks. Why would I even consider taking a risk with something when it would only result in them forcing me to dumb it down before the client even saw it?

I managed to survive the weekend, working feverishly on my portfolio and leave behinds while trying to work in a photo shoot for that project (on the weekend, mind you, and Father's Day to boot). By the time the interview finally happened, I was simply ready for it to be over. It went really well--but once again, I was unwilling to get my hopes up. I had made it through without losing my current job, so I was satisfied.

The next morning I was on my way to work and got a phone call. I thought it was my mom. It was UMKC calling to ask me to come in for a second interview that morning. I obviously couldn't make it then, but I scheduled the meeting for Friday morning instead. I was elated. I knew it was too soon to assume anything, but I felt encouraged by the fact that I had gone as far as I had if nothing else. After several years of verbal abuse and constant disparagement my self esteem was dangerously low. I had begun to wonder if it would even be possible to find another job.

My interview on Friday was with the Vice Chancellor. It was informal and very relaxed. I was more excited than ever about the job when I heard about the structure of the department and where it was headed. I was so excited I could hardly stand it, but I somehow survived the rest of the day at work.

That afternoon I got a phone call. I got the job. Squeals of ecstatic job erupted in my apartment the moment I hung up the phone. I had done it. I was afraid of delivering my notice at work, but compared to the hell I had been going through it was easy--and sadly predictable... Lies about how insignificant I had been to them. Lies about how they had known for some time I was looking for a new job (which was really a joke considering I had gotten the first job I looked for). Abuse about how I belonged at a University because the work load was so much lighter and I would get six months to do a project. Looking back on that last one really makes me laugh. It's definitely not true--and I knew it even at the time. I felt no regrets. I had given them enough of my time. It was time to move on.

An Attempt to Catch Up

2007-07-25T12:27:00.000-05:00

Has it really only been a month since I posted anything? It feels like a year. And enough has happened since then that I feel like I could have written a years worth of posts about everything as well. I'm going to do my best to catch my blog up with summaries of what happened--for my future reference if for nothing else. To keep things organized, I'll try to make separate posts about each particular crazy event or issue going on in my life recently.

It's an ironic fact that most of the time my life is boring enough that I have to struggle to find things to post about. But when significant things actually do happen to me, I'm usually so busy that I don't have time to post anything at all. That's how it has been for me lately. It actually got to the point where I was wishing my life would be a little less interesting because every day it seemed like I encountered something new or bizarre.

Only within the last few days do I feel like I'm starting to find a routine again and catch my breath. Can you tell I'm an introvert? I get overwhelmed with too much new input and life becomes nothing more than pure survival. While I don't want to be bored, I don't want to live me life in constant flux either. I'm ready to be bored.

A Temporary Change

2007-06-24T15:03:00.000-05:00

My old template is gone...and instead I put up this standard template. What is going on? Well, let's just say that I was ready for a change. More on that later. But at the moment, all I'll say is that I hope to put up something new sometime soon. For now though, at least all the content is still here...

The Sky is Falling Part 2

2007-06-22T17:30:00.000-05:00

Working in this crappy old building at 6th and Walnut is a continual adventure. This morning, I was frantically working on a hot project (what else is new?) when I heard what sounded like rain coming from the other room. The younger pterodactyl--as we've taken to calling her--who works there shrieked, but at least she had a good reason to do so this time, at least. A whooshing sound and the crash of more water sent my coworker and I running into the other room. Water was pouring from the ceiling and cascading down the wall. We quickly rushed to get the computer and valuable equipment out of the way and I was pretty wet by the time we finally got a chance to step back and stare dumbly at the surreal scene.

The whole office was crowded around surveying the mess (made aware of the situation by Miss Calm in a Calamity herself: the elder pterodactyl who had gone running down the hall screaming "All hands on deck" at the top of her lungs). It was bizarre to say the least. Then the maintenance man showed up in the doorway looking harried.

"I cut the water pipe! I just didn't think!" he exclaimed.

No shit.

We then went back to work to the occasional slap and squelch of ceiling tiles collapsing and crumbling on the damp carpeting. At least most of us went back to work. The younger pterodactyl--her workspace destroyed--managed to get off work and go home. Again.

Take the Challenge

2007-02-26T21:40:00.000-06:00

This one's for you, lizalou. Yeah, your quiz was challenging enough for neowolf and I (I retook it with her tonight to try and improve our score), so we decided to create a challenge of our own. So, get prepared to face the fury of...a crazy-ass quiz we just made up.

Create your own Friend Test here

Don't think you will actually know any of the answers just because you know us. This is a true test of logic and a mind-bending cloister of trials. Are you ready? Then get going!

“I Love Technology...

2007-02-25T21:47:00.000-06:00

...but not as much as you, you see, but still I love technology, always and forever...”

I'm finally getting settled into my apartment. I have all the amenities like a microwave that pops popcorn, blazing fast internet, and a shower head that's high enough that it doesn't force me to do squats in order to wash my hair. I even have curtains up in my office now. Yay! It's like I really live here now.

This afternoon my parents came over for a little while and I fixed them dinner (a rather complicated meal for someone who hasn't done a lot of cooking in her life beyond box meals and simple recipes) and it turned out well, even though I couldn't find my measuring spoons anywhere. (I still can't figure out where they went...) It was an accomplishment and made me feel really good (and I'm excited for leftovers for lunch tomorrow).

My parents also brought over my mom's old computer. She recently upgraded to one that wasn't so crappy, but I have fond memories of this old, glitch-prone PC. It was my computer originally and it got me through my first several rough semesters of college, even though I eventually had to buy a Mac so my teachers would actually help me on my projects. Still, this antique running Windows 98 still plays a mad DVD (once I figured out a way around its inability to see a DVD in the correct drive on its own). The ol' compy completes my media center in the living room, allowing me to play DVDs with higher quality than my PS2 (which has issues with subtitles and sound to video syncing). It also allows me to play music through my higher quality surround sound speakers that got relocated from my Mac since I wanted to use them for the TV and all my games and movies.

But most importantly, the old computer plays my old video games--games my laptop refuses to play because they're just too old. Ah, Unreal... The cheesy gore and polygonish graphics. The kick-ass techno music and freakish alien grunts. I have missed you. Truly.

Between these newly rediscovered old favorites and the other revitalized virtual console games on my Wii, I'm resurrecting all kinds of fond memories from my past. Kirby's Dreamland... (I think you bought this for me on the Nintendo, didn't you, Brandi?) So much fun! I can't wait until Super Mario Bros. 3 comes out. It will so be mine all over again. Oh yes, it will.

I am such a techno-geek.

Robotech Lives

2007-02-19T23:10:00.000-06:00

I experienced an incredibly geeky moment this evening with neowolf when we finally watched Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. We've been anticipating it for months, but I wasn't about to let myself get my hopes up too much. I have been disappointed too many times by crappy sequels to beloved shows.

To my great surprise, Robotech: SC exceeded my expectations. They actually listened to what fans wanted and hired people to work on it who were talented but were also fans themselves. They did everything right, including hiring the orginal voice actors to play roles from the original series. And all of this for something that started out as little more than a rip off version of a Japanese anime. Despite all the ways in which anime has been dumbed down and demeaned in this country by its new breed of fans who only enjoy mangled, cheesey dubs and watered down characters, I have pride in the fact that there are still fans who give a damn about the consistency of what they're watching. Robotech is cheesey and dorky, but it started out that way and that's part of what makes it awesome. At least it doesn't pretend to be something it's not. And yet, despite its faults, it has a certain undeniable charm, and always manages to tell an epic story that keeps me hooked to the end.

But when you come down to it, what makes Robotech truly great is the characters. That's why I was so relieved to find all the familiar voice actors popping up througout the movie. They're the ones who really brought those characters to life in the first place, and they were excited to be a part of them again. The only one missing was Cam Clarke (Max or Lancer/YellowDancer), but everyone else played at least one role. And to Mark Hamil--who even admitted that he was actually playing only a guest role in the already complete cast--I can only say that I have your OPF right here, jackass. It really ticks me off when arrogant actors belittle their fans. On the other hand, kudos to Dan Woren who said he wanted to be there when they make a sequel in another twenty years--and actually pleaded that the writers not kill his character this time around. (Poor Roy Fokker...)

Congratulations, Harmony Gold. You've sold your product to me all over again. Even with bad singing and an even worse song. We have won, I think.

Look Up, the Sky is Falling

2007-02-07T19:19:00.000-06:00

Around 2:00 today, our lights in the office flickered and the power surged. Since power outages and failing machinery are not an uncommon occurance in our ancient building, we initially wrote it off as another reason to whine to our landlord. But then we saw the thick, towering plume of black smoke billowing up from a spot in the distance toward the northeast--directly in my line of sight from my workstation. Of course, I spend most of my time watching my computer monitor, so I hadn't noticed the smoke before then.

We watched, mesmerized as flames leapt up through the smoke, high above the buildings in the foreground obscuring our view. The column of smoke rose thousands of feet into the sky before it fanned out, covering downtown in an eerie umbrella, and the flames continued to grow in intensity.

We quickly began searching for news about the fire and finally found out that there had been an explosion at a chemical plant two miles away from us. The chemicals burned like gasoline, fueling the fire to such an extent that the firefighters could only try to keep the fire contained because they had no hope of putting it out. They immediately called in Hazmat teams because of the threat of dangerous chemicals, and area schools, businesses and homes were evacuated. They closed several of the bridges, and we watched through our window as traffic on I-70 became more and more congested.

Then we noticed sporatic chunks of ash falling from the sky and blowing through the streets. I even collected a couple from our parking lot on the way out (wearing gloves, of course). It was very light and spongey and crumbled easily in my fingers. Hope it isn't radioactive.

Luckily, no one was injured in the fire--which is truly amazing considering the impact it has had on the community already. Not to be paranoid or anything, but it does make you realize how many dangers we have around us all the time, how many potential disasters we survive every day--like driving home from work. We tell ourselves we're safe because we couldn't possibly deal with the fact that we are really fragile creatures.

Internet Enabled

2007-02-06T17:45:00.000-06:00

I'm back on the internet, baby. Just thought I'd give a shout out to anyone who's listening before I curl back up and try to let my body fight the virus wreaking havoc in my bloodstream.

One Room at a Time

2007-02-05T12:42:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm moved in! Mostly. Everything is moved, but not necessarily all unpacked. I would have made a post earlier in the weekend, but I don't get internet until tomorrow. So, here's the sumup of what happened and how:

To my surprise, my parents had already made quite a lot of progress on getting stuff moved before I even got off work. They had already taken one load of stuff over and were packing up the second when I called them. I met them at my apartment and we unpacked my bed and a crapload of boxes. Then, back to the house for the dressers and couch. And a crapload of boxes. Did I mention I have a lot of stuff? Well, I was pretty much set up already since I had lived in an apartment in college and all...

Anyway, we got the majority of the big stuff moved on Thursday and I spent the night at my new place. M came over and helped my put together the TV stand (which I managed to almost destroy the next morning when I put the back on backwards...shouldn't work on such things when you're tired. Thank you, dad, for saving the day!). I slept well but woke up early. I was excited to get to work. Mom and I got to work on cleaning out the incredibly nasty cabinets in the kitchen, bathroom and closets. The shelf paper was ancient and had not been put down properly so it was curled up on the edges. I don't even want to think about what kind of grime and bacteria was running rampant through those shelves. Blech. But, we got it cleaned and heavily Lysoled and put down fresh, pretty shelf paper to cover up whatever else might have been left. Neowolf came by to help clean and organize and wash and all that good stuff--even though she was pretty sick. Poor girl. My mom also got sick during the move and ended up with a sinus infection.

Neowolf and I got a lot accomplished on Friday (even got my TV and game systems all set up), and dad built the other shelves I'd purchased for me since I couldn't be trusted. Saturday he brought my desk in pieces and we put it all together again (though I didn't get my computer set up until last night). Slowly, the place started to come together, and I even had Shivaindis and BBD over on Saturday night to enjoy my new TV with some Babylon 5 action.

Sunday was a shopping day. I went back to the house for the first time since Thursday and it was kind of strange. I packed up some other stuff and then mom and I went out grocery shopping so I could get my pantry stocked. Then, we went back to the house and dad went back to the apartment with me to help carry stuff in and we went over to Microcenter to pick up a few things. It was a lot of shopping, but I found some really good deals on things I needed.

All in all, everything went very smoothly. I'm tired, but satisfied, and I LOVE my new place. I can't wait to get it fixed up like I want to and get the last box put away. I'm definitely getting closer...one room at a time...

Official

2007-02-01T11:09:00.000-06:00

I have the keys to my new apartment on my keyring, but as of this moment it is echoingly empty. And it's supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow morning--again. But that's not enough to stop me. I've got everything packed and ready to go, so I'm going to get started anyway, despite the weather.

Is it five o'clock yet? I'm getting antsy.

Real Clients of Genius

2007-01-19T16:36:00.000-06:00

The saga continues... I won't go into detail because I might just become suicidal, but let's just say that I'm already three rounds of revisions farther than I was earlier today. And I've had to redraw the globe twice to make more and more continents fit on one side. I considered finding a picture of what scientists think pangea looked like, but what would be the point, really? And "can you make those crappy fonts we chose bolder so you can read them over the globe?" Well.... Hmm... Considering two of the fonts you chose only have one weight, the answer is no. But why don't I just add a stroke around it or fake bold it? Let's just break every rule in the book. And the best part of this is that it's not even a surprise. What did you expect when you asked me to put 10 point Times New Roman over a detailed map of the world?

Design Misadventures #2

2007-01-19T12:33:00.000-06:00

Two posts in one day. I know, it's aMAZing.

What isn't amazing is how as a Graphic Designer I get treated like a monkey at a computer. They say that everyone is a critic. Apparently, everyone is also a designer. Or so they think...

So, client A hires us to design a logo for them. He has already found the "perfect inspiration" for the his logo on one of his Christmas cards, which he kindly scans and sends to us for reference. We design six logo options, each carefully considered and tested for readability on different backgrounds and color combinations, though we are already restricted by the client's well thought out inspiration.

"None of these designs are what we're looking for exactly," says the client's assistant who knows her boss' mind. "Let's try combining two completely incompatible logos. Oh, and can we also steal the colors from this website we found and liked?" Sure. No problem. (Note: In case you hadn't noticed, her statements have been heavily paraphrased and run through the "I think I know what I'm talking about but I have no idea" filter.)

While we are reworking the designs, the assistant of client A has a "brainstorm." "Why can't we just copy the logo from that website we liked too?" she wonders. We try this, grudgingly. But no, that's not quite right. It looks too original. She literally wants us to copy the logo style, colors, type treatment...everything. What a brainstorm.

We do it though it's obviously not going to look exactly the same. She shows her boss . He scraps everything and has his own brainstorm. What happens next makes my skin crawl. The "revisions" include taking a globe used on one of the logos from the first round, turning the earth so it shows more of Africa, and using the text verbatim that the assistant has created for us in Microsoft Word. The text (which is more of a paragraph than a business name and tagline) is to run OVER the globe. Brilliant. And here's the best part. The assistant, who is apparently well versed in typography, has chosen several truly distinguished and appropriate typefaces: Brush Script MT, Times New Roman and Imprint MT Shadow.

Why am I even here? What is the purpose of my job? Why did I spend all those years in school? I guess I did it so I can be a monkey. Where's my banana?

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

2007-01-19T12:14:00.000-06:00

The winds of change are blowing. I've been hearing them whisper in my ear for quite some time, but recently that whisper has turned into a howl. Unfortunately, the sound was so deafening I couldn't quite make out its meaning (but no, there were no sakura blossoms, so we needn't worry about poor little Subaru). Eventually the message became more clear. I knew I needed a change, but it took awhile for me to figure out which change to pursue first and how.

The conclusion I came to at long last was that I was ready to move out. I've been considering it for a long time, but there were a lot of reasons why a move didn't make logical sense. I debated over whether I wanted to buy a house or rent and apartment, and whether I could actually live alone since roommate opportunities were scarce. Then I got distracted by work and life in generally and time just kept moving while I kept standing still.

But I've been in a rut which has only grown deeper and wider during the last year. It's time for me to make a change. I made an arbitrary decision a long time ago, that if my life had not drastically changed and I still wasn't ready to buy a house, I would still move out when I was 25. Well, I've been 25 for half a year now, but I'm finally ready.

Many of you already know about this situation and how it all played out, but I thought I should make note of it on my blog regardless. And because (yes, I know BBD) I haven't written a post in a long time. But if you're wondering about my absence, this explains part of it at least. There's actually a lot more involved than that, but it's mostly the kind of emotionally exhausting stress and life/career/future decision making that you don't really want to think about too much until you have a little distance between you and the decisions.

Regardless, this decision has been made, and I will be moving into my new apartment on the first of February. Though I will be living alone, I have four friends already living in the apartment complex, so it shouldn't be too lonely.

Wii Waiting

2006-11-19T01:00:00.000-06:00

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

2006-10-23T12:30:00.000-05:00

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

2006-10-09T23:16:00.000-05:00

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

2006-09-20T07:45:00.000-05:00

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

2006-09-14T17:05:00.000-05:00

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

2006-09-14T15:00:00.000-05:00

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

2006-09-08T22:53:00.000-05:00

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

2006-09-06T00:39:00.000-05:00

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

2006-09-04T11:42:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-31T19:12:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-29T14:19:00.000-05:00

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?

2006-08-25T19:03:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-24T19:05:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-24T14:49:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-24T14:08:00.000-05:00

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

2006-07-18T14:32:00.000-05:00

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

2006-07-17T12:49:00.000-05:00

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

2006-07-04T21:25:00.000-05:00

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

2006-06-26T12:33:00.000-05:00

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

2006-06-22T14:42:00.000-05:00

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

2006-06-22T14:24:00.000-05:00

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

2006-06-22T14:07:00.000-05:00

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

2006-06-20T14:57:00.000-05:00

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

2006-06-19T08:41:00.000-05:00

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...?

2006-06-05T14:14:00.000-05:00

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

2006-05-23T09:40:00.000-05:00

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

2006-05-22T14:48:00.000-05:00

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

2006-05-20T16:11:00.000-05:00

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

2006-05-18T11:41:00.000-05:00

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

2006-05-15T12:10:00.000-05:00

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?

2006-05-01T13:37:00.000-05:00

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

2006-04-08T23:30:00.000-05:00

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

2006-04-05T14:40:00.000-05:00

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

2006-04-05T14:33:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-04T00:42:00.000-06:00

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?

2006-02-03T21:03:00.000-06:00

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?

2006-01-16T14:40:00.000-06:00

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. ;)

Tis the season...

2005-12-29T19:13:00.000-06:00

...to be sick. At least that seems to be the way it always is for me. It seems like I've been sick a lot lately, and I can tell you I'm sick of it! Between migraines and the worst bout of stomach flu I've had in at least five years, I've been barely existing for awhile. But now I seem to be back to normal, for a little while at least. Let's keep our fingers crossed. I managed to stay healthy during Christmas at least, and I've managed to avoid the cold going around our office this week.

Christmas was a lot of fun and, though I had a hard time getting into the spirit of things this year, I ended up feeling far from scroogey during the holiday itself. Mom was moved to tears with her presents and Dad and I got to go out for awhile on Christmas day to utilize our new toys: a GPS and digital camera. We had a wonderful Christmas dinner and even went to two masses on Christmas eve. That was good considering I didn't make it to church the weekend before because I was too busy puking my guts out.

I had Monday off from work, so I got together with neowolf and lizalou and we rented Kronk's New Groove. It was hilarious, by the way, and right up there with the first movie, so I highly recommend it. The only part in it that was really iffy was Yzma's strangely out of place song. Otherwise, it was awesome. I need to see it again though to remember the quotes. We also spent some time completely revamping our graphic novel concept. That went really well and we made a lot of progress. I'm excited to get to work on it again.

This week has been a little stressful at work considering the bosses are out of town and things that have been sitting on the shelf for months have a tendancy to come up and rear their heads when the bosses are gone. So, it's been a bit hectic trying to get everything taken care of for the clients. But the week's almost over now and we have monday off...whew. It's been nice though because I went out to eat with my fellow artist earlier in the week and wandered around the River Market. That was a lot of fun and that BBQ sandwich was awesome. Then, today, I went out to eat with the G man and Big Bold D at the Thai place down the street. I've had some good eatin' this week. Especially when you throw in the pizza we ordered for lunch/dinner on monday. I need to be careful or I'm going to start gaining weight again.

Boy, this is a boring post, isn't it? Just my everyday boring life... I'll try to be more exciting next time. :)

Here, I'll leave you with a picture from the chapter of Fruits Basket I just read. It made me weepy and I was surprised by Shigure. I never can nail him down... but I guess that's why he's such a fun character. But I'm still weeping over Kyo... Wah!

Shock Therapy

2005-12-16T14:38:00.000-06:00

It's rare that I talk about American television. I talk about Lost occasionally, but that's about it. Thursday is my TV watching night with my main girls, theCallowQueen and her roomie. We watch Apprentice, and Alias and Lost from the night before. I have choir rehearsals on Wednesday nights so my Lost watching schedule is difficult.

Anyway, it's no secret that Alias has been disappointing me big time over the last season and a half. I have been disgusted with the shallow plot, the half-assed way they tried to "wrap up" the Rambaldi plot which had been my main interest in the show from the beginning and the degradation of the characters into two dimensional mindless zombies. In the case of Nadia, she actually did become a zombie. Nevertheless, I continued watching while Vaughn died unnecessarily (perhaps very necessarily for the heartbroken actor) and Weiss left and Sloan played a regurgitated plot role and Marshall became nothing more than the comic relief. I was sad, but it had become tradition to watch Alias. This season I found myself not minding the new characters too much. I even thought Tom was pretty cool though I realized it was unlikely that we will ever see his backstory. But, for the most part, I've learned to prepare myself for disappointment with the way Alias is now.

Last week's episode was pretty fun with Sark's reappearance. He brought back some of the flavor fo Alias as it used to be. And then there was last night's episode. I thought they were going to pull another one of those, "Oh you thought he was dead, but he's really alive. Ha ha" tricks that they've pulled almost every time someone dies. But instead, they brought Michael Vartan on the show only for an episode that dealt with Sydney's memories of Vaughn and forced her to say goodbye to him. It was touching and sweet and made me remember just how cool the show used to be. The scene in which Sydney "threw her cell phone into the Pacific...twice" I enjoyed especially. I think that psychological stuff like this is one of Alias' strengths (and one of my personal interests) so I enjoyed seeing Sydney take a jaunt through her mind even if it was forced upon her by some evil doctor and even if her lips were so puffy they looked like they were going to eat her face. Vaughn was the old Vaughn I loved before he suddenly--at the beginning of the season--had a prior life, another name and an obsession with Prophet 5. (All I have to say about Prophet 5 is that it better have something to do with Rambaldi, even though that will make it even more of a plot regurgitation.)

So, I was really enjoying the episode--especially the return of the hardball Jack and his interaction with Rene who has a very similar style--and then, in the last thirty seconds, it went from really good to OMGWTF?! Irina Dorevko, spy mommy as she is lovingly called by many an internet Alias fan, showed herself as the one who was holding Sydney captive and ordering the doctor to sift through her memories. It was a complete surprise. There was such a hullabaloo last season about the actress being unwilling to come back on the show, but they finally got her for the last several episodes. Still, I didn't expect her to come back again, at least not without a bit of warning. It was awesome! She is so cool. Even if she is after her own grandbaby.

So, then we watched Apprentice. And I had my second shock of the evening, this time an unpleasant one. I had loved Randal all throughout the show and I was really torn between him and Rebecca at the end. I wanted both of them to be hired, and I really thought the Donald would do it. Then, as the show went on, Randal acted very out of character from what I expected. He was disrespectful to Rebecca and rather cut throat. I was surprised and very disappointed, but I can only think that he was influenced by friends and family during his break from the show to stop being a nice guy and make sure he won at any cost.

Then, the moment of truth came: Randal was the new Apprentice. But then the Donald mentioned hiring Rebecca also, as I had expected. I got excited. I clenched the blanket I was huddled beneath and held my breath. And what did Randal do? He completely lost all of my respect and stabbed Rebecca in the back. She may not be perfect, but few people deserve the abuse everyone put her through. It was disgusting. I'm also peeved at the Donald for just letting Randal decide whether or not to hire Rebecca. I mean, who's the boss here? I really feel no desire to watch the Apprentice again. I'm soured on the whole show.

So, last night was a rather traumatizing night for me with all the shocks. I'm not sure why they affected me so strongly, but it was certainly exhausting. I get way too into my television, don't I? This is one of the reasons why I watch so little TV. The main reason, though, is that most shows on TV right now suck. But every now and then you find a little jewel.

So, how many weeks until we get a new episode of LOST?

Angel Test

2005-12-15T14:14:00.000-06:00

This test from lizalou42's site was far too perfect considering my previous post. I got the same result as she did... Hmmm....

Guardian

Class: Archangel
Alliance: Light

You are a caring soul and somewhat of a people
person. You are very concerned about others and
about the world around you. You like connecting
with people and always want to be of help. As a
guardian your role would be to watch over the
human souls on earth and help them when they
are in trouble.

Your Angelic Name: Raphael

Which Warrior Angel are You and Whose Side are You On? (With Anime Pics)
brought to you by Quizilla

Angelic Inspiration

2005-12-15T14:10:00.000-06:00

I've recently noticed that the subject matter of most of the reading I've been doing lately has dealt with angels and demons and a war between heaven and hell. The scary thing is that I didn't even make the connection when I chose which books to read. Is it something subconscious, I wonder...? Perhaps it has something to do with the number of shojo manga which use this subject...

Whatever the motivation for my reading choices, I recently finished Wish, a short, four book series by CLAMP, my favorite group of collaborative ladies in the manga industry. This is an older series of theirs, made before their style matured into mediocrity. The plot centers around a misfit, airheaded angel named Kohaku and her desire to repay a human's kindness with a wish. As can be expected from the first chapter practically, Kohaku eventually falls in love with this human named Shuichiro and this causes all kind of havoc in heaven and hell. But Kohaku isn't the first one to break the taboo. Her mentor and one of the four Angel Masters has also fallen in love with someone she shouldn't, a demon, and the son of Satan no less. It's a tangled story of forbidden love and before the end of the story, the threat of an all-out war between heaven and hell looms on the horizon. In classic Clamp fashion, hints of shonen ai creep in at various points through the story, and heaven has an incredibly cute bunny for a messenger.

One of my favorites aspects of Wish were the omakes at the end of each book. I wish that CLAMP had time to make omakes for their later series. I adored them in Rg Veda, and they were fun in Wish as well. I would love to see them in Tsubasa and xxxHoLic. But alas, they are too busy for their own good. And too busy to finish X... but that's another story entirely.

Speaking of X, the other angelic series I've been reading lately has a major apocalyptic theme centering on the year 1999. I can't help but make the connection between the two. Angel Sanctuary is one of those series I've looked at countless times in the bookstore and considered buying, but I didn't actually decide to pick it up until the art book came out in English and I couldn't resist the beautiful, tragic artwork. I've seen the OVA twice now, and enjoyed it quite a bit though it's rather confusing. The books are barely less so because the story moves rather quickly and involves quite a bit of mythology--even the manga-ka admits she had to cut out more of the plot than she would have liked due to space constraints. Still, I'm enjoying the story a lot despite Kaori Yuki's strange affection for incestuous love quadrangles. She often talks about how weird her tastes are, but I love her even more for her attitude about it.

The story of Angel Sanctuary is a bit more complicated than Wish, but it also involves forbidden love and taboo among angels. There is also an impending war between heaven and hell as well as intrigue among the angels. Heaven is painted as much less righteous in this story, and many of the angels are more corrupt than the demons. Now that I can finally read through the series in order (I had bought the first book and books 4-6 months ago but held off on buying 2 and 3 because they didn't match in design, but I finally decided to buy them anyway, even though the numbers on the side were reversed out of black boxes instead of white on black), I also have the opportunity to get addicted--which I have done. Thankfully, I already own a number of the books, so I shouldn't be stuck on a cliffhanger for awhile.

I don't know if any of the readers of my blog (if there are any of you still out there) will really enjoy this post, but perhaps there is someone out there who will do a search for one of these series and find my brief reviews of them helpful... Otherwise, it's still kind of nice for me to have a record of what I've read.

New Faces New Places

2005-12-07T14:58:00.000-06:00

So here I am, sitting my desk in our new office finally updating my blog (in between bites of leftover spaghetti). Between the packing and the moving and the unpacking and the drama and the new people and the last minute hot projects... my work life has been insane. Unfortunately, I've been so exhausted by my work life that my personal life has been nearly non-existent the last few weeks. Add to that the stomach flu I had a couple weeks ago and the migraine that wiped me out for the first portion of this week, and I know I have been more than a little antisocial--not by choice, though.

Anyway, I don't really feel like going into all the drama which has accompanied this move of our office, so I'll just say that we're finally settling in and it seems to be working out pretty well. The artists have a great view of the River Market from our room and up until a few minutes ago I was enjoying watching the flurries of snow fly past the windows. Then we decided closing the blinds might keep some of the heat in (our office has heating issues right now) and sacrificed the view for warmth.

We moved our office in with a PR company so we have some new faces in the office. They've all been really friendly and fun to work with so far, so it's a good thing. We're such a small place to start with that it's refreshing to have more people around.

Though I'm about ready to run up to the third floor and tell the woman who has been stomping around up there nonstop the last few days to take her clogs off and walk barefoot. I've never heard a person walk so loudly in an office. Oh boy, now she's dragging things across the floor. We really need a broomstick to pound against the ceiling.

Miscellaneous Addendum

2005-11-21T14:44:00.000-06:00

We are moving our office this week, so there are boxes, boxes, boxes everywhere! And where the hell did I put my pens? Poor Sephiroth will no longer glare at me from the wall and the Endless family portrait with cats will no longer adorn my workspace. I have no cute, tiny stuffed animals to keep me company, and I won't know the date becuase my desk calendar has already been packed. So, I can look at the date on my computer, I know... I'll stop whining now. Unfortunately, the wall scrolls and goofy stuffed animals/toys, etc will likely never return to my workspace. I'll be sharing a room with three other people now, and I don't think they'll probably appreciate my taste. Besides there probably won't be room for such things.

I had a good but busy weekend. I went to a birthday party on Friday and saw the new Harry Potter movie. I approve for the most part, though I'm getting annoyed with how Hogwarts just keeps getting bigger and more luxurious with every movie. The Griffindor common room looks so overdone. I liked how it was before because that was exactly how I imagined it. Now it's like a gaudy hotel suite. I thought all the Triwizard tournament stuff was pretty much how I imagined it. Harry's transformation when he went under water was a little bit much, but other than that, I thought it was fairly accurate. The Quidditch World Cup was awesome as well.

One of my major complaints about the movie though would have to be Dumbledore. He was way too emotional and angry in this movie. The Dumbledore of the early movies (granted, the actor is no longer with us, but the new actor could still act a little more like the original) was very quiet and reserved which is how imagine Dumbledore. Yes, he gets angry at times, but he DOES NOT throw tantrums. Grrr.... And lastly, let's talk about the Weasley hair. Ron's bad hair could be forgiven considering he was such a jerk in that book, but Fred and George have mullets! Cut your hair boys!

Good things: Snape was hilarious, Harry's crush on Cho continuously cracked me up, and the scene in the bathtub with Harry and Moaning Myrtle was great. Cedric was also very well cast. Sigh. It was sad.

Okay, back to my weekend... Saturday I hung out with lizalou, did some shopping, ate some green tea ice cream, talked some story writing and then went to AM's Bonfire. I had a lot of fun, especially watching R get chased around by Bullet and seeing N give four people a piggyback ride at once. That girrrl's strong! Too bad all the smoke has played such havoc with my voice. I still sound like a frog. Oh well, it was worth it...

And Sunday? Not terribly exciting. I did some laundry, formatted my new draft of my story and played some video games. I also watched the first couple episodes of Yakitate Japan! but it really follows the manga in the beginning so I haven't seen anything new just yet.

Well, here are some memes I stoll from lizalou and took like a week ago but didn't post until now. Yeah, I'm Bert... oh well. And I guess if I'm yaoi, it has to be CLAMP yaoi. :) I think they simply influenced me too much.

Bert
You scored 79% Organization, 63% abstract, and 49% extroverted!This test measured 3 variables.
Here is why you are Bert.

You are both very organized. You almost always know where your belongings are and you prefer things neat. You may even enjoy cleaning and find it therapeutic. Bert is a big neat freak and gets quite annoyed when Ernie makes a big mess.

You both are sometimes concrete and sometimes abstract thinkers. Bert is probably a bit more concrete in his bottlecap collecting addiction and his love of the weather. He does show his abstract side when he sings and performs his "Doin' The Pidgeon" song. You have a good balance in your life. You know when to be logical at times, but you also aren't afraid to explore your dreams and desires... within limits of course.

You are both somewhat introverted. Bert is probably more introverted, because he spends most of his time either with Ernie or alone. Still he has no problem being around other people in his role as chairman of "The National Association of 'W' Lovers." Like Bert, you probably like to have some time to yourself, but you do appreciate spending time with your friends, and you aren't scared of social situations.

Link: The Your SESAME STREET Persona Test written by greencowsgomoo on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

You are the Angsty uke! Melancholy and quiet, you seem to be haunted by some bad memories or a dark past. Your greatest fear is loosing everything or everyone you care about, and for
this reason you will shy away from romantic advances.

What type of uke are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

You are the Uber Seme! Agressive and dominant, you will always get what you want no matter who gets hurt in the process. You also have a tendancy to be extremely posessive of your uke.

What type of seme are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Special Powers

2005-11-03T14:16:00.000-06:00

I had an awesome dream last night in which I was a telekinetic. Don't know where that random thought came from, but it was really cool. I wasn't very good at using my powers, unfortunately, but I had just discovered I had them so it makes sense that they were weak. The majority of the dream involved me picking up and moving around various objects with my mind. Then I ran into my friend lizalou and she discovered she was a telekinetic also. We were moving inanimate objects all over the place and showing people and freaking them out. Then we did some research online and found out that there were only 3000 people in the universe who had that power. Don't know really what that means, or why it was the "universe" instead of the "world."

Anyway, it was a really cool dream, and I woke up really believing for a few moments that I could move things with my mind if I just concentrated hard enough. But, sadly, I failed.

Thinking about telekinesis inevitably makes me think of that Babylon 5 episode where Talia's former lover shows up and gives her special powers and she finds at the end of the episode that she can fling a penny at the wall. But then all I can think about is her really disturbing conversation with Sinclair in that episode about telepaths making love. If I were going to share intimate details of my life with someone, it certainly wouldn't be with Bran Flake man.

2005-10-31T14:05:00.000-06:00

Why is it always rainy on Halloween? It's odd just how consistent this correlation is... I pity the poor children forced to walk around in genie or fairy outfits with skin exposed to the cold, wet air. Hopefully the weather will clear up for them. I say that, and yet part of me thinks that I hope it doesn't clear up because it never cleared up for me when I was a little kid and I always had to go trick or treating in the rain. And walk up hill both ways too! Yeah!

Anyway, I had a nice weekend. Had fun at lizalou's b-day/halloween party. Worked on some creative stuff. Finished Ouendan (now it's time for the expert level!). Suffered with my addiction to Death Note. I was also really tired over the weekend even though I got more sleep than I should have needed. I also dreamed a lot, so perhaps that was why the sleep didn't seem terribly effective. I feel pretty good today, luckily. And tonight I will get to see the Mirage of Blaze OAV, the sequel. And boy does it look like some yaoi goodness. Oh, yes. And maybe we'll actually get a little bit of resolution to the storyline too. That would be awesome. Speaking of yaoi, I've already decided that I will absolutely have to find some Death Note doujinshi when I go to Japan again--because I will go to Japan again. It will happen. I just know it.

I found some really amusing pictures of Japanese Death Note cosplayers as well. It totally cracked me up. They're very serious about it in the pictures, and for a second I actually thought it was live action. (lizalou, I'm guessing this is where you got that icon from that you were telling me about).

I'm kind of blah today as far as thinking of creative things to say. Partially because I have this weird kink in my neck that's really annoying. But, anyway, enough whining. I'll make another post when I have more to say, I guess...

Lessons

2005-10-25T18:36:00.000-05:00

I had a dream the other night that I was at a flute lesson. I haven't taken flute lessons since high school, but in my dream it was as if I had only taken a break for the summer and had started flute lessons again along with school—though I did comment in my dream that it felt a lot longer than just a summer. I don't remember a lot of details about my dream, in fact it seemed rather ordinary aside from the fact that it was out of date, but it definitely brought back emotions I hadn't felt in a long time. I love music, and I definitely loved it back then, between participating in choir and band in school and Youth Symphony, Wind Ensemble and Flute Choir outside of school. I took flute lessons and voice lessons and competed as a soloist. Looking back, I wonder how I had the energy for all of that—or the time. Of course, back then I had few friends, so socializing took up little of my time.

Anyway, so in my dream I was sitting at my flute teacher's house and we were talking before we started the lesson. I would always try to prolong this part because I really enjoyed talking with my teacher, but also prolonged it because I often failed to practice as much as I should have. I scraped by most of the time on talent I guess, because I could have been a lot better if I had been more dilligent about practicing. But anyway, there were many times when I felt like my flute teacher was a mentor for me in ways beyond music. Always calm, always thoughtful and supportive, Dr. Johnson was often a therapist for me as well as an instructor. I admired her a lot, and now that I think about it, I would say that she was a bit of a role model for me. I can't say I have become anything like her, but I certainly always respected her and looked up to her. She was so elegant in everything she did. Her handwriting was immaculate, she always paused before she spoke and carefully considered her words (a habit I certainly could use a little help with). She was classy and eloquent, and an excellent teacher as well.

So, enough gushing. The question is: why did I have a dream about her? I think I have an idea. I'm feeling a little lost right now, a little confused on my direction in life. All my life I've worked hard, and reaped the rewards of that effort, but there is only one area academically that I would continuously fail. I excelled in music when I was a big fish in a little pond. I even excelled in slightly bigger ponds. But when the pond got too big, when I was asked to perform at an even higher level, I would always reach a point where I crumbled under the pressure. A point where I began to doubt myself. I knew I could do it, but I would doubt myself at a critical moment and drop the ball. And now, I feel like I'm doing the same thing. I'm at that point in my career. I need to reach that next level, but it feel's like climbing a sheer cliff. I'm trying so hard, but there comes a time when it's not about effort anymore; it's about confidence and believing in yourself and pushing yourself beyond your boundaries and overcoming obstacles.

Fixed

2005-10-21T14:45:00.000-05:00

I think I should have the glitches with my blog fixed. If you are still having viewing problems, please let me know. According to callowqueen I had already fixed the problem for her, though it still showed up when I was testing the page on my PC. Anyway, it looks right on my PC now so I hope it looks right for everyone else as well.

I'm working on updating my website now—a project I've needed to work on for quite some time now... Unfortunately, it's one of those tasks that just gets put off until you get to the point where you look at your design and think, “I could do so much better than that now.’ Then you find yourself wanting to redo it all, but then you'll get distracted before you finish and by the time you get back around to it again you won't like that design either.

So, I'm taking Franklin McMahon's advice and just jumping in, even if it isn't perfect. I can continue adjusting it as I go, but the important thing is to get content up there. Part of the reason I've been holding off on writing more of my fanfic is because I wanted to direct people to my newly redesigned website in the post. I'm pathetic, I know. But maybe I'll actually get that done too if I get the website done. I'm sick of having unfinished projects laying around everywhere. They start to wear on you after awhile.

I'll leave you with a little tidbit I found when I was browsing the internet the other day. The Surrealist has a bunch of random word and name games and I had fun playing around with them. Here are a couple I think you might appreciate.

Infinite Teen Slang Dictionary

yellow dancer
v. to dance with things, with no purpose or reason.
"I can't believe Dad tried to yellow dancer!"

sti fre min
n. slang for a particular chain of fast-food burger restaurants.
"My man, are you coming down to sti fre min's?"

shittah
adj. of a cheap nature.
"Reggie! That's totally shittah!"

good clue
n. a particularly colourful video.
"Homie, where's my good clue?"

shiz
interj. a retort used to warn someone to back away.
"You'd better shiz, Jesse."

clandestine
interj. a statement of strong disagreement.
"Nigel, can I understand your vehicle?" "Clandestine!"

What Weekend?

2005-10-17T10:29:00.000-05:00

Dude, I need a weekend from my weekend. It was mostly fun, but I'm totally wiped out from it... I want to curl up in a ball and go back to bed SO BAD!

I took off early Friday (though not as early as expected) to go to Lawrence with neowolf for Late Night in the Phog (who knew 6:30 was "late night). We ate a wonderful, very filling linner--or dunch, whichever you prefer to call lunch/dinner--at El Mezcal. Then we headed over to Allen Fieldhouse to wait in line. It was a beautiful day for sitting outside, so we didn't mind. Our seats weren't as awesome as the seats we got a couple years ago, but we did get programs though I had to steal one of them back sneakily when one of the people around us tried to steal it (Just because I picked up the M&M's package that I was using as a paperweight for one second doesn't mean I forfeit my right to the program. This isn't capture the flag! You can't claim the base just because I want an M&M!). So, anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, so there are a lot of new players and I'm totally confused because half of them picked the same numbers as people who had just graduated--or left for, ahem, other reasons. It's going to take me awhile to forget that Simien was 23 and Giddens was 15. Gah!

There is also an incredibly cute redhead who is actually from Overland Park on the team this year. Neowolf and I were acting all goofy about him, but then I noticed that he's a redshirted Freshman and I wanted to cry! No redhead cutie on TV basketball games for us! Oh well. Some of the newbies look pretty kickass already talent-wise, though--Mario Chalmers and Micah Downs in particular. The fieldhouse has gotten a major facelift as well. The new scoreboard is pretty cool, though I have to admit I miss the cheesy Rock Chalk animations from the old scoreboard. The videos they played were pretty amusing at points as well, especially when things got shiny. It's difficult to describe, but I can only conclude that though the video was from games in the past, the video itself must be from the future. ;)

So, after Late Night, we made our way back to the car, and then back to KC. We stopped off at my house to pick up some things and then headed for neowolf's new place to meet up with lizalou. We ran to Quiktrip for some beverageonies (ie cappuccino) and then giggled, played some Osa! Tatakae! Ouendan! and Nintendogs on the DS (enough to make me obsessed) and then we watched some Heat Guy J. Funny name for a really good show. It's such a pretty show and I was so tired when we watched it that I thought I might have hallucinated it. The fact that all the characters look like Escaflowne characters didn't help...

We stayed up till 4am or so, slept until 10:30 and then picked up some lunch. Saturday is pretty much a blur because I was so tired, but there was more Heat Guy watching, giddiness about Death Note between lizalou and I and then at some point I made my way home and went to bed--but only after taking a nice long bath. Baths feel so good when you haven't gotten enough sleep, or showered all day.

Sunday, I played my flute at mass, sang with the choir, ran some errands around town, helped my parents on getting the house ready for the carpeting and linoleum people and painted a room. Then this morning I had a 7:30 am doctor appointment, so I had to force myself out of bed, eat breakfast in the living room (yes, our refrigerator is in the living room, as is our dining table and stove. It's so weird!) and head in the opposite direction from work for my appointment. I still ended up getting to work really early so I made this post.

And here we are. Is it naptime yet?

tests

2005-10-11T15:29:00.000-05:00

A few tests I borrowed from lizalou. I'm too tired at the moment to be very philosophical about them.

Your Blog Should Be Green

Your blog is smart and thoughtful - not a lot of fluff.
You enjoy a good discussion, especially if it involves picking apart ideas.
However, you tend to get easily annoyed by any thoughtless comments in your blog.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

You Are Internal - Realist - Powerful

You feel your life is controlled internally.
If you want something, you make it happen.
You don't wait around for things to go your way.
You value your independence and don't like others to have control.

You are a realist when it comes to luck.
You don't attribute everything to luck, but you do know some things are random.
You don't beat yourself up when bad things happen to you...
But you do your best to try to make your own luck.

When it comes to who's in charge, it's you.
Life is a kingdom, and you're the grand ruler.
You don't care much about what others think.
But they better care what you think!

The Three Dimension Luck and Power Test

You Are a Henna Gaijin!

You're not Japanese, but you wish you were!
You can use chopsticks with your eyes closed, and you've memorized hundreds of Kanji.
You even answer your phone "moshi moshi."
While the number of anime videos you've seen is way higher than the number of dates you've been on, there's hope.
Play the sexy, mysterous gaijin, and you'll have plenty of Japanese meat.

What's Your Japanese Subculture?

Your Hair Should Be Purple

Intense, thoughtful, and unconventional.
You're always philosophizing and inspiring others with your insights.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

Technical Difficulties

2005-10-07T14:59:00.000-05:00

Thought I would mention to Internet Exploder users for the PC:

I am now aware that you are having viewing issues with my blog, namely that the post start several pages down. I'm working on fixing the problem. That's what I get for not double-checking and testing my own stuff as much as I do my work stuff.

4 8 15 16 23 42

2005-10-07T14:38:00.000-05:00

I suppose it's about time I browsed some forums and did some brainstorming about all the mysteries of LOST. I think I held off so long partially because I didn't want to spoil myself and partially because I wanted to develop my own theories without influences. Then I decided I was stupid and lazy and far too obsessed with far too many things to actually spend enough time studying and reawatching LOST to find all the clues. Why go to all that effort when thousands of other nerdy fans have already done that work for me?

So, anyway, I came across some interesting bits of info and theories amongst all the driftwood. Everyone and their dog has a theory about the numbers though I've yet to see anyone point out that the last number is the answer to the life, the universe and everything. The introduction of the Dharma initiative in the most recent episode also raises a number of interesting theories. Combined with the strange quote from Jin at the end of the preview that apparently was actually a clip from some interview with the actor, and the fact that the man in the orientation video was Asian, some have theorized that Jin does speak English and was sent to this island by Sun's father who owns the whole Dharma initiative project. I think that's a little farfetched, but it's funny how people get all bent out of shape over previews. There's also some crazy theory about a book some one made up with a theory about the numbers and genetic mirroring or something... If it sounds too good to be true that's because it is.

Anyway, I thought these websites were rather interesting:

Oceanic Airlines
Hanso Foundation

This is also rather funny. If you go to the official website here and click on the barcode at the bottom and type in "theislandiswaiting" you get a pretty amusing bit of "discarded" script.
Lost Website

Also, I've found some discussion about the number 108 (the sum of the numbers in the sequence), including some that echoes my own thinking. I've included a couple of quotes on the subject:

"The number 108 is highly auspicious in the Buddhist religion. Buddhist mallas ("rosaries") have 108 beads; it is a custom among Japanese Buddhists to ring a large bell 108 times at the beginning of each year for new year's luck; and among some sects of Buddhism, there are said to be 108 human beings who could have achieved nirvana or buddhahood, but have chosen to reincarnate on Earth to serve suffering humanity."

"We encounter the figure 108 frequently in Buddhism, now once as the number of large Bodhisattvas, then as the number of mental disorders against which boeddha offered Dharma-doors, which means treatments."

"could this be the relation between 108 and sick. And could it be that Dharma doors 4-8-15-16-23-42 are the "doors" to be used (is there a door for every mental disorder)????"

"did they open the hatch on the 40th day? maybe they will open one on the 80th 150th 160th 230th and 420th day..."

I also hadn't noticed that the shark which attacks Michael and Sawyer has the Dharma symbol on it... That makes me think that it and the other examples of a "security system" do have something to do with the Dharma Initiative after all.

Well, enough theorizing for now...

Landmarks Are Made to Be Destroyed

2005-10-04T14:23:00.000-05:00

It's an interesting quirk of the human psyche that as much as we enjoy seeing monuments built as a landmark for generations to come, we also enjoy imagining what it would be like to see those monuments destroyed, to watch them all come tumbling down. Perhaps I should have said it was a sick, twisted quirk. But it is true nonetheless. All you have to do is watch an action movie.

Destruction is interesting to watch. This has something to do with its speed, and something to do with the fact that we rarely get to see such events personally. Creation usually takes a long time; it requires vision and dedication to see it through to its end, and though its interesting to see it happen in a time lapse or historically recounted way, it is often too slow to keep our interest. Destruction generally happens very quickly. For all the time and effort it takes to build something from scratch, it can be destroyed in a matter of seconds with disgustingly little effort.

I suppose I've been thinking about this lately because I've been watching too much Full Metal Panic, and it's made me realize that Tokyo Tower is no longer the favorite landmark for destruction in anime. Odaiba, a man made island in Tokyo Bay, is one of the newest targets for fantasy destruction. I freaked when I saw a mecha fight taking place at Tokyo Big Sight, the location where we attended the Tokyo Anime Fair. Though I have yet to see it be destroyed, the enormous ferris wheel on Odaiba has also made an appearance in just about every anime I've seen lately. Too bad I didn't get a chance to ride on it while I was there. (I have a feeling it will be the next landmark to be destroyed by mecha or some kind of apocalyptic circumstance. I'm sure Clamp would be tempted to destroy it if they ever managed to finish X.

Though I don't really enjoy seeing landmarks destroyed I do like seeing places I've visited in animation. Even if it's only for a moment before they're turned into dust.

Randomness

2005-09-27T00:30:00.000-05:00

So, I've been meaning to do this for awhile, but I don't get the chance over lunch (which is when I often make posts) since my music is all at home. That just means that I'm behind the times, as usual... I don't have a good playlist to use for this either, so I'll just have to take my chances with the entire Library, and we know how iTunes gets stuck in a pattern sometimes. Here we go...

What's On My Playlist:

The rules are simple: just put your player on Shuffle, load your usual music playlist, and let the questions be answered! MUSIC 8 BALL!

What do you think of me, iTunes?:
"Old School Game" ~Cowboy Bebop
This is a very video game-ish sounding song from the CB movie. I'm going to get really profound here and interpret this to mean that maybe iTunes thinks of me and the world outside the computer as a game under its control, while those of us outside the computer think we're the ones in control. A bit of a stretch, I know...

Will I have a happy life?:
"Heartbreaker" ~Pat Benatar
Wow. That doesn't sound good. I think iTunes was just messing with me on that one...I hope.

What do my friends really think of me?:
"Ocarina Boogie" ~from Zelda, remixed by The Black Lodge
So, my friends think I'm an upbeat, boogie-down sort of girl who likes to play music. I guess they must think I'm somewhat creative too since this remix doesn't actually sound like a sound from Zelda though it feels like it could be because of the instrumentation. I'm thinking about these way too much... Maybe they just think I should end up with someone like Link.

What does my S/O thinks of me?:
"The Spy" ~Final Fantasy VIII, Nobuo Uematsu
This is one of my favorite songs from Final Fantasy VIII. It's got that porno guitar going on that cracks me up, and...wait a minute. Porno? No, no, no, let's just say that my significant other (who is only imaginary at the moment) thinks I'm a little sneaky but fun. That doesn't sound too good either. Oh well.

Do people secretly lust after me?:
"FFX Ending Theme" ~Final Fantasy X, Nobuo Uematsu
Man, Nobuo really likes predicting my love life. Anyway, I'm going to go out on a limb with this one and say that since I was secretly (well, not so secretly, I suppose) lusting after Auron during this whole game and he played a major part in the action taking place during this song, that people might be lusting after me too. Unfortunately, they'll only find out that I'm dead, and have been dead the entire time they were lusting after me and now I'm going to become a firefly in the Farplane. Makes sense, right?

How can I make myself happy?:
"Silence and Motion" ~Final Fantasy VIII, Nobuo Uematsu
What's with all the Final Fantasy songs? They're not all I have on my compy, you know? Well, this has to be one of the trippiest songs I've ever heard, so I guess iTunes is telling me to take drugs. Thanks, iTunes.

What should I do with my life?:
"Fog Sea" ~Final Fantasy X, Nobuo Uematsu
I swear, if one more FF song comes up...!!! Anyway, this one is obviously not a lot of help. The equivalent of the Magic 8 Ball telling me things are unclear. Yeah, so my future's foggy. At least it's not definitely awful, I guess.

Why must life be so full of pain?:
"Lost Fragments" ~Chrono Cross, Yasunori Mitsuda
At least it's not FF... This is a very pretty, very sad song. I can't place it exactly in the game, but it is the guitar and cello version of the main theme. I guess life sucks because time is all screwed up.

How can I maximize my pleasure during shecks?:
"Anything but Love" ~Squirrel Nut Zippers
I think this one pretty much speaks for itself. Wow.

Will I ever have children?:
"Beautiful Alone" ~Weiß Kreuz, Yuuki Hiro
I guess not. This is the music box version too. Wah! So angsty!

Will I die happy?:
"Robo's Theme" ~Chrono Trigger, Yasunori Mitsuda
This is an upbeat theme about a robot who was created to serve humans. He ends up sacrificing himself for the future of the world in the sequel, so I guess that's a good way to go.

Can you give me some advice?:
"Crazy on You ~Heart
I've kept this song partially because I love the way it starts out with the guitar solo, but I suppose if this song's telling me something, it's that the world is insane, so there's nothing to do but find someone and make wild, crazy love to them. iTunes is naughty.

What do you think happiness is?:
"Learn to Do It--Reprise" ~Anastasia, David Newman
So, life is romance. Huh.

Okay, one more of these little test things... I thought it looked kind of cute. I'm not sure I'm being completely accurate on my favorite things, but my brain is having a hard time with thinking in general today.

Alias Found

1. YOUR PORN STAR NAME: (Name of first pet / Street you grew up on):
Rumour Quincy (That's not half bad)

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (Name of your favourite snack food / Grandfather's first name):
Brussels Clem (I guess I'm a cowboy)

3. YOUR FASHION DESIGNER NAME: (First word you see on your left / Favourite restaurant)
Epson Panera (I don't know that Panera's is my favorite, but it sounds good here)

4. EXOTIC FOREIGNER ALIAS: (Favourite Spice / Last Foreign Vacation Spot):
Cardamom Nippon (thought nippon sounded better than Japan)

5. SOCIALITE ALIAS: (Silliest Childhood Nickname / Town Where You First Partied):
Al Lawrence (how boring...)

6. "FLY BOY" ALIAS (a la J. Lo): (First Initial / First Two or Three Letters of your Last Name):
A. Her. (Yes, I am a her)

7. ICON ALIAS: (Something Sweet Within Sight / Any Liquid in Your Kitchen):
Kudos Frappuccino (You know I had to work my favorite coffee drink in there somehow)

8. DETECTIVE ALIAS: (Favourite Baby Animal / Where You Went to High School):
Kitten Miege (The kitten part kind of throws me off)

9. BARFLY ALIAS: (Last Snack Food You Ate / Your Favourite Alcoholic Drink):
Cookie Hard Lemonade (That one so doesn't work)

10. SOAP OPERA ALIAS: (Middle Name / Street Where You Live):
Rochelle Monrovia (Hmm... not bad)

11. ROCK STAR ALIAS: (Favourite Candy / Last Name Of Favourite Musician):
Dove Kusano (I have a hard time picking my favorite candy, so I picked one that sounded good. I also have a hard time picking my favorite musician, so I picked the one who sings the song I've been listening to non-stop lately.)

One more thing

2005-09-22T18:37:00.000-05:00

Oh yeah, forgot to point out my little favicon that I made for this page. (That would be the little icon next to the html address for those of you who've never heard of it) Cool, huh? I've been wanting to make one for quite some time, but was under the impression you had to buy some icon making program or something. But then I found this tutorial on a website linked to Franklin McMahon's and it told me everything I needed to know.

Favicon tutorial

Motivation, Inspiration, Creation

2005-09-22T18:30:00.000-05:00

So, we all know that I often get involved in way too many projects at once. I push myself and try to get motivated and accomplish things, but the projects I create for myself have such a wide scope that I tend to get discouraged and frustrated with my lack of progress. Then I get lazy and burned out and don't work on them for awhile. Then I feel guilty about not getting anything done and try to force myself to work on them and end up making something I'm not satisfied with.

Well, I know I have issues, but apparently I'm not the only one with them. This is of course something I knew already, but it's always good to hear it again. It's also good to hear someone else's perspective on such things as well as input on how to make them happen.

Recently, I've started listening to Franklin McMahon's podcast, and I have to say it's making a difference already in my mood, my motivation and my confidence. So many of the things he is talking about are things I've been thinking about myself. It's almost eerie. But knowing I'm on the right track by hearing someone successful talking about them really helps my confidence.

You can find his website here. You can also find it in iTunes under podcasts.

Check it out. I don't think you'll regret it.

Through his website I also found out about a self-publishing website: www.lulu.com. It sounds totally awesome, and if—no, when—I finally get my story finished, I'll have to look into lulu as an option.

Well, that's it for today. I'm busy stuffing files and organizing things on our server.

Catch Up

2005-09-21T14:22:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I've made a post. I think that is mostly due to the fact that I've been feeling incredibly blah lately for a number of reasons, but I didn't feel like writing about it because it 1) makes me feel even more blah thinking about it enough to write about it, and 2) it isn't fun to read about and just seems whiny and self-absorbed. So, those of you who are in frequent contact with me have already heard about my blahs, and if you haven't you probably don't need to hear about them anyway.

That said, let's talk about what I have been doing lately. I haven't been accomplishing much—at least, not as much as I would like—but I have been watching some new things.

I've been watching season three of Nikita after it was donated to the yellowdancer21 library by the Callow Queen, and I had no idea that the third season was the season of abrupt hair changes. I knew that the hair styles would change... I've seen random episodes from later seasons. But I didn't realize they changed all at once. Now Madeline has very short hair, Michael has short hair that they obviously don't know what to do with because it looks all bushy and 80's at the beginning (kind of like how Duncan's looked in the last season of Highlander), and Operations has gone white (which I think actually looks rather distinguished). I don't mind the changes so much, but they were still a bit of shock. I'm still a little iffy on whether Madeline's hair completely changed her character or not, though.

Now that I'm addicted to Gilmore Girls I've been watching the new episodes of that, and I want to slap Rory upside the head SO bad. And this week is the beginning of a new season of LOST! Let's hope it keeps up the momentum it had from last season and doesn't disappoint like Alias has lately.

As far as anime goes, I'm still watching Bleach (I'm a few episodes behind, but only a couple and once they've finished downloading I'll be all caught up); I've been watching Scrapped Princess and Shannon kicks major ass (he also likes to kick walls when he's frustrated); I've watched the first two DVD's of Mirage of Blaze and I'm excited to find that it has an interesting plot and not just shonen ai goodness (though it creeps me out how much the characters look like characters from X at times). Oh, and I watched Shamanic Princess a while back and that was really good too—trippy, but good. Last, but not least, I've also become addicted to Honey and Clover.

This anime is right up my alley. It's character driven, which means not a lot happens plot-wise, but I don't mind. I enjoy slice of life stories that focus on the character's emotions, thoughts and motivations. Let's face it; real life can be very hard sometimes— even without aliens, epic battles or super spies getting involved. I also really enjoy this anime because it focuses on art students who are all supposedly college age (though Hagu still looks like she's no older than ten) trying to figure out their direction in life, where they fit in with the people around them and who they love. So, it's totally shojo in that respect with lots of love triangles, squares and pentagons. But at the same time there's this element of nostalgia that makes me wistful about my own days in college—that feeling that you need to enjoy every single moment because it won't last forever and everyone will change in different ways once they graduate. I can completely empathise with Takemoto and his fear of the changes accompanying graduation and losing that feeling of belonging with his circle of friends. The art style of the series is nostalgic in and of itself, with faded colors and softened lines. It makes me so wistful it hurts at times...

But I would be remiss if I didn't mention the other aspect of Honey and Clover that I love: its sense of humor. This anime touches on some of the things I loved so much about Fruits Basket. It can make me cry and roll on the floor laughing in the same episode. Morita is insane. But SO much fun. And somehow, despite his carefree, oblivious demeanor, he deeply cares about the people around him, and somehow he manages to be a guardian angel for each of them at some point. I also enjoy Shuu-chan Sensei for his extreme protectiveness of Hagu (not to mention the fact that his voice actor also played Hughes in Full Metal Alchemist—he's good at the overprotective father role).

I also have to admit I find it extremely cool to see the characters visiting places I have seen or been to on my brief visit to Japan. Ueno park for Sakura viewing (I only wish Morita had shown up to sing for us when we were there), Odaiba with the huge ferris wheel...

Okay, so I'll stop going on about Honey & Clover but only so I can mention the pinnacle of my recent watching experience: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. It makes me weepy just thinking about it. It was everything I hoped for and more. I'm glad I didn't spoil myself too much for it, because it was nice watching it without really knowing what was going to happen. They really stayed true to the game, in my opinion, and it felt like they really did fans homage—they made it for us, not just to wring more money out of an old game—from the fanfare cell phone ring, to Barret saying "You're late, bitch," to the fight against Bahamut which was almost turn based like a fight in the game. And let's not forget Cloud's limit break, and the fact that he was actually unable to stand up straight because he was injured—I knew he was low on HP then. :) Reno and Rude were awesome too—who knew Reno could translate Tifa?—and I enjoyed the comic relief they provided. Even Rufus was cool, I have to say—and not just because he was played by the same voice actor who played Roy in FullMetal Alchemist. I still would love to see an omake with Rufus throwing back the hood of his cloak and revealing himself as Roy, though. That would be awesome.

The fight scenes were incredible, and the music was so awesome that I've already preordered the soundtrack. I think Square made a mistake by not releasing the movie here at the same time in Japan because I'm worried some people who watched the fansubbed version won't buy it. I can't imagine being so stupid, but I'm sure some people will be. It will be mine.

(sorry about including an angsty Cloud pic, but he was so angsty in the movie it's hard to find one where he isn't angsting)

So I did it...

2005-08-25T09:38:00.000-05:00

I took the test on Lizalou's blog because I was bored, and now I'm posting it here for everyone's enjoyment or not enjoyment as the case may be. I don't understand how I ended up with the title of Nerd when my highest score is in Geekdom... Oh well. And here I've been calling myself a dork all this time.

Here are my results:

Modern, Cool Nerd

60 % Nerd, 73% Geek, 43% Dork
For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

You scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning you the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd.

Nerds didn't use to be cool, but in the 90's that all changed. It used to be that, if you were a computer expert, you had to wear plaid or a pocket protector or suspenders or something that announced to the world that you couldn't quite fit in. Not anymore. Now, the intelligent and geeky have eeked out for themselves a modicrum of respect at the very least, and "geek is chic." The Modern, Cool Nerd is intelligent, knowledgable and always the person to call in a crisis (needing computer advice/an arcane bit of trivia knowledge). They are the one you want as your lifeline in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (or the one up there, winning the million bucks)!

Congratulations!

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on OkCupid Free Online Dating

New Look. Same Quality Product.

2005-08-11T22:22:00.000-05:00

So I finally got around to making a new template for my blog. I'm still working out the kinks, but I was just too excited to wait any longer. After many months of attempting to learn CSS and continually banging my head against the wall and whining, "I don't get it! Can't I just make a table?" I have finally learned enough to make a mostly funcitonal template.

I haven't tested it in all the browsers yet, but I'm kinda tired now... So, I guess the testing will come with time. Just think of it as a beta.

Also, I realize the links up there aren't really functional yet. DON'T click on them until I tell you to! Cuz all you're gonna get is a broken link, and nobody likes to hear Link scream. Like when he falls down into one o' them pits and screams bloody murder. Kills me every time... Poor Link.

Anyway, eventually, when I finally apply my new CSS look to the rest of my website (and actually update it too) those links will work and, hopefully this blog will fit seamlessly within the rest of my website at that point. Ah, just thinking about it makes me gushy. I'm so weird.

I'm interested in any feedback you may have.

I-70 Blues

2005-08-08T14:23:00.000-05:00

I went to visit my cousin in Columbia this weekend. I had a great time with her and her husband. We went shopping, ate good food and watched some Nikita and Highlander.

The only downer was the trip home. What should have been about a 2 1/2 hour trip took FIVE HOURS. There was a car accident. I'm still trying to find information on it and exactly what happened, but from what I--and the new friends I made on the road--pieced together four cars were involved and one of them blew up. We were stuck on the same stretch of highway (without moving more than half a mile) for 3 hours. A highway that usually feels like a racetrack had turned into a parking lot.

It was a surreal experience. I had seen the plumes of thick black smoke from a distance, but didn't even think about the possibility of them being the result of a car wreck. I started to wonder when I saw the helicopter and we started slowing down. Within minutes, the highway was packed with vehicles of all sizes and shapes for miles, but we all somehow managed to maneuver ourselves out of the way for the emergency vehicles to get past half an hour later. After an hour or two of moving no more than two feet, everyone had turned their vehicles off and many people were standing outside just to get some breeze. I made friends with the ladies in the car in front of me. They were kind enough to give me a bottle of water which really saved me because I hadn't brought anything to drink at all.

While it was frustrating being stuck on a stretch of highway without a way out (the next exit was on the other side of the wreck) it was also sobering to think about the reason we were stuck there. Several people's lives were probably changed forever--or even over. Our lives would only be inconvenience for a little while.

When we finally got to moving again, and passed the place where it had happened, workers were still struggling to put out the fire that had spread onto the grass beyond the highway. The remains of two of the vehicles were piled up on trucks parked on the shoulder--they were beyond totalled. One looked a little like the car from Planes Train and Automobiles except that the engine section was nothing but ashes. The other car was missing wheels and crunched together into an unrecognizable mess.

As awful and chilling as this sight was to me, apparently not everyone was as deeply affected. Within minutes many cars were driving at the same breakneck speed ten or twenty miles over the speedlimit, and dodging in between vehicles with only feet to spare between them.

By the time I got home I was physically and mentally exhausted. My left arm was sunburnt and I had a headache the size of Africa. But at least I was still alive and relatively healthy. If I had left a little bit sooner I might have been involved in that accident.

Dream Again

2005-08-02T14:59:00.000-05:00

So, I had another weird dream last night, and I'm sure you peoples don't really care all that much, but I find them interesting, and I've never actually kept a dream journal so I thought I would record some of them here.

Anyway, so I don't remember a lot about my dream except for a couple random fragments. One of them involved my dad and I going to see a movie (don't know what it was) and there was this little girl there (who looked a lot the girl from Yotsuba&! which I just purchased last night) and she instantly made friends with me as we walked in and didn't want to let go of my arm. When we got up to buy our tickets, dad offered to buy all of our tickets (I totally can't see him doing that--though sometimes I suppose he can be really generous) and the girl wanted a row behind the one we chose. Yeah, you had to choose your seat like they do in movie theaters in Japan. Well, we couldn't figure out which way the numbers went so I asked the lady at the counter. She was really snotty and informed me that I could easily figure it out. "You just use the rule of unique distances," she said. "It's like driving to Colorado. Or New Orleans. You have to use unique distance equations to figure out distances of that magnitude, so all you have to do is use an equation to find out which distance is larger!" I did not act like she had said something completely unintelligible. Instead, I screamed, "Well, then I'd need to know the size of the theater, wouldn't I? I can't do an equation without any of the variables!"

Don't know where all that came from. The only other part of my dream I remember is near the end. My mom and I were up in the attic of a house that looked nothing like our house, but in the dream it was. Anyway, we were busy closing all of these tiny crystal windows because a storm was coming and we didn't want the rain to come in. There were hundreds of these windows and they were all about 3 inches square and cut with a bevel like a mirror (why they were called crystal windows). We were hurriedly turning the little cranks on the windows to get them closed when a huge Michelin truck pulled up (don't ask me) and raised up a platform so this guy on the platform could inform us we won their competition. Then suddenly all of our family members and a whole bunch of cameramen and reporters came in to photograph all of us and congratulate us on our award.

What the hell? I didn't even drink or eat anything odd last night. Anyway, thinking back on it just cracks me up though.

Orange Juice, Anyone?

2005-07-27T19:10:00.000-05:00

I forgot to mention the crazy dream I had last night. It was long, and most of it was fairly uninteresting. The part I wanted to share was near the end when I changed from myself to Winry from Full Metal Alchemist. Don't know why that happened, but at one point I was no longer myself, but Winry. Anyway, I/Winry was looking for Ed for some reason (but really, when is she in the show and not looking for Ed?) and I ended up in an indoor jungle (don't ask me, I don't know either) and I saw Riza and Roy and some General guy sitting under a palm tree. Roy and the General were sitting at a table and there was a fruit juicer on the table between them. (I know that this showed up simply because I had been using a juicer instruction manual for reference on a project I worked on the day before). So, all the anime characters were in 3-d, but they still looked exactly like anime characters--same proportions, etc. Did you know that anime characters are extremely freaky when they're not flat? I seriously couldn't even look at Roy very long because he totally freaked me out. But I just found it really amusing that the whole time he was talking to me and sucking up to the general, he was sitting there juicing an orange. This was the fancy model of juicer that has a pulp adjuster on it too, so I'm sure Sheridan would have been pleased. He could set the pulp adjuster to hella lotta pulp. That would have made his day.

Yeah...random.

What's Outside my Window

2005-07-27T14:56:00.000-05:00

Please forgive me for not knowing how to use this camera (it's the one from work) and not knowing how to make it focus manually. But I just had to share this. I've never seen such a big praying mantis so up close and personal. Scale is difficult to discern from this photo, but it was a little bigger than my hand. Thank God it's on the other side of the window from me. It gives me the jibblies...

I think I'm turning Brittish. I really think so.

2005-07-27T13:41:00.000-05:00

I have been reading a lot of books by Brits lately between all the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books and Harry Potter. Add to that the fact that I've been watching Monty Python's Flying Circus and I think I'm a bit of a lost cause... I'm starting to use Brittish slang (at least in my head) and I'm having a hard time resisting speaking with an accent. Brings me back to the days of pit band (yes, pit band, not orchestra--I went to a rather small high school) and My Fair Lady. "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain." I was constantly tempted to speak with an accent during that time as well.

So, anyway, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is one of the best Harry Potter books so far. Can't decide if I like it better than the third one or not. It had everything I'd wanted, some I didn't want, but predicted, and extra surprises to boot. I laughed, I cried, I cursed. And I read it in like two days. Yeah... It's over....wah!!! I want the next one now!!! And from what I've heard, she's already written it too. I won't go into spoilers since I promised this post would be spoiler free, but it is tempting... Okay, I'll spoil one itsy bitsy tiny thing. U-No-Poo. I won't explain. You can just imagine what the hell that's about. The only thing I'll say was that I totally cracked up when it was mentioned.

On a complete sidenote, I have to admit I've gotten addicted to Neopets. It's silly and childish and an awful lot of fun. I have a green Ixi named Stifremin (Jalapanous for "it's fresh and minty) and he is delighted at the moment because I've spoiled him and played with him a lot. He's also full because I just fed him an orange bat cookie for breakfast. Yummy. I'm kinda pissed though because I didn't realize you were stuck with your neohome where it is after you'd signed up for your account and I totally didn't pay any attention to it because I thought it was changeable. So, I've got a neohome in the most boring place of all--not where I wanted to be. Oh well... They say that someday they plan to offer the option of changing your neohome.

Yeah, so I'm easily addicted. Don't look at me like that...

Maybe my pet should be Brittish?

This time I mean it

2005-07-26T12:05:00.000-05:00

Discovery has reached orbit. Good luck, and come home safely.

Stay tuned for my spoiler-free commentary on Harry Potter in my next post...

Just kidding

2005-07-13T14:39:00.000-05:00

So, the launch of Discovery has been called off for today because of a sensor not functioning properly. No go for launch. Better luck next time.

Return to Flight

2005-07-13T12:44:00.000-05:00

The space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch at 3:51 p.m. EDT today. You can watch the countdown until liftoff on NASA's website: Return to Flight

It's been two and a half years since the Colombia disaster, and now, finally, NASA's sending another shuttle into space. You can prepare and test and inspect and double check all you want, but nothing is ever 100% safe, especially something as risky as space travel. There are simply too many variables and unknowns. But the astronauts are willing to put their lives on the line in the name of science, so if they are willing to take the risk I say we should let them. There are still so many things in the universe we don't understand, so much territory that has never been explored.

So good luck, Discovery, and come home safely.

Happy Shish Kabob!

2005-07-08T14:44:00.000-05:00

My friend, shivaindis said that this comic needed to be made. I have fulfilled my duty and made it. It's brief and brilliant. Well, maybe not brilliant. It's rather stupid, actually. But at least it is brief.

So, recently homestarrunner.com made an amusing toon about the fourth of july called "Happy Fireworks." You might want to view it here before continuing--otherwise you might be kind of lost.

So my friends and I were discussing Final Fantasy VII and character deaths, and how Aeris wouldn't be as popular as she is if she hadn't died since her character is basically a Mary Sue (for non fanfic readers, a Mary Sue is a character who is a little too perfect in every way--there's a bit more to it than that, but that's good enough for now). We even went so far as to say Aeris isn't much more exciting than a piece of cardboard. Then we remembered "Happy Fireworks" and the rest is history. Add to the cardboard thing that it's a common thing in roleplaying games for the main character to never talk though everyone always understands what they "say" and replies to them, and we have a strange scenario.

You can view my mini comic silliness here.

Office Supply Fetish

2005-07-01T13:57:00.000-05:00

Is it weird to love office supplies as much as I do? Because I do—love them, that is.

Mom shared a coupon book for Office Depot (or "Office Despot" as my dad is wont to call it) and I found one I thought I could use (a coupon for Sharpies and I had been wanting some of those Sharpie retractables ever since I saw a commercial for them and almost had a heart attack). So, I asked mom if she wanted to go with me to the store (and office supplies aren't normally her thing but I so rarely ask her to go shopping with me that she couldn't refuse).

I was in heaven. I purposely avoid office supply stores because I know they are my weakness (trips to get design projects bound back in school were often more fun than they should have been because I would wander aimlessly around the store finding cute office supplies I couldn't refuse). But, I think the time away from such stores makes my excitement even worse when I actually do shop at them.

So, I got giddy... Over these cool notebooks with elastic to keep them shut (which come in charming "choco-latte" color schemes, btw), a soft Five Star pencil bag that's made to stand up with see-through mesh on the bottom half, and mini Sharpies in a variety of colors. I decided the retractables were not the best idea since they would dry out more quickly and they were also far larger than they needed to be--and the mini Sharpies were just too friggin' cute!!! They even come with hooks at the top so you can put them on your keychain. Is that not the cutest thing ever? Now I can label my burned cds in a variety of beautiful colors.

I can't explain why I get so excited about office supplies. It seems almost wrong somehow. Yet, I can't help it. I just feel so organized and nerdy cool when I've got fresh notebooks, pens, mechanical pencils and organization tools. (But why, oh why can't I find those neat little circular paper clips? They're so much cooler than regular paper clips). Maybe it's because shopping for such things brings me back to the days of "back to school" time when finding your cool folders and notebooks (and trapper keepers) for the next year was so important. Maybe it just seemed more important at my school because we wore uniforms--but no, I think I've always been obssessed with it just because.

Honestly, I think office supplies are one of my favorite things in the universe. The satisfaction one gets from writing with a really good pen that just seems to glide over the paper like butter, or, likewise, of writing on really good paper that just feels rich and textured. The joy one feels in looking at a freshly organized desk with all the papers, pens and pencils, paperclips, postits, etc, each in their own little nook within various organizational shelves and drawers. Ah, it's enough to make me say "ah" again.

So, in conclusion: Office Supplies. Try them. You'll like them. And so will your desk.

Why We Love Tori-san

2005-06-28T14:53:00.000-05:00

What a wonderful coincidence. I was planning on posting a picture on my blog today and blogger has just added the upload picture option to their blogs, saving me the hassle of putting it on my ftp server and making a link, etc, etc.

Anyway, I just purchased Fruits Basket Book 10 yesterday (in English—I already had it in Japanese) and I've already read it. It's getting into the part of the manga that was written after the series was made, so it's nice to know exactly what's going on, especially in the scenes with Akito. I really enjoyed the bit about Mayu and Hatori (obviously, since the picture above is from that section) because it gives me hope that Hatori will be happy someday! I was kind of surprised to find Shigure isn't as much of a player as he always acts like he is, and he also made me happy by his lack of evilness in the way he tried to hook up Hatori and Mayu. I mean, he's evil, but not irredeemably so. Akito, on the other hand, is a cold, evil bitch. It's still too freaky for me to think of Akito as a girl...shiver.

I have to proclaim how much I love Natsuki Takaya though (the creator of Fruits Basket). She is my hero. Not only has she written one of the best, most emotional and hilarious stories I've ever read/watched, but I can also relate to who she is in real life. I have to share a couple quotes from her Blah Blah Blah sections:
“Anyway, it doesn't really matter what I write here so—There are times when I cry suddenly, like turning on the lights, without caring what's around me, and times when I can't do anything but cry. Afterwards, I like to happily eat rice.”
--I feel like I should try the rice thing sometime since I've already got the crying part down pat.
“When I was little...I thought that if you swallowed the seeds, a watermelon would grow. I also worried that if I swallowed gum, it would grow too. Thinking about it now, I really wonder why...”

Well, I know there was something else I was planning on talking about in this post, but now I've completely forgotten. So, for now, I'll say adieu.

5 Minute Argument

2005-06-24T14:10:00.000-05:00

"An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a definite proposition . . . an argument is an intellectual process . . . contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of anything the other person says."

Yes, I know, I'm on a Monty Python kick this week. I've found a way to make everything somehow relate. That aside, this quote makes a point I feel to be very true.

I enjoy debates—well thought out discussions of a subject, with different people taking different points of view and trying to defend them . . . not because they are truly personally attached to any particular point of view, or because they are even angry or annoyed at all. An argument just for the sake of arguing, not one tied to emotions. I enjoy them, but that doesn't mean I'm always in the mood for them. They can be tiring in their own way if they go on too long or if your wits aren't up to the challenge.

Arguments based on pure emotion though are always exhausting and often leave you feeling weary of the world in general. Rarely are they uplifting, unless they were actually caused by some completely unrelated emotions that came out in an unexpected way. These kind of arguments, fueled by emotions which have nothing to do with the subject of the argument, can be a great stress reliever, but you better not pick your argument with someone who doesn't understand that you truly love them despite it all and that you're just blowing off steam. It's also a bad idea to always target the same person in such arguments without showing them positive attention as well. No one wants to be your whipping boy, and no matter how many times you apologize for your outbursts or how much the person understands your need for them, the constant bashing will wear the relationship down to nothing. In any case, it's always better to avoid one of these arguments if possible.

Now we come to my least favorite form of argument—though I admit I've certainly participated in a number of these kinds of arguments myself—contradiction. It can be fun sometimes, when both parties know it's just a game and are just being light-hearted about it, but this is not always the case. Contradiction happens naturally because not everyone agrees on everything, so, unless they are a yes man who always agrees just to get along, people will have opposite views from time to time. The problem comes in when the contradiction descends into a childish game of opposites where one or more parties always choose the other point of view. This can be a matter of pride, an attempt to squash another's pride by making them feel as if they are constantly wrong. It can be just a childish game with no other purpose other than to piss someone off. Or it can be a simple manifestation of a person's bad mood; they're feeling left out so they're going to be a martyr and always be the one on the other side of the fence whether its how they really view things or not.

I'll admit, I'm no stranger to contradiction. I'm probably better at it than I should be. But I also know how it feels to be on the other side. It, frankly, sucks. Especially when the contradictions are not a one day, bad mood thing. Sometimes people just rub each other the wrong way. I understand this. But it can be very wearying when you are the constant target of contradiction from a single person or group of people. No matter what you say, no matter how much it seems to align with what the other person has just said or seems to believe, they will contradict you. They will say you're wrong again and again and again, and then, or someone else, will turn around and say almost exactly the same thing you said and act like it's an original idea.

Like I said, this is no problem when it's an occasional occurence. You should feel honored that this person feels comfortable enough with you as a friend/relative that they take their life's frustrations out on you, knowing that you will forgive them. On the other hand, if this abuse goes on too long, the "victim" (I know that's probably too harsh of a word, but I couldn't think of a better one) simply gets tired and a little bitter. They become sensitized to what the other person says so that comments which normally wouldn't be that big of a deal build up and small things the other person says instantly bother them. This is why families tend to argue a lot when they've been around each other too much. They are sensitized to each other, so they instantly react to comments which they could easily ignore, or even laugh at in other circumstances.

Anyway, time's up. I'm afraid if you want more nonsensical rambling, you'll have to pay for another five minutes. But I doubt anyone's going to do that. I ramble enough as it is . . .

And now... The Larch.

2005-06-22T10:37:00.000-05:00

And now...

The Larch.

I feel about as exciting as a block of wood today. I suppose that's okay so long as I'm not too knotty. HA!

See what I'm talking about? Yeah. I must have had some bran flakes this morning or something, because I feel about as interesting as Sinclair. But, I suppose that's likely to happen if you get up super early to renew your car tag and then get to work super early too. And then you sit there thinking, "Wow, I'm really tired. Why am I awake?" And then you make a post about it so you can share you boringness and exhaustion with the whole world—or at least the two or three people who actually read your blog.

But, if all goes well, I should be going to see Howl's Moving Castle tonight again, and this time I should be able to understand what people are saying, though I don't think I could enjoy it any more than I did the first time in Japan. Still, I think the excellence of the first watching had something to do with the setting...and the mochi ice cream bar I smuggled into the theater. I can't wait until the scene with the bath towel and the slime. It sounds disgusting, but it's definitely my favorite scene in the movie. I would say more, but I don't want to spoil it too much for the tender ears of theCallowQueen.

Anyway, here's to this day being better than the last! If it isn't, I just might cry. wah!

And now...

The Larch.

PS. If you're wondering where the hell the larch thing came from, it's from Monty Python's flying circus, so it, of course, makes no sense. Just imagine it in a Brittish accent. You can't go wrong.

Do You Ever Wonder Why You Even Bother?

2005-06-21T10:56:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I do. I try so hard sometimes and it just doesn't make any difference. I'm misinterpreted, people think the worst of me and jump to conclusions that I'm trying to be mean. I don't understand it. Evidently I don't know how to communicate with people very well, or maybe I just have a knack for pissing people off without meaning to. Sometimes I'm just stupid and push people's buttons without knowing they're there—though I suppose I should know better.

Either way, it kind of frustrates me that anyone who knows me would think I would mean to hurt them or intentionally say things to upset them. Do they really know me at all? Anyone who does know me would know that's the last thing I mean to do. Good intentions have rarely done me any good though because people always seem to assume my intentions are bad. Sometimes I just get tired of it. It seems like I just keep trying to get past this flaw—figure out what it is about how I say things that upsets people so I can fix it. I try and try and never get anywhere. Every time I think I've made some progress and everything's going great, I do it again.

So, I'm sorry world. I'm sorry to anyone I've hurt without meaning to. I'm sorry for feeling sorry for myself. I'm sorry I'm overly sensitive about things.

This isn't a cry for sympathy—in fact, I don't really want a ton of comments tell me "was it me?" or "I'm sorry if I upset you" because its highly unlikely the person involved will ever read this and respond anyway. The truth is, I just needed to vent. And I'm experiencing my most special time of the month which makes me extremely happy at the moment. It doesn't help that I've been on the verge of depression for no logical reason whatsoever the last couple weeks either.

In other words, I know I'm overreacting and whining. I'm sorry for that too. But, I'll get over it. Thanks for letting me vent about it though! (yes, she's thanking a frickin' blog) I feel better now... ;)

On a happier note though, I had a great time taking pictures with the CallowQueen, MathBuddha and MathBuddha's mom last night. Lot's of fun. Now I get to see if any of them came out... Cross your fingers!!! If they did come out, I'll have to christen my flickr account with some piccies then I'll have to make a new post with some linkies.

(If you couldn't tell, things are slow at work this morning...)

It's the Arts

2005-06-16T01:21:00.000-05:00

This post isn't really about anything in particular. I just wanted to have an excuse to share how much I enjoyed an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus I recently watched with my dad. I enjoyed the skit about a certain little known composer in particular. His name was...

Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon-
fried-digger-dingle-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-
thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-
grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelterwasser-kurstlich-himbleeisen-
bahnwagen-gutenabend-bitte-ein-nurnburger-bratwustle-gernspurten-
mitz-weimache-luber-hundsfut-gumberaber-shonedanker-kalbsfleisch-
mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm.

It is now my goal, nay, my duty to memorize this name. Let's all do our best!

P.S. I watched two more episodes of Scrapped Princess and I'm thinking Shannon kicks some major ass. Also, upon rewatching some fifth season Babylon 5 episodes, I've realized that Delenn really is a heartless bitch to Lennier. She totally teases him. Bad Delenn! No...no, please...don't make the ugly face!!! But now I can't decide...should I call her Delenn or Russeau? Ah, that's easy. She'll always be Delenn, even when she's playing Russeau. "You have three choices. Run. Hide. Or Die," sounds an awful lot like, "Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else."

Legal Drug

2005-06-15T14:21:00.000-05:00

I wonder how many search engines will pull up my blog with that post title…

Anyway, I'm not talking about CLAMP's manga by the same title. No, I'm talking about caffeine. No matter how you look at it, it's a drug, and the number of people addicted to it is mind boggling.

I think I'm joining their ranks. For a long time, I was picky about how I consumed my caffeine. I liked soda pop (Dr. Pepper/Mr. Pibb/Root Beer), the really syrupy kinds. I liked Mountain Dew too. I guess I shouldn't use past tense since I still like all of those drinks, but anyway. I started gaining weight and decided to switch to diet so I drink DDrP (Diet Dr. Pepper) and DSL (Diet Sunkist Lemonade) and now I've gotten into all the variety of diet root beers. As for hot drinks, I stuck with the really creamy, fattening crap, ie Frappucino, Cappucino, Espresso. I didn't like tea except for chai (though now I like green tea).

But now, I'm venturing into the world of real coffee. Damn those pod coffee machines that make single cups of coffee so easily. Damn Juan Valdez and his 100% pure colombian coffee, the Richest Coffee in the World™. Damn that fancy Japanese restaurant I went to that served coffee with real cream. Damn the coffee breath I will soon be sharing with the world. Damn damning things, just because I wanted to say “damn” again!

Yeah, so that's it. I'm hooked. I will never sleep again. But think of how much more I could get done…

Summer in the City

2005-06-09T10:57:00.000-05:00

So, I'm the first one here at work and there is no air conditioning. And, according to weather.com we'll have a high of 88 degrees with 65% humidity.

Today is going to be a fun day. If I don't cut my head off by the end of the day because of the monster headache I can already feel coming on, it will be a miracle.

I don't want to hear any taunts of "Oh, it's so chilly in my office I had to put on a sweater" now. You will be putting your life in danger. ;)

A Little Advertisement...

2005-06-06T20:31:00.000-05:00

Please don't hurt me, Adobe. I don't own you and I mean no harm. It's just a little parody...

Live What You Preach

2005-06-06T14:50:00.000-05:00

This sunday, the pastor of our church announced that he would be leaving our parish. His mother is very ill and his duties to the parish were interfering with his duty to her as her son to take care of her. He is leaving for a good reason, but that doesn't make the change any easier.

We have been a part of St Agnes parish since we moved here ten years or so ago. It is not the closest church to us, so technically we should be going to a different one, but we fell in love with the environment, the people...and the pastor. Since Fr. Cullen is not the only priest at our parish, I don't necessarily see him every week, but the lessons he teaches in his homilies are so simple and yet so true and appropriate to my own life that I often feel as if he is talking directly to me. He has a way of reaching people, of making them feel important and loved individually while always reminding us that we are a community and that we are all here to help each other. I have never met a priest who was so down-to-earth and humble who could still communicate to me so effectively on a spiritual level. Unlike the pastor of the Catholic Campus Center I attended in college, Fr. Cullen stays true to the teachings of the church without losing sight of the most important thing: the people.
At many of the other churches where I have attended mass, I've felt as if the rituals were too elaborate and the sermons too metaphorical and out of reach. Fr. Cullen always manages to bring the message behind the scriptures into focus, making it salient for us in our lives now rather than setting it on a pedastal so high no one can see it clearly enough to know how it applies at all. You can tell that he genuinely cares for every person in the parish. He is always thinking of others, acknowledging their efforts and appreciating them for the work they do around the church.

Some priests wear their faith like a badge of honor to be shoved in other's faces. They put it on their chest as a sign of their holiness, but don't ever prove it with their actions. Fr. Cullen lives his faith. He doesn't brag, and he doesn't force it down your throat. He demonstrates what he belives by how he lives, and he shares it with you in common speech, as if you are a long-time friend having a conversation around the dinner table. And, in essence that is what the church is supposed to be about; a group of friends meeting around a dinner table, sharing spiritual food to sustain them through another week.

A church shouldn't be about a priest, so Fr. Cullen's leaving shouldn't change our parish. Still, I can't imagine his replacement equaling Fr. Cullen's impact on my life. He will still be around town, and maybe I'll run into him occasionally. But until then he will be missed.

Adobe Pueblo: The Design Suite of the Future

2005-06-06T14:27:00.000-05:00

This is the direction progams are going.

With every new generation (6, 8, X, CS, MX, CS2, etc) the lines between what one program or another can do become blurred. Since Adobe has bought out Macromedia and is now the hog of design program companies everywhere (Quark, you can burn in hell), lets use it as an example.

Illustrator is a vector-based graphics program. You can use it for illustrations and logos and such things that need to be resized without becoming pixelated or losing quality. Photoshop is for digital imaging, like doctoring photos to take off that pimple on your nose, or making multilayered artwork with special effects, drop shadows, etc. InDesign is for page layout and allows you to import various photoshop and illustrator files and lay them out with text for a magazine, newsletter, flyer, poster, etc. These are very simplified descriptions, but they work for our purposes.

So, Photoshop is mostly for photos and images, BUT you can make text in it (useful if you want some cheesy effects like drop shadows) and Illustrator also allows you to use type (which makes sense considering type is vector-based) but it also allows you to import rasterized images (photoshop files) or actually rasterize artwork within it. In other words, if you wanted, you could make Illustrator work as a layout program instead of using InDesign. Conversely, InDesign and Photoshop also both allow you to make some vector-based illustration, so you could use them to a limited extent as a replacement for Illustrator. This is great for people who really only need to adjust their photos, but occasionally might like to add a caption or make a poster out of them. They only have to buy one program. For designers though, who need all of these capabilities, the overlap is useful for working on files from one program to another, but much of the overlap is redundant.

What this all boils down to are two different points. First, Adobe's programs have a lot of overlap, and this overlap has been growing with each successive version. Secondly, at what point will the overlap stop growing? When will we have—instead of a suite of programs—one huge, mega, multipurpose program? The trend suggests that someday this will happen. Still, it seems like poor marketing since, in order to make any money, the program would have to be extremely expensive, and people who only need one aspect of the program's abilities would be unable to justify the cost. So, part of me doubts that this “one program for everything” theory will ever come true. But even so...wouldn't it be freakin’ awesome?

Can you imagine a progam that allows you to do everything from designing logos to laying out a book to editing photographs to making webpages to building animated games? No more “make the logo in illustrator, the background in photoshop, layout the elements and type in QuarkXPress” or “make a layout, cut it apart and export it for web in photoshop, code it all in dreamweaver, add animated intro in flash.” No more computer crashing because you need five programs running in order to do all the steps without opening and closing programs fifty times.

And this is why my friend, neowolf, and I, dream that someday there will be an Adobe Pueblo, a house for all programs. (I'm sorry Quark, you're not invited.) Neither of us will be able to afford it, but wouldn't it be beautiful?

Interior Design Mad Libs

2005-05-16T14:31:00.000-05:00

I'll admit, I've watched home redecorating shows from time to time. That's not why I'm redecorating my room. It has absolutely nothing to do with it. Really. I haven't been influenced in the least by all the room makeover programs I just happened to catch in bits and pieces while I my mom was watching. Not even when I sat down to finish watching the episode and find out what the homeowners think about their new bedroom redesigned as a crypt.

So, maybe they've influenced me just a little. But my bedroom was still in need of an overhaul in order to rid it of its extreme boringness. The space is (I suppose I should say was) stuffed full of junk I've collected over the years, and while some of the stuff looks really cool on its own, it gets lost in the eclectic mishmash of crap hanging on the walls, covering the shelves and stuffed in the corners. There is such a thing as an “eclectic style,” but, in my opinion, the eclectic style is the design world's attempt to make disorganized packrats feel a little better about their habits. I'm in need of a clean sweep. The walls—which haven't been painted since the previous homeowners remodeled the basement—are in desperate need of a fresh coat of paint, there are dust bunnies hiding under my bed, and I have no more room on my bookshelves.

I'm trading in my white walls and powder blue ceiling (boy was that ever a mistake) for a pale yellow ceiling, two vivid, red-orange walls and two tan walls. My new bedspread is red and I have a throw and some pillows made out of Indian saris. Many of my design elements are Indian, but I suppose it would be more accurate to say theme is Asian theme. I'm going for a rich, earthy feel contrasted against the bright colors and intricate patterns of the Indian fabric.

While you know I'm really excited to see how it turns out, I'm even more excited to get all the objects that were in my room out of the family room and back where they belong. I know that process will take a lot of thought and effort because not everything can come back in, and everything needs organization. In other words, I'm enjoying the painting stage because it's fun to see the walls change color, but I know I'm going to have my work cut out for me when it comes to putting everything back together, so I'm eager to get that part started. The sooner I get started, the sooner I'll be done.

More than anything though, I can't wait to sleep in my own bed again. I feel like I'm a guest in my own home. I can't wait until it's done!

The Slide Show Has Arrived!

2005-05-10T11:00:00.000-05:00

For those of you who weren't lucky enough to receive my email announcing my extra special, always awesome, four for the price of one, super cool slide show, it's now your turn to be in luck. Yes, the long-awaited, probably overrated slide show is up for viewing on the world wide web. You too can take a photo tour of Japan for the low, low price of free!

Just follow this link: Japan Photo Tour and enjoy!

Couple notes here on the slide show. It is rather large, so it may take a minute to load—just be patient. Also, I did a lot of my research on exactly what I took pictures of after I got back, so I apologize if I have any mistakes. I tried to make sure all my facts were verified, double checked and given a stamp of approval. All done by me, of course, which is why I apologize if I missed anything.

You may post a comment here on this blog if you feel so inclined. Also, here's the link for the slide show on the official tour website: Pop Japan Travel

Let me know when you're ready to go on a real trip to Japan with me. I've got my bags packed and ready to go back. ;)