Miscellaneous Addendum

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

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.

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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.

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

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

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?

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

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...