It'll drive you MAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!

*kicks Outlook Express*

As if things could be worse (I'm getting sicker-- never mind) my computer is being a putz. More accurately, my mouse, keyboard, and email program are putzing. Yeah, yeah, it's easy to get a new mouse and keyboard (anyone have any to donate???) ... but I don't get OE AT ALL.

I used to use it all the time, back when Yahoo! had free OE-support. But now you have to PAY for that luxury. Anyway, I use OE for my ISP email, along with my new Fanfiction.net email. I'm recieving FFnet email just fine, but I can't seem to send anything!! This is so frustrating-- I don't know what's wrong at all! I tried creating a new account with *just* the FFnet mail (instead of FFnet mail and my ISP email) but I kept getting a message import error. Ditched that idea. So... what now? Anyone know how to configure OE for sending email? My settings match the ones FFnet told me to do, but I get the feeling I'm neglecting something super-obvious.

Can you believe I didn't upload "Futago Nekoken" to FFnet, in all the years I've been writing fanfiction? And that's one of my better Ranma fics, too! So I finally put it in HTML format and uploaded it today. That fic is so ancient though. Not that it needs revising (like so many of my other fics) but... well, continuing! Hah. Between Sailor Moon and Ranma, I'm eventually going to pick another fandom to start/finish writing fics for.

Baaaah, I wish I had DSL. Everyone at alt.fan.sailor-moon is talking about PGSM (and I don't mean the re-release of the manga; I mean the Live Action Sailor Moon TV show) ... and it sounds really cool! I know SOME PEOPLE here have episodes of it... nyo, would you guys mind burning them to a CD for me? I'll pay CD/burn time costs and shipping... Mero mero really wants to see PGSM... (Even *if* Luna is a plushie)

Speaking of Sailor Moon, according to BestPrices.com my DVD set has shipped! Whoo hoo! Nothing to get a girl in the "Sniffle, AWW!" fic writing mood more than the last half of Season 1-- the costume ball! The princess episode! And now, I'll finally have a bunch of VHS to record over, as I will have the COMPLETE first season! I'll save up to get the DVD sets of all the others... *shrugs* I dunno about Stars, though. Since it's unlikely that it'll ever be subbed, I suppose I can get AVI/MPEG CDs from... that guy... o_O I got some Super episodes from him, for like, $5. :)

The drinking of the orange juice seems to be helping-- my nose isn't quite so congested anymore, but my neck feels like... uberthick. My lymph nodes are all swollen, and it hurts to drink ANYTHING. ;_; And I have to work tomorrow. I need to haul ass and do the laundry, but should I really be going out in the "freezing" San Francisco weather? Stupid landlords, they should let us use the laundry machines! ;_;

Oh yeah... to any COMPUTER WHIZES! I have two old hard drives from my old system-- an IBM Aptiva from the '90s. One is the primary (master) drive, and the other is a slave drive my sister installed. Though both are pretty wimpy in contrast to hard drives on the market today, I *would* like to get the data off of them-- either through installation into my current system, or... some other method. Anyone know how I would go about doing this??

Watched YGO this morning... man, it's messed up, watching Kaiba get himself in deeper and deeper trouble. I know what's going to happen, and I'm all... "GAH, Seto!" Also worked on deck construction-- my best deck-in-the-works is my Dark/Occult deck, while I have the beginnings of a Dragon deck, a Fairy/Spellcaster Deck, and a Chick Deck. :) I could probably merge the last two, though-- haha, a Tea/Mai deck!

Speaking of our precious Seto, his fanlisting got the bronze award from TFL.org for having 250+ members! Go Seto! >_> Orlando Bloom's FL has over 2000 members though. -.- Geesh.

Hmph, if I had to update my pages, what would my order be?
* Souten - Main page
* Mare Serenitatis - Because it needs it
* Every Heart
* Snapshot

Something like that.

On Slayers and Angels.

I hate myself for neglecting to mention how traumatized I am.

CORDELIA DIED!??!?!

Angel-verse, by the way. I've been following Angel and BtVS for the longest time, though I went through a period of not-watching Angel. Angel sort of sank in quality for a bit, and now that Cordy is *gone* GONE... wow. I mean, Joss has killed off major characters before (Buffy, Angel, blah, blah...) but... why Cordy? He did say in some interview that he felt he had taken Cordy's character to the limit, there was nothing more to be done with her...

What the hell? What demon crawled into his brain and sucked it dry?

Don't get me wrong, I hate the idea of a Cordy/Angel relationship; no matter how hard they tried to make it look canon in the show, it was like Seven of Nine/Chakotay in Voyager... there was something majorly OFF. But Cordy was the strongest female presence Angel had. I realize that the show is not CALLED 'Cordelia' or anything, but they kept her in a friggin' coma for a whole season (or was it more?) but geez.

Besides, the whole "character" thing is so two-sided. You're supposed to treat characters as if they're real people-- especially in a live action, where viewers are more likely to want to relate to the characters! And you can never take a person to the "limit;" nobody goes through a series of experiences and NOT change. We saw Cordy change from Season 1 of Buffy, and Season 1 of Angel, but... what? Just because she was in a coma for a season, her character is DEAD? That's so wrong. There's much to be done-- she could have been alive and had a competition with Buffy, could have gone and done something new and cool... Yeesh.

I was hoping for an "original cast" reunion-- Buffy, Angel, Oz, Willow, Xander, Cordy -- together again fighting a new baddie. But then... apparently the Buffy crew in Europe doesn't like Angel, CEO of Hell Incorporated, all that much. Faith (Eliza Dushku) is supposed to make a reappearance on the show, but I doubt it'll be for many episodes, given that Dushku's got her hands full with Tru Calling (admittedly, I like her "Faith" better, but Tru is still pretty damn cool).

So now we've got...
* Angel - same old, same old.
* Lorne - who is funny, but rarely used
* Fred - Genius, but had her time in the limelight; she's really a subcharacter now
* Wesley - Also had his time to shine; it'd be nice to see him reunite with Giles or something. Ex-Watchers, LTD!
* Gunn - His character isn't as strong as it used to be. Blame that on the brainwashing.
* Spike - Second only to Angel; I can't wait for Buffy to reappear and make things uber-complicated.
* Eve - I don't know why Angel didn't just kill her. She's going to be back. I hate her, but she's cool.
* Harmony - I <3 Harmony. She kicked so much ass in the last episode. I really wanted her to eat Eve alive. >:)

DEAD!
* Connor - They gave him a "normal" life. I wonder what REALLY happened to the actor.
* Cordelia - Someone shoot Joss Whedon.
* Lilah - She *so* needs to come back (again). If Lindsey can, why can't Lilah??

GONE...!?
* Andrew
* The Slayerettes (Buffy, Xander, Willow, Robin, Giles, Dawn, Potentials-Gone-Slayer)
* Faith

We're at the point where there's only so much that can happen, you know? They've had their apocalypses, their big baddiness, the mystery of Lindsey (the whole Doyle plot was good, but the minute Spike spoiled it, the story disappeared) and Cordelia's one-shot. Now what?

NOW WHAT???

My Bohemian Self.

Your Moulin Rouge Status: by pinkrobelover
Your Name:
Your deepest secret:	Nicole Kidman kissed you once
The Bohemian Ideal You hold true to most is:	Truth
Your Job at the Moulin Rouge:	Satine...the queen.
What the customers think:	A bit more practice in bed, mate.
Favorite Quote:	"Outside it may be raining, but in here it's entertaining!"
Created with quill18's MemeGen 2.0!

I need new LJ icons.

I want an iPod, but iTunes can go eat a squeak toy.

You know, I've never liked RIAA. Or any other person, industry, company, or other organization that bitches about the usage of file sharing programs on the Internet. I used Napster back when it was free and new, and at any given time, there might be a few THOUSAND people on the net, sharing a few hundred GIGS. I've since progressed; there were hours I spent exploiting Audiogalaxy in Journalism class; time and hard drive space wasted with Morpheus and Kazaa. Now I use Kazaa Lite, and no one is going to stop me.

Let's look at my 3.5+GB collection of music, shall we?

The majority of it is Anime songs. Stuff you WILL NOT find on Audiogalaxy (*cough* Excuse me, Rhapsody!) or iTunes. The reason being that songs created in Japan don't follow the same copyright laws as the US, and they get distributed everywhere. While the RIAA seems to think they can save an artist eleven cents if they stop people from downloading MP3s using p2p, no one is going to Taiwan or Hong-Kong and beating down the doors of the Son May burners, or any of the other illegal burners of CDs, DVDs, and other media-- from all around the world!

Looking at the songs that are NOT from Anime, I've got some pretty obscure stuff-- a lot of it singles I read the lyrics from in songfics or filks. You won't see me buying entire CDs for these sort of songs. I'd buy a single if it was available, but most of the time, singles aren't made anymore. They're released only to the radio. Or, some of the songs are from movie soundtracks, MovieTunes, video games, or AMVs. When possible, I *do* buy the CDs to support the artist. Out of my entire collection of CDs, only *ONE* is an utterly illegal rip, and that is Avril Lavigne's "Let Go." And you know what? I regret that, because it'd be cool to have her CD lyric book, or the DVD with the special song you can't get anywhere else.

EVERY OTHER CD I OWN is something I PAID FOR! Or got as a gift, but that's the same difference.

What is the point of trying to stop people from getting MP3s? It's not so much a matter of saving the artist money, because they get such a miniscule amount from each download that it doesn't matter. MOVIES I can understand, but music? Grow up. Mixes, especially, are increasingly hard to find-- some are only released on not-bought CDs that are never released anywhere else. Look at all my Mikaila remixes-- I have those only because I was in journalism, and snagged all her CDs (full, remix, research hook, radio interview) before anyone else could. Those songs aren't on her CD. This applies to a LOT of songs-- you'll hear one version on the radio, but it's not the same one as on the CD. So where do you turn?

Let's say you're looking to make an AMV. Or an Anime Music Video, for the uninformed. How do you go about putting music to your movie, without an MP3?Hundreds of AMVs are made with music from US artists-- and you know what? A lot of people, including myself, find themselves liking the music from the AMVs so much that they look up the artist and BUY THE CD! Some of my AMV music includes Apollo 440's "Stop The Rock" (which I originally heard on the US version of "Unison" the video game), E. Nomine's "Mitternacht," and Peter Schilling's "Major Tom." These are the ONLY songs by these artists that I can genuinely say I know and like-- I have no desire to spend $15, $29, or however much money on a full CD! And even if there WAS a single for each of these, who's to guarantee that it would be easy to find, or would have the exact song I was looking for-- and not some remix?

What pisses me off is ads like "I Download. Legally." Oh whoop de doo! You know what? iTunes is probably one of the only places where you can download "legally" --and isn't that a monopoly? What about those families that got sued? Yeah, so they're featured on a Superbowl commercial, shown to millions of people around the world-- I'd be pretty damn embarassed if I were them. The RIAA and the artists supporting it have their head in the dirt about how the industry works these days; it doesn't help any for the RIAA to damage a song and then put it back on the 'Net. Because you know what? Someone will just delete the file and keep looking. I know I have. I'll find Aerosmith's "Dream On" eventually. Millions of people out there have it. Why not me?

The things They don't keep in mind--
* MP3s are smaller in size than CDA or WMA files-- therefore, we can get MORE of them.

* For people that like to make their own mixes or compilations, MP3s is the only way to go. You can't cut and paste from one CD to another, and then switch CDs because that other CD has a track on it you want. Get all the MP3s, mix, and burn. It's so much easier.

* For hard-to-find CDs (even US released ones), MP3s are much more accessible. Like Dance Remixes --the kinds of things played at Clubs. Dated music, such as Best Hits from 2001, are nigh near impossible to get in everyday CD stores. True, one could check out eBay or Amazon.com for these kind of things, but with a few clicks of your mouse, you could have the MP3, and none of the risk.

I don't hate Macs or Apples as much as you think. I like their look, their speed, their accessibility. But I don't like the shmucks running the company. I don't like their policies, and I DETEST how they make themselves out to be the martyrs of the music world, saving and revolutionizing everything for everyone. What garbage.

http://www.downhillbattle.org/itunes/

A lesson in quiz-making.

You're a Duelist of skill! Screw the Heart of the Cards; Skill is the only way to win a match!
Who cares what those annoying opponents keep blabbering about. Luck, heh, who needs it?
Message me for a duel Please! ^^


????? What Kind of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist are You ?????
brought to you by Quizilla


Whoever made this quiz doesn't know proper English grammar or spelling, let alone quiziquette. So for anyone interested in making a quiz, be it in Quizilla or otherwise, heed the following words:

(1) Use images -- but nice ones. Even the hentai ones use high-quality images. Don't hack and chop them to bits, or make them overly large; remember, they're hosted on a server somewhere, and just because it's not yours doesn't mean you should abuse the bandwith. Keep the pictures you use small, but pretty. GIFs and JPGs only.

(2) Spelling and Grammar -- don't have your quiz questions or answers in all caps, all lowercase, or with a million exclamation/question marks at the end. Make things short, sweet, and easy to understand.

(3) Make sense -- Don't ask idiotic questions like 'So, it's the end of the quiz, how do you feel?' Your quiz should have something to do with the actual MATERIAL at hand. In all honesty, you should be able to loko at your questions, look at your answers, and come up with a logical reason why answering X makes you a Y type person.

In the case of the above quiz, I could tell which duelist the quizzer was referring to with practically each question. Case in point: (note, I didn't change anything except for "his" to "Kaiba" ... everything else is the same, even the atrocious spelling errors)

[2] So, now that you've accepted Kaiba's challenge, he tells you that you have twelve turns to beat him or he'll take you down. What do you say to that?

I NEVER AGREED TO DUEL HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?!?!?!?!?!? - The Non-Duelist
Whatever you say ... but maybe you'll recinsider that after I take this Duel to the Shadow Realm! - Bakura/Marik
You'll never beat me Kaiba! As long as I trust in my deck and the Heart of the Cards, then I can't loose! - Yugi/Yami
Duel? Me? - Tristan
Hey! He stole what I was gonna say! - Joey
Sure, Kaiba *sarcastic* Whatever you say. - Mai
Okay ... but before we start ... WHAT'S YOUR FAV CARD???? - Tea

*sigh* And of course, very few of the results actually have images. Those that do are...
Duelist of Tricks (The Trickster) - Marik
Duelist of Skill - Kaiba (mine)
Duelist of Faith - no image, but it should probably be Yami or Tea
Duelist of Weakness - What is the point of this result??
Duelist of Brawn - Would probably be Joey, if there was an image.
Non-Duelist - Yugi with pigeons all over him. Funny, but... makes no sense.

I could so totally redo this quiz and outdo the person, but isn't that sorta WRONG? But hey, now I'm curious, so I'll see what other YGO Quizillas there are. -.-; Never mind, the search is down, and the stupidity of naming quizes on the site has increased a million-fold.

I did originally want to make a YGO quiz, but was unable to find a suitable font-- one that matched the YGO card font. That's still impossible to find, isn't it? Geesh.

Man, catching up on all my Friend's entries is hard. My head hurts.