Someone please tell me...

What is the "Christian way of removing debt" ...?

Why do some people review fics with the same two words ("interesting story") over and over again?

Why hasn't Warner Brothers made an announcement one way or the other about possible future releases of Lois & Clark on DVD?

How much does it cost to reschedule a flight for up to 2 days earlier, when the flight is a little less than a month away?

Why do some people have an allergic reaction to partially hydrogenated oils, when 99.9% of people probably don't even know it's in most of the food they eat?

Why it's so hard to do a preliminary (before an acrylic painting) sketch of a house, when it's all boxes and other assorted squares?

We got Westwood action...

Ah, I love these extended days off. But stupid me actually volunteered to go to work tomorrow from 3-8:15... I hope I don't regret it. From the sounds of it, one of those girls I didn't initially get along with (but, made the startling discovery that she was somewhat tolerable, the last day I worked) has been FIRED! Well, "let go," but there's been more than enough customer complaints (!) about her, so what do you think? At least, that's what I suspect. I'll find out the truth tomorrow... ^_~

Scott and I were going to go to the Getty today, but both of us were depending on our ATM cards-- none of us had cash on hand. Turns out the Constitution Lot/Shuttle was closed, since the Getty parking lot wasn't full. So it's basically "Pay $7 for parking or go elsewhere." In search of an ATM, we ended up elsewhere-- in Westwood, where UCLA is.

Most of the shops were pretty standard-- hair salons, boutiques, random eclectic things... then your major brand name restaurants and food chains, plus a mega-sized EXPO and Best Buy. There was also an interesting farmer's market... but again, without cash, how much can you do? We ended up wandering around (I found Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Shack! Trés cool!) and then eating at this interesting Teriyaki Kebob place-- though my entrée was HUGE! Delicious and somewhat expensive, but huge. It was nice-- felt like a real date again! (Thing was, I was so tired and hot by about 30 minutes into the ride home, I conked out dead asleep.)

Anyway, while wandering around the Secret Shack, several things occurred to me-- there IS no such thing as a new superhero or super villain, and even if you have favorites, they all have some debilitating secret or past that comes back to haunt them in one form or another. And then... the heroes. You know, guys like Batman, Superman... the timeless ones. Why do they always have a harem of women? Okay, that sounds wrong-- they're not all together at once in some big massive cape orgy... but why do these guys always have so many flings, exes, almost-wives, and things like that? Even the big loners have multiple flings-- look at Robin-gone-Nightwing. I heard about his canon almost-relationship with Starfire (who, even in present Teen Titans/Outsiders comics, seems to have a thing for him), but then I spotted a comic with him and some chick named Huntress! Geez... whatever happened to a hero that didn't NEED a girl? Or if he did need a girl, there was just ONE, and ONE was enough? (CYCLOPS). Why do they always have to turn the girl evil, make her more powerful than her boyfriend, or just plain kill her off? Jean Grey and Scott Summer were GOOD together-- they went through so much just to get together and then they killed her off again, just to resurrect her in the form of the Phoenix Force to cause more wangst with Wolverine.

And what's up with the whole Crisis on Infinite Earths/Multiple Earths thing? Why can't they establish a canon and STICK TO IT? Or just create spin-offs and alternate universes done by different teams of artists? I can't stand how the same continuity ends up folding back into itself, tangling itself into a knot, and on top of that, getting done by a bazillion different teams of artists who all have different styles and "moods" they want to capture-- more often than not conflicting with one another!

Above all else, I just happen to like the idea of heroes that are human-- and guess what? Some humans are monogamous. Some humans are gay or lesbian or bi or don't give a shit. Why aren't there any mainstream superheroes like that? Yes, some guys give into temptation-- and so do some girls. Some people suffer for a long time when it comes to heartbreak, some hold grudges... others don't. Some people have different priorities, fears, and so on...

Call me old-fashioned or weird, but I happen to like Lois and Clark. Superman and Lois-- the hero and the human girl, a heroine in her own right. Sure, she doesn't have superpowers (except when they've been accidentally transferred over to her) but she's a heck of a human, which is why Clark fell for her. Why destroy the canon because she supposedly can't have Superman's baby-- like it's all her fault and that makes her inferior and bad and... *angry face* ARGH! And then pairing Superman off with Wonder Woman just because she's a convenient matchup or something (what, from Super Friends)? Maybe there was some canon verse where Superman never met Lois, or Lois died, or whatever, and Wonder Woman was there. But... well, they just don't "go" in my eyes. Wonder Woman always struck me as one of those women that would never NEED a guy, would never be lonely, would never pine after a guy or drool. Shit, didn't she descend from the Amazons, or a line of Goddesses? Donna Troy was her imaginary friend (or something) for f*ck's sake-- those kind of women DO NOT NEED GUYS.

And some superheroes-- anti-heroes, especially, like Batman and Nightwing-- really don't need women, either. I can't see them as players though, out for some nookie and that's it. It just bugs me, is all...

( Alchoroscope? Alcholoscope? )

Oh yes-- fic front I'm working tirelessly on WDKY17, but attempting to finish my 30kisses ... and then maybe I'll either relinquish the pairing to someone else (or perhaps try one of the alternate lists?) or try a new pairing (some of the ones I wanted are taken, but for sure I'll try my hand at LnC fic!). Plus there are all my other unfinished fics, plus fic ideas-- maybe I can kill two birds with one stone and do some of my unfinished fic ideas as 30kisses (any list) or 20themes? As far as I know, 20themes CAN be pairing specific, so someone could challenge me that way-- come up with 20 interesting themes for various pairings/triangles, and I'll try and fit my existing fic ideas into them... get some of them out faster!

Re: Dragonfayth ... I don't like eFiction anymore. Try as I might, there just seem to be too many strange limitations with the skins and things. I can TRY and fix those things, but PHP is simply not my strong suit. I really liked how InkTank looked, but the guy NEVER got back to me, and there is no forum or mailing list I can join to get help with it. So I'm looking into other options, and I found this. You can view a very weird sample archive-- people tell me what you think; should I try it out? Presumably layouts would be easier/simpler, but as for an actual system, does it look any improved over what we have now, or what InkTank looked like?

And then there's FicWad. I wonder if it runs on Automated Archive? (No, it runs on a super-deformed version of eFiction which is not available for release just yet. Shucks.)

MK uses Greymatter, right? How is that working out? I know how Greymatter works and all, so a fresh install wouldn't be too hard... but I want real archive options, not weird blog-gone-wild options. ;_; HELP! Where do I start searching? How?