Confusing schtuff

[azurite]

So, since I'm going to be out of town for the big November elections, I wanted to apply to vote-by-mail. I went to the California state website and read the guidebook, downloaded the two applications I apparently needed (one for Statewide elections and one for County elections). Then I go to the LA County website and see there's an online application, so I fill that out and shred the paper ones I printed. Question is, will the ballot(s) I get be for the county of Los Angeles only, the state of California, and/or the national presidential election? I'm worried I won't get all that I need. Has anyone else done this process before? Even if you're in a different state, maybe the process is similar... *shrug* any help would be appreciated. Of course, I'm going to call the County Registrar tomorrow for "official" answers, provided I talk to a real person and not an automated system.

Question to the general populous: How do you organize your foreign-language music? For example, I have a lot of music by Japanese artists. iTunes supports Japanese in the titles, artists, and lyrics, and I can set my Smart Playlists to find the artists that way... but is it always the best way? Should I use the romanized names instead? And if so, should I do it the Western Way (Hikaru Utada) or the Asian way (Utada Hikaru)?

Comments

[sweet-kalie.livejournal.com]

Well... i classify my foreign music in folders so i have them in alphabetical order. I think the Western Way will suit the best for what you want to do. ^^ Have a nice filing!

[baine.livejournal.com]

I have a bunch of folders for my music. I have one for "English" music, one for Japanese, one for Korean, French, Chinese, etc, etc. Within each folder, I have sub-folders with each artist, and for the artists with Asian names, I use the Asian characters. If I d/led a romanized version, I'll either change the name myself or do a copy/paste if I can't do it on my own, though I don't usually bother to change track titles.

Before I had this method, I romanized names and did it based on what I'm used to calling them. Utada Hikaru, Ayumi Hamasaki, etc.

As for voting, I'm not sure, but don't out-of-town votes only count if the results are close and they need more votes or something?

[azurite]

Hm, so I take it you don't use iTunes, then? I used to organize my music a bit like you mentioned, but when I got iTunes, it organizes you music for you (sort of), provided you've got enough information. You can always change the information within iTunes, though, so it changes the way the folders are structured automatically. Hence my curiosity... to call her "Utada" or "Hikaru Utada" or "宇多田ヒカル" or... you get the idea. It'd make more sense to a) keep it all in English alphabet, b) stick to one romanization scheme, e.g. Hikaru Utada, Ayumi Hamasaki, Kumi Koda) and/or c) use whatever name is on the official label (and just make "Smart Playlists" so all the music by X artist will end up in the same place). Even so, it's confusing and I can't decide...!

With voting, I don't know how it may be in other states, but in CA, vote-by-mail (formerly "absentee") votes DEFINITELY count equally in all elections. It wouldn't really be fair otherwise, esp. for disabled folks who can't make it to the polls or soldiers who are out of the country, etc.

[baine.livejournal.com]

Absentee, yes, that's the name I couldn't think of!
If you think about it, though, they're still getting those votes in the mail AFTER the results have been published, though, right? Unless you're going to another poll booth and they're doing some sort of fax-type thing.


Hmm, I don't use iTunes. Actually, now that my Zen's broken, I have an iPod, but I'm hoping to get that skin so I don't have to use iTunes, but I don't remember the name. (Do you? I want it so I don't have to store all my music on my computer forever and stuff. Plus, I don't d/l music from iTunes. I buy CDs.) I have her listed as 宇多田ヒカル, but before that, she was Utada Hikaru because that's how she's referred to, while Ayumi Hamasaki usually is Ayumi first, though I think she's probably one of the few exceptions. If I have an English name, instead of typing Changin' My Life, I'd type ＣＨＡＮＧＩＮ’　ＭＹ　ＬＩＦＥ, and then it'll line up with the foreign music. I'll do that with Korean/Chinese artists, too (with the Japanese Romaji).

[azurite]

The vote-by-mail ballots (they're no longer called "absentee") are sent out starting 10/6 so they arrive and can be received back no later than 5pm on Election Day. I'm sure for folks that can't make it to a mailbox or post office, they can try and bring their ballots to the nearest polling station, but I'd like to think that people that care enough to register to vote-by-mail will be responsible enough to send it back in time so their vote counts.

Sorry, I don't know the name of the program you'd use to bypass iTunes, but I'm sure a Google search would turn up something. What did you mean by "line up with the foreign music"?