MILES to GO || before I sleep

So I just joined caperland and am now officially a member of Team Burned! What's all this about?

Well...


apply for a team | about caperland

If you know about whedonland, it's virtually the same premise, although instead of Whedon-shows, it's caper shows: White Collar, Leverage, and Burn Notice. You can know one, two, or all of the fandoms, and you can participate by joining a "team" and racking up points for said team by participating in challenges.

If you're like me and you like all three shows, even if you're on a specific team, you can still make icons/banners, write fics, etc. for whichever of the shows strikes your fancy--you'll still get points for YOUR team.

So far there has been a graphic challenge, a game (a "spot the difference" with pictures), an icon challenge, a 6-word fic challenge (harder than it sounds), and I'm sure there's more cool stuff to come.

Enjoy caper shows? Then come join us!

Ah, I miss Usenet.
What a crazy thing to say, huh? But in the search for some Sailor Moon images, for some reason, the first thing that popped in my head was NOT to do a Google Image search or go to The Oracle or whatnot, but to see if alt.binaries.sailor-moon was still around (assuming I got that name right).

Alas, the vast majority of ISPs these days have discontinued their NNTP/Usenet access service (probably because they never made much of an effort to advertise that it even existed, meaning new users didn't even KNOW about it), and that includes the ones in use (or formerly used) by my grandparents and Mom/Gary. For many alt.fan or rec. groups, access is still available for free from places like Google Groups, but it's not quite the same... plus, there's still the overwhelming problem of SPAM, and in Google Groups' web-based interface, there's diddly-squat you can do about it.

The only other alternative --for general Usenet access to binary groups AND for NNTP access in news programs (Apple Mail doesn't even support NNTP, which had me temporarily thinking I might switch back to Thunderbird... then I wised up and realized that an extra piece of software isn't ALWAYS a pain in the ass, especially with my lack of an NNTP server in the first place)-- is to buy it. Giganews seems to be the one of choice, but I don't have the dough to shell out for Usenet access when it's something that's more of a whim to me.

But I do miss those good ol' days when I could hop on Usenet and find image floods of fanart, or character-specific art, or art themed around a certain event/holiday. It'd be pretty helpful for me now, in my search for Sailor Moon Christmas images. (I know, I know, The Oracle has a whole gallery devoted to it, but it's only 58 images! I *know* there's more than that out there!)

Speaking of SM, I did sign up to be a Sekkret Stalker on Aria's Ink this year. Participation seems fairly low so far for this point in December, but there are still FOUR MORE DAYS TO SIGN UP! Why not?

Plus, guardian_kysra and I want to do a holiday challenge or something this year, so why not throw your hat in and volunteer too? We'll probably do something that covers different fandoms-- maybe a Secret Santa or Fic Exchange where all you do is specify a list of fandoms you'll write for, genres/ratings/pairings/warnings you prefer, and up to 3 "plot prompts." How does that sound?

Also, I got an invite from someone named Loki to join the_circlet and its sub-communities, silver_circle and gold_circle, along with a few related comms. It all sounds/looks fairly interesting, but I think I still need a bit more clarification on exactly what is DONE there. baine, care to comment? I'm confused!

Also, I haven't written SM fic in AGES and going back to Aria's Ink (Loki also reviewed "24" there, which is probably one of my better SM fics to date) and checking out these comms... it's all made me very nostalgic! Hey, maybe we can revive the smrff in time for the holidays!? That'd be so awesome.

I'm only up now because (as usual) my sleeping schedule's off. I went downtown tod-- er, yesterday to get a December Fast Pass and eat some delicious Tex-Mex. I got "approached" by a very enthusiastic girl from Greenpeace who kept me from getting to Chevy's that much sooner. I'm all for saving the planet, so:

DO NOT BUY KIMBERLY-CLARK PRODUCTS. These are the makers of Kleenex, Cottonelle, Scott tissue, and many other products. Why? Because they're clear-cutting (meaning cutting without care to the re-growth of future trees) thousands of ancient Canadian trees. The CEO has reportedly even said that his consumers "don't care about environmental issues." Show that pig he's wrong! Also, find out if your job/school has a contract with KC. Then get them to CANCEL it. There are more environmentally-friendly companies out there.

( Accion Y Reaccion )

( New desktop. Oh yeah. )

Man, I wish I were in S.F. right now. I read the Macworld Expo update, and... gawd, I am so stoked for 2008. Not like I'm going to dash out and buy an iPhone (not until it's no longer attached to AT&T without hacks involved) or a MacBook Air (...this laptop is new enough for me. Until it breaks, I'm using it. Plus, I happen to like having an optical drive and a huge hard drive...), but DAMN. Apple just... kicks ass. Have I mentioned lately? You really oughta switch.

I personally think if I could have gotten a single measly day there and been back here... it would have been worth it, just for Steve Jobs' keynote speech. Sure, he flubbed a few times, but it sounded SO fun. And a play-by-play just isn't quite the same as being there, in the flesh. (Yes, the play-by-play had to suffice; it made me jealous) So I have a goal for 2009 (besides graduating in the Spring, that is): Go to Macworld Expo 2009. Network, network! (Who knows, maybe I could impress someone important and get a job at Macworld? Tee-hee.)

What else I'm excited about: the Time Capsule, the companion hardware to Leopard's Time Machine. It basically acts as the AirPort Base Station I spent $179 on, but it comes with a hard drive, supports 802.11n Gigabit Ethernet. A 500 GB (the smallest version available) is $299. I think I paid $250 for my 120 GB MyBook Pro external hard drive, so in terms of pennies per GB, it's very much worth it, in my mind. For die-hard downloaders, there's a 1 TB (!!!!!) version for $200 more. It ships out in February... around the same time as the new student-licensed version of Office 2008:mac, which I've been wanting, because Office 2004 on the Mac is kind of a bitch. Plus, I want more templates than Pages can offer. I didn't realize until today, when I had to make a flyer, that Word is really better than Pages for that. I hate still being Microsoft's bitch in any respect... but with all the years gone by, they have made a powerhouse of a word processor.

What I'm dreaming of: it would kick ass if more companies (including the ones that make $9.99 cheap games for Best Buy, Target, and the like) got on board with Cider to make games Mac-compatible. With Cider, there's only one source tree to manage (from what I read), so it's not like there's a whole overhaul involved. Basically, you take your game and wrap it in something that's friendly to Macs. Nothing changes about the game, the interface, etc. Of course, Cider has its limitations, and since it's not for end-users, it's not like I can just download something and all of a sudden be playing Doom again (*sigh* I miss killing Imps! And NO, I don't want Doom 3! >_< I like my pixellated pigs, thank-you-very-much). But I'd love to be able to play Riddle of the Sphinx, Pharaoh/Cleopatra, and similar Egypt-puzzle games (my favorite) again without going into Parallels. In reality, Parallels has felt like a waste of money to me, because... well, what the hell was I using Windows for? I hardly ever go into it. Blah. I hope there's an update that gets my games working again (in the meantime).

What I should be doing: the 30kisses update. I've already got the T-Z stuff from a_white_rain, though I have to sort through it all to put it in the right order-- by fandom. Today's the first day when my sleep schedule's semi-normal (and my computer hasn't been overheated), so I'm going to get it done-- especially since I said I would do it by yesterday. I'll also have to combine that with Phase Five of the Claims List Purge-- but as for the actual completion of the Tags Removal and putting the dead claims into the Memories, I'll need help. Mod Squad, you still around?

What I'm testing the waters with: Scrivener, a... humungo writing program JUST FOR MACS (eat that, Windows biznatches!). dqbunny, you might like this one. If you try it too, we can compare notes. :D I'd also like to try MarsEdit2, a blog publisher. I use xJournal now, and have Phoenix as a backup, but frankly, one of them is always lacking SOMETHING. I wonder if MarsEdit would make a difference. I already know it's compatible with LJ; the question is if it supports all those tiny little features that aren't necessarily blog-platform-cross-compatible (e.g. stuff you'll only see on LJ and its off-shoots, not other blogging platforms like Blogger, etc.) For some reason, I'd get my panties in a wad if I couldn't change security settings or screen comments by default. I'm still kind of PO'd that xJournal doesn't support Location (okay, my location hasn't changed in the past two weeks, but still).

Anywho, to work, to work!

Wow. What an amazing five days of the New Year it's been. Despite occasionally feeling bored, that's only been a rare occasion (when I get bored of what I'm DOING, not because I'm lacking anything "to do"), and generally I'd say I've been pretty productive.

30kisses is getting a complete overhaul, thanks to the help of fellow mods svelterose, a_white_rain, and dqbunny. We might need more mods for the coming year, since this purge is just proving how busy we tend to get, and how easy it is to fall behind. And here I thought 30k wasn't all that active!

So that's been keeping me pretty busy the past five days, but at the moment, I'm taking a break to catch up on my Friends List. Yesterday, I was getting "computer butt," so I played some DDR; I might do that again tonight after I've digested my evening snack (yogurt cheese, pickles, raisins, and Wheat Thins, plus pulp-free orange juice-- yum! and who's to say THAT'S not healthy!? HAHAH!).

Since the WGA strike is still on, there's not much in the way of new TV-- and that's fine with me, as I've been craving oldies-- Lois & Clark S4, and Sailor Moon S and SuperS. :P I kinda wish I had the SM movies on DVD; I have the SMR and SMS ones on VHS (ugh...), and of those, I have both of them in sub ("UNCUT!!!!") and dub (edited mercilessly; massacred) formats. But no SuperS movie. And... I like Peruru!

...And you know what I just realized that's kind of creepy? Over the course of the whole series, Chibiusa had more love interests (people SHE liked) than Usagi. No, srsly:

Usagi: Umino (one-sided from him), Motoki (one-sided from her), Mamoru, Demando (one-sided from him), Seiya (one-sided from him). (So technically, we don't even count 3 of them, because they were one-sided from HIM, meaning they weren't HER love interests), Haruka (okay, she crushed on "him," but then stopped as soon as she found out it was a she... in the anime. In the manga, Haruka had no problem flirting with/kissing Usagi, even as a female, and Usagi was aware, but I don't know if that qualifies as a "love interest")

TOTAL: 2-ish

Chibiusa: Pegasus/Elios, Mamoru (one-sided from her and sick, but hey, it's canon), Perle (or whatever the fairy-boy in SuperS was called), Anshar (video-game canon, but STILL, it was the sweetest pairing, and much angstier than Elios!), that boy from Super who made a clay sculpture of the Holy Grail, that friend of her friend Momoko (manga-canon only?), ANYONE ELSE???

TOTAL: 5

Why is it okay for the heroine to be "reserved" and have only one true love (which, as I get older, I find more and more ridiculous-- I can't believe Usagi and Mamoru would have a happy marriage if neither of them never dated other people. And what's unfair about it all is, Mamoru probably HAS dated other people before he got with Usagi-- and hell, technically dated Rei!), but her trouble-making daughter (who supposedly takes after Usagi in plenty of ways, and Mamoru in... uh, very few) is allowed to be... well, the "li'l tramp"? Okay, she's not exactly putting herself out there, but she claims to fall in love a LOT, making her seem like she's more of Minako's daughter than... ohshit plot bunny!

Ho-hum. Nothing else has been happening lately. Back to my FL.

ganked from guardian_kysra
1. Leave me a casual comment of no particular significance, like a lyric to your current favorite song, your favorite kind of sandwich, or maybe your favorite game. Any remark, meaningless or not.
2. I will respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.
3. Update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. Include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in your own post.
5. When others respond with a desultory comment, you will ask them five questions.

squee Indy 4 5/22 must see drool Indy!

You Are A Green Girl

You feel most at home in a world of ideas. You're curious and logical - and enjoy a good intellectual challenge. You're super cool, calm, and collected. Very little tries your patience. Your only fear? People not realizing how smart and able you are!

( ETA: dragonfayth, dreams, food, mentality )

Which Egyptian God are you? Find out at egypt_stamping
Sorry, Obelisk the Tormentor and Slifer the Sky Dragon are not valid Gods and will not be used in the results.

Damn, I've got that DDR song stuck in my head. "Cafe, cafe, cafe cafe, cafe cafe cafe!" or something.

Okay, so a couple of new things:
(1) Seems I grossly misinterpreted what was going on with god_101 in terms of someone dying or whatnot. Of course I'm still extremely worried about him, but everyone handles break ups (as the case truly was, not someone dying like I thought) differently. If he wants to be open to the help that his friends are willing to give, then my offer still stands. But I won't put mental strain on myself taking blame for something I honestly have no control over.

(2) Okay, I'm making one giant exception to my own rule that I posted for the contest on weekly_ygo. In this week's issue (#20), I decided in lieu of an Editor's Choice, I'd hold two contests, one for a community layout/icons, and one for WikiFic. The deal is, whoever makes the community layout and icons will get a paid account (or extra time/userpics, whatever, if they already have a paid account) and whoever adds the most full-length, brand-new articles to WikiFic within the next week will get their very own unlimited subdomain on seventh-star.net (or, if they don't want a seventh-star.net subdomain, I will register a domain of their choice -that is currently available, of course- for two years and host a Yu-Gi-Oh fansite and related material). I thought this was a great idea, but no one commented on it AT ALL in the post. So this is the ONE place where I will pimp the contest, in the hopes that people simply spread it by word of mouth, comments in LJs, etc. I don't want anyone else MAKING POSTS about it, but everything else is fine, and I hope we get some participation. If you have any questions, see the latest issue or just ask me. :)

(3) Yuck, Jury Duty. And I can't get out of it, because it's the second time I've postponed it, and saying you're related to a lawyer, a socialist/communist, a student, too far away, don't have a car, don't have money to get there... none of it works. They see that I live a mere 9 miles away from the Van Nuys courthouse, and I get slammed with Jury Duty. Worse, one of my bosses said I can kiss Japan goodbye if I end up getting stuck in a trial that lasts months on end. I just hope I don't get called at all, but my Group number is *1* so what's the chance of that? *sigh* At least I'll be getting paid next week, and I found a decent, cheap bus schedule for getting there if I can't get a ride from Grandpa.

(4) Inspiration... for the wrong thing. I have ideas for almost all of my 30kisses, but getting them written out is another matter altogether. I've started most of the good ones, and unfortunately they have the potential to turn out to be long -sort of like how I didn't think about Prophecy Girl, Something to Somebody, and Death and Absolution would be multi-chapter whoppers, but THEY ARE! But if I do want this to be one of my 30kisses, I have to figure out how it could work for a theme that isn't taken, and not make it look like it's part of Prophcy Girl (because one particular scene -no dirty jokes involved, honest!- totally screams Prophecy Girl, and I don't want that). The only problem is, I only have 2 themes that don't have any ideas for them at all, and that's because they're the hardest themes for me: #17 - kilohertz, and #21: violence; pillage/plunder; extortion. This idea I *MIGHT* be able to make work for #21, but it would likely take a very different turn than I intended (and still be Prophecy Girl-esque because of it).

But the very beginning of the fic just makes me giddy because it's so evil. :> Well, in my mind, anyway.

Happy Birthday SvelteRose!



^_^ Party hard.

( Snip-snip! )

Oh, and here's a quick reminder of all the communities I own/help mod:
30kisses - Everyone knows I created this as an alternative to 30_kisses. We have several alternative lists, rules that are different, and several kick-ass mods. I update this one the most frequently.
betasquad - The request-to-join community for anime, manga, and video game fanfic writers. I post all my un-beta'd WDKY chapters here, and I'd love it if more people signed up to join the comm. and the forum so I could have a regular supply of interested editors!
delishidoodle - My icon journal-gone-community. I've just recently updated with a few icons, and hopefully more coming soon.
smrff - The SailorMoon Romantic FanFiction Mailing List's official LJ community. If Aria's Ink can update regularly with fics, why can't we? I say we get WAFF vs. TAFF Day started early this year!
titans_go - Co-modded with baine. But we just haven't started it yet. Why can't I find a decent Teen Titans font!?
weekly_ygo - I'm just the editor. :} But I'm also in the news, every now and then... I hope that post I made about Joey the Passion free online duels makes it into this week's edition.
ygo_extend - I never got around to starting this comm anywhere, but it's meant to be a repository for those great oneshots that should be continued- if not by the original author, then fans with evil imaginations. It's also a challenge community for 1sentence and drabble fics to be fleshed out into something longer.
ygo_goodfic - I co-mod it. Why don't more people bounce their recs our way?
ygo_icontests - I own it-- it's meant to be sort of like weekly_ygo, but for icontests. Many of the icontest owners were impossible to get ahold of, though.
ygo_lyricwheel - I'm going to be restarting the next round soon, if anyone's interested. Any ideas for a theme?
ygo_mst - Meant to be the place where you can be inspired by and write MSTs of Yu-Gi-Oh fics. MSTs being "Mystery Science Theatre" style, which is pure satire and humor. MSTs aren't allowed on FFnet, but they're great learning/teaching tools and good for several laughs. Someone send badfic "recs" over here! We need fodder!
ygo_offtopicon - I'm starting up a new challenge this week, and I hope to keep it regular, this time. We never did finish Challenge #9, which is too bad, but I don't want to let this one die. I have a good idea!

I would appreciate any people interested in helping mod/update these communities. Comment if you can lend a hand at least once a week.

( Snip again-- with a dictionary!? )

Coming up:
* Finish up my Freeman-ASIA scholarship form. Get the hardcopies sent in to IIE, and give the copies to Dr. Lopez in the Study Abroad office.

* Presidential Scholarship? Professor Hirota DID agree, and though it only needs an unofficial transcript from both CCSF and CSUN (I can print both from the web), it also requires Prof. Hirota's signature. -_-; Her office hours are only on Tuesday and Thursday before class, and the thing is due on MONDAY. Geeeeehhh... There goes a potential $5000 down the hole, all because I didn't prepare enough in advance. I could TRY and find her on Monday, but there's just no guarantee. And I refuse to forge.

* WDKY24 - I write more of it last night, and I only have bits and pieces to go, but this is looking to be another difficult chapter. I'd also like to get beta volunteers NOW, so that I don't have to worry about scrambling to find them once I'm actually finished. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

* WikiFic - The Ultimate Yu-Gi-Oh Encyclopedia is slowly but surely being updated. I managed to get through linking the Shipper's List F-M, but there are still tons of pages that need to be created. I'm also trying to get as many pictures as I can, but I'd like people to tell me which ones would be relevant for the pages in question. What information is necessary? I'm also translating pieces of the Gospel of Truth for WikiFic. More members!

* Get my Tokiwa application finished - I need to estimate some dates, or else ask Mom. Then I need to go to the photo place on campus and get a few photos taken, passport-size.

* Blah blah, websites. - I need a new name for what was formerly Animanga Collision. The site will be another eFiction archive, housing all my fics, rants, essays, etc. from every fandom EXCEPT the Azureshipping Yu-Gi-Oh stuff (which will remain on Dragonfayth, just for the sake of things). But what to call it?

* Can't win, will duel - Okay, so I'm no deck-construction maven or anything, but I still play JTP Online even though I can't seem to win any duels. o_o At least in this, I don't have a level to intimidate me into backing off completely, and for the most part, everyone still seems pretty polite even when I lose miserably. I've seen some great combos, and I want to write them down for future reference. A lot of great duelists post combos and strategies on yu_gi_oh; they could find a good home on WikiFic or elsewhere (with permission, of course). Few actual Yu-Gi-Oh fics actually make use of duels! I think maybe I should ask for more advice in constructing a deck that works... though from what I've seen a good Exodia deck is pretty damn good. Joey himself pounded me with one (HEY! He shouldn't have Exodia!) even when I had over 10,000 LP!

Er... yeah. I'm done for now. :)

Ugh, I'm an idiot. The official Idiot, the Captain of the Idiots, the Mascot... ugh. See, I got all excited and hyped up about two measly things this week: one, the possibility of spending more time with Scott by going to Disneyland/Magic Mountain on the opening day. That idea fizzled out pretty quickly, seeing as Scott not only said he wasn't much of a Disney person on July 4th, but the closer we got to the date in question, the less likely I'd be able to switch shifts with anyone who got the day off. So I let it go. This does NOT imply that I wanted to work more than I wanted to be with him... rather, I'd spend more time with Scott if I could and he WOULD try... but like I said before, I'm past the point where I want to make all the efforts.

The other thing was the Harry Potter party. I've never been-- it sounded fun, if a little geeky, but a chance to meet new people. I guess Scott, Baba, and my own inner nag's voices have all got through to me,  because more often than not, I feel pretty lonely without someone to talk to in person about stuff. And my co-workers have proven to be less than companionable, for the most part: J (most likely in jest, but still, it kinda hurt that he said it) said of my reasons for wanting to get off work early today and go to the HP Party (which I stupidly did NOT realize was last night...) -- "Wow! You're a freak!" Maybe it was just a painful reminder of my school (mandatory) years.

Well yeah, so I'm pretty bummed about missing the premiere party (I have good reason for thinking it was supposed to be tonight/last night, and not FRIDAY night; all the Borders emails and such I got indicated July 16-17, not *ANYTHING* about July 15), especially when I had this whole opportunity to dress up/cosplay and maybe even look decently LIKE a character. Instead I came home with HPB (now about 1/4 of the way done) and read for a bit, and promptly passed out after I got upstairs (to read in a "more comfortable" place). There are some biggies-- but not like OMG!!! JKR, HOW COULD YOU!!??!? Not yet, anyway. But the book review in the Daily News said "I haven't cried this much since Charlotte the spider (of Charlotte's Web) died." So I'm steeling myself for all the possibilities.

I've got some banners done for ygo_verse #15's winners, but I missed my own challenge at ygo_awards and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to do the posting of the votes (I think I am, as I'm probably the only one who can see the screened comments, right?) or not. I've got to do some for ygo_offtopicon this week, just because I have some great ideas, and I refuse to come up with 2 fantastic ideas for challenges (last week was "Indiana Jones") and not participate.

Not sure how 'Net will be in SF, though-- 56K, if I'm lucky.

Anyway, I have work tomorrow (er, today) at 9:30, so I'm going to head off now.