azurite: (dango)
Work wasn't bad.

Met Shawn after work; we hung out and snuggled. It was nice.

Found out at my cousin Josh and his dad Jim were in a plane accident (not sure where, though it sounded like Arizona...) on their way to a long-awaited fishing trip. They escaped fine and swam out to a rock (makes me think this was a hydroplane, not a 737 or anything), but the conversation just before I was leaving for dinner with Melina had me scared and pacing-- I hate "phone calls at weird times," because they always spell death for my family-- that's how it was with my sister, my uncle, and countless other relatives.

Had a decent time at Islands with the other NSCS members from Philly; we're going to be at the Clubs & Orgs fair and hopefully plotting ways we can make use of what little we learned there. I was one of the few (if any) that finished the survey post-convention, and I gave the leadership crew there an earful! But I hope it actually does good/helps.

Finished reading my latest book, "Secret Society Girl." It was an incredibly juicy read, very much targeted toward college students, something that I think is a rare find these days. Even better, there's a sequel, "Under the Rose," which is already out! To Borders!

Actually, I'll probably read "Shopaholic and Baby" first. I've already read 2 books in the past 2 weeks (HP being longer than SSG should give me some more credo in saying that), which is a pretty good record, if I do say so myself. :)

Re: computer -- still planning on getting a new one, since 512 of memory just isn't cutting it, and I really don't want to risk anything else breaking by putting a larger module in the one slot I do have working. The question is, when will I have the dough to get said new computer, and what horrible things will I be thinking I could have gotten with said money AFTER it's been too long for me to do anything about it (besides regret it)? At least Erin (cousin) is looking into getting her friend who works at a third-party retailer to see if I can get a good deal on THIS one.

The backup did finish, by the way-- it must have been at least 36 hours though, since it wasn't done until around 6:30 or so AT LEAST. The only error I got was something weird about my Parallels VM, but all the "necessary" files seem to have copied over fine, so I'm not too worried. Even if that is somehow messed up, I can always reinstall and redownload everything on that half, which thankfully is not a lot.

When you can't sleep, what do you do? Any of these:
-Light incense
-Drink warm milk
-Meditate
-Listen to classical music
-Something else?

My usual routines aren't working, so I'm looking for advice in other areas. I know my sleep schedule isn't the best anyway, but trying to change that hour by hour (trying to go to bed at progressively earlier times) hasn't worked too well, either. I haven't fallen asleep at work yet, but it's weird being off the meds that normally knock me out an hour after I've taken them (at night). However, my mood is fine and I don't feel stressed, and that's primarily what said meds were for. I guess if I'm really a lunatic and there's a problem with my sleeping, I should get Lunesta or something.

I do have an eye appointment on August 9th (relatives arriving on the 11th and 18th; wonder if I'll have a stylish new pair of glasses by then?), and I need to make an appointment for my wisdom teeth before school starts on the 23rd (YARGH!)... ugh, medical stuff SUCKS.

I want mochi.

The Dealio

Jul. 31st, 2007 02:22 pm
azurite: (ffx - yuna summons)
Okay, so when I left home this morning at 9:30 or so, my MBP was still backing up to my external HD. Everyone I know is saying it shouldn't take that long, but no one can seem to agree on how long it's SUPPOSED to take. For the record, my HD supposedly has 74.21 GB on it, and the external, a 250 GB Western Pacific MyBook, is attached via USB 2.0, which is SUPPOSED to transfer at a rate of 480 Mbps (Mb, as I learn =/= MB... it's about 8 times SLOWER). All the calculators I found online said it should take anywhere from 1-2.5 days, which it's been by now, I think, but [livejournal.com profile] azhp was saying it should only take a HALF hour, and my bosses at work are all saying it should have been done "by now," but that doesn't tell me much. I hope it IS done when I get home, though.

Anyway, the important things are music, pictures, my website stuff (including fanfics), and my programs. I think I've gotten the majority of those by now... and like I mentioned in my last post, it's not as if the computer is dead or really dying-- I just want to be sure/safe. (Funny how I can have that attitude about a computer, but not about certain other things...) Basically I'll end up a) giving the computer to Grandpa or b) selling it for parts, but where, I don't know. Apparently Apple doesn't do laptop trade-ins or recycling.

As for the new stuff, I can get the new MBP + $200 off a new iPod video, and it's cheaper to use my college discount as opposed to taking advantage of Sean's discount (though the temptation is strong, it's just not enough). I wish there was a way to ditch my old iPod Mini while I was at it, but I doubt that I can stack discounts (10% off a new iPod purchase with the trade-in of an old one) like that. Besides, I might as well keep the mini until it dies, right?

All of that good stuff won't be until mid-August at the earliest, since I turned down Baba giving me an "early" graduation present. I know that might sound stupid, but I'd rather get this with my own money so I have my own personal reasons for taking better care of it IMMEDIATELY. It's supposed to be an investment, not a present and not a toy.

Speaking of money and investments, I'm looking to get back on PayPerPost, but not here on LJ, since it's not allowed. Facebook now has a PPP referral app. which I've added, and since MySpace has blogs already, I might as well make use of that there. So check out both my profiles and I'll let you know once I get things running so we can ALL rake in the dough!

Other than that... only two hours and a half to go (huzzah), and I might be meeting up with Shawn again-- he got himself a car, which means we can probably meet up a lot more often. He finally came over for dinner last night (though he wasn't in the mood for anything hot, so he had CHEERIOS, of all things... actually, I made him a blitz-- he didn't mind it being charred-- and in making said blintzes, I got hot olive oil on my arm and chest, and now I have a nice blister on my left wrist. :P) and we hung out for a bit, played Katamari and FFX and he got me the Sun Sigil for Tidus' Caladbolg! All that's left now is the Saturn Sigil for Kimahri (damn butterfly game!), the World Champion for Wakka (more blitzball...?), and the Mars Sigil for Auron (more monster catching). SQUEE!

Speaking of the butterfly game, does anyone know:
a) if you can beat the Spherimorph again within a certain amount of time? I'm already near the end of the game when I can go to Sin/Omega Ruins, etc.
b) Where the butterflies ARE? I know there are north and south versions of the game... do you have to play them both to get the Saturn Sigil? Are there any maps of the butterfly locations? I can find about five or six in the loop area, near the bird man, but not the seventh one. HELP!? I've read there's a suggested route in the Ultimania Guide (one of the three, anyway), but I only have the Ultimania guides for FFX-2. Even if the FFX ones weren't out of print, I'm pretty sure there are scans of it SOMEWHERE on the 'Net, or someone who DOES have one, but the only place that was supposed to have them is gone. :( BOOYAH! MAPZ!

Fixing my tags right now. I think I should have some sort of tag master list somewhere (I mean besides the front page of my LJ) so I don't keep mangling my system.
azurite: (Just because you want me to.)
Meredith: The default MacBook Pro comes with 512 MB and an 80 GB HD, running the Intel Core Duo. Bother with an upgrade?
Sean: does it have a dvd/cd burner?
Meredith: yes
Sean: then nope
Meredith: :)
Sean: cause you can just back up any anime or large movies you download to dvd
Meredith: :D
Sean: and i can't imagine you needing a blazing fast processor
Meredith: yeah, me the l33t hardcore gamer
Sean: unless you're doing hardcore...fanfic writing
Meredith: WHOO Yu-Gi-Oh Online at blazing speeds.
Meredith: YEAH!
Meredith: HARDCORE SMUT!~
Sean: at 25,000 words per second
Meredith: type that fanfic!
Sean: er...25,000 characters a second
Sean: in any case you don't need it =P

Occasionally, he is funny.
azurite: (the potternator)
So I'm getting all geared up to buy a laptop (a decent one, this time) for Japan. The way it's looking, I'm really leaning toward the Mac Book Pro (white), since it's lightweight, can run on both OSX and Windows (yay for Boot Camp), and is just generally better than anything I've seen so far on the PC Market. Now, at Tokiwa, you don't have TVs in each room, and hell if I buy and/or schlep a TV in/to Japan. I wanted to be able to play my PS2 on my laptop-- because I've never successfully been able to get a PS2 emulator to work, anyway.

But for all my searching, even if I found the right adapter or cables, it looks like the Mac Book Pro doesn't have a video input, which royally pisses me off. I wish there was a way to convert the video output into a video input, but I'm not sure if there is such a thing. Regardless, it looks like I might have to scrap the idea of getting cables and adapters to play my PS2 on my laptop screen; instead, I'm thinking about buying a separate mini-LCD screen for playing my PS2 (slimline) on.

I found this: here, but I'm not sure about it. If anyone else knows of any other ways of playing a PS2 with a small, lightweight screen (or converting the PS2 cords to something that can be input into a laptop without much fuss, better if it's for a Mac Book Pro), I'd really appreciate it. :)

Other finds:
* Amazon.co.uk
It looks like the Joytech 8" one is the way to go (the other one I found had a dinky screen and huge speakers), but where to get it from? And is it worth the price?

Kweh?

May. 1st, 2006 12:26 pm
azurite: (aries)
Baba says I'm supposed to have a "five-check day" (meaning the best day the horoscope doles out) today, and be inspired. The school horoscope told me to watch my finances and consider more education. The horoscope.com horoscope told me that I'll get a romantic proposition that I just can turn down.

I think I'm placing too much stock in horoscopes. I love them to death, but yeesh! Is it bad when I wake up in the morning feeling like I'm going to be busy, stressed, and generally batty, and my horoscopes are BETTER than what I'm expecting?

Also, a rant. )

The whole FFX universe still confuses me. When I first joined [livejournal.com profile] fanthropology, I posted what I thought was the history of the FFX universe. It didn't really belong there, but Fanthropology is a mixed-bag sort of fan community. In any case, no one really corrected me on much, and now I find out new things all the time. [livejournal.com profile] new_spira was advertising today, and I went to their journal and the Wikipedia entry on Yevon, and I was like... wha? I think I need to replay FFX (well, actually, BEAT it. I never did, even though I know what happens at the end) and finish FFX-2 again.

I feel kind of stupid for thinking that Yevon was affiliated with Bevelle originally, not Zanarkand. But I'm pretty sure I'm right in that Bevelle and Zanarkand didn't have their final standoff in the Calm Lands; that was Sin and the Summoners.

Other stuff. Why is it that I can feel tired, tell myself "I'll go to bed soon" and then five minutes turn into two hours, and I'm still awake at 2am? It's bad, bad, bad I say! I never did watch my new purchase (the Indiana Jones trilogy) yesterday; I spent most of the night finishing up my translations of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles new songs, "IT'S" by Kinya, and "Kazemachi Jet" by Maaya Sakamoto. I transliterated AND translated the lyrics, listened to the songs OVER AND OVER to pull the kanji pronunciations from the lyrics... and I finally got it done. They're up for review at AnimeLyrics.com, and will hopefully be used by #yugioh! for their subs of the series.

People are visiting-- actually Dan (uncle) visited yesterday, and my aunt Joyce is here with her husband today; hopefully they're going to settle the ongoing dispute with their insurance company re: the San Diego fires that destroyed their home a few years back. I don't mind Joyce and her husband so much; I don't even mind the annoyance that is their dog, Mokie. But Dan kind of got on my nerves when he insisted that Grandpa didn't need a laptop, that he WOULDN'T carry it around from room to room, and that
a) laptops break more often (not true)
b) they're more expensive (true)
c) there isn't really a necessity for it (not true... necessarily)

Regardless of what, I'm planning on getting a laptop before I leave for Japan. Grandpa can get the computer I'm on refurbished with a new monitor or whatever, or he can get a new computer altogether. Whatever he wants. All I know is, I need enough time to clear my stuff off, because I refuse to be away from my email/fanfics/websites for 6 months. :P

Ooh, and guess what? I came up with a new name for my multi-fandom archive. I can start working on it tomorrow (or tonight, if we miraculously get out early and I don't haul myself to bed early like I should). The name... pure irony, right there.

Epiphany. Hee!
azurite: (Default)
My body picked a lousy time to catch cold and have my period. I've been feeling like I'm walking on another planet all day long-- gravity must be sucking me into the center of the Earth. If that meant a free ride to Japan without worrying about molten magma, I'd be all for it, but somehow I don't think that's going to happen.

I've been so sleepy, I've actually done what I thought was unthinkable-- I not only fell asleep in mythology class (I missed the entire lecture about how Sigmund Freud connects to the Electra complex) but I went to the library afeter class and conked out on the 4th floor near my locker. It was only an hour nap, and I didn't really feel all that better afterward. But I was okay after visual communications; I went and grabbed some lunch with my requisite iced tea, and now all is well. I still feel a bit tingly and weird and out of it, but at least I'm not passing out and drooling all over my keyboard.

ATTENTION SAN FRANCISCO-ITES! Yeah, I'm talking to YOU, Stephanie, Eva, Lindsay, and everyone else whose names I can't remember or whose user SNs aren't accessible to me now! Go sign up for the schools feature here on LJ! It's so quick and easy, you just search for all the schools you've ever gone to/are attending, and it automatically sorts you by username. You can input the years you attended and all that fun stuff, and even see other LJ users associated with your schools. I've already added mine: CSUN, Lafayette (EVA!!!!!), Presidio (EVERYONE!!!) and Wash House (zOMGcleanlaundry!) so you hop to it! Besides, I wanna know who else I know here on LJ that went to any of my schools... *peers*

Also, I wanted to randomly show up in San Francisco from 10/7-10/9, since Scott's going to be there anyway for his NOVA or GEOS interview... not that he'd stay with me or even have time to spend with me, mind you, but if he's going, I could use it as an excuse to go to. I know that doesn't make sense, just trust me on this one. But of course, since it's only 2 wks. before that departure time, tickets are expensive! $214 min. on SWA, and $260 on JetBlue (which, for some stupid reason, only flies from Long Beach to Oakland, and not Burbank to Oakland, even though Oakland is its Northern California major way-station. Durrrr, DUMB!). Hm... wish I could go...

I'm having trouble finding a speech to go to for Story #2 for WRPII. The ones at CalTech already ended; besides, Pasadena's too inaccessible on the weekends. There are supposed to be some Executive Speakers coming here, but I'm not sure if they've already made their speeches in the past week (when they started) or not, and even if they didn't, would I be allowed/able to go? The speech I'm interested in going to is by CBS Studio Center president Michael Klausman, but he's speaking primarily to Cinema, Television and Arts students-- which is in my college, but it's not my department. There's also a speaker from NASA's Mars rover program this Friday at 7:30pm, but that would mean missing Anime Club and possibly my 2nd cousin Joey's (oops, call him JOE now, he is 20!) birthday party-- if he wants to have one. Grr! And the story is due Oct. 5th! What do I do?!

...Hmm, there was a thing downstairs about the opening of the Guitar Research Archives here at the Oviatt, but I don't think that's the kind of speech I'm looking for. Besides, it's rather impromptu and more about performances than information, so I think I'll pass (and spend another hour here on the comp! :P)

Someone on the eFiction board helped me look at a problem Dragonfayth was having on its new modded Authors page; I've been tinkering with some of the mods offered there, and one of the people is named 'Lazuli.' o_O No relation to OUR Laz, right, [livejournal.com profile] smrff!? o_O Anyway, what the new mod does (or is supposed to do) is differentiate between Authors (people who have submitted stories) and Members (people who sign up to read fics and recommend fics, not write them).

I'm sure there are all sorts of other mods that I would like to implement; as they're a lot more feasible for eFiction than InkTank, I'd like people to check out the list over at http://efiction.wallflowergirl.com/forums, under Mod Releases. There are about 3 pages of mods, 2 or so individual mods of which I've implemented already. The full release list (not sure whether this includes all mods and requests, or just completed/tested mods) is located here: http://efiction.wallflowergirl.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=875.

Go check it out, mmk?

So apparently I can only study driver's ed at school (which I like doing, because I don't have the distraction of my MP3s, fanfiction, chatting, the television, my grandparents, food, or my bed) on the WHITE GST computers here in the Collaboratory. o_O I wonder why? Anyway, I'm almost done with Lesson 3 of... er, I think it's 10 or 11. Sure, that's not a whole lot, but I think I'm learning. I've done well on all my quizzes so far, and all the interactive lessons. Still, how do I memorize this stuff? Do I take notes? Print the pages out? ;_; Eeek! There seem to be many laws regarding feet estimates: signal 100 feet before turning, never enter a bike lane more than 200 feet from the turning corner or driveway, and stop at least 15 feet in front of a railroad crossing. How do you estimate that distance, anyway?

Also, if I'm still awake and somewhat coherent tonight, I have a short list of things to do:
(1) Reformat the damn laptop... again. Maybe the clean install will work better this time with more memory?
(2) Add a scene or two to WDKY19. I wanted to end it on a somewhat happy/teasing note, as I have been alternating between zOMG cliffhangers and "aww." moments lately. But I'm also neglecting other characters and relationships in the process, along with some teasers I need to work in, so I think the addition of this one scene I've been thinking about will do the fic good. I might even get doubly inspired.

I'm hoping that if all goes well and I can make it to the CTVA Exec. Speaker, then on Friday I can go to anime club as usual and FINALLY get a DVD from Phil of Adam & Joe Go Tokyo. Various specific Google and BitTorrent searches have turned up bupkis in the way of actual episodes, so it really *is* as rare as Phil said. A right shame, but he better keep his promise this time around and get me the episodes. In the meantime, I'm downloading episodes 3-9 of Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid, Chibi and I are arranging an exchange of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon and Trick, and I need to see Last Order and probably read "The Complete Story of FFVII" or something like that on GameFAQs. Unless one of you l33t gamer guys (*stares at [livejournal.com profile] staplerx, [livejournal.com profile] zigx, [livejournal.com profile] psyjoe_dilandau etc. etc.*) wants to inform me... MMM?

Only 15 minutes till I have to leave for class, so I might as well update this and catch up on my reading for class. The good thing about WRPII is we don't have any pop quizzes or tests based on the reading-- whether or not you read shows in how fast you can get in-class exercises done and in the stories you turn in. So far, so good. I'm glad I made the decision to stay in Salido's class, even if the rest of my body is protesting today. Oy!
azurite: (ctrl-z!)
Okay, I don't know what to do.

Microsoft apparently gave me a "dirty" install when I deleted 2 of the 3 partitions on my hard drive, so I don't want to call them back and do the same thing again.

Dell can't help me install Pro, because I didn't purchase it through them. They also won't send me XP Home without paying $200 first, which is ridiculous, since I need a backup of the OS anyway, and I paid for the frickin' laptop, which should have included the cost of the OS. They can send me an XP Pro CD, but that's pointless, because I already have it-- and they want to charge me $200 more than what I paid!

...So I can do another Image Restore and lose all the programs I downloaded-- whoop de doo, I can download them again. Same goes for the Drivers & Utilities, as they're "all" supposedly available online, including the Owner's Manual and the software that came with it. Of course, it would make my life EASIER if they would send me the CD, but the stupid software support technician I talked to made it sound like online was the only option.

...And then apparently she hung up on me.

-_-; I'm at wit's end here. I've been lied to, transferred no less than five times, referred to a different company, 2 or more different departments, and God knows how many technicians, support "professionals," or whatever other BS they can come up with.

Worse, I have to go to work at 1:30, for approximately 2 straight hours with no break, and I don't even want to think about how busy it is. I'm not stressing as much as I was earlier this week, but my throat hurts, the dirtiness of my room is bothering me, and even though I got all my files off the laptop (everything else that's on there I can move, redownload, or burn onto CD/DVD) I want to break/burn/destroy something.

Or maybe just return the damn laptop and get my money back.


ColorQuiz.com the_sweet took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test!

"Seeks the determination and elasticity of will nec..."


Click here to read the rest of the results.


azurite: (Sinister Duckies)
Why is it every time that I listen to the Spice Girls' "Move Over(Generation X)" I get this complete AMV in my head of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX with splice-scenes of Yu-Gi-Oh interspersed in there? I mean, I can even see certain scenes:

Hold it down, feel the noise, let 'em know it's a fight, pick it up it's alive
Juudai meeting Yuugi and receiving the Hane Kuriboh card, and hearing it "talk" to him for the first time

Next phase, next stage, next grade, next wave
From different duel phases, different duel stages, different dorms, and then the gang getting washed off their rock by a wave, as in the OP theme

Every color, every creed, teach, never preach, listen up and take heed
All the different students and the various dorms (Ra Yellow, Osiris Red, Obelisk Blue) and the teachers

Take the heat, feel the flow, 'cause you're ready to burn and we're ready to go
Juudai's Elemental Heroes-- a fire-based one, and a water-based one. If not that, then someone else's monsters of similar attributes.

You gotta know the rules if you wanna play the game, respect and dedication never riding on the fame
Oh, isn't this one obvious? Rules of Duel Monsters, the revealing of Spells and Trap cards; the use of the Duel Disks. "Respect" in the form of Duelists like Yami no Yuugi and Juudai, and "Dedication" with ones like Manjyome Thunder and Jounouchi. Fame, on the other hand, might be Kaiba. ^^;

^^;; Oooh, I should do it (and at the end, have Pharaoh the Cat paw-print the screen).

Anyway, I called Dell-- and they didn't send the CDs (of course). Turns out the technicians I spoke to aren't allowed to authorize the sending of CDs; only Spare Parts can do that, but according to the lady I spoke to, it's not covered under my warranty, which means I MIGHT have to pay for it. X_X Ugh... And I also apparently did NOT do a clean install with Microsoft, when I deleted those 3 partitions from my original Dell set-up and installed Windows XP Pro on what I thought was a completely blank hard-drive/system. So I have to call them back tomorrow between 7am and 7pm Central, talk to Spare Parts, and get my bloody CDs. -_-; I have a 90-day warranty; if this doesn't pan out by the time I get the CDs (and I will give them no more than a week to get those CDs to me) then I will return the damn laptop, demand my money back, and either buy a better one someplace else, or save the money for something smarter and wiser. I guess...

Did I mention Mom paid for my driverseddirect.com courses? I'm on Lesson 2 of 7 right now, and I can schedule the first of my two-hour behind-the-wheel driving sessions at any time, but I don't know whether I should do that AFTER I've completed all the courses, halfway through, or at certain intervals. Has anyone who's taken a Driver's Ed course with behind-the-wheel done something like this? ^^;; Any advice would be appreciated, because I'm starting to get the heebie-jeebies about this, even if I am excited and determined.

I have no homework for most of my classes; Mythology is an online assignment that I'm sort of working on now; I finished my work for Journalism; there's some simple typing up for Visual Communications; I have a bit of story-writing for Creative Writing (we're getting into drama/plays now), and a skit to make up this weekend for Japanese class on Monday. Also, I might try and finish "I'm Listening" (one of my original fiction pieces) for the Northridge Review, a CSUN literary publication. :> Can I do it before Oct. 1? I have tons of reading/writing to do already...

Speaking of writing, WDKY in particular, here are some interesting factoids )

Oh yeah Mamono I had some ideas for upcoming YOT icontests (aside from the ones we already talked about). Try deciphering these words to see what I mean; otherwise, IM/email me.
* Rehash
* Grimm's Brothers
* iPod
* Gobble Gobble?
*< /insert gobbledygook here >
* [livejournal.com profile] iconfiend100
* [livejournal.com profile] 7sinvirtueicons

Oh, and could you do me a HUUUUGE favor and tag your past entries with:
* Challenges (for the challenge entries)
* Voting (for the voting)
* Results (for the results, whether or not they include banners)
* Banners (for the banners, even if they're posted with the results)
* Extension (for extended challenges)
And anything else that might be applicable?

...I have the feeling I'm forgetting something, but I can't think of what now. At least I get to sleep in tomorrow before I work (for a measly 2 hours), and then, at last! The weekend! More studying to be had on the Driver's Ed front, but that's okay. :) Soon, I'll have the whole house to myself...
azurite: (pgsm mars)
Well, today was better than yesterday, purely because:
a) I didn't embarrass myself in Japanese class and lose credit (when I shouldn't have)
b) I got to see Scott (even though he was rather difficult to get along with, let alone TALK to)
c) I woke up determined to make this day better, and I think that actually made the difference.

The downside is that I'm still very much worried about the laptop that I blew so much money on, and my current sorry state of funds. I also find myself getting bored by everything I do, lacking inspiration or motivation to do the things I want and NEED to do, and generally becoming very cynical about everything around me. I want a challenge, I want freshness. That doesn't mean I want to change my religion, rearrange my room, or start eating an all-sushi diet. But I *AM* trying to be more fit (I signed up for the gym at last and had my first workout session of this week; I would have done another today, but I thought it would be yucky to get all sweaty and then go to class), eat better (note: foods I once enjoyed make me sick now-- that's how healthy my body is!), and do things that will improve my life, even if I don't see some immediate benefit to me.

With the laptop, I'm still waiting on the Drivers and Utilities CD. It's not that I think I'm lacking much in terms of drivers; all the necessary devices work just fine. But I do want to have all the original Dell programs that were likely included in the cost of my laptop (Norton and WordPerfect excluded), and the Owner's Manual. I also wonder if maybe some obscure driver NOT listed in the Device Manager has something to do with why the computer is so sporadically slow to shut down, open up some programs, or download email. Worse, when I try to use Firefox on my laptop now, I get the browser with the title bar of the webpages, but no tabs, no screen-- just white! It's freaking me out, and I don't know what to do.

I'm also waiting on my new Kingston 1 GB memory chip (which I paid a lot for, so it better damn well make a difference), my PS2 (I pray that it got to Dave okay; he hasn't emailed me back yet), and a bank statement, because WaMu online is being a bitch.

I want to have more time to myself, to actually SLEEP, perhaps get some more writing/work (icons!) done, webpage design, and the inevitable CLEANING OF ROOM. The right side of my room is all paperwork; the leftside is all clothes that need to be put away or hung up. ;_;

When I finally DO finish my icon sets for [livejournal.com profile] iconfiend100 and [livejournal.com profile] 7sinvirtueicons I want to pimp them over at the usual places: [livejournal.com profile] goodygoicons and the like. The same applies to my fics; when I release a new chapter of WDKY, I have to remember to post announcements at [livejournal.com profile] setoanzulove and [livejournal.com profile] pro_anzu_fans along with [livejournal.com profile] ygowritersguild (any others?). Same goes for the completed [livejournal.com profile] 30kisses set! X_X I really think I need to make lots of colorful to-do and checklists that are laminated or something.

I really want to be enthusiastic about October and November:

* October 1st is the all-day Clubs & Organizations Recognition Conference. Workshops and free food = fun!
* October 1st-5th, Baba and Grandpa are away in Seattle. PARTAY!
* October 3rd is the Student Development and International Programs (SD&IP) workshop for potential Study Abroad students. I plan on commanding and conquering the competition!
* October 3rd or the 13th I can apply at Red Robin. Hopefully that will lead to a new, more challenging job where I can make friends, get good pay, and learn more.
* October 30th is Daylight Savings Time-- one more hour of sleep!
* October 31st is Halloween/Samhain, my favorite holiday EVAR! If only I could come up with something cool to do/dress up as...
* November 1st-2nd, there are two Leadership Institute workshops I'd like to attend.
* November 20th is Mai's birthday, and I'd like to have several of the late 20s WDKY chapters out by then, when Mai has some pretty big, kick-ass roles.
* November 21st is Scott's 26th birthday, and even if we're not together, he is still technically the best friend I have down here, and someone very dear to me, so I want to think of something special to do/give.

There's cool stuff coming up this month, too. September 25th is both a speech about the miracles of twins (too bad it's at CalTech; I have to find a speech to attend for Story #2 for my WRP2 class), plus a scrapbooking workshop at this lady's house in Granada Hills. September 26th, Eva comes back to SoCal. September 29th, UCLA starts and Alias premieres.

The big kicker, as I kind of mentioned before, is my lack of funds. Food, clothing, treats (manga), and all the computer stuff I bought has added up, and now I don't have the $400 to take a Driver's Ed course, which I really wanted to do before December. So I sent Mom an email (early Xmas present?) and asked her to call me back, but I haven't heard from her yet. I can't ask her over the phone... ;_; If I get the money (regardless of who) I will take and pass that damn course. I want my driver's license, dammit, even if I don't have a car.

A slight update on my 30kisses )

I have to do my [livejournal.com profile] ygo_lyricwheel entry soon, plus there's (as I said before) all those icons... and hey, [livejournal.com profile] rhapsody_dragon, we need to brainstorm more themes for [livejournal.com profile] ygo_offtopicon ne? I have a good idea... ^_^;
azurite: (mer's a maiko!)
Like Mamono, I'm a bit busy but somehow not feeling it. Now that I've resolved my computer issues (I can transfer things from one comp to the other easily; I bought a memory card by Kingston/1 GB), I'm better. Scott's also agreed to go with me to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) museum when he gets back from San Diego next weekend; there's a Star Wars costume exhibit there through December. I also have to get tickets for the King Tut exhibit, because I will hate myself forever if I don't go to that while it's here in LA, even if it is at LACMA.

Tonight was a pretty defining night though, because I have resolved once and for all to get my freakin' driver's license. Seriously, I can't depend on my grandparents for rides, but I hate worrying people (or worrying myself) when I claim that I can do what I did in San Francisco and WALK everywhere. Northridge doesn't have the transportation San Francisco does, which is the big pitfall of a suburban neighborhood like this; it's really a sub-town of LA, it's got its own area codes and zip codes, but it has none of the ease of getting around that a big city does. So I think I'll stick with DriversEdDirect.com and try and take lessons through them. Where I will get a car from is another matter entirely.

Also, a bit of a to-do list:
* More ideas/forums/layouts for the [livejournal.com profile] betasquad forum (the forum directory will be locked on opening, so only people from the LJ community will have the PWD to access it. This will help prevent spam and indexing.)
* Open up the [livejournal.com profile] betasquad LJ community to all fandoms, but lock the membership so people must apply
* WEBSITES!! zOMG, must update Blue Eyes and Apricots, Dragonfayth, and Darkness Rising.
* Get the hell started on [livejournal.com profile] ygo_icontests, and keep track of all the icontests. Maybe enter a few more than I have been as of late...
* Work on my entries for [livejournal.com profile] iconfiend100 and [livejournal.com profile] 7sinvirtueicons
* Work more on WDKY19 ([livejournal.com profile] atlantian_magic? [livejournal.com profile] guardian_kysra? Actually Kysra, you just stay safe. I'd rather dump a bucketload of steamy SxA goodness on you as a THANK GOD YOU'RE OKAY present once you're all safe and sound again.)
* Work on CO7 (I've already finished Chapter 1, and I have a nummy idea for some of the "later early chapters"
* Read all my books (1 for Harper Teen, finish Genpei for myself, 3 sappy modern romances, and 1 new Shopaholic novel in paperback).
* zOMG Story #1 for WRP2, VComm homework + reading, Mythology assignment on Yahoo! Group (?)
* Clean closet/room
azurite: (Anzu's Future)
So I'm a dweeb. I joined [livejournal.com profile] 4husorting and now I'm letting people dissect my character and determine if I'm a Ravendor, a Slytherpuff, or some other bizarre combination thereof of the houses. So far, people seem to think I'm a Gryffinpuff! Sad thing is, I thought each of the 6 house combinations would have one of the four main houses in the "first" position:
Huffle(puff)
Gryffin(dor)
Raven(claw)
Slyth(erin)

But the houses are as follows:
Ravendor (Ravenclaw + Gryffindor)
Gryffinpuff (Gryffindor + Hufflepuff)
Ravenpuff (Ravenclaw + Hufflepuff)
Slytherclaw (Slytherin + Ravenclaw)
Slytherpuff (Slytherin + Hufflepuff)
Slytheriffin (Slytherin + Gryffindor)

So as you can see, Ravenclaw has 2 houses (which is okay), Slytherin has 3 (hey!) Gryffindor has one (one shrot), and Hufflepuff has NONE! Not that I don't like the names or anything, but...

Slytheriffin should be changed to Gryfferin or something. And if you wanted to be fair, each house would get 1 name, and two major houses (for the sake of the HP verse, we'll say Gryffindor and Slytherin) would have an additional 2:
* Ravenpuff (Ravenclaw main - Ravenclaw + Hufflepuff)
* Gryffinpuff (Gryffindor main - Gryffindor + Hufflepuff)
* Slytherclaw (Slytherin main - Slytherin + Ravenclaw)
* Hufflerin (Hufflepuff main - Hufflepuff + Slytherin, though admittedly Slytherpuff sounds cooler)
* Slytheriffin (Slytherin main - Slytherin + Gryffindor)
* Gryffinclaw (Gryffindor main - Gryffindor + Ravenclaw)

Hee.

Anyway, so I manged to transfer almost ALL of my files to my laptop -teh yay! But alas, I still can't get LimeWire or iTunes to work, and I don't know why! I'm praying for the Device & Drivers CD, and maybe I can afford to splurge on a 1 GB Memory Card... the question is $159 from Dell Direct, or possibly more expensive for a name brand? BestBuy.com didn't even carry cards for my laptop!

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day! ARGH!

It be Joe's birthday! Happy birthday, matey! (I would do the giant text rainbow color thing, but I'm at school, so I don't have the prog. that does that.)

Also, I was thinking (completely randomly) to make some HBP banners that say (all sophisticated-like) "JKR sunk my 'ship. But I'm still writing. That's the power of my OTP/OT3/whatever." Anyone want?

And finally, because I love having an excuse OTHER than fanfiction to annoy [livejournal.com profile] rhapsody_dragon I propose this question to her and all of you on my FL, because I love getting opinions and arguing/debating, or just learning about fresh perspectives...

What do you think of shock advertising? By shock advertising, I mean things like the United Colors of Benetton using the picture of a man dying of AIDS on his deathbed, and sticking their logo in the corner. I mean the same company using the nude torso of a male model and stamping his forearm with a Holocaust-like tattoo reading "HIV positive." What do ads like these do to you, make you think about the company advertising, the magazine/newspaper they appear in, the photographer, or the models/people pictured? Why? Is anyone justified using shock advertising, and if so, for what reasons? (For example, does donating to a charity for AIDS relief justify using the image described above for an ad for clothing?)

See the first image here: http://webquiz.ilrn.com/books/levc04q/levc04.06.01.02.png

Time to go to mythology class (Mr. Adams calls it My-thologee)!

Whoot!

Sep. 18th, 2005 09:58 pm
azurite: (kaiba's a ddr freak)
Okay, so my genius has nothing to do with a damn Geek Squad cable, which I have every intent of returning as soon as possible.

All I had to do was type in \\my.ip.ad.dr.es.s into Windows Explorer and it worked! YAY! Of course, it's taking forever because of all the Podcasts (which I never listen to, and for some reason, I have a Reggae podcast I never subscribed for) and music, plus episode 1 of Trick (wanna download the rest of Season 1, but I forgot where to go!).

I also successfully installed iTunes on my laptop, but it never shows up on my screen when I click the icon. I've agreed to the License Agreement, but still, nothing happens. *blink* Whar? I'm a bit relieved to know I'm not the only one who had such difficulties with updating to iTunes 5, though-- it goes to show not even Apple is infallible.

I'm also going to work more on my icon claims for [livejournal.com profile] iconfiend100 and [livejournal.com profile] 7sinsvirtues, especially the latter since 14 icons would be a snap for me. ^^; Note that the icons WILL NOT overlap, so there will be over 114 SxA icons on the web, courtesy of yours truly. I think I ought to start up a gallery of them over at BEA!

I need a smaller size version of the banner I just posted over at [livejournal.com profile] betasquad. It needs to be about 200 x 150 or so, GIF format. Any takers?

zOMGHOLYFUCKINGBATMANS!

I just saw the newest Harry Potter trailer, and WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

October + November = THE SHIZNIT!

That is all.
azurite: (lost my mind/bb5)
Okay, this has been frustrating me and stressing me out since I got the damn thing. I don't want to say I hate laptops or that I can and will return it, because frankly, I don't WANT to.

I managed to perform a clean install of XP Pro onto my HD... it's the only OS I have on my laptop now. But I also lost anything Dell-related on the computer, including the User's Manual (because they don't want to "waste paper" by including a hard copy with their systems anymore), so until I get the CD tomorrow or so (and it better come!), I'm stuck without it.

I want my laptop to be "my" computer, where I can do any of my usual stuff on it without hassle. This means Photoshop, Macromedia Studio MX, Office 2003 Pro, blah, blah, blah. So why is it giving me such a hard time?

* I bought a Crossover Cable (like a Firewire cable, only with "Ethernet" port ends) to transfer files from this comp (the desktop) to my laptop, but I couldn't figure out exactly where to connect it on my desktop. I tried connecting it to one Ethernet port (just above the modem ports), and nothing seemed to happen, and I tried connecting it to the router (which gives my desktop 'Net access and my laptop wireless access), and likewise, nothing seemed to happen. Apparently, I have a firewire port on the back of my computer, but the firewires I saw at Best Buy were upwards of $30, when Phil (Anime Club President and my resident tech support) said he had a perfectly functional firewire he got for only $1! WTF!?

* The past couple of days, I have had NO problems (except at school) connecting to the 'Net. But yesterday after all the brou-ha-ha about the crossover connection, now I can't get online... even though my wireless adapter keeps reporting that the signal strength from my router is excellent. ;_; I don't know what to do! I've tried looking up any settings in Norton I might have messed up, and now I'm going to hope System Restore does me some good.

Once I do get my 'Net connection back, I want to install Trillian and Semagic on the laptop, so I can actually communicate with people and get some "work" done when I'm not here at home. (EDIT: Looks like my idea to do System Restore worked. But for some reason, Windows Messenger keeps showing up in my taskbar, even though I disabled it in Administrator Tools/Services. Wha?)

On top of that, even though I have no intention of using the laptop for gaming of any sort (even dueling!) I do want to upgrade the memory to get everything to run faster, and hopefully, so things don't freeze. I tend to use several programs at once, and if 512 MB of RAM isn't enough, then I can upgrade. Sure, it'll burn a hole in my pocket (in addition to everything else I've been buying lately, plus stuff I still "need" like a new PS2 controller and memory card), but I can justify it by calling it an "investment." Catch is, "tech support" thinks I should go name-brand, like Corsair or Kingston. I don't care either way, because the PNY chips in the desktop (2 of them; brought it from 256 MB to 756 MB)

Less stress... less stress... less stress...

WDKY19 is sorta-kinda coming along. Atlantis? Kysra? I'm going to need to borrow your steam showers and your Hentai Goddesses for this one. Oh, and if you wanna come along and help me force Seto and Téa into a Very Awkward Situation, please, please, attend! (Truthfully, it's the later-20s chapters that have me all excited. I can't exactly say why, but certain people will be getting their asses kicked, and I'm not exactly thrilled to be thrilled about it.)

In the WDKYverse, what are the Top 5 things you can't see Seto or Téa doing, under ANY circumstances or twists of fate? (and be realistic here, people, don't say things like "getting a sex change" or some weirdness like that.)

Oh, and I wanna finally get around to opening up the betasquad forums to the public... but I have some last-minute tweaking to do:
(1) Semi-layouts, based on the votes of people... who haven't really been voting a great deal, or even according to instruction (I really want one that's all "shiny" like the Apple website!)
(2) More sub-forums, suggestions, etc.?
(3) Making it a subdomain or something, so it's easier to access.

...Le sigh, I have to catch up on homework, now.
azurite: (lost my mind/bb5)
20 random facts meme )

So I called Dell up again today, and it turned out they never sent the XP Home and Drivers & Utilities CD they said they would. The guy I talked to said they would send it today, and I might get it by Monday, but all the same, I didn't technically need the CDs, because Inspirons have Image Restore that reset the computers to their original factory settings. I did that, and I called up Microsoft... and with them, I did a full system erase and replace, putting XP Pro on my computer. I installed everything that would have been pre-installed, like Norton, plus my new programs: MS Office Pro 2003, Studio MX 2004, Firefox, Thunderbird, AdAware, SpySweeper, and Spybot S&D. The only thing is, when I tried to run SpySweeper and when I tried to get the new definitions from AdAware, the programs froze... which is part of the same problem as before.

It's not that I have too much stuff on there, or that my computer is incompatible with XP (unlike my neighbor Larry said; he doesn't know WTF he's talking about), it's just... *shrug* I dunno, maybe a conflict with Norton? But I don't think Norton alone is enough.

Anyway, it looks like I'll be using a shitload of CDs to burn everything from one comp to the other (and that's just My Documents folder with my work, sites, music, videos, and stuff; I haven't even gone into the Program Files yet for Adobe PS Brushes or other settings and extras). Alas, but the File and Transfer Settings Wizard doesn't like me, and even though the two computers share a network, I don't think I can move things via the 'Net or something. Unless someone knows how-- enlighten me?)

Ugh, I have to wake up at 6:30am tomorrow to leave by 7am to get to work by 7:30 to open and leave by 11:30am, even though I HAVE NO CLASS. I'll come home, sleep, maybe transfer some more files, and if I'm lucky, pick up my Jamba Juice #111 pay stubs and tips, dogsit for an hour or two and THEN go to anime club. Teh yay, what an exciting week this has been.

I stayed home today, FYI, because I was stupid enough to eat another Eggo Waffle last night before bed. I have thusly determined that it is the waffles giving me indigestion (*wails* I LIKED EGGOS!) and so I will not eat anymore. On the bright side, Baba bought Cherry Blintzes, so I'll have those for breakfast tomorrow morning. :)

I gotta try and catch some Zs. G'night.

P.S. Forget Bakura bugging me for a role in WDKY, Dartz won't leave me alone. ;_; WHY, WHY, WHY?
azurite: (iconicallyhales - Kaiba's compensating)
Leather pants on a hot day =/= a good idea.

Believe me, I know. I had a feeling it would be like this-- yesterday at 7pm it was still 93 degrees. We're supposed to hit the low 100s today. Yeesh. And it looks like the whole idea of feeling empowered (and making Scott drool) didn't work as I planned, anyway.

I got a "you look nice" and that was about it. Maybe I'm trying too hard? Or maybe HE'S trying to hard to stop himself from saying what he really thinks, because that would be "crossing the line." Heh, that's what I'd like to think, anyway. Scott didn't even have time to eat lunch with me or anything; on Mondays and Wednesdays, he's got Aikido (something tells me he'll drop it, just like he did his other kineseology class last semester) at 11am, 10 minutes after we get out of Japanese.

Speaking of Japanese, it's great to be in a class environment again. I know the material, it looks easy enough-- but like anyone else, I'm prone to getting confused a bit. Besides, there's a few native speakers in the class (I don't know why they were allowed to register, but the teacher's letting them stay, so long as they take different tests).

I bought my Japanese class notes (separate binder; looks like I won't need that section of my blue binder after all. I might still need my folder, but probably not the cute notebook I bought in SF's J-Town. Alas!) and my Greek Myth book; that class starts at noon and gets out 10 till one. I then have a half hour to make a lunch out of $6, and then I work from 1:30-4pm at Jamba CSUN. I made sure to bring my white tee and no-slip sneakerrs, but I wonder if these leather pants will make working any easier. Will they put me on reg, or somewhere else?

My laptop (the new Dell Inspiron 6000) should be coming around Sept. 6th. YAY! Then I'll buy the Office Student Edition (2003) from the bookstore, and the Windows XP Professional upgrade. It should only be $180ish if I plan it right. I was thinking about buying the official Adobe CS2, but... it's over $200. I really only use Photoshop. If anything, I'd want the Macromedia Suite 2004, because I use Dreamweaver, I KNOW how to use Flash, and Fireworks is pretty good in its own right. I don't know, what do you think? I get a student discount on most everything, but I aleady spent $1200 on the laptop and a couple hundred on my textbooks, and I still want to have money to travel later this semester ($555 Tokyo round-trip. I wonder if that's a tour or just airfare?).

Today's Sundial-- first thing on the first page in the top right corner was a mention of Ben's death. Not what I wanted to read first thing when I opened the paper. To make matters worse, I've seen 2 Ben look-alikes-- one at a sushi restaurant yesterday with Erin and Joyce (Erin took off for South America today for her 2 weeks left before UCLA kicks back into session), and then earlier today as I walked into (where I am now) the Collaboratory. ;_; I don't know why this is haunting me so much. And his full obituary's going to be in the paper tomorrow. *sigh*

Oh yeah, well, in other DISTRACTING news, I read PC Magazine's new review of the Windows Vista (formerly known as code name: Longhorn) OS, Beta 1. It looks... interesting. Truthfully, it looks like they ganked the Mac "shiny" aethestic, and Microsoft is using a rendering system known as Aero Glass. Security is the big beef with this OS, and not super-hot features. The WinFS search tool isn't included with the Fall 06 release of the OS as of the current news releases, but the search tool that they have in the Start Menu should work just as well, thanks to the implementation of metadata and additional search features (rating, etc). I wonder whether it'll even be possible to upgrade to Vista though. I know they're making a 32 and a 64 bit version, but the Aero system will require a nice graphics card, support for ActiveX9, and heck knows what else. Will my Inspiron fit the bill next Fall?

Oh yeah, Internet Explorer 7. They just might convert me back if it's as good as they say. Tabbed browsing (FINALLY!), super security features, and everything rendering as it should...! Firefox only rarely gives me problems, like when a page has embedded Quicktime. I went to the Firefox extension website and downloaded the Quicktime plug-in from Apple, but Firefox just isn't reading it. I manually installed it and everything, but if I go to a page with a Quicktime plug-in (e.x. music playing in the background as with the "What is Yu-Gi-Oh?" page, or Joe's Gradius music video on his MySpace page) nothing happens. I have to save the file or open it in IE/Avant. How annoying.

Anyway, I might as well catch up on some Friends' entries while I'm here. I'll leave in 15, and I hope my Mythology teacher is as good as the reviews said. :P I'd also like to start meeting some people and making friends, so that a) Scott and Ben aren't the only things on my mind, and b) Friday does not become the sole highlight of my week.

January 2016

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