MILES to GO || before I sleep

H'okay. Sho.

With the help of everything_lj (because with a name like that, do you expect any less?) I managed to get my lovely corkboard LJ layout (designed by stellastars) functioning and looking the way I want to. I decided to tinker with it just to try and add a site meter, to see more about how many visits I get. But because LJ is annoying with its restrictions on embedded media (e.g. Flash, JavaScript), I couldn't use the usual tools, like the Izea Toolkit. But Sitemeter offered a JavaScript and regular HTML tracking image, which suits me just fine. I replaced the syndicated module (that'd be the one with the RSS/Atom icons) and made sure my title images were displaying, and viola! Lovely layout. :) I kinda miss the days when I used Greymatter and could design my own layout (I still have my old one featuring Emily Strange), so I might end up starting another blog (hopefully something a bit more streamlined than this... LJ is just sort of my "dump" repository, where I post about everything) on seventh-star.net.

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Then today, Juana, her sister, some of her friends, and Melina and I all went to L.A. Family Housing in North Hollywood, where we worked on Valentine's Day cards The original plan was to make Valentine's mail boxes, but they ended up too small... I think the cards were a much better idea, in the end, as more kids came and the cards offered more possibility for creativity. We stayed longer than we thought and made a HUGE mess, but we cleaned it all up in the end and had some very pleased kids. I think today was the first time in several years that I got so artistic that I actually had ink (from markers and stuff) all over my hands again. I used to be covered in colors in elementary school, so it was rather nostalgic for me.

And now, for some random lists:
Like

* The huge variety of applications on Facebook; I'm always finding more that are cool

* Sarah Brightman's new album "Symphony," but most especially the track "Fleurs du Mal," which (oh you're gonna hate me for this) has helped inspire a new arc for "Eternal Dimension," the third and final installment in the "What Doesn't Kill You" series. FYI: it starts with WDKY (36 chapters), continues with "Circle of Seven" (not sure of the exact chapter length yet), and ends with "Eternal Dimension." And that's all tentative at the moment, because there may very well be a new Yu-Gi-Oh series coming out, called Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 5D's, though I have no idea what the 5 D's are. -_-. But GX (though I haven't really seen more than a few episodes of it, due to the cringe-factor) is most likely going to have its role to play in the WDKY-verse, so why not this new series, assuming it's halfway good and gets picked up and dubbed like GX did?

guardian_kysra, it's all your fault, you know. I like SB so much now that I not only watched her on Martha Stewart's show the other day (she performed "Storia d'Amour"), but I actually sat through the crazy opening sequence of "Pasíon," the Spanish soap-opera that SB sang the opening theme for-- in a duet with a countertenor whose voice sounds... very feminine. Plus, I got the entire Charmed: Book of Shadows OST because it had "Free (Swiss American Federation Remix)," and then the Free EP, which includes the song I'm listening to... but I wonder, which version is the one SB performed in the music video on LAUNCH! Yahoo? Have I mentioned I love remixes?

* The 795 colors that Diana's going to be featuring in Sailor X v2.08. She's already done amazing work (and been updating like a fiend) with 2.07, having just added the skirt stripes and collar stripes again. The ideas are plentiful, the colors almost endless! It's an absolute joy to take every weird senshi idea I've ever had and plug it into Sailor X... while not every single option is available yet, they almost certainly will be soon. Going back into the nerdy realm of Sailor Moon (and Otaku Senshi) has never been so fun! BTW, if you haven't yet checked out the official Sailor Xv2 DeviantArt account (or mine, where I post some of my creations), then look-see: Sailor Xv2 - me!

Dislike
* Having to send invitations to ANY amount of friends just to see my results for a quiz on Facebook

* Crappily-written quizzes, e.g ones with predictable answers, a limited set of answers (e.g. only 3 or 5), or terrible spelling/grammar (this applies to any quiz, anywhere). Actually, this applies to everything. I don't "relate" to anyone who can't be bothered to capitalize properly, use complete words (FYI, "ur" is not a word, unless you're talking about the ancient Mesopotamian city), or put apostrophes where they belong.

* Having to still be updating 30kisses for the New Year's 2008 Purge. Even having another mod on the team doesn't seem to have helped... is everyone just always busy at the same time? I hate feeling like I'm doing everything on my own.

* Not feeling organized enough! Argh, too much paper! Too many files! Everything, too complicated! (I suppose I should consider it a blessing that I ran out of paper for my printer. At least... I think I did.)

* Still having not heard from anyone at RPGClassics about my application to make the Star Ocean 3 shrine there. Not even on the forums. Hmph.

* Figuring something out moments after you resigned yourself to having done the best job you could do and "to hell with it." I did that with my first homework assignment for RTM 330, my first online class. I missed the whole "APA requirements" for assignments (or is it only papers?). Oops! I wonder if the professor will cut some slack for the first assignment? Then again, she seemed to have mentioned somewhere that the discussion questions aren't even graded, but I can't find out what really is graded, besides projects (like a genealogy paper). It's harder than I thought, keeping up with WebCT... maybe I ought to set it as a homepage this semester?

For all the greatness I've got in getting into Tokiwa, I think I'm lacking in the creativity and/or motivational departments at the moment. I seriously need a new layout for my LiveJournal. I hate using some rehashed one ganked from some site- every time I've found one that I liked (rare) and managed to get it up, something's gone wrong. Too wide, too narrow, this not showing up, that not showing up...

...I wonder if I could commission someone? Maybe for about $10? (I'm flexible, but I'm thinking base price, here. If I come up with colors and graphics...) Any takers? (Mer <-- LAZY!?)

GRR! I like the Smooth Sailing Layout and want to customize it to my liking. I've been rummaging through the few tutorials on s2smoothsailing and found myself at the_lj_reboot, but even with resources, there's not much help there for me to "reboot" my LJ into anything spectacular. I don't even have any ideas as to colors, artwork, fonts, etc. for the journal... I've tried about four or five things now, and nothing "hits" me. I've even gone through premade layouts on my comp and thought about adapting them.... but nothing.

Same goes for my websites, which an unusual amount of people have been asking about. I pay $6/mo for the service, I damn well better upgrade everything and make it functional and look good. I should add a counter to all the pages, too. I just wish I could buy bottled inspiration or something.

Well, so Passover wasn't too much of a bomb. Dad and I sorta got along by the end of the week; no more explosive and/or embarrassing fights, but there's still a lot I can't agree with him on, and think he's utterly immature for. Scott really was my godsend; he even helped paint the rec room bathroom when the fumes got to be too much for me. There's still more fixing-up to do-- the air filter in the main hall needs to be replaced, and the mirrors and paintings in the rec room bathroom need to be hung up again. We also need new socket and switch plates, and I need new luggage (Target EMBARK series in Lilac, only $30!) Plus the kitchen's a right mess, and I'd like to move the computer upstairs to my room-- just to test it out. I need to put clothes away, organize my desk, blah blah...

I think I said 3 weeks ago that I'd be done with WDKY24, and it's not there yet. I feel rotten about it, too, but I'm still lacking in inspiration, even if I seriously want to get to the parts BEYOND 24 (AUGH, THE BEST PARTS!) and have the "outline" written for 99.9% of the chapter... of course it's the toughest parts that I keep skipping and not writing. But writers never make promises! :P (Except for implicit ones)

Ah, as for Tokiwa, I'm supposed to go from Mid-September to late-January. Missing Hanukkah/Christmas would be a big bummer to me, but since tuition/air fare/etc. is free, I might be able to swing a plane ride home and back... if I get financial aid. Why would they award me financial aid if a) I won't be at CSUN, and b) Tokiwa's tuition for me is free? Same goes for the Presidential Scholarship... what is the point of having the priority registration, the Matador Bookstore discount, etc. if I go to a school with FREE tuition? That's not to say I won't work on my project for the Scholarship-- better to try and do it IN JAPAN like I originally hoped; maybe some of my professors there can help me better understand female writers of their country. But financial aid is how I survive... even if I would get a stipend IN Japan for teaching conversational English, how would that measly amount help me for nearly 6 whole months? ;_;

Dad never got me a birthday present. :P So I treated myself at Border's, using 2 coupons: I got 15% off Carmen Electra's Vols 4 & 5 of her Aerobic Striptease (Lapdance and Hip Hop. Teh yey!) and 25% off the Back to the Future trilogy. I wanted to get Indiana Jones, but they didn't have it-- not in Action/Adventure, and not in the Boxed Sets area, even though the computer said they had it in stock, and I had the guy (who was a jerk) check the back room. :P

And now... it's Back to Back to the Future. I'm too bored to just keep sitting here. Maybe I'll eat some pie now.

Is there such a thing as a WIDE, custom-pretty layout? I have a few codes from createblogs.com, and _premadelayouts (which gave me my most recent hassle, detailed in my last post), but so far, I need a relatively WIDE area for actual entries (I have a 1024 x 768 resolution), and either a floating, top, or narrow "sidebar" area for other links and such. I'd like to have every user's icon associated with their entry, and on MY main journal, to have every one of MY custom icons (I have close to 100 of them; if only the default icon is displayed, it sort of ruins my fun) displayed with my entries as well.

Is this too much to ask? I just switched from Premade's "Grunge" to CreateBlog's "Butterfly," but since the first one didn't display my Friends Page, and the second one was too narrow, I just switched back to my S2 style Flexible Squares, which uses an image and background that ceruleansan put together for me. But I'd like some variety! Some spring-time! Some Japanese-flowers or a kimono design or something COOL! ;_; I've had this layout for so long, I need some SPICE!

...HEEEEEEEEEEELP.

Also:

Small, I know. Sorry. Squint if you have to, or copy-paste and zoom in.

I'm trying to replicate that pattern so that it repeats seamlessly, but I can't, for the life of me, figure out what the base pattern is. I know for ONE diagonal line, all you have to do is make a 4x4 grid with two of the diagonal boxes colored in, and the other two left white/transparent. But how do you do it when you have TWO pairs of diagonal lines, and between the second pair, there are MORE diagonal lines connecting them, chain-style?

o_o; Help!

Hey, do you guys remember The Rose Chronicles? The semi-epic fic I sorta-kinda started writing a while back, based on the Yu-Gi-Oh PS2 Game "Duelists of the Roses," and it got me into this whole wonderful history kick with guardian_kysra? Well, one mention of the game on playthedamncard had me trying to play it again (I sucked, of course), but now I wanna get the fic truly up and running... heck, I have the biggest chunk of Chapter 2 written, and a good piece of Chapter 3. But before I post either of them, I want to get the layout done.

Now, I originally wanted DIV layers with a special Java-powered scroll code on the side, so someone could hover over either the White Rose insignia or the Red Rose insignia and scroll up or down. Problem with that was, the code never really worked, and IE users will constantly be asked if they REALLY want to run this "supposedly dangerous" content. Blather to that.

I decided to nix the insignias and try to just use a DIV layer with scrollbars, but for some reason the layout is still all crooked (even though I slice it perfectly in ImageReady and edit it in Dreamweaver). So I'm thinking I can just take the whole layout apart and try again, this time using frames, iFrames, or a table.

What I need is help. Someone with an hour or two of free time and expertise in this area, PLEASE, PLEASE help me. I want this page to go up, but nothing I do seems to help. I have tried everything.

And if you're into the fic series, there's a reward in it for you-- I'll send you the 2 chapters I have not yet posted. It's a fair trade, right? You help me get the layout I want for this fic working, and you get an advance peek at the next 2 chapters! :) (If you're not a fan and you still want to help me, I'll shower you with praise and anything else I can pull off.)

Oh hm... and I think I want icons for my fic series. TRC is just too good to resist, and Kysra *DID* do some fanart for it... *thinks*

Okay, so this Dear Diary layout simply isn't doing it for me. I've tried adding customizations, tweaking the layers, anything, everything, but the 4 simple things I wanted to change are apparently un-tweakable or invisible or written in Greek.

mklutz, didn't you do free layouts for Laz? *puppy eyes* If not, anyone want to recommend me to some places with layouts-- preferably with mostly-hassle free setup? (Free is always best, too, considering I already paid $150 for the damn Permanent Account). So far, I haven't found any pre-made ones I like-- mainly because most of them claim to be layouts when all they are is a simple user icon, a header image, and some color adjustments. THAT, anyone could do with little to no code over riding. I'm talking about full-fledged layouts with CSS and DIV HTML (which I have yet to understand). And what if I have a nice layout that I want to use-- how do I convert it for use to LJ? Come on people, help me out here? *wails* I'm a lost l'il kitty...

In a nutshell:
* Where to get pre-made LJ layouts (code and images)
* Where to get instructions on converting existing layouts to livejournal
* Where to get instructions on how to make your own layouts (code and images) for LJ, whether S1 or S2.

Oh, and shadow_reality: YOU. GO HERE. NOW. Thank me later. :)

Hey, guardian_kysra, how do you use Deviant Art? I'm a bit lost with all the buttons and areas and... well, help? Anyone?

I'm kind of bored and lost and feeling rather uncreative right now --be it fics, layouts, or even icons. ;_; Alas! Tomorrow I get to go B2S shopping. Now I oughta clean my room. :P