MILES to GO || before I sleep

Okay, so WikiFic's spam problem is a LOT worse than I initially thought it was. I implemented a captcha requirement for all new accounts (using ReCaptcha, no less, not just some lame funky image captcha, or numeric captcha!), but poseur accounts are still getting created.

The spam blacklist isn't helping with the fake pages (which relate to diet stuff or new jobs), and in trying to delete the fake pages after properly installing Bad Behavior 2 and the Bad Behavior 2 Extended extensions, I myself have gotten blocked!

( Fixed??? )

ETA: Fixed... sort of. Turns out the issue was with 2 lines of whitespace after the closing PHP tag, which has since been fixed. Bad Behavior is now working, along with the BB2 Extended Special: page, but I've got a truckload of spam pages in the Recent Changes history, which I'm stuck deleting individually, by hand.

The problem is, there are these lines for including a Database Functions file:

include_once( 'includes/DatabaseFunctions.php' );

that are repeated, and I think that's causing the cleanup.php script to fail with the above error. I don't want to render Bad Behavior (which has that line in it, in LocalSettings.php and in somewhere else...I thought the bad-behavior-mediawiki.php file, but maybe since I updated it to the latest version, not?

ETA: Actually, it's because one version of the line was formatted like so:

include_once( './includes/DatabaseFunctions.php' );

(notice the "./"), but when I changed it to:

include_once( 'includes/DatabaseFunctions.php' );

the script ran just fine.

However, I'm still stuck with a truckload of spam pages that have already been created, as well as pages caught by the cleanup script and blanked out.

Anyone know of another way to delete (not just blank-out, as I've been doing with the Spam Blacklist cleanup.php script) pages en masse? It seems like these are all on a specific date, and it'd be nice to have an extension that allows me to tick boxes of pages created on a specified date and delete all the pages I check off, or something like that. Anyone know of something like that, or similar?

So I've got a few projects on my plate at the moment, almost all of them involving Photoshop. I'm trying to come up with a new layout for my domain so that all the subdomains (like Blue Eyes and Apricots, Azurelist, Dragonfayth, etc.) are all accessible. Plus, I need to have things like Resource/Credits pages, a Contact Me page, etc. I need to come up with a reasonable structure for everything.

My ideas were...
* Woodcut-style (like a Fleur de Lis; I've seen this in several places, but I'm not sure how to develop a few custom shapes or brushes and turn it into a whole layout, even if it is just a "portal" page)
* Jeweled stars (tried it; it wasn't successful with the NM Smith tutorial I tried, but a lot of Blending Options seemed to do the trick... now, what to do with it?)
* Tattoo-style-- like Ed Hardy. (I have no idea how to even embark on this. It's obviously got to do with the airbrush tool, but I don't know where to begin.)
* Retro Pop Art (This is inspired by the Lymabean "Spread the Love" contest logo. I have most of the brushes necessary to create something similar, except for the "retro" striped swirls.



I'm talking about the swirl-like shapes behind the letter E (of "Love") and behind the circles on the left (near where it says "Spread The...") Any idea where to find brushes like that?

Also, does anyone know how to make letters/shapes POP out like they do in the header? Is it just a matter of drawing a bunch of lines and having proper perspective?

And in the meantime, I'm going to separate out BEA's new "Media" page, add some embedded fanart via DA (don't know how much longer fanart's even going to *be* on DA, but...), and HOPEFULLY work on some fic.

Yesterday I did some adding to WikiFic for Yu-Gi-Oh! soundtracks/scores, but now I'm not sure if BOTH albums I bought in SD or just one is bootleg. I certainly didn't consider the possibility when I bought the things (usually I'm pretty good at spotting those kind of things, but these looked totally legit!)... yeesh. So, if you own some legit Yu-Gi-Oh! OSTs and have some free time, care to put up the track listing on WikiFic? I'll be able to grab the lyrics and take care of things like the kanji/furigana and the romanization.

The reason why WikiFic's been practically dead the past... oh, very long time is because I'm always the one stuck on the backend trying to do everything. And let's be honest, a 22-year-old girl who is NOT majoring in Computer Science is probably not going to be helped as quickly as some major entity like Wikipedia on the MediaWiki-l mailing list when it comes to tech support issues and basic understanding of syntax.

Long story short, I'd love to make other people SysOps, but maintaining WikiFic goes beyond that; I'm not really sure how much my server can do, and I'm frankly not willing to shell out the amount for a dedicated server that probably CAN do all the bitchin' things that Wikipedia and/or Wikia can do. I wanted my own space so that I could control it how I wanted, and not be subject to the ads, multiple regulations, and freak cleanup squads that other Wikis have.

WikiFic has proven to be a great resource, but not too many people seem to be keen on helping out with it. Thankfully, it hasn't been vandalized recently, and there are people still adding articles, but not a whole lot of people who adhere to the rules. Wikis are monstrous projects, requiring TEAMS, not individuals.

There's always a million things on my plate when it comes to WikiFic; right now, I can't get styles working the way I want (likely because I don't understand Wiki syntax), templates love to kick my ass-- I'm missing a bunch of them-- and SVG images aren't rendering properly and I know it's not a browser issue, because Wikipedia's and such images display just fine. I don't really know how SVG images are supposed to work anyway, and while I know I have the GD library enabled, I don't know where to go from there. There should seriously be a "Wiki for Dummies" website or something...

Anyone who wants to help or can point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it. Otherwise, WikiFic will probably just sort of fester in the corner collecting dust until I check it again someday... truthfully, getting Epiphany up is my #1 priority, followed by maintaining my FLs, Dragonfayth, and my LJ communities. I'm still working on the damn 30kisses purge, and I don't know whether the other mods are alive, dead, busy, or working.

It's frustrating both having to rely on others and to be stuck doing something yourself, and I can't seem to tap into the effective middle ground. Thus, I think I'm just going to take my leftover Chinese food and watch Sailor Moon for the rest of the evening. Ciao.

Hmm, some quick updates:

-Working steadfastly on WikiFic. Thanks to Platonides over at the wikimedia-l, I got the Infoboxes working, but I still need to grab a BOATLOAD of templates from Wikipedia to get everything looking nice-- for example, a lot of flag-related graphics and templates. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated-- it's really just a lot of C&Ping. You do need to have a WikiFic account though, but it takes all of 5 minutes to sign up and get started.

-Working on creating "Ultimate Armor" for my party in FFX, and I'm discovering few people think Break HP or MP limits are useful at all-- which means the armor I already created for Auron and I think Rikku is fairly useless. I've never gotten to the point where I actually fight SIN (I keep dying whenever I fight those Behemoth-type monsters inside Sin, as I recall from the last time I got this far, on my old memory card which is now lost to the ages), so I hope that by capturing more monsters and leveling up (to get the items I need for the Ultimate Armor), I'll be able to survive Sin.

-iWork and iLife have both been updated to '08! That better mean when I get my new laptop, those are installed... since I don't know what I'm going to do with my old laptop (this one), I'm not sure if I should get the family pack ($20 more) of either version yet. I know 5 Macs, but the question is, should I really give "free" iLife and iWorks '08 if I do spend the extra $40 on the two Family versions of the pack?
Here are the nominees:
(1) Mine
(2) Mine 2, possibly to be given to Grandpa, sold to Mom, or sold for parts
(3) Erin's
(4) the iMac at work in the Walk-In Center (which is a bit old)
(5) Shawn's

Speaking of the boyfriend, he's fabulous- complimentary, has a wonderful sense of humor, doesn't mind games (I got him to play both Bubble Bobble and Scrabble tonight-- hah!), and we both vented about work to each other without any awkwardness or hard feelings. He's also super-thoughtful, though I can't really say how. ^_~

I really ought to be getting to sleep now though... for one, my tooth has been hurting pretty bad since this morning or so (I somehow doubt it's mental, no matter how much I wish it were), and the Orajel I got at Rite Aid earlier is totally numbing the right side of my face. I also have to walk to school tomorrow since Baba & Grandpa have a doctor's appointment (I hope it's not too hot or too gloomy tomorrow morning). Two more weeks and three days till my first surgery... school starting, and who knows what other mayhem!

I think I just threw up a pill. For the first time in... god knows how long, actually. When I was younger, I used to be afraid of swallowing pills. I don't know why, exactly, but I hated the idea of something WHOLE and not chewed up or liquid going down my pipes. One time I was horribly sick with a fever, and the only remedy was in pill form. Dad had to SIT on me (keep in mind, he's 140+ lbs. and I've always been a feather-weight) and pour grape juice down my throat while he kept the pill in my mouth with his finger (and I hate grape juice now, too, in case you're wondering). I don't think it worked, but Dad refused to let me out of my room unless I took the pill. So I took the juice, the pill, and stared at myself in the mirror until I could swallow it. And I did, and ever since then, it hasn't been such a big deal.

Admittedly, I'm taking more meds lately-- but only 2 are pills, and one is so small, I hardly ever notice it. The other one... well, it's no horse pill, but it's no cute Flinstones vitamin, either. And I usually take a handful of water (as in, I cup my hands under the faucet and drink) and knock back whatever I need to. No big deal, right?

Except tonight, I was sitting here reading email when I felt this choking sensation, like the pill hadn't gone down all the way, and where it had gotten to -midway through my esophagus, if that- wasn't a good spot. It felt like the pill exploded, and the powder got all over my throat, and it STUNG like hell. So I tried to wash the feeling away with water, but after just a few sips, I kept choking until I threw up.

... :( Great. It still burns, too. And this had to happen AFTER I brushed my teeth. How's that for irony?

And to top it off, when I called the Kaiser dermatology department, the doctor with my biopsy results was busy with a patient (as usual), so I couldn't get them. And even though the receptionist told me she'd have him call back, I didn't hear from him, and probably won't until Tuesday.

That's part of the growing list of mishaps to start out my summer-- this morning I went to the Saturday morning prep session for the Upper Division Writing Proficiency Exam, only to find all of Bayramian Hall (where it was supposed to take place) LOCKED DOWN AND CLOSED. I called the campus police, talked to people in the library, looked for signs or a single open door, talked to the custodians... NOTHING. After an hour, I got fed up (along with the rest of the would-be prep people) and left. When I got home, I sent a polite-but-scathing email to the UDWPE, and they told me there was a "miscommunication" because a workshop (which is what I called it a few times) is not the same as a "prep session," and had I/we (meaning the other people that had shown up and waited just like me-- and there were a fair number of us) signed up in the office (instead of over the phone, as I did, relying on the office's oh-so-kind receptionist), we would have seen the appropriate date, time, and location. I don't know if that means the prep session DID take place someplace else, but I was pretty much relying on what I'd been told BY the people staging the whole event. I woke up extra early for it, too. And since I wasn't the only one to have made that mistake AND the campus police said they had NO record whatsoever of anything starting at 9:30am *OR* being called an "Upper Division Writing" anything, I don't think I was at fault in the slightest.

The UDWPE lady who got back to me said she'd forward my message to the people at the Learning Resource Center, who are the ones that actually stage the prep sessions, and they'll see (if I call on Tuesday) if next week prior to the exam (on one of the twice-weekly workshop days) I can get some quick preparation for the exam before it actually happens next Saturday. So yay, but blech.

Onto another subject... I've been working on WikiFic lately, but my desire to add infoboxes required the Parser Function extension, which I had to find the backdated version of for MediaWiki 1.6 (which I have to run, because my Surpass server won't upgrade to PHP 5), BUT the extension may be conflicting with the Cite extension, which means... I may never get it to work. Anyway, WikiFic's down at the moment. I apologize for any inconvenience... but then again, I feel like I'm the only one who ever writes articles there, anyway. Sometimes activity from anyone BUT me seems so scant... but then, it's not like I can do a whole lot about it NOW anyway!

Also:
* Got a bit of a haircut. It's now all nice and even-length.
* Room's still a huge mess. Haven't gotten my replacement bookcase yet. I need a huge bag... and possibly a taller file cabinet. Does it count as organized when all you do is shove your mess into pretty boxes?
* Beat the Ruin Depths in FFX-2 (of course). I have to go back to Oversoul a few more fiends, but I think I have only around 20 left before I complete the list and *FINALLY* get "THE END" garment grid. I also want to swing back to Mt. Gagazet and see if that statue really does end up as Yuna... what's weird is, I swore the statue ended up as Kimahri, since you see that whole scene and everything, but then I got lost on Gagazet and found the artisan still hard at work! Go figure. So that plus Sphere Break and Publicity, and then this game'll be SET and MATCH!

I'm considering going to the NSCS Convention 2007 in Philadelphia, PA. I asked my Mom a few weeks ago to check into a possible discount at the hosting hotel, which is a Starwood property, but none of her contacts have gotten back to her, so she recommended I just make the reservation for the Convention + Summit All-Inclusive (Jul. 18-21, four nights in a 4 person bedroom). At first, I was just looking at plane fares, but most are $350-$400 round-trip, and those are for flights a) on airlines I don't like or b) at ungodly hours of the morning, or c) on airlines with a 50% probability of being on time, when being on time is CRITICAL.

So I started to look at Amtrak, and I thought, it might be kind of cool to start out 3 days early and see the whole country via train. I would make it by 2:50pm on the day I need to be there, having spent the last 2 days (the first day having been partial and leaving in the evening) touring around. I might not be able to actually STAY in any of those cities, but I'm pretty sure there'd be some decent stop-overs in many places.

With a 42-hour stretch between Los Angeles and Chicago, I'd definitely need a room, but that tacks on an additional $421 to the $206 seat price, for a grand total (with my new Student Advantage discount) of around $648. Round trip would be around $1200, which is pretty much out of the question, since it doesn't even include the cost of the convention/registration, let alone food, etc. But train + plane might be viable; it'd be around $800, plus another $329 for the convention + summit all inclusive.

The catch is, I'd have to register for the convention before April 30th, and who knows how long plane or train ticket rates are any good. So I'm kind of in a quandary here, wondering what the best way to get from here to there might be. Any ideas?

I have the money to do it either way (and possibly any other methods people might know of), but I'd actually like to SAVE my money for more permanent, useful things, such as Adobe Creative Suite CS3. Or visiting Scott in Japan, assuming he ends up enjoying his time there and sticks around.

He's leaving tomorrow. He's supposed to be calling me soon. I have to say, I'm somewhat surprised with myself over it all. I'm not upset. In fact, I'm really, genuinely happy for him. I hope he enjoys it a lot (despite the cold or the humidity) and he both learns a lot and teaches many kids. I hope he stays in touch and shares his experiences with me. People keep asking "So are you guys together?" and my answer's pretty much been "Well, whenever he's here..." and I'm fine with that. I want to focus more on my school work now, anyway. I've got so much on my plate, and again, I hardly feel like I have enough time to do it all in.

Tomorrow, for example, is my busiest day. I haven't caught up with my Japanese, done my Narrative Writing assignment for Thursday, or found the font for Graphics in the evening. But I'm so exhausted from today (which went by insanely fast) that I plan on going to sleep soon and just waking up early.

I'm considering asking Baba and Grandpa to replace my shades/curtains in my room, because I hate how they hardly keep out any light, and I think that's really what they're supposed to do. If it were as simple as just needing privacy, I could cover my windows with stickers.

I've also been getting distracted by WikiFic, which I've been adding tons of articles to. I recently rolled out the Card Article Creators, so people can easily generate articles (complete with templates) about cards found in the TCG, Anime, Manga, or Video Games. I've already tested it out with Magician's Valkyria, and it's working well, though I still need to add a few more graphics for the Levels, what Counterfeit Cards look like (makes me wish I *had* bought some YGO cards in Hong Kong, just for shits and giggles), and of course, the thousands of card images out there. I need to establish an Image Policy, as well. Obviously, help in ANY area of writing for WikiFic would be much appreciated. :)

Well, Scott hasn't called yet, so I might as well get ready for bed and just talk to him in bed whenever he does call... and I hope he does call. :(

Happy Birthday Shadowesque13!

Ugh, you know, I decided to randomly try my hand at some Gunslinger duels tonight in the YGO Online World lobby, and I figured with my new powerful deck (Warrior-Spellcaster, with a few bitchy effect monsters thrown in), I might even stand a chance. True, I did last longer in my duels, but one duel ended for no reason (as in, opponent DID NOT surrender, time DID NOT run out, etc. etc.) and the other duel, my opponent of unknown nationality (I thought Japanese, but maybe not. Could have been Chinese or Korean, because the other languages use the English alphabet set, and this guy's text kept coming up as ????) was SO FREAKIN' IMPATIENT! I mean, he was winning already, I don't see what the rush is. Really pissed me off.

Anyway, I need "Widespread Ruin" and/or "Nightmare Wheel," both traps. These cards got used against me (the former in repeated duels), and I must say, they are a bitch for getting your opponent's LP down. And since Warrior decks seem to be pretty cookie-cutter, maybe I ought to try for a Spirit deck, like I told Malakite while we were mining. I played against a guy with a Gravekeeper deck, and I must say, that's one kick-ass deck theme. I find that playing YGO!O inspires me for the upcoming duel scenes in WDKY, so at least I won't be pulling combos and decks out of my ass... these will be decks that have pwned me IRL. :D

I just finished adding a bunch of pages to WikiFic, all in the Pairings section. I'm far from done, and plenty of people gave me links for Threesomes and other-somes that I haven't made a template for yet. There's also the matter of 'ships that aren't official yet, or 'ships whose history is unknown. And I also need art! And then there's the REST of the encyclopedia... this is such a big project, but I've been working on it diligently, getting help here and there from new users, and so far it's turning out pretty good. I'm somewhat afraid to get a Spell Checker for the Wiki, since I have so many Japanese words, but we'll see. Better safe than sorry, eh?

Also, surprisingly good Pegasus-centric fic by SilvorMoon. It came as a rec for the Pegasus/Cyndia pairing for WikiFic, and it really is quite good. It'll definitely make you rethink Duelist Kingdom! :D I also re-read some of Quickening's Spiritshipping (or Revolutionshipping, but Yugi's such an imp in her fics that I figure it's more of a 3-way) and I remember why I first fell in love with Yu-Gi-Oh as a fandom, and Anzu as a female protagonist. Yes, back in the day, I was a Revolutionshipper! :O

And then I read geniusgirl's stuff and the rest is history. :P

In a few hours... the dream will end! Yu-Gi-Oh's final dub episode "Ceremonial Battle" conclusion airs on Kids WB at 11:30am!
5 years
7 incredible story arcs
8 amazing duelists and friends
7 memorable villains
But the time has come
For for this story
To end
June 10, 2006
Yu-Gi-Oh!

Watch It. Live It. Duel It.

Or something equally dorky. ("This isn't the end of my story. My story... is just beginning.") Even though I've seen it in the Japanese, I'm giddy with anticip.....ation!~

I think I'll catch up on Sailor Moon tomorrow, and do Episodes 13 and 14 in one shot. Now that I've fixed VLC player's settings for snapshots, if I do another flood, it won't take so long and need a recompiler. :)

For anyone that was going to add to WikiFic since I've been pimping it the past week, I apologize- in my attempt to upgrade the software, I evidently screwed something up, and until I find out what that is, WikiFic is down. I hope the people at wiki or at the unofficial MediaWiki support forums can help out, because aside from a bad prefix, I have no idea what's wrong here, if I dropped too many tables, or what.

Once again, I'm sorry. :(

ETA: 7:30PM (after watching Yu-Gi-Oh! GX for the first time) I got it working! I had to uninstall the entire directory (which means I need to get the images for everything again) and reinstall it twice (first because I used a bad prefix for the tables, then because I put them in the wrong database), but it's working! Anyone that was updating or has something to update, we're back in action!

I need a whole bunch of images now, so please help me out by uploading as many Yu-Gi-Oh images as you think are appropriate for entries (these include clear character portraits, Yu-Gi-Oh-related logos, episode screencaps... anything, really, so long as it's not watermarked or fanart).

YAY!

Updated WikiFic - You can click on the "Special Pages" link in the bottom toolbox and then see Wanted Pages and images. You can also upload JPG, GIF, or PNG format images to help flesh out our gallery, so we can include pictures of all characters and places. We're in need of contributors for ALL sorts of subjects! (This is my second big summer project, after finishing WDKY)

I added Shizuka, Honda, and Sugoroku's page, uploaded images for all of them plus Dark Malik and Noa Kaiba, and scanned an image of Kessoku - Unity for use on that TCG card's page. _novemberx also kindly provided judge commentary on the cards, since they also appear in the Nightmare Troubadour game. I need more manga scans and people willing to sit down and write about all the characters and events!

Also, does anyone know which OCG card it was where Sugoroku appeared kind of shadowed (a'la his old school gamer silhouette, back when we wore a tuxedo everywhere, and smoked)? I think it was a trap card, but I can't remember what it was. HELP!

zOMG FMA - As you may or may not already know, ceruleansan got me into the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, and now I'm up to Chapter 31. I'm very much Ed x Winry and Roy x Riza (er, Royai), but I have yet to write the fic I owe her and geniusgirl. Sorry guys, please be patient! I'm liking all the mystery and suspense though, and all the ASS KICKING! Go Izumi!

Take surveys. Get stuff. - I don't know why I've mentioned this before, but I'm part of this group called HarrisPoll, where you take surveys about once or twice a month about all sorts of stuff and get points-- and the points add up to some seriously sweet stuff, like stereos, waffle irons, tents, massagers... all sorts of cool goodies. The surveys are all pretty easy, and most range from 10-30 minutes in length. There are no advertisements, no bombardments of spam emails, and they won't sell or rent your info to anyone else-- they just use group survey results for market research. So if this sounds interesting to you, comment with your email and I'll sign you up.

X-Men: The Last Stand ( Likes and dislikes )

Funny how I've only seen about two movies in the past month or so, but the previews I've seen of Tim Burton's next flick, The Corpse Bride are enough to want me to dress up as her for Halloween. It would be better than an Emmy Award, at any rate. :P That was my most under-appreciated costume ever. But, I also have angel wings, cat ears, fishnets, glow-in-the-dark lipstick, bright red lipstick, and a mom who still has everything else Halloween-y stashed away, neatly organized and ready to ship. :>

( A potential shiny new laptop for Fall 2005... Tell me what you think! )

I had a nightmare last night... sucks. I dreamed that I finally got myself this cute kitten-- it looked like Bloop, my dad's old cat (the one that passed away earlier this year). Bloop was this sleek, dark grey with bright blue eyes. I always wanted a cute cat like that. Well, I dreamed I took it home and everything, and then I went out again... and when I came home and went to "my room" (for some reason, my room was the larger one overlooking the backyard, the room I wanted originally. The catch is a) it's next to Baba and Grandpa's room and b) it's got all of Baba's creepy dolls in there) and went to my backpack on the floor.

I promptly started freaking out, because I'd forgotten to take the cat out of the top pouch of my backpack, and now it wasn't moving at all. (Bear in mind that I would never do something this stupid.) When I opened up the top pouch, I took the kitten out-- it was about the size of my hand, and completely deflated. Imagine a flattened cat-- no bones, no organs, just a FLAT CAT. I was devastated.

I woke up several times after that feeling downright rotten with myself, even though I told myself if something like that ever happened, a cat could easily claw its way through my puny backpack, and would be yowling and hissing in the meantime. Not to mention cats don't just deflate.

Well, I don't know what it means, and I don't particularly care to revisit the dream to find out. As we're finally getting closer and closer to school starting, I'm getting a lot done and a lot planned. I have work from 1:30-6:45 today, then I'll hang out with Jill and Co. plus Kara, my aunt who came all the way here from New York (she drove). Sometime eventually I want to finish cleaning up my desk, throwing out clothes that don't fit, working on WDKY18 (*sings* Mamono~!) and CO7-2+, getting Delishidoodle to go live, and posting my 100 SxA icons. *whew!*

AND on top of all that, I want to get WikiFic really going, even if (ALAS!) I am the only one posting articles there. -_- I don't get it, I pimped it here on LJ (various YGO communities) and now on FFnet... hardly any response. *scowl* Why does WikiPedia have such a large Yu-Gi-Oh section (wrong, mind you... Yugi was never the holder of the Millennium Ring...)

It's already 12:30, which gives me 1 hour before I have to be at work. Maybe I'll get some cleaning or something done before I go.