MILES to GO || before I sleep

So, I'm a student at DeVry University on top of everything else now. I was looking into the possibility of getting some kind of certification in web design, since I feel like I've reached a standstill when it comes to learning from books. I wish I could take a class on it at CSUN, but on top of them freaking out about my financial aid because I have too many units (read: I took classes I didn't need because I either wanted to be full-time or because the other classes I needed weren't available), they have pre-requisites for the basic web design courses, and no way to take a competency test to get out of them. Plus, they're ART classes, which means the curricula overlaps with Journalism and I'd get no credit for it under the accreditation rule.

So anyway, I looked into online schools, and lo! DeVry got back to me. They have a campus in Sherman Oaks and a really nice advisor who's been helping me find the right program for me. I started out just looking for a certificate, but then an Associate's in Web Graphic Design. Then I wondered if an Associate's after a Bachelor's would look good on a resume. Would it even have enough classes to teach me something I need? Would enough of my CSUN units transfer over so I wouldn't have to take classes in math or public speaking?

( Delaying the real world? )

So, in the meantime, I'm working on revamping my resume site, the NSLS website, hopefully seventh-star.net, the SO3 shrine...I'm also now blogging for Site of the Gaming Dead and maybe even doing tutorials for DayDream Graphics. Biting off more than I can chew for this summer? Just maybe. In-between all this I plan to write WDKY27 and participate in a few challenges. Oh, and go to AX! Go me.

I also need to learn to budget, because I'm quite sick of having to borrow money in order to stay afloat for the 15 days before my next paycheck. Any tips?

You know, I was pretty upset earlier, but I have to put things in perspective: always look at things in balance. For everything you think makes your day awful, there are probably 5 or 10 more that should make it okay, if not better or even great. A simple change in perspective can drastically alter your mood. You have to be willing to look.

So I found out earlier that, due to the CSU budget cuts, I won't be getting my job back at the IT Help Desk at CSUN this coming semester. They just don't have the money to rehire, even though people are going to be leaving. That... REALLY sucks. I was counting on the job. Of course, my former boss did say that I'd be the first to know if anything changed, or if anything else in the department opened up. So I hope something does change, because to be honest, I need the money. But I also LIKE the job a lot, like helping people, like most of my co-workers, and don't want to be twiddling my thumbs at home when I could be helping folks out.

There's always the possibility of freelance tutoring though, so if, come January 20, I don't have a job back for sure, then I'll look into that.

Also balancing out the suck of being ABSOLUTELY TOTALLY BROKE AND JOBLESS is the fact that I just accomplished something! Getting the mojo to work on something and actually completing that goal can do wonders for one's self-esteem and mood. A user from Dragonfayth emailed me, saying she's been having problems getting her initial password for the site. I asked her to give me more detail, but I decided to look into it myself by checking the settings of the SMTP host, trying to send an email from the Contact Us form, and checking the Action Log.

Turns out something on 12/10 changed where the existing SMTP settings stopped working, so passwords weren't being sent out, and I wasn't getting Contact Us emails indicating there was a problem. I investigated on the eFiction forums and found a number of possible errors; I tried to check them out, posted a new topic there, and put up a support ticket to get an SPF record for my domain so other email services don't mark the domain as spam/spoof. And then, after all that... I figured it out. Well, maybe. Turns out the port for the SMTP host name wasn't right. My host, Surpass Hosting (♥ ♥ ♥) uses port 26 for SMTP rather than 25 (the default), so I changed it... and it worked! I sent an email to one of my GMail accounts and received it just fine!

I also redid all the passwords for the users who signed up/lost their password between 12/10 and today, so hopefully those users got those and can now log-in, delete any extra accounts, and start reading/reviewing, etc.

I have to put all my other projects on hold until I'm 100% finished with school though-- I have a few more quizzes and a single final exam (also a quiz, just a longer one) today and tomorrow. So, until then... I shouldn't be distracting myself with posting on LJ. :P

But I did want to just vent a bit, and put my hope out there in the open, that the more good we do (big or small) and the more good we feel, the more good comes back to us. At least, I hope it will for me.

I went to CSUN today. It made me feel a bit nostalgic, because even though it was REALLY FREAKIN' HOT (and I know it wasn't really, in the four years I've been here, it's been MUCH hotter than it was today; just, in recent history, today felt REALLY FREAKIN' HOT to me), it was nice to be back on campus.

The Science V building is well under-way; the Valley Performing Arts Center is a huge pile of dirt, the new second floor of the Bookstore Complex looks like the Apple Store in San Francisco (downtown) crossed with the Japantown Kinokuniya "fountain" entrance, and the new G3 parking structure is almost done-ish. The Orange Grove is beautiful with a new fountain and the relocated pond, but it does seem a bit more spaced-out than I remember. Still, there are a lot of new baby orange trees there, which is nice.

I swung by my old work-- they might actually be able to squeeze in some hours for me-- some over at the switchboard (which pays less, but at least it's something) and some with the Help Desk, but it depends. I really didn't go today asking for my job back; it was just the assumption made once I told them the Disney College Program didn't work out. But I won't say no if they do offer something, provided it's at least partially at my old work (and work rate). But I did tell by old boss I do want to go up to S.F. first, as soon as I get my financial aid check. I do want to get my books right away, and I could have applied for a $300 bookstore loan debit card, but... why do that and have to pay it back when I can pay less (a bit later), not have to pay anyone back, and get books cheaper? Yeah sure, for some of them, I won't be able to sell them back, but... well... it might be worth it! I'm just concerned that my financial aid check won't come soon enough. I would have asked about it at Financial Aid today, but the line for Admissions and Records, which I went into for my Enrollment Verification Form (necessary for my health insurance), was long enough.

After all that (and not necessarily in that order), I went to a meeting for GEOL 300, the only one of the semester. It was a simple meeting just to make sure everyone understood WebCT and explain how the quizzes and exams work; it doesn't look like it should be too hard, provided I get the book within the next week or so. With a full courseload, I don't want to be doing everything at the last minute.

The thing that happened actually had nothing to do with the class or the meeting-- as I got up to leave at the end of the meeting (which happened to be 20 minutes instead of an hour), I felt like someone has Tazered me on the left-hand side of the small of my back. For a second, I couldn't move my legs at all. I thought I might tip over, and the guy in front of me (who had turned around to grab his things) looked at me quite oddly. But then I was able to walk, but I felt REALLY WEIRD. It was basically exactly like the time in the Rossi Pool when I was 18, practicing for my swim test to graduate high school (yes, we had mandatory swim tests; I lived in San Francisco, remember? These days, a lot of things can be explained quite succinctly by saying "I grew up in San Francisco").

Needless to say, I was worried, but because I was able to walk and didn't feel any immediate, crippling pain, I continued on. Besides, I'd taken an Aleve (as Dad has me on, since he thinks aspirin and acetaminophen are useless) with my lunch from Subway, and I figured it'd kick in soon enough. My right ankle had been hurting off and on, as had my right shoulder, but I figured, again, the medicine would kick in soon enough.

I found out about a Matador Nights event up at the Satellite Student Union, so I found a way to the streets (waaaaaay at the northern part of campus, on Lassen and Zelzah) and got there in time to get some free In-N-Out. I didn't do any of the waterslides, but I did participate in a USU survey and a fun flying-money-in-the-box game to get some cute office supplies, like a mini stapler, a highlighter, a pen, and a fan. I didn't talk to anyone (conversation-wise), but it was still nice to just be back on campus, absorbing the atmosphere. But by the end of that, my ankle was back to hurting again, and even though my shoulder didn't, my back was starting to get pretty sore.

I came home and told Grandpa about what happened, and that the medicine didn't seem to be working much; he gave me a Naproxen (basically Aleve, but the prescription dose of 500 mg, instead of the OTC 220 mg), but it still didn't feel like it had kicked in after 30 minutes. In fact, my right knee down to my ankle is hurting pretty badly now; both shoulders are somewhat sore, and my lower back "kinda sorta" feels fine, but that might only be because I'm sitting upright. It's like I just can't win. I exercise (lots of walking), I take medicine, I eat well (milk! milk! more milk!), I get my Vitamin D from the sun (even though I slather on sunscreen so I don't burn, I trust I get enough with my outdoors-walking), I sleep on my own nice bed with nice sheets and nice under-bedding and such and I still hurt almost all the time.

I'm scared of being in pain almost constantly, of continuously upping the dosage of my medication, of going from OTC to prescription pill-popper (I have Vicodin, but I think my willpower's strong enough to resist taking that unless I'm in MAJOR pain; it's possible my pain threshold's changed dramatically since I first injured my back). I don't want to become some sort of a drug addict because I can't handle the pain. I'm hoping the Kaiser in Anaheim got my message about my canceled appointment and that I want them to send a referral to Kaiser in Woodland Hills. I might be here long enough to arrange for a proper Physical Therapy work-up (I refuse to see a chiropractor; they've fucked up enough people's backs throughout history; I don't need them to fuck up mine more than it already is genetically), and if not, I might be able to secure a primary physician's referral (on paper) to bring to Kaiser in S.F. for testing there. Dad also wants me to find out if I'm a candidate for a cortisol shot, which seems extreme, but if I have calcium overgrowth problems like he says he does (did?), then it's worth checking out now. The pain would only continue to get worse and limit what I can do.

It never fails to astound people (my uncle, my grandpa, my former boss at the Help Desk) that someone as young as me has such awful problems with my back, but I think a lot of things really come down to genetics. You can eat like a superstar, exercise like you're a personal trainer yourself, but you can't change your genes.

But I can make an effort to do better... I can try to swim more ($3/session at CSUN's gym, last I checked, and a pleasant thing to do when it's so hot out. Nothing but laps sucks, but they help. I hate to think that this all started with swimming, but I don't have to push myself nowadays the way I did back then, thinking my graduating hinged on 6 laps and some doggie-paddling), and I want to learn to ride my bike! I wonder if there's a way to get my bike up to San Francisco? I don't think Mom would let me use hers... she's got a super-fancy bike -_-.

But no matter what about being in pain, I feel good about getting stuff done today. I went to CSUN's library and got the book on the Middle Ages again, as motivation and inspiration for getting back to "The Rose Chronicles," went to the Northridge Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library (which is apparently different from the Country of Los Angeles Public Library, but heck if I know how), got a library card, and reserved the third book in the Myst series, "Book of D'Ni," which I've wanted to read since I finished the first two, Atrus and Ti'Ana, respectively. I'm also working on getting this eBook about building Facebook Applications (ssh!), and did all that other stuff I mentioned...

I want to look back on 2008 and think "I got things done!" So, off I go to do more things, even if my spine hates me the whole while. (I could probably talk about the latest politics, as my grandparents seem to want to do all the time, but... well, see my icon.)

Back in Northridge again. I'm hoping it isn't a fruitless trip; I'm up here again so soon because I made an appointment with a brand-new doctor... who cancelled my appointment tomorrow afternoon while I was on the train coming up here. I'm hoping I can call early enough tomorrow morning to be notified of any other patients with ANY doctor that cancel. I basically just need a damn note saying I have sciatica and can't do intense walking when it's acting up, and that I'm allergic to the sanitizer and can't use it. Thing is, I left the sheet from the Cast First Aid that describes EXACTLY what doctor's notes have to say back "home" in Anahiem... along with the MSDS about the chemical. So I'm going to try and get at least one of those online right now. Got it. Either it's been a while or I'm not remembering the chemical name properly, because this thing clearly says it causes CHEMICAL BURNS, and anyone whose skin gets into contact with it should seek medical attention immediately. ...Anyone else sense something wrong with this whole predicament?

I woke up extra-early this morning to go to the Disneyland Ambassador session over at Team Disney Anaheim. Dressed up in "Disney Look," meaning skirt and collared shirt and hose... more or less stuff I would never wear these days, but I only do because I have no choice. Being stuck in a costume these days means I take any chance I can to wear flip-flops, jeans, etc. rather than the sort of clothes I used to love (like those aforementioned skirts and collared shirts).

Anyway, the whole thing was pointless for me; I'm not even eligible for the role. It was a bit embarrassing to be the only person who didn't take an application packet, but I figured it was a waste of (their) time and paper to take one if I know they can easily find out I haven't worked for a whole year at Disneyland yet. On the one hand, I should have guessed that any Ambassador would have tons of experience under their belt, and I've really been working at the resort for just about 3 months. But on the other hand, they could have bothered to put those eligibility requirements on the online posting about the info session, so I would have just taken one look at it and said "Oh, I won't even bother going to the info session." Seriously, I found out about the eligibility requirements 20 minutes into the allotted hour, and was supremely tempted to just grab my things and go. But I stayed and listened. If anything, everything I learned would be good reference if I stuck with the Disney Company or otherwise got employed by them after the college program. That's a big "if," because they'd have to offer me something OTHER than retail (after all, wtf does retail have to do with journalism? NOTHING! They could have put me in their Marketing, Media, Public Relations, etc. departments, but no. They have me folding SHIRTS).

Also: Ben W-T got the gold in the Men's 4 x 100m freestyle swim! I KNEW IT~! (I don't know why, the guy just inspires confidence. Maybe he's like Naruto: "he makes you want to bet on him." Except not REALLY bet, with money involved, just "be assured" that he's going to win.) Checked out his Facebook on a whim; I'm only moderately surprised he's got the profile locked (hey, I do too, and I'm no swimming soon-to-be superstar), if only because that cuts off his PHANGIRLS from messaging him left and right. Meh, I don't want to be seen as mooching off his fame or anything; I'm content just knowing he's going to continue to kick ass in Beijing. :)

Just saw The Mummy 3 (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) with Grandpa. Grandpa wanted to see a "comedy," (seriously, for a guy that spends half his day reading books about old wars or watching TV shows about the same, his taste in movies is pretty off) but "The Mummy" was pretty much all that was playing at the right time; "Mamma Mia" and "WALL·E" were playing at similar times, but Grandpa didn't want to see either of those, and Baba didn't want to go at all.

( I've put down more mummies in my time. )

Your Gemstone Says...

You are stable, strong, and full of life. You are an inspiring person. People turn to you first for leadership and advice. You are able to gently help people get to where they need to be. And while you aren't afraid to lead when necessary, you are never heartless or bossy.

So, turns out any Kingdom Hearts data I had on my PS2 memory cards must have been on the ones I lost on the way back from Japan. I restarted my game tonight, and with the help of Megan, one of my roommates, we got as far as the final boss in Wonderland. It's a pain in the butt boss though, what with those sticks it keeps setting on fire... I run out of magic so fast, and it never seems to douse them... I suppose I could train in the Rabbit Hole a bit more, though.

I posted the latest chapters of WDKY up at FanLib, finally; it's been a pain in the neck because FL strips horizontal rules out of HTML submissions, which means I have to re-insert graphical ones (hence my asking for dividers/separators/lines/bars/rules whatever they're called) wherever I remember the scene break should be. And I still haven't done it for ALL the chapters yet, but it's tiring work, so I'm leaving it as is-- for now.

I also finished my Fandom 411 for the No Hiatus FanLib blog, which Cyn told me will be up by next week-- yay! I rec'd fics by guardian_kysra, obabscribbler, and winterwing3000, the 3 people I know for sure are on FL and posted something. BTW, Scribbler, I've discovered you can easily go back and edit your stories in something akin to FFnet's Quick Edit manager over at FanLib-- just click "Edit" on your story's "box" when you're viewing your profile, and you can tinker with it there. I'm sure if you fix the formatting before next week, you'll have a lot more readers/reviewers for your fic that's there. :)

Re-reading WDKY while posting it up at FL has got me straining to finish chapter 26 soon. Volunteers for betas and pre-readers gladly welcomed.

By the way, the sole reason why I'm even up right now is "practice" for Saturday and Sunday, when I have training shifts from 4:00 and 3:30pm (respectively) until MIDNIGHT. I need to figure out how to stay bright-eyed and bushy-tailed till at least 1am if this ends up being something on a regular basis (which I doubt, what with the whole PARK CLOSING AT 8PM!)

I got an A+ on the "female professional interview" that I did with cutieme4u for my "Women and Leisure" (RTM 330OL) class! Hip-hip-hurrah! The fulltext, along with my professor's commentary, follows.

But before that: I got into the Disney College Program! I mentioned this on my Facebook and have told a few people in person, but what this means is:
a) I will be moving to Anaheim! (I won't be completely moving "out" of Northridge, mainly because I HAVE to come back, but also because there's no way in heck that I'd be able to have ALL my stuff at the Disney housing)
b) I will be working at Disneyland from May until early January!
c) I will be making more money than I am now!

The role I got was "Store Operations Cast Member," which I take to mean working in one of the stores. Which store, I'm not sure, but since merchandising is something I'm well-familiar with, I don't think I'd mind any store. In any case, my icon's never been MORE appropriate. :)

Thirteen more days until my birthday. No joke. Just letting you know. :P

I'm amazed that things have been working out so well lately. I've been feeling a lot better all-around, been able to be creative and studious (I managed to get my second essay for my "Writing about Literature" class revised and reviewed by a Learning Resource Center tutor today, all EXTREMELY close to deadline), and have some REALLY understanding teachers. I'm hoping that things work out similarly well for my other classes, like my Journalism/SCENE magazine class, because I've been feeling lousy about how it seems like I'm not contributing anything, and my attempts to do just that have sort of flopped (e.g. articles with people that don't want to work with me anymore... :P). But I sent a huge-long email to the prof and the managing editor with some mini-proposals, so let's see if they get back to me tomorrow morning in class. I think I can work well under deadline, and I don't want to get a lousy grade in the class for not having done anything, not have gained SOME experience from the course/process, and of course, NOT want to have to retake the course!

The one cool thing is, for my "Pop Culture" class, I managed to get my web host (Surpass Hosting) to cooperate and help me set up a second Wordpress blog for our group's "Chick Flicks" blog. I was pretty gung-ho in getting it set up, and now pretty much all that's left is to develop a theme (yay for Photoshop and CSS!) and start blogging! I'll provide a link here once we get started, but in the meantime, suggestions are appreciated! What's your favorite chick flick? Chick flick actor? Least favorite chick flick stereotype?

( A++++++++ )

So I'm at this Life Skills & Leadership Institute workshop that's supposed to be about exploring priorities about careers & internships. We haven't really talked about specific internships or how to get them/where to find them, but we have done some activities that have opened my eyes a bit to what I want out of a future career. When we were talking about talents, I started thinking about the Talents in the Star Ocean 2 game. For people that have played the game, they probably know what I'm talking about; when you start the game, every character begins with 2-3 Talents, like Dexterity, Sense of Taste, Blessing of Manna, etc.

Anyway, in the game, they are:
Originality - The ability to modify things with one's own creativity
Dexterity - The gifted talent of being able to move one's fingertips exactly as one wishes.
Writing Ability - The talent of being able to put one's thoughts into words.
Pitch - The ability to grasp musical tones well.
Sixth Sense - The primitive ability to sense things that cannot be expressed with words.
Sense of Taste - The gift of judging what tastes would please anyone.
Sense of Design - The creative talent for the arts.
Sense of Rhythm - The ability to grasp musical rhythm.
Love of Animals - Animal Lover. More than anything. More than anyone.
The Blessing of Manna -The innate magical power.

In this workshop, the difference between abilities and skills are that abilities are related to your innate talents-- you're born with them. Skills, on the other hand, can be learned and developed.

What's interesting is that in SO2, someone who has a particular Talent is going to be the best at a particular skill (e.g. Metalwork, Cooking, Machinery). Some characters have a given for a particular Talent; Celine, Noel, Leon, and Rena are all givens for The Blessing of Manna. Chisato will always have Writing Ability, and Noel and Rena will always have the Love of Animals. You get the idea. So when making individual things, like Weapons, it's best to have the experts do it. But there are also combined efforts: Super Specialties, where everyone contributes their own part and they try to make something together. Things like Blacksmithing, Reverse Side, or Orchestra.

Now, this isn't about video games. It's actually interesting how SO2 does it, versus, say, Final Fantasy X, where you have the Sphere Grid. In SO2, there's a random element-- many of the Talents can't be learned if you didn't start with them, or if you don't put a lot of "blood, sweat and tears" into a number of failed attempts at performing a related skill. For example, you can keep trying to use the Authoring skill without the Writing Ability (Talent), but the most you'll churn out is probably some Crumpled Paper. But IF you keep trying long enough, eventually that Crumpled Paper will turn into something you like, something passable-- maybe even a book. Basically, "anyone can become anything they desire, if they try hard enough. Effort, above all else, can conquer even the most insurmountable of odds."

And then in FFX, you've got this Sphere Grid, where everyone starts out in a particular spot, with a very distinct path laid out for them. But the great thing about the Sphere Grid is, ANYONE can do ANYTHING. For example, you've got Lulu, your typical Black Mage. She starts out in an area where she's primed to learn more magic, increase her Magic and Magic Defense, and so forth. Then you have Tidus, who starts out with a lot of Agility and Strength/Defense areas to "level up" in. He's set to be your typical fighter character-- quick, with a decent amount of strength, but not a lot. There are other fighters, like Auron (immensely strong, but slow), Wakka (moderately strong, quicker; more resistant to Magic), and Kimahri (Jack-of-all-trades; can be a Fighter or a Mage).

So in FFX, the attitude is more like "Anyone can be anything, no matter what path you start out on." Effort's not so much of an issue, because movement on the Sphere Grid is largely guided by what kind of Spheres you pick up-- and I'll tell you, because of a New Game Plus I got on my Max Drive, a lot of my characters basically "cheated" their way across the board. Now, even if you consider that life doesn't offer cheat codes, New Game Plus, and the like, it's not so much about effort and persistence in FFX as it is in SO2. Persistence IS a large part of it, because you have to keep fighting monster after monster to get spheres, but it's not like WHICH monsters make a difference. In other words, it doesn't have to be YOU specifically doing the dirty work, or YOU focusing on a particular goal-- it'll get done, eventually, with a TEAM. FFX emphasizes more of the team rather than the individual; SO2 focuses on both, but with a heavier emphasis on the individual (though Orchestra is by far one of the best Super Specialties in the game).

In SO2, new talents can be discovered. Anyone can make an attempt at a skill, and they might give up if each time they try something, it ends up as ?JEWELRY or ?FOOD or whatnot. In life, then, it's a good idea to keep trying-- not just the familiar, that you know, enjoy, and are proficient at, but also the unfamiliar, and what you're NOT so sure about, and what you might actually SUCK at for a while. You might just discover after your 100th attempt that you really do have a unique talent-- whether it's a sense of taste or an improved sense of dexterity.

For me, I'd like to think I was born with Originality and a Writing Ability. Over the years, trying over and over, and working with other people, I've learned I have a Sixth Sense of sorts, a Love of Animals, and maybe even a Sense of Design. I used to be pretty good with my hands, but I think after my accident I lost my Dexterity. But that's okay, I know plenty of other people who can help me out if I need it. And I might not have much of a Sense of Taste now, but I can learn through trying, even if it takes me years and lots more stomachaches and deflated quiches.

In the workshop, I found that certain values might conflict with one another, and what I enjoy doing, what courses I've liked, and what work environments I function best in are sometimes at odds. It's getting them all to work together, and to understand the "cores" that really helps. Hopefully recognizing those --my strengths, weaknesses, values, skills, and abilities-- will help me land not just the internship I need for next semester, but the job I want for my future.

(P.S. This kind of tempts me to make a "What SO2 Talent were YOU born with?" meme, or perhaps an examination of what stereotypical video game job classes relate to particular values, skills/abilities, and likes/dislikes.)

Ugh, I'm back to drinking Brisk iced tea, and now Wild Cherry Pepsi (haven't had THAT since high school) to keep myself awake T-Th when I have classes that last 2-3 hours at a time with short breaks. It sucks because I thought I'd been getting enough sleep and eating somewhat healthier, to the point where I wouldn't need boosts that also rot my teeth. Urgh.

I don't want to get crazy-stressed, but the past few days haven't helped-- there's always so much to do. I've got to finish raking off the garage roof, clean my bathtub, clean my room, put my laundry away, do my handwashing, figure out a system for a clothesline in my tile tub, send my glasses prescription to school, get new glasses, see if I can vacuum the house (I bet Dad forgot to take the giant vacuum Baba wanted him to have, and waited months to give him) and... figure out wtf is wrong with the wireless on my NEW LAPTOP!

Last night as soon as I came home I set it up and transferred all the data from my old MBP, but while the old one connected to the home network just fine, the new one wouldn't. I tried changing the router settings-- the SSID and the password encryption, but that just screwed things up further. This morning I called AT&T tech support (gawd, I want to switch to Time-Warner Cable), and I had to change the SSID back, the encryption back to WEP-Open, and the channel back from 11 to 10. That fixed it for my old MBP, but not the new one... and I have no idea why. It's not like there are any proxies, AppleTalk, or other weird settings... I hope it's not the AirPort being half-malfunctional or anything. I've got an appt. at the Apple store today, and if all works out well, I'll also renew my ProCare and get Diner Dash. :) What's weird is that it works here on campus, and it SORT of picked up someone else's network near home for a bit, but not for long enough (to get the updates for the AirPort Express). I wonder if the updates (which I managed to get here at school) will help?

On the bright side, the new computer DOES mean I'll be able to play with my .Mac sooner, check out all the goodies iLife '08 offers, and see what's new with iWork '08. I'll also hopefully be able to work on WDKY and the BSSM Another Story novelization. But, speaking of other writing projects, all the weird dreams I've been having lately (a lot of apocalyptic stuff, for some reason) got me revising "Prophecy Girl," and the extended ideas (which will involve revising the first two chapters a bit) make the story a LOT more solid. I might end up switching between it and WDKY (since PG was around first, anyway) in times of blockage.

During all the stress last night, I played some FFX-2 while the data was being transferred. I forgot why I was where I was (I'd already beaten the Ruin Depths), so I headed around to get more Oversouls (I have about 20 left, including the dreaded Concherer). I only managed to get 1 so far, due to the randomness of battles, so later I hope to get more... :P it's my way of de-stressing. I'm planning on figuring out more Mix strategies to beat the tougher Oversouls, though.

Right now I'm in my JOUR 410 (Investigative Journalism) class, and I need to come up with 3 story ideas for our upcoming proposal. As with so many other things, I'm dry out of ideas. Help?

Oh, as for the BEST NEWS OF THE DAY (even though I'll be busy until late and busy even tomorrow and this weekend with an NSCS retreat in Malibu where I'm responsible for figuring out dinner for 10 for only $40?)...
I GOT A RAISE! Nearly 30 cents, too! Not a ton, but way better than my last raise. :)

Well, my nose isn't so stuffy and/or runny anymore, but I do have a cough, which sucks. Nothing will make people avoid you more than you hacking everywhere. At least it's not phlegmy or anything...

Today I got to work a bit early and my "usual" desk was occupied, so I decided to switch-- this area isn't so bad. Still too brightly lit, but at least there's no super-cold air conditioner above my head. I had to spend a few minutes setting everything up the way I like (Quick Launch on my taskbar, certain extensions for Firefox 2.0.0.6), and it occurred to me I might never have shared my favorite extensions. I won't link to them, since they're so easy to find, but I'll give you the proper names, a brief run-through on what they do, and why I like them. Feel free to add your own suggestions!

( Extend! )

I didn't get my laptop yesterday per se... they didn't have any 15" anti-glare MBP's in stock, so I ordered it online. I figured it was a better solution than waiting for an unknown number of days for their next shipment. I got the standard MBP, but I got suckered into getting .Mac (dqbunny, didn't you used to have that? Was it any good? Can I return it if it ends up being a bad idea...?) I got iLife and iWorks, too, of course, and when I actually GET the thing I'll buy a shell and possibly One-to-One and/or ProCare.

Oh, and I got a black 30GB iPod engraved. I could have gotten the 80GB, but... it hit too close to my max budget, what with the tax. Besides, even if I do start to download movies or TV episodes, I'd rather watch them on a widescreen TV or something-- not on a mini iPod. Music videos, sure... full-length anything? Not so much.

Anywho, got more of my PCH packages (honey roasted mixed nuts and collapsible leather photo boxes!), expecting all of my textbooks (gotta check Half!), and have to run to the walk-in center now. Buh-bye!

So I called Amtrak today, and indeed, the North American Rail Pass (the one that's good for 30 days and has unlimited travel) is $899.10 student discounted (that's as low as it can get). The easiest way to buy it is over the phone, but you have to have AT LEAST the first segment of the trip planned. And for me, that means knowing I have the money available, places where I can stay (and reservations, if necessary), and so on. I've got a lot more planning to do, and I've got to see if I get that NSCS credit card-- if not, I might end up getting a WaMu one. I don't LIKE the idea of being in debt -I mean, moreso than I already am just for being a college student with loans- but I don't want to just shove this great idea aside. I can and I will make it possible-- somehow.

In the meantime, I got my ticket to Philadelphia with the rest of the NSCS; the unfortunate thing is that they didn't have enough Rewards Points to cover my hotel/convention registration. I'm hoping I win this Geico essay competition that will pay for it. Even those that are getting some portion reimbursed are only getting $50 out of the $314 round trip tickets. It's on Delta, which is "meh" in terms of airlines in my book, but we could have taken a cheaper flight if only everyone's schedules weren't so restrictive. Unlike a lot of other members, I'm not taking summer school, and my work's fairly flexible about taking time off.

...Still haven't heard from Apple one way or another, which frankly doesn't surprise me. It's kind of sad that it worked out that way, though...

Ooh, and Erin said she's getting my CS3 *today*! I hope I see her soon so I can get it. That would be cause for much yayness.

In the meantime, I've got enough to keep me occupied, so I'm glad for that.

( ETA: Just one teeny tiny software/journaling question )

ETA (2/18/07): This post was formerly a paid post sponsored by PayPerPost. However, because such posts are against LiveJournal's TOS, I've removed the "ppp" tag, any sponsorship notices, and the link which I was paid to include. However, because the words and opinion in this entry are still my own, I'm keeping this entry up. I am still a member of the mailing list on the "Productivity 501" website, and I find it very interesting and helpful, so I recommend you Google it if you find this entry interesting.

I remember a few years ago, I started to believe that there was an anime for any subject. Go to OtakuWorld and you'll see anime listed under the most strange of "genres," like Flowers, Mega-Conglomerates, or Cooking. So it probably shouldn't be too surprising that there's a website for practically everything, too. But part of me is still a bit skeptical that people would take time to purchase, design, and maintain a website for something that doesn't bring them any money. But then, here I have my own domain that never generates a cent for me, my own LiveJournal, and plenty of other such places. I guess personal satisfaction is a big drive for many people-- and that's a very good thing, because if you truly want to be PROUD of something you present to the public, then you will do your best to make it visually appealing, and have content that's useful.

So go figure, I find one such site... about productivity. It's kind of strange saying it, but that's what the site's about-- being productive, becoming MORE productive, and HELPING you to increase your productivity. (I used to have a folder on my computer with all my Microsoft Office programs called "Productivity." For some reason, the more I say it, the more I grin. I wonder why?)

I browsed through the site, and right off the bat, I found something interesting: The Two Types of Technology Users. It's funny, because in my time working in "tech support," I've recognized that there are different types of people that use technology, but I've never thought to try and class them before. Now that I've read this, the two classes of tech users actually make sense.

( What kind of tech user are YOU? )

Oh, and this made me giggle: The Sacred To-Do List. I always felt kind of silly making endless To-Do Lists. In fact, my obsession with little pieces of paper led to me writing all number of fanfics, sketching all sorts of things when I was supposed to be paying attention to class/work... but still, I thought of myself as productive, because I didn't attempt to REMEMBER, REMEMBER, REMEMBER! Having something written down and where I can see/find it ('find' being the keyword when you're disorganized like I am. Productivity and organization DO go hand in hand) was the best. At least now I'm getting better at actually crossing out the things I've done, and throwing the list out when EVERYTHING is done, so I don't have millions of scrap papers lying about my room. Am I really silly for putting such emphasis on a list of random things I think of? After reading this, I don't think so anymore. :)

So I have ONE day a week where I work in the walk-in center (aka my favorite place, aka the place I worked for almost all of last semester), and for the past several months, I've been practically begging the higher-ups to put the Macromedia Studio 8 suite (which faculty and staff members can download from the ITR website FOR FREE) on the computers in here. That way when we get a slew of teaching credential students who make webpages, I can help them out (even if it's technically beyond our scope and teachers should do a better job of educating their students in the basics of a given program).

Anyway, everyone said it's not important enough, you need to be a faculty member just to DOWNLOAD the damn thing, and to install it, you need Administrator privileges, which apparently not even my bosses are. -_-;

Then Zack comes up to me and says "So, go ahead and look at your Start Menu. See what's there on your LAST DAY [in the Walk-In Center]." I told him to choose his method of death.

...Of course, the Dreamweaver suite is sitting on the computer, ready to use. And here I am without an accessible copy of WDKY ANYTHING, desperately wishing I did, because I could *SO* get it done. I don't think anyone will come in during the next two hours we're open, anyway.

I should have just brought my PS2 and played some more Katamari. *WAIL!*

Besides that, two random things:
(1) Is Sarah Brightman's sister really Jade from Sweetbox (aka singing voice of Yuna in FFX-2 English?)
(2) When someone says "I did everything but something something," does it seem to mean "I did everything AND something something." "BUT" is an exception word; you'd think it means they tried everything BUT something something (the absolute last resort, or something completely unrelated and unfeasible). I don't get it. Is this another example of English contorting the true meaning of a phrase and then it becoming common usage?

I've decided that from now on during the summer, if I work down here in the Call center, I'm going to bring 2 of my travel blankets with me: one for using as a blanket, and one as a pillow. Why? It's always cold as an icebox down here, but raging hot outside. It seems silly to wear pants or extra sweaters just for work, when I can just bring blankets and nap on them, too.

Thankfully, there's only a half hour left of the workday today. I'm somewhat glad because I *did* manage to get some shut-eye, and I *did* manage to revise the first part of WDKY24 (still not the scenes I actually needed to work on. I'm so tired...), but I missed 3 calls! The first two times were because the computer went into screensaver mode, and I was so groggy I typed my password wrong; the third time was because everyone was partying near my desk because 4 of the staffers got the same score on their certification test, and everyone was taking pictures, eating cake, and reading sample questions from the test.

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are very passionate and quite temperamental. While you can be moody, you always crave comfort. You are not a very grounded person. You prefer dreams to reality. For you, it's all about possibilities. You believe that people see you as larger than life and important. While this is true, they also think you're a bit full of yourself. Your near future is in a very different place (both physically and mentally) from where you are right now. For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.

You Should Learn French

C'est super! You appreciate the finer things in life... wine, art, cheese, love affairs. You are definitely a Parisian at heart. You just need your tongue to catch up...

Quoi? I used to speak French when I was younger. Not anymore...

1. I'll respond with something random I like about you.
2. I'll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. I'll name something we should do together.
4. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me (or just me).
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
6. I'll leave you a quote that is somehow appropriate to you.
7. I'll ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on your journal so you can do the same for other people

Okay, so who remembers eMode.com? I'm looking at you schmollieollie! You remember when we used to take all those random tests-- the infamously long IQ test, the stupid tests about dreams, your presidential match, etc.? Well, I know they became "Tickle" a while ago, but I just wanted to see if they still stored my old test results, because I must have taken at least a hundred tests there. No luck. I tried signing in with all 3 of my old emails (and I do have more, but I don't use them to sign up for sites), but it couldn't find any matching email. So I signed up under my new email, and I imagine I'll be taking all the goofy tests again. :D

( Boys, ends, and beginnings )

Ah, I've been suckered. Suckered like a fish. A seersucker fish!

I've been caught in the wave of Da Vinci Code movie madness, and now I'm on Level 2 of the challenges. I just finished the Sudoku-like symbol challenge #2, and it took me a while... but I did it without hints or resetting the puzzle! I did draw a diagram with highlighted regions in my notebook, though. :D I feel smart! Tee hee hee!

I have a test coming up in Japanese in about a half hour... but as always, I think I'll do okay on it. I usually get a low A or a high B on my tests. (The thing that always gets me is stoke order of kanji.) I also "skipped" English class last night (I had a really bad headache and what felt like the onset of an ear infection. I took some painkillers and antibiotics, and was out from 4:15pm to 8pm.) and now I have to do my paper OR ELSE! I actually DID finish reading Kate Chopin's "The Storm," but as my coworker is so fond of pointing out, I procrastinated to the last minute, so I didn't have any portion of the paper done.

Same goes for my WWA paper, but I'm DEFINITELY going to get going on that tonight, if possible (hey, why not start re-reading Yoshimoto and/or Battle Royale while I'm waiting for eFiction to upgrade? The upload will probably take a while for both sites...). There's 2 books that I referenced in my proposal though, and I can't check them out from the library. :P

And then there's my profile, where my lousy teacher thinks the lengthy email I got from Kysra wasn't nearly enough, and I need MORE MORE MORE! (So Kysra, ready yourself for MORE MORE MORE!)

Money isn't coming fast enough. ;_; It's not that I'm buying things unnecessarily (though I could have waited to buy the Indiana Jones trilogy), but payments! Yicky payments! $6/mo. for the domain is chicken-scratch, but I paid $35 for my Hawaii pictures to get developed, and I'll be damned if I just let them sit around and collect dust. I have two major projects this summer:
* WEBSITES! Get them up and running and fabulous!
* SCRAPBOOK! because it's long overdue.
Also FANFIC WRITING, GET READY FOR JAPAN, WORK BUTT OFF, SEE SCOTT, GO TO FANIME, GO TO SAN FRANCISCO JUL 17, etc. etc. These all involve little sub projects, like cleaning my room, giving my wardrobe and overhaul, buying a laptop, buying plane tickets to and from San Francisco (and if Scott comes, tix for him too- though I certainly wouldn't object to him paying for his own tix. But I don't want him to take Greyhound again! :P), blah blah, things I'm forgetting, blah.

Oh, and what am I going to do about medical insurance, my prescriptions while I'm in Japan, my cell phone, etc.? It's one thing to maintain my bank account, but I don't want to be stuck with surcharges for international withdrawls (Traveler's Cheques, maybe?), and carrying around 10,000 yen bills is like asking to lose it ("it" being the money or my sanity, take your pick) or go on a spontaneous shopping spree.

BLAH! I should head to class now, squeeze in the extra study time, and then pray for the test to end quickly so I can get lunch before work.

Happy Birthday Shigure!


I feel like it's been a while since I updated with anything substantial. I don't even know what counts as "substantial" anymore. You be the judge.

(1) Back in pain. One of the friendly library janitors, George, gave me an Ibuprofen 800 mg, which should have knocked a featherweight like me off my feet, but I'm still in some semblance of pain, and not the least bit delirious. Curious! I hate having sciatica.

(2) Got along with Zack-- the co-worker who would previously-not-be-named. He's been irritating me off and on the past few days, but tonight it was just kind of cool, even if I did want to sock him about 3 times during the course of my time there (4 hours). We talked about cars and Star Trek on the way home. He was the one who offered to drive me in the first place, so I'm happy about that.

(3) RANMA! I randomly decided to edit "Brand New Day" and "Saisei" on Fanfiction.net, so I'm going to download those to my HD eventually and make sure that when I get the new "amc" (or whatever it might end up getting renamed) that the new versions are on there. I haven't really written Ranma in a while, but I might be tempted to get back into it, just because I love that last volume's plot line. The New Ranma 1/2 Project was a godsend back in the 90s when I was still reading Ranma desperately.

NOTE: I need to come up with a new name for my archive of all-fanfics-and-stuff-besides-SxA-because-that's-hosted-at-Dragonfayth. This means everything: Sailormoon, Full Metal Panic, Ranma, Inuyasha, Wild Act, Peach Girl, other Yu-Gi-Oh stuff that isn't SxA, and likely Star Ocean, Final Fantasy, etc. as well, because Blacklight Arcade existing as a separate site seems pointless to me.

So I need a name. Help?

I'll get started on "Saving Akane" edits next, but I don't know when I'll actually update the stories themselves. In the meantime, I've been reading this pretty good fic by Neon-Ronin, called "The Truth and the Tempest." It uses some "ooh! big words" at first, and has the occasional spelling error, but generally it's got a very good plot, with one OC so far who surprisingly IS NOT a Gary-Stu! I'm very impressed-- and here I thought the Ranma fandom might be near-to-dying! Better yet, the fic has 35 or so chapters, each of them of a decent length, so I've actually got a good read ahead of me.

Now the question is, whatever happened to Krista Perry and "Hearts of Ice"? Now that was a damn good story.

(4) I went to the doctor's today at around 2pm, and it was an extremely quick appointment. I had to get a PDC or something-- a test for tuberculosis. I have to check back on Tuesday (I should on Monday, except I have classes almost back to back, and I'll likely have my interview for Tokiwa on that same day). I turned in the health certificate today, even though I didn't have the chest x-ray section completed, but Kaiser won't due a chest x-ray unless the shot test comes out positive. -_-; Stupid Tokiwa.

(5) The Shonen Jump Sub Club is pissing me off. I didn't pay $29.95 for the login screen to tell me my name and password are incorrect, and then let me login on the OTHER page that you can only get when you get an error from the OTHER login screen. On top of that, they never update the site for the newest issue when it ships out to subscribers (like they should), so even for all the extras us subbers supposedly get, we don't see them until the site updates for the people that buy it off the newsstand (in 2 weeks). Same goes for non-sub stuff too, like contests and surveys. How irritating!

MEME ALERT: (stolen from a_white_rain)
If you make up titles for stories I didn't write, I will respond with details of those non-written stories. You can include specifics like fandom or pairing. (of course, it would be wise to suggest fandoms and characters that I actually KNOW...)

I can't think of anything else. :P

Okay, so I'm downstairs at the ITR walkin right now, putting up with the unfortunately attractive annoyance that is... er, my co-worker. But I'm in a fantastic mood, because:
* I turned in my Presidential Scholarship packet with everything, most of which was done at the last minute
* I gave Dr. Lopez's secretary my Freeman-ASIA form, so she can endorse it by Friday
* I finished my Japanese homework on time
* I ate a decent lunch AND I still have cookies leftover
* My group performed our Japanese skit first, and though I got corrected on two lines, I think we did well-- and better than other groups (though they were funnier-- we had a Spiderman and a Doc Ock, and a NEKO MAN!)
* My interview was much easier than I thought. It was in a small, comfortable room in the involvement center, and I was talking to Prof. Hirota, Dr. Lopez, and one other woman from the CSUN faculty-- that was it. No chancellor, no board of stodgy old men...
* I might be applicable for a $10,000 scholarship from the Japanese government if I get into the SA/Waseda program!
* I took my passport-sized pictures for my Tokiwa application; I'll estimate the dates tonight and get that printed out and turned in tomorrow.

My new shiny, dry-clean only blouse/jacket got completely pwned by a sweat stain as I tromped all over campus (to all the department offices for English, Japanese, and Journalism) and to the post office (to mail my transcript my Priority mail) and then back to the building where my Japanese class was. But it's faded now, and I'll be sure to get it dry cleaned asap. In any case, I'm glad I got this nice new outfit from thar boutique, Cubby, yesterday. I even got a pair of brown corduoy's... o_o If I get an orange plaid shirt, I can be the female clone of Scott! (creeeeppyyy...)

But since I got everything done and I'm in a good mood, feeling accomplished and happy, I bought a pizza. At least this means I'm responsible for my own dinner, even if What's His Face doesn't appreciate it. No one has even noticed my haircut! No one asked why I'm happy! Aw, who cares!? If I can keep this mood up through tomorrow (and score some free chocolate and/or flowers while I'm at it), all the better! I don't need to be some Absolute Boyfriend villainness, trying to steal other girls' boyfriends!

Scott's coming on Thursday night! I'll have PLENTY TO DO! *lecherous grin* Things are looking up! I think I might even write more of WDKY later tonight if I'm in the mood, and if I get an email confirming my payment for my new premodded PS2, things will be EVEN BETTER! :D

Yesterday a funny thing happened-- I was walking back from Subway, after getting a small lunch to eat before my Major American Writers class started. The University Student Union is under construction, so to get from the USU area (with Subway, the Pub, the Matador Involvement Center, the gym, the arcade, the graphic design center, Wells Fargo, and the Digital Photo place), you have to walk past the construction on your right, and the meeting halls on your left. You come out of this outdoor hallway/tunnel thing, facing the new clothing store (Sam's), and the Mercantile Exchange (convenience store). There are some tables with umbrellas out there on the raised patio so people can eat.

This girl and her guy friend/whoever were sitting on the corner table, right near the "hallway" exit, and as I came out, she turned and looked at me and said "Miss-- you're very pretty." I was so baffled and surprised ("was she talking to me?") that I stuttered out an "Oh! Thank you!" and walked into the Merc and bought my daily iced tea. o_o; I wasn't even dressed in anything remotely attractive yesterday; I was wearing my black track pants, my blue and white track jacket, and a long sleeved shirt with a beaded American flag on it. Nothing special. I get more compliments about my purple satin Converse than I do about me, overall as a person.

I guess the fact that someone complimented me out of the blue is what's baffling me, not the fact that said compliment came from a female. But it's nice to know there are OTHER bold girls out there who admire other girls... That is, maybe she was bi? Or hell, maybe she was lesbian (that's what my grandmother thought), but who cares? I appreciated the comment, even if it was startling. And who knows? She might have been playing silly joke, but whatever. It made my day all the more memorable.

(To be honest, I did wear the track pants for a reason-- they make my butt look nice! HAH!)

Oh, and thanks to jacksonslam, I now have a digital version of the picture they used in the Daily Sundial last Friday, of me working in the bookstore. It's in my Pics Gallery under 'school'. If you've never checked it out before, there's also all my delishidoodle icons, banners and assorted stuff for my other comms. (which I need to get working on!), photos from all sorts of events and places, and the occasional helpful thing (backgrounds for your journal/webpages, etc).

I got my FAFSA done and filed, but I just remembered about this mysterious savings bond thing that WaMu mailed to me. I don't have a Savings Bond. But this number (a measly $57ish) would screw up my FAFSA and my taxes (if I file them), because it counts as Interest Income, which I reported as $0! It's not much, but I have to find out from Mom if it's worth it to file, and then I can correct the FAFSA once I find out where this money came from, and if it's even really mine. I need to get all that done ASAP so I can see a FinAid officer and get her siganture on the Freeman-ASIA scholarship, since I want to get all the big, important ones out of the way.

Speaking of big important ones, both guardian_kysra and Scott came through with recommendations for me-- Prof. Hirota told me she got the both of them. Takase-sensei was still reluctant when I asked her (as a LAST resort, because I would like to have a recommendation from a professor in the language of the country where I hope to study!), which kind of upset me-- she has 4 TAs correcting homework for her, so what's the big deal? I know she wrote two recs. for me in the past, but there's $20,000 riding on this! I wish Hirota-sensei would speak to her, but maybe that's just mean...

In any case, Scott forwarded me a copy of what he wrote, and MY GOD, it was so amazing. o_o I'm just bowled over by the kind of things he said about me (and Scott told me he spent over a week getting it all thought out and well-constructed; he did a fabulous job for a guy that likes art more than writing!). I really hope that what he and Kysra said will give me a leg-up.

I'm still waiting on the CCSF transcript-- I ordered it on the 2nd, but I don't think it got mailed out till the 3rd. Still, the postal service works on Saturday, so I'm hoping it got to SF by Saturday night, and to CCSF by Monday morning. They should have processed it within 2-3 days (assuming now isn't still 'peak period') and it would get here today... I hope. I asked my grandparents to call me if it comes in; if not, I will tell Prof. Hirota to hold off on mailing the package without the transcript, because tomorrow is the latest I can wait. It's true I only took one measley (rhymes with Weasley) class (that I aced, because it was elementary Japanese), but it WAS Japanese, not some weird, meaningless class. And when they ask for ALL college transcripts, I take it seriously. CCSF better come through, because I don't want to miss out on $20,000 because of their inefficiency!

Finally, I'm 90% going to go through with this Hawaii for Spring Break thing, even if Mom doesn't come with me. It looks like Passover will probably be in San Diego the week AFTER (unless Fred decides to be weird and change it around; I just hope we don't try to have it at his house again), since Joyce and Sally think that doing it in Northridge would be too stressful for Baba and Grandpa. I suppose they're right, and Joyce's new house IS big enough for everyone (from what I saw; it was under construction when I was there last). I can't think of any better ideas-- I don't want to stay here in Northridge for my birthday, doing nothing. I don't want to go to San Francisco and do what I've done, see what I've seen, even if I could *MAYBE* hang out with some of my friends. I still plan on being back by Friday night or Saturday night, so cutieme4u (even though you won't read this because you're swamped with 6 midterms), I'll still go clubbing with you if you want. Too bad you're going to be out of town for YOUR birthday though, otherwise we should totally do something for YOUR birthday together! ;)

So I'm waiting for mom to find out if we could stay at a Starwood Resort hotel (likely a Sheraton) for a cheaper rate than the travel agency is quoting me for a lower-star hotel. $66 for 4-star as opposed to $88 for a 2-star!? I'm all for it. But that would change the price that the lady at STA Travel quoted me, and I need to go back there soon to make reservations anyway! :O I hope Mom gets back to me soon.

Well, that's really it for now; I've memorized my dialogue for Japanese already (and Takase-sensei's new system leaves it up to chance whether you'll get the hard lines or the easy ones; so far I've got the easy ones, and the guy I was paired with was unprepared!) and am going to polish off the response drills; I've already done my Listening Comprehension, and that's it for the day until work starts at 4pm! I've got my fingers crossed for that transcript, though...

Today I found out that I'm working all week, Monday through Thursday, 4:00-8:40pm. I'll be getting good hours though, so even though I found out last-minute, it'll be good pay. Friday (Baba's birthday) I'm working 12-5pm, and I'm luckily off on Saturday, when we're having a big party for Baba and everyone's coming.

Anyway, not all that long ago at work, I had this epiphany. It relates to that trip I took to Japan last spring. See, it took me four or so days while I was in Japan before it HIT me, "Oh, I'm in JAPAN!!" Not just out of San Francisco or Los Angeles/Northridge, or even out of California. I could have been anywhere, but I was in the place I'd been DREAMING of for years. And it didn't occur to me, because it felt NORMAL. Crowds, trains, rude people, weird food-- somehow, it all seemed normal.

But even the things that weren't normal (fishcakes, sitting on my knees, assigned seats on the shinkansen) started to grow on me. One of those things was one of those "silly Japanese inventions" that Westerners always wonder about. You know, you hear about those sound boxes in Japanese toilets, the ones that make the sound of running water or waterfalls when you're on the toilet, and after you flush?

I miss those.

It's so damn awkward to be in bathrooms for me nowadays and hear people peeing or whatever. I don't want to hear it. Hell, I don't want to smell it, so thank god for the global love of air fresheners... at least in major countries and cities. But people even TALK while you're on the can. One of my bosses, in fact, and I felt SO AWKWARD. I kept wishing, "Why can't I be in Japan? Their toilets make sense!"

Even though the whole idea of a bidet still weirds me out, it's cool.

But acceptance of a toilet isn't acceptance of a society. If I do end up getting accepted into a Study Abroad Japan program, there's a whole other kettle of fish to consider. I don't know if I'm ready for it. How long can you wish and hope for something, hear about it, and then one day, go there... and still want more... enough to stay for a year, to essentially sever all connections back home? I mean, of course I would still email people (hopefully I could bring or have a computer; without one I think I would go ballistic) and call, but... 3000+ miles away from home for a year (save the few breaks)? I wonder if I could do it.

Even though there is much toilet love...

Happy 2nd Birthday, WDKY!!!!

;_; I can't believe I forgot. It was on October 9th (9 days ago) and I forgot! Maybe I can cut myself some slack because of all the insanity going on lately, but really, it's died down since I sliced my fingers. And inspiration has been coming in a slow, but steady trickle. I should thank my lucky stars.

Well, since I didn't post in time for WDKY's 2nd anniversary (I'm still in a state of shock. I've been committed to this fic longer than I've been in a committed relationship. WTF!?), I'll post WDKY19 no later than Seto's birthday, on October 25th. Bwahahah!

I got my stitches out... it didn't hurt, as everyone insisted. I have a hand therapy appointment on Friday at 10am, and then my Mythology midterm at 12pm. An essay for the same midterm will be due on Monday, so it looks like I'll have a full weekend.

I don't even know when I'm going to tutor Leo (and his little sister, Caren) again, but yesterday's session was fun and good. Leo drew a picture of me in rainbow colors, and Caren took quite a shining to me (she called me "Onee-chan") and even gave me a Sailormoon fan! :D Whee, one more fan for my collection!

I've started cleaning my room, too, but alas! It seems as though I never have enough closet space. And to think, I left dresses and coats in San Francisco. -_-;

Speaking of SF, remember my DDR fic "Goodbye, Hello, Who Are You?" That's the one I submitted for Creative Writing (even though technically it was against the "rules" to submit something that wasn't written for class)... and even more surprising, despite the length (25 pages for a short story) and the font size (9 pt), people LIKED it. The concrit I got was great, and for revision, I plan on condensing it, fleshing out the characters, and figuring out where the heck I want to go with everything (Akio possessing Alexa's body, Alexa's hesitant relationship with Matt -gag!- and everything else inbetween). I have to admit, it's always a bad idea to write fanfic or stories adapted from real life stories that are too personal/close to you, because when you re-read them in the future, you'll remember things, good or bad.

I read about Whitney and the other "NPCs" in the story, and I think about how I don't talk to Will anymore; I hardly see Amber, and any friendship I had with Benji has dissolved. The story is nice only in that it captures what was once, but what can never be again. It also captures that horribly embarrassing, ridiculously stupid crush I had on Mike. -_-; Worse, anyone that's read it can tell, because even if you didn't know me back in high school or the things I babbled on about (my first LJ post was after the Mike drama; I have older entries from FreeOpenDiary and Greymatter on my comp, but I've never got around to backdating them. Anyone care?), some things are just obvious. People in my critique workshop could tell "I" was Alexa. :P

Tomorrow I have my bulk of classes, including the usual Japanese (need to do Listening Comp. Blah), Mythology (prep for test!), Visual Communications (I might have to leave early for a leadership institute meeting. One of the groups is doing a presentation tomorrow though, and that might be the basis for what my group -the Cultural perspective/World Wide Web- does at the end of November, for our presentation. Argh! It's not like I paid for the workshop or anything, but it WOULD be taking up an hour of time after VComm class ends (it goes from 3-5; I'm supposed to be in VComm from 2-4) and it MIGHT just help out the Anime Club meetings... even if few people seem to care.), and Journalism. For the latter, I should be getting my Study Abroad rec. back from Professor Salido. I hope she said good things... >_>! Plus Story #3 is due, so I have to get to work on that tonight.

And then there's FFX-2. I'm at 96% and holding, and that remaining 4% might come from the random Episode Completes I didn't remember the last time around. I have several more zones to go to, plus Chocobos to send out, credits to trade in... ^_^v It's all about getting the Perfect Ending! :P

I've also got to make more icons, because the bulk of my icons are Yu-Gi-Oh (see my userpics page), when I have interests in so many other areas.

I need to catch up on journals, memes, contests (something tells me I neglected to post something for ygo_offtopicon, 30kisses and ygo_lyricwheel... Catch ya on the flip side!

HAPPY 2ND ANNIVERSARY 'WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU'! WHOO-HOO!

The more I think about it, the better an idea it sounds like: make WDKY, CO7, and... a sequel. Make it a trilogy. Why the hell not? I actually have a plot in mind, and I even formulated a summary that doesn't spoil the endings of WDKY and CO7: Téa's never had it easy. But now she has to fight to get back the family she's come to call her own-- even if it means traveling through time, resurrecting the dead, and facing spirits once lost.

Intrigued? Yes? Come ooonn....!
Possible titles:
* Lead and Follow (or Follow and Lead)
* Tangled Web
* Thicker Than Water
* Eternal Dimension
* ???? (I thought of a one-word title starting with 'A' but now I can't remember it!)

I suppose if you know me, read the hints that I dropped, and have kept up with Yu-Gi-Oh, you could guess what I'm planning to do. Operative word: IF. Have a stab at it, if you dare.

( Another one of those request me! memes )

Now I gotta get dressed in my "remind the GM!" outfit, head to red robin, and hope for a successful interview or something.

Well I like to keep up on wank, especially since it seems to inspire discussions with my old friends back at the smrff. So now I check on fandom_wank (over at journalfen.net-- I want an account, but I need a code! *wails*) every so often, but of course, some people manage to bring the wank to LJ-- like blackjackrocket did for us starving folks over at playthedamncard. Me loves the wank.

But cosplay wank is a touchy subject with me. I'm not a diehard cosplayer or anything, but I have my squicks.
(1) Man-Faye. He also did Man-Yuna. Frankly, as fun as crossplay can be, the guy just seems to love pushing the limits and other people's buttons. It almost seems insulting to the original character to do what he does. But if that's what he likes (squicking people, getting them uncomfortable), he's damn good at it.

(2) Pathetic cosplayers. These are the people that slap on (whatever color) hairspray and a headband and call themselves Naruto cosplayers. I don't expect everyone to spend $500+ on cosplay; I myself have felt the pain of doing on-the-budget, last-minute cosplay. I didn't win any awards or get loads of pictures of me taken, but that's not the point. You cosplay to express yourself, to have fun, to meet people. But you can do it just as well without a tacky costume on. I think effort is required in all things: either make do with what you have, or don't do it at all. It doesn't always come out the same, looking A+ gold star happy face perfect for everyone, but trust me: effort DOES show.

(3) Wrong size. This kind of fits in with the Man-Faye thing. It's not just a MAN crossplaying characters like Faye Valentine and Yuna, both ladies known for their rather skimpy clothes (at least Faye; Yuna didn't get her hot pants on until X-2) and sexy bodies. Man-Faye is hairy. But he's also BIG. Even costumes made for him don't seem to cover up near enough... and frankly, why cosplay something that makes you look worse? I had this same gripe with many Yu-Gi-Oh cosplayers. Go ahead and cosplay Otogi, Malik, Yuugi, whoever... but at least make sure the costume FITS you.

It's this last one that makes me wonder about the cosplay wank going on over at f_w. I don't care about the size of the cosplayers, or the fact that two seemingly-lesbian girls find yaoi hot (I come from San Francisco; this is not NEW to me). Matter of fact, both of their costumes (and their hair!! ZOMG!) are really, very good. And crossplay, as I said, doesn't bother me if it suits someone's body. These girls aren't exactly hairy or gangrenous or whatever. People are railing on them because they're a little overweight-- but it's not like you can see plumber butt or anything. *shrugs* Yeah, it's a bit weird to imagine Malik as a bigger than me, female, and white (rather than similar in stature to me, male, and Egyptian), but... that's cosplay for you.

Still, I think if people truly like anime enough to cosplay, they should discover options more suited to them. I like cosplaying people who have my hair style or color, so I don't have to go to excessive lengths to dye or cut my hair for cosplay. Yes, wigs are an option-- but they're damn expensive and hard to maintain. So are those REALLY nice costumes. And I can't sew worth shit.

Actually, a great example of a cosplay I admired was zigx's one of that kid (whose name I cannot remember) from Guilty Gear XX. He used a yo-yo, and looked like a nun. Joe did a COLOR EDIT. How many people honestly think of that? And you know what? Costumes often change from season to season (*cough cough* Seto Kaiba!) or from anime to manga (see: Rena Lanford/Star Ocean 2). So the possibilities really ARE limitless. I wish more people would realize that, and not force people who cosplay into this stereotype that zOMG your outfit/hair/eyes/weapon/size are totally NOT like the character you think you're cosplaying as!!

Who the hell cares? Anyone that gets THAT damn dedicated into cosplay should make it their job, not their hobby. And even then, they can take their criticism to the playground and leave it out of the cons.

(by the way, there are some really homophobic and racist people on cosplayfucks. I mean geez. They scare me. --You probably know who I mean.)

I'd like to add that I don't see communities as ygo_badfic, fanficrants, or even cosplayfucks as cowardly. People are allowed to criticize whatever they find on the web, and they're under no obligation to tell the original author they're doing so. Cosplayfucks I think is a BIT different though, because essentially they are making fun of real people for pretty stupid reasons (superficial reasons)-- and in the case of the Malik cosplayers in question, they provided their emails for feedback, but instead someone made a cosplayfucks post about them railing about how they were pretend-lesbians trying to act like teh-hawt-boy-seks when Malik is really a disassociative-personality-syndrome case profile... o_O Trust me, it could get MORE complex.

I'm not like some unfortunate girls who are so unhappy in their skin. I wish all people could be satisfied with themselves, but even I'm not one of those types. I think I've got a bit of pudge on my belly, and people never seem to hesitate to point out that I have a rather large caboose for a white girl. As the girls at work said, "You got some junk in your trunk!" o_O I don't care, I laugh it off, but part of me does hurt because of it. How long is this "nice" or "wicked" figure of mine (other people's words, not mine) going to last? That's why I try to take care of it.

It's wonderful to be happy in your skin, but not that far of a stretch to want more happiness and health for yourself by bettering your diet and exercise habits. Obesity is clearly a problem in the USA, and encouraging it doesn't help matters. I'd like to believe that people cosplay characters because they love them so much, but also because part of them wishes they DID look like that all the time. Maybe not necessarily the psychotic personality or the deeply-engraved tattoos, but maybe the cool hair, the lavender eyes, and so forth. Oh, and Malik's hot bawd. You gotta admit, he's got a nice figure. And even if he is male, the concept applies to everyone: all those girls that cosplay Yuna/Lulu/whoever-- don't you wish you had her eyes/hair/nails/boobs? I know I do. I don't starve myself to look like them, or blow my money to buy color contacts-- but I keep myself happy and healthy, and from there, everything else follows.

I gave P my 2 week notice today, even though I didn't plan to. But K was being such a condescending bitch (she even elbowed me -hard!- and didn't apologize or say excuse me!) I just can't take it anymore. I will try my damnedest to get that job at Red Robin; I only hope the GM Francis stays true to his word and remembers me. He said I had a great attitude and was very upbeat, and by mentioning the training schedule, he seemed to imply the interview went well and he would want to see me again when the store finally opened. *crosses fingers* Please god, let it work!

...I'm messing around with the eFiction drfa again. It's just being a bitch because on my local computer, I had the eFiction stuff in a folder WITHIN the drfa holder, but on the webserver, they're in two different folders. Blah. I need sleep.

Ugh... what a day. Not because anything big happened (I aced my skit without Scott being there. He dropped the class and we're still getting along. Whatever) but because I ended up getting a very nasty stomachache (anxiety attack + lack of sleep + waffles/bad milk? = sick Mer) while at work. Thankfully, two bathroom runs of about 15 mins. each was enough to get K and P to send me home. ^^; Yay. I ended up drinking some water, taking some pills Grandpa gave me, and by 6:45 when Grandpa and I had to leave for the Northridge West Neighborhood Council Meeting (which I'm reporting on for Story 1 in WRPII/Reporting for the Gov't), I was feeling a bit better. I survived off mints, and now I just polished off a rather nummy PB&J.

Anyway, I decided to find out what classes I have to take for my GE, before I can be considered upper-division. It's possible to go through your whole college career without ever being upper-division, if you take some of your GEs every year, rather than finishing them in your first few years. Well, I can handle 15 units pretty well, and I think 17 or 18 is my unit cap (with my current GPA), but here's the lo-down:

* for B1 (Sciences) - I have to take BIOL 100/L (4 units)
* for B (general) - BIO 220 (2) - Natural Ecology (I think)
... this will bring my total amount of units in the "B" sciences category to 9 units, the required minimum. I already have 3 units from Astronomy last semester.
* for C3 (Humanities) - WS 360  (3) - Feminist Ethics
* for D (Geography) - WS 320 (3) - Women & Urban Life OR GEOG 330 (3) - California Geography (with the same hawt teacher I had in freshman semester!)
* for F1 (Comparative Cultural Studies) - FLIT 150 (3) - Gateways to Western Civilization: Greece & Rome
* for F2, minor, and study abroad pre-req - FLIT 370 (3) - Modern Japanese Culture

As you can see, this brings the total to 18, without ANY units for my major (Journalism) and only ONE for my minor (Japanese Culture)... and I'm not even sure if you can have something count BOTH for your GE and your minor. I still have credit from the Japanese 1A I took at CCSF to count for F4 (which is a "null" category, where all the sub classes count for either F2 or F3), and the Japanese class I'm taking now (for my minor pre-req) could theoretically count for whatever 1A doesn't fill. Thus, FLIT 370 can be exclusive to my minor, if it works out that way.

What I want to do is take some Winter 05-06 courses, or possibly some Summer 06 classes, so that when Fall 06 starts, I have all my GEs out of the way and I'm eligible for Study Abroad. But all my confusing questions will be answered at the workshop in October, so... ^_^ yeah. Still, I wonder how to decide what to take next semester, and what to save for Winter or Summer? I guess I have to wait until the Winter catalog comes out. :P

( My entire college future plotted out. )

Coming Soon: WDKY17 review replies, more betasquad phpBB and website/forum information, and an overdue 30kisses  entry or three (heh, the rule about the one month deadline doesn't apply to me because I own the community! :P NYAAAH! Maybe I should extend it to "first submission within 2 months, and at least 1 submission a month from there on out"...?). Anything else I'm forgetting? Icons, of course. I can't wait for the weekend.

Okay, I know, I'm abusing my on-campus access of the 'Net here, but I feel extremely compelled to complain right now, as I just got off work, and any day I work with K just makes my life a living HELL. On top of that, the ITR job I was applying for has apparently been filled, even though when I first got my application on Friday, no one in the ITR room knew anything about a job opening... and when I went today, it had already been filled (even though we had off on Monday, and few people seemed to know about the position, as it was only advertised through scant bulletins). But they're going to MAYBE interview me, and if I pass their test (ugh, I hope no tests of Excel skill are involved, otherwise I'll need a crash course) then I can be put in the "queue" for the people wanting to help out SPRING semester. Oh, joy.

In any case, I hope Francis, the GM of Red Robin, holds to his word and he remembers me and considers me a good candidate for Red Robin when it opens in Northridge, because frankly, I am SICK of Jamba Juice. Sick of the company, sick of the people. Yes, it's a smaller store with fewer hours, but the attitude of K is more than enough for one store.

Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise: there is no pride to be had working for over a year at a minimum wage job. It makes you look pathetic. Anyone with half a brain should seek a job that befits their intelligence and skill, and keep pursuing said job until they land it, or at least get their foot in the door of the company that has that job. If you don't have a BA/MA/PhD/Whatever or are going for one, then at least pursue a job related to your hobbies. If you like driving, try working at an auto technician's shop. The examples go on and on.

What I hate most about K (and people like her) is that beyond that sickening sense of pride they get for doing something so mundane, so stupid, so run-of-the-mill, is her "I know it all, I'm the boss" attitude. One, she's not the boss-- P is. And he is for a reason. I don't know why, I don't CARE why, but I hate how a) she didn't even show up to the meeting like everyone else did; b) she didn't bother to politely introduce herself to me, and in fact, she never bothers to be polite to me at all; and c) she thinks that being a lead automatically elevates her to Kilamanjaro status over Team Members, whether they're transfers (like me) or newbies (like some of our other hires). A lead does not do anything a Team Member doesn't do, except check people out/do voids and have access to the safe. THAT IS IT. Team Members know how to take apart every mahcine, they know how to brix the water to juice concentrate, they know how to count their reg and clock out.

Among other things, she also...
a) feels the need to call people "babe" and "darling" and similar things. She's not from the South, where an accent and native "slang" like that might be okay. She's from frickin' Sacramento, I'm sad to say. She thinks she knows everything, when her brain is truly the size of a pea (if she has one at all), and it's probably lodged somewhere in the nether region of her ginormously fat ass. I find her calling me anything other than my name derogatory and offensive, and if she calls me one of those things ONE MORE TIME, I do not give a shit if I am on the line in front of 20 people, I will tell her not to call me that. She is not a family member, she is not my friend. She may have seniority over me, but I sure as hell am not obligated to respect her or put up with her BS.

b) thinks she is right all the time. As I said, her brain is close to non-existent. She doesn't know the meaning of the word "argument," and for a supposed college student, she sure doesn't seem to understand that rushing from one place to the other here on campus takes time. If I am assigned to start work at 4:15, I will show up at 4:15, not 4:00 so you can nag me, so I can be shoved around in that tiny, slippery, sticky back area, and not so I can stay for longer than I absolutely need to (even if I would get paid for it). She thinks that 2-5 minutes is late enough to warrant warning me every time we have the misfortune of working together; minutes that I use merely to put my shirt, visor, and apron on. Meanwhile, once I actually AM on the line, the people I'm taking over for are still working, counting their reg, or pouring drinks. Why the hell am I even clogging up the front area when they're still here!?

c) seems to think that it's not excusable for me to ask questions when things are done differently from the Jamba Juice where I transferred from. On top of that, she seems to think that 4 months = no experience, when I had enough experience to be a lead at my old store. I came up with more ideas, helped out more, and was older than most of the other staff members. I was and *AM* responsible, and K feels the need to belittle me and treat me like I child, and I DO NOT LIKE IT.

In short, I hate her. I don't waste time talking smack about her or complaining about her when she really steams me. She's rude, she's condescending, she's snotty, she thinks she's a know-it-all, and damn it all, she really needs to be lowered a peg or two. Technically I should talk to P before going over their heads to Jamba Corporate, and I think I will the next time. But I don't do the "group talk" thing. K just pisses me off now, and there's not going to be any hope for us to work together or "make amends" or some BS. So I will tell Pete, and I will *ASK* if it is possible to not be scheduled with her (D, the other lead, is great fun to work with. They should have other leads, but they don't).

And I'm holding out hope that in October, I can have one more interview with Red Robin, and I can start immediately. I'd love to give my 2 wks. notice in advance of the interview, but that might screw me over if I'm too optimistic. If I do get hired at RR though, I don't want to put up with any more BS than I absolutely have to, so hopefully by October, my hours will have died down enough to where I can just be like "Fuck you, I'm outta here" and that's it.

*sigh* So Writing, Reporting, and Ethics II (WRPII) is due to start any minute now. My assignments are done, I've just got a bit of catch-up reading to do. My laptop should come in a day or so, and I'll mail out my PS2 and finish cleaning my room the second I get the chance. What sucks balls is that I'll be working till close tomorrow and Friday (at least on Friday, "close" is 3pm). So far, so bad: work this week has made me dread what kept me going through a horrible summer, and now I'm looking forward to every weekend, as though Yu-Gi-Oh is the highlight of my week. That's pretty sad.