(Random, Long, Possible Rant) Highlights, if you could call them that, of the past 2 weeks.

Well, it's not been quite 2 weeks since my last post, but really, that one hardly counted anyways. Contrary to the piles of evidence against me (which none of you have access to) I haven't really had the time to blog, especially since Cindy was nice enough to give me World of Warcraft for Christmas.

I realize that when I blog from work not only do my posts tend to be more fragmented, grammatically deficient, and flawed in spelling, but also that I tend not to cover all the points I wanted. However, even with this warning in mind, I really don't find the time at home so where's harm.

Nothing like stating the obvious to bum yourself out, ala this conversation I had today:
Kyle - "Hey, we've been out of school for 19 days now."
Me - "Yeah, and I worked all but 3 of them."
I said that immediately and without mental computation, but it turns out I was right. I didn't work one Sunday, and the past Saturday Sunday (aka: Christmas). More heavy hitting is the realization that of all the days I have worked, I have worked a full day (9-6) every single time with the exception of shortened days (Saturdays, Christmas Eve) and 2 hours which were owed to a Haircut and having 3 cavities filled, and I've worked until 7 twice, so it all nicely balances out.

So the 2005 Honda CRV has come out, and it basically addresses everything I had to go out of my way to try and get in my vehicle (without going to EX and being unable to fit in it). With Standard ABS (yeah, that whole rant again) and Side Airbags (cost me extra, see same rant as above) plus a new seat material that's alledgedly more comfortable, I've not had any problems. Gee, Hindsight really is 20/20. Honda bastards.

My Co-workers are alot of fun. It gets dangerous to strike up a conversation with David and I after we've been customerless for almost an hour, but that's not really suprising is it? Gary's gone, which is a sad thing, you can read David's work profile to see the style of humor this place is now lacking.

Space for Vent.











Cute pun, no?

(Music/Politics) REM Concert with a side of Kerry...

Alright, I'd originally delayed this blog in hopes of making all the song titles into direct links to their respective lyrics, but with the recentness of Around the Sun and the general ad-ridden quality of most Lyric sites, that idea has been scrapped.

That aside, the concert was fabulous. There's something really nice about knowing a band well (in terms of characteristics "We are REM and we approve of this concert", "That's Paul, he's Mike, and I'm Michael. We are REM and this is what we do.") and liking all their songs, just an over all good concert.

After a very nice opening by a Michael Stipe favored group, Now It's Overhead, the concert got underway.

Song List
Get Up: David and my father had a gentlemen's bet riding on what song would open the concert, one would've thought that the second song would be a good strating point but REM rarely does it that way.
Begin the Begin:
These Days:
Animal: Really easy to sing along with song, good contributor to the loss of my voice this concert.
Boy in the Well: New song off of Around the Sun

Songs about Trains
Driver 8: Another sing along for me, I really love this one.
Hi Speed Train: Another new song, really different feel to it, but I like it.


South Central Rain: This is one of those songs that I never can remember the title to.

The Political Set- They opened this set of 4 off by pointing out their support against Bush including their part in the Rock the Vote tour. This was met by a wave of Yay's followed by a wave of Boo's (That's Georgia Republicans for you). On the record I was among the Yay's, cause REM's good and I had a inkling of what songs were going to be played.
The Outsiders: Another one off of Around the Sun, very fun song even if you don't want to look at the political ramifications of it.
Bad Day: The Song. I sang along here as well. This song is among the creme de la creme of REM songs in my opinion. If you do happen to check the lyrics. In place of "...not one more time." they sang "...not four more years!" just for the record.
Wanted to be Wrong: New song. For the entire concert they had incandescent tubes of light hung vertically behind them | | | which were usually a color (or pair of colors) either alternated or just left static. For this song, each tube was Red, White, and Blue.
Drive

That was all of the political quartet of songs, they got back to some regular REMing after that.
Imitation of Life: #1 Hit REM song in Japan
The One I Love: A very nice song as well.

Though it wasn't hailed as such, I do think this qualifies as another Polical Song in REM's songbook.
Final Straw: A new song, fantastically well done.

This was the quinessential ending trio of songs, for every concert thus far on the concert tour.
Losing my Religion: You see the mandolin, there's no question what song it's going to be.
Walk Unafraid: Personal Anthem, this is the source of my, and David's, Senior quotes. Also a sing along.
Life and How to Live It: A older, but still greatly fun song.

The Encore-Note that this was accompanied by Michael Stipe wearing a pro-Kerry T-shirt and some more political commentary (this time focused on voting, regardless of "which side you butter your bread on").

Nightswimming: This was a special hometown treat. At all the other concerts before Atlanta the Encore was 5 songs, specifically the 5 that followed this one. This is a wonderful song, done in a small group, namely Mike and Micheal along with a celloist and a obeoist they pulled out of somewhere.
What's the Frequency Kenneth: A very classic REM song, ranks alongside Radio Free Europe, Losing my Religion, and Nightswimming. Speaking of Radio Free Europe, after the political set, someone in the audience reportedly yelled at Michael Stipe to "Sing Radio Free Europe and save your ass" to which Mr. Stipe coridially replied that he would play what songs he wanted.
Leaving New York: Leading song off of Around the Sun, very very nice.
Something old and something new...- The Oldest and Newest REM songs paired back to back.
Permanent Vacation: Ancient song, incredibly fun.
I'm gonna DJ: First song to be heard off the upcoming album, sounds like it's going to be a good disc to buy as well.
Man on the Moon: An interesting song to choose for the finale in my opinion, but a good one anyways.

REM knowledgable people will immediately note the conspicuous absence of End of the World, but I'm gonna DJ has the world ending reference to satisfy me, and I got enough vocal cord damage from Bad Day to not need End of the World to finish me off.

(Employment) Well, what can brown do for me?

I returned home from college this Friday in anticipation of working at The UPS Store on Saturday to find that UPS Corporate had sent me a little postcard in the mail informing me of their job opening for Seasonal Driver Helpers. Little details other than the promise of $8.50/hr were included. So, out of benign curiosity, I decided to google said position. Namely a search for UPS Seasonal Driver Helpers and oddly enough I can't seem to find the exact position I was offered in the first place on job listings. One offers $8.00/hr for Seasonal Delivery Driver Helpers, another (in Louisville, Kentucky) offers $11.75/hr for a job with the exact same name and description as well as $8.50/hr for a job with UPS Worldwide sorting package from ~11:30 PM to 3:00 or 4:00 AM. All of this news notwithstanding, since I'm certain it's mostly price fluctuations based on locality and need therein I begin to wonder what prompted UPS to send me such a note (and how they found me in the first place) because with all the facts considered, they're practically offering me a job in lieu of a job with a subsidiary of themselves, and that doesn't really seem like the most brillant of plans. Either way, riding around in a truck for 12 hours a day with a man who's most likely a smoker (and has all the more reason now that he's got someone else to do the walking) is not my idea of a Seasonal Job, especially because I don't think I'd even get a chair.

(/)

I just wanted to congratulate Adventure Quest for having its second birthday (and yes, this is also belated...noting a trend yet?) and say thanks for such a wonderful free game that I'm certain will group to be something very impressive. I am seriously considering the one time cash donation to be a Guardian so I can still play even when the public server is stuffed, but we'll see about that.

(Random News) Calendar notes and Disturbing news

For all those who asked when I was coming back to Tech, if you haven't yet broken the code; the more vagueness I use in my reply, the more uncertain I am about my schedule for the weekend and possible changes or events that I may or may not remember. So, what does mean? I have an REM concert this weekend. I'll be back Sunday.

As far as disturbing news goes. The radio of awkening tells me that Hooters just opened its first location in Shanghai, they didn't comment on the nationality of the well-endowed waitresses that would be staffing the store but I really doubt that there is a "Willing to travel for work" question on the Hooters application.

(...)...

Yeah, a happy belated birthday to myself as well. And no, I'm not dead, and yes, I do plan to add links to this thing so it actually goes places, and yes, there will be much discussion of the end of last season and the start of this seasons anime.

...


...


...


Just not right now.

(Misc Humorous) My day is made

Okay, there's alot to the compound humor contained herein, but that's alright, it's how I gain the most enjoyment out of life; jokes within riddles within analogies within...well, you get the idea. Anyways, the latest Applegeeks comic is the cause this time. Besides being
A) An amusing comic in its own right.
B) A continuation of both a quality crossover and a funny Mac vs. PC rivalry.
there is a link in the rants at the bottom that really brings it all together. Not only does the information of the link and the rant bring forth a smile, but the hosting site for the link clinches it all, and in the end, I smile.

Edit: Since the link itself has moved into the blog archives, I reproduce it here.

(AWA) Freaks coming out of the woodwork

So, Friday I went to AWA with Nathan, Kyle, and Jiaz. Did not manage to run into Piro, not that that suprises me, but did have a throughly enjoyable time anways. As was expected, Naruto character were everywhere, though not many were Naruto himself. As far as Cosplay goes, there were several disturbing images, mostly invoked by either eating-disorder or chubby girls wearing far less than I'd fell they should, though I think the record should show that I feel these types should wear no less than 2 layers and an overcoat. On the top of the list however was the Rose Ball attendee who decided to go as a Pikachu in a Prom dress/Wedding Reception gown. I cannot convey this in words, so I won't try; just don't injure yourselves trying to imagine it. There were also the typical cop-outs of creativity, Sound Test blocks, Tetris blocks, creative but not very elaborate. Several Vashs, Squalls, White Mages (of FFXI), an Irvine, a few Wolfwoods, a Kingdom Hearts Cloud, a few Yunas, and assorted other miscellaneous characters, Oh and a fair number of assorted Catgirls (ugh) and Sailor Scouts (actually, primarily Sailor Moon). If I had to chose my 4 favorite Cosplayer groups I'd go with:
4) Yugi from Yugioh simply because of the look when Jiaz realized that I was right when I told him who the girl with the really really funky hair was supposed to be.
3) The Keybladed Riku and Sora from Kingdom Hearts weilding the Kingdom Key (Sora) and the blade that Jiaz and I can't remember the name for (Riku).
2) Lily and Futch, complete with a tiny white dragon doll, from Suikoden III, Lily's costume was better done than Futch's, but I say that mostly because I happen to like Lily's hat more than Futch's headband, Bright was cute though.
1) The better pair of Riku and Sora complete not with Keyblades but with a Goofy doll (Sora) and a Heartless doll in her purse (Riku). In retrospect, I should've asked if she made the Heartless, it was pretty damn cute.

As far as merchandise goes, the shirts and posters and wallscrolls aren't my style, so while I looked at them, there was nothing really all that impressive. References to Hentai, Glomping, Kawaii, Geekdom, Tentacles, etc, nothing too outstanding or impressive. The Japanese Manga place that Jiaz and I favored in the dealer's room had quite an outstanding selection, including Hot Gimmick in Japanese, art books for Phantom Brave, Disgaea, and Valkerie Profile (bonus points to anyone who's even heard of that), a Star Ocean 3 figure of Cliff, Japanese Disgaea manga, and a little Yuzuyu (of Aishiteruze [Cannot spell this for the life of me, I'll fix it when I get to Tech] Baby ) keychain. It was cute and not to costly, but I'm broke and a disembodied Yuzuyu head is kinda creepy. There was an abundance of weapons, mostly swords, sais, and throwing items (cards, knives, and shurukens) as well as a few maces, axes, and hammers. Plenty of Gundam Models and some action figures. There was an asian gentleman with an extensive selection of Jpop, Video Game, and Anime Soundtracks, but at massively inflated prices. I did stumble upon both sizes of Johnathan plushies from Kaleido Star but I'm not certain if the larger one was a display or for sale, ADV didn't have their own booth. Wizzywig had a adorable selection of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronices Moogles in all 4 of the major colors (white, red, green, and blue for those who have never played the game). I saw a little girl with a moogle earlier at AWA which looked more like a Kingdom Hearts moogle but might have been from Crystal Chronicles, I didn't have a good look, but I didn't see them at any of the displays. None of the other plushies at any of the booths struck me as being kawaii enough with the exception of that Fox thing from Inuyasha.

(Gatech) "Let's get retarded..."

Okay, no insensitivity intended by the title, just a complete Mac Hall reference and as well as a self-referential degridation. I apparently botched my latest Chemistry Lab, being off by a factor of 10 on a Lab where accuracy is 60% of the grade, so my generous TA handed it back to do again by Monday; guess what I'll be spending my Sunday doing. I'd reference my complete idiocy as to Mastering Physics, but fortunately I don't know the jpeg addresses, suffice to say, I apparently cannot read numbers and find which cancel out, really really terrible. I did discover however, much to the suprise of Mastering Physics' Tech support, that 20 incorrect guesses on a single question locks out the rest of the question, which can be really damaging to a GPA, fortunately most of my homework grades for Mastering Physics are still in the low A to high B range. As for the Diff Eq. test that I tore through faster than anyone else, I ended up with a 40.5/65 which is the C range for the Test but not too terrible for not having any clue what his tests were like. Apparently I guessed the contents rather well, but was flawed in my execution of everything. Draw my axes backwards on the graph and generally had serious issues with the "plus or minus" concept that occurs with square roots and realizing that that creates 2 seperate equations. That said, I apparently made an unmodified 17/20 on my Chemistry test and a 89/84 on Java so I ought to be fine in all my classes despite my own best efforts at sabotage.

(Gatech) Another one bites the dust...

Another week is finally concluded, despite the best efforts of our unfriendly regional weather. Got through my two tests today in what I hope was good order, I was the first finished with Diff Eq's. We were allowed one side of a 8.5"x11" piece of paper for all the notes we wanted, I had alot less then the people around me, fortunately I anticipated most of what was going to be on the test. Unfortunately the Euler was worth alot less than I'd hoped (and was really damn easy on top of that). The phase and bifurcation diagramming I'd hoped wouldn't have made it on, but I still think I managed to convey the general idea though I concede that I suck when it comes to diagramming diff eqs. I don't know about the roots stuff, I think I had the right idea, but somehow I feel the fact that I claimed the second half of the problem was impossible doesn't seem like the greatest thing. I guess perhaps the two constant sets could have been different, but I wasn't totally sure about the process as a whole. I cribbed the formula for the Bernelli equation and the eventual simplification, but I ended up trying to solve 1/((C - 2x)^(1/4)) = -1, which doesn't occur, so I guess something went astray somewhere. Unfortunately that Bernelli accounted for the substition question as well, but the remained was just a basic diff eq that was simple enough.

Chemistry was pretty easy, no real curve balls, and for once I actually had a grip on what we were doing, not the first done this time, but among them (and for the worriers out there, yes, I checked over my work on both tests). No partial pressure question which suprised me. Pity I failed Bloch's class, I can't even get partial credit on my multiple choice this time but I should still be fine. Lab is going pretty well as well, I think my partner is very accurate, which is great. I've now got my TA's lab report preferences figured out, so the 83 Average on Lab reports should be moving up into the 95 range shortly (especially as the labs get more and more Excel intensive, I've got all sorts of Excel talents).

I went on Webwork to take a look at my CS grade so far, apparently I botched the applet badly enough to not get credit, so that was a sliver off my Homework grade, but nothing I can't balance out easily enough given the way things are headed. I apparently made a 89/84 on the test, getting everything correct and the extra credit, though I'll have to pick up my test at Recit next Tuesday to believe with my own eyes.

And once again...

Just two more quick notes, again with the belated birthdays.

One to the artist/writer of Hana Kimi, just cause it seems like the obligatory admission of my pursuance of manga.

And of course, one to Kyle for being the first of all of us to break out of the teenage years. Yay for Kyle.

A quick side note:

Happy belated sixth birthday to Google.
Happy belated fifth birthday to Blogger.
Happy belated first birthday to Kawaii Radio.

Oh, and, I think I start trying out Ad-sense, but I have no clue how they'd managed to associte ads with my posts. Given the frightening things that Gmail's tried to show me, I'm not certain that it'd work well at all.

Blog Conglomorate:

Is it conglomerate? *Shrug*, Whatever, not looking it up.

Anyways, the radio was actually playing The Smithereens, I didn't know that that ever happened these days, I guess they're a bit more mainstream that I thought.

So, I've decided that watching Mexicans distribute sour cream through a large, transparent housing, caulking gun is perhaps one of the most disturbing images that I can readily recall. I guess that's one of the key signs that I'm at a college campus when it's practically industrial sized food dispensers. Having a mental image of giant food pellet dispensers like in all the cartoons that they use to feed the smart hampsters.

Anyways, as Jiaz was keen to point out, college has kinda killed both our blogs to a practical halt, and Kyle's as well, though he's freaking prolific compared to the two of us these days. Props to Kyle (yes, I did just want to use that phrase).

I have, as of now, completed all 5 Harry Potter books that Mrs. Rowling has released. Very good reads and I look forward to the books. I'm quite interested to see who they cast as Viktor, Cho, and Fleur (which still sounds like a name straight out of Disgaea though that's another matter altogether). All around there's a bit more violence than I'd expected given the intended audience of the first book, but it's all very well done (My favorite bit being, and shameful this is to say, the use of Latin roots for all the spells). I'm quite satisfied that the 5th book did not end at all as I expected, many things that I expected did not occur and many things I did expected didn't, all of which is a very good thing in my opinion.

Despite the amount of time I seem to be able to dedicate to reading (evidenced by the fact that I've finished 5 books in 4 weeks, plus all the side literature: 4 volumes of Hot Gimmick and Ha Jin's Ocean of Works) I'm doing quite well in all my classes as things stand (and I believe I'll do fine on the Tests of the coming week) mostly because instead of sacraficing schoolwork for reading, I've exchanged one vice for another, shelving anime in interest for the coming new season and patience at the reduced rate of fansubs given the start of school.

I'm thinking I ought to start flagging my titles to posts with a parenthetical note to warn my readers as to what type of post to expect. Ie: (Rant), (Comics), (Anime), (Gaming), (Gatech), (Misc), etc. So, sound like a good idea, bad idea?

In the end of the beginning...

So, first week of Tech is finished, my schedule is now cemented as stands unless the will of a Registrar be enacted (though I don't see why that would occur, but I guess it's a possiliblity that I have to concede from the standpoint of truth). It's not exactly everything that I ever hoped for, but I should be able to survive it, assuming the book stores managed to meet my academic needs sometime before I start hurting for wont of what they lack. I do wish they'd coordinate these things though, I can't get Chem Lab Book at B&N, I can't get PRS's at Engineer's, I'm just moving back and forth between these two challenging the integrity of my impoverished savings account. So, without further ado, the present Fall 2004 lineup of courses contains:

Introduction to Chemistry - Yeah, I have to take this again, and lab as well because I managed to fail that as well, I swear that something went horribly wrong with the grading of my Lab Practicum but I really don't have a way, or the will after all this time, to try and prove that, so I guess I'll just have to suffer through both components of the class. The professor this year, whose name I don't know, is you, carefree, yet to be broken by Tech. That ought to change, should be fun to watch it happen. Either way, he's a worse teacher than Block in the sense that he teaches the book, but that's really what I need, Block just reinforced, and that didn't do me much good, since the book didn't explain it too well, and she was the one who wrote the brink. So, the up side is that I didn't have to buy a book, the downside is that this is one course I should've only had to take once.

CS 1322, Java - Oh boy, more Java. After a whole summer of the crap you'd think I'd hate to do this, but guess what, it's a requirement for the rest of my years as EE. What great fun this'll be. Even better, I have the same professor. Glad to know that my TBA materialzed as Waters again, this time I won't use Emacs though, so I won't have such a lopsided homework grade, that's a blessing I guess. This one should be rather easy, since I've seen it all before, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to enjoy it in any way, shape, form, or whatnot.

Differential Equations - Hmmm...Mark Demers is also one of those younger men to be teaching such a course. The other day he was just solving Diff Eqs to demonstrate a Theorem that is the basis for the course. So he'd throw up something and then the answer, no work, nothing. Scared the whole class cause we were all desperately trying to figure out how he was doing it. Someone actually asked, and he admitted that we'd be learning how to solve basic equations starting next week. But still, that was such an odd approach, cause he was just throwing equations on the board, commenting on how most of it was math that we'd never see, but that he for some reason felt had some usable implications despite all that. Either way, he's really damn softspoken and recovering from a cough, so despite lecturing in a Skiles classroom, it's a strain to hear what he says. Fortunately, he writes what he says verbatim, so that's not really a major issue. Class ought not to be that bad, but we'll see how hard Diff Eq's can be, since I've not done but the most basic of related rates in quite awhile.

Physics I - I don't know precisely why I put this off from last Semester, but I did, and I don't think I totally regret it. It isn't cool that I couldn't just borrow a book cause they changed it, and that they're no longer using Webwork but this vicious other online system that they use to ask all kinds of stupid questions. Either way, I don't like the book's approach of using 4 different models and diagrams for every problem (mostly because that means I have to draw them all to get credit for some of the most basic problems), but even worse, we don't even get like equations and math until the next semester. It's quite unfortunate that Tech wouldn't take AP Physics B, cause I've already learned everything that this class has to offer, but I just have to prove it, so I guess I will.


Other sundry blogging will be forthcoming, but now that academics are aside, my hands are aching.

Yeah, it's official

I have to retake Java this semster in order to qualify for ECE 2025, I asked my advisor about the conflicting details and got the worse of the two possible responses. I didn't ask if the information on Oscar was outdated or merely inaccurate of EE majors (I shudder to think of a situation where I could change majors to take ECE 2025 and then change back, but this might be the case, I mean, I really hate to think that a class should be harder to get into if it's your major, but who am I to question it, eh?). Oh well. Then to add biting insult to the injury, my advisor fired off an afterthought email reminding me that I have to retake Chem as a pre-req for another class later on (getting later all the time with having to retake Java). The bad part is that with my schedule out of wack, I don't know when I can schedule that Orchestra audition, hopefully I can pull off some last minute practicing though, hopefully I don't have to be too impressive to get in as a Bass cause I certainly haven't practiced at all over the summer. Once again it didn't occur to me that there'd be auditions for a thing like this, guess I've got to stop trying to skate through life and start putting out real effort, what a shame.

Well Jiaz, guess I spoke to soon.

Yeah, it exists:
[Spork] Pugyuru 11.avi

Worse yet, it's short for SailorSpork, this world scares me sometimes.

It figures...

...Mac Hall is down the moment that I want to show Kyle Ian's latest rant.

...Laura is out today, so I'm called in to replace her and of course the day is so completely dead.

...The ECE class that I don't meet the Pre-reqs for, I do. It specifically says that I need a C or better either in either 1322 (Java, I got a D) or 1321 (Scheme, I made an A). So I need to talk to Tech about resolving this in a manner that keeps me with enough credit hours to be a full time student still.

...That I can't figure out what Etudes I can actually play for the Orchestra audition. I hate auditions. Why can't we have sight reading? I do so much better when I'm not expected to have practiced. Oh well, that's life for you.

"Holding the panic button for longer than a second"...

So, I finally got my after-market Keyless entry for my CRV, looks remarkably like the one David has with his Civic except that I have a button specific to my Trunk as well, unlike him.

Damn, this Gatech situation isn't going to sit well with my Parents, but I'm not going to think about that right now, it's time to perform a ritualistic pagan sacrifice in some vain attempt to get some customers into this store. That and get someone to release some anime that I care about, I mean, a full blooming week and a whole 1 episode of Champloo (which I'd already seen the week before in French curtesy of Nerae) is all I have to show for the time passed. That's just not a good omen at all. Anyways, back to sacrificing.

Good Grief

Rats. So according to the map of my future, I'm in trouble, but fortunately it's all kinda canceling itself out in the not-so-uncertain terms of an extra semester at Tech. Namely, according to the map if I take ECE 2025 this semester, I won't be able to take next semester's ECE class until after I've finished with Physics 2. However, that's kind of a moot issue seeing as not getting a C or higher in Java means I don't meet the prereqs for the class, so I'll take it and Physics II this Spring. So, currently I have 9 credit hours (Physics 1 - 4, Diff Eq - 4, Orchestra - 1) meaning I ought to add back in Java and Chemistry and go insane this semester but come out better for it. I mean, all I have to do is read the Chem book to pass that class (though maybe I'll delay that idea a bit later) and I can practically sleep through Java class now, not that I didn't before, especially once I install Eclipse and use that instead of Emacs, meaning I'll actually be able to do multipart applications without going crazy (which seems to be the major theme of my life at Tech). And there's still the blasted issue of getting into my LCC that I'm supposed to take this semester that's full up, what a pain. And speaking of pain, the keyboards are really in an awkward place over here, at least this one doesn't have nearly enough space.

So, on Bortz radio today, he was playing Jibjab, so I guess that puts him roughly 2 weeks behind the curve or whatever. It was interesting hearing the radio trying to censor what it found offensive (only to have the show continue on and the next topic being Bortz's talking about slang for Lesbian being used in a game of Scrabble without censorship, but that's another topic). They weren't using a beep either, but a comedic noise to try and blend with the song I guess, it didn't work.

They also had the greatest caller into the show that I've ever heard. It took all I had not to break into laughter. His statement was, and this was following Bortz's talking about all the men who served with Kerry in Vietnam arguing against all his claims of heroism and the validity of his Purple Hearts etc, "If the Democratic party nominated Jesus, how long would it take before some Republican in Texas got a group of Apostles together to say that the nails driven into Jesus's hands were only 2 inches long, not 6 inches." Needless to say, it's a nonparallel arguement, and the comparison of Kerry to Jesus is so completely laughable that I had to step into the back for a drink of water. Sean's comparison to Mother Willow is a whole lot closer to the actual situation. Bortz's answer was 2 hours 46 minutes, which seems about right although it was simply an answer for the sake of answering the question as he justifably hung up on the moron.

Appendectomy : Appendix (from the body) :: the College Board's latest decision :

Analogies (from the SAT I).

Yes friends, it is true, the Sat I will no longer hold analogies within its pages. I, of course, really don't give a damn having already scored my score (definately could've done higher as is always the case with anything I do involving score), but this could be good news for analogy challenged future SAT takers, depending on what they replace the questions with.

So, Kyle installed the language settings on Asgard, which means that most irregular text patterns have become Japanese characters. Ie: French months, such as August, have had their circumflexed o plus the following u transfigured into the symbol for, honestly, I haven't the faintest idea. However, it's less of a bother for me, and more vaguely reminiscent of Gunbound than anything else.

I had thought about a nice little compare and contrast post illustrating the differences between Kyle and my workplaces, in the long run justifying his high pay simply by the amount of responsability he manages and the amount of boredom and flak that get flung his way. I mean, the closest I come to getting customer angry is calling a mail-box holder Mr. (Insert Lastname Here) and having them ask me to call them by their first name, Kyle gets customers (or one in particular in this case I guess, and hopefully only ever this one time) completely infuriated at Kyle for something he didn't even do to the point of full blown profanity and obscene gestculations. People certainly can get ugly when they are angry, but then again, I've always maintained that humans are ultimately a rather ugly race.

Perhaps I've been brain-washed by too much Neal Boortz (perhaps it is only one o, I don't really care) but I've almost begun to think that giving Bush a second term would let him finish his part in the war on terror and bring a close to a chapter in history (not saying that he'd end the war, but...actually I don't know what I'm saying). I really don't like either candidate. Kerry is too damn wishy-washy, and I'm the authority on knowing that that approach to live doesn't solve anyone's problems. Bush is still a moron, but then again smart people don't do politics, so that doesn't suprise me. His human rights record in Texas aside, I actually can't find much fault about him besides his dearth of intelligence and his belligerance. Not saying that he didn't take the proper course, not my place to judge that, but that it was quite the means of violence. As much as Bortz (double o might be the right way, but that's faster to type so I'll stick to that one) might like to herald the chemical weapons that we found in Iraq and the intelligence that Sadaam was seeking to acquire nuclear weapons program enabling materials, I do still maintain that the American public was mislead into this war in Iraq that has been too poorly managed to give my any faith. I mean, I fail to see the logic in a deployment that has American boys dying to Iraqi guerrilas while corperate employess get paid to stand around not doing anything mere miles away.

It's time for Acirema, and yes that c is pronounced like a hard k to maintain the general idea. This is totally on the fly, so bear with me here. A nation built on the premise that an acting Republic, responsive to the people's will, can best arrange for the wellfare and happyness of those people. Ideally failure to vote should be punishable, but devoting the resources of the people to monitoring and regulating the people is a self-defeating act. Where the archiac electoral college is disbanded in favor of the pure will of the people. Where a new judical court is created purely to enact Judical Review and keep the actions of the Legislative and Executive branches in check. Where Church and State are seperated firmly and unconditionally: utterances or proclamitions of religious nature being outlawed in places of Government but morals and vitures are not left to rot. Where men who believe that they should be leaders because they are so willed by their God are not even presented with a chance at office for those whose entire plan is to rest cradled in the palm of their creator do not have the judgement and capability of action necessary to lead a nation of mixed peoples. Where lying is once again a capital offence, direly so when under oath or in office. Where those who would evade taxes or embezzel are giving as harsh of punishments as those who would rape or murder. Where ignorance of the law is no excuse. Where a compounding rule applies: if one stupid unlawful action of a person's undertaking breeds another unlawful action or result to transpire, their punishment shall be greater than the mere sum of the punishment for all the crimes combinded. Where an abortion is a matter of choice, not a matter of law. Where streamlined processes are the forefront of plans, because the less time things stay tied up in red tape the more good they can do. Where Pork Barrel spending is recoignized as a difficulty and a liablity and disbarred from it occurance, which in turn breeds a nation of constituents who do not need their incumbant to waste 20 million of taxpayer's dollars building an airport in the middle of the mountains just to provide a construction job for his voting area so that they'll vote for him over his challenger. Where decisions on candidates are made by their stances and opinions, not by how well they can sling mud. A nation where economic disparities are recoignized as a function of modern living and, while methods of minimizing them are sought, they are not so done at the expense of burdening those whose creativity, ingenuity, or hardwork has brought them to fruition. Where middle management is a relic of the past and efficency is king.

Yeah, not going to happen is it, I don't think so either.
Oh, and if my beliefs managed to offend you, don't whine to me presuming that I give a damn.

A)bort R)etry F)ail mode 2 is now underway.

We'll see how far I get with this before my ancient template and Blogger's recent updates manage to kill each other.

Turns out that the answer to that question was approximately 13 seconds.

Another week of cross working 2 jobs, slightly shorter hours though so perhaps this one won't waste me quite so terribly. Blogging, emails, and visitation rights will, as usual, still be shot completely to hell though. So, enjoy webcomicy goodness while I'm not here Star Crossed Destiny

So, question of the moment: Why does Regal abbreviate Harold and Kumar go to White Castle as Harold and Kumar go to WR. Where do they get a R in there?

Song of the moment: Cowboy Bebop Movie OST - Time to Know ~ Be Waltz. Yes, that seriously is a song with a tilde in the actual title.

Harry Potter 3 Movie Spoiler

Now I know some kid is going to google the title of this blog post and read this post instead of seeing the actual movie.  But I warn you, this is only a review and not a plot summary of the movie.  Still, if you want to find spoilers on the harry potter 3 movie on the internet, be my guest!
Since Colin is too much of a wuss to write the spoiler (and he almost jumped out of his seat in the scene where Prof. Trelawney goes all psychotic on Potter) , I guess I will :D
Well, first off, the movie was half good, half bad.  As Katan points out, the cinematography was the BEST out of all the previous HP's.  Alfonso Cuarón is an AWESOME director!  But due to the length and detail of the book, they had to cut out LOTS of bits and pieces from the book. But I'll explain that part later. Rants first:
Observation 1. Dumbledore
OMG Who is *that* new old guy and what happened to the old Dumbledore?? Oh yeah, he died.  But still, this new Dumbledore, played by Michael Gambon, will NEVER fill the old Dumbledore's shoes!  Ever!  Where the old Dumbledore was kind, all-powerful, and grandfatherly, the new Dumbledore was too sharp, too quick, and dresses like a retired hippie painter. Overall, I don't like him, but I guess I'll have to put up with him throughout the next 4 HP movies.
Secondly, I'd like to discuss the book/movie discrepancies (something that colin could not possibly write about because he never read the book!)
Dude, Prof. Lupin's class was supposed to be *awesome*.  From what I remember of the book, they fought a lot more evil monsters and what not in Lupin's class.  And their final exam was to go through some sort of obstacle course fighting monsters right? To me, it seems as though they just glossed over the book, picking out only the most crucial parts of the story to maintain a logical plot.  I mean, the Harry Potter books are not just all about Harry going to school, Harry fighting evil Voldemort, Harry triumphing and moving on to the next book.  Rowling actually creates a whole wizarding world. I think we as the movie-going audience should get to see what it's like to go to a school of witchcraft and wizardry.  I know you get to see Prof. Trelawney's class some and Lupin's class, but come on, they had more classes than that!
And their clothes.  The first two HP movies were more traditional in the fact that they pretty much stick to the book.  All the students wore their little Hogwarts uniforms.  But how much uniform did you see in this movie besides the bit they wore on the train?
Speaking of clothes, what's up with Hermione and wearing these bust-enhancing, butt-hugging clothes? We know she's growing up and becoming more "feminine" but there's no need to market her body to the general public. She's too young for that. Another thing she's too young for is all this hitting on Harry the second Ron's back is turned.  I don't recall Hermione's character being all lovey-dovey towards Harry in the books.  In fact, if any of you have read Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix, ***SPOILER AHEAD*** you would know that Ron and Hermione had relationship issues in GoF and she ends up going out with that Viktor Krum guy while Harry goes for miss priss Cho Chang as evidenced in the 4th and 5th books. ***END SPOILER***
Also, WHAT WAS UP WITH MALFOY??? He's the big boss of Slytherin! He's Mr. Tough Stuff #1 Bully of the whole series! He's not some wimpy pansy-pants okay? So why was he backed up against the tree being beaten up by a girl?  I could understand his running away after Harry uses the invisibility cloak and starts throwing snowballs at Malfoy and his two stooges, but his wimping out to Hermione is either really bad, fake acting, or else it demands some justification!
Lastly, they never explained how Lupin knew that the Maurader's Map (sp?) was a map! I guess they cut that scene out and are putting it in the DVD.  ***SPOILER*** Lupin = Mooney, Sirius = Padfoot, Harry's Dad = Prongs, Peter Pettigrew = Wormtail ***END SPOILER***
Don't you love how all traitors have the word 'worm' in their name? (Grima Wormtongue from LOTR)

Okay I do have some good things to say about the movie, I promise. 
Like how the dementors in this movie could be distinguished from ring wraiths.  Dementors have a very round, oval-shaped head, which makes me wonder if their heads are just really one large rubber balloon filled with helium and covered with black cloth.  The movie really gives you the sense that these black hooded phantoms sends darkness and despair into everyone's hearts.  Whereas the ring wraiths from LOTR just sat on their various beasts-of-transportation and looked scary. 
I don't know if it's just me, but Ron is starting to look like the big Pete from that old Nickelodeon show, The Adventures of Pete and Pete.
The songs in this movie are wonderful! I definetly want a copy of this movie's sountrack.
Finally, there's Buckbeak the hypogriff.
The hypogriff is an AMAZING creature! And I didn't mean to steal that line from the nightelf in warcraft. They did a great job in the CG of that hypogriff.  It looked much more realistic than the incredibly fake unicorn in the first book.  You could actually *see* the blue feathers rustling in the wind during the flight scenes.
And that concludes Cindy's movie review of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban!

*Kicks Blogger*

This place is getting some serious trouble, perhaps to do with the worm attacking Google though, but it definately isn't going nearly as smooth as it should.  Always  a bad sign when I have to load a page at least twice to get it to actually take hold.

And the answer to the $10,000,000 for this week was, the ED to FMP:F.  If you didn't know the question, and anyone not reading my mind shouldn't have been able to, it was: What anime song do I know that reminds me of the song they play on the radio where the voice goes really high in the vocal range (I think it's a Michelle Branch song, but I can't swear by that, cause I'm usually working when I hear it and don't have the focus to devote to listening for the artist, or even really to the song).

I've found the inhibitor paradox of my life.  I don't want to read any literature because I want to get my own ideas out and do some writing of my own, but the issue therein is that I don't really want to write, because I'd never be serious about it, it's mostly action/humor snippets as are most of my stories, that and I'm not much a writer, as seen by my frequency, or lack thereof with this.

Current musical addiction: The Melody of Oblivion OST - The spirit of FRAMENCO.  An anime also getting my vote for my favorite of the season.

I'd post my opinions of the third Harry Potter movie, but I'm not certain that I can do it without spoilers, so I'll suffice it to say that it was a very good movie, and I hope I find the spirit to do some reading so I can finally read them, as well as the LotR series that I've yet to manage reading.

There, I fixed the temporal vortex I'd temporaly created, much better not to be 2 years in the future (an odd posting option, but, whatever.  It'd be cool for a Psychic blog though, being like a week in the future with every post).

Testing to see if the Changed date affects the location of subsiquent posts.

It would appear that Blogger has gone and changed their interface once again.  Hey, messing with fonts is amusing.
 
But, we'll still to normal sized Georgia font, cause it's a good font to use.  And hopefully, damn this new interface is annoying.  Keeps reverting to Tiny when I turn away for a moment.
 
So, as everyone can see.  As soon as I get nice and post links to Jiaz's lovely pictures, he goes and one-ups me by actually blogging, and making all the photo links individual with descriptions.  He's just mean sometimes.
 
Lesson for the week.  If you've created a Note-keeping place inside your Java application that saves and retrieves intself from a SQL database table, it's probably not a good idea to recreate the database from null values if you had important notes.  My uncle and I knew there was a reason we didn't want to have to null-state the database, we just couldn't remember the specifics offhand.  Now we know, and of course we left a reminder in the Note program, just in case we should try it again.
 
In other news, I've apparently got a package at Tech.  But between 2 jobs and a lack of care, I'm not about to take the trip down there just for my package, plus, they probably close the office on weekends, I'll have to check.  Now if only I had some clue as to why I'd be getting packages at Tech in the middle of Summer (well, not really the middle any longer).
 
So, I need to warn the world about a PS2 game that David borrowed from his manager for all of a day before giving it back, it's called "The Getaway". 
 
I describe it as: GTA3 + Winback, with the drawbacks of Resident Evil and Valkerie Profile.
 
But, that description is kinda lacking in the details.  So I'll break it down.  Take a lovely GTA3-esce City, ie:  Mostly unenterable buildings, abruptly terminating streets, yelling pedestrians.  Now take all that and make it British.  Yes, British.  Driving on the other side of the street, profanity in every cutscene with speech.  As for Winback, which I hope none of my readers have had the displeasure of playing.  It's like a poor man's Metal Gear Solid.  You can hide against barrels and boxes, peek around corners, roll, and that's about where the similarities end.  You, and your team of similarly colored, soon to be dead allies, go about through the FPS campaign with no inventory whatsoever.  You get one gun at a time, a few flashbangs, and go about fighting less and less innovative battles.  But enough about Winback.  The Getaway is a real piece of work.  You don't have a radar, or even a HUD for that matter.  You figure out which direction to go while driving by your turn signals.  As if that weren't bad enough, when I say no HUD, I mean it.  You cannot see the status of your ammo, the condition of your health.  But you can, and must, reload, and you can and will die.  The only reasonable way to judge your current status is how badly your character is gimping around.  You have the ability to do all the standard FPS maneuvers:  Rolls, duck behind low objects, take hostages, etc. but the controls are so horrid that you'll have extreme difficulty getting any real benefit out of them.  Moreover, you have to lock on to someone to be able to fire, that or manually aim (Which happens via a diesembodied over the should kind of camera angle that makes hitting buildings difficult).  The vehicle damage system works like GTA, white smoke turns to black smoke, then the car ignites and you burn to death if you don't bail really fast.  Windows can get shot out by gunfire, and I'm not sure about tires but a damaged car performs really substandard, as it should.  Also, the hero cannot run.  There is no run button, there is not speed other than moronic shuffle.  Even better, despite having a whole City, perhaps more, to explore, you don't have the option.  All the missions chain onto one another, and you have to do them, or gameover, no exploring allowed until the end.  I only got through the first mission before losing the thrill but here's how genius your character is.  The game opens with 4 thugs plotting to, and then moving to kidnap a woman and her son.  They screw up when she struggles and shoot her.  You are awakened by this (turns out it's your wife and son), so you run outside, pick up the murder weapon and then put it back down complete with your fingerprints.  Then you carchase the guilty party, shoot a bunch of guys, get clubbed over the head, and wake up faced with the old leader of a rival mob who has a bunch of jobs you have to do or your son dies.  Now David's play Enter the Matrix, I figure he'll have beaten it by tomorrow.
 
I leave you with this quote that I see outside a church I pass coming back from Java.  Is it just me, or does this seem to be the wrong message to be sending to parishoners?
"Salvation is a gift for the guilty not a reward for the righteous."
 
Hmm, I wonder what happens if I change the post date ahead 2 years for fun?

China pics for everyone to see. These are Jiaz's not Cindy's though, which means less cute animals and more vivid portrayals as to why as to why American capitalism needs to be destroyed before it causes any more trouble.

Take this web address:
http://www.swiftpublications.com/ChinaPhotos/DSC0###.JPG

and replace the ### with:
021
037
049
057
066
073
120
126
160
239
251
556
736

This concludes your China pictures for the moment.

Hmm...one might very well wonder why I'm around blogging at 2am when I have work in less than 7 hours, but the answer to that lies in wondering why Lunar had to release a second version of their Torrent, I won't where the flaw lies in the first, and curiosity killed the cat and whatnot.

The CRV is fun, even some nice oh-shit handles for the passengers, just something to point out considering that the old van didn't have them and there was much discussion of this in the past. I've got to admit though, it's a bit odd having the lock/unlock directions for the rear hatch be the reverse of the rest of the doors, but I'm not one to question engineers anymore, it doesn't get you anywhere. The only serious annoyance with my precious (mostly in the costly sense here) vehicle is that the CD player, when a song ends and it moves on to another, doesn't inform you of it. It just dilligantly displays the time, while the CD moves on, and if you're on random, with a CD like They Might be Giants or Dave Matthews (note, specifically chosen for having a good 10-20 5-75 second songs) you'll end up having no clue where you are at on the CD. Fortunately, I buy CD's where there's only 1 or 2 songs I don't really like, so it's alright.

Well, GSpot give the Torrents results a clear prognosis, perhaps I'll never know.

Wow, I get the greatest stories giving blood, perhaps I should answer the questions normally. Anyways, as goes, when I was asked if I had, since 1980, given money or drugs to someone in exchange for sex, I replied that I was far too broke for such a venture, which I had indicated earlier when I got my donor card out by inverting my lovely duct tape wallet and having nothing fall out. Either way, I got a parable from my nurse about a story she got from a teacher in medical school about a boy whose friends. Actually, hold up, This is a warning, the following isn't exactly what one would consider to be a pleasant mental image, you have been warned . Anyways, about a boy whose friends got him a hooker for his 18th birthday. Not very long story short, she bit him, he got gangrene 'there' and they had to amputate an area which my nurse indicated with self-directed gestures, but I'll say was roughly, everything between his hips. Yeah perhaps I'll answer the questions more simple yes/no from now on, save myself the increased bile levels.

Oh, and D'Oraz, they changed the out of country prohibition time from 1980 up to 1996, interesting, no?

Ergh. Burned out on Java, intermittant work hours, and a whole lot of July 4th related events. There'll be posts sometime, but for now I'm just crashed.

So, David on one of his whims borrowed some gamecube games from his girlfriend, so we've had Pikmin, Wind Waker, and Starfox Adventurers in the house for a few days now. So, unlike all those games I've owned for forever and been meaning to talk about, these get a quick blog before I go to bed.

Anyways. I've refused to play Pikmin on "whatever" grounds but I've watched David and Ian in their respective playings. It looks alot like a user directed form of lemmings as near as I can tell. You use your troops to secure ship parts and sources of food which in turn produce more forces. I mean, there's only 3 kinds of pikmin to begin with, so I don't see permutations being too terribly difficult past a certain point, but then again, getting the little seedlings to do your bidding seems like it would eventually drive me insane. Eventual being a term roughly equal to about an hour of time.

Wind Waker is of course pure gold. Cel Shaded fire is one of the best things ever. Of course, much to Jefe's dismay I play things my way, which means loads of offensive grappling hookage. Otherwise things are going rather well. I'm actually getting a good portion of the map as I go, which is something new. To make things worse, Ian's doing it my way as well, so Jefe, you may squirm in dismay.

Starfox Adventures is just play terrible. Total crap. I'll elaborate later.

Yay, Blogger's actually letting me post and not being down.

Well, it's been an impressive past couple of days in the world of Webcomics, the concept of a MMO Fallout RPG notwithstanding, just look:

Ctrl Alt Del has discovered Sam and Fuzzy .

Applegeeks has found out about Apple Seed.

Real Life has a snazzy, if slightly buggy new look.

ClanBob, home of Life of Riley is still in turmoil.

KittyHawk, poor dear, is still injured.

Yeah, so I best no hear anyone complaining about boredum, comprende?

So yeah, as the last post kinda enunciated, I spent a good six to seven hours at the car dealership, which was why the rant didn't materialize, because after Java I was completely spent. Either way, since I'm not quite so dead, here's the story:

As one might be aware, ever since the van's engine was pronounced doomed, I knew that I'd be needing to buy a car. My mother and I had gone looking, as well as David, and my specs are damned annoying, especially since my top priority was ABS, followed by air bags, since as a 1989 vehicle, the Van didn't possess either of these.

So, after some Toyota and Honda searching of used cars, we'd come to the realization that. Rav4's are costly, the Matrix doesn't come ABS standard and finding a used ABS'd one at a price that wasn't mortifying hadn't happened. Then there's the CRV, the paragon of antithetical existence. Because you see, Honda, in their infinate wisdom, has 2 variants on the CRV, the LX and the EX (the luxury). The differences being, the EX has a 6 disc CD changer, rather than the LX's 1, Alloy Wheels, Tinted Windows, a sunroom, and ABS. The cost for these 5 trinkets is approximately a mere six thousand different, roughly speaking. So, I want ABS, but nothing seems to have it. And no, the EX wasn't an option even if I did win the lottery. Go back and underline the word Sunroom and I think you'll see why, but in case you're still clueless, when you add a sunroom to a vehicle, you do so by making the entire room of the car lower to make room for the sunroom panel. How much lower you ask? Well, my semi-spacious headroom in the LX becomes a cramped, head touching the roof while slouching, nightmare. Anyways, a few days ago, we got a call from our friendly Honda dealship lackey saying that we could get a new Honda CRV with anti-lock brakes. So we went to check it out, and thus begins the 6-7 hours of mind numbing boredom. We arrive, wait around for our lackey, and go take the vehile that was suggested out for a test drive. The entire time an orange, engine-shaped light, is glowing at me from the dash. So, while it was a nice ride, there is the warning light. I ask about it, he says it's probably that the gas tank wasn't sealed well enough. So we close it tighter, but the light doesn't go away. I later consulted the manual on the issue: Apparently the orange engine picture means that you are running a sub-optimal performance and causing more exhaust, very bad over the long term. It continues to say that, yes indeed, it can be caused by a lose gas cap, however you should wait 3 days after tightening the cap to see the light disappear (Collective WTF for me folks? I mean, what kind of crap is that. It can sense the problem, but not sense the resolution for approximately 3 days? Yay, I just know that wonderful piece of hardware will have to be replaced some day. It was so nice having a van with no onboard electronics to go Fubar on me). Either way, lackey goes to find us another car. Mother asks if we could get one with side-airbags as well, he says sure. We wait a good hour until lackey comes back to tell us they have one, but apparently it's not in the back. So he tells us he's going to look out front. After about another hour (okay, a bit more time out back, a bit less out front) he brings us another CRV, Silver with Black interior (note, CRV's only come in either Black interior or Beige (the horrible horrible Honda beige I talked about previously)) and side airbags. So, we decide that this seems good, but say that we need to go collect our check, and the Title and have some lunch. I mention that I don't recall seeing an ABS light when I test drove the car, and that the Vehicle safety features only mention 4 wheel disc brakes, but lackey assures us he could open the hood and show it to us, so we go our merry way. We withdraw my money (I'm so totally broke, less that $100 in checkings + savings right now), get the title, grab some lunch, and come back. Lackey's got another person he's helping, so we wait some more, and some more. Then lackey shows us around service department, talks about all the info he's supposed to (owners manual, lemon law, etc). Then we wait while the guy who'll take the money and make us sign forms to free up. Then we finally pay, walk out to the car. Turn it on, see no ABS, open the hood see no ABS, and lackey realizes that he was thinking of LX Accords, which do have front ABS, but of course, Honda doesn't keep anything standardized across its vehicles. So, we're at a moment of crisis. Lackey is visibly shaken, offers to undo everything if we want. But at this point mother and I decide that it's not worth having to go through all this again when we find another car. Ask for aftermarket keyless entry system, lackey agrees that seems fair (not totally in my opinion, but hopefully I won't die for lack of ABS *knocks on wood*, or any injury for said reason). Now, for those who think that I'm perhaps exaggerating times because of anger, spite, and whatnot, I'd like to point out that I not only read every pamphlet that they had in the display area of the building (including both the large cardboard and small little tri-folded bills (many duplicates), especially the ones listing every possible accessory), but my mother and I played no less than 12 games of Gin, 3 rounds of King's Corners, and a full, long, game of Crazy Eights. Either way, I now have a brand new, 2004 Silver Honda CRV, black interior, 5DR 2WD SSRS. SSRS being the Honda code for side airbags. I'm told it stands for Supplimental Side Retraint System. $19,500 , but it'll be lasting me a good long time.

Meh, that much waiting sucks, poor deluded lackeys suck, great guy, just got confused. Oh well, that's life, live it and move on.

Well, I spent my entire fscking day at the car dealership today. There will be rantage, oh yes there will.

Alright. Gmail starts to scare me. You write an email, it supplies you with links that might interest you. So I write Jiaz an email about my thoughts of Full Metal Panic, which I just watched. Anyways, long story short. Following through a series of links to links, I've found instructions on emmulating a mouse on your keyboard.
Check it out
I found it oddly intriguing, definately something I'd try if I had to use a crappy Laptop mouse anyways.

In my own defense in reference to Jiaz's latest post, I'd like to illustrate that Yuzuyu is on of the central figures to Aishiteruze Baby and so it's a reference to an anime, as seen here. Yuzuyu'd be the little girl with a adorably huge eyes. That aside, don't ask me why she has gray hair, it's anime. If that doesn't do it for you, consult your reference copy of the laws of anime.

Man, my family has soo many issues. I'm in the computer room on Asgard, headphones on playing a mix of Symphony of the Night's OST and a few songs by The Stripes from the Bakuretsu Tenshi OP set by Nipponsei and my mother asks who I'm talking to, because I'm typing a fair deal. I respond with Cindy, which was the truth at the time. Cindy then goes to bed, because it was getting really late in China. So, about an hour later, I'm in another AIM chat, this time with Jefe, but they don't know that. So my father gets my attention (headphones and all, right), and my mother asks me if Cindy wants to go to the family pool party.
I say: Well, I'd have to ask her when she wakes up.
Mother: Wakes up?
Me: Yeah, wakes up, she's 12 hours ahead, just went to bed.
Mother: Oh, then who were you talking to?
Me: Jeff.
Father: Oh, don't invite him. We'd have to explain that too many times. Including 4 times to my father.
Mother: Oh, we should try that.
Me: Should I get D'Oraz? Oh, but he's already gone.
Mother: You see, you're dating someone not of the normal ethnicity, and some of the elders in the family are having some issues with that. So perhaps we could do the reverse.
Me: Right ethnicity, wrong gender?
Mother: Exactly.
Me: How about wrong ethnicity and wrong gender? I could invite Edmund.
Mother: No, Edmund's not something you toy with like that. If you like Edmund and Edmund likes you, then that's it. But you're out of luck, because I know Lisa Guo's going to Vanderbilt.

This is my life, and people wonder where my sense of humor comes from. Hehe.

Meh, corrected new Single hit max. Critical from behind, on high, Long Throw 4 by Katra dealing a respectable 490 damage.

Video games aside. The Lowe's people came today, so now we've got new Washer, Dryer and Freezer.

Currently in my head: Whatever the Triad used for their ending medley to Popotan, that's a really nice guitar part.

Jefe, taking pot shots at my away messages and leaving before a retort? suck it up .

Current single blow record in Gladiator. 430 on a Critial from behind Roam by Lampolo against a female Barbarian. The current multiblow probably belongs to similar circumstances, except replace Roam with Combo Attack 4 5 straight criticals at ~220 for the first, 110 for each subsiquent.

Meh, it's bedtime. Playing too much Gladius lately. Not my fault that I turn everything I touch into an unstoppable death machine in that game. It's like playing Final Fantasy Tactics, except with no classes and I can pull off Sabin/Auron-esce timing for craploads of bonus damage and unblockables.

I watched Samurai Champloo in French because Nerae was the first group I saw get it done, especially with Aoi-anime down for the time being for whatever delays they have. I understand way too much of this. Fortunately for the word, I don't feel like retranslating the French into English. I shudder to think of what that would do to the comprehensibility. But damn, French takes alot more words to say what other languages do. Especially with statements like only and never being double to quadruple negatives.

Currently in my head: Midori no Hibi OST - Panic da yo.

Alright, my last post, not the bunny links (that wasn't mine by technicality), was pretty late into the early and as most people have logically reasoned, I should hope. When I said the engine had been replaced several times, I meant the battery. So, now we all see where this load of bad news is going. The repair shop didn't even take a look at anything past the engine. It's on its last legs so, back to square one. At least the freezer doesn't seem to be dead yet, but it is dying.

Bunnies!

http://aces.tabulas.com/mutesiren/DSCF0106.JPG

http://aces.tabulas.com/mutesiren/DSCF0104.JPG

I just finished Full Metal Panic episode 12, and all I can say is that there is no O.o large enough for my emotions.

Either way, here's the state of things. I really don't know what vehicle is worthwhile, because my specifications are pretty rough. The Rav 4 doesn't feel right to me, the Matrix has very weak acceleration compared to everything else I've driven and still no Anti-lock brakes , the Element is a true SUV with crap for Gas milage, and the CRV apparently doesn't depreciate worth anything so everything Honda wants to sell me costs an arm and a leg over the 10k I was looking to spend. I'm willing to go higher, much, but not to their specs, especially not with my swing into functional unemployment this summer (bleh). So, I've got the van in the shop for a lookover to see how much dinero it'll set me back to get it functional. I know the transmission isn't prefect, but it runs and will continue to, so that should be okay. The engine is relatively new, less than 2 years, and should be fine. The radiator'll be the source of most the expense, as presently the van can dispose of a full tank of antifreeze in less than a week. So, that'll decide whether I drive the van, or go hunting (and I may very well end up with a Rav, it's looking like the best in the mess). Course, who knows if Tech'll give me parking.

Then again, the downstairs freezer might be deal, and if it is, it'll be appliance replacement time, which means there goes my car fund. So, I may end up at Tech with parking and no car, worst case.

If you've come looking for a rant, you won't find one. It's not worth working a fire into my writing over pitiful topics. Anyways, the news lot for whenever it's been since the last real post:

Honda called me back about the other CRV, so I might be going by to take a look at it sometime starting next week. I'll probablly be asking up more hours at the UPS store given that no one else seems to want them as I'd originally anticipated, so I'll take the work, and use it to suppliment my earnings from my uncle. Hope we find a bigger priced task though, that'd brighten my days.

I've apparently hit the penultimate chapter of La Pucelle after about 20 ish hours of gameplay. Something about this worries me insomuch as that it's alledgedly a 100+ hours of gameplay game, but unlike Suikoden, that's counting all the sidestuff I guess. Either way, they've pulled out all the stops. Every single thing that they revealed at the start has come to be true no matter how much you wished the other way. At the moment I'm down my 3 strongest storyline characters for various reasons. Oh well, there isn't a item world this time around, but there is a dark world which is roughly the same, somewhat. It doesn't power my items though, I do that by sacraficing converted monsters, but that's a tale for another day (yeah yeah, I will talk about Pucelle and Disgaea someday). At least I know that I get to make Eclair better, I really think her other appearance is better, and I'm glad to learn that I'll finally get it.

The X-Box is at last on its way in for repairs, some $91 plus shipping to do it though. Goddamn Microsoft, I'd expect my Snes to fry after 24 hours, but these next gens should have a bit more durability than that, I know the PS2 has survived much longer with no adversity. Ah well, it gets another year of Warranty when it returns, and I'll actually be able to play without it seizing up on me too, hurrah. I've gotta say, it's impressive to know that everything about how the X-Box f's up has an outlet. The number of languages on the Error Screen, the colors and durations of those colors of the light, and a location and value of an error number on that screen. It honestly worries me to think that there is that much that can go wrong to have that much means of relaying it.

Car hunting didn't really go so great, the Matrix is still a possibility, but then again, but it and the CRV-LX (aka, not ass-reamingly expensive model) do not have anti-lock brakes. Although that's nothing really new to me, the van certainly doesn't have it, it's certainly a saftey feature at the top of my list. That and having a airbag would be nice given the number of idiots on the road. Hell, I'd love to get a manual tranmission vehicle so I have better control over the shifting of my car, and because it'll cost me about $700-$1000 less. Either way, Matrix or CRV, my vehicle gets weaker. The van at least is a 6 Cylinder, the others are just 4.

Aisheteruze Baby is a great anime. Definately not of genre of the more action less romance ones that I have been watching, and that's a very nice departure. Ep 10 hangs it with a nice preview that has Jiaz and I both thinking, which is a good thing given the blandness of summer, I'll be brain dead by the time Tech starts again. Damn you Jiaz and you summer school.

Alright, it's well past time for calling it a night, 11 am Java work tomorrow and all.

...to the dark night exeunt...

(Rant when it's not 3AM, bloody brothers using my cpu, keeping me up just to check my torrents)

Going looking at cars again tomorrow. David tells me that AJC cars has a listing for a rather inexpensive 2004 Matrix, so that may end up being what I get, I'll fill ya'll in when I get back.

And for the record, I didn't read Time's article on Blogs yet, so I can't supply you all with the blips I found interesting, cause I needed something to read over breakfast, so I'll see about getting it up by tomorrow evening.

So, I'm taking a rather difficult break for Aishiteru ze Baby, which is an adorable anime Jiaz has me watch. Yeah, Jia, that's your cue to chat "crack" several times.

Earlier in the week my mother and I swung by CD Warehouse so while she picked up some odd 5 cd's (including Matrix: Revolutions and Matrix:Reloaded) I got myself They Might be Giants's Apollo 18 and Jason Mraz's CD. Apollo 18 is a great set of classic tracks and Jason Mraz is, at least within my group of friends, practically a sing-along album, at least for some of his songs, and I love the rest. So what can I say.

In an update to the Keira Knightly news of last post, Parade did an article on her as well, and disclosed that she had been in a movie called Thunderpants. Yes, that's seriously the title, and yes, the topic of the movie is about a young boy with a gastrointestinal disorder that gives him near constant flatulence. And there's something about him joining Nasa, but I was only read the description by my father, so I can't say I know the full story.

Either way, other scary news, if you search for "actors database", voice actors beats out the internet movie database on Google.

On Sunday, the family went to BestBuy where Ian got WarioWare for the Gamecube, David picked up I am a Robot's only album (good stuff), and I got the soundtrack to SSX3. A good Cd, not all the best songs IMHO, but a good variety selection. No Caesers, no I am a Robot (though David has that covered). There is the Basement Jaxx song I love though, so that's nice. Also, there's a very kawaii (I should be shot) mini mini poster of Allegra in a demi-anime style. Allegra isn't my favorite character, but I'm not going to complain.

I didn't get the internship, which means I'm back to hunting. It's a shame, I'd have liked the $10 an hour, however the job would've been even more mind numbing that Java. Sheer spreadsheet filling, internet research crawling, and other grunt work. And should I have finished that, Marketing gets me as their slave next. Oh well, I didn't get the job, I'll just go back to hunting and so that'll be that.

Yay, I managed to crash the computer, so that means that since I'm redoing the post it'll actually be short and pointed, what a rare change eh?

Alright, the nitty gritty, last night I saw Chronicles of Riddick with Kyle and D'Oraz, and after the AJC's F rating I wasn't excepting much, and that's certainly what we got. The breakdown.

Intro: The beginning is the first of three critical points in a movie, the other two being the Climax (there's wasn't really one in Riddick), and the ending (which'll get addrtessed further down), and it really doesn't do anything special. In fact, if you've seen the preview, you know the opening.

Ending: It isn't. Plain and simple. The ending doesn't resolve, it doesn't finish, it doesn't conclude. And subsequently, it doesn't satisfy the moviegoer.

Action: For an action movie, there isn't a whole lot of this, but not really a lack either. And for once, the lack of a dearth is a shame, because the action is reminiscient of the seizure. The action, set in muted colors when Riddick is fighting in the dark, is always punctuated by wild flashes of light which, while understandable for the circumstances (ie, guns being fired in the dark), render the entire sequence nigh unwatchable.

Actors: I'm not really a Vin Disel person, he doesn't really have the right voice most of the time in my opinion, but perhaps that's just me. Alexa Davalos plays female lead, and that shows how low the movie makers had to go. She's a French actress who has never been in a movie save for The ghost of F. Scott Fitzgerald and apparently played a character named Gwen in a few episodes of Angel.

Music: Uhhh...I think I can recall all of two background songs in the entire movie, none of which were any good. Then there's the music for the credits, which I hung around just long enough to figure out the name of the female lead (cause, as noted above, I had no clue who she was, since I've never watched Angel or The ghost of F. Scott Fitzgerald, but the abysmal music for the credits didn't keep me any longer than gazing at the actor listing and I walked out to avoid any serious mental damage. I'm not certain that there were any more than the two songs I heard, but either way, the music was no redemption.

Wild Card: Aka, the point where a half-assed movie can redeem itself and make its mark. Riddick doesn't. It has perhaps a dozen cute, if predictable, quips, but I certainly don't think anyone attends movies just for the dialogue (kinda defeats the point of a movie anyways), especially not ones voiced by the gruff Vin Diesel. Otherwise, I must say. If I'm subjected to the image of Riddick either donning or doffing his goggles, I may flip out.

All that aside. In answer to my own question as to what role I knew Keira Knightly (Guinevere of the upcoming King Arthur movie) from, the answer is female lead of Pirates of the Carribean, which is what I was thinking of. Those she apparently also was one of Padme's handmaidens in Episode I and a role in Bend it Like Beckham. Shrug, I don't remember the actresses in Pirates, not with Depp frontlining.

All from me for the day.

Alright, so after a 11:00 call from the Honda place (name omitted for everyone's sake) by a Brian, my mother decided that today would be a good day to go look at Hondas there, since David's Civic SI needed an oil change as well. So, we got there, and they said that Brian wasn't here today (odd enough eh?). So we walked around the used car lot and looked at the CRV's, and everything they had has beige interior. Now, why the Salesman with us was saying that "Beige is just 2 steps away from social security" I'll concede that I don't really normally oppose beige. Hell, my van is beige interior and I kind of like it. But Honda, they've got a special kind of beige. They've got the kind of beige that you'd get if you puked after too many undercooked brownies (Hopefully, I can avoid such analogies in the future, we'll see), it's just a nauseatingly weak bridge between brown and tan, and it sucks. That said, I test drove one of them anyways. Fine vehicle, though the parking break wasn't very cooperative, drives similar to the van. Basically that, this is not an SUV or a Van feel to it. I then backed back into the spot I took it out of (and everyone thinks that they never let you even move the cars near other cars, *shrug*) then went looking around some more. We were told that Brian was there today, and after a long long wait they got him. So we went around back and found two 2002 CRV's, gray interior, one LX one EX. Now, since I'm certain that dilineation is lost on most, here's how it breaks down. The LX is the base model, coming in Front Wheel Drive, the EX is the more premium model, coming in Front Wheel or 4 Wheel with the following nicities added: Cd player is a 6 disc, Sunroof, Alloy Wheels, Tinted Windows. So, we asked for the specifics on those, and Brian came back to tell us that the LX was tied up in paperwork being a recently repossed vehicle. So we sat down to haggle over the EX. My mother said 14,500 including tax tags and title, so Brian took that number back, talked to the person, and came back saying too low, 18,000. To which my mother responded by saying that we could get a new CRV for that price. Brian went back, and came back saying that the car would be Honda Certified (trademark)(7 years Powertrane, 12 months non) but that he could offer us, and he threw in a Kelley Blue Book quote, 18,550 (Kelley Blue Book quotes it as 18,533 for the record, though he'd used different options to price it up a bit to make it look like we were saving, or so it seems) or 19,900 with Certification, both those not including tax, tags, title, or documentation. My mother said too high, Brian went back to haggle, and she turned to me with "Didn't the number start out lower?" Which was true, typically haggling goes in a progression towards the middle. Brian brought out Chad, who was alot more confrontation, responding to my mother's we could buy a new one with, "Then buy a new one", and then accomplishing absolutely because he just repeated step one over, by telling Brian to take her 14,500 quote as a drive off and then left. Brian just shrugged and said that sometimes he's baffled by his co-workers, and went back. The price stayed the same, Chad came back and did nothing again, so we left. Fair enough, a New 2004 EX is about 25,000. But this was a 2002 EX, with 43,000 miles on it. Yes, almost 50,000 miles in the space of two years. The van barely has 115,000 and it's an 89. Oh well, I'd prefer an LX anyways, assuming it ever gets out of paperwork.

So, dear friends, if you know of vehicle capable of transporting me and my 6'4" self and my bass within the following parameters, let me know.
Vehicle cannot be an SUV, I'd like to spend my pocket cash on gas as little as possible without having to not drive.
Vehicle cannot be a truck, because that, I'll tell you up front, cannot transport my bass.
Civics, Camrys, Volkswagon Beetles, all do not have the size for the bass. The latter is just too small, the formers have shallow trunks.
Within roughly the price above.

Because the sad fact it, the van will not survive the highway well enough to be used at Tech, especially with the way it doesn't retain coolant.

Just one of those before going to bed after watching a few episodes of anime posts.

Yeah, I applied for an internship at the workplace of D'Oraz's mother, interview went well. Talked to a gentleman of similar personality followed by the other major play, a short female, Chattahoochee class of '96, married to a Tech grad, so hopefully I'll hear back that I got the position, elsewise I'll be back up job searching over in the new EB section on Medlock. Nothing of great note to report otherwise.

In other news, to drop our insurance payments, my mother signed me, herself, and my father up for a Defensive Driving Course through the AARP at the NE Spruil Oaks library. Two 4 hour classes, the first of which was today. Now, note the organization. What I failed to note when she first mentioned it, is that it's actually a driving course for those aged 50+, but either way I'll get the benefit. I'm not the youngest either, there's another 5 or so High Schoolers in it as well. Either way, it's kinda amusing. We did a reaction time exercise; a street-scene picture with the numbers 1 through 14 jumbled throughout it. We had 10 seconds to get as far as we could. Of course only the high schoolers and I finished it all. Then we did it again, and saw inprovement in those who could. Then we did it backwards, myself and another finished in less than half the time. Oh well, I'll be old and deaf and blind someday. I'd say that someone could save this and send it to me then, but I know I'd be far too blind to see it anyways, so I'm safe either way. Hah.

Paradigm shifts in Java are a pain, but a part of the system. It really does suck to have to totally reconfigure the date entry system though. Going from a SQL serving interface to a User-side interface with conversion programs. That'll be fun.

Alright, it's resting time. Perhaps I'll figure out why my copy of Samauri Champloo crashes Windows Explorer, but I'm doubtful, at least if I click fast I can still watch it, good ep. Anyways, Night everyone.

It appears that the United States Postal Service has their own line of Tow Trucks. Well, perhaps line isn't the appropriate choice of words, I've only ever seen one (and yes, it was towing a mail van), but just spreading the word. It certainly made me laugh for a moment. Either way, the news since last time.

With the rerelease of Disgaea on the way and La Pucelle idling in my PS2 I'll be plotting a combo post for the two of them, storylines, differences and similarities, interesting things, etc. Yeah, it sounds long, but we all know it won't be, and knowing me it's a ways off in the future either way. But that's for a later date. Present events to discuss.

Compton, David, and I completed Hunters: Redeemer last night, in one go, of approximately 6 hours. Okay, I made that number up, I certainly didn't watch the time. I don't recall Hunters: Reckoning having a difficulty setting but it has been awhile. Anyways, the major difference between this sequel and the original in the series is that now you gain power through use. So Ranged weapons get stronger and larger clips with more use, you empower and gain new powers (there's an offical name but I just blanked) through usage of Conviction, and melee through melee. Either way, on easy, we accumulated close to 150 lives through completing objectives and saving innocents, which is about 5 times the number we ever earned in Reckoning (which Kyle, David, Compton, and I still haven't beaten, nor played in awhile) and about 140 more than we needed to beat the game. Up until the last level, excluding the 2 mission faileds that we recieved (not know how a stage works before hand is kinda a handicap. Note: Kill the enemies, then set the short fused explosives, makes life easier) my Avenger had not died once whereas both Compton and David had about 2 or 3 deaths under their belts (which is not a blaming thing, it's just that the bosses seemed to like to pick on weaker characters, and the first time you fight something, it's hard to know what attacks it possesses), the last stage however, cost me 4 lives. 2 Insta-gibs by meteors from the sky (originally intended for Innocents that we had to save (also where the second Mission Failed happened, failing to save enough, cause we didn't want to just run past the enemies) because I kept accidentally cast my Smite Edge (that's the word I blanked on earlier) to clear the enemies instead of grabbing out my axe and moving out of the way. And twice on the last boss because he felt I was the better target for once and hit me with a Diablo-Esce Firestorm (not insta-kill, but very very near to it, and close enough given that I was meleeing him). The other new addition is the Redeemer herself, who plays the role of annoying brat, who's allegedly 13 but doesn't look it (And by that, I do mean she looks older, go find the cover of the game yourself, you'll see what I mean). Now by annoying brat I mean the one who both starts all the trouble and then stops everyone else from making it worse and helps to solve it. In another change, instead of the animated dialogs being based on who is in the party, all the Hunters are involved, and it makes things flow with greater style, a welcome improvement.

Also saw Shrek II today and here's what I have to say. It's good but it's not great. The first movie was comedic, original, interesting. I won't say it was unpredictable, but you did walk away feeling that you'd been told a good hour and half story, even if you are like me and wanted to kill Eddie Murphy, or at least the damnable donkey. If you can't tell, not my favorite style of character, the really annoying aid to the protagonist who gets more than he deserves (if you still can't tell, I invite you to find my posts about Dobby and JarJar in the archives). Either way, if you've seen the previews, you know that Shrek II isn't quite everything the original was. Fortunately, I can say, that every movie parody you see in the trailors they doesn't involve the Red Carpet or Antonio Banderas happens in the opening and isn't somehow wedged into the story, so you can breath a sigh of relief about that. So, here goes: The Good- John Cleese lends his voice talents, that's always good. Interesting suprises, a good soundtrack, Antonio Banderas makes a good addition to the cast. A few of the twists you've come to expect. Very few catchlines. The Bad- Doesn't feel like you get a full hour and a half story this time; too much time is wasted in moments drawn out for far too long. Not nearly as much original humor, alot fewer puns. The Ugly- There's a SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE AND IT HAS PREVIEW SPACE!!

Okay. So in a bout of what I assume was madness, I decided to finally end my support of Square-Enix via payments for FFXI (no, this part wasn't the madness) and then uninstall it and finally rinse Asgard of Spyware and viruses (there's the madness). Alright, I managed to cancel my content ID after 40 minutes of playing the guessing game. Turns out they wanted the assigned number that I started with, which I guess makes sense in retrospect, but it's been a fair bit of time since I first installed the thing. With that done, I tried to run the uninstall of the program, bad idea. It took approximately 15 minutes to move 1%, so I went in and started manually deleting files. Not the best way to do thing admittedly, but I was going to be rid of it one way or another. So, I got some of it, unfortunately the rom folders (which are apparently just filled with folders filled with .DAT files) started causing problems. Namely "Error Cannot Delete File (cyclic data error)", which is something I've never even heard of before, so I moved on, figuring it was just the oddball file. No such luck, every few folders has one of these, and considering that Norton scans close to 2 million files going through this directory, I don't think I want to go through and hand delete them individually, I think I'll just have to force delete them through Command Prompt later. So, anyways, in a bout of desperation, I tried the uninstall option again. 30 minutes later it was 20% done, another 10 minutes past that and it was 14%, 5 minutes after it was 9%. So, I let it sit, and it ran into another error and undid everything it had done, reached the beginning again and pulled a critical Windows error. At this point, I have to confess, that I have no clue how Square-Enix did it. How the fsck did they take a 4 disc game (plus one for the PlayOnline view, plus one for the expansion) that comes to a grand total of roughly 1.5 gigs, that takes approximately 2 hours to install, plus 3 hours of patching (on Tech's connection) runs into all kinds of critical malfunctions when trying anything like uninstalling, and make it into a Playstation 2 game? I mean, that kind of transformation is something I'd imagine as taking several virgin sacrafices in a dark voodoo ritual.

Alright so with that not quite out of the way. I downloaded and ran Ad-aware, quashing 206 files, registries, and folders worth of dataminers and tracker, unsuprising and unworrying. However, what does bother me is that Norton Auto-Update is giving me a "Selected Groups Aborted with no Text" as to its attempts to update my virus definations, which were apparently last updated sometime in July of last year(!!). So, I still appear to have a fair amount of work ahead of me.

That aside, as a passing note to Hackers/Virus makers of the world. If your program/method is going to install fake files onto someone's computer, be reasonable. 1) Don't choose something so blatently out of place like a Microsoft file that comes as a package somewhere other than said package. 2) Make it blend in. Uncapitalized folder names are kinda a dead giveaway. Everything comes with capital letters unless it's a homebrew creation like OpenRPG. 3) Give it a reasonable name. No one would ever have an extra Microsoft Frontpage folder or worse yet, Xerox. Why the hell would a Xeros program be on someone's computer, or moreover, why would it be in Program Files?! Okay script kiddies? Get you acts together and be reasonable with these things.

Alright, since I seem to have an abundance of free time I think I'll beat out some words, especially because everything else that's text based seems to be revolting against me. Just ask D'Oraz, the resume I sent him has Georgia misspelled, twice. Sometimes I wonder why I lose my mind only when it's important. Either way, I'm functionally not employed with the UPS Store because David took my hours because mother wanted him to do so after I got a job. So he did, not inclusive of that ending clause, oh well, there's still stuff out there, I will find some, and I will buy a CRV, now just hopefully I'll get parking.

Anyways, just some discussion of the seasons animes should pass the time nicely:

Ragnarok the Animation: Well, what can I say, it's based off a MMORPG (pronounce however you choose) that I've never played, but isn't too difficult to figure out. Pretty non Ecchi, thankfully, and actually gets Subbed, which is even nicer. Characters aren't especially non-generic and the spell selection seems woefully small, for the two casters that there are. Actually the only anime I've seen that had hints of rape, and it did it in a peaceful manner (if that's possible, I was merely trying to convey that they brought out the pain of it without focusing on it sort of thing, so a delicate handling if you will). Music here isn't too fabulous, but the art is alright, though there are points that make you wonder. Characters development does appear to be somewhat happening, but the inclusion of the force that is essentially the Team Rocket of the anime isn't really a selling point, neither is Maya, although her background episode weakened that thought. Not everything makes total sense, like them doing adventures that were killing high level parties, but that's alright, it's an anime, I'll give it that. Either way, ***(*/2).

Midori no Hibi : Cindy's anime for the season. A high quality art, good music anime with good characters and it apparently at least stays with the Manga for most of it so far, or so I'm told. Slightly ecchi, but bounce-free, which actually seems like an odd balance compared to the rest of these, but it's workable. Also one of the two anime's that my little brother keeps trying to watch. Which is a shame, because I'd much rather he be watching the more child friendly ones, like Keroro Gunso or Ragnarok, though if he had to choose an ecchi, this'd be the safest I think. Overall a fabulously cute anime with good dynamics (unlike the sometimes emotionless Ragnarok) even if the cat looks kinda creepy and not really feline at all. ****(*/2).

Keroro Gunso (aka Sergeant Keroro) : Besides having an outrageous OP and ED, both of which are potentially frightening (aka, Sean, you need at least the first ep of this for special viewings to use on people, it's not Kenya, but it's a frog with an afro, at least for the ED). That said, the anime is very low ecchi, but I don't think I can call it devoid. Hangs onto a few route archetypes though, for example the main female character is the uber-athletic girl who is not in any clubs and there's another with a crush on her, but that's anime for you. Lots of Gundam references on the part of Keroro, and it has alot of sudden banners to reinforce some his statements, well done though. The actual in show music isn't quite so much, but then again, it takes some getting used to the frog's voice, especially his laughter. ***

Melody of Oblivion: Like Midori no Hibi, this anime actually has a relaxed opening, and it's definately a nice change of pace from the others. It's really a shame that it's only been subbed up to episode 3, but then again, that's the dynamics of the industry (if you'll allow the term), though one'd think that having 6+ groups on Naruto might be a bit much, popular or not. Oh well. Fantastic music and lovely art abound, though it is a pain not being able to name the classical songs they play because my classical music trivia knowledge has fallen that much into disarray. A true shame. ****, probably deserves another star or a half, but hard to judge this early.

Sensei no Ojikan : Kinda like the souless bastard child of Azumanga. It has roughly the same idea, following the exploits of a group of students and teacher and assorted other faculty members (this time it's a nurse, and not Kimura). In place of the Kaorin/Sakaki relationship, it's been tranferred to a male/male relation and the male-Sakaki bit is alot less shy, and a whole lot more stupid, but to each their own. Has a cutesy style of low quality art methods, including displaying the emotions of every character in characters (read it a few times, I swear it makes sense). I like the music, but it just kinda feels like a weak echo to Azumanga, cause it's really hard to follow an act like that. **(*/2).

Bakuretsu Tenchi : 4 girls of various age, 1 giant mecha, 1 giant mecha storage vehicle, 1 sports car, 1 chibi creature/laptop, 1 gang, 1 secret government/military/special interest organization, 1 anti-establishment organization, biological mutation weapons, 1 reluctant male chef. There you go, that's just about all you need to know. A fantastic OP, though I don't really love the ED the other music really compesates, and a good mix to action, paired with humor, cuteness, seriousness, mystery. You get the idea. It's a very unique anime with alot still to be unraveled, but at the pace it's going I think it'll be good. Again, wish someone was subbing it, but que sera sera I guess. ****(*/2).

Samurai Champloo : I think Jiaz said it best. Take Cowboy Bebop and replace the Jazz with Hiphop and the Bounty Hunters with Samurai swordmen. Then replace Faye with Fuu, whose has perhaps the largest eyes I've ever seen in a non-chibi and her even larger eyed flying squirrel. If you're not into the hiphop/rap scene, the music takes some getting used to, otherwise, it's great fun. Even if the subbers ride on the profane side of translation. 1 ep so far, second delayed by olympic volleyball qualifiers overtime. *****

I'll discuss Popotan after I finish it, which is some 3 eps from now. All I have to say right now is, why does Mare has a techno remix of the main theme?