New years!

Ok, this should be interesting. Yesterday I stood up so I could pull a party out of my ass. (bonus points if you get the reference)
Cleaned my room, something that hasnt been done in MONTHS, actually prob not since I came back from Japan.
Then this morning, I went to spend ~$100 on supplies.
$182 later I have this.

3 30 packs of coors lite, 1 1.5ltr of capt morgans, 1 1.5 ltr of absolut mandarin, 4pk of bodingtons pub ale and 2 pints(?) of Sapporo.
Also got, 2 large trays of jalepeno popers, and 2 small trays of both bean burritos and cheese sticks.
Not sure whos commin or how many at this point, but I figure I'm well supplied ^^
Thinkin about hain ppl pay $5 for all u can drink/eat.. but I've never done that before so we shal see.

Hope your new years is fun, happy and safe, and if you got nothin to do, come over.

Links of the day!

Since when do geeks cut lawn?
uh..huh huh... he said wood
AAAAAAAAAAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

Shhhh.... dont look down

Christmass was fun, got some new shoes from my sister and a shower radio/mp3 player from my brother. Still keeping the main present secret till it can reveal itself to you ^^

Not much up, was supposed to go out last nite but it didnt happen, spent a lot of yesterday working on the site. I'm kinda stumped for design ideas (especially for this area, which is the next I want to work on) so I worked on adding content to the Japan page. About 6 pages added, although theres much more to be done. Still I think its shaping up to be a quick reference site, which is what I want. Added a new toy to zeta too, the place you shouldnt go. Might play with zeta more today.

The problem with this area of the page is I was born completely without artistic genes of any kind, so figuring out design is hard on me. I have an idea right now, but even if I can get it to work it'll probably suck, just like the last one did on the test page. The other problem is its the only part of the site that has things I didnt code myself. Both the blog and esp the gallery (which hasnt been linked to in awhile now...) have a ton of code I dont understand. The blog isnt os bad, but the gallery SAYS "only mess with the CSS if you dont want it to break." Could make it an iframe (yes I know you dont know what that is) but iframes kinda suck.... must learn to css them.

And so begins the long, slow burrial of the previous post...

Links of the day!

Ok I guess I've been scaring people here recently, so heres some kinder, genteler ones
Yay! I'm helpful!I posted the short workaround comment, and yes, firefox still sucks.
bugmenot I usually give interesting or funny crap here, but sometimes I give things everyone should have bookmarked. This is one of those, its how i posted on bugzilla above too ^_^
Saddness reported from an appropriate source

Evil Christmass

So
Ive been wanting to do this for awhile, and what more perfect time to unveil it than cristmass?

I was gonna soften it up by also making another image with a santa hat on the s....
but I got lazy.
So ya, I'm going to hell for christmass so I might as well top it off.

Links of the day!

Only one, but you dont need any more ^^
WWJD

Real christmass list

So ya, xmas sucks this year.
The same dozen songs Ive heard since I was a month old that I got sick of when I figured out Santa didnt exist (sorry kids!) annoys the HELL out of me now. Ive even partially renamed this 'vegas time' because of all the lights.

I think part of the reason (tho I promise not all of it) is that theres nothing really on my xmas list this year. Theres plenty I want (and one thing I'm getting which should make this blog more interesting.. ^^) but the important things are things I can only get myself. So..

My real xmas list:
A new job
Security+, Network+, MCSA 2003 certifications
To get better at Japanese, PHP, MySQL, Linux
To finally have a place of my own again

A friend of mine is asking for a boyfriend. So I guess its going around.

While on xmass, to those people who are afraid of religion in daily life- santa IS secular, has been since before Coca-Cola (and Norman Rockwell I believe) made him fat. Sure he was a 'saint' but most any sane kid isnt thinking about jesus on christmass, they want presents. Let kids have SOMETHING damn it, theyre not supposed to act like stuffy middle age people.

In other news, I got a C in math (meaning I never have to take that class again YAY!) and a B in Japanese 2. Had an A in my Security+ class since it ended mid-semester. Expecting my last 2 classes to be A and A or B. Either way its above a 3 GPA. Getting a good grade in a 5 unit language class is very good for offsetting C's ^^.

Links of the day!

Can you raed tihs?
I previously showed you a pregnant man, this may be worse
Hey, it worked once...

Yatta!

Well, im still alive! Honestly I'm not done with finals, but it feels like it. Yesterday was hell-day, the rest is easy.

4-6pm math final. By my calculations I needed a 66% or better to pass the class, and about a 99% to get a B in the class. Considering 2 weeks ago I had an F- and was 2.5 chapters behind, Im happy.

Then Japanese 2. For previously mentioned reasons, I ignored the entire last chapter of Japanese. Basically only studied Mon and some of Tues. Still, I think I did pretty good. I used noburo (which seems to mean nothing...) rather than narau (to learn) about 5x on the test..... and my writing section made absolutely no sense and stopped in the middle because I had nothing to write about........

Now just a THIRTY FIVE PAGE computer security class to print out and mail by fri...

Other reason Im suprized I'm alive- Jeannine called me yesterday afternoon and suggested we go out drinkin- worked for me. I invited a friend Jarell (ok so I dont have a clue how to spell his name- cept in katakana...) and we had some fun.

Stupid spectrum bars closing at 11 and 12..... we ended up in HB at a cool little bar. Honestly I expected to not remeber the night- these last few weeks were STRESSFUL. But I didnt really drink that much. Guess Im out of practice.

Links of the day!

ooh I got some winners....
Go get yourself a date. I wonder if that girl in the upper right knew what she was posing for...
Who would Jesus do?
A continuation of the last link. Proving christians just dont get the point.


now back to bed

Motion to repeal the act known as Murphys Law

Ok.
So I have like a million math problems to do.
A Japanese II final.
Two online finals.
Basically all due by the end of Tuesday.

So guess what happens to me last nite?
everyone say it together!

i got sick.

Cold ease + benidryl + robutussin that expired in May of 99.
Yay brain!

On the only bright note, out Japanese final presentation was rediculously hillarious.
Because I like embarrasing myself, I'll probably encode it and throw it up here...

If I survive finals...

Links of the day!

no, im just too damned lazy

new layout

So ya, anything to avoid math...

New layout for blog, not done, just felt like spending 20 mins on it and breaking everything :p Goin for that emo look that seems so popular these days. :P

At least now the site navigation is at the top, and no it doesnt quite match, I'll work on it sometime...

Thatguy, whos site I need to link to again, fixed my background pic for the Japan sidebar. MUCH better now, but I wish it would repeat like i coded it to.....

Math math math... I did very little today and none yesterday.. must.. get... off... ass...

oh wait I have to sit down to do math.

Links of the day!

Ok, so its a little outdated now, but its still downright hillarious.
If only I knew Sweedish
Just got this the other day Cant wait to watch it.

daigaku wa taihen

Did another 6 subchapters of math today, why I care about factoring trinomials is beyond me. Algebra IS useful for learning logic and manipulating formulas, and geometry is also very useful. But honestly, once u get out of that they should be teaching you economics, physics, hell even chemistry math. Math with REAL APPLICATIONS TO LIFE.

But no, thats too easy.

Had my computer security class tonite, we're finally in the linux chapter of our book.

even tho it was ch4 he left it for last, because he doesnt know jack shit about linux

hell *I* know more than him, only new thing so far is umod

it sucks cuz I understand the basics of linux, but i dont WANT to create directories and files and set their permissions, I want to do REAL things
like administering servers and just everyday stuff like playing multimedia files, and unfort that takes tons more knowlege than I have.

Guess its true, school != real life.

Tomorrow is a day off math to study japanese, hopefully ill be ready to take the ch8 test and the ch 12 vocab test I missed by classtime.

Links of the day!

Oh god, its me.
Why I cant talk to Reid anymore.
Kill it with fire. Dont you love it when someone takes two popular things that have NOTHING to do with eachother and combine them....

ARGH

So I did about 200 math problems today. An entire chapter (8 subsections) on polynomials (ya, just shove the 'thats easy' crap, I hate math and its been 8 years) So that ends chapter 4. Next chapter 5 on factoring, another 8 subsections on stuff I could care less about. THEN I'll be current. THEN I can do the 8 sections of chapter 6 so I can take the test by Sun. THEN chapter 7 (5 subchapters) and the test by the end of the next day, the optional test I have to take since I missed 3 out of 6 tests this sem............................................................

Oh ya, I suck at Japanese too........................

Just 2 more weeks....

Links of the day!

If only I knew spanish. I could READ about the place I miss.
Hooray! till they get sued for DDOS
Someone else we all wouldnt miss from the genetic pool. Now if theyd just die...

Omoshirokatta

Today was interesting. Woke up wide awake at 7:30am after falling asleep around 4, which is becoming par for the course for me.
Went to a client, took care of a few things, bought probably the best sake I've ever had (Otokoyama, which I am enjoying right now hot) it was about the price of a decent bottle of liquor, not too bad.

Anyway it was a prop for our groups's japanese final project, which we videotaped so we dont have to present it in front of the class. Actually, Jarells' (groupmate) talented friends did it.
It was done in pictures with voice over and lots of incredibly strange things like genie costumes and me in my yukatta and getta. (wow, I thought for SURE I'd get pulled over wearing my yukatta on the way over) It makes all the sense of Super Milk Chan on acid, and thats why I love it.

If youre lucky, REAL LUCKY, you might find it here someday- We shal see...

Links of the day!

A public service announcement that is causing some controversy in the LA area, stations are too afraid to play it. I think its funny.
Ya I'm sure youve heard of it, but do u know what it can REALLY do? Read the user review!
One last one about that murderer chiq, heres her and her acomplices. In pretty orange jumpsuits! I can see how at least one of the guys has to kill to get laid.

a bit of a coincidence

So I get to my computer security class about half an hour early as usual. (we have to log in to the computer lab a certain # of times per semester.) Cant think of anything to do so I try a few strange urls, including japan.com and end up clicking on an add to find housing in Tokyo. Browsed for a few mins and closed it, no big deal.


Just before class, I went to log out of the computer lab, and there were some fortune cookies on the counter with a sign saying 'take one' taped to it.

this was my fortune:


Of course if you bother going to the link, you can see what it is and why they would be free in a computer lab, but still...

I dont think I ever even looked at places in Japan before....

Links of the day!

I wanna transfer here...
Parents, pay attention to what your kids want for the hollidays. (I'm so P.C. arent I?)
Of course if you do, maybe theres other things to worry about.

My so called blog

I thought of that name today, probably more fitting for this blog than the lame one I came up with on a moments notice some months ago.

Anyway, last monday was my birthday. Lots of people didnt know, if you didnt dont feel bad. I dont like talking about the fact I have a birthday comming up, especially this year. I didnt blog about it till now because there was really nothing to say. I didnt go out the entire weekend before (or after for that matter) and my day consisted of studying for a computer security midterm, taking the midterm, then getting home to a sleeping family as usual, having the 1st peice of my birthday cake and opening my card-gift at my desk in front of the computer. To 'liven things up' I pounded a few beers, the first I've had in awhile.

My diet has also gone to hell, tho I figured my birthday and thanksgiving would do it. Lost about 10 lbs, gained about 3 back, not bad. Ill probably resume in a week or two. One thing about this diet is I dont want to shock my body too much, or the body will resist loosing the weight. (for those of you who dont know me, I swear I'm not a fatass, just keeping myself from becoming one before its too late)
Thanksgiving of course came with my now traditional bottle of Wild Turkey 101, being a vegitarian, its the only kind of turkey I can have.

Ya... in case you cant tell, I've been down lately. Looking back on it I think I'm often like this this time of year, which makes no sense because I love rain and cold. Just when I think I'm out of it its back. If youve been trying to call me and arent my client I'm sure you noticed my absence. Im comming up on that big final stretch in school. Where all my lagging necessitates (what, you havent figured out I cant spell yet?) a big final push... and this semester I seem to be out doing myself.
My attention seems to swing back and forth between computer security and Japanese, and the past few weeks computer security has really been winning, to the suffering of Japanese. Winston asked me why I dont just give up computers and concentrate on Japanese. I'd love to, problem is computers feed me, and honestly they are something I'm also quite interested in, so I dont think I could ever really give them up.
Of course between these two, math gets NO TIME (I've missed the last 2 tests entirely) Though if my syllabus math is correct, if I ace the final (I aced the midterm) and ace these last 2 tests (last one is optional) I still could even get a B!
Miss 3 out of 6 tests (not counting the optional one) and get a B. Now thats my kind of math class.

The house is too quiet without Willie. My mom put a bell on Harry, I think to make him sound more like Willie, but it was taken off. Harry should be allowed to hunt just like Oscar!

On a bittersweet note, looks like my X is getting sent home early from China. Finally I can get Disgaea and my Tenchi Muyo DVDs back and be done with her.

Links of the day!

wow these are piling up, I gotta post more. Im going to dedicate this to a news story that many of you may not have heard yet (though its quickly becoming internet legend) A girl had her mom killed. Whats so big about that you ask? She had a blog, making it into a phenomenon.
First, the news story
The murderer, Rachelle Waterman
The victim, Lauri.
The blog, which is now LiveJournal members only because of the ENORMOUS ammount of comments and other crap that it generated. Also, because evil places like livejournal and xanaga will do anything to get more members.
It should be noted that she didnt actually KILL her mom, she had 2 24 yr old 'ex boyfriends' do it. Kowaiso.
EDIT: seems good old Rachelle deleted all her recent posts yesterday (how did she do that from jail?) its also friends only for commenting, but it seems that anyone can view it now.

Inu ga shindan desu

I wanted to find a pic I hadnt really put on the web before. I find I really dont have that many pictures of Willie.

Our family has always had a bit of a love hate relationship with him. He was never properly trained (we were too young to do it and my parents took no interest) and especially as he got on in years he cared less and less, as a little yelling when you've heard it at least once a day for years doesnt really matter anymore.

With the remodel of the house, Willie started getting 'contained' upstairs, out of most of the bedrooms, to limit his damage. Over the past couple months however, I've started letting him hang out in my room all day, at least when I'm home. (being a contractor I'm often home) He sleeps in my moms room which over the past month or so means she gets up 2-3 times a night to let him outside so he doesnt crap in their room. To which I always told her she should just let him walk around upstairs, afterall he craps there durring the day.

Last nite she told me she was going to let him out, for reasons I wasnt sure of. I picked him up and put him on my couch since he cant really jump anymore. It was obvious he was having difficulty breathing, but didnt seem to be in any pain, just tired. He slept almost all day yesterday and the day before in my room, causing me to wake him up occasionally to check on him.

As I went to bed I put him on my bed to sleep with me, but he soon got up and struggled to move his bowels. (under my desk...) Tried to go outside my room to do it, but made a wrong turn and ended up lost. (my room is not that big, hes just senile) I put him back on my couch and went to bed. I decided I would spend the day with him today since it was obvious he didnt have much time left.

In this house my whole family gets up and leaves the house before I'm conscious. Its ok, as theyre all unconcious when I get home from school at 10:30. Today the fuss was about Willie who was sleeping on the couch at the foot of my bed so I was in and out of consciousness. My mom decided to take him to the vet. I wanted to protest, I think I even might have a little, but I knew it wasnt easy on her either.

I knew what the result would be. Turns out his kidneys had failed and his heart was going. Which of course would mean a nice natural death of old age, but thats not convinient.

I got a call from my mom at about 10:30 this morning that they were going to put him down. This time I DID protest, but once again I didnt want to hurt her. She asked if I wanted to be there, I couldnt answer right away, but ultimately I didnt like the idea of him being alone. He wasnt in pain, he wasnt rabid, he was just old...

About 20 minutes later I called the vet, he had already been put to sleep.

My father will probably remember him for all the money on cleaning products (and the recarpeting that is sure to happen soon now) he spent.

My Mother will remember all the time she spent taking care of him, and all those weekend mornings hed sit staring and barking at her while she ate (this dog was famous even among dogs for gluttony, more evidence coming)

My sister might remember the time we came home from church on sunday (wow mustve been long ago if I went) and this tiny dog had somehow managed to knock an entire box of dougnuts off the table and eat the WHOLE THING.

My brother will probably remember the first half of his life when he slept in his room, until he went off to college.

I know Adam will never forget that time he made a microwave burrito, put it on the coffee table and got up to get a drink, never to see that poor burrito again.

Ill remember throwing the tennis ball up on the hill and into the pool for him when he was younger, and giving him the rawhide treats he wasnt allowed to have and hanging out with him in my room all day in his last days.

I dont know his exact DOB right now, I will edit that in later. He was 14.

Monday is my birthday. Something I already didnt give 2 shits about. I even have an essay midterm on computer security that day. Looking at the calendar on my freshly formated XP computer (why I was up late enough to spend time with Willie last nite) I'm pretty sure its someone elses birthday too. But shes half the world and oceans of emotions away.

BTW- Dont call me. Im not hangin out this weekend anyway, and I smashed my phone against the wall across my room (actualy glanced off the ceiling too) after the vet phonecall. I dont know when I'll get around to checking to see if its broken. Hope my clients dont need me today.

Links of the day!

to hell with them

Is this thing on?....

Lets see if anyone actually reads this.. (or at least geeks)
Been looking for a couple things and I'm hoping for some input.

1. With my now living Ipod, I would like some utilities for both Windows and Linux that dont depend on the OS (run from their own directory and dont require an install)
Mostly I'm looking for tech-support and trouble shooting stuff. Already got several things from sysinternals including a very reudimentary protocol analyzer, but I truly wish ethereal worked T-T
So far no linux apps, as I suck at the Linux. Which brings me to my next question.

2. Been wanting to get deeper into linux for awhile. Played with lots of dists over the years, and now im fairly fond of Fedora. (watches the true Linux geeks die) and Gentoo really interests me. But I failed at an install at the begining of summer, just refused its first boot...

However, for the purposes of learning (and for a possible stupid blog trick) I want something thats going to install and give me a decent configuration in a day (overnight is ok) and Gentoo doesnt really fit that bill. I like having a GUI, (preferably KDE, maybe gnome as a 2nd, not really ready to play with anything else) and while im not afraid of a Gentoo type install, debian and slackware annoy the heck out of me with questions (that I usually dont understand) if I do a custom install.

So... ideas? theres a comment button below.

On the election front (the last I swear) I promised to do this, and I want to get it out of the way (hell even I am burned out on it) so here goes as quick as possible.

I had
Bush: 275
Kerry: 253
Giving Bush New Mexico, Colorado, Minesota, and Alaska he has 255.
Giving Kerry Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampsire and Hawaii.

I was wrong. It ended up

Bush: 286
Kerry: 252
Kerry got MN and Bush got Indiana and Nevada. (CNN still has New Hampsire as a tossup, not sure if thats just because they quit updating tho.)
So I was wrong on that (but not the outcome) and a cursory glance shows I cant add either. Oh well, as I said, I'm more than over it.

Last thing: kitch, youre a lucky girl, you got a ticket, not all do. Now get on the train before it leaves the station.

Links of the day!

Spamer goes to jail! (I'd prefer hell)
The new internet standard, Infinate Monkies!
Now that my Ipod is back, someone buy me this

The SCREW ATKINS Diet!

Im a bit plump for my tastes, not really FAT yet, but I can see myself moving in that direction. (im 6' 192lbs, broad shouldered build) So I'm going to dust off a diet I used a few years ago and got great results off of. It's a rather boring diet, but what works works.

*DISCLAIMER: If you die because you used my diet, well theres one less idiot in the world, its not my fault*

The basic plan is to eat a lot less, and the easiest way to do that is to restrict what I eat to just a few things. The plan involves me 'eating breakfast' (something I almost never do regularly) and using that to fuel myself thru the day, rather than my usual custom of eating a BIG meal in the middle of the day (usually 2-5pm) and then snacking all night. SO..

BREAKFAST: a can of tomato juice and one of those 2 for 99cents bags of Planters peanuts, to give me energy for the day and make sure I get protein.

LUNCH: 2 white bread single slice cheese sandwiches, sometimes with a little butter or mustard.

DINNER: well not really dinner, the idea is to eat a peice or two of white or wheat bread with a little butter if I'm hungry.

At first I'm not going to 'work out' other than maybe play some ddr or go on walks to raise my heart rate. After I loose about 10-15 lbs I will begin doing pushups and situps, because I do know that I will loose muscle on this diet, but thats alright, my muscles arent big but I'm still quite strong anyway.

I actually will loose lots of carbs doing this tho, because I'm going to limit my beer intake to the weekends :P Tho last time I did this I switched to Sake for the evening calm-down and that seemed to work well ^_^

So why screw atkins? Because I'm a vegitarian, I'd starve on Atkins. :P

The overall goal is to get to about 175, I dont think thats too much to ask. Then the trick becomes changing the lifestyle so I dont have to do it again in another three years. But isnt that the answer to the $10million question? ^^

Links of the day!

And I thought those late 80's wrap around Oakleys were ugly!
Lesbian cows? we have a winner!
These are the only things that make the Oakleys look cool.

Post election... and actual real life!

Was hoping to make this the last election blog, but I want to square away my numbers I predicted a few blogs ago, and I can't do that until the final numbers are in. I know I was wrong. Part of my error was I was just concentrating on giving Bush the bare-minimum to win. Turns out he did better.

On other political news, I'm breaking this story. a friend Zain online found in another chanel this link A CNN news site from Netscape.com What makes this interesting is the URL of the picture of Bush and his wife: if you right-click on the picture and go to properties, you see the image is called Asshole.jpg. Unfortuantely as I write this
I see that they have changed it. I should have took screenshots. Anyone who believes ALL media is not biased to some degree is fooling themselves. You can say its the act of some lone web designer, but thats what editors are for.

Last thing on the political front, at least for now is this link fromCNN on voting stats divided into categories. It's quite interesting, especially when you look at income, education and age.

In real life- heres what I did yesterday ^_^


Smoked a Padron 1964 Aniversary, the most expensive and best cigar Ive smoked in my life at $45. Anyone want to buy me a box? ^^
It was a spur-of-the-moment buy at the place we went to on Sunday for my Mom's birthday. It was worth it, perfect for clearning the election crap out of my head.

Other than that I literally havent done ANYTHING lately, including putting off school way too much and not finishing the re-arangement of my room. As it is, I have a Japanese 2 chapter test today and I missed the last two classes, Thursday because I was lazy, and Tuesday for the election stuff. So I should be doing that now.

I think I'm going thru the 'mid-semester blahs' right now, that time of the semester where I fall behind, neccessitating the big push to the finish a few weeks from now. Theres other things too tho, I've been a bit lonely and there are other things that I cant talk about with anyone, not even here. But life goes on, or so they say, after my birthday I hope things to get better.

In other personal news, I had a long conversation with an online friend last nite who I found out had been shot a few months earlier. Hes ok, but may never be perfect- so hey, I guess I should stop whining so much.

Links of the day!

Here's something to take your mind off of just about anything- a pregnant MAN.
Or maybe a dancing hippo will do it for ya.
If all else fails, give yourself a seizure.

4 more years

Well, screw my cinicisim of the other day. its 9pm PST and I'm calling it for Bush. Seems some news organizations are already doing so, but I'm just looking at the #'s on the web.
Bush has 237 and Kerry 188 according to the abc news link I'm using.
Giving Bush New Mexico, Colorado, Minesota, and Alaska he has 255.
Giving Kerry Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampsire and Hawaii he has
253.

So its not coming down to Florida afterall, its coming down to Ohio.
Ohio is going pretty solidly Bush, giving him 273

Bush 275
Kerry 253
We shal see how my predictions hold. New Mexico COULD go Kerry, but its not enough to matter.

Election Day

On this election day, I would like to make an appeal you will not hear just about anywhere else.
In a Democracy, participation IS key. People SHOULD go out and vote. However its not the only key.

So, if you havent been paying attention, if you get all your 'news' from Rush Limbaugh or your union meetings or even the same nightly news broadcast everyday, please dont vote.

Democracy depends on INFORMED VOTERS. Lets look at that. Everyone imediately sees the 'voter' part, but ignore the qualifier. Thats why the mentally retarded arent supposed to vote, they cant reasonably be informed. Its the same reason why the founders of this country made it that only white land-owners could vote- because the assumption was they had a stake in it and so they would be informed. Im not saying to go back to those days, but use your concience- decide if u actually KNOW anything first.

Politics is a haven for idiots. In every category, from one wing to the other to the moderates to the apathetic. But I think the biggest idiots are the ones who go off to vote because of what someone told them. From 'there will be a neculear attack if Kerry is elected' to 'Bush will re-instate the draft' to 'my friend told me ____' to 'Rush said ___'. If those are youre reasons, please stay home.

Of course I'm not voting this election, so maybe I am an idiot too. I consider myself fairly informed, however as I have said before I need something to vote FOR not just against. Thats probably what annoys me with Kerry voters, they mostly just seem to hate Bush, Kerry would probably get more votes if they changed his name to 'not Bush' on the ballot.

Links of the day!

Another thing youll have trouble finding today- NON ELECTION STUFF!
If I wasnt so honest I could make a lot of money using these ^^
Targens web comic should allow anyone to rest their brain power for awhile.
In my constant search for blogs lamer than mine- heres Barbies!

Pre-election wrap-up

Well, it looks as tho things will go solidly for Kerry, all the sane and insane predictors seem to be saying so. This would keep in line with my theory that this election will NOT be nearly as close as the media (ratings = $) would hope, But who knows. If it still comes down to Florida, its anybodys game.

For insane predictors, lets look to sports:

Since the late 1930's there has been 16 elections, all of which predicted the election with the Washington Redskins' last home game. If they win, the incumbant party retains power. If they loose, the chalenger wins. They lost to the Green Bay Packers, Targens favorite team, 28-14. However, the Patriots 22-game-record-win-streak was also broken yesterday, so maybe that could be seen as a nullifying factor?

Also when the Boston (Kerrys home-state) Red Socks won the World Series a few days ago they did it in BUSCH stadium. Wrong spelling to be sure, but you get the point.

As for at least semi-sane predictors:

The site I use most to follow the actual election stats is electoral-vote and he has Kerry up quite a bit. All he does is average the polls done by all the pollsters and make predictions, and he still believes its anyones race, so he seems to provide a very unbiassed view.
Interestingly, he revealed himself today and besides being the creator of Minix (precursor to linux) it turns out that he, himself is quite biased. I could debate his arguments, but instead I congratulate on being at least seemingly very fair to both sides and reporting honestly.

However he also points to electionprojection who has it completely opposite. He does think he has a decidedly Bush tilt, but does not argue with his meathods. So still- who knows.

As for me, well my insane predicions are mostly about the election.

All though statistics seem to be on my side here, I seem to be the only one who thinks that this will NOT be that close. It is anybodys game and it all depends on that "snapshot in time" that the votes are actually cast, but I think when its all said and done it wont come down to one state. You can tell this will be true on election nite when the spinmeisters and even real news people start talking about multi-state combinations. If it is close, this could be strange. There is a record number of absentee ballots this year in many states and they might not know for days or even weeks if its too close.

My sane predictions are mostly about the next four years.

The economy will grow. Thats just the bussiness cycle, few years up, few years down. I think its fairly rare that a president has a major influence in the economy more than if people are confident in him or not. I could even see a mini dot-com like bubble grow if oil prices inspired America to go to hydrogen. But the details I'm bad at, I just think it'll go up. I give both candidates equal footing here.

Iraq will be a success. The only ways Iraq will fail is if we 'cut and run' or we make some HUGE tactical mistake. I dont believe its another Vietnam, but being slightly too young for that whole mess I both dont know vietnam well, and NEVER WANT TO HEAR IT SPOKEN OF AGAIN. (Seriously, Vietnam was like the 1 place we got our ass kicked ever and we just cant get over it, what are we- French?) Things take time, Bush was silly to declare victory so early, but things will stableize when we get them to the point where they can be their own police. Thats pretty much what we are at the moment, except the 'gangs' there have stuff like RPG's and missles. And you thought the LAPD had it bad.... I give the edge on this to Bush, they both will run this war through advisors, neitehr one of them REALLY knows jack about the military or the middle east, but Bush has got experience under his belt now, and Kerry is more likely to cut and run.

Because of these two reasons, you can see it pretty much doesnt matter who will be president in probably the largest two issues facing the country. I guess part of me wants Bush to get credit for what he started, but I really dont want things like national healthcare either. (btw I am uninsured)

Links of the day!

Not today, theyre all in the text above.

its alive!

Apparently it was comming sooner than I thought. Pretty happy with it now, Definately better than old layout. Firefox and IE still disagree on just how wide the sidebar is by a pixel or two, but I dont know how to code browser work-arounds and it would look worse in IE if i fixed it in Firefox.

How did I get the time to polish it all off? I ditched Japanese 2 for today. I was tired, really no better excuse than that.

Well, emjoy, comments on new layout welcome at the link below

Links of the day!

None- see previous post, its only about 2 hours older.

its comming...... i swear

The new blog layout, to replace this ugly one, is close to completion. Just a few more bugs to work out and tweaking of colors, and I'll be happy with it, at least for now.

Life is still quite busy. A new half semester class replaces my old one which I had to do NOTHING for, with about 100pgs of reading and a test a week to add on to the math and Japanese. Both other classes are a mixed bag, Math being very time consuming even tho its mostly easy, and Japanese 2 confounding me in some areas while I find others easy.

I was homebound all last weekend due to being kinda broke and finding out saturday afternoon my car wouldnt start... (ended up being the battery, and I got the new whiper blades I needed) So I spent some time begining to re-arange my room. Might 'finish' this weekend, but I wont be totally done because I need to build myself a desk since Ikea discontinued the ONE part I needed to make a desk attached to my entertainment center in about 3 seconds. As I'm not good with tools, this should be interesting.

This weekend is also my Moms birthday and Halloween. However I have a math test on a chapter I havent even STARTED due by midnight sunday, as well as 2 tests for the new computer security class due the same day.

So ya, I still dont have a life. Which is fine I guess, I've got a lot of work I want and need to do.

Links of the day!

Japan can't get a break either.
U2 arent the only ones With their own Ipod, Check out the new Ashlee Simpson Model.
I think we all have wanted to send this to someone at least once.

Venting

It's been far too long since I ranted hasnt it?
Spending most of the day reformating a clients computer left me lots of down time while things installed so I decided to work on this hideous blog layout of mine.

Whats the matter? Dont see any difference? Thats because I have a test blog.
Check it out here.

Anyway other than the annoying IE problem of putting spaces between divs (why the title images dont touch the colored boxes on the sidebar) it looks perfect. The xml even validates. Something this blog will NEVER do, because the links of the day have un-escaped charaters. Even the CSS (layout scripting for those who dont know) validates. Except for the css from Blogspot that I have no control over.

However, if you view the site in mozilla or its derivitives, it looks like utter shit. I know IE is old, I know it shouldnt be used, believe me. The clients comptuer I reformatted today was because spyware had be come so prevasive, XP would no longer allow me to log on when I removed it. I personally almost never get spyware, because I have enough know-how not to.

I installed Firefox for about 2 weeks. I gave it a chance, really. But it SUCKS, the world is coded for IE and should be. The stats of the visitors to my site show that 96% of visitors use IE. Mozilla and its bastard child Firefox went about re-inventing the wheel. I dont know about you, but I like the wheel. So I found Maxthon. Formerly called MyIE2, it takes the IE renderer we all know and love and adds a ton of new features. Basically everything Mozilla could hope to do, and still uses the interpeter that ACTUALLY WORKS. That doesnt mean that IE is perfect, I know its not, but Mozilla is nowhere close. Some things seem to get popular only because its cool to hate Microsoft.

Well whatever. I'm going to email blogspot about why the blogger bar has doubled in size on the test site and to see if theres a way to fix their css so it validates. If I can get every part of the template to validate and Mozilla cant see it- mozilla can go to hell, its gonna be published.

Final notes on temp site: colors may be changed slightly, need to make sure theyre web-safe, I know theyre not now, and the white corners on the headers for the sidebar (friends blogs etc) will be fixed as well.

thats it. Microsoft- get off your ass and make a new browser. Mozilla- stop sucking.

Links of the day!

New layout inspiration came from here, although I no longer think it looks even close
This guy is my new idol
Yup, I still miss my Ipod

Its good to be the roach

Well its tuesday night and my weekend officially starts. Not that I dont have work to do tomorrow, or class, or homework, etc. But today I defeated both a math midterm (basic colege algebra- its been about 7 years since I've had math) and a Japanese 2 chapter test that even the teacher admitted afterwards was far too hard.
Still, I came out well, so I get a day or 2 off studying, hence my mid-week weekend.
Will I ever have a life again?
No, probably not. Then again I'm not sure I had one in the first place.

On the geek front, My ipod box came today so I can ship it out tomorrow if I'm not too lazy (considering its scheduled to POUR and my winshield whipers are old I probably will be) and I got some new ideas on making this blog less ugly, even tho I do so enjoy making Targen blind.

Oh ya, I also got a bug up my ass to re-arange my room- we shal see.

Links of the day!

More holiday gift giving advice
I'm always coming up with t-shirt ideas, may have to try this.
Jpop fans! theyre making a Puffy Ami-yumi TV SHOW!

A new world record!!!

Yup, its dead. Before anyone posts many seemingly helpful hints on how to restore my ipod- theyve been done, to no effect.
I swear I didnt drop it, didnt mistreat it in any way. It gets most of its use in my car where it sits comfortably on the change tray below my stereo and the most rigorous use its had is when I walked around the lake these past two fridays. (about 5k)

Well it was on the home stretch of the walk on Friday that it froze up mid song and would not accept any control imput, demanding it was locked no matter how unlocked it was. After about an hour the screen finally went off, at which point I tried the reset and even the restore, but no luck. The reset put it in an endless 20 second apple logo then 10 second file folder with exclimation (pictured)then repeat.

HP, for its part is quite helpful, tomorrow I recieve a fed ex box to ship it back for free which is about a week turn around time so I wont be without it long.

Still, after everything I did to get it, this is hillarious. It's also quite funny I cant seem to figure out how I survived without it. Still, if I ever consider actually PAYING FOR something built by Apple- shoot me.

Note for free ipod people, it seems your waranty begins when you ORDER the ipod, NOT when you get it.

Links of the day!

Because I'm such a wonderfully humble person, I can admit when I am wrong. I found this quite interesting.
An exact clone of my case, my favorite case ever, except for the colors which makes it the ugliest case ever! horrify your friends!
As if I needed another reason to want to move to Japan.

I'm a thief

Yes, I hardly ever post lately. This blog is about quality not quantity, and as school and work are keeping me very busy I havent had much to say. That emo Targen even called my blog dead on his- that bastard.
Anyway, I have something to say.
Im a thief.
Yes, I steal things, digitally.
John Ashcroft held a news confrence today announcing that the government is going to crack down on intellectual property theft. The prevaling press from large comapnies and the government in this case is that people who 'steal' moveies, music, and programs hurt the companies they steal from.
Well thats true. The big companies are finding out that they can no longer release crap from Madonna, Michael Jackson and the like and expect it to go gold just because of the name on the cover.
This hurts them dearly, and I could care less.
As for me, I cant stand popular music in America, so I wont be stealing any.
However, I have downloaded TONS of Japanese music over the past several years. Japanese albums that cost ~$35 a peice. (They cost that much in Japan, it isnt just an import fee.)
So I'm a thief.
But you know what? I also have PURCHASED over 30 Japanese albums at that price. I have discovered music I love that I would NEVER have heard any other way, through downloading.
The point has been belabored to death that internet sharing will become the media advertizing and distribution center of the future and that digital copies should be just as legal as the courts ruled their analog brothers in the past, so I wont bother.
I just wanted to relate a personal account that proves them wrong. Of course the RIAA probably hates me MORE, because I have freed myself from having to hunt for the least smelly of their crap to buy and listen to.
Im weeping on the inside for them, really....

Links of the day!

On the Campaign front, heres your chance to BE John Kerry and earn some purple hearts!
Movie of the year
Christmas IS comming, heres that unique gift everyones looking for!

To the naysayers...

To the naysayers out there that called freeipods.com a scam, I have something to show you.

Yup, it came yesterday. ^^
I wanted to post yesterday saying so but as I had to charge the battery I didnt really get a chance to play with it till just before bed last nite.
I love it, I cant believe how tiny it is, makes me wonder why they botehred making the mini. An ipod would definately not be the mp3 player I'd BUY, (probably pick either the Dell or the Iriver (btw I saw the I-river at best buy and found it quite ugly)) but for free I'll definately take one. An added bonus is I dont have to use I-Tunes! Theres a plugin for winamp that does the job wonderfuly, although I did have to install I-tunes to get it to see it, I can now remove the offending program. (As a side note, WHAT BUSSINESS DOES APPLE HAVE installing Quicktime automatically without asking me? the ipod has NOTHING to do with their crappy video format and program.)

Anyway, the site is still QUITE ugly as you can see, and this post is also partially a test to see how things work. Seems for my idea to work I have to manually edit EVERY OLD POST, not a pleasing idea, so I'm testing with this one, and also hoping to find another way. And yes, school kicking my ass is having an effect on that, looks like my weekend will be pretty full too.

Links of the day!

IF you use gnome, you probably want to know this, I sure did.
Hmm my video game cabinet IS a bit crowded...
Eye test! whats wrong with the picture of the dining room? (I promise its not 1 of those annoying flash screamers.)

Free Campaign Advice

First of all, I am not voting this election. While everyone gasps with horror because I refuse to do my 'civic duty' let me explain why.
I sat staring at a link I followed from MSN's homepage (too lazy to change my homepage since I last formatted) that allowed me to fill out a form to get registered. I even filled out the form. But I ended up closing the window. Why? Because beyond my conscience telling me I should, I need something else. Namely, something to vote FOR.

If I did vote, I know it would be for Bush. His social policies suck, but there are more important things to me right now, like a growing economy so I can get a new job, and oh ya, not being blown up. But the choice is really the lesser of two evils, and thats not enough to make me vote. Was the same last election. My first over 18 election I voted for Bob Dole, I really respect the man. But in the end what happened would have been the same with either guy as president, minus the comedy of Lewinsky and viagra comercials. (I doubt Bob Dole would do them as preisdent.)

So, as a 'right-winger' thats sitting out of voting I will give John Kerry some advice.

1. GET A MESSAGE AND STICK TO IT. Make a real plan, dont shore it up saying you dont have enough information. A president MAKES things work because he beleives theyre the right thing to do. You did ok yesterday with your speech, although I have not heard all of it yet. The two things I have heard in your speech that turned me off were:
a: 'I dont have enough information to make a full plan.' (Informed people know that you also recieve daily security breifings, and we also know that obviously you cant take EVERYTHING into account.)
b: 'I will get all the other countries involved.' How? I dont thin anybodys gonna support bending over backwards for half of europe just to make nice.

2. Have some press confrences. I heard the other day you havent held a national press confrence since just after your convention. You cant go and shake everyones hand. Yes you will have to answer questions, mmaybe even hard ones. But you want to be president damnit, we expect you to do that if you get elected too.

3. Distance yourself from the CBS thing loudly and publicly. Of course if you did it youre then screwed, but odds are no one will find out anyway.

4. You better DESTROY those debates. Bush isnt a good public speaker and everyone knows it. So he will get a bit of a pass if he screws up, you are a much better speaker and will not, so therefore you have to do that much better to be recognized. Edwards is also supposed to be able to clean Cheney's clock, and Cheney has no excuse, so that should go well, but no one really cares about vice presidents.

5. Nobody believes America is less safe because of Bush, at worst its no safer.

Thats it for now, I know there were others, if youre lucky I'll post them some other time.

On a personal note, this is the first post in awhile, and ya the blog looks way diferent. (ugly) Im playing with its layout trying to make something more unique than the default layout, but its a bit hard as I do not know CSS well. I have absolutely no time to update my website, and its really begining to bother me.

School is QUITE a handful, the last couple weekends I have stayed in and studied the whole time. As of this week, I'm going to take Tuesday and Thursday off when possible so I can get my work done and actually see sun/moonlight on the weekends. Then maybe I can work on the site, but I want to radically change the layout and I dont have a good idea yet on what to do. So I guess thats why I made the blog my guinnea pig.

Anyway, hopefully Ill get into the swing of school, seeing how its the 5th week already >.>

Links of the day!

On the political note:
Maybe I should Vote...
More on politics, think my blog is lame? Check out these two:
George W. Bush's blog
John Kerry's blog
Ok, these have been stacking up since I havent posted, so here goes...
Not scared enough? check out this nutballs reason to fear just about everything.
These are for Winston and Diana especially.
Story 1
Story 2

Btw, expect a happy post Wed or Thurs ^^

YA baby!

Your Status:
Congratulations! You have currently completed all requirements to get your totally FREE iPod. We now need to confirm your account and referral offer completions. Please check back after 7 business days to see your status.

yay me!! so the ipods checked off, life is good. I still want the flatscreen and I did sign up for a Free Desktop PC as well. But I wanted the Ipod most.

Sorry for turning the blog into a spamfest lately, but not much is going on. School will be thuroghly kicking my buttocks this semester. Japanese 2 I love but its going to be very hard. Even the HOMEWORK DESCRIPTION in the syllabus is in kanji none of us have studied or are even expected to know. Right now I should be doing homework, but atm I'm too lazy to get out the kanji dictionary to decipher it.

Also looks like I'm going to have to keep my current job one more semester so I can do well in school. 19 units is a lot after all. If I play my cards right tho, I can get the JLPT level 4 (Japanese Language Proficiency Test), two security certifications, (Security+ and I'm not sure of the other, thats 2nd half of the semester) and if I really wanted to, I could have the Network+ and A+ certs as well.
But its the security certs that will make me marketable (I hope) Also... not sure of this... but I BELEIVE I will have my AS after this semester. Someone kick me in the ass and make me go to my department head to find out ok?

no links of the day. I have a ton, but I have to get back to studying.

a boat, a few girls and a new drink!

Yup, got back on the boat last nite, was a blast. Finally found a link for it too- here.
Looks like this is the last free weekend tho, after that its $15 but its worth it ^^.
Not being a dancer, I spent most of my time in the smoking section chatting with people. A couple girls were interesting. ^^ Both rubbed up against me at one point or another, one even wrapped her legs around me... twice... but ultimately I wasnt into either. So, the one kinda walked off after I ignored her with some other guy, at the end of the nite I was looking for Jeanine and saw her giving him her number. He shot me a look like 'haha I got it' and it was funny to watch his expression deflate after I instinctively shot back a 'so?' ^^

The other seems like a cool chick to hang with, real tough-girl, but at one point she pointed to every guy and said they were all pussies cept the guy she was talking to. She hesitated on me, and I gave her a look, but she said it anyway- I pretty much ignored her after that, but it wasnt like I was hurt, just havin fun. ^^

But the fun nite was also the result of my newest successful experiment!

Ive created a drink.
Everyone knows about Red Bull and vodka (dont you?) but while I like energy drinks, I'm not much for Red Bull. Since I've been back from Japan, I've discovered the new Rockstar double stregnth that are flavored like cola, but not as sugary. One of my favorite drinks is a scotch and coke, so I thought it natrual to combine the two.

Its really quite a drink. I ended up making it about 60/40 (favoring the scotch) by the end of the can and it was still quite good with no real bite, and It definately had the energizing aspect to it.

So take this as notice world! I trademark this drink today!!!
It's name? The Willie.

Named after my dog and because every drink name now seems to need SOME kind of sexual reference.

Hmm, there is a third girl, but she seems quite busy these days. Didnt see her last nite anyways. And shes prob the only one with even a slight chance of reading this. :P

Links of the Day!

Yup theyre back, but first a plug for my flatscreen, my ipod, and how you can get one.
I like to post links of people who have no life
And heres an admin that doesnt have a job anymore.
Just how christian are you?
and last but not least:
a movie that makes me never want to go to an anime convention again.

ohisashiburi desu ne?

well school starts this week. My half-semester Monday Wednesday computer security class seems cool. And my Japanese 2 class is going to ROCK, cept theres NO GIRLS in the whole class. :P Oh well, guess theres nothing to do but study.
They switched to the Genki book, which is supposed to be the best, cept its not the book i used for Japanese 1 so I have some gaps to fill.

Reading blogs from IJP students is fun, esp when I find out I'm the 'annoying David'
Btw- you totally quoted me wrong.

Anyway, I see Melon pan is working on his free ipod thru me! Cool! Those of you who were skeptical about it because you didnt want to get me an ipod/flatscreen without getting yourself one, I've (actually my friend Zain) fixed things for you!

http://zain.is-a-geek.com/index.php

It's a 'conga line' you sign up at the top link, then give your link and you get in line to get on top. Act fast! the faster you are on it the more chance you have of getting your ipod/flatscreen!

good luck!

The News

YES! FINALLY DONE! All pics uploaded and commented on!
The gallery For those who have been keeping up, Week 5 and Week 6 are the new ones.
Theres some more commenting I want to do, but I'm satisfied for now.

Not much else goin on, got to hang out with Jason, his girlfriend and Greg for a bit on sunday night. Didnt go to Prospectors as usual.

Today I took the day off because I woke up with a headache which is still kinda lingering with me. Probably go out tonight as its Gregs last day here.
Not much else, sorry life is boring. Its about to get far worse when I start 22.5 units of school next week and start looking for a full time job.

Right now I've stolen my brothers laptop because for no reason whatsoever blogger wont let me use it from my own. (a freshly formatted winxp system, I blame blogger)

An important note on www.freeipods.com Hotmail blocks their confirmation email, so please make a yahoo account for the process. You want to make another account anyway as it will be spammed. For the offers, Real Rhapsody is $1, pretty cool to play with, and you can cancel in about 3 clicks and still get the rest of the month. The AOL and ancestry.com deals are free as long as you call to cancel but all need credit card #'s because theyre hoping you dont cancel. I still need referers that COMPLETE the offer- so go for it!

No links of the day today, their on my computer not this one. Blame Blogger.com

Mina you sexy thing, ditch work and come over! I need a checkup!

this life is a hell of a ride

hi hi, im back, no still no pictures, please shoot me repeadedly till I put the video card in my TV computer to get the pictures off. Maybe Jeff can send Theresa over to hit me till I do it. My site also needs TREMENDOUS other work, but I'm far too busy/tired/lazy. (you choose) Hopefully Ill get to adding a links section here for all my friends blogs from IJP (Japan trip) theyre far more interesting than me.
Oh well its comforting to know now that now that Im back noone will read my blog again.
Lets see... Tuesday I went to my first hookah bar, quite interesting. I think I still prefer the ocasional cigar and they could REALLY use some leg room (or just drop the floors and do it Japanese style) But I met a bunch of cool people, at least briefly, including what seem to be some pretty cool girls. Turns out thats why we werent at a bar, theyre all under 21. (but isnt that how I like em?) Was kinda funny that me and Jeanine were the over 21's and sober, and all the under 21's were hammered.
Last nite was even better- got on Lydia's (damn Ive never seen her name in print before, probably butchered it) dad's boat and cruised the Newport bay for three hours drinking. Too bad it was mostly a dude-fest, but Jeanine was happy. On the 31'st Ill be ditching my second week of school (I believe Japanese 2- god help me)
to go on another cruise thats a "pijama party." Gonna wear my Japanese clothes, I dont think they would appreciate me showing up in my boxers. ^^;; (normal sleep wear)
Told Jeanine to invite the under 21 girls I met Tuesday, theyre the type that can make a party like that interesting ^^

Soon tho, my life will end. If I go for graduation this semester, Ill be taking 22.5 units (with Japanese 2 and another networking class I dont need to graduate) and I will be looking for a full time job soon. I should have started looking already, but Im really taking time getting into the swing of things after Japan, I realize I kept promising my body I would sleep for 2 weeks when I got back, and my body is taking me up on the offer wether I like it or not.
Not last nite tho, I fell asleep drunk in Jeanines bed. She was STUMBILIN, she was in no shape to drive. But it was like 3 blocks to drive from Lydia's house to hers so I did it. Got a good 4 hours sleep and here I am wide awake.

It wont last long, I know by noon Ill be passing out- but I havent seen Greg whos down from SF yet and I feel like a bastard because of it so its another marathon day.

I said before and durring Japan that I can sleep when I get home. I change my mind, Ill sleep when Im dead.

Links of the day

first, another shameless plug for myself but you too can benefit! go get yourself an Ipod http://www.freeiPods.com/default.aspx?referer=7904031 and help me get one in the process. If you sign up, DO THE OFFER! Real Rhapsody is 99cents for the month and is actually pretty cool (wow they have Japanese music!) and even when you cancel you still get the rest of your month.
On to real links....
the case of the $95,000 This was a big news story years back but was covered up by stupid OJ. He did something we all wished we did and got rich because of it. Ten chapters long makes it an hour read but it just keeps getting better. Read the first page and youll agree.
Budweister email forget GMail, I know you all want yournamehere@budweister.com!
A Darwin Award Some genius wanted to see the stars and decided taking bolt cutters to a streetlight (they DONT run on household level electricity) was a great idea. Apparently he wanted to be lit up like a christmass tree and live on the internet forever. Ok, so its not funny, but you know what? it is ^^

yes, yes, I lag

Ok, STILL no pictures. I know, its all my fault. I really need to get to uploading and commenting on them before I forget everything. (as I am so apt to do) Problem is theyre currently on a computer that I took the video card out of because my main computers video card was fried when I got home- and I just HAVE to play Doom 3 dont I? I really WAS going to do it tonight, but then I ended up sleeping through tonight....

Sunday night was my grand return party. Wasnt really that 'grand' but still fun. Me, Jeanine and Marie went out to our usual sunday night hangout and played a few drinking games. I rearanged our game of poker so the winner drinks- and I kept winning... (thanks grandpa for playing all those games of poker with me) Got home at 4am. It was a good help in getting my sleep schedule back to normal. Now instead of sleeping from 3-10 everyday, I fall asleep around 7. So its gradually moving forward.

Registered for classes today, well most of them anyway. If I get my way I'll be taking 20.5 units this semester. As I finally plan on getting a 'real job' as well, I expect to have no life this semester. Anyway, I'm taking Japanese 2, Algebra (>.<) 'Hardening the infrastructure' 'Fundamentals of Network security (both 8 week courses so probably pretty introductory but interesting none-the-less) and because of credit restrictions I have to wait to enroll in 'Hardware Concepts' which I need to graduate. Theres 33 open seats, which I think means NOONE has registered, and its no suprize considering its offered on SATURDAY FROM NINE AM TO NOON. >.<

The website needs severe updating... I have no patience for coding at the moment tho. I will get to it, but I have 6 weeks of things to catch up on in work, school and life before that happens.

Anyway, its 2am and I've been up for an hour now... time to try to sleep.

Links of the day!

Oh ya, shameless promotion time. If I can find five people that love me I can get a free IPOD (People that live in the same house dont count)
freeipods.com
Just go sign up and do one of their ofers (supposedly the real player one is easy to quit, I will find out soon..) and youve sent me on my way to getting a free IPOD. You have also gotten the ball rolling yourself, If you have 5 people that love you that is.
(real links of the day returning soon- but I want an IPOD!)

er- hi

Sorry no posts, the pictures arent up yet, hopefully tomorrow. Im still in a great struggle to change my sleep schedule. I cant help but fall asleep every afternoon for about 4 hours, which is about when I slept in Japan and about how much sleep I got. But even with that I'm always tired.

Some things I've been lagging on:
1. Emailing all my friends in Japan, please forgive me!
2. Uploading and commenting on my pictures.
3. Meeting my counselor, I woke up too exhausted today, so now I have to wait till mon...
4. Hanging out with most of my California friends, I hope to be a bit better tomorrow.

Somethings I missed while in Japan:
1. Two friends had babies, Cara and Izhar (wow Izhar I thought you were male ^^)
2. Athena got married, I never even met her fiance.

Wow, this much action doesnt happen in a year when I'm here....

Been having strange dreams since I returned. My body refuses to believe I'm back. Everytime I wake up I think I'm in Japan then I wonder "why is this bed so big?"
The purchase of Doom 3 yesterday added an intersting aspect- nightmares. I love nightmares tho, because I'm the type that goes down fighting ^^

Anyway, just keepin you updated. Maybe I'll even go to bed now.

hi there, remember me?

well, im back.
So very hard to leave but so very nice to be home.
When I first walked into my room it didnt look right, the colors were off and things seemed out of place, it was very weird, kinda like it had gone cold while I was gone. After a nice long nap things seemed to have warmed up again and felt more right. Its still weird being here. We have so much more s p a c e here...

I havent driven in 6 weeks, so I might die this morning going to see Jeannine for lunch, we shal see.
OF course my computers had to be messed up, its a nice welcome. TV comp is just fine, server was locked up and either the drivers or the video card itself are messed up on my main comp, leaving me in vga default display adapter....
I have many little fun blog ideas I want to do in the next few days, but for the moment I'm tired. Besides, I'm still remembering where the heck all the punctuation is on the keyboard.

comming home

my last keitai email im so sad
theres a ton of things i didntget to do
i will be back

tsank you my friends

when i decided to stay in kyoto an extra day i expected it to be a quiet lonely one.
and that was ok. i had a bit more shopping to do and i wanted to relax.
but then sayaka called me in the evening and i met her eiko kunimi masumi and a new friend chisato.
we didnt do anything special. just hung out and talked. but we didnt have to. thats what makes kyoto feel like home.
im ready to come home. im tired and broke and long for my bed cat family and friends in california. but i will never forget my dear kyoto friends.
i truly love you all. yoroshiku ne ^_^
btw- richa i told kunimi to tell everyone you miss them.
i also got to see a lupin movie on tv ^_^

nihon wa totemo takai!

hey all, I decided to spend one extra day in Kyoto, as I do prefer it to Tokyo.
Tokyo is big and wonderful but a bit too big, Kyoto is far more homey.
Probably spending this day alone as most all the students that supported us are quite busy with work and school. But thats alright, I need a quiet day. I probably will spend the last couple days rather quietly, as I am quite broke from buying omiage and just the general expense of living in Japan.
Tomorrow I go to Tokyo where hopefully my hostle will now have internet access and Ill be able to upload at least some of the pictures and comment on them. I really need to as my memory cards are quite full.
I may even get my palm online from my room, so I will be able to play around at night. Im really tired and pretty ready to come home. Friends, family, I love you all but expect me to spend a day or two sleeping. If you want to see me come to my room. Me and Oscar-sama will be chillin ^^
And yes, mom, Ill be asking you if I can go a bit more into debt. While I will take it eazy I do want to enjoy my last few days in Japan. A half decent meal is ~$10, can easily become 20 with a gaijin sized stomach. Drinks (although I dont plan to do much drinking) are easily $5 and up to $10 is quite normal.
Im definately comming back tho. I think I might plan a trip in may for the sakura blossoms, and I want friends and family to come with me this time! so plan well!!

cya for now

finally the roach has come back to teramachi

the ryokan that the lovely and talented yosshi found for me ROCKS
within walking distance from everything includin teramachi st which is sure to make my ijp friends jealous
on a sadder note today is my last chance to see my former fiance and right now i feel rather alone in a crowd going to shoot off fireworks as japanese flies by my head
maybe you cant go home again
guess ill find out soon...

im going home！

yup thats right
i write this from a shikansen bound for kyoto after i change trains in osaka
its going to be great seeing all my new friends again- ive missed them since i left
yoshi and nobuko are so wonderful as to meet me at the station
yoshi even spent 2 days finding me the perfect royokan
i really must buy them dinner
dont worry i remember i live in ca but kyoto is quickly becoming my 2nd home
( ~っ~)ノ

meccha nemui

Went to Miajima island today, it was absolutely beautiful. Its an island basically dedicated to temples and shrines for over 1000 years and of course now has tons of tourist shops.

I finally got to see a beach! it was about 5 feet of beach but it was a beach! The waves were (not)breaking steadily at about 3 inches, my surfer friends are sure to be jealous. I also finally got to hike!! Of course it was up a MOUNTAIN.... >.< thankfully not NEAR as big as Saddleback (definately far more beautiful tho) but definately tiring with no water :P Btw Jason if youre reading this, I met Jeff the god of air conditioning on Miajima. I came up on a small buhhdist shrine in the middle of nowhere on the path and al of a sudden my legs were cold, it was like sitting in front of an air conditioner- so of course I sat down a bit. Jeff is my new hero too. (the only explination for this that I can think of is that the crack nearby lead to the top of the mountain, but an hour later the top wasnt NEAR that cool.)

By the time I got back down (btw it WAS worth it) most every shop and restraunt was closed (hey it was REALLY LATE.... 7pm... >.<) BUT the place I saw in the morning that I said "thats where I"m having dinner' was still open- so I got to have Hiroshima style okanomiyaki for dinner!!! (sorry to all my Kansai friends, I prefer Hiroshima style.) I also got to watch LIVE Inu Yasha and Detective Konan, sure to piss off all my otaku friends.

Miajima is designated as one of the 'three most beautiful views of Japan' No, I have no earthly idea where the other two are. But I know where the most beautiful people of Japan are- Kyoto. I really cant wait to go back.

But it has to wait. Tomorrow I'm going to see the big hole in the ground in Hiroshima and see if I come back glowing in the dark (wont I be a hit at raves then!) I hear the museum is a sight to behold, so Ill definately be doing that too.

Then off to Kyoto!!!

EDIT: cara, I just saw your blog and pictures- CONGRATULATIONS!!! http://www.dragoneyes.net for everyone that doesnt know what im taking about

im here

got to my hostel in Miajima
it wasnt my 1st choice and isnt as cheap as my 1st choice but still a bit cheaper than my place in tokyo
seems extreemly quiet in hiroshima but thats ok i could use the rest
assuming i can find a convinie to feed myself that is
once again this is from my cell but since i know it works i tried a bit harder ^_^;
to all those thinking of me i love you

sometimes on this trip i get the feeling someones missing
i may never truly know why but i guess our paths and destinations are different
i truly hope yours is fruitful
i miss u

hi there

Well, tomorrow I leave Tokyo for Hiroshima. Im at an internet caffe overlooking Gas Panic (an over rated bar, Shinjuku is better than Roppongi) atm trying to upload my pics but its VERY slow, I dont think Ill be here for 5 hrs thx so no pics right now sorry.

Yoshi-sama, the wonderful person that she is, found me a nice cheap Royokan to stay at while in Kyoto. It was definately on my list of must-do`s in Japan and Yoshi really came thru for me. I owe her forever.

Last night I was out a bit late in Shinjuku so I stayed till 6am rather than take a taxi. It was fun, stayed in "The Hub" till 4am when it closed talking to two Japanese guys so I could practice then decided to walk to the government building. I was tempted to call Jeff at 4am just to mess with him but didnt (and arent you glad)
At around 5am I came across some skateboarders and watched them a bit. Then got home around 7 adn slept for two hours before hitting a few temples and having a nice dinner. But now Im tired, so I dont think I`m going to do much with my saturday night. I have to be out of the hostle by 11 anyway.

Winston I wanted to email you but Im over-time on my hour as it is. Theres plenty of time for me to let u know what little I know about Tokyo ^^

Ja

best laid plans 2

everythings good got a hostel in roppongi disney sea was cool but brief
decided 2 stay in tokyo till mon cuz friends r here
4give typing its on a cell phone and im not sure itll work

just a few things

well, Im out in about 2 hours, hopefully get to tokyo in time to make it worth going to disney sea.
 
Amanda, I know youll never read this but I will always consider you a good friend and I`m sorry for your loss.
 
Mom, I get home Aug 2nd- guess you dont miss me too much if you forgot eh? ^^
btw- its much muggier here than Ca. 
 
Frank, thanks but I think you have the newer files. Do still keep them, but I got a friend online to get the rest.  (nice job on the laptop btw)
 
Andrea, best of luck, I will be there for you and I`m glad for any help I can give you.
 
Winston- be a survivor! They cant all be like the bitch from the 3rd floor ^^
 
anyway- ja

the best laid plans

well I`m still here and its monday night. It was `marine day` so most banks were closed, and it was just too much to do all I needed to do AND go into town to the bank and leave today.
So I leave tomorrow and wont get to disney sea till the afternoon, but thats ok.
I spent the $200 to send a 25kg bag back to the us, there was no way I could carry it and do all I wanted to do.
Tomorrow morning I leave with Jeff and will spend some time on the train calling a few hostiles to find out where I`m staying for the night. I have two hours and 5 potential places so im not too worried. I just hope I get the one in Roppongi I want.
 
Talked to a few friends today, glad to see Jeannine and Adam are doing well. Stay pure girl! lol
 
Anyway as I warned before after today the likelyhood of pics going up is low, but I WILL have internet access. Still, the best way to reach me is to send short messages to my cell phone ( check an earlier post for the address, it has a 7777  in it)
 
I will enable email blogging so I can at least post small messages from time to time if nothing else, but it looks like all the places I want to stay allow me to have inet access.
 
Anyway, thats about it. Till next time take care.

So sad....

well, I leave tomorrow.
Hopefully Ill upload all my pics today, but not now (i took about 700mb worth of pics and video in the past two days)
 
For those that notice this blog is a little empty these days, realize that the gallery is really a secondary blog, its much better to have pics to go with topics ne? (and you can post comments- DO SO!! (be sure to leave your name if you post annonomously))
 
It was really sad seeing everyone say goodbye yesterday. Most people leave today, I am staying on so I can take care of some things monday before I leave for disney sea.
 
So the tentative plan is to go to Tokyo monday afternoon, go to disney sea on tuesday with a big group of dorm mates,  then head off across the other side of japan the next morning to go to Hiroshima. However, I havent planned anything yet. Ill have time for that today.
 
I really wanted to go shopping today, but I think I`m just out of time.
 
After I leave tomorrow, internet access may be non-existant for the rest of the trip. If thats true, well I love you all ^^;;;
 
Im going to set up so I can blog by email and maybe send short rants from my cell phone (i only get ~75 characters) but if you get pics consider yourself lucky.
 
I MIGHT swing back by the school on the way back to Tokyo from Hiroshima if my memory cards are full.
 
Thank you to all that support me and think of me. I know that life goes on and you have things of your own to do, thanks for thinking of me.
 
To any of the Japanese that read this, thank you so much for opening your homes and hearts to me. It was an experience I will never forget and I hope we can keep in contact. Now its your turn to come see me!
 
Athena- congratulations on the wedding. I believe it was just a few hours ago your time.
 
Cara - the oven should be about done ne? I hope everyting goes well.
 
Mom & Dad, thank you so much for everything. I am lucky to have you.
Andrea, take care, I`m thinking of you.
Frank, get a job so you can give me $$ and I can buy you electronics (theres a really cool mini disk player...)
 
Jeanine, Adam, John, Izhar, Scott, Kevin and the rest- wish you were here.
 
Oscar, you kick ass cat, I`m sorry to abandon you for so long. I`m comming home I swear.
Willie, Hary- you too.
 

My parents rule

Thanks MOM!!!! My care package came today, of course with more food than I can possibly eat before I leave, but theyll make nice gifts for the Japanese ^^

Im beginning to pack up my things to ship them out- I think its going to cost quite a bit..... we shal see....

On the Japanese front, I have my oral final tomorrow which shouldnt be TOO hard, last full class was today. It was just too short, theres so much more I want to do and learn here.

But with class over, I wont be here much longer. This weekend is the Gion Matsuri which is a HUGE festival in Kyoto. I am going with Natsumi and her friends tomorrow afternoon but I went with Johnathan tonight (study? whats that?) because its his only night to go as he leaves tomorrow afternoon. Actually, Ill probably be going every day this weekend. On Monday, I leave to go meet up with some of the dorm rats to go to Disney Sea Tuesday. Then from there, I really dont have a clue till I can meet Johnathan in Tokyo the 23rd. I want to go to Hiroshima tho.

Once I leave Kyoto, I have no idea how or if I will be able to upload pictures or blog, so please keep that in mind. However, I do have my cell phone email, and on that note:

ADAM EMAIL ME YOUR ADDRESS

Please keep emails short, I cant send (and therefore I guess I cant recieve) emails over 100 chars (sometimes as little as 77)

Btw new pics ARE up, but theyre on a new page under the Japan gallery.
Just go to the Japan gallery and hit the next page like you would inside any gallery to see the two new ones.

Oh and for those who might be offended by any of my pics- sorry, this is a chronicle of my journey here, VERY LITTLE gets left out- basically only pics that didnt come out or long uninteresting movies. You dont have to look at them you know.

Thats it for now, jya

booo....

Well another interesting weekend, and once again I`m lagging on pictures.
Took Natsumi-san out Friday night to Kyoto station for shopping, but everything there closes at 8pm >.< so it was an early night.
Saturday was touring a couple temples and making Japanese sweets. Saturday night was a big party, Jessica from the 4th floors birthday (hmm Ill have to ask her how old) she was QUITE drunk, I carried her up 2 flights of stairs to her bed.
Sunday was the monkey park and a few more temples, then doing homework.

I still havent written my speech that needs to be given Wednesday.

and I woke up sick today...............

Anyway sorry for the short post, but I do have one big announcement- I bought a cell phone. Ill skip the rant on how much better Japanese cell phones are for now and just tell you my cell phone email address.

edroach.7777(put@here)k.vodafone.ne.jp

the (put@here) should be ENTIRELY replaced by an `@` for those of you who dont know why, its to prevent spam.

still got things to do b4 class so bye!

^_^

Last couple days have been fun and tiring, theres no sign of it letting up either.
Huge Japanese test yesterday, I believe I did pretty well on it. Mostly due to the lovely and wonderful Natsumi-san (the one I proposed to) who came over on thurs to help me study.

To repay her I took her to the Kyoto station yesterday night and we did a little shopping and eating. Problem was everything closed at like 8pm >.< So we got home rather early. (the whole dorm was mostly empty because everyone went out drinking) A couple things I DID find at Kyoto station were a battery for my camera (tho I still need to buy more) and a food importers shop that actually had pasta sauce! I told Natsumi-san I would cook dinner for her one day this week since she likes Italian food.

Something I havent done is a speech I was supposed to write by the end of yesterday, I was just too tired and lazy. Its a `hajimemashite` (introduction) speech so it shouldnt take too long once I start, but I leave for an all day walking tour in 20 mins and I`m SUPPOSED to go to a party after it at the river for lots of drinking and posible swimming (and fufillment of Targens request...)

Problem is, its pouring rain atm......

oh well, we shal see.

Sunday were supposed to go pet monkeys about an hour away from here and that evening will be my one chance to write my speech. Monday and tuesday I`m sure will be more intensive Japanese then wednesday I give the speech I havent written, thrusday I have no idea and friday is an oral test >.<

And ya, things should quiet down after that, except its our last weekend here and theres a huge festival on sunday- so I highly doubt it.

I want to spend lots of time with Natsumi-san too....

parental units- did you get my email? Its rather important... hmm maybe Ill call you now.

nothing too exciting... yet

Yesterday was quite humorous but I`m not going to tell you why just yet. Not until I can add a second part to the story and save some face.

Japanese is a hard language to learn in a month. It takes me a while to learn vocab and right now thats hurting me a bit. Still, overall I`m doing well, and the wonderful Natsumi-san is going to come over to help me study tonight. Everytime I stump her (apparently the Japanese have no word for `hang out`) she scrunches up her face and nose and I just want to melt.

Anyway, I figured out how to charge my apparent ONE rechargeable camera battery (the other two are disposeable it seems) so I can continue being a Japanese tourist again. Much thanks goes to Marissa from my floor for letting me borrow her extra battery for two days.

Some random notes on Japan:
This is the land of personal electronics. EVERYONE has a minidisk player (or mp3 now) and a cell phone. BUT, few have compuers. You go to information desks at train stations and everythings written down, no monitor anywhere. You watch tv and pretty CNN graphics are replaced by posterboard. In this electronic land, my Palm always gets stares- they`ve never even heard of them for the most part. Instead their electronic kanji dictionary (denki jisho) is always at their side (because even the Japanese cant remember 2000 kanji)
On the cell phone front- you havent lived till you`ve seen a guy on a scooter smoke a cigarette with one hand while typing email on his cell phone with the other AND DRIVING. Now I know that either Americans are idiots or cell phones cause no problems driving. Also, no-one talks on their cell phone. Dont bother asking for `her` number, she probably wont answer. (its expensive) Instead, get her cell phone email and youre in. (till you get the all kanji response)

anyway- sorry for the lack of posts, things are busy yet much seems un-mentionable. The program is already mostly over- one week left. Its rather saddening.

Parents- warning, the care package request will come after class today. If you can send it out friday great but monday should be ok too. I`m also going to have to ship a ton of stuff back. Its basically a few shirts and some camera related stuff, im guessing (not sure) walmart should have all of it.

yes, I`m alive

and loving it.
Sorry long time no post, Ive been busy and tired.
Lagging on the picture upload too, maybe tonight if youre lucky.

The homestay was FREAKING GREAT, finally got to see the Japanese countryside and had a BLAST. The night we got there we went to the onsen which was nothing like anime (all concrete) but probably twice as nice because of it. Then after helping Fumie with her english (shes got some hard words like ambiguity (who the hell uses that) and affect and effect (which americans screw up all the time) ｗent to sleep.
Next day went to Ueno to see a `ninja mura` (town) the ninja house was very cool with all sorts of cool tricks and traps. The ninja show was kinda cheezy but still cool. Then we had soba for lunch which I love and them made ceramics with a somewhat famous ceramicist (???) whos name I cant read the kanji of. Of course most of my pottery sucked, but I made one square bowl that I put my thumbprint in the side and signed my name then had Marie, Fumie and her father do the same on the other sides on. It will be a cool momento.

Speaking of Fumie san`s father (and family in general) I am forever in their debt, they were WONDERFUL hosts with a BEAUTIFUL authentic Japanese house in the countryside and her father wouldnt let me pay for ANYTHING. I really have to find somehting special to do for them.

あした午後四時四十五分に大学の前のバスていでなつみさんに会います。　大学からきょうとえきの前まで行きます。そして、晩ご飯を食べます。　晩ご飯のあとでよふくをかいます。

now dont you wish you could read Japanese ^^
if someone bablefishes it and its funny, be sure to post it as a comment. ^^

It rules to be me ^^

Last nite was freaking GREAT.

Percy-san from the fourth floor threw a party that all of us on the second floor spent the week telling every Japanese girl we could find about, so it ended up being like 3 Jpanese girls for every gaijin. (yay!)
I finally busted out the bottle of duty free only Wild Turkey `Freedom` it was quite entertaining to watch Japanese girls drink 3 drops of 106 proof whiskey and spend 10 minutes complaining about it. Too bad I dont know NEARLY enough Japanese to tell them the secret of drinking. (no matter how much you drink all at once (a tiny bit or a huge gulp) it tastes the same)

But.... the International House kicks all guests out at 10pm, so we had to go.. we went down to the river (Kana-san gave me a partial ride on her bike but I got off cuz I think I was too heavy for her) and shot off fireworks. Fireworks (and gunpowder) are a Chinese invention, so they dont have any hang-ups about it here, basically, the Japanese get the basic concept that if you set something on fire or blow your hand off its because youre a dumbass, (americans seem to INSIST on blaming someone else for everything) so you can get them lots of places, including the 100 yen stores.

Anyway, after the river, I went to a reggae party with Marie-san, my conversation partner. It KICKED ASS, I was the only gaijin in the room. Drinks were weak, and Japanese djs SUCK (guy spent the whole time talking over the music, and apparently mixing is a foreign concept (trainwreck then trainwreck then trainwreck)
Still, I got some great pictures I`m sure all the guys will love. But I`m making you wait till sunday or monday.

Speaking of pictures, I put up a weeks worth in two albums yesterday, I`m not done commenting, but its all good. Go check em out.

Onsen episode!

Yes, yes, Ive been teasing about this for several days, so now I can finally tell you. Today Im going to Koga with Marie-san and her friend (Sayaki-san I believe, I can never hear in loud places) to stay with Fumie-san (another friend of Marie-san) and her family over night before I return home sunday. In the meantime, Im going to onsen tonight (Japanese hot springs) then Sunday a ninja dojo, which is apparently quite famous world wide, and then throw clay on a wheel before returning home tomorrow night.

Admit it, youre all jealous as hell ^^

On a bitter note, I think i finally KILLED all the batteries in my camera, and it seems to refuse to take regular AA bateries, even tho its designed to. So, Im hoping to get Johnathan to get me a power plug while I`m gone this weekend.

Another bitter note, right now I should be hurting my legs at a Japanese tea ceremony, that I was totally and completely awake for, but I lost track of time so I missed. Oh well.