| YAY! Freaky future-dated welcome entry! |
[May. 5th, 2030|10:08 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  chipper | ] |
Hiyas! You've probably just found my LJ. Welcome to my stupid little mind.
This LJ is not one of those friends-only things, so most of my entries are publicly viewable. (That is, if the public wants to bother reading this crap)
I do filter a few things, but that's about 0.00001% of the (non) content of this thingy.
So Welcome! Welcome to city 17! |
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| On brevity: |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|03:50 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | hopeful | ] |
Leave ONE WORD (in the comment section) that you think best describes me. It can be only one word. No more. Then copy and paste this on YOUR page so I may leave my one word about you. |
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| On crack: |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|02:43 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  crazy | ] |
Yep. I know... I've not posted anything for a while.
This is too good not to share.
ENJOY!
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| On taking time off... |
[Sep. 1st, 2009|07:43 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  apathetic | ] |
I don't know why I do it.
The trip to Chicago was good, but not terribly relaxing. Only a slightly smaller than normal amount of driving was done, owing tot he fact that I was staying at my mom's place in Gurnee, about 40 miles North of Chicago. Arranging visits with the various folks who still actually wanted to see me was a little annoying, too.
I also happened to visit during the coldest, wettest summer I can remember. I know that I talk about how I miss the rain living out here in Southern CA, but two weeks of it nearly nonstop was a bit of a shock to my system.
I think something inside me broke, because I was melancholy and depressed for a majority of the trip. I'm not saying that it wasn't nice to see everybody; the cause of my depression is unbeknownst to me. I tended to waffle between worrying about things back in L.A. and feelings of inadequacy. Bizarre.
My mom threw a birthday party for me on the Saturday before my birthday and my only friend that showed up was a buddy from Kalamazoo who I haven't seen in 19 years. That was the pleasant surprise of the trip. Thanks, Devon. :D Still, there were a bunch of folks at the party, mostly people I know through my mom, and my sister showed up with her (surprisingly well-behaved) children.
I never realized just how out of touch I've been. THis is the first time I've met either of my nieces, the elder of which is 4 years old already. :P
Going back home after such an extended interval is a bit disconcerting. I dunno what to make of it anymore. I just know that in my heart, I still belong there, somehow. |
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| On beating the odds: |
[Jul. 30th, 2009|12:46 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | tired | ] |
I had the most interesting experience tonight. During one of my brief hiatuses from WoW, I was playing a little bit of Rock Band 2 on the 360.
Recently, I had had some difficulties with it. It froze during a set with some friends, and was generally acting a little bit weird, but still booted normally afterwards.
This time, however, was different. After loading Rock Band, the entire screen went black while trying to navigate the menus. I kinda figured I knew what was next. Well, the next few times I powered the 360 on, I got just the power light, and no ring lights. 2-3 times later, it came on with the dreaded Red Ring of Death....
And proceeded to boot normally, with three flashing ring lights!
I then played an entire set with my friends, the entire time during which the red lights were flashing. Crazy, I thought.. Then I started worrying about ever turning the thing off for fear that it would break completely.
Nope. It boots normally now and seems to work okay. Somehow, I managed to beat the RRoD. (For now)
I'm only concerned now that this is a temporary situation and my 360's days are truly numbered. *sigh*
Well, even if I do have to send it back, it's not as though I've been playing it much lately. :D |
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| On obsession... |
[Jul. 22nd, 2009|05:36 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | happy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Touhou 6 Soundtrack - U.N. Owen Was Her | ] |
I know I'm a strange one. I don't need to be told. I tend to obsess on things every now and again. I think it happened with the whole Zero Wing thing a few years back. (My friends, too, though...) Hell, at one point, I think I was even answering the phone "We get signal!" *facepalm*
ANyhow, this time around, a friend of mine on IRC pointed this video out to me. Now a note about what you're going to be watching if you aren't already familiar with it. This is some fucked up shit made by somebody. (I have no idea, as I believe the original video has been taken down) It borders on YTP, but I wouldn't go that far. It's made up of Japanese McDonald's commercials with music from two songs. The first is the OST version of a track from Touhou 6 (Enbodiment of Scarlet Devil), which is a free "bullet hell" shooter made by some Japanese guy who has a lot of free time. (There's been like 13 of these games made so far and I think they're all free.) The second part is a techno remix of the same track.
I'd only recently heard about Touhou before watching this video, but I'm committed to getting Touhou 6-13 installed on my box. (They're all in Japanese and AFAIK no translations exist so far)
That said, I am completely obsessed with this track. It's like the sweetest ear candy to me and somehow I cannot get sick of it (I know I will eventually, as I always do, but not yet)
For reference, here is the original track from the video without the added commercial noises. ;)
If you like it, there's a really really fast torrent of the Touhou 6-13 soundtracks here: http://www.hongfire.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81475
And if you like insanely difficult 2D shooters, the Touhou homepage is here (in 100% Japanese glory): http://www16.big.or.jp/~zun/html/game.html
That's all I know fer now. Oh, and BTW, if you're still reading this, congratulations! You're the one person that Daniel Tosh probably singled out with a weird joke. |
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| On bucking FB's attempts to dominate teh intrawebs |
[Jul. 19th, 2009|07:30 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | tired | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | John Hiatt - Dust Down a Country Road | ] |
NOTICE TO YOU FACEBOOK PEOPLE: I don't really look at my facebook, EVAR. I don't get it, and I don't wanna spend the time to bother with it. I just don't have THAT much free time (Especially with WoW and all now). If you're reading this, it's because FB is set to import my LJ entries. If you really want to reply to them, you're better off replying at my LJ (http://daf666.livejournal.com) That is all.
Now... This entry just serves as an outlet for me to whine. On Friday night, I started coming down with something. I dunno what it is. At first, I thought it was just lack of sleep, (I've not gotten more than about 5 hours a night this whole week) but when I started developing a slight cough, I knew what was afoot.
The weird thing is that this time is different from other illnesses I've had. I never developed more than a very mild cough, but ZOMG, my body aches so badly, I called in on Saturday and took half the day off. Last night, I developed a mild fever, but some Tylenol and 10 hours of rest seem to have helped. The fever has broken, but I kept waking up in a pool of sweat.
The weird thing is that I think I did this to myself. (One might be thinking that sleep deprevation affects one's immune system, but that's not what I mean.)
Just the other day, I was thinking to myself: "I'm sure glad I don't get sick very often." That's gotta be the cause. I know it.
The worst part is that I was planning on taking a little break from WoW to straighten up the place and do laundry, but I really don't feel well enough to do any of that crap, and the apartment has become a real pit lately. :P
The apartment can wait. The laundry can't, but I'm only gonna do what I need so I have clean clothes for work. Blah. |
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| On H: |
[Jul. 19th, 2009|07:05 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  sick | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | John Hiatt - Cry Love | ] |
Got this meme from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mycroftb. He couldn't have picked a more difficult letter than H for me. :P
A list of ten things I like:
Honesty - There's really not enough of it around.
Hot Dogs (Chicago style) - Thank god Portillo's opened a store here. Too bad it's down in OC. :P
Hops - The most important aspect of good beer. The more bitter, the better.
HDTV - I love my 46" Sharp Aquos. Even though it hasn't been turned on since the 4th of July (That would be the day I started playing WoW)
Huntards - Level 37 so far! <3
Hugs - Is this a lame entry? Cos I don't think so. hugs are neat.
Hiatt, John - Walk On is simply an amazing album. One of my favorites that's not electronica. FNAR, "Wrote it down and burned it" popped into my head the other day. That's the song that made me buy the album. In fact, I still remember exactly where I was when I heard it on XRT. Weird!
Hypermiling - Something I practice daily. There are so many easy techniques one can adopt that will increase one's MPG. (There's a reason I routinely get 36+ MPG in my Acura)
Half-Life - Before WoW, I think this was the only PC game I ever wasted an entire day playing.
Heartland Cafe - The place I miss most in Chicago. I spent far too much time there, and for good reason. Buffalo Burgers, awesome chili, the cornbread was great, and they used to have Three Floyds Alpha King on tap. (See hops above) And $1 bottles of Huber Bock... Ahh, those were the days.
If you bother to read this journal, and wanna try this, just reply and I'll give you a letter. (I don't expect anything though) |
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| On following |
[Jul. 5th, 2009|01:17 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | relaxed | ] |
Moooooo!
And the real world gets ready for the departure of yet another one of its inhabitants.
Don't ask me why, but I'm on WoW now. :P
Personally, I blame mycroftb.
He and another fur managed to get me to try the 10 day free thingy. Dammit! I said I wouldn't let this happen!
The real issue being that I know many people who are already on WoW, and I can't help myself if I'm a social creature. So far, it's fun.
Alhough I've played enough RPG's to know the inevitable and painful slog up the levels. I'm level 6 right now, but it was pretty easy to do. (I'm sure they want to get you nice and hooked before they make it harder and longer) Heheh
Well, anyhow, it was nice having a life. |
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| on boredom |
[Jul. 2nd, 2009|03:28 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  frustrated | ] |
Okay, so here I am, ty¶ing ever so.carewfully opn this child-sized crack(ho)berry keyb oard, and I still can't fool anybody into thinking io"m using a real compuer.
A few weeks later and I still mostly hate this thionmgm. Did the hardware engineers do any research into the dimensions of a norma adult-sized hand before designing the kb on this thing?
I would argue that they did not.
This thing was cleqarly desoigned for a child of aboput ten years old.
In. Fact, typing on it now just makes me feel ike I.m terying to popst to my blog witha fucking toy. Yes, a fucking toy.
Oi can't take this thing seriopuskly. And I can't seem to type worÞh a fuck on it eiythert.
Okay, this has turned from an I'n nbored style posst to another rtant on the blackberry.
Well, I rthink thry have it comoing. This is not a business tool, rim! It is a joke. A massive jpoike on the consumer in ther form of a nearly unusable although highly ezpeensive technology.
I sincerely hpoe rthat president Obama has one of thje real models and not the joke versuion my copmpany deciuded to give top us.
:P :P :P |
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| On phones |
[Jun. 23rd, 2009|05:54 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | annoyed | ] |
WARNING: Phone rant
Okay, so the newest aggravation at work is the replacement of the field techs' phones and migration to a new service provider.
We used to be with Sprint, who everybody except for myself seemed to think was "okay." Well, they were not okay. Especially not in the Valley where dropped calls were a way of life and slow data speeds were the norm.
I was actually excited to hear that we were going to be getting new Blackberries and would be switching to AT&T. Until my phone arrived.
Where to begin? I'll start off by saying that I completely despise the Backberry Curve they sent me. A few hours fighting with it, and I'm done. *throws hands up*
WTF do people like about this thing? The fact that the damned thing doesn't support anything faster then EDGE? I never actually appreciated just how fast Sprint's data network actually was. How about the speed of the phone? I could have booted my Moto Q, shut it down and booted it up again at least 2-3 times by the time this thing boots. On top of that, using any application is a test of one's patience. Google Maps drags badly, and even Gmail takes forever to scroll.
The BB's built-in email is horrid, although I haven't looked for any options to see if it can be corrected. (That's another thing... The OS is terrible... Nothing makes any sense and the placement of menus is just frustrating.) At least under Windows Mobile, you could read most of the subject line. (I'm not gonna complain too much unless I find out you can't change that)
On top of that, my employer enforces a draconian password policy on mobile devices. I had to deal with it on my last phone, but it wasn't that bad on either the Q or the Mogul. On the curve, however, it's extra-fucking-annoying. First, our passwords have to be 6 characters long. Secondly, it won't let you put in what it calls "series" WTF? Even on my Mogul, "000666" was an acceptable password. Not on this thing. The fact that the KB is tinier on the curve than my Moto Q's KB is extra awful, seeing as I have large hands. I figured that since the longest timeout I can select is 30 minutes, which means I'll be putting the damn password in a lot, I would try to find something easy to type on this puny little thing. Well, Q and P are both in the corner, and I can type them pretty quickly. I tried "QPQPQP" and was told I had selected a "FORBIDDEN WORD" W-T-F?!?! "PQPQPQ" came back the same. OMG, this is getitng pathetic. I tried "APAPAP" and it took it. Great. :P
Also, the trackball? Nice concept, on paper. In execution, it fails miserably. RIM (job) gives you 10 choices for sensitivity, but FSR, the granularity of them is pretty damn coarse. The stupid ball is either too fast to control, or so slow, you'll wear out the skin on your thumb before you get the cursor where you want it.
The only good thing I can say about it so far is that the battery life seems to be somewhat decent.
Still, I want my Q back. :c |
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| On music: |
[Jun. 14th, 2009|09:06 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | drunk | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | 08 AFI - The Great Disappointment | ] |
Woo! Okay.
Drunk now, but not really intentionally.
I haven't eaten a damned thing today, and didn't really think about that when I got home. Now, a couple of beers later, and I'm having to really watch the way I type. :P
Sooooo! For the second time recently, a video game has introduced me to a great artist.
First was Billy Talent, whom I learned of through Burnout: Revenge.
Now it's AFI (A Fire Inside) whom I discovered through Rock Band. I fell in love with "Girl's not Grey" the first time I played it, and finally grabbed the album it's off and I FUCKING LOVE IT.
AFI reminds me a bit of Billy Talent (Must be the Canadian in them) and Avenged Sevenfold (Hopefully without the fucked-up rightwing politics).
Good stuff, Maynard. Kinda Emo/Goth/Punk. Hard to put one's finger on, but definitely worth listening to.
Check out the album Sing the Sorrow if you're at all interested.
(Wow... A coherent drunken post! Forgot to hit the button last night. ^^) |
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| On DIY |
[May. 27th, 2009|01:33 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | content | ] |
So those of you actually looking at this thing are probably already too aware of my lovely new box. But now I have pictures!
( Geekery - Dial-up users beware! ) |
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| On keeping up... |
[May. 14th, 2009|10:00 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | excited | ] |
So, I have been busting my ass at work for the past three weeks. All that OT and DT ought to net me a couple of nice paychecks. I figured this might be the best time to go ahead and upgrade my now languishing PC. While the specs were good a few years ago (P4 3.06GHz, 3GB RAM, GF680GT) Vista has brought the system to a crawl, which is a shame, because now that SP1 is out, I really like Vista. Even on my underpowered hardware, it may grind to a halt, but it's never crashed on me. Not once. Personally, I find that rather incredible.
Sooooo, I spent a little more than I was expecting, but shiny new computer parts are being rushed to me as I speak!
These include:
Mobo: MSI Eclipse SLI w/ Creative X-Fi onboard
CPU: Intel Core i7 920 (Yeah, the cheap one, but it's still lightning fast) Quad core 2.66GHz
GFX: EVGA GeForce GTX285 Superclocked 1GB PCIe
RAM: OCZ Gold 6GB DDR3 1600 triple channel kit
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 910W
Also, I picked up a few other things:
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB SATA
OS: Vista Ultimate 64-bit (Yeah, I bought it. I like it!)
All this hardware came with a few freebies: Call of Duty - World at War (Eh, I'll check it out, not really crazy about this series), Intel 4GB Flash Drive (I'll add this to my growing collection of these things), and an OCZ 8GB Flash Drive (I guess at least one of these will work nicely with Vista's Readyboost feature, so there's that)
*rubs his paws together* Oh, yeessssssss, this stuff cannot get here too soon. |
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| On being |
[May. 13th, 2009|12:35 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  thoughtful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Jean Michel Jarre - Last Rendez-vous | ] |
I was engaged in a discussion with a good new friend when the conversation led me to look up this little gem from a brilliant man. I need to get to bed now, so I'll just share it with you. (It's possibly one of my favorite things he's ever said.) Go ahead and google it, if you need context. Myself? I think it stands on its own.
"Well, that’s a poetic note. And it’s a start. And I can dream, can’t I? See I don’t worry about the little things: bees, trees, whales, snails. I think we’re part of a greater wisdom than we will ever understand. A higher order. Call it what you want. Know what I call it? The Big Electron. The Big Electron…whoooa. Whoooa. Whoooa. It doesn’t punish, it doesn’t reward, it doesn’t judge at all. It just is. And so are we. For a little while." -G. Carlin |
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| On socializing |
[May. 11th, 2009|09:59 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | happy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | They Might Be Giants - Man, It's So Loud In Here | ] |
Today was a good day. phoenix_audubon came up and and I got to meet him in person for the first time. We went to go see Star Trek at one of the local theaters near my house. (I had an IMAX screen just a few blocks from my house all this time? GET OUT!) So, yeah, the film wasn't shot in IMAX, but it still looked and sounded spectacular. On top of that, the movies was FREAKING AWESOME! (I won't go into great detail, and let it be known that while I appreciate his work on Lost, I'm not a rabid J.J. Abrams fanboy. Still, he did a fantastic job on this movie.) Also, Damon Lindelof was involved? Sweeeeeet!
My OMG moment... "Holy shit, that really was Simon Pegg!"
Anyhow, we went to Pinkberry afterwards (I've never been) and got some yogurt. Since neither of us had been there before (Phoenix had been to a very similar competitor, apparently) we got some samples. I must say that I'm impressed. Their original flavor actually tasted like yogurt. (Something I don't generally expect from frozen yogurt, sadly) It was quite tasty. I wound up getting the green tea, and it was fantastic. I think I'm a convert now. I will definitely go back.
So, wow... It's been a while since I went to the movies. I think the last thing I saw in the theater was The Simpsons Movie. u.u
All in all, a fun time.
I need to insert a bit more joy into this life. |
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| From the Okay, I don't ever tell people to watch TV dept. |
[May. 3rd, 2009|07:11 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | chipper | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Daft Punk - Technologic | ] |
I barely watch television anymore, folks. I know people who watch less than I do.
These people should be listened to when they recommend a show.
I discovered "Breaking Bad" in such a fashion, and it is simply one of the finest examples of a television drama I've ever seen.
It's on AMC, so nobody's watching it. That's a damn shame. Everything about this show is good. Acting, Writing, especially dialogue, casting, it's a like a party in my mouth and everybody got high. Bryan Cranston is fantastic, taking home a best actor Emmy in season 1. (Better known as Hal, the father, from Malcolm in the Middle) He simply makes the show, if it didn't have enough going for it already, including another Emmy win for "Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series." Sheesh. But still, it sounds important, doesn't it?
Then again, "Arrested Development" won a few Emmy's too. And nobody watched it either.
Give this show the first three episodes, but you should probably find a way to watch the whole series run in order because after the frst three episodes, you will be totally hooked.
No, I wouldn't consider this anything approaching a review, but a recommendation, sure. Trust me. They still do make quality television. It's just hard to find.
If you're having trouble viewing the show from the get-go, there are some decent torrents out there.
It's totally worth it. |
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