Saturday, October 21, 2000

Yay! Today is SciCon; I got my AMP Radio registration code, which means I can listen to all the French techno I want/can stand; and Mme. Jean asked me what she should draw last night and when I suggested Hubie and Kitty, -she- suggested a collaboration and even -gave- me the finished product! As usual, Kitty looks much better than Hubie, but that's probably because -I- drew Hubie. *Snerk*

 

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*Blink* Gah! West Coast Live was just preempted for the AFN convention! I can't be all -that- upset, because the Alaska Federation of Natives is a little more important than WCL. But I still wanted to hear True Fiction Magazine.

 

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Lookin' For Fun In All The Wrong Places...

What I was -looking- for was a site that uses IceCast broadcasting technology. What I got was a ShockWave-enhanced site under construction. Oops.

 

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Listening to the DJs on FG (the French Techno station) reminds me of the incredible scene in The 13th Warrior, where Ahmed is sitting around the fire with the Vikings (or whatever they were), listening to them tell stories... Eventually, their words change from their mother tongue to perfectly intelligeble English. That has to be one of my favorite scenes in a movie -ever-.

Not that -that- is happening with me and FG, but I -can- recognize the odd word. And I can tell the commercials from the musique information.

That and a startlingly high percentage of the music is sung in English... *Blink*

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I have to admit that this site struck me as odd, at first... And I -still- can't quite figure out exactly -what- portion of the male populace it's aimed at. Given Nylon/spandex/Lycra's insulating properties, however, I'm surprised that there's nothing pushing it towards men in northern climes.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:25 AM |

Wednesday, October 18, 2000

Okay, so what does it mean when you dream about being chased through a neighborhood you haven't lived in for about ten years by someone that you thought was your brother but turns out to be The Joker from B:TAS? I don't know either. I kind of don't want to know, either... I've never really been keen on dream symbology. I think it's because I'd rather face the future uninformed than possibly encounter nebulous signs all pointing towards a bad end. *Snicker* I'd have to leave Professora Trelawney's class, too, but out of fear rather than any skeptiscism on my part.

 

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I just bought my tickets for SciCon! *Bounce* I'm going on Saturday and Sunday, to see the vendors and stuff. I may swing by Bosco's tomorrow afternoon and find out if -they- know what's going on when, because the CarrsTix gal couldn't find the ball as a seperately ticketed event, even though it was listed as one on the little informational display on the counter.

Mme. Jean said I could go as Noah, which means I get to dress up, kinda! I still don't know if she'd dance with me, or if she just wants to go and watch other people make fools of themselves.

I'm a little reluctant to go, because it's going to have (according to things I've read) a no-host bar at an all-ages venue. I'm not all that comfortable with that, particularly if I'm going to be accompanied by Mme. Jean. She looks older than she is, and is usually far more mature than most people that I know, so she probably wouldn't have too much of a problem with it... But I don't like drunk people, and I don't want to be the one to expose her to them.

Heh. I'm such a mother hen sometimes.... I -worry- about what -I- expose her to, even though she's currently attending public school and has lived with two older sisters for most of her life. *Looks at the ceiling* I still haven't told her about slash, but I was as honest as I could be when she was asking me about my guys and their relationships...

Of course, we don't have to stay until the thing gets over, and if we're -really- uncomfortable we can just leave. Or find a security guard, or hotel staff or something. We're not helpless, after all.

-

I need to start writing more stuff down. I've had a couple of great band names, lately, but I didn't write them down and now I've forgotten them. Sigh.

--

I can't write action scenes. All of my characters want the sort you find in a bed or on a dance floor, not the kind you'd get in the middle of an epic battle between good and evil, or the sort found in your average bar-room brawl.

Sometimes I look at my writing and I think, "What the hell is the -point-? What makes this stuff important?" ANd the answer is (usually), "Nothing, really..."

I write stuff that doesn't serve to do anything but illuminate bits of my character's' background, which may be nice, but does Mercy's fantasy of licking frosting off of Grace's neck -really- do anything to further the plot? No, and it doesn't help that I have no idea what the plot happens to be.

I toyed with having Mercy get in touch with Gavril, recently, and then I decided that no, I liked them not communicating. -That- wouldn't have done anything for the greater whole of the plot, either.

What -is- The Great Plot, the main thrust of all of these scribblings? Other than people falling in love, nothing, really.

That's all I ever write. People meet, fall in love, may or may not get married, and have lots and lots (and lots) of sex. Sometimes. I can count on one hand the number of characters that are -not- getting any, married or not.

I had a faint notion to write about Jill being pregnant and confronting Romero about it, but that seems so... Not stereotypical, but predictable, I guess. It'd be interesting, I suppose, since they're both like sixteen or so; poor and downtrodden, with relatively bad/unstable home lives and budding criminal careers...

I have nothing but middles. I have a friend that laments she has nothing but beginnings and ends, which I've always thought was untrue... Hell, TSLC was nothing BUT middle, if you ask me. *Misses Beej and Neetsipuddles* *Gets glared at and/or something thrown at her* She writes great middles. She writes great stuff period. In fact, the only shortcomings her writing has at all, in my mind, is a lack of commas, but that -could- just be me. I have a strange affinity for commas, hyphens, and ellipses, so, y'know. *Shrug*

I can't do very good endings, though I thought of what I consider to be an exquisite one for TSLC... I think I don't do endings very well because I don't -like- them.

Endings, for me, mean that all the good stuff's over with. I found out whodunit, I know the secret of the Sorcerer's Stone, who won the Stanley Cup, who got the girl. Or boy, as the case may be. Once I've reached the ending, that's it, no more, all done, finito, bye bye, thanks and come again. I don't -want- good stuff to be over, though I know deep in my heart, that all good things must end.

It's hard to -do- that, though. My favorite books are the ones that have endings that make me grin madly all the way through to the last page, sigh, and then want to turn back to page one and start all over again. Either that or they make me want to run out and buy the next one...

I can hardly wait for HP book 5 to be published. I may even get on a list for it... I'm also looking forward to the next books by Lois McMaster-Bujold and Lynn Flewelling. In the fanfic universe, I'm waiting with bated breath for Torch's next XF story/novel, and I meant to check on Viridian's site because she just sent out and excellent little XF/Fight Club piece that reminded me of why I continue to stay subbed to the XF/Stories list. *Giggle* I love the way she describes Ray K. of Due South as "the flatfoot with experimental hair".

Wahaha... I just got so totally sidetracked at Viridian's... Uh, anyhow. I can't remember what my point was, other than my whining about how I can never come up with an overall plot that is moved/hinted at/shored up by the sub-plot(s).

So. Tomorrow is Thursday, the Blood Bank field trip was cancelled, I'm getting my hair cut, and I've got fun anime DVDs. Life is good, so far. *Grin*
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:04 PM |

Tuesday, October 17, 2000

Yeah, I should be in bed, but I just want to hit some quick points.

-- No bad dreams! I don't think I dreamed about -anything-, really, but I didn't wake up screaming, either. I even contemplated watching the rest of TDG, but have not yet done so. The whole religious theme (666/The End Is Near stuff) gets really -creepy- after about ten minutes...

-- GW on DVD ROCKS. *Cough* I know, I know, I'm not usually one to get so excited by something like that. But... Man, I swear, I would pay -fifty- dollars for the privilege of NOT hearing Duo sound like a surfer. *Quits seething about dubs* And I got to see some snips of footage that I don't remember from my poor FanSubs, so that made me happy too. *Bouncebounce* Hiiro/Hiei's voice was wonderful to hear, too. I would have liked the subbing to be a little truer to the fansub, because "Keep it down, will you?" is entirely too polite for Hiiro. *Snicker* And 3x4 slash will probably be forthcoming, eventually... How could Trowa resist those big blue eyes and that whole cute little....Quatre-thing? *Ahem* Anyhow...

-- Trigun is also a great investment, in VHS or DVD. I sooooo want number four, not that I can remember what it's called. The $$60,000,000,000 Man was good, and Lost Past was fairly poignant, but Wolfwood has been the absolute funniest, so far. I like my anime to make me laugh, okay? It's got decent writing, -great- artwork (Vash is cute, yes, but he's not the only one -and- he's got more going for him than just being kawaii.), and an intersting setting/plot.

-- Eucerin is really too expensive for its own good. WalMart's Equateversion of the same ingredients is just as good... Imagine rubbing Crisco on your skin, but with none of the potential for attracting insects or cooks. One of its main selling points for me was that it doesn't smell like anything! Not even a little bit. It's nice.

I'm so odd... I don't like to smell like anything, very much. I will, on odd occasions, wear Vanilla Fields dusting powder or a little bit of the perfume. I don't know why I object to smelling like something other than me... Part of it may stem from the fact that I've known quite a few people that try/tried to use perfume and cologne to cover up the smell of everything from incredibly old and stale sweat to cigarette (and probably pot) smoke. Gicky.

-- Bioré Mild Daily Facial Cleanser (or whatever it's called) is nice, too. It leaves only the faintest scent behind (a must for something I'm using near my nose), seems to exfoliate as promised, and rinses off easily.

More about me and my face later... Oyasumi!

Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:45 PM |

Monday, October 16, 2000

> This is not SPAM. You have Opted-In for information on this World-Wide
> Business Opportunity. This ad is being sent in compliance with Senate bill
> 1618, Title 3, section 301. http://www.senate.gov Further transmissions to
> you by the sender of this email may be stopped at no cost to you by sending a
> reply to this email address with the word "remove" in the subject line. Note
> that you must stop posting, visiting, or OPT - IN any and all FFA , Classified, or
> Information Sites in order to not receive further confirmations or other
> promotional messages. Thank you.

So Murkowski's bill passed? Wow. I thought I'd never see anything but "in accordance with proposed senate legislaton..." Anyhow, I'd just like to say that I have only visited one site that was an opt-in site, I've regretted it ever since, and I do not recall EVER telling the proprieters of the site that I was interested in MLM/Spamscams. And besides _that_, it came to my main address, rather than the one I used at the opt-in site. That makes it spam, because I never, ever asked for it.

It's 32K long. Who needs thirty-two kilobytes to explain how their scam works? I could do it in three sentences. Short ones, even.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 7:04 AM |

More domains for the Spam Patrol:

-- Satlink Internet Services Oooh, he used his/an ISP for his spam... Maybe I should make the effort to report him! Or maybe not, since his addy has a whole bunch of numbers in it... *Ponder* Maybe it's his phone number?

-- JMail! Like JPop, but less fun. The best part of this (besides the banner ad(s)) is the little tiny tag at the bottom of the page.

-- 8848, which looks like another version of 123.com or whatever the Chinese equivilent of Hotmail was...

-- Youpy Technically, I haven't gotten anything from this domain, but it was in the headers of the JMail message.

-- Radiowan... I think I may have mentioned these guys before.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 7:05 AM |

You know, it's only the fact that I live so close to China and Taiwan that I care about whether or not they have nuclear weaponry. *Grumples at the radio* I want the leaders to all just give up and start over, only this time, they should be nice to one another.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 7:08 AM |

I'm so abnormal, by some standards... CiCi is blithering on about how if "you're doing cable, coffee, the newspaper, and a couple of magazines..." you "won't even feel it" if you sign up on the $20/month KNBA pledge plan. I may pay the cable bill, but I live without any of the other stuff -- I can't drink coffee, sadly; the newspaper makes me livid more than it informs or entertains me (and besides, I can get my movie times online!); and there are very -very- few magazines that I find it worthwhile to buy, let alone subscribe to.

Being poor/broke does that to you. "I never read that." "I never saw that." "I wanted to see that! But I didn't have any money..." "I saw that in the store, but I never bought it." "Haven't read/seen it."

So what -do- I do with my money? Most of it seems to go for food. The rest of it goes for books or renting videos (or DVDs, now), sometimes for going to the movies. I'm trying to save up to buy a computer, though I have a couple of warring impulses -- wait only two paychecks and then buy it, or wait 'til sometime next spring (April/March) and -then- do it.

It'd be better to wait longer, since it'd give me more left over after the purchase, and the prices may go down sometime in the interim.

I still can't decide... Do I want an iMac? Or do I want a G4? With a G4, I'm looking at another 1,000+ dollars, as opposed to about 800. 1,500 + 800 = 2,300. Actually, it may be less than that -- 1,200 + 800 = 2,000.

But if I want to get a desktop system that comes with SOME kind of square-disk drive, that'll be another 1,500 at least... 3,000 all told, providing that my two purchasing outlets even have what I'm looking for.

I guess I could get them both now and then start paying in installments, but having just spent far more than I probably shoooould have on anime DVDs, I kinda don't want to.

I think it stems from only using cash for most of my life -- if I can't afford it all at once, I can live without it. If I pay on installment, then I have to remember to send them the money all the time, and it won't actually be -mine-, free and clear, until it's paid off. I want it/them to be -mine-, _now_. Well, whenever I buy it, anyhow.

Gah! I have to get ready for school. I'd rather stay at home and put together web pages... Or sleep. Sleep would be fun.

You can tell that I've been involved with a school for most of my life -- my major milestones have almost always been based on school vacation times, and my year truly starts in September.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 7:09 AM |

Sunday, October 15, 2000

Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!

I have elderberries growing in my front yard, and they don't smell like much. Maybe the elderberries in France smell different.

Anyhow, I recently checked in at my Elfwood Gallery, just to see if anyone had life nice comments, or indifferent comments, or highly entertaining comments... And I found some insults.

Now part of me is highly incensed -- after all, I am not 3, I most certainly -can- draw thank you very much, and I'd like to take an art class, but one in say, painting or something. On the other hand, I'm kind of amused... Why is it that only people from the UK have left bewildered insults? Bog roll indeed... And no one in the States says 'dustbin'.

I have left one semi-insulting post in place, and that's the one that says, in effect, "After seeing your art, I don't feel so bad about mine!" I left it there for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it's an -honest- post. That guy was more honest to me that I have been, at times, and I feel somewhat humbled by that. He had the guts to tell me that I helped him realize that his stuff wasn't that bad.

Yeah, it annoys me a little bit, but it makes me feel better more than it irritates me. He was inspired! I hope he went to his drawing supplies and immediately started to work and to improve. *Snerk* God knows that -I- have felt inspired and _have_ improved after seeing certain pieces on EW and plenty of practice.

That's really the only way I know how to get better -- keep trying. I share my artwork because it's the stuff that I think looks the best. So I'm not Tara-Kimberly Labus. So? I'm not drawing stick figures with stick swords, either. I think it's worthy of at least a look, if not the utter drooling adulation that Ms. Labus seems to bring out in people, myself included. (If I could, I'd have her version of Loki in a heartbeat... Along with many other of her subjects. Heh.)

I don't really mind it when people tell me they/their pets/uncle Louis can do better, I just want them to back that claim up with some solid proof. Pictures, well-written documentation, whatever, just so long as it does truly show up my stuff...

I'm keeping my stuff up on EW for now. I may even get myself a SciFi gallery, just so I have somewhere to put The Moods Of Hubie, or Hubie's Careers... Hee. You haven't lived until you've seen a felid vampire dressed up as a nurse...

Posted by: Shannon M.: 7:59 PM |

Ugh... I know that if I have bad dreams tonight, I have only myself to blame... 'Titus' and 'The Doom Generation' are not happy-go-lucky movies, kids. I've seen most of both in the same day and have been regretting it. I'm sure Reesa would have told me to avoid TDG... *Snerk* Though the bit where X licks his own...uhm... Well, the scene where he's watching Amy and Jordan in the tub totally and thoroughly grossed my brother out, which almost makes it worth it. *Cough* What does it say about me that I could see X's actions, in that scene, coming (no pun intended)?

I also have in my possesion GW Operation 1 and Trigun: Wolfwood, the latter of which was -very- wonderfully funny. I love Vash, and Stungun Milly, and even cranky Dillenger Meryl. (Is it just me, or is the name 'Meryl' popular in animes?)
Posted by: Shannon M.: 8:56 PM |

Addendum to last -- In fact, I'm pretty sure Reesa warned me about TDG, but I'd forgotten about it. I just wish, now, that I'd -rented- the stupid thing like I did with Titus. Oh well, I'll just pay Ev back his half and throw in my share, and it can be his. Heh.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:00 PM |