Saturday, January 05, 2002

I'm not very picky when it comes to slash pairings. You write 'em, I'll read 'em, no matter if I've seen them (or even heard of your source material) or not. However, I -do- draw lines. Some of them, such as a good portion of Harry Potter slash, makes me go 'ickyickyickyNO!'. Some things, like Vash/Knives twincest, garners the same reaction (particularly if it is Evil!Knives*). Sometimes, I come face to face with a pairing I never thought of and have that same visceral reaction, even though it might have perfectly -lovely- stories to go with it. I came across one such pairing tonight, in fact -- Xander/Riley. Need I explain -why- this revolts me? I didn't think so.

'S funny, though. If I'd never seen the beginning of The Riley/The Initiative arc, I probably -would- read it. Now, though, all I can think of is the 'really -boring- parts of Buffy'. And I think I missed Hush.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:39 AM |

* It would have to be Evil!Knives, 'cause when he was young enough to be sweet, he and Vash were too young to think/know about sex. When they -were- old enough, Knives was pretty much the psychopath we came to know and love during the anime, so...
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:40 AM |

*Grumple* I love bats. I hate ninnies that write crappy bat-myth-debunking shows and try to be cutesy when it comes to bat guano. Yeah, bats poop. -Every- animal does. It's not a secret, and it's -not- that funny.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 2:18 AM |

Okay, I'm happier, now, having watched a cute blobby Purin-pudding jiggle on my screen. Look for more buttons tomorrow afternoon... G'night!
Posted by: Shannon M.: 2:32 AM |

Bwahaha... *Ahem* Er, okay, I'll admit it -- The Crocodile Hunter is growing on me. Not that I think he's the be-all end-all of humor or knowledge, but he does make me laugh on occasion. And whoever writes his stuff, whether thats himself, his wife, or someone else entirely, does a pretty good job with presenting facts without condescension.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:44 PM |

Friday, January 04, 2002

Reesa, in amongst all of your stuff, do you have a copy of The Juniper Game? 'Cause I found a copy of it at TitleWave, and if you -don't- have it, I can send it to you. You know, because if there's anything you don't have, it's stuff. *Snicker* *Ahem*
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:28 PM |

Pop-up layouts == evil. Hmph.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:35 PM |

Ev picked up a PS2 and FFX yesterday, then stayed up ridiculously late playing it. I've been looking forward to playing it, and have been downloading wallpapers for it recently... Including one of Lulu, who wears a corset top with a fur trim around the top edge. "Look! It's Squall in drag!"
Posted by: Shannon M.: 4:19 PM |

So I have this stethoscope around my neck. It actually belongs to Ev, but as he hasn't used it in ages, and as it was also languishing in the depths of the mouse-infested former linen closet, I figure he's not going to be too upset about it. Why is it around my neck? So that I get used to the sensation. So I can get used to the idea of having a real live Career Goal. So I can follow Yasminda around and drive her crazy by listening to whatever part of her innards I can get the bell up against. *Snerk*

I've really been thinking about going to school to become a certified Veterinary Technician. Why a vet tech, which is basically the RN of the vet world? Well, it's less schooling -- most colleges have a 2 year program as opposed to at least 4, if not more, for regular DVM programs. It combines a couple of things that I know I really like: helping people and helping animals. Vet tech responsibilities vary wildly hour to hour and day to day; involve both sitting down and walking around. It's something I'd do well at -- I'm good at sequencing, I've got great intuition, I'm good with animals (they pretty much love me), I'm smart. I won't be leaving for Pierce College in Washington State next week, but it seems much more likely than any of my other pipedreams I've had.

So, we'll see. In the meantime, the in-between time, I think I'll make some fudge and Russian shorty cakes*.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 4:24 PM |

* They're Russian tea cakes, but I don't use -all- of the flour the recipe calls for, so they're more like shortbread cookies. They're very tasty.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 4:25 PM |

Once upon a time, I wished I had the Discovery Health channel. That was when they were showing ER Las Vegas or whatever that was, a COPS-esque show where the camera crew followed the EMTs of LV around the city. Now, when they're trumpeting the 'body challenge' (wherein only two of the six contestants are male), I'm very very glad I don't.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 7:21 PM |

Thursday, January 03, 2002

I am improportionately pleased with all of those little buttons, and I will be making more, no doubt about it. Any requests from my few and scattered readers?

On the image side of things, I completely forgot that a site at Bishounen.net has a wallpaper collection, which is not limited to pretty boys. Nice stuff, there.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 3:13 AM |

How can 'A Beautiful Mind' be up for all of the awards that it is if it hasn't even been out for a couple of weeks? Is it simply the equivilent of ballot-box stuffing?
Posted by: Shannon M.: 8:45 PM |

Wednesday, January 02, 2002

Well, it's not -much- better, but the buttons all show up. All buttons. The brown one that is hard to read says 'Friend to bats.' I'm in love with Adobe's ImageStyler, and dreading learning how much they want for the final version...
Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:24 PM |

And Yasminda seems to be sick, now. *Fret* She's not eating, and she didn't even bug us for chicken when we brought lunch home this afternoon.

In more happy news, I'm all set up for classes starting next week.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:58 PM |

Ah ha! I figured out how to make .gifs in ImageStyler, without resorting to reading the instructions! See the fruits of my labors.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 7:00 PM |

Tuesday, January 01, 2002

And, as usual, everyone on our side of town thinks that an hour on either side of midnight is a -good- time to A) set off fireworks [which happens to be a misdemeanor] B) fire off guns [also against at least one city ordinance], or C) both. I'm very, very glad I'm indoors, at the moment.

In the good-news department, this is the first year that the fire-works/-arms hasn't bothered Yasminda, probably because there haven't been any/many firecrackers.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:13 AM |

And now it is silent. Yay. And I'm tired. I spent nearly all day in my PJs, which is always nice... And I spent the first three or four hours I was actually awake in bed as well.

I'm a lazy, lazy little weasel. *Yaaaawn*
Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:13 AM |

You know, I need to find me a great big pointy stick and chase Kelvath and Avrath around my back yard with it. Or just let the dog take me for a drag through the snow and the woods and see if that shakes anything loose. Or maybe take my notebook and go sit in the Russian Jack greenhouse or something...

I wanna write, and nothing's jelling. Boo.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 3:08 AM |

Bleah. Nowadays, when I get scared, I get really seriously scared. And I'm not happy about this. I suppose it's better, in the long run, than being really scared all the time. *Grumbles vaguely about illness and stuff*
Posted by: Shannon M.: 3:26 AM |

I need to go to bed.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 3:32 AM |

That was Ev that was sick this morning, not me. I -hate- it when people I care about are sick. It turned out that Ev had simply eaten too much too fast, so that's all right -- it's not life-threatening, and it's not contaigious. The best of both worlds... Or something.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:03 PM |

I don't like the name 'Siobhan'. Not the way it's spelled, the way it's said, or the way it looks on the page. I just...don't like it. I have no idea -why-, either, except that I don't.

Having said that, I should also say that I don't know anyone named Siobhan, and I'm sure that most of Siobhans in the world are perfectly lovely people. And I wouldn't discount anyone as a friend/ally/business partner/whatever just because they're named Siobhan.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 2:03 PM |

*Snerk* I took the Clothing Stereotype test and came up as Goth, Hardcore Punk (?!), and Funky Alternative Unique as my top three. Odd.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 2:30 PM |

Well, -rats-. I came across a webring called 'Armed Webmistresses' and it turned out to be an anti-copyrighted-material-theft/anti-design-bashing site. *Small, snarky grin* Which means I'm more than likely free to start the one I -thought- it was. Hee.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 3:05 PM |

Ticks are icky. This fact brought to you by those of us that don't enjoy the presence of blood-sucking parasites in our lives.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 5:59 PM |

...and no, that post has nothing to do with anything, really. Yasminda had a tick on her neck when we first got her, though... We think it was in the wood shavings the breeder was using as bedding for her mom and siblings. (Yasminda's, that is, not the breeder's.)
Posted by: Shannon M.: 6:01 PM |

As for what I was originally going to post about? I've completely forgotten. Hm.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 6:03 PM |

Oh! I think that making the color of the font for certain things (lists of likes/dislikes, etc) so close to the color of links that it's hard to tell them apart should be punishable by a fine or something. Ditto for making it nigh-impossible to tell if a banner is a link by causing the cursor to remain an arrow instead of turning into the little hand, as well as turning the cursor into a giant questionmark and thereby making it incredibly difficult to tell if you're going to click on the miniscule link you're after. *Grumple* Particularly and _ESPECIALLY_ if the perp happens to belong to one or more webrings/cliques/groups/whatevers that -require- "good/original/cool/elite webdesign skillZ used on your site".
Posted by: Shannon M.: 6:07 PM |

A very belated Asterisk: * I love the name 'Wisconson Death Trip'. I have no idea why; I don't even really like Static-X's music all that much. This is -me- we're talking about, though, so.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 6:17 PM |

Also on the It's Just Me scene: my sap's not flowing. *Blink* Never mind. I want to do sappy smarmy squishy mushy hols-fic with K/A and M/V, and so far I hate the K/A and have no M/V. And I shall quit whining, now.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 6:18 PM |

So...

Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:27 PM |

So, what, is this part of the new No Stealing regime, where no one gets pictures no matter _where_ the pictures are hosted and linked to? *Growls at tripod* Quit being evil, you.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:30 PM |

“... an emphasis on phonics can cut LD identification by half. Not only would this prevent unnecessary labeling of children, it would free up over $40 million a year-- an EXTRA 5% in pay-- for ALL school staff.”

Yeah, because God knows, EVERY single kid out there learns to read phonetically... These morons should talk to my grandmother and Ev about how useful phonics are for EVERYONE. [/snark]

Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:12 PM |

BTW -- nice to see some posts, Scrubby. *Hug* *Grin* Glad you got home safe, Reesa.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:14 PM |

I made all of those little graphics, save the tripod ones, if you hadn't guessed. The two that aren't showing up is one that says 'Girl With A Gun', and the other simply says 'I'm squishy!'. Squishy is another Shan-ism for something sappy or mushy, or feeling sappy or mushy. The girl-with-a-gun thing is fairly self-explanatory, I think.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:37 PM |

Monday, December 31, 2001

It's been a Pajama Christmas. (And a Scarf Christmas, too.) My grandmother gave me a set of black satiny PJs in kind of a 'Chinese pajama' style. The top has a little spray of flowers embroidered on the left-hand side, and looks almost more like a pants-suit than a pair of pajamas. They're beautiful, and I'm kind of reluctant to wear them as I know what sort of a slob I am. *Snerk*
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:54 AM |

Mom, Ev and I stayed up 'til some ridiculous hour last night, reading. Ev was reading The Temptation Of Elminster, I was reading Dennis Lehane's Prayers For Rain (the 6th book in the Kenzie/Gennaro series*), and mom was reading Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets and trying to knit at the same time. I finally went to bed about 4, and I don't know how late mom was up. Ev was the first to fold aboout 2:30. Hee.

* I went to TitleWave and that was the only Lehane book they had. I -do- have a couple of things to exchange at Borders, though, so I'm hoping for more. Usually, my family memebers are pretty good about communicating with each other and thereby avoiding getting duplicate gifts for people. This year, though, between people being scattered to the four winds and time somehow just evaporating without consulting anyone, few people managed to coordinate who got what for whom. Fortunately, though, there was only one case of gift duplication.

Dad gave me a copy of Bats, Rats, And Vats, as did mom. Scrubby sent me Smash Mouth (thanks again), and mom picked that out for me. (She told me that I would have gotten a duplicate if she'd gone with her other choice -- dad gave me This Beautiful Life, which she'd been looking at, too.) After reading the HF thread in Stupid People entitled 'Next time, I'll just write you a cheque, okay?', I feel both vaguely guilty and incredibly grateful.

Guilty because I don't often do thank-you notes, and this year I really need to do them -- mom's friend Erin sent me an -incredible- necklace, and her son Ace sent me a little enameled cabochon that he made himself; plus there's Dory's gift. Grateful, because in my family, if something doesn't fit or is a duplicate, or isn't exactly what someone had in mind (i.e. they asked for a lamp and got a banker's lamp instead of a spring-arm architect's lamp, and a banker's lamp won't work for them because it doesn't put out enough light), then it's okay.

The receiver (in the case of a duplicate or wrong size, anyhow) usually starts out with a dismayed and apologetic 'oh, dear' or 'oh no', explains that so-and-so already gave them one, and thanks the giver for it anyhow. The giver then reassures the reciever that it's all right, they saved the reciept, and they can exchange it. Whenever we ask someone where they found something, it's because they honestly want to know. Last night, for instance, mom gave her mom a beautiful cardigan. She and my aunt Lisa wanted to know where she'd found it, and upon learning that it was Fred Meyer's, Lisa was surprised, as she'd somehow missed them.

In the case of the lamp example, the reciever will examine the specs to see if it will work for them, while the giver inquires as to the usefulness of the gift, and if it won't work out, that's okay. The giver usually says something along the lines of not being sure that that was what the reciever had in mind, and everything's fine. *Shrug* It's just how it is with my family.

But! I have a Plan. I have a couple of gifts in mind for Erin, so I need one or two for Ace, and I'm going to make up one of my boxes for Dory and family. And include thank-you notes. *Blink* I guess I should get to baking today or tomorrow, since Epiphany/Orthodox Christmas is fast approaching... *Eyes the calendar*
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:26 PM |

Ooooh. Ooh... The Container Store: For All Your Storage Needs! I actually have a fair amount of storage, but I can always use more, particularly for organizing/controlling my clothing.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:52 PM |

I also got another grey T-shirt for Christmas. *Small grin* When Ev and I did Christmas with dad, he gave me a nice button-up sweater that's made from a grey-and-black speckly yarn. When I was unwrapping it, I exclaimed, "Hey! It's grey!" Dad was concerned that I didn't like it -- I had to explain that my owning grey clothing was something of a running joke, as I have more grey T-shirts than anyone else I know. It's a great sweater, nice and toasty. And, being grey, I can wear a lot of different scarves with it. *Grin*
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:57 PM |

I can't wait 'til Animal Planet goes back to their usual programming.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:04 PM |

You know, The Shawshank Redemption has to be one of the best movies I've seen. Sad, horrifying, but ultimately satisfying and glorious.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:10 PM |

I wasn't aware that sugar was actually a lipid-based food that would cling viciously to one's hips/thighs/whatever. I also was not aware that complex carbs were also lipid-based. Gee, the things you learn from watching TV commercials. [/sarcasm]
Posted by: Shannon M.: 2:34 PM |

"Jane, make a note. We need to schedule more events where people give me really big fish." -- President, The American President.

That's the only line I remember from that movie, which I've only seen once.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 3:34 PM |

Two things, one of which I've probably blogged before: Desktop Anime!, and ångel, a home for more anime and game wallpapers. Note -- In ångel's member section, clicking on the little banners will get you to the member's page(s), though your cursor will look like a normal arrow rather than the little hand.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:44 PM |

Happy New Year to the Collective and everyone else!
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:44 PM |

I've been looking at other people's sites, looking for cute little graphics. So far, I've found out that most people have links to cliques that I want nothing to do with (save, perhaps, the 'I'm better than you!' clique, the laziness clique, and the dreamer clique), and that the people in charge of said cliques are far too obsessed with the webdesign skillZ of others than they maybe shooould be.

I also found the Cutie Factory, which has octopi, snails, and Vash's sunglasses.

...okay, not really. But they -look- like Vash's sunglasses.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:52 PM |

Sunday, December 30, 2001

The Progressive insurance commercial with the clean-cut guy and the two grungy tow-truck guys! -That- was what I was going to write about yesterday... *Snicker* I'm probably the only one that sees something awful or slashy happening to Snarky UpperClass Guy after he gets back to the garage...
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:21 AM |

AIM and IE are getting along just fine. Yay.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:54 AM |

You probably missed it, but I fixed the huge post wherein I had left the 'r' out of the word 'pantry'. I like underwear, yes, but no one in this city likes it -that- much.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:57 AM |

So, have I irrevocably tweaked my code, or have I been successful?
Posted by: Shannon M.: 4:06 PM |

Ah! It worked. Mostly. I hafta go wrap prezzies for Family Christmas tonight, so I'll finish fiddling with this later.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 4:08 PM |