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Entries for November, 2005

November 1st, 2005

gaia

Gaia online would be cool if it didn't suck so hard.

The "world's biggest forum" is a piece of junk that has yet to load properly even once. The little avatars you can dress and pose would also be neat if only dressing them wasn't making the window hang.

And I'd just give up, but it look like one can get very detailed fic reviews there. Lambasting and everything.

---Oop. This is why: "The world's biggest forum" has server overload. Y'know, if one is going to advertise the massive amount of one's posters as a drawing point, the least one could do is to get some damn bandwidth.

rurounibug ; 12:12 AM|fine, ignore me

November 1st, 2005

get your keyboard and go!

For those who don't know: November is NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month suring which participants try to write a novel that is at least 50,000 words long (about 175 pages) which is about the point where a story stops being a long novella and becomes a short novel.

For more info, visit www.nanowrimo.org.

Me? I do so badly want to participate, even despite my feeling that the whole thing is something of a literary wank fest. Like I suspect most folks do; I'd join for the attention. But also because you get shiny self-updating word counters/progress bars for your site or blog or what not.

But a student's November-time is painfully limited, so I have to bow out for yet another year. Why even pretend I'd make it to 50,000. Nothing I've started since the laptop implosion has managed to make it past page one. Most of them have lost all semblance of sense and/or direction halfway through that first page and only made it the extra couple of paragraphs past that point through mule-headedness and rambling.

rurounibug ; 11:28 PM|2 replies

November 3rd, 2005

zathura

is not creative.

Or original.

It's simply Jumanji in space. But minus Robin Williams.

. . . . And without monkeys.

rurounibug ; 01:50 AM|fine, ignore me

November 3rd, 2005

city slogans

original INDO tsushiro_mashi: saya suka NY NY redwandering: me too redwandering: I <3 NY redwandering: but I left my <3 in San Francisco Angelics_ d: apa maksudnya?? ^^;;; redwandering: kan kota2 di US banyak yg bikin slogan2 biar ornag datang berkunjung redwandering: NY: I <3 NY redwandering: SF: I left my <3 in SF tsushiro_mashi: new york2 redwandering: Las vegas: What happens in Vegas, stays in vegas redwandering: dll tsushiro_mashi: haha tsushiro_mashi: jakarta: siapa suruh datang jakarta

ENGLISH translation tsushiro_mashi: i like NY NY redwandering: me too redwandering: I <3 NY redwandering: but I left my <3 in San Francisco Angelics_ d: whats that mean?? ^^;;; redwandering: you know, US cities make slogans so people will visit redwandering: NY: I <3 NY redwandering: SF: I left my <3 in SF tsushiro_mashi: new york2 redwandering: Las vegas: What happens in Vegas, stays in vegas redwandering: etc tsushiro_mashi: haha tsushiro_mashi: jakarta: who told you to come to jakarta?

"who told you to come to Jakarta" is from, I think, a song about someone who comes to the city to make it big but, like a lot of people, just ends up ekeing out a miserable existance. and the reff of the song is something like, "well, no one told you to come to Jakarta."

And is so is the city's slogan. Or at least it should be.

rurounibug ; 02:07 AM|fine, ignore me

November 3rd, 2005

the web giveth and the web taketh away

About a year ago, quickplot was free. I did all my worldbuilding on it.

Now that I've forgotten how to build without convinient, easy to use, intuitive tree-charts, it costs 45 bucks.

Those bastards.

So this is where I beg: If anyone knows of a similar prog that doesn't cost as much as a good, new-release PS game, drop me a link and I'll . . . uh . . . be grateful?

Maybe do a song and dance?

EDIT: The web giveth.

After searching--unsuccessfully--to find a working DL link for quickplot 1.1, and then trying to DL it via fileshare--again unsuccessfully--I founf a site where someone mentioned keynote.

Suck on it, quickplot!! Keynote has actual formating and text decorations (ie. bold, itallics, etc). Quickplot couldn't even drag and drop.

Did I ever mention I like shiny web-things?

rurounibug ; 09:55 PM|2 replies

November 10th, 2005

head+wall=otp

The internet is, I'm afraid, not really that useful for useful things. Surfing porn, yes. Finding funny pics and anime quizzes, yes. Torturing you lot with my rambling, definitely. But for things like, say, figuring out what classes I need for spring, or ordering/moving cell phone services it's sadly . . . befuddling.

I'd like to say useless, but I'm sure folks who can figure out the interface find it preferrable to having to hunt up stamps every second week to send off some bill or another.

Between that and trying to coordinate my end of things and my dad's end of things . . . . Or, hell, forget coordinate. Trying to explain to my dad why some things are just impossible given my end-of-semester timetable is trying enough:

Dad: You need to go talk to these people about this stuff. Today.
Me: I can't do anything till Saturday. I'm really pressed for time with deadlines and stuff.
Dad: Are you up? Go now.
Me: I've been up for hours. I'm working. I can't stop now. This thing has to be done today.
Dad: You need to get this organised.
Me: I know. I just don't have any time.
Dad: Exactly!

What? I mean . . . what?

rurounibug ; 10:52 PM|4 replies

November 13th, 2005

sprechen (or something like it)

Because German is a language I know well enough to understand, but nowhere near well enough to, you know, flaunt.

Sure, if I were in Germany I would use it, but only because there would be no other communication option than maybe gesticulating madly. Maybe mime.

I most certainly would not engage in a German version of the following:

bule-person: So where are you from?
me: NY. And Jakarta
person: Oh, Jakarta. Apa kabar?
me: *twitch*

I mean, what do they want? A cookie? Am I supposed to be impressed? Awe-struck? What? Because what it really does is illicit insta-dislike. I know I whine about my peeves an awful lot, but this is probably the only one that'll make me despise a person from the get-go. When people try the I-know-a-phrase game, usually I just ignore it and answer in english anyway.

Sometimes I think I should respond in rapid-fire gaul, but that might be too much of a payoff. I'd hate for them to think one could ever mistake them for someone who'd speak Indo well enough.

And, even if its nothing to do with me, I feel the same way about the guy in the burrito place, who insisted on ordering in crappy Spanish, taking forever to estoy and esta and probably sounding like a dipshit while he did it and held up the line. That goes double for obvious fangirls in sushi dives with their 'watashi wa's and 'desu's.

I mean, if one doesn't speak a language well enough to speak it, then can't one just keep it to oneself? Unless a situation demands its use, I mean. I feel somewhat more positive about bules speaking Indo in Indonesia than I do when they try to use it as a conversation piece stateside.

rurounibug ; 02:50 AM|4 replies

November 15th, 2005

quizzes yoinked from AI-ers blogs

I haven't done many of these lately. I must be drifting from my nerdish otaku web-geek roots. In an effort to return to the tree of binary life:


Totally yoinked from angelics_d:

The one in Complete Control

You are 200%
Seme.




Congratulations! You are the one in complete
control. You are a seme (unless you have
strange desires and decide to try something
new). You manage to get what you have your eyes
on most of the time, or all the time for that
matter. You have a way of making people do what
you want and belong completely to you! You like
a challenge now and then and prefer ukes that
play hard to get. But in the end, what is meant
to be yours... will be yours. Just don't let
your growing ambitions consume you.


Most compatible with: Any thing you want. Seme or
uke, they are yours for grabs.


Ultimate Yaoi-level selector!
brought to you by Quizilla



Yoinked from Noichi:

How to make a baskerville

Ingredients: 5 parts anger 1 part humour 1 part empathy

Method: Layer ingredientes in a shot glass. Add a little cocktail umbrella and a dash of wisdom

rurounibug ; 02:30 AM|fine, ignore me

November 15th, 2005

zzZap

My electricity is out. It was very windy this morning, so I guess maybe some lines came loose or something. I'm not sure if I need to notify the pg&e first or my landlord. But I can't operate my lightbox without power, so I guess I can't finish my assignment <-----lame ass excuse.

This is really annoying. Especially given I haven't showered yet.

I wonder if its just my apaprtment. I might wander down to the laundry room in a few to see if the lights down there are working. As soon as I finish my coffee.

If the power doesn't come on soon, I fear for the state of my icecream.

rurounibug ; 02:34 PM|3 replies

November 20th, 2005

if you're looking for me . . . .

I may not be online for a while to chat/update/mod/reply/antagonise. I apologise to AIers, especially, since I often promise to chat/update/post pics and never seem to get around to it.

Busy end of semester. You know how it is.

And if you know me, you know I've left every single "due by the end of semester" project till the very end of the semester. I dont' even have roughs for some of them.

And now, to top it off, the records office want to turn all my credits to 'personal enrichement' because they don't like my Aussie high school papers. I have a goddamn AS, and they took the papers from that college, no prob. How can they accept my previous degree, but question my high school graduation?

And why can't they email the school whose email they have to ask for clarifycation instead of sending me scurrying to people like the World Education Services, who interpret transcipts, charge a fortune for doing so, and are probably a bunch of dipshits to boot.

Actually, I have great faith in the likelyhood of them being dipshits. And in the unlikelyhood of them being anymore literate regarding the policies of foreign education that the ladies down at the records office.

See, they want a Certificate that I don't have, because I took an alternate program:


records lady: You're missing the VCE form.

me: I didn't take the VCE. I took the IB. You have that form. See? Where it says "as issued by the IB"

recods lady: Ok. Will the VCE issue you a VCE certificate?

me: No. Because I didn't take the VCE. They have entirely different requirements. The VCE is graded in Victoria, the IB internationally. It wouldn't make any sense. I have an IB certificate. *point* results: certificate issued.

records lady: You're going to need a VCE form . . . .


This is where hysteria started to edge in and I think I started getting louder and louder. In my defense, this 'conversation' continued in the same way for maybe ten more minutes.

Another five and my head would have exploded.

Just FYI, I was in the top 18.5 percentile for Victoria state the year I graduted--and I DID. I have distinct memories of graduading high school--so if I flunked, that state is in a lot of trouble. Hell, considering Victoria is the most populous state in Australia, the whole damn country's in trouble if the top 20% isn't graduating.

And they have a letter stating my percentile, grades, etc.

Sent from the school in a sealed envelope. Why would my high school lie? They didn't even like me down there.

And I only have a month to clear this mess up. And considering they have all the relevant information, along with explanitory notes from the school, I'm not sure what to do. How do you start explaining the obvious?

rurounibug ; 12:45 AM|1 replies

November 23rd, 2005

AI

The AI is the Indonesian Anima/Manga forum I've been spending less and less time on. Part of that is due to my insta-torturing people on IM instead of posting and having to wait for retaliation, and part if due to me crammed schedule , but also because theres more and more of what the GAFF would call fan-wankery.

Because you can't complain about anything, or point out flaws and problems or even mention being dissatisfied with something, be it publishers, subtitling, distribution, writing, or what-have-you without someone being offended. Not because they had worked on whatever it is you're criticising. No. That would at least make sense.

People get upset because someone is rocking the boat.

Even if its just a slight wobble, and not actual rocking at all.

Because somehow or other the moronic idea has developed that its mature to just take whatever is dished out. That its better to not say anything unless you have a plan and a plot and the skills and money to see it through, never mind that those things usually come only after people have talked and mulled and kvetched for a long time and gathered freinds and support through the powers of shared disgruntlement.

Nope. It's much more mature to just shut up (Here's lookin' at you, Zoar--Yep, I'm naming names! XD ) and not make waves. Silly me. And here all this time I was thinking maturity had to do with independent thought and critical thinking and tolerance and the ability to hear someone out and maybe think about what they had to say before verbally attacking them.

Keeping quiet is the utter peak of stupidity. Or, actually, telling vocal people to shut up because feelings are bruised or because the sheep don't want to hear it is worse. I can see not caring. I can totally understand someone skipping entirely a thread about something they don't buy into. Going in and posting comments like "If you can't do anything about it, why complain?" is just pathetic. Doing it in the heated tone Zoar did is . . . well, weird as well.

Indo forums tend to shy away from any and all of the things I find interesting. Like how the panels in a certain manga flow and why that did/didn't work, or why someone liked one story and not another or what it is that appeals about some charachters over others . . . . The constant fannish squee-ing (or "kya-kya"ing) gets boring. Hanging out with people who find critism taboo and who fear the slightest sign of raised hackles is annoying.

People have differences. Grown-ups deal with it. I mean, for god's sake, people.

Not that I'm complaining about everyone. Not even close. Theres heaps of people I like to talk to there, and I'm not just saying that because they have my url. Its just that the overall shallowness of the Indo fanculture is starting to annoy me, and I feel sort of like a twit because I've been rabidly defending it to a freind for the last few months.

rurounibug ; 02:42 AM|fine, ignore me

November 24th, 2005

not a chef

I baked cheesecake to take with me to my aunt's thanksgiving dinner, and it was all going well. Until I took it out of the oven. Then it split in a massive X through the middle with one leg of the X actuallt going from edge to edge.

I'm trying to decide whether or not it's too ugly to bring along and whether or not showing up with an ugly cake is worse than showing up empty handed.

T__T

rurounibug ; 12:13 AM|2 replies

November 24th, 2005

Why are you online? You're supposed to be eating!

Happy Thanksgiving!

rurounibug ; 09:36 PM|1 replies

November 25th, 2005

they better not change their minds

because I have little faith in the Records Office of Doom.

I went to talk to them again, and brought my advisor along with me. They were more communicative and helpful this time, and assured me a letter from my high school stating that IB completion = secondary school completion would satisfy the 'proof of graduation' requirement.

All this drama about my high school papers has started me questioning on whether or not I actually graduated. I mean, what if they gave everyone else VCE papers, but not me? What if I was missing something important? Surely someone would have told me? -__-

But then, my high school didn't really give a damn about their International Students, more popularly known as "the ethnics". They very well might not have bothered to inform me of any such thing.

But, not to get too OT: Transripts supposedly handled. Though if they get the letter/statement and decide it's not convincing enough, I won't be at all surprised.

rurounibug ; 10:46 PM|1 replies

November 25th, 2005

psychic?

Theres a certain person online--and this time I'm not naming names--who seems to think he knows about people he's never met. Yeah, you probably know who you are. Knock it off.

I was kind of surprised and annoyed to hear in YIM that another online freind had what I'll call "info" on me. It was totally off-base, but that isn't the point. I was more surprised to hear the source of that info, because this other person had 1) never met me. ever. 2) had never really talked/chatted to me much. Random blog-hits and 'hiya' tags was about the extent of it.

So if you're reading and you're 'tau diri' enough to realise I'm talking about you, again, knock it off.

It's the weirdest damn thing when people start spreading around their suppositions as if they were fact and as if they had any way of knowing about it in the first place.

rurounibug ; 11:00 PM|fine, ignore me

November 30th, 2005

yuzuru

Added in the links section (under the tagboard): yuzuru, of AI.

I know this is a non-entry, but I like to plug new blog links. Maybe they'll feel guilty and link me back. *kicked by yuzu*

XD

rurounibug ; 01:20 AM|fine, ignore me

November 30th, 2005

explanation of html-ing pics (for Yuzuru)

Yuz's blog doesn't allow anonymous posting, so this is going here.

I think its weird that i think I know enough to be giving someone html advice, but here goes:

Yuz, pic tuh kaga bisa dijadiin html. Gimana sih? kalo mau masukin pic ke html, picnya lo uplod ke site yg bisa hosting gambar sprti photobucket, trus lo masukin pake (img src="url"), tapi kurungnya pake yg tajem. Sama aja ama klo masukin pic ke AI, ga perlu program macem2. Paling photoshop buat ngubah2 pic itu sendiri.

Format pic tetep jpg, jpeg ato gif.

Ng . . . emang ini mau ngapain sih? may buat layut blog, ato masukin gambar di entriesnya?

Kalo masih ga ngerti , lo liat disini deh. Gwe blajar html dari sini: lissa explains it all.

rurounibug ; 01:29 AM|fine, ignore me

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