Happy Lunar New Year!  Year of the Dragon~  Hopefully this will be a good year for everyone, myself and other dragons in particular

Let’s see, I got my computer early, but the enclosure just came Wednesday.  I’ve been off and on transferring files to my new compy but there’s so much that I haven’t decided what I want on this hard drive.  Then again it really doesn’t matter, it isn’t like I could take a desktop on vacation  At least I have my pictures, save data and other files back~ Not to mention another external!

I broke down and bought the monitor

I’m loving this computer ♥ (I can do alt characters now!) Started a new game for DA2 and it’s sooo nice!  I’ll have to see how high I can set the graphics quality and have it run smoothly.  Wish I could afford Skyrim, but it can wait.  Been obsessing over Beat Hazard anyway.  Oh and Amnesia is so scary!  I made it to the desk with the note and had to take a break.  Haven’t touched it since…  Maybe tonight?  But it reminds me of a horror-based Myst, it seems like the player will have to make a decision at the end but there won’t be a “green book” to pick. Anyway, I have to keep a lamp on or else I can’t see the keyboard.

Ohkay. Classes.  Art, I still feel like I don’t know what I’m doing.  Just turned in our first project yesterday (we haven’t gotten the first assignment back yet) and did a class critique.  Apparently no one had anything they would change about mine, or criticism for that matter. But I probably looked terrified so maybe no one wanted to say that it needs work.  I dunno, just gonna try to make it through the semester. Math isn’t too much better, I understand the concepts, I can do the homework, but for the take home quiz I had to look everything up.  It seems like I can’t remember what I learned, maybe that’s what studying is for…

Now site related stuff.  I was going to make a new layout, but I think I’ll wait.  Seeing that the art class I’m taking it the pre-req for graphic design classes, maybe I’ll learn some stuff I can apply to a layout.  I’m not procrastinating updating the coding I swear!  But one thing math is doing for me is re-kindiling my desire to learn a web programming language.  Still have no idea what I’d use it for, but Javascript and PHP (and MySQL) are sure to come in handy.  Just need to decide which one to learn first and find some good tutorials.  Also gonna try and get that Sozai site up next month, I wanted to get it up before Chinese New Year and have some dragon stuff, but with my laptop dying and just getting my files back that didn’t happen.  Just need to figure out some Valentines Day (and SAD ) stuff.  I have the layout ready to go, but I really want to make it in frames.  It makes more sense to me, but professionally it’s a big no-no.  Not that I’m professional to begin with, but I should try to be.  Maybe that’ll be my pet project, where I can break as many rules as I want!

Long post is long. And my server time is 5 minutes slow >:(

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First, all in all, the Holidays went well.  My sister and her boyfriend celebrated Christmas with us and he’s a pretty nice guy.  It took some adjusting on my part, as I’m used to being alone most of the time, and by the time that happened they had left.  *sigh*

And on to the rant.  A couple days before my sister left, my laptop spontaneously stopped working.  Put it to sleep and the next morning it wouldn’t really come back on.  I mean, the fan was running and the disc drive kept trying read a disc that wasn’t there, but the screen didn’t turn on and pressing buttons (ctrl+alt+del) did nothing.  Took it into a computer repair place and found out the motherboard died.  And even if it was replaced the same problem could happen again, apparently HP didn’t issue a recall or a fix.  Peachy.  I was advised to get a Dell or Toshiba, and I made the decision that it’ll be a desktop this time.  I’m getting sick of laptops dying on me with no way to fix them!

Fortunately I had been saving for a trip and my parents are helping me out so I was able to afford a Dell XPS without a screen.  The processor is great but the graphics card is slightly less then mediocre (according to serious gamers).  It should be a big step up from my, at least, 2 year old laptop though.  I’m considering biting the bullet and using the last of my savings on a screen, Best Buy has one on sale for $100.  We have an old tube screen I can use but the clarity sucks.  Can you tell how spoiled I am?  Anyway, it’s due to arrive on the 24th or so.

In other news I had my first day of class in 2 years yesterday.  I’m not sure I’m ready but I think that’s anxiety talking.  I’m just taking an art class and pre-calc so it shouldn’t be that bad.  Though the art prof seems critical, so what if the colors aren’t fully filled in?  They may have wanted a light shade.  Also not looking forward to the 2 hour gap between classes, I thought I’d have my laptop when I scheduled but now it’s almost unbearable.  Maybe it’ll get better when I have school work to do.

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Don’t like, don’t read.

Firstly, we’ve been having trouble with our DSL service.  Wednesday the 9th it went out unexpectedly at about 6 pm.  Figuring that it’ll be on by morning, as something like that happened once before, I let it go and went to sleep early.  When it wasn’t on by 10 am the next day, drove to a location for our ISP and they gave me the number to call for technical support.  Fair enough.  Went home, did that, and was told that my modem probably died.  Ok, fine.  Went out the next day to purchase a modem/router (not from the ISP), and attempted to configure it.  For 3 hours.  Finally called my ISP’s tech support to get my DSL password (like it said on the box) and spent and hour trying to configure it with them.  Didn’t work.  Called tech support for the modem/router and spent another hour on the phone with them and they couldn’t get it to work.  So, they told me it was faulty and to take it back.  Ok…  Decided to take my old router to my ISP to see if they could find anything wrong with it and they couldn’t.  Finally found out from a very nice (and I do not mean that sarcastically) employee that other people have been coming in with the same problem.  So, back to the phone.  Finally had someone tell me that there’s a problem with the connection.  Really?  It took 3 calls for you to figure that out?  So they scheduled a technician to come out to our house and take a look at things.  He came the next day and had to go “down the street” because we weren’t getting any DSL service to the house at all.  So he patches it up and goes on his merry way.  (Did I mention I was called off from work when I was half way there?)  You would think this would be the end, but no, I was not that lucky.  About 5 hours later we lost the signal.  So back to the phone.  They scheduled another technician to come back out on Monday.  Alright, so Sunday I went to a hot-spot to do a couple things and help out my dad.  Nothing note worthy happened.  So Monday the technician comes, checks everything out and has to go down the street to fix it again and gives me a local number to call if anything should go wrong.  I feel like I’ve made some progress, the internet’s back on and I don’t have to go through the 800 number anymore.  That was short lived.  Internet goes out at 5pm, I call the number I was given at 6 and leave a message.  Next morning, waiting around from 8 to receive a phone call back from the guy.  8 turns to 9 to 10 to 11.  At noon I call back, no one answers and I get kicked to voice mail.  Same thing happens at 2.  So I go back the to the ISP asking if there’s another number I can call or if the guy is on vacation or something.  He didn’t know if he was on vacation and there isn’t another number, so I was told to call the 800 number again.  As I was in a very foul mood by then, I decided to wait till Wednesday and try to cool off.  Now we’re at Wednesday morning, I try the local number one last time (with the same result) and proceesd to call the 800 again.  I went round-and-round with a lady trying to tell me the line was fixed before she finally made an appointment with the technician.  Thursday he comes again and replaces the jack (didn’t work) so he goes down the street again and replaces the whole line.  The internet has been on for longer than 6 hours (almost 24 now) so I’m cautiously optimistic that it’s fixed.  That was such a pain in the ass.  Oh, and the local number?  The guy was just heading back Thursday (from what I’m guessing was vacation) so I wouldn’t have been able to reach anyone had I kept trying.  That’s some info I would have liked to know, or just don’t give me the number at all.  Ugh.

Secondly some small rants.  The Occupy movement, it started out fine but now all I see are people camping out like hobo druggies in parks and being a pain in the ass for everyone else.  Their goal is understandable and I agree with it to a certain extent, but the execution really needs work.  Black Friday becoming Black Thursday, I hate it.  I understand that the winter Holidays are the biggest retail event of the year but to me, it just looks like stores are being greedy.  Personally, I’m waiting for Cyber Monday because I hate the crowds and the lines.  Yes, I acknowledge I’m complaining about something that doesn’t affect me, but it’s based on principal.

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Not only have I gotten a little more motivated, I feel like I have a better handle on PHP and MySQL!  By no means could I do anything on my own though.  It’s just that I spent weeks using a book geared towards people who already know a programming language and screaming in frustration.  So finally I looked online for tutorials and bookmarked 10+ pages that have helped me, or will help me once I understand it all better.  There was a book recommended (the name escapes me now) that I’ll buy sometime, or I’ll ask for it for Christmas!

Speaking of Christmas, my sister’s boyfriend is spending Christmas with us so that’s one more person I need to think of a gift for.  And buy.  I don’t have any Christmas gifts yet, but the birthday gifts are taken care of!  There are 3 birthdays between now and Christmas that I buy gifts for.  Hopefully, I’ll get more hours than I have been getting so the gifts this year will be nice.

Well, we didn’t go into Chicago on Halloween.  A pipe underneath my car broke so I had to get that fixed instead.  So I passed out candy :c  Also made the avatar/icon for this post, it’s Iggy! xD  He’s not a real favorite, but his “marshmallow” song cracks me up!  I think I may do something else with the background, he looked better without it…  And I may add a ghost or something.

Lastly, site stuff.  Made a decision to keep only the domin names I love.  What?  Why yes, I have other domain names.  They just have nothing there.  Hence why shouldn’t keep more than I’d hopefully use.  Planning to make one of the remaining ones a site for sozai, or at least have it on a subdomain.  Gah!  They all are amazing (at least to me) yet I can’t think of anything suitable for that specific name.  Anywho, I’m making sozai now, mainly “one point” but I’ve got a few other things on peppery-peach that I’ll use.   Yes, peppery-peach is one of the ones I’m getting rid of.  Unless someone else falls in love with it and wants me to host their site.  Which probably won’t happen.

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Makes me think of “last friday night” xD  Ahem.  My sister flew into Chicago with the USC band Thursday and we met up with her on Friday, it was so good to see her again!  It had been almost a year seeing that she didn’t come home for summer.  Just went out to eat and talked, oh and watched the pep rally at Navy Pier.  On the way back, I wanted to check out a kawaii store that I had no idea existed up until a month ago.  Unfortunately, they were closed :c  Checking their Facebook page again it seems like they may not be around next year which makes me sad.  So my mom and I are planning to go back on Monday (yes, Halloween) to check it out and maybe go up to Arlington Heights.  I’m really hoping we get back after trick-or-treating, I hate passing out candy.  Stupid kids that don’t dress up.

Anywho, on Saturday I went to the USC vs. ND game with my dad.  We sat on opposite ends of the stadium but I was so glad I went!  Eventhough the ND fans are kinda harsh, then again if it were at USC I’m sure USC fans would be brutal.  The game was great, to me at least!  I like it when my team is winning the entire game!  Really, I like winning more than a good game.  Kinda sad, ne?  But watching the band was fun, USC has a stronger prescence to me.  I’m biased, I know.  Oh but I’m glad I was finally able to see the “stake” in person.  I have no idea what to call it, when the drum major stabs the field with his sword.

Fan-girling (for lack of a better term) aside, USC was really lucky they won.  Lots of penalties in their favor.  Not to mention the ND defence “didn’t know what was going on” as an ND fan said.  Something that really bothered me was all the standing.  Can’t people just sit down?  Standing changes nothing except you make everyone behind you stand too.  It was up and down the entire game >.<  One last random thing, there was a USC fan sitting a couple rows down from me and he somehow vanished durring the 2nd quarter…  Yes we were in an ND section, I wasn’t wearing anything to give my position away.

Not much else to speak of, working on a new layout.  All of the ones I’ve been getting together in Photoshop seem rather crappy to me…  I need a change but I have no inspiration.  I will perservere!

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So, I got sick.  Very unhappy about that.  I’m starting to get over it now, thankfully, but yesterday was torture.  I’ll spare you the deatails.  But there is a silver lining for me, re-discovering Hawaiian style food.  Slightly tarnished just because someone can’t bring home plate lunch for me.  I mixed up something simlilar to guri guri (goodie goodie) last night and am enjoying it today.  I used to eat it when I was sick as a kid.  Also am craving Kal Bi, Mochiko chicken, unagi don, and a plethora of other dishes I can’t seem to find here.  Must mean I’m getting better ^_^

The day before I got sick, I found out about Rainmeter.  It’s something similar to the Windows sidebar except you can arange it however you’d like and it has some different features.  Started messing around with it but didn’t get that far…  Also am learning more about PHP and MySQL.  For some reason the commands for MySQL make a lot more sense to me than PHP…  I’m still rather confused as to how everything needs to be set up for it to work.

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I’ve actually been keeping myself kinda busy.  Played Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening & Dragon Age 2, started on Professor Layton and the Curious Village, and went out with a friend!  I got out of the house with someone who isn’t family!  Big step for me.  We had dinner at Granite City, which was delicious by the way, and he needed to pick up stuff for school so I went with him to Best Buy.  Apparently, I need to watch a bunch of movies -.-

Speaking of watching, I’m almost done with the second season of The Mentalist and am making my way through Axis Powers Hetalia!  Can’t bring myself past episode 45, love Iggy’s ending song!  For whatever reason, I love it when they have a different country featured~  I may just have to invest in the manga too, been on a manga kick lately.  Though I am very near being broke.  *sigh*

Had a few very wierd dreams last night.  2 really stuck with me, the first was that I caught a shiny koffing on VDex.  Which I ended up doing earlier today, a pleasant surprise.  The second dream made me sad, Fenris somehow went crazy and I had to kill him.  But the sad thing was, near the end of the dream he started to be “concious” of what he was doing and wanted me to kill him.  Thankfully, I woke up before he died.  He’s one of my favorite characters…

Lets see what else…  I’m dreading this weekend.  And Monday for that matter.  I’m just really anxious, work, meeting new people, and manning a booth (probably by myself) on a topic I know nothing about.  How’d I get myself roped into that…  I’m a push-over, that’s how…

Oh, I need to mow the lawn.  *flails*

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I can’t say that a whole lot has happened.  I’m back to being a recluse, trying to find things to keep me busy.  Going between wasting time on the internet, cooking and making things out of clay.  Speaking of clay, I’m considering buying “plain” clay and painting it instead of using different colors.  The thing is, I’m not that good at painting.  But I keep getting the clay where it shouldn’t be and the piece looks funny.  I guess it’s something to keep in mind.

So on to cooking, made 2 kinds of ice cream and have 7 egg whites in the fridge waiting to be made into macarons.  The first ice cream turned out really well!  Tried salt again and found a recipe that, when cutting down the salt, tastes almost exactly how it did in Japan.  Second one was eh…  It’s pear-pecorino flavored and used half-and-half instead of heavy cream and one less egg than the salt recipe.  But the thing that messes it up for me it the cheese, I think it really should have been grated instead of chopped up.  Possibly add less of it too, the pear is really over powered.  Fortunately (I guess), I had double of the pear puree so the extra would work well as a topping.

I need to find another hobby…

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It’s summer now and I’m trying to lose weight, seeing that it has been accumulating more than I’d like it to,  so checking nutrition labels sounds like a good idea.  Pulled a cup of greek yogurt out of the fridge, as it has a lot of protein for yogurt, and checked the rest of the facts.  I was stunned.  100 calories, no fat at all, low sodium and sugar content, and 20% of the recommended amount of calcium.  Granted, I always get the unflavored “skim” version.  Comparing it to another 6 oz yogurt makes me wonder why I ate those before.

If you’ve never had greek yogurt, it’s thicker and more sour than regular yogurt, a bit drier too.  It lacks the odd sweetness regular flavored yogurt has, which I am glad for.  Instead, I add about one and a half tablespoons of honey while I’m eating.  I like the contrast so I don’t mix it in.

Anywho, no art stuffs.  Too lazy to scan, maybe I’ll put 2 up this Saturday.  Working tomorrow though (wo-hoo!) and am a bit apprehensive, it’s been 2 weeks since I’ve gone in.  What else…  Oh!  I kinda tore a tendon, it hurts.  My dad gave me exercises to help heal it, but I haven’t been doing it…  Not much other than that!

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So I completely forgot to post this yesterday:

Omnomnom

Kakigori on the left, Hawaiian style on the right.  Really craving good shave ice T_T

Anyway, not much has been happening.  RNGed another vulpix because I forgot to nickname the first one and already sent it to Black >.<  But I traded it for a Zekrom (it passed a legit checker online so hopefully it’s all good), one less thing to trade for.  Still need to evolve the new one and send it, but it’s nicknamed!  Also RNGed a shiny Sandshrew, next up, Ponyta.

Been listening to twewy soundtrack, I dunno why, just in that sort of mood I suppose.  Makes me want to play the game again but I think you can only have one save file…  Also want to replay Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky, but I don’t wanna delete my Eevee!  *sigh*  Is it worth buying Darkness or Time?  Probably not XD

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