June 2005
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
It's been almost a week since I last posted. Been busy. Friday morning Val and I went and saw Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I liked it; it was funny. lol After that we went to the arcade and got two-hour play passes. My arms were very sore for a couple of days after that. I think I may have over-done it at ParaPara Paradise a bit. ;) Heh. We were going to play lazer tag too, but we ran out of time since we were going to meet Tammy for dinner. Friday was Tammy's first day working at the theatre!!! YAY! :D I am so happy. I have not worked with her at all yet since I asked for the time while Valerie is here off. My boss said she was glad Tammy started though, so that's good. :)
I hardly remember what we did on Saturday. I think we just went and did shopping or something. *shrugs* Sunday was church in the morning, then Val and I went to a little BBQ afterward. It was pretty much for the middle and high school students, but the lady running it invited college students as well, and she wanted me to go, so we went. It was okay. There were only two other kids out of high school there though. lol In the evening Val and I drove out to Seattle for Theatre Sports (improv), and her boyfriend met us there. Yeah, apparently her boyfriend is visiting family friends in Tacoma right now. She told me after she got here. So, it was okay. Not the best Theatre Sports I've seen, but still funny. We went for a walk for a while afterward down by the waterfront, etc.
Monday we went with my mom and my Aunt (who arrived on Saturday) back to Seattle! lol We went on the underground tour, which isn't really technically underground, though it is. Makes no sense, right? Well, let's just put it this way, when they rebuilt Seattle after the big fire however many years ago that was, they did it in a rather odd way. lol It's too hard to explain, so I won't even bother. It was kind of cool, but it was a little too long for my taste. My feet were a bit sore by the end of that. We went out to dinner after that.
Yesterday Valerie and I went to the EMP and the new Science Fiction Museum. There were some new exhibits at EMP that were cool, and the sound lab is always fun. :) I had never been in the SFM before, so that was cool. There was a complete hand-written manuscript for one of the books there! It was crazy huge and I'm quite glad that we have computers now. lmao I'm probably going to still end up with a large pile of pages though whenever I manage to finish my first novel. lol I started a short the other day, we'll see how that goes once I have time to write more of it. :)
Anyway, after the museums we went and got lunch and we were going to watch an IMAX, but there were none later in the day! How rude. So, we came home. We went by Safeway on the way because when we were at the SFM I saw an I, Robot poster and asked Val if she'd seen it and she said no! So, we rented that. While we were there, her boyfriend called and asked if they could come get her so she could go to a concert with them today. I said if she wanted to, it was fine. May write more about this at a later date on my LJ. But so we watched the movie and then they came and picked her up. I spent the rest of the evening watching TV and playing silly internet games. lmao How productive of me. It was fun though. ;)
Today I went over to Tammy's house and watched the final two tapes of Pride & Prejudice. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy get together at the end! And he smiles!! SO CUTE! lol I must confess that the language baffles me at certain points and I'm not exactly sure as to what has just transpired, but since I'm watching it I can get the gist of it all. It was good. :) Eventually Tammy's going to have me watch other similar types of movies which I have never seen before. ;) lol I was afraid for a while though that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy might not get together in the end, but was glad that they did. And I was also glad that Jane got with the other guy, too. :)
In the midst of that, the lady I'm STILL working on a website for called and wanted me to get some stuff done right away, etc., etc.. So, I left Tammy's house, returned the movie, mailed a package to Sam, got some ice cream, and then came home and got to work. I did what she asked me, and now I am waiting for further instruction from her via e-mail, which I shall hopefully receive soon. Val called a bit ago and said they're on their way here. That's it for now. I shall probably not write again until Saturday or Sunday. Until then!
Thursday, June 23, 2005
I did it! lol With God's glorious help I woke up early today (even a little before my alarm was supposed to go off) and got up and got ready. I even left in time and made it to the airport early! Woah. lol I didn't get horribly lost on the way there either, so that was good. I was a little scared I'd gone the wrong way at one point, but I hadn't. lol I was there like a half an hour early and I realized I forgot to bring my book. Oops. So, I hit the bathroom then hung out in a gift shop for a while. I went back to the baggage claim where I was going to meet Valerie and waited there. The board wasn't very helpful because it didn't say anything next to her flight. No "on time," "early," "late" or anything. So I was sitting there and then I looked up and my phone started to ring just as I saw Val. lol It was a few minutes before her flight was even supposed to touch down still! lol Silly airport people. Anyway, we met up and her baggage actually came really quick.
We left the airport and went to the Olive Garden. Yumm... Poor Val had to get up at 3 AM so she could get to the airport early and all that and had only had a fruit all day long! Yipes! lol So we got food and it was good. :) Then we went over to the mall and walked around for a while. I got another Grumpy Bear plush. He's cute, just like my other one. :) After that we headed back here to my house.
We just finished playing some Sonic 2. Valerie kept dying. lol I'll just have to make her play more then maybe by the time she leaves her and I will have beaten the game or something. lol Probably not, but maybe we'll manage to beat the level that I can't seem to. lol Anyway, not much else besides that to report. I've gotta work for a bit tonight and then I have the next seven days off. Ahhh... how nice. lol Val and I are going to try and make some sort of schedule tonight of things we want to do and when we'll do them all. lol I shall be off now, and it might be a bit before I blog again or check my e-mail. Ta ta!
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
If the super glue will not come out, do not squeeze the tube. Either that, or wear gloves and put stuff down beneath where you're working. I was trying to fix the stupid bracket for my curtains (it decided it didn't want to stay in the wall anymore), and the super glue wasn't coming out of the nozzle. I was being careful and had the nozzle pointed away from me and was rolling up the tube in an attempt to get the glue out. Stupid tube burst open and got glue all over my fingers!!! Don't worry, they're not stuck together, but now there's hardened white crap all over them that, obviously, won't come off. It's not a nice feeling on the skin. It feels less weird than it did at first and I scrubbed the heck out of my fingers, so some did come off. Most of it now is on my left thumb and index finger. It looks like paint, but it's not. I did manage to get my curtains back up. Just nailed the bracket farther out from the window. Hopefully it will stay.
In other news, I got up around 10 AM this morning, had my breakfast drink, then vaccuumed the house so my mom could steam vac the carpet. While she was steam vacing away, I continued in the cleaning of my room. I was mostly done when she was finished, so we took a break and went to lunch and to a movie so the carpets could dry. We ran in to some people from church at lunch and sat with them and chatted. Then, we ran in to them again at the theater. lol They were seeing a different movie though. Mom and I saw The Perfect Man. Egh. It was okay. I don't think I'll ever see it again though. The ending was a let-down. It left too many things open. They'd better not do a sequal, that'd just be stupid. Anyway...
We got home and I finished cleaning my room. Now there's space to set up the cot so Val has a place to sleep! lol She's coming while my Aunt's going to be here too, so she can't have the spare room. It's nice to have my room clean, but it's a little weird considering this is the first time it's been clean since I've lived in it. lol There are no boxes on my floor! Yes, I realize it's been almost two years since we moved here, so I'm lazy! Sheesh! There's still a box and a big mess in my closet though, but I'm the only one who sees that. Heh. My bookselves are a little messy too, but it'll have to suffice. Now I just need to put my laundry away and all my room stuff will be done for now.
Oh yes, and lo and behold, my college degree came in the mail today. It's bent. *rolls eyes* You know, they make you pay $16 for the thing, and they don't even give you a little booklet thing like you get from high school which was free! It's not real bent, but yeah. I guess my parents are going to find a frame for it. They asked me if I was going to hang it in my room. Maybe. I think I'm just weird, but it doesn't seem like that great of a thing to me. I guess maybe it should be, but it's just a piece of paper, and I'm not sure what it means for me right now. *waves the subject off*
I opened a new website today! :D I re-launched 2ka0tic.com. It's not the TCG anymore, now it's got scripts, tutorials, and my wallpapers. Which brings me to mentioning that Of-A-Star.com is now closed. I'll put the layouts up in my online portfolio in a week or two probably. There's currently two layouts at 2ka0tic.com since I used skins. There's my Batman Begins one that I very much like, and also a Backstreet Boys one. Please go check it out and sign the guestbook there! :) That's it for now. Night!
Monday, June 20, 2005
LMAO Tori sent me more of the Boys' leaked, unreleased songs, and one of them is a clip called "Money." It's them singing that one song that goes, "Money, money, money.... Money." Okay, so you can't hear the tune by reading it, but it's a remake and it's hilarious! lmao That's not the song I would have pictured them singing ever. lol Woah, more laughing! Backstreet Boys doing hip hop in "Set It Off!" I'm liking the way this song sounds (it just started playing), but it's another thing I would not have thought of them singing! lmao Wow... I'm totally not going to be able to get over this now. lmao Tori sent me some others too, and I'll let you know more of what I think of them once I've listened to them more. Man though... I'm likin' this song right now though, it's a great dance tune, and that's my thing. Dang, I want more of these leaked songs! If they wanted to make more money, they should just release them all for purchase through iTunes or something. I don't have it yet, but I'd download it to buy more BSB songs. Too bad I can't tell them my idea though. ;)
Man, it's been a while since I posted again so now I'm trying to recall stuff from the past few days that's worth posting. lol I'll just go with what happened yesterday. After church we took my daddy to one of his favorite BBQ places. I would never have eaten there if I'd just past it because it wasn't exactly nice looking, but I'm not sick and my french dip tasted pretty good, so must be okay. lol Apparently it's a really popular place anyway. Then we went by a tool place for my dad, too. When we got home I made chocolate carmel bars for my dad as his gift for the day. :) Oohhh!!!! And my dad played Sonic 2 with me! lol He was starting to do okay until we got to a harder level, then in the special stages he just stopped trying and said he was trying to hit as many mines as he could instead of collecting as many rings as he could. lol It was fun. :)
Today I was going to get up early, but didn't roll out of bed until about 10:20 AM. Oops. lol No big though. I went down to the theatre to take down Star Wars III and then I had to drive and take it back to the depot. It's a little far away, but at least it was the second time I had gone so it was not as stressful since I now knew where I was going. lol On my home I went by Payless Shoes and I bought my first ever pair of high heels. Well, unless you count the plastic dress-up ones from when I was little. lol They're for Ran's wedding. I'm going to need from now until then to learn how to walk properly in them. lol My feet were not really made for heels. They're small though, and cute. Wanna see? I think they're cute. :)
In other news, Valerie comes on Thursday! :D Saturday she got her tickets to fly up. Yay for quickly planned trips! lol Hopefully I'll be able to take most of the time while she's here off. I asked, so we'll see. lol The only bummer is my paycheck will be small, but that's no big because Val and I shall have lots of fun running around doing stuff. I gotta finish cleaning up my room before she gets here though. Heh. Maybe I'll do some of that now before I go to work. Wish me luck! ;)
Thursday, June 16, 2005
I finally just remembered to RSVP for Ran's wedding! lol I've had the invite for ages. I went to RSVP like the day I got it, but then decided to wait in case for some reason I was going to take someone with me. What was I thinking? I'm going stag! lol Well, sort-of. Tammy's going on her own too, so we can hang the whole time at least. Yay. :) So, that's done now at least. I need to get some nice shoes for the wedding though. All I have are tennies and something tells me those aren't totally appropriate for a wedding. ;)
In other news, today has been all right. First was the War of the Worlds screening, which I will go into shortly. After that was done I went to the theatre to put together Madagascar. I'll have to watch it tomorrow before the first show, as I didn't have time today. Hopefully there was no piece of que tape left on at the beginning of the first reel because I totally forgot to look! Oops. Basically, what it would do is mess up the lights/curtain system. Not a huge big deal, but no fun to try and fix. So, hoping that's not the case and all goes well tomorrow. lol After that I got to come home and eat before heading off to meet with the lady I've been making a website for. Now I understand what she wants me to do for the layout, at least. Though, I think it won't look real nice that way, it's what she wants, so oh well! lol Now, on to about the screening. There will be spoilers, but I will mark them.
I only got like six hours of sleep last night, so it was not fun to get up for the screening this morning. lol Somehow I managed though and made my way into Seattle for it. When I got there I had to stand and wait about five minutes while they swept those sensors over the people in front of me. When I finally got up to tell them my name and the theatre I'm with, they said no one RSVPed for myself and Curtis, who was already there. My boss did. I was there when she did. *rolls eyes* Long story short, after I waited a bit and went to the bathroom, then waited a little more, then finally told Curtis and I that we could watch it, even though they hadn't gotten the call back from the head honcho yet. The lady felt bad since we don't exactly live close to the preview theatre. lol I would have survived not seeing it if they wouldn't have let us in, but it was nice that they did. For big movie titles, they have hissy fits on who should be there and who shouldn't. And, of course, they give a speech about what will happen in the unlikely event they catch any of us recording the movie. It doesn't seem to likely to me that any theatre owners would, but I suppose they could get some bad apples. Now I shall write about the movie, so if you don't want to know in advance, just skip down to the end of the spoiler section (will be marked).
[spoiler] So, the beginning of the movie starts out a little slow and kind of odd, but it gets moving pretty quick after that. The whole scene with the alien tripod coming up out of the ground was very well done. And, while it was creepy and disturbing and I would never want this to happen, it was cool the way the aliens killed the people in the first encounter. They shoot these energy rays at them and then they poof into dust and out of existence, and their clothes float down to the ground. See what I mean about it being a horrible way to go, but it was pretty original.
It's a bit unrealistic that Tom Cruise and his family could survive ALL the attacks though. However, there'd be no movie if they all died after the second of third one, right? It was a very good portrayal of how people would act. The hysteria and mass panic, etc. That sort of thing is hard for me to watch sometimes because even though it's a movie, you're supposed to feel for the people in it, and I always feel bad that they're not going to make it. Man, though, when they're all getting on the ferry to cross the Hudson River, I was like, "You stupid ideots! You're giving the aliens a buffet! Go somewhere were there are no lights out in the mountains and you'll be safe!" Of course, they didn't listen to me, and sure enough one of the alien machines knocks the boat over and they start grabbing people out of the water, but SOMEHOW our family makes it to the other bank, goes right by one of the machines, and runs off into the trees with clothing floating down all around them.
Not so long after that, the son, Robbie, tries to run off and join the military people to fight the aliens (for the second time). Tom's character tells Dakota's character to stay put and runs after Robbie, knocks him to the ground and it trying to talk him into coming with him and Dakota. Robbie's all like, "Dad, I need to do this." I'm like, "You IDEOT." lol So, some lady and her husband are running off with Dakota because they think she's all alone and Tom let's Robbie go, and grabs Dakota from the lady. Then burning military vehicles come spewing back over the hill where they had just gone, with Robbie, and there's this HUGE ball of fire that would have killed everyone. Robbie died, and an alien machine comes through the fire. No way anyone could have survived. Remember that.
Tom and Dakota are the only ones who notice this guy waving a gun telling people to come hide in his basement, just after the previous scene. They go down with him, and right off the bat, this guy reeks of bad things. He gave me the willies and I was like, "what are you doing? Don't stay with the weird, freaky guy who's sharpening his shovel!!!!" lol But, they stayed. This creepy guy is obsessed with trying to kill the aliens. Him and Robbie would have gotten along great. *snorts* I'll leave out the tension in the scenes down in the basement, because a lot of good stuff happens there. Anyway, the creepy guy sees what the aliens are doing with the humans they've captured alive. Not pretty. I now understand what that red vein-like stuff is on the posters though. After that, the creepy guy starts yelling about how he's not going to let them kill him, and he's endangering Tom and Dakota. Tom kills him. He had to to save his daughter. Very sad.
Tom and Dakota are sleeping on the couch in the basement and Dakota wakes up and one of the alien machine tenticles is right in front of her, turns on, and she screams and runs. Tom mutilates it with an axe, and runs off to find Dakota. Apparently she's hiding somewhere or something, and then a tripod shows up. Dakota appears after the tripod tried to get Tom and he's in an overturned truck, and she just stands there in the open. STUPID! I guess she was in shock or something, but it never makes sense to me that in such a moment of danger, a person would freeze. I know it happens, but it just seems the opposite of every instinct within us. But yeah, Tom tries to save her, but it gets her. He throws a grenade, that he found lying on the ground in a belt of a bunch of them, at it, and it turns around and grabs him too. There was an interesting part here where we discover that they store some of the humans live in these funky net-like carriers at the backs of their machine "heads." Tom finds his daughter and she's in shock for a bit before she snaps out of it and hugs him. A guy gets sucked into this nasty looking red organic-type thing from their cage. Then it comes back down and grabs Tom's ankles. Dakota obviously can't keep him from getting taken up. For SOME reason, the army guy decides to grab Tom (and not anyone before him) and try and pull him back. He gets all the others to help and Tom is almost completely swallowed, but they manage to pull him back out. He lands and spits out the, what do you call those things that activate grenades? Well, those, and the army guy goes, "DOWN!" The thing blows up, they're free.
They make it to Boston where Tom's ex-wife is. There's a statue and the veins on it have turned white and died. Here I thought that there was some element in the stone of the statue that killed it. Nope. *rolls eyes* It was the only dead bits of it in the area though. Anyway, they see one of the tripods deactivated and on top of a building. They ask one of the military guys if they killed it. The guy says, "No, it was behaving irradically and just shut down." (Mind you I'm paraphrasing a bit on all of these quotes as my memory is not THAT good.) I immdiately thought, "Well, that's stupid. They'd better explain it." Another tripod shows up and it's shield is no longer working. How do we know? Because Tom saw that birds were terrorizing and landing on it. I thought, "Hey, maybe the birds are deactivating them with something!" As an after though, it could have been with their bird tirds. lmao Wasn't though. Anyway, they shot it down, an alien pops out, and dies. Woo haw.
Then Tom and Dakota are walking down a street with houses... and none of them are damaged. Leaves are falling and everything seems normal except that people are not out on the street. What the heck? There were a LOT of the tripods apparently all over the world, and they were killing and destroying everywhere. Why did they not make it down this street in Boston? Whatever. So, the mom comes out of the house and Dakota runs to her and they're all happy, and I'm thinking, "Okay, now Tom's going to have to tell her that their son died." But what happens about a minute later? Robbie walks out of the door and is totally okay and him and Tom have a moment. Then it ends! What the hey?! Then the narrator (sounded like it's Morgan Freeman) comes on like he did at the beginning and says something about how the aliens were distroyed by the tiniest micro organisms. Okay. That sort of explained that. However, no one explains how Robbie survived. He could NOT have survived. You know, I'm glad that he lived as a person/character, but it's just not possible.
Now, that's the run-down on the movie. My other thought is this. There's a scene with a TV journalist and she shows Tom some footage. The aliens used the lightning to get down into the ships that they had in the ground (under asphalt and stuff). Then she says that they've been there since before man, waiting. BIG BOTCH-UP THERE! Okay, so if they wanted our planet and were around before man (in the stupid theory of evolution that they always use in these types of movies), why didn't they just take it before we got on it? Hello? Why wait until we inhabit it, then take it? I suppose one could argue that it's because they needed human blood as the fertilizer for their red-vein plants, but what were those even for? They never say. So, it was good and intense until the last half-hour. Then it went down-hill and had a rather anti-climactic ending, if you ask me. This is my, well, I guess with how much I wrote it's more than two cents. lol I'd probably still recommend going to a matenee if you like alien movies though, because the main portion of the movie was good. [/spoiler]
Wow, I think that's the most I've written on a movie here at my blog. Whew. Moving on, Tammy called me earlier when I was at work and said that her parents gave her a laptop last night as a graduation present!! WOO! We were just talking not that long ago how we needed to get her a job so she could get one of those. lol She still needs a job, but now she can use the money for other stuff. ;) I'll have to go over soon and check it out and get some cool stuff put on there for her. I have no idea when I'd be able to though because the schedule for work is not up yet, even though tomorrow is the first day of the new schedule period! So, I don't know if I'm working tomorrow or not. Arg. I suppose I shouldn't be too upset as my boss said the other day that she's having a "family crisis" right now, but these kinds of things need to be done, otherwise there's not going to be a movie tomorrow and she's going to lose money. She should have asked me to do it since I'm supposed to be her manager. It's really only in title though, not in actual duties. I'd best not get started on stuff to do with work though, or I'll get aggitated again. I guess I shall make this the end of my entry. Perhaps I'll go have a little more of the yummy ice cream I bought today. Or noodle bake. Ahh! I don't know if I can decide! lol
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Today I woke up just before I was planning on doing so, thanks to Tammy calling me. lol If she hadn't, I probably would have slept all day. I did a little website work, and did a lot of e-mailing to Sam. ;) lol Also e-mailed back and forth with Tori some. :) Then I took a shower and made hamburger noodle bake, which is my fave dish. Yumm... So dangerous though. I'm going to have to watch myself very carefully and make sure I don't eat too much and kill the good progress I've been making of not gaining more weight. lol It just tastes so good though. ;)
Once the noodle bake was ready, I just had time to eat and get ready before heading off to watch Tammy graduate. I was surprised how many people came because there are only nine people, including Tammy, in her graduating class. lol You'd think it would have been shorter that way, but nope. The principle talked a whole bunch at the beginning (stuff I didn't care about, but at least paid partial attention so as not too look too bored). They finally got to announcing the graduates (I knew two others graduating with Tammy as well. It was crazy.) and the teachers spent five minutes talking about each one, then the graduate being introduced got to say some stuff. Tammy started crying during hers and made me cry (darn her!). The last girl... she took WAY too much time with her "speech." Not surprised though because of the way she'd been acting the whole time they were all sitting up there through everything. I need to stop being judgemental like this though.
Afterwards I told Tammy congrats, and hung around for a little bit. She made me take a picture with her, too. There's no recent pictures of the two of us, she said. It's true, but still. ;) I hung around for a little bit longer, then told her bye and left. I was really not created for large, social situations. I'm much more suited to smaller gatherings of people I know, or at least feel pretty comfortable with. *sigh* Well, that's it for now. The screening for War of the Worlds is tomorrow morning. We'll see if it's any good. Then the rest of my day is running around. lol Fun, fun. Night!
Yay God! :D I retract my previous statement... the Dual Disk is SOOOOO worth it! *does a happy dance* Can anyone guess why? No? It's because I was able to create MP3s from it!!!! :D lol Apparently it doesn't have the "content protect" dealy-o on it. I had put it into my desktop, but there's this thing on the back that says, "The audio side of this disc does not conform to CD specifications and therefore not all DVD and CD players will play the audio side of this disk." That means that my desktop, which is a number of years old, couldn't read it. I was going to try something else to try and get MP3s of the regular CD, but I thought I'd throw in the Dual Disk to my laptop first before that one. Good thing because a window poped up right away in XP and one of the options was to rip the CD using Windows Media Player. I changed some settings to make sure it would do the highest quality and would make them MP3s and not WMA files. So, I clicked go and it was doing something and then, when it was done, they all worked and sound great with no glitches!!! *continues in the happy dance* So, I now impart this knowledge to the rest of you who are going to want that stuff on iPods or other such things. (Sam, things are looking up for you!) lol I just had to share how incredibly happy I am about this. I've been thanking God. ;)
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Okay, so I don't want to waste any more space here about the "content protected" thing. Therefore, you can all view the reply I received to my complaint at my LJ if you'd like. You can also post comments there too. Now, on to more postage.
I went over to Tammy's house after I got the CDs and ran another errand. I picked up one for her. I also bought the regular CD and the Dual Disk one. I have to say though, if you haven't gotten a copy yet, don't bother with the Dual Disk. From what I've heard, it's more bother than it's worth, and there's not really much DVD content, nor is it that good. Except if you're Acee, whom I'm sure enjoyed that Nick mooned the camera. lmao I, on the other hand, quickly averted my gaze and put my hand up to cover my eyes. I'm just not ready to see anything like that. *rolls eyes at Nick* But yes, when I got to Tammy's we put in the CD and listened to it while she finished a project and I read the Thank You's in the booklet. First off, we decided that Kevin is having a mid-life crisis. Read his thank you's, and I think you'll see it too. I decided I love Howie. Alex made me happy since he said he's walking with God. Nick is just an ideot, and the whole "I didn't do it" can be applied to far too many things, and I don't belive that statement for any of them. *rolls eyes* I heart Brian too for thanking God first, just like Howie did, and also for the stuff he wrote about his little boy. Awww.
After Tammy and I had listened to the CD twice, eaten, and watched the DVD side of my Dual Disk (so not worth it), we did some work on the novel we are writing together. Today we figured out exactly who are villian is, and all the bad stuff about him. It was quite productive. It seems like only a small thing, but it should help us out a LOT with getting the rest of the story figured out. We've got a lot of ideas, now we just need to write them all out, then smooth them over four or five times. lol A novel is quite the daunting project.
I used my Rebel XT for the first time yesterday because it was sunny. Of course, it's raining now. lol I just took some random pictures in the backyard. Some of them came out pretty nice, but I definately need to get some new lenses. lol I was VERY close to the bees I was taking pictures of. lol Surprisingly, I was not so afraid as I would have been not all that long ago. God is truly helping me to be less freaked of insects. :) Just as long as they don't crawl or land on me still. lol Anyway, I'm still deciding on the name for my photo blog that I'd like to create, but when it's done I'll post the link here and you all can see the photos I've taken. I really like the whole digital SLR thing though. Turns on instantly, hardly uses the battery while you're taking pictures, and REALLY big, HQ files of the images. lol Now I just need to work on becoming a better photographer. I need to review all my stuff, and I'm going to have to doggedly learn the dreaded Zone-System. *shudders* I can do it for good photographs though... I hope. lol
Valerie e-mailed me Sunday evening and she might come up to visit in a week and a half or so. Short notice, but I'm spontanious. lol She's got to clear it with her parents though, and then I'd have to see if I could get a lot of time off of work. Apparently her dad said yes and her mom said they'd talk about it. lol Seems rather typical to me. ;) It'd be cool if she came to visit. :)
Not a whole lot else aside from me working. I did manage to start cleaning up my room some though. Still a whole lot to do, but you can see my desk now and I even Windexed it and everything! (My desktop is glass.) So, that is quite the accomplishment. Now I just need to finish up the rest of it. I must make working on a website for someone a higher priority than my room though. The projects been dragging on for MONTHS. I finally got the logo from them and made a layout, but of course, it's not what they wanted. So, I'm having a meeting with them on Thursday to discuss what they want for the layout and hopefully I can get the whole thing finished and over and done with within a week after that or something. Well, that's all I can think of for now, so TTFN!
Wow. I had this whole happy entry planned about how I got up at 7:45 AM this morning after not getting at all enough sleep to drive myself to Target and buy Never Gone. Now it's ruined though. Why so? Because of the STUPID "content protected" B.S.! That's why. See, most of you know that I don't like "Poster Girl" and refuse to listen to it. Therefore, as I've done with all my BSB CDs, I was going to make MP3s of it using MusicMatch Jukebox to: 1) have them on my computer, 2) make a copy minus "Poster Girl" for me to have in my car so I don't have to press skip all the time, 3) make a mix of some of the songs from this with other BSB songs to have in my car, and 4) have for whenever I probably end up buying an iPod Mini as I've been seriously considering getting one. I saw the "content protected" thing on the CD before I got home, but figured there was probably a way around it. So, I put it in and the first time when I did not agree to the license agreement, it ejected the CD. The next time I had MusicMatch open and typed really fast and got it starting to make MP3s of the songs even though the box was up. I was hoping it would work, but I think deep down I knew it wouldn't. I didn't. All the songs were VERY garbled and you can't listen to them that way. That prompted me to go to the address on the back of the CD, view their FAQ, and then, having not been satisfied, write them the following letter.
__________
First of all, I would like to point out that I understand why protections have been put on the contents of this CD. I understand that there are bad people out there making illegal copies and getting money off of them, thus ripping off the artist and their management, label, etc. However, I am seriously annoyed. I've been waiting for this CD to come out for years, and now that I finally have it, I'm glad, with the exception of not being able to make a copy of it. There are a few songs on this CD that I don't particularly like, nor want to listen to. So, after purchasing it (two copies actually, as I also bought the dual disk), I was going to make MP3s of it using MusicMatch Jukebox and then burn a copy for myself to have without the songs I don't want. I probably would have also made a CD with some of the songs from this album that are my favorites along with some of my old favorites of the Backstreet Boys'. Now I can't. And then I also find that, since I've been very much considering getting an iPod Mini, I would not be able to even put the songs from this CD onto that! I'd have to buy the CD for a THIRD time through iTunes so that I could. That is YOU ripping ME off. I PAID for this music. I should be able to make personal copies of it for my own use. The purpose of this e-mail is to let you know that I'm angry, and to suggest that you come up with a better solution than this. Please forward my comments on to anyone else who should read them. Thank you.
P.S. Since this CD is also available via iTunes, wouldn’t the “bad” people be able to purchase it once through there and then make as many copies of it as they wanted anyway? I fail to see how this particular method accomplishes much.
P.S.S. I also feel violated to be forced to install unwanted software onto my computer so that I can listen to it just on there. It sounds much to like adware and spyware for my liking. Additionally, to listen to this album on my computer, I have to install and use Windows Media Player, which is not my player of choice, and is simply more unwanted software you are attempting to force me into installing onto my computer.
__________
If you go and read their FAQ, you'll see that they state that you cannot get the music directly onto your iPod. You'd have to first contact them, and then probably go through some extraneous endevor to do it. I will now encourage you all to go to their contact page and contact them with some similar e-mail to mine. I don't mean to pressure any of you into doing it, and some of you probably think I'm crazy or over-reacting, but this is really agitating to me, and I felt I had to speak my mind. Now, if only I can manage to tactfully do the same to my boss at the theatre who is also upsetting me, though obviously in a different manor. *takes deep breath* I feel better having gotten that out, and I hope they e-mail me back. I also hope I'm not alone in being annoyed/upset by this.
In other news, there is some, including finally having used my Rebel XT yesterday for the first time. However, I think I shall postpone such further posts until a later time. I'm going to watch the movie again tonight, so I need to eat before I go, and I also need to deal with my boss and the reasons she's causing me to be upset. That will be written about after I know the outcome. So, while the rest of this was vague, I do hope the other part moved some of you. And, yes, I do like the album and am glad to have it, minus it's annoyances.
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Okay, so I recind my previous statement about not being in the vibe for the new album and not liking many of the songs. BSB fans, please forgive my lapse in judgement. I will never like "Poster Girl," and I don't really like "Siberia," however I've decided a number of the other songs are quite good. I like "I Still...," "Just Want You To Know," and "Crawling Back To You" quite a bit. Not crazy about "Safest Place To Hide" yet, though. And, of course, I totally adore "Incomplete," "My Beautiful Woman," and "Climbing The Walls." I also like the title track too, but not so much as some of the others. So yes, I decided to share this before anyone got mad at me. ;) I'm feeling more excited for the concert now, and I'm hoping that they'll release the Canada dates soon so that Sam and I can make sure we can go to one in B.C. and get tickets! I had this terrible thought as I purchased my tickets for the September 2nd show in Ridgefield that it might conflict with my cousin's wedding, which is some time in September. Hope not. I haven't even gotten an invite yet, so who knows when it will be. I assume I'm invited. I'd be way crushed not to be considering this particular cousin and I have lots of memories together, etc. Anyway, bye! lol
Friday, June 10, 2005
Yesterday mom and I got up early, well, early for me, and went to the screening for Bewitched. Initially I wasn't sure how that movie was going to be, but then I found out it wasn't supposed to be a re-creation of the series, etc. Well, it turned out to be quite good. I liked it a lot. It was great because it wasn't the series, but they used a lot of shots from the original, and some of the classic things. It was very well blended, and that's why it worked for me and I enjoyed it. :)
After the movie we had lunch at Red Robins, then I dropped mom off at her work and went shopping. I went to Trader Joe's for her stuff, then I went to Office Depot to look at a Canon printer/scanner. The first Office Depot I went to actually didn't have ANY of them, even though they were in the Sunday paper ad! *rolls eyes* Oy. So, I drove to another one, and they had plenty. I deliberated for a while, but did end up buying it. They also talked me into buying extra ink for it and all. And you know what, they guy did not tell me that I was supposed to get free photo paper for buying two things of Canon ink! How rude! I only noticed it in the ad after I got home, and I don't exactly live near the store that I got it from. *grumbles* What makes it really bad is that I went next door to the CompUSA and bought the paper that the ad said I should have gotten free, not even realizing it! Oy. I was thinking about going back with my reciept to the Office Depot and getting the free paper, but I won't be going back that way any time soon, so I think I've just decided to forget it. Arg, but oh well. Oh, and while I was at Office Depot I also got some plastic organizer drawers that I now have under my desk. I've been missing drawers in assosication with my desk. lol My last desk had plenty of drawers, but this one has none. lol I still haven't setup my printer/scanner yet though.
After my shopping I went back to pick up my mom. I had to hang out there for a bit until she was done, but it didn't take too long. :) I got to be home for a few hours before I went to work. I used that time to put things in my new drawers, but in the process made my room messier than it already was! lmao Go me! Heh.
Work was okay, and I ended up staying to watch the movie since I actually didn't have to close last night! I didn't have to tonight, either, which was amazing! I am getting ahead of things though. So, I stayed to watch the movie and sat up in the balcony with the guy who keeps coming to watch it almost every day. ;) lol His name is Casey (not sure how it's spelled, but you get it), and last night was his 16th time seeing Star Wars III. lol It was my fourth. While some people would find it odd and/or obsessive that he's seen it so many times, I actually think it's kind of cool. lol He was originally only going to see it 12 times to beat his record of 11 from the final Lord of the Rings movie, but then some other kid had seen it more times than him, and that just wasn't going to work. Heh. He's quite knowledgeable about "the force" though, so he's taught me much of it, though not the nature of the Dark Side. Between him and Charlie, I now know much more about Star Wars than I had previously. There's so much a person could explore in the Star Wars universe, it's actually a shame there won't be any more movies. Bummer. Anyway, Casey pointed out George Lucas' daughter and son who are both in the movie, and he's in the movie too. Apparently you can see the Millennium Falcon at some point, but he didn't say it fast enough, so I missed it! lol I'll have to pay more attention whenever I manage to watch it again. And we also talked about some of the parts of the movie that could have been done better, etc. As a typical guy, he thought the part where Anakin whips out his lightsabre at the little kids was funny! I think it's horribly sad! No wonder he's friends with Charlie though because he thinks it's funny too. *shakes head* Anyway, I had quite the enjoyable movie experiance with Casey telling me things and me asking him questions about certain parts. He came and watched it again today. lol
I slept longer than I wanted today, but oh well. When I woke up, the first thing I did was get on the computer to see if BSB tickets were on sale. See, the article was not very clear and did not say what time the tickets would go on sale. So, of course, they were on sale at 8:30 AM and I didn't get online to look until around noon. Gar! So, I bought pre-sale ones through AOL/Ticketmaster. At first, it told me the best available seats were in row Q. That seemed like it was probably fairly far away and I didn't want that. So, I searched for a specific section instead of best available, and got row F. That's flippin' better than Q, and it's on the floor! In translation, I found out they're 6th row. :D That's the same as the last BSB concert I went to. I think our seats might be on the very edge though, but hopefully the view will be okay. Oh, and it's Tammy who's going with me, and I guess we get two free lawn tickets since we bought the expensive seats (actually cheaper than any other BSB show I've been to! LMAO), so we'll probably see if a couple other people want to go with us. It's funny though, because the tour schedule says the show is in Portland, OR, but it's actually in WA! It's in some weird named city no one has probably heard of before, and only 20 minutes from Portland, so I assume that's why they said Portland, though it's quite misleading.
I'm actually not as excited as I should be, either. I was getting a little more excited, but then I was listening to the album here, and I'm not feelin' it yet. I'm also bummed that "Forces of Nature" did not make it onto the album. They should have put that and "Song For The Unloved" on the album instead of "Poster Girl" and some other track. My opinion, anyway. I guess that "I Still..." is starting to grow on me though, and "Lose It All" is alright. I haven't listened to hardly any of them more than once though, so that could just be it. In the past though, the first I heard of almost every song made me love it, so this is rather dissapointing for me. I still refuse to listen to "Poster Girl" because of the lyrics. They're horrid and I'm certainly dissapointed in the Boys for recording that song. And even so, I swear it's like in the Josie and the Pussycats movie and I'm being forced to buy the album and concert tickets through sublminal messages! lmao I swear!
I forgot to mention that I got my Sega Genesis in the mail the other day too. All the games work, so I was happy. Haven't beaten Sonic 2 yet though, because I only played for a little while. lol That was a total tangent.
Work was fine today. I started reading a different book. I had started one the other day, but it's not that interesting to me, so I put it down and pulled out another one I had gotten recently. It's called Fitzpatrick's War. The stuff on the inner cover sounded really interesting, so I got it. I've only read about a chapter and a half thus far, but I find myself being pulled in though it's not like what I normally read. The intro was not grabing my attention, but I pushed through it because there was nothing else for me to do at work. Once I got to the first chapter, it started getting better though. I'll have to let you all know how it was when I'm done, but I find it interesting because it's about a futuristic world here on Earth where everything is run by steam like it once was, and there's no electricity available to the greater populous. It's sort of written like a history, but in the form of a fictional character's telling. It actually has footnotes through the whole thing (fictional ones), which annoyed me at first, but then when one of them refered to the time period we are living in right now as the "Age of Excrement," I had to laugh. In the book it's called "The Age of Shit," and then it has the footnote number next to it. Hilarious. lol Apparently the polite name is the "Age of Electricity," however. ;) We'll see how the rest of it goes.
My Aunt Chris and Uncle Dan are here right now. That's why I'm blogging later than I had originally planned. They came today while I was at work, and I thought they were staying for the weekend, but apparently they're leaving in the morning. lol Short visit. They're on their way to something else, and just stopping to say hello, really.
This is getting quite long, but I should really write about the last of my writing classes, which was Wednesday. I brought in a "completed" short story, for once. However, completed is not the right term for the first draft. They generally liked it okay, but suggested quite a few improvements, and after re-reading it a few times, I noticed I made some major boo-boos in it. So, whenever I fix it up and finish it, I will post it somewhere because it's rather humorous. I shall not give away too much, but it's sort of a spin from the normal fairy tales about princesses and their handsome princes. ;)
The screening for War of the Worlds is this coming Thursday. Don't know if they'll let me see it though, because they're claiming to only be letting theatre owners and their families in to it. However, I had my boss RSVP instead of me saying that she would be unable to attend (she never goes to screenings. I think she's maybe been to two since she took over the theatre.) and I, as her manager, would be attending in her place. She also called Curtis one of her managers just for it since he said he wanted to go as well. We'll see if they have a cow or not. Hopefully not.
Well, I shall now bring this entry to a close. I've still not gotten to use my Rebel XT, though I have a number of days off this coming week, so if the weather is good, I should be able to. I think that now I shall find some way to busy myself for a while before I get tired and decide to sleep. I could continue to do stuff on the computer or clean my room or I could watch TV. Decisions, decisions...
Sunday, June 5, 2005
I just saw the most beautiful, vivid rainbow I have yet seen in my entire life. I would try and describe how lovely it looked, but it really wouldn't make any of you see it as I did. It was a full arch, with a secondary rainbow along with it, and the left-hand arch of it became so incredibly vivid as we went around a turn. It was spectacular, and a most beautiful reflection of how awesome and wonderful, and beautiful God is. It lasted for so long too. It was miraculous. And somewhat ironic in that I bought that expensive digital camera to have it for such things, and I did not have it with me. *laughs* :)
Aside from the most beautiful rainbow ever, the earlier portion of the day was fairly regular. Went to church, and it was good. Then mom, dad, and I had lunch at a local bakery before coming home. Mom and I found times for movies, and headed off to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The first theatre we went to said that there were only 10 seats left. I couldn't believe it! I was not expecting that to be a sell-out kind of movie. So, mom and I drove to a different theatre to see a slightly later showing. lol It was good, and I cried a lot, but I'm rather ticked at the film ratings people. It should have been rated PG-13, not PG. Either that, or they should have cut out all the stuff of them half-naked. PG says okay for kids to me, but that stuff is not. However, maybe my perception of the rating system is off, either that or they just suck at it. Whatever. That being said, it still was a pretty good movie.
Sam saw it a few days back, and when I talked to her on Friday, she was telling me some about it. I cried a lot though, for each of the stories. I was, however, glad that at the end they made Bridget's story a little less sad. The soccer coach came to talk to her, and it wasn't like what they'd done was worthless, but the realized it was the wrong time. It's hard to explain, but I'm glad they put that in there, otherwise her story would have been way more depressing. And the guy who played the soccer coach... I kept thinking how he reminded me of Nick. lol I mean, they look significantly different, but when Nick sported his surfer look, and how this guy looks now - he reminded me of Nick. Does anyone else think so? (Click here to see him.)
That's pretty much how today has been. It was on the way back from the movie that mom and I saw the rainbow. I still haven't really done anything with my camera. It makes me sad. Right now it's all rainy though, and there are just no interesting indoor shots to take. lol I've been brainstorming some names for a photoblog though, and looking at some contests and challenges. Photography is an expenisive hobby though. Already I'd like to get a new lense (or two), but they're not cheap. lol It'd be awesome to have a wide-angle and a better zoom lense. We'll see when I can afford those, though. ;) lol
Oh, and there was a preview for Bewitched before the movie today. Before I was quite wary of that movie because I've seen a lot of the series, and I like it, so I didn't want the movie to bomb off the series. However, having finally seen the actual trailer instead of the teaser, it looks great and I'm much more excited for the screening of it Thursday. :) I like that they played with the concept some; should make it a lot more interesting and quite funny. My mom might go with me, too. :) There was also a teaser for the fourth Harry Potter on the film. I'm not sure about it. The clips that they showed are not what I see in my head when I read that book. I shall try and stay positive, but I fear that it shall let me down. The quick flash of the mermaid looked lame, and the dragon is like, the wrong kind. lol *rolls eyes* I wonder if Tammy has seen it yet? She's going to be crushed if it doesn't turn out good. Well, I shall be off now. Ta ta!
Thursday, June 2, 2005
So, surprisingly, when Tammy and I read what we've written so far on our joint story in class last night, there weren't very many negative comments. It felt rather nice. I am hoping that I can produce something quite good for the final class this coming Wednesday. I am also thinking I shall bring one of Louise's novels and have her sign it for me. :) I asked Tammy if she thought that would be weird, and she said no, but agreed that I should wait until the last class, which is what I was planning. :)
In other news, there's a fair bit to talk about for today, actually. I shall start in order and see how it progresses from there. Heh. I got up, got ready, and headed out. I wasn't sure if I would have time to run by Ran's work to drop of the last part of her present, but I did, and felt that I should be okay getting to the prevue theatre to see Batman Begins. I would have been, except that every kid and their parents had decided that it was a lovely day to go eat outside there, and there were NO parking spaces! Usually there are tons, and tons of open spots, but not today. Oy. I was getting a bit frustrated, but God gave me a spot to park finally! :) Yay! I still missed the beginning of the movie though. *sniff* Other than that, it was quite good though. It's definately a different take on Batman, but very good. And, Christian Bale is a studly, studly man, even if he is way older than me. :P Near the end, Katie Holms kisses him and then says that the part of him she loves is no longer there and they can't be together. *rolls eyes* How rude! Bait him, and then just go away! Poor Bruce Wayne. lol But yes, if you like Batman, go see it! It's different that the previous Batman movies, but good. :)
After the movie, I drove to CompUSA to check out the Canon Digital Rebel XT. It's a digital SLR, and pretty much the nicest you can get on the consumer market right now. 8 Megapixels. So pretty. So, I looked at it, and asked the Canon specialist guy who was there some questions. Then I called my mommy to see what she thought about it. Hehehe. I convinced her to come over to the store since she wasn't too far away at the time. She saw it, and we walked around the store while I was contemplating. My mom then had the brilliant idea to go and get some food while I was still contemplating. Brilliant! lol We went to Subway and had sandwiches. I was still contemplating. I had mommy call daddy to see what he thought, but he wasn't having a very good day, so it wasn't the time to ask him. He called back after a while though when he was less grumpy, but just said I was crazy for wanting to spend a thousand dollars on a camera. lol We went back to the store, and I walked around and looked at other things, asked about some printers, etc.; all the while still contemplating. And to shorten it up, I got the camera. lol I have no pictures to share as of yet though, as the battery has only just finished charging and it's late at night. lol I am planning to start a photo blog one of these days though. :) And yes, I am crazy, and after tax and a memory card the whole shabang was around $1200. lol Finally my mom just said go for it because I'll probably never have the chance to spend money like that again. Heh.
By the time I had finally decided to buy it and did so, I was just going to make it back in time for work. I had totally forgotten that I had to work today, and didn't realize how much time I had spent in my "contemplating." lol Oops. I followed mom, and we tried to bypass traffic, but then we just hit some more. lol Oh well. 'Tis the way of things some times I think. I still got toward work a bit early though, so I went to Safeway to get orange juice, rent movies, and see the guy who works at the movie counter. *sigh* I know, I'm a total dork. Oh, but Tammy was so proud when she heard that I had a full conversation with him! :D And he started it. lol I'm thinking now it might have been a major hint that I came back today even though I was just there yesterday. lmao But I didn't have time to rent more videos then, because Tammy and I were running late! Okay, I think the guy is cute! So sue me! lmao Anyway, he asked me if I was going to school or working, and I told him where I work, then I asked how his mom was. Might not have been the most intelligent thing, but I knew his mom, so why not ask, right? Anyway, I was nervous, but not too bad, so thanks be to God, and yay for me. lol Not that anything will come of it, but he's a nice boy, and there's no reason why I shouldn't talk to him and be friendly. :)
Work was fine as well. Had a little fun with some things, but survived. I get to have more fun at the theatre tomorrow too! lmao Woo! Hehehe. So, now I am watching Troy, which is one of the movies I rented. It's good, but not worth buying, to me. Therefore, renting occassionally is the way to go. Some of the stuff in this movie is crapped though. You know, the chick is holding a knife to Brad Pitt's neck, then he rolls her over, and they have sex. WTH?! *shakes it off* Whatever, I don't want to think about that stuff. The other way crapped thing is that they kill Hector. How could they?! I don't care if he died in the stories or whatever, he's the best character! He's like an ideal man or something, I tell ya. He has no joy in killing, loves his wife and no other woman, and knows when to be smart, and not stupid. But no, they had to make the butthead that Brad Pitt plays kill him and then drag his body through the sand! DISHONOR! Yes, that's what I have to say about that movie.
Okay, so this post has gone all over the place. I shall be signing off now to finish this movie, and perhaps play with my new camera. Might not work too well until tomorrow, but one never knows. I might just decide to read. Haven't done that for a few days. Night night!
