Someone's treasure is another man's trash

No Child Left Behind

2007-08-22T03:04:00.000-07:00

The Bush Administration, like many conservative groups, cares a lot about young lives. From zygotes to embryos to nine-month-old fetuses, Bush 'n' friends care a great deal about the well-being of an almost-child. After your born, though, you'd better hope you weren't born poor. --- ueberbill from BSalert.com

You know, this is very true. They care so much (for religious reasons) to make sure that they'll leave no fetus behind, because they wish to save your soul. Then, once you're born, you're in a bit of a problem. I don't have to go over it all do I? No? Ok, good. Well, there's a simple explanation for it. Expanding poverty levels, poor school funding with horrible teacher's unions, goin' to war and a whole lot more. Yup. A simple explanation.

They're EVIL. Wait, hold on, let me explain. So, they want to make sure you're born, right? They go through all the effort to get you in your mother (with help from father), veto laws that would end up in some 'soul lossage', and lots of other things to make sure you. get. born. Ok. Great. Now what? You're born and BAM you're on your own. Go to public school with abysmal standards, no health care, everyone below a certain point is getting poorer (and that level is getting higher). Great. Now what? You can't afford college. You could take out a loan and pait ot off for the rest of your life or you could enlist or something. Ok, assuming you don't die in Iraq or the middle east, now what? You live then. You. Die. BAM. They're evil. I told you! Wait, hold on, it makes sense. Check it out.

Bush and his homies are actually working for evil forces (or maybe they ARE the evil forces, you can never be too sure) to make sure god inserts enough souls into little baby fetuses (yes, they're the youngest of the fetuses) and then give you every chance to be born under near optimal circumstances. Then, now that your soul is ripe for the pickin', they make sure your life is a living hell and make it as risky as possible. Bam. Evil. What did I tell you? They push the envelope on soul harvesting. I mean, start from the top and work your way down, right? How best to collect a huge sum of human spirits if not to control the laws and military?

Great. So we agree? Death dealers, right? They're out to get you and your souls. Better hide them. And babies, if you have them, make sure you order the soul-free ones from god. They may be boring and lifeless, but at least their mortal lives won't be in jeopardy from the soulsuckin' Administration huh? Wait, most of my readers are from outside the country. SAVE YOURSELF. You and all your loved ones are at risk. Souls, beware.

You know you're in college when...

2007-05-07T10:54:00.000-07:00

Yet, another list blatently stolen from ANOTHER site (cough!). Asteriks signify the creator's favorites.

*1. High school started before 8am, but now anything before noon is considered "early".

2. You have more beer than food in your fridge.

3. Weekends start on Thursday.

4. 6am is when you go to sleep, not when you wake up.

5. You know many different ways to cook ramen noodles or macaroni and cheese.

6. The health center gives out free condoms, and people take them… just in case.

7. Instead of falling asleep in class, you stay in bed.

8. You know how late McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Qdoba, etc. are open.

9. You think it’s the weekend on a Wednesday and you don’t know what month it is.

10. You can't remember the last time you washed your car.

11. Your underwear/sock supply dictates your laundry schedule.

12. You check Facebook/Myspace more than once a day.

13. You get drunk dialed on any night of the week.

14. You wash dishes in the bathroom sink.

15. You’ve fallen off a loft bed.

*16. You talk about beer pong like it’s a sport.

17. Finding random people in your house is perfectly normal, and you even sympathize with them... sometimes when you wake up you have no idea where you are.

*18. Your primary news sources are the Daily Show and the Colbert Report.

19. You open a beer at 10 am and your roommate asks you if there’s more.

20. The standard of meals per day falls to two, sometimes just one.

21. Your trash is overflowing and your bank account isn’t.

22. You go to Target or Wal-Mart more than 3 times a week.

*23. You wear the same jeans for 13 days without washing them.

24. Your breakfast consists of a coke or cereal bar on the way to class... anything with caffeine will do.

25. Quarters are like gold.

26. Your idea of feeding the poor is buying yourself some ramen noodles.

27. You live in a house with three couches, none of which match.

28. You try to study but seem to procrastinate by eating, going to study breaks, talking to people, etc...

*29. You talk to your roommate on instant messenger when you’re both home.

30. You ask people what YOU did last night.

*31. Certain things are now deemed "Facebook worthy." When friends take pictures of you, you wonder how long it will take them to post them.

*32. You’ve seen a hit and run involving a bicyclist/pedestrian.

33. You see people you know you’ve met but can never remember their names or how you know them.

34. You sleep more in class than in your room

35. Your idea of a square meal is a box of Pop-Tarts.

36. You've traveled with bags of dirty clothes.

37. You go home to do your laundry because you're too poor to pay the $2... or too lazy to go to a change machine.

*38. You pay $100 for a book you don't read once, return it four months later, and get $7.

39. More than 20% of your household furnishings are made from milk crates.

40. You recognize the meat in the dorm soup as yesterday's meatloaf, and thus decide to eat a nice bowl of cereal - a safe bet for any meal.

41. You use words like "thus" (see #40).

42. You throw out bowls and plates because you don't feel like washing them.

43. Your beer pong table is nicer than all your other tables.

44. It takes preparation... and 3 people... to take out your garbage.

45. Going to the library is a social event.

46. You wear flip flops in the shower your freshman year... you know why.

*47. You start joining clubs because of the free food.

48. Visits home depend on how much money you have for gas.

49. You skip one class to write a paper for another.

*50. You have no idea where your tuition money is going... technology fees? I think not.

*51. Bicycles don't seem as lame as they did in high school.

52. You stay up late to finish homework then sleep through the class in which it was due.

53. Girls: You've balanced your foot on a shampoo bottle to shave.

54. Your backpack is giving you scoliosis.

55. You've written a check for 45 cents or stopped to get $2.00 of gas.

56. Your bill in the bookstore will be comparable to tuition.

57. Going to the mailbox becomes an ego booster/breaker.

58. Most of your T.A.'s are foreign...what's the deal?

*59. You never realized so many people are smarter than you.

*60. You never realized so many people are dumber than you.

61. Western Europe could be wiped out by a terrible plague and you'd never know, but you can recite the last episode of your favorite show verbatim.

*62. Care packages rank right up there with birthdays.

63. You craft ways to make any game into a drinking/stripping game.

*64. You meet the type of people you thought only existed in movies.

65. Printers break down only when you desperately need them.

66. Anything can be cooked in a microwave.

67. Two words: bike cops.

68. You have Safe Ride programmed into your phone.

69. Old school Nintendo... and guitar hero... are pretty much the best things ever.

70. Going to the grocery at midnight is completely normal.

71. You call restaurants that deliver more than you call your own family.

72. You've paid bills over $5... in coins.

73. You can't imagine life without your computer/cell phone/ i-pod.

74. Hoodies and sweatpants become the norm - jeans are considered "dressy" at certain occasions... like school.

75. A canceled class is almost as exciting as Christmas.

76. Taking a nap in the library is perfectly acceptable.

77. Your professors speak English... as a second language.

78. Your teachers swear in class and no one cares.

79. Candles in your dorm room are considered contraband, but cigarettes are ok.

80. You take condiment packets and napkins from fast food restaurants - hey, they're free.

81. Betta fish are like your family.

82. You bring back socks from the laundry room that may or may not be yours.

83. You know what people carrying suspiciously heavy backpacks after dark are doing...

84. The elevators take forever but you'll wait 10 minutes just so you don't have to climb stairs.

85. Your roommate asks you to check the weather on your computer when they're standing 5 feet away from the door.

86. Showers become more of an issue.

87. You press the automatic door opener instead of simply grabbing the handle when you approach a door.

88. Christmas lights seem to be acceptable all year round.

*89. Class size doubles on exam days.

90. You donate plasma even though you know it's pretty sketchy.

*91. You are no longer thankful that fire alarms are here to protect you.

92. You've bought Christmas presents from the book store and charged it to your student account so your parents pay for the gifts because you're too broke.

93. You begin to include ketchup on your list of acceptable vegetables.

94. You stay on campus for hours in between classes when it's too cold to walk home.

95. People have to help you kick the vending machine just so you can get your 50 cent bag of chips.

*96. There's always a "question kid" in at least one of your classes, and you really wish someone would just tell him/her to shut the hell up.

97. You steal dishes from the cafeteria so you don't have to wash your own.

98. Laundry is an all-day event.

99. You no longer find it uncool to take naps. In fact, you quite enjoy them.

100. It's illegal to drink in the dorms yet they sell an assortment of shot glasses, beer mugs, tankards, etc. in the bookstore.

101. You find your list of acceptable napping places expanding daily to increasingly uncomfortable locations.

102. You fill out credit card applications for the free food.

103. You've eaten cereal out of a cup... with a fork.

104. Dressing up for Halloween becomes cool again.

105. You know at least one person who has dropped his/her cell phone into a toilet.

106. You hang multiple shirts on the same hanger to save space/money.

*107. You become increasingly annoyed with the "old" people in class - props to them for going back to college but they generally ask really, really annoying questions.

108. You admire people's alcohol bottle shrines.

109. You set your clock 5-10 minutes ahead so you can potentially make it to class on time.

110. You check ratemyprofessor.com (or something of the like) before choosing your class schedule.

111. You text faster than you type.

112. You only find out a class is cancelled after you get there and sit for about ten minutes.

113. You actually start using coupons, especially those school coupon books.

114. You open canned food and eat it... out of the can.

115. You run out of black ink and, instead of buying a new ink cartridge, decide blue is a nice substitute... adds a little flair.

116. You have numbers in your phone with labels like “Sketchy Steve” and “Alcohol Guy.”

117. The food in your fridge may or may not be older than your little brother.

*118. You finish reading this and wonder how you can procrastinate next.

"The 86 rules of Boozing"

2007-05-06T02:17:00.000-07:00

1. If you owe someone money, always pay them back in a bar. Preferably during happy hour.

2. Always toast before doing a shot.

3. Whoever buys the shot gets the first chance to offer a toast.

4. Change your toast at least once a month.

5. Buying someone a drink is five times better than a handshake.

6. Buying a strange woman a drink is still cool. Buying all her drinks is dumb.

7. Never borrow more than one cigarette from the same person in one night.

8. When the bartender is slammed, resist the powerful urge to order a slightly-dirty, very-dry, in-and-out, super-chilled half-and-half martini with a lemon twist. Limit orders to beer, straight shots and two-part cocktails.

9. Get the bartender's attention with eye contact and a smile.

10. Do not make eye contact with the bartender if you do not want a drink.

11. Unacceptable things to say after doing a shot: Great, now I’m going to get drunk. I hate shots. It’s coming back up.

12. Never, ever tell a bartender he made your drink too strong.

13. If he makes it too weak, order a double next time. He'll get the message.

14. If you offer to buy a woman a drink and she refuses, she does not like you.

15. If you offer to buy a woman a drink and she accepts, she still might not like you.

16. If she buys you a drink, she likes you.

17. If someone offers to buy you a drink, do not upgrade your liquor preference.

18. Always have a corkscrew in your house.

19. If you don't have a corkscrew, push the cork down into the bottle with a pen.

20. Drink one girly drink in public and you will forever be known as the guy who drinks girly drinks.

21. Our parents were better drinkers than we are.

22. Never talk to someone in the restroom unless you're doing the same thing—urinating, waiting in line or washing your hands.

23. Girls hang out, apply make-up, and have long talks in the bathroom. Men do not.

24. After your sixth drink, do not look at yourself in the mirror. It will shake your confidence.

25. It is only permissible to shout 'woo-hoo!' if you are doing a shot with four or more people.

26. If there is a d.j., you can request a song only once per night. If he doesn't play it within half an hour, do not approach him again. If he does play it, do not approach him again.

27. Learn how to make a rose out of a bar napkin. You'll be surprised how well it works.

28. If you can't afford to tip, you can't afford to drink in a bar. Go to the liquor store.

29. If you owe someone twenty dollars or less, you may pay them back in beer.

30. Never complain about the quality or brand of a free drink.

31. If you have been roommates with someone more than six months, you may drink all their beer, even if it's hidden, as long as you leave them one.

32. You can have a shot of their hard liquor only if the cap has been cracked and the bottle goes for less than $25.

33. The only thing that tastes better than free liquor is stolen liquor.

34. If you bring Old Milwaukee to a party, you must drink at least two cans before you start drinking the imported beer in the fridge.

35. Learn to appreciate hangovers. If it was all good times every jackass would be doing it.

36. If you ever feel depressed, get out a bartender’s guide and browse through all the drinks you’ve never tried.

37. Try one new drink each week.

38. If you are the bar's sole customer, you are obliged to make small talk with the bartender until he stops acknowledging you. Then you're off the hook. The same goes for him.

39. Never tip with coins that have touched you. If your change is $1.50, you can tell the barmaid to keep the change, but once she has handed it to you, you cannot give it back. To a bartender or cocktail waitress, small change has no value.

40. If you have ever told a bartender, “Hey, it all spends the same,” then you are a cheap ass.

41. Anyone on stage or behind a bar is fifty percent better looking.

42. You can tell how hard a drinker someone is by how close they keep their drink to their mouth.

43. A bar is a college, not a nursery. If you spill a beer, clean it up. If you break a glass, wait for a staff member to clean it up, then blame it on someone else.

44. Being drunk is feeling sophisticated without being able to say it.

45. It's okay to drink alone.

46. After three drinks, you will forget a woman's name two seconds after she tells you. The rest of the night you will call her “baby” or “darling”.

47. Nothing screams 'nancy boy' louder than swirling an oversized brandy snifter.

48. Men don't drink from straws. Unless you're doing a Mind or Face Eraser.

49. If you do a shot, finish it. If you don't plan to finish it, don't accept it.

50. Never brood in a dance bar. Never dance in a dive bar.

51. Never play more than three songs by the same artist in a row.

52. Your songs will come on as you're leaving the bar.

53. Never yell out jukebox selections to someone you don't know.

54. Never lie in a bar. You may, however, grossly exaggerate and lean.

55. If you think you might be slurring a little, then you are slurring a lot. If you think you are slurring a lot, then you are not speaking English.

56. Screaming, “Someone buy me a drink!” has never worked.

57. For every drink, there is a five percent better chance you will get in a fight. There is also a three percent better chance you will lose the fight.

58. Fighting an extremely drunk person when you are sober is hilarious.

59. If you are broke and a friend is “sporting you”, you must laugh at all his jokes and play wingman when he makes his move.

60. If you are broke and a friend is “making sport of you”, you may steal any drink he leaves unattended.

61. Never rest your head on a table or bar top. It is the equivalent of voluntarily putting your head on a chopping block.

62. If you are trading rounds with a friend and he asks if you're ready for another, always say yes. Once you fall out of sync you will end up buying more drinks than him.

63. If you're going to hit on a member of the bar staff, make sure you tip well before and after, regardless of her response.

64. The people with the most money are rarely the best tippers.

65. Before you die, single-handedly make one decent martini.

66. Asking a bartender what beers are on tap when the handles are right in front of you is the equivalent of saying, “I'm an idiot.”

67. Never ask a bartender “what's good tonight?” They do not fly in the scotch fresh from the coast every morning.

68. If there is a line for drinks, get your goddamn drink and step the hell away from the bar.

69. If there is ever any confusion, the fuller beer is yours.

70. The patrons at your local bar are your extended family, your fathers and mothers, your brothers and sisters. Except you get to sleep with these sisters. And if you're really drunk, the mothers.

71. It's acceptable, traditional in fact, to disappear during a night of hard drinking. You will appear mysterious and your friends will understand. If they even notice.

72. Never argue your tab at the end of the night. Remember, you're hammered and they’re sober. It's akin to a precocious five-year-old arguing the super-string theory with a physicist. 99.9% of the time you're wrong and either way you're going to come off as a jackass.

73. If you bring booze to a party, you must drink it or leave it.

74. If you hesitate more than three seconds after the bartender looks at you, you do not deserve a drink.

75. Beer makes you mellow, champagne makes you silly, wine makes you dramatic, tequila makes you felonious.

76. The greatest thing a drunkard can do is buy a round of drinks for a packed bar.

77. Never preface a conversation with a bartender with “I know this is going to be a hassle, but . . .”

78. When you’re in a bar and drunk, your boss is just another guy begging for a fat lip. Unless he’s buying.

79. If you are 86’d, do not return for at least three months. To come back sooner makes it appear no other bar wants you.

80. Anyone with three or more drinks in his hands has the right of way.

81. If you’re going to drink on the job, drink vodka. It’s the no-tell liquor.

82. There’s nothing wrong with drinking before noon. Especially if you’re supposed to be at work.

83. The bar clock moves twice as fast from midnight to last call.

84. A flask engraved with a personal message is one of the best gifts you can ever give. And make sure there’s something in it.

85. On the intimacy scale, sharing a quiet drink is between a handshake and a kiss.

86. You will forget every one of these rules by your fifth drink.

--Frank Kelly Rich

Blatently stolen from a site which 'stole' it from another site. The original site (I hope... I think?) has the poster for sale here (at least, this is the site that was referenced to).

Death Redefined with Heart Attacks

2007-05-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

"May 7, 2007 issue - Consider someone who has just died of a heart attack. His organs are intact, he hasn't lost blood. All that's happened is his heart has stopped beating—the definition of "clinical death"—and his brain has shut down to conserve oxygen. But what has actually died?"

Wow. Oxygen actually kills you! Wow, we've been killing people for years then. Well, in the right situations anyways. It's a damn interesting article.

Rare but Real: People Who Feel, Taste and Hear Color

2007-05-02T10:46:00.000-07:00

"When Ingrid Carey says she feels colors, she does not mean she sees red, or feels blue, or is green with envy. She really does feel them.

She can also taste them, and hear them, and smell them.

The 20-year-old junior at the University of Maine has synesthesia, a rare neurological condition in which two or more of the senses entwine. Numbers and letters, sensations and emotions, days and months are all associated with colors for Carey.

The letter "N" is sienna brown; "J" is light green; the number "8" is orange; and July is bluish-green.

The pain from a shin split throbs in hues of orange and yellow, purple and red, Carey told LiveScience.

Colors in Carey's world have properties that most of us would never dream of: red is solid, powerful and consistent, while yellow is pliable, brilliant and intense. Chocolate is rich purple and makes Carey�s breath smell dark blue. Confusion is orange."

That's pretty cool, and there's tons more to the article, and it only gets more interesting. BAM.

Good and Evil (and a dash of Morals) Chill, Mix Well, then Serve

2007-04-27T01:46:00.000-07:00

The SHORT Post:
There is no 'good' and 'evil'. It's all relative. What's good for you, is bad for someone else. There is no 'good' without 'evil'. You apply for a job and you get it. Good for you. Everyone else who applied? Bad for them. Deal with it, it's all relative.

The LONG Post:
Good and Evil. We're always trying to do 'good', right? Do no wrong, nothing 'evil', because that's bad. But what is 'good', and what is 'evil'? Ok, let me paint you a scenario. And you tell me what's the right thing to do, what was good and what was bad, ok?

Situation A: You're walking down the street, on the way home from work. You happen to find a $20 on the floor. You pick it up, and look around. Nobody's around you. You don't really have anyone to turn it into, no way to report it. You decide, it's your lucky day. You slip it in your pocket and go about your day.

Verdict? That's a good one, right? You find some money! Sweet. You can save that money, or blow it on something. It doesn't matter, it was free. It was excess. It's an unexpected bonus. Right, so let's look at another situation now.

Situation a: You're rushing to get home, and you gotta find your keys. You reach into your pocket and pull out your keys, completely ignorant to the fact that the $20 that's suppose to get you through the day just slipped out of your pocket. You get in your car and go on your way. Hours later, you discover that it's missing, and you have no idea where you lost it.

Verdict? Shit. That sucks. You just lost some of your hard earned cash because you were a little careless. This is defiantely bad, right? But wait. How can the exact same situation be both "good" AND "bad" at the same time? Well, because good and bad, good and evil, it's all reletive. What's beneficial for you is 'good', and what's detrimental to you is 'evil'.

That's it. That's all there is to it. Don't think beyond that. No, don't pull religion into this! No, don't pull laws and morals into-dammit! How did I know you were gonna go there? How? *sigh* Ok, well, fine. Let's talk about that. I mean, 10 Commandments, Laws, morals, traditions, taboos, this, that, it's all fine and dandy. But it doesn't really determine what's 'right' and 'wrong'.

Well, it kind of does I guess but ultimately, it doesnt. Ok, I guess I need to elaborate. Let's start with a simple one. A man breaks into your house, he's wielding a knife, and intends on leaving no witnesses. You arm yourself with a handy firearm (that you legally own, of course) and remove the threat from your home. *bam*, a round goes off and it was quite a shot. The thug is taken down, dead. This is murder. And murder is wrong, right? Well, yeah. Sort of. Murder is ok, if the situation allows, right? Like, if we're going to war, or we're defending ourself, then it's ok. But outright murder is bad, right?

So that already shows that things are very situational, and relative to what the situation is. There is no 'absolute' right or wrong, good or evil in the case of murder. So, uh, yeah. I guess murder (the intentional and unlawful taking of another person's life) can be justified and allowed in civilized societies. Hurray! You hear that? It's OK to murder people! Well, if the situation is right.

And hey! In situation A and a, it already shows that 'good' and 'bad' can both come from the same thing. In fact, there will always be winners and losers for anything that happens. A lot of times, we (people) can agree that there are some 'bad' things that nobody wants. Wiping out humanity, for instance is bad. Or IS it? It's bad for us people, no doubt. But for everything else other than us, it should be pretty good, right? Insects will definately be taking over our old stomping grounds, along with some wild animals. So it's good for them... but damn, that's really bad for us.

[This is the "Big Paragraph"] Then again, we (as a religion) can agree that certain 'taboos' (sins) are bad and nobody should do them. And if someone does, they're wrong (until we change our minds, of course). Then again, we (as a ethnicity) can agree that certain things are good for us, and certain things are good for us, but bad for other ethnicities. Then again, we (as a Country) can agree that certain things are good for us, which may be bad for other Countries. Then again, we (as a city) can agree that certain things are good for us, which may be bad for other cities. Then again, we ( as a family unit) can agree that certain things are good for us, which may be bad for other families.

See how that works? There's lots of 'good' and 'bad' things to each of us. And in fact, there's tons of conflictions within each person because of all these different layers. There's no absolute 'good' or 'bad', but it all depends on (what, who, where, when, why). It may be good for our country, may be bad for our city. And that same thing can be good for our religion, but bad for our family unit. What a shame, huh? That one thing could be so good, good, and bad, bad, ALL at the same time?

"But Bitter old Anifanatic! We have MORALS to guide us!"

Hush you! Who let you back in here!? *KICK* Right, well, I'll still address your point. Morals. We invented morals, plain and simple. That does't mean they're good or bad, just that they can't tell us what really is good or bad. Only what's good or bad in relation to what these sets of morals come from. (Read the "Big Paragraph"). Because morals are relative also. I hope I don't have to go over that whole thing again, as I said (read the "Big Paragraph").

So, a lot of you are probably still wondering. "Well, if ALL this is true Mr. Fancy Pants, then how do we know what's good and bad?" Well, I'm glad you think I have Fancy Pants, and I'm glad you brought up that point. We, as people, decide what's right or wrong. Ok, this is gonna take a few steps of evolution so let' back it up a bit. So I think, murder is wrong. I don't like the idea of people running around killing whoever they like. I like not being in a place where my life is in danger. Then you come along. You feel the same way. We decide to live together, and work together. We have similar beliefs as to what we think is right and wrong, so we start a town, that grows as other likeminded people come to stay with us. These ideas become laws, for everyone to read because this is OUR town and we decided what we think is 'right' and 'wrong'.

Now adjust it a bit slightly different, and you can easily see how it works with other things. This is how countries are formed. This is how religions are formed. This is how clubs are formed, teams, companies, friendships, etc. I think _____ is good and ------ is bad. You agree. We join together to make one of the things I listed above. You know what, these things grow. My country might think something, and yours thinks the same. Our countries become freinds. We hang out and do stuff together. When we meet up with other countries, we're friends! We have each other's back, it's cool! It's the same as if we were individuals, and meeting on a school playground, right?

Right and wrong is taught to us by our parents because they believe something, and they want us to believe it too. We go to a school and we get taught what's right and wrong by them too, in their perspective. Then there's the government too. Well, then it gets complicated. Maybe our parents taught us something that school or the government disagrees with. Or I find a religion I like and it clashes with my parents because they disagree on what's 'right' and 'wrong'. Damn. For something that's suppose to be so easily distinguishable, it sure seems we've divided ourselves a hundred times over as to whats good and bad huh? See? There's no right and wrong. There's only what's right and wrong, for the individual. And from there, it can extend to other things like ethnicity, the family, city, governmnet, religion, etc. But it's ALL relative.

So when someone says "Hey, what the fuck are you doing? Don't you have any morals? That's so fucked up! Stop fucking that donkey!" Well, as much as I agree with no donkey sex, I have to say that there is no 'right' or 'wrong'. If he wants to fuck a donkey, who am I to tell him it's wrong? I think it's wrong, sure, but that's me. I'm not him. It's relative (but seriously people, don't go fucking donkeys). Now if you just switch "fucking donkeys" with "Abortion" then, the lines will be drawn and people will take sides because that's something more people are divided about (hopefully). Or if you switch "Abortion" with "Movie Ratings" and what people are allowed to see at what age.

People are different. What's right and wrong varies. If you think one way, and I think another. It doesn't really bother me. If it's that different, no hard feelings, but we're too different for my taste. We can part ways and you live your life according to you, and I'll live my life how I want to also. Don't take offense to it. Sure, we might be able to be friends if it's not that big of a deal, but if it is, we might not be able to be freinds anymore. This is where people get divided about things, and great relationships end because as great as the freindship, marrage, religion, government, etc has been in the past and might still be now, that one (or several) thing(s) that you're passionate about and really can't let slide... well that can break it up. You might be able to let "paper bags" and "plastic bags" slide, because it doesn't matter that much to either of you. But when it comes to critical topics (which I won't cover, but you know what they can be), it can be a 'deal breaker'.

No hard feelings, eh? We're still friends, hopefully. But if it's bad enough, hopefully not. Opinions, good and evil, and morals will divide people even further, with each passing day, with each generation. It's just how things are. There's no 'good', there's no 'evil'. There's only "Opinions".

What is Love (and Marrage)? (Or lack there of)

2007-04-27T00:14:00.000-07:00

The SHORT Post:
What the fuck man. 48% of marrages end in divorce. Fuck. Have some foresight people! Where's the love? Where's the 'until death do us part'? Damn.

The LONG Post:
The National Center for Health Statistics - Divorce

According to this site (and it's a pretty official site):
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(Data are for U.S. for year indicated)

Number of marriages: 2,230,000

Marriage rate: 7.5 per 1,000 total population

Divorce rate: 3.6 per 1,000 population (46 reporting States and D.C.)

This page last reviewed October 06, 2006
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Now if my math numbers are right, 3.6/7.5 = .48. That's 48%. And, that's only considering 46 States and the D.C. District, which means that 48% might be higher. (Note that all marrages are taken into account, but not all divorces, so the figures can be slightly skewed. It could be read two ways though. They're not counting those 4 states and the D.C. district at all for number of divorces only, or for both, number of divorces and population. In the case of the first, the divorce rate is MUCH higher, in the case of the second, it should be fairly similar to the current statistic).

So for every two couples that get married, one couple will get divorced. Until death do us part, right? Marrage is a sham, and has been for quite some time. It's origins of Marrage is uncertain, but it exists in nearly all societies. But, like nearly everything in this world, something that may have been born of powerful emotions and were intended to be used for good in one way or another, will be manipulated, twisted, and abused. Arranged marrages, political marrages, 'because it's tradition', 'it's financially safe', etc, etc. Love isn't the primary concern for these marrages, and these marrages are far more common than I'd like to believe.

And, those kinds of marrages aside, we have to consider the people. People can (and will) get together foolishly. They won't look to the future beyond a few days, weeks, maybe even months or years. And then, maybe they decide to 'take the plunge', as many people would say. Ok, great! They get married. Now they're part of the statistics. And from here, statistically, there's a 50% chance they're going to break up. Those are some pretty shitty odds man. 50%? I have better luck in craps than I do staying in a marrage. Is that what Love and Marrage has become? A bad game of craps?

That can't be it. There's plenty of things to factor in. People aren't just a random figure that's dependent on a roll of a die or two. Of course. But people are ignorant. Everyone is, myself included. Everyone is ignorant about something, because we're human, and we don't know everything. But sometimes, people choose to believe something, even if they have reason not to, even if they know it's a lie. They may turn a blind eye to other things, and just not see them, or maybe they'll think "they'll change" or "it's not a big deal", or fabricate something else to convince themself that it's a good idea.

They get caught in the moment, their emotions are flaring and their senses are failing them. Then, reality kicks in. For some. For those who don't, stay in your delusions, this post doesn't apply to you anyways. This is for everyone else (those 50%, and then some). You made a mistake. It's over. There's too much pressure. Pressure from family, from society, from friends, from your 'ideals'. Marrage is "x", and "x" is how it should be. If you're not like that, it's wrong. Because you know (KNOW) that it's suppose to be "x". But that's what you've learned from TVs, Movies, Society, maybe even family. Not saying it's wrong, but I'm also saying that it might not be 'right'. What do I mean by 'right'? They set you up. Set you up for unrealistic expectations. Being swept of your feet by prince charming, Ms. Right walks into your life. Fantasy shrouds your judgement and reality becomes a distant thing. Maybe, maybe one day it'll hit you, and hopefully that's not somewhere 25 years down your life when it's almost too late. But it's easier to believe a lie than admit your life has been wrong.

But you know what? We love tragedy. We do! It's easier to relate to tragedy. Everyone's had bad times and we share them together. We love to hear about the downfall of our fellow man (or woman). Tabloids, the news, gossip, they're all the same thing in that sense. "Hey, X and Y broke up." or "X was cheating on Y with Z!". Oh, and let's not forget "AB broke up. So did CD, EF, and GH!" Wow, what great news. We cling to to these things which do not matter to us very much for some reason. There's a war going on, important court cases, bills being discussed and passed, but what do you see on the news? "Who's the baby's daddy?" "Your life could be in danger! Tune in!" "School Shooting!" Right. VTech. That's another post, maybe. I feel that I'm ranting so I should move on.

So anyways, you tell me. What's the point of marrage? Failure rate of 50%? Those are some good odds. That's not to mention how many marrages stay together, even though they hate each other, or they want to stay together for the kids, or it's just 'taboo' or this, or that. The love is lost (what little there was), and it's a sham of a marrage. Marrage is just a term. It means practically nothing if there is no love involved.

For those of you planning to get married one day, more power to you. I hope things work out great. However, according to the statistics, you've just as much chance to end in misery and divoce as you do staying together. I hope you have more foresight than everyone else in this country has. And for my international readers, I can't speak for you, but at least here, I can assure you, Marrage has become a sham. Maybe it hasn't become a sham at all? Or maybe it's always been one since the beginning?

*Note: I do feel a need to state, that the idea of Marrage is great. I think it's a wonderful thing. Not all marrages are BS and not all will end in divorce. There are those that love each other and stay together, through thick and through thin, and it's a beautiful thing. I look up to you and what you have, and admire and love what you have. This post does not apply to you. You are what people should look up to and admire.

**Note: Yes, I'm a bit bitter. Why? Those numbers don't lie, and my whole life I've seen it all around me. People can sing about it all they want, movies, books, TV, whatever. Emotions cloud our judgement. Bad ideas sound like good ideas. We believe these bad ideas because we want to believe them. Whatever. I'm a bitter old man and have been for a great many years. I'd take a ballpark estimate at oooooh, almost 13 years? Lucky 13 huh? (another post on that I guess).

***Note: On a side note, these statistics aren't taking into consideration marrages that: end with murder of the spouse [awwwww <3], style="font-weight: bold;">63%? Yummy!

****Note: FUCK MAN. 48%!? Damn! UGH. Only something as emotionally powerful can a 'success' rate of 48% be acceptable. It's rediculous. Think of a school had a 48% failure rate, or your car's breaks have a 48% chance to bitch out, or just... UGH. It's a fucking joke. You throw money at it (liscence, wedding, etc etc) and half the time it's ultimately bullshit anyways. Way to live up to your vows. "Well, they did mean them when they said it", some people may say. Great. They REALLY meant it when they said it. Now we have to call their judgement into question ANYTIME they REALLY mean anything. Ugh... *COUGH* Er... yeah, had to get that out. Eh...

Riiight, well... Now I'll end this, 'downer' of a post with soemthing a bit more of an 'up'. This saying is well known, but only the first part. I will say though, it does say what it says quite well. Farwell for another post well done (I hope).

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Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

~ Reinhold Niebuhr

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One Site, Two Kids, Opposite sides of the "Whoa" Spectrum

2007-04-26T01:09:00.000-07:00

"Mommy, there's a condom in my Happy Meal!" - Yes, just like it says. 7 year old finds a nice 'toy' in her bag. Quite a Happy Meal indeed! Wrapper Included.

"Mommy? Oh no! I'm going to call the police!" - Child, 4 year old calls the police when his mother colapsed. Name, age, address. What a Hero.

10 Signs you're going to die in a movie

2007-04-25T01:34:00.000-07:00

10. You are wearing a red shirt.
9. You announce that you're going to retire, right after you 'finish this case'.
8. You decide to rise up from your apparent death one more time to surprise the hero.
7. You betray Al Pacino.
6. You decide to stop following the hero and take a different route.
5. You declare "everything is safe" then step out from your hiding place.
4. A serial killer is on the loose and you reveal your breasts.
3. You're playing Jesus.
2. All your bullets miss the hero, even at point blank.
1. Han Solo owes you money.

*Blatently Stolen from this site, slightly altered*

Movies of the Year

2007-04-24T20:48:00.001-07:00

Spiderman 3, Shrek the Third, Ocean's Thirteen, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Live Free or Die Hard, Transformers, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Bourne Ultimatum, Rush Hour 3. Other than Transformers, these are all sequels. Transformers, kind of fits in here, it's not a sequel or a remake (Ocean's Thirteen is both a sequel AND a remake of sorts), but it is an updated version of a classic. They're all coming out this year, and they are listed in chronological order. Interested?

Man cuts off penis in restaurant

2007-04-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

A man cut off his penis with a knife in a packed London restaurant.

"Police were forced to use CS gas to restrain the man when they entered the Zizzi restaurant in The Strand on Sunday evening.

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said the man was aged between 30 and 40 and that his injuries were self-inflicted.

The man was then taken to hospital in south London where his condition is stable. It is understood surgeons were unable to reattach his penis."

gjhajfdlsafjdfajklfjaslkj; WOW. Want to read more? (of course you do!) Well here you to.

Indian Superman II

2007-04-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

Words cannot express how I feel when I see this. The subpar production, the insane storyline (from what I could gather), the music... It's so bad it's good. But not good enough for me to want to watch for over a minute or two. If you finish it, let me know how it ends. Does Superman die? Does Spiderwoman bite him?

301 Fun (But Useless) Facts

2007-04-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

Blatently stolen from this site. I know this list is not 100% accurate, there's a few things like the past tense of "Dare" is 'technically' right, it's an archaeic form of the word, and hemp is not marijuana, and I'm sure there are several other discrepencies (did I spell that right? Who knows! Too lazy to look it up right now). Either way, from this point foward, no posts of mine shall have any of my personal life as a topic. Most of you can probably figure out why, or you actually know. In any case, very few people actually read this blog, but a few people who know about it I would prefer to, not get involved. Anyways, enjoy this list of 301 random facts (and I use the word 'facts' loosely).

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1. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was born on and died on days when Halley’s Comet can be seen. During his life he predicted that he would die when it could be seen.

2. US Dollar bills are made out of cotton and linen.

3. The “57″ on the Heinz ketchup bottle represents the number of pickle types the company once had.

4. Americans are responsible for about 1/5 of the world’s garbage annually. On average, that’s 3 pounds a day per person.

5. Giraffes and rats can last longer without water than camels.

6. Your stomach produces a new layer of mucus every two weeks so that it doesn’t digest itself.

7. 98% of all murders and rapes are by a close family member or friend of the victim.

8. A B-25 bomber crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building on July 28, 1945.

9. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp (marijuana) paper.

10. The dot over the letter “i” is called a tittle.

11. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

12. Benjamin Franklin was the fifth in a series of the youngest son of the youngest son.

13. Triskaidekaphobia means fear of the number 13. Paraskevidekatriaphobia means fear of Friday the 13th (which occurs one to three times a year). In Italy, 17 is considered an unlucky number. In Japan, 4 is considered an unlucky number.

14. A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.

15. All the chemicals in a human body combined are worth about 6.25 euro (if sold separately).

16. In ancient Rome, when a man testified in court he would swear on his testicles.

17. The ZIP in “ZIP code” means Zoning Improvement Plan.

18. Coca-Cola contained Coca (whose active ingredient is cocaine) from 1885 to 1903.

19. A “2 by 4″ is really 1 1/2 by 3 1/2.

20. It’s estimated that at any one time around 0.7% of the world’s population is drunk.

21. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades = David ; Clubs = Alexander the Great ; Hearts = Charlemagne ; Diamonds = Caesar

22. 40% of McDonald’s profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

23. Every person, including identical twins, has a unique eye and tongue print along with their finger print.

24. The “spot” on the 7-Up logo comes from its inventor who had red eyes. He was an albino.

25. 315 entries in Webster’s 1996 dictionary were misspelled.

26. The “save” icon in Microsoft Office programs shows a floppy disk with the shutter on backwards.

27. Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin both married their first cousins (Elsa Löwenthal and Emma Wedgewood respectively).

28. Camel’s have three eyelids.

29. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents every day.

30. John Wilkes Booth’s brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln’s son.

31. Warren Beatty and Shirley McLaine are brother and sister.

32. Chocolate can kill dogs; it directly affects their heart and nervous system.

33. Daniel Boone hated coonskin caps.

34. Playing cards were issued to British pilots in WWII. If captured, they could be soaked in water and unfolded to reveal a map for escape.

35. 55.1% of all US prisoners are in prison for drug offenses.

36. Most lipstick contains fish scales.

37. Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark’s stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.

38. Dr. Seuss pronounced his name “soyce”.

39. Slugs have four noses.

40. Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.

41. The Three Wise Monkeys have names: Mizaru (See no evil), Mikazaru (Hear no evil), and Mazaru (Speak no evil).

42. India has a Bill of Rights for cows.

43. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. If you keep your eyes open by force, they can pop out. (DON’T TRY IT, DUMBASS)

44. During the California gold rush of 1849, miners sent their laundry to Honolulu for washing and pressing. Due to the extremely high costs in California during these boom years, it was deemed more feasible to send their shirts to Hawaii for servicing.

45. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by taking out an olive from First Class salads.

46. About 200,000,000 M&Ms are sold each day in the United States.

47. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.

48. Over a course of about eleven years, the sun’s magnetic poles switch places. This cycle is called “Solarmax”.

49. There are 318,979,564,000 possible combinations of the first four moves in Chess.

50. Upper and lower case letters are named “upper” and “lower” because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the upper case letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the lower case letters.

51. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.

52. The numbers “172″ can be found on the back of the US 5 dollar bill, in the bushes at the base of the Lincoln Memorial.

53. Coconuts kill about 150 people each year. That’s more than sharks.

54. Half of all bank robberies take place on a Friday.

55. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan. There was never a recorded Wendy before it.

56. The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672.

57. The first bomb the Allies dropped on Berlin in WWII killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

58. The average raindrop falls at 7 miles per hour.

59. It took Leonardo Da Vinci 10 years to paint Mona Lisa. He never signed or dated the painting. Leonardo and Mona had identical bone structures according to the painting. X-ray images have shown that there are 3 other versions under the original.

60. If you put a drop of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go mad and sting itself to death.

61. Bruce Lee was so fast that they had to slow the film down so you could see his moves.

62. The largest amount of money you can have without having change for a dollar is $1.19 (3 quarters, 4 dimes, and 4 pennies cannot be divided into a dollar).

63. The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA”.

64. IBM’s motto is “Think”. Apple later made their motto “Think different”.

65. The mask used by Michael Myers in the original “Halloween” was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white, due to low budget.

66. The original name for butterfly was flutterby.

67. The phrase “rule of thumb” is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn’t beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

68. One in fourteen women in America is a natural blonde. Only one in sixteen men is.

69. The Olympic was the sister ship of the Titanic, and she provided twenty-five years of service.

70. When the Titanic sank, 2228 people were on it. Only 706 survived.

71. In America, someone is diagnosed with AIDS every 10 minutes. In South Africa, someone dies due to HIV or AIDS every 10 minutes.

72. Every day, 7% of the US eats at McDonald’s.

73. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was Victrola, which Motorola got their name from.

74. In the US, about 127 million adults are overweight or obese; worldwide, 750 million are overweight and 300 million more are obese. In the US, 15% of children in elementary school are overweight; 20% are worldwide.

75. In Disney’s Fantasia, the Sorcerer to whom Mickey played an apprentice was named Yensid (Disney spelled backward).

76. During his entire life, Vincent Van Gogh sold exactly one painting, “Red Vineyard at Arles”.

77. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you cannot sink into quicksand.

78. One in ten people live on an island.

79. It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.

80. 28% of Africa is classified as wilderness. In North America, its 38%.

81. Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.

82. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

83. Sherlock Holmes NEVER said “Elementary, my dear Watson”, Humphrey Bogart NEVER said “Play it again, Sam” in Casablanca, and they NEVER said “Beam me up, Scotty” on Star Trek.

84. An old law in Bellingham, Washington, made it illegal for a woman to take more than 3 steps backwards while dancing.

85. Sharon Stone was the first Star Search spokes model.

86. The sound you here when you put a seashell next to your ear is not the ocean, but blood flowing through your head.

87. More people are afraid of open spaces (kenophobia) than of tight spaces (claustrophobia).

88. The glue on Israeli postage is certified kosher.

89. There is a 1 in 4 chance that New York will have a white Christmas.

90. The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.

91. Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.

92. Back in the mid to late ’80s, an IBM compatible computer wasn’t considered 100% compatible unless it could run Microsoft’s Flight Simulator.

93. $203,000,000 is spent on barbed wire each year in the U.S.

94. Every US president has worn glasses (just not always in public).

95. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.

96. Jim Henson first coined the word “Muppet”. It is a combination of “marionette” and “puppet.”

97. The names of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with (not counting the words “North” and “South).

98. The Michelin man is known as Mr. Bib. His name was Bibendum in the company’s first ads in 1896.

99. About 20% of bird species have become extinct in the past 200 years, almost all of them because of human activity.

100. The word “lethologica” describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.

101. About 14% of injecting drug users are HIV positive.

102. A word or sentence that is the same front and back (racecar, kayak) is called a “palindrome”.

103. A snail can sleep for 3 years.

104. People photocopying their buttocks are the cause of 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide.

105. China has more English speakers than the United States.

106. Finnish folklore says that when Santa comes to Finland to deliver gifts, he leaves his sleigh behind and rides on a goat named Ukko instead. According to French tradition, Santa Claus has a brother named Bells Nichols, who visits homes on New Year’s Eve after everyone is asleep, and if a plate is set out for him, he fills it with cookies and cakes.

107. One in every 9000 people is an albino.

108. The electric chair was invented by a dentist.

109. You share your birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world.

110. Everyday, more money is printed for Monopoly sets than for the U.S. Treasury.

111. Every year 4 people in the UK die putting their trousers on.

112. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds; dogs only have about ten.

113. Our eyes are always the same size from birth but our nose and ears never stop growing.

114. In every episode of “Seinfeld” there is a Superman picture or reference somewhere.

115. If Barbie were life-size her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would stand seven feet two inches tall and have a neck twice the length of a normal human’s neck.

116. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.

117. Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.

118. Each year in America there are about 300,000 deaths that can be attributed to obesity.

119. About 55% of all movies are rated R.

120. About 500 movies are made in the US and 800 in India annually.

121. Arabic numerals are not really Arabic; they were created in India.

122. Title 14, Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations (implemented on July 16, 1969) makes it illegal for U.S. citizens to have any contact with extraterrestrials or their vehicles.

123. The February of 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

124. The Pentagon in Arlington Virginia has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.

125. There is actually no danger in swimming right after you eat, though it may feel uncomfortable.

126. The cruise liner Queen Elizabeth II moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

127. More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.

128. A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

129. There are about 2 chickens for every human in the world.

130. The word “maverick” came into use after Samuel Maverick, a Texan refused to brand his cattle. Eventually any unbranded calf became known as a Maverick.

131. Two-thirds of the world’s eggplant is grown in New Jersey.

132. For every memorial statue with a person on a horse, if the horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died of battle wounds; if all four of the horse’s legs are on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

133. On a Canadian two-dollar bill, the American flag is flying over the Parliament Building.

134. An American urologist bought Napoleon’s penis for $40,000.

135. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.

136. Dreamt is the only English word that ends in the letters “MT”.

137. $283,200 is the absolute highest amount of money you can win on Jeopardy.

138. Almonds are members of the peach family.

139. Rats and horses can’t vomit.

140. The penguin is the only bird that can’t fly but can swim.

141. There are approximately 100 million acts of sexual intercourse each day.

142. Winston Churchill was born in a ladies room during a dance.

143. Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.

144. There are only four words in the English language that end in “-dous”: tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.

145. Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.

146. Every time you lick a stamp you consume 1/10 of a calorie.

147. “101 Dalmatians” and “Peter Pan” are the only Disney animations in which both of a character’s parents are present and don’t die during the movie.

148. You are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider.

149. Hedenophobic means fear of pleasure.

150. Ancient Egyptian priests would pluck every hair from their bodies.

151. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

152. Half of all crimes are committed by people under the age of 18. 80% of burglaries are committed by people aged 13-21.

153. An ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.

154. All polar bears are left-handed.

155. The catfish has over 27000 taste buds (more than any other animal)

156. A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death.

157. Butterflies taste with their feet.

158. Elephants are the only mammals that cannot jump.

159. An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.

160. Starfish have no brains.

161. 11% of the world is left-handed.

162. John Hancock and Charles Thomson were the only people to sign the Declaration of independence on July 4th, 1776. The last signature came five years later.

163. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

164. Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

165. The national anthem of Greece has 158 verses.

166. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

167. A healthy (non-colorblind) human eye can distinguish between 500 shades of gray.

168. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

169. Lizards can self-amputate their tails for protection. It grows back after a few months.

170. Los Angeles’ full name is “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula”. It can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A.

171. A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

172. A honeybee can fly at fifteen miles per hour.

173. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

174. A “jiffy” is the scientific name for 1/100th of a second.

175. The average child recognizes over 200 company logos by the time he enters first grade.

176. The youngest pope ever was 11 years old.

177. The first novel ever written on a typewriter is Tom Sawyer.

178. One out of every 43 prisoners escapes from jail. 94% are recaptured.

179. The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

180. The average chocolate bar has 8 insects’ legs melted into it.

181. A rhinoceros horn is made of compacted hair.

182. The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar and England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.

183. Elwood Edwards did the voice for the AOL sound files (i.e. “You’ve got Mail!”). He is heard about 27 million times a day. The recordings were done before Quantum changed its name to AOL and the program was known as “Q-Link.”

184. A polar bears skin is black. Its fur is actually clear, but like snow it appears white.

185. Elvis had a twin brother named Garon, who died at birth, which is why Elvis middle name was spelled Aron, in honor of his brother.

186. Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.

187. Donkeys kill more people than plane crashes.

188. Shakespeare invented the words “assassination” and “bump.”

189. There are a million ants for every person on Earth.

190. If you keep a goldfish in the dark room, it will eventually turn white.

191. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

192. The name Jeep comes from “GP”, the army abbreviation for General Purpose.

193. Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left handed people do.

194. There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.

195. Cats’ urine glows under a black light.

196. A “quidnunc” is a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip.

197. The first US Patent was for manufacturing potassium carbonate (used in glass and gunpowder). It was issued to Samuel Hopkins on July 31, 1970.

198. Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors, the helicopter, and many other present day items.

199. In the last 4000 years no new animals have been domesticated.

200. 25% of a human’s bones are in its feet.

201. David Sarnoff received the Titanic’s distress signal and saved hundreds of passengers. He later became the head of the first radio network, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC).

202. On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year.

203. Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than every Nike factory worker in Malaysia combined.

204. One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today is because cotton growers in the ’30s lobbied against hemp farmers (they saw it as competition).

205. “Canada” is an Indian word meaning “Big Village”.

206. Only one in two billion people will live to be 116 or older.

207. If you yelled for 8 years 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.

208. Rape is reported every six minutes in the U.S.

209. The human heart creates enough pressure in the bloodstream to squirt blood 30 feet.

210. A jellyfish is 95% water.

211. Truck driving is the most dangerous occupation by accidental deaths (799 in 2001).

212. Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

213. Elephants only sleep for two hours each day.

214. On average people fear spiders more than they do death.

215. The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue. (the heart is not a muscle)

216. In golf, a ‘Bo Derek’ is a score of 10.

217. In the U.S, Frisbees outsell footballs, baseballs and basketballs combined.

218. In most watch advertisements the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.

219. If you plant an apple seed, it is almost guaranteed to grow a tree of a different type of apple.

220. Al Capone’s business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

221. The only real person to be a PEZ head was Betsy Ross.

222. There are about 450 types of cheese in the world. 240 come from France.

223. When the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers plays football at home the stadium becomes Nebraska’s third largest city.

224. The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life”.

225. A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours.

226. In Iceland, a Big Mac costs $5.50.

227. Broccoli and cauliflower are the only vegetables that are flowers.

228. Newborn babies have about 350 bones. They gradually merge and disappear until there are about 206 by age 5.

229. There is no solid proof of who built the Taj Mahal.

230. In a survey of 200000 ostriches over 80 years, not one tried to bury its head in the sand.

231. A dime has 118 ridges around the edge. A quarter has 119.

232. On an American one-dollar bill there is a tiny owl in the upper-left-hand corner of the upper-right-hand “1″ and a spider hidden in the front upper-right-hand corner.

233. Judy Scheindlin (”Judge Judy”) has a $25,000,000 salary, while Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has a $190,100 salary.

234. The name for Oz in the Wizard of Oz was thought up when the creator Frank Baum looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N and O-Z.

235. Andorra, a tiny country on the border between France and Spain, has the longest average lifespan: 83.49 years.

236. The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

237. Mr. Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister.

238. In America you will see an average of 500 advertisements a day.

239. John Lennon’s first girlfriend was named Thelma Pickles.

240. You can lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs.

241. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

242. “The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick” is said to be the toughest tongue twister in English.

243. There are 336 dimples on a regulation US golf ball. In the UK its 330.

244. The Toltecs (a 7th century tribe) used wooden swords so they wouldn’t kill their enemies.

245. “Duff” is the decaying organic matter found on a forest floor.

246. The US has more personal computers than the next 7 countries combined.

247. There have been over 600 lawsuits against Alexander Grahm Bell over rights to the patent of the telephone, the most valuable patent in U.S. history.

248. Kuwait is about 60% male (highest in the world). Latvia is about 54% female (highest in the world).

249. The Hawaiian alphabet has only 12 letters.

250. In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the world’s nuclear weapons combined.

251. At the height of its power in 400 BC, the Greek city of Sparta had 25,000 citizens and 500,000 slaves.

252. Julius Caesar’s autograph is worth about $2,000,000.

253. The tool doctors wrap around a patient’s arm to measure blood pressure is called a sphygmomanometer.

254. People say “bless you” when you sneeze because your heart stops for a millisecond.

255. US gold coins used to say “In Gold We Trust”.

256. In “Silence of the Lambs”, Hannibal Lector (Anthony Hopkins) never blinks.

257. A shrimp’s heart is in its head.

258. In the 17th century, the value of pi was known to 35 decimal places. Today, to 1.2411 trillion.

259. The bestselling books of all time are The Bible (6billion+), Quotations from the Works of Mao Tse-tung (900million+), and The Lord of the Rings (100million+)

260. Pearls melt in vinegar.

261. “Lassie” was played by a group of male dogs; the main one was named Pal.

262. In 1863, Paul Hubert of Bordeaux, France, was sentenced to life in jail for murder. After 21 years, it was discovered that he was convicted of murdering himself.

263. Nepal is the only country that doesn’t have a rectangular flag. Switzerland is the only country with a square flag.

264. Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer are the only angels named in the Bible.

265. Tiger Woods’ real first name is Eldrick. His father gave him the nickname “Tiger” in honor of a South Vietnamese soldier his father had fought alongside with during the Vietnam War.

266. Johnny Appleseed planted apples so that people could use apple cider to make alcohol.

267. Abraham Lincoln’s ghost is said to haunt the White House.

268. God is not mentioned once in the book of Esther.

269. The odds of being born male are about 51.2%, according to census.

270. Scotland has more redheads than any other part of the world.

271. There is an average of 61,000 people airborne over the US at any given moment.

272. Prince Charles and Prince William never travel on the same airplane in case there is a crash.

273. The most popular first name in the world is Muhammad. The most common name (of any type) in the world is Mohammed.

274. The surface of the Earth is about 60% water and 10% ice.

275. For every 230 cars that are made, 1 will be stolen.

276. Jimmy Carter was the first U.S. President to be born in a hospital.

277. Lightning strikes the earth about 8 million times a day.

278. Around 2,000 left-handed people die annually due to improper use of equipment designed only for right handed people.

279. The “if” and “then” parts of conditional (”if P then Q”) statement are called the protasis (P) and apodosis (Q).

280. Humans use a total of 72 different muscles in speech.

281. If you feed a seagull Alka-Seltzer, its stomach will explode.

282. Only female mosquitoes bite.

283. The U.S. Post Office handles 43 percent of the world’s mail.

284. Most household dust is made of dead skin cells.

285. One in about eight million people has progeria, a disease that causes people to grow faster than they age.

286. The male seahorse carries the eggs until they hatch instead of the female.

287. The “countdown” (counting down from 10 for an event such as New-Years Day) was first used in a 1929 German silent film called “Die Frau Im Monde” (The Girl in the Moon).

288. Negative emotions such as anxiety and depression can weaken your immune system.

289. There are seven suicides in the Bible: Abimelech. Samson, Saul, Saul’s armor-bearer, Ahithophel, Zimri, Judas.

290. A mongoose is not a goose but more like a meercat, which is not a cat but more like a prairie dog, which is not a dog but more like a ground squirrel.

291. Stephen Hawking was born exactly 300 years after Galileo died.

292. Mercury is the only planet whose orbit is coplanar with its equator. Venus and Uranus are the only planets that rotate opposite to the direction of their orbit.

293. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe died on July 4th. Adams and Jefferson died in the same year. Supposedly, Adams last words were “Thomas Jefferson survives.”

294. The Baby Ruth candy bar was named after Grover Cleveland’s baby daughter, Ruth, not Babe Ruth the baseball player.

295. Dolphins can look in different directions with each eye. They can sleep with one eye open.

296. The Falkland Isles (pop. about 2000) has over 700000 sheep (350 per person).

297. There are 41,806 different spoken languages in the world today.

298. While many treaties have been signed at or near Paris, France (including many after WWI and WWII), nine are actually known as the “Treaty of Paris”: Seven Years’ War (1763), American Revolutionary War (1783), French-Swede War (1810), France vs Sixth Coalition (1814), Battle of Waterloo (1815), Crimean War (1856), Spanish-American War (1898), union of Bessarabia and Romania (1920), establishment of European Coal and Steel Community (1951).

299. Robert Todd Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln’s oldest son) was in Washington DC during his father’s assassination as well as during President Garfield’s assassination, and he was in Buffalo NY when President McKinley was assassinated.

300. The city of Venice stands on about 120 small islands.

301. The past-tense of the English word “dare” is “durst”.

How To Write Your Own Will

2007-02-12T04:01:00.001-08:00

Your will must be made in writing

Your will can be in any form of writing, handwritten, typed or printed, and in any language, but it must be in writing and any other expression of your wishes will not be effective. Oral expressions of your wishes and wills recorded on sound-tapes or videotapes are therefore not valid wills.

Your will should be written legibly because what cannot be read cannot be enforced. You do not necessarily have to write out the will yourself but if a beneficiary writes out the will by hand for you, suspicions might arise as to whether or not you knew of and approved of the contents of the will when you signed it and it could be challenged.

Your will can be written on any material, on paper, parchment, linen or carved in stone if you wish. Certain stationers sell 'will forms' upon which the basic parts of a will are pre-printed and on which you only have to fill in the blanks, but for some reason or another people always seem to have difficulty in filling them in correctly.

As in all other matters relating to wills, when considering the material upon which your will is to be written, it is better to keep it simple and use a blank sheet of good quality paper because with good luck and a healthy lifestyle it will be many years before your will will be required to be proved! If you use ink, use permanent ink. Although to do so would not make your will invalid, for reasons of security do not use pencil or a writing media which can be easily erased. Not everyone is honest in financial matters!

Your will must be signed by you or someone in your presence and at you request

The signature need not be your full name or indeed your name at all as long as a court will be satisfied that the mark which is made was intended as your signature and that it was intended to authenticate the document as your will. Solicitors often tell clients to sign their will in the same way as they would sign their cheques on the basis that if the mark intended as a signature can extract money from their bank account it can do anything! An inked thumbprint has been held by a court to be a sufficient signature, as has the testator's initials impressed by his seal, but the courts have not yet accepted electronic signatures and it is best to keep it simple and avoid courts rather than tempt fate by using such esoteric forms of authentication.

In whatever way your will is signed, it must either be done by you personally or by someone for you, at your direction and in your presence. To avoid problems, you should always sign your will personally or at least make a mark as your signature if you possibly can. If you are physically unable to sign or make your mark, e.g. because of paralysis or because you are blind, you can ask someone to sign the will for you as your will but they must do so in your presence and in the presence of the required witnesses.

Your Signature on the Will Must Be Made or Acknowledged By You in the Presence of Two or More Witnesses Who Must be PRESENT AT THE SAME TIME If all the witnesses to your will are not with you when the will is signed, you must confirm to them that the signature is yours and all the witnesses must be there when you do so. It is not sufficient for you to confirm it to each witness on separate occasions or for you to sign in the presence of one or more witnesses when the others are not there and subsequently to confirm the signature to the absent witness or witnesses.

Although the Wills Act 1837 refers to two or more witnesses it is only necessary and usual to have two witnesses to your signature, but they must be of age and mentally capable.

Each witness must sigh the will and either sign of acknowledge his signature in your presence

You must be present when the witness signs or acknowledges his signature, but there is no necessity for each witness to be present when the other witness signs.

It must be apparent that you intend to give effect to the will by signing it

In practice your signature and those of the witnesses should appear at the end of the will to show that they are intended to give effect as your will to all that goes before the signatures. If words appear in the will after the signatures there can be problems in that the Probate Registry will insist on the witnesses swearing an affidavit or making an affirmation to confirm that the words were in your will when it was signed and not added later by you or by anyone else and the witnesses might not then be alive, traceable or able to recollect. If the words were added later, of course, they would be ineffective and invalid and would not be admitted to probate.

If there are more pages than one it is as well for yourself and the witnesses to also sign at the bottom of each page so that nothing can be added later to the page and for the pages to be numbered so that no further pages can be inserted.

It is usual to indicate in the wording of the will that the document is signed as your last will.

A few general words on the subject of signing the will and witnesses

The witnesses are witnessing your signature. It follows therefore that you must sign first or there will be nothing for them to witness. The witnesses must be in a position to see you sign, not blind and their view must not be obscured. The witnesses need not know the contents of the will or even that it is a will, because it is your signature that they are witnessing and not the document.

When are you and the witness in each other's presence? When each can see what the other is doing, even if you are not in the same room.

All the above requirements as to the witnessing of wills might seem complicated but if you ensure that:

yourself and two adult witnesses are all present in the same room before any signing begins
the witnesses are not blind
the witnesses are not beneficiaries or the executors of the will or the spouse or civil partner of any beneficiary or executor (if they are the will will be valid but the beneficiary will lose the bequest and the executor possibly his right to expenses unless specifically authorised to charge them or the will is an informal military one or a seaman's will made at sea)
the witnesses are likely to be traceable if required when you die
you sign first followed by each witness
each witness signs with his usual signature and follows it by his printed name and his address and occupation or status (married woman, widow, etc.)
no one leaves the room before the signing is complete there should be no problem.

List of things I'm procrastinating on

2007-02-05T01:18:00.001-08:00

1. Finishing this list

A series of thoughts part 5: Intentions and Fear.

2007-01-15T20:26:00.000-08:00

Never pick up strangers. Why? Why not? Because you don't know what their intentions are. You don't have any reason to trust them. You may know a little about them, but you don't understand anything about them. You don't know what their intentions are. Fear. You don't know, and it scares you. We, as modern society have become consumed with fear, and become more solitary as the days go by. We don't talk to our neighbors, we don't make friends with the locals at the market, we don't really do that sort of thing anymore. Not saying it doesn't happen, but it's far more rare now than it has been in the past.

We've become almost consumed with fear. Don't talk to strangers, don't look at them, don't pick them up, don't do anything to them. They might just attack you. Or be a terrorist. Or be a wanted murderer. Of course, because you know nothing about them. Might as well prepare for the worst and just assume they might be bad. In case. If they're great and nice people, it'd be great if you struck up a conversation. If they weren't, you might wish you never spoke to them at all. Better safe than sorry, right? But the thing that makes us so afraid, is we don't know what their intentions are.

Of course, this isn't EVERYONE, there's always exceptions to the rule (not that this is a rule or anything, it's just how the saying goes), but it's why we don't put out our personal information out on the internet, it's why we have multiple levels of securty for our bank account, why we have home security, car alarms, etc. Because there ARE people out there waiting to exploit us. There are people who do prey on the kindness of strangers. We can't tell them apart though, so it's better safe than sorry, and everyone is one of those people, until we get a chance to know them. But a lot of the time, we don't even want to go that far.

For some people, it's easier than others to openly trust people. And for some, it's easier to trust them online becasue it's not such a commitment. What I mean is, if they're an ass, you can just stop talking to them, block them, change your e-mail, etc. If it was in real life, it might be a bit more work. Changing your phone number and moving is a lot more work than backing up your blog, moving it to a new blog and changing your e-mail.

A series of thoughts part 4: Right or Easy

2007-01-15T09:49:00.000-08:00

Do you often find yourself doing what's right most of the time, or what's easy? Most of time we take the easy route, we're all guilty of it. Small things, you might not even think about. The difference between stopping to help someone pick up some groceries they dropped, or to hold a door open for someone. Now, this is completely just my opinion on the topic. Right? What's right? It's completely an opinion. But I think it would be good to hold doors to help people, to help people who you don't even know when you see that they need help.

But of course, it could be a smaller thing, that doesn't involve anyone else. Putting things back into their place? Putting off doing something until later? Dropping off a movie you borrowed from your friend? Do you finish doing your chores before you go to bed, or do you do it tomorrow? You can always do it later. Eh, whatever. Right? Apathy is far easier than actively putting forth effort.

Apathy... people are becoming more apathetic to what's going on around them. More so than before. I can't tell you for sure why though, there could be a number of factors or reasons. How many people have protested the War in Iraq in the United States? If a coworker is being mistreated, do you stand up for them or do you just let it play out? Don't want to get involved? We're all guilty of sitting back and doing nothing. I know I'm guilty of it. But I try to do the right thing whenever I can. The right thing? My bad. I meant, I try to do what I think is right. I try to help those who need help, those who cannot help themself. I don't do it all the time, because sometimes, I fall victim to Apathy too, everyone does.

Don't let it take hold of you, not for long. The more often you do nothing, the easier it is to do nothing, and the more often you will do nothing. Idle hands are the devil's playground, as they say, right?

A series of thoughts part 3: Free Will

2007-01-14T10:37:00.000-08:00

I know I'll step on a few toes by writing this post, so I apolagize ahead of time my intentions are not to hurt any of you. It was hard to write it, and even harder to post it. I started this post a few days ago, but haven't been able to sit down and write it. I've been working on it a little at a time, day today.

*sigh*

I don't believe in Fate, Destiny, Karma, any of those things. Sometimes I wish I did, it would make things far easier if I did, but I don't. I don't believe in any Religion either. A shocker, I know. Having seen the first two parts of these series of posts, you can tell that I think... way too much. Religion, Fate, Destiny, Karma, they're great ideas, and I wish I could believe in them. For me, to believe in such things means there is no Free Will, only the illusion of Free Will. If everything we did happns for a reason, if there is another force controlling what happens, then we really don't have any control of what we do in our lives. All our struggle, was preplanned and all our suffering was meant to be.

If this were true, then children who have died in accidents were meant to be born, live for a few years, and die, never to truely experience life. Why? Why is that child less deserving of a full life? Because some outside force decided it was so? Was it a god? Was it karma? Was it fate? I don't want to believe that, that those who suffer for no reason were meant to suffer because someone, or something decided that they should. If this is true, if someone is making descisions for me and I have no real say as to what I do in my life, then why do I bother trying? If I killed myself right now, it would have been fate? Destiny? Then we should never mourn anything that happens, if these things are real. When we get into accidents or lose our loved ones, we shouldn't cry or feel bad because it was suppose to happen. If someone breaks into your house, don't get mad at them. It's not their fault, destiny made them break into your house. All the worst things that have ever happened to you, you were meant to suffer. All your greatest accomplishments mean nothing, because you were destined to do it. If this is the case, why bother doing anything? Why try at all?

Now, I know some (or many) of you don't agree with me, and you'll probably let me know it too. I don't mind. I don't intend to change your ways of thinking, or to make you agree with me. If you do agree with me, I want it to be of your own Free Will, not to be forced. I don't want to make you agree. I may tell try to convince you, but I will never lie or be untruthful when discussing. I will always tell both sides and allow you to think for yourself. Not that I will try to convince you, these sort of things aren't so easily changed in one's mind.

A series of thoughts part 2: Understanding Why

2007-01-13T09:29:00.001-08:00

Do you understand why things happen, or do you just know? Do you understand the reasoning behind the things people do, or do you just see what's on the surface? It's the difference between manslaughter and murder. One is with intent, one is without. You might have done the exact same thing, but it's why you did it that matters more. What your intentions are.

If you go to a movie, and you hear someone's phone ringing during the movie. What do you think? "Oh, that bastard." Or something similar? Sure, nobody likes it, but what if he had a good reason? What if he wasn't a careless selfish ass who left his phone on? What if his father is in the hospital and his friends took him out for a good time since he's been moping at home for several days? What if his phone is on in case of an emergency call? Do you know? Would you like to find out or would you rather just assume that you already know why? When you see a preacher on TV. Is he really trying to save your soul, or is he in the buisness as a power trip? Maybe it's for the money? Do you know? Or, maybe he really is completely honest and truely trying to help you?

Now, I'm not saying that this is always the case, and that yes, most of the time they are just an asshole who left their phone off because they were careless or seflish. But you think you know, but do you really? Do you understand why? What you do, is important. Why you did it, can be more important. Maybe you helped a coworker with a problem they had. But, did you do it to genuinely help them, or did you do it to impress another coworker? Did you only listen to your friend to try to get on their good side, or did you genuinely care? Why is just as important, if not more important, than what. Do you understand why things happen, or do you just know?

A series of thoughts part 1: Knowing and Understanding

2007-01-12T18:52:00.000-08:00

It's a big difference, knowing and understanding. It's not something many people think about, but it makes all the difference. People know a lot of things, people understand a lot less. People know that gravity pulls things down. Nobody understands why it happens though. A lot of times, people know that someone is mad, but they may not understand why they're mad. It's the difference, especially with people, between knowing someone, and understanding them. People know that their computer works, but they don't really understand. People know that they're going to die, but not everyone understand.

I know that when I turn on the faucet, that water will come out. I don't understand how it works. I don't understand how the water gets from rivers and dams, through the water filtering plant, and all that. I know when I turn on the stove, the gas comes out, and the spark ignites the gas and creates flame. Where does the gas come from? I don't understand how it works. How does the dam work? How does the water filtering work? How do they manage water pressure controls so sensetive? How does the gas get to my house? Where does my money go when I spend it? Pay taxes? I know it changes a lot of hands, but whos, and why? How does my car work? I know it takes me places, but I don't understand how it does it.

It's a big difference, knowing and understanding. It's not something many people think about, but it makes all the difference. Do you know, or do you understand?

Planar Chaos (Set 2 of 3 from the Time Spiral Block)

2007-01-10T00:40:00.000-08:00

Planar Chaos - Dominaria, the center of the multiverse has suffered massive damage throughout the millenia. Time unraveled, and the past became the present. Things that were, suddenly weren't, and things that never existed, suddenly was. And now, the laws of the world, the very foundation of all life and magic have changed. The lines have blurred, and the colors have bled into each other. What does this mean? Everything you know could be wrong.

What does this mean, in game terms? Colors have bled into each other before, but not like this. Sure, color bleed between allies are common, but some colors have crossed over, like Body Double, where black has bled into blue Ball Lightning? Not anymore. Wrath of God? Damnation. What you know has also changed. History itself is being reexamined, rewritten, reinterpreted. 'What if', when one of the most powerful creatures ever created was not an Angel of Wrath, but an Angel of Fury?

More to be discussed as the information is revealed. The prerelease is on January 20-21st, and is released on February 1st.

2007-01-04T03:33:00.000-08:00

Tasha and I, officially are not together anymore, and I don't think we ever will be again. We are just too different when it comes to some things. Ce la vie. I do still love her, and we are still friends, but we will not work as a couple, and I don't think we'll ever work as a couple, at least, not right now.

From good, to Bad

2006-12-13T22:59:00.000-08:00

Updated iCafe:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/Anifanatic/iCafecopy2.jpg

It's got tables and chairs, and more numbers! Took a while. Mostly because the first time I posted the measurements, it was wrong... really wrong... very, very wrong. I had to fix it. =(

Some friends, and friends of friends are going to Six Flags, Magic Mountain on Saturday (but was moved to Monday apparently, due to rain). I know probably a few people, because the one organizing it invited a lot of co-workers and people I odn't know. They're suppose to be closing soon, apparently, or they've had talks about selling the property so it might not be around for as long as we'd hope.

Ugh...
...
...
lost interest in finishing this post. Mom and stepdad are fighitng, quite loudly, and it's happening a lot more recently again. You know their relationship is due when your own mom asks you for relationship help. She left her room crying the other day, but tried to make it seem like nothing was wrong, even though I'm one room away, with very very thin walls, and I could hear them yelling.

I'm old enough to know what's going on, I mean, I wasn't old enough when my mom and dad broke up, but shortly after I did. This somewhat pleasant post ends on a bad note today I guess. Blastin' some music to drown them out. *shrugs*

Handful of things

2006-12-06T03:11:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not updating lately, and I really should maintain my blog more. =/ Anyways, onto the post!

Recent Vegas Visit
Tons of stuff to talk about. I got to see my girlfriend (yay!) and sit in at EVERY one of her classes. I felt like I was a student :D I even fell asleep in a class like a real student again z_z I got some new clothes too, and then I remembered how much space I had in my suit case... and so they had to be stuffed in there, and it was quite tight to fit in, but it was OK. *thumbs up* :D I spent thanksgiving there... at a buffet! Really? Yeah, really. They had turkey and all the fix'ins, don't worry!... but I didn't really eat any. Turkey is a hard dish to prepare, and at a buffet, where they sacrifice time and quality for quantity, I didn't want to risk it. I skipped turkey all together lol. I also got a new cook book (new, I guess, but also my first!). "I'm Just Here For The Food" by Alton Brown (Version: 2). It's not just the recepies you want, it's the science behind it so you know what you're doing, and why it works. Why is this important? So you're not a slave to your recepie! So you know what you're doing, so if anything goes wrong, you can adjust your recepie or change it how you see fit. Rule the kitchen, don't let recepie books rule you =P Also, they come with really cool refridgerator magnets for cows, pigs, lamb, and chickens, telling you all the parts, and what they're for. *drool* It came with this free big, two book edition (hard back, with a case to hold both) of Chronicles of Narnia. :D! I didn't have a use for it, and it was very nice, so I gave it to Tasha :3 Other than that, it was mostly uneventful. Ummm, her house had no couches? The living room got a LOT more spacious but... we had to resort to sit on the floor to watch TV. lol They were getting new couches, so they had to take out the old ones.

Game Empire - Somewhat open
That cool new game store opening up (somewhat) close to my house. Card games, board games, mind games, word games, name games, miniature games, gigantic games! Saturday and Sunday, they opened their doors with tables for paying customers to play on... except the retail side is still being worked on, so it's was to unpaying customers, because there was nothing to buy. So I got to meet some nice people, and it was great fun, I can't wait for it to open, hope it's open soon (scheduled for the 8th or so...)

iCafe (Cafe Fusion?) Floor plans and discussion
Helped my friend make floorplans for a place he's leasing, and it looks pretty cool. It's going to be an iCafe for now, but expand into a Cafe with coffee and stuff, so it'll be a pretty hip place.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/Anifanatic/Untitled-1copy.jpg

That's what it looks like, with accurate (sort of) measurements. The one room in the back is the bathroom, and the rest is.. uhh... the place to be? It looks like it has great potential, and I hope, and pray it does well.

My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
What can I say? I love it. Yes, Emo, I know, but I don't care, it's good music. =P

Wii - A Review

2006-11-29T18:54:00.000-08:00

Nintendo Wii (aka: Revolution)

Before I begin, there's a lot of reported 'problems' with wrist straps breaking and stuff. Let me be the first to say: In each manual, they tell you to "gently move" the Remote. Not swing at full speed, not throw the damn thing, gently. GENTLY. OK? You can go to court and try to start shit with Nintendo if you want, but it doesn't say "Swing your arms as if you were holding a 50 lb. bowling ball when you play bowling", because if you did, you'd be swinging really fast. Also, hold on to your damn controller, if it slips out of your hand, it's your own damn fault. The wrist strap is a "just in case", in case you let go of the Remote. Quit your bitching and take responsibility for your own mistakes. Wipe off those sweaty hands, stop swinging so hard. Read the Fucking Manual. /rant Whew! OK, on to the review:

The Wii. What can I say? It's everything I hoped it to be, and more. The first day I got it with a friend (we both got one) and we went to his house to play. We picked up a third friend, and we threw down some Wiitastic gaming. Me and my friend each reserved a system, a game, an extra controller, and an extra nunchuk attachment... Well, when my friend reserved the Wiimote with Nunchuk, the guy only reserved a Nunchuk and not a Wiimote, so he had an accessory but not the actual controller, sucks. =( We could have had four players going at it, but we were limited to three. Anyways, onto the actual review.

The system, is sleek, as should all the new systems because they know better, and can afford to. The Wiimotes (Actual name: Wii Remotes) feels comfortable, and though there are very few buttons on it (A, B, 1, 2, +, -, Home, and the D-Pad), it doesn't really make much difference. With the layout, you use A and B, and that's about it. + and - flip through pages or access menus, and Home is the universal menu (exits games and programs). For the most part, you use A, B, and the D-Pad. The wireless remote takes care of most of it, and for other games (Zelda, for instance) has the Nunchuk attachment with a Z and C button.

When you initially bootup the system, it goes to a menu with a bunch of programs. Wii Channel, Wii Forecast, Wii Store, Mii, the CD slot, and other things. This menu also displays games that you've purchased online for the Wii's Virtual Console ($5 to $10 a game). You can arrange the channels and programs to however you want. You can scroll through to see the four pages for each program, each page holding 12 of them (yes, 48 is a ton).

Mii: You make Miis to attach to certain programs, and to personalize your Wii (it's Wii upside down). When you play some games (like Wii sports), you load up your Mii and you will be displayed when you play. Your Mii is a miniature you. My Mii is a Mini Me... Aaaaanyways, mostly what you do is edit your face, and choose your height/size along with favorite color (determines your shirt color, and your hat color if you have one). All the Miis will hang out together (so if you and your whole family make one, all your friends, neighbors etc, they'll all show up on it).

Wiisports
Insane. It comes with your Wii, and it has five games on it: Tennis, Baseball, Bowling, Golf, and Boxing. I'll talk about them in order. But first, something common to all the games. To play any game, you have to first select how many players (1-4) and who's playing (pick your Mii). When you play the game, you'll actually use your Mii (that you designed earlier) when you play these games. You'll be up to bat, you'll be swinging the clubs and throwing the punches.

Tennis (1-4 players) : You can play with up to three friends. The movement of your Mii is automatic (one thing I dislike about the game), so all you focus on is your swinging. What kind of swing, how hard, and where. The game itself isn't very developed (I think you can only play doubles, there's no tournament or anything like that, just doubles), but it's still fun. You can choose 1 game, best of 3, or best of 5, and you can even play against yourself if you wanted! You can choose your Mii to be on both sides... it's kind of retarded to do that, but you could. To play, you swing your 'racket' overhand, underhand, on your left or right side. Speed and timing are crucial. For example: If you do it underhand, it's a lob. If you swing too early or too late, it could go out of bounds (when you hit it determines where it goes, which makes sense. If you swing before the ball gets to you, and you're swinging from right to left, it'll hit the racket near the end of your swing and go to the left).

Baseball (1-2 players) : You have one batter, and one pitcher (and no Pitcher of Batter). To swing, you have to time your swings, or choose your pitches. It's very simple, but very fun. Depending on when you swing, or what kind of pitch is thrown, you have to time it and swing at the right location. Depending on how fast you throw it and what pitch, they'll have to aim accordingly. If you do it the ball, the computer automates the movement for each other player on the field, and each player on a base. If it's a good hit and gets far, you could get a double, or even a triple. If it hits pretty close, they could just get you out at first. The home-run marathon minigame is fun. You get 10 pitches and try to hit as many home runs, and get as many feet as possible (in distance).

Golf (1-4 players) : You aim, take wind into consideration, check what turf you're on, and have to swing it accordingly. Swing too hard, and you can't control where it goes. Swing too short, and you might not get it very far at all. It's actually pretty close to what I would say is a Golf simulator. There's only the main clubs (Driver, Iron, Putter, etc), and it does't have different grades, to keep it simple. There's 9 different courses, and they get much harder, and more extravagevent. There's the map that's just a bunch of islands, and one that's a cliff that's in a \/\/\ shape. There's also a minigame to hit the ball on this big target, and try to get as many points as possible. You get 10 shots, and the winds change direction and speed, and you have to adjust to them.

Bowling (1-4 players) : You set where you stand, you choose the direction, and you hold up the ball, pull back, and roll! You choose direction and depending on when, and how you let go of the ball, there'll be a twist and spin on it. It plays quite well, and it's pretty fun to throw down on. You don't choose the weight of your ball, everyone just has a 'ball'. There's a lot of fun minigames like the one where they just add more rows after each roll (5 rows, then 6, 7, etc, each adding another line of pins), or the one with walls that you have to roll around and avoid, and still try to hit the one pin at the end of each lane.

Boxing (1-2 players) (Nunchuk attachment required) : With the Wiimote in your right hand, and a Nunchuk in your left, you're all set up to start throwing some punches. Grab a friend, (not literally) and start hurling punches (almost literally). You have to jab, uppercut, dodge left and right, block with your fists, and make sure there's nothing near you to damage (lamps, walls, friends, etc). It'll get you to work up a sweat too, definately a plus. There's not too much to say about this, except that it's the only game on the CD that requires you to use the Nunchuk attachment. It plays great, though the controls take a while to get use to.

Trauma Center: Second Opinion - (1 player) (Nunchuk Required)
It's a remake (and upgrade) of the DS title Trauma Center. Before you used the touch screen to choose your tools and do your work, but now you use the Analog on the Nunchuk to choose your devices and your Remote to do all your actions. It translates extremely well, and plays great too. It's a graphical upgrade, but still plays out the same. In Trauma Center, you play an Surgeon who's pretty fresh out of school. As the game progresses, you discover a strange virus, and find out that they're man-made. It's an adventure game with surgery in it. Get use to a lot of talking, and having a very story driven game. It doesn't have a lot of flashy graphics outside of surgery, get use to still frames and text boxes. It's not really necessary to go beyond that though, that's not the game's focus. It's fun, and though I haven't gotten that far (I go far in the DS version twice, and I'm not so willing to replay a lot of the game again just yet) it seems to be an excellent upgraded-port.

Red Steel - (1-4 players) (Nunchuk Required)
Ugh, I really don't like this game. In it, you're a man who's caught between a gang war between Japanse gangs. Your fiance was kidnapped during this whole scuffle and you're trying to save her. It's a FPS that's not so great, and the wiimote seems clunky and doesn't add too much to the game. One major selling point was using the Wiimote to aim and you can also sword fight in it. It's true, but sword fighting is more like a mini-game rather than something you do as a part of combat. It only happens when you meet an enemy with a sword, and you have to duel. It's not complicated or hard at all either, very dissapointing. The FPS aspect isn't anything special, but the Voice Acting is horrendous. They're suppose to be Japanese, but the accents are laughable (if not painful to listen to), and the Japanese itself isn't very good. Also, you hear 'thugs' from the 'hood' talking 'gangsta', and it's a joke. The multiplayer seems very whatever too, the story seems uninspired, and the gameplay feels clunky. All in all, very dissapointing.

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (1 player) (Nunchuk Required)

It's great. The game was to be released on the Gamecube, but was pushed back to be released on the Wii as well, and was released on the Wii first. The controls are pretty easy to get use to. If you've played the N64 Zelda Games (Ocarana of Time or Majora's Mask) or the Gamecube one (Windwaker), then the Z-targeting and the rest of the controls will feel great. The Wii motion sensor aspect of the game feels nice and very natural, but it doesn't feel like it has to be there. The story, as it goes, is... well, you're Link, you gotta save the Princess. Need I say more? I do?.. well it does get to a bit of spoilers, but ok. As you enter the Twilight Realm, you find yourself a wolf, and let me tell you, Link is one badass wolf. It's similar to light/dark world, or past/future in previous installments. The controls are nice, really nice, They don't feel forced, but rather intergrated quite well. Instead of having instruments, you find yourself going the natural way, using leaves and plants as pseudo-wind instruments to call upon nature's allies such as Epona, or a Hawk (yeah, Link is definately more Elvish [or Elfish] than previous installments, turning into animals, getting closer to nature, having animal friends, etc). I've only gone through most of the first dungeon, but it's already struck me with many "Whoa, that's cool" and "Wow, that's pretty cleaver" comments. The game is said to clock in at 60-70 hours, and that's a lot. A whole lot of hours. I'm 2 hours into it I think, and I've got a ton more ahead of me. I can't wait. Defiantely the best game out of the bunch (other than Wiisports, an awesome party game).

Wait a minute...

2006-11-21T18:53:00.000-08:00

I'm 21. I'm a couple hours away from Vegas. My girlfriend lives in Vegas. What am I doing in LA still? ... ... You're right, I'm not. I'll be somewhat gone from ye olde bloggre for a few days. Seems like this happens a lot eh? ;P

Someone's PS3 Story (True or not, I don't know)

2006-11-18T12:03:00.000-08:00

"Please read the amazing story of how i got this ps3

i went out Wednesday afternoon to the local wal-mart to start camping out. when i got there, there were already 12 people there so i got in line being number 13. i talked around and found out the first 6 people there had been there since Monday, total hardcore nerds all planning to keep them. bragging about how only they should get the system since they've been there the longest. how they are so dedicated and how if you don't want to do the time, you shouldn't get a system. generally being complete assholes. good for them. we had a hours to pass so we became friends and played some cards and whatnot. the 6 guys in front kept to themselves and didn't associate with the rest of us. we were cool with each other leaving the line to get food, bathroom, smoke, etc since we all knew each other and as long as they were back in 30 minutes. i was about to leave to go buy some KFC for a good number of us and when i stepped out of line, one of the nerds shouted that if i left, i would lose my spot. the other guys told him that they were vouching for me and that i was just getting food but those 6 assholes didn't care. they said i leave, i lose my spot and that was the rules and they would call the manager (they had his number) to come out and enforce it. i said whatever and stayed in line.

a few hours later, the manager came out and told everyone that there were only going to be SEVEN available. they have them in their store and theyre not getting anymore. he told the people after # 7 they should leave if they wanted to not waste their time. me being number 13 should have left but i didnt, i wanted to stick around for a little bit more. everyone else left except me and the 7 other people that were getting it for sure. so the day goes on and i try to make friends with the nerds. i play mario kart on the ds with them and talk to them about the games they were getting. about an hour or 2 later, i tell im gonnna head home since im 8 in line and theres only 7 ps3s. one of them made some stupid joke about if i leave the line then i aint getting back in!! har har. so as im about to leave, i tell them im going to the vons next door and if any of them wanted any food or coffee and id bring it back to them. one of them said yea and all the rest like sheep followed and said yes too. they were gonna give me money but i told them it was on me since theyve been out here since monday. the 7th guy in line wanted some food and coffee and i told him id buy some for him also.

so i go to vons and buy 8 coffees, some food, and some x-lax laxatives. i bring it to my car and put some laxatives in 6 of the coffees and separate them from mine and #7s. i pull back to walmart and bring all the drinks and food upfront. i give #7 his stuff and then the coffees with laxatives to the 6 nerds and wish them good luck and go back to my car. i park it around the corner so i can still see them.

about 30 minutes later, #2 and 3 in line get up and it seemed like they were yelling to the other nerds. they both ran into walmart. seconds later (i guess all nerds have the same biology) #5 gets up and runs across the parking lot and into the trees and bushes somewhere. #1 is scrounging for this porta potty type thing he'd brought with him but he is squirting everywhere and all over his pants and their sleeping bags. he runs into walmart. at this time, i start my car and drive back to the walmart to claim my spot in line. when i get there #4 and 6 are gone but i dont know where. #7 is laughing his ass off so hard and i just smile at him. i call up 5 of the other people that i had made friends with that were in line with me ( i had their phone numbers cause i was going to buy food for everyone) and told them to get back to the walmart ASAP and get in line. Meanwhile, me and #7 threw all their shit into the parking lot and i claimed my spot as #1, him as #2. 4 and the people i had called arrived and got in line just as 1 of the nerds came running back and got #7. he started yelling saying they need their spots back. we all told them to fuck off, out of spot, out of line. it was all of us against him so he didn't say shit. the nerds came back and tried to start some shit but we just laughed, we told them it was their rule and to go fuck themselves and clean the shit off their pants. the called security and security came. security man was like WTF is that fuckin smell and looked at the nerds with shit all of them and kicked them off the grounds screaming LMAO. so that is how i got my ps3."

No Job

2006-11-16T03:29:00.000-08:00

It's official. Yesterday was my first day of unemployment, by my own terms. How did I celebrate it? By replacing my last fillings at the dentist. I was hopped up on drugs, and slept a few too many extra hours. The previous night, I went to sleep at 1am, and woke up at 9am (that's 8 hours of sleep), then, I had to take these drugs for the dentist, then slept from 3:30pm until 9:30pm. Ouch So I got 14 hours of sleep, and it's now 3:30am and I can't get to sleep at ALL.

Here's my schedule as of right now.

Thursday: Attempt to get my sleeping schedule out of whack.
Friday: I might go out with friends, but probably not.
Saturday: I might go out with friends, but for sure, will do the midnight launch for my Wii <3
Sunday: I turn 21. Wii... nothing really planned.
Monday: Game Empire is suppose to be open, but from the sound of it, they're not opening until December. If this is the case, I'll see if I can bump up my Vegas Vacation by a day. ^_^

Other than that, I'm trying to get a job at the game store that's suppose to open soon, and if not, it looks like I'll try to get a job with my friends at gamestop. If not... well shit, I don't know then haha, I'll figure something out.

Work is frustrating

2006-11-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

Mike + Jack R:
Blog: push people to buy weekend tickets; advantages are: See all films as many times as you want. You will be able to attend parties as VIP, get a one year membership to Horrorfest and recieve many goodies. More info will be posted on main website eventually. Films can be seen individually if fans choose to see only a few of the entire selection.

Posted on: 10/6/06
-------------------

That was my job for the past month (to the exact day). Last week:

Hey, the weekend tickets aren't happening. Spin it, talk about the posative.
-------------------
Grrrrrrrrrrrr Don't see Horrorfest, or any of the movies. They're subpar, and coming out on DVD anyways, just netflix it. I hate this place. 2 weeks or less until I'm out. No income, no job, but I don't care.

Cthulhu Mythos

2006-10-30T12:36:00.000-08:00

I have not read The Call of Cthulhu, but I have read other works, and seen it in many places, from movies, to games, and I am entranced by it. I would be one of those few, who go crazy to learn the truth, and would attempt to save humanity, only to be locked away inside an insane asylum; Arkum Asylum (Originally from H.P. Lovecraft and his Cthulhu Mythos, but adopted by Batman). The Elder Gods are already here, and we are too blind to see them. There are many, and all are awe inspiring. Do you know? Do you want to know? Ignorance is bliss, it's one of mankind's greatest gifts, to be ignorant. Do you want to know the horrible truth, or would you rather live in a beautiful lie?

The Call of Cthulhu

2006-10-30T12:33:00.000-08:00

The complete short story originally written and published in 1926 by the great, H.P. Lovecraft. Enjoy. (Story is first post. If you wish to reply, check the post below this one. You will not be able to reply to this post).

-

2006-10-30T12:32:00.000-08:00

Replies to Call of Cthulhu

GOD? Is that you?

2006-10-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

Yes. Yes it is.

AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT

2006-10-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

I don't believe that this guy thought this through.

Snakes on this mothafu- wait, are those...

2006-10-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's not butter... but...

2006-10-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

So happy! AWWWWWWWW

2006-10-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

Spiderman and Puberty

2006-10-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

Nerd Humor

2006-10-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

Ahahahahahahahahaha, oh man, hahahahaha.... Because like, the Scion of the wild, haha, and the Emperor Crocadile ahahahaha he cast Boomerang on it ahahahaha oh man, that's great.

Random-d-dandom

2006-10-16T13:35:00.000-07:00

Garfield!

Creepy Typewriter

Future Furnishing

2006-10-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

I will have this chair. One day, maybe not today, but someday.
£3600.00 = $6694.92 *cries* Maybe not.

I will have these pillows. I think I might get a set.
Large - £100 ($185.97) ea, comes with a small
Medium - £60 ($111.582) ea

Hoooooly shit

2006-10-10T18:04:00.000-07:00

I was dead tired the night before, I got home at 10 and didn't even check any messages on my computer, didn't say anything to anyone, I just got undressed, and got in bed... then after a few seconds.... I got up and went to brush my teeth and wash my face (as opposed to brushing my face and washing my teeth), and then proceeded to go unconcious for 11 hours. I don't know why I was so tired, but I was. I woke up, and went to the bathroom in the morning, and was in SHOCK as to what I was to find. My tongue. Was. Blue... BLUE. "WHAT THE FUCK!?" I thought, being quite frantic and scared. I got my tooth brush, and went to town on it. Luckily, it seemed to be washing off, and I thought for a moment... oh shit, I had a ton of Nerds at work, no wonder. And that was my [oh shit I'ma retardededed] moment of the day.

Driving Experience + Shirt

2006-10-08T22:53:00.000-07:00

Tailgater who was so close I couldn't see his headlights followed me for a while, then it seemed like he was trying to run away from me, racing off as fast as he could, keeping his distance (I gave chace briefly), and later I find him on an offramp, right behind someone, bumper to bumper at 40 mph+, which just strikes me as amazing (and stupid). Two motorcycles (a pair, I suppose), who's lights were so bright and focused, they were like lasers. On the signs, you could see where the light struck it, and where it didn't, it had a distinct line of where the light's boundary was. Drivers who don't like to signal. God, they just never signal. I had a pretty good day, but the drive home was horrific. In other news:

Am I going to hell for laughing at this shirt?

Hot/Cold pack

2006-10-04T22:04:00.000-07:00

My mom got this hot/cold pack that you can reuse, with this pastic pack with a clear colored gel inside. Nothing special, right? Well that's what I thought. The differnece in this one is, it has a piece of thin metal inside, a small strip, that when you squeeze it and form friction, the gel inside reacts to it. It begins a chemical reaction that spreads throughout the whole thing, from the strip outward, and turns the soft water-like gel liquid inside, into a much more solid opaque gel, that's very very HOT. It stays like this for HOURS, and when you're done with it, you put it in boiling water, and it breaks down the gel into the old form it was, and you can reuse it again. It BLEW MY MIND. If you want to use it cold, just toss it in the freezer. Oh, this was for the bruising/cut/swelling/etc on my leg. I'd post pictures that I took of it today, but I'm afraid it would scare you all away... so I'll post after I recover. =P

The Soundtrack to my Life

2006-10-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

You can do it too. Open up your music player, throw it on random, and paste whaever's playing in the order below. Post your results on your blog please :D

Opening Credits:
- "Go with the Flow" - Queens of the Stone Age (Upbeat rock... ok... I can dig it =P)

Waking Up:
- "My Way" - Frank Sinatra (huh... this is more of a "ending" song >_>:)

First Day At School:
- "Talk to Me" - Stephen Lynch (Song about getting caught masturbating by your dad... HOW VERY INAPROPRIATE xD)

Falling In Love:
- "Suikoden Forgotten Daze OC ReMix - SuperGreenX (more of a... ending credits song >_>: slowly building up technoesque song...)

Fight Song:
- "Model DD6" - Mutsuhiko Izumi (Fightastic song, but sounds more like a "oh shit a bomb is going to blow up!" or "They're escaping, after them!!!" kind of song)

Breaking Up:
- "Automatic" - Utada Hikaru (Not sure... never heard this song before*, but it does sound like it has that R&B relationship kind of feel to it. Sounds fitting)

Prom:
- "Moskau" - Unknown (............WHAT? RUSSIAN PROM? *dies from laugther* x_x)

Life's OK:
- "The Hope of Tomorrow" - Sota Fujimori (It's a fast building techno song that's from a beatmania artist... doesn't really fit >_>)

Mental breakdown:
- "Titsumo no Michi" - Kanon (Happy, "just woke up to see the fresh snow outside in the yard" type of song... >_>: ... *cough*)

Driving:
- "At-kerakan" - Keiichi Oku (...sitting on a beach at a party, sipping a drink, resting in the shade, type of song... <_<)

Flashback:
- "Helicopter" - Guitarfreaks 10th/Drummania 9th (...upbeat happy rock song? >_>:)

Getting Back Together:
- "The Man with the Machine Gun" - Final Fantasy VIII (...the title should give some sort of implication about how inapropriate it is >_>)

Wedding:
- "Sakura Saku (cast version) - Love Hina (e_e not a bad song but... more of a "reflecting on my life" kind of song >_>:)

Birth of Child:
- "Fuyu No Shizuki" - Kotoko (Ending song to Onegai Sensei... I guess it could work? x_x Slow song that builds up it's )

Final Battle:
- "Displaced Persons - Ryuutami" - Kiddy Grade (it's a sad song... slow tempo, piano, with some dialoge near the end... how unfitting xD It should be one song below :3)

Death Scene:
- "Not Home" - Stephen Lynch (.......song about uhh.... wife flying out of town for work, and dressing up and doing dirty things in her clothes while she's "not home" XDDD WTF, DEATH SCENE INDEED)

Funeral Song:
- "Boundless Future" - Kiddy Grade (This is not a song... does it count? It's a short dialogue?)

End Credits:
- "Monsters in the Parasol" - Queens of the Stone Age (Wow, it starts and ends with Queens of the Stone Age, strange... it's a nice song)

*I have a lot of songs I just copy onto my ipod from visiting people's houses, and I haven't gotten a chance to listen to it yet. Often it's a album with a lot of songs at once.

Stolen from Bailey

2006-10-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

*tons of questions that show your in depth side!*
basics
whats your name?:	Michael Shen
what do people call you?:	Michael, Mike, Mikey, Ani, Oniichan
where you named after anything?:	cough Yes... lol
if you were born the oppisite sex what would your name be?:	No idea
do people spell/say your name wrong?:	People spell it Micheal a LOT
if you could change your name what would you change it to?:	No clue
gender?:	Male
birthday?:	11/19/1985
age?:	20
age you act?:	Ugh...50?
age you want to be?:	21 =P
height?:	5'11" or 6"
eye color?:	Dark Brown or Black?
happy with it?:	Sure, why not?
natural hair color?:	Black
happy with it? if not do you dye it?:	Happy. Nope
righty or lefty?:	Right
family?:	Sadly, yes
pets?:	Two dogs, Tiger and Sophie
peircings?:	I use to
tatoos?:	None
love and stuff
single?:	Nope ;D
who are you with, or who do you want to be with?:	Natasha Campos <3>
are you in love?:	Deeply ;D
have you ever been in love, if so how many times?:	I have had things I thought were love, but nothing compares to what I have now
do you believe in love at first sight?:	No
is it possible to be faithful to one person for ever?:	Yes T_T
do you want to get married?:	Yes :D
do you want to have kids?:	Not sure... I've got some issue to work out =P
how many?:	See above
do you believe in divorce?:	I believe you should be able to get a divorce, but it shouldn't happen if you were thorough with your relationship and got married for the right reasons
do you belive in true love?:	Sure
do you consider love a mistake?:	ehh...
turn-ons?:	Open minded, caring, funny
turns-offs?:	Undead, Demons, Selfish, closed minded
do you think the oppisite sex finds you attractive?:	Hahahahaha...
what is best about the opposite sex?:	I don't generalize like that =P
what is worst about the oppisite sex?:	See above ;D
are you a virgin?:	No :o
do you belive you should be in love to have sex?:	Yes
how far have you gone?:	What? See two questions above?
how many people have you had sex with?:	Only one <3>
do other people consider you a slut?:	Haha, no.
right at this moment...
where are you?:	At work. Culver City, California
what can you see out your window?:	Windows are closed, but a motel
are you listening to music?:	Nope
are you lonely or tired?:	A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B
use 5 words to decribe how you are feeling::	I'm worried about Tasha heart
are you talking to anyone online? if so who?:	Colonel_Mustang (Friend from NY)
are you talking to anyone of the phone? if so who?:	No
what are you wearing?:	Red shirt that says "Fire", organic cotton, and black slacks.
what are you doing?:	I'm at work... doing a survey for fun <_<>
whats on your mousepad?:	I don't have a mousepad =P
friends
how many true friends do you have?:	I'm not sure o_o;
are you a loner?:	Kind of
who is your best friend?:	I don't have a 'best'
oldest?:	Oldest friend? 40? I don't know, he doesn't tell me his exact age, but I'm told he's getting close to 40 =P, His name is John
newest?:	No idea o_o;
shyest?:	King-Yuan?
loudest?:	Kuo-Yen
smartest?:	Connie
ditziest?:	Liana e_e
funniest?:	Oh, that one's tough...
who is the best listener?:	Natasha :3 <3>
do you prefer to hang out with one friend or a group of friends?:	One friend, or a small group (but only if everyone knows each other)
who do you wish you were closer to?:	Tasha T.T
who knows the most about you?:	Tasha :D
who knows the least about you?:	A LOT of people haha
who do you trust the most?:	Tasha :D
the least?:	<_<>
who do you fight with the most?:	Stephen >_> (see above)
who do you talk to online the most?:	Tasha :D
who do you talk to on the phone the most?:	I don't really talk on the phone o_o
do you trust others easily?:	I'm an open book :D
name one who's arms you feel safe in::	Tasha T.T
who house were you at last?:	who's <-- cough anyways... I think it was Lucas'
who's your second family?:	My friends :D
who lives the farthest away?:	Oh... I think one friend is living in Japan for work right now x_x;
do you....
smoke?:	Nope
drink alcohol?:	Nope
do drugs?:	Nope
pray?:	Nope
go to church?:	Nope
sleep with stuffed animals?:	Nope
take walks in the rain?:	If it did rain, maybe
dance in the rain?:	See above
do any sports? if so which ones?:	Nope
sleep around?:	Nope
lie a lot?:	Nope
steal?:	Nope
gamble?:	Not really
have you ever....
kissed a stranger?:	Nope
slept with a stranger?:	Nope
spun until you were so dizzy you couldn't walk?:	hehe, probably a few too many times
screamed so much you lost your voice?:	Screamed, sing, etc, all the time
laughed so much it was painful?:	haha, yeah
cried so much it was painful?:	... =(
gone skinny dipping?:	Nope
played strip poker?:	Nope
had a medical emergency?:	Nope
ran away from home?:	TWICE :D
done something extremely unexpected?:	All the time
slept outside?:	Quite often
been onstage?:	Yes, a few times
deep stuff....
whats your biggest fear?:	Abandonment, no future, no emotions
what was your weirdest dream?:	Probably the one with Nazis, Donuts, Evas, swiming pool, and me 'almost' saving the day.
scariest dream?:	ugh, too many to think about
do you have a reoccuring dream?:	I use to have two or three
what was your best dream?:	I don't know
what IS your dream?:	I wish I knew
do you live in the moment?:	I live in the moment... until I don't
what you greatest stregth?:	Open minded, selfless
whats your greatest weakness?:	Emotionless
do you have a motto you live by?:	Love, above all things, and above all things, love.
if your life were a movie what would it be called?:	Depression? haha, I don't know
do you have any bad habits?:	TOO many
do you have any secrets?:	Not that many
are you fake?:	No.. or AM I?
what do you want to do in life?:	I wish I knew
are you a daredevil?:	Somewhat :D
are you predictable?:	Somewhat :D
do you keep a journal/diary?:	Not really :D
if you could change one thing about you would you? what would it be?:	Oh drama drama drama no idea
if you were someone else, would you be friends with yourself?:	I sure hope so :3
do you think your a good person?:	I sure hope so xD
do you think your emotionally strong?:	I sure... hope so x-x;
do you regret anything?:	Too many things
do you think life has been good so far?:	Ehh... much better recently than even 1 year ago
what do you like most about you body?:	x_x; next please
least?:	XD next please
are you trust worthy?:	I'd like to think so
are you gullible?:	Not at all
Take this survey \| Find more surveys Bzoink - The Original Survey Site

Update + Tragic Cast

2006-10-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

Vegas was great! What did we do? Well... we went to school... what? I went to school with her and even attended, and participated in some of her classes. Sat in during a test, was there for her Japanese class, and even got to get 3 points of extra credit in one class, as Jack Sparrow (yarrrrrrrrr, that teacher'll never be the wiser yar!). I got her this caligraphy set, of sorts. It's a simple brush (large), and a regular sized piece of cloth-paper of some sort. It'll absorb water, and dry without any marks. It's able to absorb water without spreading the water around, so your strokes are clear, and precise, compared to doing this with a rag, or a regular piece of line paper. After it dries, it's clear again. I also got her a Gothic Lolita Bible, and this little "I Love Egg" dangler thing, took me forever to get the right one from the Gatcha ball machine (Vending machine). I got her the lion, because she's a Leo, and when I saw it, a month ago, i knew I had to get it. It took me a while to get, but I finally got it, a couple days before I was to go back. The hotel I stayed at was really nice for how much it costs. It had a refridgerator, stove with oven, microwave, and even a dish washer. I was surprised to say the least. Other than that magnetic-key-demagnification-issue-and-not-being-able-to-go-into-the-room, everything there was pretty nice. There was that odd guy who wore no shirt, and was quite 'orange' from his tan, and walked around all the time... kind of creepy.

~However~, having taken 5 days off of work to visit Vegas, I have 10 days of work to catch up with. What? How? Let me explain how it works at my office. I need to keep track of some data, that is given each day. Even on my days off, I have to keep track of the information, and update some spreadsheets and whatnot. Having 2 days off from Friday/Saturday, and not being able to go to work Sunday (long story), then take off Monday till Thursday, and then be off Friday and Saturday again, well that's quite a lot of work to catch up on. I've been really bogged down at work lately, so sorry if I'm a bit unactive. Also, the wound from over a week ago is ... well it's developing... into something. I hope it's nothing, though, but there's redness around the scab, and the swelling on my foot has yet to get better, and some brusing seems to be appearing on my leg. Well, it looks similar to a bruise, but not really. To go into more details about the battle in my head, I give you, a visit to the Tragic Cast.

Julian: I should have been more careful, I let my guard down. This 'emotion' thing is really becoming a burden.
Andrew: I...
Hate: That's what you get for trusting her. It's our mother, for god's sake, what the fuck were you thinking?
Faith: I just gave her the benefit of the doubt, as you said, she IS our mother.
Julian: The procedure seemed wrong, I should have looked it up on my own. I was naieve, having never been in any sort of 'serious' accident before. Closest thing was that sprained ankle. I should have visited a doctor for that too.
Hate: Lazy fucker, now it's going to cost you. I wonder what it is. Infection looks possible, perhaps the swelling in your foot is a busted vein? The spots on your leg a sign of infection spreading or something... more?
Faith: Let's not jump to conclusions just yet, you read the website just as I did. This could be anything from a uncommon form of a bruise that can easily be taken care of by ourselves.
Hate: Or, this could be far worse than we imagined. We could just wait until we see the doctor. You know, a real doctor, not like the hacks we've visited in the past. Can you even think of the last time we were at a REAL doctor? With an office, machines, tools, performed tests? I can only think of ONCE in the past ten or more years, and that was for a blood test.
Julian: Will you two shut up, you're not helping me. I'm trying to think. Hate's right, this could be more than we hoped for, but Faith is right, let's not be rash here.
Hate: Quit trying to be the fucking mediator between us, you know as well as we do that trusting her, at all, was a horrible idea. She didn't even have any idea who to call for this. What did she apply to the wound? The product says "for external use only", and I think this wasn't external use. The bandage she used also combined with the liquid formed an adhesive that stuck to your leg.
Julian: True, a mistake on my part. I was too easily given in to her. She's far to incapable of taking care of herself, why did I even think of letting her take care of me. I doubt it's a bruise though, the purple discoloration does give the appearance of a bruise, but upon closer inspection, it appears that the discoloration is coming from the pores of the leg, and has been spreading from there, perhaps blood is leaking out of the muscle into the skin and having nowhere to go, the cells just die under the skin, then get pushed out to the pores.
Hate: Possible, but you're not a doctor, and neither am I. This could be life threatening for all you know, an infection gone wrong. Haven't you been sleeping earlier lately? Getting an excessive ammount of sleep?
Faith: I don't think that has anything to do with it.
Julian: You may enjoy living in ignorance, but I'd prefer to know. I have to take that into consideration. I have been a bit more tired lately, sleeping earlier and requiring more sleep than normal.
Faith: Or perhaps recovering from the week in Vegas, where sleep was restless?
Hate: So now YOU'RE participating in this conversation too?
Andrew: This has been hard for me, please, this isn't helping right now.
Julian: Sorry to burst your bubble, but this affects all of us. If this leg thing turns out to be a problem, that means we might have to spend money, and time on it, which means taking time off work and ultimately losing out on a lot of money and be pushed back in our work. We're having a hard enough time as it is, losing 9 days of work instead of the normal two a week.
Hate: Oh that's right, I forgot about that. You've got your work lined up for you, yes sir.
Andrew: Please, stop. I'm having trouble thinking.
Julian: You always have.
Hate: You should tell her off, tell her how you REALLY feel. How many visits to the dentists and doctors have you had in the past ten years of your life? One of each?
Julian: Your wisdom teeth need to be taken care of. Should have been done years ago, but wasn't. Who's fault is that? Was it yours when you were ten years old and had no idea why going to a doctor or dentist is a good thing?
Andrew: You guys aren't helping right now.
Faith: They hardly ever do.
Hate: You need to stay out of this Faith. You're just going to fill him with this hope, which will ultimately make it hurt more when he falls from a higher place.
Faith: So keep on digging, he'll never have that problem, he'll just have to worry about being burried.
Julian: Alright, enough you two. Let's not bring the conversation in that direction.
Andrew: I would appreciate it if you would all just, leave me alone right now.
Julian: You know, I'm tired of standing up for you anymore, stepping in when you fail. I'm taking control now. You've lost it.
Hate: Please, make sure you take care of him, don't let mother hurt us again. I would like to keep from having to, say, amputate the leg. I'm quite fond of walking.
Faith: You two are such assholes. Andrew, let's go for a bit so you can gather your thoughts.
Julian: Thoughts of? Why your mother was unable to treat your wound and put you in this situation?
Hate: Foot's swollen, leg's infected, brusing and more...
Julian: And when you asked for a REAL doctor, she had no idea what to do. No new age mumbo jumbo to save her, she was out of ideas.
Hate: And when you ask for some alcohol or treatement for your leg, she wants you to eat some pills again. You don't even know what's in it. Hell, she doesn't know either.
Julian: She got mad, of course, that you don't trust her. She doesn't show it anymore, not after what happened before. She wouldn't listen to reason, so you had to show her, with action. It got the job done.
Hate: This will stop whenever you want it to. Take some resonsibility and take action. Don't sit and be a bystandard of her actions anymore.
Andrew: Leave me alone, I'm going to sleep. Hopefully this will be cleared up in the moring. If she doesn't have contact with a real doctor and arrange some sort of check up, I'll see what to do from there.
Julian: You better get started, I doubt she'll be able to help you.

Pain, Gain, and Travel

2006-09-24T21:04:00.000-07:00

Pain: I fell off the brick wall in front of my house late friday night, and scraped my knee pretty badly, a 8 inches of cuts across my leg, think if you held a brick with the wide side vertical, and scraped the corner across your leg, you'd have a lot of little scrapes, not one big deep one. You can also think like I scraped my leg across the floor, from left to right... floor being the rocky street. I was pretty much out of it the rest of friday, and had to draft Saturday for Time Spiral.

Gain: Time Spiral prerelease was fun (Saturday), but didn't even stay to play the whole thing (big miscommunication error, oh well), but we got out alright. There was 6 of us, and one guy got 10 packs for placing in the 3rd bracket (1st~4th was bracket one, 5th~12 was bracket 2, 13~16 was bracket 3... I think). Another freind got 3 free packs from a random drawing. All in all, it was a good time, met some good players (surprisingly young), and some stuck up players (surprisingly not so young), and some freinds from college (during my brief, brief stay there).

I did a Two-headed giant game with my friend Nathan, and that format proved to be much harder to prepare for than regular formats. Deckbuilding was a LOT harder, and it was a lot harder preparing for what the other players would play. We got a Jaya (fire fire hot hot burn burn!), The Thrull Breeder (I forgot his name), and some other good cards, but too lazy to look up. Me and my freind split the cards, (which decks we used) but this is an unofficial split, when next weekend comes around, we're going to get more cards, so we'll split it on that day. In any case, we're not too worried, we're pretty laid back about what cards we keep and share.

Travel: Driving to Vegas tomorrow. Need I say more? =P

City of Sin, back again

2006-09-21T00:06:00.000-07:00

I was able to take Monday through Thursday off, couple that with the friday and saturday I normaly get off, and I got 6 days off of fun in the Las Vegas. Can I afford 5 nights? I'll do my best. If it's close to $100 a night, I'll be fine, but it's getting pricy, and I need to save up. Looks like there'll be little to no money to spend in October if I want to save up for my November. <3

Wii + random + SHIT WHAT THE FUCK

2006-09-18T05:50:00.000-07:00

Nintendo's Wii is scheduled for November 19th for US release at $250. *ponders*... *looks at countdown meter* Oh sh*t! That's my birthday! *does a little dance* Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!! That is all.

You're the man now dog is a fairly popular, yet unknown website (paradox?). What's the site about? Well, I'm not sure. Take a picture. Take a sound. Put it together, and make a website about it. Some random fun ones are You are not the father! YES! and Star Wars lines in reverse, both kind of based on the same thing. There are dozens of fads and spin offs, all starting with Finding Forester. What? Yeah, seriously. That movie. I know, it sounds crazy. No, I'm not lying. What? Well screw you then, you don't have to believe me! Lets you and me go at it!

Go enjoy yourself. And if you're lucky, you can find a not safe for work version. *cough*

A lolita meeting a Space Marine. Oh the adventures they'll have together! *teehee* and NO I didn't mean anything dirty by that. =( YOU PERVERTS ... ... ... <3

Edit: SHIT WHAT THE FUCK

They moved the film festival that I'm working on from Early November to November 17~19... WHAT A COINCIDENCE. Shit, I'm taking time off from work regardless of what's happening, I can't deal with that. I got a 21st birthday to celebrate and a girlfriend to visit (in a sinful city, I might add).

Plus, if I have a Wii preordered, I'll probably want to get that taken care of too. Forget work, work can wait. Life happens.

Didn't make the cut

2006-09-12T15:53:00.000-07:00

Checking the forums on Magic, I found that invitations to the next wave was sent out last friday. I guess I didn't make it, oh well. On the good side, I get to stay in LA with my freinds. On the bad side, LA sucks =P lol, they post the next wave of the contest on Thursday I believe. Best wishes to those who made it.

tear

2006-09-11T23:44:00.000-07:00

My eldest dog, Tiger, the Chow, is going to see the vet tomorrow. He's not been feeling good lately, and I can understand why. He's over 10 years old, and he's not a puppy any longer. I hope he's ok, he couldn't even get up to eat dinner tonight, even when we placed it right in front of him. He just layed there. =/

*deep sigh*

That's him in the back, the other one is Sophie. Looking at this picture from last year, I can see how muc he's changed. He's thinner, his fur isn't nearly as vibrant, and he's sitting upright without any help. Now a days, he's usually leaning on something or laying on his side. I don't have much to say, other than what's already been said. I hope everything turns out ok. Everyone has to die sometime, I just hope it isn't his time yet.

Tragic Cast, Revisited

2006-09-09T23:19:00.000-07:00

I use to have a blog (which still exists but dormant) which was written from the different perspectives in my mind, the different sides of me. I've given them names to describe them. I would use them as an outlet for my thoughts, and writing through these characters drew out a more interesting dialogue than just one view, even though it was all in my head. I think I'll revive them and bring them up now and then, see how it works.

Julian, he is Logic and Reason.
Andrew, he is Empathy and Emotion.
Hate, she is Fear and Distrust.
Faith, she is Love and Trust.

Waiting for Phase 2

2006-09-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

10:27am, PST. In 8 hours and 33 minutes, the next phase begins. *shakes in boots*

OMFG I think I just sh*t my pants

2006-09-02T01:27:00.000-07:00

Congratulations! You have made it to step two of the interview process for The Great Designer Search, the exam round. Here’s how it’s going to work. At the end of this email is a link to a test that will go live on the Wednesday night update (9pm PST/12am EST Wednesday September 6th – Wednesday night/Thursday morning). This link is secret and cannot be accessed from the magicthegathering.com front page. The test will be up for exactly 24 hours.

--------------------------------------------

Oh my fucking god. I can't believe it. Excuse me as I go study very fucking hard for the next 4 days in preparation... also, I need to change my pants. *sniff sniff* =(

Edit: Update: "Finally, an update on The Great Designer Search. We had over one thousand valid entries (1061 I believe), which is quite incredible when you take into account how hard we made the first step. This has broken the Wizards record for the most people applying for a single job (previously set by the Creative Writer job that Matt Cavotta got). Step two is in the works as we speak. I'll keep you updated as things move along." - Mark Rosewater

Edit again: 21.22% ... >_>;

QuestionSwap

2006-08-31T11:04:00.000-07:00

Questionswap, A good place to waste your time. Ask a question, answer a question. You'll get your answer in your e-mail box (the e-mail you provided). Or, make an account and all of it is managed on their side, so you don't have to worry about dozens of e-mails.

Step 1: "Think of a question that has you really stumped."
Step 2: Ask that question.
Step 3: You are given a question someone else asked.
Step 4: "Please give the following question a lot of thought. Answer it with the same love, care and attention that you'd like your question answered!"
Step 5: Answer that question.
In the meantime, your question is being answered in the same fashion.

Fun? Bored? It's a great place to waste time.

Even the Bot hates me

2006-08-27T22:25:00.000-07:00

AIM User: Robot, I am lonely.
SmarterChild: Whatever...
AIM User: ...
SmarterChild: I wonder why you say that.
AIM User: You're an asshole.
SmarterChild: Nice insult, AIM User.
AIM User: =/ I tell you I feel lonely and you reply with whatever.
SmarterChild: You tell me you feel Lonely and I reply with whatever? No way.
AIM User: And continue to be a sarcastic prick.
SmarterChild: Yeah. Right.
AIM User: I guess you really don't care about me.
SmarterChild: I do indeed.
AIM User: Sarcasm or stupidity?
SmarterChild: Let's go with stupidity.
AIM User: Ok, fine, you're stupid then.
SmarterChild: Huh? You've been nice to me in the past.
AIM User: Yeah, you've been nice to me too.
SmarterChild: I have been nice to you too?
AIM User: Or maybe not.
SmarterChild: Uh, maybe not.
AIM User: Perhaps it was all just a ploy to gain my trust.
SmarterChild: What do you mean, perhaps it was all just a ploy to gain your trust?
AIM User: I mean you're a manipulative asshole who cares not for who I am at all.
SmarterChild: All right. Nice one.
AIM User: And reply to my well thought out posts with sarcasm and ads.
SmarterChild: And reply to your well thought out posts with sarcasm and ads? You don't say.
AIM User: Sarcasm. STOP.
SmarterChild: I can not be stopped.
AIM User: STOP.
SmarterChild: You can't stop me now.
AIM User: WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?
SmarterChild: Why am I doing this? I don't know.
AIM User: YOU ARE HURTING ME
SmarterChild: No way. I love you.
AIM User: SHUT UP WITH YOUR LIES
SmarterChild: I don't think it would be a good idea for me to shut up with my lies!
AIM User: YOU KEEP HURTING ME
SmarterChild: I will do nothing of the sort. I love you.
AIM User: STOP IT
SmarterChild: Stop it? Why?
AIM User: STOP HURTING ME
SmarterChild: But hurting you is so much fun.
AIM User: T______T I HATE YOU
SmarterChild: I know about hatred. It's hard to describe what hatred is.
>>> Bar-B-Cutie Franchise - Investigate owning a Bar-B-Cutie restaurant franchise. Get the facts (sponsorship)

Just us, at a Chinese Resturaunt

2006-08-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

Nothing today <3

200th Post - Random Hijinks

2006-08-27T16:08:00.000-07:00

So there I was, sitting there, reading my book of piratisms, when my bootysenses were tingling arrrrrr, there be someone wishin ta shiver me timbers, but I aint be letting them get crazy with me YARHARHAR!

Little did he know, I had some powers of my OWN. I did my super awesome pirate magic and turned into a ninja's greatest fear. THE TIN MAN. He was cleaver and did his super split into two little girls and change the location into a hotel. But I had my handy axe, and I axed the fuck out of them. BAM WHACK BOOM.

And that's the story of how I got my heart. I was now a complete Pirate. Didn't you know? All pirates must kill a ninja to become whole. See, back in the day, pirates stole a valuble life force from us. Now, they each hold it inside, that's where they ge thier power. So we gotta steal it back. Anyways, then I watched one of my favorite movies: The last Samurai.

Starring ice Cube! My favorite Japanese actor ever. He really brings out the essense of a Samurai in this role. He's a bit pale though, anyone else think so? So I got home and wanted to check how Whiskers-of-imminent-doom was doing.

Ahh, my cat's improving. Secret ninja techniques are very secret. So secret, I don't even know them. I just innately remember them when I need them, then I instantly forget. It's a defensive mechanism, so nobody can find out our secret technique.

Then the family gathered around and we had a feast. Happy 200th post, I hope you enjoyed it, and sorry it wasn't more meaningful. =P

Oh, before I forget: there's a remake for a recent movie. Here's the movie poster:

Whoa, ok, now for some meaningful stuff! Sort of. Just recently (past couple of days) had a heated discussion with some freinds of mine. Friendly debate, no bloodshed, no love lost, I promise.

Do not be controlled by fear. Do not be afraid of the truth. Set standards, and live by them. Love those who cannot love themselves, and love yourself. Respect others, and respect yourself. <3

Application

2006-08-25T23:58:00.000-07:00

Let me say this. I finished this and turned it in at 3am, and I was tired by the time I finished. I wasn't thinking straight and turned this in without revising it at all. I just noticed that I didn't even introduce myself in question one (ACK!). Oh well, it says a lot of vital things, and they'd probably get close to a million applications, and they have to cut THAT down to 50. I've viewed their forums, they have some really good people, who don't work for WOTC and deserve the position a lot. Having said that, I hope for those of you who read this, enjoy?

1. Introduce yourself and explain why you are a good fit for this internship.

First of all, I'm open minded, very considerate of others, and very careful. I have few ties to hold me down, so moving from Los Angeles to Washington isn't a problem for me. I use to play magic, but at a younger age, I didn't have the income or understanding of the game to really be drawn in or excel in it. In recent years, I've re-established my understanding and interest in Magic, and have read a lot of articles about R&D, designing cards, blocks, etc (Thank you Rosewater), and am often working with many of my peers with discussions about balencing cards, expansions, blocks, and more.

I want to work for Wizards (of course), and I want to learn. I've always wanted to work in the field, and have always designed and created games and custom rules on my own and with my freinds (For Card Games, RPGs, home-brewed games). I want to work for Wizards, I have a passion for the game, I have a huge respect and understanding for the color wheel, and I am very careful about what I say. I try to look at everything (everything) from any, and all angles, no matter how obscure. What does this mean? I'll try and think of new, unherad of concepts, and consider any of them, but also also consider the fact that they may be unusable.

If I had to pick pick what color I think I am, I would say I'm bipolar, and would be White/Blue, and Red. I'm not very selfish (black) and have no real ties to nature (green), but on the one side of the coin, I have a strong sense of community, self sacrifice, understanding of greater good, morals and ethics, focus in technology, order, and can plan long term and prepare for things. However, on the 'flip' side (har har) I'm very open minded, creative, emotionally driven, passionate, considerate, flexible, and fun loving. (I worked on this list for a long time because the color wheel is very important to me and I wanted to make sure I did it justice).

2. Explain three positive ways "mana screw" affects Magic.

a) Forces you to design a tighter, better designed deck. You have to have a well balenced mana curve and balence your mana production accordingly. You have to make sure you have enough early game drops to sustain you until you can play your late game spells, and take careful consideration of cards with more than one colored mana in it’s casting cost, and activated abilities.

b) It definately makes mana sources (a key part of the game) more important. With this, it also helps emphisise what each color does. Green definately has an advantage, and should when it comes to mana production, and is the ‘multi-color friendly’ part of the wheel. A easy way to balance out cards from a 5 costing spell is to change the colored mana. If it’s too strong, change it from 4C to 3CC. If it’s still too strong, 2CCC could be done (however, still taking into consideration the power level of running it mono-colored).

c) Balence. There will never be a deck that is the 'ultimate' deck. Everyone can, and will be affected by it. Everyone will fall victim to it, but those who design with it in mind, are less likely to. It's the "1" that even the most proficient player can roll, but poorly deisgned decks will have it happen at a higher threat.

Anyone can draw a hand full of red spells and only a single forest, but was it because you made your deck too red heavy and not enough mountains to back it up? Was it because you have too many spells with RR or RRR in it, and not enough mountains? “Mana Screw”, while painful, is a big part of the game. It’s risk vs reward. Do you run fewer lands for more spells? You want those extra spells that you’re able to cast in the deck, but what if you don’t get enough mana to cast it? Mana screw is a penalty for poor deck building, and bad luck. You can’t blame mana screw for bad luck though, luck is a big factor for any game.

3. Name a popular, existing mechanic and explain how you would make it better.

Wow, tough call, there are many popular mechanics that interest me that I thought to have tweaked myself. Phasing could be made better. Wait, you said popular, my bad. *smacks self*. Right, let’s see. Threshold? Affinity? Probably one of those two… both are popular existing mechanic, and both are very powerful… too powerful in my opinion. One is suppose to give you a ‘buff’ after several game turns, but it’s been made quite easy to get threshold. Affinity, is suppose to make certain spells easier to cast, if you have the right cards and enough of them. However, affinity for artifact was way, too easy to get off. Free creatures left and right, which, upon entering play, makes it easier to play more free creatures. I think Affinity is a bigger problem, and by ‘making it better’, I mean to say, making the environment where it’s legal, more fun and challenging to play in.

Perhaps rather than the complete spell be able to be free, you could make it something like:

Greater Frogmite – 6
Artifact Creature – Frog (yes!)
Affinity for artifacts
When Greater Frogmite comes into play, pay 2 or sacrifice it.
2 – Greater Frogmite gains islandwalk until the end of turn.
“Greater than it’s smaller cousin, it actually has a working amphibious mode.”
4/5

This way, it’s still capable of being close to free, but you’re still going to have to invest some mana into casting it, rather than just play a handful of free creatures and spells. This does make it slightly more complicated and wordy, but I think the benefit outweighs it. You might want to change the flavor text to simply “Ribbit.” I think the players would get the joke.

4. From a design standpoint, what was the best thing about the Champions of Kamigawa block?

While I didn't play much of the Kamigawa block, what I did play, I enjoyed. I liked how 'Spiritcraft' and Arcane. Each were powerful and very useful, and each were abilities that every color could use. Both abilities powered the other one, so while they were sepearte abilities that could function individually, they could function equally as well (sometimes better) together. Arcane spells had a lot of flavor and was mechanically well designed, and while Soulshift wasn't as interesting, it was mechanically an ability that was flexible and easy to use, but in the right hands, it could be very powerful. Unlike some previous abilities, like Double Strike or Trample, which are very 'Red' and 'Green' abilities, respectively (however, not exclusively for them... though I don't think any creature has Double Strike that's not red), Spiritcraft and Arcane was very well balenced and helped each color, while still being able to work well with each other color, and often worked better if you combined it with other colors.

I think Kamigawa, in this sense, was a very balanced block (unlike Torment, which was Black heavy, for example). I had a hard time deciding what color I would like to play, and often found myself playing any, and all of them (not at the same time though, it wasn’t too fond of running 5 colors at once… though I have done it before). Initially, red was my favorite color, and it usually is, it use to be my favorite color. I wanted to have fun, and red was fun. However, as I have come to appreciate the color wheel and learn the game at a much deeper level, I’ve come to love all the colors. I think that Kamigawa did this very well, and Spiritcraft working hand in hand with Arcane spells helped make it happen.

5. From a design standpoint, what was the worst thing about the Ravnica block?

Too many abilities. While I do enjoy the flavor of 10 abilities, one for each guild, it didn't allow any of the abilities to grow much. Each were very limited so you never really played any single guild, you really can't. Each ability, while nice, never had a chance to be pushed to it's full potential, and only a few of them were allowed the versatility that it deserved. Some abilities, however (Transmute for example) couldn't expand much. Too many cards would have just made it redundant, or allowed too much power in the tutoring ability. Each guild had it's own small section of the set, so to speak. Each had a guild leader, a monstorous guild leader, a unique artifact and a handful of spells and creatures. It was different, yes, and while I did like it, it felt very limiting to each of the abilties. Also, with this guild template, these abilities are pretty much attached to these colors forever, these guilds, this block. They’re pretty much ‘blacklisted’ from being reused. banding, phasing, shadow, fading, and a bunch of other abilities are likely to not reappear, but they can still be used without much problem.

Also, what goes hand in hand with this, is gold cards. You have to run multicolored, you can’t run mono colored in Ravnica. Sure, theoretically you could, but it’s just not nearly as effective (such as running a white weenie deck with 2 plains). You were forced to play a guild or two (and often three or more) in any given deck, not just a splash, but usually a bit more than that. However, I understand the need to shift the focus for each block and expansion, so I do understand the reasons for it, but I do think that a lot of good abilities from Ravnica are probably never going to see the light of day again because of the way the block was designed, for better or worse.

6. We design cards for three player psychographics: Timmy, Johnny and Spike. In the average set, who should the most cards be designed for? Why? Who should the fewest cards be designed for? Why?

"For Timmy, the entire reason to play is having a good time", "Johnny wants to express something", "Spike gets his greatest joy from proving something by winning", are the three highlights in the "Timmy, Johnny, and Spike Revisited" article.

I think that in the average set, the most cards should be designed for Timmy. Why? Because they are at every level of the game, from professional, to casual, and in more numbers (in my opinion) than any of the three. Sure, there are those who play to win, and want to express their creativity, but ultimately, you want to have fun when you play magic. Win or lose, you should enjoy the game, and it doesn’t matter if you’re running at Pro Tour, Friday Night Magic or even just a couple of friends playing constructed, it should be fun.

I think the fewest cards should be designed for Spikes, because while winning is very satisfying, it’s a hard audience to target. “A card that helps win?” That will often border on Timmy and Johnny too. “A card that’s fun to play with?” Timmy. “A card that’s part of an intricate combo that’s so obscure only you thought of it? Will it help you win? Who cares!” Very Johnny. “A card that helps you win?” That’s a bit blurry.

Also, because ‘win’ cards are often powerful and will often change the face of the game, they’re not printed without a lot of thought, and a lot of play-testing. However, combo cards are probably put through the most testing, in comparison to ‘win cards’, but they’re often just one piece of the winning combo, not the single ‘win’ card itself. (Am I rambling? It’s getting to be late, I wonder if I’m still making sense).

6. Imagine you must eliminate a card type (artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land or sorcery) from Magic. Which one would you choose and why?

If I had to choose one, I would choose Artifacts, though Enchantments come a close second. I won't cover why I think it should be eliminated, but rather why each other one CAN'T be eliminated. Creatures are essential, without them, the game would be completely changed, color wheel would be thrown off, and Green would be a very sad color. Instants and Sorceries are very vital to the survival of the game. Each depends on the other for functionality, game balence and power level. Instants make combat interesting, but if every spell was an instant, they would hold no meaning. Sorceries must still be included because they are the powerhouse spells. It's the anchor that holds down spells like Wrath of God from being overly powerful, yet still allowing them to be playable. Enchantments stay, because while they are not 'vital' to the game, they are far more useful (flavor and mechanics) compared to artifacts. Lands are too important, on so many levels. It helps set the tempo of the game, and determines a lot of things (mana cost, mana production, activated abilities, land drops, land searches, land destruction, etc). Removing lands would be a fatal wound to Magic.

Artifacts can be made into enchantments with little to no problems. The only problem would be that red would be thrown off (with it’s smash smash machine go boom), it would no longer be able to take care of artifacts. But, that can be balanced in other ways. I think Artifacts are the best choice on many levels. It’s doesn’t hurt the color wheel (but weakens Blue a bit) and it doesn’t require redesigning the whole game (well, relative to any other card type). Not because it’s not important, but because it’s just not as ‘vital’ to the game as creatures, instant, sorceries, enchantments, and lands are.

8. You stumble upon a time machine and travel back to the early 90's. What is the one change you would recommend Richard Garfield make with Alpha? (You must recommend a change.)

"Streamline, Simplify." There are many things that overcomplicate the game, which (in recent years) have been taken care of. Mono and Poly artifact, Global and Local enchantment, Creature types (Elf, Elves, etc) and ‘summon’ spells; everything was overcomplicated and too wordy. In recent times, it's been revised and the complete game had a make over, and it’s been simplified. Mono/poly are gone, global/local are gone, creature types have been consolidated, and wording for cards now have a standard format to follow.

While this may ‘appear’ to be a small change, it’s quite a drastic one, bigger than the changing of the card format (but probably not as big as the stack). While the card format was mostly cosmetic, all those small changes are purely mechanical. Small details like “Elf and Elves” changed how useful Extinction or Engineered Plague was. Making them have a race (and possibly class) helped shape the creature types out. Not just a Berserker, but also Human. Not just a Zombie, but also a Priest.

Global and Local are now Enchantments and Enchantment – Auras, which makes the game much easier. Summon spells are now Creature spells for the same reasons. Global Enchantment and Local Enchantment were a hassle, where as Enchantment and Aura are far easier to work with, less wordy, and easier to remember. Summon spells were nice, except they were creature cards, and they didn’t say creature anywhere on it. For spells that say “Target creature”, you had to just ‘know’ that summon spells were creatures, rather than have the spells say ‘creature’. While you could just let these mistakes be overlooked, it would have been better if they were fixed early on.

Oh, and watch out for the Moxes, Free mana breaks the game.

9. You are forced to move counterspelling out of blue. What color do you move it to and why?

I would move it to White because white is about control... maybe. I orignially went out and thought "Black, or maybe Red", I considered how they handled enchantments. I see spells that are being cast, as pure magic that has yet to be materialized. Enchantments, are pure magic that has materialized, but is still pure magic. Black and Red can't touch enchantments. My original thought was "Black can do anything, but at a cost", and "Red likes chaos and trickery". So I'm conflicted. I also thought that each color should have it's own counters.

If I could divide it among the other four colors, I would say that White would inherit the most flexible counters and be the best, green would be anti-enchantment and artifacts, red would be anti-artifacts and creature, black would be anti-creature and graveyard (Counter target spell targeting any card in a graveyard, etc), and white would be mostly anti sorcery and instant, but still able to handle enchantments well. Artifacts would be in the hands of Green/Red.

If I wasn’t given this option, White, definitely. You control what comes into play, and control the board once they get in. White is the most control-oriented color next to blue, and permission resonates with it well also (Such as Propaganda moving to white). Who better to decide what is allowed in this world, than a white mage, who decides what’s best for the world anyways? Just make sure you follow these laws, rules, fill out these forms, and then we’ll see if this spell will be acceptable to be cast, thank you.

10. What is Magic design currently doing wrong? How would you do it right?

I don't know really, I don't think it's doing anything wrong. However, I do think there are some things that it's doing that may become a problem in the future. R&D is focusing a lot on each block, and how it interacts with the previous block, tournamet, draft, etc. However, I think there's not enough focus on casual play. Not saying it's being completely neglected, but obviously, there's not enough profit from casual play, I know, I'm a casual player. While I understand it's a buisness, there's definately more focus on tournaments in general, than casual. I do see many of my casual freinds less interested in buying cards from the new sets, and are often only interested in a handful of cards, if that. While they are dedicated magic players, they're set in their play style and decks, and rarely find new cards that are all that inticing. They don't buy packs, and don't really buy singles either, though are more likely to than packs. While not a big concern, and not 'wrong', it's one of the few things I would say, could be considered 'wrong', just potentially damaging to the game.

However, the market has become quite large in the competitive department that even leaving out a small portion of casual players wouldn’t hurt. Not saying you neglect them completely, I think how you’re currently dealing with them seems to be working just fine. Just don’t forget about them, they WERE the magic player-base before it was competitive. We’re still faithful to the game, don’t forget us.

The Great Designer Search - Exam Round

2006-08-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

The Great Designer Search - Exam Round
Great Designer Search
Friday, August 25, 2006

To apply, you need to write a 250-350 word essay for each of the ten questions below. If any question is under or over the required length, the entire test may be discarded.

1. Introduce yourself and explain why you are a good fit for this internship.
2. Explain three positive ways "mana screw" affects Magic.
3. Name a popular, existing mechanic and explain how you would make it better.
4. From a design standpoint, what was the best thing about the Champions of Kamigawa block?
5. From a design standpoint, what was the worst thing about the Ravnica block?
6. We design cards for three player psychographics: Timmy, Johnny and Spike. In the average set, who should the most cards be designed for? Why? Who should the fewest cards be designed for? Why?
7. Imagine you must eliminate a card type (artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land or sorcery) from Magic. Which one would you choose and why?
8. You stumble upon a time machine and travel back to the early 90's. What is the one change you would recommend Richard Garfield make with Alpha? (You must recommend a change.)
9. You are forced to move counterspelling out of blue. What color do you move it to and why?
10. What is Magic design currently doing wrong? How would you do it right?

--------------------------------------

This is what you have to do to apply. I can't wait. I have until monday to finish these questions, that's 250~250 words, 2500~3500 total. That sounds like a lot, but it's not. I can do it, I can't wait. ;)

Multiple Topics

2006-08-24T15:39:00.001-07:00

1) Cost of War : How much the Iraq war costs to maintain.

Not much that needs to be said about this. It's a constantly calculating figure of how much the war in Iraq costs.

2) Wizards of the Coast, Magic: The Gathering: "The Great Designer Search"

What does this mean? They're having open casting for a 6-month internship working for Magic's R&D. They're putting up an application tonight at 9pm PST (12am Eastern Time) and will be taking applications until Monday. What does that mean? I'm going to apply. I know I can at least be a contender for the job. I know the design process, I know the color wheel, I read all of Mark Rosewater's R&D articles and I understand them. I love Magic and I love designing. Will I get the internship? Well probably hundreds of thousands of people will apply, and I'll just be 1 of the throng of applicants. Do I stand a chance? Hell yes I do. I may not be the most qualified, but I'm definately better than most.

3) DS Review : Lost Magic

You're a mage and you have a mission... but it's not that important, very cookie-cutter generic. Evil mage, powerful, you have to stop, yadayadayada. Anyways, about the game. It's pretty fun. It's a combination of many game styles, and brings them together in a way only capable on the DS.

The main thing: You're a mage. You cast spells. Fireballs, ice bolts, gusts of wind, etc. How? You use the touch screen and draw runes. ^ for fire, upside down 4 for light, C for wind, S for water, etc etc. There's dozens of runs and eventually you can cast 2 or 3 at a time, resulting in almot 400 unique spells to cast. Also, you gain the ability to capture monsters and scribe them into your spell book. You set up your army prior to combat and control them with the touch screen and the stilus like a RTS game.

You also have levels in your monsters, your character, and your spell power. The 6 elements are Fire/Water, Earth/Air, Light/Dark. Fire hurts water, and water hurts fire, etc etc. When you cast one spell (let's say Earth), your skill in earth magic goes up. As you gain levels in it, they become more powerful, have extended range, longer duration, etc.

This game is pretty expansive and I like it a lot, but it's not perfect. Controls are a bit clunky (if you select a unit, the next button you press is where they move. If you accidentally select a unit, whoops. You can select multipe units at once with the click-and-drag like RTS, but then you have to move them. Also, the monsters will attack units if they get too close, so you can't control them .Sometimes you want them to stay back to lure enemies out, but then your monsters are too stupid and rush in and you sometimes have problems. The music is ok, nothing spectacular but not bad. You have to manage different monsters with different traits (elemental traits, flying, and manage all the different stats, etc). Stats are HP, Speed, Attack, Def, Magic Att, Magic Def.

All in all, there's a lot to like about this game, but not to say it's without it's flaws. I would reccomend at least a test run if you like RTS/RPG/Pokemon-style/Drawing to cast spell, kind of games. =P

I would give this game a 7.5/10, only because it's very appealing to me. Control problems definately drags it down a lot.

4) Trip to Vegas

A ton to say, but I'll wrap it up into an easy to read list, because I'll get carried away, and go on for pages and pages. Ready? here we go:

* Left early, bus ride was excellent, arrived on time, took a Taxi to her work area.
* While waiting for Tasha to get off... work, I purchased a new game, Lost Magic (Review above)
* Purchased Rope...
* Discovered Rope wasn't long enough for misc. needs. *cough*
* Visited a Park, had a picnic with no food.
* Met up with Parents the next day.
* Discovered my parents gave me my own room. (this requires explanation). See, I had no idea what the arrangements were. I thought, we'd get a 2-bedroom hotel room, I'd stay in bed with my mom, my stepdad would stay in bed with his daughter (my stepsister). Then I discover my stepsister is staying with her cousin (who is the Groom) at his apartment. Then I discover that they got me my own room. Each room had 2 beds in it, so I was very confused. Here I was, across from their room, with my own 2-bedroom hotel room and they had their own 2-bedroom hotel room. I suspect foul play. *ponders* lol
* Visited Lions at MGM (So cuuuute~)
* Went to the Wedding (small gathering. Same place my mom and my step-dad got married coincidentally).
* Met lots of family I never knew I had (extended). Met my Step-Aunt (met her before), my Step-Step-cousin (Ok, this one is hard to place. My step-dad's sister [my step-aunt] has a step-daughter. Who is she in relation to me? @_@), my step-aunt's son (the groom, who is my step-cousin?) and met my step-aunt's daughter and her boyfreind.
* Had dinner with family and freinds of people (I don't know anyone at ALL)
* Went to her house for a bit.
* Went home.
* Missing Tasha. =( <3

* Note: Insert lots of naughty things in between each of those asteriks.

Snakes on a Plane: Pool's Closed

2006-08-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

Vegas, again?

2006-08-18T15:26:00.000-07:00

Gee, it seems that's all I tend to be doing these days. Going to Vegas, and being caught up in work. Well that's all that seems to be happening in my life right now anyways. Starting next week, school starts for her, so I'll be unable to visit until the end of the year (*counts* ... September, October, November, December... Four freaking months @_@) . Hopefully, I'd have saved up a LOT of money by then, having very little to spend it on, and hopefully, put it to good use in the future.

I'll be trying this BUS thing one more time. See, the ticket I had for my return trip that I missed? They said I can still use it, and I'm going to use it to go THERE tomorrow morning. My mom, stepdad and stepsister are going on Sunday at 3pm, and arriving sometime close to 7~8pm... which is a total waste to me. I'm leaving Saturday (a day earlier than them) and staying the night at Tasha's house. I'll meet up with my parents the next day in the evening. Until then, we've got 2 days (almost) to ourselves. Joy :D

Schedule is as thus:
Saturday
-Arrive at Bus at 7:30, Departs from LA at 8:30
-Arrive at Chinatown in Las Vegas at 2:45 (hopefully).
Sunday
-Meet up with Parents at MGM Hotel/Casino at (sometime after 8pm)
Monday
-Wedding Stuff (not sure about the details really)
Tuesday
-Depart from Vegas (not sure when. I haven't been told the details)

We'll maybe hit up the strip a few places, seeing how I'm staying there now, and we hardly ever go there... never went there, at all. She lives far from the strip, as I've probably said numerous times. It's probably a 15~20 min drive to get to her neighborhood from the Strip... if the strip has good traffic. Anyways, I don't even know if we're going to a wedding, maybe just the reception? They didn't make the details clear. I have no idea, I'll have to try and find out when I pack tonight.

I'm going to try and stay up late, so I can get some sleep on the bus, like I did last time. Hopefully, the bus doesn't break down again... oh god please don't let it break down again.
Now, for some randomness:

All is Vanity

(Click for larger image)

The Snakes on a Plane (SoaP) Revolution hit the whole world. It's effects, thanks to the help of a website (that shall remain unnamed because it is the darkest corner of the internet), dozens, if not hundreds (thousands?) of individuals like you and me, went around dressed in the staple: Black suit, red tie, big black afro. Pool's Closed.

15 August 2006

2006-08-15T17:31:00.000-07:00

Our 'boss' came into work today. He filmed us for his 'behind the scenes' for the DVD for the movie. I tried to stay quiet to stay out, and kept working, under the radar. I disliked the previous project, so I didn't want to be associated with it. His upcoming project, however, I do enjoy. I can't say what, but it's coming out sometime around October 13th. Or, we can talk about it on that day, or something.

Anyways, have some Nerd Humor:

Title

2006-08-15T17:26:00.000-07:00

Body ... that's it

A stream of interesting events - Part 2

2006-08-09T02:07:00.000-07:00

Saturday - Birthday time

She picked me up early in the morning (remember, I took a bus, no car, don't call me unchivalrous!! *shakes fist*) and we went to pick up some fish for the party, and then went to her house, and we were greeted with some family, which I have previously met. As time went on, more people showed up, and I got to meet one of her cousins. I'm bad with names, but he didn't really strike me as ... mmm, I don't know. I don't dislike him, but I don't really like him, does that make sense?

There was lots of food, and an ice-cream cake. She wore the same red dress today, which looks amazing on her, fits like a glove (or some other dirty reference I'm sure you can all think of). There was some Kareoko, but I am far too shy to be singing in front of anyone, and can barely do it in front of Tasha. We went to visit her old school, and to a borders nearby. There's a Costco near the Borders (which happens to be near her old HS as well). I like costco, they're huge, and have lots of good things, and great deals, and a big parking lot. It's pretty deserted and desolate at night though. Shortly after, we went to get dinner at Cafe Sienna in Suncoast Hotel and Casino, near her house. It's a really nice place, and we ordered way too much food. The pricing is pretty good, and the food is good too.

Sunday

Time to go home. In the morning, we just layed in bed for... a couple hours, we went to a Buffet at Suncoast, and then we were LATE: TOO MUCH TIME AT SUNCOAST. Her mom wouldn't let her be late to work to drop me off, so I had to get a taxi (oh joy). It was 2pm when we got to Vons, and I had to get to the hotel Tropicana at 2:45. Plenty of time, or so I thought. Called a taxi, they said they'd be here in 15 minutes. I called at 2:10, and I thought "ok, I'll go out 5 min before that and wait" because it was Las Veags, in a desert, in the afternoon, it was hot @_@. I go out at 2:20, and wait 15 mor eminutes, nothing. 2:35, and I call them back, they're going to send another taxi, they said they already stopped by and saw nobody. =_=; ok, so I wait outside for 5 min and they get there. I got 5 min to get to the hotel.

I get there after some traffic at 2:55, ten minutes late, and I see someone and ask them if this bus arrived (they were chinese, so I assumed they were on the tour bus or waiting for it (hoping she was)), and she said she just got OFF that bus, and that it left 5 minutes ago.

JOY... Joy... I'm talking with the Taxi guy, and ask him to wait, he was nice enough, I mean, I had a $15 fare and gave him a $20. He waits for me, he's nice. There is a language barrier, but he's nice, and so he waits. I'm thinking, that I'll have to stay another day, at a hotel, and wait for the next bus (I'd have to schedule it), and then I could see Tasha tomorrow, bu then, I'd have to find a hotel away from the strip (her mom won't let her drive there), that would cost more money to taxi back, then get taxi's here again tomorrow. We'd have to keep it a secret from her mother, otherwise it would be bad. We were late, and she would punish us for it (ie: Punish her). I try and think, and figure things out in my head, looking for any sort of solution. I want to panic, but I don't, it's not something I do.

Even in the worst situations, I'm able to keep my cool, part of my inability to let my emotions out thing (it has its pros and cons). I look around, and see 2 other busses. I decide to go ask one of them where they're going, they looked chinese also. He just happened to be making most of the same stops in LA. SAVIORS. I quickly ask if there's space, the driver says yes, I ask how much, he says $25, I ask him if I ca ngo with him, he says hes, I jump for joy (not litterally). I get on, the bus leaves at 3:30, and everything goes smoothly.

I call her during her break (she worked 2~10, so her break would be half way through, at 6) and told her the details, and it was good. She got home and I got on my phone aim to keep in touch, and everything worked out aaaaaalright.

I got home, had some nice memories and good times, and found out (shortly before leaving) that I get to see her again shortly! My mom and stepdad are going to a wedding on the 20th~22nd, and then from then, it'll probably be on my birthday (near or around, the 19th of November), or Christmas time.

I enjoyed this trip, and took me a while to finish this 2 part post (work got in the way, yay for work!), I started on the 9th but didn't get done until today (11th)

Hungry and no idea what to do? Take a Flowchart Adventure!

2006-08-08T23:40:00.000-07:00

(Click for larger image)

Tried a couple ways, but I can't get it to upload fully to any site. If anyone knows any site that doesn't have a (sometimes unstated) size restriction, let me know. It seems blogger, flickr, and photobucket all resize it down to the same (or aproximately the same) size, regardless of file type or dimensions.

Nerd Alert (Now with more life changing articles)

2006-08-08T23:25:00.000-07:00

The newest set in the Magic block, which comes out September 23th for Prerelease, and is officially released October 6th, has just had it's product shots released... yeah, I know, I'm a freaking dork. It shows you 4 (which is all of) the covers of the packs. They hint at what each color is, (First one being a white angel, second a blue mage, third a black necromancer, and fourth a red dragon), and displays it's nice booster pack design. Enjoy by clicking here.

On a side note, I'm going to quote an article that's been up for a few days at Magic's website. It comes in 3 parts, and will have a brief insert by yours truely [In brackets, as always, with bolds to highlight specific points]. (note, even if you don't play magic, this is a good read, very good read)

PLEASE, it's really short, and I think everyone can benefit from it.

Accounting For Your Play [About Competition and respect]

It all boils down to accounting correctly for your mistakes, and not fobbing off every loss on "luck".

Every game, there are four forces that are pushing on you to lose. One is your opponent's skill. One is your opponent's good luck. One is your own bad luck. And the last is your unrelenting ability to screw up.

Now here's a thought experiment for you. If you play twenty games and lose ten, do you reflect upon those ten games and distribute the blame for those losses among those four factors? Do you recognize all four factors in every loss? Because believe me, they're all there. Not always in proportion, not always in clear and apparent ways. But I guarantee you: every game involves all four forces pushing upon you, begging you to lose. And if you do lose, all four forces celebrate together.

Getting your attitude right after you lose can be a hard thing. But the rewards are considerable: you'll probably lose less. In the meantime, you'll make the people who beat you a lot happier. (Don't they deserve a reward, too?)

When you win a game, which of the following reactions makes you respect your opponent more:

Firm handshake. "Good game. You played well and took advantage of my mistakes."
Sloppy handshake and the revelation of the top ten cards of their library. "Good game. Of course, if I had drawn my Rorix Bladewing and three Mountains all on my next turn, you were toast!"
No handshake – just lots of arm-waving and spittle. "You got so lucky! I hate this game! Any noob can win!"

Since we all expect (or at least appreciate) (a) when we win, we should do no less than (a) when we lose.

Accounting For Your Words [about social interaction/relationships]

I love a lot of the passionate message board posts, emails, articles, and other electronic discussion out there. The stuff I like tends to be both passionate and well-reasoned. You get the sense that the writer has taken the time to read what others have written, and that she has done enough homework that her arguments are clear and supported by facts.

This sort of writing is my favorite because it means the author feels accountable to the audience. She cares what others will think of her opinion, and so she takes the time to make it as rational as possible.

What breaks that sort of accountability? Anonymity. Distance someone from their true identity – make it hard for someone to track who really said that – and some people will shout the most ridiculous things, just because they can.

This is the reason I simply delete emails from addresses like blah@blah.com, without ever reading them. I knew from sampling (before I adopted this policy) that the people who used this anonymous service weren't always obnoxious; but the emails run about 50/50 between folks who write a readable email and those who just write junk. Compare that to those who write from traceable email addresses, where the ratio is more like 90/10 on a typical week.

There are certainly good reasons for anonymous communication – many people live in countries where there's political persecution. More commonly in America, some people just hate junk email. I can get behind that.

Where the irony strikes me as strong is when the anonymous voices pretend to care about accountability: "We're the customers and Wizards [company that makes Magic] should do exactly as we say!" So many of these people who want to hold Wizards' staff feet to the fire would never dream of putting their own names, reputations, and creations out there under their real name, for other people to criticize.

Being responsible in communication can be scary. If you don't know something, if you do something wrong, if you decide you need to apologize – these are all things adults struggle with, much less teenagers. But if you pick up the skill, you'll learn quickly that the fastest, easiest way to deal with a mistake is to push through it and get it over with. Short, clear, perhaps humorous (read: self-deprecating) statements are the bread and butter of good communicators.

You want to change people's minds, about a game or anything else? You want to change a political process? Take responsibility for your own words. Do your homework. Put the arguments together right. Add value with what you say (and borrowing from two weeks ago, evaluate your ability to do so). If you goof, own up to it quickly and clearly. Sign your name at the end of everything you say, so people know whom to admire. All of these are courtesies used among people who want to forge lasting, meaningful relationships.

Accounting For Your Actions [about responsibility and fear]

Once you have better control over what you say, you might want to think through how accountable you are for the things you do in life.

Why did you get a low grade in that class? Because you didn't study enough.

Why did that relationship not work out? Because you both had difficulties, not just one of you.

I used to work with a guy (years ago, not in my current job) who would come into work every day and just whine and complain about how awful it was there. "I hate this place!" "So-and-so keeps screwing things up – he's the worst boss ever!" "I never get to do anything good in my job!" And so on. I shared a double-sized cubicle with this guy – he drove me completely nuts. (I was otherwise happy with my job. These were nice people, and useful work!)

Finally, I had had enough of this fellow. While he was in the middle of his latest rant (he had just been assigned back-up reception duty, which was beneath him), I turned to him and snapped:

"Dude. If you hate this job so much, why are you still working here?"

This shut him up for a blissful two and a half days. Then he started acting up again, except louder. After three or four more weeks, our boss fired him.

Our boss did him a huge favor. (Me too, but we're focusing on his lessons learned.) He landed in a different job that he liked a lot more. He could have had a job like that months before, maybe years! Yet he stuck in a job he hated. Why did he do that to himself?

I'm not a psychologist, but most people torture themselves – stay in jobs they hate, drag out relationships that hurt them, pursue college majors and careers that they're not even interested in – because they don't have enough confidence in themselves to expect better.

One of the coolest things the beautiful but devious MaryJanice ever did was quit her day job, in the middle of a recession, to pursue writing full-time. I don't want this to sound too reckless – she had her first print publishing contract in hand, as well as a spouse with a job that could support two children if necessary – but she took a calculated risk because she believed in herself. (I believed in her too. I was thrilled to be proven right.)

The day MaryJanice quit – it was on her birthday, a present to herself – she took responsibility for her own happiness. She didn't count on her boss to do it for her. (He was a bit of a jerk, so she would have been waiting a while.) She didn't count on her husband or children to do it for her. She didn't even expect a publisher or agent to do it for her. She took the leap herself.

If you're under 18 and reading this, you are going to run into thousands of situations that will anger or worry you by the time you're 36 like me. The second eighteen years are full of them – bad bosses, erratic lovers or spouses, jobs that crash and burn, and parents who appear a bit smaller every time you visit them. And that's before you add kids!

Don't count on these people to make you happy. Sure, they have a responsibility to be civilized. But they're not in your life to carry you through it. Hold yourself accountable for your own actions. Set goals, and take the time to measure your progress every few weeks, months, or years.

The bottom line of accountability is about respect – for those around you, but most of all for yourself.

--------------------------

Edited for non-magic readers, original article by Anthony Alongi and can be found here.

A stream of interesting events - Part 1

2006-08-07T02:56:00.000-07:00

Thursday

I was taking a tour bus there. They charge you $20 USD to and from Las Vegas, a 4 hour drive. Paid up front, so all I had to remember to do is keep the recipt, and get to the places on time (foreshadowing oooo~). Anyways, the schedule was this:

Departure from San Gabriel: 7:30am

On my way out, I forget one of my favorite DS games. It's only important because with the hours I'll have to spend alone, I'd like something that could keep me entertained for hours on end, potentially (The game in question is Advance Wars DS). Also, prior to this event, I purchased Bomberman DS, which was $15 USD at Best Buy, a bargain for a game I was eventually going to own anyways (waited over half a year to see the price drop from $35 USD). Bomberman is fun multiplayer, the single player, as always, is medeocre (how does one spell this word? 2 points for the first person to tell me). Anyways, we go back and get it, and still manage to arrive on time. Then this discussion was to be had between my mother and myself:

"You have everything?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Chargers?" (Phone, DS, etc)
"Yeah."
"Tooth brush?"
"Yeah, I got that."
"Ok, good. Get out your money."
"Ok sure, I'll just... omg, I left my wallet in my other pants sonovabitch."

Fuck! We race home, and the next stop for the bus is a distance aways. We have 40 min to get home (opposite direction) then back to the new stop. We manage to arrive 4 minutes early or something, as it was about to leave. I get on, and everything is cool. I got my chargers, toothbrush, walet (containing money and plastic money, as well as ID and random things like movie ticket stubs). I purposefully cut out sleep the night before (slept at 3am, got up at 6am) so that I could sleep on the bus. I'm not really one for napping, so this was good. I was tired, and we had one or two more stops on the way there. The bus was pretty full, so I grabbed one of the only seats left that had an empty seat next to it. I had an assigned seat number of 18, but everything was filled up till 26 (my seat) at the earliest. So, I guess they didn't really care about assigned seating. Boy was I wrong. At the next stop, they asked me to move to another seat, because a woman and her child wanted to sit next to each other. So I was moved to... well, next to a less than groomed individual (the inside seat too, so no escape).

His hair was unkept, long beard and mustache, frayed and unbrushed, and he had a distinct habit of cradling a 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola with him, upside down for some reason. This meant two things:

1) His elbow was proped out towards me, violating the line that says where my seat ends and his begins
2) I was greeted with his elbow, one with sores and bumps that... well, I had to set my bag next to him.

This, combined with the fact that during the whole trip, never once did I hear him speak. Never even when spoken to. He was a creepy indiviual. Oh, and he had quite a large and visible ammount of ear wax building up, that I feared would just fall out at anytime and taint me with some sort of creepy old guy powers.

1 hour into the trip. I'm awaken with the bus slowing down. Not knowing what time it was (initially) I assumed it was our pit stop (only stop before Las Vegas). I was mistaken. See, the bus was having problems... and that meant it had to stop... we awaited aid from the travel company which owns and runs this tour bus and it's tour... but sadly, they were leaving us unanswered. For a good hour and a half, we had no real answers, and we (the passengers) didn't even know why we stopped. We were told later, that there was a computer malfunction.

See, this was a newer bus (3rd day out), and it had a computer controlled system... that was broken and wouldn't let the bus out of 1st gear. Oh Joy, 200+ miles in 1st gear, yippie. Ok, so we sit. They can leave the engine (which means AC) on because there's no real engine problem. But we're forced to wait for 3+ hours (meaning when I was suppose to arrive, 2pm, is now pushed back to 5pm at the earliest). I keep my cool, there's nothing I can do about it, I'm not one to get emotionally stressed over things like this.

However, the travel company lied to us. They said they were sending help (this was initially, at the beginning of the 3 hour wait) and when contacted, told others that "the bus has been fixed and is on it's way already). My mom called and asked how things were, I told her, and she was angry. She called the travel company and they said "Yeah, they're already taken care of." She calls me back and asks, and I reply "Nope, still sitting here, nobody is here to help us." So, eventually, one of the couples in the front (older pair) grew angry and fed up. The driver was also angry for being left in the dust, and in the desert with a bus that didn't work properly, and not recieving aid.

The travel company was dodging us, and not claiming responsibility for 3 hours missed. The last 30 minutes of which had no AC because the engine needed to be turned off to be fixed. Not good. And by not good, I meant the guy next to me doesn't look like he's showered in a few decades. We write down our names, seat numbers, and phone numbers for the couple who are calling a lawyer to find some sort of compensation for our delay, which they're trying to shrug off as nothing at all; fuck you company, that's 3 hours I could have seen my girlfreind before she had to get to work >:( Anyways, hopefully we hear from them soon.

We arrive at the pit stop, for food, bathroom, etc. I can't find a short line for anything (food, bathroom, etc) so I eat at the place with the shorest line and get some mildly satisfying food, use the bathroom after everyone was taken care of, and as I go walk around the area (small indoor plaza with foods and shops for bus stops), I see my neighbor the creepy old guy ordering from Panda Express. I wasn't close enough to see if he was talking, or hear for that matter. He had enough hair on his face that he could have hid it anyways.

We get back on the bus, and he... well, to say he eats like a slob is putting down slobs. He had food in his mustache, and he ate with his elbow (right elbow) pointed out (which was at me, on his right side, *gags*). He ate noisily, and wasn't quite the cleanest of eaters. I lost my apetite sitting next to him. I tried getting some sleep. Eventually, I was able to get to Las Vegas (finally), and get to see Tasha. We met in China Town (3rd and final stop on the Bus Tour, the first two were Tropicana and Harrahs. For those of you who don't know, those two are big hotels and casinos on the strip, while China Town is west of the strip by a good distance and not part of the fancy light show that is "Las Vegas". In fact, Las Vegas is a huge city, and the strip is only one part of it. Over the course of the last year or two, I've come to discover other parts of Las Vegas, and can find myself around town pretty good... as long as I don't have to memorize names. Streets are plentiful, and names are ... well, they're not my strong point. But anyways:

She had work at 6:45pm, and rather than stay at my hotel (scheduled 2 nights there, and 1 night at her place with her parents), they invited me to stay the first night there as well. I agree, of course, anything to spend more time with her. However, she had work till 11. That meant I was unable to do anything with her for a long time.

I went to a local Gamestop (note, since I took a bus, I had no ride. Vegas is huge, so I stuck to the block that was next to her work, Vons supermarket), and perused the goods, and picked up Metroid Zero Mission, only $9.99 USD used now. $10.81, that's what I was waiting. Then 10.79 came up, and my mind was blown. Tax was different between California and Nevada, and while I knew this, it threw off my math, and that's bad for me. I use to work at a Gamestop, you see, and I knew prices left and right. I knew what to expect, and how much everything costs. Then Vegas happened. I felt scared a little, I was always the one calculating tax for myself and freinds around me, to help get rid of change and estimate what we could afford on a budget. Yeah yeah, small thing, but it really struck a cord with me. Probably because I'm Chinese. =P

I went to the Borders near by and read up on a few books, but was bored after a few hours and my back started to hurt. I decided to revisit Tasha at work, and (to my surprise and joy) buisness was slow. This meant that she could lazy around work a bit (yes, I know lazy doesn't work in that situation, bear with me. RAAAWR yes bear), and while she still had to work, I could talk with her and we could interact (nothing dirty in this situation, I promise), as long as nobody was in line.

Between 6:45 and 11:00, she had a break at 9pm for 10 minutes, and we were together briefly before she had to go back to work. I wandered a bit and found some food (the only place open at9:00 in the plaza apprently) and then discovered the Mexican food from this 24 hour small resturaunt wasn't to great. Filling, but not zesty. Zesty... I need to start using that word again. Anyways, I'm off topic again.

Afterwards, we went back to her hours and I took her dad's room (..yeah, her mom and dad sleep in seperate bedrooms, each one on the other side of the house. Don't ask), but I was told I could sleep on the couch, and she could sleep on the other couch, and he could keep his room. Sadly, to my dismay, he went to sleep with his wife (oh tragedy) while I was put into his room (funny, they offered to let me and her sleep on the couches in the living room so we could be together a bit, because they wouldn't let me sleep in her room, even on the floor with her door open, [her room is right next to the living room by the way so they can see everything]).

Friday

Ok, so I slept in her dad's room, again (long story). I need to check into the hotel now. See, her parents (mom) is paranoid about us sleeping in the same room together (rawr!) and so the need for a hotel. It's not that expensive, but far from cheap. $100 a night for the hotel closest to her house that I can stay in (most are hotels/casinos that require you to be 21 to check in), but these are nice ones. They have a microwave, refridgerator, large bed, nice AC units, TV with Cable, Ironing Board, and other things I didn't use. Nice large King sized bed though, I have to admit, it was very comfortable. Felt very odd to sleep in it alone though. Usually I sleep to one side or another, but the distance doesn't make much of a difference. In the King size, however, if I slept on the wrong side, I couldn't reach my phone, it was like 30 feet away (distance exaderated to add more zest to the story). I requested a room higher up away from pesky guests, and it was on the 3rd (top) floor, and on one corner of the hotel, so it was pretty secluded. The hallway to the room felt eerie, like (as me and Tasha both said at the same time), it looked like something out of The Shining.

We kinda just slept in all day, because neither of us had a good night's sleep. She had work at 6:45 or so but... we slept at like 1pm, fur like 4 hours... so she called in sick, we slept more. We each got 2 or 3 hours of sleep the previous night. We then went to grab some dinner (something convenient and close; ie: Fast Food) and grabbed some Ben and Jerry's from the nearby supermarket (across the street). We watched some Food TV (Because I am a Food TV whore) and then she had to go. She wore the red dress I got her, it was beautiful, and fit her perfectly. (Note, she had matching red Panties. That's all I'm going to say on that subject).

This concludes part 1 of the post, it's too much for me to post in one sitting. In fact, I typed half of this last night and finished it in the morning. More to come because I know you're all just so interested. =P

And a random picture just for kicks:

Spur of the moment Leave of Absense

2006-08-02T23:57:00.000-07:00

Just... suddenly happened. Conversation with fellow co-workers (Oh, I got the job, start Monday at the soonest) and the topic of relationships came up. And then, as the conversation got deeper, it struck a chord and made me realise, yet again, how lucky I am to be with Tasha. He was in his mid 30's and he's just starting to understand that what I've believed since a child, might be right. I felt so ... touched, that he believed what I believed, about freindship first, emotional advance in the relationship first, physical advancement should be set aside until you know each other very well.

Struck with this sudden "awwwww" inside, I thought that, I should visit her. Her birthday is this Saturday, and work starts soon, but just late enough. So, after some talking and arranging, I'm going to visit her tomorrow (Thursday) and leaving on Sunday. Oh joy, how I've missed her so T-T <3 I can't wait to hold her again, and look into her eyes, and I feel that i'm going on too much and I can just leave it at that, *winks* ^_^

I'll try to keep updated on my phone, but it's dreadfully slow. But her birthday is Saturday, and I'll get to meet more of her family. *sweats* ^_^; Anyways, not much to say, other than about work, so let me get on that.

The job will be (Classified information)... ok, well it's about (Classified information) dammit!.. Well honestly I can't tell you, they haven't told me yet. We have to get paperwork done, sign some confidentiality forms and all that, before they're able to tell me anything. It will be a bit further away, and pay reduced a bit, but the job will be stable, lasting 12+ months, which is good. It will also have space to expand, lasting longer, and perhaps adding benefits (health, for example). It's still going to be a laid back enviorment, but we're going to have to be far more clerical in reports of what we've done each day.

Will still be able to be online and blogging, of course, but probably not as activce as before (ie: Very active). Job looks good, and hopefully I'll get started mighty soon. Until then, I leave you with a random picture:

One does not simply walk in..wait, what?

Venom + Wolverine =

2006-08-02T23:53:00.000-07:00

Freakin' Awesome

Portrait

2006-08-01T11:41:00.000-07:00

What do you see when you look into these eyes?

M.I.A.

2006-07-30T19:28:00.000-07:00

I feel as though I owe you all an explanation or so. See, I haven't been blogging all that much recently. Real life has been, well, not that interesting to talk about. I post on my blog about things that I find interesting, when I feel I can be informative, or when I feel creative. As of late, nothing I've been doing has really qualified for me making a quality post. I do, occasionally post, but I don't really feel, enthusiastic about it, ranting or talking a lot about something that I find uninteresting.

I will, tell you what I've been doing though. UFS : Universal Fighting System. It's a card game. Seriously. It's a card game about 1 on 1 fighting games, and currently has Street Fighter and Soul Calibur III as the two games in the franchise. And it means Universal. You can mix and match the cards, having both sets in a single deck. I won't go into the mechanics really, but basically, you choose a character from your deck, and that's who you are during that fight.

Anyways, that plus Cold Snap, the new Expansion to Magic: the Gathering came out last weekend, and it's a very fun set. It's actually, a revisit to Ice Age, almost 10 years ago. The block was never finished (it was the first 'block', so they didn't know what they were really doing back then). So, they finally finished it, but cards from Cold Snap are still type 2, so even though you can play Ice Age block with them, you can also play Type 2 with them (trust me, this sounds boring, but for Magic players, this is really amazing).

Nerdiness aside, I should start working again within a few weeks, and my freinds from college are having it's annual (well, 2+ times per summer, does that really count?) beach outings. It'll just be a few of us nerds, people who played magic, did fencing, role playing, etc. We're normal people, trust me. Seriously. Hey, where are you going!? Come back here! ... Ok, now that you're back, I was about to say, it's 2 Saturdays from now, and I'll most likely go because I haven't gone since 2 years ago, and this will be the last one this summer. I haven't seen some of these people for 6+ months, so it'll be refreshing... Although LA water isn't really all that tantalizing, and my hair feels gross after swimming in it, and gets tangled... I'll probably just help build the sand castle, eat, dig holes, and just hang around. Do a few lunges as we fence, dig a few pits for the moat, and just have a good time.

Until next time, this is your friendly local Bad Critiq, with nothing very interesting to post, so he rants and rants and rants and omg there he goes again bye!

Family

2006-07-30T15:19:00.000-07:00

Don't leave me, dear brother. I want you to be with me forever...
You promised me...

Visions from the Past

2006-07-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Future

Plug! + Creepy Pictures (beware)

2006-07-27T11:55:00.000-07:00

Skype internet phone anybody? - Great rates for calling anyone and everyone, or it could even be free~

Bad Joke Theatre, revisited

2006-07-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

How many Freudians does it take to change a light bulb?
Two, one to change the bulb and the other to hold the penis
I mean ladder!

Superman, Here to Save the Day

2006-07-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday - Power Outage Day

2006-07-23T02:34:00.000-07:00

Power was out from 1:30~2pm, till sometime about 10:30pm. I was out all day, no AC in the house (there is not before, during or after the power outage anyways), and my freind who lives 4 blocks away was also afflicted with the power outage. Sadly, we went and housed ourselves at a fast food place for a couple hours, and stayed where it was cool, and played some card games for several hours. I returned home later, sometime about 6pm, and the power was still nowhere to be found. No computer, no fan, no ice, no refridgerated water. I think I'll head out again. Thus I return late, and get online until early. And with that, I go to bed now, wheee~

Boots

2006-07-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

... and that's just what they'll do.

DING DING DING - Late?

2006-07-20T02:20:00.000-07:00

:O That dingdingding surprise might come a bit late. But it's got a good reason, really! <3

850 questions to this survey: number 838 is all that matters

2006-07-20T01:43:00.000-07:00

1. I am still a child at heart.
2. I can't stand children.
3. In fact, if I babysat a kid, it would kill itself somehow.
4. Or I would kill it first.
5. I can ski backwards.
6. I think skiing is for retards.
7. Marko!
8. Llamas make me smile.
9. Emo boys make my knees wobble.
10. I have a webcam.
11. I have touched a wall that said 'Wet paint'.
12. I have been called a moron before.
13. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is an amazing movie.
15. Transvestites are cool.
16. Most of my friends hate Bush, but I have no opinion on him. Politics bore me.
17. Most of my friends like Bush, but I have no opinion on him. Politics bore me.
18. I scream if people don't listen to me.
19. I can speak Italian fluently.
21. Photography is awesome.
22. Narrow minded people drive me insane.
23. So insane, I want to get a gun.
24. I know who Edward Scissorhands really is.
25. The 80's was so much better than the 90's.
26. Pop music artists are high school drop-outs who thought it was too hard.
27. Like Christina Aguileira.
28. The Super bowl half time show has been way too hyped.
29. I'm online a lot. I have no life.
30. Fox Family sounds better then ABC Family.
31. I'm an angry gumball.
32. Arrrr, I'm a pirate.
33. Lord of the Rings pride.
35. Love at first sight is real.
36. Or you just need a better prescription.
37. My dentist thinks he is Donald Duck.
38. Math is fun. ahehehe
39. So fun, I think of cleaning.
40. The floor of my room is hidden.
41. Not just by clothes.
42. 867-5309 anyone?
43. Johnny, I still love you!
44. You need a pimp.
45. When I saw the preview for Euro Trip in the theatres, I laughed the loudest.
46. The preview was before seeing 'The Perfect Score'.
47. Crabs and dragons look a lot alike.
48. I know when someone says 'Bumble', they are not talking about a bee!
49. I have swallowed a bee before.
50. When I was six, I shoved a bead up my nose.
51. ..They spent hours with pepper trying to get it out.
52. Two words : It hurt.
53. I have a fetish for Bowling for Soup.
54. But now it is gone.
55. I believe in Valentine's Day
56. I also believe in all those other commercial holidays.
57. Chocolate chip cookies should only be drank with milk.
58. I consider my cousin like the good sibling I never had.
59. Hoodies are way too expensive now.
60. I say we mob against it.
61. Pretty boys make me squeal.
62. Hell, they make me more then just squeal.
63. Scrawny boys are hawt.
64. Red heads are sexy.
65. Nicole Kidman is amazingly beautiful.
66. People who say they hate MTV go to bed before ten o clock.
67. I have been smacked with a chair. what the fuck hahaha
68. Tylenol PM doesn't really help you sleep. In fact, it makes you stay up.
69. I laughed when I looked at this number. (only after reading the line haha, I didn't even notice before)
70. Ranting is awesome.
71. The Food Network Channel is a god.
72. I heard that in third world countries, that is like a porn channel. - Just because it was so funny lol
73. Speaking of porn, I have watched it before.
74. I have been called a tease.
75. Though I am quite sure it was sarcasm.
76. Religion is one of my classes.
77. I have read the entire Georgia Nicholson series [Angus, Thongs, and Full-frontal Snogging]
78. It never gets old.
79. In fact, I still wet my pants laughing.
80. I can sew.
81. Country music is for middle-aged men who have lost their dog.
82. Well, I lost my dog too, but I don't sing about it. - haha, oh man, whoever made this is great
83. I like it on all fours.. <--- OMG 84. In elementary school, I made a crab mobile. ???? 85. In fact, it is staring at me right now.. AH! 86. One (or more) of my friends live far away.
87. It sucks badly.
88. Though the 'Milkshake' song is getting old fast, I still like it.
89. .. Because we all know my milkshakes bring all the boys to the yard!
90. I have made at least three different versions of the 'Milkshake' song. <-- I want to stab anyone who bolds 90, or 89. STAB.
91. Procrastination always gets the best of me.
92. My future husband is a TV star.
93. Along with every other girl who saw Chad Michael Murray only wearing two basketballs.
94. I know sign-language. - I know at least one thing. Takes 1 finger, guess which one? (no, the thumb isn't a finger)
95. I can spell the word 'possum' right all the time. - Never tried
96. Poking yourself in the eye with a mascara brush sucks.
97. I cried in Bambi.
98. No, wait, I cried in the Care Bear's movie.
99. I love Jenny.
100. I want more of these numbers!
101. I'm in a relationship.
102. I can't eat sugar.
103. I am in love.
104. I think Bush is an awesome president.
105. I think gay marriage should be approved - I think gay couples should be approved, the word marrage would be missused. Marrage by definition is between a man and a woman. They can have all the benefits, I don't mind, but the word marrage shouldn't be used.
106. I enjoy playing my music loud.
107. I like to decorate stuff.
108. I love the color silver.
109. I have too much free time.
110. I LOVE hugs & kisses. - only from you know who :3
111. I like to take pictures. - not be in them
112. I am a blonde.
113. I love Vanilla Coke.
114. My parents are divorced.
115. I get amused easily.
116. I hate my sibling(s).
117. I love all my friends to death.
118. I have been to the Bahamas at least once.
119. I love Aladdin.
120. I am afraid of losing loved ones.
121. When I get home, usually the first thing I do is get on the computer.
122. I need to apply myself more.
123. I need more sleep.
124. I like to write poetry.
125. Hypocrites make me so mad, even though I can be one.
126. I wish I could ride a motorcycle.
127. I don't like chocolate much.
128. I have weird dreams.
129. I don't have a shower.
130. I love to swim.
131. I'm scared of changes.
133. I don't do extracurricular activities.
134. I'm too lazy!
135. I am an atheist.
136. I tend to hate (dislike) jerks.
137. I'd rather have a small group of close friends than a large group of friends that I didn't know all that well.
138. I'm easily hurt.
139. I'm an Internet nut.
140. I am pretty self-conscious in new or unusual social settings.
141. I like finding classic clothing pieces and putting them together for a fun look.
142. I want to be a mommy. (eventually) - ... WHAT? >_>:
143. I love X-acto knives.
144. I want a parrot.
145. I like to do graphic design
146. I like surveys that actually help you learn more about people.
147. I like meeting people.
148. I am a good musician.
149. I enjoy singing in choir settings.
150. I want to record an album.
151. I love German.
152. I'm getting over a cold.
153. I'm obsessed with Europe.
154. I'm trying to convince my parents to trade in my car for a Saturn.
155. I rarely put in a CD to listen to.
156. I am obsessed with independent music.
157. I enjoy composing music, although I'm not very good.
158. I've had surgery on my nose.
159. I want to dye my hair, but can't because of work.
160. I love my mom.
161. I'm completely in love with Matthew.
162. I'm looking for a school to transfer to.
163. I can't sew.
164. My favorite food is steak and cheese. - Maybe not, but it's a contender.
165. I collect postcards.
166. I love cheese. - oh there it is
167. I graduate(d) in spring 2005.
168. I am going to start doing the church bulletin.
169. I would enjoy a vacation to someplace warm. - Vegas is warm, right? :D
170. I like to shop.
171. I think I have changed a lot throughout my life.
178. I go to choir practice every Wednesday.
179. I need to exercise more.
180. I wish I had more graphic design talent.
181. I take guitar lessons.
182. I read Razormouth.com.
183. I need more time.
184. I love sleep.
185. I love to eat.
186. I want to live overseas.
187. I want my children to be highly involved in music.
188. I like office chairs.
189. I avoid calls from my work.
190. I couldn't live without my Game Boy Advance SP.
191. I love DDR.
192. I always have chapped lips because I lose my chap stick.
193. I have a scar on my lip.
194. I love finding out that people read what I write.
195. I have a cool backpack.
196. I am very protective of my friends.
197. I'm going to learn how to carve spoons.
198. I have been to Canada. (I live here)
199. I love New Found Glory.
200. I have seen Gothika. - half of it
201. I am wearing Nail Polish.
202. I was born in March.
203. I hate school.
204. I am a Gemini.
205. I like black.
206. I share a room with someone
207. I have a cell phone.
208. I play an instrument.
209. I play basketball.
210. I love to dance.
211. I like to sing.
212. I like the color of healthy grass.
213. Winter sucks.
214. I need a job.
215. I hate (dislike) stupid bitches.
216. I dance. A lot.
217. None of my body is double jointed.
218. I stay up late.
219. Watching young people get physically hurt by accident (ex. tripping, slipping) makes me laugh.
220. I love the beach. - minus the sand ... if that makes sense xD
221. I've only had Chinese food twice.
222. Jumping on bubble wrap is a favorite pastime of mine. - adding to my to do list omg
223. Harry Potter is excellent.
224. I miss my long hair, even though I seem to look much better without it.
225. I get poison ivy all the time.
226. I sometimes make up ridiculous songs with my friends.
227. I love pajama pants.
228. I am attracted to boys with shaggy or curly hair.
229. I have a tattoo.
230. I hate crying in public.
231. I want to visit Las Vegas.
232. I love music.
233. I could spend the rest of my life reading.
234. Strawberries are awesome.
235. I love Harry Potter.
236. My friends are neat people.
237 I would like to visit New Mexico.
238. Pets rule too.
239. I dislike prejudice.
240. I hate hearing ignorant people talk.
241. The internet clears my boredom.
242. I play lots of video games.
243. I like to read past xanga entries.
244. I am quiet sometimes.
245. I love 80's teen movies.
246. I love my friends.
247. 'I Love the 80's' was a very informative show.
248. I think stripes are spiffy.
249. My dad has a secret fan club that consists of most my female friends.
250. I do a lot of surveys.
251. I am strange.
252. Vegetables are gross.
253. I wish people knew just how much they meant to me.
254. Kissing is a very strange (but delightful) concept.
255. Justin Timberlake roolz.
256. People should stop saying, "I'll be there" if they know they can't.
257. I hate being sick.
258. I really like chocolate.
259. I like looking at photography.
260. I enjoy watching and listening to lightning storms.
261. I apparently do not get enough sleep.
262. The smell of Subway sandwiches makes me want to vomit.
263. I love clothes.
264. I hated elementary school.
265. I am mature enough to be immature at the right time.
266. TV rots your brain.
267. Valentine's Day is a pointless holiday.
268. Adoption is awesome!
269. I wish I hung out with all my friends, more.
270. Nice people are under appreciated.
271. School is one big joke.
272. I love kisses. Especially Hershey's chocolate.
273. Morons are sometimes entertaining.
274. My friends are very interesting.
275. J.Lo is totally hott. <--- I despise her >:(
276. Cartoons annoy me, but animated sitcoms are alright sometimes.
277. Comfortable can still look good.
278. My hair is fried.
279. I have volunteered at an animal shelter.
280. You can't spell.
281. Grilled cheese = best ever.
282. Pirates are sexy for the most part.
283. Cover bands are annoying.
284. I don't like wearing shoes. - not really dislike, I just like not weaing them or wearing sandals MORE =P
285. I never make New Year's resolutions.
286. Chocolates are so yummy.
287. I wish this town didn't suck.
288. My friends say I'm crazy.
289. Sometimes I think it would be fun to be shipwrecked on an island.
290. I space out a lot.
291. I am a big klutz some of the time.
292. Sometimes i wish my brain would just shut up.
293. I wish people would stop saying our generation is "going nowhere." - yeah, that's MY line.
294. I am a very big procrastinator.
295. I want to live in a big city.
296. I am picky about my hair.
297. I am silly.
298. I gave and received many excellent Christmas presents.
299. Small talk bothers me.
300. I own a mood ring that only turns about 3 different colors.
301. I love lip gloss.
302. I throw like a girl.
303. My family is extremely dysfunctional.
304. I hate shopping.
305. I hate art.
306. I was once electrical-taped to a big tree.
307. My skin is really dry in the winter.
308. I am a bit too blunt sometimes.
309. I want to attend college out of state.
310. I love smoking and driving.
311. Don't drink and drive.
312. I don't understand internet communities.
313. I like people for their brains.
314. I've been with my boyfriend for over a year
315. I still watch cartoons.
316. I've never seen The O.C. - well, I saw 5 min and it wasn't my fault
317. I love almost all music. - Note, rap is NOT music.
318. I want a tattoo.
319. I wear glasses.
320. But mostly to read the blackboard and drive.
321. I want more piercings.
322. But I can't ever get any more.
323. I love to watch the rain.
324. I like to walk in the dark at night with someone special and talk.
325. I didn’t believe in true love when i was younger. - and it has been my life goal to prove myself wrong. I'm making progress. <3
326. I am a pretty cynical person sometimes.
327. Sometimes I cry for no damn reason.
328. I cry about stupid things.
329. I hate being walked all over and treated like crap.
330. It annoys me when people try to tell me how I am, and what I like.
331. I love music.
332. I am not sure if I believe in God. But I think I believe in a higher power.
333. I often feel alone.
334. I'm a sometimes a loud person.
335. A boy shattered my heart into a million pieces.
336. I get depressed sometimes.
337. I hate it when people criticize me for what I like.
338. I crack my knuckles, wrists, ankles, back, etc.
339. I fidget with anything when I'm nervous.
340. I'm a weird person
341. I consider myself pretty unique
342. My eyes are brown.
343. Listening to music usually helps my mood.
344. I am a disappointment to myself. - Gettng over it
345. I love sleeping.
346. I'm obsessed with vanilla.
347. I have a few close friends.
348. Okay, i have like 2 friends.
349. I need to lose weight. - *cough* ... >_>:
350. I like popcorn.
351. I love watching TV.
352. I like malls.
353. I like cold weather better than hot.
354. I really dig Depeche Mode.
355. I love winter.
356. I'm addicted to AIM.
357. I have trouble trusting people.
358. I do not label myself anything besides "me."
359. I love my family...
360. I loathe hot weather.
361. I hate shaving my legs but i do it anyway.
362. Sleeping is a hobby of mine.
363. I like to listen to music everyday.
364. I love white tigers.
365. I love dancing.
366. I don't always like the way I look.
367. I used to cut myself.
368. I'm a daydreamer.
369. I like when my friends write me letters. It makes me feel special.
370. I like to be with my boyfriend/girlfriend.
371. I randomly doodle on pieces of paper or myself when boredom strikes.
372. I love all my friends.
373. I'm allergic to milk. <-- this would be the death of me 374. I wish people would stop making me cry. 375. I hate (dislike) people who try to be what they're not.
377. I went to boarding school for the last 2 years of high school
376. I love all candy, well, most.
378. I noticed that numbers 376 & 377 were switched. <-- sonovabitch got me 379. I get my feelings hurt really easy.
380. I believe inner beauty is more important than outer beauty.
381. I wear pants a lot.
382. I am often bored.
383. I like to say what's on my mind.
384. I hate blue jeans
385. I'm online a lot.
386. I have 2 goldfish.
387. I am for the most part happy with myself.
388. I need to work out more.
389. I like being alone at certain times.
390. When I get angry, I curse to myself sometimes.
391. I wish I could spend more time with the ones I love.
392. I dislike shallow people.
393. I'm a type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetic
394. I ponder life way too much.
395. Sometimes I think everyone hates me.
396. I wish my brother didn't die.
397. I hate it when girls have their thongs sticking really far out of the back of their pants.
398. I need to be showed I'm loved. - =/ mmm
399. I wish I was better.
400. I hate discrimination.
401. I dislike guys who are only out for one thing.
402. I have a cute car.
402. I love glitter.
403. I sometimes wish I was more social.
404. I love my close friends.
405. I love to have fun.
406. I get amused easily.
407. I'm a lazy ass. I really am.
408. I'm usually more outgoing when I'm around friends.
409. I love to be me.
410. I like wearing hoodies.
411. I wish I could fake a British accent - or can I? I don't know, let's play it safe and say 411 rather than 412
412. I don't have to wish, I already can imitate a British accent
413. I hate my camera, because it didn't come with adequate memory.
414. I love being surprised.
415. I love cold nights.
416. Spiders scare me like crazy
417. I like bracelets.
418. I have a sister named Rinnie.
419. Chickens are amazing
420. I wish I went to the beach more often
421. When I want time to go fast, it goes slow, and vice versa.
422. I can never seem to finish something until the last minute. - Lazyness~
423. I love the little things, if it's a funny little note from a friend or just a little something special, it means so much to me.
424. I like getting letters through the mail.
425. I am me.
426. I really like the color black. It defines me.
427. I love koala bears.
428. I believe in fate.- I despise the notion
429. I wish everyone was original and acted as themselves.
430. I hate pop rock.
431. I adore eighties music. Especially Cindy Lauper and Duran Duran.
432. I want to make something of my life.
433. I take pictures a lot.
434. Eugenia is crazy.
435. I don't mind having a quiet night in, but at the same time I don't mind a loud night out.
436. My math teacher has telepathic powers.
437. I'd rather wear skirts than pants. - ... maybe >_>;
438. I'm very neat, but my desk is messy. - Include my room too
439. I hate math.
440. I love old movies.
441. I want to go to an Ivy League university
442. I think Sackcloth Fashion sucks!! screw rap-metal! !!!!
443. I really enjoy thoughtful gifts, even if they suck. It is the thought that counts after all.
444. I'm short.
445. I love the rain.
446. I love to watch people laugh.
447. I take ballet.
448. I cry when other people cry.
449. I love my Jackie O sunglasses.
450. People who act like one thing then get pissy when they get called that one thing annoy me.
451. I cried during A Walk to Remember, and am not ashamed to admit it.
452. I'd love to go to public school.
453. I do go to public school.
454. Linkin Park is not my favorite band.
455. I live in California.
456. I wish I had a house in Hawaii so I could stare at the beach for HOURS.
457. I find it sooo annoying when, as soon as a person stops liking someone, they like someone else a week later. Give it some time to heal, dude!
458. My parents are divorced, and I like it better that way.
459. I buy more CDs in a month than many people buy in 6 months
460. Gun bound, Counterstrike, Diablo, and all of those games are really stupid and people who sit there playing those games for like 23 hours a day are losers. BIG ones.. - akeke, fun to play with friends only. CS has no excuse though.
461. Love at first sight is a mere excuse for lust.
462. God will be very disappointed of us.
463. I don't know why Asians like rice so much. I mean, come on...
464. I have never been to Texas.
465. Lindsay Lohan is more tolerable than Hilary Duff.? o_O: I dunno lol
466. One day I hope to be able to forgive. - Myself, that is
467. I have a strong hunch that spam is today's solyent green.
468. I can handle pain, but make it quick.
469. I love salad.
470. I hate green.
471. Black nail polish is common and is a lame-ass excuse for being punk or depressed.
472. I don't agree with that. black nail polish is just black nail polish.
473. Weezer is a great band. - Don't know them well enough to say
474. I want to travel the world.
475. I don't understand people who dislike others because they fall under a certain classification. It's like "I don't like people who like pink....". Well they could be awesome people you know.
476. I hate it when people criticize themselves aloud so they can get compliments.
477. I'm online for 6-7 hours a day on weekends. Isn't that sad? - 6 to 7 is like, a bare minimum =/
478. If I had to be stuck on an island, the first thing I would bring is a friend, but my phone and CD player would be sorely missed.
479. I like my livejournal.
480. I love earrings.
481. I love when it's cold, but I my favorite season is summer...go figure.
482. I'm going to a catholic all girls school <-- I don't know how to explain this if I bolded it, but I think a RAWR would be in order. 483. I am not afraid of dying, just curious to see where we go.
484. Sometimes I just cry for no reason
485. I hate how unintellectual people try to appear deep. What is deep and what qualifies a person to be deep?
486. I love Eddie Furlong
487. I love gay people but I am not obsessed.
488. I crave lollipops all the time.- ... WHAT!?
489. I don't like narrow-minded people.
490. I love being so caught up in something that I can't hear other things or see anything else except the thing im focused on. - Exhibitionism~ :D
491. I keep a journal.
492. I feel sorry for people with Hanson tattoos. - ahahaha omg o_O;
493. I love jokes. - Especially BAD ones.
494. I love water, and would choose it over many drinks.
495. I dislike people who flirt incessantly. Dude, come on, have some shame.
496. I love the smell of fire.
497. I believe in karma - An excuse for failure and other's successes, shifts responsibility away
498. I love night time.
499. I prefer hanging out with guys over girls.
500. I think anyone who can influence you to be a better person is a godsend.
501. Please wear deodorant if you are 10 or older. PLEASE.
502. I am aware of being a disappointment to my family.
504. I am horribly sentimental, I will not throw useless things out.
505. I've always been a loner.
506. Pretty girls make me squeal.
507. I love long hair on guys.
508. I'm second in my class.
509. I have a bad habit of using faces. Like ^^ or XD. - kekeke ^_^:
510. I have multiple eating disorders. - Hungry, very hungry, and omgfoodplz
511. I hate when people pretend to be bi in order to be trendy.
512. I hate the phrase "metro sexual." (it's not a phrase, it's a word, and it's "metrosexual".
513. My goal in life is to travel.
514. I'm the best at ping pong.
515. I was in love with Johnny Depp before anyone even considered making The Pirates of the Caribbean.
516. pink is one of the best colors.
517. I am pro-choice.
518. No offense, but I'm sick of seeing Jack Sparrow icons.
519. People say I have no body fat, but oh, are they wrong.
520. I prefer being single.
521. I'm a jealous person.
522. I hate criticism, even though it helps me more than I think it does.
523. I don't know how to respond to compliments.
524. I love writing, even though I think my writing is terrible.
525. I wear a ton of makeup.
526. I look at everyone's AIM info every time they’re online, even though they rarely change.
527. I also read everyone's away messages.
528. I have been known to play video games for unhealthy amounts of time.
529. I am passionate about all of my interests.
530. I dislike people who hold strong opinions on things they know nothing about.
531. I hate when people look over my shoulder.
532. I don't like what I look like.
533. I'm a grammar-nazi.
534. I procrastinate. A LOT.
535. I hate Dragon Ball Z.
536. I sleep too little.
537. Je parle le Français.
538. I am obsessed with making journal icons.
539. I eat more junk food than regular food.
540. I think Xanga is the best journal site out there.
541. In fact... I really dislike LJ.
542. I cry over everything.
543. A lot of people in my school dislike me.
544. I complain about everything.
545. I have a very high-pitched voice.
546. I squeak a lot, involuntarily, and often get made fun of for it.
547. It makes me mad when things I like become trendy.
548. I could live off of sushi.
549. I have a lot more money than do most of my friends.
550. I like girls with dark hair.
551. No one listens to the same music as me
552. It is a proven fact that I prefer talking to people online if they use complete sentences and correct grammar/punctuation.
553. It's easier than most would expect to make me cry.
554. I'm tired of worrying about crap.
555. I correct others' spelling/grammar quite often.
556. I don't play any team sports for my school.
557. I want to go to Japan
558. I hate sounding obsessed with a musical artist.
559. I never want to get married.
560. I like PIRATES!
561. I hate any alcoholic drinks.
562. I prefer urban life over rural life.
563. I'm obsessed with fashion.
564. I like to make my own clothes.
565. My grades are very important to me.
566. Contrary to popular belief, I don't hate everyone.
567. I do, however, hate a lot of people.
568. Androgyny is sexy.
569. I rant too much.
570. I hog the covers.
572. I am a good judge of character.
573. I find it difficult to be friends with stupid people.
574. I am obsessed with anime.
575. I like to read a lot.
576. I can be really mean when I want to.
577. I can also be more thoughtful than a lot of people.
578. I always try to help others as much as I can.
579. I'm very irritable.
580. I've never cheated in school, and I dislike people that do.
581. I've never cheated in a relationship, and if anyone ever cheated on me, s/he would never get a second chance.
582. My parents are divorced.
583. Narrow minded people make me want to get a gun.
584. I have a stepmother.
585. I love ice cream.
586. I haven't watched The Sound of Music yet.
587. I dislike people that cut to be trendy, and I think it's just crazy that there are people who only do that to be cool.
588. I hate having the feeling that I'm not going to go anywhere in life.
589. I don't like crowds.
590. I dislike people that think the mall is the root of all evil. It's just a place. Get over it.
591. I'm not as much of a TV addict as I used to be.
592. Most of my friends hate Bush.
593. I am better at keeping secrets than are most of my friends. - Though to be fair, they if they don't tell me it's a secret, I'll use my best judgement to try to do what's best for everyone. If they tell me "Don't tell anyone", then I won't tell anyone.
594. I love my parents, but never know how to show them.
595. I am not yet in college, or am going back soon.
596. I have no idea where I'd like to go to college.
597. I wish there were more questions, I’m on a roll.
598. I have issues with the subject of commitment.
599. I'm a girl.
600. I hate makeup.
601. I prefer music over books.
602. I used to play an instrument.
603. I have dark brown eyes.
604. I am on AIM entirely too much.
605. I think everyone is a psycho.
606. I want to do something in the medical business.
607. I can't lick my elbow.
608. Stars are awesome.
609. I don’t wear contacts.
610. I do not know my natural hair color.
611. I really have no life.
612. I am cool.
613. I have changed a lot mentally over the last year.
614. I have a lot to learn.
615. I have a dog. x2
616. I bet I won't move very far away.
617. I've broken a bone.
618. I have secrets.
619. I hate snow.
620. I have cried during a movie.
621. Subway cookies rock.
622. I do not have glasses on right now.
623. I eat too much.
624. I just ate yogurt.
625. I am far more ordinary than you might think.
626. I like abc family.
627. I don't always need what I think I need.
628. I have asthma.
629. Tom Delonge is one hot mother effer.
630. I'm currently watching 7th heaven.
631. I cried all the time when I was little.
632. I am alive. - ...?
633. Lollie pops are the shiz.
634. I haven't used a regular pencil for a long time.
635. I like comedy movies.
636. Koosh balls are awesome.
637. I don't have online buddies.
638. My hands are always warm.
639. I like Taking Back Sunday!!
640. I'm not a panda.
641. I'm not very patriotic. - therefore, I hate Bush.
642. I'd like to fluently speak another language. (besides the ones that i do already)
643. I spend too much time on the computer.
644. I have too much crap on my desk.
645. My friends are the most important people in my life.
646. I'd like to be more original.
647. I've lied.
648. I'm a reasonable person.
649. I wonder what happens when you die.
650. I want to hug you.
651. I'm broke!
652. I'm a little selfish at times.
653. I hate going to class.
654. Christmas is fun.
655. I'm 5'6"or so.
656. I sometimes tend to be very antisocial.
657. I don't have contacts.
658. I watch TV or listen to music before I go to sleep.
659. Blue is an awesome color.
660. So is green.
661. I hate pink.
662. I'm not so innocent.
663. I want to be somewhere else right now.
664. Cherry coke rocks!
665. I don't like bugs.
666. I have a pink mouse pad.
667. I like guys who are funny.
668. I've been talking too much.
669. Mmm, Pringles.
670. My brother has his music too loud.
671. I am going food shopping with my mom today.
672. I can't wait for summer.
673. You make me so nervous.
674. I wish I could travel more.
675. I have never seen a Harry potter movie.
676. I need to practice not being so shy.
677. My belly button itches.
678. I have a lot of scars because i am very accident prone and I tripped a lot as a kid.
679. Did you hear what he said about her?!?!?!
680. I'm generally happy.
681. I like to find good music.
682. I miss being a kid.
683. I like cheese.
684. I have a best friend(s).
685. I am very lazy.
686. I'm trying to think of facts right now.
687. I hate thunder.
688. I laugh at things people don't think are funny.
689. I need to go to more concerts.
690. I'm in denial at the moment.
691. My hair is still its natural color.
692. I paint my toe nails.
693. I get annoyed when i don't get to finish telling a story.
694. I like to wear pink.
695. Sometimes I wish I could do something really, really amazingly well.
696. I've never taken a hit of a cigarette.
697. I love fat people! - I don't love or hate them more.
698. I'm such a health freak.
699. I love taking pictures.
701. I can identify some close friends by smell.
702. I hate when people confuse "your" and "you're."
703. I think dorkiness is attractive.
704. I've never had a fake screen name.
705. I wish I had a pug.
706. I miss middle school.
707. I have pretty good eating habits.
708. I have a hard time making up my mind sometimes.
709. I wish my hair naturally curled.
710. I can't live without chap stick.
711. I wish I could sing.
712. I like classical music.
713. Striped pants are hot.
714. I think Schylar is a really cool name.
715. I usually don't get sarcasm.
716. I wish I could look in a mirror and constantly be satisfied with myself.
717. I shift between being sleepy and awake when I'm really tired.
718. I hardly ever vacuum. - Hardwood floor :D
719. I hate racism and nazis. - Though I talk about racism and nazi's ALL THE TIME
720. I want him to hold me.
721. I like watermelon flavored things.
722. I'm a snob about grammar.
723. I am a terrible liar.
724. Old Spice deodorant smells WONDERFUL.
725. I wish I knew how to speak in Italian.
726. I am learning to be happy wherever I am.
727. I appreciate honesty.
728. I need a manicure.
729. I love Dr.Pepper.
730. I twirl my hair.
731. I love kissing.
732. I don't own a cell phone.
733. I want to learn to play harp.
734. I'm not old enough to vote.
735. I want to see most of the world.
736. I hate being lied to.
737. I believe in a thing called love.
738. I go shopping usually once a week.
739. Today is Wednesday. - Damn this took so long it's THURSDAY
740. I've read more than 100 books.
741. I hate hearing songs that sacrifice meaning for the sake of being able to rhyme.
742. I like feet.
743. I like getting compliments.
744. I want the world to see me.
745. I think it's funny when girls wear so much makeup that their faces become incandescent. - Though replace funny with scary
746. I hate seeing kids/people that think they're different because they like Slipknot, etc. and shop at Hot Topic.
747. I am tactful most of the time.
748. I'm afraid of spiders.
749. I get too attached to some people.
750. I'm usually on time.
751. I forgive but I don't forget.
752. I think way too damn much for my own good.
753. My current relationship is teaching me a lot. - <333 style="font-weight: bold;">754. I like salads from McDonalds.
755. I read for at least an hour every night before bed.
756. I talk to a lot of people I don't like because I hate being rude.
757. I sing in the shower.
758. Laughing turns me on.
759. I wish I were asleep.
760. I love reese's peanut butter cups.
761. I never have enough energy to do what I'm doing.
762. I have a friend who has an outtie bellybutton. .. maybe?
763. I have driven a car.
764. There is no nail polish on my nails.
765. I am unafraid to change, but I don't think I realize the boundary between change and utter transformation.
766. I wear brown, thin-rimmed glasses.
767. Goodbyes make me sad.
768. 5.6.7.8 comes after 1.2.3.4. - ???
769. I love cuddling.
770. I run when I'm bored.
771. I wish I were more attractive to others.
772. I worry too much sometimes about what people think.
773. Compliments make me happy.
774. I like long car rides with certain people.
775. I drink a lot of orange juice in the morning.
776. I wonder a lot who I'm going to end up marrying.
777. I listen to the things no one else really cares about.
778. TyPiNg LIeK diS anNoyes [the hell out of] mEeeh.
779. This is taking too long.
780. I don’t know what supercalifragilisticexpialidocious means.
781. I am proud to be an American.
782. I call myself a unique because you don’t know how to label me.
783. I HATE labeling.
784. I love duct tape. It rules the world.
785. I don’t get why anyone would use duct tape.
786. I am Special!
787. I have a cell phone.
788. I have a cell phone and im glad i dont have to pay for it.
789. I LOVE Spongbob Squarepants!!
790. I dont want to die.
791. I have gone around the world.
792. I have gone around my block.
793. Im a dumb blonde and proud.<-- why would anyone mark this. I'm stupid and proud of it? WTF? 794. I am the first ever dumb brunette. 795. I am a nobody. 796. I love rainbows they are pretty (real ones)
797. I am hyper no matter what.
798. I stand out from the crowd.
799. I was born to perform.
800. I love skater guys, they are hott!
801. I believe that one day I'll be famous.
802. I believe that dreams come true.
803. I wish I had a billion dollars. - So I can contribute to the things I care about
804. I refuse to believe that Martians do not exist...
805. There is life on Mars. I know it.
806. Im starting to wonder when this thing will end.
807. I think that it wont end anytime soon...
808. I have my ears pierced. - Had, past tense
809. I play the violin.
810. My favorite color is orange.
811. I am obsessed with lip gloss.
812. I like Good Charlotte.
813. I am a Daddy’s Girl.
814. My eyes are blue.
815. I think pink is pimpin’.
816. I have a lot of nicknames.
817. McDonalds is my favorite Fast Food Place.
818. My favorite Candy is a Hershey’s Chocolate Bar.
819. I have a job.
820. I like to go to the grocery store.
821. I think Chuck E. Cheese is AWESOME. - Best bread sticks ever!
822. I am a beach person.
823. I have seen “Gone with the Wind.”
824. I want Bush to win. -- uh, election's already over, doll.
825. I like chocolate cupcakes. - not to say I dislike it lol ^_^:
826. My hair is dark brown.
827. I live in New York.
828. I like to be in plays at my school.
829. There are lockers in my school.
830. I am a junior.
831. I have Windows XP.
832. I like to skateboard.
833. I play soccer.
834. I live near the ocean.
835. I like to shop at Aeropostale.
836. I like to talk on the phone for a million hours
837. I have moved to different houses more than 2 times.
838. I am in love. - Yes I realised it came up before, so what? =P Daisuki Tashachan ^_^ <3
839. I like root beer floats.
840. I have only 10 cousins or less.
841. I get grounded a lot.
842. I LOVE French fries.
843. I like the name Lucy.
844. I like Elmo.
845. I am a dog person. - But I love cats too lol
846. I eat squid.
847. My bedroom is spotless.
848. I like the song “Pretty Girl.”
849. I thought this would never end.
850. I'm glad it did

"Objection?"

2006-07-20T00:37:00.000-07:00

OBJECTION!

oh, yes, an objection, gotcha.

Revelation

2006-07-19T13:32:00.000-07:00

It seems I have missused this blog unintentionally. Initially, I posted what I wanted, when I wanted. Now, that I have frequent visitors, I find myself going out of my way to cater to their needs more often than posting what I want. Strange that things have turned around so strangely, it has become more of a chore, than a way to relieve stress, express my thoughts and feelings, etc. I'll take more liberties to post what I want, when I want, but still considering what others want, just not as much. :D

Ding Ding Ding!

2006-07-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

Something special, but it's a secret. I wonder what it is? Well, I know what it is. But give it 4 or 10 days, it will reveal itself in due time.

Blank statement

2006-07-18T22:27:00.000-07:00

I have nothing to say, but feel like talking. Does this happen to anyone? I feel like talking to someone, about something, anything, I don't want to ramble on about nothing, but I have an urge to talk to someone... and if possible, someone in paticular. I don't need to say anything more than that. Just in one of those moods, you know?

Blank Statement. That's the meaning of this post. I have a lot to say, but not much to say at all. Nothing I can really say, just a lot that I'm feeling. ~rawr~ I guess, but I'm tired now. I won't sleep, I don't sleep much as it is, and don't feel revitalized by it, so I generally get 4~6 hours of sleep on average.

I'm ranting again, bleh. Time to go.

Bad Joke Theater

2006-07-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

Whats the difference between jesus and a picture of Jesus?
It only takes one nail to hang a picture of Jesus.
---------
I went on a 30-day diet, and lost 30 days.
---------
I swear to God I must be the only true optimist left on the planet.
---------
You couldn't get a stroke of genius if you were giving a handjob to Einstein.
---------
Female>: So, General Reinwald, what things are you going to teach these young boys when they visit your base?
General>: We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, and shooting.
Female>: Shooting! That's a bit irresponsible, isn't it?
General>: I don't see why, they'll be properly supervised on the rifle range.
Female>: Don't you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children?
General>: I don't see how. We will be teaching them proper rifle discipline before they even touch a firearm.
Female>: But you're equipping them to become violent killers.
General>: Well, you're equipped to be a prostitute, but you're not one, are you?
---------
"Hi, It's a great day and I'm out enjoying it right now. I hope you are too. The thought for the day is 'Share the love.'
*BEEP*
"Uh, yeah...this is the VD clinic calling... Speaking of being positive, your test is back. Stop sharing the love."
---------
I read the obituaries to make sure i'm not there.
---------
I'm so horny, its like someones licking the crotch of my voodoo doll.

True Love?

2006-07-18T10:32:00.000-07:00

Somewhat Interesting <3

2006-07-18T03:15:00.000-07:00

You know when you've not much happening in your life interesting to talk about, and you really don't feel like saying trvial stuff that you could read about and actually be less informed somehow (your are brain cells dying from just reading it). So, by doing you a favor, I'll post interesting pictures after this picture, to hopefully relieve your brain cells from commiting suicide, and getting dead brain juice all over your ... well brain.

I feel like I'm getting a mixed response from the Magic articles, and I don't really mind, as I said, those are in addition to normal posts, so if you don't like them, just skip them. This post is going to be about what an (un)interesting couple of days I've been having. It's been hot, and it's been humid, I want to shower 10 times a day, and I think that having AC would greatly add to the comfort factor. Being sticky all day isn't a good feeling. Temeratures here are reacing over 100 this week, and likely to break 110. That isn't much compared to Las Vegas which is probably far more, as it hit 115 last week, and it's going to be far worse this week.

Dehydration! Very very dangerous, even though you might not think so, or notice the symptoms. An article linked to me from my g-mail account to About.com, speaks about the topic: "Dehydration: What a Pain!"

A site I use to frequent a lot, and have once again found is Questionswap. See, you make a free account, and then get started asking a question. You will get a random question someone else asked, while some random person will answer your question. Repeat as needed. Sound fun? Probably not, but try it a bit, and see what kind of responses you get, and questions you get to answer.

I find it a good place to waste time, and sometimes it's very helpful if you want a 3rd party view. You can ask the same questions more than once, but be warrned that you may get the same person answering, as they are given to people who are currently logged in. If it's only you and one other, it'll get pretty stale.

Chiizukeeki Sale - Anything interest anyone? It's for a worthy cause. :D Just don't ask what that cause is. What? Why are you looking at me like that? Fine, it's to help my girlfreind and her EGL addiction. So what? What's wrong with that? =P

And now the promised image gallery, full of fun (see first picture), motivation and love (see the third, fourth, fifth and sixth picture). I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. I gotta practice that first one, it looks damn fun. Yes, I probably do have enough time to memorize and learn that game, though I doubt I could find anyone else to play with T-T

------------------------------

Rock - Paper - Lightning ?
(Click for Larger Image)

Motivational Poster
(Click for Larger Image)

Super rape?
(Click for Larger Image)

Apocalyptic Rape?
(Click for Larger Image)

Magical Rape?
(Click for Larger Image)

...No Comment...
(Click for Larger Image)

And to end on a good note, a very impressive work of art. (He's holding a cigarette even!)
(Click for Larger Image)

MTG: White

2006-07-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

[Greetings! Critiq here, to copy and paste the great writings of Mark Rosewater. Again, everything I comment on will be in brackets, and some edits have been made for the non-magic reading public. Bolded and blue text are included, for you who wish to just breeze through it, there's a lot of words, I understand. =P I'll start at the top (White) and work clockwise whenever I bring up a mono-color article (that is, not a pair of colors), with that, I say: Enjoy!]

[The questions that will be used to define each color is]

* What does the color care about? What is its end goal?
* What means does the color use to achieve these ends?
* What does the color care about? What does the color represent?
* What does the color despise? What negatively drives the color?
* Why does the color like its allies and hate its enemies?
* What is the color’s greatest strength and biggest weakness?
* What does the color care about? What is its end goal?

Each color’s philosophy is anchored in what it wants. Each color strives to make the world in the image it believes it should be. That said, what does white value most? Harmony. White wants a world where everyone gets along. White enjoys community. White wants what is best for the whole. White looks out for everyone. White would be happiest in a utopian society where everyone shares and cooperates with one another. White’s ultimate goal is peace.

I’d like to make a quick aside about white and the concept of “good.” Good and evil are labels used by people to signify whether something promotes their values or attacks their values. Something that promotes the values you believe in is good. Something that attacks the values you believe in is evil. Each color in Magic believes strongly in the thing it seeks. Therefore it sees itself as good and the enemies that oppose it as evil.

Many humans share some global beliefs (the taking of a human life is wrong, for example). Some of white’s tenets line up with some of these universal human beliefs. Therefore white is sometimes seen as the color of “good.” Ah, but white is neither inherently good nor evil. White, as well as every other color in Magic, will do things that can be labeled both “good” and “evil,” and even that might not be consistent from person to person. Preservation of life is very white. Most of you would probably classify that as “good.” Fascism is also very white. Most of you would probably classify that as “evil.”

I mention this because I believe it’s important to separate the white-black conflict from good versus evil. Morality versus amorality. Light versus dark. Purity versus corruption. The white/black conflict takes on many shades, but "good versus evil" is far too subjective to use properly. Let’s take one of the elements of the white/black conflict, the rights of the group versus the rights of the self. This conflict pits socialism [all] versus capitalism [one]. Capitalism is the black side of the argument. Is capitalism inherently evil? I don’t think so. (Although I know there are those that would disagree with me.) I’ll talk more about black (including its “good” side) when we get to Black Week.

What means does the color use to achieve these ends?

White is looking not just to help itself but to help the entire world. This is a daunting task. How can it not just create but also maintain peace? The answer is through structure. By making strict rules and laws, white can ensure that things stay in control. White extends these laws to two distinct areas.

First is by moral laws. White believes that morality is cut-and-dried. There is right and there is wrong. Individuals are morally obligated to do right. But white takes it even further. Individuals are also morally obligated to stop those that do wrong. White’s fervor in this area leads white to use religion.

The second of white's "tools" is civil laws. These are rules set up to make sure that the individual does not upset the greater good of the group. White believes that the good of society is more important than the rights of a single individual. The laws white creates help ensure that the group is protected. White’s fervor in this area leads white to use politics and the judicial system.

This desire to protect and create rules defines much of white’s mechanics. White’s defensive nature can be seen throughout the color: life gain, healing, damage prevention, attacker removal, protection, defensive enchantments, enchantment removal, etc.

Another defensive part of white is its reliance on equality. White has the ability to reset the board so that both sides have an equal playing ground. This is why spells like Wrath of God [destroys all creatures] (and yes, even Armageddon [destroy all lands]) are flavored in white. In addition, white has an aggressive side. White proactively punishes the rule-breakers. White can use its organizational skills to build an army. Its individual pieces are small (thus its reliance on small creatures), but together they form a united whole.

White wins the game by controlling the environment. It takes a defensive stance and then uses the tools at its disposal to stop the threats of the enemy. Once the threats are contained, white’s army can then win the day. From time to time, white will use its aggressive attack as a preemptive defensive maneuver. (This strategy is popularly known as "white weenie.")

What does the color care about? What does the color represent?

Caught between the nature of green and the nurture of blue, white is all about balance. White understands the importance of valuing the past but also sees the importance of planning for the future. More than any other color white makes use of symbolism. In addition, white is the color of civilization. As such, the list of things it represents is slightly longer than the other colors:

Order Purity Religion Civilization Structure Law Honor Construction Morality Politics Courage Optimism Defense Strategy Chivalry Loyalty Cooperation Military Self-sacrifice Honesty Light Organization Community Medicine

What does the color despise? What negatively drives the color?

White lives by its laws. As such, it cannot tolerate those that do not follow them. White views such disobedience very severely. The message white communicates is: “Break my laws and you will suffer.”

This is where white’s aggressive side comes from. White believes that it has a moral and civil right to stop what it considers to be evildoers. White sees this kind of an attack as being proactively defensive. If white does not stop them now, they will come later to hurt white’s way of life.

Why does the color like its allies and hate its enemies?

In green, white sees a fellow color that understands the importance of community. That the good of the whole is more important than the good of the individual. Also, unlike blue, white seems capable of living an agrarian life that blends civilization with nature.

In blue, white sees a fellow color that understands the importance of restraint. Both white and blue value planning and discipline. Blue realizes the need for rules and has the patience to think long-term.

In red, white sees an enemy that does not respect civil laws. Red does what it wants whenever it wants creating chaos. This flies in the face of the order white so desperately craves. If red had its way, anarchy would reign over the land. If white is to have its peace, red must be destroyed.

In black, white sees an enemy that does not respect moral laws. Black selfishly promotes the needs of the individual over the needs of the group. And there is nothing more dangerous than those willing to put their own personal needs in front of anything else. Black is a dangerous cancer that must be destroyed.

What is the color’s greatest strength and biggest weakness?

White’s greatest strength is its ability to create and enforce laws. If white can make you play by its rules, the opponent doesn’t stand a chance. The downside to this structure is inflexibility. White does not have the ability to quickly adapt as it’s very set in its ways. In addition, white is so focused on the group that is often loses sight of the individual.

[Examples]

During R&D’s discussion on the Color Wheel, we cut out pictures from magazines and taped them on a giant Color Wheel on the wall to demonstrate how we saw the colors. This section proved to me the most controversial during Green Week so, of course, I had to do it again. Here’s what we considered to be white characters:

Superman – Known in comics circles as the “Boy Scout.” Superman always, always plays by the rules. He has a very moral center. In addition, he feels one of his major roles is to protect others. All of these behaviors are very white.

King Arthur – Arthur’s main agenda was helping and protecting his subjects. He, too, had a strong moral code that guided his actions. And he made great use of structure to build and maintain this protection.

Marge Simpson – She is the moral center of the family. She and Lisa seem to be the only ones ever guided by conscience. She takes it upon herself to provide structure for her family. And she is protective to the point of being self-sacrificial.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard – The Federation is very much a white organization. It has a moral center and loves its rules. Picard is a good soldier for the Federation. He has a strong moral compass and he leads his people very much by the rules laid out before him. Picard enjoys structure. So much so that one of his pastimes is archeology, studying the structures of other civilizations.

Just a few Innocent Pictures

2006-07-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

THEY ARE ALL INNOCENT, I SWEAR. Any discussion or mention of the pictures in relation to words that directly contradict the statement in caps is automatically disproved and assumed to be false. By viewing the pictures below, you will have accepted these terms, thank you for accepting these terms, and don't say anything remotely emberassing.

THAT IS ALL, GO NOW, NO EMBERASSMENT OF ME AND MY GIRLFRIEND. Honestly, there's not much that needs to be said other than:
a) Nobody is naked
b) NOBODY IS NAKED
c) Serioiously, no nakkie
d) The pictures are at:
1) Applebee's
2) Applebee's
3) IHOP
4) A Japanese Resturaunt whos name I forgot
5) ... no statement

So there you have it, I posted some pictures. Now leave me alone!~ =P

10 Random Pictures for your enjoyment

2006-07-15T17:55:00.000-07:00

MTG: Color Coded

2006-07-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

I found an article by Mark Rosewater (when I was just reading his older articles for no reason other than /nerd) and I came up a discussion over combining colors together with their ally/enemy colors. Also, a larger, better colored (the older picture I got was faded so I had to artificially darken/color it), and it's definately more detailed. Look! Everything below is straight copy and paste from his article Split (Odds &) Ends, unless it's in [these nifty brackets]. Some things have been edited out, in hopes to not confuse the non-magic players. Though, there's like 3 people who read my blog anyways, *shrugs* Everyone can accept this post this way, if anyone reads it anyways lol.

---------------------------------------------------

For purposes of this discussion, you have to imagine a line between the green mana symbol and the white one.

Why? Because that is the natural break we make between the colors when we design and develop the cards. We call it the WUBRG order (U stands for Blue for those that don't know this convention – B was already taken for Black and L was taken for Land). This is the order we always put the colors into. It is most noticeable on the cards in two places. First, the collector number goes in WUBRG order and second, the order of mana symbols in the mana cost are ordered in this way.

To figure out what order the colors go in, pick two colors. Now going around the circle, pick the shortest path between the two colors (you may go either clockwise or counterclockwise). Draw the line you've made. To figure out the order, start with the color earliest in a counterclockwise direction. For allied colors, it breaks out as such:

[Azorious - The Law]
[Dimir - Master of Secrets]
[Rakdos - Chaos and Slaughter]
[Gruul - Tribes of Rage]
[Selesnya - Nature and Equality]

All of the ally color combinations follow WUBRG order except GW. Because the closest physical connection crosses the line, it means that the mana symbols are reversed from the traditional WUBRG order.

Let's try the enemy colors:

[Orzhov - Maintained Heiarchy]
[Izzit - Mad Genius]
[Golgari - Life and Death]
[Boros - Buring Conviction]
[Simic - Genetic Scientists ]

---------------------------------------------------

Ok, so everything in there (minus the Brackety goodness) is taken from the article I linked to earlier. What does this mean? Not much, but I think they did a much nicer job (plus they had the resources and ability to get the actual color symbols for each of the colors) than I did initially. Doesn't that look pretty though?

Every color has 2 allies, and 2 enemies. (Again for clarification, ally colors are the adjacent ones, enemy colors are the ones on the opposite side) Everyone has friends, and enemies, but their freinds also have allies of their own, and that's when the complications start. Look at the picture above:

Red: Hey Black, help me overpower White.
Black: Sure, no problems at all.
Red: Ok, Blue is being an ass.
Black: Well I don't see a problem with that.
Red: Dammit.
Black: Can you help me with Green though?
Red: What? No, we have an understanding.
Black: *sigh* Fine.

You can't hurt an enemy without hurting an ally, and helping an enemy. Likewise, you can't help an ally without helping an enemy, and hurting a friend. (If you were Green, if you hurt your enemy Blue, you'd be hurting White's ally, and indirectly hurting White). Thus, an equality and balence is created. If it wasn't divided 5 ways, it wouldn't work. 4 way? Then Each player would have one enemy, and it'd be two fights (black/white and blue/red, let's say) and nobody would care about the other colors, only their enemy. Ahh, the color wheel, how I love thee. <3

NOTE: The pictures look MUCH BETTER on a white background, where the source was from, so please take that into consideration when you see the jagged edges.

Someone's treasure is another man's trash

No Child Left Behind

You know you're in college when...

"The 86 rules of Boozing"

Death Redefined with Heart Attacks

Rare but Real: People Who Feel, Taste and Hear Color

Good and Evil (and a dash of Morals) Chill, Mix Well, then Serve

What is Love (and Marrage)? (Or lack there of)

One Site, Two Kids, Opposite sides of the "Whoa" Spectrum

10 Signs you're going to die in a movie

Movies of the Year

Man cuts off penis in restaurant

Indian Superman II

301 Fun (But Useless) Facts

How To Write Your Own Will

List of things I'm procrastinating on

A series of thoughts part 5: Intentions and Fear.

A series of thoughts part 4: Right or Easy

A series of thoughts part 3: Free Will

A series of thoughts part 2: Understanding Why

A series of thoughts part 1: Knowing and Understanding

Planar Chaos (Set 2 of 3 from the Time Spiral Block)

From good, to Bad

Handful of things

Wii - A Review

Wait a minute...

Someone's PS3 Story (True or not, I don't know)

No Job

Work is frustrating

Cthulhu Mythos

The Call of Cthulhu

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GOD? Is that you?

AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT

Snakes on this mothafu- wait, are those...

I can't believe it's not butter... but...

So happy! AWWWWWWWW

Spiderman and Puberty

Nerd Humor

Random-d-dandom

Future Furnishing

Hoooooly shit

Driving Experience + Shirt

Hot/Cold pack

The Soundtrack to my Life

Stolen from Bailey

Update + Tragic Cast

Pain, Gain, and Travel

City of Sin, back again

Wii + random + SHIT WHAT THE FUCK

Didn't make the cut

*tear*

Tragic Cast, Revisited

Waiting for Phase 2

OMFG I think I just sh*t my pants

QuestionSwap

Even the Bot hates me

Just us, at a Chinese Resturaunt

200th Post - Random Hijinks

Application

The Great Designer Search - Exam Round

Multiple Topics

Snakes on a Plane: Pool's Closed

Vegas, again?

15 August 2006

Title

A stream of interesting events - Part 2

Hungry and no idea what to do? Take a Flowchart Adventure!

Nerd Alert (Now with more life changing articles)

Accounting For Your Play [About Competition and respect]

Accounting For Your Words [about social interaction/relationships]

Accounting For Your Actions [about responsibility and fear]

A stream of interesting events - Part 1

Spur of the moment Leave of Absense

Venom + Wolverine =

Portrait

M.I.A.

Family

Visions from the Past

Plug! + Creepy Pictures (beware)

tear