Manga that I'm reading and where I'm up to:

Nabari no Ou ~ ch.20 (Look at the cuuuute little boy!)
Kuroshitsuji ~ ch.16 (Look at the cuuuuute little boy!...again!)
Katekyo Hitman Reborn! ~ ch.219 (Look at the cuuuute litte....hey wait a minute....)
Mushishi ~ ch.5
Darker than Black ~ ch. 9
Code: Breaker ~ ch. 22

They are all awesome. Srsly awesome.
This is sort of a reference for me, so if I get on another computer, I can see where I left off in the manga. XD



Ehhh~ sorry for the lack of posts? I use Twitter, 'cause it's FASTER. And yeah, LJ is soooo last year (or something?).

Tags: list, manga, random crap
Current Mood: calm

What Your Cute Monster Says About You

You are both a realist and an idealist. You're able to see the world as it is - and how it could be. You dream big, and you never give up on your beliefs. You have big plans. Your inner demon is depression. Sometimes you build things up in your head. People think you're cute because you're determined. You're a fighter, and that's charming.

Tags: quiz, random crap
Current Location: The Apartment
Current Mood: crappy
Current Music: TV

I'm so tired. Just like, "BLAH" tired, not sleepy tired. BLAH.

I passed my Logic Midterm; got a B on it. I was really shocked actually. Of course, my teacher is about the most lenient grader ever to walk on the face of the planet. I'm not complaining, just saying that I probably would have done worse if he had graded more severely. Ha-ha. Yeah, so thanks Mr. Arndt for being a lenient grader! I'm sure your fourth grade students love you for it too.

Uh, on the not-so-fun side of school is yet another Art Appreciation paper I need to write tonight. I would have written it ages ago (truly) but I didn't get the chance to actually make it to the IMA to look for the artwork I was supposed to be writing about until Sunday. The IMA is only 3.8 miles from my apartment, but it's not a journey you want to take on foot. There's a really terrible part of the neighborhood right between us and them. I didn't want to walk it and I was warned against it, so I waited until Billie was free so we could go.

Oh-oh, and the exhibits and museum were SO DULL AND DEPRESSING that we felt like cutting loose a little and acting like kids, so right afterwards we went to BK. I wasn't really that hungry, so I decided to be cheap and got a Kids' meal. In it, I got an "iTurtle". I didn't even know they had iTurtles. Billie wanted something too, so she went up to the front and bought an i-Cy (the penguin).

The turtle's name is Aihachu. I forgot what Li named hers.

I'm hungry and really pissed off that the bread I bought a week ago, which remains unopened, went bad 5 days ago. Yeah, it went bad about 3 days after it was purchased. For the record, I didn't pick out the bread, so I didn't notice the expiration date until today when I was looking in the fridge. I also have to get maintainance in here to fix the oven before I scream from lack of real food. Bah!

Tags: bk, food, hungry, ima, logic, random crap, shopping, tired
Current Location: Apt
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: People playing Fable II in the living room (random shoutings from screen)

more animals

Tags: random crap
Current Location: Apt
Current Mood: drained
Current Music: TV

So, I looked through my closet today and realized two things:
1. I only have one pair of cargo pants left, and that makes me sad
2. I own no black pants and I really, really should because they are awesome

It also occurs to me that it's about that time to start looking through all my clothes and figure out what I actually still wear. There's no reason in keeping it if I don't wear it right? I mean, I've found shirts that I haven't worn since before I went to Texas last summer. That's pretty bad. They should be gotten rid of because they're just taking up valuable dresser space.

Not that the two full drawers of old sketchbooks aren't...I need to find somewhere for those too because I'm not moving them all into my apartment! In fact, I've been thinking about all the things that I definitely need to move in that are coming out of my bedroom.
-Computer setup (obviously).
-Bookshelf (a small 2-shelf)
-Clothing (again, obviously)
-Floor lamp (the hydra lamp)

And those things are the only drop-dead important things I could think of. I mean, obviously I want to take a shitload of my own stuff with me, but I'm just not sure what I'll have room for. If I don't take enough, that's fine I'll just come back and get more, but if I plan to take too much and don't have room for it, that would be really annoying.

There are things that make my room My Room. The whiteboard on the wall, the manga that fills up the whole 2 shelves of space, my awesome computer chair, my under-the-bed boxes, my industrial sized trash bin and the little mesh aqua trash bin and my radio. These are all things I can take with me, but should I? I mean, I'm leaving so much here! I'm not planning on taking any of the storage boxes in the closet, any of the stuff on the large shelves, the dresser, the desk, the other bookshelves, most of the crap under my bed--I mean, it's just staying there. Seriously. I'm not touching it.

I wanted to take as little as possible to the apartment because I feel that will be the best way to make a "fresh start". That, and it should be about 99 x easier to clean with 99% less crap to leave on the floor (there's the clothes, but since I'll be doing my own laundry, that shouldn't be too bad...hopefully). Really, I want my apartment to feel fresh and new and open- not cluttered -because I know that I'm going to need a clear space to think and adjust to all the new stuff.

Of course it will be exciting to get a whole bunch of new stuff too. I'm getting a new set of sheets, since the beds in the apartments aren't the same size as my own bed. I'll need some file boxes, because I really do file things and they are important, but I'm not lugging that 80lb mass of steel cabinet to IUPUI. That's just crazy. So fileboxes it is. Aaaand...I'm sure I'll think of more stuff later. There's also the whole matter of actual household amenities, but I'm still working that out with the roommate. It's a little hard when our schedules clash so bad. We'll be doing most of the shopping pretty damn last minute (like the week-of-move-in) because that's the first time we'll actually be in the same place to shop for stuff.

Oh yes, and I miss IKEA being, like, 30 minutes away. Seriously, IKEA = love.


----

On a totally unrelated matter: I'm playing Final Fantasy XI Online! It's so awesome, I love it. I can't wait to play at normal times when other people play and like party and stuff. Lvl 4 Red Mage - ftw. I am n00b, hear me squee. >:3

Anyway, I'm trying to readujst my sleep schedule juuuuust a little bit so being that it's 1AM, I'm going to bed.

Tags: apartment, ffxi, iupui, moving, random crap, school
Current Mood: Sorta' tired
Current Music: Just the fan blowing behind me

Oh, hello world. I am alive and full of geekiness. Ah, the world is as it should be. My update is going to be fairly brief (hopefully).

Let's see. My good friend Patrick and I decided to start officially dating, so he flew out to see me for about 8 days. Exciting indeed. We went out several times, went to the Indy State Museum, went to the local mini-carnival, went to the Indy Zoo, went on a walk, etc etc. Fun times.

Pics and maybe videos from the zoo later. :3

I'm trying to start playing Final Fantasy XI online with Patrick and his friends, but unfortunately either Squeenix or my Bank is doing something wrong, because it won't register my credit card as being valid. I get a lovely ERROR UCS-5111 (Card declined) statement every time I try to register with PlayOnline. Even better, the Squeenix America team in San Diego, CA is only open Monday through Friday- web support too. What? That doesn't even start to make logical sense. People game most on the weekends right? No tech-support? FAIL SQUEENIX. FAIL. My bank says that the verification withdrawal* went through just fine, so I blame Squeenix. But on Monday, I'll bother both of them. I want to play dammit.

I have all my classes for Fall semester at IUPUI registered and I just ordered approx $300 worth of textbooks (and audio CDs) for them. I'm taking Sketching for Visualization/Communication, Introduction to Computer Animation, Using a Personal Computer**, and Basic Chinese I. CGT112, CGT241, CIT106 and EALC-C117 respectively. My first day of class is August 20th. I get to move in with my roommate Billie on the 25th (yes, after class starts).

I haven't really done much else. Patrick's visit was pretty much my entire life for the last week, so no art, no comic updates, not much of anything. XD

* verification withdrawal: to prove that the account is valid and not a false account a $1 fee is charged to the account. When the account verifies, then the $1 is paid back. The process supposedly takes only a few seconds.

** CIT106: Yes, I can use a 'personal computer' but this is the course I failed during Spring at Ivy Tech, since I didn't drop it fast enough. I have to take it to take the CIT140 programming course.

Tags: courses, ffxi, fun times, geekiness, iupui, random crap, zoo
Current Mood: awake
Current Music: Boten Anna ~ Basshunter

The cause of the problem is:
the daemons! the daemons! the terrible daemons!

The cause of the problem is:
Interference between the keyboard and the chair.

-The "Bastard Operator from Hell"-style excuse generator

Tags: quote, random crap
Current Mood: highly amused

But there will probably be some swearing (towards the bottom, yeah) but it's not exactly the swearing of rage, more of annoyance.

So, if you are familiar with my situation regarding the transfer from Ivy Tech to IUPUI, then you will know that I have been waiting for about a month for them to send me an answer. My application was "pending" that entire time. I had already sent the high school transcript and everything. All I had to do was sit back and wait for my answer.

Or so I was told. By three different people and one highly misleading letter from the Applications Office.

No. No. No. No. NO.

My application has not been pending for a month. My application has been sitting in Suspension for a month due to the lack of my Spring Semester transcript from Ivy Tech. Now, few of you probably know anything about Ivy Tech > IUPUI transfers. Well, to put it simply, Ivy Tech basically feeds straight into IUPUI. They share all student records and besides the normal application to the university, no further documentation (except the high school transcript) has to pass to the student during the transfer process. It's that simple. Really.

Except not for me, evidently. No, for some obscure reason unknown by anyone at IUPUI, Ivy Tech was not allowing the release of my transcript from their database at the time IUPUI tried to access it. I guess they only tried once- June 24th to be exact -and never again. Instead they sent me a letter; the kind that is supposed to be all encompasing so no personalization is necessary. The two important parts of the letter read something like this:

...Further action from the student will be necessary. Documentation must be received and released by the student in person at the college in question and then delivered or otherwise dropped off at the Admissions Office of IUPUI.

...P.S. Any student transferring from Ivy Tech Community College or other applicable schools may disregard this letter as it does not apply to interschool transfers. No further action from the student will be necessary.

Ha-ha--wait, what? I even contacted someone at Ivy Tech to verify this and got the same response regarding the sharing of interschool records. So, I disregarded the message. Which was bad. Because despite the fact that two seperate messages appeared on the same page, and the second of which said to disregard the first entirely, I should have done what the first message said. When the woman I spoke to in admissions today read that the two statements were contradictory, she made note to have it changed in later editions. She also made a plea for an Acception from the department, since the deadline is looooong gone for Fall applications.

The acception was granted, now I just need to be accepted into the school. At this point, if that does not happen within the next week, I am registering for Ivy Tech again before I wind up with shitty "flex-term" courses again. Then, I will find another univerisity to attend in the Spring- because this is complete bullshit.

BY THE WAY~ Ivy Tech never even mailed me the transcript in question- I just got my grades today from IUPUI!

I didn't fail Intermediate Algebra! I got a B!

Ohmigoshhhh. If I hadn't been so-amazingly-pissed-off at the time I would have rejoiced. I'm rejoicing now. That's so fucking awesome.

Fuck yessssssss~!

In completely unrelated news, I'm diving into the world of computer programming. Most likely using Visual BASIC. Don't ask why, I just felt like trying something I never, ever thought I could ever do. Something totally different. I haven't even started programming/scripting anything, I'm just reading up on the nuts and bolts involved first. I don't even really have anything in mind to want to program, I just want to know how to do it.

Also (thought not the reason why I decided to start programming) I'm reading Daemon, by Leinad Zeraus* which is kick-ass. I mean, really, really kick-ass. I remember reading Digital Fortress and thinking it was the best thing since sliced bread; this is ten times better than that, seriously.

Hee-hee. I'm such a geek.

*Why yes that is the name Daniel Suarez backwards; how perceptive of you!

Tags: daemon, iupui, ivy tech, programming, random crap, reading, school
Current Mood: uncomfortable
Current Music: Euphoric Field (ENG)

For those of you who are not aware, my home network is being denied access to the DNS server with Brighthouse -

a.k.a

-I have no internet (at home).

At least, not until Tuesday afternoon, which is the earliest they can make it. Not that I'm too thrilled with them anyway. They installed our router in the laundry room, in the basement, when they first came out to set it up. The only problem with that is that we couldn't get a good enough signal upstairs, which is where most of the computers were. We had to move it. That, and the "tech" couldn't answer any of our technical questions either; which leaves me to wonder whether he's actually a networking tech or can just drill holes in the walls and pull wires through them.

I'm pretty sure I could do that...

In any case, it's still annoying having to wait so long just to get the internet back. At the moment, I'm using the local library's Wi-Fi connection and yesterday I used Panera Bread's connection. However, as you may have guessed, both of these connections are not secure connections and I don't feel too comfortable doing very much on them. That, and my IRC client dislikes it when I used an insecure connection. AIM doesn't care though, so maybe I'll get a chance to chat with some people in the meantime.

Of course, the places I hang out to get Wi-Fi close before 10pm, so no one is actually online. But, such is life, right?
Right??

Tags: aim, chat, computers, etc, internet, irc, networking, random crap, wi-fi
Current Location: Carmel Clay Public Library, Carmel, IN, USA
Current Music: It's a LIBRARY, duh.

Hmmm. So, tomorrows the last day at Officemax 907 and I feel a little sad. I really did enjoy working with the people there and learning things about desktop publishing and graphic design. The actual retail environment wasn't so bad either. Still, it was a retail job and I didn't want to keep it forever. People at work kept asking me why I quit so early. I'm not really sure. Part of it is stress; a stress that just sort of keeps building up and building up until it gets really annoying and makes me upset and irritable and unhappy and other such synonyms for "pissed off". Part of it may be that working was my link to having a social life, but we've lost so many of our employees over the past few months that it feels like the whole team-family aspect is just falling apart. That was one thing I really liked- the interaction with my co-workers. The customers...not so much, but my coworkers were and are pretty awesome people. And I think I will miss them a lot.

I've been having two types of dreams lately. One, is the kind where you can tell that you're making up a story in your head to amuse yourself because you are so damned bored being asleep that there's really nothing else left to do. You aren't actively involved in the dream, just watching. The second, is the kind of dream where you visit people you know (and sometimes, people you don't..?) and just sort of hang out. The first type of dream is really clear and defined- moment to moment- while the second is much more dream-like and things don't always make sense.

It occurs to me that the fact that I'm having the lattermost sort of dreams means that I'm...well, lonely. Not like crying to myself at night because I have no friends lonely, but lonely. I miss people- a lot of people. My friends from school totally spoiled me; I'm not used to not having anyone to hang out with. It's a bit of a bummer. Of course, come September 25, I will be living on a university campus, which will undoubtedly put me in contact with other human beings and therefore force me to make new friends. But, September 25 is a long way off- it seems like forever.

Waiting is hard.

Oh, I'm waiting for you too luv' - 15 days, is that right? Oh wait, does he even read this...? Oh well, whatever. I would get on AIM and babble to him myself, but I'm preventing myself from staying up all night by not doing that. Or talking to anyone for that matter. Hm. I'm being Internet-Anti-social. Ohhh, saaaaddddd. The internet is my only place to be social, and I'm being anti-social- Aka, WTF? X3

I had Handel's ice cream this evening and it was awesome. Man, I have got to remember to budget for icecream in college- it's important.

I did that weird thing at the library today where I check out books that I probably won't read because (a) I'll forget to read them at all before they are due (b) they are really boring/hard to read or (c) because I didn't really want to read them in the first place. These books are always non-fiction. Always. And 90% of the time they are technical or computer related. I check them out with the hope that I will have found something that I can actually understand for once and that it will answer a bunch of questions that I didn't even know I had to or wanted to ask. But that never really comes about. They are on topics that I am genuinely interested in, just not well-read enough to understand well enough for it to matter. This time it was two books on hacking and one on Cryptography- topics that, like I said before, I am genuinely interested in- I just don't know a thing about. Actually, I may sit down and read the book on Cryptography- that seems pretty interesting and fairly straight forward. The other two- I don't think so...I don't know yet. But, it's the library, so it's not like it cost me anything to give it a shot, right?

I also checked out some graphic novels--they are all in the Young Adult section and I feel stupid being over there because- yes, I am just barely an adult (lol) but I always feel strange around kids in high school because I look like I'm in high school, so they don't care. It's the fact that it's not awkward for them that makes it somewhat awkward for me. I don't know, but I don't like it. That, and the people who look down their noses at me when I check out graphic novels- "Don't kids these days read real books anymore?"- someone said that to me once. I was astounded. I was like, "I have hundreds of books at home that I read all the time; can't I do something fun and exciting once in a while without the criticism?" Jeez lady, excuse me for living a life of artistic joy and freedom. Gawd. I love graphic novels, they are a whole new form of visual communication and turn "reading" into a totally different experience. Plus, they've been around for thousands of years (yes, sequential art- think Hyroglyphics). I would suggest that they all sit down and read Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics", but the fact that it is in fact in comic form would probably prevent them from doing so. Ignorant fools- they don't know what they are missing.

Goodness, I am on a roll tonight...typety-type-type-type~

I saw someone's password the other day. It was QWERTY. Why are people stupid? Seriously- why are people so stupid? People sit around and blame hackers for identity theft. True- they do steal identities (them, and social engineers- yeah?) but, it's not like people make it incrediblely hard or anything. I mean, picture this: I work in a copy center, right? People make copies of some really sensitive materials all the time. They rarely leave anything like passports or Sosh-cards, but damn, they will leave copies of their documents. The other day, I found a six page document laying on the output tray of Self Serve #1. Being a curious little kitty, I of course proceed to read and see what it was. It was some medical documentation requesting something from someone (I don't know exactly what), but the big thing was that on all six pages was this woman's social security number. Just, written in on the line, clear as day. That, along with her name, birthday, address, insurance card number, etc etc. I mean, if I had the initiative at the time I probably could have stolen her identity. That's crazy. Just crazy. People don't understand what they are throwing around here- your SSN is You. Without it, you are seriously f'ked. I don't know why, because personally, I think it's just weird being attached to a number so I can...what? Pay taxes? Shiiiit. Crazy.

I think that my random urge to do karaoke recordings of Japanese songs is over...for now. I've still got the lyrics taped up on my wall for "Love is War" in both English and Japanese, just because there's that last verse of the Japanese version I can't quite get...It's hard to judge proper pronounciation when your reference/sample is a voice synthesizing program too. Hah. Still, if you're ever up for hearing my (really crappy) version of Love is War, I posted it on my imeem account- my name is AKA-KVW there. Please, don't download it like 0dd0ne0ut did, that's just embarassing. I want to re-record it, just to replace the one he downloaded. Bah! The tricky part is when to record it. I recorded the original, at night, the week mom and dad were gone- so I could be as loud as I wanted (which is important, because evidently, I speak much softer that I hear myself speaking). It would also help if I could sing properly...heh. Some internet friends heard it, they were like 'it's not professional, but you sound good'. It's like, yeah...I don't know why I had you listen to it in the first place...I hate it. But, I guess I'm a little proud of myself too. After all, I do love to sing! I just hate my singing! XD

Have I really been at this for almost an hour? Jeez, there go my plans of going to bed really early. I need to wake up "early" tomorrow because I still haven't written my nice-letter for Officemax yet. I want to write two- one for Officemax persons in general and one of ImPress persons specifically. I actually sat down at the computer tonight to write it, but the only program I have to write it in on this machine (that I can save it in) is Wordpad. That, and I'm tired and don't feel like being particularly emotional at the moment. Well, besides the blogging thing I guess, but I don't have to be nice or professinal in my blog.

Anyway, the weirdest thing about realizing that I'm not going to be working anymore is realizing that I'm not going to have a cash-flow anymore. I don't buy a lot of stuff (and when I do slurge, I feel really, really guilty for some reason...) but I do buy stuff on ocassion. Every once in a while I buy a new manga or CD or art supply or whatever. Not huge purchases, but still money you know? As soon as I stop making money, I'm going to stop spending it as much- that's my goal. I'd rather not spend it at all, but I know I can't do that for long. Things get boring and new things need to happen to fix that. It's a Haruhi Suzumiya outlook on things. By the way, if you haven't watched The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya you are missing out on life. Seriously. Not that it hasn't been ages since I watched it and not that I've finished it or anything, but it was awesome. It really was.

BTW- the first two graphic novels I checked out from the library were Volume 4 of the Scott Pilgrim series (which is so kick-ass, go read it NOW) and Confessions of a Blabbermouth (which was told a little awkwardly, but was very fun to read).

It's comics like this that make me want to create a more simplified drawing style than the one I have now. Sometimes, I think that the "manga" style tries too hard to be detail oriented, to the point that you wonder whether it really is just masking a crappy plot line. Like, 85% of all Shoujo manga titles. My comic is NOT a shoujo title and the whole thing is supposed to be character-driven, not detail-driven, so I don't know why I put so much effort into making it look "pretty". It's not a "pretty" story, it's a techno-thriller dammit! And 8/12 of the characters are boys! It does not need to be pretty! IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PRETTY!!

OK, I think I got all that out of my system...ahem.


Oh- today is my last day of work.

Tags: anime, art, books, comics, computers, dreams, life, om0907, random crap, social life (or lack there-of), stupid people, work
Current Mood: accomplished ( for what?)