Conversations With Myself

The Alien Cat: Stowaway

2009-11-22T14:00:00.002-05:00

Official Log
Ship ID#A13; Model: Siamese Stealth
Date: 00176551
Personnel ID#666; Position: Special Agent
Name: *****
Age: *****
Verification Code: 666mouser

Today I decided to double check the ship's rations. There are certain things I really like, and certain things I don't like at all...like peanut butter! Because of the protein and long shelf life, peanut butter is a common ingredient in ship's rations. I have been organizing the ship's food stocks in to 3 groups; "to Earth", "to Felisunito" and "lost".
I'm trying to put all the things I really like in the "to Felisunito" category to make my homecoming all the more pleasant. The things I just like in general, I'll have on this current trip. Anything I greatly dislike, I'm putting in the "lost" category because I don't anticipate getting lost and don't want to worry about the food I don't like. If worst comes to worst and I do become lost and begin to have a problem with rations, what I like or dislike really won't be a priority anymore! It'll just be about survival at that point, so if I have to eat peanut butter rations instead of turkey rations, so be it. Plus...if I'm lost for TOO long, I may begin to run low on rations all together. In that situation, it would be easier to reduce the rations if I don't like them very much. Something really tasty, would be hard to force myself not to eat all of it.
I have noticed something rather unsettling as I catalog the rations. There seems to be a deficit. It's a minor deficit, but noticeable. There is nearly 3 times as much food missing as there should be by this point in the mission. I have not eaten more than normal, so I must assume a case or two of rations were left on the loading dock by mistake. I will have to

[Clang! Agent666 stopped writing in the ship's log and looked around in surprise. The ship shouldn't be making any clanging sounds. Had they collided with something? No, that couldn't be it. The ship would've been jarred and she'd have felt it. Maybe something small had glanced off the hull. That might not have been felt...but would it have been heard?
"Computer! Status report!" She snapped impatiently.
"All systems functioning normally. Power status is normal. There are currently two life forms aboard."
"Oh, well that's good then...wait, WHAT? Two life forms? I didn't bring any pets or prey with me and this is a solo mission!"
"Indicators show two registered life forms." The computer didn't elaborate on that, but Agent666 hadn't really expected it to, frustrating though it was.
"Identity?"
"Unknown."
"Unknown? How can it be unknown? You said it's a registered life form, which means it has to be a member of the Agency because only Agents have clearance to board Stealth model ships!"
"Subject appears to have an encrypted registration number."
"Well decode it then!"
"Level 3 voice clearance required for encryption decode commands."
"Damnit, I don't have Level 3 clearance. Level 3 is for technitions! There is no technition assigned to this mission. Why is there anything on the ship with that clearance level required? There shouldn't be anything I'm unable to do on a solo mission! That's a safety requirement."
"A Level 3 command was logged in the system the day we took off from the Agency Command Central."
"Grrr, that means someone from the Agency with tech clearance snuck aboard the ship and placed the command to hide themselves. But why? I was granted this mission solo, so surely no one had clearance to board in secret."
"There is no record of any other personnel being assigned to this ship. You have sole clearance to board this ship after stocking."
"I see. So that means I have a stowaway...."]

double check every nook and cranny on the ship. Apparently I have a stowaway on board. A13's computer just informed me there is another Agent aboard. Their ID number is encrypted, which means whoever it is, has technician clearance. I do not have clearance high enough to override it.

I really must speak to the Secretary and the General about that. It seems to me that the captain of a ship should have total access to everything on said ship. Sealed records should be downloaded to the mainframe if they're worried about someone accessing records of past missions without permission...

I have a suspicion as to who my stowaway is. There's a certain fatso technician who tends to latch on to me whenever possible. If it is him, oh-ho-ho, I will enjoy expelling him from my ship! If not for the rules and regulations, I'd toss him out the airlock without a suit! But I'm required to send him off in a pod with a no-override autopilot set for home. Actually, all the pods are set with those. There isn't a reason someone would eject from a ship in a pod and not be heading for the home planet.
The pods all bear a single eye window that matches the eye windows of the ship it came from, so it can be returned later. The model of ship determines how many are available.

The A13 has 6 eyepods. Yes, that's right. Eyepods. They are pods....with eye windows...and so they are eyepods.

....
WHAT? Don't look at me like that....
--End Log Entry-

The Alien Cat: Ship's Log Entry #1

2009-11-18T12:33:00.006-05:00

Official Log
Ship ID#A13; Model: Siamese Stealth
Date: 00176550
Personnel ID#666; Position: Special Agent
Name: *****
Age: *****
Verification Code: 666mouser

I have now been aboard my ship for 3 days. It's my first interstellar assignment, and I am pleased to have received this mission as a solo mission. I am en route to the Milky Way Galaxy to investigate the sole planet containing intelligent life there.

We have been observing their satellite transmissions for decades now. A scout ship exploring the Andromeda Galaxy picked up a beacon from the neighboring galaxy and reported it to the Secretary of Security. We immediately sent out scouts with high ranking sensor systems to observe the galaxy. The transmission was found to be coming from the 3rd planet from a star the galaxy's solar system.
After a year of analysis, we were able to determine there were over 6000 spoken languages on the planet. I'm not a linguist, so I don't know how the experts ended up translating, but I know it had to do with complex algorithms and cross referencing. It's a good thing they were able to figure them out though, as my mission would be impossible if we couldn't translate the languages. In fact, the language barrier is the primary reason it has taken us so long to actually land on the planet.

We were able to determine that the natives collectively called the planet "Earth", which our people widely considered odd. It seems derogatory to name one's planet after dirt. Our own planet, Felisunito, is much more appropriately named. We were also able to pin down the way the natives calculate time on their planet. From that were were able to calculate that the beacon that initially attracted our attention was sent in to space in the Earth year of 1957.

Aproximately 50 Earth years later, we are prepared to land on the planet. I am the agent they selected for the mission. It is a tremendous honor. My mission is to observe the native life forms, in particular the "humans" that dominate the planet, and report their habbits and activities. I am to keep a low profile and try to blend in. Luckily, there are feline life forms on the planet natively, so I should be able to blend in as one of them. It has been observed that most humans are not very knowledgeable of the animal life on the planet. My anatomical anomolies will probably be overlooked. I will just have to avoid those humans who DO know a lot about cats.

The ship's data logs indicate I will have enough supplies for 2 round trips between Felisunito and Earth. I have no intention of making 2 round trips, nor is it expected of me. The extra supplies are in case I should run in to difficulties and become lost or stranded in space. I have only minimal supplies for my duration on the planet. I have a month's field rations in case I land somewhere where food is unavailable. Our study of the planet has indicated that the small wildlife can be hunted for sustenance, and there are numerous edible plants. The food humans feed animals, and the food humans themselves eat, will also suffice when available. Should I land in a desert or ocean, I would need the rations to live on until I found more hospitable conditions.

I have trained my entire life for this mission. I suffered countless group assignments in order to prove myself capable of handeling a solo mission. I established myself as a veritable prodigy! The Secretary of Security, the General and the High Counciler were pleased with me and argued over what department I would join. The Secretary was very pleased when I requested to join the Agency. I have always felt I have a knack for espionage.
My life's training will be put to the test on the planet Earth. I can't wait!

--End Log Entry--

Alien Cat content preview #1

2009-11-17T13:59:00.002-05:00

I am currently laying the groundwork for the future website for the comic. Go-go-Adobe Dreamweaver!
I have a wallpaper made, as well as a Flash-animated alternate version of said wallpaper...and THAT I have provided right here!

I've searched domain names and found the one I wanted has already been bought...and it would cost like...$80 extra to get it from it's current owner...extra. It's around $10 a year to keep a domain name going. That's not counting website hosting costs, that's JUST the domain name. But it shouldn't cost anything extra to host the site, since I have permission to use theartisanscorner.com's Yahoo account to host it. It's nice that Yahoo allows multiple domain names under the plan we have. :)
I found an alternative domain name, and I would've purchased it, except the credit card on record on our Yahoo account is expired. Hafta fix that ASAP!
That's not as bad as it sounds, for the record. We just haven't made any new purchases through Yahoo, so we never updated the billing info. XD The site is already paid up for quite a while, so it wouldn't have been an issue until...a long time from now. XD

Ok, for those of you coming here from this update on the comic, I know you're looking for news.
As of now, I have nothing major to add. I'm working on a new site, planning to buy a domain name and host it on an existing account, and figuring out what to write.

Note: See previous blog post, please. I want reader input for stories.

TTFN~!
<3 Wolfy~

The Alien Cat is being re-done...AGAIN.

2009-11-16T17:45:00.002-05:00

I seem to have trouble keeping followers that aren't my friends. I've become less and less happy with SmackJeeves, so I'm not going to stay with them. I plan to buy a domain name and host it on the same account as theartisanscorner.com.

In the meantime, you should all know the main reason the comic stopped updating...my fiance had agreed to do the writing for the comic. However, he's been rather uncooperative the whole time, and finally just quit. So I'm going to have to take over writing for the comic again.
The problem is...I have a hard time coming up with funny scenarios for Agent666 to experience.
I have a general idea of how I want the overall story to progress.
I have an in-depth backstory for Agent666 and her home planet, and I want to reveal it in a series of flashbacks that occur 1 per chapter. Probably at the end of each chapter.
I have a list of people Agent666 will eat or maim in the comic, including but not limited to, the following:
George Bush
Al Gore
Martha Stuart
Tom Cruise
Sarah Palin
Joe Biden
Bill Gates

She will also eat or maim some friends of mine, at their request. She will also eat or maim some characters in other webcomics with the artist's permission.
There will also be references to various memes, internet phenomena and popular video games, anime/manga and movies.

I was also dissatisfied with my art work. I felt rushed to do most of the comic up to where it stopped, and I felt the quality suffered for that. Good art work is really important for gaining a following for a comic. If the story is good enough, the art can fall a little to the wayside without a loss. But I feel the comic's current story wasn't enough to make up for the under-par art. And for that I apologize.

I'm going to start writing short stories about The Alien Cat that will later become the revised comic. I'll be posting them here.

****Now the important part.****
I want the readers and fans to contribute to the story. I want ideas for mischief The Alien Cat could get in to. I want people (or characters) for her to eat. That's where you all come in. Email me (thealiencatcomic@yahoo.com) with your ideas, and they might appear!

Please do not ask me to make Agent666 eat webcomic characters that do not belong to you. If she's going to eat someone's character from a webcomic, I'll get permission from the artist. But don't ask me to do it, because you don't know if I've already contacted the artist and been denied. Thank you!

Catching up, and funny things

2009-07-23T08:03:00.005-04:00

Sorry I never followed up on Animazement. Was too busy during, and too tired/unmotivated after. But moving on from that...

There's a lot of drama involving my family right now, so I've been depressed. Finding out someone you're related to (whether you like them or not) is a pedophile is no easy thing to deal with. Especially when that person is around small child relatives. To be honest, I wasn't too surprised when I heard about it, but it's still troublesome. It's really difficult for those closer to that family member to deal with, and I feel bad for them and worry about them. I just hope it all works out.

I'm unable to take more classes right now, and probably for a while. I'm hoping to get some freelance work...maybe restoring old photos. I'm very good at that and find it fun.
I've put my comics on indefinite hiatus as I try to sort things out in my life. I hated that I had to do that, but it happens sometimes. If I'd had more votes on TWC and more views and comments, maybe I'd have been more motivated to keep updates going despite the crap that's been going on. Unfortunately, interest in both comics was minimal at best. I averaged around 20 page views a day, and I think 25 votes was my record--and probably half those votes were from my fiance or me.

Ok, on to funny stuff! If you've never been to Engrish.com you're missing out! XD

I love that website. Not all of it makes sense, since it's sometimes error on products I've never heard of, and you'd have to know what it was supposed to be for it to make sense. But quite a lot of it just cracks me up and has me giggling for hours~!

Ok, and now we come to...my favorite game. Mabinogi. I play it a lot, and I adore it. But sometimes...the company that lisences them...doesn't think things through very well. Such as this banner for an event that just ended:

Take a look at the image in the last oval....
If you don't see the problem with it, well...I'm not going to destroy your innocence by explaining it! Let me just say...there's a lot of grinning futa fans in Mabinogi. And no, I'm not going to link to an explination of "futa" like I do most terms I think not everyone would be familiar with. Like I said, I'm not going to destroy your innocence! If you're brave and/or stupid and want to Google it, go ahead, but I ain't doin' it for ya! XD

And another funny Mabinogi tidbit...There's a quest you can do where you find lost elves in stone coffins in the desert and bring them back. Well, there are occasionally some elves...where it's pretty obvious why they ended up in a stone coffin out in the desert!

Let's just say it's the opposite reason the dwarves put Snow White in a glass coffin! You could probably find other funny Mabi screen shots like that on Photobucket, ImageShack or by using Google Image Search. XD

Animazement: Before the Journey

2009-05-21T20:34:00.004-04:00

This weekend is Animazement. My fiance and I will be attending, as we have every year of our relationship. It's pretty much our only vacation in a year. 3 whole days of otaku fun!
We will be cosplaying, of course!

I had intended to do a video blog for this trip, but that's not going to happen. I loaned my good camera to my grandma because she's taking a road trip to the Grand Canyon with a couple of her friends. She is making a video blog of her trip--at least, she's supposed to, as that was the condition of her borrowing it. Animazement is every year, the Grand Canyon is once in a lifetime, if you don't live nearby or have a lot of money for frequent traveling!

I probably won't have time to blog each day of the con, but I aim to try. The camera I'm taking in place of my good one doesn't hold many pictures, even with an SD card. It just can't handle very big cards. =/ It's a pretty old camera. The preview screen is only about 1"x1", and the image it shows is very dull and low contrast. Once it takes the picture, it's decent enough quality...not pro-quality or anything. It's about the digital equivalent of a disposable camera, in terms of quality. It works well enough though!
Ok, time to finish working on my costume!

Oh, and don't forget to check out my new comic!

It really sticks in your mind when someone says something wildly unexpected.

2009-05-16T14:49:00.003-04:00

Last week, I went with my grandma, mom, mom's boyfriend and his mother and sister, and his sister's significant other to see Star Trek. I thought it was pretty good. They did their best to make it something the "purists" couldn't complain about...(but of course they will anyway.)

There was nothing really glaringly wrong about their take on it. I've heard some say the alternate time line is a cop-out, but honestly....it's nothing Star Trek hasn't done before. They've done various time traveling story arcs. Star Trek in and of itself in its original form was full of flaws and plot holes anyway! It was a masterpiece for its time, but if you're honest with yourself as a Trekkie, you'll admit it's not a perfect show. You can only achieve so much realism with cardboard, paint and duct tape. Our current real-world rockets have more modern-looking consoles than the original Star Trek ships! My grandma, being the purist, had a few complaints...one being the ships in the movie looked too advanced and modern. Like I said, our current space vessels look more modern than the original Enterprise. Why would the makers of the movie, with the technology we have today, make future ships that look less advanced than what we have in reality? The other complaints she had stemmed from her missing a couple details because....because she's old and doesn't remember everything she's seen/heard in the last 15 minutes. So it's excusable.
That all being said, I'm not really here to blog about Star Trek. I just couldn't very well bring it up without giving my thoughts on it.

What I want to blog about is something that happened in the restaurant where we ate dinner after the movie.

As I mentioned in the beginning, I was out with my grandma, my mom and her boyfriend, and his mother and sister, and his sister's significant other. Hopefully you can keep up with that! Now, it's important to note: the sister and her significant other are a multiracial couple. Why is that important to note? I'll get to that in a minute.
The restaurant was some random little Italian place...I don't remember the name, and it's not really important. I was stuffed with popcorn and feeling a little sick because the particular theater we went to has strange butter that always makes me sick...and I always eat it....IT'S TASTY, SHADDUP! Anyway. I was just having some garlic bread and marinara sauce. I was focusing on my food and not paying too close attention to the conversation unless it was directed at me.
Near the end of the meal, we were talking about the economy, and then money. In the course of talking about money, my grandma was describing some of the problems she had as a divorced mom in the '70s. For example, shortly after her divorce, she went to the bank to cash a paycheck. The clerk wasn't going to let her cash it without a husband's signature. My grandma was surprised and said something along the lines of, "What? I can't cash my paycheck, that I earned myself, when my account at this bank is mine, and doesn't have his name on it at all, without my husband's signature?!" Nope! So she told the clerk she was divorced. The clerk wouldn't believe her until she brought in her divorce papers! Pretty ridonkulous, no? (I love that word....ridonkulous!) My mom's boyfriend's sister (I'll just call her "the sister" from here) expressed surprise that women's civil rights were still so limited as late as the '70s. So we talked a little bit about civil rights, and how long it took, and is still taking, for some groups!
I brought up that the gay community still doesn't have all the civil rights yet. And then...then I said, "And the Pagan community has only gotten civil rights in the last 10 years or so!"
To which the sister replied, with much eye rolling, "Tch! Big whup!"
I was surprised, shocked, speechless, stunned and at a loss for words. I had planned on saying something else, but it just fell out of my brain and I couldn't remember it. I was just so completely caught off guard that she didn't care that someone in America was lacking civil rights. (See why it was important to point out she's in a multiracial relationship, now?)

America's very existence is completely, entirely, 100% because the Pilgrims were seeking religious freedom. The right to worship who, what, when, where, how and why you want is the most basic, central, core concept of America! As Americans, we have a duty, nay, a requirement to acknowledge that EVERYONE has the legal, civil right to freedom of religion. IT'S IN THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, PEOPLE!! "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
And though I don't know exactly where it comes from, I believe we've all heard at least part of the quote that includes "regardless of race, religion or creed."

For anyone to disagree that everyone has that right, is to not only deny the most basic principle of America, but to support the oppression of religion as a whole. If you are a Christian saying Pagans don't deserve religious freedom, then you are condoning what the Romans did to the early Christians! You are saying the Romans were right and just in throwing people to the lions, locking them in furnaces, and otherwise executing them for being Christian. How can any Christian justify the mistreatment of anyone over religion (or anything else for that matter) after what the Christians themselves have gone through? By what twisted sense of arrogant self involvement gives Christians the right to be the ones yielding the whips now, when they still bear the historic welts from the whip-bearers of the past?

To me, that kind of attitude is the same as if some black person said white people should be enslaved and dehumanized! I could be wrong (because I don't know everyone in the world), but based on the black people I know and have talked to, they don't support slavery in any way, shape or form, because they went through it, and the persecution that followed. It would be a grave, grave hypocrisy to support the mistreatment of others after speaking out against the exact same mistreatment when it was previously against you. And yet....that's what many, many Christians do on a daily basis.

Ok, I got a little off-track there, sorry. I just found it very shocking to hear the sister be so cavalier about Pagans being denied civil rights. As a woman who is (I think) in her 50's, involved in a multiracial relationship, you would think she would be more conscientious of everyone's right to civil liberties! I suppose it might come from ignorance (which is the most common cause of hatred and bigotry anyway) of what "Pagan" encompasses. Basically, Paganism covers anything and everything that isn't Christian, Jewish or Islamic. So when "Pagans" are denied civil rights, that means Shinto, Hindu, Buddhist, Wiccan, Norse, Celtic, Ancient Greek, Ancient Egyptian, Aboriginal, Native American and Inuit followers were all denied certain basic civil rights. It was OK to deny them employment because of their religion. It was OK to deny them housing. It was OK to pay them a lower salary. It was OK to have them evicted. It was OK to ban them from commercial venues. It was not a "hate crime" to vandalize their property or attack them because of their beliefs. (Still vandalism, destriction of property, assault, etc...but those are not as "severe" crimes as those that fall under the "hate crime" category.)
Note: I did not include Satanism in "Paganism". That's because it's technically not. It's still part of the Judeo-Christian system. Satanists believe in God, just like Jews and Christians believe in Satan. "Believing in" is not the same thing as "worship". They believe in the same things as Jews and Christians, it's just that they're on the opposing side of the field, and have a different set of religious morals they follow.

Pagan does not mean "not Christian", and it does not mean "anyone the Christians think will go to Hell for their beliefs."

Everyone in America deserves all the civil rights, no matter the color of their skin, the language they speak, the size of their bodies, their sexual preference or their religious beliefs.
To disagree with that is to disagree with the very existance of America.
And I'm sure there are people out there who do disagree with the existance of America...and if you do, you can support/deny the civil liberties of others to your heart's content. I don't have to agree with you!

Busy, busy!

2009-04-01T20:37:00.002-04:00

When I started this blog, I thought I'd have time to post nearly daily. My head is as full of random thoughts and opinions and conversations as ever, but I don't have time to commit them to type! I have several projects going at once in school. There's only one semester left after this, so it's coming down to the final lap.

I've put my webcomic on filler-mode temporarily, and I don't have time to post my normal long-winded blogs. :(
Hopefully things will slow down during the in-between-semester break. ^^;;

I finally pinned down the water thing!

2009-03-23T17:20:00.002-04:00

It's not "water awareness month" Martha was talking about. I mean, she mentioned it, but that wasn't what they were talking about in the episode mentioned in my last blog. Emeril was talking about the Tap Project.
The Tap Project is an awesome program where restaurant patrons pay $1 for water, which they normally drink for free. That money goes to the Tap Project. Every $1 the Tap Project gets provides 40 days of clean water for a child.

Watch the video! (I figured out how to post them, yay!)

It's very inspirational, and everyone should participate! Blog about it yourself! Tell your local newspapers, radio stations and TV stations! If you run a restaurant or work at one, or know someone who does, tell them about the Tap Project and encourage them to get on board with it!
This is exactly the kind of thing where one person can make a HUGE difference in the world. $1 for 40 days of clean water for a child. Imagine if you took a party of 5 to dinner at a restaurant participating in the Tap Project! That's a lot of clean water, for such a small amount. Your one little glass of water can give a poor child without clean water 40 days of healthy drinking. That's a really amazing thing to think about.

Everyone likes to make excuses for not getting involved in charity projects, saying their contributions wouldn't be enough to make a difference. Well here's one of those counter-examples to that. There's no commitment required, like with those organizations that ask for a monthly donation. All it is, is paying for the water you'd normally drink free when you go out to eat.
Get off your patooties and do something good for someone besides yourself!

March: A month of environmental awareness! (Kinda)

2009-03-10T17:35:00.008-04:00

There's a major environmental "event" going down this month, mentioned in the Esurance commercials: Earth Hour. Earth Hour is being put on by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund). They as that on March 28, 2009, everyone turn off all the lights in their house for 1 hour, at 8:30 (they didn't say what time zone). It's pretty simple. WWF has an article on their website about Earth Hour. If you're not all that interested in reading about it, you can at least check out the video on there. Or search for "Earth Hour" on YouTube.
We had to do more than that when I was in elementary school. When we learned about colonization, and how people lived in the 16th century, we had to live for 1 weekend without any modern conveniences, except indoor plumbing. They couldn't very well ask the parents to buy Port-a-Johns, now! XD No TV, no radio, no lights, no heat/ac...they timed it well though. It was a weekend in late April, and it was warm, but not hot. We opened our windows, and it was relatively comfortable.
Whether you believe that Global Warming is being hastened by humans or not (There's no arguments that it is occuring, all scientists agree that the earth is warming up. The debate is if it's our fault or not.) you should still participate in Earth Hour. Honestly, if you can't do without lights for one hour, you're pretty pathetic. Less than 100 years ago, electricity was a luxury, not a right. How weak of a person are you going to be, huh? An hour isn't that long, and it's only about your lights. You can still have your TV on, if you're that dependant on it for stimulation that 1 little hour will turn your life upside down. (Gods help you if your power gets knocked out in a storm if that's how you are.) I plan on having everything off, or at least unplugged. I'll probably be on my laptop, but it'll be going on its own battery power instead of running on the AC adapter.
Mark your calanders, folks! Even if you're one of those people who says they don't care about the environment at all, you could still at least do Earth Hour. Don't do it for the planet, if you're against that. Do it because I think you're weak and can't do it! > :D Prove me wrong, I dare ya! ;P

Aside from that, I had thought there was something else going on this month. Martha Stuar t had mentioned it on her show today. (I don't usually watch, but I was bored and there was nothing else on, since I don't have cable.) She said something about it being "Water Awareness Month", and that resturaunts in NY were going to charge $1 for tap water in order to fund a program to provide 3rd world countries with clean water. I thought that sounded great, but when I Google'd it, everything was saying "Water Awareness Month" is in May. I checked Martha's website, and the "Water Awareness Month" thing she talked about wasn't listed in her "topics" for today's show. So I don't really know what that was about...I suppose if there's any New Yorkers reading this, they could comment with some info? O.o
I guess when "Water Awareness Month" actually starts, I'll blog about it. XD

If you're among those really into environmental issues, recycling, carbon footprints, etc. you could be of great assistance to me! You see, my mom, a couple friends and I run a small business. It's called The Artisan's Corner. (Our website is a mess, so I won't link it at this time, but it'll be revamped this week!) We make costumes, accessories and souvenirs, mainly for Renaissance festivals. We do some cosplay stuff when it comes up though. One of our vendors makes earrings out of metal bottle caps from glass bottles. Mostly beer, since that's the most common thing packaged like that. But she'll use any metal bottle caps...except Snapple, because Snapple bottlecaps are HUGE and have very thick edges.
What does this have to do with you, you wonder? Well, if you leave me a comment with your email, saying that you're in to recycling and want to help, I will email you with a post office box. Send your bottle caps, be it beer, wine, soda, whatever; we'd love to use them! You don't have to wash them out, but please, don't ship them if there's moisture on them. Let them dry first. XD
And if you print off the email I send, you can get a 15% discount if you purchase something from our booth at a Ren Faire. I would offer it from the website, but at this time, we have no way to factor in discounts to our online purchases. :/ That unfortunately makes it difficult for people who are far out of our area, since we vend only locally due to current costs of travel and hotels...we can't afford to vend far away from home. Don't throw the emails away if you're not local though--If I can figure out how to allow discounts in online purchasing, you can use it then. (I know some of you might not know where I'm blogging from to know if you're "local" or not, but if you get the email from me, you'd know by the post office box address if you are.)

Do any of you who might be reading this have a cool project you do with recycled objects? I would love to hear about them if you do!

Ta-ta for now, readers~

Up On a Soapbox: Paying Attention & Modern Parents

2009-03-07T20:38:00.004-05:00

Talking on the cell phone or texting while driving--or both! (Yes, I have seen both. I saw a local gospel radio station van on the interstate, and the driver had a cell phone in his right hand up to his ear, a 2nd cell phone in his left hand on which he was texting, and was steering with his left elbow. Very safe!)
You hear complaints about that all the time. Despite hundreds of news reports of accidents with injuries and/or fatalities, people still do it. Some states are making it illegal. In NC, it's illegal if you're under 18. But I've never seen or heard of anyone being pulled over for that. It doesn't stop anyone!
Once, I was walking across a parking lot, and saw a car pull in to a space, and the woman got out of the car, talking on her cell phone. Ok, talking's not the right word--it was shouting. Not angry shouting, just "I have bad signal and have to talk extra loud and repeat myself a lot" kind of shouting. There wasn't really a way to avoid overhearing her conversation. This lady...was a pretty epic hypocrite. I hear her say "Oh, I was almost rear-ended by some moron talking on his cell phone will driving! I don't get why people do that! It's not safe!"
Ha. Hahaha.....
Ugh.

Our modern world is just too distracting in general. I know I'm bad about not hearing things, especially if I'm on the computer. When I'm doing something on the computer, there are times you could drop an A-bomb on me and I wouldn't notice. I admit that.
But not paying attention to stuff you read...I mean, come on. You're taking the time to read it, would it really take that much longer to pay attention in the process? After all, you'll just have to read it again if you miss too much. So what's faster, reading it carefully once, or skimming it 6 times?
Though you can't tell from my typing (because I take my time, double check, proofread and spellcheck) I'm actually dyslexic. It's easier to get around it when typing, because I touch-type. So my fingers know where the letters are, and I don't have to look at them when I'm typing. That makes it less likely that my brain will see the letters incorrectly.
Sometimes if I try to read a little too fast, or if I'm tired, I'll misread things. I can understand how that would happen to people sometimes. To some more than others.

But it just seems that people don't pay attention to what they read anymore. You can type something on a message board/forum, and people will overlook half of what you say, or just ignore it.
Or people will make an account for something without reading the Terms of Use agreement. That's basically--no, not "basically", it is--signing a contract without reading it first. You're committing yourself to things without knowing you are. You're setting yourself up for possible account closure or even a lawsuit if you do something that violates the agreement, and you don't even know you're running that risk. But ignorance is not a valid excuse. You check the box that says "I have read and agreed to the Terms of Use", and if you're lying about that, then you're 100% liable for anything that you do wrong!
Or what's even worse, you could be giving up your rights to something and not know it! Have you read the Terms of Use for Photobucket? It states that in a public album, you waive all copyrights to the images you post. If someone can see it, they can take it! And yes--can they legally do that. Most image hosting websites you sign up for say in their Terms of Use that they own the things you upload. You own it too, but they can still do anything they want with what you post. I've never heard of any actually doing anything with someone's images. But they have to structure the agreements like that in order to have the legal right to publish what you upload. When you upload something that is visible to everyone, it's "published", just not in a paper or magazine or book. You "publish" things you put on the internet like that. Just like the button to put this very blog in the puplic eye says "PUBLISH POST".
If you want to put an image you own on the internet without giving up any legal copyrights to it, you have to upload it to an FTP server of a domain you own. If you host your images on any other site, you are giving them permission to use that image on their site. If you don't give that permission, it can't be publicly viewable.

It always amazes me how people can break a rule clearly stated in a ToS agreement, and they claim they didn't know. And then they act like because they didn't know, they should be cut slack.
If someone comes to America from another country and breaks an American law while they're here, they can be arrested, and even deported if the crime is severe enough. They don't get to say "Well, I didn't know..." and get away with it. It doesn't work that way. You're bound to follow the rules in any place you go, whether you like them, agree with them, or think they're stupid or not, is completely irrelevant, you're still bound by them.
Now, in a real-world scenario, you can try civil disobedience to try and get a bad law changed. But that doesn't work on the internet. A website, MMOG, message board/forum, blog or anything else you join is not a democracy. It's a business. (Usually.) The rules they enforce are intended to further the safety and enjoyment of all users. That sometimes means a loss of certain rights, such as free speech. At least up to a point. Such as censorship.
Companies don't censor things as a means to insult anyone. They do it to try and protect people, and themselves. If someone is able to slander, berate and otherwise say hateful, racist/biggoted things, the company is liable for that. They are more likely to be sued than the person saying the bad things. Simple reasons, really. You can't know for 100% certainty who posted those comments. You'd have a hard time finding out, let alone suing and proving your case. You don't know who they are or where they live, and it would be very difficult to sue someone if they're in another country, for example. So instead, the injured party sues the company for not providing a safe environment for them.
That makes it unfair for some people, yes. Censorship is very much a double-edged sword. I happen to be against censorship on the internet. Yes, there are kids online. Yes, they can see things they shouldn't. But that's the parents' problem, not the websites'. Unfortunately, that's not how the world works, so the responsibility falls on the websites, because the parents won't step up.

Parents today are so negligent! I see and hear about kids doing all kinds of things that would've been beyond conception when I was a kid. I'm only 22! I was a kid not that long ago! Aside from the internet related stuff, not a whole lot has changed.

Whoever told kids they could sue their parents is a complete and total idiot who deserves to have kids who sue them over something stupid. And the kid should win, no matter how ridiculous it is.

I'm so serious! Parents are afraid to punish their kids today. Now, I don't condone domestic violence or beating kids in any way. But sometimes kids respond to corporal punishment! If a kitten does something the mother cat doesn't like, she'll knock him over and/or bite him! Better a light slap if the kid tries to run across the street than letting him do what he wants and get hit by a car. >.>
Parents almost can't do anything to control their kids today. If the kid gets wind that they have the option to sue their parents if they don't get to do whatever they want, they totally will. And let me say with absolute 100% certainty: No matter what the threatened consequences, children will lie to get their way. They have no real concept of the consequences of lying, nor do they really understand what would happen if they got busted for purgery. Kids lie. All the time. No matter how honest and angelic you think your kid is, they are lying to you. In fact, the more honest and angelic you think your kid is, the higher the probability that they are lying to you about something!
The psychology of kids is all about the Id. Period. They haven't developed their Ego or Super Ego enough yet. All they know is they want what they want and they want it now and if they don't get it, they get upset.

I'll be honest. When I was a kid, there were numerous times that if I didn't get my way, I'd storm off to my room and rage in to my pillow how much I hated my family, and how unfair they were, and how unfortunate I was. Poor little me. That's what kids do. That's how they think. They don't know what the real world is like. If they don't get the toy or game they want, they have the worst parents and the worst lives in the world, and nothing you do or say can change their minds about it. You might be able to show them some poor starving Ethiopian kid and guilt them in to greatfulness, but it would only be temporary. The very next time they didn't get their way, they'd bemoan their fates and how unfair life is.
Kids can be bought.
My paternal grandmother tried to contact me last year...I have no contact with her or her misbegotten son. (No offense to my grandpa, who might read this. :]) The last time I saw that "grandmother", I was 2 or 3. What do I remember? I remember eating an ice cream cone from McDonalds that Mom had told her I wasn't supposed to eat. So right before we pulled up to the house, she took it from me and threw it out the window so Mom wouldn't see it.
I wasn't happy about her trying to communicate with me. I told her in no uncertain terms to leave me alone. She tried to tell me "Oh, we were so close!" Yeah. Right. Because I was a toddler and you gave me ice cream and candy and toys after my mother told me (and you) that I couldn't have them. Kids can be bought off. You can buy their love very easily. Especially if you give them things they want after they were told they couldn't have them! That makes you the "big hero" in their eyes.

So yes, I do believe that if a kid actually thinks they can get their way by lying, they will. They don't know that claiming their parents are abusive could result in being taken away from their parents and put in foster care. Even if they have a vague idea of that as a possibility, they couldn't possibly know what that would be like.
Parents who are truly honest with themselves know that full well, which is why they're scared to punish their kids now.
So because kids aren't being properly disciplined, they run amok and do what they want. They get in to things they shouldn't, go places they shouldn't, and do things they shouldn't. They go to websites and play video games that aren't appropriate for them, and the parents blame the websites and the game companies instead of stepping up and taking control of their damn unruly brats! YES, I SAID IT.

The parents who have kids who do bad things and claim it's because of TV or video games are bad parents who aren't monitering their kids appropriately and aren't maintaining discipline, and are too pig-headed to admit it's their fault, so they lay lawsuits on people who have already clearly stated "not for kids".

What the heck is an 11 year old doing in a game store in a mall alone and buying a video game?! Grand Theft Auto is a $40 game! Why does an 11 year old have that much money, unsupervised in a mall?!?!
I've heard some parents say "Well they saved their allowance, so we let them spend it how they want." Bullshit. What the fish kind of logic is that?! By that logic, you're saying if your 16 year old girl has saved her allowance for her whole life, she can go out and get a boob job because she "saved her money well". Just because your kid was "responsible" enough to save up enough money to buy something, doesn't mean everything they can afford with that money is appropriate!
What if that 11 year old decided to go to Adam&Eve and buy porn and a dildo? Is that "OK" because they saved their money "should spend it how they want"?
I suppose the parents of that kid would then sue the dildo company when the kid became addicted to masturbation, right? >__>
It all comes back to paying attention. Parents don't pay attention to their kids and what they're doing, and then they're surprised when something bad happens to their stupid little brat, who is a stupid little brat because the parents were negligent!

My mom was, and still is, pretty strict. I don't like it. But I respect it. (Gods save me if she reads this. XD)
Because of her, I never have and never will drink, smoke, do drugs, have unprotected sex, shoplift, take nude pictures or break laws. Period.

/End rant/

Ta-ta, people~<3

I hate naming my "general" blog posts...CATEGORIES, FTW!

2009-03-06T12:01:00.009-05:00

I guess I'll work backwards from what's in my head...meaning, start with what's going on now, rather than how I started the day. XD First off: I'm very sleepy. :[ I think I'll take a nap after I post this.
Ok, my first year in college, my Typography teacher introduced me to a website that lets you draw with type. I had forgotten it for a while, but I got my friend hooked on typography, and had been meaning to dig it up for her. I did...and being bored, I played around with it. The site seems to be having some issues with linking, so instead of embedding it from the site (if that's even possible) I just uploaded it.

The image is clickable...it should take you to the application so you can play with it if you want. **If it doesn't work, please let me know, and I'll post the url for the home site so you can access it in a more indirect way.**

I both love and hate starting a new blog. I love it, because it's interesting and fun, and I'm always eager to see if anyone actually commented. (Which is rare.) I hate it because it consumes my thoughts and makes me think as if I'm blogging in my head--and I sorta do that anyway, but it's worse when I start a new blog--my brain gets so stuffed full of ideas that I can't seperate them to decide what I want to post about and what I want to keep private. D:

Anyway. So I found out that my Spring Break was actually not ruined by the snow days. My teacher for my TTH class is going to be out of town, so we don't have to show up. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were the snow make-up days. Monday isn't a class I "go" to, it's a "web enhanced" day. (The class is sort of a hybrid class.) Wednesday is being used to make up a lost Monday--which pretty much has no effect on me, because the class doesn't meet on Mondays! So, I still have Spring Break!
Not that it really makes a lick of difference for me. I don't go to Fort Lauderdale or anything like that. I'm not a party girl...at all. At the parties I go to and host, things are "wild and crazy" while playing an adjective word-based card game, or when two people are at 150%+ damage and knocking each other almost off-stage in Brawl or Melee. =D Good times, good times~
If I'd known sooner that I'd still have my full Spring Break, I might've cleaned up the house to make my Mom happy so I could go spend some time with my best friend, who is the one living 3 hours away (in the mountains). I know my fiance would've liked that...
On the other hand, I have a lot of work to do. I have to work on a new project we were assigned in my design class, plus I have to try and make up some stuff I got behind on, and I need to take a bunch of photos in preperation for the catalog project that is ongoing in my CG class...So I guess it's really for the better that I didn't feel I could make plans. :<

I think the external floppy was delivered about an hour ago...I saw the sun glinting off the deliver guy's shiny bald head. XD But I'm too lazy to get up and get it, and Mom didn't want to go out in her PJs. XP I'll get it in a little while. The weather's nice, so it's not in any danger.
Hard to believe we can have 4-5 inches of snow and 70 degree weather in the same week...

I find some Christians to be very funny in how they try to make everything relate and connect and "prove" their beliefs are right.
There's a church that advertises on a local radio station--yes, advertise! Some people might argue that "That minister's not advertising! He's spreading inspirational messages!" You're half right. He is trying to spread inspirational messages. But it's not altruistic. They say the name and location of the church at the end of each message. That makes it advertising! You hear the message, you might like it, and then you might go to that church. And you know what they do at church? They pass around a plate for you to put money in. Advertising! I wonder if they're using the collection money to pay for it! I would think that would be unethical...collection is supposed to be for charities and stuff. >.o
But I digress....
This minsiter who advertises says some odd stuff sometimes. I think he's trying to not be offensive, which is nice. He never says anything bad about any group of people...at least, not that I've heard. But he likes to make it look like other cultures and belief systems actually support Christianity. Today...he was doing that with ancient Greece. I'm sorry to say this (I'm lying, I'm not sorry at all) but the ancient Greek beliefs predate Christianity, so nothing in their mythos relates to Christianity. At all. Sorry (not). He was talking about the 2 kinds of "time" in Greek, "chronos" and "proto". According to the minister, "chronos time is how mankind measures time. Proto time refer's to God's time..."
Lolwut? Why would the ancient Greeks say that "proto" time refers to how the Christian god measures time? >.> You can't do that! You can't make everything revolve around Christianity! Teaching things like that is the same reason people thought women were inferior to men as mandated by "God". If he had said "Proto time refers to the Greek gods' time" it would've been fine, and correct. But he didn't. He was twisted it around so that something relating to the polythestic religion of the ancient Greeks became about Christianity.
I don't have a problem with Christians or Christianity, let me get that strait. What I have a problem with is the perversion of history used to support ANY belief system! It seems to be most common in Christianity. One of the most notable examples is when King James had the Bible rewritten to support his rule.
Currently, the same thing is happening in Iran, Iraq and other Islamic countries. The people there are only allowed to watch news the Islamic governments make, and it's 100% propaganda supporting everything they do! You heard about the Mickey Mouse ripoff promoting jihad, right?
When I was in middle school, we learned about the Holocaust. At that time, we learned that there are some isolated communities that actually think Hitler was still running Germany.
I took German as a foreign language in high school. My German teacher had visited Germany several times, and said a lot of Germany doesn't believe the Holocaust even happened! They deny that concentration or execution camps ever existed anywhere at any time. They deny that Jews were herded in to ghettos and forced to live as less than human beings. When German kids are taught about WWII, they learn a completely different version of events than what is taught in America.
So Christians aren't the only ones to try and rewrite the facts to support them and discredit everyone else. I don't like it when anyone does it!

/endrant/ XD Sorry. I have my passionate moments. I'm a believer in the unadultered teaching of history as fact, not propeganda or opinion. Leave the opinion stuff for the mythology study where it belongs!

Advertising amuses me. I love it when certain companies/products decide they're "arch rivals" or something and spend as much time talking about the competition as they do talking about themselves. Claritin and ZYRTEC, for example. Claritin's entire reasoning for being better than ZYRTEC is that Claritin won't make you drowsy, but ZYRTEC will. ZYRTEC's entire reasoning for being better than Claritin is that it's 2 hours faster. XD Claritin just took a leap ahead of ZYRTEC though. They recently released new gel capsules...which you probably saw the ad for if you clicked on "Claritin" where I first mentioned it. Liquid-filled gel capsule medications are some of the fastest acting medicines you can get.

Another one that amuses me is Papa John's vs Pizza Hut vs Domino's ad-war. Domino's kinda started it, I think. They added chicken wings and sandwiches and other things to their menu that was non-pizza, to try and broaden their clientele. Pizza Hut decided to do pasta, and started doing these funny "candid camera" type of commercials. It reminded me of a totally different ad campaign, but I can't remember now what it was. Papa John's made me actually laugh though. They added pasta to their menu now too. I think it's been about 4 or 5 months since Pizza Hut added pasta to their menu, and maybe 1 or 2 for Papa John's. But what made me laugh was what Papa John's says in the ads announcing their pasta. "We didn't want to be the first, just the best!" That is such a lie. You always want to be the "first" company to introduce a new type of product. You get the credit for "revolutionizing" the market, and most importantly: the customers go to you first.
Anytime something new comes out, people who try it will either love it or hate it. If they love it, they will be loyal to it. If they hate it, they aren't likely to trust any similar products. If you tried Pizza Hut's pasta and thought it was nasty, you wouldn't blame Pizza Hut specifically (most likely), you would blame the type of resturaunt. "Oh, a pizza joint can't make good pasta! They don't know what they're doing, they're only good at pizza!" So when you see the ads for Papa John's pasta, you're going to be like, "Ugh, another pizza place trying to make pasta. Pizza Hut sucked, I doubt Papa Johns would be any better!"
The only exception would be if someone already has established loyalty with one company over another. You might be an avid Papa John's fan, who only ate Pizza Hut's pasta because they were the only ones making it. So when Papa John's starts making pasta, you go back to them because you're loyal to Papa John's over Pizza Hut.

Dollhouse comes on tonight at 9. Firefly fans let out a collective *GASP* at the news that Joss Whedon was again working with FOX. When FOX cancelled Firefly, Whedon was livid, and vowed never to deal with FOX again. Huh. Funny how that worked out, huh?
Oh well, I don't blame Whedon. 50/50 chance it wasn't his decision anyway. Studios sometimes bulldoze the writers/directors/producers, even if they're as big a name as Joss Whedon.
I really like Dollhouse so far. It's intriguing. Not that I would expect anything less! However, I do wonder at the casting of Eliza Dushku for the lead. It's not that I don't like her...it just feels to me like she's trying to compete with Sarah Michelle Geller. Eliza Dushku had supporting rolls in Buffy and Angel. She did a good job, certainly. But of course, Sarah Michelle Geller was the star of Buffy, and Charisma Carpenter was the "go-to girl" in Angel.
Glenn Quinn, who played Fred in Angel, is playing a supporting role in Dollhouse. Her character in Dollhouse seems to be slowly becoming more and more important. That's interesting to me, since her character in Angel sort of shaped up similarly. I don't think either character was ever intended to be "small", but their importance grew slowly, so that you became very attached to the character. I cried when Fred died in Angel. Sorry if that's a spoiler for any of you readers, but Angel's been finished for several years now, so I can't be blamed. D: You've had ample opportunity to see the show. XP Some might argue that Fred didn't really die...but she did, as a character. Illyria replaced her. Some of Fred's personality/emotions/memories rubbed off on Illyria, but they were not the same person.
I'm very interested in seeing how important Glenn Quinn's character in Dollhouse will become. I'm also approaching with caution, since there's parallels already. I wouldn't be too surprised if something bad happens. :(

Ok, thanks for taking the time to read my massive blog. XD I hope it entertained/enlightened/educated/amused you. :>

Ta-ta~<3

First Blog Post of 2009

2009-03-05T15:23:00.002-05:00

I want to start by saying: I'm not happy with the layout. I picked the template that bothered me the least, and changed the colors around a little, but I don't intend for it to stay as it is. I'm a designer, for crying out loud! I'm going to design the layout, dangnabbit! (Hehe, "dangnabbit".) Give me some time...I'm not an HTML expert and DreamWeaver went "What the fish?!"** when I tried to import it for editing. XD

I say this is my first blog post, but I half-count my "news posts" on my webcomic. My webcomic is partly why I decided to make a blog here. I like to share things with people who care...about anything. I don't like social websites like MySpace or Facebook. I used to have a MySpace page, but I've abandonded it for personal and professional reasons. You know employers check MySpace now?
I'm not here to look for friends or dates. I have friends. That's not to say I will be rude or blow you off if you have a comment on something I post here...unless you're a jackass about it.
I'm happily engaged to a wonderful guy whom I will marry on October 31st, either this year or next year, depending on finances. It's the bride's family's duty to pay for the wedding, right? Well, my mom's been out of work since December 26, 2007. That's a long time! I've never had a paying job. I had a job at a horseback riding camp, and I was supposed to be paid, but never was. I do a lot of pro bono graphic design related work for family and friends.
I'm here because I need an outlet for my overly busy brain. I have an hour long commute to college, so it gives me a lot of time to think about things. I need to talk about things going on in my life. Not too deeply detailed or personal though. I know this is public! I'm not here to air out dirty laundry. I want to share my thoughts, opinions and experiences. Employers check blogs, so I want to maintain at least a moderate level of professionalism here. I want future employers/coworkers to know what kind of person I am, and what's happened/is happening in my life, but only if they want to know. Meaning, I don't mind if they read this, but they'll have to find it on their own time! XD

Since I have good family support, I'm not working while I'm in college. I live so far from where I go to school that I'd have to either give up sleep or homework in order to work and go to class, and either of those sacrifices would end up in failure. Plus with the economy as it is right now, there's not much work available, and I really can't deal with working in fast food. I can't stand up for hours on end without sitting down--it causes nasuea and numbness in my legs. I don't know why, as I've never really discussed it with my doctor. Poor circulation runs in my family though.

I also have my webcomic going right now. It's not progressing through the plot quite as fast as I'd hoped, but as with any creative project, it's taken on a life of its own. I'm mostly happy with it, though...more readers would be nice! (wink)

I recently had a major computer crash. GeekSquad recovered my files, thankfully...though they took $100 for it. >.>;; However, as I'm using a Toshiba Satellite A205-SS825, I have some problems. One--my tablet doesn't work properly with Vista. My tablet is a necessity with my graphic design projects...not only is it a hell of a lot easier to use than a mouse or touchpad, but it also decreases the likelyhood of CTS. I don't want CTS. I have enough health problems without adding that to it. So tabler = 100% necessity. Period. Two--Adobe CS3 doesn't seem fully compatible with Vista. I don't care if you disagree! I have 3gigs of RAM and Vista still lags like a 1 legged dog when I try to run CS3. Ever try to draw something in Photoshop when there's a 1.5 second lag between clicking on the artboard and what you draw shows up? It doesn't work! It can't be done! So I have to downgrade to XP. It was an epic pain in the ass to do the first time. Toshiba formatted their hardware to be dependant on Vista for proper functionality. Therefor, you have to jump through hoops of fire to downgrade the darn thing and have it work right. And you absolutely MUST have an external floppy drive.
The first time I downgraded, I borrowed one from a friend--who is now a 3 hour drive away. She dropped it in the mail for me today, and where ever she shipped it (she didn't say if it was FedEX or UPS or what) said it should arrive in 1 business day. So it should be here tomorrow.

I already knew my life revolved around my computer. My school, my future career, my recreational persuits and my social life all involve my computer. That's not sad--it's the modern reality of the life of a geek. You might theoretically post a comment saying I have no life, since my entire existence relies on my computer, and I take the time to post about it. But what would such a comment say about you? You, who takes the time to read far enough in to the blog to see that statement, and then takes the time to post a comment about it? You don't really have room to criticize, now do you? :) At least I know where I am and what I'm doing, and I have reasons for it.
Being without my computer from Thursday to the following Wednesday was pretty much hell. I couldn't talk to my real-life friends, who have all moved out of town for school or work. I don't have long distance, and my family's cell phones are minimal at best, and I don't really get signal in the house unless I squish myself against the livingroom window. They're too busy to call me. I talk to them online while they're doing other things, like work or class projects or research or whatever. My fiance calls me when he can, so I was able to keep in touch with him even without the computer. (He lives out of town, as he went to school in the same general area as the aforementioned friend who lives aprox. 3 hours away.) My online friends, whom I've met on various forums/message boards or MMORPGs, were quite out of reach. That sucked! One friend in England has a Wii, so I was able to memo him via my Wii, which was interesting. We also Brawled, which was fun. We were pretty evenly matched. I wasn't keeping score, so I don't know which of us won more times, but it seemed pretty 50/50 to me. ;P
I also got a bit behind on my school work without my computer as well. I need my CS3 to do work--and the discs are protected in such a way that once installed on a computer, they can only be installed on another computer if it's registered to the same person. My grandma's computer is not registered in my name, so I couldn't put it on her computer. :(
I got lucky though....if you want to put a positive spin on it. We had a snow day and a 2 hour delay day, which pretty much means 9 AM classes are cancelled. I only had a 9 AM class on that day, so it was pretty much 2 snow days for me. I still have to do a lot of catching up, tonight, tomorrow and over the weekend. (sigh) Kinda sucks, but I think I'll be able to catch up before it hurts me too much. ~.~

Ok, I don't want to go in to the big long....random thing...I was thinking about this afternoon. The concept needs refining before I post it, plus I need to download the photos that go with it from my camera to my computer, and fix them up.

**Before I go, let me explain the "What the fish!" thing. XD Last night, a friend of mine was trying to describe something that caused him to react in a WTF-ish manner...at least, that's what he was trying to say. But he didn't hyphenate it, so he said "wtfish". It...amused me...you have no idea how much it amused me. I told him I was going to start saying "What the fish" because it amused me so much. So there you go, first instance of it being used since that declaration. =3

Ta-ta, folks~