I just found out that an old friend from high school died last month, of cancer. He was a good friend, and even though I haven't seen him in years, it's amazing how much this hurts. I'm crying...

Bless you, Beren. You were the most cheerful guy I ever knew, and one of best band players too. Rest in Peace.

I just talked with e and she is back at home safe and sound. Trip went well and she's in good spirits. Had a blast actually TALKING to her again and can't wait for the party next Friday... it's good to have you back, E. Missed ya. ;)

I have a DESK again! Woohoo! It's amazing how little I missed a desk when I didn't have one and how insanely glad I am to have one again.... sitting in my nice leather chair instead of on the floor...

Greg called me earlier today, Liz, and I told him it was fine for you guys to come down for as much time as you need to this weekend. I'll be spending most of the weekend (most likely) hanging around the apartment, cleaning things up and getting stuff sorted out. I am, however, going to be buying a desk in the next day or two, so I'll be building that fucker too. (Parental Advisory: This man contains explicit words.)

That said, the rest of my weekend is free for whoever.

Wow, my complaints about no sleep really sound meaningless next to all this...

I'm still sleep deprived (the sun's up, and I beat it by about 45 minutes...), but I'll go ahead and throw in my two cents anyway. You guys can chew my head off when I get home for butting my head in. If I'm conscious.

Lizzie, I'm going to agree with Cliff about the talking with Tony thing. Before hand though, I suggest the removal of all sharp and/or pointy objects from the room. Just a precaution. All joking aside, having every view is very important, and it helps everyone to have a clear head. Though I'm going to side with you on the decorating bit, I'd go nuts if I couldn't put stuff on the walls.

You know what? I could give a shitload of blah advice, but I'm not going to. My sleep deprived brain couldn't handle it at the moment, and there's no point. So I'm going to say this: Lizzie, Greg, you both need to do whatever it takes for both of you to be comfortable and happy. It might hurt at first, and life might suck for awhile, but if you need to do it, do it. I also offer my Santa Cruz home (when I get back into it... ) for a mini-break whenever you guys need one. There's not a ton of room, but if you guys need it, it's yours. And there's nothing like Santa Cruz's beaches and woods for a relaxing time.

That all being said, I think I'm going to go throw up now. And then pass out... I feel like crap...

Well...

A weekend in Tahoe. Atleast I get to leave the house with the roommates for a few days. I get to see my kitty too. But for some reason I always get depressed when I stay in my old bedroom at home. Its terrible. I don't feel at home at my childhood home and I don't feel at home here either. But atleast it looks like we are finally reaching an end to all of this. (hopefully)

Cliff, we WILL be coming down this Sunday evening. (Anything to stay out of the house.) And probably be staying until late Monday. Sound good? Call Greg and let him know...

*sigh*

And I am out.

.:Liz:.

Oh, and for those of you wondering why I'm the worst person as stated below...

Last time I had a girlfriend: 1994. Last time I was dating: 1996. Of my previous roommates, number of which I'm still on speaking terms with: 1.

Worst person to have a solution? Hell, I just threw that in to be "melodramatic." Or something.

Still, I think you have to do what it takes to keep you happy, Liz. Everything else plays second fiddle to that.

I realize I am the worst person to offer relationship advice. I realize I am the worst person to offer advice on how to cope with roommates and whatnot. I realize I am the worst person to possibly think they have a solution to any of this.

That said, here's the shape of my head on this right now...

You need to do what it takes to keep you happy. If it means that you and Greg can't be together for a little while, then you may have to make that sacrifice. Nothing is forever. Remember that. NOTHING is FOREVER. All the good, all the bad, everything passes in time. If you wait long enough, things will change one way or another. But you need to be strong. I know you can be strong, you do have it in you, Liz.

I talked to Greg a little last night. Hopefully I'll get a chance to talk to him some more this weekend, because he and I were only beginning in the conversation, nowhere near the end of it.

If you guys have to, you're more than welcome to move in with me for a while. I realize, this moves you away from your jobs and away from Sac, but you at least know I'm more than willing to let you decorate the apartment, have dishes, have your cat, and I can even let you guys crash with me free for a while so you can get back on your feet. I told Greg this and I'm telling you this. I know I'm certainly not the most appealing option, but I am an option. I am there for my friends when they need help. If you two think getting out of Sac. and down to the Bay would help, by all means, come on down. You can either stay in the spare bedroom at my current place for free for a while or we can all go out looking for a new, even bigger place. Or if you need to come down on your own, Liz, that's fine too. I will do whatever I can to help. I'm there for you two however you think I can help.

It's going to sound odd, Liz, but maybe just you and Tony should sit down and talk about the whole thing. Explain to him your side and listen to his. I know it sounds like a tough thing to do, but the right things in life are never easy to do. Try and hammer out the problems between you and him; see if you can come to some kind of understanding on the matter. They probably don't hate you. They may be unhappy with you, but I don't think they hate you. Try explaining to Tony why you're unhappy, what's bothering you about the whole thing. Just you and him, no one else, because the two of you are really the ones with the problems. Greg is sort of just caught in the middle, and either way he plays this, things aren't going to go great. But if you and Tony sit down and talk things over, maybe you can at least understand the problems the other is having.

Anyhow, I can't do a lot from here, but you know I'll always do what I can. You can come down and hang out with me if you need to, call if you need to, whatever... just let me know how I can help and I'll be happy to do so. That's what friends are for, and don't be too proud to ask for help if I can help in any way, shape or form. I'm always too proud to ask for help and it's my major failing in life. So if I can help you guys out, just ask...

I guess this is what you would call group therapy...

By the way... I am reading through the last post and noticing all of my grammatical errors... but I am typing the first things that come to my head. You know how that goes sometimes.

I think its probably time to start drowning my sorrows in alcohol. What does everyone else think?

Now I know you are going to say, " Nothing can be that bad" and "You don't want to solve depression with alcohol". But I really do. Anything to take me out of my life at the moment, and put me into a different reality sounds like a godly concoction. Fuck life. I don't really see the point in waking up every morning to do what you DO NOT want to do, then go to sleep miserable, then wake up and do it again the next day. Where the hell is the lesson in that?

If you don't already know, I am homeless at the moment. I have a wonderful job, but I am homeless. How does this happen you ask? Well thats simple. People are fucking retarded. Some people are selfish when they have no right to be. Some people need to grow up and let go of some things.

Is it so wrong to want to feel at home some place? Is it wrong to want your pet? Is it wrong to want to start a new life with the person you love? Is it wrong to just want to be happy? I guess it is... or atleast it was brought to my attention last night.

Greg's and mine roommates are not taking the move well at all. They pretty much said that if Greg leaves then they will hate him. If he stays, then I am out of a house. Why am I out of the house? Because I evidently spat on everything that Tony has sacrificed and worked on. He sacrificed his dog so that they could live in this house. I feel bad for them. But should I sacrifice my cat to stay in a house where I can't even open up a package of dishes that I brought along to contribute to the house? (When I first moved in I had brought some dishes and I was told that they didn't want me to open them because they liked having very few dishes.) A woman's home is a reflection of her. She needs to be able to decorate, and have belongings and have privacy...ect. She NEEDS these things in order to feel at home.

Another thing that bothers me is that everyone else in house can leave whenever they feel it is necessary. But for some reason, Greg doesn't have the same luxury. I am not really sure how that works out. But I am evidently too stupid to see any of these things. Its not like Greg is leaving them to die there. There is already another roommate that is lined up to stay there. And we aren't leaving until November. Which is convieniently (sp? shit I don't care about spelling at the moment) when the lease is up. Now Greg and I offered for Tony and Debbie to come stay with us at an apartment for awhile... but they want to keep the house. I can completely understand that. But if the house is going to run you into the ground... then it wasn't meant to be. You have to accept that and move on with your life. Not sit there and put ultimadums on people. But I digress.

So why can't we just stay at the house? Well #1... I am unhappy there, and I don't have my kitty. #2 The relationship between the roommates and myself will never be the same. I would spend all of my time being reclusive in the bedroom where I can hide. I don't want to see their faces. But they also hate me because I am the devil woman who wants to take their precious Greg away with me. I would be completely miserable. Not just that... I want to have some small amount of dignity left after this entire ordeal.

So why don't we just move? Well Greg feels like he has this loyalty to Tony and Debbie. Which I understand. He has lived with them for a very long time and loves them like family. But he wouldn't let his family do this to him. So why let friends? Obviously they aren't the greatest of friends since they can't just be happy for him and let him move on with his life. Selfishness I guess.

Greg is also now scared about starting school in the spring. We and I would both be working less hours and such... but he wants to save up a little nest so that we won't have to worry about money for awhile. But in order to do this... we will have to live with his dad. I love his dad and all... but where does that change anything? We will be living in a smaller house and still living in a bedroom. I would, be able to have my cat. But there is a cat door and he is a strictly indoors cat. I am not sure if I want to take him from my family's house and put him in a smaller place and have him get used to another cat...ect ect. GAH!

So at the moment I am homeless and on the verge of losing my boyfriend and all of my dignity. So life is just peachy.

So.... how was your night?

.:Liz:.

It is now 2am, Suzhou time, and I'm going to bed.

2 bucks says I have insomnia.

I'll let you know later.

Good night.

*trots off to pass out*

"You can do it, e, you can do it!"

"You must not give in to the dark side..."

20 more minutes...

*yawn*

Must... not... give... in..... to.... sleep...

Still going.

Though I'm beginning to wonder why.

I need a shot. From a scotch bottle or a gun. Right now, it's a toss up...

Ugh.. maybe I'll go take a shower...

Back up has arrived...

Still going.

Sorta.

The mosquitos have decided to give me a farewell present of as many bites as they can. I've recieved 6 in the last hour. Bloody evil little buggers...

Okay, so I'm reading bash.org, and I come across this great line that I had to share with you all:

"AJK: puff da magic hard drive lived near drive B: sorta near the power sply in a tower owned by me..."

I giggled for awhile on this line. Then again, I'm sleep deprived.

So, it begins.

"What begins?" you ask.

My vigil.

"What vigil?" you ask.

"You ask too many questions. If you'd give me a minute, I'd give you all the answers," I say, before beginning my explanation.

You see, I fly back to the United States tomorrow morning (tonight for you guys), and I want to be able to sleep on the plane. I don't sleep well on planes, if at all. I also want to readjust to Pacific Standard time quickly, so I can have fun, and not be falling asleep in the middle of the afternoon. So my solution? I'm staying up as late as I can, taking a short nap, then going to the airport?

The reason? Right now, it's 10:45pm, China time. Pacific standard is 7:45am. You can do the converting from now on, the math is easy. This is not the usual time to be going to bed (unless you're Ed... sorry Ed...). So, I'm not going to bed. But I can get away with an afternoon nap. So, that means, I'm going to take a "nap". At 2 or 3am China time. And I have to be up at 5:30am.

I'm going to be soooo tired, but I don't know any other way for me to adjust. Melatonin will be my friend on the flight, but still, it's going to be a screwy night. I've already had a margarita tonight, and it actually helped a bit. ^^ Alcohol is my friend. I know about 8 hours into the flight, I'll be dying for a shot of *anything* and I'll be really sad when I realize there's nothing to be had.

And just to make things more fun, listen to this: I leave Shanghai Pudong Airport at 11:30am, August 31st. I arrive at San Francisco Airport at 7:30am, August 31st. ^^ Gotta love time differences.

Oh, and yes, for the record, I *do* know that he's a member of the Madhouse studio and that he did mech designs for D.N.A. 2. I'm just curious if the one thing he directed is something I should of heard of... and, in the details for the Animatrix, I found of Kawajira's writing the one that Koike's directing. And Watanabe did write one of the two he's directing. Hot damn...

Okay, so sci-fi and not gaming, huh? How's this trip your trigger -- sci-fi AND anime all in one shot.

Click this immediately if you have high bandwidth.

Click this if your connection is flabby and slow.

So, The AniMatrix project is going to finally see fruition. For those of you who haven't heard, 7 directors put together 9 short films based on The Matrix universe (with some of them written by the The Bros. Wach themselves). Who are the directors? Well, I'm glad you asked. They include some of the biggest and best names in anime. Let's start with Shinichiro Watanabe, who put together this thing called Cowboy Bebop that you might have heard of. (Yes, I am a megaotaku of Cowboy Bebop...) Then there's Yoshiaki Kawajira... He did this thing called Ninja Scroll that I think a few people saw. And you've got Peter Chung. He tried this thing called Aeon Flux that was on MTV or something. And then there's the guys who did Robot Carnival, and the guys who did Blue Submarine #6... oh yeah, and Square freakin' USA did one, in full CGI. That's right, before Square films closed their doors, they did this thing about the Matrix. I mean, seriously, what more do you want? There is one guy who did something I don't know, though, so if you know what Takeshi Koike did, please let me know. He has one listing on IMDB and it isn't in English and I don't recognize it... I'd really like to know what he did, though, so if you know, please tell us...

It'll be out next year on DVD and video. And I will be there when they're selling...

HELL yeah...

Okay, so last night, I had a freaky dream. But I have to give some info first, so bear with me.

My godparents here in China get a lot of tv stations. They have 2 different cable systems, one for Taiwan, and one for Hong Kong. Out of all of these channels, there's only one that's in english: The National Geographic channel.

So guess what I watch most of the time. Right.

Lately they've been playing a lot of "we're moving the animals across this ocean, here's how we've made the new cages/play areas for them" specials.

So last night, I dream that I've come home (there's been a trend in these lately), and that the upstairs of my house is being converted into a new display pen for the gorillas. And all I think is, "Jeez... this is going to make it hard to get to the computer. Oh, well."

Yeah. I've been watching too much National Geographic...

Um... go Klonoa!

Yeah, that's the extent of my gaming knowledge..

I don't know why I'm in this group... what I know about games is limited to my GBA and the games I already have.

I suck. I know. But ask me about movies, sci-fi, and actors, and I'm not so bad! ^^

Actually, I didn't forget it, Dave. That's a list of October and November. I didn't include any of the cool September stuff.

And I'd say X-Box for Robotech.

You forgot this one =P

Robotech

Now the question is wich console...

Talk about a mass of good gaming coming in the next 2-4 months...

GTA: Vice City, UT 2k3, Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, Starfox Adventures, Timesplitters 2 (without internet play -- stupid Eidos), Age of Mythology, dotHack, Dragon's Lair 3D, Phantom Crash, Wild Arms 3, Sims Online, Civ 3 expansion pack, Crimson Skies, Mario Party 4, the whole Xbox Live thing, Gungrave, Phantasy Star Online for the Gamecube, House of the Dead 3, the Lord of the Rings games, Toejam & Earl, Worms Blast, X-Men Next Dimension, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Resident Evil Zero, the next Harry Potter game ... then you've got all the big November games like Wario World, Metroid Prime, Malice, Sims PS2, Suikoden 3, Vexx, Ratchet & Clank, Shinobi, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, the next Tomb Raider, Bond 007 Nightfire, the next Mortal Kombat dropping, Auto Modelista, Unreal Championship (the Xbox one), Dead or Alive Jigglyfest (er, volleyball), Shenmue II, Panzer Dragoon, Superman: Man of Steel, Jedi Outcast on Xbox, Shadowbane (supposedly), Asheron's Call 2 (supposedly), Unreal II (probably not until 2003), Metroid Fusion (for GBA), Zelda for GBA in December...

Too! Many! Games!

Not! Enough! MONEY!

You know, I realized this morning I'm in the wrong business. Sure, I make good money and I enjoy myself, but I'm not really committing robbery and getting away with it. And yet, there are two perfectly good industries engaged in highway robbery right now -- the banking business and the moving business...

So, let's start with the moving business. Moving businesses can basically charge you what they want, drop off your stuff when they want, make you pay how they want and then refuse to acknowledge your complaints and/or issues with their performance. Case in point, in moving back to the Bay from Vegas, they sort of busted some of my furniture, INSISTED I pay them in cash (and I was leery about handing $2k in cash to ANYONE), they changed the pickup day twice, they overcharged me for repacking things I had packed up already and the fuckers wanted a tip! Both on the pick up and the drop off! They also were drinking my pop/gatorade and they lounged around on my furniture. And I requested a claims form for insurance a month ago and still haven't even gotten the goddamn form! Grrrr.....

Even worse, however, is the banking business. These fuckers are sitting pretty. They work the shortest hours known, they charge you for talking to them, they charge you for not doing things exactly the way they tell you to and, get this, they can hold onto your money and prevent you from having it for almost a month. So, in relocating, I got all the money from my relocation back. A good part of this is a loan I need to repay to a good friend. And instead of being able to repay him, he has a check he can't cash because the bank has holds on not only my two relocation checks, but my paycheck as well!

"You're a new account, sir."

I went off on them on Saturday. "So, what you're telling me," I said, "is that I've deposited $8k into your bank in the last 4 days and I can't touch a dime of it for three weeks. Despite the fact that these checks are from Electronic Arts, the largest entertainment software company in THE WORLD."

"You're a new account, sir."

"Well the only reason I'm a new account is that your stupid computers don't have California and Nevada on the same computer network. I've been banking with you guys for over two years now and I'm starting to have second thoughts after all of this!"

*sigh*

As I said, wrong business...

Hell yes Dippin Dots should be illegal!!! I had to stop visiting a theater here b/c of thier Dippin Dots Machine that kicks ass in how it vends the delicious ice cream dots at $4 per 8 ounces.But otherwise on goes the never-ending quest for a Thermostat housing for my Lanos. It appears no one on the East or West Coast seems to have any thermostat housing for my car. But if you goto some backwater town some guy is more than happy to sell ya a used one for $100. Plus to boot I have to look forward to more Earthlink troubleshooting for people too cheap to pay me a real amount of money to fix their computer so they will call into Earthlink "telling" me to just "fix it" like I can wave some wand so they can stop sending the Klez virus to everyone in their address book because they didn't install a virus program, but have had a disk for months they thought was protecting their PC they NEVER put in. If they actually install it after the fact they want to know why the files infected can't be repaired and they need to have the PC re-setup...Yes...yes they must be punished for being so cheap and stupid...So what have we learned today?

A) This is why I don't trust people from backwater country.

B) Not buying the next vehicle unless it includes the letters J-E-E-P and the word Wrangler attached to it.

C) I reaaaalllllllyyyyyyyy can't stand people with heavy southern accents after 8 hours of it.

D) You can find out just how bad the mass population is at learning English when it's the only language they speak.

E) Why the hell do we allow people to call in on Cell Phones? We both know I'm only going to hear half the words you say and not care about any of the words I do hear.

F) Yes...yes they must be punished.

*we join a call in progress*

But my computers more than fast enough for me so there should be no problem...

But sir, you need to upgrade your system to continue Earthlink use...

But why can't you just fix my out of memory problem?

Because we can not fix Windows 3.1 problems of out of memory with our software.

But it worked yesterday...

It may have worked yesterday sir, but it won’t work now and there is nothing I can do to fix it.

*Silence for 2 minutes*

I'll call back for someone else that can help me...

*Click*

Thank god for case notes so we can have consistency about what we tell these people. Oh, and as a topper this guy was at his work calling in about this problem. Even if it could be fixed there couldn't be a thing done...

Yeash!!!

Lizzie and I should do it at the same time. That way we can scare the hell out of everybody within 5 city blocks.

I just realized... together, Lizzie and I have the power to Take Over the World with our Evil Anime Girl Laughs. What do you say Lizzie? It's worth a shot anyway. We can discuss it further when I get home. ^^

And Greg, that's not just my line, anyone can use it. Though I hearby declare Stitch from disney's (no, it doesn't get a capitol D) Lilo and Stitch the official mascot of that logo. Damn, that blue furball is cool.

See, this is annoying. I just came online to say hi to a few people, check my e-mail, and then I was going to study a bit. But now what am I doing? Posting to the blog. Cliff just told me "It's an addiction. All you can do is feed it daily and try to control it."

Like Dippin' Dots. ^^

Right. I'm going to post something about me now. I don't know why, but I feel I should at least be meaningful once in awhile. Not that any of you care, but what the hell. ^^ I had this dream last night that I flew home. That was annoying, 'cause I don't fly home till Saturday. But I dreamed I'd left in such a hurry that I left a lot of stuff here in China. And I didn't realize it till I grabbed my bags at the SF airport. Wierd.

No, there was no point to that. Just thought I'd share.

Now back to your regularly shceduled mayhem.

I can do the evil anime villaness laugh!!!!

People can respond all they want.... that's what the comments boxes are for... but we control the horizontal and the vertical. *evilmaniacallaughter* We should get E to do that though in her Evil Anime Villianess laugh.

Dude, you TOTALLY ganked E's line....

And on that note, this has now become a 5-user Forum. :)

Oh...

*ahem* ... "I'm cute, I'm cuddly and I can frag your ass."

Dear Lord, go to grab some In-N-Out and come back to total madness! Good madness, of course, but madness nonetheless...

Anyhow, Joe and Lara's plan is to be gone for up to (but not necessarily) two years, although they may be back in a year or so, if they really don't like Seattle. The only reason they're going up there is that Joe has a job offer. After Lara's out of school, they'll make a hardcore effort to find something back in San Francisco...

*ahem* and I would also like to say..... "Porn Battle".... Thank you.

Why is it that my blog entries are never thought provoking or talking about one of my addictions? Does this make me weird or crazy? I wonder...

Well, Greg and I have officially decided to stay in Sac. But we aren't staying at the house we are at presently, we are actually going to be moving into an apartment that allows cats. (I miss my cat soooooo much!) What does this mean? Well we told the household this evening about the decision. This could be a good and a bad thing. You see, our roommates at the moment are suffering finacially at the moment. (Who isn't really?) But they want to keep the house. (Which is VERY difficult when you are losing your job and a roommate that pays $500/month) So they aren't the happiest with us. Who could blame them? I waltz into Greg's life, move into their house, then take Greg away. I would be upset with me too. We could stay, but I don't feel at home here. ie. None of the belongings are here and I miss my cat. They aren't allowed to have pets here, so I am stuck between that darn rock and a soft place.

Our other roommate is kinda trying to scare us out of moving by telling us how expensive it is to move. Well, Greg and I aren't well off, but we do make good money for being at our age. *shrugs* We have been going through the local apartment guides and found out that one bedroom apartments are actually pretty resonable. We found some very nice ones for as low as $625/ month. Thats actually pretty darn good. So I am not terribly worried about it.

Furniture is another things though. The problem is that we don't own any. So I guess we are going to shop garage sales. My parents also own a furniture store.... so thats helpful too. I sew, so I can make curtains and stuff pretty easily. My sister bought me a "back to school" box that has a toaster, iron, and an electric can opener. Kitchen stuff isn't a problem at all. I have TONS of kitchen stuff. I have been saving up kitchen stuff for years and years. Its actually pretty amazing how many kitchen things I have.

*sighs* Oh well.... I hope that things get better. Oh! Another unusual thing...my friend, Vic, (who Greg and I were supposed to move with) has decided she doesn't want to go to Sac... so she is going to.... yup you guessed it! SEATTLE! What the fuck is so good about Seattle?! All there is there is rain and coffee! Gah! I will never understand! Joe and Lara, then Vic.. who next?

Dippin Dots should be illegal.

Don't get me wrong...I love 'em. But at the same time, I'm sure crack addicts are in love with...well, crack. Wouldn't know, I'm not a crack addict. But today, while enjoying another block of "me time", I decided, beyond any reasonable argument, that I MUST have Dippin' Dots. Call McDonald's my enabler - now I don't have to go to the fair or some crazy venue to get 'em. So I go, barefoot, and wearing nothing but an undershirt and gym shorts, and drive to the nearest McDonalds to get myself my fix of the tasty treats. I spend nearly 5 dollars on maybe 8 ounces of ice cream (had to buy two things...just one isn't enough), and come home and devour it all in less than fifteen minutes while watching "Beat the Geeks". This is what I'm reduced to when I'm alone, it would seem.

Also had the pleasure of telling my roomates that I plan on moving out in a few months. It might be harder for others to relate, but since my roomates are all my best friends, and me moving makes things financially hard on them, it was a very difficult thing to bring up. Thankfully, they're supportive (if a bit apprehensive, but I can understand that). Liz and I checked out an apartment guide booklet, and there's a LOT of nice apartments around here for a decent price. Very encouraging. (Oh yeah, we're not moving to L.A. like we thought we were going to be....and I'm not exactly disappointed, since I love this area.) Also, me and Liz moving into our own apartment is really giving me the feeling of "Holy crap- I'm an actual, like...ADULT person now!" Not in the bad way, either.

Staying here also means I get to keep my easy money job. I like getting paid to sit on my ass all day. If only they had a McDonald's in Rancho Murieta...then I'd get paid to sit on my ass and eat Dippin Dots.

Talk about your manic week already. My best friend Joe and his wife Lara left for Seattle on Saturday, and they should be in their new place already. And while they're going, other friends are staying.

Picked up the new Coldplay album today, so I may have to do a massive "Reviews" section over the next few days... we'll see...

Oh and just so everyone knows.... I am selling my nuriko costume on E-bay. I hope to make some money so I can live and move and such....^_^ If you would like to check it out please check here. I also found out today that my Kero-chan costume was put into the August copy of Animerica. So thats pretty neat too! YAY! Go Cosplay!

Woohoo! Congrats Lizzie! ^^

I'm such a sucker for babies.... ^^

Brooke Mackenzie Van Buskirk was born on August 26,
2002 at 3:40 am. She and her mother are doing well.
We are staying at the hospital for a few days after
the C-Section. She was 7lbs 9 oz and 19 inches long.
After 13 hours of labor, the doctor determined that
Brooke was breached and would have to be removed by
caesarian.

And like that... the sickness was gone. Seriously, I woke up this morning and no headache, no need to throw up, no feeling queasy... in fact, I actually felt pretty damn good. It's odd. Maybe it was something I ate. Anyhow, about 10:00 p.m. last night my hunger returned with a vengeance so I went out in search of food, because I was in no shape to eat my own cooking (and didn't really feel like cooking anyway) ... and I decided to try In-N-Out again...

For those of you who haven't known me too long, I had a rather bad experience with In-N-Out in Vegas -- a group of us ate there one day and they had the worst fries ever, and they screwed up my order incredibly badly. It left rather a nasty memory in my mind and I've kind of avoided In-N-Out's since then. But it was 10:30 on a Sunday night and in my little burb of the woods, nothing (I mean NOTHING) is open. Even the Taco Bell was closed, for crying out loud! But In-N-Out was open. So I figured, alright, what the hell, let's give them another shot. Boy am I glad I did...

It was the best burger I've had in ages (not QUITE up to par with Fatburger, but pretty dang close) and the fries were not soggy at all (and rather good!), so it is possible to turn my opinion around, just not easy...

Anyhow, things seem well in the world again, although there's a small mess here at work I apparently have to take care of. Joy.

Whoo!!! I've hit the record for even my family!!! I need my car fixed exactly 24 hours after I got it out of the shop (my dad is the other person that comes close to my record by getting hit head on not even a week after having the car repaired for a previous fender bender)!!! Of which the part I need is a $30-$40 part that I could get almost anywhere if it weren’t for the fact that my cars:



A) Korean

B) It's in the USA

C) It's a Daewoo (yes, yes, I know it's my own fault)



The part I'm soooooo desperately in need of is a POS aluminum (the junk one I had on mine is plastic) thermostat housing that blew apart on me the very next day of having it outa the shop from getting my compressor and receiver replaced for my AC (which my car is still covered by the warranty yet they bulk about having to pay for the warranty work strangely). At least it happened by my cousin's house after getting some Jack in the Box (MMMmmm...Chedder Wedges...). Of wich the heat guage was pointing straight up when I got the car turned off (had no clue what the hell was going on till I opened up the hood and saw coolant sprayed all over the engine). I guess at least if it takes the 6 weeks they are telling me it's going to take to get that part for me my car falls under something I believe to be known as the Lemmon Law? Gona suck waiting that long to get a working car (30 days actually is the limit), but it'll be worth it to force Budget to give me another car when they called ME a couple weeks ago and told ME they wanted to get me outa my woo and into a car that’s got a reliable company behind it with "my" best interests at heart (why'd they sell it to me in the first place then?) and up my payments $100 a month (I knew something had to be up). And some wonder why I didn't want a car till I was 20...Kinda ironic I have Squarepusher My Red Hot Car just pop on from the MP3 list…



-ÐÃVÌÐ

Whoo boy! Fun day....Lizzie was off at that baby shower thing women are so fond of, so I had most of the day to myself. What do I do with this time? The most constructive and useful thing I can think of, of course.

I get a headache, and proceed to watch Rushmore, Class Act, and Back to School on comedy central.

Ah well. At least Rushmore was good. I'd never seen it before, and I was kind of surprised, cause it was apparently directed by the same person who did The Royal Tenenbaums, which was also an awesome movie. Of course, following it with Class Act kind of soured how good the movie was, but whatever. It's all better now though...I had some Dippin Dots. They make everything better. If the whole world just had Dippin' Dots and Ginger Ale, there would be no sickness.

Well this is going to be short, sweet and to the point. Today I was at my sister-in-law's baby shower. The party started at 1pm. It was a beautiful party. At 1:30 Kaaryn stood up and went to the bathroom. She came back out crying and saying that her water had broke. Since it was a room full of women we all got jittery and excited. Kaaryn went back into the bathroom and we called my brother, Rich. He called the doctor and said that we should come home. But instead, Kaaryn felt bad that this entire party was ruined, so she asked if she could atleast open presents and then asked if we could play a game. My brother, this entire time, is sitting at home getting everything together.

Around 3pm we finally convince Kaaryn that she needs to leave. So we pack up her things and head home. From there, her and Rich drove to the hospital, while Kaaryn's mother, my mother and Kaaryn's best friend all wait at the house to hear something. After about 2 hours of waiting we go to the hospital and are able to talk with the doctor. So I am going to be an Aunt AGAIN!!! WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!! WOOHOO!!!!!! *DANCES*

.:Lizzie:.

Did I mention that it sounds like the people downstairs are having a birthday party out in their little patio area? Lots of cheering, it sounds like they're trying to break a pinata, lots of children screaming and laughing and crying.... Ugh.

Seriously, this has got to be some kind of a record. Usually I go through an entire year without so much as a headache and instead, for the second time this year, I have a headache so bad it feels like the inside of my skull's exploding and I feel like throwing up. (Thankfully, I have avoided throwing up thusfar this time, although I was not so lucky last time.) Instead of my usual charming and winning personality, I feel like slugging the first person that goes "Well, you look like shit." I'm walking much slower than my usual speed, yawning a great deal and, while I feel hungry, am not so sure I should eat. I'm mildly terrified I wouldn't be able to keep it down...

I'm going to have to try and eat soon, but I'll probably stick to something small and light, although I can't imagine what that would be. I may have to come home early from work tomorrow and try and work at home. I really do feel miserable. God, I hate being sick....

Just to post details:

- Half the trees in Suzhou were either damaged or they fell down during the storm.
- Windspeed during the storm: 68mph
- Duration: the worst of it lasted about 35 minutes.
- We went to a local temple on the top of a large hill this morning, and not only did the wind knock down most of the trees on the western side of the hill (the wind was out of the west), but we found dead fish *at the top of the hill*, very far away from any water source.
- Many, many people were hurt, a few people were killed, and there was a great deal of flooding.
- This storm *only hit Suzhou* and fizzled before getting to Shanghai.

I'm sure there are more details... but I can't read the newspaper, so I'm going by what I saw during my day.

Well, it's Saturday night here, and we've just been through one of the most amazing thunderstorms I've ever seen in my life.

It looked like it started out as 2 storms, one from the east and one from the west, and they collided right in Suzhou.

The lightening was so intense at times that it blinded us (my old classmate Melinda is with me in Suzhou at the moment) at times, and the thunder was probably pretty loud. We couldn't tell since we had to keep the windows closed due to the gale force winds. I tried to hold the windows open a bit, just so we could hear Nature's Surround Sound(tm), but one second the wind nearly slammed the window on my fingers, and the next second it nearly ripped the window out of my hand. We decided keeping the window shut and locked probably was the best idea. Besides, the sheets of rain were starting to creep into the house, and we didn't want the floor getting wet.

At times, the lightening was so close, that the thunder followed immediately. It was really exciting.

As I spea- write, there's still quite a bit of lightening still flashing outside, and it's still raining, but the winds have stopped. There's a tree down in the backyard, but it'll probably survive.

Ah, the glory of Mother Nature.

Crazy, innit? They're all starting to show up and they've all got things to say....

I have arrived, the fun may now begin. ^^

Okay, seriously, I'm not that fun, though I do seem to provide comic relief occasionally. I think the people who laugh at me are desparate, though, so I'm not going to promise anything.

And I know for a fact I'm more interesting in type than in person. Or at least, I'm wittier. I don't actually think fast enough in person to by witty. It takes effort, and that's hard. Effort bad.

Anyway, currently I'm in China. I'll be home soon. Then I'll be prolific. And I won't be cussing out the mosquitos as much. Yeah.

Okay, I go baibai

Hmmmm....Testing...testing...Is this thing on? Well I guess I'll find out when I hit post huh? Well so far I've been up about a half an hour and got an E-mail (was notified by someone that I got the mail) about joining some group blog and went with it since it seems like something I'd say yes to I went for it an here we are on my day off. Finished putting together my Gundam model last night then fell on my bed (pictures will be coming soon of this monster whenever I get around to painting him x_X). But otherwise? I have about 3 PCs to fix today, need to get a-hold of someone, and can't take care of any of this since the car dealership is taking an entire day extra so far to put in a compressor and receiver for my car's A/C essentially stranding me at home today (did I mention womanless again? *sigh*). Life is grand...time to call the dealership again and bitch about my car again.

The first round of invitations have been sent... soon, very soon, they will come... and they will talk to you... They will say interesting things, humorous things, things that will keep you up nights...

No, seriously, they will. Trust me on this... And we will only grow and expand. More will come. More, I tell you...

"Is this thing on...?"

Coming soon to this space... The Touched...



What is The Touched?

The Touched is a collection of writings from a collection of people who just might be the voice of our generation. Then again, they might not be, also. We will feature all sorts of writings, from poetry, to philosophy, to bullshit, to people shooting the shit, and to people talking about what happens when the shit hits the fan. We may post fiction. We may post about our lives. We may bicker with one another. There may be drama. There may be suspense. There may be entertainment. There may be humor. There may be sorrow. There may the kind of experience that changes your life forever. There may be ruthless effeciency and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope... er, wait, that's the Spanish Inquisition. Regardless, there will be all sorts of interesting stuff you won't be able to live without, so get used to coming here all the time.



Who are The Touched?

Unfortunately, their names cannot yet be revealed. We cannot hint at their identities or even at their very backgrounds, but we can say they are some of the most fascinating people you're likely to ever meet. And they're all excellent writers. So there.



Why "The Touched"?

In old days, the term "touched" was used to refer to someone who was consider insane or unstable. It was a shortened version of the phrase "touched by God" in which people thought that God would inspire madness in those who got too close God's presence. People such as Joan of Arc and Napoleon were both called "touched" by several people, but then again, they were French, so who really cares about them, right? It's interesting to trace the history of the way people refer to insanity. In fact, the most prevalent term used to be "lunacy" because it was believed the moon, or Luna, could alter people's moods to such dire straits that they would go insane. Cool, huh? Besides, it just sounds nifty and the doman name wasn't taken...



When does it all start?
Sooner than you think, dear friend, sooner than you think...



Scottish friction... Scottish fiction...