posted 2003/05/31 at 14:04
Remember when I said something cool was in the works? Well, here you go: please welcome the newest columnist at Backwash.com ... me. Yep, I finally have a new writing gig online. My first few columns may take a while to get posted just because new columnists get assigned "mentors" to look over their early columns, but I'm cool with that -- especially since my mentor is none other than the most fantabulastic original GRRL herself, Bonnie Burton.
Go say hi to everyone else over at Backwash too, while you're at it. They've got a pretty good idea here, and some damn fine columnists to boot.
posted 2003/05/29 at 22:23
At long last (including suffering through one order that just got canceled on me without my knowledge), I have the soundtrack to Oh My Goddess!: the Movie. I know, I could have had it imported from Japan years ago, but my money situation just hasn't been that great recently. Ignoring the piss-poor translation job in the booklet (Belldandy as Beldandy, Urd as Uldo, Skuld as Sculd, and most unforgivably, Keiichi as Touichi?!?), I am a happy camper.
Quick question for any of you who've done grad work: can you recommend a good study guide for the GRE? I've been looking at more MFA programmes recently, and a good deal of them require the GRE for admissions. So now I have to see if the 800 on the math section of my SAT when I was younger (before they raised the curve, thank you very much) will hold up.
posted 2003/05/28 at 16:46
The motherboard for my new computer came in yesterday, and I spent an inordinate amount of time yesterday just looking at the instruction manual, trying to puzzle out where everything will go. I have to admit that the closer I get to having all the components ready to assemble, the more nervous I get about whether or not I'll actually be able to build it. In the end, though, I think I'm only nervous because I've never done something like this before, and the actual assembly itself will go smoothly and give me new confidence in those sorts of matters.
My father helped put himself through college, back in the day, by buying old cars that had problems, fixing them, then reselling them at a profit. Obviously that's not really possible these days with the way they're building cars so that people can't fix a lot of the same problems they used to be able to, but I wonder if I'm really putting my tech skills to best use; I could probably make some spare cash on the side building Websites or fixing computers and the like, but I haven't really sought out those kinds of activities like I should be.
posted 2003/05/25 at 22:52
Calling all .orgsters (if I can call you that): working on something here and I could use your help, if you could spare a couple of minutes.
Check your local newscasts, whether morning, evening or late night. Which stations, by national affiliation (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, etc.) display the current Terror Alert level on the screen throughout the entire broadcast?
E-mail your findings to me, post them in the .forum, whatever. And thank you for your help.
posted 2003/05/23 at 22:14
Report of a hard day's shopping (that didn't set me back much money thanks to sales, two-for-one specials, coupons and the like) ...
From Media Play: a SharkPort for Playstation 2 so I can finally dump my memory cards off. Anyone interested in downloading my RPG Maker 2 games (when RPG Maker 2 finally comes out ...), be sure to get a Sharkport yourself.
From Toys 'R Us: Magix Music Maker for Playstation 2 (too limited for my tastes) and Darkstone for PSOne (haven't played yet, only got it because it was free w/Music Maker).
From Best Buy: a mouse for the computer I'm building (in black, baby), and Sigur Ros' () which is absolutely freaking brilliant -- I should have listened to the people on the Björk mailing lists I'm on earlier.
From a local computer dealer: a black keyboard for my next computer. (The keyboard is branded "LiteOn", but it's got a Compaq "Q" on one of the HotKeys above the regular keys.)
No wonder I needed a nap shortly after I got home, huh?
posted 2003/05/21 at 21:50
Okay, you hardcore computer junkies out there (all right, mostly I'm addressing Don here but everyone else please feel free to jump in), got a question for you. The motherboard for my new computer is on the way here, and it's a Socket 478 capable of 400/533MHz front side bus. Keeping in mind that I mostly use Office and similar applications, and don't really game that much or use other processor-intensive applications, can I get away with a 1.7GHz Celeron? Do higher-speed Celerons or P4s really perform faster enough to justify the higher cost? (The last time I was really following this stuff, I got the impression that the processor stopped being the bottleneck long ago, so I made sure to get lots of fast RAM and a speedy hard disk to minimize problems there. By now, things may have changed; I don't really know.)
posted 2003/05/20 at 16:49
Well, the good news about this first summer class is that the professor has to leave the country a week early, so I'll get another one-week break in the summer between the two classes. The bad news is that this is one of my favourite professors, and of all the classes to have cut short, hers would be some of the last I would choose. Funny how even good news comes with a little bad. But I'll live.
posted 2003/05/19 at 20:34
So VH-1 does their whole "50 Greatest Women of the Video Era" thing, and of course I have to get the list e-mailed to me because I still don't have cable. (Sniff sniff.) So let's have some fun, shall we?
50. Avril Lavigne -- haven't seen, but I know she hasn't been around long enough to get this high.
49. Kylie Minogue -- probably should be higher given her fame in Europe.
48. Eve -- can't judge.
47. Paula Abdul -- should be higher, but honestly I never much cared for her.
46. Ashanti -- can't judge.
45. Joan Jett -- should be top twenty at least, possibly top ten.
44. Norah Jones -- can't judge.
43. Sarah McLachlan -- I've never been hooked on Sarah's videos, but her music should make her top ten easily.
42. Lauryn Hill -- should be higher.
41. Björk -- no, not number one, but should be top five at least; "Bachelorette" is still the greatest video of all time.
40. Lil' Kim -- barf.
39. Shakira -- double barf.
38. Courtney Love -- should be higher.
37. Sade -- should be higher.
36. Tori Amos -- should be a lot higher.
35. Aaliyah -- shouldn't be on the list at all.
34. The Bangles -- about right.
33. Alicia Keys -- maybe a bit lower.
32. Jewel -- should be higher on music, although she still hasn't topped Pieces of You.
31. Melissa Etheridge -- should be a bit higher.
30. En Vogue -- shouldn't be on the list at all.
29. Cyndi Lauper -- should be higher for mere historical reasons.
28. The Go Go's -- a bit lower; I'd place them right below the Bangles.
27. Dixie Chicks -- I don't like country, but I'd place them top ten right now just to piss some people off.
26. Pat Benatar -- should be top ten.
25. Faith Hill -- should be lower.
24. Salt-N-Pepa -- should be just a few slots higher.
23. Stevie Nicks -- should be top twelve.
22. Tina Turner -- should be higher, although I've never gotten into her stuff; still, it's a lot better than the soup of shit R&B has turned into.
21. Jennifer Lopez -- should not be on the list at all.
20. Queen Latifah -- about right, maybe a bit higher.
19. Pink -- get off the damn list.
18. Missy Elliott -- shouldn't be on the list.
17. Cher -- probably should be higher, but I'd have her lower.
16. Chrissie Hynde -- should be higher, but not above Jett and Benatar.
15. Destiny's Child -- shouldn't be on the list.
14. Christina Aguilera -- I'd have her near the bottom of the list; unlike all the other pop singers out there, at least she has a good singing voice.
13. Alanis Morissette -- should be lower; like it or not, she was a one-album wonder.
12. Annie Lennox -- should be lower, but not much.
11. Mary J. Blige -- lower, lower, lower.
10. Celine Dion -- pass the barf bag.
09. Gwen Stefani -- I like her, but she should be way lower.
08. Shania Twain -- maybe the bottom of the list, at best.
07. TLC -- top thirty at best.
06. Sheryl Crow -- top twenty-five at best.
05. Mariah Carey -- top twenty maybe, although I never did like her.
04. Britney Spears -- jettison this jetsam off the list at once.
03. Whitney Houston -- maybe top twenty, personally I can't stand her.
02. Janet Jackson -- top twenty at best.
01. Madonna -- like her or hate her, you can't deny her this spot.
posted at 14:42
It's funny how I can still get so anxious for the first day of class even for something like this. I mean, I'm only taking one class right now, and the professor is not only someone I've taken classes with before, but it's my academic advisor whom I get along with splendidly as well. So why did I have so many problems getting to sleep last night, and why am I so jittery now? It makes no sense.
An A in this first summer course is by no means guaranteed, but the class is right down my alley and if I just make the effort, a good grade should be easy to come by. Of course, I'm more interested in pushing myself as far as I can go and doing the absolute best I can, regardless of how far above and beyond an "A" that is. So everyone wish me well, and let's see how this course goes.
posted 2003/05/18 at 19:22
New in .poetry: "Crack of May". I figured that with me hoarding my poems to send out to poetry journals recently, I owed you all at least something here on the site. Just keep sending me support that one day I'll get published; so far it hasn't been so good, although that is the nature of the writing beast, I know.
posted 2003/05/17 at 22:27
You know, one good thing about only having a week of "summer vacation" is that you don't feel so bad at the end when you haven't gotten that much done. Actually, that isn't true; I did get a lot done this past week, including one possible big-time landing of something cool. More on that to come in the next few days, I hope.
I'll only be taking one class at a time over the summer, so it's not like I'm going to be totally tied up with things. It's just not the same as having absolutely zero responsibility, you know? Twelve weeks of that, then two weeks of rest, then I hit my senior year in full force (although technically I'm already a senior; it just doesn't feel that way until I get back to a full-time courseload). Twelve more classes to go, including an independent study and honours courses in my last semester -- let's see if I can ace 'em all.
posted at 00:54
You know, I try not to give that asswipe Kilborn any free publicity, but anyone who refers to Dave Grohl as a "rock music legend" should be castrated on the spot. Seriously.
posted 2003/05/16 at 21:28
As much as I'm trying to save money for my upcoming computer, I thought that I owed myself a present for getting straight A's another semester. So after a bit of looking around town, I picked up Phantasy Star Collection at long last. Now I don't have to worry if the batteries in my old cartridges go on the fritz now, although I'm guessing that I'll still play them for nostalgia's sake; I bought the collection just so I could play PS on the road (something I can't do yet with classic Final Fantasy titles, hint hint).
It's still kind of odd, though, to be playing classic Sega games on a Nintendo system. This isn't the first time I've done so; back in the 8-bit days, Tengen released a number of Sega games of the time, such as After Burner and Alien Syndrome, on the NES (without Nintendo's precious seal of approval, of course), but since I haven't bought any post-console Sega games until now, I guess the reality of Sega getting out of the hardware business and developing for their old rivals' systems never hit me until now. Odd, that.
posted 2003/05/14 at 11:36
You all are going to hate me more than ever now, but you have no idea how much I needed this ...
Grades for Spring Semester 2003
BUAD-2060: Data Analysis for Business I -- A
ENGL-3750: Women and Literature -- A
ENGL-4070: Writing Workshop: Poetry -- A
ENGL-4640: Early 20th Century American Poetry -- A
JAPN-2150: Intermediate Japanese II -- A
GPA for semester: 4.0
Cumulative GPA through 22 classes / 69 credit hours: 4.0
Dean's List and President's List, fourth semester running. And I still haven't gotten a scholarship yet. Hopefully things will get better once I start applying to grad school, I guess.
posted 2003/05/12 at 21:56
Can anyone tell me how to vacation? I think I forgot how.
posted 2003/05/10 at 13:06
Yeah, so last night was the College of Arts and Sciences Commencement, where I was to receive my award for the Dean's Prize. Even had my name in the programme and everything. So they announce my name to come up and get my prize, and I freeze. I just can't bring myself to go up and get whatever they had for me. I hope they'll mail it to me.
I guess it was just freaky seeing everyone in their caps and gowns like that, realizing that at this time next year, I'll be the one who's graduating, and with any luck leaving UT for grad school. I've still got a long road to travel before that point, but the destination is within sight now. Seeing it last night must have just thrown me or something.
posted 2003/05/07 at 13:46
The semester's done. I know I've got three solid A's right now, one probable A and a fifth course I'm not so sure about. Of course, since I no longer have schoolwork to worry about, I'm going to be worrying about my grades full-time until they come in. Hey, I like worrying, it's something I'm good at, what can I say.
To follow up on yesterday, the diagnostics seem to have fixed my computer for now, although it still takes a long time for my IE to process forms. I think I'm going to have to get a new computer here; I've been pricing components recently, and I think this time I'm going to build my own. It's something I've been meaning to do for a while, and with the way modern computers have been shipping without Windows discs, only "if you want to fix your computer you'll have to reformat your hard disk" discs, I think I'll feel more secure doing it that way.
posted 2003/05/06 at 14:27
Just as an aside since I'm in a completely bitchy mood right now, I tried to type the entry below earlier in the day at my house, but the damn ActiveX control my bank made me download when I signed up for online banking has now so affected my system that I couldn't even type the entry. So now I'm at school looking up how to fix this problem while my computer's running diagnostics at home. And this was supposed to be the day I could just stay at home while preparing for my big exam tomorrow. So yeah, I'm not in a real good mood right now.
posted at 14:24
There's nothing quite like being around my fellow students discussing X2 to make me feel totally out of place.
I mean, I realize that I'm a bit older than most of my fellow students because of the time off I took between Antioch and UT, but when the X-Men start getting discussed, I'm just totally out of it. I mean, it's so freaky when the people I hang out with start talking about the syndicated cartoon show as their "golden age". By the time the cartoon came out, I had stopped collecting the comic books because the writing had gotten so shoddy. Hell, I remember the one-time appearance the X-Men had on the Saturday morning cartoons I watched when I was growing up; not only was Wolverine only played for comedic relief, but they actually gave him a freaking Australian accent. And Americans wonder why people around the world have such a low opinion of them.
I mean, people can be talking X-Men, and even though I used to follow them a lot, it's like I have no common language to communicate with them. I can't even tell them how my favourite X-Men character was Dazzler, because they'll just be like, "Who's that?"
I guess this also brings up some other issues, because my comic book collection was one of the few things I lost in the fire a couple of years ago. Honestly, I had just been keeping the X-Men comics around for their monetary value, but I also lost my Popples comics, and that's still a hard pill for me to swallow. Thankfully I had my copies of the original Marvel Super Heroes pen-and-paper RPGs stored away somewhere else, so those are still safe -- if I ever get around to digging them out from the hideyhole where they're currently residing.
I don't know, it's like, I understand that I'm a bit older than the people I hang out with on campus, but I'm not that much older. Yet there still seems to be such a huge gap between us that there isn't that much that we can relate with. Even when a common thread comes up, like the X-Men, it's such a struggle to find common ground. It's frustrating and disappointing.
posted 2003/05/05 at 15:53
I'm feeling a bit better now; I'm not anywhere near done with stuff, but I've reached a point where I have no choice but to stop and wait for input from professors and the like. I realize that "being forced to relax" sounds like such a relief to most of you, but for me it is really, really hard. Thankfully Spectrum has an ice cream social tonight to close out the semester, so I'm hoping I can just hang out there and release some of this tension.
Later this month I'm going to try to have something new for the .org that I'm hoping you all will like. I don't want to give too many details away just yet, but I think this'll be really cool.
posted 2003/05/04 at 16:25
Crap, my nerves are so shot right now and I have no idea why ... I've got more than half my classes in the books right now, I've got the rough draft of one paper done, and only really have another shorter paper to work on; the one in-class final I have this week should be fairly straightforward, and I'm going into the final with a 103% in the course. So why the hell am I so nervous?
Just give me the strength to get through to Wednesday. Once I'm done with Wednesday, I'm done with the semester. Please, just let me get that far.
posted 2003/05/02 at 19:25
I picked up Secretary today at Best Buy and was more than happy with it. Looking at the BDSM community today, it's easy to see similarities with the GLBT community decades ago, where there's a silent but still strong mobilization of the community to demand portrayal of ourselves in popular media in a more positive tone. I mean, twenty years ago did you think that you'd be able to see GLBT movies like Better than Chocolate, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Jeffrey in such wide release, and gaining such mainstream acceptance? Hopefully Secretary can be an important first step towards popular media influencing mainstream acceptance of the BDSM community.
posted 2003/05/01 at 22:28
Well, I got re-elected to serve as President of Spectrum next year, but it was another unopposed election. Read: I'm the sucker they got to do all the hard stuff. But we've got some great new officers, and next week we'll be doing the whole "transfer of power" thing with the old officers and hopefully hit the ground running in the fall. I've already got a lot of ideas I want to get started on, so it's a good thing I'll be around campus during the summer.
I finished a take-home exam and turned it in today, so three of my five classes are now officially in the books. I still have a huge paper to finish, though, so it's a good thing I don't have classes tomorrow, and don't have to be back on campus until next Wednesday (although I may come in to take care of some other business).
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