Sunday, November 26, 2006

Planets and Snakes.

I still have to take the time to try making a planet, I didn't get to it yesterday like I wanted. I may not get to it today either, I'm helping my sister's friend move again. I briefly mentioned recently that his apartment building had a fire, everyone got out okay, but no one is allowed to move back into the place. HUD was having some issues with the landlord and I don't think they're allowing any of the residents to stay there. Anyway, I've got to help him move a few things to his new place, and I'm glad to do it. The guy's a great friend to my sister, and that's all I need to be willing to help him out. Comments: scorchbird12: The Photoshop Elements I have came with the tablet I got for Christmas either last year, or the year before that. If I can come up with a way to do that effect in another program (preferably a freeware one like Pixia), I'll let you know. My sister thought it was a photo from a deep space telescope at first, so I guess I did a pretty good job on it. You're not going to believe this, but I actually found a variety of strawberry that's white. Here is a site that sells them (thy have a picture) and here is another (scroll down a little, you can't miss them). Since they're seasonal, and not available readily in West Virginia, I have to use red ones for my lemonade, but it would be cool to try a white strawberry lemonade someday. There are no natural blue ones, but with all this genetic hybriding of plants, you'd think someone would have developed one by now. That would be cool to see blue strawberries, though they would probably make the lemonade turn green which would be funny to look at. I saw your post, responded to it, and I'm glad to be helping you out with the character stuff you've got a creative mind that'lll do great in RP. Though, I do think that I'm being kind of blunt at times. I'm not a really good teacher, but I do try to share what I know with people. If I start going too fast or getting too complicated for you, let me know and I'll slow down and try to take things in smaller steps. Magnus Lensherr O_o; What manner of horros have I unleashed? Kazuo: *Doing an akanbe* Nnnyyahh! Just ignore him he just wants attention now. I love the conversation things too, they're fun diversions, but I'm really worn out today so I don't have one to rebut with. To answer the question buried in that rather unusual conversation there, my immediate family and I do the holiday dinner thing, we don't have the extended family over. Normal days though, we don't eat together because well, everyone works odd hours, well, except for me who can't get a job. Hopefully in ten years time I'll be working, or doing something that's sending income my way, whatver it is so long as it's legal, and still hanging out here and posting pictures and all that other stuff. Who knows, maybe I'll still have my mothman theme then! I hope you have a great day. kout3uka It was fun to do, once I got the hang of it. I am satisfied with the results. Yensid: You should be able to do the starfield in PSE4. One would assume that they've added features to the program since 2 which is the one that I've got to work with. When you have the time and feel up to it, give the tutorial a go. Actually, the save as dialogue in PSE is a little too simplistic, and also overly complex at the same time for my liking. I like a simple 0-100 slider for image quality on JPEG images, I don't need "presets" in a dropdown menu, that, and the whole "must save as copy" nonsense confuses me. For most of my image compression/converting/resizing needs, I'll stick with the program I've used to view images for three years now, Irfanview. It doesn't do high end editing, but for the basic stuff, KISS still applies. I'm not one of those people, I never will be. Just because I can do one thing in Photoshop Elements 2 does not automatically mean I've been brainwashed into the "Adobe is God's gift to mankind" club, far from it. I'll always believe that anything by Adobe is overpriced, overbloated software that's second rate to good freeware available on the net. I've been giving props to Pixia, wrong link, sorry, Pixia, for three years now, and I'll continue to do that because I believe strongly in the program. My wallpaper, my site background, my avatar, my post banner, that rose card I posted a while back, were all made using Pixia. Granted Pixia can't do a lot of the advanced things that Photoshop Elements can do, I still recommend it over Photoshop any day of the week. DeviantArt is a difficult site to navigate as a guest, and I get the impression from their cold UI that it's purpose is to bait people into joining up just to see what additional features (if any) are available to member. There's a lot about that site that just rubs me the wrong way, and I've rarely known my gut to be wrong about such things. I'll need more time to think about joining up. I know a few people who are on there, but I'm still not sure if that's a community I want to try to fit in among. Not really, it just sort of popped up on its own the other day. I tend to talk out the words of the posts as I write them up, so it's like I'm talking to myself, then there's the character things I do which are funny, or supposed to be anyway. As I do more things and like the results, you can bet I'll post some stuff. Yeah, that sounds about right, you're teacher may have the technical knowledge, but he's not qualified to teach. One of the local colleges is like that too, they pick out community members who's jobs make them technical experts in the field which they're teaching, but they just can't teach at all. As for websites, the less bogged down with showy nonsense it is, the better. I don't stick around websites where I can't find anything, or where the pages are so bogged down they don't want to load. So I guess he's not very good at web design either if his pages are too loud and flashy. I wonder what he actually does for Boeing. Anime Dreams!

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Saturday, November 25, 2006

Oh My Stars and . . . More Stars

Bet you though I was going to say something else in the title, didn't you? Well, last night I sat down with my Photoshop Elements 2 program, and a tutorial I roughly jotted down on a piece of paper from a link brought to my attention by whtdragon. The end result is this surprising starfield. The tutorial onmaking a star field is simple to follow, and can be done in Photoshop Elements 2, you don't need a full version of Photoshop to do it. The planet tutorial, is one I still need to work on. There are a couple things in it that aren't availabe in Photoshop Elements, so I have to improvise a little. Whtdragon made a couple suggestions that I'll be trying out later to see what comes about. If I like what I get, I'll post the results here. Comments: Magnus Lensherr One does not need a nationally mandated holiday to take the time to be thankful for the things they have. You can do it any day of the week. It's the expression of being thankful that's what the holiday is about, not getting the day off from work or school, having the family over, or eating a lot of food. Turkey doesn't have to be a special ocassion meal. Anything you can do with beef, you can do with turkey as well. Since it was after everyone ate, no one would have minded if the turkey hit the floor, but all's good. Well, some people tell me I have a crazy way of doing things. All I can tell you is you don't really know till you try ~_^ I'm addicted to the internet in general, but I'm better about the time I spend online now than I used to be. RP is one of my rimary activities for the creative outlet it affords me. A conversation with yourself? Really? Voice: That's what she said. Me: I know, I was being clever. Voice: Actually, no, not really, just stupid. Me: Now that was rude Kaz. Kazuo: Don't blame me for that. I'm not the one who created me you know. Me: I tried to kill you off once before too mister, but you came right back remember? Kazuo: I'm a stubborn little bugger aren't I? Me: You don't have to be you know. I can just as easily turn you into a wuss. Kazuo: Now who's being rude? Me: You're absolutely right, that was rude, now go away, I need to finish this. Kazuo: (voice getting quieter) Well of all the nerve! I come by just to talk to him and . . .(voice fades out in background. I used to drive the guys on the boards nuts with stuff like that. I'd break the fourth wall so to speak, having my characters (in this case Kazuo, one of my early ones) talk to me about the plot points of the RPs sometimes, and other times just spout nonense. It would be interesting to see what it's like here in ten years time. Kazuo: Aw! you're seintimental! Me: I told you to go away already (fire breath) Kazuo:(runs away patting out the fire on his backside) Anyway, yeah, It would be interesting to see who's still with us, who's gone, what new friends we've met and lost along the way. I'll stay here as long as I can, because I love the community, you guys have done a lot for my self-esteem and personality. I'll hold onto that for as long as I am able. I keep track of things as best I can, and if I have to look up a post to get an idea what's going on I do. Same here, have a good weekend. alphonse13: Yeah, it was all right, and everything was better than expected. Putting things away is like a logic puzzle. The idea is to get everything to fit within the volume of your refrigerator, without overfilling it (doesn't cool down properly if overfilled). i like logic puzzles like that, they're fun. Even though for me it was just the immediate family and one friend, it was still a special evening. I'll look for you post in the afterernoon, knowing how turkey is, you'll probably be asleep in the morning. kout3uka It was fun, and enjoyable. That's a good answer, there are no right and wrongs here, but I like the way you've expressed your thoughts there. We had our dinner on Tuesday, but the holiday is still the holiday, even though my family works. I'll enjoy the TV specials and everything else that will be on all weekend just like I always do. scorchbird12: It would have to be artificially flavored to be white, or blue. The natural red color of the strawberry makes the lemonade turn pink, there's no way to avoid that. You could probably get a decent purple if you used strawberries in that blue raspberry juice that's in the stores though. It's actually a friend's board, but you're welcome over there. I see you've joined up already. The best ice-breaker would be to post a new thread On the Hello/Goodbye board. That'll get people interested, and talking with you. That kind of thing happens sometimes. If you'd like, I could help you create a reasonably strong character in terms of Bio and some abilities. Anime Dreams!

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Thursday, November 23, 2006

Details

How did my dinner on Tuesday go? Well, it went well. We had a turkey, dressing (stuffing is that evil stuff that's crammed up the backsize of a bird and makes people sick every year cause it isn't cooked right), a sweet potato casarole (I learned that I like some sweet potato things after all), salad, and that green bean stuff that's on those fried onions' cans. My sister's friend came over, he's a great guy, really amusing and just great to be around. His apartment building caught fire only days before, but he was still in an upbeat spirit. He really enjoyed embarrssing my sister with some lewd comments, that was funny. The highlight of the evening for me was clean-up. Gettign everythign to fit in the fridge was one thing, but having to catch the turkey (what was left of the 21lbs after carving some off for dinner) because it split the plastic platter in two right before I got it on the shelf. At least the bird is all right, I got it onto a cookie sheet and in the fridge no problem. cleaning up all the juice that leaked all over the floor was something else. I got to give that orange cleaner props, that stuff works excellently on turkey grease on tile floors. At least I have a story to tell later in life about the bird that almost hit the floor. After clean-up, we all sat around and talked about things, my sister's friend already found a new apartment which is good. He told us about it, and we had other discussions about games, and consoles, and electronic drums (he's a bit of a musician). All in all, it was a good night. As we go into the holiday, I ask, What's the best part of Thanksgiving? For me, besides getting to spend time with family and friends, it's the leftover sandwich the next day. Now, for those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving, I expect to hear all about it. Those who do not, well, you're lucky in a lot of ways. Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate the holiday, and Merry Thursday for everyone else. Comments: sikaurai I can remember when I was thrilled to be the first to comment, I'm not so much anymore, guess the novelty of it wore off for me. Any comment is appreciated, it doesnt' have to be an intelligent one. After all, what is intelligence anyway? Well, on my Mom's side I've got Irish and German in me, I've also got Scotch on my Father's side, that and I'm a very strong willed person, I won't let myself get drunk. Someone has to be cognisant enough to handle anything that might come up. Plum Gekkeikan is a Japanese plum wine. It's sweet, and has a sort of nutty taste, kind of like those dried dates that come on the dried fruit trays from Swiss Colony. It's really good. If you have a store near you that sells sake, chances are they have the plum wine too. scorchbird12: I could have waited, but I wanted to take care of the comment answers, so I improvised an out for me not to have to think hard about the main content. Nah, I know what was happening. I used frozen strawberries in my version, and on monday, I used the lighter red ones for the test drinks which came out salmon colored (my posted photo) on Tuesday, all I had were darker red strawberries, so the drinks came out darker. I also went from using two strawberrys per shaker, to three, which added to the reddening of the drink. I only ever wrote one deliberately funny story, that's Old Boot. I talked myself into having to write that one. I like a good laugh now and then too. For funny, I'd recommend you read A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare, but his writing style and language can be a little overwhelming for people. I can't do it every day. Even if I have a post to respond to, I don't answer right away most of the time. RP is fun for a diversion, but it's not somrthing that should consume every moment of free time a person has. As for the characters, they evolve as you write with them, and you use them, they grow, they learn, and they get better and stronger. Just like real life, only not real. I love Lestat: I'm fully awake now, and ready to take on the internet again. Yensid: I am well rested now thank you. The details are way back up there at the top. By all means refresh yourself and come back stronger. We'll be here for you when you get back. Anime Dreams!

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Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Zzzzz . . .

Too tired and sleepy to really say much. Comments: Yensid: Name your spirit, and I'll make it work. -_^ It was a nice day, even though I'm tired right now, it was a nice day. Outlaw Melfina: That bird was so big it broke the plastic platter it was on, right before I got it in the fridge. Lucky me, I caught it in time and ended up with just a mess of turkey grease all over the floor. Anyway, with that near disaster averted, I hope I'm not sore later. We actually didn't have my brother and his family over *they can be a bit obnoxious), but we had my sister's friend over, and hes' always great to talk to and be around. He's a cheerful person, even though he's had some bad luck lately,and that's always pleasant. I love Lestat: The turkey was good, but I still haven't gotten my sleep yet. Tryptophan do your stuff already. DarkFaerie88: A friendly jest is alwayes amusing, and I see my subliminal technique actually worked, by using the really big word to start my title you missed the food reference of "tea cakes" that was in it. :P I dont mind a good rum, but give me chilled sake any day, I'm a simple person, I don't need fancy alcohol. Angel Slayer: Cooking is a passion of mine, so I like to help out, it's actually the fun part of the whole holiday thing for me. My sister always does excellent pies, and these ones turned out great. I'm in the middle of a blueberry slice as I type this (gives new meaning to the term "sticky keys"). I didn't have to help her out too much, she likes to do those things on her own. scorchbird12: That's all right, you comment when you can, I understand a day or two missed, I miss a few myself. Yes, Thanksgiving pies, we had the meal today because my sister, and mother both work Wednesday and Thursday nights, so they'd have been too tired to eat on Thursday. I know, if I had half Emeril's talent, Mario Batali's looks, and Racheal Ray's outgoing personality, I'd get somewhre in food service, but this Dragon only cooks for family and friends, but he cooks right (there's nothing like a turkey roasted in the fire breath of a dragon) by them. Chaos is right. But it's worth it in the end. the freaky thing is, every time I made that dring today, it was alwys darker than the previous time. The test drink was a salmon pink, that's the one in the picture. In terms of finding a story you want to read, you have to try different things. I'm into Sci-Fi, but I also like some of those realistic things too, a story that touches the heart (I really am a softy dragon aren't I?) usually grips me, or I see a lot of myself in a character in the story. Once you find that sweet spot, I guarantee you'll find a story that grabs you. I started Role playing just to see what it was like, I keep doing it because people tell me I'm good at it, and I enjoy doing it. It's not an every night thing that I go onto the board, post in varyous RPs, and whatnot, I'm on the board, but sometimes I just sit on there to chat with people and not get into an RP. sikaurai I've got German and Irish blood in me, it's not that easy to get me (or most of my family) trashed. Though I will be paying for all the plum Gekkeikan tomorrow when I wake up, I'm as coherent as I normally would be. I will admit that at one point I was a little off today (kind of lightheaded) and I'm working physically slower now, but I'm still completely aware of what's going on like any ordinary day. My brother and his wife are constant downers for the rest of us, their petty little bickerings do little more than annoy me, and I've kicked them out of the house for less (long story involving a baseball bat, and I was 100% sober then). My family wanted to keep things low key this year, and we did that. Do enjoy the reads, (mine are all under the username cosmictraveller there) I have to warn you that they're rough, and not polished, but they are windows into the way I write, and how my mind tells a story. let me know what you think of them, I'm always open to feedback. Anime Dreams!

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Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Tryptophan and Tea Cakes

Well, it's D-day for me, or should I say T-day. I'll be busy all morning helping my sister with pies, and all afternoon taking care of a 21lb turkey and all the stuff that goes with it. Pepper in making that drink a few dozen times (each one will have to be made by hand, it's not a mix a hole bunch and serve it later kind of drink), and I'll be one busy dragon chef (oh no, another really silly picture idea popped into my head). Anyway, I may complain about the chaos, but I love every minute of it, especially when its for family and friends. Well, I'm off, if I don't get some sleep, I'm liable to fall face down in the turkey later, and not from the turkey itself. For those who missed the picture with the drink recipe yesterday, Here you go. Comments: DarkFaerie88 Sorry about that. I had to pass on this little bit of my cooking passion because once made, these things taste phenomenal. Also, this is what you're supposed to get when you order the Strawberry Lemonade at Ruby Tuesday, they give you store-bought lemonade with strawberrys thrown into it, at least my local one does, but West Virginians know nothing about quality service. sikaurai It only sounds complicated, that's a fault of mine in the way I write certain things like recipes. It's actually very easy. To simplify, you put everything except the carbonated water into the shaker, shake it up till it turns a pink color, then pour it onto the carbonated water in a glass. Done well, you'll get a wonderfully sweet-tart salmon colored drink, as pictured (I got the picture up after you'd commented, now you can see the post with picture). Sure, pass the recipe along to everyone you know, I didn't post it not to share. Let me know how she likes it, and how she tweaks it to give it her own personality too (that's the fun part). In all things, moderation. Even Role Play shouldn't be an all day everyday thing. The wonderful thing about message board role playing, is at least on the board I linked yesterday, most of the RP threads go for a few days or a week or two between responses of the players. It's expected that the other players have lives beyond the boards (I'm and exception because I'm unemployed), so people don't freak out on you if you take a few days or a week or so to respond. Between school and jobs (I'm the oldest person on that board right now), pretty much everyone else is busy. It's not hard to keep up in a multiple character RP project (like three or more players), even if you're only one one or two nights a week. I hope you like what you read, I do try to be entertaining, but most of that stuff is kind of rough, I just write and pst for fun there, I don't have to make them excellent pieces. You're very welcome for the kind words. You have a great day too. Yensid: I haven't tasted it with alcohol yet, but my mom agreed with me on light rum (I say light because it's clear, and adds no color to the finished drink), and she suggested Southern Comfort(would darken the drink) as a possibility as well. A nice citrus vodka would probably go great in it, but any vodka should work. That's my fault for writing it out that way, I tend to make easy things sound really hard sometimes. I'd invite you over for one, but I don't think you'd want to come all the way over to West Virginia just for a strawberry lemonade. Maybe you could have your DH make one for you. Actually if you go by the measurements I provided in that recipe, it makes for two, got to love that. No, actually I didn't get any kind of "get over it" message from that, nor did it come over as an "it could be worse" type of thing. I did have to stop and consider that I'm not as bad off as others I know, and I am very thankful for that. You hit the nail on the head though. Men aren't supposed to be timid, and they're supposed to be the independant "bread winners" so to speak. I'm the opposite of both points. The pressure to be self supportive is a very heavy one. If I ever said something that stupid, give me a clunk on the head with, well, I think the planet Pluto should be big enough to knock sense back into me. Your condition isn't exactly something that's employer friendly. I do agree that getting out of the house once in a while is a good thing, but there's more to getting out of the house than going to work. You've got a lot on your plate to deal with on your own, so just getting out for a day now and then, even to just sit in a park and enjoy the weather (well, not this time of year) would be a refreshing change of pace (not to mention free). If I wanted to honor the spirit of that staff assistant's advice to me on volunteering at the local hostpital to establish "professional" references I could. Well, bag the hostpital I don't have the stomach for that environment, but I could look for volunteer opps involving art since that's something I can do well. I'll have a drink to both our miseries later. I have a nice Plum Gekkeikan that will soothe away the bitter taste, even if only for a little while. Anime Dreams!

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Monday, November 20, 2006

Look Out Emeril, This Dragon Really Cooks!

Since I'm doing the whole Thanksgiving thing early this year because my family works on Thursday, I thought I'd take the time to share with you one of my other passions, cooking. I don't have much for you today, but I will share with you how to make a wonderful sparkling strawberry lemonade that's sure to please the palate, and impress that hard to please relative. Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade Ingredients: Drink shaker (or two glasses of slightly different sizes, blender not recommended) Cup with measure for one ounce. Ice Lemonade --(Mix 1 cup sugar, 1 cup lemon juice, and 6½ cups water.) --(Yields 2 quarts) Strawberrys (fresh or frozen) Carbonated water (no flavors or sodium) Simple syrup --(dissolve 2 cups of sugar into 1 cup of boiling water, remove from heat, cool completely) --(store in tightly sealed bottle in fridge, lasts for months, Yields just over 20 oz.) Strawberry Pocky (or peppermint sticks, candy canes, or Spearamint leaves) Method: 1) Pour one cup of lemonade into the drink shaker. 2) Slice two or three strawberries, put them in lemonade. 3) Add a couple ice cubes, and give everything a quick shake. 4) Add 1 oz. of simple syrup to lemonade, and a couple more ice cubes, shake for about 30 seconds (till the lemonade turns pink), set aside. 5) Pour a third of a cup of carbonated water into a short glass (or half a cup if you prefer more bubbles). 6) Pour half of the strawberry lemonade mixture onto carbonated water gently. 7) Garnish with a strawberry pocky stick(my favorite garnish), candy cane, peppermint stick, or Spearamint leaves. 8) Enjoy. Bear in mind that you can tweak a few things like the amount of carbonated water, the amount of simple syrup, and the number of strawberries to change the flavor characteristics. You can also substitute other berries, or even try peaches, pineapples, or even kiwi fruit. For the adults (I do NOT condone or encourage underage drinking), adding a shot (1.5 ounces) or two of light rum or Southern Comfort to the shaker after the simple syrup will give you an adult version of the drink. Southern Comfort will make the drink darker in color though. If the camera hasn't eaten it's batteries again, I'll have a picture of the finished product up for you later today if I can make it. All right, the camera loved me today, here's a picture of the finished product, as promised. Comments: Magnus Lensherr We each handle things in our own way. Panda, one of the staffers here, used the format long before I did, and between her and James, another staffer doing it, I somehow convinced myself I should try, and it works for me. I like to keep organized that way. I never could get into one like that, either anime, comic book, or whatever. I have to build the whole concept from the ground up myself, it allows me more freedom with my characters. A lot of times, I don't even reveal full plot details right away, I like to drop hints throughout the project. I don't like to leave an RP unfinshed, but the process is a fun pastime. There are no rose bushes up front for them to destroy, a few ugly shrubs that won't really be missed when they're gone, but no rose bushes. Actually, they do, if you read them right. If I were to put the text of your comment in the right sequence with my replies, this would read a lot like an IM chat, or normal conversation. I actually used to do an RP skit which I argued with myself. I had some people thinking I was totally nuts. I ocassionally miss a spelling snafu, but no one's perfect. As the shirt my sister gave me says "I live in my own little world. But it's okay, they know me here." o_O I still don't think it's the right caliber for MyO, but I will try to get it scanned and on the Photobucket in the next few days. I've got a lot of stuff coming at me this week (my family's Thanksgiving dinner is on Tuesday because everyone works on Thanksgiving), so it may be a whle before I get it up. If this place isn't here in 10 years, I'll personally kick Adam's butt. I need the community I've got here. You take care as well. sikaurai You have a certain knack for writing that I think would make you great at RP. If you ever want to give it a try, you can find me on the Dragon's Den(Skip back down). It's not my message board, I didn't name it. My handle there is the same one I used back on the Tech TV message boards cosmictraveller. I'm usually on late at night, just so you know. You would have to create and post a character bio and post it with the Character Profiles before you start role playing, but I can, or there are others there who could help you out with any questions you might have. Not to plug, but you can also see a couple of my short stories there, on the Fan Fiction board too. Using the anchors to bounce between content areas? Yeah, that's one of my favorite HTML tricks. I pop offsite links in new windows for the convenience of being able to come back to me easier too. Hold your ears.NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS?! ARE THEY OUT OF THIER MINDS?! That's a lot of money to put out for publishing. If you do go with Xlibris, copyright your manuscript yourself before you turn it over to them, the US Copyright Office fee is only $45.00 as opposed to the $249.00 that Xlibris would charge you as an "additional service" (it would be on top of the *cringe* nine hundred dollars). Successful or not, I'll owe a lot to my friends here, and on the message board I linked previously, and if I do happen to succeed, I'll be able to do whatever I can to help others' creative endeavors along, and you can count that as a promise. scorchbird12: You'll begin to see more of what makes me tick as time goes by, but not all at once. I'm a dragon, not a miracle worker. :P I know, that's why I still do it. It's fun, and it's a great outlet for pent up creative energies. They've actually impressed me in terms of doing their job. I'm still sore about the rose bush, but I'll be glad to have the roof not leaking and the porch roof shored up, and all that noise over and done with. I used to hate the idea of reading novels myself, till I read an excerpt from one in the Sixth grade. I liked the story that I read, and had to know what came next, so I picked up the novel and read it through in about four days (I was a slow reader at the time). The book was Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman. It's one of those stories that you can't really put down because you always want to know what comes next, and even the ending is a surprise. I'm honored that you would make an exception like that, and since I'm an artist as well as writer, maybe I'll put a nice picture at the end if I can draw one that looks right to me. alphonse13: He's impressed me before with some really out there stuff, so I know we'll get everything set right so we can put that project to bed (my way of saying finish it). Though, usually I'm the one pulling the really weird stuff out of my hat. Well, we had to go with a "pro" this time, I don't do heights well, and my Dad's in his 80's so neither of us would really do well trying to do it ourselves (parts of the roof are incredibly steep). Anyway, things are getting done right and that's the important thing. In the end, those were the colors that worked best for me. I wanted bright for the inks, and soft for the text, I think I got that very well. Thank you for the compliment. Really?! What was your username there? Basically what happened was: When Tech TV was taken over by G4, the really nice forums that the Tech TV web staff actually built by hand were scrapped for the G4 "message board out of a box" thing. I guess those losers at G4 couldn't figure out how to work the good board after they fired all the Tech TV mods. I think it was May 1 in 2004 that the real Tech TV boards started to redirect to G4, and it was in December of 2004 that cut my ties with G4TechTV (they have since dropped the TechTV part as I understand it) after G4 butchered, and I mean butchered, the wonderfully handled Tech TV episodes of Last Exile (first 13 episodes). I lived on the Tech TV Anime Unleashed boards from the day I started posting in late 2003 till they were shut down, that was my first online message board ever. Yensid: So far the roofers are doing a good job, wish it wasn't so noisey though. Not enough sleep and too much caffeine will make a person miss the obvious. I still say the government should test Mountain Dew for hallucinogenic drug properties, that stuff is brutal. Yeah, "Idle hands are the Devil's workshop" so I keep my hands busy as much as I can, creating anything gives me a sense that I am doing something with my time, I don't like to laze about all day doing nothing. I can and do bow to the absurd. The idiot staff assistant for my Senator who tried to make the Workforce West Virginia issue my fault, that was insanely absurd. Paying (well, actually a family member who took me out for lunch) $3.99 for pink lemonade with strawberry chunks in it at Ruby Tuesday, that's absurd, cause I know I can make a better one for a fraction of that. It's not absuridties I'm currently having to deal with. There's nothing ridiculously amusingly illogical about $1000.00 in debt, no income, no job, no prospects for jobs, being the only person in my family who isn't employed, the holidays coming up, and if I go on I'll give myself a monster headache. There's nothing funny about those things, whether I'm 25 or 205, they'll still be serious problems that need to be solved. I'm certainly trying, in little steps. Dragons don't learn to fly without falling a few times first. kout3uka The future, is not yet written, I look forward to it as well. I'll be even happier when they're done, no more noise! Anime Dreams!

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Sunday, November 19, 2006

Dull Light Cast Into The Shadows

Yeah, I'm finally coming out of the dark recesses I've kept myself buried in for so long and actually beginning to reveal some of my inner workings. Don't expect a floodgate of things to come pouring out though, I have to take it in little steps. I am a dragon not accustomend to being in the light of day, so it scares me a little. All right now, I'm back in busniness with the RP. I had a short dialogue with the collaborator of the role play, and he's got an idea on how to get out of the mess he created. I don't know what he has planned, but I'm sure it'll be good, he's very creative. It's not like he could make it any worse. The roofers that I briefly mentioned doing work on the front porch are doing all right. I didn't know they did porch decking too (it really needed it, the floor was as bad as the ceiling and roof). And I'm told they know about the spot thy missed on the house roof, but they can't get to it till they get the porch done (they need the porch roof as a platform to get to the roof higher than three stories up). At least it's not supposed to rain that I'm aware of. Comments: Magnus Lensherr I used to be a master of silly faces, so you don't want to get me started on that with sticking out your tongue there. Yeah, I had to tweak the backdrop a little, the old one was causing some readability issues. I haven't decided that yet. If I do upload it, it'll probably be to my Photobucket album and not on site here. The Role Play is on a message board, I don't do the board game RPGs or LARP stuff (my family thinks I'm weird enough as it is, I don't need to reinforce that). Oh, I've got some ideas to finish it off, but I have to wait till my collaborator makes his post. I've kept it quiet for too long as it is, so I want to share some stuff about it. Think of it as a sort of test the waters thing to gauge reactions to some core elements of the project. All you can do is try, and hope it works. I'll try making another one in a few weeks. After the Holiday stress is over so I can concentrate on doing it werll, and maybe get some origami paper to work with too. I write anything like I talk, so it's no surprise my posts read like conversations. Actually, a couple of the staff members here on My O handle comments this way. After I got really lost and couldn't keep track of the comments I'd answered (and because the PM system was down at the time I believe) I tried this format, and it worked for me. Le kun First off, welcome to my little corner of the MyO world, I don't believe we've interacted before. You'll find I'm a little bit rough at first, but, as some of my regular visitors will point out, a big softy dragon at heart. BINGO! That's the statue that the movie production paid for (I think) as a gift to Point Pleasant for them not filming there. The movie The Mothman Prophecies was terrible. Of course, I say that having read John's Keel's book of the same name which inspired the movie in the first place. The statue is in the heart of the town, and quite a thing to behold in person, especially at night. As for being busy, a lot of smoke an mirrors hide very simple things, don't they? I do so love being cryptic at times. sango87: You have a good one too. Yensid: I can't really find my inner funny right now, I have too many burdens on my shoulders, and they aren't getting lighter on their own. As for deluding myself, I don't. While I do entertain the notion it would be wonderful to make it big with a creation of mine, I realize that, more likely than not, it won't happen. I never destroy an unfinished project. Sometimes I do go back and pick away at something long abandoned, just for myself. Now I'm confused, because I'm not sure what you mean by working. sikaurai My creative work never brings me to tears that way. If it did, I'd have to give it up completely. In my case, I'm so stubborn, and I want everything to be perfect, when I can't get things to come out like I want, well, I get very frustrated with myself. As I mentioned to Yensid, I never destroy anything, I do pick up abandonded projects and work with them once in a while. Yes, I do have an offline writing project, I started on April 13, 2006, after I exhausted my last option regarding the state Job Service. I haven't really gone into detail about it yet, I didn't want to jinx the project before it went anywhere, so I haven't said to much about it. Since I did promise details I have a few at the bottom of the post here to start things off. Thank you for the kind words about my writing, I appreciate them far more than I can say. You are yourself an eloquent and creative writer. Basically, I write like I talk *Holds for horror movie shriek*, that's just how I am. I did write up a few lessons on message board role playing, follow the link to read those. I still have a couple lessons yet to go, so that information isn't really complete yet. I don't know why those guys didn't want you in their little sewing circle, anyone who can write can role play if they put their minds to it. Seeing how you write, in both eloquence and style, I think you would be a natural at message board role playing. If you want to give it a try after reading that stuff, I'll link you to my friend's board (it's more active than mine) and we can put something together. alphonse13: I did try to make a good one, and I'm always keeping people on their toes. Thanks. I started back in 2003, when Tech TV added a role play board to their Anime Unleashed forum (the old links are now defunct). I don't do it as often as I used to though. Most of the time anymore I'm the one waiting for the other RPers to post in the thread, but it's a fun collaboration, like improv, only in writing. Project Details: I did promise a short while ago that I would begin to provide details about the mystery offline writing project I mention so cryptically here. To start off, it is a novel I'm writing, kind of a blend of Sci-Fi and Real-Fi in my own twisted way. I can't say anything about the plot points yet, the work is still in progress I can say I have been entertaining some self-publishing options with regard to the project. Self publishing, because I don't have the energy to submit my writing to all the publishers, or deal with having to register the draft with the Writer's Guild (some publishers have this requirement), or dealing with companies that want me to put out money up front to publish it (called vanity publishing). If it sells enough in a POD (Publishing On Demand) environment (and you can bet I'll plug the daylights out of it), I'll entertain more traditional publishing means to get it out further and reach a broader audience. I'll use the self publishing to test the waters and see how it's received, but that's a long way off yet. How about a quick jump jump back up to were you were reading? Anime Dreams!

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Saturday, November 18, 2006

Post for the Weekend

A few things to cover really quick. After finishing the cover art to that fan comic/manga project, I took a look at it, and decided that kind of thing just isn't me. Right now, I don't really have the time to put into even a hobby comic type of drawing project, but I will hold onto it for later, I can't say when, but for now, it's not coming. I had a setback in an RP (role play) project I was doing too. I have to rewrite the entire ending to accomodate a last minute plot twist by my collaborator on the project. I had a lot planned, which would have required a few more posts from both of us to set up. Since I had to scrap just about everything for the ending because of this rouge twist, I'm just going to finish out the project after my collaborator makes his final post to it and that will be it for the project. In the coming weeks, as I draw closer to my first draft deadline for my offline writing project, I'll have more details about it ready for release right here. Comments: Yensid: It's really something to see that statue in person, photos are all right, but they don't do it justice. the people who saw the real one, most of them, will go on about the hypnotic red glowing eyes. If the government was testing something down there, there's no way the general public will know. The bottom images are the same as the top, just reversed. It makes for a neat tile effect on the Guestbook and Quiz Results pages. The blog is the important thing, so that deserves the focus, the other stuff, including the background image, is just gravy. Since I'm still in the process of learning all that fancy code, you have no worries about my going wild here. I do like to stay within certain parameters of the provided template, just because it's easier for people to find stuff on the page that way. Sometimes people do get carried away in terms of content, but the autostarting audio and/or video clips and the enormous images take second place to those javascript "alerts" that people put on their pages, now those can get annoying at times. About my comment, simply words from the heart, that's the way I write. And about the sunshine, sprinkle away, but do save some for a big softy dragon, all right? Angel Slayer LOL, This dragon don't like to be touched too much. Glad to hear things are going well with you, I still haven't started to read that Shakespeare yet, I'll start tonight. Not much is going on other than the site tweaks here, and I finally got an idea to break the block on my fan comic/manga project, so I'm good. sikaurai I have a secret about all this stuff I seem to "know" about coding, computers, and more recently web site design, I don't. I just fake it really well. ~_^ Computers and I don't exactly get along all the time, but we have an understanding, a sort of truce in place so we both get what we want and need. Thanks for the compliment on the site, I'm glad my tweaks are working, that text readability issue was getting on my nerves (and I found a way to use my night pic of the statue too). scorchbird12: I'm satisfied with my page, but I do welcome any pointers on it. In a somewhat morbid way, the Mothman is kind of cool, guess that's part of why I chose him as the new theme. It was a big thing on the news for a long time down there, but it did end reasonably well. You know, I forgot to answer part of your last comment, pertaining to fireball lightning. The leading theory indicates that's a low temperature plasma, you wouldn't get burned by it like sticking your had in boiling water, or into a campfire. I don't think fireball lightning would be harmful, but I don't know for sure. I'm trying to keep to the point of things without going of on tangents. I may start to index the comments at the start though to make finding my responses easier. Anime Dreams!

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Friday, November 17, 2006

Getting Closer to Perfect

The first round of tinkering is done as you can see. I've changed things up a bit to make the text more readable, and the page load faster (centering my previous background image was making the page load slower, that's fixed), I've recolored the text, and the links to make them pop some more too. Continued pointers would be helpful as I polish the new theme. Comments: Yensid: My Fuji has both the LCD screen and what they call an EVF (Electronic View Finder, it works like a traditional one). I use the EVF because it requires less power to run, and is better with glares. On longer trips I take my laptop and check the card after I do some shooting to be sure the pictures are all right, so I don't have to plan another trip to retake bad shots. I can't take point and shoot pics, the camera is too sensitive, so I use the tripod all the time. I was born in California! What a coincidence. Only I was there for a few months before my family moved, so I don't remember a thing. I've run into similar attitudes about Californians both in Texas here in West Virginia though. There are two things I don't like to tell people: I was born in California. From third to sixth grades I was home schooled. I'm just vague when people ask me where I'm from, never specific. I sure won't tell people when I get out of this purgatory that I'm from West Virginia, that would be worse than the truth. As for home schooling, that's a whole other thing. I don't get to travel a lot, so I've only ever been through a few states once or more (Texas[Lived there] Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky[our Rider truck when we were moving broke down there] Eastern Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia[where I am now]). If there's worse than West Virginia out there, I haven't seen it yet. I'm sure I'll come up with the right combo soon. Magnus Lensherr I hope I can make it really work, because I do want to have a nice clean cut, quick loading theme like a lot of other people here do. It's hard for me to say if others where you are have taken to the practice, but the theory is a sound one(it works in the US). All the tones are put on the line for is to tell a machine that dialed the number it's no longer being used, the machine then updates it's database and doesn't bother calling it again. Human dialed numbers wouldn't be the same, but if your regulations are similar to what we've got here in the US, a short little "this number does not accept solicitation telephone calls" or "please regard this message as notice to remove this number from your calling list" type blurb toward the end of an outgoing message should hamper the human dialed ones. You'll have to check regulations and such in your area for more detailed assistance with reducing the number of telemarketing calls you get. That's a problem the world over. You know, I was thinking the same thing when I typed out the description. It could be that the two are the one and same creature. Oh yeah, it takes patience for origami. To do the copyright thing correctly, I want to have my own model to work from, not a picture I find online. I don't know anyone who's really into origami so I have to work with what I do myself. Unfortunately no, I don't have a job. It's not really hard to write up these posts, I take a lot of shortcuts, and I try to keep things simple and short in my replies. Sometimes I write more, sometimes less. sikaurai West Virginia is a wonderful place to come, especially in the fall and see beautiful colors on the hills. They look like they're on fire sometimes, but if you're coming for the people, don't waste your time. If you give John Denver's song (Take Me Home, Country Roads) a listen, you'll not hear a single word about people in it. Maybe there was good reason for that. While there are some people here who do fit the friendly category, my experience with the people has been more often than not on the other end. Maybe I'm the problem. Breakfast Squid I had a separate BG as a post background, but, I couldnt' get the text to be readable on top of it, so I had to make an executive decision on that, and the post BG went away. I haven't done any work on the colors yet, hopefully I'll get to it today or tomorrow. scorchbird12: It's not annoying to have to keep tweaking, but it is tedious. Yes, he most certainly is. That's kind of a long story, I'll try to condense it. As near as I recall, the girl (not even two years old I think) fell into an uncapped well in her own backyard or something like that, anyway she was down there for days, they had to dig down and get her out. I guess they finally got over that down there and moved on, thank goodness. I haven't even started looking for that housing yet. *^_^* beyblader The former page background was a close up of the Mothman statue in Point Pleasant WV, taken during the day. My avatar is the same statue taken at night. The night photo was taken before they put a bright floodlight up and focused on the statue, so the camera's night mode made it come out looking gold, a really neat effect by accident, but impossible to duplicate. Anime Dreams!

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Thursday, November 16, 2006

More Page Work to Come

I'm doing a little testing with my page, the white links aren't working too well, they get kind of lost in the background sometimes (non-content area) and the main site text needs a little work too for the same reason. Expect to see various attempts at making everything readable over the course of days to come. Comments: Yensid: Considering the last major theme change I went through was about two years ago, I have to agree, change is good. I did have a post BG image, but I couldn't get it so that the text was readable on top of the image, so I had to opt for the "when in doubt, block it out" plain color BG for the blog text portion. Given the right amount of time, and choosing to remove some text from my intro, I could do an intro banner from that image instead. I did have a button in the works, but had to scrap that when I gave myself a major headache trying to figure out which of the many standards to go with. I would appreciate seeing that view with more clarity, it's a great picture. The only thing I can offer in return are a couple pointers related to photography. A lot of photography is trial, error, retrial and error again. It also requires understanding the quirks of your camera. My camera doesn't like low light pictures all the time, it has to have a tripod for shots in any resolution mode over .3M (that's 640x480 size pictures), it hates to actually focus on certain things, and it eats batteries like they're going out of style. With those things in mind when I do some photography work, my pictures turn out okay 80% of the time. Take an afternoon to get to know your camera, then take another afternoon to get to know it in different weather (cloudy vs. sunny, foggy vs. clear) because the weather can affect the way the camera takes images. Mine likes a little bit of fog, on drizzly days (the recent train shot). Like my drawing, I have no formal education in photography, I just take the shots that look good to me. That's another thing to remember, and probably the most important. The shot has to look good to your eyes, not your neighbor's dog's, your cousin's-dentist's-hairdresser's-niece's-husband's, not anyone's. If it looks good to you, then you'll take a great picture every time. I have to put some serious thought into joining DA. If I knew for sure getting on there would help me sell some of my photos (I really need the money), then I'd do it in a heartbeat, but right now there's a lot to weigh. I'm still working on the personal site, I may end up finding a host other than Yahoo! for it, but I'll know when I get the new page(s) done what I want to do with them. My experience with Texans is a little different. I knew a few good poeple down there, but I also knew some with egos bigger than the state itself. Of course I was a lot younger back then, so my hindsight's not a good indicator of the norm. You think it's bad there, come on down to my neck of the woods. The people here in West Virginia aren't even polite unless they absolutely have to be. Never in my life have I met so many self-centered, rude, arrogant, ignorant, lazy, unhelpful, kniving, clannish, and unwelcoming people as I have since I've lived in West Virginia, and this includes the people I met in New Jersey. Oh, there are a few, a very few, who are exceptions, but the majority of my human contact in this state has been less than pleasant. sikaurai Yeah, I was having issues with getting the text readable on top of that image, it's a good one, but, it's not ideal for a background under text. I'll make a banner out of it to get some use from it, but it won't be a post BG again that's for sure. At least I know how to do that kind of thing now, which is part of what I was going for with the new theme. I'm glad the new theme is going over well so far, it's not changing for a while to come. In terms of being close to actual events, having read up on Ed Gein a little, I think The Silence of the Lambs comes close in characterization, the others are a bit more far-fetched. Another funny movie trivia bit, the opening scene of The Silence of the Lambs is set in Clay County WV, that is a real place. The media isn't good at keeping the facts straight, or correcting itself when it gets the facts wrong, so those misconceptions will continue to spread for years to come. As for what I presented here on Mr. Gein, I was only going on what I found on various websites, and trying to condense it for easier reading, and to be the least bit graphic as possible. I'm not one for horror films myself. My overactive imagination wouldn't really let me get away with watching them, and I've been in theatre, I know what all that blood and gore is actually made of, but still I just can't watch horror films. Now there is one film I can watch with little problems, Event Horizon which is like Sci-Fi and Horror mixed together. Hollywood does blow things out of proportion all the time, sometimes that's good (The Day After Tomorrow) sometimes it's not (The Mothman Prophecies). Oh well, we take what they give us. In terms of "false document" storytelling techniques, I like to use a "first person perspective". Instead of merely saying "this really happened" I tell my stories from the point of view of someone who witnessed it, they're a little more powerful that way. When something is written like it's coming from someone who was there, while it was happening, it tends to get deeper into the mind. Outlaw Melfina: Yep, it's been about two years I think since my last major site change. And this one is quiet the contrast from the old one. mysterious rei The people who've seen the real Mothman would have to agree with you about his being scary. Actually, I was noticing that the white links kind of get lost on the other pages, so I'm probably going to have to change that too. Right now it's a work in progress, but I appreciate the suggestion. Given the colors of the background picture, I'll probably go with something warm (yellows or oranges) to stand out against the silvers and grays. I've tested blues and greens already but they don't work too well. Angel Slayer I hope you have a fun break, on Tuesday, I'll be manning a 20lb. turkey in the oven all day. Since my family works on Thanksgiving day, we have to move our celebration up a little. I've got a collection of Shakespeare, I'll have to read The Taming of the Shrew in the next few days so I can comment on it more adequately. I've heard its a great play, you can't go wrong with Shakespeare. And congrats on having the date too, strangely I knew a Jay too, he was in my theatre class one year. scorchbird12: Thanks for the compliment, I am trying. My sister is into psychology, particulalry in that area, so I guess a litlte bit of wanting to find the truth rubbed off on me. It's an interesting case, but as sikaurai mentioned, what most people know, even about the real Ed Gein case, isn't close to the truth because of the media. I do remember from my early days in public school in Texas hearing an urban legend or two relating to the chainsaw massacre movie, but I can't remember any of those now. While we're on the subject of movies, do they still run that "made for TV" movie about the girl who fell down the well in the mid-late 80's? They used to run it every single year near the anniversary of the day they got her out I think, it drove me nuts. I'm an amateur UFOlogist, so I kind of keep myself up on the various excuses that the "experts" and "authorities" like to claim the UFO phenomenon is (my favorite being the planet Venus). I'm going to get really technical on you here, but basically both fireball lightning and St. Elmo's Fire are types of plasma. Fireball lighning is believed to be RF (Radio Frequency) in origin. Basically take a high frequency radio wave (2.4 GHz or higher), zap ionized air (a regular lightning strike will do) with it, and you get, in theory, a little baskeball sized ball of energy that glows yellow or red, and floats around for a bit before dissipating. No labs have been able to successfully recreate this natrual phenomenon, probably because they can't get voltage high enough to properly ionize air. St. Elmo's Fire is a little more complicated to explain. It's a plasma, but it's usually seen as a blue-white "flames" or jets coming off tall or pointed objects (cattle horns are said to show the phenomenon during storms sometimes). Both phenomenon are very difficult to photograph, so there aren't any guaranteed authentic photos I can show you of either. Now I'll point out that Levelland Texas is a flat plain, in the 50's there was nothing big enough to produce the size glow that was reportedly seen on the horizon, the glow doesn't fit the explanation of St. Elmo's Fire. When I'm not too busy with other things, I'll try to find an aftermarket housing company to see if there's a cover for my model camera. Maybe if there isn't a stock housing anywhere for it, there may be a company who custom makes them. Magnus Lensherr Actually he's not a bird, he's the Mothman of West Virginia. A statue of him anyway. It's a theory, I can't promise it will work, but that same theory is what led to the creation of the Telezapper device here. Human ears understand that after the tones you get a normal message, but the computer dialers hear those tones and think "This number is no longer in service" and disconnect from it right away, adding the number to it's database of numbers not to call again. All I can recommend is trying it for a while to see if the number of telemarketing calls drops, if it does, you know it works, if it doesn't, then the telemarketers aren't using computer dialers, or the computers are too smart for their own good. You just want the tones to be at the start of your normal outgoing message. Actually, if that's a town named for a family, they might just be related. In New Jersey, I don't know how long ago, the time of the settlers I think, the Leeds family had a curse put on it, and the 13th child to the matriarch was born deformed, it was said he had batlike wings, glowing red eyes and looked like a devil, that's where he got his name. In recent years people started calling him the Jersey Devil (the NHL hockey team the Jersey Devils is named for him), but it's really a Leeds family thing. The family can even take you out to the ruins of the house where this demon was said to be born, it's on their property. I'm sorry I can't really tell you much about it, I haven't adequately researched that whole thing. I can handle one major mystery at a time, right now it's the Mothman. Well, I can't make origami dragons. I've tried for a whole year now and just can't find correctly worded or illustrated instructions. I can make the frog, the crane, the Samurai helmet, the box, the book, the turtle, the hawk, the boat, the cicaida, the pecking bird, and a few others, but not the dragons, I have to see the sculpture to be able to draw it correctly, and since I don't know anyone who can do origami, I'm royally screwed till I can get that [Censored] dragon to work, or I come up with an idea I like better than that for the cover of my project. Caprice I've had my old stuff up for almost two years if not longer than that, so I figured it was time for a change. I'm glad you like it. You haven't missed out on anything there, I'm still unemployed, and there are no prospects right now. I wish I could even get a job soing something I don't like, I can't even manage that. On the art comment, they did change up a couple things only recently, one of them being the length of time for voting on fanart. Adam mentioned it here, and the site's programmer Massin also covered it here. If I recall that process was eating a lot or server resources to have it up for every piece of art all the time. Apparently, it was part of what was slowing down the whole site, which is running faster now. For the art itself, I did some different things with it, but it turned out okay I guess. kout3uka It was funny, the day I was taking the pictures, I had like four or five people come up to the spot where I was shooting, just to see what I was doing. Those are the people who annoy me. I should get a cap with a major network logo on it or something, just to spite those people who feel the need to know what I'm doing with the camera. I love a good hot cup of tea, sweetened with a little honey myself. If I recall, rose petals are used in some teas. Thanks for the compliment. I'm not used to changing up the layout like this, so it means a lot. I've noticed the slight lag in load time too. It may be something with Photobucket, but I think it may be the code I'm using. It also may be the sudden, drastic change from what it used to be. If your computer doesn't get used to it after a while, let me know and I'll see what I can do to clean up my code to make it load faster. I am curious about your terminology though, what do you mean by a "page that's not the initial one"? That may help me isolate what's causing the problem. Anime Dreams!

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