Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is:
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On Thursday, July 17, 2003 at 04:47 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Lemon drop candies for the soul.

Also known as Drabbles. basically, little stories written in a hundred words. This one by Terry Pratchett had rolling in laughter.

My biggest problem in writing them is not getting the scene done. I can do that. It's paring the scene down to a hundred words and getting everything in there that's the problem. I feel like I'm writing college essays again. "Tell us about your life... in 500 words or less." Anyway, here's this afternoon's results on my LJ.

2 Get Backers drabbles

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Killer asteroid risks downgraded
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On Thursday, July 17, 2003 at 12:35 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I want a full refund on the time I have already spent on this day and I want it back now. I'm tired. I'm cranky. I feel sick. I am on pain medication which, despite what the label on the bottle tells me, had yet to last four hours much less six hours. I hate the world right now with a deep seething passion.

I in particular hate the guy who couldn't figure out which side of the median he was supposed to go on, chose the wrong one, and nearly creamed me and my little blue car. Thanks to my reflexes, both myself and the car are fine. However, my quick little manuever caused my ice cold, completely full Coke from Wendy's to spill all over the foot of my car. This means that instead of eating my lunch, I spent the rest of my lunchbreak crying and trying to clean up the foot of my car. Whatever happen to the restraunts giving you a big handful of napkins instead of just two? Needless to say, the foot of my car is not sticky and covered in slowly drying Coke. MY slowly drying coke which I didn't even get a chance to drink.

The day is half over with. I have already cried once (I think mostly from nerves from the accident though the fact that I hadn't eaten anything at that point didn't help). I feel like I'm going to cry again. I hate this job. I want to go home. I want a refund on my day. I want a Coke.

Excuse me, I'm going to go hit up the vending machine.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is:
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On Wednesday, July 16, 2003 at 04:37 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I just watched the computer system I work on eat about $32,000. I'm not kidding. It just disappeared. Poof. That's about 23 entries that with need to be re-entered because the computer system is convinced they never existed.

I'm so glad they can't be re-entered until they figure out what caused them to go bye-bye in the first place. I'm so glad I'm leaving here in 2 days.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Unemployed Man Sent to Escort Agency
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On Tuesday, July 15, 2003 at 08:57 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

First a woman in Germany and now some guy in Australia. Nice to see that the world's oldest profession is alive and kicking. -_-

So, yesterday I responded to someone on my friend's list and it brought back one of my old childhood memories. Specifically, misheard song lyrics to "Joy to the World." Now understand that I use to (and still do) make up song lyrics whenever I can't understand what's being sung. As long as it has the correct rhythm and sound similar, it's all good to me. I just want something to go with the tune. This leads to some really amusing results as I completely butcher the song. Especially Japanese songs. My mind refuses to comprehend that the lyrics are in another language and will start imposing English ones on them. Ask me for examples sometime, and if I'm not feeling to embarrassed, I'll provide them.

This is all well and good when the words are in my head. It's when I decide to sing out loud that the true hilarity begins. I've gotten in the habit now that if I'm not sure of the words, I'll stop singing and mumble along. This was not the case when I was younger. Which was how my mom found out that I did not know the words to "Joy to the World." The correct lyrics are as follows:

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Well, for one thing I didn't quite hear the -ng on the end of King. So in my 4 year old mind, that became "key." Which sort of makes sense. Kind of. It seemed prefectly reasonable when I was four. The other word I had trouble with was room. I couldn't quite figure out what the song was saying. After a while, I decided that it must be brooms. Every heart was to prepare Him brooms. It fit reasonable well and I was a happy little four year old.

Fast forward one whole year, and I was five. This of course made me so much more logical and mature. I realized that you didn't prepare brooms you made them. So therefore, it couldn't be brooms in the song it had to be something people actually prepared. Five year old me thought and thought and thought on this (yes, this was something that would take up large amounts of my time as a child espercially around Christmas when everyone was singing these songs. I was like that.) Finally, I hit upon the answer. Every heart was to prepare Him prunes.

No, it never occurred to me to ask for the correct lyrics. I instinctively knew people would laugh at me because everyone knew the lyrics to "Joy to the World" and therefore I should too. And there was no place for me to look them up. I didn't go to church and my collection of books at the time was sadly lacking in Christmas Carols.

Which leads us to why I beleived we were singing the song. The first line of "Joy to the World" was to let everyone know the Lord was coming and it was a good thing. He was bringing earth her keys. Why? Maybe she lost them. Whatever the reason this was also a good thing. Everyone was to prepare Him prunes when the day came. I figured it was because the Lord really liked prunes, but since even the Lord couldn't possibly eat them all, everyone would have some. Then Heaven and Nature would sing. This meant angels and animals would sing together and people would understand them both. Everyone would be happy (and quite regular from all the prunes).

Ah, to have that kind of logic again!

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Jobless German woman gets brothel offer
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On Monday, July 14, 2003 at 09:25 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

One of the things I do when I'm about to leave any job is clean the desk. I do this for several reasons. One, it leaves a good impression in the next employee and former employer's mind of me. Second, I don't want to waste the next person's time having top clean up my mess. Third, I'm justr a nice person and it's a good thing to do. I have worked in places where the last person did was not so high minded. It's an absolute pain to try and clean a desk so you can use it to work. There is nothing more disgusting than finding a half melted cough drop stuck to the bottom of a drawer. -_-

The person who worked in my cubicle last didn't even bother to clear out her personal items when she left. My "manager" had to box them up and send them to her. Heck, I'm beginning to think she never evern moved anything on her desk. I move the phone, and I find dust and change. I move the computer, and I find dust and change. I move a plastic paper tray and find dust and change. I think I've found enough loose change to fund a small third world country, and enough dust to smother it.

I've noticed something about people in offices. They tend to horde, to extremes, one or two types of office supplies. For instance, take the first temp. job I worked for at the University. The person who worked at the desk horded binder clips. Boxes and boxes of binder clips. More binder clips than any one person could use in a lifetime. The other thing they horded was paper clips. Binder clips and paper clips.

For the lady that use to work at the cubicle I'm in now it was staples. I don't mean like having an opened box of staples for when the stapler runs out. I'm talking about 3 unopened boxes and another box full of loose staples. Who goes through that many staples? I can understand pens and pencils. Everyone has at least a dozen pens or pencils on their desk because they tend to walk off so often. But staples? What was preventing her from walking the 20 feet to the supply closet and getting more staples when she ran out? The world may never know.

I can't exactly point fingers and laugh at everyone. I horde office supplies myself. My weakness... is sticky notes. On my desk I have at this moment two full pads and two half used pads of small yellow sticky notes AND two new pads of large sticky notes. Heaven help me if they had sticky notes in different colors. I would have to have a pad of each color in each color offered. They would cover my desk in sticky note goodness. The colors. The stickiness. NOTE EVERYWHERE! WHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Right.

My co-workers are still under the delusion that they are going to "work me hard" my last week I'm here. Sure. I still plan on doing no more work that I absolutely have to. Given how often I'm bored here (heck, I'm bored right now), I do not give their threats much credence.

Now for something completely different. I'm getting sucked into Get Backers. I didn't mean to. My roomie was watching it on her laptop. Then she told me a bit of the plot. Then I started watching bits and pieces of it as I read. Next thing I know, I was watching two episodes of it over her shoulder. Suuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Let's see if this series will jump start my fanfiction urge or if it will be another "read but don't write" kind of thing. I'm sure you are all on edge waiting to find out. ^_^

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is:
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On Saturday, July 12, 2003 at 08:57 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

To the people looking for Pirates of the Caribbean fanfics:

Yes, I know it's a good movie. However, I haven't seen it yet. When I do I will be more than happy to post links to fanfics and possibly even write fanfics. Until that time please stop hitting up my pitas page looking for your own personal kinks involving pirates. Thanks.

Hugs and kisses,
Tsaiko

Until I see the movie may I recommend "Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition: English Sea Rovers in the Seventeenth-Century Caribbean" on Amazon? If you can't take my word for it, take this guy's:

Reviewer: shoeboy (see more about me) from Seattle, WA

Ahoy me fine salty sailors. If ye be lookin for gripping adventure on the high seas, this be the book for ye. It hoisted me mizzen mast and shivered me timbers, Yar! If you've ever wondered exactly what to do with a drunken sailor, this is the book for you. The author, Barry Richard Burg is a great expert on seamen and it really shows through. I was dissapointed to find that the nautical phrase "a three days blow" didn't mean what I thought it did, but the author's loving descriptions of how these pirates would oil each other up with whale blubber and lash each other with the cat o' nine tails more than made up for it. I'm tempted to go summon my cockswain, rent "The Pirate Movie", then kick back and mourn the passing of the days when burly pirates would start their day by opening the seacock and pumping furiously. Customers who bought titles by Barry Richard Burg also bought titles by J. K. Rowling -- coincidence? I think not.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Tea with White Dragon
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On Friday, July 11, 2003 at 01:14 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

WHEEEEEEE! More Spirited Away fanfiction. I love the site. The writing is fantastic. Go. Read. Be impressed.

I want to do a long entry on a recent discovery of a new species of dinosaur whose bones had been dug up and sat in a South African musuem for a number of years before someone realized they were important. However, the AC isn't working too well at work. So I'm warm and full from lunch and all I want to do is lay my head down and go to sleep on my desk. I bet I could get at least an hour nap in before someone realized it and woke me up. Mmmm... sleep...

No. Cannot go to sleep. Instead I will talk about the romance novels I am reading. Changeling, you're right. The one I can't remember is Pearl Cove. I think I know why I can't remember it. Because pearls aren't really gemstones, not like rubies and amber and jade. Pearls are little bits of oyster spit that build up around sand and crap that oysters suck in while trying to feed. It doesn't come from the ground like other good little gemmy things. Though pearls, especially black pearls, are pretty. That's probably why I keep forgetting the title. Pearl cove. Pearl cove. Must remember that.

Anyway, there are several things that greatly amuse me about these books. One is the covers. The first two books (Amber Beach and Jade Island) have these soft, pretty pastel covers like this. They look like artwork you'd find in a beach summer home. The next two books have a dark blue-black and red covers like this. They're shocking and jarring and scream "Danger!" When you put the first two books together with the second two, you'd never know they were from the same series. I think the copies I have of the first two are earlier prints because the more jarring covers fit the plots of the books better.

Of course, covers on romance novels should never be what persuades you to but the book. I've seen books where the cover shows some red head vixen being pressed to the chest of some burly blonde. Only when you read the book, the women lead is a blonde and the man has black hair. I don't even think the artists read the book sometimes. I think they just look at the title and pick out some piece they think might match.

I got to the sex scene in the second book last night. I am so glad I'm not reading this book for the sex scenes. Talk about a disappointment. 3 pages total, from beginning to end. And in those three pages the woman had multiple orgams on a DOCK. I'm reading this going "I hope she doesn't get splinters any where uncomfortable." It was pathetic. What's really sad is I know this writer can do better. I've got books by her that have some of the best choreographed and implements sex scenes I've read. This was not one of them. It was bad, bad, bad.

Still, her knowledge about gemstones is really good and really accurate. So I'm still going to finish reading all four books. I'm just glad I didn't have to fork over money for them.

And now for something completely different. Several days ago I found at article here about Harry Potter fans doing thier own German translation. Yesterday I found a very similar article on one of the major news sources I read with a little more info. I would swear up and down it was CNN, but for the life of me cannot find the article. Anyone esle see something about this? Please? Help?

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Stair Dismount
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On Wednesday, July 9, 2003 at 09:11 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

The link of the day is to possibly the sickest, most fun game I have ever played. Basically, the point of the game is to shove this polygonal human down a set a of stairs. The more damage you cause, the more points you get. Mad points if you do damage to the head and neck. My current high score is something like 52,700 (or about that). I'm sorry but any game where you're screaming at the screen "Hit your head! Hit your head! You call that a hit? You barely cracked the skull!" has got to be worth trying out.

At the very least, you can imagine your least favorite customer's head on the body. ^_^

I would have made an entry yesterday, but I think work has finally realized that in a little over a week, I will be gone. I'm not staying longer. I'm not coming back. Suddenly, they had half a dozen things for me to do yesterday all of which didn't involve me getting my own work done. Not that I could get my work done... but I said I wasn't going to complain. So between work and doing laundry (and finding a Chinese place that delivers! WOOT!), I didn't get a chance to do an entry.

Life has been tiring so far this week. Every night when I go to sleep I dream from the time I go to sleep to the time I wake up. Long, involved, complicated dreams that I kind of remember when I wake up. Really vivid dreams. I'd recount them here, but nobody cares, so I won't bore you. This hard dreaming usually makes me very, very tired when I wake up. I'm hoping this will go away sometime before the end of the week.

One more week until the move. Less than one month until vacation. Due to time/money constraints, it looks like my roomie and I will be heading to somewhere closer. Smithsonian and DC area is the biggest contender right now. Oooh... pretty shinies.

And now, I would like to do an episode of Tsaiko's driving school for dummies. Some of you who have read this for awhile will remember my rant about such things called "red lights." You know, those things that mean you need to stop and stay stopped? Not go if it's clear or no other cars are coming, but to STOP and STAY THERE until the light turns green? Yeah, I thought this was basic stuff too but some people seemed to have missed this part of driver's ed.

Now, I have a new lesson for you. It's called yielding. There are tow very important times when you will need to yield. One is when there is a big old "YIELD" sign. These are a big upside down triangle usually red and white although I've seen a few that were yellow. The yield sign does not mean "cruise on through as if there were no sign" or "stop if you feel like it." No. The yield sign means that if there is another vehicle is coming you must let them go first. They have the right of way. You do not. If you hit them, guess what? YOU PAY.

The other time you need to yield is at a stoplight if you are making a left turn and do not have a protective left. Let me explain what a protective left is. It's when you have a little bright green arrow that lights up. If you do not have the green arrow, then you must wait for all the cars going straight to go by before you make the turn. No, I don't care if you're driving a big, red, metal penis extension commonly known as a sports car. No, I don't care if your Lexus or SUV costs ten times as much as, say, a little blue Ford Escort. All I care about is that when I am going across the intersection and you do not have a protected left YOU WAIT YOUR TURN JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.

Not that I am bitter.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: New dinosaur identified in South Africa
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On Monday, July 7, 2003 at 01:20 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I have the urge to start a new, original yaoi story.

Ahem. NO! NO! NO! NO! I have got like 20 of these things started and what will happen is I'll start this thing and then you, my brain, will get distracted and then it will SIT on my computer for months and months getting added to one sentence at a time until I lose all interest or forget where I'm taking it. NO! Do you hear me? FINISH SOMETHING FIRST! I am NOT starting something new. I don't care how cool that characterization is I still said no. Are you listening to me? Hello? Brain, why do I have the feeling you're ignoring me? DAMMIT! ARG!

In other news, besides trying to convince me to write more original yaoi, my imagination is trying to convince me to write Peter Pan as done by the Digimon 02 cast. Complete with Kari as Tinker Bell and Ken/the Digimon Emperor as Captain Hook. This is all because of something Sugah said about "fairy bishounen" on the Boys Inc. ML. Why my mind decided to produce an image of Davis dressed up as Peter Pan at this comment, I'm not quite sure. Whatever the reason, it needs to lay off the crack.

The 4th of July weekend went well. I had lunch with my Mom on Friday and we went and saw "Finding Nemo." The party with my friends also went well, though the one of us who is married wound up leaving her husband on the side of the road o_O. Talk about drama. She had to leave early because her daughter was fussy. The rest of us caught up on gossip and news and watched fireworks until 1:00am. I didn't get sick of the pizza (yeah!) and all was good. I had lunch again with my Mom on Sat. Afterwards, I headed back to the apartment.

We guess my sister decided to stay in Wilmington and watch fireworks with her fiance. The only reason I know her fiance was down there was because her away message on AIM on Thursday night read "Eating with (fiance's name)." She never called us or let us know what she was doing. This is nothing new. My sister has a habit of making plans that fit her and then ignoring how they might impact anyone else. That's okay. From what I've been told her moving down to Georgia to get her PharmD is begginging to impact her bratty/childishness a great deal. Several tens of thousands of dollars in loan will do that to anyone rather quickly.

I have less than two weeks at this job left. I'm going to try and talk about it as little as possible. I know you people are tired of hearing about it. Hell, I'm tired of talking about it. My goal is to do as little as possible and still get all my work done. Which reminds me, need to call temp. place and remind them I leave on the 18th. Also need to pencil into calender all the orientations I need to go to for Grad. school/TA-ing. There's something like five of them. I swear their going to run me ragged and the first day of classes isn't until Aug. 20th.

Moving to a new place the latter half of this month. I am looking forward to that. I have already discovered that in the afternoons, sunlight comes in through the windows of what will be my room. Mmmm... afternoon naps in warm, golden sunlight.I am so looking forward to this. Kind of scary and kind of nice at the same time.

My roomie is making me some bolster pillows out of unicorn fabric she found this weekend. UNICORNS! PILLOWS! Yes, I am a big unicorn freak. I've been collecting them since I was five. My collection contains several cheap plastic one up to collector editions worth several hundred dollars.

I have been reading some romance novels lately by Elizabeth Lowell. I'm not reading them for the romance, even thought Elizabeth Lowell was one of my favorite romance authors at one time. Lately, I've been really disappointed in the level of romance in her books, though the plots and writing remian good. The reason I'm reading these is because they are about gemstones. Amber beach, Jade Island, Ruby Bayou, and one other that I can't remember. Lowell does her research and the stuff she puts into her novels is fascinating. Reading romance novels to find out stuff about geology. I am such a dork.

Finally, thanks to all the people who offered me condolences about Prowler. I appreciate it.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is:
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On Saturday, July 5, 2003 at 06:54 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Prowler
April 1st, 1986 - July, 2nd 2003
Rest in peace.

You were a good cat, even if you technically belonged to my sister and not to me. I'll always remember your ability to catch anything (including giant grasshoppers) and your habit of presenting them alive and dead to us at every opportunity. I'll remember the way you hated Speckles, the Eternally Pregant Cat, and how you were annoyed by all kittens until they were no longer kittens. My mom use to joke about how even though you were female and neutered, you were the one all the female cats followed around when they went into heat. Well, they followed you around until you popped them on the head and sent them on their way. You didn't take crap from anyone.

You bled all over my white jacket when you got injured, and I held you in my arms until we got the vet. Heck, I took you to the vet so many times that they knew your name. You were worth every second. At the end you had one ear and cataracts, but you could still get up on things and fight with the best of them.

You were never the same since your sister died. I noticed, and I from how you always wanted to be around me after her death, I like to think you noticed how much I missed Patches too. I hope you find her and continue to act like the sisters you were wherever you are.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Behr Color Explorer
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On Friday, July 4, 2003 at 08:26 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I AM 14!

I am also extremely hyper/happy and will soon leave for my mom's house in the middle of no where. That is, as soon as I take a shower and get dressed. I get up at 7 most Saturdays (even though today is a Friday my body is reacting like it's a Sat. since I don't have to go to work) and yet still manage to not be ready to face the world outside my living room until 12. Such is life.

I'm beginning to think that everyone (in the US) was on the road yesterday and not around a computer. I base this assumption on the fact that I had a lower than normal visits even though I posted an entry AND the lower than normal amount of postings by different people on my friend's list. Today I figure most people will get fed up with their families at some point and get on the computer. Then they shall COME READ ME! WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

And now I go to surf the internet some more before actually getting up and doing something. Tootles.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Frustrated man turns tables on telemarketers
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On Thursday, July 3, 2003 at 09:00 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I LIVE!

Sorta.

So for the past few days I've been suffering from stomach problems and migraine headaches. Always lovely. Needless to say I haven't felt much like talking or writing or doing anything but reading Harry/Snape fanfiction that my roomie has emailed to me to try and get me throught he work day. I'm glad to say I feel much better now and have tracked down why I was getting the migraines. Now I will not be having caffeine of any sort on an empty stomach. No more Coke in the morning. I'll be sticking it Sprite.

I actually felt much better last night. I was planning on updating, catching up on email and working on stuff at that time. However, I got invited to dinner and then to watch Sinbad with friends. It was a choice: you guys or bare animated chests. I love you all dearly, but the animated chests won.

While at the theater, we saw a huge banner/advertisement for "The Pirates of the Caribbean." Immediate plans were made to see if we could sneak out the giant advertisement, but seeing as it covered one whole wall floor to ceiling, we gave it up as a lost cause. I want to see that movie. Not because of the special effects or the action or the script. But because of the pretty boys. Shallow, yes, but if I wanted deep meaningful plotlines and characterization, I'd go watch "Good Will Hunting" again. Instead, I want to be mildly entertained by pirates. The fact that I expect their to be slash out the wazoo for the movie also helps.

Well, after the last post where all I wanted to do was write I got nothing written. It's the most frustrating feeling in the world to have stories and ideas running through your brain and then the instant that you pick up a pencil or open a word processor, they go away. Poof. Gone. Then you're left with a feeling of instense frustration and loss and a blank canvas of white in front of you. I swear, I beginning to think the characters in my head are just here for the free cable TV.

I have only two more weeks at this job. Two more weeks: ten more working days: 80 more hours. Then I shall be free! Free! I had a close call at work the other day. So SHG was looking at news on the net when all of a sudden he said "Uh-oh." He said it several times. One of my co-workers asked what the problem was. SHG then announces that Wal-Mart has extended their discrimination policy to protect gays and lesbians. Loudly. Like this is the signal for the end of the world.

You ever get that cold pit in the bottom of your stomach where you know you're going to have to say or do something but you don't want to? I got that. I sat here in front of my computer just waiting for someone to say something. Given this office's track record, I was expecting it to be quite nasty. Instead, everyone was silent, even OP. SHG then stammered out something about how there was nothing wrong with that and went about his business. I don't know what kind of invisible line this place has, but I get the feeling SHG crossed it. Thank goodness.

Finally, I'm not going to be around for the 4th of July. So no posts. I'll be heading home to celebrate the 4th with some old HS friends at a party. I may stay part of Saturday to spend with my mom (and sister, if she's coming up), but I don't know yet. Right now my weekends are precious and I gave up one two weeks ago to drive my mom around because her car was in the shop. I also gave up a weeknight last week to give it back. Last week involoved running around getting my tire fixed. Lord, all I want is a weekend to sit around and do nothing. Is that so hard to ask?

Finally, I just want to embarrass my roomie. Hey Miome, Sora and Riku out on the dance floor. ^_^

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is:
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On Monday, June 30, 2003 at 07:16 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Ouch. Ow. Ouch. Ow. Ouch. My brain feels like it is trying to pound its way out of my skull. I was going to post some replies to people on ML's and Lj and stuff. I don't think I will. Pain will only make me snarly when I shouldn't be.

Ow.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Cafepress Member Agreement Revision
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On Monday, June 30, 2003 at 12:37 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Remember when I posted a link about Cafe Press's new TOS? Looks like they're changing it again to address the problems people had with it. I guess the mass exodus caused them to think twice about what they were doing. Since I posted a link to the original problem, it's only fair I post a link to the correction of that problem.

I want to write. I want to write so bad it hurts. I left both the disks with stories I'm working on at home and it's driving me up the wall. I'm seriously considering getting another disk and taking a third one from where I work, but I already feel bad about the two. Not that it matters that I can't get to my stories. Lately, everytime I get about five pages deep into one thing, something else comes along and demands to be written. The ideas are coming so fast and so vivid that they make my heart ache because I know I'm not going to be able to finish their stories before I have to move on.

I hate it. I love it. Writing when my mind is like this is truly a doubled-edged sword.

I'm always amazed when people like J.K. Rowling and Anne McCaffery can write book after book about the same world and characters. I can't. I get bored. I forget where I was going with stuff. I lose the drive that the newness of ideas gives me. I think part of the reason is that I enjoy creating, building worlds and societies and relationships and characters in my head and on paper. When I've got everything planned out, the stories lose something. At least when it comes to writing they lose something. Never had a complaint on the reading end.

Strangely enough, I'm reminded of Twig's dead goldfish analogy. Problem is, all the goldfish seem to be dragons for me lately, chasing me down and demanding that I write for them. And I will now banish the Pokemon similarities from my mind (though the image of a field of dead Magicarp has the odd effect of making me snicker).

For those of you not on LJ, there is a poll over in my LJ about where Miome and I will go on vacation. Right now, CA is in the lead. We'll be going sometime in August and stay a little less than a week.

Changeling, I don't know why guy was being such a butthole about the whole car thing. It doesn't matter if you hit him or were pushed into him, either way his insurance wasn't paying for it. Glad to hear that it's straightened out and in your favor too. Doubly glad to hear that your car is fixable.

And now, to go meet some new characters in my head. Wish me luck.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: HP fan comic: Down with Mary Sues
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On Sunday, June 29, 2003 at 07:58 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Okay, here is a random musing people. It contains SPOLIERS for the Order of the Phoenix. Do not read it if you haven't read the book. SPOLIERS! HARRY POTTER! WARNING! WARNING! DANGER WILL ROBINSON!

Right? Right.

All in all, I'm glad Voldemort went after Harry as a kid instead of Neville. Because really, "Neville Longbottom and the Prisoner of Azkaban" just sounds like a really bad porn movie. And let's not even talk about his "chamber of secrets."

My car tire is still flat and will get fixed sometime today. There are several reasons for this. The biggest one being that I had to clean out my trunk so I could get to the spare and jack. This was a momumental task. To give you an idea, cleaning out my trunk was like opening a time capsule from when I was in High School. I found band music (wheeee! sheet music!), calculus homework, pictures, the program for my HS graduation, an old English project, day planners, a box of party toothpicks (no, I don't know why they were there either), laminated pictures of the universe, and several pages from a calendar with cute, mostly naked guys on it. Ah... the memories...

After cleaning out the trunk in 93 degree weather with 100% humidity, I had to sit down inside for awhile lest I pass out in the parking lot. Then it started to rain. Now, the only other time I had to change a tire was in the rain. In fact, it was in the rain on my cousins car while several guys stood around and watched me because they couldn't figure out how to get the tire off. Morons. So I decided my poor car could wait one more day to get the tire fixed. Which means that if I want to be able to go to work on Monday, I've got to have it done.

In order to try the fix-a-flat I had to remove the object that was embedded in my tire. I was right. It was a nail. About four inches of steel nail, bent in half with the head broken off that was jammed into my tire. I had to use pliers to get it out.

In other news, my roomie and I need to fill out the lease for the townhouse and drop it by the realtor today. Once we do that, we will officially be moving! Wheeeee! Also, there are only three more weeks until I leave this job. You have no idea how this fills me with joy. Although, lately, I've been doing more writing than entering because the database I work with has been down so much. All the better. Maybe I can turn out something publishable for August when I start my goal of sending out one short story a month to see if I can get published.

Finally, you know you're bored (or perhaps just kind of curious) when you set up an Excel spreadsheet to graph/do the stats on usage for a mailing list your on. This is what I did last night for the Boy's Inc. ML. Of course, there's another reason I'm doing it. I need to work on my Excel skills a bit and this is one of the ways I can do it. My next goal is to do one for when people joined and stuff (how many people joined each month, avg. number of people joining per month, high value, low value, etc).

Not that anyone care, but the average number of posts on that list is 103.5 per month. ^_^

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: HP Fan Comic: For those of you who don't like Mary Sues
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On Saturday, June 28, 2003 at 01:37 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

The Fix a Flat didn't work. Either the staple (I'm beginning to think it's a nail that's been bent in half and is wedged into my tire) is too high for the sealant to reach or the hole is too big. The air just leaked out with a hissing sound. Which means we've got to change the tire to the spare and get it to a place where we can have the tire repaired or replaced. Sigh, this is not what I wanted to do with my Saturday, but it looks like that's what's going to happen. Bugger. I didn't need this expense.

And I was hoping to do some writing today.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: The Rag and Bone Shop
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On Saturday, June 28, 2003 at 08:34 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Industrial grade metal staple: 1
The Seiryuu mobile's tire: 0

I guess I will be getting my tire fixed today. There's an expense I could have done without.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Snyder Finds High School, College Rings
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On Wednesday, June 25, 2003 at 10:41 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

There is modern Christian rock playing on my radio station. WHY IS THERE MODERN CHRISTIAN ROCK PLAYING ON MY RADIO STATION? It's not even a Christian Rock station! It's top 40 slightly easy listening station. Cry. My sister's taste in music have invaded my station. They've alread been playing more country than I want to hear, and not this. And I can't turn the station because this is the only station I get clearly in my office.

As a side note, the computer people think they can stop people from playing games on their computers by simply removing the shortcuts to them in the start menu. However, they didn't bother to actually remove the programs from the computer. Therefore, a short search using *.exe on the hardrive provides me with hours of mind numbing, Solitare fun.

COOL! They also have pinball on here!

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: U.S. Senate losing furniture to lawmakers
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On Wednesday, June 25, 2003 at 08:49 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Wow, proof that politicians really are crooks. Guess they just wanted a souvenir or something. Then again, isn't that everyone's excuse? "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to take this rock/plant/indian artifact from the State park (despite the numerous signs all over the place telling me not to). I just wanted a souvenir of my vacation." Yeah, sure you didn't know you weren't supposed to take it. Sounds like another case of "the rules apply to everyone else but not me."

Boy, that was more bitter than I intended it to be.

You know it's going to be a long day when you're less than an hour into it and you already have the urge to make a post to every mailing list you're on that basically says "ENTERTAIN ME!" Don't worry, I'm resisting the urge. Maybe I'll do some writing later on this afternoon once I've started to twitch from boredom. Surely no one will mind if I start writing smut at work. It's not like I'm going to be here that much longer... no one will catch me... I'll be careful...

I'm not an addict or anything. Really.

And now, I'm going to go beg my co-workers for work ao that it doesn't look like I'm a totsl slacker. I'll probably make another post sometimes today. Until later.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: The Kitsune Page
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On Tuesday, June 24, 2003 at 08:32 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

True friends are those people who send you smutty Yami no Matsuei fanfics to your email so you can read them at work after having done 6.5 hours of data entry, non-stop.

Thanks Cneko

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Dinosaur National Monument
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On Monday, June 23, 2003 at 07:22 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

So I was talking with my roomie today on the drive home on the subject of stuff you do or know about that other people are just clueless about. Take for example my major: geology. Most people have no idea what geology is about. The closest they get is "stuff that comes out of the ground." This would be pretty close except for the fact that they think the only important things that come out of the ground are stuff people made. Therefore, over half my family believes that I am an archeologist. Consequently, I get a lot of conversations like this.

Clueless Cousin (CC): Hey Tsaiko, I have this arrowhead I found in the field behind my house. Would you look at it?
Tsaiko: Errr... sure. But I really don't know why you want me to look at it.
CC: Aren't you going to school for that stuff? I want to know where this arrowhead came from.
Tsaiko: (muttering) Probably from the field beside your house.
CC: What?
Tsaiko: Sure, I'll take a look at it. (muttering) I'd explain that I'm in geology again but it's obvious you don't listen.
CC: Here's the arrowhead.
Tsaiko looks at a typical quartz arrowhead.
CC: Well?
Tsaiko: It's made of quartz?
CC: Do you think it came from Indians?
Tsaiko: That's a pretty safe bet.
CC: What tribe do you think it's from?
Tsaiko: Errrr... that depends. Where do you live?
CC: Andrews, NC.
Tsaiko: Okay, where is that?
CC: Cherokee County, it's in the Western part of the state.
Tsaiko:...
CC: So what tribe do you think it's from?
Tsaiko: I'm going to say it's from the Cherokee Indians.
CC: Really? Wow, you're smart.
Tsaiko: You don't say...

And now, my Master's degree is going to be in an even more obscure field: paleontology. Oh well. At least all my 10 year old cousins will understand that I'm studying dinosaurs.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Catching Flies with Chopsticks - Game
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On Sunday, June 22, 2003 at 03:31 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

And now, back to your regularly scheduled Tsaiko.

I know a bunch of you people could care less about my dreams. That's why I don't write about them very much though I usually can remember most of my dreams. However, this particular dream was kind of scary in that it combined two very dramatic things that had happened to me over the past few days (ie The Order of the Phoenix and a very upsetting encounter with one of my co-workers on Friday).

First off, I'm going to talk about the incident on Friday. I was filing away some stuff when my co-worker went off on one of his rants. Now, this is not SHG (sexual harassment guy). Once you get him off the phone with his cronies, he's nice and polite. Obnoxious Prick (henceforth his new nickname) is a whole 'nother matter. For one thing, he feels that the closeness of the cubicles gives him the right to quite randomly spew forth his viewpoints and frustrations whenever he feels like it. As far as I can tell, these aren't aimed at anyone in particular. They're just said loudly to the whole place in general.

Usually, I can ignore this guy. He is Republican. Not so bad since I'm Republican as well, but this guy is far to the right that he makes me cringe everytime he opens his mouth to talk about polictics. He beleives that Democrats are the source of all the problems in the government (and I've yet to figure out whether or not he's joking). He will call them names, laugh at them, belittle them, criticize them, and basically acts and talks like they are subhuman simply because they don't think like him. I am not exaggerating on this. When confronted with the fact that one of his co-workers was Democrat his reply was "I thought you were smarter than that." A lovely guy...

Well, for some reason he decided to talk about the new Harry Potter book. Whatever. He then announces that the HP books are "pagan." Okay, nothing new there although it does make me wonder if he's actually read the books. Then he starts in on making fun of what he called the religions with "crap belirfs." This included such lovely sentences like "We should just bring back the Spanish Inquistion and get rid of all these idiots." Keep in mind, he's announcing this to the office in general not know what people's beleifs are.

Then when one Catholic woman (he said she was Catholic, so I'm assuming he knew somehow) didn't know what the Spanish Inquistion was he decided it was his duty to educate her on it. In graphic detail. He did keep these details at a slightly lower volume, but it was still loud enough for me to hear bits and pieces of as I filed away files.

I think what upset me most about this was that I just stood there. I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say. My mind hit neutral and all I could do was stand there. I was so mad I was shaking and I didn't say anything. At that point I anything I said was going to be very, very hostile and derogatory wrt OP's intelligence. I'm a temp. worker and need the money for the next month so I kept my mouth shut and just got through the day. I wish I had had enough guts to chew this guy out.

Luckily, I was having lunch with my roomie and she managed to calm me down. I got through the day and things looked much better after a good night's sleep and food. Saturday came and Order of the Phoenix came out, so the incident got pushed to the back of my mind. That was until last night when I had the dream.

Starts off I'm getting ready for a graduation ceremony. For some reason, in order to go back and get my master's degree, I have to graduate from High School again. I don't know whether I had to take any classes or anything again, but I was required to be at the ceremony. I'm in my cap and gown (both shiny blue) and people are gathering together before the ceremony. Even though I'm supposed to have graduated from HS once (and supposedly old enough to have gotten through college) I was 18 and so was everyone else. I didn't recognize anyone though.

Then, people start passing out hymnals and Bibles to everyone. I tried to refuse one but was told either to take it or I wouldn't be able to graduate. I took one of each but managed to give them to someone else who didn't have them before the ceremony. It made me kind of nervous since people were talking about how they were going to be singing hymns at the graduation. I didn't know if I was going to know the words having given away my hymnal.

I asked who's idea the Bibles/hymnals was and was told it the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher from the OotP's idea. Then the questions started coming. Why was I asking about them? What was my sexual orientation? Who did I think should be president? Shouldn't every student be made to take art classes every year until 10th grade? Didn't I agree that Buddhists were led by St. Lucifer (WTF?)? Question after question and I could tell that if I didn't produce the answers that they wanted to hear I wouldn't be allowed to graduate. I kept trying to give them the correct answers, but they kept giving me looks like they didn't beleive what I was saying. No one would stand near me.

Finally, it was time to line up to enter the place where the ceremony was going to be held. It was supposed to be the gym to my old HS, but it looked nothing like it. It was kind of dark, had padded seats, and velvet curtains and an actual stage at one end. Just before we were going to enter, the DADA teacher grabs my arm and tells me if I don't behave I won't walk across the stage, and therefore won't get my diploma.

The music starts up and we get seated and I noticed that no one is sitting within four seats of me on either side. It's really obvious there's a gap around me and I wonder if people are talking. Then, Josh1 and my Ex sit down beside me. My Ex just kind of sits there, doesn't move, doesn't acknowledge what I'm saying. I lean around him and am whispering to Josh1 about what happened before the ceremony. I don't want anyone to hear me so I'm trying to keep it quiet, but loud enough for him to hear.

After I got through telling him everything, Josh1 said he had to leave because the speakers were almost done and we were going to walk soon. He got up and left. My ex just fell over. Really. He was a statue and keeled over into the chair next to him without Josh1 to hold him up.

Then they're calling my name. I get up and go on stage. The Defense Against Dark Arts is handing out diplomas (obviously she's the principle or something). I shake her had and get my diploma. She whispers something about having won because she made me behave. I smile and nod and go off stage. I walk down the aisle, and there's polite applause as the next name is called. I got to my row. Only instead of turning down it and taking a seat, I keep walking.

By now people are noticing that I'm not stopping. I can hear people whispering, turning in their seats, feel their eyes on me. I'm almost to the door. The Defense Against Dark Arts teacher is screaming at me from on stage, but I have my diploma. She's telling people to stop me but by that time I'm at the door. I push the door open, take off my hat, close my eyes, and step out of the gym. I can see the light through my eyelids and know that I've made it and I'm free.

When I opened my eyes, I was awake.

This dream has so many interpretations I don't even want to think about it right now. Instead, I shall think about the mosquito bites I got from reading outside yesterday. I have at least a dozen on each leg and another three on my arm. Ouch.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is:
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On Sunday, June 22, 2003 at 11:18 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I HAVE FINISHED THE BOOK! I have just one thing to say. Repeatedly.

Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn.

And am I the only one who has noticed how much Rowling's writing style changes from book to book? In the second and third books I was getting annoyed by her abuse of parentheses and such. In this one the ... were driving me up the wall. There were several other things that kind of grated on me as I read the book. Then I'd read some tidbit and I would dissolve into hysterical laughter as I pisked up on something. Anyway, I'm done and now a bath, lunch, and Wal-Mart are in order. Then, laundry.

Still, damn.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is:
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On Sunday, June 22, 2003 at 07:39 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I know you guys are getting tired of this...

I am about 2/3 of the way through the book.

I would very much like to hug Severus Snape.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is:
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On Saturday, June 21, 2003 at 08:10 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Ahem. I am a third of the way through the book.

I hope the new Defense Against Dark Arts teachers dies a cruel, horrible, vicious, bloody death before this book is over.

That is all.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is:
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On Saturday, June 21, 2003 at 05:12 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I have in my hot little hands, The Order of the Phoenix.

I have already spoiled myself by reading the last page. I know at least one of the people I was most worried about makes it through.

I am 78 pages into it, and they mention Harry's butt twice.

I am going to love this book.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: KIKKOMAN- Complete with subtitles!
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On Friday, June 20, 2003 at 07:27 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Here, for the sake of posterity, my guess as to who's going to get bumped off in the HP book. Neville Longbottom. Now, to wait for my book.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Man Scared to Death by Horror Movie?
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On Wednesday, June 18, 2003 at 08:56 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

So, this morning I finally remembered what it was I wanted to write about yesterday. Right, my brain's really working. As I said on Monday, I'm reading the book "Get off the Unicorn" which is a bunch of short stories by Anne McCaffery. It's a lot of her older stuff (1960's and 1970's) and it's not as refined or well thought out sometimes as her later stuff. Doesn't mean I'm not still enjoying it ^^. Anyway, back to what I was talking about. I was reading one of the short stories when it dawned on me that it wasn't actually a short story, but a fragment of one of Anne McCaffery's novels, Damia. Spoilers will follow.

Now, I've never actually read this book. I never got into the Rowan series having always been more interested in Pern and the Brain/Brawn ships than the telepaths. However, that didn't stop me from recognizing where this "short story" came from. Not because of the character names, that came later. It was because of what happened in the short story that I recognized where it came from.

You see, a friend of mine from High School/Middle School had read Damia and was telling me about it. She said that she wasn't too impressed with the book but this one scene really stuck in her mind. This is basically a retelling of how she described it to me. What happens is that the girl's brother dies. She's upset, so what does she do? She sleeps with the alien that, btw, had a crush on her mother! The next day she's having breakfast with her grandmother and is trying to find out if grandma knows. "Grandma, did you hear anything last night?" Her grandmother responds with, "Well, I couldn't hear anything over all the noise you two were making."

For some reason, this has always stuck in my head as being hilariously funny. Years later I'm reading this book of short stories. First there's a story about Rowan with Afra in it. I read it, but think it's a true side story that wasn't in the actual book "Rowan." I was a little disappointed because the story didn't seem to be as self-contained and the characters weren't as well developed as in some of her other stories. Now I know that's because it's a part of a novel.

Then there's a short story about her daughter Damia. I'm reading it, and they're hinting about Afra and Damia with a lead brick. Get to the part where her brother dies and suddenly I recognized the plot line! It was the story my friend had told me about! So now I'm really into this short story because I know that the line grandma says is going to happen. Only, the story ends before the morning after! It was like reading a joke and not being given the punchline! Yet given the way the story was told, I doubt that Anne McCaffery could have been as funny as my friend's retelling. So on one hand, I'm disappointed that my moment of humor was snatched from me. On the other hand, given how I was let down by there "short stories" that are really from novels, perhaps it is all for the best.

Finally, last night over AIM, I was once again a victim of directly connecting my brain to my fingers. Which meant that as soon as I had a thought it went into AIM and got sent. Luckily, it was something the other person found vastly amusing but it made me turn red as I realized what I had just said. I do this a lot in order to write, connect my brain to my fingers that is. It's easier to just type what I think because I have trained myself to think in prose. I run into problems when I decide half way through the sentence that I want to reword what I'm saying. That's why a lot of time I wond up with fragments on one sentence in another. I didn't catch all the bits I was supposed to change/delete before my mind went to the next sentence.

The problem arises when I do a lot of reading, like I have been doing lately. I can either read a lot or write a lot, but I can't do both. It's too hard for my brain to switch tracks from absorbing info to dispensing info. Right now I'm on a reading binge. However, my mind still wants to directly connect to my fingers, so when I type, I'm typing my thoughts. Like this entry. This is exactly how I think.

Let's just hope my internal censor is working better than it was last night. -_-

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Poor Sora and Riku
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On Tuesday, June 17, 2003 at 06:40 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Changeling, Ann, you might say you want strange referral hits. Trust me, you don't. The ones I put on my blog are collected over the period of a month or two and are sanitized beyond belief. Let me tell you, I learn more than I ever wanted to know about anyone's kinks looking at the referral hits I get for this page. There are some weird, weird people out there and they always seem to come to this journal.

Keruri, if you want to see some very nice artwork for Saiyuki, may I recommend the Saiyuki movie? The plot isn't great. In fact, it's mostly just fight scenes. However, I think that was the whole point. "Look! We really can do good animation in the fight scenes. See? SEE?" I had never seen any of the manga or anime when I saw the movie, so I wasn't too impressed. But my friend who loves Saiyuki loved it so I figured I would pass on the recommendation.

I had a rant ready for today. Really, I did. I have completely forgotten it. Wheeee. Good bye rant. Sorry for that. I shall be more entertaining at some other time.

And uterus, this ten days early thing sucks. Big time. Let's not do it again, shall we?

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Matrix: Reloaded: Breadbox Edition
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On Monday, June 16, 2003 at 07:16 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

This girl should do the next Matrix movie. I'd watch it.

So I'm currently reading three things at once. One is "The Last Unicorn" which I'm reading slowly so I can notice all the things I missed the first time I read it. The second is "Long, Hot Summoning." I'm kind of disappointed in it. I like Tanya Huff and I usually enjoy her sense of humor. However, this book is nothing but humor. I wish she had taken more time to build the backstory and explain instead of just whizzing through to try and be funny. The last book is "Get off the Unicorn," a collection of short stories by Anne McCaffery including my absolute favorite, "The Smallest Dragonboy." I'm reading that during my lunches since lately, I haven't been in much of a writing mood.

I have set a goal for myself. Starting in August, I'm going to send one short story off a month to magazine to see if I can get published. I'm also going to keep track of how much I'm spending on sending these manuscripts out versus how much I make. Just remember Tsaiko: it's tax deductible if I call it a business instead of a hobby.

We have been sent the lease for the townhouse! Which means we'll be paying only a little more for a much nicer, much larger place to live with washer/dryer hook-ups. Life is good. We'll also have a month to move, which means we can paint and decorate to our heart's content. At least, we hope so. The owner has to approve of what we want to do. Just as long as I can get rid of the wallpaper in the kitche...

A little over one month until I can leave this job. the thing I hate most is the people who yell at us. I'm sorry that this insurance isn't what you thought it was. Maybe, before you signed it, you should have READ your policy. It's not my problem that you signed something you didn't fully understand or didn't fully read. That is your problem. I can make sympathetic noises at you while you chew me out, but really, I can't do anything about it. And I don't care. So please, do us both a favor, and read before you sign. Thank you.

One more month. One more month. One more month.

Finally sometime, last month I was complaining about this email I got inviting me to join a gaming forum? It said they had found me through FF.Net even though I don't have any fanfics based on games up there. It just dawned on me that I do have a fic based on a game on FF.Net. Part of a Vagrant Story fanfic is up there. Well, now don't I feel stupid. At least now I know the same form email was sent to other people.