Saturday, July 12, 2003

At 10:00AM today, my dad took me over to my aunt and cousin's old house, which they are now renting out to some tenants. Why? Because it seems that their water heater was leaking. As a general rule, that would be a bad thing. Considering how my cousin's the landlady, she needed to fix the problem and so she turned to my dad for cheap labor. That's what family's for. ^_^ Anyway, we went over there and did some work. This is the um... second time... (I think) I've worked with a water heater. My dad has it in his head that I should learn more about handyman-type things; how to do things around the house. Occasionally he takes me outside or on a handyman job (he does those on occasion) so that I can learn something. I suppose it's not that bad. This stuff is actually rather informative. I think it shall be useful info. Anyway, back to the topic at hand, we had to change the water heater. [recommendation]Change your water heaters when they leak. Save yourself a lot of hassle.[/recommendation] So, we detached the old heater, went out to Home Depot to buy a new one, and came back and installed it. Good as new (yes, I realize that it is new).

The family there had the cutest three-year-old boy. ^_^ He was such the rambunctious rapscallion. He was running all about and trying to watch everything we were doing. ^_^; His father kept him at bay most of the time though, so it was all good. Haha, just to give you an example of how cute he was, I was moving the new water heater and I was going one of their cars. My dad told me to be careful and not to hit the car. At that, the boy said "if you hit the car, mommy will be mad" (translated from Vietnamese). XD That surprised me with the cleaverness of it all. But I was further surprised later. My dad and I went into the house for a while and the little boy, being playful, led me to his room. He asked me if I wanted to watch a movie. I said "alright," even though I knew I couldn't stay to watch it. With my approval, he deftly went to the menu of the DVD that was currently in the player (Homeward Bound) and he chose "begin movie." O_o When did toddlers learn how to use DVD players? I was, to say the least, surprised. I want my child to be that smart. Mental note: train the future little one....

OK, something I've noticed over the course of the last few months: people don't understand how to debate or, at the very least, argue logically. I have studied logic and rhetoric, I have participated in debates, and I have written argumentative essays. What is the first thing you learn about logic? Well, maybe after learning logical forms and such, you learn that you should attack your opponent's argument, not his character. While I figured this was easy enough to understand, it seems that others have been consistently misconstruing my thoughts; especially rants (just examples). Lets get one thing straight: I never attack anyone. What could I possibly gain from attacking others? Instead, I reason, use experience, and/or state my beliefs on a matter whenever I feel like vocalizing it. Never, ever take my comments too personally. Why? Because they aren't meant to be taken personally. If you ever feel insulted, then I'm sorry. It was never my intention. But don't take your rage and use it to make irrational arguments. I've been noticing that that happens rather often. If you disagree, feel free to tell me. However, please make sure it's a reasonable, logical, and sound argument. I am always open to criticism. Oh, and don't attack my character. I've been noticing people calling me "ignorant," "stupid," "offensive," etc. You know how unproductive that is in a real argument? Besides, I find it utterly annoying to be called such when I am speaking what I have reasoned and/or believe. I'm certain you would feel the same too if someone completely denounces something you believe strongly. Anyway, I just wanted to get that off my chest. Hopefully, after this rant, I shall recieve less crap.

Posted by Tsubasa @ 09:25 PM PST [Link]

Thursday, July 10, 2003

Just Wingin' It version 19: "Ye Shall be as Gods"

Something of a culmination of my Xenosaga fandom in a layout. KOS-MOS r0x0rz. She deserved a layout. She got one. ^_^ Not exactly a highly original and/or revolutionary layout, but it looks good enough and I needed to change the layout badly. If your care enough, leave you thoughts.

My socio teacher is an interesting man. While he teaches us stuff from his lesson plans, he always seems to stray away from them and goes on about socio and economic theory. I like that. It's very fascinating stuff. Today one of his little tangents was on the subject of naturally affluent societies (I'm pretty sure that's the term). Essentially, in socio theory, this term refers to a society where the people are "prosperous" living off the land. Where people are satisfied with the "measly" pickings of the lands. Now I don't know about you, but I don't need socio theory to tell me that there is such a thing. Why else do you think I've said before that I would like to live a few centuries ago with the Ainu? Sure, maybe because I have an obsession with Nakoruru, but aside from that, they are a naturally affluent society. They are happy hunting, farming, conversing, singing, and the like. Now that's a life. Although I really enjoy thinking and analyzing most things, I gotta admit, life would probably be a more fun if I didn't have as much education. *sigh* I suppose you can say it's societal backlash or something, but dang, I'm envious of such societies. There are few if any left in the modern world. Such a shame really....

Oh, let me just say that Happy Lesson Advance, the new Happy Lesson TV series (w00t!!! XD), rulz muchly. In the first episode, there's a short, but sweet, sequence of Kisaragi in a sailor fuku. Yes, I am easily pleased. XD

Posted by Tsubasa @ 09:53 PM PST [Link]

Wednesday, July 9, 2003

You know what I've realized? Charcoal is not one of my favoriter mediums. -_- I don't know about you, but I find myself having a little trouble making the lines uniform in length and with shading in general. I suppose it's because I don't have any prior experience with it, but dang, it gets kinda annoying at times. After working with it for three days, I'm finally starting to get the fine pressure control required for shading, but I'm still having a little trouble making them lines uniform. Thin lines in charcoal suck. ;_; Instead, I've been making my lines thicker to make it easier for myself and to make it more stylistic. Yeah, I know it's cheating, but hell if I care. XD All in all though, drawing's going well. Everyone wants to see my drawings though. It's, like, so wrong. ;_; I shake my fist at ye who wish to gaze upon mine art! *shakes fist*

My grades for the last quarter were finally posted. I did better than I thought I would. Like, substantially better. WAAAA!!!!! I'm so happy!!! ;_; <-- tears of joy The daddy is not displeased. That's a good thing because he gets displeased easily. Go me. I rule. *does a little jig* XD

There was a response to my job hunt in the mail today. It's a postcard from Target. Below follows a transcript:
Just a fast, fun, and friendly card to let you know that we've reviewed your application. We'll contact you as soon as we have a position that matches your needs. In the meantime, we appreciate your interest in Target!
-Thank You, Team Relations
What a *cough* nice way to say "we don't need you." -_- Agh! I needs a job. I can't keep up my expensive life-style without a flow of income. I'm really hoping Toys R' Us calls. *crosses fingers*

There's a Sakura Taisen manga? I didn't know that until today, where I saw it for sale at Nikaku. I was taking the Hana out to have a happy time purchasing One Piece merchandise. ^_^ I don't blame her. I get rather giddy thinking about OP stuff myself. But the Sakura Taisen manga caught my eye first and thus, I purchased it. Besides, I was low on cash and could only really afford a single tankouban. ^_^; The manga be prettyful. Fujishima Kousuke art never ceases to amaze me. He makes such attractive female characters. The male characters look fine too, but who cares about them? XD Honestly, who reads Aa! Megami-sama to look at Keiichi? I rest my case. XD Anyway, it's a very fun book. Once again, it's a retelling of the story from the very beginning, but there're a few fun differences (not to be confused with bad differences such as in the TV series -_-). I have a feeling that I'll be collecting this series. ^_^ In addition to the nice art, the presentation is top-notch for a manga. The cover slip is all shiny. I like it. ^_^ It also comes with a sticker sheet. Interestingly enough, there are PS2 memory card stickers on it. Sweet! ^_^ When I got home, I promptly affixed the Kohran sticker onto my memory card. I be one happy camper. XD

Posted by Tsubasa @ 09:10 PM PST [Link]

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Visit my GazouBBS: Resplendent Impressions
(Entries below)
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Posted by Tsubasa @ 08:37 PM PST [Link]

Monday, July 7, 2003

*Xenosaga battle music plays in the background*
You know you're obsessed with an RPG when you have the battle theme looping endlessly while you're on the computer. ^_^;;

Today was more job hunting! Unfortunately for me, there were few places that were taking applications. -_- I went to a few places, but eventually only turned in one application and that was at Mervyns. Yes, I applied at Mervyns. Really not my type of place, as I have limited knowledge of apparel, but I'm pretty desperate. Not "I'll work at Great America" desperate though. I don't think I'll ever sink that low. I'm really getting annoyed by the practice of not evaluating an applicant's knowledge or skill. Sure, they do that during the interview, but I never get an interview to demonstrate my knowlege and/or skill in the first place. -_- Simply put, I believe that I am more knowledgable about the merchandise at the local Gamestop/EB/Media Play/Frys Electronics than the average currently employed employee. I cannot say for certain, but from what I've seen, I am at the very least on par with the average employee in terms of familiarity with the inventory. Usually, I know more. In the case of Fry's, I get the impression that I know more than any of the employees. I've been known to tell an employee about a product in their designated section. -_-;; *frustration frustration*

Spurred by a conversation I had in the car with my friends earlier today:
People have a warped sense of what's alright to do these days. I suppose with the advent of the internet and compressed audio and video, things have really changed. Piracy is so commonplace today that many don't think that there's anything wrong with downloading an MP3. "Well, I don't distribute them" or "everyone else has them" are pathetic excuses. That doesn't put you anymore in the right. I'm sorry, but copyright infringement is illegal in any circumstance. Sure, call me a hypocrite. I own some MP3s and avi files of anime episodes. I am, however, trying to replace my library with legitimate products. Sure, it may not be happening too quickly, but I am trying. I am not saying that I am right because of that. Of course not. I know that I'm engaging in illegal actions. But I do have ethics, however fallicious, behind my downloading. For example, I follow the old-school fansub ethics code. As for MP3 downloading, I do not actively download MP3s. I may get a single song on occasion, but I believe that I'm getting more songs via purchasing CDs these days. Anyway, back to the main point of this whole thing, I just want people to realize that the above described actions are illegal and are cutting into the profits of the creators. Don't try to make any excuses for your illegal activity. That's all I want you to know. I'm not going to go on about how you should not engage in such actions. That's completely at your discression.

Posted by Tsubasa @ 09:09 PM PST [Link]

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