November 29, 2002
Family's over~...

Yeah... cousins are over... been playing DDR, PPP, Secret of Mana, etc... I gotta go to work at 4 today -_- Gotta go to the bathroom, will write more later...

Posted at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)


November 28, 2002
Sleepy...

First of all, WTF MiXD is now complete, as Ek has finished making the steps not-retarded ^^; The final version, plus the preliminary version, can be downloaded here.

Yesterday was kinda fun... first, I went to work for a 12-4 shift that was probably busier than all my shifts in July combined. When I got out, I went to Patty's house, which took almost an hour due to traffic, then went to Springfield, which took about another hour, again due to traffic.

Just about everyone was at the mall, since school was out early for the holiday. There was one guy on the Soul Calibur 2 machine which seemed, for the most part, completely unbeatable - he had a 16+ win streak with all of us trying to take him down before someone finally did ^^; At least I did fairly well, though I didn't win a single round... hurray for chaotic strategy ^^;

After a while, Patty, Chris, Ek, Billy, and I went to Starland to pick up my PS2. Billy also picked up some cheap hentai o.O We went back to the house to test it out, and...

No workies. The red screen of doom presented itself. Plus, the menu screen graphics (with the spinning blue lights) was acting funky.

Immediately took it back to Starland to see what was wrong. Apparently, Chris (the manager, who also does all the technical work) stated that nothing was wrong - noting that you had to hit reset after inserting the disc to get it to boot up. He tries a bunch of PS2 games to show me that it works with this method. (I should have gotten him to try a PSX game or a DVD movie, since I found out later neither of those work.) Somehow, we end up buying MORE stuff before leaving - I pick up a copy of Vampire Night (needed a good gungame ^^;) and Patty gets a Hellsing artbook (or was it an episode guide?)...

So we took it back, booted up DDRMAX J, and played that for a while ^^; Eventually, Pakman and Kevin arrive. Later on, Pakman goes to pick up Hanna (who was somehow over at Mike's house o.O), and I leave with Kevin to go run to his house and pick up his DDRMAX USA and memcard, so we can play the edit ^^; He's hungry so we pick up McDonalds on the way back, too.

When we get back, Chris is playing Metroid Fusion, Patty is playing something on the PS2 (still using mine), and the rest (including Hanna) are in the basement watching Ice Age. I need to see that movie sometime ^^; Ek plays around with the edit a little bit (though Kevin leaves with Pakman and Hanna, and we end up persuading him to leave his DDRMAX and memcard behind ^^;), which results in the link way up in the first paragraph of this posting ^^; We try some Vampire Night as well - noting that the load times seem abnormally long.

Around 2:30, Patty and I take our leave. Patty drives back while I sleep in the passenger seat. When we get to her house, I rest for a little while (though Patty is trying to wake me up ^^;) before heading back since I am still very tired. I do get back home, but instead of sleeping, I end up testing the PS2 some more. While at Chris's we tried his original copy of Rockman X4, and it didn't work, so I try some of my originals, which also do not work. I sent emails to ModChip-SBox.com to see if they could help figure out what the problem was, hopefully they can help and I can have Chris at Starland fix it or something ^^;

Anyways... today's Thanksgiving day... relatives arriving later... only day free until work hell, and no one's even here -_-

Posted at 02:11 AM | Comments (0)


November 26, 2002
If you were wondering...

Yeah, there's an ad banner now. It was too amusing to not put up ^^;

It's not an official banner of course, but it gets the point across. If you need really cheap and somewhat reliable hosting (reliability has been getting better despite this site's downtime and slowness when it first went up), be sure to check them out. Make sure you click the ad and not just go to the URL, though ^^;

Posted at 04:58 PM | Comments (0)


November 25, 2002
Blagh...

For those of you with a DexDrive or similar device, and have DDR MAX USA, you can download a preliminary version of the Sandstorm edit "WTF MiXD". The final version is pending Ek's alterations/approval. ^^; (I gave a memcard containing this save to Kevin, so hopefully it'll get to Ek that way.)

Weekend was ok - only major happening was staying over at Dave's on Saturday night, then going to New Fortune on Sunday morning. Though, I stayed up on Saturday night to finish the aforementioned edit, then to get Dance Master status on single standard. That took a few hours. ^^; Also, after dim sum, Josh and I headed down to SF for a bit before I had to go to a meeting at work. Unexpectedly, we saw Kp, Zeus, Gay Goblin, and Harold (I think that's who he is, anyways ^^;;) And, my "Misha'su" character on SC2 got her first loss at the hands of Ek's cpu player... ^^;

Today, I got a haircut (I might put up a pic later, since I recently realized I don't have a single picture of myself up on this website ^^;) and I set up the artificial tree. Going to Patty's in a moment to help her install Windows XP (she has ME installed right now, which explains why it's sucking to all hell). I was going to go yesterday (and actually did, but arrived way too late at night and just ended up leaving without a word) if not for all the stuff that happened ^^;

Posted at 05:41 PM | Comments (0)


November 22, 2002
Work sucks...

I'm actually giving serious thought to quitting my job now. It has been interfering far too much with my personal life lately - and with a pay rate of only $5.45/hr, it's not really worth keeping. I bet Billy probably gets paid more than I do (as for that issue, he apologized, and we'll leave it at that for now).

About a month ago I told them I would be out of town for the whole of Thanksgiving weekend, so I wouldn't be working on either Friday nor Saturday. For a while, the computer reflected this. Until a couple days ago, where I was pulled out of my off days and scheduled anyways. And, I'm required to work those hours, or I'm fired. Urgh.

Anyone else find this completely ludicrous? I told them, no way, no how I'd make it that weekend. And now they expect me to be there if I want to keep my job. Want to know why I'm expected to be there now?

Greg, our newest third key, just quit, even though he hasn't even been working for more than a month. He job-hopped, so that he wouldn't have to work Thanksgiving. Leaving only ME to cover for him, because our manager is a lazy ass that didn't hire the 6-7 temps a MONTH ago like he should have. Over at Lakeforest last year, we had probably 8 temps (I was one of them) so any of the regulars who needed the days off got it. But not here, apparently.

And watch us not get any temps for Christmas, either. I should plan on quitting before then.

Apparently, bad management is a curse for all of us here. Josh recently quit his 4-year long job at Best Buy for the same reason. And he worked enough hours there that he actually had a 401k plan.

Posted at 01:17 PM | Comments (1)


November 21, 2002
Fucking NO.

Probably most of you who are actually reading this have not known me for a very long period of time, and don't know what really pisses me off, or what it's like dealing with what I'm like when I'm pissed off. It's not pretty.

Read more...
Posted at 02:55 PM | Comments (1)


Hurray for potatoes...

Yesterday was really fun - I was out for a full 12 hours for a change.

The day before, Patty had IMed me and asked me to come to campus at 10am, since they wanted to go to SF and needed another driver. 10am was, unfortunately, too early for me to get up, and I ended up arriving at around 11:30 instead. Plans were a little delayed, but we still went. I drove, carrying Ann and Stacy, and Patty drove Pat's car, with Pat and a girl whose name I should know but don't ^^; Since it was around noon, traffic was next to non-existant, and we made the trip from MC to SF rather quickly - probably 30 minutes or less.

As expected, Kevin and Billy were already there when we arrived. We played a bunch of DDR, I played a bunch of Soul Calibur 2, etc. Eventually, we all went down to the food court for lunch. I went to Arby's and got the chicken strips meal - yay, MORE chicken ^^; Kevin had to leave after that, though. After eating, we went to play a bit of Drummania ^^; I got a -little- better - at least now I can full-combo Ai no Shrushi on Normal. ^^; We eventually head back upstairs, for more DDR (and SC2). Kevin returns after a little while, and I get to meet Jen. She's fun ^^; Patty and several of the others leave to go play Drummania some more. I continue playing DDR and SC2, as usual (but more of the latter ^^;) At around 6pm, Patty returns, and everyone goes back in Pat's car. I chose to stay, so stay I did...

Using 3 characters in SC2 Conquest, I brought Green army from the 1% of territory it had to around 13% (taking it all away from Blue ^^;) My characters are "STC" (Talim 2nd costume, Platinum Knight of the Minotaur), "HIKARI" (Kilik 2nd costume), and "MISHA'SU" (Talim 1st costume) ^^; Yeah, my character went from the Furies to the Minotaur for some reason. Maybe because I have green medals in addition to blue ones now.

We stay until around 9pm, when Kevin, Jen, Dan (Pakman), and I decide to go out to eat dinner. We end up going to IHOP - I'm really just tagging along for the company, and not really to eat. IHOP is fun - when the waitress asked for drinks, Jen got a Shirley Temple (a non-alcoholic drink involving cherry juice, apparently), and also asked if she could get cherries in it. In turn, I asked if I could get cherries in my Coke ^^; Dan was asked if he wanted cherries in his Sprite, but declined. ^^;;

We ordered chicken wings (even MORE chicken!) and cheesesticks for appetizers. Dan orders a "chicken fried steak" (I think he meant "country" ^^;), while I end up being the odd one of the group, and order two sides (since I'm not that hungry) - a baked potato, and mashed potatoes ^^;; Yes, very odd, and next time I think I'm just getting the mashed potatoes...

After IHOP, we head our separate ways - Kevin goes to Herndon to drop off Jen at her house, so we are both traveling on I-495 N for a bit. It was already 10:30 - I decided it was too late to drop by Dave's like planned, so I just go directly home, shower, watch a little TV, and go to sleep.

Now, today, I have to go to work, then we have anime club tomorrow, then work again on Saturday. Oh well...

On a side note, Sugar DVD1's release date has been announced! It's coming April 8th of next year... with 4 episodes, and a disc+artbox release... it's as good as mine =P

Posted at 02:02 PM | Comments (0)


November 19, 2002
Chickened out...

It just occured to me... yesterday, I pretty much ate nothing but chicken... I didn't eat until I went to the mall, where I got chicken soup from Chick Fil-A, around 6:00... then the next thing I ate was at 11:00, where I ate a bunch of cold spicy chicken wings from Giant (yes, I just ate them after buying them on the way back home)... then, after I was done with the wings, I went to Wendy's and got the #6 (Spicy Chicken sandwich) as always... ^^;

Posted at 07:38 AM | Comments (0)


More money down the drain...

Made an unexpected purchase yesterday - visited EB Games at Montgomery Mall while I was there, and ended up walking out with Super Bust-A-Move (Puzzle Bobble) 2... and SNES carts of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy III US ^^;; They actually had copies hidden behind some boxes behind the counter. And, with CT at $40 and FF3 at $35, they were pretty much a steal, even though they were cartridge-only. CT is currently on extended loan to Dave (hopefully he won't take time off work just to play it ^^;) but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with FF3 - I already have a copy, though mine isn't in as good condition as this one, but the one I have has all my saves and stuff, too... perhaps it doesn't really matter anymore, since my best save was on the PSX version, anyways...

In any case, I went to CP as expected - played lousy since I haven't played there since forever -_- Also played a few rounds of SC2. Some guy tried to insert credits because he wanted to play against me, but I wanted to finish my Conquest game, so I asked him to wait until I was done with the conquest before he inserts credits. He looked on the verge of getting pissed. Apparently, he didn't know what Conquest mode was and thought I was some nutcase or something, but I didn't care. I don't like getting my conquest games interrupted, especially at CP where each game is disgustingly expensive. It was a good thing I refused him, too, since after I left, all he did was jam the buttons and wildly wiggle the joystick. Damn button jammers.

Went to Dave's as planned - of course, the first thing we do is open and play CT. Dave asks if he can buy CT off me repeatedly throughout the night ^^; Though I'd like to oblige, I really did want that cart for myself... though I have no problem letting him borrow it until he's done with it. He might buy one of my copies of FF3 at some point, though. Played some of Super Bust-A-Move 2 as well - I still don't know if I like to play with or without chain reactions... I'm used to not having them, but they add an interesting dynamic to the game. However, a lot of the chains most people get are just dumb luck. I've accidentally cleared my entire screen at least 3 times in that game already.

Anyways, came back, checked the new copy of FF3 to see if it worked (apparently, EB's refurbishing policy involves playing the game for at least two hours, then saving in all 3 save slots, since both games had identical data in all save slots, two hours in), then slept. Woke up kinda early today, somehow, and ended up coming down here to get a drink, since I was really thirsty. I'll probably head back to sleep in a minute...

Today, I want to get that timing job out of the way, at least. I was thinking of going to Suncoast and picking up some of the new releases (Cowboy Bebop Best Sessions is out!) but I think I'll wait until my work shift on Thursday to do that.

Posted at 05:57 AM | Comments (0)


November 18, 2002
Fuck you Microsoft...

ARGH. Had a complete entry for the entire weekend in here, but IE6 just ate it. -_-

I don't have much time to recreate the entry I was writing over the past half hour, but I'll try.

Saturday morning: I finished the project, as the last entry said, but ended up taking it to campus to print out at the computer labs there, since the layout was screwing up with the printer here. At campus, it screwed up even WORSE - not only did the layout problems continue, now the Japanese text was coming out as gibberish. I had to devise a quick solution since I was running short on time... ended up launching Photoshop 5.0 LE, screenshotting all the text (since it DISPLAYED properly), and pasting it all back into the document, replacing the text. Some distortion resulted in this, but I didn't have time to worry about minor things like that. Quickly assembled it, and ran to the classroom, where I give it to Cristina to deliver to Yamashita-sensei. I'll apologize for not going to class on Saturday.

Saturday afternoon: Went to pick up Patty as planned, and we call Kevyn as we head towards his house. When we get there, he is in the middle of showering, and we shortly head out, first to a very crowded McDonalds (there was a line for the 5-car parking lot - what idiot makes a McDonalds with a parking lot smaller than my driveway?) then to Chris's house. Travel time is average since people can't drive when the road is even slightly slippery. In any case, we arrive, but Tiff is not there. Kevin (confusing, eh?) decides to set up his PS2 when we arrive, and finds that he had brought DDRMAX, but not his memory card. Luckily, I still had mine on me, so we use that. He takes the half hour to complete the Hardcore 21 oni, so we have all unlocks. Kevyn leaves after that. Shortly after that, Patty takes my car, and half the people, to SF to pick up Freestyle and Purple Flames. Shortly after that, Pakman arrives with Hanna and Clara, and we start putting up party decorations. It takes around an hour for Patty and the others to return, due to traffic. Party continues on, even though Tiff doesn't arrive until 10pm, and only stays for an hour. Pakman, Hanna, and Clara leave since they can't stay the night, and I go to sleep while Patty and others stay awake and apparently talk and do other stuff until 4am. (Sorry for lack of detail, I'm in a hurry and don't feel like re-writing what I already wrote...)

Sunday morning: Pakman and Clara return, with breakfast-type stuff. I end up eating 3 pieces of hash browns, 3 pieces of bacon that were somehow stuck together, and a biscuit. We watch the entire Fruits Basket DVD. I feel somewhat nauseous towards the end, and after it's over, I head upstairs, where the food decides it was better suited to reside in the trash can than my stomach. -_- (Note: Pepsi on the way up is the most foul taste on the face of the earth.) Since I feel sick from this, I end up calling in sick from work, even though no one is available to cover my shift. I need to go there to personally apologize for this, since it means James (the manager) was stuck there for the entire day with no help whatsoever. Basically, I slept it off, and we ended up playing some Bomberman, then Chris went to play more Resident Evil 0, while more DDRMAX (US and J), ParaParaParadise, and some Taboo! were played by the others. I finally get a AA in Sobakasu - full combo with 18 greats, and all OKs. I also burn a copy of the DWI/StepMania files I don't have. We pack up to leave at 6, long past the time Patty was supposed to return home. I take the pads back with me (we had been using my Ignition 2.0 and regular RedOctane the entire weekend) but leave PPP behind since my PS2 still isn't finished being modded. When I get home, I watch KareKano DVD2 again, and go to sleep after finishing it.

Feeling better today, at least, but still going to avoid greasy foods, since I think that was what caused it. Good weekend, except for that vomitting thing -_- Now, going to head to Suncoast to apologize for yesterday, then I'll probably head to CP, then to Dave's.

Posted at 03:21 PM | Comments (0)


November 16, 2002
Project over with...

I -think- I'm done with the project... I'm not going to do any more work on it, and I just have to go to campus and print it out, since the printer here is crapping out.

Right now, the plan is to drop off the project when Yamashita-sensei's morning class ends, then head to Patty's house, then, with Patty, go to Montgomery Mall (pick out a quick present, and get some stuff at work settled), then finally arrive at Chris's house, and stay until Sunday morning, when I drop Patty off at home, then go to work ^^;

I hope they've been treating my PPP well ^^;

Posted at 08:34 AM | Comments (0)


November 15, 2002
The story that never ends...

Picked up Love Hina manga vol.7, Love Hina "Christmas Movie" (has both the Christmas special and the never-broadcasted ep25), and... Fushigi Yuugi Eikoden ^^; (Yeah, I'm a completest, and FY is one of the series of which I own ALL of it...)

Watched Eikoden all in one sitting... was nice, but all the clean digital animation and CG work seemed SO out of place compared to the rest of the series. Not to mention I wanted to hit Mayo repeatedly. In the head. With a 3-ton safe. And this is a character you're supposed to sympathize with? Maybe if they actually took the time to properly set up her character, you wouldn't spend 80% of the OVA wanting to send her into a wood shredder.

Other than that... I still need to finish that damned project, and I'm going to end up taking a large portion of tomorrow doing so... which will probably mean missing much of anime club this week. AND, the SF tournament moved a week prior, the DAY I set the old date as one of my off days. Now I ALSO have to go to work and fix that. -_- Not to mention, figuring out if it's even worthwhile since I have class on Saturdays, anyways.

Today's going to be lousy. But I guess it'll all be worthwhile when it's Saturday...

Posted at 03:56 AM | Comments (0)


November 13, 2002
Wow...

If you haven't purchased Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended, do it now. Damn, it was beautiful ^^;

Yep, I was up at the HDTV watching that for 4 hours.

Posted at 08:14 PM | Comments (0)


And we've invented a new dance...

Long live KENDO STICK PARAPARA! =P

I brought down the PS2, ParaParaParadise, etc to VA today, and dropped it off at Starland. However, it looks like they're going to take -much- too long to get the job done, and I decided to leave the receipt with Bounma, so he can pick it up and have it done at Pandora's (he claims he can have it done for $20 cheaper, and on the same day, which is better than waiting several weeks).

After leaving Starland, Chris and I went to SF. Didn't see Billy as we expected to, but we saw Ki. Played two sets of doubles, and a little bit of SC2 Conquest (wow, my character takes a beating when I'm away). Then, we returned to Chris's house, then played a bunch of ParaParaParadise, my set's first play since I've received it. Everything works, and Chris and I completely exhausted our arms ^^; At one point, we started using the bamboo kendo stick to dance - we can actually accumulate decent combos just swirling it around ^^; Tried a few routines too...

I'll say this now - I will NOT perform the Deluxe -eurobeat- routine. It looks really, really cute when a female does it, but when a male does it, it's just... wrong o.O

After that, just sat around and chatted about various things, then I headed home. I left PPP with Chris since I don't even have my PS2 at the moment. I'll just pick it up when I get my PS2 back. Tomorrow, I have to try and finish my Japanese project. Also going to figure out what's going to happen with the party on Saturday... I want to stay over Friday and Saturday nights, but that'll involve significant planning. And it depends on whether or not Patty will be allowed to stay overnight at Chris's again. I really hope this works out.

Posted at 12:51 AM | Comments (0)


November 12, 2002
On days like this...

We -really- need a second computer. My brother didn't have work today, so he was on the computer for THE ENTIRE DAY. I couldn't get on until now, when he went to sleep on the couch. -_-

I -was- going to try to get the PS2 mod job going today, but, since I couldn't get to the computer, I couldn't coordinate with Chris. Starland will do the job, but they want $60 (!) for the labor alone. That price is extremely difficult to swallow - I realize that it is a very difficult job, but that's still even more than the cost of purchasing and shipping the chip from a different country. Even $35, maybe $40 would be easier to swallow, but $60? I'm inclined to try elsewhere.

In any case, when I do drop the PS2 off for the job, I want Chris and Bounma there, since they're regular customers, and I've only been there twice before. Today would have been perfect, but... argh -_-

Basically spent the whole day getting rid of my DVD backlog and playing Extra Mix and 5th Mix on controller. (Pads+PS2 are also in computer area and also unaccessable for the entire day -_-) Feels like a completely wasted day, since I wasn't able to do anything productive. For work, I took a morning shift, my first in a very long time, so I'll have to wake up early and make sure to get there with enough time to eat breakfast/lunch before I start at 11am. After that I'm probably going to end up dropping by Chris's house unannounced, since I really want to get that PS2 mod done, and I have no way of contacting him -_-

Posted at 02:51 AM | Comments (0)


November 10, 2002
And another weekend flies by...

Nope, still no modded PS2. The Parapara controller still sits in the corner, silently laughing at me.

Went to class on Saturday morning, as usual... this class period was interesting, as nothing new was actually learned, but we spent the entire period doing odd activities involving the entire class. After our break (it's a 3 hour class, after all) we take an -evil- quiz, one I continue working on until after class is over. It wouldn't be so evil, if I had been able to read katakana without the help of a chart. -_- Basically, Yamashita-sensei walked around after about half an hour and romanized all the katakana for people (like me) who couldn't read it. Presumably, taking off points in the process for this assistance. Oh well...

Went to work afterwards, and, as promised, Kevyn showed up so he could fill out a job application. He -should- get called in this week for an interview, hopefully... Dave is with him, and they are in the middle of a used games shopping spree. It takes until around 10:40 to close the store that night, but I end up going to Dave's place from there, and stay until around 1-2am. Picked up two more DVDs, too - CCS DVD12 and Utena DVD3 (woo, Black Rose) - we watched a little of Utena while at Dave's against his will, and spotted several problems that shouldn't have happened (hardsubs, an unexplained inconsistency between Miki/Mickey being used interchangeably [this was intentional, Neil Nadelman says], and transfer errors that almost made it look worse than the original 13 ep arc's release). When I got home, I watched all of CCS DVD12 before going to sleep. Finally at the Sakura card arc. ^^

Today, I went to meet up at New Fortune with Dave, Kevyn, Angie, and carpboy (argh, still don't know his name). They are incredibly, unbelievably late. I waited probably over an hour, to find out they had taken the longest way possible to get there, even though I had IMed them instructions that would have taken them 1/3 of the time. -_- Of course, since we got there so late, there was no line, but there was no good food left, either. We were basically eating the day's leftovers.

After that, we went back to the apartment, watched a bunch of Nintendo trailers (being played by the PS2 DVD drivers, no less), played a bit of Super Bomberman 5, played a bit of DDRMAX, read the silly engrish on the ParaParaParadise keepcase cover, etc... we were supposed to catch Star Wars Ep.2 IMAX but ended up staying too long in the apartment - Kevyn mis-read the showing time so we couldn't make the first showing, and it was decided that the new ep of the Simpsons was more important than catching the second showing. Oh well...

Other than that, not much really happened... Tiff's birthday party is this weekend, and still trying to figure out how exactly I'm going to make that work... also have to figure out how I'm going to get my PS2 modded by Friday -_- Chris hasn't been much help in that, and I think I'm just going to call down there myself tomorrow, and see if I can bring it in and have it modded then... I can't stand this for much longer -_-

Posted at 11:47 PM | Comments (0)


November 09, 2002
Shadows of the past...

Today was pretty much the same as any other day - I came to anime club around 2 hours late (even later than expected, since Shady Grove Rd. was completely blocked off in the direction I was going due to a big accident) and ended up getting dinner on the way. Took Patty for our food run, taking Kevyn, Stacy, and Eric with us, and we also went to Best Buy to grab a PS2 S-Video cable since Josh had lost his. Played some DDRMAX on my Ignition pad (and we got Spin the Disc out! One more unlock to go!) and a lot of Puzzle Bobble (dunno which version, whichever was out for PS2 ^^;)

I'm kinda worried about Josh - he left without a word today to go home, and he seemed irritated about something the entire time. =/

So Patty, Kevyn, and I went for our weekly XP LaserSport run. I ended up napping in the backseat while letting Patty drive the Volvo. I was sleepy ^^; Got there, found that we were only 78 points away from the 1st unlock. Oh joy... =P We drove it all the way down to 42 points remaning. Also, Patty won a Spider-Man FS DVD on the items game, and only on her 4th try. (Discussing it with the employees there, the machine is obviously rigged, so it takes more than skill to actually win something ^^;)

What made today interesting though... I saw this couple there, and I thought the girl looked very much like someone who was in my high school graduating class... and decided that it was too far away from my high school for such a coincedence. Later, she asked me if I went to Gaithersburg HS. Wow... it was her after all o.O Oddly enough, I still remember her name (along with many, many others in my graduating class) - Stacy Hankin. It wasn't like I especially knew her, but I hadn't seen -anyone- from my high school graduating class for a very long time. That made today interesting o.O

I sorta want to visit other people that I went to high school with... but it probably wouldn't be such a good idea. Considering that I have not been concentrating on class at the slightest these past three years, I'm a bit embarrassed how far back I am on where I -should- be in life. I don't expect to get a bachelor's degree for another 4 years at the least, and most of these people will be done with college in less than half of that. Oh well... my original field of choice (comp sci) sucks now, anyways, and this probably gives me time to rethink everything.

Hrm... this was a lot of stuff I hadn't intended to write about o.O Oh well... I actually do have some work for Japanese class to do, but I think I'll do it in the morning... sleepy now...

Posted at 02:18 AM | Comments (0)


November 08, 2002
Parapara...

It's here... but the PS2 isn't modded yet, so I can't play it -_-

Dammit... now I gotta see if I can get it done this weekend... probably Sunday...

Posted at 04:07 PM | Comments (0)


Personality Disorder Test...

Well, I took this WAY back on November 11, 2001 (almost a year ago to the date)... here's what I got back then...

DisorderRating
Paranoid:Low
Schizoid:Moderate
Schizotypal:Moderate
Antisocial:Low
Borderline:Low
Histrionic:Moderate
Narcissistic:Low
Avoidant:Low
Dependent:Low
Obsessive-Compulsive:Moderate

And here's what I got just now, retaking it...

DisorderRating
Paranoid:Low
Schizoid:Low
Schizotypal:Moderate
Antisocial:Low
Borderline:Low
Histrionic:Moderate
Narcissistic:Low
Avoidant:Low
Dependent:Low
Obsessive-Compulsive:Moderate

-- Click Here To Take The Test --

Apparently, I'm no longer as schizoid as I used to be...

I find this funny, since almost everyone else I know who takes this test tends to get "Very High" results for many of these... maybe I'm just weird... =P

Posted at 02:37 AM | Comments (3)


I need another Ignition now...

Playing doubles with one Ignition 2.0 and one regular RedOctane makes for a very... interesting experience. ^^; I should ask RedOctane if I could have used that $40 off two Ignitions with the bundle... either that, or I find someone to split the money for two pads and use their $40 off thing. ^^;

I actually have a lot of AAs, and most of them aren't full combos (yeah, DDRMAX USA has a weird modification to the grading in which a full combo is automatically an AA, regardless of how many points you got... break that combo, though, and you're on the regular MAX points system), which probably says something about the pad's quality. I'll see how people like it at club, though I dunno if I'll want to bring it in every week... this IS a $100 pad, after all ^^;

Hasn't been much that's really worth mentioning... I now have two songs and one oni course left to unlock - Spin the Disc and Drop the Bomb remix, and unlocking Spin the Disc will unlock the Hardcore 21 course. Drop the Bomb remix will take forever to unlock, as I either need to pass ~350 songs (I'm at around 235 right now) or pass Hardcore 21 (no way in hell) ^^;

I wonder if DDRMAX2 J will be on a DVD... if it is, I'll have to import that when it comes out o.O

Posted at 12:44 AM | Comments (0)


November 06, 2002
Interesting day...

Yesterday didn't really go to plan... I went to pick up Josh at around 5:30. At around 6pm, we decided traffic was pretty bad, and that we should kill a little time at Montgomery Mall, and return when it wasn't so backed up. I needed to pick up a few of the week's new releases, anyways.

The Powerpuff Girls movie came in... but it is in PAN AND SCAN format. -_- I swore that I would NEVER buy a pan and scan disc, and was forced to pass up on it. Ended up picking up Tsukikage Ran DVD2 and Fancy Lala DVD3.

We left Montgomery Mall at around 7:00... traffic was still backed up. -_- It takes about 45 minutes to get to Springfield Mall from there when it should only take 30, so I guess it wasn't THAT bad. When we get there, a large portion of the Waldorf crew were there. Nice to see them, but that also meant I was only able to get ONE game in before the place closed. -_-

Went to Chris's house for a little bit after that, since I wasn't satisfied with going all the way down just for ONE game of DDR. ^^; Ended up playing PSO Gamecube ver (which apparently had been played almost nonstop the 4 days before)... I took a short nap since I was really tired, and we headed back home.

Today, I didn't really have any particular plans of what to do, but I ended up getting called by my dad from work. He spends a lot of time in China and other areas of eastern Asia on business, and has brought back quite a few DVDs of chinese dramas. Unfortunately, they're all in PAL (European broadcast format). He found out that a "Mintek" (aka Apex, aka Shinsonic) player can do the PAL to NTSC (US broadcast format) conversion, and sent me to grab it. Went to BB Gaithersburg to do just that.

Met up with Christian, a very long-time friend. Probably the only friend I have left from elementary school. A while back, due to various circumstances, his parents were forced to sell their house, and he had been living in a hotel room since then. Now, he told me he lost the hotel room and was staying in half a room in some small house in Wheaton. Made very little sense since he doesn't drive and works in Gaithersburg. It might only be for a little over a month until he gets sent to Kuwait by the military, but it's still not a very good situation, and I wonder if I can find some better place for him to stay. Unfortunately, I can't let him stay here. ;_;

After leaving BB Gaithersburg, I stopped by G-Sentry to have a chat with the owner. Some DVD bootleg of PitaTen was playing on their demo TV. I swear, every subtitle job of PitaTen other than ours doesn't even resemble english. -_- Anyways, I told him about my PS2 modding dilemna (have PS2, have modchip, need only the labor to install it). Interestingly enough, he recommended that I talk to the owner of Starland and see if he can do it. According to him, he is an electrical engineer, and probably the most qualified for the job. Since Chris and Bounma frequent Starland, I asked them to ask for me, since Starland (Annandale, VA) isn't exactly within practical distance, and I don't want to have to take my PS2 down there if I don't have to.

Got back home, and did some research on the model we got (Mintek DVD-2110)... there was a hacked firmware available for it that made it region free (but not selectable) and macrovision free. Hmm... I've been after a region/macro free player for a LONG time, so I took a chance and flashed the hacked firmware into the machine. So far, it seems to work perfectly. ^^ Not only does it do the PAL to NTSC conversion my dad wants, it can play my R2 discs ^^

Anyways, now I'm probably going to be playing a bit of DDRMAX USA - I still haven't played a whole lot of it. Was going to do so this afternoon, but the entire day was pretty much spent on setting the Mintek up. ^^;

Posted at 07:36 PM | Comments (0)


November 05, 2002
My first trial with the Ignition 2.0 pad...

[16:40] <StarCreator|Sleep> well, that went rather badly
[16:41] * StarCreator|Sleep notes he can't dance properly on an ignition pad
[16:41] <Jasconius> what
[16:41] <Jasconius> you suck
[16:41] <Jasconius> ;D
[16:41] <StarCreator|Sleep> failed orion.78 civ, exotic ethnic, max300
[16:41] <Jasconius> i want ignition pads
[16:41] <Jasconius> oh
[16:41] <Jasconius> GEE I WONDER WHY
[16:41] * Jasconius kills you
[16:41] <Jasconius> play slower stuff to get used to it you dork
[16:42] <EvilMech> lol

Posted at 04:44 PM | Comments (0)


Good things come in large packages...

My RedOctane package came in a couple hours ago, containing DDRMAX USA, an Ignition 2.0 pad, and, unexpectedly, a RedOctane pad carrying case (which I had not ordered). I'm still playing Phantom of Inferno (I have one ending left to acquire before I'm done with the game) but after that, I'll either give the Ignition a try, or head down to SF, depending on what time it is. More later...

Posted at 01:53 PM | Comments (0)


What a weekend...

Yeah... I haven't been able to post for quite a while - haven't really been at the computer much at all this past week or so. Nice to see that the site is running so nicely now... well... let's recap all I can remember...

On Friday: arrived late to club - got there just as Patty was about to leave to pick up Faith. (This would take her over 2 hours, since the university Faith goes to is quite far to the north.) We pass the time with Gitaroo Man, and some controller DDRMAX USA since my pads (and the fact that we had to look at a 45 degree angle upwards to the TV) sucked. We unlocked a lot of things - including MAX300 - but no Candy yet ;_; I'm still waiting for my DDRMAX USA + Ignition 2.0 set from RedOctane. (Looks like it shipped out and was put onto the plane on Saturday afternoon...)

We went to XP LaserSport as usual. Of course, the 1st unlock hasn't even been reached yet. I try to repeat my AA of CSFIL -speed- double heavy - wasn't going to happen. The best I could manage was around 80 greats -_- I'm actually glad XP LaserSport upgraded, since that location has, oddly enough, become my weekly DDR practice. Even though it's more expensive than SF, and in much worse shape. (And yes, I still plan to visit SF regularly. Billy and Harvey are there, after all. ^^) After the place closed, I dropped Patty off at her house, along with Faith. (Her dad was out, so I guess she and maybe a couple other people slept over.) Headed back home, played more Phantom of Inferno, and went to sleep.

Saturday: Went to class, did reasonable on the weekly quiz this time, though it could have been a lot better. I still need to work on our class project - a booklet type thing that describes my daily schedule, in Japanese. In two weeks, when the final project is due, I will also have to present it verbally in front of the class - which will be the tricky part, but I think I can make it through. I have, after all, been working with anime fansubbing since before I graduated high school.

Went to work after that - busy day, and finished with -extremely- poor loyalty numbers. (Loyalty numbers consist of how many reservations/special orders/Replay memberships/gift certificates/etc I sell - there is a minimum expectation of how much I need.) I'm going to get grilled by the manager next time I show up, probably. Ugh. This will probably severely cut my hours too, since they're being distributed by merit.

After an exhausting day of work, went over to Dave's for the Halloween party. There are some... interesting... photos from that party, which I will acquire later. =P Much of the party was over by the time I arrived, but I was there for viewings of the first couple of episodes of X TV and Fruits Basket. Also, finally met carpboy! Too bad Josh couldn't make it, though.

It turned out, only Mary, Kevyn, and I stayed overnight. As usual, I fell asleep hours before they did. And, as usual, Dave's roommate was nowhere to be found.

Sunday: Dim-sum plans are kinda foiled because no one except Dave and myself could really wake up in time to get to the restaurant before the line got really long. Instead of waiting for a spot in the tiny (but good) place near his apartment, I suggest driving to New Fortune instead, even though this is quite a distant drive in comparison. After a few minutes, we decided to do this, though I would be driving everyone on my own. After giving our number to an elderly asian couple heading towards the restaurant, we drove over in my car. When we arrived, we unexpectedly ran into Pat, Josh, Patty, and the others - they were on their way to Thomas's party, which I was supposedly invited to, but hadn't heard of. Since we had already made plans to see Spirited Away, I couldn't really go, though...

It had been quite a while since I had been to New Fortune, so I really wanted to go. I had told them it was the size of the Giant - though it was really only about half the size. Dave assured me that it was only a technicality, though - the place really is huge, as he said. Once again, we are at the end of a long line (this is, of course, inevitable, no matter where you go), but, being as large as the place was, the line was advancing at a much faster pace. We finally were seated, and ate a rather filling meal. Food was as good (and as expensive) as I remembered, and Dave was definitely impressed. With tip, the bill (for 4 people) came to around $50 - I contributed almost half of it, as Mary didn't have any money on her. As we left, Dave wondered if we wanted to make a journey to New Fortune for dim sum a weekly event. I don't know whether or not he was joking or serious ^^;;

After playing a few more rounds of Super Bomberman 5 at the apartment, we finally were off to see Spirited Away at White Flint. I had seen the subtitled version before in Arlington with Dave, Kevyn and Josh, but this was the first time I was going to go see a dubbed print. At White Flint, no less. (One of the last places I expected to carry the film.) We were late in arriving, but managed to purchase tickets and enter the theatre before the previews were finished. It took a while to find Jen and (another) Dave, who we were supposed to meet before entering the theatre, but couldn't since we were so late. Then, the movie started.

The entire movie sounded like it was coming from a tin can. Either the print, or the speakers in that particular screen, was screwed up. Also, the $3 bottle of water I fetched for Mary halfway through the movie was kind of ridiculously overpriced. Other than that, no real complaints, though.

Dave seemed to not be tired anymore, so we ended up going to Dave & Busters, since the theatre was right next to it. ^^; As usual, the doorman gives a bit of a hassle (apparently, a 25 year old can only bring 4 or so underage people in, and we had 6 people total) but we managed to negotiate our way in. God damn, getting into that place is a hassle. Like they don't WANT to profit from their customers.

But anyways, we play a little Pump It Up to start with - the sole reason I would visit this particular D&B. Even though it was the 2nd time I had ever played the game, Normal difficulty proved far too easy for me, and I wasn't quite satisfied with it. I didn't have my own card, though, and seeing as how I cannot get in under my own power, I saw no point in actually purchasing one. We round up everyone and play the 3d Galaxian game - the one where 6 players enter this giant cockpit-like thing and shoot lots of alien ships on a panoramic display. We got close to the end, but failed, and the planet blew up. Oops. =P

After that, Dave and Jen seem to take an obsession to a couple games that reward tickets - one game was kind of like a simplified version of Roulette, where you had to predict the color the ball would land on. After about 50 plays, not a single play was a winner. It was unanimously decided the machine was rigged to be completely impossible. We had better luck with another machine, which involved a digital counter that counted upwards quickly, and we had to push a button to stop it as close to "1000" as possible. The closest we get is 1002, which paid off 25 tickets. Even our farthest result, which was around 960, paid off 15 tickets. This was a LOT better than the previous machine.

Of course, even with the 250 or so tickets accumulated, there was nothing of value that could be redeemed with such a little amount.

Before leaving, we visit the Pump machine one last time - this time, Kevyn and I play on Hard difficulty. I think I killed him ^^; I somehow pass Beethoven's Virus, even though I can't do "teh l33t sp1n m0ve". Though I had some difficulty reading the arrow patterns, it still didn't occur to me as particularly hard, so I was still a little disappointed. I'll have to return someday, though Dave is probably the only person who can let me in.

We all end up going to Rockville IHOP after that (no surprise there). Whenever I go there with Dave, we seem to get a great waiter. ^^; Dinner proceeds in typical IHOP weirdness - sniffing perfume bottles, drinking cream, and getting 2x the amount of straws we needed. No giant bottles of Milk or Dr. Pepper this time, though. =P

Eventually (and yeah, we spend over half an hour in the freezing outdoors chatting, as usual) we all decide to head home. I debated going to Thomas's party late, but since it was already 8pm or so, I decided to just go directly home. Did just that, played yet more Phantom of Inferno, and went to sleep.

And today (Monday): absolutely boring day. Didn't leave home, except to fetch a little gas for the lawnmower. Mowed the lawn. Played more Phantom of Inferno. And now, writing this entry.

Phew. Well, tomorrow, I'm probably going to stop by Suncoast to pick up the week's new releases, then head down to SF Mall. I need to make sure my Conquest character isn't getting beaten senseless. ^^;

Posted at 02:54 AM | Comments (0)