Dreamers Quest

Why Am I Posting This?

2009-05-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

For some unknown reason I've had a desire to get a Shofar for a while now. Yeah I know, what possible use would I have for one of those? I don't have a clue, I just want one. So what's the problem you ask, just go buy one. Apparently there's more kinds of Shofar's then one would imagine at the beginning.

I know roughly what I want, a longer one, 34" or more. I'd prefer a polished finish and white instead of mahogany. And it has to be a real Shofar not one of those synthetic ones. The ones I've seen online close to what I want are between $170 and $250(Okay, okay the one I really want is $500).

The problem is I don't really feel comfortable buying something like that without seeing it first. Each one is unique so I want to pick mine own out. Which lead me to make some phone calls earlier; right, no one within a hundred miles knows what it is much less has one. So I guess the Shofar is on hold for a while until I can get to Huston or somewhere where I can find a place that has them.

Well I went ahead and bought an expansion pack for Settlers of Canton today, well I actually got two but that's beside the point. One of them was just for more players, which will be completely wasted if we just play it with the family like we've been doing.

Since I was buying games I went ahead and got 1856. I've been interested in getting something that was more of a financial game then what we play now. Although I'm not sure if anyone is interested in it but me. I thought the same thing about Starcraft and we've been enjoying it tremendously. However I think 1856 is a game I'll like to play against myself, for a while at lest.

One other thing I've wanted for a while was a 3D puzzle of Notre Dame(I know I spelled that wrong somewhere). So I looked it up, $210... FOR A PUZZLE??? I don't think so. So I got another one that I can't remember what it was called but it was for $30 so I liked it. The bad part is I found a 12,000 piece puzzle(no that is not a typo), which was for $300, but I can understand that, it'd take a year to put it together and a table the size of my bedroom(and I'm not talking about my old 6x6 bedroom either). So that's now on my "stuff to buy" list.

All in all I got two expansions, one completely new game and one puzzle. Not bad. I really thought about getting the Carcassonne big box, we already have the basic game but it'd be cheaper to get the set instead of buying everything separate. However it would have been a little more expensive then I wanted to spend all together and Carcassonne is sorta low on my list.

Well I think that's all that is going on now, hopefully I'll start posting again.

---UjB

WAR vs BLM

2009-03-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

As I level warrior I've really started to notice how differently a DD looks at the world then a BLM. Most people seem to think that BLM is all about selling your soul for power and mixing frog guts with the eyes of living witches to make the ultimate spell, which don't get me wrong we do that too. It's just we're not by default evil. We're not evil, we're masters.

The point of blm is control, we control the elements to do damage. We force mobs to sleep until we're ready to deal with them. We use everything from gravity to lightning to manipulate our opponents to do what we want them to do. And if all else fails we hit them with a stick. Regardless of the length of battle we continually weight any number of different options and pick the one that has the highest chance of success.

Warrior is all about hitting things with large, heavy, sharp objects, sounds fun. They have a lot more survivability then blm does in the fact that they can take much more damage and can deal much more damage without resting for mp constantly. But they don't have options, they can cast some spells depending on their sub that negates damage and proper usage of Defender/Aggressor/Berserk/Retaliation can change the outcome of a battle easily. But their options quickly narrow down to 1. Hit the Mob, 2. Don't hit the mob. I enjoy War in parties, it's very relaxing and it's always fun to see big numbers, but when it comes to events where I'm trying to get something done I get a feeling of helplessness.

When a mob looks at you on blm it's simple, put him to sleep, bind him, gravity and run or wait for your lackeys to take him off you. On war it's much more simple, keep hitting him and hope he dies before you. Eh I guess all I'm trying to say is war is fun, but the lack of options is downright scary to me. You accentually have to trust your group members to keep you healed, debuff the mob, and keep any extra mobs out of commission until you're ready to kill it. And anyone who's read more then two posts here should know how I stand on trusting people.

Updates

2009-03-19T07:28:00.000-07:00

Alright Its been a long time since I've posted anything here, and like every other time it's just laziness. So assuming that I'm not going to be lazy for a while(yeah, like that's going to happen) I figured I'd post one update to catch myself up to speed then start with the normal weekly junk next week.

So what has happened in the last month and a half? Not much. I've somehow managed to not get kicked out of DA. I think it's just because their running short on blms that stay around and once they get a couple more I'm gone. Or it could just be that I'm paranoid.... Nah.

If I remember correctly when I left off posting I had yet to get any AFv2 aside from a mnk piece. Well since then I've picked up three for blm, Boots, Legs, and Hands. The boots are useless, but they are better then what I was using so they are now in my full time set. The leg piece has a weather/day bonus which means 90% of the time it is as helpful as a full time Danvies. But it does help with starting my weather/day set. The hands would have to be a godly piece of equipment to replace either of the two I use normally and it isn't, but it does have Dark+10 so I keep it around for Drain/Aspire.

And Dynamis, I've gotten all the gear from the main cities I need but not the wins. So far the only win I have is Sandy so in order to get any more gear I need three wins and/or us to start doing dreamland. Which brings me to our continual loosing, is that normal? I understand our loses in Bastok, but Windy and Jeuno(although most of the ls has that win so we don't do it very often) bother me. We just keep hitting a wall and that's it folks. The problem is I don't know what to do to help the situation out, there has to be something I can do but I'm at a loss at what it is.

CoP, DA has started to do the CoP missions for those that don't have it, which I greatly appreciate. But that does take up the last day that I had free to do whatever, mainly level war. They've changed up the schedule so now the free day is Saturday, a day that I'm not able to be on most of the time. So I'm faced with a choice, play more or play less.

The single biggest help my blm could get right now is merits. The plan was to level war then merit on it for blm. But now I don't have time to work on war, which means I don't see merits in my future. So I either have to forget war and just merit solo when I have time or find time to do one or two merit parties a week(In other words bye bye sleep). Neither option sounds good, meriting solo turns out to be one point every hour or so which means it'll be a very long time before I actually see any results. Spending more time on the game is not that good either, I'm currently having trouble balancing everything; add in more game time and FFXI becomes more trouble then it's worth. I'm not sure what I'll do yet.

War has been good, I've been able to level in campaign so I'm still leveling at a decent pace. The problem is my Great Axe skill is now no-where near cap and I don't have the faintest idea on how to cap it. So I could either live in besieged or ask for some help... Right so to Besieged I go.

Sea, as I said we're doing CoP missions, which is great. I'm very much looking forward to getting sea, well maybe not sea but limbus. There's a couple of good items in sea but I'm not that interested in the normal sea drops for blm(aside from Nova). What I'm looking forward to is limbus, upgrading AF and doing a Dynamis type event that I can solo(not for win just for farming) sounds just downright perfect to me.

Well I think that just about covers everything game related, I did skip a few things. But nothing real important... well okay so I did skip some important things but I'm not sure how to bring those issues up. Later

Convenient Truths and Lack of Control

2009-01-29T21:09:00.000-08:00

In the last couple of days a couple of things happened that somewhat messed with my mind and left me slightly irritated. As I am to tired to care atm if I offend anyone I'm just going to write them both out and call it good. So uh anyone from DAsh that may stop by(yeah like that's going to happen) don't take offense at this or change how you do things, it's not your fault that I think to much.

So we where up in Sky killing gods when we got a drop for an item that I wanted. There's only two gear sets that I want right now(well that I have any chance of getting, I'd kill everyone in my ls for a chance at morgans gear but hey that ain't gonna happen) this was a minor part of the second set. There was around five people that want/need them but I had figured from the start that I would be first or second to get it. I thought that the first one would probably go to Mix and I'd get mine later. Well the leader(who has the terrible job of deciding who gets what gear) asked on vent for people's opinion on who should get it, myself or Mix. The two people who answered said, let them both lot and whoever gets it, gets it. So it's left to chance and Mix lots a 447(or something like that) and I sit foaming at the mouth with my finger over the lot option. One sigh later I did what I knew I was going to do from the start, pass and let Mix have it without a fight.

So why? Well the simple answer is that the leader did something I have never seen her do before. Whenever there's a choice of who gets the gear her and one of the other leaders go in private and discuss it then come out and say who they decided. She didn't do that, she asked out where I was part of the conversation and Mix wasn't. Naturally I kept my mouth shut, if Mix didn't get the chance to plead his case neither should I. But I can only think of three reasons why she would do that.

The first and lest likely was because there where two leaders in the conversation and she wanted both their opinion instead of one or she wanted the opinion of one of the none leaders(not me) so she didn't want to drag everyone but me to a private channel. That as a reason doesn't fit right so I doubt it was the reason.

The second was just pure laziness, she didn't want to or think it was important enough to go to a separate channel to talk. Which fits, fact it's not that big a deal, it's not like this gear is real rare or that hard to get. So its fully possible that it just wasn't worth the effort to leave and come back again.

Which brings us to the most likely reason(to me at lest), she wanted me to say something. She wanted to find out if I really wanted it or if it wasn't something that mattered. Why do I think that's the case? I'm not sure, I just think it's more likely then any other reason I came up with.

Now obviously if the third reason was true and I said something when she asked it would have been completely out of character so I had to keep my mouth shut(and yes for those that don't know me all that ran through my head as soon as she asked the group; I told you I think to much). Then the decision came that we could both lot it, which obviously if I had lotted it and lost it then everything would have been fine, but had I won it then it would have been insulting. And yes I know anyone reading that just went HUH???? So I have a different code then everyone else, so what, just except it and forget it. It would have been to me so that's all that matters.

That's the simple answer and I really wish I could say that was the reason I didn't lot(hey with my lots I wouldn't have gotten it anyway, I think I've only lotted over 500 twice in this game). But that isn't the why, that's just like all the reasons I gave to the people who later asked me why I passed, convenient truths that while are true weren't the reason. So the why, the reason, simple; this isn't that important of a gear, I can easily finish FFXI without it and never feel bad that I didn't have it. So instead of just wanting it I wanted to earn it, I wanted to get it because I had done the work and had proven worthy of it over Mix.

Which I guess I haven't, not that that's surprising. Mix has been in the ls longer then me and if I had to say which of us was the better blm I couldn't answer. He does out-damage me frequently and he has sea so he's more useful then myself. So eh, no biggy, I just have to work harder. Don't get the wrong idea though, I'm not going to pass on everything or anything else for that matter. Believe me when I say that if I ever see a blm relic there will be nothing left to chance. I'll be d2ing every other blm in the zone far far away long before it hits the item pool.

What is control? There's a lady that I've done work for in the past and she's really unique. Now that's not a good thing, she has no control over herself. One time we where chatting and she mentioned a client of hers. We were just passing the time of day as we waited for something or other, stupid stuff and she brought up that client and all of a sudden she flies off into a panic. It's hard to describe it, but she lost the ability to talk in complete sentences, it all just turned into an unending jumble of words as she walked in a circle waving her hands around.

It was downright scary actually, I wasn't sure if I was going to make it out of there with all of my limbs attached to where they normally are. I've found out since then that that's normal for her, with very little reason she flies off into a rant or a panic and can't keep herself under what most people would say normal control.

But am I any different? Yes deffinently, I'm not near as crazy as her. But like all people I don't always do what is in my best interest because I just don't feel like it at the time. What was it that Paul said? "That which I would not do, I do?" Now I know I'm taking it out of context but if the reason isn't the same it's usage fits to remind me of human failing.

How "out of control" are we/me in our day to day lives? Would that coke be the best thing in the long run for us or do we choose it because it's what we want? Do we choose the people that we're around because we think they're the best influence on us or do we just go with who makes us feel the best? Do we watch TV at night because in twenty years that will have been the most beneficial use of that hour or because that's what we want to do at that moment? Eh, you tell me, just how much "control" do you have?

Canatu's Week #7

2009-01-12T13:32:00.000-08:00

Okay so back to work after a wonderful holiday.

We did Genbu twice Sunday night and I got Aquarian Abjuration: Hands off the second one. Thanks to all who helped.

Afterward some of use went and fought this guy. I don't think I did anything but hey I didn't hurt anything(except the mob) either. Grats to Aur for getting her sword.

Monday I traded in the Abjuration and got my Zenith Mitts. We did a few things in sky, Zippy, BB and something else. I don't remember, but it was something of a long night and everyone was showing the effects at the end.

Tuesday we went and fought Gold-Tongued Culberry for the Uggalepih Pendant. There is two pop items, one has a 50% chance of the drop the other has 100% chance. Apparently the 100% one is much tougher. My Gravity's where landing and staying on the weaker one, easily; not so much on the other.

Either way we got three kills(two of which I got the last shot in) and two pendents. Which the ls gave me one of them.

Which brings us to Wednesday, my eighth Dynamis attempt. Which thanks to s certain individual turned into a win! My first.

I uh would like to point out that this has been a long week with a lot of great things happening. So I'm going to end this with just another thanks to those who helped me and leave it at that.

Goals for next week, get more Dragon Meat so I can level cooking. Work on WAR AF and get a couple extra pieces of gear I need, also recap gAxe as it's still at 50 and I'm at 55. Also I need some exp on BLM as a bad run of just about anything will put me back to 74.

Define Friendship

2008-12-16T12:29:00.000-08:00

I've never tried to hide the fact that human interaction is very confusing to me. I don't understand people, why they do things, why they bother breathing, everything and anything just plain confuses me.

With online acquaintances it's even more difficult, because your dealing with just text conversations it's very easy to interpret things incorrectly. Those few I talk to through vent are easier, but the majority of people are difficult to "read".

Even when I "read" people correctly(I think) I still have no idea where I stand. Take TW, if I understand them correctly I sit at around +6(it could easily be -7 or -8), yet to be honest I was treated like I was a +3.

Normally I pay little to no attention to what people say, it's what they do that is important. So after a time I gave up and responded as though I was a +3 and just left. Which was a good idea actually.

But going back farther then that, most of SC treated me as though I was -5 or true neutral. The three notable exceptions was Wranglers(+6), D(-7), and MM(+6). About two months ago I got to talk to all three for a short time. I learned a lot about Wranglers that I didn't know before and it showed me some of the choices I made while dealing with him where incorrect, mostly because I got his personality wrong. So for that, sorry W, I didn't mean to be a jerk; if I had been paying more attention things would have gone smoother.

What about my current ls, DA? Well I haven't been in long enough to understand most of them yet. Actually I haven't really been trying, I'm tired of it.

A conversation I overheard last night forced me to start looking at the people in DA though. Obviously I'm viewed as true neutral by most of the people in there(as witnessed by the secret Santa gift that was given to me, btw I still loved it), which is where I want to be. I have some personal opinions of people there, Wine(+6), Copy(+2), TriDual(+6), LittleT(+7).

But what have I gained in this? I see people all the time mention people giving them something, sometimes huge gifts. Since I've joined this game I've received two gifts, the first was a fishing pole that some guy gave me shortly after I joined. The second was a stack of Melon Pies +1 from Longtail last Christmas. I've gotten a lot of help doing missions and stuff like that and some other stuff that you can't place a value on.

What have I given? I've given around 1.5mil to different ls's. I gave MM and his girl five stacks of sushi(I had a lot of extra when I was skilling up), I've given a few different people stacks of ninja tools. I handed out all my old fishing poles(I think four total) and gave away a 20k fish so a guy could get his fishing ring(he then quit the game). And yes I have paid my dues on missions and other things as well.

I remember helping Blarg for about 3 hours one night only to have him refuse to help me the next day for five minutes. I pl'd a guy once for ten hours straight, that was a good day.

So what am I trying to say? I'm not sure, reading over it it sounds kinda emo actually.

When I joined DA I didn't speak much, as I would normally do with a new group. I prefer to spend some time studding people and getting the feel of the place before I start talking just so I don't stick my foot in my mouth(any more then normal that is). As it nears the point that I'd start to speak more often I find myself not wanting to. Why bother?

I've tried to be friendly, it didn't work. I guess the point of all this is I've come to except I'm not going to get what I really want out of this game so whatever happens, happens. Man, this entire post just looks like me complaining... Oh well.

Canatu's Week #6

2008-12-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

Sunday is Sky night so we went and took down,

Suzaku. Which was fun and rather easy.

Monday was also sky but as I don't remember what we did and I didn't take a screenshot to tell me, I'm just going to pretend we tossed rocks at each other.

Tuesday everyone went on swiftbelt runs, which I couldn't join because of my mission level, so I got the night off to level war. *cheer*

You may be wondering what a picture of Diablos is doing on Wednesday night, the night I should be doing Dynamis. Well some random dude popped in the ls about an hour before Dynamis time and asked if there was anyone who needed the Diablos fight. Being the idiot I am I figured everyone would be ready to go, we'd run down there kill him and I'd get back in time to sit around before Dynamis.

Right, I know, I expect way to much of people. The good news is that we did win the fight, the bad news is that the extra hour it took us to get one of the guys who was just sitting around while they shouted ready for the fight made me late for Dynamis.

But then again it was Dynamis San'O so I couldn't get anything from there anyway, other then a few deaths. Still I hate to be late.

Thursday I got to level war again and had a decent party.

Friday I had a terrible party, mostly due to a pld that didn't know how to hold hate(he didn't even have Flash).

My sisters computer crashed Saturday so I spent most of the weekend working on it(still haven't fixed it).

So my goals for last week was, Cooking 96 and war 50. I didn't get either done....

My goals for next week are, Cooking 97 and war 50. I don't know if I'll get cooking done but unless things go really bad I should get war 50 easily(since I'm 48 now).

Canatu's Week #5

2008-12-08T13:20:00.000-08:00

Sunday night we headed out to sky and killed.... Hmmm...

Hmmm...

...

We killed something.... I think...

Monday night we where in sky and killed.....

Hmm...

I know what happened Tuesday night,

Bomb Queen. Which was somewhat of a fun battle. Got three kills but no Destroyers, sorry BW.

Wednesday was going to be Dynamis but because of people issues it was canceled, we really need a few more guys in the ls.

But that was a good thing for me because it let me have the time to,

fight Maat. On my free time the previous couple of days I had been fighting Goblins for a testimony and I was lucky and got one Tuesday night. My first attempt at Maat went somewhat smoothly, I had less then a minute left to go when my 2hour decided not to go off and I failed. Which lead to this,

Which lead to this,

Which lead to this,

Yayyy!! Whm Maat is dead. BTW, that grats is not for me but it fits in with the screen shot nicely.

I spent most of Thursday night gearing up war and then threw another good chunk of my time out the window when a couple of pains came knocking on my door and I stupidly answered it. After I got rid of them I had time for a very short gimpy party, we had a grand total of 18 battles and spent more time going to camp then fighting. On the plus side of things I now know that Pulver is a rdm/blm and a putz in the highest order.

Friday night was an excellent evening that I was sorry to see end. We started right at 5 and I finally left group at around 2:30, after gaining four levels. The party reformed several times and was mostly myself and the leader with others joining and leaving every 40min or so. If it hadn't of been for the guy I had looking over my shoulder all night it would have been a downright perfect night. But hey, what can I say, I'm hard to please.

And I took Saturday off(didn't even turn in guild items) so that was the end of last week. My goals for this week is Dynamis(hopefully), Cooking 96 and war 50(only way that'll happen is if I can play Saturday, which I doubt will happen).

Well, till next week.... Or whenever I get around to posting again.

Canatu's Week

2008-12-03T12:06:00.000-08:00

And yet another week goes by. The linkshell took most of the week off because of Thanksgiving which gave me time to get stuff done. So with four nights off I decided to finish whm for good.

That's just about all that I did all week, level whm. When I wasn't in a party I was doing Campaign. One very boring week. Which could have been done in half the time it took, with interruptions from family to extra hours at work I barely managed to get 500 tnl to 70 Saturday night. So much for beating maat.

Not that I'm complaining, being this close is good enough for me, with a little luck I can get to work on war near the end of next week. So good week.

Also Saturday afternoon MS and I got a party together for my mnk, which keeps our average of one party every three weeks alive... Looking at mnk 75 in about four years... If I'm lucky... Yeah I can barely hold in my excitement.

Okay so I shouldn't complain, I'm just looking at leveling another job that I don't care about just to give me something to do while the job I want to level is stuck at 37. *sigh* Oh well. Well war should be easier to level then whm anyway.

Next week I'll work on whm maat fight and get some cooking skill ups. After I beat Maat I'll need to start capping whm magic. That's not very important though, a couple Besieged every now and then, may work on staff skill while I'm at it.

Back to work.

Week In Review... Sorta

2008-11-24T07:54:00.000-08:00

Okay so I haven't posted in a few weeks. Get over it, I'm lazy. As I may have mentioned in an earlier post I've joined an endgame ls. Which has turned FFXI from the "well what do I do tonight" to "uh hey think there's any chance I could go level sometime?" Seriously, it's been great.

This has had one rather odd side effect, because so much happens each week I'm having a hard time keeping track of things, and more importantly when things happened. Yeah I know sounds stupid to me too. Needless to say that kinda makes "reviewing" a week difficult.

So what's the solution? I don't know, post more I guess... yeah like that's gonna happen. I think I'll do what I normally do and just sorta make it up as I go along.

Anyway now that that's out of the way, what I remember of last week:

After yet another botched attempt at CoP3-5 Sunday... Wait, no that way Saturday... What did I do Sunday? Hmmm...

So Monday we did a ZM fight, easy and sorta fun. More on that later.

Tuesday was the first LS meeting that I've been included in(in any ls) so I was somewhat interested to see what all would happen. Yeah I know it's just a meeting, not like anything real interesting was going to happen. Apparently a ls meeting is where everyone sits in a circle and we all take turns calling each other names, so good times had by all.

Wednesday we had Dynamis. YAYYYY!!! I didn't realize that I missed doing Dynamis till about the second time I died. Because we didn't have very many people we didn't go in planing to win, just to farm, it was a blast. Very fun night.

Thursday is their sea night, which I don't have yet so I got the night off, sweets.

Friday I leveled whm, or tried to at lest, I had one good party that disbanded at 2k tnl.

Which I tried to get most of Saturady night, and failed along with another botched attempt at CoP3-5.

Well that was my week. Three cheers for DamascanAsh!!!

The Man's a Genius

2008-11-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

This morning I was going to make a post about CoP2-5. That was until I checked OotS and my day changed, for the better I should add.

I've been a reader of OotS for several years now and I highly recommend it to anyone. Seriously who doesn't love a homicidal halfling? Reading and rereading the comic has helped kill a lot of the continuous repetition of work/life.

Anyway, this morning's comic was by far not the funniest he's ever done. I doubt it made it into the top 100. What it did do though was put a lot of things into perspective. It's a perfect view of life, the church, and dealing with moron's.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you OotS #606.

Canatu's Week

2008-11-10T13:40:00.000-08:00

Man compared to the last few months a lot has happened.

Finally got Raw Fish Handling, which allowed Rinrain to make;

Sushi. Which lead to;

Cooking 73. Actually I now have Cooking 75 but I didn't get a screen shot.

On to Canatu,

and again I didn't get screen shots but I'm now White Mage level 66(just barely, one death and I'm at 65 again).

As I've mentioned before I've been looking for groups to help me get CoP and ZM done and luckily for me I found what appears to be a good group. Which lead me to do CoP2-5 Friday and my first two Assaults on Sunday. More information on those later.

All in all a very good week and the start of a tend I hope keeps going.

Missions

2008-11-05T06:56:00.000-08:00

As you may or may-not know for the last several months finishing CoP and starting and finishing ZM have become a high priority for me. Why I'm real sure, probably it's an issue of pride, I know so many guys that have joined after me and have had them finished for as long as I can remember.

Just to fill in a little data for those who don't know. I started CoP with the greatest Linkshell ever, SC. I went to 2-5 with them then the whole mess that caused me to quit the game and then on my return to leave SC happened. So from there I went on to do absolutely nothing as far as missions go, I was with more then five groups that had said they where doing missions and either got left behind or the missions never happened to begin with.

As of a month or however long it's been that I've been without a main ls I've been going through a bunch of different ones looking around for any signs of either CoP or ZM. I've seen them, several in fact, I've seen runs and have asked to be included in them. I've lost count of the times where I've been told "sure we're doing it at XX date, be there and we'd be glad to have you" only to spend the day either waiting for it to happen and then not or being left behind again.

Yesterday I was in one of the largest mid game linkshells on my server, mostly because no one was in my others. While I was there I decided to ask about CoP again and got another one of the more common answers, "sure I'll/we'll help if I'm/we're online". Which simply translates to "I'll help, but I won't lead." Which is fine, any offer to help is much appreciated. The problem with that is quite simple, I've never done these missions, how am I supposed to lead a group into some of the most difficult parts of the game without knowing what to do?

Yes I know there are a ton of websites that have guides and information on how to do them, and I've read most of them completely. But reading a guide online and doing it are two very different things, there's always some little thing that the guides leave out that pops out at you when you lest expect it. So leading a group quit honestly scares me, hey I don't even like to lead parties.

A few hours later(after I went and voted and after a decent party) I was in WC(SC lost a lot of players and ended up joining with WC, which was formed by a guy who started in SC) and on an impulse asked MM about the chances of missions happening there. The answer quit honestly surprised me, a definite yes.

So right now I'm looking at two possibilities, first WC comes through again and I do it with them. Second, I take lead and spend the next several months in purgatory getting missions done.

Either way, it's time.

(Party) (Yes, Please)

2008-10-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

Okay so for the last few months I've been going through the torture of leveling whm. From 37-45 it was mostly one confusing blob as I tried to remember what a whm did in parties and how to add in a haste cycle and all that junk. Somewhere between 45 and 53 something clicked and I got comfortable with the job, just in time for SE to throw in a curve ball and add in level sync.

I am very glade we didn't have level sync when I picked up whm again. I was having a hard enough time handling the job without the added confusion of trying to remember what spells you have or don't have at lower levels.

To put it plainly since 50 whm has been nothing but a terrible run of bad parties, moron's and general unpleasantness. The only real good parties I had where with my linkshell. I've had more then one party end with me loosing exp instead of gaining it and several that hit the awesome high of 2k per hour.

But I was way to stupid to quit and kept at it till I hit 60 a few weeks back. This gave me hope, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, a very long tunnel but light none the less. I then immediately got two of the worst parties on the planet and died right before the end of besieged.

That was just about all I could take, I was in the process of going to the storage npc to get rid of whm af Tuesday when my ls mates asked me to come join them as they couldn't find a whm. So inwardly knowing that was a bad move I said yes then went and joined them. Now, if you scroll down a bit you'll see that I am no longer part of that ls, I got myself booted that evening right after the party. But the party itself wasn't bad, not great, not good, not bad. One a scale from one to five it would be a three, right in the middle where you don't know what to call it, but it'll work.

It did solve one thing though, during the party I dinged 61. Now I was at the point of leaving whm at 60, but I don't see me leaving it at an odd number like 61, so on to 70. Which lead me to seeking last night. I got an invite almost immediately which is strange but nice. The party was whm(me), war, sam, sam, drk, sch, half the players where JP other half EN. Also I was the lowest level, everyone else was 65+ and most where 70+.

So we go out and grab a bird camp and it came as no surprise to me that things didn't go very well. About five battles into the mess I run out of mp and watch the war die, not a good way to start the night. Then the best thing that has happened to me since I dinged mnk33 happened, the sch dced. So we start up again and we manage to finish a full chain this time without deaths and without the sch returning.

We finished that chain and another one before the sch's rep showed up, but when she did I fell in love. A brd, a wonderful lovely mithra brd, who promptly made me 100% unneeded in the party. I went from using most of my mp on every battle to doing a haste cycle and a couple of cures every other battle.

Now please remember I've never partied at this level before, on blm I soloed and whm is my second highest level. So I still don't know about a lot of stuff, like what to expect in exp per hour, good camps, length of parties, extra. What I do know however is that that party was ten or twenty times better then any I've had in the last month. In the two hours the brd was with us we racked up 25k exp, I hit 62 and am well on my way to 63. Everyone got a ding or a few merits and while I don't know if they enjoyed themselves(there was next to no talking in the party) I enjoyed myself immensely.

So onward and upward, to whm 70.

Canatu

Howdy

2008-10-15T08:02:00.000-07:00

Okay first off I've been working on a post for a while now, something like six months. There's a short bit that Canatu told me about a long while back and I've been meaning to write it out since then. The problem being that I get close to finishing it and then I get frustrated and delete it and then have to start from scratch later. Basically no matter how many ways I put it down it completely fails to be what I want it to be. So I think I'll end up just posting a rough draft and call it good. Not that I want to do that either, what's the point of doing it at all if it's not going to be true to what happened? *sigh* well there may be a Black Tea post and there may not be, hopefully I'll get it figured out.

In the last two months(more like six weeks) I've either been kicked out or left two linkshells. The first one was a little bit difficult to leave, the second was downright fun. I've seen ls after ls that says "we're a group of friends that works to get stuff done and except everyone". What that means is that there's five to ten members that are very close and they work on what they want done and they need more people around to do so. But if your not one of those "friends" or get lucky enough to need the same thing as one of them, you may as well start shouting for help in Whitegate. Me I'm sick of that mentality, I have friends in-game, I like to hang out with them, but somewhere in there I want to get stuff done. I mean what's a taru have to do to get CoP done?

In case you didn't get the subtle hint, I'm still a little ticked off after being booted from Uni last night. At the moment I'd give anything for SC to be up and running again, I liked them because the leaders didn't have any friends, they just did what was needed and that was it, sometimes they remembered your name. Oh well, I think I'll just forget having an ls for a while and let things turnout however they turnout.

Since I'm already on the subject of friends and all that junk, I haven't talked to doc in a while, need to give him a call.

I've been watching a fair amount of the UFC lately and I'm starting to worry. Do you think it's normal that the night I most look forward to each week is one in which I'll watch a bunch of guys beat another bunch of guys around? Hmmm, I think I need to start doing Dynamis again...

Well I think that wraps up just about all I have to say, later folks.

In the heat of the early morning
On a hill they call the Skull
The roaring of the angry mob had settled to a lull
All eyes were cast upon the man whose hands and feet were bound
They saw him cry in anguish when they heard the hammer pound

They saw the bloody woven thorns with which His head was crowned
They watched the bloody cross of wood be dropped into the ground
The soldiers gambled for His clothes, they watched them win and lose
They saw the sign above His head that said "King of the Jews"

(Chorus)
(It is finished) And the sky grew black as the night
(It is finished) And the people scattered in fright
The work had been done, redemption had been won
The war was over without a fight
It is finished

They searched His face for anger, for vengeance in His stare
Instead of eyes that burned with hate a look of love was there
He prayed for their forgiveness and bowed His battered head
And no one knew the meaning of the final words He said

The provision has been made
The foundation has been laid
He paid the ransom due and tore the temple veil in two
And opened up the way for me and you
It is finishe

---Texas

Monk Gear

2008-10-07T13:45:00.000-07:00

Over the last few months as I very slowly level monk(about one party every three weeks) I've been working out a small gear list help me know about how much gil I'll end up using on mnk and therefor how much I'll need to set aside for it. This is still very rough, there's a lot of other gear that I may need to get and a lot more that I need to look into to see if it'll be better then what I have picked out. Also this list starts where I'm at, but doesn't include gear I already have but can't use yet.

Weapons
38 Mythril Knuckles +1 50k
40 Tourney Patas 2.1k
48 Patas +1 45
50 Cross-Counters 1mil
72 Wagh Baghnakhs 2k
73 Destroyers

Ammo
54 Smart Grenade

Headgear(need to add in Raven)
41 Voyager Sallet
70 Optical Hat

Neck(I have Peacock so I'm not sure if I'll bother with anything else)
60 Chivalrous Chain 135k

Body(already have everything up till SH)
57 Scorpion Harness +1 650k

Back
47 Jaguar Mantle 50k
61 Amemet Mantle +1 165k
71 Forager's Mantle 420k

Wast
40 Brown Belt 280k(will quest)
70 Black Belt

Feet(I have no idea what to get for this slot)
39 Fuma Kyahan 340k
51 Kung Fu Shoes 115k ???
66 Wulong Shoes 140k ???

Ear
55 Spike Earring 20k(40k)
67 Triumph Earring 590k ????

Rings(Another slot I'm not sure of)
36 Puissance Ring 28k(66k)
40 Woodsman Ring 105(210)
54 Victory Ring 110(220) ????

Expected cost gear now, 2,755k. Which is nice because I have 5mil dedicated to my mnk now. So I can afford to buy some extra gear to experiment on.

---Canatu

I"M ALIVE!!!!

Gerkanghka was bored. Over the last few hundred years technology had been steadily increasing in the human world. The unfortunate result was that fewer and fewer people thought to ask for his help. Without people to torture his life was hardly worth living.

He had heard that even some of the Angels where getting bored. Those twisted do-gooders could spend months talking about one little good deed they had done, it was irritating. At least he didn't have to see them very often. One of the very few advantages of being a minor imp was the fact that he could slip away a lot easier then one of his larger brothers.

He was crouched in a corner pulling the legs off of a spider he had found when he noticed a wonderfully familiar scent. Finally, it had been two months since he had been called and he wasn't able to make a trade then, the human had sent him back without agreeing. He happily waited for the door to form. With a little bit of luck he would have human flesh to feast on tonight or better yet another soul to add to his collection for eternity.

When the door had finally formed enough for him to get through it he threw caution to the wind and leaped into the human world without checking to see where he would land. His impatience was repaid by burning feet as he landed in the remains of Gary's fire. He quickly forgot about the human and spent the next few minutes trying to cool his feet down. These humans where so inconsiderate, always using fire to open the doors, why didn't they use a crintion like everyone else?

His feet cooling slightly he started to look for the human, he would pay for this. Gerkanghka would make him agree to be a servant of Dastinjinto or better yet make him a water boy for Kakatueju so that he would forever be able to see paradise and never be able to enter it.

All plots of revenge where quickly replaced with bewilderment when he saw Gary. This was a first, never before had a human called for an imp twice. They either agreed to whatever the trade was in the first meeting or they forgot it ever happened. One or the other, they never called again. He had heard of an instance long ago when a man had called to a daemon then had later called to an angel, but until now he hadn't actually believed it had happened. Now he wasn't so sure.

Gerkanghka found his voice, "What do you want human?"

Gary was calm now and ready for anything, the imp didn't scare him like it had on their first meeting. "It's time for the trade."

This was a problem for Gerkanghka, on their last meeting he had been so desperate for some kind of reward that he had offered to give the human what he wanted at a much lower cost then he normally would have given. What Gary wanted was worth his soul, Gerkanghka had been talked down to just his life. Two months later Gerkanghka was no longer as desperate, but he was more greedy. "That was then, this is now. My proposition needs to be changed to fit today."

Gary had half expected something like this, the only response he had been able to come up with to counter it was a bluff. "It's exactly the way we had discussed or I send you back and forget we ever talked."

This was something to think about, he hadn't been able to make a trade for a little over three years now. If his lord heard of that he would be in trouble for not doing his job. Plus taking a life was better then nothing and this human had shown that he was capable of walking away before. If he walked away again he probably would never see him again.

"Very well human, but remember that we're not trading just for her life span, we're trading for yours. You won't just take it from her onto yourself you'll create your own. In ten years, no in three I'll be able to torment you and I will until I finally decide to kill you." The part about the torment wasn't actually true, they had never talked about it but if Gary didn't raise an objection now it would become part of the agreement.

He didn't even hesitate, "I know, it's fine and more then fair. If you can though, a small favor. I don't want to be found by anyone that may come looking for me, could you change my face and maybe my fingerprints?"

Gerkanghka almost squealed in joy, not only a trade but a chance to mutilate a previously untouched human. Of course he'd do it, not wanting to give Gary time to reconsider he started a chant that would seal the trade and bind Gary's soul to him until the debt was paid. After a few moments of his prayer he switched to english so that Gary could understand and agree to the trade.

Gary new that his his time was up, that was fine. When Gerkanghka finished with his prayer and explanation he took a short look around and simply said, "Agreed".

Sometime the next day a passing trucker found a heavily mutilated body that was just barely alive on the side of the road. It was rushed to the hospital and then in a month after it's physical wounds where healed it was sent to a mental hospital to try to fix whatever had caused it to harm itself so badly.

At about the same time in another hospital across the country a miracle happened, an old feeble little lady sat up in bed and asked why she was being kept there when she didn't need to be there anymore.

The old live, the young die. The feeble rule while the strong beg. The happy cry, the sorrowful laugh. The one who set out to harm heals and the protector becomes the destroyer... The old live, the young die.... sounds just about right to me.

---Rat

Worth Trying Again

2008-01-09T08:52:00.000-08:00

I got to thinking the other day about my lack of Thursday night Logs recently. There's actually good reasons for that, the most important of which is that several of them have turned into half nights instead of the original all night work. Do to the amount of computers waiting to be worked on I decided to move it up a night and do it tonight, and I figured while I was at it I may as well make a log that lasts a full 24 hours.

So without further stalling:

10:38 AM: At the moment I have three machines, one has a simple virus problem and should be out of here fairly soon. The second one has been a pain and is currently having its OS reloaded. The third I really don't want to work on. What else? I think that covers just about everything.

No direction, no affection
Watch the soul dive
You're dissected, resurrected
Still don't know why
This illness is like a monster that is
eating us alive

11:45 AM: Well it's about time for the daily visit. There's a guy that stops by the shop on an almost daily(by that I mean he's here every day but one per week) visit. I'm kind of torn on him, on one hand out of all the people that could stop by here he's one of the lest annoying. On the other, it's still an hour out of my day just to make someone else happy. It does disrupt the work, which isn't very good. But every now and then it's kind of nice to be able to talk to someone about Star Trek that knows what it's about, even if you have completely different views of it. Once a day is kind of pushing it though.

Hold on, be strong
So right, so wrong
With all of our senses
All of our defenses
Hold on, be strong

2:03 PM: So after the hour I went and got myself some lunch, beef pot pie today. Not very big and not real filling but it tastes purty good for 32 cents. I've made no progress since this morning, in fact I think I've lost ground on one machine, guess I need to change the way I'm working on them.

The last thing I would like to do before I go away
is cry there next to you (next to you)
Cry and talk about the good old days and where they've gone
And now how much I hate you

3:40 PM: So far today has been completely wasted. I'm right where I started at 9 this morning. Well not "right where" I'm in a worse mood then this morning. I'm getting very close to pulling the second machine off the bench, whatever's wrong with it isn't a small thing.

Right now I got something to say
To all the people that think I'm STRANGE
I should be out of here locked up in a CAGE
You don't know what the ---- is up now anyway
You got this pretty-boy feeling like I'm enslaved....

4:26 PM: Well as the official work day draws to a close I like to spend a few minutes thinking about what I've gotten done and if I had a chance what would I do differently. The answer to the first part is nothing and the answer to the second is everything. If I had today to do over again I'd just stay in bed, that way something would get done, the way it is I just wasted eight hours of my life.

Now don't get me wrong I understand that things rarely go the way they should and sometimes stuff just doesn't work out. But the high point of my day was when I found a driver disk I thought I threw away. We have so little time on this earth that to waste a day is something of a sin, or am I over reacting?

I can see inside you fine
This blessing in disguise
Why do you treat me this way?
Made the hurt stay...

11:46 PM: Well the fun part of the evening is over, if you can call the last few hours fun. I learned a few things since 5, first off never, ever, ever help, group or in anyway assist Davidies aka the twit, ever. If I see him dieing and can help him without causing hurt to me I still wont do it. As far as I'm concerned he doesn't exist anymore. So says me and the Can-man.

Second don't in any shape or form be nice to anyone, you know with as many times as I've written this rule I'd figure it out by now. Being nice and helping out other people will only end with your own suffering. Its just not worth it, you help someone out with something then send them on their way, you where nice and they got help, you're both happy. That's what you think, at lest until a day later when they're at your door again begging for help. Somehow someone being nice to them warps their mind. It's like drugs, one hit and they have to keep coming back for more. Well I for one intend to stop this insane circle. From now on I'm being nice to no one, THIS MEANS YOU!!! Go away, leave me alone and sort your own problems out, I want no part of it.

You can't see
I'm torn away from you and everything that's
close to me
I cannot face the truth, it's nothing that
I believe
Just run away from me and thank me when you're
free from me
Come take me

1:17 AM: So explain something to me. Why did I spend eight hours earlier today and make no progress on any machines and then come night time when any sane person would be asleep and then all of the computers turn into something a child could fix? Seriously the last three that I looked at I fixed in less then twenty minutes each. What gives? I went from banging my head against the table to almost(I stress almost) wishing for something a little more complicated in a matter of a five hour game/food/rest break.

I wonder if it's just that I like my night work better then the day work. No one comes in and bothers me, there's no phone to think about, and I can turn my music up as high as I want. Maybe that's just it, there's no pressure so it's easy to get stuff done... Hmmm.

Crawling on the floor
All around this space
Talking to myself
What is this thing I've got to face?
Walking through a door
Has it been a waste?
Going on and on thinking I could find my place

2:11 AM: I've been thinking lately, I know that's dangerous, but still. I like my job, I truly enjoy what I do for a living. But that doesn't mean it's easy, and I complain a lot on this blog and in person about the downside to the place. But is that right? Look at what I do, I have easy hours, no boss and my required human interactions is all in all limited. Now lets compare that to some other jobs out there.

Let's first try out working in a hospital, I can't even imagine what it would take to stay sane in a place like that. And I mean that(that I have no idea, can't imagine, no concept), I've watched my fair share of Scrubs episodes which I'm willing to bet is so far from what actually goes on in a real hospital that it has no semblance to the truth. But even if they don't I still don't compare, really the hardest decisions I have to face is if I'm going to waste my time hunting for documents or just delete them and let whoever needed them figure it out on their own. Now take a doctor's, inevitable his decisions are for a life or at least have life long consequences. I don' think we're in the same league, forget league, we're not even in the same world.

Or how about something that while may not be as life impacting is still very important, childcare. One of the guys in my LS works at a daycare center and the other day he was talking about some of the kids. Well I don't know if this is the place to mention it or not, but as he continued to talk he started to basically make fun of an autistic kid. Now I've never been around any kids/people that have that particular problem but my reaction was a strong desire to grab my two foot stick of pipe and go play "Band the Drum" on the guys ribs. Unfortunately(or fortunately) I don't know where he lives so our music session was delayed until I find out. But it did get me to thinking, what right do I have to say/think anything about his situation? I've never worked in childcare, I don't know what they go through, I don't know what they have to put up with. I don't know for a fact that if I worked in his place I wouldn't get so bogged down with stuff that I would let my human weakness take over for a bit and say some things that where less then kind. Hey I say less then kind things all the time, who's to say that's any different? I don't know, but it doesn't change the fact that I have my handy pipe sitting beside my desk ready to go to work if the opportunity presents itself.

There was one other thing I was going to mention but this is taking more time then I had planed and it's slowing me down. So the end result is that I'm aware I've got a very nice job and I need to learn how small and insignificant my problems really are.

It's starting over, starting over
Can't stand it's over, God is gonna take me out
My time is over, this time is over
Why is this over? God is gonna take me out

4:02 AM: Well stuffs starting to slow down here. I just finished the last machine I needed to work on tonight. So far there was less of a return on the computers then I had hoped but all in all it wasn't so bad. In any event I now have tomorrow free to work on the books or whatever else I need to do. I'm a little hungry, guess I need more then the pot pie and bean burrito I've had so far today. So I think I'll head to the back and get something to eat and watch some Star Trek.

Does anybody know bout love
Does anybody care bout God
If you're with me sing sorrow

9:02 AM: Well so much for taking it easy. I got another burrito and as I was eating I got to thinking about a couple of the laptops I have waiting. Long story short I got them set up and did somehow fix one of them. After that I had enough time to doze for about 20 minutes then get ready to open. All in all I had a very productive night and while I'm not sure how today is going to turn out it was worth it.

You're gonna die!
Wanna meet me, why?
I wish I had your strength
Inside your soul escapes.

10:45 AM: I'm tired, this is probably the worst time for me, in an hour or two I'll be fine, until then I somewhat resemble a zombie. Actually it's not that bad, aside from a desire to punch people out it's just like a normal day... Than again I normally... Never mind.

Well I guess that's it folks, that's 24 hours of my weird little life. Good luck with whatever you find yourself doing today.

And I'm sorry I don't believe
By the evidence that I see
That there's any hope left for me

---Texas

All Things Work Together....

2007-10-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

You know the rest. And I'm stretching things here but I wanted to get something good out of last Friday night(check my last post) so this is the best I could come up with.

Follow with me if you will a short chain of events starting last Friday, I was working on a computer well past the time I should have been in bed and I wasn't able to fix the machine until mid day Saturday. Now normally I use Friday night to catch up on sleep and be ready for the weekend. I wasn't able to do that so come Saturday evening I was dead. Even hitting blm70 wasn't able to keep me awake much past midnight.

So Sunday I slept in late, in fact I slept much more then I should have. Which lead to me being unable to sleep last night. Which lead me to being bored and doing some work on my computer. Which lead to.. Care to guess? I think I'll leave the rest of it to someone who's better suited, and deserves more credit for the project to explain.

2007-09-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

Neon Genesis Evangelion, an interesting show to say the lest. For the anime fans out there you know what it is, for the rest of you it basically a story about a kid that fights aliens in a giant robot. It's one of the most popular mecha shows to date and has a large following of rabid fans.

When I first watched the series I enjoyed it immensely as a whole. There are some characters I didn't like(Asuka, Shinji Ikari). But they where balanced out by characters that easily hit my personal top ten favorite(Everyone knows who I'm talking about but I'll still say it, Rei). As the show went I didn't understand it, I'll give $100 to the first person who does understand the entire thing.

But I read something posted that I don't know if it is true or not, if it is it makes a lot of the show easy to understand. A gent stated that the show was written from things that happened in the writers life(again I have no idea if that's true or not). Well obviously it wouldn't be literally, I haven't seen any aliens battling mechs in the news for a while(although I haven't watched the news for a while). But it makes sense that he's taking his life and warping it into the "actors" of his show.

If I'm wrong please let me know. But I'm not sure how you could explain The End of Evangelion without going into the realm of talking about one thing while discussing another.

So what about Jesus? Didn't he do that as well? In my eyes he did it a lot, every parable he used was because there where people who where supposed to understand and people who weren't. The people he was speaking to where the ones that could understand the parable, those who could not where unfortunately left out.

Knowledge is a very dangerous tool. If you have all the knowledge but no wisdom you will eventually corrupt yourself. I know a lot of people that have a lot of knowledge about computers but no common sense on how to use that knowledge. Whenever I'm talking to these people I try to tell them as little as possible because sooner or later they will use that knowledge in an incorrect manner and hurt themselves doing it. However I know a few people that have plenty of wisdom but don't have the knowledge, if at anytime these people ask me for information I will give it without hesitation.

How does this apply to God? Do you remember the centurion? What did he say? "Hey J, I know you have a lot on your schedule and it wouldn't be very good for you to come into a Roman's house. So you the man, just say so and it will work out."(paraphrasing) The guy was wise enough to know who Jesus is so he got the message. When a parable was spoken it was spoken for the ones that could hear, if the ones who couldn't hear it got the message it would be dangerous to them.

When I'm online(and in real life) every now and then I stop for a moment before I post something or say something to someone thinking, "This isn't me, why am I saying this?" Most of the time the answer is "Because it's funny". The rest of the times it's because I don't want people to see me, or at lest not the clear picture of me. Everyone has things they don't want to talk about, personnel insecurities, failures, and things they wish they where better at. People always(almost always) want everyone else to see themselves in a good light, no one wants to be picked on or feel like they're less of a person then everyone else. So we skip certain subjects so others won't see us.

Me, I sometimes do things a little differently(almost completely online). If I discuss something without talking about it very few people(or most probably none) will get it. Those who can figure it out can only do so because they are the same or they know me very well. I don't have to worry about them, they will just shake their head and say "I understand, been there a lot myself" and that's the end of it. Those who don't get it just shrug and leave, or come up with the wrong answer.

So what's the point of all this? I just told you. Those who know, know. those who don't, don't.

---Texas

P.S. 100th post!!!

A Very Good Day

2007-09-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

2007-07-30T08:18:00.000-07:00

Hello! It's a little late but not much has happened. Last week started with making gil.

I said last time that I joined a new Linkshell, well I haven't gotten a chance to do much with them yet but I have done a little.

The LS leader was getting her theif AF and since I wasn't busy I decided to help out.

I decided to take a breather while waiting. Right afterward a couple of Gobies jumped me, they didn't live very long.

After we got that done we went to get a scroll for a White Mage that was helping also. It was a lot easier then I thought it would be.

Later on it was Quest time.

I've been putting off getting my NPC for a while now, but I'm glade I finally got him.

Now for the hard part, leveling him.

And the even harder part, leveling me.

There's a lot of waiting involved.

If I ever find the guys who have been feeding these Bunnies steroids I'm going to set him on fire.

The guys I helped out earlier where putting a party together so I joined them for a while.

But then they left and it was just me again.

That's all I have folks. Oh, well how about some of my info on one of my mining runs? I used 132 Pickaxes at 200 gil each(26.4k) and 48 Fire Crystals at 1.1k per stack of twelve(4.4k) and about sixty Copper Ores at 9 Gil each(540 gil), bringing my cost for the trip to a little over 31,000. I got 14 Darksteel Ores that sell for about 5k each(70k), and 2 Gold Ores that also sell for 5k(10k), and then the little stuff which I don't remember... a couple stacks of brass and some silver... there was 15 or so thousand from rocks.... and some Lightning Crystals from elementals... Hmmm, well the total of sellable goods was 127k. Bringing my profit to somewhere around 96k. Which is excellent, but I need to do that several times.

Well, talk to you next week. I already have some interesting(to me) stuff for then so make sure to stop by.

Chain Reaction

2007-07-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

It's interesting how one thing will change so many other things. Basically three computers have stopped me from getting anything done here at the shop. This morning I said "forget this" and junked two of them(I don't think the owners will be happy but who cares?), in the hour since then I've fixed four other computers and everything is going smoothly.

So the end result was that I'm getting a lot of work done, but what caused it? On the surface the reason was that I booted two machines, but what made me boot them?

It could be the fact that I've been messing with them for a week now. Now if a computer spends more then three days on my bench something is wrong. Either I can't get in touch with the owner for them to make a decision on it or I'm not doing my job right. With these it was different, I was stumped, I couldn't figure them out. So maybe I just got tired of working on them and not getting anywhere.

Or it could be my choice in music... I know what your thinking, how does music effect computers? With myself I know that I respond to things differently depending on what music I'm listening to. If I listen to christian music I'm more likely to listen to the costumer and do stupid stuff like that. If I listen to Weird Al I have a tendency to blow things up(seriously all the fires I've started here have been while Weird Al was playing).

Now the unanswered question that brings up is, do I listen to that music because that's the mood I'm in or does the music put me in that mood? I don't know, what I do know is that this week I've been listening to classical music(I don't know why, I just felt like it). Except for today, today started with "Wake Up Hate" and has continued with a barrage of fight songs. So did the music cause me to have limited patience and unceremoniously kick the offending machines off the bench?

Or could it be that this morning before starting work I let Canatu check the AH and because of some stuff selling he's now halfway to getting his Sleepga II spell. That's the only spell he's missed so far and it's kind of been bothering us that he hasn't had it(even though he hasn't needed it). So did I decide to do things halfway today because of him? Hmm, I don't think so, but maybe.

I know somethings happen because of a lot of little things. I also know that somethings just happen. Where the choices I made today the result of a long chain of events, or where they just because that's what I decided? I don't know, but does it matter?

Then let's put it to something that does matter. If all the little choices or events lead me to do something that is pleasing to God does that mean all the little steps are pleasing to Him? Wait a minute I know what your thinking, and no I'm not trying to make a point about music(that would be a stupid train of thought that leads to more stupidity).... Hold on, where am I going with this?

...

....

......

I had something planed out when I started, what was it?

........

I don't remember...

Oh well, all and all I just hope my actions are pleasing to Him. And if the little things make that happen great. If they don't, ok, I'll try on the big stuff then.

---Texas

Pointy Objects

2007-07-25T07:41:00.001-07:00

Does anyone have something sharp and pointy I could stab myself with? The hammer isn't doing the job anymore... I threw my complaint department at a customer so I can't use that. I still can't find my knife, I think I stabbed someone with it and forgot to get it back.

Who let the morons out? Seriously shouldn't they be kept in a cage? Log man stopped by the shop yesterday. There should be only one person in the world(two if you count me) that knows who log man is so let's leave it that he's cost me a lot of money and I don't like him.

He's messed up his comp again, that shocked me. No really I didn't think that the guy who burned up a perfectly good main board could have computer problems. How could he? He knows everything there is to know about comps.

There are some people that should never own a comp, they shouldn't even be allowed to look at one. Just being within breathing room of one makes it open a portal to hell and summon demons. What else could explain some of this stuff?

Well no use complaining about it. If you'll pardon me I'm going to go bang my head against a brick wall. Later.

---Kidnik

Annoy Me Week

2007-07-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

Did I miss a memo? Seriously, did all the nuts get together and pick this week to strike? Yesterday I had all but two of my worst customers come in. *Sigh* If those two show up I'm going to lock the doors and quit.

I was minding my own business when an old friend of the last owner came in. What shall we call him? How about "Mr. Give Me Stuff"? MGMS for short. See the last owner never threw stuff away, he just accumulated junk. Well that was something of a problem, except he had friends like MGMS who came by every now and then to say hi. He would pick something out of the pile and give it to them, they'd go away and everyone was happy.

Now I don't accumulate stuff. If it can't be turned into cash in a week or a month then it gets thrown away. So when MGMS comes in I don't have anything to give him, nor would I if I had something.

So he starts out by telling me about a problem he's "working" on. Now he's not a tech, he's not even a good user. I'm surprised that he knows how to turn a computer on. So the fact that he's having problems does not surprise me. But it's nothing serious, the drivers for his modem are not installed(I'm cutting a lot of conversation out, for a while he had a modem then he didn't then he had one again, it was a mess). No big deal, I tell him how to fix it. I lost him around open the control panel...

Now he comes here because the last owner would have said "Just bring it in, I can fix it". And he would have and not charged him. I said the same thing, but I added in "total cost $35.18". Nope, all of a sudden MGMS is a rocket scientist and can figure it out on his own. Sounds good to me.

After the fifteen or so minutes spent on that we get to the heart of the issue.
MGMS: That's a nice computer over there.

(Side note, no it isn't. It's an old piece of junk that is so old that I couldn't throw it away.)

Me: Yeah, I found that when I was cleaning the back.

MGMS: I found one just like that at a garage sale a few weeks back. Two of them together would look nice.

Me: Probably.

MGMS: ...

Me: ...

(It's my shop your not going to get me uncomfortable here.)

MGMS: And that one siting beside it, what is that and old Mac?

Me: Yup, same one that was up there last time you came in.

MGMS: I started a collection of them. Stuff like that is great for me.

Me: Really?

MGMS: ...

Me: ...

(I can do this all day.)

MGMS: What's that little thing over there?

Me: That's a frag box I just put together. Nice computer, I could put a modem in it if you wanted it.

MGMS: It can't be a very good machine.

(I told him what it was, P4 1gig RAM. Standered desktop, nothing fancy, but years ahead of anything he has)

MGMS: Hmm, doesn't sound to bad...

Me: $625

MGMS: ...

Me: ...

MGMS: ...

Me: ...

(Really, I have enough food in the back to do this for a couple of weeks, I'm not in a rush)

MGMS: Well I guess I'd better be going.

Me: Alright, let me know if there's anything I can do for you.

(I have to say that last part)

MGMS: Yeah.

So he didn't get anything this time either... What? I'm not here to give stuff away, or make friends for that matter. I'm here to make a living, and it's difficult enough without vultures bothering me. I give a lot of work away, but there's always a reason to it. With this guy it's just tossing money away. And I'm not anywhere close to being rich enough to do that.

---Alpha

Ace the Babysitter?

2007-07-23T07:23:00.000-07:00

Ok who here thinks I'd be good with kids? If anyone said yes, GO AWAY!!! Seriously out now, we don't want your kind around here. A while back I was minding my own business, pretending to work on computers when an old friend of the last owner came in.

Someone coming in = Good

Someone coming in with a computer = Very Good

Someone coming in with a computer and a kid = Ok, as long as it doesn't touch anything.

Someone coming in and putting a computer on the in-bench and walking out the door without the kid = Very Bad

When I say kid I mean around fourteen, in my book you're a kid until you prove you're not. Apparently grandmother of said kid(read mentally challenged one) had an errand and decided to go do it and leave the thing here with me to tell me what was going on with it. Now I know the truth, the twit had been bothering his grandmother for some days now and she would kill for just a few moments of peace away from said twit. But is that any justification for torturing me?

The thing maneged to put a few words together and got the point across that she would be back in about ten minutes... So can I last ten minutes without killing him? I didn't know, but if I could I deserve sainthood. So just wanting to get it over with I took the computer to the bench(I was still using the back bench when this happened), I was almost finished hooking it up when I noticed the thing had followed me to the back. Why couldn't it have just sat in the front like a good little thing and leave me alone?

Well it's supposed to tell me what's wrong with it right? So I boot the computer and it hits a blue screen. The thing eloquently says "that's what's happening". I couldn't have figured that out for myself? Man am I glad Shurlock was there to help me, if he hadn't been there I would have been looking all day for the problem.

So I start working on the the error, no big deal bad boot sector, easy fix. But the thing continues to speak... About what I don't really know, something about how great he is at shooters. This goes on for a few minutes while I entertain fantasies of punching his teeth in.

Then he did it, he opened himself wide open,

Twit: I can beat any shooter in like minutes, I haven't found any game that's hard for me to play.
Me: Oh really?
Twit: Yeah, I beat Halo and Half-Life.
Me: Yeah those are difficult games(not really but whatever), have you played Quake?
Twit: Quake? Never heard of it. It would be easy for me to beat though.

Now for those who don't know, Quake 4 and Halo are the shooters of our generation. If you play shooters you will have played Quake 4. This kid has just shown that he knows nothing of shooters or anything, and that he's saying stuff just to say stuff. Which is good for me because I can now mess with him. I have both Halo and Quake 4 on my computer(I haven't got around to Half-Life yet because I get bored with shooters).

Me: I'm sure you can, if you want to try it's on that computer there.
Twit: Yeah, I'll have it done before my grandmother comes back.

So he goes over to my baby, my poor baby that hasn't done anything to anybody and has just been doing her job.

Twit: Uh, where is it?
Me: (hehe, can't even open the menu and open a game, this is going to be good) It's right there.
Twit: Oh, yeah, I didn't see it.
Me: Now I setup some custom controls so check them out before you get started.
Twit: No need, I'm the best at these games.

Now he had been telling me how great his machine was. According to him it could outperform any machine on the market and had the best graphics in the world. I loved it when he logged in saw what a real computer could do. He gasped the first time he saw the graphics my Ge Force 7950x2 can do. Hehe, I made a mental note to do some hard drive maintenance to reward her for the job well done after the twit left.

Well Rambo skipped all the instructions and jumped right into the game, he's so good he doesn't even need to know how to shoot. All he has to do is think and everything dies. Only replace everything with him. I did my best to hold in my laughter when he was face down in thirty seconds.

Twit: Man, these controls are all messed up. I did everything perfect... Why are you rolling on the floor?
Me: hahahhaha

So I picked myself off the floor and he tried again, this time he did check the control list. And that helped him wonderfully, he got off one shot before he was face down again.

Me: Hahaha...
Twit: THIS IS MESSED UP!! THIS COMPUTER IS *#&@!^#
Me: WOAH! Listen you can say anything you want about me or my family or anything else, but if you insult my computer again I'm going to be forced to hurt you.
Twit: Sorry, but these controls are bad. I'm so good at these types of games, the controls just don't respond.
Me: Right, whatever.

At this point I'm starting to worry about my baby. She's been real good to me and I take care of her. She really doesn't need someone she doesn't know being mean to her.

He logs in again to try to survive and guess what? He actually lives for over a minute. One minute twelve seconds, to be exact. I think he even hit something that time. This time however he is not as patient as before. After all, he is the best player in the world and this computer has made him die three times. His reputation has been besmirched, he must have revenge. HE HIT MY KEYBOARD

I had warned him once, my computer has never been abused like that before and I wasn't about to let it slide. I had to defend her honer.

Twit: Augh guah, what are ghagael you heked doing?
Me: What does it look like, I'm defending my computer.

I never heard his grandmother come in...

Apparently people don't like it when you try to choke the life out of their grandchild with a keyboard cord. Weird, I'll have to remember that, use a mouse cord instead.

So the kid lived, my computer was avenged and I think I lost a costumer. I had to spend all day consoling my computer though. She took it bad. In the end I bought her a new hard drive and she was happy.

If there is anyone out there who after reading this still thinks it's ok to leave their child with me... Don't.

---Deamer

Week in Review

2007-07-21T11:41:00.000-07:00

Hello all, well I'm happy to report the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

That's right ladies and gents, I'M ALIVE!!!

Hehe, alive and loving it, well no reason to beat around the bush. I jumped right in and started to level thief.

And I leveled thief.

And some more.

I hate thief.

After I finally got to 15 it was time to put it to use.

So let's do some math. I got around seventy Yagodo Bead Necklaces from these birds. Their drop rate was one in three. How many birds did I kill?

Answer: I'M SICK OF LOOKING AT BIRDS!!!

But then I got it done and it was time to go on a journey. Time to go to Norg.

It's a long tripe that takes you through some creepy territory. But Norg itself is nice(I forgot to get pictures).

So I did my Ninja and a few scroll quests and then it was back to Windurst for leveling again.

But this time I had something that made it a lot easier, Duel Wield.

Well I took Ninja to 12 and then did some odd jobs. That's about it. It seams like I did more then that... Hmm, maybe I'm forgetting things... Well until next week.

Thursday Night Log #10

2007-06-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

As of 8:47 AM on Friday the 29th of June in the year 2007 a vote of no confidence was given to the counsel. The statement entered along with the vote asked for the review and possible removal of the current controller. Effective immediately we are closed.

-------------------------
As leader of the counsel I was asked to make a short statement. Canatu has officially requested a review of Kidnik. This has been building for some time but we had hoped to avoid any type of review. Actions taken by both parties has made that impossible at the current time. Therefore we will be shutting down and conducting a full review.

It is our highest priority to resolve this issue. We hope to resolve it quickly and to be back without delay. This review covers not just Kidnik's control but is a total review. Therefor at this time we cannot say how and/or what matters will return.

We hope to have a decision by Tuesday of next week. That however is a best case scenario and should not be considered a set date or to say that we will return at all.

Thank you for your time.

Thursday Night Log #7

2007-06-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

11:40pm, Ok so I'm getting started a little late, sue me. Actually I don't have much to do, just two computers so this will probably be very short. Basically I have a Vista comp and a standard virus problem. Nothing big, there's nothing I can do for the vista guy, you buy junk you get junk. The vir problem is working itself out as I write so it will probably be short tonight.

1:53am, Maybe I was wrong. Apparently the virus comp is going to be a pain. It's in worse shape now then when it came in. I'm currently checking it for a rootkit. Last week at this time I was doing very good, this week is for the birds. Maybe I need to play some Logan Whitehurst... Or maybe I'm still messed up from earlier today and it doesn't matter what I do, whatever it is it will stink.

4:02am, ok I'm making it official. This night has been a complete waste of time. As far as I'm concerned it never happened.
----------------------

Currently listening to: Nothing at the moment
Current Manga: LWaK and Lament of the Lamb
Current Anime: Blood+
Current Weather: Anoyed
Current number of computers waiting to be worked on: 0

Slow Week

2007-06-28T07:45:00.000-07:00

Man this week has been boring. I've worked on less then five computers so far. That's several short of what's need to keep my attention. I have one waiting to go one my bench and supposedly there are two coming in(I don't expect much). I'd like a few more just to make tonight interesting. Well I have a service call, be back in a little while.

A little while my foot, I just got back. Five hours and I didn't get the job done. Or closer to the truth, I wasn't allowed to fix it. Not my problem but they're getting a bill.

AHHHH! Why do people have to be so stupid? Sorry, a half hour has passed since I wrote the last paragraph. A very annoying half hour. First off the Fritch C's have joined forces and have become ten times harder to deal with now that they're always together. They come banging on the back door(why can't they just walk through the front door like everyone else?) and they want me to close shop and go setup a comp for them.

Why do they need me to setup a comp for them? They both have been around computers a lot, well they don't have all the cords. So I ask them what cables are missing, no clue, just some of them.... Last week they had a LCD that didn't have a power cable, actually it was worse then that, it needed a power adapter. Where am I supposed to get one of those?

Ok yes I know exactly where to get the cables. It wouldn't take half an hour out of my day to get one. But I'm not going to. Why? I'm assuming that you don't know who the C's are so let's leave it at C1 has history with the shop so anything I do for her is? Any ideas? Yup, anything I do for her is free, regardless of what it cost or how much time I spend on it. I'm not about to go buy a thirty dollar cable just to give it away.

So no power cable, what other cables could you lose? Unless you take a par of pliers and start cutting them off(the C's would do that) my count is a grand total of three possible cables. So do I take one of each or do I just drive over there and hope for the best? In any event I'm not doing anything today, WesTex is taking my time today and if they need me tomorrow(and they probably will) they'll have me then. Other people have spoken for my weekend so it's out leaving Monday as being the closest I can get to it. This does not go over very well but not my problem.

C2 left her comp with a "friend"(Why do they lie? I know she was the one who did it, but no it was a "friend") that didn't know anything about computers and forced the PS/2 connections. I've been going in circles with her ever since. I bend the connection on the keyboard/mouse back in place then she rebends them. How many times do I have to tell her to get a USB K&M? Today she wanted me to change the PS/2 connection inside the machine... ROTFLOL, yeah right. I'll get right on it after I get back from my trip to watch ice skating. After I told her it would be $325 she decided to do what I've been telling her to do for a month now and go and buy a USB K&M.

After that relaxing and joyful conversation another pain came in(this one used the front door). This lady has a huge impulse problem, as soon as she comes in she starts asking if this or that is for sell(you don't have to ask me more then once, I'll always tell you the same thing). All she wanted was for me to install XP on her system, it has 98. However she didn't bother to bring her XP disk... right this is going to be legal...

Then it dawns on her, she has an empty slot on her computer front, what's that for? So I tell her. This is how I know she has an impulse problem, she has never burned a CD, she doesn't even know the difference between a CD and a DVD and just because I tell her that those slots are used for DVD or CD burners or ROMS she needs one. Then she remembers that her friend has a case that has a glass window(it's not glass but I don't want to explain that to her) and lights in it, can I do that with hers? Sure, what kind of case, what look do you want it to have? What colors, just on the fans or do you want some cold cathodes? She has no idea, she just wants it to look nice. Then she remembers, not only does it have slots in the front that aren't used she has them in the back also, what goes in them?

Anyway, in the space of five minutes she went from reloading the OS to a new case, lights, ethernet, wireless, video card, DVD-RW, RAM, floppy and I'm not sure how much other stuff. The nice thing about it is I don't have to be in a rush, I don't have to order in any parts, why? Simple, she's not going to buy any of those things. She may not even get her system reloaded. I told her I need the OS disk or at lest the product key(that way when Bill Gates starts yelling about the OS it won't be my fault). She'll head to her home and try to find it, I'm guessing at some point before she sees me she will see her handler(don't you feel sorry for that guy). He will tell her that she isn't getting any of the things I listed above. If I did do something stupid like order the parts I would end up with custom parts with no'one interested in them.

You know if this had(and it did) happened a couple of months back I would have known how to deal with it. Just log into FFXI and say hi to the guys and forget everything as I get something important accomplished. Now I don't know how to handle it. The best thing I can come up with is to find my earphones and start trying to blow my eardrums out.

I guess I'm stupid, but that's the only way I know how to deal with it. Back to the earphones.
Break you down
Mercy, I cannot allow
Through your face, My fist will plow
Watching as your blood pours down
Lets do this now
(Thanks again to KoRn)
----------------------

Currently listening to: Let's Do This Now(KoRn)
Current Manga: LWaK and Hajime no Ippo
Current Anime: Blood+
Current Weather: Anoyed
Current number of computers waiting to be worked on: 0

Switchblade, Final Part Of The Prequel

2007-06-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

"Hey Stupid, what are you doing here?"

"Just doing what I do. I'm just about done here."

"Anything interesting?"

"Yeah, take a look at these two guys."

"...Two morons killed themselves, happens all that time. So what?"

"Normally I'd agree with you, but these two killed themselves at the the same exact hour and minute. Their last breath was taken together, both shot themselves with their left hand even though they are both right handed and they used the same type of gun."

"What's the connection?"

"None that I can find, they live in the same city but other then that they have nothing in common."

"Did they ever met?"

"Not that I can tell, I've reviewed both of their lives and I can see no reason for them to do anything similar much less kill themselves at the same time. More then that, the reasons they had for killing themselves are stupid."

"Well they killed themselves of course their stupid."

"I don't mean that, it's more like they did it because they where supposed to. I don't know."

"Well what are you going to do?"

"Nothing, the brothers stopped by a while ago and said they found something that I should see."

"The brothers? It's probably just a big rat. Your just going to leave these guys?"

"Yeah, unless you have a better idea? I've studied these guys as much as I care to."

"Really? Sweet, before you leave do you know where the little guy is?"

"Cana? Yeah he was in the reborn system. What do you need him for?"

"These guys killed themselves because they didn't like their life, right? I want to know how they like the other guys life."

"Ha ha, sounds good to me, let me know how it turns out. I'm going to go see the big rat."

"Good luck."
----------------------

Currently listening to: No Place To Hide(KoRn)
Current Manga: LWaK and Hajime no Ippo
Current Anime: Blood+
Current Weather: ...
Current number of computers waiting to be worked on: 0

NOOOOOO!!!

2007-06-26T10:26:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get the feeling that you shouldn't do something but you do it anyway? Yeah, I know I'm a moron, I know better but I still go ahead and do it. I made a general life rule for myself a few years back, unfortunately every couple of months I break the rule and every time I do it makes such a mess that I remember why I made the rule in the first place.

Care to guess what the rule is? Those who know me should already have an idea. NEVER, EVER, help someone or in anyway be nice to people. There's no point in it, whenever you take time out of your day to help someone else you end up doing just that. Taking valuable time away from yourself and giving it to someone else. Ugh, it's even disgusting to thing about. Then someone gets the wrong idea and thinks your a good person so later on when they have a problem who do they turn to? Yup that's right, because you wanted to be nice and help somebody in trouble somehow you've become their doormat and you somehow owe them.

It's like that movie, some dude saves his shipmate from drowning; that starts off a chain of events that ends up with him married and helping out not just the one guy but five or six different people(A cookie to anyone who knows what movie I'm talking about; here's a hint, Frank Sinatra). What's the point? Be nice to people and you'll always end up being nice to other people as well, it's not good policy.

Anyway, change of subject, as you may have noticed from my last post I'm reading Hajime no Ippo again. Yes dear reader I have no idea why or how I ended up reading HnI again but here I am. Every page I turn some part of my brain yells at me to stop but I don't listen. I'm on the fourth of fifth volume just after his debut and it's not looking very good. *Sigh* How did this happen?

I think I know what it is, I'm running out of good stuff to read. Currently I have one volume of Snow Drop left but it's so boring that I'm not sure when I'll be able to finish it. I'm also reading LWaC, it's better then I thought it would be but I guess I just got tired of the episode type writing. We need more Gantz or turn Berserk back to what it used to be instead of the christian hating, peace pushing, self control centered junk it is now. Hmmm, that would be nice, Gutz rampaging across the world looking for Griffith...

Kentarou Miura, I ask you, why are you set on turning Guts into a pansy? Do you remember the Guts of old? Do you remember the guy who chewed off his own arm? The guy who fought a hundred men just because he didn't think to run away. The guy who's armor cuts through his skin so it can hold his bones together when they break. Do you remember that guy? We haven't seen him in a while, he's been replace by some guy that asks the Skull Warrior for help, protects the weak and doesn't have the guts to get mad or kill that kid(quit wasting time, it's sad but just do it). And Casca, what are you doing to her? I get the fact that she was part of the prequel and isn't really needed for the rest but enough time has passed, let's see something of the old Casca again. Drop that sadistic twit you replaced her with and bring Casca back.

*Sigh* Sorry, I wasn't planing on complaining but Berserk used to be a great series now it's just another boring adventure title. If this is the best Kentarou Miura can come up with to continue it he should have just stopped the series at volume 34 or whenever it was Guts started to change.

Well this post sure has turned out different then I had planed. But that's ok I guess. Later.
----------------------

Currently listening to: Shooter(I forgot how adictive this song is)
Current Manga: Snow Drop, LWaK, and Hajime no Ippo
Current Anime: Blood+
Current Weather: Irritated
Current number of computers waiting to be worked on: 1

Weird Morning

2007-06-26T08:21:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, Chris Benoit is dead... Yeah, I know I'm a little late but I don't watch news, deal with it. Well I normally don't watch news, currently the TV is on and I'm hanging out in a few chat rooms looking for information. Now the only reason I know anything about him or care for that matter is Priest used to drag me through all sorts of that junk. But I like it to a certain extent, Benoit being the one I was most interested in.

The web has almost no facts, the guys who are investigating it say “the details, when they come out, are going to prove a little bizarre.” Right now the prevailing rumor is that Benoit killed his son and wife then committed suicide. I really don't want that to be the case but it's not like what I want is going to change anything. But man, the Harts can't seem to have any luck, they really need to change how they live.

I had another post planed out but I really didn't and don't want to make it(I've been debating about it for about a week now) so when A(*check bottom) called me because she had seen Benoit on the news I had an excuse not to make it... That and I wanted to make a post on Benoit. I'm planing on making another post today and I'll edit this one if we get any facts from the news today.
----------------------
*For the record A does not have any interest in this stuff. She however is aware that I have a very small interest so she thought I'd want to know.
----------------------

Currently listening to: Shooter(What else would you listen to when talking about Benoit?)
Current Manga: Snow Drop, LWaK, and Hajime no Ippo
Current Anime: Blood+
Current Weather: Confused
Current number of computers waiting to be worked on: 1

Observations

2007-06-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

Last week an old friend called, it's been about six months since I talked to him last. No, I take that back, I talked to him a couple of months back but the conversation was less then five minutes so it doesn't count. A couple of years ago we where very close friends and spent a lot of time working and goofing off, now obviously we don't. Why? I could go into a lot of details and someday I want to(Since I started this thing I've been writing and rewriting a post about all that stuff, I just can't seem to get it written down in a way I like), but the long and short of it is desire. It's not worth the effort to go find my phone and give him a call(if you think that's cold you need to see the rest of that post). In one way that's kind of depressing, but for the most part it's just a fact.

In the "years of hell" there was one fellow that made it much easier to handle. On some occasions we would eat meals with him. Well we would eat, I don't ever remember seeing him eat. He would get a glass of chocolate milk and talk as we ate. Amongst all the horror and discomfort that place had he was a much welcomed rest. He wasn't an intelligent man, in fact he has some sort of mental problem that makes it hard for him to understand people(and sometimes the other way around too). There was times that he was irritating, but much less then everyone else around there.

He's stopped by the shop a couple of times since then, just to say hi. I haven't given him much thought though. Yesterday I overheard a conversation where he was brought up and I started to think about him again. But it got me to thinking, I'd like to sit down and have a meal with him again. Would I call him a friend? No, but still. I pride myself on not needing social interaction, why is this different? More then likely the feeling will wear off in a couple of days or in a couple of hours for that matter.

It's kind of funny though, on one hand I have a guy I call friend and I won't take the effort to call him. On the other hand we have a guy I wouldn't call my friend and I'm considering reentering that hell just to say hi... Hmmm.
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Currently listening to: Coming Undone(KoRn)
Current Manga: Snow Drop and LWaK
Current Anime: Blood+
Current Weather: Hungry
Current number of computers waiting to be worked on: 1

Switchblade, Part #2 Of The Prequel

2007-06-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

We had my father's funeral today. It was filled with people that hated him or at lest didn't care about him. I wonder if there was anyone that was sorry that he was dead? Well his business partners are but not because they cared for him, they're just nervous that I won't be able to take his place. But was there anyone who was sorry for losing him as a person? I wasn't, I didn't want him to die because now I have to run his company but I don't really care about him. I wonder if my mother ever cared for him? Probably not, from the stories I've heard before the divorce she wanted to kill him herself.

I'm going through his room now, I've only been in here twice before. Both times where to get a sermon on what to expect from life. The first time was when I was ten, he told me all that he did to become the man he was then. He went through a lot and I guess I have to agree with everyone else, my father had a goal in life and he did whatever it took to get it. I'm not sure what he was trying to tell me with it all; the only part I really remember is him saying that I should never expect to do better then him. He said that as his son I was expected to keep the business running and keep the money coming in, but beyond that I shouldn't expect to do much.

The second time was five years later on my fifteenth birthday. He had decided to send me to a business college as well as continue my tutoring. He said that I had been kept in the house studding to much, that I needed to get out and learn about people first hand. He spent a little over an hour describing what to expect from people and how to handle them. Then he just sent me to go pack; I didn't see him again for three years.

But he was right about how people treated me. When I first got to college I was an outsider. I guess that's natural, how many fifteen year old kids go to college? Then everything changed when someone found out who my father was, all of a sudden I was every ones friend. Father said that would happen, he told me when it did I could either ignore them completely and go on without friends or if I wanted I could chose a couple of them and make them my friends. But he told me to remember that they where just trying to be my friend because of my money, he said to never allow anyone to get so close to me that I couldn't dispose of them immediately.

He was right there too, I made one mistake and that was enough for me. Whenever I think about it I get depressed. Like him or not my father knew what he was talking about. How am I going to take his place? I don't think I want to. Is everyone like this? Am I going to end up like my father? Am I going to die and have no one care that I lived? What about the business, he basically said it, I'll never be anything more then a fill in. I'll never be able to look back on my life and point out all the things I did to succeed, I was born into success. I've lived for nineteen years now and I have no idea why. Why? What's the point? So I can make money? No, I don't think I'm going to live this life. I think I'm going to do something I want to do instead of what I'm supposed to do.

Father had one hobby, guns. He loved to restore old and useless weapons into working ones. At least that's what I've been told, he never talked to me about them and I've never seen any of them. Well if he did then they're somewhere in this room. I'm not going to do what they want me to do, I'm going to quit.
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Currently listening to: Justin(KoRn)
Current Manga: Snow Drop(yeah I know, but it's boring so I'm having a hard time finishing it)
Current Anime: Blood+
Current Weather: Hungry
Current number of computers waiting to be worked on: 1

Thursday Night Log #6

2007-06-21T15:48:00.000-07:00

AHHHHH, yet another time has come. Another opportunity to close and lock the door and ignore the phone(ok, I always do that) and fix computers at my own pace...It feels good. There's not a lot on tonight's list of projects so I think I'll try to tear through them real quick and then have fun the rest of the night.

But before we get to that I'll fill you in on tonight's computers. Comp #1 was here last Thursday and no it did not leave my shop in that time. Basically I'm reloading the OS and it will be done. Actually all that's left on it is to load some drivers, move the documents over and then to Ghost it back to where it belongs, easy. Comp #2 just needs a system reload, easy. And the last one(yes only three tonight) Comp #3 has something wrong with the modem or the settings or something like that, I haven't started on it yet so I'm not sure. Anyway on to it.

7:30PM, Hmm, Maybe I'm working to fast. Comp #3 is done, it's not fixed but it's done. I'm currently loading programs on Comp #2 and all that's left on #1 is to tie some of the cables back to help the airflow. Oh and I finally stopped being lazy and moved my KoRn music onto my workstation so I'm currently trying to blow out my eardrums:)

8:05PM, Can this night get any better? I'm about ten minutes from finishing the last comp, Thoughtless is playing as high as this computer will play it and no one can bother me. Haha, this rules. I wonder if I should go and grab something to eat just to celebrate? I haven't gone to JT's in a while, although I haven't gone to Plaza either... Hmmm...

All of my hate cannot be found
I will not be drowned by your thoughtless scheming
So you can try to tear me down
Beat me to the ground
I will see you screaming
(KoRn)

8:36PM, I'M DONE!!! Ok so it took longer then I said, I got caught up reading some song info. Good stuff. Now for the hard part, what do I do now? I think I'll go read some manga then decide, I'm not in a rush.

9:41PM, Ok so that was a bad idea. I forgot that I don't have a car at the moment so I had to walk. JT's was closed so I now have a Braum's. It better be one good bacon cheeseburger to be worth the walk.

11:23PM, Well it wasn't worth it. But don't worry nothing can get me down tonight. Well, nothing I'd like to think of at the moment. I guess if a bunch of space monkeys in red suites came to my shop and then their one handed, purple skinned, Amazonian keepers came to get them to go back to home in order to stop a flood on Zeion with toothpaste and bandages then I'd get depressed. But that happened yesterday, I don't think it will happen twice in one week so I'm safe.

2:27AM, Well I finished the first real draft of the stylesheet. That was a lot of work, it's actually closer to draft 29 but it's the first one I'm happy with. Next I need to break down the HTML and then start renaming everything. I've never used a stylesheet before and while it's not that difficult to pick up I'm having problems figuring out how do things correctly or at all for that matter. But it's worth it I think, you sure can do a lot more things with it then you can with just HTML. Break time.

9:06AM, ...It's over. My wonderful night off has ended. Oh well.
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Currently listening to: Counting On Me(KoRn)
Current Manga: Snow Drop
Current Anime: Blood+
Current Weather: Kind of depressing now
Current number of computers waiting to be worked on: 0

Somebody Is Here

2007-06-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention that my slip up a few months back has resulted in a lurker. Apparently there may be more then one lurker. Ladies and gentlemen, I never wanted this responsibility, I'm not up to the job, I don't have the experience.

I asked D to watch my accounts for a few days while I took a break and look what happens, I GET AN INFECTION!!! I'm happily living my life ignoring everybody and bang that little twit goes and messes everything up. I promise you I will get my revenge on him... Hmmm, D is twice as strong as me.... Ok, maybe I wont get revenge.

*sigh* So what do I do now? I don't now how to deal with this, are they harmless? Maybe, I haven't seen any side effects from them yet. But maybe they're just waiting for the right time? Do they have a leader? Are they growing? Are they gathering information on me?

This is how it starts, you think one or two is no big deal so you don't do anything. You just let it slide. But then one or two more join, then more join soon you have a mob stampeding through your house taking everything you own. What a minute, "taking everything you own"... ARE YOU AFTER MY ROOT BEER?!! I KNOW WHAT YOUR UP TO. I'M ON TO YOU, I WONT LET YOU GET AWAY WITH IT.

Yes, I have a plan. You wont get away with it. You will pay for your crimes. All I need is a can of WD-40 and a pound of C-4 then you'll be sorry.
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Currently listening to: Why do you need to know? Are you planing something?
Current Manga: Snow Drop
Current Anime: Blood+
Current Weather: Check above
Current number of computers waiting to be worked on: 0

Ha-haaa!!!!

2007-06-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

Remember when you ran away
And I got on my knees
And begged you not to leave
Because I'd go berserk?
Well. . .

You left me anyhow
And then the days got worse and worse
And now you see I've gone
Completely out of my mind
And. . .

They're coming to take me away, HA HA
They're coming to take me away, HO HO HEE HEE HA HA
To the funny farm
Where life is beautiful all the time
And I'll be happy to see
Those nice, young men
In their clean, white coats
And they're coming to take me away, Ha-haaa!

You thought it was a joke
And so you laughed
You laughed when I had said
That losing you would make me flip my lid
Right. . .

You know you laughed, I heard you laugh
You laughed, you laughed and laughed
And then you left
But now you know I'm utterly mad!
And. . .

They're coming to take me away, HA HA
They're coming to take me away, HO HO HEE HEE HA HA
To the happy home
With trees and flowers and chirping birds
And basket weavers who sit and smile
And twiddle their thumbs and toes
And they're coming to take me away, Ha-haaa!

I cooked your food
I cleaned your house
And this is how you pay me back
For all my kind, unselfish loving deeds?!!
Hah. . .

Well you just wait
They'll find you yet
And when they do they'll
Put you in the ASPCA, you mangy mutt!
And. . .

They're coming to take me away, HA HA
They're coming to take me away, HO HO HEE HEE HA HA
To the funny farm
Where life is beautiful all the time
And I'll be happy to see
Those nice, young men
In their clean, white coats
And they're coming to take me away, Ha-haaa!

To the happy home
With trees and flowers and chirping birds
And basket weavers who sit and smile
And twiddle their thumbs and toes
And they're coming to take me away, Ha-haaa!

To the funny farm
Where life is beautiful all the time
And I'll be happy to see
Those nice, young men
In their clean, white coats
And they're coming to take me away, Ha-haaa!

Written by Napoleon XIV, excellent song
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Currently listening to: Loser(3 Doors Down)
Current Manga: Snow Drop
Current Anime: Blood+
Current Weather: Check above
Current number of computers waiting to be worked on: 0

Just Another Day

2007-06-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

Well nothing big is going on today either. The Manga I'm currently reading is Snow Drop. It's Korean, so technically it's manhwa not manga but whatever.

The Japanese appear to not believe in evil or that someone can be evil. They believe that everyone is good we just don't understand their viewpoint. If you know me you know that I think that is the stupidest thing in the world. Don't get me wrong, the second someone can show me the good points of a rapist I will change my viewpoint and admit I was wrong, any takers?

The Korean works have a little of that in them also, but very little. They have some very messed up viewpoint's but instead of explaining how an evil person is in fact good they just forgive him and go on. That's a little easier for me to handle. That and most of the time the "bad guys" are truly evil and if they spend any time talking about their good points it is quickly covered up by more violence. I guess the theme is still there, it's just easier to ignore.

So which do I prefer? Manga or Manhwa, I'm not sure. My favorite series is Gantz which is manga. Ares comes in a very close second and it's Manhwa. Third is Bowling King which comes from a small island off of China(I'm not sure what government it's under). Now the one thing that Gantz and Ares has in common is the fact that neither one bothers talking about good or evil, they just skip all that and get to the killing. Maybe I'm just tired of being bombarded with stupid reasoning.

P.S. I forgot how much fun coding was. This morning I spent over an hour trying to figure out one string of code and it was because I forgot to remove quotation marks... I love it.
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Currently listening to: Wherever We Go(Newsboys)
Current Manga: Snow Drop
Current Anime: Blood+
Current Weather: Impatient
Current number of computers waiting to be worked on: 0

Quiet Day

2007-06-19T10:26:00.000-07:00

Well not a lot is happening today. I've been working on a couple of computers, being lazy and reading manga. I have a service call in about half an hour that's making me a little nervous. Some guy is having problems getting his internet working, no big deal. For some reason I don't want to make the call, it's more then the normal desire to stay away from stupidity, there's something else bothering me about it. I think I know what it is and I can't say I like it, but hey that's the way it is. Just one more thing I need to add to the list of things I need to work on.

I'm working on a new project, I hope that in a month or so this blog will have a new home. Yes my dear readers, even though this thing has yet to have it's first reader it is already to small to to do what I want. Actually it isn't going to be a new home, it's more like it's returning to it's old home. A very revamped old home but the old home none the less. Since it never got a hit and this hasn't gotten a hit either I'm guessing no one knows about the old place but it will be nice to get back to it after two years of abstinence.
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Currently listening to: Nothin Good About Goodbye(Hinder)
Current Manga: Snow... I don't remember it's Snow something...
Current Anime: Blood+
Current Weather: Impatient
Current number of computers waiting to be worked on: 0

Switchblade, Part #1 of the Prequel

2007-06-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

I'm tired, I've had enough. Five years ago my father was thrown in jail for embezzling money from the company he worked for. He didn't do it, why would he? He was making more then we needed. Don't get me wrong, we weren't rich, far from it. But my parents never really cared, they had enough to keep me in a good school and they owned their house. Why would they need to steel money?

I know what it was, it was greed. Not my dad's, the owner of the company. He set-up my father and walked away with a bunch of money at the cost of one employee. Just so one man could get more money my dad is going to spend the next four years in jail. When he gets out who is going to hire him? who would hire someone convicted of embezzlement?

It's the same old story, the rich use the weak as stepping blocks. It's money, if you have it you can do anything, if you don't then no one cares about you. I'm tired of it.

After my dad was sent to jail my mother tried to keep everything together. She tried to save the house, the cars anything. But she couldn't, lawyers surrounded use like vultures and in less then six months we where homeless. We tried the best we could, we would do day work when we could find it but that wasn't very often. Mom was killing herself taking care of me. She would try to tell me that she had eaten already or that she wasn't hungry in order to let me have what little food we had. So I made an agreement with the guy that ran a shelter that if he would make sure mom had everything she needed I would stop by every now and then and pay him for it.

It was a good deal but hard to pull off. There's not a lot of jobs that someone without even a middle school diploma can do. So I did anything and everything. I don't even remember all the jobs I've done in the last few years. At first I tried to stop in and say hello to mom every now and then but it got to be to painful so I stopped.

A year back I hit a hard spot. There was nothing to do, no one needed me for anything. So I did the first thing that came to mind, I stole a police gun. I haven't used it that often, four times in a year. Each robbery I did gave me enough to keep me and mom fed for months while I did other work. I hated doing it but I couldn't let my mother starve.

Last week I took some money to the shelter for mom and the guy that ran it said she left. That's it, he had no idea where she went or of she was even alive, he really didn't care either from the sound of it. I've been looking for her ever since but I wont be able to find her.

I've lived the last few years just because she needed me. With her gone what's the point? I'm never going to accomplish anything? I'll never be more then I am now a poor homeless nobody. If I died no one would care or even know. Why should I live? If I had money it would be different, then I would be somebody. I'd have friends and maybe I'd get married someday and have kids of my own and people would care about me. But I don't have any, I'll never have any and I'm tired of it.

I've only fired this gun once, a few months ago a guy came at me with a knife so I fired a shot at him. I still have five rounds left. Mom, Dad, I'm sorry, I can't take this anymore....
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Currently listening to: Tearjerker(KoRn)
Current Manga: Remote
Current Anime: Blood+
Current Weather: Hungry
Current number of computers waiting to be worked on: 0