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Sunday, August 31st, 2003
4:53 pm - Cloak update 4
I finished the first major part of it - the hood. With lining an' everythin'. (The instructions say to make the cloak body first, but I figured this would be faster and easier motivationally; it doesn't matter anyhow 'cause they're seperate until attached.)

Me like.

Need to turn it wrong-side-out again and trim the seams, then turn it back out, baste the neck, and press the seams. Hm... need to borrow an iron in order to do that. May be useful to acquire a travelling / bachelor's iron for this and other purposes.

Also, I'm not particularly sure how to turn out the tubes - little strips of cloth, folded and sewn along one side; you're supposed to then turn them out so as to make a tube of fabric, for ties and such. Maybe it'll work if I trim the seams some more. *shrug* Hardly the most important part of it, anyhow.

I'll probably modify the design somewhat to remove any outer vs. inner asymetry, e.g. by sewing the hood on *between* the two layers of cloak body, and not "on top". May mean slightly different seams and such, but that shouldn't be too hard.

And, yeah, the sewing is slightly irregular 'cause I'm doing it all by hand, but that just makes is that much more Mine and unique. ;-)

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Saturday, August 30th, 2003
2:18 pm - Cloak update 3
Done cutting. Used the gray outer set to pattern the 'liner' (though I'm intending it to be reversible, the gray is the default outside).

I suppose I'll start sewing now. Ain't I macho?

current music: NPR

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Friday, August 29th, 2003
9:59 pm - What I've been up to this week
Okay, so.

Last Sunday was the wedding of tyrsalviaAutumn and chrislaChris. Went with gremlinessLisa; per usual, got there just barely in time - we walked in just as the ceremony was starting. But that's what matters, ne?

I don't know what to say, except it was good and I'm happy for them. Company was good, the ceremony was very neat, and everything else one might want. being_angylAngyl took some nice pictures, including some with me. Towards the end of the party, I got a very strong pang of wanderlust and started to withdraw a bit and stare at the forest and the stars. I definitely must go camping before school starts, or I won't get the chance in a long while.

merovingianTed as the priest reminded me of my intent to get myself ordained, which I did promptly thereafter.

Ya... weddings. Complicated things.

Did my "nice person" thing and helped merovingianTed and his [girlfriend?]: their car had died. This involved first jumping it, then driving to a nearby gas station and finding it closed, then driving to another gas station, getting (and figuring out how to use without spilling) a gallon-can of gas, driving back to the car, filling it up, trying *again* to jumpstart it, and finally pushing it in an uphill U-turn so that she could do a selfstart on the downhill run. That took a little while, but eh; I don't mind helping. They seemed pleased.

Various other outings have occured since then. Saw Donnie Darko and Princess Bride (both for the first time; the former I want to watch again). Went for a walk through Stanford, theoretically in search of the sculpture garden, but that took a while. Not, of course, that I minded... especially with a pong singing prettythings. Some of which I could actually sing along with, which was fun. Saw the snake river, which is very neat, and Angyl took some photos around the Hellgate. Still need to go in the back door at some point.

Went out spelunking with Cougar; this was quite productive, as we found several interesting places (one with a very yummy anis smell), two of which are way easier to access than the rest (though one would require a cracker). Finally figured out where the ninja entrance was (I'd left a somewhat cryptic note in my old journalbook saying 'openheimer / 1400 page mill' next to a crude map). And, to top it off, we now have GPS coordinates of all the major waypoints. This will probably be mapped in the near future.

Thinking a little further about just how I want to treat the question of finding a mate (or playmate?); that's a mildly complicated issue, though. It's somewhat frustrating that those I'm attracted to are so often unavailable for one reason or other, though there's been no lack of nifty and attractive people of late. Ah well; maybe I'll write some more about that, but not publicly.

I'm guessing my cloak will be done within a few days; today I trimmed the pieces I already cut, so that they'd match and be even. Figured out that the front and back panels are identical except for the neck, so layered them all together and cut them together. Lots of pins. Not sure quite what kind of stitching to use for the seams; the stay-stitching at the neck is probably just a regular running stitch, but I'm not sure that'd be strong enough for seams.

Also wondering somewhat how to do the other things I wanted, like detachable hood, full reversability, closeable armholes, hidden pockets, stowing scrim, knot-up ties for open-front wear (i.e. pull the center up to the shoulders, so it still hangs but with the front open and not draped), and of course, how to tie frogs in the first place. Don't particularly want the just-for-show types where you lay it down and pin it together and sew it with little threads; that doesn't seem likely to be very sturdy at all. I'd rather figure out how to tie real frogs, e.g. a monkey's fist for the ball and... something... for the loop and base decoration. And, of course, need to figure out how to attach it to the main cloth securely.

Had a very intriguing conversation with fenwickrysenFenwick about Krayokan; it promises to be a rather interesting language to dredge his mind on - linguistically, aesthetically, and Whorfically. I should probably start taking notes somewhere. Must remember to ask if he has any full translations available so I can osmose some of the things more quickly. Yay for new and fascinating langauges.

Last weekend, gremlinessLisa gave me Reiki 1 & 2 attunements. I very definitely felt them, but I'm not sure they 'took', as it were. I may have simply 'eaten' them whole, as it were. Have been trying to recall the sensation, but it's been not much different from my normal channeling. Don't know whether it's less draining or not, since I very rarely do anything so strong that it would pose that sort of danger. Nothing from the symbols, though frankly I doubt I'll use them much. They both trigger my "ack! badly mangled kanji!" reflex, and ... well, I treat energy and empathy as etherial things to be treated *as they are*, and don't really imprint a visual or other system on it... it's simply a completely different sense, just as much as touch and sight are different from each other. I'll try to get another attunement or two - perhaps from other people as well - and see what that does. Make sure to be well 'satiated' beforehand, so that that wouldn't be a question.

I haven't been writing as much, but things are still happening. Not that they're any less important or meaningful... just haven't wanted to write as often recently. Not sure why.

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Thursday, August 28th, 2003
8:58 pm - Cloak progress 2
Finished cutting the outer cloak (and a little bit of my bedding while at it).

Back panels have the same problem as the front at the bottom outer flare edge. Also, the fabric shrunk enough that I couldn't fit the second capelet (the bigger bottom one) at all. Oh well; that's the benefit of working with cheapo cloth - another yard or two only costs me a couple bucks.

Now I'm wondering whether I should cut the lining now - and if so, whether to use my already-cut outer portions, or the original pattern paper, as the template - or just start sewing the outer part.

And, if I'm gonna sew it, whether to do it by hand, as it doesn't seem anybody wants to / can lend me a sewing machine. (Which is fine; that's not a 'woe.)

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Wednesday, August 27th, 2003
8:16 pm - Cloak progress 1
Cut out the first major piece of fabric - double layer of the 1(A) panel. I.e. the two front panels of the four-panel cloak body, of the shell part (not the lining)

A few icks - the weirdness at the bottom due to shrinkage / fitting, and some unevenness in the width / flatness of the fabric, but that's what the "seam allowance" is for. Also, it's probably 4" too long, but that's just fine; I can just gather it up at the bottom and make a really big hem there; this would also help it be bottom-weighted (thus somewhat more stable) and would also potentially solve the aforementioned insufficient-fabric problem, if it's high enough.

Other than the dragging hem, they seem to fit relatively well. Hard to tell, though, when it's just the two unconnected front panels. ;-)

Still have to cut the 2(A) panel (the back two pieces), the two capelet pieces, and the hood(s).

Once I have the 2A, or the two capelets, or the hood, I can make something temporarily wearable.

Managed not to cut myself or too much of the underlying bed, which is a plus. The pattern is relatively reusable now, but I'll probably use the previous cuts anyway to mirror the lining off of, since I'll have trimmed and fitted it. Er, at least, that's the theory.

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6:29 pm - *grumble* preshrink *grumble*
Prewashing my flannel has rendered it approximately 42" in width.... from 45".

The pattern , for the widest part of the bottom panels, uses about 43.5".

Now then, how to cope.... I'm guessing I'll have to modify it somewhat, unless I can get away with having a straight edge along the left and right seams at the bottom. Ve shall see.

Also, it would be rather useful to have a 4' x 21' clear space to work with, instead of my bed. Ah well.

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6:05 am - Cell phone, con't
My old SIM card got remote-fried when I asked the store to give me a new card just in case.

Evidently they don't let people have two SIMs in their name, and automatically fry the old one (even though I didn't ask 'em to, and they said nothing about this). I went to a Cingular store and they said that this is irreversable, and that they have no means of copying memory from one to another.

So I wrote down all the phone numbers in the old one into my little black book.

So now my phone is fully functional again, just without the phone numbers in its memory. Ah well; they'll get in as they are used.

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6:02 am - Cloak stuff
So I went to JoAnn's today.

Bought a sewing starter kit ($5 - 8.5" shears, 30 needles, 100 pins, tomato pincushion, thimble, tracerwheel, 60" measuring tape, holer / ripper, needle-threader, and gauge thingy), some quilting-weight black cotton thread, a tailor's marker (like chalk, but pencilified), a Simplicity 5794 pattern... and 7.5 yards each of forest-green and dark-gray 100% cotton flannel fabric. ($4/yd plus 60% discount, woot.)

Total cost under $40.

Now, I know a couple of you offered me the borrowing of a sewing machine before, but since I've forgotten who and things change, I'll ask again:

Would anyone lend me a sewing machine for this?

Preferrably with a manual, but I can figure it out on my own too. I'll provide needles if needed, and thread, but don't know anything else about sewing-machine maintenance unless directed. I don't need anything particularly fancy, though a setting for doing embroidery-stitching (the kind you find on baseball caps) would be useful.

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Tuesday, August 26th, 2003
4:12 pm - /kick self
This always being late to things shit is becoming a problem.

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12:53 am - As a mirror, looking into itself
That's a somewhat deeper image than my using it as the "name" (mental picture / flavor / essence, of a sort) of my psionic character in Crash's game might imply.

I've almost become a shiny-happy. The asher in me is mildly horrified at this.

On the other hand, I am enjoying the recent trend of my being a priest (ordained, now!) of lesser mind-blowing. Still working on my own, of course, but I'm becoming more and more the mystic.

Brighter.

This is good, but also uniquely scary.

This is also not new, I realize, but my guess is that this state-thread will continue to feel very new on a regular basis.

This too is good, and uniquely scary.

Namaste.

Children waiting for the day I feel good
Happy birthday, happy birthday.
Made to feel the way that ev'ry child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen.
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me.
Hello teacher, tell me what's my lesson?
Look right through me, look right through me...


current mood: peaceful
current music: 3 Doors Down - The Road I'm On

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Monday, August 25th, 2003
1:44 am
I guess I'll go to bed now.

Wish me luck for Monday.

current mood: worried
current music: Radiohead - Optimistic

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1:09 am - Reverend Me
I am now an ordained minister.

... of the Universal Life Church.

Considering if it's worth $5 do have 'em mail me a more official-looking cert thing. Doesn't make a difference legally.

Hmm.... I wonder if I should add this to my resume under 'miscellaneous qualifications'.

My certificate )

current music: Radiohead - How to Disappear Completely

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Sunday, August 24th, 2003
2:51 am
All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
And their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tommorow, no tommorow
And I find it kind of funny... )


This song is echoing lately. Something about the feel of the first verse musically, and various reminders around. That, and I've been playing it on repeat for most of the last hour.

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Saturday, August 23rd, 2003
1:27 am - So... what am I doing right?
In whatever.

Again, big or small. Essentially, the converse of the previous question.

To clarify again, this isn't "please boost my ego 'cause I'm so insecure" (though that's also nice) - it's "you're doing this right [or almost right], so keep it up" or "I like when you do X" or "I like that you don't do X", etc.


The previous mention about non-IP anon and autoscreening applies here too.

current mood: thoughtful

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1:03 am - So... how am I messing up?
In whatever.

Any habits, mannerisms, etc., that I'm doing that are either Bad Things, affect you or other people (in general or specific) in negative ways, affect me in negative ways, are annoying, disconcerting, dangerous, etc. Big or small. If possible, suggestions on how to correct these would be nice too.

Things that I have specifically flagged as Stuff I'm Working On, or that I have mentioned as "Problems I Have", I already know to be problems and am trying to correct. I may not be doing so particularly well, but I'm trying, so please cut some slack. If you have ideas for how to try better, they're quite welcome.

You could also, of course, tell me personally (in person, IM, or email).

Just to disambiguate, this isn't meant either as a "I am a martyr, everyone hates me, woe woe woe" nor a "please insult me". I simply want to know if I'm doing anything that I may not be aware of, or not sufficiently aware of. Or maybe I am, and just don't realize that it's impacting people or that there are glaringly obvious (to you) solutions.

For example, I know I have a problem with doing anything that should be routine. E.g., taking vitamins, shaving regularly, fixing things, eating healthily (or at all), etc. Or for another, that I sometimes keep people waiting through various mishaps, miscommunications, or poor planning. Or the "I lost my ability to speak normal English" situations (e.g. overheating or massage), which can be amusing at times and really frustrating at others ('specially if I don't warn people or if I should've prevented it). These are things I know are problems, and am working on fixing.

So tell me what else I should pay attention to.


Anon comments with no IP logging is on. It'll also be autoscreened for a day or two, so it's effectively general-anon as well, so don't hold back.

current mood: thoughtful

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Thursday, August 21st, 2003
3:30 pm - Cellphone update
I found it!

It was lying on the floor behind the foot of my bed, where my pile of computer-related-things is currently strewn.

But yay!

Now I need to get an effective leash for the thing. Doesn't have one of those clipon recesses; it's an Ericcson.

Edit: It is now powered and semifunctional. Unfortunately, my old SIM is not (my guess is that they killed its ID on the server). I still have it, however, and a blank backup one, which is currently in my phone. This means that I don't have my address book, but the phone works. I'll fix the chip sometime in the next while.

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Wednesday, August 20th, 2003
11:42 pm - Family
My maternal uncle died on Monday.

I never knew him - nor any of my relatives on my mother's side - aside from occasional brief anecdotes from her. I can't say that I mourn him, exactly, as he is not someone with whom I feel any relationship. (Aside from the general 'a human died' thing.) Her parents both died a few years ago.

What do I know about them all?

Some sad Russian history )

I have so very little connection to any family. I am not Russian, nor American. For practical and psychological purposes, I have no siblings; I guess some of what disturbs me about the existance of a half-sister is that almost-but-not-quite-and-far-too-late feeling; I so wanted a sibling. So it's hard to think of any of these people as anything other than that - people. Not "family". Perhaps one day I'll meet her, but what then? She will be a stranger to me, not a sister.

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10:55 pm - Fabric
So... I found some wool, for the cloak project.

First, at a fabric store in the Santa Clara mall (whose name I forget). Decent wool, 100%. $20/yd, with some on sale until sold for 30% off. Fairly thin, but in pretty colors - a deep forest green, black, and dark gray.

I also checked out Britex Fabrics in SF (parking for that was somewhat difficult, but eh). HUGE selection - a full *wall*, floor to ceiling, comoposed entirely of bolts of wool. Excellent quality and variety... but at a price. The cheapest normal wool was ~$30/yd...and up to ~$300/yd for stuff like cashmere. Whatever you want, as long as you're willing to pay for it.

Which I'm not, really.

So... I need to figure out what kind of fabric to use, and what thickness... and how much I'm willing to pay for it. I don't remember exactly how many yards I need - probably about 3, of external and lining. I think I'll use the same material for lining, for simplicity and reversability, but again I'm not sure.

I need to figure out a fabric to use for the test run - something that will sew essentially the same as the wool would, and hang and such the same, but be cheaper. And still at least moderately usable, if I'm gonna be spending money on it.

Need to decide on one of the patterns I picked out a while ago; I think I wrote that up, though, so I'll just check my database.

And finally, I need to remember who offered to loan me their sewing machine and ask them again.

I'd like to have a daily-wearable cloak by the beginning of school.

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10:08 pm - *stares at screen*
userinfofenwickrysen was right; this drug is way too good not to share.

Just don't say I didn't warn you. Your Trip May Vary.

If you want a *real* cellular automata program, I highly recommend Life32. Google it, and be sure to pick up the zips of patterns.

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Sunday, August 17th, 2003
10:19 pm - Cellphone
... I can't find it.

I've checked all of my room that I could think of, my car, clothes, etc.

Last I remember having it was when I tested the TTS thing on myself - Thurs. 14th, noonish. That's after the last hilltop walk, which is good.

That still doesn't mean I know where it is, though. And it's dead, so no point calling it.

It'd be useful if they came with a backup clapper-alarm - when it's dead, it makes a beep or something in response to noise. Ah well.

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Friday, August 15th, 2003
1:15 pm - "Women Were Designed for Homemaking"... and other "Proofs"
This site is highly amusing.

Excerpts:

2nd Place: "Women Were Designed For Homemaking"

Jonathan Goode (grade 7) applied findings from many fields of science to support his conclusion that God designed women for homemaking: physics shows that women have a lower center of gravity than men, making them more suited to carrying groceries and laundry baskets; biology shows that women were designed to carry un-born babies in their wombs and to feed born babies milk, making them the natural choice for child rearing; social sciences show that the wages for women workers are lower than for normal workers, meaning that they are unable to work as well and thus earn equal pay; and exegetics shows that God created Eve as a companion for Adam, not as a co-worker.

(That one, done by a boy [of course])... and

1st Place: "My Uncle Is A Man Named Steve (Not A Monkey)"

Cassidy Turnbull (grade 5) presented her uncle, Steve. She also showed photographs of monkeys and invited fairgoers to note the differences between her uncle and the monkeys. She tried to feed her uncle bananas, but he declined to eat them. Cassidy has conclusively shown that her uncle is no monkey.

This site has many other amusing things to mock.

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Thursday, August 14th, 2003
2:31 pm - Tentative schedule
Monday			Tuesday			Wednesday		Thursday		Friday
			9:30-10:20 fencing				9:30-10:20 fencing
11:30-1:10 bio11 lec	11:30-12:20 yoga	11:30-1:10 bio11 lec	11:30-12:20 yoga
			12:30-3:10 pe54c	1:30-4:10 bio11 lab	12:30-3:10 pe54c
			3:45-5:55 math22				3:45-5:55 math22
6:00-7:40 ling 1				6:00-7:40 ling 1
7:30-8:20 aikido				7:30-8:20 aikido				6-7:50 aikido
8:30-9:20 aikido 2	8:20-11 cis15c		8:30-9:20 aikido 2	8:20-11 cis15c


Total units: 24.5. Unless you count the 3 aikido classes individually (M/W 1 & 2, F 1), in which case, add another 1 unit.

Hmm... I could take CIS15C at 8:20-11pm T/Th instead of 8:30-9:20am M-F. Tough choice.

I think I'll have to try to do at least some of the work / reading ahead of time, for this round. I wonder where I'll find an open bookstore for it, though; Aida's is probably closed, and DA's is mostly-closed.

Edit: Overcounted by 5 units. Also, took t/th CIS class. Signed up for all except Math 22 (some sort of prereq to waiver out of) and the M/W aikido 1. May or may not bother getting that one signed off on; it has a 10-minute conflict, which is paper-able.

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12:25 pm - This just begs to be abused.
I tested it, too. It's functional. Send a TTS message.

It'll call any number(s) you want, with English or Spanish, and TTS a message you enter.

It calls pretty much immediately, and the only modification is "This is an automated message from blah blah..." *cue TTS voice* *click*

Hmmm.... (thanks to userinfoianhess for the link)

Edit: Made it into an anonymized passthrough.

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Wednesday, August 13th, 2003
2:02 am - Classes I'm considering for Fall quarter
Not really sure which of these to take. Urdu tweaks my "ooh! new language family!" interest. The rest fill requirements (e.g. IGETC math / bio / humanities), major reqs (discrete math, CIS data structs, ling., massage stuff).

There's probably more classes I'll find on a second pass that I'd want to take.

Also, I still would need to take my english & soc/behav sci reqs for IGETC.

Read more... )

Conflicts, schedule-wise:
math22 vs.? cis15c
ling & aikido 1 vs. urdu
pe54c vs. pe53
math22 vs.? pe53

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Tuesday, August 12th, 2003
5:25 am - Rexicon
Looking at a simple dress
Shimmering plain fabric
The dazzle intersticially
Only visible at an angle

Then we see it all
Digging reading glasses out of the grass
Still smudged from the lakewater
But what about our contacts?

This is probably the most laden-with-in-references poem-thing I've written. And since they're not mine, I'm not gonna elaborate on that any more. You're welcome to guess, of course. ;-)

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3:00 am
Zone Alarm:
64.124.17.5 : 52689 - dlldate.exe

two seconds later, not having authorized 'net access:
command window: 'killling dlldate.exe' pops up and disappears.

HMmmmmm.

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1:53 am - 42?
I see it around me, I see it in everything.
I could be so much more than this.
I said my goodbye's this is my sundown.
I'm gonna be so much more than this.


*ponders*

So where do I find Life? *looks around* *looks at mirror*

*points* That's not Me; I know that much. That thing there does have some parts of Me, yes, but all in all, it's a rather pale imitation. Who / what is it, then? *ponder*

And where has my meadowlake gone?

current music: Jimmy Eat World - My Sundown

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Monday, August 11th, 2003
10:52 pm - My computer has issues
It's behaving in fuxored ways. Virus scanner malfunctioning and complaining about inability to access somethings, various TFT??? files trying to open themselves on boot, a few programs trying to access 'net that I don't remember. Word fuxoring itself in various ways. Shutdown counter starting shortly after boot. IE losing javascript and open-new-window abilities (except through 'new window' - but not shift-click or 'open in new window'). (Opera functioning normally.) Outlook crashing on copy attempt, and occasionally losing ability to send/receive (synced with IE issues).

*starts TrendMicro HouseCall running on full computer*

One malware found resident - some sort of worm. It's gonna be at this for a while, scanning the 350 gigs or so.

Bah. It's annoying to have to do this maintenance shit.

Update: Hm. Found a couple other trojans lurking around. Cleaned.

I suspect that's not the end of it, though.

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10:06 pm - Compsci... or not?
*ponder*

I've always been a computer nerd.

But recently, I've rather grown away from it. I'm not even sure whether or not I want to continue to pursue a compsci degree; to what end? Being a programmer is not an End Goal for me, and its pull as an inordinately high paying job is much lessened in this economy (and my estimation of future projection).

It's something I'm good at, certainly, and computers are my bitches (as it were), but there is little actual joy in it. I tire so easily of repetition, and there seems to be a lot of that involved. That, and I'm no longer particularly interested in keeping myself up-to-date on all the things I would need to. I'm significantly behind my compsci-focused peers (e.g. userinfoprincemalachi's homebrew CGI program).

Yet I don't have any strong suggestions for what to do instead. I have yet to find anything that I could point to that I could seriously consider a long-term career prospect. Various little things, all unrelated, but nothing cohesive.

It's frustrating sometimes, to be so quickly bored of things. Makes me horribly unsuited to nearly all 'traditional' careers, and most of the nontrad ones too.

*goes off to do Arabic homework*

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6:21 pm - Purrrty hair!
*pokes at hair* Purrty!

I went to Whole Foods today after Arabic & massage (had to make up another hour). Got a Boss wood-spike brush. (per userinforiela's advice)

Brushed.

*points* Soft! Shiny! Mane-like!

*makes hair run back and forth along his back* Me like.

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4:11 pm
Hmm.... I shouldn't have to use shutdown -a. It's somewhat less doom-inducing that I do know that command, but still... why the sudden one-minute-doom-counter shutdown thing?

Hrm.

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Sunday, August 10th, 2003
3:47 pm - Resume
Here's my somewhat updated resume.

It's actually formatted nicely in the Word version; its HTML export sucks for anything less than a full webpage, which this is not.

Comments? Suggestions? Jobs?

Read more... )

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2:36 am - Strange world
More and more, I get the impression that the world I see most people living in is not mine.

Perhaps my friends have spoiled me somewhat; I almost assume the open, communicative, cuddly, unhollow nature of that in everything now, and it's disappointing when it's not like that.

So much seems so hollow and just false (not just as in 'wrong'; the other sense too). So blatantly so, I wonder that any sentient being should not see it. And I wonder how anyone could show those who don't get it; it seems such an ineffable thing that any description or persuasion would totally miss the point, or worse, be counterproductive.

I suppose I'll simply continue to live in *my* world, and spread the good things through contact.

Crazy humans.

current music: Radiohead - Optimistic

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2:20 am - Roxor, too
Yesterday was a good example of the 'I really like my life' days.

Saw two good old movies. Wandered in a crowd around downtown afterwards. Fun and tapioca was had.

Then four of us went zoom, and off to the hilltop.

Me is very easily distracted / pleased / purrinducted by petting. It's not my fault I'm a 140-lb cat, durnit... I'll still react the same when you scratch me behind the ears. *grin*

Yeah... Skyline is a good place for me. Pretty. Warm enough (especially with three others in cuddly proximity). Has shooting stars (though, it seems, mainly when I'm looking down for a second). Smells good, and air tastes good.

Also, it seems I make an excellent heater. Warmest hands. And, of course, my being warm leading to being in the center of a cuddlepile is nice too. So is being able to cause someone to interrupt themselves with happy-noises by applying the right pressure to the right spot.

Which reminds me, I should check if there are any accupresure points that are intentionally for 'turning people on'.

Didn't break into Hell, though; that has been postponed for another day.

Must do this all more often.

current mood: pleased

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Saturday, August 9th, 2003
4:56 am
Mrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrowr.

current mood: relaxed

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Thursday, August 7th, 2003
4:27 am - Jazz performance "reviews" *cough*
Read more... )

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2:26 am - Jazz - book review
Review of Blues People: Negro Music in White America, by Leroi Jones, aka Amiri Baraka.

Summary: Mixed.

Read more... )

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1:45 am - Jazz movie reveiws
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Overall:

Gods, this was long and depressing. Some of the movies had their good points, but really Calle 54 was probably the best simply because it shut up and did the only part that was at all good: the music itself.

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Wednesday, August 6th, 2003
11:40 pm - Interview questions, from userinfoadameros
You know the offer. You want to be interviewed, post a comment to that effect and I'll ask you five questions. You post them with a linkback, and the same offer.

1. What started your intrest in languages?
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2. What started your intrest and your history with empaths?
Read more... )
3. You seem to like to analyze things. Are there things you just take on faith, and do not analyze? What are a couple examples?
Read more... )
4. If you could study with any of the worlds great teachers or philosphers (alive or dead), who would you pick, and why?
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5. You seem to be surrounded by hedonists. People with very active polyamourous sex lives and people who indulge in alcohol and drugs for both recreational and shamanistic purposes. But you are, last I knew, a virgin and did not take part in inebriants. I'm sure you have had plenty of opertunity and offers of both. Why have you chosen to abstain?
Read more... )

current mood: calm
current music: Radiohead - Exit Music

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10:40 pm - Crypto-spam?
OK, maybe I'm behind the times or something... but I just don't get it...

From: Mike Matthews [mikematthews@poundsofff.com]
To: agentpopa@cs.com
BCC: me
Subj: hey lue au
Body:
hey



tnuiacpqaprsfk

lyeqcg ylmtjh zruxrgbjieqqnuqlud

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Tuesday, August 5th, 2003
10:23 pm - More semischool, work, potential "free" time
I'm going to be taking Arabic 3/4/? unofficially. Next three weeks (Aug 11-29), ~10am-noon, M-Th.

In other news, I'm sanctioned to take half of the next six weeks "off". I have to find a job for the other halforso.

Anyone know of job ops? I can provide a resume (once I update it); I've done some retail, sysadmin, db admin/design, & translation stuff before. My preference is for a job that's primarily brainbased and pays well, though I'll take what I can get. ;-)

I should also have ~200-300 hours of cert'd massage training by next week, which'd mean I could potentially get a business license in massage in some cities.

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9:08 pm
Someone called for me, at my parents' house number.

I really don't know who this would be, since I haven't given *that* out in years.

Contact me if you happen to know who or what that's about.

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Monday, August 4th, 2003
6:04 am - P2P s/w
I have come to some conclusions.

Kazaa Lite is, I have to cede, better for small, individual files. Particular movies, songs, etc. - sure, go with it.

ed2k/OverNet, however, is still way better for the big things. Discographies, CD images, general software, and other hackish things. Kazaa simply doesn't seem to have the hardcore userbase to support these. Also, ed2k has ShareReactor.

It'd be nice if someone merged the two, but I don't think the techs are mutually compatible. Pity, that.

I may have to start moving some of my (very very large) ed2k queue into Kazaa. Maybe it'll help distribute the load a bit better.

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5:56 am - Music 1 - reviews of Amadeus & Immortal Beloved
Summary: 'good' and 'not so good'.

Soon to come: reviews of six (*groan*) jazz videos. Hint: bad, sad, boring, and dull. And the music on most of 'em wasn't all that good either. 12 hours of that stuff. *shudder* We really should be able to claim the 8th on schoolwork.

Read more... )

current mood: productive
current music: computer hum

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Saturday, August 2nd, 2003
3:46 am
I lost my Leatherman Wave sometime last week. Not in lost n' found; probably gone. May turn up Somewhere, but unlikely.

Sigh.

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Friday, August 1st, 2003
9:25 pm
Evidently my Gordon Biersch plans are being postponed until Saturday and/or Sunday.

Invitation still open.

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9:09 pm - Trite but amusing
Three hundred proofs of God's existence

via userinfotheriteofspring via userinforevchad.

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5:13 pm - Jazz Biersch
I am going to Gordon Biersch (San Jose) tonight, primarily to listen to jazz.

If you want to come along, let me know.

It is a pub of sorts, so they may be carding, but I'm told they don't actually do so unless you're ordering booze (which I won't).

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Thursday, July 31st, 2003
9:10 pm
*looks at playlist*

I do have eclectic taste, don't I?

current music: Eminem - Lose Yourself

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8:58 pm - Life is capital-I Interesting
(... and this is only a hint of why.)

Sunday... saw Neil. Watched Immortal Beloved (not nearly as good as Amadeus, but okay). Had much interesting conversation over dinner, with a spontaneous party arising - we four (neil, his parents, & me), a sexual anthropologist friend of theirs, and two other friends of theirs who decided to drop by and discuss polyamory, memetics, learning mechanisms, attractiveness & personal divinity, sexual personality archetypes, etc. That I've got *you* guys for friends rather shows, methinks; they probably expected me to be at least somewhat nonplussed by references to Loving More, Kerrista, poly/mono terminology, etc. Evidently I managed to make for some more interesting conversation.

Actually, that conversation could so easily have been taken from one of userinfotyrsalvia's dinner parties, but with less Discordianism and a bit more traditional-intellectualism.

Yesterday... practiced with my bokken in the park next to DeAnza (walking around with a sword very visibly in your belt is Interesting). Found some kid's wallet in the bathroom; took it and asked around to see if anyone knew. Nobody did, including one mother who didn't respond and huffily walked off when I asked her "Do you know this person", and snapped at her kid for telling me that meant no - "don't talk to strangers". My response: "you could at least be polite, ma'am". Now, I realize that a guy with a sword is a possibly intimidating visual, but can't people at least be nice? It was fairly obvious that I was asking about someone's wallet, too, given that I was holding it up to show the school ID. *shakes head*

I went back to the DA police, and used their phone to call the mom's business number (found on her card inside the wallet). No good response; noticed the cell # on the back as I was about to give it to the dep. Turned out she was parked in the parking lot within 20 seconds walk. Gave it back; she and the kid (who came out about a minute later) were nice enough. Not that hard to brighten someone's day, and I'm sure it'll make for an amusing anecdote (given that I still had the bokken in my belt-loop).

Also, nice to know that the cops don't even blink at that.

Another interesting thing from aikido yesterday... an analogy about correcting oneself, by feeling the wall you run into and looking for the openings. Reminded me of something from Wheel of Time - feeling with one's mind / energy the surface of an energetic, invisible, semi-metaphoric shield [created by someone else in that case, to suppress their magic], concentrating until you find the very slight little point where it's slightly different from the rest of it, and concentrating on that one point to break free.

Reminds me of how I deal with psych problems, and rather strongly of something a dragon said recently. *wink*

Was up 'till 1am today, decided I'd have to pull another non-sleeper in order to get to arabic on time ('cause I can't sleep 5 hours when I need more - it's all or nothing). Did so, finishing Warcraft 3 in the meantime... and (how typical) fell asleep when I sat on the bed for a minute.

Ended up missing both arabic and massage.

All that, and reading Illumantus in jazz, has made for a very strong sense of surrealism in my life lately.

current mood: sore
current music: Shanaia Twain - C'est La Vie

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