Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Natasha's LiveJournal:

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Monday, January 20th, 2003
9:04 am	wail Note to self: Stop taking mom's book recommendations. Her definition of "won't make me cry at the end" is my definition of "six-Kleenex ending." That's it, time to hit the Hitchhiker's Guide. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 13th, 2003
4:35 pm	sob I need to read a book that doesn't make me cry at the end for a change. Or at least one that doesn't make me read the last few pages so slowly because I have to keep composing myself. Something. Current Mood: ;-( (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 14th, 2002
6:33 pm	Stumping Time This isn't going to really be a post about me once I get through this paragraph. I have volumes of studying to do, and I just finished my (unquestionably awesome) timeline for Government class, but now my stomach is being exceptionally cruel. I can't even formulate clear enough thoughts to play a video game more difficult than My Little Pony, let alone do homework. So, having absolutely nothing to do, I'm going to use my journal as a billboard for distributed computing. Distributed computing! You know, like SETI@home. Some very interesting and important science thingies can now be done on computer, except that they require an insanely large amount of processing power. Even the most powerful computer in the world would take many years to do these projects. So they farm out the work to home computers, and now the most popular projects get 100+ years of CPU time per day. They leech spare CPU cycles in the background. These programs don't interfere with your normal computing. The Tech Report recently did a study on the impact of one of the more popular programs, Folding@Home, on two computers running various applications. The difference was negligible, unless you consider 1.3 FPS loss in Jedi Knight II at 1600x1200 resolution running 32-bit color significant. There are two downsides: Heat and electricity. If your computer tends to overheat, or your cooling system isn't very good, you should probably forget it, or run a program only on cold nights. It DOES raise computer temperature. Also, it can kick up your electricity bill a dollar or two. Sold? Probably not, but here are some links to some of the major projects anyway: - SETI@home: The grandaddy of all distributed computing projects. Look for aliens from home. You know you want to. It scans through radio telescope data looking for alien signals. - United Devices Cancer Research Project: Tests various drug like compounds against some proteins that help cancer grow. This is the one I've been running for the last few months. Right now, it's pretty much running busywork until the beta testers finish a minor upgrade. It should be back to real research in a week or two. For now, any data sent in helps fine-tune the new version. - FightAIDS@Home: Looks for drugs to possibly treat AIDS, the scourge of all humanity and subject of my upcoming hit Government essay. You probably don't know anyone who's died of AIDS, but I do. - Folding@Home: Studies the folding of proteins. It's believed that protein misfolding causes a lot of bad things, like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Take it from me: Alzheimer's is very, very, very bad. If you don't like any of those, there are a lot more projects described in this here directory. Take your pick. Time to step off my soapbox. If you don't feel like that, how about some nice atheistic humor? Therefore, God Exists is hilarious if you've ever dealt with a fundie. It's a list of arguments, ranging from the utterly absurd to things that seem absurd, except that fundies ever use them. Each ends with "Therefore, God exists." Now to fend off my intestines. Current Mood: dizzy Current Music: my stomach making hideous noises (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, October 25th, 2002
8:55 pm	AC to soul: wuggawuggawugga This is my check-in: All is pretty cool. Needless to say, the reason for my scarcity in the chat is the cruel school demon. How I loathe its Government-essay monstrosity. And enjoy the science stuff. Science yum! Don't expect me to start showing up on weekends, though. After some consideration, mom and I concluded that I need some sort of social activity around here, and the best option is: Magic. Sunday I go to the card shop, buy a preconstructed, and ask when the playing hours are. Probably right when I'm there. There are always geeks with decks hanging out. Me. A social life. It scares me. The title of this post, of course, refers to Animal Crossing's amazingly addictive properties. I'm proud to report that my house scores over 22k with the HRA and I've collected almost all of the fossils in the museum. And if anyone can tell me WHEN large char are out, please please do so. Current Mood: content Current Music: Smash Bros DX Orchestra Concert - Rainbow Cruise from Mario 64 (Encore) (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, September 12th, 2002
9:43 pm	You Can Roll with This, You Can Roll with That Curses, AIM is down, isn't it? If it's not, this is my notification of why I'm not on tonight: AIM doesn't love me. Not a whole lot to say here. Grandma's getting worse, I'm studying a lot, books are cool, I need to travel. Weapon of Choice has the best music video EVER, and I would pay many valuable things to get a good video of it. LAIM. Current Mood: studying Current Music: Hellsing - Logos Naki World (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, July 21st, 2002
10:09 am	Might as well do this too Yoink! from Jeff's journal ;) 1.) What is your full name? Natasha Ann V. Everyone who knows me well knows my surname. 2.) Backstreet Boys or N'Sync? DEAR GOD NO 3.) Pepsi or Coke? Neither, ick, ew 4.) What color pants do you have on right now? Horizontal striped blue-and-yellow pajama bottoms. 5.) What song are you listening to right now? Hellsing - Logos Naki World 6.) Eating anything? No, but I'm about to go have breakfast. 7.) What is right next to you? My Power Puff Girls backpack, loaded with Japanese stuff. 8.) What is your computer desk made of? Particle board. 9.) What are the last four digits of your phone number? *looks around* 4227. ;) No, that's not it, but ten points to whoever gets why I like that number. 10.) What was the last thing you ate? A banana. 11.) Do you like snow, sun, or rain? I don't like the sun itself much, it hurts my eyes, but I love sunny days. Rain is very nice. I've only encountered snow once, but I liked it very much. 12.) Have you ever smoked pot? No. 13.) What did you do last night? Studied Algebra, chatted, made a to-do list. 14.) Last person you talked to on the phone? Melody 15.) What's the sexiest thing that you find in the opposite sex? A nurturing manner. 17.) How do you eat an oreo? I can't eat Oreos. ;( 18.) What makes you happy? Getting something done right. 19.) Hair color? Medium-dark brown 20.) Birthdate? June 21 21.) Eye color? Brown 22.) Height? 5'0" 23.) Do you wear contacts? No 24.) Do you have any siblings? No. Almost did when I was two, but... 25.) Who do you consider your closest friends? Um... 27.) What do you like to do? Accomplish things. It feels good. 28.) What's the best advice given to you? "Drawing isn't about talent. Talent is nothing. Drawing is a forced habit." 29.) What do you want to be when you grow up? I do not know. 30.) What is your favorite food? Mom's yakisoba. It's gooood. 31.) what are your future goals? Complete the high school courses I'm working on, actually keep up on my effort to learn to draw. :x 32.) What's your favorite movie? The Lion King. 33.) What's your favorite song? Too many to list... 34.) What's your favorite day of the year? It used to be Halloween. 35.) What's your favorite month? Don't make me pick. 36.) what's your favorite perfume? Perfume makes me seriously ill. 37.) Do you like to dance? I like shuffling around to the music in my head, and I love Dance Dance Revolution. ;) 38.) Are you too shy to ask someone out? Well yeah. 39.) What's your favorite name brand? ...of what? 40.) Have you ever been in love? Not for real. 41.) What is the stupidest thing you've ever done? If I start thinking about that, I get depressed so fast. 42.) What is your first son's name going to be? I don't know. If I haven't named a dog it already, maybe Cid. ;) 43.) What is your first daughter's name going to be? No idea. 44.) Do you like scary or happy movies better? I like a good horror, but I love a happy ending. Movies can manipulate my emotions with incredible ease... 45.) Day or night? Day 46.) Summer or winter? Summer 47.) Do you have a boy/girlfriend? No 48.) Hugs or kisses? Uh.... 49.) If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? The ability to carry through to a goal, even if it takes hard work every day for years. 50.) Do you consider cheerleading a sport? No. 51.) What did you think of this survey? Not bad. 52.) Your location? California 53.) Shoe size? 9 1/2 EEE. 54.) Do you care about the way you look? Sort of. I like my skin to be clean, and my hair must look good. Otherwise, no. 55.) Do you get a tan only in summer? I avoid tans like the plague. I wear sunscreen on foggy days. 56.) Do you have big ears? Maybe. I have a hard time judging anything about my own appearance. 57.) Do you like to give advice? I try. 58.) Are you a goody two-shoes? I try. ;) Yeah, I don't like to inflict pain. 59.) Are you a lover or a fighter? Fighting is bad, yo. 60.) Are you a daydreamer? To the core. IN THE PAST WEEK, HAVE YOU...? cried? Only because I was laughing so hard. cut your hair? I trimmed split ends and those stupid inexplicably curly hairs I get. worn a skirt? NO. Ugh. been mean? I was kinda mean to Sirius last night as a joke, and he took it... seriously. *snork* been sarcastic? See incident above. gone for a walk? Gone for a nice 40 minute hike, yo. ;) gone out for dinner? No, but I am tonight. That's a rarity. met someone new? Lots of people where I work. talked to an ex? Ha! I have no ex! missed someone? I missed my own childhood. Does that count? hugged someone? My mom, yeah. danced with someone? I played DDR with Melody... kissed someone? Nope. Current Mood: just waking up Current Music: Hellsing - Logos Naki World (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 17th, 2002
5:53 pm	When Law Binders Attack Time for a quick Nat update. I'm pretty sure most people know about this, but I got a job. I work in City Hall doing things. I don't get paid -- I was lucky to find this good a volunteer job, actually. I do all the boring, mind-numbing tasks that nobody else has time for, or can tolerate. Let me define "mind-numbing": I spent nearly an hour using an electronic hole-punch to prepare a huge stack of paper for being placed into binders. Twenty sheets at a time. Pick up paper, press button, whrr, pick up paper, press button, whrr... This was only my second day on the job. The first was a week ago. (It's not a daily thing, I have to study, too.) At least my next shift, Friday, will all be computer work. The City Hall is amazingly understaffed, so every department wants me for some task or another. I'm not aiming to get a paid job -- they treat volunteers like royalty because they don't want them to leave. I get to take a quick break any time I want. :D And uh, I'm still... you know, studying and all that. In case anyone's wondering why I haven't been online... I'm trying to get this boring government course done, so I'm hiding on a top-secret SN. Less interruptions that way. ;) No idea when I'll be back in action. Current Mood: paper-cut Current Music: an unknown song on the radio in the next room (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, June 29th, 2002
12:32 am	AGNP Fad #582937 Go ahead, take the Nat quiz. See how much pointless trivia you know about me. This way, I can get restraining orders on my stalkers. ;) And please don't use a completely obscure fake name, it's quite annoying. I won't berate you for a low score. Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: Nobuo Uematsu - FFVII Main Theme (Orchestrated) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, May 30th, 2002
8:52 am	for once, I'll expose myself and show you who I am o/` And I'll put down my weapons and I'll take off my helmet and I'll take off my chestplate and my combat boots and gloves and the rest of my weapons... I find the most awesomely weird stuff online. Current Mood: more than just a bounty hunter Current Music: Danger Bob - Slow Dance with Boba Fett (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, May 23rd, 2002
9:36 am	!!!DSL!!! Today is a great day in the history of Nat. I just ordered DSL. Assuming all goes well, in a couple of weeks it won't take me half an hour to move MP3s around! Woohoo! ;D Broadband, finally! Broadband for gaming! Broadband for GameCube! Broadband for breaking copyright laws! This mention is oddly late, but Star Wars completely rocked all sorts of things. I'm marathoning the Trilogy a second time -- with mom, now -- so we can go see it together. 8) And uh, I'm exceptionally lazy. Because playing with action figures is fun. I'm going to KILL the person that sent me this MP3... Current Mood: ecstatic Current Music: Hiei - Manazashi no Aria (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 14th, 2002
8:41 am	Return of the Nat My, it's been a while, hasn't it? I've taken to writing in my paper diary instead, a change I'm pretty happy with. LiveJournal will disappear, but my diary should last. Been busy: Lots of schoolwork, lots and lots. Dad's still unemployed. Finished Lord of the Rings last night; everyone needs to read that. Star Wars marathoning to prepare for Ep2. I'm hiding on another SN to avoid spoilers, so you'll see me back online Thursday afternoon. This song is nuts. Current Mood: studying Current Music: Pocket Monsters - Pokemon Ondo (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 9th, 2002
10:25 am	Computar I hate this computer. Last Friday, it froze up while running a virus scan. When I rebooted, it opened a little window reading "Preparing to install." And closed it. And opened it again. And opened two at once, closed one, opened another... Then it finally stopped. I tried connecting and it rebooted. After a great deal of prodding it, I figured out that Norton SystemWorks was causing it somehow and uninstalled it. The problem stopped. Sunday I thought it might be fun to play The Sims a bit. It worked fine all day. Now -- after a lot of trying to fix drivers -- it freezes up too often to be playable. This morning dad decided to reinstall Norton, while I was asleep, before I had a chance to object. Guess what? The problem's back, although not as severely. Dad's brilliant idea: Let's reformat again! The problem with that is: It gets worse every time we reformat. Before the latest reformat, the HD was one nice solid block. Now it has a mini-partition at the beginning. Before the latest reformat, IE crashed quite a bit. Now it just freezes up altogether. Of course, if I mention that, he gets angry. Don't confuse him with the facts, I guess. Ah well, at least tomorrow's going to rock. Current Mood: frustrated (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 2nd, 2002
11:13 am	Exactly one year ago yesterday, I wrote in my journal about dad trying to force me to feed meat to Sweetie after she was diagnosed with kidney failure and cancer. She went downhill pretty quickly after that. She lost a tremendous amount of weight, going from obese to skeletal in just months. For a long time, we had to administer an IV of fluids to make up for her lack of kidney function. Eventually she got too weak to withstand the treatment. It kept getting worse. A couple of weeks ago, it reached the point that she could barely walk. Still, she kept eating. She even ate yesterday. I've heard that cats will stop eating as soon as they become seriously ill, while dogs will continue to eat as long as they can operate their jaws. Sweetie was always more like a dog than a cat. This morning, I woke up to bad news once again. Sweetie could no longer stand. She'd already called the vet and arranged to have her put down. The appointment was at 8:30. Dad's been crying on and off all morning. I'm okay, I think; I prepared for this when she was first diagnosed so it's no shock. Duo knows there's something wrong and she's been cuddling me as much as possible all day. Sweetie was my first cat. I don't remember what it was like before I got her. Current Mood: numb (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, March 24th, 2002
11:01 am	Master Onion Man, is my sleep schedule ever botched. Last night, while mom was chopping carrots for dinner, something went wrong. She cut the tip of her thumb about halfway through. Of course, the worst possible time to visit the ER is on a Saturday night. The only nearby ER is slow in the first place; Saturday night is an absolute nightmare there. We got there somewhere around 8:15 and didn't leave until after 11. Mom's okay. She got three stitches and it's expected to heal just fine. Me, I woke up 20 minutes ago. I got to bed later than I have in months. Oops. Current Mood: tired (Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 20th, 2002
10:36 am	!!:D Final exam results for Beginning 2 were finally posted. 100%. Again. :D A WINNER IS ME Current Mood: happy (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 19th, 2002
11:44 pm	shika shika 11:35:30 - earthquake. Strong enough to shake my chair and make the house rumble, but still, nothing fell. The West Coast is FUN! Current Mood: shaken ;) Current Music: Gundam W- Hikaru Midorikawa - Heero- Flying Away (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 14th, 2002
9:29 am	Fuzzy Woolly Toes Hey Dima, you were right. For the last, ah, two weeks, I've been running the United Devices distributed computing cancer research program, which focuses on leukemia. It's impressively stable and hasn't caused any problems yet. ... so at the risk of sounding like I'm trying to start another AGNP thing, if you have spare CPU cycles bouncing around (especially if you tend to leave that sucker on overnight), you just might want to sign up. Almost done with vocabulary review for Saturday. If I listen to this song one more time, my head will explode. Current Mood: working Current Music: Leonard Nemoy - Ballad of Bilbo Baggins (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 13th, 2002
4:21 pm	Odaijini Wow, I really haven't been posting much lately, huh? My third final exam for Japanese is this Saturday. I'm pretty well prepared and fully expect to pass over 83%. But of course, simply passing isn't good enough for me -- I'm studying excessively in hopes of getting that glorious perfect score again. Don't expect me to be around more when the final's done: I'll be starting, at the least, two online high school classes when Beginning 2 finishes (US Gov and Biology). On top of Beginning 3 and home study math. It burns... Oh yes, dad's been unemployed for a few weeks. He's out at a job interview now after striking out with all the jobs he thought were sure bets. Oops. Current Mood: studying Current Music: Dragon Ball Z - Unmei no Hi - Tamashii vs Tamashii (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, March 3rd, 2002
11:57 pm	Breaking News Welcome to Eltingville is the best cartoon ever. That is all. Current Mood: geeky Current Music: Lodoss Tou Senki - Kiseki no Umi (Comment on this)
Friday, February 22nd, 2002
6:27 pm	I Go Around Protecting the Earth with Songs I Am A: Neutral Good Elf Ranger Bard Alignment: Neutral Good characters believe in the power of good above all else. They will work to make the world a better place, and will do whatever is necessary to bring that about, whether it goes for or against whatever is considered 'normal'. Race: Elves are the eldest of all races, although they are generally a bit smaller than humans. They are generally well-cultured, artistic, easy-going, and because of their long lives, unconcerned with day-to-day activities that other races frequently conccern themselves with. Elves are, effectively, immortal, although they can be killed. After a thousand years or so, they simply pass on to the next plane of existance. Primary Class: Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy. Secondary Class: Bards are the entertainers. They sing, dance, and play instruments to make other people happy, and, frequently, make money. They also tend to dabble in magic a bit. Find out What D&D Character Are You?, courtesy ofNeppyMan (e-mail) In other news, mom and I were out for a walk, and the cute twin boys (maybe four or five years old) up the street were shooting random objects with a hose. They turned it off as we passed, and mom asked them not to spray us. So naturally, the one with the hose tilted it up and gave us a quick blast. ;D Just enough to rain down on us and get us nice and moist. Whee, I haven't gotten hoseblasted for a while. Current Mood: off to study Current Music: mom cutting up a carrot (Comment on this)