Thursday, January 3, 2008

Where Did The Time Go?

It still seems so surreal that 2008 is already upon us, for some reason, looking back, it’s as if 2007 just flew by. I can’t complain though, because lots of unexpected and good things happened. Most notably, meeting fellow members from here at the Anime Convention in SLC. Which lead to dating Rachmaninoff. ^_^ We’ve had lots of fun over the holidays.

As for site stuff, I was going to change my theme, but after reading Adam’s updates I decided to wait and see what the change does since I’d rather learn how the new system works instead of going to the trouble only to need to redo things anyway. That and I can’t make up my mind as to what theme I want next. XP Anyway…

Like I mentioned in my last post I was looking for a separate blogging site so I would have the option of tagging posts as private or only viewable to certain groups. I finally opted to go with Vox since I like the pre-made layouts you can use. I’m horribly lazy about making layouts so to have one with lots of cute choices seemed ideal. Plus it has more than one setting for privacy, like family, friends, groups and yourself.

So if you’re a member there here’s my page: SunfallE’s Vox I like it because I can write things based on who the audience will be and I also like how those really private rants that are only for myself can be tagged as such. I’m not one to keep a journal because I can type so much faster than I can think, so I hate writing by hand and prefer typing. So to have that option will be nice.

Anyway, I’ll do my best to get around to everyone over the weekend. Take care! ^_^

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Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Happy Day After Christmas!

That’s my way of saying that I ended up too lazy to post before or on the actual day. I had such a nice relaxing time this year and part of me is kind of sad that it’s over, or rather that it’s almost over. There’s still plans for other things with both family and my boyfriend and other friends as well. ^_^ Plus it helps that my Internet issues were finally resolved so I’ve been able to get around and do thing things online that I like to do.

As for the actual day of Christmas, it was just peaceful for me. No family fights, I got things that I wanted to get and I got to spend time with the people I wanted to spend time with. It just made the whole thing wonderful. Anyway, I was going to share this fan manga that Konata made since it’s just too adorable and really fit’s the characters. So if you haven’t seen it already, here it is: Tales of the Abyss She did such a beautiful job on it. ^_^

In other news, I’m thinking of staring a journal or blog somewhere that one can toggle it for privacy so only friends who have the same service can read what you post. Sometimes I want to be able to say what’s really on my mind without worrying if someone is going to take things the wrong way because I’m a moderator. I’ve often run into the lecture from others for expressing an opinion as if I shouldn’t have that opinion because of my position, or that I should word how I say things with that thought in mind.

I find it kind of tiring actually, to always be scrutinized in that respect. I kind of feel sorry for Politian’s in that respect. Nothing they say or do is overlooked and at times I feel like that strips them of their humanity or even what I would consider the right to have a bad day or to strongly disagree with someone. I’m sorry if that doesn’t make much sense. I guess the best way to put it is at times even I need to be able to rant or freely talk about things that are bothering me.

So, having said that, anyone know of a good blogging service [other than myspace] that has the ability to let you keep your blogs private? It’s nothing earth shattering, but even I like being able to be open without someone thinking my views are ‘inappropriate’ because of my being a mod or because they just might be taken the wrong way. XP

Anyway, one last note… Go and see National Treasure: Book of Secrets. I saw that right before Christmas and it was really good. ^_^ In fact I plan on seeing it again since I enjoyed it so much. Also, take care and I hope all of you are having a great Holiday!

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Monday, December 3, 2007

Internet Service Provider Woes

Fair warning, this post will be long. XP Anyway, lately, I’ve been having issues with my Internet service not working properly, I get dropped off all the time, which is extremely frustrating and makes doing things online next to impossible. It’s especially hard on moderation since having it suddenly drop you when you’re trying to do something often results in my having to start over again to attempt to get something done.

At first when this started back on the 15th of last month, it was only occasionally and though it was annoying, it wasn’t enough to seriously impact what I like to do online. Still it shouldn’t have done it to begin with so I contacted my ISP and was informed that they were due to do some work on the main line in my area, so I waited for that work to supposedly fix the problem. They were coming out the very next day so I figured I could wait for that to fix the problem. It did not.

I called them back and they sent someone out, all he did was check that the modem was currently working and left, declaring that there wasn’t a problem. Something that seems to be standard these days with customer service. Brushing off a concern or report as if the customer is lying about it. Naturally the problem was not fixed. So I used their online service and talked to a technician live a few days later since the problem was not resolved. Again, I got the same run around of restart your modem, check your computer for virus’ blah, blah, blah. And then they ended the report declaring there wasn’t a problem.

It still kept doing it so I stubbornly contacted a tech online when it was doing it a lot since it varies as to when I will get dropped off. This time if finally dropped me off twice while I was talking to someone online. So an appointment was made and someone came out again. This time he did more than check my modem and actually checked the line outside. Part of the wiring in the box on the house was bad and he replaced it. But there was still a reading indicating that the main line which was suppose to be fixed was still having issues. A report, while I was standing right there and heard it, was called in for them to come and work on the main line again… no one showed up.

I called them when no one came to fix it only to be told that there was no order for them to come out and that the problem had been solved. Naturally at this point I was getting more than a little annoyed. No the problem had not been solved, and why the hell had they canceled the appointment to work on the main line? Needless to say I was once again required to wait for someone to come out.

Luck was not with me, right before the tech was due to come out, the power went out due to our first major winter storm in the area. This was last Friday. With no power, there is nothing the tech can do. But seeing that so far their help had been far from stellar, I called once the power was back to make sure I was rescheduled. Good thing I did, not only was the order canceled, but it was marked as being solved since the power was restored. Again, what the hell? How could a problem that existed before the power went out be solved by it being restored? What kind of stupid idea is that? All the power did was keep them from being able to work on it.

I rescheduled, or rather I attempted to do so only to have them now decide that since the account isn’t in my name, even though I’ve always been the one to handle all issues for repairs for both the cable and the Internet, they can’t talk to me, only to the primary account holder. I know that my name is on there as being authorized but obviously like the reports that things were fixed when they were not, somehow they managed to delete the fact that I’m allowed to do anything with the account. It took some arguing, but I got the appointment set up and believe me, the person who does have in their name? They, like me are far from amused at this point. If they don’t get their act in order and fix it this time… we will be switching ISP’s this week.

As much as I would hate to do that, I will. There’s no point in paying for Internet when it has times where you are constantly disconnected. To give you an idea, I left the automatic record of logging my activity on for one of the chat services I use, just to have a record to print out and show the tech. I did that last night and as you can see, I get dropped a lot.

[20:01] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 20:01:12 2007.
[20:10] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 20:10:38 2007.
[20:14] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 20:14:01 2007.
[20:14] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 20:14:58 2007.
[20:17] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 20:17:22 2007.
[20:33] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 20:33:13 2007.
[20:36] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 20:36:56 2007.
[20:42] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 20:42:20 2007.
[20:45] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 20:45:37 2007.
[20:47] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 20:47:24 2007.
[20:56] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 20:56:16 2007.
[21:02] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 21:02:40 2007.
[21:14] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 21:14:53 2007.
[21:33] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 21:33:54 2007.
[21:43] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 21:43:17 2007.
[21:49] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 21:49:18 2007.
[21:55] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 21:55:44 2007.
[22:08] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 22:08:07 2007.
[22:17] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 22:17:10 2007.
[22:18] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 22:18:10 2007.
[22:24] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 22:24:55 2007.
[22:47] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 22:47:08 2007.
[22:53] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 22:53:00 2007.
[22:59] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 22:59:02 2007.
[23:05] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 23:05:15 2007.
[23:14] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 23:14:29 2007.
[23:28] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 23:28:52 2007.
[23:54] *** You have been disconnected. Sun Dec 02 23:54:16 2007.
[00:00] *** You have been disconnected. Mon Dec 03 00:00:38 2007.
[00:08] *** You have been disconnected. Mon Dec 03 00:08:30 2007.
[00:11] *** You have been disconnected. Mon Dec 03 00:11:52 2007.
[00:20] *** You have been disconnected. Mon Dec 03 00:20:22 2007.

What makes that bad is that those disconnections are often anywhere from two minutes to in some cases, a full half hour before the service is working again. Most of the time it’s only about five minutes, but still, some nights I’ve had times where out of an hour, the service was only working for a total of two minutes. So right now I’m paying for a service that I’m not getting.

Anyway, they are due to come out today… I only hope that they finally get it fixed. I’m a little tired of playing the type things up in word, copy and paste and then shoot for a moment to get something up. I spent close to an hour just getting an e-mail to Adam to let him know that my problem had become this bad the other day. And even this post… I don‘t want to think about how long this took.

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Saturday, November 24, 2007

Mannheim Streamroller Concert Mayhem!

Well Thanksgiving so far has been fun and I hope the rest of you have had a good time as well. This year, instead of going out shopping on black Friday instead I went to the Mannheim Steamroller Concert in Salt Lake City with Rachmaninoff. It turned out to be an interesting experience, let me tell you! lol

I left nice and early to meet him and yet still got nailed by the traffic and ended up late. But we only missed part of the very first song, so that worked out well. And the concert itself was just fantastic. I don’t even know where to begin, They played twenty one songs for the main program and then three encores. And the best part was not only how much fun it was to see them perform live, but most of the songs were the ones I love the best.

Rachmaninoff and I had good seats about six rows up from the floor and not at the back but close enough so we had a clear view of the stage as well as a miniature winter city with a train going around it set up on the floor just in front of where we were sitting. For some of the songs they would have it lit up with fake snow falling and at one point the little train was running.

Behind the stage was three huge screens and for each song there was different images shown for each song, one of them they even had a cloth screen in front of the stage where you couldn’t see them playing except for when they would shine lights on them and then you could see them through the bottom of the cloth screen. In the end it was quite an enjoyable evening.

Everything else went well, I left Rachmaninoff’s place around 10:30pm and headed home since he lives closer to the place where the concert is than I do. I was cruising along the Interstate when I had a blow out in the front right tire of my car. I was literally only four miles from home. I knew what had happened so of course I pulled over immediately to the side and checked to make sure that I really did have a flat and I did, the sidewall had literally come apart. XP

So being the savvy person that I am since I did work as a Semi Truck driver, I simply got out the stuff from my trunk to change the tire. I got everything set up only to realize that a crucial part for the jack was missing and therefore I couldn’t use it. >_< I was at that point stuck. But luck was with me, even though I don’t believe in luck, still at that exact moment a Highway Patrol car pulled up behind me with his lights flashing.

Once he realized my plight he got out his stuff and jacked the car up and insisted on changing the tire for me. Not that it took long since changing a tire isn’t that hard really. Still I was glad he showed up since that made things a lot easier. Anyway, other than that I had a great time with Rachmaninoff at the concert. Even if it was black Friday. ^_^

Anyway, all of you be sure to have a good weekend, I‘m off to get some sleep since I had a busy evening with all of that. ^_^

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Tuesday, October 23, 2007

What?!?

I’m sure you know the drill… The I’m going to update and such, so what happens when I get ready to do so yesterday morning? The site goes down for four hours! lol So I had to wait. ^_^ But here I am ready to update, twice in the same month no less! XD

Not a lot has changed other than I‘m still doing the same stuff I was before. Though it has gotten colder since we had our first snowfall in the valley over the weekend. And though it melted, it‘s still getting below freezing at night now. >_< I miss the warmer weather already! I so hate being cold.

Anyway… I do have something I‘m going to mention before certain sneaks on myOtaku and OtakuBoards beat me to it since I just know those snitches will. =P *pokes indifference and Desbreko* Though I‘m going to go about it my own way here. If there is such a thing that is. Hehe.

As many of you already know I attended an anime convention back in August where I meet two fellow myOtaku members. Well, the long and short of it is that one of them I had been corresponding with ever since we met here at myOtaku back in May of 2006.

Well meeting in person only reinforced just how much we like each other and get along and we‘ve been continuing to do so since then. Meeting and doing things together. ^_^ And that moved into actually dating each other. Yes I did say the word date. lol It‘s supremely ironic in a sense because Rachmaninoff is also my fellow moderator in the Otaku Lounge over at OtakuBoards.

So now the not so secret bit is out. ^_~ If you want to know more about Rachmaninoff then just head over to his myOtaku page, though you‘ll have a better chance of finding him over at OtakuBoards since he spends most of his time over there instead of here. Anyway, that about wraps up what I had to say for today. Have a good week everyone. ^_^

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Tuesday, October 2, 2007

October Fun!

I was going to update yesterday. I made up my mind since it had been over a month since I did so and with it being my birthday I was determined to do so… So what happened? I goofed off and had fun instead. lol Still I am now 37 years old. ^_~ I was reserved about stating it before because I‘ve had negative responses in the past in regards to liking anime and such, but when I realized that people were guessing incorrectly that I was under thirty when I‘m actually over thirty… I decided to put an end to that and put my full birth date up on my site here and in my profile over at OtakuBoards.

I have no problem with being my age so it‘s time I quit caring if others do. ^_~ Also, I should have known better since if anything, people have been even more nice to me than they already were since I quit hedging about it. But then us Otaku‘s are a friendly and nice bunch of people. In the end it just makes me love this site even more.

Now as for news… I went to the Anime convention in Salt Lake City in August and met both indifference and Rachmaninoff for the first time. ^_^ That was so much fun! We didn’t stay at the convention but instead ended up doing lots of fun stuff around the city. It was a small convention but still fun to go to.

I also got a new computer last month. I‘m so pleased about that since my older laptop was dying on me, plus it was old enough that I couldn‘t really do a lot with it anymore other than to get online and do simple things. The technology has grown so much that it just couldn‘t keep up very well. It‘s a great machine so I‘m looking forward to being able to play pc games again as well as learning all the new features of Windows Vista. So far I like the new operating system very much.

Oh and the person I sent the cookies too liked them very much. Hehe! If you don‘t know Desbreko, the one who got the cookies, he‘s a site administrator over at OtakuBoards. It was fun sending those cookies out. ^_~ Anyway, I‘ve had a very long and busy day so since it‘s just after midnight I‘m off to play a game to relax before I call it a night. Take care everyone.

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Thursday, August 23, 2007

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’m sure I’m not the only one who does this, I think to myself, I’ll update tomorrow, I’ll visit everyone tomorrow. And next thing I know… A week has passed and then another and another. It’s like the time just flies by so quickly. I’ve been busy for some of it, and for other parts I’ve been downright lazy and enjoying myself with activities over at OtakuBoards that I really enjoy. ^_^

Perhaps the strangest one would be a short story I wrote that was based off of a wacky dream I had. I’ve been part of an rpg called Survivor for quite some time and I ended up dreaming about it. lol So I converted that into a short story and posted it. I’m not in the rpg anymore but writing up that crazy dream was fun. I don’t dream about things online very often. Though I do have very wacky dreams on a regular basis.

I’ve been working on finishing up my own rpg Silver One. It’s taking a little longer to finish than I thought it would but still it’s been tons of fun and its ending in a manner that will result in a sequel being done so I’m looking forward to that. I’ve already started preparing for it. ^_~

Other things I’m up to has to do with my title for today’s update. One lucky person that I know here at both myOtaku and OtakuBoards is getting a batch of homemade cookies sent to them. I went to the store with Aaryanna the other day and picked up everything I need in order to mail the cookies. Either later today or tomorrow we will be actually making them and then once they’ve cooled properly they’ll be packaged up and sent. It’s been a while since I’ve sent a friend some cookies so I’m looking forward to it. I love baking. ^_^

Anyway, in other news, I’ve been doing the updates for the quizzes long enough that I’m finally getting less nervous about that. lol I enjoy doing it so keep those quizzes coming! ^_~ And with that being said, take care everyone!

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Thursday, June 28, 2007

Super Busy

Well my hand is all better and I’m back to typing and doing everything I was before. Which makes me a very happy camper. Unfortunately it also makes me a very, very busy one as well. It’s like everything decided to pile up all at once and ambush me. I spent close to three hours doing stuff around here yesterday and I’m not finished.

Part of that is due to Panda being off to AX so I’m helping to hold down the fort so to speak by helping out with submission approvals and such. Though helping out Panda is something I enjoy doing. ^_~

Anyway, what it does mean is I won’t be getting around to other sites much since by the time I get done I’m a bit brain dead from dealing with everything. So I hope all of you are having a good week. Take care. ^_~ Oh and before I forget, just incase I end up to busy next week, be sure to have a good fourth of July. I know I always look forward to it. But then I love fireworks! ^_^

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Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Step Carefully

All right, so I told myself that I was going to visit and comment more, so what happens? I nearly fall down the stairs and twist my right wrist and thumb in the process. >_< Let me tell ya, that was extremely painful. Fortunately, a visit to the doctor along with some medicine to take for the swelling got me back on track. Still…that had me wanting to scream yesterday. lol I’m just glad nothing was broken.

But today is much better, so long as I don’t hit the space bar with my right thumb that is. I swear, you don’t think about how much you use your hand or your foot until something keeps you from being able to do so. Hehe, I’m just lucky that even though I am not left handed, there are a number of things that I’ve always done with my left hand so it hasn’t been too bad. ^_~

Anyway…some people got what I was nervous about in my last post and others didn’t know, so I’ll clear up the mystery. My first news post went up on theOtaku’s main page. And I was terribly worried that I’d make some huge silly spelling error or something along those lines. So that’s what I was nervous about. I felt the same way when I first became a moderator. I was very nervous at first since I wanted to do a good job and not mess up. ^_~

So there you have it. I’ll just be glad to reach the point where I don’t feel so nervous anymore. ^_~ Especially since I love this site. I had no idea that it would be so much fun or that I’d make so many good friends in the process. And speaking of friends, I’m working on a little project for one of them. I got a bunch of screen shots for it so I’ll be sure to show it off when I get it finished.

It strikes me as kind of funny since the person I’m making it for was someone I sort of knew about here at myOtaku, but until this year hadn’t gotten to really know them yet. And that happened due to being part of the same RPG over at OtakuBoards.

Anyway, that about wraps it up for me. Especially since even with the medicine for my hand, I can only type so much before it starts to hurt again. Later and take care. ^_~

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Friday, June 15, 2007

I'm alive I promise

I kept telling myself, I'll update tomorrow. And what happens? A whole month just flew by. I have been visiting people randomly. For example I know all about Yensid's new hot tub, I even saw the pictures where they used a crane to hoist it over her house and into the backyard. ^_~

I've just sucked in the leaving comments department. I blame it entirely on making the mistake of joining another RPG over at OtakuBoards, for a total of three, and two of them have been pretty busy the past couple of weeks!

Especially my own. I had no idea that my Silver One RPG would last for six months! And we're still at it! It's completely and totally fun and I totally love it. ^_^ Especially since I prepared so many ideas and plot twists for the story so it's been gratifying to see them get used.

Anyway, I'm gonna try to do more than lurk and read people's posts, but then I always say that. >_< I will try though! lol Anyway, take care and have a good weekend everyone! ^_~

Oh and before I forget...right now I'm beyond nervous! And I'm sure that some of you will know exactly what I'm talking about! *dies*

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