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Friday, June 30, 2006

Bored, and other things

I had today off from work, and as usual this summer, I'm off of school. I've spent pretty much all day on the computer, loading my new videos, playing around on the internet, and watching PGSM on YouTube. I just finished watching Act 45, which means I'm almost done. (I watched the Special Act and Act Zero before watching the regular series, and the Tuxedo Kamen and Hina specials too, so I won't have to watch those after).

I did go out, believe it or not, but just to buy some pantihose for work, since I work tomorrow. The drag about that--working--is I have not seen a movie in a while and tomorrow would be a good day for that. Oh well...I don't have a lot of money anyway (as usual right before payday...I gotta learn to save...well, I had to buy a bus pass and I bought myself dinner on Sunday night when our Quad group met, the latter of which I didn't really need actually and could've done without).

Well at least it's only 11-4 so I can take the bus there and back. I just called to make an appointment for pickup and return. Plus, since it's 5 hours, I should get a 15-minute break (although I'll be with Lenora, and she tends to forget about that...I should eat an early lunch just in case).

Oh crud I have to buy donuts for everyone tomorrow cause Lenora said it's my turn. Apparently this is something they do on Saturdays now. I haven't worked a Saturday in a while, so I just found out about this custom last night. I'll have to get orders from everybody. That shouldn't be hard cause coming on the FAST bus I should be early anyways.

Wait...everyone that's working tomorrow is there right now. I'm going to call and find out what they want.

Hmm...I've been on hold a long time. I wonder what happened...

Gaa! Lenora just got back on the line and she told me Lynne was only joking about the donut thing. I am going to mention that to her tomorrow...

In other news, I made it to level 3 of the Desert part of my GBA Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon game...quite an accomplishment. I just wish that, if the developers were going to do a level with quicksand, that they wouldn't put enemies on the quicksand so that you're having to avoid sinking in the quicksand and fight enemies at the same time. What are you trying to do, make my thumbs sore?

On the school and career front, I still am not sure what kind of career I could do with a history degree. To make matters worse, Mum was saying I really should look into a career in doing stuff like making the videos I make (I sent her the link for my YouTube profile so she could see my videos). I hate when she says that...it throws me off. She has constantly said I should consider a career in computers. It's not that I don't like computers; I love them in fact. But getting a job in computers is not as easy as my mom makes it look. Most programming jobs require a degree in Computer Science, and a degree in Computer Science = knowledge of higher math, including calculus! And I stink at math, so there's no way I could do calculus. Animation jobs, while maybe not requiring as much high math, would require actual artistic talent, which I do not possess either.

Basically, my computer skills consist of: computer and internet literacy; knowledge of Office, making videos, some image and sound editing, and HTML; and some basic office stuff, such as transcription, 10-key, and typing. I have no programming knowledge whatsoever, or animation other than Animation Shop, a measly little program that comes with Paint Shop Pro that is good for making animated gifs but I doubt much else (that I know of anyways...I haven't played with it much).

I could see myself doing computer stuff as a hobby, but I don't think I could do it as a career, with my difficulty in math and art.

I suppose I could do something just having to do with videos and video editing, which is what my friend Mark does. He is a entrepreneur of sorts, hiring himself out to do video work. Unfortunately, I don't have the knowledge -- or programs -- to do anything really sophisticated. I don't even have a camcorder!

*long sigh*

God, help me. Please...I was making progress...why should I regress when I've come this far?!

Even more bad news...Movie Maker decided my collections file was corrupted or something, so it emptied it. This means I have to go through and divide the episodes I'm going to fansub into parts all over again...dangit! Maybe I'll just forget about the fansubs. I don't really feel like doing them anymore. I have enough stress as it is.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Another short post

I have to leave for work really soon...just catching up.

24 was good. It was nice to get away, even though the camp was hot and dry and there were a lot of bugs. I have several little red bumps on both my arms that are itchy as heck.

Summer weather has settled in for those of us on the home front though. So I finally pulled the box fan out of the closet. I need to dust it though cause it is really dusty from sitting in the closet since the beginning of winter or whenever it was I put it in there.

I looked at articulation agreements and stuff today, since enrollment for fall starts this week and I needed to figure out what my fourth class should be to round out my full-time schedule. Since all the schools I looked at basically wanted the same basic history classes, I decided to just take something interesting to round things out. That way, I can apply to schools this fall, figure out who will take me, and take classes in the spring that prepare me for the major at a particular school.

So I picked Philosophy 105, which is Asian Philosophy and Religion. Coincidentially, the teacher also teaches history! However, she also teaches Asian Studies. I looked her up on ratemyprofessors.com (a great little site where students rate teachers, which helps you figure out who to take and who to avoid) and she was pretty highly praised, so I am going with her. The same was the case for the teacher of the Anthropology class I'm going to take to meet my Bio Science requirement (it's Biological Anthropology, so it counts).

The one bone of contention was Communications 101. It's an option for the oral communication thing for the IGETC, which is a Cal State-only requirement, but since most of the universities I'm looking at are Cal States, I figured I should probably take it. The two teachers whose classes were at a convenient time for me got a lot of "poor quality" (sad face) ratings. So I went with my first choice teacher because he got more smiley faces (the highest rating) than the other teacher.

As for my teacher for History of the Americas, I didn't really have a choice because there was only one section. I checked him out anyway and he had mixed reviews. Some people hated him and some loved him. I went with him anyway, because (1) I didn't really have a choice and (2) I liked him from last semester (when I took the other half of History of the Americas).

Enrollment starts Wednesday, but only people with 40.5-50 units can actually enroll on that day. The enrollment appointment for people with 70.5-80 units (like me) is July 3 in the morning. You can enroll on or after your enrollment appointment date, but not before. Such is the disadvantage of first priority enrollment. The advantage is you have first dibs on the classes you want.

Crud I gotta go. Bye.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

A short post

I have to leave for work in about a half hour, so this will be short. Just thought I'd catch you up on what I'm up to.

I am working on a fansubbing project where I fansub into French several Code Lyoko episodes. After the first part of the first one I'm doing ("Franz Hopper") took so darn long, I decided to do the translated scripts beforehand, and then I will have more time to focus on timing the subtitles correctly. However, this is easier said than done. I have finished scripts for two episodes so far, and doing the translation for each 8-minute part (roughly about 8 minutes, anyway, sometimes a little less) takes an hour or more. The last part of "Code: Earth" (the part I just finished an hour ago) took an hour and a half. Let's just say I've had some late nights!

From here I am going to do the scripts in alphabetical order (this just makes sense because my list of "collections" in Movie Maker is alphabetical), which means "Exploration" is next. Then "False Start" and so on (skipping "Franz Hopper," since I finished that one already).

I made the mistake of trying to do some scripting on the bus yesterday. Not only could I not hear very well, but it was tough to keep my notebook and my laptop straight on my lap.

Other than that, I have to decide soon what my fourth class for the fall is going to be so I can register. I also need to work on deciding on a major if I want to apply to schools this fall.

This weekend is the only college retreat of the summer, 24. I paid for it last week, and I'm looking forward to it. Pity it's only overnight.

Next week I work four days! Wahoo! I am very happy about this because it means I will have more money.

I gotta get better at budgeting though if I want to go away to school. *sigh*

Oh, by the way, my personal site is up. The URL is http://iam.homewithgod.com/silvanmare. Or you can just follow the link in the sidebar.

That's basically it. Ja ne!

24 Spoof



I found this cool "24" Spoof on YouTube, with a Christian twist, made not by me, but by making88. Enjoy!

Lovers



This is a little video I made with pictures and video of different couples from TV shows, movies, and 1 video game (Tales of Symphonia) that I like. Enjoy!

Friday, June 09, 2006

"Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people..."

"Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation
with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by
discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah."

~Habakkuk 3:13, King James Version



I got fed up with feeling down today. I wrote a poem, a prayer to God begging him to help me. Shortly after, I picked up the King James Bible that Emilee gave me right after Snow Blast. It was sitting on my bed because I'd grabbed it earlier to look up something. I was thinking of reading one verse (the one about hinds' feet that I think sounds so nice in the King James) but in the end I turned to another verse I've liked for a while, Zephaniah 3:17, and read that and the next few verses first. Then I went back to Habakkuk and found the hinds' feet verse, the last verse in the 3rd chapter. I decided to read the whole chapter -- that old "context" thing I learned back in junior year doing hermeneutics -- and I found the verse above. The wording seemed interesting to me.

I just checked to see what the NIV says. This is its version: "You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot. Selah." The Message is even more blunt: "You were out to save your people, to save your specially chosen people. You beat the stuffing out of King Wicked, stripped him naked from head to toe, set his severed head on his own spear and blew away his army." The NLT says, "You went out to rescue your chosen people, to save your anointed ones. You crushed the heads of the wicked and laid bare their bones from head to toe." The older translations (New King James, New American Standard, etc) and even the French translations (Louis Segond, La Bible de Semeune) say basically the same as the King James does.

Somehow I like the King James rendering best.

I saw the word Selah several times in what I wound up reading, which were these passages and some Psalms. Selah is one of those untranslatable words that nobody seems to be able to assign a meaning to, or if they do assign a meaning, it's relative. Like schaddenfreude. The most common interpretation is that it is a signaling word, signaling one to pause and reflect on what one has just read or heard. One Bible I used to have translated the word Selah as "Interlude" in the Psalms, which makes sense since the Psalms are "songs" of a sort, and lots of songs have "interludes."

That was how I treated it. Every time I read the word Selah, I would stop reading for a moment and think. Kind of how...well, you know when someone important dies or something, they ask you to take a moment of silence out of respect? It was sort of like that.

The reading helped some, but I still think my sleep won't be easy tonight. But then again, with how chronically tired I am, I doubt I sleep well any night.

I may go to bed soon. I want to get up early tomorrow and go buy some toothpaste and some more soda since I'm running out of both.

I'm gonna buy a prayer journal when I get the chance as well. And an actual journal too, not just one of those cheap spiral notebooks that I buy on whims all the time, and usually don't do much with. At work, there's one specifically labeled "My Prayer Journal" that's only $4.97. Though there was only one last I checked (we had 3 but I sold 2 to this one customer). If it's not there, I can just get a regular journal, or a different prayer journal if there are any (which I think there are).

I'm going to look into spiritual disciplines as well. No, I'm not thinking of going ascetic and going to the mountains and being a nun. But I need some structure to my spiritual life, and I think something like that would help.

Good night!

Found a web site host, meeting with Transfer Center, my "Personality Plus" personality mix, etc.

I am pleased to announce that I found a web site host site for my personal site! I guess my prayer was answered.

Here's how it happened: on Wednesday I had a meeting with a transfer counselor at the University Transfer Center at school (more on that in a minute) and once it was over, I had some time to kill before I had to be at work. So I went to the library, and, not having anything in particular to do there, I found a computer in the open lab and did a Google search for "Christian web host sites." I found one: MyHomeWithGod. The signup was easy and free, and they do have ads, but at least they're Christian ads.

I haven't uploaded my site yet, but I am going to soon.

Next...my meeting at the University Transfer Center. I am glad I was able to make it work because when I scheduled it I hadn't got my June schedule yet for work so I was afraid I'd have to reschedule it.

It was only half an hour (actually more like 35 minutes, since it was around 1:35 when I left) but it was very helpful. The counselor, Jose, asked me about my major and I said I hadn't picked one yet. I also explained to him that I was confused as to which G.E. plan to follow, since some classes I had taken were for the Cal State GE requirements. Then he pulled up my transcript online (it's on the enrollment thingie, SURF) and looked at my classes and my GPA. He said, with my GPA (which is about 3.2) I could get into 5 of the 9 UC schools. The two he said that for sure I couldn't get into at the moment were Berkeley and UCLA. I'm not sure what the other 2 are. I just checked and the only ones I couldn't find info about were UCSF (University of California San Fransisco) and UCM (UC Merced). That's all right, since UCSF is devoted solely to health sciences.

He drew up an ed plan (the common name, it's short for "educational plan") which showed what classes I'd taken and what I still needed to take for the IGETC (the plan I've been following mostly; it stands for "Inter-Segmental General Education Transfer Curriculum"...I don't know where the "s" for "segmental" comes from though). He also drew up a tenative semester schedule showing what I still needed to take and with dates of when to apply to a university and when to petition for graduation. The former would be this fall, and the latter next spring. In between, I'd have to fill out the FAFSA (the Free Application for Federal Student Aid) to see if I'd get any money from the state (though being white and upper-middle-class, that's not likely, although maybe cause I'm a girl....hmm, doubt that too, well it was a thought).

I left feeling better about my academic situation. He said not to put so much pressure on the major thing either, cause he changed his 6 times. But then of course people always tell you that to try to make you feel better.

Right before I started typing this entry, I took a "personality profile" thing for the personality types outlined in the book Personality Plus by Marita and Florence Littauer. I haven't read that book specifically, but one of the books I read for our next staff meeting had a little quiz thing you could take to determine your two primary types, as well as info on each type. The other book I read, a marriage book by Marita Littauer and her husband, also mentioned the types and had a thing in the back explaining each one. So before I returned the books, I photocopied the pages with the info on the types and the pages with the quiz and the scoring sheet for the quiz. (This wasn't as easy as it sounds, because I was trying not to mess up the spines of the books doing this, which can happen with paperback books if you lay them out, both covers open, face down on a copier, plus I was doing it at school, and the school just instituted another weird system for printing and copying).

Anyway, I found out after scoring the quiz that I am a Perfect Melancholy/Peaceful Phlegmatic.

Wikipedia compares these types to the Myers-Briggs types. It says that "A Melancholy can be more of an intellectual, and thus somewhat anti-social (or perhaps just less social), and Phlegmatics just don't mind either way," "Whereas a Melancholy seeks facts to come to conclusions...", "This is about how people process the world around them, and the most obvious observations are that Melancholies like facts, whereas Sanguines have a leaning towards emotions," and "Whereas perceiving is all about simply making observations, whereas judging involves allocating value to the observations (right/wrong, good/bad, etc.). Since a Melancholy is about "the right" way, and Cholerics are about "my way", they tend to be more on the judgmental scale. Phlegmatics, being "any way", are more about perceiving."

I tried to put together what they were saying here. Based on this, this would mean that my dominant type, Perfect Melancholy, would be an Introvert, a Intution, a Thinker, and a Judger. This in Myers-Briggs speak would be an INTJ. The weird thing is, that is exactly what type I got both times I took the Myers-Briggs test!

The descriptions they gave in the books and in Wikipedia are long and complex, so here's the basics:

The Perfect Melancholy is basically the over-analytical, perfectionistic kind of person (hence the word "perfect" in the name). They plan, plan, plan. They like stability and they like their space. They like things to be predictable and they like standards. They are very detail-oriented. They like life to be in order. According to the marriage book with info on this, Perfect Melancholies tend to marry Popular Sanguines (their exact opposites) because Sanguines are outgoing and social.

The other book, which is about temptation, talks about the greatest temptations for each type. Melancholies are very susceptible to the temptation towards negativity, as they tend to be pessimistic and cynical.

Peaceful Phlegmatics like peace above all (hence the "peaceful" in the name). They avoid conflict as much as possible. They want to be respected and feel like they have worth. Though balanced and pleasing in personality, they tend to be indecisive and have a hidden iron will. They dislike change and people who expect too much from them or are too pushy. They're good mediators at work, however, and have the gift of staying calm and collected more than others. Because of their indecisiveness, they tend to marry Powerful Cholerics who are strong and decisive and somewhat authoritative.

Phlegmatics are most likely to be tempted to be complacent and thus get their lives out of balance. Unlike the Powerful Choleric who does too much, they don't do enough.

This is rather enlightening, because I am like that, a mix of both. I dislike change because I'm a Phlegmatic, which may be caused by my preference for stability from my Melancholy side. My perfectionism from the Melancholy side probably influences my desire to avoid conflict that comes from my Phlegmatic side. I may be an indecisive Phlegmatic because my Melancholy side makes me plan excessively but not act until everything is just so.

In other things, I found a place to watch Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon on YouTube. I have watched Acts 1 and 2, the Special Act, Act Zero, and the specials "Hina Afterwards" and "Tuxedo Kamen's Secret Birth." I watched some clips from the Kirari Super Live special too, but it's not up there in its entirety.

That's basically it. Bye for now.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Bow Down To Santa Jeremy



This is a pretty funny movie Lyoko11, another person on YouTube, made. Check it out!

Generator Power Promo



This is a little promo video I made for my Generator Gawl website. Enjoy!

(Yes, YouTube has a "Blog Video" function now...cool, huh?)

Friday, June 02, 2006

Web site hosting woes, summer plans, grades

I just checked my grades for the semester. I got almost all A's. It would've been all A's except that I got a B in one of my BOT 113 sections. I am not sure which section this was cause I wasn't keeping track of my points in that class. I just e-mailed my teacher to find out.

Speaking of school-related things, I recently made a little PSA video about literacy. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAws0BoLTcU

Well summer is now upon us (even though summer doesn't technically start until June 20 or 21, but that's beside the point). Do I have plans? No, not really.

Basically, I will be working, and part-time at that. I was hoping to be able to work full-time, but I talked to Dannie yesterday and she said that since summer is our slowest time (which I think is odd...if people have more free time in the summer, shouldn't they have more time to read books?) she can't really increase anyone's hours right now. I understood this to some extent. Just to clear my conscience, I said I had been working on the stuff she asked me to, but she said it didn't have anything to do with me, which is reassuring. Ever since she and I had a long talk about my apparent lack of social graces and of other things that make a model retail employee, I have been living on pins and needles, always worrying that one little slip will get me fired.

Other than that, there's the college group overnight retreat on the 23rd and 24th. Because I made the mistake of submitting my day off request later than I should've (all the stuff with seeing Grandpa, plus school ending and stuff, probably made me forget about it...plus they just started talking about it), I have yet to find out for certain whether I'm getting the time off.

The only other thing to look forward to is in late August. My dad got tickets for an American Idol Live Tour concert in Anaheim. That should be fun!

Speaking of American Idol...I have learned that I should never again make a fan video for that show. I made one for Katharine McPhee, and after a couple days where everything was fine, YouTube blocked access to it, saying I'd committed copyright infringement. Oh well. There's nothing I can do about that.

So basically my summer plans will be to continue reading career stuff (I'm almost done with the print books, and then I'll start on the ebooks), possibly try to get my license (I just found out that the DMV doesn't accept drivers' training programs that use simulators anymore, so this means I'd have to just go out in a real car, and my mom doesn't think I'm ready for that...I mean, I know how to make left and right turns and basically park from when I've gone out with my dad to the parking lot of the nearby high school...it frustrates me that my mom doesn't think I'm ready...I'm 21 for goodness sake....just cause I might be an aspie with bad eye-hand coordination doesn't mean I have to take public transit the rest of my life!), and probably hang out at home a lot. Maybe go see a movie now and then. Oh and go to church and hopefully to my "Quad" (that's what the new small groups for the summer are called...I've had problems contacting the people in my group via e-mail).

I spent a good portion of tonight trying to find a good host site for my new personal site (called Silvanmare after a town in one of my stories). I tried Geocities, Angelfire, Bravenet, and a few others I'd never heard of, but either they just didn't work out, or, as in Bravenet and Angelfire's cases, I uploaded all my files only to find out both my main page and the page in the iframe had an ugly ad banner emblazoned across the tops of them. Geocities just logged me in under my e-mail (since my regular Internet service is associated with Yahoo and so is Geocities).

I just want something free with preferably no ads. Or if there must be ads, let them just be a little box or something. Please!! *frustrated sigh*

Well my battery is running low (I got tired of sitting at my desk and the cord doesn't work the same if the computer is anywhere else) so I'm gonna have to cut this short.

God, I know this sounds weird, but please help me find a host for my website. I put a lot of work into it.