Is it possible to get adopted at age 36?
I hate my family.
Sunday, December 23, 2018
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
this happens way too often
- Sitting here, using my computer, going about life.
- Body goes "hey I gotta take a dump"
- I stop everything and go sit on the toilet for 20-30 minutes, during which time no dump occurs
- Me: "dammit"
Saturday, May 12, 2018
Burnout 3: Revenge, or why Burning Lap is terrible
I was watching one or another LGR Thing when he brought up the Burnout games, which reminded me that I do in fact own a copy of Burnout 3: Revenge. I decided to pop it into my PS2 and play, and after a few hours of gameplay I have a lot of thoughts on it.
The game overall is great. The whole takedown mechanic works quite well, and getting takedowns on opponents that have been harrassing you all race is quite satisfying. However, there's one mode of gameplay that stands out as incredibly frustrating and un-fun: Burning Lap. It takes many forms, sometimes it's a "Preview Lap", sometimes it's a "Special Event", and sometimes it's actually referred to as a "Burning Lap". Regardless, it's a simple time trial at a given location, with times to beat for bronze, silver, and gold medals. Some of them are clearly intended to be far more challenging than others, and have less room for error in their gold medal times.
The thing that makes Burning Lap not fun? It's actually several things.
First, sometimes the location you start at is terrible. The Coastal Dream Preview Lap starts you just before a corner that you need to drift around, so you have to hold gas+boost for about a second and then immediately brake to start a drift. Just start me a bit further back so I can have time to figure out when to turn in for the corner.
Second, you have to listen to the radio DJ guy's random dialogue every single time you retry. As a whole, the DJ is funny and/or interesting for about the first hour or so of gameplay, then he just gets old and unfunny in a hurry. He constantly chimes in with some useless line of dialogue, cutting out the music in the process. Not like there's much loss there, since the game's soundtrack isn't exactly stellar, but I'd rather hear a less-than-stellar soundtrack than the stupid DJ. You can disable him in the options, but there's still the same retry-induced delay as the game reminds you of your objectives.
Third, there's still traffic. I get why it's there for all the other gameplay modes, but why is it there for Burning Lap? The gold medal times often have so little leeway that you're basically forced to retry if you crash even once, forcing you to listen to the DJ again. Also, the traffic is placed such that you always have to reconsider what line you're taking because it's in the way of the optimal line.
Fourth, Impact Time is still usable after a crash during Burning Lap events. Why? There are no competitors to aftertouch into for those sweet aftertouch takedowns. This is compounded by the fact that the Boost button and the Impact Time button are the same button (R1), and that there's no way to skip or otherwise shorten the crash cutscene. All you want the game to do is reset you on the track so you can get going again, so you want to hold R1 so you're boosting as soon as it does, but holding R1 during the crash cutscene activates Impact Time and makes the crash cutscene take longer.
Fifth, there's no track map. For other modes this matters a little less, but here, the only focus is speed. You barely have time to process your surroundings as-is when you're holding both gas and boost. Your surroundings also happen to be incredibly busy, which makes it very difficult to tell which way the track is going.
Sixth, if the intent is to be constantly on the boost, then why do I not start with boost? Why does it still need to be earned? The boost quantity should just be infinite and active all the time. It would save many a hand cramp from holding both X and R1 as tightly as possible.
Seventh is the game's use of darkness to hide obstacles. This affects all game modes, not just Burning Lap, but it's silly to have to turn up the brightness on my screen just to be able to see things that I need to avoid slamming into at 170mph.
The rest of the game is not without its flaws, but it's far more fun than Burning Lap. A particularly large annoyance is that selecting Retry is always detrimental. You lose whatever points, takedowns, or crash money you earned if you select Retry. It's always better to just finish an event with a subpar result, select Continue, and bank whatever points you earned. You then get to cope with how slowly the event selection menu cursor moves from one location to another, because this menu doesn't remember the last thing you selected.
I'll address the music and why the soundtrack is completely wrong for the game in a future post.
The game overall is great. The whole takedown mechanic works quite well, and getting takedowns on opponents that have been harrassing you all race is quite satisfying. However, there's one mode of gameplay that stands out as incredibly frustrating and un-fun: Burning Lap. It takes many forms, sometimes it's a "Preview Lap", sometimes it's a "Special Event", and sometimes it's actually referred to as a "Burning Lap". Regardless, it's a simple time trial at a given location, with times to beat for bronze, silver, and gold medals. Some of them are clearly intended to be far more challenging than others, and have less room for error in their gold medal times.
The thing that makes Burning Lap not fun? It's actually several things.
First, sometimes the location you start at is terrible. The Coastal Dream Preview Lap starts you just before a corner that you need to drift around, so you have to hold gas+boost for about a second and then immediately brake to start a drift. Just start me a bit further back so I can have time to figure out when to turn in for the corner.
Second, you have to listen to the radio DJ guy's random dialogue every single time you retry. As a whole, the DJ is funny and/or interesting for about the first hour or so of gameplay, then he just gets old and unfunny in a hurry. He constantly chimes in with some useless line of dialogue, cutting out the music in the process. Not like there's much loss there, since the game's soundtrack isn't exactly stellar, but I'd rather hear a less-than-stellar soundtrack than the stupid DJ. You can disable him in the options, but there's still the same retry-induced delay as the game reminds you of your objectives.
Third, there's still traffic. I get why it's there for all the other gameplay modes, but why is it there for Burning Lap? The gold medal times often have so little leeway that you're basically forced to retry if you crash even once, forcing you to listen to the DJ again. Also, the traffic is placed such that you always have to reconsider what line you're taking because it's in the way of the optimal line.
Fourth, Impact Time is still usable after a crash during Burning Lap events. Why? There are no competitors to aftertouch into for those sweet aftertouch takedowns. This is compounded by the fact that the Boost button and the Impact Time button are the same button (R1), and that there's no way to skip or otherwise shorten the crash cutscene. All you want the game to do is reset you on the track so you can get going again, so you want to hold R1 so you're boosting as soon as it does, but holding R1 during the crash cutscene activates Impact Time and makes the crash cutscene take longer.
Fifth, there's no track map. For other modes this matters a little less, but here, the only focus is speed. You barely have time to process your surroundings as-is when you're holding both gas and boost. Your surroundings also happen to be incredibly busy, which makes it very difficult to tell which way the track is going.
Sixth, if the intent is to be constantly on the boost, then why do I not start with boost? Why does it still need to be earned? The boost quantity should just be infinite and active all the time. It would save many a hand cramp from holding both X and R1 as tightly as possible.
Seventh is the game's use of darkness to hide obstacles. This affects all game modes, not just Burning Lap, but it's silly to have to turn up the brightness on my screen just to be able to see things that I need to avoid slamming into at 170mph.
The rest of the game is not without its flaws, but it's far more fun than Burning Lap. A particularly large annoyance is that selecting Retry is always detrimental. You lose whatever points, takedowns, or crash money you earned if you select Retry. It's always better to just finish an event with a subpar result, select Continue, and bank whatever points you earned. You then get to cope with how slowly the event selection menu cursor moves from one location to another, because this menu doesn't remember the last thing you selected.
I'll address the music and why the soundtrack is completely wrong for the game in a future post.
Monday, May 7, 2018
Super Mario Kart is frustrating
I didn't grow up with Super Mario Kart, I got into the series with the more modern games (specifically, Double Dash!!) and am only now going back to play the older games in the series. Speaking of that, I own all of them except for Mario Kart 64, and the $60 DLC pack known as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Everything is absolutely fine up until 100cc Special Cup. The tracks are too narrow, the other racers' sprites are too big, and they drive right in the middle of the track. It also seems like just about anyone is capable of knocking you clear off the track, regardless of weight. Also, can we talk about the handling? It sucks. When you push a direction, half of the time you slide in the opposite direction instead. It makes it very difficult to stay on the track. A fair amount of time, neutral hopping can stop this from happening, but it's a gamble.
I loathe the coin mechanic in the older Mario Kart games. In the newer ones (7 and 8) it's not as bad (they're pretty much just a really grindy kart part unlock mechanic), but here the coins tend to be out of the way, where you'd never want to actually drive your kart, and they have very small and precise hitboxes, which makes them incredibly difficult to pick up. This wouldn't matter if your speed, number of retries, and ability to not spin out when something hits you wasn't dependent on you picking them up.
Also, the walls are terrible. If you hit one, you might as well start over, because otherwise you're going to 8th place and there's no real way to make up the positions you lost. "Just use powerups!", you say. Yeah, I tried that. I'm tired of getting bananas and green shells in 8th place. Even the lightning, which is designed to let backmarkers catch up, isn't terribly useful because when it ends they all just barge their way past you again. Red shells are almost pointless as when it doesn't just slam into the nearest wall, the CPU players have a tendency to jump them. It's like there's a distance-based sweet spot where red shells actually function properly. Also, the star doesn't last nearly long enough and ends instantly if you hit certain hazards that it sometimes auto-jumps you over.
Speaking of hazards, the very first track in 100cc Special Cup has the stupid bridges. The first one is fine because it's pretty easy to hop the broken bit or go to the left of it. The second one however, you either need to hop the gap, or be going fast enough to just sort of skid right over it. However, the game just eats your input most of the time when you try to hop over the gap, so 90% of the time I end up in the water when I reach this part of the lap. And when you're in the water, you go incredibly slowly, so by the time I'm back out of it, I'm in 8th place, from which there is no recovery. After the bridges come the moles. Even if you think you've avoided them, sometimes a mole will just fly at you from a mile away. They instantly halt your momentum and you have to spam left/right to get them off.
If I could start the first track of 100cc Special Cup in first or second place, I might have a chance. But you have to start it in 8th, which means having to navigate the other racers at the beginning and lose all your coins getting bumped around by them. It's not exactly fun, and a lot of the time when I decide to try again at 100cc Special Cup, I spend my time doing the start and the first couple of corners, getting knocked off the course, and resetting. Eventually I either give up and turn the game off or there's something else in life that I need to do.
No wonder all the speedrunners race time trials. Time trials eliminate a lot of the bullshit this game is constantly flinging your way.
Related: If you want the classic Mario Kart experience, Mario Kart Super Circuit is an excellent game.
Everything is absolutely fine up until 100cc Special Cup. The tracks are too narrow, the other racers' sprites are too big, and they drive right in the middle of the track. It also seems like just about anyone is capable of knocking you clear off the track, regardless of weight. Also, can we talk about the handling? It sucks. When you push a direction, half of the time you slide in the opposite direction instead. It makes it very difficult to stay on the track. A fair amount of time, neutral hopping can stop this from happening, but it's a gamble.
I loathe the coin mechanic in the older Mario Kart games. In the newer ones (7 and 8) it's not as bad (they're pretty much just a really grindy kart part unlock mechanic), but here the coins tend to be out of the way, where you'd never want to actually drive your kart, and they have very small and precise hitboxes, which makes them incredibly difficult to pick up. This wouldn't matter if your speed, number of retries, and ability to not spin out when something hits you wasn't dependent on you picking them up.
Also, the walls are terrible. If you hit one, you might as well start over, because otherwise you're going to 8th place and there's no real way to make up the positions you lost. "Just use powerups!", you say. Yeah, I tried that. I'm tired of getting bananas and green shells in 8th place. Even the lightning, which is designed to let backmarkers catch up, isn't terribly useful because when it ends they all just barge their way past you again. Red shells are almost pointless as when it doesn't just slam into the nearest wall, the CPU players have a tendency to jump them. It's like there's a distance-based sweet spot where red shells actually function properly. Also, the star doesn't last nearly long enough and ends instantly if you hit certain hazards that it sometimes auto-jumps you over.
Speaking of hazards, the very first track in 100cc Special Cup has the stupid bridges. The first one is fine because it's pretty easy to hop the broken bit or go to the left of it. The second one however, you either need to hop the gap, or be going fast enough to just sort of skid right over it. However, the game just eats your input most of the time when you try to hop over the gap, so 90% of the time I end up in the water when I reach this part of the lap. And when you're in the water, you go incredibly slowly, so by the time I'm back out of it, I'm in 8th place, from which there is no recovery. After the bridges come the moles. Even if you think you've avoided them, sometimes a mole will just fly at you from a mile away. They instantly halt your momentum and you have to spam left/right to get them off.
If I could start the first track of 100cc Special Cup in first or second place, I might have a chance. But you have to start it in 8th, which means having to navigate the other racers at the beginning and lose all your coins getting bumped around by them. It's not exactly fun, and a lot of the time when I decide to try again at 100cc Special Cup, I spend my time doing the start and the first couple of corners, getting knocked off the course, and resetting. Eventually I either give up and turn the game off or there's something else in life that I need to do.
No wonder all the speedrunners race time trials. Time trials eliminate a lot of the bullshit this game is constantly flinging your way.
Related: If you want the classic Mario Kart experience, Mario Kart Super Circuit is an excellent game.
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Browser of choice is now Pale Moon
Pale Moon is a browser that's forked from Firefox. Despite claims you may see on the internet, it's not an "outdated Firefox" or any of that crap. It's current as far as security is concerned, it just keeps the older, better, non-Australis interface.
A XT-Style Bulleted List™ summary of events leading up to this:
A XT-Style Bulleted List™ summary of events leading up to this:
- My aging Windows XP computer that I'd been doing all my gaming on died.
- I switched to using a laptop that used to belong to my grandfather back when he didn't have dementia (and wasn't dead lol)
- I didn't initially want to go installing things willy-nilly on it, so between the choices of the two installed browsers, Internet Explorer and Chrome, I chose Chrome.
- I used Chrome exclusively in an incognito window.
- To this day my opinion of Chrome is unchanged: it's a toy web browser. It works, it does some things well, but it lacks the power and customizability that I want.
- I investigated my browser options and found Pale Moon.
- After a while of trial usage, I switched to it full-time.
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Common Chrono Trigger Misconception
It seems like a lot of people have this misconception about Chrono Trigger.
During the chapter "The Trial", you get thrown in jail and end up escaping. To start the escape sequence, you can either choose to rattle the bars on your cell three times, or wait three "days" for your execution, which happens in a couple of minutes of game time.
Rattling the bars results in you running around the prison with just Crono, and you run into Lucca as you make your exit, but waiting will result in Lucca joining up before you gain control.
Throughout the prison are a number of chests whose contents you can obtain, and plenty of battles with guards to be had. Some of the guard battles are avoidable through a "stealth" mechanic the game teaches you about when you rattle the bars: approach a guard from behind and press A to knock them out. There's also an NPC you can save, which nets you some Mid Ethers later on, and a hint about how to avoid some fights in the Sewer Access.
The misconception is thus: people assume that if you wait for your execution, the chests and the juicy loot contained therein are off-limits. To a lesser extent, some seem to think that the NPC can't be saved in one or the other variant of the prison escape.
During the recent /r/chronotrigger community play-through, I tested this. I detailed my method in the first paragraph of this post, but I'll summarize it here. I did the prison escape twice, reloading my save after the first time so I could do both variants. Both times, I kept track of the loot that I got. The result? I got the same core loot from opening chests both times, and saved the NPC both times. There are a few minor differences between the two variants, but nothing significant.
The game does do a really good job of making you want to escape as soon as possible, and in that regard, I guess it just doesn't occur to people that they could still explore the entire prison and grab everything even if they wait the three days.
During the chapter "The Trial", you get thrown in jail and end up escaping. To start the escape sequence, you can either choose to rattle the bars on your cell three times, or wait three "days" for your execution, which happens in a couple of minutes of game time.
Rattling the bars results in you running around the prison with just Crono, and you run into Lucca as you make your exit, but waiting will result in Lucca joining up before you gain control.
Throughout the prison are a number of chests whose contents you can obtain, and plenty of battles with guards to be had. Some of the guard battles are avoidable through a "stealth" mechanic the game teaches you about when you rattle the bars: approach a guard from behind and press A to knock them out. There's also an NPC you can save, which nets you some Mid Ethers later on, and a hint about how to avoid some fights in the Sewer Access.
The misconception is thus: people assume that if you wait for your execution, the chests and the juicy loot contained therein are off-limits. To a lesser extent, some seem to think that the NPC can't be saved in one or the other variant of the prison escape.
During the recent /r/chronotrigger community play-through, I tested this. I detailed my method in the first paragraph of this post, but I'll summarize it here. I did the prison escape twice, reloading my save after the first time so I could do both variants. Both times, I kept track of the loot that I got. The result? I got the same core loot from opening chests both times, and saved the NPC both times. There are a few minor differences between the two variants, but nothing significant.
The game does do a really good job of making you want to escape as soon as possible, and in that regard, I guess it just doesn't occur to people that they could still explore the entire prison and grab everything even if they wait the three days.
Monday, May 15, 2017
my problem
I can really only focus on one thing at a time. Occasionally I can work in a second thing in some free time from doing the first thing, but it's always very clearly shoehorned into whatever schedule I've set up.
Case in point: I feel like all of my effort right now has to go into maintaining my weight, to the point that I don't feel like it leaves enough time for me to have a job. I currently have the desire for my hypothetical job to be one that keeps me active, but with the way corporate America is set up, I won't be able to make enough money to live on my own in the city that I'd be working in with such a job. Because, you know, apparently people whose jobs involve constant physical exertion for 8 hours straight don't deserve to make a living wage. Or, apparently, nobody deserves to make a living wage, according to the rich, the elite, and the Republican.
Case in point: I feel like all of my effort right now has to go into maintaining my weight, to the point that I don't feel like it leaves enough time for me to have a job. I currently have the desire for my hypothetical job to be one that keeps me active, but with the way corporate America is set up, I won't be able to make enough money to live on my own in the city that I'd be working in with such a job. Because, you know, apparently people whose jobs involve constant physical exertion for 8 hours straight don't deserve to make a living wage. Or, apparently, nobody deserves to make a living wage, according to the rich, the elite, and the Republican.
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
some shit
I keep this kind of shit off of my other blog, but here it's totally fair game.
I kinda feel like I'm in a hole lately. Things are collapsing around me and I can't grab a hold and pull myself out. It's all small things that by themselves any dickcheese could look at and say "oh hey just do this problem solved", but in doing so, they miss the point.
I got a lot of shit weighing on my mind and it's overwhelming.
The only reason I'm able to really have fun is because I'm ignoring all the issues piling up. Every time I think about them my day just goes to shit.
So. Things that need to change, or otherwise need fixing:
I kinda feel like I'm in a hole lately. Things are collapsing around me and I can't grab a hold and pull myself out. It's all small things that by themselves any dickcheese could look at and say "oh hey just do this problem solved", but in doing so, they miss the point.
I got a lot of shit weighing on my mind and it's overwhelming.
The only reason I'm able to really have fun is because I'm ignoring all the issues piling up. Every time I think about them my day just goes to shit.
So. Things that need to change, or otherwise need fixing:
- I need a job.
- I need to move out of my parents' place (again).
- I need a car to call my own.
- My main computer died.
- My server died.
- I need a new system switcher for my consoles, the current one has flaky video connections (at the very least).
- I need to play the backlog of games I have piled up, rather than using it as a trophy that only ever gets bigger.
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Realizations
I'm surrounded by weeaboos.
These people have never had any decent level of exposure to any element of any culture other than Japanese manga, animation, and music.
>2017
>not knowing about or appreciating classic American rock
>only getting your entertainment with an audio language of Japanese
>acknowledging that you've shortchanged yourself by not having branched out, but still not branching out
Also is it me or are the majority of millennials also SJWs? Every fucking time I'm out with friends it's "that's probably racist" or "whitewashing" or "misogyny" or some other piece of fucking bullshit.
PROTIP: any time I hear any of the above quoted words/phrases, I immediately tune out the rest of what you have to say, because it's not worth my fucking time to listen to your drivel.
I guess it's my fault for surrounding myself with people that are 12+ years younger than me. I should "just get a job" and find friends my own age, I guess.
These people have never had any decent level of exposure to any element of any culture other than Japanese manga, animation, and music.
>2017
>not knowing about or appreciating classic American rock
>only getting your entertainment with an audio language of Japanese
>acknowledging that you've shortchanged yourself by not having branched out, but still not branching out
Also is it me or are the majority of millennials also SJWs? Every fucking time I'm out with friends it's "that's probably racist" or "whitewashing" or "misogyny" or some other piece of fucking bullshit.
PROTIP: any time I hear any of the above quoted words/phrases, I immediately tune out the rest of what you have to say, because it's not worth my fucking time to listen to your drivel.
I guess it's my fault for surrounding myself with people that are 12+ years younger than me. I should "just get a job" and find friends my own age, I guess.
Saturday, July 2, 2016
It happened.
A couple weeks ago, my dad sold the Civic out from under me. In the most conniving way possible, by refusing to help me get it to the point where it would pass inspection. The tires were worn too much and needed to be replaced, and the edge of the driver's seat belt needed to be trimmed and re-fused since it was fraying. Plus maybe brake pads, I dunno.
My complaints about the Toyota still go in one ear and out the other. I haven't driven anywhere since the day the Civic was sold, because I refuse to drive that death trap so long as it has its terrible combination of floaty suspension and incredibly stiff brake pedal. Front wheel drive cars already understeer enough as-is, the floaty suspension makes that worse by lengthening weight-shift time, and the nearly digital brake pedal exacerbates things by making it too easy to brake too much.
The rear view mirror, while present, is totally busted and can't be adjusted at all. If you try, it just falls back to wherever it wants to be, which is hardly a useful position.
Also, the gas pedal is there, obviously, because when I push it down the car goes, but I can't feel it underneath my foot. It offers no resistance at all.
I feel as though all of these are valid concerns that deserve consideration, but the only response I've gotten is "you'll just have to get used to it". My mom agrees with me about the rear view mirror, but there's been zero actual progress, so merely agreeing with me isn't really helping. Because they're terrible people, they assume that I intend to sit around while my dad does all this work. While I do feel as though part of getting rid of the Civic should have involved addressing these concerns so the transition would be a smooth one, never once have I refused to help.
The thing is, my parents expect me to be psychic. If one of them is doing something and they'd really like my help with it, I'm somehow just supposed to know they want my help. You know, while I'm in a completely separate part of the house. They make zero attempt to communicate these desires for assistance with me, and somehow I'm to blame for not helping. Because of this, I "don't do anything around the house". I actually started keeping track of everything I did around the house on a daily basis at one point, but when I revealed I was doing so, I was told that doing this was "childish".
Fuck my life.
My complaints about the Toyota still go in one ear and out the other. I haven't driven anywhere since the day the Civic was sold, because I refuse to drive that death trap so long as it has its terrible combination of floaty suspension and incredibly stiff brake pedal. Front wheel drive cars already understeer enough as-is, the floaty suspension makes that worse by lengthening weight-shift time, and the nearly digital brake pedal exacerbates things by making it too easy to brake too much.
The rear view mirror, while present, is totally busted and can't be adjusted at all. If you try, it just falls back to wherever it wants to be, which is hardly a useful position.
Also, the gas pedal is there, obviously, because when I push it down the car goes, but I can't feel it underneath my foot. It offers no resistance at all.
I feel as though all of these are valid concerns that deserve consideration, but the only response I've gotten is "you'll just have to get used to it". My mom agrees with me about the rear view mirror, but there's been zero actual progress, so merely agreeing with me isn't really helping. Because they're terrible people, they assume that I intend to sit around while my dad does all this work. While I do feel as though part of getting rid of the Civic should have involved addressing these concerns so the transition would be a smooth one, never once have I refused to help.
The thing is, my parents expect me to be psychic. If one of them is doing something and they'd really like my help with it, I'm somehow just supposed to know they want my help. You know, while I'm in a completely separate part of the house. They make zero attempt to communicate these desires for assistance with me, and somehow I'm to blame for not helping. Because of this, I "don't do anything around the house". I actually started keeping track of everything I did around the house on a daily basis at one point, but when I revealed I was doing so, I was told that doing this was "childish".
Fuck my life.
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
All I Want For Christmas Is Parents Who Aren't Assholes
So my dad is determined to get rid of the Civic. You know, the car I drive, that he doesn't. He considers all my opinions about the car he wants me to drive instead (a Toyota Corolla) to be invalid. There's no stopping him.
My mom is no better. She insulates him from my dissent and my overall negative opinion of him. She's his "yes man". Every time I have a criticism of him, it's me who needs to reconsider saying anything at all. When she does say anything at all on my behalf, it's watered down and incredibly sugarcoated. Never once has she been on my side when my dad and I have had a real dispute, though. He's always right, I'm always wrong.
Look, dad, I know you're butthurt that I still live with you. Antagonizing me at every turn isn't the way to get rid of me. If you want me to be there when you're in assisted living 20 years from now, you'd best start being nice to me now. Wait, no, never mind, 33 (and counting) years of being an asshole to me can't be made up by going back on a single poorly conceived decision.
Can I still be adopted, legally, by parents who aren't assholes?
Can somewhere around here hire me so I can move out and cut these douchenozzles out of my life once and for all?
I mean, I know Bodo's has the Now Hiring signs back up. But I'd rather not work there, given that my asshole parents go there every Tuesday evening for dinner. I feel like explaining why I'm open every evening but Tuesday would be a little weird.
Look for me on the news in a few days? Dunno. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
My mom is no better. She insulates him from my dissent and my overall negative opinion of him. She's his "yes man". Every time I have a criticism of him, it's me who needs to reconsider saying anything at all. When she does say anything at all on my behalf, it's watered down and incredibly sugarcoated. Never once has she been on my side when my dad and I have had a real dispute, though. He's always right, I'm always wrong.
Look, dad, I know you're butthurt that I still live with you. Antagonizing me at every turn isn't the way to get rid of me. If you want me to be there when you're in assisted living 20 years from now, you'd best start being nice to me now. Wait, no, never mind, 33 (and counting) years of being an asshole to me can't be made up by going back on a single poorly conceived decision.
Can I still be adopted, legally, by parents who aren't assholes?
Can somewhere around here hire me so I can move out and cut these douchenozzles out of my life once and for all?
I mean, I know Bodo's has the Now Hiring signs back up. But I'd rather not work there, given that my asshole parents go there every Tuesday evening for dinner. I feel like explaining why I'm open every evening but Tuesday would be a little weird.
Look for me on the news in a few days? Dunno. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Hear that grinding noise?
That's me grinding to a halt on yet another job application. This one is online, but overall nowhere near as bad as Unicru.
What's the issue? References. Companies these days don't allow personal references, and I don't have any real professional references built up from all of my less-than-a-year periods of employment. I do have to wonder, how does one get started in a system that assumes that everyone participating has already been in it, and managed to STAY in it long enough to get references?
No, not buying it. Personal references have to be allowed.
I'm just going to put my dad and say that I worked with him at life or something. Basically a giant middle finger to the system.
What's the issue? References. Companies these days don't allow personal references, and I don't have any real professional references built up from all of my less-than-a-year periods of employment. I do have to wonder, how does one get started in a system that assumes that everyone participating has already been in it, and managed to STAY in it long enough to get references?
No, not buying it. Personal references have to be allowed.
I'm just going to put my dad and say that I worked with him at life or something. Basically a giant middle finger to the system.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
I dunno anymore, Part 2
So, I think I'm just going to have to force myself to watch these YouTube videos. The oldest video is flirting with being two weeks old currently. I just need to set aside time and get it done.
Also, I failed to mention in my last post that I haven't read any manga since November of last year. I still get the RSS updates from the manga reader website that I read things on, and I've bought and been gifted physical volumes of manga, but I haven't touched any of it. I have no explanation for this. I still like all the things I was reading, but I never get in the mood to read any of them these days.
However, I'm still playing Chrono Trigger DS. You'll know something's seriously wrong if I stop playing it before finishing all these Dimensional Vortex runs. In terms of gaming on my 3DS, I have somewhat of a schedule. Once I'm done with the Dimensional Vortex runs, it'll be back to Bravely Default for a bit of science in figuring out what I can do to send the best Rejuvenation possible, then setting up the Big Pharma build, and finally benchmarking both Big Pharma and Elixir Mammon so I can draw a comparison between the two. Each of those three things will be its own blog post. Then, probably back to Chrono Trigger DS so I can play Arena of the Ages and try to get the last few items I need to get all of Extras Mode unlocked. After that, it'll be the Bravely Default demo, for two reasons. One: I've heard it's a side story and just want to see what it's like, and two: stuff from the demo carries over to each new game you create in the full game, and I might as well have that stuff available. I don't really have anything planned for after that. It kinda depends on game releases (i.e. whenever we get Bravely Second in the US). I've been flirting with the idea of grabbing a copy of Mario Kart 7...
Also, because of the affordable health care act and the fact I was unemployed last year, I have a big fat tax refund headed my way, so I may splurge on a New 3DS (red, of course). We'll see. People say that the face-tracking stereoscopic 3D works amazingly well, and I kind of want to experience Ridge Racer 3D with the stereoscopic 3D actually turned on. I've never been great at keeping the system in the sweet spot, and I'm one of those types that moves the controller around a bunch when playing racing games, so the images were always splitting for me.
As a bonus, after system transferring from my current 3DS to the hypothetical New 3DS, I could streetpass myself Mississippi finally. I could also set up the thing I wanted to set up in Bravely Default that requires a second 3DS, wherein I can streetpass myself a specific Nemesis whenever I want. One 3DS would hold them and I'd swap around the one that's set to Send, and then I'd streetpass and go fight it on the other. What I don't know is if I'd have to purchase a second copy of the game for that to work. If I do, I'm just going to buy it from the eShop. No sense in having two physical copies of the same game. (ha ha, this is being said by the guy that owns three physical copies of Chrono Trigger, all on different systems)
Also, I failed to mention in my last post that I haven't read any manga since November of last year. I still get the RSS updates from the manga reader website that I read things on, and I've bought and been gifted physical volumes of manga, but I haven't touched any of it. I have no explanation for this. I still like all the things I was reading, but I never get in the mood to read any of them these days.
However, I'm still playing Chrono Trigger DS. You'll know something's seriously wrong if I stop playing it before finishing all these Dimensional Vortex runs. In terms of gaming on my 3DS, I have somewhat of a schedule. Once I'm done with the Dimensional Vortex runs, it'll be back to Bravely Default for a bit of science in figuring out what I can do to send the best Rejuvenation possible, then setting up the Big Pharma build, and finally benchmarking both Big Pharma and Elixir Mammon so I can draw a comparison between the two. Each of those three things will be its own blog post. Then, probably back to Chrono Trigger DS so I can play Arena of the Ages and try to get the last few items I need to get all of Extras Mode unlocked. After that, it'll be the Bravely Default demo, for two reasons. One: I've heard it's a side story and just want to see what it's like, and two: stuff from the demo carries over to each new game you create in the full game, and I might as well have that stuff available. I don't really have anything planned for after that. It kinda depends on game releases (i.e. whenever we get Bravely Second in the US). I've been flirting with the idea of grabbing a copy of Mario Kart 7...
Also, because of the affordable health care act and the fact I was unemployed last year, I have a big fat tax refund headed my way, so I may splurge on a New 3DS (red, of course). We'll see. People say that the face-tracking stereoscopic 3D works amazingly well, and I kind of want to experience Ridge Racer 3D with the stereoscopic 3D actually turned on. I've never been great at keeping the system in the sweet spot, and I'm one of those types that moves the controller around a bunch when playing racing games, so the images were always splitting for me.
As a bonus, after system transferring from my current 3DS to the hypothetical New 3DS, I could streetpass myself Mississippi finally. I could also set up the thing I wanted to set up in Bravely Default that requires a second 3DS, wherein I can streetpass myself a specific Nemesis whenever I want. One 3DS would hold them and I'd swap around the one that's set to Send, and then I'd streetpass and go fight it on the other. What I don't know is if I'd have to purchase a second copy of the game for that to work. If I do, I'm just going to buy it from the eShop. No sense in having two physical copies of the same game. (ha ha, this is being said by the guy that owns three physical copies of Chrono Trigger, all on different systems)
Thursday, March 5, 2015
I dunno anymore
I really don't know what to call it, but lately, a short while after I start doing just about anything, I suddenly find myself wishing I was doing anything other what I'm currently doing. This is probably why, even though it's been a couple weeks since the snow-related internet outage that we had, that I'm still a week behind on YouTube videos. I still watch them, I just seem to have about a week's worth of them sitting there unwatched at any given point in time. Although, that isn't very accurate since occasionally I cherry-pick to watch several episodes of the same series back to back.
I wanted to crank out these last few Dimensional Vortex runs in Chrono Trigger DS, and while I am making progress, it's nowhere near the "one run a day" I originally wanted to do. Something about the whole thing taking over 4 hours makes that a little less appealing, at least to do in one sitting. I typically split gameplay up into about an hour at a time, but still.
I suppose the part of this that's the worst for me is that I still need a job. Now, I had reasons (parents read: excuses) why I hadn't made progress before this started, and those reasons still hold true.
I'm a bit down about a certain political party trying to take away my affordable health insurance, just because they're all well-off and don't think people who aren't deserve a chance.
I'm happy that we finally got the internet reclassified under Title 2 of whatever communications act that basically means internet providers can't throttle traffic based on its source, destination, or type and then force people to pay money to get it at the regular speed. There's a name for that, it's called extortion. Net Neutrality is a good thing. However, the ISPs just don't get it and are most likely going to appeal. They have a wide variety of baseless arguments in their favor, so hopefully whoever oversees the appeal will take note and uphold the previous ruling. Now if only this could somehow make forced bundling of services illegal, or the practice of selling internet service by itself for just a few dollars less than internet + TV that the consumer likely doesn't want because there's nothing good on these days and anything they do want to watch they can get on the internet, on demand, for less (or free, possibly).
Someone needs to get Siberia and/or Canada on the phone, tell them to come to the East Coast of the US, and take their damn weather back. Seriously, we were almost fully recovered from all the snow and then it snowed again.
So... I dunno. Can the world please stop sucking so much?
I wanted to crank out these last few Dimensional Vortex runs in Chrono Trigger DS, and while I am making progress, it's nowhere near the "one run a day" I originally wanted to do. Something about the whole thing taking over 4 hours makes that a little less appealing, at least to do in one sitting. I typically split gameplay up into about an hour at a time, but still.
I suppose the part of this that's the worst for me is that I still need a job. Now, I had reasons (parents read: excuses) why I hadn't made progress before this started, and those reasons still hold true.
I'm a bit down about a certain political party trying to take away my affordable health insurance, just because they're all well-off and don't think people who aren't deserve a chance.
I'm happy that we finally got the internet reclassified under Title 2 of whatever communications act that basically means internet providers can't throttle traffic based on its source, destination, or type and then force people to pay money to get it at the regular speed. There's a name for that, it's called extortion. Net Neutrality is a good thing. However, the ISPs just don't get it and are most likely going to appeal. They have a wide variety of baseless arguments in their favor, so hopefully whoever oversees the appeal will take note and uphold the previous ruling. Now if only this could somehow make forced bundling of services illegal, or the practice of selling internet service by itself for just a few dollars less than internet + TV that the consumer likely doesn't want because there's nothing good on these days and anything they do want to watch they can get on the internet, on demand, for less (or free, possibly).
Someone needs to get Siberia and/or Canada on the phone, tell them to come to the East Coast of the US, and take their damn weather back. Seriously, we were almost fully recovered from all the snow and then it snowed again.
So... I dunno. Can the world please stop sucking so much?
Friday, January 16, 2015
2015 is gonna be another 2014, I can feel it
Nothing about who I am has changed between 2014 and 2015.
Any sense of self esteem you might garner from reading my main blog, I assure you, is a facade. I don't like to be emotional on the internet, but when a guy has had enough, he's fucking had enough.
I probably need some sort of psychological help. But psychologists are all the same. They care more about lining their own pockets with money than they do about their patients' mental health. Because if everyone was sane, there wouldn't be need for psychologists. It's a classic conflict of interest, not too dissimilar to the one that all dentists subscribe to.
The list of what I need is simple, and yet complex. I need a job, but I need to find a company that has a position open that I can fill. No current job listing fits that criteria. Everyone wants experience and/or a degree, even for the most mundane of tasks. I need a positive constant in my life, and that in itself is complex. I'm not exactly in the best environment for finding a lasting relationship, all women treat men like shit these days, and even if I was in the proper environment and women weren't complete whores, I doubt I'd even say anything to anyone I was actually interested in, because all the good ones are taken already. They end up with douchebags that treat them like shit. Meanwhile, the guys like me who would actually be a good match are left to have empty lives.
I don't even fucking know where I'm going with this.
Employment is full of unwritten rules, one-upmanship, hidden cliques, and other general hostilities. Real life also similarly makes zero sense. I am incompatible with the way this country works. Sad thing is, there isn't any country on this planet that I would be compatible with. Find me a planet where people follow common fucking sense, and let me live there.
Any sense of self esteem you might garner from reading my main blog, I assure you, is a facade. I don't like to be emotional on the internet, but when a guy has had enough, he's fucking had enough.
I probably need some sort of psychological help. But psychologists are all the same. They care more about lining their own pockets with money than they do about their patients' mental health. Because if everyone was sane, there wouldn't be need for psychologists. It's a classic conflict of interest, not too dissimilar to the one that all dentists subscribe to.
The list of what I need is simple, and yet complex. I need a job, but I need to find a company that has a position open that I can fill. No current job listing fits that criteria. Everyone wants experience and/or a degree, even for the most mundane of tasks. I need a positive constant in my life, and that in itself is complex. I'm not exactly in the best environment for finding a lasting relationship, all women treat men like shit these days, and even if I was in the proper environment and women weren't complete whores, I doubt I'd even say anything to anyone I was actually interested in, because all the good ones are taken already. They end up with douchebags that treat them like shit. Meanwhile, the guys like me who would actually be a good match are left to have empty lives.
I don't even fucking know where I'm going with this.
Employment is full of unwritten rules, one-upmanship, hidden cliques, and other general hostilities. Real life also similarly makes zero sense. I am incompatible with the way this country works. Sad thing is, there isn't any country on this planet that I would be compatible with. Find me a planet where people follow common fucking sense, and let me live there.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
don't be creepin'
Geez, I move back into my parents' place because I'm a failure at life and the job market around here is impossible, and I can't even get through the first fucking night without my mom creeping on me.
Imagine, if you will, you're sitting on the toilet taking a dump. Because it's midnight and your parents are asleep, you've left the door open. Now imagine a hand suddenly coming around the edge of the door frame and knocking on the door trim INSIDE the bathroom.
...yeah.
Don't do that again, mom. I can't promise that there won't be bodily harm inflicted. No joke. And don't try to blame said bodily harm on me, because YOU'RE THE ONE CREEPING ME THE FUCK OUT. LEARN A THING OR TWO ABOUT BOUNDARIES AND THEN RESPECT THEM.
I'm not 5, I don't need to be "checked up on", so just stay the fuck asleep like good almost-senior-citizen parents and let me be. That's all I ask. To be honest, I'd rather be back at the apartment being an unwilling witness to one of my roommates fapping or picking his nose then eating the result. I don't think he ever did both of those at the same time.
I'm sleeping with the door locked.
Edit (2014-07-16): Got somewhat of an apology and a begrudging promise to never do it ever again. We'll see what happens.
Imagine, if you will, you're sitting on the toilet taking a dump. Because it's midnight and your parents are asleep, you've left the door open. Now imagine a hand suddenly coming around the edge of the door frame and knocking on the door trim INSIDE the bathroom.
...yeah.
Don't do that again, mom. I can't promise that there won't be bodily harm inflicted. No joke. And don't try to blame said bodily harm on me, because YOU'RE THE ONE CREEPING ME THE FUCK OUT. LEARN A THING OR TWO ABOUT BOUNDARIES AND THEN RESPECT THEM.
I'm not 5, I don't need to be "checked up on", so just stay the fuck asleep like good almost-senior-citizen parents and let me be. That's all I ask. To be honest, I'd rather be back at the apartment being an unwilling witness to one of my roommates fapping or picking his nose then eating the result. I don't think he ever did both of those at the same time.
I'm sleeping with the door locked.
Edit (2014-07-16): Got somewhat of an apology and a begrudging promise to never do it ever again. We'll see what happens.
Monday, June 9, 2014
i have no personal space anymore
Roommate's girlfriend is over here EVERY. SINGLE. FUCKING. NIGHT. Doesn't she have a place of her own?
I went into this apartment thinking "hey, finally moving out of my parents' place". Because my roommates worked theater hours and I was an 8-5 kinda person, I had plenty of personal space because they wouldn't show up until at least four or five hours after their shifts ended.
I'm not sure what changed, but one of them is here most of the time now. He's the one I mentioned in the previous post, that faps in full view of me and only rushes off to the bathroom WHERE HE SHOULD HAVE FUCKING BEEN IN THE FIRST FUCKING PLACE when he's about to come. Ugh.
Now, with about a month to go on the lease, I'm unemployed and have no plan for where the fuck I'm going to be living in a month. Job fairs are useless because everyone is looking for people with ridiculous levels of qualifications and says "oh just apply online". Nobody wants poor little entry-level to mid-level me with no token piece of paper saying I drove myself into debt for four years at a university. Also, what is the point of having to go to all the effort of dressing in uncomfortable clothing and drive out in the middle of an extremely warm day to go to a job fair where there's basically no open positions I can fill just to find out I can't even apply for anything there because it's all online. Had I known that I would have just looked at the list of employers that would be there and gone to their websites, applied from the comfort of my own home, and saved myself all the effort, profuse sweating in uncomfortable non-breathing semi-dress clothing, and time of having to drive to the damn job fair.
You know, places that are hiring really don't exert a lot of effort making sure people know they're hiring, either. I want to be able to drive down the street and see a sign that says "NOW HIRING". Inside there should be a sign saying "inquire about employment here" and an arrow pointing the damn direction to whomever I need to talk to. Having to walk into a place of business that's expecting me to, you know, spend money there, and instead say "actually how about a job application" is incredibly awkward, especially for someone like me, i.e. an introvert with social anxiety.
I can't even get a job doing what I like because of all these extra random requirements like "extensive experience in <insert random javascript framework here>", "expert in responsive design because mobile is the way of the future", or "expert in SEO techniques". Why does a backend web developer need to know a damn thing about SEO? It's all frontend. The only backend stuff is ridiculously easy, just a couple mod_rewrite rules so the babbies on the internet can have URLs with words in them instead of the "ugly" ?articleid=8147 at the end of the URL.
Regardless, I'm sitting here blasting music into my ears to completely drown out my roommates and the aforementioned girlfriend, all of whom are completely ignoring my presence. I should have packed up and left a couple months ago when this shit started. I thought when we moved in that I'd get to play computer/console games with them, that we might do some things together (not gay things, but rather "hey, wanna go grab some food at Cook Out or something?"), or that we might even have coordinated meals that we'd eat maybe once a week and actually put the growing number of cooking ingredients around the kitchen to some use. Guess how much of any of those things we've done? Zero. Yeah, that's right, zero. For the most part, they spend the entire day out doing who the fuck cares what and just come back here to sleep. I'm left banging on the wall to make people shut the fuck up because they're being loud and waking me up at 10 AM, four hours after I went to sleep. Go ahead, blame me for being nocturnal. It's okay, I'm used to it. Being nocturnal is "something I decided", and I'm not allowed to complain about being woken up in the middle of the day. Let me wake you up in the middle of the night sometime, we'll see how much you fucking like it, bitch.
That's another thing I don't get. These people. They buy all this food that they never use. Just the other day I went through the cupboard pulling out expired can of food after expired can of food. Also pulled out a few cans that were rusting. Really? REALLY? Come the fuck on, don't waste food. I seem to be the only one that only buys what he's going to use. Our freezer is so packed full of stuff that I can't even fit a handle of rum in there anymore. Between the two bags of frosted over chicken breasts, all the SteamFresh stuff that we can't cook because we have no microwave, and the other random things (I think there's a bag of potstickers in there somewhere), there's barely enough room for me to stick a couple skillet meals in there anymore. All of this stuff is unopened. ALL OF IT.
I need my own place, by myself, badly. The only problem being my lack of employment and various personality and mental conditions that make gaining employment a very difficult and awkward process. If I go back to my parents' place, they'll drain my account of the remaining ~$3K charging me rent without any sort of sympathy or actual assistance in finding a job. Their idea of assisting me is saying "go get a job". That's like telling someone who isn't good at a game that they suck at it. It doesn't help.
I want to get out of here, temporarily, for the next several hours. My parents' place is out because they'll be asleep. I think I'll start stashing some of the stuff I never took out of boxes in the first place in my old empty bedroom in their house over the course of the next week or so, just to make the "oh hey I'm homeless and unemployed can I sleep on my old bedroom floor" thing go a little more quickly.
The only problems with getting out of here are that I have no idea where to go or what to do. Doing anything in our corporate republic costs money. Also, it means I'd have to subject myself to the shenanigans of my roommates and the aforementioned girlfriend, however briefly. Furthermore, in this rundown city that relies on its history for any kind of attraction whatsoever, there's very little to do after 8 PM, even if I was in the mood to spend money.
Well, according to my headset's control panel, I have about an hour of battery left. So I need to decide what to do within the next hour. Wish me luck.
I went into this apartment thinking "hey, finally moving out of my parents' place". Because my roommates worked theater hours and I was an 8-5 kinda person, I had plenty of personal space because they wouldn't show up until at least four or five hours after their shifts ended.
I'm not sure what changed, but one of them is here most of the time now. He's the one I mentioned in the previous post, that faps in full view of me and only rushes off to the bathroom WHERE HE SHOULD HAVE FUCKING BEEN IN THE FIRST FUCKING PLACE when he's about to come. Ugh.
Now, with about a month to go on the lease, I'm unemployed and have no plan for where the fuck I'm going to be living in a month. Job fairs are useless because everyone is looking for people with ridiculous levels of qualifications and says "oh just apply online". Nobody wants poor little entry-level to mid-level me with no token piece of paper saying I drove myself into debt for four years at a university. Also, what is the point of having to go to all the effort of dressing in uncomfortable clothing and drive out in the middle of an extremely warm day to go to a job fair where there's basically no open positions I can fill just to find out I can't even apply for anything there because it's all online. Had I known that I would have just looked at the list of employers that would be there and gone to their websites, applied from the comfort of my own home, and saved myself all the effort, profuse sweating in uncomfortable non-breathing semi-dress clothing, and time of having to drive to the damn job fair.
You know, places that are hiring really don't exert a lot of effort making sure people know they're hiring, either. I want to be able to drive down the street and see a sign that says "NOW HIRING". Inside there should be a sign saying "inquire about employment here" and an arrow pointing the damn direction to whomever I need to talk to. Having to walk into a place of business that's expecting me to, you know, spend money there, and instead say "actually how about a job application" is incredibly awkward, especially for someone like me, i.e. an introvert with social anxiety.
I can't even get a job doing what I like because of all these extra random requirements like "extensive experience in <insert random javascript framework here>", "expert in responsive design because mobile is the way of the future", or "expert in SEO techniques". Why does a backend web developer need to know a damn thing about SEO? It's all frontend. The only backend stuff is ridiculously easy, just a couple mod_rewrite rules so the babbies on the internet can have URLs with words in them instead of the "ugly" ?articleid=8147 at the end of the URL.
Regardless, I'm sitting here blasting music into my ears to completely drown out my roommates and the aforementioned girlfriend, all of whom are completely ignoring my presence. I should have packed up and left a couple months ago when this shit started. I thought when we moved in that I'd get to play computer/console games with them, that we might do some things together (not gay things, but rather "hey, wanna go grab some food at Cook Out or something?"), or that we might even have coordinated meals that we'd eat maybe once a week and actually put the growing number of cooking ingredients around the kitchen to some use. Guess how much of any of those things we've done? Zero. Yeah, that's right, zero. For the most part, they spend the entire day out doing who the fuck cares what and just come back here to sleep. I'm left banging on the wall to make people shut the fuck up because they're being loud and waking me up at 10 AM, four hours after I went to sleep. Go ahead, blame me for being nocturnal. It's okay, I'm used to it. Being nocturnal is "something I decided", and I'm not allowed to complain about being woken up in the middle of the day. Let me wake you up in the middle of the night sometime, we'll see how much you fucking like it, bitch.
That's another thing I don't get. These people. They buy all this food that they never use. Just the other day I went through the cupboard pulling out expired can of food after expired can of food. Also pulled out a few cans that were rusting. Really? REALLY? Come the fuck on, don't waste food. I seem to be the only one that only buys what he's going to use. Our freezer is so packed full of stuff that I can't even fit a handle of rum in there anymore. Between the two bags of frosted over chicken breasts, all the SteamFresh stuff that we can't cook because we have no microwave, and the other random things (I think there's a bag of potstickers in there somewhere), there's barely enough room for me to stick a couple skillet meals in there anymore. All of this stuff is unopened. ALL OF IT.
I need my own place, by myself, badly. The only problem being my lack of employment and various personality and mental conditions that make gaining employment a very difficult and awkward process. If I go back to my parents' place, they'll drain my account of the remaining ~$3K charging me rent without any sort of sympathy or actual assistance in finding a job. Their idea of assisting me is saying "go get a job". That's like telling someone who isn't good at a game that they suck at it. It doesn't help.
I want to get out of here, temporarily, for the next several hours. My parents' place is out because they'll be asleep. I think I'll start stashing some of the stuff I never took out of boxes in the first place in my old empty bedroom in their house over the course of the next week or so, just to make the "oh hey I'm homeless and unemployed can I sleep on my old bedroom floor" thing go a little more quickly.
The only problems with getting out of here are that I have no idea where to go or what to do. Doing anything in our corporate republic costs money. Also, it means I'd have to subject myself to the shenanigans of my roommates and the aforementioned girlfriend, however briefly. Furthermore, in this rundown city that relies on its history for any kind of attraction whatsoever, there's very little to do after 8 PM, even if I was in the mood to spend money.
Well, according to my headset's control panel, I have about an hour of battery left. So I need to decide what to do within the next hour. Wish me luck.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
fap somewhere else
Does <insert name of roommate here> really think I can't see him over there fapping? Does he think his current activity is made less obvious if he's wearing a shirt to cover it up? I can see your arm moving, <insert name of roommate here>, and you're not fooling anyone. Come on, your computer's a fucking laptop, take it back to your fucking bedroom and fap there, where I don't have to see it. I at least have the courtesy to fap in private where nobody else has to see me doing it.
2023 edit: someone with nothing better to do and a boner for censorship flagged this post as "sensitive content".
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Loose ends
Reading back through my old posts here, there's some loose ends to tie up.
- Blog layout issues with post elements disappearing: This was because I edited the template HTML, and for some stupid reason this prevents Blogger's options from being able to change things. I fixed this on my main blog a long time ago, I'll do the same here.
- Rumble Racing FAQ, HTML version: I never did make this. I've also kind of stopped playing Rumble Racing entirely.
- Guitar Hero controllers committing suicide: This happened, then I found two copies of GH5 for PS2 new in box with guitar controller at Wal-Mart for $20 each, so... fixed. The GH5 controllers have a much more competently-designed neck connection with proper male/female connectors and no neck wobble, and have yet to fail me.
- F1 race torrents: I didn't find any torrents of Formula 1 races, so I stopped looking. F1 now airs on NBCSN, and I barely watch it anymore anyway. If I feel like paying money I can watch a livestream on their website.
- Opacity of posts affecting images therein: because I was a n00b and didn't know about the rgba() method of defining color in CSS.
- Tales of Fridays: We never did finish Tales of the Abyss, and I never did figure out the single target->AOE FOF thing I was wondering about.
- The annoying window focus problem: Never did figure it out. I now use focus follows mouse anyway (thanks, TweakUI!), so it's not really an issue anymore.
3DS streetpass relay
Because Nintendo's Zone locator refuses to work for me with ip geolocation disabled, I have to wander around random places in Charlottesville and look for the "The Nintendo Zone service is available here." notice on my 3DS. The following is therefore a list of all places in Charlottesville I've found with Nintendo Zone. At some point I need to try hitting the fast food ones from the drive-thru.
- McDonald's
- Verified streetpassable from outside the building:
- Pantops (limited non-handicapped parking right outside the front doors, was able to get streetpasses from those spots without leaving my car)
- Barracks (may take a bit, but it'll happen. They have outside seating, make use of it)
- Shoppers' World (streetpassable from parking lot, without leaving car)
- Verified, but streetpassed from inside because I was eating there:
- Ridge/McIntire
- Burger King
- Has Zone, haven't successfully streetpassed:
- Barracks (couldn't streetpass from outside the building. 3DS was going back and forth between saying StreetPass and Internet. I'll head back when they're at peak around lunchtime so I can blend into the crowd and not end up buying anything)
- Haven't verified:
- Pantops
- Seminole Trail
- Fashion Square Mall
- You'll have to go in to get this one.
- It takes eons to happen, so sit down at a table outside Sbarro and get tortured by all the food smells until dat green LED flashes.
- Also, even though Red Robin is open later than the rest of the mall, the Zone is off when the mall is closed, or so it seems.
- Best Buy (I bought my 3DS there, but survey says it's a slim chance I'll go back there anytime soon)
- Barnes & Noble (I need to go there anyway because I have a gift card to spend on manga)
- The AT&T store on Emmet St. near Arby's and CookOut (based on the fact that a valid Nintendo Zone SSID is "attwifi")
- Starbucks (Pantops, corner, where else? The kiosks don't count (the only one I know of is in Fashion Square Mall anyway), and the cafe inside Barnes and Noble isn't actually a Starbucks)
- I haven't hit up downtown for streetpasses yet, but there might be a Zone down there somewhere, worth a stroll up and down the mall to check
- Get a laptop
- Make a list of all the MAC addresses of the Nintendo Zone access points around here
- Set up HomePass using said list
- Far off in the future: get a Raspberry Pi and set up SpillPass-Pi so I can HomePass on demand easily with a dedicated device
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