Elote! Be Jealous!

DSC00046, originally uploaded by thecat16.

So it turns out that this year I was due for a cold. Lucky for me it started during the first week of school when I have nothing going on.
Oh, and as it turns out, I was let into that Monday class I was trying to add.

So I got that going for me.

The Friday class is nice. Even though I've missed the second class. I'm supposedly project leader on a 'web-based file management system' and the reason I put it in quotes is because it sounds a lot more fancy than it is. It's just you're basic directory structure except it's online. And we have to make it. In Javascript.

Well, we're not relegated to just Javascript but I'd like to keep things simple since PHP has to get thrown in there anyway...
I like the group that we are. Three nerds, a jaded program developer, and the hard working dude. And the cutes girl in the class is part of our group. And is one of the nerds :P
We also sorta decided to start holding our meetings out in different eateries and it's either In-N-Out up next or Roscoe's.
The program itself has been going on fine. Since the class is mostly on how to write the docs, we've been mostly screwing around but it's all done. At least up to date as we can be.



All in all, work has been swell. Boss is being more boss like and less secretarial although she still has her moments. Daily schedules are still failing as usual specially with the first week rush which, oddly enough, is a lot less rushed this year than last's.
And last week one of my coworkers was sent to the hospital. For what, none of us know but my money is on appendicitis... or she ate some pork.


OH! Right! Parent's are back from their month long excursion to the hometown and I took the liberty of acting like I lived alone. So I took a roommate :P

I also discovered that I have a liking for sake, and Yaegaki's Dry stuff in their blue bottle smells awesome and the aftertaste is just as swell.
I still don't like beer although I find Sapporo drinkable. I still won't drink it if I have the option which means I'm relegated to my pitcher of water with lemon slices, which isn't bad since I like water :P

What do you mean 'Smoking Propaganda'?

IMG_1381, originally uploaded by thecat16.

There are times when I think random thoughts influenced by what I've watched.
Depending of the topic I can go from extremely giddy to melancholic.

I had heard quite a bit of a series named Detroit Metal City and I've grown to like it quite a bit, and after watching the anime that was recently released, it's become one of my favorites.

Then there's one called Eve no Jikan. Story setting is your usual fare of 'what if androids were real and the only difference is the ring floating above their heads?' along with the public backlash of 'eww, creepy, it's a machine you dolt!'.

That got me thinking about how a person being engrossed with their androids is treated as such and figured that I'd probably be the same.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not about to become obsessed with dollfies and the like.
I only did it to draw comparisons from the way I treat my stuff now.

According to that future, androids aren't much more than appliances and people treat them as such and that made me all melancholic in the sense that most people I've observed don't care for their stuff. If it breaks, oh well, go get another one. They don't try to fix it or pass it off to someone who can. They don't care what it goes through, how it works, what its limits are, they just use it until they bore or find something shinier.

I see this quite often with cars to the point where I voice my complaints and distaste to the owner if I know them.

I care for my computers the same way. Same goes for my car. Same goes for all the other crap I own.

I still have a large amount of the electronics I've ever bought, and all of them, save for a small handful that have burned out, still work just fine and get used from time to time. Like my MD player >.<

Now thinking about people who don't care for such small things having control over androids, who for the lack of anything else are nothing other than a mechanized slave, that just makes me sad. Sad for the androids for having POS masters...

Reminds me of an old saying.

"There are no bad kids, only bad parents"

So Much For A Road Trip

IMG_1178, originally uploaded by thecat16.

And here I though I was gonna head to Comic-Con this weekend and partake in many an event, including the game demos for the fighting games that are coming out soon -_-'
But alas, car stuffies take priority and some parts had to be bought. And since I'm not made of money, sacrifices had to be made.

At least I can get a refund on the ticket.

And if you're wondering what car stuffies I am referring to...
-Front suspension springs and struts, both heavy duty.
-Two tires to replace the ones damaged by the worn front suspension (one was completely bald and didn't have any grip)
-Distributor since it had oil and was a affecting timing
-Distributor cap, ditto
-Spark plug cables. #3 had a leak around the middle and #2 was dead so the car was working on only 2 cylinders

I still need to time the engine properly along with adjust the fuel mix which means the purchase of the bloody timing light I've been meaning to buy for the past year.
Then there's the problem of an air leak in one of the vacuum lines. As much as I hate to admit it, I may have to take it to a shop in order to find which one it is.

But that won't happen until I've exhausted every single option at my disposal :D

Oh, then there's insurance and registration to pay.

And then there's the time limit of me properly stabilizing it... the smog check.

Wahhhhhh?

Nothing makes me feel older than the death of the people I grew up watching

Geez...

Stupid Apache2 on Leopard!

IMG_1157, originally uploaded by thecat16.

So I finally got my dev server up and running....

I'm writing this because nobody had anything remotely helpful...

Turns out what I was doing wrong is not adding my external IP address to the apache httpd.conf file -_-;

Just adding ServerName "myIpAddressNotYours" got the IP to show the page in my Sites folder...

Oh and adding

'<'Directory "/Users/Cesar/Sites">'
Options Indexes MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
'<'/Directory">"

'<'VirtualHost *:80'>'
DocumentRoot "/Users/Cesar/Sites"
ServerName localhost
'<'/VirtualHost'>'

to the *.conf file got everything to run smoothly...

Just in case anyone out there runs into the problem of Leopard only giving you the Apache welcome page for your IP and the User welcome page for the user...

No really, just edit the httpd.conf in the apache2 directory and the and your user conf file in the users folder of the apache2 directory and it should work.

Oh, and don't forger to set up the port forwarding on your router :3

There's A Reason Arcana Heart Is The Titular Character

Picture 2, originally uploaded by thecat16.

"Sometimes I wonder just what I should write in this thing." is what I've been thinking every time I started to think of a topic to write about.
Due to this, and finals, I slacked off and read some manga.

There's this series called Genshiken that tells the story of a club not really focused on anything in particular but at the same time dedicated to what should be called Modern Visual Culture. This of course means an extreme interest in anything that would get one labeled a weeaboo 'round these parts. Save for the video game aspect.

Near the end of the series, when discussing the possibility of Ogiue-san releasing a Yaoi Dojinshi, she asks " Do I really want to show the world all my sick and twisted fantasies?"

That line made me pause and think.
Not so much as in 'how much of an innuendo does this project' but more of 'what kind of message does this convey about me?'

This brought back the memories of my parents asking me what was up the characters on my folder, or why it was called Hotmail or what did the character in the background image represent. Since my room doesn't have a door, it's hard to keep things out in the open without being questioned about them. Like getting a package in the mail (so much for surprise mother's day gift), or holding a conversation over SMS ("Oh, someone is highly sought after today!"). Hell, I can't even type without raising some kind of concern ("Oh, who are you chatting with?").

I guess this is one of the reasons why I never learned to draw properly. Can't really shut myself up in my room and draw all day if I don't have a door now, can I?

Guess instead of expecting to hearing praise, all I expect to hear is ridicule.

*sigh*

Some times I wonder if that fear is what holds me back of my more creative projects.

Then again, I'm rather grateful since it's helped me avoid being mistaken for a tasteless anime fanboy >.<


As for opening up in regards to hobbies, I'm not sure I can that so freely. I mean, the anime and manga consumption is really due to their entertainment value in terms of how situations play out. Like listening to two storytellers tell the same story. It will come out differently. I like to learn from stuff like that.

And as for the whole thing with Mai, I don't care what any y'all say. She's the best fighter in KOF and if only Capcom vs. SNK 2 wasn't broken, everyone would know that, AND IT'S NOT THE BOOBS, SO DROP THAT ACCUSATION!!

I AM BOSS

Photo 9.jpg, originally uploaded by thecat16.

Been a while since I've written in this thing and I've been a bit happier since. Sadly, I'm in need of rest that I don't get since I'm usually up until 2am reading -_-'
I really should sleep earlier but all of you that know me well enough know I don't put down a story until I finish it or I pass out :P
Same thing happens with coding projects >.<

School wise I've been getting better. My Unix class has been more than I could ask for in how fun it's been. The group I'm in has been consistently getting over 90/100 points on our weekly assignments and the running gag that we're composed of Awk guy, Sed guy and Hot Project Manager keeps us in good spirits.
Matrix theory is getting to be a bit more fun. Especially since the prof gives a quiz every Monday so it pushes me to study over the weekend and it points out where I'm lacking in my studies. I'm not perfect but at least this way I'm not completely incompetent.
But my Pols 250 class that deals with politics at a somewhat global level has me a bit tuckered out. It's at ten in the morn and with me staying up late reading, I either get there late or not at all. Yeah, yeah, I should be whacked upside the head for doing crap like that but on the bright side the midterm, final and all the assignments are written assignments that only require me to be there if I can't answer the guiding questions on the syllabus.

Work... well, work is work. I'll leave it at that.

Been teaching Danny how to drive stick shift and that's been an adventure all on its own. Especially since it's been a whole two months and he still doesn't have it down -_-'
What makes matters worse is that he's proud to be the most incompetent student I've had.

Went out with Vy the other day and in the confusion of who was going where and at what time I went to Ranch Market to check if the Hello Boss was on sale since I needed drinks with which to stuff the mini-fridge in the youth room and, well, the cans were on sale at 5 for $2 so I picked up three cases :X
I mentioned this to Vy who didn't really care since she started work as a barista as had been force to drink coffee all day. This amused me since coffee has the opposite effect on her so poking and prodding was employed in the attempt to wake her up. That didn't help much since I found out she's not ticklish... so it's like "crap, I have a weakness she doesn't"

I really have to find something to annoy her with cause so far she's winning >.<