What. Did. You. Say?!

P1220549, originally uploaded by thecat16.

And so I sit here in front of the comp writing this after noticing there is no way for me to finish my homework for CS320.

Kinda hard to write code when I can't wrap my head around the logic. Well, it's sorta there but it's still not really there.

No, don't get me wrong. The logic itself is already understood. It's putting it in code that I still haven't figured it out. Semantics and all that.
I can only blame myself for this, since I've had many an opportunity to work on it properly and I kept on putting it off. Not that I'm leaving it until last minute, mind you. I did sit down and code what I understood last Friday. And as far as I know, that works. Minor bug, but it works.

It's just getting the stuff to display that's my problem. I can't seem to get the pages to present properly. Neither in JSP or in EL... stupid beans.

+++++

Had the first official Anime and Japan Club meeting on Monday and it was rather fun.
We started a bit late due to us being one of the first clubs in those rooms so stuffs wasn't exactly prepared before hand.
Projector had to be rolled out and time was lost waiting for a suitable audio cable. But it all works now :D

We killed some time by having people introduce themselves.
I though this was a good idea since it attached a name to the face and hopefully get people to come back since we don't exactly have a good retention record.
That went on for a while until Pearl showed up and started her intro and explained what we were there for.

By this point, I had xPad up and running on the projector and was writing things to get people to laugh. Really stream-of-conscious kind of crap. Snide comments and remarks. Crap like that.
This was really fun for me since I kept on making fun of people's taste in things, but bloody Tom had to take it a bit further by accusing one of the new guys of reading yaoi... *facepalm*
Seriously, that crap shouldn't be pulled on someone unless you know them and Tom had the audacity to blame me for writing it...

*RAGE*

++++++

Had my first midterm that night... all I can say is that I'm dropping that class.

I went about studying for this class all wrong. I though reading the book and putting effort and reading others' questions on the forum would be enough. But no. It wasn't.
I didn't push myself like I did for the data structures classes. Those classes were enjoyable in the sense that everything was fun, and stuff ran with minor bugs if there were any.
But this class, none of that. Can't get the logic coded. And the code isn't exactly straightforward. I mean, when a simple thing like forgetting to upload a build without updating the xml file causes the server to lose it, it kind of delays stuff since it's no longer testable. Not to mention there was no note about this until a couple days later.
There was the lack of source code for the first homework. Gave me a zero on that even though the builds were on the server and it worked. Well, save for the text validation.
I also keep doing non-standard code and I feel that this is going to hurt me way too much academically so I'm just going to take a W instead of an F. Can't afford anymore Fs. Don't want to get Fs. I just made some up, I don't want to go down that road again...


I've gone through a rough series of days mulling over my actions and Monday night pissed me off quite a bit and I kind of just kept on throwing stuff around when I got home.
This was enough that my dad wondered just was pissing me off so much.
Well, he asked this the next day. He was concerned for me. But damn, he just made things worse.
I have the impression that he's not finding the words to explain himself cause I know my grasp of Spanish isn't crap and all I heard was stuff he'd already told me since I was very young.
Not only that, I do take his advice seriously, but when I'm told advice as if I've never taken it really irritates me.
Like the whole "Try your best!" bit. It gets tiring really quickly because after a while, I feel worse than a failure. Since you know, I failed even while doing my best.

I didn't exactly leave on that good of a note but I hope he understood he ruined the rest of my day.
I wasn't rude to him. Far from it. I just hanged on to what little sanity I had left and waited for him to sorta pause so I could leave.

*sigh*

Many would say that I need a stiff drink, but that desire really doesn't come to me. I actually like drinking for the flavor, not for the psychological effects. I have other crap for that but sadly, I'm always on the receiving end of a disparaging comment.

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!!