post 391 ~ benefits of writing :)

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“whatPAINTBALLgear?” (2006) magazine


“Sand Sports” (July/Aug 2006) magazine

 post 391 ~ ah, yes, the benefits of writing ;)

  • in the past, when the writer’s bug bit me and i stuck with it, occasionally, i’d reach a level of inspiration (or obsession, lol) where i’d research stuff i never planned… in past fics, i’ve researched network hacking, electronic tax service centers, the yakuza (japanese mafia), rationalist philosophy, the kansas city royals baseball team, and so on…
  • and now, in the midst of my sci-fic “the rosetta” at , when i visited the Borders bookstore today, a couple of magazines caught my eye… “whatPAINTBALLgear?” and “Sand Sports” magazines!… incredible stuff! just absorbing the actual terminology of parts and pieces!…
  • for paintball, there’s the “marker” (main body of the gun), the “loader” (a top-feeding ellipsoid container which can store up to 200 balls), and the bottom-attached “bottle” (which provides the tank-pressurized air)…

  • sand/dune buggies are also referred to as “sand rails” (for the rail frame) or “sand cars”, etc… i’ll need to remove the “glove compartment” in my fic, since hardly any buggies display one…
  • so now i’ll have to go back and update/tweak my story a bit to make it more vivid and real for myself… which is another thing that makes this fun ;)))

post 390 ~ under a restful sky!

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“you’re under arrest” (1994 japan; 2004 usa)


“me in the backyard again”

 post 390 ~ yup, under a restful sky!… get it? under a rest?… ah, forget it… ;)

  • you’re under arrest ~ after watching previews of this anime months ago and then more recently, i finally decided several weeks ago to download and watch it for myself… and after watching the first 34 of 52 episodes (just the 1st season, there’s a 2nd season plus more!), i was surprised how good it is!… even something from the 90s!…

    it’s about two japanese policewomen Miyuki and Natsumi, who have fun catching the bad guys, getting into trouble with each other, and enjoying their friends and vehicles, hehe… i’m already attached to these characters… this is what i’m aiming for in my own fiction!

    so if you like keichi’s love of motorized vehicles and the playful humor from the “oh my goddess!” and “ah my goddess!” manga/anime, this is the same creator/writer Kosuke Fujishima!… highly recommended 5 of 5 stars!… yup, i finally had to say it!!!

    in fact, i like YUA so much, i’ve downloaded season 2, the original manga, the artbook, and the original soundtracks!… and i’m still downloading the live-action series that followed, as well as the anime movie!… just by the quantity and quality of material, i can sense how popular these were, and still are, in japan!

  • random photos ~ also took a few photos to update my site or journals or something… or maybe just to have them… or maybe i felt good today after accidentally finding a solution to opening a corrupted Word DOC, and then completing that high-priority project in a couple hours… who knows? ;)

post 389 ~ back to work

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post 389 ~ hey, it’s been a while… a relaxing 4-day “labor day” weekend (since i worked from home on friday)…

  • some updates to my story… feedback is welcome…
  • haha, a funny update to my scrapbook… no poem…
  • also, some random bookstore browsing, office and grocery shopping, and autumn house cleaning… finally threw out some old TIME mags, other mags, and other junk from the garage, to replace it with old holiday junk from my new bedroom… plus reboxed and moved tons of jen’s books from my bedroom into her bedroom… both of which gives my bedroom and shelves more room… even unfolded and climbed the 12-foot ladder to change the air filter in the ceiling…
  • and now, tuesday, back to work… {{yawn}}…

post 388 ~ decisions, decisions…

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post 388 ~ decisions, decisions… which one should i get?

  • note ~ i’ve already pre-ordered a 1/6 scale of a differently clothed “Ryofu” weeks ago, already own a 1/8 Intron Depot of “Galhound”, but nothing of “Motoko” yet… so this may influence my decision…
  • other news ~ according to http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=9434 , the second “NANA” movie will premiere December 9 in Japan… a trailer for the movie is online at the official site, http://www.nana2-movie.com/ .

post 387 ~ bitten by the bug

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post 387 ~ sorry about the silence, i think i finally succeeded!… bitten by the writer’s bug! lol…

  • in years past, i’d get inspired time and again to write fanfics for the “matrix” and “firefly”… but eventually, as series or movies ended, inspiration would wane and discouragement would grow… and moreso by the fact that these weren’t my own original universes, but someone else’s… so why finish writing?
  • well, this time in 2006, i promised to construct an entirely original universe… one day at a time, adding bits to settings, to technology, to characters, to back stories, and so on… then on saturday, when i stayed till 3am, assembling various pasts to my characters’ relationships, it finally hit me… or rather, bit me… tumultuous pasts, dimensional rotors, ferry crews, meteor catastrophes, dune buggies, and hotshot pilots… all surrounding the enigmatic name of “Rosetta”… and without the shadow of someone’s else creation!
  • haha, feeling the bug while eating, sleeping, commuting, even while working at the office (like this morning)… using all of my experience watching anime to create something new… this is how it should be, right?

post 383 ~ august anime screening

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post 383 ~ 3rd saturday, back to the whitney library in vegas!… so after dropping off a package for , i somehow took an absent-minded turn down I-215 west (maybe b/c it’s my routine route to work)… so at 80 mph, i whipped back the opposite way on I-215 east, took the overpass curve to I-95 north, then tropicana and finally whitney… and this month, the anime screening had a pretty decent mix!

  • 11:00 AM Paradise Kiss #1 ~ same great style as “NANA”
  • 11:30 AM Paradise Kiss #2
  • 12:00 PM Elfen Lied #5
  • 12:30 PM Densha Otoko #2 (live-action) ~ still funny
  • 1:30 PM Kamen Rider Kabuto #2 (live-action)
  • 2:00 PM Honey & Clover #2 ~ growing on me
  • 2:30 PM Monster #1 ~ tense medical drama
  • 3:00 PM Cutey Honey (live-action movie) ~ cute and sexy
  • 4:30 PM Elfen Lied #6

notes:

post 382 ~ bling-blingo!

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post 382 ~ bling-blingo!

  • gahhh, i couldn’t help it… b/c i’m in that general “web-curiousity and update-my-website” phase, such as researching RSS feeds, and trying out WordPress.com (nahhh) and Bloglines.com (yeahhh)… and i already use the A9.com search engine to earn Amazon.com discounts…
  • but i just had to steal this from since she’s already won free stuff just by using the “blingo” search engine (based on google, of course)…
  • click here to be my “blingo friend”, lol…

    Blingo

  • plus, you can check how i added it to my website … cool, huh?

post 380 ~ realizations…

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post 380 ~ realizations…

  • personal dream? ~ like i recently told , as a result of the past few months, i finally remembered (or reaffirmed) an old adolescent dream to “write a book”… i’ve done little sci-fi fanfics over the last several years (original characters and stories within universes already created by others), but in the effort to build my own ORIGINAL sci-fi universe, i created to collect my notes and sketches (protected) as well as pieces of my story…

    note to inspire myself: “Start small! Don’t worry about how well others have written in the past. Just do it, whether expertly or pathetically, just write for yourself and for the love of your characters! If you worry too much, you’ll never get anything done!”

  • pseudo-sister? ~ just a day or two ago, another idea hit me… it’s been weird living with my ex-wife , nothing wrong, just still a bit weird… but in thinking of her family as pretty-much my family, what if i thought of her as a “sister”?… and it clicked… oddly, her little habits around the house, or chats with another guy, are no longer so irritating or weird; just as if a real sister lived around the house… kinda makes sense, right? she thought so too ;)

post 379 ~ awesome anime news…

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post 379 ~ awesome anime news…

  • Solid State Society Trailer ~ Production I.G’s clappa! website now hosts a 2:48 second trailer for the upcoming Stand Alone Complex movie, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society.

    wow, this looks and sounds as awesome as the GitS: SAC series 1 and 2… not like the first 2 movies… can’t wait!

  • Negima 2 will be All-New ~ Negima series 2 begins Ocober 4 in Japan. The series will reportedly have a new story, rather than an further adaptation of Ken Akamatsu’s manga.

    woo-hoo!… less depression, and more negima! LOL ;)

post 378 ~ better to have loved and lost…

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“negima!” (2005)		 post 378 ~ better to have loved and lost…

  • damn, as a result of watching the heart-wrenching finale (episodes 23-26) to the anime “negima!”, classmates dealing with the death and love of a classmate, as well as sadly finishing another lovable anime… along with lisa’s wedding reception… i naturally yet still unexpectedly began to feel a little depressed…

    and it ALWAYS feels like mental molasses or an energy-draining fog trying to pull myself out of it… forcing a grocery-buying smile or allowing myself to sing along with the radio’s tune…

    but this time, i’m trying to channel myself into writing some sci-fi, based on my original characters from my “matrix” and “firefly” fanfics… into creating my own anime-style universe, finally… still hammering out the back stories and ship design… so yeah, it’s gonna take months to write and develop and write some more, perhaps longer… for even a short story…

    but here’s my initial passage from last month…

  • “Yeee-hawww!”

    With her characteristic battle cry, the 26-year-old “Lucky” Yoshikawa floored her aluminum-framed sand buggy and soared through the air over the sunlit sand dunes. KER-THUNK! The big-wheeled buggy landed bouncily as the wind swept more sand across her dusty mirrored goggles and whipped her black red-streaked pigtails. Through the exhilaration, she grunted in her unheard British accent, “Ouch.”

    Rumbling right behind her, another buggy roared through the air. And landed. KER-CLANK!

    “Ergh!” grunted the 19-year-old “Pegasus” Mandara, as he fought to regain control of his just-as-big-wheeled vehicle, fought to readjust the baseball cap that barely clung to his pale close-cropped scalp, and fought to keep his blue-goggled blue eyes focused ahead on the target’s flapping red flag.

    “Come on! Whattaya doing?” barked the big black 6-foot-6-inch “Hitchhiker” Osbourne above the rushing wind and their own flapping blue flag. “Yer gonna lose her!”

    Pegasus barked back to his orange-capped passenger. “No freakin’ way!”


    Lucky

    [and my addition to today, aug 12th:]

    Like a silver-ribbed demon, the red-flagged buggy zigged and zagged and leapt and bounced across dune after dune, spewing a cloudy wall of sand and dust behind her.

    “Damn,” spat Hitch. “I hate it when she gets this way!”

    “Hahaha! When ain’t she this way?”

post 376 ~ newest figures!

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“saber” (blue) & “rin” from “fate/stay night”
“saber”
“saber”

“asuka” (red) & “rei” from the classic “evangelion”
“asuka” & “rei”
“asuka” & “rei”
post 376 ~ newest figures!

  • saber ~ the newest crown jewel of my collection!… 1/6-scale in her full dress (without armor) and her excalibur… yeah-yeah, my 3rd and best “saber” ;)
  • asuka & rei ~ the female leads from the widely regarded “best anime of all time”, “evangelion”… 1/8-scale in their plug suits (sleeveless) and bandages…

post 375 ~ laziness, assurance, and resistance

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post 375 ~ laziness, assurance, and resistance…

  • laziness ~ sorry guys, been a little lazy in my LJ replies… but at least i’ve updated the background and music on my MySpace … now i’m wondering whether or not to update my flash header on xJAYMANx.com, or just wait till 2007…
  • assurance ~ but rest assured, i’ve been catching up on as much anime as i can…
    • ah! my goddess: s2 ~ episode 12
    • blood+ ~ episode 31
    • ergo proxy ~ episode 9
    • mai otome ~ episode 20
    • NANA ~ episode 16
    • negima! ~ episode 15
    • tenjho tenge ~ episode 10
  • resistance ~ meanwhile, drove to work at 3pm to attend the company-wide meeting from 5pm-630pm… i thought about skipping it, but resistance was futile…

post 371 ~ final centerpiece in place!

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newest desk configuration
DELL Inspiron 6000 + 2007WFP
HP Pavilion vf17 + 2007WFP

closeup of 2007WFP
overlit closeup of 2007WFP
inverted closeup of 2007WFP
post 371 ~ final centerpiece in place!

  • setup ~ on wed, july 26th (yesterday), picked up my new 2007WFP and set it at the corner of my desk configuration… hooked it up to my Inspiron laptop as a desktop extension… and voila, all done! that’s it!… no drivers to install (since both components were DELL), and no adjustments to the display!… didn’t notice ANY banding issues that have been hyped on the web…
  • clarity ~ as you can see, superb clarity!… the best part is that i can move my viewing position, side to side, up and down, with no degradation in the brightness of the display!… unlike some laptops and flat panels, where the screen dims if you don’t look directly straight-on… awesome!
  • resolution ~ the best surprise was that since both components were DELL, my laptop recognized the widescreen immediately… and not at the laptop’s 1280×800, but at the full widescreen’s 1680×1050!!!… and since i thought the monitor couldn’t exceed the laptop’s resolution, this was totally unexpected! ;)
  • swivel ~ if i needed to, i could also swivel the screen so it’s oriented vertically, instead of horizontally… but i don’t think i’ll ever need to do that ;)
  • rating ~ final rating, i give 5 of 5 stars!… and after credits, it’s only a net cost of $60, haha… plus the letterboxed “ergo proxy” looks amazing on it… aren’t ya jealous? ;)))

post 369 ~ new hardware!

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“nao” from the “mabinogi” game
another view of “nao”
another view of “nao”
post 369 ~ new hardware!

  • Philips DVP642 ~ on monday the 17th, got my shipment of this awesome dvd player… why awesome?… well, i already have one in the living room (this is my 2nd for the exercise room!) and it plays 80-90% of my AVI files beautifully… especially my anime AVIs, of course!… now it’s only 80-90%, not b/c of the player, but b/c of the damn files which don’t have the correct codecs… oh well, still amazing!
  • Linksys WRT54GL ~ also on that monday, got my new router!… now, it’s been several years since i got high-speed DSL, and my first router (microsoft) did pretty well for a couple years until it died in april… so my next one was a Netgear; it did okay, some dropouts which i assumed was the DSL, but when i bypassed the router, the DSL was fine!… so after a few months of this intermittent bullshit, i did my research and ordered the Linksys… apparently this GL version maintains the stable Linux firmware, while later versions have buggier windows-based firmware… and already after 5 days, it’s freakin’ AWESOME!… no dropouts or delays whatsoever!… “the holy grail of routers!” ;)…
  • DELL 2007WFP ~ yup!… on thursday the 20th, i ordered the 20-inch widescreen monitor from DELL… shipped yesterday! should get it within the week, haha!… during my research, i’ve read about the “color banding” problem, but with a net cost of only about $60, i figure it’s worth the risk… and if it’s bad, i can always return/exchange it, right?
  • Nao from Mabinogi ~ also on that thursday (i think), got my 9th and newest figure!… she’s “Nao” from the korean game “Mabinogi”… not terribly expensive, but i was taken by the translucency/transparency of her clothing, especially the skirt… damn, that’s fine sculpting work!
  • Anime-Watching Updates ~ the newest anime gem i’ve seen is “kasimasi: girl meets girl”; wonderfully sensitive, gentle, at times even heart-breaking… finished “NANA” episode 14; finished “NANA” manga 3… tons more to go! ;)
  • Goofy Dentistry ~ on wednesday the 19th, jen’s and my visit to our goofy but lovable dentist tiffani, her husband/receptionist dallas, and her hygienist jana… we told tiffani and jana about our divorce since there was no need to hide it from them… they were sad, but we reassured them, that it was the best thing to do… LOL, but now tiffani and jana want to find and hook up someone with me, haha! ;)
  • Madarame Ramen ~ and lastly, after taking a closer look at my expenses versus income, i guess i’ll be having more RAMEN for a while… with the huge increase in my new mortgage payments, i should be able to shave my FOOD expenses from about $400/month down to $200-250/month, which would be a great help… hahaha, reminds me of the “extreme otaku geek” madarame from the hilarious anime “genshiken”, who sacrifices food in order to buy pornographic anime and manga! ;)))

post 368 ~ which monitor?

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2007WFP


2007FP

 post 368 ~ which monitor?… since the mortgage pay-off also overpaid my DELL account by $300, i now have some money to get a DELL product… i’m leaning towards one of the following monitors… but which?

  • DELL 2007WFP 20.1-inch Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor ~ $367… max 1680 x 1050, adjustable to 1280 x 800.
  • DELL 2007FP 20.1-inch Flat Panel LCD Monitor ~ $416… max 1600 x 1200, adjustable to 1280 x 1024.

note that either one will be the secondary monitor (extended desktop) to my primary DELL 15-inch laptop (1280 x 800)… all other features are pretty much identical… i’m leaning towards the WIDE version, but in terms of desktop space, i’d be losing about 2 inches height, most noticeably in full 1280 x 1024 wallpapers… so while DVD, AVI, and other movies would look great, i’d lose work area for apps like photoshop or ms word… any recommendations?

post 367 ~ anime screening!

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post 367 ~ the whitney library in vegas… so yesterday/saturday, july 15th, despite some technical problems, the anime screening was pretty cool!… the library has a pretty big theatre (or concert hall), so we watched a bunch of anime and japanese live-action on the BIG SCREEN!… and there were maybe about 20-30 people (mostly college geek guys and girls) in the entire theatre… hmmm, so we watched:

  • 4 episodes of “elfen lied” (anime with extreme violence and some nudity)
  • (there was a lunch break/intermission, some j-pop playing)
  • 1 episode of “kamen rider” (live-action/non-anime kinda like “power rangers”)
  • 1 episode of “honey & clover” (anime about funny college life)
  • 1 episode of “densha otoko (train man)” (live-action/non-anime about an anime geek who gets together with a beautiful rich girl, after protecting her on a city train)
  • and lastly, “zatoichi” (live-action/non-anime film about an old blind samurai wanderer)

so, a total of about 6 hours!… except for “elfen lied”, i got to see stuff i hadn’t seen before, and it’s been a while since i went to any kind of theatre ;)… looks like i’ll be there next month, august 19th ;)))

post 366 ~ taking things less seriously

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writing a “less serious” letter!		 post 366 ~ taking things less seriously… wednesday, july 12th…

  • new projects! ~ well, got a new work project to review/update/edit 3 tech manuals ASAP (but sometime before august)… hmmm, ASAP? no real deadline?… yup! so basically, doing as much as i can in 40 hours per week… no reason to kill myself if no deadline is set, right? ;)
  • work stress! ~ meanwhile, one of my good friends “nessa” is pretty stressed… after going thru a recent divorce with a son, and being the ONLY admin assistant for a growing company (the last job i resigned from), PLUS dealing with school, programming class no less… so it’s difficult to offer any of my own thoughts… except perhaps to “take work less seriously”; work isn’t everything, especially since she’s decided to focus on school… and if management is over-tasking you, or under-estimating the tasks they’re giving, there’s no reason to kill yourself 10 or 20 hours beyond a solid 40 hours per week, especially for the same pay…
  • people stress! ~ similarly, another good friend “morgaine” has finally decided to stop taking bullshit from everyone… a bold if not bitter path, but one i think she must follow and see where it leads… and yet again, my own perspective is not to “take people so seriously”… sure, “little people with little minds” can be frustrating as hell, but why worry about them?… oh yeah, lol, reminds me; for example, years ago, if some driver cut me off, i used to get annoyed… but nowadays, if it’s a “skillful” cut i might’ve done myself, i’ll actually say “WOW! COOL MOVE!”… hahaha, better to smile/laugh over spilled milk, eh?
  • sign please! ~ hmmm, i wonder if this “less serious” approach has actually helped me deal with my own issues and situations… including the most peaceful “break up” in history (LOL) between jen and me!… note, the official notarized signing of the divorce papers has been pushed to friday morning due to a sisterly obligation, driving her sister to the airport (to get married in europe)…
  • please twins! ~ after watching the 4th episode of the teen-comedy anime “please twins” (sequel to “please teacher”), i finally recognized the voice of crispin freeman (a.k.a. “alucard” of hellsing!)… but this time, i just barely recognized him through the proudly-gay pretty-boy high-school character he played, hahaha!… definitely different from his super-vampire “alucard”! no wonder it took a while!!!
  • anime countdown! ~ just 3 more days till saturday’s 6-hour anime screening at whitney library, las vegas!… should bring a lunch, huh… meanwhile, here are my latest anime-watching updates for a dozen simultaneous anime series!… ah, the obsession! ;))

post 364 ~ french & canadian

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post 364 ~ weird, today seems to be the day for french and canadian items to appear in the anime/manga news, lol ;)

  • French Girls Flee to Japan, Get Stuck in Poland [06 Jul 2006|03:25am]

    http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=9139
    Two girls from Paris were caught Sunday in Poland after running away from home to “visit the land of manga.” Source: Manga News

  • IG, Geneon to Make French Music Video [06 Jul 2006|03:49am]

    http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=9142
    Production I.G and Geneon Entertainment USA will produce an animated music video for French “music diva” Mylene Farmer.

  • Samurai 7, Basilisk, Trinity Blood on Canada TV [06 Jul 2006|01:55pm]

    http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=9145
    Starting today at 5 p.m. Eastern, Canadian digital station Razer will broadcast Samurai 7, Basilisk, and Trinity Blood. They will repeat Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the same times. Thanks, Jesse Betteridge.