Welcome to TsuKata's Org*
This is the first time I've owned a domain, so I'm kinda just having fun with it right now. I work a full-time job, and I have a full-time life so chances are that by the time I finish doing something, it's out of date. Have patience, and most of all, have fun!
Got questions? Got problems? Got milk? Then e-mail me 'cause my milk, as always, has gone bad.
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Saturday, August 31, 2002
Some more updates and some more driftwood in the windmills...
Driftwood (sent to me by my Aunt Carole):
"There is an alchemy in sorrow. It can be transmuted into wisdom, which, if it does not bring joy, can yet bring happiness." -- Pearl S. Buck, author
Updates:
Pictures of me in HP movie-style Slytherin regalia now available on the pictures page: (About Me > Pictures). :)
Friday, August 30, 2002
Um...
I think I just hit on a woman. I didn't exactly mean to, but at least it was successful. :) There's this woman who lives in my apartment complex, not too much older than me...she's really nice and she has an extremely cute 3-year-old nephew who once crawled through a crack in my screen door to let me into my apartment when I locked myself out. :) That actually isn't an adequate description of the kid or what happened, but it will have to do for now. I had just parked and she was coming out of her apartment with a bottle of wine and a wrapped present...and she was wearing this really gorgeous black dress that was kinda like a skirt-suit, but with ruffles at the bottom of the skirt...anyways, it just looked awesome, and so after she said hi and I said hi, I said "you look nice."
I don't know why I said that, but I did, and it made sense at the time. She did look nice.
She smiled really really huge and thanked me and then we started talking and so now I have her number and we're going to go see a movie sometime, and she said she'd hire a sitter and OMG, I think I might have a date or something. Which is totally wild. I know this seems odd, but the vibe was totally there. And I started it! But I didn't mean to (or did I?)...hmm....
Kick the Baby and The Best Hobbit
These were just too funny...had to post...could not resist. The Best Hobbit (featuring Leonard Nimoy!) and Kick that baby!. Don't worry...neither of them will get you in trouble at work. :) And also...I'm up late. And I'm gonna be. Because I'm doing a book build tomorrow! Which means I'll be stuck at my desk from 3pm until 11pm doing totally mind-numbing work. Wheee.... :) I just realized that the subject line could be read as that you should kick both the baby and the hobbit...eh, might as well...you can't toss a dwarf, but you can kick a hobbit. Especially a nasty hobbit.
Thursday, August 29, 2002
::yawn::
I *so* don't want to be at work today, but sadly, I have things I must do. :-P
Thoughts? Should the Comments be per entry or per day? I tend to do alot of short little entries like this, so I'm wondering if I should have it be per day instead...
It's alive!
It works! OMG! It works! Look! It's down there! You don't have to register now. You don't have to have e-mail. You don't have to IM. You can just comment. Whenever you want. And it will automatically be nicely tucked along with the blog entry. Yay! Go me! And in the words of the immoral...err, umm...I mean immortal...Pete Abrams, that's it, I'm going back to bed. (yay!)
The things I do...
I want to have comments. I've been trying to get a comments CGI going for three days. I finally have one close to working. I just can't get the damnable javascript link to it to work without screwing up the page you're looking at. Grr. If you see weird stuff on the quizzes page, that's where I'm testing. Ignore stuff that says "testing here" or similar. Problem is...I won't be able to sleep until this is fixed.
Wednesday, August 28, 2002
Mourning, 50,000,000 Hinjews Commit Ritual Suicide
CEOnistas share a moment of silence, and Martha Stewart almost looks human: Hasta La Vista, baby...
Distraction in the form of a website...
A new friend introduced me to this one....Television Without Pity. Home of such lines as "As he sings, he walks behind Buffy, who has gone on to do some bag work. The bag is barely moving, her posture is terrible, and her arms look like wet noodles. To top it off, the expression on her face is that of a monkey trying to calculate all 51.5 billion digits of pi. It doesn't look good at full speed, and when you slow it down to one quarter impulse, it just makes it that much more obvious that SMG's punches couldn't drop a woozy kitten, much less demon hordes from hell." It's so true. They also apparently have an internet game based on the Mole...must find it!
It's finally working!!!!
Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti
Some more quizzes
I don't know what else to do. I'm hyper and no one is online. :-P So...
Which Character from Stangers in Paradise Are You?
The Princess Bride one is still down or else I'd be doing that. The Melting Pot is very good. Finally got to try it. :) Would go on and on about it except...I have other things on my mind. Am confused. Happy, joyous, confused. V. annoying.
Saturday, August 24, 2002
Site Updates
I added a new menu item over to the left..."Stuff I Do" will be used to reference those random pages I create (like the one of me and Joe at the range) or anything else that seems to fit. I also (based on that I haven't gotten any bad feedback on the beta test) converted all pages to use SSI for the menu (rather than iframes). SSI should be more compatible with Netscape than the iframes were. If you have any problems with this conversion, let me know. I updated the Sites page to mark the Ryan links as no longer active (anime-style teardrop) and to add a few new links. I also re-did the categorization a little. Finally, I stole an idea from Erik. All quizzes, all the time, open 24-7 for your quizzing enjoyment. It's under "About Me" over there on the left, and it includes every quiz I've taken and posted since the beginning of this blog.
Speaking of which, this blog has been in existence for over six months now. Yay! :) Go me! Go you! (for reading it, of course!) :)
Friday, August 23, 2002
TANSTAAFL
I *knew* there had to be a downside to being a redhead. :) I went to a dermatologist today. My first time seeing one, ever. (Having medical insurance rules!) I set up the appointment because I'd read in one of my magazines about how skin cancers are being found earlier and earlier...and that the earlier you find them the better...and then the magazine listed risk factors (being a redhead, having 2 or more serious sunburns as a child, etc) and showed pictures of various thingies that are either cancerous or precursors to cancer.
About two months ago, I noticed that the little mole/scar/whatever thingie I have on my left leg had spawned. I had a much smaller one about an inch away from it, and another small one about four inches away from it. Weird, huh? But I dismissed it and figured I'd keep an eye out for more of them...bring it up to my regular doctor at my next visit. About the same time, I started having this rash of bug-bite looking things on my right arm. I thought it was spider bites, because they were raised like an ant-bite (no white tip though) and they were in a little pattern on my arm. But then...they didn't go away. They seemed like they were going away and then came right back. And no amount of neosporin seemed to make them heal completely. So I was getting concerned at the point where I read the magazine article...and some of the pictures of thingies looked like my thingies...so I scheduled an appointment to find out if I had something cancerous. And the survey says...
The thingies on my arms are Actinic Keratoses. They aren't cancer, but about 1 in every 400 of them become cancerous, and the doctor was particularly concerned because I'm seeing them at 23 and that's unusual. Most people don't see them until they're older (like 30-40...do I have to be advanced at *everything*??). The thingies on my legs are named something really long that I don't remember, abbreviated SCAP...and they're completely non-cancerous, not caused by the sun...just weird thingies that some people get. Like some people get moles (moley moley moley).
So we did cryotherapy...which amounts to them taking a pressurized container of liquid nitrogen and spraying the areas. The spots will over the course of the next few days blister and then fall off. From that point forward, I have a prescription lotion to use on my arm for the remaining AKs, and I am not supposed to go out at all anymore without sunscreen...SPF 30 in the summer, SPF 15 in the winter...they gave me samples of a moisturizer with SPF 15 built-in...my nivea moisturizer has SPF 15 as well, but I mostly just use that on my face every now and then...so now I'm supposed to do it every day. And I will come back in a year and they'll see if I've got more, less, etc. If I get alot more AKs on this arm, then they'll want to do a chemical peel on it...if not then more cryo and continuing lotion and sunscreen.
And they told me to keep an eye out for AKs in other areas in the meantime,
although they said I may never see them anywhere except this arm. They said that kids who spent most of their childhood on the passenger side of the car often get AKs just on the right arm. :) Basically, I'm a high risk subject for cancer because I'm a redhead...I've always known that, but until recently, I didn't really see any effects. And I know better than to go out without sunscreen anyways...I'm just lazy and indignant. ;-) But...the fear of cancer is in me now so I don't think I'll be quite so lazy. Besides, liquid nitrogen is kinda cool (heh...) but it's not painless. And using it will mean I have non-freckled patches on my arms which I know will look odd. So I have tons of motivation to wear sunscreen now. So much for being able to get ready quickly in the mornings. :-P
Thursday, August 22, 2002
Choose the real headline.
One of the following headlines is real. The rest are from satirical sources. Without cheating by using mouseover to see the URL, guess which headline comes from an actual news source:
Sky Watchers Make Cool Movie Of Asteroid
Jupiter Doing Something Wrong
Wine Appreciation Tips
Martha Stewart Says Laws Only Apply To People
President Bush Makes Strides to Demoralize Al-Qaeda
It's raining, it's pouring...
TsuKata was snoring...until 10am...when she woke up because the cat was attempting to extract her lip and use it as food. But that's okay because I'm wearing duck boots! Weeeeee! It might be flooded in Mt. Prospect! But I'm going to gaming anyways! Floods don't scare me! I lived in New Orleans for four years! These yanks don't even *know* what a flood is. Weeeeee! :)
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
Eureka!
I sat through that whole damnable Buffy episode...the one that I hated above all others of this season (which IMO, has not been good)...just because I knew *someone* tried to tell me that it was not left hanging at the end as to whether or not she was really in the asylum. You see, I had read the episode on the transcripts...I did not actually see it because at the time I was abstaining from television. But now, it is a repeat. And I saw it. And it *was* hanging! It *was*!
And then I was trying to remember who I needed to prove that to.
And then I remembered...
So damn it, Ryan, wherever you are wandering around, I was right! I was!!! You were so wrong. So. Wrong. :-P So there. And don't you forget it!
In other news, I got my Y membership, and upon inspecting my ID picture remembered a crucial piece of information. I'm a hottie. And I look really really damnably cute when I smile. Irresistible. Totally. To paraphrase something I read earlier, go ahead, ferment my blood and turn me into crackers. :) I was all bouncy for the rest of the day as a result...and it was a bee-yoo-tiful day. :)
Considering I don't RPG...
...and that I once lost all interest in a guy because I found out he RPG-ed, and once broke up with another because his RPG-ing was getting on my last nerve...it is surprising that I took this quiz:
Which RPG system are you?
by Mr. Vimes
But I did anyways. :) In other news, I've given up on the reproduction of the lost post. ::sigh:: It goes the way of the dodo and the way of my 300 megs of data from junior year...the hard drive crash of '99. Remember when 300 megs was alot? Heck, remember when 64 megs was alot? But anyways...there is one major news item that I must report...you will no longer get to see me use my clever HP-parody quip: The Girl Who Hasn't Gotten Any Since January.
'cause I did.Um, get some that is. That was a little vague.
And I must say that I'm quite happy about it...um, in case you didn't notice.
Sunday, August 18, 2002
Bad blogger! No cookie!
::pout:: Had written very long and beautifully eloquent blog. But forgot main tenet of working with a computer...BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP. Blogger just lost it. Webglitchy. Grr. May reconstruct, may not. Am pouting.
Quizzes! :)
Take the 100 Acre Personality Quiz!
I was hoping to be Tigger, but I can deal. :)
I Am The Sex Toy:Fuzzy Cuffs: Everyone knows who's in charge here, its me! I'll grab you by the wrists and not let go until you are good and done. Ten-hut! Find out what sex toy you are.
Okay, hopefully that code works...I'm always the fuzzy cuffs or equivalent. ::pout:: :-PWhich Trickster are you?
I Am Manannan
Take the Trickster Test at www.isleofdreams.net
Let's just leave it at...I hope *all* the code works. :-P
You are 53% geek You are a geek. Good for you! Considering the endless complexity of the universe, as well as whatever discipline you happen to be most interested in, you'll never be bored as long as you have a good book store, a net connection, and thousands of dollars worth of expensive equipment. Assuming you're a technical geek, you'll be able to afford it, too. If you're not a technical geek, you're geek enough to mate with a technical geek and thereby get the needed dough. Dating tip: Don't date a geek of the same persuasion as you. You'll constantly try to out-geek the other.
Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com
Ooh...Jodie Foster rules. :)
discover what candy you are @ stvlive.com
Friday, August 16, 2002
Driftwood in the Windmills
"I have of late--but
wherefore I know not--lost all my mirth, forgone all
custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily
with my disposition that this goodly frame, the
earth, seems to me a sterile promontory, this most
excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave
o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted
with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to
me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.
What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not
me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling
you seem to say so.
--Hamlet, 2.2.295-310
"I always thought I would follow you up to the gates of Hell if I had to. And that, once arriving there, I would beg the gatekeeper to take me instead of you. And if he must take you, I would ask to come with you. And if he would not let me come with you, I would wait for you on the shores of the river. I promised to watch over you and follow you always. I promised never to leave you. I never thought that death might prevent me. Not your death, but mine."
--Draco Malfoy, Draco Veritas by Cassie Claire
(Yes, I'm nursing my Draco crush again...with new fervor thanks to recent revelations about the similarity of certain fictional situations and people with those IRL. Am pervy pedophile, going straight to hell, bite me. And on that note...)
I like you the way you are
When we're drivin' in your car
and you're talking to me one on one...
You come over unannounced
dressed up like you're somethin' else
where you are and where it's at you see
you're making me
laugh out when you strike your pose
take off all your preppy clothes
you know you're not fooling anyone...
--Avril Lavigne, "Complicated" (abbrev.)
Sunday, August 11, 2002
Life's Like This
I have this exceptionally annoying disposition which causes me to become extremely blah after having had agood time with people. It's like, when you get a sugar rush and then have a sugar low. I get very hyper and happy and bouncy around people, and then I'm alone again and I feel...desolate. Wonderful word, that one. Oh, and I think I have a cold, so that's not helping, and I'm still recovering as far as sleep goes from GenCon...I'm sure that's a contributing factor as well. But point is, that I have songs from the Buffy musical stuck in my head, I've been reading way way too much HP fanfic about the ever-intriguing incarnations of Draco Malfoy, and I'm fighting off a massive bout of post-vacation depression at realizing that I now have to unpack, go to work, have a normal life again. And I don't want to see my therapist tomorrow, which bites. I was very enthused about this whole therapy thing, thinking that maybe I'd been unfair to it in the past and it might just do the trick for me as far as getting me over the "I'm half the woman I used to be" blues, but instead, I just feel like I'm spending an hour each week trying to get someone new to understand the intricacies of my past and my present, and the problem is, I just don't think she's getting it. I feel like I need to be talking to someone who at least has a semblance of my ethical stance in order to not be constantly on the defensive. Problem is, I have a helluva time finding people who have a semblance of my ethical stance...anywhere except at gaming conventions and other semi-geeky hangouts. Finding a therapist of that sort is going to be like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack (wouldn't it stick your foot as you walked across it? murphy's law and all...if a needle is near you, it will be pointed such as to stick you, irregardless of what you are doing or how you are positioned). And I can't believe I drove all the way home thinking that I really should go out and see a movie tonight, but decided I didn't want to go alone and then spent a good part of the evening wishing that someone would call and say let's go and then damned if someone didn't do just that. It's weird when that happens, but it happens to me alot. Just with the wrong people, unfortunately, which then causes my mental radar to get screwy. You know, I got flirty on five separate occasions this weekend...five different guys. I haven't been flirty since...well, since May 17th. (God, has it been that long?) Just felt wrong somehow. Also was desperately seeking a good snogging, but it didn't quite work out...but then I didn't try too hard either. See? Snogging. I *have* been reading too much HP fanfic. :) I accidentally said "bloody" twice to someone who actually is from the UK twice during Diplomacy. I hope he wasn't offended or thinking I was mocking him or something. Chris, Joe, and I have been saying Bloody Hell for the better part of this year, and it slips out on occasion...and...it just worked to say "I bloody well can't do it *now*" regarding attacking Russia across the Black Sea. (France was sitting off my southern coast...I was Turkey) At any rate, as The Girl Who Hasn't Gotten Any Since January, I'm not at all surprised that my randiness factor has increased twentyfold over the past few weeks...well, I am a little surprised, but more because I didn't realize it was missing until I had it back. Another post-May 17th recovery. I was telling X about how I was feeling better, more like me...didn't want to come out and say in front of all present why. :) Instead, I will say it on the internet so the whole world (and possibly some other worlds...you never know) can read it. I am a perfectly logical snowflake, whose towel has just decided to fall down. Damn it. Oh well. Have fixed it. Back to my point...the thing is, I could go on the net right now and have someone here within an hour, but I just don't feel like it. That is weird for me, but also not surprising. But, it felt *so* good to feel myself getting into me-mode again...I wanted to teach the world to sing, give everyone a hug, and then kick their ass at MTG. :) I didn't, of course. :) I'm not really all that good at it...I just love the game too much to stop. You know, I probably should have stayed in Milwaukee longer. My B&B (which was friggin' awesome, btw...highly highly recommend it...The Brumder Mansion) was flexible on my checkout time...I could have crashed for longer there, gone shopping at the Con, and then gone to the safehouse to see if that guy was really dropping a hint or just being sociable. :) Oh well...back to my old-hag-style life of reading fanfics and dreaming of my own version of someone so wicked he makes my toes curl. :)
Monday, August 05, 2002
I'm a pedophile!!!!!
I blame Cassie Claire! :) (j/k) Was just catching up on X's blog and she's right...this picture *does* make me shiver!!! So does this one and another one she had where he was just kinda splayed in a chair with Crabbe and Goyle behind him...could just imagine crawling on that chair, pinning his arms down and...Oooh...Draco lovin'....
There *are* advantages to living in the dungeon...
Catching you up
Let's start with Friday's lunch events, because it's funny. Chris and Joe stole my shoes. In the middle of Wendy's. We got into a foot-fight under the table because Chris was invading my foot-space and he managed to get one of my sandals off using his feet and then Joe joined in and between the two of them, they got the other one, and then they wouldn't give them back and they left with my shoes!!! And I had to walk out barefoot, which...I mean, I love going barefoot when I'm at home, but that's a restaurant and it's like...AAAAHHH. :) But it was fun. :) I couldn't stop laughing about it...yelling at them, but laughing in between. :)
I got a manicure and pedicure at Mario Tricoci's. Wasn't impressed. I mean...the manicurist was excellent...best french manicure as far as style goes. But the experience was lacking. It was quite awhile before they offered me tea, water, or juice...there weren't any magazines nearby and no one offered to get me one, nor was anyone being talkative (besides me)...the massage part is usually crucial to me and that was mediocre. But functionally, it was excellent. Just lacking in atmosphere...and way way way too expensive to be lacking in atmosphere. From now on, I go there only when I want a french manicure. I'll go to Avalon when I want to relax.
Got costumed for the Harry Potter road rallye...pictures are going to eventually get up here, but probably not for awhile because I'm prepping for GenCon.
Got a massage at Avalon on Sunday...new addiction. Will have to do those monthly from now on. :) Gamed with R2 on Sunday, which I didn't really feel like doing, but enjoyed once I was doing it. :) I need more 2 player games.
And the survey says.....
Unwarranted Rudeness
I hate it when people are unnecessarily rude with no reason. Like tonight, I was playing MTG online booster draft, totally expecting to lose...and this guy I'm up against gets screwed because he was chatting with someone instead of making his deck and his time ran out. So he concedes first round b/c he has no land in his deck. Fine. Second round, he wins...really nicely too...he uses a lure to direct all blockers to one creature while his others pound through. Granted, by this time, I have him down to four health (I was doing a weird landkill-caltrops-dingusegg combo with a ton of goblins...fully expecting to lose b/c it's too weird to win)...but anyways, at this point, he makes some smartass remark, and I remark back and so on...but I'm thinking we're just trash talking, I'm including smileys...no biggie, right? Wrong. This dumbass gets offended or something...I don't know...I never really said anything to him besides that I never had any intention of winning and that I was tired and could he please kill me already. Blah. Anyways...third round, he loses because he runs out of time and I'd already knocked his life down below mine. So I message him saying "that was a crappy way for me to win. Sorry about that. Good game." I get back "the only thing crappy is you. fuk you." WTF?? That kind of crap annoys the hell out of me...when people are rude for no good reason. I could understand if I did something to him, but I didn't...I was being apologetic because he really got screwed from the outset...and it *was* a stupid win on my part...there was no reason I should have won that game. I was skipping things out of sympathy and tiredness...I was playing a theme deck fer chrissake. I really thought he should have won. And he got all pissy with me. WTF. People suck. I'm going to go pet my cat. :-P
Thursday, August 01, 2002
This should have fixed it.
I had it set for CST instead of US/Chicago time. :-P
Timestamp issues
blogger isn't doing the timestamps correctly...no idea why...the settings are right. :-P At any rate, there's a one hour offset, I think. It's now 11:50am my time.
Quidditch and other indoor sports
I can't believe that there's not a single person on eBay making custom Quidditch robes. What is this capitalistic society coming to when no one pounces on an opportunity like that? I mean, there's gotta be a pattern for it, and if not, then you can always bill them as being similar to the movie ones to avoid copyrights. And in case you're wondering why I want them, I want them for gencon and for the Harry Potter road rallye, taking place this Saturday from 6pm until whenever, starting at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, IL, just west of the Firestone building (across the mall-street from Hooters), near marker B2. Be there! :) or be...um...turned into a toad!
I just got home about 20 minutes ago.
That's right. Check the timestamp. More to come later...
Welcome to...more to come! It's now 11:30am. I'm burning time before we head out to lunch and waiting on a large file copy to finish. Anyways, my friend Joe didn't get into the FBI. :( Thus causing me to lose more faith in this country and those choosing who defends it. But the point being, we gathered to get drunk and celebrate that at least he won't be moving to Virginia. Let's see...I finally found a beer that I can tolerate...that being Bass...I can also be okay with something Weiss, can't remember the first part. It's still not drink of choice, but in a pinch, it's good to know that there's a "cheap" drink I can enjoy. Normally, I have to either seek out a hard lemonade (which is becoming more common, thankfully) or a mixed drink (which gets expensive). Anyways, I found out b/c Joe and Chris got the beer sampler and let me take tiny samples from the ones they thought I'd like. I also had a hard lemonade, and then a couple of bacardi silver's (like hard lemonade) while Chris was playing soccer. And then I fixed myself a midori sour with about four shots of vodka in it, 2 shots of midori, and however much sour it took to top it off. The drink was more green than yellow, if that helps. And followed that up with another hard lemonade and a peach daiquiri cooler (leftover from mensa meetings in days past). And I was solidly happily drunk at that point, totally honest and barely able to feel my lips or my feet. :) I know, that was kinda quick for me, but all I'd had to eat was some rib tips at Harry's, about four chicken nuggets, and a few chips that Joe and Chris made me eat b/c they somehow think that you're supposed to do that. IMVE, if you eat while you drink (and you're getting drunk and not just drinking casually), you get sick the next day. There was much discussion of women, sex, and days gone by. Anyways, then around 1-2am, we all crashed at Joe's place. I got the waterbed, which was fun. I totally need to get one of those. Then I proceeded to have extremely weird dreams about some kind of contest and a dorm room and having slashed tires. Woke up at what the clock near me said was 8:50am (I'm thinking it was actually 7:50am), gathered my clothes up, and headed home as quietly as possible as to not disturb chris or joe (who were still sleeping). I was amazingly awake considering...that's one nice thing...when I drink, I sleep *hard* and then I wake up refreshed. I used to drink the night before an 8am final when I was in college just because it was the only way I'd have a clear mind that early in the morning. Anyways, I was totally cottonmouth though, so the first thing I did when I got home was grab water from the fridge and down about forty oz worth while taking my SEIV turn (woke up with the sudden fear that the AI was playing for me b/c I'd forgotten about doing it!). Then came my blog post below. :) And then shower, get ready for work and here I am. :) So the past 36 hours have been interesting...it was fun to get silly drunk...I only do it maybe about once or twice a year, but it's enjoyable when it occurs.
