Previously, in Trip's Life...
30 June 2003 - Monday
Details of my dreams have faded, but there was one segment about an
ex-astronaut or similar trying to get NASA to do a fairly cheap test of
an obvious extension of an idea they were doing and being pretty
completely ignored by the entrenched bureaucracy. Somehow involved in
this was a young single black mother, but that part is unclear.
Then there were the two young mad scientists who made laser-boosted
missiles that split into submunitions and then into subsubmunitions
about the size of a thumb. To make sure the individual missiles hit the
right targets, each one ran an upload of one of the scientists, 'cause
who else can you trust to do target selection?
At this point it became clear that they were evil, because they were
running the uploads under Windows NT.
* * *
Actually cloudy this morning! Wow! I expect it will burn off by
lunchtime, but it still beats endless hours of blazing sun.
* * *
Yep. No more clouds. Hot.
* * *
No Tokyo Tower: Chrisber and Christy are in Pasadena today.
* * *
Hm. I'm on episode 22 of Fruits Basket, and most of the
creepy bad stuff has only been glimpsed in flashbacks. I'm not sure four
episodes is enough! Maybe 26 isn't the end?
Make a comment!
29 June 2003 - Sunday
Not so hot! Yay!
In fact, if it were like this all summer, I'd be perfectly happy.
* * *
In addition to playing Too Much Zangband, I've been reading
Mixed Myth, which aside
from some silly fourth-wall stuff is a pretty good faeryland.
* * *
We gamed in the back room so that we could not melt in the heat
trapped by Ayse & Ken's second-floor apartment, but Alazaïs is the
worst rogue ever anyway. :(
Make a comment!
28 June 2003 - Saturday
Except for a short break to eat Yummy Thai Lunch, I spent the entire day
playing zangband, because it was too hot to do anything else. This is the
character who got turned into a zombie (which sucked, because zombies are
dumber than dirt and not even physically ept to make up for it) but somehow
survived to get turned into a half-troll (you know things are bad when
getting turned into a half-troll raises your Int by 8), after which
everything was swell until a stupid mature green dragon lurking in the
darkness hit me for 165 points. Fooey.
It was 23:00 at that point, so I just slunk into my parasitelair.
Make a comment!
27 June 2003 - Friday
"Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts
absolutely." (The formatting is, of course, an integral part of the
post.)
* * *
STILL TOO HOT.
* * *
Marith came over and we watched more Saiyuki. Honorable
enemies are good; I should take notes for Exalted.
Make a comment!
26 June 2003 - Thursday
I showed the work anime freaks Dragon Half. They liked
it.
It is very sad that DH was never finished. They could
have wrapped it up in one more episode, I'm pretty sure.
Hm. Con game: spend the first hour watching Dragon Half,
then say "So there you are," pass out characters and spend the rest of the
time block playing out the rest of Mink's quest. Could work!
* * *
Still way too fucking hot.
Make a comment!
25 June 2003 - Wednesday
I don't know if staying up too late doing nothing in particular is
better or worse than staying up too late playing zangband, but the
results the next morning are essentially identical.
* * *
Tonight's anime: first part of the third disc of Ai Yori
Aoshi. It still oscillates between serious romance and wacky
shonen harem anime, mostly depending on whether Tina's and Taeko's breasts
are on-screen or not.
Is there reverse harem anime, with one girl surrounded by hordes of
bishounen? It seems like there must be, but I'm not coming up with any
examples. There're certainly shows with a female lead and many
bishounen, but the relationships are more complex than in harem anime.
(Duh, it's shoujo. Maybe that's my answer right there.)
* * *
Bleah. Hot. Hard to sleep.
reverse harem anime by Marith (Thu Jun 26 14:52:09 2003)
Hm. I think my reaction to watching a show about one girl surrounded by a harem of adoring bishounen would "I hate her. She must die now. :)"
Perhaps shows like Peach Girl are the equivalent? She gets adored and the guys take their shirts off a lot; it's just there's bonus angst too.
Re: reverse harem anime by Trip (Thu Jun 26 15:19:52 2003)
You think guys don't react like that to harem anime? It's usually compensated for by the male character being a putz, though.
Yah, maybe. Momo did have a lot of guys adoring her. But I think shoujo anime tends to be more one girl and her Destined True Love?
Re: Reverse Harem Anime by tamago (Thu Jun 26 16:18:21 2003)
From the short (ten minute excerpt) I saw of the live action Hana Yori Dongo, that might be a candidate for a bishounen harem series. But then, maybe not. I didn't really see enough to notice anything other than, "Hmm... almost entirely unlike the anime, except for names and the school setting."
Re: Reverse Harem Anime by Trip (Fri Jun 27 08:51:54 2003)
DUH! Fruits Basket, of course: high-school girl living with three bishounen while half a dozen others occasionally drop by to cause trouble.
Make a comment!
24 June 2003 - Tuesday
Lethargic parasite.
* * *
Since TTS Airbats never had a plot, it's no surprise
that it didn't have a real ending. Banner of the Stars had
a surprisingly ending-like ending for being only halfway through a
season, though. (Second half starts coming out in September.) Next week,
Ruin Explorers! Magical kittygirl action!
Make a comment!
23 June 2003 - Monday
You know, after a thousand-odd Mondays, you'd think I'd be better at
them.
* * *
Today's news: my fortnightly Millbrae appointment is shifting phase
and also moving to Tuesday. This will make getting to anime different,
but still feasible. Not sure how to get food, since I'll have to ride
the train to the Mountain View station and walk from there, which is not
like stopping by home. Also, Dave will have to walk by himself.
Food by Dave (Tue Jul 8 10:44:26 2003)
I could deliver food, if it made its way into my clutches earlier.
Re: Food by Trip (Tue Jul 8 14:40:29 2003)
True! I'd have to be all competent on Monday, but peanutbutterfilledcheesepretzels are relatively imperishable.
Dave is swell!
Re: Food by Dave (Wed Jul 9 11:49:46 2003)
Actually, it doesn't even have to be imperishable; just so long as it doesn't perish in the 45 minutes between leaving my fridge and arrive at Ray's.
Re: Food by Dave (Wed Jul 9 11:49:48 2003)
Actually, it doesn't even have to be imperishable; just so long as it doesn't perish in the 45 minutes between leaving my fridge and arrive at Ray's.
Whoops by Dave (Wed Jul 9 11:51:29 2003)
I wonder how I did that?
Make a comment!
22 June 2003 - Sunday
I had all sorts of good intentions for the day, but very few of them
came to pass. Instead, I flollomped in bed until I finished Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which took until after 13:00.
No spoilers, but it was pretty good. It could have used some editing down,
but not egregiously much. Adventure, tragedy, villainy, Malfoy gets his...
what's not to like? But boy, is Harry fifteen.
Marith tried to arrange Buffywatching, but because I hadn't done my
grocery shopping in the morning like I had planned, it all fell through. Oh
well. Maybe next weekend.
After I shopped and spazzed around some more, I crept over to Ayse and
Ken's for gaming. Horses! We have horses! Well, Jehanne and
Alazaïs do; Tobias and William prefer to show their lower station by
walking. The location of the lair of the Priest-Stealing Orcs was deduced
and confirmed, and an orcish hunting party (for deer, not priests) was
successfully ambushed. Next week, interrogation!
Make a comment!
21 June 2003 - Saturday
AHS! Well, sort of: no gaming, but we converted our characters to
FATE, with a reasonable lack of pain. Also, we had fun telling the GM
what the NPCs' obvious aspects were. How can you not like a game where
the group's main NPC sidekick has three levels of Howling Apache?
Sadly, we had no Marith: she is feeling unwell and stayed at home. I
hope she gets better soon!
* * *
Chrisber had to take off to do something with Christy and fancy
clothes, so the rest of us loaded up some used books and make the trek
to Moe's, in Berkeley. I started with four bags and ended up with two
plus $160-odd in store credit. Then the pillaging began! Raar!
Now, in addition to random other books, I have Harry Potter and
the Order of the Phoenix, which I should read before I encounter
too many spoilers. Also some books by Jasper Fforde, recommended to me
by rec.arts.sf.somethingorother. Because I er didn't have enough on my
toberead shelf already.
But I have one more shelf available for comics now! Go me!
Make a comment!
20 June 2003 - Friday
Cool! Print me
up a new endoskeleton!
* * *
Pinball for microbes!
* * *
A failure of planning that cannot possibly be attributed to me has
led to a lack of convenient hotel rooms in Sacramento. Thus, I am free
from the doom that was to befall me next week!
I still have to go to Sacramento eventually, but not for at
least a couple of weeks.
Make a comment!
19 June 2003 - Thursday
Wow, Thursday already? I guess that's a sign of how useful I've been
this week, sigh.
* * *
Some molecules have doofy
names.
* * *
Yay successful laundry.
* * *
Hrm. Episode 5 of Eden's Bowy was all different, but I
don't know if that means I should buy more. Factors against: money (I
don't need to spend less, but it would be a good thing), time
(observe how watching anime is not like writing), storage space (which
reminds me, I should go through my comics and get rid of all the ones
I'm really not going to want to read again (what I do with them is still
an unsolved problem, alas)). Factors for: well, it might be
cool. Hrm.
Also, episodes 13 and 14 of Fruits Basket, which is
starting to show the weird creepiness that Truth claimed it has. Akito,
eeee.
Goofy Names by Dave (Fri Jun 20 11:51:05 2003)
I do like moronic acid. I'll note that at least one, and possibly many, of the names are only funny if you pronounce them incorrectly (Fukalite, for example).
Re: Goofy Names by Trip (Fri Jun 20 13:30:39 2003)
Yah, the quality of the humor is not all it could be, and tends toward the crude, but some of the entries are good.
Re: Goofy Names by Chrisber (Fri Jun 20 15:43:16 2003)
Both crude and poorly pronounced in a very British way, too.
Make a comment!
18 June 2003 - Wednesday
Meetingu meetingu la la la. Okay, with a break for Yummy Thai Lunch,
which makes any day better.
However, the sad news from the meetings is that I cannot escape the
doom of going to Sacramento for two or three days next week, to be
initiated into the ways of Overture-Sacramento neé Fast. Bleah.
I mean, I see the necessity, but that doesn't make me like travelling
any more. Double bleah.
(Okay, is anyone really surprised that I like AQoJ more than I like
work?)
* * *
Tonight's random anime: Eden's Bowy. It is fairly
standard post-apocalypse science/magic chosen boy transforming girl
stuff, so I probably won't buy any more unless the last two episodes on
the disc are really good.
Three episodes in and I still don't know what a bowy is...
* * *
Oops, I was going to do laundry tonight. Fooey.
Liking AQoJ more than work? by Silkie (Sat Jun 21 16:12:18 2003)
Really?!? Keen!
Ummm, wait, that's not saying much, is it?
Re: Liking AQoJ more than work? by Trip (Sat Jun 21 21:57:46 2003)
But you'll observe that I'm not moving out of the state to avoid work, and I like AQoJ better than that! So there!
Make a comment!
17 June 2003 - Tuesday
Hm, this
goes well with this. So,
all you hominids out there, is makeup actually more appealing than
perfume?
* * *
Nothing good at Gamescape today (surprise surprise).
* * *
Dave has returned! I have someone to walk to anime with!
Anime itself is much as usual. Bizarrely, it was CZR who threatened
Ray with poking if he fails to get the next disk of Pop Chance
Session (hideous advice for becoming a popstar and all).
Next week we finish TTS Airbats (no one will be sad),
which will be replaced by Ruin Explorers (another one I've
seen, oh well), and Banner of the Stars, which may or may
not be replaced.
Idol Advice by Dave (Wed Jun 18 20:21:53 2003)
Actually, the advice mostly seemed pretty reasonable. Things like staying healthy and in good shape, not trying to be something you're not, and so on.
Re: Idol Advice by Trip (Thu Jun 19 08:58:05 2003)
Well, yah, but any good idea can be phrased in arbitrarily obnoxious terms. Or maybe it was just the way Neil read it.
Make a comment!
16 June 2003 - Monday
Ha hah! The 22 was early and the 88 was late, so I got in to work
before anyone! Well, anyone who matters, anyway.
* * *
Sheesh, if I can't even write documentation, how can I expect to
write anything real?
* * *
TT went better than last week (although still with extended
digressions). I brought non-roleplaying games in case people were so
unfocused that I had to scream and jump up and down and throw a fit, but
it didn't come to that. Not much happened, but that's because I'm
waiting for the PCs to make a decision, and they're not making it, but I
don't want to force the decision by making one option obviously Wrong or
obviously Right. I must figure out how to be subtle, or at least
obscure.
Also, I drank about five glasses of fizz. CO2-inflated parasite!
* * *
For light bedtime reading, I finished up my hardcopy of FATE (approximately
the system used in Born
to be Kings). I think it could work for AHS, but I don't see an
obvious way to bulk-translate NPCs. Perhaps two aspects for a stat over
X, one aspect for a stat over Y or under Z, distribute skill points as
appropriate? Well, numbers depend on how many aspects/phases a typical
character is built on; I was guessing something like 4. Chrisber would
also have to decide how long the advancement cycle is (2 years? 1 year? half
a year? a quarter year?), make up a magic system of some kind, and maybe
make rules for minions that are more advantageous to me.
I am somewhat worried about the spread of 8 in dice when skills seem
to have a typical spread of about 2 or 3, but perhaps there will be
enough rolls to bring out the average. Also, fudge points and aspect
points trim off the lower tail of the curve, so it's not really a spread
of 8; probably more like 5 or 6. Still, that's pretty variable. To keep
the current "higher stat wins unless there's a good reason" feel, maybe
we should roll 2dF instead of 4dF? Or 4dF.1 ( - .... + instead of
--..++)?
Anyway, I will be interested to see what Chrisber's take on it is!
Make a comment!
15 June 2003 - Sunday
More no writing. Eventually, shopping. Finally, gaming. Slow session,
mostly talking and planning, but now we have MONEY! And a lead on the
Queen of the Lizard People!
And, of course, a small amount of REALLY YUMMY homemade blueberry pie
and vanilla icecream, and a VERY CUTE kitten.
Make a comment!
14 June 2003 - Saturday
I spent most of the day lolling about in bed with books, which is
really not such a bad way to spend a Saturday. Eventually, though, I had
to get up and go to the pirate bARRRRRRRbecue. After some flailing
around with packing tape and thoughts of white glue, I took my prop
along in a bag and got some safety pins from the costumers to attach
Cthulhu to my shoulder. (Any pirate can have a parrot!)
However, I was outdone by pretty much everyone there so far as costuming
goes.
There was food, there was conversation, there were bad jokes and
bawdy sea chanties, and finally, after protracted struggle with the CD
player, there was bellydancing! It was very fine, but the CD crapped out
after two and a half songs. Oh well.
I suspect Jen of being JHart's clone.
After that, I scuttled home to watch the rest of the second disc of
A Little Snow Fairy, Sugar. And not write, moop.
Make a comment!
13 June 2003 - Friday
Hm, look, it's Friday the 13th. I wonder if Great Cthulhu will
rise.
* * *
Apparently not.
Make a comment!
12 June 2003 - Thursday
Hmph. No laundry, because people won't get their crap out of the
machines when it's done. Grrr.
* * *
Kit made me go to bed! Not exactly on time, but forty-five minutes
earlier than any other day this week!
laundry by Ken (Fri Jun 13 10:44:08 2003)
Silly parasite, that's why they sell propane at REI!
Make a comment!
11 June 2003 - Wednesday
Blargh. Very tired. I should go to bed early. Blargh.
* * *
Why do I never go to bed on time?
going to bed on time by kit (Thu Jun 12 09:44:30 2003)
Well, I suspect at this point, it's become a meme, and you intend to follow through for the rest of the week, which means you're not /allowed/ to go to bed on time. :)
Re: going to bed on time by Trip (Thu Jun 12 09:55:14 2003)
Oh. I'm going to be very tired by the weekend, then.
going to bed on time by marith (Thu Jun 12 14:44:24 2003)
Hm. What if Kit called you from Alaska to tell you to go to bed on time?
I mean, it worked when she called me from Alaska to make me get up on time!
Make a comment!
10 June 2003 - Tuesday
Well, now I have been trained on the huge important procedure that
might need to be done while the person who usually does it is on
vacation late this week/early next week. We are agreed that if Upper
Management says we should do it, we will push back as hard as possible,
because the training will probably only enable us to make a more
exciting class of mistake. Plus, we've been living with the bad version
since last weekend, so it's not like they can claim it's an emergency.
* * *
More anime! Not new or different anime, but that's okay!
Zoooooom! in the CZRmobile! Top up this time, though.
* * *
Why do I never go to bed on time?
Make a comment!
9 June 2003 - Monday
Yet more Lego
insanity!
* * *
Possibly Millbrae would have been more productive if I had been more
conscious. Oh well.
* * *
Mahoromatic (first series) had a happy ending, mostly.
Chris says the second series is much much more cute. Aieee.
* * *
Why do I never go to bed on time?
Make a comment!
8 June 2003 - Sunday
It sounds like Image is having a terrible time with his gamers, in
all the ways that D&D is prone to bringing out. All I can say is, serves
him right for not moving to the Bay Area.
* * *
Having learned from past trauma, I used the miracle of the wheel to
get my solid and dissolved organics back to my lair, and am thus
10586792035 times less tired. Go me.
* * *
Tonight's fortune: "Your business will assume vast proportions." That
would be more promising if I, you know, had a business.
* * *
Not having watched enough TV this weekend, I absorbed two more
episodes of Mahoromatic. I think my eyes are square.
Make a comment!
7 June 2003 - Saturday
More Buffy! Well, and Angel, which seems to
have been exciting in all the bits that we didn't watch. The bits we
watched were good too, though, and had extra bonus Willow!
Then we went over to Ayse&Ken's to watch the second
Chobits DVD, and adore the new KITTEN (who is named, I
think, Mistral Aime). The anime was much in the same vein as the first
four episodes; the kitten was superadorable.
I have watched seven hours of TV today. I feel so... American.
Make a comment!
6 June 2003 - Friday
Angie is a famous bellydancer! She's on a flyer and everything!
* * *
I used yesterday as an excuse to skive out of work an hour early. I
tried to explain to my boss that he should take off too, but he didn't
believe me. Oh well.
* * *
The newest output of Hero Games is pretty clever. It's a big book
full of powers you might want to give a superhero, and how to write them
up in Hero 5. I don't seem to play Hero anymore, and I have learned from
the masters of wacky writeups, so I didn't buy it, but I think it's a
good idea anyway.
* * *
Marith came over and we watched the first few episodes of
Saiyuki. The sub is infinitely better than the
dub.
Make a comment!
5 June 2003 - Thursday
Cool, first stress dream about going to Sacramento. Of course, since the
only real experience my tiny little brain has in going to Sacramento is
visiting Al & Sherilyn, and that doesn't combine very well with doom, the
dream made very little sense. Still, annoying. Stupid little brain.
On the other hand, if I want to take the dream a little more
literally, it just means I need to be more thorough in packing.
:)
* * *
Ayse is not dead! Ken is not dead! The kitten is not dead! Image
didn't start discussion of where to game until the afternoon of one day
before gaming, so they figured there wasn't any, and went and did couple
things.
The kitten zooms.
* * *
Hmph. We had to cut short the screening of the Cowboy Bebop
movie by a couple of minutes because we had to rewire the stupid A/V closet
again before we could start, which made us late. But we only
missed a couple minutes of wrap-up, so it was okay.
If you liked the TV series, you'll like the movie. You'll probably
like it even more if you see a better version than the Nth generation
fansub we had.
* * *
Stupid STUPID multimedia index creatures.
* * *
Well, that took longer than I had hoped, but was much less painful
than I had feared. Since we were pretty much performing the same
operations on multiple sets of machines, we ran into all the problems in
the first iteration, but once those had been solved we could crank
through the rest with little difficulty. It still took time, but not
much in the way of thought, which is a good thing since we didn't finish
until a little after 22:00.
Extra kudos to Bruce for global-expect.
My excellent boss Greg gave me a lift home, complete with 80s
tunes.
Tud.
Make a comment!
4 June 2003 - Wednesday
The most exciting part of today's all-Ops meeting was the
announcement that everyone has to spend three days in the FAST data
center in Sacramento, no exceptions, this means you. Apparently my three
days will be 24 Jun to 26 Jun. Bleah.
* * *
Dave is, as previously mentioned, in Boston, so we had to hold Hounds
of Balazar at Bernie's. Ayse and Ken inexplicably failed to show up or
be phonable, so there were only three of us to wander around Dykene
getting into trouble. Woof.
I hope Ayse and Ken didn't miss gaming because of an emergency with
the new kitten. :(
Make a comment!
3 June 2003 - Tuesday
Oh man, my boss is now praising us
immoderately for working on the thing on Friday. I feel bad about
complaining.
Wait, I was there until 18:30 on Friday evening. I don't feel
that bad. :) But it is nice to feel appreciated.
* * *
Yum, parasites!
* * *
Yes, this is
exactly what Angie is like.
* * *
Sniff! There is No Dave! He is in Boston doing that family thing, and
that tourism thing, so I have to walk to Whisman Station Anime all by
myself. Er, not that it's hard, or anything, but having someone to
talk to makes any journey shorter. I did think at least a little about TT,
though, so perhaps the PCs can be properly tormented next time.
Tonight's new series (replacing Magical Project S) is
TTS 801 Airbats (or some subset of those words): old school
shonen harem anime, with extra airplanes. At Ray's instigation, we
played "Spot the archetypes" and yep, there they were.
The upside to not having Dave is that there's only one person wanting
to go back to Temple Square & environs, so CZR could give me a lift.
Sure, it shows moral weakness to not have walked, but I hadn't gotten to
ride in the CZRmobile before. ZOOOOOOM!
* * *
Upon reflection, it was probably a mistake to stay up hunting all
over half the map for a scroll of *Remove Curse* to dislodge my
vermiciously-cursed Jingasa of Beauty. Especially since the only I found
cost much much more than I could afford.
Make a comment!
2 June 2003 - Monday
Look, Monday. But at least the thing we spent all Friday working on
is pretty functional, and the fix I made just before fleeing the network
outages solved the problem.
* * *
Most. Unfocused. Tokyo Tower. Session. EVER.
Moving out onto the deck helped some, but our brains had already
melted and when they recongealed the edges were all wobbly and
out-of-shape, and we still didn't get very far. Blargh.
Maybe next session I'll have the Mi-Go with mist projectors burst in
to get things moving again.
Make a comment!
1 June 2003 - Sunday
HAPPY HAPPY KITDAY!!!
Also it is Michelleday and Lynetteday, but they didn't force me to
write any novels. :)
* * *
Also it is Kittenday, since Ayse has returned from SF with a small
white-and-many-other-colors kitten! I will get to meet her tonight at
gaming!
* * *
It was foolish of me to think I could carry three bags of groceries
and fourteen bottles of soda all the way home. Now I am a very
sad parasite, because my manipulatory tentacles have fallen off and I
have to type with my proboscis.
* * *
Gecko
tape!
* * *
Gaming was kind of diffuse, since it was the tail end of the
adventure, and Marith wandered through, and there was a KITTEN! A small
kitten of supernatural adorableness! With a white tummy! And little
orange dots at the tips of her ears! Kawaii! Er, anyway, we finished
cleaning out the basement of doom and put down the evil high priest when
he wouldn't talk and headed back to civilization. Our cleric's head
didn't even come all the way off! Yay us!
Gecko Tape! by Flit (Mon Jun 2 00:07:23 2003)
OMG. I have no use for it, but I want some.
Re: Gecko Tape! by Trip (Mon Jun 2 08:51:32 2003)
What do you mean, no use? You have a ceiling, don't you?
gecko tape and birthdays! by kit (Mon Jun 2 10:27:42 2003)
Thank you for the birthday wishes! And I want some gecko tape!
Make a comment!
| 
