dracil

Lovely, the ceiling by the stairs and the front door have KKK spray painted on them. -_-
Currently feeling annoyed

dracil

And today there was a piece of paper taped over the letters about No Trespassing and that police will be called.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Interesting, the UPS Store close to my place on Telegraph is run by Chinese people. They don't speak with a Beijing accent, but the way the woman said stuff to me was weird. She saw my passport and she asked if I spoke "Taiwan hua" in mandarin. I half expected her to actually start speaking Taiwanese, but she continued in mandarin. I've never heard anyone refer to mandarin as "Taiwanese"

They messed up on the address so I had to go back immediately and fix it. Was a typo that probably didn't matter, but better safe than sorry.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Another guild split apart in a game I play. Yay, dramah.

Exact same pattern. Officers from old guild leave. They form new guild. They take some members along with them. Old guild leader gets pissed and swears to never let them back in. Meanwhile I don't care and remain friendly with those that left.
Currently feeling apathetic

dracil

Yay, demo to the sequel to Imperishable Night is out, but not on their site yet.

The game itself has become a pure form of what the boss battles are really about, a duel between your character and their character. So this time you get to see their perspective, and as such also features two-player mode. Basically stuff you get rid of on your screen will show up on their screen, and your highest level spell cards will actually create a rendition of yourself on their side of the screen as a "boss" character.

Some screenshots.




Oh, and pics from someone who went to the convention where the demo was available.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

In protest to all the people calling things they find bad as "gay," I have begun doing the opposite, and am calling the bad things "straight."

No, it's not my idea. Just saw someone else do it a while back and thought it was an interesting idea.

The funny thing is, I actually had someone ask me (in all seriousness) if I was gay because of this.
Currently feeling political

dracil

Free comic book day tomorrow! Let's see if I can make myself take the trip down to the local comic book store there for some free comics.

And http://www.solardeathray.com is just cool. I want one!
Currently feeling sleepy

dracil

Meh, I hate it when I sleep early and still wake up late. 13+ hours?

Touhou image board!

After forever I finally upgraded to Trillian 3. Nice to have unicode working (also the main reason I upgraded, since I wanted to see what someone wrote in an away message).
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Meh, so the opposite thing happened, and I could only sleep <6 hours before I had to get out of bed. Fitful sleep. May have to do with the earthquake that happened at night. It probably woke me up but I didn't remember it. Another one supposedly happened in the afternoon but I didn't notice it either, but it was pretty minor from what I read. I remember how Peter Masatani used to remind us how we're long overdue for a really big earthquake...

So I have finally added my Peercast Radio info to the site. It's on the right. I also added the Radioblog which I never used. It only has a few songs from my Peercast radio but it's actually of a slightly higher quality.

Hmm, can't believe it's already May 8th. So much stuff to do in only 3 weeks!
Currently feeling a bit stressed

dracil

Fang will be coming to Berkeley Wednesday night! I'll be hanging out with her Thursday night, then most of BST will be karaokeing with her on Saturday. :D
Currently feeling excited

dracil

Finished in two days. Nice series. Someone claims the creator is a fan of the touhou series, hence dolls and Alice and the battle sequences. Indeed, the characters in the series *could* work as characters in the touhou series... petal and feather curtain fire!

Notable thing about the series is the music. Opening's by ALI PROJECT, who also did the opening for Noir. The music itself features a lot of classical style music, since the anime has a French and generally European feel to it (dolls, teas, cakes, names, episode title, etc.). I also realized that at least one of the songs appealed to me because it had the same style as Jubei-chan's theme. Violins in dramatic battle music with a fast beat.

I put my favorite tracks in the radioblog. Yes, it's there before my Peercast Radio Station because I don't put songs on the station until I have it properly tagged.

Season 2 starts in 2 weeks!
Currently feeling entertained

dracil

Some people need this. It's a more family friendly version of this one.


Currently feeling okay

dracil

An hour ago I received an email saying that USF did not have my certificate of finances and could not issue me my I-20 because of that. After leaving a voice message and several emails later, I receive a reply saying that they did in fact have my certificate of finances there (wasn't placed in my file before) so they'll be sending my I-20 tomorrow.

-_-

Well, considering that I worked at the SISS office here before, I have first-hand experience being on the other side and so I know this kind of thing happens quite often and that usually misplaced documents can be found rather quickly. But um, yeah, doesn't make it any less worrying. If only perfection could be achieved...

In essence, I guess I don't trust other people to function perfectly.
Currently feeling relieved

dracil

Hmm... so my passport and ticket arrived today... the envelope looks like it was run over repeatedly by the truck or something... there was even a hole. Made the cover of the ticket packet dirty and made the last 2 pages (instructions) fall off, but otherwise everything's fine. But still, what the heck happened to it?

So Fang came late last night, so we only had time for 2 animes. Then we had lunch at Steve's today where we talked more. I think Fang's gonna overeat so much today since she only finished half of the lunch and isn't going to keep leftovers.

Tomorrow will be the last day I see Fang before she leaves.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Woke up kinda early, wanted to go back to bed, but then I got an IM from Fang, and decided to just get up after that. We met at Underhill and then went to 99 Ranch for lunch. Jenny was already there and Diana showed up later. We met Regan there too, who joined us briefly for conversation. We basically had around 10 people at all times. Fang, me, David, Charlie, Aaron, Sophia, Diana, Catherine, Jenny, and Eric. This was one of the only times we ate family style at 168, and it was pretty good. Only one leftover dish. Jenny and Eric left afterwards to study for their finals and the rest of us went to karaoke with Joyce showing up later. Managed to sing a good bit, and I think I was better with some of my usual songs, but the ones I had trouble singing I still had trouble. Fang of course sang Sailor Moon and Taiwanese and older songs. Looks like BST has completely stopped singing Jolin Tsai by now.

That lasted quite a few hours and then we lounged around talking about stuff like relationships and sex and purity tests and so on before Fang's friend came up to pick her up for the final part of her trip. Most of us split after that, but Aaron, David, Sophia, Joyce, and I went to this Thai place whose name I've already forgotten for dinner, that lasted for several hours more. I won't be seeing most people again for a long time except for Joyce and Diana's graduation next week. =/

Went home to find my room especially quiet. Hmm, my computer was off. Turned it on and noticed a loud noise. After a quick inspection I noticed it was coming from the northbridge fan on the motherboard, it was spinning really slowly. I also noticed a LOT of dust inside since I haven't cleaned it for a while. So I did so and the fan started humming smoothly. For like a minute. I checked the speed of the fan with MBM and it was showing a mere 120-180rpm! That was bad, so I cleaned it again. Same thing, fast for a minute and then it began slowing down. Quickly posted on a forum for advice. Seems like the northbridge fan may not actually be too important, and should be easily replaced if the need arises although I've never done that before.

In any case, I started packing a bit, and during the course of my packing, the fan started working properly again and is spinning at close to 6000rpm. Maybe whatever was clogging it was dislodged after it had spun around for a while after my cleaning? I dunno, I just hope it stays fixed.
Currently feeling tired

dracil

My radio station has reached an unprecedented level of popularity! 7 active listeners and 1 idle! And I'm not one of them! I guess people have been starved for Touhou music, since I think I'm currently the only Peercast playing them, and it's the current block that's attracting so many listeners.

Too bad they'll be without my music for at least 2 months soon.

In other news, I enabled Cleartype fonts. It was designed for LCDs, but it does have an effect on CRTs too. Basically makes the fonts thicker, but blurs it with anti-aliasing, although I think it's still better. Maybe this was why David Chu said my monitor looked blurry when he came over.
Currently feeling happy

dracil

Meh, while blogging that finale entry, it kinda hit me. That this is truly the end of my Berkeley years and that I really won't be seeing most people again for the most part after a week. Kinda sad. While there are still a couple people I may be able to see semi-regularly still for a couple years (those who'll still be in the Bay Area), if my high school years are an indicator, after a while, the relations are simply going to get more distanced and detached. There may be a visit once a year, or even less often from one side or the other. After that, it'll be seeing them at their weddings. Then it might be when they have their first kid. Then maybe a couple reunions every several years. And then... it will come to be that you see them for the last time at their funerals... and if you're one of the ones that outlives the others, it's going to get awfully lonely as people around you slowly disappear permanently from your life.

Ok, maybe I'm too morbid or something and I'm definitely too young to be thinking about funerals just yet, but it's really the same thing isn't it? It's about the loneliness and sadness as people disappear from your life.

Anyway, I had some trouble sleeping (partly stress about moving, deposits, mail, visa, and general hoping things going smoothly = thinking too much while trying to sleep) so I'm hoping that by writing this out it'll help me sleep or something.

Edit: Oh, and as if to make matters worse, it looks like rain for the next couple days.

Edit2: I should also mention that I usually get these types of feelings right after big social events. Kinda like drugs. Big high then a low afterwards. No, I don't do drugs.
Currently feeling sad

dracil

Hmm, I think I may have a good source of free boxes now.
Currently feeling blah

dracil

Link - some people have too much free time
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Random sites:
Berkeley Anonymous Confessions

Spoof of the Discovery Institute

Oh, and yes, I posted to the first link. Mostly replies to people though.

Random thoughts:
Hmm, I need to get sealing tape.

If I were to get an "MP3" (quoted because most do more than MP3s now) player, it would have to be one that supports cue sheets and FLAC files. There are some that support FLAC, but I don't know of any that support cue sheets. Oh, and not only that, it has to also support unicode.

Although I call it random, that's actually more like a convention, since really, they aren't random at all. The sites and thoughts were picked and blogged for a reason.
Currently feeling amused

dracil

Whee, northbridge fan dying again. Maybe I really should just unplug it.

Then I should get a passive cooling solution (no fan) so I won't ever worry about it failing again in the future.

Packing hard objects of different shapes sucks.
Currently feeling blah

dracil

Being a packrat sucks, especially as someone who needs to move relatively often.

I already have 15 boxes, and there's still quite a bit to go. At least bookshelf, desk drawers, and half of my closet is cleaned out. What's left is the *top* of my desk, the miscellaneous stuff in what I mentioned before, as well as this really large box that was used in my previous move, and my clothes. But I think I'm halfway there. 3 years of accumulated junk.

Did find a few things with sentimental value though. One of the biggest reasons for being a packrat. Don't really wanna throw away my notes either because I just feel that one day I just may want to go through and look at them. Ugh.

Anyway, this is more stuff than I originally estimated, so it's gonna cost me like $25 more to move. Just talked to the people and they were a little worried that it might not fit in the van. And of course there's the clothes and cookingware.

Leatha's moved out already and my other roommate's moving out tomorrow. That'll make it easier for me to see what's actually mine (everything that's left). And tomorrow will be spent going to people's graduation.

Oh, it appears I have several inexplicable cuts on some of my fingers. Or maybe they're just paper cuts. In which case, ow. Especially since one of them was deep enough to have caused some minor bleeding.

One entire day devoted to packing, or 2 more half-days would probably get everything ready. Computer and phone will probably be packed on the day of the move.
Currently feeling accomplished

dracil

Got up early to go to Joyce's graduation. Sophia was late. Aaron was really late. Charlie and David were the latest. Cold winds and hot sun today. Got slight burns on my arms.

Reception sucked. Aaron loved the champagne, but for food they had strawberries and... fortune cookies. -_- Afterwards we went to Dong Hai for lunch, which was basically a lot of dim sum.

We got back late for Diana's graduation. Jenny was here. Charlie was dragged away by ABSK, Sophia wasn't feeling well, and Joyce eventually came. The reception this time was just lemonade + cookies and some vegetables. The cookies were nice.

Afterwards, David, Aaron, and I were going to get dinner, but we weren't hungry. Then it was cancelled later.

Congratulations Joyce and Diana!

Got money for my furniture I'm selling to the new people moving in.

My roommate left his dvd player, saying to basically give them away or dump it. Hmm...
Currently feeling tired

dracil

Almost all my pre-college friends knew who he is. Almost all my college friends have no idea who he is. Hmm...
Currently feeling curious

dracil

Well, Sophia ditched us to go sing and/or shop with some other people, so it was dinner with David, Charlie, Aaron, and Eric. We went to some hotpot place in Fremont where we each had our own hotpot. Charlie paid for it all for us to move for him tomorrow.

Without girls, and with me, the conversation turned really dirty really quickly. :D Or rather, I have a knack for doing that anyway, but without the presence of the girls, the others showed their true colors too (except for maybe Eric). Hehe. Especially Aaron. :D It was really hard to eat without choking from laughter. David's reputation there is probably ruined now, since the restaurant people had recognized him when we first entered, and we weren't exactly quiet, so after hearing all the stuff we were saying... ^_^

Afterwards we went to get some boba, get David's vacuum cleaner, then went to Charlie's place to look at how much stuff was there.
Currently feeling bouncy

dracil

Moving Charlie's stuff got delayed till tomorrow, bleah.

Lots of things I gotta do tomorrow, and I have to complete my packing by then! Not too much left now. Well rather, I *know* there's not much left, but it just kinda looks like a lot still. If I was really lazy, I could probably toss everything into the TV box my roommate left behind and it would fit.

But it's the cleaning that's gonna suck, I started doing some, but didn't want to do too much since the cuts on my hands aren't fully healed yet and I don't want to risk infection or chemicals getting inside (no gloves). I need baking soda for the oven...

Watched Koi no mon aka "Otakus in Love" just now. Nice romantic comedy. Not sure many of my friends here would get it though... I'm kinda surprised they used the XBox version of Soul Calibur 2 though, considering XBox is really not popular in Japan. The title itself in Japanese is a wordplay and has two meanings - Love's Gate, and it's also a combination of the names of the two main characters.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Ow, my feet are killing me. Mainly a result of the awkward standing positions I had to exert force on various areas of the oven. Spent like 6+ hours on it, and while it's definitely cleaner, in some ways it actually looks worse... But I've given up on it.

Mostly done now, only really my room left. Gonna wake up early... and my alarm better ring or I'm screwed. David came by at night to help a little bit too. Thanks David!
Currently feeling tired

dracil

(backdated)

Finally, the move is done! My hands and feet hurt like heck, but it's done!

David came by in the morning to help me a bit with the vacuuming (had to move my desk).

The moving people were 3 hours late, but at least they did most of the work after that. Rather efficent too. 15 minutes after we left, I realized I'd left food in the fridge, and they had left their traffic cone used to prop the door open, so we went back to get it. But now I realize I left a towel in the bathroom as well...

Had an early dinner here since I hadn't eaten all day, and I still don't have internet access since the internet here is wireless and too far from my computer.
Currently feeling exhausted

dracil

Went on a shopping trip for stuff my parents wanted, and got a 100ft ethernet cable so I could actually get internet to my computer. It's nice to actually have some variety in the stuff I eat now too.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

This was on Jenny's blog.

Get to know yourself better

Your view on yourself:
Other people find you very interesting, but you are really hiding your true self. Your friends love you because you are a good listener. They'll probably still love you if you learn to be yourself with them.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:
You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:
You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:
You are very serious about relationships and aren't interested in wasting time with people you don't really like. If you meet the right person, you will fall deeply and beautifully in love.

Your views on education
Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:
You're a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you'll be set for life.

How do you view success:
You are afraid of failure and scared to have a go at the career you would like to have in case you don't succeed. Don't give up when you haven't yet even started! Be courageous.

What are you most afraid of:
You are afraid of things that you cannot control. Sometimes you show your anger to cover up how you feel.

Who is your true self:
You like privacy very much because you enjoy spending time with your own thoughts. You like to disappear when you cannot find solutions to your own problems, but you would feel better if you learned to share your thoughts with a person you trust.

http://quizbox.com/personality/test82.aspx
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Antispammer link

For the past few days I've been getting spammed heavily on this page. And I mean several dozen comment spams all redirecting to the same two sites. So now it's war. Everyone who wishes to join me in this war, just go to the antispam link above and keep your window open and it'll do its work. 36 hours of high bandwidth usage later (doesn't have to be continuous from what I understand), the spammer will be forced to pay for extreme high bandwidth usage for the entire month if he's using the 95/5 plan that most of them use.
Currently feeling pissed

dracil

You scored as Existentialism. Your life is guided by the concept of Existentialism: You choose the meaning and purpose of your life. “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.” “It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.” --Jean-Paul Sartre “It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.” --Blaise Pascal More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page... Existentialism 70% Divine Command 55% Hedonism 55% Utilitarianism 55% Strong Egoism 50% Justice (Fairness) 50% Kantianism 45% Apathy 25% Nihilism 20% What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03)created with QuizFarm.com

--------------

You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational. Cultural Creative 63% Fundamentalist 50% Existentialist 50% Postmodernist 44% Romanticist 38% Idealist 38% Modernist 38% Materialist 31% What is Your World View? (updated)created with QuizFarm.com

-------

Thoughts. I looked at the Cultural Creatives, and they care about the environment way too much. I'll also explain my view, which is: we do stuff that benefit our own species. The further removed an organism is from us, the less likely we are to care what happens to them. Easy test, put out a nice cute puppy, a worm, a petri dish full of bacteria, and finally, a chilli plant. Which one do you think will garner the largest amount of resources to protect it?

Now there is a quick caveat. Humans are not walking perfect genetic code readers. So what we consider closer to humans will be influenced by culture as well as outward appearances more than the actual genetic code, but the principle still holds. We do not eat other humans because it's harmful to our species. People will shun animals because animals look more like us. People will rarely not eat plants but eat animals because they think plants are so adorable. Societal laws are also generally created to improve reproductive success and general survivability of our species, but dictated by the majority. Harems and rape are frowned upon because it promotes the single alpha male siring many offspring. The less fortunate ones want to reproduce too, and they can definitely overpower a single dominant person, so over time, society makes these and other similar practices look "bad."

That's my philosophy and how I view the world.
Currently feeling contemplative

dracil

Went walking with Henry and my aunt. It's quite a bit of a walk time-wise, but it's actually a lot better than walking around Berkeley. Or maybe it was the speed of the walk, or else slopes and generally uneven ground simply makes a huge difference.

Also tried connecting my computer to their TV, with good results. Makes for better movie viewing experiences.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Hmm... looks like the spammer's gone away now. Yay. Not sure if it was the spamvampire that or if it was my temporary old entry commenting disabling that did it.

Hope I don't jinx myself.
Currently feeling happy

dracil

Hmm, but the volume was reduced by half, but even one is too many.

Went to Uncle Sam's Buffet for dinner. Food was decent and slightly cheaper than most of the other places I've been to in the US.

Hmm, airport time tomorrow. Meh. No matter how many times I fly, I always worry about things going wrong (and I don't mean the plane falling out of the sky)
Currently feeling okay

dracil

http://yuki.kitune.info/hikari/flash/mizkan.html

Oh man this is hilarious. Unfortunately, if you've never played the Touhou games, you probably won't get it.

I'm too lazy to translate it, so I'll use Eltegantis's translation from here instead. The song she sings is actually a version of the 竹取飛翔　～ Lunatic Princess song, sometimes better known as the Eirin song (because some people added lyrics that is pretty much repeatedly saying "Eirin help me" [Eirin's one of the characters in the game]). You can find a remix of the Eirin song here (should be the first link and pretty obvious). Lyrics in Japanese can be found here. You can find a remix of the original song here. Click music and look for "Lunatic Princess." It sounds a bit different but you'll get the idea.

[script]
Remilya: "Hong... Miling."
*China's star changes to read 'RAGE'.*
China: "Oh~, that's wrong. That's wrong. That's totally wrong.
Listen, listen, listen. 'Hong-Mei-ling'. This is my name.
What Miss said was 'Hong-Mi-ling'.
'Hong Meiling' and 'Hong Miling'... They're completely different.
First off, they're pronounced differently. Since they're pronounced differently naturally what's being referred to will change too.
'Hong-Mei-ling'! OK!?
*Star changes to read 'TERROR'.*
No, no, no! Please don't get angry, Miss!
I'm not upset at all. So please, put your claws away...
Miss, smile again? *Star changes to read 'Me (as in Meiling)'* Oh, good!
Try, try, Miss."
Remilya: "Kurenai Misuzu." (This is a Japanese reading of the characters in her name, and seems to be a common mistake.)
*Star changes to read 'RAGE'.*
China: "No, no, no, no, no.
That is completely and totally wrong. Oh no, you're doing this on purpose, aren't you!?
I'll shoot, Miss. I'll shoot beautiful barrages, really!
Eeh--! Sakuya-san, Sakuya-san. Sakuya-san, cleaning stop!
The Miss won't say it! She won't say my name properly!"
Remilya: "China"
China: "Miss, that is a country name!
Sakuya-san, Sakuya-san, cleaning stop! Room cleaning stop!?

Hong Meiling, Hong Meiling, Hong Meiling, Hong Meiling,
Hong Meiling, Hong Meiling, Hong Meiling, Ho-ng-Me-i-li-ng!

*Click or press Z to make her wave her arm! (Her star changes between 'Mei' and 'ling' too)*

Meiling, Meiling, I am Meiling, Meiling, Meiling, Hong Meiling
Meiling, Meiling, not China, Meiling, Meiling, acho--!

Meiling, Meiling, call me by my name, Meiling, Meiling, Hong Meiling
Meiling, Meiling, call me properly, Meiling, Meiling, torya--!

Meiling, Meiling, Uoo Meiling
(Remilya: 'China, China, you are China')
Meiling, Meiling, I am Meiling
(Remilya: 'China, China, you are China')
Meiling, Meiling, not China
(Remilya: 'China, China, you are China')
Meiling, Meiling, I am...
(Remilya: 'China, China, you are China')
*Star changes to read 'China'*

China, China, I am China, China, China, 'China--!'
China, China, I've given up, China, China, UWAAAAAAAAAN

Please call me by my name~
[/script]
Currently feeling amused