Falcon2001

Yep, Salinye's still crazy. Back in MY day, when we were pregnant...wait...nevermind. Wrong direction and I'm male. Regardless, I wish you best of luck, but I'm guessing it's not much of a common item.

Wow, totally didn't notice that - thanks!

Would the rose's petals of crimson hue Still be that way, if not gave due? Would the smell of the flower with mercy's scent Remain the same with none else present? If we were both to forget our time Would our lust have burned so high? Would instead the fire be put out From merely the forgetting of all throughout? Would instead our passion still live on 'Though neither of us remember the dawn The day we quietly sat together Watching the sunrise upon the heather If anyone has any suggestions, please go ahead and make them, I'm compeltely open to everything on this. I just got done watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and I was totally blown away by it, and spent a bit of time curled up crying trying to deal with the concepts put forth in the movie...It's really good and hard to deal with sometimes. Edit: Apparently this was my two scents.

Okay, I just finished watching part of a series that WILL become Canon before long. I guarantee it. Samurai Champloo. Stop laughing. Seriously. It's so good. It's by the same director as bebop, and it's brilliant. It's almost perfect. Every element of the story and anime is done to a point but no further - sad enough to bring tears but not to seem sappy. Beautiful enough to tear at your heart but not so much as to seem overdone. Goofy enough to be fun, but not enough to seem dumb. It's gorgeous. FIND IT. It's not released in north america yet, but there are some excellent fansubs out there. I cannot stress this enough. It's incredible.

I hold what are considered to be - by a lot of people - unpopular political opinions. I personally believe that while things such as the capture of Saddam were fine and warranted almost, I don't believe that our reason for going over there was correct. The ends don't justify the means, especially on a much larger level such as the invasion of a country. The war on terror is a similar case - while I believe that the attacks on the world trade center were totally, completely unprecedented, I don't believe there's any differnce between that or any of the other terrorist attacks going on around the globe. If a war on terror is the right thing to do - and I most definately believe that any form of terrorism by any government, especially the US, should be heavily discouraged and dealt with - then it should be a global problem, not the US riding tail on everyone. In other news, a NASA photo analyst recently released hi-def photos of Bush wearing a wire during the presidential debates. Kerry continues to claim that 'I'm not Bush!"! Bush/Cheney ads reach a new low - now featuring several large, colorful pictures of the twin towers burning. Other than that, I'm not voting - I forgot to get my stuff in, and I'll have to drive for 3 hours (I don't have a car) one way to go vote.

girl { psychotic:yes; evil:yes; } IF girl="evil" THEN you="doomed" You can't escape logic, heh Good poem, though. EDIT: Stupid ; missing. If I'm going to code women to be ultra evil, I better at least make it CSS compliant.

How did I go from a world Where I knew everything And everything worked fine Into this new realm of madness Files change, no longer constant Odd terms and oddEr reasons OOOpen-sourccce but not eAse-of-use? Whaat happen3d to my mindd? Rea|ityy fa-es in+++to hazzze Huuuuuh? ERROR xorg.config dooo3s NOT eXist. Whyy? Taunting. me Insde jokkejoke I = out whre degen beloow lliiiiiiiiiiiiiiinu X Props to those who figure this out, or have gone through this.

*stares blankly at the screen* Play...archmage...again? *fear starts to sneak into his gaze* Wait...memory returning. Archmage is...bad... *eyes start to twitch* P...ppppppoooooowwweeeeeer......WAIT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Cioden? No. NO! NO GO AWAY! BLEEEEEEEEAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!! *Flaring pain subsides, eyes flicker and become black* Yes....yessssssssss...I returrrrrrrrrrnnnnn..... (Sure I'll join!)

Looking back, I've started a whole lot of bad music threads, starting at the Archmage UBB and moving up to The Mighty Pen, and many other places besides, in all actuality. Basically, let's talk about what everyone here is listening to right now and what they'd recommend. As an immediate disclaimer, I listen to 'bad' music - music that is not only in bad taste, but music that is popular or considered 'cool' - I don't care. I listen to what I like to hear. First off, I'm watching the music video for Getting Away With Murder, by Papa Roach. While I've always kind of liked their music, they've slipped to a much more gothic look as of late. Not my particular preference, but 'Getting Away With Murder' sounds really good, and I like it a lot right now. Fairly nice music video as well. Muse - Absolution(album) - ever since my roommate picked up this CD, I've been pretty hooked. Nice music, good guitary riffs, and I just like the gritty high-mid feel of it. Cowboy Bebop OST - as I said in my review of this in the anime thread, I REALLY REALLY like the music to this, so I picked up the OST and have been listening fair-constantly as of late. Good music, solid jazz and blues feel to it, I really like it, go buy it now. Slipknot - Duality - let it be known that I've only ever liked two songs by Slipknot - Wait and Bleed, and Duality. Both of them represent a much more...I dunno...sane and musical version of their style that is a lot easier to digest. The music video sucks, but the song itself is fairly good. Green Day - American Idiot (Album) - while this album is still floating in the same realm as Warning, which many hailed as 'the beginning of Green Day selling out' I still really like it, and have been listening to it a lot. The whole thing's just an hour of good wholesome green day stuff. The Offspring - Splinter (album) - again, friend of mine has it and I've been listening to it a lot lately. I've always been a big fan of Offspring, having made quite a few songs that are on my top 50 list. Splinter's a good release, and I've gotten really attached to it, especially songs like '(Can't Get My)Head Around You' and 'Hit That', both of which are pretty good. OC Remix - Various - Okay, those of you who haven't heard of Overclocked Remix and like oldschool video game music should immediately click this shiny blue link of goodness and start downloading. This is a site dedicated to the remixes of various oldschool (and new school) video game music through any form. They have soft jazz versions of final fantasy themes to death metal riffs of Castlevania 3 and a bajillion different techno remixes of anything you can think of. They offer the first 1000 songs for bulk download on BitTorrent, and the rest can be downloaded manually free of charge. I highly recommend this site, as if nothing else, it's the only place you'll find a song comprised of sound clips from the sims remixed to techno. That's my latest listening pleasure, what about everyone else?

Happy Birthday, Peredhil! Hope your life is just dandy! *hugs*

But were quickly and painfully silenced by the thousand ton mechanized monster that rolled over their magical garden, roaring in triumph as it wrecked destruction and mayhem. Mechazilla looked around for a new target, breathing sulforous fumes, and spied...

So I've been watching Cowboy Bebop again, and I am again totally impressed with quite a few things about the show. I figured I'd present a case to everyone - this should be the first anime you show people that don't know or don't like anime. First off, the setting is very impressive and fairly easily accessible. Nobody in the anime is an odd blood-sucking alien, a succubus, or any other of the popular and odd anime archetypes that can be rather shocking if you're not used to the idea. Granted, there are some animes that still shock me to this very day, so Cowboy Bebop's straight human population is pretty nice, especially to the new guys. The feeling that the show gives you is something along the lines of Star Trek meets Dick Tracy - especially the music. From the opening theme to the in-show music, it fits extremely well with the noir theme. For those of you who haven't heard any of it, look around for the main theme online or something (It's called Tank) as it's quite impressive. There's a glorious saxophone solo in there that just sends chills up my spine, and the whole musical genre swings between blues and folk and jazz and bebop, all while working incredibly well with the anime. Unlike traditional animes, the main storyline of bebop surfaces very rarely, once in every few episodes except for four of them - Jupiter Jazz I+II and The Real Folk Blues I+II, the 12th, 13th, 25th, and 26nd episodes of the series. In the meantime the series follows the adventures of Spike Spiegel and Jet Black along with Faye, Ed, and Ein, the data dog. In very few animes do you find it possible to associate with the characters like you do in Bebop - It's very easy to see how human each of the characters are. There are no superhuman feats aside from Spike's martial arts, and even he's not jumping thousands of feet in the air or punching through solid walls. Somehow the more personal approach to their lives allows you to really start appreciating and connecting to them, to the point where I've cried during some of the more serious parts of this series. The storyline isn't anything new, but it feels just right, not stale or overused. The voice acting for the english version is, as I've said before, absolutely amazing. Another turn-off for newer anime watchers is that they don't want to read their way through movies - which I understand. I'm generally a fan of dubbing unless it's horrid or if the japanese voices sound better...but in this case, the voices almost consistently sound better in english. Jet and Spike in particular are much, MUCH more realistic feeling than the japanese. The script doesn't sound cheesy even though there's enough one liners to kill a bad comedian in here, as all of the characters seem completely natural saying them. The main villain, Vicious, is also one of those incredibly badass anime villains that everyone loves to cheer on. His ties with Spike and a mysterious girl named Julia drive the main story along, and at times it seems hopelessly sad and fatalistic. All in all, if you're a fan of anime you shouldn't miss out on the opportunity to pick this anime up, or at least to watch a few episodes to convince yourself to. If you have friends that refuse to watch anime, I'd say this would be the perfect opportunity to show them how good anime can be.

Music off tune and repeated The carnival plays in the background I sit basking in the light As my twin portals bombard me with images To my right, a grotesque man bounces Flouncing around with large guns, firing at our beloved hero To my left, models docked up in makeup Strutting - the fashion of an alternate generation I realize that in the end, everyone is the same The trendsetters are despised for their genius While the rest of us skitter frantically around on plastic legs Looking for the way to whore ourselves for a buck Hypocrisy died years ago in a hostile takeover by reality And now blues hammers out of the right hand side As the fat man cries at his discomfort - a baby in a murderer's body Such is life. I return my vision to the left monitor again My brain starts to refuse the stimulus And starts associating odd variables I follow a mental trail of thirteen paths That leads to the beginning with nothing gained.

I Was born to a new world I walk Through my memories A family torn I walk down The street near my house Was empty I used to play there alone I walk down the Halls of school adorned with flags Seemed so important then My whole life in a building Carved of stone and knowledge I walk down the road That goes to her house Everything to me then And nothing at all now How I loved her then How I wonder why I walk down the road alone Haunted by memories and shades I am rendered speechless and numb When you live forever in haze The sunlight is pain So I lock myself in my room with the sheet over the window And sleep through opportunity's knock Alright, so I suppose an explanation is needed. First off, the format where the first line develops and is tied to the number of lines in each stanza is probably stolen from somewhere, I just can't remember whether or not it's original right now - take it as it is.

First off, I'm not in a union yet. You don't actually join the union until your 70th day, when you finish your training. I know this because I talked to our union representative two nights ago. Second off, I realize that there is no such thing as an 'easy' job. Jobs will suck, but at least some jobs won't actually leave me sore and miserable physically all the time for a lousy paycheck. Thirdly, I happen to come from a family where my mom raised me by working from home, and we know plenty of other people that own their own businesses. It's completely feasible that this could work, and age has very little to do with starting a business nowadays. An 18 year old business student may have more knowledge about starting and maintaining a business than a 38-year old cook, and for me that's just twenty more years of profit. A statement such as "You can't really screw up" Is pretty unbased there, man. It's UPS, you have to read the label, scan the label and load the package, all in 8 seconds to meet the target speed. Not only have I gotten multiple missorts because my mind wanders momentarily, but even pushing myself harder than I've done before, I'm only reaching 230-250 boxes an hour. I don't think that I'll be able to have this job right now and maintain a satisfactory performance in school - I spend way too much time exhausted and just zoned out or in pain. The other day I got trapped against a wall by a 78 lbs box. I could not move out of the way, and was jammed there for a good minute and a half before the other loader in my trailer was able to come in and give me a hand. I'm covered in bruises, cuts, scrapes, and dirt, even after showering, and I'm completely miserable. Also, I don't really appreciate it when I ask for help and I recieve a response along the lines of 'Oh, you don't know what the hell you're talking about, stop being a whiny baby, life sucks get over it, blah blah blah' If I wanted a response along those lines, I would have posted at a different forum. I posted this at The Pen because we're a community of intelligent, resourceful individuals who might have a way of helping me brainstorm ideas. This might not work out - in fact there's a large chance it probably won't. BUT if you go into anything thinking you'll fail, you're screwed from the start. Also, my school schedule is between 1-6 PM (not every day, it varies from day to day) but that's the general times. I CANNOT get a normal sales job, or I would be working at EB already. I had an interview there and they can't hire someone for that few hours during the week, and I don't want to work 8 hour shifts all weekend. On top of that, I don't currently have a car, and with my current paycheck, I can't even afford to save up for one, nonetheless pay for gas/insurance. I have an average of 10 dollars a paycheck I don't have to spend on bills/food/rent. The only reason I currently work at UPS is because I have several friends that work there as well. Coincidentally, two of those friends have been injured in the last month, one of which has been placed on workers compensation for five weeks. I'm not saying I won't work at UPS. It's a job, and I have to pay my bills, and I don't plan on quitting my day job (night job?) until I have a guaranteed way of making enough income to cover costs and expenses. 600 bucks is not much to ask for income nowadays, especially in businesses where it's mostly stay at home moms who need to pay for their kids and a mortgage. Also, as a parting note, you should ask Gyrfalcon if it's 'impossible' to earn money assembling and selling computers for a living. I think he'd know, working at a computer store and all. If anyone else has any ideas, I'd love to hear them - this is merely a brainstorming thread.

So here's a quick update on the current ideas floating around in my brain right now. I'm thinking I'm going to run this thread sort of like a blog, where I can toss ideas. Again if anyone has a problem with this I'll be happy to oblige and change it. Idea 1: Buy low, sell high. I'm thinking stopping by the largest swap meet west of the rockies nearby here in seattle and taking a camera phone with me and having a friend at the computer at home. If I find something dirt cheap, I'll take a picture and read off the description and have him search for a price value online. If I can rake in a bit of a profit, I'll pick it up and turn around and sell it on ebay or through classifieds or something. Good solid idea that's been done before - tested out. Idea 2: Import/export. Quite a jump, but same basic premise. Obtain an importer's liscence (not that expensive from what I've heard) and start contacting companies overseas to sell their goods - I'll have a lot of research I need to do before starting this of course, but it looks like a solid idea with a slightly higher startup cost than I'm currently too happy with - possibly start a small business based around it with some other entrepreneurs? Idea 3: Home Computer Repair/Assembly - another neat little idea, I've been meaning to do this for a while. If it works out like I think it can, I'll be taking in enough extra cash to hopefully quit my bloody job. So anyway, tell me what you guys think.

I'm young and naieve, and I'm still at the point in my life where I think I can actually not work at UPS and kill myself, so here's the problem and what I'm going to try to do to accomplish it. Problem: I earn about 600 a month (profit) working part-time at UPS as a loader. My job is currently in jeopardy, and I could be fired at any time because the job is killing me. Seriously, I think I'm dying I pay 350 a month in rent, I'm in a lease, and I pay less than 150 a month in food and about 50-80 in utilities. As you can see, I earn just about enough to survive. Solution: I need to find another way to earn money, preferably something I can do from home that earns between 600-1000 dollars a month that doesn't involve manual labor, and can preferably be done with an afternoon school schedule. Priorities: I need to spend about 3-4 hours a day either at school or working on school work - this is merely an average. I need to eat and sleep, and I need to spend at least an hour a day NOT working to maintain some sort of social interaction and keep from going insane. So if anyone has any ideas, that'd be grand. I'm not just in this to whine and complain about my job - which does suck - but I'm viewing this as more of a problem solving thing. I'm currently looking at work at home opportunities, but most of them seem to be very...uh...scammish - and I don't like scams that much. If this is spamming or whatever, then please move it or delete it - I'm just seeing if any other pennites have any ideas that might help me out Thanks!

Yeah, so anyway, I got into the Gmail beta through a friend, and I have 6 Gmail invites left. I figured I could either sell them on ebay, or distribute them to you guys. I know some people are all paranoid about it, there was a thread like that earlier if I remember. Either way, I figure I'll do a favor for those of you who want a nice shiny new email address If you want one, reply here with your current email address or email me at Falcon2001@gmail.com and ask for one and I'll be happy to help you out. The interface is nice, but it doesn't support pop3 yet...I should know, I spent all afternoon trying third-party programs. Stupid router.

I'm on Gilgamesh right now - Cioden the lvl 12 Monk! Whoooooo!

Much as I normally don't spam the forums with stuff like this (key word: Normally) I was wondering if anyone else was playing FFXI or was going to start playing any time soonish. I just started playing a week ago and so far I'm quite happy with the game. Just wondering.

People come and People go. Best o' luck to ye. Unfortunately the rest of the world will seem just as cruel at times.

Okay I'm sure everyone here has heard of the freeipods.com thing or seen an ad for it. As far as I can tell, here's how it works. 1: Sign up at the site, or use a referral thing to sign up. 2: Sign up for some offer 3: Get 5 people to do the same 4: Get an iPod Now of course the first thing that comes to mind with this is that it's a hoax, and there's no possible way that it works correctly - also I didn't want to get stuck into a dumb AOL offer or something. According to the things I've seen, basically the company gets paid for referring people to these corporations, and most people don't make it to five referrals that sign up as well, therefore they earn money. Now I figure, if someone could find some proof that this is a huge hoax, that'd be great, but thus far I've seen at least 10 different photo galleries of people that have recieved an iPod or mini iPod or something. I'm not sure, just wanted to see if anyone could dig up some dirt on this, 'cause I'm still not sure whether I want to go through with the whole thing and start begging for referrals. There's a similar program, affiliated with the iPods thing that works for flatscreens, too. Either way if you decide that you're actually going to try to go through with it, contact me. Thanks, everyone. I'd love to have some evidence either way on this. Edited after sleeping and resetting.

Yui slept soundly, her presents lying safe and carefully wrapped nearby. Her dreams, as they were, were pleasant and strayed between the clouds and the sky. Suddenly and silently, the room began to glow ever-so-softly, the luminescence seeming to emerge from the wall, giving the place a surreal appearance. There was a flicker, and then it returned to glowing oddly silverish light, like her whole room was suddenly made of the moon. Across the room from her, Cioden sat where no-one had been a mere moment before, staring intently at her sleeping figure. Shadows danced over him in odd, sight-defying arcs, warping his figure in odd ways so that it seemed that he was sometimes thin, sometimes not, and sometimes all but his eyes disappeared. He grinned, but there was no light behind it. Standing, he walked over to her and reached into his cloak. "You've been quite a bother, Huntress." he whispered. "Quite the bother indeed." Pulling something out of an unseen pocket, he held it up to the meager light that still lit the walls and ceiling and floor. A silver coin, with an ever-seeing eye etched into one side and a circle with a dot in the center etched into the other. He flipped it once, caught it, and dropped it on the table next to her presents. His grin flashed again, and then he was gone as suddenly as he appeared. The glow left with him, and normalcy rushed in to claim the room as it's own.

Granted, the truth about this topic isn't as vivid or anything, but I figured it made a good rock song, so I wrote it out 'cause the line Tiffany, Tiffany, what the hell'd ya do to me stuck in my head all day. Anyway tho. Tiffany, Tiffany What the hell'd ya do to me Never seemed to disagree And I wondered if you loved me Tiffany, Tiffany I was only seventeen Took my heart away from me And locked it up without a key (Chorus) I was so down trodden You took me far away Even if it was only a moment You stuck with me in my dreams Tiffany, Tiffany Why'd you have to go and leave Why do I really wanna grieve I never really spoke my peace Tiffany, Tiffany To a very large degree You meant something more to me Than what you really seemed to be (chorus 2) I couldn't stop my feelings I never wanted to be alone You showed me a part of heaven But you left me all alone (Instrumental) Tiffany, Tiffany You left me all alone to bleed You meant something more to me Why'd you leave, Tiffany? Just so everyone is clear here, it's supposed to be sung in a very nirvanaish tone, lots of grunge guitar and fast pace, like Breed or something along those lines. I like it. Yay.

Three hours elapse Serenity I exist Calmly and happily floating But then BZZT I awake answer phone Someone fallen ill Will I rise, replace? I glance at clock 1:00 PM Fine. Hang up. Glance back 7:00 PM Stare. Rush Boxes everywhere, the mist of time stagnating my brain and memory Cooking what little I have left in a broth made up of cardboard and produce left on shelves. I stare at him barely comprehending Two months to change schedule? I refuse. He reaffirms. I sigh. I exist. I find work elsewhere. I continue living.