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they were born to rock and roll
2004-09-11 10:31:29
Current video: Cales, "Days Of Emptiness" to various J-games. Progress check: 44%. Expected catalog number: #91. I have about 3 CDs of source left, which represents the last 2 gig that hasn't been loaded....and a gig and a half to clip through, which I'll probably throw down today after I finish reading papers and writing summaries. Things are probably going to get real thick soon; three project classes (with huge reading loads), two games (running one, maybe playing another), showings, work (have to start soon), and maybe playing in a band if I can convince this guy my bass skills or vocals are worth sticking with. Video work will come as it can; after this one I'm going to be getting the new rig into commission and starting up one of a few ideas that have been hanging around for a while....I can't wait to have DVD capability back.
It's weird being clean-and-sober; one beer gets me drowsy and after drinking a single two-liter of Coke I was up all hours last night. Of course, I couldn't train if I still had as much overall poison level as I used to, but I used to be able to pound beer after beer without blinking and fall asleep seconds after polishing off a seventh Coke. Now I can just do a tad under a thousand total reps of various exercises per day. I'm probably not going to live any longer because of it, but I probably won't cut into how much fun those last 30 or so years are going to be, either.
That's if I make it through this semester.....
--Kai out
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alien to us
2004-09-08 12:47:05
There has been a definite, and from my point of view, entirely positive, uptick in the number of metal t-shirts worn around campus. Despite limited external adventuring, I've run into Motorhead, Death, and Grave Digger blazons just since the start of the week; hopefully they'll keep flying the colors even in this hippie-prep haven. External activity, of course, has been limited by the demands of coursework (though light so far) and actual work on the video.
Current video: Cales, "Days Of Emptiness" to various J-games. Progress check: 34%. Expected catalog number: #91. I didn't get to finalize the source last night, so there's still a little hanging in the last clipping round. I figure to finish this up and load the next batch tonight, after I hit my last class and print out the stuff I need to read and analyze for next week. Friday may involve more work, as I'm totally clear of classes, but tomorrow at least I've got to deal with Festifall and possibly scouring up the Database text, which is out of stock at both the bookstores here that ever had it.
I've also been watching the stuff that I duped over the summer lately, and the pertinent verdict is that Urban Square is EXTREMELY AWESOME. I wasn't expecting it not to suck, but then you have a guy shooting down a helicopter with a Thompson single-shot, and that's just Hella Cool no matter how you cut it.
Should be ordering the OS soon....it's just a pain to actually have to do in the middle of all this other work, and DCO may not even have all their copies back yet. Maa ii.
--Kai out
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these are the blueprints
2004-09-06 10:36:48
I'm in Michigan, and classes start tomorrow. Fortunately it's just Operating Systems...but unfortunately I haven't touched OS stuff since I was a junior in undergrad, and that's four years ago now. I took a training hit over the weekend (kind of inevitable since I had to drive out), but am now up to speed and will be looking into learning some style or another in the coming week or so. That's in addition to classes and work...tough.
I ought to be getting in touch with Facilites about getting my old job back, but the incentive to do that has been lessened by the possibility of me getting a contract to finish the work I was doing over the summer. That's not set in stone yet, but $1500 will nearly pay all my rent for this semester, and if I can get it to $2000, so much the better. Of course, tuition isn't going down, so whatever I can make working overnights will definitely be useful....and I can write code in the long dead stretches and double-bill. It's like working for the government.
Club should be starting up soon, and the video isn't any closer to completion. I'll probably hack on that later today; I've just got to buy a power strip and the basic grad-level OS text, and then I'm free till tomorrow. The website will be updated/finished in the near future, and as soon as I'm in class, I'll be able to order the OS for the new box.
My phone service expired last week, so I had to buy another contract and another phone. Suck. I wish I hadn't taken just the one-year deal last time around. But it's not like I really use it anyway....
--Kai out
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it all became crystal
2004-09-03 10:40:32
The damn tape is finally done, and the transfers are about half done, so I'm on the point of being packed up -- as I'd better, as I'm going to be about halfway through New York by this time tomorrow.
Work is almost over; I'm patching linking errors as best I can and about to write up what remains to be done; it's difficult to believe that in four months I wrote about 4000 lines of code (final stats: I wrote 3917 LOC from scratch, and wrote or modified, in total, 5810 LOC). I'm thinking about applying for one of the alleged permanent positions here, but that'll require me to actually update my resume and mail it back to my supervisors once I get back to school. The performance review was decent considering I didn't quite finish the project, but I can and will do better. Still have to get the job in Michigan lined up; I should be able to pull two or three shifts and still kick ass on my classes.
Also finished the fourth week under my current training program last night with the first set of 100 reps. The progress in just this month is incredible; for the first time in like eight years my upper body strength is actually on track to be proportional to my lower-body power. Barring injury or serious illness, this ought to continue and put up more positive results through the school year.
Work on the vid should resume Sunday or Monday as soon as I get settled in. The website will be up and operational (even with some holes) before that. This is probably going to be a good year....provided that I pass all my classes, line up my cognate, don't run out of money, and manage to land a job. Big ifs.
--Kai out
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just danced the circle of death
2004-09-02 09:20:39
Put Monster 7 on VCD this morning after a long and arduous struggle that basically led to the conclusion that my DVD player is not real good at reading thick bursts of info with its CD laser. I had not had problems with SVCD prior to this, but this whole release was one huge uphill struggle in terms of synch, and finally, hangs and failure to proceed. VCD is less data-intensive, but also worse quality; hopefully it won't show too much. Monster is not really action-intensive, so there shouldn't be THAT much blocking.
Huge amounts of data to transfer before I hand this laptop back in; tonight is going to be thick, but doable. I have to stay up late to train anyhow -- now in position to go massively ahead of required pace. Club is basically out for Friday; it's just the first three of Greenwood, so I'll drop my gear and head up to Porter to eat some nori-ramen before I clear back to Michigan.
Speaking of Greenwood, there are too many DVDs coming out all of a sudden. I got behind on Texhnolyze and Patlabor, and then Greenwood's finally making it to DVD along with AzuDai vol 4 this week, and there's more Ippo and Initial D in the pipeline. Stuff to buy at school; I can afford one DVD per week if I work the same as last time and eat frugally....until the next Maison and MB bundles drop in November. There are more expensive hobbies out there....I'm just glad I'm not doing any of them.
--Kai out
JOURNAL: Kai Stromler (Kai Stromler)
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