Niki's Ramblings

So yeah.

lucca1 — Tue, 22 May 2012 00:46:03 GMT

I've kind of stopped updating here. I still post on other social sites, but LJ is pretty much run by morons and is way too expensive to maintain, so I'm letting the account go to free. Oh well.

It's been a nice ride (PS - I'm good, y'all)

Proof that America needs to stop drinking/eating things in excess.

lucca1 — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 21:07:40 GMT

Starbuck's newest coffee (well, Ice Tea) size is bigger than your stomach. BIGGER THAN YOUR STOMACH.

PS - I'm alive, I just mostly post on facebook now.

I should honestly update this

lucca1 — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 00:30:48 GMT

...But I can't be bothered, except to say that I'm nearly done with my school program for getting a special education credential.

Hooray, I guess!

What is this madness?

lucca1 — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:40:47 GMT

Why are contact lenses so....weird?

It's like sticking some giant plastic thing over your eye and weirdly you don't FEEL IT.

But it's a pain for a newbie to get out.

Not too much going on my end. I'm just waiting for my Student Teaching placement to be finalized. There's a good chance it'll be at my old middle school. Surreal.

EPIC BATTLE

lucca1 — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 15:11:11 GMT

My cat is in an epic battle for her life that began yesterday.

You see, she's locked in heated battle with a fly that got through the door. This fly, being of the stupid variety does not want to go back the way he came, so he's busy buzzing around my house and getting into my face. Twinkle has taken it upon herself to GET THIS FLY. She jumps around the house, swatting at it. She kept me up till midnight last night making chirping sounds before going after her pray. The fly, unfortunately, is not dead yet, but my cat has kept up the fight. She's currently on my windowsill staring at this fly in a staredown of the ages.

God bless you, cat. God bless you.

!!

lucca1 — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:34:26 GMT

I TOTALLY DARE SOMEONE TO DO THIS!

More meaningful post sometime this week.

Oh yes!

lucca1 — Wed, 26 May 2010 23:38:58 GMT

Apparently the Lufia remake is coming out here. Let's drink to the hours upon hours I'll lose trying to get to the bottom of the ancient cave.

It's amazing how they KNOW.

lucca1 — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 01:31:14 GMT

My cat is beyond amazing.

Today I woke up with a horrible stomach flu. I think I've lost about 5 pounds today due to all the stuff coming out of both ends. I've been mostly chained to my couch feeling miserable. I figured Twinkle would be pissed I couldn't play with her like I normally do when I'm home.

She's been so GOOD, however. She's entertained herself, mostly left me alone, and cuddled me at one point.

I think she knows I feel totally lousy. I think she really figured something was up with me when I was throwing up over the toliet (I'm loud).

So yes, excellent kitty. Pet you.

Now to attempt to eat applesauce and keep that down. My mom brought me pepto today though. Thank god.

For all of you who are slightly curious...

lucca1 — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 20:58:27 GMT

I'm sure there's a lot of people who have a casual interest in the ipad, but will never ever purchase one, and those who actually might buy one later on (or in its second generation) or those who don't know where the ipad'll fit. I've played around with it since Monday (I own the 32 gig model) and here is the good, bad, and unexpected things I've found out about it:

The good:

1. The screen is bright and beautiful. Web pages, pictures, and books seem to pop on this thing. The great thing is while you're not using it or charging it, there's an option to put your pictures on a slideshow, so you're getting a picture frame out of the deal (I didn't expect this at all, so it was a nice surprise).

2. The iphone apps I own run a lot faster on this device. I have uno and on my iphone the game is a little slow. On the ipad it zips along and it's given me a whole new interest in apps I bought on the iphone which may be playable now on the ipad (Hello, Puzzle Quest)

3. ibooks is awesome despite the fact its bookmarking feature lacks. The text is clearly readable, you can adjust brightness on the fly, and change font sizes and types. I haven't had any problem with reading books off an LCD screen. All of this e-ink and LED screen hoopla is just that - hype. If you can read off a computer screen, you'll have no problem. I love that you can rotate the screen to landscape mode and see two pages at a time, like a real book.

4. Any book that ibooks lacks you can find on kindle or many other ereader apps (for free!) - The kindle app is totally serviceable and nice to read off of. It's great to have a choice.

5. The ipad can receive 5ghz wifi signals - Total unexpected surprise! I got a 2.8ghz and a 5ghz duel band wifi n router at a good price. None of my devices could read the 5ghz wifi signal, so I figured I paid an extra 50 bucks for nothing (I live in an apartment building and was worried about signal strength with so many routers about). The ipad is the ONLY device I have now that can read that signal, so it TOTALLY zips along. I've heard rumors of wifi drops and thank GOD I'm not one of those people.

6. Newspaper apps look great on this thing There's not many newspaper apps now, but USAToday and NYT have apps that give me hope that newspapers will look fantastic on this thing and one day I can get a newspaper subscription here and read it on my ipad.

7. The Netflix app is amazing If you have a netflix account the ipad is the most amazing tool ever. Videos look great.

8. The 'word' like app apple offers is not half bad - It's not as robust as word, but it totally gets the job done, and looks nice. The virtual keyboard is bigger, so it's easier to type on...but..

The Bad

1. The keyboard takes getting used to Apple's keyboard, both on this and the iphone, require you to magically hover your hands above the screen just to type. It seems to work best when you henpeck, least you mistype things. Sort of irritating. You can buy bluetooth keyboards for it, but...

2. The lack of USB hurts - I have at least 1 keyboard in storage that I could have used on this thing. Instead I have to pay 60 bucks just to get a keyboard. Lame. :( Don't get me started on how I can't upload pictures without a dongle from apple. Speaking of apple products

3. The vast majority of the stuff you use for iphone won't work, or won't work as well - The ipad actually needs 10W of power to charge, as opposed to iphone's 5W. A good majority of usb connections that aren't high powered will not charge your ipad unless it's in sleep mode (and it's sloooooowww). Ipod docks won't work, batteries won't work as well, and anything you want for the ipad will be ridiculously expensive

4. No Flash - Yeah, I said it.

5. Screen is a smudge magnet - Good lord windex could make a fortune with pocket wipes for this thing.

6. No camera - Weird it's not included. Even my Luddite father commented that a camera on this device would be great.

Overall I'm fairly happy with it. It doesn't quite replace the laptop, but it's a great supplement to it and I think developers are only beginning to unlock its potential.

PS - Unless you don't have a great phone, you DON'T need 3G. Would it be nice to use the ipad anywhere? Sure. But wifi is just as serviceable and I can't justify paying 30 bucks a month for it.

Girlish glee.

lucca1 — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 23:42:50 GMT

Thanks to extra money and saving, I got an ipad today. This surprised me as I expected them to be all but gone on Saturday.

1. The apple store is awesome. They actually spent a half hour with me setting it up and showing me everything once I bought it. I'm buying all my apple stuff here from now on.
2. Books look amazing.
3. Hell, everything looks amazing on this thing.
4. Gimme good ipad apps.

I just wish apple stuff wasn't so pretty, enticing, and expensive.

PS - Oh god the netflix app is pure sex on a tablet.

GHDHGHDHOHOO (Insert more irritated noises)

lucca1 — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 22:59:47 GMT

Damn.

I was considering getting a kindle because I need an e reader, but now apparently netflix is available on the ipad. The ONLY non-e reader thing that would have pushed me to the ipad.

Damn it.

Well, no matter what I won't get it for a while anyway. NOT WAITING IN LINE AT 4 AM THANKS.

CHOICES.

lucca1 — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 22:43:42 GMT

So today I picked up Resonance of Fate and Heavy Rain.

Question is: After FFXIII (Which I'm currently playing) which should I play first?

Gamer people? Anyone?

:(

lucca1 — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:16:13 GMT

I haven't really mentioned this, but my Grandma has been ill for a while. She finally passed away today.

I'm sad, but in a way thankful to hear my mom and aunt were with her when she went, and it was peaceful. That's all you can ask for.

I'm not sure when the service is gonna be, so things are kinda up in the air. If you don't see me for a bit, you'll know why.

Oh yes!

lucca1 — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:58:24 GMT

Oh gosh, there's so many good games coming out in the next month, I'm going to go broke.

Here's just a few I need to purchase:

* Miles Edgeworth - Already out, just need to get it
* Lunar: Harmony of the Silver Star - Out next week
* Grandia: JUST announced on PSN! Coming out this week! Hooray!
* Heavy Rain - Looks amazing. Already out.
* Final Fantasy XIII - Not sure on this one, but it's a Final Fantasy so I'll check it out.
* Resonance of Fate - Looks moderately interesting! Might be rental worthy.

Seriously that's way too many good games coming out! Oh nooooeees.

So naughty.

lucca1 — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:28:16 GMT

So in the span of a morning, my cat has:

* Woken me up at 4:30 DEMANDING that I play with her RIGHT NOW by mewing and biting my sheets. When I ignored her she proceeded to do this for 2 hours because NO IS NOT A GOOD ANSWER.
* Took my watch and hid it under the dresser
* Ran around my apartment at least 20 times.
* Ate part of a toy's pet tail and looked at me in a 'wut?' expression.

Only NOW is she getting sleepy.

I love her anyway.

Summing up my cat in a comic.

lucca1 — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:03:53 GMT

I don't know who did this, but this pretty much sums up Twinkle's bedtime habits.

Wow.

lucca1 — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:50:46 GMT

As I sit here, watching a thunderstorm pass outside my window, I realize a lot has happened to me over the past three months.

I used to have New Year's Resolutions, but every year they'd never really happened. I wanted my own place. I wanted to get my hair redone. I wanted my own pet once Bogie passed away. Amazingly, all of this has happened within the past three months. I feel pretty content about that.

There's just one more resolution that needs to be fulfilled: getting permanent work. So tomorrow is the first day of going back to school. I'm going for a Special Education credential, with hopes of either looking more marketable to employers, or perhaps getting a job in a resource classroom. I dunno if I have the physical strength to handle a full Special Ed classroom, but I'm not nearly as scared of them as I used to be when I first started teaching. Many people don't know I used to be in a special day preschool class until I was streamlined into a regular elementary school.

So yeah, a lot of changes within the past three months. Crazily, I'm totally okay with that.

IT'S CATURDAY!

lucca1 — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:23:34 GMT

Okay no.

But did you hear I have a cat? Yes, I have a cat.

http://rpgcafe.net/images/21482.Twinkle.123109em.jpg

So that's Twinkle. She's 2, and a domestic shorthair, with Mackrel Tabby colors. I adopted her from Arf (An awesome shelter where I live) where she took to me pretty quickly. She let me pet her, even while she was eating! She loves to purr when I'm around, rubbing against my legs and giving me headbutts. She's a private investigator, and loves getting into EVERYTHING. She's a messy cat though -- tracks litter all in my apartment!

Her current love is sleeping next to me in bed to the point I'm probably going to have to learn how to sleep on my back as opposed to my stomach, since she sleeps RIGHT NEXT TO ME. We're bonding pretty quickly though. I suspect she'll come further out of her shell when she gets used to my place.

I'm pretty happy. :)

WHAT?

lucca1 — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 03:22:00 GMT

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10422091-1.html

Can someone tell me how this will prevent a terrorist attack? Did the guy who tried to bomb the plane even USE electronics?

Not to mention if a terrorist wanted to bomb a plane, he could do it any time he damn well wanted, not just at descent.

Man, just...what?

Oh dear god!

lucca1 — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 01:22:33 GMT

CUTEST CAT BED EVER.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=37266117

If it wasn't a crazy price, I'd totally be all over that.

How strange

lucca1 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:51:58 GMT

It's so weird living in downtown in terms of students who see you. Before I lived on the fringes of my town. Now that I'm downtown, I'm seeing a lot more kids that I sub for. Today I walked to Trader Joe's, which is a block from where I live, and got kids saying hello to me FROM CARS at least 3 times.

...and my hair was a MESS.

In other news, I'm going back to school for my Special Ed credential. Paperwork's already been started. I'll do most of my classes up until the end of summer, then my student teaching (hopefully an internship) in the fall. Then I'm done.

A TON of classes were waived because of my current credential. A 2 year program suddenly became less than one. That is quite awesome.

So it's Christmas. I'm headed home (god that's weird to say now) in a day or two for a couple of days. What's everyone else doing? :)

First night in apartment, all is right with the world.

lucca1 — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:45:54 GMT

So I spent my first night in my new place. Pretty much everything is here except a coffee table. I do need one of those, but that'll come in time.

I got some lamps from Ikea yesterday, because the lighting in my apartment was sort of spotty. It seems to be pretty good now. There's a blind in my room I can't open because I can't reach the pole to open it, but they're supposed to fix that for me this week.

I already spent some time talking with my other apartment dwellers. I just met a guy who just moved in from New York. We talked a bit about what's in Walnut Creek, what kinds of apartments are around here, etc. He did warn me that apartments facing the street get some noise from the Red Barn, which is a recording studio across the street. I already knew about this, but I figured I'd hear it last night since it was a weekend.

The noise wasn't TOO bad. Sometimes you'd hear an occasional yell from a drunk teenager or a very faint thump of a bass, but really it wasn't much. The building has pretty good sound installation. I've only seen this on the weekends. So I'll probably eventually get some earplugs, but I could honestly live without them. The rest of the time it's VERY quiet.

If the rain tapers off at any point, I'll probably get the following done this week:

1. Get some last little food things I haven't gotten yet
2. Drop by CVS, get said earplugs, air freshener, etc.
3. Go to the container store, get small container to store random bathroom stuff
4. Maybe run into cost plus and see if I can find any cute pictures or something.
5. Get another router as my cable company is charging 5 bucks a MONTH for a router that's 3+ years old. I can save money in the long run.

So really there's not too much left to do. I am content. :)

Today I'm not sure what I'll do. I may start all that if the rain goes away. I may also go next door to petco to look at cats, even though I'm probably at least 4-5 months away from adopting a kitten. I want to see how much I'll have to save each month to afford one (My estimate, at LEAST 800 or more.). It'll be a while.

It's a go!

lucca1 — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:08:46 GMT

I'm the proud owner of an apartment! I can start moving in midweek. I live right in the downtown area, 1-2 blocks away from virtually everything. I'm quite happy!

PS - It has Central AC and a washer/dryer. Hooray!

Daunting...but exciting!

lucca1 — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:18:08 GMT

Well, it's official. I'm definitely going to be moving out...anytime between now till the first of the year. A lot of it depends on apartment availability. Realistically though, I suspect I'll really move out near the beginning of next year.

I'm looking at my first apartments tomorrow...though I'm now realizing how much STUFF I need. I have computers, silverware, a vaccum, a toaster, a george foreman grill...and maybe various other little things, but a LOT is missing. I need pots. I need a coffee maker. I need a TV (My 13 incher is near ten years old). I need living room furniture. I would like to also rent bedroom furniture so I don't have to take mine from my house (thus, I still HAVE some of my stuff at home). The Chronicle has bumped their overall annual fee to $400 bucks, so I can't afford a paper. I'm going to be buying and renting a LOT.

Thankfully, folks are helping out and I saved my money for just this occasion. So any of my friends who give me gifts around Christmas...don't get me games. I don't need games. I NEED HOUSESTUFFS.

That is...if you uh, get my anything. If you have no money just continue on as usual! If you'd like to contribute to 'Niki finally gets her ass out of her parents' house about time you goddamn loser' fund, I would be eternally greatful. I'm dead serious.

If any of my bay area friends would like to go house decorating hunting with me to a thrify place like Kohls or Target in the near future, I'm here! I'd love the company.

Might be 10 years later than expected...

lucca1 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:40:56 GMT

But better late than never.

There's FINALLY talk in my house of me getting my own place. Usually my dad has been pretty against it. I think he's finally realizing I'm thirty goddamn years old.

Win.