Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality.

stellarwing @ 2011-06-23T06:39:00

2011-06-23T13:39:15Z

Now that I've written it down the whole thing sounds almost silly, but I said that I would share and so I will.

I have these cousins named Jessie and Jason. They're not direct cousins, they're some number removed, but I can never remember exactly how many. Anyway, they're brother and sister. I don't remember exactly how old they are, but I believe they are both a bit older than my sister, who is 3 years older than me.

Growing up, the two of them lived in Redding, so we didn't get to see them very often. Somehow, it became a tradition that the two of them would come down to visit every Easter, and stay for a few days. I was extremely young at the time, so I remember very little of their visits, but I do remember being extremely excited to know that they were on their way.

I loved both of them, but Jason was my favorite. He was by far my favorite relative outside my immediate family. I honestly could not tell you a single thing he did or said to me, but in my young mind he was the most awesome person in the world.

I don't remember when they stopped coming down for Easter or why; as far as I know, it was one of those things that just sort of happened. To my knowledge, there was no big event or anything that ended the tradition. In any case, a few years passed without me having any contact with them at all. So imagine my excitement when I heard that there was going to be a huge family reunion for my great-grandmother's 90th birthday, and that Jessie and Jason would be there.

We went to the party, which was a huge event. Jessie was relatively easy to locate, and she seemed very happy to see us all. I really don't remember what was said, I just know that she was there and we talked with her.

Jason was also at the event, but he was off to the side. He had brought his girlfriend, and from what I overheard they hadn't been together all that long, so it had to be awkward for her to be meeting his entire extended family. The two of them certainly looked uncomfortable, and I felt kind of bad for her.

I wanted to approach Jason but I was too shy, so my mom went over with me. I was still pretty young, after all. My mom started conversation, which Jason seemed none too thrilled with. She told a story about how when I was a baby, I would instantly stop crying when he held me. He seemed humiliated, and did his best to end the conversation and get out of there.

I was a bit put off, but not too badly hurt. I rationalized that it was because he was with his girlfriend; he was probably super embarrassed, especially with my mom telling childhood stories. I would get to talk to him another time.

Some months later, my family and I went on a road trip. On the way back we were passing near Redding, and we were told that Jessie and Jason might be willing to meet us for dinner as we were passing through. I was excited of course, since it had again been a while since I'd seen them.

When the day came, only Jessie came to meet us. She apologized for her brother's absence and explained he'd had other things to do. So we ate dinner with her, which was nice, but I was extremely disappointed at Jason's absence.

Another couple years passed before I saw either of them again. It was another family gathering, up in Redding at a house that belonged to one of my relatives. It's a huge house with a giant backyard, so there was plenty of room for all the people coming.

Jason was there, but so were many other relatives, so it was easy to go the whole time without talking to everyone. Being a rather shy person, I never made the effort to talk to him, and he never even acknowledged my existence.

At one point during the gathering, I was sitting in a chair next to my mother, who was talking with another one of my relatives (I can't even remember who it was). The three of us were beside a large window that looked out into the backyard, where Jason was playing a game of soccer with a bunch of the younger kids. The three of us were idly watching them play, and making general small talk.

My other relative commented on how happy they all seemed, and said that Jason would make a wonderful father someday. My mother agreed, and uttered a sentence that would shatter my view of the world:

"He's always been good with kids."

It was at this fateful moment that it hit me: Jason had never really cared about me. I'm sure he did on some level, but it was nowhere near how much I had liked him. We had no special bond. He was good with kids, and I had been a kid. There had been nothing more to it than that.

The two of them continued their chat, completely oblivious to the silent crushing of my soul. I was too humiliated to say anything about my revelation, so I kept it hidden away.

I still haven't spoken to him since my great-grandmother's 90th birthday. That was more than 10 years ago.

Replacing a Pokewalker

2010-06-11T01:03:14Z

This is mostly for my own info if I'm dumb enough to break another Pokewalker. But if anyone here also has HG/SS and breaks or loses their Pokewalker, here's what you do to replace it:

Step 1: Go to the Connect to Pokewalker screen in your game. While there, press Up+Select+R to retrieve the Pokemon currently on your walker. Obviously not necessary if you didn't have one on there.

Step 2: Obtain a new one. Get someone to sell you theirs, or buy one from the official site here (price is $9 + $5 shipping + state tax).

Step 3: Once you have a new Pokewalker, go back to the Connect to Pokewalker screen and press Down+X+L. This will allow you to sync the new walker to your game.

I'm glad Nintendo set the system up to benefit people like me who are retarded enough to send their Pokewalker through the washing machine twice.

My Faith in Humanity Has Raised Slightly

2010-01-14T01:56:39Z

I don't know if this is old news or what, but my dad just told me that this well-known, super-conservative lawyer is fighting CA's Prop 8 at the national level. Apparently a bunch of conservatives are pissed, but he's arguing that there's no reason they should be against what he's doing. Evidently he's very good at making a point, so he seems to have a good shot at this. Even if he loses, conservatives will have been shaken. All this pleases me.

Excitement Abounding

2009-12-25T19:19:45Z

Merry Christmas! Oliver decided to be the first to give me a gift today by peeing on my bed while I tried to sleep. What a considerate cat.

Yaoi Con Report

2009-11-02T07:56:58Z

LOL

2009-10-29T08:10:38Z

OMG YOU GAIZ

2009-10-12T08:12:57Z

Flawless Logic is Flawless

2009-09-10T17:48:30Z

American History Teacher: Where did the immigrants go after the railroad was finished? Let's say you're an Irish immigrant, what would you do?

Student: Well there are a lot of potatoes in Idaho, did any of them go there?

Flying Toaster Anthem

2009-09-06T09:05:16Z

Flying out of the sun
The smell of toast is in the air.
When there's a job to be done
The Flying Toasters will be there.
And it's flap! Flap! Flap!
Now help is on the way.
This vict'ry song they sing:
We pop up to save the day
On Mighty Toaster Wings!

In brightest day or After Dark
When times of trouble are at hand,
The Flying Toasters set a spark
And hope is blazing 'cross the land!
And it's flap! Flap! Flap!
Salvation from above
This precious gift they bring:
Gleaming Angels of Love
On Mighty Toaster Wings!

Snogging is an awesome word

2009-07-15T10:19:36Z

Holy shit you guys, the new Harry Potter movie is freakin' amazing! See it! See it NOW!

titties

2009-07-13T03:08:03Z

TITTIESTITTIESTITTIES

TITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIESTITTIES

Story from North America

2009-07-04T09:18:00Z

So I have a new black widow friend. At least, I think it's a new one. I haven't seen Rose in months so I've been assuming she's dead.

Anyway, on my porch to the left of the door is a little wooden model of a house. I guess that's where she hangs out. Tonight as I walked outside I saw her chilling in a web just outside of it, but she promptly scurried into the little house. Then when I got home I saw her again, dragging some poor hapless bug into her lair.

Clearly, having a new black widow on my porch leads to only one logical conclusion: I need a name for her. So far I have been unable to come up with anything good.

All I have to say

2009-06-30T13:50:04Z

Best commentary I've seen so far on all the celebrities dying:

No Phone

2009-05-28T23:36:24Z

My phone has been disconnected because of an unpaid bill. My mom probably doesn't even know, but there's no way to tell her about it. I would call her work number from the house phone, except the house phone stopped working months ago and my mom never fixed it. So I have absolutely no way of contacting anybody, other than online. And I was supposed to call my dad to do something today. Maybe I'll just show up there.

Seriously though, I'm starting to get pretty fed up with my services getting cut with no pre-warning.

EDIT: I have my phone back. I used their pay-by-phone service to charge it to my credit card. $176.82. Awesome.

OMGWTFBBQ

2009-05-28T01:54:16Z

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS GAME IS ABOUT BUT I WANT TO PLAY IT.

LOLOLOLOL MATURITY

Video Games | Ooh Innuendo!

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Con Report: Fanime 2009

2009-05-26T00:35:55Z

NO, TRUCY, NO!

titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties titties

Step 3: Profit!

2009-05-19T02:34:53Z

So I stopped by Safeway on my way home, because I enjoy not starving to death. I grabbed a cart, and in it was a crumpled piece of paper shaped like a light bulb, with someone's list written on it. Really not that exciting, but for some reason the list kind of amused me. It read as follows:

male
Cranberry Juice
1 gal jug water
peanut butter
Jellie
beer
sunscreen

Lame update is lame. I'm just kinda bored. Also, someone needs to go see Star Trek with me. Like right now.

Only Carolyn will understand this but I'm too lazy to lock it.

2009-03-27T09:57:49Z

Frédéric Chopin

"Always in frail health, he died in Paris in 1849, at the age of thirty-nine, of chronic pulmonary tuberculosis."

sadface.

Happy Anniversary to me!

2009-03-06T03:06:03Z

Today's the big day. Time to celebrate all the time we've had together, and all the love we've shared.

That's right, as of today, World of Warcraft and I have been together for four years.

I remember when we first met at Jen's house. I watched her character die five times by jumping all the way from the top to the bottom of the Teldrassil tree. I never thought that all these years later, we'd still be seeing so much of each other. It must be true love.

Here's to many more wonderful years!

......*shoots self*

Poor Kitty

2009-02-25T07:35:37Z

So I get to take Barnabe to the vet tomorrow. He has eye Herpes.

...No, I'm not joking. We've had to get him treated for it before.

It's a good thing I totally have the $200+ needed to get him treated and get all the shots he's overdue on.

Sigh

2009-02-23T03:15:47Z

So yeah I dropped my Astronomy class. And no, not just because it's boring as sin. You see there's this website we had to sign up for, but in order to do so it requires a class code. The class code is on our ghetto class website, which it took me several e-mails to the teacher to get (no amount of Google searching allowed me to find it). Anyway, so I finally sign up on this stupid site, and it turns out there have been a crap ton of assignments given out over it already. They were all worth very few points, but there were enough of them to add up. And most of them were too far overdue for me to even get partial credit.

Thanks professor for the heads up about all the assignments we were supposed to be doing, and your timely response when I asked for the class code.

On a lighter not, Oliver seems to be doing pretty well. He does spend a lot of time under the bed, but he likes to be in small, dark places, so I don't think it's just a fear thing. Sometimes he stares longingly out the window or side door, but he has yet to make any real effort to actually get outside. At least for now, he seems to just be content to be somewhere without dogs and children.

Oliver's Story: The Explanation

2009-02-19T10:26:01Z

So this whole thing with the "lost" cat has been settled for the most part. And now that everything has been explained, the situation has somehow managed to become even more confusing. Oh, and it seems modern technology didn't fail after all, since the shelter did finally manage to track down the owner based on the old info in the microchip.

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...

Oliver's original owners (who apparently named him something like Sebastian-Oliver) were a young couple. He was evidently content being an indoor cat. But then the couple had a baby that unfortunately turned out to be allergic to cats. Poor Oliver ended up isolated in a little room, which supposedly made him more "independent," since he wasn't getting much attention. Somehow he fell into the hands of the Feline Rescue people. I'm not sure exactly how, but it's possible they finally realized it was impractical to keep him and decided to just give him up for adoption.

The woman who adopted him is named Jennifer (but I'll refer to her as Jen from now on because I'm lazy). At the time she lived with her parents, way up in the hills. I think they lived on a farm; she mentioned something about chickens, and having animals often get picked off by coyotes. Anyway, Jen adopted Oliver (shortening his name to just that because his old name was rather ridiculous) and brought him to live with her and her parents. Though he had previously been an indoor cat, she evidently "couldn't keep him inside." He roamed freely in and out of the house, and around the surrounding countryside. She said that he seemed to be happy there.

When she adopted Oliver he was two years old. After having him for about three years, Jen moved in with her friends, who just happen to be our next door neighbors (for those that it means anything to, it's the people with the black kitty that likes to come up to my porch). She did not say exactly why, but she mentioned something about how they were "helping each other with child care" (I got the impression she was a single mother). She left Oliver living with her parents, since she didn't think he would want to make the move from a highly rural area to a neighborhood with lots of people and cars and such.

The problem is, apparently her parents like to make long trips during the winter. So they planned to take a two month vacation, and were originally going to just leave Oliver to roam during this time, but finally decided not to because he would freeze to death in the snow (how kind of them, eh?). So they decided to have Oliver stay with Jen and her friends for the two months while they were gone.

Thing is, apparently Oliver likes really quiet places. And their house is anything but quiet. There are a lot of people living there now, including several children. They also have two dogs; supposedly Oliver was used to being with the little one, but was not at all happy about living with a big dog.

In short, Oliver was completely miserable. Jen said that he would disappear for weeks at a time before showing up again. In fact, we asked her when the last time she saw him was and she said it was probably February 1st (way before the first time I saw him hanging around my house). It tells you something about how unhappy he was that he chose crouching under the eaves of my house in the rain over going right next door where he could be inside.

Anyway, I guess he started hanging around my house because he realized there was someone there who would actually give him attention, and there weren't children and dogs running around. We had brought him to her house in a carrier when she explained all this; my mom and dad had both come too. My dad mentioned that he seemed pretty happy at his place, and even offered to take care of him. Surprisingly, she agreed pretty readily; she said that she loved him, but would really rather he be somewhere he was happy. She even gave us his bed and a bag of food she had bought for him.

So the plan is that Oliver is going to stay at my dad's house. In three weeks, when Jen's parents come back from their vacation, my dad is going to get in contact with them and see whether or not they want the cat back over there (it's unclear how attached they are to him). So my dad may or may not have a permanent pet. I'd keep Oliver myself, but he seems unhappy with all the other cats that live here already.

Oh, and apparently there is an explanation for Oliver having no collar. Jen said that he originally had one, but he managed to get it caught on something and hurt himself. After that she figured it was better, for his sake, that he just go without one. She also mentioned how he once needed surgery on one of his hind legs, because he got into a fight with another cat and got bitten, and the bite got infected.

One thing that still baffles me is how Jen kept talking about how "independent" Oliver is. I didn't get that impression at all. He kept following me around my dad's apartment while I was there, and he would get very happy when I gave him attention. It's true he doesn't seem to like sitting in people's laps, but he likes being held as long as it does not last for too long.

Also, I 'm having a really hard time picturing him as an outdoor cat, roaming the countryside. He seemed so happy when I was keeping him in the side room of my house, and in my dad's apartment. He just chilled for the most part, enjoying the attention he was getting. Maybe he only liked to be outside so much because his previous owners had kept him locked up.

I feel like a novel needs to be written about this cat's life. It's just so... strangely epic.

Oh, and one last random tidbit: the black kitty's name is Lola, and the brown kitty that lives there as well is named Snowflake (I get the feeling he was named by one of the kids).

Anyway, that's Oliver's story as it stands now.

To be continued...?

Kitty Update

2009-02-18T01:37:41Z

Okay, called the animal shelter. No new info on the owner, but they did find out something interesting about the microchip: it was put in by Folsom Feline Rescue. So this wasn't a chip that some concerned owner went to the trouble of getting in her cat, it was put it as standard procedure. In this case it's not surprising the owner didn't think to update the chip; it's possible she forgot about it entirely. It's also possible, as my dad suggested, that the original owner had to give up the cat to someone else, and the new owner doesn't even know he has a microchip.

Hell, I found out from my mom that all three of our cats have microchips, but she has no idea what information is on them. We got our cats from the same organization. I wonder how many of the people that adopt actually keep their chips up to date.

So basically, after all of this our best chance of finding the owner is still posting fliers around town. Thanks for nothing, modern technology.

The Adventures of Oliver, the Lost Cat

2009-02-17T08:03:09Z

For anyone not aware of what's been going on with me the past several days, here's the story:

Short version: I found a lost cat outside my house. He clearly is used to living with people, but his owner is being a bitch to find.

Several days ago I was walking up to my house at about 11 at night when a cat I had never seen before came bounding over to me and started meowing incessantly. He didn't have a collar so I wasn't sure if he had an owner or not. I'm a complete sucker for crying cats, so I brought out a bowl of food for him. He devoured it, but continued to stick around and beg for attention. I was considering what to do with him when one of our cats got out of the house. The lost cat saw him, hissed, and ran away.

I didn't see him at all for a couple days, but I left a bowl of food out for him just in case. It was disappearing, so I figured some animal was benefiting from it even if it wasn't him. Then one day I was coming home when I heard his pitiful little meow, over and over. I finally located him huddled in a corner of our roof. I stood there for a while, but he seemed to have no intention of coming down, so I finally gave up and went inside. I was better at keeping the food bowl full after that.

Over the next few days I saw him up on the roof a couple more times, huddled under one of two little overhangs. I started to feel bad for him because the weather was getting pretty nasty. Finally on Friday I got home from work after closing and couldn't stand it anymore. It was freezing, raining, and windy, and he was up on the roof, crying constantly as soon as he saw me. I walked over to the area of the fence that I figured he was using to get up on the roof and he followed willingly, jumping down as soon as he got there. I picked him up and he immediately rubbed his face against mine. I brought him inside and locked my cats in my room while I figured out what to do with him.

After calling my mom (who was out of town for the weekend), my dad, and Mark, I decided the best course of action would be to keep him in the side room with his own food, water, and litter box until the next day when more could be done. We had an extra litter box and plenty of bowls, but there was a slight problem; we were completely out of cat food and litter. By now it was almost midnight, but it couldn't really wait until morning, so I drove to Safeway to buy the necessary supplies. I set him up in his little room (and discovered he was indeed housebroken, thank God),and left him there for the night. He seemed content cuddled under the covers of the bed we keep in there.

The next day was Saturday. I was planning on taking him to the vet to be checked out, but it turns out our vet is closed on the weekends. I called my dad to see if he had any other ideas, who called my aunt and uncle to find out where they take their cat. We found a place open on Saturdays and Sundays, but by that time it was already 15 minutes before closing. We decided to just leave him for another day and bring him on Sunday. He was acting happy enough in the little room as long as I came and visited him every once in a while.

Sunday came; we got a bit of a late start and brought him in half an hour before the vet closed. They checked for a microchip, since it's standard procedure for a lost pet. We didn't expect him to have one, since he has no collar or indication of ever wearing one, but to our surprise, they did indeed find one. They checked for the number in their database, but oddly enough it wasn't there. They called the company that made the chip, and from them they got the cat's name (which turned out to be Oliver), as well as the owner's name, address, and phone number. We thought it was a bit odd that the address was 45 minutes up the hill from where I found him, but whatever.

So we called the number they gave us... and it was disconnected. We talked to the vet, and they figured the owners had probably recently moved and forgot to update the information. So the address was probably wrong as well as the number. They told us to try contacting an animal shelter, since they have access to resources that may allow themto track down the owner's current location based on her previous address and phone number.

We took Oliver back to my dad's apartment, since he seemed uncomfortable being in a house with other cats. I brought over the litter box I had been using, but we had to buy another scooper since I couldn't find an extra, as well as more food since my cats needed the other bag. He stayed hidden under my dad's bed for several hours, but finally came out and explored. The animal shelter was closed for the weekend, so we decided to just call them the next day. I spent the night at my dad's, since Oliver was still kind of skittish around him.

This morning I got to open, so I was up bright and early. Oliver excitedly followed me out to the kitchen, so I figure he's used to getting fed in the morning. I didn't have anything for him other than the dry food though. I left for a very boring day at work, and on the way back bought some wet cat food, since I felt bad for disappointing him in the morning. He seemed to enjoy it immensely.

So after I got back my dad called the animal shelter... and they're closed for President's Day. Go figure. My dad figured we should still do something productive, so we made lame posters with a picture of Oliver that said where he was found and who to call. We took them to all the vets in town (turns out there are 4 just in EDH, wtf?) and they all said they would post them up somewhere. We went back to my dad's, and I took a very long nap, which Oliver decided to join me for. Now I'm spending the night here again, and tomorrow after my class we're going to call the animal shelter.

A little about Oliver: he's big, really pretty, and really sweet. I'd post pictures but it seems I have lost the link from my camera to my computer (the pictures we printed were from my dad's). He's very talkitive, and has a pathetic little meow. He very much enjoys attention, and drools a lot when he's happy. He bites pretty often when you pet him, but it's not very hard and it's obvious he doesn't mean it aggressively. He likes to hide in small, enclosed spaces, including under the covers. If you pick him up he rubs his face against yours and starts pawing at your nose (which is insanely adorable). I want to keep him, but if he still has an owner somewhere I'd rather get him home.

Where's the love for canon?

2009-01-07T14:12:00Z

I love you Tales Studio, and I love that you're making an anime out of one of my favorite games. I also love how you've been keeping it pretty close to the game so far. And I understand that you're trying to cater to a lot of the fans by adding in some hints of major gay, but please, please, PLEASE stop cutting out my favorite Luke and Tear moments to fit them in.

kthxbai