Monday, December 31, 2012

New Year

Today is the last day in 2012, and I've survived the Rapture and the Mayan Apocalypse. Woohoo!

Now for the list of New Year Resolutions I'm going to make
but will likely not follow up on due to the fact I have a short-term memory span like a goldfish.
No, no, no, I will! follow through with my resolutions. Or at least I'll sincerely attempt to try.


1 ) Read at least 30 minutes every day
-- I had this resolution last year and I think I did a pretty good job with it. This resolution was great because I got through a bunch of books on my to read list and I just love when I come across a concept in a book that just blows my mind, you know? The best feeling in the world for me (apart from being in love with Felicia) is stumbling across a thought that I think about for days and days. Reading introduces all kinds of thoughts and viewpoints and ideas; in fact, I think it's the best way. So you know I'm going to keep this one.

2 ) Finally organize my Pokemon card collection
-- I've already been working on this one a little. I've been looking online for some sort of printable checklist that I would be able to slip into my binder and take on the road with me whenever I hang out in the card and comic shop and hopefully expand my collection. But, all of the ones that I have been able to find are these complex databases which are great if I'm going to keep it all virtually, but... I need a hard copy, and I'm sure I'm not the only Pokemon card collector who would just like something simple.

If you are interested in my little endeavor and would like these lists for yourself, let me know and I will happily provide them for you.

3 ) Drink more water
-- I drink a lot of fluids in general, but I don't always drink water like I should. Lots of coffee and lots of Coke and more stuff that is not good for me. The older I get, the more I need to be better about eating healthy, I know... so I figure that this is going to be a good step. It's not like I go out and eat fast food or junk food all the time so I don't really worry about that.

4 ) Work on being more organized and less forgetful.
-- I am a complete scatterbrain and it drives my partner Felicia insane.... it's been so ingrained in me that I don't know if I'm going to be able to shake them, but I'm going to damn well try!

5 ) Encounter a shiny Pokemon
-- This year, it's going to happen. I swear.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

What People Don't Understand About Libraries

Working in customer service can be brutal.

Most of my bad days I spend apologizing for things that aren't the library's fault, and I can't do anything about it. So, you have to grow a thick skin to tolerate all the spittle and cussing coming out of people's mouths, and realize that it's not you personally that they are angry with. It's not even always the establishment they are angry with. I'm pretty good about just letting most of the angry insults roll off and not bother with them, but there is one that manages to flare me up every time (even if I don't look visible angry) ---

I hate. hate. hate. HATE. when people accuse the library of being a money-hungry establishment and people shouldn't have to pay fines at all.

The library is anything but money-hungry or wealthy for that matter. Sure, the property taxes go into the library building itself and that money also goes towards acquiring materials for our collection. What a lot of people don't realize is that sometimes the things that we purchase for public use don't always come back. I used to have deep attachments to specific books and would dread seeing them get checked out, because every time and item checks out, that doesn't mean that it will ever be checked in. Yes, people unknowingly steal from the library. Stealing from the library means stealing from you the taxpaying citizen. So... the money you put into funding our collection is literally walking out the door. If they don't bring it back, do we charge them? -yes, of course. And we charge retail price plus a process fee hoping they will never not bring a library book back again. And late fees? - yes, those who don't return the item promptly are taking the time you need with the item away from you. Late fees ensure that people will want to bring the books/movies back. Who wants to pay money they don't have to? I don't!

That being said, people don't bring back items and people don't pay their fines. The library hemorrages money every day for you, the citizen paying the property taxes's, benefit. The rule for lost items and late fees are in place to protect your interest so your money doesn't go to waste. We spend a good chunk of money reordering items that people take and don't bring back.

So, if you ever EVER say the library is money-hungry and awful, YOU SELFISH PERSON YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF AND RETURN YOUR BOOKS ON TIME >:(

.... and then you bitch at me and make me feel bad for things that I can't do anything about ;n;

This has been a courtesy message from your friendly neighborhood librarian circulation clerk

Thursday, December 27, 2012

A Christmas Miracle

It's a little belated, I know, but today was the first day I actually knew about it so... forgive me.

In order to fully appreciate my story we have to rewind to Thanksgiving... I was in Dallas visiting my parents, siblings, and my mother's side of the family when tragedy struck at home here in Amarillo TX.

Little known fact, I raise chickens in my backyard. Not poultry chickens, strictly egg-laying chickens. I adore birds, and it cuts back on my grocery bill. I have a lovely little coop and enclosed yard for them, and outside the yard is another fenced in yard where in the spring and summer I have my vegetable garden. At the end of harvest season, I let the chickens roam around and eat down the vegetable plants. They like the sunshine and it eliminates some gardening work for me, so it's a win-win situation.

At the time, I had 10 beautiful Rhode Island Red hens, but when I returned, there was only a single hen left. The one that I affectionately call 'Lorraine.'

Apparently, a dog got under my fence and there was a wanton slaughter of the chickens. Lorraine was lucky to have survived at all. Needless to say, while I was very upset and sad at the matter, Lorraine was traumatized and stopped laying. I didn't really blame her. I don't know if I would continue to lay after watching the chicks I grew up with get eaten before my eyes. Terrible...

Anyway, since chickens are social creatures, I knew I'd best find some more companions for Lorraine to keep her happy, and unfortunately at the time, no farmer in the panhandle area was selling hens. I was going to have to wait until the spring and purchase chicks to raise. But Lorraine wasn't going to make it that long. She was so depressed that she completely stopped eating, and that's when I caved in and decided to purchase 2 small bantham roosters to keep her company through the winter. I don't really know if I'm allowed to keep roosters on my property but I figured that since these boys were small that they would have small vocal chords too and there would only be small crows. Only one consistently crows and I was right, he isn't very loud, but boy does he crow all day long. Lorraine started eating again so I was pleased.

Felicia and I decidecd to go ahead and purchase some chicks to ready for the spring, but the problem is that they only come in packs of twenty-five.... they cannot go out to the chicken coop until they have all of their feathers in. If they don't have their feathers, they will die because freshly-hatched chicks cannot control their own body temperature. That's why the hen always roosts on top of her brood- to keep them warm. So, for the past two or three weeks, I've have twenty-five peeping chicks in a large dog kennel in our bedroom with a heat lamp over them, and none of my felines are allowed inside. It was the only solution we could think of.

A few days before Christmas, the chicks finally got all of their feathers in and we made the big move from the bedroom to the coop. I was a little nervous about them at first because I thought the two grown roosters may try to hurt them, but thankfully, they continue to remain unharmed. I suppose it is because they are all females and none male. I'm sure the roosters would definitely not like another male intruding on their territory....

Well, on Christmas morning, we had some snow and went to check and see if everyone was okay out in the coop where we found a little surprise....

Lorraine laid another egg     :)

I think she's going to be all-right.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Showing off my Christmas Loot!

How's it going everyone? I hope you all had a great Christmas. I know I sure did   : )

We got us a 19 pound turkey thinking that a whole bunch of family was going to come and help us devour on Christmas afternoon, but then we got a freak blizzard and of course, everyone decided they didn't want to drive in it. In the end, only one person showed up, my sister-in-law Tabitha, and so I've got copious amounts of roast turkey in my refridgerator which I will probably be eating on for the next few weeks. I already made myself a turkey sandwich with a little mustard, lettuce, and cheese for lunch today at work. I wonder how many other turkey things I can make before I start getting bored. I guess the good news is that the tripdophan in the turkey hasn't fully kicked in yet (I think I countered it with the Dr. Pepper I drank, haha) so I'm not falling asleep at work.

Other than that, the giftcard to Amazon.com that I got didn't even last 24 hours. I knew exactly what I wanted. I ordered me some One Piece DVDs (because they don't have seasons 3 or 4 on Netflix OR Hulu) and I got some comic books -

Binky the Space Cat
(which I've read before and is possibly one of the cutest picture books/ comics series in existence)
except for maybe Press Here but that doesn't really count.




I haven't read any of this one but I'm a big fan of this guy's other work
( INVINCIBLE and Astounding Wolf-Man) so I figured I couldn't go wrong.
Plus, he's a Scottish Terrier. That's definitely on the Coolest Dog Breeds list
Everyone else may know this guy as the guy who works on The Walking Dead, but whatever....

Other than that, I scored me some Adventure Time jammies, some Pokemon cards, and several video games that have been on my wishlist for a long time. I'll let you know my progress in those one some later dates though. I know, I'm such a big kid. I can't help it though.

If you haven't checked out Binky the Space Cat or Science Dog, you totally should. I would know. I'm a librarian assistant.

What did everyone else get for Christmas?

Monday, December 24, 2012

More Pokemon Shenanigans

I'm sorry I've gone the past few days without a post. I wish I could say that it's because I've been so busy preparing for the holidays and family and yada yada yada but.... really, it's just been full of work and watching copious amounts of Pokemon Let's Play(s) .... specifically Marriland's Pokemon Emerald Nuzlocke Challenge.

I have also started my own Pokemon Nuzlocke Challenge using my copy of Pokemon Diamond. Unfortunately, I don't have the gear to be able to upload my gameplay onto YouTube or anything, but I have been updating my progress in my Pokemon group on Goodreads.com

For those of you who aren't familiar with a Nuzlocke Challenge, let me break it down for you. It's a type of challenge gameplay for Pokemon and it only has 3 rules.

1. Any Pokemon that faints in battle must be considered DEAD and released (therefore, you really got to pay attention to battles and stats and critical hits. You don't want your prized Pokemon you've trained from level 3 to faint to a bad matchup. It's heartbreaking.)

2. You may only catch the first Pokemon you encounter on each Route. (therefore, you really don't have a lot of Pokemon to begin with or to choose from. Also it sometimes forces you to use Pokemon you would never really consider which can be pretty cool.)

3. You must nickname all of your Pokemon for the sake of developing emotional bonds with them. (this is the easy part ;) )

So, it can get pretty challenging at times. I'm really enjoying it.

Other than that, Felicia let me open one of my Christmas gifts early! And inside was a Pokemon Platinum Arceus TCG gift set! I was so excited just to get this awesome promo Arceus card --



-- but I was even MORE excited after I opened the Promo Boosters that were with it and found this massively overpowered Promo Garchomp --



I had a nerdgasm like you wouldn't believe. Of course, now it just sets up a high standard for all my other Christmas gifts :P


Nah, I know they're all coal xD



Wednesday, December 19, 2012

I Might Have A Decent Idea

I got an idea in my head over the summer right after A-Kon, and I've been mulling it over for a few months, and I decided you know it may not be a bad idea....

I'm a compulsive doodler. If I have some sort of writing utensil in front of me, I will doodle. I like to keep my hands busy. It keeps me from going crazy. I've gotten compliments about my doodles on a number of occassions, and while I was in the artist's alley at A-Kon, I thought "you know if I could clean up my lineart and learn to ink and shade, I bet I could sell some cool black and white pieces here one year." .... so I've been working on my art. And I've gotten progressively better, but I'm not quite there yet. Something gets lost in translation when I try to go from pencil to ink. It just loses what made it look special. Something tells me though that people aren't going to want to pay for pencil sketches though.

I really wish I had an example of my artwork to post online, but I don't have a scanner, and I can't draw on a computer to save my life :(

Maybe a booth at A-Kon isn't such a good idea. I mean, I cartoon but I don't really draw anime. My art is influenced by anime, sure, but it doesn't look like traditional anime. I won't say it's its' own thing - I have a lot of artists that I look up to and try to emulate pieces of - but you can't mistake it for someone else's work. It's cute, but not the sort of thing you want to hang up in your house.

Plus, the only real 'anime' thing I'm good at drawing are Pokemon  . I guess Digimon too if I tried, but I'm not really interested in Digimon.

..... Look at that, I was all gung-ho at the beginning of this post, and now I'm all "well-I-thought-it-was-a-good-idea" ._.

Maybe if I pitched in some money to sit at a booth with a better artist and maybe draw doodles and maybe sell a few for like $0.50 a piece ;u; ?

That being said, does anyone know any inking and coloring tips to help?

Monday, December 17, 2012

Reading Out of My Norm

Okay, so, I finally decided that since I am bound and determined to be a full-fledged librarian. I have to be well-versed with a lot of the book selection I have here.

I'm already familiar with stuff that I like.



I know that's like the smartest thing I've ever said, lol.
.... but now I'm trying to get familiar with stuff that I don't normally read. For instance, James Patterson -


- technically, my first James Patterson read was the first book in the Maximum Ride series (The Angel Experiment) .... well, not even that. It was the manga adaptation of that, and it was mainly because the art was pretty. But I am disregarding it because comic book adaptions of novels can be far superior to their wordy counterparts because the author's real writing can be shit and a comic book is mainly aesthetics and dialogues- much like a movie script. So, I picked up the actual The Angel Experiment and I wasn't really impressed. I thought the writing was too simplistic; that and the story was just kind of all over the place and Max is all kinds of cliche if you sit down and think about it. Then, I remembered that Maximum Ride is a young-adult series. Say what you want, but the truth of the matter is that most young-adult series today are crap. (i.e 'Twilight' and worse than that, 'Halo') .... so, I decided that maybe young-adult isn't his best. It's easy for adult fiction writers to turn out youth literature that's not so great. So, I was going to give him another chance.

.... then I encountered the Daniel X manga which was all kinds of awful that I cannot bear to repeat it here.

.... then I decided it was time to pick up a James Patterson adult fiction novel. I had been looking for a new audiobook to listen to and the synopsis of Kill Me If You Can sounded really good. Two discs in though, I am having my doubts. This is the part where a lot of James Patterson fans reading this are going to outrage that I can't fairly judge this book because it was coauthored by James Patterson and ....... - and this is also the part where I'm going to tell them that it doesn't really matter because I can totally tell who is writing what parts because James Patterson writes exactly the same way here as he does in Maximum Ride. The only difference is that this book isn't about a teenage girl with wings.

I can't tell if James Patterson is a genuinely good author or people just like him because his text is simple and he writes sex scenes.

I know a few people at the library who think I should read a solely authored by James Patterson book, but if his writing is always like that, I don't know if I can get through it. I'm not really interested in romance (much less detailed sex scenes, much less straight sex scenes - I am a dyke, you know) ... and so far there have been four steamy awkward-to-sit-through-for-me ones. But hey, sex is a popular thing to write about, and the masses love to read it. So, maybe he's on to something....

No, thank you, James Patterson. Your books just aren't for me.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

On Trading Cards

Several months back, my girlfriend Felicia decided that since I liked Pokemon so much, she would get me some Pokemon trading cards.

I never did the Pokemon Trading Card Game as a kid for a couple of reasons --

1) I never really got an allowance so I couldn't buy them on my own,

2) because trading cards were pretty expensive and in the eyes of my adult figures growing up, they were a waste of time.

-- but I longed for them, and the few that I managed to get my hands on (generally the promos that came when you went to see any of the numerous Pokemon movies), I cherished. None of those cards have survived all the times I've moved since then, but... I've got them all back.

Maybe it's due to my 'Pokemon syndrome' (the irrepressable urge to 'catch 'em all'), but I adore trading cards. Specifically Pokemon cards for a long time, but now I've also gotten into Skylanders cards, and DC / Marvel superhero trading cards. I feel like a little kid for liking to collect them so much, but I can't help getting so excited whenever I get my hands on one that I know is rare or one whose art I really enjoy. And some of these cards are VERY beautiful.



I'm currently drooling over this rare Pokemon card to snag for my collection.
I know that most adults play the Magic: the Gathering trading card game, and I know quite a few who do baseball cards and stuff, but I can't get into them.

I have a few decks that I'll actually play the card game with, but mostly I collect them for the artwork, and because I genuinely love Pokemon - I always have since I was a kid.

Pokemon was magical for me because I was definitely a tsundere as a kid- the loner girl who'd act tough and scare everyone else. In the beginning, (and true today), in order to catch all of the Pokemon, you needed to have two game cartirdges. Some of them were special only to Pokemon Red and some were special only to Pokemon Blue. So, in order words, you needed a friend with the opposite game as you, and Pokemon forced me to talk to people and forced me to be nice to them.... and I finally made some real friends.

I wasn't as adamant about Pokemon games in junior high and high school because the magic had faded away by that time for most, but I still kept up with the series in secret. Now, it's starting to be cool again, and I'm glad I can be part of something that is really special to me, especially with people my own age.

I think trading cards are a cool hobby and I kind of feel sorry for the people who get embarrassed by them or think they are just for nerds and kids, and sure, while not everyone is a rare Mickey Mantle that you're able to sell for hundreds of dollars.... it's a hobby you can do across all ages, and the swapping and collecting helps people interact with people. I think they can be a friendly and valuable tool.

There's a trading card out there for everyone :)

Thursday, December 13, 2012

The World Is Going To End....

.... Felicia caved in on one of my Christmas presents after I asked her for like the billionth time. I honestly never thought she was going to break, and the only reason I asked is because she was so determined she wouldn't tell. Granted, she only told me one of the things I'm getting - AND I AM SO EXCITED!


The intent behind the gift is that I am always doodling, and frankly, I love cartoons. So when she saw that there's an ability to scan your doodles into the program and the program helps you create vectors in order to animate said-doodles, she knew I'd be all over that. And I am. And I can't wait to start learning.

The question is... I have no idea what kind of animation I want to do first. Likely nothing too difficult since I'll be getting used to the program but.... ARGH the anticipation is awful, and the end of the world is still looming around.

If you aren't friends with me on Goodreads, (which if you haven't been to Goodreads or followed any of my book related links on my blog, it's only the coolest website in the whole entire universe), I've been up to my ears in manga volumes lately, and I'm not entirely sure why my interest in anime/manga has suddenly exploded again. Before, my excuse was that I was constantly working or working on papers for college. Now, it's just working.

Current projects include : Naruto, BLEACH, One Piece, D. Gray-Man, St. Dragon Girl, Pokemon Black and White, and FAIRY TAIL!!!!

I've decided that I <3 Fairy Tail - it's got goofy art obviously inspired by One Piece's mangaka PLUS it has magic AND a flying cat.

Summer + Cats = SOLD on anything really, but MAGIC CATS is a super-plus. And his name is Happy :)


And both main characters : Lucy and Natsu : are pretty awesome too.



 
So, I've pretty much decided this is my new favorite anime/manga. One Piece is a close second though.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

It Ain't Over Until I Sniff Out My Christmas Presents

I can't believe it's already December. This year has gone by so fast it's not even funny, and although I'm sad that another year has flown by (my mom tells me that this effect gets worse the older you get), I'm really excited about Christmas! And I'm really excited to give my girlfriend Felicia the present I got her!

In case she reads this, I can't tell you what it is, but I can tell you that I've had to stop her from buying similar presents several times because I already got a better one for her. Felicia can be hard to give gifts to sometimes, because if there is something she wants and she has the money for, she tends to just go out and buy it regardless of whether it's close to her birthday or Christmas or what. So, instead of buying presents that she really wants, I normally have to buy her things that I know she'll think are cool even if she doesn't know it yet.

The kid in me still likes to snoop for presents around the house, but I haven't found anything yet. I have a hunch of what I got and I almost want to stop there, but Felicia and her mother brag that they are the best at stashing stuff away in spots where no one can find them, so I was like :




Other than that, everyone's kind of freaking out about this whole end-the-world thing that's supposed to happen on 12/21/2012. If you don't know by now what it is, then... well, it was just highly unlikely someone didn't mention it to you and I have a hard time believing that you truly didn't know about it.

The mystical and marvelous Mayan calendar ends on that day, and because the Mayans had amazing calendars for such an old civilization of people, in the present, people think they had the ability to see into the future which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I suppose stranger things have happened.

Also, a lot of bullshit about an alien planet Nibiru or Planet X colliding with the Earth, and if such a thing were possible, I guarantee that NASA would be all over that shit.

No one knows exactly what is going to happen on that day.... maybe the Biblical Apocalypse, maybe an alien invasion, maybe a massive earthquake or volcano or tidal wave, or maybe nuclear weapons - anyway, the whole world is just going to go to hell in a handbasket.

Me, personally, I think it's all a bunch of hoopla, and I think the only reason why the Mayan calendar ends on 12/21/2012 is because the Spanish conquistadors arrived and wiped them all out and they had more important things to do than work on a calendar that was already calculated 700 years in advance. That makes more sense to me.

But, now, there are a lot of people who believe that it is a fact that the world will end on this day, and I am genuinely scared about some of the crazy stuff people will attempt to do thinking that their actions on that day will have no consequence because the world as they know it will fall apart. Yep, a whole bunch of crazies...

Fortunately, if the world does end in 10 days, you guys won't have to read my blog anymore, LOL.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

What You Don't Know

I just got finished catching up on Doug TenNapel's new webcomic NNewts !

If you haven't read it, you really should. TenNapel is a master storyteller and has written some of my favorite comics/graphic novels to date, including Ghostopolis and Cardboard.

Ever since I picked up Ghostopolis at the public library, I have been one of TenNapel's biggest fans. I have collected all his works, played all the video games that he's been involved in, watched interviews, and bookmarked all the webaddresses for his webcomic (even pre-ordering them whenever they announce it, regardless of what the material is) ....

There is one sad thing that I keep in the back of my mind however and that's in an interview or a blog post I read, TenNapel is very Christian and very much opposed to people like me -- gays and lesbians. I wrote him once, and made no mention of my sexual orientation, but wanted to tell him just how much I liked his work (he probably gets those letters all the time) - I never got a response, but there was a brief mention on his blog that his works were becoming more popular in libraries and I knew that it had a little relation to the note I wrote. I just think it's a little ironic that one of his largest fans is a person that he spiritually believes is bad, evil, ill, and wrong. Granted, he doesn't go out of his way to hurt gays and lesbians, and I respect his beliefs as I respect all beliefs.... but it is a little ironic, isn't it?

Friday, December 7, 2012

Computer Lab Lamentations

On Thursday, I'm generally assigned to help in the computer lab at the library to help patrons with their computer and internet needs (besides looking up porn, ew) ... There are a few behaviors and attitudes though that completely baffle me and whenever I run across them, I am at a loss as to what to do...

The 'I Don't Know What I'm Doing, So Why Don't You Just Do It For Me?' Patron...

This is by far the most numerous patron, and not all of them are bad, but the few who are extraordinarily bad ruin it for everyone else. This is the patron that has no idea how to use a computer, but doesn't want to learn to use one either... they tend to be older and male. They will give me their objective (i.e. I want to apply for a job) and think that I can pull a magic wand out of my ass, wave it, and the computer will do it for them. When I gently try to explain that I can't go to the website and type everything out for them, they become hostile and say things like 'Well, I can't do this on my own' and 'You're supposed to be helpful' or 'They said the library could help me' (whoever the mysterious 'they' is) ... I don't mind sitting down and kind of guiding them, but I really don't have time (or patience depending on the patron) to sit down and take everyone by the hand through it. You need to have a little knowledge with computers before you come in here.

The 'I Will Pay You Because You Are A Fast Typer And I Am Slow And Lazy' Patron.

I spend a fair amount of time on the computer; therefore, I am pretty fast on a keyboard. I get patrons who come in wanting to type up letters and various other documents, but they don't want to hunt and peck through the program themselves. They think they can give the document to me and I will pop it out of the printer all perfect and formatted in ten minutes or less.... but my job doesn't allow me to do it. If it did, I would be typing ALL DAY and I can't say that would be a very fun or engaging job for me. Our job at the library is to help you learn to use the computer for yourself. It's like that old saying 'Give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you'll feed him for a lifetime' .... at the library we want to teach people to fish. THEN as if that isn't bad enough, they like to wave money in my face and say 'Mr. Lincoln thinks you can do this for me' and I say in return 'Mr. Lincoln, I'm not putting my job on the line for you. Get your nasty bribe away from me.'

The 'I Don't Know Anything About Computers, But I Know More Than You' Patron...

This is my number one pet peeve kind of patron and thankfully they are few and far between. This is the patron that flags me down to help them, and then when I try to give them direction as to what I would do about the situation (I am the computer assistant after all) - they decide that they want to argue with me about every single little click. They won't do what I advise. They do what they want to anyway, and then generally when they come back in another day, I get chewed out by them for something I didn't do, but I was standing there 'helping them' when they shot themselves in the foot, and they hate admitting that they are wrong. For some reason, even though they themselves messed up, they are convinced that I don't know what I am doing and therefore, call someone else to ignore.

The 'I Refuse To Believe That's How Cyberspace Works' Patron...

Okay, so this has only happened once, but I thought it was so humorous that I had to share it. I was trying to help a patron log into his email account. He said that he forgot his password and I obviously have no idea what it is, so I said that if he couldn't remember, he would have to reset the password. He said he didn't want to because if he did that, then he would have to remember 2 passwords. I thought he might have been using the same password for every site, and I gently explained that resetting the password was our only option to regain his email account. He then said that if he logged in with a new password here, he was going to have to go through a bunch of trouble to reset the password from the other computer as well. I said, well cyberspace doesn't work that way. Sure, the computer is the hardware but your email account doesn't really exist on it. It exists on the internet, in the air. If you change the password here, the password will be changed everywhere. He had a difficult time grasping this and blew me off and then three other computer librarians told him the same thing....

The 'You Help Me Set Up My Email, So What Is My Password?' Patron...

.... do I really need to explain how this is annoying? Are people so self-absorbed that they think I will remember all of them and their email passwords???

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

The Worst Kind of Hipster is an Anime/Manga Hipster

So, over the past few months/year, I've been trying to get back up to date on all my anime/manga- because it's something that I really do enjoy, it's just hard to be excited when no one is excited back. The good news is that I've gotten to the point in my life where I just really don't care what anybody thinks anymore about my hobbies, and if no one around wants to talk about it, well, there's the internet.

In hopes of getting a position at the youth department, I began frantically throwing myself into these manga series so I could be hip on what the kids read nowadays (because they certainly don't read the things I did when I was a kid- i.e. Tenchi Muyo, Sailor Moon, and Macross..)

There are a handful of series that I never read simply because I was going through that 'hipster' phase where everything that people liked was awful and everything (regardless of the quality) that no one had a clue about was God's gift to anime and manga.

Today, I would like to apologize to some anime/manga series that I snubbed before I even gave them a chance. I love you now.

1 ) BLEACH

For those of you who aren't familiar with the series.... BLEACH is the story of Ichigo Kurosawa, a moody 15 year old boy who has the uncanny ability to see and speak to ghosts. When his family is threatened, he inherits the powers of a Shinigami (or Soul Reaper) from Shinigami Rukia, and battles ...evil ghosts that want to eat good ghosts? - that's the only way I can explain it. Anyway, apparently there's this whole other world beyond death called the Soul Society which Shinigamis govern, and there's a civil war between everybody there, and Ichigo is the coolest thing to happen since sliced bread.

Okay, so the series isn't the most imaginative and to be honest, the series runs on forever BUT the character designs and the Shinigami abilities are SO COOL. I hated on this series for the 'soul' reason (haha, see that? it was a pun!) that it was popular among my classmates and now that I've given it a chance.... I like it! - funny, huh?

So, BLEACH .... I am sorry. I misjudged you.





Naruto to its' fans and Narutard to its' enemies. This ninja anime is possibly one of the most popular anime show to date. Naruto is about a young prankster ninja who has inherited the power of the legendary 9-Tailed Fox that nearly destroyed his village years ago. Naruto wants to become the Hokage, or ninja leader, to get the people that have shunned and ignored him over the years to notice him. Politics ensue between various ninja villages.

Yet again, I avoided this series like the plague solely because of its' popularity, and it didn't help that I had heard some horror stories about the kind of fans it attracted BUT I don't have to love the fans to love the anime/manga and when I finally gave it a chance, I discovered that it is a really fun little read. I'm only in volume 20 right now (and still going) but each volume of Naruto has brought something new to the table so far :) - the characters and abilities are also fun.

So, Naruto .... I am sorry. I misjudged you.




Gold Roger, the most infamous pirate in history, dared pirates at his hanging that they would never find his hoard of treasure - One Piece. It is said that whomever possessess the treasure will have infinite power and become king of the pirates. Monkey D. Luffy is one such hopeful who wants to find One Piece; he will recruit a crew and commandeer a ship and do whatever it takes. Hilarity ensues.

Popular and thus avoided. One Piece is my greatest regret of them all. I have never read a manga series where I have had so much fun with. I mean, the drawings are just goofy. The manga knows it is a manga and it has fun with it. I really admire the mangaka's talent. Granted, it , like Bleach, is really bad at recycling plots over and over. I can forgive it when there are drawings like this ----

 

So, One Piece, I am sorry. I misjudged you...



Dragonball is a modern adaptation of the Chinese epic 'Journey to the West' - the story of the Monkey King Son Goku and his companions to gain immortality. Goku of Dragonball travels with his companions to track down the 7 dragonballs which united can summon the Eternal Dragon to grant them a single wish. Hilarity ensues. Dragonball Z continues the story of Dragonball's Goku but adds a sci-fi element including aliens, other worlds, and space battles. They are considered by many anime fans to be classics. It is also notorious for being one of the first series to have 'filler' episodes (episodes with no real plot going on but just to extend the run of the show because it has such a huge audience - aka a cash cow).

Okay, this is one that I didn't try to avoid; I just thought I wouldn't like it, and since it came on before Sailor Moon when the two aired on Toonami, I didn't like it --- because I got caught in all the filler episodes. We got the Dragonball manga in at the library and I decided to give it a shot. I didn't expect a lot from it- a whole bunch of burly dudes bragging about the size of their penises power levels. Dragonball really surprised me though. I think it is partially due to the fact that I am already quite familiar with 'Journey to the West.' The entire thing is full of perverted humor and scatological jokes.... so why is it so popular? Because it is full of perverted humor and scatological jokes. It is a foolproof combination, and you know what, it works.

The characters all look the same, but you know what, you start to care about them. And then I got into the world and the mythology... and it's just a good series.

Dragonball / Dragonball Z, I am sorry. I misjudged you.




It's hard to explain FullMetal Alchemist without giving so much away. The best that can be said is that Edward and his brother Alphonse are travelling across a fantasy land in order to learn the secrets of the Philosopher's Stone and reverse the terrible mistake that they made years ago. There's a lot of science, medicine, and technology involved which makes it possibly the perfect anime for me, but alas, I was too blind to see it the time that it was extremely popular. Thankfully, it has been given a re-vamp called FullMetal Alchemist Brotherhood (still currently playing) - so I can still get in on some of the hype. Nevertheless, I distinctly remember telling a girl in high school that this was overrated drivel. If I could remember her name, I would apologize to her too.

FullMetal Alchemist, I am sorry. I misjudged you.



.... that being said, my hunches were right about InuYasha. It's still awful.



Monday, December 3, 2012

Book Geometry Logic

Ok, somebody explain something to me. I'm really bad at math and this is really confusing to me, and I can't explain why it happens. Knowing my luck, it's something really easy and right in front of my nose, so if it is one of those things, be gentle with me. I'm a delicate little flower ;u;

.... Books sitting vertically on a cart all manage to fit perfectly.


... but when I lay them horizontally like this :


I can't fit the same number of books horizontally as I can vertically. Now, I don't see any huge differences in there widths. The books' widths are the same both ways. So how come I can't fit as many on the shelf??? In my head I'm trying to account for something to do with the spines, but... that doesn't make sense to me either...

#FIRSTWORLDLIBRARYPROBLEMS


The DVDs don't confuse me as much because we have two different types of cases and they are confusing as hell to put together in a way that is practical or aesthetically pleasing anyway sooooo...... hm.





Saturday, December 1, 2012

Technical Difficulties and The Perfect Novel

Okay, so my immediate thought after writing the post title was ... "That sounds like the name of a thesis. A really boring thesis." - not that I've written a thesis yet, and I hope I wouldn't come up with a title that boring, but I plan to eventually write a thesis but I have no idea what it would be about.... probably a bizarre combination of superheroes, genetic engineering, and the number of times the letter 'Q' has frustrated the hell out of people throughout the centuries. Hey! - If I can write kickass essays merging Batman and the Bible together, that idea is totally not beyond my reach. I'm crazy, dudes.

The inner workings of my mind are a complete enigma which any mortal glance into would render the eyes' owner eternally insane.

Remember that, guys. This is important.

So, I've been having a lot of difficulties with my comment box for some reason, and I'm not sure how to fix it. Naturally, I want everyone's opinions to be heard and this is almost as frustrating as the letter 'Q' and people that insist on still using the word 'whom' .... so, if you want to email me at my fun email : 19pokemonfan88@gmail.com - with your comments when my comment box if being a complete douchebag, I will edit my posts accordingly (and respond) so that everyone can see them (unless you don't want people to see it... which you better specify.)

In the meantime, I will be wrestling with my comment box until I am able to get it into a full nelson and it surrenders.

I had a fantastic dream last night ---- wait, wait, don't stop reading! I know people hate reading about other people's dream, but really guys this post isn't about my dream, I promise --- that I had read the greatest novel I had ever read in my life. The novel was so perfect that I had to share it with everyone I knew, so I traveled everywhere and bought multiple copies, urging everyone I knew to give it a try. I hope the publishers appreciated all the free publicity they got (even if it wasn't real). The sad part is that I woke up and I couldn't even remember what the novel was about. I was a little sad.

Then I got to thinking - what would be the perfect novel for you? - I'm not saying any one specific novel, but what would it have in it that you would think was just totally awesome....

My perfect novel would definitely be a combination of science-fiction and horror, not too far from planet Earth (because I despise pronunciation guides)... It would need a kickass lead heroine- kind of a soft butch type. To be the perfect novel, she'd have to be bisexual or gay, and she would have to have some sort of haunted past- but not strictly love-life related (becuase I know that's the first thing most people think of) It would be complicated and philosophical, discussing themes about what is life and what it means to be alive and the validity of the human race in the spectrum of space and time with plenty of action scenes and a little bit of gore just to make the mood a little creepy. It would kind of have an open ending, and the author couldn't plan on writing more to the series. I like happy endings, but there wouldn't be a bizarre deus-ex-machina at the end or everything magical just lines up and works together. I would like the main character to be challenged on a lot of different levels, and to make her feel real, I would like for her to fail some of those challenges... but she would grow as a person. The book would have wicked character development.

.... I don't know if that is the book that I dreamed about, but in my conscious state, this would be my ideal book.

If anyone happens to know a book similar (or even fitting exactly!), please please please let me know!

In the meantime though, what sort of book would be perfect for you? :)