I'm so very bored. I'm just going to write a load of crap to kill time. Feel free to disregard.
Nathan picked up my Nintendo DS for me last Sunday, and so I got it late that night. It's very nice and beautiful and wonderful, but it isn't perfect. I have two major problems with it. First, and I knew this problem ahead of time, it has no jacks for connecting with other GameBoy Advances or with the GameCube. Any GBA game you play on there will have to be played single-player. (It has wireless connection capabilities for playing and chatting with other DS's.) And the other problem that I did not know about in advance was that it won't play GameBoy or GameBoy Color games at all. :( I guess I just assumed that since the GameBoy Advance SP can play both GameBoy and GameBoy Advance games, that the DS could, too. Not so.
I find that second fact especially saddening, because I seem to get a lot more mileage and enjoyment out of GameBoy and GameBoy Color games. This past Friday, I beat Metroid II. It was great, but I felt like a cheatyface for having consulted a map. But look at the map. That's a whole lot of area! Anyway, since it was my first attempt, my ending time was something like 8:45, and so I got the smelly ending. I'd need between three and five hours to get the medium ending, and the best ending requires you to beat the game in less than three hours. I've read that a lot of people hate that game, but I really enjoyed it. It's certainly easier (for me) than the original Metroid, where I've gotten up to Mother Brain but couldn't beat her. Metroid II is far less frustrating, because it's much faster to build up your lost energy and missiles than in the original. Anyway, I realize I could just go ahead and play it again on my GameBoy Color or GameBoy Pocket, but that means I couldn't play it in the dark. Boo hoo.
I heard that the reason that the DS doesn't play old GameBoy games is because it would take up too much room. I also heard that the reason is because the DS isn't supposed to replace the GameBoy, but rather become a third pillar at Nintendo. I am more inclined to believe the latter.
I felt honored today, because my teacher asked if she could keep my Knoppix assignment and use it as an example. Apparently, there's something difficult about the directions, "Part one: Compare Open Office with Microsoft Office. Part two: Explain the following 14 shell commands. Part three: Pick a third topic and write about it."
Also, in my statistics class today, I found out that I got a 50/50 on the last quiz (mean: 30, standard deviation: 13). This means that I still have a good chance of not having to take the final at all. In order for that to happen, we need to get a 650/700 or better. At present, I have a 603/650, and there are two quizzes left, and he drops the lowest score. Today he told us that we can get extra credit, if we present to him a picture proving that we thought about statistics on Thanksgiving, so I guess I'll be taking a picture at the dinner table and running out to get it developed over the weekend.
I wish Tuesday were a better TV night.
posted by Beth at 9:16:00 PM
Sunday, November 21, 2004
I have little to say.
Last night, I watched Boy, Police Brutality Is Scary the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It still sucks. The whole baby subplot still feels totally tacked on, the kids are still completely unlikable, and the family is still too damn big. I really, really hope that I get the DVD of the original for Christmas, so I can hear Gunnar Hansen's commentary. It all makes me miss the Monster Mania Con so much. I went in not really caring that the guy who played Leatherface was going to be there (well, I liked the movie a lot, but I thought that the actor himself was immaterial), and then I left thinking that he was super smart, and I couldn't get enough of his stories about making the movie, what it was like, how bad the conditions were, how he hates the remake, etc. How long do you suppose a person could hang from a hook before dying? I hate the way the music swells, when stupid Jessica Biel has to kill her friend.
posted by Beth at 1:08:00 AM
I hope it is pleasant, even though you'll be at work all day, and the rest of your gift is in the mail, and I bet it arrives at my house two seconds after you've left, and then you have to wait til next week to get it.
Everyone should celebrate by telling me how I can't agree with myself and by insisting that only my school district took the Iowa Test (which is untrue!!!1).
So Kmart and Sears have merged. The people in the office where I do work study kept making jokey jokes like, “now instead of two bad stores, there’s just one.” Well, I hate when people hate Kmart. I like Kmart a lot actually, and I’m very verbal about it. I admit I don’t buy much from there, but that’s largely because I don’t buy very many things at all, and the things I do buy are games and books and CDs that they wouldn’t carry. It’s the Wal-Martization of our country that’s a problem. I always find Kmart to be a much more pleasant store. Wal-Mart is always more crowded, the lighting is more harsh, there are always piles and piles of boxes right out in the middle of the path-walk-thing. And okay, people act like Kmart is some kind of trashypeopleland, but I find the yokel-element at Wal-Mart to be far worse. Kmart is trying hard to improve its image (and I really have to wonder why Wal-Mart doesn’t seem to have the same image problem). They’re redoing the website, and it’ll reopen tomorrow, I think. And I am a big fan of sale papers, and I’ve noticed that the Kmart paper looks a lot classier these days. You might even mistake it for a Target paper, if you didn’t look at the front. {g} The merge is supposed to be good for both Sears and Wal-Mart, and I hope it works out for them both. I raise a glass to Kmart.
I dislike store snobbery a great deal. If you have a favorite store, then that’s okay. That’s not what I’m getting at here. The “bad store” talk made me think back to when I took Intro to Advertising, and some girl said she’d never shop at JC Penney, “because it’s for mommies.” I just really hate that in a person. Does that mean that if she saw something she really liked there that she’d never buy it? Or does it mean that she’d never even allow herself to like the stuff at that store? I think it’s a foolish consumer who would behave either way. If you see something like you, buy it. Why does it really matter where it came from? And another thing: we live in rural South Jersey, and you aren’t going to find very many upscale stores around here. If you live in the city, that’s one thing, but when I first went to the King of Prussia Mall, I realized how our South Jersey malls don’t have nearly as many of the ritzy stores that the King of Prussia Mall has. Mine is really neither the area nor the school for the hipster cosmopolitan. Enh. {growl}
I sound like a crazy person.
On an unrelated note, I forgot to mention that I made (mixed up) some butterbeer, and it’s pretty good. Not as great as I’d imagined it to be, but it’s alright.
posted by Beth at 10:49:00 PM
Monday, November 15, 2004
Snap! Today is a really empty and somewhat irritating day at school, which is where I am now. I did my work study thing where they never ask me to do any work, and now that’s over. I knew I wasn’t going to have my business perspectives class, because we’re supposed to use that time to do research on our paper (and no one does, I don’t think); And then it turns out that my accounting class has been canceled for some reason. My horrible economics class doesn’t start til 4:45, so 11:30 until up to that point is just me sitting around and doing different things at school. I’m really not as mad about it as I might sound, but I’m really glad that I bring my GameBoy and my knitting everywhere I go. The worst part is that the only class I DO have today is my most hated class of all.
This was a long weekend for me, as I didn't have to go to school on Veteran's Day. I'm glad I got an extra day for sleep. Before I leave for school Monday, I'm going to have to do a take-home test in economics, and I haven't even started it yet. That has to be my worst subject in the whole world. It's depressing and boring and ick. I prefer micro to macro, but it's still hellish. I should be thankful that this is a take-home test, in that I didn't have to study and force the knowledge into my brain. I should also be happy that it's multiple choice, and I can just flip through the book and look things up. I am unhappy that it's 99 questions. Wah. Don't want to do it!
Either my brain is having technical difficulties or else my monitor is. I'll look away and look back at the screen, and it seems like everything is dimmer than it should be. I particularly notice this, when I look at a white field. I look away again, and it's okay. This is a new occurence. But then I notice that it only happens, when the ceiling light is on (and it usually isn't, but I needed the light, so I could reference a book for the accounting project I just finished). The monitor is six years old, but that shouldn't matter right? Maybe it's me. Isn't Maybe It's Me a Treble Charger album? I love that album. Now I'm lamenting my ass off in that I own but one of their albums, but I heard clips from a newish CD of theirs called Detox and it was really terrible. It was wretched pop-punk crap that the youngsters are so crazy about these days. Blek. How did they go from "Ever She Flows" to that? I could probably totally clean up on TC CDs on half.com, I bet. I am digressing my ass off.
Right, so tonight as an early birthday dinner, my uncle took me to the Olive Garden, and it was tasty. They have pumpkin cheesecake this time of year, and it's pretty good, but having non-chocolatey dessert always leaves me feeling like I'm missing something. For my birthday this year, my mom is making me a pecan pie. That's the first time ever for that. Last year (or was it longer than that?) she bought me a cheesecake. That was weird and kind of a drag, but pecan pie is the answer. Sheesh, before I got started on this entry I thought I had actual things to say. I guess I don't.
posted by Beth at 6:09:00 AM
I can't believe I'm racist for thinking white people are dorks. Someone should stand up for all of the oppressed crackers out there.
posted by Beth at 1:32:00 AM
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Also, you should take a look at the comments from a livejournal post I made. Actually the post itself is on this page, but the comments are unsetlling, I find.
posted by Beth at 3:38:00 AM
Earlier, I was thinking about how it smells that I don't have many TMBG mp3s on my computer. Well, I have a lot of the free ones and that sort of thing, but I mean in terms of actual albums. And yet I have every Neko Case and Tori Amos album ripped to my computer. So out of nowhere I just set about the task of going through them all and ripping them. Working in order, I am now up to Mink Car, and rather than being tedious (since I need to go through the files and number them, because listening to them in alphabetical order is crazyland), it's passed the time incredibly quickly. Now I will listen to more TMBG than I have been, and that shall improve my quality of life in this horrible, horrible time. I'm ripping all of my EPs, to. Except for the S-E-X-X-Y EP and that Malcolm in the Middle EP. For some reason, both my drives hate them. My D drive spits it right back out, and my E drive pretends it's still empty. So aside from that, I'm ripping a ton of stuff, even the crappy songs. That comment could potentially get me in trouble, as I seem to love some of the TMBG songs that others hate. {g}
This whole pro-cess has got me overflowing with love for TMBG all over again. My house has TMBG love coming out the doors and windows and everything. I think it's increasing our property value. I wish "AKA Driver" were a dress, so I could where it and walk about the town.
Sometime this weekend, I must write a brief paper comparing Knoppix to Windows. Everyone in my class was given a CD with the operating system on it, which will cause things to load a little slowly, but I like what I've seen of it. I'd be cool with it if Linux ever took over the world, I think. But I don't see that coming.
It seems that Neko Case loves me so much that she is releasing an album the Tuesday before my birthday (actually that day is my cousin Craig's birthday, but he doesn't talk to me, because he's a cakesniffer). Anyway, I think she is the tops, and I greatly appreciate her gesture.
I have a question. Is looking at a map cheating? I'm working through Metroid II here, and I've managed to find 19 out of 39 Metroids. I told myself that I would not consult a walkthrough, but I did just check a map on gamefaqs. Does that make me an evil dragon? I've been using the word "dragon" a lot lately and calling things dragons that aren't dragons.
I'm so full of pointless garbage right now that I'll mention something humorous. Harry said that this week, he rented and watched that Garfield movie with my cousin Christopher (who is 11 years old and tonight he was telling me how he will spend money on absolutely anything, even if he doesn't want it and how he likes to burn things in his driveway. I don't know which of those things irritated me more, actually...). So anyway, Harry said, "It was really predictable. I knew how it was going to end." Whaaat? That made me laugh a whole lot, because he was talking about the GARFIELD MOVIE. That movie isn't something I'd expect to keep you guessing. {g}
Gee, the word "Linux" isn't in the AOL spellcheck. And I was surprised. I'd probably be blown away by the end of Garfield. o_o
posted by Beth at 3:08:00 AM
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
I am reminded of the last time I saw TMBG. John Flansburgh said something like, "No one knows what's going to happen with the election, but I know one thing: it's gonna suck." Well, yeah, except that I did know what was going to happen and that it would suck. Meh.
posted by Beth at 6:33:00 PM
Monday, November 01, 2004
Right now I'm having one of those, "wouldn't if be cool if I died horribly right this minute and then maybe some people would feel really bad?" moments. Oh, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
So I went to the show I was talking about in my last post. Doors were at 11, and I got in line (which surprised me by running the entire length of the block) at 11:10. They did not let us inside until midnight. Why does your website lie, Trocadero? There were some hardcore Marilyn Manson groupies behind me, and I heard a lot of interesting things about Marilyn Manson and his fanbase. I was going to mention them all here, but now I do not feel like it. The opener wasn't very interesting for me, except that there was a percussionist who played a bucket, a hammer, and a chain pretty well. They never even introduced themselves. When they were leaving the stage someone asked their name, and everyone thought the guy said "The Skeleton Kings," but I think they turned out to be called the Skeleton Keys. Rasputina was really awesome. I enjoyed the show a whole lot, and I'd see them again in a second. Mellora is the cutest person in the world. And I never understood why people would say that Rasputina's music was scary or whatever, because it always cheers me up to hear it. After the show, I got into the merchandise line and it was so slow that I had to leave it in order to cross the street and catch by bus on time. I didn't get to buy anything or see if Mellora came out to meet people. {frowny face} While I was pointlessly waiting in the line, though, I stood next to a girl who made me think of erika. She was short with short hair and glasses and she was talking about how she loves Halloween stores and how she'd be coming back to the same venue the next day to see Le Tigre (whoever that is).
On Friday, Dorothea came with us on a hayride and that was funland. Then she came back to my house and we watched Candyman and Freddy vs. Jason. I was all excited about showing her the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but when I checked the On Demand listings, it turned out to be the inferior remake of 2003. {frowny face}
On Saturday I went out and bought some fancy yarn at A. C. Moore. It happened to be on sale and everything, which was a good surprise. I've started work on a nice ribbed scarf for Nathan. That night, Nathan and I watched Halloween 8, which I had already seen. In the past week, I saw three Halloween movies, which is kind of a lot for me. Actually, four if I can count fastforwarding through the Halloween 2 that I'd taped off MonsterVision a few years ago. We just watched Joe Bob's commentary.
On Halloween Nathan, Dewey, and I dressed up as pirates and went around my Aunt Marjory's neighborhood. Yes I do feel old and lame for doing that, but I liked taking Dewey around, and he's only two years old after all. I missed seeing Baby Nathan in his first ever Halloween costume which was kind of disappointing. But I did see Baby Samantha in her quasi-Halloween outfit and Jasper in his first Halloween costume. Nathan and I also had dinner at Bennigan's and the waitress, who was sweet and very talky told us our costumes were cute. We came home and watched the Halloween episode of Newsradio and a history of Halloween show I taped off the History Channel a few years ago. Halloween was pretty okay, but it sucks having to get up early the next day. I'd like to have stayed up all night watching movies and things.
And today I had to get to school earlier than usual to go to a meeting for the Accounting Society. It was pretty interesting. There was a guest speaker who worked for the IRS and he talked about that. I would gladly accept a job with the IRS someday. My Business Perspectives class didn't meet today, but I showed up because my next class was in that room and the professor showed up in case anyone needed help with anything (so of course no one else showed up). I got into something of an argument with him about the election, and he said some nonsensical things, and I had poor comebacks, because I wasn't expecting to need to have any. I'm sick of the word "flip flop (flipflop? flip-flop?)" though, I'll tell you that. I am also sick of the kid in my economics class who insists on mentioning that all poor people are lazy and that is why they are poor.
I'm glad to be home and I'm glad to be out of that class until next week. Eugh. I am also practically nervous to the point of being sick over the election tomorrow. {frowny face}
posted by Beth at 9:01:00 PM
