Kataplex

Wash me clean cause I’m dirty dirty
Wash me clean so I’m pretty pretty ~Rackets & Drapes – Plastic Jesus

Okay, so this post is a bit late. I do have excuses this time – I was really out of it today, also went grocery shopping, had a messy dinner (it involved refried beans and grated cheese), and did some stuff for the Altador Cup. On top of that I finally got around to washing Kira, one of my Faerie Ixi plushies, which is a lengthy process involving my attention about every 20 minutes or so.

So what’s the big deal with the Altador Cup? I feel bad seeing Darigan Citadel doing so well and being so much of a freeloader – with research and other games I didn’t give it much weight at first, and then during the JN Staff Tourney I only played every other day. Now that Darigan Citadel has made it to finals I feel like pitching in more. Besides I’m what one might call an “achievement whore” and I’m still 240 Make Some Noise games shy of getting that megaphone, and 80 games of Slushie Slinger shy of those greaves or gauntlets or whatever they are. No big deal, I can play 50-100 games of Make Some Noise in one sitting. I can’t ignore the other games though as the aforementioned pair of games seems to carry the least weight in standings. I’m leaving Saturday morning and coming back Monday evening but I’ll have internet in the mean time and I’ll still be participating. I’ll also hopefully play catch up with my thesis, I was hoping to have 8 pages written by now. It’s not an emergency yet, but I can’t let this snowball.

Wow, that was like, one of the most boring entries ever. I’ll try and have Twist get some JNO your way once this thesis stuff clears up a bit. Hmm, have you noticed how I’m inconsistent with my song notation? I’ve always preferred Artist – Title or Artist – Title (Album – Track Number), but on JNF it seems like Title – Artist prevails, so I’ve learned to waffle a bit. I’ll try and consistently do Artist – Title, though if you really care about a particular post’s song, you can Google both terms and figure it out.

‘Cause I love the way that you shock-shock-shock me
Follow me to my house and then you rock-rock-rock me ~Arch Drive Goodbye – Eve 6

So first off, I’m going to take a holiday this weekend. I’m going to try to do work during it, but it’s a bit odd. First it’s odd that we celebrate the 4th of July. It’s so meaningless, outside of fireworks (which are done for so many occasions it’s pointless, like the weekly ones at Niagra Falls) – there’s nothing to remind us of independence. Just a bunch of chintzy red-white-and-blue things. The other odd thing is I’m going to a college friend’s house. I know her and her family pretty well, I even know things about her that her fiancé doesn’t. It’s always weird staying there. I don’t have any intentions of “messing around” with her, but as she’s commented before, we’re like a couple except the whole romance / horizontal tango thing.

I’m also going to be swamped in packages the next couple weeks since I did buy things today ($313 despite super saver shipping and a $20 video game credit):
-A Playstation 2
-8 MB Memory Card for it
-Neopets: The Darkest Faerie
-Final Fantasy X
-Final Fantasy X-2
-Final Fantasy XII
-Kingdom Hearts
-Kingdom Hearts 2
-Devil May Cry 1-3
-Dead Space: Platinum Edition (X360)
-Oblivion: GOTY Edition (X360)
-Bioshock (X360)
-Blue Dragon (X360)
-Lost Odyssey (X360)
-Ear Force X41 Wireless Headset

Now I can’t shop forever and ever. At least this will keep me busy.

Advertising causes therapy therapy
Advertising causes
Advertising’s got you on the run
Need therapy therapy ~Chic ‘n’ Stu – System of a Down

Online shopping is so dangerous. It’s beautiful because products of even a moderate scarcity are available, price comparisons are quick and easy, product research can be carried out, and it’s relatively effortless. Of course this means racking up large wishlists and bills is also easy. Today I confirmed I should be getting paid on Friday and am debating getting some Xbox 360 games, a Turtle Beach X41 wireless headset, a PS2 and some of the PS2 games that have been on my wishlist for a while. I could easily end up spending $400, which is a pretty big chunk of change to just throw around, especially with Rock Band 3 on the horizon. Of course I’ll be waiting for a song list to come out, and some reviews on the peripherals… but I’m still rather hopeful. I don’t know how much I’ll end up buying, but now that I’ve picked some items out and put them temporarily in the cart, it’s going to eat at me.

I suddenly understand what Don DeLillo meant in White Noise when he discussed existential credit being gained through mass shopping. Probably an American (or commercially induced) phenomenon, but it’s valid none the less. While we’re on the subject of Mr. DeLillo, I suggest never reading White Noise. If that’s the direction contemporary literature is going, I don’t want to read new literature.

When I end up buying stuff I’ll post a list, because bragging is half the fun. Plus you never know, someone might actually be interested in what I got.

Someone’s always telling me I’m no good well I don’t care what you say
Someone’s always giving me a hard time well I live day to day
Someone’s always putting me in my place like I don’t where I am
So I’ll just sit here in the corner without any direction ~Never Change – Puddle of Mudd

It’s almost July already. The weather on average is now hot and humid making me once again wish I had air conditioning. I can’t remember most of June, but I know I wasted most of it. No matter. I’m writing some very special content during the month of July which will be seen in August. What, Jellyneo content? That couldn’t have been what I meant. My master’s thesis is due on July 30th, so I’ll be scrambling to get that done too. I figure if I can write two pages per day, I’ll be in no danger of having an incomplete thesis. Given that Ask-a-staff-member has started up, it’s likely that sometime in the next month or two I’ll be fielding questions, seeing as how I’ve never done that before. Reminds me of the old personal quizzes in the Joodle Contests section. Ah, the Joodle Mart seems like it hasn’t existed in forever.

I am excited to be working on things this next month, and I want to get out of my slump. I just hope that everyone does their parts and it all comes together. I suppose it’s nice because it’s another project where I’ll be in control. I hate being locked out of places, though I respect it. If I wanted to break in everywhere I could, but what’s to gain from breaking the rules, stirring up the system? It just seems like I find myself constantly working on things or wanting to help out and finding out I can’t and having to spoonfeed it to some third party who has the proverbial keys. I bet someday it will change, but I’m such a klutz in public that maybe it won’t happen.

When it’s cooler I’ll finally sort my cards I guess, though I wish I had a workbench. I’m also thinking of springing for some fancy pants headphones, but I don’t really have the money… I think. Plus maybe it’s time I get a car? Wow, what random dithering this has become. I’m going to stop before it gets any worse. July will be better, I just know it.

Speaking of July, I’ll be spending the July4th weekend up near Schuyler and Sara. I’m not sure yet, but free food, ice cream, strawberry shortcake, and croquet are hard to turn down.

Hmm… that post title makes for a pretty good album title actually. No lyrics today, nothing comes to mind at the moment that really fits.

Another day of not getting as much accomplished as I’d hoped. I didn’t do the JN work I was planning on doing, but I’ll get it done. A lot of the problem is projects getting caught up in depending on others. There’s nothing wrong with working with other people, it’s just frustrating to be stuck beyond one’s own control. Control’s a pretty sticky subject with me, so perhaps that’s best saved for another post. I’m not completely inflexible, don’t worry. I also didn’t get the laundry done since one of the housemates has left laundry in the dryer for a couple days and hasn’t been around. I’ll move it tomorrow since that’s as long as I can wait due to underwear constraints.

I did fold my laundry, deal with receipts dating as far back as February, and took out the recycling and trash so I can’t say the day was a total waste, though from playing more Rock Band 2 I can say that Green Day: Rock Band was easier and that given a lull of only a week or so my skills have again deteriorated. That’s not terribly important  suppose, as it’s not a set of skills that is particularly useful. At the same time I rather enjoy rhythm games, gets me kind of thinking about what I would need in a relationship. Of course that’s also material for a post on just that topic… or something best relegated to a dating site profile.

Well disorganization runs rampant. I might as well tell you a quick story thing to round out this randomness. Up until 10th grade I didn’t have an issue with those anti-theft devices – the detector things you see at store entrances in places like bookstores and most mall stores. One day I had checked out a book from the high school library and because Borders doesn’t like playing with similar equipment to that used by every other store on the planet, my bag set off the detectors and they searched me and then made me go through Sears instead. Since then I’ve always had an aversion to going through Borders; when I pass between the two posts of a detector I get this feeling in my gut like I’m on a roller coaster and this chill in the back of my spine like the characters in a horror movie passing through a castle’s courtyard archway. It’s funny how one experience left such an impression. Of course, I’ve had several more incidents since then involving merchandise from various stores setting off Borders detectors, so I tend to just avoid the place altogether. When I want an Italian soda though it’s a different story… though I suppose I could just buy the syrup and mix one myself, it’s not very hard. Also yes, this apprehension only applies with Borders where I have things on my person besides my wallet or Borders in a mall – if I’m just going to Borders and it’s in a shopping center or its own lot, there’s no issue. Weirdness.

Inspiration’s getting hard to fake it
Concentration never hard to break it
Situation never what you want it to be. ~Sum 41 – Motivation

Oh look at that. Finally. A post. (Idle observation: It’s strange the ways grammar goes out the window in writing to emulate speech.) This thing’s been sitting here for far too long with no posting going on. It’s not that I forgot. It’s not even that I got super swamped again and couldn’t write anything. Frankly, I have no good excuse. I’m not even sure I have an excuse. No matter though, I’m here with a new plan. I’m going to make sure something gets posted every day, and I’m going to cap it at two posts per day. That’s a maximum of one “actual” post and one EDL post. I might write more than two posts per day – I’ll just date them for the future and they’ll automatically publish. It’s likely what will happen with JNO, since as I get more serious I want to make sure that segments are consistent.

While I’m on the subject of changes, look at that – I broke another personal rule. Rules are meant to be broken or something. Lyrics often say something useful, but I don’t like the idea of having something else speak for me. I guess I’m still picking them out though, and it works really well for Ms. Torratz Ruby Pasitoface’s posts so I think I’ll stick to that too.

Okay, to top off this post I’ll tell you the useless things that have happened in the last month or so. The JN Altador Staff Tourney was fun, though some matches were really stressful. Unfortunately, I’ve pretty much otherwise neglected the Altador Cup… which wasn’t my intention. ): I played Mass Effect 2 to completion (Insanity made me angrified many times and is a true test of skill in that game, not that it’s the hardest game out there by any stretch of the imagination) and completed LEGO Indiana Jones (all achievements, 100% completion, not just finished the story) in a matter of 72 hours. Yeah, see I have time for blogging. I’ve been keeping up with stuff on Jellyneo as well, mainly development on a fancy schmancy new project and a surprise that will hopefully be coming out in August, but no promises. Research is still going on, there’s a bug that I can’t figure out for the life of me. I have less than a month to write my thesis so I’ve gotta start on that. With the exception of the results page I *think* I can write it though I’ll be darned if I know how I’ll make it 30 pages. Oops, this spilled over past midnight. Don’t worry – I won’t count it towards posts for June 27, 2010 :).

That’s enough ramble… hello again world.

Later this week, serious posting will happen. I’ve been quite smothered this last week – not a usual occurrence.

6 Positive Things About This Past Week:
1. I saw the New York State Museum
2. I didn’t have to pay for any meals
3. Graduation ceremony is done with
4. I was able to see my rather aged father again
5. I tried a bunch of mystery cheeses unlike any I’ve eaten before.
6. I now understand my mother’s mental disability much better.

6 Negative Things About This Past Week:
1. I didn’t get to chat with Ms. Pasito[verb for consumption of fluid]er
2. I am incredibly behind on time-sensitive research
3. I am falling behind on JN staff happenings and JN project development
4. I have piles of posts to read back on in CT75K.
5. I am way behind on Altador Cup stuff – I even missed playing at all for a day!
6. I have an ugly letter and some checks to write regarding my new discoveries this past week.

Just a quick post to say that I’ve been… on a mad hunt for a certain red anthropomorphic Ixi and haven’t been able to post. Starting this Monday I’ll have time to write, as all my classes are over so I just have thesis work left at that point.

You will
… hear about a life-scarring experience I had at a Borders years ago.
… find out whether or not M347Grind3r was abandoned to his fate in Neopia Central
… find out what a horrible jerk M347Grind3r is
… get a peek (well… get a read) at Kokytos
… and more!

But for now, an Ixi is calling me…

I ventured to a local place called The Cookie Factory yesterday. It appears to be an Italian bakery of sorts. I tried a few things, so I figured I’d report on them.

Left: Chocolate Bar, Right: Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwich, Bottom: Cannoli

So first is the mysterious chocolate bar. I figured it would be something like what it looked like, though the chocolate wasn’t as sweet as I expected. It was still rather tasty though. The peanut butter cookie sandwich is two peanut butter cookies (which would have been delicious on their own already) with a chocolate patty in the middle and half of the cookie dipped. The cannoli was pretty good, but it had no chocolate component which was disappointing. That and the powdered sugar on the shell felt weird in my mouth – but that’s just a thing I have about powdered sugar.

While browsing around I realized I never bragged about the crab dinner I had earlier in the year. Not that it was part of a lineup suspiciously like that in Quite a Meal or anything. But here’s the messy results. I did use a hammer since I couldn’t find a crab cracker at the store – smashing along the plane of the legs’ thinnest dimension gave me easy access – I just had to peel back one side of a given leg segment.

I’m Twist and I’ll be periodically writing stories for Kataplex. If you’d rather not see posts from me, make sure you’ve registered and then send an e-mail to blog_submissions$mudbunny.net . Make the subject “No Twist Stories” and provide your username in the body. Just replace $ with @ – it’s not that hard. This introduction looks the same as a previous post, because it is. Why reinvent the wheel? This story is about a (hopefully) fictional thing known as the Jellyneo Office (JNO).

While leading Kataklysmos through the maze of hallways, Martin explained things in very much the same manner a tour guide would. “Almost everything at the JNO uses a cluster of computers named Tartarus to handle distribution of information and access. For the time being since your seniority level is Initiate and your clearance level is Minimal you won’t be able to use almost any of the facilities here, so there’s no point going over them. However since you’re part of the Programming Corps, you can’t have no computer so you’ll have a regular computer for now with limited access. The only other thing you’ll be issued is our standard augmented lenses. They have a connection to Tartarus and will label any door you have access to, which right now consists of your “cell” (it’s just a name for combined office/living spaces) and the supply room.  Since you wear glasses we’ll have to take you to the vision specialist and they’ll get things set in a few hours.

There are five levels of seniority: Initiate, Apprentice, Journeyman, Master, and Sorcerer. There are also five levels of clearance: Minimal, Functional, Nominal, Efficient, and Ubiquitous. Anytime you advance in seniority or clearance there will be a briefing, but that bridge can be dealt with when you come to it. Once we get you your computer and modified lenses, you’ll be set to work straight away. There will be an orientation session later this week since we’re expecting more new hires.”

Kataklysmos gets some swag! What could it be?