OH MY GOD IT'S CHRISTMAS
http://youtu.be/k5QD7_v2DyY


And speaking of Left 4 Dead 2...just for today, it is free to get on Steam.

If you have Steam and don't have this game, GET IT!

If you don't have a Steam account, GET IT for this game!

If you already have it, GOOD FOR YOU!

Hello!

My, my, it has been some time since I drew anything, hasn't it? And it would seem it's been even longer since I wrote anything here. Not sure why it is that I haven't been able to do proper art lately while at the same time going commission-crazy. I just haven't been able to draw much beyond rough wire-frame figures for reasons I can't figure out. Must be an artist thing...should probably fix that. And I think this just might help!

To help make up for that (and to help fix it), I was gonna try something this holiday season: Christmas cards! Yes, I personally will send a Christmas card to your house, of my own design and (presumably tiny) expense, at no charge to you! And if my aim is any good, it will arrive at your door by or before Christmas Day! All you have to do is send a note to me with your address or, if you're one of those paranoid people, send it to my e-mail! And then I'll send you a Christmas card I designed and printed myself, and a nice note to go with it! (Which may or may not be handwritten! WOW~!)

I'm looking into Doctor Who, to try and get a feel for the growth and changes that have happened overall in the series. So I was hoping to get an idea which particular serials I should give a watch for an overall view of each Doctor? (Ideally, just the stuff on Netflix, but if it's not too much trouble to access, I could go with other venues - provided there's nothing illegal/litigous involved.) I've already watched "The Aztecs" with #1, as well as "The Curse of Fatal Death," and so far I've been recommended "The Empty Child," and "The Doctor Dances," with #9. Are there any ideas for the other 7? (8 apparently only has a TV movie. I'll stick with that.)

Also, I got a 3DS on Halloween, and Pokemon X to play. We should exchange friend codes! Mine's 2466-2801-7810. Woo.

So, is there anything else? If there is...I don't care, I've had enough of writing for now. Bye!

What the hell; everyone else does it, why can't I?

Ask anything you'd like. If you can think of anything you'd like to ask.

Some people are going to Anthrocon this weekend.
Some people are going to Anime Expo this weekend.

Me? I'm going to Everfree Northwest this weekend.
I'll bring my laptop, but I'll probably have trouble finding an internet connection. So, see you Monday, yeah?

Yeah.

Finally, made it through a birthday where something bad didn't happen. Or, indeed, where much happened at all.
I went out alone, I saw a movie, I ate a burger, I came home.

Thank god I don't have to put up with that for another year.

Trust no one.

Just kidding. There is no meme in this journal.

Because I'm not going this year.

And now there's even more.

Of COURSE they're going to re-cast everyone to appeal to the teen/tween demographic and ruin Star Wars forever!
After all, remember how they re-cast Shia LaBoeuf as every role in Avengers and that movie sunk like a rock?


...oh wait

You've just joined the 27.3 million Americans who are victims of identity theft every year!

Yep; got a nice e-mail from my bank about that this morning, reporting suspicious activity on my account and that I should probably check it. Log in to my online banking, and what do I find? iTunes Store, iTunes Store, iTunes Store, iTunes Store...this explains why my account seemed low even after depositing my last paycheck.

Fortunately, I called my bank as soon as I found these, and they said they'll send some fraud claim forms, get me a new card, and get this all sorted out. Still...I feel violated. As well I should, I suppose, if someone got a hold of my bank card number...eugh.

EDIT: Upon further investigation, I wonder whether they truly got my credit card number, or got their hands on my iTunes account...an account I haven't used since 2008, at least...oh, crap.
EDIT2: No, wait, they couldn't have done that. To do that, they'd have had to use the number on an older bank card that I had previously cancelled because I lost. Hrm...

EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE

So yeah, the first anime convention I'm going to. Don't know what to expect, but I'm sure after furry conventions, anything else is easy-peasy.
I'm looking forward to misidentifying all the cosplayers. Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvVw-R8Vg7s
Also looking forward to showing off my own cosplay skills: Big Macintosh, Hank Hill, and Mike Dawson are my planned costumes.
At any rate, see you Monday!

Also, RE: Something else: Give it till Tuesday, then decide how you feel about it.

Another year of failures to look back on. Another day spent disappointing my family while feeling incredibly uncomfortable.

24 today; I really don't like my birthday.

At long last, after some problems with hardware and software (advice: warped CDs can cause big problems, no matter how slight the warp may seem), I have finally got my computer up and running! i5 core, a GPU that cost more than $100, eight gigs of RAM, a terabyte of drive space all to myself. At last, something I can play games on with a decent setting!
Speaking of games, I'm going to point you all to my Steam profile in my ID which I think is just below this journal if you're reading this from my profile page. I'd love to expand my friends list...though I won't be playing games quite yet.

No, first I've got to do something more important than games. And that is...move.
Yes, I'm moving. Across the street, literally. It's so close, the only change in my address is going to be the last two numbers of my house number getting reversed. I'll have a larger room, a bathroom to myself, new carpets were just installed, there's a kitchen that isn't filled with awful appliances, and all for lower rent...it'll be a good place indeed!

Guess I'd better be off to bed now if I'm going to move everything in three days. That's a really full garage I've got down there.

Well, if it isn't one thing...

I finally got my computer together with a new motherboard (This one, to be specific), I plug my monitor into it with a simple keyboard-mouse setup, it finally starts up without a problem. I check the system specs and see how everything looks, and notice my CPU running at 88 degrees Celsius. I shut it down while I search for a solution on the internet. Thinking I've got it, I turn the computer back on, it powers up as before, and I get nothing on the monitor. It's not reading anything from the computer anymore.

I can't figure this out; everything's plugged in correctly, RAM's in all the way; where could I have gone wrong? Surely the video card couldn't have burned out from a grand total of two minutes of use? And wouldn't the fans on it stop working if the card really were burned out?
I suppose I'll just have to take it in somewhere to get checked, since a simple Google search shows there's a huge list of things that could be wrong.

PC-building is so much harder than I remember...

Hi there.

I have been fortunate enough to acquire a copy (Well, a Steam key) of DiRT 3. (That does appear to be how you spell it, funny caps and all.) But it doesn't really interest me, so I'm unsure of just what to do with it. Maybe someone else out there would like it?

I was thinking of maybe selling it to someone, or trading it for some art, or...even holding some kind of contest/competition for it? I don't know.

...Would anybody even want the game if I offered? Or do you know someone who would?

Motherboard is dead-on-arrival.

FUCK

And I think I killed my power supply when I tested it.
Ugh; everything I touch gets ruined.

Okay; as the title implies, I think I've worked out a good system for me to use. Here's what I've got:

-Processor: Intel core i5 2400. I know, I know, everyone on the internet recommends the 2500k. But here's the thing: the 2500k is made for overclocking; since I have no plans to overclock in my new system, what's the point of having an overclocking chip? And the 2400 is substantially cheaper without a significant loss in speed, so making that the alternative wasn't a hard decision.
-RAM: Two four-gigabyte sticks of Patriot G-series DDR3-1333. This one I'm choosing more on price than anything: $45, and a $30 mail-in rebate - why wouldn't I? :3
-Video card: An XFX Radeon HD 6870 1 GB card. I was prepared to spend up to $200 on a video card, but as it turns out, I didn't even need that - just a $150 card can cut it for me. I had some others recommended to me, but the 6870, at $150 after MIR, seems to offer the best bang for my buck. I'm still a little unsure whether to continue with it, though, if the rebate goes away before I get a chance to purchase - I suppose I'll revert to my original choice, the 6850, if that happens.
-Motherboard: An MSI H67MS-E43 (B3) LGA1155 MicroATX board. Four memory slots, six SATA connections, and enough PCI Express slots for any expansion ideas I might have. All for $70; not terrible.
-Hard drive: To start me off, a 500-gigabyte Seagate Barracuda at 7200 RPM. Not too much space, but just enough to start me off; I'll always have room to expand later, with my...
-Case: Antec 300 ATX. Big, not-super-flashy, and plenty of room for more - 6 hard drive slots, 3 optical slots, and only $50. Throw in the free cooling fans, and it seems like the perfect case.
-Power supply: Seasonic SS-500ES. I've been told SeaSonic is an extremely reliable brand; which is good for me, because it's also cheap as far as reliable PSUs go: $57.
-Optical drive: I've found an LG CD/DVD burner for only $17. They've gotten surprisingly cheap; must be all the Blu-Ray stuff they're putting on the market.

That about covers my hardware; monitors (I'm getting a ViewSonic VX2450WM...for FREE!), peripherals, and software come later, and presumably they'll be much more painless to choose.

Now that I have your attention, I've been doing some research, looking to buy parts to build myself a gaming PC for some time. However, since I've never built a computer on this level before, I have little clue what I'm doing when it comes to picking good parts. I've summarized what I've got planned below.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

-Processor: The Intel i5-2500k has been the most recommended recently, however I have two concerns with this. First, I've been told that Intel will be releasing "Ivy Bridge" processors in early April, so I'm unsure whether to wait for a price drop. Second, I've seen there is also an i5-2500 model for slightly cheaper, the only difference between it and the 2500k apparently being that the 2500 isn't unlocked for overclocking. Given that I don't plan to overclock my system, would it be better to just get the 2500 instead?
At any rate, I'm prepared to buy an i5-2500k: only $180 at MicroCenter, which is still at least $40 cheaper than anywhere I've seen it online.

-Motherboard: The one that was recommended to me at the computer store I visited (NCAL; a local place) was an Asus P8H67-M LX Micro ATX LGA1155 board. It'll fit into my computer case of choice and has room for everything I'll need in my building. (Another repeated point around the internet: Buy a motherboard for what you need, don't go nuts.)

-Graphics card: I've been recommended any GPU with AMD Radeon HD 6850 technology. This works fine for me, as I was initially planning on spending around $200 on a card, and since most of these 6850 cards are $150 or less, that's some good savings for me that I'm sure I can use elsewhere. Though, as it turns out, there are many many 6850 cards to choose from; which one to use, I wonder?

-Case/Power Supply: I didn't need anything fancy for my case, that's why I'm planning on a Foxconn Mini Tower - cheap, clean-looking, and supports just about all I need. According to AMD, for a 6850 card, I should have a 500W PSU. Presumably, I'll be able to find one that will be able to fit in place of the 300W PSU that comes with the case.

-Hard Drive: Two pieces of advice I've seen repeated: Never buy less than 7200 RPM, never buy faster than 7200 RPM, and never buy OCZ SSDs ever. Three pieces of advice I've seen repeated. That in mind, I figured a 1TB Seagate Barracuda should serve my current and future needs...until I decide to get an SSD for my OS, anyway.

-RAM: Planning on buying 8 gigabytes of DDR3-1333 RAM. 4 gigs is all a lot of programs will need, but with RAM prices the way they are now ($20-30 for a 4-gig stick) it doesn't make much sense to skimp. I'm planning on buying two 4-gig sticks of Patriot G-Series DDR3-1333. $45 at MicroCenter, with a $30 mail-in rebate. Didn't they say it doesn't make much sense to skimp?

-CD drives: I already have an external CD/DVD burner, though I was planning on maybe throwing in an internal one on my computer; I'd find it a bit of a pain to drag out the external burner every time I want to put in a CD of some kind, and since the one I was looking at was a 20-dollar ASUS model, I figured it sure wouldn't hurt.

-Internet: I've also been looking at the best way to keep my computer hooked up to a wireless connection; should I get a whole card, or just a silly little dongle? Speaking of silly, dongle's a funny word. Sounds naughty.

-Sound: It has often been said that nowadays, on-board sound systems are quite nice, and you needn't buy a sound card unless you're doing serious audio work. I might do so in the future...though I suppose it can wait. Actual speakers are something I've not done a lot of research on yet, so I'll submit this open question: what kind of speakers do you use for your computer?

-Games: Skyrim's obviously the big one I'm looking to run on my PC, as well as BioShock Infinite when that comes out, but I've also got my eyes on LA Noire, Portal 2, and the Mass Effect series. I've also bought a CD key for Saints Row the Third, which also came highly recommended. (Half price for today, if you were wondering why I bought it now.) Other than that, I hope just to run the stuff I have now at good settings: TF2, BioShock, Half Life 2, Minecraft, etc.

-OS: An install of Windows 7 should be about all I need. I'm told I can acquire an upgrade edition and install it that way. Windows 7 is good, right? Or at least useable?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

So, that's about all I had. Did I do good in my hardware selection? Do you whizzes out there know any way I could improve upon this?

Rather than provide a huge report, I'm going to take random snippets I can remember of the con and post them here.

-I thought I could pack light, and actually bring along my bicycle to the con. I was wrong; I took the big bag I had instead, and just got a ride to the local mass transit station. BART to Fremont, VTA to downtown San Jose, walk a few blocks to the convention center.
-Despite leaving what I thought was early (1:30 PM), still beat me there. Guess traffic was pretty light for him.
-Hotel room was surprisingly nice, I felt; though the convention center seemed to be ridiculously big. A long walk from the Hilton to where the action was.
-Why was pre-reg so long? Don't remember it being nearly as big last year. Are people finally wising up and pre-registering as they should?
-Got some nice compliments for my pony shirts: a Big Macintosh cutie mark shirt, and a more-subtle Diamond Dogs Mining & Excavation shirt. I feel pretty good about that.
-Got up around 8-9 every morning of the con just to go to the Dealers' Room and get a commission from an artist I like. I picked them up from , , and Tix from the Tix-'n'-Roo table in the Dealer's Room. I have no clue as to what their FA address is, though; if you know, could you please tell me?
-Sega Genesis is still popular; played some in the hotel room, brought it down to the gaming room and played some there, too. It's always more fun when you've got someone to play with/against.
-Made a few new friends, saw a few familiar faces. Nice seeing you and ! Also, thanks for the Dr. Whooves pin; goes great on my hat. :D
-Panels were decent, if a bit spread-out. MLP panel was unsurprisingly packed, the live animal demonstration surprisingly so; they ran out of room for people.
-Did a few art trades, will probably post those up soon...also got a ton of commissions/request works. I feel like such a whore now. :] Oh well; restitution shall be granted when I figure out where said restitution needs to go.
-Stayed with and a few of his buds Sunday night; had Pizza Hut pizza for the first time in...years, I think. Decent stuff; stuffed crust was still as tasty as I remember, though you couldn't eat it every day.
-I don't think I ever got more than 5 hours of sleep any night of the con; I'm definitely feeling the effects of that now. Sore throat, general tiredness, on-and-off headache, a nose alternating between runny and stuffy...actually, I think I've come down with a cold. Oops.

And that's that; see you later!

Since everyone else is doing it, so should I, I think.

Where are you staying?
The Hilton, and then the Mariott.

- When are you arriving and departing?
I shall arrive on Thursday afternoon, and depart on Monday afternoon.

- How are you getting there?
Mass transit + Bicycle.

- Rooming with?
 amtrack88  woollfen  bluekewne  akerin  foxpaws-zupe , and then  mikau and a few of his friends for Sunday/Monday.

Who Will I likely see you with?
My invisible posse...and possibly a couple other people.

- Con Plans?
See stuff, draw stuff, eat stuff, talk to stuff, play Sega Genesis.

- How can I find you?
Look for the DC badges. I've got a few.

- Do you do free art?
Good question...probably not, though; eh.

- Do you do trades?
Sure I do!

- Do you take commissions?
You REALLY would? 8D

- Do you have prints/Cds?
Nope.

- Will you be fursuiting? if so: What suit(s)?
Nope.

- Will you be going to parties?
Maybe; I'm not sure yet.

- Will you be performing?
Maybe; not in a suit, mind you! But still, maybe.

- Do you smoke?
Sure don't.

- Do you drink?
Not really, no. A Mint Highball or two, maybe, but that's about it.

- Gender
Male

- Can I hug you?
Maybe; probably not. I'm weird about touching.

- Can I talk to you?
Yes; you can!

- Will you be at any panels?
Several panels! I shall enjoy them, too.

- Can I touch you?
I NEED AN ADULT

- Can I buy you drinks?
If you'd like...though I don't really drink much.

- How old are you?
23

- Can I snuggle with you?
Probably not. I don't do "snuggling."

- If you're pissed off, should I approach you?
Sure; just saying hi can pick me up if I'm so pissed off.

- Are you nice?
Usually. I know I'll definitely be doing my best.

- Cliquey?
I'd like to think I'm not...I hope not.

- How tall are you?
5'11" or 6', depending on when you check.

- Can I Take pictures of you?
I don't know why you'd want to, but okay.

- Will you get anything commissioned?
Absolutely; I think that's one of the enjoyable parts of a con.

- How can I get your attention?
Politely, of course.

- Anything else?
Yes; I shall be bringing my Sega Genesis along! Assuming I can get it to work (Since :iconamtrack88 is charitable and was also lucky enough to find and bring an AV connector), I've also got a lot of games to go with it. You should chat me up, we'll go back to our room and play some! :D
Oh, yes, and let me tell you how grateful I am that I only have an hour-and-a-half commute by mass transit to get to the con, instead of the red-eye flights I know so many others are taking to get here. :3

Just look at all those "This year sucked, 2012's gonna be way better!" journals popping up!

And you thought the Merry Christmas journals were annoying! >:3

I don't say it enough, but I love you guys.
Every friend I've made here, I appreciate everything you've all done.
I don't know where I'd be without you.

Merry Christmas!

Skyrim.

Skyrim Skyrim Skyrim. Skyrim Skyrim? Skyrim Skyrim Skyrim Skyrim, Skyrim Skyrim Skyrim Skyrim Skyrim; Skyrim Skyrim.

Skyrim Skyrim Skyrim Skyrim Skyrim, Skyrim Skyrim, Skyrim Skyrim. Skyrim - Skyrim Skyrim Skyrim - Skyrim Skyrim Skyrim Skyrim. Modern Warfare 3. Skyrim Skyrim.


I suppose I need a computer that can actually play computer games, seeing how Skyrim is so important these ding-dang-days.
But I'll hold off for now; hard drive prices have been jacked up, lousy Bangkok weather.

# Knee joke.

I've noticed a number of artists who open up for commissions, then decide to close them down because nobody/almost nobody is taking them up on their offer.
What I don't get is...why? What's the reasoning behind closing down commissions simply because you're not getting any commission requests?
I mean, I've been open for commissions for a few years now, still have yet to even get my first one. But have I closed them down? Hell no; I may not have had any buyers yet, but if I were to close down the offer, I definitely wouldn't have any.

You really have to wonder about people sometimes.