Well, Lunaescence.com has been renewed. My browser hiccuped and I ended up renewing my domain twice — for $36 a pop. ^^; Would have preferred to have just done that only once, but at least it’s done and I don’t have to remember it until 2009.
I offered to call Network Solution’s billing department and beg them to knock the extra charge off, but Mom told me it was fine and that she’d consider it a gift to me. *hugs* I love my mom! ~♥
And now, back to my math homework.
Excuse me while I “squee!” in geekish glee/delight.
One problem in eFiction is that the display order for the categories occasionally gets messed up. I gave up trying to fix them by hand a long time ago and just had Jasson give me a cheap and dirty work-around.
Well, tonight I came up with a solution all on my own. Sorry, this gets pretty geeky from here on out.
I made a query to the database, asking for all the subcategories in alphabetical order. I then created a while loop that took those 337 results and wrote SQL update statements for me. I offset the count by 9, since I don’t want to reorder the main categories since they’re okay right as they are.
And boom! 337, neat little MySQL update statements that reordered the categories for me. ^_^
There are times where I look at all the designs other people are doing and feel decidely inferior. This just suddenly made me realize just how far I’ve come and how much I’ve learned.
And it feels very good. ♥
Still obsessed with Naruto.
Still very short on money, especially now that I have to pay for my insulin out of pocket. ^^;
Figured out how to add a few things into the site, namely program the deadline function for challenges.
Overall, nothing new to report.
Well, Lunaescence.com is back… and I couldn’t be more depressed. And I’m not sure why. Sure, I’ve been depressed the whole time it’s been down, but now I’m even more depressed.
It may just be the realization that the progress my site had made was brought to a crashing halt. It may also be the knowledge that now I don’t have time to do any of the things I wanted to do with my site. The final semester has started and I now have to buckle down and find that internship and finish up these last things before graduation.
I don’t know.
I’m mad because the site could have been up yesterday (Saturday), but I didn’t feel like walking down to get the mail. Heck, I didn’t even want to leave the house.
Which brings me to a rant: What is it with us and bad neighbors??
*sigh* Friday, we believe our neighbors deliberately turned both their pair of mastiffs loose. They’ve come right out and admitted that Judge, the big male, is vicious. He’s bitten someone twice now, attempted to bite our neighbor once. I spent much of Friday hiding in the house while animal control attempted to capture Judge.
That damned thing actually charged the animal control truck and wouldn’t let them officer get out. The officer eventually managed to coax the little female mastiff (which shockingly seems to be nice and even-tempered) to jump into the cab of the truck on her own, but then proceeded to sit there until backup arrived.
They finally managed to capture Judge and carted him away to the pound.
Anyway, the reason we think they did it on purpose is because the husband (or whatever he is) turned out to actually be home. The little female was loose first, but we didn’t know if she was vicious like Judge, so we stayed inside. I looked outside at one point and watched the guy walk right past the dog, get into his truck, and speed away. Less than 10 minutes later, I look back out and see Judge.
Oh. No.
I’m not scared of big dogs, but I’m scared to death of Judge. I really hate to say it because I love animals, but I hope he’s put down before he seriously hurts someone.
So anyway… Saturday morning, Jass walked down to get the mail, but none of us felt like doing anything. So when mail came that afternoon… it sat there until Mom went to give our statement to our landlords.
%$#^* credit cards.
Sometime either last month or this month, our credit card information was lost or stolen from a gas station we visited at some point. (We don’t even remember using a Wesco station, but apparently we did.) As a precation, Mastercard and our bank froze / canceled our credit card. We have a new card on the way, but it won’t be here for another 10 days.
Since we pay for our domain every three months, this month (December) was the month we paid. As a result, our domain has been taken down.
I’ve already checked with out host and they say all our data is intact. Once I clear the balance on my account, Luna will be fully restored. Overall, not how I wanted to spend my day after Christmas.
Okay, since I *think* I’ll have Christmas break to get some things done, here’s my tentative to-do list.
I’m just not sure how much I’m going to get done. Some of these projects are going to take a while. eFiction 3.0 is still awful buggy, though. We might push the upgrade and programming back a while to give the live version a chance to settle down. I don’t think Jass or I have the time anymore to redo our mods a million times like we did for 2.0 when it came out.
Since I’m directing more and more people here to pick up eFiction stuff, I really should redo the blog with my career in mind too. I’m going to have my resume and portfolio here, so I need to redo. Even though I made this layout for my final, I never quite finished it.
Jasson, though, has started to redo the Pink skin to address all the graphical bugs. If he and I worked diligently together like we did on Shuriken, we could have it done in a day. Ah, decisions, decisions.
I’ve been making layouts for eFiction for a couple years, but it suddenly occured to me just how many fanfiction sites there are that look exactly like Luna because I’m using the same layouts I’ve released. XD
We need a fresh, creative, and distinctive look that strictly belongs to Lunaescence. No release or sharing, it’s ours in the biggest sense of the word. Pink really doesn’t count, because it’s too girly (and glitchy, sorry Jass) to be a primary design.
Sure, I’ll keep my other skins available, but there’s several hundred sites now that have some combination or derivation of Shinigami Blues, Marauders, and/or Zenlike. Shuriken is starting to make the rounds too. Don’t get me wrong, it’s thrilling seeing so many people using my designs and seeing them translated into so many different languages.
I just suddenly realized we don’t have a look of our own. And that bothers me.
Even though I probably can’t claim it on a resume, this site has been a huge education for me. I want it to succeed and thus, I’m going out of my way to learn things they aren’t teaching me in college.
I guess the problem is, I’ve started researching area companies and realized that I’m about to enter the big picture. Some of these design firms and agencies I’m looking at blow my mind by how cutting-edge they look, especially compared to my sites. I know I simply have a bad case of artist’s vision and inferiority complex, but I really need to up the ante.
I’m just not sure where I’m going to find the time to do that! XD
So far, my summer seems to be going well. I’m partipating in the eFiction Project actively for the first time in a long while, though probably not as much as I could be. (Actually, I’m probably being downright annoying.)
One of the large sites must have pissed people off again, my site has had a massive surge in visits and new authors. I keep checking my stats, but I can’t tell what site is referring them. I’m actually very glad I brought in all those extra moderators. I’m used to the sudden hush the RL/AR used to get; all this activity is a tab unnerving. ^^;
eFiction 3.0 is going to be very very cool, but I’m dreading switching us over. I’ve added so many extras there is going no easy way to upgrade. ^^;; But… ooh, it is awesome. There’s just so many new things in this release, it’s just going to be pure awesomeness. (Is that even a word??)
My Kiwi layout has hit a bump, since I don’t remember what I wanted to do with it anymore. I can’t find my original design sketch either, so I can check my plan. XD I might just trash it and work on Green tea instead.
While I’m thinking about it, I need up re-do my blog. I’ve begun posting my eFiction junk to it, which is kind of cluttering it. I also want it to have a more professional look, since I’m going to put a portfolio and my resume on it. (I probably should clean up the language too *grimace, laugh*)
For the first time in years, we have a garden. It’s nothing special, just some tomatos, strawberries, and some flowering plants that I’ve planted in pots so if I need to move again they can come with me.
Local news has me feeling a little more optimistic:
Google to bring 1000 jobs to Michigan
LANSING — High tech – and high-tech jobs — hits Michigan with Tuesday’s announcement that Google will open a facility in Ann Arbor.
At a morning press conference, Governor Granholm officially unveiled the project that will add 1,000 jobs to Michigan’s workforce.
The new facility involves Google’s AdWords unit, which handles “pay-per-click” advertising to Google’s users. To sweeten the deal, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation gave Google a high-tech business tax credit worth more than $38 million over 20 years. (more…)
I sincerely don’t want to move to Ann Arbor, that’s way too close to one of my mom’s aunts… who is just way too much like Sheba for my tastes. BUT if it means I can get a good job doing what I enjoy doing, then by the Gods of warfare — I’ll do it! (What Karla doesn’t know won’t hurt her me.)
Other than that, we’re holding on. Mom blew a tire last night on her way to work and had to get a ride from our neighbor, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The local tire shop quoted her about $80 for a new tire plus installation, but then the owner decuded ti only charge her $50. ^___^
DTE Energy keeps calling, demanding their money. Maryann still wants her $600 back, plus we keep getting letters from collection agencies for some of the bills we incured trying to get out of Alpine Medows… so we’re not out of the woods yet. The pressure has just been let up a bit.
I’m trying to work with a lady who bought one of my books off from Amazon.com. There were 4 audio chapter review CDs that came with the book and I said they were included in my post. I remember putting them in the envelope with the book and so does mom and Jasson, but apparently the CDs didn’t make it there. The envelope was apparently intact, so they didn’t fall out. *sighs* Being good, I retraced my steps to see if I lost them on the way to the post office. Nothing in lost and found. I called the publisher and distribution center to see if could buy new copies, they’re only part of a bundle deal.
I’m more than a little dubious about the whole thing. First of all, she waited a month to e-mail me and is now taking anywhere from 5 days to weeks to write me back each time. She says she absolutely has to have those CDs for her class. I’ll admit that they were helpful in allowing me to study during the eviction and while moving, but they weren’t that helpful nor essential. I have no idea what’s going on. I finally offered her a refund and it’s going on about two weeks since I last heard from her.
Mom has come right out and wondered if she isn’t trying to weasel copies of the CDs out of me so she can have two. She’s also wondered if they CDs aren’t/weren’t in the bottom of the envelope. *shrugs* Her guess is as good as mine.
I swear, if I sell anything else on Amazon — they only thing I’m writing is the book’s condition. No information on infotrac or anything extra that comes with it. And then I’m going to mummify the damned thing so nothing falls out.
Anyroad, that’s my summer so far. Much love to everyone.
Okay, some web site must have puked because I’m getting an awful lot of idiots lately. These people can’t even spell their own e-mail addresses correctly, much less write a story. Seriously, “hotmail” isn’t that difficult to spell.
I suppose their inability to even register is a sign that my site is at least a little idiot proofed.
There’s one girl “Akemichan” who insisted on trying to get her idea for a story through. In a nutshell, she says “I’ll write it if I get enough reviews” in her paragraph and describing what her story will be about, complete with enough spelling problems to choke an elephant. *head-desk* I wrote her back and none-too-kindly informed her that we’re an archive and that I’m not posting her idea. She’s free to post when she actually has a story or part of a story to contribute. She must have deleted her account, because I can’t find her anymore.
Another girl writes us:
I changed my e-mail address. So, i dont have my password to get in. Is there any way you can send the pass word to my new email address?
And then gives us her “new” e-mail. No further information. This time Jasson answers and tells her “Uh, sure… if I knew what account you’re talking about.”
She makes another account. First account she made turned out to be with a fake e-mail. Then, apparently she couldn’t figure out how to spell “hotmail.com.” We deleted both accounts.
Then there’s was another girl who didn’t even know what AIM, ICQ, etc. are and insisted on filling up each and every blank with “I dont know what that is” and “Don’t have one.” She then filled her bio up with drivvel that she’s 15 years old and is such a HUGE fan of anime and has the super hots for her favorite fictional character that she has to type her thoughts in all caps and plenty of mixed 1’s and !’s. Of course, with all that passion, she obviously has nothing left to care about her spelling.
Yeah, someone get a mop and some bleach cause something seems to have yacked.
I’m not really upset by the idiots today. I’m just… disappointed. Maybe a little disturbed.
Anyway, letting that go I’m trying to figure out what classes I want to take this fall. Do I want to hurry up and get some programming classes out of the way or do I want to get speech done? Advanced HTML Programming is open and so is Interactive Web Design.
Flash and UNIX are both going well, so far I’m getting 100%. Though I do have to stop playing with LA and get my final started. (Yay, procrastination!)
Anyway, I think I should go to bed. We’re having our first ozone action day of the summer tomorrow and that always wipes me out.
Avatar: TLA has reached new levels of being a pseudo-anime. The latest episode, Zuko Alone, was simply gorgeous! The fight scene near the end was perfect; all I could think of was something out of Naruto, Samurai Champloo, Kenshin, or any of the other samurai/ninja anime I’ve seen. Delicious. ^_^
Yep, I’m a 26 year old woman completely and utterly turned on by a 17 year old fictional character. ^__^ And I’m damned proud of it!
Still trying to figure out some of the bugs in the archive, but I’m feeling lazy. After staying up until 3am every night and staring at code approximately 6 hours a day, I’m not feeling all that particurly driven to do the things I promised for the archive.
The Great Lakes Kite Festival is this next weekend and as I’m sure all my friends know, I go every year whether it’s rain or shine. ^_^
This year, I’m fixing fajitas for my contribution. Since everyone’s adults now, I’ve been feeling like showing off my mad grilling skillz. I’m making one recipe for Tequila-marinated beef and then another called “Rattlesnake.” (I promise I’ll share on the forums once I’ve had a chance to try them.)
I just hope Scott isn’t as big an asshat next weekend as he was this. God, he’s almost 21 now and he’s was acting like he was maybe 11. Lately he’s been spending 99% of his time hanging around these little kids in the trailer park, barely spending any time at home. I finally tracked him down about a week ago and asked if he was going to Great Lakes. It’s always the same time each year, the weekend before Memorial Day. I just want to know who is going, so I know how much food I’m fixing Friday night. He wants to know when it is. *sigh* (Same time it’s always been?) He then wants MY permission to bring along this 11 year old kid who repeatedly glomped him while we were talking. (…. disturbing…)
That’s something he’s going to have to ask his mom or his brothers, since they’re the ones with the larger vehicles. My family just has a little, compact car that’s going to be crammed. Plus, none of us want to be responsible for any little kids. He then proceeds to go all emo on me because his mom’s never home and that she’s spending ALL her time over at his grandparents, yadda, yadda. (His grandma just had a stroke, grandpa just had surgery to repair a detached retina). Okay, so you can’t CALL her? Call your brothers?
We went to a food auction this weekend with the hopes of maybe getting some food at reduced cost. He spent most of it being generally annoying and childish. The little kids ahead of us with the toy gun were annoying enough (“Click-click-click-click-click-click” for 4 hours) without him acting whiny or being an emo towards his mom and brother.
At one point, the auction sold full cases of suckers that were kind of like a Push-Pop. He wasn’t paying attention and asked what they were.
I replied, “Candy.”
Scott: “I know, but what kind are they?”
Me: “Suckers.”
He then starts whistling the “S” in suckers and eventually entertains himself by whistling the S in every word that had S in it. (Kind of like that beaver in Lady and the Tramp.) First time was a little cute, but 15 minutes later I was starting to feel homicidal.
Every time his family bought something, he kept telling them they should have gotten more or they had to bid on something. (Usually candy.) He did the same thing that he did with the suckers a little later when they auctioned off some powered soup mixes (Minestrone and Clam Chowder).
At another point, someone’s cell phone rang and they had a custom ringtone. Some time earlier, Scott had grabbed his mom’s cell and had become the mad snap-shotter. He asks if I wanted to hear his. I have to assume he means a ringtone. Not knowing if he still had the cell or not, I turned around and glared at him. He doesn’t have it, but he immediately begins giggling that he “made me look.”
Honestly, if he’s going to act like that all next weekend or if he decided to flip out over the fact I marinated the steak in Tequila, I don’t want him to come. I don’t want to hear a peep out of him.