Mmm... yeah, I haven't posted in a while. Bite me, been busy and always tired in the evenings. I've been neglecting reading blogs too, and email as well.
This is just to say that I'll be leaving tomorrow morning very early (4am) to go on holiday with my family. I'm going to Elba (Napoleon's place of exile). I'll be back Saturday evening very late, so I won't be on the 'net before Sunday. Expect to see many photos and stuff like that. *huggles her digital camera*

69: a love story. Maybe it's just because I'm easily amused, but that's funny as hell. XD

I wish this Sunday would never end. Well, not this Sunday, per se. Any nice relaxing quiet day when I can pick what I want to do. I don't want to go back to work tomorrow morning... I just want to sit here and enjoy myself, do what I want with my time. It's so nice to be able to do that, to pick whether I want to read or draw or listen to music or spend time with my friends online or work on something... I'll be able to do it in August, but that's two weeks away... bleh.

Because I'm pretty bored:
 

You are a muse.
What legend are you?. Take the Legendary Being Quiz by Paradox

My kittens are being super affectionate right now. If you saw them, you'd laugh. (I'd take a photo but everytime I move away they move close to me again.) They're both trying to get hugged, acting jealous of the keyboard and of each other, pushing themselves against me and purring... hehehe. Kittens are great. :D

Oh yeah, almost forgot... cold from hell update (just because I know that, out there, there are some people who actually care ;): sore throat is almost gone, I only cough now and then, but I still have a stuffy nose and, as usual when I get a cold, my hearing has gone way down. Bleh. Hopefully by tomorrow everything will be gone.

Went shopping for clothes this afternoon, something I normally don't enjoy because it's very tiring, not to mention a pain in the ass because it's so difficult to find something that actually fits. I'm not overweigh, or overly tall, or strangely built, or anything... it's just that nowadays clothes seem to be built for anorexic models and not for real people. Sometimes I swear it would be easier to just buy clothes for guys. Especially jeans and stuff like that.
I did get some nice things, though. A simple dress, a really nice skirt (ankle length, plain white - sometimes simpler is better), and three shirts.
I also met this ex-classmate of mine... this girl I hadn't seen since I was 13 or so. She's grown quite a lot... I remember this awkward teen girl who wasn't a very good student (once I agreed to help her cheat by passing her the answers in an English test, and got caught - hehe). She still isn't a good student (while I'm at university right now, she gave up right after high school), but she's turned very pretty. Was nice seeing her, though I didn't really know her well (though we sat next to each other and were "best friends" for a while). Funny how people change in 7 years or so... I wouldn't have recognized her hadn't she told me who she was. (She recognized me. Guess I haven't changed that much...)

Dot16.com attempts to steal the title of "world's smallest website". Guimp.com is not pleased.

True Porn Clerk Stories. Heh...

\o/ I got my digital camera \o/ It's a Canon Powershot A40.
Bets are accepted on how many photos I'll take in the next few days. ;) Hmm, I'll need a new, larger CF card... the one that came with the camera is far too small.

Hmpf. So. Woke up this morning with the cold from hell. Sore throat, stuffy nose, the whole nine yards. Was supposed to go to work this morning, but I really don't feel like it. Even my dad suggested that I stay home instead. So home I stayed, with a stuffy runny nose, a really sore throat, and a really cranky mood. I should call work so they email me the stuff I've been working on so I can work on it some more from home, but I can't be arsed. I'm feeling much too shitty. I could just go back to bed and fall asleep, but I'm trying to keep myself awake because sleeping during the day isn't good for me, it fucks up my sleeping times.
But I have two kittens in my lap right now, and they're purring and being affectionate, and that somehow makes it all okay.

Yeuch. BAD day today. Won't go into details, but it includes waking up with a damn sore throat that WON'T GO AWAY and I have the first singing lesson I've had in three months tomorrow, and me being incredibly irked with the people at work. Not a good day at all. Highlight of my day was finding a copy of Planescape Torment for €9. The original version, too, not a shoddy budget version. I'd been looking for that game for a while.

This is probably all over blogland by now, but who cares, I'm linking it anyway. A very sick fuck apparently thought it would be fun to burn a kitten on a barbeque grill.
I'm not going to get into the human life vs. animal life and the worth thereof argument which has undoubtedly already started (it has on the TTLG forums, for instance), btw, so don't even try. Cruelty is cruelty, and I'm honestly losing my faith in the human race, given all the shit that happens in the world everyday, of which this is just a small example.

I am honestly starting to lose my patience with supervisor/coworker lady. She's the one who ultimately decides how the website I'm working on, you see. The layouts I'd pulled out the last few days had met her approvation, so I went and finished them, she told me I should. Now, out of the blue, because she's seen a website that she likes (it's "cute", in her words), she decides to play designer, and tell me that I should change basically everything, change the font I used all over the layout, change how the navigation is done, etc. XO And this basically means that I have to redo design elements that took me an hour each, from scratch, because the font she told me to use is wider than the one I'd used and so they don't fit anymore. XO And it's absurdly fucking ugly, too. It doesn't fit the layout at all. I'd spent an hour going through all 700+ of the fonts I have to pick the perfect font for the layout, and what does she do? Play designer and pick a font that I'd not even considered because it's too wide and too linear, especially when used bold (which she wants me to do). (The font in question is President. Similar to Papyrus, if you've seen it. If not, you aren't missing anything, believe me. Papyrus is pretty decent, President took all the good characteristics of Papyrus and chucked them away, for what I could see. And neither fits in the layout.) XO Oh, and she wants me to replace font I'd used on the navigation menu, Silkscreen, with... Comic Sans MS. Comic Sans MS. Aaaaaaaargh. XO I hate people who want to play designer but have no clue what they're doing. XO

And how much do you want to bet that when I'm finished with the changes she won't like them anymore?

Bloody hell, the settings on this computer are a pain in the ass. I don't care if web desktop and clicking only once on a folder/file to open it is l33t according to the other people who work here, I'm changing it back to doubleclick to open and singleclick to select.

...
Typical. Just as I decide to open IRC, supervisor/coworker lady arrives. It's going to be a loooooooong day.

*yawn* So now I'm bored as fuck at work, and doing blogrounds and stuff. Must remember to clear cache and history later. I'm not going to open IRC, because I fear that supervisor/coworker lady will walk in and ask what I'm doing... >:| She's not in the office right now, thank fuck. She's nice, but having her watching me like a hawk, checking over my shoulder how work is progressing, and asking every five minutes to see the layouts I'm working on is a royal pain in the ass, and incredibly stressful. It happened all of yesterday morning, and it grated on my nerves so much.
...
...must definitely remember to clear cache and history later. She could very well check the history after I leave and see me badmouthing her... -_-# It's not that I dislike her, really. She's nice. Though definitely too... what's the word for a person who's always in the "let me see what you're doing" attitude?
...
...oh what the hell, I'm opening IRC. Even the secretary is using the 'net to surf and not to work... (hehe, I didn't know she liked mystery stories. Ellery Queen, Miss Marple, and all... heheh.)

(Originally scribbled this on the train, around 8am. Waste of paper, thinking about it now, but I needed to vent somehow.)
So this morning I go downstairs and into the kitchen to have breakfast, and my parents are there. "Good morning," I say. And they say "good morning" back.
Then there's a pause.
Then my dad starts bitching.
"I was feeling sick last night, at 1:45am, so I went to the bathroom, and so I noticed that under your door it showed that your light was still on, now I don't know about you but I think that everybody needs to sleep and you really should sleep more and not stay awake until 2am because you have to wake up early in the morning and you need sleep because if you don't sleep then you're cranky and rude and irritable, see, you're already frowning, look at me, I always try and sleep my 8 hours per night..."

Pause, rewind, comment.
I was feeling sick last night (funny how even if he was feeling sick he checked under my door to see if the light was still on) at 1:45am (bullshit, I finished reading "Good Omens" and it was 1am and I turned off the light immediately) so I noticed that under your door it showed that your light was still on (something tells me I should use that book light I got last Christmas more often) and you really should sleep more (and he really should mind his own business, so I stayed awake until 1am reading, so what? It's not like this is anything new, it's something that has been happening since I was 12) and not stay awake until 2am (notice how time is entirely subjective for my parents) if you don't sleep then you're cranky and rude and irritable (uh, no, if I don't sleep I'm sleepy and tired and exhausted, I don't even have the energy to be cranky and irritable and easy to anger, it's happened and I hate it) see, you're already frowning (well, maybe waking up and coming downstairs and getting immediately bitched at has something to do with it?) I always try and sleep my 8 hours per night (yes, that's why I started sleeping with the door of my room closed, because I used to get woken up at 2am by the light from my parents' room flooding the corridor and, from there, my room, cause my dad stays up until 2am watching TV)

"And maybe if you came downstairs for breakfast earlier we'd have more time for social interaction, and the same goes for dinner, you're always late for dinner, and yesterday you only took the time to argue with us then you went downstairs to the computer, and I saw you laughing and having fun with your online friends, you should spend more time with your family..."

Pause, rewind, comment.
And maybe if you came downstairs for breakfast earlier we'd have more time for social interaction ("social interaction"? I call that "getting bitched at", and I don't like it, why should I give them more chances to do it? And how is it my fault if my alarm clock didn't ring, so I woke up late, so I was late for breakfast?) you're always late for dinner (that's utter bullshit) yesterday you only took the time to argue with us then you went downstairs to the computer (no, not really. It went like this: I got home from work, pretty much exhausted, chatted with mom a bit about my day while my dad watched TV, then went downstairs. Then went back upstairs for dinner and I talked more, and at one point I made a joke which made my brother and mom laugh and my dad bitch at me. And when I said that he shouldn't bitch at me because it was a joke, he basically said he was tired because he'd been working the entire day and I should have some respect. Then after dinner was finished, he went to watch TV and I stayed and chatted with my mom some more, then I went downstairs.) I saw you laughing and having fun (what, is having fun against the law?) with your online friends (yes, I was having fun with my online friends, since my father chose to bitch at me for nothing and then sit in front of the TV laughing his ass off at some stupid movie instead of staying to talk with my mom) you should spend more time with your family (and their idea of "spending more time with my family" is "sitting in front of the TV together"... yeah, right, that's social interaction, sure. And then when I ask my parents if they want to go to the cinema with me and my brother, or if we could go visit this or that museum or park or whatever, they say "no, we're busy")

And then one of my kittens came from the garden, running like hell, and she looked scared and scratched at the door desperately, so I stood and opened the door since my parents were ignoring her, and I got bitched at ("you're already late, do you want to miss the train and not go to work this morning? Yes, of course you do"). Well excuse me, so I should not open the door (took all of two seconds) and leave my scared kitten outside? And then I asked where the other kitten was, and they said "outside, now shut up and eat or you'll miss the train". And their excuse for not leaving a window or door or something open for the kittens to come inside if they wanted was "it's cold". Well if it's cold, then maybe you should wear something more than shorts and a tshirt. And then when I got out of the house, the other kitten ran and tried to get through the door before it closed, but he was too late so he stood there mewing and scratching at the door. And I wanted to call my parents from the train and tell them to let the kitten in, but I don't particularly want to get bitched at because "I care about the kitten more than I care about my parents" or other such bullshit. And now I'm worried about the kitten and pretty much in a lousy mood. Joy.

Huh. Parts of this movie were shot in my city (my mom noticed, it's on TV right now, and she called me and my brother upstairs to see).

You know those days when you wake up in the morning and it's raining cats and dogs, and the cat is curled up next to you and purring and you don't wanna get up but you have to? And you drag yourself out of bed, and put on spring clothes even if it's July and summer, not spring, because it's cold outside.
And by 2pm it's a beautiful, nice, sunny, HOT summer day.
For fuck's sake, Mother Nature, stop messing with the weather. Yesterday it was nice, sunny, beautiful, HOT in the morning, and it rained cats and dogs in the afternoon and I was wearing sandals and stuff and I got home cold and drenched. (Not to mention that I had to get in muddy water up to mid-shin, because a road behind my house, which I use as a shortcut to get home, was totally, entirely flooded, as usual when it rains.) Today it was raining cats and dogs in the morning and it was awfully cold, and now it's HOT and I'm MELTING fs. Gah.

Went to see "Lilo & Stitch" yesterday. Fun movie. Funny as hell in some places, made me cry at some points ("Ohana means family, family means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten." and "This is my family. I found it all on my own. It's little and broken, but still good." - bah, I'm such a soft-hearted fool). Cute little movie. (I want a Stitch of my own!)

Huh, a storm is coming. Just heard this awfully loud thunder. Good, we needed a bit of rain. Thankfully I'm in the office and not forced to stay outside as everybody else is on lunchbreak... they've decided they can trust me with the office keys and stuff. w00t.

Been reading "Good Omens"... great book, really funny. Favourite quote for now:

"Asteroid strike?" said Aziraphale. "Quite the fashion these days, I understand. Strike into the Indian Ocean, great big cloud of dust and vapour, goodbye all higher life forms."
"Wow," said Crowley, taking care to exceed the speed limit. Every little bit helped.
"Doesn't bear thinking about it, does it," said Aziraphale gloomily.
"All the higher life forms scythed away, just like that."
"Terrible."
"Nothing but dust and fundamentalists."
"That was nasty."
"Sorry. Couldn't resist it."

Oh yeah, I'm going to the cinema to see Lilo & Stitch later this afternoon. I've been told by friends that it's "way too cute". Should do for a mood lifter.
(I just wish MIIB would be released sooner over here. September 13th, bloody hell... why are we always the last to get good movies?)

Dad came back from Cambridge (he was there for work) and brought me some books. Three of which I already had. ^^; Now I dunno what I'll do with them... I'll give them to friends or something. Not his fault if he didn't know I already had them... I do have a load of books, and it's difficult for my parents to keep track of what I have and what not. I did get Neverwhere (I already have it in Italian, but I like reading books in English if they've been written in that language originally, translations can suck), Good Omens and Stardust. I'd mentioned to him that I like Neil Gaiman, and he remembered. ^^

Hrhm. I should start a booklog, perhaps. I read so much, and I need somewhere to talk about the books I've read. I could just do it here, I suppose, but a booklog would be more focused... dunno. I'll think about it.

(Speaking of books, read The Handmaid's Tale. Bloody good. Freaky, but good.)

Zeruel, it goes on to 67 before ending. Yes, I clicked through all of it. It's called "utter boredom and nothing better to do". XD

Yes, I know I haven't blogged in a while. Just not been in the mood, what with having arguments with my parents, being generally upset, eing forced to do something else than stay at the computer (either that or getting shouted at... I'll pick the first option, thanks). I thought summer was supposed to be a time for relaxing? Yeah right...
Anyway, I started on my internship today. I'm blogging from work, too. It's a nice place, I've got a l33t computer with this absurdly l33t wireless keyboard and mouse with lots of extra buttons I'm afraid to touch because I'll probably screw something up and stuff. It's got WinME though (ick). And of course, as soon as it loaded, two programs crashed, without me touching anything. Yay for stability.
I actually got something done this morning, despite installing mIRC and messing around on IRC and forums and stuff. And this looks like it'll be entertaining work after all (redoing their website... I'd imagined I'd get it done quickly and then be bored out of my skull, guess I was wrong, I want to do this really well which will take me the entire 6 weeks of the internship). Well w00t.
I'll be working here for two weeks and a bit (until Friday the 26th of July), then have August free, then I'll come back here in September (for the entire month). And I'll be on holiday from the 27th of July to the 3rd of August, so don't expect me to post much until August. I will sneak online from work, of course, but I will actually have to get work done. And I want to get work done. For probably the first time in my life. Yeah, I'm lazy. So what?
Oh, I'll also be getting a digital camera soon(ish), so you can expect to see this turned into some sort of a photolog, or a photolog being started. I love taking photos, and I'll most likely post the ones I like the most.

!sdeen gnihcraes sdrawkcab ruoy lla rof ,rorrim elgooG XD

Typing speed test. 409 correct keypresses per minute was my first score... hrm, I'm sure I can do better. *goes to try again*
[EDIT] Whee, 436. \o/

The 5.25" disk sleeve archive. Heh... you know, I actually miss those big floppies. They were a piece of my childhood.

Wah, I got Nami in the Official One Piece test. Go me XD (Link from Reins-san)

And this is interesting - a view of the whole "peer-to-peer mp3 downloads hurt music" debacle by somebody who's one of the people the RIAA et al are "trying to protect".

And to go along with that, mathematical lego sculptures, including a Klein bottle. Heh.

Tic Tac Toe, on a Klein bottle board. Fun.

"You shall live in a old barn. Your job shall be to help small scientists." Hehehehe.

He cat or she cat? I got them all right on the first try. o.O Guess I'm used to cats...?

Computers reach one billion mark. I can't really remember what my first computer was, I was a kid... but I've been using computers since I can remember, since my dad's always used computers for work. I remember the before-Windows days, with only DOS around, and this DOS text editor which was red and blue and white, which my mom used to type up school stuff and I used occasionally to type up stories and such. (But I didn't like it how it automatically justified the text, so once, when I had to type up something for school and then print it, after typing it up I went and painstakingly removed each extra space. Then mom came downstairs to see what was taking me so long - this was 11pm, by the way, and I was maybe 7 or 8 years old - and she found what I'd done and insisted on replacing all the spaces I'd taken out, one by one. ^^;) And my dad had made a disk with games for me and my brother, it was one of them large floppies, and we put it into the drive and go to the B:/ drive in DOS and run autoexec and the program would give us a list of the games, and we'd pick which to play. And there was a labyrinth game, a railroad simulator, a qbert clone, a game called "Gap" which consisted of running around the edges of squares trying to change the color of them all without getting caught by the enemies, and you could press the spacebar and leave a gap behind you in which the enemies would get caught. And then there was a very crude banned editor, and me and my brother would make lots of banners and then print them out (on our printer with the continuous feed paper) and dad would get angry because we used up all the paper. Then we got Windows 3.1, and I don't remember much of that. Then we got Windows95 briefly, but dad couldn't figure out how it worked, until I found out how to activate the Start menu (from looking in the manual), but he didn't like it anyway so we went back to 3.1.
And I could sit here all day reminiscing about old computers and the stuff we used to do, but I suppose it'd get boring... ^^;

Pixeljam. Those animations are oddly soothing, especially when coupled with a soothing piece of classical music.