practicality

Managed to get the file exports to work again, so I've cleaned out the old databases, installs, and HTML files (I had three different archive sets), and upgraded to MT4.1

In life-news, slowly getting burned-out by my work/school schedule - I like my co-workers, but the hour to hour and half commute to work and selling overpriced produce to bitchy rich people is getting me down. I'm going to look for a closer job for the summer, but it's frustrating not being able to get jobs in my field because I'm not Canadian (almost all the grants and work opportunities are limited to citizens or permanent residents).

I also went and bought comic books on Sunday - Volume 8 of Sandman (Brief Lives, my favorite story art ♥), and Volume 1 of Transmetropolitan, which is awesome and cyberpunky, and which I think I may go buy more of today.

I feel like I should post more, but it would probably be all 'blah blah blah, my life sucks' because I'm an angry, bitter individual. Perhaps there will be WoW-blather later.

So, I installed Movable Type 4.1 the other day to play around with it. Unfortunately, it must share some key files with MT 3.34, because despite installing it in a different directory, it has borked up my MT3.34 installation. All the HTML files are still there, but I can't add new entries or access the export functions, nor can I edit templates other than the index. So I'm backing up the HTML and SQL databases and attempting to re-install 3.34 over 4.1 and hope it works. If it doesn't, well...I can still access my old MT 2.63 install, it looks like, and export from there. That goes up to March of last year, so it's not too bad.

So the gaming club's hosting is up in a few months, and having seen the package we've got now, it quite frankly blows. I've been pretty happy with the webhost I'm using for T-T.org, but it's been a good three years since I've actually looked to see what's out there in terms of hosting, and I figured now might be a good time. I know a bunch of you guys have your own domains - any hosts in particular you really like?

Second, I'm running for election as Games Librarian. One of the things that really needs to be done is re-cataloging all the stuff the club has - this is a mix of board games, card games, RPG books, novels, and magazines, and there's about twenty lockers of it. I was thinking that it might be a good idea to publish this to the web and make it available on the club site - basically have listings of titles tagged with type of material, genre, etc, maybe with a brief blurb about the source if I'm feeling really ambitious. The big thing is I'd like the tags to act as filters - be able to search for something that is both a board game AND fantasy, for instance. I'm not entirely certain how to do this, though - I know a lot of the blogging scripts out there now a days have built-in tagging systems, but as I am far too lazy to actually use them, I have no idea if tags can be compounded the way I mentioned. Input, anyone?

I know V-Day was last week, but I was sick and busy with midterms, so I had no time to make tasty chocolates for people. I'm still sick, but on spring break, so I just spent a chunk of my afternoon making truffle filling. A secret I will share with you all: people who've never tried making them think making truffles are really hard. They wrong - it's messy, yes, but hard? Not really. So making them is a really good way to impress people with your mad cooking skillz. And to that end, I'm going to share my recipes with you guys.

( chocolately goodness )

So, as I have no self-restraint, I went bought WoW today. What servers are people on my flist on?

Aaron? You might want to stop reading now, if you want to retain your respect for me XD; (And Aaron, Julie, this post stays between us. I am not telling people at the club about this).

So. As some may have already guessed, I caved under peer pressure, and downloaded the free 10-day trial of World of Warcraft. My short opinion thus far? It's not that bad. I'm not sure I would pay money for it (or get other people to pay money for me), but it's not that bad. So I apologize for my incessant mocking of you guys that do play - I was wrong (I'm not sorry for mocking the people at the club who drink/eat/breathe WoW 24/7, though, because they're still annoying - thus why I'm not telling them).

Because it's only a ten day trial, I'm just kind of mucking around with shit and seeing what there is to do - I made a troll rogue on Blackhand (I default to rogue-types - I've played a DnD rogue, SW scoundrel, Earthdawn Illusionist, and a new WoD Acanthus enchanter thus far), and my only real thoughts on that is that the Valley of Trials looks a lot like Arizona. I also make a night elf hunter on Feathermoon, so I could play with Jon, who made a night elf priest at the same time. Far more lulz ensured, including:
-Level 1 duels: like slap-fights, but less amusing (I've seen two twenty year old guys have a slap fight. It was hilarious)
-Prettypuss versus ripheathldgr (who was naked)
-Killing boars and having Bambi just prance right on through the battle ('Oh, hi guys! It sure is a nice night out :D!')
-Female night elf strip-dancing on top a mushroom (Jon: "Okay, you go grab those petals, and...I'll be over here. Dancing on top of this mushroom;)
-Magical robe of cleavage - a V-neck that would have made Kanoe proud

Commence the mocking XD;

New domain layout, long over due. New blog layout coming when I finish hemming and hawing over graphics details - I finally got the code to validate properly. Highlight of Tuesday night's SR game - the horror on our tech-geek player's face in response to '...WPA? What the hell is that?'. Highlight of Wednesday's Deadlands game - exploding rats (and the faeries did it, again). My Deadlands character is a cheerful blonde mad scientist/demolitions expert by the name of Melissa Bentley, who is kind of summed up by this XKCD comic.

In other news, 4chan has declared war on Scientology. Good luck, anonymous. I'm rooting for you (well, and I might put up some posters).

-Classes : Psych is the same as last year, but with a hotter prof, Microbi is awesome, biochem is off to a slow start, and physical chem makes me want to claw my eyes out with boredom. We'll see how things progress.

-Gaming: I am seriously hooked on Shadowrun and Mage (theme for Mage - "I've Got a Theory", because it could be bunnies), curious as to what happens in Earthdawn, slowly getting fed up with Fireborn, and about to quit Star Wars. I haven't had much time for video gaming, although I did start a new FF6 game last week.

-TV: Watching Project Runway, looking forward to Torchwood S2 starting. I also have a huuuge pile of DVDs to watch - the Alien boxset, seasons one and five of the X-Files, all of Brisco County, Jr, and Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2nd Gig. Unfortunately I don't have much time for watching TV either.

-Layouts: New domain layout is partially coded, new blog layout is in final stages of design. Dunno when they'll be up though.

A summary of the last week or so:

Air Canada finally got me my luggage back, intact; my bank sucks and still hasn't cleared the cash I deposited last Monday (which means I'm late on rent); had a very small but fun New Year's Eve gathering - a coupe friends, nachos, and video games; I made delicious spinach and cheese stuffed mushrooms for dinner; I'm playing FF6 again - starting from the beginning, as I've forgotten all the plot; have a new layout for T-T.org almost finished; classes start up again tomorrow.

I'm pretty concerned about the bank issue - I deposited the cash along with a US cheque at an ATM, because the bank was closed early (three pm, what the hell?). I'm afraid they've decided to slap the cash with the fifteen-day hold they give the US cheques, which means I'm going to have to borrow money to pay this month's rent, and be broke for the next two weeks until it clears. Gah.

Adding to the ton of recap posts out there, as I do every year :D In 2007 I:
-Went clubbing
-Got totally wasted (just once!)
-Moved out on my own
-Acquired a boyfriend ♥
-Did a lot of tabletop RP
-Worked full-time (well, for the summer)

Resolutions for 2008:
-Get back in shape - I slacked off on working out over the summer, and have an extra twenty pounds to show for it.
-Get more creative stuff done - I did a little writing, but nothing on the graphic design or sewing front for most of the year