Last week was my first weekend off since the beginning of October. When this week's schedule went up...what, another weekend off? Hopefully this is a trend. I was planning on making this a lazy sit back and do shit all day, but when I got up...I was being quite productive for once.

I got up and got a shower like most days. But then I decided to change all of the garbages since it needed to be done, and then I took OUT the garbage since I didn't want it in the kitchen. Kris had a fair amount of dishes built up, so I decided to wash them before the pile got TOO too high. This was all done by lunch time.

I then got a run with the other Fonda up to Wal-Mart where I got some paint for the kitchen. I bought the Majestic Tale paint we [and by we I mean Kristina] painted the living room a few days ago, but since she did most of the work, I decided to buy it anyway. Besides, with nothing to do this weekend and a suppose-ed snow storm coming tomorrow, it would be a perfect time to get it done. She can get the paint for the bathroom. (:

Besides potentially painting, I'm going to spend the rest of the weekend playing my Playstation, and re-watching the final season of Due South, which I didn't get on DVD until last night since stores around here are very GHEY.

Fun stuff. =D

When I went to work yesterday morning, my computer was in my closet somewhere, and it's hard drive in a case under my bed. Before I went to bed last night, my computer was restored to "just how I set it up when I took it out of the box" condition. I then spent all night going through the CDs I burnt off via Sio's computer [files I extracted from my hard drive] and putting the files back in their place.

Yes, after many, many long weeks: I have fixed my computer! o:

I'm not sure what to make of it yet. I haven't had a working computer since the first week in November. I don't even know WHERE to start with updating my journal, so I'll just do a quick recap of the MAJOR events, which...really only includes one thing. xD

( For those who care, you can read it here. )

In other news, I picked up Econoline Crush's new CD today! o: 10$ is all it cost - I was quite surprised. xD

So yeah. It's my birthday.

Sunday night, the last day Ev and Mike would be around until after Xmas, is when I got stuff from them. A huge card, a cake, and a DVD of a movie no one else has heard of, but we'll watch it one of these nights. I have pictures on my phone, but I left my cables at the apartment so I can't upload them now. xP

I got a nice gift from Shoppers Drug Mart too. I went to get some hair dye, 12$ plus tax, but I think the person who coded it into the computers missed the first digit, since I only ended up paying less than 4$ for it. I didn't notice until I left, because I thought the miss just said the price wrong. Oh well, I wasn't going back.

My computer is in the process of being fixed. I bought an external case for my hard drive, so I could access my files from Sio's computer. Once all the import stuff is burnt off, I'm going to flatten the drive and reinstall windows [which is what's essentially wrong with the computer; I tried copying over key files from Sio's computer, which did nothing but actually give me an error message instead of the usual freeze]. It's taking awhile, but it's getting done.

In other news: I'm looking for a new apartment. Enough said. I have a few places lined up, I just need to find the time to get around and VIEWING the places. -.- But on the plus side: I got the time off I requested for my birthday and Xmas. (:

First off: no, my computer is not yet fixed. ):

Secondly? It's very fucking miserable outside today. Snow and ice and the wind is just blowing it all around. We've been needing the lock on the front door replaced for awhile now, since it's been increasingly difficult to get our keys in and out of the door. My key broke off the other day, and our landlord said we'd get a new lock.

Yeah...that didn't happen.

Earlier today, myself, Sio, and Blair decided to go catch a movie and wait around for the mall to close to see what's for sale at the Market afterwards, which we didn't know at the time would not be until LATER since the mall's open later since Christmas is soon and all that. The cab gets here [we're no about to walk to the mall is the misery that is outside] and...my key breaks off in the lock again. I tug at the piece still in the lock, and then Sio tries to get it out. No dice.

We decide to just leave since we were already outside, the cab was waiting, and it would take awhile messing around with the key piece to get it out. The door on the inside leading down to the apartment was locked, so it wasn't that big a deal.

After the movie I decide I don't want to wait around for the stores to close, and decide to catch the soon-there bus. It occurs to me that if Ev and Mike had come back, locked the door and left...then we wouldn't be able to get back into the apartment [even though for the moment I was the only one leaving since Sio and Blair decided to wait at the mall]. So, I call up Evan to see if he'd been back to the apartment.

And this is when he gets angry.

Why? Because he and Mike have a freezer upstairs between the two doors. A big one, and he was yelling at me that the 300$ it cost would be on my head if someone stole it. NO ONE in their right mind is going to try and steal a freezer anyway, but whatever. So I get back to the apartment, and Mike's car is back there. The light upstairs by the door is turned off. I bang on the door and ring the doorbell a few times. Nothing.

Mike sends me a text message not long after saying "Oh, the key was SOOO hard to get out of the door". Well Jesusfuck, me and Siobhan aren't big and husky like he is, so obviously he's going to get it out alot easier than we would. I bang on the door and ring the doorbell some more, and send him a text message back. Before he actually comes up the stairs, I'd been standing outside in the freezing cold with ice blowing in my face for about 5 minutes. He doesn't open the door or anything, just unlocked the deadbolt and goes back downstairs without saying a word.

He and Evan have been in their rooms since then and haven't come out or said a word this way. The way they're acting just pisses me right off. The next time either one of THEM aren't able to get in the apartment I'll certainly remember this little incident.

I fucking hate it here sometimes. D:{

So, computer is still dead, and I'm currently stealing Sio's computer again. ):

And to add to my craptacular situation: we now have the upstair's crowd's MICE. For this last month, we've been hearing mice noises from upstairs, but apparently some Pest Control people were in, and things have been fairly quiet since then.

Until today, when we learned all the Pest Control did was push the mice down here.

I was planning on cooking chicken fajitas, but needed to see if I had any means of preserving the leftover chicken. I open the cupboard in under the sink, and...a big brown mouse since scurries across the cupboard. I scream and jump back because I do that every time someone's phone rings. I'm a jumpy person. Evan freaks out, and when I tell him there's mice, he gets worse, and doesn't want to come down from standing on the couch.

I call the landlord, and he says he's going to call the Pest Control guys right away. That was over three hours ago, and we haven't heard anything since. Evan doesn't want to stay here if there are mice, at ALL. Where there's one mouse there's two, and when I went into the cupboard again, I saw a smaller brown mouse run across again, and I also noticed alot of food crumbs around, which means they got into Evan's food [he keeps his stuff in the cupboard to the right].

After calling up my mom, she tells me that Fonda had mice problems when she was here too, and we're probably going to CONTINUE to have them unless we get a cat...which Evan is also afraid of. D: D:

On an upside, I have three peoples' Xmas gifts...all bought at EB Games. xDD

I am writing this from Sio's computer.

Why? Because mine is seriously broken. But more on that later. Even without my computer dying a horrible, completely un-necessary death, this week sucked as it was. Why? Work. 9 hour shift, 8 hour shift, 7 1/2 hour shift, 8 hour shift...complete bullshit. I'm tired, exhausted, and computer-less. On top of that, I've been dying sick since this time last week when I got caught out in that big rain storm we had.

Now, the bit about EXPANDER DRIVE MACHINE.

I was checking out some brushed I imported over from my parents' computer forever ago, since I was working on my Aunt's wedding video, that really was suppose to be done five eternities ago. It's my fault, since I fail at life and all that bullshit. Suddenly, my computer's CPU usage spiked to 100% and wasn't lowering. That's never a good sign. Tea Timer was taking up alot of virtual memory, but I wasn't getting any registry change permission notices, so I decided to just let it calm down for a few minutes. This is the first time I've turned off Tea Timer since I got the computer.

And apparently it was a mistake, since when I turned it back on minutes later, an onslaught of error messages and prompts and fucking crap just started up. I immediately opened AVG, and started downloading the most recent updates to the virus definitions. A little icon appears in the bottom right which I remember from my parents' computer when I had to spend an entire afternoon clearing away all the Malware on it. A fake security message warning me that my computer is infected with completely made-up stuff, and trying to get me to click "yes" to downloading software to delete it. Assfuck.

When AVG downloaded the updates, it suddenly said that they were corrupt and to try again. I tried again...they were corrupt again. I tried again and...it wouldn't even connect to the auto-updater. 5 times I tried. In the background SpyBot S&D was running, just to try and get the crap Tea Timer was giving me to stop, but it didn't do much good.

Time to reboot the computer into Safe Mode.

The computer is much slower in this mode, and shrinking of the screen resolution made things so big they hurt my eyes. But it's worth it, since I love my computer. I open up SpyBot and AVG and...they weren't even installed. Lovely, that means they don't have the virus definitions I need.

Time to reboot the computer into Safe Mode...with networking.

I allow AVG to download the most recent virus definitions, released THAT morning [this was on the 6th], and I let it scan the computer. However I'm running late for work, so I trust AVG to run on my computer while I go clock in at work [that day I spend more that 10 hours at work, 9 hours and 45 minutes of which was while working] and I don't get back until about 2am.

...and my computer is fucked. Why? AVG had marked every .exe file on my computer, and automatically moved them all to the Virus Vault. This includes the .exe files needed to run Windows Explorer, the Task Manager, AVG itself...everything. I click on Virus Vault and of course I can't run it because the .exe file for it is IN the Virus Vault. I now cannot take my computer off Safe Mode, or run Windows to any real extent.

After I get off work the next day, it's time to try and fix things. I start up the computer and attempt to get it out of Safe Mode. I set it to "Run Windows Normally" and...it just boots up in Safe Mode. I attempt to log in and...it logs me out right away and freezes there. Lovely.

Time for the Restore Disc.

I turn on the computer so I can open the disc tray. I pop in the CD and restart the computer so I can get it to run the CD before it boots up Windows, which would put me in an endless log-in log-out loop. It loads the stuff on the CD and restarts on it's own. What does this accomplish? Absolutely nothing. So, I try again, three times, and nothing happens. Complete bullshit.

There were alot of important files on the computer, including Fonda's WEDDING VIDEO, though I'm 98% sure I have a backup still on the videocam I used, but all the pictures will need to be rescanned or transfered from CD. That is, if my computer ever works again. I'm about 2 months past the end of my warranty, but I still have a few ideas left before the last resort: completely flattening the computer and reinstalling Windows from scratch. Which of course, I do NOT want to have done since that would ensure the loss of ALL my date.

Somebody kill me. D:

Yesterday at work, we got a big red error on all of the cashes. Apparently their server went down, and we don't have access to the room where the main computer is kept. While waiting for someone to come in and unlock the door, we had to do everything out by hand. ):

I came home super early from work today, because I'm really not feeling well. I think I caught something when I was out in that big rain storm Friday. I was told to go home if I didn't need the hours, which I didn't think twice about. But yeah, I don't want to talk about work if it can be helped. xP

Myself and Blair played some Co-Op Career in GH3 yesterday, which was kind of neat. I just wish there wasn't such a big gap between lead guitar and bass/rhythm. It made me really look forward to Rock Band, even though I'm not yet sure what instrument I'd want to play. I killed my hand completing The One [last song listed in the final set] on Hard on Blair's game, and I just hope I can pull it off again when I get up there on my game. I don't even want to imagine it on Expert. D:

A note to anonymous_mana: Next time I'm out around the Bay, we need to get some GH3 Co-Op Career on the go. There's a bunch of songs that can only be unlocked via it. (:

Wednesday night I went to the Harbour Haunt with someone from work, since I had free tickets from Shawn. The only thing frightening about it, was how crappy it was. It needed more...stuff, and less wandering around and walking into every wall since you can't see a damn thing. Major waste of time.

I decided to pick up Guitar Hero III today...my opening impressions on the game are not very good. They completely changed all the graphics, and I don't think I like it. I don't care for the characters that much, they could look like Atari characters or PS3 characters and it wouldn't matter. But what does irk me, is that they changed the size and shape of the actual notes and target bar. I'm sorry, but no. Fuck no, actually. I got about 8o% through the first song and just turned it off. I'm not in the mood for that right now.

And also, I got all of my hair cut off. All of it.

( Pictures: The safety hazard at work that cut my arm open + my new hair. )

Econoline Crush has released a remake of You Don't Know What It's Like, as well as a new song DIRTY. I know for sure that I don't like the new version, and I'm still trying to decide on the new song. ):

Wow...it's been a long time since I've even BEEN on the computer. I'm trying to remember everything that happened since my last entry but...it's just too much. xD

Work is quite tiring, and has made me lose pretty much all of my appetite. I've bought a few games lately, but haven't really played any of them. I seem a bit disconnected from myself, but I'm starting to pull it all together again.

I got a new phone. It's pretty. Went to a Hallowe'en party Friday night, but had to work Saturday morning and it was just...killer. We had a little party here Saturday, but it was crap because everyone was tired or sick and we didn't do much of anything. A bust, really.

I don't recall much else at this point. If I remember anything I guess I'll add it, but I probably won't. xD

I've been meaning to make an entry for awhile now, but kept forgetting/being busy.

Wednesday I dropped off a résumé at Second Cup and got a call back a few minutes later. My interview was 9o'clock Thursday, which went pretty well. She called one of my referenced but never got in contact with the other. Then she wasn't working then Friday, but I expected to hear something by today. ):

Saturday night myself, Blair, Sio, and tael87 went to Plaza Bowl where we met up with Riggs and his girlfriend. Apparently it was glow bowling, and some weird stains showed up from my pants, which I can only assume was from bleach in the washer, because I hadn't worn those since my laundry was done at home last weekend, where mom was the one who put in the detergent. Afterwards the four of us planned to get some pizza, drinks and rent some Wii games, but had to due without the drinks since there were no stores near us, and we were walking. xP

It turned out to be a pretty fun time. Blair and tael87 stayed the night, and we took a trip down to see if they had any good used games at Microplay, and then up to Value Village [Home of HALLOWE'EN o: ] where we ALL got our costumes. (:

Today my parents took a trip in, and I was able to buy a full load of groceries since I didn't have to walk back with them. I also put in a résumé at a couple of stores in walking distance, since they offered to drive me there xD. After just leaving the Wendy's parking lot my phone rang. I turned around and went back in for an interview, where I was hired on the spot and start tomorrow. I could have done my orientation then, but my parents were out waiting for me, and we had to go visit my poppy in the hospital.

Today, myself, Ev, Mike, and Sio went to alot of stores in search of Hallowe'en decorations. Our apartment is now kind of swimming in them, with even more on the way. We also went to the poster fair on MUN campus where I bought a Hot Fuzz poster and one that lists "Things You Learn From Video Games". o:

But yeah, not being unemployed = good. (:

On Saturday I went home for the would-be long Thanksgiving weekend, and just now got back. Myself, tael87, Blair, and Nancy watched 1408 and played some F-Zero at Sio's, and the next day I played a few hours of Guitar Hero and re-watched Shaun of the Dead with anonymous_mana. I also nearly finished the new Zelda game, painted the walls in one of my rooms, and got electrocuted.

Good times.

So, I picked up the Phantom Hourglass today, which is the first Zelda game I've actually owned since the best forgotten days of the 64. I didn't get to play that much however, since my DS battery decided that I should go do something else. I'm not sure why, since I did alot more today than I did most other days this week.

I currently have alot of games on my plate to play, but since I am no longer taking classes at MUN, I have plenty of time. Yep, after months of debating, I decided to drop all the courses I'm currently doing. Though really I should have kept 日本語, since my average was 1oo, and I could have gotten a 4.o GPA for this term. :|

So, I'm looking for a job. I'm going to hit up Wendy's and possibly EB tomorrow, once I print off a résumé. It's probably too late to apply for classes this Winter, so I'm going to have to wait until this Spring or Fall 'o8 to get on another program or waiting list, which will most likely be something at CONA. I'm going to take it easy, take the time to really decide what I can see myself doing, and start seriously working on a portfolio. o:

We still have a place to live, but if the people upstairs go crazy again, they're gone. If we don't want to stay here because of them, we can leave and our landlord won't hold us to our lease. Not only that, but he said he'd give us money. A brand new toilet was installed this morning, and in two weeks we're getting a water pressure gauge for our tub so that the people upstairs can't burn us when we're in the shower. All is well. (:

So, I didn't get much sleep Saturday night since I got a call at quarter to two in the morning, and ended up going with Sio, Blair, and Riggs to a bar that alot of the people who work at Convergys go to. I got up around 10:30 and said: "Well, at least I can get some sleep tonight".

That didn't happen.

The crowd upstairs went crazy again last night, and didn't quiet down enough to actually sleep until quarter to six. Quarter to fucking six on a Sunday morning is not my idea of a reasonable hour. They wouldn't shut up after us banging on the ceiling, and on the walls upstairs by our entrance. We flipped off the power to their kitchen for a few minutes to try and bash the idea into their heads, but that didn't do anything.

And of course we can never get a hold of our landlord.

I was going to blast some loud industrial rock 8:30 this morning. My roommates cleared the idea since they're on the other side of the house, I can sleep through it, and all the bedrooms upstairs are on my side. However when I got up I wanted to sleep another half hour, to an hour MAX. What time did I wake up again? Not even two hours ago, since when I looked at my watch it was 12:30. The assholes were already up, and decided to go at the water while I was in the shower.

People suck.

Yesterday I decide that I want to make some Charlie Jade icons, when I kept thinking of weird stuff to go with some of the scenes in the episodes I was watching. So, now I'm skimming through all the previous episodes and capping screens I think would make good icons. So far I have ALOT.

I still haven't watched the last 2 episodes. I'll get around to that eventually. xD

The toilet in our apartment has been seriously out of order for these last couple of days, it's really frustrating. I've been having to take more de-stress breaks than usual lately, and I'm sure the people upstairs would rather I not, since it involves me playing industrial rock loud enough so the original artists can hear it at home in Vancouver and in Germany.

Around supper time today, I accompanied Ev to the Avalon. We talked to some people at the theatre, which I'm sure Evan was not too pleased about since the conversation landed on video games, which he does not care about. When we walked away, Evan said: "Did that just happen?" and I thought he meant the vg conversation, so I said: "...No." but then he mentioned that I'm a player and have talent because: "You just got some guy's number while he was at the mall with his girlfriend".

But really, it was just for the video games. Might be borrowing an old school RPG or two that I wouldn't come across in the stores anymore. Except eBay of course, but that doesn't count. xD

That just about sums up my last few days. I did finally get a chance to see Shoot 'em Up yesterday. That movie was completely ridiculous, and incredibly entertaining. I can imagine people not liking it though, if they went in wanting to critique, or were hoping that the movie would be more than a typical action-oriented flick. Those people shouldn't even bother watching it, however I'd definitely recommend the film to anyone who can take the movie as it is, and enjoy the film for it's quirkiness and mindless gunporn.

No one can leave that movie and not think about carrots, end of story.

So, after I ace another ひらがな test, I decide to leave and head back here. I somehow manage to catch a late Route 1 that decided to stick around for a few moments. I hadn't been down to the Village in awhile, so I was contemplating staying on the bus and going there. I was still inside my head considering my opinions, when the bus pulled into my road. I get a feeling that I should go to the Village, to see what's new. I figure: "Why not?" and stay on the bus.

When I finally get to the Village, of course I take a quick stop into the EB Games there. What catches my eye? GGXX^Core! I nearly dropped dead. I've been waiting for the EB at the Avalon to get that for awhile now, and it's been down in the Village the whole time? I pick it up of course, grab an iced cap, and have to head to the EB in the Avalon since none of the stores' electronic systems are connected, and I need to cancel my preorder of that game. I hop on the next route 19, which I know goes to the Avalon since it's the same bus I use to get home from there.

Where does Route 19 now go? Cowan Fucking Heights, I kid you not. Not only that, but pretty much the exact same route through Cowan Heights that the old Route 1 used to go. Nostalgia much? It was a nice little trip, and I got my game so I'm quite happy. (:

I am very tired, and on the cusp of sickness. Everyone has been really, since around supper time yesterday. We must've all caught something at the house warming "gathering" we had here Saturday night. I have a German test tomorrow that I haven't been able to do much studying for since I'm all stiff and sore and tired. At least I aced that ひらがな test we had yesterday in JP. There was an oral section we had to do, then afterwards I finished the written section in about a minute, SERIOUSLY. Already being able to read and write a character system = good grades on tests using it. o:

Saturday we had some people over. I was about to post some pictures, but they're all pretty terrible so I changed my mind. If you really want to see them, harass me over MSN or something. It was definitely the best Ev-hosted gathering I've been to, but that's probably because we had drinks and best of all: VIDEO GAMES. Fun times.

In other news: I've started playing my DS again. I picked up an SRPG, something I've never been able to get into, and haven't been able to put it down. It's a gaming breakthrough! I also noticed that walking through the tunnels from the Education building to anywhere else during high traffic times at MUN reminds me of that Shaun of the Dead promo poster where he's jam packed into a subway and everyone is a zombie. Good stuff.

I made a reference today that neither of my roommates got. Sio wasn't there, but she wouldn't have gotten it anyway. I often forget that no one else is into the same stuff as me. :|

So, my time has been eaten up alot lately. I've decided that I wanted to play a game I've had for months but never got around to playing: Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria. Playing that and running around with my roommates Ev and Mike leaves little time for the computer.

I decided to pick up two of my books from the bookstore today. 105$, lovely. I guess that's all the money I saved on buying the seasons of DS [just 17$ a season, but I don't have the last season], eh? I'm still waiting on a local EB to get GGX2: Accent Core, but that's the only major spending I have planned.

The people living upstairs are having some sort of rave or something. It sounds like they're going to come through the floor. They're also playing, really loudly, a strange mix of dance music from like, 1992, and traditional Irish Newfoundland music. The dance music I can deal with, but the Newfie music? Yuck. Well, here's a thing I gacked off tael87...

( Career Meme this way! )

So yeah. Don't expect to see me on all that much while I'm getting back in touch with my video games, German, and Linguistics. xD

Yep. So, I kind of forgot to post those pictures I took of the new apartment. I have been kind of busy as of late, but that's still not really an excuse. xP There's alot of pictures, but I resized them to be kind of small, so it shouldn't kill your computer.

( Follow me down... )

And that's the apartment I now share with Sio, Ev, and Mike. (: I didn't take pictures of their rooms because I figured that would be a bit rude. Sio's room is locked, and Ev's still asleep anyway. xDD Now, I also have an LJ meme I have to spread to my LJ from tael87. o:

( About Me and About You )

So, I haven't had any tv or internet since Wednesday. I made the move in here Thursday morning, and was all alone until Sunday when Evan moved in. Sio came in yesterday, and we only now got the entire apartment done up. We were up until 3am last night, and 4am the night before setting stuff up, but we also had alot of "sit downs" and were out each day until dark. xD

( Adventures in Moving )

Classes start up tomorrow. I do like the campus alot, so I don't mind going there too much. I'm SO much closer this year too, so it won't be so bad. Tomorrow after classes, and after I get some more groceries I'll put up some pictures of our lovely little basement apartment. (:

It's nice to have the internet again. o: