Posted November 25th, 2008 by Chris Clarke
Filled under: Anime, Life, University, Video Games
On Monday, I received my Study materials for Religions of the Ancient World, and Globalisation: Australia and the Asia Pacific. The readings for Globalisation are like twice the size of those for Religions of the Anceint World, which alone was about a few centremetres thick. So from December on-ward I have a lot of reading to do. It’s probably not any less then usual, but this is the first set of subjects that I’ve had which gave me print readings. That should be an improvement though, my eyes will be thanking me as paper is a lot easier to read then an old bright CRT screen. I’m hoping to avoid reading onset blurriness.
I have two assignments due Monday, such an annoyance but Monday also marks the day I can say goodbye to these two subjects as well, assuming I get the assignments done in time anyway. They are 2000 words and 3500 words respectively. Ouch. 
I began watching Lucky Star, but I’ve ran out of dub episodes as they are not all released yet. I would continue with the subtitles, but once you’ve watched a series with one-set of voices, and then watch it with another set of voices, the voices seem not to fit the characters as you grow accustomed to the first set of voices. I was particularly surprised that they still used the honorifics in the English version. They also kept in such things as thank you for the food when the characters began eating. I’m loving the references to other series as well.
In a few days time, I’ll also be changing my Internet plan to a Bigpond Liberty 25GB 1.5mbit/256kbit connection. It’s expensive but I could do with the extra speed and data. As it stands, I only have 30megabytes left this month and I have three days to go. Other months have been worse.
SPOILERS FOR TALES OF THE ABYSS AHEAD
Read More
Posted September 12th, 2008 by Chris Clarke
Filled under: Life, Site
Well, on Sunday (7th September) I had some of my family and darkthorn over for my birthday. That went alright, there was cake. Cake was yum. Felt kind of sick during and after party but that finally disappeared as it approached bed time. For presents, money was what I received and that totalled about $100 to which I’ve put to good use. 
So on Tueday, I went to the computer shop and purchased a graphics card with virtually no direction other then that I wanted composite out and it had to be under $85. The first place I went to, the shop keeper had no idea what I was talking about and then went on to tell me that I’ve got an S-Video port on my VCR which I know for a fact that I don’t and then tried selling me a card for $120 when it met neither of the parameters I set. I headed over to the other shop and came with home with a NVIDIA GeForce 7300GS 256MB which met the composite out and the price requirements. I’m fairly certain I could’ve done a lot better online, but it does what I want, and I’m not really a gamer at all, so aslong as it run’s Aero and Compiz-fusion I’m happy. I’ll take the price premium for the convenience off not having to wait, deal with money transfers, and wait.
Today, I went and purchased The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion for $35 at Dick Smith Electronics. It runs pretty well, more then playable, even more so once you consider that the card I’m running it on is ultra budget and not even this card iterations budget offering. I haven’t played much of it yet. My monitor is pretty dark even when maxed out and Vista doesn’t play nicely with the NVIDIA brightness adjustments when it comes to gaming, so even though the desktop could be as bright as a flash light, in-game still is dark as hell. No-one seems to have a fix, thus I went and tried installing Windows XP but my CD for that is borked again. So, I’m fixing that.
Today, I also went about attempting to install Mac OS X. It was a failure, even though people have claimed on the OS X 86 project’s wiki that my hardware should be compatible. I’m stuck behind the dreaded Still waiting for root device error message, the suggested fixes of using an IDE hard disk didn’t work. I tried two of them. Trying inside VirtualBox didn’t do much better, thus I’ve now got another coaster. Can we ever have enough? I mean I didn’t expect it to work, but it’s disappointing all the same.
Earlier in the week I created and uploaded a better browse and submission page to Muse’s Success. I’ll be so glad once I get rid of WordPress.
For the moment, I’m tired. Bed!
Posted July 18th, 2008 by Chris Clarke
Filled under: Life
Yesterday, my mother came down to my room asking if I wanted a kitten. I’ve been asking for awhile since my previous kitty had to be put down due to illness, and the answer has constantly been no but finally they have allowed me to get one, and so yesterday, Mother rang up one of the advertisements in the newspaper and the person giving them away had 4 left, 2 male, 2 female.
So we drive over to the house which has the kittens and I fall absolutely in love with a cute ginger with a tad of white kitten. They were 8 weeks, so ready to take home and so several minutes later, I’m holding my new kitty in the car while Mum buys cat food and such. We go home, and the kitten seems to be adapting nicely.
Now, my sister and friends were all smuthering the poor kitty and at one stage someone is holding the door open, and in the confusing poor kitty goes missing. I end up searching everywhere I could think of, I even ran around the block fearing the ktity had got out, and I end up coming home empty handed. But a few minutes later, good news! Dad has found the kitty behind the couch. This is surprising as I already looked there, but I’m relieved and happy to have kitty safe and sound.
Did I mention the kitty was really cute?
Assignment results came back yesterday. I’m quite happy with the results. They are as follows:
13 / 15 for YouTube Case Study Assignment for Internet Media Business.
14 / 20 for CSS Zen Garden Design for Internet Design: Advanced.
I’m quite happy with the results. I honestly thought I was going to go terrible.
I’ve been watching Eureka Seven, it started out slow, but I’m getting into it now. Its not the greatest story ever, but I want to find out what happens between Renton and Eureka. Code Geass R2: Lelouch of the Rebellion remains awesome, but R.I.P. Shirley.
And I got my hair cut about a week ago as I had an engagement party to go to on Saturday, a picture can be found on my about page which has been updated to reflect this. The engagement party was ok, but since the music was loud and I couldn’t hear what people were saying, combined with my shyness, I didn’t really socialise. It was nice seeing everyone though even if I couldn’t understand a word anyone said.
I guess thats all.
I’ll try to organise pictures of kitty soon.
Posted July 13th, 2008 by Chris Clarke
Filled under: Life
1. WHAT CURSE WORD DO YOU USE THE MOST?
Probably F-U-C-K. I try not to swear though.
2. DO YOU OWN AN IPOD?
Nope, would like one though.
3. WHAT PERSON ON YOUR FLIST DO YOU TALK TO THE MOST?
I assume this means on LiveJournal, probably Ebi-kun.
If in general friend-listness? most definitely Darkthorn.
4. WHAT TIME IS YOUR ALARM CLOCK SET TO?
7AM.
5. DO YOU STILL REMEMBER THE FIRST PERSON YOU KISSED?
No.
6. DO YOU REMEMBER WHERE YOU WERE ON 9/11/01?
In bed.
7. WOULD YOU RATHER TAKE THE PICTURE OR BE IN THE PICTURE?
Definitely take the picture.
8. WHAT WAS THE LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
I have no idea.
9. DO ANY OF YOUR FRIENDS HAVE CHILDREN?
Not yet. One is expecting though.
10. HAS ANYONE EVER CALLED YOU LAZY?
Yes.
11. DO YOU EVER TAKE MEDICATION TO HELP YOU FALL ASLEEP?
Nope.
12. WHAT CD IS CURRENTLY IN YOUR CD PLAYER?
I don’t own a standalone CD player and I have no idea whats in the DVD player.
13. DO YOU PREFER REGULAR OR CHOCOLATE MILK?
Chocolate.
14. HAS ANYONE TOLD YOU A SECRET THIS WEEK?
No.
15. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD STARBUCKS?
Never.
16. CAN YOU WHISTLE?
Almost.
17. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX?
I don’t care.
18. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO?
Nothing.
19. DID YOU WATCH CARTOONS AS A CHILD?
Yes. Lots of cartoons but later I wised up and found anime and non-American in general animation (most of it sucks - the US cartoons), and haven’t really looked back.
23. DO YOU OWN ANY BAND T-SHIRTS?
Not really.
24. WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING IN ONE HOUR?
Nothing
25. IS ANYONE IN LOVE WITH YOU?
Nope.
26. WHAT WAS THE LAST SONG YOU HEARD?
I don’t know.
27. LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Umm.
28. ARE YOU ON A DESKTOP COMPUTER OR A LAP TOP?
Desktop.
29. ARE YOU CURRENTLY WANTING ANY PIERCINGS OR TATTOOS?
Nope
30. WHAT’S THE WEATHER LIKE?
11 Celsius
31. WOULD YOU EVER DATE A GIRL/GUY COVERED IN TATTOOS?
Nope. I don’t like tattoos.
32. WHAT DID YOU DO BEFORE THIS?
Talked with Prue.
33. WHEN IS THE LAST TIME YOU SLEPT ON THE FLOOR?
Never to my memory. I think thats inaccurate.
34. HOW MANY HOURS OF SLEEP DO YOU NEED TO FUNCTION?
I manage with 4.
35. DO YOU EAT BREAKFAST DAILY?
No.
36. ARE YOUR DAYS FAST-PACED?
Depends.
37. WHAT DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT?
Engagement party
38. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
Yes.
39. HOW OLD WILL YOU BE TURNING ON YOUR NEXT BIRTHDAY?
19.
40. ARE YOU PICKY ABOUT SPELLING AND GRAMMAR?
I am, but I mess up way to much with it myself to complain unless I’m sure I haven’t made a mistake in a conversation with that person. 
41. DO YOU GET ALONG BETTER WITH THE SAME SEX OR THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Slightly better with Girls.
42. DO YOU LIKE MUSTARD?
Nope.
43. DO YOU SLEEP ON YOUR SIDE?
Yes.
44. DO YOU WATCH THE NEWS?
Yes!
45. WHAT IS THE LAST THING YOU PURCHASED?
Chips about a week ago.
Tags: lj meme ebikun questions quiz
Posted July 6th, 2008 by Chris Clarke
Filled under: Life
You won’t regret it.
I went outside earlier. Yeah, I spend way to much time indoors and when I do go out its usually very brief, mainly the time it takes to get between doors. Which lets face it, is not great. Anyway, I went outside. Best decision in awhile.
Anyway, I didn’t do much but I managed twenty something minutes. I spent most of that jumping on the trapoline and about 4 minutes on the swing. The swing is way to low for me, and I’m a bit worried its going to tip if I actually try to swing like I would when I was younger. I’m not as short as I once was. But then, I’ve never been short either. Jumping on the trapoline is fun and all, but it sure makes your legs feel wierd when you haven’t been on one in umm 4 years. Yeah, that long. I was going to shoot the basketball into the neglected basketball ring I never use, but alas I could not find a basketball. I used to go out there, and there would be at least 3. Not even 1 today.
I noticed the clothes line had been moved aswell. Shows how little I see of our backyard.
Anyway, I enjoyed myself and I’m thinking of doing it again later. The excercise and natural light should be good for me. I’m hoping it helps my skin and makes me less pale. I’m ungodly pale at the moment.
The other day I set up a wiki for the group assignment for Internet Media Business. I used the Google Sites service that came with Google Apps for Domains. Very useful and easy to use. I like it, as does the other group members it seems.
I got to work on AnonBBS last week. I started implementing PHP templates. It’s turning out well. Don’t ask when it will be released. Assignments will get in the way. Yeah, I’m working on the CSS Zen Garden design that’s due Friday.
~ Chris <3
Posted July 2nd, 2008 by Chris Clarke
Filled under: Life
People speak about being able to see things in their minds-eye in a way that seems to suggest that they can actually see it when they close their eyes. A quick chat with Darkthorn confirmed this as did a Google Search. Apparently 80% of the population can visualise, yet 20% can’t. Further still, most people who can’t seem to go through life not realising others can. Perhaps they have taken this term “visualise” to simply mean another way to describe one’s imagination? It seems that people who can visualise have a hard time grasping that others can’t as was the case with one boy who’s teacher was posting on a public forum as if something were wrong with the boy. 20% qualifies as normal in my opinion. Yes, its a minority percentage wise, but 20% is millions, perhaps billions of people thus making it normal in any sense of the word.
I bring this up as when I was going to sleep last night, I was seeing images in my head. They were fairly random, and I had little control over them, but they were clear. I was still awake at this point too. Opening my eyes brought me to an image in front of my eyes that was of myself in black and white I might add, blinking meant it was gone within milliseconds.
I’ve been trying all day and I just can’t seem to reproduce this experience. Its not that I don’t see anything when I close my eyes either. I see things. I don’t really have control, and it’s nothing clear. Just sparse white stuff - maybe like fog, in fairly random configurations at that. I’m certain I’ve done it before, but I don’t seem to able to do this while I’m awake or not going to sleep which makes any ability I have to do this - useless.
For those wondering, my dreams are completely visual. They contain realistic imagery, sound, taste, pain, fear, smell, sadness, happiness…everything you’d expect from a dream really. I can even experience lucid dreams, and I’m fairly sure I’ve experienced an out of body experience several times in the past. Even feeling the feeling of falling back into my body the other night in fact. This is something that seems to contrast with my discovery today.
It’s not that I don’t have an imagination either. In fact, I’ve been told I have a very active imagination by many. On top of this, it’s not like I’m not fairly visual either. I absolutely love art and design. My favourite past time is to sit down drawing or designing something, even if the result isn’t as great as I hoped. On top of that, I love reading, even if I don’t have a decent collection of books by any sense of the word.
Contrastingly, I have the ability to play back bits and pieces of songs in my head that I’ve heard before containing accurate reproductions of both the lyrics and background music simultaneosly. The same can be said for sound effects from video games like Zelda. The mere difference I guess is that I’m not technically hearing them in the sense of the word one would expect. Its like the same way anyone hears there thoughts. I went through a stage when I was younger of absolutely not liking music, something which has changed within the last year or so thankfully. I was certainly missing out on something.
I would happily give up this “music ability” to able to fully experience this visualisation ability. I think it would really help with my art work. Just being able to actually see what I want to draw would help immensely rather then only having thoughts of what I want to draw. I think it would also increase my enjoyment of reading.
I’m going to keep trying. It may just be that I’m forcing myself to do this. I’m not sure. If I manage, I’ll report back in a future post.
Now, I have a few questions for my readers:
- Can you visualise visually in your mind when you close your eyes, I mean actually see it?
- Anyone who can’t?
- Does anyone have any advice?
- or tips?
~ Chris <3
Posted June 30th, 2008 by Chris Clarke
Filled under: Life, University
Its in.
The assignment is in.
I’m not sure I covered everything or even referenced enough. I exceeded the word count though, but I suspect most of that is citations. Can you even exclude citations from the word count in MS Word 07?
I’ve been up all night again. Power went out yesterday. I lost some of my assignment. Teaches me for not saving. I spent most of the time working on deciding how to start the opening sentences of a few of the paragraphs. Did I mention that in the previous weblog entry?
I’m not sure what to do. Darkthorn suggests sleep as did Ebikun before she left. I should do that. Really.
I kind of have a headache. =/
I was informed that Madison was on holidays yesterday. I’m stuck with her for two weeks. Hopefully she’ll leave me alone.
Tutorial should be posted within the next few days for those hanging out for it.
Yeah, this is a post for the sake of posting.
Better then nothing though.
Posted June 27th, 2008 by Chris Clarke
Filled under: Life
Alas, not entirely true. I did fall asleep during Stargate Atlantis afterall. I woke up properly at 3:45am and have been awake since. Laying there, in my bed. Silent. Interestingly, even in my sleep I’m aware of the time. I had a false awakening that suggested it was 3:20am. Of course, I was still asleep. However, I was thirsty. As I’m laying there in an accurate representation of my room. I find it difficult to open my eyes. Of course, at this point I’m awake in my dream. It’s my eyes in reality that won’t open. This isn’t sleep paralysis. I’m fully capable of moving. Eventually, struggling with it. I wake up. Dream me was tired. Can’t say the same for me in reality.
Notable is that time has passed in sync with the false awakening and the real world time. The TV show shown - one of those Guthy Renker advertisements is also the same one that was shown in my dream. At this point, I’ve seen them all hundreds of times. Quite sad really, but it doesn’t come as much of a shock.
How do I know that I had not actually been awake? Quite simple really. Dream me had memories of sipping water before bed. The glass used had been sitting next to my bed within the dream. No such glass exists in my reality.
Logic going forward. If I am to get up for a drink, I’m going to get lemonade. I decide against it and attempt to go back to sleep. I regret this decision. Eventually, it reaches 6:30am. My alarm will go off in 20 minutes. I get up and get the drink. I lay back down, sipping lemonade from my cup. Finally, I’m tired again. But alas, I’m scheduled to get up in 20 minutes. Toasted TV is on afterall. That is oh so important. I’m soon distracted by the morning cartoon and anime. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. Followed by Bratz but not really interested in that. I’m faced with a decision. Get up or sleep. I choose to get up for now. Might nap later.
Anyone had a similar experience? With the dream, I mean.
Pending assignment due Monday. I have basic notes at this point. Should make the deadline with ease. But it hit me during the night how close it is. Really hits when you have time to think. Really think.
Prue really wants to be mentioned within this entry. She’s speaking with me as I write this. *waves*
~ Chris
Posted June 24th, 2008 by Chris Clarke
Filled under: Life, University
A word that sums me up pretty well lately. Don’t you think?
I don’t see that changing any time soon either.
Unfortunately.
That’s probably the problem at hand.
Last result for NET12 - Internet: Socio-technological introduction came back. Very happy with the result. I don’t see how I could not pass now. Still nothing for Internet Design or Communication.
Getting ready to start my first assignment for Media Business today. Yeah, start it. It’s due Monday. At which point I guess we’ll be beginning our group task. I’m totally dreading it.
I need to up my participation as well. I get half a post out, then lose interest. This is not good. That and work. Tad behind still - mainly with NED12 now. I know I’ll be super stressed but I don’t know what’s up. I’m trying to force myself.
Spent last night encoding movies to DVD for Dad. Took ages, and then network trouble. So used the other PC which took like 3 hours per movie compared to like 30 min each on this. Not sure why they take so long, maybe its the codec. I don’t know. Very processor intensive. Having two processor cores atleast ensured the PC wasn’t unusable while I was waiting. In fact, it didn’t feel any less responsive.
On that note, parents were annoying last night. Not going to go into detail.
I have another half completed tutorial, this time going through basic PHP forms. Expect that within the next week if ever.
Anyway, this post is pointless. Not accomplishing anything is it?
I’m tired.
Posted May 21st, 2008 by Chris Clarke
Filled under: Life, University
Yes, my current 3 subjects will be over with on the 30th. I’m hoping I’m going to pass. I know the discussion aspect, and messing up concepts is going to hurt so much what would have otherwise been a pretty decent mark. The only subject I’m confident I will pass is Internet Design: Introduction which doesnt have absurd discussion requirements.
I have 3 assignments due on the 30th as I believe I’ve mentioned before. Learning log is well on the way to being completed as is the website. For those who have seen it, a lot of stuff is set to draft status at the moment. With the website, I just have to focus on creating the pictures, and deciding on points for each page. I have an essay that I really should start right now but as usual dreading is an understatement. Stupid word count.
My sleep is inconsistent. I’m waking up tired more then ever, and sometimes finding it difficult to fall asleep but I’m having much more sleep then usual, so I really shouldn’t be tired. I think I’m just stressed out from Uni. Well, hoping.
Code Geass is awesome, I’m nearly finished season 1 but I’ve hit my download limit yet again. I swear 12 GB is inadequate. To think, I used to get along with only 400 MB.
I guess thats all. My life is pretty boring, no?