Back to the QBlog

Man, it's great to be back home. Homepage, that is.

I renewed my domain, I bought new hosting, and I came all the way to Starbucks to sort it out, because the free wireless I was mooching off was too unreliable. I mean, those people are so inconsiderate. Ok, fair enough they have a fast cable line that they're sharing on an unencrypted wireless network, and they didn't even change the default password to their router, and they didn't notice me leeching their bandwidth to download Series 1 of Arrested Development... but you'd think they'd have the common courtesy of putting the router a little bit closer to my room. I don't know who they are, I think they're neighbours, but still.

Anyway, I've come to Starbucks just to speed the process up. Plus I needed coffee.

With luck, this will be my first proper post on the road to my site working again. Also, hoping that the DNS propagate quickly enough. I've had issues in the past concerning that.

Anyway, filling in a few things that some of you may be missing... I'm in California. I have been for about 10 days now. I left England on the 21st of June, landed in New York the same day, and the next day, I flew to San Francisco. When I arrived, I met with Erin and Yukina, and we road tripped down to Santa Barbara. I have to say, it was one of the most fun things ever, and it was incredible to spend time with such old friends who I haven't seen since July of last year. So, over 11 months. But it's great to see them again. I'm currently staying with Erin, but only for a few more days, and then hopefully I'll get to meet CM and try and do something fun with him.

I looked at Berkeley as well, which was very attractive. And I'm seeing Kiana tomorrow, she's coming up to do something grandmother related, and seeing me instead of talking about dead people, or so I hear.

This is quite a nice country. I know I say a lot about America and Americans, and most of it remains true. Some is worse than I thought. I mean, I thought there were too many SUVs in England, but God, it's like an epidemic here.

But the television is of a slightly higher quality than I expected. Plus, high definition is pretty awesome. I'm living off my old Dell laptop, that's falling apart, overheating and burning my lap, and just about receiving someone else's wireless, but I love it. I wouldn't exchange a desktop for a desktop replacement anytime soon, but it looks like Dell is going in the right direction: docking stations with extra hardware power. Removable screens, bigger hardware, laptops are getting less portable and it's how I like them. I don't mind breaking a shoulder to play portable HL2.

Anyway, I'm reading too much Slashdot. I'm having a fantastic time. When I do manage to get the wireless working, it's great. I talk to Yukina on MSN, even though she's in the next room. Our conversation even spawned my SECOND BASH QUOTE. I know, it's great.

QuasiBash Quote

Older QuasiBash Quote

One's slightly higher rated, and one's definitely more funny, but I have two quotes on bash, life is good.

And if you do a search for Quasi, you get 4 results, and the top two are me.

Anyway, I love this state. It's hot and sunny but not muggy, so it feels cooler than England. And Japan. Oh, and a quick check shows that my DNS has already propagated, so by the time this publishes, given that there are no FTP problems, everything will be awesome and back to good.

I actually have hosting on asmallorange.com. I won't recommend them yet, I have to see how good they are, but it doesn't seem to be going too badly so far. It's the site than inspired Dan and my hosting site. It didn't take off enough sadly.

Anyway, I want to say hello to some people. Hello Natasha, hello Jenny, hello Becky, hello Dan, hello Shun, hello Emma, hello Kaori, hello Carlos, hello Weiwei hello Kiana, hello Helgi, hello Miranda, hello Julia, hello Mizuki, hello Kiwako, hello Qian, hello Sam, hello Housei, hello Ritti, hello Kitpak.

That's my entire real life readership and some who don't but I wanted to say hello to anyway. I didn't say anything to Yukina or Erin because I'm going to see them in a few minutes anyway. It's a lovely sunset here, we'll walk back to Erin's house and enjoy the California air. I have lots of photos, mostly taken with Yukina's camera, and I will post them soon.

My god I've missed posting.

Anyway, I feel I'm going to do another redesign soon, something drastic, dropping the format and going for something quite art inspired. It would be fun. I'd ask Natasha for CSS tips. I have to fix this layout after I publish this, like changing the CSS reference and stuff. I'll post soon.

Kisses.

Connect?

Right now I'm trying to connect to a wireless network, but it's not going too successfully, so I may have to post this at a later date. But I hope I'll be online soon enough. I know the faithful among you will be used to delays in my updates, sometimes along the lines of four months. But I hope I won't subject you to anything like that again. I'm still struggling with this, but I have password issues. This stupid laptop just won't save a password. And I'm waiting on a text message to get the password, but it's just not coming through. I think they're already asleep. Curses.

Well, by the time I actually connect, I'll probably have added to this very brief update. I'm still getting my phone to work correctly. Its disobedience is rather infuriating. I will be having words with its mother. But it's still great for Skype, it just needs more juice. Everything has been so exciting the past few days, I can't wait to tell you. I'll probably tell all tomorrow, if I can. I'm sorry for no detail.

---

That was a few days ago. I'm properly connected in a Starbucks right now. I'm having one of the best times of my lives. Certainly the best of the last few months, I'm very excited. I want to shoot out a hello to many of my friends who are reading. And I am sorry for never detailing what is going on. Maybe tomorrow?

I love you all. Especially some of you.

Quick Stop Over

I'm just going to make this quick post, letting everyone know I'm ok.

I made the last entry backwards to weed out the people who don't really care that much, as it was kinda personal. Turns out Natasha read it without software support, as in just as is: backwards. That wasn't the intention. But it doesn't matter too much. I'm just on my laptop in a Starbucks right now, and my battery is dying, so I really can't be long.

I assure all my loyal fans that I'll make an full, informative post within the next few days.

I'm downloading the latest REM album. I feel I should be listening to it. I'm meeting some really old friends tomorrow, I can't wait. It's been far too long since I've seen them.

People, give me a call if you can.

LOW BATTERY: GOODBYE

Backward Beliefs

.od ot tahw wonk yllautca t'nod I .leef lliw I woh erus ton m'I dna ,elpoep gnillet ,eno si sihT .em ot nepo shtap wef a evah I ,taht dnoyeB

.noitamrifnoc litnu stsal ylno tI .flesym tcetorp ot desu evah I sdohtem tseb eht fo eno si laineD

.revE .taht yrt ot tnaw t'nod I .flesym etah dna dertah eht esol t'nod I fi tahW .efil elohw ym deniatniam evah I tahw woleb level a sa ti ees yllanosrep I ,sdnuos ti sa tnagorra sA ?em evael ti seod erehw tuB .meht emoceb dna ,meht etah ton ot nrael spahrep dna ,etah I elpoep eht ekil emoceb ,selur nwo ym kaerb ot eb dluoc dohtem rehtonA .ti tuoba enoyreve llet ot si melborp siht htiw laed ot tpmetta ot gnisu ma I dohtem eno tub ,uoy fo tsom ot esnes ekam ton lliw sihT

.elpoep niatrec ot semoc ti nehw erusopmoc gniniatniam fo elbapac flesym dnif regnol on I .ti evresed t'nod ohw esoht ot noissergga trevid ot dewolla ma I ,erus etiuq ma I hcihw fo gniht enO

.gniees ma I taht steltuo eht ekil ton od I dnA .teltuo wen a tuo thguos dna tliub sah ti etal fo ,naH tfel I ecnis melborp a neeb t'nsah ti hguoht dna ,emit gnol a rof teltuo na dah t'nsah regna yM .taht ekil t'nod I dna regna fo etuor gnol a si erehT .ssecorp tsaf a t'nsi siht tuB

.flesym egnahc nac I ,hcihw hguorht dna ,desilaer eb nac sweiv ym spahrep hcihw ni yella wen a dnuof evah I .ot gnirrefer saw I tahw si siht ,oga stsop wef a snoitalever tuoba yleugav ekops I nehW .ni flesym eusrup ot syella wen dnif ot no em del ti tub ,tnetxe llams a ot depleh tseirp ehT ?ereht morf ot nrut I od erehw oS .era yeht ohw ton ,siht fo esuaceb ma I ohw ekil t'nod I

.ecalp tsrif eht ni tsniaga ma I tahw si taht ,yllacinorI .t'nera yeht ohw ot elpoep egnahc ot tnaw t'nod osla I dnA

.em stceffa won taht noitca na s'ti taht flesym gnillet yb ti yfitsuj dna yrt I .leef ot esle woh wonk t'nod I tub ,stnaryt evitavresnoc etah I dnA .tnaryt evitavresnoc a emoceb ot tnaw I ylneddus dna ,tuoba erac I enoemos ot sneppah ti ,neht dnA .melborp ym t'nsi ti tub ,sneppah ti taht das m'I .erac t'nod I dna ,em tceffa t'nseod ti dna ,tnaw yeht revetahw od ot thgir s'elpoep rof ylgnorts os thgif I .elpoep gnigduj etah I :em steg taht trap taht s'ereh dnA

.latnemgduj gnieb tuohtiw tuoba stnerap ym ot klat tonnac I gnihtemos s'tI .yaw laicifrepus a ni tub ,depleh sah retsis yM .edivorp nac ylimaf ym troppus dnoyeb seog sihT .troser tsal a sa tol a ti fo kniht I ,ti no hcum dennalp reven I .did I tahw elpoep owt dlot ylno I .ni edifnoc ot tseirp a tuo thguos I ,emit taht retfa yltrohS

.uoy esirprus thgim sihT .noigiler fo sweiv ym wonk elpoep ynaM

.pleh t'nseod ti ,meht ot kaeps ot doog s'ti elihw dna ,ailuJ dna ammE morf edisa ,smaeb troppus on yletulosba dah I .od ot tahw wonk t'ndid I ,taht retfA .step s'retsis ym htiw melborp a dah I meht dlot I .tfel dna pu tog tsuj I dna ,ees ot tnaw t'ndid yllaer I gnihtemos was I .oga skeew wef a ytrap a ta noitalever cifirroh a dah I .modeerf dna scitilop fo sweiv ym deduolc yletelpmoc evah hcihw seussi gnivah neeb evah I tuB

.flesym lortnoc nac I .taht tpecca nac I

.os od ot modeerf ym nihtiw yletelpmoc s'ti hguoht neve ,ytrid dna gnitsugsid leef I ,selur nwo ym kaerb I fI .modeerf elttil yrev rof wolla taht flesym ot selur tnegnirts ylemertxe ylppa I .flesmih tpecxe ,eciohc lanosrep fo modeerf ot thgir latot htiw ,snoitpecxe on htiw ,nosrep yreve taert lliw ohw ,nosrep larebil a sa flesym ebircsed dluow I ,lla nI

.dloh ton od I taht sfeileb rehto htiw dnah ni dnah seog ti ,yldaS .erutluc ytisrevinU ni evisavrep etiuq si msilarebiL .tnetxe emos ot sweiv emas eht dloh wonk I elpoep eht ,yllareneG .emas eht gniveileb srehto ynam enigami ot drah s'ti semitemos dna ,nac I tseb sa ysircopyh tuohtiw siht dlohpu I .od uoy tahw ni srehto tceffa ton od uoy sa gnol sa modeerf lanosrep ot stimil on era ereht taht tnaem yllareneg taht eno ,weiv larebil a deniatta I ,scitilop nasitrapib fo gniwollof dna gnidaer lacitilop hcum hguorhT

.enoyna nopu meht hsup ot elbissopmi si ti ,os ssel nevE .enoyna ot nialpxe ot redrah hcum dna ,flesym rof neve ,dnatsrednu ot drah er'yehT .gniredisnoc seulav egnarts evah I .sevlesruoy ot esolc ylralucitrap eulav a ro feileb a dloh uoy fo ynam woh wonk t'nod I

Redesign

Now this is tragic:

I spend over four hours redesigning my blog, and the main host is down, so almost no one will see it. Great. Well, a lucky few will. So you enjoy it.

So if you're wondering why I updated the design... I was just replying to an email from Erin earlier, and I mentioned something that was "awesome", and realised that I was using some very clichéd words. So I thought I'd mention that my feelings towards this particular event were superlative. To the max. I thought about that for about 8 seconds before I decided it was my new site design. I mean, redesigned my site about this time last year, just before I went to Japan, so I thought I'd treat you special people to a brand new and beautiful design.

In case you were wondering, I did a lot of it in Paint, and put it together in Photoshop. And speaking of Photoshop, I finished that project with optimal results. The project was to design an Elfen Lied tshirt for Kiana, seeing as it's one of her favourite Animes, and I just cannot afford one of those shirts from the Octopus store in the Trocadero. I got it printed at Uni, A3 on a tiny shirt which would fit her, and it looks great, only on the second attempt. Seeing as I totally misjudged the sizing of the first shirt I made, I now have one of my own as well, only reversed. I'm including the image below. And when I get some photos of Kiana or myself wearing it, I'll be sure to show you.



We finished watching the Elfen Lied anime today. We watched something like 8 episodes, which isn't that much when they're only 25 minutes long. But I also managed to get my XBox SNES emulator working, so I played Super Bomberman 3 in between a few episodes.

I did the whole redesign myself. I put the CSS on a separate style sheet, I rewrote several CSS sections and changed all the colours, I spent ages on the main graphic, and then I made all the other graphics (like the dividers and the footer) from scratch. I'm pretty happy with how it looks, it might stay this way a while. It looks a bit more silly, which is kind of what I was looking for.

Kaori moves out of here later today. Kiana goes into her room, takes her stuff out of my room, and everything is right in the world until she leaves two days later. It's been good fun having her here. We made curry earlier today, and went to Tescos, and did all sorts of fun things that make this house a house.

Natasha came around yesterday and we watched the rest of Series 1 of XMen, and then we watched Cars. Now, I have to say, I'm a Pixar fan, I really think the world of them as a company, but knowing the terms of the distribution of Cars, it felt kinda hard to escape them. As most of you probably know, Disney screwed around with Pixar's distribution contract, in essence extending it from six to seven films. Cars was the seventh, and was made begrudgingly at first. I thought it wouldn't have as much effort put into it as the other wonderful films that studio has put out. And I felt that through the film as well. I loved all the references they put in, like 2319 and the Birds on the telephone wire. But a quick look on rottentomatoes.com will show you that it was quite favourably received. But let me share two wonderful little excepts from the site with you.

"Cars is the first Pixar flick I'd describe as 'cynical,' and that, frankly, breaks my heart just a little bit." -Scott Weinberg, EFILMCRITIC.COM

I find that rings quite true. I'd put it on par with A Bug's Life, but I didn't enjoy that move extremely, but I didn't find it cynical. The next review I find also very amusing, and I feel it highlights the shortcomings of the story, which was the least interesting of all the Pixar productions.

"Disney ... is going to lecture me on the commodification of America?" -Pete Vonder Haar, FILM THREAT

It was an enjoyable film, but the best thing they have done is still The Incredibles, which I just want to see again.

I managed to write and compile a program in C# that ran on my mobile phone. I am very happy with myself. It's just a Hello World program, but I think it's definitely an excellent first step. I might make phone programming my development project next year, unless I can think of a more interesting one.

I've just loaded Super R-Type onto the XBox, I'm going to go and try it out before I go to bed. I hope the new layout serves this post well. I'll speak to you wonderful people soon.