Mayren Abashed

lazy days

2009-11-16T09:49:00.000-08:00

lately i've been lazy when i get home from work and on
weekends. I have a ton of fun things i would like to work
on for myself but i seem washed out from the day and end
up watching TV. Ugh. So not like me. I'm trying to make
a come back so that i can get to my fun stuff again.
Stuff like -
- NaNoWriMo writing
- Graphics for a friend's SL project
- Pictures and graphic layouts for my own SL projects
- Music compilation for my fave hair stylist
(cover songs done well by tons of bands)
- Finish Clannad the series via Animecrazy.net
- work on making a few cute programs installable to
my flash drive via Portableapps.com 's special
compactor tools that they use themselves....
- setup the Mic & webcam for the upcoming Skype
gaming group of Greatness !!! (more details later)
- setup my new PC the rest of the way....

I think i'm stalling on all this junk because
setting up a new PC is long and tedious. I hate it.
Always missing stuff and takes forever to find your
groove again so that when you need something it's
available. blargh.

Happy Friday 13th

2009-11-13T08:03:00.000-08:00

Just a shout out to those peeps i havn't
made connections with in a bit. Happy Friday 13th.

It's a great day to go out and get your
weekend started with awesomeness so make
it into the best day possible!

Tonite is game nite here in Abashed Land
and we shall indeed use our powers for
awesome.

Till next week -
May All Your Hits...Be Crits!

When FB friend rants & can't hear anyone else over their own voice.

2009-11-10T15:22:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna keep this as anonymous as possible, however
i just need a non Facebook place to post my thoughts
on this. Feedback and comments are most welcome.

Topic: Old friend I found on Facebook is great -
however they rant on their FB about political and
religious issues and then get uppity when someone
asks for clarification on what they just posted.

I love this old friend to death. I remember great
times from back in the Odessa/Midland Texas days.
That being said - i think this friend is acting
a little over the top on occasion.

They posted this link:
Elizabeth Lambert - Soccer Chic Suspended
The comment this friend gave to accompany the link was
this "According to the legislation added by the
socialist congress to the defense spending bill, this
New Mexico soccer player is now subject to being
prosecuted for hate crimes, seeing as the opposing
player was a mormon."

To this i replied "help me out here because the
article in the link in no way mentions anything
about legislation or that the opposing player she
smacked down was a mormon...."

The Response from the friend - (and i dropped it
after this because it's just too assinine to
continue)
"The player was a mormon, as she attended BYU.
Brigham Young University in Salt Lake City. It's
a university for the Mormon faith. The legislation
was not mentioned in the story, but look it up.
It was passed two weeks ago as an addition to the
defense spending bill. It makes pretty much any
crime a white person does to a "minority" a hate
crime."

--- W T F --- ?!?

1. BYU does not have ONLY Mormon or LDS followers
to attend strictly speaking.
2. WHy the hell would *I* be out of line or need
to do all the digging on the article when it was
this friend who skewed it out of context to begin
with?
3. Why does it seem that this friend seems to be
asking me to make some imagined "obvious" connection
between hate crime legislation and a random
Soccer beat down with NOTHING to back them up?

- I am truly ABASHED on this one folks.

Grandpa Sparky on TV. :)

2009-11-09T09:13:00.000-08:00

My Grandpa in law is on TV in NC.
It's cool. I love him like he is my
own grandpa. I want to say that the views
expressed in the TV program do not necessarily
represent thew views of Mayren Abashed. Just
sharing the program because i'm proud of Sparky
for being an active citizen. Sparky is his nick
name because his last name is Sparks.

http://www.tacc9.com/ReeceGardnerHour.htm

Song of the Day - Dango Kaikazoku

2009-11-06T09:56:00.000-08:00

Currently watching an anime called "Clannad" via
Netflix and they have this simple closing theme
that has just momentarily ensared me. The actual
english translation is cute but not serious as
many anime theme music goes.

Now you can sing along too!

new " V " remake is tonite!!!

2009-11-03T09:12:00.000-08:00

Okies i'm pretty happy to see a remake of " V ".
I found out about the remake about a month ago and
the trailers look great. I glimpsed a few of my fave
actors in the trailers too so i'm happy they are
working and hopefully this will be a great edition.

Tivo is all fired up and ready to go!

Is anyone else gonna watch it?

nanowrimo...

2009-11-02T15:01:00.000-08:00

yay, nanowrimo is here and it's my 2nd year to participate.
My badge is on the right if you'd like to clicky and go add
me as a writing buddy. It's a tough project to do so my opinion
is that we should all support each other.

Now i just have to figure out how to use the nanowrimo website.
woot.

cleaning up data

2009-10-31T20:41:00.000-07:00

so i'm cleaning up data and updated my blog look.
it might change a few time in rapid succession so
sorry it i'm a bit mishy-mashy for awhile. lol.

it's hard to clean up data ya know. i try to be
green and try to save real life space by scanning
and filing all my precious memories and projects
into data. I've got gigs and gigs of photos, music,
projects, and everything so when it's time to
reorganize and chuck the useless junk it's hard.
I've been saving and saving up stuff but with
out a coheasive way to find stuff again it's like
the memories or important docs are lost anyways.
So - shuffling the bits and bytes here and there
feels almost as good as cleaning my house from
top to bottom. Each new directory that is put
back into order feels like a huge accomplishment.

k so i'm fastening on my digital dust cap and
with my trusty mouse i'll dust everything off
and shine up my new processors so they shine!

:)

2009-10-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

my computer kinda fried so i got a new one and
havn't totally set it up yet. hehe.
It's kind of a daunting task to dig through and
reorganize the data HD just to mine for the
program installers you need to function properly.
I'm looking into alternative methods but I will
still need to "Spring Clean" my data Harddrive
before i can properly setup my new compy.

when it rains it pours right? Get done with
Jury Duty and now extra fun!
So My 5 year anniversary is coming up on Saturday.
Yes - My Wedding anniversary is Halloween.
We did it for laughs and it rocks. We have yet to
do much on our anniversary that is actually in
the spirit of "All Hallows Eve". Anyways ~
This year we are writing off gifts due to the
big expenses we have incurred. hehehe
like 2 months ago Hubby's Puter fried and he
got a replacement. Now I have a replacement.
(our previous puters lasted like 5 years with
constant abuse - and the new ones were about
$450 apiece). Oh and today the Hubby turned
in the car to have the AC compressor fixed
which will run us about $950 WOOT!!!

This year we will be computing and driving
with Air & Heat & fan. Those are good gifts.
lol.

Jury Duty Showdown Day 2 and Aftermath

2009-10-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

So I was called in for Duty on Tuesday.
Knowing the hazzards of the traffic from
previous experience i took the MTA Metro
Rail train which is painless except to make
it ontime from Burbank i had to wake up @
5 AM!!!!! It wasn't that hard but still
sucked based on the pricipal of the thing.

Went to a court room and was Thanked & excused
from that panel then sent back to the jury
room right at lunch which was lucky.
I noticed that I had left my ATM card in
my car. (argh) I scraped enough change
together for a bag of chips and a bottled water.
The chips i had a few then when throwing
away trash i accidentally threw the chips
away. heheheh. Classic Mayren in action.
The Jury room has PCs with internet available
to Jurors for free as well as free wifi.
I spent some time doing actual work then
settled in to playing some Tetris and Mario
Kart because I'm holding off on the DS
version of Kingdom Hearts till i finish the
first one for PS2. (which i am liking)

when ppl come back from lunch @ 1:30 a few
more panels are called but not me.
@ 2:30 they Thanked and excused the whole
rest of the room which was groovy. I had
truly lucked out. Since i had no more $
to grab train fare - my hubby came to get me
but I fell and twisted my ankle so it was
now a small trek to the waiting spot.

So Jury Duty is over and only a bum ankle to
show for it. yay.

Jury Duty Showdown - Day 1

2009-10-19T07:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday, I called into the Jury Duty service and was
notified that i would not need to go in on Monday.
With the relief secure I set out to purchase Kingdom
Hearts 1 & 2 and was most successful.

Funny story on the search tho.
So I had called all over the Valley looking for these
games and found most shops to have 2 but not 1. I
decided to check more local so i tighted the search
range to just "GameSpot" and in my zipcode. To my
delight there were 3 within 10 miles. I had totally
forgotten the Game Spot in the Empire Center which
Google Maps tells me i am exactly 2 miles from
in driving distance but 1/4 miles from if you could
walk over the freeway :P
In any case; I called in and spoke to a guy but since
i don't remember his name we'll call him "Ben".
The call went like this:

BEN - "GameSpot of Burbank - How can I help you"
ME- Hello, My name is Mayren. I'd like to see if you
have a few titles available.
BEN - Sure, which titles?
ME - Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 please
BEN - (clicking in background) We have both 1 & 2
available. 1 is $11.99 and the other is $14.99.
ME - (gushes like a fool) Really??!! Thank you so much
I've been looking everwhere and that's the best
price in town!
BEN - uhm, Would you like me to reserve them for you?
Me - oh, Yes please! I'll be down later today!
Please put them under Mayren. Thank you very much!
Ben - No problem.
ME - Thank you.

----
Ok so i was a little happy to finally find the stuff
and My hubby went out later on errands so i just asked
him to swing by that store to pick them up for me.

When the Hubs returned with games in hand I was super
happy and was already online trying to find the best
walkthroughs for Kingdom Hearts #1. The Hubs was lightly
chuckling to himself and i was curious. This is what my
hubby told me:

"So I told the guy that my wife had placed a few games
on reserve under Mayren. The guy couldn't find any and
asked his co-worker clerk if he rememebered the call.
The co-worker clerk told my clerk that he never placed
them on hold because he really thought it was a prank call.
She was so happy about the game."

The guys showed my hubby that they had a drawer full of
both games, chuckled, and went about their day.

I feel lame that such a small thing as finding the video
game I want in stock can make me hella happy.
I've always been like that too. The Little things make
and break me.

So yay. I'm the prank caller who searches for video games
that she actually wants to play - Game Spots BEWARE!

:)

Jury Duty

2009-10-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

I got a Jury Duty summons. blarg.
social and civic duty. blarg.
I go Monday 10/19/2009.
I have to take the Metro rail that day to escape
the crazy-ass traffic of downtown L.A.; which
in turn means I will need to leave home 1 hour
earlier than usual and will get home 1 hour later
than usual. Usually i'm away from home 10 hours
per day minimum for work and now i will be away
about 12 to 13 hours at least on Monday.

Wish me luck so that i am not chosen to serve
on the jury panel. My employer does not pay
for hours missed and i have tons of work.

In preparation i have purchased nify but
cheapy earphones for my Nintendo DS so that
I can play my new Kingdom Hearts game while I
wait with a mass of people in a dreary
courthouse to be "Thanked and Excused".

Speaking of Kingdom Hearts - you know I've
always wanted to play ever since I watched
Kristyn play like 7 or 8 years ago but I've
never remembered at the right time to go
buy the playstation game. I needs to know
which Kingdom Hearts is the most fun and
go play it. (i'm guessing the first one)

*hugs*

-May

Fun with IMs part 9

2009-09-28T14:26:00.000-07:00

You know you are blurring fantasy/reality lines
when the following convo is had between gamer friends
regarding another gamer/coworker buddy who hasn't
shown up to his IMs yet today.

-------------------------------------------------------

TheD-Man: did you kill Co-WorkerFriend#1?
MayrenAbashed: i think so, yes
TheD-Man: cool, I think he will be happier dead/
MayrenAbashed: nah he went kickn and screamn. i think he
really wanted to stay on this plane of existence.
MayrenAbashed: dammit .. now we have to go find a guy to
ressurect him. (sigh) sorry - it's gonna be hugely
expensive
TheD-Man: we will charge it to Co-WorkerFriend#1's american
express card. no limits!
MayrenAbashed: k how do we get the GM to allow American
express ? I mean not many people allow it's use in our world,
let alone a D&D fantasy world where credit cards don't even
exist.... might be a hard sell
TheD-Man:: we convince him, see its a magic disk, that holds
platinimum pieces, and can dispense them at will, with a flick
of the wrist holding this disc.
MayrenAbashed: hmm so does it fall under "wand" rules or is it
merely a material component?
TheD-Man: its a miscellanious magic item, like bucknards
everful purse.
MayrenAbashed: so you don't need "use magic item" skill?
TheD-Man: right

Sand Talent wow

2009-09-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

okies my grandpa in law just sent me this link
and i'm blown away with how much this touched me.
I'd love to find a live performance.

Help, I'm alive Abashed-land.

2009-09-24T08:29:00.000-07:00

Help I'm Alive is more than just a song by Metric...
who is a kick ass band.... just sayin....

Okies so at least i'm not alone in being a total
slackass with my blog posties. WOOT!.

We all have lives that include work, and fun, and
not blogging. Double Woot!

((( SHOUT OUT TO MY BROBro! ----
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROBRO!! Muahahahah )))

He's SOOO much older now. lol. I just give him
crap about getting older because i remember how much
crap he dished out.

I sent his gift via UPS overnite to his new house
and it seems he has finally paid off his negative
karma to the Anti-Mail Fairies. He had many problems
with receiving all forms of mail for many many years.
New place with a new start yay him !

The gift was a new High Speed Kingston 8 GB flash
drive preinstalled with Portableapps.com (this is
something i beleive ALL my friends with even a little
geek in them NEEDS).
I threw on some choice outside programs and games
that are both sentimental, hella fun, and highly
functional. I tweaked his settings in the music
player and added a happy birthday playlist, I
loaded his firefox with a folder full of helpful
and awesome bookmarks for his eventual reading.

I even drew teaser not quite comic strips leading
up to his delivery so he could anticipate the
greatnesss. He received it yesterday on time
and we chatted and he loves it. Yay me.

Still love you guys and miss you all.

kk - till next time lovey.

I pixelate for you

2009-09-17T07:37:00.000-07:00

I think about all the new brush sizes and shapes
and my colors bleed into RGB

My Alpha layer is yearning for your deft skills
at compression and expansion

Opening any format I want with just a brush of my
fingertips makes me blush with anticipation

You're so trusting as I manipulate new things
and scale you up and down slowly, bit by bit.

The way you let me apply any filter to our
encounters at my whim lets me know you're
open to new ideas

You're always there for me when i need you tried
and true, even letting me drag you around with
my USB drive.

It's so easy to love you that i feel naughty

Gimp my GNU-soul-mate... you make me pixelate

(heheheeheh)

abashed on song meanings

2009-09-15T09:56:00.001-07:00

i dunno why but i love music and i ponder the meaning
behind songs sometimes. I like it and i do it.

Recently i've thought about the Owl City "Fireflies"
song. It seems to be sweet and happy at first but upon
listening a few time i find it to be layered with some
sadness, and growing up too.

I'm not saying every catchy song has some huge deeper
meaning but i think many have a different meaning than
what their surface listening really shows.

Some of these songs i consider having deeper or many
layers of means happen to come from the soundtrack of
"Labyrinth". I've grown up with this movie's soundtrack
and the hours i've spent poured over them have been profound
for me.

I think and feel that many of "Labyrinth" songs represent
Growing up, imaginary Love AND a sense of tragic romance.
I really feel strongly that it's about MORE than just
growing up and imaginary friends. I think for Sarah the Romance
part is VERY REAL because her Prince Charming is part of her
escape and defense mechanism from her Mom dying, her crazy life
with new half brother and step mom etc etc...

*** warning ***

Now that i have told you that i have strong feelings about
it....I of course spew my thoughts down here below because
it's my Blog and i'll ramble crazily if i wanna? ya sure
let's go with that.

*** end warning ***

I feel like that for this one instant Jareth is a Hardcore
if Imaginary Love that this teenager is really seeking and
because she desperately wants to be in love or at least feel
that kind of passion for something. She retreats into her safe
imaginary world where her Perfect Prince with star-crossed
love awaits her at the drop of a hat. The slightly inaccessible
is always more alluring than easy or real love for some reason.
Thusly Jareth in ths song "Within You" is the personification
of temptation but it's not just temptation of the perfect
Prince Charming, and safety in her imaginary world, it seems
tempered with growing up as well.

So it's the world behind the Walls we all build up to feel
safe versus the Real world where everything is uncertain all
set up for a girl who is coming of age.

Because it is Sarah's world Jareth must step up and be all
the things she expects of him but for many of the songs
you get a sense that he has a small bit of his own thoughts
on the subject because otherwise he'd not be questioning
his role she set up for him in the fantasy world. As if
the imaginary Prince could become real for a moment, the
What if moment.....
What if He and she could live on in the Labyrinth?

He is her romantic inner-self personified and taken shape
to sweep her away to this fantastical land to escape the
reality and she gave him too much power at first, too much
say in how things were supposed to work in her own Fantasy.
It has come down to this final play and at the end of the
"Within You" song she reclaims her own thoughts and feelings
because Jareth "has no power over me".
She is finally in charge of her own figment of her imagination.

The upbeat of course is the final scene where the girl
admits she needs her imaginary friends to draw upon so
she can cope with real life stuff but there isn't really
a song to go with that wrap up. Interesting (grin)

sorry for the haphazard dissertation.
Blargh

Sharing the ROMFLMAO - WoW video

2009-09-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

this is just funny.

Song of the week 9-10-09

2009-09-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

ugh. poppy songs that are catchy and get stuck in my head.
BLARGH i say!!!!!

i'm such a slave to the vibe. lol.

Ok the Video is extended and wierd BUT it does Feature
the strangely attractive Alexander Skarsgård who just
happens to play Eric in a show i watch on HBO called
"True Blood". He's not pretty boy and usually i don't
like blondes at all but there is something about him.

OK. so watch the whole thing if you want BUT
the song starts at timestamp 3:10 and ends early too.

This song's tune is what is catchy to me not the video.

Back to the Grindstone

2009-09-08T07:36:00.001-07:00

Happy Tuesday All.

The past extended weekend is just what i needed to stop being ill
from allergies and feed my gaming addic... i mean hobby.

In a wierd way I'm happy to be back to work today and ready to meet
the new challenges. That is until i get to work and view my inbox.
:) I will try to persevere, kick booty and take names.
I will endeavor to conquer my bowl of generic brand Lucky Charms
cereal because Riboflavin is yummy. Then me and my skim milk drinkin
booty be out the door all fresh as a daisy to greet the day.

WOOHOOO..... RIBOFLAVIN this Day is thanks to you!!!!!

(ya i'm a little high on life - so check back in a few days
when the Riboflavin has worn off and there is no more goofy)

So.Cal on fire

2009-09-01T07:42:00.000-07:00

life is scary when you are surrounded by fire.

So.Cal is literally on fire. It's the fire season and
it's taking a toll on my nerves and my allergies.

I'm sure i'll get back to posting again when this
all dies down. In the meantime a bunch of you guys
can keep up with me on Facebook if ya wants. *hug*

Midweek nap

2009-08-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

yep it's good ole' Wednesday and i feel like I need
a nap. I have nothing cool or interesting to post.
This Friday is game nite, DJing on tuesdays & Thursdays
for awhile...Re-reading the Laurell K Hamilton -
Anita Blake series and already up to "Incubus Dreams".
The difference is i'm buying the books during this run.
I can't handle the Library copies being out or destroyed
all the time. work is work and i'm happy to be working.
k... i almost dozed off in mid-thought.

DJ'ing tonite 8-10 PST Scifi Theme

2009-08-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

So i've got my own stream now to crank out
the tunes on. I've got a professional software
deck and tons of tunes. This is a DJ gig like
others i've had, but this time the theme is
Sci-fi. Ok great but What music do you really
play for sci-fi when the bulk of the ppl tuning
in do not wanna hear a ton of electronica or
techno? This is my quandry. I need about 30 songs
for my 2 hour set.

Here are a few songs i have so far:
(the theme songs are mostly for a laugh)

Wierd Science
She Blinded me with science
Theme to Star Wars
Theme to Star Trek (old)
Theme to Doctor Who
Electric Barbarella
Theme to x-files

blargh. i totally need help.

(( The whole point here is to find music
meant to evoke the thought of sci-fi in
someone not necessarily knowing that music.
I'm all good with the music that is already
heavily associated with Sci-fi like the
theme songs etc ))

Gaming Update & Cuteness

2009-08-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

Current gaming:

- RPG (paper and pen)
Tri-Stat DX - Colonel D's Authority supplement based
Super-human Campaign adding in My D, Ultra D, and
Super Sam as players.
The Chronicle is pretty cool so far. I am actually
pretty stoked about my character and writing stories
in the background with her in them.

- PC games
Second Life
great place to create from scratch and be social

- Facebook game
Knighthood - Addictive if you find the right people to hang with
Bejeweled Blitz - easy to zone out to and have a mini-escape

- Console Game
Wii - Link's crossbow game that is packaged with this
new gun. Pretty darn addictive.

- Handheld game
Nintendo DS lite - Various games to keep me entertained
like the staples of New Super Mario Bros and Tetris.

Now for the CUTENESS!!!!!!
It's so CUTE you could DIE from Sugar SHOCK!

it's august...

2009-08-18T07:28:00.000-07:00

in the middle of august. didn't speak about it yesterday but
august 17th was the day i moved to California 6 years ago.
It's a normal day like any other. i was upbeat yesterday and
that's cool and nice.
6 years seems like a significant amount of time but i can
also fee how short it is sometimes. It's wierd to feel
that a length of time is both long and short at the same time.

okay i'm off to work and enjoy the day with music.
I wish you all productive and happy days.