No worries

Why such a bitch, Joshua?

Much like Buridan's donkey, I am faced with a dilemma.

The aforementioned animal, we remember, was equally hungry and thirsty, at mid-distance between food and water, and could not decide which one he wanted to have first. I have a similar problem.

You see, I managed to get my hands on both Portal and TWEWY today.

I'd call it the cruel irony of life, except I deliberately bought both games, so it's not like I can blame anyone. But the problem remains: what to play first?

On the one hand, Portal is much, much shorter. My reasons for wanting to play it range closer to 'yay awesome concept' than to peer pressure, and it's played on a machine on which I might not have much access in the next few weeks, owing to Tine staying here for a while. ♥ The sensible options seems to be playing and finishing Portal this week-end, first and foremost. The only trouble is, the desktop has been refusing to start since Monday morning and I don't think the laptop can handle the technical requirements.

TWEWY it is. Except I have no idea where the DS is. If I did I'd need to find the charger, and if I did I'd still need to wait forever because there's nowhere I can both charge it and play comfortably.

In the story, the donkey died, unable to decide where to start.

I'll just go to sleep instead. :3

Dear Fanbrats and Misguided LJ Users,

Let me tell you the tale of this fandom dinosaur (or so it feels sometimes) when, back in her days of carefree youth, she first clicked on something that looked like an LJ-cut to end up on a completely different website.

Yep, you got it, this is a rant about fake cuts.

( Follow the real cut, tee-hee. )

In short:
1) Don't use fake LJ-cuts.
2) If your religion commands that you do, don't advertise it as such.
3) If deep down in your soul you believe it is Wrong to use a fake cut without telling, then at least make sure that your fake cut looks like a fake cut.

Thank you,
Drae

No, it hasn't been a good day. To all the people to whom I owe an email/corrected document/TajiHana drabble: I'll get to it as soon as the week-end comes, which can not be soon enough.

I had okonomiyaki for lunch yesterday; since my training session ended at noon instead of 3, I decided to saw 'screw it' to the 1 hour rule (the rules get lax for those doing training, because it's exhausting) and took the bus to the Japanese street. But since I was eating there alone, I sat at the counter for the first time and discovered that they cheated by using pre-prepared okonomiyaki and just putting the meat underneath. Sad :< It was as yummy as ever though, and made me nicely sleepy for the whole afternoon.

But anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk about.

( The ebook thing. )

Yesterday, 28th of June 2008, was a day of contrasts and diversity.

( First, I got engaged. )

I know I said I was going to disappear, but as it happens being this busy makes me more able to focus on everything I'm doing, and also I've got more time in the mornings for internet stuffs.

Weird, this.

BUT ANYWAY. Had to post today, because

1) xkcd pwns physicists

2) Meme! Writing meme, even, but since it only requires a snippet (as opposed to something that makes sense), that should be fine.  From yukitsu, adapted. Give me a story I never finished wrote ( crack!AUs, crossovers, etc. totally a GO! for once) and/or its title, and I'll give you a line from it.

3) I spent yesterday evening learning WLanguage and I solemnly swear I am up to no good I'll have mastered this sucker before summer's over. >|

I just discovered him last Sunday, but Taylor Mali owns my soul. :3

The The Impotence of Proofreading

What Teachers Make

Two weeks ago, we had Red Bull.

This time, it's virginity.

France plunged into a heated debate about its marriage laws today after learning that a court had annulled the union of two Muslims because the husband said the wife was not the virgin she had claimed to be.

Politicians, feminists and human rights activists denounced the verdict, handed down last month but reported in the national press only on Thursday, as an affront to the legal equality of men and women and a violation of a woman's privacy.

[...]

"The law says that when there is an error concerning essential qualities of one of the spouses, an annulment can be sought," [the husband's lawyer] said on LCI television.

The same clause has been used in French courts to annul marriages in which one person discovered only afterwards that the other had concealed a divorce or had a physical or mental disability that made a normal sexual life impossible.

source (emphasis mine)

While ministers fulminated against the Lille decision, a different stand was taken by Rachida Dati, the Justice Minister, who has Moroccan and Tunisian parents. The law had, she said, protected the bride. “Annulling a marriage is a way of protecting the person who perhaps wants to undo a marriage. I think this young girl wanted . . . to separate quite quickly. The law is there to protect vulnerable people,” Ms Dati said.

source

Once again, the government proves incapable of having a single voice - although in this case it looks like Dati is the only one who defended the decisions. So now all the others are tripping over themselves to say "I totally disagree with her, but not really."

Putting aside my governement's complete inability to have coordinated action...

The French legal system works on civil law (where the authority is the Civil Code) as opposed to case law (where precedents play a huge part). And straight out of the civil code, you get this: essential quality.

A judge has ruled that virginity was one such quality. Question: how does this apply to men? Other question: how the hell is it the law's right to decide that a woman should be a virgin to get married? Of course, there is the argument (and it's being thrown around a lot) that the issue wasn't the virginity, but the lie. But considering he (most probably) wouldn't have married her if she hadn't lied, that's not really the issue, is it?

Richard looks hot in orange. :3

MIZUTANI, YOU IDIOT. :<

( And other notes )

In conclusion, another great chapter, but PLZ TO STOP BREAKING MY SHIPS, DEAR MANGAKAS. :(

The terrible thing about watching old movies is that the very pretty protagonist is both jailbait... and over sixty years old. THERE IS NO WINNING THIS IS THERE.

I'm enjoying the shots of Paris though, whenever I can recognize something. :3

My first encounter with Red Bull was about five years back, when phelessor introduced me to a pack he'd brought back from Switzerland and explained that they were banned in France. The way this was presented had led me to think that it was mildly dangerous, and to stay away from it (when abroad) and its equivalents (at home).

Over the years, I noticed that it seemed to be readily available pretty much everywhere else I went, which made me wonder if the information I had about it being banned in France wasn't wrong or outdated. Surely if something is available in Germany there's no reason for it to be banned in France? And there were so many similar products in the supermarkets anyway... but no Red Bull. Ever.

Until I went to the mall three weeks ago and noticed a guy waiting to pay for four cans of Red Bull. Gaspshock, had I been wrong all this time, cruelly misled by inaccurate information?

Nope.

The ban, it turns out, was lifted last month. But that's not the fun part.

The fun part is that the decision was made by Christine Lagarde, Minister of Finance. This, without consulting the Minister of Health, when the ban had been put in place because of the potential risks caused by taurine. (All the previously commercialised drinks contained a substitute.)

Back in August, Roselyne Bachelot had sent a letter to the Prime Minister announcing that she was still waiting for a report, and was backing up the ban in the meantime. Apparently, her anger at this unilateral decision was placated by promises of leaflets being distributed wherever the cans are sold... I dunno, I haven't seen them. But even if she's not saying anything, she can't have appreciated the slight. And anyway, where the hell does the Ministry of Finance get the authority to lift a ban implemented for health reasons? The power held by this specific part of the government bothers me. A lot.

In conclusion: Europe Koushien can be done with Red Bull if anyone feels like it. And two of the few women in the French government are pulling each other's hair over caffeinated drinks. Ohohoho.

---

ETA: Staying on the topic of caffeine, we're changing the coffee machine at the office, for one that delivers hot water without having to put a capsule of something (tea, coffee, milk) in first. This means that starting next week I'll be able to get proper tea from the coffee machine, which stands five meters away from me, instead of having to go through the meeting room to get the water cooker, come back to the fountain to fill it, go back, wait for ten minutes as the water heats...

GLEAT VICTOLY.

Which brings the question: does this justify going to Mariage Frères to buy yet more tea?

The internets this morning:

"OHAI I'VE WATCHED THE WHOLE SERIES AND I LOVE IT AND I LOVE THE MAIN CHARACTERS AND SOMETIMES I GET THE EMOTIONS THAT THE AUTHOR CLEARLY AIMED AT FROM THE BEGINNING, ISN'T THAT AWESOME? TEE-HEE"

Quickly followed by

"UHUH LOOK WHAT I FOUND IN A PANEL OF A CHAPTER FROM OVER A HUNDRED YEARS AGO! THAT'S TOTALLY SUBTEXT! AND SINCE I'VE BEEN INTO THE SERIES FOR ALL OF FIVE MINUTES AND I KNOW THAT MY TINHATTING SKILLS ARE TOTALLY BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE'S, I'M SURE NO ONE EVER NOTICED IT EVER! BOW BEFORE MY POWERS OF L33T OBSERVATION!"

Why so disappointing, internets? :< Or am I just a bitter old woman who doesn't know how to have fun anymore?

Well, shit. Looks like I got myself a virus.

All my firefox profiles have been deleted. Bookmarks, extension settings... :/ Thankfully the passwords are sitll there, and I keep most of my bookmarks on delicious, but I'm going to have to harvest all the Oofuri fansites back. And other things.

In one word: BLEH.

Happy birthday journal_ist!

( In other news, my baby sister is all growed up! )

In light of my recent failures at life, the universe and everything rising up to the tasks given to me, plans for today:
- leave email on at home: this ensures that I don't get in comment wars at work since I don't get the notices
- leave #oofuri on at home: I'll get the log anyway, so no need for me to actually hang out there all day (the logic is iffy, but it might work)
- take laptop
- first thing to do when getting to work: block LJ, IJ, meebo, Tegaki and any other site where I might waste time. Save the password on USB stick hidden in faraway drawer to limit temptation.
- have celebratory tea for a job well done
- get to work.
- take real lunch break. crash at Starbucks with laptop for an hour. write.
- go back to work. maybe fifteen minutes of LJ if I'm not too lazy to get the password.
- leave on time, having done even the work I really didn't want to do
-... find mystery porn in my inbox?
- ENJOY THE EVENING AS IF I WERE TO DIE

(That said, no, Reborn is definitely not for me, but I think I'll enjoy saying that for a while. >_>)

fandomsecrets is the win today, for Edgeworth = older!Atobe and Ulquiorra= Arrancar!L ("he's emo because the hole in his throat means he can never eat cake again"). A+++, will lol again.

And while I'm thinking about it... If, hypothetically, I were to check out Reborn, where should I look for canon, and then for fandom?

That's two weeks in a row that I come to work an hour early (for which I get the gratitude of my employer, but not much else), only to be told "Oh by the way, that thing you were supposed to do in the early hours of the morning and that stopped you from getting proper sleep last night? It's not happening."

WHY DO THEY KEEP DOING THIS? TAT And I can't even lock myself in the meeting room in retaliation because two people have already pulled the "OHAI I'M WORKING FROM HOME" card this morning.


On the bright side, the power check-up problem is fixed, and it looks like I won't have to pay, so... complete victory? Stupid neighbours for locking the gate after I dropped them a note asking them NOT TO. /senseless rambling

I did manage to get some writing done last night! Oh Izumi, you lovesick idiot. Nothing worth showing yet, but some progress is good, Y/N?

HOLiC Kei episode one ( makes happy )

HEEEEE, NICE. I'm planning a massive reread on Sunday. ^_^ Aw, Watanuki, you so unbearably cute. ♥

Caught up with the few chapters of HxH that I'd missed. Uh.

Now, many people around me know that I'm a sucker for miscommunication plots. Cheap angst, I know, but... there it is. In fictional relationships (romantic or not), I dig it when people can't convey their feelings and end up failing at life as a result. By which I don't mean OMG I GAVE HIM A PECK ON THE CHEEK AND HE'S NOT SAYING ANYTHING HE MUST HATE ME I NEED TO DIE *slits wrists*/OMG HE KISSED ME BY ACCIDENT AND TRIED TO KILL HIMSELF HE MUST HATE ME I MUST RUN TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE EARTH AND NEVER BE FOUND AGAIN but something more subtle, right. I still have some taste.

But I have to say, in spoilery view of these past few chapters, that ( unresolved miscommunication is a bitch. )

Dear Togashi-sensei: please give us, if not a happy end, at least a satisfactory one? As in, NOT LIKE YYH?