candy kicks

My new phone came yesterday, so I rushed straight to the Verizon store to get things transferred over. The only difference I've been able to spot is that now when I close my phone, in the screen where it shows you if the phone is locked or not, it's a translucent blue bar instead of the old clear one. I don't know how to change that, but I don't care, either. I think the software's a little newer. Also, the battery sticks out just a little more, but pushing it in a little tighter (that's what she said) has become a new habit of mine, much like squishing the plastic phone strap when I'm bored. I figure if I get really tired of it, I can just switch out the battery from my old phone. I haven't really been able to understand why it doesn't completely fit in, but I haven't sat down with my phone and played with it either.

Went to the casino and won $12. Later spent $5 trying to win more, but either way, I walked out ahead, so I'm happy.

Today is Homework Mode. Phone off. I started doing that earlier this semester when I was trying to write a reading response and kept getting texted/called by people. It's nice to disconnect. I've gotten the two Japanese homeworks done that are due on Tuesday. What I have left now are two Japanese Linguistics assignments (one for Tuesday, the other for Thursday), a response paper for Japanese Fiction over Tetsuwan Atom due on Monday, and a response paper due for Sex & Pop Culture on Wednesday. The goal is to finish them all by this weekend, if not the end of the day.

It so does not help that I'm on DreamWidth right now. Damn you, intarwebs!

Ah, but I've done better at writing response papers lately. When you forget everything your high school teachers told you ("Don't use 'I'!") it becomes rather easy. I've gotten full points on the past three papers I've had to write. However, this Sex & Pop Culture response might prove tricky. My TA said it can't be an opinion piece, a summary, or a writing over how it made me feel...I'm like, "So what the hell does that leave!?" What I have written down in my planner (his words) are "What struck me in the chapter, a theme, etc - critical thinking! analyzing!"

I feel he is slightly contradictory. I am not looking forward to this paper, but I should get used to it because I'm going to have five more due over the course of the semester.

Egh, back to work.

I posted back in May about my desktop sound card going out. Well, a day or two after that post it completely stopped working, which is quite inconvenient for me. The desktop is where I do most of my online work (this includes organizing my files), and I have to have music whenever I'm on the desktop. The last two summers consisted of me plugging the pikoPod in and having at it - organizing my idol folders, organizing my music, redesigning websites, you name it. I was on a roll.

When it stopped working, my productivity went down. Sure, I could just put my earbuds back in my iPod and listen that way, but my iPod is old and has mood swings (which means I can't listen to it at ease, without feeling like it might turn off on me which results in a very unpleasant, loud noise in my earbuds), and half of the time I don't know what I want to listen to. I can't just put it on "shuffle" and skip through the songs I don't want to listen to, because excessive skipping (and volume change) is how it poops out. Additionally, I've been trying to play or weed out the songs not listened to for a year, and the only way I can view the date is when I have iTunes open. What I did as a makeshift replacement was bring down some old, crappy speakers from an old computer and put them on the sides of my monitor and plug that into my iPod, but it's basically just functioning as earbuds then.

In summary, I am a big nerd with my iPod and need it connected to a computer to fully enjoy listening to it.

That said, I've used my laptop for a lot of things, but because I have countless needed files on the desktop (my website files, to name a big one) and no real mouse on the laptop, it becomes a hinderance and in the end, all I've done is watch dramas and go online with it. (I do all my TFL updates on it though, and listen to music then. <3) But I like listening to music best when I am being productive in the web-geek sense.

I've desperately wanted to get out of my design rut and put it on the To-Do list for today, that no matter what I would try to make something new. What I did was plug in the laptop nearby (on top of the barrel we keep the kitty food in actually), plug the iPod in that, and plug in the aforementioned speakers to the laptop, and I'm ready to go again!

I looked through some idol picture BBSs and found a great one of Ueto Aya I think I'll use. I'd wanted to use something from Fukakyon's "25sai" photobook or even Yossi's "Yossui." but...nothing was working. I'm just happy to have something in the works.

(On a side note, as I was going to upload the following screengrab at TinyPic, Sugaya Risako popped up as a recently uploaded one. xD

Ugh, my desktop speakers at home have been going wonky for months now, and I think finally they've completely given up. Any sound I try to get from them just comes off like the radio when you're not in proper range. For some reason, it gives my headphones the same effect when I plug them in. I didn't think speaker sound transferred to headphones like that; rather, I thought the headphones replaced it.

I do not want to shell out any money for new speakers.

Ugh.