*part of a series of posts I am cross-posting. I'm finally within the MySpace timeline, which means these posts will be dated the actual date/time they were originally posted*
Nicked from alienpigpenThis actually turned out pretty perfect except for my costume, however they did keep going when really I would have stopped at house 1 and stayed the night ;-)
You went trick or treating as TomSawyer. JackSparrow gave you AChocolateTruffle. JonathanHarker gave you AGumball. Daredevil gave you TheOneRing. SamGamgee gave you AGlassSlipper. You had a refined time until TheNewKidsOnTheBlock turned you over to the Others. What's Your Trick-or-Treat Haul?Shiver My Timber--A Pirate RPG

*part of a series of posts I am cross-posting. I'm finally within the MySpace timeline, which means these posts will be dated the actual date/time they were originally posted*
Yes, believe it or not my Square-Enix worship has actually been knocked down by a peg. While I will always love thier console games, it's thier PlayOnline service that's got my blood boiling. My husband bought me Final Fantasy XI when it first came out as a suprise (Oct. 2003), since he knew I really wanted it. At that time they were charging upwards of 40.00 (I want to say either (44.95 or 49.99) for it. Not to mention the monthly charge of 19.99 they charge to keep playing it and do not offer any discounts or packages to purchase more than a month at a time like pretty much every other MMORPG I have ever played (and for less or no money per month). Anyways at the time I played it until maybe about January 2005, because I wasn't always playing that often since no one else I knew played FFXI, and also because EQ2 came out and I was also playing City of Heroes, and was having a hard time justifying paying for 3 MMORPGs. At the time I left they gave me this 3 month window in which I could re-activate my account, I wrongly assumed this was if I wanted to keep my characters active (as to not start over from the beginning). I kind of had this plan for a while that I would log in before the 3 months was up and then like pay for a month and then deactivate it again and repeat aformentiond process until I was ready to play again, but you know life gets crazy and I totally blew that idea off. So recently I've been in super Square mood due to FFXII and FFVII:DoC coming out so I kinda was all "what the hey maybe I'll try playing again". So I reload my PlayOnline Viewer (which IMHO was way to much software to begin with, and doesn't even actually get you into any game except lame Tetra Master... to actually play FFXI is another 4 cds entirely). And I try to enter my old user ID and password, they don't work, which I expected. So I'm all "OK I'll just make a new account"... yeah not so much. So I go to the PlayOnline help site and try to figure out what's up and apparently that 3 month period wasn't just to save my characters, it was to save my account entirely, as you can only use your CD code once to set up an account (which is pretty much unheard of in all my time playing MMORPGs and belive me I've tried almost all of them except WoW, Lineage and Guild Wars). So now I have this 50.00 set of 5 coasters/paperweights whatever with a fancy FFXI logo on the front. So I'm thinking, ok so there's gotta be maybe some way to buy some new codes. I mean I already have the CD's maybe they have some kind of deal, right? Nope! They actually say in the help file if you have let your account expire that you need to buy the game again to get a new set of codes!!!! Needless to say several expletives went through my mind at this point. On the plus side (if you can call having to pay twice for the same game an upside) after some research you can apparently now get this package called the Vana'diel Collection which is the first game plus 3 of the 4 expansions for $29.99. Fortunately when I originally played, I never did pay for the expansions (figuring I barely got out of the third zone I would upgrade when my character was stronger). With it you get a 30 day free subscription, so in the end I guess it's a good deal.Original game (included 1st Expansion): 49.99Expansion 2: 29.99Expansion 3: 29.9930 day Subscription: 19.99Total= 129.96 Loss for letting game expire: $49.99Cost to rebuy game as a package deal: $29.99Total: 79.98So yeah technically I save money by f*ing up, but now I need to decide wether to actually buy it again, or if I'm so pissed off (and hardly play it anyways) to just save my cash and use it to buy something else (assuming I can ever get my hands on a Wii before the year 2009).Oh yeah and on a side note, apparently Square does not even heed the advice they program into their own games. Instead of offering a resource free way to purchase either the game or a registration code via download online, they are forcing you to buy the games again, which wastes all the materials, labor and whatnot that come with manufacturing a tangible product. Might as well re-name themselves Shin-ra Inc. considering all the trees they probably kill just on the packaging alone. *Sheesh!* (And why in my mind is Annie purposely trying to pirate the software [no she isn't really don't go arrest her, this is why I said in my mind] just to see if Reno shows up at her house to teach her a lesson?)

*part of a series of posts I am cross-posting. I'm finally within the MySpace timeline, which means these posts will be dated the actual date/time they were originally posted*
So I logged into Steam for the first time in a while (o.k. the first time since I blew through replaying all the old halflifes in a week, and then subsequentally blowing through Half-life 2 in like 3 days time), and what did I see but a link to pre-order and/or try the demo for "Dark Messiah: Might & Magic". I was surprised to say the least, as 3DO has long since been dead and both MMIX and the online M&M game were crap I never expected to see another Might & Magic ever again. I don't know what it was about that game, because the graphics are kind of shite really, esp. since they never changed much between VI & VIII and the gaming engine was the same for VI-IX but it is just an addictive game (i think it's the quests, ok and in 8 you get to have dragons as party members which pretty much makes you god). Well I downloaded the demo of course and it's now done by Arkane in conjuction with UbiSoft, it's been completely redone, but in a really good way. It seems to be using the Half-life 2 engine for one so the graphics are super nice and the movemt is more fluid that the old MM's ever were, not to mention the combat system is now real-time instead of that partial turn-based system they had before. The fighting is a lot harder than Half-Life 2 because so far my only long range weapon is a fireball spell and a bow & arrow, most the combat is swords so up close and you actually have to like parry and dodge and all that or the orcs kick your sorry ass to kingdom come. They also took a hint from the Mortal Kombat series and have some critical hits, and yes, finishing moves which so far have comprised of me either kicking a guy to the ground and then running him through with my sword or slicing thier arms and or other various limbs off (complete with super blood gore animation). So yeah I'm diggin it, and now waiting for the full version to come out so I can spend yet another $49.95...

*part of a series of posts I am cross-posting. I'm finally within the MySpace timeline, which means these posts will be dated the actual date/time they were originally posted*
My husband likes General Hospital, as such I ended up being sucked into it as well. There's a character in the show called Jason Morgan who is played by Steve Burton, who also happens to be the same guy who did English version voice acting for Cloud Strife of Final Fantasy VII in most of his recent incarnations (list here). Anyways Steve Burton also happens to have blond-ish hair(not nearly as yellow as Cloud "Chocobo-Head" Strife)and blue eyes (not so much so that they have that "mako" glow) and is relatively built, so you can probably see where I'm going with this, it's not really a stretch that Steve could play a live-action version of Cloud if he had to (though an older late 20s early 30s Cloud). In the show he's kind of the 1 thug to the mob kingpin of the area, which means he's kind of constantly walking around being a tough guy and getting into heated arguements. Now this is the part in which I know I've been playing too many games, everytime he starts getting really pissed at someone I kind of half expect him to break out the Buster Sword (because I have no idea wtf the new sword is named) and go all Omni-Slash on someone's ass!!! Also if he felt like riding off into the horizon on Fenrir that would be kind of fun as well (though apparently almost no one in Port Charles owns any sort of vechicle, except of course when one is needed for a car-bombing... as they all just seem to magically appear in one place after another and never mention how they actually got there, LOL!).

*part of a series of posts I am cross-posting. I'm finally within the MySpace timeline, which means these posts will be dated the actual date/time they were originally posted*
Nicked from alienpigpen Step 1: Put your MP3 player on random. Step 2: Post the first line(s) of the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song. Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from. Step 4: Strike out the songs when someone guesses correctly. Step 5: NO CHEATING (that goes for the guesser, too!) *Skipping instrumentals, techno/industrials with too few words, and anything not in english* 1. So now that your faith's gone who are you going to trust? Now that your conscience is crawling in the dust... 2. Open your heart, open your mind, a train is leaving all day. A wonderful trip through our time, and laughter is all U pay... 3. Requiem. Requiem. I am the day you die, I want to be alone. Come see my spirit fly, the road to thunderdome... 4. Cigarette holder which wigs me, over her shoulder, she digs me. Out cattin' that satin doll... 5. Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it just to reach you, Julia... 6. And the sky was made of amethyst, and all the stars look just like little fish. You should learn when to go, you should learn how to say no... 7. This is a matter of utmost urgency, you might even call it a police emergency. Suckers got ill when they finally heard the G, wasn't sellin out, they tried to murder me... 8. Sitting on the doorstep of the house I can't afford, I can feel you there. Thinking of a reason, well, it's really not very hard, to love you even though you nearly lost my heart... 9. Eventhough you nail me down, I luv U still. Eventhough you hurt me so, I luv U still... 10. Girls who are boys, who like boys to be girls, who do boys like they're girls, who do girls like they're boys. Always should be someone you really love... 11. He trembles in the bitter wind, until it's time for us to speak. Whilst others here are sleeping sound, I'll slip away by floorboard creak... 12. My mother was a witch, she was burned alive. thankless little bitch, for all the tears I cried... 13. Love, love is the answer. When I think about love, I don't think about a bright moon, twinkling stars, red wine, silent whispers, holding hands, secret love letters... 14. I got you in my heart, I got you in my head. Your magic it surrounds me. I've got you in my heart, I got you in my head. Let's make a rendezvous... 15. You know what I say to your hot pants? Say what? Say get on down, ah ha ha... 16. A long long time ago, in a galaxy far away Naboo was under an attack. And I thought me and Qui-Gon Jinn, could talk the Federation into maybe cutting them a little slack... The Saga Begins - "Weird Al" Yankovic (Steggy & Annie) 17. Why should I care, why should I care? Girls of fifteen, sexually knowing. The ushers are sniffing, Eau-de-cologning... 5:15 - The Who (Steven) 18. When we were children, we played in your backyard, and we pretended whenever times were hard... 19. I could kiss the she-fire, just like a holy, holy fool. I could never think too much, just like that holy, holy fool... 20. Steppin' out the weekends open wide, fill it up let's blast the jams and ride. While we're cruisin' around in the street, listen up for the partyin' feet.. 21. Teenage, greenage, awkward in-between age(Teenage enema nurse). I turned 15 thought it was a teen scene (Teenage enema nurse)... 22. You've got style, that's what all the girls say, satin sheets and luxuries so fine...Dress You Up - Madonna (Steggy) 23. My friend Jack eats sugarlumps. My friend Jack eats sugarlumps. Sugarman hasn't got a care, he's been traveling everywhere... 24. It's 2AM - it's 2 AM. The fear is gone - the fear is gone. I'm sittin' here waiting - I'm sittin' here waiting. The gun's still warm - the gun's still warm. Thinking my connection is tired of taking chances... Twilight Zone - Golden Earring (Paul)25. Fear me you lord and lady preachers, I descend upon your earth from the skies. I command your very souls you unbelievers, bring before me what is mine...

*part of a series of posts I am cross-posting. I'm finally within the MySpace timeline, which means these posts will be dated the actual date/time they were originally posted*
I blame Melt (well no not really, he only mentioned it, it's not his fault I can't resists gadgets). He told me about the 80G iPod and I had to run out and buy it. One thing I am suggesting is if you have a Tweeter near you, trade your old one in through them. Apple store won't give you any money for it, they only offer "free recycling" (whoopee), and I found that my particular model (4th gen B&W screen 40g) was only selling on ebay for around $30 (which sucks since it cost around $400 when I got it). Tweeter however gave me about $100 for it which was about what I was looking for after doing some research online (I think there was like one place online that would have given me more, but I had never heard of them and they wouldn't send you your money until they got your iPod and "inspected" it, it sounded shady like a way to steal my iPod and then I get nothing out of it... so I went with Tweeter since it's an actual store and they had the 80G in stock there). I must say I like it. You would think really an iPod is an iPod but I was out of room on my old one, and obviously this has twice as much space, which is good. Also it's color (whee) and shows cute little pictures of your album covers next to your music which is fun. It's also one of those ones that hold photos and movies, and they have games you cn download too, though really I'll probably only ever use it for music, it's nice that they offer all of that. Oh yeah and Johnny Depp is on the box dressed as Jack Sparrow, so YUM!In other news I had to laugh. You know the game you are playing is old when it tells you you don't have enough memory and you need to install direct X to play. Let me explain, I felt like playing Might & Magic VIII (yes the one I made the techno tune from) . It's a year 2000 game with a 1998 gaming engine, but I guess having 2G of memory was either rare or non-existent at that point because it was reading it as if it had 2M (it wanted like 32M or something, I forget). Also it wanted DirectX 7, I have DirectX 9. So it kept telling me (since it was registering 9 as an unknown version due to it's not having been in existence yet in 2000) I would have to upgrade my Direct X (which in this case actually meant downgrade since the game was so confused). So yeah I was laughing a lot! I'm like if I can play Everquest II (which essentially requires NORAD to play) I can play you, lowly Might & Magic VIII!!!!!

*part of a series of posts I am cross-posting. I'm finally within the MySpace timeline, which means these posts will be dated the actual date/time they were originally posted*
Spam, spam, spam ,spam, spam, spam, spam, spam.. Lovely Spam, Wonderful Spam!Just felt like doing that, I think i get some ratio of like 2 real e-mails per day to like 40 spams which come in rounds of about 11-14 per time I check.Also you can tell I've been spending way too much labelling crap in iTunes when you read a spam titled "RATE Alert" as "Rave Alert" (which would have been far more interesting even though it's only a mediocre Praga Khan song).

*part of a series of posts I am cross-posting. I'm finally within the MySpace timeline, which means these posts will be dated the actual date/time they were originally posted*
For some reason I just get fascinated with the internet, and how it works. So to me anyways, it's kind of neat to trace back origins, I usally do this for my cast by tracking all the IP addresses which download each episode and save everything in a spreadsheet I set up. For the pirates episode, however I also found it interesting to track back what websites were mentioning me and found this stuff out:The obvious one http://talklikeapirate.com had recommended me on both thier partykit and songs pages, referring me about 2285 hitsPeople connecting direct from my podcast webpage directly, accounted for 1482 hits.My personal favorite stat is that I was reffered through e-mail about 23 times (which means people actually liked it enough to tell thier friends about it, YEA!)I was also reffered through various livejournals 20 times (most of which seem to be friends blocked so I can't refer you to the exact post)http://unquietsoul5.livejournal.com/2006/09/19/As well as several bulliten boards (inluding a couple in German I can't read at all! LOL!) and various other blogs:Post 3, under the link that says "Arrrrrgh!" = 2 Hits http://www.unfortunateevents.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20421Post 1 under the link that says "23 tune playlist of the best pirate songs ever" = 1 Hit http://www.randomlingshouse.net/viewtopic.php?t=5457About 1/2 way down from a person caller LeapFreak: http://gush.youthalive.com.au/showthread.php?p=295726http://www.cleopatra-groningen.nl/blog/article/472 (i'm sure you can see it, it's like the only thing in english under the link that says "Talk Like A Pirate Day Theme Show") = 4 hitsAbout 3/4 of the way down from a person caller OrR: http://forum.geemag.de/viewtopic.php?t=25&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=585&sid=25048c0deb35ca2c5d737f5434992b66As well as several others, I would need to be a member to read.1 Hit from Podcast referral site: Podcast AlleyAnd of course if you can do math, you now know why it's taking me forever to update my listener map, LOL!

*part of a series of posts I am cross-posting. I'm finally within the MySpace timeline, which means these posts will be dated the actual date/time they were originally posted*
My iTunes is on random and just went by "I've Got A Golden Ticket" from "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory", though it doesn't really matter if you like that version or the Tim Burton "Charlie" version, or don't like either and just like the book, the question still apllies. If you were Charlie's mum (in TB version/Dahl book dad too)would you not so wanna kick Grandpa Joe's ass when you realized you were waiting on him hand and foot working your ass off and all that god-damned time he could get his sorry ass out of bed??!!!! And as an equally related question for those that are into reading, I think I would be even more pissed to find out the rest of the sorry lot could get up as well (Charlie and The Great Glass Elevator). And speaking of which, while the Willy Wonka version went off on a tangent expanding the whole Slugworth story into trying to get the children to steal the everlasting gobstopper(instead of the Prince Pondecherry/Grandpa Joe being a former employee thing like the book)the important thing which did stay the same (the ending) seemed like in Tim Burton's version pretty much skipped over the fact that Glass Elevator even exists as a story and skipped right to the end bit where all of Charlie's family decide to live at the factory, making it a little weirder to have the next book as a sequel (though obviously they won't be making a sequel to the Willy version anyways, so maybe it doesn't matter that much). Yep, that's my pointless rant for today.

*part of a series of posts I am cross-posting. I'm finally within the MySpace timeline, which means these posts will be dated the actual date/time they were originally posted*
As always around this time of year, I am asking that everyone on my contact list answer the following (please put all information even if you think I already have it, you'd be surprised how bad I am about updating these things the rest of the year except when I do these e-mail requests). Some of you may receive this more than once, if so sorry about that, but please specify which e-mail (if you received it at more than one) you prefer me to use. Thanks a Lot!Addresses: Your main one, and also if you have another place you spend a lot of time, i.e. college, summer home, etc. send that as well.Phone Numbers: home, cell, and any other phone number you think I should haveAlternate or updated e-mail address: If you use more than one or if the one I am using is old or seldom checked, etc.Webpages: if you have a place where I can keep in touch with you, this includes personal pages, myspaces, livejournals, bloggers, xangas, etc.Instant Messenger screen names: including AOL (aim), yahoo, & msnImportant Dates: Birthdays, Anniversaries, Children's Birthdays, etc.And of course please let me know if you don't want to be on my contact list anymore (in which case you don't have to answer any of the above). If you would like any of the above information for me in return, please send your request in your response. If you prefer to not send this info through Livejournal, please mail it direct to ishtarandromeda AT gmail DOT com