Series @ MindSay

This is a follow-up from a previous entry when my sister's boyfriend let me borrow a bunch of anime.

As a trade, I let him borrow the following anime DVDs that I have:



I thought it was a fair trade, since I decided I'm only gonna copy his Initial: D, Mobile Suit Gundam: SEED, Trigun and Kiddy Grade.

When you get THREE firsties, in ONE DAY, like ones from Torridgirl, it feels like my birthday!!!

A couple of days ago, I had a little conversation with my sister's boyfriend about Initial:D. I asked him if he knows about it and he mentioned that he has 'em, from First Stage to Third Stage, up to and including the Battle Stage and Extra Stage. I asked if I can copy them and he was cool with it.

Just a few minutes ago, my sister called out my name while I was in my bedroom. I opened the door and my sister's boyfriend handed me a CD case full of burned CD's (seriously, it's like a 100 CD / DVD wallet). He said, "Here you go, Initial D should be in here somewhere."

"Whoa dude! What else is in here?" I inquired,

"I don't remember, all kinds of stuff; Gundam Seed, Shaman King, I dunno, just check it out, you'll see..." he replied.

"Is it cool if I copy all of them?"

"Yeah man, take your time and check them out. Copy what you like."

And soon thereafter, he left the house with my sister. 

So I closed my bedroom door and opened up the case. Enclosed was a 83 of CD-Rs, which means each CD should have at the most 700MB of anime. Just by the writings on the CDs, I never even heard of some of these. Here's what the case includes:


Whoever said "Anime: Crack is Cheaper" just might be mistaken, especially when you have connection. 

But here's the thing, some of the anime listed here, I'm not sure if I should even copy them.  If you know anything about any of these shows and you have any opinion on it whatsoever, please let me know.  Which ones do you suggest that I copy or not copy?

Firsty came from my love, Uyoku!!!  Thanks baby, I love you!


:: Now Watching: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED - Episode 01
:: Current Mood: Annoyed, by my co-workers who think I'm supposed to be working today... fuckers!

Many people find laptop shopping to be a bit of a chore. In previous years, the selections available would always leave one wanting more. This has changed in 2003 with Apple, Compaq, Dell, Toshiba, and IBM all producing svelte yet powerful laptops, making the past dreams of a true desktop replacement a reality. IBM T42

Excellent battery life usually is near the top of any list of must-have laptop features, with a good warranty a close second. My previous laptop had been a Gateway Solo 2500 which gave me about 3 hours of battery life when I first purchased it. The Solo 2500 also had a great warranty (which came in handy one more than one occasion). So with these requirements in mind, it was time to score a new portable. When the dust settled there was one laptop still standing: The IBM ThinkPad T40 Series. After reading about the prowess of its Pentium M CPU and excellent battery life, we were excited about buying ours and digging in. IBM ThinkPad T40

The laptop
We decided ultimately on the T40 2373-91u. The full specs on the machine are as follows:

Pentium M 1.6 Ghz
512 MB PC2100 DDR
Hitachi Deskstar 80GB, 4200rpm
14.1″ SXGA (1400×1050)
ATI Radeon Mobility 9000 / 32 Meg
Intel Pro1000 gigabit Ethernet chipset
56k V.92 modem
CD-RW/DVD Combo DRIVE IBM T40 
Usually the first remark you hear about the T40 is that it is built like a tank. Indeed, the rumors are true. While it is not completely indestructible, I have no fears about my T40 getting damaged in any minor calamity. While the lid gives a little when twisted, its magnesium alloy construction makes it nowhere near as malleable as the plastic on most laptops. The lid is attached to the base with two large metal hinges, and it would take a lot to break them off. The lid is also designed so its edges come around the base a little when it is closed. This provides a little more assurance against injury when you throw it in your bag.

All T40 models have dual USB 2.0 ports, S-video out, dual PCMCIA ports, and a parallel port. I would have loved to have seen FireWire standard on this notebook, but I don’t think the omission is anywhere near being a deal breaker. The other drawback to the T40 is that only one of the memory slots is user-accessible. So you might want to max out the base RAM when ordering.

As far as software goes, the T40 is light in that department. The laptop comes preinstalled with Windows XP SP1, Norton A/V (Trialware), IBM recordnow (a.k.a., Stomp Recordnow), and Acrobat Reader. Most of the other applications IBM included basically duplicate the functionality of other programs. One example is the IBM Update Connector, which updates drivers and IBM software. We could not think of a reason to use this instead of Windows Update. Another odd inclusion is IBM Access Support. This software includes a handful of diagnostics and troubleshooters for the computer, which do about the same thing as the troubleshooters in Windows Help. In general, Windows comes with better software to do the same things all of the IBM software does. Fortunately, you are in no way forced to use any of these utilities. At least IBM does not load the system with apps that just waste away in the system tray.92P1011 6600mAh

There was no media packaged with the laptop, so in the case of total hard drive disaster, you are required to call IBM. What you get instead is a restore partition on the hard drive. This makes it easier for a large company to deploy their own images for easy restoring, but to the average user it means you pay for 6GB of disk space you can’t use without reformatting. It also means that if you have a hard drive failure, you will be SOL. Fortunately, IBM will speedily send you a restore CD if you request one from tech support, or will send you a new hard drive if it is completely unusable. It would be nice if you could request to have it shipped with the computer.

One of the things to keep in mind about the ibm thinkpad t40 series t40 series is that it is designed in many ways for being deployed in droves across a large business. Features like Access IBM are more useful to large IT departments than to individuals who just want a laptop.

The ThinkPad comes with a standard three-year limited warranty, with a one-year warranty on the battery; pretty much standard issue. If you so desire, a more comprehensive warranty is available, which provides for next-day on-site repair. Past experience with the IBM warranty department has been pretty good, they are very hands-off, no off-base questions asked.

Lapotp Battery Worldwide

As I write this, it is 4:17 AM, so this post will be long and probably disjointed at parts. But I just really need to vent so I don't go to bed with all these crazy Twilight thoughts bouncing around in my head...though they probably will anyway.

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!
THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!
THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!
THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!
THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!
THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!
THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!
THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!
THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!
THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Alright, if you haven't gotten it by now, you deserve to have the book spoiled for you. Here goes.

I was initially extremely excited for Breaking Dawn. Being a newcomer to the Twilight series (beginning of July), my wait wasn't as long as many Twilighters', but I am just as disappointed as I'm sure many of them were.

I got Twilight on a whim--we were at Barnes & Noble, I had just finished a book and needed something to read, Twilight caught my eye (the 10% off sticker certainly helped), and I had heard it was a good book, so I bought for my upcoming vacation the next week. Later that day, I was bored, so I decided it wouldn't hurt to start reading--the book /was/ 498 pages, after all. There was no way I'd actually finish that before we left. I read. And read. And read. And read some more. Before I knew it, I was on page 50. Then page 100. I finally had to cut myself off at page 150 because I had just bought the book, I didn't want to finish it so quickly! For the next three days, I read for hours at a time.

The day before our vacation, I picked up New Moon, because I was sure I would end up finishing Twilight either that day or the next, no matter how hard I tried to supress my desire, my need, to find out what would happen between Bella and Edward. These characters had become so real to me, especially Bella, because I (as well as many other teenage girls) could see a little of myself in her, minus the bagging-the-hot-vampire gene. I ended up finishing Twilight on my way down to North Carolina, and picked up New Moon without skipping a beat. For the rest of the week, I was constantly in my room, reading for hours on end. I ended up getting Eclipse at a specially requested Wal-Mart stop--I couldn't risk finishing New Moon and NOT having Eclipse to begin reading immediately after.

To save an already long story from being even longer, I ended up finishing Eclipse fairly quickly, leaving my mind intently focused on August 2, the release of Breaking Dawn.

As soon as I got home, I went to Barnes & Noble to preorder my copy--I couldn't risk going later and not getting one. The thought of being unable to be immersed in Edward and Bella's world when the book was out there for everyone else to read was not an option. For two weeks, I counted down the days to the book release party (looking up Twilight movie info and getting my friend Sarah and my mom hooked on the series to keep myself occupied). Finally, the day was here.

Sarah and I went to Barnes & Noble and waited with 200+ other people for Breaking Dawn. Finally, after two weeks of waiting (how all you people who bought Eclipse as soon as it came out were able to deal, I will never know), I would find out how the saga would end. Everything would fall into place.

But it didn't.

Here is where my real rant will begin. (It will only be a partial rant, because I have just finished Book 2, Jacob's story, and am only halfway through the book, but I had to vent before I read anymore) As I started to read, something felt different...not right. I kept reading through the wedding, and the honeymoon, and still, the book felt like it was disconnected from the rest of the series. Like it didn't quite fit in with the tone of the other books. And then it happened--I saw it coming from the time she woke up crying for no reason--Bella got pregnant.

Now, this idea seriously disturbed me, because it just didn't feel right. I mean...it's /Edward and Bella/. They have this special kind of love, a love so strong that most people never feel about anyone. They love each other on a level that is almost inconceivable to other people. Bella was supposed to turn into a vampire in some sort of crazy turn of events that invloved the Volturi or some other crazy mythical creature (deranged unicorn, anyone?) after her. But no. She gets pregnant.

To make matters worse, she gets pregnant and doesn't freak out. And because of her freaky little dreams (seriously, all of her dreams are so...vivid. who really has dreams like that? dreams that actually mean something?) where she protects the creepy little vampire toddler (talk about terrible twos...) who kills everyone she loves. I just don't get it.

Then, for some reason unknown to the rest of the sane universe, she asks Rosalie to help her. Knowing that Rosalie never got to have kids. Knowing that Rosalie wants a chile more than anything else in the entire world. I mean, come on. This was bound to not end well.

So, as if all of that wasn't weird enough, the story just stops. And you come to 'Book 2: Jacob'. Now I don't know how all of you felt about New Moon, but I thought parts of it were slow, so I was NOT looking forward to 222 pages of Jacob's point of view. (Besides, Jacob was already halfway on my bad side for kissing Bella with no permission in Eclipse. Grrr.)

As it turns out, I actually LIKED Jacob's point of view. That whole part of the book made me fall in love with Seth, and really made me feel for Jacob. As I read, I liked Jacob more and more. I was surprised to find that I was actually beginning to like the book. But then pregnant Bella reared her ugly head.

Now, I have loved Bella since the very first line of the very first book. Like I've said before, she's such a relatable character, which is one of the things that sucks you in and keeps you reading. I have never not liked her, unlike most Edward Cullen fangirls, who hate her because she gets the fictional love of their lives. But reading that first part, and every part after that, where she talks about that stupid creature inside her...I just wanted to slap her across the face. When she had first found out she was pregnant, she said this:

"From that first little touch, the whole world had shifted. Where before there was just one thing I could not live without, now there were two." (Chapter 7, page 132)

Now, I don't know what happened between this quote and the scene Jacob walks in on when he first goes to attack the Cullens, but she certainly didn't care about hurting ANYONE. She's puking and has these huge bruises and STILL wants to keep the damn thing. She wouldn't listen to Carlisle, or even Edward, the supposed love of her life, who she "[can] not live without", yet is willing to absolutely tear apart to have the stupid thing. Then she has to drink blood for it, which is disgusting in itself. Even later when it starts to get really big...it breaks her RIB and she just grins and bears it because she just "loves" it. UGH. Stephenie Meyer turned Bella from a loveable awkward clumsy teenager into some sort of a martyr who is willing to do whatever it takes and hurt whoever she has to hurt to have this...creature that will probably end up killing her anyway. It just doesn't make sense!

AND to make matters worse, the whole scene where they're taking the thing out of her is disturbing, creepy, and just plain scary.

At this point, I don't think I'm making any sense because I'm typing the thoughts as they're coming out of my head.

OH and, as if the whole storyline wasn't creepy enough, Jacob leaves in a fit of rage because Bella is "dead" and Edward is turning her into a vampire and Jacob thinks it's useless and he decides he's going to go kill the source of all his pain and RIGHT as he's getting ready to spring, he imprints on "Renesmee." BAM! end of book 2. What. The. F&*^*(^&*^*#&^$*&@%^#&%@?!?!?!?! It doesn't make sense and it's just plain weird. Was Stephenie on CRACK when she was writing this book? I mean...I do understand. She loves the characters more than anyone. Okay. She was under a lot of pressure to make the end of this saga really epic and good and amazing. But really? Jacob, Bella's best friend who is in love with her but will never get her falls in love with her half vampire, half human newborn daughter. That's just screwed up.

I mean, Stephenie seriously wouldn't let Jacob catch a break. As if it wasn't hard enough on him to go to her wedding just for Bella's happiness, he now has to find out and deal with the fact that she's pregnant with this creepy little thing that will most likely kill her, leave his wolf family to protect her, see her pregnant and all smiley at him every day, let her talk to him and joke with him, watch her get sliced open and almost eaten by a crazed vampire obsessed with becoming a mother vicariously through Bella, watch her literally DIE, watch Edward try to save her by biting her all over and turning her into a vampire, and finally, the piece de resistance, fall in love with her newborn half human, half vampire daughter. If that;s not a good Jerry Springer episode, I don't know what is.

Alright, I've done enough blabbering/ranting for one night, sorry it probably didn't make any sense, I just had to get some stuff out of my head. I'm seriously disappointed with the book so far...the second half BETTER be better than this. This is NOT how it was supposed to end.

I remember when reading really became an enormous part of my life.  I couldn't have been more than seven or eight.  The book that started it all was one of R. L. Stine's books, the Goosebumps series.  The first one I read was the first mummy one that he wrote (which also began my insatiable curiosity of ancient Egypt).

The only books I read for leisure are the books in which I cannot help but become emotionally invested in characters.  I laugh with them.  I'm happy when they are victorious.  I cry with their loss.

It's therapeutic for me.  Sitting in my chair curled up in a blanket with a book in my hands and the outside world disappears.  I'm transported into the world I'm reading about.  Characters are not just characters, they're like long lost friends that you stumble upon in a random encounter.  I don't just read.  I experience.  Something is released inside of me and my imagination becomes an entity with its own will.

This lust, no, love affair with words, pages, chapters, series that I have is not a fleeting one.  And it is much less expensive than a shrink...well, sometimes.