unbound @ seema.org

I'm trying to figure out how upset I should get over this particular thread on the RD Message Board. It's the part where someone mentions that some people are deviant (in reference to C/7) that really gets me. Note s/he was *not* referring to the 'ship, but rather to me, as the author. Okay, I'm upset. But should I expend energy on a board that has the power to completely bowl me over with its inanity and personal attacks? It has gotten better, thanks to the efforts of some very dedicated posters, but still...

I think I'll buy a computer instead.

Interesting article on women's tennis; not entirely positive, but has some good insights in it. Here's the official US Open site. Semifinals will probably be Capriati, V. Williams, S. Williams and Davenport, with either Capriati or V. Williams walking away with the title. . I really don't expect to see Hingis in this line-up as she struggled against Iva Majoli and given the fact that she hasn't won a slam since 1999 (still, she's ranked number one...). Not sure that I want her to necessarily prove me wrong. I don't think she will, but it would be nice to see Seles in the semis and just for fun, it'll be nice to see how Kim Clijsters performs on hardcourt. She's definitely giving some of the top seeds a run for the money and she's an entertaining and powerful player to watch. Anna Kournikova? Sorry guys. She's not playing this time around.

****

My typing is pretty much back to normal at this point... I'm still having problems with "w" oddly enough and also with "s" and "d" and "x". Looks like the splint is here to stay for a little while, which is rather discouraging as my handwriting has gone to pot at this point and it takes about an hour to write anything legible. Yeah, definitely think I'm going to have to go right handed for a while.

Thursday, August 30, 2001

Another random thought...

I was at lunch today, feeling completely overwhelmed, and I looked at my lunch companions and asked, "What if this is the biggest, most expensive mistake of our lives?" and I could tell, by their expressions, that they were thinking the exact same time. I think we've definitely took a flying leap off the cliff and gosh, I hope someone hands me a parachute soon.

Truly unbound

My nervous breakdown is scheduled for Monday afternoon for 3:15 pm to 4:35 pm.

**
My short term memory is deteriorating. I don't see how I can remember dates (historical dates, folks) with no problem, but can't remember a single thing that happened a few minutes ago. Example: Cheile asked me to read a part of her newest fic (quite good, mho) the other night over IM. So I did. We talked about it and of course, I had a comment or two or three. End of conversation. Next day, I ask Che how the fic is going and she makes some comments and I say, "Huh?" Her response? "Let's test Seema's short term memory" and she proceeds to reiterate our conversation from the previous night ending with, "Remember this now?" The worst part of it is that what I'd forgotten was something I'd pointed out to Che myself. Some help I turned out to be. Sorry, Che. Next time I'll do better, 'kay?

**

Speaking of Che, she introduced a new phrase to my vocabulary: "influenced tryst." Hmm... the possibilities are endless.

**

Jack Nicholson said it best in Mars Attacks (miserable movie, btw, despite the all-star cast): "Why can't we all just get along?"

Wednesday, August 29, 2001

Blogger doesn't work with Netscape very well. I'm very unhappy about this.

Friday, August 24, 2001

Oh my kingdom for an ISP!

Wait... I know what you're going to say; I don't have a kingdom, but a girl can always dream, can't she? Especially when it's something as important as an ISP! Dang it. Now I've had to find other ways to occupy my time... not that that is all bad, mind you. But at this point, I really just want to be able to access email when I want to access email (not when some ISP says I can). Is that too much to ask? Yeah, you're probably right.

On another note, I was eating Ramen the other night. Ramen! Dear God, I spent 3 years in the workforce, saving up, and four days into this newest adventure, I've regressed to my undergrad days. I swore after graduation I would never ever eat Ramen ever again and until two days ago, yeah, I hadn't touched the stuff. This does not bode well.

On a personal note: Harry, if you're reading this, the SE folks are thinking about you and wishing you well. Please - we miss you, so get well soon.

Tuesday, August 21, 2001

What the heck happened to HNN? It's been quite a while since I've tuned into the Readers' Digest version of CNN, but now with my new cable package, I have it and I'm absolutely annoyed by the changes to the format. The bottom half of the screen is taken up with: a marketwatch ticker, headlines, a weather map, and current times. This bottom half never disappears. The news anchors are relegated to the upper right hand corner of the screen. And to add to the annoyance, there are bullet points running along the left hand side of the screen. Good grief. It's enough to make anyone go back to Dan Rather.

BTW, Andrea Thompson, formerly of "NYPD Blue", is not so bad as an anchor. Given the format of the new screen, who is concentrating on the anchor person/reporter anyway? BTW, commercials still take up the full screen. Oh the irony...

Sunday, August 19, 2001

Well, I'm in my new place. Not the smoothest transition ever and still some things that are a little hairy. I'm too tired to even think about it right now. Maybe tomorrow, when my blood pressure is lower. Much lower.

Thursday, August 16, 2001

Blogdex! Finally, a search engine for blogs. Vicarious living, here I come. Amazingly, they've already listed my little blog and while I'm flattered, I'm also confused as to why anyone would want to read it at all. I think it goes back to that self-absorbed thing.

Fic rec: Be Careful What You Wish For... by Barbara Watson. Because I would be derelict as a supporter of the P/T 'ship if I didn't mention this talented new writer who just amazes me with the depth of her detail and the accuracy of her characterization. This particular story, "Be Careful What You Wish For..." came via rec from a friend and I thought I'd give it a try. I was glued to my screen - there's no detail Barbara leaves unexplained and she even makes the little inconsistencies in VOY make sense. Talk about taking on a real challenge . For those of you who were dismayed by the abruptness of "Endgame," this is the perfect salve for what TPTB wrought. Closure in every sense of the word, and also plenty of angst for those of us who crave it. So go, curl up in front of your computer screen and have a wonderful time. BTW, this is a very long fic - a novel in every sense of the word - but it's worth it.

****

BTW, re yesterday's blog: I'm moving, that's all. Thanks for the concern though.

Wednesday, August 15, 2001

I hate good-byes. I've spent a good part of the morning writing my "So long" messages to people I won't be able to say good-bye to in person and it's been amazingly draining.

Changes to the Miss America Pagent. I'm highly amused.

Tuesday, August 14, 2001

It's amazing how many blogs I've run across where the author could be my next door neighbor. Makes me think we do nothing in this city but blog all day.

~*~

Site of the Day: The Visible Barbie Project

The Visible Barbie Project is part of the Foundation for Unnatural Research's long-range plan for advancing the state of human knowlege of things that no normal person would ever think to wonder about.

All righty then!

A "Facts of Life" reunion! . There's just something about 80s sitcoms that I adore. And yes, I did tune in for the "Growing Pains" reunion. Go ahead. Laugh. I'm such a geek.

Monday, August 13, 2001

The Un-Site of the Day: I'm still trying to figure out if this particular site is a joke or not. Whatever it is, it's hysterically funny. As someone in the guestbook said, pure genius. Or rather, lack thereof. I can't decide. The pictures at the bottom of the site - those are the very best part of this site. If anyone has any ideas, drop me a note. I've never been quite this conflicted about badfic before.

Why is it, when you mention you're a Trek fan, people automatically laugh? If they are especially rude, they'll point too and say things like, "Do you wear a Starfleet uniform to work?" I really don't get it - if you said you were a fan of say, "ER," it would be like, "Cool, let's discuss what happened last week and don't you hate what they did to Elizabeth?" But when you say "Trek", it's like, "Ooohhh, you're sooo strange." I don't know - just something to think about. All I can say, there are worse things in life you can be than a Trek fan and honestly, if this is my worst quality, then go ahead and laugh. I won't take offense. Really.

A friend asked me yesterday what I planned to do once I get my degree. I told her I wasn't sure yet; one day at a time.

She looked at me and said, "You just bought yourself two more years, didn't you?"

Well, when you put it that way...

I had to 'fess. Two more years, I can put off making a real decision. It's kind of like when you're little and you keep saying, "When I grow up, I'm going to do such and such." I'm the same way - "When I grow up, I'm going to do such and such." I just keep putting off "such and such," mostly because I'm waiting for the grown-up me to finally show up. I thought when I graduated from college, I would know which way was up and after knocking around the real world for a few years, I'm not so sure. The only thing I know for sure is that getting this masters' degree will open up a whole new world of possibilities and opportunities.

Maybe in two years, the grown-up me will finally show up and know what's going on.

Friday, August 10, 2001

Computer update: apparently it's the motherboard that's dead (new machine, old machine - same problem - what's up with that?) and so my brother is ordering a new one. I'm actually getting a little excited over the new machine - 900 Mhz and 512 RAM with a 36 G hard drive (30 G new, the 6 G from my old computer) and a bunch of other things that I don't understand, but that my brother understands. Basically, the machine is overkill for what I like to do - word processing, graphic design, web design and Internet - but the thought of that much power... .

Mostly, I can't wait to get the new computer so I can *finally* update my website. I did put up a temporary Geocities site, but it's awfully plain, and the colors are a little funky (since I didn't have my Netscape color wheel handy) and I'm realizing that I've been awfully spoiled by using Dreamweaver both at home and work; hand coding by HTML again really taxes the brain! But it's kind of like riding a bicycle - I fiddled for a while and finally got it right. I do have to say, it's like learning to add/subtract/divide/multiply first and then learning to use a calculator. Anyway, I finally put the Redundancy Girls site and it bears testament to my hand-coding skills (or lack thereof).

Fanfic recs for the week

I'd been meaning to do this for a while, but somehow, other things kept coming up in the blog. Anyway, here are some fanfic recs for those of you who are still mourning the loss of Voyager to get you through to the Enterprise premiere on September 26.

Voyager Virtual Season Eight This "virtual" season picks up immediately after "Endgame." Twenty-six episodes by a variety of authors chronicling the further adventures of the starship Voyager. There's humor, drama, romance, adventure, character development - you name it, it's there. So definitely worth stopping by and taking a look. Chances are, some of your favorite authors will show up during the virtual season. Currently, this project is on hiatus until August 15, when "Yesterday's Love Story" by Janeway 602 (episode #6) debuts. After that, new episodes "air" on Wednesdays.
Voyager Virtual Season 7.5 I think a lot of fans would agree that season seven wasn't all that it could have been, so a group of talented writers have taken it upon themselves to rectify the situation. This season is canon through "Shattered" and then deviates from TPTB. Expect to see some of the long neglected characters shine again in this particular project. Episodes for this project "air" on Mondays and they have all new episodes until the end of August, I believe.

So sit back and check out some of these efforts by the fans for the fans. I'm sure every reader will find something satisfying in either or both projects.

Thursday, August 09, 2001

SE folks, here's the link for the new email group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/storyexchange .

One of my favorite places to hang out online, The Story Exchange is closing, sooner rather than later. It's amazing how sad this makes me, especially since I met some of my closest online friends on this site. So, to Harry, Salamander, John, Hedi, Mike, Tracy, Maitland, Sil - there's plenty of New Coke and spumoni in your honor and some Bob Marley on the jukebox. I'll see y'all in Bermuda. Cheers.

Numbers, numbers...

For fun, I counted things yesterday. For instance, in my 15 mile trek home from work, there are 15 traffic lights. Fifteen! The first 13 of those lights are in the first five miles of my trip, 4 of them being on a 1-mile stretch of road. And the last two traffic lights are in the last 5 miles of my trip. The best part of the trip, however, are the middle five miles - a nice, winding, two-lane road along a creek bed, with large trees (yes, trees!) and the occasional deer (which I have *almost* hit on occasion). So anyway, I thought that was a profound number - 13 lights in 5 miles. I can tell you when I first started working here 3 years ago, 6 of those lights were not there.

I also counted lights on my way to work today (different way - I like variety in travel) and there are 13 lights on the way to work. The first four lights show up in the first 5 miles of the trip and the rest are pretty evenly spread out, except for the last 4, which are in the last one mile of the way. The last one mile takes almost as much time as the first 5 miles.

In other numbers...

Eight - that's how many people I *don't* know who have sent me the Sir Cam virus. It actually kind of perturbs me that people I don't know have me in their address book. What's up with that? Somebody who calls himself the "Body Shop" sent me the virus *twice* yesterday. You know, I never even got a copy of the "I love you" virus. I'm almost disgruntled over that. I'd rather have an email with a subject that says "I love you" then "Sending you this file for your advice" (or whatever it says since it evolves in every incarnation).

I have 39 spam messages sitting in my bulk folder on Yahoo!. I'd delete them but that would mean either a) opening each one and deleting them individually (a pain on a 14.4 connection) or b) turning on javascript (hell on an ancient version of Netscape). I'm still fiddling with the idea of creating a website to showcase my favorite spam messages. We'll see. I think getting a new computer will have to take precedence over any random websites I feel like designing (though I did create a new site, which will be unveiled one of these days...)

Wednesday, August 08, 2001

Site of the Day: Recycle your spam!

This and That...

I called the phone company the other day to get my new telephone service set up. They asked me for driving directions to my new place. I' ll be lucky if I can find my new apartment again (given that I've only visited this city twice), so giving someone else driving directions to get there is incredibly stressful. They're asking for landmarks and things and I'm like, "Uh, take a left, I think..." I'm not hopeful that I will have phone service when I move in. C'est la vie. Time to kick the internet habit anyway, right?

In other thoughts...

Blogging is incredibly self-centered. Those of us who do this, we're writing as if people actually care about what we're thinking/doing/saying/writing. At the same time, it's awfully easy to get addicted to blogs. For instance, check out Elizabeth Barr's blog (not to be confused with my wonderful beta, Liz Logan) for some interesting ramblings. BTW, Liz Barr was kind enough to answer my question about why people read blogs and she said it was because she wanted to feel a connection with a fanfic writer, get to know that person per se. She actually wrote a really nice email and gave me permission to post it here (which I will, once I have access to my email again). Vicarious living, I can buy that. After all, reading other people's blogs is about as close to the RL person as we possibly can get.

Friday, August 03, 2001

A coworker sent the below to me today; it's pretty symptomatic of my life right now. I think I'm the sister on the stairs.

Three sisters ages 92, 94, and 96 live in a house together. One night the 96 year old draws a bath. She puts her foot in and pauses.

She yells down the stairs "was I getting in or out of the bath?"

The 94 year old yells back "I don't know. I'll come up and see."

She starts up the stairs and pauses. "Was I going up the stairs or down?"

The 92 year old is sitting at the kitchen table having tea listening to her sisters. She shakes her head and says "I sure hope I never get that forgetful". She knocks on wood for good measure.

She then yells "I'll come up and help both of you as soon as I see who's at the door."

Thursday, August 02, 2001

Site of the Day: Robert Beltran Gripe Generator. Ya know, it was only a matter of time before we could relive all of RB's wonderful, glowing comments about his show. At least I can't disagree with his assessment of "Fury." See here:

"What they asked her to do with her character, I didn't understand. I think our writers are that far from brain damaged. I don't get them. But we were happy to have her. She's great. We love Jennifer. I wish she had never left the show; she's a really fine actress. But it was just the same old indication of our writers and producers having their head firmly up their collective ass."

Dang it, I hate when RB's right.