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Introduction (aka about this journal)
Hello and welcome. This is, fairly obviously, my online journal / blog / whathaveyou. Come, put up your metaphorical webtravelling shoes; won't you have a read for a while?

As of about mid-May I've been tagging all my entries in various categories; I have links to these just below.

Categories
anime books consumerism conventions cosplay dnd drawing dreams evolution exercise games general_woes grit impenetrable_writing intelligent_design links lj_meta_stuff manga martial_arts memes movies pc_woes polls politics reviews science star_trek star_wars work writing
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May. 23rd, 2008 @ 07:44 am Silly meme time
Current Mood: amused
Tags:
LiveJournal Username
Your Primary Super Power
Cape?
Identitiy
Origin
Location of Head Quarters
Primary Costume/Uniform Colors
Why are you a Superhero?
Your Superheroic Codename
The veteran grim member of the teamlirazel
The sexist and crass but annoyingly effective oneloopychew
The bright-eyed novice or sidekickvidstudent
The teammate that will eventually go evil or insancardcaptorlana
The inept yet determined/reoccurring supervillainastupidloser
The sinister Arch-Villain and team's greatest foejuchan
The perky civilian that keeps getting kidnappedzinegeek
How often does your team actually 'save the day'?
91%
This Fun Quiz created by Shannon at BlogQuiz.Net
Weight Loss Tips at WeightLossTips.TV

About this Entry
Apr. 3rd, 2008 @ 08:38 am Current results from the blog challenge
Tags:
Crikey. In no time at all I had a couple of requests for the blogging meme. So here we go.

From [info]markpoa:

Best thing about being an uncle?

Well, I'm not an uncle yet, and won't be for another five months or so, so all I can do is guess at what it'll be like to be an uncle, and what the best bit will be.

Which I guess will be watching my nephew / niece growing up, trying to help them out as they grow up, and to be a cool uncle that they like to see (rather than a weird uncle they try to avoid). If they say, "Yay, uncle Steve is here!" then that would be like the best thing ever.

I suppose I'll have a more definite answer once I actually *am* an uncle.

---

From [info]maramala:

Tell me something about your country. If not, how about something from where you live right now.

I never really say much about my country, or where I live. It's just there, you know? I live in it, move through it in my day-to-day life, but never think all that much about its particulars. Except when prompted, like right now.

Australia has its ups, as well as its downs (and how). But instead of talking about those, which would be boring and unoriginal, I'll talk about something else that I only found out recently myself.

Australia is often referred to, at least by us, as "the lucky country". It's a nice feel-good name, isn't it? I never knew exactly why though.

The funny thing is that "the lucky country" comes from a book that described Australia as a lucky country run by second-rate people who share its luck. The original meaning of the term, though, has been lost. Now we just call ourselves, often with a completely straight face, the lucky country.

Also in that book, the author Donald Horne described the Australian elite as unoriginal, obsessed with race, and beholden to imperial power and wars. I'd say that most of this still applies, especially that last one. Far too often Australian soldiers have been sent halfway around the world to fight another country's wars. Britain's fights in WWI (at Gallipolli especially) is a particularly jarring example. Much more recently, there's America's mess in Iraq.
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Apr. 2nd, 2008 @ 08:50 am That blog challenge meme; challenge me!
Tags:
From [info]markpoa and [info]eslington:

Everyone has things they blog about. Everyone has things they don't blog about. Challenge me out of my comfort zone by telling me something I don't blog about, but you'd like to hear about, and I'll write a post about it.

Ask for anything: latest movie watched, last book read, political leanings, thoughts on yaoi, favorite type of underwear, writing techniques, etc.


It's entirely possible that instead of blogging about the subject, I'll blog about why I don't blog about it, which will *also* be blogging about the subject, so it's all good, no?
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Jul. 18th, 2007 @ 02:40 pm (no subject)
Tags:
So I saw a "what's your Zanpakuto?" meme on [info]maramala's LJ. I just had to try it out.

First I tried my usual internet nickname, Sukugaru.

Sukugaru's Zanpakuto:

Sukugaru carries Jade Peony sealed into the form of a paintbrush. At the command "Come out, Jade Peony!" it transforms into a black, bent urumi with the handle wrapped in cloth. It gives the wielder great skill with the weapon.

What's Your Zanpakuto?



Being sealed in the form of a paintbrush is interesting, though the special ability - great skill with the weapon - is a bit boring.

I then tried my own name.

Steven Scougall's Zanpakuto:

Steven Scougall unseals this zanpakuto with the command "Snap, Ice Tempest!" It resembles a bent, fancy baton which has mystic symbols painted on the shaft and coalesces water from the surrounding atmosphere into a cutting blade.

What's Your Zanpakuto?



I quite like this one. A baton that has Iceman-like powers? And theoretically, you could end up coalescing a *lot* of water from the atmosphere into one or more cutting blades.

Of course, for completeness, I should list the one I thought of long ago.

With a command of "Dance in the autumn wind, Dark Flower," the scabbard and part of the blade transform into a large cloud of mentally controlled blades in the shape of autumn leaves - the end result is a whole lot of whirling leaf-blades and a shorter, straighter sword with a slightly shorter hilt. The leaf-blades can be used in a large variety of configurations, giving it great variety: shields, lines of connected leaf-blades (ropes or whips), offensive projectiles, and more besides.</p>

In Bankai, Dark Flower becomes Dark Flower of the Deep Forest. A large number of ghostly trees with not-so-ghostly leaves appear all over the battlefield. With the same command, most of the leaves on these trees detach, upping the number of mentally controlled blades by a factor of lots. Major ouchies ensue.

Make up your own zanpakuto!

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Nov. 14th, 2005 @ 01:15 pm It's time for another meme!
Tags:
Comment with a fake memory of me. Then post this in your own journal and remember all the good times that never were!
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Oct. 10th, 2005 @ 12:30 pm Meme result
Tags:
You are Vincent...
You are VINCENT. Remember to clean the cobwebs off
your coffin once in a while- first impressions
are lasting!


What Final Fantasy VII character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

And if you can't see the picture: Brooding, dark and mysterious, you are reluctant to get close to people and hesitate to reveal your true self. You may feel some degree of self-loathing occasionally, but don't worry - your sense of honour and justice will take you far beyond the reaches of the hell you've created for yourself.
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Aug. 30th, 2005 @ 11:50 am Wacky meme
Tags:
The Rules
First, write down the names of 12 characters. Then read and answer the questions. You can't look at the questions (or click on the cut) until you write down the 12 characters you're going to use.

1. Kisei, from Unreal Estate
2. Tejina, from Do-Gooders
3. Dan Hibiki, from Street Fighter
4. Atton Rand, from SW:KoTOR 2
5. Ayame, from Do-Gooders
6. Gordon Freeman, from Half-Life
7. Demitri Maximov, from Darkstalkers
8. Sing, from Kung Fu Hustle
9. Zangief, from Street Fighter
10. Arale Norimaki, from Dr. Slump
11. Mikoto, from Mai HiME
12. Daniel Monium, from Hex Coda

Alright, I admit it. I saw the questions before I chose the people on my list. So what I did was come up with twenty four people, including some real weirdoes that would generate extremely wacky questions, and had a computer program pick out 12 people at random from that list.

I highly reccomend NOT looking at the questions before picking the people on your list.

And now the questions! )
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Jul. 28th, 2005 @ 04:44 pm Star Wars quiz
Tags:
Star Wars Meme by sailor_phobos
1st 2 Ltrs of 1stname + Last 3 Ltrs of last name
1st 2ltrs of moms last name+Last 3ltrs of city brn
Sith or JediSith
Skin ColorBlue
Eye ColorBlue
Light Saber ColorYellow
How close you are to switching sides: 100%
Username
You're Random Star Wars Quote:The plans you refer to will soon be back in our hands.
Your Padawan (if you're a jedi)kagami
Your apprentice (if you're a sith)damienroc
You're Masterastupidloser
Quiz created with MemeGen!


Well, interesting. So I start off as a Sith, but will definitely change allegiance to the Jedi at one point. This fits in wel with my personal idea that a 'gray' approach is better than extreme Sith or extreme Jedi.
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Jul. 26th, 2005 @ 04:38 pm Quiz Result
Tags:
The character from Bleach I am most like is... )
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Jun. 17th, 2005 @ 08:37 am That book meme!
Tags: ,
Something I started writing yesterday but forgot to post...

That book meme! )
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Jun. 6th, 2005 @ 04:31 pm Quiz result
Tags: ,
I'm... C-3PO? )
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May. 31st, 2005 @ 04:40 pm Why am I not surprised; or, Quiz result
Tags:
So I took the Which Classic Story Role Do You Play quiz.

I am the Outlaw. No, wait! Maybe I'm also the main character! )
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Showtime
May. 13th, 2005 @ 09:07 am Another meme result
Tags:
In LJ, at least, meme is made up of "me" and "me".

That LJ comments meme )
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May. 3rd, 2005 @ 04:47 pm Random stuff and a quiz result
Lots of random things

Weird dreamings...

I was playing some sort of 3-D shooting / giant-robot game, and one of my weapons was some sort of whip that I could use to catch explosive globes. One tactic that the game really emphasised was to somehow wrap a whole bunch of these globes around an opponent and then shoot them. Only, it was very very hard to control the whip. I was really struggling with the controls, attempting to use this tactic, and finally succeeded...

...and then the dream abruptly changed - the globes sort of stopped exploding, and suddenly it was a classroom environment, and the enemy had changed into a spider and then a banana (I am *not* making that up) and the teacher-figure started lecturing me about... something. I forget exactly, but I think it was about how that tactic, while it was really powerful, shouldn't be used. "Think about the poor big old banana," she said.

I woke up, thinking, "What the hell?"

I think my subconscious might be telling me I play too many games. To which I have to say, I *know*, dammit.

---

Still on the topic of games - I made a very big mistake recently, and reinstalled Neverwinter Nights.

All my time has suddenly disappeared into it. Argh. *Now* I remember why I uninstalled it.

Still, taking down an archdevil with naught but my BARE HANDS was fun.

---

In anticipation of a certain movie coming out shortly, I went and read the Star Wars III - Revenge of the Sith novelisation. I wasn't particularly worried about spoilers, because I'd been spoiled to most of it already. Figured I might as well go the whole hog.

I won't give any spoilers here. All I'll say is that if the movie lives up to even *half* of the promise of the book, then it'll be great to see.

Also, I'm pretty sure that the movie will be a very different beast. Just judging from the trailers that I've seen, there will be a lot less of the talking and political maneuvering, and a lot more action. But again, if the movie lives up to half of the promise of the book, then it'll still be good.

And besides, the emergence of Vader is something we've been waiting for for SIX YEARS, ever since we were presented with Jake Lloyd and told he would grow up to be James Earl Jones. Seeing that finally happen on the big screen has got to be worth the admission price.

---

Still on movies, I have yet to see the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie, though I meant to go see it this past weekend. Reviews I've seen suggest that it's solid but not great. I don't particularly mind. I shall definitely go and see this one, as soon as I can.

---

The past couple of weeks at work have been INSANE. First we had a slight reshuffle of things so that there were less people actively on the helpdesk - instead of three, now there are only two, me and coworker Michael. This was not so bad.

No, the bad thing was that on the same week of the official changeover, I was given a code release to perform. A release is normally a four-day process, and as it was the first one I've ever done it took longer than normal. Then it was complicated when some last-minute changes were required. And all the time, I was worrying about the helpdesk and how I wasn't able to work on it.

Cue the week after that, which started normally and then an emergency release was required. That took up one and a half of very hectic days, and again I had no time for the helpdesk. I swear, I ended up a nervous wreck after all that.

This week had better be NORMAL, otherwise... otherwise... well, I'd go insane. Or at least be driven to 2Xtreme! Aggaravation.

---

And now, a silly quiz result.

If LJ was an anime... )
About this Entry
Apr. 6th, 2005 @ 11:32 pm Incredibles quiz
Tags:
Violet
Which Incredibles Character Are You?

brought to you by Quizilla

"You are Violet. Perhaps a bit under-confident, and you just want to fit in and not be different. But you may wish to be different and confident, and all you need is a push in the right direction."

...yes.
About this Entry
Apr. 4th, 2005 @ 04:59 pm Signature weapon
Tags:
So I took that signature weapon quiz that's been going around.

Mine is a halberd. No, wait a minute... )
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Showtime
Mar. 23rd, 2005 @ 08:39 am Because all the cool people are doing it
Tags:
Steve SMASH! Steve smash good! )
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Mar. 18th, 2005 @ 08:58 am (no subject)
Current Mood: amused
Tags:
Oh all right.

Things I would never say... )
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