MY bed

I want to go and sleep in my own bed...
I have been away from it for almost this whole week.
I am still not even home.
Cousin's house, aunt's house...

I won a poker match a couple days ago!!

If you go to Step Mania's Website any time soon, you will get to see my entry to the stepmania contest. It is under the entry titled 'My Name Is Jankenpopp" because that is the song that I used when I made my submission. Plus, it has a link to my simfile site, but that site has a screwy logo that I need to fix soon.

I ordered a CD online yesterday. I went to Best Buy to look for it, but they didn't have it. Online, I had already checked the price, a dollar more than my Best Buy gift card had on it... So, when we were at Best Buy, I had an extra dollar added to my gift card and I ordered it when I got home! Here is a picture of the CD I ordered:



I can't wait for it to arrive. It is expected around the 6th or 7th.

I got into this really cool game called Pente. It is Italian I suspect. What you do is try to get these little glass pieces on this grid to be five in a row before your opponent does. You can also try to capture five pairs of your opponents glass pieces. It can get rather exciting and thoughtful.

I hope everyone has a good New Year.

Jankenpopp Responds!

Today, I get home from the mall, play Guitar Hero, then check my email. In my inbox, there was a piece of happiness!

I got an email from the band Jankenpopp about the Stepmania contest that I entered! Here is what they wrote:

---

"Hi Ryan,

I found your Stepmix
searching for my name in google
That's NICE !!!!
I used to work sometimes with a Dance Pad
some pictures here:
>>>
http://www.bombadabom.net/semaine/2005_02.html
<<<

See U
ThanXXXXXXXX


( ' o ' ) < ( http://jankenpopp.com )"

---

Yay! I am so happy that they emailed me! Plus, I got to respond in French! Hehehe.

If you aren't in the know, I used their song (licensed under the creative commons) for a simple. I entered the simfile to a contest from Stepmania. (The results should be in soon.)

So, just wanted to share the coolness of this email with you!

Check out their site at jankenpopp.com as you are surfez sur l'Internet!

The Dating Game

I have successfully written my first program! Yay! This C# book is coming into use!

You can download the program here: The Dating Game

It's pretty fun. All you do is answer questions that the computer asks you. Rather entertaining, eh?

Hehe, at least it's interactive.

If you want the Palm version of this program,(I don't know exactly why you would)get that here: Palm Dating Game

Enjoy!

Oh yes, this software is © by me, Ryan Alspaugh, 2005.

Now, Enjoy.

Break

Finals are over.
Semester one is over.
Stress is temporarily over.
Christmas is beginning.

It is now Christmas break at school and all seven of my finals are completed. What a nice thing to just relax.

Last night, I went to the local library and I got some books, manga, and movies. I looked for the Ghost World soundtrack CD, but it was nowhere to be found. I got two books on computer stuff. The first one is about CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) the second is on C#. C sharp is kinda difficult, I think I'll just wait until I take the computer programming classes at school to get into any type of C programming.

The main reason I went to the library was to get a movie that I had on hold called Hero. It is a new Chinese Kung-fu movie. It is just gorgeous! The camera shots and fight scenes were amazing! I feel so fulfilled after watching that film! I highly recommend it.

I also got my hand upon Akria, the classic anime movie. I am eager to watch it. I actually haven't seen it yet. I grabbed some manga while we were there too. I got the first three Demon Diary books, volume one of somthing I can't remember the name, and also Dark Water by Koji Suzuki, the author of The Ring Trilogy.

Yesterday, I started to tip my toes into MS-Dos commands. It was rather entertaining. I learned the 'TREE', 'PRINT', and 'PING' commands. I really want to learn more about the 'PING' command, but my dad won't let me mess with the DOS on our computer. He is afraid I will ruin something... Heh.

I also went to Steak 'n Shake last night and got a wonderful meal. Their steak burgers are the best burgers in the world. I also got a huge banana shake to wash it down. MMMMM-MMMM! Their chili is a little disturbing though. It is 1 part oil and 1 part brown sludge and beans. I was sitting there stirring mine for a long time trying to get the oil to blend with the sludge and beans. After adding in my oyster crackers, it wasn't half bad. All you had to do was get over the fact that it kinda slides down your throat whether you want it to or not.

So, I am hoping for a good break and a good Christmas. I am also wishing you happy holidays. Ryo, you too, enjoy the warmth in Alabama.

*Jealous!*

100th post!

Yay, I have reached my one-hundredth post in my Dessart In the Desert blog! What a joyous day! And just in time for finals too!

Oh no! Finals!

This is bad, I must study, but not without making a blog post first.

Okay, so this weekend was great. I feel like I actually got something accomplished. What I found as I was surfez sur le Internet was a Pop'n music simulator by Stepmania. I found it through the Bemanistyle forum. It excited me since I have always wanted to play Pop'n Music, but it was always way too expensive. So, I downloaded the simulator and started to play. Unfortunately, Pop'n is not Pop'n with out a controller. So, I set out to see what I could do about it.

I went back to the forums and found a thread on how to make your own controller out of a USB keyboard. The only unfortunate thing was, I didn't have a USB keyboard! I called the local computer stores just to be disappointed in finding out that there were none in town for under $15, my budget.

So, I talked to my dad about it and he told me about this used computer parts store in Indianapolis. We went there there yesterday since we were already planning on going to Indianapolis to do some Christmas shopping. *gags*

So, we enter the store and the employee asks if there is anything we are looking for. After telling him, we search through this large bin a $5 keyboards to see if any of them were USB keyboards. To my excitement, my dad uncovered a nice, black USB keyboard with the PS2 adapter attached. HuZZaH!!

We bought this inexpensive, $5 keyboard, and left the store before the workers changed their minds.

I began my dissection of the keyboard. Removing all the keys but a select few, I finally finished. Now, all I needed was some sort of half spheres to make the buttons. Today, my dad took me to the local Target. We looked through all the sports items and eventually found these awesome, colored, foamy balls that would make perfect buttons.

I came home with my new spheres, cut them in half, glued them on, threw on some other keyboard decorations, and finally got to my finished product! The completed Pop'n Music controller was ready, and I have been having tons of fun playing on it. I can't wait to get really good at Pop'n Music. Currently, I am strung up between the light and standard levels. I hope to have a higher level by the end of the upcoming Christmas Vacation! Now, here is a picture of the $9 Pop'n Music controller made by me:


Well, I hope everyone that reads this has a good break, and finals. Bonne chance!

Nothing better than fresh fruit

I am sitting here at the computer, obviously.

Not only sitting, but eating some fruit. It is like a big fruit cocktail that my aunt made. Delicious. I love bananas. I just swallowed one. You should go slice you some fruit so you can join in on the experience also.

Yes, so stress is rising. I am beginning to get easily irritated by things. I think that because of this time of the year, I will die much sooner. I think that if finals were eradicated from schools, people would seriously live about five more years. This would in fact increase our countries average lifespan.

Woah, I think this fruit is starting to ferment. That last bite tasted a lot like wine. Hmmm, I wonder. Did she...?

...Nah.

So, my day...
...of course was stressful! Full of stress it was. I have been going to bed earlier and earlier, but still find myself very drowsy in the morning. My friend says that it is the weather. I think I agree with him.

Am a liberal or conservative. I think I need to figure this out. I suppose that I am liberal...
...or not, I am unsure. But, I am thinking I lean towards the liberal side. I am open minded and don't mind a good change. A good change. I am then, turning away from my parents, whom I am pretty sure are conservative.

Actually, I don't think I know what I am talking about. (Oh no, an adult-like conversation with myself. I am leaving my loved childhood.)

Industrial

Things-
I am sitting here listening to some music. Industrial music to be precise. It is my new 'thing.'

Another 'thing' that I have been partaking in is the making of websites. I felt like I spent my whole weekend building websites. This is not a bad thing at all though. I actually enjoy building them. It is a chance to use my new-found knowledge of CSS and blend art into it. How fun?

So, another plus: the DDR shirts are in! I just saw them not too long ago. They are so cool! I am wearing mine to school tomorrow. Yes! Another DDR time. These are the best.

Industrial-
On the more stylish side, I like chilling in my room now and listening to this industrial music. Industrial music is a mixture of dark techno sounds and metal/goth rock. It is very enjoyable. I really like sitting on my bed and acting like I am in a trance when I listen to it. It makes me feel mysterious. I like feeling mysterious. The mysterious atmosphere of industrial is very enjoyable. What isn't enjoyable is the though of the finals that are quickly approaching us.

Finals-
They start next week. Fortunately, next week is only a four day week, then the long awaited winter break is to happen. This will be my time of rejoice. I will hopefully get Guitar Hero for Christmas, and I will spend a lot of my break getting into that game. That shall make me assez heureux.

French-
Is constantly running through my head now. Almost annoying? Not quite, I am starting to get used to it. Unfortunately, whole sentences are coming to mind, only these wretched adjectives we have been spending oh so much time on. Good thing we took the lesson test today, eh?

Tension-
Is on the rise. These end-of-the-semester, before-the-final tests are driving me to the end of the parallelness in my world. Yes, I shall soon be in the other side with my stress. This means? This means that I shall soon be so stressed that, unbelievably, I will lurch into the parallel universe which my same self exists. Oh, nevermind, I wish that this made sense. I guess I am trying to say that I will soon become nonexistent from the tension of this stress. Stress is bothersome, I should vent.

I guess I am the great exaggerator. I really don't get as much stress as my peers, Ryo, for example. I really have nothing to complain about.

Up early..

So, I am up here very early, and guess what? No school today. So, basically I am up for no reason. I guess this means I actually will have a FULL day to just bask in the radion of my computer. I guess my computer doesn't really give off radion, but if it does, I shall have cancer in a few days.

So, no nono no nono no nono school today!

Hehe, I want to play my O2 Jam game now. BYE!

o2 jam

I got into a new internet game. It is called O2 Jam. It is sooo cool. It is like Pop'n music with a keyboard twist. You guys have to check it out: http://www.o2jam.com.my

When there, sign up, then we could meet up on there or something! Hehe.


So, it is snowing...
...like crazy.

I hope this means that there is no school tomorrow. As of now, there is only a two hour delay, but a cancellation seems very reasonable. I think people would be surprised if there wasn't a cancellation tomorrow morning. So, let's cross our fingers and do the snow dance over and over, maybe our wish will come true!

Oh yes, this reminds me, I saw a shooting start the other day. It was rather fascinating. I first thought that a UFO was crash landing in the distance, then I figured it probably was a falling star. Like a shooting star across the midnight sky...
yes, hyper hyper hyper, I can't sleep. Nonononono. What is with this? AHHHH!

When I die..

Ryo got me thinking...

When I die I don't want to be senile.

When I die, I don't want to be too old.

When I die, I would really like to be watching anime.

When I die, it would be nice to be sitting on hills of rolling grass.

When I die, I want it to be summer or late spring.

When I die, I don't want to be so sick that it is unbearable.

When I die, I don't want it to be quick, I want to ponder on it.

When I die, I want to be far from a hospital.

When I die, it may be bad if I were playing DDR, because then I would be too healthy.

When I die, I want to be alone.

When I die, I want to be on good terms with people.

When I die, as Ryo said, I don't want guilt.

When I die, I want my mother to already be dead so she doesn't have to see it.

After I die, I don't want to think anymore, I want it to be like it was before I was born.

Now I have what I want straight so I can die with hope. This took a lot of thinking to come up with what I want.

Hopefully, you die with hope also.

The Paper Sculpture Show

Yes, as I mentioned before, today was my long awaited field trip:

We board our white bus to set off on our way. Before leaving the school parking lot, the art teacher told us that she didn't know the way to Purdue's campus. This is very sad because if you live in the same town as a college, you should know how to get there.

Well, after her turning the wrong way out of the parking lot, we were on our way...
... the long way.

When we arrived, we couldn't find the spot we were supposed to park in. My teacher, still a little lost, decided that she should pull into a drive and park right next to a 'Do Not Enter' sign. Smart, eh? So, we walk in the freezing cold to the Purdue Memorial Union, a very nice building. We got a half hour to ourselves to eat, but while everyone was eating, I sped down to the basement to play a round of DDR with my friend Sadie. After that, I got a delicious soft pretzel and marinara sauce to eat. When I finished eating that, I went and got me a tea from Starbucks. My tongue is still numb from it's unbearable heat!

So, after all the goofing around, we got to finally see some of the art that we came there for, but not until we walk to another building. Once we got to the galley, we looked at all of the photographs there. They were all black and white pictures of scientific experiments. I guess it was trying to show that there was a link between art and science?

After seeing the photos, we went to one of the most exciting parts of my day. It was called the Paper Sculpture Show. It is a show where YOU are the artist (Wow, this sounds like some propaganda poster). There are a series of papers laying around in piles, and you choose which one you want to make. There are most likely going to be some examples hanging on the wall or on the shelf of every sculpture available. Once you make something from the instructions, or your own invention, you get to choose a spot to put it in the room. That way, the show is always getting new things and it is rather interesting to look at. Some people's sculptures were REALLY stupid. IE: a mans face with a other mans nose on it...

...yes, there have been little kids there. Beware.

So, after finally finding our way back to school from there, we got on another bus to come home on. It was a really fun day!

Jaan Pehechan Ho

"Jaan Pehechan Ho,
Jeena Aasaan Ho,
Dil Ko Churane Walon,
Aankh Na Churavo,
Naam Tho Batavo."

I am not quite sure why I like this Hindu song...


...it just flows beautifully. It is high energy, too!


I felt like crap today. More like I had to crap actually. But, since most people probably don't want to hear about it, I will just leave it at I felt really sick almost all day. I am feeling better now... Heh.

Tomorrow is the grand field trip to Purdue Art Galleries. It should be a great experience. We eat at the Union, and then trek on to the gallery. Hopefully I have fun there. Well, I will report back tomorrow with news on the trip!

Birthday and More Anime

Today about 45 years ago, my father was born. So, consequently, it is his birthday today. I have a cake in the oven right now. It seems so delicious. I can't wait to sink my teeth into it's red velvet goodness.

I watched a very strange anime on AZN Television last night. Tuesdays are their anime movie day. I am not quite sure what this anime was called, all that I know is that it was strange and a little frustrating. A boy was stuck in a dream world because of this dream demon. Strange, huh? The frustrating part of it was that he couldn't escape this dream demon, so when you thought he was waking up from his dreams, he was really entering a new one. You always knew he was in a dream, because the dream demon was amongst a crowd of people or kinda hidden in the background. The movie was almost clever. It seemed the creator tried a little too hard to make a twisted story that the movie almost seemed generically twisted.

I hate generic things. I like unusual things. I definitely hate cheesy things also. (This does not include Cheeseman. [You're not cheesy, your name just is where the cheese is. Haha.])

I have also been hard at work on my own personal web developing project. It is sort of my ode to what started me on web development. I bet you won't guess what it is. It is, sadly, neopets.com that got me started on learning HTML. The little shop editor used a HTML interface, so I was forced to use it. Unfortunately, being the cheap little child I was, I just found sites providing goodies, then copy and pasted. A simple method. I decided to give other people the same opportunity as me by creating my own copy-and-paste site. The blog is called The Shop Project. Hopefully it will become somewhat popular. Heh, I doubt it.

Laugh Tracks

You know what really gets on my nerves?

I bet you can guess from the title of the post...

Yes, those cheesy, repetitive, robot-like, annoying laugh tracks.

My sister was sitting in the living room this evening watching her regular Disney Channel show, no complaints. The complaint comes with the horrible sounds of the cranked up television. I was sitting in the kitchen, drinking the watered down, bitter hazelnut coffee that my sister makes. Almost relaxing. Until the show starts. My eyes dart at the clock: 4:30 pm. You know what this means? This means that it is time for that dreadful show formally known as Drake and Josh. I overhear it almost every day and am starting to recite lines along with the show. Today though, my focus wasn't on the words being said, it was on that dreadful laugh track. It is the same sound almost every 10 seconds. Tomorrow, I think it may be interesting to count how many times they use that one laugh track. Then, I could expand on this and count how many times they use the "Eeooooooowww" sound. That could get some stunning results. Unfortunately, I do not have near enough patients to put up with that. I had to force myself away from the dreadful noises by blasting my own music. Oh, how awful. Hopefully, I survive another day of this tom--- Oh yes, tomorrow is DDR club! Yay, I am saved!

GIMP

In my quest of discovering the possiblilities of the GIMP, I have come up with this cool effect that makes it look like blood.



See this picture and many more on My Deviant Art Page

I also did that water effect on the theme of this page.

Just Commit

Aging, progressing through time.

This blog has actually been around for quite some time. It may not seem like it, but this blog has been kept up by me for almost five months now. That's almost half of a year! Wow, amazing. I committed to something for that long.

I am proud of myself.

I am such a horrible person when it comes to commitment. I always an thinking that something will be great and fun. When I start, it starts to seem like it is the worst thing that has ever happened to me. Such as diving. I kept looking forward to the diving season during the summer, and thinking how perfect the sport was for me. I had no clue! That was probably as close to Hell as I am ever going to get during life. I wish I would've quit that, but I actually stuck with it. To prevent another Hellish experience, I recently quit Robotics. My father is probably very disappointed in me because of it, too. The president of the club is definitely disappointed in me the most. Oh well, just another person in this world that doesn't like me as much as they could. Hopefully I will keep this blog to show myself that I can commit, and maybe I will have more self confidence.

Today was long and very boring. I was home alone the whole day through. Even though this day was boring, it was very productive. I learned and applied CSS script. CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. It is a way to create uniformity and organization to your web page. I think this was a large step for me in the quest for computer excellence. See the page I created here: My Productions.

I also attempted to learn a simple program called Blender, as I said before, in a series of video tutorials. I am very lost with this. I hope Ryo will come over sometime soon and show me in person how to use this. That will be another major step in this quest of mine.

I like blogs, you have a good chance to talk about yourself, and it is completely acceptable. How nice.

Blender

I am now in the midst of learning a 3D imaging program with a series of video tutorials. This program is called Blender. Blender was shown to me by Ryo, and has a very versatile interface. I suggest you check it out. You can do anything from modeling 3D objects to editing you video files.

Once you get Blender, I highly recommend doing the video tutorials. Without these, I would be lost and sad.

I just learned the menu system and how to customize it and I am getting ready to move on to the 3D viewpoint. Hopefully, by the end of these videos, I will be the Blender masta.

I didn't end up going to Indianapolis yesterday, because I wanted a friend to come over, but unfortunately that didn't happen. Maybe I can get someone over today.

Oh no, the next video is getting ready to start. BYE

Give a Reason For Life

The techno beat starts with the synth. Now, the bass is kicking in. Oh no, there is going to be an overload the main sounds all pound at once. They go for a bit. Now, voices start. Not an understandable voice to me, but rather something speaking fast indecipherable words.

Give a reason is a great song. It is from The Slayers. Heh, 80's anime rocks.

Now, I am embarrased to say, I actually made something from that absurd Dorm Room Cooking show on the announcements and it was absolutely delicious. Microwave cooking is completely underutilized. Or maybe over utilized, it depends on whom you ask.

Thanksgiving was yesterday. I met up with my family. In this family, my cousin is there. Her name is Molly. I was talking to her and she told me about her anime obsessed friend that draws fantastically. She showed me her website. I have to admit, she may want to work on her site building skills considering she just used the tripod site builder to make it, but her artwork is breath taking. I am so jealous of her fantastic skills. Here is her site: FooBlued!. She seems to be a very interesting person, and I am eager to meet her (I doubt I ever will).

I hope all of you readers had great Thanksgivings also. Tonight, I shall go on a voyage to the great state capital Indianapolis. Heh. Fun. Well, this is Dessart reporting out of duty. (???) <(0.o)>

Rurouni Kenshin

I got to go to the stores a couple days ago. That included my favorite, Hot Topic.

I was really looking for a sweat shirt to get for this horrendous weather, instead, I found an awesome Rurouni Kenshin shirt! So, that's what I wore yesterday. It made me have high self confidence. Weird, I know. For some reason, new shirts boost my confidence for that day.

Last night was so fun. It was Megan's surprise birthday party. We all met up at the local Go Kart place and she though she was just going for the heck of it. When she walked in and all of her friends were there, she started to cry out of excitement. It was a good time. Julia liked my Otaku pin so much that she took it off my shirt and started wearing it. I suppose she will wear it to school on Monday. Maybe I'll get it back from her then.

We also ate at Mancino's. They have delicious pizza. Mancino's is one of the few places in town that use real mozzerela on the top. OOOOOOh, that delicious cheese oils running down my throat with the fake parmesan cheese on top. That was a fabulous time.

The Go-Karts were pretty cool too. They are the new electric ones. Heh, they aren't too fast, but when you are with a bunch of friends, it is a great time.

I hope to have a good rest of the weekend to top of that fun Friday night.

Sometimes, I feel like this kid:


From The Perry Bible Fellowship

Stress With the Pencils

I got home yesterday after a tough time with cans and wind. Ahhh, the wind. It was tough. I had to ride my bike home at dusk against the wind on a very busy road. The wind was so strong that I was barely moving most of the 1.5 miles here.

Well, here I am. Alive, fortunately.

As I arrive home, I get out my backpack to work on my homework. To my disgust, my pencil bag was not in there! I don't think you can understand the degree of horrible this was on my importance scale. It did not only have my pencils, pen, and eraser. It also had my calculator, student ID, locker number and combination, and notecards. This meant bad things were to come unless if I could find it fast.

I went all evening looking for it. It was no where to be found, well at least at home. I had to sleep with this treacherous thought floating in my head. If this was lost for good, I am screwed.

I step up to my locker the next morning with hopeful thoughts in my head, "I probably just locked it in here and it is fine."

No, it wasn't in my locker. I got my stuff together and headed towards my last hour class to see if I left it there. The teacher was missing from the room. I checked around the desk, nothing. I had to go to first hour by this time. The minute bell rang.

I made it through that hour without much stress. I had to find this pencil bag soon! I check in my second to last hour classroom. No teacher again. I look up to the chalk board and there it is! With a jump and almost shriek (sad, I know) of glee, my problem was solved.

Heh. Funny.