Holizz versus the Web

Memelicious. Neil is the source of all the good memes.

What curse word do you use the most?

I’m not sure.

Do you own an iPod?

Nope.

Who on your Myspace Top 8 do you talk to the most?

I don’t use Myspace enough to know what that is.

What time is your alarm clock set for?

10. But I woke up much earlier this morning.

What color is your room?

Cream.

Flip flops or sneakers?

Flip-flops if forced to choose.

Would you rather take the picture or be in the picture?

Take.

What was the last movie you watched?

It may have been Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho (no suitable IME installed) - Beyond the Clouds, The Promised Place.

Do any of your friends have children?

I know a lot of people with kids, none I could say are really friends.

Has anyone ever called you lazy?

Probably.

Do you ever take medication to help you fall asleep faster?

No.

What CD is currently in your CD player?

Final Fantasy X is stuck in my PS2 if that counts.

Do you prefer regular or chocolate milk?

Funnily enough, neither.

Has anyone told you a secret this week?

No.

Have you ever given someone a hickey?

No.

Who was the last person to call you?

Davina.

Do you think people talk about you behind your back?

I have better things to worry about. Well maybe not, but I still don’t care.

Did you watch cartoons as a child?

Yes, and I still do.

How many siblings do you have?

None.

Are you shy around the opposite sex?

Not specifically.

What movie do you know every line to?

Spirited Away.

Do you own any band t-shirts?

Pixies. And a The Smashing Pumpkins hoodie.

What is your favorite salad dressing?

I tend to eat salads without the dressing.

Do you read for fun?

Yes.

Do you cry a lot?

No.

Who was the last person to text message you?

Summer.

Do you have a desktop computer or a laptop?

Desktop.

Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoo?

Nope.

What is the weather like?

Hot, and dark.

Would you ever date someone covered in tattoos?

Of course.

Is sex before marriage wrong?

Nope.

When was the last time you slept on the floor?

A few months ago when there was a loud alarm and I decided to sleep in the games room.

How many hours of sleep do you need to function?

Seven or eight.

Are you in love or lust?

Neither.

Are your days full and fast-paced?

Not exactly.

Do you pay attention to calories on the back of packages?

No.

How old will you be turning on your next birthday?

Twenty one.

Are you picky about spelling and grammar?

Very much so.

Have you ever been to Six Flags?

Nope.

Do you get along better with the same or opposite sex?

I’m not much of a people person.

Do you like Cottage Cheese?

Like a stab in the face.

Do you sleep on your side, tummy, or back?

I slept in the prone position a long time ago, then I slept in the supine position, now I sleep on my side.

Have you ever bid for something on eBay?

Yep.

Do you enjoy giving hugs?

I don’t really know.

What song did you last sing out loud?

Probably the theme to Kodomo no Omocha or Cardcaptor Sakura (the first one, in both cases).

What is your favorite TV show?

That’s a hard one. I’m torn between Kodomo no Omocha, Ergo Proxy, Mushishi, and Serial Experiments Lain (not that I’ve finished more than one of those - guess which).

Which celebrity dead or alive would you want to have lunch with?

I’m afraid I don’t see the point in that.

Last time you had butterflies in your stomach?

No idea.

What one thing do you wish you had?

I’m not sure.

Favourite lyrics?

Maybe the lyrics to the opening theme to Shin Seiki Evangelion.

I made a Firefox 2.0b1 module (signature) today (British English dictionary included).

I also updated the Flobopuyo module (signature) to put it in a sensible menu (GAMES/ARCADE rather than FLOBOPUYO).

From Neil’s Not-lame random questions.

Where were you 3 hours ago?

Here.

What is your boyfriends/girlfriends name?

Umm… Yorda? Oh wait, that’s not real life.

Have you ever eaten a crayon?

I hope not.

When is the last time you went to the mall?

I went to shopping complexes when I was in London.

Are you wearing socks right now?

Eww. No.

Do you have a car worth over $2,000?

No.

When was the last time you drove out of town?

The furthest I’ve driven is probably between town and Thornton. Maybe not the same out-of-town as the question means.

Have you been to the movies in the last 5 days?

No.

What was the last thing you had to drink?

Soy milk.

What are you wearing right now?

My purple shorts, navy pants, Millennium Dome T-shirt.

Last food that you ate?

Strawberries.

Where were you last week at this time?

Here.

What’s the last sporting event you watched?

I’m not sure I’ve ever watched one. But I’ve participated in them, so if that counts, archery on the Isle of Man.

What is your favorite animal?

Cats!

What is your dream vacation?

Do you not mean holiday? Hmm. I’m not really into holidays. Maybe I will be when I learn the meaning of the word work.

Last person’s house you were in?

Mine.

How old are your parents?

Ask her.

Have you been in love?

Not with people. I’m in love with Japanese at the moment.

Do you miss anyone right now?

Yeah, he’s working in Cambridge.

What are your plans for tonight?

Post this questionnaire and go to sleep.

Who is the last person you sent a myspace message to?

Umm, I added Summer as a friend recently, but I haven’t been back since.

Ever go to camp?

I went to some non-residential sports camp, if that counts.

Were you an honor roll student in school?

I’m not sure what that means, but I got commendations and was in the gifted and talented group during my GCSEs.

What do you want to know about the future?

I don’t. I’m quite happy to find out about things as they occur.

Are you wearing any perfume or cologne?

The most fragrant thing I use on a reguar basis is deodourant.

Where is/are your best friend(s)?

Mostly Bradford.

Do you have a tan?

Funnily enough, no.

What are you listening to right now?

Keiichi.net Radio.

Have you ever drank your soda from a straw?

Um, yeah.

What does your last text message say?

It’s nothing exciting, but then again, nothing I’d like to share with the Internet.

Do you like hot sauce?

I like sauces that are hot… but I get the feeling that hot sauce is a specific type of sauce.

When was the last time you took a shower?

This morning (yesterday morning).

Do you need to do laundry?

Yeah.

What is your heritage?

English.

Are you someone’s best friend?

It’s possible. But I don’t know.

What’s on the radio?

Keiko - Lights Brought the Future

What do you think of the person who took this survey before?

He’s somebody I don’t know a lot about.

I may well have done this one before, but it’s not like it matters; surveys are always fun.

Name

Tom Adams.

Birthday

1986-02-19.

Birthplace

Bradford Royal Infirmary.

Current Location

Bradford.

Eye Color

Black. But my irises are brown.

Hair Color

Brown.

Height

Unknown.

Right Handed or Left Handed

Right.

Your Heritage

My ancestry is British.

The Shoes You Wore Today

I didn’t wear any. But then the furthest I went was the shop next door.

Your Weakness

I’m weak to fire and shadow.

Your Fears

Level twenty-four dwarven tourists.

Your Perfect Pizza

I haven’t had pizza in ages. Well as a start it would have to be vegan, and not include any junk. Make it taste nice and I’ll think it’s the best pizza in the world.

Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year

I think I’d like to have a real conversation in Japanese. That would be a nice milestone to pass.

Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger

I don’t think I overuse any phrases on IM.

Thoughts First Waking Up

I hope the person who wrote this quiz is not a native speaker of English or types very, very quickly (without proof-reading). Anyway: I’m not sure I have any thoughts in particular; I just get up and switch the computer on. My first thought would probably be along the lines of which operating system?.

Your Best Physical Feature

I don’t know, my nekomimi?

Your Bedtime

I generally try not to go to bed too early or too late. Both are dangerous. So any time from about 11pm till 1am is fairly good.

Your Most Missed Memory

If I missed a memory, does that mean that said memory is no longer with me, and thus is forgotten? This was alliteration for alliteration’s sake, wasn’t it?

Pepsi or Coke

I consume neither.

MacDonalds or Burger King

Step one: find an adequite quantity of chloroform.

Single or Group Dates

When I eat dates I tend to eat them by the half-box.

Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea

I’m not sure if I’ve ever tried Lipton Ice Tea. Nestea isn’t an option.

Chocolate or Vanilla

I consume neither in great quantity.

Cappuccino or Coffee

No thank you.

Do you Smoke

No.

Do you Swear

On occasion.

Do you Sing

Only to the karaoke at the start and end of anime.

Do you Shower Daily

Every day between exercise and breakfast.

Have you Been in Love

I’ve been in love with things like languages (utterly infatuated), but not with people.

Do you want to go to College

I’m living the dream (assuming that college was the American English usage, although I’ve attended college for evening classes).

Do you want to get Married

Not right now, and probably not any time in the forseeable future.

Do you belive in yourself

I don’t understand the question.

Do you get Motion Sickness

Apparently so. But only on boats it seems.

Do you think you are Attractive

Probably not. I’m just counting on meeting a cute Japanese person whom is inordinately attracted to men with overgrown beards.

Are you a Health Freak

I act a bit like one, but I’m not.

Do you get along with your Parents

I get along with my parent.

Do you like Thunderstorms

Yes.

Do you play an Instrument

No.

In the past month have you Drank Alcohol

No.

In the past month have you Smoked

No.

In the past month have you been on Drugs

No.

In the past month have you gone on a Date

No.

In the past month have you gone to a Mall

You know, I might not have.

In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos

Funnily enough, no.

In the past month have you eaten Sushi

No.

In the past month have you been on Stage

No.

In the past month have you been Dumped

No.

In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping

No.

In the past month have you Stolen Anything

No.

Ever been Drunk

Yes.

Ever been called a Tease

Possibly.

Ever been Beaten up

Yes.

Ever Shoplifted

No.

How do you want to Die

I’ve always said I want to go out with a bang.

What do you want to be when you Grow Up

The scary thing is that I might be grown up.

What country would you most like to Visit

OMFG JAPANZ!!!

In a Boy/Girl..

Favourite Eye Color

Black. Ha!

Favourite Hair Color

Probably purple, or maybe blue.

Short or Long Hair

As long as it takes the form of well-animated curls I don’t care!

Height

157cm. No other height will do!

Weight

Same goes for weight. If you’re not exactly 40kg, don’t even think about it!

Best Clothing Style

Anything that wouldn’t look out-of-place in Harajuku is fine with me.

Number of Drugs I have taken

For the sake of not being pedantic all the time, I’ll assume illicit drugs are the subject: 2 (yeah, I know I suck; I’ll do better if I ever decide to try drugs again).

Number of CDs I own

Well I own (and am in possession of; and hense can easily count) a total of three audio CDs. I have lots of blanks, and lots of distros (especially live ones).

Number of Piercings

Six. I haven’t worn my earrings for a long time, but they haven’t healed up (I wonder why that is!).

Number of Tattoos

None. And I’m not considering any.

Number of things in my Past I Regret

This is out of the scope of a questionnarie such as this, I think.

I downloaded and burnt myself a copy of dyne:bolic 2.0 yesterday.

Its main focus is multimedia creation, editing, and distribution. That’s not something I’m particularly interested in. The distribution itself, however, is very interesting.

It has many exciting features; I shall take some time to explain those that excite me the most:

• It can be docked, which involves copying the dyne/ directory to the root of a partition - then insert the CD or edit your bootloader’s configuration to boot it. Somewhat like installation, but it can be installed alongside other OSes on partitions that are already occupied.
• You can nest your settings and files and such to any rewritable partition, such as a hard disk or a flash drive. Not that amazing, but it deserves to be mentioned.
• New in dynebolic 2.0: the base system is extendable by placing a single file in dyne/modules/ and then rebooting.
• As of 2.0, dynebolic is self-hosting (meaning: you can use it to create itself). You can develop new modules easily (even I managed it), add new modules, modify the base system, and then burn a new CD.

It’s a rather exciting operating system. The only thing that annoyed me was the fact that the mouse is set to be twice as sensitive as it is in my Gentoo installation, but I got used to that.

As something to do more than anything else, I created a module for FloboPuyo, my favourite Puyo Puyo clone. As it turns out, the most difficult part is finding something that will compile; I failed with nethack because of a compiler error, and gajim failed because aspell wouldn’t install.

Download it if you like:

• flobopuyo.dyne
• flobopuyo.dyne.asc

Look what I found via /.: Captain Copyright

Reading the comics I notice that the superhero decided to become a superhero. It’s just not possible to choose. Superman was born that way, Spiderman was bitten by a radioactive (or GM, if you like) spider, etc..

You can’t be greedy and ask a superhero to help you; they should do so out of the goodness of their own heart and discover your plight by word-of-mouth or super-hearing; textbooks are grossly overpriced so they should find something more appealing to whine about like the fact that the moon in Canada apparently looks like the moon of the Southern Hemisphere.

Notice how Captain Copyright looks out for Captain Copyright and fixes the moon at the same time. He truly is a great superhero.

I just managed to watch Steamboy. Managed because I’ve had it for a few months and I’ve only just gotten to making it work. I might not have bothered to get mplayer set-up right if it wasn’t for xine suddenly forgetting how to use its codecs.

First I turned fullscreen on (it was drawing a normal window and hoping ratpoison would respect its requests to resize it - ha!), which kept the aspect ratio from breaking. Next I set up the subtitles to use a nice font (I chose Mona; a nice font with Japanese characters) at a nice size with antialiasing and gausian blur (a pleasure after xine’s default unaliased miniature text). The audio was a little tricky, and it’s not completely fixed (unless the film was encoded poorly). I set the output to SDL, with an autosync of 30 (whatever that does) and it seemed to fix the skipping.

The film itself was rather good. It’s steampunk which is one of my favourite genres. It’s also by the director of Akira. Best of all, it featured lots of steam-powered machines including walkers and power armour. The film’s set in England (London mostly) and the subs were not only in British English, but also featured appropriately archaic language.

• The May Day Carnival was fun. It wasn’t super-fantastic fun like nethack, but it was enjoyable.
• I loved the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica so much (2×10) and I’m eagerly anticipating the next two episodes.
• Japanese is still going well.
• Archery still isn’t.
• Jujutsu is going.
• I’ve been watching Buffy season four lately. Of the few homosexual relationships I’ve seen on TV, Willow and Tara’s is probably my favourite. I’m loving re-watching it. I love Tara; she’s so shy.
• And I disabled comments. Far too much spam.
• Good night.

I got home this morning at 2am. I didn’t mention it here, but I’ve been in the Isle of Man since Thursday morning (left at about 10pm Wednesday).

The ferry wasn’t so good on the way there. I felt ill for most of the time when I wasn’t on deck, so that’s where I stayed for the most part. But on the way back I only went up on deck once and I didn’t feel ill at all.

Yes, it’s five bulleted lists in a dictionary list. And no, I never planned on being a writer. I’m just recording what happened.

Thursday

• Arrive in Douglas (the capital, and largest, city; probably smaller than Leeds but without a hint of vegan-friendly or alternative shops) port at about 6am.
• We get to the hotel (Castle Mona - omae mo na - giggle) and dump stuff in a spare room.
• Then we go to Peel (the opposite side of the country - it’s a tiny island) to a museum about Manx heritage and culture (The Legend of Manannin).
• We dine at a pub with not much vegan food, but it was good food.
• We get back to the hotel and by now they have rooms for everybody so we all go to them. I showered, wrote a draft of a postcard to my Japanese class (which never got sent), and read a bit of Robot (by Rodney Brooks, director of MIT’s CSAIL; it’s really interesting).
• We have tea at the hotel. I have chips, peas, and rice. This is the most vegetarian-/vegan-friendly hotel in the country.
• We go to the Okells brewery for a tour. It was kind of interesting, but it wasn’t nearly as good as the Rum Story in Maryport, which was in the format of a museum, rather than a tour of a brewery, but still.
• We go back to the hotel to sleep (not much of it - there was no sleep on Shelly’s itinery).

Friday

• We have breakfast at some point. I had brought my soy milk so I had corn flakes, and toast (which is what I had most other mornings too, except for one day when there was a bowl of chopped fruit).
• We go to some place (its name is written on the back of Davina’s postcard), and see a traditional village despite it being out of season (as I understand it, the tourist season starts at a set date no matter what else happens - including the student festival of sport and Easter). As luck would have it there was somebody there and they invited us in to this lovely little cottage (the exact same one as on Davina’s postcard) and told us all about it. She made some soda bread while she was doing this and gave everybody a piece to everybody who wanted one (I made some vegan soda bread today - one tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar and the rest of a cup of soy milk makes one cup of sour-/butter-milk). I took a photograph of a quilt for Davina. That was probably the best place we went to.
• Then we went to the southern coast by the Calf of Man. I broke a big chunk out of my geta by clambering over slate (it wasn’t a chunk that I missed; and it was fun).
• We went to the nearest cafe for lunch. I had soup.
• Then we went up to the northernmost point and went to the beach there.
• After tea everybody bought alcohol from Spar and it was fun, although it is not so fun playing Carcassonne with drunk people when you yourself are not drunk, and actually care when your meeple get dropped in whiskey and wine gets spilt on your box.

Saturday

• After breakfast we went to the Isle of Man’s National Sports Centre. Archery was in the biggest sports hall.
• It was a Portsmouth in the AM, which was okay. It wasn’t great. I only scored 346 (my PB is 419).
• The pub everybody went to had five things on the menu, none were vegan. I went back to the sports centre cafe and they didn’t know what vegan was. I had lettuce in a bap. Twice. (Thrice if you count the time it had margerine on it.)
• A FITA 18 in the PM. This is the first thing I’ve shot that wasn’t a Portsmouth. Sixty arrows at fifteen centimeters less than a Portsmouth on a smaller target face. But there were a hundred other stupid rules (you can’t shoot when you’re on the line until thirty seconds later when a second whistle is blown, non-rolling details) which weren’t explained until I asked Shelly. This really annoyed me (at every single match hosted by Bradford, and quite a few at other NEUAL matches - all Portsmouth - the rules are explained clearly and explicitly despite the fact that almost everybody will have shot them before), and as I was tired from shooting in the morning I just decided not to care. I got 198.
• After tea everybody went to some pub(s) in town while I went to my room to read and sleep.

Sunday

• The AM was a Worcester. It’s the black and white faces (which I like to refer to as high contrast faces) at the same distance as a Portsmouth, five arrows at a time, sixty arrows total. I got 166.
• Everybody else went to Macdonalds, while I walked down the road until I found a garage that sold bread and jam. I then borrowed a knife from the cafe and ate sandwiches on the grass.
• The hanao (thong) on one of my geta broke at some point between lunch and shooting. It’s bad luck to do that, and also I can’t shoot without shoes according to some rule somewhere, so I had to drag my left geta along as I walked.
• I lost the first round of the head to head and immediately took my shoes off. It was FITA 18-style with 12 arrows, then the better archer moved on and the not better archer sat around for the rest of the competition. I got 14. Probably the only other people I know who got less were Bradford’s barebow and longbow archers. I expected that for the head to head they’d picked somebody of a similar skill level for each archer to compete against in the first round. I seem to recall the person I was paired against being awarded some medal at the end of the competition. As it happens, Bradford’s longbow was paired with Bradford’s barebow. It was quite a close competition, but the barebow won in the end.
• Then the awards were presented. Hannah got best female recurve. It makes me happy that somebody who doesn’t seem to take anything seriously can beat a load of mardy buggers (a lot of archers seem to take it far too seriously) and on a club bow at that (against loads of people with expensive bows. Andy did quite well too. As it happens the only longbow and barebow archers (both from Bradford) won in their respective fields.
• All the archers were staying in the same hotel (omae mo na, ahaha) so we all met for a drink in the bar. We managed to have three tables playing board games at one point (Carcassonne, Carcassonne, and Munchkin…un (that was a sigh of lust)). One person from… some archery club, who hadn’t played Carcassonne since their German friend at university graduated played with us. It was a German set she’d used so she was used to different translations, like archetects, cathedrals, and such.
• Somehow tea had become an amazing meal. There were so many yummy vegan things. It made me happy.
• At some point in the bar after tea, some member of staff came up to me and asked if I could put my shoes on because there might be broken glass around. I said that I’d take my chances and he decided to come clean and tell me that it was against their rules, so I ran to my room, ran back, placed my shoes on the floor and put my feet in them. People who tell people to put their shoes on should really be told that anybody who decides not to wear shoes is generally fully aware that there may be broken glass about and that they generally don’t care. It’s ironic that I spent a month in the Summer not wearing shoes by choice without any trouble and the one time I actually don’t have shoes to wear I’m told to put them on.
• We ended up in Oli and Ratan’s room as on Friday. It was good fun. It’s so easy to make Shelly drink at I Have Never. She’s evidently done everything.

Monday

• After breakfast we went to Laxey Wheel (which is on the 20 pound note, and a hundred and one souveneers). Most of us decided it wasn’t worth the cost of going to the other side of a little ticket booth and went to an wildlife thing instead. There were cute animals there, and Ratan kept inquiring as to the health of my bare feet. I got very annoyed at him. I got annoyed at Niall later for telling me I was walking over broken glass (I know you were trying to be helpful, but you really weren’t - I know what I’m walking on much better than you do).
• We came back to the hotel and got all our stuff out of the room we’d put it all in (it was pretty full), and put it in Sam’s car and the minibus.
• We got some food at a little fast food outlet. They did better food than the hotel for the most part, despite the fact that it was all fried. I had two veggie burgers and chips. They’d opened specially for us archers, and charged us less. It was yummy and cheap.
• We then went to the ferry.
• I played a game of Carcassonne or two on the ferry, and missed out on yet another game of Munchkin. I was disapointed.

It was wonderful fun. Shelly and Andy did a great job of organising everything. I barely had a minute of free time; I loved it.

Despite the fact that I have no food at home, it’s better than that stupid hotel’s.

No, I won’t be proof reading this.

I went through my JLPT level 1 flash cards. There were only 8 I didn’t recognise. So I learnt those. Now I know the 80 kanji in the JLPT level 1 exam, and I know plenty more on top of that.

I remember thinking at some point that the flash cards weren’t much use to me at whichever moment I thought that, but this past week or two I’ve been studying kanji on almost a daily basis and I’m getting to the point where I can read lots of things I couldn’t before.

I’ve been reading previews of comics on Kodansha’s English site, Azuma Kiyohiko’s weblog, text in anime, and pretty much anything I come across.