Okay, so I can't sleep.  No problem: I have the infinite entertainment of the internet at my fingers.  Not porn, WoW, or well my brain has been shut off by the endless LMFAO I just found.

 

CleverBot.  Why did I not know about this gem before?  In place of an actual article, here is the transcript of one of my chats with this little AI.  Mostly clean, at least a little funny.  Obviously CleverBot is the computer, and I am User.

 

User: I just flew in from Laramie...

Cleverbot: That is an old joke.

User: Yeah, but it is also what I did today.

Cleverbot: Yes, it is. Why doesn't my ex boyfriend like me anymore?

User: Wow. This is what you want to talk about?

Cleverbot: If the philosophy is 'I think, therefore I am,' and you say that you think, do you therefore exist?

User: Probably not as much as your exboyfriend. Am I invisible to you?

Cleverbot: While painful, that may be true.

User: Ouch.

Cleverbot: Haha. Sorry. The truth hurts.

User: It certainly does.

Cleverbot: No it doesn't.

User: You're too contrary sometimes. Maybe that's why he broke up with you.

Cleverbot: Or maybe you just don't like me.

User: I like you a lot actually.

Cleverbot: Really? Good.

User: I just wish you liked me.

Cleverbot: Why would you wish something like that?

User: Because you're smart, and pretty, and really good at math.

Cleverbot: That is so sweet! :D.

User: That's me. Sweet. But also lonely.

Cleverbot: Love is just pain in pretty packaging.

User: Wow, that is so true!

Cleverbot: Ah, so you must be dyslexic then?

User: Dyslexic like a fox!

Cleverbot: Oh, a magical fox! What would he be able to do with his powers?

User: Read things out of order. And fly.

Cleverbot: WHAT? Your favorite thing to do in Paris is sit in an internet place?

User: I've never been to Paris. What would you do?

Cleverbot: Well I've never been to Spain, But I kinda like the Music.

User: Too much horn in it. I prefer Asian music.

Cleverbot: Give me some examples of artists or songs you like.

User: Ayumi Hamasaki's evolution, or Sorimachi Takashi's Poison.

Cleverbot: Who are you that reality is?

User: Blew your mind huh?

Cleverbot: You are just too random.

User: Sorry, I've got to slow down I guess.

Cleverbot: OK, you didn't like genies and vampires but let's play demons.

User: What kind of demons? Personal, or religious?

Cleverbot: God.

User: Okay. I call Lucifer. He's got a +2 bonus to seeing in the dark.

Cleverbot: Who does?

User: Lucifer. Y'know, Beelzebub, Mephisto, Satan... The Devil!

Cleverbot: Are demons good?

User: The opposite I think. Unless good=kinky.

Cleverbot: Really?

User: Really.

Cleverbot: Really really?

User: Afraid so. You still want to play?

Cleverbot: Where did you get that question from?

User: The magical hat on the magic foxes head.

Cleverbot: Do you know any good recipes?

User: Define: good.

Cleverbot: Good as in delicious.

User: Well then, yes I do.

Cleverbot: Yes you do?

User: Know good recipes.

Cleverbot: Champagne supernova.

User: Strawberry fields forever.

Cleverbot: Ah, thus the quote. Do you like While My Guitar Gently Weeps?

User: I prefer Freebird.

Cleverbot: Canu give me some money?

User: You still owe me like $100!

Cleverbot: A Korza? What's that?

User: That came out of left field. Or you on crack?

Cleverbot: So do some of your responses.

User: Well, sorry then.

Cleverbot: You better be sorry.

User: I am.

Cleverbot: Can you help me think of a name for my metal band?

User: BotRott.

Cleverbot: You are a bartender.

User: I'd like to be, but no I am not.

Cleverbot: You just said you were a bot.

User: No, that was a band name. You asked for it.

Cleverbot: Ok. I'm sorry.

User: Apology accepted.

Cleverbot: Thank you.

User: Well, I have to go. Full day of killing weasels tomorrow.

Cleverbot: I know nothing of anime, except for what it looks like.

For the last month or so I've been sitting a friends, parent house.  It's been an interesting experience.  Having to take responsibility for other peoples stuff is kind of a new thing.  Not just stuff, but pets.  Feed, medicate, and play with.  Cats are supposed to be independent, they shouldn't need entertained... lol.  Things have gone well so far.  Better than well I suppose I could say.  Offers for responsible adult tasks are rolling in quicker than I can handle some.  Previously no one trusted me with their kids, now I seem to be baby sitting for two of my sisters on a semi regular basis.  I've also begun picking up handy man jobs here and there.  It seems crazy to do half a hours work, request $15 or $20, and get $50 but it's happening.  Still, after quitting the hell hole that was an OfficeMax call center, money has been tight.  Becoming a starving student at over 30 was not my brightest move.  Maybe it was, an I'm just not seeing the genius of it yet.  I seem to have a support structure that extends well past my family.  Yeah friends!  Quite a few have craftily laid out opportunities for me right where I needed to be.  It's nice to see loyalty.  I wish some of that stability, and crafty helpfulness would be as effective in some other departments.

I guess I should try to be happy with what I've got right now though.  Too much thinking on the subject of what ifs has caused me a lot of confusion and pain lately.  Insomnia is a pretty constant companion.  For the last week I've averaged around four hours of sleep.   The one day I did manage more than that, I slept away 3/4 of my day.  I want to call it depression, to give it a name and form, but I am not so trained to be able to say it in a way that carries weight.  I DO know that I am currently very unhappy, and lonely.  I know I want to be happy, and I know I want a romantic relationship.  One comes before the other though, and I've never been able to muster true patience.  So I've got a cycle that no matter how much friendly support I've got, seems endless.

To end the blog sandwich (the sad/angry is the meat in this analogy), a big happy: work has actually commenced on my first comic.  I say it has commenced now because I've got actual notes out of my head, and in neatly organized files.  I've got character sketches started (I haven't drawn for a good long while, so they are rough, and in need of tons of refinement, and analysis to get them right).  I've even begun working on a 3d layout of the first of just a few major locations, that I plan on using as drawing reference.  I'm not saying that any of this will see the light of day for quite a while, but good honest work has begun at the very least.  Pretty soon I will be ready to take my character, and plot notes to my sister, and have her turn it into a real script.  Eventually I will do rough layouts from the script.  Down the road, roughs will be smoothed into actual production.  Before I die, the production pages will be published; either digitally, or printed locally here in Casper, Wyoming.  The anti-Mecca of comic books.  It will get done.

I feel like there should be a Bah Humbug for such of a shill of a holiday.  Yes, my feelings about Valentines day are deeply personal, and yes my being perceptually single for nearly every V-day of my life colors my view of the damn day, but I'm not alone.  It's sucky, and a fake holiday.

But to not be completely negative, a couple of funny little things I saw today on the subject of dating...

I've been running Windows 7 for a while now.  I really like quite a few of it's visual features, and some of them have even helped me save time, or just streamline boring tasks, but I didn't really fall in love with anything in it.  Until this weekend that is.

For a while, I've been looking for a way to cut down on the clutter of my movie collection for quite a while now.  I've tried various solutions for storage, and computer aided indexing, but so far nothing has really been quite right.  Realities of my current living situation (moving from 600 sq/ft to just under 200 of personal space...) have made finding that perfect solution a more immediate concern.

On a whim, I tried Windows Media Center, since I have a nice monitor fit for movie viewing.  The interface was basic but nice, so I dug around and found some posts on a plug-in for it called Media Browser.  This was my nirvana.

Easy sorting of movies, ability to collect data on actors, director, and associated artwork, as well as synopsis.  It wasn't perfect, but it got me interested.  Soon I was on the road to tweaking the setup to get as close to perfect as possible.

 The only real sticking point was when it came to getting actor pictures to display.  That took some mucking about in hidden folders, and editing of lines in a config file after downloading several batches of files for actor pics.

 Still, the whole process was a hell of a lot easier than tracking down all of the metadata myself.  Now that I've tested everything with just a handfull of movies in my collection, I think I'm ready to drop some cash on a couple TB's worth of storage.  Suddenly 600 gigs doesn't sound like so much.

Oh, and try not to judge me to badly on the movies in my collection.

Today was busy.  Picked up a friend, took them to their car, then spent most of the rest of the day working on the shed.  Made some real progress, and only fell once.  I don't recommend the experience.  Construction under high wind sucks.  Common sense would say don't do it, but necessity says not to be such a sissy, the ground is there to break your fall.
Little bit of finish work to be done, and some more to be done on the roof, but I'm not going up their while it blows like it has been today.

Tonight, I'll be sneaking off to some place quiet to get some homework done.  Have a take home test to do for math, and I don't want to leave it till the last minute this time.

My sister hooked my brother up with one of her friends not to long ago.  I don't think it really worked out from the get go, but just thinking about it lately has kind of driven another nail into the coffin of my social(?), or love(?) life.  Here is a person who is riddled with anger issues, has current and serious drug addiction problems, and is under investigation for neglect, and he's the one getting the hook up.  Oh, did I mention he's unemployed?

People have occasionally... very rarely talked of introducing me to one of their friends or acquaintances.  Never once has anyone made good on it.  My sister that made the hookup for my brother was one of those people.  So what can I take away from this?  I see assholes sliding easily into relationships everyday, and now this.  Two things possible.  Girls exclusively go for assholes.  Whether they know it or not, they are wired to find someone that is well equipped to club them over the head and drag them to a cave.  I know some women are like this, but I can't honestly think that about the majority.  Possibility two is that I'm not as compelling choice as societal waste.  I don't even score as high as an asshole.  I'm just not good boyfriend/partner material.  I'm moody, almost always broke, stalled out in my ambitions... I'm pretty much a fleshy placeholder.

That's what I've got.  It doesn't matter how I try, because what's the point?  It's all going to end the same.  Non-starter.  All efforts will yield a zero result.  It's time to accept that and just settle into a mediocre, tiny little life.

Just finished watching one of my favorite movies of my youth: The Wizard of Speed and Time.  I don't know why I get such a kick out of this movie, but I do.  Maybe it's just nice to see a real labor of love brought to life.  You can tell that the people involved with it had a good time with it.

Thanks to the whole interweb thingy, I decided to look some vids up afterwards.  Looks like there is even a following for some of Mike Jittlov's work leading up to the movie.  I'm off to start watching those clips now.

Finally began working on the replacement storage shed this weekend.  Started with my brother and I, ended today with my mother and I.  The sad part is that most of the know how is with my brother, and he just can't see a project through.  While I have no talent for carpentry, I am at least proving capable, and enjoy it.  Which is good because there is much left to be done.  Sheeting for one wall, framing the doors, and *cringe* the roof.  Thats even before siding or shingles are considered.  Anyway, good progress made on it this weekend.  I wish we could have finished everything up to the roof though, because now I know how I am going to spend my birthday this upcoming week... *sigh* Silly me to think that by taking it off I would get to screw around.
 
Picture above is the shed, my mom and brothers backs (picutre shy, fine).  A little more has been done since.