Ramblings and Musings of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

Uggggh. I absolutely abhor computer scammers, identity thieves, and the like. I'm pretty sure at least one person wondered why I felt so bitter about them and was unhappy that I couldn't really warm up to a character of hers that seemed to have that sort of dubious occupation. But when you've actually experienced a crime yourself, at least for me, it makes it very difficult to feel any kind of sympathy towards such criminals, even fictional ones.

I know there are a lot of fictional characters I like that I doubt I'd excuse in real-life; somehow being fictional, they're detached from reality and it's easier to see all sides of their heart and soul, unlike in real-life. But on the other hand, there are a lot of fictional characters I just can't bring myself to like or feel sympathy for. Sometimes it may not seem to make sense regarding the ones in that category, but to be honest, I think most people have those fine lines where one particular character is liked but another that may seem the similar on the surface is disliked. Perhaps it's a matter of the characters' attitudes, at least sometimes. I just can never like Pegasus, for instance, because of the specific mocking, joking attitude he takes to everyone's misery. But on the other hand, I am intrigued by Yami Bakura. They both steal souls, but their personalities are not the same and I am far more bothered by Pegasus's personality under the circumstances than I am by Yami Bakura's.

Anyway. So. Back to the computer criminals. Years ago some crumb stole my dad's credit card number and bought a bunch of stuff with it. I was always afraid it was my fault, because it happened shortly after I used it (with Dad's permission) on Sega's website to buy the Knuckles plushie. I worried Sega's store hadn't been secure enough and that's how the number was taken. Thankfully, my dad didn't have to honor those purchases; the company believed him about the card number being stolen. But regardless, because of that experience I've been specifically bitter against computer criminals ever since.

Now yesterday, my dad got taken in by a computer scammer. He seems to be the type that deliberately puts junk on your computer and then pretends to just be finding it and says he can get rid of it for a high price. This crumb claimed he was from the computer company and even gave some of Dad's personal information to try to prove it! He messed up the computer and Dad couldn't even get in last night. Thankfully, Dad has managed to put the computer back in order now, and hopefully he's going to be able to find a way to report the creep. But this only deepens my bitter feelings towards computer criminals.

I wish I'd known about the phone call from the creep right when it happened; I would have been immediately suspicious and told him not to let the guy have remote computer access until he proved without a doubt he was from the computer company. It made no sense to me that a legit party would randomly call, since Dad hadn't even called the computer company. And sure enough, when he did call them after talking to the guy, they told him that the guy was a fraud. I'm relieved that the computer seems to be back to normal now; I certainly hope it can stay that way. (It wasn't my computer, by the way, but the newest one Dad uses. It's never really worked right because it's had a lot of trouble with viruses and computer creeps and the like.)

But so yeah. Computer criminals are something I just can't seem to not be bitter towards. Before the incidents where we experienced the crimes, I think I was just neutral, didn't really understand the damage they cause, and might not have been bothered by fictional computer scammers. But after the first incident in 2001 and this new incident too, uggggh, I cannot stand them.

Somehow I think Simon Templar would feel the same way. And now, even though it would probably make the few fanficcers stand on their heads and scream Foul for plopping him in the obvious present-day, I want to write a fic where he brings down some computer criminals. That would feel so delicious to me. I love how Simon champions the rights of those who are being hurt by the greed and evil of criminals. And I have to admit, I do sort of swoon thinking of him as a knight in figurative shining armor, rescuing the girls of the week (re: me) and whoever else is in distress. That is, of course, how the author of the original books intended for him to be viewed, and that was captured perfectly in the television series.

Do I agree with all of Simon's methods? No, I do not, even in the toned-down television version that I far prefer over the books. But I do love that he's devoted his whole life to catching criminals and protecting the innocent from them.

Also, I am absolutely ecstatic to learn that the big boxset is not the only in-print release of The Saint! They're also doing double-season sets, and those are reasonably priced! I can get them! SQUEEEEE. There's one out now and the next releases next week!

And as a closing note, I was reading a review of one of the few Saint books I'm interested in. People have long wondered if the TV Saint is working at least sometimes for a secret organization and not just always on his own; some episodes hint at that. Now in this book, the reviewer says Simon says he is part of such a thing and even stranger, that at the end the organization is identified as U.N.C.L.E. (A curious trick, since the book was written in 1947!) I'd have to read the book to know how accurate that assessment is, but regardless, I am certainly intrigued. And I'm probably going to have a terrible time not imagining that Simon is with the London office of U.N.C.L.E. now.

I tried turning off the entire File Shield System and typed for nearly an hour without problems. I turned it back on, saved without trouble, and then set the document aside to watch Get Smart. When I came back to the document, it started right in giving me trouble with that idiotic file permissions garbage. Once it starts, it doesn't stop, not even if I close Word and open it again. But I turned File Shield off again and didn't have any more trouble.

I've noticed it seems most likely to cause trouble if I've had the document up for a while, and especially if I've left it for a while and come back to it. I suppose it's a security measure in case it isn't the same person coming back to it, but since here it always is the same person, it doesn't help me and is just a detriment. I wish I could turn that feature off without disrupting the whole program.

Ugggh, uninstalling and reinstalling and fooling around in the Avast! Safe Mode and all the other stuff they said to do is not going to be fun....

So I played around with the complex settings of the File Shield System thingie on Avast! I told it to exclude .RTF and .WPD files from scanning, because I really can't leave the entire thing shut off, and there's no point in having an antivirus program if I have to do that. So far, the exclusion has enabled me to save whenever I feel like it, so it looks like I'm right and Avast! really was behind this.

I've gotta say, this has been the most idiotic update of Avast! I've ever seen. It's been fine all the other times I've used it. But first there was that Web Shield garbage and it blocked practically the entire Internet, including its own website. And now this trash with the File Shield System!

This is a good example of why I hate Internet filters. The one time we tried using one, it also blocked pretty much the entire Internet. I've always been careful surfing and have honestly never stumbled into a naughty website, except one time when I deliberately tried typing the name of a toy company and discovered that the web address went to a place with entirely different playmates than I was looking for. Whoops. But I realized instantly what had happened and backed out of there before the site finished loading. That was probably about 14 years ago. But so we tried a filter for a while after that incident, but it just ruined the Internet experience and blocked a lot of innocent things, so we took it back off and haven't used one since.

I am really annoyed and disgusted that the Avast! update is just about as paranoid as that filter. Stupid, stupid Avast! Why can't they iron out these bugs? The one affecting Word keeps coming back every few updates or so, according to that thread. I don't really like excluding all .RTF and .WPD files from scanning, but until there's a better update, I don't have a lot of choice.

I did finally get the next Perry chapter done and up. After I supposedly fixed the problem, I was able to settle down, proofread, and add whatever I felt I needed to. I ended up lengthening the chapter by about a page, all in all. I think I'm barreling towards the climax, and I'm so excited at the thought of finally getting this fic done! Over the past few months I've been able to finish several things I've had hanging, and it feels so good every time.

So I got another Ellery Queen disc out because Victor Buono is in an episode and I thought that would be great fun. Unfortunately, they underused him, only featuring him in one short scene, and with a great talent such as his, that is totally a crime.

Overall, though, I've liked this disc way more than I liked the other one. Even though it's supposed to be a period piece, they don't hit you over the head with that fact. It felt like they were doing that on the other disc I saw, especially in the episode where Ellery had a girl helping him who was basically a ditz in the style that 1940s women were written when they were used for comic relief. I did not like that and found it annoying. I also didn't like one of the other episodes on that first disc, so after only liking two, I hadn't been impressed and hadn't ever planned to try the show again. I'm glad I did.

I think shows work the best when they don't drill it into you that it's a certain time period. If the mentions just come naturally, it's easy to slip into the feel of things. For this show, though, it never really feels like it's the 1940s for some reason, even when it's hitting you over the head with it and even though the hair and clothes and cars are all very accurate. I'm not sure why it really feels more like the 1970s, since there are period pieces made in the present day that really make it feel like the time period they're depicting.

I'll be seeing a little more of the show, since William Schallert is on yet another disc, and then I'll probably just say What the heck and see the others, too. I've even thought of buying it, which is certainly something I hadn't considered before.

One thing I always liked was the theme song. It totally rocks. Sooo jazzy and noir-ish and mysterious. I ended up picturing in my mind a story with Lieutenant Drumm that is noir-ish in nature, including him in his office and a mysterious woman coming to him for help and dark alleys and weird nightclubs and intriguing investigations. Steve is the most hard-boiled of the three Perry Mason Lieutenants, which is why I immediately pictured him. Sergeant Brice would be there too, I imagine.

One amusing thing: I don't think Steve ever wore a fedora on the show. All the other police did, including Sergeant Brice. I'm trying to remember if Steve possibly wore one during the train scene in The 12th Wildcat, one of the few episodes I really don't like. I'll have to double-check that scene.

Fedoras look sooo good on people. I saw Ken Swofford wear one on Ellery Queen and it even looked good on him. His characters generally seem to be purposely obnoxious, and this one was too, but he wasn't as bad as the Rockford characters and I found him just a little bit endearing.

And Microsoft Word totally borked on me tonight. I had big plans, and it ruined them by giving me a horrible thing called a file permissions error when I tried to save and then it deleted my file. At least, it certainly seems to be gone. It's nowhere to be found, not in the Recycle Bin or under complex searches. I have never had this happen in all the years I've used the blasted thing. Thank goodness I emailed myself a copy of the fic as it stood a couple of hours before I got back on. I only had to retype a couple of pages, and they're probably better the second time, but I am furious. I figure the original document must exist somewhere, but hidden files are visible and it's not there. The chapter went up two hours later than it was supposed to.

It's a chapter for my unbelievably long and twisting Perry fic, too. I figured out that I could move the plot along better by condensing the time Amory is tortured by the bad guys. The original plan was several weeks to enact their latest scheme, but I can't really do a timeskip at this point, especially since I had to do one before they could start this latest plot. He's already been through so much, so I think if the torment goes on for a much shorter period before doing the thing that tips him over the edge in both outlines, it will still be too much for him to deal with. It's supposed to lead up to a squeeable scene I have planned for him and his wife Edith, one I already did in blurb form. But I might end up changing those plans, even though some form of the squee will remain.

Guys, why does it seem like I'm the only one who ever has these kinds of problems? Am I really that unlucky?

Certain video sites that take up too much memory are causing every other video site to mess up when I try going to them later. The only way I've been able to correct anything at all is System Restore. And even though it helps, it still doesn't fully get things back the way they used to be. This only started about a month ago.

I only have what seems to be a bare-bones virus scan here. (Although I have a decent firewall.) It says it doesn't find anything, but I don't know if it's thorough enough to help much. I figure on the one hand I should download a free anti-virus like Avast! and do a thorough scan. But they take up so much memory (thoughts of the full MacAfee still give me nightmares) that I'm scared to. Maybe it will find something, maybe it won't, and maybe it will take up so much memory in and of itself that I still won't be able to get anything to work.

I have a registry cleaner, and even though it's removed a lot of junk, that doesn't help this video problem at all.

And I ran into a bunch of holes when I tried writing that fic with Hamilton and Leon. It was largely a problem that started when I wrote The Broken Ties and didn't take any steps to mend it. With Leon being a very minor player in that story, I didn't really write anything with Hamilton trying to get Leon to remember the truth (even though he probably did try). At the end, Hamilton is so befuddled by what happened and why that he only tells Leon his desperate "group hypnosis" theory and doesn't address the possibility of black magic. He decides he'll tell Leon later, if Leon continues to be troubled.

Well, so all of that is the basis for the problem in this oneshot fic where someone tried to make a rift between them. The dilemma is me wondering if Hamilton would really not tell Leon the supernatural theories, no matter how fantastic they sound. I've written that Leon has been Hamilton's secretary for a long time. Hamilton likely knows him very well. And he told the other main players about the supernatural concepts, regardless of whether he personally can believe them. For him to not tell Leon (even though Leon's part in the story is small) seems to be a blight against Leon and could reflect badly on Hamilton, even though it's my fault in the end. I just wasn't thinking clearly enough about the consequences of Hamilton not telling Leon. And heaven knows that when I'm trying to show what a good person Hamilton is, the last thing I want to do is make a bad blunder. There's a difference between that and keeping him human with both good and ill qualities. What's more, if Hamilton and Leon have worked together so long, I don't like the thought of Leon falling so hard for the enemy's attempted lies.

I had an early concept of Leon being so idolizing of Hamilton that Hamilton saying he just wasn't sure if Leon would believe him about the supernatural weirdness was the final straw and completely devastated him. But I decided to scrap that and tone down Leon's feelings. I think to some extent he may idolize Hamilton, judging from the dialogue I've given him, but I want him to be a mature adult, not some young kid. And even though I've left it that he did feel hurt at Hamilton's admission, it didn't bother him quite as deeply as in that first draft.

Well, so in the end I decided I'd made a terrible error by thinking the story would work. I immediately abandoned the project, but the first scene was good and I couldn't bear to do nothing with it. I rewrote some of the dialogue, including some of the above stuff with Leon and Hamilton's feelings and actions, and added some stuff to make it fit a different 31_days prompt. Out of nowhere, Leon ended up dying from the gunshot wound he takes, too. That was actually not supposed to happen. Of course, a follow-up has followed and Leon will recover.

I don't know or even really think that either of those things will be part of my "official" headcanon of stories. They're mostly experimental in the end, trying to find Leon's voice and how he and Hamilton interact.

What is official is in my new mystery The Denying Detective. Leon has been regaled to an important supporting role in that fic and I will be trying to develop him there. Mentioned in their first scene together is Hamilton musing that he did tell Leon the truth of the supernatural theories before too much time had passed (and also that he did try more than once to get Leon to remember, when everyone forgot). Leon seems alright with things.

Leon I'm picturing as a fellow in his thirties, a mature adult, quiet, with dark hair that could fall in his eyes like Andy's can if uncombed, and glasses. I'm studying people who pop up in my shows now, trying to find one that looks like how I'm thinking Leon looks.

And GAH I forgot to write a blog post and I have to run and what if I don't get to it today and people are waiting?!

... There goes my Twilight Sparkle side, freaking out.

I am such a geek, though. I have some money I've collected for a certain purchase, but I'm hoping I can reduce the cost of said purchase, which would leave me with more than half left over. I could easily buy the complete set of Mike Hammer episodes. Amazon has them at an amazing price right now. I got the thing right into my cart and into the checkout, but I didn't complete that final page. That happens sometimes, when I'm in a heavy state of indecision. I kept feeling like I needed to wait, that I wasn't sure if I wanted to get that right now.

And now I seem to have discovered what I want more: a Twilight Sparkle plush that talks, reads, and sings (in what sounds like the voice actress's voice). I want a plush Pony, a kid's toy, instead of a detective show. But gah, I can't help myself. Twilight is still my favorite, and it just sounds so fun to have her read and sing to me.

They seem to only be available at Target, and depending on which Target, varying prices. But all cheaper than Amazon. On Monday I'll check a couple of them out and see for sure whether I want to buy it. But I've seen YouTube videos and am just tickled. I have that "This is what I want" determined feeling, and I'm sorry to say, I didn't have that about the DVD set. I still want that too, though. It just doesn't seem that it's my first priority.

In an email from one of my survey companies:

Greetings again from [insert name here]. Today we have a survey for men. According to
your profile, this is you.

AHAHAHA! Did it just call me a man?

I went and looked at my profile just to be sure, and it lists me correctly as a female! I shouldn't have even gotten the invitation for this survey!

I've managed to upload the colorbars Lisa made me for my birthday! **squees.** Photobucket was giving me so much trouble. -.- First I couldn't remember my password and I got locked out, so I had to change the thing. Then it ran slow with an ad that wouldn't shut off even though I clicked Sound Off. .___.; I had to press something else that paused it just to get it to shut up. And it still ran slow and screwed up the browser. **headdesk.**

I finished the cemetery fic on time, and posted it and the one using the "Conversations with dead people" prompt on Halloween. The ghost bride fic didn't make it in time. XD; But it's being written! It'll be longer, so I'll post it in segments. **got up the first one.** Just in time for the Day of the Dead, too. **posted it yesterday early morning.** I know approximately where it's going, but chances are it will still surprise me along the way.

And now that I've had the "fun" of scaring myself with creepy ghost reports for my research, it's time to break out the Christmas music! ♥ **has a few Carmen-era Rockapella Christmas songs, too, which she's been playing repeatedly.** The ghost bride fic will probably mostly be written with Christmas music playing in the background. LOL. What a combination.

10%How Scrooge Are You? Quiz courtesy of Frigidaire Parts from Easy Appliance Parts

It's been a frustrating time the last week and a half, with the modem going bonkers. It kept freezing up and preventing online access from continuing for very long. And it got increasingly worse, until I could barely stay connected for more than an hour if I was lucky. Dad bought a new modem yesterday, and at first it wasn't working, either. But after calling the phone company for help, it seems to be up and running. ^^ It was a relief to not have to be on hold forever, and to talk to someone who knew what was going on.

I finished Triplicate. X3 That was a very bittersweet feeling. I really loved writing that one, and I didn't want to leave the adventure. But I think now I'm ready to tackle the ski resort fic. It will be Angeal's first business trip with Jenova Corp, so that will be fun. And of course there'll be the scene where Seph has to ski away to escape the business rivals who tried to hold him captive. LOL.

I also couldn't resist any longer, and I had to write that oneshot of Genesis and some of his feelings over what happened in chapter 9 of Crisis Core. After finding out just how complex he really is, it all came together. I'm still mad at him for what he did in chapter 9, yet I think I understand at least somewhat why he may have done it.

I dug up the hotel fic of Dartz and Alexander yesterday. I think I posted the original scene in here, a long time ago? I have about three other scenes now, that I wrote off and on, making enough for a first chapter. I can't entirely remember what was happening in the original dream that inspired it, but some things are coming back. And there's such a sense of nostalgia with that fic. I remember how much I wanted to share my dream because I loved it so much. I'm still debating posting the first chapter, though, because I know it isn't likely to be updated too much, and then people will throw things at me. But I'm curious to know if it generates any interest at all.

I got some more written in the KH wing prejudice fic, too, which is good. X3 I'm wondering if I should divide it into chapters. I don't know how long it will be, but if it's left as a oneshot, it will be loooong.

I need to do something more with my claim at 100_chances too. And 30_gens. X3 I have a couple ideas bouncing around for each.

I hate when it does that. . . . And now it kicked me off MSN.

Last Friday I tried to help Dad find an old newspaper article with the microfilm machines. I've used them before, but I never remember having the problems I did that time. @@ After a while all the whirling pages made me all dizzy and somewhat nauseous. >< It took me about two hours to recover from that. Ugh.

After that went on at the downtown library, we went up to the university library so he could try to print a thesus he wanted to read, because he couldn't get it to come up on our computers here. So while we waited for ages for it to all print, I randomly started writing in my notebook. I was trying to get a moveon with the Spellbound fic (where Alister wakes up next to a dead body and he can't remember if he killed the person under mind-control) earlier and I'd managed to write a few more lines on the computer. So then I got some more written in my notebook and a bunch of stuff started falling into place. ^^; (I figured out two or three blurbs that I could modify and add to the fic and some other stuff. And once, when I got stuck on a plot point, I thought about it and the solution came to me. I love when that happens. So yeah, since last Friday that's been my big writing project. I was only on page 4 or so then, and now it's completed and uploaded at 45 pages. **smiles.** That's ten pages longer than some of my other biker short stories. I'm proud of how it came out.)

Then, since I'd been helping him, Dad agreed to take me to some stores. I didn't buy anything, but I enjoyed looking around at Toys R Us, Media Play, and ShopKo. They all had some stuff I wanted, but apparently I didn't want any of it enough to buy at the moment. XD; So I was just happy to finally get out of the house. ^^

Speaking of the bikers. . . . I think my new pet peeve is the pairing of AlisterXValon. How does that even make sense? Valon's obviously straight or he wouldn't be always fawning over Mai. And Alister, despite many fans' opinions to the contrary, has never displayed homosexual behavior. So he wears a midriff shirt and has his hair styled in a flip. Big deal. That means nothing. If a character's gay, the writers make sure everyone knows it. XD Clothing and hair aren't good enough reasons to make an assumption like that. Anyway, I'm considering making a little club at Janime's Forums against the pairing. XD I already have several supporters.

And I've joined Linka's Anti-Romance in YGO movement. The obsession with romance in a fandom that doesn't even really have romance is getting out of hand. XD; Almost everyone ignores the true elements of YGO, which are sibling and friendship cuteness, among other things. I'm pretty much against every YGO pairing, whether it be yaoi, yuri, or het. The only ones I kinda support are Pegasus/Cecelia and possibly P. Seto/Kisara, but I won't know about that one until I actually see it. I know I've always casually supported Seto/Téa, but actually I only like it as the one-sided way I write it, where Téa is starting to care about Seto but doesn't know if it's romantic feelings she has, and certainly nothing romantic ever developes. I can't see Seto in a romantic relationship. **shrugs.**

Hmm. I wonder if it needs to be stated that I have nothing against a romantic relationship in real life that's true love and not the garbage that gets passed off in entertainment these days as love and romance. XD; Most of that is just lust. I'm just so fed up with romance/lust/Mary Sues/Gary Stus in fanfiction stories. There's so much more to write about!

I have my Gateway back! ^^ I never did find the firewall disk, but I installed the firewall that comes with the McAfee VirusScan. It was able to destroy an evil Trojan horse and some other stuff. Unfortunately, there were a couple of programs it couldn't clean, quarantine, or destroy. @@ Dunno what I'll do about those. But the firewall seems to be blocking their ability to connect to the Internet. X3

I also got the Netscape browser. I prefer it a million times over Internet Explorer. **pats it.** I just hope it won't suddenly stop working sometime, like it did the last time we had it.

And I've been BUSY! Wow, have I mentioned that I actually finished Paper Flowers?! I wrapped it up last week. And I have it all nicely sheet-protected and bound in my Team Rocket binder. XD I just started Candy Clouds a night or so ago. It opens with Marik having dreams of destruction and of Kade calling to him! So cute! ^O^

I've also been tinkering with one of the Megaman ideas I mentioned last entry. I couldn't resist. I went and typed up a scene way ahead of its time. Breathe No More focused a lot on Bass's thoughts and when he got his memory back, he started questioning if what he was doing was right. So now, in the scene I typed up, it's several months later and there's basically big destruction and portals opening up from the cyberworld into the real world and lots and lots of virus thingies and other bad things trying to take over. It's only a first draft of this one scene toward the end, but I wanted to post it somewhere. XD;

( Bass )