The random ramblings and creations of Caigan

More Second Life goodness

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 06:46:15 GMT

Just one image for now, but one of my favorites.

This literally is my best selling creation in SL right now. I didn't expect it to sell or be popular, but I keep getting asked if I'll make more versions of it, as people love it and want to fit more people on it, or have a different arangement. Makes me happy knowing my work is liked, ya know?

Oh, for anyone who wants to know, my name in Second Life is Caigan Dusk.

Journal in use!

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 05:22:15 GMT

Hey yeah uh....so when I say I'll be using my journal more, I really should.

So I've decided that yes, I will use it more often!

With what, praytell? My daily ramblings?

Eh here and there I guess. I dont' usually talk about my life's problems anymore it seems, I prefer helping folks with theirs instead. Take the weight off my friend's shoulders a bit and help them in the process and all that.

No, since I can't post Second Life images to my FA account much, and most of my artistic work is currently WITHIN second life, I'm going to use my LJ more for displaying my work than ranting about real life happenings.

I will also start using Tags in my journals, so you can filter out (as I'm told) my SL junk!

I will put my work images for everyone's benefit =)

Thankfully I didn't have to use 'tiny prims' with this ring....was cutting it 'very' close though.

I hate tiny prims with a passion.

This was really fun to make thus far. Kinda prim heavy though, which is unavoidable with all the teeth and whatnot.

shakes fist

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 00:05:51 GMT

Graaaaaaaah.

Aiptek, I like ya cause you make decent, affordable tablets. No bells and whistles on em, but I've been using the 12000u for years and its a VERY good model.

But why does your latest driver support suck? Seriously?

I had to traverse to the european site just to find the latest drivers that WORK with PS CS3. And with those drivers, you remove a few crucial elements!

Like definition of work area! I can't set 'half' my desktop area to be my work area anymore...and thats a bit crucial when you consider the fact that I HAVE DUAL MONITORS. Not just dual monitors, dual 22" widescreen monitors. thats a LOT of desktop space. And even stretched over a 12" wide work area, that means my drawings area is skewed well out of proportion

I also know of the .ini hack you can do to define the work area. Requires a reboot and doens't stick, but you reworked your ini file also to remove that ability.

peeks in

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:26:20 GMT

*Comes up and pokes his journal with a stick*
....
*Poke it again*
...huh...
*Pokes a final time, before getting a baseball bat and smacking it a few times*
Oh, there we go! I guess it truely never does die!

Anyways!

Hello hello! I am back (*psst* This feels like deja vu.... [shhhh!]). At least around LJ that is. So...what have I been up to since last I talked to you, oh journal of mine?

My relationship has deepened (somehow) with my mate Erdenshire. We've made some life changes and become even closer because of them. Six years, seven months, eighteen days. Wooo!

I dropped in and out of the obscurity of House Rules on a constant basis.

I got myself a Fur Affinity account.(contains both regular and mature artwork)

I've started inking and coloring sketches done by other folks. Can see some on my FA.

This household now has all three of the 'next gen' consoles. The PS3 is on the most, but played the least, running mostly Folding@Home. The 360 is played the most, usually CoD4, Mass Effect, or Assassin's Creed. The Wii is in the middle, but I love it the most I think.

I got two 22" widescreen monitors for christmas. They are amazing...I just wish my art tablet worked better with dual monitors.

Theres probably a ton more, just can't think of them off the top of my head.

I'll try to update this more with daily thoughts, ramblings, etc.

If ya wanna talk with me, my AIM (caiganmythfang) is on 24/7. And if I'm at my computer, I'm more likely than not on SL as Caigan Dusk.

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 19:21:12 GMT

Back from Kumoricon and whew, that was fun! I'm very achy and very tired, but amazingly I do NOT have con crud! I was sick before the con, but got better just in time, and I was worried I'd come out worse since my body's ability to fight off sickness was weakened, and that tons of people = tons of people with cats, and I have a severe cat allergy.

Kumoricon was only my second convention, but my first convention being staff and attending more than a single day. Being staff is an experience in and of itself, and unless you've seen the behind-the-scenes, you might not realize just how much work staff puts into the convention, all of it volunteer work.

I'll post more about it later, I'm tired and relaxing to some anime and food.

Hey guys!

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 05:13:29 GMT

Hey, if anyone is attending Kumoricon this weekend, I'll be attending all three days (I'm on staff), drop me an email at caiganmythfang (at gmail.com (remove the spaces and whatnot, you know how it works!)

Otherwise, everyone have a good weekend

(really should post more often....)

Return!

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 05:45:56 GMT

Yeah, woo, this is still here, and I'm still around. May or may not start posting regularly here again.

Stuff going on?

Part of the Kumoricon anime convention staff now, as a graphics/layout designer. I get to work on getting the pocket guide ready (organization and layout of all the data), while its difficult, its also extremely fun.

I also started writing again too. Posted up some of my really old stories (two of my favorite ones at least, one that got published and one other) to my FA account, and got some positive comments on them. I decided to dust of my writing fingers completely now and dive back in full tilt.

It's funny when I look back at my old stories, and can tell exactly what writers I were infatuated with at the time for most of them. I'm hoping with my new stories to show more of my own style that you see bits of in Ships Log.

As always, House Rules is still going strong. New domain (thanks Felix!), new color artists here and there, new website code (thanks CodeCat!), and a bunch of other little things.

But for now..away I go!

Power outtages are fun!

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 06:40:07 GMT

This was an eventful night. So Thursday night we were out of power, right? All night, and into the morning. Power came back on,w as fine until tonight, when apparently a substation caught on fire and all power was shut down for a few hours.

The events in this apartment, though, were hilarious.

We're watching a recorded Doctor Who from Friday night. We are close to the end, when ;

Old Lady : "Thank you! Thank you so much! I don't know who you are, but..." *BBBzzzzzmmmm......*

About 10 seconds later the power came back on.

We laughed, turned off some computer systems, and decided to finish the episode. We get to the end, when.... :

Doctor : "Something's coming...A storm is coming..." *BBZZZZmmmmmmmmmmmmm....*

PERFECT TIMING! At this point, we are laughing at both somewhat creepily coincidental situations.

About 15 minutes later, we decide "Lets see if it's just local. Lets call Gamestop (about 10 minutes away), to see if they have power, since we have a game reserved we need to pick up anyways. (Metal Slug Anthology)

*Ring*
Jeremy : "Hi, this is GameStop (usual corp spiel). This is Jeremy, how can I help you?"
Me : "Hey guys (we're well known at our gamestop), do you still have power? We just lost it a few minutes ago."
Jeremy : "Whaa? Uh, yeah, we have power here..." *BZZZT click silence...*
Me : "No way...hello?"
*redial*
Jeremy : "Hello, Gamestop, (Corp spiel). This is Jeremy, how can I help you?"
Me : "Haha, I was the one who just called, you guys just lost power, huh?"
Jeremy : "Oh man, that was such perfect timing dude, we JUST lost power. We're laughing our asses off here."
Me : "Damn, thats creepy timing, but hilarious. Well we WERE gonna stop by and pick up some reserved games, but..."
Jeremy : "Yeah, no power, sorry man."
Me : "Haha, no problem, stay safe guys."

Wow....

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 23:06:32 GMT

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_p8fOLfMTcE

......ROFL.....THAT right there, is my current teacher.......Chef Brophy

Big maaaac...

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 00:33:26 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLn45-7Pn2Y

Havent' been able to get this out of my head for the last week.

WIIIII!!!!!

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 14:19:38 GMT

Wii Friend Code :
3665 6978 2662 7191

If you have a Wii, add me, and reply here with your own friend code.

I'lll probably repeat this LJ entry Saturday.

Sat, 18 Nov 2006 08:55:54 GMT

You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.

No.
Explanations.

1. Yourself: Tired
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend (spouse): Tiger!
4. Your mother: Loving
5. Your father: Strength
6. Your favorite item: Wii
7. Your dream last night: Cooking
8. Your favorite drink: Orange
9. Your dream car: Purple
10. The room you are in: Messy
11. Your ex: Silent
12. Your fear: Alone
13. What you want to be in 10 years? Chef
14. Who you hung out with last night? Erden
15. What you're not? Heartless
16. Muffins: Cornbread
17. One of your wish list items: Mindstorms
18. Time: Midnight
19. The last thing you did: yawn
20. What you are wearing: little
21. Your favorite weather: cloudy
22. Your favorite book: nylund
23. The last thing you ate: Rice
24. Your life: Steady
25. Your mood: Mellow
26. Your best friend: Erden
27. What are you thinking about right now? Wii
28. Your car: None
29. What are you doing at the moment? Typing
30. Your summer: Hot
31. Your relationship status: Timeless
32. What is on your TV? Games
33. What is the weather like? Cold
34. When is the last time you laughed? Constantly

Sci-Fi Reading List

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:46:27 GMT

Well, since I'm having a bad week it seems (sick, missing school, broken glasses, bwah =T) lets try to reverse that mojo with some sci-fi talk!

Bold the ones you've read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put an asterisk beside the ones you loved.

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien*
The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov*
Dune, Frank Herbert*
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein*
A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
Neuromancer, William Gibson*
Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov*
Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
Cities in Flight, James Blish
The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
Gateway, Frederik Pohl
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling*
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams*
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
Little, Big, John Crowley
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
On the Beach, Nevil Shute
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
Ringworld, Larry Niven*
Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson*
Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
Timescape, Gregory Benford
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

NaNoWriMo : Day 3

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 18:52:07 GMT

Well, I didn't get started on my novel until this morning. I have a bit over 1,200 words done already, and am going at full steam (pun intended) right now into more. When I have a brain block, I go and clean up the kitchen a bit, which helps me think.

So right now, here is the prologue to my NanoWriMo novel

Prologue

Chunks of rock tumbled down as the canyon wall shuddered with the impact of the dragon's massive bulk. Momentarily stunned, the dragon shook its massive horned head as it was pelted from falling debris.
The dust kicked up by the dragon slightly obscured Selin's mech as she moved the massive machine back a few steps. Another few charges like that, she thought, and the whole canyon would come down on top of them. She needed to finish off the lunar dragon quickly before it decided to take flight and escape, or worse, attack the nearby settlement before reinforcements arrive.
Roaring in challenge, the dragon digs its claws into the rocky ground, hunching its body back as it tenses up to charge at it's attacker again. Hoping to stop its full-body charge, Selin brings her mech's left arm up, aiming the flamethrower that she had replaced the left forearm with. Flames lashed out at the lunar dragon, which stumbled as the heat caught it off guard. Roaring again, the dragon spread it's small wings and began to flap them, kicking up more dust.
Selin shut off the fuel pump to the flamethrower. Without hesitation, she brings her mech to a run as she charges the dragon, hoping to grab it with her other arm. The dragon, though, was already rising off the canyon floor, and her mech wouldn't be fast enough to catch it before it flew out of the reach of even her flamethrower.
A pair of explosions echoed through the canyon as the dragon lurched to the side. Selin brought her mech to a stop as she saw another mech on top of the canyon wall, aiming two cannon arms at the beast. Beside it, a much smaller mech had pulled out a sword and was taking a few steps back. As the larger mech fired both cannons again, the smaller mech took a step and leaped into the canyon.
Landing on the back of the dragon, the smaller mech grabbed one of wings and slashed at it. After two swings, the dragon lurched and twisted, flinging the mech off it's back and into the canyon wall, it's arm hitting the rock face first, crumpling under the weight of the rest of the mech as it followed. The small mech tumbled to the canyon floor, unmoving. With it's wing nearly cut off, the dragon spiraled to the ground and landed hard, causing the ground to shake from it's massive bulk.
Selin recovered from the shock of the near-suicidal strategy of the small mech, dashing her own mech forward again, arm raised to grab the dragon before it regained it's senses. Quicker than she thought possible from something that large, the dragon spun around and struck Selin's mech with it's tail, throwing it off balance. Selin wrestled with the controls to prevent her mech from falling over, which would give the dragon all the time it needed to finish her off.
Instead of striking Selin's mech again, the dragon turned toward the smaller mech that had done more damage to it. It was laying on the canyon floor, it's left arm twisted at inhuman angles, sword broken in half. Roaring, the dragon lifted itself up and opened its maw as wide as it could. Selin looked up as she finally regained balance, dread filling her as she realized the dragon was planning on bathing the helpless mech in lunar fire.
The larger mech suddenly landed between the dragon and the small mech, firing both cannons at point-blank range. The dragon rocked with both explosions, but did not stop it's attack, instead letting out its full fiery-breath upon the large mech. The flames erupting from the dragon's mouth where glowing white, like the glow from the full moon. It enveloped the larger mech, creating a blinding light that forced Selin to look away.
When she looked up again, the canyon wall behind the large mech was scorched black except for an area the larger mech had stopped the flames from reaching. The small mech was untouched by the flames. Unfortunately, the larger mech had taken most of the lunar breath attack. It's left arm was completely gone, along with the upper-left half of it's torso, and most of the mech's head, all burned away by the dragon's breath. The edges of the missing points were white hot and beginning to melt. The mech slowly crumpled to the ground, it's pilots burned alive.
Crying out in anger, Selin dashed forward again as the dragon began rearing back for another deadly attack. She grabbed one of the large spikes on the dragon's head, wrenching it sideways. Pulling her mech forward, she jams the barrel of her flamethrower into the dragon's open maw, opening up the fuel valve completely and filling the dragon with burning flames.
Selin emptied the entire fuel tank for the flamethrower into the dragon, watching as flames and smoke poured from the dragon's mouth, the massive form shuddering a few times before becoming still. She didn't move for a few minutes, breathing heavily as she stared at the dragon's corpse, her mech still holding the head up by a spike.
A ringing in the cockpit of her mech brought her out of her rage. She looked up and saw the gauges for her steam engine were dropping slowly. The dragon's last attack must have ruptured the water piping and the engine was losing pressure. She unhooked her crash harness and leaned over an opening in the floor.
"Gados, how's the engine looking? My gauges show we're bleeding pressure," she shouted over the constant noise of the mech's steam engine. She waited a few seconds as a dwarf with long black hair tied into a braided tail poked his head through the hole.
"Not good, Selin, both Rorak and Rinak are unconscious. The left side of the torso is caved in slightly, and it pinched off one of the smaller steam pipes. They were trying to shunt the steam away when it ruptured and knocked them out. "
Selin frowned, "It's bleeding steam into the mech then. We'll have to either shunt it away earlier in the pipes or shut down the engine altogether."
Gados grinned, "Well, unless we want to be boiled alive in here. I think we'll have to shut the engine down, the damage is..."
Selin turned her head as soon as Gados' words drifted to a stop. In front of her, the large mech that had sacrificed itself to the dragon's fire was beginning to stand again. It shuddered as it stood up, pushing itself upright with its surviving arm. Smoke still curled upwards from the burned torso, and the head sagged forward.
"By Dotrak, is Joran and his crew still alive?" Gados asked, lifting himself further into the cockpit. He watched as the smaller mech began to stand up also, its broken arm hanging limply. It reached down and picked up the broken sword, raising it as it took a few awkward steps towards Selin's mech. The large mech slowly raised its good arm cannon. Fear filled Selin as she realized the horrible truth.
"Gados, get down, they aren't..." Selin's words were drowned out as the large mech fired, filling the cockpit of her mech with light.

Comments are greatly appreciated!

Nanowrimo

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 14:37:25 GMT

So, NanoWriMo starts today, I forgot to mention in this journal that I'm participating this year too.

Last year I got about...15k words into a book and then lost steam.

Speaking of steam, thats the focus of my attempt this year. Steampunk. Specifically, Dragon Mech.

My book will take place in the world of Dragon Mech, and is tentatively titled DragonMech : Twisted Gears.

I need to head out to culinary school now, talk to you all later!

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 23:07:39 GMT

Buh....is that good, or bad?

I'll take WOO GOOD!

On that note, I should be getting a phone data cable by the end of the week so I can start posting up pics of my culinary disaste...creations, creations....here!

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 06:19:37 GMT

Studying for my finals off and on, playing games lately as per usual.

Today I got an awesome story. The apartment (myself, Erdenshire, and Ketsueki) decided to head out and try preordering a Wii and some Wii games and a 360 game. The Wii release date and price were announced a few days ago, so we were hoping our local Gamestop(s) would be accepting preorders.

We get to the Gamestop and ask a few questions, as I heard that GameStop may only accept preorders with $50 game tradein (which is false, at least for MY local gamestops). We found out we can't preorder a Wii until next month when they get a solid number on the number they'll be sent. So we preordered 4 Wii games (Red Steel, Zelda, Warioware, and Trauma Center). In the meantime, I was downloading a game demo to my DS.

When we were done, the GameStop employee went "Hey, since you guys are such big Nintendo fans, I got something for you." He took out his keys, opened up one of the drawers behind the counter, and reached way in the back and pulled out a brand new, unopened copy of Phoenix Wright : Ace Attourney.

This is one of the DS games I've been looking for for quite a while. I didn't have the money to purchase it when it came out, and eventually it became a hard-to-find game locally (I usually don't trust amazon or whatnot for games anymore).

Needless to say, snatched it up.

-------

Oh, on a side note...is it bad that I love cooking and culinary stuff enough that I bought Cooking Mama, a DS game ABOUT cooking?

Thought not. This game is pretty dang addictive. But enough fo that...back to my finals. =T

DOOD!

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 05:09:44 GMT

Got Disgaea 2 finally (amazon didn't ship it till yesterday, while I've had it preordered for over a month)

With that being such an awesome game, and me being on a heavy Makai Kingdom trip these past few weeks, it deserves its very own icon.

IT'S PRINNY, DOOD!

New icon

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 03:22:50 GMT

New icon goodness, but I don't have time to make a real LJ post.

Later!

More cell phone stuff.

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 08:27:51 GMT

Almost forgot to post these up. I made these in about half an hour for my phone. I don't like the Locke one too much, just doesn't feel right, but I seriously love the Miillie and "Define Cynical" ones.

New cellphone

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 02:27:08 GMT

Not a few hours outta the box, and already customized exactly how I want it, personally recorded ringtone and all.

Thats not the only faceplate I made for it, made a whole sheet of em I'll post up later.

Random meme....

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 20:53:20 GMT

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
6. Tag five people. (uh, just...whoever reads my journal...I don't remember who regularly reads this hehe)

---
3. Saute the foie gras in beurre noisette, deglaze with vinegar, add some veal stock, and finish with a splash of Calvados and quince stock.

Vegetables

1. Make a lentil salad with a puree of lentils; season with vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

2. Marinate the blanced leeks with vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper

--------

Sorry, closest book was one of my culinary school books.

I should post an actual journal post sometime....maybe later today.

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 23:57:23 GMT

http://www.weather.com/weather/local/97123?lswe=97123&lwsa=WeatherLocalUndeclared&from=whatwhere
Right Now for
Hillsboro, OR (97123)

Sunny 108°F
Feels Like 105°F
Updated Jul 21 04:00 p.m. PT

108 degrees. By the gods why is it 108 degrees IN OREGON?!

Boiling away here....buuahh.... better updates later maybe possibly ma...JUST STOP THE HEAT ALREADY AHHHHH.

Back to your scheduled doings.

First Day

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 22:25:16 GMT

First day was awesome, but very tiring.

Lugged home 2.5 backpacks worth of stuff. (1 for uniforms + books, 1 of JUST books, and 0.5 being the knives in their own carrying case) on the light rail, that was fun.

Classes will be interesting to say the least. A lot of the chefs are just cards, funny and weird.

Most of my gear (minus uniforms, as those were ordered in the wrong size on accident) in the LJ cut below.

All my books. Yes, thats a large book of just sauces. On the right, size comparison to a soda can. Hey, above and to the right of the soda can you can see my Good Eats DVDs, I just realized that.

Actually looking at it, the books are so heavy they are denting my bed, so the can looks taller than it should.

The knife set. No explanation needed I would think.

Well okay, upper right is a digital thermometer. Lower left is a zester. The long blocky looking knife in the center by the pitchfork is a sharpener.

Thinknig about it...I think I need a chef icon or two...LJ did add more icons for everyone I beleive...*gets cracking on that*

Weeee

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 05:58:43 GMT

I start college tomorrow...

o.o