A Safe Space for Moogles

It's no secret that the video game industry is heavily skewed towards Those With Peens. Men are the main characters in the vast majority of games; when women show up, they are inevitably the Damsel in Distress, the Girlfriend, the White Mage, the Object at the end of the level, the support and foil for the male lead.* Sometimes I lie awake at night, languishing for want of a Strong Female Role Model and wishing to high heaven that the video game industry would just try making a female lead once in a while.

...And then I find stuff like this, and wish they'd just go back to making prettyboy male leads. -_-

*I know there are exceptions, but anyone holding up Lara Croft as a shining example of feminine empowerment will be kicked in the polygons.

Why is it that I feel so irritated whenever Kaplan (the company that owns the college I graduated from) Career Services calls me going 'Hay, got a real job yet? :D?'

( Grrrrrrrr. )

I wonder if I'd still be getting this crap if I'd actually graduated from UMBC. -_-

I got a FireRed game. Put it in my DS and played it, then switched to Diamond for a bit. When I went back to FR, my save file had been deleted. This happened twice. And apparently this is a pretty common problem. No Bulbasaur in Diamond for me. Foo! *sulks*

Just in case somebody hasn't: Amazon.com is stripping sales rankings from gay and lesbian novels, romance, YA and nonfiction - thus making them impossible to find in searches and best-seller lists. Supposedly it's a measure they take with all 'adult' material, but explicit het publications have escaped the purge while anything with a homosexual bent is Presumed Porn. Shame, Amazon. Shame shame shame.

And because the Internet's greatest tool of revenge is Googlebombing: Amazon Rank

And to think I thought you were such a wonderful place to get cheap video games. I guess it's back to rummaging through the used-games section at GameStop for me.

In other news, I was out today and saw my first Canada goose of spring. He was waddling along in the middle of an intersection like he owned the joint - and hell if the rest of us in our big scary cars didn't suck it up and drive around him. For all our civilization, guys, we are still nature's bitches. XD

(Incidentally, this was right after I realized it was Easter, thanks to a big sign in the window at Target saying 'o hay closed for Easter.' WTF, self, you used to go to church.)

And lastly, because big cats are awesome:

( Quizthing! )

Well, the exterminators are coming tomorrow. Mom says they're using a brand new kind of bug-killing Stuff, which I was glad to hear. 'Cause really, if all this doesn't work, the next step up is Orbital Nuclear Strike.

In other news, springkink is accepting prompts! Wheeee! :DDD *hauls out Itty Bitty Notebook and starts typing up the fifty-odd prompts I've been stockpiling* *wicked grin*

Also, I've managed to freak out my mom (surprisingly more difficult than it sounds). I sent her a link to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which I personally think sounds amazing, but, well, Mom's an English major. She wrote back:

Now they've gone too far. NOBODY messes with my Jane Austen. Heads will roll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fifteen, count 'em, fifteen exclamation points. Isn't five considered a sign of mental instability on the Internet? ...or is it a moot point?

So there was a job fair in Crystal City today. (No, not that Crystal City.)

( All was not sunshine and roses. )

*whimpers pathetically and flops in friendslist's lap* Someone write something for me? Cheer a moogle up? *saaaad eyes*

*....crawls off to doctor blisters*

Okay, look - nobody's gonna hire me. Every time I open a newspaper it's 'global recession' this and 'hiring freeze' that. Having a degree is no guarantee anymore, and I was always at a disadvantage in that department. Hell, experience isn't even that much of a guarantee, and I sure as hell don't have that (though I might if it wasn't for fscking Kramer's little bitchfit - thanks a lot, you tosser). If I keep trying to get into the corporate design world, I'm just banging my head against a wall.

My only other choices are give up and get another part-time gig somewhere - which is only a temporary fix anyway - or go into business for myself. Draw something, write something, and try to sell it. And the thing is? That's what I want to do anyway, but as it is right now I don't know if anything I produce is going to be anywhere near good enough. I feel like I need to level-grind some more. But it's either jump into the boss battle ten levels below where I should be, or go stark raving mad. Which, uh, it's getting close to "too late to stop that train now".

I don't have any clue where to start. I keep going in circles like this - gods all, no freaking wonder I can't get any sleep.

...do you have any idea how frustrating it is to feel so deeply for a main character when you know that if you met him in person you'd hate his sorry rotten guts? Self-absorbed prick that he is, can't go a single day without hurting someone.

I'm pretty sure I have a crush on Sarah Monette. GAH. *clutches head*

Dear gnomes/elves/fairies/whatever you are:

Kindly cough up my keys before I start pumping Raid through the ventilation system. I'm an unemployed moogle with student loans coming due and I do not need this shit.

Kisses,
Pepper

Moogledragon is huffing smoke from her cave again. This is why. Yep, the 'conscientious objector pharmacist' law is officially proposed. Forgive the turn of phrase, but why wasn't this killed in utero?

It's on a 'thirty day public comment period,' which in this administration pretty much means 'go ahead and get all your bitching out of the way now, 'cause we're passin' this puppy.' Which isn't to say I'm not going to speak up about it, oh no. Moogle is mad as hell and she's not gonna take it anymore.

*growls, paces, flexes claws, sets a few things on fire*

In other news, behold my first oekaki in a long, long time. It's pretty bad, but it's still porn, so up it goes. (Not bad porn, just two mechs kissing while a third watches approvingly. Well, I assume so. It's hard to tell with him.)

I had an interesting time today with my mom's family (cousin's being shipped to Afghanistan; put in a good word for him with your deity of choice if you've got a spare moment), but blogging about that will have to wait. My 'kick some ass' button is being pressed.

Brief overview and link roundup: a woman in the American military was brutally raped and murdered, and the investigation was halted and ruled a suicide. The mainstream media remains quiet on the subject.

Your Congressperson ought to be notified, but honestly I think it would be more productive to notify John Stewart.

I read this post first thing this morning, and it was like a shot of homicidal rage straight to the heart. Better than drugs, I swear. Anyway, it may have been the early hour or my tendency toward escapism, but I found myself thinking, "General Sephiroth would not stand for this shit." (Pre-Nibelheim Seph, obviously. Although I'd like to think crazy!Seph would dismember those responsible too.) And so, I wrote this. Changed the name of the lady in question, but basically it's the same situation picked up and dropped into Seph's lap.

( I'm channeling my agression into art. )

So I was planning to do a more humorous post, but this pretty much trumps it right now. I know you all have probably seen this already (three people on my flist had posted about it just this morning), but for those who haven't: In a spectacular act of complicity with the religious right, the Department of Health and Human Services Monday released a proposal that allows any federal grant recipient to obstruct a woman's access to contraception. In order to do this, the Department is attempting to redefine many forms of contraception, the birth control 40% of Americans use, as abortion.

I'll let that sink in.

I think namaah_darling says it best (with profanity), but really, what the hell. We fought so hard to get contraception accepted in this country at the turn of the century, and now they want to turn back the clock. There's a link to a Planned Parenthood thing where you can voice your dissent here, so here's what I wrote:

This rule would disproportionately affect the lower classes. The rich and the privileged will always be able to get whatever they need, from abortions to contraceptives, regardless of law or ideology: not so the poor woman who is bound by her circumstances and at the mercy of people (mostly men) who neither care about her nor know her difficulties. To deny her some method to control her reproductive system is inhuman - and you may, of course, tell her 'abstinence' until you're blue in the face, but that doesn't even work for the high school students in our country, so why should it work for an adult woman who has, or should have, the right to choose who she sleeps with and when?

To pass this law would be a massive blow not only to the rights of women and children in this country, but also human rights as a whole. I am a woman and a citizen of the United States and I ask you - please do not pass this!

Of course, that was me restraining myself. I really wanted to say this:

No, I won't just keep my legs closed, you moralizing, hypocritical, authoritarian old farts.


The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Telephone: 202-619-0257
Toll Free: 1-877-696-6775

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt
Office Phone: 202-690-7000 or 202-205-4708
Email: mike.leavitt@hhs.gov
Fax: 202-690-7203
Correspondence Secretary: 202-690-6392

According to faithinfire, the proposal is still in draft form and hasn't gotten anywhere Official yet, but I'd very much like to nip this in the bud as soon as possible.

Dear Flash, my computer's OS, and anything else in the entire world that might be considering acting up,

I am graduating in a week. I do not have time for your shit. I swear to any gods/devils/avatars/forces that might be listening that if I get another crash, I will go stark raving mad. And possibly beat the hell out of this damn machine with a baseball bat.

Love and kisses,
Pepper

(Also, my parents' anniversary is today. Guess who doesn't have anything for them. :D... oh my god i can't take much more of this.)

The last steps of my journey to graduation seem to involve a mess of corporate bullshit. I have to write a 'marketing statement' and pimp myself out to a panel next week. I'm not fluent in marketing speak and I don't want to be. If I ever am, I'd appreciate you all shooting me.

*glares at requirements again*

...I may be violently ill. -_-

Attention Transfandom:

The Decepticons are not 'misunderstood.' They are not trying to make the world a better place, they were not tragically abused and unloved as children, they are not oppressed by the mean ol' Autobots not rolling over and dying, and despite what Victory would have you believe, they are not out to provide for their wives and children. They are out to conquer the universe, and everything that isn't a Decepticon is either to be enslaved or destroyed toward that end. They are not, by any stretch, nice people, and the Power of Love will do precisely zippo to change that.

Which is not to say, of course, that they are or should be all one-dimensional characters. By all means, explore their individual motivations. Make them interesting, give them backstories, give them weird hobbies and show us different sides to the same person. But please, for the love of Primus, think about who you're writing. Megatron is not a fluffy huggle-bunny, and neither is he a fifteen-year-old girl.

Also, get a beta reader. Just sayin'.

Desperately trying to distract Galvatron from going on a murderous rampage (oh gods my headcast),
Moogle Girl

*tosses Galvatron a chained-up Roddy and flees the impending fireworks*

In ascending order of "things that actually, y'know, affect other people."

Item 1: My professor pulled me aside today and essentially told me that my projects were crap and I'd have to redo them both. In retrospect, it shouldn't have been as big of a shock as it was. I'm grateful that I even have the chance to redo them, even if it means staying after class. Still, not a happy thing to be told. - She asked me if doing two majors was putting an unfair amount of pressure on me. I told her that it's a lot, that doesn't mean it's unfair. This is what I've decided to do. Even if it kills me.

Item 2: Our new masters, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to do away with the option to create Basic accounts. They call this "streamlining the setup process for new users." LJ users call it bullshit. I call it "really, really glad I followed dragovianknight to IJ, and wanting to tempt all my LJ friends over there with me." IJ does not have near enough Transformers fans, y'all. This needs to be fixed. Also, I should probably look into roleplay communities on IJ. ...Not that I'm giving up on LJ yet. They just own the servers; the real stuff - the content - that's ours.

Item 3: Oklahoma representative Sally Kern goes on an anti-gay tirade of epic proportions. Guys, when you listen to this, keep in mind between projectile-vomiting sessions that this is what they actually believe. And she's not just some crank bitching over the Internet - she's in a leadership position, speaking as a leader.

On the upside, today my new psychiatrist doubled my dosage of happy pills.

"The Death of Optimus Prime" by They Might Be Giants never fails to make me cry. And get ridiculous images of Autobots singing sadly around a bonfire. And then I cry some more, because dammit they all miss him that much.

Winamp insists on playing that song for me every single day for two weeks straight. This is not conducive to my mental state.

ESPECIALLY WHEN I AM TRYING TO WRITE PORN.

Zen player update: still dead. Am still an idiot. Sending off my DS tomorrow to be repaired. Am still an idiot. Wasn't feeling well today, so stayed home from the shelter; will go a couple times during the upcoming break to make up for it. Feeling the lack of fuzzies right now. Am still a fucking idiot.

So upon coming out to my car today, I found my two-hundred-some-dollar Zen Vision mp3 player laying in the grass beside it. It'd been out there all night. During a torrential downpour.

Now it's a two-hundred-some-dollar fucking paperweight. And I'm an idiot of the first water.

What is it with things dying on me lately? First my DS, then my dog, now this... I'd better go back up my computer before it decides to die too. -_-

*beats head against desk*

I was about to do another wingthing ficbit, but I think I lost my bunny. -_- I saw this on apathocles's journal.

"They wanted them poor niggers out of there." (A short article, with links to more information, about hurricane recovery being used as a cover to keep the poor of New Orleans from returning to their homes on some valuable real estate.)

Were I able, I would like to go down there and push those mercenaries into arresting me. I'd be very interested to hear what the charges would be. Although I imagine the dramatic irony would be heightened if it was one of those people who lived there pre-Katrina. "You're under arrest for trespassing." "In my own fucking front yard!?" (Though I imagine getting arrested represents a greater threat for someone who's poor and practically homeless than it would be for me.)

And what the hell can I do about it? I'm a student - trapped by finance and circumstance. If I could pick up and go down there I would. *flails* GAH. Every day it gets harder to not hope for something painful to happen to our beloved president.