DaveTheAnalyzer

Driver's Permit and Boosters

2026-05-31T15:42:03Z

I got my driving learner’s permit. After doing the DMV app practice tests at least once a day, my new mentor helped get me to the nearest DMV and the wait was a bit long until I got inside. I went through various checks for my papers, my vision which made it clear I needed glasses to drive, and at last the 25 Question test. I was surprised some questions weren’t on the practice tests. I did my best guesses and through chance passed by the skin of my teeth. My mentor helped a bit with familiarizing myself with the car. Unfortunately, then he had car and health issues that kept him away the rest of May, though he said he could return in the second week of June. In the meantime, I’ve been reading my state’s driver manual 3 times over the last few weeks, even reading the parts that don’t apply to me. I managed to drive the family vehicle a few Sundays back at a nearby school parking lot for an hour with Dad as the instructor. I did find it nerve-wracking, since the pedals were very sensitive and feeling like I was handling a giant weapon. He told me to slow down and not turn the wheel so hard when it seemed like I needed to turn the wheel hard in order to do a full turn. I’m getting assurances it’ll get easier with more practice but with the family car needing to be used often and my parents being tired or busy, I’ll probably have to wait for more on-hands driving when my mentor hopefully returns.

( Review and spoilers for I Love Boosters )

That’s all for now. Free Palestine and all prisoners in Israel’s torture camps. No war with Iran or anyone. May Trump and his ilk fail utterly and be held accountable. Until next time, see you!

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New Mentor and a Couple Switch Ups

2026-04-30T12:52:47Z

I met my new mentor yesterday. At first my old mentor seemed to change her mind and indicate she was coming back but as the date approached, she called her boss and indicated I was too far from her new part time job. I thought about modifying previous month’s entry but I’m glad I didn’t, since the flip flop would only have made things confusing. I’ve resumed studying for my driving test and moved my DMV appointment to next week since that’s when I wanted to start with him. Learning to drive’s a priority, though I will get around to studying for the transcribing tests so I could work for the transcribing website. In light of that, I’ll adjust my sleep schedule again so I have an extra hour to do my hobbies (and get red gels to change the color of my new reading light since I suspect its bright white glow has messed with my sleeping patterns).

I switched the subjects of my copying exercise. To remind everyone, I copy a story by hand for 20 min before I start writing so it could influence my writing style. On the weekends, I copy the dialogue for a TV show and on weekdays, I copy a well-written fanfic. I switched it around doing the TV show copying exercise for 3 weekday weeks and I liked how it influenced my dialogue. I did this initially to make up for some missed writing days. It might be a coincidence but I noted I found more things to edit for my weekend draft 4 story after I accompanied it with the copy exercise with the fanfic. I might alternate going forward, though I want to get used to the usual routine first.

( Review and spoilers for Goat )

That’s all for now. Free Palestine and stop the attacks on Lebanon and Iran. May Trump and his ilk fall and there be justice. Until June, see you!

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Recovery and Departure

2026-03-31T22:54:31Z

After 2 months, I’ve finally recovered from my persistent cough. It seems I needed 2 or 3 rounds of prednisone with a cough suppressant in between before it abated. The antibiotics had no effect whatsoever. Judging from meetings with my lung doctor, it appears this prednisone regiment was how my last couple coughing episodes were resolved. At least I restarted my writing routine and got more or less back on schedule. I believe I’ll keep going to bed an hour early though, since I feel much less sleep deprived that way, especially sharing a room with a snoring brother who’s a literal dead weight for a couple hours and shows not much interest in addressing the problem. I’ll start catching up on the missed writing days tomorrow, every Wednesday and every other Tuesday. If and when I catch up, I might consider extending my weekday writing to 4 hours a day, since I desire to be published and if I can, I should be writing more to get to my goal sooner.

In the meantime, my job search and mentor program are on hold. Unfortunately, my current mentor won’t be returning and during my half year meeting earlier this month, I consented to finding a backup. I wish she was honest she wouldn’t come back when I called her but oh well. Hopefully she has a good life. I got chided for contacting her and won’t do that again. I delayed my DMV appointment again and also my transcribing tests. Like I said before, I’m thinking of working 2 hours with transcribing per day, so I can have some income while concentrating on my writing. Mom has offered to help me learn to drive but I wonder when my new mentor arrives if I could learn to drive with them as well. I’ll see how that shakes up.

( Review and spoilers for Ghost Cat Anzu )

That’s all for now. Free Palestine. Stop the war on Iran. May Trump and his ilk fail and all those who enabled him face justice. Until the end of April, see you!

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Life Paused by Cough

2026-02-28T14:37:25Z

A month later and I’m still sick. I’m now in the cough variant asthma phase where I have a dry cough that powers itself endlessly. After a round of prednisone didn’t help, I got the antibiotic amonxicillin last Friday. I finished the regiment today and I haven’t improved much. These are new antibiotics to what I’ve taken the last times I’ve been sick, since my lung doctor doesn’t want to use the same 1s too much in case they no longer become effective. I’ll have to meet my lung doctor again in person to see what next to do. I hope I don’t have to deal with another month of this, though that has happened in the past.

At the moment, my writing is on pause and I haven’t met with my mentor in over a month. It was ill-timing, since a transcribing company I applied for requested an interview but I’m too sick to meet them even virtually. Also I can’t do the tests to apply for another transcribing company with part of me fighting a cold. My DMV test has been put off until April. I also heard rumors that my mentor might be leaving for another job elsewhere, which was fortunately cleared up when I emailed her and she said she needed to adjust our schedule for a month of training for her other part-time job. Her supervisor called to clarify she’ll need a month off to do that, but I can work with that. At least I won’t have to start all over again so soon after meet her. I can use March to focus on recovering while getting back to my writing routine.

( Review and spoilers for The Colors Within )

That’s all for now. Free Palestine. May Trump and his ilk fail utterly. Until the end of March where I’ll hopefully get better, see you!

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DMV Testing and Delays and Shoveling with a Mask

2026-01-31T19:13:55Z

Life is moving a bit fast. With my mentor, I decided to shift my focus and try out a remote job from a website. I took a training PowerPoint and am preparing for a couple exam. At least I would have my own hours and not have to divert the family’s single car to a particular location. My mentor has encouraged I call the jobs I apply to once a week to get an update on my applications. It’s just that most only now are looking through the applications and it’s hard to track down the right extension to call for some of these companies. I’m getting the hang of it but I hope the remote work works out. I’m scheduling a DMV knowledge test to begin the process of getting my learner’s permit and then driver’s license. I’m been taking the DMV app tests for over a month and I’m getting perfect or mostly perfect scores on all of them. I originally planned to do the test last Thursday but I didn’t read I had to do an online safety course and some documents had to be filled out. I completed later that day. I’ll go Tuesday and hopefully I haven’t missed anything else to do. I’m getting sick, so hopefully that won’t delay things too. It’s a slow process but I’ll take it a step at a time.

The snow was heavy this week. I helped Dad for a 50 minute shift to shovel the driveway Sunday with my mask on. I rarely shoveled with him, so I had to relearn while the snow was falling down. I was using an uncomfortable hold for the shovel with my left hand on the end grip since I’m a lefty (In more than 1 sense of the term) and my right down the blade. When I switched holds, it became much easier. By the end, I had trouble breathing and only after getting back inside did I realize my mask has become soaked from the snow downpour. I replaced it but I surmise that might be an issue waiting for me if in future snow events. The extreme amount of snow is another sign of global warming, where weather events like snow happen less often but they drop the same if not more amount of snow within a shorter time period.Fortunately, we didn’t lose power.

( Review and spoilers for The Legend of Ochi )

That’s all for now. Free Palestine and end the siege on Gaza. Abolish ICE. Maybe Trump and his ilk fail utterly. Unfortunately I’m developing a cough, so my writing will have to be paused off and on. Until next time, see you!

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Job Coaching Starts and A Chaotic Day

2025-12-30T22:50:27Z

My brother and I have finally settled into the new job coaching service. Three days a week, we’ll have separate mentors visit us to help find jobs and coach us how to do interviews. I had been using the term helper for the person who had that role but I learned the term mentor is more accurate. Last Tuesday since she was exposed to covid we talked virtually applying to half a dozen jobs and improving answers to common interview questions. Despite Christmas Eve and New Years Eve being sort-of holidays, we still meet on the former and will meet tomorrow on the latter. I thought I was a bit distracted during our first meeting but the mentor said I did wonderfully. I hope I can continue to meet those expectations and actually be able to find and hold a job, though it means I’ll have to drop some of my hobbies. She also determined I could and should learn to drive so I’ve been taking multiple choice and similar tests once a day. Hopefully all these new tasks won’t drain my energy for writing. I don’t know if I’ll continue socializing in my usual haunts but I’ll see as I get used to this new routine.

( Review and spoilers for One of These Days )

That’s all for now. I’m altering my writing schedule so I’m rewriting another original fiction story on weekends since I’ve lost passion for the fanfic. I’ll see how that goes. Until the first month of 2026, see you!

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New Laptop and Dreams and Reality

2025-11-30T16:29:40Z

I have a new laptop. After a virtual meeting kept slowing and the audio from my end struggled to reach the other parties, it was suggested from the job agency my older brother and I get new computers. I was unsure since it seemed to be more due to my browser but I went along since we got provided funds for assistive technology. With dad’s help, I picked a laptop and it got shipped here. When it at last arrived a couple weeks ago, I decided to transfer my data on a Friday seeing there was a program to do such a thing. It barely worked and I had to try various other methods which continued through the night and I even accidentally wiped my external hard drive. I found a program to retrieve the deleted data though and just was content with transferring my files through the external drive chunks at a time because the attempt to use a recovery drive on the external drive somehow made its space smaller. I’m liking the new laptop’s speed and that so far there’s been barely any hangs. Hopefully that’ll last. I’m not going to save all of my deleted external drive data since it involved shows I can redownload at any time. I might consider buying another external drive at some point if I want to backup my favorite shows. ( Review and spoilers for In Your Dreams )

That’s all for now. Free Palestine and all prisoners. May Trump fail utterly in his policies, especially with attacking Venezuela. Until the eve of New Years Eve, see you!

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Slow Adaptation to New Agency and Adapting to Colder Weather

2025-10-30T17:00:40Z

Finally met with the representative at the new agency. After many delays, we talked in person and went over what I and my brother wanted and searched for. This was at the beginning of October. It turns out she was replacing the previous representative we had talked to and still needs to find someone who will work with us directly. I haven’t heard much since then other than part time hours needing to be extended so we could have a better chance of finding some jobs. We had a meeting today but there were technical difficulties but fortunately she and another only needed to talk and confirm information. We’ll meet again with her tomorrow. I would have preferred to just enjoy the holiday but as well, it will only take a half hour at most. At this point, I’ll try not to worry and enjoy my writing and reading passions a day at a time.

It’s getting colder and I’ve moved to using the treadmill to get my exercise. After dealing with a vacuum cleaner that broke and another that spat out dust, my dad decided to order a new one. It’s a relief that the new vacuum cleaner seems to be quieter, though apparently heavier than the previous models. I’ll find out how to handle it today since tomorrow’s Halloween and I want to enjoy that day without any chores. I wear headphones listening to youtube videos, podcasts and audio dramas while vacuuming, so it’ll be great not to have to raise my phone to maximum volume to listen. I’ll probably buy 1 less audio drama per month because of the current government crisis and the food stamp situation.

( Review and spoilers for Kpop Demon Hunters )

That’s all for now. Ceasefire in Gaza now and free the hostages in Israeli prison. May Trump and his ilk fail utterly and be forced to rescind their attempt to pull the Obamacare policies and SNAP funding. Until next time, see you!

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Brief Job Search MEntion and Bad Guys Strike 2!

2025-09-30T20:51:05Z

After a delay due to her getting sick, my older brother and I anticipated meeting our new person to help us find a new job last week, only for her to cancel because she was still sick or sick again. Fortunately, we’ll meet her this Friday. Hopefully there won’t be any other delays. I missed a few more days of writing but I believe I’ll make them up soon enough. Starting tomorrow, I’ll only make-up for mssed writing days by doubling every Wednesday, with writing double for Tuesdays being only once a month.

( Review and spoilers for The Bad Guys 2 )

That’s it for now. Free Palestine and the hostages on all sides. May Trump and his ilk fail utterly. Until the end of Halloween month, see you!

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Another Step for Job Searching and The Fantastic Four: First Steps

2025-08-31T16:50:39Z

It’s been a hot summer but fortunately the temperature is going down. Sunset is arriving earlier and earlier. I won’t have to go for a walk near or after sunset as much. My changing walk times to keep up with the optimum temperature of 70 degrees might interfere with my writing but so far that isn’t a concern yet. The good news for me is that finally someone was found in my area that could help my older brother and I train for and find a job. We’ll meet her in September and talk about our next steps. I don’t know if we’ll be job training and going to volunteer jobs right away but I hope it’s not too disruptive to my writing. At least if I get a paying job, I can pursue stories and services that interest me. I try to only spend a certain amount of money per month so I don’t disperse my funds recklessly. Still trying to socialize at least every other day but sometimes I can’t find anyone to talk with or I’m too absorbed in something else. Maybe these job opportunities would be a good avenue for socializing too. ( Review and spoilers for The Fantastic Four: The First Steps )

That’s all for now. Free Palestine and free hostages on all sides. Down with Trump and all conservatism that’s connected to fascism. I’ll see you at the end of September.

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New Job Agency and Superman

2025-07-31T19:49:17Z

Finally got a new agency to help me find a job. Last Wednesday, a woman came around and with another person on a virtual call, explained she will find a job coach near us to help us with our job skills and build experience. Unfortunately to get any jobs, I’ll have to do unpaid volunteer work. I’ll also have to work 5 hours a week, divided between job training and then working somewhere. That might mean I’ll have less time to watch or read certain things. For catching up with missed writing days, that might be awkward but I’ll deal with it as it comes. Who knows, I might still be sitting at home doing my hobbies for much of the day but at any rate, it’s some progress. I’ll remain in contact with the woman who dissolved her previous agency, just in case.

( Review and spoilers for Superman 2025 )

That’s all for now. My tooth fillings have been redone and with a numbing regiment less extensive and less long lasting. I’m glad for their work, though I’m also glad I won’t have to come back to the dentists until December. Free Palestine and may Trump and his ilk fail within their lifetimes. Until the end of next month, see you!

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Tech Problem Trifecta and Living Large

2025-06-30T23:07:26Z

Last weekend was a trifecta of technical problems. On Saturday, our wifi suddenly went out. I observed Dad and helped what little I could to find what the problem was. I was concerned when the wifi box smoked as Dad experimented with it but after cutting some wires and testing their voltage, he brought the Internet back, even if it went in and out for a bit. Then Dad needed my help to fix air conditioning for a live-in relative’s car. It seems like some wires were reversed since it only worked when the car was off. With high 90s heat coming, Dad had to come up with a solution. He couldn’t figure out where the problem was and how to reverse it, so he made a stopgap that would bypass the problem (I’m being vague in case it breaks some law). Then last Monday, the wifi kept slowing and then going out, leading to Dad having to grumpily reset it twice. It was stressful. I tried to follow what he was saying but his explanations weren’t always intuitive. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to fix things and figure out problems like he does. I also dealt with a slowing laptop but I think I got to redo some of it by changing to having the highest power plan.

( Review and spoilers for Living Large )

That’s all for now. I recovered from having a tooth filling redone today and will have to go back at the end of July for the other fillings to be fixed. Free Palestine and no war with Iran. Until the end of July, see you!

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Screen Problems Fixed and Moving Family Furniture

2025-05-31T16:01:52Z

The new screen works. After practicing taking the old screen off and on to mitigate its issues, I was able to put on the new 1 with the only problem being almost losing 3 screws. I had to really crawl on the carpet and use my phone light to track each of them down. I needed to shut off and restart my laptop but after turning off the touch-screen which I never use and some resizing since the screen was wider, I don’t have to deal with freezing or discoloration again. Other than text and icons being a bit bigger, the experience is not that different from my previous screen. I won’t move the screen if I can help it and if I do, I’ll move it with hands on both sides so I don’t get those issues again. I’ve had this laptop for over a decade and I hope I can make it last as long as I’m able to.

Speaking of new things, I got a new chair from a relative who passed away. I was comfortable with the old chair but it had holes and stains, so I was persuaded to switch it out. So far the new chair is comfortable and the only downside is the armrests being too wide to put my headphones on. This happened a few days after I was suddenly asked with helping bring and reorganize said relative’s items and furniture into a storage container. Dad seemed to indicate it would be quick but if I knew it was going to last a couple of hours, I would have been more hesitant. I also brought my coat because the weather was on the borderline between cool and warm but all the hard work made me sweat a lot by the time it was done. I did wonder if I’d have to skip writing that day but I managed to squeeze it in. On the bright side, I had my exercise. Dad had me help him with a few other things following that and fortunately they weren’t quite as long. If they interrupted my writing, I extended my writing block by the amount of time I was occupied by the other task.

( Review and spoilers for Suzume )

That’s all for now. I had a dentist cleaning and will need to go back again at the end of next month to have some of my fillings redone. I’ve done additional vacuuming yesterday to finish it today because Mom and I are going to a film someone she knows voiced a role in Sunday and I didn’t want to juggle too much tomorrow. Free Palestine and release hostages on all sides. May Trump fall and conservatism be seen as the threat to democracy it is and might have always been. Until the end of the June, see you!

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Pet Passing, Screen Problems, and Weather That Lingers

2025-04-30T22:53:03Z

Our rabbit passed away. She was not eating but otherwise acted normal. Then there was a day where she increasingly moved less and less. We tried our best and I did some massages to her I saw on youtube, but she was gone by the morning. It was a shock. My parents cried and were wracked with guilt. I wondered if we wouldn’t get anymore pets but Dad after a week wanted another rabbit and he tracked down shelter with one specific rabbit he liked. I was concerned he would be upset if someone else nabbed her first but it turned out she was at the shelter for a while and she’s a lot bigger than our previous rabbit or the photos implied. She’s still skittish with being petted but I’ve been laying near her with my hand out and talking to her, getting her used to my presence. She’ll nudge and sniff me now, which is great, but it’s still a work in progress.

On Friday, my laptop’s screen issues got even more aggravating. I had to type this paragraph 1 handed that day while another hand pressed the bottom strip below the screen. The constant screen discoloring and even freezing even when I touched other parts of the laptop was frustrating and I tried all combinations of pressing and moving the screen up and down. I’m afraid that might have exasperated the problems. I asked dad to get the screwdriver he used for taking apart the laptop to see if pulling the screen off and back on helped. I lost a screw 3 separate times, the last time I thought I lost it for good. Still, pulling it off and putting it back on seems to alleviate the problem somewhat, so I’ve been keeping the screwdriver nearby. Before I ran across that solution, this problem finally made me go on Ebay and order another screen but when it arrived today, its video cable port was smaller and so have to send it back tomorrow. I didn’t learn from last time that I should look up the model number of a part I want to replace. I did that earlier and it’ll be here within 2-5 days. Hopefully I chose the right 1. Maybe finally I’ll at last get rid of the screen freezing and flickering I’ve been dealing with for nearly a decade. It’s been severely cutting into my time writing, and reading and watching things I like.

( Review and spoilers for Weathering with You )

That’s all for now. Down with Trump and down with apartheid in Gaza and the West Bank. May hostages on all sides be free. Until the end of May, see you!

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Part Replacements and Belle

2025-03-31T16:46:21Z

Dad helped repair my laptop twice this month. I found I actually got the correct hinges and back cover from ebay, complete with wifi wires along with the latter so I didn’t need to order the other wifi wires to be begin with, which mightn’t have been the right 1s and never seemed arrived to my home. I did express to Dad interest in helping take the laptop apart, so he taught me how to remove the screws but not much more than that because we’re dealing with delicate parts and don’t want to take all day to accomplish the task. But I found I ordered the wrong screen cable, which only connect to 2 out of 3 places. Dad had me take a close up picture of the names and numbers on the original video cable to find a replacement. I found 1 on another site aside from ebay and ordered it. When it arrived, Dad confirmed it was the right 1 and a few days later we installed it. Dad tried to put back the cover around the screen but the back cover seemed to be of a different size. That didn’t fix the screen freezing and strange colors, though they’ve lessened. Dad thinks it might be the screen that’s the issue, probably from me closing the screen only from 1 side long ago. I heard the advice that you should move the screen from both sides to prevent that but I’m not going to move it unless it’s necessary. I’m not going to buy another screen yet, wanting a break from taking the laptop apart and replacing parts. Hopefully if the issue the screen persists, ordering 1 will fix the screen issues.
( Review and spoilers for Mamoru Hosoda's Belle )

That’s all for now. May Trump be stopped and fail utterly and Palestine and all hostages be free. Until the end of April, see you!

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Restarting writing, Tech Breakthrough(?), and Herons

2025-02-28T22:36:19Z

After some fits and starts, I finally restarted writing. Though I’m not completely out of the woods yet, my cough has calmed so much that I can maintain a decent sleep schedule and can write without much distraction. I let myself re-listen to youtube videos at night which threw off my sleep schedule but I finally got that out of my system and am back to normal. I’m already inputting changes to the second to last chapter for my mon-inspired story. The last chapter might be difficult, since it involves dropping in moments of characters from 2 different groups coming to like each other without extending the chapter’s length drastically. Writing freeform fanfic has experienced similar delays but it has its pleasant and frustrating moments. I plan to resume making up missed writing days starting next month with Tuesday for fanfic missed days and Wednesday for original fic missed days, though I’ll skip if those days are too busy for any reason. I might finish these missed days within half a year but I’ll try not to stress myself sticking to the schedule.

I’m getting more screen freeze issues, so after some digging, I found the model number for my laptop and was able to track down and order the exact screen wire for it. I didn’t order the other parts yet because I didn’t want to have another situation like last month where they didn’t fit after all. If it works, I’ll order more parts in the future. While dealing with the screen issue, the white wire of the 2 wires for the wifi antenna broke. It still allowed me to use to the Internet but it was inconvenient. Dad fixed it last Friday but when bending the screen up and down to make the screen unfreeze, the white wire broke again. I think I found a replacement but I’ll have to double-check if it’s the super-exact right model. Maybe I should ask Dad to show me how to take apart the laptop myself. He’s getting on in years and I want to be able to deal with more of these technical problems at my own discretion.

( Review and spoilers for The Boy and the Heron )

That’s all for now. Free Palestine and the hostages on all sides. May Trump and Musk fail utterly in their goals. See you at the end of March!

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Beginning Year Health and Tech Issues

2025-01-31T20:39:03Z

Still struggling with a cough. It’s been over a month since I’ve got sick and my sleep schedule has gone on a roller coaster. I’ve taken 3 regiments of medicine from my lung doctor and it’s barely calmed down. I went Tuesday to ask for the third regiment. As far I can recall, this isn’t the first time I needed to try 3 rounds before something worked but sometimes I get paranoid my colds are getting better at dealing with the steroids and antibiotics but they don’t linger for long, since I’m not that special or interesting for something like that to happen. That also meant with a few exceptions, my writing is still on pause. I believe I’ll be able to catch up within half a year if there aren’t any more delays but I’ll deal with the issue day by day. My sickness also means I’ve again skipped watching and reviewing a film this month because I want to relax.

Dad and I got the replacement parts for my laptop. But the catch was, despite his efforts, they weren’t the super exact parts that fit my laptop. We couldn’t replace anything in the end. Fortunately, my dad was able to put my laptop back together but it’s frustrating its issues couldn’t be resolved. The screen wire is still touch and go and I have to touch the exposed insolation around it and bend the screen up and down to make it in workable. Mom already threw out the packaging, so we can’t return the items. I surmise I’ll just work with this laptop for as long as it could function.

The headphone jack adapter I ordered took so long to arrive I ordered another 1 from the same group but a different deliverer. I got the second 1 very swiftly and so far it’s reliable. I was thinking of contacting the Post Office again this week when on Monday I checked the package tracking app and found a few updates had at last appeared saying that it traveled to Massachusetts and then to my state! More updates followed and by the time Mom and I got home from shopping later that morning, it already arrived. I’m glad to finally have that missing item accounted for and it will be nice to have a backup if and when the current 1 breaks. I called for updates earlier in the month and got some response but otherwise I got mostly silence. Oh well, what’s done is done. I hope this doesn’t portend to how the postal service would operate under the Trump administration but I know there were weather issues on the route for my package, so hopefully that was the extenuating circumstance that delayed it.

That’s all for now. May Trump fail horrendously and here's a source to donate to for his attack on undocumented and other immigrants. May hostages on all sides of Israel’s attempted genocide of Gaza and current 1 in the West Bank be freed. Until the end of February, see you!

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Technical and Health Difficulties in 2024's End

2024-12-31T01:50:34Z

The end of another year. There’s stuff I can be proud of, like finally finishing We Will Find On Forever and shifting my main focus to original fiction. I’m also trying to socialize when I can joining livestreams and audio chats with those I know on Discord. I still haven’t found a job but I know how difficult the process is and so don’t put much brain space into it. Just taking it a day at a time, which’s helpful, particularly with how this country voted not long ago. It’s a difficult balance between being informed and not so filled with bad news you can’t function. I sometimes fall for the temptation of looking up more bad news and the low mood it puts me in isn’t great. Hopefully I can do even less of that in the next year. I thought I could escape getting sick this year but on Sunday, I caught a cold. I guess that’s unavoidable in winter, especially since I wasn’t sick a second time like usual during a year. Of course it threw up my sleep schedule but I’ll deal with it day to day and get medicine as it intensifies. That means I didn’t see Wicked with my mom like planned but that would just have to wait.

Last week was a time of technical difficulties for me. I’ve been struggling with screen issues with my laptop where it would either freeze or change colors for years and in attempting to fix that, my wifi suddenly became very low and gave out with increasing frequency. I was at a loss to the point I asked my dad to fiddle with the wifi but only it only caused more issues for my laptop and only it was experiencing the issues. On Friday, after struggling to watch and play anything, I decided to take the laptop apart to see what was the issue. I accidentally roped my dad into it and he chided me a few times I should have brought replacement parts if we were going to do this. Dad found that the wifi antennae wire was broken and after putting the screen back in, he soldered the wires so they could connect and now my wifi is 3 or 4 out of 4 bars. I owe a lot to him, even if he can be a bit old-fashioned at times. He’s helping order new laptop parts to replace those that are broken. It’ll probably take a while but it’ll be good to have my laptop finally fixed.

Also the headphone jack adaptor for my phone abruptly cut out. After desperately trying to make it work, I tried to order a new adapter, only to find that model completely sold out. I ordered another model but had to return it because it didn’t fit my phone. For now, I have to use earbuds, which aren’t nearly as good and keeping falling out of my ears. I tried to put them in backwards looping the wire behind my ear or pulling my earlobes up before inserting them. I can’t listen to audio dramas while vacuuming, so I had to make do with listening to familiar youtube videos with my regular headphones over the earbuds to pass the time. Looking it up, there’s rumors that Apple’s discontinuing that adapter because it’s for “outdated phones,” which’s distressing since I’m the type to continue using a piece of technology until it’s irrevocably beyond repair. I did find and order an equivalent adapter but I hope it won’t be an increasingly expensive struggle to keep ordering. Moreover, I want to order another adapter so I can have 1 handy when my new current 1 breaks. I don’t want to be caught unawares like this again.

I’m a couple chapters away from completing the third draft for the mon-inspired story. It likely still needs more rewrites but I want to leap to its sequel and have another pair of eyes look at it. I need to make sure it’s comprehensible to a reader. I’ve finished doing most of the fanfic plot outlines and last did writing for the Digimon Tamers fanfic. It had its ups and downs but I enjoyed myself. I planned to pause in January to do another rewrite of a plot outline but getting a cold on Sunday put my writing on hold. Just when I almost made up for all the missed writing days from being sick last year. Ah well, having days where I double-up on my writing has its perks and it means the weekend writing doesn’t become too neglected as a result.

That’s all for 2024. I’m writing this on Monday night. Free Palestine and hostages on all sides. May Trump and his is ilk fail utterly in their tasks. Until the end of the first month of 2025, see you!

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Unpleasant Election Outcomes and Batman

2024-12-01T00:13:38Z

So, yeah, hopefully my ending message last month didn’t jinx the current election results. It’s scary and frustrating this country voted for a fascist yet again. It’s also frustrating the opposition thought the best way to deal with that is to go to the right. Few want diet Republicans when they can get the horrible real deal! Harris refusing to deviate from Biden’s more negative policies probably also played some role but also too many are tuned into misinformed right wing media. I’m aware people like me will be down the list of being harmed but I’m nervous about the services we rely on that might be cut. Moreover, people of all sorts shouldn’t have to deal with bigotry and having resources taken away! At any rate, I hope there’ll be maximum resistance against Trump and his presidency be an unqualified failure that brings his ilk down for good.

At any rate, still keeping up with my writing. I’m getting to the end of the fanfic plot outlines I want to change and I have the feeling after I finish the first draft of the final 1 done, I might try to write out 1 of the stories for fun. I have 10 make-up days left where I double up on writing. With the end in sight unless I get sick again, I’m wondering if I should double-up to also write the next entry in my mon-inspired book series as I’m a few chapters away from finishing the 3^rd draft. In preparation, I’ve finished a last rewrite of the plot outline for the next entry. Hopefully I can get to writing it soon.

( Review and spoilers for The Batman )

That’s all for now. I came back from a dentist cleaning Tuesday and had pulled back wearing the retainers to 3 times a night over the weekends. Apparently I’m taking care of my teeth well. Hopefully no political machinations make me lose my insurance. Free Palestine, Lebanon, and free hostages on all sides. Until the end of the year, see you!

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Early Voting, Vehicles and Schedules, and a Wild Robot

2024-10-30T21:20:00Z

My family decided to vote early last Wednesday. Early voting was conducted at the town hall, in the theater room where my mom apparently did a few plays. It was a long and confusing process, with a line for first confirming who we are and handing us the ballot before going to a line on the other side of the theater where they confirmed our identities again and gave us envelopes. I got the sense more people were coming at the same time as us and the election workers were a bit understaffed. Filling out the ballot took longer than I expected, since the pens didn’t have enough ink to fill the bubbles. My younger brother had to remain behind for a few minutes due to a similar issue. We also had to go somewhere else in the building because we’re getting rid of a car and she wanted to double-check a few details. To my relief, it didn’t take long in the slightest. Apparently, early voting in our town’s a more recent option and when we stopped by to deliver car disposal paperwork later that week, the parking lot was still packed with early voters. I hope early voting and mail-in ballots become the norm in our state, it would make voting easier for everyone. At any rate, we voted for the Democrats. I did it to stop Trump but I’m still unhappy especially about their foreign policy conduct and will definitely still call my representatives every weekday to push them to stop supporting Israel’s genocidal attacks on Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.

We’ll have to deal with having only 1 car at the moment. The other was rarely used and it became too much of a time and cost sink with it repeatedly breaking down. I hope we’ll be able to manage since my younger brother, who can drive, has a weekend job he’ll now need to be dropped off at, and my older brother and I are still looking for jobs and have other appointments that might intersect with events where the car might be used. I guess that means we’ll have to be more diligent in putting our appointments and events on the calendar. I’m glad I decided to get a card for my next lung doctor appointment because when I had mine last week, I only knew I had 1 because I got a 24 hour reminder call. I don’t know if I never got a card or if it got lost but maybe I should write down those dates personally so I can be sure they’ll be there. I hope my insurance won’t force me to go too out of the way to get the care I need, since they’re changing how much they’ll cover and apparently a few providers I go to are going to stop accepting my insurance. Dang it, we need socialized healthcare in this country already!

( Review and spoilers for The Wild Robot )

That’s all for now. Free Palestine. May Trump and his ilk be utter losers in this election and their political clique collapse out of relevancy. Until the end of November, see you!

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The Conclusion of MY Epic Fanfic and My Writing Future

2024-09-30T16:48:05Z

At last, I’m done with my fanfic We Will Hold On Forever. It has been a long 7 years but earlier this month, I did a last couple reviews of the final 2 chapters and then posted them a week apart. I admit, it didn’t feel anything strong when I posted the last chapter, but I don’t mind that much. I want to thank those who read and especially reviewed the story over the years. It was my first long story that I posted and I learned a lot about editing and writing while doing it. I might post another fanfic eventually but my focus is now on my original fiction.

Editing the third draft for my mon-inspired story is going glacially slow, since there are many sections I want to rewrite from the ground-up. I don’t know if I’ll do NaNoWriMo this year, since I thought it would be useful to complete my other book ideas including sequels. I was going to do it informally anyway since I didn’t want to have to use a website but I definitely won’t use any affiliate websites now if they’re going to continue with this AI nonsense. I would probably do it more than once in a year, since I want to complete more books, which’re around 100,000 words in length. I wonder if I could have breaks to write other stuff on weekends or if that would be too much for me. I would probably have to sacrifice a few other hobbies for those months to continue writing. Ah well, I’ll get to it when I can and see how I fare.

( Review and spoilers for My Father's Dragon )

That’s all for now. I’ve been finishing this entry up after I got back from shopping with Mom. Free Palestine and Lebanon. Free everyone held prisoner in this colonialist war. Until the end of the month of Halloween, see you!

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Reading More, Editing Different, and Insert Some Pun About Oni

2024-07-31T23:20:30Z

I tried going back to reading 24 pages a day of a library book for week. With my huge reading list and noting I was barely putting a dent into the A authors, I thought I should read more than my previous 12 pages a day. From that experiment, I believe I can maintain 24 pages a day but I would have to go to bed 10 minutes earlier and I can’t be distracted too much before I finish reading that number of pages. My brain initially felt like a book was shoved into it the first few nights but that eased by the weekend. Having 10 more minutes to relax without screens will hopefully help with my sleep.

I also finished the final draft for the final chapters of We Will Hold On Forever. It took forever to finish the rewrite notes but when I started, I was going through 5 to 6 pages a day. I’m going to wait 6 weeks before I do a final review of the chapters and post them, since this week I finished reviewing the previous 2 chapters that will close out the conflict of the story. I’ll be interested in seeing how others react to these final chapters. Don’t hold me to it but I believe I’ll be finished with this fanfic September or October at the very latest. I haven’t decided what fanfics I’ll write next, so for now I’m rewriting an outline for a Digimon fic that I changed to make distinct from another story but later wanted to change it back. I don’t know if I’ll ever post it – if anything, I might just post 1-shots.

On other writing news, I decided to change how I rewrite original fiction. I’ve been doing rewrite notes for the whole mon-inspired book but I find I forget the things I want to change as I go along. So now I’ll take rewrite notes a chapter at a time, pausing to implement the changes before taking rewrite notes for the next chapter. Since I did half the rewrite notes already, I’ll reread the following chapters to see if there’s any additional things I want changed before implementing the changes. Since I’m almost done with We Will Hold On Forever, I’m switching to writing original fiction on weekdays (barring when I go to review said fanfic’s final chapters), so I’ll see how helpful this strategy is before long hopefully.

( Review and spoilers about My Oni Girl )

That’s all for. Free Palestine and release the hostages on all sides. If you can, here’s a link to donate to those in need. This is the awful natural conclusion of colonialism. I’ll see you at the end of August.

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Caught in the Rain, Twice, and another western crack at Ultraman

2024-06-30T18:52:18Z

Already halfway through the year already. I might have said this before but it’s amazing how fast time passes by taking it a day at a time. I’ve been taking walks around sunset since it’s getting so hot but I have to deal with possible rain when I go out. Last Sunday, I checked my weather app and thought there was only a risk of a light sprinkle, so brought an umbrella along. There was a brief shower that came and went but on the last minutes before I began the journey back, it rained and this time came down hard. It was such that I could only look a few feet ahead of my shoes and the wind blew my umbrella about, making me fear it would be blown inside-out – wouldn’t be the first time that happened to me.

Fortunately, my umbrella remained intact and the rain and wind let up somewhat the last 3 to 5 minutes before I returned home. But my shoes, shorts, and parts of my shirt were soaked through. I changed out of most of my day clothes a few hours before bed and then decided to put my soaked t-shirt in the hamper too. My shoes were on their way out anyway, so my Mom used their soaked state as an excuse to toss them and for me to use the new shoes she brought that had been sitting near me for several weeks. They do feel a bit loose when I put them on but I’m quickly getting used to them. Maybe I should be more careful when rain appears in the forecast. Though I took another walk a few days ago without an umbrella only to have to start jogging back when it started drizzling, so I wonder how much I learned from that experience lol. In the meantime, I’ll continue to take walks whenever the temperature’s tolerable.

On Monday, I’ll finish draft 2 of the final We Will Hold On Forever chapters. I completed roughly 2-4 pages of rewrites a day and it was so much faster than doing the rewrite notes themselves. I’m going a bit slower with doing draft 3 rewrite notes for my original mon-inspired story. It’s mostly been thinking of smoother and more elegant replacements of clunky sentences and dialogue. There are times where I wonder if I’m not making enough substantive changes. But I surmise I’ll have that clarified if and when I show this original story to others for feedback.

( Review and spoilers for Ultraman Rising )

That’s all for now. Free Palestine and hostages on all sides. Until the end of July, see you.

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Finishing Invisalign and Getting Retainers

2024-05-31T22:13:01Z

I finally got my retainers. After a bit of a wait, I went in admittedly not knowing what was going to happen. After drilling down the hooks they applied on my teeth for the Invisalign, they started stringing floss between some of my teeth and applying gelatinous material on my center front teeth. Mom and I didn’t expect it would be this long involved process. Tools to dry and suck up saliva were shoved in and pulled out of my mouth. At last it was done and I found my front teeth seemed to be glued together. Then I had another mold of my teeth made for my retainers. We paid the last of our bills and a week later, I got the retainer surprisingly fast.

I asked questions about how to deal with the glue-like stuff on my teeth, since it gets in the way of flossing and they said I should get floss threaders, which’ll help in the small gaps between my teeth and gums. We’ll have to order those online, though they were bemused I use both floss picks and water piks, since they thought if I had the latter, that was the only thing I needed. They did mention that after the wearing the retainer nightly for 6 months, I should downgrade it to 2-3 times a week, which I’m considering doing over weekends. I no longer have to go back to the orthodontists’ until something goes wrong with my retainers. In some ways, my teeth treatment’s still ongoing but I’m glad the process that took over a year is over.

I’ve hopped back to the mon-inspired original story after many delays. So far it’s just rewording lines or sentences for the first 60 pages. I’ve started on chapter 3 and I haven’t gotten to more substantial edits so far, though sometimes I think I should, either to add more details or change the events presented. Oh well, I’ll see how I go. I’m also doing rewrite notes for the final chapters of We Will Hold On Forever, albeit very slowly since there’s much I want to change and I keep tempting myself with distractions. Still, I’m over a third of the way through.

( Review and spoilers for Godzilla x Kong A New Empire )

That’s all for now. Had scary family fight near me yesterday and that shook me up. But the parties apparently apologized and settled things, so that’s somewhat assuring. Free Palestine and hostages on all sides. Until the end of June, see you!

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DaveTheAnalyzer

Driver's Permit and Boosters

New Mentor and a Couple Switch Ups

Recovery and Departure

Life Paused by Cough

DMV Testing and Delays and Shoveling with a Mask

Job Coaching Starts and A Chaotic Day

New Laptop and Dreams and Reality

Slow Adaptation to New Agency and Adapting to Colder Weather

Brief Job Search MEntion and Bad Guys Strike 2!

Another Step for Job Searching and The Fantastic Four: First Steps

New Job Agency and Superman

Tech Problem Trifecta and Living Large

Screen Problems Fixed and Moving Family Furniture

Pet Passing, Screen Problems, and Weather That Lingers

Part Replacements and Belle

Restarting writing, Tech Breakthrough(?), and Herons

Beginning Year Health and Tech Issues

Technical and Health Difficulties in 2024's End

Unpleasant Election Outcomes and Batman

Early Voting, Vehicles and Schedules, and a Wild Robot

The Conclusion of MY Epic Fanfic and My Writing Future

More Writing and Reading Habit Changes, and Over the Moon

Reading More, Editing Different, and Insert Some Pun About Oni

Caught in the Rain, Twice, and another western crack at Ultraman

Finishing Invisalign and Getting Retainers