Kase's Random Reality

THIS...IS...SPARTA!!!

2007-03-11T08:49:27Z

Today started as a good day. I woke up, expecting to have to put around home waiting to catch the bus to go to work when my mate told me we could still go to see 300 today. I was ecstatic about the idea! I'd been bummed because my work schedule wouldn't have let me watch it, so I was more than happy to go. I have only one thing to say about it: watch the movie!!! It's damned good and I'll definitely be getting the DVD as soon as I can!

Of course work was boring, boring, boring! And I had a customer swear at me. Just for asking her to lower her voice. Needless to say, she opted to take her business elsewhere. I was shocked! I'd never been swore at, ever! Just means that I'm going to have to find a new line of work, and soon!

Until I next see ya: keep smiling folks!

Fast Food: A Humorous Essay

2007-03-01T01:36:20Z

Instead of my usual writing, I'm giving you a peek at what I wrote in the past. This little article was written several years before so I hope you still enjoy. It may even still be relevant today...

Fast Food: A Humorous Essay

On the evening of the twenty-first I went off to find myself...and found a hamburger instead. I had set out on a four or five mile trek to the nearest library and had just stopped at a local McDonald's. It intrigued me to see somewhere around twenty to thirty people stop by just in the half-hour I was there. It's strange isn't it, that in this health conscious society of ours, most people order fast food rather than fixing their own meals like in the 'olden days' of our parents and their parents and so on.

I, especially I, am prone to stopping at the first fast food restaurant I see, whether I actually have any money or not. It's the scents, I think; or maybe just their advertisements. Regardless, we all feel a pull whenever we see those golden arches, that giant burger, or whatever other fast food icons we might recognize. Most of us resist that call; others are not so fortunate. We just can't resist a little look, maybe a sniff, perhaps just buying a soda. By the time we leave our bellies are full of artificial flavorings and meat products and our wallets are significantly thinner.

In the half-hour or so I'd been there I saw at least twenty customers enter and buy something. Most buy small things like a soda or a happy meal, but there are others who bought significantly more. They buy for their families or their friends or sometimes it's all for them. I even saw the eighteen or nineteen year old kid sporting a Mohawk buy an eighteen dollar meal. At the time it didn't seem like there was anyone else in the restaurant with him; perhaps his family were waiting for him in their car, maybe he was bringing munchies to a party, or it could have been anything else entirely.

I've heard it said that the fast food industry is a multi-billion dollar enterprise; if that night was any indication, with at least a couple hundred dollars changing hands just when I was present, then I'm forced to believe it. Fast food is a booming business, even in an era of 'health consciousness', and it'll probably stay that way. We fast food goers will make sure of that.

It had been a coin toss that had me enter the restaurant, but, ultimately, it was a hamburger that made me stay.

Just Another Day at the Office?

2007-02-22T11:06:02Z

It's funny how life throws you a curve ball sometimes. Things are absolutely normal and boring and then BAM! something gets twisted around so much you either have to laugh or cry about it. If you've learned anything about me from the last couple posts, you'd know I would choose laughter, hands down every time.

Anyway, I was working in the Drive-Thru window like always, ferrying customers through the driveway like a herd of cattle about to be branded. Pretty boring, really (okay, it was sooo beyond boring). And then I heard this sound, like a glass vase being smashed. I asked around if anyone else had heard it, but all I got was shaking heads.

I thought I was hearing things again (an unfortunate occupational hazard for me) when the customer outside my window asked if I could write down the license plate. I poked my head out, my eyes widening at the sight. One of the posts near our back door was tilted down and there were tire tracks leading further beyond my line of sight. When the customer asked me again for the license plate number, I numbly wrote them down and handed him the slip of paper.

All the while, my coworkers were flitting around, telling me to look back there. Too bad I had to make sure all the customers were taken care of; and there was an endless supply of them, it seemed. It was at least a half hour before I was finally able to take a gander at the damage. The door was dented in slightly and part of the wall had been pushed in about an inch and a half, maybe a little more. Pushed in, that's the only way I can put it; the wall curved inward. The door still shut and we could still lock it, but it bulged down at the bottom.

I couldn't help it. I laughed loudly when I saw it. I knew I shouldn't have been; hell, I knew the customers wouldn't like to hear my laughter. But I couldn't stop until tears streamed down my eyes. I really needed that laugh. After that we were too busy for much more entertainment like that. It was back to same old grind again.

And to think this happened on the second to last day I was working there; I'd like to think of it as a nice send-off from the store. I'll certainly remember it! And, hey! I'm still laughing about it! Until I next see you, keep smiling!

Let's talk about online communities...

2007-02-09T07:54:07Z

Hello all, whoever might actually be reading this anyway, it's your neighborhood-friendly cougar once again. It's time to regale you with further exploits of my life on-line. I'm going to start with message boards and other communities.

After a week web-surfing, it's almost impossible for a person not to be affiliated with some kind of group. These days I'm a part of at least a dozen of them. I remember the first message board/community I'd ever joined. You may, or probably not, have heard of it: www.bolt.com. Of course this was when it was just a forum, a chat area (with several subgroups, heh) and journals. Now it's like a YouTube clone... *sigh* I really got into that site. They even had, for a short time, web-space for anyone who wished.

When I learned to write HTML, I immediately seized on the chance and built a place for my writing and what little art I was able to produce, even getting a counter from Bravenet to see how many people came to see it. Ah, you should have seen it! At the time, I thought it was a masterpiece. Sadly though, no one other than myself viewed it and a couple months after completion (as I saw it, heh) Bolt dropped all web-space.

That was one of the first lessons I learned: never, ever rely on free web-space to keep your web-page and other stuff around. I'd made the mistake of getting rid of the work I'd done from the computer after I'd uploaded it to Bolt. I've smacked my forehead over it many, many times since. Ah, well everyone's gotta grow out of their naivete somehow...

From there I went on to Werewolf.com. Any therians in the audience should be able to recognize the site almost instantly. In its time it was a pretty good place, LOTS of flame wars (some of which I tried to quell unsuccessfully), but I mostly went there for the relays. If you don't know what a relay is than you're really missing out *grins*.

A relay is where one person starts a story, usually a couple paragraphs long, and details a few things that are allowed in the story and other people flesh the story out by adding their own paragraphs to it. This continues until the story ends or (as is usually the case) when people lose interest in it. Its practically the same thing as participating in a Round Robin or an RP.

At the same time I was exploring my writing and my therian side, I also found Yahoo! Groups. You can imagine my surprise and consternation at such a proliferation of subjects; there was practically a group (sometimes several) for everything! I must admit I went a little extreme, every group that interested me even a little I joined and soon they were all full up. At that point I realized I had a choice to make: create a new account and fill that one up or I could limit myself. I opted for a third option, combining them both. I now have several accounts (though I won't say which ones, heh) and each one is set up by a major interest. In one I pursued my therian side, in another my emerging furry self, and several others besides.

A couple years ago I joined another community called Gaia Online. Now that's an interesting place. It's a huge forum but with so many features it's almost a game. You gain gold by posting and with it you can buy clothing to dress your avatar better or to furnish a home that can then be placed in a town setting. That's right, a town area. Not only can you interact with people through the guilds and forums, but you can chat in real time with other peoples avatars. Eventually (although they've been talking about it since before I joined) there's supposed to be a battle system too. Now that'll be sweet! If you want to check out my latest incarnation on Gaia (and there have been several, heh) it's at: Kasekine. You can even see a preview of my house there too.

These are just the main places I can point out, ones people are liable to recognize most. Some of the less impressive, but still fun places I frequent are: Alien Adoption Agency, XeroCreative Forums, and Invader Zim Fan Animated Series Forum , just to name a few. As you can see I've spread myself over quite a few areas, some would say perhaps too thinly.

I'm actually inclined to agree. The main problem with being a part of so many, many different communities is that I have not been able to focus on any one area for more than a few months. During the first week after finding someplace new, I search through the messages, maybe even write a few of my own (though it usually takes me awhile before I post more than a 'hi'), fervently. But, as time passes, my interest cools down, never leaving entirely, until I barely visit once or twice a week. Sometimes, it gets sparked again and I focus again on it, but most places I end up disappearing from, seen only as a ghost lurking around, waiting for a new topic to inflame me once more.

Despite all this, I love the communities I'm a part of. I love chatting with people about things that interest me, whether it be Invader Zim, writing, or even anime. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that joining groups, communities, and forums are a good thing, as inevitable as taxes and death (though the big 'D' is getting further and further away every day), but joining too many can be unhealthy.

I've learned a lot of lessons throughout my online journeys, most through the help of friends I'd made throughout the net. If you have an interest, by all means explore it, but don't let them rule your online life (or your real world one for that matter). A word to the wise: there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Until my next post, friends and lurkers, au revoir!

My first entry...

2007-02-05T09:08:27Z

This is, I'm afraid, the first time I've ever had to pen a true journal so please bear with me. When I was younger, I didn't think much of journals or diaries. To be honest, I never really had any clue what to write in it. My life's been pretty boring; no movie car chase scenes, no alien abductions, nothing much out of the ordinary, really. I figured that a journal that could possibly be read by anyone in the future should have something exciting happen in it. I blame reading for it, I suppose; I used to read dozens of books each month, getting lots of free pizza for my trouble. Hmm, maybe I should blame Scholastic instead...

Whatever the reason, I read about all these fascinating places, of so many amazing adventures, that my own life paled in comparison. I couldn't believe that anyone in the world would want to know about such an unimportant person as I. Despite this, I have become almost as much an avid writer as I've been a reader; I hardly showed anyone my work though, much less published it!

My teachers even tried to get my to make use of a journal, but whenever I looked upon a blank page in a notebook I knew I couldn't write the whole truth about my life; I had to spice it up, create something interesting to read. Naturally, this was met with skepticism and the writing journals were inevitable marked with, "Creative, but hardly realistic." To tell the truth, I edited my life so much that they read more like short stories than accounts of my life. Ah, c'est la vie...

I just realized that I've explained more about my past than who I am. I should rectify (yeah, I get a giggle out of that word, too :}) that by at least letting you know who I am. My on-line name is Kasekine (Kase to my friends, heh) though I've held quite a few alias over the last few years; in the future, I may list a few of them for your viewing pleasure. Technically, I've been on-line for about six or seven years, maybe a year or two longer if my memory has failed me as it has done so often. Long enough, at least, to spread myself a little thinly in many different communities.

In the time I've been on-line I've seen so many things, some horrible, some wonderful, all shaping who I became. I've teared up (yeah, I'm comfortable enough to admit it) when something wonderful or terrible happens to characters I've followed from their beginnings. Such art I've seen too; my eyes light up whenever one of my favorite artists (and there are quite a few) puts up a new piece for viewing.

My, this is getting to be quite the length now isn't it, but, then, what writer isn't long-winded when it comes to a subject so personal? Before I delve further into what drives me to be, well, me, I'm going to write out a few more things you should probably know about me (hopefully, with out making it too much into a list *grins*). I was born in Portland, Oregon, but, due to my father's job we moved around a lot.

For some this would be excellent fodder for a journal, but for me it was an everyday sort of event; I didn't understand that everyone else's parents stayed in one place longer than six months. My father would be transferred from base to base, all over the States, and we'd have to transfer with him (no choice really, he was the bread-winner of the family, heh); as a result, I wasn't able to make very many friends.

And then we ended up in South Dakota to stay. I finally had the opportunity to gain friends, but I was so socially inept by then that I couldn't bring myself to say so much as "Hi," to anyone who more than glanced at me. It took me five years before I was comfortable talking to anyone, and even now I still go quiet when in the presence of people I don't know.

Heh. Here I am, trying to limit myself and I write even more! By now you're probably knotting a rope up and tying it to a ceiling fixture. Please don't! I'll be brief (fat chance, hah!). I am a therian and a fur and in both cases I'm a cougar. I'm 25, poly-amorous, in an open relationship (you can read his LJ at:Gray Coyote), and I'm mostly gay (I still hold a torch for Jessica Alba; I could watch her kick ass any day of the week!). If anyone wants to chat me up my Yahoo! id is: kairen_sato. I'd be more than happy to talk to anyone who wishes to!

Before I go on any further tangents, I'm going to end this far, far too long entry. Anyone who's made it to this point without blowing their brains out or gone insane should be applauded. Profusely. Without further ado, I bid you all a good night and happy hunting (hopefully not for me *grins*)!