Well, my “New Layout Syndrom” is in remission at the moment. (Sure, laugh it up, Crim! J/K! *winks and super glomps!*) I finished my long-procrastinated “Eldritch” layout for the main site. Since it’s officially up, there’s no longer the temptation to convert it into a blog layout like Sally did with her Red Pin layout. I screwed up a little bit and linked the “Home” button to the splash page, but I can fix that later. I’m not sure I like the little mouseover Navigation buttons… they don’t mouseover very cleanly on my computer. Ah well

I came up with a new layout idea using Frog from Crono Trigger, but it’s really rough on the eyes. You can see kind of what I mean if you check out the quickie Linking Button I made for the main site…

The layout is this really harsh dark blue on sharp white, it looks kind of good as a wallpaper, but isn’t really what I had invisioned for my blog. I had to blow up a rather poor picture from the Anime FMVs from Chrono Trigger, so I used some filters on it to hide how crappy the shot was. I might convert it into a wallpaper for our collection and try for something different. I’ve actually been trying to find some artwork of a non-descript Elven or Human Ranger, but I haven’t run into anything I actually want to use. I’m actually getting really tempted to break down and do an Aragorn/Strider layout. I certainly have enough pictures of both him and Legolas, thanks to my beloved sister and her thing for Elf-Bishies. XD She’s purchased almost every book she can find on the movies, she even has some ultra-nice photo books. Provided she doesn’t kill me for squishing the books on the scanner, I might have to break down to do one. Legolas actually looks closer to my Sylvan Elf Ranger, but Aragorn actually is a ranger. Otherwise, I think I might burn a paycheck to have some artwork done for my elf. I have a half-million links to artists that do fantasy artwork ranging from American Comic Book Style to Water-Coloured and Framed Portraits.

*eye twitches* Too… difficult… to… resist…. new… layout-itis… has… infected… me….

Must…. do… new…. layout… Frog and Magus layout attempts…. suck…. must resist temptation…. to… alter… new…. Lunaescence.com…. layout…. into… blog… layout… *foams at the mouth*

Okay, that came around and bit me on the ass. That script I was raving about last night? Everything’s in English. So that was cool. It had full documentation, which was also cool. But whoever wrote the documentation needs to hire in to a company that makes labyrinth games.

I am so confused now I’ve decided to stick to doing my dictionary by hand. X_x I’d like to consider myself as being smart… maybe even as far as intelligent, but right now my eyes ache and the way my right eye is twitching it wants to try the Mad-Eye Moody thing from HP. While I know it might be because they’re not native speakers, those instructions were lousy for such a complicated program. The other good ones I found all cost something, so since we’re a little short on funds right now, those are going to have to wait until next redesign.

The design is coming good, though I’m still stuck on what color scheme I want to have. So far the topper is blue, black, and Warlord- Colored. I took the curtain that was behind the warlords and brushed it out so it blended in with the blurred, linear gradiant behind it. Now just to settle on a name and I should be all set. So far I’m torn between “Futeishi”, “Sojihou” (Both Jap. for Syntax), and “Gairaigo” (Jap. for foreign words). I posted on The Ronin Lounge, Bent Lounge, and GreyIt for help and harrassed several friends for their call. Most everyone is picking “Futeishi.”

I’ll probably put an Iframe or a news scroller on the index page to put the latest added or updated terms in, run the update news in GM, and do the actual pages by hand. I’ll just make a directory for each letter and make multiple pages to fit everything if I have to.

*GRIN* While I will admit I’m more partial to the original, undubbed version of Yu-Gi-Oh I think the line where Joey is dueling Bandit Keith and brings his Red Eyes back is friggin’ hilarious. The tone, the smirk - everything! - is just perfect. LOL For some odd reason, those episodes are among my favorites. They gave up trying to make Joey/Jou comic relief and let him shine for once. I dunno, between Kaiba and him they seem like so much more realistic characters than Yugi. While Yugi is a LOT less naive in the Japanese version, he’s just so good it makes him kind of flat. He’s getting better the further he gets into Battle City, thankfully.

However, I still can’t write him if my life depended on. And chapter 5 of Tempus Temporis is still dragging. X_x We’re playing with the timing in this chapter, starting with Kaiba and Shane talking.

The chapter starts with Shane commenting to Kaiba that the day has been interesting. Then we have the sword’s first appearence followed by Kaiba stating when Shane notes the sword feels kind of slimy that the compound is harmless. Then we jump two days ahead to Yami regaining consciousness after he and Yugi are attacked by the spirits inside the sword. It then jumps backward a whole day and proceeds forward until Yami regains consciousness again in the ER. It then jumps ahead to Yami realizing he and Yugi can’t switch back, since he switched with Yugi to protect him from the spirits. The chapter ends with either Jou or someone else commenting that the day has been interesting.

The problems are: A.) What are Shane and Kaiba talking about? Why would Kaiba even invite Shane up? B.) What was Yugi doing before he went to visit Kaiba?

It’s just not going very well, IMHO. I’m sure Chapter 6 and 7 will go quickly, but it’s getting there we have to worry about. Oh well, we’ll eventually get through this chapter.

And… in other news, I now have everything I need to complete the resurrection of my Dictionary. =) I found a glossary script that doesn’t limit me to a few thousand words, includes a search function, as well as the ability to allow visitors to suggest words for my dictionary without having to e-mail me - I think. It’s a nice, solid PHP script as far as I can tell - I’ll know more once I install it. LOL The actual page I downloaded it from is in English, but the rest of the site is in Russian. It’s a little confusing trying to figure out what is actual features and what’s in the wings for a later release. One thing is clear, though - our MySQL databases are going to get a whole lot of usage, methinks. XD
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OMG! I found the nicest Fanfiction script while hunting for a script to run my Dictionary! It’s a PHP script, but it runs a whole lot more like FF.net or MM.org but without the $90 pricetag of Interactive Fiction. It’s still in development, so we’ll have to put up with bugs and such, but it’s free!! =D Sally and I are going to try installing it for Legacies tomorrow/later this morning; see how we like it. It it works okay, it’ll be the script we run for the Dungeon. =D

Also, note to self: Need to talk to Mom in the morning and see if we can make a quick run to one of the Pet Malls in Grand Rapids. As I was typing the quick note above about the fanfiction I hear the singular, most disgusting noise on the planet out in the kitchen. Sugar has been having troubles with hairballs lately and I just fed her. Can you guess what was all over the dining room rug? X_x And lo, we are now out of Simple Solution, which is the cleaning solution we use to clean up pet messes. I barely had enough to clean up the mess. Urg. So, reminder to talk to mom about Simple Solution and some sort of hairball remedy for the feline. She’s just lucky she didn’t barf on mom’s oriental rug. LOL