KenshinSorrow

Well, it could be because when I tend to get sick with colds, I often--due to ear problems--get vertigo really bad. Just two Decembers ago it was so bad that I had hearing loss from ear infections and if I moved even slightly, I got motion-sick real bad. So, if you put that together with the slightly dizzy, sleepy feeling I get from cough syrup, and that's enough for me to maybe feel like I'm high. I think sometimes too, I might be more sensitive to some medicines--I still remember when I was taking driver's ed, and took a benadryl with decongestant, and wow, I was so giggly and stuff it was crazy. Only later did I find out that I'm unusual in the benadryl makes me hyper, and not sleepy, lol. As for abuse the OTC, heck no. My mom is always pestering me when I'm sick, "Have you taken your medicine?" Usually the answer is no, lol. That's probably something to do with me growing up and being frequently sick of taking Sudafed and antibotics all the time. :) And no prob on the not thinking you're a bad person. I grew up in a family full of multiple types of abuse. To work through that, I had to learn to accept people for who they are, including myself, and accept them, faults, shortcomings, limitations, and all. Karin :)

Hmmm....I understand what you mean about the cough syrup, tho I manage to get high off of it every time I get sick. And I hate the feeling--due to personal issues, I don't like the out of control feeling that I get when a drug affects me. But that's just me. As for whether that makes you a bad person...I've learned over the years not to judge people as good or bad. The world is filled with too many shades of gray, and good people are known to do bad things, and visa-versa. And some people behave in ways that hurt simply because it's the only life and behavior they know. Personally, even tho I don't like drugs and what they do to myself and others, I think too many look at chemical drugs as the only addiction. (I think someone else here pointed this out.) I know for a fact that in the past (and probably will again) I've used video games, books, TV, daydreams, sleep, and sometimes food as an escape avenue when life gets hard or even worse, unbearable. IMO, that's not too different from the reason many people use drugs...to escape the stress, sorrows, pains, and limitations of every day life. It's when any of this is done to extremes, or hurts others or yourself, that one needs to re-evaluate, I think. Sometimes the hardest thing of all to do, is to take a good long look at yourself, when it feels a lot more comfortable just to hide away in the pleasures of whatever is your drug (and I don't just mean chemical) of choice. Karin

[quote name='50 cent']Marijuana I'm not against, because I myself am a casual smoker of it. I do know people who may smoke it 3 times a day but it hasn't ruined their life and they've done it for years.[/QUOTE] Then you've been extremely lucky. My brother smoked Marijuana regularly when I was a child and one time, just one time, he was given a joint laced with PCP. He's never been the same since. I'm not saying that marijuana is bad...I agree, it does have potential health benefits, but with the way it's done illegally now (as well as with other drugs), you just can't always be sure that what you're getting doesn't have something else in it that can kill ya, or ruin your mind forever. Karin

Hmmm....put in my two weeks notice for August 11th, after discovering just how disfunctional and a bully my top boss was...I just was not going to subject myself to that. I mean, gosh, the guy didn't even acknowledge that I was leaving--how screwed is that. Anyhow, the last two days I worked, I don't know what was going on with the customers. I worked for OfficeMax, in the copy center, and both on Friday and Saturday, my last two days, I had at least two people each day start yelling at me. One because I was asking her what she wanted for her business cards, another because I couldn't print his stuff immediately and how dare I make him wait, and another because I told him it would cost him a lot if I had to do desktop publishing for his business cards--and that I couldn't use even a magazine image without seeing the original magazine, because 99.9% of magazines and photographers copyright their ads and images. Now, keep in mind, these were people I did not argue back with and if I am at fault, I admit it and apologize, which often smooths things over for a customer. If that doesn't work, I just call a manger over when they start losing their tempers cause I don't wanna deal with it, period...and if they wanna make a fool out of themselves, they have my blessings. I'm just amazed sometimes, by how customers with mistreat treat other people in the service industries....To me, it shows a real lack of class if you treat any other human in that manner, whether it's someone you want to hire or if it's the person next door. Karin :)

[quote name='Retribution'][size=1]As a quick reference, [url=http://animepa.csusm.edu/galleries/][b]Anime Project Alliance Gallery[/b][/url] is invaluable for scans. I have a massive library of Gundam SEED scans that were pulled from other [pretty old] sites on my old computer. If I'm ever bored enough, I'll see if I can upload a few of them.[/size][/QUOTE] Aaaaahhhh, yikes! This is what happens when you leave your job, make a decision to return to school fulltime, and try to find new ways to occupy your now exceedingly empty free time. Sorry...I really do wanna keep up wit this thread, honest I do. I have this horrible habit of popping out more often than in tho. Retribution, sure, please, anything you have to share with others is more than welcome. Thank you! Oh gosh....let me look through some more scans...I'll post some more soon... :) Anyhow, got something in the works personally to do with manga....will announce that tho, when it comes to full-fruition, lol. Karin, mostly-out-there-somewhere....

[COLOR=Indigo][FONT=Trebuchet MS][SIZE=2]You're very welcome, Sara, and really appreciate your wanting to help get this thread started. Hey, I figured if I was going to start a thread for scans, might as well go over the basics, lol, and I thought it was info that everyone could take advantage of. And as things go along, I'm sure I'll be providing more tips--and if I don't know the answer, I have graphic art friends and co-workers I can ask. :babble: In reference to your comment about your scanner and colors...have you tried to look at the scanned images on another computer? The reason I ask is because the difficulty could be the scanner, or it could be your monitor. It's unfortunate and a bit pesky, that the color you see on the monitor is most often not the true image's printed color. That's why when you print out an image you've created, the colors never look the same as they did on your screen. The only true way to get the colors on your screen to accurately match printed colors is to pay a professional thousands of dollars to calibrate your monito. I don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of money to spare, lol. Just out of curiosity, and maybe I might manage to help, could you tell me the settings you use when you scan images? Maybe we can figure out a solution for you---not only so you can share those wonderful images from your [I]Spirited Away[/I] artbook--but so you can take advantage of that scanner for your own art more often. FWIW, these are the scanner settings I'm interested in knowing (granted, depending upon your scanner, you might not see or have access to all the settings, and the wording on mine might be slightly different): [B]Document Type: [/B] is your setting Reflective or Transparency? [B]AutoExposure:[/B] is this set to Photo or Document? [B]Image Type[/B]--you'll probably see some, if not all of these options: Black & White, 8 bit Grayscale, 16 bit Grayscale, Colorsmoothing, 24 bit Color, 48 bit Color Resolution: mine scanner ranges anywhere from 50dpi to 12800dpi (that's dots per inch, very similiar to pixels per inch in theory)--the last of which is just insane to use :confuse2: For the above settings, I recommend using these options: Reflective, Photo, 24 bit Color, dpi is up to you, but good print/scan quality is usually 600 to 150 dpi. You'll probably also see an area for Target size, which we don't need to worry about right now, although I recommend keeping it at 100% and if you want a larger image, try increasing your dpi a bit. [B]Unsharp Mask Filter:[/B] if you have this checked, uncheck it. It can distort and affect your image color [B]Descreening Filter:[/B] DO check this. You might see various options as well, such as General, Newspaper, Magazine, Fine Prints. I always choose Fine Prints. The reference to lpi is Line Per Inch. Most printers apply color in a series of lines. Inkjet printers are a common example of this process. [B]Dust Removal: [/B] if you see this option, leave it unchecked There are also some other options that require a lot more work, among these [B]Histogram Adjustment [/B] (I recommend you leave this one alone, as it can get very confusing), [B]Tone Correction [/B] (if the tips I just provided dont' work, we can try this later), and finally [B]Image Adjustment[/B], which can be very helpful in correcting your colors and contrast if adjusting the other options don't work. You might see all or only some of these options. For my scanner, I had to set it to Professional Mode to access them all. It wouldn't hurt to see if your scanner also has a similiar setting. Don't know if I helped or made you more confused. I hope it was the first. Good luck with trying to get that orney scanner to cooperate, and let me know if you have any questions! I'm happy to help in any way I can. :) Karin[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=2][FONT=Trebuchet MS]Hey all, Do you have trouble locating quality images of your favorite anime and/or manga? Do you regularly scan images of your favorite anime/manga? Want access to hard to find work for your wallpaper, greeting card, the OB's Graphic Worm? Well, look no further. It was with this in mind, and after receiving some very kind encouragement from James, that I came up and fleshed out this thread idea. If you have any scans you want to share and help out other Otakus in their difficult search, post/link the images in this thread. Okay, now on to the important stuff...like the "can do this--can't do that" guidelines...Although there aren't too many of those. [B]1)[/B] Keep to the OtakuBoard standards. This means do not post images that include adult content, do not sell/distribute the material for profit, and no plagerism (how do you plagerize scans? I'll detail that in a moment, lol). [B]2) [/B] Do not paste your image in this thread. OB has a limited bandwidth and cannot handle the high quality photos I have in mind for this thread. Instead, please upload your picture to one of the numerous photo hosting sites, such as photobucket.com imageshack.us imagehigh.com, are some image hosting sites and include the provided link/thumbnail to their site in this thread. Be aware tho, some image hosting sites, such as imageshack will lower the quality and resolution of your picture. Another option is linking a small thumbnail to one of these sites, and including a link to a file hosting site, such as yousendit.com, megaupload.com, where you can upload larger files without losing image quality as many of the image hosting sites do. I'm totally up for any suggestions anyone has--this is definitely not a set-in-stone deal, and when it comes down to it, what works best for you, as long as the image remains of high enough quality to still be usable, I'm comfortable with. I plan on trying out a few image hosting sites that promise high quality on my own and will let you all know how they work out. [B]3)[/B] If you scanned the image yourself, let us know, and mention your source. If you have an image that you did not scan but want to post, please do credit the source. If you do not know the source, let us know "source unknown" or something of the like, but please do not take credit for scans not your own. Trust me, sharing scans with other Otakus is the most important goal of this folder and your fellow Otakus will be appreciative of your efforts, whether you did the scan yourself or not. [B]4)[/B] Quality/resolution: something around 1 million pixels in the original image is preferred, but having managed to eak out the best in low rez scans for my own wallpaper, I'm not going to complain if you and your submitted scan aren't up to that standard. If you do indeed do the scan yourself, keep reading, as I will include a few tips for better scanning in a moment. [B]5)[/B] This is not a thread for critiquing artwork so much as sharing scans of artwork done by the original artist, but appreciation of another's efforts is always welcome. [B]6)[/B] Do not post your original wallpapers, fanart and drawings in this thread. This thread is only for the posting and sharing of official artwork scans created by the manga/anime creator. If you want to post your own artwork, there are plenty of other threads on OB for that. [B]TIPS FOR ACHIEVING A BETTER SCANNING QUALITY:[/B] [B]1)[/B] There are two image file types out there. Both file types compress your image file, but in different ways that can all drastically affect the output of your picture. [B]LOSSY:[/B] uses a form of compression that causes a slight loss of data with each save. If you repeatedly save your file in this format, it can permanently damage the quality of your file. JPEG, BMP, PNG are lossy file format. [B]LOSSLESS:[/B] uses a compression format insuring that no data is lost. For your image, this means that the original file you started with, is the same file you end up with, even after multiple saves. File formats that are lossless are TIF, TIFF, GIF, LZW, and PSD (photoshop document). TIF and PSD can be saved with layers preserved, but layers should be flattened before sharing in this thread. I believe JPEG is probably the best format for the final output, and probably the most compatible/accessable for others. [B]2) Resolution.[/B] You can discovered your image's total resolution by multiplying the number of pixels per inch in your picture's width by the number of pixels per inch in the height. What this means is that if your picture width is 4625 and the height is 6989 then your total resolution is 4625 X 6989 = 3,2324125 pixels. Of course, a picture of that resolution is huge...but I tend to scan at 600 dots/pixels per inch, and later reduce it to somewhere around 300 to 150 for my scans, and most pictures you see on the web--including my wallpapers on theotaku.com--usually have around 72 ppi or less. [B]3) Descreen.[/B] The most helpful feature I find on my scanner is the Descreening option. To find this option on your scanner you might have to open the scanner program in professional mode (if yours has that option), as I do with mine. Most printed images you see out there are printed using a half-tone pattern that can create an busy, moire pattern. If you have ever seen a newscaster wearing a plaid coat on TV that plays with the picture, that is what a moire pattern is. Richard Nixon is famous, in a debate with Kennedy, because of the moire pattern his plaid suit coat created on the TV screens of millions across America. Basically, the descreening mode on your scanner uses a method to reduce, if not completely eliminate, the chances of this happening to any of the images your scan. Another option is to select from the newspaper, magazine, and fine art options on your scanner, which also take advantage of the descreening feature to some degree. Another way to ensure good resolution is by your ppi (pixels per inch). 600 is excellent quality (although rarely used because large files are cumbersome to work with in image programs), while somewhere between 300 and 150 makes for a good high resolution overall. 72 ppi or below is low resolution, and not recommended for scans. Often I will scan at 600 ppi, to ensure a good scan, but once I begin working with the image I often lower the ppi to 300 or even 150, depending upon how and where I am using the image. And if you find that your scanner's color is off, you can choose the "color restoration" option--although I often find it easier to fix my colors in photoshop instead. [B]4) Color.[/B] And one last item I want to go over is the [B]CMYK[/B] (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, & BlacK) vs. [B]RGB[/B] (Red, Green, & Blue). I recommend if you intend to use the image primarily on the web, in a wallpaper or online greeting card for example, that you stick with RGB, as most computer screens and the internet use on RGB. If, however, you want to print the image on your printer or a professional printer, you will find that these use the CYMK color printing process. Basically what this comes down to is the colors CMYK or RGB are mixed to create all the rest of the colors in an image. You can change your RGB image to CMYK for printing, but it usually isn't necessary as almost all printers are set up to compensate for the difference. Remember your basic primary colors? Red, Yellow, and Blue? Well, CMYK and RGB are the digital, computer, and printing world's versions of the primary colors. That's pretty much the absolutely necessary basics. If anyone else feels I missed any important details, feel free to share--please. And to start off the thread, and in the spirit of sharing, I am including the thumbnails/links to of a couple of my scans that I uploaded into a flickr.com account. Just click on one of the picture and the link, and you should be able to access and download all of my uploaded scans. (I purchased the Flickr Pro account so you all could download my original files and also because, yeah, I'm just plain lazy, lol.) This is an experiment--if enough interest is shown, the thread will survive, yada yada yada...you know the drill. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else cares to share![/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

Yeah, I discovered that too, about the size. The original actually _was_ larger, but apparently ImageShack reduced the file size. So that's one of the things that I'm thinking about for the thread. Perhaps users should use something like ImageShack to show others their scan, but to keep the file size upload to something like MegaUpload or something... Will try to come up with a sure-fire method when I get home. And yeah, think MiniTokyo is indeed looking for images that users can crop images out of. Although I didn't realize they were that selective. I know as an artist, I find myself often more challenged by the difficult, unique pictures....Oh well... Okay, "see" you all sometime after 5pm! And thanks for the vote of support on the thread idea. :animesmil [CENTER]--------------------[/CENTER] [COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=2][FONT=Trebuchet MS]Or I might throw the idea out to the communtiy, and ask for suggestions on where upload, other than ImageShack. I know there are probably areas I don't know about, that others do. lol, truly make it a group effort. Okay, gotta get finished getting ready for work, hehe.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][INDENT][COLOR=Red]I merged your posts together KenshinSorrow, please don't double post. Just use the edit button in the lower right hand corner of your post if you wish to add something. Thanks. ~SunfallE[/COLOR][/INDENT] [COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=2][FONT=Trebuchet MS]Oops! Sorry...been a long time since I had the free time to post on any forum...didnt stop to consider that. In fact, don't know if I've ever heard the phrase double-post before, but I will definitely do my best to avoid doing so in the future. Apologies for the trouble I caused you, Sunfall, and thanks for letting me know the proper procedure. I will do my utmost to follow it in the future. :animeswea [/FONT] [/SIZE] [/COLOR]

[COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=2][FONT=Trebuchet MS]Thanks again, James! I get off a 5pm (or at least I'm supposed to, lol) and will try and put something together to post in the Art Forum. Yeah, I see your point about the commerical aspect. Very true. I've never once tried to get paid for my wallpapers--I actually started doing them as a way to imporove my graphic art skils in Photoshop, etc., so the learning for me has always been the real pay off. See you all around tomorrow![/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=2][FONT=Trebuchet MS]Thanks James. I think I'll do that. I hadn't thought about that some might try and post large/huge pictures on the thread. Probably should come up with a list of guidelines, based on your suggestions, and definitely in the art forum. Too tired to do it tonight tho, and have to go to work at 8am, so will probably get to it tomorrow evening. And thanks for the vote of support. I hadn't thought about the Graphic Worm--but hey, yeah, it could help with that. Btw, until recently I hadn't had much time to spend online, but checked the Graphic Worm out. Wow, it's definitely intriguing--who ever thought of that was a genius, because something like that definitely requires a teamwork mentality--always a good thing, lol. Btw, in reference to earlier: when it comes to MiniTokyo, they're pretty strict, and I've been aware of that. However, I was handling it okay, doing my best to be polite, until their moderator insulted me, accusing me of doctoring another scan, of using a low resolution--basically, she attacked me personally, and to a large degree, even professionally, since I am training to be a graphic artist and do desktop publishing at my job. That's what I was really ranting about, lol. I agree tho, they have a right to limit and decide what goes on their site--I was just trying to understand why mine had been rejected. But to personally insult me, throw up that my scan wasn't original when I did the hard work of scanning and cleaning up any little scan artifacts....yeah, that was the real low blow I thought. Hey tho, I've never been a dishonest person....so start accusing me of dishonesty that I didn't do, and I get annoyed and frustrated, not to mention a little adjitated. lol, better go to sleep--am forgetting how to spell.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=2][FONT=Trebuchet MS]So, here's a question for Otaku moderators that I posed in another thread/forum. Is it possible to come up with a thread or something similiar, on Otaku, where fans can share scans they've made of their favorite animes, etc., with other Otaku fans? Having bought many an import book to look for scans, I think this would be an inexpensive way to help others out...that is, if there aren't any legal hassles that would trip you up. (Believe me, I work at an OfficeMax, where I continuously have to deny photocopying because of copyright issues, so I can understand if you don't want to cross that line.) Of course, if it's the fans posting to a thread and Otaku.com not posting it to a official hub, I imagine that Otaku.com would have a little less to worry about, legally. I know at our store, if the customer photocopies copyrighted material on self-serve, we consider the legal pros & cons out of our hands, and companies seem a lot more likely to sue the big groups than the individual. So anyhow, just a thought....[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=2][FONT=Trebuchet MS]Hey all, any of you out there ever have bad experiences with MiniTokyo? Well, I'm certainly finding that I do _not_ like how the moderators treat the membrs. I had begun work on a wallpaper, first by cleaning up a scan. Having downloaded plenty of scans from MiniTokyo, but never having posted anything--I must more like the friendly enviroment over here on Otaku.com--I decided to do some sharing for once, to return the favor. Well, not only did they delete my scan, but I received a scathing reply from the scans moderator. Quote: [COLOR=DarkRed][I]saikusa Moderator 7h 48m ago MiniTokyo only allowed high quality scans in order for other members to use the imagery within the scans to create wallpapers, webpages, icons, banners, etc... MiniTokyo doesn't accept scans just because they look pretty. They are a resource for others. So just how on earth do you expect people to extract that image of Ichigo? It is impossible, because it is the incomplete image. Having Ichigo only visable through kannji is not the complete image; I have seen the complete image of Ichigo, and that is not it. We often delete magazine scans when the text obscures the text, but having too much print over it. In a strange reversal, this case is only visable through the text that the image can be seen, which is not good enough. If it was the full image, uninterupted, over 1,000,000 pixels in size then it would be acceptable. But size isn't everything and although your scan is large enough it is not the full image. But you are wrong if you believe that this is the way that Kubo Tite drew the image. THIS is the complete image, which I found on the very first page of Scans in the Bleach category. So not only was it unpractical to the point that it was below MiniTokyo's standards, but it was a low quality duplicate. Closed.[/I][/COLOR] Unquote. God! How rude can you be. I have one scan posted on their site, but if I don't get some resolution (doesn't have to be posting the scan, but I deserved better treatment than that) I'm going to remove it, and haunt the site only looking scans to download. I was just asking for fairness--which I definitely did NOT receive. If the scan didn't meet their needs, fine. Tell me why, don't insult me and don't insult my intellegience by calling a complete picture "incomplete" and low resolution. The entire time I was trying to understand why it got deleted--but asking politely, and this is the response I get. ARRRGHHH! Act like an adult people. So, another note, here's a question for Otaku moderators. Is it possible to come up with a thread or something similiar, on Otaku, where fans can share scans they've made with other Otaku fans? Having bought many an import book to look for scans, I think this would be an inexpensive way to help others out...that is, if there aren't any legal hassles that would trip you up. (Believe me, I work at an OfficeMax, where I continuously have to deny photocopying because of copyright issues, so I can understand if you don't want to cross that line.) Of course, if it's the fans posting to a thread and Otaku.com not posting it to a official hub, I imagine that Otaku.com would have less to work about. Well, really wrote this to vent...but will try to post that suggestion over in the suggestion area. ARRRGGGH tho. I hate being accused of lying and such, when I didn't. And having it rudely done at that. Thanks all, for allowing me to vent, lol. Now I's feel better, lol. P.S. if anyone wants said "incomplete" image for their own personal use here's a link for ya all, lol. For what it's worth, the scan's resolution is 1450 pixels X 1879 pixels = 2,724,550 pixels (And she says that's low resolution?!?!?) [URL=http://imageshack.us][IMG]http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/396/monichigoscanwa8.jpg[/IMG][/URL] By [URL=http://profile.imageshack.us/user/kenshinsorrow]kenshinsorrow[/URL] at 2007-06-25 [url]http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/9107/monichigoscanxm4.jpg[/url] (Above is the direct link for the full resolution image) [/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR=Indigo][FONT=Trebuchet MS][SIZE=2]Okay, I am SOOOOO stuck in a rut. Ever since I got my widescreen laptop a couple years back, this has pretty much been my only wallpaper. So, yes, I create all those wonderful wallpapers over on Otaku.com, and yes, I don't use them on my computer. Why? Because I absolutely hate having borders on either side of my wallpaper. And after creating the wallpaper at the current resolution, it always feels like too much of a pain to recreate it for my laptop. hehe This one is of HYDE--yeah, I'm a JROCKer fan too, and absolutely adore HYDE's voice. First heard Shallow Sleep--and WOW! I was blown away. I had to slightly alter this wallpaper (no, it's not my creation) so that it fit my screen. Original did not have HYDE written on both sides of the image, lol. And re: the Gravitity folder...that's the Gravitation .avi files that I'm (slowly, lol) converting to DVD for a dear friend. And yes, he is what you think he is, lol.[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR] [URL=http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/1675/screenshotkf0.jpg][IMG]http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/1675/screenshotkf0.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[COLOR=Indigo][FONT=Trebuchet MS][SIZE=2][B]Have worked in retail for every one of my jobs, and have been going to school studying Graphic Arts. Okay, here's my list of answers: 1) I have absolutely no control over whether or not my manager ordered the appropriate things--if it's not on the shelf, we most likely don't have it 2) Re: the messy shelves. If the customers would put the things they don't want to buy back in the appropriate spots, there'd be a whole lot less mess. This is said by someone who has found a box of No-Doze carefully balanced on two hooks used for hair items--because the customer decided they didn't want the product 3) I can only do one thing at a time--and yes, sometimes you will have to wait while I help another customer who requested my help first Okay, and now that I've begun working in a print center of an office supply store I have some more to add on: 1) If you want to get your item printed that same day--bring it in that morning. Don't wait an hour before closing, and expect me to print it for you. I won't do it, not when I have to be out of the store 15 minutes after we close 2) Printing is NOT fast food service. No, I can't always do your order for you right now, right then. I had other customers who didn't wait until the last moment who brought in their items that I have to finish first 3) It's not my fault that you waited to print your piece at the absolute last moment 4) If you don't like the cost, don't complain to me. Printing, especially in color, can be expensive 5) No, I can't get the business card, stamp, emboss company to rush your order 6) We are NOT a pull it off the shelf, ready made service. Our printers can only print so much at a time--and if I'm already printing a job, no I can't interrupt so you can print one black and white copy. 7) Sometimes our printers, our cutting machines, our binding machines, our lamination machines, and the other little things that we use, break down, and if I have other previous orders I have to complete, then yes, you WILL have to wait 8) Yes, I often an the ONLY employee running the copy center. If you were willing to pay more for the services and weren't always complaining about the prices, then maybe they could afford to hire more evening shift workers. 9) Yes, sometimes you have to WAIT until I can get to you And last but not least 10) I usually skip my breaks so I can get YOUR jobs done--act like you appreciate it And one last tip: Show some common courtesy, appreciation and patience. Trust me, you'll get better service for it. There....I'm sure I missed something--but think I said a lot, lol.[/B][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR]

[SIZE=2][COLOR=Indigo]Don't like drinking, smoking, or drugs. I was raised Mormon and later had my name removed from the church rolls, so that's not wholly why those lifestyles don't agree with me. Reason I don't like drugs--they affect more than just the person taking them. My brother did drugs the entire time I was growing up with him--and yeah, he stole money from my piggy bank (I was 8, he was 18) so he could buy drugs. He stole my dad's tool box so he could buy drugs. The drug dealer kicked in our front door to scare my brother while we were visiting family for Thanksgiving. The PCP laced in his joint furthered triggered what was probably already an onset of mental illness. Drinking has several reasons: #1, hate the way it tastes--yes, I have tried alcholol, lol. #2, my grandmother grew up with an alocholic, and to this day, the twisted way she was treated and later treated her own children, still affects how my mother behaves, how my cousins behave, how I think of myself, how my aunt and uncles react. So yes, family alcohol syndrome does exist. As for smoking...I have friends who smoke. Yes, I will associate with you if you smoke--just don't blow the smoke in my direction because cigarette smoke, especially menthols, is one of the triggers for my (severe) migraines. You ever had a migraine? Let me tell you, you get them bad enough, and you'll wanna keep away from your triggers too. So, yeah, I've got lots of personal, and plenty of good reasons, not to do any of those--and none of them have anything to do with me being raised Mormon, lol.[/COLOR][/SIZE]