Originally posted at impsvillage.com [requires user/pass]

*Several people have suggested I tell my story on imps, so I am. I have also checked the rules here, and don’t believe that I am breaking any, but Mods can correct me if I’m wrong. I only mean to be informative.*

Almost a month ago the new Solar server opened. A lot of us were excited to get in on the first week events–two times the experience, daily events, and free gifts to the new players on Solar.

I had one Rushu-dedicated main account, so I created another account and paid the subscription fee so as to take advantage of the first week benefits on Solar.

Problem: my account was not being recognized as a subscriber’s.

So I checked the forum’s problem FAQ and did what it said. I sent a ticket to Dofus support, and four days later, I received a computer generated response listing things that I could check. Whether I’m using the latest client, whether I’ve set my cookies correctly, etc… Already upset about missing out on four days of double XP, I told them to hurry up and fix the problem before time runs out.

I recieved a second response after the Solar event had ended, saying that it’s because I’m not an international user that I haven’t been able to connect. Then they linked me here. Which is funny and ironic because on that forum Kaoly states that “The account has to be created in English to be set in the International Community.” Which is what I did, and what I am. I am an international user and have been for over half a year.

So by then I was obviously upset. After all, I paid for something that I didn’t get.

I made two posts on their forums to express my resentment and shock at how horrible their customer service was. Neither post was out of line or against their posted rules, and neither post was made within the last two weeks. The first post outlined how the people at Dofus Support responded to me, and how it was poor. My second post, made in retaliation for horrible customer service, was on how french law requires that firms must allow customers to “return any purchases within 7 days of delivery,” and suggested to others that they could take action in this way.

But after creating those posts I dropped the whole thing and never looked back. I gave up on resolving the problem, decided to take my lumps on the whole deal, and went along my business. Then today I went to check my e-mail and was surprised to see that I had received two love letters from the beloved Ankama Team.

You do not have anymore access to neither the forum nor the game.

Reason : Behavior detrimental to the good atmosphere forums. Critics of the game, Ankama and other players are welcome, but it is important to put the forms and not disturb other users of the forum.

Your account will be restored on 2008-07-20.

To date, your account has 0 warning and 1 ban

The Ankama Team.

This is two weeks after I had given up arguing with Ankama, and two weeks since the last response they gave my submitted ticket. So after much frustration, finally giving up, and NOW being banned, the last straw has finally been drawn.

1. I paid for something I didn’t get.
2. I complained in a mannerly fashion, and got banned for it.
3. I was never warned or told my behavior was “detrimental.”
4. My problem has never been solved or responded to.

I’m not the only one either, which is why my posts received positive responses from the many others in my situation. I know many of you out there love the game, and may find it hard to believe, but Ankama does not treat many of its own subscribing customers with even the slightest decency. A lot of you are lucky to have never had problems, but many of us aren’t, and so I make this post on behalf of the ignored out-casts. I will get my account back very soon, and when I do, I’ll give away all my hard earned goodies and say goodbye to the good times I had at Dofus.

さようなら～（T_T）g”

Note:

• The BBB (Better Business Bureau) rates Ankama Games as unsatisfactory because of untimely or failure to respond to customer complaints.
• I had done everything in my power, and nothing against the rules to try and resolve my problem. (I have read the TOS, and forum rules several times.)
• I did complain, and was righteously angry, but i must reiterate that I never broke any rules.

Things I’ve learned within the past month:

・A lot about microeconomics

・American history up to 1856

・That the surgeon general is an actual military general (really!)

I’ve also performed in a matsuri, played loads of beach volley ball, drove to an outer island, and nearly cracked my head by jumping in shallow water—so needless to say, I’ve been pretty busy this past month.

I also realized something. Some blogs are meant to be public and informative, while others are meant to be personal areas for venting. I know that there’s no privacy on the internet, so a personal vent-blog could also be an public and informative one.

What I’m basically getting at is that I will start using this blog more to vent my frustrations with the world’s dark (and stupid) side.

(Read the next entry to understand why I’m doing this.)

This news cameraman was taking footage after a shootout between a driver and cops had occurred. The cameraman was told that he had to go to a media staging area to film, but claims that the police wouldn’t tell him where it was, so he just backed away from the scene and waited. Shortly after, the cop came up to the guy, told him where to go, and waited for him to put his camera away before illegally assaulting the photographer! WTF. Forget the sheriff and the deputy—someone needs to put a bullet in that piggy.

Here’s the vid:

The only difference between this filmed cop and all the dick-headed cops I’ve met: the filmed cop was dealing with a cameraman who had the balls to talk back.

I can’t believe we live in a world that doesn’t allow me to get rid of people like this. I know they’re teens, but seriously, vigilante justice would so beautifully fit situations like these.

girl 1: After being asked why she did it. “I feel bad it was a 9 year old girl, but there was $150 dollars in that envelope and I wanted that money, and it was mine.”

Thoughts after getting caught.

“I’m actually pissed because I shoulda kept that money if they charge me with all the charges I
just got.”

Reporter: “Do you have any remorse for stealing from a nine year old girl?”

girl 2: “Right now no because I’m kinda pissed because i have charges and we had to give the money back anyway so now I’m pretty pissed. like, i don’t feel sadness for that little girl. i mean, she’s getting a lot of money right now from people who feel bad for her so whatever.”

I don’t know what bugs me more, the fact that they get away with a petty theft misdemeanor, or the fact that they’re talking this way while sipping their Starbucks. Fucking suburban teen bitches.

Downfall of the human race under robotic monkey rulers? Not exactly, but we’re getting close!—to understanding how the brain controls the body. Scientists inserted hair-like probes into the motor cortex of a monkey’s brain, which were then hooked up to a robotic arm and computer. The computer interpreted the electrical impulses of the monkey’s brain, and translated the movements through the robotic arm.

BBC article link.

The monkeys were able to feed themselves using the robot arm, showing that the brain moves limbs by thinking about the goal rather than by directing limbs how to move in order to get there.

Pretty cool, right?

Recently I’ve been spelunking the Digg site, and as with any online community, no comment is safe from flames.

After one commenter complained that the dugg article had already been posted several times before.

SeaweedWater:
I could care less if it’s stolen or he makes front page every time or whatever, he’s constantly bringing good content to Digg, and it makes my work day go by super fast.

bluntphallus:
* couldn’t care less.

Argh, hell. Why do SO many people make this mistake? It’s almost as bad as “I will loose a bet”, “Your an idiot”, “Irregardless of that”, etc.

Ah, don’t mind me. I feel vindictive. /kicks cat

shortyjacobs:
Maybe he really could care less. Maybe he knows he has the capacity to care less, and he’d like to inform us of this fact. Maybe you’re just getting a little too worked up about simple phrases on the internet.

Irregardless, your an idiot, so you loose.

Although I like the fact you kicked a cat.

A customs officer stashed a 142g (5oz.) bag of marijuana in a passengers bag to test airport security at Narita airport in Tokyo. Unfortunate for the officer, dogs failed to pick up the scent, the agent forgot which bag he had put the cannabis in, and one lucky son of a bitch was rewarded with a marijuana jackpot for being a customs test subject.

BBC article link.

Apparently the officer went against regulations when he placed the loot in a regular passenger’s bag, and not a test bag like they normally use. Which is fine I guess, but what if the test subject is on a connecting flight and has to clear customs in another country? I hope the guy who unknowingly got away with the stash wasn’t connecting to Singapore or somewhere with an instant drug-possession death penalty.

But still—AWESOME.

最近あまりっていうか、ぜんぜん日本語でブログしてないんだよね～

理由はちゃんとある！

レイジーだから。そして、日本語でブログ必要はない。このブログを読んでる４、（俺も含めて）５人は日本人じゃないし、英語で書かないとこのブログのpopularityがドンと落ちる。

だけど、たまに日本語で日記を書かないと日本語忘れちゃうので、短いエントリーでも、書くのをなくても、日本語で頑張る。

～よろしくお願いいたします

Here’s another video featuring me on the ukulele, my friend Kota on the sanshin, and Sanae as the singer. We were just messing around with the instruments when we came up with the idea to match the sanshin’s three strings to the bottom strings of the ukulele; what we got was a bass sounding sanshin that seemed to suit the ukulele better than we had expected. (I’m literally a two-three day n00b when it comes to the ukulele, so sorry for any screw ups.)

The chords/pattern is quite simple: C, F, G, F and then C, F, G, F again, and so on.

So here’s our version of La Bamba for you–enjoy. :)

Whenever I buy anything with a medium to high price tag, I do a lot of pre-purchase research. Luckily, the internet makes this very easy to do, and what’s great is that there’s a forum or community for just about every topic imaginable.

I scoured almost every ukulele group that my Google searches brought me, and I found one internet seller’s name that popped up on several different sites—Michael of Musicguymic’s ukulele eBay store. His ukes were cheaper and packaged with a lot more than any other site I visited, but it still took me a while to decide if I wanted to go through with the $50 international express shipping. Obviously, I did eventually cave in, and it was probably the best cave I’ve ever inned. The ukulele showed up two days after I placed the order, and the premium aquila strings—that, along with a $50 value hard case, pitch pipe, and chord finder, came free w/purchase—sound fantastic on my solid-spruce-top tenor Kala.

Anyways, I made the video because in my search for a live footage sample of the KA-ST model in action was non-existent. I settled on it, regardless, after hearing a few people say that the Kala brand spruce top ukes sound consistently good, while the tad more expensive mango series varies from ukulele to ukulele. This made me feel confident in the purchase, and now that I have the four-stringed lute in my possession, I can happily say that I made a great choice.