saturday morning randomness

[swingchickie]

* the song J and i are writing for american idol is just about done. well, i should say, "songs". i wrote the lyrics to one yesterday, hated it because i felt it was too wordy and hokey, but sent it to him anyway... as soon as i sent the e-mail, i thought of a funny idea for another song, jotted it down in 5 minutes, and e-mailed that as well. he loves both of them, go figure. so we're submitting 2 songs now. i'll be very curious to see what they sound like... J says he will make them "pop-y", but the man writes opera, for goodness' sake.

* speaking of the songs, J is going to record them. so thanks to everyone who posted and e-mailed with keyboardist suggestions, but i think we're okay. J bought garageband so he could record in his apartment, and his friends think it's the funniest thing ever: "um, you are buying software so you can submit something to american idol. this means you actually think you have a shot at winning???" hee!

* i have a hoop! w00t! went to target last night to get some stuff for the cruise, and there just happened to be a kid's hula hoop leaning against a shopping cart at the entrance... i checked them out in the toy aisle, and there were actually a few that were the right size! (your hoop has to reach between your navel and chest when you stand it on end, otherwise it's way too hard.) so i now have a $5 hoop to practice with until my "real" one arrives. i plan to be covered in bruises around my waist by the end of the day. :)

* the boy is sick, and i have the guilts. we haven't seen each other in a week, partly because he came down with a sonic death cold mid-week and i just don't want to catch it. i'm usually very selfless, but right now i have to stand my ground and look out for me. i feel horrible, he's in that i-feel-like-crap-whiny-needy-pleeeease-come-over-and-take-care-of-me zone, and i refuse to go over there because i don't want to be sick on the cruise. if it were any other week i'd gladly inhale his germs, but not right before this vacation i need so desperately... i'd make a horrible mother, wouldn't i?

* did anyone watch "shear genius" on bravo this week? it's a reality-competition show where hairstylists have to create different looks on models and then they walk the runway. in the first episode, the one stylist actually put a treasure chest full of jewels on top of his girl's head, it was a scream. yes, it will be my new addiction.

* lastly, FOR MY MAC-USING PEEPS: can you help me figure out why the mic in my computer isn't working? i tried plugging an external mic in to the USB port on my keyboard, but the mic didn't work... now when i try to use just the internal mic again, the sound isn't registering on the site i'm on (it was before). my settings say the computer's picking up sound, but it's not transmitting to this web site. are there settings i need to re-set now? i think this happened when i tried plugging my ipod into the same port once, but i forget how we fixed it 'cause that was years ago...

HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE!

Comments

[viellen]

For the mic question:
Go to System Preferences --> Sound --> Input, and select your internal microphone. This should also be where you go when you plug in a USB mic to enable it. If that doesn't work lemme know :)

[swingchickie.livejournal.com]

internal mic is selected, the bars move when i speak to show that it's "hearing" me... but when i go to singshot, it doesn't register my voice (and it used to before this). hrm.

[viellen]

Ok, so your mic works--hooray. What is Slingshot? If it's a website, and you use Safari, you can go to Safari->Reset Safari and that will work. If not, tell me what computer you use, and if Slingshot is an app and I'll help you.

[swingchickie.livejournal.com]

tried resetting safari... nuthin'. grrrrr.

i have an imac... singshot (no L in it) is a karaoke website. i wrote to them seeing if they could help, they gave me tips for windows and when i told them i have a mac, they never wrote back. figures. *chuckle*

[viellen]

Shit! I totally forgot to respond to you--sorry, I was @ work. Ok, so....a few options:

1) Keep in the back of your mind that this could actually be due to a coding error on singshot's site, and if singshot itself has a preferences section you might want to try there. That all said, the first option is to download firefox (if you don't have it already) and see if it works there. If "yes", then they may have updated the coding on their site recently and it doesn't work with Safari.

2) Follow this path on your computer...Macintosh HD (or whatever you've named your HD)-->Users-->You (your user folder)-->Library-->Preferences-->com.apple.Safari.plist. Drag that file to the trash (you don't need to empty the trash), open Safari, see if it works.

3) If your iMac is a powerpc (so a G4 or a G5), WRITE THIS DOWN: Reboot, and hold down option+apple+F+O. This brings up a weird screen with text called Open Firmware (it's lower-level software on your logic board). Type in: reset-nvram, hit enter, then type reset-all, hit enter and your computer will reboot. Basically what that does is wipe out data stored in your RAM (which you don't need, don't worry), and it resets the ports on your logic board, including resetting the connection with the microphone.

4) If your Mac is a newer Intel computer (an iMac that's new since January '06 and that looks like a 2" thick square with a metal L-shaped base), reboot and hold down option+apple+p+r. Continue to hold it until your computer reboots, then let go. This does the same thing that the "reset-nvram" command above does. It's not as specific as resetting open firmware, but there's no easy way to do that on the intel machines.

I hope none of that made your eyes spin around. Let me know if you need more help :)

[swingchickie.livejournal.com]

would you believe... none of that worked. sorry to be such a stinker! *heavy sigh*

[swingchickie.livejournal.com]

follow-up. it's semi-fixed... i bought a plug-in mic and the site recognizes it... so while it doesn't recognize my internal mic, it doesn't matter 'cause at least it's recognizing something now. :)

thanks for all your help!

[boutell.livejournal.com]

Yay song! That's a great idea, by the way.