It was hell getting there, but the food was good...

( one wedding and a lot of getting lost )

We finally left the wedding around 10 to 10pm, and headed back to the hotel-- but I ended up staying up till midnight watching Home and Garden TV and the Food Network. X_X I need cable! Dad woke me up the next morning around 8:15... I was still zonked and everything, but we had to get going for the brunch at Dan's house. Dad had to take care of this confusion with the room, and everyone was leaving... plus getting directions to the house again was a pain in the ass, since Dan refused to give us an exact address! ;_; AUGH! Plus Kathleen took forever again, so we were somewhat late, and I missed my chance for this boat ride-- er, ferry ride. They have this MOAT in the friggin' gated community where they live. And it looked like a HUUUUGE mansion on the outside, but the entryway is just really high-- only 3 bedrooms, one floor... really nice space though. They even have a fountain with goldfish in it!

Anyway, I didn't get my chance to go on the boat or whatever, but I did get some clothes from Shaina, including this cute lacy top... ^_^ We left around 1pm or something... this time, we knew how to get out! Before, we'd wandered around the entire gated comminity because the gate guard was whack and gave us this strange address number, so we went ALL the way around. We wouldn't have even found the place if I hadn't spotted Joyce (my aunt)'s SUV with the UCLA (Erin's school) Mom on the front, not to mention the Water Polo (sport that both Erin and David do/did) license cover.

Kathleen drove for the majority of the drive... I sprawled out on the backseat in this weird position made only slightly better by my dress acting as a shade and the clothes Shaina gave me acting as a pillow. We stopped in Pleasanton to go to In-N-Out-- the birds there are very finicky, you know? Dad drove the rest of the way back into the city... I came home, took a nap, and now, here I am. X_X I'm still pretty tired though, so I might just go back to sleep and use tomorrow to do everything-- I still have lots to do before I work Tuesday and Thursday-- and my aunt from my mom's side of the family is coming from New York (I think) with her Irish fiancee on Wednesday. X_X

And, yeah, I have to say it-- no word from Lonnie. Blah. I actually found a place with INVU fanfiction, so I want to get started on that site soon (I've already got a sort of layout and site title in mind! Whee!). Plus there's still the awards, other fics, and Archive Obscura. X_X Joy. Well, better jet now, I've ranted enough.

Animanga!

Well, at least it's better than Japlish.

REALISTIC
Hana Yori Dango - to an extent-- you've got the drama, the romance, the angst, and the hot bishies... but seriously, sometimes it stretches.

Peach Girl - incredibly realistic. Makes you want to smack people. ;)

INVU - A manhwa (not manwha!) rather than a a manga, but with a compelling (though not entirely plausible; it's on the same level as HYD) storyline and nice artwork. I wonder if the title was different in Korea though, as it's quite hard to find images from it. Besides, "INVU" is an English pun.

KareKano - So friggin' realistic (especially for Japanese schoolkids, I bet) it's great. The artwork is just gorgeous too, for both anime and manga-- and it's funny, endearing... I need to see more of this soon. Too bad the subtitles stink.

MYSTERY
The Kindaichi Case Files - real mysteries. Seriously funny, too.

Zodiac P.I. - cute, but Tokyopop's errors might detract from the experience. Looks strangely like some other shoujo artwork I've seen before.

SHOUJO
Sailormoon - I hope Tokyopop gets the rights to the new version (Shinsouban) and does it RIGHT! Maybe they should import some interns who love manga and BUY it so they can do a proper job!

Saint Tail - I still need to get the rest of the manga for this, but despite the "smushed" art style, I adore the romance and the mystery behind it all!

Cardcaptor Sakura - She IS the Master of the Clow. 'Nuff said.

Angelic Layer - I like it a lot more than Chobits, though isn't AL supposed to be straight shounen, while Chobits is Seinen? Or is it the other way around? I'm confused.

Corrector Yui - I love this! Combines technology and magic in a very stylistic way-- and it reminds me of Pretear! I wonder if I could get TP to translate that, too... *starry eyes*

???
Ranma - Romance, comedy, and martial arts. The pioneer of the genre.

Full Metal Panic - Admittedly, the manga leaves much to be desired in terms of artistic style, but the anime is fantastic, and with Fumoffu here, it's just so WHEE!

Kodocha (Kodomo no Omocha) - Romance, comedy, and angst, angst, ansgt-- all from the POV of elementary and 1st year junior high kids. It's only 10 manga long, but it's a fantastic, engaging storyline!

Real Bout High School - GIRLS KICK ASS. ;)

Battle Royale - Owns so much more than the movie, I'm sorry. Shuuya is HOTT.

X-Day - A group of people get together in order to blow up their school. One of them is a teacher. Fun. ;)

Ragnarok - I haven't checked this out yet, but the game is so enticing, I wonder what the manga is all about?

And the majority of these, namely INVU and Full Metal Panic shall be appearing in my latest site, Archive Obscura, where fanfiction NOT found ALL over the 'Net in popular archives shall be hosted. WHEE. ;)

Just had to get that all out. People, comment and tell me YOUR favorites!