Thanksgiving, the mag formerly known as Takuhai, and then some

Well, it was a generally good Thanksgiving. Good food (yum, cranberries! And latkes!), the usual emotional drama... and I've discovered that my cousins actually are human, and do experience hardship at times. I've always sort of idolized them due to how RICH they are (or seemed), and I thought they were blissfully ignorant immune to the kinds of things I've been through. Admittedly, everyone still has their share of problems, so I'd say I'm pretty grateful for how my life is right now: not all that exciting. It can be a good thing at times, as I'm sure many people will attest.

I did have the requisite emotional breakdown, but that's only because my period happened to fall on the same day as Thanksgiving, so I have Basketcase Excuse Alpha-01. :P Nyah! The cousins are still calling Scott "Scott Peterson" though, which bugs the hell out of me. It'd be one thing if the name were that of a celebrity or whatever, but a murderer? Ugh... not very nice.

As for shopping, my sole Hanukkah present (from Baba and my Dad: $80 total) was mostly spent on books (FY: Genbu Kaiden #1, YGO Duelist 9, 10, 11, Socrates in Love) . The Fashion Valley mall is home to a Saks, a Neiman Marcus, Coach, Tiffany's, and all those other stores I feel uncomfortable just setting FOOT in. I hated shopping there because I didn't feel right in ANY of the stores. And to shop on Black Friday is a bad idea anyway, even if (because?)  everyone else is doing it. I did see Scott's brother Ryan at Coach, and his Mom at Ann Taylor, so that was nice... even if I felt out of place in those stores. The cheapest thing at Coach was a sparkly iPod mini case for $68! As for Ann Taylor... well, much as I love their clothes, I couldn't even bring myself to look.

Oh, did I mention I got my hair dyed (one color: chocolate brown) and cut (a layered cut down to my shoulders), and my eyebrows plucked? Yes, so I'm teh mature and girly looking, now. I don't act like it all the time though... I seriously need to stop thinking so much, be more social, and not act like a cat. ;_; ANYWAY!

Mostly, what I want for the holidays:
* To be with my friends
* To spend some time with mom
* To stuff my face with good food (spritz cookies! yams! hot cocoa with marshmallows!)
* BOOKS! Or Borders gift certificates...
* A cashmere sweater and scarf (Target has some for only $40/sweater, and... much cheaper for the scarf. Can't remember how much, but teh yum!)

I should be getting my first Xmas-present-to-self soon: my Shonen Jump/Jan 2006 with the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon! No, I don't have anyone to play, but maybe I should change that. Sure, socializing with 10 year old boys isn't my idea of  making friends, but there's bound to be the odd female duelist, duelist-who's-also-an-anime-fan, or an older duelist-with-a-brain that I can meet... somewhere, somehow. And learning to drive might help me go further to hobby stores or sneak previews.

Speaking of anime and manga, I finally got my first issue of Takuhai... er, "MANGA" magazine. Tokyopop has slowly been slipping off my radar, what with how they're releasing mostly obscure titles/artists at a slow pace. And this magazine causes me to think: just what is "manga", anyway? I really don't like the idea of non-Japanese people trying to mock their favorite manga-ka's style, inventing their own style, messing around in Photoshop, and calling the end result "manga." And God forbid the word "Ani-manga" spread beyond the borders of our not-so-fair nation. I highly respect people that can draw so well as to garner Tokyopop's attention, but it shouldn't be touted as manga when it's far from professional. There are spelling errors, shoddy sound effects, and much less detail than real manga-kas-- even if the artists use screen tones, Deleter pens, and the works. I feel like I'm being prejudiced, but... well, "manga" is a Japanese word, a Japanese creation! You can't fake it! That would be like doujinshi-ka calling themselves manga-ka, when they know they're not! Even if American (or other nations) create their own stories in the Japanese manga style, I don't think it's manga...

Other stuff:
I'm participating in both the dmhgficexchange and the yuugiouxmasfic this Christmas; I have my assignments for both, but afaik, I don't have any submitting to do until December. That might be different for the YGO exchange, if only because there are themed "weeks" in which each week, a gift fic (according to the requester's "rules") should be submitted in line with the theme... I'm kind of confused on that, and whether I've missed the first week.

I've been emailing this person (Phyllis) who is an Azureshipper fan; I tried explaining to her that the "comics" she saw of Seto and Anzu were not official, that they were "doujinshi" or fan comics, and that the Yu-Gi-Oh series (anime and manga) has ended without ANY canon pairings whatsoever. And Phyllis acted like I'd told her there was no Santa Claus or something: she whined, bitched, complained, and insulted me. And she managed to do so while misspelling three words in a single sentence. I don't know if she's going to email me again, and frankly, I'd rather she didn't. I hate lame people like that...

( Read our last exchange )

There's a code glitch in phpFanbase, which is what BEA is running on. I don't know if anyone else is using that script or its spinoff, phpClique, but if so, I'd recommend heading over to CodeGrrl.com to keep up-to-date with the codes and fixes that Sasha and Co. put out.

And finally, this whole thing with Scott. I might as well just say what's been stressing me on and off...
( I'm sure a guy loves knowing he's the cause of my zits. )

Rawr.

I am now the proud owner of a Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon! Whoo! rhapsody_dragon, get ready to duel! My dragon deck is getting an official overhaul now, and I'm gonna pwn you! And I can't wait till next month, when I get Exchange of the Spirits and I can make either an Isis deck or an Egypt deck!

And I've also gotten into the Christmas spirit at last-- I suppose it makes sense, given that things are going pretty good, it's freezing cold, and I want presents. :P So I want everyone to point me in the direction of Seto x Anzu Christmas fics so I can make a post on setoanzulove and at Blue Eyes and Apricots. So far, I know of two submitted on yuugiouxmasfic:
* From Socks to Shoelace-tan
* From Mickle to Socks
But the second one isn't all that Christmas-themed...

What else? I might not have done 100% as well on my Japanese test this morning, but I did get my letters of recommendation for both Waseda and Tokiwa; I have to get Blumenkrantz's letter for Tokiwa, finish up my essays, have Hirota-sensei check them out before Dec. 8th, and then have them turned in and ready by then! ^_^v I'm getting all excited!

I think I did well on my mythology exam today, even though I missed 2 classes within the past week or so. But I guess I'm just well-versed in mythology, so I'm not too worried about missing much on the exams. They're always so easy...

( I'm walkin' in a spider web... )

Another email exchange: smrffers might know about the people that dare to write sequels to the infamous Sexylyon's SEXY (of course) "Interlude" Usagi x Mamoru first season hentai. It was one of the best fics I've ever read (when I first read it), even if upon re-reading, some parts were purple enough to color my world. Nonetheless, even when people get permissions to write said sequels, taking the original author's so-called style and mocking it is enough to peeve me into next week. And when fangirl Japanese is thrown in? Ugh...

( The fic: Togewonuku. The author: Arashinobara Jikkankakyoku. As if that doesn't tell you everything right there. )

I have the opportunity to go to Egypt next summer... whether or not the whole Japan Study Abroad thing pans out. I think it'd be a great opportunity to get additional travel in, though it does cost $2747, which is likely the bulk of my financial aid check for either Spring 2006 or Fall 2006. But it's only a $95 reservation, and if I really wanted to pull that off, I could, especially with some sucking up to my mom (^^;) Alas, the cost DOES NOT include:
* $570 room supplement if 23 years of age or you turn 23 before or during the tour (huh?)
* non-cruise lunches, beverages, and tips (estimated at $125 per person)
* private bus fee (depending on the size of the group, up to $145)
* CSUN tuition and fees (paid for, no worries there)
* mandated travel insurance and books (only applies to students earning 6 units of credit).

Well, of course I would want to earn the 6 units of credit; 3 from the Independent Study unit in Spring (would bring my total up to 18 units, just under my cap of 15. I don't know what the course would count for-- maybe upper division something-or-other?) and 3 from the tour in Summer.

Anyway, I have to think about tomorrow... er, a dialogue for memorization for Lesson 9 (memorize in the morning, like always), and possibly a critique to do for Creative Writing (which I can do during the break up in collaboratory; I can bring my laptop to work on my PowerPoint and Study Abroad essays as well, since it's an hour and a half long break... if/when I need to print, I can just email it to myself or something, unless Scott gives me back my flashcard by tomorrow).

Finally, sometimes after the insanity dies down this week (likely Thursday or later), I'm planning on:
* Updating WikiFic with more of Viz's insane translation (and other) errors from the latest Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist volumes, plus Millennium World Vol. 1
* Making a winter-themed layout for whatever I feel like (BEA or Dragonfayth)
* Posting Girl's Club (Seto x Anzu; #11: gardenia) for 30kisses, along with the tentatively titled Red/Like A Virgin (#19: red).
* Making some more edits to WDKY22 and seeing if luvinaoshi and any other beta volunteers have anything to say about it...