Happy Birthday Hayao Miyazaki!

It's Miyazaki night over in Northridge... actually, all over the world. Today (er, yesterday, as of 20 minutes ago PST) is Hayao Miyazaki's birthday, so Turner Classic Movies channel is showing Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. I already watched the latter; about to watch the former. I've seen Princess Mononoke before, in both English and Japan, but it's always great to see Miyazaki movies, over and over. I can't wait until Howl's Moving Castle comes out on DVD-- it's already out in Japanese/Japan DVD. I also want to read the original book of HMC, and the sequel, too!

In other news, I'm searching for a private loan (or something) to fund my potential Study Abroad. I know it's stupid to try and take out a bunch of loans, but I need a "guaranteed" source of funding; I can't put "scholarship" money down because I'm not guaranteed to get it. Study Abroad students for Japan (and I'm the only applicant from CSUN!) can get a grant from the Japanese government once they're accepted, but as I said, there's no guarantee.

So I've looked at MyRichUncle.com, but I don't think Japanese schools are covered. So I went to edvisors.com; there are a bunch of private lenders that use them as a secure redirection source. It looks like no matter what, I'll have to get a co-signer (I'd like it to be grandpa, since I don't trust my mom or dad's credit), but I still have to find out if my address and employment information will be invalidated just because I haven't lived here in Northridge or been employed at any one place for a 2 year minimum.

All this confusion aside, does anyone know of any other sources of money I can look into for an $8,100 payment for Study Abroad?

Also, I had this random idea... kind of stupid, but hey, who knows who'll be into it? Kind of a girl's only thing, though. So I've always been very much into fashion and makeup, but more from the outsider's POV than someone who knows every brand name, ingredient, etc. One of my favorite books back when I used to want to be a fashion designer is "Color Me Beautiful" (dorky, I know), but it really reveals a lot about how your hair, eye color, complexion, etc. can determine your best colors. But of course, it's kind of dated. I keep up with some fashion magazines, and I could easily combine what I know now with the great tips from the books. There are four seasons (Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer) that apply to people of varying complexions, hair styles/types, and colors. Add that to the latest trends for fashion and makeup, and I could have a pretty comprehensive feature article right here on LJ.

Anyone interested? ^_~ I'd post info on each season- 30 colors that suit the season best, what fabrics/styles are best for certain body types/frames, today's trends, and so forth. I could make it a four-parter, for simplicity's sake.

( Memes. Don't trust them. They're just for fun. )

I also posted recently to fanficrants about the "Millennium Tauk." In short: there is no such thing. It's a bad romanization. You can read the rant and the full details over at the comm, but you can also check out this image I scanned in from the Gospel of Truth... The kana on the left side (bold text) says "Sennen TAUKU no mitoo seshi chikara" which means "The power of the Millennium TAUKU is that of prediction/seeing into the future."

Now, the kanji is that of the word meaning "necklace" but the katakana beside it, for the word 'torque/torc' is wrong. It should be TORUKU. And just because Takahashi spelled it that way in the manga does NOT make it "canon." It's like claiming that "cannon" = "canon" because you spelled it that way in your book. NO! Even in Japanese, a misspelling is a misspelling. I don't think Takahashi intended it; most Japanese wouldn't know what a torque is, anyway (do you? It's a kind of necklace. But then again, DUH!) hence the use of the "necklace" kanji. And loan words from other languages are always tricky when it comes to Japanese kana-izing, and eventual romanization (back) into English.

But please, people... call it a necklace, or call it a torque/torc. Not a TAUK. There's no such thing.

...And such.

Okay, so I finally got around to updating the eFiction archive on Animanga Collision. I've decided to scrap the idea of separate sites, and just work everything together under the masthead of Animanga Collision. It's cute, it's old school, and it's going to have tons of stuff. So far, there aren't too many anime or manga listed, but that'll obviously change as I remember what I know about everything. I don't aim for AMC to be the end-all, be-all site for every anime or manga I've ever been in... and there will be games there as well, such as FFX, Star Ocean 2, and so forth.

It's planned to only be a one-person site; that is, I'll be the only author there. There's already wide-open archives out there, though I'm open to other people signing up and commenting/reviewing, or possibly in the future, submitting rants and essays. I'll be taking care of everything else, from character profiles and data to fanfics.

Right now, I have the following "Story Types" defined, and I was wondering if anyone had any other ideas on what I might write about a fandom:
* Essays (could include things like 'ship manifestos)
* Rants
* Fanfics, including:
   * Shortfics (Oneshots)
   * Crossover Fics
   * Alternate Reality Fics
   * Fusion Fics
   * Remixes
   * Songfics

The Genres would stay the same as for Dragonfayth, but they wouldn't apply for things like Essays and Rants. The latter two categories would be placed under their fandom and in their appropriate sub-category, but again, this is a whole hierarchy I haven't quite decided on yet.

It's still buggy, because I essentially copied all the files (inc. mods) from the Dragonfayth install, and not all the database/CHMOD changes have been made. I guess I'll have to discover them as I go along. So far:
* category changes error - Same with Dragonfayth. I can't rearrange the categories, and when I try to change the category description text, I get an error: Fatal error: Call to undefined function: build_formjs() in /home/***/public_html/amc/admin/categories.php on line 156
* poll block initialization error: A fatal MySQL error was encountered. Error: (1050) Table 'amc_fanfiction_poll_votes' already exists

...And you know what? I don't like unreliable people. I know, I know, there's REAL LIFE. It sucks, it's horrible. That's why you don't make promises you can't keep. And I'm just one of those people that is very hard to please. I'm also a former nail-biter, teeth-grinder, and hair-chewer. I have this great chapter for WDKY all ready to be posted, and every single person that has said they will look it over or beta it has either forgotten about it/me or gotten so busy that they couldn't even drop me a line with a quick apology.

I'm very tempted to just post it as-is, but I'm also afraid of the backlash, because I know there are things I don't spot when I proofread my own story. So here is my desperate plea for attention, help, and a beta-reader (or two)! WDKY22 needs an editor. Any volunteers? (Link  goes to betasquad. Not a  member? Join!)

Fuck.

Don't you hate it when you go to a lot of effort for something, spend a lot of time, money, and emotional stress, and then something really STUPID fucks it all up?

It's probably not what you're thinking.

So I'm just relaxing, trying to beat Make a Star 5 in Katamari Damacy, when OOPS! my PS2 falls to the thickly-carpeted floor. No problem-- the game's still on. I pause, pick it up, and resume. Blast! Still no star. I try again, but this time, the music starts to glitch up. I worry. I reset. This time the game hardly loads. I freak. I take the disc out and clean it, and blow softly on the disc tray, just for the heck of it.

I put it back in. After a couple of tries, the game starts to work again, but it glitches partway into the intro. I still make it to the main screen, but the background looks weird. I start playing Make A Star 5 again... and again, and each time, the music glitches on me. I try to reset the game, turn the whole console off, etc.

Nothing works.

DVDs won't play, either. I tried to watch Equilibrium, and it gave me an "Unable to read disc" error.

...I paid SO much money and wasted SO much time getting my PS2 chipped. I know I could buy a PS2 for cheap right now-- hell, a slimline PS2, after I get my paychecks and the like. I could try and import a slimline Japanese PS2, though it probably wouldn't play all my US PS and PS2 discs. Or my burns, for that matter. Dammit, I want my TEH SHIT PS2! And now, this old, modded piece of junk that I've had forever is giving out on me because of a tiny drop to a plush, carpeted floor. I can't think of what to do.

I wanna cry.