I got this review for WDKY6 today:

From: Some Dumb Fanbrat
-------------------

Girl you write to long chapters sometimes.

...Do I even need to start with this one? I should really just ignore all one-liner reviews with bad grammar/spelling. I really don't get too many one-liners, but I do get plenty of reviews with bad spelling. It's kind of ironic, really.

But this pisses me off NOT because it's one line and misspells one of the most basic words of the English language (or the person was too speedy to correct themselves, or they were too lazy to correct themselves after the fact, and LOOK! I spelled the word that they misspelled --but I did it correctly, and I'm typing fast!) but because this person was complaining about the length of my chapters.

LOOK, BUSTER, I didn't ask you to sit down and read my story. You have a CHOICE. I do not run a dictatorship. My monkeys will not eat your brain if you don't read every last line of every last chapter of my fic. Some people like oneshots better. Hell, I run a Oneshot C2 community at FFnet. But this particular fic IS LONG. It has to be. Why? Because I plan on making it damn good and well-developed, and that means I actually have to TAKE TIME with the characters, the plot, and everything else in between. Yes, I tend to babble, BUT I WRITE FOR A PURPOSE.

Trust me when I encourage readers who DO like the length to stick to it, and read between the lines, because when in WDKYverse, EVERYTHING will come back to bite you on the ass. For those readers smart and nice enough to be reading this entry, here's a small sampler of facts/happenings that will have an impact or appearance in later chapters. See if you can pick the chapter it's from:

-Somebody paid for the gang's meal at a restaurant.
-The code Laroque used to open the briefcase from the Big Five had a double meaning.
-Téa spots some pictures on the mantle in Kaiba mansion.
-Seto admits he has never tried raw cookie dough.
-The club that Mai and Téa went to refers to a Brendan Fraser movie. The reason why Mai and Téa will return to it in later chapters deals with the name of the club.
-There's an Indiana Jones reference when Malik shows up and shows the Egyptian exhibit to Téa and Seto.
-Joey and Mai both have screen names that they use to talk to Seto in a chat room.

And this is just from a FEW chapters. Now imagine if I had about 3-5 references in every chapter, with 36 total chapters-- 37 if you count 7A and 7B as separate chapters. There's a LOT to work in there. I don't write references uselessly. This story is so insanely planned out, it's a wonder it doesn't just prose-ify itself. But alas, that's not how fic works. I'm sorry for being a weirdo and taking it seriously.

My chapters are long because I write NOTHING that has NO MEANING. That translates to: EVERYTHING I WRITE IS IMPORTANT. If I felt some part of the chapter or story could be cut, I would. But I don't feel that way, so I can't. My editors and betas are welcome to tell me what they think is useless, or could be compressed, or better phrased, and I listen to them. But I don't tell them everything, and even they don't know what I will cut or for what reason.

...This review just pissed me off, but I don't want to reply to the person with this long-winded rant. I don't want to say "Fine, if your attention span is akin to that of a gnat, go find some crack!fic to amuse you. My fic takes time to develop because it's NOT complete crap from my bowels after eating some bad sashimi."

Hmph.

P.S. I finished my Yuna earring... sort of. It's good, but I can't get the tassel to attach to the bottom bead + wire without there being a very obvious loop. I tried to tie the tassel's string in a knot to the wire, but it kept slipping off, so I cut it. There's a wire going through the tassel, separate from the one going through all the beads. Any ideas on how to fix it?

P.P.S

I do not like Jim Cramer. I just felt like saying "Boo-yah" because there are only 18 days left till my 21st birthday! WHOO! And I'll be in Hawaii sipping Mai Tais~

At the behest of many people, I shall also be starting on "Kaiba the Virgin Sacrifice" soon. It'll start out kind of dark (because it has to), but trust me, it'll get steamy/sexy/sensual enough to "keep your attention." I hope. *impish smile* As I said in my last post, I did work on WDKY24. Alas, it's coming along slower than I intended, if only because I keep thinking I'm writing very dryly, "telling" and not "showing." There are parts when I honestly think it needs to be more emotionally-driven, perhaps with dialogue, and yet I can't think of the right words to say. This is a long chapter already, too: I haven't finished it, and it's already 114KB! Mostly, I have left to write the final duel scene, the conclusion of the chapter (with teasers for the Next Big Arc, coming in Ch. 26), and some bits of Anubis' past, which I hope won't be too confusing/historically inaccurate.

Last night I got up to Cloister 30 in Via Infinitio, and all the Elder Drakes ramming themselves into the walls (migraine, much?) keep scaring me off. I just run past them, avoiding the fight... even though I need to fight one of them to get them into Shinra's Bestiary, and even if it means "fighting" them and running away X amount of times until they oversoul, I still have to face them. ;_; But they SCARE me! Isn't that stupid? I have a bunch of monsters I have yet to oversoul, and the sucky part is, I can't do it without getting all the way through Via Infinitio. That's the only way to get 100% in the game: beat Trema and Paragon. But the reward for doing so is The End garment grid, which lets you Break Damage Limit... which I totally need. Obviously, the problem is, I'd like to Break Damage Limit BEFORE I have to face those guys... otherwise it'll just be me going back and forth, saving and praying I don't get pwned by a Mega Tonberry or whatnot. I need to know what GGs and DSes to equip (plus accessories) so I can level up faster (they're all at 58-60 now) and be confident enough to take some more fiends on. It's been a while since I've played though, but being so close to the ending, I really want to beat the game at 100%! I hate how all the guides make it seem so easy to beat Via Infinitio, though! :P

So if it was "Miss Independent" running around in my head before (a total Mai x Jounouchi song if there ever was one), now it's "Just Missed the Train," which has inspired me for something for 30kisses, particularly theme #25: fence. It's annoying though, because like I mentioned before, I have all those other 30kisses submissions sitting on my computer at home, they're just unfinished because I can't think of how to end them... well, except for Kaiba the Virgin Sacrifice, but I have to be in the right frame of mind to sit down and write that without turning into some sort of tomato!

I'll get around to writing it later, maybe at work. I have my flash drive with me, so I can save it on there and not worry about it.

So, why are all the weird people on MySpace? I mean, there are non-weird people on there, but today I just got a message from someone who says he and his girlfriend are interested in trying out a threesome, and if I'm interested... My face goes: o_O; (okay, I'm totally NOT pulling an Usagi Kou here and taping an emoticon to my face. But you get the picture). Does anybody READ the profiles on MySpace? I'm "in a relationship" or whatever the hell you wanna call it, and even though I'm bi, I won't just hop into a bed with 2 people I don't know and trust because THEY need to add some spice in their love life!

o_o; Geez.

In other news, I'm going to San Diego this weekend. I know my last Amtrak adventure was harrowing (very late trains and the like), but I'm going to hope that it was just a one-shot thing... in any case, my train leaves Chatsworth around 8:40pm or so on Friday night, so I can either ask Zack to take me there straight after work, or I can go home with my grandparents and let them take me. Last time I liked having them there, because the train was very late, and it was extremely cold out. I liked being able to get in the car and warm up while I waited for the train. Chatsworth is an outdoors station, and it's the porn capital of the world, so creepy people are always lurking about...

I'm going because this weekend and next weekend are mine and Scott's only chances to see each other before he goes to Belize and I go to Hawaii. It feels like we've been seeing each other often, but realistically, it's only a few times each month. After living with him for so long, I never thought I'd be able to survive not seeing him for such a long stretch of time, but I'm managing. I have moments when I really wish he was with me, but for now, things are okay. I only hope that wherever life takes him, I can be with him sooner rather than later. :)

And now for more crazy stuff: I have to finish my Gilman application, the Bridging scholarship application, and now I have to send a Financial Aid Award letter (via fax) to the NSEP people in Washington. Which means I have to pressure mom a bit more (already talked to her last night) about the letter of Dependent Verification (which I sent out this morning) which she has to mail back to me with a copy of both mine and her tax returns (she'll do it electronically for me, and have the gov't deposit it automatically in my bank account. Sweet!). I won't be able to get that Award letter until I give all the stuff from mom to school... probably. I should check with them anyway. In any case, the stuff for school is due within 3 weeks, and the award letter I have to fax to NSEP is due by the 31st. YIPES!

What else? I worked a lot on WDKY24 last night; I kind of got inspired for this particular scene that is essentially dropping a big piece of sticky candy in the middle of an anthill. I'm eager to see if anyone will pick up on it (call it a "hidden" piece of candy). Still Anubis' backstory is a tough thing to tackle, but with Kysra's help and some good research, I think I can make this work relatively "realistically" (for the WDKYverse, anyway).

I also FINALLY managed to get the style I got from _premadelayouts to work for my Friends' page, but many things are still out of place, and I'm not sure how to rearrange them so they ARE in place. Is there a way I can make that style public so other people can go "oh, you have your %%blahblah%% variable in the wrong place, which is why your username is way off to the right, and your entries are all indented 20 pixels"? (Also, think anyone can help me with that?)

I got a $20 Amazon certificate from StartHereGoPlaces.com after a survey I took, which is nice. I thought I wouldn't get it, since I'm not a business major (and that was what the survey was about), but I still did, so I'm getting the last 3 books in the Mediator series by Meg Cabot, and a book in the Elements of Fiction Writing series (which I'm sorta re-reading at the moment) called Description. I was thinking about buying all the Princess Diaries books I'm missing (Volumes 4-7, including the 4.5 "Princess Project"), but I decided against it-- there's so many, and Amazon sure made it confusing by offering the British versions, too! @_@

AAAAAAAAAND I got Volume 2 of Yu-Gi-Oh! R in the mail from Sagusa Books. How come I've never heard of them before? They're great! :D I realize Jenniyah is already scanlating (crappily, but still scanlating) YGO!R, so souten_scans won't be taking that on in the forseeable future. But I'm still waiting on dm_san to get back to me with whether or not our groups will work together for the scanlations of the Gospel of Truth, since she already has very HQ scans that would save us a lot of time and unnecessary effort.

I'm getting my hair done tomorrow-- a partial weave of highlights (as suggested! ^_~), I still need a wireless card, to do some cleaning, and now catch up on reading for Women Writers of Asia, because if I post *something* on the short story we were supposed to have read by yesterday, it's better than nothing. I also have to revise my English essay and try and get it to my professor before 7pm tonight. So much to do, and yet... I'm not too stressed. Let's just see if I can remember it all!

In trying to write WDKY24, I have come across two major blocks:

(1) Anubis' real history. Who is he really, where did he come from, how did he get his powers the first time, and who was behind bringing him to Japan THIS time? What's his grudge against the Pharaoh, anyway? Why does he look so different, and yet he's familiar with Sphinxes, Pyramids, and other Duel Monsters? How would he fit into the AE saga, anyway?

(2) How the hell did Yami Yugi even beat Anubis when:
a) He didn't have Double Spell, he had Diffusion Wave-Motion in his hand
b) the Pyramid of Light card in the movie DOES NOT chain to Andro Sphinx and Sphinx Teleia to destroy them when it is destroyed, the way it does in the TCG
c) Kaiba tried the same method of destroying the PoL with the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon, and it didn't work?
d) Freakin' Theinen had 35,000 ATK points! Not even Noa's Shinato had that much!

Well, so I filled in the plot holes. My obvious answers, that you should expect from WDKY24 without much fanfare:
a) Yugi actually DID have Double Spell in hand. He did not have DWM.
b) The Sphinxes, whose cards were NOT shown clearly in the movie, will have the sub-text/requirement of being destroyed whenever the PoL is destroyed/removed from the field.
c) That'll get explained. :}
d) Math. Lots of it. (Moi? But yes, I did it, and IT WORKS!)

I'm actually kind of proud of myself. Now if only I could WRITE the damn chapter instead of scribbling notes!

Whee! That pesky mySQL (my Sequel? That's how the guys at ITR say it. I've always called it "my Es-Cue-El.") error that was essentially ruining Blue Eyes and Apricots has been solved. ;_; It was all my fault too, for trying to include the config.php unnecessarily. I also didn't check where the paths led, so I fixed them so they led to the right place in the Enthusiast admin panel. Hopefully everything will work smoothly from here on out. I removed the flags modification, too. :P

I've still got to figure out how the affiliates images directory works, but in the meantime, the BEA affiliates still show up on the side bar, which I can edit at any time, should someone/someplace else wish to affiliate.

And I was ( thinking about WDKY24+ )

I was feeling a bit generous earlier, and I think I might do something nice for some people, so long as they notice this... hopefully not JUST for this, but you know. I'll make a complete moodset with up to 5 extra "moods" (for the ones LJ doesn't have, like "evil" and such) for the first person who requests it, with a specific theme to it-- that is, Yuugi Mutou from Yu-Gi-Oh, or eLouai-style Ryou Bakura. Also helpful would be size specification, preference as to file type (can do JPG, GIF for animations, or PNG), and whether or not you want text on the moodset. Especially helpful is if you have preference toward anime or manga, mixed bag, etc. If you have a SOURCE of images you'd like to use, or particular images per theme, please include them.

Note: I would publicly share this moodset, but it would essentially be made per-request. You need to have a Paid or Permanent (or Early Adopter, but I don't think anyone who's an EA is on my FL!) account to use a custom mood theme. You can read the LJ FAQ to find out how to install it.

I will NOT:
-do an entirely animated set
-do moods that are over 100x100 in size
-do moods that contain graphic or explicit content (because anyone can see the moods, even if YOUR journal is FO)

I have already made one mood theme, the one in use by rhapsody_dragon, of Seto Kaiba. In turn, she made me my mood theme, of Anzu Mazaki. :)

First come, first serve. I'll do no more than 3 mood sets, assuming I can handle that much within the next week. But the first one will be the one I start and complete before I start the 2nd or 3rd ones.

Weirdness of the day
Today was a great day, in terms of work. I got to work for 2.5 hours at the online pickup room (which we're now calling the "peacock room" because of how one of the onliners pronounces "pick-up"; it's very cute) which I enjoy very much, because I'm alone, I can eat, drink, and surf LJ. :D I rarely have any problems whatsoever.

I also deposited both my paycheck AND my financial aid check (which I got today!) in my checking account, so that should hit tomorrow. And for once, I don't have some insane urge to go out and buy something. I had enough money to buy a new Duel Pass since several days ago, but MEH! Why should I? I didn't feel like it. I won't go and buy a new PS2 and a mod chip with installation service; I'll wait until the PS3 comes out, and I'll buy THAT! (I wonder if the controllers are cross-compatible? I don't like the shape of the new controllers. Too N64-y.) I will be buying my textbooks, of course, but that's usual of me-- and I'll get a 10% discount! :D I should also buy Grandpa a CSUN hat and myself a nice kelly green CSUN tee (or hoodie? Which to pick!?) while I'm at it.

I do want some DVDs, though-- the Back to the Future trilogy, the Phantom of the Opera movie (2004)...

The weirdness started (of course) when I got online earlier tonight; cs_kasumi was reporting that slytherinjolie was plagiarizing slyfatale (not sure if that's an LJ name). And then, not hours later, cs_kasumi revealed that she WAS slytherinjolie! What the hell?! I don't get it. I really don't.

Oh, this isn't weird, but I have to share: The Greatest Story You've Never Read. I kid you not. It is for story writers and readers everywhere. ^^ Just go and read it.

Psueside? If it made it to fandom_wank (NEVAH FORGET!), it's genuine wank-gold! Apparently limeybean faked her own LJ death. This is what freaked me out about missandrony's post earlier; I wasn't sure whether it was real or not. I have a lousy sense of humor, see. I knew the whole cappuccino-machine-implant was ridiculous, but cute and funny... but I was never one to take jokes about death lightly. And I'm not even from one of those mass fandoms where I'm some sort of BNF and everyone knows my name! (Some people. Maybe. ^_~)

Anyway, I don't see the point. Pathetic cries for attention are just that-- pathetic. If you can't get attention where you want, seek it somewhere else where you're more likely to be received. Either that or get a personality makeover, because some things don't carry well no matter where you are. Sometimes it really "is not you, it's me" and by "me" I mean the speaker, which is you. (Did that make sense? In other words, don't be afraid of changing yourself. There are sometimes when you shouldn't have to, by any means, but honestly? No one can get along with everyone, so everyone has to adapt at some point.)

Apparently this is a pretty wide-spread thing, because there exists fake_lj_deaths. o_o You have to join to really get the funny going, but still!

I wonder what would be considered a more embarrassing incident-- getting railed and humiliated on fandom_wank (if you know, you'll go) or on LJDrama.org?

Change of topic...
Ugh, this is what I get for not paying attention to f_w for a while. Where did 'O RLY?' come from? (and the requisite children, 'YA RLY!' and 'CHO RLY?') And why does it always have to do with Hedwig (or grotesque versions of Hedwig with MULTIPLE SETS OF TEETH)!?

Oh, and Baba and Grandpa bought me "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Season 2" at Wal-Mart last week; I've been watching it on and off ever since. Now that I've been paid, I shall pay them back as promised. :D But teh yay for Lois x Clark! Makes me want to read nFic. Mmm, nFic.

Everyone is coming over tomorrow or Saturday (my dad being on Saturday) because of Baba's big birthday shebang-bang. Hopefully it'll be fun, without the usual drama-rama that family brings. The house has been totally cleaned up, minus the cleaning lady who was SUPPOSED to come to day, but she pulled a Houdini ('cept without the scantily clad assistant, the newspaper coverage, and such). I'm going to work from 12:00-6:30 tomorrow, my first "full" shift deserving of a lunch break tomorrow. Methinks I'll walk the block and a half to Papa John's and get myself Pizza, because I'm getting damned sick of pre-packaged tuna salad sandwiches and iced tea. :P

Okay, so I managed to kinda-sorta-not-really figure out what's going on with the images for Azurelist, my very boring (as of this moment)-looking collective. Eventually I'll get a spiffy layout up, and it'll essentially link to all my sites, all the fanlistings I own (all of ONE at the moment), all the affiliates I have for all my sites (can be broken down if they're affiliates of an FL of mine) and fanlistings I've joined. I'll have to go to all those FLs and notify them of the change of URL...

But the stupid thing is, even if I've got the images showing up in Azurelist, they're not showing up in e3, the admin panel for the whole Enthusiast 3 script. I cannot figure out why. If I change one root path to work one place, it doesn't work someplace else. Why can't the damn install file be a bit more explicit about what path goes where, and what the format should be? When should it be /home/username/public_html/... and when should it be http://www.something.net?

Here's the confusing bit:
(1) You can go to Settings in the admin panel and change the path for the installation path, the root path (Web), the root path (Absolute), the Affiliates Images Directory (collective), the Joined images directory, and the Owned images directory. I changed the latter 3 to just plain affiliates/, joined/, and owned/, but while they show up in Azurelist, they don't show up in the Management section of the install (e3).

(2) For individual fanlistings, you can go to Owned, Edit, Database, and head to the Affiliates section, and select the Move Directory radio button. It says this: Please don't forget the trailing slash; this folder (absolute path, i.e., /home/user/public_html/images/) must have proper permissions set (i.e., must be CHMODed to 777). Well, like I mentioned before, there are two places where there is the affiliates folder. In the individual fanlisting folder (bea/affiliates) and in the collective folder. But it's having the same problem as above. o_o I don't know what to change it to! It keeps on trying to pull the images from http://www.seventh-star.net/e3/owned/2_ceruleansan_88x31a.gif when the image is really at http://www.seventh-star.net/azurelist/owned/2_ceruleansan_88x31a.gif. But I don't know where that e3 root path is coming from, except for the 'Installation path' which is SUPPOSED to be at e3... I think. AUGH!

Does anyone know what I could do? (Aside from copy/pasting the folders... a temporary, and annoying solution)

Tagged by seeshellirun( Memes to distract me from what I should be doing )

TAG!
atlantian_magic
guardian_kysra
rhapsody_dragon
schmollieollie

I'm looking forward to working more on WDKY, but I realize I should probably try and find some episodes online. I don't care if their dub or if some amazing person actually had the mojo and time to sub the original Japanese episodes... but I can't handle raws. Anyone know where I can go? GetItFido takes forever to load (if it loads at all).

I'm still confused about this whole metric system thing. I must have asked this a bazillion times, and I know I never would have left the chapter completely unconverted. I shouldn't be so much of a nitpicker, but I am. After all the conversions this silly sugar cookie recipe has been through, I doubt it could make a tasty batch after all. But that's what suspension of belief is for, right?

In any case, here's my main question:
What is used for DRY measure in the metric system? I've heard grams, I've heard mL and Liters, and I've heard metric tablespoons. Supposedly there's even a metric cup! I'm finding all this conflicting information though, so I would just like to know what metric folks have in their kitchens.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but grams is for weight, right? Ergo, if I had X amount of flour measured in grams, it would NOT be the same amount of brown sugar, right (in grams), because flour is lighter than brown sugar, yes? An equivalent WEIGHT of brown sugar would likely mean a SMALLER amount... if I've got this right.

So here's the recipe (sugar cookies):
1 1/2 cups sugar <--> 287.5 mL (should this be in grams?)
2/3 cup shortening or butter <--> 153 grams
2 eggs <--> SAME
2 tablespoons milk <--> about 30 mL
1 teaspoon vanilla extract <--> about 5 mL
3 1/4 cups flour <--> about 323 mL (should this be in grams?)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder <--> 11.5 grams
1/2 teaspoon salt <--> 2.47 mL or 3.04 grams (which should this be?)

Now, do my conversions (done at http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/cookingconversions.asp, thanks guardian_kysra!) make sense? Would someone in a "metric kitchen" have the spoons, dry measure cups/spoons, and liquid measure cups/spoons to measure things like this?

I haven't done review replies in a while, and you might think that because I have the ability to use FFnet's new Review Reply option, I would take advantage of it. However, the thing with the FFnet Review Reply is that they are private, not posted anywhere on the site. With these, not only can you see which reviews I took special notice of, but which ones asked pertinent enough questions for me to answer. As always, keep your eyes peeled for interesting information or secret spoilers!

Note: I do not post all reviews that I receive here; only the ones that I feel I should reply to. For all reviews, I do NOT edit them for content/spelling/etc. in any way.

For lengthier reviews, I will insert my commentary where appropriate. The actual review will resume in italicized text.

If more reviews come in for this (or any older) chapter(s), then I will respond to them at the BOTTOM of this page, and indicate a “last updated” section here at the TOP. If there is no LAST UPDATED area, that means this post has not changed since the original post date.

( Chapter 21 Review Replies )

I haven't done review replies in a while, and you might think that because I have the ability to use FFnet's new Review Reply option, I would take advantage of it. However, the thing with the FFnet Review Reply is that they are private, not posted anywhere on the site. With these, not only can you see which reviews I took special notice of, but which ones asked pertinent enough questions for me to answer. As always, keep your eyes peeled for interesting information or secret spoilers!

Note: I do not post all reviews that I receive here; only the ones that I feel I should reply to. For all reviews, I do NOT edit them for content/spelling/etc. in any way.

For lengthier reviews, I will insert my commentary where appropriate. The actual review will resume in italicized text.

If more reviews come in for this (or any older) chapter(s), then I will respond to them at the BOTTOM of this page, and indicate a “last updated” section here at the TOP. If there is no LAST UPDATED area, that means this post has not changed since the original post date.

I will be posting Chapter 20 and 21 Review Replies shortly after this entry; Chapter 22 was just posted on FFnet earlier today. Thanks so much for your continued support, and feel free to comment on this entry to respond to any review or one of my review replies!

( Chapter 19 Review Replies )

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!)

zOMG Happy Birthday kitesareevil, sleep_alone, and ohsupervinchan!

Sorry for the belated wishes, Grace + 'Niichan!

WHEW! I've uploaded *all* of my SxA stories (except the ones that I mentioned need revisions, and the ones I have not released/formatted yet) to Dragonfayth :: The Premiere Seto Kaiba x Anzu Mazaki Fanfiction Archive. Get going! Spread the word! Join the site, submit your own fics! *puppy eyes* Please? There's also a Christmas Challenge there, so if you need a kick of inspiration, check it out!

I'm also satisfied with the edits and additions I've made to WDKY22, so I'm going to post this semi-revised version up at Betasquad as we speak... please, any willing editors/pre-readers, etc. check it out (it's actually just a link, because apparently phpBB can't handle a 96K chapter. Yes, it's that long)! luvinaoshi and an_ardent_rain! (I doubt either of them will look here, but if they do... *crosses fingers*)

More Dragonfayth mods?
Well, I'd like to get a characters page up, even though I assume that everyone posting will be familiar with the main cast and characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! Nonetheless, not everyone knows who Miho is, or that Kaiba was once minty-fresh in the Toei animation. Plus I'd like to shed some light on the lesser-known characters, or characters I may not have included on the original list. Please check the list out and point out anyone I'm missing, okay? I'm still contemplating whether or not to include the Yami no... characters, though. If you want to give me good reasons, go right ahead! I'm all ears.

What else? I'm re-reading mischiefmagnet's "The Night Before" for the fourth time. ^^ It's such a fantastic fic, and I sincerely hope she updates it soon (and posts it to DRFA! /plug)

And... well, it's almost time to go "home" to San Francisco. Eva and I will probably be leaving on the 17th or 18th, so MAYBE I'll be able to catch some of JTAF. Still, I don't think there's any way that I'll run into that girl I was emailing (apparently a fan of mine who's coming down to SF from Piedmont for JTAF. Hey, staplerx and god_101, if anyone mentions "psychotic fanfiction writer" or "Mer" or some derivative thereof, could you take a message for me? ^_~), because she's only going to be there on the 17th...

On top of that, today was the last day for Creative Writing class. I can't say I learned SOOO MUCH and it was a life-changing experience, but it was a lesson in writing and finding skills I didn't know I have. My weakness is that I can't shut up (as people are so fond of pointing out when I post particularly long entries or fics), and I couldn't shorten my fiction submission, "Goodbye, Hello, Who Are You?" (a DDR fanfiction, if you want me to be honest). But I met a lot of fun people, and I hope I stay in touch with them while I'm at CSUN.

...And then there's Scott. He's graduating and moving back to San Diego. Sure, it's not Japan or some other foreign country, but it's 150 miles away or so, 2 hours by car, and 4 hours by train. And if this stupid fear of driving (and lack of ability to practice with anyone) keeps holding me back, when would I get to see him? I hate feeling dependent on anyone, especially Scott, who I feel has done so much for me. I know he might come up to make visits and so forth... not just to see me, but to see Brett and Derek and everything, but... <_< Well, it wouldn't be the same, I don't think. We don't really have a relationship. I've called him my boyfriend to people who have asked, just because it'd be too awkward to explain the details. Except for today, when, at my last hand therapy appointment, one of the therapists asked "So, is he your boyfriend or your friend?" and I said (evasively, but with a dopey grin on my face) "aaah, a little bit of column A, a little bit of column B..." (this was when Scott was not in the room, obviously). I've been crying and worrying a lot lately. There was a lot of stress yesterday when Baba and Grandpa went to the doctor's unexpectedly at 9am, right as I was waking up. They didn't come back by 9:30am, so I walked to school. My VComm class was canceled that day, so I called the house to tell Baba, or maybe ask for a ride home. No one answered. I freaked out. I called again as I started to leave campus, 15 minutes later... still nothing. I walked home, paranoid the whole half hour that something had happened, and I had no way of getting ahold of anyone to find out if they were okay. I have to be honest-- it's not all roses and sweets here. Yes, I have it good, living with my grandparents off campus, not having to worry about rent or utilities or food. It's nice having people who somewhat understand me and CARE, plus... they're amusing! I have so much of what I want, and everything that I need. But I'm also placed in an awkward position of responsibility, to look after a pair of elderly people that don't seem to really need my help (at least for anything beyond carrying water in from the trunk of the car). Nonetheless, if something were to happen to them, what would I do? I don't mean if Grandpa had a heart attack-- I know CPR, I know how to react in an emergency. I'm not sure whether or not I would be scared/nervous and gung-ho, but I could handle it. But if either one of them died, what would happen to whoever was left... and me? I don't want to think about either of them dying, even if it is one of life's great inevitabilities. But... I talked to my mom, and she's right, I do have to talk to them. What do I do in case of an emergency or a tragedy? Who do I call? If something HAS happened to them, what can I do? I can't always rely on Scott to come over. I don't need to be taken care of, exactly, but I don't want to be going off the wall with worry and being upset all by myself. Anyway, with all this that I've got on my mind (a final due on Monday; no classes; 3 finals on Wednesday, only 2 of which actually merit intense studying; money issues, etc.) I think I better take my chance now and go to sleep... I do have class in 7 hours. *sigh*