MILES to GO || before I sleep

If "being productive" includes finding and organizing things on my computer, then I've been quite productive the past several hours... down here in the hostel lounge area not working on my paper. But I have finally tracked down what looks like all of the songs from the 2002-2003 CD Mehg's Anime Megamix that she gave me all those years ago. Not just found the songs on my computer (when they were marked with such lovely tags as "Unknown Album" and "Unknown Artist"), but found the titles of the songs, the artists, the original anime they hail from, and the lyrics! Considering I haven't watched half the anime the songs are from, I'm quite proud of myself.

But there are still a few problems... one's an instrumental which was listed as Track 16 on the CD (which, to my knowledge, is so horribly scratched up that no computer can import it. It's also back in the U.S. in one of my giant leather CD binders, so I couldn't import it from here even if I wanted to). I think it's from "Angel Sanctuary," but I can't be sure. Is anyone good at identifying instrumental tracks?

The second problem is that I can't seem to find Tracks 14 and 15. It might be because I didn't want to import some of them, but considering one of the songs (from Gravitation, I believe) that *IS* on here is one that perpetually annoys me, I don't think that's the case. I think what happened is, I have the artist and title already listed, but for whatever reason, I deleted the Unknown Album + date of import and the Track number. And searching for something with such little info to go on seems to be a bit of a pain, even in the all-powerful Spotlight. And without the CD, I can't know what FOR SURE was on those tracks. >_< So I'm going to hunt around and see. Alas, NONE of the songs I know are from Mehg's Anime Megamix have the Date Created info on them, so I can't use that to help me at all. Does anyone know what other things a bunch of MP3s imported from the same CD might have in common? Some sort of metadata that could help me find the missing tracks?

So it's 3:37am on Saturday here, and I'm only awake because I went to bed EARLY (I was exhausted by 8:30pm) and didn't eat dinner. Later today (which feels "technically" like tomorrow), I have to go to both the Hyaku-En (aka Daiso) and Kasumi (aka Supermarket) and get some necessities, but generally speaking I'm still yen pinching. Thankfully I only have to deposit 30,000 yen by November 27, and the rest by December 5. I think I can manage that, even if (alas), there's no payday in-between now and then. I got paid today, and I went to the post office and did a transfer, but because I had no idea if a "bank code" was my routing number (which I put) or not, they have to do the slow, probably-by-mail transfer. -_- It takes a week. But I can just go to the post office again, withdraw cash from my bank account, and then fork it over to them with the IACE invoice saying "here you go, can you make this transfer for me?" No harm, no foul.

I do have a question though: for all you Mac users, is there a BitTorrent client that lets you choose WHICH files from inside a torrent that you want to download? I'm actually trying to catch up with the NANA anime, and two currently-seeding groups are doing batch downloads. Alas, my HD ran out of space at episode 10, and Tomato Torrent didn't seem to want to let me choose which files I wanted to finish downloading (11, 12, and 13). But I don't want to re-download 1-10 again (after I burned them to DVD and then deleted them from my HD)! Maybe there's something I can do in AppleScript, or should I just look for a better client? Or will that disrupt the hash, and I would have to re-download ALL of 11-13 again, even though I already have the majority of the episodes? I tried looking for individual episode downloads from the trackers, but they don't offer them anymore-- and honestly, I am a bit picky about my subtitle standards. I'd prefer Live-eviL or Ureshii, especially since they have the most seeders, too.

Does anyone want to help me with weekly_ygo? I feel silly for asking this again, but those that volunteered before I left for Japan now have other commitments, and while I DO have regular internet access, I'm also pretty damn busy with teaching English, writing papers for all my classes, applying to SDSU, and so on. So I could use a helping hand, even if it's just someone who browses playthedamncard for updates and emails them to me. I MIGHT be able to handle the rest, but I thought I would ask anyone who has a free hour or two each week if they can help out. I will also be out of town (i.e. out of Japan/away from Internet) from Dec. 23-Jan. 2, which means I'll ESPECIALLY need help during that time, unless I put the community on suspension and resume when I have time. Demoerin said she can return in February, which is most likely true for me as well... but if anyone can help, please, please speak up!

Ah, what a day. I woke up this morning feeling like crap, namely because of the mini-migraine that had been plaguing me since the night before. It probably wasn't a good idea to eat popcorn and sugar stars (the latter being a gift from the Tokiwa High School students when we went earlier in the evening) as I watched a 5-hour "Kimi wa Petto" marathon. (And yes, it was very good. I successfully managed to burn all 10 episodes to one DVD, too, so that makes me quite happy. I don't understand why one can't make a Video-DVD -as in, pop it into your DVD player- from *.avis, but whatever.)

I ended up skipping both Japanese and Religious Studies, the latter being a bad idea just because that class is actually TWO classes, and I think this week's class was the last part of the Religious segment, and next week, we change teachers and begin the Modern Japan segment. I just wish we'd gotten to learn more about Buddhism.

I managed to get up, eat, and shower in time for Pop Culture, where we watched part of Totoro, Nausicaa, and a documentary called "Polluted Japan." Today's class was actually quite interesting, because it pointed out some of the things that may have inspired Hayao Miyazaki's stories. Totoro was probably my first anime (I didn't even know it until recently), and I'd never even seen ANY of Nausicaa before today's class. Even better, the teacher lent out all of the shows he'd shown us thus far, so maybe later I can watch the rest of the apocalyptic movie "Dragonhead."

I'm hoping both my teachers will be understanding about my missing class earlier. Winter is the season for people getting sick, and I certainly wasn't feeling WELL today. Thankfully Wednesday's not a class-heavy day; I have EC with Christine and by myself (but we're going to watch a movie in the EC with Christine), and my kanji packet due; I think that's about it.

I really want to get my butt to work on my project-- that is, the "book" talking about the Women Writers of Japan. I can either do a whole lot of focus on one aspect (writers vs. manga-ka, men vs. women, now vs. historical times, Japan vs. USA) or focus a bit on all of them. Above all else, I want it to read "easily," and not like some boring book. So I'm going to revise my proposal outline, get a "hypothesis" or "thesis" statement working, and maybe spend some time tomorrow at the International Center library, looking for resources. I guess this need to get that done coincides with my boredom... my want to read some BOOKS. Not fanfics (sorry), but BOOKS. I was thinking of buying some things off Amazon.com or Amazon.co.jp, so if you have any suggestions for fiction, non-fiction, whatever-- let me know. This is especially true if you think of any books that can help me with my research. I already know about some of Gilles Poitras' and Susan Napier's, though.

Finally, Scott emailed me tonight! Actually, I was looking at a Borders email when HIS email came, and I realized he must be online. Since I had Adium already turned on, I opened up my buddy list to see if he was there-- and he was! So despite Turkmenistan having bad connections and such, we were still able to IM each other for a few minutes, which made me feel very happy. It's true that I can't see him, hear his voice, or hold him, but... I know I will someday soon. :) I have to stay positive in that respect, and keep on learning and growing on my own. He said he sent me an *EIGHT* PAGE letter, so I'm really looking forward to that. In fact, I think I'll go check my mailbox now... just in case.

If you weren't aware, I'm a huge fan of Tsugumi Ohba's "Death Note" manga series. I knew there was a movie out, but it wasn't until tonight that I realized it was being done "Kill Bill" style, divided into 2 parts. The first part came out on June 17th, and it apparently isn't out on DVD yet (they're probably waiting for the second part to come out, so they can span it all together... unlike "Kill Bill"), but the second part is set to premiere November 3rd.

My roommate Midori professed to liking it, and after seeing the latest trailer on YouTube, I am all for having a Death Note Party and seeing the second part when it comes out in theatres. I got spoiled by the Wikipedia article regarding the fact that the manga has ended in Japan (and will soon in the States, too; I know they were up to at least Volume 7 when I left) and how it ends... sort of. But of course, movie directors can always monkey-wrench things. I don't know if they'll introduce Mello and Near into the movie, but if they don't, the movie will be a drastic departure from the manga.

And then there's the ANIME, which just started 2 weeks ago, and the next episode airs TOMORROW NIGHT (I wish I knew what channel!). Toriyama's World has done a fabulous job of subtitling them thus far, and I'm totally addicted to the opening song, "the WORLD," by Nightmare. I was amazed at how fast I downloaded the torrents from TW/AnimeSuki; less than 10 minutes for 2 episodes!

And then there's Yu-Gi-Oh. I can get the Japanese dubbed version of the movie (Hikari no PYRAMID) *AND* the legendary novelization that gave "facts" and descriptions lacking. Point in fact, they're never going to do a novelization in English; the best we get is the ANI-MANGA, and that's purely based off the (original) English dub. The movie isn't exactly cheap, but it's worth it to see the differences; if there were a group out there willing to subtitle it, I would be happy to rip the raw for them (not that I've ever done anything like that before, but it would be cool to get it going). Of course, if I wanted to be a yen-pincher, translating the movie novelization would be the best thing-- it's also cheaper, from Amazon.co.jp.

But seriously, I'm being smart by not buying all these things like crazy- I already had a way-expensive grocery bill with Costco/TheFlyingPig due this Thursday, my Internet's going to be pretty pricey once the bill kicks in two months from now, and to top it all off, I keep seeing things I want (for once)! There are all these CDs on cdjapan.co.jp, the Yu-Gi-Oh movie, the novelization, a possibly-unnecessary-but-still-useful electronic dictionary, new boots, new Converse, Photoshop CS2 for my Mac (because waiting 4 months until I can "sneak" into the Art Department and yoink it off their computers? Yeah, right. $300 for the full version of the latest, though I don't know if it comes with ImageReady. It better! But I don't really need any of the other parts of the CS), Quicktime Pro (maybe), possibly Microsoft Office for the Mac (Student Edition, of course-- still $149), and who the hell knows what else. I already spent $12 on the new Skype number, and any money I *THINK* I have will disappear quickly upon my return to the States-- that damn phone bill MUST be paid back (to Mom). Though, it has yet to show up on my T-Mobile account, so that kind of bothers me...

I have yet to be reimbursed for the whole medical fiasco for my tonsils, either. They said "two weeks," because they sent the reimbursement by mail to my bank, and who knows how they handle international deposits.

I feel like I'm forgetting something... (like maybe the weirdoes that keep calling/IMing me on Skype? I've set it to only let people I authorize contact me, so if you want to be on that list, better let me know! I don't know how those people know my Skype number or name though-- that bothers me. I set the Privacy options to not show my web presence, but obviously it makes no damn difference. One weirdo left me a voicemail, but I could hardly make it out, and apparently, I can't call my Voicemail again to see what he said. So Skype's far from perfect. It has NO Voicemail options for saving, replaying, etc.)

Happy Birthday, Usagi Tsukino aka Sailor Moon!


(a few hours late. :P)

So I watched Episode 34 of the Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon anime, "Sparkling Silver Crystal! The Moon Princess Appears!" today, known as "Crystal Clear Destiny" in the dub (I watched the ADV uncut sub, though). I took 530 screen caps, including several sequences perfect for making animated GIFs and mini-movies for icons. They're all high-quality caps (JPGs, high res), and the set includes 21 contact sheets/index files, with all the files in chronological order, named for easy finding.

And you can find them all on alt.binaries.pictures.sailor-moon. If you want, I can provide a ZIP (or 2) for direct download, but I'd encourage everyone to check out the Usenet group, and especially participate in the alt.fan.sailor-moon discussion for "200 Days of Sailor Moon"! You can access AFSM through sites like Google Groups, but binary groups will have to be accessed through your email client (such as Thunderbird or Outlook Express) using information provided by your ISP (all you need is the nntp.yourisp.com/news.yourisp.com and a username and password for that ISP). If you need help setting it up, I'll be glad to help, since I want more SM fans to get involved in the discussions!

I might start making lots of Sailor Moon anime icons soon if I get the chance... if the loverly ladies over at sm_ichallenge want some base images, you know who to annoy. :D

( Probably one of my favorite episodes throughout the whole series )

Happy Birthday Shadowesque13!

Ugh, you know, I decided to randomly try my hand at some Gunslinger duels tonight in the YGO Online World lobby, and I figured with my new powerful deck (Warrior-Spellcaster, with a few bitchy effect monsters thrown in), I might even stand a chance. True, I did last longer in my duels, but one duel ended for no reason (as in, opponent DID NOT surrender, time DID NOT run out, etc. etc.) and the other duel, my opponent of unknown nationality (I thought Japanese, but maybe not. Could have been Chinese or Korean, because the other languages use the English alphabet set, and this guy's text kept coming up as ????) was SO FREAKIN' IMPATIENT! I mean, he was winning already, I don't see what the rush is. Really pissed me off.

Anyway, I need "Widespread Ruin" and/or "Nightmare Wheel," both traps. These cards got used against me (the former in repeated duels), and I must say, they are a bitch for getting your opponent's LP down. And since Warrior decks seem to be pretty cookie-cutter, maybe I ought to try for a Spirit deck, like I told Malakite while we were mining. I played against a guy with a Gravekeeper deck, and I must say, that's one kick-ass deck theme. I find that playing YGO!O inspires me for the upcoming duel scenes in WDKY, so at least I won't be pulling combos and decks out of my ass... these will be decks that have pwned me IRL. :D

I just finished adding a bunch of pages to WikiFic, all in the Pairings section. I'm far from done, and plenty of people gave me links for Threesomes and other-somes that I haven't made a template for yet. There's also the matter of 'ships that aren't official yet, or 'ships whose history is unknown. And I also need art! And then there's the REST of the encyclopedia... this is such a big project, but I've been working on it diligently, getting help here and there from new users, and so far it's turning out pretty good. I'm somewhat afraid to get a Spell Checker for the Wiki, since I have so many Japanese words, but we'll see. Better safe than sorry, eh?

Also, surprisingly good Pegasus-centric fic by SilvorMoon. It came as a rec for the Pegasus/Cyndia pairing for WikiFic, and it really is quite good. It'll definitely make you rethink Duelist Kingdom! :D I also re-read some of Quickening's Spiritshipping (or Revolutionshipping, but Yugi's such an imp in her fics that I figure it's more of a 3-way) and I remember why I first fell in love with Yu-Gi-Oh as a fandom, and Anzu as a female protagonist. Yes, back in the day, I was a Revolutionshipper! :O

And then I read geniusgirl's stuff and the rest is history. :P

In a few hours... the dream will end! Yu-Gi-Oh's final dub episode "Ceremonial Battle" conclusion airs on Kids WB at 11:30am!
5 years
7 incredible story arcs
8 amazing duelists and friends
7 memorable villains
But the time has come
For for this story
To end
June 10, 2006
Yu-Gi-Oh!

Watch It. Live It. Duel It.

Or something equally dorky. ("This isn't the end of my story. My story... is just beginning.") Even though I've seen it in the Japanese, I'm giddy with anticip.....ation!~

I think I'll catch up on Sailor Moon tomorrow, and do Episodes 13 and 14 in one shot. Now that I've fixed VLC player's settings for snapshots, if I do another flood, it won't take so long and need a recompiler. :)

Ah, should I say yesterday was successful and happy or not? How about you help me decide (I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not sure...)
(1) Hot as hell. No wind, fans don't seem to do much. Yuck.

(2) Wasn't tempted to buy anything at Best Buy! Yay! (I'm broke anyway, not-so-yay)

(3) Called my cousin Jill and talked to her for awhile- we're supposed to get together later today. Yay!

(4) Watched Yu-Gi-Oh GX (Can totally see Anzu kicking Dmitri's ass for trying to "be" Yugi) and had a good laugh

(5) Missed Fullmetal Alchemist (even though it's supposed to suck compared to the manga!)

(6) Suddenly remembered this morning that there's a scrapbooking event I RSVPd for at school. I didn't pay for it, but it's at 4pm or so, and I'll probably be with Jill all day. Foo!

(7) Got to mine-duel and trade cards (more like get cards as a fabulous gift) from an edo_lister, Malakite. Not only got tons of good cards through several hours of mine sessions, but I laughed too. We both have a sense of humor regarding the censors on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Online chat rooms. (Seriously, "goo" is a bad word!?)

(8) During said mine duels, I barely remembered which cards I got from my packs. I remembered some, but I hated how I kept forgetting the third one in the pack. Malakite told me this is because the third card almost always sucks, and he's right, but I hate not remembering stuff that I've seen TWO SECONDS BEFORE!

(9) Just remembered (right after I remembered the Scrapbooking thing) that I didn't critique anyone's papers for WWA. The week of finals, I was so stressed, depressed, and sick that I didn't remember one bit. I wonder if that'll lower my grade by much... *worry* HAH HAH, still got an A! (That's 3 As and 3 Bs. Or 2As and 3Bs, since the 102/C is technically one course, but they grade separately for the 102 class and the C(onversation) part of the class. That's a 3.4 GPA... not sure if that's perfectly accurate, and while it means no Dean's List this semester, it does mean YAY FOR MER! :D :D I MADE IT I MADE IT hard semester's over~ la la la la la la!

(10) Successfully canceled my Ancestry.com account. It was fun while it lasted, but it's way too freakin' expensive!

(11) Tweaked a bit of WDKY24 last night. It's annoying, but I've found that re-reading the whole chapter helps me focus on the scenes I have yet to write, and how I can better convey what I already have down.

(12) Haven't updated my YGO TCG sell list in 2 days. BAD MER!

Hm, good day or bad day?

All I know is, I want to go swimming.

Yay! Okay, so today was splendid for several reasons:
(1) Training was short. I actually spent most of the time working on BEA and Dragonfayth, listing all the modifications I had made, need to make, etc. When it came to the "important stuff" I actually knew what I was talking about-- while some of the other people kept getting really easy questions wrong... ^^; I made my own lunch and ate it outside in the sun; the squirrels wouldn't stop bothering me though, and I had to keep giving them peanut M&Ms to get them to go away!

(2) I changed the script Blue Eyes and Apricots was running on to Enthusiast 3. If I ever decide to open up any other fanlistings (more like Taboolistings, because I'm fond of Love Triangles... though now that I think about it, I would totally run a shippers_club Fanlisting), I can do it easily. I can also manage Affiliates through Enth3, though right now I can't get the images to show up. So, for the time being, the BEA layout will stay the same. Once I get everything tweaked, I'll find something else to put in the current affiliates space. Any suggestions?

Note that I haven't updated the links yet, so if you go to BEA now, nothing will have changed. It's hosted in a new directory, so I have a few options:
* Create a redirect, so the new directory will stay the same, but anyone that tries to access the old directory will get booted there
* Rename the new directory to the old directory, AFTER I delete the old directory
-With this, I'd have to change some settings in Enth3, but I don't think it'd be too hard.

(3) I fixed the horrible layout error with Dragonfayth. Actually, Carissa from the eFiction boards fixed it; I just uploaded it. Until I get the other skins working smoothly, Romance will be the only skin offered at the site. I'm also trying to figure out why the Poll Block won't initialize; other than that, everything looks to be working okay on eFiction. Please try and upload your stories, just so I can make sure that the Copy/Paste 403 error was a security or timeout issue, rather than a script issue!

I still have to re-add some of the old mods. As always, here's a brief list:
* Character page (link on main menu)
* LiveJournal and FFnet profile links
* Advanced TinyMCE with Compressor (I have the compressor; I just need to upgrade it to Advanced. The security update was apparently part of the 2.0.3 upgrade)

The Poll and Featured Author blocks ARE installed; I just need to figure out what the initialization error is with the Poll and get an image for the Featured Author block title.

I think there might still be a bit of an error with the category sorting (that is, Pre-Duelist Kingdom doesn't want to go before Duelist Kingdom in the listings), but that's really an aesthetic thing. You guys don't really care what order the categories are in, do you?

Up and coming...
I've got to create and host a torrent for the Full Moon o Sagashite Anime soon; I realize it's just been picked up by licensors, but a) there's no telling when the first DVD will come out, b) there's no telling if it'll be hybrid. I'd love to trust Viz, but... c) who the hell knows what they'll do with the songs? Besides, I promised someone over on meroko. I also need to find torrents for a few random scanlations of the manga; I already own all 7 volumes in the Japanese, and I'm sure as hell not going to pay twice their worth to get the English translation from Viz. I'm only missing translations from a few chapters, anyway.

Icons, icons, icons. I have to get back into making icons.

Azurelist? Obviously, if I maintained more FLs, I would have more to show off at Azurelist, my new "site" for my fanlistings... that is, a collective. In the meantime, it's a very bland looking page, so I'm not giving access to anyone. :P Hey, what if I made a White Rose Society FL? You know, a fanlisting for The Big 10 Azureshippers? I'm talking about:
(1) guardian_kysra
(2) geniusgirl
(3) atlantian_magic (Atlantis2)
(4) rhapsody_dragon (Mamono)
(5) svelterose
(6) winterwing3000
(7) mmagnet_ff (MischiefMagnet)
(8) wickeddawn (Harlequine)
(9) AudibleHush (no LJ? Bummer.)
(10) the_sweet

I'd say the bunch of us are the ones that contribute to the pairing most often (be it fics, discussion, websites, communities, art...), the most dedicated (we've loved the pairing when it was CRACK!), and likely the most insane (who else do you know that warped an entire RPG to suit their love of azureshipping?). Some of us are MIA (Harlequine! COME BACK!!) or otherwise busy/uninspired, but I think the dedication still remains. And between the 10 of us, we probably have a shizload of adoring fans. ^^; <--ego!!

*grin* I hope to get working on the rest of WDKY23 soon-- to prove to people that I'm not just rehashing the movie. There will be some serious plot twists. I'll admit that the Ani-Manga for the movie is a helpful resource,  but obviously, there are things that change everything... for example:
* Malik's presence
* Duke's presence
* Pegasus "knowing" about Kaiba coming to Duelist Kingdom to get the BEUD and PoL ('But HOW!?' you ask?)
* Isis being concerned about the Anubis exhibit, and how it left Japan without her say-so
* Raphael, Alister, and Valon somehow being connected to the Anubis exhibit
* Bakura working behind the scenes, following everyone and preventing his host from coming out
* Chieko & Serenity's presence(s)

I wouldn't go this far and tell everyone about these things unless I thought no one was noticing them. And some people said they were seriously bored with WDKY as of late, as if it's becoming one big tirade. That makes me sad, because to me, I'm getting to the part that I've been itching to write forever!

I adore this icon I'm using right now, but I totally want more WDKY icons. *peers* Any volunteers? :D (I suck at manips, and while I do have fanart for WDKY, it's for chapters that aren't out yet, so... ^^;;)

Uh... yeah, that's all I can think of for now. Not much is going on.

What follows are 10 descriptions of bishies. If you know or think you have seen or heard of these bishies before, please state their names and the fandom of their most recently known whereabouts. Thank you.

( Phantasy Bishie Online )

My body picked a lousy time to catch cold and have my period. I've been feeling like I'm walking on another planet all day long-- gravity must be sucking me into the center of the Earth. If that meant a free ride to Japan without worrying about molten magma, I'd be all for it, but somehow I don't think that's going to happen.

I've been so sleepy, I've actually done what I thought was unthinkable-- I not only fell asleep in mythology class (I missed the entire lecture about how Sigmund Freud connects to the Electra complex) but I went to the library afeter class and conked out on the 4th floor near my locker. It was only an hour nap, and I didn't really feel all that better afterward. But I was okay after visual communications; I went and grabbed some lunch with my requisite iced tea, and now all is well. I still feel a bit tingly and weird and out of it, but at least I'm not passing out and drooling all over my keyboard.

ATTENTION SAN FRANCISCO-ITES! Yeah, I'm talking to YOU, Stephanie, Eva, Lindsay, and everyone else whose names I can't remember or whose user SNs aren't accessible to me now! Go sign up for the schools feature here on LJ! It's so quick and easy, you just search for all the schools you've ever gone to/are attending, and it automatically sorts you by username. You can input the years you attended and all that fun stuff, and even see other LJ users associated with your schools. I've already added mine: CSUN, Lafayette (EVA!!!!!), Presidio (EVERYONE!!!) and Wash House (zOMGcleanlaundry!) so you hop to it! Besides, I wanna know who else I know here on LJ that went to any of my schools... *peers*

Also, I wanted to randomly show up in San Francisco from 10/7-10/9, since Scott's going to be there anyway for his NOVA or GEOS interview... not that he'd stay with me or even have time to spend with me, mind you, but if he's going, I could use it as an excuse to go to. I know that doesn't make sense, just trust me on this one. But of course, since it's only 2 wks. before that departure time, tickets are expensive! $214 min. on SWA, and $260 on JetBlue (which, for some stupid reason, only flies from Long Beach to Oakland, and not Burbank to Oakland, even though Oakland is its Northern California major way-station. Durrrr, DUMB!). Hm... wish I could go...

I'm having trouble finding a speech to go to for Story #2 for WRPII. The ones at CalTech already ended; besides, Pasadena's too inaccessible on the weekends. There are supposed to be some Executive Speakers coming here, but I'm not sure if they've already made their speeches in the past week (when they started) or not, and even if they didn't, would I be allowed/able to go? The speech I'm interested in going to is by CBS Studio Center president Michael Klausman, but he's speaking primarily to Cinema, Television and Arts students-- which is in my college, but it's not my department. There's also a speaker from NASA's Mars rover program this Friday at 7:30pm, but that would mean missing Anime Club and possibly my 2nd cousin Joey's (oops, call him JOE now, he is 20!) birthday party-- if he wants to have one. Grr! And the story is due Oct. 5th! What do I do?!

...Hmm, there was a thing downstairs about the opening of the Guitar Research Archives here at the Oviatt, but I don't think that's the kind of speech I'm looking for. Besides, it's rather impromptu and more about performances than information, so I think I'll pass (and spend another hour here on the comp! :P)

Someone on the eFiction board helped me look at a problem Dragonfayth was having on its new modded Authors page; I've been tinkering with some of the mods offered there, and one of the people is named 'Lazuli.' o_O No relation to OUR Laz, right, smrff!? o_O Anyway, what the new mod does (or is supposed to do) is differentiate between Authors (people who have submitted stories) and Members (people who sign up to read fics and recommend fics, not write them).

I'm sure there are all sorts of other mods that I would like to implement; as they're a lot more feasible for eFiction than InkTank, I'd like people to check out the list over at http://efiction.wallflowergirl.com/forums, under Mod Releases. There are about 3 pages of mods, 2 or so individual mods of which I've implemented already. The full release list (not sure whether this includes all mods and requests, or just completed/tested mods) is located here: http://efiction.wallflowergirl.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=875.

Go check it out, mmk?

So apparently I can only study driver's ed at school (which I like doing, because I don't have the distraction of my MP3s, fanfiction, chatting, the television, my grandparents, food, or my bed) on the WHITE GST computers here in the Collaboratory. o_O I wonder why? Anyway, I'm almost done with Lesson 3 of... er, I think it's 10 or 11. Sure, that's not a whole lot, but I think I'm learning. I've done well on all my quizzes so far, and all the interactive lessons. Still, how do I memorize this stuff? Do I take notes? Print the pages out? ;_; Eeek! There seem to be many laws regarding feet estimates: signal 100 feet before turning, never enter a bike lane more than 200 feet from the turning corner or driveway, and stop at least 15 feet in front of a railroad crossing. How do you estimate that distance, anyway?

Also, if I'm still awake and somewhat coherent tonight, I have a short list of things to do:
(1) Reformat the damn laptop... again. Maybe the clean install will work better this time with more memory?
(2) Add a scene or two to WDKY19. I wanted to end it on a somewhat happy/teasing note, as I have been alternating between zOMG cliffhangers and "aww." moments lately. But I'm also neglecting other characters and relationships in the process, along with some teasers I need to work in, so I think the addition of this one scene I've been thinking about will do the fic good. I might even get doubly inspired.

I'm hoping that if all goes well and I can make it to the CTVA Exec. Speaker, then on Friday I can go to anime club as usual and FINALLY get a DVD from Phil of Adam & Joe Go Tokyo. Various specific Google and BitTorrent searches have turned up bupkis in the way of actual episodes, so it really *is* as rare as Phil said. A right shame, but he better keep his promise this time around and get me the episodes. In the meantime, I'm downloading episodes 3-9 of Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid, Chibi and I are arranging an exchange of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon and Trick, and I need to see Last Order and probably read "The Complete Story of FFVII" or something like that on GameFAQs. Unless one of you l33t gamer guys (*stares at staplerx, zigx, psyjoe_dilandau etc. etc.*) wants to inform me... MMM?

Only 15 minutes till I have to leave for class, so I might as well update this and catch up on my reading for class. The good thing about WRPII is we don't have any pop quizzes or tests based on the reading-- whether or not you read shows in how fast you can get in-class exercises done and in the stories you turn in. So far, so good. I'm glad I made the decision to stay in Salido's class, even if the rest of my body is protesting today. Oy!

I love the ability to be able to listen to whatever I want online here at school. There's this place called live365.com that has online radios that can play anything you want-- and I know it sounds like I'm advertising for them, but it's the truth!

Here are my favorite anime songs-- some are J-Pop too, in no particular order.

1. Romance by Penicillin (Sugoi yo! Masaru-san)
2. My Will by Dream (Inuyasha, Season 1 OP)
3. Tangerine Dream by Do As Infinity (Inuyasha)
4. Automatic Johnny Vicious Remix by Utada Hikaru
5. Ai no Senshi (Sailormoon R/S)
6. Galaxy Bang! Bang! (Galaxy Angel OP)
7. OP Song from "The Jungle Was Peaceful... and then there was Guu)
8. I Want to Change the World by V6 (Inuyasha)
9. Twinkle Magic (Rune Soldier Louie OP)
10. Route Venus by Rika Fukami (Sailormoon)
11. Coppellia's Coffin by Ali Project (NOIR)
12. White Destiny (Shin Shirayuki Hime Denetsu Pretear)
13. I Don't Need Promises by Maaya Sakamoto (Escaflowne)
14. Yubiwa by Maaya Sakamoto (Escaflowne movie)
15. Vector by Maaya Sakamoto (Escaflowne)
16. (Yoko Kanno)
17. Nee, Nande by Rie Yoshizawa(Trouble Chocolate)

Mwah... there's more, so I mine as well just upload my playlists of everything I have.
I am totally addicted to the Buffy Musical, "Once More With Feeling." I have the MP3s, but they aren't in great shape... really soft. But you can find all the info on those great songs, and the ep on musical.chosenone.net ... I think.

Heh, that's all for now... Ja!

"Do you think human society could ever exist without war? Or is violence between nations and cultures inevitable?" --The theme of May 20th's Diary starters, or whatever they're called.

Actually, I had been thinking about this for some time. But before I begin my traditional rant, the title-- Unmei Kaihem means "Altering Fate" in Japanese (or so the subtitles said). Any anime fans out there? You may have heard that line in Tenkuu no Escaflowne, or The Vision of Escaflowne. Very good anime, if I do say so myself. But that's a matter of opinion.

Anyway, I relate that storyline (of Esca) to this week's theme because in it, there are two opposing forces: one is looked upon as evil, the other as good. One's whole homeland was destroyed, and they aim to prevent the same fate from being met all around the world. It all takes place on an Earth-like planet called Gaea, which cannot be seen from Earth. It was created by the legendary Atlanteans, who used the powers of their wills to create a perfect peace. But it was *too* perfect, for their own wills brought about destruction. The few that survived created a world, Gaea, and put the last remnants of their powers inside the planet, linking it to the lost world of Atlantis. The descendants of the Atlanteans are looked upon as cursed.

The other side is lead by, amazingly enough, Issac Newton. The story tells that Issac came to Gaea, searching for a way to explain 'destiny' or 'fate'. How can one can control fate? Like time, death, or gravity, destiny is a force which cannot be seen, and cannot be stopped. He became the leader of a war torn country known as Zaibach, and forever altered their history.

Step one. Now, step two, destroying in order to achieve peace. Isn't that all war is? I know it might annoy you to have me continually refer to the anime, but it's true, what the creators of Escaflowne were trying to say. People fight people, even those linked with a common goal. Human selfishness and greed overcome the desire for peace, and even if all of those emotions are rooted in the need to protect those you love, it's still not justified.

Issac Newton asked the heroine of the story: do the people wish for war? Is it so inevitable, that the destruction cannot simply be a cornerstone for peace, but a beginning of the same destruction that brought havok to Atlantis? Is it IN mankind's fate to destroy itself?

Suicide, homicide, genocide. So many words having to do with death. Humanity desperately tries to make up for its sins by inventing community service, therapy, and psychologists. But within us all is a deep need or desire, and that good and pure emotion, whatever it may be, can be the start of emotions that will lead the entire world into chaos.

You know how it is said that one person cannot make a difference? Take a lot of "one persons" and then you have a lot of people, who do make a difference when it comes to safety and protection.

How many people can claim that they are truly proud of something? Not anything material or physical, but proud of something existent nonetheless? Like of their heritage, their culture? Their family, their nation, their community? Their school, their beliefs or faith? The list can go on and on, but everyone knows that within each person, resides at least ONE of the Seven Deadly Sins. Hah. Doubt should be on that list. Each person doubts that everything around them is stable and solid, and will last forever, because we know-- whether from experience or from what we've heard-- that it isn't. Nothing is forever. We "reassure" ourselves that isn't just US that will end, but the whole world, the whole universe. Yes, one day, the universe will explode, the sun will lose its energy. It's all very depressing.

War is a colorful paint that strokes its way across every culture. It makes up the people, their emotions and pride, the tiniest things they never think about. Society depends on such a horrible thing, no matter who it is with.

But the long run is, no one truly wins with war. People die. It is inevitable. When is the question.

ADDENDUM: Present Tense Note: This was a separate entry, added on the same date (this one) on my FOD. I combined them since they're on the same topic and this addendum is short, anyway)

I'd like to add that several people who also wrote about this week's theme mentioned that war cannot exist unless people learn to control anger, aggression, and other similar "fuels to the fire". Why is humanity so unique? Why does it seem so incredible that *we* exist on this planet, it in the middle of a vastness that is impossible to explore?

Even if you go on to ask, "Are there others out there?" you still have to remember, even if there are, no matter what they are like, we are unique individuals simply because of the fact that we are not collective thinkers.

Anyone here a Trekkie? The Borg are a "race" of people who think collectively. There is no war. They desire perfection, but no one is individual. There is no aggression, or love, or any emotion at all, because everyone thinks together. All thoughts are one. Everyone is assimilated. Without individuality, yes, maybe we'd have peace, but then, we'd still have a desire for something, a need. And that would be the spark that could start the bonfire once more.

War. Is. Inevitable. That is why we are here. Life is a cycle, a circle of life... whatever you call it. Higher power or no, we at least can see that.