MILES to GO || before I sleep

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...

Okay... I'm kind of stuck. Remember those Asian-American Studies courses I mentioned-- AAS 210 (History of Asian Americans) and AAS 430 (Asian-American Pop Culture)? Well, I just came back from the Study Abroad informational session, and Hirota-sensei herself (aka department chair of the Japanese language program, one of my future professors, and a former department chair for the Study Abroad in Japan program) said that Asian-AMERICAN doesn't count for Study Abroad.

I remember there being two other courses-- HIST 400-something, but it was really late at night, and Hirota-sensei's class, which sounded cool, but maybe it was at a bad time, too. Well anyway, I might have to tweak my schedule to find out just what would work for Study Abroad, and HOPEFULLY get something to count for SOME GE/Minor/80-65 while I'm at it. Ah, alas! That AAS 430 class sounded cool!

It also turns out Hirota-sensei is willing to proofread my essays for Waseda and Tokiwa, so I think I'll touch those up and send them her way. Anyone else who's got a spare 20 minutes, I'd totally appreciate it if you could look them over! They're posted here in my LJ (tag: essays) and also in the writer_girls comm.

Last night I helped Scott out on ANOTHER photo shoot, because his teacher wanted him to be more specific about his focus and lighting. It took us about an hour before he found "the right lighting" and by the time we actually finished, it was after 12:30am! Even In-N-Out was closed, but since we were both hungry (is this starting to sound familiar yet?) we ended up going to Denny's. ^^ Scott then stayed over (!) because he was too tired to go home. :) Ah, good times... er, sort of. I'll have to elaborate on that later, though.

Oh, and I checked the poll results from that Only 16 poll I posted-- you people answered strangely! An uneven amount of people said they didn't read it vs. what they thought of it... o_O What's up with that? And I suppose I can't be disappointed by anyone's answers, because I intentionally set it up with extremes for choices. I didn't want to make it too confusing. In any case, I'm sorta-kinda inspired to work on it again, so we'll see. Betas are awfully hard to come by these days, but as long as the SMRFF exists, so does ANDI!!!! :O BWEAHAHAH! *cough*

Well, since I didn't get to bed until super-late last night (er, this morning), I had to BS my way through my Japanese test (I think I did well, except I forgot the word for change -as in money- which is "otsuri"). I finished up a short essay on reality TV for VComm, and now I'm going to start Story #6 for JOUR 210, which is due today. ^^; Before I go to VComm class in an hour, I also have to finish reading Ch. 14 on Television and Video... it's pretty cool so far! Did you know that reality TV has been around as long as TV has? And that there are *14* different types of reality shows? Wow.

Anyway, time to try and make sense of all these numbers... how do you calculate a percentage increase, again?

Okay, so I'm working on the last bits of my applications for study abroad:
(1) Waseda University in Tokyo, through the CSUN International Programs
(2) Tokiwa University in Mito, through the Japanese department at CSUN
I've already got Takase-sensei lined up to give me the Japanese recommendation for both; I've got one recommendation from Salido for Waseda, and I'll try and get Blumenkrantz for Tokiwa. I just finished filling out the form to request an official transcript from CCSF (I might need to request another one for Tokiwa, blargh!); I won't need a CSUN transcript until Mid-January 2006. And then there's the dreaded essay for both.

Please read these and tell me if they're any good...

( Waseda University )

---

( Tokiwa University )

For the first one, they asked for "three to five paragraphs" and I wrote three-- not because I want to do just the minimum, but because I think I covered what the application requested, which was to talk about how I'm prepared to study abroad, and how studying abroad would help my academic and career goals.

The second one is only 555 words, and they said "Please write an essay in the space provided below entitled My Interest in Japanese Culture in about 1000 words in English, describing how you have prepared yourself for a visit to Japan, and how you would expect this experience to contribute to your long-term personal goals." So how should I make it longer, or expand on any points I made?

And off-topic, but on-record, Eva's new SO/BF/WTF is pretty hawt. And he sounds sweet, too. So, when do I get to meet him?

Just for my personal reference (and anyone with two bits to contribute), I'm looking for study abroad programs for next year (Fall 2006, when I'm a junior).
* Rutger's Study Abroad
* UNAC Program (University of Nevada, I think)
* CSUN "IP" program

All of them seem to have pretty tough application processes, and expensive fees, but I'll see who I can talk to and what I can do. In the meantime, are there other options? I'm all for traveling for leisure, but it doesn't have quite the sense of purpose that going there (to Japan) for school would. Also, if I get into the CSUN program, I'd be in Tokyo, whileas Rutgers is in Kyoto and UNAC is in Hiroshima (or the other way around, I'm not sure).

I can always save up for another vacation and apply to every single TEACHING job after I get my BA-- that is, programs like JET, AEON, NOVA, GEOS, etc. etc.

My secondary choice? Korea... or maybe China, now that I think about it. :P I'd love to go to Shanghai!

Ugh, I still have to read Ch. 12 of my Three Genres book for Creative Writing and type up a paragraph reaction. It's not hard or anything, it's just that I'm already tired and sore...