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...

Chapter 22 of What Doesn't Kill You is up at betasquad for pre-reading and editing!
It's nice and long, ladies and gents, so I hope you enjoy it! Please help me edit if you have the time! :)

I went to Graumann's Chinese Theatre with Scott for the first time last night, and I saw Jarhead. It wasn't as great as I would have expected, but I liked it. And I'm obsessed with that song they use in the trailer, but I can't figure out who it's by! And it doesn't look like the soundtrack will come out until December. o_O

I liked the movie just because I sort of connected with so much of it. I feel stupid saying it, but ROTC really did mean a lot to me, even if I did end up quitting in the beginning of my junior year. But it was an adventure, and a memorable one at that. Even despite the yelling, the demerits, the stress, and the getting-rained-on during the Veteran's Day parade, I think it was worth it. I can still left flank, right flank, double to the rear, MARCH! with the best of them! ^_~ And it was fun seeing Camp Pendleton on the silver screen. Heh. Remember when we went there, cutieme4u?

It was quite cool how Scott and I went on this "date" like adventure in Hollywood, and Scott was a total fluffball all night. ^_^ I like it, and I hope it doesn't mean he'll be an asshole this week (or at any time in the future). He also treated me to popcorn, a drink (which we shared), and a milkshake at In-N-Out once we got back to Northridge. Not being the type to throw a good night down the drain, I ended up staying over at his house. *wink wink* So all in all, a pleasant weekend that ended today on a good note.

I slept in as soon as I got home (around 11:30am), worked on some fanfic (WDKY22 is currently 62K, which bodes well for all of you that like your chapters looooong) and tinkered around with some homework... my magazine cover for VComm (underwent a new revision, needs some tweaking still, along with sample "articles"), my facilitator packet for Creative Writing (just have to read some critiques and grade them), and then 2 new analyses for CW. Tomorrow is just Japanese and Mythology; I remember the dialogues best when I read them in the morning, and I already posted a lengthy submission on Poseidon and Apollo for Mythology. :)

Did I mention that I passed my permit exam for Driver's Ed, and I scheduled my 6 hours of behind-the-wheel training for the weeks to come? I feel like a bit of a baby, being 20 and not having a license yet, but at least I'm on the way there! Whoo! I hope I do well and don't clam up and get scared when I actually have to take the test... and I wonder whose car I'll use? Both Dad and Scott have said they'll help me out between practice sessions with Driver's Ed Direct, though.

I'm also working on 3 pieces of fanart:
* Happy 2nd Anniversary, WDKY! (also the thank-you art for winterwing3000, my 1000th reviewer, and the base for her SxA custom icon from me)
* The White Rose Gang/The Royal Azureshippers (me [The Fog Princess], rhapsody_dragon [The Prophet of Mist], guardian_kysra [The Hentai Goddess], atlantian_magic [The Steam Queen], geniusgirl [The Vapour Marquis], and winterwing3000 [Needs A Name!])
* Special fanart for WDKY (My lips are sealed!)

It's funny how even when you plan something else, what other people say and think can change your actions. WDKY is planned out in its entirely, but not written completely. Nonetheless, I have an idea of what direction all the plots are going to take, what the characters are going to say, think, and feel, etc... but readers seem to be getting different impressions, and I just want to make sure I don't lead them astray.

The whole Téa fainting thing in Ch. 20 (I don't consider it a spoiler for reasons that follow) was NOT meant to be a significant plot point, or the sign of something bad/dangerous/worrisome on the way. I could twist it to make it like that, but it wouldn't fit with what I've previously set-up points. It could be several things, too, so if it can't fit with one thing, it could be another. People have speculated all sorts of things, and it's got me thinking if I should twist it just a bit, so it doesn't seem STUPID (for Téa fainting for No Big Reason).

On another note, mklutz, do you remember an episode of Full Metal Panic (original series or Fumoffu) where Tessa and Kaname had to fight off some baddies, and one of them grabbed a suitcase or something and NAILED the suckers? Or maybe I'm just remembering the manga? Help!

I have to clean my room. I hate myself for still sitting in front of the computer, even though I'll have to come back to it later for Listening Comprehension.
*snore* Waaah. WDKY21 is another one of those chapters that I think I can get written fast, but I'm dissatisfied just because it's not as action-packed and fun as the others. Sure, part of one plot gets resolved, but 21 is actually about setting up for the rest of the plots. X_X

Hello, and welcome to another installment of Review Replies for WDKY18! This is where your questions get answered and I talk back about your generous reviews!

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.

I would like to thank each and every reviewer for their support and kindness! WDKY has hit 1000 reviews on FFnet! I really, truly appreciate it. It moves me very nearly to tears. Good tears. THANK YOU SO MUCH! :D (As a reminder, it's not the numbers that make me happy, it's the content and quality of the reviews. It's the fact that a very large percentage of readers from the early chapters CONTINUED to read and review, and support me and my efforts in getting this fic out. It makes me unbelievably happy that this once crack!pairing has garnered so much support. THAT is what thrills me.)

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.

( Would you like a wiggly? )

I've discovered a splendiferously wonderous way of finding Seto x Anzu fics, and it's shockingly easy to do. At FFnet, abuse the Character 1 and Character 2 options. Mix and match either of them as "Seto K." and "Anzu M." and you're bound to come up with some great fics. I'm not lying... I found The Night Before there last night, and what a great read it is! *giggles* Kysra and Atlantis might have some competition when it comes to steam!

Yes, I will be posting WDKY19 tomorrow just in case you missed the memo about me posting it on Seto's birthday. And WDKY20 is almost done (!!!) so that might be coming soon, too. And I can't wait, because it really starts getting good in the 20s chapters! Bwahaha... Bakura returns, Marik's secret may be revealed, and Mai and Téa go to a duelist tournament in my hometown!

I'm still impatient for Pierce to get their Winter 2006 class schedule up, but Scott said I would be overwhelmed if I tried to cram more than 3-6 units into a one-month intersession. He's probably right, but considering I have 18 units before I'm officially upper division and a junior (60 units with no lower division GEs left to take) and that does NOT include any Journalism (major), Japanese, or Creative Writing (minors), I'm afraid of what my potential course schedule might look like next semester. For sure:
* JOUR 310 - WRP3 (3)
* JOUR 371 - Women, Men, and the Media (3)
* JOUR 331 - Graphics (2)
* JAPN 102/C - Intermediate Japanese (4)
* Some GE class or Creative Writing course (3)
My unit cap is 19 units. I know I can handle 15, but 19 MIGHT be pushing it. And it could be true that I don't need to have that many units completed; I could just have 60 units under my belt and be fine. If I've calculated everything out right (and I think I have; I discovered my AP US History test counted for 2 separate courses; one in Title V, and one in GE History) then I'll have 55 units at the end of THIS semester, and any classes I take next semester will make me a junior by the following Fall. I should try not to worry, but I have to see my adviser again and clear up this confusion.

What else? Oh yes, I passed my Driver's Ed Direct final exam~ I'm now officially ready to take the written DMV test to get my "provisional license" or whatever, and then after X hours of behind-the-wheel training I can get a REAL license! >:O! *determined* However, I only passed the exam with an 85%, so I'm going to take it again until I do better. :P

Wahaha, I feel all naughty for reading this fic (see above)-- it reminds me of when I was about 11 or 12 and my only 'Net access was at the Petaluma Library with my dad, and I did TEH EBIL and read Sexylyon's infamous Sailormoon hentai "Interlude" (and printed it out!), constantly terrified that I would get caught and lectured-- if not by a librarian, then by my dad! This fic isn't hentai, but mischiefmagnet does a DAMN good job at getting me to turn red and giggle like a madwoman. :P (Especially since Mokuba just-- oh, never mind, just read the damn story.)

cutieme4u, WHAT THE HECK ARE WE DOING FOR HALLOWEEN!?!?!?!??!? I need to get a costume.

Well, I never thought *I* would be doling out sex advice to anyone. But there's a first time for everything I guess, and in retrospect, it made me laugh.

I took my Japanese Lesson 4 test today; not bad, but the fact that I cut off circulation to my fingers (accidentally, mind you) had be feeling a bit weird about writing. I still haven't turned in my Reading and Writing for Lesson 4; I wonder if she'll still accept it? >_> Probably not, considering we get our grades tomorrow... Ugh.

NO ONE (not a single person) has gone to betasquad and said A THING about WDKY19. With WDKY, I'm very apprehensive about posting without a beta; even moreso for this chapter. Volunteers? Anyone, anyone? Bueller? (Old jokes die hard.)

Scott got back from San Francisco; he supposedly had a good interview and a decent grammar test, so I'm hoping he did well and will get the job. At least, I think that's what I'm thinking. I'm not really sure... see, we don't have an established "relationship" of sorts. It's not exactly platonic, but... Well, let me put it this way: I don't always think of him, I don't always define myself or the things I want to do/places I want to go with him, and I don't always feel some obsessive compulsive need to call him, hear from him, or see him every day. But occasionally, I do wonder.

And while it's nice to know that he really respects and admires me (and "loves" me in that weird way of his), I don't know if that's what I want, or if I can even GET what I want. Imagining scenarios in my head again will only lead to heartbreak, so I'm trying not to. But no matter what happens, he'll be leaving somewhere, at some time, and then what? Argh!

My Horoscope for today: A long-term period of great big dreams has fallen upon us all. In your case, the matter involves relationships, and in particular, on deciding whether a certain platonic or business attachment should stay that way.

Yeah, like that makes me feel any better.

( Ooh, pretty meme with decent questions! )

On the bright side, I did win both eBay auctions for Persona 2: Eternal Punishment and FFX-2: International + Last Mission. Part of me wishes I could see the original Japanese FMV, where Yuna actually turned INTO Lenne, and she sang 1000 Words solo, but! alas, that's Japanese version only. I wonder if some site has it online... I spent much of yesterday hunting around various FAQs sites looking for all the extra data I need to make this New Game + worth it... and that includes getting all the garment grids I can possibly get (I sided with the Youth League again... geez, the attitude of the Yevonites mekes me sick!). So I'm trying to get The End by oversouling all the monsters I can. I have a checklist, and so far, I've encountered all but 3 of the monsters that CAN be oversouled (non-oversoulable monsters don't appear on Shinra's Bestiary list, right?), and I have maybe 20 or so that NEED to be oversouled.

Too bad it's not by Enemy Type... because I have to face Concherer again (evil ugly tongue thing) in Via Infinito. Which means not only do I have to face whatever type Concherer is until I face him/her/it, but when I do face Concherer, s/he/it has to oversoul... which may or may not make it harder to beat. Concherer is a pain in the ass, if you recall my previous entries on the subject.

Anyway, I'm still at 94% complete in Chapter 2... I think that remaining 6% comes from the Den of Woe, correct me if I'm wrong... >_> I also have to get moving on the Publicity and Matchmaking Campaigns. I always forget about those. Publicity: score = 40, Level = 1 - Matchmaking: score = 16, Level = 1.

( Because I'm a nice girl, I'll put this freakishly obvious HPB/Harry Potter 6 spoiler behind a cut )

Yu-Gi-Oh fans, go check out playthedamncard, because someone posted a mini-drama of the Prince of Tennis' Inui (same VA as Kaiba) interviewing TeniPuri's Ryuzaki (a girl with a crush on PoT main character Echizen).. anyway, "Inui" says that when he takes off his glasses (which he doesn't even do in front of his parents) he becomes... Kaiba-shachou! Complete with maniacal laugh. It's great.

On Madonna and angry rabbis: Some rabbis are upset because Madonna's next album features a song called "Issac," which is (supposedly) about a 16th century rabbi. It's against Jewish law to profit off the name of a holy rabbi. Madonna, like many other celebrities, is a practicioner of Kabbalah, a sort of sub-set of Judiasm that's branched off into a whole new sect of its own. It's become a bit glorfied, if you ask me, but I'm sure there are still devoted, true believers out there.

Personally, I think the rabbis are on the wrong. They think that Madonna should be expelled from the community and that she will suffer divine retribution. I think if Madonna felt the need to write the song in the first place, she could say her inspiration came from God, and therefore he wouldn't punish her for telling Issac's story/singing about him. Also, all artists in general have their own beliefs, and they express it in different ways. Did anyone rag on Da Vinci for painting Jesus? (Maybe...) But still, why should someone be expelled from a religious community for expressing their beliefs through their art? How many other people do you know would even want to inform the masses about Issac, anyway? I haven't heard the song though, so who knows?

On Yu-Gi-Oh, paganism, and satanism: It's an anime!!! (I'm tempted to throw "chrissake" and "Geez" out there repeatedly, knowing full well what they mean) I wish people didn't get so worked up over named like "Sorcerer of the Doomed" or the shape of the Seal of Orichalchos (which changed from the original Japanese, mind you!). Kids that get into dueling (and older fans, including myself), regardless of their religion, are not TEH EBIL!

Check it out:
A forum post on XeroCreative (makers of Yu-Gi-Oh Virtual Desktop)
Yu-Gi-Ho!?

The latter page infuriates me, not just as an ardent fan of the show and anime in general, but a pagan. I hate people who identify paganism as the worship of false idols or false gods. That definition comes from YOUR dictionary, not mine, BUSTER! And who's to say your gods are any truer or better than mine!? I have friends that are very religious or very unreligious, and while I love a good debate, if they say something that doesn't sit well with me and it DOES NOT require my commentary, I will withhold it. Religion does not have to interfere with friendship, having fun, or watching anime. -_-;

Anyway, I've been neglecting Driver's Ed, so I'm going to work on that for the next 50 minutes or so, until I have to go to Mythology. Quiz 2 tomorrow, which means I have lots of reading and note-taking to catch up on. No gym for me today; I think I'll try and see Marta in the Studies Abroad department, and then walk home. X_X It's going to be got though, so that means I'll need to take off my sweater... And...

I'm not wearing a bra. Ooh, I'm a rebel!

I already told you about betasquad and the forums over at seventh-star.net.
Now I've posted Chapter 19 of WDKY at said forums. Which you need to get a password for. Which you can only get by joining the community. So if you haven't get your butt over there and help me edit this monster of a steamed-rice chapter! :O!!!

Spread the word!!!!!!! *squeals and runs away*

So much for a great start to October.

If you didn't hear my voice post, here's my half-hearted attempt at making an entry with a fucked up hand. I cut my hand on the can of dog food over at Debbie's house Saturday night. I was stupid and tried to open it with a spoon when the can opener didn't work. I may have severed a tendon or a nerve (or two), as my right hand's ring finger and pinky won't bend at the top joint. I have 10+ stitches, it hurts, and I was on narcotics for a while.

But at least the nurses said I'm probably ready for Lamaze now. :P Not that I'm pregnant or anything, but it's good to know my pain tolerance has increased, ne?

Scott was a saint for staying with me (while he was STARVING, too!) for 6 hours at the Northridge Hospital ER. It was ridiculous how long I waited and how much it hurt while getting stitches, but... at least I can KIND OF use my hand now. Kind of, but not really. He had to fill out all my forms on one of them, and he filled out one (to stay with me in the ER) as "common law husband." Even if he was just doing it so he could stay with me while I hollered at the nurses, it made me feel all WAFFy inside. He put "friend" on a later form, but who cares? I know he still loves me. *stubborn mule*

I went to Kaiser today (Larry, Debbie's husband drove me) and I got my Keflex antibacterial, but no Vicodin-- I have generic Hydrocordone at home, super-strength, from grandpa, if the pain gets too bad. And Scott's hopefully staying with me until my grandparents get back on Wednesday. It's not as if I need the company, but it's nice having comfort and help when I need it. It sucks being "one-handed." My stitches make me look like Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas.

At least I got a box from Mom today. o_O She sent me a bunch of weird stuff. Aside from 2 things I asked for (my duffel bag and my photo albums), she also sent me a nightgown that didn't belong to me, two extra bags I will probably never use, my magazine racks filled with old coloring books and comics, #5 of Saint Tail, some Japanese manga I forgot I had (Hinata 120%!, Ranma vol. 32 - original edition, Prism Time #1 and #2), and two Beanie Babies-- both dogs. Oh, and a penguin stuffed animal, which did not make me feel better. >_> If you listen to the phone post, you'll know why.

BTW, phone posts are standard OGG vorbis format. Get yourself a compatible player, else you're behind the times. They're smaller, often clearer than MP3s, and license-free! :P

eFiction!Dragonfayth is coming along okay-- I still have a funky error on the authors.php page, but the site is "readable," although plain. More mods may come later, but for now:
(1) What categories should I use? The same old ones: AU, AR, Challengefics, Crossovers, etc. etc. or something different?
(2) Who wants to be a mod? Same as last time, if you have time, but also people to help the site administration when I can't (as in, disabled with just one hand) or aren't available.
(3) Where should I pimp the final version?

On the categories note, I can have SUB-CATEGORIES, so it might make more sense to put GENRES in the sub-categories, and use something else for "genres." My thought:
ACTION/ADVENTURE
FANTASY
SCI-FI
ROMANCE
-Hentai
  -Non-Con
  -Threesomes
  -Whatever kinky things you can think of
-WAFF
-Romantic Angst
-General

You get the idea? I was being sarcastic about the non-con and threesomes stuff, but they're just examples of the sub categories I can have. Then I can set the things like "type" of fic as "genres." I don't know I should probably look at some more sites running eFiction and see what they do.

It also occurred to me that Circle of Seven could have a sequel. I know it sounds crazy. But both WDKY and CO7 are going to have "endings" that actually leave you with some questions, and there could be a sequel, making the saga a trilogy. No idea what I would call it or what I would do in it (except for one possible big thing, but saying what that "thing" is would ruin the plot of both WDKY and CO7, so... ^_^ I'm shutting up). Let's just say I was inspired by "Flight Plan," which Eva, Scott, and I saw last night at the Fashion Center. Why did we see a movie? Because Scott pwned us both at Gin Rummy.

By the way, I finally "met" Lance. It's a cute car-- a white Lan EVO. Good on Eva. (I think Lance is gay. Bwaha!) Eva, you still owe me a game of Truth or Dare Jenga, though. *laughs* Did you know Jenga is actually rated for "adults!" HEH! Eva and I also discovered that my birthday falls during CSUN's Spring 2006 break. Halle-fucking-luliah. Where will I get drunk? I can go ANYWHERE! *mad giggling*

Oh, and the Clubs Conference wasn't too bad. I got free stuff, won the raffle (got a snappy red CSUN water bottle that pops its top!), and saw a teeny tiny kitten on a leash! =^.^= nyao! But this morning I read a sad story on the back of the Calendar section/Kid's Section about a (fictional) dog named Gumbo, who was abandoned (not by the owner's choice) in New Orleans. ;_; I cried, and Scott got all worried about me. I wanna know what happens to Gumbo, so I'm going to read tomorrow.

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!

Why is it every time that I listen to the Spice Girls' "Move Over(Generation X)" I get this complete AMV in my head of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX with splice-scenes of Yu-Gi-Oh interspersed in there? I mean, I can even see certain scenes:

Hold it down, feel the noise, let 'em know it's a fight, pick it up it's alive
Juudai meeting Yuugi and receiving the Hane Kuriboh card, and hearing it "talk" to him for the first time

Next phase, next stage, next grade, next wave
From different duel phases, different duel stages, different dorms, and then the gang getting washed off their rock by a wave, as in the OP theme

Every color, every creed, teach, never preach, listen up and take heed
All the different students and the various dorms (Ra Yellow, Osiris Red, Obelisk Blue) and the teachers

Take the heat, feel the flow, 'cause you're ready to burn and we're ready to go
Juudai's Elemental Heroes-- a fire-based one, and a water-based one. If not that, then someone else's monsters of similar attributes.

You gotta know the rules if you wanna play the game, respect and dedication never riding on the fame
Oh, isn't this one obvious? Rules of Duel Monsters, the revealing of Spells and Trap cards; the use of the Duel Disks. "Respect" in the form of Duelists like Yami no Yuugi and Juudai, and "Dedication" with ones like Manjyome Thunder and Jounouchi. Fame, on the other hand, might be Kaiba. ^^;

^^;; Oooh, I should do it (and at the end, have Pharaoh the Cat paw-print the screen).

Anyway, I called Dell-- and they didn't send the CDs (of course). Turns out the technicians I spoke to aren't allowed to authorize the sending of CDs; only Spare Parts can do that, but according to the lady I spoke to, it's not covered under my warranty, which means I MIGHT have to pay for it. X_X Ugh... And I also apparently did NOT do a clean install with Microsoft, when I deleted those 3 partitions from my original Dell set-up and installed Windows XP Pro on what I thought was a completely blank hard-drive/system. So I have to call them back tomorrow between 7am and 7pm Central, talk to Spare Parts, and get my bloody CDs. -_-; I have a 90-day warranty; if this doesn't pan out by the time I get the CDs (and I will give them no more than a week to get those CDs to me) then I will return the damn laptop, demand my money back, and either buy a better one someplace else, or save the money for something smarter and wiser. I guess...

Did I mention Mom paid for my driverseddirect.com courses? I'm on Lesson 2 of 7 right now, and I can schedule the first of my two-hour behind-the-wheel driving sessions at any time, but I don't know whether I should do that AFTER I've completed all the courses, halfway through, or at certain intervals. Has anyone who's taken a Driver's Ed course with behind-the-wheel done something like this? ^^;; Any advice would be appreciated, because I'm starting to get the heebie-jeebies about this, even if I am excited and determined.

I have no homework for most of my classes; Mythology is an online assignment that I'm sort of working on now; I finished my work for Journalism; there's some simple typing up for Visual Communications; I have a bit of story-writing for Creative Writing (we're getting into drama/plays now), and a skit to make up this weekend for Japanese class on Monday. Also, I might try and finish "I'm Listening" (one of my original fiction pieces) for the Northridge Review, a CSUN literary publication. :> Can I do it before Oct. 1? I have tons of reading/writing to do already...

Speaking of writing, WDKY in particular, here are some ( interesting factoids )

Oh yeah Mamono I had some ideas for upcoming YOT icontests (aside from the ones we already talked about). Try deciphering these words to see what I mean; otherwise, IM/email me.
* Rehash
* Grimm's Brothers
* iPod
* Gobble Gobble?
*< /insert gobbledygook here >
* iconfiend100
* 7sinvirtueicons

Oh, and could you do me a HUUUUGE favor and tag your past entries with:
* Challenges (for the challenge entries)
* Voting (for the voting)
* Results (for the results, whether or not they include banners)
* Banners (for the banners, even if they're posted with the results)
* Extension (for extended challenges)
And anything else that might be applicable?

...I have the feeling I'm forgetting something, but I can't think of what now. At least I get to sleep in tomorrow before I work (for a measly 2 hours), and then, at last! The weekend! More studying to be had on the Driver's Ed front, but that's okay. :) Soon, I'll have the whole house to myself...

Okay, this has been frustrating me and stressing me out since I got the damn thing. I don't want to say I hate laptops or that I can and will return it, because frankly, I don't WANT to.

I managed to perform a clean install of XP Pro onto my HD... it's the only OS I have on my laptop now. But I also lost anything Dell-related on the computer, including the User's Manual (because they don't want to "waste paper" by including a hard copy with their systems anymore), so until I get the CD tomorrow or so (and it better come!), I'm stuck without it.

I want my laptop to be "my" computer, where I can do any of my usual stuff on it without hassle. This means Photoshop, Macromedia Studio MX, Office 2003 Pro, blah, blah, blah. So why is it giving me such a hard time?

* I bought a Crossover Cable (like a Firewire cable, only with "Ethernet" port ends) to transfer files from this comp (the desktop) to my laptop, but I couldn't figure out exactly where to connect it on my desktop. I tried connecting it to one Ethernet port (just above the modem ports), and nothing seemed to happen, and I tried connecting it to the router (which gives my desktop 'Net access and my laptop wireless access), and likewise, nothing seemed to happen. Apparently, I have a firewire port on the back of my computer, but the firewires I saw at Best Buy were upwards of $30, when Phil (Anime Club President and my resident tech support) said he had a perfectly functional firewire he got for only $1! WTF!?

* The past couple of days, I have had NO problems (except at school) connecting to the 'Net. But yesterday after all the brou-ha-ha about the crossover connection, now I can't get online... even though my wireless adapter keeps reporting that the signal strength from my router is excellent. ;_; I don't know what to do! I've tried looking up any settings in Norton I might have messed up, and now I'm going to hope System Restore does me some good.

Once I do get my 'Net connection back, I want to install Trillian and Semagic on the laptop, so I can actually communicate with people and get some "work" done when I'm not here at home. (EDIT: Looks like my idea to do System Restore worked. But for some reason, Windows Messenger keeps showing up in my taskbar, even though I disabled it in Administrator Tools/Services. Wha?)

On top of that, even though I have no intention of using the laptop for gaming of any sort (even dueling!) I do want to upgrade the memory to get everything to run faster, and hopefully, so things don't freeze. I tend to use several programs at once, and if 512 MB of RAM isn't enough, then I can upgrade. Sure, it'll burn a hole in my pocket (in addition to everything else I've been buying lately, plus stuff I still "need" like a new PS2 controller and memory card), but I can justify it by calling it an "investment." Catch is, "tech support" thinks I should go name-brand, like Corsair or Kingston. I don't care either way, because the PNY chips in the desktop (2 of them; brought it from 256 MB to 756 MB)

Less stress... less stress... less stress...

WDKY19 is sorta-kinda coming along. Atlantis? Kysra? I'm going to need to borrow your steam showers and your Hentai Goddesses for this one. Oh, and if you wanna come along and help me force Seto and Téa into a Very Awkward Situation, please, please, attend! (Truthfully, it's the later-20s chapters that have me all excited. I can't exactly say why, but certain people will be getting their asses kicked, and I'm not exactly thrilled to be thrilled about it.)

In the WDKYverse, what are the Top 5 things you can't see Seto or Téa doing, under ANY circumstances or twists of fate? (and be realistic here, people, don't say things like "getting a sex change" or some weirdness like that.)

Oh, and I wanna finally get around to opening up the betasquad forums to the public... but I have some last-minute tweaking to do:
(1) Semi-layouts, based on the votes of people... who haven't really been voting a great deal, or even according to instruction (I really want one that's all "shiny" like the Apple website!)
(2) More sub-forums, suggestions, etc.?
(3) Making it a subdomain or something, so it's easier to access.

...Le sigh, I have to catch up on homework, now.

Welcome to the latest installment of review replies for "What Doesn't Kill You." I'm thrilled that so many people are still interested in the fic and letting me know what they think! As per usual, I select which reviews I'll reply to here. If I get any future reviews for this chapter, I may add them at a later date. If your review is not here, I may have missed it, or I simply may have deemed it unsubstantial enough to include here. Sorry! I will include the actual reviews (unedited) in here, just so everyone has a frame of context...

You might uncover some secret gems about the story and its eventual sequel in here, so I highly recommend you read!

Keep in mind that I do not edit the reviews that I choose to post-- that includes most spelling, grammar, emoticons, and the like. I post everything here that I find "reply-able" even if it's a flame, a death-threat, a love note, or something inbetween.

( A lot of you think I'm evil. )

Well, so Scott's okay (duh?). Turned out he just had some really bad indigestion that carried over from last night. On top of that, something I should have seen coming... he's dropping Japanese. Truth is, the classroom environment never suited him, but I didn't want to see him quit and give up (he knows and I know that he NEEDS to understand Japanese before he moves out there, no matter what the people at NOVA/GEOS/whatever say). I felt a bit selfish, as he was my only friend in the class, and my excuse for not reaching out to other people. If we ever HAD to do pairs work that I couldn't do alone (which is what I have been doing lately), I would work with him. Why? Because I'm comfortable with him, and I feel like I can help him. He knows me, he knows my attitude and my style, and he's accepted me for who I am. I like that.

But now I'm thrust into this not-so-comfortable position where I should and "have" to make friends, not just because it's what's better for me in the long-run (than waiting until Scott's actually gone, wherever he may end up), but also because Scott and I both know he can't be there for me 24-7 (or whatever else I might want) anyway, even if we did share a class together. So far, two weeks into the school year, we do spend time together and hang out, without the pretense of Japanese. But I want to feel useful, I want to feel like I've helped him out some before I throw everything that's meant anything to me this past year completely out the window.

So anyway, tomorrow I'll (hopefully) be doing my skit alone. It's something simple; a 6-line self-introduction including my name, what I like, what I'm bad at, and what I'm good at, plus your standard "It's nice to meet you!" greeting. Hopefully the sensei will be okay with me doing it alone, given my knowledge of the language and the fact that Scott is dropping the class, and I didn't want him to show up to be in a skit with me, to get a grade that wouldn't matter to him, or worse, to embarrass himself for no reason. If I miss out on 5 points, so what?

Scott came over tonight to tell me this (when I originally thought we were going to study), and that he's also enrolling in a course which I would like and maybe can help him with-- Modern Japanese Culture (I'll need to take it next semester to be applicable for Study Abroad in Japan in Fa/06). One of the textbooks is all about anime, and the class schedule has them watching anime and various Japanese movies practically every week. Nonetheless, learning the language isn't a prerequisite; I suppose Scott's right; he could learn at his own pace with a tutor, or like I did, from reading and watching things and picking up on the nuances of speech and writing. No grade to worry about. :P

I'm pretty bummed that I won't get to see Scott every morning, or that I won't have the excuse of studying with him to spend more time with him. I don't know if the rest of the semester is going to continue at this pace for me, or for him. Scott said something about not having his homework done for Japanese anyway (he always works late nights Sundays; can't do anything about it because of his other classes and his on-campus job working as photo lab tech), so he just stayed in the new Photo Lab with his phone off.

I was so worried (see previous entry), thinking stupid things like what if he'd gotten in an accident, what if he was hurt, what if... and I had no way of knowing for sure or even asking anyone as the hours went by, because I don't have Brett (his friend), Marlene (his roommate) or his mom's phone number(s). If I did and I'd called them before Scott reached me around 1:30pm, I might have blown the whole thing out of proportion and worried many more people than necessary. He did stop by Jamba Juice and reassure me, so when I finally got off work (and admittedly, K wasn't as bad today, but she's still a condescending snot) I called him to let him know I was heading home.

But Grandpa and I had to do some shopping first, and Scott was already there when I got there. Joyce and Neal, who came last night, still weren't back from their deposition regarding their trial against their insurance company (their house was one of the many burned down in the San Diego fires 2 years back). I later found out it was because they were picking up Erin from the airport; she's back from South America and is going to move before she starts school at UCLA next week or so.

Aaand... we come full circle. Now I'm the only one up, my homework's mostly done (minus some reactions for Creative Writing, which I'll do tomorrow in the gap between my classes), and I'm tired and a bit hungry... but I won't eat, because I shouldn't eat after 10pm or whatever. :P I've gotten a few more good reviews for WDKY, and assorted other reviews for other fics... o_O People are strange, I'll say that much. Someone said my story (particularly, "I Know That You Know") was horny. Gwuh? I always thought my most innuendo-laced fic was TJOY!

*yawn* G'night. (I hope I get my Home XP CD tomorrow so I can get my damn laptop working! Oh yeah, when is Studio 8 coming? :O)

Ugh, I hate all the political-based responses to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The representative for the White House keeps accusing this one MSNBC/Newsweek reporter that he was finger pointing and playing the blame game (his exact words, repeated to infinity). The guy was only asking a yes-or-no question. -_-; Then again, I'm biased because I'm a journalist-in-training, I guess. Mamono, what are your thoughts on recent coverage?

Well, if it seems/feels like (on my end, anyway) that I've been dead, it's because I've been trying to get my new Dell Inspiron 6000 to work... to no avail. I upgraded to Win XP Pro the night I got the laptop, but apparently something went wrong in the install, and since I didn't buy the Pro from Dell, I have to reformat and reinstall the Home OS, and then bug Microsoft for help regarding the XP Pro upgrade. I won't have to reinstall much:
* Firefox (bookmarks, extensions, themes)
* Thunderbird (old email -still on this comp- and account settings)
* LimeWire
* iTunes 5
* Winamp

Also, no one from betasquad has said yay or nay to my idea of having a website/forum (something I originally proposed to nekokilala), which kind of bums me out. I have tons of 30kisses claims to catch up on, and I'm wondering if there might be an easier way of letting svelterose update when I'm not available.

I want to post WDKY18 --tonight, if possible, now that it's pretty smoothed out. I'm spending so much time (or what FEELS like a lot of time) at school, studying, at work (ugh, especially tomorrow!) and trying to clean up my room (I got most of the closest sorted out; now I have to put my desk papers and such together). The comp is running strangely slow right now (great, just what I need), so I'm going to finish this entry, install the latest Java in the hopes that it'll fix my future Apple.com downloads, and restart. More later, perhaps.

So I'm trying to clean my room before school starts tomorrow, and I find all these fic notes. Everywhere. Tons of them. And I decide to try and type some up, so I can get rid of these damn things. I run across some (like for "Deep Blue" and "It Wasn't Always Like This") that I swore were on my official Yu-Gi-Oh Fic Planner, but I couldn't find them. ;_; What's going on here? Someone's rewiring my brain!

Also, some ideas for stuff that I want to type here, just to have them down (and see if others are interested): ( zOMG! SPOILERS! )

Happy Birthday Geniusgirl!
zOMG. Whee.

I neglected to mention the severe creep-factor that was Wednesday en route to Carmel-by-the-Sea. We saw no less than 4 car accidents. One was a motorcycle accident, one of them happened within five minutes of our driving past the intersection where it happened, and the other 2 were on the freeway as we headed out.

Considering Ben died in a car accident, this didn't leave me with a very settled feeling.

I hate myself for not bothering to "try" harder, since that's something that bothers me-- people not TRYING, not making an EFFORT, being COWARDLY. I mean, I've TRIED fish before. I don't like it, so it doesn't make me a coward if I don't try it when someone offers it to be. I TRIED. You can expect to succeed at everything you do in life, or like everyone you meet, or enjoy every food served to you. But the trying of something counts for so much in your own head, if not to the people around you.

Turns out Ben was on MySpace and TheFaceBook all along, and I could have kept up with him, I could have... ARGH! I'm not trying to put myself down. I'm not. But I hate myself for not trying.

Anyway, WDKY18 with its 3-bites-out (that is, 3 scenes that need prose-ifying) is up at betasquad. Help me, please?

I beat Bakura... now Yugi is all that's left of "Duelists of the Roses." ;D SQUEE NESS!

I decided to get the Dell Inspiron 6000: ( New compy for Mer Mer! )

I wish I could look forward to school starting now, but as of this moment, I'm just seeing it as another distraction, a thing to get done. I need to do a lot of that these days-- clean my room, move my room once Scott gets all his stuff out, send my PS2 to Dave (I need a box!), travel somewhere this winter... maybe Japan again.

...Gaaah.

Funny how I've only seen about two movies in the past month or so, but the previews I've seen of Tim Burton's next flick, The Corpse Bride are enough to want me to dress up as her for Halloween. It would be better than an Emmy Award, at any rate. :P That was my most under-appreciated costume ever. But, I also have angel wings, cat ears, fishnets, glow-in-the-dark lipstick, bright red lipstick, and a mom who still has everything else Halloween-y stashed away, neatly organized and ready to ship. :>

( A potential shiny new laptop for Fall 2005... Tell me what you think! )

I had a nightmare last night... sucks. I dreamed that I finally got myself this cute kitten-- it looked like Bloop, my dad's old cat (the one that passed away earlier this year). Bloop was this sleek, dark grey with bright blue eyes. I always wanted a cute cat like that. Well, I dreamed I took it home and everything, and then I went out again... and when I came home and went to "my room" (for some reason, my room was the larger one overlooking the backyard, the room I wanted originally. The catch is a) it's next to Baba and Grandpa's room and b) it's got all of Baba's creepy dolls in there) and went to my backpack on the floor.

I promptly started freaking out, because I'd forgotten to take the cat out of the top pouch of my backpack, and now it wasn't moving at all. (Bear in mind that I would never do something this stupid.) When I opened up the top pouch, I took the kitten out-- it was about the size of my hand, and completely deflated. Imagine a flattened cat-- no bones, no organs, just a FLAT CAT. I was devastated.

I woke up several times after that feeling downright rotten with myself, even though I told myself if something like that ever happened, a cat could easily claw its way through my puny backpack, and would be yowling and hissing in the meantime. Not to mention cats don't just deflate.

Well, I don't know what it means, and I don't particularly care to revisit the dream to find out. As we're finally getting closer and closer to school starting, I'm getting a lot done and a lot planned. I have work from 1:30-6:45 today, then I'll hang out with Jill and Co. plus Kara, my aunt who came all the way here from New York (she drove). Sometime eventually I want to finish cleaning up my desk, throwing out clothes that don't fit, working on WDKY18 (*sings* Mamono~!) and CO7-2+, getting Delishidoodle to go live, and posting my 100 SxA icons. *whew!*

AND on top of all that, I want to get WikiFic really going, even if (ALAS!) I am the only one posting articles there. -_- I don't get it, I pimped it here on LJ (various YGO communities) and now on FFnet... hardly any response. *scowl* Why does WikiPedia have such a large Yu-Gi-Oh section (wrong, mind you... Yugi was never the holder of the Millennium Ring...)

It's already 12:30, which gives me 1 hour before I have to be at work. Maybe I'll get some cleaning or something done before I go.

You know, I can't honestly say I know too many people that screamingly identify themselves as emo or punk or goth. I just know people. All of them are different in their own weird ways, but whatever, I like them anyhow.

There's this guy at work, J, who is younger than me, but has always been extremely nice and understanding, very polite and sweet-- matter of fact, I think he liked me, and I respected how he didn't get worked up whenever I was mad/upset over C, the guy I kinda-sorta-not-really had a crush on (and J knew it). Well J is normally nice and everything to me, but two days ago he and C were complete asses, and I stormed out of Jamba without saying anything to them. And today, though J and I didn't work much together (I was on dish most of the time, but later I got a reg), toward the end, he would literally TWITCH and SHUDDER when he saw me. I don't know why he did it, and I asked him as much-- but he never answered. And then when he was clocking out, I was on my reg trying to help speed the line on, he got somewhat pissed that I didn't want to let him clock out. I told him flat out that he'd been such a jerk to me that day, and I didn't know what I did to deserve such treatment. He gave me a flat, disbelieving look, and said "Ugh, I can't believe  you" and stormed out without another word to me.

Me, at least, I let people know what upsets the hell out of me before I storm out of anywhere. But I didn't know what I did or what upset him, and now I'm left still kind of angry, and still upset. Mostly because when people shudder at the sight of me, it's a painful reminder of a rather lonely elementary-school life, when I didn't have too many close friends that understood me, and of people that liked to make fun of me all the time. To have someone that was so nice to me --someone I thought was a friend-- do that for no reason makes me very sad. I explained this to one of my co-workers, who explained that J is an "emo kid" and acts on his emotions, never thinking things through, and he can swing easily from nice and happy to angry and grumpy. It sounds more like bi-polar disorder, but that's a legit medical syndrome, while this whole "emo" this is more like a phase or a conscious choice, right?

Meh.

So I've gotten even MORE inspired for Circle of Seven-- you know, WDKY's sequel. That's kind of a bad thing, since I still have half of WDKY to write, even if all the chapter titles are planned out, and only 2 of the remaining er, 17 are "filler"ish.

My problems:
(1) How long should CO7 be? I was leaning toward 36, to make it the same length as WDKY, but despite my very-lengthy planner, I don't know if I really have enough content for that many chapters. Then again, I didn't think WDKY would be more than 10 chapters... look where we are now! It's a matter of coming up with the right places to cut off, and a certain number of plot points and subplots to take into at once. If not 36 chapters, then 27 might suffice (yes, a 9 chapter difference...)

(2) I'm confused. I'm trying to sort out the content by chapters, and I KNOW there is a reason why I made Chapter X have this title. So if I place Chapter Y after Chapter X, at what point does Chapter's X content have to stop (cliffhanger) and become Chapter Y? If I make Chapter X two chapters AHEAD of Y, will that screw things up too badly?

I may have kinda-sorta fixed this problem with some chapter rearranging. Here's the tentative list for CO7, with some top-secret chapter titles removed for your own sanity.

Chapter 1: Family Ties
Chapter 2: Revelations
Chapter 3: Where Loyalties Lie
Chapter 4: The Calm Before The Storm
Chapter 5: [Removed for your own sanity]
Chapter 6: Jitters
Chapter 7: [Removed for your own sanity]
Chapter 8: Far and Away/As Sweet as Honey
Chapter 9: [Removed for your own sanity]
Chapter 10: Divided We Fall
Chapter 11: [Removed for your own sanity]
Chapter 12:
Chapter 13: Heart Barriers
Chapter 14: Lady of the Tongues
Chapter 15: X
Chapter 16: Y
Chapter 17: The Stone of Memory
Chapter 18: A Return (?)
Chapter 19: Stay
Chapter 20: The Collector
Chapter 21: Home is Where the Heart Is
Chapter 22: [Removed for your own sanity]
Chapter 23: [Removed for your own sanity]
Chapter 24: [Removed for your own sanity]
Chapter 25: Traces
Chapter 26: A Question of Honor
Chapter 27: The Betrayal
Chapter 28:
Chapter 29:
Chapter 30:
Chapter 31:
Chapter 32: Patchwork Soul
Chapter 33:
Chapter 34:
Chapter 35: The Beginning
Chapter 36: Days Go By (Epilogue)

The blank chapters are ones I don't have ideas for... yet. X and Y are chapters I have ideas for, but I don't have chapter titles for them. I could just plan to cut them out entirely-- that would make 29 chapters. But it's possible that with the ideas I have, I can stretch it into 36 if I divide it up right. And hey, you never know if a new idea or a WDKY subplot I've forgotten will come back to bite me in the butt. So... *shrug*

It has also occurred to me that I know some people that are just downright weird. I mean, weird. Like, they are the epitome of fandom mutants. Not bad or anything, just freaking... GAH! They do and think some things that have me wondering what goes on in their head, truly. But hey, the weird can never understand the normal, and the normal never realize they're weird. I wonder which camp I hail from?

Anyway, I don't work till 6 tomorrow (er today) and I managed to get next Sunday off for Baba and Grandpa's big 60th anniversary shebang (to which EVERYONE who is ANYONE will be coming) so... it's all good, I'll have thinking time. And hey, the CSUN Jamba guy called me back and said we'll be having a meeting within the next two weeks... and then, come the 22nd or so, I'll be an official transfer (if all goes well, and why shouldn't it?). I'm so sick of the super busy Northridge/mall location, and the attitudes of all the high schoolers and college dropouts that work there. -_-; I can get along with maybe *5* people-- on a good day, if I'm lucky.

I need to read some good fics. *sniff*

1 - Leanne just messaged me on MySpace. Apparently her bf goes to CSUN, and she's down here a lot and wants to meet for coffee. Er, uhm... shit, what do I do?

2 - Scott and I are friends. :) I still love him, he still loves me... but the break-up was centered around how I tried, and he couldn't. He knew if he made the attempt to be more involved in the relationship, it would be giving a half-assed job. And while the very thought of SOME effort is appealing to me, he's a Scorpio (hah!) and a perfectionist (Oh, Seto...) and he refuses to give it anything less than his all... or nothing. So we'll see where the next few weeks take us. For now, I'm okay.

3 - I want to get WDKY18 out by August 18th, Anzu's (real) birthday! Who dares me to try?! Come on, I want betas, betas, betas!

4 - I gotta go. Work now. :P

Good Web Site: YPops.
If you have Yahoo! Mail and are sick of not being able to download your emails to your computer, get YPops. It works with practically every email client out there, and it does what Yahoo is making people pay $19.95 to do (what it used to do for free). This also works if you don't want ANOTHER email, or maybe you just can't get another one (GMail, anyone?)

Bad Web Site: Apple.com
No matter how hard I try, I can't download the Apple iTunes for Windows update (4.9). I have viewed the page in Avant Browser, IE, and Firefox, but I still can't see any download button (one time I caught a brief flash of it, but it disappeared). I have made sure that no images, flash files, or ActiveX files are blocked without notification, and I've gone through ALL of my McAfee logs for Privacy Service. Nothing. Bupkis. I finally submitted a feedback to Apple.com, but since it's not the kind they can reply to, who knows how I'll fix this problem.

Same goes for the iPod software. There's supposed to be a button there, but it just ISN'T. And somehow, other people don't seem to be having this program. Allow me to voice: WTF!?

All praise Saint Mamono, Goddess of the Code! I don't know how she did it/thought of it, or whatever, but she got me both the iTunes and iPod updates by digging around in the source code. And amazingly, IT WORKED! Thank you, Mamono! (Hey, I want more WDKY icons, or I won't show you the finished Winter icon I told you about!)

I also want to get the album artwork for my songs, but I really, truly can't figure out how, and all the tutorials on the Apple site seem to refer to the newest version of iTunes, which doesn't have half the menus described (that I have). Amazon.com apparently has something to do with all this, but what the heck do I know? I have a lot of album artwork in my My Music folder (don't know how it got there), but I think that was for another program...?

Wait, wait... the tutorial I read was mis-Googled and referred to a Widget for OSX only, iTunes Catalog, which has NO PC equivalent. Still, I'd like to get the artwork... (Got this program called iTunes Art Importer, which accesses Amazon.com's database. It's a pain to work at times, but it DOES work!)

Okay, so I have icons to work on, communities to update, fics to write and edit and post (WDKY coming at ya!) and things to find... er, remember all those Google parody sites we found a while back? I know one was Gizoogle.com, but what was the other one, where you could search names and come up with stuff like Seto Kaiba is god and things like that?  Googlism.com!

WHEE I WON! My first ever eBay auction and I won a pair of beautiful Azurite earrings. I'm totally thrilled, because I was under the impression that finding jewelry from my namesake (least, I think that's what it is) would be expensive or impossible. But I won these earrings, and I'm in the running for an Azurite and Hematite bracelet. All that's left is a necklace! ^_^v

What Doesn't Kill You Chapter 17 is now up at FFnet. Go read it, fo'shizzle.

That FO post I was talking about is a skosh bit delayed, but still coming. I guess you're looking forward to it?

Whoo-hoo! Okay, so Mamono's gotten back to me with WDKY17, and guardian_kysra says she'll get back to me with it tomorrow (meaning today) and even nekokilala, our newest member of betasquad said she'd give it a look-see! Yayness!

News you can use:
I have updated my FFnet profile to include a comprehensive list of all 82 of my fics posted this far... and which ones are Oneshots, which ones are Works in Progress, and which ones are Multi-Chapter Completed Stories. As I JUST posted a new fic "Lover Alone" on 30kisses and ygo_lyricwheel, this FFnet list is subject to change whenever I upload a new story/chapter. So keep your eyes peeled. New information on the profile includes "expected number of chapters," which some people might be interested in knowing.

I finished downloading ALL of PGSM! Yay! I have to start burning the CDs... but I'm still burning Rochelle's Inuyasha (which was being a pain today and refusing to let me burn CDs and then not letting me know about it or why), so I don't even know if I'll have enough. Keep in mind that I bought 100 CDs about a month ago. -_- I'm just excited to finally be up to Act 20! I wanna throttle Mamoru, though!

In Jamba news... well, I think I made a bit of a discovery. It's 50/50 when it comes to being "good" or "bad." Remember "C" the co-worker who's younger than me, cute, and I kinda had a bitty-size crush on him? Well a) the other day he joked about my age... I kicked him (not hard) and told him how old I REALLY was (20) and he seemed surprised! I felt bad about kicking him though, and ironically enough, we both apologized at the same time; b) we both closed together, along with "J" who I suspect likes me. I like him as a friend --he's cheered me up when I've needed it, and he does seem to care, but that particular night, not only was I on my rag, but I was thinking about how it's 10 days from the date when it'll have been 10 years since my sister died. So I was kind of quiet. Why do guys make a fuss when girls are bitchy on their period, but if they're quiet and moody instead of yelling and screaming, they seem to get more paranoid? *shrug*

Anyway, I finally made this comment about C being a womanizer, and he actually persisted in knowing who (of the female coworkers) agreed with me. When I named one particular girl, it seemed to get to him, and I deduced that he liked her. Or he at least cares a lot about her opinion... so, womanizer or no, it's not as if I have any reason to be jealous [I already have a boyfriend, I don't date younger guys, and wanting attention from a guy just because other girls were getting it is NOT a good reason to go after someone] and I'm trying to figure out what to do. I intended to tell C that he shouldn't change who he is, I'm sorry for what I said, and that he can and should go after this girl if he wants to-- but he should lay off the flirting with other female co-workers, because as I said, I'm not the only one who's noticed (and been on the receiving end of it).

For the most part, we had an amicable relationship today, but he left pretty quickly (again, without giving me the chance to say anything to him). I felt kind of sour and sad about it for the remainder of my shift, because I kept thinking there was something I could have said, but if he really cared about it, he wouldn't have acted the way he did. "K," the nice lead that's been closing with us these past few nights, is one of the girls C kind of flirted with (even though she's 6 years his senior!) said C probably didn't care. I don't know whether to believe her or not.

I was also thinking about what "J" asked while we were closing-- if I could date anyone in the store, who would it be. J already knows I kind of liked C, so I wondered if he was just asking to get me to admit it. I dodged around the answer, saying I wouldn't take the risk-- and then later saying I just didn't take risks in the summer (people DYING and all). C ended up being the first co-worker I told the truth to about Michelle. He didn't react in any special way, which I guess is what makes it so memorable-- he didn't say "I'm sorry" or "What happened?" or anything. I think he might have said "Oh." I can't be upset or happy about that one way or another.

I wanted to tell C, when we were alone, that I lied to J (augh, now I feel bad about that) and that yeah, I would have gone out with C, if I had the chance. But I neglected to mention that I couldn't and wouldn't cheat on my boyfriend, whom I love very much, crushes and silly things like that aside. "S" and "K" both know I have a boyfriend, I don't think J and C do, though. I wanted to tell C that I did like him a lot initially, but a lot of that feeling has faded, and frankly, the whole "womanizer" thing came from me being jealous that he'd been so nice to me at first, but then he started flirting with other girls and downright ignoring me (ignoring totally, not just ignoring-as-flirt-material). I wanted to say I kind of badgered that girl into agreeing with me that he's a womanizer (she didn't outright disagree with me; she sort of treated the whole thing as a joke) and that if he genuinely liked her, he should say so. I just didn't want to hear it from his lips.

And I worked with that girl today, but I couldn't bring myself to tell HER what I suspect about C, either.

At least all this stuff about fics and things have distracted me enough (until now) where I'm not thinking about it.

But what I am thinking about is Harry Potter, and all these weird questions that have been bubbling in my head since I started reading "Order of the Phoenix" for the second time. So here are my questions under an LJ-CUT... Answer if you can/dare. ( Wiggle those extendable ears! )

Ah, sometimes Scott has excellent ideas. After discovering that my precious rec room is infested with ants (going across all 14 or so feet of the entire ceiling, no less) and spiders (!!!!!!!!) Scott pulled me away and took me to Borders for an hour and a half or so. It was good. I grabbed the volumes of Boys Over Flowers/Hana Yori Dango that I was missing (8, 9, 11) -- but sadly, they're lacking in the Hot Gimmick (7, 9) department. Guess I'll have to order those online. I also looked for the Harry Potter books 1-4 boxed set... out-of-print! I was going to get 1-5 and just give Book 5 to Mom, since she OWNS 1-4, but not 5... but alas! It was not in store, despite the catalog saying it was. So anyway, I bought 4 differently-sized copies of 1-4, and I think I saved money.

I also caught sight of the new Entertainment Weekly and...
(1) "Superman Returns" looks like it's going to be terrible. Sorry, but Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane? I don't see it. That and, despite "not being a sequel," it takes place after the events of Chris Reeve's Superman 2, which means people that WERE NOT alive and part of the fandom when said movie came out will probably have to rewatch it for it to make any sense. This is NOT a good way to start out a franchise with so much possibility and weight on it. The guy playing Clark/Superman looks okay, but... Well, he's no Chris Reeves, and he sure as hell isn't Dean Cain. Tom Welling wasn't even asked to play the role, because they would have had to cancel "Smallville" for him to do it. Oh, and did you know that the 'S' on Superman's chest is really made out of thousands of little crystals with S's on them! Supe's a pimp loaded with bling-bling!

(2) CILLIAN MURPHY! Okay, it's just a one-paragraph blurb, but a pretty hot pic of him, and shadow_reality, I thought you'd wanna know. ^_~

(3) Ralph Fiennes = Voldemort!? o_O... Uh, yeah, this is the guy that went after J.Lo in "The Wedding Planner," right? And now he's the epitome of all evil? Hmm.....

Harry Potter die-hard fans have way too much time on their hands. I wish I had that kind of time on my hands. I mean, I looked at all these unofficial guides and things, and they bring up so many points I never even thought of! I mean, I might have thought of them once or twice while reading the books and making my usual faces, but these people turned them into full-fledged discussions. Once I re-read the series, I might be able to chat with the best of them.

Seattle's Best coffee really has the best... hot cocoa. This delish little thing called the Cocoa Trio. It was yummy last winter in Seattle, and it's yummy now in summer in Los Angeles. Really, I love it. It made my night.

I've gotten a lot of (mixed) reviews for all the oneshots I posted to FFnet, but because most of them were ficlets/drabbles, I used lots of ellipses (...) in them... and QuickEdit (the bane of my existence) liked to edit them out, and make me into some female e.e. cummings with my own sense of grammar. Sorry, no, I'm not that quite sure of myself just yet... I fixed "Silhouette" and "Miss Match," but I don't know if any of the others have screwed up the appearance of my fics royally. I'm going through all the reviews and trying to make sure. Let me know if I don't fix an error within the week!

Note: One of my loyal reviewers, Amazoness Archer, has requested I do a Yami x Anzu fic. Someone better hold me to it. Better yet, be more specific and write a theme/challenge element for me to follow. I seem to be good at doing those lately.

ChibiChib said (of "This Is All Your Fault") -- "I don't get it." o_O Well, she's not the only one making that face. What's not to get? *shrug* Do you really have to know about the Kaibaman card (the one created by Konami, and a legit Duel Monsters card) to understand the fic? I don't think so... Other people seemed to get it, and they said it was funny. Is there anything in there that doesn't make sense?

Any votes for lengthening "First Impression" into a miniseries? Yeah, one so far-- okay, two if you count atlantian_magic's original vote. Anyone else think so? But I need a direction to go-- obviously one of them (Seto or Anzu) would start to remember their REAL first meeting... but how, when, and why? Which one of them? Would the other person need a "push" to remember? If so, from who?

Re: "The Darkness Within" -- remember, it's a Kaiba introspective fic. He thinks if he got too close to Anzu, she'd become like him, dark and rotted and not the person he cares for. This might not be true, but it's what Kaiba thinks, and Kaiba never doubts himself.

Not so many reviews for "World Champion," even though that one is pure fluff (more so than "S'More" I think) -- and the one review I got for "One Of These Days" was someone demanding to know whether it was Kaiba. My answer: Sore wa hi-mi-tsu desu! (It is a sec-ret!) And for S'More-- one person thought Kaiba was being a "stuck-up jackass" ... eh!? He was!? ^^;

I got the wrong idea from this review: At first I thought it was Seto because he always has to be on the top but I guess Anzu is sort of like that too.

This reminds me of a line from Lois and Clark: "You like to be on top. Got it." *snickers* Though Kaiba = Clark Kent... NO WAY!

I've also been contemplating more of WDKY-- sadly, I had no time to work on it tonight, but I got an idea for a relatively plot-sized revision involing You-Know-Who and the rest of the You-Know-Whats. And if you don't know, sorry, I won't tell you until Chapter 22 or thereabouts-- you oughta know by now! ^_~ I don't foreshadow for nothing, you know!

Oh yeah, seeshellirun, I watched "Confessions of a White Collar Cop." It's... o_O <-- my face. It's funny but weird, sometimes shocking, but still acceptable (to watch-- I mean everyone's got lines they draw for various genres; this was never too stupid or too violent for me to click away). But which one were you? The ninja? The clown? Someone else? The confessions were pretty freakin' funny, though. *smirk*