MILES to GO || before I sleep

So I saw "Eclipse" the other night with Stephanie. I didn't pay for it: she used passes! So I have kept my promise of never paying for anything involving "Twilight," except for the time I saw the first movie, and that was genuinely for the LULZ. I was so obnoxious--and I admit it!--during the screening that it more than made up for the cost of the movie and the Junior Mints I think I ate. I wasn't quite as obnoxious during this screening, but it was great to know there were other folks in the theatre who just saw it for the LULZ.

( FURSPLODE! )

Ganked from an_ardent_rain

Comment saying, "Interview me!" and I will ask you five questions. Post the answers to your journal and offer to interview the people that comment on YOU and so on...

1. If you put on the sorting hat at Hogwarts, where do you think you'd end up?
I'd probably vex the sorting hat! Is it a bit narcissistic to say that? I'd probably end up in Gryffindor, not because that's the main house we follow in the Harry Potter series or because that's where Hermione, my favorite character is, but because I identify a lot with the Gryffindor traits. I also identify with the ones of Ravenclaw, but not as much with Hufflepuff, and very little with Slytherin (I do kind of wish I had the "ambition" trait that Slytherin seem so well-known for)

2. Do you believe in "no regrets" or are you more "live and learn?"
I wish I could be "no regrets," but if you don't learn, you're not really living, are you? I'm also the kind of person who often thinks of her life in "chapters," and I have a few right now that I feel like they're unwritten, but not to the point where, if I died tomorrow, I'd really, really hate it. It's just a bit sad. I think life is all about learning.

3. Any (I guess... up to five or so) favorite songs-of-the-moment?
I always listen to everything on Shuffle, so to determine this would involve figuring out what songs I start with. I've been on my "Famous Commercial Songs" playlist lately, and some songs on there that I enjoy particularly include:
-Rawnald Gregory Erickson The Second by Starfucker (the Target pharmacy song)
-Sinnerman (Felix da Housecat's Heavenly House mix) by Nina Simone (The HTC myTouch phone song)
-Breathe by Télépopmusik (the Mitsubishi song)
But also
-Just Dance by Lady GaGa (well...because it's Lady GaGa)
-Leave Out All The Rest by Linkin Park (even though it's off the Twilight soundtrack, it's such an inspirational song! I love it!)

4. If you could have any super power, what would you choose? And would be prefer to be a super hero or a super villain?

I probably think about this way too often! I often waver among the ability to teleport, super-speed, flying (those are all related, can you tell?) and super-strength, just to kick some ass. I'd definitely want to be a superhero, because I'm a firm believer in the good versus evil concept, although I know in reality, no villain is evil just to be evil; they think what they're doing is good and right for them or their cause.

Here's my superhero form, as rendered by DeviantARTist Ammotu's generator:

5. What was your favorite book when you were a child?
That's a hard question! I actually read a LOT as a child (I still do, but probably not nearly as voraciously; as a kid, going to the library for 3 hours at a time was a weekend adventure for me). I read a lot of Greco-Roman mythology and Nancy Drew especially. I've hung onto some of my books from when I was a kid; some of the Berenstain Bears books, Alice in Wonderland/Through The Looking Glass, Dr. Seuss...but a favorite? That's too hard!

So I had a really weird dream that I just woke up from. While with some dreams, you can tell that things you've seen or done play a role in how the dream ends up, I can honestly say I have no idea where this dream came from.

( Well first there was a vacuum... )

I have a very strange brain.

I'm calm now, but I wasn't on Thursday and Friday, when I had to go to Van Nuys for Jury Duty. So much for my day off, right? So I plotted my schedule using metro.net the night before, figuring out which bus lines I had to take, when I had to be at the stops, and how much it would take.

( The wheels on the bus go round and round )

Anyway, I opted to go to In-N-Out for lunch, since I passed it on my way home, but I was too freaked out to take a bus line different from the one I had used to get there. I ended up on a Rapid bus again, missing the In-N-Out by several blocks, and it was no fun walking through that neighborhood! The actual restaurant was in a nice-ish shopping complex called "The Plant," and it was so close to another bus line that I was pretty sure would take me to my last transfer point that I ended up doing taking that instead of walking back to the nearest Rapid stop. I got back to my transfer point with no trouble, and caught my last bus within a few minutes. My Star Trek book was pretty fascinating, but by the time the route wound through the VA Hospital, I was exhausted! I couldn't wait to get home and go to sleep...which I did, of course. For five hours. Could I be a narcoleptic?

Last night I finished reading that Star Trek book, "Federations," and I must admit, it was EXCELLENT. I might not know a lot about the original series (it's a sort of "crossover" between TOS and TNG), but it's books like those that get me itching to watch some of the episodes, even if they are dreadfully cheesy. Some of them set the stage for some great adventures! I especially loved how everything was tied up in the end, as opposed to there being messy tidbits as a result of later movies and whatnot. For the time when it came out, it fits smoothly into the timeline, as far as I can tell, versus other Star Trek novels that contradict episodes of the shows or other media. Of course, the comic that came out prior to the new Star Trek movie might not count, since it's a prequel for an alternate universe...except that prequel was SET in our Trek universe (at least I'm 99.9% sure that it was), so now I'm even more confused!

aelibia, I will willingly accept whatever punishment you see fit for me for reneging on my promise to be online by 2pm today. My grandparents and I ended up going to the mall at 1:30, and what was supposed to be a short excursion turned into an all-day affair because my hair stylist no longer works on Sundays, and I couldn't think of a time during the coming week to go see her, so I opted for a last-minute appointment that took 2.5 hours (I got a cut, highlights, and my brows done)! After that, I went on my search for shoes, and... well, that didn't go so well.

So yes, still searching for the perfect, sexy, comfortable shoe. I went to Macy's first, since I had to return something there anyway (well, get it "fixed" is more like it), and I saw a lot of cute shoes, but cute ≠ comfortable, and I've got to apply my same standards that I do for clothing as I do for accessories and shoes. A variety of brands had nice designs, but I was going for a few specific traits:
* A medium-to-high heel; no more than three or four inches
* Heel support-- there has to be something in the back of my heel other than a strap or straps
* Over-the-foot support, preferably in the middle-- a series of straps or one thick strap to hold my foot in the shoe while I'm walking
* No pinching of my toes at the front-- I love peep-toe shoes, but these kind of shoes tend to squish my toes into a very uncomfortable shape, meaning blisters later on, which are NEVER fun

Other pluses would have been:
* A candy color or something different from my usual black (patterns are okay! I actually saw a pretty flower-patterned pair by Jessica Simpson and a paisley-patterned one by Carlos Santana --what is it with musicians and shoes!?-- but the heels were a bit too crazy-high for my tastes)
* No sequins, rhinestones, or other "bling" that can either leave imprints on my skin or fall off and ruin the look of the whole shoe
* No bows or ruffles of any kind
* Good arch support-- nothing TOO curvy or wobbly, like a platform shoe. But platform heels and/or toes are okay, so long as it's not platform from front to back, with the tapering in the back-- those kind of shoes are like asking for a broken ankle!

Anyway, I checked out Sheikh, Bakers, Love D, Guess, JCPenney, Sears, Reflections, and any other shoe store I could think of or saw. The only "for sure" one I didn't get to (but might try to tomorrow) is DSW. All were a bust except for Reflections, where I did find two cute pairs that I might go back for. Sad thing is, the cute color one (Qupid) doesn't have the over-foot support, and the cute style one (Delicious) only comes in black. I went to Guess and also found a cute pair of the right style shoes, but they only came in black and pinched my toes together too tightly at the toe.

Despite what the measuring thing at Macy's said, I'm a size 6 shoe, though with some brands I'm a 5.5 or a 6.5. Sometimes I need a wider shoe, as my feet, when put together, resemble a heart-- arched and wide near the top, and tapering down toward the bottom. I have a high arch and pointy heels (as in, the back of my foot), so I require support for those, and don't want to be tottering around in something that can give me foot AND back pain.

I would go for kitten heels or ballet flats as Morgan suggested, but any ballet flats I've ever had ALWAYS fall apart from the toe (I guess I'm a toe-tapper) and don't help me -5'1" at the most- look any better. At least heels give me a bit of a boost. As for kitten heels, I have worn a pair, and they just hurt my ankles like crazy. I'd rather go "all or nothing" if it comes to heels. That doesn't mean I'd go crazy with pencil-thin stilettos, but I'm fine with a few inches of height. Dressy, sexy shoes doesn't mean "thick-heeled clunkers" in my book.

The search goes on! As always, advice appreciated. I hope my feet aren't "too weird" for nice shoes. It's either a new pair or I have to break in the ones I already have (praying that they CAN be broken into).

Good news? Well, my hair looks great if I do say so myself, and I did get myself some new clothes-- a new outfit for yoga and a cute top and vest from Anne Taylor LOFT (couldn't resist). Plus, I picked up the latest Susan Wiggs "Lakeshore Chronicles" book for Baba and I to read together (as soon as Baba's done with her latest thriller romance that she can't stop raving about and which title escapes me at the moment).

 Aankh Milaoongi by Asha Bhosle from See You Breathe - Sight Through Sky-Eyes Disc 1 (Rating: 0)

Well, back in L.A. from San Diego. Thanksgiving was nice-- delicious food, got to meet (and hold!) baby Eva, play some games with the cousins (needed David's help to beat Lemmy's castle #3 in Super Mario World...), and went shopping with Dad. No big huge drama that I was a part of or witness to, so I'd say it was a fairly successful adventure. Yesterday Dad DID get a little teed off that I wasn't back at the hotel when I said I would be, but that was because the bus from Scott's place was super-late! Not my fault-- we looked at the bus schedule and everything!

It was WONDERFUL having my own room. When I stayed one night at Dad's in Alameda before we left to L.A. on the way here, I had to suffer through his snoring. He woke me up and then KEPT me up with his snoring. To make matters worse, the next morning when he woke up, he said something to me that I barely remember-- I was so exhausted. So of course as soon as he left and it was all silent again, I fell back asleep! Dad came back and was furious that I hadn't done anything he had told me to do, and he didn't believe me when I said he snored and I fell asleep because I was so exhausted from not sleeping all night because of it! I think now he does (Baba and Grandpa said he did too, because he fell asleep at Fred's yesterday), but that doesn't mean he's going to do anything about it. -_- So yeah, it's always nice to have my own space. I don't like snorers. Sorry.

There were little annoyances here and there, but nothing HUUUGE. I'll get into it in another post. Right now, I'm actually kind of eager to get back to S.F., even if I have a workload ahead of me:
* Study for the next Biology quiz due Tuesday
* Study for the big exam tomorrow for my Women's Studies class
* Start writing my papers for my Outdoor Recreation class
* Hope that my Geology teacher gets back to me re: the 3rd assignment, because the CD that said assignment is on has mixed-up maps, and we can't complete the assignment without knowing which maps we're supposed to look at.

Some cool stuff I picked up in SD (most of it gifts):
* Yu-Gi-Oh Vocal Duel
* Yu-Gi-Oh Sound Duel I
* Sarah McLachlan's "Wintersong"
* Mannheim Steamroller's "Christmas Celebration"
* Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "The Lost Christmas Eve" (it was a tough choice; there were 2 other CDs by them I wanted at Target that I didn't get, so I limited myself to one album from each artist I liked)
* "The Tipping Point" (book)
* "How To Read Literature Like A Professor" (book)
* A new sweater + turtleneck (one $20, one free!)
* Clinique's "Black Honey" almost-lipstick
* Some more Clinique Moisturizing Gel
* "The Greatest-Ever Jewish Cooking" (book) --anyone in S.F., wanna come over and be my guinea pig as I attempt to discover my Jewish heritage through food?

Right now I'm just waiting for Dad to come back from breakfast with his buddy Steve (and hopefully remember to bring me the Raisin French Toast I requested). I think I'm going to play me some Super Mario World now, though... I love the Forest of Illusion!

Okay, so even though I finished the last of my four "Twilight" series book review/reaction posts, here's one more for good measure, re: the movie--



What's wrong with this picture?
A) Edward's supposed to be tawny, bronze-haired, not flaming red-haired. Now, I'm not about to find out if Robert P.'s curtains match the carpet, but I do know that in the trailer, he didn't look quite so Ron Weasley-ish. What's going on, EW? (As he is, he looks a bit like a wino, but at least he's looking in the right direction, unlike his swooning co-star, who seems to have her eyes wandering....)

B) Plain ol' supposedly uninteresting, apathetic, and yet mysteriously able to relate to everybody (IRL, I mean, and only partially in her own bookverse) looks... like a model. Like she looks AFTER she gets turned. She's got PLUCKED EYEBROWS for fuck's sake. I know she's being portrayed by an actress IN a movie, but if Nicole Kidman can wear a fake nose that had me thinking "There's no way that's Nicole Kidman!" then they can tone down the actress's natural looks and make her look more "Bella-ish." The movie, after all, is not from Edward's point of view, and we're never supposed to see Bella as some beautiful, amazingly talented girl. In order for her to be the slightest bit relatable, she's got to be plain, boring, ordinary!

Finished reading "Eclipse." I'm curious if anyone thinks I'm cheating in my reading; I'm not. I'm honestly just that fast of a reader, especially when the writing's improved as much as Meyer's has since "Twilight."

Oh, and for any and all keeping up with this short series of posts and who may be interested in the series (whether for lulz or otherwise), I hereby issue you a challenge!

THERE IS ONLY ONE RULE: Write a Buffy the Vampire Slayer x Twilight series fic in which at least one character from each series meets and talks to the other, in a face-to-face scenario.

OTHER MALARKY:
- Any length
- Any genre (including parody/MST, etc.)
- Any characters; minimum of 2 total (again, at least one from each series), no max, but preferably MAIN characters (e.g. not some nameless demon from Season 2 of BtVS)

I'm actually quite tempted to do this myself. I know I was complaining the other day that Meyer's vampires are just too damn cool/powerful, but that doesn't mean I think a crossover is impossible. Go for it!

( In the meantime, I'll be expounding my thoughts on the third book. )

Okay, so I've finished reading "Twilight," the first book in Stephenie Meyer's series of the same name, which includes "New Moon," "Eclipse," and the soon-to-be-released "Breaking Dawn." It's also going to be featured in a movie of the same name, coming out December 12th.

I've heard a lot about the series, from my FL and off, from fans and wankers alike. My impression started out fairly negative: that it was poorly written, and should only be read for the LULz, that the main character was as close to a "canon Sue" as has ever been written, and the fans are even more delusional than the women that think they're married to Snape or Scott Summers.

Some reactions from outside:
-makani on DeviantART seemed to hate it (or just went along with the wank reports), and she got a torrent of commenters from all ages claiming they like/love the story, and just as many, if not more, that hate it.
-My roommate says she likes it because it's an easy read. She reads it in the 15 minute breaks she gets between shifts, but I've also seen her curled up with it on the couch when I get home. She got into it because of her 14-year-old sister, and disagrees with the opinion that it's meant for older readers than "Harry Potter" (even though Meyer herself said in a USA Today interview that the fourth and final book, "Breaking Dawn" is meant for ages 15+). She said it was more for 9-year-olds, but I think the language and tone is a bit more than that-- though I'm basing it off of things that were suggested to me when *I* was 9. The world's a different place, and I never read on my age level anyway-- I usually skipped a few grades in terms of booklists.

I actually had made another post a while ago, which included my reactions as I read the book in 20-30 page chunks. But it was lost, so here's my reaction to the first book as a whole, after I finished reading it earlier tonight.

( Vampire Love Story? )

I would make like Happosai and go "what a haul! what a haul!" but my haul this year was meager but meaningful-- just the way I like it. From Gary, I got some gelt (and if you don't know what that means, go look it up in a Yiddish dictionary); from Mom I got a new black iHome iPod dock/radio with alarm, along with a $25 Macy*s gift card. Rochelle also gave me a $25 gift card; Eva got me "Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End" on the 2-disc DVD edition (YAYZ!). Though I don't think it counted as a Hanukkah present, Dad also gave me V for Vendetta, and I bought myself the Anastasia (remember that lovely animated film by Fox? Wow, John Cusak ~_~) Family Fun Edition.

Yesterday, azhp and I made my traditional Spritz cookies, so those of you in the Yay Area who want some, better call your dibs now! (This is being awfully egotistical, isn't it? But I'd like to think everyone's liked them over the years; I know I do.) Speaking of cookies, the Jays (the family that owns the flat Mom & Gary live in) gave us some delicious... well, they TASTE like cookies, but they look like brownies. And they're delicious! :D I'm eating a chocolate chip one, now.

I've still got gifts of my own to give out, but so far, it's been a nice holiday-- fun, productive, and not overly emotional. Heck, I even managed to get the Christmas tree up and decorated last night-- what a relief, considering this year, it seemed like it wouldn't happen (again), but this time due to laziness/too much furniture blocking the way/whatever, instead of Mom-is-a-Grinch. This year it only took her a day or so to get into the mood, and she hasn't been a Grinch since. Yay for that.

Also:
-Seems a lot of my cousins are going to be in Northridge when I go back on Thursday. And Scott's coming in the evening and staying the night so we can hang out Friday... o_o I'm hoping it doesn't somehow end up awkward in any way. (Knowing me, I've probably already jinxed it.)

-Dad made it to Northridge okay. Another day, another adventure. I wonder what we'll be doing for the time he stays?

-Managed to edit up an image for a Dragonfayth Xmas skin. Now I need to make something for New Year's. But the skins only display on the holidays, so anyone looking at Dragonfayth today, 12/25, tell me what you think! Sure, I can't claim credit for the Seto x Anzu art (that goes to lin_ko), nor the skin base design itself (that goes to Kali), but I mashed it altogether and made it work! Eh-eh-heh...

-In my old room here in S.F. (which is now called the Tovstin, a mix of Tovsen -Gary's name- and Westin, where Mom works), Gary has some tiny fish... one of them died last night. :( I didn't want to let it sit there (which is what I did several years ago in high school, resulting in a mass fish death that day), so I disposed of it... so sad that it had to die on Christmas. What made it especially suck was that he had another fish that I thought had died when I first arrived... but apparently it was pregnant and just floating around, trying to avoid swimming too much. Gary poked it and it turned out to be alive, so I was relieved. I was hoping the same thing had happened with this other one, but... no such luck. I poked and it just floated back up again. ;_;

-I didn't get the chance to work on (let alone finish) my Aria's Ink 2003 Xmas competition entry "Information, Please!" (title subject to change now), but I've got it pretty fleshed out in my head... I think it was 4-5 chapters, and I think I've decided not to make it an AU... the drama's always more fun that way. If I did get it done by New Year's, it be a nice "opening fic" for Epiphany when it goes live.

-Gotta work on the 30kisses purge!

-Wonder if I can get that purple double-breasted pea coat from H&M tomorrow...? I'll call the main store in the morning and see if they got a new shipment.

-Many, many books to read. Did I mention I'd gone on a bit of a spree at Borders the other night? Plus, I'm about halfway through the whole "His Dark Materials" trilogy; I'm several chapters into "The Subtle Knife."It's pretty comfy just lying in bed, watching movies and/or reading. I think I'll go back and do just that right now...

You Are a Red Crayon

Your world is colored with bright, vivid, wild colors. You have a deep, complex personality - and you are always expressing something about yourself. Bold and dominant, you are a natural leader. You have an energy that is intense... and sometimes overwhelming. Your reaction to everything tends to be strong. You are the master of love-hate relationships. Your color wheel opposite is green. Green people are way too mellow to understand what drives your energy.

Ah, let's see... I seem to be recovering from my surgery quite well, as I can eat things beyond mushy oatmeal. I'm not going to grab a Snickers right away or anything, but I'm not longer bleeding, I can move my jaw and tongue pretty normally, and I don't have this weird "stitches hanging out" feeling on the left side of my mouth anymore. I still had a killer headache earlier today during breakfast, so I ended up taking a Vicodin and then passing out.

My cousins (Shaina, Brooke, and Erin; Erin came just this morning for a quick stop with her new boyfriend) and I all hung out; yesterday Shaina, Brooke and I went shopping at Express and Old Navy, and I walked out with a good chunk of new wardrobe with Shaina's help. Better yet, I only spent about $160 on what was enough to make at least a week's worth of outfits-- all sorts of new jeans and tops, a new knit hoodie (in plum!), and a new jacket in sage green. Shopping with other people my age really helps me, I think- not to say my fashion sense sucks, but I think Brooke and Shaina both have a better eye for that sort of thing than I do-- I tend to hang onto clothes for years, even if they're worn out or even out-of-style. Well, no more! After we came back to the house from all our shopping, Shaina and Brooke helped me clean out my closet, so I got rid of two huge bags of clothes I won't wear anymore. cutieme4u, you'll be glad to know Shaina convinced me to ditch that shiny plaid top you never liked on me-- even though I wanted to make it into a pillow... Ah, it's hard to let go of the things you love!

Shaina and Brooke also gave me a mini-makeover-- my hair's a bit shorter now, about chin length, and I think it looks pretty good, depending on how I part it. Normally I'm anti-short hair (I've been trying to get my old, long, wavy hair back for a while now), but I had to get rid of all my split ends and the leftover miscolored hair from my perm in Japan. So while it seems a bit "young" for me, I think with the right clothes and makeup I can be very "young professional." Brooke thinks that to complete the look, I ought to get more square-shaped glasses, so I was looking at more on FramesDirect.com-- but they don't have a lot. Does anyone know of any eyeglasses websites where you can upload a picture to see what the glasses look like on you? Either that or really high quality, LARGE images of the glasses?

When I went to the optometrist last week, I didn't like anything in store, but back then, I was leaning toward more frame-top/rimless-bottom glasses that is a cross between my current egg-shaped glasses and what I consider "young professional"-- sort of cat-like corners with narrower ovals, or maybe slightly squared on top but round on the bottom. I had them order me a Nicole Miller catalog because at first I was pretty deadset on her Webstress glasses, but... maybe I shouldn't be. Brooke thought I looked good in her thick-framed rectangular (as in 3/4-stick-of-gum size) glasses, but I thought they seemed too heavy on my face. So I have to compromise. What would suck is if I found a good pair in a place like Sears or Lenscrafters-- I wonder if I'd be able to get glasses through them if my optometrist carries his own (does more than write prescriptions, that is).

Let's see... after I woke up from my "nap" earlier, everyone had already gone-- but I'll see them again soon, I'm sure, at least for Thanksgiving in Seattle. I invited Shawn over and we hung out for a bit at the mall-- I ended up giving him my $15 off card at Express because, bonehead I am, I forgot to use it yesterday when I bought my new jeans there. But at least he got some new shorts (kind of a grayish plaid) for only $15, because they were $10 off ANYWAY! :) I successfully resisted buying more clothes, going to Borders, etc., because my fin aid check hadn't cleared-- but it may tomorrow morning, which is what I'm hoping- I want to get my new laptop this week so I can try and finish WDKY25! But opening up any Adobe or even the Microsoft Office programs on 512 MB of memory has been next to impossible. Sometimes even Firefox with "too many tabs" causes the computer to putz out.

I finished watching "Into The Woods," a musical I've liked ever since I was young and I first saw it on PBS back when it came out, in the early 90s. Back then I didn't understand a lot of what happened, and now that I'm older, I still enjoy it, but it has a sad twinge to it that I never remembered.

I also got my latest shipment from PCH (probably my dumbest purchase outside of those damn Hercules Hooks which never seem to want to go into my who-the-hell-knows-how-thick walls)-- mood-changing lipsticks. The catch is, after a certain point, they all look like the same color, which on my lips tends to be hot pink. Oh well, maybe for Halloween? I still don't know what I want to do, but I want to do SOMETHING.

Finally, I got my commitment books from the Literary Guild, so my new reading list is...
* The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova
* User I.D., by Jenefer Shute.

I also got a new craft book-- 101 Crafts for under $10, some of them very nice, like pressed-flower stationery. I think creativity with me has to have wider boundaries than just writing, or even graphic design and scrapbooks. I miss painting, beading, and things like that-- I wanted to do so much this summer, but it still felt like it went by so fast and I never had enough time. But I think if I get organized prior to school starting, when I do get the urge to pull myself away from my computer and MAKE stuff, I can.

Well, since Erin has Grandpa's car for an interview in Culver City tomorrow (I have no idea why she's not in S.F...), I'll have to get up early to walk to school-- I also have to swing by the post office to mail my Media Law book from last semester, which -huzzah!- sold on Half.com on Friday. I'm expecting my own shipments from there... hopefully soon! So, sleepy time!

You're a Window Shopper!

You know that shopping's a blast, but you prefer to save your money You hardly ever give into an impulse buy, unless it's a total steal You've always got the most money of your friends - and you never have to borrow And you've got a nice wardrobe too ... of classic pieces that last years!

I guess this is why reading about Becky Brandon neé Bloomwood in "Shopaholic and Baby" irks me every now and again-- she's not the worst protagonist I've ever read (not by a longshot), but sometimes I want to reach through the pages and strangle her for her absolute airheadedness. But then again, maybe if I had a rich husband I'd want to buy stylist prams too. :P

I left work early today because I was feeling nauseous-- but I hardly ate anything. In fact in all of today, I've had a single Oatmeal Raisin breakfast bar and a pair of waffles with maple syrup. The thought of stomaching anything else makes me queasy, though I could go for some juice right about now. I hate getting sick in the summer.

I'm feeling better than I was earlier, but I'd still rather be lying back and either reading or playing video games. Speaking of the latter, I think I'll make use of those Ultimania maps I got for FFX and try and get Kimahri's Saturn Sigil. If I can't do it by 9:30, I'll save it for another day.

At least the computer's not UNGODLY slow atm, but I'm going to have Erin's friend Eriq look at it (whenever I can get to Westside, that is) and then hopefully get my FinAid check soon enough to get a new one (because I'm all for taking the easy route when I can).

Dark Purple

To others, you seem a bit dark, mysterious, and moody. In truth, you are just a very unique person who doesn't care what others think. And you really enjoy your offbeat interests and friends. You've decided that life is about living for yourself - simple as that.

I want to see "The Bourne Ultimatum" this weekend. With Shawn. But I haven't seen the second one yet. Will that screw me over (probably the wrong wording, but who cares)?

...I've become addicted to ordering things from the Publisher's Clearing House, by the way. Smack me.

At last, I have finished "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." And now that I've read it, I don't quite hate the title as much as I did when it was first announced. I'm simply thrilled that now I'll get to read all the spoiler-filled posts both here on LJ and on JournalFen, though.

( Wotcher! )

Finally, the wank: not as strong as I expected it to be. A few fun tidbits here and there, but nothing that's got me in stitches... yet. People, please point me to the GOOD STUFF!

And that, as they say, is that.

I believe I've mentioned on a few occasions my disappointment with big-name anybodys or anythings. Many of my friends recall how I detested anything related to Harry Potter, until one day katiat325 invited me to a free screening of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The whole time, she and schmollieollie were chatting about the things different from the book, the scenes left out, the characterizations-- and they wouldn't repeat a word of it to me, the outsider who hadn't even read the books.

So I read the books-- actually borrowed from my mother. By the time I was leaving to go to CSUN, I was engrossed in the world, and Stephanie got me Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix as a going-away present. Now that the final book (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) is upon us (July 21, 2007), I'm looking back on a lot of books that have been hype or tripe. Some books deserve their hype; others (especially those from a famous author or in a long-standing series) don't really deserve the hype they get just because of the name attached.

For example, Harry Potter --both the books and the fandom as a whole-- has disappointed me over the years, because what I originally found fascinating or enchanting is now predictable or pathetic. But JKR is not a poor writer by any stretch of the imagination, and AS a writer myself, I hardly think that a writer SHOULD pander to her audience, even if said audience "pays the bills."

So then I wonder about another famous author: Danielle Steel. Before I left for Japan last year, I picked up her (then) newest book, Coming Out. It sounded different from the steamy romances I'd read from her in high school (I can't remember the exact title, but it was about a Japanese woman in an internment camp in America during World War 2). But then again, in high school, I had a lot lower standards. -_- I remember trying my hardest to read "Coming Out" but it just read like a flat, predictable piece of drivel. It's funny, because when I mentioned something similar to this (though I believe on another comm. or in another post somewhere), someone said that many of her stories have the same PLOT over and over, with the characters merely renamed. That wasn't the case with "Coming Out" at all, and in fact, had some very interesting characters and what I thought was a very interesting plot-- but it's like taking a bunch of baking ingredients and making something terrible tasting with them. There was SO much potential, but...

I ended up returning "Coming Out" and using the money I got in return to buy 3 Yu-Gi-Oh manga. Sure, I don't like what Viz does with the manga (namely their horrid design skills, and how they can't even position a rounded rectangle block of text into a bubble properly), but I still buy from them because I support them bringing Yu-Gi-Oh's original manga to English audiences in the first place. All the scanlation groups that have tried up to this point are sub-par, really. Companies like Viz have the time and money to create something truly incredible, but as with my previous analogy, I think they're taking something with potential and not doing the best they can with it. But rather than creating something "horrible tasting" with the "ingredient" that is the original Yu-Gi-Oh manga, I think they've just made something that's a bit bitter and a touch bit moldy in places. I would one day like to work for Viz, instead of writing them letters over and over ("Are you guys going to do a second edition of XYZ manga where page 10 ISN'T a duplicate of page 5?"), so I'm trying to keep that goal in mind.

Anyway, because of my disappointment with Steel, I have next to no interest in reading her NEWEST new novel, Sisters. It, too, sounds vaguely interesting, based on the description. And people always love to hype Danielle Steel for being such a "prolific" writer, for churning out as many novels as she has, for being best-selling. But what the hell does best-selling mean if not "robbed a bunch of people's wallets?" I mean, it says nothing for the actual quality of the book, only the fact that it sold. You might as well say that the In-Crowd back in high school were model students, representatives of the school or teenagers as a whole.

Yeah, right, and I'm Angelina Jolie. [/sarcasm]

I can't stand two forms of book summaries:
* the non-existent kind (i.e. you go to the back of a book, or the inside flap of a hardcover, and there is no summary-- only a photo of the author, or a short bio, or WORSE, a description of some OTHER book they wrote!)
* the obvious kind ("will so-and-so find true love amidst her family crumbling before her eyes!?")

Steel's fall into the second category, though I have seen a few of her books fall into the first, as well. And I'm sorry, but every time I see the cover art of "Toxic Bachelors" I want to cringe. WHO THE HELL DESIGNED THAT COVER!? My grandmother (Baba) has HUNDREDS, if not THOUSANDS of romance novels. I have seen every possible cover design out there, from the stereotypical (hot, Fabio-like man with his shirt half-torn open, groping or reaching for the woman with her bared shoulders and/or thighs and her hair flowing out behind her) to the tasteful (embossed, shiny text over a simple background, like a lace print, silk, jewels, etc). But the cover of that book just makes me want to cringe. I'm not even a well-versed student in the art of design (that's what my JOUR 331 - Graphics class is supposed to be about), but even I can see-- that's a stupid cover. And like the summary, the cover is what sells. If I see an interesting title or a cool-looking cover, I might just pick up that book! If the summary sounds interesting, I might just flip it open to check out the first page. If I like what I read, I MAY BUY IT!

I wish more people kept this in mind with their writing, even if it's not sold writing like Steel's drivel. I mean, is she like Anne Rice without vampires-- no one questions her authority anymore, she has no editor, no one stands against her? Or do you really have to hunt for the one gem amongst all her crap? I'm sure she has good stuff written somewhere. I hope, anyway.

Anyway, ( speaking of design... )

I had a series of weird dreams last night, but as soon as I woke up, I couldn't really remember many specifics, only a few impressions. I remembered dreaming that I'd found my PS2 memory card (*wail*), but I also remember dreaming about some BAD things, because I was feeling very freaked out and vaguely "sick in the head" when I woke up. But I think I've managed to recover okay, I just have to watch out and not get stressed. Even though Tuesday is my longest day, I don't have work on Tuesdays, and so far I've been able to handle the workload and even the teachers.

My Media Law teacher doesn't mind me taking notes on the laptop (which is great, because I can type faster than I can write!), and so far I've been able to keep up with my usual pace and style in Japanese class (by the way, Todd and I'm presuming Daniel and/or John returned from Japan today, and Todd stopped into my Japanese class to promote the Tokiwa program... that was kind of funny). Plus I got out of Media Law at 4:00 or so today, and my next class doesn't start until 6pm, so I have about an hour to chill and do whatever I like. :)

Notes:
* Need to get Death Notes vols. 6-10
* Need to watch Hana Yori Dango 2 episode 5 *AS SOON AS IT IS SUBBED* because dayum was Episode 4 good! And the teaser-trailer! :O!!!! Ah, HYD, how I MISSED you!

And to close, a rather random question: at what point did the Stormtroopers stop being clones of Jango Fett? I wonder, because a new Star Wars novel (Allegiance, taking place between episodes IV and V) features a Stormtrooper with his own unique name... though that doesn't necessarily mean he's NOT a clone, I wonder if the Empire would have kept up production of the clone troopers after the Clone Wars. Further, did they bother identifying the clones by name, as a part of their "conditioning," or were they just given numbers (TK-421, why aren't you at your post)? I wonder...

At last, the San Francisco recap post... assuming I can actually remember most of what happened.

Saturday, July 15th - Scott came over around noon, not long before our shuttle was supposed to have arrived. He was originally going to come over earlier, except his friend Brett got a job back down in San Diego, and since all of their other mutual friends were off partying, Scott decided to help him pack up, so he stayed the night in Burbank. It was weird for him to already be near the airport where WE needed to be, just to come 20 miles up north so he could take a shuttle BACK DOWN to Burbank, but oh well. :P

It was awkward at first, but the shuttle arrived soon enough and we were off. After wandering out the paltry selection of stores and restaurants (read: less than half of each) in the United/American Airlines terminal, we sat down and had some snacks, at which point it was silently "decided" that to hell with it, call us whatever you will, we are what we are and we feel the way we do, so screw it. So yes, I suppose we were acting like boyfriend and girlfriend, even if that "definition" hardly applied to us. He was very sweet and affectionate to me, and even though initially I was scared of that meaning I would have a harder time of saying goodbye to him when the time came (Peace Corps taking him to Central Asia, me going to Japan), I'm not stupid enough to deny affection and attention when it's offered and WANTED.

We managed to get to San Francisco just fine; the plane was horribly small and the drink selection terrible (Pepsi! EEEUCK!), but at least we made it on time. We took the BART (I got a little lost at the SFO station) to Daly City, and bought a 7-day passport at the airport for $24/each. Then we took the 28 to Fulton and met my mom at the house. :} We hung around for a while, got dressed, and then headed out to downtown, where we'd take another BART to West Oakland to go to the Fire Arts festival. Aside from the usual loonies hanging around at the BART station, there was no problem. We got off at our stop and, just as dad said, we knew immediately where to go-- right toward the pillar of fire.

*grin* The Fire Arts festival is something my dad raved about last year, hosted by The Crucible, a fire-arts school that focuses on things like metalwork, electric work, glass blowing, and the like. We had to work our way through a windy, twisty line, but at last we made it in -even though a group of snotty bitches cut us in line. I hate that! I really do! But anyway, we got in, met my dad at the bar, and then looked around. The first thing I noticed was DDR on a wide projection screen, so we headed over there-- and sure enough, they were doing something called "Dance Dance Immolation," a modified version of Stepmania with "fire" themes. The modes were renamed (Light was Burner, Standard was Raver, and Heavy became Asshole; the description of the latter was "Your arcade misses you") and the gauge became a danger thermometer-- you know, like you see on nuclear reactors, or on the modified DeLorean in Back to the Future part III?

We watched a few people in flame retardent suits attempt to DDR, but needless to say, they all sucked. No one seemed to know what DDR was or how to play it... so when the event coordinator walked around and asked for volunteers, I surprised myself by speaking up. I was wearing leather pants and a vinyl tube top and 3-4" Tommy Hilfiger leather boots, but I shimmied out of the tube top and into a red cotton sleeved shirt, and after much waiting and confusion about suit sizes, I was up there, an oxygen tube strapped to my back, a silver suit concealing my identity... and I DDRd while flames shot in my face.

I shit you not. FLAMES. IN MY FACE.

The guy I was playing with said he'd DDRd before, but we agreed to let each other pick songs. But they'd renamed all the submenus too, so I couldn't find the song I wanted, so I got stuck with Mobo*Moga or something for my first song. I aced it anyway. ;} I got Breakdown for the second song, and aced that, but by the third stage, I was so tired from the heaviness of the suit and my sore feet, I started to stumble while playing Butterfly. The guy controlling the game refused to let me do any speed or step modifiers, saying "This isn't DDR, this is Dance Dance IMMOLATION!" And immolation is right, because even though I still did okay on Butterfly, I got flames in my face plenty of times. It wasn't until the suit was off that I realized how grateful I was for the oxygen tube. I was sweating terribly but DAMN that felt good!

Not too many people can say they aced DDR while flames shot in their face. :D Boo yeah, baby.

( Read more... )

Finished the first chapter of the "Sailor Moon: Another Story" RPG Novelization.
Read it here!

I'm also playing the RPG until I get to a point where I can start editing some maps (that is, editing the images of maps I have so I can make it easier for future games/future gamers to find all the items hidden throughout the game... it's quite the challenge!). I already have D-Point Cave and the North Pole, but there are plenty more maps to be had. Thank goodness for FuSoYa's map editor and ripper! :D

I think I'll watch Sailor Moon episode 35 today, but because I was on such a capping spree yesterday, I don't think I'll cap this one until later. I've been capping all the episodes so far, even if I haven't been posting the images at ABPSM, but if you want any, go ahead and ask. After that, a nice cool bath and exfoliation... :D

I went shopping with Baba today, and I pretty much murdered JCPenney's. I got lots of new shirts, a new pair of South Pole pants (which may or may not need to be returned for a larger size, if only because they accentuate my figure A LOT), and South Pole crop jacket. I wanted to get this nice casual 3-piece suit, but it wasn't marked down from $60, so I didn't. :( But I did go to Bath and Body Works and get some yummy White Cherry Blossom lotion (2 for $5!) and the Lancaster Silk Bronze Hydrating Milk Lotion, which I mentioned before and gave me -Casper, the Friendly Ghost- A TAN! :D :D :D Yes, I got some unsightly tan lines... ON MY PINKY, but other than that, it works great. It works FAST, too, and even if you mess up and have some patchy areas that are darker than others, it starts to blend in thanks to the sun and your own natural movements within a day. So yay for me being all gorgeous and glowy like a real valley girl should. And I should probably get my hair done soon (to splurge on a salon again or no...?) before I go to San Francisco. :}

I also got the new Danielle Steel novel (...hey, it was on sale! At least it's not a tawdry romance this time), the latest Shoujo Beat, and Skip*Beat, one of my new manga addictions... which I may scan some pages of and make icons with. Icons icons icons! YAY~!

I also made a "mew" friend today-- Milo the cat, who lives across the street from us. Our neighbor, Leila, just got a new dog. I don't know what breed it is, but it's ITTY BITTY, looks like it'll stay that way, and is so short and stubby that when she sets it down in the grass, IT SINKS. It looks like a graham cracker dog, with super-soft fur and a smashed-in face. The cat is easily three times this dog's size. But while Baba and Grandpa were so enamored with the dog, I saw the cat and started to meow to it. To Leila's surprise, Milo came RIGHT UP to me (she says HE NEVER DOES THAT) and started to rub against me! :D He even rolled around and let me rub his belly and his paws, and enjoyed a good chin-scratching. YAY! I got to pet my first neighborhood kitty! :D :D :D

It sucks that I don't have a 3-day weekend (work on Monday), but I do have off on Tuesday, but I think Jill and the family will still be up in San Francisco visiting my mom (it's about time!), so that's a no-go. But I've been playing with my camera lately and taken some of those popular flower pictures (I'll post them later), so maybe after figuring out some more settings with ISO and shutter speed, I can go take pictures of fireworks at Porter Ranch or somesuch. *shrug* Or maybe I can just figure out how to climb the roof?

So, episode 35,  bath, and then bed! YATTA~

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

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

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

o_o; Geez.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reading used to be one of my huge passions-- couldn't pull me away from a bookstore. I could spend hours in Copperfields over in Petaluma, and just as long -if not longer- at the public libraries, Borders, and Barnes and Noble. Then I discovered graphic novels, or Japanese manga. The stories are just as entertaining, but, like when I was a child, obsessed with art, they are illustrated in the most beautiful manner, combining intriguing plot with incredible art.

Now, I'm back in my reading stint-- and while I may not be reading a Nancy Drew novel a night, or rushing to the book section immediately in any given store, I am trying to read more variety, more often. I'm subscribed to the Borders newsletter, and while normally I skim, there are a few novels that I want to read, if I can get the money (or find them at the library):

Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides :: "I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974." Quite an interesting hook, ne?

The Vagina Monologues :: I met this woman at a young woman's health conference and she vibrantly recited a part of this piece... now I really want to read it. At the same conference was Janice Mirikitani, whose poetry was really alive... I want to see if I can pick some of that up, too.

How to read Egyptian :: Blame Yu-Gi-Oh. I always have periods when I get interested in different languages, and when I started to watch Yu-Gi-Oh, I started to get into Egyptian again. But it's one thing to learn what heiroglyphs are represented by what letters... but when you get into actual words, it's as hard as learning to read Japanese or Chinese! Pronunciation is worse-- since the Roman language got integrated into the later versions of Egyptian, heiroglyphs died out, and were replaced by three other languages... @_@ So it's hard. That's why I reserved this book... ^^

The Fifth Sorceress :: It was being advertised like mad on Tripod and Lycos, and it sounded really interesting-- about this kingdom that was cursed, and a young king who succeeds the throne, but at a price-- he will have to kill his own sister.

Ugh, I feel nasty. Stupid period... >_< This better be dealt with before Bemani Night tonight... I'm going to go home now.