MILES to GO || before I sleep

Ah, I never should have signed up for the Literary Guild or the eHarlequin Reader to Reader service. I love books and I love free stuff, but I hate it when the free books stop being free. On the plus side, I got a very pretty plum wineglass that I will probably drink soda out of. But now I apparently owe $23 to eHarlequin for something I did not want, did not order, and already took out of the box. ;_; The books look cool enough, but... >_> There's no way to cancel future shipments on the form... like they SAID there would be. Grr.

I'm still waiting for a shipment of craft books from another service, mind you, but afaik I'm done with their "obligatory purchases."

I also got my PS2 in the mail today... in the exact same box that I sent to Dave@PSX-TECH.com. I enclosed a $15 check; he spent $9.80 on shipping. He couldn't have bought a new box!? Geez. Anyway, I'm kinda-sorta-not-sure if the Crystal Chip is installed like he said... I'm supposed to be able to access some sort of boot screen/boot manager so I can play my burns, imports, etc., but I haven't been able to access it yet. It might be because I don't even have a controller at the moment; I lent them to my uncle Fred, so all I have is a DDR pad. -_-; I need a new controller anyway.

I'd also like to thank anyone and everyone who signed up for 4husorting. ^_^ It made me so happy to see I'm NOT just talking to myself on this LJ...

Anyway, I have to get going to anime club soon... and because I was so durn sleepy earlier, I didn't go with Grandpa to the bank to get money for the guys (which I owe for gas + hotel room from Ben's funeral; try as Phil and Jesse did, we couldn't get out of the EconoLodge bill) or Best Buy to return the Crossover Cable that does Jack Shit. (Speaking of Jack, I would love to play You Don't Know Jack 5th Mix again.)

Even more reason to YAY! (aside from getting WDKY19 done and posted, getting ideas for "The Show Must Go On," and tweaking the sequel to WDKY/CO7 a bit more...) is the fact that my BitComet downloads are almost done, and I'll be able to burn PGSM onto a DVD for Chibi. I'll also have more of FMP: The Second Raid (good material to base your drabble/ficlet off of, mklutz!) the full Shin Kaguya Hime Denetsu Sera Myu musical (my first!), and practically every Ranma song, EVER. :> Whee.

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.

Like Mamono, I'm a bit busy but somehow not feeling it. Now that I've resolved my computer issues (I can transfer things from one comp to the other easily; I bought a memory card by Kingston/1 GB), I'm better. Scott's also agreed to go with me to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) museum when he gets back from San Diego next weekend; there's a Star Wars costume exhibit there through December. I also have to get tickets for the King Tut exhibit, because I will hate myself forever if I don't go to that while it's here in LA, even if it is at LACMA.

Tonight was a pretty defining night though, because I have resolved once and for all to get my freakin' driver's license. Seriously, I can't depend on my grandparents for rides, but I hate worrying people (or worrying myself) when I claim that I can do what I did in San Francisco and WALK everywhere. Northridge doesn't have the transportation San Francisco does, which is the big pitfall of a suburban neighborhood like this; it's really a sub-town of LA, it's got its own area codes and zip codes, but it has none of the ease of getting around that a big city does. So I think I'll stick with DriversEdDirect.com and try and take lessons through them. Where I will get a car from is another matter entirely.

Also, a bit of a to-do list:
* More ideas/forums/layouts for the betasquad forum (the forum directory will be locked on opening, so only people from the LJ community will have the PWD to access it. This will help prevent spam and indexing.)
* Open up the betasquad LJ community to all fandoms, but lock the membership so people must apply
* WEBSITES!! zOMG, must update Blue Eyes and Apricots, Dragonfayth, and Darkness Rising.
* Get the hell started on ygo_icontests, and keep track of all the icontests. Maybe enter a few more than I have been as of late...
* Work on my entries for iconfiend100 and 7sinvirtueicons
* Work more on WDKY19 (atlantian_magic? guardian_kysra? Actually Kysra, you just stay safe. I'd rather dump a bucketload of steamy SxA goodness on you as a THANK GOD YOU'RE OKAY present once you're all safe and sound again.)
* Work on CO7 (I've already finished Chapter 1, and I have a nummy idea for some of the "later early chapters"
* Read all my books (1 for Harper Teen, finish Genpei for myself, 3 sappy modern romances, and 1 new Shopaholic novel in paperback).
* zOMG Story #1 for WRP2, VComm homework + reading, Mythology assignment on Yahoo! Group (?)
* Clean closet/room

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*