MILES to GO || before I sleep

zOMG Happy Birthday kitesareevil, sleep_alone, and ohsupervinchan!

Sorry for the belated wishes, Grace + 'Niichan!

WHEW! I've uploaded *all* of my SxA stories (except the ones that I mentioned need revisions, and the ones I have not released/formatted yet) to Dragonfayth :: The Premiere Seto Kaiba x Anzu Mazaki Fanfiction Archive. Get going! Spread the word! Join the site, submit your own fics! *puppy eyes* Please? There's also a Christmas Challenge there, so if you need a kick of inspiration, check it out!

I'm also satisfied with the edits and additions I've made to WDKY22, so I'm going to post this semi-revised version up at Betasquad as we speak... please, any willing editors/pre-readers, etc. check it out (it's actually just a link, because apparently phpBB can't handle a 96K chapter. Yes, it's that long)! luvinaoshi and an_ardent_rain! (I doubt either of them will look here, but if they do... *crosses fingers*)

More Dragonfayth mods?
Well, I'd like to get a characters page up, even though I assume that everyone posting will be familiar with the main cast and characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! Nonetheless, not everyone knows who Miho is, or that Kaiba was once minty-fresh in the Toei animation. Plus I'd like to shed some light on the lesser-known characters, or characters I may not have included on the original list. Please check the list out and point out anyone I'm missing, okay? I'm still contemplating whether or not to include the Yami no... characters, though. If you want to give me good reasons, go right ahead! I'm all ears.

What else? I'm re-reading mischiefmagnet's "The Night Before" for the fourth time. ^^ It's such a fantastic fic, and I sincerely hope she updates it soon (and posts it to DRFA! /plug)

And... well, it's almost time to go "home" to San Francisco. Eva and I will probably be leaving on the 17th or 18th, so MAYBE I'll be able to catch some of JTAF. Still, I don't think there's any way that I'll run into that girl I was emailing (apparently a fan of mine who's coming down to SF from Piedmont for JTAF. Hey, staplerx and god_101, if anyone mentions "psychotic fanfiction writer" or "Mer" or some derivative thereof, could you take a message for me? ^_~), because she's only going to be there on the 17th...

On top of that, today was the last day for Creative Writing class. I can't say I learned SOOO MUCH and it was a life-changing experience, but it was a lesson in writing and finding skills I didn't know I have. My weakness is that I can't shut up (as people are so fond of pointing out when I post particularly long entries or fics), and I couldn't shorten my fiction submission, "Goodbye, Hello, Who Are You?" (a DDR fanfiction, if you want me to be honest). But I met a lot of fun people, and I hope I stay in touch with them while I'm at CSUN.

...And then there's Scott. He's graduating and moving back to San Diego. Sure, it's not Japan or some other foreign country, but it's 150 miles away or so, 2 hours by car, and 4 hours by train. And if this stupid fear of driving (and lack of ability to practice with anyone) keeps holding me back, when would I get to see him? I hate feeling dependent on anyone, especially Scott, who I feel has done so much for me. I know he might come up to make visits and so forth... not just to see me, but to see Brett and Derek and everything, but... <_< Well, it wouldn't be the same, I don't think. We don't really have a relationship. I've called him my boyfriend to people who have asked, just because it'd be too awkward to explain the details. Except for today, when, at my last hand therapy appointment, one of the therapists asked "So, is he your boyfriend or your friend?" and I said (evasively, but with a dopey grin on my face) "aaah, a little bit of column A, a little bit of column B..." (this was when Scott was not in the room, obviously). I've been crying and worrying a lot lately. There was a lot of stress yesterday when Baba and Grandpa went to the doctor's unexpectedly at 9am, right as I was waking up. They didn't come back by 9:30am, so I walked to school. My VComm class was canceled that day, so I called the house to tell Baba, or maybe ask for a ride home. No one answered. I freaked out. I called again as I started to leave campus, 15 minutes later... still nothing. I walked home, paranoid the whole half hour that something had happened, and I had no way of getting ahold of anyone to find out if they were okay. I have to be honest-- it's not all roses and sweets here. Yes, I have it good, living with my grandparents off campus, not having to worry about rent or utilities or food. It's nice having people who somewhat understand me and CARE, plus... they're amusing! I have so much of what I want, and everything that I need. But I'm also placed in an awkward position of responsibility, to look after a pair of elderly people that don't seem to really need my help (at least for anything beyond carrying water in from the trunk of the car). Nonetheless, if something were to happen to them, what would I do? I don't mean if Grandpa had a heart attack-- I know CPR, I know how to react in an emergency. I'm not sure whether or not I would be scared/nervous and gung-ho, but I could handle it. But if either one of them died, what would happen to whoever was left... and me? I don't want to think about either of them dying, even if it is one of life's great inevitabilities. But... I talked to my mom, and she's right, I do have to talk to them. What do I do in case of an emergency or a tragedy? Who do I call? If something HAS happened to them, what can I do? I can't always rely on Scott to come over. I don't need to be taken care of, exactly, but I don't want to be going off the wall with worry and being upset all by myself. Anyway, with all this that I've got on my mind (a final due on Monday; no classes; 3 finals on Wednesday, only 2 of which actually merit intense studying; money issues, etc.) I think I better take my chance now and go to sleep... I do have class in 7 hours. *sigh*

Okay, so I'm breezing through HP4: Goblet of Fire so I'll be ready for any discussion over at fourhouseunion and ready for the movie, too. Tickets just went on sale at Fandango, but Scott seems sure that we'll be able to get tickets for the midnight showing on the 18th. Frankly, I don't care whether I see it with him or not; I just wanna see it! /dork

Next up... CSS!? Geh, I hate cascading style sheets. I tried to modify the one for Dragonfayth's new main layout, "Romance" but for the life of me, I can't get the font to change to something a bit nicer than Times New Roman. Arial, Verdana, Geneva, even Tahoma would be nice, but for some reason all the text in the blocks is Times New Roman! Eeew! I need help figuring out what part of the style.css or the TPL files that I modify so that it changes that. I'll be posting on the eFiction forums later.

I've already posted about a categories error, which I think might be solved; I'll have to check later when I tinker around with the site a bit more. I just might make the category icons myself, just because I actually have some idea as to what I want them to look like. They'll have to be relatively small though, probably no more than 75 x 75.

On top of that, I've gotten a good response from Lazuli (not the same as our Laz, I don't think... if it is, color me shell-shocked), one of the developers, about implementing a mod for "fic types" like "Oneshots" and "Songfics" and the like, sort of like how there's already a special area for Challengefics (and their responses) and Round Robins.

After that, I need to tweak the alignment of all the boxes (namely, the news boxes) on the main page for each of the layouts, and mess around with the banners so that they actually say Dragonfayth or something. ^^ Heh. I have a lot of banners and old skins stashed away, and with some tweaking I can make them work for ver. 2.5 of DRFA.

Next up: Creative writing class. I finished all my analyses and my facilitation packet last night, so today should be a breeze, and I hope I get out early. I'll go home and muck around for a while (work on the end of WDKY22; 21 went up last night at FFnet, MMorg, and the azurite_updates ML) and then at 5:30, there's a CSUN Cat People meeting I found out about! Yay for cats on campus!

My day in a nutshell (perhaps almond):

* Japanese test was relatively easy, methinks...
* On 11/15, I'll get excused from class and the teacher rearranged the test day so I (and several classmates) can go to a JET Programme seminar on campus
* Creative Writing was cool, but Prof. Lopez just stands there and pretends to listen to us when we discuss someone's work in workshop; we went through critique fairly fast, and he kept insisting that we had yet to cover these areas... that we had already talked about. Grr!
* Grandpa was pissy because I got out a half hour early... roughly the same time he and Baba had just gotten home from their swimming, which is at my school... Heh!
* The cleaning lady finally showed up again today, so I took my afternoon nap in the Creepy Doll Room.
* I woke up on time to play some FFX-2 (beat Angra Mainyu, got the Mascot dressphere, opened the Den of Woe), but Nooj pwned me in the Den, so I have to go back. I'd also like the second chance to learn all the Blue Bullets I can from Baralai and Gippal (Drill Shot & Mortar, respectively).
* Watched Alias. MEH. It's actually getting kind of lame, and frankly, I don't think The Body is anyone we'll care about. It's probably a new character or a bad guy (Rambaldi!?) and not (as fangirls like myself would love to think) Vaughn. (Maybe it's Vaughn's dad?)
* Got more ideas for 30kisses. Here they are, roughly organized by theme:

• #1 - disunity - Years after Atemu has gone on to the afterlife and the Millennium Items lost, pieces of the puzzle begin to show up in the lives of those once joined by its power...
  
• #3 - jolt! - A last-minute, late-night cram session for the final test of their third year in high school yields some interesting results when JOLT! cola is brought into the mix.
  
• #6 - the space between dreams and reality - Seto Kaiba's been having some very strange dreams. When his health starts to deteriorate and he's on the verge of dying, a most unexpected vision might save him...
  
• #7 - superstar - Mokuba convinces Seto to attend a festival that's in the area, and a famous hypnotist assures an enraptured audience that even Kaiba can be hypnotized. The question is, just who has control over Seto Kaiba? (for Audible Hush)
  
• #9 - dash - The only reason why he's even on the track team is because he's required to have at least one sport on his transcript. Anzu Mazaki being a bouncy, attractive cheerleader on the side of every meet has absolutely NOTHING to do with it... right?
  
• #11 - gardenia - Anzu is conspiculously missing from a reunion between old friends, and Kaiba seeks out the answers himself. What Anzu's up to surprises everyone, but the bigger surprise comes from the WHY she's there... (working on it now!)
  
• #15 - perfect blue - Everyone at Domino High in their 3rd year takes a school trip to Atami. Strangely enough, the "gang of friends" doesn't seem to be milking their little vacation for all it's worth, and Kaiba notices Anzu acting strange and wandering off alone. When he dares to follow her, he discovers a secret unlike anything anyone's ever known.
  
• #17 - kilohertz - Anzu's determined to make her way into a top-notch performing arts school, but first she has to audition her way in! If that means learning a few more trades, then so be it! Anzu decides to try out for Domino High's radio station "school superstar!" contest-- but what kind of tunes will she belt out?
  
• #19 - red - They're on the run from the latest enemy, and this time, no amount of dueling or trash talking can save them. These enemies want a virgin sacrifice-- and unfortunately, Seto Kaiba fits the bill. (Dark humor)
  
• #22 - cradle - Some people think different things about 'family', 'home', and 'parents.' But where two definitions intertwine, heated debates (and possibly more) are sure to follow, especially when Anzu reveals a family secret that affects Seto Kaiba's impressions of her quite deeply.
  

Got my first hand therapy appointment tomorrow, plus my mythology midterm. Then at last, I can enjoy my weekend! And maybe beat FFX-2 for the second time. :P Oh yeah, like my new icon? It's a bit lame in terms of transitioning and color, but... meh!

zOMG Happy Birthday starrienite!

I would just like to state for the record that, while I enjoy the Yu-Gi-Oh dub and try to watch it regularly, I don't approve nor like the stupid changes they make. Whenever possible, I try to stick to the "would-be-accurate-translation" of things like characters, places, and card names.

For example... Ishizu is wrong. It is Isis, always has been, always will be.
Marik... also wrong. I'm actually considering changing all instances of his name in WDKY to Malik, because it's simply more appropriate that way.
And no matter what some massive duel screen says in the dub, it's Seigfred, not Siegfried (only slightly more acceptable), Sigfried, Zigfried, or whatever else you can think of. His alias is Lloyd (with Leon using "Wilson") and his real family name is "Von Schroeder".
Once upon a time in fandom, people differentiated between Yami no Yuugi and Yuugi Mutou as "Yugi" (dark Yuugi) and "Yuugi" (little/normal Yuugi). That is wrong. So is using "hikari" for the vessels (Ryou, Malik, Yuugi).
There is no Yami no Pegasus, Yami no Kaiba, Yami no Shaadi, or Yami no Isis. You CAN hold a Millennium Item without going batshit insane, and you can also be batshit insane and carry a Millennium Item.

When a card exists in the anime and is known to (or will eventually be) exist in the English TCG, I will use whatever name the TCG uses. Sometimes the anime gets it wrong, or the name changes. Most of the time, the dub tries to stick to cards that have been released in English already, or that have approved names already on the table. Some cards in the anime may have been released as promo cards in Japan,  but they're "broken" by today's TCG standards, so they're not sure if they'll release them in the English TCG. In that case, I use whatever name the dub calls them by.

For example, "Exchange of the Spirits" is the name of the card Isis uses to flip-flop her and Kaiba's graveyards with their decks. The original card name was "Reversed Worlds," but when the card was actually released in the TCG, it kept the name we know as the dub name! In "Prophecy Girl", I happen to think "Reversed Worlds" sounds a lot cooler, so I use that. In WDKY, if that card were to appear, it would be as "Exchange of the Spirits", the name it's known by in the English TCG (I believe it was released as a sneak preview to Cybernetic Revolution or something).

And sorry, Domino is not in California. -_-;

And I hate how they remove perfectly spelled and grammatically correct instances of English from the show... for example, Joey's "Type 6" machine monster, or the symbols on Kaiba's keyboard at Kaibaland. WTF? Geez.

Also... I'm a terrible procrastinator. I haven't really written (or even tried to write) until today, and now I find myself having woken up from a nap that lasted too long (missed GX! damn!) and with a shitload of stuff to do. I already finished one analysis for Creative Writing (e.e. cummings's "Buffalo Bill's"), but I still have a few more to do, plus a 5 page minimum/20 page maximum short story for our Fiction workshop, which starts tomorrow. And of course, Professor Lopez volunteered ME to do it.

I didn't want to submit my Family Story, because it's lame. I could rewrite my play ("Point and Perfection") into prose, but I don't really want to do that, either. Somehow, it would take away the "feeling" you get, as you would if the play were actually performed (which it never will be). So I thought of the two "original fiction" stories I've tinkered with in the past, "I'm Listening," which is a sort of suspense-mystery, and "Wandering Spirit," which is a sort of supernatural fantasy. I'm working on "I'm Listening" now, and it's already at 6 pages, but it's nowhere near sounding/feeling "complete" (even chapter-wise; no one said my story had to be "complete" I think... but if it's supposed to be a short story... >_>) And there's always my almost-original-fiction "Goodbye, Hello, Who Are You?" which is currently residing unfinished in the Dance Dance Revolution section of FFnet. But it's pretty long, and it's unfinished at 4 chapters.

So now I'm not really feeling inspired to write "I'm Listening" at the moment, and I keep getting distracted by, "Well, what if I told the Final Fantasy X/X-2 story?" Yeah, no, copyright infringement or whatever.

Unless I didn't use their names.

But still, some people are bound to recognize things. I could change all sorts of jabberwocky (airships, spheres, etc.) into modern things, or other things, but it still wouldn't be my story to tell.

GARGH! Stupid Professor Lopez. I don't want to submit poetry or my play, but still! Why me!?

After work today, I got my last 2 textbooks-- my Creative Writing book and my Syllabus (which isn't really a syllabus at all, it's a workbook of weird pages and random stories). I'm kind of worried that the teacher seems so obsessed with himself, using his own works as examples, but then again, maybe he's proud in a good way. If any of you guys who write fanfiction taught a Creative Writing class, would you ever use your own writing as an example? Why or why not?

My Mythology teacher scared me at first-- kind of chubby with a double-chin, very pale with light eyes and pink lips-- he looked like a corpse with crooked teeth. But once he got talking, he was very funny and the class looks like it'll be interesting. Many class activities will be conducted online, which I'm grateful for.

Back to Japanese... Scott was called on today, and he either wasn't paying attention or he seriously needed the textbook (which I picked up at the bookstore before class; QuickCopies took forever to assemble the binder of notes, but I got it in less than 10 minutes). He didn't know what to say... I tried to help him out, but I think I might have made things worse. He didn't seem upset at me or anything, now that I think about it, but like I said earlier, he rushed off to Aikido, and he never saw or said anything to me after we parted ways. :P He owes me lunch tomorrow.

Wednesday is what I'm really looking forward to, though, because aside from Japanese and Mythology, I'll also have my 2 Journalism classes, my WRPII course (with Salido again!) at night. I wonder how I'll get home? I do have to learn to drive though, and I'd like to have learned by December. Time to research some driving schools... (I don't even know what course to take)

I'm glad people are submitting alternative lists at 30kisses. I really have to finish my SxA pairing for that, so I can either pick a new pairing (a few of the other pairings I write for were taken, but the authors have PROBABLY given up... *sigh*) or focus on my 100 icons. I've gotten a few more done lately, but I want to do all "batch posts" where I have at least 5 icons at a time, so it might be a while before I post at iconfiend100 again.

*yawn* I'm so tired! It's so hot! I need to learn sign language, and I have to stop blushing when a Japanese person orders at Jamba Juice!