azurite: (csi: gsr)
YAY, I finished with my last final! I stayed up till about 2 am chugging through those last two essays, and even though I'm prepared to accept a grade "ding" on account of them not being on time, plus not having been peer/tutor-edited, I think I did a pretty okay job with them. What surprised me was that not only did some people fail to show up for our final (which was just a series of reflective questions-- not even anything specific about what we read this semester), and that I wasn't the only one that hadn't done all the essays!

But I really liked the class, especially the service learning component where I went to Grover Cleveland High School in Reseda every Thursday, to help 10th grade Honors students with their English portfolios. It was really great, and I'd like to do something like that again, if I have the time.

It's not completely over, though-- my last day of work is tomorrow (I have no work today), and I also have to turn in the take-home part of my ENGL 313/Pop Culture final, which is a "letter" type essay regarding pop culture and power relations. Check out the class blog and the final exam prompt here. I also plan on picking up my fandom essay from Prof. Hatfield when I drop off my take-home final, just to see how I did... hopefully well. :P

Anyway, I was on my way home (stupidly not wearing sunscreen, not having water or other mode of hydration, and also lacking money with which to buy either, or even house keys to get into the house) when I saw something odd: a bunny in a cage, sitting in front of a house. Next to it was a tub with two bags of rabbit food and oat hay, but there was nothing to indicate that there was anyone nearby that had just left it outside as they ran elsewhere to get something, or that the bunny was "free" or "for sale" or anything. I was shocked. BTW, it's currently around 96 degrees outside, so this poor bunny (who had no water in his bottle, btw) was licking itself just to stay cool. And I think something was wrong with its food, because rather than eat it, it ate the newspaper lining its cage (of course, I don't know anything about rabbits, so maybe that's normal?).

I rang the doorbell of the house it was in front of, but no one answered. No one who walked by stopped and said anything, and the car the cage was in front of had no one in it, either. I'd been talking to my mom when I found the bunny, and she suggested I call animal control. I had to contact 411 to get the number, and when I finally did, it was busy. So I called Baba and Grandpa again (they'd been out getting groceries) and since Baba couldn't easily find the number for Animal Control, Grandpa came by and we just took the bunny to the nearest animal shelter. They had me write down my name and address, and where I'd found the bunny-- and surprisingly, they acted like this was totally routine (which makes me sad). There were other caged animals that had apparently been found and dropped off just like the bunny I found had-- including a hamster, a gerbil, and other small cuties. It really baffles me how stupid people are, to just LEAVE an animal outside like they would a piece of furniture with a sign taped to it saying "TAKE ME!" Hello, it's no cost, no penalty to take an unwanted animal to the shelter. At least there, there's some hope that it'll be taken care of and maybe adopted. I feel better knowing the bunny's in better hands now.

After that, Grandpa and I headed to In-N-Out (mmm, I've been craving cheeseburger all week!), and Baba read from the TV Guide that Gary Dourdan (Warrick Brown) is leaving CSI!?!?!??!

Not again! )
azurite: (born beneath alder)

In the year 2006 I resolve to:

Slap stupid people in the head.



Get your resolution here



Damn straight.

Well, a surprising number of people wanted to read my essay that I submitted for E&L publishing, so here it is:
Success Comes Second )

So I went to Palomar today with Dad and Steve; it was cold, but not cold enough to warrant snow (shucks!). The observatory is open for a small self-guided tour, but the actual 200-inch telescope is completely computer-operated, and despite the dome being opened almost 300/365 nights of the year, there were no astronomers there when we went. We were over 5,500 feet above sea level-- the air was very crisp, cold, and refreshing. It was a long drive there for such a short tour, but it was interesting looking at the sheer size of the telescope (formerly the largest in the world, up until a few decades ago) and the computer exhibits-- we've had 10 "planets" in our solar system for a while now; I wonder whether Xena and Gabrielle (planets, right? Not moons of Pluto, which may not even be considered a planet anymore?)-- the 10th being Sedna with its whack orbit. Now we have... 11? 12? Geez. And to think there's so many moons of Jupiter, they're not even all named yet!

I slept for most of the trip there, but on the way back I wasn't so lucky. The winding mountain roads made me nauseous, but luckily I kept myself in check until we got to a gas station where I could get some chewing gum. Mint seems to help in stomach crises. Dad only started being a complete bonehead AFTER we got home... -_- But whatever, with him, it blows over pretty fast. And besides, I'm going to San Diego tomorrow night. I still haven't gotten my ticket from Amtrak yet (!!) but if it doesn't come by 5pm tomorrow, I can buy the ticket (again!) on the train, and get the ticket my mom bought refunded to her card. It's either that or pray Baba's hookup with "Rhonda," the travel agent near the station can help us out.

In any case, I've updated the PHPFanbase script for Blue Eyes and Apricots and this time around, I actually want to make use of the header and footer.inc files and the style sheet, so I don't have to program EVERY DARN PAGE every time I want to change the layouts. I was thinking of using the sensual image from Garfours of Seto x Anzu-- it's not particularly seasonal (though the light green might imply "spring") but I think I can make it work. I have a template layout I've got lying around, so it's just a matter of Photoshopping and going into ImageReady and then figuring out how to take all the images and making them work with the header.inc and footer.inc files. Anyone use those before?

I also have to re-edit the files for:
* The country flags
* The drop-down menu for the Favorites Field

So once I post this, I'll be getting to work on that. Keep your eyes peeled for updates-- and this time, I actually mean NEW content.
azurite: (lost marbles)
Maaa, I want to watch SARS subtitled version of Hana Yori Dango (the J-drama) now! But it's downloading sooooo sloooooow wavering between 11KB/s and 50KB/s! I've looked up everything about port forwarding, disabling ports in your firewall, tweaking your router... nothing seems to help! Are you supposed to restart after you make those changes or something? And what really is the best range to enable, if the default 6881 to 6899 is so "choked" by ISPs?

Finished my Japanese skit and listening comprehension, memorized L8's new dialogue... response drill should be easy enough, if everyone gets around to it. I updated a few files from Dell for my laptop, though the old ip.ad.dr.es.s thing doesn't seem to be working as fast as it used to. I rarely use the 'Net with that thing, and there are hardly any programs on it, so it really pisses me off that it's so slow and I feel like I can't do anything about it. Photoshop CS froze AGAIN while reading fonts, and I've only got something like 209 on the laptop, MUCH MUCH less than the usual for me. What do I do!?

Geez, I can't believe it's already 1:42am here. I should shower and then go to bed soon... I imagine I'm only still awake because of the slight buzz I had from my Smirnoff Raspberry (^_^ hic!) and the nap I had earlier (apparently I didn't imagine a miniature dog from hell barking like mad and waking me up at 1:30 in the afternoon; it was Pepe, another one of Baba's friends' dogs, and they left ME, sleeping, to "dogsit" while they went who-knows-where).

Oh, and just to prove I'm not completely inept in the non-fanfiction writing department, I was one of 90 people whose essay to a publishing company got selected for publication in a book called "Authors of Tomorrow". If I win one of 10 scholarship awards, I'll get $1000! ^_^v Wish me luck!
azurite: (seto needs a hug)
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Uggggh, Mer doesn't feel well. Frozen over ravioli with badly melted Parmesan = not happy. Oh, that and four hours of sleep. But yay to the fact that:
a) all of the governator's propositions were soundly defeated, with the majority of my hometown (San Fran!) doing the dirty work! Yay for the Bay!
b) I got an A on my last story; 4 more points than the highest I scored on my other stories with A-'s.
c) I got a ride home from a grateful Esmeralda, who got an A- with our work!
d) I'm 2/3 done with HP4: GOF. I'm reading faster than I should, but it is my favorite book, and I LUBS IT!
e) after tomorrow, I will have a one day break... Friday I might get to sleep in a tad, but then I'm helping Scott with a shoot, then I have my driving lessons from 3-5, and I'll probably go to anime club out of sheer boredom (unless I can significantly distract myself by trying to beat Via Infinitio again)
f) Saturday: KING TUT! I don't know where I'm going to get the money from, so I guess it's time to sweet talk the Grandparents. Needless to say, I hate borrowing money from anyone, so I'm hoping that on Nov. 15 I get that job at Red Robin and paychecks start coming my way. I won't get my FinAid check till the middle of January at the earliest. Boo! How am I going to get anyone Christmas presents!?
g) I planned out the rest of my classes according to what I can actually take and what actually works for my GEs, plus or minus a few courses for 80/65, and the upper division GEs rule. But I have several semesters worth of classes planned out, so yay.
h) I got someone to critique my essays for Study Abroad! Now to make the changes and pester more people to check them out (I posted them here on LJ... help me out by reading them, please!)

*yawn* I am tired. I am going to bed. I will do the critiques for Creative Writing tomorrow morning, before school. And I will likely eat Maple Pecan Crunch again, because I LIKE IT.

Whoo-hoo!

Nov. 9th, 2005 03:48 am
azurite: (hero. summoner. doormat.)
Alright, it might be 3:45 in the morning (but it doesn't feel like it to me-- I blame it on all the naps I had today!) but I'm DONE! (Not with WDKY22, sorry. :P)

I finished my extensively long reading and writing for Japanese.

I typed up a 3 page essay (which, 1.5 spaced turns into 5 pages!) for visual communications, regarding the Ethical foundations of photojournalism.

AAAND best of all, I finished my magazine cover for Visual Communication class! WHOO! The printed copy looks good, if a little crooked on the page, so I'll be trimming it down once the photo-gloss paper dries. I really like it... I hope my class does, too. :> Hopefully if there's another gamer in the class, they'll understand all the sly references I made. This version is actually a bit different from the one I originally intended; I think I tried to bite off more than I can chew and tell too much about the 2 games and the characters in my last version.

[livejournal.com profile] baine, I think I showed you an alpha version of this, right? See how it's changed!

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

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

Waseda University )


Tokiwa University )

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

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

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

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