MILES to GO || before I sleep

I blame it on obabscribbler yet again-- this time not for any kind of plotbunny, but for getting me into watching Fandom!Secrets. The latest's 102 mentions the necessity of Caruso shades when reading OHSHC. I LOL'd.

The anime/manga store in the Metreon (which no longer has its AMC sign outside, even though it's still AMC-affiliated INSIDE, right down to those butt-ugly polo shirts and too-high navy blue pants... shit, at least the people at the Metreon have a variety of food to choose from! At the 1000, I had to choose between sandwiches or concession crap... ANYWAY!) "Kamikaze Pop" went out of business changed locations with no current ETA at their next location, wherever it may be. So I managed to grab a bunch of Arina Tanemura manga for only $39 (8 volumes-- not bad!). I realized that I like the Full Moon anime better than the manga (the manga seems very stilted, and I have a hard time with any manga that has a auditory medium as its focal point-- it's hard to imagine a singer through manga). I also like Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne better than Full Moon, even though KKJ was tragically shorter. And I won't read Gentleman's Alliance+, because... well, the plot just didn't grab me. I'm glad Tanemura-sensei's art's improved so much over the years, but I like her older stuff much more than her newer titles, even if it is FMoS that got me into her works in the first place.

CURRENT PROJECTS
* New layout for "The Firefly Room," the Secret Society Girl fanlisting. I need to get more content, keep it up to date, and whore it out over on the author's blog. Maybe I can get the ladies over at TFL to make it the fanlisting for the whole series (which is what I intended in the first place, when I made it back before the third book came out; the fourth book is coming out next summer). I've got the layout made and everything, but my problem is that I've never skinned a website before and the tutorial I read (over at Tutorialtastic) confused the heck out of me. I posted on the CodeGrrl forums where Tutorialtastic help is, but there's been no reply yet. Maybe because my own post was so addled.... Basically I need to figure out how to get the style-switcher to work. Places like Sailor Music make it look so easy. ;_;

* The Star Ocean 3/Till The End of Time shrine. I'm still working my way through the two biggest parts, the Gemity page and the Dictionary. I need to fiddle with the table CSS so I can use them for maps and grids rather than make images in Photoshop, which takes much longer and causes the page to load slower.

* Website design and layout for my GWS 350OL (Intersections of Gender, Race, Class, and Sexuality) class. Everyone in my group has pretty much unanimously voted on a website instead of a blog, claiming that a website will be "more organized." Well, sure, maybe, but it's more work for me! Ugh, I just want this project to be so fantabulous (like any other project I've taken on where I build some sort of site) so it makes up for the fact that I couldn't turn in an Autoethnography paper. Problem is, we need to figure out how to organize the site (it's not automatic, folks!)-- and I need to figure out a suitable design. Helpz? Our topic is "Gay Rights," and we're covering a lot of ground with issues on the California Supreme Court decision, Prop 8, etc. (I don't want to be horribly stereotypical and do a RAINBOW, even though there are tasteful ways of incorporating multiple colors into a site design... something like the iTunes posters wouldn't be bad, but I don't know if it's "serious" enough. Same goes for pink triangles.)

* Organization of my FFX, FFX-2 playlist in iTunes. Turns out I was missing a bunch of songs from the 4-disc original soundtrack (the Tokyopop one I bought ages ago is called the "Official Soundtrack," and hardly has any of the good songs), so I imported them. Now to make sure they all have the right titles (I'm aiming for the English-translated ones, not romanized or literal titles, e.g. not "Warping to a Different Dimension," but "The Sending"), the right artist/composers, and that I've noted which ones are equivalent to which tracks on the Official Soundtrack, because I'm anal retentive like that. :P

* Need new icons. Lots of fandoms. Also: more LULz.

* The usual: studying for quizzes, homework, taking notes, watching CSI: Season 1 (srsly, whoever heard of a DVD boxed set coming with a) no subtitles/closed captions and b) no scene selections!? I'm pissed, CBS! Even though it was a great value, this is just stupid) , attempting to work on WDKY26 but getting sidetracked by other ideas and such

COMPLETED PROJECTS WHATEVER
* Got my copy of "Star Ocean: First Departure" for the PSP! I don't own a PSP (yet)! Whoo-hoo!

* Finished Astrology, Blood Types, and Yu-Gi-Oh! I don't like it as much as the others, because even though I raised issues dealing with the character, it didn't seem as indepth. Is that because he's not as major a character as the others I've covered so far? Also, I feel like I put it out there on a crutch, even though lots of people said it was indepth and good and everything. But I felt like without my proper research book and software for generating natal charts, it just wasn't as good. :(

obabscribbler rec'd a fic that was done by edmondia for this meme. The meme interests me, and I need to get the brain juices flowing, so let's do this.

Crossover Meme

Choose 10 fandoms. Post the list and have your friends pick combinations. Write a drabble ficlet crossover featuring these fandoms.

1. Sailor Moon
2. Yu-Gi-Oh
3. Final Fantasy X/X-2
4. Final Fantasy VIII
5. Skip Beat
6. Kitchen Princess
7. Full Moon o Sagashite
8. Star Ocean 3 (Till The End of Time)
9. Star Ocean 2 (The Second Story)/EX
10. Full Metal Panic

So you, dear commenter, can pick two of the above fandoms, and I shall write a ficlet for them. I can't guarantee that it'll be a legitimate 100 word drabble, hence the word "ficlet" instead.

Okay, for anyone that's ever wanted to see me sincerely try something and quite possibly make a complete asshat of myself, here's your chance. This is my STA Travel 193 Karaoke Contest submission-- to Jade (of Sweetbox)'s "real Emotion ~FFX-2~ Mix."

As I already said before, it was a pain both creating the karaoke version of the track AND recording it, not to mention UPLOADING it, but it finally works. So check it out, laugh your butt off, admire my Yuna costume (but not my Yuna-moves, those are bad), and then click on those five happy thumbs-up icons in the corner.

You know you wanna.

I'm looking for girls/women who have played FFX-2. As you may know, I'm doing a paper for my JOUR 371 class, "Women, Men and Media," titled Gendered Language and the Double Standard in the Final Fantasy X and X-2 Games.

I've got a lot of research so far, but I'd like the voices of some female gamers out there to help liven my presentation up a bit (and I don't mean literal voices, though if you want to submit a *.wav or *.mp3 of you SPEAKING, that's fantastic). I'd like any or all of these questions answered, if you have the time...

(1) Did you play FFX? Why or why not? If you did play it, did you finish it? Why or why not?
(2) Why did you play FFX-2?
(3) Did you enjoy it? Why or why not?

Thank you....

I came back from the OS X 10.5 - Leopard release "party" a short while ago, and I have to say, if Mom hadn't convinced me NOT to buy 10.5, I'd probably be using it right now. It's not like I really have the money for it, and I know I can get it cheaper online, but after I played with it at the Apple store, I REALLY liked it. Anyone that knows Macs or has watched tech news lately probably knows about some of the more bragged-about features, but after the "list of 300" was released today and I really got to see them in action, I've made up my own list of favorites:

* Quick Look - a freaking GODSEND. Because I design webpages a lot, sometimes I have templates or half-done pages lying around my hard drive. I'd like to be able to look at those files WITHOUT having to open up a new tab in Firefox, or open up Dreamweaver. Quick Look lets me do this easily *AND* even better, I can use the iTunes-style Cover Flow in Finder to let me browse through a whole folder of HTML files quickly and easily.

* Google Maps built into Address Book - This will be immensely handy for me. I like to keep all my contacts in my Address Book for easy Syncing to my Facebook and to my phone. Now, when I have to go somewhere, a map with directions is only two clicks away.

* Dictionary with built-in Japanese <-> English support. WOW. HOLY WOW. The only thing this is lacking is support for romaji, but that's okay, because Japanese input on the Mac only takes two clicks, anyway. You type in a word either in English to translate it fully into Japanese, or you type it in Japanese to read the English meaning. I didn't test out any pronunciation or additional features, but the Dictionary's gotten a great makeover, including more dictionaries, reference materials, and WIKIPEDIA! All in one click!

* Spaces - I'm one of those people that has about 15 things going on at once; iTunes and iMovie, Firefox and Thunderbird, Dreamweaver and Photoshop... with Spaces, I can designate a Desktop for each application (or group of applications), so when I want to work on one thing, I just access that particular desktop, and there's no more clutter. This is built into the OS, but I imagine you can't overload the computer with too much, anyway. Nonetheless, I don't think I've ever had memory issues with the Mac in terms of running multiple programs (unless I was running Windows!).

I've already written an article about it which I hope'll get into the Sundial; I'm also writing one on "Dumbledore is gay!?" though I'm not 100% sure of the angle to take on it.

I managed to find (with the help of the LJ Support Staff) my Private entries, including what I started of "Sight Unseen," my 30kisses fic for #13: excessive chain. Not sure exactly what inspired me, but it's a pretty interesting idea-- just a bit long. It might be 2-3 parts when finished. I thought I'd written something for Girls' Club (#11: gardenia), too, but all I seem to have is the planner file I made with Mamono. Anyway, re: Sight Unseen, would people like to see the short blurb I have so far, or would they rather wait until I'm done?

If you haven't answered my quick and easy poll on FFX and FFX-2, please do so now! And if you can, tell your friends and ask them to participate, too.

I really want to play a game now, so I think I'm going to turn off iTunes and try my hand at Bejeweled or Diner Dash. It's been a while since I've had "fun." If only I could get Yu-Gi-Oh! Online on the Mac... ;_; I wanna duel!

Next week, my proposal for my JOUR 371 (Women, Men, and Media) class's "Media Deconstruction Project" is due. Originally, I wanted to do something with Internet/Technology, but at the last moment on the sign-up day, I changed my mind and went for video games. Two things in particular stuck in my head:

* Remember the GameGirl? That hideous pink-and-purple version of the GameBoy way back when? Obviously trying to pull that kind of thing now would cause a huge backlash... right? Would it cause the same issue if a "targeted toward girls" game came out? I doubt it.

* Final Fantasy X vs. Final Fantasy X-2. I remember asking a lot of my fellow gamer friends (guys and girls alike) which one they liked better; a lot of guys preferred X, while many girls I asked preferred X-2. Of course, there were always exceptions, or "well, I liked THIS game for THIS, but THAT game for THAT...."

It's ironic, too, because I remember when the game was about to debut, people assumed X-2 would be a big hit with the guys because... well, basically for all the fanservice. But instead, a lot of the guys I remember speaking to disliked the whole "dress-up" concept and the LACK of a linear gameplay.

Speaking for myself personally, I like X-2 a lot more because it's got Yuna breaking out of stereotypes. At the same time though, she's just conforming to gender stereotypes: she's got the need to be sexy, loved, and so on. She wants to prove she's more than just a summoner, more than the namesake of Yunalesca, etc. But she proves she's pretty weak emotionally: unprepared for living a real teenage life, essentially. But is it teenage, or teenage GIRL? The whole story revolves around her chasing after the possibility of Tidus being alive again, somehow, somewhere. There's certainly a point to be made in the fact that she KEEPS GOING even when she finds out Shuyin =/= Tidus, though.

Anyway, to the point:
(1) If you played either FFX or FFX-2 (or both), what did you think of the games? Why?

(2) Who were your favorite characters from either game? Why? If your character reappeared in FFX-2 and you played it, did you still like that character in FFX-2? Why or why not?

(3) Do you think FFX and FFX-2 are examples of how gender plays a role in the video game industry-- in terms of stereotypes, whether in-game (Yuna's personality, the dressphere system, etc.) or out-game (who the game is targeted toward).

(4) Can you think of any other examples of "gender stereotyping" in the video game industry, specifically relating to language (whether verbal or non-verbal)? For example, does the back of a game you own describe the female character as a "heroine"? Do you find that most female characters in games you own/play/have seen are healer/mage-types, rather than fighters?

(5) Any other comments?

More notes: I thought about comparing the intros to both FFX and FFX-2. In FFX, you've got Tidus raring up for the Blitzball game, cheered on by thousands of fans, adored... and in FFX-2, you've got Yuna dressed all sexy, dancing provocatively... it's only a few minutes into the game (and not technically part of the intro) that you realize that dancing!Yuna is not Yuna at all, and the real, ass-kicking Yuna shows up. In FFX, you've got this hero who is, from the start, an ass-kicker. But in FFX-2, the first image you have of "Yuna" is of a "hero" gone "pop star." She's not out there saving the world anymore, she's out there gaining fans. But even in FFX, Yuna was this pretty demure character-- unlike the real star/lead of the game, Tidus, who is boisterous, loud, etc. It's almost a double-standard. I say "almost," because it's revealed that Yuna really IS off doing her own thing (the whole sphere journey started out for herself, not as a desire to save the world again), and she IS pretty uppity in many ways. But two years and everything she went through doesn't change her COMPLETELY. She's still an emotional, very feminine representation throughout the games, compared to Rikku, who's the more tomboyish, bubbly girl, and Paine, who is pretty much the Auron + Lulu hybrid of FFX-2.

Are those good scenes to compare and examine? Or can you think of any others, even if they're from other games? (obviously, FMVs are best to work with, here).

I've been addicted to this song for a while, and I blame it on Subway, where it's always playing whenever I go there for lunch. :P Plus it happens to make a pretty good theme for Téa in WDKY. :D Isn't it odd that this song seems so much more of a hit than Glamourous and Fergalicious, when those are the two major songs people raved about when Fergie first debuted solo? (Furthermore, I heard some idiot DJ say "Fer-jee" on the radio the other day, instead of "Fer-gee," which is what it's supposed to be.)

I'm exhausted. Yesterday after getting home from work, I played FFX-2 for hours longer than I intended (but I managed to oversoul a BUNCH more monsters, including the ass-wipe Concherer... the Miracle Drink SAVES MY HIDE), but for a good chunk of the time, I was actually just sitting in the rec room talking to Mom about various things-- my wanting to fix my bike, my wondering if I should invest $44 in the MyPoliSciLab for POLS 355 (because the teacher's lectures SUCK), me trying to come up with ideas for my Investigative Reporting class, and me juggling everything else-- the Sundial, NSCS, NSLS, work, "me" time, and time for my grandparents, above almost ell else.

It's really hard prioritizing and organizing. It's like I can do a brief burst for a while, but then I get too caught up in everything else. Then, when I want to take "me" time or a breather, it ends up doing me more harm than good, because I end up staying up too late just "relaxing," forgetting homework or other assignments and then berating myself for things left undone.

For example, my current story on the Metro Orange Line. I blame it on how most of the sources I've called (Pam O'Connor, Santa Monica city councilwoman and chair of the Metro Board of Directors; someone from CSUN's Transportation Services) have yet to get back to me. Okay, so I can talk to the Media Relations guy, but I wanted to avoid that primarily because journalists are told to never just take whatever PR gives them. And PR has many names and faces... I need time to hang out by the local Orange Line bus stop and talk to some students, time to possibly go to the terminal in North Hollywood with Kaori, the photographer for the story, and see who else I might be able to get ahold of. I've never been much of a phone person, but I've got to become one-- and an incessant one, at that, because for this class, three live sources per story are required, with a minimum of 20 stories throughout the semester. I was doing well initially, but now it feels like I'm getting lost in the tide. Thankfully, I'm not the only one, but that doesn't improve my habits, work ethic, or grade any.

I got another story regarding the resignation of the school's director of public relations and strategic communications, but I don't think it'll turn out to be much, based on what I've found out already. At least it's local (CSUN community), like I requested of the city editor. To be honest, I don't even want to do hard news like this, but I know it's important-- for the paper and the community, and also my own portfolio. But I'd rather be doing A&E, features, opinion... SOMETHING closer to what I want to do with my real life after this. Though technically, I want to be an editor, not a reporter/writer anymore...

The one bright spot is that after talking to mom last night, I might have a good idea for my first proposal for my Investigative Journalism class. It was partially based off something Melina mentioned on the NSCS retreat, and furthered by what Manley said today in the Sundial class. Hopefully I can actually pull it off, because it'll definitely require digging. Good thing I've never cared much about getting my hands dirty.

So now, the interactive part of this post:
(1) How do you juggle your time? How do you successfully (if at all) balance work, fun for yourself, romance (if any), family, and school?

The Sundial is more like a job than a class, though. I asked the city editor what she does-- she works 30 hours a week and has 8 units (less than full time), but she said she did have full-time status when she was a reporter like I am.

So I'm wondering, if this is another example of early-semester stress getting to me, what should I do to nip this in the bud? Limit my hours at work? That'll mean making less money, though. It's true I don't need to worry about rent or car payments like other people, but I *DO* have bills to pay (like credit cards...) Of course, I can always limit my shopping-- it's not like I really go crazy that often (maybe once a month or so). Or is there another solution? I can't drop classes.

(2) How do you prioritize? I always have a to-do list, and I can pretty easily recognize the things I can put off, but then when the things I can't/shouldn't put off start to pile up, that's when the stress mounts. I'm never sure how to be productive and "smart" with my time so that I can do as much as I can and feel satisfied about it. I don't want to be the type that only gets 3-5 hours of sleep a night (if that)-- I don't think I physically can! Getting up this early for my classes this semester has been enough of a biological change-- I'm not about to start drinking coffee or energy drinks, shortening my sleeping schedule (my personal minimum is 6-8, with a preference toward 10 for feeling well-rested).

I feel bad about using work-time to do homework or make calls for the Sundial. I also hate being late to work because I was running around campus-- getting things at the bookstore, walking to the health center, etc. What to do?

*snore* It sucks that I'm this tired already, so early in the day, when my afternoon class (which usually exhausts me by 3-4pm) hasn't even begun yet. I'm also more than halfway through a bottle of my usual "awakening elixir," Brisk iced tea, and it doesn't seem to be doing much. I'm not doing much more than holding my head up so it doesn't crash onto the keyboard.

...I often contemplate just not going to school/work/whatever when I'm this sleepy, but I have a loud conscience that wouldn't permit such a flimsy excuse. Mentally, I feel like I'm using up time or hours or something, and then if and when something important/big really did happen-- whether it was me genuinely sick with something BAD or something else, I'd "need" to go into work/school. I fought the urge today and I'm here now, but part of me wants to say "screw it!" to my next class and just go home. But why, when it's a GREAT class, only 3 or so hours long (with a 15-30 minute break)? It would seem pointless, especially how it takes me 30 minutes to walk home, and I usually never do what I say I'll do (sleep) when I get home. I get distracted so easily...

(3) Would you invest $44 in a textbook supplement if the teacher's lectures sucked, but you really wanted to learn? I've never been a straight read-to-learn person. I need discussion, activity, and interaction for things to really stick with me. The MyPoliSciLab thing sounds interesting, but I'm still not sure... Baba says "eh," Grandpa says "Hell no," and Mom is as indecisive as ever. What do you think? So far, I haven't spent more than $250 or so on textbooks (I've spent as much as $521 in previous semesters, so I consider this semester a bit of a bargain, especially since I'll likely be keeping at least a few of the textbooks for personal reasons). So it's not like it's adding hugely on top of my other textbook prices. Besides, this is an academic purchase, vs. say, a bunch of makeup or manga. :P

I can play FFX and FFX-2 over and over, read plenty of summaries, go through the Ultimania guides, and check out countless websites, but plenty of things will keep confusing me. Right now, the one that's got my brain in a knot is the concept of the fayth.

( Cut for Final Fantasy X and X-2 stuff )

These are just some of the thoughts that have crossed my mind in the past couple of days while playing FFX... if anyone can answer them, or point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it. Now, back to the game, because my teeth hurt and I have no life.

I think I just threw up a pill. For the first time in... god knows how long, actually. When I was younger, I used to be afraid of swallowing pills. I don't know why, exactly, but I hated the idea of something WHOLE and not chewed up or liquid going down my pipes. One time I was horribly sick with a fever, and the only remedy was in pill form. Dad had to SIT on me (keep in mind, he's 140+ lbs. and I've always been a feather-weight) and pour grape juice down my throat while he kept the pill in my mouth with his finger (and I hate grape juice now, too, in case you're wondering). I don't think it worked, but Dad refused to let me out of my room unless I took the pill. So I took the juice, the pill, and stared at myself in the mirror until I could swallow it. And I did, and ever since then, it hasn't been such a big deal.

Admittedly, I'm taking more meds lately-- but only 2 are pills, and one is so small, I hardly ever notice it. The other one... well, it's no horse pill, but it's no cute Flinstones vitamin, either. And I usually take a handful of water (as in, I cup my hands under the faucet and drink) and knock back whatever I need to. No big deal, right?

Except tonight, I was sitting here reading email when I felt this choking sensation, like the pill hadn't gone down all the way, and where it had gotten to -midway through my esophagus, if that- wasn't a good spot. It felt like the pill exploded, and the powder got all over my throat, and it STUNG like hell. So I tried to wash the feeling away with water, but after just a few sips, I kept choking until I threw up.

... :( Great. It still burns, too. And this had to happen AFTER I brushed my teeth. How's that for irony?

And to top it off, when I called the Kaiser dermatology department, the doctor with my biopsy results was busy with a patient (as usual), so I couldn't get them. And even though the receptionist told me she'd have him call back, I didn't hear from him, and probably won't until Tuesday.

That's part of the growing list of mishaps to start out my summer-- this morning I went to the Saturday morning prep session for the Upper Division Writing Proficiency Exam, only to find all of Bayramian Hall (where it was supposed to take place) LOCKED DOWN AND CLOSED. I called the campus police, talked to people in the library, looked for signs or a single open door, talked to the custodians... NOTHING. After an hour, I got fed up (along with the rest of the would-be prep people) and left. When I got home, I sent a polite-but-scathing email to the UDWPE, and they told me there was a "miscommunication" because a workshop (which is what I called it a few times) is not the same as a "prep session," and had I/we (meaning the other people that had shown up and waited just like me-- and there were a fair number of us) signed up in the office (instead of over the phone, as I did, relying on the office's oh-so-kind receptionist), we would have seen the appropriate date, time, and location. I don't know if that means the prep session DID take place someplace else, but I was pretty much relying on what I'd been told BY the people staging the whole event. I woke up extra early for it, too. And since I wasn't the only one to have made that mistake AND the campus police said they had NO record whatsoever of anything starting at 9:30am *OR* being called an "Upper Division Writing" anything, I don't think I was at fault in the slightest.

The UDWPE lady who got back to me said she'd forward my message to the people at the Learning Resource Center, who are the ones that actually stage the prep sessions, and they'll see (if I call on Tuesday) if next week prior to the exam (on one of the twice-weekly workshop days) I can get some quick preparation for the exam before it actually happens next Saturday. So yay, but blech.

Onto another subject... I've been working on WikiFic lately, but my desire to add infoboxes required the Parser Function extension, which I had to find the backdated version of for MediaWiki 1.6 (which I have to run, because my Surpass server won't upgrade to PHP 5), BUT the extension may be conflicting with the Cite extension, which means... I may never get it to work. Anyway, WikiFic's down at the moment. I apologize for any inconvenience... but then again, I feel like I'm the only one who ever writes articles there, anyway. Sometimes activity from anyone BUT me seems so scant... but then, it's not like I can do a whole lot about it NOW anyway!

Also:
* Got a bit of a haircut. It's now all nice and even-length.
* Room's still a huge mess. Haven't gotten my replacement bookcase yet. I need a huge bag... and possibly a taller file cabinet. Does it count as organized when all you do is shove your mess into pretty boxes?
* Beat the Ruin Depths in FFX-2 (of course). I have to go back to Oversoul a few more fiends, but I think I have only around 20 left before I complete the list and *FINALLY* get "THE END" garment grid. I also want to swing back to Mt. Gagazet and see if that statue really does end up as Yuna... what's weird is, I swore the statue ended up as Kimahri, since you see that whole scene and everything, but then I got lost on Gagazet and found the artisan still hard at work! Go figure. So that plus Sphere Break and Publicity, and then this game'll be SET and MATCH!

My right eye hurts (good god I hope I don't have another eye infection. The last thing I need is to miss school/work from being legitimately sick), but AT LAST! I am done... not with WDKY25, sadly, but with my Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon VHS/DVD Inventory. It's as done as it's going to get-- I couldn't find images for 10 volumes of VHS tapes (mostly the Edited versions) in the Sailor Moon SuperS series, and I have yet to add images for the boxed sets for S and SuperS, or the "Dream Set" for the movies. And I wanted to edit the info so that the "volumes" also mentioned which episodes were on which volume, because there's almost always a difference from VHS to DVD.

Maybe I'll get around to posting the new page up on Epiphany/Mare Serenitatis whenever I get around to working on that again. :P

I didn't get to go shoe shopping with Adrianna today. ;_; She never called. I wanted to call her early this afternoon, but to my dismay, I discovered I didn't have her phone number! I swore I did before, so something must have happened and I deleted it. :( Alas, no double-points at DSW for me.

I did go out to dinner at Mimi's Cafe with Baba, Grandpa, Elliot, and Erin. The service wasn't all that great, but the food (Jumbo Spinach Tortellini with artichoke hearts) was pretty tasty. Elliot and I had fun trying to remember the 14 Leadership Traits. Apparently there's an acronym for it I never learned in ROTC: JJ DID TIE BUCKLE. See if you can figure out the Leadership Traits from that (no Googling, now!).

Also, I spent a while listening to akavertigo's awesome awesome ideas for "Reconstruction." I tell you, it shall be a KILLER story! I can't wait to actually read all of it. When all of it gets written. :D

AND I got up to the Watchtowers in Bevelle in my new FFX-2 game... damn watchtowers NEVER rotate the way the guide says they should! I must have done this at least a hundred times, but I can never get the platforms to go the way I need them to! And the dumb guidebook "names" the towers, instead of using the Glyphs to identify them, which would be LOADS easier. Can anyone help? I already have 3 Ribbons, but... I WANT ANOTHER ONE! :P

For the record: LJ Phoenix gives me a RealBasic NilObjectException error that prevents me from opening the program 5/6 of the time. I'm pretty much back to using the Web Update form of LJ because the error annoys me so much. *sigh* To find a client that does what I want *AND* works on a Mac... why can't someone just make Semagic for the Mac!? >_> Or maybe I should download it for the Windows VM and try and force myself to use it more often (lately I only use it for "The Ultimate Guide to Sphere Break"), so I don't become such a bitch about Windows (which I have been, lately. But seriously, Apple's commercials trump Microsoft's new "WOW" Vista CMs ANY DAY OF THE WEEK).

So I think I'll go to bed now and pray my eye doesn't become some sort of snot ball in the night.

P.S. Today Daylight Savings Time starts. Did you set your clocks forward? (Except you Arizona-people. Weirdoes.)

Like when I was in Japan, now that the semester and a full workload has started, I'm back to cherishing my weekends the way a man parched of thirst cherishes the single droplet of water he can get on his tongue. Nonetheless, I get to the weekends hoping to relax, and I only find myself bombarded with more things to do. I keep telling myself "I need to help out" (in the case of Baba and Grandpa) or "I can't quit" (in the case of school), but sometimes I just feel like staying in bed ALL DAY LONG. (And then of course, I feel miserable after the fact, for all the things I missed).

Anyway, starting yesterday my computer started acting strangely because of my "overload" of fonts. Well, I only had something like 700 fonts on the system (when the OSX documentation says it can handle up to 7000!), but Photoshop just wasn't reading them. So I decided to go through Font Book and weed out the invalid fonts (those missing Font Name Tables), of which I found 67. The important ones (esp. the ones I've hunted for or paid for) were intact though, but then Firefox (which was already acting weird, smashing words together and causing them to overlap sometimes) and Firefox (which had previously been acting weird but apparently stopped when I switched the default fonts) suddenly had NO text anywhere.

So I had to take all the fonts I'd put in the trash can and go through them one by one, to make sure none of them were fonts used by the system or the applications. Then I weeded out the duplicate installations, disabled and removed them, closed font book, emptied the trash, and was able to reopen both Thunderbird and Firefox without any problems.

But encoding is still apparently an issue with Firefox; in Safari, Japanese characters show up just fine in the default Western (ISO-Latin-1) encoding, but with that same/equivalent encoding in Firefox (ISO-8859-1), I get random characters. I'm worried that it's because I deleted some Japanese font on my computer, but I doubt it-- I doubly made sure that all the fonts that I deleted were trouble fonts, not system fonts. What's even more irritating is the lack of a singular encoding for Japanese/other Asian languages and accented characters, like é and ó and such. So I could see José Cuarón, but not ラブとエロス. And I know I didn't (and COULDN'T) have deleted those fonts, I just 'accidentally' disabled them. A Spotlight search revealed their location and I re-added them to Font Book, but before I would drag them over or double-click on the files and nothing would happen or change. Now that I have installed them again (and can see them in Font Book and noticed the change in Cocoa applications like this one), I hope my font woes will be over with.

There's nothing worse than stressing about the things you normally love. I love fonts. I love video games. But my computer was driving me batty, and I still haven't found my PS2 Memory Card! I've almost completely cleaned my room, too. It wasn't just hidden amongst the piles of things I had unpacked from Japan or from my mom's boxes; unless it somehow got mixed up in things that I put away, or is still lost under something in the rec room, I don't know what to do.

Sure, it might be fun to just buy a new memory card and start everything fresh again... but honestly, I had made SO much progress with the games I had on there. To name a few that I can remember:

Final Fantasy X - I finally was inside Sin! But I hadn't beaten the game yet, because I wanted to try getting the Ultimate Weapons. I remember getting past Seymour Flux and finding out Auron's secret, but that was as far as I remember getting.

Final Fantasy X-2 - I'd already beaten this game once with a 98% completion (I didn't beat the Den of Woe or the Via Infinitio on my first run-through), and I wanted my second game to either be the 100% completion or the "get tons of accessories" game, with a possible third play-through being the 100% Perfect Game. This is the one I'm most sore about possibly losing, because I had John (back in Japan) help me shove Tobli into the elevator during that one Chapter where you can get the Enterprise accessory... and that's SO damn hard! Yes, I know the greatest feeling of accomplishment is for something you've done yourself, but I tried SO HARD to do that, and I couldn't. John said he could, so I let him-- and he did! I treated him to dinner for that, and to throw all that all away would make me so sad.

I was also playing this game on International + Last Mission, because I'd never want to get to the final dungeon in LM without having accessories like the Iron Duke.

Katamari Damacy - In the original, I think I'd gotten up to Make A Star 7 or something, but I had something like 68 total constellations. Then I moved on to Katamari Damacy 2 (aka We ♥ Katamari) and managed to find a lot of "lost cousins" and reveal much of the King's sordid history, but there were various levels I hadn't beaten completely (like the Origami one).

Yu-Gi-Oh Duelists of the Roses - I'm actually not too bummed about this one. Over a year ago I'd accidentally overwritten my winning game file when trying to play "the next side" so I could eventually unlock the special Duel Masters and Deck Creation modes. Whenever I tried to play again, I always lost miserably to someone in the beginning. So I wouldn't mind a fresh start with this game.

Overall, I'd say I wouldn't be horribly upset if it were gone-- I mean, I could have a lot of fun replaying some the games over again. It's great when a game has "replay value," but I don't think my situation is what game designers and publishers have in mind when they say a game has "great replay value." So if it really did get down to it, I might buy a USB adapter for my memory card so I could just download some saves for FFX and FFX-2 (maybe not ILM, even though I think that was the one I got Enterprise in), and hopefully backup my saves, too. I don't know, does anyone know of a place where I can get:
* a new memory card (preferably a larger one, like a multi-card-in-one, or a pair of Memory Cards at once)
* a USB-to-Memory Card adapter
* free savefiles for FFX and FFX-2?

Last night Elliott came over and we ended up spending most of the night watching Food Network or the Tyra Banks show (it was the episode I'd wanted to watch, even though I stumbled on it totally by accident-- the episode about her supposed horrendous weight-gain. For the record, I thought that particular picture was just a bad angle, the same way plenty of people get their pictures taken where their face looks bleached out, their hair looks mussed up, their teeth have something in it, red eye, etc).

And hey, here's something you may not have known about me! My BMI is 19.5, which is just one point above the bottom line for the healthy weight for adults of my height. If I were 18.4 or under, I would be considered underweight, but I don't know how many pounds would calculate my BMI that far down. And frankly, I don't care. I happen to like my figure very much, even though occasionally I think my butt's just a bit TOO curvy or my thighs look a bit like bowling pins.

( On weight, body image, and stupid models )

You know, many nursery rhymes are really morbid. 'Ring around the Rosy' really described the Black Plague, and I heard that the 12 Days of Christmas was a day of reminding people about Christ symbolism in a time when certain denominations of Christianity were persecuted. And then there's the not-so-innocent 'It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring, he bumped his head and went to bed and didn't wake up in the morning...'

But yes, it is pouring here, and even though I'm hungry (had nothing but an apple cream danish, Coke, and some caramel popcorn for breakfast), I don't want to go outside. I took a shower this morning and had some issues with my razor (I really need to buy more bandages), and as a result, I stumbled out of the shower thinking it was 9:50 when it was really only 9:40. Today the basic and advanced classes combined (in other words, the basic class got to sleep in, and the advanced class was supposed to wake up early) to watch Water Boys- a decidedly good movie that was funny, touching, and all-around a great watch.

Long story short, I thought I was late so I grabbed little food, forgot my boots for the rain, and ended up getting soaked when I found out I DID have time and I went to the campus conbini to get some snacks for the movie. My feet are still wet (Converse SUCK for the rain. I need new boots, but the question is, where to get them???).

At least Mom said she's sending me some non-perishables (though I should have mentioned my need for Mac and Cheese, biscuits and artichokes), and I have a Costco Japan delivery of canned Coke and bagels coming my way tomorrow morning.

I finished getting my phone set up (teh yay!), but Internet won't be hooked up until the 13th or so, when I'm supposed to get my modem and router in the mail. In the meantime, there is the International Center, and I abused the extra time I have today (nothing to do until 6th period, when I have EC here at the university) by looking up things to do on Sunday- Mike (yes, Cooper) will be here in Japan for the next week or so with his brother Dave (YAY!), so we're going to try and hang out. He's staying in Nagoya, which is about 2 hours SW of Tokyo, so rather than me meet him there, we decided on a half-way point: Akihabara. With Mike's help, I found a few Jewish delis, and there's apparently one in Akasaka (note: NOT Asakusa!) near the Tameikesannou Station. With my tutor's help, I even got a Google Map of the area, so I know where to walk from the station to get there.

And tomorrow -if it's not pouring- there's a huge fireworks competition in Tsuchihara. The exchange students are all planning to meet up at 4pm at Akatsuka station so we can go together; I want to figure out how to take better pictures of fireworks.

I've been playing FFX-2 ILM (as previously mentioned) in the meantime, and I desperately wanted the rare and legendary Enterprise/Break HP limit accessory that you can only get by pushing an elusive and cracktastic Tobli into the Celsius' cabin-level elevator. Thankfully I got Johnfred (another CSUN exchange student) to do it for me -using only the analog stick!- so I owe him 2 dinners (I figure pizza at Mito Eki will do. It's really delicious there, and I'm all for any excuse going back) for that. Now if only I can get him to play the Gunner's Gauntlet for me! I've beaten on my own before, but it takes a long time before I get into it enough -most of the time, it's just frustrating. You need 500 points in 7 minutes ALL by getting ammo, shooting high-level (and therefore powerful) fiends, and NOT by breaking your chain by getting attacked and losing HP. Or worse, running out of time. It's a pain in the ass!

I detest the mini-games and sub-missions in this game, especially since I'm lacking a decent English translation for the most basic of things. I can't do any of the PR/Marriage missions; I can't understand what the Ronsos on Gagazet say, it's hard finding out from what people in Guadosalam say where the Leblanc Syndicate is (to get the uniforms; I already got one from the Mushroom Rock/Djose Road, but what about the other 2?), and I may have missed some critical percentage points by not finding Maechen at the Youth League HQ when I was there in Chapter 1. Ugh, I knew I was sacrificing the Perfect Ending/100% by getting Tobli into the elevator, but I'm missing basic stuff, here! Quick, tell me where else I need to go and what to do -I can't go to any game sites to get FAQs! I think no matter what, I'll just do the most necessary things here to get as much percentage as possible, and then just New Game Plus for everything else- done THE RIGHT way.

And now, something I've always wondered about FFX-2: When Leblanc swiped Yuna's songstress DS, it had Lenne's dress and memories in it -but Yuna's appearance. Perhaps Yuna was the first to find the sphere and therefore 'mark' it (since Lenne had it herself, or since it was recorded/imprinted by Lenne, even accidentally), but I never understood how Leblanc was able to make herself look like SUMMONER Yuna and THEN transform into Songstress Yuna. Spheres in general really confuse me.

ceruleansan, I hope you know this is ALL YOUR FAULT. YOU STARTED IT!
And if I get plotbunnied and start writing Fullmetal Alchemist fanfiction, I KNOW WHO I'M COMING AFTER TO BETA MY FICS! *angry stare*

Yeah, so I've kind of gotten, er... well, let's use a light form of "obsessed," shall we? Interested in the FMA series. CeruleanSan had me downloading scanlations from StopTazmo, and I've managed to get up to Chapter 20 or thereabouts. She wanted a new convert to the whole Ed x Winry pairing, and I'm so far inclined to agree with her-- a bit. There really isn't a whole ton of romance or innuendo, or backstory beyond how Ed and Al got to where they are.

I admit- parts of the manga are extremely funny, but I don't think ANY manga has ever had me crying so much within a few chapters. Yu-Gi-Oh only brought me to tears when I realized IT WAS OVER, not at any point during the first arc. Even Sailormoon, with the DEATH! and the TRAGIC!OMG etc... even in the live-action, it was always toward the END that I was sobbing like a baby. And okay, FMA didn't have me sobbing like a baby, but the sad parts (people getting murdered, kittens being dead, etc.) had me sniffling and wishing I could click away-- but I couldn't. :P

So I download about 3 chapters at a time while doing something else online. I read them all once they've finished downloading, and once I get 700 MB worth (which may take awhile; I've got something like 97 MB now, and that's *20* chapters!), I'll burn it to CD.

Sucky thing is that the quality really went down around Ch. 18. I don't mean the manga or even the scans- just the translating. All of a sudden, words were horribly misspelled, apostrophes and commas were left out, and chapter titles weren't translated at all anymore. Some omake bits and cover scans were left out altogether! It was kinda sad. If anyone knows where the HQ scans are, I'll wait longer-- just so I can read scanlations in REAL English, not that kindergarten crap that passes for English these days. (I like "Engrish," but there's no humor in stuff that's halfway between Engrish and English. It's called LAZINESS.)

UGH! One more week until I get paid, two more weeks until "finals" (I actually don't have finals for all of my classes. I do have tons of WORK to get done, especially by the end of this week, so I better get cracking.), and three weeks until FANIME! I still haven't reserved a shuttle to the airport and back again though, and Mom hasn't paid me or covered any portion of the hotel room yet. I should call her about that (well, she DID offer! It'll shave some off the money she still owes me, at any rate). At least I'll have April's paycheck (or will it be May's?) to cover Fanime and the like, and I'll be making MORE money in the summer, assuming I get more hours (which I hope I do).

Ooh, and for Mother's Day weekend, I'm going to San Diego on the choo-choo! :D I'm going to make Scott's mom a card, because even if I don't see her, she's been way nice to me. I know I'm going to see Scott at least on Friday night/Saturday morning, so he can pass the card on. I think I'll be at Joyce's for Sunday, but I don't know what exactly we're doing. (I hope Joyce wins her court case today against the insurance guys, because it'd be sucky for her and Baba to try and celebrate Mother's Day if she DIDN'T win.)

( More FFX-2 and Da Vinci Code Quest schtuff )

( Meme ga aru! )

Ugh, still need a new LJ layout (got sick of the Lisa Frank kitties). DAMN YOU MUSE! Where ARE you!?

Baba says I'm supposed to have a "five-check day" (meaning the best day the horoscope doles out) today, and be inspired. The school horoscope told me to watch my finances and consider more education. The horoscope.com horoscope told me that I'll get a romantic proposition that I just can turn down.

I think I'm placing too much stock in horoscopes. I love them to death, but yeesh! Is it bad when I wake up in the morning feeling like I'm going to be busy, stressed, and generally batty, and my horoscopes are BETTER than what I'm expecting?

( Also, a rant. )

The whole FFX universe still confuses me. When I first joined fanthropology, I posted what I thought was the history of the FFX universe. It didn't really belong there, but Fanthropology is a mixed-bag sort of fan community. In any case, no one really corrected me on much, and now I find out new things all the time. new_spira was advertising today, and I went to their journal and the Wikipedia entry on Yevon, and I was like... wha? I think I need to replay FFX (well, actually, BEAT it. I never did, even though I know what happens at the end) and finish FFX-2 again.

I feel kind of stupid for thinking that Yevon was affiliated with Bevelle originally, not Zanarkand. But I'm pretty sure I'm right in that Bevelle and Zanarkand didn't have their final standoff in the Calm Lands; that was Sin and the Summoners.

Other stuff. Why is it that I can feel tired, tell myself "I'll go to bed soon" and then five minutes turn into two hours, and I'm still awake at 2am? It's bad, bad, bad I say! I never did watch my new purchase (the Indiana Jones trilogy) yesterday; I spent most of the night finishing up my translations of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles new songs, "IT'S" by Kinya, and "Kazemachi Jet" by Maaya Sakamoto. I transliterated AND translated the lyrics, listened to the songs OVER AND OVER to pull the kanji pronunciations from the lyrics... and I finally got it done. They're up for review at AnimeLyrics.com, and will hopefully be used by #yugioh! for their subs of the series.

People are visiting-- actually Dan (uncle) visited yesterday, and my aunt Joyce is here with her husband today; hopefully they're going to settle the ongoing dispute with their insurance company re: the San Diego fires that destroyed their home a few years back. I don't mind Joyce and her husband so much; I don't even mind the annoyance that is their dog, Mokie. But Dan kind of got on my nerves when he insisted that Grandpa didn't need a laptop, that he WOULDN'T carry it around from room to room, and that
a) laptops break more often (not true)
b) they're more expensive (true)
c) there isn't really a necessity for it (not true... necessarily)

Regardless of what, I'm planning on getting a laptop before I leave for Japan. Grandpa can get the computer I'm on refurbished with a new monitor or whatever, or he can get a new computer altogether. Whatever he wants. All I know is, I need enough time to clear my stuff off, because I refuse to be away from my email/fanfics/websites for 6 months. :P

Ooh, and guess what? I came up with a new name for my multi-fandom archive. I can start working on it tomorrow (or tonight, if we miraculously get out early and I don't haul myself to bed early like I should). The name... pure irony, right there.

Epiphany. Hee!

Happy Birthday ceruleansan, mischiefmagnet and missandrony!


Okay, so I did it. I'm being an unoriginal, damn-good looking wh0r and going as Songstress Yuna for Fanime. I have pre-regged. I have (almost) bought and paid for the cosplay... and I might get a microphone accessory from someone else. The boots won't match, but who cares? I can also make the hair accessory myself (Yay for FIMO!). I have no plane ticket, no hotel room and no money for food/dealer's room at the moment, but I will once my birthday paycheck comes through (it just happens to fall on or around that day, yey me), but I will deal with that ASAP. I've also just emailed my mom, so at least she can help me out with the hotel (I hope), and Baba and Grandpa might help me with the plane tickets and shuttle costs (the plane tickets I would pay them back for, duh).

Anyway, it'd be nice to offset my potential hotel room costs if someone wanted to room with me. $45/night for 3 nights isn't bad for a 4-star hotel right in the convention center. Anyone interested? (Note: I'm looking for ONE, *maybe* two people for a double-bed room. Completely non-smoking, and for the love of god, no whirling-dervishes for roommates. I like people who are neat and relatively decent guests.)

atlantian_magic, I owe you Kaiba the Virgin Sacrifice. I've actually been quite the busy bee, working on WDKY24 (which is late, I realize-- I apologize to my betas and my Wonderful Historical Consultant, guardian_kysra). It's being a stubborn brat. I've also been playing FFX-2 almost non-stop (bad Mer, bad!) in lieu of having a decent Karaoke Revolution (Party Mix SUCKS!) or The Sims (I refuse to buy the PC CD version. It's DVD Special Edition or BUST!). Now I'm leveling up in the underground Thunder Plains cave, by rubber banding my X button down with a quarter, and setting the Analog stick to constant roam. Bwahahaha... it's so slow leveling up. I thought I'd be tons of leveled up by now, since I went to Target with Karin and her boyfriend, the aptly-named Guy. But Grandpa wanted to "turn it off" and so he unplugged my Memory Card and controller. -_-; I told him never to do that again, and just turn off/change the channel if he didn't want to see Yuna ramming herself into a wall and battling Machina. So now he knows. :P

Back to KtVS: (Kaiba the Vampire Slayer!? WAAAH!?) so what would be a more effective perspective, I wonder, for this first foray of mind into probably-smut? Kaiba, our unwilling "hero," or Anzu, the mysterious seductress? I have two separate opening lines, and the opening line determines "whose story" it is. Note that this wouldn't be a first-person fic (eeeuch... for a smutfic?), but with Kaiba's perspective, you'd probably get more humor from his being stuck in such an awkward situation. From Anzu, you'd understand from the get-go everything about the plot, minus the ending. Anzu's story would also be darker, up until said ending.

I obviously haven't written any of it yet-- except for the planner, so don't shoot! I like asking people's opinions about everything.

I finished reading The Mediator: Darkest Hour and The Mediator: Haunted (yes, in less than a day. The series is that addicting). Now it's onto the last, dramatic, and hopefully ROMANTIC book in the series, The Mediator: Twilight. Now, am I the only one who read Book #5 and thought "If they made a Mediator movie, THIS WOULD BE IT!?" Too bad I'm not so good at adapting novels into screenplays. I could totally do it the other way around. (I would also be a much better Suze than Hilary Duff or somesuch. Not that I've ever wanted to break into Hollywood, but still. :P)

Anyway, ugh... stomachache from that mini Pizza Primo I got at Target's Pizza Hut Express. I knew it was a bad idea the moment I stuck it in my mouth, but alas... I didn't like the looks of the pizza Karin and Guy brought home with them from before, and I know there's little to nothing else to eat in the house except pancakes and cream of wheat... which I'm right sick of. Well, except for the pancakes. But what to do for a quick meal that you don't have to prepare carefully?

Gotta go! (P.S. What's up with this new "Current Location:" thing in LJ? I use Semagic, and the client hasn't updated for this field, and there's no news or FAQ announcements about it... help?)

I do not like Jim Cramer. I just felt like saying "Boo-yah" because there are only 18 days left till my 21st birthday! WHOO! And I'll be in Hawaii sipping Mai Tais~

At the behest of many people, I shall also be starting on "Kaiba the Virgin Sacrifice" soon. It'll start out kind of dark (because it has to), but trust me, it'll get steamy/sexy/sensual enough to "keep your attention." I hope. *impish smile* As I said in my last post, I did work on WDKY24. Alas, it's coming along slower than I intended, if only because I keep thinking I'm writing very dryly, "telling" and not "showing." There are parts when I honestly think it needs to be more emotionally-driven, perhaps with dialogue, and yet I can't think of the right words to say. This is a long chapter already, too: I haven't finished it, and it's already 114KB! Mostly, I have left to write the final duel scene, the conclusion of the chapter (with teasers for the Next Big Arc, coming in Ch. 26), and some bits of Anubis' past, which I hope won't be too confusing/historically inaccurate.

Last night I got up to Cloister 30 in Via Infinitio, and all the Elder Drakes ramming themselves into the walls (migraine, much?) keep scaring me off. I just run past them, avoiding the fight... even though I need to fight one of them to get them into Shinra's Bestiary, and even if it means "fighting" them and running away X amount of times until they oversoul, I still have to face them. ;_; But they SCARE me! Isn't that stupid? I have a bunch of monsters I have yet to oversoul, and the sucky part is, I can't do it without getting all the way through Via Infinitio. That's the only way to get 100% in the game: beat Trema and Paragon. But the reward for doing so is The End garment grid, which lets you Break Damage Limit... which I totally need. Obviously, the problem is, I'd like to Break Damage Limit BEFORE I have to face those guys... otherwise it'll just be me going back and forth, saving and praying I don't get pwned by a Mega Tonberry or whatnot. I need to know what GGs and DSes to equip (plus accessories) so I can level up faster (they're all at 58-60 now) and be confident enough to take some more fiends on. It's been a while since I've played though, but being so close to the ending, I really want to beat the game at 100%! I hate how all the guides make it seem so easy to beat Via Infinitio, though! :P

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!

I am the Queen of Procrastination. Me and Atlantis have something in common: we're experts at busying ourselves with the things that need to get done, but could have been done later, and thus, we're the best at making to-do lists and never really getting around to doing them. ^^; I keep telling myself I'll clean my room, because the piles everywhere (clothes, books, papers) are getting a bit much-- even for my big, nice room that I have here! But during the week I feel like I never have enough time, and during the weekend, time just flies by when I try to relax and have fun!

I know I spend way too much time playing FFX-2. ;_; On the bright side, it inspired me to work on my Japanese (finished assignments for today and Tuesday) and my Visual Communications magazine cover. Yes, it's FFX-2 related. So basically I have to think of an interesting magazine cover layout that fits my FFX-2 theme... so I chose "Luca" as a destination. I grabbed a screenshot from FFX, and I'm trying to balance it out on either side with pictures of some big characters that I'd do "stories" on. That is: Yuna, Rikku, Paine, Brother, and Buddy (the Gullwings); Gippal, Baralai, Nooj, and Leblanc.

I was also thinking about having a "story" on Lenne and Shuyin, Maechen, and the return of Tidus (and something big to go with him, like he joins the newSpira -my magazine name. Isn't it kitschy!?- staff as a blitzball statistician, or for an exclusive interview about how he plans to rock the world of Blitzball once more. I was even tinkering with the idea of the Gullwings vs. the Aurochs in Blitzball-- whose side will Tidus take!? It's either that or "The Rumors Aren't True: Why The Gullwings AREN'T Disbanding". Any other ideas? What do you think?

I've managed to get the game up to 96%, and even though I just started Chapter 5, I have the New Game Plus option. I'll need to do another game just so I ensure that I get the Perfect Ending plus all the good accessories that you can only get through failed missions (Enterprise if you fail the 1st Moonflow mission; Key to Success if you get all the Moonflow missions, but you fail the Mt. Gagazet youth uprising mission). Geez, how lame it is not to be able to get those unless you screw over Spira in some way. And there's also the Japanese I+LM game...

Anyway, I think the remaining 4% will come from the Den of Woe (3%) and... uh, a random 1% that I haven't determined just yet. I already know I missed out on 0.2% (possibly; assuming I didn't get it my last go-around) by not watching the Calm Lands Chocobo Ranch CommSphere scene; it's either that or (I THINK) the Mascot Dressphere. I totally plan on getting it this time around! :O! As for The End garment grid, I really don't think there's any way I can possibly oversoul all the monsters just yet. I haven't caught that many chocobos, and you have to send chocobos to get things and to discover places... and I haven't done it! I hate the way the Brady Games guide is arranged... it explains why whenever I play a game, I always end up printing loads of stuff from online.

The weather here is finally turning sour: I'm hearing thunder rumbles outside, and this morning I helped Baba and Grandpa clean out the gutters in case of rain. We got a light drizzle, but it might start getting heavy again... Yeaaa... /sarcasm

I've also taken up meditation... and the purchasing of 2 meditation books at Border's on Thursday also led me to a job! When I was poking around for a specific meditation book, I ran into this Japanese family: a boy, a girl, and their mom. The girl had on a cool Pretty Cure shirt, so I told her it was pretty cool. Her mom was surprised I spoke Japanese, and after a brief conversation in English, we parted. After I bought my things downstairs, the mom came up to me and asked if I wanted to tutor her son in English! I got her phone number, called her back this afternoon, and I'm going over to her house tomorrow! It's near school. I told Dad and Grandpa about it, and they both think I should charge $20/hr. O_O I mean, I'm good in English, but... geez, I can't see myself charging that much. Even if it's not an every day for six hours kind of thing, that would mean I'd be making more money than my parents (I think!). So what do you think I should charge? The kid is 5 years old and in kindergarten. What should I teach? How should I teach it? (Surprisingly, his mom said he's not into manga or games. I wonder if that's because he can't read yet, or because he's just not one of those nerds like me! :P)

Aaand with Scott, my uncle Fred has possibly hooked him up with two backup plans, if Nova falls through (or he just wants something to do in San Diego after he graduates): (1) Apply as a stock photographer for this group that travels around the world 10+ mos out of the year. Sounds exciting, though Scott's more of a person-photographer than a thing-photographer. But it came highly recommended and hush-hush from Fred, so... I hope if he applies (and doesn't get Nova), he'd get this job, because it sounds fun. Sad thing would be, at least with Nova, I would know where he is and how to get ahold of him; with this, there's hardly a chance of that. With (2), it's a similar kind of stock photography job, but working for my uncle specifically, and during the months when Scott would be in SD, presumably waiting to go to Japan for Nova. January-April, I think.

As for me and him, well, like I said: we're not exactly in a relationship, but we still love each other. And he's said it, and made it clear (finally!) exactly what he meant. I don't need to tell him that I still love him, though admittedly, my feelings have changed. We can hang out like normal people/friends, and even sleep together without having sex. That's saying something, IMHO, just because people, given the opportunity to have sex usually will. It's not a matter of choice, it's a matter of your brain switching off and your genitals switching on. That's it.

*yawn* In any case, I better get to sleep soon. Damn Squatter Monkeys.

It twists, it turns, it goes every which way... add in the details, fill in the blanks, tell me what I got wrong!

It's FFX!

( A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far away... )

x-posted to fanthropology

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yeah, like that makes me feel any better.

( Ooh, pretty meme with decent questions! )

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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