MILES to GO || before I sleep

*singsong voice* Oh an_ardent_rain....! Your fic is here!

Miss Scrooge
A Yu-Gi-Oh! HOLIDAY Fanfiction
By Azurite

"Prompt: "the joy of giving", Seto x Anzu

Summary: Domino High has modern-day Scrooge in it, but it's not Seto Kaiba.

Oneshot, complete.

...Even if you take out the blather I always put at the beginning and the end of the fic, it's still 10,232 words! WTF!? I think writing short stuff is impossible for me. Budget your time for reading accordingly, I say!

Anyway, it's hosted on FFnet (and will be up on the other places like MMorg, Dragonfayth, and FicWad soon), so please leave a review there if you read the story!

Thanks for this fun challenge, ILB-- I hope you like the story!

 Crossover Interlude by Utada from Exodus (Rating: 0)

Who wants fics for the holidays?

I DO, I DO!

So I'm starting a gift exchange! This is NOT limited to any one fandom, genre, pairing, etc. It's a free-for-all, and you get to pick the fandoms and the prompts and participate in ones YOU find interesting! It also does NOT have to be holiday-themed.

Here's how it works:

(1) Comment to this entry with anywhere between 1 - 3 fandoms starting with a particular letter of the alphabet. Include the subject line "FANDOM." Go with the most common name, the Japanese title, or the title you prefer. Only one fandom per letter! ANY FANDOM IS OKAY. Anime, manga, TV shows, movies, books, whatever!

So let's say you like the letter "F." How about "Final Fantasy VIII" then? So for the letter F, the fandom will be "Final Fantasy VIII." But that means no one can submit "Final Fantasy X," okay? Try and pick a fandom that multiple people might write for/enjoy.

(2) The fandom Master List will be posted here (see below). This is the list of participating fandoms. I think 26 is a pretty good variety, don't you?

(3) Post 3-10 prompts (don't make them fandom-specific) in the comments. A prompt can be a single word (like "Wreath") or a phrase ("12 Days of Christmas") or whatever you like (images, lyrics, etc.)! But again, don't be fandom-specific-- no pairings, characters, etc. in the prompts! Include the subject line "PROMPT."

(4) Respond to the other prompts in the comments (you can respond to your own prompts, but it's more fun if you challenge yourself!), either by including a ficlet (drabbles or longer) right there in the comment, or linking elsewhere (either on LJ or another site). The comment should include what fandom it's for, and any other relevant information.

If you'd like an extra challenge, try combining one or more of the prompts, or crossing over the fandoms! Just make sure when you comment with your fic/link, you comment to EACH prompt that you used, or you mention EACH fandom that you wrote for!

More people have added fandoms, so I added the last of my three. Feel free to submit more fandoms-- you can submit more than one, but remember-- only ONE fandom per letter! Check below for what letters are already snagged! (Also, if we don't get enough people submitting 3 fandoms each, those that have already submitted three might be able to submit more, probably up to 2 more. But hopefully you guys are spreading the word about this post so people do more than submit fandoms-- they also submit prompts and fic[let]s!)

A:
B: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon
C:
D: Doctor Who
E:
F: Final Fantasy VII
G: Ghost Hunt
H: Harry Potter
I: Immortal Rain
J:
K: Kingdom Hearts
L:
M:
N:
O:
P:
Q:
R: Rurouni Kenshin
S: Slayers
T: Teen Titans (cartoon)
U:
V: Vision of Escaflowne
W: Where in The World is Carmen Sandiego?
X:
Y: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Z:

 Silent Night by Sarah Brightman from A Winter Symphony

In less than 10 hours, I will be on my way to Tokyo/Narita to go to Hong Kong with baine! I'm actually pretty excited. :) Today went by really fast toward the end, but I'm glad I got so much done-- I did my laundry, cleaned up my room, finished planning the budget sheet, printed out maps and generally walked away with a feeling of accomplishment. I also ended up buying both the tickets for the Disney Tokyo resorts (Sea and Land) and Hong Kong; Bonnie'll pay me back for them, but at least we can both be confident that we won't have any problems getting into the park-- we have TICKETS, dammit. (At least, I hope that's the case that they don't oversell and expect people to be able to come back whenever; I'm sure we'll try and go to the parks at opening, so we don't have to worry about that.) Truthfully, both parks seemed pretty cheap compared to the original down in Anaheim. :P It was only $45 for the Hong Kong park, and only $80 for both Disney Sea and Disney Tokyo on the 2-Day Passport. Unfortunately, I didn't know the passport could only be used for consecutive days, so I had to change our plans from Disney on the 28th and 31st to the 30th and 31st. We're still sticking with our original plan for Hong Kong Disney on Christmas Day, though. :)

I managed to pack enough clothes for all 10 days in my duffle-wheelie, and I'm bringing my big black purse and my backpack for carry-ons. I'm also going to bring the laptop-- not that I'll have Internet access (that I know of), but I do want to try and work on all my papers... I have to at least get started on my paper for Mass Media, and of course, keep working (if possible) on my scholarship paper. Kerhoff from Criminology finally gave us (the exchange students) an assignment to determine our grade, but it's not due until 2/1... still, I'd rather get it over with sooner while the information is fresh and I'm more likely to have free time that I *should* dedicate to school (rather than websites or fanfics). And then there's culture and pop culture, both of which have papers due, but with no specific date set as of yet (as far as I know). I missed both those classes this week because I wasn't feeling well. Ironically, that wasn't the day after the party, when I had something akin to a hangover (yes, I'm pathetic).

What else? My back still hurts from all the hunching-over New Year's Cards I did, but at least I got everything mailed out- tomorrow I'll mail Scott's present + letter, but I mailed everything else (Joyce's package, Dad's package, postcard to Gary, New Year's cards to my Japanese tutors and roommates, and a card for Scott's mom) today. I'm going to look around for the game staplerx wanted, and the doujinshi at Comiket that richlikesmaids mentioned, plus presents for Holly, Grandpa, another, slightly-more-significant gift for Scott, doujinshi for atlantian_magic and guardian_kysra, and perhaps my tutors/roommates as well. After budgeting everything out, it looks like I can afford to do that, even if I weren't feeling guilty (because many of the other exchange students gave gifts to their tutors today; I didn't GET anything from my tutors except some cute cookies from Misato, but that's to be at least partly expected; people don't really do the gift-giving thing en masse here in Japan, which is VERY surprising given the amount of attention and hype Christmas gets).

I should get to bed soon so I can wake up early enough to make a hearty breakfast (gotta finish off all my milk; I already gave Holly all my eggs, but I want to drink all the milk and OJ; everything else I can freeze) and call both Mom and Scott. :)

Okay, so today was essentially a good day. Holly made me silver dollar pancakes topped with a cute strawberry, as promised, and we took the earliest bus/train possible from Akatsuka to Nippori, and then the Yamanote Line trains in Tokyo to Shinjuku first, then Hamamatsucho (to the Ryutsu Center via the monorail), and then back to Shibuya. We accidentally took the "long route" to Shinjuku, so we got our time messed up a little, but we had fun-- as soon as we exited the station, we looked for a place to eat, so we decided on this small cafe/restaurant that had apparently JUST opened that day (it was pretty busy, and there was a "GRAND OPEN!" flyer on the cashier) called "Ducky Duck." I had a Foccacia pizza and a blueberry bagel (with blueberry cream cheese), the latter of which I got at the train station because I was so ravenous, and the former with a thoroughly lemon-soaked Coke.

After that, we wandered around Marui Young looking at the Gothic Lolita clothes; we'd gone there for a few minutes before Ducky Duck, but I was so hungry I convinced Holly to get grub so we could do some power shopping. While I find the various Lolita styles interesting, I can't really see myself wearing anything except maybe the most tasteful and plain (i.e. as few bows and hearts as possible) dresses. I saw one gorgeous Santa-inspired red coat with white fur trim, but it was over $315! Yeah, WAY out of my budget. But Holly found lots of things she liked, and we found out that if you spend over 10,000 or so yen at Marui Young and are a foreign visitor, you can get the consumption tax (5%) back! So we did that, and then went to look for Okadaya, a craft store.

We finally found it after some wandering, but it was a bit of a disappointment to me-- floors 4-6 were mostly about sewing, with things like rick-rack, buttons, small bolts of fabric, yarn, and the like everywhere. Not my cup of tea, to be honest. Floor 7 had some magazines and books, but they were all over-priced; floor 3 had some cool makeup and wigs, so I bought some nice cheap nail polish and some Victorian-style scrapbook stickers. I also bought some things from the other floors for Baba and Joyce. Floors 1 and 2 were all about beading, and while I was totally tempted to get some things, they were way expensive, too. I might have been reading the signs wrong, but I'm pretty sure the signs had a price "per bead."

Next up we headed to Hamamatsucho; the monorail was a very interesting ride, and it took us through Tennozu Isle, the same place that inspired Infinity Island in Sailor Moon S. I even saw the building that inspired Infinity Academy! :D I just read about it the other day in one of my new books: Warriors of Legend: Reflections of Japan in Sailor Moon, so it was pretty cool actually seeing it in person, even if it was just for a few moments.

The antique fair was pretty easy to find, and it was nice that it was all indoors (I thought it might be outdoors based on the description and warnings from the PaperLantern.net page). But everything was so expensive! I was hoping I would find things for both my Dad and Scott (and maybe Grandpa), but of all the incredible things I saw, only one thing "called" to me as being perfect, and that was a present I snagged for Dad. The guy I bought it from even gave me a small discount! I think he was just surprised that I was being so picky and interested in what he had to offer. I thought about getting Scott a Buddha statuette, or maybe some Japanese ukiyoe art, but with prices running in the low thousands for STAINED stuff, I said no. Besides, nothing "called" to me as being perfect for him. I'm hoping I think of something soon, or see something in Hong Kong. I feel kind of guilty having not gotten him anything for his birthday or Christmas yet, save the one small-ish, kind of silly thing I already bought (which I hope to mail this week, along with the other boxes and cards).

Holly and I split up through most of the fair, and even though the exhibition hall was large, we found our way through the whole place pretty quickly. It was mostly housewares (plates) and genuinely antique-y stuff like samurai armor, swords, prints, toys, and things like that. EVERYTHING was very expensive. One Buddha statuette I looked at was 10,300 yen (over $90 USD, about)! And it was barely the size of my palm!

We ended up leaving before the fair actually ended, and we headed back to the monorail to go to Shibuya. I wanted to go to the NANA 2 museum and cafe "Lotus and Strawberry," but we didn't have a whole lot of time; we were also hungry, so we stopped at a Royal Host and had dinner (I had Mexican tacos along with some honey & wild berry ice cream). After that, we tried to find our way to the Jewish Community Center, but because we weren't coming directly from the station, the directions we had (and the lousy map) weren't very useful. We asked for directions at a koban (police box), and managed to make our way there, but only after TONS of walking. And according to the hours, they were closed on Saturdays! I found that hard to believe, given that synagogues and the like are usually OPEN on the high holidays, and the front door was open, too. Another guy came up and asked us if we were there to see the movie; we said no, we just wanted to see the place, we'd come from Mito, etc., and sooner than later, a guy working for the JCC came and let us in. I saw they had a table of goodies set up-- alas, the dreidels (glass) were too expensive, so I ended up buying matzoh and coconut macaroons instead. YAY! :D :D :D MATZOH! IN JAPAN! :D :D

But all that walking took so much time, so we had to run to catch a bus (flat rate of 170 yen, how cheap!) and get back to Shibuya so we could take our train to Nippori and then back to Mito. But my stomach started hurting on the bus, so at Nippori I found a bathroom and stayed sick for a good half hour. :( My stomach was still finicky when we finally boarded a train, but thankfully it was a Rapid train, so there was a bathroom (which was surprisingly clean). I'd taken a Pepto from Holly back at Nippori, so my stomach started to feel a bit better... but I think the fake Mexican tacos did that to me. :( I'm still feeling kind of queasy.

The guys at the JCC told me about a Hanukkah party going on tomorrow at some Otani Hotel, but there are LOTS of Otani Hotels in Tokyo, and I can't remember which one/where they said it was! I want to go, since the whole point of me trying to find the JCC was to do something Hanukkah-y, and plus you get free food and a free menorah! But since I'm not feeling well *AND* since it costs extra money (plus even if I use another day from my Seishun 18 ticket, I'd have to buy another one for use with Bonnie when we're in Tokyo! It's totally worth it, since it pays for itself if you spend more than 2500 yen or so in a single day, which I do just coming from Mito, though), I might not go. I'm waiting to see if anyone emails me back with the exact address, or there's no point.

I also want to try and start writing more for my scholarship paper/the book. It occurred to me that there are LOTS of books on anime, but not very many on manga, it seems. Mine wouldn't be the first, and perhaps not even the first to explore the connections and dissimilarities between manga and Japanese novel writing, but I'd like to give it a shot.

Anyway, since my tongue is brown and my head is achey, I think I'll get to sleep now.

Okay, so I went to the post office right after Japanese class to try and pay for the rest of my HK trip. The postal savings ATM wouldn't let me withdraw 63,000 yen; it said "You have exceeded your credit limit." I freaked out, because I didn't know whether that meant that
a) The Postal Savings ATM only lets you make X number of withdrawals, or withdrawals up to X yen (if you're a visitor to Japan/using a foriegn bank card).
b) I had much less money than I thought (or the exchange rate made what I thought was enough money "less")
or c) WaMu put a limit on the amount of withdrawals I was allowed to make from abroad

Turns out it was the latter, as I vaguely remembered someone from WaMu telling me I had a limit of $500/day to withdraw. Now, at the time, I obviously thought "Why would I want to have $500 on me IN CASH, anyway?" Well, so I couldn't do it, but I did withdraw 32,000 yen successfully. I said bye to Holly, who was inside the post office mailing packages (turned out we'd been on the same bus on the way there), and headed toward Tokyo-Mitsubishi bank a few blocks down. It was actually a lot closer than I thought, so I don't think I'll take the bus the next time I have to go there from the post office (and I would have to go to the post office, because I already know the bank can't make withdrawals from my bank account... there's no CIRRUS symbol on the back!)

I decided I would try and remember the order/process of making a deposit (o-furikomi), but I kept encountering all these options and I had NO idea what they were or what they meant. The security guard tried to help, but he couldn't translate anything into English. One lady DID help me read the correct branch name in kanji, and eventually one of the clerks helped me through the whole process. She also helped me get a card that will expedite the process (I don't have to enter all the account information again) for the next time I go on, probably on Monday.

And I emailed Fumi, the IACE Travel representative, and she'll probably get back to me and tell me everything's fine with the transfer today, and that'll be it! As for the phone bill, I called Dad and he said I was going to get a SIZABLE Hanukkah present of cash deposited into my bank account TOMORROW. *YAY.* This will probably negate the need for me to deposit any of my future paychecks into my U.S. account, which will save money (because those kind of transfers always cost money. I didn't try to do it today at the bank, though WaMu has some sort of hook-up with Wells Fargo and Tokyo-Mitsubishi. I wonder if transferring through a bank is cheaper than through the post office? I know Golloyds or whatever is supposed to be the cheapest remittance, but I don't think I can use it or something.) So I'll be able to pay my phone bill on time, save my next two paychecks for HK and Tokyo (I need SOME money for the hostels, and of course, transportation and food in HK).

...So now I just need to build up the courage to eat FISH.

Because apparently if you don't eat pork here in Japan, or in Hong Kong, you MUST eat fish. I wonder what the percentage of vegetarians or vegans is in Asia... Probably extremely low.

I refuse to eat grasshoppers (or horse meat, or other varieties of bug), though. I don't care how delicious Kawashima-sensei says they are when they're covered in chocolate.

Also on the bright side, I might just be able to swing getting some presents for people online. I found this site that has a ton of coupon codes for all sorts of stores and websites (i.e. Amazon.com, Best Buy, etc.), but I don't want to get all excited over it until I look through it some more. So if you see another post on it soon, it's because I've approved of it and it's cool enough for me to want to tell everyone and their dog (or cat) about! So far it's looking good, what with coupons for 1-800 Flowers (which I use often) and even some CLOTHING stores, which might help for presents for a Certain Someone Who Shall Not Be Named. I still have to mail out packages and things like that, but generally I think I'm good. Mom'll be sending me macaroni and hot chocolate, and I'm hoarding my Kasumi discount cards and buying the cheap stuff late at night to save money. Yay for 9pm Late Night Sales! Now if only I could get a Suica card to save me time and money when buying train tickets. Maybe when I get paid this Friday, I'll buy a JR Seishun 18 Kippu so on the days baine and I are in Asakusa, I can get around easily. Unlimited travel on 5 days (doesn't need to be consecutive) during the travel period on all JR lines (shinkansen and super-express excepted), for only 11,500 yen! Not too bad, I'd say, especially considering you can spend 1/10 of that just on ONE-WAY to Tokyo from Mito (on the slow train).

I've only eaten a bowl of cereal (Frosties with bananas) and had some toast with scrambled eggs today, but I'm feeling strangely sick. Or I have been for the past hour or so, and I have no idea why. It sucks.

Moving on, I wonder if anyone would be nice enough to get me things I like/need from Amazon.com? It's one of the few places where shopping online is safe/secure, relatively cheap, easy, and THEY SHIP ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. There's also Amazon.co.jp. :) Long story short, I need a few books from there (on my wishlist), and since I'm saving up for Hong Kong AND have to pay that new phone bill (le sigh, it's legit. Basically a bunch of 2 and 3 minute calls REALLY ADDED UP... to 26 minutes, at $2/minute = $56 tacked onto my $60 regular bill and all the other surcharges), I'm kind of broke at the moment.

However, as promised, I will (and have been already, actually) shopping for gifts for people, and I do believe in "fair trade." So, you scratch my back, I scratch yours. I can try and buy you a gift online and have it shipped to you, I can buy a gift here in Japan and ship it to you, or I can buy something for you and I can give it to you in person, depending on when [next] we meet. :) I actually need these books for my scholarship... a lot more than I need a pretty blue 1GB+ USB stick with some cool engraving on it. (I want that, but I don't NEED it, unfortunately). And as I mentioned before, I don't want to ask my mom for money.

...My dad, on the other hand, is way overdue for a "hit me up for some cash" call. :P

So in summary, please buy me some of the anime and/or manga-related books (that is, reference books. Not stuff like an actual VOLUME of manga or a DVD of anime, shocked as I am to hear myself say it) from my Amazon Wishlist and have it shipped to me here in Japan (need my address? email me or comment... though it IS on my Amazon account, I don't know if you can "see" it if you buy something from my list), and I will
a) love you forever
and
b) get you a cool present in return

Yes, I'm aware that I'm groveling, but it turns out that legit sources of a wealth of info that I need for my scholarship ARE NOT online, and books in English are extremely hard to find here in Japan (which makes perfect sense, really, and I'm quite the dunderhead for not considering it sooner).

...And since I feel sickly right now, I think I'll lie down, and maybe play some Star Ocean 2. If I feel up to it later, I'll have dinner.

*sniff* I miss everybody.