MILES to GO || before I sleep

Happy Birthday Shadowesque13!

Ugh, you know, I decided to randomly try my hand at some Gunslinger duels tonight in the YGO Online World lobby, and I figured with my new powerful deck (Warrior-Spellcaster, with a few bitchy effect monsters thrown in), I might even stand a chance. True, I did last longer in my duels, but one duel ended for no reason (as in, opponent DID NOT surrender, time DID NOT run out, etc. etc.) and the other duel, my opponent of unknown nationality (I thought Japanese, but maybe not. Could have been Chinese or Korean, because the other languages use the English alphabet set, and this guy's text kept coming up as ????) was SO FREAKIN' IMPATIENT! I mean, he was winning already, I don't see what the rush is. Really pissed me off.

Anyway, I need "Widespread Ruin" and/or "Nightmare Wheel," both traps. These cards got used against me (the former in repeated duels), and I must say, they are a bitch for getting your opponent's LP down. And since Warrior decks seem to be pretty cookie-cutter, maybe I ought to try for a Spirit deck, like I told Malakite while we were mining. I played against a guy with a Gravekeeper deck, and I must say, that's one kick-ass deck theme. I find that playing YGO!O inspires me for the upcoming duel scenes in WDKY, so at least I won't be pulling combos and decks out of my ass... these will be decks that have pwned me IRL. :D

I just finished adding a bunch of pages to WikiFic, all in the Pairings section. I'm far from done, and plenty of people gave me links for Threesomes and other-somes that I haven't made a template for yet. There's also the matter of 'ships that aren't official yet, or 'ships whose history is unknown. And I also need art! And then there's the REST of the encyclopedia... this is such a big project, but I've been working on it diligently, getting help here and there from new users, and so far it's turning out pretty good. I'm somewhat afraid to get a Spell Checker for the Wiki, since I have so many Japanese words, but we'll see. Better safe than sorry, eh?

Also, surprisingly good Pegasus-centric fic by SilvorMoon. It came as a rec for the Pegasus/Cyndia pairing for WikiFic, and it really is quite good. It'll definitely make you rethink Duelist Kingdom! :D I also re-read some of Quickening's Spiritshipping (or Revolutionshipping, but Yugi's such an imp in her fics that I figure it's more of a 3-way) and I remember why I first fell in love with Yu-Gi-Oh as a fandom, and Anzu as a female protagonist. Yes, back in the day, I was a Revolutionshipper! :O

And then I read geniusgirl's stuff and the rest is history. :P

In a few hours... the dream will end! Yu-Gi-Oh's final dub episode "Ceremonial Battle" conclusion airs on Kids WB at 11:30am!
5 years
7 incredible story arcs
8 amazing duelists and friends
7 memorable villains
But the time has come
For for this story
To end
June 10, 2006
Yu-Gi-Oh!

Watch It. Live It. Duel It.

Or something equally dorky. ("This isn't the end of my story. My story... is just beginning.") Even though I've seen it in the Japanese, I'm giddy with anticip.....ation!~

I think I'll catch up on Sailor Moon tomorrow, and do Episodes 13 and 14 in one shot. Now that I've fixed VLC player's settings for snapshots, if I do another flood, it won't take so long and need a recompiler. :)

Last night I saw the Da Vinci Code with Eva over at the Winnetka 21. We also had dinner at the Applebee's Bar, where the service was kind of slow and forgetful (I wanted mashed potatoes, they brought almond rice pilaf), but generally good. I got pretty tipsy off a Strawberry Daiquiri, and it was the first time I got carded! :D All the other times (even when I'd been to that same Applebee's), I'd never gotten carded. Hee.

On to the movie: Don't trust the French. No, seriously. All that BS about it bombing at Cannes, critics laughing at the most critical scene, etc... bunch of horseradish. Now, I read the book first (about 2 years ago), and the movie was a pretty damn good adaptation. I didn't re-read the book before seeing the movie, so I'm unsure what may have been changed or cut out, but a good deal of the movie still managed to surprise me.

Eva and I rushed to the theatre from Applebee's on the other end of the parking lot, but there was no line, so we managed to get into the theatre all right. Problem was, there weren't any pairs of seats together, and plenty of people were "saving seats." I think that's stupid, but hey, until the show actually begins, it's fine. We got seats in some of the front rows, chowed down on our apple pie and ice cream pre-show time and sat back to enjoy the movie.

I will state for the record that almost any movie where Hans Zimmer does the music, I will enjoy it. I don't know why, but I LOVED the music in Da Vinci, and he also did the music for Pirates of the Caribbean. Go figure.

Controversy wise, the movie is an adaptation of the book. The book came out something like 2-3 years ago. Raising hell over a movie that is essentially saying the same thing as the book is lame. "Jesus had a wife, and she was Mary Magdalene. They had a child, and that 'royal bloodline' continues today." That's what the book and movie both claim. Yeah, there are historical facts that can back that theory up, but there are also plenty of facts that  poke holes in what Dan Brown said. But the book was fiction, and so's the movie. I wish people would stop whining over it. FICTION. Anyone that's seriously got some faith in Jesus and the Christian way will do some research before renouncing everything they've ever believed after seeing a movie/reading a book. And any SMART Christian will know that ONE BOOK does not constitute "research."

Moving on, I had a weird dream last night that I only remember one piece of: "Lasschere." It's a name-- a man's name. I only remember that "Lasschere was thought to have fathered at least three children," but for the life of me, I can't remember where I saw that. I have this weird impression that I read it off a screen, but... I still don't know. O_o

Now, onto YU-GI-OH!
Today's episode:
YUGI: We all know how you feel about him, Téa
ME: WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?!? (Like FUN Yugi knows anything about Téa's feelings for Yami Yugi. Okay, he might have an INCLINATION, but he's the one that loves her. No one EVER found out about how Yami felt about Téa, if anything. Likewise, Joey et. al. had an INKLING about Téa's feelings for him, but she never said it outright. WHY? For the same reasons I used in WDKY: she knows it would break Yugi's heart. Once Téa realized they were "separate souls" or "separate minds," she knew how bad it would be for her to be in love with one half of Yugi, but not the other half-- the "true half."

Nonetheless, that episode had me going "SEE! SEE! This is why 'Break' totally could have happened! No one ever bothers to understand a girl's heartbreak!" At least not in Yu-Gi-Oh... but it is a shounen series. :P I also think that I may have been plotbunnied, but with a BAD BAD fic idea. Like, one of those ideas that you think about, but it's so stupid, so it really ought to fizzle out. I really OUGHT to finish writing WDKY. Srsly.

Also, I noticed while I was working on WDKY24 that the Ani-Manga spells the combo-sphinx "Thinien," while the TCG card spells it "Theinen." I don't know why Upper Deck changed it, but the first spelling is Arabic for "two," which could make sense, considering Thinien is formed from TWO other sphinxes-- Andro Sphinx and Sphinx Teleia.

The 'Andro' in Andro Sphinx comes from 'Androgynous,' even though it's probably assumed to be male, but is otherwise a genderless monster. There's nothing that LOOKS particularly female about Andro, though. However, Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (from 1913!) says an Androsphinx is a sphinx with the head of a man and the body of a lion. The monster in question has neither. :P

Teleia is the interesting one-- Teleia was the name for Hera after she married Zeus, apparently-- the "grown up" version of the Greek Goddess.

And since I'm feeling somewhat sick to my stomach at the moment (stupid blintzes), I think that will be it for tonight. I slept too much anyway, so now I have work to catch up on. :P

Happy Birthday SvelteRose!


^_^ Party hard.

( Snip-snip! )

Oh, and here's a quick reminder of all the communities I own/help mod:
30kisses - Everyone knows I created this as an alternative to 30_kisses. We have several alternative lists, rules that are different, and several kick-ass mods. I update this one the most frequently.
betasquad - The request-to-join community for anime, manga, and video game fanfic writers. I post all my un-beta'd WDKY chapters here, and I'd love it if more people signed up to join the comm. and the forum so I could have a regular supply of interested editors!
delishidoodle - My icon journal-gone-community. I've just recently updated with a few icons, and hopefully more coming soon.
smrff - The SailorMoon Romantic FanFiction Mailing List's official LJ community. If Aria's Ink can update regularly with fics, why can't we? I say we get WAFF vs. TAFF Day started early this year!
titans_go - Co-modded with baine. But we just haven't started it yet. Why can't I find a decent Teen Titans font!?
weekly_ygo - I'm just the editor. :} But I'm also in the news, every now and then... I hope that post I made about Joey the Passion free online duels makes it into this week's edition.
ygo_extend - I never got around to starting this comm anywhere, but it's meant to be a repository for those great oneshots that should be continued- if not by the original author, then fans with evil imaginations. It's also a challenge community for 1sentence and drabble fics to be fleshed out into something longer.
ygo_goodfic - I co-mod it. Why don't more people bounce their recs our way?
ygo_icontests - I own it-- it's meant to be sort of like weekly_ygo, but for icontests. Many of the icontest owners were impossible to get ahold of, though.
ygo_lyricwheel - I'm going to be restarting the next round soon, if anyone's interested. Any ideas for a theme?
ygo_mst - Meant to be the place where you can be inspired by and write MSTs of Yu-Gi-Oh fics. MSTs being "Mystery Science Theatre" style, which is pure satire and humor. MSTs aren't allowed on FFnet, but they're great learning/teaching tools and good for several laughs. Someone send badfic "recs" over here! We need fodder!
ygo_offtopicon - I'm starting up a new challenge this week, and I hope to keep it regular, this time. We never did finish Challenge #9, which is too bad, but I don't want to let this one die. I have a good idea!

I would appreciate any people interested in helping mod/update these communities. Comment if you can lend a hand at least once a week.

( Snip again-- with a dictionary!? )

Coming up:
* Finish up my Freeman-ASIA scholarship form. Get the hardcopies sent in to IIE, and give the copies to Dr. Lopez in the Study Abroad office.

* Presidential Scholarship? Professor Hirota DID agree, and though it only needs an unofficial transcript from both CCSF and CSUN (I can print both from the web), it also requires Prof. Hirota's signature. -_-; Her office hours are only on Tuesday and Thursday before class, and the thing is due on MONDAY. Geeeeehhh... There goes a potential $5000 down the hole, all because I didn't prepare enough in advance. I could TRY and find her on Monday, but there's just no guarantee. And I refuse to forge.

* WDKY24 - I write more of it last night, and I only have bits and pieces to go, but this is looking to be another difficult chapter. I'd also like to get beta volunteers NOW, so that I don't have to worry about scrambling to find them once I'm actually finished. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

* WikiFic - The Ultimate Yu-Gi-Oh Encyclopedia is slowly but surely being updated. I managed to get through linking the Shipper's List F-M, but there are still tons of pages that need to be created. I'm also trying to get as many pictures as I can, but I'd like people to tell me which ones would be relevant for the pages in question. What information is necessary? I'm also translating pieces of the Gospel of Truth for WikiFic. More members!

* Get my Tokiwa application finished - I need to estimate some dates, or else ask Mom. Then I need to go to the photo place on campus and get a few photos taken, passport-size.

* Blah blah, websites. - I need a new name for what was formerly Animanga Collision. The site will be another eFiction archive, housing all my fics, rants, essays, etc. from every fandom EXCEPT the Azureshipping Yu-Gi-Oh stuff (which will remain on Dragonfayth, just for the sake of things). But what to call it?

* Can't win, will duel - Okay, so I'm no deck-construction maven or anything, but I still play JTP Online even though I can't seem to win any duels. o_o At least in this, I don't have a level to intimidate me into backing off completely, and for the most part, everyone still seems pretty polite even when I lose miserably. I've seen some great combos, and I want to write them down for future reference. A lot of great duelists post combos and strategies on yu_gi_oh; they could find a good home on WikiFic or elsewhere (with permission, of course). Few actual Yu-Gi-Oh fics actually make use of duels! I think maybe I should ask for more advice in constructing a deck that works... though from what I've seen a good Exodia deck is pretty damn good. Joey himself pounded me with one (HEY! He shouldn't have Exodia!) even when I had over 10,000 LP!

Er... yeah. I'm done for now. :)

I am now the proud owner of a Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon! Whoo! rhapsody_dragon, get ready to duel! My dragon deck is getting an official overhaul now, and I'm gonna pwn you! And I can't wait till next month, when I get Exchange of the Spirits and I can make either an Isis deck or an Egypt deck!

And I've also gotten into the Christmas spirit at last-- I suppose it makes sense, given that things are going pretty good, it's freezing cold, and I want presents. :P So I want everyone to point me in the direction of Seto x Anzu Christmas fics so I can make a post on setoanzulove and at Blue Eyes and Apricots. So far, I know of two submitted on yuugiouxmasfic:
* From Socks to Shoelace-tan
* From Mickle to Socks
But the second one isn't all that Christmas-themed...

What else? I might not have done 100% as well on my Japanese test this morning, but I did get my letters of recommendation for both Waseda and Tokiwa; I have to get Blumenkrantz's letter for Tokiwa, finish up my essays, have Hirota-sensei check them out before Dec. 8th, and then have them turned in and ready by then! ^_^v I'm getting all excited!

I think I did well on my mythology exam today, even though I missed 2 classes within the past week or so. But I guess I'm just well-versed in mythology, so I'm not too worried about missing much on the exams. They're always so easy...

( I'm walkin' in a spider web... )

Another email exchange: smrffers might know about the people that dare to write sequels to the infamous Sexylyon's SEXY (of course) "Interlude" Usagi x Mamoru first season hentai. It was one of the best fics I've ever read (when I first read it), even if upon re-reading, some parts were purple enough to color my world. Nonetheless, even when people get permissions to write said sequels, taking the original author's so-called style and mocking it is enough to peeve me into next week. And when fangirl Japanese is thrown in? Ugh...

( The fic: Togewonuku. The author: Arashinobara Jikkankakyoku. As if that doesn't tell you everything right there. )

I have the opportunity to go to Egypt next summer... whether or not the whole Japan Study Abroad thing pans out. I think it'd be a great opportunity to get additional travel in, though it does cost $2747, which is likely the bulk of my financial aid check for either Spring 2006 or Fall 2006. But it's only a $95 reservation, and if I really wanted to pull that off, I could, especially with some sucking up to my mom (^^;) Alas, the cost DOES NOT include:
* $570 room supplement if 23 years of age or you turn 23 before or during the tour (huh?)
* non-cruise lunches, beverages, and tips (estimated at $125 per person)
* private bus fee (depending on the size of the group, up to $145)
* CSUN tuition and fees (paid for, no worries there)
* mandated travel insurance and books (only applies to students earning 6 units of credit).

Well, of course I would want to earn the 6 units of credit; 3 from the Independent Study unit in Spring (would bring my total up to 18 units, just under my cap of 15. I don't know what the course would count for-- maybe upper division something-or-other?) and 3 from the tour in Summer.

Anyway, I have to think about tomorrow... er, a dialogue for memorization for Lesson 9 (memorize in the morning, like always), and possibly a critique to do for Creative Writing (which I can do during the break up in collaboratory; I can bring my laptop to work on my PowerPoint and Study Abroad essays as well, since it's an hour and a half long break... if/when I need to print, I can just email it to myself or something, unless Scott gives me back my flashcard by tomorrow).

Finally, sometimes after the insanity dies down this week (likely Thursday or later), I'm planning on:
* Updating WikiFic with more of Viz's insane translation (and other) errors from the latest Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist volumes, plus Millennium World Vol. 1
* Making a winter-themed layout for whatever I feel like (BEA or Dragonfayth)
* Posting Girl's Club (Seto x Anzu; #11: gardenia) for 30kisses, along with the tentatively titled Red/Like A Virgin (#19: red).
* Making some more edits to WDKY22 and seeing if luvinaoshi and any other beta volunteers have anything to say about it...