Occasionally Pointless Rants of an Authoress

I don't know what to make of the dream I had last night...

( TL;DR is TL;DR )

Also, tangentially on topic, in terms of the ending of Icecrown Citadel... well, I spoiled it for myself because even if I do get to raid there eventually, it's guaranteed that if I tried to not spoil it, I would get spoiled by someone in Trade Chat or something. So yeah, I've seen the ending. And... yeah. In an attempt to avoid spoiling anything here... It's yet another reason for me to attempt to get Akiraka, my draenei shaman, to Northrend, so I can do certain quest chains again.

She's level 64 now (surpassing my previous goal), and still going strong - it's amazing, because she's my first alt that's gotten anywhere close. And I didn't think I'd like Enhancement all that much, it being a melee spec and all, but I really like it! I barely have any downtime for mana, I can insta-heal myself when I get five stacks of the one buff thing, and I get two ghost wolf pets for 45 seconds every 3 minutes if I click the button for them. And they are awesome ghost wolves! I need to give them nicknames, like my Shadowfiend on my priest is called Fluffy - they'll probably be Yuki and Nyuu, to go with the Cube theme, but I'm still deciding.

( Spoilers for Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, episode 48 )

I'm bored. So here's a meme - saw it on vampydirector's journal and decided why not.

( Nya~an. )

So I've moved back to college. Classes start again tomorrow - while I wish break could continue longer (but then that's a natural reaction), I am looking forward to my classes. Even Principles II, though that's because my Digital Logic Design professor is teaching that, and he is amazing~

Wednesdays are going to be looooong... but then, they always are, so.

Over break, I... kind of marathonned what's out there of Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. AKA Japanese Power Rangers that they're probably not going to bring to the US because there are kanji on the helmets and we can't have the little children learning Japanese culture, now can we. But that aside, Shinkenger is fun ^^ All of the Shinkengers are fun characters in their own ways, and I'm even warming up slightly to (*tries not to spoil, in case anyone cares*) the newest female recurring character (though the male who came with her... can someone physically punish him for his absolutely inconsiderate, borderline abysmal, behavior? Please? Like, whipping him or something?).

Not sure if I'm going to continue into the next series that comes out, though I'll probably give it a couple weeks. Apparently, the Rangers in the next one are angels, so it could be interesting.

Nya~an... I can't wait until Maaaaaarch...

Happy New Year, everyone! (I'm not going to pull out the sparkle text again for a while, no worries.)

Here's to a new decade! Hopefully, this year, Kira's boyfriend and his brother stop hurting themselves, De stops hurting herself, and none of my family or friends will get themselves hurt and/or need any surgery of any sort and/or have anything bad happen. Also, hopefully I'll actually get something substantial done in terms of writing this year. ^^;

I'll take this opportunity to once again point to my

ROLEPLAY CONTACT AND CONCRIT POST

because even though I haven't been that active lately (is an understatement), I'll take any advice I can get as to how to improve.

But yeah. Happy New Year. ^^

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

...Sorry for the big sparkle text, but I don't do it often, so... yeah? (Sparkle text from here.)

I know it's only been December 25 for a few minutes now, but I figured I'd make this post now. Because I bring this.

An English Translation of Yu-Gi-Oh GX's manga, chapter 44

Which is the chapter where the exchange students show up and Fubuki gets challenged to a duel.

( And I had fun translating it, too. ^^ )

Of course, I'll be up-front about it - I'm not sure that the translation is 100% accurate. My low estimate would be about 80% - there were several lines that I wasn't sure about. I did my best, but I'm inexperienced, and this chapter has a heck of a lot of exposition, which is more difficult than just pure dueling. So I'm going to ask that no one put this up on OneManga or MangaFox or any sites like that - I'd rather that when TnKP gets around to it, that their version go up, because it will be more accurate. Feel free to pass it along to other people who you think would like to see it, though.

More substantial post to probably come either tomorrow night or the night after - depends on whether I feel like writing anything tomorrow.

Exams are over, finally, so I'm home now. Winter break until mid-January now ^^

Also, I bring a fic.

Dance of the Spirits

It's Manjoume-centric (unsurprising, I know) from between episodes 24 and 25 of GX (ie. while he's at North School, shortly after he met Ojama Yellow and long before he started calling him by name), and I hope I wrote Ichinose right...

If anyone happens to be wondering about the dedication, Smokey was my first pet rabbit. I got her as a rescue in fourth grade - always a fun story to tell - but because of all of the stress she'd gone through she wound up having problems with hairballs and had to be put to sleep seven years ago this evening. That's why I don't particularly like December 23 - it was the first time I watched someone I loved die.

June 28 will also live in infamy with me for similar reasons.

It's such a fun mental image, though, Ojama Yellow twirling.

Classes are over for the semester~ Now I just have exams left - those'll be next Wednesday, next Friday, and the Wednesday after that. That I have one on the 23rd is a bit annoying - it's the last day that exams can be taken in general, plus that date and I have had our disagreements, to put it one way. And it'll be at 8 AM on the far campus, bleargh... But after that, I'll have a little less than a month before classes start again. I'm looking forward to break. ^^

Today at Anime Club was fun. We've been watching this one series one episode at a time all semester, and we finished it up tonight. It's called Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, and it's about these two kids named Arumi and Sasshi who wind up teleporting to a different messed up world every episode for various reasons. I won't spoil it, but it's really fun, rather random at times, and worth watching.

(Also, in the phrase "Shopping Arcade", the term "arcade" means that it's a series of arches. So says the wikipedia page.)

And, because there's nowhere else I feel like ranting on the subject... Patch 3.3 came out for World of Warcraft.

( My thoughts are as follows. )

As for RP... I'm still deciding a few things. But hopefully I'll figure something out for winter break.

So, the internet in my room decided to be lovely tonight and not work. -_-

Apparently, it's not just me - when I mentioned it at the floor meeting this evening, other people said that it's a problem with the building's wired internet in general. Doesn't stop me from hitting my laptop in frustration with chopsticks, but at least it's not something wrong with my laptop in particular. (This could also explain the incident about a month ago, possibly.)

I'm typing this from the floor's lounge, which has wireless internet that works. The wireless doesn't really reach outside of this room well, but it works, which is good, even if I can't be in the peace and quiet of my room and instead have to share the area with the other guys from the floor who are having a physics study session.

Going home tomorrow evening (unless plans have changed). I'm looking forward to a long weekend at home. ^^

Fun quote from my DLD professor this morning:

"Real men want JK Flip Flops! Don't ask me what real women want - I have no idea."

...Which probably requires an explanation for the non-computer engineering majors in the audience (ie. most everyone reading this), doesn't it.

( TL;DR )

...well I found it fun anyway.

Meanwhile, I've been leveling a shaman on WoW. A Draenei shaman, on the server I'm usually on, who I named after the Clear Cube Akiraka. She's level 30 now - I'm hoping that I'll be able to get her to max level eventually, but we'll see. I'm horrible at raising alts, but she's a caster who can heal herself, and those (and the classes with pets) tend to have better luck with me (in that they're capable of actually getting this far to begin with), so now that I've reached the level 30 threshold, let's see how much further I get.

Also. I have a concert to perform tomorrow night. So yeah.

Edit: I was looking on Serebii, and went to Bulbapedia to confirm it when I saw it, and... Growlie's coming back to the Pokemon anime!!! That is one episode that I'm going to find a way to watch, even though I don't watch it often. I hope he stays with James this time~

I haven't updated here in a while. There hasn't really been all that much to update about, really. Classes have been going all right, and I've finished watching all of the episodes that have been subbed so far of Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei (there's one left that hasn't been, but it first aired a little over a month ago I think?). I have a list of things that I could start next - I'm probably going to go with Bakemonogatari, but that could change. But there hasn't been much interesting stuff going on.

Last night, though, I registered for spring semester classes. (Yes, it's that time again.) Most of the classes I'm taking have to do with my computer engineering major (obviously), but I did find a spot to squeeze in an elective. I was going to look to see if I could find a mythology class or something (to see if, you know, this university is capable of giving a mythology course that's actually mythology and not just Freudian psychology thinly disguised as mythology), but I couldn't. Then there was one that looked interesting called "The French Theatre", but apparently the list I had been looking at at the time was outdated or something, and it's not actually being offered this semester...

So I'm going to be taking a course called "Screenwriting" instead. It's a class based around writing for television shows, it looks like. It could be fun, and it could be very helpful for my fanfic endeavors. It does mean that Wednesdays are going to be long days again, but then, they always are, so.

I don't usually do these, but today, sure, why not.

For me... it really depends on what the person did. I don't tend to hold small things against people, but if what they did greatly (and negatively) affected my life or those people that I care about... then yes, I will hold grudges. Of note, I still hold a bit of one from fourth grade, admittedly. (Yes, that was ten years ago.)

Against the grand majority of my classmates from that year (especially a certain four) for perpetrating a trick on a grand scale designed solely to make me suffer - they probably thought it was merely a game, but aren't games supposed to be enjoyed by everyone involved? (There are, like, three who I don't hold a grudge against. One of them started acting really weird the next year, one of them was my best friend until high school at which point I lost touch with him essentially, and the other I haven't thought about in years, so.)

Against my teacher from that year, who didn't like students if they didn't fit into a cookie-cutter mold (which I don't) and could have stopped them but didn't. I don't remember what got the guidance counselor involved, but it took going to her to stop it, when my teacher should have done something.

And I don't think I'll ever completely get over it. I try to, but I can't. It's like that one phrase: "Shame on you if you fool me once, shame on me if you fool me twice." I can't trust them again, if they've hurt me and betrayed my trust that much. I'll be civil, or at least try, but that's not the same as trusting. Forgetting is even less of a possibility, for "those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it", and I'd rather not repeat what happened.

(And believe me, when one of those four girls not only transferred to the private school I had transferred to for high school but was put in my homeroom, I was absolutely livid. I could have dealt with her at the school by just avoiding her, but you can't avoid your homeroom at that school - you have to see them once a week. I did, in fact, blow up at her one morning. I'm not proud of it, but I did.)

Am I immature, to hold things this long? Maybe I am. Do I particularly care? No. How does this apply to the internet? I'm not going to answer that question.

People who constantly forget their ID cards have left me in despair!

Seriously. Is it that hard to carry your ID with you everywhere? You're supposed to, after all. And it's not that big, either - it easily fits in a pocket or a wallet. And yet almost every day, I come back from class or dinner or, in the case of just about every other Sunday, from the computer lab where I use Multisim for my lab report, and there's someone waiting outside the door to the suite building, and I open the door to let myself in, and they come in behind me. You're not supposed to do that!

...On a better note (and the reason for the icon... and the title and first line...), I've been kind of marathoning Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei for the last few days. I'm almost to the end of the first (12-ish episode) season! The girl in the icon is Komori Kiri (小森 霧), a girl who's always wrapped in a blanket and who refuses to leave the school - her name sounds like komorikiri (籠もりきり), meaning "it sticks in its home" (every single last one of the characters has a meaningful name). She's so cute, and pops up in the most random places~

(Reading ahead a little in episode summaries has given me a possible bit of inspiration, too, but I won't say more right now.)

Why did they remix "I Will Survive"? Who the heck was it who thought it would be a good idea? The original is an amazing song, but the remix is absolutely terrible!!! And yet the dance team seems to love said remix and has used it at every single football game this year.

WHYYYYYYYYY?!?!?

Of course, they tend to play a lot of really cruddy music at social events in general anyway, and to varying definitions of the word 'music'. Is a major reason why I didn't go to any dances in my senior year of high school, not even Prom - I couldn't stand the 'music' choices that would inevitably be made.

Honestly, is this stuff really that popular, and if it is, why? It's not pleasant to listen to. Most of what they play is just a bunch of repetitive loud sounds and a drum kit, swearing optional. I'm aware that not everyone is going to love Elton John (my absolute favorite voice in English music), but what's popular is, for the most part as far as I can tell, generic crap! Why is this?

Another thing - they really need to stop putting microphones on the band. I mean, I guess it might help the other side of the stadium hear it, but the time delay gets really annoying sometimes between the band itself and the speakers (they're just far enough apart for it to make that much of a time difference - yey sound wave physics), and... well, it's nice to hear the harmony from the tubas and all, but I'd also like to hear the melody from the trumpets sometimes, which the microphones don't seem to pick up as well. And the cymbals get really shrill when they're amplified that much.

Technology is an amazing thing. It is especially amazing when it decides to, out of the clear blue sky, not work.

My laptop's internet was working fine yesterday around 4 PM, before I left for class and orchestra rehearsal. But when I got back at around 11 PM (as I always do), it decided, for no good reason, to not let the internet work. It hasn't worked since, and the last time I checked was around 1 PM today, before I left for class.

Oh, and the repair function? Thought it was a problem with the firewall when it is clearly not. I don't know what it is, but the firewall has nothing to do with it. Especially since it didn't suddenly start working when I turned the firewall off temporarily either.

I'm writing this entry from the computer lab on campus, where there is internet, happily. I called Dad earlier, and he suggested I call the help desk, because they know Vista better than he does. I haven't called them yet, because I wanted to wait until after class was over for the day so I could take as long as needed, but I will once I get back to my room.

If calling them fixes it, I'll edit this entry to reflect that. But unless that fixes it...

Well, let's just say I can't stay in the computer lab all night every night. Even if it was open that late, it's just inconvenient. -_-

EDIT at 4:25 from laptop: Haaa, the universe is laughing at me. I come back to my room after posting this entry, and out of a clear blue sky, my internet is working again, without me having to call.

Oh, darling Compy-chan. How you torture me.

Note to self: 4.4 + 1.6 does not equal 5. It equals 6.

(I mean, I had a feeling I'd done something wrong on that problem when there was a 7 in the denominator and no way to reduce it on a no-calculator exam, but. It's a basic arithmetic error the likes of which have mostly not been seen in my work since the epic fail that was a lack of reducing the square root of 16 back in my senior year of high school.)

But, even with the really stupid above error, I still managed to get an A on both midterms I've taken so far. ^^ I have two more this week, and then the next round will probably come either at the end of the month or the beginning of November, I'm not exactly sure.

Besides that... nothing of much interest has been going on, really. ...Except that I'm far too addicted to Minesweeper for my own good, but.

So, I've got a couple of ideas for GX fanfics that I really want to see written, but for various reasons I would rather not write them myself. So, I'm going to post them here - if anyone who passes through my journal happens to see them, like them, and want to write them, please feel free to steal these ideas.

1. A one-shot that looks into the mind of White Thunder during episode 70, just before his duel with Asuka.

( Details )

2. In episode 61, what if Manjoume won the duel with Saiou and was thus brought to the Pros with Saiou as his manager.

( Details )

I'd really love to see these two ideas written (and preferably written well), but fishsticks know I'll never write them, so.

Apologies to the non-GX fans who read my journal and thus sat through this TL;DR. Also for the usage of WoW terms gratuitously and at seemingly random.

So, Crucible is basically over now. As soon as Manjoume steps through the gateway, he'll be back in his own world and will continue with his life there. Yes, he could technically stay on the Crucible and remain in that universe for the rest of his life instead, but he wouldn't be happy there - he's a duelist, for one.

As for his memory of the events... I like to think that when he gets back, he'll remember it as though it were a particularly vivid and weird dream. I might bring him to one of the DRs at some point. I like playing him from that universe, after all.

My only regret about Crucible? That I didn't join it sooner. It was absolutely fantastic, from the moment I joined until the end.

But either way, now it's time for me to find a new RP. Rem's next game will be in March 2010, so I'll definitely be on the lookout for that when it starts (and I intend to join early this time), but between now and then, that's six months, give or take.

I'm definitely apping at chaostheory_rp. I need to decide who and from exactly when, but I will definitely app there.

I'm also thinking of apping at omphalotus_rp, this game about a cave filled with mushrooms with various effects. I'd seen it advertised in RP Secrets (because, knowing that this day would come, I've been glancing through the ads there every day for a while now) and thought it worth looking further into, and then Ni IM'ed me the other day and suggested it, so I'll probably wind up apping there. Again, not sure who or from when, but.

The other place that I've been glancing at is this game called epicentric. It's an OC only game about supernatural people in San Francisco, and I've never really done OC only games (unless you count the Tokyo Mew Mew forum RP I sometimes do with my sisters and which I owe a post for actually), but it looks interesting. And given that I kind of want to work out the kinks in the Mages' personalities, I'm considering taking one of them and adapting them to that setting. Like, Norbert could be a telepathic psychic, or Kima could be a werecat, or something like that. But this one is the least likely.

The question of who to app is going to be rather difficult, because I've noticed that Manjoume is my strongest muse, and at this point others kind of pale in comparison most of the time. But I don't want to app him to both places...

But I'll think of something, anyway.

ありがとう、レムさま、みんな。
ありがとう、クルシバール。
そして、さよなら。

The way my place of residence at college this year is set up, there are four buildings of suites all surrounding this one square courtyard-ish place. (It apparently has a name, even.) There's a sidewalk that goes around this square, and then there are pieces of sidewalk that go from the sides of the square to the middle, where there's a round area of sidewalk in the middle.

And tonight (well, yesterday evening technically because it's after midnight but), the residence staff of the suites decided to make a small bonfire in the middle of this sidewalk circle, and everyone got to make smores!

Much as I still don't like getting close enough to the fire in order to get marshmallows to melt too much, it was good~

Also, I've been reading the second book in the War of the Ancients trilogy (Warcraft universe, for those who headtilt). Mostly on bus rides to and from the other campus and in the twenty minutes I usually have before every economics class. (I'm actually almost done with it, shock and gasp.) But it occurs to me...

( Spoilers for 'The Demon Soul', in case anyone cares )

The college I attend has not one, but at least two anime clubs around. Last year I didn't go to either of them (because I, admittedly, lost the pieces of paper saying where the meetings were being held, haha), and I missed the first meeting of the one this year (it happened yesterday, but by the time I received the late-sent e-mail saying that it was going to happen I wasn't intending on going out anywhere). But I attended the other this evening - it's basically a club where the leaders pick out two series based on a theme and show two episodes of each, and then everyone votes on which one to watch a third episode of that night. It looks like it's going to be really interesting.

(Of course, I was one of approximately three girls who came. But that's to be sort of expected, in a way...

Also, the Vice President is apparently a hat. So, given their sense of humor, I think I might be able to get along with these people. ^^)

( Cut for length )