Occasionally Pointless Rants of an Authoress

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one that looked interesting called "The French Theatre", but apparently the list I had been looking at at the time was outdated or something, and it's not actually being offered this semester...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 )

I had even gone to bed somewhat early tonight (for me, anyway), but I guess that doesn't mean much, does it.

Three AM? The fire alarm went off! :D

So I got to spend the last half an hour standing outside on the lawn in my pajamas while the fire alarm quacked instead of sleeping. And the reason why it went off (because the security/police officer who came to deal with it came out and specifically told us - that was nice of him)? It happened because someone in the building got the brilliant idea to set off a fire extinguisher for no reason.

My classmates. The grand majority of them desperately need to take a class in 'Cause and Effect 101', at least if such a class were offered. Possibly also 'Remedial Studies in Logical Decisions'. But then, this isn't too surprising...

But eh. I suppose a late night/early morning fire alarm is going to happen to me at least once a year, then. *crawls off back to bed*

All right. If, for fanfic purposes, I was to create a card with stats that looked something like the following:

Cyber Angel Amaterasu
Attribute: Light
Types: Fairy/Ritual/Effect
Level 10
2500/3000

This card can only be Ritual Summonned with the Ritual Spell Card "Machine Angel Ritual". This card cannot be destroyed by battle. Any battle damage this card's controller receives from a battle involving this card becomes 0. When this card is destroyed by a card effect your opponent controls, this card's controller gains 1000 life points.

Would this card be broken and need to be weakened? On the flip side, would it be too weak for its summoning requirements? And possibly most importantly, would Asuka use this card, or am I reading her deck's style wrong?

I ask because I'm admittedly getting a little ahead of myself and trying to plan out the final duel of For Good before I even start chapter 1, and you know how much I know about how to play Duel Monsters effectively (the basics but nothing else)... And no, I didn't model its ability partially off of that of White Knight's Lord. What ever would give you that idea?

Random observation of the day:

The fire alarm in the suites? Sounds like a duck.

We had a fire drill less than ten minutes ago. Usually I wouldn't have been in the building right now, but recitation doesn't start until next week, so. It seriously sounds like a duck, and I'm not the only one who thinks this - a couple of boys were commenting on it too. Except on the first floor, where there's this really high-pitched tone that doesn't stop.

And apparently, the state law changed so that we have to do two of these per semester now instead of one.

Oh well. At least it wasn't at 4 AM again.

I'm all moved in now. The suite is very nice - it's got three rooms and a common room, all connected by a hallway-ish thing, and there's a bathroom and sink area. All I have to compare it to is my dorm from last year of course, but it's nice.

Also, I've met and talked to Co and Ca - they seem very nice. (Even if it'll probably take me a while before I start identifying who's who.) I may have run into either Ja or Kr, but I'm not sure which, and we didn't really talk, so I still need to actually meet them.

Tomorrow's the involvement fair - I'm going to go to that, if only to see what there is. I remember there being an anime club that met on Friday nights - I lost the paper that said where and when last year, which is the only reason I didn't go. But I want to go this year if I can. I'll probably stop off at the bookstore after the involvement fair, so I can pick up books for my classes and stuff.

...Also, because I feel like it..

ANON MEME

I move back to college tomorrow. I've packed as much as I can at the moment (obviously my laptop isn't packed yet - that always comes last) - hence why I wasn't on all day.

I'm not going on a hiatus this year, because I found when I did take one last year that I didn't need it and was in fact bored. I'm not going to promise I'm going to be very active either for the first few days, but I'm not going on hiatus.

(Not that I'm very active anyway, but. That's another story entirely.)

So yeah. I'm looking forward to meeting Ja, Kr, Co, and Ca, and seeing De (previously known as D-squared) again, and starting up new classes. Though I'm going to miss the summer... We didn't get out to the beach nearly enough this year. But then, I can't get enough of being out there, so.

Also, for anyone who reads my journal and hasn't seen it already (there probably aren't that many but), I wrote a little 500 word thing yesterday. It's called Count, and it features Judai and Manjoume of GX. I didn't post it in my new fic draft journal first because it's such a short little thing and I was done with it so fast.

(I'm allowed to self-promote my fics, right? Especially since it's the first thing I've actually finished in ten months...)

un_coeur_clair

My new fic journal, for where I'm going to be putting drafts of things so that people can see them (and possibly give opinions) before I finish them and put the final drafts on Fanfiction.net. Because I figure, this way I can write For Good and/or Heaven's Charge out of order and still put it up somewhere. And if I want to go back and edit things in it, I can. (I might put up an outline of For Good some time in the near future, actually.)

Also I may put pieces of Mages up there, if I ever actually work on writing it. Maybe character profiles, or something.

That journal is friends locked, because I don't want just anyone on the internet to be able to read my drafts at will, but as long as you ask, I'm fine with adding just about anyone there.

So yeah. I'll be adding links to places.

(And yes, that phrase means "A Clear Heart". It's... in reference to an ornament I got from a Christmas cracker last year, and that I kind of want to make the name of an original card for Yusuke's deck. Not sure what it'll do, but.)

Why is it always the black dragons that go insane?

Seriously. You see it constantly - whenever there are multiple colored varieties of dragons in a given universe, if there's one kind that goes insane, it's probably going to be black. Just in the Yuugiou Universe, Jounouchi has the Red Eyes Black Dragon as his key card, and look at what happens to him in episodes 75-78. Fubuki also has the Red Eyes Black Dragon, and he has his problems with Darkness. And Aki, with her Black Rose Dragon, has come the closest that any Signer so far has to being controlled by another, thanks to Divine's influence during her battle with Misty.

And the next expansion of World of Warcraft (announced yesterday - why no I haven't been keeping up with the news obsessively these last couple of days, what ever would give you that idea) is going to focus around Deathwing the Destroyer, formerly Neltharion the Earth-Warder, the Aspect who came from the Black Dragonflight.

Is it wrong for me to feel sorry for Neltharion? I mean, he didn't ask to be driven insane by Yogg-Saron. He was a kind, wise dragon before his corruption, or at least so WoWWiki says.

Meanwhile, I'm mildly frustrated with my main fandom at the moment, but that's because the black sheep is being shafted once again for the golden child. (Seriously, how much do you want to bet we get translations for the golden child a week after release, while we're still behind a year on translations of the poor neglected but more beautiful in my opinion black sheep?)

Then again, I suppose I should feel lucky. They actually bother to scan the black sheep's raw eventually (even if it's going to be after the golden child now that it's invaded this as well). I suppose it could be worse - they could be not doing so at all. Still, it's frustrating as heck.

I'm home from college hunting with my sister! ^^

A... day earlier than initially expected, but that's because she decided that she didn't want to go to the last college on her list, and that one's all the way out in western Pennsylvania somewhere. If we had gone there, it would have taken a lot longer to get home than it did. But yeah.

The college visiting wasn't bad. I mean, it gets slightly repetitive when you're at the fifth school to go on and on about 'we have ### clubs and we're a very social campus and we want you to be really passionate about one or two things rather than having ## clubs that you participate in but aren't heavily invested in and this is what we look at most in your application and these are what our academics are like' and so on, but it was interesting to see all of the campuses and stuff. And Cinna has more of an idea of where she wants to apply now, so that's what's important.

...Also, we ran into no less than eight other Katies. (Even if they spelled it differently.) I kid you not. And four of them were four of the five tour guides at one school! I knew it was a common name, but wow.

And I still don't get the point of fraternities and sororities, which were heavily, heavily emphasized for one reason or another, and the one school that apparently has a 'streaking team' weirded me out a little, but okay...

But yeah, home now. ^^ It was funny, too - when we got home and were looking for the cats to make sure they were all accounted for, there was some music coming from the new room. And not just any music, either - it was some really low, creepy music, like something that would play in a movie when the characters walk into a creepy empty area like an abandoned haunted house or something. Apparently the cats managed to turn on the stereo somehow. They're smart kitties.

...Nya. May be going out to pick up new glasses for the entire family (including me, because even though I don't wear them often - well, at all really - I could probably stand to more than I do) tonight at some point. Not sure. Either way, I'm off hiatus now. ^^

So... my friend V had her birthday/graduation party today at her house, and my family was invited. She's one of my church friends, and given that I'm in college now, don't want to go to church when I am home on the weekends (because I like my sleep thanks), and have been brought up not going in the summer time (I'd have to drive myself there in the summer anyway which is a pain because I'm not very confident with my parking), I never get to see them anymore. So to see V and E and S again... it was great. (P couldn't make it, unfortunately, but I have seen him once this summer.)

But anyway. When we were going home, a flash thunderstorm decided to start. And it was really freaky! There was so much rain coming down, and so much wind! So much water that it was hard to see out the side windows, let alone the front, and then Dad was driving slowly, and a tree fell down in front of us on the road! (I'm not sure if it was just as we got there or if it was down beforehand, but. Either way!) So we had to take a couple of detours, but there was one place where a tree had fallen and taken out an electrical line over the road, too.

Of course, it was over before we got home. (Which had to have taken less than 20 minutes even with the detours.) That's the weather around here for you. You don't like it, wait half an hour and it often gets better.

And now to the topic that I was initially going to post about today alone but the above was kind of unexpected.

So, Cinna's entering her senior year of high school this year. And unlike with me (because I knew exactly where I wanted to go and was admittedly lazy), she needs to visit college campuses in order to try to decide where she wants to apply.

Thus, starting tomorrow (bright and early, 6 AM, aaaaaaaaahhh), we're going on a road trip around the north-east US to look at colleges! There's one in New Hampshire, a few in Massachusetts, and I think a couple in New York and Pennsylvania that she wants to look at, so we'll be going around looking at them.

Now, Mom and Dad said that they're going to be looking for hotels with internet access, so I probably won't be completely cut off from the net. But! That will only be at night, and probably not too too late because they will want me to actually try to get to sleep at a decent hour. Which... is probably, by their definition, midnight at the absolute latest, when I'm used to staying up significantly later than that, haha.

So, TL;DR, I'm calling a semi-hiatus until Friday, which is when we should be getting back. Not a complete one, because I'll probably be able to get on at nights and do tags then, but a semi-hiatus nonetheless.

At the very latest, I'll see you on Friday! ^^