Emergency plan for cosplay if I don't see anyone, especially Phi, before I leave for Cancun tomorrow (Sunday) at 5PM (which might end up happening >_<):

1.) I'll try to quickly improvise the Sai hat with posterboard and blue cloth tomorrow. Hopefully, that should work. If it doesn't... ^^;;

2.) Duct tape hakama Tuesday before AX, or bring duct tape and do it there. ^^;;

3.) Masq rehearsals: I'll wing my part. I just need to act like a spazz anyways, which isn't hard for me; just bring a laptop and some Furuba CD's to AX and I can "get into the character" there. Or something like that!

4.) Aya coat: this is the one I don't know how we can possibly make work. I have all the other red cloth that Phi will need for the sleeves, as well as the buttons, and I need to be present for final fitting. Unless I see you before I leave tomorrow, I don't know what we're going to do. ;_;

The good news: I have a wigcap now (go pantyhose! :P), I have a fan, I have a wig. But for bad news, see above. And I'm coming back from Cancun July 1st. That's a Monday. We leave Wednesday for AX. I'm going to be dead on my feet Tuesday. .....yes, this is stress.

And if I don't blog again before I leave, bye-bye everyone! Love you aa~aall!!

You're Minoru!
You're young, but more worldly than your 'elders' could ever hope to be. Personality and circumstance have dictated that most protean of roles to you - that of the 'mature' one. You're sensitive and gentle, and your pleasures are taken with the same quiet smile as your defeats - not that your pillow hasn't known the sting of your tears. As intelligent and independent as you may be, you're still just a child.
Which Chobits Character Are You? quiz by Neru

np: I'll be the one by HAL (do I have to rant about how much I like this song again? thought not.)

I'm still behind on blogging, so I have to backtrack to last Friday, after I woke up from Senior All Night. I was actually pretty much a zombie the entire day, so I don't remember very much, but I do remember buying Jump #26. X3 Besides the obvious Hikago-induced prancing, this Jump had the unexpected side-affect of making me sit up and notice Prince of Tennis and Whistle. Shaman King too, of course, but I was already interested in Shaman King. Ended up watching some of Whistle (1-3), Shaman King (15-18, 22) and random Prince of Tennis episodes (1,4,23 ^^;;) So anyways, this got me to thinking...why the heck am I so interested in sports/competition-based manga when I am such a anti-athletics, anti-competition person? I was actually a pretty good track person before, but I developed this aversion to exerting myself that resulted in me feigning sickness during a track meet (that I had stupidly tried out for) so I wouldn't have to run the hundred yard dash. ^^;; It's not even nervousness; it's just, I don't want to exert that much effort. I'm lazy. As for competition...I've had enough intellectual competition at MV, thank you very much. It's certainly made me extend my limits, but once again, I'm rather lazy. If I have a choice, I don't want to expend that effort. I'd rather sleep. Or eat. Seriously. Everyone who thinks I'm this perfectionist workaholic who is able to concentrate single-mindedly on homework is So. Wrong. X3 But anyways, back to analyzing why I like sports manga like Whistle and Prince of Tennis, or individual competition based manga like Hikaru no Go. My conclusions? Besides the fact that I just find the stories and characters very well drawn out... The relationships are human, and don't have the overblown romantic fluffies that shoujo relationships generally have (which I can't stand; Furuba is, of course, an exception). Actually, I've discovered that I'm not as raging fond of shounen-ai relationships in these series as I thought I'd be. o_O I mean, I still love HikaAki (dammit, HikaAki!) but to tell you the truth, I love them being friends and being close more than anything else. Which, now that I think about it, is what all my favorite shounen-ai couples are to me, really. Cute, close, relationships that have plenty of depth and feeling. Which can be either a deep friendship or something even deeper; I don't mind which, because frankly, I get freaked out by the more...uh, hardcore...stuff. As anyone who knows me in real life might attest. ^^;; (the rock, Kenji. The rock. X3 I really was ready to drop that rock on Neil's head at Amanda's party. He was frightening Melissa's little brother. He was frightening me.) So, where was I...? Ah! Relationships in shounen manga! Umm, I actually, don't have anything else to say about it right now. So, umm, I'll move on.

I think the main reason I'm so hooked on shounen manga, especially Hikago, is the entire competition angle that I tell myself I hate. Because really, deep down, I think I don't want to be a lazy person. (don't quote me on that) I want to improve myself constantly, achieve my best, prove myself. That's the part of myself that shows up in my schoolwork, and when I really apply myself to things. But... That part of me always takes a little while to show up. ^^;; I have to sit down at my desk and force myself to start working, or else I just goof off until dinner. Once I get started, I'm fine; in that way, I follow the law of inertia. I'm either moving and I'm not stopping any time soon, or I just refuse to move. :P So anyways, as much as I hate competition, I think there's a part of me that revels in it too. The non-lazy part. ^^;; So anyways, my goal this summer is therefore to start becoming athletic. o_O Holy shit. Lisa athletic. I also intend to learn to play go...well. o_O again. I still haven't played with an actual person yet...but I'm starting to understand the game more as I study other games and strategies. I'm not playing the game until I know I'll present a decent showing of myself! :P

Anyways...I can't think about anything else to say about this topic, so I'll just cover Saturday and Sunday really quickly. Saturday: watched anime and went to Amanda's grad party. Drew up the "family tree" and reminisced over The Flow Chart. Emphases intentional. No, you don't want to know. Amanda's little cousins are evil incarnate (but a few of them are awfully cute) and Neil is a sick bastard. Amanda gave the fun bridesmaid speech for if Jack and Sachiko ever got married (I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or be very, very frightened...), my parents talked with Mark's parents (of all the random things...o_O) and my sister bounced in the bouncy thing with Evil Incarnate. The highlight of the evening is when we were watching the video Mark brought. It was the "Mayhemm" video that Amanda and Christi and Elaine and Parinda and Melissa had done for lit; the mafia/Charlies Angels type spoof where they were secret agents out looking for prom dates...then knocking them out and sticking them in their car trunk. X3 You have to watch it to believe it. And they got a 95 on it. I need a copy of that tape. Seriously. Anyways, the really funny part was when, after the Mayhemm video, on the same tape, there was this interesting shot of Mark. Getting ready for prom. Without his shirt on. Now, imagine this scene. There are maybe twenty people watching this video, half of whom are adults. Parents, to be exact. Several of whom were tiny children. When the Shirtless Mark section came on, the parents stifled laughter, the little children covered their eyes, I was rolling around the ground laughing along with several other girls, and Mark...was turning bright, bright red. I was so amused it's not even funny. It's like something that happens to you in a movie, not something that happens in real life. Too bad you missed it, Kenji. That was blackmail material if I ever saw it. X3

Sunday, did nothing much until Parinda's grad party in the afternoon. It was nice to be with everyone, the food was good, Tani is scary and so is his headless hammer, Mark was the only guy there (Tani doesn't count), and it was all-around just a pleasant way to spend time with everyone. If you call time with Tani quality time. (I have heard more than I ever need to know about a certain Snickers bar. And about vacuum cleaners. And the hammer. I can't believe I didn't break down then and there and smash a chair down on someone's head. The Snickers bar on its own was enough to put me over the edge. o_o I feel violated...)

np: For Fruits Basket

I'm finally finishing my Senior All Night/Graduation entry. Yay me!

Okay, so backing up, oh, two, three entries... I was talking about going to Azuma's for dinner with my family for dinner after graduation, yeah? So right after that, I went off to SANP, and immediately saw Phi and Kenji. XD HAPPY happy! Kix couldn't make it. ;_; Oh well. Incidentally, the little tiki hut that was the entrance to the party was soo adorable, as were all the other props and decorations the entire night. Our parents love us. *_* Went in the inflatable obstacle course with Amanda, Christi, and Elaine, and we promptly embarrassed ourselves when we couldn't get over the first hill. >_> Hey, it was a big hill, okay? Taller than me! And there's nothing to grab onto (unless it's another person's foot, but that's another story...) So you basically have to hurl yourself over the hill and hope you can throw yourself far enough. I inevitably ended up falling headfirst down the other side of the hill. I lost my butterfly clip in that obstacle course somewhere. Dammit. Anyways, we loved that obstacle course soo much that we went on the giant inflatable slide that was also there four or five times. As Neil put it, it's falling with only air and a thin layer of plastic between you and the ground. It was sooo fun! And Neil is suuuuch a wimp! ^_~ We went to go get food, too (the cafeteria was transformed! It was like...you were under the waves, or something! With lotsa blue, and lotsa spakrly lights, and pretty pictures and flowers and various other props... I wanted a picture, but I didn't bring my camera...) When we sat down with our food, me and Amanda and Christi and Elaine, that is, and Phi and Kenji came and sat down with us later... A magician came and did tricks for us!! XDXDXD That was uuultra cool! It sounds so elementary school-ish, but this guy was so cool! (and the male balloon dog with the, uh, working part, was certainly not G-rated...) (though it was funny when Melissa when castrated it then un-castrated it later...but in the end Amanda lost it. Darn.) Anyway, after all the tricks, I was squealing, Phi was squealing, Amanda was squealing, we were all squealing! Out table attracted quite a crowd, too. And we couldn't figure out how he did most of the tricks, either... That started off our day (err, night) on the right note, definitely! Later, a bunch of us went on the bunjee cord ride thing. I ran really far before I got snapped back! :D Of course, I ended up landed on my head, but I was so disoriented I didn't really realize it at the time, so that's okay! Err...I think it's okay, anyway... Hmm... Anyways! Did the go cart thing with Saara as partner (Amanda is a cheater), climbed the big rock wall and had lotsa fun going back down (the sore muscles I got the next day were worth rapeling...lapeling?...whatever, down that wall. XD Then went mini-golfing, and I started out doing pretty well, but then I got frustrated, and when I am frustrated, I do not play a good game of mini golf. It's like some Zen thing or something. Maybe. Or maybe the fact that I was cussing my golf ball, kinda like I cuss my paints in art. Like the paints, the golf ball did not take well to the cussing and impeded my progress. Grrr. Stupid golf ball. (<---if you are disturbed by that babbling, be glad you weren't with me all of SANP. I got pretty bad the later the night got. XD) And Parinda and Elaine and Christi and Parinda and I did the lip synch thing to "Oops I did it again" (EVIL!! If I had been in my right mind I never would have done it) in psycho hawaiian outfits. There are five copies of that tape existing. Soon, there will be four. And then three. And then...you get the picture. ^_~ Things like that are ample reason for not getting drunk with your friends. Ever. Though we weren't actually drunk. But we did have some really good brownies. Yum!

Then, went to the casino. And gambled. I came out of that night with 50 more chips than I started out with. Not a lot more compared to some people, but at least I didn't lose chips. Actually, I tended to win the slot machines. A lot. Lotsa people wanted to murder me. XD I came out even in blackjack, and I won some in roulette. Okay night. Stole a beachball, had a donut, and actually, the rest of the night is kinda a blur. o_O So I'll stop. I get weird when I'm tired anyway, so I doubt you'll want to here my inner thoughts at 4 in the morning. Besides, I'm already six days behind events in my blog, and I have a lot to catch up on. So that's enough on SANP. :D I did come home from SANP and cry for a while, though. That's when I finally realized that I would never be a high school student again. I wouldn't be in classes with the people I saw at SANP ever again, I would never eat lunch with my friends in the school auditorium ever again, I would never come to school in the early morning when everythings still and quiet and crisp, I'd never see the cute little sparrows bounce around the ralley court again. Game over. The only thing that held me together right then was that I'd be going with my friends to Cancun soon (SUNDAY!!) and I'd see more than I wanted to of them then. But after that? Things will never be the same.... Well. At least our last memory with all of us together will be an exciting, highly memorable one (if we don't murder each other on the plane ride there. >_>)

No more sad stuff. Now, I have to blog about Friday to Tuesday. Another monumental task. Grrr.

I still haven't done my Senior All Night entry, and I probably won't have time today, either, because I know it's going to be a loooong entry. But I do have some brief cosplay spazzing to do, because I just realized I'm leaving for Cancun NEXT SUNDAY. o_O So I basically have a week to finish costumes. Bad. So anyways, the most pressing thing I have to do right now is find a hakama. So Phi? Kix? Found these on Ebay. Opinions?

#1, an undivided tsumugi hakama? Whatever that means. But shipping's $12.30. And though there aren't any bids yet... Right now it's at $22. The least amount I'd spend is around $35. Hmmm...

#2, a navy blue kendo hakama. Shipping is $10, no bids yet, minimum cost with shipping $34.

....my conclusion. I'm going to be spending $35-$40 at the least. Maybe I should just buy it at some online vendor then. Faster. But ewwww. >_<

I also still have to find a sensu (folding fan!). I didn't realize how expensive they were. o_O The cheapest one I found was, oh, $11 or $12 with shipping. And it was just a white fan with a big red circle (Japanese flag sorta thing) on it. I don't suppose anyone has one that I can borrow? I'll take good care of it! Or do you think people would mind if I just used a chinese fan? Or if I skipped out on the fan and just hauled along a parasol instead? Or maybe...arghh!!!

And of course, I need to layer the wig and find a wig cap. And the hat. Stupid hat. And that doesn't even touch the sewing portion of it all.

..... Grr.

Just a quick interlude/graduation post break: I know you all wanted this, and I found it! (to my delight) The full version of HAL's I'll be the one!! I was sooo happy to find it. *_* Anyways... I need to eat lunch, and then I'll finish my graduation/senior all night/spazz-out-and-cry post. Later now, darlings! (teehee, I'm still in my pajamas...)

This is an immediate contination of my previous entry. Err, but before I finish my pre/during/post graduation night post, I need a bathroom break. How sad is that? I need a bathroom break in the middle of blogging. ^_~ Well, I did have a lot of coffee and smoothies last nigh...er, this morning...

Actually, before I went to work on cosplay Wednesday, I went to lunch with Sarah and Melissa and Neil (Melissa's Neil :P). We went to Corner Cafe, because it's rather nostalgic for Sarah and me. Ever since, oh, I don't know when, we've gone to Corner Cafe for lunch, becuase the sandwiches are delicious and the smoothies are yummy, but most importantly, the environment is totally peaceful and beautiful. Most high school students don't tend to go there, so it's quiet; and if you eat outside on the patio, you're sitting under these lovely trees with nearly translucent leaves, so when the sun hits the leaves, they take on this golden-green glow that gives the whole place an ambient, shaded, almost surreal atmosphere. It was just nice having a relatively quiet lunch with all of them. Sarah and Melissa I consider some of my closest friends, who I can confide in and enjoy being with, and in Sarah's case, toil with (Spectrum! car washes! finishing the issues at my house! paper shopping! stapling issues together in History AP! :P), or, often, just listen to and support in times of...stress. Yes. Neil^2. ^_~ (I'm going to die slowly for that.) Or randomly, driving into a parking lot the wrong way, or prom night stressing, or waay back in freshman year, the Greek myths video (Cassandra! Hades! The rocks from Egypt!) We still have to plan out our bookstore trip/movie night. And as for boyfriends of people I know, I'm starting to understand and like (Melissa's) Neil more. So that was just a nice, peaceful lunch.

Wednesday evening, I went to the Ariosa's concert. Amanda and Sarah and Elaine were there too, and we made up our own little cheering section for MELISSACOLLEENSAARAA!!!WOOHOO!! ^_~ We deafened Mark and Neil and Galen, methinks. MelissaColleenSaara just ignored us, but I know they love us embarrassing them. Really! The concert was lovely, and Mrs. Forester (err, Eddington; but she'll always be Mrs. Forester to me) was so sweet, and gave me a little something for doing the cover art for the play and musical this year. That was so sweet of her to remember me! I kinda just went home and crashed after that, because...

The next day was graduation. o_O Oh, quick rundown of grad practice: I sat next to Phi and Christi. Hurrah! I burned. I mean, seriously: I BURNED. My back now has the stupidest sunburn line I've ever seen. And I though I had put enough sunscreen on! Just goes to show: Lisa doesn't tan, she burns. Even with sunscreen. Damn my white girl skin! I'm not even a white girl! So whyy meeee???

As for graduation day... Morning pretty much disappeared, and I took a nap in the afternoon. But then me and my parents rushed to get to graduation at nearly the last minute (well, I took to heart that I needed to be there before 5:45) and I changed into my cap and gown. We marched into the stands and stared into the sun for an hour, and my row decided not to stand on cue. Oh well. I got to see lots of people I probably will never see again... Crap. That sounds really, really depressing. I'll have to come see them again when I get out of college. XD I saw Mr. Jennings, and you don't even know how much I love him; he was my math analysis teacher, but he does so much more than teach math. His stories about his life, that inevitably have significance to everyone in his class, were always timely and heartfelt, and his methods of spurring the lazy among the class on were pointed but still gentle in their own way. He is one of the best teachers I've ever had. And his kids are SO CUTE!! Another great is Mr. DeRuiter, my calculus teacher; he was always so intelligent and prepared and considerate, and he could teach! I think it's safe to say that I'll be visiting the two of them. I also loved Ms. Kampf for her conversations and for the books she lent me, and the fact that she always, always made me think, whether I was in her World History, Economics, or U.S Government class. Mr. Kanda and Mrs. Hogan, my lit teachers the past two years, are also high on my list of teachers to visit later on; they knocked me off my high horse concerning writing and lifted my writing abilities way beyond what I'd ever considered possible. And they helped me grow as a person, too. Yay to literature!! Mr. Sackman and Mr. Chow and Mr. Post, too; my wonderful, wonderful art teachers. I'm just sorry I was in a slump this year, artistically, and never produced anything I though was of any worth. Because my teachers deserved more. But I'll draw in college in bring back my art to show them. ^0^ Mrs. Wang, my chinese teacher, is another teacher that I love; not for teaching me, but just for trusting me and holding me in such high regard. She'd always ask me to help were with matters requiring good English skills, and often, the matters were delicate, not something you'd want in the control of others. The fact that she did so showed how much she trusted me and how close she is to me. I have had her for three years, after all; longer than any other teacher. I love her as a person, and for her dedication to her program, so yes, I'll be visiting Mrs. Wang as well. I'll probably drop by and say hi to Ms. Tsai, my bio AP teacher, because she's such a sweetheart and I just want to see her again. I'll probably stop in to see Mr. Birdsong, too; he's just fun. Mr. Bronstein, the main robotics advisor, wasn't a teacher, really, but in all ways that matters to me, he was; he was always supportive and caring and wonderful to me; often it was like he was a second dad. I don't know how I earned that, but I'm glad he cared enough about me to show it the way he did. It makes me feel even more loved and watched over.

I love all my teachers. I'll miss some of them as much as I'll miss my friends. ;_;

The ceremony was actually pretty yawnarific, but afterwards I got to see Jen and Henry again!! Henry's as thin as ever, and Jen's as fun and happy as ever! CG CLUB MEETING DUDES!!! As soon as AX is over! We're going to whip our art skills into shape! (er, I still gotta burn Painter for Kix.) Henry and Jen were the two most important upperclassmen to me in all my years in high school. Henry-as-president-of-robotics and Henry-as-friend were almost identical people; he's always so diffident, always such a sweetheart, always so ready to put others before himself (and always willing to blame himself before others. >_<) I don't think there's any other guy that exists that I just want to hug on sight. (sorry Kenji. :P) He still needs to put some meat on his bones despite his time at Berkeley (Freshman Fifteen apparently doesn't apply to Henry) but he's still the sweetest person ever! I missed Katherine at graduation, but I'd have to say she's the most important underclassman to me in my years of high school: she was always, always a friend to me, always someone to talk to, either in class or out. And how much she grew during the time I knew her! She started out even more quiet and introverted than me, and now I see her smiling and laughing with friends in the middle of the academic court. X3 Ooh, I love Katherine. And Jen!! Jenjenjen! XDXD Duu~udde!! CG club! Sleepovers! Playing FFX and FF9, and cooking noodles and cookies, and going to get pearl milk tea, and starting the Henry-eat-fund, and overall just having fun and talking and glorying in our similar interests. Thanks for being there for this underclassman, because you really helped me be brave in the face of coming change, just by being someone so familiar and fun. ^_^

Anyways, after graduation, went with my family to Azuma's. It was sooo good, and it was nice to have a stress-free dinner with my family for once in high school career. Nothing hanging over me! No standardized tests, no projects, no finals, nothing! Started talking with my sister again about our little manga (we still only have one page penned >_>) because I've just been to busy up until now to think about it. I really love my family; seeing them waving at me and smiling when I was walking down from the stands at the end of the end of the ceremony, along with everyone else who waved at me in the crowd like Mr. Bronstein and Mrs. Wang and Melissa's mom and...ohmigosh, I'm going to cry. I'm crying. ...Oh, I love all of you so much. So much.

I'm going to finish this entry later. It's long enough already.

I absolutely have to type everything up before I forget it all, or I'll hate myself to the end of my days for letting these memories slip through my fingers. :P If only I'd been smart the last four years and hauled a camera around with me everywhere... Oh well. No time like the present!

Anyways...

I know I have Senior All Night to talk about, but I have to back up a few days, to around Tuesday or so, because I haven't blogged since then. Don't want to miss any of these moments... Tuesday: cosplay shopping with Kenji and Phi and Mirae and Kix, laughing hysterically at the Hancock fabric sign that had lost the "han" (XD) with Phi, getting my big black clompy boots and loving them to death, crashing Pekkle's house and squealing over Kyo wonderfulness. X3 Wednesday: cosplay gathering at Kenji's, cutting sleeves/obi cloth too small due to inexperience (:P), ironing my red Aya cloth because it's meditative to smooth out folds the whooole afternoon, Kyo plushie tail/butt, catching another one of Phi's contagious naps (but over the phone, this time), talking about girls glomping me and Phi at AX (>_<), driving to Joann's with Phi and Kix and Heidi to try to find cloth of a matching color and not finding it, and pinning and cutting with left-handed scissors and overall just being funny and fun people to be around. I really don't know most of you as well as I'd like to. Yes, I've known Kenji since sophomore year art, and I started getting to know Phi and Kix in CG club last year because of Jen, but thinking about all that, it's not very long at all. I wish I could have known you longer; elementary school would have been nice. :P My impressions of you since I've met you? Well... Kenji! Ever since sophomore year, I've considered you to be the nicest, most gentile guy I know. (Why else would I have asked you to Sadies? ^_^) And we shared so many interests it's not even funny: art, and manga, and traditional RPG's (though we never did do a campaign), and video games... Conversations never went stale, because there was always plenty to talk about. And conversations never degenerated into discussions of cars like it inevitably does with other guys. >_> Thanks for being someone I can talk to and have fun with! And Kix: It was soooo fun being hyper with you in government! You never seemed to be down, and even when you were down it was in a hyper way; that, in turn, made me not want to feel down, because you were so happy. :D And I love squealing over fangirlish things with you! No one else understands me. ;_; Sniffle. Just wait until I get my Hikago plushies and you'll hear squealing. ^_~ And Phi: You are absolutely the cutest and sweetest person at this school. Everytime I see you I want to give you a Tohru-hug. ^0^ No, you're not Kisa, and I've not Tohru. But you are always considerate of others, most often over yourself; when you're excited I get excited, and when you're down I can't help but want to cheer you up. And you're just so CUTE! The Kyo ears, the Hikaru cosplay at school, and (at the risk of being given the Death Glare) in a dress, for graduation! I don't know how you manage it! I've put it down in my head that it's just a Phi thing; no one else can do what you do every day. And that's all I've got to say about that. And as for the rest of the people I'm going to be at AX with? I've only seen all of you at random gatherings like cosplay gatherings or random party gatherings. (Halloween! Willow Street!) My conclusion: You're all people I wish I knew a lot better. It's so easy to talk with you, and you're so open to me despite the fact that you barely know me. Besides, you're all just fun, unique, and spontaneous people who stand Lisa's regmented and insular little life on its head. ^_^ But I think it needs that. If I allowed myself to stick to what I think up for myself, I would lead the most boring life you've ever seen. I'd be one of those executive or yuppie types who never do anything out of the ordinary or really, really, fun and different. I really don't have enough imagination for it. That's what my friends are for! They prevent me from boring myself to death through monotony. ^_^ So thank you, thank you, all of you, those of you that I know: Kenji, Phi, Kix, Amanda, Sarah, Melissa, Sachiko, Parinda, Saara, Elaine, and Christi; as well as the many of you who as of yet have only touched my life in passing. You've helped me get out of my scheduled, introverted shell and enjoy the wider, scarier, and much more exciting world out there. ^_^

I'm afraid this entry is getting rather long, so I'm going to break it off for now and continue my Ariosas concert rant/graduation/Senior All Night (wow, I still have a lot to talk about) in the next entry. But wow. For only half of what I've thought and felt in the last 3-4 days, that's an awful lot. ....I really should've had a camera. Dammit.

I just saw the new opening and ending for the Hikaru no Go anime. I'm in love. *_* HAL!! HAL!! HAL sang the second OP! As in the artist who sang The Starry Sky HAL! And we all love HAL. ^_~ And I've ranted about it before, but Dream sang the 3rd ED, and I said that I'd upload that and I haven't yet. So I'm doing it now. Actually, because I'm on such a Hikaru no Go kick right now, I uploaded all the OP's and ED's that I have; most of the are the normal, non-TV non-remix versions, but the HAL one is the tv version because her single isn't actually out yet. :P But I like it! Anyways...

Get Over: the first OP, by Dream; it grew on me. :)

Bokura no Bouken: the first ED, by Kids Alive; another song that grew on me.

Hitomi no Chikara: 2nd ED. I really like this song. X3 Unfortunately, I don't remember who sang it...

I'll be the one: 2nd OP, by HAL, tv version. I love HAL. X3 And I love this song. It has this unique quality to it...can't even describe it.

Sincerely: 3rd ED, by Dream. Definitely a Dream song. Calm and pretty.

And just because I feel like it, another Fruits Basket song:

Serenade: Ritsuko Okazaki, of course. I like this song almost as much as For Fruits Basket. I really can't think of much higher praise...

Daddy's telling me to go to sleep, so I guess I better. G'night, everyone...

Oh, Phi! Forgot! Burned Hikaru no Go 1-22 for you. :P I haven't burned 23-29 yet because I'm having issues figuring out how I want to arrange them on the CD's... But I think 22 episodes of an anime are plenty to keep you occupied. ^_~

Are we doing cosplay work sometime this week?

Senior picnic was a blast. X3

Morning: woke up at 7:50. (This is a good thing, incidentally.) Drove to Noah's Bagels/Starbucks, got a bagel and a caramel mocchiato (gah, I can spell...) and waited for people to arrive. As I waited, talked with other people there about senior prom. Everyone I've talked to so far has had fun; including my date! I hear that he says the rest of his life is going to suck because he had so much fun prom night. X3 There isn't anything else that can boost a girl's ego more! Anyways, got to school, got on the (coach! air-conditioned! not yellow kiddie!) bus to go to the "secret location" of the picnic (the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk) and we were off! The bus ride was special. There were two guys who were sitting near my group the ride over to the boardwalk who made a point of not sitting near us on the way back because they didn't want to listen to our conversation again. And WHY NOT? It was only me, Sachiko, Sarah, Prindi, Saara, Christi, Amanda, Melissa, Mark, and Neil. We're normal children. We don't talk about traumatizing things like one's biology teacher catching one and one's S.O. making out on tape at Senior Prom, or how annoying certain people are because they just insist on hanging out with you or speaking Japanese to you when they don't know any real Japanese, or how someone who shall not be named had a hole her pants in an inappropriate spot. (not her fault. poor dearie.) Of course, we did talk about innocuous things like how my dad is almost finished with Gran Turismo 3 (he's tackling the 60 lap races and I don't even know how many cars he has in his garage) or the movie we want to watch at the upcoming movie/book day trip (Shawshank Redemption, Spy Game, maybe Princess Bride if we feel like it) or how a certain person never ended up going to prom because the girl he wanted to go with had already been asked... X3 I am so glad I didn't end up going with him; I really can't see how I didn't realize how much of a bastard he could be before. Hmph. I love going in large groups on bus rides. They're very, very entertaining. Especially with my friends. (The tongue thing was just too much though. >_< What's with the tongue thing all the time? Huh? Are they trying to traumatize me? ...probably...)

Anyways! At the boardwalk. We got a conference room called the "Sun Room" (for obvious reasons; hella big skylight) which the seniors got all to themselves. Unlimited free soda! And we could leave our stuff there without worrying because there was a guard! That was cool. We tried to start up Operation Tipsy again on the beach, but I think he suspected something, so it didn't work out. Doh. Well, we all managed to get each other wet anyways. Then, we went on a bunch of rides. Bumper cars were fun; it's especially fun when there's nine other people that you know in the bumper car...rink?...and so everytime you turn around you get to bump (or be bumped). X3 Then, we went on the Hurricane, which was okay, and then the pirate ship ride. The guys were wusses. They wouldn't go on it because they said they would toss their cookies. :P (Well, that's not what they really said, but I think that sounds cuter.) We loved it so much that we forcibly dragged Mark on the second time. Mark was rather reluctant, but how in the world is he going to refuse a determined Amanda? ^0^ We found Sachiko again too, and she had bought what Melissa calls a "little turd" (some sort of horseshoe-like sea-animal that looked like a flattened pug dog) for the "big turd" (Sachiko). I of course got ahold of the plushie turd and carried it around a while. If you give Lisa a plushie, she'll cling to it forever and ever and ever. ^_~ Then we went on the merry-go-round, and I really liked this merry-go-round because they had this cool thing where as you pass a certain point on the outside of the merry-go-round as it's moving, you can snatch a metal ring from this dispenser thing and throw it into a clown's mouth as you pass by and if you get it in, the clown's eyes turn red. (kinda scary) That was really fun, and pretty unique; I almost got it in one time! Missed by an inch or two. Darnit. After that, went to the Giant Dipper, which I really didn't want to go on, but I did anyways. My "screaming" picture turned out the best of everyones. :P I had my arms straight up and my mouth wide open, and people were like, "I thought you didn't like this ride, Lisa!" And I was like, "I don't." But I try to wring whatever enjoyment I can on any roller coaster I'm on. ^_^ I don't think any roller coaster scares me anymore... Some are just more fun than others. Anyways, after that, everyone wanted to go on the Logger's Revenge, but me and Sarah didn't want to get wet, so we went on one of those swirly centrifuge-type rides instead. Us: "SQUISHYSQUISHY!!" "GARHHH!!!!" After that, went on the futuristic bumper car thingies, which are basically intertubes with chairs attached to them that you scan spin around, and bashed each other up again. Last ride we had time to go on was something called the Tornado, which is basically the Disneyland teacups on crack. It was so cute, because me and Sarah were in one of the cars, and there was room for two more so these two little girls named Sarah and Alyssa asked if they could join us. o_O Recap: four girls, two Sarahs, a Lisa, and an Alyssa. Completely random. But very cute. X3 But anyways, since I wouldn't want the two little girls to be spinning the wheel, I did a lot of it (we were still spinning when the ride ended, so I didn't even realize the ride had ended >_>) and I ended up getting a blister on my thumb. It's big. It hurts. I haven't gotten one since elementary school. But we went really fast, and the two little girls had lots of fun. ^_^ That made me happy.

Anyways, around that time we had to get back to the bus, which sucked, but oh well. We fit a lot into the small amount of time we had. I bought a caramel apple to last me the walk back to the bus, we boarded, we started talking again (here's where the two guys moved to the front of the bus to get away from us. X3 It's so funny; we've never been the loud obnoxious ones on the bus before...) and before we knew it, we were back home! Funfunfun!! We need to go back to the boardwalk again! And Great America too! Oohh, this summer is going to be soo much fun...

(Incidentally, Kenji, Amanda invites you to her grad party Saturday. Just so you know. Talk to her! And are you interested in going camping with us all over the summer? Real camping, not Amanda-style camping. >_>)

Phi!! The girl from Vital Access draws Hikaru no Go fanart! X3 That makes me happy. And it reminds me: must burn Hikaru no Go avi's for you, Phi. But anyways, CG club meetings are still on, right?

I had what passes for a bad dream for me two nights ago. Okay, so the Kinokuniya I live near is a little behind when it comes to magazines, right? Especially Jump. So the dream was that I went to Kino, and there were piles and piles of Jump there, and I was digging through them, and there was #24 and #25 and #27 and just about every other issue but #26. And #26 is the one I absolutely want, because Hikago started up again in #26. And yes, #27 has Hikago in it and everything, but I wanted 26. So I was spazzing in the dream because I had come too late and there were none left for me.

(Yes, I'm pathetic. Actually, the worst dream I've ever had involved losing my keys. My dreams are rather...mundane.)

Anyways, this dream didn't come to pass because I went to Kino's today and they were on #25. So I think I'll go again on Tuesday and see if they have #26 by then.

Senior picnic tomorrow at the boardwalk. Cool!

Graduating in five days. Holy crap.

This is my happy hyper senior prom entry. If you don't like that sort of thing, skip it. :P

So my 'special' day started with running around my house panicking because I needed to be at Sarah's house in twenty minutes so she could do my hair but my nails were still drying, I needed to wash my hair and I couldn't find my shoes. I ended up getting to Sarah's house 10 minutes late, but that was OK, because Melissa was there an hour and a half late. >_< Basically, the three of us were supposed to be doing each other's hair and make up, but we had enough disasters to make up for a hundred proms. First, the hot curlers just would not heat up. No matter how long they were plugged in. Later it was determined that it was because they were broken, which is stupid and very Murphy's Law-esque, because they were working last night when we tried them out. >_> So, yeah. So since we couldn't use the curlers and Melissa still wasn't there to help us with out makeup, and Sarah's mom wasn't home yet, Sarah and I were at a loss. We just sat around and predicted that Melissa would arrive, Sarah's mom would come home, and the hot curlers would heat up all at the same time. All predictions came true but the part about the curlers. They didn't heat up until we were ready to leave. >_> And when Melissa ended up arriving, but she had forgotten her make-up kit, so she had to go back and get it. >_> But that was okay, because Sarah and her mom just took a few curling irons to my hair and got that done pretty quick. ^_^ But my mom thought my hair extension (this big-@$$ clip thing) was a dead animal on the ground. But no one was able to tell which part was fake until later that night when I took the clip off to show them. They freaked out. It was pretty funny. XD ANYWAYS. My hair got done pretty smoothly, but then Sarah cut herself on the arm on the bird cage and was running around spazzing and looking for Neosporin and cussing the bird, and the dress to Melissa's zipper broke when we were already fifteen minutes late getting to Parinda's house, and Sarah's date wasn't home and she needed to call him with some info, and I had left my shoes in my car but I was already in my prom dress and I would have to walk outside to get them, and Sarah's dog was just running all over the place making a nuisance of herself... Yeah, so the result of all that was that we were 45 minutes late to Parinda's house and ended up getting there after the limo. But we looked good. X3

Then at Parinda's house there was this gigantic crowd, because there were me and the other eight girls, and their dates (except Parinda, who was obstinate in refusing to go >_>), and at least half of the parents of both girls and dates. So yes, that was a good-sized crowd. Did the picture-taking and such, stuffed 16 people into a 14 person limo (Christi had to sit on her date's lap; DOH!) and we were off! There was apple cider and soda in the limo! And a TV and a radio with practically zero reception! So that was pretty cool. Except, um, inappropriate stuff was going on. Like the incident where Christi's date ran his hand up Amanda's date;s leg, 'looking for change.' o_O I won't go into that any more. And Kenji called Phi and Kix on his cell phone on the way there, so it was fun trying to figure out what they were saying through the occasional static, and yelling into the phone so they could hear us. ^_^ And Kenji, you looked GOOD!! Matt's got it right; suave! Except without the mispronounced accent. And funny sunroof incidents! And Elaine's date being...special. >_> And battling over what few radio stations that we were able to recieve. And calling the limo driver on the little phone in the car. Yeah, that was a special limo ride...

At the boat: dinner was edible. The dessert was incredibly yummy. Yummy chocolate cake, and sweet strawberries and watermelons. After dinner, me and Sachiko went to the front of the boat. It was very windy. We ended up doing very accurate Marilyn Monroe impressions. My kind date took pictures. No, if I ever get my hands on them, you will NOT see them. What else? My virgin eyes! All those people freaking and making out! Escape, escape! And later in the night, lots of fast dancing...in my big poofy dress. That was special. And my shoes were killing me despite the fact that they were pseudo flat, so I took them off. And my purse chain broke. That sucked. And lots of people (including me) managed to step on the train of my dress. I'm surprised it didn't get torn. And my period started (GARHHH!!!) but thankfully it waited until today to cause me major cramp-age. Oh, and the cutest thing the last dance! My date and Kenji were singing and dancing along to 'My Girl' for me and Sachiko and Elaine! It was soooo cute and sweet! WAII!! Kareoke! We need to go do kareoke!!

The drive home: I think I was half asleep cuz' I was so tired, but I remember singing along to a bunch of songs; Sheryl Crow's latest song, the sun one, and Truly, Madly, Deeply, I think. And people kept on making out in the middle of the limo, so other people took pictures of them to get them to stop. X3 Got home, picked my stuff up at Sarah's house, drove back to my house and it was 2AM. I was very tired, so I went to sleep. And that's prom! ^_^ Tiring, frantic, and wrought with disaster, but it was sooo muuchh fuunnn!!!

We're going to have a few full-blown CG club meetings, Phi! We'll haul Jen over and gather a bunch of computers and tablets and sketch pads together and we're going to SMITE those Canadians! HA! The sooner, the better! (And they'll really be "CG" club meetings, not "cooking and gaming" meetings. We can't afford the distraction. We're on a mission!! HA!!)

....do you feel any better? At all? ;_;

Anyways! There are several reasons why today was 1337. One: moogle doll glomping. (Pyaa~~nnn!!! Bring it mooreee Kenjiiii!!) Two: physics final is finished! Three: Biology product presentation is finished, and we did WELL!! We were professional and our commercial was funny. Four: Got a cute letter from a six grader telling me why I shouldn't drink at senior prom. Ahhhh.... Five: played Uno in calculus with four other people. It was FUN!! It was EVIL!! "Draw four." "Draw Two." "Skip." "Skip." "Skip." "Reverse." "Skip." "Draw four." "Draw four.".... and so on. Yes, evil. We should all play Uno sometime. It gives me fun Karekano and elementary school flashbacks. :) Six: signed lots of yearbooks! Signed an entire page of Amanda's yearbook. o_O Seven: finished watching 12 Angry Men in government, which is an excellent movie; I think anyone can watch it and come out a better person. Eight: Cloth shopping and Jamba Juice! Except now I need to find a blue hakama. >_< Dammit. But yay for getting cosplay stuff done with Phi and Kix! Nine: Finished take home part of physics final with no trouble at all...in time for dinner. Ten: ....okay, maybe there isn't a ten. But today was still awesome! (Except for Phi staring a hole in me. o_O Scare. I. Ness. EEE!!!

Today was a very happy day, and I'll write a happy post later. But currently, I am pissed off and I need to write an angry post, so bear with me. Lisa-is-pissed-off mode should pass momentarily. So...

Are there any fucking people at our high school that are honest? People here seemed to have made it the norm to lie and cheat (though not steal, thankfully). The problem? The physics honors take home final. I should have seen the trouble coming miles away: a take-home test? And a final at that? I should have seen the cheating coming a mile away. As it was, it smacked me right in the face. In calculus, I heard people talk opening of having 'study groups' to do the final tonight. I tried my best to ignore them, because it's none of my business, really, unless I want to tattle, but they were loud and obnoxious and I could hear them from the other side of the room. Idiots. And then someone called me not twenty minutes ago and asked if I knew how to do question 6. WTF!? I told her politely that basically I would not say anything, and thankfully, she politely withdrew her request. But do people really cheat this openly? How do people I know I won't tattle? (I have half a mind to. It pisses me off a lot when people cheat. Maybe my moral code is too rigid, but cheating and lying are no-no's. Ever. To me, these are not things to be compromised, even in the most desperate of times... Well, unless your life depends on it, I suppose, but there aren't very many situations where that's the case, and this isn't one of them.) Damn, people frustrate me... Let me quote the instructions on the test to you: "You are expected to do your own work, without help from anyone else." Honor system, yes? Something I've concluded in my four years at this school: nobody knows what honor is. They lie and cheat with impunity, and expect everyone else to do so too. I hope the rest of the world isn't like this, because in general I love people, but this is one of the reasons I think the world can just go to hell. Gasp, Lisa is a misanthrope! Well, yes, sometimes; when I have to face some ugly realites about human nature. I wish it weren't so. But you know what they say about wishes...

Actually, Kenji, I totally don't agree with the senior prank thing. If it had just been making the balconies into waterfalls, I would have been fine with it. Water evaporates. And if they had used the same type of glue as the people two years ago, I wouldn't have a problem. But they used the strongest glue in existance. The janitors had to drill holes in the locks in order to open some of the doors. That's a lot of locks to replace, and who knows how intact the doors will be after that. According to Mrs. Hogan, costs will total around $20,000. It's even worse because these are NEW buildings, one less than a year old. But I personally think the worst, stupidest, and downright uncreative prank that they played was splashing paint all over the place. That stuff is going to STAY. The drama people (and I should know, considering who my friends are) are always getting problems from the janitors for spilling even a little paint on the ground, because it's pretty impossible to get off the concrete without, like, repaving. This wasn't just a little splatter, it was like they hurled have a paintbucket on the ground. They didn't even take the time to make it look pretty. If it was something nice looking, like a picture or something, or even "2002!!" or something with some sort of meaning, it might have been something you could look back at, feel some nostalgia over. But a splatter of paint on the ground is ugly, messy, and permanent. Like a multicolored mass of pigeon shit, and we have enough pigeon shit at our school.

There's a line between a funny senior prank and vandalism. The waterfalls I was cool with. As for the locks, I seriously couldn't blame the administration for charging the senior class. It would be horribly, horribly unfair, but the fact is that someone has to pay for the damages, and if they can't catch who did it... This prank isn't on the same scale as putting Elmer's glue in the locks or sticking sporks in the school field spelling out your school year, or even leading a cow onto the top story of the school or releasing crickets in the school office. Or even flooding the ralley court. Water evaporates, Elmer's glue is so weak that barely anyone noticed the prank, and even crickets do little more than chirp and annoy you. And they'll die off eventually anyone because I doubt there's any food for them in the office. The scale of this prank is much larger, in turns of costs. Not only did they glue the doors shut with glue that's supposed to glue wood together and KEEP it together (and incidentally, it melts plastic; experience...), they also damaged our new buildings. And yes, the administration did call in the police. I saw two police cars driving in. No, the administration is not being anal. It's the same administration as last year and the year before. The people who did this just stepped over the line. $20,000 is nothing to sneeze at; aren't people be taken to court for damages that total in that amount? Just because it's a senior prank doesn't excuse people from paying for damage that they've done. So anyways, my point is that there's senior pranks, and then there's senior pranks. People getting out of their first few period of class was fun and kinda funny, but do you see the janitors or the people that have to pay for this laughing?

Take the "Which Flower are you?"quiz by Hazel

Furuba. *_*

I suppose I could leave it at that... But, no. I have to at least try to pay tribute to the series. Okay, so anyways, watched 23-26 today. (Thank you Janice, wherever you are! Kix has a proxy hug from me to you! Or if I see you I'll give you the hug. Hugs are better multiplied. ^_^) Mmmm... I've been feeling down in the dumps for the last two weeks, and right now I feel the same as when I have enough sleep and I've just finished my homework. Not an image of intense joy, you may think, but it's a much more powerful and pervasive emotion. Peace, contentment, completeness... That's basically what Furuba is about anyway... Eeee!!! (huggles closest object, which happens to be a stuffed otter) It makes me so...oh, I don't know. Some things don't need to be described.

But anyways! Impressions and thoughts on actual events in the series! ^0^ I love every single character. I already knew that from before, but now, it's reinforced. Especially Yuki. After what he did in 26... *_* And the feel of the ending arc was just amazing. The colors, the music... And certain characters being frighteningly...serious. o_O I barely recognized his voice! And I'm seeing Kagura in a new light. I used to...not dislike her, but not like her either. (I sound like Kyou! X3) Now I love her just as much as everyone else. Furuba has such an amazing cast it's not even funny. o_O I'm so glad I asked my cousin to buy me the series while he's in Taiwan. X3 And Tohru, Yuki, and Kyou together just make me happy. *_* No, not a threesome, you perv! Just the three of them, together, in their adorable little love/love/hate relationship... (the, I don't know how to describe, you know when Kyou and Yuki argue but what you hear is like this buzzy squeaky sound? Like the teacher in the Peanuts cartoons? I love that. X3) The relationship between Kazuma and Kyou just makes me melt, too. The emotions in Fruits Basket are so real. It never, ever feels trite; perhaps because it accounts for the less admirable parts of the human soul along with the more beautiful parts. The thing about it is that it magnifies the beautiful parts of people, so that you just feel wonderful being alive, even if you know there's parts about you that are dark or weak. That part of Furuba makes it more poignant than any sugar-coated story about essentially perfect people with superficial problems. What Furuba addresses is real emotions, real aspects of every human soul. And that's what makes it a work that's as beautiful and soul-felt as the best of literary works.

If I rant any more about Furuba, I'm going to pop the CD back into the CD-rom drive again. So I'll try to stop. I should do homework; I have a lot. But at least I'll get back to it feeling a lot better about myself. ^_^

Fu~ru~ba~aaa!!! Kyaa~aa!!