My Passions
Manga: X, CCS, Basara, KKJ, Rurouni Kenshin
TV: Buffy, Smallville, Home & Garden Network,  Iron Chef
Reading: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Biography: Chyna
Biseinen:  Kusanagi (X), Fuuma (X), Touya (CCS), The Red King (Basara), Cho (RK), Bob (Husband)
Cat of the moment: Nabiki
Fanfic in progress: "The Other Woman" (X),  Untitled sequel to Wings of Desire (X), "Shinjuku" (X) RK story featuring Saito and Cho.

Where I go
Fortune's Fools
Dreams of Sakura
Sekai Seifuku
Elitist Bastards!
X Island
Anime on DVD
TheOneRing.net
Cyber Shrine
Vulpes.org
Cat-chi Cats (Japanese Bobtails)
Cyber Shrine
The Queen of Cups
Green Man Press (Charles Vess)
Kaluta Studios (Mike Kaluta)
Pitas.com

Who I know
Satsuki-chan +++ pointless +++
Lika Under Thlyali's Thrall
Ammie Castle of Briars
Alison Shinken
Kerianne The Space Between
Font of wisdom Subterfuge Archives
My Fanfiction Sedition

Being Social

Social blogging time!

Satsuki-chan, I love the buttons, too. I was wondering what was looking different about Kusa, and I think you hit the nail on the head -- he's looking more like Sorata. Part of that is probably due to Mokona slimming him down a bit, but I think the big change is that Kusa is smiling a lot. Usually, they don't show him smiling or if he is, it's only a small smile. The big grin is more like what Sorata might have.

Whoa! Alison, I hope you're okay! Your new layout absolutely cracked me up when I first saw it. Also enjoyed your account of your trip to Japan -- I love reading about people's travels and Japan is a place that Bob and I hope to be able to visit some day. And the pictures were great! Are the deer at Nara REALLY that friendly? I mean, I'd heard they were, but still, to actually see it in a picture...

Kerianne, c'mere for a sec. I'm gonna slap you upside the head, gal! You are a WONDERFUL writer, especially for being so young!!! (While I was unpacking recently, I came across some of the stuff I wrote when I was in high school, and trust me, yours is MUCH BETTER!) I know every writer has her doubts sometimes, but you really are very good. You've got a strong narrative sense and a good way with description, so just keep it up! And loved the Aoki fic, very moody.

Lika, I have to agree with what you keep saying about overpopulation. I don't want to have kids, myself, and you should hear the crap that people tell Bob and myself. Now that we've been married three years (and together longer than that!), we're getting a lot of pressure from our families to continue the line. Every time we see them, there is some comment somewhere about how it's time we had kids. My mom has been especially agressive about it. And what's really bad is people we don't even KNOW have the gall to say to us that we shouldn't worry, that God will provide us with children, and that we will love it! They really don't get it. I know some people have kids because they really want to experience parenthood, but a lot of folks have children because it's expected of them by society and they want to fit it. I think, in some ways, that's why Bob occasionally brings up us having kids. And he'd be a good dad, but I wouldn't be a good mom. Women should make the decision about whether to have children, not men, because women are the ones most affected, and not only because they are the ones who give birth. Almost every mom I've ever met has at some point or another felt trapped by her children (althougth they love them dearly). My own mother told me once that she sometimes resented the fact that my brother and I were around. I don't want to do that to my kids, so as ambivelant as I am about being a mother, it's best that I just forego the experience altogether.

Errr...that was a bit long, wasn't it? ^^;

Ammie, after seeing the gorgeous scenery in LOTR, I've decided that New Zealand is next on my list of places I want to visit, right after Japan. Oh, it was soooo beautiful!!! And the movie was so cool!


Thursday, December 20, 2001 05:48 a.m.

LOTR

Just got back from seeing LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring. There are no words. I haven't come out of a theatre feeling like this since I saw Akira Kurasawa's Ran.

Incredible.

Wednesday, December 19, 2001 10:58 p.m.

I did it! I did it!

I quit my job this morning. I was quite professional about it. They weren't happy that I resigned effective immediately, but I told them that this is "at will" employment (ie, they can fire me anytime they want for whatever they want without notice, so I can likewise quit without notice as well). I really saw no point in giving two weeks' notice. I've only worked there 6 or 7 weeks, so it's not like I'm going to count this job on my resume.

I guess I should start at the beginning...I took this job fairly quickly, because it sounded like it had some opportunity and the people I talked to were nice. However, within the first week, I realized that the job wasn't quite what I had been told and that the people I interviewed with were a lot friendlier than the people I would actually be working with. But I tried to give them the benefit of a doubt, thinking that the lack of training I was getting was due to a busy period, or that the lack of department unity was due to a few troublemakers.

That wasn't the case. And the more I learned about the job, the more I realized it was not the type of work I wanted. I need some creativity in my work--yes, even accounting has creativity. I need to be able to solve problems, but I couldn't do that without training. I need to feel that I'm a valued member of the team, but my presence was rarely acknowledged and my skills never called upon.

My coming down with pneumonia was, in a way, fortuitous, because it forced me to slow down and really think about things. I realized that I was already feeling trapped in a job that I'd only worked in for 6 weeks. I also realized that I really didn't want to spend the rest of my life tied into an accounting office, because that's not the type of person I really am. I do this kind of work because it's easy to find a job no matter where we move, and it pays better than retail or secretarial work, and sometimes it's even interesting. (!) But it's not really ME. And I'm the type of person who gets really wrapped up in her job, not the sort who can work 40 hours a week at a job she hates because she lives for her family and outside hobbies. As the past two years has shown, if my job is unhappy, the rest of my life suffers as well.

Bob is apprehensive, but supportive. He wants me to be happy, even if it means we have to tighten our belts for awhile. He does prefer I get some kind of job (part time is fine), and I'm looking now for something I won't hate. My parents, on the other hand, think I'm being foolish. But at this point, I think I know myself much better than they ever knew me.

Am I scared? Hell, yeah. But, today, after agonizing for days about this choice and how to accomplish it, I actually did it, and I feel so...relieved. And happy. And whatever challenges come from this decision, I believe we'll be able to face them, simply because this decision lifted a lot of stress from my shoulders.

Sorry, just had to share that.

Wednesday, December 19, 2001 07:51 a.m.

So Now You Know

Take the What Cat Are You? test by webkin!