My Passions
Manga: X, CCS, Basara, KKJ, Rurouni Kenshin
TV: Buffy, Home & Garden Network,  National Geographic tv
Reading: A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin
Biography: the Rock
Biseinen:  Kusanagi (X), Fuuma (X), Touya (CCS), The Red King (Basara), Cho (RK), Bob (Husband)
Cat of the moment: Nabiki
Fanfic in progress: "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
Vulpes.org
The Queen of Cups
Green Man Press (Charles Vess)
Kaluta Studios (Mike Kaluta)
Pitas.com

Who I know
Satsuki-chan+++ pointless +++
LikaUnder Thlyali's Thrall
AmmieCastle of Briars
Alison Shinken
Kerianne the Space Between
Subterfuge Archive Font of Wisdom

It never rains but it pours

What IS it about this week?!! Every day when I get in from work, there's a phone call with bad news about the house closing. Today, I get this call saying that we won't get the money we asked for to pay for a new furnace/air conditioner, because "adding central air isn't energy efficient." WTF???? We HAVE central air already! The damn thing is 20 years old! How can replacing an ancient a/c unit NOT be energy efficient?

Anyway, still not sure how that's going to work out. I'm going to descend upon their office tomorrow right after work like the angel of vengence and there will be HELL to pay...or at least, they're going to get an earful while they explain to me EXACTLY what our costs are for closing.

To make it even better, I get a call from the realtor in Des Moines. They're closing TOMORROW on the house, and lo and behold, rather than getting the money that we are due after everything is settled as was estimated, we have to PAY almost $500.00. WTF???!!!!!!!!!! I cried and cried when I heard that one. Made her fax us the settlement figures, then compared them both to our estimate and also to our figures when we closed on that house 2 years ago. Turns out she UNDERESTIMATED our costs, plus there was the mortgage problem which I (thankfully) already knew about. What I want to know is, why the hell didn't she tell me this a few weeks ago, back when I could get the money together without having to scramble? Plus, that was what we were supposed to use to close. Now we've got to dig...

Poor Satsuki-chan caught me right when all this was happening...sorry, chica, I didn't mean to diss you...really, I love the drawings, especially Orange and Champagne! You are so talented...and you'd better believe it, too!!!

Lika, good luck on your papers. Truth be told, I was always writing mine at the last minute, too. Probably another reason why I'm debating about going back to college...do I really want to do homework again? Hmmmmmm....no....

Alison, thank you as always for putting up the summary and a few pictures from Asuka. While Bob has agreed to letting me go up to Chicago (3 hours away) when X17 comes out (there's a bookstore called Asahiya there which is pretty good), I can't justify a monthly trek to the Windy City just for my X addiction, so your summaries (and Kristin's full translations) are a godsend.

And I just want everyone to know that Kiki's Delivery Service is just the world's ultimate "feel better about life" movie. Even after a day like today (or a week like this week), I have faith in the goodness of the world. I guess that's why I love children's anime so much. When your life is consisting of angst, it's nice to have a breather, you know?

Anyway, everything will be settled by Friday afternoon, and I promise to drop the topics of moving, house sales, and monetary crises. I'm sure I must have the most boring blog in the known world. I want to have fun again and talk about things like the latest from CLAMP or what good manga everyone has read or Keiichi's latest foray into the world of lingerie (lacy panties with red bows...yeeeeeehaw!), or how it doesn't matter how dark X gets, Kusa and Yuzu will still have a happy ending...you know, the good stuff...

Wednesday, October 24, 2001 09:47 p.m.

Confuuuuusion
Can you just FEEL the stress, brothers and sisters? Sometimes, life turns around, slaps you in the face, kicks you on the @ss and leaves you wondering where the next strike will come from.

But I'm being melodramatic.

Started the new job yesterday. Jury is still out on whether or not it will suck. Corporate culture there is very East Coast (the main offices are in Philadelphia and Hartford, Ct). I have to dress up more. There's a huge learning curve, as I will be having to learn investments, retirement plans and tax reporting. They also want me to go back to school for CIS. (Of course, my last job was hounding me about that, too...)

As the new employer offers 100% tuition reimbursement, odds are high that I just might do the college thing again. Clarke College here has a program for working adults, and since I already have the BA from Univ of Texas, I'd only have to take 30 hours or so to get a 2nd BA.

However, I was NOT the world's greatest student. The manic-depression isn't great for consistant academic performance. I called Mom up and whined about whether or not I should go back to school. She suggested that I go talk to them, and see if I can sit in on a class. And she's right, I should do that.

Got a letter in the mail Monday, saying that the Oct. mortgage payment was not received. It was one of those WTF!!!! moments that are so wonderful for my nerves *sarcasm*. I got that worked out, but Bob's paycheck from the week before last STILL hasn't shown up, plus the Evil That Was My Previous Employer screwed up my last paycheck and owes me about $450.00, so now I'm freaking on whether or not we'll have the cash on hand to close on our house.

Thank Goddess for the Bank of Dad. He was willing to front us money to close, but I did have endure not one but two of his diatribes, which left me in complete tears. No interest due, but I pay nonetheless.

Oh, how awful! I lost three fics I was working on when my computer died earlier this year, so I feel your pain. And yeah, I always found I wrote better when I was supposed to be working on something else, too! Come to think of it, most of my best Pern fanfic was written when I was supposed to be doing paralegal studes at Univ of Louisville...

Dai-kun's L'il Puppy (DLP for short), I agree with your points about Aoki, but I must say that there has to be something underneath all that genki sweetness...a hidden angst? Burning lust? Ultimate betrayal? Of course, he's got that Fujitaka clone thing going, so he may just be another reincarnation of Clow Read...

Satsuki-chan, I'm going to try to send out a package to you this week, depending on how the house closing is going. Probably by Friday afternoon or early Saturday? Just to let you know I haven't forgotten you, sweetie.

Tuesday, October 23, 2001 08:29 p.m.

L'il Bit
Today was Bob's birthday (Kero-chan imitation "Cake! Cake!), so we did things with his folks, who were supposed to just come down for a few hours and actually stayed 2 days. Bah. I guess I'm really bad about sharing my space. Bob always teases that I don't "work or play well with others" but really, it's just because I'm nervous about the new job, and also, I never know what to say to his folks.

Finally saw the first two X episodes--ooooooh, it is soooo coooooool! I'm liking the changes they've made, and the animation is very nice. Can't wait to see more Yuzuriha! And somehow, they've managed to make GOOD Fuuma sexy...whooo, baby! Bob's liking the badass Kamui, as well. He's not a big X fan, but he's really liking the anime.

*waves sleepily to all* No social blogging tonight, I'm afraid. Start new job tomorrow, must be at work early. Please, everyone, keep fingers crossed in hopes that this job will be much better than the Evil that was my former employment.

Sunday, October 21, 2001 10:47 p.m.

Holiday's End
Well, the vacation is winding down. Not that I could call moving to another city a vacation, but I was off work for two weeks (a MUCH NEEDED break!) and actually, I did treat the time more like a vacation than doing what I was technically supposed to be doing, which was unpacking. But the hell with it. After what I've been through, I deserved some time off to play. I read manga, watched TV, finally finished some of my fanfic that I'd been working on since the summer, and got to chat a lot with some of my online friends, which I don't normally get to do. It was great fun.

I did manage to take a couple of hours yesterday and go hiking. It was a gorgeous day, and I was really going out to pick up some groceries, when I decided to take a turn through the Mines of Spain. So I ended up spending a couple of hours hiking up and down the Prairie Ridge trail. It shouldn't have taken so much time, but the trails turn in on each other, and I ended up going around twice. ^^; So it was about 3 or 4 miles of hiking in a mixture of woods and tallgrass prairie. When I say tallgrass, I mean that the prairie grass really is tall, taller than myself. There's a clear path cut through there, so it's easy to walk, but there's nothing quite like the feeling of going through this colorful sea of browns, greens, silvers and even purples. Absolutely incredible.

Finally finished Wings of Desire. Just doing a few cosmetic things as I break it up into chapters to post. And yes, there will be another sequel, which will turn the whole story into a trilogy. In some ways, I'm liking this fic, it's a great little story, but I think, looking back, that I was overambitious with the number of characters that I was trying to focus on, and I didn't get to focus enough on my darlings Kusa and Yuzu because I was trying to give the others screen time. Ah well, live and learn. Next on the plate: Shinjuku, which will probably focus on the CCD trio and their reactions to all this X stuff going on around them. I've been watching the CCD anime and have just fallen in love with all three of those cuties. Although I'm slightly pissed because one of the videotapes was a dud, and now I'm going to have to harass the production company to get a replacement.

Lika, you rock, you know that? I absolutely love MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, especially Denzil, who was so hot in that small role as Don Carlos, Kenneth as Benedict and Emma as Beatrice! I've seen the play performed a couple of times on stage as well, and each time I've fallen in love again. It's just wonderful. Now get back to studying!

Satsuki-chan, you can rest easy. I won't be online as much once my job starts. Will miss the chatting, but maybe now you'll be able to spend more time on the Citrus-flavored Cat-people. There's already a Red/Pepper fic that's been dancing in my head, and it's, of course, all your fault for creating such cute characters. ;-D

Dai-kun's l'il Puppy, you continue to amaze me. However, I'll have you know that my husband now wants an Octopus Tie. And I'll try to include Keiichi more in the Shinjuku fic (have to check manga and see what he was doing when Shinjuku fell), as said fic is supposed to be focusing on the "normal human" characters anyway.

Thank you, Kerianne, for your kind comments. Am very eager to see your upcoming Halloween fics! What a great idea!

Finally, I just want everyone to know that I'm really desperate for chocolate marshmellow pumpkins and I CAN'T FIND ANY AROUND HERE! Oh, the humanity! How will I make it through Halloween without them????

Saturday, October 20, 2001 06:42 a.m.

*sniffle*
I have a cold. It's a bad one. So what I am doing up in the middle of the night? Probably because I took Nyquil at 8:00 pm and completely zonked out. Now, 6 hours later, I am wide awake, but it's 2 am.

Options for insomnia are as follows:

a. Surf Web, read fanfiction and wrestling sites until sleepy. Chat intermittantly with Satsuki-chan who scolds me for being up so late. But she does give me tea and sometimes, cookies. Problem: get too wrapped up in wrestling storylines that way, curse fact that our local TV station doesn't get "Smackdown", even on Saturdays. Bugger UPN!

b. go downstairs, get quilt, lay on couch and watch taped Jane Austen movies (Emma, Persuasion, Pride & Prejudice). Long for pretty dresses, local balls and handsome men who act like jerks but who are really good at heart and who are secretly in love with you. Problem: husband will never, ever look or act like Mr. Darcy.

c. Work on fanfic like Wings of Desire. Problem: Next day, delete all text because it is crap. Or else start re-working the story (again) and then next day throw away revisions because THEY are crap.

d. unpack more boxes. Problem: Get yelled at by husband who has to be at work at 7:30 am. (If said husband didn't snore so loudly, maybe could get back to sleep, huh?)


Thursday, October 18, 2001 02:21 a.m.

Grrrrrr
I have a cold. Am miserable. Am taking lots of antihistimines, Dayquil and whatnot. Which, for some reason, besides making me sleepy, makes me depressed as well.

Unpacked several boxes of books today. Trying to arrange the books so that stuff goes together correctly. All the Middle Eastern history books together (that was my major at University), all the other history books together, the art books, the manga, the literature, the other fiction, reference, etc. It's kind of difficult as I have only two bookcases up right now. Bob needs to build the third, and the little bookcases downstairs are not where I can easily get to them yet.

//Rant Deleted because it was childish and stupid.//
Wednesday, October 17, 2001 02:06 p.m.

An apple a day
It was kind of cool. Today we went to Czipar's Orchard and got some apples and cidar. Nothing like hot mulled cidar on a cool autumn night! What a neat place! One thing about Dubuque is that it is so small that 5 minutes drive will get you into the countryside. And this time of year, that's a bonus.

We also went over to the Mines of Spain, which really aren't Mines per se, but a big nature park. They once had lead mines there, but those are long gone. It's absolutely gorgeous there, especially at the gravesite of Julien Dubuque, who was the first white settler in Iowa. The view there is spectacular.

Anyway, the fall colors were at peak this weekend and it was just wonderful. Dubuque really is a lovely area. Now if only we could meet some geeky anime fiends like ourselves!

Lika, I know exactly what you mean about family. While I wouldn't trade mine for the world, I have to say that life is easier with no relative within several hundred miles. Of course, that does mean we spend waaaaay too much on long-distance!

You are just a bad influence, you know that?! Last night, I had a really weird dream about a little house amongst the railways, and Mr. Seme and Mr. Uke, all because of your story-idea! Except that I'm not sure how European railways look (we mainly travelled by car when we were there), so it all ended up looking like the Fort Worth Stockyards, which wasn't far from where I grew up.

This has been tons of fun, but where the heck is everyone else? The scenes with Kusa have been absolutely great, but it would be fun to interact with other characters now and then....maybe the bonfire and marshmellows will bring them out of hiding?

Hey, Ammie, tell your friend Arthur to check out Kusa's first appearance in X. He was tossing telephone poles around, throwing fireballs and causing a minor earthquake. They've really toned him down since then. Trust me, Kusanagi is a first class badass if he wants to be. He just hasn't really shown that side of himself to Yuzu yet.

Sake the Drunkfic is just about complete. It is not to be considered one of the great works of X Literature, but so long as the reader remembers this is an amusing bit of fluff, I think it's pretty good. I'm putting it on the Inuki list tonight. Not sure if I'll even bother to do CFFML or not. Hit a wall with Wings of Desire...it's growing a plot, but will end up huuuuuge. Dang it, why can't I write a simple little story for once, huh?


Sunday, October 14, 2001 08:13 p.m.

Couple o' rants
A rainy Saturday afternoon. Perfect time to do laundry and write fanfic and avoid anything resembling unpacking boxes. Bob hooked up washer and dryer, then was ready to get started putting together my new bookshelves when I gave him the day off and told him to relax. He can do bookshelves tomorrow. I want to fic, dammit. My muse wants some satisfaction.

But first, some ranting is due:

Fanfic and OOC: For myself, I try very hard to stay IN character when I write. It's difficult sometimes, especially with the more popular characters (Subaru and Seishiro are VERY hard to write), but I find it quite a rewarding challange. That doesn't mean, however, that I don't enjoy reading OOC fiction. By no means! Besides the parodies (which I adore--I could never write anything so funny), there are some OOC stories that work very well, because they are INTERNALLY CONSISTANT. Lika mentioned Alison's "The Nature of Angels", which I find to be an excellent example. I loved that story! Although her view of Kusanagi and his situation differs completely from mine, it was very conceivable that he could NOT love Yuzuriha, and maybe use her affections as a tool against the Dragons of Heaven. I dearly wish she would write more of that story. There was one great story (can't remember the name....dang it!) about Seishiro actually being in love with Hokuto (well, that's how it ends). Wonderful! Seishiro was OOC on that as well, but it was so well done that it COULD have worked. That is what is really important.

Rant #2: For my fellow writers out there: stop freaking whining about not getting responses! Yeah, it sucks that you work your butt off and barely anyone says anything, but let's face it, why did you write the fic in the first place? The point of writing a fic is the joy of creation, not to get so many good reviews. While I certainly enjoy fanfiction.net and post my own works there (yes, SOMEDAY I shall get off my ass and get my own webpage going), it really annoys me when someone writes a fic then says "If I get so-and-so many replies, I'll post the next part." Grow up, okay?

(Note to those wonderful people who send me nice emails when I do write something: Thanks! I love you all! I appreciate you taking the time to write me and let me know what you think!)

Well, enough of this. I've got to get back to Subaru and Kamui. DAMN, but they're hard to write. Give me Kusa and Yuzu any day!

Saturday, October 13, 2001 02:34 p.m.

I love autumn
Gosh, it's gorgeous today. Maybe I'll stop by here today and wander around a bit. Or here. It's supposed to cool down quite a bit this weekend, so it may be my last chance to get out and walk around the trees.

Ammie, you crack me up. Yuzu and Kei-chan as Aoki's illegitimate children? I love it.

Oh, bravo! You DID manage to go one-up. Brilliant!

Lika! Love the missing scene! LOL!

Oh, I did manage to take the Animagus test. And the results are:
# 1 fox
# 2 wildcat (lion, tiger, etc.)
# 3 cat
# 4 snake
# 5 wolf
# 6 falcon/hawk/eagle
# 7 owl
# 8 ferret/weasel
# 9 shark/fish
# 10 bat

So I'm a fox, eh? The fox is quite my favorite wild animal and the cat is my favorite domestic animal, so I'm happy.

Working on very difficult Subaru/Kamui scene today for Wings of Desire. Subaru was really fashioned as the ultimate victim, and it's really hard to get in his head for any other purpose. Plus, how the hell do you write an uke who's starting to have seme thoughts? And make it seem realistic?! *tears hair*

Friday, October 12, 2001 09:21 a.m.

Lazy Day
Yes, I should be unpacking, but I spent the day working on Wings of Desire instead. And Lika will love it. Provided I can ever get the plot to move along. Slower than freakin' molassas, I tell ya! But I'm determined not to send out any more drafts of this story until it's done. I've had to change it already too many times.

Gods, but I'm evil. Top THAT, Satsuki-chan! And thank you for not thinking I'm boring.

Still haven't had time to watch Inu-Yasha yet. You'd think that not working would allow me all kinds of free time, but that's just not the case. Besides, I want to finish my fic...

Thursday, October 11, 2001 09:28 p.m.

Three Years
Today is the third anniversary of our wedding. That means we've been living together 4 years. Wow. Time flies. And life with Bob is still good.

I changed up the blog a little, with my very limited web skills. May adjust it more later, but really want to concentrate on ficcing!

Speaking of weddings, glad to hear that your brother's went well, Lika! And your comments about social blogging were spot on...of course, I find most of your comments to be interesting!

Thanks for the champagne! And yes, I have been offered a new job, which I start in two weeks! I pray it does not suck like the last one did.

I keep reading all these swimming references and thinking you're really brave, then I realize you're in the Southern Hemisphere. It's freakin' freezing already up here...gotta love Iowa. And I think Aoki is just absolutely cute, albiet clueless, and I wish Karen would just go ahead and jump the guy and get on with it already! At least they showed up this month, right?

Got latest Rurouni Kenshin disk, and yes, MORE CHOU GOODNESS!!! Everyone thinks I'm crazy, but I just love that guy. Also got the first few Ayashi no Ceres, so hopefully I can finally see what that all is about. It looks promising.

Oh, the hubby is home. Must go eat fancy dinner now!

Wednesday, October 10, 2001 03:54 p.m.