Website: lunatic parade
For the love of Bob, sign the guestbook!
Hangs around: !SuperCat Online, Sekai Seifuku, Passion Fruit, Crimson Tears, The Japanese Flannel, Bleeding Hearts, windward, Sequential Tart, HTH, Diagon Alley, Shiroi Heya
Posted elsewhere: Fanfiction.net, Photo.net
Follows: Jamie, Melanie, Diana, Haru, N, Andre, Jun, Lex, Covielle, Twig, Bridget, Lisa, Sabina, Violaine, Neev
Reads: Nine Stitches, megatokyo, Bite Me!, Boy Meets Boy, Sinfest, Spades
Books waiting to be finished: Yellow, Norwiegian Wood, When We Were Orphans, The Girl With the Pearl Earring, A Fine and Private Place, In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made
Comics: Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, X, WISH, ElfQuest, Transformers, Ah! My Goddess!, You're Under Arrest!, Bakuretsu Hunter, Rurouni Kenshin, Slayers, Weiss: An Assassin and White Shaman, Gravitation, Gouhou Drug
Likes to watch: Slayers, Rurouni Kenshin, Cardcaptor Sakura, Inu Yasha, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, The Last Unicorn, Notting Hill, any Gackt or Glay videos I can get my hands on, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ed, Edd, & Eddie, Just Shoot Me!, Metropolis, Samurai Jack, X Men: Evolution, Invader Zim
Listens to: Dreams Come True, Ryuichi Kawamura, Hikaru Utada, Natalie Imbruglia, Gackt, Sarah Brightman, GLAY, Enya, The Goo Goo Dolls, Jimmy Buffett, Travis, L'Arc-en-Ciel, Hyde, Chihiro Onitsuka, Garbage, John Mellencamp, REM, Melissa Etheridge, K.D. Lang, Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Kiss Me Kate, Miss Saigon, Les Mizerables
Archives:
6/12/02-7/27/02(Debauchery)
5/3/02-6/12/02(Fun with mochi)
3/24/02-4/28/02(X pretentiousness)
1/10/02-2/27/02(Home again)
12/1/01-1/3/02(Nara III)
10/9/01-11/27/01(Nara II)
9/3/01-9/29/01(Nara I)
current music: GLAY. Lots and lots of GLAY.
So last night I made a Discovery. See, I was rooting through the crate underneath my desk, where I keep nonperishable, packaged food (and prop my feet when I'm at the computer) and looking for Oreos. I found a pack of them... then I turned it over and saw the hole that had been chewed in the corner of it.
"Oh, shit."
Roommate: "What?"
::wordlessly holds up Oreo package::
Roommate: ::instantly jumps up onto bed, tucking feet underneath herself:: "Oh, HELL no."
I proceeded to sift through every single item in the crate, and then transfer it all to a dresser drawer instead. We deduced that the... rodent... could not have been here sooner than this weekend, but I'm still afraid to delve underneath my bed at this point.
And what gets me, is that we. Don't. Have. Rodent problems here! Not unless there's some kind of CRAZY unsanitary stuff going on. Grrr.
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Hot damn....
You are all going to sit down, take fifteen minutes, and READ THIS. Right now.
As for me, I am very very happy, and I am going to bed.
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Food for thought:
A year ago today, as in right this moment, I was lounging in my dorm room at the joshidai, thinking about getting a shower and calling Mom before she left for school. I'd just gotten back from the university trip the week before, and on Monday I had to go to the student office to get my schedule printed, and then I skipped language class to go to the festival at Sarusawa-ike with Suchinda and Jin-san, where we watched the boats and listened to the music, the moon painfully bright, and I was absolutely overcome with the agelessness of it all. Then I went back and ate dinner, dashed to class late, and when I returned the two of them had saved me /more/ food... just remembering Suchinda's kitchen makes me smile and feel sleepy and loved.
I will always miss my room. I think that's because it's the first space I've had that was totally MINE-- my parents never saw it, no one helped me arrange it, heck, the only people who ever came inside were Naini, Mel, Steph and Suchinda, really. And I'm the one who moved in, put everything up, and lived and lived and /lived/ in there, screen door wide open at night, laundry drying on the balcony, heater blasting in the winter, curled up on my bed reading and listening to music and thinking and writing and just being me.
I love having nothing to do but sit and think, surrounded by things that make me happy. Friends are irreplaceable, but I need a respectively large amount of time to myself, I've discovered. Or at least, time alone in my head. Maybe that's why I like riding on trains and buses so much-- all that thinking time. Perversely, there's plenty of times when I'm happiest surrounded by a huge group of friends, talking and laughing and being silly and just feeling included... I guess that's the social animal in me, but in the end I always zone out, overcome by my own thoughts. Can't say as I mind it.
Diana, I hope you get to go to the festival-- ridiculous me, perhaps it's already happened, what with the full moon being earlier this month and all. I'm not sure. If so, then just walk up there after dark some clear night, and think about how old everything you can see from the pond is... it gave me the creeps in the best way ever.
Suchinda recieved her degree today from the University... congratulations, Da!!! You deserve every bit of it and more. And my sempai also passed her graduate examinations, and has leave to study for two more years in Nara. This has been a week for celebrating; I only wish I was there so I could be a part of it!
Steph, I wish you were here. Or we were there... either way. Eventually. Just you wait!
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Attack of The Cute: You too, eh? That song makes me want to tap my feet, clap my hands and sing along every single time.
*big happy smile* I know what I'll be humming tomorrow as I walk to class. Mmm.
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current music: SPEED, 'tsumetaku shinaide'
I finished my poster for Graphic Design today... and it got rave reviews, which was pretty cool. I've already got several ideas for improving upon it, which is both good and bad, because that will involve many weekend studio hours. The real motivation in this case, however, is that when it's finally done just right I intend to have a copy printed professionally and framed.
Something that caught my thoughts today:
I've never been a Malice Mizer fan. I know OF them, and that's about it. Never even heard their music, except for a concert clip of 'au revoir', which made me hit the floor laughing-- seeing Mana in full freaky-ice-queen mode is one thing in a magazine photo; seeing it on stage while playing a synthesizer is another. All that makeup and over-the-top clothing and bizarre music, and there's Gackt in the middle of it looking almost normal in comparison (which is in itself something to ponder). So I actually put 'Merveilles' into my disc drive and popped on the headphones... and I liked most of it. Not loved, but liked well enough, even though some of it made me giggle uncontrollably. It's kind of cool to be able to notice the differences in songs, depending on who wrote the music. I laughed out loud when I realized that the one track on the whole CD I genuinely love is 'Le ciel' (because, of course, that's the only track that Gackt wrote music for...) His voice doesn't sound as polished, either, but that's to be expected. On the whole, the CD was a very interesting experience, listened to as it was with the musical equivalent of hindsight.
*Glances at Twig's blog* You know, I used to think the same thing... then I realized that my literary tastes haven't changed THAT much; Lackey's writing has just gotten that much more horrible. I mean, Brightly Burning, anyone? Ye gods and little fishes, that's one book I'm actually sorry I read all the way through. As for Anne McCaffrey, though, I haven't read any of her new books in the last couple of years so I'm not sure what I'd think. Best to try the library first, at any rate.
It's a good thing I've broadened my literary range, lately; most of my favorite SF/fantasy authors are either rapidly deteriorating in quality or just not writing as often. I'm woefully behind on my Terry Brooks, though. All that new Shannara material, sweet. And what's up with the sequel to Elvenblood finally coming out?! I had given up on that years ago. Crazy.
AAAAAARGH. I want to watch Inu Yasha so badly right now... but I should sleep, so I'll settle for some PoA instead. Remus Lupin is the literary character equivalent of hot chocolate, methinks. Yummy.
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*cackles*
Do you REALIZE what a horrid, awful, wrong and all-around stupid idea you just gave me?! ...No? Oh well. You'll find out eventually. *eyeballs giant stack of homework* Eventually....
And I really am sorry the evil spores have been giving you such a nasty time... I agree, IE for Macs is like some kind of freakish alien life form. NOTHING looks quite the same in it... *pats her baby* I do wish I knew why this one's been falling asleep every ten seconds or so and then waking itself back up, WHILE I'm in the middle of surfing the web. oO* Grr. It's your fault, Orion! You and your corrupted music videos! XD
Other than that, though, the only complaint I really have is that QuickTime seems to hate .avi files with a screaming vengeance. Thank heaven for DivX.
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current music: Gackt, 'Sekirei'
I made out like a bandit this weekend. *snarky grin*
First, there was the wonderful linkage from the HTH mailing list (thank you, Niki, for feeding our bizarre little obsessions!) I finally got to see the Secret Garden video! *dances* And you were right; it was every bit as impressive as I hoped it would be. Then there's Vanilla... LIVE... *cackles* Whooboy.
But that's not ALL, folks... (alright, alright, I know there's maybe FOUR of you reading this who care at all after that bit) so let me explain. In Greensboro, there is a bookstore called Ed McKay's. In it, one can find anything from used DVDs to ancient graphic novels and CDs (and they have a truly weird poster collection decorating the walls... museum posters from Nara and all). Last spring I was browsing the soundtrack CD shelves, and stumbled across an honest-to-God import copy of Cowboy Bebop's No Disc soundtrack-- a thirty-dollar CD-- for SIX BUCKS. Sounds crazy, right? Wait for it....
So last night, Dave and I were just browsing around, and almost ready to leave. I kinda skimmed over the CDs, and was looking at a John Mellencamp album when I looked over the top of the CD in my hand and saw something sitting against the back wall of the rack in front of me. Blinked. Looked again. Merveilles stared right back at me. I put Mellencamp back, picked Merveilles up, and sure enough, it was the real thing. A Malice Mizer CD in perfect condition... and it was three dollars. I was speechless for all of ten seconds, before dancing my way down to the counter. Guess what's sitting on MY desk right now, na?
Come to think of it, I should have scoured the entire music collection right then and there... I'll do that next time, I suppose. XD I also picked up Blender by The Murmurs... it was produced by K.D. Lang, so I was curious and gave it a listen. Only drawback is that the tracks are hella short... but they're really singably great. I forsee a couple of them being added to my personal soundtrack soon.
I'm really surprised, but I think the translated Inu Yasha cartoon is growing on me. We watched it last night, and I enjoyed the hell out of it, even though Kaede's voice and all those 'thee's and 'thou's really got on my nerves. A little of the humorous edge is lost, I think, but on the whole it's almost as hilarious as before. And hey, it's NOT a fuzzy fansub... so I'm gonna keep right on watching. ^_^
Mom painted our bathroom green this weekend. And hung my curtains in my room. oO; I wonder what else will be different when I get home... eep!
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Oh... my... USHAGI!
::reads the story summary::
...'SHE'?!!?
::coherent thought fails::
*hysterical laughter ensues*
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*blinks*
current music: The Newsboys, 'Entertaining Angels'
I have my custom-made HanaKimi mix disc playing, and earlier on the CD is 'All Around Me' by Savage Garden (or was that after they split? I can't remember)-- and I'll be damned if it isn't the best Yohji-and-Schuldich song.
...This can only lead to mischief. ^_~
Mel! I wish it wasn't so late, or I'd call you... as for how I felt reading your blog last spring, well, it was equal parts sanity-saver and ultimate torture. You commented once on how I seemed to be dealing well with being back at home, in regards to bloggage. I'll say this: I don't blog depressing stuff, unless it's more in the melancholy vein. It makes my mood worse, and that's the last thing I ever need. Last semester was NOT pretty, or nice, or fun. (Well, fun was had... but I was not a cheerful human being, on the whole.) Thus the whole working-my-ass-off this summer thing, and the search for a plane ticket and the six-day jaunt through Kansai, because no matter how short or expensive or FSCKING HOT it was, it was necessary. I understand things now that I just couldn't deal with last spring, and that's worth more than any money or leisurely vacation. (If not for that, there's no telling how miserable all of Diana's tales would make me... and I'd rather not contemplate it. As it is, I'm just happy she's getting to do all the things she's doing!)
I'm also very glad for my own experiences, no matter how little or how much I got to do... I love my friends beyond words and I wouldn't trade them or the things we did together for anything. And I had so much time to think, and to wonder and observe and just BE, in a way I can't be here. It was like unadulterated me. Here, I feel diluted and smothered under other people's assumptions and expectations and all the other unspoken things we just learn to think as we grow up. I know it's the same everywhere you go in the world, but in my own head all that just... went away. I stood out in relief against everything. Here, I can't get rid of it, at least not so easily. Maybe that's why I like to travel so much. I KNOW that's why I can't wait to get to Manchester! I've had my historical, cultural fling... now it's time for a social and professional one.
And I had such a wonderful summer. Being home and not having to worry about class or school or anything but going to work in the morning... pure bliss. Sun and blue sky and my lovely house and our lovely neighborhood and having all four of us under one roof (well, some of the time!) was just nice. It's funny, I haven't really been anxious about going home since I was a freshman, but now I am... just for different reasons. I still miss my parents (I'm such a Cancer) but I know they miss me too. The thought of our house with only two people in it day in and day out is rather sad... but peaceful, I know!
If you're still here, SURPRISE! I've got PHOTOS!
This is Gion... the lower part, below Sannenzaka. The part I know like the back of my hand, hee... and I adore the houses that line the river (more like a creek, really)-- I know the water is far from clean and it doesn't even SMELL nice, but it was so hot I was seriously wishing we could go wading. XD It was a bit cooler up in the mountains at Sanzen-in, but not much! The view from the temple gate was lovely... the view from the gardens was even better, but I'll have to upload it later. Nijo-jo has the most gorgeous wall and ceiling paintings I've seen so far; it's a shame it was so dim inside, but hey, anything that helps preserve them....
That was a pathetically small sampling, but it took so long to upload them that it's all I can manage for now. Grr. I miss Gion. I miss shopping. Shopping here just isn't as much fun anymore, somehow... I haven't done a real mall stint since spring break, and I don't even miss it. All I want now is used CD shops and bookstores and kyou-miyage shops, meh. ^_~
I've been cooking eggs and pancakes for the last two hours, so I better call this quits and do some work before bed. Goodnight!
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HOLY FLARKING SCHNIT! *dies*
Sorry. XD Mel, maybe you'll understand... I just finished looking at all of Diana's uploaded photos, and it was SO WEIRD because she took pictures of all the mundane little things and places I never did... and it was so disorienting to see them in photos I didn't take! And she's joined KYUUDOU and holy cow, that's the one thing I wish I could have done and I'm not even envious (well, maybe a bit) or jealous or anything except I feel like I'm gonna EXPLODE with excitement for you, girl! WOW! (And Steph... Do you know anyone from Kansai-Gaidai named Caroline?)
...Live it up, you've got about two weeks left before class starts! :) I am so weirded out, Diana. Just so you know. You're living in the room above Suchinda's old one... so freaking strange....
Okay, so I am insanely envious of ONE thing: You get to attend Kasuya-sensei's classes every week for a whole year. AUGH. You lucky lucky ...LUCKY! And Asako is still there and Tsuki-san and Vero and Sveta....
God, I miss my friends. Walk up to Nigatsu-dou one night for me, will you? And take some photos? I'd love you forever. :)
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Yay for blog-hopping! You find such entertaining things:
I think I'm relieved. On the other hand, I have an inner Mana. oO; This is all your fault!
...Actually, Steph, I got Sephiroth as my first match... the quiz counted a lot on me being a pyro, apparently. XD Whooo! And as for you-- I'm doing my best! As usual, had to make things hard and try to be funny... humorous writing does not come naturally to me. Stream-of-consciousness weird crap, yes, but funny? No. And if it did, I'd want it to be the kind of deadpan, snarky, biting humor that makes me laugh till I can't see. Ganbaru yo~!
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Just when we thought we'd seen it all...
...I have to stumble across a FF.net author page that's actually decked out in GOOD links. Which also contain good links. Lots of them.
It has been a very ficcish couple of days. XD Not only that, it's been diverse! CCS, Saiyuki, a couple of Gravitation and even a Rurouni Kenshin story (that had me cheering for Battousai, and that NEVER happens, shweee!) Yum. And I so enjoy that little added feature that allows me to instantly add a fic to my favorites list, that I do.
Sessha needs to run and take care of lots of things before five PM... good thing she's apparently exhausted the vein of linkage gold. *Bounces off*
Addendum: Gackt is back in the MD player. A handful of days was all it took... then I sift through romanized lyrics online to find a suitable passage, and get dears so stuck in my head I'm amazed I didn't end up listening to it before I went to bed last night. It's official: I simply can't be without the stuff. ^_^
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It was late, and she was tired
I shouldn't be online right now... I shouldn't be UPRIGHT right now... but I had to enter some stuff in the database for work before I forgot, and then I checked my school email. Lo and behold, there in my inbox was a copy of the petition to keep NC-17 fics on FF.net. I'm not sure who sent it to me, as I couldn't place the sender to any specific ML I used to frequent. Suffice to say, I shook my head and deleted it... and I'm not really gonna bother saying why, because Bridget already voiced pretty much the same opinion.
Get OVER it, people. If it matters that much, get your own webspace. Maybe then you'll understand why they do what they do. Me, I've always wondered why FF.net bothers giving so much attention to the 'Originals' section, since it is technically a FANfiction site... but original fiction and fanfiction deserve equal time/space/whatever on the web, so I realize that's just me being crotchety. Also, things might not be so bad right now if the 'explosion' that's hit FF.net in recent months didn't involve such torrid wastes of word-processing. I've visited that site regularly for over two years, and watched certain sections grow from one page of fics to several thousand stories... and frankly, the chances of me finding a really good story every time I check the site have decreased dramatically.
It's like owning a store, folks... say you own your own small business. You're your own boss, you control what you sell and to some extent, how much you sell it for. If your friends come in to buy things and you want to give them a little 'discount', nobody's gonna call you on it (because who's gonna know?) However, if you manage a large chain store, something that's nationally known and operated, you have far less freedom. You can only do what the company allows-- while you still have some level of autonomy, you have far less control over prices or inventory, or even how you deal with employees or problem situations. Far more people know and use your product, and thus you have a larger customer base to answer to. If you tried to give your friends 'discounts', you'd more than likely get caught and punished. If you tried to sell something that wasn't a franchise-endorsed product, the same thing would probably happen, no matter how great you thought it was or how much it sold. Is that wrong? No. If you can't deal with it, open your own damn store.
And I will second what other people have commented on, time and again: More power to Xing, and everyone else in the upper ranks at FF.net, for dealing with all this crap light years beyond the point we would have thrown in the towel and told everyone to go screw themselves. You deserve a huge round of applause, and many thanks for giving the rest of us an opportunity to find so many wonderful authors and ideas we might otherwise have missed entirely.
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Today had the potential to be horrid. I slept laaaaate (after going to bed EARLY, geez) and then slumped into Design class only to leave thirty minutes later-- just to get some food, I thought. But I ran into Mel and a friend of hers at the EUC, and ended up spending two hours talking. There are no words for how good it feels to hear and speak Japanese. :) So I'm feeling all energized and stuff, yay!
Bridget, I love the new look! Lisa, I also agree with you completely. A giant hug to you, for expressing your sentiments so well (and expressing them, period). Now, I ought to go work on you-know-what while Mel and I sit in the sun and enjoy this gorgeous-sky day. It's AWESOME outside; the sky is so fall-blue and high and breezy, and it's only pleasantly warm in the sun. And I had a caramel macchiato for lunch... that might be another reason why I'm so chipper right now.
I've been really boring lately, pfah. I need to get off my ass tonight and upload some photos to Yahoo, so that I can do a decent descriptive entry and appease you with pretty Kansai photo-goodness. (And everyone else, natch...) I MUST go buy more RAM this weekend. My poor G3... how it chokes....
Mata ne!
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Japan Times editorial: One year later
I just finished reading this article... and it is enough to keep my brain busy for a very long time. Have a look; I'd love to hear what you guys think about it. It says a few things that I have yet to hear from any writer or news reporter stateside, but I must qualify that by saying that I actively avoid most news programs and publications, other than BBC news, JT and the London Times.
Funny... the two things I remember about last year: sitting up with friends all night watching the TV, and then keeping the kitchen TV glued to BS Channel for days so that I could watch ABC news. It's really amazing, how reassuring it was to hear reports from Peter Jennings. All the same... I'm very glad that that was all I saw.
That's all from me... I'm going to email Naini, since I can't talk to her, and that's all I really feel like doing right now. (Aside from listening to Uso mitai na....) I almost wish I had a copy of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest handy.
Strange... the only thing I can think of that I'd really want to do tomorrow, would be to go to a temple and sit. Watch and think.
...Told you I always manage to choose the difficult things. ^_^;
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current music: Hikaru Utada, 'Uso mitai na I Love You'
...And that would be what I have been listening to all day long. On repeat. Constantly. I suppose it was about time for the next round of Endless Repeat, involving something other than 'MOON'. I love Hikaru Utada. I love Hyde. I love Mel for letting me borrow them!
Went to the bookstore today, and treated myself to a delicious-looking little text about the Black Death and its effects on modern Europe. Had my eye on it since last spring, so right now my PSC homework is losing the mental battle over what gets read before I fall asleep tonight. My interest in European history is so morbid... although, that's true of my interest in Chinese history as well, and then there's my general fascination with folktales of the gory persuasion. Go figure. ^_^
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current music: Myuji, 'Toga'
Of course I forgot, Mel... but you reminded me. ^_^
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, bats DO fly into people's hair. I saw it happen! *cackles* Mel and I were walking back to the dorm, and we were in Peabody Park and it was dark and a bat fluttered into the back of her head. She didn't even know it until I told her; she said it felt like nothing at all. But still! They DO! I love bats.
I have no idea why I dread going to the library so much... once I'm there, I always spend hours poring over books no matter which floor I'm on. It must be my subconscious way of trying not to get mired in there forever and ever... because there's nothing that can keep me blissfully hypnotized for afternoons on end like a building full of books. Witness the giant stack of tomes on my bed, only half of which actually pertain to my research. Japanese textiles... and symbolism and books on Horyuuji and YUM.
I'm going back this weekend... there's a whole SHELF full of Isamu Noguchi books that are calling my name.
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current music: Eiffel 65, ''Too Much Of Heaven'
...This picture hasn't been up for all that long, but I think as soon as I get Photoshop up and running I'm gonna make something new. Too many ideas! I'll have to start making extras to save for using next spring, when I won't have my computer handy.
I've been MD-ing lots of CDs this weekend-- I finally realized that while I have a huge music collection, I only have three minidiscs (which is twelve CDs worth of music). Considering how long I've had to remedy this, it's SAD. Besides, after three weeks of almost nothing but Gackt and Judy and Mary in my ears, I'm getting desperate for some GLAY... and everything else. And Mel lent me some lovely music that I didn't get to buy myself, so I'm almost down to the last minidisc now. I'll have to buy more next weekend.
It's been GORGEOUS outside... I sat on the lawn in front of the Atrium on Friday and read in the sun, then got sleepy until Mel dropped off a bottle of bubble solution, yay! So I sat for an hour and blew bubbles, much to the amusement of whoever happened by. Yesterday we all went out for dinner at Ham's, which makes me happy because they have deep-fried potato chips like Dad used to make (and the best burgers-- slaw and chili and onions and mustard, just like EVERY sandwich ought to have). We watched cartoons till the wee hours of the morning, too, and I managed to devour a tidy amount of Transformers comics and the whole Danger Girl graphic novel somewhere in the course of the evening. I'm really loving the new Transformers comic-- it's a blast to read. Optimus Prime was always my absolute favorite character when I was little, and he still is. It's kinda weird, because reading those comics made me feel like I was six years old and watching cartoons at six AM all over again.
So of course I can't wait for the next issue.... ^_^
And I just realized this very moment that I FORGOT TO CALL DIANA. I know you won't be reading this for at least several days, dear (I'll be surprised if you get to the computer sooner!), but I'm so sorry!!! I had company, and got totally distracted. I will buy a calling card, though, and give you a ring as soon as I can, okay? (Assuming I can call your house and get the number from your parents.) In the meantime, I am thinking of you and very much wishing I was there!
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Photos are ready to upload. Computer is ready to be tampered with. Homework is ready to be printed (sometime this weekend... not now!) And what have I been doing since I realized that I have all of tomorrow to accomplish all this?
Reading FFVII fics, that's what. Eeeesh. I can't be totally disgusted with myself-- I managed to find GOOD ones, and got a few nifty ideas of my own to boot. Now, I just need to fix the Classic application so that I will have a WORD PROCESSOR again....
And before I forget... I feel your pain. About the sushi craving and the wanting Asia to land in Asheville, that is... XD LJ wouldn't let me see the search results, since I'm not a member. Geh.
N, dearest, if you are reading this anytime soon-- *points frantically at the Shiroi Heya link on the left* The blurb I just read about Gackt and Hyde made me shriek with laughter. Who's surprised, eh?
And the fact that GLAY is giving a concert in China is enough on its own to make me want to sell everything I own and get tickets. The fact that Gackt will possibly also be performing makes crawling inside a FedEx box addressed to Beijing an attractive possibility. Takuro AND Gackt... *brain blows a fuse* Too much musical genius for me to handle, that. Heee.
Maybe I'll make more sense tomorrow. Er, later today.
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This is for anyone who absolutely can't wait to see some photos... I recommend right-clicking on the link and using 'Save Target As', though, because it's a giant picture and I was too tired to bother shrinking it down to size. (It's Kashihara Shrine, in case you're curious. One of my new favorite places.)
Lesson learned: Photo CDs /do/ save loads of time; however, going through and re-saving all those files as JPEGs so I can re-open them in Photoshop is a PAIN IN THE ASS. (Doesn't help when the CD comes with its own 'handy-dandy' image-editing program that needs installing and a restart before you can do anything with it....)
But I didn't have to scan them all one by one... so I'm still happy about it!
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......
*Glares daggers at CD-ROM drive in the Gateway tower*
...I HATE relying on this computer.
Well, it appears that my attempts to load up some photos will not be successful in the near future, because the disk drives in this monster are 'not ready'. So, no photoCD goodness today. *Sighs* Anyway. Nice to be home, though. VERY nice. Wish I could stay a week instead of three days, that's for sure. We had shrimp and pasta and squash fritters and daquiris for dinner last night, and Steph and I watched old (and new) craptacular movies. And I got to rifle through all my photos! They really did come out well, for the most part-- I'm only sorry I didn't take more with my APS camera, because Fuji paper makes all the difference in the world.
I better see what can be done about this CD-ROM 'problem'. Hopefully it will be fixable....
And it's really weird, being home. I left so fast when I got back from Japan, it still feels like summer break (except for the fact that it now feels like the beginning of fall in the mountains, which is even better). It's such a beautiful day outside. I wish I could go hiking tomorrow.
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...I'm still not done with my Flash project, and it's due tomorrow at 3. For once, I'm in the curious position of not having something done on time through no fault of my own. It is very odd. Since I do not own Flash MX, there's nothing I can do about it right now; thus there is still time for me to blog. But I did work hard on it... just our luck that last weekend the lab was closed for re-imaging the computers. Gar.
I get to go HOME on Friday! *insert happy dance here* And Ai will be there, and Steph and Rene and Jamie and Mom will make WAFFLES and I get to see my puppy and sleep in a sunny quiet room and go through all my PHOTOS! And since I got them put on CDs, it doesn't matter that my scanner is currently out of commission-- I can still post and send them to anyone who asks. Shweeee.
Today was a day to wish for bar-going with Naini. Even though I'm doing my damnedest to NOT catch my roomie's cold, I wanted more than anything to be sitting at a little table with her in Osaka or Nara and drinking wine or maybe gin-tonic and watching everything pass by. Do you ever have days where you just wish you could have a really interesting, relevant conversation with someone? Steph? Sometimes I could just kill for someone to talk to about the rest of the world. (Well, someone who doesn't cost a fortune to call, that is....)
Upon hearing me obsess yet again over the end results of my photographic adventures in Japan, Mom finally told me that the staff at the camera store had nothing but admiration for the photos they developed. Since it's a professional camera shop, I figured that meant I got SOMEthing good outta all those rolls.
I need hot chocolate.
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Just When You Thought She'd Leave Well Enough Alone...
You know, sometimes you really can brush up on your Japanese by translating lyrics. (Or by reading someone else's...) *happy grin*
I'd go on and on forever about Gackt's lyrics, but I think Cat's explanations are probably far more eloquent than anything I could come up with at two-thirty in the morning (and my explanations suck toothlessly anyway). I will simply reiterate, I adore the way the Japanese language works.
...And Camui Gackt is a musical genius. Goodnight!
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current music: DJ Lithium (internet radio)
I wish there were no artificial lights around tonight. The moon is high and really, really bright, and I want it to shine in my window and make the trees silver on top.
Mel fed me dinner; we both missed conventional mealtime. Now I'm full, sleepy and content (as long as I don't think about the million things I still have to do this weekend...) Time for sleep.
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Fun with Japanese Harry Potter fanart:
ED: *laughs* holy cow, Moody is PRETTY. what the HELL?
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current music: Gackt's MOON album on continuous loop
...And now, I shall talk.
God, almost two weeks already since I got home. Weeeird. See, I flew out of Asheville at six-thirty in the morning on the 3rd, so I had to get up bloody EARLY. It was like all those mornings when I was little and we had to get up at five to take Dad to the airport in the dark, and say goodbye to him at the gate or the door, only this time I was the one leaving, which was pretty darn cool. Hop to Cincinnati where I had a couple of hours to kill, then on to L.A., which was HUGE. Smoggy, too. I hit the international terminal and checked in at the JAL counters, and after I got past them, it was crazy-- see, since apparently it is written somewhere that ED shall always and forever try to do things the hardest way possible, I was flying during the week of Obon. Busiest and worst week of the year to try and fly to Japan, as far as I could gather from my horrid search for tickets. So I was almost the only non-Japanese person in that terminal! Not like I complained... God, was it ever great to see so many cute guys. It was like an oasis in the desert. XD I did break my McDonald's-less streak by having chicken nuggets (American McNuggets! Nooooo!) because I was so hungry, but hey, I was going back, so I figured I'd make up for it sometime that week.
I have learned something: I used to not care which airline I flew; whichever one had cheap tickets that were /available/ was the one for me, right? Well, I have seen the error of my ways. Delta is faboo, and JAL is beyond lovely. Their attendants are so very nice, and they go out of their way to make sure that you even know where to go when you get off the plane, whether you have a connecting flight with them or not. JAL had movie screens on the back of every seat, so that we could pick our own entertainment, and they fed us and watered us constantly. Green tea... mmm. Funny how much faster that 11-hour flight went, not being all knotted up with anxiety and fear and trying not to guess what life was gonna be like on the other side. I sat in the aisle, next to three gorgeous girls who looked like poster ads for fashion mags. Watched a movie or two, plugged into the MD player, slept, and suddenly we were over Osaka Bay.
It was the most wonderful feeling ever. It was coming HOME, even though it's not home, but it still is. There's just no way to explain it. Not home like where family is, but home like where you just /fit/ and everything resonates until you feel like part of a song. And home was hotter than I've ever experienced! Obon, and the hottest week of the year. Yeah, I really do have some kind of twisted gift.
I only took a backpack and shoulder bag with me, and there are no words for how lovely it is not to have a giant suitcase to check and grab and worry about. I went straight to customs and I was OUT, baby! I bought a phone card, let my friends know I was there, and shot off to the train station. Happiness is me riding a rapid-express, with Hitomi and Judy & Mary to listen to. I changed at Namba, which was so strange-feeling because I walked right by the exit Naini usually uses, and I half felt like I should have gone up those steps and out across the street. But I hiked on to the Kintetsu platform and got the train to Nara, loving how easy it was. I got to see the sun set before we went under the mountains, and then it was full dark on the other side. (Still hot as fsck, though. Air damp enough to drink.)
And then I came up the steps in the Kintetsu building and Suchinda and Amano-san were waiting for me! Home, indeed. I checked into my hotel room and then we were off. We met up with Shimizu-san and went out for okonomiyaki (and chuhai, lovely chuhai, I was SO THIRSTY) and yakisoba, and sat and talked for the longest time. And I was talking back, and understanding more (still, not much... I'm terribly embarrassed by just how timid I was last fall). All these months of thinking about things, and reviewing things, and just plain getting over shit made it so much easier to talk. And how I had missed hearing Japanese everywhere! It was like jumping into a swimming pool for the first time all summer. Pronunciation that had been in danger of becoming horribly accented was back on track. Not many people besides my friends ever try to compliment me on my speaking (because it really isn't very good), but I do get a lot of comments from strangers on my pronunciation. 'Hatsuon ga kirei desu ne!' I still don't quite believe them (because you never can, unless you KNOW it's true), but I do love that most people can't tell I'm an American just by listening to my speech. It's kinda cool. :p
I'm winding down already... gah. But I got to do SO much in just five days; I would never have believed that I could get so much crammed into such a short vacation. I saw Naini (!!!!!!), saw my classmates, went to the Festival of Lights, hiked in Asuka (and got a truly heinous sunburn as a souvenir), went shopping (more like dashing) through Gion and Shijo with my sempai, went to museums and temples and on walks and ate and ate and ATE when I'd been steeling myself all along for living off of onigiri, juice and bento the whole time. Never, ever underestimate the dedication of Amano-san, I have learned. And also, even if one does not have /definite/ plans, never, EVER tell her you have none at all! Because she made them for me, you better believe it. I was lucky to escape with Friday in Kyoto; they even wanted me to come back to Nara for lunch! Which, sadly, was just not feasible, not if I wanted to spend more than three measly hours in Kyoto. And I certainly did. Hell, I never want to leave Kyoto, no matter how many times I go back. I really think that's where I need to live. It's perfect on so many levels, in so many ways, and everything about the city makes me happy. It wraps around me every time and I can just feel it, like a soft old t-shirt or the little black dress that fits just right.
And we ate at the same McDonald's, Steph! (Yeah, I'm silly. I still can't get over that. I think I shall make a tradition of it. Leaving Japan, must go to Shijo-douri McDonald's and get heaps of McNuggets.)
...What, you think I'm not going back again? Pssssht. And again, and again and again and hell, I'm just gonna STAY. (Only next time, I'm gonna do it right and go in the spring or late fall, and take a nice long trip to Yokohama so I can visit Sanae and then take the shinkansen to Kyoto, where I will refuse to budge until I have glutted myself on temples and hikes in the mountains.)
More to come. Promise!
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I think I should have spent the last hour reading for PSC rather than flarking around with this thing... but this was more fun. Eheh. Now I have an hour until I have to work-- I think I'll jog down to Addam's and see how long the line is, because I need to buy two more books for my digital classes.
My computer sucks right now. Poor thing, it needs reformatting BADLY. I've got Fetch, so maybe tonight I can shove all my important things onto a friend's server whilst I install OSX on my baby.
I don't have time or the brainpower to go into trip details at this point... I'm too preoccupied with what I need to get done before tomorrow. Maybe this weekend, I'll unwind enough to ramble on about it all (I can't believe it's already been more than a week since I got back). It feels like I'm still in Kyoto, and at the same time it feels like I've been here on campus forever--which sucks, because I had a really enjoyable summer at home. Labor Day weekend can't come fast enough for me!
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Holy cow, it's been awhile.
And it's gonna be another spell before this looks any different... I've got jobs to do and classes to sort out before I can take care of this sucker (and yammer endlessly about my lovely Japanese vacation, of course). I'll be back!
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Noooooooo~!
If only I were a year older... a year closer to graduating (rather, HAD already graduated)... Working Designs sent out a call for resumes from college-graduate artists, interested in anime/RPGs, Photoshop/Illustrator-literate, and I'M ONE YEAR AWAY from being able to mail mine in with the rest of 'em. Disgusting. I mean. It's the job I thought could never possibly exist, not and have openings....
Excuse me while I go off to cry in a corner. And you, whoever you are that they DO hire, I hope you know just how awesome it is. ^_^
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KAFUUMA! (or, Fun With Disembodied Heads)
...I couldn't take it anymore; the damn thing just kept GROWING! It was like kudzu! So. Archived the beast, and maybe tomorrow I'll have time to make the nifty pic I've got in mind.
Or maybe I'll make something else, since this person has revived my unending amusement/fascination/whattheHELL?! with Gackt. (And thanks for the photo link, Writer; I'm afraid Nekkid Gackt shorted out poor Diana's brain. Fun was had by all!)
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What FFVII character are you?? Find out here!!! by
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Sephie: yeah, that got me
ED: actually, they all look like WK wannabes... ::giggles:: ...no, wait, they look prettier than WK. XD
Sephie: i mean, i could even let it go if they tried to interpret it as *spoiler* but he has blond hair i'm pretty sure
ED: but damn, Moody looks cool.... too bad it's not how he's S'POSED to look.
ED: yep
Sephie: just keep that image
ED: and Gilderoy looks like Omi.
Sephie: i just thought he looked like a girl--oh no wait you already said he looked like Omi
ED: and Lupin just looks like a little kid-- 'Molest me!'
Sephie: that's it we should market lupin plushes and that can be the voice message when you hug him.
Sephie: i think those would go over REAL well
ED: LMAO
ED: hey, Evil brings you weird-ass toys.
Sephie: Evil that Cares...to corrupt your children.
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