Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: "Sex Toys" search on Amazon
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On Tuesday, February 25, 2003 at 09:58 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Okay, so I was poking around on Amazon.com and I thought to myself "You know what, they sell everything but sex toys on here." Which naturally led to the thought "Do they sell sex toys on Amazon? Let's find out." So I went to their search engine and typed in "sex toys" (see link of the day). I want it to be noted that the second entry when searching for sex toys on Amazon under books is "Girls Can Do Anything! (My First Barbie Series)."

I think nothing more needs to be said.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: USe of Sentry Ward
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On Tuesday, February 25, 2003 at 03:47 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

A recap of the lost entry: I am registered for the GRE finally, after much struggle and renting of clothes and hair. Their website sucks. I am taking it on April 12th. Waiting at the DMV sucks as well especially when they show public service announcements that you are forced to watch for two hours. I changed my address on my driver's license and got out of Jury Duty. I am applying for financial aid, and need to finish my application. Life in general, is okay. My uterus hates me (and I will hate it very soon).

Finally, how much ice did TX get? All of our offices were closed in TX. And this is the systems that's heading our way... lovely.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is:
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On Tuesday, February 25, 2003 at 03:37 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Lost the entry that was supposed to go here. Dammit, don't feel like typing another one.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: The Six-Lesson School Teacher
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On Friday, February 21, 2003 at 10:04 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I'd laugh more at that page if I didn't have the sinking feeling some of my teachers completely missed the irony of it. Maybe they needed to go back to HS English class and do some more definitions of literary terms that are never really explained...

In other news, I am sick. Not sick enough to take cold medicine, so I won't get any interesting stories appearing as if by magic on my computer. Just sick enough that everything looks like a nice place to go to sleep. "You know, I never realized how soft that table looks" or "I bet the sidewalk would make a good place for a nap" or "This salad I'm having for dinner looks mighty comfy. Maybe I can steal a quick nap before the waitress notices..." And tomorrow I go to my mom's house to visit with friends from HS. I'm hoping that sleep tonight will solve the sickness problem. So, goodnight all.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is:
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On Thursday, February 20, 2003 at 03:34 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I want rant about spending two hours at the DMV. Later. Like when the agonizing pain is not so fresh in my brain.

Here's my good deed for the year. I figured this would reach more people than if I emailed it. Sent to me by my manager at work. I don't know how much good it will do, but I've seen the commercial in question and wasn't too pleased with the scene either.

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Hello fellow pet owners,

I hope every one is well! Sorry to clutter your email. Please forward this on to anyone who may want to see it.

I am emailing you today with a request to help me by protesting Nike's latest commercial. I've included a link below in case you haven't seen the Ad entitled: The Battle: Speed

http://www.nike.com/nikebasketball/v2/videopopup/index.jhtml?video=battle%20speed

About 3/4 of the way through the commercial, a Rottweiler and a Pit Bull are shown on leashes, lunging at each other as if starting to fight. As a Rottie owner, I think this is completely unacceptable to show in an advertisement. I've heard that the footage shown in this commercial is representative of what happens when people try to get the dogs worked up right before a dog fight. These two breeds already have enough bad air and controversy around them without a major corporation adding to it. I'm really not sure why their marketing people thought that shot was needed to sell sneakers. As someone who volunteers for dog rescues and sees how many Rotties and Pit Bulls are put to sleep every day for being "bad breeds", I'm very disturbed by it. If you have a moment, please go to the link below and ask Nike to remove this scene from their commercial - it's totally unnecessary to have it there in the first place.

http://swoosh.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/swoosh.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php

Thanks in advance for anyone who can support this!

----------------

Feel free to pass this on.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: YMCA: A tragedy
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On Wednesday, February 19, 2003 at 03:56 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I was going to comment on this essay that's been making the rounds on LJ. Some of it agree with, but a lot of it I don't. Yet the more I think about it the more I get the same hollow, empty feeling I spent most of Middle School and parts of High school with. So I shall ignore it for now. Besides, I've addressed a lot of these feelings in a story I've written. It still hurts, but I am no longer in that situation. As the Indigo Girls put it "I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind got my paper and I was free." So I shall move on...

Work has been work, only busier. Life has been life. I have found a way to avoid jury duty in my home county (which is an hour away and would be a pain to drive to). And that is, change my license and voter's registration to my apartment address. Which I should have done a long time ago, but haven't because I wasn't sure this would be my permanent address. Given my plans for the future now, it looks like this will be my home for at least another year. I hope. I'm also hoping anime tonight will help kill the rest of the mood that article has left me in.

And writing. I need to write some more today. That always eases my mood somewhat. Especially if I get to torture characters.

Speaking of writing, I posted a reply to a comment in my LJ that I'm really proud of. So I think I'll post it again here to get some other people's opinions. And I suddenly realize part of my entry got cut off somehow. Damn. I'll put the part (as best as I can remember) here.

Writing needs to be taught like an art class. Not literature mind you, because the difference between literature and writing is like the difference between art appreciation and drawing. You can appreciate literature (or art) without being able to do either.

In art class you are taught certain concepts like balance, composition, how to display your artwork, etc. Then you are often given assignments to reinforce these concepts: like the ever popular drawing something with perspective (or a vainshing point in the horizon) or drawing the same object in different styles. This is how art is taught.

Now imagine that someone showed you a series of pictures that used perspective. They told you that the definition of perspective was "three dimensional objects shown in a two dimensional surface." Then they told you to draw a picture using perspective and graded it accordingly. You got your grade, along with such comments like "This picture needs more depth." And then you moved on to the next concept. At no point are you given instructions like "Imagine a single point in the middle of the sheet of paper. Draw radiating line to the corners from that point. If you use progressively shorter lines as you approach the center, it will give the illusion of three dimensions."

This is how writing is taught. At no point does anyone compare two similar plots and then tell you why one works and one doesn't. No one ever explains word choice or setting or mood. You'll often hear that word choice effects mood, but no one ever explains how to pick the words. It is assumed that if you read enough examples of something you will pick this up. While this true to some extent, it leaves a lot of people floundering and is part of the reason why I think so many people can't write. They are never taught how.

I don't know how it is in art classes, but do you have problems where someone who specializes in still life drawing tries to teach a sculpting class? Because I got that all the time in college English. People who wrote a novel trying to teach poetry classes and such. I was wondering if the same was true in art.
And when I say teach, I don't mean just the basics either.

Thorne when I read your comment, I almost cried I laughed so hard. All I could think was "Good Lord! Mpreg has made it into the chocobo world!" Thanks for the laugh.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Sex Volunteer Corps need YOU!
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On Tuesday, February 18, 2003 at 02:15 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I think today is link of the day will be the first in a series which I like to term "Those crazy Japanese..." Because sometimes, if you don't laugh you'll cry.

I have spent the entire weekend and yesterday, which was Presidents' Day and therefore not a work day though with the inch and a half of ice I wouldn't of worked anyway, reading Hikaru no Go manga. All 148 chapters that have been translated of it. I am ADDICTED. So addicted, though I need to take a step back from it since it's all there in my brain at once. Give it a chance to push around, and be thought about, and settle into my thoughts. I need to stop gorging on a series like that. My brain is just going to melt under the pressure one day. Though as with any series, the next step is me writing fanfiction for it...

And my asking for help about Spanish has garnered all sorts of response, from old HS friends (Hi ROBBIE!) to people all the way in England. Flidget!) was kind enough to remind me of the two other forms of you, vos and vosotros. Which I vaguely remember learning about in the kind of "Yeah, this is still used some in Spain" before moving on. Keep in mind, my teacher was from Puerto Rico (at least the second year one was) and I don't remember where my first year teacher was from. I can't beleive I've forgotten so much... though given how little I knew to begin with that's not saying much. I'm one of the people that is great at vocab. and reading languages, but I suck at spoken words. I have enough problems speaking my native English, much less a foreign language.

Leareth, all I have to say is "GOOD LORD! $1000 for books." I think I'd cry (or do the "borrow and photocopy method") if I had to pay that much for books. I think the most I ever had to pay was around $500 and I complained the entire year about that. Those books better be leather bound or something. Or at the very least, the best damn reference books ever. Or written in gold. Or something...

Thorne, I hope you know that most FAQs will tell you that not only does it matter what color the chocobo is when you breed it, but what sex. So you'll get something different if you breed a male yellow and a female green, then if you breed a male green and a female yellow. At least, that's what I've been told. Because when I tried using a FAQ that didn't include sexes I kept getting... not the chocobos I wanted. I too wondered why, if the colored ones were so rare, why were they in the races. Maybe they were dying the buggers so they'd be easily distinguishable in a race...

Or maybe I think a little to much on these things.

White Cat, I'm glad I got your email. I was beginning to wonder if you'd sent that chapter to me and my email had eaten it or something (hotmail will occasionally do that). I look forward to reading it.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Cranberry Raspberry Breeze Recipe
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On Saturday, February 15, 2003 at 08:03 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Isn't it odd how you can be randomly going through people's pitas page and find something that someone has written that you sympathize with so much it hurts? So for some unknown reason in some unknown way (I think I followed a link to a link to a link to get to the page) I stumbled across Skuld-chan's page and read the entry that was up there (it's the Thursday, Feb. 13th entry). It felt lik I had gotten kicked in the stomach. Because I knew exactly what she was talking about.

I am a writer. I've been writing, seriously writing for myself and not just for classes, since I was 12 years old. I do it in my spare time. It's my first and most favorite hobby. Since I've been doing it for so long, when I got to High School, I was good at it. It showed. When I was compared to all my peers, my writing was superior and my teacher knew it. And so I got the same talk that Skuld-chan got.

Of course, the talk I got wasn't about fanfiction. I didn't know such a thing existed at the time. Oh, I knew that I often made of stories in my head using characters from cartoon series or movies that I'd seen. But I didn't know that people wrote those stories down, or shared them, or read them, or even that I would want to read other people's. This was pre-internet for me, so when the teacher asked "What do you write?" I answered "Fantasy and Science Fiction mostly. Romance too."

Which as far as my English teacher was concerned, was an absolute waste. I can only imagine what she would have thought had I added fanfiction to that list. That is assmung she could have gotten the giant redwood tree shoved up her ass out long enough to even bother learning the term.

"You're such a talented writer. You shouldn't be wasting your time with that. You need to focus on real literature." Thus began one of the major battles I have ever fought in my life. My refusing to compromise on what I was writing, and my teachers refusing to let me "waste" my talent on anything but "real literature." Needless to say, there were battles I won and battles I lost. After all, they were the ones controlling my grades. I had to cater to them somewhat. But that didn't mean I had to be gracious or even like it.

You see, I can write what I term "real life fiction." I can write it very, very well. In fact, I write more of it now than I ever did in High School (as long as there's some kind of yaoi/yuri aspect to it I can exploit). But I hate writing it. Loathe it. There's no degree of creation in writing about real-life. No mystery or sense of the unknown. It's there, it's common, and it probably has been done before in some way, shape, or form. Simply put, I don't like it. I don't like reading it, and I I don't like writing it.

Writing for me is still very much a hobby. I do it because I enjoy it, and if I don't enjoy an aspect of it, then why the fuck would I want to do it? Yes, I'd like to get published some day. I'd love to be able to share what I've made with people around the world, with people who can't or won't read my stuff while it's on the internet. But getting published is not a major driving force behind me writing like it is for some people. In the end, I do it because I find it fun and while I do thrive on deadlines to get stuff completed and not just floating in limbo half-done, I don't feel I should have to compromise what I do for someone else's tastes.

I write what I write. Take it or leave it.

That's not to say I'm not open to criticism. If someone tells me a character is weak, or a plotline is falling flat, I'm willing to change it to make it better. What I'm not open to is teachers telling me "I think this character should be a boy, not a girl, and make him more in love with this girl here. It'll add some dynamics to your story" or "Maybe you should leave out the fantasy parts and just have this set in a normal High School with the wizard as the teacher and the dragon as main character's dog." Once stuff like that starts happening, it's no longer my story. They might as well be the ones putting words down on a page.

Which is why I have never taken a writing class, and why anything I write for an assignment in an English class is nothing to me. High School English taught me that it's not worth my time to take them. Because instead of trying to improve my writing, I'll be trying to conform to someone else's idea of what makes a good story. Regardless of the fact that it might not actually make my story better.

I've gone to a summer camp on writing, but that was different. They didn't so much care what I wrote just as long as I improved it by the end of the camp. For them a Fantasy story was just as good as a Romance story was just as good as a Real Life Angst story. Never once was I told "Don't waste your time and talent" on any genre. To date, it is the only writing course I've taken and the only one I wanted too.

I do have to thank all these teachers and the misguidance for one thing. It helped give me the motivation to seek how to improve my reading on my own. It helped me decide what I wanted to write and what I didn't. It helped me learn to not compromise about my stories. In the end, it made me love writing fantasy and romance even more.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: #AR Blackmail File (3rd Edition)
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On Friday, February 14, 2003 at 03:39 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I am disappointed by the lack of me in this Blackmail file so far. Still, these are the people I hang out with a lot when on the internet.

The good thing about cooking with a crockpot is that you throw everything into a pot, set the sucker on high (or low) and have a cooked meal in 4-5 hours. the bad thing about cooking with a crockpot is that if you are like me, you have to resist the urge to go check it every 30 minutes. I can't help it. It's this very trait that makes it impossible for me to keep a cactus alive as well. I over mess with it until it dies. This does not bode well for dinner.

The town of Cary might not realize it yet, but they have a serious problem with one of their roads. You see, about two weeks ago I started noticing that there was water seeping out of a crack in the middle of the road. At first, I thought it was rain or ice or something in the crack. Then I noticed that no matter when I drove on this piece of road, there was always water seeping out of this crack. It's not flowing in large amounts or anything, but it is coming out.

This means one of two things. Either there's a pipe under the road that has developed a slow leak and the water is escaping through a crack in the road caused by the recent cold spells. If that's the case, then another hard freeze or two and the pipe could burst and that would be a mess. Or it could mean that there's a natural spring that's welling up under the road. In the American Southwest, such things are easy to spot. I mean, you're wandering around in dry desert and suddenly you spot trees and irises or cattails or water seeping down a cliffface. That's a good sign that there's a spring. In the American Southeast the only way you know you've got a small spring is when you're walking along and suddenly you step into ankle deep muck.

Either way, it's not going to be long before the road is going to get much worse. Potholes, cracks, etc. especially with the ice coming this weekend.

I am not looking forward to driving to work Tuesday.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Crab vs Pipe: FIGHT!
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On Thursday, February 13, 2003 at 04:37 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

The page and video are VERY slow loading. But it's worth it. In the future, I shall not make fun of anyone's Spanish until I can spell in it myself ("Mi llamo" should be "Me llama"). I am tired having cleaned the dining room, which has never been used for eating since my roomie and I moved into this apartment. Valentine's Day surpise partially bought. Valentine's Day smut fic not typed up. Short entry. Life, in general, is good.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Invisibility Cloak
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On Tuesday, February 11, 2003 at 03:21 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Dear mind,

What is up with the pirate smut? WHY do I have ideas for pirate smut? Space pirate? Sea pirate? Why do you think it doesn't matter as long as it involves a) pirates and b) smut. I'm not sure I approve of this turn of events.

Tsaiko

And now, for those of my readers which know Spanish. I know there are two forms of the pronoun you: tu, which is informal and usted, whichis formal. I was taught that you used tu for friends, family, etc. and usted to anyone you didn't know or that you needed to show respect for/to (like teachers). So the other day I was going through the drive thru at McDonald's and like I always do, attempting to read the sign in Spanish. It at least keeps part of my vocabulary in shape. On the sign, they were using the tu form. Now maybe it's just me, but wouldn't the usted form be more appropriate in a business setting? Respect for the customers and such? Could someone with more than two years of Spanish help me out now?

Speaking os Spanish... I was watching some clips of Season 2 Digimon in the original Japanese. there was one clip that really caught my ear. It's the one where Ken and... Matt is it? wind up in Mexico with the little girl. In it, Ken speaks a Spanish line or two. Specifically he says "Yo soy Ken" which literally translates to "I am Ken." Which sounds fine translated, but I was always taught to say "Mi nombre es..." or "Mi llamo..." (I think. It's been awhile for the last one). So saying "Yo soy Ken" is the equivalent of saying "I am the Ken." Again, someone with more than two years of Spanish might want to support or deny this.

And I think that's it for today. Time to go get my laundry.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: The Candy Train
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On Monday, February 10, 2003 at 03:16 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

So this weekend I found myself on the wonderful campus of University of Maryland which is just outside of Washington, DC. I was there watching my sister play in a volleyball tournament. Well, in reality, I agreed to go up there because I thought I might be able to ride the Metro into DC and visit theSmithsonian. Especially since I know they have started redone their Gem and Mineral displays. I wanted to see them because I missed going to see them with the Geology Club a few years back. I was going to announce all this Thursday andFriday so I could get up with a few people in the DC area, but I wound up forgeting on Thursday and running out of time Friday. My mom came by to pick me up early.

Getting to the DC area was really rather boring. I had been told that there would be snow. There was no snow up into Richmond and which point if you looked in the shadows you saw a little bit of snow. By the time we got to DC, the snow in the shadows had become about three to four inches of snow. Luckily, all the road were clear and we managed to time it so that we missed rush hour in both Richmond and DC. Life was good.

There are three things you need to know when going onto the University of Maryland's campus. One, everyone will give you directions based on the big "M." My mom and I finally figured out that the big "M" was located in the huge traffic circle as you come onto campus. I'm sure it's a very lovely, visible M. However, when buried under four inches of snow the big "M" becomes just another large white patch. Which makes it very difficult to follow directions given to you by students.

Two, it is my firm beleif that the reason one of the colors of the University of Maryland is red is because on the campus every 20 feet there is a stop sign. Everywhere there's a crosswalk, there's a stop. Everywhere that a student might decide to step into the street, there is a stop sign. I figure that this is because unlike in the South where most people will stop if you step out in front of them, students would become large speedbumps if not for the stop signs.

Three, the building known as the Armory is not on any of the campus maps posted at every entrance except the one that you will use. In order to find said building you'll have to ask for directions from one of the free roaming students on campus. Which inevitably contains the phrase "Go to the Big M..."

My sister's team came in third our of 9. There was supposed to be about 18 teams there, but with the snow up north a bunch of teams couldn't make it. I watched most of the games, only venturing outside once and writing for the rest of the time. I was hoping to work on something nice anf fluffy for Valentine's day. Maybe Digimon or Yami No Matsuei. So what did I get written? Eight pages of strenge nightmare/dream culminating is a graphic oral sex scene. I do not remember putting in an order for this. I would distinctly remember if I had put in an order for that.

Sunday was the real treat for me. Three whole hours spent in the fossil and geology parts of the Smithsonian. AND I STILL DIDN"T GET TO SEE IT ALL! They've really redone a lot of the early fossil displays up until and including the dinosaurs. They have a knew section on early plants (mostly from the Carboniferous age) and a whole part dedicated to ancient seas. My only problem is that they haven't gotten to the mammal fossils yet. And I completely missed the pterosaur sections. But if you get a chance, go eat at the Fossil Cafe. The food is EXCELLENT (if pricey).

But the highlight is the gem and minerals. The Hope Diamond it beautiful and the examples of minerals are gorgeous. I think I wandered from display to display in this euphoric daze. I would have satyed there another 5 hours if my mom had let me. I want to go back with all my mineral books. I want to relearn everything I have forgotten. I want to be able to poke in the displays or the collections of the Smithsonian to my heart's content. In other words, if they had offered me a job sweeping floors I would have said yes if I got to look at the displays all day.

The interactive tectonic displays were awesome as well. I like the ones where you can build your own volcano or earthquake were also really cool. I played around with the volcano one and made Mt. Rainier. I wanted to do the earthquake one, but my mom was telling me we had to leave. One thing I did notice was that "Build a Volcano" had begun to burn itself into the screen because someone forgot to put a screen saver on those. Another thing that kind of annoyed me was that in their information about current eruptions of volcanos, they didn't have that Etna started erupting in October. Need to keep in current.

You know, it's funny. Everytime I begin to wonder exactly why I want to go get a Master's in Paleontology or even why I got a degree in Geology at all, something like this happens. I wind up falling in love with those subjects all over again.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: FF Tribue - Chocobo Mix
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On Thursday, February 6, 2003 at 02:30 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

It is COLD! And it is sleeting outside. I did not call for sleet instead of rain today. Who changed the weather without my approval? I am not amused.

Why is it that I always get the urge to write when sitting in my car? I was sitting in my car waiting for friend's to arrive so we could have lunch, and suddenly, I wanted to write. I wanted to write so badly I could taste it. So I dug around and found a pencil (which I swear multiply in my car while I'm not looking) and some paper. Not the back of an envelope like I ususally have to settle with, but an actual piece of paper that had an order from when I got my family drive through food. And I started working on a Digimon fic I'm working on.

Writing in cars is nothing new for me. Part of the Tasuki/Chichiri was written when my car broke down in front of the porn shop one Fourth of July weekend. Bits and pieces of various other stories have gotten their start in the car as well, usually when it breaks down or I'm waiting for some one. I also do a lot of writing when I'm waiting for my car to be serviced.

Now this illustrates one of my problems when I write. If I get the urge to write, I will write anywhere on anything. And once it's down on paper, that's it. I can't re-write it, because after that it's out of my head. Gone. POOF! And so if I lose it then there is no doing it over. I might as well shoot the story, because there is no hope. It's what happened with Ani. It's what almost happend to "One of Those Days" but I managed to save it (though sans the part that was supposed to go between the 4th and 5th part). And it's happened to many of my fanfics whose parts were lost when my hard drive ate my fanfic folder a few years back.

Which is how the "Almighty Notebook of Yaoi" was born. It's not actually a notebook, it's a binder. I take it to anime every time and work a little on my stories. Everything gets put back in that notebook once I've typed it up. And I love it. It's great. It's wonderful.

Too bad I still manage to get inspired when it's not around. -_-

Vel, I have no idea where the kitty is. After we put the note on the guy's door, she disappeared. Poof! I just hope she's okay where ever she is.

And Lunar when I read your latest post at post at the Great Conjunction, I thought for sure you said "G-string samarai." My brain produced all sorts of interesting mental images before I could re-read that sentence and confirm that it was "6-string samarai" instead. I worry about my mind sometimes...

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Making Screentones in Photoshop
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On Tuesday, February 4, 2003 at 02:49 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

This will be an entry of social blogging. Much responding to do. I usually wait until it piles up before I start saying stuff. That's because a) sometimes I need to think about stuff before it makes enough sense in my head to be written down, b) I need to do more research, and most likely c) I keep forgetting to reply. Yeah, I'm slow sometimes. So here we go...

Flidget sometime ago you made a comment about the Crown of Stars series Kate Elliott being much better than the Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling. I don't remember the exact details (since I can't find an archive of your entries). I beleive it was in response to a rant I made on Oct. 15th . Okay, I did not realize it was so long ago and now I feel really stupid for not responding earlier. Anyways, I want to clear up a misconception. I like Kate Elliott. She is a much better read than Lynn Flewelling. A much harder read to be sure, but a much better read. Reading Lynn Flewelling's books is like brain candy. They're fun and there, but there is not a lot of depth. Kate Elliott's series is so very, very detailed. Though the side stories and characters sometimes makes it hard to figure out where she's going with stuff.

White Cat, I got your email and have sent a reply. And I agree with your that, if not the Queen of Mary Sues, Anita Blake is just a bad handling of a character. I couldn't get past the first two books before I just gave up. And I heard that the latest book was just a sex/shock fest and forget anything else.

However, I don't think that a character has to be idealized for people to be able to sympathize or relate to them. I think you can have a perfectly normal main character that is interesting as long as you put them in interesting situations. Obviously, no one wants to read about Joe Schmuck waking up, getting his coffee and reading his paper in the morning. But reading about Joe Schmuck finding that his wish of "I just want to be left alone" has been taken literally and all the people in the world are gone except for a single samarai that he finds injured on his doorstep... now that people will read.

I guess I've read too many stories where people use the idealization of their characters as a crutch. They don't want to take the time to try and figure how to make their character flawed or evil or an ass-hole and sympathetic. They would just use generic mold number #43. It can be done. I've seen it done very well. However, people would much rather fall on what has been done before then take the extra time to do something different and well.

In fact, that breaking of the molds was one of the things that attracted me to anime. I would never have sat down and watched Ronin Warriors if it wasn't for the fact that in the episode that was on that day the heros were getting their tails kicked. Up until this point, I had never seen a cartoon where the heros didn't always win. To me, their failings and how they dealt with them as human beings and not as mystic warriors was a thousand times more interesting than any knight in shining armor who always triumphed over evil. Thier humanity was what made them interesting, not the fact that they were idealized heros.

I also noticed that are discussion got mentioned over here. It's nice to know that I'm not just talking to thin air sometimes ^_^.

Catt, I'm glad that I am still able to out do even the Mystery Goo thought.

Thorne, I was never much for keeping journals in real life either. Not because I couldn't be bothered to keep up with the events of my life. As this page can contest, I can write for hours about absolutely nothing and not feel a pang of guilt about it. And it's not because the thought of blank pages frightens me. I like the cloth bound covers, the gilt edges, the fine crisp paper. I like the possibilities of what might go down on those pages. Which means I always have to restrain myself from buying the little buggers in bulk only to have them sit around in my room.

The real reason I never kept a real life journal is because it might eventually be used as incriminating evidence. What about this thing? Bah... it's no longer as incriminating if everyone already knows it.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: The Big List of Ways to Confuse Your Roommate
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On Monday, February 3, 2003 at 03:04 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I am so sleep deprived. I have been sleep deprived since last night and am still sleep deprived. This leads to absolute hilarity, but is not very conductive to logic, Which is what I was hoping for so I could respond to somethings White Cat brought up. Alas, I shall try for tomorrow. Until that time, I leave you with possibly the strangest, most disturbing FF7 thoughts ever. Be warned, R rated stuff ahead.

Still with me? Good.

What if in the FF7 world they made dildos with materia slots? Can you imagine the scenarios?

"Don't put the ice materia in there, the freezer burn got to me last time."

"Put the fire materia in baby, I feel hot tonight!"

Which leads to such questions as: what would the all materia do? And would you only have the steal materia in if you were sleeping with a virgin (stealing virginity? Get it? Yes, I know that's lame...). This is what my roomie and I were discussing last night. Making horrible jokes and laughing hysterically at it.

Then my roomie asked the question "What if someone put Luck materia and Chocobo Lure materia in there?"

And that effectively killed that train of thought long after it should have died.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: The real reason 100 duelists died
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On Sunday, February 2, 2003 at 08:30 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

What type of slash writer are you?

No, this entry didn't have any real purpose other than the fact I liked the test results. White Cat I will be sure to email you and become your slave beta reader if it will produce more Lazarus Child. But I think I shall do it sometime when I have not just come off of a nap and a three hour drive. Wheeee.... I'm high as a kite. I think I shall go write smut.

Must resist urge to sing smut song at top of lungs... roomie is sitting right next to me playing Kingdom Hearts... must not disturb any more than already have...

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Always have money for the coin-op
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On Friday, January 31, 2003 at 04:18 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Oh yes, I've been there when it comes to laundry. Not with the leather stuff, don't own anything like that. But there have been days where I was sporting the red plaid PJ bottoms and neon blue top. Walking fashion disaster I was until I got my laundry done.

I would like to educate the general public on a few points. Silly me thought these things were pretty obvious, even commonplace. However, it has come to my attention that quite a few people seemed to have missed out on this part of life's education. So now, I shall enlighten you.

Red at a light means STOP. : You would be amazed at the number of people who have failed to grasp this most basic of driving concepts. They tell me that people, and I myself had to go through, this thing called a Driving Test to get their license. I'm beginning to beleive some people somehow skipped this part and went straight to the licensing part. For instance, if you are trying to make a left turn and the light is red, I don't care how clear the street is or how far you can see, YOU DO NOT TURN LEFT ON A RED. It's RIGHT on red, and then people have the right NOT to go RIGHT on red. The next person who fails to grasp this concept and honks their horn at me because I refuse to break the law or get into an accident because they don't want to wait the 60 seconds it takes for the light to turn green can KISS MY ASS.

The boxes are there for a reason: Everyone I hope has seen a scantron sheet or has filled out a lovely little evaluation form. Now, everyone remember those five or six columns of boxes with headings like "Very good" to "Very poor," or "Strongly Agree" to "Strongly Disagree" and sometimes with a column like "N/A" or "Doesn't apply"? Remember those? Here's a hint: the boxes are there for a reason. They are there for you to mark in under the heading that most closely matches your opinion. They are not there for you to ignore. They are not there for you to make little marks (like X's or cicrcles or checks) in between them. They are not there for you to supply your answer in essay form (that's what the "Comments" section is for). Most importantly, if you make a mistake and check they wrong little box, THE PERSON WHO HAS TO INPUT YOU STUPID SURVERY/EVAL INTO THE COMPUTER CANNOT READ YOUR LITTLE MIND. If you make a mistake, please indicate which of the boxes you meant to check. Thank you.

Read the fucking question: Remember that "Comments" section I mentioned before? Sometimes, the section is divided into parts like "Things you liked most" or "Recommendations" and such. What you are supposed is fill in the section with the asked for information. Unless they ask for your job history, you should not talk about your 12 years in the field of nursing in the "Things you liked most about this program." No one cares. The person who has to input your half a page of your nursing career doesn't care. The person who will read the first sentence, realize you can't follow the most basic of directions, and completely ignores your answer, doesn't care. In fact, the only thing you have managed to do is WASTE PEOPLE'S TIME.

Phone Etiquette: One of the most basic rules of phone etiquette is that you do not yell at the person on the other line for the simple act of calling you. Especially if they are calling for another peson in your household. Especially if you do not know why they are calling the other person. Yes, they may be a telemarketer. but they could just as well be a prospective employer, a relative contacting them, or a client. Do NOT assume, because you may really regret your assumption.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: How to Hunt an Elephant
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On Thursday, January 30, 2003 at 01:59 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Link of the day provided to amuse my roomie. Everyone wish her luck, she gets to take a TEST tomorrow. Whahahahahahahahahaha!

In other news, the kitty is missing. We don't know if the letter we left on our neighbor's door shamed him into taking responsibility for finding her a new place to live, or if she's just been hiding wherever it is she's been hiding to get away from the rain. I put food out yesterday, and came home to see it still there. Only when we got back from TAAS, the food was gone. It might have been eaten by Missy (which is what we've dubbed the cat) or by some other stray. Considering that she always tended to come to our place at night, I'd like to think it was her.

Speaking of anime, I'm really liking the stuff TAAS has been showing (and that my friend's have been showing me: Naruto (which always makes me think of the phrase "Here be Ninjas), Azumanga Daioh, Juuni Kokki (it's Fushigi Yuugi! Only dark and twisted! And with kirin!), and Wolf's Rain. All very good series.

A VERY MERRY UN-BIRTHDAY TWIG. It's un- because I'm a day late.

Due to some of the scary hits some people have been getting, I decided to look at my own referrer logs. This is a lie of course, since I check these logs once if not more a day. But that just makes me sound pathetic, so we're going to pretend that the former is what actually happened. I was vaguely disappointed that the only good one was about "buying uterus black market". Therefore, in a vain attempt to get some stranger search engine hits, I present to you: HOT NAKED DIGIMON ACTION! TOTALLY NUDE! GABUMON AND MATT!

There are times when my sense of humor amuses me to no end.

Bless you, Neil Gaiman for the wonderful mental images of a coquettish George Bush being courted by Sadam Hussein.

Hmm.... need to get my Dancing Elemental Gnats layout up. Maybe sometime next week.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Hotels, Bureaucracy, and Soap
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On Tuesday, January 28, 2003 at 01:42 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

FUCK YOU WORLD! FUCK YOU!

Okay, I feel better now.

To start off, the little kitten I talked about yesterday? Well, she got into the apartment again today when I came home. I had my hands full of bags (ie my lunch) so I couldn't immediately catch her. She hissed at my cats, stumbled across the food bowls, and proceeded to gorge herself silly. I scooped her up mid-bite, and put her outside with some more food and water. Little cat ate a day's worth of food in a few minutes and about half the container of water. Which lets me know she's not eaten in awhile. Now she's sleeping in the box with a towel in it on our porch in the sunlight.

I'm going to talk with my roomie, and if she agrees, I'm going to leave a note on the guy's door asking him to call if doesn't want her anymore. Then I'lll deal with the situation from there. Because if she's not been sleeping in his apartment, I wonder where she's been sleeping?

I do know where she's been playing: on the low wall the blocks off our front porch. How do I know this? A couple of nights ago, my roomie and I heard this huge crash. We thought at first someone had hit a car. We looked out the window but didn't see anyone. I mostly forgot about it until the next day when I stepped out side only to find that my big terra cotta strawberry pot had fallen off the wall, smashed against our plastic chairs (breaking the legs and the seats), and broken on the porch leaving pottery shards and dirt all over the porch. I didn't think anything about it until I noticed little cat liked to chase birds along are walls. Two guesses as to what happened to my pot?

Also, my "check coolant" light has come on. Again. This is a problem because I filled the big thing (I'm really not a car person) that holds the coolant for my radiator in November. Now, it's saying there not enough coolant in it. Which lets me know I have a slow leak somewhere in my radiator system. Crap. I bet it's expensive to fix. Luckily, my mom has agreed to pay for the repairs. All I have to do is figure out how to get my car to the dealership and get picked up. It'll have to be over the weekend, because I'll need to have my car to get to work. Sigh...

I also have to call the vet at some point and have my own kitties looked at. I hate our current vet. I'm going to find another vet after this visit. Of course, I said that last visit, but this time I mean it! I swear! But until then, I have to deal with this vet again.

I hate my body. My blood pressure is going wonky. Half the times I feel to hot, the other times I feel like I'm going to pass out. A pox upon hormone surges!

White Cat I can't wait to read your response about Mary Sue's. I also can't wait to read the next part of Lazarus Child. Another one of my friends is addicted to it, and we both agree that Seth is the best.

Until later.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: See our Breasts!
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On Monday, January 27, 2003 at 01:19 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

There is a small, half grown tortoiseshell cat in our neighborhood that is trying it's best to be adopted by my roomie and I. She really is a sweet cat, very friendly. And last night, she made a dash into the apartment only to come fac to face with our own little tortoiseshell Nadia. The half-kitten hissed, but Nadia just seemed more inclined to sniff and figure out who this strange cat was. I think the reason was because Kira and Nadia were kept in a large, contained area with several other cats when they were at Second Chance. Needless to say, I quicky scooped up the half-kitten and put her back outside. Where she proceeded to meow and try and get in the window for about 15 minutes.

Not that I blame this cat. For one thing, it was very cold outside (around 25 degrees F), and her owner had her outside. We felt so bad that we left a box with a towel in it on the porch. From what I can figure out, the guy who owns her is trying to turn her into an outdoor cat. So everytime he leaves, she gets put out. The problem is she is not an outdoor cat. The first week he started this little project, she spent all the time outside on the windowsill of his apartment. Now, everytime we walk out she begs to be rubbed. She is obviously a people cat and is terrified of the outdoors.

My worry is that she keeps wanting to follow us everywhere, even when we go to the car. When we get in, she runs under the car. I'm afraid one day we're not going to see her and she's going to get run over. Not only that, she's often out during times when the temperature is below freezing. Which is really not cool considering how small a cat she is.

My first inclintation is to point a finger at the guy and yell "BAD OWNER" and then take the cat. But I can't. The thing is, I know the cat belongs to the guy because I use to see her in the window all the time. The thing is, I'm not sure she's his cat. See, he has a large dog which is his. I see him walking the dog everyday. However, I didn't see the cat until this girl started staying with him. Then the cat appeared. Only recently I've not seen the girl any more. Suddenly, the cat starts getting put outside. I'm beginning to suspect that the cat belonged to the girl and for some reason she was unable to take it when she left.

Still, I feel so bad for this poor cat. It's not her fault that she's not an outdoor cat. I hope things work out. In the meanwhile, I'm going to leave the box and towel out.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: The Fanfiction Glossary
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On Friday, January 24, 2003 at 02:55 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

First off, to answer a questioned asked by Cneko asked at lunch: baby rabbits are called, you'll love this, bunnies. That's right, bunnies. They can also be called kittens or kits, but I prefer bunnies myself.

So there's been an interesting bit of talk over on White Cat's pitas page about Mary Sue's and an LJ list called The Mary Sue Report. One of the things White Cat mentioned was that people started mentioning canon characters as being Mary Sues. She didn't agree with it, saying that it seemed petty. She also made a very good arguement about how most characters are idealized in some aspect, and that authors usually put some piece of themselves into the characters they write.

However, I think that you can have Mary Sue's in original stuff. I have read some books that the main character was so obviously a Mary Sue it was pathetic. And I know why this happens too. Because the oldest trick in the book is when first starting a story or even frist starting writing in general, is to use yourself as the basis of the main character. For awhile, you are the main character and the character's actions and reactions are your own. What is supposed to happen is after awhile, the main character evolves into their own individual self. Then you peel your psyche away from there's, give them a name, and let them merrily go on with their adventures.

The problem with Mary Sues comes in not when the author can't seperate themselves from the character. I have characters in my own stories that are ME. Hell, I might as well have given them my name. They walk, talk, act, and think just like me. However, I've never had them accused of being Mary Sue's. The reason? A Mary Sue is when the author tries to make a character into what they percieve to be The Perfect Character (TM). Usually, by doing so, they are trying to over compensate for their own inadequacies or are idealizing their own reactions to a situation.

This means that their Mary Sue's reaction to any situation will not only have no basis on how an actual person would react, but that the plot will bend and warp itself to cater to that one character. For example, let's say average Joe Schmuck meets a dragon.

Characterized in the most believable way: scared. Joe sees the dragon. Joe stares in horror. Joe craps his pants when the dragon comes towards him. Joe runs for his life, leaving his companions to fend for themselves.

Characterized badly, but still believably: tourist. As a tourist, Joe sees the dragon. His ming refuses to believe that it is an actual dragon. Joe hands camera to one of his companions and wants a picture of himself taken with dragon. Talks to try and dissuade him from this course of action are unsuccessful. Joe walks up to dragon. Joe is summarily eaten.

Mary Sue Syndrome: Joe sees dragon. Joe's companions begin to fight dragon. Joe is confused but decides to help his companions. Despite how much more experience all his companions have at slaying dragons or with magic, Joe will defeat the dragon at the last second just as his companions are about to fail. Joe is now the hero.

Now I want to take the time to differentiate between Mary Sue-ism and bad characterization, such as in the example above. Merecedes Lackey's books occasionally suffer from bad characterization. All her Heralds are be good and noble and self-sacrificing, etc. In other words, they are idealized to a point that sometimes it is painful to read. But I do not beleive for a moment that her characters have no basis in reality. They live, love, change, and die with enough realism for me to beleive that I might meet one on the street someday. In other words, I do not feel like I am reading someone's bad power trip when I am reading a Mercedes Lackey book. Just because it seems ridiculous that someone would wander up to a real, live dragon to have their picture taken doesn't mean it doesn't happen in real life with tourists at Yellowstone and large elks/bears.

So how do I spot Mary Sue's in books? I look to see whether or not they grow as people. For example, let's take Miaka. On the surface, she appears to be a Mary Sue. She goes to magical world, has guys falling in love with her who would die to protect her, is the savior to an entire world, gets to make three wishes. So why isn't she a Mary Sue? Because by the end of the series she's NOT the same hyperactive, genki girl she was at the beginning. She's matured. Sure, she still has her moments, but they are no longer the driving force of her personality. The situation itself is Mary Sue-ish, but because of her reactions when placed in it, Miaka is not.

And I do beleive I have rambled on enough about this topic. That is all.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Errant Story
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On Friday, January 24, 2003 at 09:01 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

It is 9:00am. I should be at work. Why am I not at work? I'm glad you asked...

So I get up, take a shower, and get dressed per usual. Now anyone who is in NC knows that yesterday parts of the state got anywhere from 1 to 8 inches of snow. In Raleigh, where I reside, we got around 2-3 inches a lot of which melted yesterday despite the fact it never got above 27 degrees. But the roads were mostly clear if you stuck to the main ones and didn't do anything stupid. The bad thing is that every moron who should have been at home decided to go into work today. Including one lovely gent in a SUV that went 25 wherever the road was clear and then hit the gas everytime he hit a piece of ice.

Say it with me boys and girls. 4-whell drive will get you going, but it can't help you stop. Last I saw Mr. SUV he had spinned out trying to take a corner too fast.

So I got gas, went to pick up the company mail at the Post Office, and headed to work. There were a few bad spots and I slid a couple of times. So I learned that when the light turned yellow, if I was on ice, I kept going instead of trying to stop. It worked, and I got to the Office only a little bit late due to ice and being careful on the roads.

Only the door was locked and the lights were off. No one was there. So I drove back home only to find a message on my answering machine telling me the office would open at 10:00am.

Which just goes to prove... something meaningful I'm sure. But if this is the start of how my day is going to go, I'd prefer to just be able to go back to bed. Thank you.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Bad LotR Captions
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On Tuesday, January 21, 2003 at 01:56 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

So the company that owns the office building my company is in decided that the carpet in the foyer and public areas (ie any area not rented out by a company) needed to be replaced. Now personally, I didn't think the carpet was all that worn. Sure it needed to be steam cleaned in the high traffic areas (like right in front of the entrance) but it wasn't that bad off. It was a nice blue-grey color with kind of a desaturated pink circle inset into it for interest. Nice and generic office decor. And when the owners of the building announced that they were going to replace the carpet, we all figured it would be with carpet of similar style.

So imagine my surprise when I walked into the foyer and had my eyes assaulted by the carpet they had put down. Words cannot describe the true hideousness of this carpet, but damn, I'm going to try.

For one thing, the carpet is composed of the following three colors: pale beige, dooky brown, and black. In other words, the three colors least likely to go with the grey-blue walls, pastel pastorial pictures, and white marble tiles. For another thing, the entire pattern is circles within circles. I am not lying the pattern looks like the Target symbol barfed on the carpet.

Then, just when I thought it could get no worse, I went down one of the side halls. The carpet was wall to wall tiny plaid. In our requisite beige, dooky brown, and black. It resembled the interference patterns you get sometimes when you scan pictures from magazines (or manga). It also has the wonderful effect of making you nauseated and disoriented everytime you walk down the hall. My place has gone from tasteful corporate to 70's reject in the span of a few days.

My roomie thinks that they go the carpet on sale. They had to, because I hate to think anyone was stupid enough to buy it at full price. Though why they even felt they needed to replace the carpet is a mystery to me.

In other news, my cat Nadia has learned a new trick. It's called "Open the door while someone is using the bathroom." After all, it's not like the person on the toilet is doing anything important. They must be sitting there specifically for the purpose of rubbing her. I'm dreading the day she does it to a guest.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Anime Omiyage MP3 Download
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On Sunday, January 19, 2003 at 10:41 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Engrish has infected anime as well. Sometimes with absolutely hilarious results. So on Wed. we watched the final episode of Gravitation that we missed last semester do to the ice storm. We find out about Yuki's past (the angst! the angst!). Shuichi does his little song and dance for the episode. All appears to be well. Then we get to the last scene with Yuki kneeling down in front of the a grave. It's a serious moment. The entire anime club is silent. And what is Tsaiko doing? Tsaiko is quietly snickering. When someone asks "What so funny?" she points out the gravestone. Soon snickers spread across the room, like ripples on a pool.

What does the grave say that's so funny, you ask?

"I hope to Heaven his soul is gone."

Given who was buried under that grave, I hope his soul is gone too.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Icon Story
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On Friday, January 17, 2003 at 04:35 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Is there any polite way to tell your mom "I can't talk right now, I'm trying to strip Bunny Flik from Suikoden down to his bare skin" without having to go a into long, complicated, embarrassing conversation about your taste in games?

Just wondering...

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Gonads and Strife!
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On Thursday, January 16, 2003 at 02:40 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Thank you to all the people who sent me their well wishes, both on and off line. My granfather has been taking out of ICU as of last night when my mom went to visit. I found out this morning when I called to find out how things were going. He's up and complaining of the hospital food. Which lets me know he's doing all right. From what my mom said last night, I have the feeling that my grandfather has been in the hospital for a couple of days and my mom never told me because she didn't want me to worry. I get the feeling the only reason I found out when I did instead of a couple of weeks down the road was because they kept him in ICU so long -_-;;. Oh well, I'll be able to see him tonight so all is good.

That is, assuming that it doesn't start snowing and icing.

I was slightly disappointed to here this verdict by the Supreme Court though not really surprised. The law grants Congress the right to set a certain and reasonable amount of time for authors, writers, etc. to get paid for their work before it becomes public domain. The problem comes is that COngress keeps extending the rights of copyright holders to collect royalties in a policy that's become known as the Mickey Mouse clause because Disney keeps pushing for an extention everytime the copyright for the early versions of Mickey Mouse comes up.

However, I was surprised that Neil Gaiman supported the move. I didn't realize that other countries had a 70 year waiting period after death while the US had a 50 year one (I actually think the US had an even shorter period before that). I can see how it would get confusing if the US was the only one with a shorter waiting period. Which makes me wonder, Neil Gaiman says the rest of the world, but exactly how many and which countries extend the copyright law to 70 years after the authors death? Might be something to look into...

Catt, I'm glad I could bring amusement to you and your friend. As well as provide Thorne hours of amusement trying to strip Mikage naked. And you say your friend is in NC? That is nifty. I'm always interested in hearing about people from NC who have the same interests as I do. So far Riku and Sora are being disturbingly quiet. It makes me wonder what they're doing while I'm not looking.

And somebody found my blog looking for "jerry springer does lord of the rings." Is there something I'm missing here?

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is:
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On Wednesday, January 15, 2003 at 03:13 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I just got a call from my mother. My grandfather is in the Intensive Care Unit of the VA Hospital. It seems he had a cold, and it was getting bad. So my mom threatened him until he went to the hosiptal. He was doing better but then the hospital gave him some medicine. Only he had a reaction to the medicine and his lungs contracted (keep in mind my grandfather has only part of his lungs due to some WWII injuries). Now he's got pneumonia and is in ICU. I'm going with my mom to see him tomorrow night. I would go tonight, but a certain cousin of mine is going tonight and I would rather be as far away from him as possible.

I'm suddenly not in as good a mood as I was when I started this entry.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Sex Ed- A Harry Potter fanfic
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On Tuesday, January 14, 2003 at 04:21 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

My life has been extremely boring lately. I'd apologize for that, except you people only have to hear about it. I have to live it. Dammit, I deserve an.... no. Nevermind. I like my nice, boring life. Especially since I just remembered why the most aweful curse ever is simply the phrase "May you live in interesting times."

Thorne, I'm glad you like the Mikage game. I went searching for more like it on the great Google, but all the ones I could find were in Japanese and most of them involved undressing prepubescent girls. Not my thing, country of Japane. Please try to have more with bishounen in it next time. Also, to answer your question about Weiss Kruez versus Ent sex I would like to direct you to here and here. Enjoy.

Speaking of games, a friend informed me that there is such a thing as hentai mahjong. At first I was o_O, but then again, this is Japan. I ran the idea by my roomie who's immediate response was "What do you do? Match up one boob with it's mate on the tiles?" Of course, being the wonderfully mature person that I am, this statement sent me into hysterical laughter. All I could hear in my head was the phrase "What do they do when you need a hint? Jiggle?" Oh the mental images...

Twig, I always had an alternate theory of why Quatre was so pissed. It wasn't because of the Wing Zero system. It was because the nice fansub people, despite the fact that there are several scenes with protestors holding up signs with his last name as "Winner," insisted on translating his name as Weiner. I'd be mad to if I went from a Winner to a Weiner.

Finally, the idea of Kiros saying "Party on Dudes" is hilarious and disturbing all at once. Thank you, Flidget

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Undress Mikage Game!
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On Monday, January 13, 2003 at 04:26 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

It's amazing how much better you can feel after a 45 minute nap.

It is amazing how nasty your mouth can taste after a 45 minute nap. -_-

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: I Can't Beleive it's not the Advertising Slogan Generator: Tsaiko
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On Monday, January 13, 2003 at 02:21 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I am cold. Very cold. My toes are like ice even with slippers. My fingers are numb. My digestive track feels like it was put through a blender. I managed to piss off my roomie and she snapped at me. I feel apathetic. My knees hurt from sitting with them bent and the coffee table is very wobbly and will probably need replacing and is the only thing keeping my legs straight so my knees don't hurt.. I have to cough up money in order to take the GRE. I have to cough up money for my application for Graduate school (regardless if they accept me or not). People in NC can't drive. People in NC have obviously forgotten the fact that red lights mean stop, thereby forcing those people who have the green light to slam on breaks and nearly have a car wreck. I'm tired. I'm probably sleep deprived. I've got two gift stories that I'm no where near completing. I'm supposed to cook dinner, but don't feel like it. I've got several projects which I should be working on, but I'm not. I feel useless. I feel like I'll never get anything done. I feel scared about not getting into Grad school. I feel like I won't ever get to do what I want to do with my life. I feel inadequate when I compare my life to other people's lives.

On the up side, my floor is clean.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Black Mail File for #acidreflux -Part 2
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On Saturday, January 11, 2003 at 09:03 a.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I have failed you all. Have you ever stuck your tongue to a frozen pole? Like in A Christmas Story? I heard, over the radio, a news story about a guy in Russia getting his... um.... penis stuck stuck to a cold railway station in much the same fashion. Only problem: I can't find it in print anywhere. Alas, you will not be able to read the story in all it's glory as my link of the day. Oh... the humanity.

I thought that Yahoo!Groups would allow a search by the name of the group. HA! HA! Ha! So much for not putting a link to it and making people search for it out on Yahoo! Groups. Anyway, I announced in LJ might as well announce it here.

Is it sad I just made a list out on Yahoo! Groups in order to have a place to post all the unfinished, unedited crap I have before it's published (or put on the web) so people will stop asking me "Can I read what you've got done of it?"

Wait... don't answer that.

In other words, I have a group. It's also there as a way to get feedback about what I need to change or any editing I need to do to the bits and pieces before I continue or finish a piece. It's still in the working stages, though I have posted one story piece to it. This won't be exclusively for fanfics. It will be for everything. Most of it won't be completed, or will be posted in parts and it will definitely be a rough draft.

Right now, I've got it restricted. I have to accept you before you can join. I don't want this to turn into a general "Wow, you're a really cool author!" forum or for people to turn it into their own personal discussion forum. I want it for advice and critiques and editing help.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tsaikosworld/

So I went and read all of Twig's Encyclopedia Academia. Damn, I need to rewrite the story set in her world. Badly. So many things I need to change in order to get it to work...

Life has been boring lately. I've been putting off doing my "personal statement" for my graduate school application (which, thank god, isn't due until June 25th). I've also been having problems getting the form for my references filled out. Need to email them soon. Need to go ahead and get registered for the GRE in April. I have decided to go ahead and do what I love rather than what I think will get me employed. Hell, I can always rely on Administrative job for income, but I only get one chance to do what I want to with my life. Which is paleontology.

I'm going for a Master's Degree in Paleoecology. Somehow having made that decision makes it so much easier.

As a side note, I should not be rereading "Good Omens" while looking for slash potential. I should not be getting a semi-plot for it. Aziphale and Crowley.... NO! Must finish Kingdom Hearts yaoi... must persevere...

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan
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On Thursday, January 9, 2003 at 03:36 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

And of course, not five second after I post the first entry of the day, I decide I need to do some social blogging -_-. So to start off: Twig, you have reached double digits on the rejection-o-meter. You deserve a prize. Would you like a picture (I can try!) or a story? I have one story in queue which was supposed to be done by X-mas (if "Slow as Hell Fanfiction" was already taken as a website name, I'd make it mine). So it might be a while. But name the univserse (assuming I've seen some of it) and I shall endeavor to produce.

Catt, I now wish that I am put in a situation where I can use the Japanese phrase "Sono kaeru o nameru na. Genkaku o okosaseru." (Translated to: Do not lick that frog. It is hallucinogenic)

No Ann, it doesn't appear that the Xander, from Buffy, appeared in Growing Pains though he did appear in other things.

Vel, you have an LJ? I did not know this! Note to self: Add to friend's list.

And that is all for today. I swear. Really...

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Hospital computer makes fatal error
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On Thursday, January 9, 2003 at 02:58 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

I was going to make a post yesterday, but the cable modem went out until around 7pm. So no post. And I didn;t get as much writing done as I had hoped. Got 1/2 a page of the Kingdom Hearts yaoi story done. Got a half a page done on the next part of the story based on Twig's Universe. Wrote a half a page on my own Urban fantasy story (started years ago as a short story, until it morphed into its current 24 page form). Wrote half a page on my oriental fantasy story. So altogether... 2 pages. Not a lot, but more than what I first thought.

Found out that there was a big discussion on one of the mailing lists I'm on about how to spell the word "Kaizer" (with an s or with a z). In Japanese, they spell is with the hiragana (is it the hiragana used to spell out the sounds of words?) that's romanized to "kaizaa." At least that's what I've been told. Personally, I think it should be spelled with a z since it's pronouced with a hard z sound.

All my preference for spelling aside, the correct spelling is Kaiser. The reason is that it is a Germanic derivative of the Latin Caesar (which I've been told is correctly pronouced kesar). When you slur the sound, you get the hard s (or z) sound instead of the soft s sound found in the Latin word. As a side note, another derivative of Caesar is the Russian Czar or, more correctly though less commonly seen in the America, Tsar or Tzar. Which again turns the soft s into a z sound.

Well, that just proved that I retain way to much useless information.

After careful study, I have concluded that most cool, good fanfic writers reside in one of three places: New York (and surrounding areas), Texas, or California. Maybe it's the size of population density of those places. I don't know of any other yaoi writers (who are still writing *cough*cough* Cneko *cough*cough*) in North Carolina. I'm beginning to feel lonely. Or like everyone else got a memo I missed or something.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Engrish.com
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On Tuesday, January 7, 2003 at 04:07 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Have I mentioned that there are times I hate the charaters I write?

Tsaiko: "SEX! S-E-X! You two were all for boinking like bunnies when I got the idea. Hell, you were making me blush less than three weeks ago. What's up with you two now?"
Riku: *yawn* "Wore myself out."
Sora: "Couldn't find the lube."
Riku: "Don't want to get sand up my ass."
Sora: "I have a headache?"
Tsaiko: "I hate you both."

So needless to say, the Kingdom Hearts yaoi goes much slower than I had hoped. Never fear, I will get it done! Cneko will get her gift. However, for all the yaoi I write/have written doing the sex scenes is like pulling teeth. I don't know why I have so much trouble with them. I just do. I think it's my inherent prudeness coming through. So I'm at the juicy part and trying to get there two to cooperate.

And the blogs are dropping like flies. Three on my list of ones I read have stopped after the New Years, though it appears that Natalie at Velvet Paws, which I had given up on, has started posting again. And... she mentioned me. SQUEEEEEE! I remember her for the wonderful X fic on her page called Wings. Possibly one of the best description and handling of wings on a bishounen there is. I also see she's got a Spirited Away fanfic. I can't wait to read it.

Note to self: add Natalie back to list of blogs you read.

Speaking of finding old favorite authors, I managed to track down some original fiction by Allisan. "Closing Time" is great, and the beginnind of the sequel "Not Begging on his Knees" reminds me so much of one of the parts of Twig's Knights and Pawns series where Brendan winds up peeling his underwear off of the airport floor. I don't remember exactly which part, so you'll just have to read them all. ^_^

And now, back to trying to beat Sora and Riku into submission. Maybe if I use a 2x4...

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Resumania
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On Monday, January 6, 2003 at 06:44 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

You know, I was going to do a long, detailed entry covering several topics today. I was going to discuss how I came up with the idea of Frodo in a sombrero and how Sam would be his love burrito. I was going to talk about how I should never be forced to call to two people, one right after the other, with the last names "Ream" and "Bent." I was even going to discuss why no one should have a license plate with the terms "KY LVR" or "KY FAN" on it unless they were willing to handle the comments that having such license plates would inevitably generate.

But I didn't get enough sleep last night. I was tired this afternoon. I took a little nap. I dreamed about Summoners and Ifrit doing things that probably breaks the law in many, many states. In graphic detail.

I have decided that I will simply forget about the whole thing. I don't want to know that said dream means. I don't want to know what my subconcious is trying to tell me. I want to go merrily on my way, content that my mind is a strange and slightly scary place.

I think I can manage that.

That is all.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Japanese Names
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On Thursday, January 2, 2003 at 03:57 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

In a strange reversal of how things usually work, I ask you to go look at the fragment for the second part of Twisted Cage in my livejournal. Usually, I tell people to read my pitas page in my LJ. ^_^

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Fly Guy
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On Wednesday, January 1, 2003 at 01:39 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Happy New Year! Welcome to a month of constantly dating your checks, papers, and anything else you might date with the wrong date.

Eat black eyed peas today. Lots of them. They bring good luck. That is all.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Precious Gift
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On Tuesday, December 31, 2002 at 04:23 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

Today's link of the day is put here for the sole purpose of permanently scarring people forever. I want this thing to put at least four people into therapy. I challenge you to not only read it, but to read it all. From beginning to end. You may not skip the sex scene.

Just remember, don't imagine the fic acted out in claymation.

Tsaiko's neat, nifty URL of the day is: Dave Barry- Getting to the Bottom of 2002
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On Monday, December 30, 2002 at 08:21 p.m. Tsaiko was slowly going insane. This is why:

You know it's going to be a Hellish Monday when the first thing you do as you go to get the mail from the PO Box for you company is lock you keys in your car.

Now I don't lock my keys in my car very often. LOSE the keys to my car all the time, but I very rarely lock them in the car. The last time I did so was my senior year of Highschool. I know it was my senior year because I had run down to the local store to pick up black ink pens to finish filling out my college applications. The pen I had been useing had died on me. I bought my pens, got into the car, and then had a sudden thought. So I dug around, found a piece of scrap paper, and doddled on it. Sure enough, the pens were black in color but wrote in blue ink. I went into the store to buy some black ink pens. When I got back out, there were my keys, sitting in my front seat.

I was not amused. Neither was my mom, who had to go find my spare and let me in. I got a lecture about responsibility. Never mind that my mom has locked her keys in her car dozens of times that I can remember. Including one stellar moment where my mom, myself, and the family Australian Shepherd Candy had to walk two hours from the park to my house to get the spare. I couldn't have been more than six or seven at the time, and it was dark by the time we reached the house. Oh no, I get the lecture.

Anyway, it's been over five years since I've done this. I knew I would eventually. I even had the thought several times over the last several months that I've worked there. This just happened to be my morning. I was even early getting there. Sp I had stopped to get a biscuit and drink of McDonald's. I drove to the Post Office, parked, and ate some of my biscuit. After a few minutes, I decided to go ahead and get the mail. I opened my car door and my car went "BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" Which usually means the lights are on and the door is open. I turned the lights off. The beeping continued.

Now understand my car has beeped for no reason when the door is open once before. The lights were off, the key was in my hand, and the car just sat there having a little conipition fit. It's only done this once before, but I figured that it was giving a repeat performance. I got out, automatically hit the locks, and pushed my door close.

It was only then that the little voice that keeps me on-time for stuff and (usually) stops me from being an utter moron piped up. "Hey stupid. The car also beeps if your keys are still in the ignition." I quickly looked at my ignition. There hung my tare panda keychain, it's pink backpack plain for all to see. The door was still in mid swing. Time slowed to a crawl. I lunged for the door, reaching in slow motion. I swear is was like a scene out of a AAA commercial. Needless to say I did not catch the door in time.

Insert several very not nice words here.

The next stage of doing anything stupid, after completeing the stupid act, is denial. This is what causes you to try the handle door even though you know it's locked. The keys are in the car. The lock is pushed down. The car is locked. Yet you will still try that handle. You will then go around to the other locked door and try that handle as well. If you are me, you will go inside, get the mail, come back out, and continue to try the handle several times as if you beleive the car door lock fairy is going to appear, wave her little wand, and magically the door will be unlocked this time.

The car door lock fairy never appears. Neither does the "Oh shit I left my homework on the kitchen table" fairy. No matter how many times I looked through my books, at no point did my homework magically appear between the pages. I've had earrings appear where I haven't lost them. Necklaces as well. Even rings. But never homework or opened car door locks. Obviously the little sprites that find things for me have limited themselves to jewelry.

But I digress.

So after assuring myself that, no, the door will not open on this try either. I started looking for a payphone. There are no pay phones around a Post Office, and the Post Office itself (and not just the open part with all the PO Boxes) did not open until 8:30. It was a little after 8:00 at this point. So I did what any person would do in a situation like this. I made giant puppy dog eyes at the nearest person who looked like they might have a cell phone.

It worked. This guy handed me his cell phone and told me to call whoever I needed to while he ran inside the post office. That's right, this guy handed over his cell phone to a complete stranger who needed help. I swear, if I could have air lifted a gift basket to his house right then, I would have. I called my roomie and gave her directions to the post office. This in itself was a small miracle. I am horrible at directions at most given times. I am even worse when things screw up.

Luckily, part of my brain was still working and she managed to bring me my spare key. I was only 30 minutes late to work. Everything worked out. My roomie deserves a big hug and a cup of hot chocolate for getting my keys to me quickly (even though it made her late for work and having to work late today). All is good.

Except the cable went out and this rant, written at 3:40pm got posted at 8:21pm.

Did I mention it's a Mnday?