Wednesday, March 21, 2001
09:28 a.m.
Warning: Major bitch-fest ahead. O_o*
Today was dubbed Feel Good About Yourself day in English -- we got back our essay rough drafts, AP practice comprehensive tests, and AP practice essay exams. X_x No, I did not do well. At all. And I am not exactly happy about it. >.< I admit it's partly because I'm used to getting scores of 9, and getting something less is a bit of a shock to me ego. >P But still ... I'm a tad frightened, considering the actual AP exam is in less than two months. @_@
I want to be a writer, but English is always the course I struggle in. This does not bode well. O_o But! I'm being resolutely optimistic (or stubbornly in denial ^_^;;;). I am not going to let this affect me (much). I feel like writing a fic right now, just to prove that I don't have to separate arguments into different paragraphs or address a fecking prompt to be a good writer. XD
And my legs hurt. Severely. X_x They've been sore since Monday because of aerobics, and it still hurts like a mother when I go down stairs. >_< I was talking to my mom about it last night, and she sympathized, saying how it was hard for her to walk after she gave birth to neechan because of the stitches ... And then I realized, my complaints are rather paltry in comparison to hers. It doesn't matter what I have to say; she just needs to say, "When I GAVE BIRTH to a BABY," and everything is put into perspective. ^_^;;;
Last night, I downloaded "Ai o Oboeteimasu ka?" by Sakurai Tomo (Mylene from Macross 7) -- or, rather, 5 out of 6 minutes of it. (Stupid transfer errors. >.<) It's a really pretty song, and I was looking all over for the lyrics -- then I found out that the reason I couldn't find them is that it's actually a song from the original Macross, by Linn Minmay, and is more commonly known as "Do You Remember Love?" This was just Sakurai Tomo's version of it. Obviously, I don't know much about Macross at all. ^_^;;; What can I say? I'm just an uncultured little otaku. >D
Tuesday, March 20, 2001
01:39 p.m.
So this is what secretarial work is like ... I just entered 150 names and ID numbers, and I'm still not done. O_o It's for the book drive ... That's right, it's P-chan the social crusader. ^_~
I want to get home and read my new RuroKen manga. Volumes 24 and 26 -- "Yume no Owari" and "Otoko no Senaka." >D I love that scene in 26 with Tomoe and Kenshin. And 24 has Aoshi figuring out Gein's trick ... Waaah, Aoshi-sama kakkoii! *_* But what's with Watsuki-sensei giving us gratuitous Aoshi-booty shots? (Not that I'm complaining or anything. XD)
Ara, school's over. I've got to finish this list ... and then it's time for tutoring ... Yare yare, I'm busy. @_@
Saturday, March 17, 2001
05:49 p.m.
"Midnight Blue," Hayashibara Megumi
I haven't blogged much lately, and I probably won't next week, either. Neechan's here, so I'm not too concerned. >D
Poo. Anime was cancelled tonight because some higher-ups decided not to let us have an auditorium. >P We were going to originally have the end of the quarter party tonight, but something about Science Olympiad reserving the entire campus ... *growl*
I'm addicted to Neopets. @_@
Wednesday, March 14, 2001
01:31 p.m.
I was disturbed this morning by a discussion we had in History. Since we're in the middle of the Depression and pre-WWII America, my teacher brought up the 1939 incident with the St. Louis (I think that was the name), the ship that brought 900 Jews fleeing from Germany and was turned back by both Cuba and the United States. 650 of them subsequently died. If we were in President Roosevelt's position, would we have done the same thing?
Personally, I would have allowed them in -- probably temporarily, but I think they would have wanted to return home eventually, anyway. But so many people in my class agreed that they would have refused them -- or, at least, sent them elsewhere, like Canada. To be fair, there were certain notable circumstances: America was still in the Great Depression, or at least a recession; we had a law that set a quota for the number of immigrants that could come from each country, and had already exceeded that number; plus, the nativism sentiment permeating the population was impossible to ignore. But I keep thinking, so what? More people were leaving America (for Russia, usually) at the time than were coming in; it's not like we were overpopulated, or that 900 people would have irrevocably damaged our economy. Sure we had our laws, and Roosevelt had the imminent election to consider -- but we knew what was going on in Germany; at least, the government did, if not the general population. Since when are rules and politics more important than human lives?
Several people said that if we did let those Jews in, we would have been overrun by others trying to escape. That's a rather cold point of view. I suppose we shouldn't have soup kitchens to feed the homeless, then, because then we might have more of them coming to get some food. Sheesh.
Yes. I rant a lot. >P But at least it's gotten to the point where I can state my opinions in a sufficiently cathartic and truthful manner, and still be able to read them later without feeling bad for what I said. ^_^;
And this blog is giving me trouble. Dencity still won't let me upload the new layout graphic (I thought it was because of a size limit, but I've uploaded larger images before); Angelfire will, but I can't link to it. And I somehow deleted Monday's entry. @_@
L-chan is in trouble with the law. ^_~
And ... NEECHAN COMES HOME IN SEVEN HOURS! XD
Tuesday, March 13, 2001
05:54 p.m.
Riiight.
Actually, this writer is not your usual incoherently babbling anti-yaoi ranter, for which I am quite grateful -- I was not in the mood for that, and I don't think I could take the stress right now. >P
Having said that ... this still pisses me off. As always, I respect others' opinions, and I respect other people -- I don't intend this to be an attack on this girl. What I'm doing is choosing to disagree. Passionately.
Generally, this person is articulate and non-inflammatory in her essays, and I definitely appreciate her and her approach more than others I've seen. Several times, she mentions people's right to their opinions, and her own efforts to be understanding. Yet there's still this. Certainly we all have our off days, in which we are not as diplomatic or mature as we perhaps would like to be. I definitely have had that with my Soapbox. But the irritatingly condescending, and occasionally even self-righteous, tone I read in a lot of her writing bothered me to no end. This essay in particular exemplifies what I'm talking about. Open Your Mind, Open Your Heart is not a mandate -- it's a slogan yaoi fans adopted to symbolize their support for yaoi, and their hopes that other people will accept that. (No, it doesn't have a "pretty please" at the end -- it's a slogan. It doesn't need to. Do political slogans have that? Do religious ones?) And it is not a personal attack -- it is not meant just to antagonize non-yaoi fans, or Christians, or Iryl. This is probably unfounded and childish, but I find such an attitude to be rather self-absorbed. I know that those who I oppose and who oppose me are against my opinions; they are not on personal vendettas to get me.
I also see through her writing that her faith is extremely important to her -- which I completely respect. But one's beliefs are not necessarily the only beliefs. She has faith. That does not mean that others who do not believe like her do not. She mentions that speaking the truth (in reference to the Gospel) is dangerous because righteousness will anger the wrongdoers. Intriguing thought. But that doesn't mean that making someone mad proves you're right. If OYM,OYH supporters anger her, why doesn't that make them right?
I'm overstepping myself. I'll freely admit that my faith isn't nearly as strong as many others', because it's something I'm still figuring out for myself. But I give people's religious convictions the utmost weight, even if I do not agree with them. I can be just as rude and deriding as the writing in question was, as I said above -- but I always try to avoid insulting someone's faith. I consider politics or prejudices or even demagoguery under the guise of religion fair game, but never a person's true and soul-deep core beliefs. And when you say that you and you alone have the right answer, you are belittling those beliefs.
Oh, and homosexuality may be just as much of a choice as being a thief or adulterer or murderer -- but by that logic, so is being a writer or an artist or a mother or a Catholic. It isn't something you are born with, in the sense of skin color or physique, but just the same, the choice is not really yours to make. Homosexuality, along with that latter group, is part of the personality that defines each person beyond the common traits that all humans share. It is an inner call to love, like that which calls a person to the creation of art or the bearing of children or faith in God, a call so involuntary it is transcendent in nature.
*sigh* In my heart, that's what I believe. Iryl doesn't have to; that's the point. She has a firm right to her beliefs, and I admire her conviction. As for me, I will continue to support OYM,OYH, and homosexuality, and God, and my beliefs -- proudly.
Sunday, March 11, 2001
02:05 p.m.
"Pure Snow," Sasaki Yuko
Last night's anime was fun. >D Especially Jubei-chan. Bantaro was being totally kickass (Koinosuke, on the other hand, was running around screaming, "Dare ka! Sessha o tasukete~!" But I still love him. XD) And Shiro's entrance in episode 9(?) actually garnered applause. >D The end of episode 10 was Not Fun, though. I knew something had to happen, since there were three episodes left and it couldn't be all happy and resolved yet, but ... now I have to wait. >_<
It was definitely a night of character development in Saber Marionette J. Most of it was on the part of Lime and a bit for Cherry and Bloodberry, but we also got to see Tiger and Faust, and why they're not just evil-evil villain types (something I've been waiting for since the beginning). M-sama as a young Faust was fun. >D And he didn't disappoint -- we got his Tortured Scream©! XD
We also saw Castle of Cagliostro, the Lupin movie. There was a bit of confusion at the beginning of the showing and we thought we were going to watch Mononoke Hime instead, and when we heard that we were watching Cagliostro after all, people were disappointed. ^_^; Should've known better, though -- as another Miyazaki film, it didn't disappoint. I still didn't like it as much as his other productions, but this was, after all, made in about half a year. @_@ It was quite entertaining -- especially the roof scene. ^_^;
I was afraid my friend wouldn't really like it, considering SMJ and Jubei-chan have rather ... strange humor (^_^;), but she actually liked it a lot. >D And she's also interested in the music. What can I say? Hayashibara-sama is just a goddess. >D
In less fun news, however, there was an incident of plagiarism on the ML I'm on. >_< Now, I've never understood the mentality behind the cases of fanfic plagiarism I've seen -- these people obviously have no respect for the authors, or the craft, or the basic concept of intellectual property. It looks to me that anyone who sinks to that is not a "real" fanfic author, but just someone looking for attention and praise. *sigh* And perhaps the worst part is, they don't seem to quite understand why plagiarism is so bad. I somehow doubt plagiarists go out stealing other people's material possessions; is creative property just too abstract an idea?
I wish I had something profound to say here, but I don't. >P I just need to blow off some steam.
And Ruby-chan, you're so lucky! >D
Saturday, March 10, 2001
11:27 a.m.
"Dear, My Angel," Ogata Megumi
Lili-chan is now off to France ... to get more manga. >D
So I didn't end up going to the dance, after all. By the time I actually decided to go, it was Friday afternoon. ^_^; My friend's friend was at a tennis match until just about half an hour before the dance, and he was really tired and stuff, so he declined. He was really nice about it, too, and kept apologizing -- and even though I totally understood and was not offended, he still made me feel "better." ^_^ This was the first time I'd ever actually asked a guy out, so I suppose it was also my first rejection. All in all, not so bad. ^_^
It's too bad, though, because my friend wanted us to go since she didn't have any good friends going. But I think she was also trying to set us up. o_o She and I must have a talk ... ^_^;;;
We are still going to anime tonight, though! >D I'm not too sure what kind of impression she'll get, though. She's never seen anime before, and I'm starting her off with the likes of Jubei-chan and Saber Marionette J. ^_^;; To say nothing of the mini-production number the guys put on during the Jubei-chan ending theme. O_o
I started up a drawing yesterday -- I think it's the first time I've seriously drawn in months. (Curse you, AP ... X_x) I rather like how it's turning out, but there seems to be something missing ... I must get back to it later.
Hum ... and it's time for my new Soapbox. I'll put it up ... Just as soon as I get past the first paragraph. XD
Thursday, March 8, 2001
10:20 p.m.
"Successful Mission," Hayashibara Megumi
Yare yare ... the website I needed to go to for my History assignment took several dozen tries to connect. @_@ *sigh* The things I do for my education. ^_~
So I realized while surfing on the school computers that this layout doesn't work in Netscape. X_x Argh ... You crushed my dream in ten seconds! (Makes sense only if you've seen Chibi Maruko-chan. ^_^;;;) I'm going to see what I can do, but if I don't set the images as cell backgrounds, everything is crooked. And if I do ... I am thwarted by Netscape. _o_
Ganbatte ne, Lili-chan, neko-chan! I know you guys can beat History and Chem 2 ... and History and Physics. ^o^/
So tomorrow is Tolo, our version of a Sadie Hawkins dance. I didn't ask anyone, but my friend is determined to get me to go. She wants me to take one of her friends, who is a very nice guy; but I'm just not good at the whole dance/date thing. (See what happened last time. X_x) I'm dragging her to anime on Saturday, though, so it might be a fair trade. >D
Ren'ai comes home next Wednesday. Take cover. XD
Wednesday, March 7, 2001
09:08 p.m.
"A Song for XX," Hamasaki Ayumi
So I spent forever wondering why yesterday's entry never showed up ... and then I
realized that I had left out the code that signalled where to insert the
entries on my main page. XD
Ha. "No Adult Situation," it says, as Hiei crouches over Yuusuke in a pose that just screams S&M ... XD
Myra sent me a horoscope thingy for yesterday that said something about "getting rid of
someone who was dragging me down" and being in a "one-sided romance." ¬.¬ Dou iu koto da?
Iyaa! Yamete~! Chibi Soujiro army brings down Shishio! XD
Lilisin, WhiteCat, I think the hotel thing will be fine. When it comes down to it, you want the extra money for loot. >D I so wish I could go with you, but, alas, A-Kon comes about a month too early for me to go without skipping school. ;_; (Psst ... Lili-chan, congrats on getting sweepstakes! Westlake orchestra should always get sweepstakes! >D And neko-chan, I'm sorry about your screwy server. *patpat*)
Note: This entry is just going to deteriorate into a bunch of eBay links ... so be warned. >D
"2x2 ... Because there just weren't any more pairings we hadn't done." ^_~
RuroKen fans! And by Yamaguchirow ... *drools*
Gorgeous Esca stationary. Then again, I'm a sucker for anything Van x Hitomi. ^o^
So ... who's Fujioka? @_@
I love Fuji Shinichi's fairy tale series. ^_^v
For some reason, the Hiko x Aoshi pairing amuses me to no end. XD
Eh~! Someone's selling "Wanna Protect the Tomorrow of You"! I so desperately want that series. ;_; Let it be at Sakura Con ... Let it be at Sakura Con ...
Neechan comes home in a week. >D
Tuesday, March 6, 2001
07:20 p.m.
"Moon Revenge," Sailormoon
Ha! I am a GENIUS! XD I had been having serious issues with my layout -- all the images in the table had little gaps about 3 pixels tall beneath them (despite the fact I set the height and width exactly *grumbles*), which completely disrupted the flow of the design. The only time this didn't happen was when I set the images as backgrounds of the cell rather than inserting them in the cell (ie, to make the continuous little blue line). So I decided to try making all the images into cell backgrounds -- and voila! It worked. ^o^
The original image for this layout is by an unknown Japanese fanartist -- it's been circulating around the Net for who knows how long. I worried for a while whether or not I should use the image, since I had no one to ask permission of, but Riven-san and I agreed that it would be rather fruitless to wait for the artist to surface. In any case, I hope my use of the image is taken as a compliment, and not any attempt to steal it -- I certainly do not claim any ownership of the work. And if anyone can tell me who the artist is, I would be forever grateful.
I do so love this piece -- it's my favorite KawoShin image, without question. And the lyrics come from "I'll Cover You," a beautifully romantic (if not conventionally so ^_^;) song from the musical RENT. Since I first heard it, I knew it fit Kaworu and Shinji's relationship.
Eight days until neechan's return! ^o^
Also, as a former Texan, I think I should put up this little reminder. It's the anniversary of the Alamo. 65 years ago today. ^_^ (So what if it wasn't strategically important? It was heroism, dangit. >P)
... And if I have to put a shounen ai warning on this, I may scream. @_@
Monday, March 5, 2001
05:06 p.m.
Hamasaki Ayumi's "Duty" album
I am so enjoying my new CD. *niko* My dad finally caved and said I had good enough behavior and grades to earn it. ^o^ My favorites are "Duty," "SCAR," "teddy bear," "Key ~ eternal tie ver. ~," and, of course, "SEASONS." Good stuff. (But just try to sing along with "SURREAL." O_o)
That was the only thing I got when we went to Kinokuniya on Saturday -- had to give my dad time to recover from shelling out 36 bucks for a CD, you know. ^_^* I did, however, check out the new Animerica -- my letter (on shounen ai) is in there. o_o (That's two and counting, baby. XD)
Clark was the usual crack-filled fun time. Have I mentioned that the guys have taken to getting up on stage during the ending theme of Jubei-chan and singing along? X_x They know about squat Japanese, though, so all they can do is the "Sweet dreams and memories, forever, forever" part. >D They also showed "The Ultimate Teacher," a movie that demonstrates everything that is wrong with animation today. *koff*
I absolutely loved Jubei-chan, though. XD Koinosuke and Bantaro are hands down my favorite characters. Especially in episode 5, with Koinosuke and the assassin and their extended silences ... Every time that little rattle noise sounded, the audience went wild. ^_^; My personal favorite scene, however, was Bantaro gettin' down with the ukelele. All I kept thinking of was episode 95 of RuroKen ... "En, en, en, shami~isennn ..." XD
That was about it for anime (except for Saber Marionette J: Introducing PIMP DADDY OTARU. XD) I am having Serious Issues with a certain person, though. I was at the end of the row in the auditorium, and he actually got up from his seat and left a big fat hole in the row to sit on my other side. I was like, WHAT the HELL. Like that wasn't totally obvious. >_< Now I've reached the point where I'm not even trying to be friends with him anymore; I'm just avoiding him. Ugh.
I also found out that just about everyone else knows about this, too -- I'm told it started after Winter. X_x Yeah, right AFTER I told him I just wanted to be friends. They also seem to know that I'm not interested in him (please, someone, pass the message along ...). And I'm apparently good at giving The Look, as I've often done when this topic comes up. (Or so my guy friends tell me. I'm living up to my duties as a sufficiently intimidating female. XD)
*sigh* Whatever. Nine days till neechan comes home. Makes me happy. ^_^v Late reply to neko-chan: I didn't believe it myself, when I saw his name credited. Kinda like how I was when I found out Ogata Megumi played Aki. ^_^;;; And ... you're scaring me. Both of you. O_o
