*sigh* I finished Goblet of Fire last night, and now I have nothing to read ... Well, nothing Harry Potter; maybe now I can concentrate on Hunchback of Notre-Dame. ^^;;

As for GoF itself -- I stayed up last night to finish it because, well, once you hit the climax you can't pull yourself away. XD I'm glad I did, though, instead of waiting until school or something; I always need time after finishing a book (at least, a good one) to absorb it, and sort of decompress. Sounds odd, but I do. ^^;; Especially with this one -- it was doubly sad because for one, I can't just go and pick up the next book, and also, because with Goblet of Fire (erm ... highlight to read. Don't want some people to get themselves spoiled. XP) the ending most definitely isn't of the same light-hearted tone as the other two. You're steeling yourself for what's coming, and so is Harry -- I knew he'd have to grow up, and he'd been doing it for a while already. But GoF really shoves him out of innocence; and even though I knew it was coming, I sort of hoped it wouldn't. I wanted to continue ignoring Harry's trials and adventures as metaphors for coming of age, and keep thinking that the danger came at the end of the school year but went away by summer vacation. (Dude, I was even traumatized when Dumbledore couldn't do his usual fix-it at the end of PoA. ^^;) Is this what parenthood is like, in a distant and vicarious way? ^^;;

Still, everything that's happening is exciting, and makes you feel a surge of pride at our scrappy little hero. And I can't deny I cheered when Dumbledore told Sirius to contact Lupin. XD Or that I giggled when he advised the former to "lay low" at the latter's ... great time for catching up, you know what I mean? ^_~

Oh, and Snape. SNAPE. I WANT to know his past. >o< During the first book, I always thought he was a total jerk; then when I found out that he'd saved Harry, I figured he was okay. But with book two -- total jerk. And here I was, safe in my antipathy for two and a half books, until J.K. Rowling decided to dangle a little tidbit of information in front of us that somehow, there is SOMETHING that makes Dumbledore trust him -- that he's no longer a Death Eater, even if the little brats of his house seem destined for the Dark Side. XP And then he's sent to do something, something apparently dangerous but necessary, which he accepts without hesitation. Man, maybe it's a combination of all this and Alan Rickman's performance, but I'm really starting to like this guy. XD;;

Unlike Draco. :/ Given the new circumstances, even Snape managed a bit of redemption, but not him. J.K. Rowling seems to be leaning toward out-and-out villainy for him, and not just Gryffindor-foil. He's just not the same amusing twit he used to be. T_T

Okay, enough of that. I did do some important stuff today, yes; my basic game plan for tackling applications and other end-of-year tasks has been laid out. It's not as bad as I thought it'd be; still crammed, yes, but not as overwhelming as before. And look, it didn't even take a breakdown. XP

Also, in art, we're starting our individual paintings. I finished my sketch today, ready to start actual painting tomorrow -- with acrylics. O.o I am clueless with acrylics. Watercolors, at least, I have some experience with, but acrylics ... I hope I don't screw up my drawing, at least. ^^;;

*hugs* I wish I could help you somehow, but all I can say is ... I'm with you. Senior year can be hell. A different kind of hell than junior year, but sure doesn't let that stop it. _o_;; If it helps, you can usually use the same essay for nearly all your applications, the prompts are so similar.

...commence drooling at 10:42 p.m. on Tuesday, December 11, 2001

AAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

....

That was for various reasons. For one, I'm on the third to last chapter of Goblet of Fire. Yeah. >_< Also, it's great for stress relief. At least I got the verification I needed for my Iowa scholarship application, so we can send it out tomorrow -- see, you'd think that, having finished two of my applications, I'd be heading downhill. But the two colleges I did were the short ones. -_-;; Thanks for the sympathy/pity, to those who gave it. ^^; Oh, and I got my UW acceptance letter today ... Go me. XD;;

...commence drooling at 08:48 p.m. on Monday, December 10, 2001

I think I'm going to die. I honestly do. Two more weeks before holidays, and during that time the things that I already *know* I have to do are: write the final draft of my Senior Paper (by the 18th); write some sort of nebulous essay on French government that my teacher has yet to explain, but will be due Friday; my Harvard application; my teacher/counselor forms for Whitman (the actual application can wait until break, as can my FAFSA and CSS forms); register for the SAT IIs, send my SAT I scores to Whitman and Harvard, and do whatever I need to do to get CSS forms ... and if my English teacher makes us read our independent French novels before the holidays I swear I will ATTACK her. I also need to do Christmas shopping. Which may be the only fun thing off my list. I still don't know how I manage to get myself in situations like this. Neko-chan, Lili-chan, how are you guys managing everything?

Usually when this happens, I just need to have a mild breakdown to decompress. ^^;; Waiting as the pressure builds for it to happen is killer, though. >_< I'd just like to pretend the world doesn't exist for a minute ... I think I need to write.

...commence drooling at 08:39 p.m. on Sunday, December 9, 2001

Anime was pretty fun tonight, even though, like, no one out of my group came. T_T Instead of doing "Anime Exposure" for the first hour, we just watched extra episodes of Battle Athletes. Which is good, because there was a rather ... abrupt shift in storyline that we really needed to watch a few episodes of to comprehend. It's the end of the Cosmo Beauty tournament (I wonder if I should call this spoilerific, because it's so odd you might not believe me anyway ^^;;), and it goes from "try hard to be a good athlete" to "try hard to be a good athlete so you can save the world from alien invasion." O_o The transition from point A to point B is great, too -- Akari is running all happy-like to visit her mother's grave ... then she sees Mr. Miracle there and *BOOM*. And that was the end of the episode. You should have heard the audience. XD Then in the next episode there's the whole explanation about the Nerilian invasion and the athletic challenges used to determine the fate of the planet -- I swear it felt like reading a bad AU fanfic, watching it ^^;; -- but it was all fun, and once the premise was laid, it was cool to see Akari gather all her old opponents. Though seeing Ayla pregnant with her old coach's baby sorta made me go O_o, I liked getting Jessie and Itchan back. Seeing Kris and Itchan fight over Akari is hilarious -- if Itchan's not a lesbian in major denial, then she's veeeery protective of her friend. XD;; And Kris, the aggressive *koff* suitor, is played by Kawakami Tomoko (Utena). Go figure. XD

After that was the last three episodes of Initial D Second Stage. I really like the ending theme, so I went to AnimeLyrics.com to look it up. While I was there, I looked through some Ryousuke and Keisuke duets that sounded intriguing, and -- I swear it's fate -- one of the songs that caught my eye was "Feel Like a Queen." XD No, the Takahashi brothers don't sing that. But they should. *snrk*

...commence drooling at 10:47 p.m. on Saturday, December 8, 2001

Lili-chan, I'm on IM right now, and ... obviously, you're not. ^^;; Anyway, I'm going to anime tonight, so I won't be back till kinda late. If you don't mind waiting, I'll be on around ten o'clock (my time). Is good?

...commence drooling at 03:08 p.m. on Saturday, December 8, 2001

I have been surprisingly productive today, considering it's Friday. I'm nearly done with my English project, and for once I won't be scrambling to finish it on Sunday night. XD I am, however, also going to try to get my applications for Iowa, Whitman, and Harvard all done this weekend. Um. Yes. (And I actually have it easy -- most people I know are applying to seven or eight colleges, instead of my four. O_o) I realize that putting everything off is a Bad Thing, as evidenced by the fact I now have to take the SAT IIs on the last possible date to have the scores sent in for application purposes. X_x Please don't talk to me about papers on the French government; I'm trying to secure my future, thank you very much.

My friend announced at the lunch table today that he'd gotten the first episode of the new RuroKen OAV on IRC. O_O Yes, it's not even supposed to be out yet, but he's gotten it. Raw, naturally, but still ...! *_* Seisou Hen ... *drools* Of course, it's still not the Jinchuu Arc (XP), but the statement by the director seems highly promising.

Yes! They are SUCH the classic anime couple -- the good kind, like Ryouga and Ukyou. XD I really like this type of "romance"; I was leery, at first, of HP fic because romance didn't really feel right at the time -- and let's face it, the majority of fanfic IS romantically-driven -- but now that it's actually in the book ... the way J.K. Rowling's done it, it just fits. Highly unsurprising, of course, because she's executed every single other aspect of characterization so flawlessly. XD

As for pairings I'm not so enthusiastic about ... I haven't even really read AyaCere, Lili-chan, and I don't much go for Tooya x Aya. _o_;; I didn't mind Tamahome x Miaka, really, at least while I was watching the series -- maybe my system is only capable of withstanding one go with that kind of "epic" romance. Or maybe it's because, in the context of FushiYuu, Tamahome x Miaka was more ... not feasible, I'd say, but natural. And I haven't gotten to "experience" AyaCere. Only see the first few eps, and laugh at Tooya's pale abdomen. XD

Oh, and neechan, I read that review at Slap to the Head Fanfiction Reviews, and it amused me greatly. "Bow whacka chika pow," indeed. XD XD XD

...commence drooling at 08:19 p.m. on Friday, December 7, 2001

I'm having so much fun with Goblet of Fire. I just got to the beginning of the Yule Ball, and it's making me all sparkly-happy. XD I especially love Harry and Ron's treatment of the task of getting partners for the dance as something akin to the disarming of a bomb -- in both difficulty and potential mortal threat -- as well as, of course, their utter typically male bewilderment. ("Why do they have to move in packs?") I think my favorite scene, however, has to be the one with the entire mess about Harry and Ron mourning over Cho and Fleur, respectively (poor babies ^^;;), and Ginny and Hermione. "Just because it's taken you three years to notice, Ron, doesn't mean no one else has spotted I'm a girl!"

Ah, I love that pairing. XD

I dunno about the book, neechan. I mean, I do want it, but I'm trying to limit everything to my "top choices." XP In any case, Mom and Dad probably haven't gotten me anything from that list, seeing as I haven't yet given it to them. XD;;

Bit of randomness from my Calculus class, in which my teacher was telling us a bit about the integral sign:

"I like to call this the Magic Snake."
"We call that something else."
"... You guys are sick."

XP

...commence drooling at 06:45 p.m. on Thursday, December 6, 2001

Okay. I caved. I got "Hunchback of Notre Dame" for my independent French novel, even though it's five hundred pages and I only have a week to read it. And Victor Hugo is not exactly a quick read. ^^;; But I've been wanting to read it, and besides, Barnes and Noble didn't have any Andre Breton, which was my second choice. Here's hoping I don't do what I did with Les Mis, which ended up taking a few months, for various reasons. I loved the book, really, but I just had trouble finding time to read it. -_-;; But anyway, Hunchback is only a third of the length, so I should be fine. Should be.

While I was there, I was trying to find some of the stuff on my list to show my mom, but neither the Victor Hugo book nor the Harry Potter schoolbooks were there. T_T I did see the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings box set, though, and ... yikes, this stuff is so expensive. Even getting only my "top" choices would add up to about a hundred bucks. X_x And then, of course, there's presents for friends and family. I like shopping for other people, but I'm drawing a blank for a lot of them. -_-;;

Lili-chan, I'm sorry you're feeling so crappy. I know we haven't gotten to chat lately, but feel free to email me and demand my attention if you need it, okay?

...commence drooling at 7:56 p.m. on Wednesday, December 5, 2001

D00d! I just downloaded Luna Sea's "Rosier," and realized that it was the song used in an AMV I saw a year or so ago but could never identify. In fact, at the time, I thought the singer sounded a lot like M-sama. ^^; I guess I just hadn't yet learned how to differentiate between jrock-lead-singer-nasal and M-sama-nasal. XD

I also finished my Christmas/birthday wishlist. Here it is, for the curious:

Jekyll & Hyde: The Gothic Musical Thriller (1994 Concept Cast) [CAST RECORDING]
Selected Poems of Victor Hugo : A Bilingual Edition
Rurouni Kenshin DVD #12: Blind Justice
Heroes
Harry Potter Schoolbooks: Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

And my secondary choices, sort of:

Jewel's "This Way"
J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" boxed set
Harry Potter boxed set

What do you think, neechan? Is this reasonable? ^^;;

...commence drooling at 10:31 p.m. on Tuesday, December 4, 2001

Why is Pitas being so bitchy lately? >_<

Okay, here's what happened Saturday night, for anyone interested. After the play, a bunch of us went back to a friend's house, like I said. I think there were nine of us. Only two of us were actually staying over for the night, so the others needed to leave sometime before morning. By the time we actually got out of the house to take people home, though, it was almost two o'clock. Seven of us went in a minivan to drop off four people. I think the first warning came when my friend ran over the curb while backing out of the driveway. o.o Anyhoo, we dropped off the last friend at his house, and were backing up when thunk, we hit a car. Actually, I saw it looming in the rear windshield and said "Car. Stop. Stop," and apparently my friend riding shotgun heard me and thought my friend behind the wheel had, too, but ... nope. Thunk. X_x I think it's one of those things where you're concentrating so hard you actually ignore things around you, you know?

So, naturally, we panicked. My friend up front went into self-described self-preservation mode and tried to get my other friend to drive off. o.o;; We ended up driving around the block before coming back and writing a note on an envelope that we stuck under the windshield wiper -- after looking at the dent and realizing how frigging huge it was. All this time, I'd like to note that I determined that if there ever is a crisis, relying on me ... is NOT what you want to do. I pretty much stared wide-eyed at the other two while they decided what to do. _o_;;

After that, things went like I described -- back to the house, pasta and ice cream, etc. But my friend was highly agitated -- not only has she never done anything remotely bad, or at least resulting in monetary penalty and perhaps legal ramifications, but she was not supposed to be out driving past midnight. >_> The fact that she was absent on Monday freaked us all out and prompted wild speculations about bouts of depression and rampaging parents. But in an inscrutable twist of luck, it turns out that ... well, nothing came of it. The friend we dropped off had gone inside when all this happened, but it turns out his mom saw us through the window (O_O!) and, not only were we going way too slow to make that big of a dent (her bumper, after all, remained untouched), but apparently the owners of the car are "stoners who come back with new dents in their car every week," and she had even seen that dent before. And even if we did worsen the dent, it doesn't matter because the note either was blown/washed away or the people didn't notice, because it's been three days and they haven't called my friend. SO ... We were EXTREMELY lucky. And ... yeah. That's all I have to say -- lucky. -_-;; It'd be scary if it weren't so damn funny. Or is that the other way around?

Anyhoo, so in other news, I'm making a Christmas/birthday list for my Mom. I still sort of feel bad, because it feels a bit like demands, but some of the stuff I really, really want. ^^;; I'll type it up here when I finish, and you can all see how expensive I am. _o_;;

Lili-chan, if you want stuff to download, try Kudo Shizuka or Kokia. They do slower stuff, mostly; at least, in the case of Kudo Shizuka I prefer her slow songs to her faster ones. Also anything from Jekyll and Hyde, natch. XD And have you cleaned out all the Luna Sea stuff yet?

Note to self: Register for the dang SAT IIs before you can't apply to Harvard, you stupid bird. n.n

Alice 19th sounds cute, if a bit off the wall (a transforming bunny?). And Kyou looks a lot like Tooya, and acts a lot like Tooya (at least, in saving Alice from the car) ... let's just hope he doesn't DRESS like Tooya. XD;;

...commence drooling at 08:23 p.m. on Tuesday, December 4, 2001