So that was nostalgic. As well as ego-bruising, which was not so good, but still, nostalgic nonetheless. I just played DDR for the first time in ... some amount of years. And hey, I actually ventured into the world of the 4-foot song -- and managed to stay above C level.

(Apologies for the Juubei-caliber pun; my brain has fled for the weekend.)

And oh! Andy Serkis! I think everyone who cares about this is aware of the details; but, briefly, he's on tour promoting his Gollum book, and last night he came to Seattle and held a book-signing at the university. I kept telling myself I wouldn't get over-excited -- it was just an actor coming to visit, and while it was cool to get to see him, it wasn't that big of a deal. Still I felt a wholly uncontrolled and fangirlish rush when he walked onstage. ^_^; And he was great to listen to -- excited, yet at ease, open, and just having fun with it.

He talked about Gollum in general for a while; how he came to the project, the process of filming, the construction of the character. Then he read a short excerpt from the book itself. But then! Oh, but then he said, "I thought I would go on to the Q&A now, but first I thought ..." And then he read! The scene! In Ithilien! When Smeagol rejects Gollum! XD XD XD And to see the energy of him as he created his character, in voice, face, and gesture ... It was absolutely wonderful.

There were other things -- funny stories from the Q&A, probably things people have already heard from some interview or another, but it was quite entertaining to hear them in person. Afterwards, neechan and I were quite near the head of the signing line, and got through very quickly. I asked him if he could use my pen, the one given to me by Cora (my dear Sam!), and he was very gracious, despite the rush, and said yes. He even complimented it, but I was too excited and only managed an internal "Grk!" in response. Then I blurted a 'thank you' and nearly ran off the stage, barely remembering to turn around and take a picture of him signing neechan's book.

Whee. There are some definite benefits to being in such a cultural center of a city, and especially in living on a campus that is so often involved in it. I hear that Tony Kushner is coming at the end of this month. O_O

はい　はい　はい、今　寝なくちゃ　なんない　のよ。明日、　たくさん　勉強しなきゃ。それから　土曜日に　花ちゃん　が　来るから、一緒に　遊びたい　のよ！！

Thursday, January 15, 2004
12:45 p.m.

Tonight is the Andy Serkis event -- squee! Tomorrow is Friday -- squee! On Sunday Hanne is coming up to visit -- SQUEE!!

Classes are going to be but a mere distraction for the rest of this week. ^____________^

Thursday, January 15, 2004
12:01 a.m.

*kills logic homework*

I guess I shouldn't complain just because this class isn't completely mindless and easy and requires a touch of consideration to do the work. It's just that, this was *supposed* to be my mindless and easy class! XD;; Japanese typically filled that role, but that was only first-year. Now as the kanji memorization piles up and we keep edging out into grammatical forms which I don't already recognize and/or are generally intuitive, that one is requiring more and more thought, curse it all. :P

("03" from Sakamoto Maaya's Shounen Arisu is awfully pretty. But I suppose that's not very surprising, is it? *hums*)

... And, half an hour later, I get it. :P I think it's time to let the bird-girl's brain rest. Where's my weekend?

Sunday, January 11, 2004
08:36 p.m.

"Your Dunedain disguise cannot fool me, Mr. Anderson."

Hugo Weaving kicks ass. XD Read the whole article for some more blooper stories from the LoTR cast.

Saturday, January 10, 2004
11:50 a.m.

I LIVE! No, really -- I think people thought I was either kidnapped or dead earlier, but I really live. And with tons of sleep last night, now I live more! XD The wonders that Yunnie's and a night of rampant socializing can do towards refueling oneself are ... well, wonderful. :p

My schedule is working out pretty well, so far. Fitting work in everyday isn't difficult; the main issue is not letting my brain say "Okay, we're done!" after that, when it's time for my actual classes. ^_^; I like my job, though; the people I work with are really friendly, and I feel useful when I'm helping them. The only problem is the tendency of the printer and/or copy machine to have paper jams on me. >_> I've been feeling a little stressed because of the relentlessness of it all, but I trust that that's a first-week thing and I'll adjust to it soon enough.

Also, I had to post this. I don't totally agree with the description, but the result itself is fitting:

You are a PHOENIX in your soul and your
wings make a statement. Huge and born of flame,
they burn with light and power and rebirth.
Ashes fall from your wingtips. You are an
amazingly strong person. You survive, even
flourish in adversity and hardship. A firm
believer in the phrase, 'Whatever doesn't kill
you only makes you stronger,' you rarely fear
failure. You know that any mistake you make
will teach you more about yourself and allow
you to 'rise from the ashes' as a still greater
being. Because of this, you rarely make the
same mistake twice, and are not among the most
forgiving people. You're extremely powerful and
wise, and are capable of fierce pride, passion,
and anger. Perhaps you're this way because you
were forced to survive a rough childhood. Or
maybe you just have a strong grasp on reality
and know that life is tough and the world is
cruel, and it takes strength and independence
to survive it. And independence is your
strongest point - you may care for others, and
even depend on them...but when it comes right
down to it, the only one you need is yourself.
Thus you trust your own intuition, and rely on
a mind almost as brilliant as the fire of your
wings to guide you.You are eternal and because
you have a strong sense of who and what you
are, no one can control your heart or mind, or
even really influence your thinking. A symbol
of rebirth and renewal, you tend to be a very
spiritual person with a serious mind - never
acting immature and harboring a superior
disgust of those who do. Likewise, humanity's
stupidity and tendency to want others to solve
their problems for them frustrates you
endlessly. Though you can be stubborn,
outspoken, and haughty, I admire you greatly.

*~*~*Claim Your Wings - Pics and Long Answers*~*~*
brought to you by Quizilla

Wednesday, January 7, 2004
06:15 p.m.

Fic rec time! I'm dipping my toes into LoTR fanfic right now, so here's a oneshot to start things off: Those Who Remain. (In which I gain a newfound respect for Celeborn, and Sam makes me cry. Again.)

Tuesday, January 6, 2004
11:03 p.m.

Gack! I just looked at the author events for this month at the campus bookstore. I already knew about Andy Serkis coming to promote Gollum -- neechan has tickets, in fact -- but ... Nikki Giovanni! And Alex Ross! (One appeals to the poetry geek in me, and the other to the comic book one. XD;;) I console myself with the fact that I've already seen Nikki Giovanni speak (though, wait ... that makes me want to go more ;_;), and Alex Ross's book is a collection of his D.C. art. Flimsy excuses, I know, but. ^_^;

Tuesday, January 6, 2004
05:17 p.m.

Joy! Classes were cancelled this afternoon, in time for me to get out of my logic quiz section; my boss let the student assistants off of work; and there's no Dragon's Pen meeting tonight. And while I would have liked to go to the meeting, and I'll miss the money I could have made today, and, hell, even my quiz section would have been okay ... this means free time, and no slogging down to south campus in the snow! Instead, we had a convergence of the hobbits (and the nancing elf) and had a snowball fight. And made a snow-hobbit -- complete with furry (that is, grassy) feet! :D

Tonight, hopefully we'll get to watch the "Once More With Feeling" episode of Buffy, so that I can better appreciate Once More With Hobbits. Irregardless, it's still a wonderful adaptation. Boromir's "Under Your Spell" ... ooooh. *_*

Wonder if the snow will melt tomorrow before I trudge across campus tomorrow morning? *woobly eyes* I mean, it was fun to play in for a while, but then I'm done. I don't want to be sliding on my ass all around campus tomorrow. I have little tolerance for the cold stuff; born and bred in the south, man. ^_^v

Monday, January 5, 2004
11:59 p.m.

You are most like

You are likely to be quiet, and gentle, enjoying helping other people grow and realize their potential. Others may view you as mystical. Time alone is important and solitary activities refresh you. You have a tendency to introspection. While providing compassion and being considerate, you may have the tendency of being soft-hearted or even "too emotional" You try to schedule your life as much as possible. You tend to finish your work before resting.

The Orcs display the evil side of this personality with their lengthy torture methods.

Traits: Empathic, benevolent, looking to the future. On the dark side you could be sadistic.

Test based upon the Myers-Briggs/Keirsey Personality Tests

Heh.

Monday, January 5, 2004
08:40 p.m.

Mrk. It was bloody. Freaking. COLD today. >_< Nearly lost all feeling in my ears as I was walking to class, yeesh. At least it was dry; though that's more than I can say for tomorrow. *gazes warily at the weather report* If it snows, I might just wimp out and hole up in my dorm room all day.

Anyway, my first day of classes was fine. I only had two, actually -- Japanese quiz section and logic lecture. Japanese was the usual, though I've forgotten a frightening amount of my kanji; and logic was ... well, let's just say I'm not going to be pursuing this subject much further in my college career. >_> It doesn't look confusing or difficult, by any means; but if it weren't required for my philosophy minor I'd be switching out into something more to my tastes, like ethics. One interesting bit, though, is that my professor's name is Marc Cohen -- a slightly different spelling, but regardless it triggered "December twenty-fourth, nine p.m., Eastern Standard Time/From here on in I shoot without a script ..." to run through my head all lecture. ^_^;;

Oh, and my days are long. I'm working several hours a day now, before and after classes, which means I can't be lazy like last quarter. XD;; The only real problem with this is that between work, club stuff, and my classes themselves, it'll be really easy to find something to do that distracts me from my classwork. >_> Must remember New Year's resolution ...

Friday, January 2, 2004
12:36 a.m.

Happy New Year, all! In typical style, I am ringing in the new year a day late. ^_^; Holiday festivites were, well, festive, and therefore I didn't have the time to blog. I did, however, get the chance to play LoTR Monopoly for the first time; and while I found it generally cute and harmlessly entertaining, I cower in fear before her ruthless take-over of Middle-earth. I mean, *I* was the Ring, *I* should have won -- but, alas! After a promising start in which I gained Mount Doom, Isengard, and the Gap of Rohan (fitting for my piece, no?), I ended up controlling only the Misty Mountains area (Bruinen Fords, Caradhras, etc.) Much sadness. Still, it's fun, if only because the Utilities are replaced by the Staffs of Saruman and Gandalf. XD

Anyway, so, it being that time of the year and all, I feel the need to be retrospective and consider the past 365 days, and ponder where I'll go for the next. Worry not, as I won't write about all of it and make you ponder it along with me. XD Let us just examine my resolutions from last year, and see how much outlining my goals actually helps me get things done:

1. Getting a job -- done! In fact, I got three of 'em. XD While one was engaging and another one boasted an indefinite timespan, this current one seems to have both. I just need to make sure I don't stretch myself too thin among work, classes, clubs, and would-be social life ... and also see how soon I can get a raise. :P
2. Speaking of that social life -- I am sincerely happy with where I am, friends-wise, both here at home and up at school. I'm glad to have come to know such lovely people at school, and also to have kept the wonderful friendships I have at home; and in my own way I cherish that little pin-prick in my heart that comes whenever I leave a place -- no matter which one that is.
3. From the Ashes -- grk. Er, um, well ... yeah. Fanfiction on the whole -- hell, writing in general -- really took a back seat this past year, and I gave priority to my classes and my job(s). I don't regret that decision -- because I have a somewhat one-track mind and really needed to get these new things in my life settled before I could turn my energies back to the rest of it -- but I hope to come back to writing this year. My poetry, my fanfic, even -- dare I say it? -- a novel attempt!
4. Funks of low self-esteem and/or frustration -- I'm happy to say I generally avoided any prolonged wallowing in depression of any kind, and really forced myself to turn to more productive ways of dealing with unhappiness than stagnant self-pity. In other words, I indulged in a little bit of self-pity and then turned to finding a solution. ^_~ I should say that my problem this past quarter wasn't so much active unhappiness as general apathy to my classes ...

Which brings us neatly to the next subject at hand -- this year's resolutions. ^_^;; At the top of my list is getting my ass back into gear and really engaging in my classes. Grades aside, I just wasn't happy with the amount of effort I put into my courses this quarter. Whether it was the courses themselves or a back-to-school apathy that lingered after summer vacation doesn't really matter; I don't want to waste any more of my time here at college.

Of course right up there is also my writing. And that's about all I can think of right now ... There is, though, that little thing that ties into my second resolution from last year -- which is to say, happy as I am with the friendships I've built and maintained, that whole relationship thing still hasn't gotten off the ground. I'm not going to say that getting a boyfriend is one of my resolutions, though! I'm not trying to fill a quota here. XD;; Let us just say that ... it is my New Year's wish. ^_~

Also, of course, there's the new layout. I made it primarily because of the re-emergence of my comic book fannishness, and the fact that I read the Inferno trade over break ... But it's interesting that my very first layout for my blog also featured Phoenix, nearly three years ago. Kinda cool. ^_^

As a last note, I've been listening to Sakamoto Maaya's Shounen Arisu, and it is, as expected, a wonderful album. The photography in the booklet is quite pretty, also, and along with Easy Listening is my favorite of her CDs. Thanks so, so much to Bean for getting me such an awesome birthday present. :D