Monday, December 25, 2006

T'was the Night of myO
T'was the very day of Christmas, when all through myO
Several creatures were stirring, some stenched in B.O.
But a group was gathering at the abandoned SOAP cave
Still cursing the fact that theO had become a fanart slave.

Yet holiday greetings spread as they met
Such as Sangome, Bell, Ryu, and Kat, who appeared sopping wet
For despite living in Illinois, they had seen rain, not snow
But their laughing and grinning lifted any veil of woe.

In a whirlwind of points appeared SomeGuy with cheer
Timber right behind him, remembering his point-giving clones in fear
Lastly appeared Dagger, for no real reason
Except she was kind(a)(nd) bored this time of the season.

Down in the SOAP cave they went, turning on the lights
The group smiling and giggling, remembering the nights
When they would gather and meet for round-table chats
Putting away their defensive-argument weapons, such as swords and bats.

They turned on the TVs and fired up the computers
The girls lovingly fixing up their posters of imaginary suitors
As Ryu and SomeGuy looked at each other and shrugged
Just for this day, the girls' actions would not have them bugged.

"Come and gather, my friends! I have something to kill time
An epic poem I worked on so hard for it to rhyme."
Timber looked down at the group from her perch on the round-table
A nervous grin on her face, hoping her writing skills were able.

As Timber shared her work to a few of the crowd
Katana looked at Dagger with a smile and bowed.
"Thanks for coming to spend this day with us."
She laughed in response. "Whatever you say - you don't have to make a fuss."

Bell and Sangome began to set up the dishes of eats
Though most of them turned out to be sugary treats.
"Cookies and Pocky and doughnuts?" Bell just had to ask.
Sangome giggled, "C'mon - finding food all will enjoy is a hard task."

With the advantage of being six-foot-four
Ryu held his pick of the movie up high in galore
"We're watching this, I don't care what you say
For we're seeing The Blues Brothers this Christmas day."

It was an odd choice, but hey, whatever, it didn't really matter
For as soon as the movie started, the people began to scatter
To eat or to drink or to play video games
With a sigh, Ryu just replied, "Lame."

"Let's give out some gifts," Dagger suggested, to which all agreeed
Tossing out presents to everyone, as if containing no greed
"FMA!" "Azumanga!" "Oasis!" "RuroKen!"
"Abyss!" "Utena!" "Just why do I get a pen?"

They laughed and they joked and they had a good time
And because of the events, no one found time to whine
"This is great - at least we didn't get clothes."
And they passed the hours by watching movies and shows.

As the minutes passed by and the daylight quickly faded
The group suddenly became more jaded
For they didn't want this to end without something to remember
'cause it would suck to have to wait 'til next December.

"Nothing would make my Christmas more than to see the articles return,"
Sangome said, her voice dripped in concern.
Dagger just smiled and leaned back in her chair
Causing the others to be worried and stare.

"This isn't confirmed, but after a talk with the guy on top
And realizing the complaints would never quite stop
The articles feature for myO may go up before long
Which will hopefully have people singing a better song."

She grinned and just waited for the responses to come
Which took a long time, for more than just some
Finally, after a long pause, Katana said something snappy,
"I don't care about that, just as long as we have fun and are happy."

We have Pocky and ramen and sushi to eat
But the company of each other can't really be beat.
So have a heart full of joy and make sure your intents are crystal-clear
Merry Christmas to all, and have a wonderful New Year.

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Friday, December 22, 2006

Bummer
As totally expected, Aiya and I didn't win the ANN contest. God.
Two things:

1) Once again, drawing people in revealing outfits wins. Go figure.

2) **** ANN and their rules. They stated that the banner must say "AnimeNewsNetwork.com", which really agonized me when I made it. The winner pisses me off, since they essentially modified the current logo...it looks pixely.

I'm not too pleased with the results, but what can I do? All I can say is that I wish ANN had more than just one placing, to make the rest of us (possibly) feel better).

And the bottom of my ear really hurts. o.O
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Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Thank the something, winter break is here
I'm exhausted, probably becaue of the numerous sugar highs I had today during school. >_>;;
Though to further prove my point: I walked into the music room yesterday, and up on the chalkboard for the previous Chorus class was "Get your music. You will need a pencil." But me being as weird and tired as I was, thought it said, "You will need a panda."
Yeah.

So winter break is finally here. Finally. I'm excited for Christmas, since I'm getting a 24 set of Prismacolor markers. 8D
Speaking of art, I am one of four sophomores with the chance to take AP Art next year - meaning I can take it as a junior and senior, and get major college credit. =3 The only problem is that I really have to take an art class next semester. I don't want to transfer out of walking class (I have that with a junior friend of mine, and besides, I'm looking forward to it). So we're going to try and see if I can get out of the ever-so-useless computer applications class. =D

Well, just as I did last year, I'm entering ANN's anual holiday logo contest. They've done a change up on their layout, providing very little space for the actual desing. My main fuss is cramming in the text.
And just as I did last year, I asked my best friend Aiyanna to draw me up a chibi. What actually occured was she drew a chibi covered in lights, but then remembered I needed a drawing for the contest (this is back in late November, early December). So she modified it for me. ^^;

Being the procrastinator that I am, I didn't scan it in when she gave it to me. >_> So on Sunday night, I pop over to ANN, and they've had the contest up since Friday. And the entries are due, once again, tonight, at 10:59pm central time. *cough*

Although I thought last year's CG was awesome, I now look at it with disgust. XD;;

This year's prize is not one, not two, but THREE boxsets, one from each of the heavyweight anime distributors. If by some miracle we win, Aiya has claimed Yu Yu Hakusho - which I would gladly give her. How awesome would it be to call her up and tell my best friend that she gets a boxset for Christmas? I would love to do that for her.

ANYWAYS. The finaly entry I made can be seen here. Yes, it's made to blend in and fit with the site's new layout. I screencapped the site and positioned it just so. Yes, I know I'm crazy. xD
To see a sort of "full detail" CG, then you can check out this thing that I made for a sticker to put on our dierctor's mailbox. XD

By the way...anybody else going to Chicago for that big music-band sorta convention on Thursday? xD
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Saturday, December 16, 2006

Food for thought
Lady Katana, concerning theOtaku banner: "Adam. Dear. What did you do?"

TimberWolf, concerning the closing of the articles/reviews: "This is the part where if theO was an overly-dramatic shoujo manga, someone would yell out "Adam... what have you done?!""

Thoughts anyone? Anyone?
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Thursday, December 14, 2006

Otaku City, Part IV
The following work is purely fictional. Please don't take it serously. -_-;

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"Good morning."

"Mornin'."

The two Otaku Legends, best known as Katana and TimberWolf (Timber) met outside their apartment doors. They walked the length of the hallway (which contained merely two more rooms) and soon found their ways outside.

"Sangome's coming, right?"

"She said she would."

Katana looked up at the sky. It was a sunny but chilly day, something that wasn't unusual this time of the year.

"What time is it?"

"About nine."

"'About'?"

"8:54, jeez." Timber pulled the long overcoat closer to her torso. "I hate the cold. It's just...cold."

"Woah, no way."

As the two continued bantering back and forth, they didn't notice the figure that was Sangome running their way. She ended up ramming straight into them to get their attention.

"God, what the fu - oh, hey 'gome."

She raised an eyebrow. "What were you going to say?

"'What the fudge?'"

"Yeah, whatever...anyways...I've got something to share with you two."

Timber and Katana looked at one another before walking back to the Otaku Legend apartment complex, motioning for Sangome to follow. She obliged, not in the least bit curious. In Otaku City, one had to do everything they could to make sure they didn't stand out as an enemy to the ruling party.

The three of them could only be called 'lucky'. Katana and Timber, being Otaku Legends, were among the few and far-between members with massive histories in Otaku City. Sangome wielded some power in the form of running the weekly captain contest. The trio had been successful article writers, earning top spots, until the writing office was closed to focus on fan art. Since then, the three floated around, performing the random odd job...Sangome was stable with her 'news power', Katana occasionally submitted wallpapers, greetings, and fan mangas, while Timber...well, it's a mystery as to how Timber made it through.

"Okay, what's up?"

Sangome inhaled deeply before letting it out. "There's something going on in the high executive office...and I'm not too pleased about it."

(To be continued...by Sangome)
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Friday, December 8, 2006

Otaku City, Part I
A project between myself, Sangome, and TimberWolf. This is purely fictional and spawned from rants and cracked-up theories. Please don't take it serously. o_O;

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Part I

Otaku City was rather bleak on the cold December day. Drifts of snow were piled on the sides of streets as a cloud of grey hung in the sky. Thousands of citizens - knwon as Otakuians - mulled about, going to their normal jobs, living their normal lives, experincing normal things.

But Otaku City wasn't as "normal" as people thought it was.

Although peaceful, Otaku City was only that way due to its way of rooting out the rebels. Any free form of thought or slander against any member with a rank of power was quickly banned and sent to roam the lonely desert that was the Intornet Wastelands.

But no matter how well the Moderators, Otaku City's rule enforcers, thought they performed, there were always people left. These certain citizens had managed to slip through the cracks of rules with their portfolio or their member status. The more in your portfolio and the longer you've resided in Otaku City, the better chance you had to avoid banning. Higher ranks gave one an increased chance to survive.

The ranks of the city were quite simple. Although all Otakuians lived in apartments, the luster and comfort of them varied widely by the citizen's rank. Otakuites, being the masses and making up a solid 90% of the population, resided in apartments with the basic accomodations and rather small rooms. It was unjust to call them slums; they were merely the standard resident of, say, a college student or so. But no matter how small or basic the housing, Otakuites had a knack for turning them into obnoxious pieces of neon or wallpapered art. Few Otakuites had what it took to be a good upperclassman - and those who did often hung out with their 'older' friends.

Senior Otakus, making up a rough 8% of the population, were granted more plush accomdations, including larger (and more) rooms, grander utilities, and less members per unit. Senior Otakus were essentially Otakuites who 'grew up' - submitted and commented a lot. By that point in their journey, many had decided to get their acts together and spruce of their pages - though not all abided by these unofficial rules.

Otaku Legends were less than 2% of the population, and rightfully deserved the rank. They were most often members that had resided in Otaku City since the launch of its housing project (or a little later), frequently commented in the News Forum, and submitted numerous items for their portfolio. Their accomodations were on a scale of grandness, their rooms were numerous and large, their utilities comfortable and on the cutting edge of design. By that point in a Otakuian's journey, they had their act totally together, with cleaned-up decorations and design.

But even the most advanced Otaku Legend couldn't compete against the force that was the moderators.

(To be continued by Sangome...)
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Sunday, December 3, 2006

The Otaku Attack Force: Laying the Pwnage on the Moderating Scene
Oh God. I just left Adam's myOtaku site in manic laughter, and not because of some witty post of his. It's because of the major spammage of his personal comment box between myself, TimberWolf, and Sangome. Here's how it goes, after the three of us submit our applications:


Katana: ...I just realized that all three members of the Otaku Attack Force have applied. Good luck, Adam.

Sangome: Maybe Adam will be generous and let all three of us moderate!

...Somehow...

TimberWolf: Good luck, fellow OAFers, good luck to all the others who applied (you're special too, you're just not in the OAF), and good luck, Adam. You've got what appears to be a tough decision ahead of you.

Maybe Adam will be generous and let all three of us moderate!
That would be pretty awesome. ^^

Katana: That would be pretty scary. But awesome, too. XD

TimberWolf: This just in: The Otaku Attack Force has taken over theOtaku.com's fan manga section! These three kimono-clad girls have pledged themselves to bringing order and fan manga to this fledgling section. Will they make a positive change in this new sub-site? Only time will tell.
Now, here's Bob with the weather.

...XD


The last comment is why TimberWolf pwns. =)
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Friday, December 1, 2006

Of Snow Days and Moderators
I'm not in a really good thinking mood...and...and...pudding comes in more than two flavors.

All of yesterday was essentially spent on talking about the impending snow storm that was to come last night and continue through today. There were a lot of talks of snow days, but nobody had their hopes up. The thinking was more like "don't wish for a snow day, do all your homework, and we'll get one". Which is exactly what I did. XD

I woke up this morning and noticed it was light out. I looked at my watch, which said it was 8:30. The hall light was on and I could hear my mom blowdrying her hair.
"...God, it better be a snow day, 'cause I'm missing AP History right now..." Which would really suck to miss that class.

Indeed it's a snow day. Major wootness.

Over at Adam's myO, his recent post spoke of anybody willing to be the Fan Manga moderator. I gladly sgined up for the job, but in a much more...let's say...creative and impressive way. I would love to be a moderator, especially in the new section. It needs some law and order. Or something.
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Thursday, November 23, 2006

Turkey Day 2006
Agh, I hate Macs...

Again, Katana's at her Onkel und Tante's house up in Waunaukee, Wisconsin (or something). And again, she's typing on the eMac, of which the keyboard is evil. PURE EVIL. Enough said.

I popped on and saw TimberWolf's myO, then decided to post something here. Of course.
Last year, I had a top ten, so let's try to do that again this year. =) (This list is in no order, just in the order I think these things up. XD)

1.) My posse and my family
2.) My health
3.) Creativity (this includes writing, drawing, and Photoshop XD)
4.) theOtaku, myOtaku, and the OtakuBoards (even if the best section is gone, I'm still here for fun)
5.) The Otaku Attack Force, because we pwn
6.) Life
7.) Music (this includes my oboe =3)
8.) Water
9.) Peacefulness
10.) Once again - owning a Windows computer and not a ****ing Mac. >:3
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Friday, November 17, 2006

New York trip in a nutshell, about a week late
Mmk. Time to go to the list.

Thursday

-Got to school at around 5:40am, and shipped out at 6:50am. Keke. I was lucky and snagged two seats for myself. Very handy for when I curled up and slept. XD

-We watched five movies on the drive there. In order, they were "Cars", "A Walk To Remember" (of which I slept through), "The Longest Yard", and "Chicago". And yes, I know I'm missing a movie. But I can't remember it at the moment. >_>

-Arrived in New Jersey at the hotel at around 1:00am. I took my shower, and me and my junior roommates (Erin, Marissa, and Rochelle) stayed up 'til 2:30, joking around.
Rochelle, right after we turned the lights out, suddenly realized the presence of a refrigerator in the room and freaked out, leaping out of bed to check it out. Erin just mumbled, "Rochelle, check it out in the morninnnng..."

Friday

-Ate breakfast and shipped out to go to New York City at about 8:00am. It took us an hour or so to get there, due to traffic and such. The tunnel under the river was pretty cool, though we found it amusing to see a "no pictures" sign. But it was there for more than obvious reasons.

-While driving through town, I found it more than amusing to see purse bootleggers and their moving tarps of doom.

-We went on the NBC Studio Tour, and I ducked in to the first group to be with my friends (there were spots that needed to be filled). It was pretty cool to see the sets of things, such as SNL, Dateline, and a replica of the newsroom.
Me and a freshman snare drummer (Sparkle Muffin XD) volunteered to reenact a news blurb. I was teh reporter and he was the weatherman. Afterwards, I got a lot (a lot) of compliments. The tour guide even said I should look into journalisma as a career. o.O

-Rockefeller Center is cool, but confusing to navigate when you've never been there.

-Ground Zero didn't move me to tears as I thought it would. We were just standing outside of it (or rather, sitting on some steps across the street) and listening to some guy speak about the day as he had experinced it. Meh.

-After standing in line and listening to some awesoem street musicians, we boarded the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We didn't get off at the statue, but rather at Ellis. We missed our ferry (long line), so we had to wait an additional twenty minutes.
I was on the second deck up in the front, expericning the full force of the waves. Coool.

-Our dinner was this place called "Elle's Stardust Diner"...on Broadway. *sings* They had a staff of singing waiters (and one waitress). And...one of the waiters was really cute. >.>;; There's a debate raging as to whether his name is Todd or Tony. I swear it's the first.

-After dinner, we saw..."THE PRODUCERS"! Dear Lord, that made the trip for me! I bought a shirt saying "I wanna be a producer" and the "fancy playbook". Ah...it was just a great time. I tell you, there's nothing like leaving the theater and having all these new fans surrounding you. Now they know what I've been fangirling over for the past five years. =)

Saturday

-The whole "lighting of the torch" ceremony was quite boring, and everybody just sorta started blending together for me.

-We must've waited on a sidestreet for two hours before actually getting into the parade route. We warmed up, and then dispersed. Every so often, we'd be called back into our rows, but then those would break within five minutes.

-After visiting New York, I just love Chicago more. At least Chicago is clean. I tell you, I've never seen so many smokers, or - my personal favorite - see somebody spit in the street and walk away. (On our sidestreet for waiting. Oh yes.)

-The parade was...woah. I wasn't as overwhelemed as I thought I would be ("700,000 people? woah!"), but it was still fscking amazing. I loved hearing women scream out to me, "You GO girl, you PLAY those drums!" everytime I crashed the cymbals. That kept me motivatd, and I never once put my cymbals down to rest when I should've been playing.

-Afterwards, we went shopping on Broadway and Times Square. LOVE! The neon lights are amazing, and just fun to lose yourself in. We also had a field day picking out posters from Broadway shows we've seen/liked/wanted to see.
I bought a shirt for Avenue Q, and also a print from a street vendor.

-After getting back on the bus, we went to the National Track and Field Museum for dinner. Us and about eight other bands were there. (For the record, the other nine or so had been there the previous night.) During the course of about two hours, I drank six sodas - two Pepsis and four Diet Pepsis. (It was a sort of 'personal bet' thing, then I changed it into an event.) I tell you, I'm glad the bathrooms were so near. I went about nine times before we left. >.O

-Got on the bus and conked out within two hours.

Sunday

-On the way back, we watched "Young Frankenstein", "Ladder 49" (of which I slept through again), and "Them!". XD Horray for 1950's B-grade sci-fi movies!

-We stopped in Ohio for a buffet-breakfast. I've never befroe seen so many people eat ice cream before 9:00am. >.>

-At around 3:30pm, we got back to the school. I had to stay behind a bit to pack up all the percussion stuff - we're done for the season. I laughed while going through my cymbal bag, since it had stuff from last year in it. XD I looked lovingly at them before glancing at the smallest bass drum and going, "You're mine next year."

-Since the start of school, we've had a countdown going in a corner of the bandroom chalkboard. The week of, it would say "2 days until NYC!!!", along with my message of "Have you packed yet?"
I tell you, it was moving to see the words, "Been there, done that" written within that box. Having stared at it for more than two months, it was kinda sad to see it over with.


My final note - I'm sorry, but I didn't learn until I came home that the parade wasn't broadcast to Illinois. I'm not sure how far it was broadcast, but I apologize if you turned on the TV to watch us. ^^;;
However, we do get a DVD around the holidays, and on it will be a recording of us. So yeah. I'll try my best. X)
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