Thursday, December 16, 2004

Nakasendo Road
So, I started to work on the 'fic last night, which is very much based on Fullmetal Alchemist but is set in 17th century Japan so the plot isn't anything NEAR the same. The same characters, the same elements... just very much not the SAME. Oh, this is more fun that I should rightly be having.

I'm setting the village that I was trying to place along the Nakasendo road... all you RK fans out there, it's similar to the Tokaido route Kenshin took to Kyoto, but it goes through much more mountainous terrian. It connects Kyoto and Edo as well. I'm not going to specify much more than the village became a shiki, and it's along the Nakasendo road. I don't know much more about Japan's geography, so vagueness=SHINY!

I'm renaming just about everyone, as well. Since, you know, they wouldn't HAVE names like "Maes Hughes" in 17th century Japan. Hughes is one of the ones I've yet to rename, which is bothersome. Havock too. Of course, they haven't shown up yet so I've got a little bit of time on my hands.

So many things are different, but it all works so well. Ed's name is still Edward though, because his father sailed off on a Dutch ship to study abroad and when he returned, decided his offspring needed gai-jin names. His mother particularly likes the name 'Edward', which irritates our boy to no end because he doesn't LIKE the gai-jin name. XD Which is why he doesn't spazz when the Roy character refers to him as "Hagane", he prefers that over "Edward," and actually uses it as his name.

*claps hands together* I'm having FUN. XD

I'm still working on how automail/mechanical limbs will work in this world. Equivalent trade/toukan koukan is still very important in this story, but the characters didn't grow up studying alchemy so it's a bit harder for them to grasp. The only reason Ed is studying alchemy at all is because it's the only thing that can defeat the obakémono (homunculus) they've run across, and one homunuculus in particular has Ed's daishou, so he's rather persistant in chasing this guy.

And then there's the military aspect, which I worked in as well. A lot of this takes place in the daiyamo Hokori's lands, but none of the characters wear his mon. Roy-tachi is a small group, consisting of Roy, Hughes, Hawkeye and Havock -- all ronin from a dishonored daiyamo -- and they work as freelance assassins and soldiers. Roy's been sticking close to Hokori's lands, though, because Hokori pays well. That's more or less a disguise because he smells a rat, and believes Hokori to be one of the anti-Shogunate plotters. So, he's keeping an eye on things.

Ed wears no crest, he has pledged no fealty to any daiyamo. He is considered ronin since he chose no lord to serve. As much as he dislikes Roy's group, they always end up in jams together and after a while, Hawkeye 'adopts' him into the group.

Later on into the story, Roy will pledge his group to Hakori and they'll all enter the daiyamo's service, which really pisses Ed off since he had other plans. But it's all part of Roy's grand scheme to expose Hakori and make the man commit seppuku.

... I'm having WAY too much fun with this, really I am.

But what of Al, of Winry and other characters? Trust me, they have their parts to play. I've been working out Al's for a while now, Winry's as well. Winry is a dynamic personality, without automail as an industry she'd be shoulders-deep into something else.

Her role is very important but I"m still fleshing out the encounters so that's all I'll say in that regard.

And yes, the Philospher's Stone will play a part in the story, this is me I involve it whenever I can.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-



...feel free to massacre at will. XD
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Wednesday, December 15, 2004

... according to what I've heard around Livejournal, that's the name of Bush's new stragegy.

Am I alone in thinking that he's starting to sound like the inbred hick brother of Treize Khusrenada?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I only watched one episode of Gundam Wing last night, woe! I think I enjoyed it way more than I should have, though, I had to keep pausing it to contain my giggle fits. We're right after Heero self-destructs, and before the big Heero/Zechs duel in Antartica. Will be watching assloads more soon, because four of these DVDs AREN'T mine and I would like to return them to their proper owner sometime before 2005. ¬_¬x;;

*vows* I WILL own all of Gundam Wing on DVD! I'm only missing volumes one, four, five and seven.

... HOW do I end up with series that I'm missing titles out of the center? How how how? Oh, yeah, I find deals on them. I don't think I paid full price on a single one of those DVDs. Well... Endless Waltz probably, but that was because I had to get it because OMFG DEATHSCYTHE HELL CUSTOM WITH BATWINGS *woobies* since it had both the OAV version and the movie version of Endless Waltz and both had animation cut out of the Toonami airing.

*sighs* I am an unrepetant Duo fangirl. Although sometimes it's more about the mobile suit. Deathscythe is just fucking COOL man. I would love to pilot a Gundam, just once, so I know what it's like. I'd kill for a simulation game where they replicate the cockpit and all the controls. That would be so COOL. (I would kill more for an x-wing simulation chamber though. *coughs innocently into hand*)

That segues nicely into my flying-sim withdrawl. I love x-wings and one of the few computer games I used to play was X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter. After our University had a free showing of Episode IV and everyone bore witness to my absolute Battle-of-Yavin squeefest, Jonathan decided that everyone needed to install the newest PC-version of X-Wing and we should play over a network.

I was hyper and excited, despite the fact I hadn't played the game in years. I got on the network, we got our headphones synched up ... and god it was so much FUN. I really surprised the group, they knew I loved to blather about x-wings but I have little prowess when it comes to actual gaming. However, not only did I match the l33t3st gamer in our circle kill for kill, I outclassed him by about five.

Talk about a headrush. The lingo came back so quickly, too, I was shouting about squints and dupes and such. We played a mission that involved some frigates... GAH I forgot how tiresome those monsters can be, they're even tougher than Star Destroyers to take out. (At least with the Victory-Class Star Destroyers, there's a shield generator to target and once the shields are down, several barrages of proton torpedoes is all it takes to k'o a V-SD.)

... wow, I am a terrifying Star Wars geek.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I'm having fun plotting my 'samurai' version of FMA, but I'm at a loss where in Japan I should set it. Any ideas?
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Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Tasty Little 'obbitses...
Giih. If I don't get Return of the King: Extended Edition for Christmas I will explode. Then, whenever I manage to pick up my bits and pieces, I'll be off to buy it for myself.

I mean, it's been a holiday tradition for the past two years ... both my brother and I request (and get) the extended edition of each movie for Christmas. However, for whatever reason this year the release date is so much later that I fear my parents are done with their shopping. It's likely a trick that they're pulling to throw us off the scent (my mother absolutely delights in surprising me, since I've inherited my father's ability to scent out my gifts beforehand).

So, grr argh! There are only a handful of things I really want for Christmas (one out of the three I know I'm getting because damn, I bought it myself) so I hope that I get it.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I had two very peculiar and involved dreams last night. The first of which conjured up settings I hadn't visited in years. The Teardrop Islands, specificly the Isle of the Ninth Tear, domain of Fuhi the Wildcat and the bounty hunter Jeric Longcoat.

Talk about dredging up old memories! I haven't written nor really done anything with Blue Sky since my junior year in high school, so wow. Talk about coming from nowhere. Jeric was one of my favorite characters to write once ... he reminds me a lot of Kenshin now that I'm an otaku. He has that angsty, tragic past, a scar (on the left side of his face, no less), and a past that was about to collide with his present in the most violent of ways.

Wow, was it a surprise to see those guys again. Makes me wonder what happened to Gareon, Calamine and the crew of the Cloak of Darkness, the most fearsome rig ever to carve a path in the Teardrop Islands.

Good god, I am not writing any more on the Star of Xendor! STOP IT, ALL OF YOU! Stupid squirrels, and foxes, and wildcats... take your fights elsewhere!

The other interesting dream I had I will definitely be creative with. Essentially, take Fullmetal Alchemist, take out anything 'modern' really, and drop it squarely in 17th-century Japan. A lot of things were unexplained in my dream but I'm going to work out everything I can, because I think it would make an ... interesting ... 'fic.

Although, if I never have to see Roy as a Hijikata-ripoff again it will be TOO DAMN SOON. *shudders*

...does that make Ed Okita to Roy's Hijikata?

OH MY GOD BRAIN NO BAD IMAGES BAD IMAGES MAKE THEM STOP!





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Monday, December 13, 2004

Snow and Quizness
I woke up this morning, and there was snow on the ground. That, and it was flurrying pretty good. Not fun.

Make no mistake, I like snow and I think that it's pretty, as long as I don't have to go out in it. I've had a very long love/hate relationship with the white stuff. So, grr!

More fanart, because I'm a geek.



When I was working on this, a song came up on my playlist that I recognized by Asian Kung-Fu Generation. And I couldn't figure out WHY. Clearly, it had to be an anime opening of some sort, but... drawing a pretty large blank. Finally had someone tell me it was the second opening to Naruto.

I knew I recognized it... -_-x;;;

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Because I'm shallow and a sheep, quizness! ^_____^x;

THREE NAMES YOU GO BYRESPOND TO:
1. Catie
2. 'Kashira
3. Kenshin

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
1. catystorm
2. okamikiba
3. citenge

THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. Dorky in a good way.
2. Can function in most social situations/circles.
3. I can be exceedingly clever upon occasion. (Unfortunately, this tends to be balanced by my ability to be completely blockheaded.)

THREE THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. Definitely the martyr complex.
2. Need to be constantly reassured that my friends are still my friends. ¬_¬x
3. I'm a follower. Despite the fact that 90% of the time, they make ME be in charge. (This confuses me greatly.)

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. Italian
2. German
3. Orphan!

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. Isolation. (I like being solitary, but not if I'm forced to be solitary.)
2. Small spiders and large snakes. (I can deal with large spiders and small snakes, thou'.)
3. The supernatural. Ghosts are really cool and all, but if I saw a glowing green orb coming down the hallway towards me, I'd be in my closet with a sword and a flashlight so fast you'd think Wally West was in the house.

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. Computer.
2. Internet.
3. An hour or two of sleep.

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1. My green and blue Kage hoodie. (I found the exact shirt I designed for my character at the thrift store, so henceforth it's been my Kage-hoodie.)
2. Greenish-brown cargo pants.
3. Flamel's Cross. Hell, if I didn't think I'd strangle myself I'd probably wear it to bed.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS (or artists at the moment):
1. L'arc~en~ciel
2. Yellowcard
3. Any Steve Conte/Yoko Kanno compilation.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS AT PRESENT:
1. Heaven's Not Enough
2. Gifts and Curses
3. Reunion

THREE NEW THINGS YOU WANT TO TRY IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS:
1. Not failing any classes for once in my life.
2. Travel somewhere on my own.
3. Learn a bit of Latin so I stop trying to pronounce Greek words with a Japanese accent.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP (love is a given):
1. Humor
2. Trust
3. Lots of backrubs.

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE if you can guess the lie, you are amazing:
1. I've ridden in the batmobile.
2. I have seen every Bond movie, including the TV version of Casino Royale.
3. I was the president of an anime club.

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
1. Shoulders
2. Upper torso
3. Facial structure

THREE THINGS YOU JUST CAN'T DO:
1. Face my issues. I'm an expert in running circles around them.
2. Communicate effectively with my parents. Usually anything I have to tell them turns into a lecture of some kind, so I just avoid it whenever I can.
3. Not get obsessed with anime.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1. Writing.
2. Reading.
3. Drawing.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
1. Go somewhere WARM.
2. Get a job. (Well, want to..?)
3. Draw something that doesn't suck.

THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING:
1. Audio engineering
2. Broadcasting
3. Animator! (God, I wish...)

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
1. Kyoto. Oh, for God's sake, I'm a Shinsengumi fangirl. Of course I'd want to go to Kyoto. Tokyo too, because I want to go up in the Tokyo Tower just to say I've been there.
2. Egypt. I want to see the pyramids and the Sphinx.
3. Antartica. Come on, don't you want to say you've been to the most desolate place on Earth? Okay, maybe not.

THREE KID'S NAMES:
1. Mathias
2. Mariel
3. Shrike. I want to name a kid Shrike just to scar him for life. Hence, I will probably never have kids.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. Hike the Appalachian Trail
2. Set foot on every continent.
3. Publish a work of fiction.

THREE PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO TAKE THIS QUIZ NOW OR DIE PAINFULLY:
1. ...
2. Anyone who HASN'T! BWHAHA!
3. ... witness me artfully ducking out of this question.
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Sunday, December 12, 2004

Comic Book Store
Ah, I love going to the comic book store. Even if I don't end up walking out with anything, it still is a nice place to go to. Most of the people who work there don't stare at your chest if you happen to be female, which is a nice respite compared to other stores I've been to.

Anyway, I trekked out there with the intent of possibly purchasing a volume of Usagi Yojimbo I did not yet own (most of the earlier stuff, released by Fantagraphics), but didn't end up buying any graphic novels. They did have three volumes I didn't have (Volume 5; Space Usagi and Grasscutter II), but I picked up an older Japanese Newtype instead.

I like to boggle the cashiers there, because heaven forbid I can actually read the cover of a Japanese Newtype. ¬_¬x;; Sure, I may only know a couple hundred kanji and can't remember half of their readings, but I know hiragana and katakana pretty damn well. And yes, I can recognize the kanji for Hagane no Renkinjutsushi.

Actually, the cashier I got was a tad snotty about my buying the Japanese Newtype. "Just going to look at the pictures, huh? Well, I guess you're a fan of that show."

I raised my eyebrow. Quite the condescending tone, there. "Something wrong with Fullmetal Alchemist?"

"Oh, it's on Cartoon Network," the guy said it like it was some kind of disease. I just kind of shook my head at him. "All these people come in right after a show starts on there and claim to love the show and buy up ever piece of merchandise," he contiuned. "I bet you haven't even seen the whole show!"

Facial tick time, folks.

I sort of smiled at him. I always wear Flamel's Cross, I got this beautiful pendent of the variant Ed wears at the last con I attended. I was wearing it then. Around my neck. It's not a small pendant. "You know what?" I told him, leaning in close. "Ed dies at the end!"

He laughed at me, I paid for my purchase and walked out feeling smug. When I got out to my car, I opened the Newtype, and found the poster of Ed that was advertised on the cover. Oh, it's a shiny poster, shirtless and his hair is down.

Me, a fangirl? Never! That definitely made my day better. Although this person amused me to no end, lecturing me about 'not seeing the whole show' when he hadn't.

Man, what I wouldn't give to go back to the day that episode 50 aired. ... I can't wait for episode 50 to air over here. Nothing like watching fans have heart attacks at the end of THAT episode.

God, I'm evil.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

K-mart is having a 50% off sale, and when I was wandering through the DVD section, found boxes of DVDs for $4.99. Of course I started flipping through them, and what did I find?

A RahXephon DVD. I snatched it up immeaditely, giddy. As I flipped through more of the DVDs, I cam across Gasaraki DVDs. Oh, no way! I walked out of that store, having spent $30 and the proud owner of two RahXephon DVDs and four Gasaraki DVDs.

When I got home, I went to see what RahXephon DVDs I already had. Then I stared at the ones I had, and at the ones I had bought. I had, in my idiocy, bought two I already had.

>.<

I went to return them, but K-mart refused to process my return. (WTF? I still don't get why...) Now slightly peeved, I go out to Media Play and see if I can return them there. No dice. As I was getting ready to leave, one of the cashiers stopped me. "We CAN process returns without a recepit, it can only be store credit though."

Store credit? I can live with that. That was how I ended up with $60 in Media Play gift certificates. For $10 that I had spent.

... should I feel BAD about this?

Oh, and the Gasaraki DVDs I picked up are volumes 3; 6; 7 and 8. So... I need 1; 2; 4 and 5.

Whee!


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Saturday, December 11, 2004

Comment Karma
I guess I pissed someone off big time, because someone went through my gallery and voted 'no' on every one of my pictures.

Really? At first I was like "oh my God, what an asshole!" but now, I'm kind of like 'meh.' So you don't like my stuff, that's fine. At least leave me some constructive criticism?

Wow, they hit every, last, picture. Ah well, sorry you don't like my style.

*snaps fingers* I bet I know what happened. I've been reviewing people's pictures and I always leave a comment. My comments aren't always "oh my god that's so cool", I make sure to add something critical to each comment to help people improve. Some people, I've learned, take that as a personal insult. Oh, well. ^_^x; Comment karma will come around.

I feel like Happy Bunny or something. "You Suck and That's Sad", and to make yourself feel better you make sure to go and bottom-rate everyone who might dare point out things that need to be improved. If you're going to be a jackass, at least have the balls to admit to it. Or are you afraid I'm as petty as you?

^_^x;

((Really, I'm more amused than I have ANY right to be.))

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Oh, and that reminds me. Anyone out there seen Gasaraki? What did you think of it? I picked up four of the DVDs (out of 8) for Damn Cheap, and haven't heard much of anything about it.

I suppose if I wasn't lazy I could go look and see if there was a review for it in the TheOtaku database, but I like hearing live opinons. So, good/bad? Keep it/trash it? I know I like the theme song, I saw a Haibane Renmei AMV to it, but that's all I know of the show. That, and it's a mech show. Gimmee some feedback, baby!
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Anything BUT Ordinary...
I was over reading someguy's MyOtaku site and his desire to save the world. It made me think a bit about my own over-active protective tendancies.

There is an incidence that sticks out in my mind of such a thing. One of my 'more casual' friends... one I don't see as much but I still consider a friend ... was having issues down at school. She was, apparently, being stalked. One night she had forgotten to close her blinds before she undressed, and being on the third floor (which was actually almost level with one of the parking lots) some guys saw her. And thus, started hanging out outside her window shouting lewd and obscene things.

Well, I live in the next dorm over. She told me about this, very upset (who can blame her?) and all my hackles went up. Once she was gone I was livid with rage and my poor roommate didn't know what to do with me. I ended up sitting outside the next few nights, watching for these guys to show up. With a bokken. I had no idea what I was going to do, but I had to do something, because my friend was feeling threatened and vunerable.

Leave it to me to take the most violent course of action, neh? I spent two days ranting about it in Livejournal, with every other option as "breaking those motherfucker's kneecaps."

Of course, this entire incident only served to reinforce my roommate's idea that I'm Kenshin. Ultimately, nothing came of it. The stalkers went away, my friend changed dorms and life went back to normal. I like to think that those fools came out one night, saw me standing guard with a wooden sword and decided that they had somewhere else to be. Highly unlikely, but it makes me at least feel like I accomplished something. I couldn't protect my friend from her own stupidity, but I could protect her from other people's.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I just found out that a guy I graduated high school with is now writing dialogue for the NBC soap opera Passions. This amuses me for untold reasons, yet at the same time makes me feel so very worthless. Here I am, waiting to go back to school, where this guy is already graduated, interned at E! Entertainment and now writes dialogue for soap operas. Maybe this will inspire me to get off my butt and be productive.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

While having an amusing conversation with Saitou, the exact phrase "kitsune sex disease" came up. I am entertained.

In context, we were talking about 'cures' for those in love with kitsune. And apparently, anyone who has... relations ... with kitsune start to suffer from a wasting disease because they can't comprehend the pleasure. That's not the amusing part, though. The amusing part is the cure... buckwheat noodles.

Soba.

Oh, my Lord, the possibilities. Oh, the possibilities. We managed to kill our respective muses with this conversation, although the blood was entirely not MY fault because I didn't put that mental image in anyone's head. That one was all Saitou.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

*twitches violently* Hugh Jackman? Adrian Paul? No. Just... no. I do wish they'd hurry up and cast the new Bond, but every time I hear the candidates I develop a facial tick.

These rumors that float around are going to be the death of me. The best one? "Let's take Bond back to the Academy days!"

Um, NO. NO, NO, and how about another HELL NO for good measure? We're not corrupting THAT fandom with squealing fangirls, dammit. I like my last bastions of sanity to, you know, stay sane. I'm about as close as you will get to a squealing fangirl in said fandom, and nine times out of ten it's over the goddamn car. (Do you know how many people I'd kill to get my hands on an Aston Martin DB5? WITH AN EJECTOR SEAT?) *sighs*

They need to find a suave, brilliant, classically trained, unknown actor to play Bond. I can't stress "unknown" enough. Let's look at the track record -- before Dr. No, Connery had one whopping American film under his belt ... the Disney Classic "Darby O'Gill and the Little People." George Lazenby? Theatre. Roger Moore? He was a BBC television actor ... sure, people had heard of "The Saint", but he wasn't really that well-known. Timothy Dalton? Yet another theatre actor. And Brosnan? People had heard of him, vaguely. Reemington Steele, mainly. So, following tradition, the new actor should not be a Big Name Actor.

Unfortunately, Adrian Paul fits that mold, and I really don't want to see the Highlander fandom overrun into the Bond one.

Although, nothing will ever top Brosnan's recommendation a few months ago. Daniel Radcliffe. I wish I was joking, but OMFG that's funny. My diagnosis is he's just fucking with people's heads. I mean, really. I think Radcliffe is a tad young for the role, don't you?

My dad got the 007 variety of the Scene It! game for his birthday, and we have too much fun with it. Granted, my knowledge of the Moore-era Bond films is sketchy at best, (literaly, the last time I sat through a Moore Bond movie I was twelve), but goodness it's fun.

The Geek runs strong in this family.

Now, off to put in more job applications. Wish me luck!
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Friday, December 10, 2004

Mm, snow...
Forgive the double-posting today (I'm really trying to be good, honest), but since I've all-but finished one of the pics I thought I'd post a thumbnail.



You can mosey over to my fanart section (scroll all the way down for the link, sillies) to see the whole picture. ^_^x;; Well, when it gets posted. I just submitted it. ¬_¬x;;

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mou. I forget how aggravating and mind-numbing it can be to build a website. -_-x; I need to remake thumbnails because Photobucket ate my account since I hadn't logged in since May. This time, though, student-webspace to the rescue! (Let's see how long I can get away with sapping University bandwidth. ^_^x)

Obviously, there is something glitchy going on with our University accounts, because last semester we had 10mb a person, and I just uploaded 30mb of Alchemy texts and 210mb of MP3s. So either I'm exploiting a v. large glitch, or we get unlimited space now.

Hoping for the latter, but figuring the former. Probably should back everything up. >.>
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Ghosts and Christmas
Yet another 'plain' day. I've been far too lazy, I need to get off my butt and go about attempting to find a job. The weather isn't very nice though, it's another nasty grey day which makes me want to stay inside. Motivation, where art thou?

I went with my mother up to the old convent to decorate for her Christmas party tonight. My mother runs the CCD program at our church, and so the party is for all the teachers in the CCD program. ((CCD is an organization that offers religion classes to kids who go to public schools. The teachers are all volunteers.)) While we're setting up, we hear someone stomp by overhead.

I look up, because it's kind of loud, and my mother does too. She, however, looks concerned. "There isn't a second floor on the convent," she said.

THAT got my attention fast. The convent is old and very creepy, not someplace I'd ever want to be alone in. A little freaked out, we contiuned setting up and finally we got ready to leave. I was carrying an armload of stuff out to the car when I very nearly walked into a ladder.

>.<

It turns out that the church handyman, Jerry, was fixing something on the roof. He's NEVER been up on that roof when people are inside, but managed to scare my mother and I half to death. As we left, he was walking over to the other side of the old convent where there is perpetual Adoration going on and was going to drum out "The Saints Come Marching In."

Who wants to bet the priest is going to mention this in his homily on Saturday?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I got some work done on some pictures last night, which makes me feel better. I've had a bit of an artist's block since the end of November, and that can rightly be blamed on NaNo being over. So, some thumbnails for you guys. Honest criticism is always appreciated, although these are both just the inks, I've yet to color them.



A chibi-Shrike head. I actually found this, I don't remember when I drew it so I cleaned it up and inked it. I'll probably use him as an Livejournal icon once I color him. I have Cavan icons but no Shrike ones... man, the poor rogue doesn't get any love!



That thumb is the first panel of a comic I doodled and forgot about. Yeah, it's crap but it makes me laugh. In the very last panel, the hirigana reads "Nigete! Uwaaaaa!" (Run away!)

I am an unredeemable Poke-geek.



Finally, the thumbnail for a larger picture that I'm coloring now. I like the way Ed turned out. Hee. ^_^x; (If I get this done in the next 24 hours, it may just be my Christmas card this year, too.)

I like to draw. ^_^x;

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Watched a little more of Captain Tsubasa last night. That was fun, but unfortunately I only have the first six episodes. It's a 52-episode series, and with a little bit of digging I've found out they've only subbed the first 10 episodes. That makes me sad, Captain Tsubasa is fun.

Hopefully it will get licensed soon. Off-hand, the only sports anime I can think of off-hand that's been released over here is Princess Nine (which I love as well). I guess I like sports anime for the same reason I like fighting anime, and especially if I've played the sport.

Ick, my coherence is breaking down. I think I'll go color for a bit, that's a perfectly mind-numbing activity.
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Thursday, December 9, 2004

Libraries
I never used to have a problem with our library. Never. I went there all the time, hell, every other day during the summer I'd walk or ride my bike over. I'd cart home a backpack FULL of books and generally enjoy myself.

Lately, though ... I don't know. It seems that the library has been taken over with CDs, and DVDs, and computers. I was browsing through the Young Adult section (now renamed to 'teenager') and came across a flier for the library's anime club and winced. I'm tempted to show up, just to see what the median age of the group is, but I'm afraid to.

Anyway, my goal was general knowledge and information, I figured I'd look up some books on alchemy, maybe some on the Restoration because my Shinsengumi knowledge is rusty. So I went and browsed, couldn't find anything, so I used the handy-dandy computer system to look up books on alchemy.

There are a grand total of three alchemy books in our public library. Among three branches. One of them I've already flipped through, no new information there. The second was an biography of Issac Newton I might pick up because he's interesting, and the third was a pulled book, so who knows what was up with that.

I move on to the Restoration, and forgoing computer-searches I went and physically browsed through the books. Two history books about Japan, one on the Restoration/Meiji era specifically. "A-ha," I think, picking it up and flipping through it. I check the index, because really my goal is Shinsengumi-related.

Not. A freakin' mention. Of the SHINSENGUMI.

This wasn't a small book, mind. This was easily five, maybe six hundred pages. And there's not a mention of the police force in Kyoto that had the most skirmishes with the rebels? Not a MENTION? Or, if there is some mention not enough to warrant a spot in the index?

Excuse me while I stew in my pot of "WTF?"

Disgruntled, I pick up a mostly-pictorial book about samurai and flip through it. I'm more interested in weapons at this point, since for some reason when I'm getting pissed at inanimate objects reading about weapons makes me not do violent things. Or something, I don't know. Anyway, I'm standing in the aisle, flipping through the weapons section when I come to a two-page, full-color spread on katana.

It's worthwhile to note that there were two boys, probably high-schoolers, in the aisle with me. They were looking for books on WWII, I guess for a project in school.

So, I'm flipping through the book and skimming when I come across ... hell, I'm not even going to paraphrase because it still pisses me off, but they essentially mix up the wakizashi and the tanto. Which honestly, isn't that hard to do, but my frustration with the library is at its peak and I slammed the book shut and slammed it back into the shelf, which caught the attention of the two guys. They both kind of looked at me, and I snarled "LIES! They can at least get their damn SWORDS STRAIGHT!" before stomping off.

Well, at least I provided someone with a WTF moment of the day.

Augh, this irritates me. I remember, back in the day, when the library always had what I was looking for.

Thank GOD for the internet, that's all I'm sayin'.

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And now for the daily dose of Irrational Things that Piss Me Off.

[+] Insisting that Kenshin's sakabatou is kusanagi no tsurugi.

...

I have encountered this. In real life, too, not just the internet. Allow me to stare incredulously at your SHEER STUPIDITY.

First. Kusanagi no Tsurugi is like... the "Excalibur" of Japan, so I can understand wanting such a cool and powerful character as Kenshin to have the blade, but kusanagi no tsurugui is a double-bladed sword. Its name alone should tell you that, a tsurugi is similar to a Chinese broadsword. They're ancient, double-bladed and most assuredly NOT a KATANA.

Secondly, there is a replica of the sword at Atsuta Shrine, that has never been moved. In Nagoya. Not in Kyoto. Nagoya. Besides, unless someone pulled a "Raiders of the Lost Ark," that sword is nothing more than a copy of the real thing. The real kusanagi no tsurugi is at the bottom of the ocean.

Third, you people need to stop being stupid. GRR ARGH. I went absolutely batshit insane at the beginning of the third Inuyasha movie when they acted like the kusanagi no tsurugi was being stored in the Higurashi shrine. HELLO, YOU'RE IN TOKYO. That's like Excalibur randomly showing up in someone's bathtub in England. I mean, come on.

If you want a correct and effective use of kusanagi no tsurugi in a fictional sense, pick up the Grasscutter and Grasscutter II arcs in Usagi Yojimbo. You won't be disappointed.

It's just a sakabatou, people. There's nothing extra-special about the weapon. If you're going to give 'niisan a special sword, at least write it better and stop trying to instigate fanon.

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