Tuesday, July 31, 2007

   My arms are outstretched towards you...
Post time: 3:36p.m. CT
Music: “All Around Me” by Flyleaf

This morning, I got up and ate breakfast like usual...around 8:30-9:00, my brother yells for me to come downstairs. “You need to come and see this!” He said. I couldn’t make out any type of emotion in his voice, and it worried me. I ran downstairs and put my flip-flops on. He was standing at the back door, pointing to the parked explorer. Our orange kitten, Sunny was just laying there. I gave Drew an odd look before going outside and walking over. I knew something was wrong already; Sunny usually comes running at me and sits at my feet waiting for me to pick him up. When I crouched down, I saw that he wasn’t breathing, and he had dried foam around and in his mouth. I couldn’t see very much of him because he was lying by the tire. I started crying and screaming for him to wake up...but he wouldn’t...My brother and I used a shovel to scoop his body up and put it in a plastic bag before putting it in a shoebox for the burial when my dad gets home.

It hurts so much when a pet dies, especially one you were close to, and one you helped raise from a baby. That’s how it is with our cats...Each time Cali has a litter, I always end up bonding with at least one more-so than the others. This time was no different. Sunny was just the most mellow little cat I’ve ever seen. He didn’t pick any fights with his brothers and sister, he didn’t bite and scratch (playfully, mind you) like the others, you could hold him and just look at you with this adorable look he constantly had on his face. He always came over to me when I went outside, he followed me when I walked around the yard or up the driveway, he loved to fall asleep in my lap when I sat in the lawn chairs. He was a very photogenic little kitty, too. No matter what sort of pose he was in, or what he was doing, he looked perfect in pictures.

I’m no stranger to close pets dying...or being killed for that matter. About three or four years ago, around when we first moved into this house, there was another Mama cat who eventually took up residence in our back yard because we gave her scraps. The second litter she had (the first litter were wild, except for an orange one who eventually began to trust us) was the litter Braveheart was in. He was the biggest out of his siblings as well as the bravest, and he had a slight white patch on his chest, which is how he got his name. He grew up into a very handsome young cat, kind of longer fur than the others. I always used to let him in the house (even when I wasn’t supposed to), and cuddle with him on my bed, or play with him in my room. One day is was storming and there was supposed to be a tornado near us or something, so Drew and I let Braveheart in “so he wouldn’t get blown away”, or so we told our parents. He sat in my lap in the chair, and watched the golf game that was on TV. Yes, I kid you not, the cat watched golf. On our way back from either Omaha or Sioux City, we were going down our dirt road, and I heard my mom gasp and my dad made sad moan-like noise and stopped the car. My dad opened his door and looked at the ground before closing it again and looking at my mom, who then looked at me. I stared at them and asked what was wrong, but they didn’t say anything. They didn’t have to, I already figured out that he had gotten run over. I went into a hysteric crying and screaming fit and wouldn’t get out of the car until my mom came out and opened my door about 15 minutes later. Even when I got out, I ran to my room and cried some more for another half and hour. After that, I went outside and picked up Braveheart’s brother, Buddy, and walked around the yard crying some more, only not quite so hard. I still want to know who the hell ran him over so I can tell them off. It pissed me off so much that somebody was stupid enough to not pay attention on a freaking dirt road in the middle of the country! WTF?! What if it would have been a deer or a loose cow? I’m pretty sure that person would have been injured pretty bad, if not dead (or sued if it was a cow). And not to long ago, one of our older cats who adopted the family near our road got hit by a car as well. It didn’t hurt as much as the other two, and I didn’t cry, but there’s still that terrible loss. I don’t know what I’d do if Tiger were to somehow get killed...

I hate people who think that pet’s are just possessions or items you own. “You can’t compare them to a human dying.” Bull shit. They’ve obviously never owned a pet who loved them, or have never loved anything other than a person. A pet becomes part of the family, and when it dies, we feel the same sense of loss as with a human; true, it might not be quite so terrible a when a grandparent or other family member dies, but it’s awfully close... I had the urge to draw a picture of my two angels, and I uploaded it, so you can check it out here. There are some more sentimental words in the description, but you don’t have to read them if you don’t want to. Just some thoughts on losing pets. And here are pictures of Sunny I took yesterday, except for the first one since it’s when they weren’t adventurous enough to go outside the cat-house.

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Monday, July 30, 2007

   Ra~men!
Post time: 8:17a.m. CT
Music: “Spring Nicht" by Tokio Hotel (German band ^-^)

I've gotten into a habit of posting mostly on Mondays, haven't I? It seems like it to me at least...Anyways, my weekend was a lot more adventurous than my week was. Saturday, we all left the house at 6:30 in the morning because my parents had to work early to get off early so we could go to my little cousin’s birthday party. My brothers and I went to Grandpa Denny’s house while they went to work. We mostly watched TV and played with the dogs and talked with Grandma Christa. After a while, she let the boys go swimming and let me get on the computer. I checked out Miyavi’s site, since my home computer’s Internet is so slow the whole page doesn’t load properly...Then I watched some Jrock videos on YouTube. I watched the “Mushi” live from the 5 Days Blitz DVD (DIRU of course); I nearly cried a few times during the performance...especially towards the end when Kyo started to cry. ;__; Then I decided to watch some Ayabie stuff, and ended up watching their "Like an Edison" New Year’s comment for 2007, an older comment with Ryouhei still in the band, then a live of “Kimi no Koe to Yakusoku” and “Meefishu no uta, koi gara no”. The New Year comment was hilarious...Yumehito kept of saying “Ra~men” in a sort of sing-songy voice...perhaps I shall post it? But Intetsu was incredibly adorable in it...he kept on trying not to laugh at the others and failed miserably. X3 The “Kimi no Koe” live was very cute because Aoi was moving his arms and sort of dancing, as were the others (aside from Kenzo of course...he had to drum. XD)...well, swaying along at least. I think the sudden Ayabie kick was because I had a dream the night before, and I can’t remember exactly what happened in it, but Aoi was there...O__o Oh! I also watched the first part of the episode of Steven’s Untitled Rock Show where Steven interviewed Kaoru and Toshiya! I was happy that I could watch all the questions that I had missed. ^^ My parents eventually came and picked us up around 3:30 (along with Grandma Thompson) to go to Omaha. I was so squished in the car...I have relatively long legs, so they had to stay bent the whole time. XP When we got there, I talked to my Uncle Rick about the concert. We ended up trading first concert experiences, his being a Metallica show. My Aunt Cindy’s boyfriend/neighbor cooked some nummy hamburgers and made an awesome Caesar salad. I couldn’t finish all of my cheeseburger because of how thick everything was...it probably didn’t help I put tomato and lettuce on it, huh? XD It was delicious, though! He is an excellent cook. He’s also the owner of that humongous golden retriever, Argus. After eating, my cousin opened her presents. We gave her my old doll house I got when I was one; she loved it. XD We had let my mom’s friend have it, but her little girl doesn’t play with it anymore, so we decided to give it to my cousin. Then I had some ice cream when it was cake and ice cream time. I was still pretty full from dinner, so that’s why I didn’t have cake. Plus the frosting can be too sweet at times and it gives me a tummy ache. D= After that, we sort of sat around and talked for a while. I had my uncle listen to some of the Dir en grey I have on my iPod, and he gets a kick out of the song name “Agitated Screams of Maggots”. I can’t say I blame him. XD Before we left, I thanked my aunt once again for letting Yumi and I stay for the show, and asked if Dir en grey ever came back, if it would be okay if Yumi, Kayla, and myself stay again. She said it was perfectly fine with her. XD I love my aunt so much. >w<

Yesterday I got up and took a shower before calling Kayla to find out what the day’s plans were. Yumi and I ended up going over there and hanging out. Kayla requested that I print off pictures of the rest of Dir en grey so that she could draw them all. I gave her a picture of Die, and she ended up drawing it, so she decided to draw the others as well. I discovered I don’t have very many pictures of Kaoru or Toshiya on my computer...it’s filled with Shinya and Kyo-ness. XD I plan on drawing a picture of Shinya sometime, if not Intetsu, Ruki, or Reita. We ended up going swimming again before going over to Grandma Karen’s house for another cook-out. This time Yumi could stay for it! =D Last time she couldn’t...I could hardly eat everything on my plate...I had a chedder bratwurst, some mashed potatoes, and some of Karen’s pistachio pudding salad. =3 I love that stuff...it’s pistachio pudding, whipped cream, crushed pineapple, and marshmallows all mixed together. After eating, we watched IMF, MTV2, and Fuse before Yumi had to go home. We waited for her dad outside, and eventually saw driving near the house...but in the complete wrong direction. XD Then he came back and purposefully drove past that house again. What’s so funny about that, was right when we started waiting, Kayla said that he would drive right by the house. She never said if he would do it on purpose or on accident, so she was technically right. XD After that I went home. Now today I’m here...like usual. XD I may post the next chapter in my fanfic on my livejournal, so if anybody’s interested, check it out later. ^-^ I’ll leave you with the wonderful Ayabie New Year’s comment I watched on Saturday.

In order from back to front (left to right): Intetsu (<3), Takehito, Yumehito, Aoi, and Kenzo (in the pimp-tastic hat and sunglasses! =D)

Oh! One last thing for all you U.S. residing An Cafe fans! I found a nice petition on MySpace to see if we can show the band enought support to get them touring the U.S.! So please sign this!!!
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Monday, July 23, 2007

   D'aw! *SQUEE*
Post time: 5:50p.m. CT
Music: “Indelible Sin" by Nana Kitade

This weekend was fairly busy for me, or at least to the point of me not being home all that much. Saturday, my parents were taking the Grand AM to Omaha to sell it and my brothers and I got to stay at our grandma’s house again (the same one that has the horses). I was wrong about the puppy’s breed (the one who lives in the house with her mom); I guess Jamie is a rat terrier, so that makes Jackie a rat terrier-Jack Russell terrier mix. But anyway, those two often fought over who got to sit on my lap and be petted. XD Jackie definitely has a Jack Russell temperament...or at least her father’s...Jamie is the sweetest little dog. We went to the other house to do chores, and I got to see the little palomino again, as well as spend some time with the old grey stallion, Dusty. He used to be a stud, but he’s getting to old to breed mares, so he’s “retired”, if you look at it that way. He’s a total sweetheart, and he let me talk to him and pick out burrs from his mane while he ate. Out of all the horses my grandma has owned, Dusty and I have known each other the longest and I think we share a special bond...he always looks at me a certain way, and will always greet me when I go over to his pen. I love him so much! >w< After chores, we went back to grandma’s house and ate dinner. I played with the dogs and the pretty blind cat while we waited for my parents to call for us to go pick them up. Drew and I went with Grandma to get Mom and Dad, then came back to Grandma’s. I went up to where the younger puppies were that were from the female Jack Russell terrier, Spot. The puppy that Mom and I picked out (even though we can’t get her because of financial reasons) and grown a little since I last saw her. She still has her yellow lab colored fur, but I noticed that she has white paws now, and a little white spot on her forehead, so I decided to call her Dotti. I picked her up (she didn’t struggle or anything, just looked at me cutely), and carried her down to where my parents were. My mom and I squeed at how cute she was, and how she licked my cheeks and chin when I held her close to my face. She’s so adorable! I really wish we could get her...I was relieved when I asked my dad why we couldn’t get a dog, let alone Dotti, and he said that he would love to get her, we just don’t have the money to pay for everything right now. I just hope that nobody will get her when my grandparents advertise the puppies in the paper...there’s still a chance that we’ll get back on our feet and have enough to pay for shots, food, and a kennel. I know it’s selfish of me to say something like that, and I’m sure that if she did get a home other than mine, it would be great (so help me, if it wasn’t...*growl*). *ahem* We eventually left and went back home to change into some cleaner clothes before going in to Cherokee (biggest town near us) to eat at Taco John’s, rent some movies (I rented Ju-On 2! =D), and get groceries.

Yesterday I went over to Kayla’s. Yes, it’s a Sunday ritual...I almost always go over to her house on Sundays...it’s my piece of freedom after baby-sitting my brothers all week while my parents are at work. Anyhoo, when I got there, I gave her and her mom the candles my mom sent with me. Robin (Kayla’s mom) had a hysterectomy earlier this week, so Mom gave her one as a “Feel better” present. After that, Kayla and I got our swim-suits on and got in their pool in the back yard. After swimming for a few hours, we got out and dried off with towels and the sun before changing again and eating some yummy deviled eggs Robin had made for us. =D~ We watched Dir en grey again, then watched a little bit of Babe before they took me home. As soon as I got out of the car, I saw that one of the cats had caught a rabbit and brought back some pieces...like half it’s face (eyeball still intact...XP), a chewed on leg, and some random bits of fur and bone. *shudder* I got to borrow the Fullmetal Alchemist movie from Kayla’s brother, as well as FFVII: Advent Children. I watched some of Ju-On 2 before getting my brothers and I some ice cream and calling Yumi and talked with her for a bit. I watched the rest of the movie before going to bed. I thought the movie was well made, though it wasn’t the scariest one I’ve seen. Most of it was psychological, like seeing one of the ghosts in a random shadow, or reflective surface when the actor is looking away, or the camera is just panning. I really want to see the first Ju-On now, though...and for those of you unfamiliar, Ju-On is pretty much the original version of The Grudge before us Americans hacked it. XD

I’m glad that all of you thought the papillon pic I posted in my last post was so cute...I thought so too! X3 If you’re curious, I haven’t done much today except rediscover how ugly I think Pekignese dogs are, and watch The Conqueror of Shambala. I’ll leave you with another picture before I go catch up on my weekend’s worth of missed MyO-ness. ~Ja ne!

As promised...D’aw! >w<
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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

   Lyk omg! lol
Post time: 6:05p.m. CT
Music: "Japanese Low-Res Caramel Town” by Ayabie

On Sunday Yumi and I ended up going to Kayla’s house. We watched my Dir en grey DVDs again (of course, they never get old no matter how many times you watch them! ^o^), and played some FFXII before eating some tacos for supper and leaving to go see Harry Potter. When we got there, there was a cardboard stand-up of a new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. I squeed at that for a good three minutes. I used to watch the cartoons when I was little all the time, and now they’re coming out with a movie where the chipmunks are CG animated! I hope I can go see it when it comes out!!! The fifth Harry Potter movie itself was a lot better than the fourth one was...in the fourth movie, they changed a lot of stuff and left tons out. The fifth movie didn’t change a lot of stuff, though they did leave some things out that we had wanted to see, like one of the centaurs was supposed to be the new Divination teacher, or when they have to ride the thestrals to save Sirius, and only Harry and Luna Lovegood could see them. They did a really good job with the special effects, too...the thestrals looked so awesome...and it looked like they changed the way the dementors looked from the third movie...Overall, we were satisfied with the way it turned out and I had to put up with Yumi and Kayla fangirling over Rupert Grint, the guy who plays Ron Weasley. ^-^;

Lately I’ve been messaging back and forth with my friend Katie from Omaha (the girl we met up with at the concert). We’ve been talking about our experiences after Dir en grey performed, and during the show itself. I guess her and her group left and were standing in front of the bus, and Die and Kaoru were standing near-by. Which makes me bring up Die’s hair...it was a yucky orange-blond color, not red like the lights led me to think. I haven’t heard of anybody who likes that look for him...but anyways, they greeted the guitarists, who smiled in response. Katie and her friends went over to them to ask if they could take a picture, but they said no. They were a little disappointed about that, then went back to where they were and talked some more. Die and Kaoru went back inside the bus, and a guy (actually the same person who was selling the DIRU merch) came up to them asking who their favorite members were. Katie said all of them, one said Toshiya, and one said Kyo, then Katie listed them off. The guy pulled out one of Shinya’s drum heads and handed it to her, because she named off Shinya first! She said that she could see the marks from his drumming and everything. I was so jealous, but after thinking about it, I’m glad that we didn’t follow them out, despite the chance of actually meeting one of the members; that’s what makes going to a concert so special to me, everyone has a different experience, and I’m happy with the one that Yumi and I got. I mean come on, how often do you get Kyo spying on you? ...Okay, so that can be interpreted as you like. X3 *ahemMomocough* We just can’t wait to see if they’ll come back, and with such an awesome response, why wouldn’t they? I just hope it’s at the Sokol again, because it’s so much smaller and you get a more intimate experience because no matter where you are, you’re relatively close to the stage! =D And maybe next time Kayla can come!

So other than that, that’s all that’s been happening to me...nothing too special...I suppose I’m off to visiting sites now! Love you all! ~Ja ne!

Yet another Papillon picture. o(>w<)o So cute!!!
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Saturday, July 14, 2007

   Pappies are so adorable!!!
Post time: 9:23p.m. CT
Music: "Agitated Screams of Maggots" by Dir en grey

Not much happened this week except for on Thursday. My family and I went grocery shopping. Before we left, I put this modeling glue stuff in my hair to try and make it look cool. I didn't have a whole lot of time, but it turned out fairly decent. ^^ After we got back and put things away, we headed to my grandma Myrna's house. I always love visiting her, just because we hardly go over there. It's not that she lives a long ways away (she only lives a few towns away), it's that my cousin Robert is always there. He's a nice kid and stuff, but he has ADD, and my grandparents let him get away with murder...something my parents hate, especially when my brothers get in trouble for something that HE did. Another reason I love visiting, is because they own a bunch of horses and some dogs. We drove down to "the other house", a house that my grandparents own and use the land to take care of the horses (I also used to live there...saw my first foal being born. ^^). Apparently they have four new foals that were born, two fillies (female foal) and two colts (male foal). The first filly I saw was in the pasture closest the driveway. My grandpa Ray (not technically my grandpa, since him and grandma got married only a few years ago when he go his leg amputated) invited me to go and see her. I ran up to the fence to coax either the filly, her mom, or the two year old stallion to come out of the trailer used for shelter. The mother, a 17 year old chestnut mare was the first to come out, but the stallion was the one who came and greeted me. He was so sweet...he was a palomino, as was the filly who came over soon after. After petting them for a bit, Grandma, Mom and me went below the road to feed the other horses in that pasture. That’s where the other foals were. The other filly was a soft brown color, and the two colts weren’t exactly easy to describe; one had brownish fur on his face, neck, and forelegs, yet beyond that was a frosty-grey color. The other foal was a mottled assortment of colors, and my grandparents said he would either be a buckskin or a silvery-white. We went back over and Mom and Grandma went into the house while I stood and talked with Ray.

He asked me how the concert went, and asked if I met any boyfriends. I laughed and said “No, but I wish!” He’s always teasing my brother and me to see if we have a girlfriend or boyfriend (respectively). He mentioned that he heard I got to hold one of the band member’s hands (WTF?! That’s news to me...), I said no to that as well. I told him that my favorite was the drummer, but I didn’t get to see him very often because he was in the back. He told me that he liked to watch a good drummer play, because they can make the best music. He then said, “I suppose you’re going to take up drumming now, huh?” I giggled and said no, I wouldn’t know how to properly. “Well, you could always sit on his lap and he could show you,” came the reply. @/////@ I think I blushed thirty shades of red after he said that...luckily I was laughing and hiding my face. After a while, we went to Grandma’s house. Jamie, their female Jack Russell terrier greeted us before we went in. Then we got to meet Jamie’s puppy, Jackie. She’s a pure terrier, almost all white except for black on her head and a few black spots on her back. We sat, visited, and had some tea for the rest of the time. Grandma brought in a puppy from one of the other Jack Russell terriers out-side, but this one was rather large compared to how big it should have been to be pure-bred. Apparently, that particular female got loose and had a little fling with the black lab my grandparents own, then got mated with the male Jack Russell they own. Two of the pups had terrier markings, but the third pup was like a yellow lab, only she had a white sock on one of her paws. My mom and I fell in love with her, but my dad won’t let us get a dog, no matter how young (these weren’t old enough to leave their mother yet). That may be one of the reasons I watch The Dog Whisperer so much, because I can’t have a dog of my own to train. = / Oh yeah! My grandma also had this really pretty cat! She wasn’t very old, just under two years I think...she had creamy white fur, yet her paws and legs had these soft grey stripes on them, as well as two stripes on top of her head. Her whole tail was grey tabby striped, too. The only bad thing was that she was pretty much blind. D= She eventually got to liking me, and I even got Jackie to leave her alone (using a method of distracting the dog I learned from watching Cesar!)! Hm...today and yesterday weren’t very eventful, though I think tomorrow night I’ll be able to go and see Order of the Pheonix with Kayla and possibly Yumi! =D Wee! I almost forgot! While on the phone with Yumi last night, we figured out that these old candy hearts she was eating (which tasted like Windex...), were actually compressed bits of the Lifestream sent to Yumi from Kisaki, who is trying to kill her...Which led to us to believe that the Lifestream is Windex itself! We are indeed NOT crazy...just a little less sane than most others! ~Ja ne!

This is Cesar and three pitbulls from his Dog Psychology Center in L.A.
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Wednesday, July 11, 2007

   Once a whore, you're nothing more, I'm sorry that'll never change
Post time: 8:10p.m. CT
Music: "Misery Business" by Paramore


Hello, all! ^^ Nothing important is really going on...I registered on imeem, so that's why I'm enjoying Paramore right now. ^^ I fucking love this song so much! And Hayley, the singer, is so pretty...her hair is awesome and she always matches her make-up with it. XD It's cool, because it's her and her brothers who make up the band. I personally think that the guitarist, Zac, is freaking hot. XD In speaking of hotness...I got my layout all fixed up. Now it is the yumminess that is Shinya. <3 God, I miss his braids...they looked so cool, especially when he was drumming. Though I suppose it would really hurt to accidentally whip yourself in the face with them...ouchies...D=

This is Paramore! =D Zac's the one in the back, and Hayley is obviously the girl in front. XD

Anybody going to see the new Harry Potter movie? My girlfriends and I might go see it tomorrow night, it depends though. I haven't gone so see a movie at the theaters in a while, now...I think the last movie was The Grudge 2. Wow...that was a long time ago. O_o I just hope that since they got another director for this movie, it'll be better than the previous two...The man who did the first two movies, The Sorcerer's Stone and The Chamber of Secrets, did a really good job with them. I was really dissapointed witht he 3rd and 4th movies...especially the 3rd, because that was my favorite book. I totally just remembered who dies in the 5th book, and I'll more than likely end up crying because he's my favorite character. D,= Hey! Marilyn Manson was on The Sauce today! Momo, you totally popped into my head and I hoped that you were watching. Steven was asking him a few questions about the difference between the new record compared to his others, and why he decided that he would come back into music. Has anyone seen S.K.I.N. pictures yet? Gackt's new look amuses me so much...XD I can't wait for them to release and album! I'm anxious to hear what they sound like. Especially with Miyavi thrown in the mix! *huggles him* He's such a goof-ball! Ah! Which reminds me he's releasing a new album the 18th of this month! It's titled 7 SAMURAI SESSIONS -We're KAVKI BOIZ-. I guess it's like a remix album for his past songs. Well, I'ma go off and visit sites now, so see you all later! *huggles all* ~Ja ne! <3

Yoshiki, Gackt, and Miyavi
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Sunday, July 8, 2007

   Scary bugz, yo...
Post time: 8:57p.m. CT
Music: "Clever Sleazoid” by Dir en grey

I hope everyone had a decent weekend! I know I loved mine! =D Friday I cleaned the house all day while taking breaks to watch The Dog Whisperer. I love that show...Caesar Millan is such an awesome person, and when he explains the reasons behind a dog’s behavior it makes sense. I think that watching that show will give me better experience when I own a dog. ^^ Yesterday, my brothers, Dad, and I went to my Grandpa Denny’s house while we waited for mom to get off work. After playing with Bailey and Benji (their Lhasa apso and Shih tzu), we got our swim gear on and went swimming in the pool. And it was hot yesterday, so it was nice to be in the water. My dad even joined us, jumping off the diving board and spraying us with water. After we dried off, we went to get mom, got a few groceries, and on the way home, I fell asleep while listening to DIRU. It was around 4:30 when we got home, and I called Kayla and Yumi to tell them they could come whenever they were ready. Mom and me made some Oreo-pudding salad for supper later on. We love that stuff, especially Kayla and Yumi...it was a special request, as was Dad’s nachos (‘Homg, yum!!! =D~). If your curious as how you make the salad, you need two boxes of instant chocolate pudding, a cup of milk for each box, a tub of whipped cream, and some Oreos. You can either use regular cookies (which you would have to crush up), or use the mini-Oreos. Just mix it together, and let it set in the ‘fridge for an hour or two, and you have instant heaven...if you love chocolate that is...XD

When the girls got here, Yumi and I looked at all the old letters we sent each other when we lived away from each other. I forgot how horribly bad a drew back then...-___-; We ate supper, then got on the computer to show Kayla pictures of Dir en grey, then showed her some videos on You Tube...like both the Dir en grey and GazettE versions of “Kick the Can”. <3 Then we watched the Bonds ~Kyu~ movie, and some other GazettE music videos, in which Kayla fell in love with Bou’s fashion sense (mainly a few pairs of his pants, which I love as well ^^), and Aoi. You know she’ll be obsessed when she goes, “He’s so beautiful...” XD I rabu her! We then went downstairs and watched Yumi play Dirge of Cerberus, and re-beat it so we could listen to Gackt singing. I had “Redemption” stuck in my head for quite a while...We then broke out the game Parcheesi (Sorry! was based off of it, so they are very similar games), which neither Kayla nor I had ever played before. Yes, Yumi was quite shocked. XD It was fun, even though I lost horribly...All throughout this, Kayla kept on petting me...O.o; We talked about random stuff, and let me tell you...after staying up all night until 6:00 the next morning, everything seems extremely funny, and it sounds like you’re on some sort of drug. XD We eventually fell asleep, and woke up around 10:00. After we got dressed we ate breakfast, then decided to straighten our hair...well, except for Kayla, her hair is already straight. =3 We played Tales of Symphonia, then played another game of Parcheesi while watching my It Withers and Withers Tour 07 DVD. We got easily distracted between all the shots of Kyo, Die, and Shinya. X3 I didn’t do so bad in this game, though, and Yumi kept on wanting to go around the board more times that she needed to. We also stopped every time we saw the man who gave us our picks at the concert. XD We then put the game away and just watched the rest of the lives before Dad and I took the girls home around 3:30...and it was right before the performance of “KODOU” ended at their live in Paris. D= When I got home, I watched the rest of the DVD, ate supper, and now I’m on the computer...yeah. I guess I should go to sites now, huh? I also need to work on my new layout...it’s already July! Damn! I think this month’s theme will be Shinya. *nod nod* Well, I’ll talk to you all later! ~Ja ne!

If you haven’t listened to “Redemption” yet, you really ought to!

And then the wonders that are DIRU acting like total dorks
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Monday, July 2, 2007

   Peanut, peanut butter...and jelly! =D
Post time: p.m. CT
Music: "Merciless Cult” by Dir en grey

A few nights ago, I had two odd dreams...The first one: Yumi and I went to a Family Values Tour show this summer, and Dir en grey was there. What makes this odd is that Dir en grey won’t be in the tour this year because they’ll be touring in Europe. We went to an area where there was this sort of archway that led to an area where a tent was set up. At the tent, Die and Shinya were smiling and greeting the large group of people in front of them. They might have been signing autographs or something, I’m not for sure. We tried to get into the area, but there was just too many people to get through, so we just decided we would wave at them (Yes, just like after their show we went to a few weeks ago xD). Well, this must have caught their eye, because they immediately stopped what they were doing, grinned and began waving like madmen at us. I’m not sure what happened afterwards because the dream ended, but I know that I felt extremely happy. In the second dream, we (not exactly sure who ‘we’ is, because it was only implied that there was some other people aside from myself there) were on this sidewalk area or something in front of these shops. A big (size of your hand, roughly), spindly legged spider crawled out of a crack in the wall or something, and started crawling towards me. Now I’m scared to death of spiders, and I can’t get the courage to kill them half the time for fear they’ll fall on me, or jump at me, or come and get me in some other way...*shudder* So of course, I was hopping around, shrieking and trying to get it away from me, but it just kept on coming towards me. And the people around me completely ignored me...The spider eventually got on me and crawled all over my body. I was crying and was trying to shake it off, but just couldn’t get it to leave me alone. I can’t remember how, but it eventually got off of me, and somebody stepped on it. I looked up, and it was Shinya who squashed the bastard. =D Man, I don’t have a thing for Shinya, do I? XD

My hero! =D

Well, from my own laziness, I didn’t get the fanart done in time. -__-; I’ll try to finish it and post it anyway, though. Yesterday Kayla and her dad picked me and Yumi up to go to their house. We mostly talked for the first half and hour we were there. Then we watched some Jrock PVs that I had burned onto a DVD. We mainly wanted to show Kayla bis, since she’s in love with the vocalist, Maru. And the creepy thing is, he looks just like her ex-boyfriend, Justin, “only Asian and hotter”. XD I’ve shown random people pictures of Maru in my school, asking who he reminded them of, and they said “Justin” every time. I personally like the guitarist, Tsukasa. He’s so adorably cool! o(>w<)o We then ended up showing Kayla an Ayabie video (Glitter Tropen) before she decided to make herself some eggs and toast for lunch. XD Yumi and I watched the Japanese Low-Res Caramel Town video, and whenever she saw Kenzo, so would squee, and whenever I saw Intetsu I would squee. =3 We went into the kitchen afterwards and Kayla asked what we wanted for lunch. Still suffering from the adorableness of Kai’s French toast making video, I said French toast. Evidently I decided that Yumi wanted it too. XD And of course, mine got burnt and her’s turned out perfectly. *facepalm* Kayla had added cinnamon to the egg mixture, and we told her to just make scrambled eggs out of what was left. She did, and they were pretty good tasting aside from looking like grey matter. XD Then Kayla decided to try peanut butter on her egg and toast...yeah...that didn’t turn out very well. Whcih reminds me of one of Kayla’s nicknames she got form summer school: Peanut butter. XD So of course, we now call Die Jelly. ^^ Kayla’s parents also invited both Yumi and I to a cook-out at Grandma’s house. I called my mom and asked if it was okay if I stayed, and she said yes. But when Yumi called her dad, she got the answering machine, so she left a message and we watched the rest of the videos on my DVD, and then watched the Dir en grey performances on my Family Values Tour DVD, plus the part and the very end where they take a big family picture. XD Yes, even Kyo joined in. I should try and find the picture...After that we watched and became good luck for Yumi when she played Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus. We paused it after a while so Yumi could try calling her dad back. She talked to him, and he said that she couldn’t stay. D,= He came to get her, and Kayla and I went to Grandma’s house to eat. After supper (yummy!), we watched TV and then they took me home. Oh yeah, when we were watching IMF (International Music Feed), Tokio Hotel came on! They’re a German band, and I actually liked the song, even though the singer’s hair probably ripped another hole in the ozone layer...It was so poofy and big...O.o; ~Ja ne!

Kayla: “He’s so beautiful...”
Me: “...poor ozone layer.” ;___; (Holy shit he looks like Axel from Kingdom Hearts 2!)
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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

   You know you're obsessed when...
Post time: 5:33p.m. CT
Music: "Ryoujoku No Ame" by Dir en grey

So...I was watching this video the other day:

And got the urge to make some today. So I made myself some adorable French toast for lunch today. XD Yeah...it scares me when I get the urge to be creative and cook. I think it means I'm bored...O.o; I even took a picture of my creation...though I didn't have thick bread, I just had a regular loaf, so it turned out kinda' raggedy looking. My fingers still smell like cinnamon...Whee! It's Lolita Kisama's 1st birthday! ^o^ LoKisa is a site that sells all sorts of Japanese-esque clothes, accesories, make-up, and other awesome stuff. If I could order things off the Internet, and if I had a paycheck, I would get a lot of clothes and such from there. If you want to check it out, go ahead and click here! Maybe I can talk my mom into letting me get some things from the site. It's not terribly expensive or anything, either, unless you get to the Harajuku designer jackets...those get pretty pricey.

My current art project is for ElvesAteMyRamen's art contest. I decided to go with fanart out of the available criteria. I've already got some idea of what it'll look like, and I'll post it when it's done. I think I'll make a copy when I'm done with the actual drawing part, then outline and color the copy(s), just to see which one I like best. I have to draw a picture giving her new Dollfie, Ducan, a story of some sort. I think I've got it planned out for the most part, but until I post the final product, it'll have to be a secret. ^^ Hey yeah! I forgot to mention that Friday after the concert we went to the zoo! =D Heehee...we saw lot's of crowned cranes, too. *snicker snicker* I feel I should probably explain, ne? Well, Yumi's little brother got some old Ranger Rick magazines on the last day of school, and on the back of one of them were some crowned cranes. Ah, heck, here's a link to my jrockhumor post on livejournal to explain the rest: Krazy Kooky Kranes! Yeah, so we were yelling out "Kyo!" everytime we saw one. XD We stopped by these gazelle early on in our trek, and a male had just come out of the shelter. He went over to the only other animal outside, then just started running around the enclosure, pretty much just showing off to us. It was great. =D Hm...that's about all I can think of to tell you guys about, aside from Kayla being in love with Die. God, I love that girl...I need to look-up some stuff on him for her because she doesn't have access to the Interwebz...Until next time, Ja ne~!

"I can see you having Shinya's baby..."~ Kayla

=D I can too, dear, I can too...
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Saturday, June 23, 2007

   I totally lost my concert virginity to Dir en grey
Post time: 11:44a.m. CT
Music: "The Deeper Vileness" by Dir en grey from a handy playlist made of the DIRU songs from the concert =D

This post will get extremely long (approx. 7 paragraphs, plus a few pictures)! I get into lots of detail and have random fangirlie moments. This post is pretty much my little experience at my very first concert ever, so I was more than excited when I got to go. Just a forewarning to those who don’t have a lot of time! Oh! I forgot to mention that that survey thing was for MySpace, so that should explain the “Who’s in your top 8" question. ^^;

Okay, in my last post, Yumi had just gotten over to my house. We hung out for a bit while my dad slept (he had to work late the night before and didn’t get home until around seven in the morning because things didn’t go so great with inventory). My dad got up and we (my little brother, Devon, was coming to Omaha with us) gathered our things up and put them in the trunk and left for Omaha. On the way, we watched Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children on Yumi’s portable DVD player. It was funny, because the music on the radio (rock, thank you very much) went very well with certain scenes. Like when everyone is fighting Bahamut-Sin, Linkin Park’s new song, “What I’ve Done” came on and went PERFECTLY. We got to my aunt’s house before she got home from work, but luckily she had told us where the key to the house was hidden. We brought our things inside and dad left. Not long after, my Aunt Cindy and my little cousins got there. Cindy put pizzas in the oven for supper and Yumi and I got ready. I changed into my concert gear and adjusted my hair (styled it sort of like Miku’s! ^o^) and put on my make-up. I ended up wearing my Dir en grey shirt from the Code to Vulgar[ism] tour I got at the Hot Topic in Michigan, and a comfortable pair of cargos with a strip of the same fabric tied at the waist for a belt, plus my ever so awesome penguin shoes. Yumi wore a pair of jeans and her zombie Dier en grey shirt, plus her octopi shoes. After that, we piled into the Ford Escape and she dropped us off at the venue. We got there around 6:30-ish, so we waited in line for a bit, and talked to the girls in front of us. A few people ahead of them moved, and I saw my MySpace buddy, Katie. She also saw me and motioned for us to go up there with her. So Yumi and I cheated and got to go ahead in line. Hey, we had planned to meet up anyway...

She was with her best friend and their boyfriend. They were all there for DIRU! ^^ We talked for a while, waiting for the doors to finally open. Might I add that is was freaking hot and humid, not to mention that the sun was shining directly on all of the line. Over half of the people (including us) were wearing dark clothes, so it definitely wasn’t fun waiting for so long. Finally, one of the security guys walked down the line with safety precautions. “If you are caught smoking in the building, it’s a $100 fine. Also, no guns, knives, razors, or weapons of mass destruction are allowed” A lot of people in line sarcastically said “Aw, man! I guess I gotta’ go home!” XD Then we had to split into a line for boys and one for girls so they could frisk us, just in case. We got inside, then gave the person at the door our tickets. The Sokol Auditorium (the venue for the concert of course) is one of the most awesome places to hold a concert...There’s a main floor area, plus two staircases on either side that lead to the balcony. There was also an area off to the side by the bar where the merchandise was sold. It was mostly standing-room only, except for some bleachers at the back of the balcony. We had to sit down at first, and we got a place more to the left side of the stage. They played some random beats and music while we waited for the show to start, so we talked some more. Yumi and I figured out that Katie and her friends were just like ours, so we all got a long well and quoted The Whitest Kids U Know (a really funny show on FUSE similar to Mad TV for those unfamiliar with it) a lot of the time. Finally, 8:00 rolled around and everyone was allowed to stand up for the show to start.

The first band to play was called Fall of Troy. I had heard they were pretty good from some of my friends at school. I think they said they were based out of Seattle...It consisted of three members, the drummer, guitarist/lead vocalist, and the bassist/backup vocalist. I kind of felt sorry for them because not very many people were really getting into them, or were unfamiliar with them, but Yumi and I thought they were pretty good and nodded our heads and clapped for them after each song. A few times the guitarist struck up a conversation with the crowd. First, he asked us how we could stand such heat and humidity. XD I’m guessing Seattle is a little cooler than Nebraska/Iowa! He then really got us going when he asked if we were excited about Dir en grey and Deftones coming up next. Right after he mentioned Dir en grey, the whole auditorium exploded with cheers and screams. As you can guess, a lot of people came for Dir en grey more-so than the other two bands. Deftones didn’t get much of a response, but that might be because those fans didn’t come until later on. Then somebody (Yumi and I sadly suspect it was a DIRU fan...) screamed out that they sucked between songs. We got really pissed off...Why the hell would you say something like that?! At least show some courtesy to the band for even showing up! I’m sure they didn’t come all the way here just to get told that they suck. *shakes head* Fall of Troy got done, then more people crowded in behind us in anticipation for Dir en grey.

Yumi and I were able to get a little closer to the stage, and ended up standing by a large, tall black man. O.o As soon as they uncovered Shinya’s drum-set, several screams and cheers were heard. The people beside/behind us were definitely impressed by it.

*SQUEE!* Shinya has the coolest and biggest drum set I’ve ever seen anybody play!
Hell, even when the roadies were just checking the instruments, cheers were shouted out! Holy crap...everyone’s guitars were so pretty! Kaoru’s was so shiny, as was Toshiya’s bass! And Die’s guitar...OMG, I die a little inside every time I see it, but there was a larger chunk that died when I actually got to see it in real life. The red paint had a really awesome metallic shimmer to it, plus it was shiny from being polished...and what’s more, it’s an ESP model! I love ESP guitars! *SQUEE*

Die and his freaking awesome guitar.
The backdrop had a little trouble unfurling...it started off well at the right end, but it slowly got all the way down, causing another shockwave of cheering. Someone tapped on my shoulder a little after that, and I turned to see an older woman (maybe mid to late 30's early 40's). She asked me if I was a fan of the band up next. I shook my head vigorously, then she asked me if they were really Japanese. XD I told her yes, and when she asked if they sang in Japanese, Yumi and I said that they did with a little bit of English here and there. We told her that they rocked and that she would probably like them. XD They had started playing a beat that sounded really awesome...it had this voice that made a sound beginning with a “k” sound, and everyone turned it into chanting “Kyo, Kyo, Kyo, Kyo!” As soon as Shinya walked out (in a white wife-beater, no less =3), the room exploded even louder than before, followed by more cheering (and the continued “Kyo” chant) for Die, Kaoru, and Toshiya. Kyo walked out last (of course ^^), and the chanting was still going on. You could sort of tell he was enjoying the attention. =D Where we were standing, we were right in front of Kaoru and Toshiya (the stage was pretty small, but it was still awesome). From where I was, I could see everyone on stage; Shinya (looking as yummy as ever) at his drums, Kaoru looked freaking awesome and him and Toshiya (who didn’t look so bad himself...) kept making us cheer. XD Kyo had a new hairstyle than what he had in the Inward Scream tour (I’m pretty sure at least). His bangs were longer on one side than on the other (like he’s sort of had it before):

This is the best I could find...it was like this...only...he wasn’t having a sezure...O.o Also, I guess people who took pictures aren't really allowed to post them by demand of Free Will Records (DIRU's record company)
I was relieved to see that Die had his red hair again. ^^ For a while, I believe he had black hair, and I was starting to miss his redness. He was looking awesome, too! Hell, who am I kidding? They all looked freaking hot! And it pissed me off that we could bring in cameras and such! I figured they probably wouldn’t let us, but tons of people were taking pictures with cameras and phones! Godammit! >_< If I would have known we could bring those in, I would have brought my digital camera along! Yumi had her phone, and she took a few pictures, but they didn’t turn out very well. D= The set list consisted of the following songs (Yumi and I double checked today), but not necessarily in the given order:
Disabled Complexes
Agitated Screams of Maggots
The Deeper Vileness
Repetition of Hatred
Namamekashiki Ansoku, Tomadoi Ni Hohoemi
Rotting Root
THE FINAL
Kyo's acapella
dead tree
Merciless Cult
THE IIID EMPIRE
Yes, ten songs in all.

Kyo’s shirt only lasted one song. XD His body is still in awesome shape (yummy abs! @///@). When he tossed his shirt out into the crowd, I got his with a droplet of his sweat! =D He also didn’t have a crate/box thing to lean on, so he danced around a lot more. At one point it looked like he was doing the matrix or something...his dances were really flow-like and seductive. X3 I believe that it was during “Namamekashiki” that he had a blade of some sort and made a slight cut across the left side of his ribs. I don’t think it was very deep, because he didn’t bleed very much. He did take his hand and smear some on his face, though. I’m just sort of glad that he didn’t fish hook...I didn’t get the chance to look at Die a whole lot during the show, but he looked like he was having fun. Once in a while I glanced back at Shinya (while on my tip-toes -_-;). But for most of it, I watched the two right in front of me: Kaoru and Toshiya. They really fed off of our responses. I know I caught their eye at least two or three times each. Whenever Kaoru would see us holding up the devil horns (you know, “Rock on!”), when he had the chance, he would do the same to us. Toshiya kept motioning for us to get louder, though I think we might have drowned out Kyo if we would have screamed any louder. Every now and then between songs, I would shout out “Shinya!” and “Kyo!” in true fangirl fashion. XD Yumi and I sang along to all the songs. Some of the songs other people sang along to, as well, but not very many. I was especially happy when they played "The Deeper Vileness". When they played “THE FINAL”, I started crying. That is probably my most favorite song aside from “KODOU”. I’m pretty sure Kaoru saw me crying and singing along at the same time. Neither Yumi or I caught any guitar picks or anything, though Kaoru’s water bottle slipped out of her hands. I could barely hear Kyo scream “Last song” before they started to play “THE IIID EMPIRE”. I definitely tried to see Shinya during the slightly quiet part, but Toshiya happened to hop in front of my line of vision of him. D= And Kyo sang during that part as well, something I haven’t seen him do very often in any of the lives I’ve watched. Overall, Dir en grey could have made the roof cave in with the noise we were all making. By the time they were done, Yumi and I were drenched with sweat (probably not a very good idea to have worn pants...) and staggered to the side to get out of the crowd.

I literally mean staggered...my legs felt like jelly. We made our way to the back and around to where the bar and merchandise was. When we tried to get through, I accidentally put my hand on a (really cute...) Japanese guy. He just sort of smiled after I said “Hi.” XD We got to the DIRU merch., and the shirts were $30. Yeah...I saw that they had TmoaB there, too, but we both ended up getting the wrist bands and went to get something to drink before going up to the balcony to try and cool down. That didn’t help very much, because it was even hotter up there than on the floor. We eventually headed back down and went into the rest room. I attempted to make myself a little more presentable hair-wise, but I was too sweaty to even try. XD We stood outside of the bathroom by the stairs going up to the balcony on the left side of the auditorium. We were between a fan and an open door, so it worked to cool us down. We could also see the stage really well, so we just sort of vaguely listened/watched Deftones start to play. I looked out the door and saw Katie and her friends walk by. They had obviously left right after DIRU got done. That’s also when I realized that Dir en grey’s tour bus was right out there, too. The blinds on the window were slightly raised two or three inches, and you could make out somebody’s shadow. I poked Yumi and showed her, and we both waved every now and then. I know that they would look out at us, because you could see their head turn. We suspected that it was Kyo (we could sort of make out chin hair), and we knew that he was notorious for spying on fans. After a few more waves, the blinds were raised a little bit more, and we knew that is was Kyo because of the blonde hair. We waved even more crazily than before while grinning, and I think that he might have smiled back or something.

A little bit later, after the blinds were lowered a little, and more random waves when nobody was in the way, one of the roadies (hot and Japanese, or course ^^) that was helping to set up their part of the show slunk onto the landing by where we were standing. We both saw him and smiled at him and waved. He smiled and mouthed “Hi”. A few seconds later he held out his hand to me, and in it were two guitar picks. I knew my eyes got huge as soon as I saw them, then I took them and gave one to Yumi. We turned and said thank you about a dozen times. All he did was nod and put his index finger to his lips to tell us to keep it hush-hush. A few seconds later, he snuck back out all ninja-like and we didn’t see him again. Yumi and I looked at each other after he left and squealed and stared at our new presents from Dir en grey with teary eyes. They had obviously seen us, and sent the guy out to give the picks to us. Why else would he have come and gone so quickly, and on top of that, told us to keep it a secret? And it was then, too late, that I remembered my necklace I wanted to give to Shinya. I could have asked the roadie to give it to him! I wanted to kick myself! Then an Asian looking young woman (I know I’ve seen her somewhere before) walked past us and Yumi poked me, saying that she was Dir en grey’s translator! She recognized her from when Kaoru and Toshiya were on Steven’s Untitled Rock Show back in February, and she translated the questions and answers. We got excited; there was still time! When the young woman walked back, we stopped her, and as I struggled to get the necklace off (damn you sweaty hands/neck!!), Yumi asked her if she could give it to Shinya for me. She nodded, and when I finally got it off and handed it to her, she asked “Shinya?” I nodded and thanked her profusely as she walked out the door and onto the bus. I squealed again and stood in teary-eyed shock. I had totally just accomplished my goal for the concert! I saw her walk back in and stand to watch the show, and resisted the urge to become and annoying fangirl and ask her if he liked it or what he said. Yumi and I waved some more whenever there was an opening, and I swear to Pink God(hide-sama, of course! ^o^) I saw Shinya looking out at one point before they left. A few drunk people stumbling by and Deftones songs later, Yumi and I decided to leave. We sat outside under the building (thank Pink God it was cool outside!), and waited for Cindy to come and pick us up. After Deftones finished, and people walked out, someone screamed out “Deftones!” and a few people cheered. A guy that was with his friends a little in front of us screamed out “Dir en grey!” in response, and Yumi and I, the guys friends, and a bunch of people on the side cheered, getting a louder response than the Deftones.

Well, I hope that you enjoyed reading that...I guess? And we screamed extra loud for those of you who weren’t able to go to any of the concerts, don’t worry! Ugh...my arms and legs are only now starting to hurt from jumping and waving them around madly...~Ja ne!
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