Sunday, November 7, 2004

   Hey dudes, let's flash through some topics!
Alright, so I kinda didn't post for a few days. It wasn't a planned thing or anything, it just sorta happened. Anyway, let get through some things, ne?


Started watching "Vision of Escaflowne" a little while ago. I like it. It's probably gonna ruin me since I STILL have essays to write . . . oh well . . .

That said, I also bought FFVII finally. I'm not even gonna DARE touch that one until after I finish my essays, though . . .

For those of you who knew me a full year ago, you know I'm pretty gung-ho when it comes to history and war and stuff. For those who came after, well . . . yeah, I am. That said, I'm probably gonna go full-blown with my page for Remembrance/Veteran's Day really soon, changing colours and stuff. I dunno, I'm just very . . . intuned with this particular day, I guess . . . so yeah, I'll be doing that, and leading up to the day I'm probably gonna start writing a lot of little stories from the wars that I don't think should be forgotten . . . . . that's me for ya . . .

While on the subject of Remembrance Day, I think my plastic poppy is trying to make me make up for the fact that I wasn't there . . . on Friday when I bought it the pin stuck me right in the arm during class and caused a tiny little bubble of bleeding. On Saturday in the car, I raked my right index finger across the exposed pin and tore a big thing of skin up. THAT hurt . . . so yes, that little poppy's causing me a lot of physical ickiness . . . but, I guess it's for the best . . .

"Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" came out with its first teaser trailer. As teasers go, it ain't too bad. Very teaseriffic. Since most of us don't have Hyperspace accounts, I shall tell you to go to Movie-List.com's section to check it out. It's looking quite dark and epic, so I'm happy.

Umm . . . on Friday night I was very scared about a certain person. Today, I've seen evidence for that person being up and about for better or worse, so I'm very happy and relieved about that.

And . . . . . yeah, school's sucking, Latin's killing me, y'know, the regular stuff . . . . .

Oh yeah, I cut my hair today/yesterday finally. The top is still long, but the rest is back to normal. My mom is happy now.


Oh! One last thing before I disappear and then start thinking about the younger brother's birthday (he's 19 today . . . he's legal drinking age now . . . I'm scared . . .). In the last episode of Escaflowne I saw, Hitomi said something that I really liked:

You know, people have an amazing ability. My grandmother told me about it. You should keep thinking, "I wish I were..." or "I want to be...". If you do, those wishes will come true.

It's true, don't you think? If you keep thinking, "I wish I were...", you'll work towards that goal. You'll try your hardest. But if you tell yourself "It's hopeless," or "I can't do it," or "My dreams will never come true," that's what's going to happen.

If you wish hard enough, that wish will eventually reach the stars, and they'll give you the last of their power.


That said, everyone keep faith in things. It'll be alright, I promise . . . g'night, good day, good afternoon . . . whichever applies to you, um . . . yeah. Peace, yo.
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Thursday, November 4, 2004

   Plagiarism is your friend . . . . . sometimes, but not often
Well, being the far away Canadian I am, I really shouldn't say too much about the election. After a particular Ancient History course, I've calmed a little more on things (stupid reason, taking away all my fun emotion), though I'm still pretty sad - mostly because so many people I know are sad and actually have to live directly with this.

That said, my older brother (whom I'm still pretty angry with) moves out of the house in February. If you don't mind sharing one bathroom with lots of floor space and living spartan and cozy with each other, I would happily welcome everyone to live with me in Vancouver, ya dig?


Anyway, I'm feeling a little sick and stressed still (go fig), so I'm gonna just steal a survey from Shanny, who stole it from Mimmi. Take note, for I believe this is only the second numbered survey I have ever posted on my page ever. Anyway, if you're bored or something, go right ahead . . . ah, the joys of sloth . . . . .


1. Who are you?
2. Are we friends?
3. When and how did we meet?
4. Do you have a crush on me?
5. Would you kiss me?
6. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
7. Describe me in one word.
8. What was your first impression [of me]?
9. Do you still think that way about me now?
10. What reminds you of me?
11. If you could give me anything what would it be?
12. How well do you know me?
13. When's the last time you saw me?
14. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?
15. Are you going to put this on your journal and see what I say about you?
16. What song are you listening to right now?
17. Do you love me?


[EDIT:] Oh, by the way, I got back from paying my ticket, my bro was upstairs eating breakfast, and he apologized for seemingly questioning my value system. He felt my reasons for disliking the current United States President were quite well founded and thought out. I don't have to be angry at him anymore. That makes me glad.
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Wednesday, November 3, 2004

   It's official: for me, it WAS the night to end all nights
I can't believe how burned up I was last night! Just before heading to bed at around 1:30am my time, my older bro got home from work. He came down, saw that CNN was on and asked who won. I told him the whole situation, and he sorta chuckled, going, "haha, I knew he'd win." I then went on about Ohio and all that, to which he quickly assured me, "ahh, he's won it . . ." to which I, for whatever reason, replied quickly, "but I don't want him to win . . ."

At that point the older brother looked at me and hit me hard.
"Why? Why do you not want him to win?" I looked back a little shocked. "Everyone keeps saying that but no one can say why! Why don't you want Bush to win? Do you think Kerry's gonna be any better?" I just felt stunned, and I was really frustrated because I simply couldn't put together a coherent response to it. Meanwhile he was still waitin' on my answer . . . . . I mean, you saw the other post, the day was already crappy enough as is. I seriously didn't need that . . . I just told him I couldn't think straight at that hour and he said fine, whatever, or something to that degree . . . he himself said that he couldn't care less who won the election . . .

So on the plus side he took my mind off of my speeding ticket. On the minus, I was now stuck with elegantly forming in my head why I don't want Bush to win . . . anyway, I got out from my blanket and wrote out a list of why on paper, finishing with some personal thoughts of my own: I'm not just some band-wagon hippie playing to the protester songs and I wasn't about to be spoken to as one. I didn't word it like that exactly, but I was so upset that he took up such a tone with me.


So yes, reasons why James doesn't want Bush to win:

-Isn't demonstrating a great sense of everyday intelligence
-Started a war on false pretenses, be it weapons of mass destruction or connections to Al Quaeda
-Went on with his war despite being outruled in the international democratic body, the United Nations
-Effectively alienated his country from France, the country that played a vital role in its independance in the 1700s
-The "Patriot Act" is too invasive to too broad of the populace, American or not
-Wanted to directly alter the constitution to ban same-sex marriages
-In the past four years the American economy has fallen drastically, though exact numbers are sketchy when you're writing in your underwear in your bedroom
-Hard to have confidence in a man who has such a vast majority of the WORLD opinion against him and his policies


Yes, I am opening up a rather large can of worms in posting this. But seriously, I don't think I've ever been this angry at this particular family member for a while, if ever . . .
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   Ain't this a night to end all nights . . . . .
Yesterday might be considered the worst day of my recent life.

Speeding ticket around noon. Got off pretty easy, but I'm still upset about it because I was such an idiot to get one . . . I'll probably pay the fine and not fight it because I really don't have the time to go out and hope that an officer doesn't show up to court (which'd make me feel like such a jerk, too). So yeah guys, the saying goes that speeding only slows you down. That's very true. Don't speed.

And then we've got the United States election going on . . . . . and it's sucking right now . . . . . yeah, tonight sucks . . .
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Monday, November 1, 2004

   Halloween+1: The Aftermath
Yeah, I spent the night pretending to do my Latin homework, watching The Wizard of Oz, Beetlejuice, and The Exorcist on the tv, and answering the door for the little kiddies. And let me tell ya, after living in my house for the 15-16 or so years that I have, this neighbourhood has grown up! There were very few kiddies comin' to the door for a really long time! And the ones that did? They came up to about my belt-buckle! They were so small!

Hehe . . . cute story, though. The first three girls that came (in princess dresses and the like) just sorta scratched at the door. I wasn't even sure if it was what I was hearing until I heard the mail slot get opened and closed and then some knocking and a valiant "trick or treat!!!" being called out. So I catered to them on one knee down to their level. Then I realised the funny part: they didn't ring the door bell - they couldn't reach the doorbell! Aww!!! Cute!

Heh . . . but yeah, other than that, it was a sound of a doorbell, the three gigantic boys downstairs (a 26, a 27, and an 18 year old) shouting my name, me opening the door, the kids going "trick or treat!", the older brother shouting "put on the mask!", the big friend making ghost sounds, and the "little" brother laughing. That or the bigger brother just laughing (at one point a small boy asked me, "what's he doin' down there?" to which I replied, "laughing at me, I think").

Then for whatever reason we walked to the far away 7-11 for slurpees later in the night. Go fig.


Anyway, I did figure out what to do with my gross, moldy-spot pumpkin! I could explain it, but instead I'll just tell you to copy & paste the following links. It being Angelfire, I can't just make them clickable links, so yeah, copy & paste if you will:


http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/someguy/images/PumpkinNoFlashSmall.jpg
http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/someguy/images/PumpkinFarSmaller.jpg
http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/someguy/images/PumpkinMediumSmall.jpg
http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/someguy/images/PumpkinCloseSmall.jpg

So to sum up, the pumpkin already had that dark, gross soft spot. Thus, I carved a wounded eye around it. The arrow was made from a hollow twiggy-thing I found in the backyard along with cut up leaves for the fletches, which were then glued/taped together. Hehe . . . I was mischievous that night . . .

Alright, one more pic just because everyone else has already compromised their internet safety by now, so I guess it's only fair that I do the same . . . so yes, here's the father of the pumpkin lying down with his bastard creation, looking fiendishly evil with his baggy eyes and long-assed hair that hasn't been cut since July (I'll cut it soon, I promise):

http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/someguy/images/JamesPumpkinSmall.jpg


Alright then, I hope you all had a nice enough Halloween. 'Til next time, Annyonghi Gaseyo!
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Sunday, October 31, 2004

   Happy State-Authorized Pagan Holiday!!!
Hehe . . . and let it be known that on this day, Some R. Guy, father of the tome of Cream Filling and Nougat, openly stated that he had effectively zero things planned on this day. As such he felt there was little reason to disguise his appearance as someone or something else though it pained him to accept such a thing. Most likely than not he shall be studying at home, also fairly likely giving chocolate out to younger people who will indeed have disguised their appearances as some people or things . . . um . . . . . and then . . . . . uh . . . ah poop.

Heh, so yeah, I'm not really gonna be doing anything this Halloween. It's okay, and I really don't mind. I suppose there are worse things I could be missing.

Anyway, I haven't carved our pumpkin yet, so I can't tell you how I've opted to do it this year. What I will tell you is that there is this gnarly soft spot right on the high, flat surface of it where I was most likely going to put an eye. Methinks diseased eye-type carving for this one, or something. I dunno, if there's one thing I do enjoy and participate with on Halloween is the carving of the pumpkin. I'm getting pretty creative these days . . . I think last year the pumpkin was some googly-eyed brainless dude with drool and cross-scars around the "lid" part of the top. The year before that, we had two pumpkins somehow so I did the theater comedy/tragedy masks and fit one partway into/behind the other (this one was one of my faves). This year it's a lot taller than usual, so I think I'll be able to think of something cool for it . . . if I can take a picture, I'll try to do that.


Anyway, I hope you all have an excellect Halloween 2004! 'til later, ja matte ne!
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Friday, October 29, 2004

   Hehe . . . Adam's good with subtle hints . . .
"Bonus points go people who submit anime-specific articles next time," he says on the front page. Guess our general thoughts on anime aren't enough for 'im . . . . . alright, so be it . . .

If anyone's wondering, I'm currently working on a line of deep analyses for the .hack//SIGN characters. They're gonna be spoilerific, they're gonna try to be a little psychological (though I know nothing of such stuff), and they're gonna make sort of a statement about what kind of people make up your regular internet community. That's what I'm gonna try to churn out in the next little while . . . I mean, aside from writing essays and doing Latin homework and stuff (clearly I'm gonna mention that stuff every day I post . . .heh).
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Wednesday, October 27, 2004

   Holy Mother-whoring Hell!!! No!!!
As expected, I'm here instead of studying. But this is good, I promise . . .

So, we all know the Lord of the Rings movies and how they like to make super-DVDs for us, right? Well, this new one for "Return of the King" sounds absolutely hardcore. I couldn't be happier with what they've said about what's on the disks. Commentaries with over 30 individuals, more discussion about the mythology of the series, documentaries about wrapping up the project . . . . . over FIFTY minutes of extended film . . .

. . . . . . and we can get it on December 14th. December! Not November! They're making us wait longer!!!!! Aaaaahhhh!!!! No!!! Sunuva!!!


But yes, sniff around the official site for a bit if you'd like. There's a really nice preview of the extended stuff on there if you're into that sort of stuff. Me personally, I like it! Mouth of Sauron, baby!!!

[EDIT: Doh! Yeah, December 14th, my bad. I didn't think the 16th was right anyway, since that wasn't a Thursday . . . a thousand pardons, of course.]
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Tuesday, October 26, 2004

   Never take anything at face value . . .
I don't really have anything good to say today and I don't wanna go through another "school is hard, I suck at Latin" post, so instead I'm gonna bring up something kinda funny yet unsettling and unbelievable about school textbooks.

Now, I have a professor who also happens to be first nation, post-modern, and slightly anarchistic in his ways. A lot of people hate him for his opinionatedness(?), but I'm not bothered by it a whole lot. Makes for a good way to kick off the morning, I suppose . . . anyway, he hates our book . . . . .

Oxford University Press' text A Brief History Of Ancient Greece: Politics, Society, and Culture by Pomeroy, Burstein, Donlan, and Roberts is a brutal book! First off, you have 4 people with different agendas, so the book contradicts itself a lot. Second, the book has these really stupid lines of rhetoric that have so much subtext - take for example, a part of the preface where they tell us what the book has gained "from the patient scholarship of a half-century of talented Greek historians" (as opposed to other books that have untalented historians, right?). Then there's this big thing of thank-yous for a number of people to give them credibility . . . it's silly.

The best part of all, though, is that the book really does have a brutally obvious agenda: it wants to make a distinction of good democracies versus evil socialism or whatever. So yeah, the Athens are happy and democratic and green and happy while the Spartans are evil and mean to their children and have strange sexual practices (unlike the rest of the Greeks who did nothing like that, of course). The final paragraph in the Spartan chapter is seriously the best part of it, though. I'll let you see if you can pick out what's wrong first:


"...As late as the twentieth century, critics of Western capitalist society have idealized the Spartans as highly virtuous, patriotic people produced by a stable noncapitalistic society. In recent years, however, those who cherish individual freedom and social mobility have come to see in Sparta a forerunner of totalitarian regimes such as Nazi Germany. Furthermore, the blueprint for twentieth-century Communism had many affinities with the Spartan utopia..."


If you didn't catch it aside from all the flowery language to bash the Spartans, essentially the book says that the Spartans are both Nazis AND Communists. I'll let you think about the rest for that.

Though, "Commie-Nazis" were pretty funny in this one Simpsons episode . . . ah, I tell ya, there's a Simpsons reference in every aspect of life . . . . . but yes, be careful what you read, savvy?
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Monday, October 25, 2004

   Waitin' for the Shinsengumi torrent . . . . .
Episode 30's taking its time to become available for us . . . boo!

Heh, surprise surprise, I'm gonna say something about how school is getting scary and stuff. Well, technically it never stopped being scary in the first place . . . . . but yeah, it's icky. Heh . . . this English Lit degree better be worth it . . . . . then again, who am I kidding? Bwah hah hah . . . you know what's funny, though? It's that I have maybe 3 essays or so to finish by the end of November (I think), and yet I'm still more likely to write an essay about anime than I will about the Spartans . . . I mean, the Spartans are cool and stuff, but . . . I dunno, I guess I like writing for things that I won't get graded on.

Heh, and no, ratings don't count. Sure, I'm pleased people are enjoying my things here, but I really just wanna write 'em and contribute to the site a bit. I mean, I don't draw, I never signed up for OB . . . I gotta do SOMETHING to justify my time on the front board of the member list (though that's probably gonna end soon, I'll wager, which is fine).

What point am I trying to make tonight? I dunno . . . none, really. I guess I've just been thinking a bit about how much things would affect me if I were to suddenly not have a page here . . . . . and no, I'm not planning on leaving or anything, don't worry . . . but to be perfectly honest, I feel that this website has given me more than I could have possibly asked of it. It gave me a chance to write for people outside of my circle of friends, a place to goof off when I wanted to waste time (AND get responses back for it), and best of all, it let me meet some incredible people whom I doubt I shall ever forget or leave. For that, I'm pretty content.


I mean sure, this could all just be a masked cover-up to complain about how people don't come by as much or that my rank has dropped a lot since the summer (hehe, ooh, the awful truth . . . . . not really, though, really), but that's not the case. I stopped being really really involved with this site for a few months now, so I accept that I'm not gonna be so popular anymore. And like I said, I met some of the coolest people I could have ever asked to meet, and that's enough for me.

Heh . . . seriously, I don't know what the hell I'm gettin' at with this. I'm pretty much just typing out stuff that's coming to mind . . . really, it's either that or I have to really hunker down and work on my Latin homework (eep!). Yeah, I really really suck at Latin still . . . makes me sad . . . . . ah well . . .


In other news, it came to my attention that I wasn't holding up my end of a bargain. I'm doing that now, though, here on in to the end. It's funny how you can realise how you're not helping the way you should be sometimes . . . but that's fixed now, and I'm gonna be good about it. Yeah, things'll be good . . . . .


So, what sort of article should I write next?
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