Natsukaze

2003-01-06T02:35:00.000-05:00

2002-11-15T09:55:00.000-05:00

Going to see Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets...wasn't planning on it, but I'm up so what the hell. I haven't seen a movie on opening day in ages. Back later with a report!

2002-11-13T20:11:00.000-05:00

[08:08:49] [Pook_and_Bebbies] Lauren - you're all nurture-y and go out of your way for everyone and sometimes give up a little too much for others and are fun to talk to and nice.

That's one of the nicest compliments that I've ever gotten ;.;

2002-11-11T18:00:00.000-05:00

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

--Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD
1918

In Flanders Fields was written during World War I....it's one of my favorite poems. Veterans Day used to be called Armistice Day...the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, nineteen hundred and eighteen, was when the armistice ending World War I was signed in Versailles, France. I thought it would be appropriate to post it today.

2002-11-09T04:00:00.000-05:00

listening to: Lia - Tori no Shi (Air OP) \\ wearing: blue flannel nightshirt \\ scented: lavender \\ sipping: ice water

I just realized that, with the exception of August, I've traveled out of state at least once a month since May. I've been out of the country (to Toronto, Ontario, Canada), to the south (Dallas and Houston, Texas), to the west coast (Long Beach, California), to the farthest north US state (Anchorage, Alaska), to the east coast (Baltimore, Maryland and Newark, New Jersey), to the Pacific Northwest (Portland, Oregon) and to the midwest (Minneapolis, Minnesota). It's kind of mindboggling when you think of it in those terms.

What made me think of that is that my family and I are going to be rescuing two Bouviers...the same breed that Devo was...from British Columbia next week. Basically, these two dogs (not brothers, but born four days apart) have been neglected for attention because their current owner has had some pretty bad medical problems lately. She has to give them up so they'll get the care and attention they need. We found out about them through a Bouvier rescue site, and it seems like they approve of us. We're more than likely going to fly up to Spokane, Washington via Minneapolis next weekend, rent a van in Spokane, then drive over the border to Trail, British Columbia and pick up the boys. After that, we'll drive to Seattle and fly home to Cleveland via Houston. It took me a while to figure that route out, but as complicated as it may seem, it's a lot easier than some I had figured out before. It kind of sucks that Continental doesn't fly anywhere in the Pacific Northwest without routing through Houston. I'm excited about getting the boys - they sound like a lot of fun, and it'll be great having a lot of dogs around the house again.

Not much else has been going on here since I got back...I haven't heard from Washington County yet, but letters are supposed to have gone out in the mail today or will on Tuesday, so I'll expect to get it on Friday. I borrowed the rest of Escaflowne from my best friend and watched that throughout the week. The ending made me cry, of course, but I thought it was really a good series. I'll have to get it when I can afford it. I also planned out some of my preliminary Christmas shopping, although some people have yet to get back to me on what they'd like. I'm definitely going to have to be on a budget this year, but I have ideas of things that I think my friends and family will really like and that won't break the bank. After I get back from British Columbia/Washington state, unless I hear back favorably from Washington County, I'm going to re-register with my old temp agency to get some work. I need to pay off some bills (including the incessant doctors bill from my hospital visit last March), and I'll need some to buy Christmas presents, of course ^^

I'm not planning on doing much this weekend, except possibly going down to the Akron Art Museum for their anime/manga-inspired exhibit. I'm hoping to finally get a new layout up on here...I have an idea that I think will work really well. Of course, I'm not promising anything because I'm rather temperamental and I could decide that I'm too lazy to do it. For now, I'm going to try and go to sleep. I really need to get myself on a more normal sleep schedule.

2002-11-04T03:01:00.000-05:00

100 things about me. Warning - long.

1. my full name is Lauren Michelle Mauk
2. my middle name is from the Beatles song
3. i'm tall, left-handed, redheaded and Episcopalian by birth
4. which makes me incredibly rare and special
5. but I don't feel special
6. I was born in southern California
7. I made my mother miss Dallas by being born
8. I still don't know who shot J.R.
9. I'm unemployed
10. but am trying to alleviate that
11. I have CAIS
12. which means I'm genetically male
13. but I look and (mostly) act like a woman
14. I didn't know I had CAIS until I was eighteen
15. I cry very easily
16. and startle very easily, too.
17. my boyfriend's name is Tim
18. His hair is longer than mine
19. I love to travel
20. in the past year, I've flown more than most people do in their entire life
21. however, I haven't left the US.
22. my dad works for Continental airlines
23. which is how I fly for free
24. I want to work in the travel industry
25. I don't blog as often as I should
26. and I've had the same layout for seven months
27. this is kind of fun
28. I love anime and manga
29. especially anything by CLAMP
30. I could get in trouble by having this layout
31. I have a lot of obscure CLAMP manga
32. I'm a semicloseted Trekkie
33. I love to sing
34. but don't have a very good singing voice
35. even though I've been told that I have a very good speaking voice
36. my dog is taller than me
37. I'm 5'11"
38. I want to go to college eventually
39. community college was a bad experience
40. this is reminding me of pop-up video
41. I type 75 WPM
42. I need a new computer
43. I've been listening to the same song on repeat for six hours
44. I'm not tired of it yet.
45. my car is a purple Saturn
46. my parents gave it to me for graduation
47. but I hadn't graduated yet
48. I almost didn't graduate
49. I passed my algebra final by one question
50. I got a 23 on my ACT
51. my sister doesn't look like my sister.
52. I'm overweight
53. but being tall helps hide it a little
54. I'm a big procrastinator
55. I need a job
56. will you hire me?
57. I used to live in southern California
58. but I live in Ohio now
59. and I want to move to Oregon
60. I like bishounen
61. especially CLAMP bishounen
62. I should probably be asleep
63. but I'm not because I'm jetlagged
64. because I got home from Portland last night
65. a flight attendant was rude to me
66. the guy on my left side kept looking down my shirt
67. the guy on my right was a James Taylor clone
68. I love summer
69. I just got AIM porn spam
70. I bite my nails
71. but I've been trying to stop lately
72. I've been told that my nails look good long
73. my bedroom is bigger than the master bedroom
74. my bed is too short, though
75. I sometimes sleep diagonally
76. I'm either a Leo or a Cancer
77. but I think I have aspects of both
78. I like my birthstone
79. I love going to anime cons
80. my headphones are broken
81. the sound only comes in one earpiece
82. my ears are pierced four times each
83. I have too many overdue bills
84. I hate the phone company
85. I love to bitch at them
86. I'm on unemployment
87. my grandmother's hair used to be red
88. I slept until 3 PM today
89. I get my test results next week
90. I'm an impulsive buyer
91. my credit card is maxed out
92. I have sensitive skin
93. I'm allergic to the adhesive on plastic bandaids
94. and to Neosporin, too
95. I randomly mutter Japanese words
96. I've been in one car accident
97. and been in my pajamas all day
98. I'm 99% straight
99. and 1% bi
100. I'm going to bed

2002-11-03T03:00:00.000-05:00

I'm back. Yay. The week went by way too fast. I'm going to go cry myself to sleep now.

2002-10-30T13:38:00.000-05:00

It's been a while, ne? ^^

In case I didn't tell you, I'm in Portland right now....I've been here since late Monday morning, and I leave early Saturday afternoon. I'm not just here to visit Tim, though (although it's been great spending time with him again ^____^)...I applied for two positions with Washington County, Oregon about a month ago, and I got a letter two weeks ago saying that I had passed that phase of the application process, and that I was scheduled to come and do testing for the position on Wednesday, October 30. What with all that went on last week, I didn't get a chance to blog about it. So here I am, and the testing is late this afternoon...wish me luck!

2002-10-21T23:43:00.000-04:00

In memory of Devon, loved and loving Bouvier

late 1989-October 21, 2002

2002-10-15T22:05:00.000-04:00

listening to: Atsuko Enomoto - Be My Angel (Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer OP) \\ wearing: green fleece nightshirt \\ scented: cocoa butter \\ sipping: water

My artbooks are so shiny...I'm glad that I got them.

Northside is published by Kodansha, and features images from Clover, a few from Magic Knights Rayearth (including a color manga), Souryuuden, Shin-Shunkaden, CLAMP in Wonderland and other miscellaneous CLAMP works (the ones with all sorts of characters from different series put together, like Cardcaptor Kamui and such and others from CLAMP's site), then a black and white manga that looks almost like the Princess Mokona picture book, but the CLAMP Campus Detectives appear, as do the other members of CLAMP.

Southside is published by Kadokawa Shoten and features images from 20 Mensou ni Onegai!, Gakuen Tokkei Duklyon, CLAMP Campus Detectives ( a *lot* ), Suki Dakara Suki, Wish (god, some of the Wish pictures are absolutely gorgeous, especially the dreamy, misty looking ones of Kohaku), a couple more crossover images with Kohaku, Kamui, the CLAMP Campus Detectives and a whole lot of CLAMP bunnies, CLAMP Campus Strange Phenomena Case Files, REX, Miyuki-chan in Wonderland, Watashi no Suki na Hito, Shirahime-shou, one that looks like it may be from RG Veda, Gouhou Drug and then a 'how-to' section with two pictures from RG Veda and Miyuki-chan in Wonderland. All the images are gorgeous, and I found several that I've never seen before. I'd highly recommend buying them. *nodnod*

Redheads feel pain more and often need 20% more anesthesia. Maybe that's why my wisdom tooth extraction was so horrid.

Happy early birthday to Aris!

2002-10-15T18:12:00.000-04:00

*shrieks with delight and glee*

I GOT MY CLAMP NO ESHIGOTO NORTHSIDE AND SOUTHSIDE ARTBOOKS! YAY!

*dances like an absolute moron*

2002-10-15T04:26:00.000-04:00

Yay, some quizzes. I couldn't resist.

Which Subaru are you?
You're young Subaru: naive and caring, your purity set the events of Tokyo Babylon in motion.

Yay, I'm an instigator!

Which Yami no Matsuei Character are You?

Yum, bish. I was kind of hoping for Tatsumi, but I'm certainly satisfied with Tsuzuki. Care for a Cinnapon..?

2002-10-11T17:03:00.000-04:00

A reply to Tiassa's comment..

Ririka is an okay show, yes. It's a very stereotypical mahou shoujo show (pink plastic accessories and long henshin and attack sequences and all), and has a mostly predictable plot. It's definitely not one of my very favorite shows, but I like it for what it is. I've watched it all the way through once before, and yes, I was crying at the end then, and even though I knew what was going to happen this time, I was still crying, and the very, very end still jarred me ("what the hell was that? how could they end it THERE? *wail*") ^^;;; I need to get the Ririka manga because supposedly the ending is a bit different and is an actual ending.

2002-10-11T05:23:00.000-04:00

Happy National Coming Out Day! I can't exactly come out since I'm 99% straight and 1% bi, but Happy National Coming Out Day anyway :D

No Friday Five this week. It was boring.

I was just checking my referrer tracking, and 9/10ths of the search engine referrers for the past week have been about the evil Xupiter toolbar. To remove it, go download Ad-Aware and run it and follow the directions to remove it. It's pretty easy, and you'll probably find ungodly amounts of other spyware to remove too. If you already have Ad-Aware and it's not finding the Xupiter components to remove, go to their website and update to the 042-24-09-2002 reffile, then run Ad-Aware again and you should be able to get it off your system. You can find more info about it here...

Um. Not much else going on >.>;;

2002-10-11T04:50:00.000-04:00

I hate shoujo anime.

Why do I hate shoujo anime? It makes you care for the characters. Yes, they're just paint on pieces of clear celluloid with a person voicing them and another person writing their lines. But dammit...it's more than that. I can't explain it, but you just somehow start caring for them. You laugh when something funny happens to them, you get angry when someone/something/some event upsets them, you cry when they die or their friends/dogs/plants die and they're sad, you throw shoes at the TV when they do something stupid. That's why I hate shoujo. You can't help but care.

(the preceding rant was brought to you by the anime ending of Nurse Angel Ririka SOS. Thank you.)

2002-10-10T03:28:00.000-04:00

Which Element Represents You?
created by kefkafanatic @ mental insanity

How appropriate.

2002-10-09T17:52:00.000-04:00

Never underestimate the power of a long, hot shower. I feel three-thousand times better than I did before I took my shower ^____^

2002-10-06T01:49:00.000-04:00

listening to: I-Doll - Song of Eternity \\ wearing: ancient Levis, navy and red Indians football-style jersey \\ scented: honey-vanilla lotion \\ sipping: apple cider

I'm soo tired. I spent all day shopping ^^;;

I got a Lane Bryant charge card a few days ago...in case you don't know what Lane Bryant is, it's a store similar to Gap or Express, having fashionable clothing, but in plus-sizes. It's my favorite clothing store. Anyhow, I went this afternoon with my best friend, and right away I started piling up clothes that I wanted to try on. When I went to try them on, my best friend, aided by a very exuberant clerk, started bringing me more clothes and outfits to try on. Three hours later, we had been joined by my mom and another friend, we had more or less narrowed the selection of stuff down. I finally ended up getting a long sweater duster in shades of blue, a navy blue corduroy skirt, a white camisole, a lace-up neck sweater in shades of blue stripes, a light blue 'Juliet' shirt with a square neck and smocking on the chest and elbows, 2 pairs of jeans, a teal 3/4 length sleeved blouse and a black peasant-type shirt. I ended up maxing my Lane Bryant charge at $300, borrowing money from my mom, and putting a few things back, including a really pretty lacy white top. It was kind of fun, though...I haven't been shopping for myself in about two years, and I got a lot of cute and practical stuff.

After that, my friends and I met up with our surrogate boyfriend (who's really my best friend's boyfriend...when he's with Tenshi, Cathy and I, he becomes Cathy and my surrogate boyfriend >.>; He pays for dinner because he has a well-paying job >.>;;) and went to Friday's, where we had bad service, and then we went to two porn shops to find the right kind of corset-bustier top for Tenshi, since she's going to work as a Moulin Rouge girl for Halloween. We didn't find anything, and got carded in both ^^;;

Tomorrow morning I'm going to a memorial service for my friend's dad, who died a few months ago. They're dedicating a tree at his church in his name. I'm going to bed now, since I'm extremely tired from shopping all day (I think I did something to a neck muscle while trying things on x.o;). Oyasumi ^.^

2002-10-04T23:52:00.000-04:00

It's not even midnight and I'm falling asleep. I went to bed this morning at 8 AM and got up at 4:10 PM. My sleep schedule is so fucked up =.=

2002-10-04T05:50:00.000-04:00

Woo! Almost forgot about today's Friday Five!

1. What size shoe do you wear?

Women's size 11.

2. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

All totaled, probably about 10-15, but I only wear about 3 pairs on a regular basis - my Vans, a mismatched pair of sandals (the left mate of sandal 1 died, and the right mate of sandal 2 died, so I paired them up. They look enough alike unless you look really closely) and a pair of black leather Gucci (I think they're Gucci, at least) loafers that a family friend gave me that I wear when traveling that are semi-comfortable.

3. What type of shoe do you prefer (boots, sneakers, pumps, etc.)?

Sneakers. They're comfortable, fit my clothing style (casual [sometimes to the point of sloppiness] comfort - jeans and a t-shirt) and don't need much done to maintain them.

4. Describe your favorite pair of shoes. Why are they your favorite?

A navy-blue suede pair of men's size 8.5 Vans skater shoes. I bought them at the Vans shop at the corner of 17th and Newport in Newport Beach, California, about a year and a half ago. They're insanely comfortable, look decent, and just need the insoles washed every so often. I can stuff my feet in them and I'm ready to go.

5. What's the most you've spent on one pair of shoes?

Um. I think about $75 on a pair of Nikes while I was in high school....we had been shopping all day and I had found plenty of shoes that I liked, but the stores didn't have them in my size. I saw this pair in the last store we went to, decided that I liked them, found they had my size and they fit, and bought them. I hate shoe shopping with a passion ^^;;

2002-10-04T05:25:00.000-04:00

listening to: See-Saw - Tasogare no Umi (.hack//sign OVA ED) \\ wearing: violet moon and stars PJs, white terrycloth slippers \\ scented: lavender soap \\ sipping: soy milk

Yes, soy milk. I'm not about to replace regular milk with it, but it's pretty good once you get used to it. And it's healthy, dammit!

This morning I awoke to an unpleasant cacaphony...and I couldn't figure out what it was, where it was coming from, and if I was fully awake or having a waking dream ^^;;;. I thought it was coming from outside, but I couldn't see in the direction I thought it was coming from, since the shidarezakura is right in front of my window. I put my hand on the glass and could feel the heavy vibrations, so I knew I wasn't dreaming it. I tried going back to sleep, but about three minutes later walked downstairs and opened my front door, where I was nearly bowled over by the noise and vibration of three jackhammers. It turns out that the county decided to replace several of the concrete slabs that make up the streets in my development, and one of them was right at the end of my driveway. The noise went on for a little while longer, and finally stopped and I was able to fall back asleep. Now we have a big hole at the end of our driveway which *barely* allows us to wriggle our cars into the street. It's almost easier to drive on the front lawn.

I just had my browser hijacked by Xupiter, which adds a 'toolbar' and dozens of links to your brower, amongst other things. I tried to delete all of it that I could find, but I wasn't successful...so Aris pointed me to some info about Xupiter, and I found out that all I had to do to delete it all was to download an update to AdAware. It really irritates me how it was installed without my knowledge, and that I couldn't do a damn thing to remove it myself. I know I shouldn't get upset about it, but it still bothers me.

Happy birthday to KitKat!

I was working on a new layout for here, but I decided to use the one I had planned another time...and I'm kind of stuck. Any suggestions?

What kind of porno would you star in?
Amateur movie! You might not be too experienced in the way of sex...but chances are, you do enjoy it (or the thought of it). We'll probably see you in some home video that surfaces on the internet one day.

*blushes* I hope that no home video of me ever finds it's way online...

So much for going to bed early ^^;;;

2002-10-03T03:22:00.000-04:00

Session 9:
"Yeah, because Ed is Ed." -Edward
Either a child at heart, or just childish, you are one wacky person.
I would suggest taking medication, but I'm sure you're already on tons of drugs.
Hey, it's all part of your charm right?
Cute to the extreme, even people who hate you can't help be let out a little laugh at your antics.

Which CowBoy Bebop Session Are You?

2002-10-02T01:22:00.000-04:00

Happy birthday to my dear darling Neko-kun!

2002-10-01T05:00:00.000-04:00

God, has it really been over three weeks since I last blogged? I even forgot to publish the last three entires -.-;;

I haven't been doing a whole lot...I qualified for unemployment, which is something...I applied for two well-paying civil servant positions in Washington County, Oregon (county right next to Portland)....I ran a few auctions....burned a lot of CDs...re-registered with a temp agency...

So basically a whole lot of nothing.

I had quite honestly forgotten about my blog, since my life has been so uneventful and boring for about the last month. I am working on a new layout, which should be up soon...this is subject to change, depending on my whims ^^.

Thanks for being patient ^^;;

2002-09-06T01:55:00.000-04:00

listening to: X TV - Sadame (piano version) \\ wearing: embroidered white cami, white pj shorts \\ scented: cocoa butter \\ sipping: ginger ale

I'm back. It didn't go quite so well..

I had no problems with my flights...got on both. However, I was selected at the gate in Cleveland for a random bag search. Since I was only going to be gone for less than three days, I decided not to check any baggage, and packed all my stuff in carry-ons. I didn't mind getting my bags searched, except they were packed messily, and it was kind of embarassing to have everyone at the gate see my underwear. I also got my bags randomly searched in Minneapolis, which I thought was kind of weird, since I had already been searched in Cleveland.

I got into Portland safely, got onto the MAX light rail, and got off at what I thought was the proper stop. Walked around for several blocks, and finally called my hotel to get directions. I was only about four blocks away from it ^^; I got there and took a nap, then decided to go to Kinokuniya. I got on the right buses and made it there okay, but didn't buy anything since they had too much and I didn't know what to buy ^.^; Went back to the hotel for the night after that and watched the news until I fell asleep.

I got woken up the next day by five things - a firetruck wailing by, the clock radio going off a hell of a lot louder than I had meant it to, the front desk giving me a wake up call, my mom giving me a wake up call on my cell, and my dad giving me one right after my mom called. Needless to say, I was up and getting ready. Had breakfast in the hotel, then left at about 8:35 to go to the Embassy Suites nine blocks away for the interview at 9:00. I ended up getting lost, of course, and finally found the hotel at ten after nine. I slipped into the large ballroom where the staff had directed me, and found about 60 or so other people listening to an Alaska Airlines employee talk about the job responsibilities and benefits and such. They opened the floor to questions after that, and one was "how many positions are you hiring for?". The speaker hesitated for a minute, then said "two.". Yes, two positions, and there were at least 60 people there. That made me feel a lot better. They divided us into three groups...two of them were to go in to the interview rooms downstairs at 10:15, and the third, which I was in, was to go in at 11:15. At that point, it was 10:00, so those of us in group three went down to the lobby and sat around.

My group walks in at the right time, and we're seated close together in a circle. The first thing we're to do is put our first name on the nametags underneath our seats, then we're to put the name of someone famous that we admire. That caught me off-guard, and the only person even vaguely famous that came to mind was Claude Monet. We go around the circle and say our name, the name of the person that we admire, and then we have a minute to describe why we admire them. Everyone else had chosen presidents, media figures, first ladies, actresses, and could go on and on about them. I was only able to think of a few things to say about Monet.
After that, we were told that there was a laminated card underneath our seats with a customer service situation written on it. We had to volunteer to go, then we were allowed to pick up the card, read it briefly to ourself, then read it out loud an our answer. 99% of the questions were along the lines of, "A group of regulars enters the restaurant and are seated in your section. They all make very specific special orders. When they come out, three of the four meals are wrong, and those customers were upset. What would you do in this situation?". Fairly simple and easy to respond to. My question was "Name a situation where you gave good customer service.". I was caught off-guard again, because I was expecting a situation like everyone else had gotten, and was only able to come up with a time I helped a little foreign girl find her parents in a store I worked at.
The final thing they had us do was to pair us up with the person sitting next to us, and learn as much as we could about them in five minutes. After we did that, they went around the circle and asked us to describe them in one word. I was a little surprised, but did as well as everyone else.
After that, they left the room for about 10 minutes to discuss things. I had a little conversation with the girl I had been paired up with about how it was bad that they mentioned they were only hiring for two positions, and how that had made us really nervous. The two interviewers came back, collected our resumes, then announced the five people out of our group who had passed on to the next stage. I wasn't one of them. I left in kind of a daze, managed to get to my hotel, and once in my room, called my mom and started crying. I was really upset, since I had come all that way and I didn't get any sort of personal interview or whatnot with them. I ranted at her for a while, then just as we were finishing our conversation, another called beeped through. It was my boyfriend, Tim, and we talked for a long time. He made me feel a lot better.

It was still very early in the afternoon after I finished talking with Tim, so I got dressed in more comfortable clothes and walked six blocks up to the Portland State University campus and went to a really good pizza place right across from Tim's dorm building. I took the bus to the Portland International Test Rose Gardens after that, and wandered around for a while, then wandered up to the Japanese Cultural Gardens and spent some time there. Those two gardens are gorgeous, really relaxing, and I got some good pictures there. It was early evening by then, so I headed back to the hotel and picked up a yakitori bento from a Japanese corner restaurant on the way.

So today I packed, got to the airport, got on my flight to Houston, connected in Houston, and here I am. I'm rather drained, both physically and emotionally. I had really wanted the job, and was really upset the way things turned out. I was glad that I got to go to Portland, though....it's a beautiful city, and I'm really glad I'm moving there. For some reason, it reminds me of a combination of Anchorage, Alaska, and southern California. I really like it.

I'm off to bed now....it's been a busy few days.

2002-09-03T05:26:00.000-04:00

listening to: Rie Tanaka- Ningyo-hime (second Chobits ED) \\ wearing: short-sleeved v-neck red/cream/black/gray sweater, black linen slacks, black loafers \\ scented: Clinique Happy \\ sipping: ginger ale

I'm leaving in a few minutes for Portland, Oregon...a bit earlier than I had planned.

Last week, I was browing some corporate websites, looking for a job. I don't think I mentioned it here, but about two weeks ago, I was released from my job at KraftMaid. Apparently, my performance wasn't up to their standards, despite me being only a couple of weeks out of training. Anyhow, I looked at Alaska Airlines' website and saw that they're having an open interview for Customer Service Agents (the people at airport ticket counters and at the gates) in Portland on Wednesday, September 4. I wanted to go, but wasn't sure how I would broach it to my parents. I asked various friends for advice, and they basically told me to do the same thing: be honest to my parents about how I wanted to go. I took it, and it went pretty well except for my mom being all sniffly about how I'd be moving out if I got the job.

I made my hotel reservation at a Days Inn in downtown Portland, and for the most part, had figured out my flights. Since my dad works for Continental Airlines, I fly for free, but on standby, and at a low boarding priority. If the plane is full, I won't get on. If there are other non-revenue passengers like me with a higher boarding priority, they'll get on before me and I may not be able to get on the flight. I was planning on flying out today, on an early afternoon flight, connecting in Houston and getting into Portland at around 8 local time. Last night, I checked the flights again, and saw that the connecting flight from Houston to Portland was way overbooked, and it was the last one of the day to Portland. Concerned, I called the employee travel line and the agent confirmed that it was booked to authorization (the limit the airline can overbook it to), and it was doubtful that I would get on. I was somewhat panicked, and checked other possible flights. I saw a couple on Northwest Airlines, and called the employee travel line back. The agent said that Continental employees and their dependents only have to pay a low, set fare to fly standby on Northwest. I called Northwest and listed on a flight from Cleveland at 7:15 AM that connected in Minneapolis and got into Portland at 11:00 AM local time. The agent at Northwest said both those flights were looking good and that I should get on, and on the chance that I wasn't able to get on, there were several other flights that I could take.

So I'm leaving quite a bit earlier than I had planned on, and had to run around frantically late last night to get some last-minute things for the trip. As usual, I stayed up all night packing and getting ready, and I'm leaving momentarily. I'll be there for about 2 days, and I get back late Thursday night. Wish me luck!

2002-08-31T06:04:00.000-04:00

I wasn't able to fall asleep, so I came downstairs to make some chamomile-vanilla tea, and I went outside on my back deck to drink it....and it was absolutely beautiful out. The waning moon, just past the last quarter, was directly overhead, and it was that magical time before dawn when the world seems to be caught between night and day. The sky was just starting to get the faintest hint of light, and the moon was shining brightly, surrounded by what appeared to be millions of stars. It was the perfect temperature, no humidity, a light, warm breeze blowing. I sat out there for a long time, sipping my tea, thinking, and watching the sky get lighter and lighter.

It was magical...absolutely perfect.

2002-08-25T07:17:00.000-04:00

It kind of sucks to be boring...to have a life that isn't exciting....to not have people care when it's your birthday or you get fired or you get into a car accident...to care about others, and do stuff for them, but they never give back or do anything for you, or caring, just taking from you...to be separated from the one that you love...

It also sucks to be awake at 7 in the morning. Especially when you weren't able to fall asleep from the night before. Even moreso when this is the second time in three days that this has happened.

Which is probably responsible for this entirely weird and random entry.

It's good to have an SO that says loverly things that make you feel all warm and mushy inside, though.

so deliver me, help me/to forget the tribulations of the day/and to stay in this dream of night/where I can be thinking of you forever

2002-08-18T03:04:00.000-04:00

I had a dream that I went to Alaska the other night...I don't remember most of it, except for being in a place that resembled work and having to be there for a long time, but I was going to see Tim when I got out. I woke up feeling really happy about the dream, then I realized that I wouldn't be seeing him for quite a while. It made me sad.

2002-08-17T03:42:00.000-04:00

listening to: Kiddy Grade - If I \\ wearing: ancient Cleveland Indian sweatshirt and cutoffs \\ scented: citrus \\ sipping: pulpy orange juice

My week from hell is over. All totaled, I worked 51 hours, and there's still a chance that I might get called in for four hors tomorrow (at doubletime). Overtime is great for the money and all, but that doesn't make me like it any better. Since I had been getting up early and getting home late from work, and today was my day off, I had planned to sleep in as late as I felt like. Of course, that didn't happen since my sister and my mother are having a stupid fight, and I had to act as intermediary over the phone with them. I couldn't get back to sleep after that. Figures.

After dinner, my mom and I went to the mall, where she bought me a late birthday present - a Fossil watch with a blue/green face ^.^ It's really nice. Clinique was having a sale and my mom wanted some face stuff, and while we were waiting in line for that, I was admiring some eyeshadow...and she bought that for me too ^.^;

I've watched a lot of DVDs over the past day or so...I watched Ayashi no Ceres 4 last night, and 5 this afternoon, and Hellsing 1 and Saber Marionette J collection 2 tonight, and an episode of CCS. Cleared up my backlog a bit. I wuv my PS2.

Tomorrow, I *am* sleeping in as late as I feel like, and I made that explicitly clear to my mom and sister. I need to clean my room and computer desk, and get some bills out in the mail, and then someone from work invited me to a barbeque in the evening...so I'll stop by that for a while. Now I'm off to bed...

2002-08-14T03:46:00.000-04:00

I am a Bitch to Overtime and a Slave to The Man.

(so don't expect to see me much for the next few days)

maybe when i recover i'll have a shiny new layout

2002-08-11T14:47:00.000-04:00

Last night my family and I went out to Outback Steakhouse for dinner to kind of celebrate my and my mother's birthdays. When we got back, we got presents. I gave my mom an opal ring she had admired, and my sister gave her an amethyst ring she had admired, and we both gave her a nightgown she wanted. Then I got my present.....a nice shiny PS2 ^___^ I had to plug it in immediately, and marveled over the shininess of it. After my sister cut my hair, I put in the first CCS DVD....it was great not having to sit at my computer and watch stuff from the DVD-ROM. My mother was even getting into CCS, and not making deragatory comments, which surprised the hell out of me.

My best friend Tenshi and her boyfriend Eric stopped by later to give me presents...they got me volumes 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7 of X ( I already have volumes 2 and 6), and then Sailor Moon artbook 3 ^.^ I wuv my friends. They took me out to Friday's after that to get a snack, and we watched Miyuki-chan in Wonderland. When I called Tenshi today, she said her head still hurt from Miyuki-chan ^^;;;

Time to get ready for work.

2002-08-10T04:44:00.000-04:00

I just watched the end of Marmalade Boy, and probably the only comment that I can make at this point is that the Marmalade Boy anime has more angst and PAIN than the X manga.

2002-08-09T16:36:00.000-04:00

listening to: Kawamura Maria - A Skilled Rival Conceals her Claws \\ wearing: white Anime Expo '02 t-shirt, dark jeans \\ scented: cocoa butter \\ sipping: orange juice

Today's Friday Five, appearing for the first time in a while...

1. Do you have a car? If so, what kind of car is it? Yes. It's a 1996 purple Saturn LS1 My parents gave it to me for graduation.

2. Do you drive very often? Pretty often...I drive a little less than 50 miles a day roundtrip to work, and then wherever for assorted banking and errands and going out with friends.

3. What's your dream car? I haven't thought of that in a while, but I've always wanted a purple Mazda Miata or a Porsche Boxster.

4. Have you ever received a ticket? Yes. My first one was for an accident (detailed below) and the other was a speeding ticket for going 53 in a 35 zone as I was trying to pass one of those huge conversion vans. I went slightly over the center line while trying to pass (it was a 4-lane road) and that made me nervous, so I sped up to get around it, and that's when the cop clocked me. I technically lost my license for 90 days, but had school/work privileges, and since you can make almost anything look work-related ("I was picking up my schedule!")...

5. Have you ever been in an accident? Yes. Two weeks after I got my first car (a home-painted [with a paintbrush and bright blue housepaint] '87 Plymouth K-car that an eccentric family friend gave me), my brakes failed in heavy after-school traffic and I slammed into the back of the person in front of me. My car ended up being totalled, and his just needed a back bumper, and I received a ticket for not maintaining assured clear distance. I was able to get another car with the money the insurance gave me for totalling the K-car...a '91 scarlet Subaru Legacy. I've also been in assorted minor fenderbenders as a passenger.

They changed my shift at work...I now work Sunday night - Thursday night, and have Friday and Saturday off. I like having Friday off, because I can get a lot of stuff done. I had my car tuned-up earlier, and that was rather pricey and blew my budget for the week, so I have approximitely $6 in cash and $20 in checking to hold me through the week (and I'm not touching my savings account unless something dire happens). Luckily, I filled up my car and don't have any bills due that won't hold until next week, so I think I'll be fine.

I also called AMC, the company that took over and closed down the theater where I worked, about the last paycheck that I never got. I had called them before twice, and got some clueless chickie in customer service who promised that the message would be 'passed along to higher-ups'. I never got any calls or paychecks, so I called again today and put on civil-but-irritated tone of voice and spoke to a supervisor, who sent me to the actual corporate offices, and I spoke with someone there, who promised that I would have my paycheck by this time next Friday. We'll see.

I made up with a friend last night...over something that I had mostly caused. I'm glad....there were quite a few times when I wanted to say something to them, or I'd see something and think "oh, they'd really like to see this!" and be all set to email them, but then realize that we weren't speaking. I saw them on AIM last night and swallowed my pride and apologized, and we talked for quite a while then.

Would anyone like to buy me a Japanse PSX/PS1/PS2 and the X Fighting Game? *blinks kawaiily*

Off to the bank and the library.

2002-08-01T18:18:00.000-04:00

Okay, I need to rant about something that has been bothering me for quite a while. There's a person I used to call a friend. One day, out of the blue, they decided to end their friendship with me with no reason given. When I asked them, they sent me an email with copies of logs between the two of us, where they had asked for my opinion, and I had given it to them (sometimes bluntly, but if they were asking for it then they should have expected me to be honest). That was it. I haven't gotten a straight reason yet why they decided to end our friendship (of about 2+ years). Meanwhile, they've separated themself from the group of friends we had in common, and have started wallowing in self-pity about how they're so lonely, and how they're alone, and how the person that they obsessed for for several years has a significant other and now they can't talk to that person anymore because it hurts too much, and they're depressed. They make comments in other people's blogs about how friends chose another person over them, and to live with it.

It infuriates me so much because they did this of their own accord, yet they're whining about how lonely they are and nobody is friends with them anymore and on and on. Grow up and get a backbone already, for the love of God. Quit playing the martyr because you are the one who did this all. It was all brought on yourself, by yourself. Get over yourself, and her.

This is probably the last time I'll speak of this, and I may end up deleting this post when I get home from work but right now it's just bubbling up inside me and has been for a while and I had to let it out somehow.

2002-08-01T14:15:00.000-04:00

Yesh, I'm still alive, and also a moron. In my haste to hide the window from my supervisor as I was blogging at work last Tuesday, I hit the 'post' button and not 'post and publish' ^^;; So view the goodness(?) that was my birthday post. Otakon report will be up tonight. Now I must get ready to be a slave to The Man.

2002-07-23T23:23:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting here at work, covered in confetti, a little ghetto paper hat on my head, a cookie with a candle in my hand, and a really red face. This is what the KraftMaid Cabinetry night turn Order Processing crew does to you when they don't realize it's your birthday until half an hour before it's over ^-^;;

So..yeah. It's my birthday today. I'm now twenty. We didn't do anything at home today, because I had to come into work early to make up for hours I'm missing in Friday because of Otakon. My mom did get me a balloon bouquet, and my grandmother gave me a bouquet of roses, but that's about it. My sister surprised me, though, when I walked into the house last night from work (early this morning, technically)...she wished me happy birthday right off ^^;; I'm probably not going to do anything until sometime in mid-August, party-wise... normally we would have done something either last weekend or this weekend, but I was in Alaska last weekend and will be in Baltimore next, so...

Speaking of Alaska, I had a lot of fun. I had the intention of going into Manhattan during my layover on Thursday morning/afternoon, but as soon as I got off my flight from Cleveland to Newark, I found a nice little corner and curled up there and fell asleep for a good two hours. I was too groggy after I woke up to consider navigating my way to the air train and into the city, so I just wandered around the airport aimlessly for the next few hours until my flight. The flight itself was okay...we had to sit on the runway in Newark for an hour and a half, because of storms or some such thing. I fell asleep for about an hour of it, and only woke up for the last half hour, which was kind of amusing. They had been saying that we were next for takeoff, then we had to wait, for quite a while. Finally they said it looked like we'd be sitting there for a while, so if anyone had to use the restroom or wanted to stretch their legs, now was the time to do it. About half the passengers stood up and started moving around the cabin. Naturally, about two minutes later, there was the announcement that we really were next in line to take off, and to get back into your seats now!, and we really did take off after that. The rest of the flight was fine...they showed two movies, gave us drinks and pretzels, then dinner, then drinks and a sandwich later in the flight. Towards the last 45 minutes of the flight, on the video monitors, they showed us a map of where exactly we were, what route we had taken to get there, what time it was at our departure point and at our destination, how long we had left in the air, altitude, that sort of thing. It was rather fascinating, and amused us for the rest of the flight.

I met up with Tim all right, and the meeting with his parents went well...they remind me of my parents, only a hell of a lot nicer. They were going away the next day to go fishing...they hadn't intentionally done that since I was coming, but Tim's dad had bid on the days back in February, and they were his only vacation for the summer, so that left Tim and I home alone. We didn't do a whole lot over the weekend...watched a lot of DVDs, went for a long walk with his dog, Scarlett (who is adorable and I want), went out to lunch with his friends and then went to an anime shop (where I bought the first Fancy Lala DVD), and basically just spent time with each other. It was a lot of fun...when I left on Sunday, I was crying really hard...especially when we were taxiing down the runway. The people beside me probably thought I was a freak ^^;;. So I got on my flights home with no problems and went to work on Monday. Now it's Tuesday, and here I am.

Otakon is on Friday....I'm feeling rather blase about it. Maybe because it's the last con of the year, maybe I'm burned out, maybe I'd just rather be going back to Alaska to spend more time with Tim...I'm not sure. I hope it's better than it was last year, at the least.

I'm getting back to work before they yell at me for slacking. Don't expect anything in the way of posts until I get back from Otakon...I'm working a lot to make up for lost hours on Friday.

2002-07-18T05:38:00.000-04:00

Ara...it seems I only blog when I'm leaving for somewhere or getting back anymore ^^;; So, to continue with that pattern...

I'm leaving for Anchorage, Alaska in about forty-five minutes....my packing is done, except for those things that I need to use before I leave, and I think I'm more or less ready to go. All I have to do is shower and get dressed. As usual, I stayed up all night...I fear that if I go to sleep before I leave for somewhere, I'll wake up late and miss my flight, since most of my flights are pretty early. I have a six and a half hour layover in Newark, New Jersey, so I'm going to take the train into Manhattan and go to Kinokuniya. Neko was kind enough to figure out which train I need to take from Penn Station to Rockefeller Center, since the maps were a bit beyond me in my sleep-deprived state. I'm only planning on being in the city for an hour or two, so that I'll have plenty of time to get back to the airport. I arrive in Anchorage tonight at 7:24 local time (11:24 PM EDT), and we're going out to dinner with Tim's parents. I'm a little nervous about meeting them, but I'm really really happy that I'm going to see Tim again ^.^

I'm going to get ready now...I may be on sporadically from Tim's house...if not, I'll talk to everyone when I get back on Monday ^.^

2002-07-14T01:01:00.000-04:00

I'm back from Borders. I just spent $50 on books. I bought The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Summer Sisters by Judy Blume (it's for adults) and something for Tim for his birthday ^.^ I'll have plenty to read on the plane, tho.

a quiz before I go to finish Marmalade Boy and guzzle some more orange juice (I have a cold, and I can't figure out if it's just normal con crud, from sleeping on the hard floor of a cold, drafty airport or something I picked up elsewhere...I just hope it clears up before I leave):

what's your inner flower?

[c] s u g a r d
e w

2002-07-13T16:56:00.000-04:00

listening to: Ishida Yoko - Towa no Hana (Ai Yori Aoshi OP) \\ wearing: AX '02 t-shirt, cutoffs \\ scented: lavender \\ sipping: Vanilla Coke

I'm back from AX. It was a lot of fun...definitely a lot better than last year. It's ranking up in my top 3 cons, definitely. Met some new people (Randy's friends, Chris and Tim), went to a bunch of industry panels, and bought a lot.

I got a lot of free stuff at Tokyopop's panel....they gave me a rough copy of the second chapter of Wish, and I won the second volume of Chobits, and they were handing out the second volume of GTO manga and Vampire Princess Miyu posters at the end of the panel, so I grabbed those. At the ADV panel, Karyn and I both won DVDs after answering two Excel Saga questions (that were related to Excel Saga in-jokes in our room that weekend ^^;;). I originally won the second Vampire Hunter Yohko DVD, and Karyn won all of Airbats, but she convinced me to switch.

In the dealer's room, I picked up the second Princess Nine and SMJ DVDs, the second X TV OST, Ayumi Hamasaki's 'Best' CD, a SonMay 'compilation' CD with the X TV singles (with 'Strength', the OST ending, 'Yakusoku', an image song sung by Kamui and Fuuma, a dialogue mix from the TV series, and the karaoke versions of 'Strength' and 'Yakusoku') and the CLAMP in Wonderland single, some CCS clearfiles, a Love Hina Motoko RPG plushie, a Fruits Basket keychain and Shirahime-shou, which is one of CLAMP's oldest manga. It was rereleased recently and is very shiny. I also picked up almost all of Clover that I didn't have, and the first volume of translated Angelic Layer (which is cute o.o), and a whole lot of Pocky. I'll probably have my AX pictures up in early August, after Otakon, with the rest of my con pictures.

When we got into LAX on Thursday, we were putting our luggage and stuff into our cab when all these LAPD cars, SUVs and motorcycles come flying by from the opposite end of the airport, lights and sirens blaring. We wondered what happened, but didn't stick around. I turned on the TV when we got to our room in the hotel (which they screwed up...we got one king-size bed, and there were no rollaway beds available), and saw that there had been a shooting at LAX while we were there, and apparently just after Randy walked by that terminal. Karyn's cell started ringing almost as soon as we saw that, and she said "that's my mom.", and she was right. Randy and I got onto the phone with our families too, to assure them that we were okay. Still, though, that was really creepy that something had happened on July 4th, and at the same time and place that we were at o.o;;

I had an interesting trip home from AX, too. Karyn, Randy and I left the hotel at around 7:15 on Sunday night. Karyn and I were to fly out at 11:30 PM direct to Cleveland, and Randy was leaving at 6:30 or so on Monday morning, but didn't want to be stuck at the hotel. We sat around for a few hours, then Karyn and I left to go to our gate. We sat there a while, and finally they started boarding. Since I fly for free (my dad works for Continental Airlines), I often don't know if I'm going to get on a flight until just before it leaves. This was the case this time, so I was sitting by the podium discreetly staring at the boarding agents and trying to overhear what they were saying. I ended up not being able to get on the flight, so I went and found Randy in his terminal, and we sat in a cold, drafty corner, alternately dozing and being barely awake. After a few hours of that, it was time for Randy to check in, and then I went back to my terminal to try and get on the 7 AM direct to Cleveland. I wasn't able to get on that one either, and was told that the next flight to Cleveland was at 10:25, and my chances of getting on that were 'a little better'. At that point, I was cold, tired and starving, and had approximately $1.75 in change on me. Oh, and my suitcase, which had some ramen and a hotpot kind of thing in it, had gone on the 11:30 flight to Cleveland. So much for security. I sat around at the gate that my flight was going to leave from, and eventually fell asleep with my head on top of my messenger bag. When I woke up, they were starting to check people in, so I went up and they let me know that I was listed on the flight. The agent looked at me a little strangely, and when I went into the bathroom, I found that the handle of my messenger bag had left a nice long red welt on my cheek ^^;;;. I waited while they boarded a group in wheelchairs (for the Cleveland Veteran Wheelchair events), and the agent called me back up again, and asked me to step back, and he looked me over. I was dressed in a nice skirt and top, which apparently satisfied him, because he gave me a ticket for first class ^.^ When I got on the plane, I found out that not only was it first class, it was business first class, and the plane was heading to London after Cleveland... so first class had the sleeper seats that reclined way back, with leg rests (and an indecent amount of leg room ^___^) and personal entertainment centers (individual TVs for each seat). It was tres spiffy. The movie was High Crimes, with Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. It wasn't bad. I landed in Cleveland at 6:20, and was at work by 7:40. By the time I got home, I was dead. I slept for 12 hours straight ^^

I'm getting ready to visit Tim in Anchorage now....I leave on Thursday morning, and have an almost seven-hour layover in Newark, so I think I'm going to go into NYC for a couple of hours and go to Kinokuniya and such. I'm a little nervous about meeting Tim's parents, but I think it'll be okay. I'm off to Borders now to buy some books to read on the flights (over seven hours to Anchorage, non stop x.X). Sorry if this entry has been kind of random - that's how I've been feeling lately ^^

2002-07-04T07:26:00.000-04:00

Doing some very last minute packing for AX, which I leave for in an hour. I'm excited, since this is the first con that I've been to twice at the same location, and I'm seeing people I haven't seen in a while ^.^ I'll be back sometime early Monday. Sorry that I haven't blogged much lately, but I've been working a lot, and I'm working on some interesting....changes for Natsukaze. Have a happy and safe Independence Day! Ja matta ne!

2002-07-01T14:48:00.000-04:00

In the off-chance that anyone sent me email between about 7 AM EDT this morning until about 2:30 PM EDT, please resend it....my ISP accidentally cancelled my account, taking my email with it... sankyuu!

2002-06-19T14:29:00.000-04:00

HOUSTON, June 19, 2002 - Right Stuf, International has rescheduled the release dates for His & Her Circumstances Volume 1 DVD. The new pre-book date is June 25, 2002. The new street date is July 23, 2002.

*wails pathetically*

2002-06-16T04:07:00.000-04:00

listening to: Megumi Hayashibara - Midnight Blue \\ wearing: black t-shirt, khaki capris \\ scented: honey almond lotion \\ sipping: cranapple juice

Ara ara ara. Busy, busy week. A short summary : Saturday, I went to the Omar Vizquel (Cleveland Indians shortstop) book signing at a local Borders with Tenshi. Got some good pictures by standing in the very back on my tiptoes and holding my digital camera above my head, so the crowd of crazed women pushed me to the front so I could get good pictures while Tenshi was taking down all their email addresses so I could email them the pictures (they're up here, if anyone's interested). We went into Lakewood (which supposedly has a bigger gay population than San Francisco) to some anime shops, and nearly got killed as Tenshi attempted to parallel park while facing the wrong way. I almost bought a cute keychain plushie of Kinomoto Sakura wearing her cheerleading uniform, but it was bootleg and I didn't want it that badly. Sunday was my sister's graduation, so we all went to that. Mine was better >.>

The beginning of the week was pretty standard, until Wednesday, when my department supervisor called me into her office and offered me the position I had interviewed for the week before (second shift order processing; same time and same department that I'm in now). I wanted to accept immediately, but I didn't and said that I'd think about it and let her know soon. I was all set to let her know on Thursday, but I ended up not going in because I wasn't needed. Friday I went in and let her know that I accepted the position. She was all happy. I start training for it on Monday. Today I pretty much lazed around. That was my week, more or less.

A-kon minireport is still forthcoming. Soon. Hopefully with more blogging, but with some upcoming events, who knows... ^.^v

Before I forget, Karyn and Neko both have kickass new layouts up. Go enjoy the summery-ness of Karyn's, and ph34r the Darkly Cute one in Neko's.

2002-06-08T02:25:00.000-04:00

listening to: Sarah Brightman - Captain Nemo \\ wearing: black capris, green pullover \\ scented: cocoa butter \\ sipping: pulpy orange juice

Hmmm. To put something cliche like "I'm baaaa~ack!" as my starter line or not to put something that cliche as my starter line.

Anyhoo. I'm back from my early summer conwhoring at Anime North and Project A-kon. Con reports? Not likely. I've never really been one to write long detailed con reports (surprising, considering that I usually love to write detailed things), but here are some minireports about the cons...

Anime North
Driving up was okay. Lots of dead badgers in Pennsylvania. E-Z Pass ownz. We stopped at an IHOP in Cheektowaga, New York, just a little past Buffalo, for breakfast. No problems until we got into Ontario, where apparently Val and I were the slowest drivers in miles (oh, excuse me, kilometers). The speed limit on the QEW to Toronto was 110 KPH (something like 62 MPH), which is what I was doing in mortal fear of getting a ticket. Everyone else was doing something between 125-140 KPH and zooming by us like we were Gramps and Granny out for a Sunday drive in the park o.O;;;

Automatic soap dispensers are spiffy.

Our room was nice....had a couch and lots of space. The con itself was okay. Rather disorganized. The dealer's room was disappointing....nothing really to die for in there, just overpriced DVDs and some manga and things. There was an awesome yaoi panel on Friday night run by Andrea Doolan. The masquerade absolutely sucked....there were 99 entries. 99 looooong entries. Val and I got in line late, so we got put in the overflow room which had a live video feed and bad audio. It became the heckler's room...it was great. No skit was safe from us! There was an AFSM party around when the cosplay was ending, so I went up to that, and that was fun. I came in second in SM Jeopardy, and won a volume of Mixx Magic Knights Rayearth manga (yes, it's Mixx, but it's also CLAMP, and one of the few series that I haven't read or seen of theirs).

After the party, Andrea Doolan and I went down to the dance together. As we were walking down, Andrea was wondering about how to find out the results of the cosplay, since she had been in it as Buurin from Tonde Buurin (yes...a giant pig. Yay for obscure shoujo!), but wasn't expecting to win anything. Alex Taylor, another AFSMer, walked up to us at that time and told Andrea that she had won Best in Show and a workmanship award. I wish I had had my camera...the expression on her face was absolutely priceless. It was a mixture of shock, surprise, horror and happiness ^.^

We went and got her ribbons, then headed to the dance. Ah, the dance. Anime North dances are absolutely fabulous....best con dances that I've ever been to. They actually play anime and j-pop and game music, and spiffy remixes of them. You can dance like and idiot and sing along, and no one cares because they're all doing the same thing. Lord Carnage of the Fanboys is the DJ, and he plays some *damn* good music, and takes requests too. I can't even impart how great the dance was. Everyone was having a blast trying to figure out what song was playing, and then singing along. They played this funky remix of the Super Mario Brothers background music, and it was hilarious watching everyone jumping up during the bonus/coin music, and then pretending to die to death music. I stayed there until it ended at 4, and I stumbled to bed at 4:30.

The rest of the con was a little depressing since it was all over, so we headed home. On the way home, we stopped at a Wal-Mart so I could pick up some over the counter Reactine, which is the same thing as Zyrtec in the US, a prescription-only allergy medicine that's very expensive if you don't have insurance. A 30-day supply of it runs about $15 CN, so I had enough to buy two months worth. The Wal-Mart was a bit insane - I don't know if it was because it was a Sunday afternoon, or because we were practically in Toronto (Mississauga), or that particular Wal-Mart is always like it, but every single register was open and they all had loooooooooooong lines, the place was packed and the parking lot had veeeerrrrrryyyyy narrow aisles and very crazy drivers. I managed to nearly crunch a few bumpers on my way in and out, and nearly get my bumper crunched a few times.

The drive home was okay. Val had Trigun CDs, so we listened to those for a while and now I want to see Trigun. Then she found a CD of E-rotic (yes, DDR E-rotic) songs that she had burned, so we listened to those almost to the border. They are *very* raunchy, and I had to kind of o.O at some of them. Crossing the border wasn't a problem....the very bored-looking customs guy asked what we had done in Canada, where we lived, what we brought back, asked to see our licenses and birth certificates, then wished us a good day. I was just a bit surprised ^^;. I paid way too much for gas in some little piddly town in New York. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Erie for dinner, and then Val drove the rest of the way home, where I passed out from lack of sleep from the night before.

Anime North is a fun people-con. You don't really go there for the con...you'd be disappointed if you did. But it's a lot of fun to meet with online friends, and to make some new friends (that sounds so cheesy), and attend a damn fine dance. I met up with Andrea Doolan, greenbeans, Alex Taylor, LeVar Bouyer and some other AFSMers, and my friends Neo-Sailor Kiwi and Sandie. I got a fair amount of cosplay pictures with my new camera, which takes pretty decent pictures.

My A-kon minireport will be up later...it'll be longer since it was more recent. Now I'm sleepy...I don't think I've fully regained all the lost sleep from this past weekend, and this weekend is going to be busy. Hugs out to Jen and especially David! So off to bed, am I.

2002-06-06T03:15:00.000-04:00

yami yo, ame yo... ima, oshiete / tsuki yo, kaze yo... ima, kotaete

2002-05-30T15:12:00.000-04:00

Well...I'm back from Anime North (have been for a few days, just been really busy), and I'm blogging to you from Project A-kon in Dallas right now ^^;;;;; I'm going to be here until Monday morning, so if you need to contact me, call my cell phone. Otherwise, see you when I get back ^.^

2002-05-24T04:49:00.000-04:00

Ara....I'm leaving for AN in a little while, so I won't be on until Sunday night, probably late. See you then! ^.^

2002-05-21T14:41:00.000-04:00

Wai! It's been a really good day so far. I got my digital camera last night, and I've been having fun playing with that. I had an eye appointment this morning, and I have some new contacts so I can actually *see*. I called work to see if I was needed to come in today, and not only am I needed, my supervisor asked me to come in early so I could fill out an application for permanent employment. Not to mention that AN is in a few days and I get to initiate a con virgin! *bounces happily*

2002-05-17T04:18:00.000-04:00

listening to: Masami Okui - Hana no Bara Nai (Utena musical) \\ wearing: long white t-shirt, white terrycloth slippers \\ scented: cocoa butter \\ sipping: chamomile tea

I am slowly going insane. I cannot find my birth certificate, and I know I set it somewhere on my computer desk or in the general vicinity. I have to have it before I leave for AnimeNorth next week because I don't think customs will just take my driver's license (yes I know I should get a passport, but I'd have to have my birth certificate for that).

In other news, I'm getting a digital camera tomorrow. Yay! Not exactly sure which one, though. I'll make the decision when I go to the store and play with them.

I'm feeling all out of sorts now since I can't find my damn birth certificate.

2002-05-08T04:49:00.000-04:00

listening to: MOVE - Romancing Train (second Final Fantasy Unlimited ED) \\ wearing: white cami, blue moons PJ bottoms, white terrycloth slippers \\ scented: cocoa butter \\ sipping: ice cold tap water

Busy, busy. I didn't realize how much being on the second shift screwed me up. Add that to my parents forcing me to get the house ready to be shown by next Monday ( I really, really wish they'd share some of the crack that they've been smoking that obviously gave them the notion that the house would be ready by then ), and I really don't have much time to do anything I'd like ( such as blogging ).

Good luck to all my friends in college who are facing term papers and finals! Don't forget to sleep!

Speaking of college friends, Val, who I graduated from high school with and is currently a sophomore at Bowling Green, is coming home next week. We're planning on having a 24 hour Utena marathon sometime early this summer. All thirty-nine episodes, the movie (twice - once regular subbed, once with Ikuhara's commentary) and the musical, if I can get my hands on it. We're going to have fun watching our brains slowly liquefy ^.^

I'm going to be receiving much package wuv in the next few days... Jen is sending me the last episode of Tales of Eternia (after sending me the first twelve eps, wai!), I should be getting my Neon Genesis Evangelion box and remastered DVD 1 from TRSI, and Miyuki-chan in Wonderland is coming from Amazon. Wai!

Things I've noticed while driving home on back country roads in the middle of the night:
-- use your brights, but as soon as you see a car coming from the opposite direction, turn them down to normal, for the love of god
-- don't necessarily look for deer or other animals by their body - look for the reflections of your headlights in their eyes
-- if you see one deer, slow down because inevitably more will cross the road
-- Blink your headlights and honk your horn if you see deer standing by the side of the road like they want to cross - the deer will either cross, or run the other way.

I've added Sarah to my links list....she's my 'neighbor' on the blogs by women ring, and she's a damn spiffy lady. She's the only person I know to break a rib by sneezing! ^.^;;;

I'll be writing in here more, I think. I've gotten into a groove. Going to bed now, though. Oyasumi! ^.^

2002-05-02T02:46:00.000-04:00

Some random quizzes that I found on Ayako-chan's blog...

Which Royalty Are You? Find out! By Nishi.
Art used (c) by JonathonArt.com

You are the good ol' thumb! You are the family one, the one who not necessarily everyone loves but the one who everyone can't live without. Always willing to lend a hand or comfort a friend when they need it.

Which finger are you?
Take the quiz to find out.

Take the test here!!

Not always accurate, but kind of fun.

I had an epiphany earlier tonight...I'll detail it more tomorrow. I'm going to bed as soon as I type a letter for my dad. I was planning on staying up to watch the second episode of Chobits after I finish getting it from Tim, but it looks like it'll be done around 6 AM, and I'm not in the mood to stay up that late.

2002-04-29T04:20:00.000-04:00

KitsuneMiko (03:19:29 AM): A CLAMP work directed by Ikuhara..... o.O

*whimpers*

2002-04-28T15:50:00.000-04:00

It's always interesting to be awakened by an enormous storm overhead. It blew through here at 60 MPH, and a friend who was near Fairport Harbor called me and said that it caused a few waterspouts (tornados over water).

Nothing is really going on here. I'm helping Sam find a flight for A-kon, and I'm going to be getting ready for work in a few minutes (mandatory overtime from 5-1:30).

what's your battle cry? |
mewing.net | merchandise!

So true.

2002-04-27T11:47:00.000-04:00

Are you Addicted to the Internet?

50%

Average@Internet-User.com (41% - 60%)
You seem to have a healthy balance in your life when it comes to the internet and life away from the computer. You know enough to do what you want online without looking like an idiot (most of the time). You even have your own Yahoo club or online journal! But you enjoy seeing your friends and going out to enjoy life away from your computer.

The Are you Addicted to the Internet? Quiz at Stvlive.com!

2002-04-27T11:31:00.000-04:00

Okay, my parents have a realtor here, and he's either flamingly gay, or the gayest straight man I've ever seen in my life. He's wearing a pink alligator shirt and is driving a lipstick-pink Lexus SUV. NSK said this, which I found funny...

NSK (11:28:11 AM): maybe he sells mary kay on the side.

That wouldn't surprise me at all.

He scares me ;.;

2002-04-22T02:28:00.000-04:00

God, has it been almost two weeks since I last blogged? I'm sorry minna. No excuse really, except that I've been busy with work and avoiding my family, and when I do get online I'm just not in the mood to blog. I'm not working overtime for the next two days, so hopefully I'll blog then (and if you're reading this, Karyn, I usually get home and online at around 1 AM when I'm not working overtime, so I can send you Chobits shtuff). Thanks for understanding (and if you don't, well, then, I know I suck ^^).

2002-04-08T02:11:00.000-04:00

listening to: Hamasaki Ayumi - Dearest (third Inu Yasha ED) \\ wearing: green dragonfly PJ's, white terrycloth slippers \\ sipping: pulpy orange juice

Wow, Lauren has a blog. She even remembers to write in it sometimes.

Just a quick update... I'm still alive and well and working at KraftMaid. I've shifted over to nights, and I'm really liking it. The hours have me a little screwed up, though - depending on if I work overtime, I sometimes don't get home until 3 AM, which means I don't get to bed until 4 or 5 or even later sometimes, and wake up around 12 or 1 in the afternoon. I'm hoping that I'll get used to it this week. The job is going well, and since I'm on the night shift, I'm allowed to dress casually and bring a CD player to listen to. So I'm happy.

In other news, my parents are getting divorced, and have already started screaming fights over minor, pointless shit. As long as they leave me alone, don't get violent, and don't drag me into it, I could care less. I'm moving in five months, hopefully, possibly sooner if it gets bad here. It's been a long time coming.

Random thought while watching X TV 23 (X was licensed by Pioneer, yay) - does Arashi use her sword to cut her hair to that perfect edge?

Anyway, it's a bit late, and I need to go to bed since I'm getting up early tomorrow - I need to go to the billing department in the hospital and show them that I'm a poor teenager with no insurance, and maybe that'll get them to adjust my ER bills a bit. I got the first one yesterday for my ER visit two weeks ago, and I was thinking "Wow, $275 isn't bad at all!", when my mother informed me that it was the first of many. I'll update more often, promise ^.^

2002-03-31T23:42:00.000-05:00

listening to: Joanne Hogg - Kokoro (Xenosaga ED) \\ wearing: long black skirt and long-sleeved teal v-neck sweater \\ scented: lavender & chamomile baby lotion \\ sipping: sparkling apple cider

Happy Easter!

Gomen ne that I haven't written in the past week...first the whole ordeal last weekend, then I've been pretty busy since.

As for what happened last weekend: not long after I finished my blog entry last Friday, I went to my employment agency to drop off my time card for the week, and then I was planning to go to my theater to pick up my check, then head to the bank. After I left the house, my right wrist started going kind of numb, kind of like when the dentist numbs you and you can sense pressure but no pain. The numbness moved down into my thumb and forefinger, then up into the right side of my mouth and jaw. I started feeling somewhat ill and headachey, but continued on to the agency anyway. I felt really bad after I left, so I headed home. About halfway home I felt *really* sick and weird, so I sped home and took my migraine medicine and laid down on the couch. After a while, it wasn't working, and I started getting really sick. My family came home and tried to do things to make me feel better, but it wasn't helping. My head was pounding really bad on the left side, and I kept throwing up, so finally my mom took me to the emergency room. I got put right into a room when I got there, and they gave me oxygen and an IV of Compazine for the pain and saline to prevent dehydration from throwing up so much. That knocked me out for about two hours, and I woke up feeling marginally better, and not as nauseated. They took me in for a CAT scan to make sure that I wasn't having an aneurysm, which I wasn't, then they put me back in the ER and let me sleep for a couple more hours to make sure that the migraine was better, then they sent me home. I went home, called Tim, and went to bed, but woke up a few hours later with the migraine back worse than ever, and the numbness was back, and I had severe tunnel vision, so they took me back to the hospital, where I was admitted. They gave me Tordol and Demerol in another IV, which really knocked me out. I was released about eight hours later, with most of the migraine gone, and a bottle of Demerol to keep what was left of the migraine in check. Looking back on what could've caused it, I'm thinking that it was probably the macadamia nuts in the Girl Scout cookie I had before I left. I almost never have macadamia (last time I had some I was 10), and nuts are one of the triggers for severe migraines. So no more macadamias for me. So that was my fun weekend in the hospital.

I went to the theater that I work at a few days ago to pick up the paycheck I never got around to picking up that Friday, only to find it closed, locked up, dark and empty. We had heard that the General Cinemas had been bought by AMC, but that nothing was going to happen to our theater. Apparently that was wrong....they closed it, without giving us employees any notification, which I don't think is exactly legal, not to mention the fact that I know of absolutely no way to get my last paycheck. So I'm not exactly a happy lil chibi.

My employment agency called me last Monday with a possible job for me, and I started for training on Tuesday. It's at KraftMaid Cabinetry, a company in Middlefield that makes kitchen cabinets (obviously). It's right in the middle of Amish country, so I have to watch for buggies on the roads. I'm basically doing order entry, which means I pull up images of faxed orders and send them to the appropriate order queues. It's a bit more complicated than that, but that sums it up fairly well. I'm going to be working nights starting tomorrow, from 4:00 PM - 12:30 AM, with as much overtime as I want. Yosh!

Bedtime now. Thanks for all the well wishes, minna ^.^

2002-03-25T23:44:00.000-05:00

test by Leanne
which CCS character are you?

2002-03-23T22:58:00.000-05:00

A quick post....I'm not sure how often I'll be online in the next day or so, seeing as how I just got out of the hospital a few hours ago due to an insanely horrid migraine headache that they might be an aneurysm or something because of loss of feeling on my right side and constant vomiting and all sorts of fun stuff in addition to the pain. So I'm rather doped up on Demerol right now and am surprised to be typing as coherently as I am. So don't be expecting me on until at least late tomorrow or Monday. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I'll explain more later when I'm not about to fall asleep. Demerol is godly to help the pain but it knocks me out.

2002-03-22T15:14:00.000-05:00

listening to: Do As Infinity - Tookumade \\ wearing: dark blue levis, white Otakon '01 t-shirt, navy blue Indians pullover hoodie \\ sipping: Fresca

Hi, minna! As you can see, I'm back, and with a shiny new layout. I've worked hard on it, and I'm proud of the results. I'm still tweaking it a bit, and trying to find out where the errors are, and trying to fix the problem that's making it wider than it should be. Any help would be greeted with a big smile and my everlasting gratitude.

Where to start....it's been a slightly odd two weeks since I last posted. I went down to Cleveland in the largest windstorm in a while about two weeks ago to celebrate Tenshi's birthday at Fat Fish Blue, and then last weekend we went to a local restaurant, Molinari's, to celebrate her boyfriend Eric's birthday, and then last Sunday was the St. Patrick's Day parade down in Cleveland, which is always fun.

I was still working at the landscaping company until about a week and a half ago, when I got a call from my temp agency saying that the landscaping company had found someone else with more of an accounting background, but the agency had another job for me at Parker-Hannifin, a large multi-national corporation based here in Cleveland. The job was data entry, with some accounting, and paid really well. I was there for a few days, and had expected it to be permanent, but I got a call on Wednesday saying that my assignment there was over. It wasn't because of anything I did or didn't do, but they wanted someone with more of an accounting background. That's twice now that I've gotten shafted for people with better accounting backgrounds ^^;;;. So right now I'm jobless...I'm going into the agency later this afternoon to see if they have anything for me.

And today's Friday Five, making an appearance for the first time on my blog.

1. What is your favorite time of year?
Summer, followed by late spring and early fall.

2. What is it about your favorite season that, well, makes it your favorite season?
Summer, as you might be able to tell from my blog name ^^. I think it started when I was in elementary school...summer was a time when I could play outside with my friends for hours, even after dark, I could stay up late, sleep late, go swimming, and fun things happened in summer like trips and going to amusement parks like Cedar Point. In high school, it was more of the same - I could stay up as late as I wanted (sometimes all night, chatting with friends on the Internet), I could sleep late, I could go out with my friends. More recently, it's been because of being able to stay up late watching anime, and going to cons - I love to travel, and spend time with all my online friends. Summer is my time. I love the weather, the things that happen during the summer, nature being out in full force....being able to sleep with the windows open at night, the summer breeze... my love for late spring and early fall are along the same lines - late spring because summer is coming soon, things are blooming, school was ending, and early fall because it was still nice out, the excitement of a new school year starting soon, the 'last things' that I wanted to do before the end of summer.

3. What is your least favorite time of year? Why?
Winter. Summer seems to be so far away, it's dark and cold and bleak...everyone is sick, everything is dead, you have to stay indoors a lot...it's just so blah.

4. Do you do anything to celebrate or recognize the changing of seasons?
Not usually... I indirectly celebrate the winter solstice, since it usually falls on my dad's birthday. I try and wear spring colors on the vernal equinox, and am generally a bit happier because I know that summer is that much closer. I don't do much for the summer solstice, except know that it's now true summer. Nothing for the vernal equinox, except looking forward to a last few indian summer days. I'm a bit obsessed with summer, ne? ^^;

5. What's your favorite thing to do outside?
Lay in the sun or the shade and read, or doze...going to the beach, especially Crystal Cove at Corona del Mar, is another thing.

Lucy made a doll of me...isn't it kawaii? ^.^

And to finish up my return post (a really long one, too o.o), an X quiz...

You're Shirou Kamui!
Congratulations-- the Power of God is in your hands. Well, maybe not, but you do occasionally feel as if the weight of the world is on your shoulders, and sometimes you just want to run away to escape it all. You mean well, but you are sometimes short-tempered and don’t necessarily think things through before you do them. Friendship is very important to you, as is loyalty. You have a lot of growing to do, but deep down you really are a good person.
Which Dragon of Heaven are you?
Quiz by Kerianne

*blinks* Kamui-sama! I'm surprised that I turned out to be him, though...I was thinking more along the lines of Sorata (not that I mind, though). It describes me to a T, except....am I really a little uke? o.o

2002-03-07T21:04:00.000-05:00

I'm taking a short break from IRC and blogging and the internet in general. I doubt anyone will really notice, or really even care. I'm just tired of some things that have been going on, and I've been neglecting things in real life. I'm not sure when I'll be back. Maybe tomorrow or next week or next month. I'll be on AIM occasionally and if you're desperate to contact me then you can email me. Ja, ne.

2002-03-03T23:54:00.000-05:00

I know - it's been a while since I've blogged ^^. It always seems to be that way when I'm working on a new layout - I don't blog for a few days/weeks while I'm working on one ^^;;. Gomen ne. I hope to have the new layout up in the next few days, but I have the feeling that there are going to be a few things I need to tweak with.

Oh, happy belated birthday to my sister Melissa - she turned 18 on Friday ^.^

I went out this evening with friends to do some shopping. We went to Retropolis in Lakewood (which supposedly has a larger gay population than San Francisco), which is next to Cleveland. It's a small anime shop, and they didn't have a whole lot of stuff, but I got into a nice discussion with the guy who owns it (typical fanboy) about why Viz sucks, and then he showed me part of the first episode of Angelic Layer, which I really want to see more of. My friend Kitty was with us, and she's not really into anime, but she rented some hentai there. After Retropolis, we went to the Madstone Centrum in Cleveland Heights to see Metropolis. The Centrum is a really nice old-fashioned looking arthouse theater. Metropolis was really good - it was subbed, which surprised the hell out of me. The visuals were stunning, and it was just really good. It was snowing really badly when we left.... we got home okay, though.

I'm still working at the landscaping company that was only supposed to be a 3-day temporary job, and I'm not really sure when/if it'll be done. Chris, my high-strung boss, has said more than once that I'm a lifesaver, and the big boss, Keith, has said that I'm really efficient, and why am I working for a temp service ^.^;;;. So we'll see.

I've been on a massive downloading spree for the past few days... I downloaded the CLAMP in Wonderland music video first, which is funny and cute and rather scary, then I downloaded Hamasaki Ayumi's Surreal video, which is trippy, but very spiffy, and now I've been downloading Ayu mp3s like mad.

I suppose I should get ready for bed. I don't feel very well.

2002-02-20T23:45:00.000-05:00

God, he's hot, and he's so good *.* I nearly died along with Annie during the race tonight, and when the Korean guy got disqualified....oh it was great. Yes I know the image/banner/badge/whathaveyou sucks, but I made it on the fly. If you should want to use it, go ahead, but I can't picture too many people wanting to. I made a boy version for the fanboys, so email me if you want it. Two more races to go! Ganbatte yo, Apolo!

2002-02-20T13:21:00.000-05:00

Check it out, man! I wonder how evil you are...

Chuu! 0^.^0~~~

2002-02-18T22:44:00.000-05:00

What Ayumi Hamasaki song are you?
Quiz via Neko

I adore Dearest *^.^*

2002-02-17T14:07:00.000-05:00

Oi. My left eye has been bothering me lately (itchy, watery, kind of like allergies x10), so my mom had one of her doctor friends who came over this afternoon look at it. It turns out that I have allergy-induced pinkeye. It's not the contagious kind, thank god, but it's still annoying. I have to get some kind of ointment or something to put on it. Bleh. I hate allergies.

2002-02-17T13:14:00.000-05:00

listening to: BOA - Twilight

Every body is leaving me this weekend! Karyn went to some concert in Boston, Neko went to a Model UN thing in St. Louis, and Jen went to Katsucon. Lucky! At least Jen sent me more Inu Yasha on Thursday (eps 27-50, wai!), so I have that to watch instead of being bored. I'm seriously adoring IY....I think it's going up into a tie with Kodocha and KareKano for my favorite anime series.

Yesterday I went out with Tenshi. We went to the comic shop in Willoughby, where I picked the first comic-style issue of Kodocha. There were smelly fanboys playing Magic and Pokemon...it was just like being at a con. Then we went to a craft store to look for canvases for Tenshi, and they were having a wedding fair there, complete with a DJ. Instead of playing froufrou wedding-type songs like you'd expect, he was playing "I Will Survive" and other power-women songs. Go figure. We took a mini-roadtrip out to Mayfield to buy the canvases for Tenshi that she wasn't able to find at the craft store, and the nasty sloppy rain finally turned mostly into snow. That was fun. We stopped by a Blockbuster on the way back, and lo and behold they had Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust on DVD! I rented it, then I came home to watch it. I ended up not watching it because Inu Yasha was calling to me. I'll probably watch VHD tonight after work ^^;;

Speaking of work, the job that I've been working has asked me back again for at least Monday and Tuesday. I think they like me. Maybe this will be permanent (or permanent until I move). I hope it will be...they're really nice, I can dress in jeans and a sweatshirt (wai! *.*), the work is easy, and they're really flexible with my hours. When they asked me back for Friday, they asked if I had any plans, and I said that I was planning on going to the Cleveland Museum of Art if I wasn't working, and they got all worried and said that I should only work in the morning and go to the museum in the afternoon. I convinced them that the art museum wasn't going anywhere, and that I could visit it another time. Maybe if I get hired there permanently, they'll be flexible about my conwhoring ^.^ The only downside to the job is that I'm only getting paid $5.75 an hour. It's money, but still, I make more at the theater. I'm hoping that if I get hired, they'll pay me more ^^

No new layout yet. I had been planning on having a Valentine's Day layout, but the images I wanted to use just weren't working out, so I scrapped it. Next layout should be up around the beginning of March.

I need to clean my room. Yay.

2002-02-14T00:04:00.000-05:00

listening to: Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall part II

I finally got an mp3 for this song...the quality is insanely better than my twenty-two year old cassette tape ^^

We got into a rather thought-provoking discussion in #AFSM earlier this afternoon about abortion. Most of us seem to be pro-life, which I am...except in cases of incest or rape. Talking about abortion brought up the subject of long-term abortion, which most of us were also opposed to. Pook! made an interesting point....she only supports partial-birth abortions if the baby has anencephaly (they have a spinal cord, but an exposed or missing brain; they usually die within hours without intervention and are vegetables, for all intents and purposes). It kind of got me to thinking....if the parents are willing, why not let an anencephalic baby be born naturally, put them on life support, and then use their organs (which would be functioning perfectly) for babies who need them? It's along the same lines as organ donation with someone who's been in an accident....but it's kind of an ethical and moral debate. I'm probably leaving out a huge bunch of my thoughts, but is it that bad of an idea? I don't know...

Onto lighter topics..

I was rather bored this afternoon, so I decided to run out to the comic shop in Willoughby, about twenty minutes away from me. I'd never been in it, and was wondering if they had any anime and manga stuff. It turns out that they're pretty big, and they have a nice-sized section of anime/manga stuff. They didn't have the Animerica that Rando is in, but they did have a lot of the monthly manga releases, quite a few graphic novels, a large section of anime DVDs and videotapes, a few import artbooks and tankoubon (the SMR movie artbook and X 14), some domestic and import anime CDs, and wallscrolls and figurines. I was muchly impressed that a store with that decent of an anime section was here not far from me in the anime void of Ohayo. Unfortunately, I had no money to buy anything with. The only thing I really wanted to get was the first issue of Kodocha, which I was also muchly impressed with. I'm not much one for 'dub' manga (scarred by the initial 'kewl' releases of Mixx SM manga), so I was rather skeptical when I saw that Tokyopop had licensed it. I looked at the first issue of the monthly version, and liked it first off that it was kept in the unflipped (reading back to front) format, and the translation seemed to be pretty good, and it was really clear and clean for a US released manga. I'm going back on Saturday with Tenshi to buy it.

After I went to the comic shop, I was planning on heading to the library. I got a call on my cell from my grandmother, though, who said that my new employment agency had called her and wanted to talk to me about a job. I was about half a mile away from the agency, within visual distance, so I stopped by. It turns out that the job that I've been working for the past few days has liked me a lot, and has asked me back for a few more days. Yay!

I went to the library to drop off some overdue CDs and found out that the library has translated Inu Yasha and Maison Ikkoku manga. Yay!

On my way home, I nearly got into an accident...some chick was turning left without checking her left side, right in front of me. If I hadn't slammed on my brakes, I would've slammed right into her. Baka.

Okay. I'm going to bed now.

2002-02-12T09:19:00.000-05:00

Which X Pairing Are You?

x.o

Apparently I got all the weird pairings on this quiz. 1 was Keichii x Kamui (o.O;;;;), 2 was Subaru x Kakyou (o.o;;;... at least if Kakyou can't have Hokuto, he can have her twin brother..), 3 was Seishirou x Fuuma (battle of the seme?), 4 was Fuuma x Kakyou (weird), and 5 was the only normal one in the top 5, Sorata x Arashi <3

Of course, normal is relative with X.

2002-02-08T19:32:00.000-05:00

I took the Mythological Creature quiz!

2002-02-06T22:30:00.000-05:00

listening to:Hamasaki Ayumi - Evolution

Today was weird. Weird and busy.

My mom called and woke me up later than I wanted ( I had asked her to wake me up at 8, she called at 9 ), so I hopped into the shower. As soon as I got out, I heard the phone ringing, so I run to get it, thinking it was my mom. It turned out to be a place I had called last week about an ad, and they wanted to interview me this afternoon between 1 and 3. I rushed around trying to get dressed and ready before my dad got home at 9:30, and of course I failed. I was all dressed and ready, and about to take aaalllll the packages out to my car, and he came home. So I sat and read for a while until he got into the shower, then I made three trips to my car and was gone.

I went to the post office and spent an ungodly amount of time taking all the packages into the post office, then spent an ungodly amount of time processing them, then spent an ungodly amount of money for all of them. It turns out Karyn's package weighed 10 pounds, and Tim's package weighed sixteen pounds @.@;;.

After getting that squared away, I drove out to Rock Creek Elementary (where I had worked as an aide) to return some Harry Potter books that I'd borrowed from the library. On the way there, I nearly got flattened as a guy in a semi decided to play chicken with me when I dared to pass him as he was doing 30 in a 55 zone. I thought that the strike was still going on when I got there, and that I'd see all the others that I had worked with, but either the strike ended or else the workers crossed the picket line, since I recognized nobody there. I'm not about say "Hey, I'm one of the replacements during the strike and I borrowed these books from the library", since I would've been risking life and limb, so I pretended that I found them at my place of work, and they seemed to believe me. That is, until I saw one the teachers that I used to aide for in the corner of the office as I walked out, with this smirk on her face. So I guess I got caught in a lie, but I don't care. I'm not going back there again, so...

I got a bit lost after that, and ended up in the community that time forgot, Roaming Shores, Ohio. They still have dirt roads, and only a general store, a post office, an elevator and a bar. It's pretty enough, but it's straight out of Little House on the Prairie.

I found my way home after that, got ready for my interview, and left. Turns out it's another employment agency ^^;;; But it's the largest one in the area, and I've heard good things about it. So I slogged through the paperwork, took a few computer tests ( apparently I type 74 wpm ) and had an interview, got a horrid photo taken, and went home. A few minutes after I got home, one of the people there called me and said that they had a temp job to help me get settled in and 'prove myself'. It's for three days, and pays only $5.75/hour, but it's incredibly easy - just answering the phone and doing some very light typing and filing, and the office is casual. It'll get me out of the house for a few days, and I'll be making some money.

I had planned on going down to the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Great Lakes Science Center today, but the interview sort of derailed those plans, so I planned to go tomorrow, but the temp job derailed those plans. Oh well..

Okay. I'm going to go play FF8. I'm wandering around the Shumi Village now.

2002-02-04T16:04:00.000-05:00

Which Gackt are you most like?

You are the final appearance of Gackt as a Malice Mizer member.
"Le Ciel" has an ethereal, slightly eerie, but extremely beautiful melody with very powerful lyrics. Gackt's vocal and lyrical talents are at its best in this song.
Even the music video is memorable, probably one of Malice Mizer's best during their Gackt period. All of the members are almost godlike, with a very graceful state about them, and are wearing possibly some of the coolest visual kei outfits in all of jrock... just mind the fingernails.

Is that a good thing? At least Gackt looks somewhat male (pretty, effeminate male, but still..).

Xplo cleaned up the horrid CSS and other shite in my layout. I had to keep the hover bold...I like the movement, dammit!

Packages get mailed out tomorrow. They've been delayed (again) because of the weather...my sister just ran out to the store, and she said the roads are terrible. Fun.

2002-02-01T20:41:00.000-05:00

Oi. I'm such a moron. I've been worrying about how I'm going to get money to move into my own apartment, and I haven't even considered the possibility of a roommate. Not permanently, but for six months or so until I can figure things out. I've been browsing some of the listings at various sites, and they seem promising. If you've had a roommate (not a boarding school or college roommate), please email me or IM me or leave a comment about how it worked out. I'm curious now.

2002-02-01T16:26:00.000-05:00

listening to: Koi Shimasho Nebarimasho -TSUGUMIX- - Asakawa Yuu as Tsugumi from Cyberteam in Akihabara

Thanks for all the well-wishes, guys. What am I desperate for? A job. I had been getting screamed at for an hour when I wrote that post. Having eviction hanging over your head is *not* fun. I was out all day yesterday searching for a job (for the most part - I stopped to see The Majestic at my movie theater - pretty good), with no luck. I'm feeling rather burned out, kind of sick, and the weather is really nasty today (*heavy icy winds, rain/snow/ice mix), so I'm staying in. I got a call from the mail-order catalog place that I applied at that looked promising, and it turns out I didn't get the job, but was a top contender, and if the person they did hire flakes out (*prays that she does*), that I'd be up there for next hired. So we'll see.

In other news, in an amazing Usagi-like feat, Lauren tripped over absolutely nothing in the kitchen this afternoon and slammed her head into the basement door. Amazingly enough, she didn't even get hurt! She followed up that trick by dropping a pair of rollerblades on her toes and not breaking them! Wow! How does she do it!

(Editor's note - I didn't break my toes, but I seriously bruised them. I mean, dammit, if I'm going to drop rollerblades on my toes, they could at least break so I could have a legitimate excuse for limping, instead of limping on bruised toes and saying that I dropped rollerblades on them and feeling like an absolute moron.)

Packages go out on Monday! I was going to send them today, but like I said, it's absolutely horrid out, and I'm not up to facing the wind with a stack of boxes taller than I am. Foam peanuts are your friends.

I finally defeated Raijin and Fujin (is she an android?) at Balamb Hotel in FF8, and visited the remains of Trabia Garden and remembered Matron and Sis and all that. I'm about to fight Galbadia Garden. Woo.

So. Wuv to minna.

2002-01-29T22:42:00.000-05:00

I'm desperate.

2002-01-29T18:04:00.000-05:00

I GOTS ME A POMEGRANATE! :D :D

2002-01-29T14:21:00.000-05:00

listening to: Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven

See which Greek Goddess you are.

Sweet. I was hoping for the goddess of the dawn, Aurora, but Gaia fits me to a T (except for the kids part, but c'est la vie..).

So. At the request of Chaddiekins, who's scared of the Pikachizer, here's an actual blog entry (*leers*)

After being nagged incessantly yesterday, I went and applied for a few jobs that I saw in the paper. One of them seemed promising - it's for a morning (8a-2p) receptionist for a mail-order company that sells woodcutter's tools. I got an interview on the spot, and the interviewer was really nice, and said she'd let me know either way by Friday. The only downside is that it's only part-time, and temporary at that - I'd only be working until mid-April or so, whenever their busy season ends. It'd be money that I wouldn't have otherwise, and it might get my dad off my back. I also applied at the Medical/Dental Assistant school for the position of evening receptionist (5p-10p, M-Th), which would solve the problem of the other job being only part-time if I got it - combined, I'd be working 50 hours a week. So we shall see. Oh, I also had another interview, but it went in a weird way. My mom suggested getting a job as an operator for Ameritech (phone company) at about 10:30 last night, so I went to the Ameritech site and found out they were hiring for Directory Assistance operators relatively locally, so I filled out their online application. At the end of the application, there was an 800-number, and it said I had to call it and have a brief phone interview in the next 15 minutes. I kind of blinked at that, but did so. It really was short, with the recruiter only asking four questions. I had to rot on hold for 10 minutes, though, and the recruiter had the gayest voice I have ever heard on a man in my life. I was struggling not to burst out laughing ^^;;;. They said that I'd get a packet in the mail within the next two weeks to detail what I need to do next, if I passed the first step of the initial phone interview.

I stayed up until 5 this morning playing FF8, and got pretty far. I defeated NORG, crashed the Garden into Fisherman's Horizon, and now I'm sort of randomly driving the Garden around.

I have errands to do now...then I'll come home and finish cleaning my room. I haven't really had any time to do it since Sunday.

2002-01-27T16:06:00.000-05:00

listening to: Kimura Yuki - Unbalance

Via April of Allegretto...the Pikachizer!

Pika-pi, Pika-pika Chu
Piikaa-pi-i Chu: Piii - Pipi Ka Pika (PI-KA-CHU)

Pii, Pi pi pi-pika-pika Piikaa Pi pika-pika pikaa.

Pi piikachu pii Pi pi piikaa ka Ka pi-ka-chu 'ka Chu' pipi....pi pika Piika Chu pi-kaaa-chu, piikaa ka, pika pi-i Pi kaaa pi-kaaa-chu ( piikachu pi Chu piii - piii.), Kaa Pi pika-pika pikachu Ka piika pikachu. Ka Kachu pi piikachu pika-pika kachu pi. Pi-i Pika pii Kachu pi.

pi pika-pika piika'chu piikachu pi kaaa chuuu, pi-i chu chuu ka pi kaaa Chu Pi chuu Pi-pika-pika Chuuu-chuu Pi-i chu piikachu pikachu, chu pi Pi-ka-chu pika chuu Pii kaa Pikapi pi-i kachu chu chu Chu-pika-pi. Pi'chu pika-pika Pika-pi chu Pika-pika pika-pi kachu.

Piii pii kaa pi chu... Kaa pikachu-pipi piii :\

pika, pi chuuuu-pika piikaa Kaaa Pi chu kachu ka Pika chuuu. kaaa pipi ka pi Chuu chuu pi piii Chu chu Chu Pii. ^^

PIKACHU Pikachu PII Pi-kaaa-chu chu PI:Pi Chu * Pi-kaaa-chu-chu
Comments [0]

That was my last entry, Pikachized. *sweatdrop* Incidentally, I found that Neko also links April....but I found her through a totally roundabout way ^^;;;. It'd be fun to try and play six degrees of weblogging sometime... Every blog on the web would be linked probably within two or three degrees of each other ^-^;;

It's somehow disenheartening when your dad gives you the classifieds with ads he circled, and you don't qualify for 9/10ths of them. Does this mean he's an idiot, or I'm pathetic not for qualifying?

David and Chad have informed me of a few things regarding Princess Maker 2... apparently, you just get no sound when you play the game in Win2k, and you get sound *and* clothes on your daughter in XP. I had previously thought that you got no sound and no clothes on your daughter (weird quirk). Windows is so cranky sometimes.

Off to work on my room a little more, then off to work.

2002-01-27T03:15:00.000-05:00

listening to: Mono - Life in Mono (ingenue)

See, I do sometimes listen to English music.

I finished two of my things on my weekend 'to do' list....I took apart my keyboard, washed it, then put it back together ( switched a few keys - oops.), and I finally updated my sucky webpage. Go there to download Princess Maker 2. You know you want to.

I probably could've finished my room today, but as soon as I woke up I felt extremely nauseated for no apparent reason, so I crawled back into bed and slept for most of the afternoon. I'll probably finish it tommorow before work.

Much wuv out to Jen... her stepfather died :\

Okay, I completely forgot what I was going to blog about. That must be a sign that I need to go to bed. ^^

2002-01-26T20:31:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Jen...

Daria is the poster child for "teen misfit," and holds in high contempt what she sees as the shallowness and superficiality of the world around her. She is also cynical -- though she'd say she's "realistic" -- and mistrustful of authority, and doesn't hesitate to make her opinions known when she sees fit. She has a talent for writing, a sharp intellect, an even sharper tongue (her sarcasm could cut tempered steel), and a wit so dry it makes the Sahara look like a rain forest.

My sister took it too, and she'd be Quinn. I'm somehow not surprised >.>;

2002-01-25T16:53:00.000-05:00

listening to: Hamasaki Ayumi - Still Alone

goals for this weekend:
finish cleaning my room (75% done)
package presents (I've been procrastinating for weeks)
take apart and clean out keyboard (it's nasty)
update webpage! (it's been 4 months ._.;;;)
scan and upload summer con pictures

I was up late playing FF8 last night....I finally went to bed at 6:30 this morning. I'm at the MD level of Balamb Garden, just about to fight the oil monsters. I'm liking it a lot - it's quite addicting.

Speaking of - I think I'll go play some more FF8.

2002-01-24T03:15:00.000-05:00

listening to: Suteki da ne - karaoke by Shawna

I have no idea what anime or game that song is from, but Shawna did a damn fine job of it.

So.

If anyone has any relatives or friends or acquaintances in the Cleveland/Akron/Erie, PA areas, please ask them if they know of any secretary, receptionist, or office-type jobs that are open for someone with 1+ years of experience, well-versed on the computer, knows MS Word and very minimal Excel, types 55 wpm and with excellent phone skills, and ask them to please put in a good word for me if I apply. I'm at the point where I'm incredibly desperate for a job. I need the money so I can move out, plus my parents have been *really* on my ass lately. Tomorrow I'm going to register at a few more employment agencies, so we'll see what comes of that. *sigh*

I've been playing FF8 a lot...I finally finished tonight in the tomb near the end of the first disc, getting killed by Forbidden ( about to get Brothers ). I don't seem to be half bad at it ^^;;

I still want a pomegranate.

I still need to wrap things to mail. I think I'll go do that now and wake up the people in the house and piss them off >:D

2002-01-22T22:47:00.000-05:00

listening to: Asakawa Yuu - Endless Tomorrow (from Seraphim Call)

Yosh! I got mad package wuv yesterday and today. Yesterday I received Ed0rz' birthday present, which I opened and drooled over for a while (ish nice. I hope he likes it), then today Xplo's PSX arrived! *.* I went out and bought a memory card and FFVIII, and have been playing that for a while. I suck, but it's fun ^^;

I have the worst craving for a pomegranate o.o;

I think I'm going to play for FFVIII, then maybe wrap some presents up with this pretty wrapping paper I got on sale at World Market today...it was $.98, and it's purple with gold and silver metallic in an Indian pattern. Tres spiffy.

I really want a pomengranate o.o;;;

2002-01-21T01:08:00.000-05:00

....

I was just reading the classifieds, and found an ad wanting an aide for a long-term assignment in Ashtabula County, $10/hour, placed by my employment agency.

....

They told me they'd call if another aide position opened up, considering how I was replaced while I was sick one day. They haven't called me for two weeks.

I think it's time to call them and see what the hell is up.

2002-01-20T23:21:00.000-05:00

listening to: Enya - Wild Child

I've 'installed' a new commenting system...we'll see how long this one lasts. I hope it lasts for a while.

I spent most of yesterday being a lazy slug on the computer. Today I actually worked on cleaning my room for most of the day, and got a pretty good start. I hope to finish it tomorrow. As soon as I get done with that, providing I have time before I go to work, I'm going to go to the library, then work on wrapping and packaging all the presents for people, except for her and her...some of their presents haven't arrived yet (coming from Hong Kong and such), then I'm going to mail everything out Tuesday.

There was some sort of WWF wrestling pay-per-view tonight, so my sister's boyfriend got it and invited people over. They dragged me in to watch some of it, and there were scary androgynous people ;.; Kowai yo! Then I got forced to be a kitchen slave and make tacos for them. They're still here, but apparently I haven't killed them with cayenned beef yet ^.-v

I should probably go work on my room, ne? Leave me comments!

2002-01-18T00:10:00.000-05:00

listening to: Hamasaki Ayumi - M

Wai, I got accepted into Blog-in! It makes me feel special, and that my layout skills may not be as horrid as I thought ^-^. I also added Kristen to my list of blogs I read regularly.

I made the hotel reservations for A-kon tonight! 8 rooms total - one for Rusty and her mom, one for Ten and her crew, one for KK and Ricky, then five for all the rest of us to group into. I can't wait for A-kon...it's going to be a lot of fun.

Speaking of the hotel reservation, I was just finishing up with the hotel when my mom got home and asked where the convention was. After I told her it was in Dallas, she asked how I was getting there. I had assumed that, if I was moved out of the house, that my dad wouldn't let me have free tickets (or buy the discount tickets that he can give to non-relatives), so I told her that I was driving or purchasing my own plane ticket or something. That got me to thinking, so I asked if (theoretically, of course <.<) I was to move out of state, if my dad would allow me to buy plane tickets off of him (they're $50/roundrip, standby). My mom immediately asked where I was moving to, and I told her that I wasn't sure yet. She went off and did something for a few minutes, then came and sat back down here and said that she knew that I was moving, and she wanted to know where. "You're moving in with that guy in Alaska, aren't you?"
No, Mom, I'm not ^^;;;. So I told her that I was thinking about California, Oregon, Utah and Arizona (the last two were just for some variety), and she didn't seem too upset or guilt-trippy about it, which surprised me a lot.

I got one of my Christmas presents by Fedex yesterday...it's a messenger bag/purse. It's the same one that Piro uses in Megatokyo ^^;; I'm such a geek.

I went out and bought the two things I need to get for Xplo and Annie's presents. Now I just need to get them all packaged up.

Tomorrow I need to go buy and mail CDs to Jen, Ed0rz, and Chris. Jen's burning me more Inu Yasha, Ed0rz is burning me Star Ocean EX, Vandread and Noir, and Chris is burning me DDR. Wai!

Rando's going to Japan for a SeraMyu 10th anniversary festival, and I'm helping him find cheap airfare. The cheapest I found is around $430 roundtrip, but the tickets have to be purchased by tomorrow at 4 PM central, so that won't work out. The next cheapest is $610 roundtrip plus tax, which is still pretty good for an international flight. I'm jealous...but I'm going to make him buy me stuff because I helped him get low airfare.

It's taken me three hours to write this whole post, oi ^^;;;

Oh, I adopted some kawaii things. The kanji means winter, and Kamui-chan and Kero-chan were so adorable that I couldn't resist them.

I should go start packaging presents for people ^^;

2002-01-16T23:35:00.000-05:00

listening to: Dream - My Will (first Inu Yasha ED)

I've finally uploaded the newest layout for Natsukaze, The Snow! Took me a while, but I finished it tonight. I hope that everyone likes it, and that it doesn't cause errors. Feedback is always appreciated! Let me know if I went overboard with the snowflakes. Many thanks to Xplo for being a rockin' HTML kami and helping me when I was stuck ^.^;;; I'm already working on my Valentine's Day layout, and I have ideas for layouts queued up all the way to April ^^;;

Next I'm going to burn some more presents for people, then mail it aaaallllll off (except for Karyn's, because her stuff from Japan hasn't arrived here yet). I also need to make the hotel reservations for A-kon, which I'll do tomorrow when I wake up.

Social blogging, a bit late (as I always seem to be)!

Karyn has had a new layout for the past week or so, and she's right - it does make me long for summer. I hope she feels better soon :\

I love Jen-chan's layout! It reminds me of the last lyrics to Bette Midler's The Rose... Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows, lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes the rose...

Spiffy layout, David. I had meant to see O Brother Where Art Thou when it was at the theater where I work, but I never got around to it. Congrats on making the dean's list too.

Okay, I'm going to abuse my CD burner some more and get these presents finished and mailed out!

2002-01-15T02:47:00.000-05:00

Ara ara ara ^^;;;;

FurrySaint mentioned a post to the Yuricon mailing list about me...

Just got back from Ohayocon this weekend. I saw last night's Cosplay, and it featured a full-figured redhead dressed up as Lita/Makoto is her white/beige school uniform. I have never seen anyone dressed as Lita/Makoto in her school uniform, but she did lookgood. But what really got me was she ended her skit with: "anyone seen my girlfriend Ami? She still must be in the video room"....or something like that. She must be a fellow Mako/Ami fan. And I don't think it's a bad thing at all.

*blushes* I didn't know that people liked my costume and my rather half-assed skit. Full-figured #^^#;;;;;;;;;;

Yosh. Back to watching Inu Yasha.

2002-01-14T00:13:00.000-05:00

Oops. I guess I forgot to publish my previous post.

I'm back, anyway. The con was disorganized, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. I spent too much money, which my big purchases being an almost-complete set of DiGi Charat plushies (Dejiko, Puchiko, Rabi~en~Rose, Gema and Piyoko, then I bought a Majin-Kappa plushie and a Henna Ikimono plushie [R~en~R's green duck thing from the specials and the bear in the box, respectively]; all I need now is a Hokke Mirin [Puchiko's dancing cat from the specials] and maybe Gema's counterpart in the Black GemaGema Dan for a totally complete set), the first X TV OST and an X calendar, wai! I also bought presents for people. I may put up a slightly more detailed con report, but I'm rather tired now after driving to Columbus and back today, so I'm going to bed. New layout should be up sometime tomorrow, but I can't make any promises.

2002-01-11T09:01:00.000-05:00

listening to: Siam Shade - 1/3 no Junjou na Kanjou

Off I go to Ohayocon!

I just have to finish packing, then I'm leaving to pick up JG, Jen at the airport, then drive down to Columbus to pick up Ed0rz. I'm excited- first con of the year! Wai!

So I'll be back on Monday, dear readers, possibly even with a new layout ^.-

2002-01-05T01:27:00.000-05:00

You are Sailor Mars!
You are firey, and powerful, and you
have a bit of a quick temper.
You have special spiritual powers that
go beyond that of just being a Sailor Senshi.

You fight with fire!

2002-01-01T01:56:00.000-05:00

Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu, minna.

I know I haven't been blogging lately. Sad, isn't it? I'm on vacation with loads of time, but I haven't blogged. Such is life.

Lots of things have happened. Some good, some not so good. I won't bore you with details.

I'll probably get back into the groove of blogging once vacation is over (tomorrow). Until then, celebrate New Year's safely. Drink sparkling cider and watch parades and football games :D

2001-12-23T12:35:00.000-05:00

Take the 100 Acre Personality Quiz!

Out of the 26,000+ to take this test, only 665 people before me got Pooh! Wai!

2001-12-23T12:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Holidays from Natsukaze! Layout 3.5 is up! I hope that minna likes it, and that it looks okay. If there are any errors or anything, please email me. Enjoy the kawaiiness of Sakura and Kero-chan!

2001-12-22T13:59:00.000-05:00

2001-12-21T23:28:00.000-05:00

listening to: Two-Mix - In Your Eyes

Things to do tomorrow:
sleep late
burn CD's (finally! I am going to do it, dammit!)
wrap presents
clean my room (maybe)
get toys for my dogs and clean my computer desk, if I feel adventurous.

I preregged for Ohayocon tonight. 21 days away *.*

A student puked on my shoes today at work...luckily I was able to clean them off without stains or smells. There's some nasty 24-hour stomach virus going around the school, which I'll inevitably get since I took care of most of the sick kids. School's out for a week and a half though....a much much needed vacation *.*

I got the second and third Harry Potter books from the school library this afternoon, and I've already finished the Chamber of Secrets. *Very* good. I can't wait to see it in theaters.

Sleepytime.

2001-12-19T20:28:00.000-05:00

listening to: Hayashibara Megumi - Tamashii no Rufuran

I hate this version of this song because it's so damn slow, but I listen to it anyway. Go figure.

So...tonight was hell. I left work early to be able to make my dentist appointment on time. It turns out that I have two very small cavities and need a filling replaced. Not terribly bad. After that, I did some final shopping, getting a gift certificate to a used bookstore my mom loves and a softcover Face Forward, a book that my sister likes where they turn famous people into other famous people (Calista Flockhart into Audrey Hepburn, etc), and I picked up the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Eve for myself. When I got home, my dad decided to bitch at me for no apparent reason, which pissed me off so much that I started looking for a job and apartment again in Portland. One good thing that I found when I got home was that Ed0rz had sent his present to me, and he let me open it. I nearly wet myself -- it was the X Yochou R2 OVA DVD! Wai! I attempted to watch it, and found out that while I have a region-free second generation DVD-ROM, the software is region-locked. So after messing with that for a while, I downloaded something called DVD Region Killer 2, which allows you to watch DVDs from all regions without having to constantly switch which region you're wanting to use. I was able to watch it, and it was sexy. Mmmm.

Last night Todd and I took my mom's dog, Devon, to get portraits done for my mom for Christmas. They didn't turn out very well....he's an almost all-black dog, and we wanted his eyes to be seen, so the photographer set a light on the floor, pointed up at him. It would've worked fine if it was level with his face, but as it was, it threw shadows so you couldn't see him very well in the pictures...so we're getting retakes done on Christmas Eve morning.

One of Tim's presents for me arrived yesterday too, wai! It's the KareKano shitajiki of Yukino and her sisters and Pero^2 all dressed up...CHOU kawaii!

Yosh. I need to go out and buy some shoes for work. My old ones are falling apart.

2001-12-15T17:29:00.000-05:00

listening to: Two-Mix - Last Impression (Gundam Wing : Endless Waltz movie ED)

I want Bandai to release a Gundam Wing boxset with a space for Endless Waltz and some kind of extra, like one of the Operation OST's or something.

I did some final Christmas shopping this afternoon, driving out to Parma to Old Time Pottery (kickass cheap! housewares store) to buy a gift certificate for my RL friend Cathy, who just moved into her own apartment and has been complaining that the walls are bare and paper plates suck, so she can decorate with the certificate. I also picked up an 11x14 print of Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night for my sister, who adores that painting.

Pet Peeve: when two vans/trucks/SUV's park on either side of your car, so you can't see while backing out in parking lots.

I also returned the AMS movie that I bought for myself, since I bought it on the spur of the moment, and I need the money finish out the last presents for people. I have Ed's fansub of it to tide me over, and maybe I can find it cheap online or someone will get it for me for my birthday or something. I feel stupid buying it then returning it three days later, but I really didn't need to get it. The package was so shiny, tho...I knew I should've asked for it for Christmas, but I realized that too late. The two anime DVDs that I asked for from my family is stretching it from them anyway.

I've gotten addicted to NeoCrack...er, NeoPets. I have a kawaii blue Shoryu named Michikoumi. She likes to read :D

Okay. I'm off to burn presents (which I've been meaning to do for the past 2-odd weeks, but haven't gotten around to).