I just spent a good hour or so looking at mindfuck macros. Whhhyyyyyyyyyyyyy??????

It’s a special kind of person who can roll halfway down a mountain strapped to a pair of skis and be fine, but needs to go to the hospital for x-rays because they messed up putting on their shoes. >.> And yes, that person would be me.

I haven’t updated in, um, forever, because A) there’s been a ton of stuff going on, B) I’m lazy, and C) I hadn’t been taking my medicine regularly because I was running out, but I got some more, so I’m starting to feel better now that I’m taking it every day again. I do wish that the world could just stop for a bit and let me catch up, though.

( super boring update: skiing version! )

( super boring update: doll and bodily injury version! )

( super boring update: art snob version! )

Okay, I’m ending things here, because I know that anything more would be just TOO MUCH AWESOMENESS for you to handle at once. But stay tuned for more zomg amazing updates featuring exciting topics such as: Flowers! Being attacked for food by crazy animals! Flowers! Bitching about the Japanese system of school administration! Porn! And moar flowers!! And as always, check out my flickr page for more photos.

>.<;;;;;;;;;;; I am officially not allowed to buy anything fandom-related for at least a year. *dead* Thanks to rkold, I now own a doujinshi of the U.S. screwing England. Except I didn't check the cover for the pr0n warning, so they don't actually screw. But they do make out on a couch. DFHkjsdrubglieu I don't even particularly like doujinshi; whyyyyyy is it so addictive? ;-;

[edit] Oh right, because it has Atobe bribing Momo to steal Tezuka's uniform, and then Atobe wears Tezuka's pants on his head. How silly of me.

I have many other, more important things to post about. Like broken toes and baby monkeys. And I know that the vast majority of my flist won't understand this. But I'm saying it, because it needs to be said, and no one in the wide wide world of google has said it yet.

Ria_ria is a scalper.

You heard me, a big scalp scalping scalper. If it was just her (fucking outrageous) 50% commission fee, I would merely say that she's overpriced. If it was just that she (illegally) charges paypal fees, I would merely say that she sucks. If it was just the way she raised her prices when the U.S. dollar was so low even though her prices are in yen, I would merely say that she's unethical.

But she charges $150 for something that VOLKS DOES FOR FREE. In my book, that makes you not only a scalper, but a thief.

And I, for one, do not understand why there are so many people in the BJD fandom waiting in line to lick her ass, when it's so easy to find FCS for a much more reasonable price. And the most frustrating part is that you can't even let these people know what a rip-off they're buying into, because that would violate DoA's "price policing" policy. So that's why I'm saying it here, because if just one person googles her name and finds this, it will be worth it.

Taxes. For when life just isn't fucking frustrating enough.

A (cute) drunk guy just asked me to have the last of his takoyaki, and then started yelling "Sakura beautiful!" until his not-quite-as-drunk friend apologized and pulled him away. XD Hanami = crazytime.

I have nothing to do at work for the rest of the month. Rec me your favorite Project Gutenberg books?

ajhfgkfjhegr *emo angst*

Another sick day. >.> I wish I could take them without feeling so guilty about it! I mean, the doctor put me on five different medications, and they make me really sleepy and weird, and it's not wrong to stay home, right?

blehhhhhfshgbkhfrfgwoerd

I went to Tenshi no Sato today.

And God help me, I liked it.


If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's probably best that it stays that way.

I finally finished reading Paul Clifford, the book that no one knows, but everyone's heard of. (It's the one that starts, "It was a dark and stormy night.") When Mark Twain made his rants about brevity of writing, I think that this was the book he had in mind. Though the author makes some very good points about the criminal justice system, and there's one excellent pun ("make up for my absence with my presents") the whole thing is the very embodiment of tl;dr. My particularly favorite quote:

( two freaking sentences )

JUST SAY SHEEP, DAMMIT.

It's actually considered by many to be one of the worst books ever published, and the horrible prose isn't helped by the author's enormous ego. At one point, he interrupts the story to rant for 60 lines about how Thomas Moore was full of shit on some point or other, and it's just like, dude, who the fuck do you think you are?? Then at the end, he's like, "Now that I've blown your mind with my amazing plot twists, I'll explain everything to you," when I had guessed the big surprise about 1/3 of the way in. Yeah, whatever there, Mr. "Let's End This Sentence With 168 Exclamation Points" Bulwer-Lytton.

In case you're wondering why I bothered to read the whole thing, the main reason is because I was in serious need of a hardcore English workout. But also because I hate myself. But now that it's out of the way, I can read about gay Arthurian knights! \o/ Yay!

ZOMG I HAVE OGLED STING'S ASS WITH MY OWN TWO UNAIDED EYES. (Yes, he was wearing tight pants. XD) AND THERE WAS STING/ANDY SLASH AND DURING MY FAVORITE SONG TOO.

fsejrhgj *flails* I still can't believe I actually saw The Police live. And it was amazing. It was my first time at a stadium concert, and I was up in the nosebleed seats, but I had a good view of the stage. The lighting was soooooooooo good (don't know why, but good lighting at a concert is really important to me), and Andy and especially Stewart were just incredible. The big disappointment was that Sting did almost all the singing by himself, so there were none of those great Police harmonies, which is one of my favorite things about The Police to begin with. ;_; Also, no concert towels! What's up with that? I was really looking forward to having a Police towel in my collection! But it was definitely definitely worth going, because I never ever thoguht I would actually have the chance to see The Police perform live. And I was so happy because they did an extended version of "So Lonely", which is my favorite song of theirs, but since it's not a single, I wasn't sure if they'd play it or not, but they did and kyaaaa~~~~ ♥

SET LIST!
Message In A Bottle
Synchronicity II
Walking On The Moon
Voices Inside My Head/When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What's Still Around
Don't Stand So Close To Me
Driven To Tears
Hole In My Life
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Wrapped Around Your Finger
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
Invisible Sun
Can't Stand Losing You/Regatta de Blanc
Roxanne
King Of Pain
So Lonely
Every Breath You Take
Next To You

As for goods, I got the world tour t-shirt and the Japan-only hoodie. :D

Also, Osaka Dome totally looks like a giant spaceship.

ZOMG I PASSED THE JLPT AND THE FOREIGN FOOD STORE GOT IN A NEW SHIPMENT OF DR. PEPPER AND ROOT BEER AND I AM ENTERED IN THE ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION PRE-SALE LOTTERY.

Best day I got my period EVER.

Passing score: 240/400. My score: 248/400. LOL. It's good enough for me, though, 'cause I seriously thought there was no way I was gonna pass. Mostly I'm just glad that that weekend wasn't a waste.

The other AET and I went to see Sweeney Todd with one of our JTEs yesterday. It was my first time in a Japanese movie theater, so there was a little bit of culture shock. The tickets cost twice as much (and the seats are assigned), the food costs half as much (but no delicious butter-flavored ooze on the popcorn ;_; ), and the floors are spotless.

( cut for possible spoilers )

On a side note, I'm usually not made queasy by movie violence, but I did find parts of it kind of hard to watch. Actually, the only movie that ever made me feel physically ill from the violence is Raging Bull. Even Le chien andalou, perennial squicker of film students, didn't bother me that much, but I couldn't deal with Raging Bull. Weird, huh?

Now I'm in the mood to watch more movies.... I want a good action/adventure, but Indiana Jones doesn't come out until June. *emo* Enchanted looked intriguing, but I thought it was probably stupid and not worth the ticket price, but then I looked it up on Rotten Tomatoes, and apparently it's quite good? So maybe I'll go see that.

ALSO SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHEN IS THE KNIGHT RIDER MOVIE AIRING? I NEED TO GET MY BITTORRENT READY. :O

I think today would classify as a good day: no classes; the local bakery re-opened in its new location, bigger and better than ever (they have chocolate chip bagels, what) and just a block away from school; there was a family of no fewer than three wild monkeys prowling the neighborhood (Me: Look! A monkey! Student: 何や？ Me: *points* Student: Oh!! Cat!); and I SAW BUMP OF CHICKEN LIVE OMG. Of course, I had to pay 4x the face value of the ticket, but better that than regret not going forever. Supernova live is ♥~~~~~~~~~

The bad news is, I have to get up at my regular time tomorrow, and I still have to shower before bed. >.>

Bleh, home sick today. Here, have some wackiness.



I want another Grapefruit Fanta now.... ;_;

I just had a dream that was half Pokémon, half Phoenix Wright, and half Frasier. Needless to say, it was ALL AWESOME.

Damn it, I'm going to have to go looking for Frasier/Niles slash again, aren't I?

So, I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I decided that I wanted to go to Chion-in to see them ring the bell for New Year's. It's the biggest bell in Japan, and weighs about 80 tons. It takes 17 monks to swing the ramrod hard enough to ring the bell. So obviously, the New Year's ringing is a pretty big deal. ^^

I left my place around 9:00, and I was surprised that the subway was so empty. There weren't many people on the way to the temple, either, but once I got there, it was packed. There were lots of foreigners there as well, so I didn't feel so out-of-place. This creepy American/Canadian guy tried to play tour guide for me though, coming up out of nowhere all like, "This is called Chion-in Temple," and not even pronouncing it right. And I'm like, yeah, I don't make it a habit of wandering around the city at midnight, so I know where I am, thanks. There was of course a huge line winding around the temple grounds to see the bell. I didn't know what was going to happen, so I just stood there with everyone else. Then, when the bell started ringing, everyone shoved forward, and the line slowly filed up to the belfry and past the bell. It was really cool; the monks had this special chant, and when the bell rung, you could feel it through your whole body. There were also monks praying right underneath the bell. >.o I think they must be deaf now.

After I saw the bell, it wasn't midnight yet, and I didn't feel like going home, so I went to Yasaka-jinja for hatsu-mode. I didn't realize it at the time, but that's the most popular shrine in Kyoto to go to for hatsu-mode, and once it opens, there is a LOT of shoving. As in, your only choices are keep up with the crowd or get trampled. It was kind of scary. But once we got to the main hall, it let up a bit. I stayed away from the main shrine and instead found a nice Inari shrine that was quiet and all lit up. After that, I got some hamu-katsu from one of the million food stands/tiny shops/shooting galleries all around the shrine, and enjoyed my walk along the willow-lined river back to the subway station.

My flickr page is all updated now, for anyone who wants to see more photos. ^^ I waited two weeks to be able to upload again, and then they were all like, "Oh, we can't actually SHOW your pictures to anyone unless you give us monies." So I ended up buying a paid account anyway. >.>

( the end-of-year survey )

[edit] Wa!! rkold, I just got your package! Thank you!! :3 Where did you get that tape? I know someone who's in love with the shinkansen, and would ADORE it.

I was scared to post about it until now, but HOLY SHIT, THEY DID IT. 16-0 YEAH BABY!!!

[insert whining about it having to be this year]