Our moron affiliate has a new moronic idea. I'm not surprised. But I'm beginning to think I should bring Tylenol to the office. When what he wants up starts with "[his country] is strategically located in [region]," you know you're in for a headache of a time. Dude. Forts are strategically placed. Tricorders when on a nudist planet are strategically placed. Countries? Not so much. And it just goes downhill from there. He has an ego the size of fifty countries, really.

Oh well. I'll be meeting with the two pipers again tonight who are planning their competition next year around mine, and we've found one lovely tune already. They're still looking for more, but the tune they found (hills of gilliecraic, something like that?) has suggestive swoops that would be perfectly complimented by twirls and flourishes. It's also an older tune, so theoretically no one else would be playing it, and judges like variety.

And, of course, since Monday night practice is at the normal place, I'll be venturing to the anime store to see if they have gotten in a Quincy cross or a Zaraki plushie. And now I'll be checking for anything YYH, too, since I'm in love with it. I don't recall seeing anything before, but since I didn't know the characters before, I doubt I would have noticed.

This week is going to be insane. We have a working-lunch meeting tomorrow, and a conference/seminar this weekend. I might be scarce from Thursday through Sunday, I don't know what my schedule will be like, or when we'll be getting back. Add to this that MarioKart for the Wii comes out on Sunday... heehee.

I need to finish my magazine article. It's not cooperating, though. I know what it's going to be about, but the first line is just being evil and stupid. I'll get it worked out.

The BleachMob seems to be up for movie cosplaying. :D I've talked to most of them except Lisa. This will rock. :D

I haven't had a scraped elbow in about ten years. Apparently, that's too long. Poor elbow.

Anyways, my church had our annual Christmas party, and this year the theme was 'Reindeer Games.' Only eight reindeer ever performed well enough to qualify for pulling Santa's sleigh, so our pastor decided this meant the games had to be physically tough. They were.

I made it without injury through the paper relay, the snowball fight, and the snowball-clean-up-race (smart game, hee). But then it was the wheelbarrow racing. It's been ages since I have wheelbarrow raced. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, one person lifts the legs of a second, and the second runs on their hands. Dad had my legs. We did very well the first time, moving quickly. The second time, though, we were nearly halfway done when the pastor yelled "Twenty seconds!" Dad sped up. There was no way I could keep up with him jogging. We crashed dramatically. My arms and elbow hurt. But it was fun.

The BleachMob Christmas party did not go as planned.

Jason, Logan, and Lisa made it. It was cool to see Logan again; since he lives so far away he hadn't been to any of the gatherings, and I hadn't seen him since AFO. We were first supposed to go to Amura. Amura is apparently no longer open on Saturdays. We went to Crispers instead.

After a difficult time figuring out how the restaurant worked, Logan showed interest in the Hot Russian sandwich. He rapidly backtracked, but it was too late. Jason teased him about it for almost two hours... We discussed Avatar, and Laura's idea that we cosplay Avatar characters one day. Logan's for it, might cosplay Iroh. Jason still hasn't seen it. And I think he's probably still scared by 'the giant flying thing,' Appa.

We watched the Death Note movie, which is apparently only the first half. It was different from the manga, but in a good way, mostly.

Then Lisa came over and we played Super Smash Brothers Melee. I'm not very good at it. But it is fun being Kirby and getting different hats. We unlocked the stage that turns. I fell more times than I can count. I don't like that stage... Because of Lisa's work schedule she had to leave after that.

For dinner we were going to get Chinese food at Panda Express, but Jason decided he was too good for my directions and we drove in a giant circle. He saw Smokey Bones so we headed there, but ended up driving in more circles to get to it. That was great. Dinner was also good, but we were still rather full from Crispers and ice cream.

Went back to my place, watched the two most recent Bleach Eps, checked out the PSP Bleach game, discussed posters, Chocolate Rain, and facebook, and I gave them the mini-lesson in swing-tenor I gave Laura, Lauren, and Taisa. Jason figured out in five minutes a move that took one of our band's swing tenors about two years and took me a day. I'm only slightly jealous. Really. Just slightly. First time picking up the sticks. What the heck...

After that, they headed out. It was about 1:30 a.m. We talked a bit by the cars as it started to sprinkle, but it was late.

Both things were fun. Here's hoping, though, that we can pull off a Bleach Mob Party instead of a Moblet Party...

A minor sidenote: I have a burn on my left hand, and no idea how it got there...

The band is going to twice-a-week practice again now instead of just once a week, as competition season is fast approaching. Also, we're planning on fielding three competition units, and this will be a mess. So we need the extra work.

Kelly will probably be back, and that will be nice. We have four regular swing tenors, and she's the only other one into anime, Babylon 5, Dr. Who... basically, geekdom. I still have to get her into Bleach. I shall work on it. ;) I've gotten just a couple of people addicted.

Friday night marks when I go take ceramics class over at the community college. Yep, gradumacated and now I'm going back. But it will be with Lisa and her sister, and it's ceramics, so it should be much fun. I like making stuff, and learning about making stuff.

So, now I'm writing and editing. It's an eight-to-five deskjob deal with an hour lunch break at noon. It's taken a bit of work getting used to, as suddenly I'm needing to get to bed before midnight. I still don't always make it.

I'm going through a large stack of books that I didn't know I'd had, reading them all. Some are quite awful; I hadn't realized I had this many Tom Clancy books. Apparently the only decent one he ever wrote was Hunt for Red October... it's the only one where there isn't a female prop getting in the way of the hero and then being attacked/taken hostage to provide fuel for manly-man hero to rush in and save the day. Chauvinist. Found a surprise good novel, too, called Dragonworld. Too many dragon stories are cliche. This one is a very solid fantasy story with nice imaginative backing. It's called a children's novel, but it's more than just that, in my opinion.

I've been able to do a lot more cooking now. I've made Tempura, Green tea pasta with mango cream sauce, and other random stuff. This place is working well.

Found a new manga, Elemental Gelade. Got the first volume for free thanks to a sale, so figured it was worth a shot. It's interesting so far. Bleach is mostly holding my interest, though I really wish the Captains would do something, in the manga AND in the anime. But no. They're sitting around, except for anime-Ukitake who is calmly giving reports (without Kyoraku! Is he too drunk to even stand there???), and anime-Hitsugaya who is playing tag with demi-arrancar. The manga captains are nowhere to be seen. They're probably all having tea. Or sake. Except for Mayuri, who is probably trying to find a way to surreptitiously sneak all the drunk captains into his laboratory for a 'few quick tests, nothing dangerous, I swear...'

Anyways. Time to go play...

Little red bar, please keep growing. Don't stop. Please don't be deleted while I'm trying to watch the newest episode of Bleach. Thank you.

So, when niggsyisabore and I chat online, it often turns to Bleach speculation. I'm bored, so I'm gonna put some of my thoughts here. It could backfire. I could be wrong on everything. However, it could also be fun if I'm right. Cut for spoilery stuff as well as to avoid flooding Flists.


( Captains, ViceCaptains and Bandages oh my! )

And that's all for today.
Now I really should work on at least one paper. Or Super Paper Mario. Hm...
Also. Am never, ever using Rich Text again. Ugh. What a mess...

I'm sorry, but I'm getting insanely happy whenever a new Bleach episode airs. It looks like they've done some artist switching around, though. Ichigo's movements were much more fluid when he was getting his butt kicked by Grimmjow, which was lovely and far more lifelike than normal anime. Unfortunately, whomever drew Urahara Kisuke in this episode has a problem with his faceshape. In the closing there are a few others who don't quite look like themselves, the tenth squad captain and vice captain for starters. Oh well. For every gain there is sacrifice. I just hope they get someone better on board for drawing Kisuke...

Got insanely lucky today. Got the last four discs of FullMetal Alchemist I needed to complete my collection for $22 total. That's with tax. Normally one disc would be that much, but found all four in the anime bargain bin at FYE somehow. Am bouncing in my chair. Though that may have to do with the fact that I had a whole lot of caffeine today (2 20 oz. bottles of soda and a 32 oz. cup) and lately I've  been being good and only having one 12 oz. can a week.... Heehee.

Did not end up seeing TMNT tonight with Lisa; the showings were at odd times that did not line up with the Y! movie guide. Maybe next week.

*bounces off*

I discovered, thanks to some help, that YouTube has all of Bleach. :D Am now up to episode twenty. They'll be showing episode 5 on Saturday on AdultSwim, but I don't have to wait for it, or stay up late just to see it. Yay for YouTube!

I think the shopkeeper with the silly hat is my favorite character. Too bad I have no idea what his name is. I could always call him Slipper-hat like Ichigo does, though.

The theme music is my favorite from all the animes I've seen. Granted, I've not seen that many, but it's fun. And I can sing along with some of it, after working on it for 20 episodes, lol. :D

Finished Furuba. Am sad. *huggles Momiji and Hatori tightly*

However, this means I get to skip over to vile's lj and pick a new manga. :D

Also, Doctor Who starts again tonight. Time to give Doctor Ten his chance.

And, I have chinese food. No Mountain Dew, I've been trying to cut back on my sugar and caffeine intake, but I do have fruit juice.

I believe Heroes, a new series, is trying to be too much like Lost. Especially with the whole comic book thing.

Talked to Professor Roney today, the one who taught the class with Lisa, Ashley, myself, and the worst writer in the world. It was nice to see her again.

Tomorrow is a bagpipe band conference. Shall see if I learn anything nifty there to help with my Swing Tenor-ing.

I finally got around to really checking out Fruit's Basket. I like it, though maybe not as much as Saiyuki. I'm not sure if Hatori or Momiji is my favorite character. I'm downloading volume 5 as I type this, but my internet is being evil tonight and the connection is extremely slow. Previous downloads have taken ten minutes. This is gonna take two hours. I hate my internet connection.

Still on the topic of anime - where would I find doujinshi? Specifically, good Saiyuki doujinshi?

Must sort through my icons. I've got so many fandoms that I really can't afford to have two icons from any. I've got two FMA, two X-Men, two HP, two Saiyuki... alas. I like both my X-Men and Saiyuki ones, but I need more room! Must make/find a good B5 one, maybe a Furuba one... possibly Stargate SG-1, Bleach...

Hm. I think I burned myself earlier on my skillet making a BLT. It stung a bit at the time, but didn't take much notice until about five minutes ago when it started stinging again. And now I've noticed that it's still quite red. Whoops. Ouch. Oh well. I did worse when I was working at Auntie Anne's Pretzels, and I don't have any of those burns left.

Wikipedia says that today is Hakkai's birthday.

*wanders off*

The number one way to tell a newbie Floridian from someone who has been here a while? The newbie ones were terrified by Ernesto.

Ernesto was milder than a typical afternoon thunderstorm. My university closed for it. Yay for silliness.

Other news: I think I'm getting sick. My throat is on fire. I've been drinking fruit juice loaded with vitamin C all day long, in hopes that I can kick this thing before it kicks me. I also completely wasted my day off by fooling around on YouTube, LiveJournal, and EZboard. There are lots of interesting videos on YouTube. I never before realized how much I missed Babylon Five. Am now skipping around the web looking for the best deal on the entire series that isn't a cheap half-working knockoff copy or in a foreign language. Whee!

On a slightly related topic - is there a website that can give summaries and recommendations for good anime and manga? There's so much out there that I feel lost whenever I look at it. If there isn't, I may have to see what I can do about starting one...

Anyways. Heading to bed early. Cannot afford to get sick this early in the term.

'Kay. Obviously the whole relax-it's-summer-you'll-get-stuff-done-eventually mood is getting me nowhere.

Every week I will:
Read two books,
Write at least one chapter for my second MST,
Write at least ten pages for one of my original stories,
Revise two pages of Silver (working title), and
Cook dinner from fresh ingredients twice.


We'll see if it works. I've got one book done for this week, Angel Fire East by Terry Brooks. As this more than halfway through this week, I'll accept only completing half this list this week. Especially seeing as this is Friday, and a new-to-the-States Dr. Who is on tonight. Yay Dr. Nine! To all that brag about Ten being better, :p. Either send me DVDs proving it, or hush for a few months.

Next week, though, I need to do the full list.

X-Men 3 comes out soon. The 26th, to be exact. My favorite character, Beast, is finally going to make the movies. I have to admit to being a bit nervous. I've heard that he's practically a prop in the movie; I guess that's better than him not even making any movies... Just please, please let him be in character and look better than the few really bad stills I've seen...

I've also been reading a lot of Saiyuki thanks to Boz, Elb, and Vile. Elb's got me just about sold on Hakkai/Gojyo, though I think Hakkai/Sanzo would be interesting. Heck.. Hakkai/Just-about-anything would be interesting. I rather like Hakkai, in case you couldn't guess.

With such a title, you might think you were about to read some deeply philisophical posting. If you thought that, you don't know how much of a blonde I am. ;)

Anyways. Am single. Considering swearing off men and joining a nunnery. They're all gits, really. Apologies to friends who have male significant others and feel that theirs isn't one. Not posting the whole story. Anyone who really feels like self-torture may IM for the whole long, boring, stupidity-laden story.

Missed two days of class this week. Dizziness for one, and couldn't walk this morning for the other. Stupid cold fronts that I can feel in my bones... I swear, I feel older than my grandmother...

Having fun MSTing, though at times I think my muse is tired of being funny. Started reading Wicked today; I've heard good things about it, so am giving it a chance. Got the latest disk of Fullmetal Alchemist, the one on which Maes dies. :( *huggles Hughes*

New survivor started today, seems rather lackluster. The people on it don't know what they're doing. The 'young men' tribe had to meditate before trying to start a fire! *giggles* They need a tribe of pyromaniacs on that show. How many fires would they have started in the first hour, I wonder. Might burn down the entire island. Now there would be an amusing episode. Sheesh, people. If you're going to audition for Survivor at least learn how to start a fire with out flint. New Amazing Race soon, can't wait. :) I will make it onto AR one day.

Hm. I tend to ramble too much.

Back at my place after the holidays. I didn't feel like interrupting what was going on with the family to log on and post anything, so I rather neglected my live journal. But I'm alive, and doing well.

Got some nice stuff for Christmas: Myst 5 - End of Ages, more FullMetal Alchemist episodes (now I have all that are out! yay!), Eragon, and a book on learning the Irish Whistle, which should be fun.

The (male) friend of one of my best friends (female and married) called this evening and we ended up talking on the phone for about an hour. It was very nice... I knew he was interested in me, but I hadn't known much about him before this. He reads the same books I do, and watches a lot of the same shows, and on Sunday will be joining me for church. Shall see what happens.

Anyways. Time to chill with Ed and Al Alphonse of FMA and perhaps some BBQ Pringles and a Mountain Dew. :D Happiness.

I'm so tired, but I can't sleep because I have way too much work to do. I don't want to do said work because I'm tired.

Why am I tired? A good question. The answer is twofold. A) My fiction story, which I turned in today, wasn't working. So at midnight last night I completely changed it around. Then there is B) An anime I like, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, is airing again. At 1:30am. It went until 2:00 am. Guess who has a class at 7:30am? Guess who was a silly, stupid blonde and watched her show? At least I made it to class, and stayed awake for all my courses. This was helped by a nice can of Mountain Dew, my lifeline. I'm so going to get addicted to it again, I can tell.

Oh well. My fiction story has been turned in, even though I don't like it, as has my non-fiction story, which I do like.

Speaking of classes. There is a guy in both my fiction and non-fiction class who is muchly disliked in both. He's an idiot that can't write, whose comments on stories tend to be 'I really relate to this' then *stupid* stories about his life. We suffered through another one of his fiction pieces today. I hate having him in the class. He's got my fiction and nonfiction pieces now. I don't want to know what he thinks about them, I don't want him near them. And on tuesday he'll be handing out his nonfiction piece. Please let a meteor fall and squish him. Even both of the teachers can't listen to him with a straight face! He makes me hate classes I'd otherwise enjoy. I asked one of the professors (the nonfiction one) if, for our Christmas party, we could tie him up, hang him from the ceiling, and beat him with baseball bats as if he was a pinata. She snickered, and said she couldn't comment on that.

Whoops. I started this entry about a half-hour ago then got distracted by pictures of Alan Rickman as Severus Snape from the upcoming Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Sorry 'bout that.