Talking Soup

Hooray for poetry about bunnies and death! I just had to.

( Lament On the Death of Wee Bunny )

Not much new under the rain. One more class and then it's Fall Break!!! I'm glad cause Julie's been stressing and now she gets to actually sleep, yay!

Ah, Chapter 8 of Not That I Care is up, woot. I wasn't sure about it at first, but I guess it's okay. In any case, link is in the sidebar.

Psych today, for the very, very first time. I've wanted to take a psych class since--let's see--sophomore year of high school? I've wafted about being a psych major/minor. I love the whole area of study. And so far the class is looking good, though at this point I don't think I'll major or minor in psych. Right now sociology is looking more interesting. Writing, of course, needs no mention.

Fiction I, too. The teacher is all talk talk talkalot, but he made a lot of interesting points that I kind of smiled and nodded about. We have to write something small for next Tuesday. That should be interesting.

I've gotta get tomorrow's homework done tonight. I also registered for Poetry I--finally! someone dropped!--so I should probably check online to see if there's anything I should know.

Gotta get cable, too. Stuff starts soon!

Have I mentioned I've gotten into Project Runway? Well, I've gotten into Project Runway. Yeah, a reality show, but I like it--the people aren't all backstabby, at least most of them, and the stuff they design is really cool. My vote's on Michael. He's such a nice guy, too!

Very first ASIC meeting tonight. I'm inordinately excited. I mean, really, it sounds stupid, but it's the only place except online that I can be my crazy, anime-junkie-ish self. I mean, except around Julie of course, but it's so much fun to watch any TV show in a large group. With anime it's even more fun because--really--it's anime, and you have all these junkies shouting things out and...well. People back home just don't understand.

Julie and I finished Black Cat, btw. It's such a fun, awesome series, though the ending kind of bites because it's so gosh-darn rushed. I also broke down and am downloading PMK, Monster and One Piece because I'm insane and am trying to make Septimus (my computer) hate me.

Hmm, writing. I've been thinking mostly about Fox, the fic and the Angels project lately. I thought I had a name for my Japanese character. I was gonna name him Kyan, because excluding the fact that it's the name of a hella hot Queer Eye guy, it's also the name of a village in Okinawa. Then it occured to me that "Y" doesn't act as a vowel in Japanese, so the pronunciation would be similar to "Kyo"--as in, K-yan, instead of Kai-yan. Which doesn't work as well. I might have to break down and give him an English name. I mean, now that I think about it, I don't think I've really met anyone who's American but has a Japanese names. I've met/known plenty of people from China, Korea, Thailand or Cambodia with ethnic names, but none who hail from Japan.

As for the fic, well...this chapter is a lot of talk, compared to the last two action-centric ones, and it has a lot of Organization characters who I really hope are IC. I'm this close to finishing, but stuff keeps coming up, plus I'm a bit blocked on it in general. The Castle Oblivion stuff is about to start, kind of sooner than I would have liked. But oh well. When you think about the games, it can't really go any other way.

And of course Fox, because, well, he's Fox. It occurs to me that I need to develop Mikayla and Finch's characters more, as well as the other two characters who pop up. I haven't mentioned them before, but one of them's an African-British professional jewel thief, and a circa-college age female punk hacker, both of whom are friends of Fox's. They're not quite as weird as he is and help him when he's hunting. The guy can get into any physical location, the girl can get into any electronic location, which comes in handy not only on Mikayla's case but on others. After all, you have to know where the treasure is before you can hunt it. Maps are rarer than you might think.

I need to consider when in the series our idea for NaNo would occur. No doubt after Mikayla's case. I have a few other ideas of treasure/places Fox should search/go to, including some other place in Europe, somewhere in northern Africa (Egypt?), somewhere in the Caribbean (pirates!) or the South Pacific (pirates!) or around southern Europe/Africa (pirates!), and somewhere in South America. The South American story can feed into the NaNo project, or VV.

I also need Fox to return to Australia at some point, which is where his father was murdered.

You're probably all really sick of hearing about writing, aren't you?

And I'm all moved in to IC now, and it's a lovely feeling. Ugh, we all spent the better part of today and yesterday dragging things upstairs and unpacking and our room looked like a disaster area for awhile, but it's clean now, woot. Kate moved in today too. Apparently Tango died, so Kate's mom took us to PetsMart for a new betta. He's pretty and blue and smaller than Tango was. I haven't named him yet. My minnows are back too, Twitch and Spike.

My dad was here yesterday, but left last night and flew home this afternoon. Last night he treated Julie and I to Thai food at this restaurant in Ithaca. Is it possible for Ithaca restaurants to fail? XOMG, the food was so good. I love Thai (curry!) but wow, this place was good. Gotta go back. Even my dad was impressed.

And I have Internet and shelves and a desk and necessities and life is relatively good. I think my final schedule has pretty much been confirmed, though I figure if the Poetry teacher hasn't responded by tomorrow I'll try to get into the other section, making it six classes total. Schedule thus far is Persausive Argument, Fiction Writing I, German 201, Queer Studies and Psych. Awesome line-up.

Classes start Wednesday. Tomorrow I have to buy whatever else I need, the last of my books, hang posters and write chapter 5 of the fic, which I haven't written yet, dang it. I'm still not sure what to do--I mean I have a general idea, but it's not the most interesting of ideas, so I dunno. I do have to introduce Castle Oblivion pretty soon. At this point in the fic I figure Sora's either preparing to go back to Hollow Bastion or already there, so time is running out for together time with Axel and Roxas. Though I need to figure out the time gap between the games. I'm pretty sure CoM takes place right after KH I, and KH2 is a year after CoM. That gives me a lot of time to work with after Castle Oblivion, though I should figure out when Roxas leaves and how long he spends in Twilight Town. I don't want this fic to be a novel.

As for other writing, well, the muse hasn't left alone the Angels idea, which I've expanded on hugely. I've got the five characters (only five!), their personalities and even names for two of them. The MC's name is Ilena something, and she's Romanian-American. The other girl in the group is a pink-haired, bouncy little thing named Isabelle, though everyone calls her Is, which makes sense in terms of her personality. Is Is. I've also got the setting and some of the details, but plot is what's evading me, like always.

Though at this point I need to shift my focus back to the fic.

It's gonna get busy soon. Persuasive Argument, German and Psych are probably gonna own my soul. Fiction and Queer Studies will probably be tough too, but they should also be really interesting.

I finished My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult and oh my God what an amazing book. I love her as an author, she's incredible. The book is about two sisters, one who has cancer and the other who was conceived to be a genetic match so she can be a donor. The latter one, Anna, decides to take her parents to court to get medical emancipation, since she's tired of being invisible. The plot is awesome, the characters are so real (Jodi does characters well), and it made me cry. I mean cry, not tear up. I was on the plane when I finished it and I had to sit there choked up for several minutes while I waited for the lavatory to be free, then I went in and just bawled. Seriously. Not the glamorous crying, either, I mean the liquid-seeping-out-of-everywhere kind of crying. Love that book. Love Jodi Picoult.

Saw Kiki's Delivery Service, a Miyazaki film about a young witch who leaves home at thirteen as per tradition to find her own niche in the world. She comes to this city and starts a delivery service. The animation is as can be expected of a Miyazaki film (hoo-boy), the characters are really awesome, and other than an abrupt ending it was really good. I had to watch it in English since the DVD wouldn't allow Japanese for some reason. Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Also saw Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds compliments of Julie. So fricking awesome. It's about a young woman in a post-apocalyptic future where insects have taken over the world and a waste of toxic forests known as the Sea of Decay has spread across most of the globe. You've got these gigantic insects that look like mutated pill bugs, and when they get pissed they tend to destroy everything in their path. Another great Miyazaki film, with a really cool storyline and more really great characters and a lot of really weird, awesome details. I love the Sea of Decay, it's such a weird place. The animation needs no mention. It's up near the top of my list for the hierarchy of Miyazaki films, alongside Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Castle in the Sky. Score: 9 out of 10.

That's about it for now. I'm gonna try to get some fic written tonight and hopefully finish and post tomorrow. Don't want my readers to get restless.

I should be asleep now.

Instead I was updating the fic. Chapter Four is up, woot.

Creeptastic Saix! I hope he's not OOC.

Link in the sidebar. It's under "My Place in the PIT."

Ah, chapter three of my fic is up. The link to it is in the sidebar, as ever. I actually like this chapter. But feel free to rip it apart!

Two days till Ben's concert. He's worried. Or happy-excited-worried I should say. Who wouldn't be? I mean, he's playing for the public for the first-ever time. I think they'll do pretty well, though. It's a matter of them selling enough tickets between now and then.

My boxes are finally shipped, hooray! I also should be getting a few packages before I leave. I realized I need some new pants and shorts, since I'm kind of outgrowing mine, and since I have all these new tops. I got a coat too. A fall type coat, for when it's cold but not snowy.

I plan ahead. ~.^

The children have been here all day making noise. Oh well.

You know, One Piece is actually pretty cool. The art is definitely not what I'm used to, more in the vein of Western cartoons, but I like it. Luffy's like Naruto--he changes people! I love characters like that. Speaking of Naruto, in vol. 11 he's about to fight Neji, and the next one doesn't come out till December, curses, this is why scanlations are my best friends. Not that I don't know what happens, heh.

Read Death Note too. *sigh* I hate Light. I mean, I really hate him. He's such a goddamn smug, self-righteous little bastard! And he's so smart!

I want to write. I mean my stuff. I think I might be good to go with Mot. I've also got this "Junkyard Dogs" idea floating around my head, and I like it.

That's tonight's project, then. Break though the last of the wall around Mot and get back to writing.

I live.

Sort of. I'm kind of just floating through today. I have no intention of doing anything that requires brainwork. So no writing and no reading, either, I'm afraid. I don't think my mind can take any form of concentration.

Man it was weird. We got there at 6:45 and filled out some forms and stuff, and I brought Monster because I was sure I'd be waiting there for an hour or so. But no--five minutes later this guy walks in and calls my name and takes me back to this little alcove behind a curtain. I put the gown on (not...flattering...) and sit down and wait for him to come back. First up is to take blood pressure and make sure my heart is still beating. (Dude, I had no idea that electrodes had goop on em).

Then, the IV. Which of course I'm dreading because I just hate needles. It only hurt when the needle went in, though. I thought they left the needle in the whole time, but I guess not. It's like a little tube, kinda. He taped it up and wandered away and I looked at it. And it's a really weird experience, seeing this tube just kinda disappear into your arm. I could see the saline in the bad dripping down into the bag, which was weird too. My arm got all cold and I started shivering, from the cold and from fear, of course.

Eventually the guy came back and brought me into this room and I laid down on the bed. And then he brought in the two injections--one to knock me out and one painkiller--and stuck em in the tube. I was just kinda watching and wondering how long it would take, and I lay my head down, and I remember the pattern on the ceiling, then...

Not much else.

Let's see, I remember a nurse walking in with a juicebox.

I remember my dad coming in and being all "you're alive" kinda thing.

And, um, the doctor came in and said that--at least I think he said--that like, the bottom of my esophagus was too wide or something? And that it was really, really common, so that there wasn't really anything to worry about? Nothing life threatening, at any rate.

Then I have absolutely no recollection of getting out of the bed, going back downstairs or the drive home. Like, none at all. I know it happened because I was texting Liz the whole time (and when I looked back at my texts later it was funny cause most of them were misspelled). And then I was home and kinda had trouble getting up the stairs--god I was so dizzy--and then I just kinda climbed into bed.

As for Liz--well, she was supposed to come over and keep an eye on me, but yesterday she texted me and sounded like she wasn't digging the idea much. So I let her off the hook. And I'm too spacy right now to be pissed or anything, so whatever.

Anyway, since she wasn't coming over, Dad woke Ben up and asked him to keep an eye on me, sorta. He came into my room and fell asleep on the floor. Me, I slept till 4. No problems. Ben left at elevenish I think, or thereabouts. I was actually kind of impressed with him. He was really good about it and kept asking if I was alright and stuff.

So anyway, I can't drive for the rest of today or sign any legal documents, not that I particularly want to.

I did watch Pink Floyd's The Wall. Since I figured that half-stoned it would make sense.

( Movie Review )

Oh and I have four reviews already on my fanfic. Is that normal?? I wasn't even expecting people to read it at all. Woot.

My throat feels kinda like I've got stones stuck in it.

So I went in today to see the stomach-doctor. They scheduled me for an endoscopy this Friday. It'll be my first ever trip to a hospital! Haha, until now I've stayed healthy enough that there's never been a need. My nineteen-year streak is over, ah well. I actually didn't know that the procedure would require me to go to an actual hospital. They need to knock me out for it is why. I figured that's what they'd be doing today, but guess not.

Took me forever to find the place! I don't know anything about getting around Livermore. Plus a bunch of roads in Pleasanton were getting repaved or something. I ended up being five minutes late, but I did get there eventually.

Am I worried?

Yes. A little. But I don't think the whole thing has really hit me yet. In any case, it's not like I'm getting surgery. They give me an IV, knock me out, and shove a tube down my throat to see what's going on. It's no big deal. What I have problems with are hospitals and needles. And the idea that the pictures from the camera might show cancer. "Might" being the operative word. But oh well. We'll see what happens.

Color me happy! I decided before I went that if I came out of the doctor's with a clean bill of health I'd treat myself to ice cream. And, well, nothing's determined yet, but I decided to treat myself anyway. Cold Stone is tasty, neh? I also went to Borders. And--they had Fruits Basket 14!! XOMG, finally! It's all kinds of awesomeness, but now I'm a little worried about Tohru. Not much Kyo in this version either, but that's okay.

But dude. Dude. The next one doesn't come out till DECEMBER. Not. Fair.

Also finally got my hands on Yami no Matsuei 4--arrived today in the mail. And it's actually not all dark and horrifying (no Muraki). The first parts were actually really fun and adorable. I love Tsuzuki and Watari. And Hisoka. The ending story in 4 was kind of dark, but I thought it was well done, raising some interesting questions. Now that I have 4 I can read the rest of what's out, so I bought 5 and 6. Haven't read them yet.

Juliekinns let me read a bit of her story! Things seem to be going well for her. ^_^

On the downside of things, though, Liz is getting really depressed again. To the point that I'm worried. -.-

*sigh*

Oh, I finished the first chapter of the KH fanfic. Got an account on The Pit of Voles too, though I can't post it there for two more days. Please read it when I post it! My pen-name is Flying-Dhole. The working title right now is "Not That I Care." I know, oh-so-very creative. I've never been good with titles.

I'm also working on the Penta rewrite. It's going pretty well. Though I've discovered that rewriting can be pretty tedious.

P.S. I forgot to mention this. You remember how I said the bat-girl from "Spirits" (tentative codename for Kaiyss/North/Jae etc), that her name was Skye? Well, apparently she didn't like that name because she threw it out the window and decided her name is Chia. Pronounced "Kia." It's actually short for Chiaroscuro, which is an art term, meaning the play of light and dark in art. But hardly anyone calls her that.

Why do my characters have such strange names? Ciraszi. Kazriel. Chiaroscuro. Jaereiper. Kaiyss. Scarrow's pretty weird too. Although strange names seem to be attracted to Spirits. It's got Kaiyss, Naioh, North, Jaereiper, Rain, Dark, Chiaroscuro, and...Tobias.

I swear, next post, I'm gonna outline the characters and what I know of the story (I don't know much yet).

I'm so freaking lost. I've been trying to figure out all I can about the Organization characters--especially those in Chain of Memories, which I'll never be able to play. I'm only now realizing how confusing the whole story is. So Marluxia was in charge of Castle Oblivion during the CoM game--but what the hell were Xemnas, Xigbar and Xaldin doing then? Where were they? Why wasn't Xemnas in charge? And then things got really complicated when Marluxia was gonna overthrow the Organization and then some of the others were going to stop him, etc. etc. It's giving me a headache.

And, more specifically--when did Roxas join the Organization? Was he there for this whole Marluxia thing?

I wouldn't be so frustrated if I didn't need to know some of these things in order to write a fic. Who knew you had to do this much research?

Yeah, I'm writing a fic. Pre-KH2, all with the Organization, probably very angsty since it's very easy to get angsty with that bunch. I'm thinking, told from Axel's POV, from when Roxas joins. And, uh, yeah--like I said, no slash. Though hints. Hints, definitely. Because I've decided that, yeah, AkuRoku is just too sweet and angsty and tragic not to like, plus it's practically canon anyway. Like Shoebox.

In other words, the muse is being uncooperative. Mot? What's that? She's all into the fic right now. And Kaz. For some reason I have this huge desire to write something with Kaz right now. My wittle half-vampire baby just hasn't gotten much lovin' recently.