Talking Soup

The time has come, my friends. I am a writer. I play Pokemon and other silly video games. I have participated in online LJ RP games. I have long discussions about various sci-fi shows and watch things like Star Trek, Farscape, Doctor Who and Firefly. I respect William Shatner. I watch anime with a somewhat religious fervor at times. I have conversations about the merits of certain weapons, the various histories and lifestyles of the Middle Ages, and complain about historical or logical inaccuracies in movies concerning the era. I have been to a Renn Faire. I have gone to sci-fi and fantasy cons, as well as anime cons. I read comic books, webcomics and manga. I play WoW. I collect Magic Cards. I'm an amateur astronomer and I listen to shortwave radio. I can readily quote Star Wars.

In short, I am a full blown nerd. And the time has now come to tackle the last bastion of nerddom, to venture into the fearsome, Mountain Dew-soaked, Cheeto-stained basement in the nether regions of the House of Nerd.

Yes, my friends. I speak of Dungeons and Dragons.

I am, as we speak, in the process of building a character and will soon start a campaign involving my similarly nerdy Ithaca friends. I am learning all about Spot Checks, Ability Modifiers, and D20s.

With this, I say my final farewell to the world of coolness, fashion and all semblance of sanity. Farewell, Lady Gaga, Eat, Pray, Love, 24, and True Blood. Goodbye, Justin Bieber and Louis Vuitton. Auf wiedersehn, mainstream media. To make a nerd quote, "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." I go now to the Land of Fun, the Plane of Silliness, and the House of Nerd, and never shall I return to hipness, coolness and popularity. Good night...and good luck.

Just be glad I'm not LARPing.

So we got a new dog. She's a German shepherd mix, 3 years old, very big and very loving. Her name is Shasta.

It's nice having a dog in the house again. She has her own crate in my parents room and there are dog toys strewn across the floor once again, as well as muddy pawprints on the hardwood. She has a lot to learn, and so do we, of course. She's a lot bigger than Shadow and a lot younger. Less boisterous than he was at her age, but his nose didn't reach the edge of our counters. She's also had some trouble with the whole "peeing outside" thing. But she's sweet and adorable and her ears are really soft so it's all okay. We're actually going to train her this time, unlike we did with Shadow.

She looks a lot like a German shepherd--same coloring and shape--but her head is boxier than a shepherd's and her ears do this curl-over thing that's really quite adorable. I almost wonder if she's got some pitbull in her, but who knows.

Ahh. She's a great dog so far. We've only had her a day.

In other news, California is drowning. It rained all day today, to the point that we needed sandbags because water was coming in the garage. Our yard is a lake, and out back where the broken sump pump is there's a veritable pond. It's supposed to continue like this for the next two days, I hear. The water's up to the edges of our house in some places. It's never gotten like this that I can remember, at least not while I was here. Now if only we had something like this during the fires. Maybe this is Nature's way of making up for it.

I've been relaxing for the most part. Chillaxing. Going to the gym. Making cookies. After a semester like the last one I think I deserve a few days to just hang. Gonna start work as soon as Blockbuster gets back to me (I'm going to call them tomorrow and find out what's going on). Watching Shasta is going to take work too. In the meantime I've been catching up on all my manga and have used up my Border's giftcard.

A new character has been introduced in Monster--Wolfgang Grimmer--and I think I love him. He's pretty damn awesome. It's such a shame that the anime sucks so much. It really could have been awesome. True, Monster doesn't have a lot of action in it, but they pulled it off with Death Note...there aren't enough awesome mystery animes out there. The Monster manga doesn't even compare to the anime; it's without a doubt my favorite manga right now. Even though Naruto is awesome. To tell the truth, Monster is the only manga I read that still really, really catches my interest. I've kind of fallen out of D. Gray Man and Fullmetal Alchemist, Fruits Basket, Bleach, Mushishi and Re:Play take way too long to come out, Black Cat I'm shaky with, and Naruto is brilliant but I've read it all before.

I love Monster. And Grimmer is seriously the shit. Probably my favorite Monster character, even though I still love Tenma (he's so cute now with his long hair and kicked-dog expression). And Johan remains one of the most frightening manga villains ever.

I finally found the Shippuuden OST and HAVE IT. XOMG. The music is SEX. Sex for the ears. Musicgasm.

Also, I've caught wind of an anime called Dennou Coil. I've seen the first episode and it looks pretty promising so far. It has a similar look to Haibane Renmei...I haven't researched enough to find out if it's the same people. It's similarly confusing too, but I'm hoping things might be explained. It's a cyberpunk sort of show--a world that seems to coexist with cyberspace, where there are pets and other things made out of data and people who wear special glasses that enable them to see those things.

The things I learn on fandomsecrets, lol. It's like my favorite internet place ever right now. It's so wanky and amazing and fun. It's also a great source to find out what shows/mangas/movies people in the fandom world are talking about. Certainly some of the fans are completely insane or slash-happy or shipwarriors, but usually if people are buzzing about something it's worth listening to. The community is how I found out about Gurren Lagann, Baccano!, Nodame Cantabile, Dennou Coil, Tales of the Abyss. Heh, it also taught me which things to avoid.

Check it out. It's pretty hilarious most of the time.

Also, apparently I'm one of the moderators over at ya_fsf_con. This one you definitely should check out. This is Julie and Tammy's brainchild--the idea is to establish a con that caters to YA fantasy, since there isn't one and since YA is sadly lacking at other literary cons. Also, while fantasy writers get looked down on by "literateur" writers, YA fantasy writers get looked down on by other fantasy writers who consider themselves "legit." What better than to have a place where we feel welcome, happy and safe to talk about the stuff we like? I'm doing what I can to help them make this happen, but so far I've had trouble putting on my mod-hat. I'm in charge of leading the search for grants, since this little adventure is going to take a lot of money. Right now, federal grants aren't looking to good, but I'll keep searching--but I think we're going to have to look at foundational grants, which is good since they tend to award money more often.

There are a lot of people out there with more skill than me, though. I probably won't end up writing the grant or even doing most of the fund-hunting. It looks like there's already a lot of people who know what they're doing more than me. *shrug* I guess I just feel overshadowed, but I can't let that get to me. I am a moderator, after all, plus I'm part of this.

I'm going back to Ithaca on the 15th--not on a red-eye this time, thank God! Lol, I'm also going to end up with Julie on the flight from Detroit into Syracuse. My dad and his travel-finaggling abilities.

Whut? WHUT? What's this I hear about Jerry Spinelli releasing a sequel to Stargirl? Holy crap, MUST HAVE! Stargirl was one of the most amazing books when I was younger and it's still pretty high on my favorites list. Now after all this time, a sequel?? I guess it's not coming out for awhile, but still!

So yeah, I notice I haven't had a real update in awhile. Let's see.

Well, I did end up seeing Hairspray (like, two weeks ago, lol) and it was quite excellent, quite charming, and I've already ordered the soundtrack. Haven't seen any movies since, though.

I also got my hands on The Mirador, though I haven't really started it yet (XOMG *squee!!* Mildmay! Felix! And now even Mehitabel gets some airtime!!). I also grabbed a copy of some H.P. Lovecraft story collection. I figure, considering I'm sort of kind of part of the fantasy writers crowd, I should go find out what's the deal with this Cthulhu guy. Cthulhu fhtagn?

I've also gotten the latest of all my manga, and hopefully no more will come out between now and the end of August, since I'm already shipping quite a few books to Ithaca (not nearly as many as last time, though).

And, in my neverending pursuit of new anime to watch, I've stumbled across yet another incredibly obscure show called Black Blood Brothers. I've only yet seen the first episode, since the second episode doesn't want to work for some reason, but boy did it snag me. It's an actual Aftermath series! I might not have explained it here, but I love stories about aftermath--you know, what happens after the journey is over, after the world has been saved, after the hero's triumphant return, because the story never really ends at "happily ever after." So in this series, near as I can figure, Jirou is some kind of vampire (so cliche, but I do love me a vampire) who has already lost everything important to him and is now trying to make his own way. Great fight scenes and great animation all around. Plus Jirou has a pretty freaking awesome hat. In fact the only complaint I have with the first episode is that they have a timeskip, but they don't really specify how much time has passed. But that's nitpicky. Pretty good so far, though of course I'll need to see more to make a sound judgment. And Sousei no Aquarion continues to thoroughly entertain.

Jobbage has slowed considerably since they cut hours all around, so I'm only working two days this week, tomorrow and Saturday. Not that long, either. I suppose it doesn't matter much since I'm leaving in about a week anyway. Gotta talk to my boss about that one. I'm leaving the 18th to go hang out with Julie for a few days before the lot of us drive back to Ithaca. Yay, I get to see a Minnesota State Fair for the first time! I hear it's quite an experience.

And after an entire summer of not writing, I'm actually writing again! I've finished the next chapter for my fanfic, finally and it's posted if anyone wants to go read it. I'm also writing some scenes for North--I finally got to introduce Rain and Chia! I've also got some pretty sick ideas for what happens next in Mot, so I think I might gravitate in that direction once the Rain and Chia scene is over. And I've been giving more thought to that idea I mentioned, the one that involves dreams. I still need to get a handle on the characters over there, though.

As for the 100 Situations, well, I still haven't heard back from the site mod, so I have no idea what's happening with that. I do want to start it, but I can't actually post anything until my claim has been confirmed. *shrug* I've even left comments asking what's up, but no one has replied.

And an XBox 360 has randomly come to live at our house. My brother can't possibly have any money left over. And the poor PS2 is so neglected. Did I mention that I also bought my own PS2? I just have to steal some of Ben's controllers and I'll be set. Man, that's a lot of stuff I'll need to ship, though fortunately all my books fit into one box this time.

Ooh, also got the latest volume of Digger, Ursula Vernon's awesome webcomic. You can get to her site on the links in the sidebar. Go support her, she's awesome!

And, holy shit, Blue Planet is going to be on the Discovery Channel starting Sunday! HO-SHIT. I'm excited!

Think that's about all there is. Summer's winding down, can you feel it?

One more thing. Withing Temptation=FTW.

ALA;KJDLFJKDL;LSAS you guys. Two days. Two days, that's it! Two days until all questions are answered. Until we find out the truth about Snape. Until we find out if Harry lives or if he dies. Until we find out where and what the last Horcruxes are. Until we bid farewell to Harry, the OT3, Hogwarts, and all the characters we've come to know and love for a final time.

You know, the first time I even saw a Harry Potter book was when my grandparents sent me one for Christmas. I think I was 12 or 13. I looked at the cover and wasn't particularly enthralled and didn't actually start reading it until some time later. Now I'm twenty and the series is ending. This is something I've grown up with, so this is important.

Wow.

I'll promise you all right now that I will not post any spoilers on this LJ, not even under cuts. No hints, even. I'll post a review of the book, but that's it. I won't even tell you if it had a good ending or not. Nothing. At least not until a few months have gone by and I can assume that most people have read and finished the book, and even then I'll put everything under cuts and put up a spoiler warning. I care a lot about this. Especially since I found out that some asshole put the book online not long ago and that some people out there apparently know what happens. I'm trying to avoid anything and everything I think could have info about Harry Potter.

Two days. Yeah. It turns out that I work until 9 on Friday, which gives me the perfect amount of time to get home, get some shit done and then head to the bookstore. And I do work Saturday but not until 5, I think, or maybe even later than that. If I stay up all night, and I intend to, there's a chance I'll get to finish the book before I have to go to work. Last time it took me a full day, and that included stopping to eat, so yeah.

Holy shit, guys.

Anyway, the job is going pretty nicely so far. I really like this job, now that I'm starting to get the hang of things and I'm not fucking up all the time. Though I'll tell you right now, they have the most rancid liquid soap in the bathroom that I have ever seen. Ugh.

No writing or anime lately, though I did pick up three new volumes of manga from Borders the other day--the latest D. Gray Man, Black Cat, and Monster. The latest two volumes of Monster are out, finally, but I only got the next one. The picture on the back has Tenma holding a sniper rifle, so I'm fairly worried.

And on the writing front, while I haven't really done any writing, I did have a brand new, major idea the other day. The muse is so very fickle. Her attentions are never where I want them to be. This new idea is sounding pretty nifty, though. Pretty much, dreams can come alive, and the story is about a guy whose job it is the quell dangerous or violent dreams and nightmares. It's kind of Mushishi-esque, but I'm trying to stay as far from it as I can. I'll tell you guys more when I figure more out. But I'm pretty sure my MC's name is Walks Alone. Yep. Me and my utterly insane names. My characters must hate me ^_^

I've been keeping tabs on the business with Cloverfield, not quite enough that it could be considered obsessions, lol, unlike some other folks out there on the wide, wide web. People have been picking the trailer apart frame by frame, unknotting the Flash programs on the 1-18-08 site as well as the Slusho! site, analyzing just about everything that can be analyzed, but so far nothing has really come to light. The general consensus right now is that the main clues to figuring things out are in the trailer and in the History section on the Slusho! site, which has a lot of interesting tidbits to chew on. And supposedly we're going to find out a bit more soon, since JJ is gonna be at Comic-Con next week.

I have two movie reviews for you, but it's late, I'm tired, and I'm not really in the mood to type them up right now. Sorry. But I'll probably have them up tomorrow, since I have tomorrow off, woot.

The bunny peed on me. Again.

Quite the double-post, innit? I hadn't realized I hadn't updated at all in two weeks.

Anyway, continuing in the amazing story of my life...

So yeah, the last half of break we spent doing the book thing and hanging with my people. I think it was Friday night we went to Caleb and Asher's (the cousins) school to hear a jazz and poetry thing--Caleb plays guitar, Asher plays drums. The only way I can really describe it is that it was very, very New York. It was interesting the way the poems and the music melted together, though I don't know if I actually liked it or not. Though some of the poems were pretty awesome. One was a poem about being in the primordial soup and amoeba love, haha. Brilliant.

Speaking of primordial soup, holy FUCK, Spore is coming out this fall apparently. What is Spore? Spore is only the most awesome computer game probably to ever grace geekdom. Pretty much, in the game you start out as a one-celled organism, and then you evolve. You choose what lines you want to evolve along, giving yourself X number appendages and so on. And according to their new video
you can do a lot more than that. *squee!* I've been anticipating this game ever since I heard about it about two years ago.

The only problem being that I'll need a new laptop to handle this game. Septimus is getting up there, but he still works and he's still mostly reliable, like an old dog. I don't want to get rid of him yet. I'm one of those people who keeps using my things until they fall apart ^.^

Had a bit of a surreal moment when we drove by the World Trade Center. I'm still sort of torn about visiting places like that. It was the same when we went to Dachau in Germany--just the idea of a place of such suffering becoming a tourist attraction. But I did tell myself this time that I wanted to go there, because 9/11 I think played a major role in my anxiety disorder, and I need to start facing that. We never actually made it to the WTC, but we did drive past it, and it was just like, "wow...there used to be towers there. There used to be people there." Ah, man. I dunno.

But, enough with the depressing. I can't be entirely depressed right now because there's an icicle hanging outside my window that looks like an alien's hand, no joke.

Last day spent in NYC we went to the Brooklyn Museum of Art, kind of like a smaller version of the Met, though it was still all kinds of brilliant. We only had time for two floors (there were five), so we checked out the floor with American art (woot) and the floor with the Egyptian stuff (holy crap, Batman!). No mummies, but it was all very awesome.

And now we're back in good old Ithaca and it's cold and wet and there are classes to attend and Julie and I are still sick. *sigh*

And now the requisite reports on the various and sundry things that came out in the past week. Though first, another book I read.

Have I mentioned the Retriever's Series here? The series is about Wren, a Retriever living in NYC. A Retriever is like a Get Backer (lol) in that she "retrieves" things for people, which usually means steals them. Except that in this world there is magic, and it takes a very interesting form. In any case, Wren has gotten up to some shit in the last two books, but the most recent one out, the third, is definitely my favorite. At this point, it looks like war's about to break out between the Mage Council (the organized group of magic users), the lonejacks (the live-free-or-die types of magic users) and the fatae (the non-human people living in the city). It's gotten very awesome, and it's an excellent example of modern urban fantasy. If you like Dresden, you'll probably like Wren, though this series falls a bit more on the female side of things, though not to a chick-lit degree. Wren is an awesome character, and the book has its own voice that is a blatantly New York voice. Love it.

So what have we? No House on Tuesday due to March Madness, but Crossing Jordan and Lost were both on Wednesday, of course, and they were both ALL KINDS of awesome. I'm really impressed with this season of Jordan so far, since it's really branching out and doing some interesting things. And Lost is no longer sucking! It's getting back into the mysterious and strange that made the first season and the first part of the second season so brilliant.

However, there are things I must report and speculate on. For instance, in ( Crossing Jordan...*spoilers alert* )

As if that wasn't intense enough, we follow it up immediately with...

( Lost )

And of course, of course, there were the Narutos that came out, being the latest manga chapter and the latest Shippuden episode.

( Chapter spoilers )

As for the episode, well, it's following the manga, and it continues to be brilliant, although it was lacking on the crazy music front.

Back in my world, in terms of writing, I didn't get half as much done of the rewrite over break as I wanted. Between being sick and hitting a snag that Pat pointed out, it just kind of came to a standstill. But I'm going to get back in it now, and keep thinking about that snag. Mostly the thing is, do I want to overhaul the beginning in order to get things moving faster, or draw it out so things are more dramatic? I'm long-winded, in case you couldn't tell, but that's something I'm trying to fix. So I dunno. There are a few things I'm going to extend because they kind of have to be.

Also, a lot's been coming together for some of my other projects. Mot has been niggling me again. The thing with Ramsey--my white haired, cloak-wielding heroine--is taking shape in my head. Have I mentioned Skye? Skye is the main character of Ramsey's story--I don't know her last name, but she's a snarky tattoo artist in Berkely who was diagnosed with schizophrenia some years ago. This was because she could see the things that Ramsey fights--critters I have dubbed darksouls for now, who are kind of shadow creatures that haunt people at their best and kill them at their worst. Anyway, Skye could see those things, and ghosts and stuff, but it made her a strange kid and she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. She believes now that all the things she saw when she was younger were hallucinations, but when she meets Ramsey she realizes she's been sane all along. Should be fun.

Things are also really coming together for North, though I'm still not sure how far I am from actually starting it. I've got a better sense of what's going on in the Whodden--where the Folk, the spirits and non-humans live--and what's going on in North's own life. I just need to figure out certain things about the beginning of the story.


And now I have to get some things done before Women and Writing. Another long post! Lol, and these two were supposed to be all one. Nya-ha.

Woot stuffs.

Okay, so. On Friday Pat invited me to his room to watch Sin City. Afterwards he introduced me to the Wii. Which is awesome and confusing, but it's pretty easy to get used to the controls. Sorta. Played around on the Wii for awhile, and then we talked for three hours, I think. One of those good, long, get-to-know-you talks which guys are infamous for not doing, which is why Pat is cool. I'm really comfortable just talking to him, which is also cool. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun.

Then Saturday Julie, Kate, Molly and I went down to the Commons to see Pan's Labyrinth. Afterwards Kate and Molly went back to the college, and Julie and I decided to go to Wegman's. We sort of wandered the Commons for awhile, debating whether to just walk there, and then we just said what the hell. We missed the bus back, though, so we called Sophia who is awesome and came to pick us up. The four of us then ate Chinese food and watched a whole lotta Buffy; we've gotten to the point where Angel turns evil and all that good stuff. And Buffy blew up a demon with a bazooka. Woot.

I've also spent the last few days reading all of what's out of D. Gray Man, and I have a few things to say:

( Spoilers! )

In other anime news, the NARUTO FILLERS END NEXT WEEK. XOMG. Very excited. Almost two years of fillers, and they're finally back on track.

Also, ADV is having a major sale (thanks, kosher_jenny!) and it's the only place I've managed to find The Place Promised in Our Early Days. It is on its way because it is brilliant.

Now for movie reviews.

( Sin City )

Yay movies.

( Pan's Labyrinth )

By the way, I'm writing again. I had a breakthrough in Mot; I figured something out about something that's going to happen later, and it fits unlike a lot of other things I had thought up. It totally connects with everything up till now. Needless to say, I'm happy.

And I think that's enough for one post.

Can I just say that the White Album is full of win? Full. Of. Win.

So, no. Today was my last day. No more job. No more money. It's too late to get another job. It'd be nice if they'd told me I'd only be working this long--again. But oh well. $158 out of it, which ain't too shabby. Plus I got an extra $100 from the 'rents, as the leftovers of my cell phone cost (I was supposed to spend $80, only spent $40) and my dad paying me for researching for him. My feet don't hurt as much today.

For the record, the latest manga are pretty damn awesome but dear god, I think Ima have to go find the Fruits Basket scans online. The next one doesn't come out till April, what?!

Bought Serenity on my break today. Because.

Liz gave me a $50 card to B&N, so tomorrow's a shopping day. I saw The Virtu in Borders, and if they don't have it in B&N I shall weep. WEEP. The Virtu being the sequel to Melusine. Which, if you remember, was ALL KINDS of amazing.

Ahh. Much as I hate it that I'm out of a job, I'm looking forward to the free time. XOMG I'll finally be able to get back to writing.

Still sick. My throat feels like an SOS pad.

Okay, so, my Persuasive Argument teacher was not in class again today, even though he said he would be, which only further confirms that something really bad is happening. I officially haven't even seen the guy since two Wednesdays ago. I think. It's gotten to the point that the class itself is in danger. I'm not sure what'll happen if he officially goes on medical leave, since I'm not sure about IC's policy on that. It's possible all of us will have to re-take P-Arg. Damn, I hope that doesn't happen, because much as I like the class I just really don't want to take it again. Plus I'm sure it would only make Prof. Bob feel even worse.

Man. I really want to know what's happening with him.

In other news, we watched more Buffy this weekend, which was pretty awesome. Julie and I watched the rest of the first season of Avatar. Very, very awesome, let me tell you. A cartoon with plot! I can't get over it!

One week until break, oh snap.

I dunno if I mentioned this, but Julie and I finally finished Naruto, up to when the filler arc begins. Guh.

( for all y'all what ha'nt seen 'tall yet )

Well, now I've sent Julie part of the manga, so that when she


( (Julie don't click this!) )

And lastly, Chapter 9 of my fic is up, and the link is in the sidebar iffen yeh be pirate enuff ta read it, arr. (What is with me today?) Also, I'm totally back into the Mot groove (despite being up to 400 pages, officially--just shoot me) and things are running very nicely. I'm through the roadblock and totally know where I'm going.

Hooray!

Ithaca says they can't raise my bed because they're not accepting requests until the 26th.

*merrrrr*

Shoptastic today. I finally made it to the eye doctor's to get my glasses adjusted. Then went to Borders for Ipswich's b-day present. She's 19 today, woot!

I'm a weakling in Borders. Seriously. It's like my Garden of Eden and the books are my apples. But really, it's not my fault that I didn't know Black Cat 4 would be out, and as soon as I spot something in the manga section I have to look through the whole section, and even though I told myself I wouldn't I came away with three others--the first Air Gear because people are yelling and screaming about it (it's pretty good so far, not the kind of plot I'm used to though), and the next two One Piece volumes. Because I'm a masochist and like my backpack to weigh five hundred pounds and not fit under the seat in the airplane.

Then to Sears for clothes and to See's because--really--and to Cost Plus for other such necessities. I think I'm going to imaginify a gigantic padlock on Borders and not let myself go between now and when I leave.

26th. Jeez, is it really that soon? That's only five days from now.

The fourth chapter of the fic is underway but it's long and sucky so far so I need to change up some stuff. I stayed up till six writing it, and it woulda come out a lot better if I hadn't put on RotK. Just because.

Mot? Ugh. I'm pretty sure I know what I want to do, but the most recent scene is really bothering me. In fact the whole damn story is bothering me. It's the picture of a first novel--trying to accomplish too much at once. Which is so sad because it's not my first novel, and Penta ended up a lot better, at least in terms of togetherness, than Mot. I love both of them dearly and I have no intention of giving either of them up, though considering how my style has evolved, rewrites of both is a must in the future.

For now I'm just gonna plow on through Mot until the place the first book was originaly supposed to end (only about 600 pages from now...ugh...this is why I don't write short stories). It's just a matter of mucking through the mess of the recent scene and figuring out how to transition to the next one.

So much for Snakes on a Plane tonight. Ips told me to call her, but she didn't answer, and I know she wants to do something. No parties, no cakes, she says. It'd be cool to just hang out with her, since we don't do that much anymore. Plus I need to give her her present.

SOAP tomorrow, DEFINATELY!

Two thoughts first.

The thing about going to bed relatively early (um...1:45) is that I lie awake, which means fertile ground for either panic attacks or really weird thoughts. Fortunately, I had the latter!

So, like, with this whole gay marriage issue, it's pretty much at the point where a constitutional amendment for or against it will be a long, long time in coming if at all, so it's left up to the states to decide who can marry. I think Massachusetts and Vermont are the only states that allow gay marriage, and I'm not sure about Vermont.

So my thought was this--what if churches decided to perform gay marriages?

I know, you're thinking--"not in a million years! That's exactly the problem!"--but take the Unitarians for instance, or the Episcopalians. Of course it would have to be a liberal Protestant religion, cause no one else will touch it with a ten foot pole. And even so, those two particular religions are often looked down on by the rest for their...liberalness, so to speak (Episcopalianism has a gay bishop, Unitarians ran that commercial awhile back).

But what if? I'd be very interested to see what would happen. I mean, obviously the marriage would mean next to nothing, since you still wouldn't have the rights of a hetero couple. And of course the divorce rates don't reflect this, but I figure the main reason most people get married is because they love each other and have some confidence in the longevity of their relationship.

But imagine what the states would say if churches started performing the marriages? For one thing--and this would be so damn lovely to watch--the more conservative churches would get all up in arms about it, try to get it to stop, but here's the kicker; separation of church and state can work in the favor of progress for once. Churches can't be taxed and church property isn't state property, so the state gov't and of course the federal gov't would have no right to say anything about what goes on in the church. Unless you're sacrificing goats or small children or something. The worst the conservative churches could do is lead protests.

It still leaves the problem of people only being married in title and not in the eyes of the law. And of course, it reinforces the idea that marriage is a religious institution. But I'd like to see some churches out there do this. Or do they already? I expect the Unitarians would be all for it. I dunno. It could work either way for the gay rights movement, but I think it would be interesting to see it in practice.

And the second thought:

This is spectacularly random compared to the first one. I was thinking about Harry Potter, and something always bothered me about the 4th book (GoF), when Myrtle tells Harry she's seen mermaids at the bottom of the lake when she gets flushed and--does it, does it occur to anyone that this means the Hogwarts homeys are swimming in sewage? Dear God, isn't the lake the source of their water supply, too? Which makes me hope it's one of those things where if you ask JKR she'll just answer "magic," because of course it would make sense, but it's still...geh! And no one has ever mentioned this, so dude, really. And...dude, dumping sewage in lakes, even if it is magically, um, cleaned--it's still wrong and environmentally hazardous!

Geh.

See, this is what my mind does at night when I can't sleep.

I went shopping today. Yes, me. Shopping. Uh-huh. I now have way too many shirts. And a skirt. Yes, me. A skirt. I like the shirts though. And I caved and went to Hot Topic since they're the only local place where you can get anime/music related T-shirts (I hate Hot Topic). I've been wanting this FLCL shirt with Haruko on it for ages, but it's in an XL which is like, pajama sized for me. Also got a Panic! shirt cause Panic! is love.

And in the anime/manga vein...

Damn. Damn, damn, damn. DeathNote volume 7 is out and I bought it and I wish I had just stopped reading before this one came out, or that the manga itself had stopped or that the manga had gone in a different direction or at the very least ( Read more... )

...because now I have to read it all over again, and I don't want to because I know what happens. I wasn't positive it happens in this volume, so I looked ahead and yeah, there it is, damn author bastards!

( Read more... )

But it's okay. Maybe there will be retribution later. I still haven't read the online scanlations for fear of there not being retribution later, but yeah.

I also didn't expect Naruto 11 to be out, but it was, so of course...what can I say? And...well...really, everyone talks about One Piece so I thought I'd check it out and I liked the first three chapters enough that I bought volume one and two, and now I'm really not gonna have any shelf space when I get to college. *cries*

Yeah, I'm nuts.

Am at work on fic chapter 3 and through thought processes I think I'm close to breaking through the wall in Mot. I have a scene, I just need a transitory scene into it. Plus there's going to be a lot of Boone. But that's okay. He's the main character. The main character is supposed to have more air time than the others.

I also have an idea of how to trim it down and spruce up the beginning.