Li-Chi's Journal, under a lychee's peel.

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:14:22 GMT

There's something about the music of bell towers that strikes me as very romantic. I'm not sure just what it is, somehow there's something about it that resonates with me. I find it has a sort of lonely, haunting beauty, and I wonder if anyone hears quite what I do. I know I'm not the only one listening, but I want to feel like there's someone else who enjoys it. Someone else to enjoy it with.

Haah, I'm so single... It's so hard to be interested in someone new when, somewhere inside, I seem to feel that they have to stand up to the loves I've idealized so in the past.

To those who think it's nice to have never had an ugly break up, it is, but there is a drawback to always amiably parting: you don't hate them.

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:06:48 GMT

Happy Holidays, everyone~! Finals were over last Monday and since then I've pretty much been spending almost all my time playing the Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs ____ series. Great games, though not without some flaws.

I'm havin' a Merry Christmas and will be back to checkin' LJ again what with finals not looming over me. With any luck I passed kanji and will never have to take it from that awful teacher again.

I also wanted to throw a special thank you out to Greer for getting me involved in Yuletide. It was a lot of fun and I definitely want to do it next year. I liked what I got, and it was very fun to write for (even if I wasn't entirely satisfied with what I wrote), but that's okay since, actually, my recipient seemed thrilled with it. <3 I think reading the comment they left was the most rewarding part of the experience. I checked their personal LJ again this morning even. lol They really do seem quite thrilled with it. ^^

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 03:04:42 GMT

~~It's time to give Persona 3 and 4 another tongue bath~~ I hate a lot of RPG design ethic in the last ... I'm gonna generalize to fifteen years. That's about when FFVI came out.

A lot of JRPGs in general, but Square is especially guilty of reinventing the wheel. They make a game, it has a system, and when the game is over, that system is thrown out the window so that the next game can operate nigh independently of the old system. It's like brain washing yourself before doing your next project to make sure you can't benefit from any of your prior experience.

I think what I really hate though is that because of this I doubt FFXIII (not that I own a next gen system) will probably not have the Gambit System, which is a shame, because even though I hated the Gambit System, I hated it due to it's poor execution. It had a lot of potential, they just didn't meet it.

But why is it that game designers won't do more often what Square did during the old FFs, where the game mechanics were largely similar, or ~~insert tongue bath here~~ what MegaTen did with Persona 3 and 4? Or what Nippon-Ichi does with Disgaea? All those examples took the system from the existing game, a solid base that worked, then improved upon it, creating a game that was better designed. This is the world of console gaming here; the games don't get radical patches to the mechanics. The only time concrit from the playerbase can be incorporated is in a sequel.

Ah whatever...

Why Persona 3 and 4 ruined my Harvest Moon marriage

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:01:59 GMT

I used to love the Harvest Moon games, but I just can't get behind it any more. I don't know why. Maybe it's I have better taste in games now or something, I don't know, it's just... the farming feels mindless any more, like I could replace it with a trained chimp. In the past few years since Harvest Moon has lost its magic, I want my games to require more thought, or be more demanding on my timing; some sense of challenge works well too, though that's a slippery slope since most games don't have a decent concept of scalable difficulty. A good story is nice too, but a good game doesn't exactly need one either.

One of my favorite things to do with the Harvest Moon games though was to name my farmer Kaji, and name my farm Melons, then get all the farming out of the way to go run around and woo the women, often with special focus on the local drunk, but as the title says, Persona 3 and 4 have ruined my Harvest Moon marriages.

All the Harvest Moon love interests do is wander around, forcing you to go seek them out and talk them and give them gifts, hearing them blather the same phrases over and over again, with a handful of little events (like 5) marking points milestones in the relationship, and the milestones, cute and entertaining as before, are so thinly spread it's like finding a rare dixie cup of water in the vast desert.

By comparison, all your social links in Persona 4 have more content and take less time to complete. Also rather than making up the stupid "I like swords/Welcome to Corneria" dialogue, it just admits that you and soandso spent time together, leaving it up to your imagination. Not to mention that the characters are more interesting in the first place.

So that's it I guess. I just can't get behind Harvest Moon any more. Objectively speaking the latest one is really good if you like the HM games still. It's just that I'm not having fun with it.

Oh, yeah, I'm not dead.

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 03:38:49 GMT

And I'm checking LJ again.

School started; SFSU. I have to be in San Francisco every week day. I like the campus a lot, and the commute isn't so bad, but regarding commutes...

... I don't think I've ever seen so many souless seeming people. A lot of commuters look miserable or empty, and alone.

Over the summer, too, I might've gone a long time without a lot of human contact, and I think I could go a good while not seeing to or talking to anyone, but just one day of being surrounded by lots of people and yet not having a real conversation witha single one of them... was sorta lonely seeming. I'm so glad I met with Trisha the next day. having a friend there is nice.

I'm also starting to get to know people in my classes. Admittedly, most of them are people who I think are gyrating towards me because I know the answers in class and they didn't. I guess Persona 3 is right: giving the right answer does raise your charm. Just among people I might not consider entirely competent.

My weekend has been pretty good for free time, thank goodness, but during the school week I seriously spent perhaps around 80% of my waking hours studying, and yet, in some Franziska von Karma like workaholic manner (I swear RPing her has increased my discipline), I've been enjoying all the studying I'm doing. I guess that's a sign that majoring in Japanese was a good idea.

... jeez I am such a weeaboo.

My precious thing broke.

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 02:11:32 GMT

Just now, as I was taking it out of my hair, my precious thing broke... my blue butterfly hair clip that she gave me. One of the wings just... snapped off. I have it sitting on my night stand... glued together... hoping the glue will set... I don't know if I'll really be able to wear it any more.

Maybe I shouldn't have worn it almost every day, but I enjoyed feeling it there. I suppose it will become more of a special occasion item now, if I can still wear it...?

Mrrew... ._.

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 03:49:10 GMT

I think radio shows were really cool. Sometimes I want to have some entertainment while I'm doing something, say, chores, and I want something that tells a story, and thusly not all music does that. Old radio shows are great to put on in the background while you sew or do laundry or clean the house, because all they require is that you listen.

Yeah, I can multitask, but for the most part that's limited to typing something unrelated to watching some anime or something like that (actually, I can listen to one thing, watch a different thing, and type something else entirely, but that's about my limit, and I don't particularly like doing it; it really tires me out after a few hours). Point in case, I need my eyes when I do a lot of things (like cleaning) and putting some anime on in the background just distracts me, but radio shows are perfect. I can be entertained while doing less engaging but more pressing matters.

As for chess, my chess game is improving, but I've noticed that the strongest part of my game is the opening, and that I can handle open games very well, but queen pawn openings and the Sicilian Defense throw me for a bit of a loop. I need to work more studying and playing other kinds of openings, and also work on other parts of the game more than the middle.

Progress has been made, thoughI still feel like an amateur.

Don't you think for a moment, though, that I'm being down on myself. I'm very happy lately~

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 06:08:08 GMT

So I have to take this health class as a transfer requirement, and it's the same crap again and again that we've already gotten about practice safe sex, don't do drugs, eat proper, exercise, stuff that for the most part seems like common sense ...

... but studying for this class, I have learned a lot I didn't know about the effects of alcohol. And, well...

... let me begin with saying this. I've smoked a little bit socially before. Not too often, not too many, but I didn't really understand why I did it, and I knew it was bad for me, so I stopped.

And now I've kind of come to that point for alcohol. I've finally decided that even though I like drinking, I don't need to do it, it's not good for me, I just don't feel like I want to any more.

That said, I understand people wanting to have a few good drinks, so I don't really want all my alcohol to go to waste. So I guess I'm giving it up to whoever wants it. I'm going to put a list of my bottles of liquor behind a cut, and if you live close enough to me that I can like see you in person and bring you a bottle, let's get together sometime and you can claim your free alcohol.

Happy April Fools Day. I still love a good occasional drink.

Save the best for last~?

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 02:50:34 GMT

My break hadn't really gone how I'd planned it. I mean, on Tuesday I got sick and that stuck with me through Friday, so I was staying in bed being a good little girl in order to ensure my swiftest recovery, except for the portion of Friday I had to help my mother out on errands, which turned into a major bout of mama drama, but that's not what I wanna talk about~~

I had a great day today; it would've easily been the best day of my break if I didn't get sick. We saw Shutter together, and , well, I have to say, I tend not to see horror movies not because I dislike being scared, but because more than most bad movies, I don't want to watch bad horror movies (unless they're really funny). Shutter was a spectacular horror movie though. We really enjoyed it~ <3 I have to go recommend you see it~ -^~-

Oh, and today I was finally taught how to braid hair. ^^; It's so simple i feel sort of foolish~

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 22:58:39 GMT

I think I've finally managed to put into concrete terms why I get annoyed or distant with my mother at times: because I don't want to deal with her when she's going to harass me.

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 06:49:45 GMT

She bought me flowers~! <3 ::giggle:: I don't think anyone has ever bought me flowers before~ -^^- When she gave them to me I'm still downright elated <3 -^^- Liiiiike... when I opened my eyes, an already wonderful day blossomed before me. <3 I felt light and giddy and.... ::dreamy sigh:: --^^--

Allow me to be a nerd here. I've been practicing my chess. I'm getting better. I won't say I'm good, but I don't think I'm especially bad any more. My father and I have set up a little table in the hall outside of our rooms, and whenever we pass it, we make a move and write down on the white board what we did. Thusly, there's all the time in the world to think. So it's not great at making me think faster, but it's good at developing tactics and strategy, and honestly, I'll focus on faster after I have it down at all. Learn how to do something well before learning how to do something fast, right?

Well, I think the game is going pretty well. I presently control the center as black, while white is cramped. Let me say this right now: chess brings out the worst in me, I think. When I play chess, I believe I begin to think in the same sort of way Yagami Light does: vicious plotting. I've downright capitalized on one mistake my father made during the opening.

Here's the moves we've gone through thus far

1) e4 e5 (open game)
2) Nc3 Nf6 (Vienna game)
3) Bc4 (I don't understand this move) Nxe4 (potential for Frankenstein - Dracula variation?)
4) Bxf7+ (I don't understand this move either) Kxf7
5) Nxe4 d4
6) Qf3+ Ke8
7) Ng3 Nc3
8) Ne2 g6
9( d3 Bc4
10) Nc3 Be6
11) Kg1 Rf8
13) Qe2 b6
14) a3 a5

And that leaves us where we are. I don't really understand 3) Bc4 unless you're going to move into Frankenstein-Dracula, which didn't happen. What are the potential adventages of 3) Bc4 in the first place, let alone Bf7 without anything to support it? Sure, he avoided 4) ... d5 to fork the bishop and the knight, but I still took the center of the board, and have managed to maintain that fairly well, having a good deal of open space while cramping his, I think.

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:53:02 GMT

I know some people who can really talk an ear off, like, "shut up up already" or who won't ever let you get into the conversation, but no one is really worse at this than my mother. She rants and rants and rants, and she wonders why people don't want to talk with her sometimes. It's because she doesn't let them talk, and because she spends most of her time complaining. Keeping in mind that she talked my ear off last night, and I was kind of annoyed with her for it, when she contacted me via the intercom this morning, I reached for a stopwatch and a pencil and paper on my night stand.

According to the clock on my night stand, the conversation began at 9:16 AM. The conversation went until 9:29 AM, a total of 23 minutes. Using the stop watch, I kept track of the amount of time I vocalized anything in the conversation, which was 2 minutes and 13.76 seconds, or roughly 10% of the conversation.

Keep in mind, I try to say things, and she interrupts me and keeps ranting, and if I call her on it, it turns into an argument.

Also, though I do get chances to talk, but she doesn't really talk about things I have any interest in. It is mostly complaints which I really can do nothing about. Speaking of complaints, over the course of that 23 minutes, counting making the same complaints at different times in the conversation ( didn't hear it the first time, damn it?), she made a total of 37 complaints, which means she makes at least one complaint every minute, and often two.

Now I know this isn't scientific or anything. I haven't clearly defined what a complaint was, and I could try and talk more if I really wanted to, but... I don't want to. More often than not, those little chats suck the enthusiasm for life out of me.

I sure am glad I bounce back into that enthusiasm so easily. The power of having good things and people in your life to think about. I'll feel better within an hour.

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:15:37 GMT

Trying to make today a good productive day. So far, so good. I'm accomplishing things.

Pattern drafting went great yesterday. I never realized that shirring and princess line bodices were so easy. ^^; I was a little afraid they might be harder. But it went well. I've got an interesting idea for a lolita dress using a princess line bodice from waist to shoulder, using the center piece as a contrasting material, and then having the waist of the side piece shirred.

I've also drafted a pattern block for Royce last night, so I can start using it to make miniature test garments for things I sew to test my patterns and get sewing practice on something before doing the larger project.

I'm going to buy some muslin today, I think.

As an entirely side note, i think that some of the names of "people" who send you spam are hilarious. "Monopoli Surprise" ? XD My spam mail filter is almost like a Phoenix Wright name generator. I swear, if I ever, for any reason, want an unconvincing psuedonym, I'm totally checking my spam.

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:52:34 GMT

I had a nice day yesterday~ <3 Went out to San Francisco Japantown with Georgia. And I randomly ran into Oniko! O.O It's been a while since I've seen her. Oh, jeez, I should've asked her for her number. X3; Slipped my mind... drat... apparently the people on the Fanime forums are talking about the Domo-kun, though. I knew it was popular, but wow, who'd have thought they'd be wishing it was back still?

I miss that costume. It was in my Grandmother's garage packed away, and when my grandmother died and they had to clear out the place, I asked them to make sure I got it, but... they accidentally sent it off to the dumps. Man, that sure was the dumps...

I should totally rebuild it. You know, though... I could totally do it again, but better, and it wouldn't be that hard. A little expensive, yes, mayhaps, but not that hard. Hmm, time to scheme. I also have my Hayate costume to do... but... well, I think I could manage to complete both. Speaking of that, guys, someone beat me up if I haven't gone to a fabric store by the end of ... Sunday next week (March 16th). I need to get on all that stuff.

Le sigh~ But today I have much work to do for my pattern drafting class. I really shouldn't have probably spent all that time with those drabbles, but, hey, I enjoyed myself.

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:41:18 GMT

Brakish has been doing this awesome drabble meme from time to time, so I figured I'd give it a try myself. I really like it. It's a lot of fun. Thanks Brakish~

1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.
2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.
3. Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards!
4. Do ten of these, then post them

Since I really wish I had an Adrian in ares_arcanum (lol) I figured I'd console myself with Adrian/Franziska drabbles.

1) Y'know – Bubblegum Crisis 2040

“This is foolish...” Franziska muttered, the well composed porcelain mask that usually was upon her face was cracked, falling off at her feet as Adrian wrapped her arms around her from behind. As her mask of composure fell to pieces, it revealed an underlying face that was bright red.

“As opposed to what...?” Adrian asked faintly in Franziska's ear, tightening her embrace. She was shocked at her boldness. All of her courage was tied up in keeping her arms around Franziska, and so she could barely speak. “... not all things make sense, Franziska.”

2) Sore ga Ai Deshou – Full Metal Panic Fumoffu

Adrian stared at the only photo of Franziska von Karma that she had: one that Adrian had secretly took a quick shot from behind. Even though the grey haired woman's stoic yet calming face was on the blank white back of the photo, the other side of her, it still displayed traits of Franziska that Adrian so admired. Her refined sense of fashion, her proud posture. She wished that she could have that back all for herself, to rest her head upon and listen to Franziska's heart beat.

Adrian wasn't sure when these feelings had come this far. When she first met Franziska, she had felt strongly for her, but... Adrian was herself. After the Matt Engarde case, she attempted to write off her attraction to Franziska by reminding herself she was just clinging for any one, for anything, that she didn't really know Franziska, and was attracted to simply her image of Franziska, but as they met from time to time over the years, their irregular meetings, that changed. She began to really know who Franziska von Karma was, and at some point... she managed to accept that maybe these feelings for her were real. Franziska would probably say it was foolishness, but...

“I guess that's love...”

3) Yuuga no Konojo – Utena Soundtrack

The violinist in the resturaunt Adrian and Franziska were in played a quaint little tune. Despite being a slightly slow song, it was paradoxically quite cheerful, and the grey haired prosecutor enjoyed the atmosphere. It was suiting seeming to her. Adrian had really made a fine choice in dining establishment, and so without realizing it, she was smiling as she picked up her menu.

4) Sweet Little Love – Wedding Peach

Franziska's face twitched as they floated through the brightly lit canal. “I have seen too many foolishly foolish things made by foolhardy fools from a land of fools, but this is the possibly the most foolishly foolish thing I have ever laid eyes upon.” Adrian had insisted she wanted to ride this “Sweet Little Love” ride at amusement park, and it was... too much. The foolishly never ending song, the adorable anamatronic smiles that would sing sweetly even if she was whipping them. It was ... disturbing.

“I-it is... really over the top...” Adrian admitted. Wow, she had made a mistake. She was pushing her luck with getting Franziska to come to 'something as foolish as an amusement park' and now there was this ride. I'd better enjoy myself... I'm not sure she's ever going to go to an amusement park with me again. The blonde thought, stiffling a little laughter.

5) 24 Jikan Aishiteru - Yumeria

It was positively vexing. Since the other day, Franziska couldn't shake the thought of that foolish, vexing blonde, Adrian Andrews. Nothing seemed to work, especially her, especially when she tried to work. The prosecutor had never felt so utterly useless, and it was infuriating. She foolishly felt as if she could feel her hair going greyer. Was greyer a real word? I had better not be fabricating foolish words now...

What was the most vexing was that even though it bothered her so much, she felt... it wasn't bad. It was kind of nice. Foolish, but nice. Absolutely, positively vexing.

6) Tokyo - Yui

This was a mistake. Franziska's logical mind kept telling her that. In Germany, she was a famous prosecutor held in high regard, working in the Head Prosecutor's office. She had inherited from her Father a considerable estate, and now, what she doing?

She was leaving. She soon going to be boarding a plane, all her belongings packed and checked as check in luggage. She was moving to America.

Her fingers quickly typed into her cell phone a text message without looking at the pad before she turned it off and boarded the plane. “Boarding now, Adrian.” Yes, she was moving to be with Adrian Andrews. They had been maintaining a long distance relationship for a long while now, and since Adrian spoke no German, and Franziska spoke English, this was what would make Adrian most happy.

Franziska's logical mind told her this was a mistake, but still, her heart compelled her to continue.

7) Romancing Train - Move

Franziska had fallen asleep on the train. “She works herself too hard sometimes...” Adrian murmured while she looked over Franziska's shoulder and out the window into the twilight countryside. The stars were so bright out here. Living in the city, Adrian couldn't remember the last time that she saw so many... “Mm?”

Adrian's attention diverted more directly towards Franziska as she saw her... tremble in her sleep? Franziska had a little... jitter as she sat there, leaning into the cold frame of the train's metal. ... She's shivering. Adrian thought, blinking in surprise. For a moment, she dreamily imagined what she wished she could do, to pull Franziska against her and warm her with her own body, those grey locks against her black blouse covered breast, sending Franziska off to more sweet dreams to the rhythm of her heart.

But no, Adrian couldn't do something so bold. Still though, she stood up and reached into a bag she'd packed above them, and pulled out a blanket...

8) Parade – Chaba

Sometimes, Adrian Andrews felt like a breath of fresh air to Franziska von Karma. Adrian was intelligent despite her ocassional foolishness and accident prone nature, and Franziska appreciated her company. Adrian really often saw things in different lights than Franziska, and vice versa, but they could also explain the way they saw things to each other in a manner the other would understand in some sort of nearly effortless translation.

The two of them slowly walked along the street lined with trees, that long stretching road, just for the sake of walking (it was good exercise after all), marching along, a parade of two.

9) Snow White – Ballad of Angels

“Fairy tales?” Franziska blinked at Adrian as she looked over the blonde's bookshelf. That was an unexpected thing to see here.

“H-huh?” Adrian mirrored Franziska's action and blinked back at her, though her own own posture was more more taken aback than Franziska's.

“I didn't expect a Snow White picture book...” Franziska commented, quelling the foolish urge to pull it off the shelf and leaf through it. She was a grown woman after all, and so was Adrian. A grown woman with fairy tales? That was as bad as her brother, a grown man who watched children's television shows.

“Ah, well, it's sort of a keepsake, really.” Adrian looked upwards as she explained, hands absent mindedly fiddling with a pen in her hands... she did find the story to be kind of sweet too, though.

10) Just My Way - Yui

“This isn't healthy!” Franziska swept her arm forcefully to push her point further. “Your relationship with Inpax wasn't good for you, and I won't be a means for that to happen again!”

“F-Franziska...” The blonde cowered and trembled as Franziska started to yell. “I... please... don't go...” She didn't want Franziska to go home. She needed her, she needed Franziska here. Germany was too far away...

Franziska was still angry, but... she held herself back some for Adrian's sake, planting her face in her palm. “You can't hold me hostage here with veiled threats. I won't be used that way...” Her voice flared as she finished that sentence.

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:58:40 GMT

Superhero Team Quiz

LiveJournal Username

Your Primary Super Power

Cape?

Identitiy

Origin

Location of Head Quarters

Primary Costume/Uniform Colors

Why are you a Superhero?

Your Superheroic Codename

The veteran grim member of the team

werewolf_soul

The sexist and crass but annoyingly effective one

schunoko

The bright-eyed novice or sidekick

rynchan

The teammate that will eventually go evil or insan

chibiathena

The inept yet determined/reoccurring supervillain

ravingglory

The sinister Arch-Villain and team's greatest foe

satrugha

The perky civilian that keeps getting kidnapped

ravingglory

How often does your team actually 'save the day'?

87%

This Fun Quiz created by Shannon at BlogQuiz.Net

Get the answer to your weight loss questions
at WeightLossTips.TV

For why I don't need a secret name, well, if I had psychic powers I'd just communicate with my team via that, and they'd know it was me. And I don't need recognition from others and I really prefer to eliminate any foes of mine without telling them who I am, so I don't need a codename. Ultimately, I'd probably end up called something by the press or some such, and whatever it was, I'd probably hate it, making it even more likely to stick.

I love how Anna is both the civilian who always gets kidnapped and the inept super villain. And my arch-nemesis is Sam? What am stopping her from doing? I can't imagine she'd do much besides... I don't know... try to make games or something.

Walkercising is good exing!

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 16:36:42 GMT

lol Someone yesterday accidentally fused the words walking and exercising, so i decided to make a little fun of them there.

I went on a walk around Lake Merrit yesterday and went to gardens and what not, had a picnic with Casey and Bubbles. I took a lot of pictures in the various gardens, especially of the bonsai tree garden.

Well, I'm gonna go do cosplay things with Trisha now.

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:42:06 GMT

I had to skip dance this evening to fill out many, many forms. I don't even really wanna go into it, but now that the forms are done, I can...

go to sleep, make important phone calls in the morning, and go to work? God, that sounds lame... ._. Oh well.

In worse news, my mother has a fracture in her foot after a heavy bottle fell on it in the kitchen. At least the bottle didn't break and cut her while it was breaking her foot. I've been helping her, of course, bringing her food, water, ice packs, and I helped make sure she got to and got around Kaiser today to get the x-rays and other medical needs for her foot today.

But while I've had better days, I'm still happy. The power of optimism and having good things in life I suppose. On the brighter side of today, I got a nice e-mail from my sister, and sent her off one of my own about how things have been for the last few months in my life, and I got a package I'd been expecting.

Note to self: go take pictures of the pretty cherry blossom like trees while they last.

Cute meme, stolen from Rachel

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:34:45 GMT

How to make a lichifruit

Ingredients:

5 parts friendliness

3 parts crazyiness

1 part energy

Method:
Combine in a tall glass half filled with crushed ice. Add caring to taste! Do not overindulge!

Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

Not inaccurate, except I think I've got a higher portion of energy in me. So... if friendliness and craziness were alcohol or mixers, what would they be? Energy is obviously part energy drink, so let's pick something that goes with energy drinks, shall we?

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:56:11 GMT

There's a tree around our house that looks quite like a cherry blossom, even though I know it isn't, and it's starting to lose it's petals~ It's so pretty. I was walking down the hill and then I noticed a pink petal float past me, and turning around, I watched as a petal fell every few moments.

I hope that the ones in Golden Gate Park will still be at least somewhat in bloom through the first week of May. If not, there's still that one tree in Berkeley.

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 22:47:11 GMT

The breakfast of sinners: bacon and latkes. I not religious, but if I was, I don't think I'd ever convert to Judaism. In my eyes, my mother not like... getting struck down with lightning for making latkes in bacon fat just is the last nail in the coffin for that religion.

Further in the news of my father recently spoiled me with that new computer, god, is drawing on it nice. I drew one of my flowers today just to get a feel for things.

Well, I'm off for one last Chinese New Year's Celebration.

Chess

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 07:53:00 GMT

You know, for as much as I play tactical games, I'm not very good at chess. I find this to be kind of shameful, in a way. I mean, sure, I know the rules of the game, I understand some of the ideas such as forcing moves, pinning pieces to other pieces, forks, and a concept of gambits in chess, but that doesn't mean I'm very good. The game is just too abstract to me, I think. While the movement of the pieces make sense to me, somehow looking ahead in chess doesn't click for me like it does in other games.

I don't suppose any of you are any good at teaching chess beyond the basics, are you?

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:45:48 GMT

o.o Wow... deja vu. I didn't remember setting my alarm clock last night, but now it was set. And the last time it was set was last Friday. Almost made me wonder if I slipped back in time a week. lol Sometimes I feel like about anything could happen with me. >.>;;

It's been a... well, I can't say it's been a long week. That would suggest it's been tiring or overly drawn out. I guess I've kiiiind of ... lost track of my sense of time? When I was going to bed last night, it simply occurred to me, "Has it really only been a week? O.o"

It's felt like longer somehow. I thought people said time was supposed to fly when you're having fun. I've been really happy, and this week has gone by so slowly... and for that, I'm thankful, I suppose. After all, who doesn't want their happiness drawn out~? <3

Well~ there are events I'm looking forward to coming up~ But I'll deal. They're still coming (here's to not slipping backwards in the time stream? lol)

I don't know just what I'm doing tomorrow. My mother wanted to go to the Chinese New Year Parade, but the weather report said it's going to rain, so doesn't, and Trisha and I aren't working on cosplay stuff together, and ... the game master to the Saturday game I've been going to before I started working on projects with Trisha sort of has drama going on. Did I say sort of? I mean he very has drama going on. Very drama, and not the kind I think the readers of my shoujo manga would enjoy anyway.

Oh, and my father decided to spoil me. ^^; Because CompUSA was closing, everything in the store was discounted, and he bought me a tablet notebook PC~ She's really awesome. Yeah, she. Her name is Akanegasaki Sora, afrer the character of Ever17. I've got the computer named after her, rotating Sora wallpapers, user icon for Sora, and a ton of Sora sound for her since Ever17 comes with system sounds for every character (I love that damn game <3) I really <3 touch screen interfaces ever since I got the DS. It's so quick an easy. I can't want to try drawing with it. She also has a mic, and Vista has voice recognition software that's good enough to take commands (but unsurprisingly terrible at understanding dictated speech). And the finger print scanner thing on the side works better than I expected too. She also has a little webcam I have yet to play with. Though that's little more than a novelty to me. Her back right corner runs a little hot, and that's seriously the only fault I can draw with her, and trust me, I ain't complaining. Well, I might buy her a stylus with more options and a screen protector (I will get that last one actually, it's just a matter of when (I'll do it soon)).

There's something about having a new computer that makes me wanna play a PC game. lol A good one of course. But what with the touch screen interface, I kind of... want to play a tactical or strategy game. Have I ever mentioned, by the way, that I started playing tactical command games in my Daddy's basement at the age of three? ~~No wonder I win beat people in competitive turn based games all the damn time~~ Don't brag, stupid... anyway, every time I think about that I feel like a character from Ender's Game.

So, any recommendations? ^^; I want something mainly run by the mouse, so that I can almost solely play with Sora's screen. lol ^^; <3

Oh yeah~ Speaking of games, I need to pick up my copy of ~~Ace Attorney 4~~ Gay Lawyers 4. And also on the subject of DS games, Professor Layton is so cool. If you like little puzzles, things like getting the sheep and the wolves across the river without the sheep getting eaten puzzle, then there's over a hundred of them in Professor Layton, plus another every week online (until they stop doing that. I wonder when that'll be).

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:27:39 GMT

Still happy, very serene. I'm enjoying the sound of the rain just outside my window. Today is going to be a slow day. I guess I'll get that report done. ^^

The deal with registration this year

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:18:54 GMT

I've been meaning to talk about this for a while now, but meh, reg isn't due until April, so I guess I've been lazy.

Hay guyz, Fanime reg sucks this year. There is no group reg, but I didn't find out until after I took some of your reg payments. That means I have money from Isabel, Rachel, Casey and Stephan. At this point the easiest thing for us is to just have me handle it for you still, so just give me your info. I need your ...

~first name
~last name (I don't know all your last names, or at least how to spell them, sorry, deal with it)
~whatever you want as your fan name, if anything
~whatever you want in their database as your age
~hey Casey, the gender on forum is binary
~phone number
~e-mail addy you want your reg confirmation sent to
~your address
~~~your credit info, your mother's maiden name and your social security number wait I'm not stealing your identities nevermind...~~

Edit: Oh, yeah, and your posts are gonna be screened.

The thing that really sucks about there being no group reg is that, and I've talked to them about this via e-mail, we can't pick up other people's badges. That means that rather than me picking up everyone's badge on Thursday night, you're all gonna have to wait in reg line yourselves.