So, B term has started, with all the ensuing craziness of new classes. Calculus 2 looks like it may be pretty good, even if it's at 8 am. The professor is friendly and funny, even if he looks young enough that I thought he was a TA when he first walked in and started passing the syllabus out. Suspect some of his little quirks or quotes or tangents will end up being appropriated for Isaac. Literature of Sin looks good so far - same professor as my Shakespeare class, but a much better class - the in-class discussion doesn't want make me want to bang my head against the desk repeatedly, although we're reading Titus Andronicus first, which I'm having trouble getting through. Object-Oriented Design Concepts (it's a Java class, really)...I'm not sure yet. Apparently the class is supposed to be really hard, but we haven't done enough to tell yet. The professor has a great sense of humor, though.

MIT apps for Early Action have to be mailed by Tuesday...mine is mostly done, but I'm kind of on edge anyway. Which may be part of the reason I've had about five hours of sleep each night this week x.x Random HP fic rec of the moment - Cartographer's Craft. Set post-HBP, blends seamlessly with canon in the best way possible. I've spent my free time the last few days reading it, including several hours this morning in a nice, quiet, warm computer lab Michelle and I found on the second floor of the library.

And now, a poll for the readers! I'm waffling on a Halloween costume this year, mostly because I didn't have the time or energy to do something big and new. So - I've got professor robes!Lupin, which is always fun, and probably warm enough with something underneath, although I still don't have a stuffed wolf to go with it, or I can make a totally ghetto Virgil outfit and cary around my hardcover copy of a translation of the Aeneid. Thoughts, particularly from anyone I'm likely to be hanging out with?

My insomnia knows no bounds, it seems. After falling asleep at seven am after writing that last entry, last night I managed somehow to fall asleep around eleven. Which would have been fine and good if I hadn't woken up at four am this morning, entirely unable to fall asleep. Which is why I'm hanging around the internet amusing myself. Mostly by reading about Dante and Virgil (the Italians) on the 'net.

...Yeah, totally going to have to re-read the Inferno, I think.

And insomnia strikes again. So more random introspective crap - stuff that's been floating through my head over the last few months, although it came to the surface the other day in a conversation I was having with Ari.

I have a great big streak of protector in me. Not really the mothering sort, 'cause I totally fail at that, but the kind of person I want to be in a relationship is the gentleman, the knight in shining armor, the refuge. Which I think is what occasionally gets me into trouble, because I can't live up to that ideal all the time.

I think this definately influences the types of pairings and characters I like and identify with, too. If you look at some of my favorites - Hamlet/Horatio, Cain/Riff, Auron/Braska, Clow/Yue - they've all got that sort of master/guardian dynamic in them, although in different forms. And the characters I identify the most strongly with - notably Horatio and Riff, there - are definately the protectors in the relationship.

And I've really got no idea where I'm going with all this...just thoughts, really.

On a total tangent, I feel like taking icon requests again. Anybody want one?

I've noticed lately that I can't work up the motivation to do much of anything active other than play video games and keep this blog. I've slowly gotten rid of any big group commitments - flute, GSA, Japanese class, fencing, tennis - even if I like them because it's just easier not to. This is a little disturbing, looking at it from a logical point of view, and also frustrating because sometimes I can manage inspiration to get something started, but it never gets finished, even if it's something I know I'll probably enjoy working on, because I just can't work up the mental energy to pick it up again. And I have no idea what the hell to do about it.

On a slightly sillier note, Virgil/Dante is mentor/pupil-love XD; Seriously, the Inferno is such self-insert real-person-slash fic written in 13th century Italian. Also, DMC!Dante seems to suffer from the same problem in fandom as Yuna does - everyone seems to think that their fathers' names are their last names. Suspect I may kill the next person I get my hands on using either 'Dante Sparda' or 'Yuna Braska'.

...There was totally something else, but I've forgotten what.

EDIT: I stand corrected on the name point. Capcom is just on crack, then XD; (But we knew that already, I think. Special Japanese crack.)

...Starting with the latter. Finished Devil May Cry last night, somewhere around the seven and a half hour mark according to my save file. Definately a lot of fun, if short. I still bemoan the shitty camera angles (particularly as there are jumping puzzles), but otherwise excellent. Definately going to have to track down Devil May Cry 3 - I think Michelle owns it. As for the ending, staying as spoiler-free as possible - wow, they totally looked like they were about to kiss. Someone's got a bit of an Oedipus complex there.

I also finished re-reading Black Sun Rising, and am now trying to convince myself that attemping to put together a Gerald Tarrant fansite is a Bad Plan, because I am awful about writing content. But I have to say, the thought that once upon a time, he was a little wussy girly-boy who got beat up by his older brothers. Kind of like Vanyel, really, except Vanyel sat around angsting and being bitter about it, while Gerald grew up, because smart, rich, powerful, then sacrificed his wife and children, and his humanity, for immortality, and promptly brutally murdered aforementioned older brothers. I somewhat admire his directness.

Anyway, people who like fantasy out there should totally read the Coldfire Trilogy, because it is some excellent stuff. It's by C.S. Friedman.

So, tonight was the Vienna Teng concert in Cambridge, and it was totally awesome. It was me and my mom. We actually thought we were going to be late, and made a rather illegal U-turn to try and counter that, but we ended up arriving a good five minutes before the music began. It was at a folk club, so the atmosphere was nice and relaxed, very intimate, which I liked. As for the music itself, it was totally awesome seeing one my favorite artists live. Vienna played a mix of stuff off her two albums and unreleased stuff, as well as two covers, and it was all totally awesome. I think I almost cried when she played "Harbour" - it is hands-down my favorite of her songs, and it was even more beautiful live.

Afterwards, my mom and I went to the Garage, and I found that awesome Sephiroth Play Arts figure for $20, and as such immediately bought it. My mom got a DVD for herself and a CD for Ben at Newbury Comics. We then headed over to Finale, and had some lovely if expensive desserts to finish off the evening.

(Coming later - more DMC and Coldfire babble)

Was chatting with some of the ladies from the Aquarobics class after they were done, and learned I'm not the only one that hates Bob (my boss's boss). Apparently on top of telling me to clean the hair out of the floor drains in my free time, he's also been the source of lots of scheduling trouble, as well as one of the reasons my previous two bosses left - the other being that they weren't getting paid enough, which I can totally believe. Bleh. At least they fixed the vacuum.

On an entirely unrelated note, I'm at the final boss in Devil May Cry. Probably could have beaten him tonight if I really felt like it, but eh, save it for tomorrow. This is totally going to be the fastest I've ever finished a game - under two weeks. I also vote that we should give Dante's Tacky Red Coat a name. Just because. Suggestions, anyone XD?

So, went to Mara's house on Tuesday, came back Wednesday night. We had a nice, relaxed time - made s'mores in the microwave (s'mores with gingersnaps > s'mores with graham crackers), watched Red Dragon, played video games. We also went out and window shopped for a bit, and I found the most perfect black leather coat ever in a thrift store. So I called my mom, and asked her if she would help me pay for it (it was $78 - good price for the coat, but a bit expensive for me), and she was all 'OMG buy it!' So I did. I'll take photos later when I'm actually wearing nice clothes - today is a slob-day, in part because my house is currently freezing, as our furnace isn't working and the guy who was supposed to come to fix it yesterday didn't.

On a more introspective note, I totally need to have more self-confidence in my writing stuff. I'm mostly okay about everything else, but writing is my little super-sensitive spot. I think it's some conversations I've had with people on related subjects recently that have been getting me so down this week.

...Well, okay, that and the MIT app I need to have, like, finished. But have barely started, because I suck. And now I'm going to avoid it more in favor of playing DMC and resisting the temptation to re-read bits of the Inferno, so I can laugh and laugh and laugh. The last bit is entirely Ari's fault.

...Starting with the last. For people who live in MA (or any place with rotaries/traffic circles, which is mostly MA and Ireland, I've found), yield to the people in the circle. Really, how hard is this to do? Especially when most have signs to this effect. I almost got hit by some asshole who decided that it didn't matter that I was in the rotary, he was just going to go right through in his giant pick-up. Fucker. I hate hate hate driving in this city.

On to happier things! Went by the library, and got out two cyberpunk books I already own but have disappeared into the depths of friends' homes (Buring Chrome and Neuromancer). The first was more for Ben, who I'm trying to draw into cyberpunk, and the second was for me, because writing Asher, who is kinda a cyberpunk kid (as opposed to Ally, who is a child of the 80s), makes me crave cyberpunk. Also grabbed a book on poisons that looked interesting, the first book of the Coldfire Trilogy which I am reading again, and The Lobotomist, which she reccomended to me. So now I have things to do in my free time instead of writing long, bitter rants on my blog - aren't you all happy XD?

On the RP side of things, posted this last night, as I enjoy embarassing my characters on the internet (Okay, just Asher), and yes, I know his head shape is kind of off, it took me four tries to get that far. I've also realized that the biggest flaw of having my two characters' strongest ties be to each other, rather than other people's characters like it seems everybody else did, is that I can't play out backstory with someone else - I'm pretty much on my own. Which is also, I suppose kind of a good thing, because it means I can do whatever the hell I want with the two of them, but at the same time gives me less incentive to write up and flesh out a lot of the backstory. I may do a few bits and pieces anyway, probably conversations like that little bit with Isaac and Raphael. Also, my brain has spawned a couple archtypes today I'd kind of like to build characters around - perhaps I'll lset them simmer in the back of my head and see what they spawn. The storm-mage is the one I find the most fascinating, mostly because I'd have to go in and chose limits and abilities and neat stuff like that. Food for thought, I guess.

I feel hideously boring at the moment. Just...totally uninteresting and unoriginal. I also wonder why I bother with pretty much anything, as it's all going to amount to nothing in the end, which I realize is a pretty cynical worldview. Also kind of pissed off at my friends in general, as nobody has been around at all (well, except for Jesse. Who I'm not pissed at), and I'm getting restless and irritable. The fact that my e-mail account is eating all e-mails sent to it, yet apparently has nothing wrong with it, is irritating. Anybody who needs me can catch me at momijizukamori[at]gmail[dot]com for now.

I'll probably be in a better mood in the morning, but right now...well, I guess all the people new around here can see where Asher gets his temper. Maybe I'll go play with Isaac and Raphael some. They're boring too, but I like them anyway.

Decided to sit down and finally watch the episode with 1812, because seeing Serenity put me in a sci-fi kind of mood, and god, I remember now why I love this show so much XD;

Rygel: "When a woman, whether it's your wife, your lover, or a slave you purchased to be your wife or lover[...]"

Also, on Serenity (no spoilers, don't worry) - nice little sci-fi flick, although I think if I had been a fan of the tv show I'd have been a bit disappointed - it kind of smacked of the Farscape mini-series.

On an entirely unrelated note, the BPAL fall swap has begun, and I totally <3 the person I got. Huge geek! Yaaaay! (If the person who has me is reading this, uh, I forgot to mention on the questionaire what a great huge geek I am...science, video games, anime, manga, RP...I am totally there XD)

Because it has come around my friendslist again, and I am bored, and actually have characters other people know about now.

Ask any of my current or former roleplay characters any question you would like them to answer. I will answer in character.

This means Asher, Ally, my four NPCs (who've only been mentioned in passing in the game, but I know I've babbled about them to at least a few people) Sam, Naomi, Damien, and Jey, Julian, for the maybe two people who know him, and not really RP characters, but I'll add them in anyway for good measure, Isaac and Raphael.

...Yeah, I've only ever RPed as original characters XD; Go on, give me somethign to do.

I went out and spent money today! Mostly on gas and video games. Bought Katamari Damacy, because I kept swearing I would, and Devil May Cry, because Jo told me to. And I do what Jo tells me to XD Initial thoughts:

Katamari Damacy
This game is crack. A lot of crack. But in a good way! I did the first couple objectives before getting stuck and moving on, but what I played, I liked. The controls take a little getting used to, but after one or two tries, they're not bad. The music is fun and catchy, the King of the Cosmos is both amusing and scary, and crabs make the best little squealing noises when you roll them up XD I expect to get thoroughly caught up in it once I get the hang of things a little better.

Devil May Cry
Totally Resident Evil and Shadow Heart's bastard child, in a good way. And the first bit of that may be particularly true - it looks suspiciously like Capcom reused bits of the RE engine for this game. This means that the graphics and atmosphere are beautifully dark, with the style of Shadow Hearts, but the camera angles and controls suck. Seriously. I've gotten really used to a certain control set-up I always use, and having the 'confirm' button where I'm used to 'cancel' being does not do good things. That aside, though, the combat feels really nice (About time I admit this - I do <3 RPGs, but only for the story. Hate turn-based battle, and I far prefer action/adventure-style gameplay), which I like. There does seem to be enough variation that it's not just hitting one button over and over and over. Addictive, so far, although I'm wondering what the hell is up with the talking molten lava spider XD

No, not another new one. But the extra blog-birthday thing I wanted to get done yesterday was archiving all of my old layouts. They're all now in the sidebar, with the exception of 1, which has some sort of file error I need to fix, and 16, which I've unfortunately not been able to dredge up a copy of - I've probably got the original image files in a folder or on a CD somewhere, but I'm just not sure where.

Enjoy the others, though - I'd really like to have a page with my personal notes on each of them at some point, but not today. And yes, I know I apparently lack an inability to count properly. To get things back on the right number, the next layout will probably be 37 instead of 36.

...Well, I'm an hour early, but I've got time to put it up now, and there's another little birthday treat I'd like to get up tomorrow, so it goes up now. A very experimental, minimalist sort of design - it was entirely hand-drawn by me (during Biotech, no less), and then tweaked in PSP.

For those of you who are new around here, the very first entry I've got archived is for October 10th, 2001, which has made this date my blog's official birthday.

It's kind of weird to realize that yes, it's been four years. Things have changed a lot in that time, both here, and in my life, and it's kind of nice to have this record, to be able to go back and look at it all. Hopefully this blog will be around for another couple of years as well ^^

(I was going to ramble about Isaac, but this is long enough already. Isaac will have to wait until later.)

I just tried to spell 'punctuation' in my cover letter for my Hamlet essay as 'punctionation'. Now I've got 'explanded' instead of 'expanded'. I really shouldn't be trying to edit this essay right now x.x

...This doesn't bode well for my Calc test first thing tomorrow, does it...

SAT IIs went alright this morning - I think I did very well on the Biology - Molecular, and very badly on the Math Level II. I also saw what was probably twenty people there that I knew - half of my class at my current school, have of my class from my old school, Jon, and some people I knew in elementary school, including one of my old best friends (Alex, for those who've been reading long enough to know who she is). Grace and Anthony were there, and we ended up going out to breakfast afterwards, which was nice. I went home after that, and spent lots of time doing research for my last post on the Turks RP, which I still think sucks, but won't get any better without me tracking down someone who knows a hell of a lot about guns and spending two hours asking them stupid questions, so it'll have to do.

We then went to see Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which was both funny and cute, as was the little short with the penguins from Madagascar. After I came home, I decided to give in to my inner whims and go out and be social, and went to go visit Grace at her place of employement (neat little coffe shop/bakery near-by), and Anthony, who also tags along. We all chatted and I had good chocolate cake, and helped Anthony with his calc homework, and then the two of us spent a good half an hour playing Hangman with biology words, because we are huge dorks. I think the most obscure word we came up with was 'Cnidaria', which is the phylum to which jellyfish belong, which I had never heard of.

And then I drove home with my windows fogging up like mad because of the rain and humidity, and now I'm going to bed because I am dead tired.

I think it's a sign of how bored I am that I'm seriously contemplating going to the Halloween dance at my school in three weeks. I, who have gone to exactly one school dance ever, at which I neither danced nor was at a school I actually attend (To make a long story short - Jon and I were the biggest dorks ever. Still are, I guess, but a little bit less so). I'm not really friends with anyone going, as I know Michelle will probably stay home, and there isn't anyone around here I really feel like inviting to a dance - all my fun-to-dance-with people are out on the west coast. Doubt any of you guys would want to come to a school dance anyway >.>

*sigh* It feels like nobody's been around recently - particularly this afternoon, but the last few weeks in general. I've been talking to people less and less, and kind of just folding into myself, as I am apt to do sometimes. It's kind of nice, in that it gives me less to worry about, and I have all the quiet I could ever want, but at the same time, I don't like it. I want to go out and be around people and have fun.

...Bleh. Probably thinking too much again. I should go to bed. Or study for the SAT IIs. Or something.

Today...has been an interesting day. Drove my brother around, spent three hours working on my last Biotech project, and another hour getting my car started. Luckily Ms. Lang has infinite patience, and Mr. Barys is a god among men when it comes to cars, so I did in fact get home.

I realised that I didn't really speak of my Fabric Place adventures this past weekend, yet - I got some nice fake fur for Alexis, buckles for a tailcoat I nearly finished two months ago except for them, and nine yards of black PVC for Sephiroth. All in all, I'm rather pleased.

I have the SAT IIs (again) on Saturday, which of course explains why I'm reading FF7 fanfic, trying not to spend even more money on things I don't really need, and contemplating why I find Rufus Shinra really damned hot.

Yo, Maddie! This will probably help you in deciphering that sword-crack. Now, if only I could find character sketches or something for the movie art. Would totally kill for those right now.

On an entirely unrelated note, apparently my Shakespeare proffessor now associates me with Horatio. My work here is done XD

I take back everything I said about the AC Seph design being on less crack than the FF7 design. Those weird metal strips made so much more sense when I thought they were gaskets or something connecting the sleeves and gloves. But no. The sleeves and gloves are seperate, and the metal things are just there, on the ends of the sleeves.

But Jen, those screencaps are love :o <3 Seriously, that just saved me like two hours of work right there XD

*goes back to sketching coat layout*

Because Jen is such an enabler :P Went out and bought the FF7 Ultimania Omega guidebook, which is full of shiny - Turks people, if any of you want area layouts from the game, I've got 'em.

Anyway, I scanned some stuff, mostly for Maddie, but other people might be interested. It's all up here - just the relationship chart and Vincent and Sephiroth's profiles, but if people want other stuff, I can scan. (Just a warning - the images are huge because I wanted to keep them big enough for the text to be readable.)

Advent Children parody subs! They are a thing of beauty.

"There was an explosion."
"I ducked."

XD

(And Vincent totally does knit. Probably with Gwendal.)