Someone needs to either talk me into or out of apping for Resolution Remix - I'm waffling horribly. I've got Mikhail, who I'm unfortunately feeling kind of 'meh' about, but I started thinking this morning, and I could adapt Mira pretty easily for LA, and I have an idea for a dreamseer, but those spots may all be gone already. Argh.

And Isamu, go be small and bitter somewhere that isn't the back of my head. I'm not writing you right now.

EDIT: After looking through the lists...all the places I'd be interested in apping a dreamseer already have lots of potential ones that are likely far better than anything I could come up with, there's already a Mikhail and I'm rather attached to the name. Sooo...Mira or nothing, I guess.

Matt -

New Year's, you are _so_ on.

(More on the weekend after I've had some sleep)

Getting upset over stupid, stupid things once again. I wish I didn't set standards for myself I can't actually achieve.

I think I'm going to watch more Supernatural. And study for my goddamn Bio midterm.

Y'know, I tend to call myself lesbian rather than bi, because while I do find a number of men aesthetically pleasing, it's always in the objective sense rather than being sexually attracted to them (granted, I'm picky and don't find that many people sexually attractive, so the fact that the few of them are women doesn't mean that much).

But Leon? I would totally do that boy. Mmmyes.

I just put my finger on one of the things that's been bugging me over the last couple of days, and I poke through Y-con photos - by a certain standard, I'm not a very good cosplayer. Oh, sure, the costumes are beautiful. I am, dare a I say it, excellent at craftsmanship. But the costumes may as well be on a dressform for how they look on me. The one and only character I cosplay that I actually look like the character as is Tatsumi - the rest of the time it just looks like me, wearing someone else's clothing.

I look through the photos and I hate how I look in them - I probably have close to two hundred photos of the various Seishirou outfits I've done, and I don't like any of them. And the same is true for Subaru, and Ada, and Leon. It's so frustrating, because I like the characters, I like making costumes, but I tend to live by the standard of 'if you can't do it well, why bother doing it at all' and there isn't really much I can do to make it any better - yeah, I could maybe improve my make-up skills some, but there's only so much even that can do.

Ahh, good old post-con depression. The arrival of which doesn't surprise me in the least. Unfortunately, not even chocolate seems to be helping today - I'm kind of feeling down about nearly everything at the moment, and all the school stuff I need to get done this week isn't helping.

*sigh* I think I need a hug, of the real-life variety. Hopefully next week will be better. At least I won't have midterms, anyway.

Oh, and does anyone have suggestions for a photo-organizing script that isn't Gallery? Re-installing it hasn't solved the problems, which means that the people on the forums were probably right - it's one of the Apache modules my host is running that's causing the problem, which means I'm screwed.

So, I was trying to fix my Gallery install, as it was giving me issues uploading files yesterday. Unfortunately, as I am not any good with PHP or Perl, I managed to fry it totally. Non-functioning totally. Which means re-installing it and importing everything again once my server decides to recognize that I'm not .01 MB over my hosting space - I was trying to restore some very large back-ups, and I think having the restored copy and the back-up is what shot me over, but half of that's gone now. Luckily all the image folders are still there and sorted, although I might be too much of a lazy bitch to re-tag all the photos, as I think that data's been lost. But images will be unavalible until that gets ironed out.

Alright, everything all at once this time! And there is actual commentary for photos, as I took so few of them - they're in two different locations because Gallery is doing weird things to a couple of them when I try to upload. Enjoy!

Read More?

Home from the con, which was fun. Report and photos tomorrow (the report is two-thirds done already, so it really will be up tomorrow and not in weeks), but for now, I think I may watch another episode of Supernatural, unpack some, and then crash, because this week is going to be hellishly busy.

And Christ, do you people post a lot.

God, it's weird to not be running around trying to do a million costume things right now. But no, nearly almost packed. Just need some AAs and US cash, and to put my food and remaining items in my backpack after I'm done with Bio lab tomorrow. So! Costume line-up is as follows:

Friday - yukata!Tatsumi
Saturday - wedding!Seishirou and mafia!Leon (How long Sei gets worn depends on how much patience I have - it's lovely, but kind of a pain in the ass to wear)
Sunday - Virgil

And I think I can pretty much guarantee I'll be the only person doing any of those at the con, so I should be easy to find. Or find Jo and she can probably point you my way. I'm getting in around five, five-thirty Friday - I unfortunately have no cellphone beause my mom only remembers to do things when they're not in my favor, like cancelling my US cell plan. But yes! Say hello, I don't bite. Looking forward to seeing old friends (okay, granted, I saw half you guys last week XD; ) and meeting some new ones in person :D

(Yeah, a bit early, but this is for the benefit of all the people going Thursday. There may be one last 'Ahhhh must pack con agh!' post tomorrow).

OMG con *bounce*.

Some good news! My sister in science (the cell bio nerd from the next house over) and I have managed to get places volunteering in the lab of the really cool prof we talked to at the BioSoc info session. It doesn't start until the end of November, as he's got a third-year class he's supervising in there now, but win! And you know you're a Microbi geek when you know the mortality rates for Ebola and Marburg off the top of your head (although I think I may have mixed up the Sudan and Zaire varieties of Ebola).

And not going to the movie tonight was a good idea - I'm dead-tired today, as I woke up several times from rather nasty nightmares last night. And no, not the usually pre-con bad dreams of rushing to finish costumes, or forgetting costumes, or any of that - genuine nightmares. Although totally was a dead kind of day in general, it seemed. Lots of people were really spaced out in Chem lab, more so than usual.

Now - laundry, packing, and making a shopping list for tomorrow. Usual pre-con post sometime late tonight, likely, for the benefit of those leaving tomorrow.

What I asked my mom to mail me:
-my winter coat
-my platform boots
-my bottle of blue hair dye.

What I got:
-coat and boots for Seph.
-bottle of conditioning toner.

Argh. At least she remembered my acne meds. Now, lunch, some VNV Nation, and that chem lab report.

The overwhelming question niggling at the back of my head for the last couple of weeks is whether or not to try and dye my hair to some consistant shade. As some might remember, I had it bleached last year - I dyed over the bleaching back in the spring, as my roots were growing in and it looked bad, but my hair never takes dye well, so it's faded out a lot (even black fades on my hair sometimes, it's terrible). You can now see three different layers of color in my hair - my roots, the half-assed secondary bleach job (my hair doesn't bleach well, either), and the much better pro bleach job.

Now, to me, the layers are really really obvious, but, well, it's my hair, so I look at it a lot more closely than everybody else does. So, I leave it up to you, dear readers! This is my hair now - no flash, so any color variations you see there aren't the light. And ignore the apparent cut-weirdness, it's not actually there - I let it dry pulled back and then untucked it quickly for the photo so it went a little wacky.

Look good, or no? Dying it is not a huge impact on my time or budget, I'm just a lazy bastard. And I'm trying not to fry my hair any more. Oh, and this is for Tatsumi and Leon, BTW.

Con Friday! So excited. Even though I'm kind of dead - didn't sleep well last night (had a House/Wilson dream, too, I think o.0), and I got five hours the night before care of neighbor. But! That might actually be getting worked out - although from the sounds of it, she was a lot less antagonistic to the RA than she was to me ('I'll comprimise' versus 'sucks to be you').

Costumes are done, at least for the definition of 'done' I'm using for this con. Still have no sidearm for Leon, but at the moment, the two options are something cheap, hideous, and plastic or nothing. And I have too much pride for cheap plastic. If I really tried, I might be able to get a starter pistol, which are better looking and still pretty cheap, but airlines consider those firearms and I don't have a hardsided case to ship it in. Things I need to do before the con - finish packing, buy some AA batteries, chem lab report, and not failing my English midterm.

There will be some of the usual pre-con stuff later this week, particularly once I find out if my cell number is still active. But for now, an FYI - Rockstar Juiced is a lot more drinkable than regular Rockstar, although still not as good as Full Throttle.

Bloody Palace mode is deeply, deeply cathartic.

And the neighbor may be even more of a total bitch than I thought, although more on that will come once I make sure I'm not jumping to conclusions here.

Back to killing things, now.

You know you're a nerd when looking at course lists makes you salivate a little. And have a bit of friendly competition going on for a lab position (it will be _mine_, I swear). And play DDR in lab coats, and look up where to buy glassware on the internet.

In honor of this evening of nerddom, have a song!
Freezepop - Science Genius Girl (Hi Phi Edit)

Because science chicks = HOT. Yeah, all of you ♥ (Okay, some of the arts chicks are hot too. But not science-hot)

I think I have too many brain cells to do this Bio assignment. No, really - how the hell does someone get this far and not know what the hell a scientific journal is? I suppose some of the hypothesis stuff can be accepted, although to me, I feel like beating my head against a wall until the stupid stops. Although writing an e-mail to that prof might work out better once I can manage something more coherent than 'Oh god please let me volunteer in your lab please please please'.

And yet I'm worried about grades anyway, because I always make some stupid little mistake in my math or something, and bye-bye points. More to post about later, but for now - I don't think it's strep, but it may be a sinus infection instead. I'll see if the pain spreading across my cheekbones is some weird headache that's gone tomorrow.

The Biological Sciences Society had an info session for potential Bio majors last night, and I went because it's my second choice of majors, and because they promised free food. This ended up being a good plan, as I learned important information (Co-op and the Cell Bio and Genetics major both require a 70% minimum average), met a fellow gigantic bio nerd who's in my building, and spent about an hour and a half talking with her, and one of the Cell Bio and Genetics advisors.

Apparently all the hardcore science nerds are hiding out in Science One, which I didn't do because I didn't want to do first year English and Calc again, but they do exist! And the prof we talked to didn't think we were total brown-nosers for wanting to volunteer in labs this year - I think he just thought we were great big enthusiastic bio nerds, which is the truth.

And god, I really hope I just have a cold and not strep - the girl on the other side of me (not the loud one) had strep a week or two back so now I'm all worried, as I feel like crap and have the begining of a sore throat. Do not want strep during the con.

I knew it was going to be an interesting shift last night when as soon as we left the SUB, a girl comes up to us and goes 'Just so you know, there's a racoon stuck in the dumpster outside Buchanan'. So, we go to investigate, and there was in fact a raccoon stuck in the dumpster. We could hear it trying to get out as we approached, and when we shined the flashlight in, there it was, staring up about it. We radioed in to the office and decided to let them decide what to do about it - they opted to do nothing, assuming that it'd get out on it's own, or if it was a juvenile, the parents would be back. Ended up being a good guess, it was out when we stopped by later, and we saw two big raccoon run past into the bushes.

Other than that, it was a surprisingly busy night, although in part because we lucked out and were the closest team to most of the walks called in. It's okay, though, gives us something to do.

And it would figure that I start thinking about porn right when it's least helpful or appropriate, ie, right before my Bio lab midterm. Claire, Ada? I do in fact find the mental image of you two getting it on as hot as Leon does, but...not the time or place, guys.

And my cheesey gay animated pr0n needs to download faster *pokes BitTorrent*

I realized one of the reasons I've been so unhappy lately - I don't really have a school-friend yet. Yeah, I vaguely know a whole bunch of people on campus, but that's not the same as having someone who's always there to hang out with between classes, to eat lunch with, to make terrible jokes about Vergil kicking kittens with (if I haven't explained that one - it's a loooong story).

Damnit, Michelle, why are you so far away XD;?

(And oh god, is the dorm internet lagging. Soooo sloooooow.)

Am home, somewhat unfortunately. We had a lovely very fall sort of day yesterday - slept in, spent the afternoon cooking Thanksgiving dinner (well, Liz cooked, and I just helped where needed), which was delicious despite how suspicious the turkey log-thing was, and then we sat around, watched amusing videos on the internet, and then Nightmare Before Christmas.

Dante and Virgil are now both totally done, as are the spats for Leon, which means I just need gloves - I think a trip to Metrotown later this week is in order. We spent a lot of the weekend bashing CLAMP (while cutting out Tsubasa outfits) and discussing various Yaoicon plans. Which has me craving ridiculous sappy BL anime (although not Gravi - seen that twice through, at least). So...suggestions are welcome XD; Pr0n is okay too, as long as it's entertaining pr0n. Oh, and I've already seen the FAKE OAV, too.

I just had a dream that, while deeply interesting while it was happening, instantly put me into an utterly foul mood when I woked up and realized what I had just dreamed about.

If I have no hair at Y-con, it will be because I have torn it all out while screaming in frustration.

(although, if all the senior angels really are that much of snotty bitches, I can see why Raphael would pick humans instead)

And now I'm going to _try_ to get some more sleep instead of musing on how deeply unhappy and annoyed I am at the moment. Argh argh argh.

Yoinked from Megan and Jo because the only thing to do around here at the moment is watch Janelle play Drakengard 2, and thus, I am bored.

Choose twelve of your original characters in any particular order. (NO PEEKING AT THE QUESTIONS AT THIS STAGE!) Then, answer the questions that follow.

(Yeah, I've got too many S_F characters (people owe me posts, damnit), and I really desperately need to do something with some of these guys.)

Read More?

Am on the Island, after much running around this morning (and fires in the admin buildings, I kid you not). I'll probably be here until Monday or Tuesday morning, not sure how that's going to work out yet. However - cosplay progress has been made! The scarf and hat for Leon are done, which leaves the spats, and buying gloves (I also have no firearm, but...I'm not sure that's going to happen. Don't have the money to buy anything or the time to make it). Dante's robes are also done, as is the silly hat, kind of - I may fiddle with it more tomorrow, we'll see. I also have slightly overpriced fake leaves for crowns of laurels, which will probably get put together tomorrow, or rather, later today.

I should probably be a good girl, and read more Wordsworth, but, uh. No. TV! Or maybe just straight to sleep.

I think many of my problems in life would be solved by getting laid. Unfortunately, this seems to require being straight and having no standards, neither of which are true.

Damnit.

Amber/other Viko people - interested in coming out this weekend, but I totally forgot it was Thanksgiving - I don't want to interupt any plans if you've got them. But if not, I've got Monday off, and actually could be off Friday, too, so...when works best for you guys?

This is for Jo, although the handful of other DMC fans reading this may find it entertaining, too. Warning for bad!art; didn't want to spent forever on something that's ultimately just some silly crack.

Sparda

(Really should have a snickering Eva in the background, as this is totally her fault, but I can't draw chicks XD; )

Things I Have Learned Recently:
-I am too white for my kanji dictionary. Seriously, I can hear the Japanese language going 'Haha, stupid white girl' XD;
-Strawberries are motivational!
-I can fall asleep again after my neighbor's music wakes me up
-VNV Nation is strangely an excellent mood-lifter.

Things To Do Today:
-Fabric store
-Beat Aciel, the little bitch
-Buy tea
-Buy soba noodles
-Actually do English reading
-Finish Chem lab report

-Tabletop RP
-See Rocky Horror, the whole she-bang (which means finding someone who's been to take me, I think)
-Learn Japanese
-Go clubbing
-Take part in real science - first year school labs = not cutting it here. (once I have some lab experience, ie, after first year labs are done, I am so volunteering to be a cleaning-bitch for someone in Microbi, because I really am that sad).
-Do something with my OCs, either fic or RP.
-Learn swordfighting.
-Become a better photographer.
-Have really fantastic sex.

Dear neighbor, I don't fucking care if quiet hours end at seven am. Eight thirty on a Sunday morning is too damned early for your bass to be throbbing through my room. I also don't care if you were watching Friends last night, and turned it off at twelve-thirty instead of one. I could still hear it. And guess what? I can hear you now, too, talking loudly to someone in Chinese! At two am! Fuck you!

Dear floormates, you actually seem like a tolerable bunch, but please, please stop asking me the same damned question. Yes, Massachusetts is sort of far away. But I am getting really sick of people asking me 'Why did you come here?' and giving the same answer. Do you ask all the international students, or is it just because I'm American? Really.

Dear friends, I have my reasons for the decisions I've made in the last year or so. Technically, these are entirely my bussiness, and thus not your's, but I will enlighten you anyway. It apparently comes as a surprise to some of you that these reasons are not simply 'Jo'. No, they're really not. I do in fact have my own opinions, reasons, and life, outside of Jo. And, in the future if you want to know my thoughts, actually ask me instead of someone I am barely on speaking terms with, instead of making assumptions.

Yes, I know, I'm a bit short at the moment, but I have had it up to here with these things. I do actually like you all (well, save neighbor and those who are already well-aware of my opinions of them). And neighbor has finally shut the hell up, so I'm going to try and sleep.

Anyone want letters? I feel like getting back into the habit of writing letters, and it would give me something to do during my downtime. I only have Jo and Mara's addresses, at the moment, so if you want something, e-mail me: cocoa[at]tokyo-tower.org

On a similar note, I am rather desperate for mail. Any mail. You could write a page and a half about what you ate for breakfast and I'd be happy. I've been feeling really cut-off from my friends here, in part because suddenly everybody is too busy to hang around online and talk to me. Address is here, although custom-locked - if you can't see it and want the address, hit me up on AIM or MSN or e-mail - I'm bad about updating my filters sometimes.

Great big

Happy Birthday!

God, I am such a nerd. I am this close to staying up all night researching the Sephiroth, in part so I can examine how they relate to Nocturne (Hitoshura as Kingdom, and the presence of God on earth? Deep and meaningful, damnit!). Dante, interestingly, appears to be an extra one that isn't always used (Da'at/Daath), which definately makes sense in one context - he's the one that doesn't fit into the order of the others, although I have yet to investigate if it relates more directly to him.

And I realized that you don't actually fight the Fiends in the numerical order of the sephiroth/candelabra, I think - unfortunately the walkthrough I skimmed to compile a list of them only lists the name of the candelabrum you is, not the number you can get by looking at it in the item menu. I'm behind on that, though, so I'm going to try and keep track as I go - I can kind of guess from the names, but they don't use the most common translations, most of the time, liekly because it probably went Hebrew > Japanese > English, or possibly even Hebrew > English > Japanese > English, probably without super-close attention to these nuances because dude, it's a video game XD; But the Sephiroth aren't always traversed in order either, and the different paths taken have different meaning.

And Jo, I'll give you this much - your Aciel is a lot better-looking than Nocturne's. His teeth...wriggle. What the hell. Although the crown makes me think 'punk lolita', which is terribly amusing.