The Jade Ramblings

X-Men: Days of Future Past

jadehunter — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 09:24:41 GMT

Okay, I saw it. From the excited reviews, I was honestly expecting something really amazing, but I didn't really like it all that much. I mean, it's not X3 levels of suck, but it's not as good as X2, not even better than FC. Maybe it's around the same level as X1, which is pretty disappointing.

Honestly, though, my problem was basically Erik (the young one).

Like, oh my fucking grilled cheese, Erik was the biggest, dumbest, douchiest fucking dumbass EVER. Even in X2 and FC when he pulled similar heel-faced turns, his actions were understandable. Like, you knew why he was doing what he was doing, even if what he was doing was really sucky (turning Charles into a weapon, abandoning Charles after paralyzing him). In this movie, he was like a caricature of himself. Like, he was saying all these things about mutant brotherhood and everything, but it all sounded really hollow and he was just really flat and unbelievable. I honestly didn't get the sense that he cared about anything, not even Charles. And everything he was doing was just making the situation worse and at the end of the movie I just wished Charles would've let him get captured or whatever because he was just too dumb to let go. There is no smart, practical mastermind villain here - this is just an angry dude throwing a tantrum without a specific target, and he needs some time out or a nap or something.

Magneto in the future was amazing, but Erik just ruined the whole movie for me. I couldn't get into his whole thing, and it just - ugh. No.

I'm glad it wasn't a Wolverine fest again, though. And Charles and Professor X were both great, and I really loved their scene together. I loved that Charles didn't fall into a pit of despair because of Raven and Erik - he moved on with his life after they abandoned him, and actually did open up his school and get students and teachers. While Erik was being imprisoned and stuff for JFK, Charles was doing things, productive things, and not moping around. So many people online are acting like it was all about Raven and Erik, and it was such a relief to see that it was the loss of his school, his students, to the Vietnam War that really broke him. I mean, I'm sad he broke, but thank goodness it was about something more important than two people who left him and never looked back, because Charles is really a lot stronger than that.

The future X-Men parts, the Charles parts, the Hank and Wolverine parts...they were all good. I really loved the Charles and Raven relationship, too, where they both still considered each other family, how Charles pulled himself out of his funk for Raven, and how Raven was so, so ecstatic to see him again. I also loved that Charles put his faith in Raven and let her make her own choice in the end, even though it would've been easy for him to take control of her like he did with Erik. Those parts were really awesome.

I really liked Quicksilver in here, too, and his scenes were funny and great.

None of that is enough to balance out the suck factor of Erik's epic, gormless, douchecanoe act, though. Like, it could've been a great move, but...meh.

Maybe Captain America: The Winter Soldier spoiled me. Great action, plus great characters, with great emotional moments that make you feel for everyone...now there's how you do a superhero movie where the protagonist and the antagonist both go through epic emotional upheaval and make it good and believable.

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Holy shit

jadehunter — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 02:55:49 GMT

I just got High School class reunion notification in the mail.

OMFG, it's been 10 years since I graduated high school!

Lol, now I feel old, jeez.

xpost: http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/188882.html

I'm still alive...

jadehunter — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 00:55:34 GMT

Sorry for being all absent for the past...long time, lol. I've mostly been spending my time on tumblr lately, mostly because it's easier to reblog more articulate people than it is to put everything down into my own words, haha.

I'm jade-ramblings.tumblr.com if you wanted to know (and let me know yours, too).

xpost: http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/188449.html

Disneyland 2013

jadehunter — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 05:12:34 GMT

Sorry for the silence, haha. Nothing new really going on in my life right now, basically just working and sleeping, with a little bit of eating involved. The only exciting thing that happened to me was that I got to go to Disneyland yesterday, and spent the entire day there! It was even more awesome than last year, mostly because I wasn't so confused about the layout and I had better, more supportive shoes. :)

I went with three friends, and I have to reiterate that Disneyland with friends (or even alone) is a totally different experience than Disneyland with family. It's way better, because you can go wherever you want to go and do whatever you want to do, not just what your parents or your kids want to do.

We got there very early, when the park opened, which meant that we could start the day off with an adrenaline jolt at the Tower of Terror with only a 13 minute wait - it was awesome! We hit pretty much every ride we wanted to go on. The Haunted Mansion was already decorated for the holidays, so that was cute - plus, Jack Skellington was there with Sally, taking pics with people. Sadly, we were in line for the Mansion when we spotted them, and when we came back out, Sally was gone. But we were still able to get a pic with Jack, which was still awesome. (I felt really bad for all the people in the costumes, tbh, because it was a pretty hot day - especially Jack in all black, and the guys in the fur costumes.)

We almost didn't get a chance to ride Indiana Jones again (last year it was closed when we went); we were almost at the front of the line when the ride closed for an indeterminate amount of time. As we were leaving the line, though, the cast members gave everyone a free no-waiting pass for the ride for when it re-opened. Lol, we actually got more fast passes for Indiana Jones, though, and used the no-waiting pass for Space Mountain instead. Went on Splash Mountain, did the Toy Story Mania one (always fun, and with only a 40 minute wait instead of a 65 min wait like last year), the Cars Land ride (fast passes are awesome, let me just say), and the Goofy ride that's a small roller coaster that makes you feel like you're going to die, haha.

Got amazing coffee at Ghiradelli's, ate great pasta and had an afternoon cocktail at the Winery, and saw two shows. One was a short, tiny show in Bug's Land that I'd never seen before, and it was really cute and totally worth seeing - I really recommend it to everyone. It doesn't take that long to see and it's super cute. Also saw the Aladdin show again, and the Genie was hilarious. I'll never get tired of seeing that one, to be honest.

Lol, every time I come back from Disneyland, I always have this burning desire to get an Annual Pass, because, holy crap, I love it so, so much!

xpost: http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/188267.html

Pacific Rim

jadehunter — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 07:19:54 GMT

Came back from seeing it at the dollar theater. It was a lot better than I expected from a giant monsters vs. giant robots movie.

It's hard to pinpoint what I like so much about the movie, but I think it has to do with how the male and female protagonists were handled regarding their relationship with each other and the storyline. As in, the man wasn't the sole hero, the woman's storyline was just as important, and she wasn't just there to be the love interest or provide emotional support. In fact, it was really weird, but the man pretty much spent the entire movie providing emotional encouragement and support for her, instead of the other way around, which - well, where else have I ever seen that before?

Oh, right. Never.

I mean, if you've ever seen a sci-fi action movie, pretty much the basic plot points are predictable - but you could say that about hundreds of other movies and books out there. I think the execution of the action scenes were well done, and the main characters were all likeable.

Plus, the main character guy's shirtless scenes were pretty much worth the price of admission.

xpost: http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/187992.html

New place...

jadehunter — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 03:03:01 GMT

So, I did move from that studio apartment to a one bedroom. It's really bare right now, mostly because I didn't need furniture for a studio aside from a bed and some bookcases, lol, and that's clearly not the case anymore. The layout is pretty weird in this new apartment, to be honest, and I don't think I'll ever get a couch. No place to put it - not space wise, but design-wise, because any couch would have to go opposite the TV and that would just get in the way of where I had to put my desk due to a need to be near the cable outlet for my internet.

Plus, new apartment worries, I guess. Noises are unfamiliar, surroundings are unfamiliar...it's my apartment, but it doesn't really feel like it at the moment. It just feels like an empty place filled with boxes and my computer. I'm jumping at every noise, checking the locks, wiping down everything several times (I'm not a clean person because I don't like messes, I'm clean because I hate bugs - I dgaf about dust or anything, but if I see a single bug of any kind, I will attack everything with Raid).

Downside: Money is going down the drain right now. Urg.

On the plus side: Internet.

xpost: http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/187757.html

Update

jadehunter — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 22:42:02 GMT

Sorry I've been missing for so long, but I basically had no internet for, oh...a month. I'm honestly not sure how I survived with my sanity intact, but I did, and that period of time will be banished to the depths of my memory forever. Plus I was busy moving, which I have now done, and this is the first thing I set up, lol.

Long story short: new apartment, new internet, same me.

:)

xpost: http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/187523.html

Texas passes sweeping abortion restrictions

jadehunter — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 06:50:59 GMT

I'm gonna take a minute to step out of my personal life bubble here and address this:

Texas passes sweeping abortion restrictions

Okay, I have a lot of rage-y feelings about this particular thing, mostly because I have a lot of feelings about women's rights in general. As a daughter of a poor minority single mother, I have a LOT of feelings about politics.

First of all, you should know that this is not my knee-jerk reaction. My knee-jerk reaction wasn't nearly as coherent, and more resembled something like this:

Secondly, okay, my problem - okay, problems - with the GOP and their anti-abortion crusade is that, well, it's essentially a crusade against choice. Against women having agency over their bodies. They call themselves "pro-life" because that makes it sound so much better than what it actually is. They talk about "unborn children" like they actually give a flying fuck about anyone other than themselves and those around them.

Because if they were really pro-life, then they wouldn't be for the death penalty, or for war, or for unrestricted access to guns for everyone.

And if they really cared for the well-being of babies and children, they would do more for the millions of children already in the U.S. that lack loving homes, or access to healthcare, or proper education.

But they don't.

They're all for death when it comes to anyone not in the womb. They throw money at weapons manufacturers and into military coffers when the military itself says there's too much to spend, all the while cutting spending from social programs and education. They take money away from things that will benefit children in order to fund more death, and have the gall to call themselves "pro-lifers" just because they "care" about fetuses.

And, honestly, they can't care that much about fetuses, either, considering that they're also against providing pre-natal healthcare. So...they don't care that children are unwanted, or are unhealthy, or are uneducated. They just care that they're born, even if they're born to suffer.

No, it's not about the children, the babies, or even the fetuses.

It's about women. About hating the fact that women can choose what they want to do with their bodies, with their lives, with their futures.

"What if your mom had an abortion when she was pregnant with you?" That's a question that gets asked a lot by Anti-Choicers, and it really reveals how selfish they are, and how selfish they think everyone else is, too.

Honestly, if my mom had aborted me as a baby, I would never know the difference, but my mother wouldn't have had to struggle so much. She would never have had to work every day to try and make ends meet, never have had to struggle to get out of bed with a migraine to get to work because she had to pay for my needs, never have had to suffer what must have been the worst kind of humiliation in order to ask people for money because even with all that hard work, sometimes it still wasn't enough.

If I could have spared her all of that by not being born, I would.

But that's not my choice to make, it wasn't anyone's choice to make, except for hers - it was her choice.

It should be every woman's choice, not something forced on them.

I've seen families where the parents don't want children but have them anyway because "abortion is wrong." I've seen what happens to the children that are raised with the knowledge that they're unwanted, that they were always unwanted. I've seen how it affects a someone when they get told, point blank, by their parents, "I wish you had never been born." I would never wish that kind of emotional turmoil on anyone, much less a child.

I want every woman to have a choice, because it's their lives and their futures and their health on the line. And because women having that choice will also result in more children being born to homes with want them, that love them - instead of homes that resent them and neglect them.

Why is that so hard for people to understand?

xpost: http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/187331.html

Vegetarian status update

jadehunter — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:25:51 GMT

Well, it's been 2 months since the Vegetarian Pact, and I'm proud to say that I stuck with it. There were some hard times, where my mouth flooded at the thought of some of my favorite chicken-related dishes over the past few weeks, but I really liked the whole thing better than I thought I would. Some notable things that happened to me over the past 2 months after turning vegetarian:

1) There was a period of about a week at the beginning stages of vegetarianism where I broke out really badly. Worse than I've ever broken out before. Even during the height of my pimply teenage years, I'd never gotten more than two or three pimples at a time, but that one week, it was like the Rockies on my face. I honestly was super pissed and kind of worried, but I drank a LOT of water and ate a lot of raw veggies and fruits to super-cleanse my system, and I stopped breaking out and the existing pimples slowly retreated.

2) I experienced insomnia for the first time in my life. Ever since I was little, I never had any problems falling asleep and staying asleep, not counting that one time I stupidly took a Sudafed at like 9PM. After the breaking out period, though, I had a week where I basically stared at my ceiling for close to an hour and a half every night, waiting to fall asleep. And after I eventually fell asleep, I would then wake up several times in the middle of the night. I had no idea why this was happening, but I think it had to do with the drastic change in diet because my co-worker (also doing the vegetarian thing) also reported bad sleeping patterns.

3) After the week of bad sleeping, I went through a week of extreme tiredness. I felt like I had no energy all day, and started feeling really sleepy at like 4PM while at work, to the point where my eyes were drooping. The tiredness made it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep at night, solving the insomnia problem, but even when I went to sleep early, I was tired during the day. I thought maybe it was a problem with not getting enough protein or something, so I upped my intake of almonds and started eating Greek yoghurt instead of the regular stuff.

4) Once all that passed, I started feeling hungry every few hours. This was weird to me, because I used to be the person who forgets to eat because she doesn't feel hunger until like 15 hours without foot, but, man... This is actually a problem that still remains, where I feel hungry very often. I have to eat at least four times a day, often five times, by eating snacks between meals. I think it's because vegetables and stuff digest faster than meat, and it's pretty annoying when I'm at work, but my boss is really cool about it.

In conclusion: lots of drastic changes, but I really did end up liking it. For now, I'm of a mind to continue the vegetarian thing for as long as I can, although there is a new sushi restaurant opening in the plaza where I work and I have a really terrible weakness for udon, which, while being a noodle dish, is actually made with fish broth and thus cannot be consumed by strict vegetarians. So conflicted...

xpost: http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/186348.html

Vegetarian status update

jadehunter — Fri, 10 May 2013 06:17:42 GMT

Well, it's been 2 months since the Vegetarian Pact, and I'm proud to say that I stuck with it. There were some hard times, where my mouth flooded at the thought of some of my favorite chicken-related dishes over the past few weeks, but I really liked the whole thing better than I thought I would. Some notable things that happened to me over the past 2 months after turning vegetarian:

1) There was a period of about a week at the beginning stages of vegetarianism where I broke out really badly. Worse than I've ever broken out before. Even during the height of my pimply teenage years, I'd never gotten more than two or three pimples at a time, but that one week, it was like the Rockies on my face. I honestly was super pissed and kind of worried, but I drank a LOT of water and ate a lot of raw veggies and fruits to super-cleanse my system, and I stopped breaking out and the existing pimples slowly retreated.

2) I experienced insomnia for the first time in my life. Ever since I was little, I never had any problems falling asleep and staying asleep, not counting that one time I stupidly took a Sudafed at like 9PM. After the breaking out period, though, I had a week where I basically stared at my ceiling for close to an hour and a half every night, waiting to fall asleep. And after I eventually fell asleep, I would then wake up several times in the middle of the night. I had no idea why this was happening, but I think it had to do with the drastic change in diet because my co-worker (also doing the vegetarian thing) also reported bad sleeping patterns.

3) After the week of bad sleeping, I went through a week of extreme tiredness. I felt like I had no energy all day, and started feeling really sleepy at like 4PM while at work, to the point where my eyes were drooping. The tiredness made it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep at night, solving the insomnia problem, but even when I went to sleep early, I was tired during the day. I thought maybe it was a problem with not getting enough protein or something, so I upped my intake of almonds and started eating Greek yoghurt instead of the regular stuff.

4) Once all that passed, I started feeling hungry every few hours. This was weird to me, because I used to be the person who forgets to eat because she doesn't feel hunger until like 15 hours without foot, but, man... This is actually a problem that still remains, where I feel hungry very often. I have to eat at least four times a day, often five times, by eating snacks between meals. I think it's because vegetables and stuff digest faster than meat, and it's pretty annoying when I'm at work, but my boss is really cool about it.

In conclusion: lots of drastic changes experiences, but I really did end up liking it. For now, I'm of a mind to continue the vegetarian thing for as long as I can, although there is a new sushi restaurant opening in the plaza where I work and I have a really terrible weakness for udon, which, while being a noodle dish, is actually made with fish broth and thus cannot be consumed by strict vegetarians. So conflicted...

xpost: http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/186348.html

Mother's Day again? Didn't we just have that?

jadehunter — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 02:42:53 GMT

I hate flower shopping for Mother's Day. It's pretty much the only time I buy someone flowers, and it's my luck that the person I'm buying flowers for actually has a green thumb and cares about what flowers I get her (the total opposite of me, basically). Why does my mom have to have tastes that are different from mine?

And flower websites are like food commercials. All of the pics look better than the actual thing. Every time I spend $80+ on a pretty looking bouquet online and then I see it in real life and it's a total disappointment and feels like a waste of money. Vibrant colors turn out to be flat and blah, and it's all so frustrating.

Dang it.

xpost: http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/186011.html

fic: what once was will never be again (1/1)

jadehunter — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 08:31:50 GMT

Title: what once was will never be again
Author: jadehunter
Fandom: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (manga)
Pairing(s): Senshi/Shitennou, in the typical match-ups (Venus/Kunzite, Mars/Jadeite, Jupiter/Nephrite, Mercuery/Zoisite)
Rating: PG-13
Warning: None, really, except there's really not a happy ending here.
Word Count: ~2.5k

Summary: Manga-based. The Shitennou are stones, now and forever, never to live again. Five reasons why this is for the best.

*****

V.

Mizuno Ami knows that she is not meant for romantic love.

The evidence is provided by her own body every time she finds a love letter in her locker and hives decorate her skin like a warning sign: this is not meant for you. She doesn't know why her body reacts this way to romantic overtures, but it's been the same way since eight-year-old Yamamoto Hisoka presented her with a hand-made card by the swings in elementary school. It's obviously psychosomatic; it's impossible to actually be physically allergic to something as arbitrary as love letters, and the way the hives present themselves almost as soon as she realizes what she is looking at, before she even picks up the letter, is quite telling.

The underlying cause that results in the physical reaction, however, is a complete mystery to her and those around her.

This is because Mizuno Ami doesn't remember.

(But Mercury remembers.

Mercury remembers being eternally youthful, during the height of the Silver Millennium, a princess of her own planet. She remembers that her people valued intelligence, loved wisdom, delighted in curiosity, and fell in love with inspiration - was it any wonder, then, that Mercury had experienced many suitors of her own? She remembers the flowers, the jewelry, the poetry, the declarations of undying devotion.

Intelligence, wisdom, curiosity, and inspiration. Was it any wonder, that she would be as drawn to these qualities as the rest of her people were?

Was it any wonder that she had been drawn to him?

Mercury remembers love.

She remembers stolen moments, guilty meetings, green eyes, and an impish nature. Long letters that bared their souls to each other, kept in a secret compartment in her desk, worn at the creases after countless readings. She remembers every moment, first to last. From the way her heart pounded and her hands trembled when he had smiled at her, to the way she wanted to crawl out of her skin when he broke his oaths to his liege to take up with a monster.

Mercury remembers heartbreak, but it is pale in comparison to the hate.

Hate is cold and unyielding; it was much better to hate, because heartbreak would have weakened her, but hate gave her the strength to destroy the one who had promised to give her everything and had instead cut her to the bone and stolen everything of value from her life.

How foolish she had been to believe him.

How foolish, to love him.)

Mizuno Ami is not meant for love. Her body tells her this, although her conscious mind doesn't know why.

(Mercury always learns from her mistakes.)

IV.

Kino Makoto doesn't lie, not even to herself.

When she mentions her old sempai, she does it a little wistfully, but never enough to give anyone the impression that she wants him back. Unlike before, she now never says his name or talks about what he looked like, only some of the things he did or could do. He is never a topic of conversation in and of himself, only someone she mentions in passing and leaves behind just as well.

This isn't because she doesn't remember him - it's just...now she remembers him.

(Jupiter had been a warrior to the bone, and was never the type to hide from her problems. Her first instinct had always been to confront, whether it was an enemy or a truth.

And sometimes, the truth was often more brutal than any enemy.)

She remembers him with more clarity than other people think, though she doesn't remember as much as she would like. She doesn't know his name, this is true. But she remembers how it felt, to be with him, then to have it all thrown in doubt, and that is more than enough.

That is more than she wants, sometimes.

It's easy to speak of him somewhat fondly, to talk only of his good qualities, because she knows that she will never see him again. It doesn't matter that the thought of his deep brown eyes still makes her heart skip a beat, or that she can remember times when she lay in his warm embrace as they gazed up at the night sky of his realm.

(He died twice by her hand, but at least the second time he had been nothing to her. She had not been so lucky the first time.)

There's no need for her to harden her heart with hate, even knowing that he had become an oath-breaker, because he will only ever be a memory to her, and it's far better to reminisce about happier times than to torture herself endlessly with questions.

(His oaths to his Prince had turned false, and so, too, had his vows of love to her.

Had any of it meant anything to him?

Jupiter hates him almost as fiercely as she loves him, for forsaking his loyalties and leaving her filled with uncertainty and doubt, dooming her for an eternity of wondering if he had played her for a fool from the beginning or if there had been a point where she could have kept him from turning his back on them all.

Does it even matter now?

The answer won't change the truth of what happened and what is.)

Kino Makoto allows herself no lies, only truth: she loved a man once, one older than her, who had been amazing for the short time they had been together, and then he had revealed his true nature, hurting her like no other. And while she speaks of her sempai with nostalgia, there is no part of her that feels she should ever be with him again.

(This is the truth: love is not the same as trust. One lingers even now, but the other is gone forever.)

III.

Hino Rei looks always to the future, never the past.

This is why she pretends she doesn't remember anything from her past life.

She remembers it all - it's impossible to stop remembering, as much as she might have wished she could stop the dreams and the visions that leaked through when her guard was down. But it's quite easy to ignore everything that comes back to her, and pretend that she is no different from the girl she was the day before, one who knew a little less.

(Depending on his mood, his eyes could be every shade between blue and gray - )

No matter what she remembers, she pushes it aside to the back of her mind and vows never to think on it again. She doesn't need them, these memories that no longer matter. Her life is complete without their unwelcome intrusion.

(Master of illusions, always with a small smile and a charming word - )

Her life in this incarnation, the decisions she makes, she wants to keep these free of influence from the past. Even being a Senshi is something she likes to think as separate from the past. The powers, the legacy - these things are remnants of that life, but the reason she chooses to keep the mantle of a warrior is entirely her own, had been her own from the moment she first transformed.

(Mars had protected Serenity because it was a duty she had been raised to believe in from the moment she was born; she had gone down on bended knee as little more than a child, vowing loyalty and protection to a newborn babe held in the Queen's arms, the others kneeling beside her. Mars had barely understood the ramifications of swearing to protect someone with her life when she had spoken the words, but she had spoken them joyfully nonetheless because that was what she had been raised to do.

She chooses to protect Usagi now because Usagi is a dear friend. Her princess, too, but a friend first and foremost. It's love that drives her to protect in this life, not blind loyalty and duty, and this is infinitely better.)

There is no reason to linger on things that are no longer relevant. She, herself, is a new person, one free of the entrapments of the old life. She might not have a choice about remembering, but that doesn't mean she has to give weight to any of those memories. She chooses not to acknowledge them.

(Serious and calculating, with a mask of inoffensive politeness to everyone, but underneath the illusion, a man of passion and feeling - )

It doesn't mean her actions, her feelings, her life has to change because of them.

(How he would look at her, his gaze burning her skin, how he had trembled to touch her face - )

No, there was no point in remembering. She was a different person from before, and her life was different.

(For the first time in an eternity, how she had felt so alive in his arms - )

Her future will be different.

(She only lets herself remember this one thing: men cannot be trusted.)

II.

Aino Minako has learned her lesson well.

She had always remembered more of her past life than the others, and, in truth, had remembered bits and pieces of him even before she had joined the group, thanks to Ace. Then, she had been a child trying to be a warrior, and it had been easy to dismiss what little she recalled as being unimportant in the face of the greater issue of protecting the Princess and preventing the tragedies of their past lives from repeating itself in this incarnation. Even when she had come face to face with him, it had been easy to attack, to consider him nothing more than an agent of the enemy.

Watching him disintegrate under the power of their combined attack had only given her grim satisfaction, nothing more.

(Even now, knowing everything, she doesn't regret it. Just what does that make her?)

It was only after their first few encounters with the Black Moon Clan, when she had acquired more of her old strength as Venus, that more of the old memories had also resurfaced.

More than just a glimpse or two of looking at him, of having him speak to her, now there was an endless parade of moments: how his eyes would soften when he saw her, how right it had felt to be in his arms, how it had felt to love someone so hopelessly - and, later, what it had been like to know that she was loved in return.

(Venus struggled for months, torn between love and duty, wanting to be with him but denying herself, until it occurred to her that there could be a balance. If Serenity and Endymion could wed, could be together publicly, then perhaps she, too, could...)

She remembers that she had once allowed herself to hope.

She remembers that it had all come to nothing.

(He came to the Moon for the first time as an enemy, bringing with him an army of his kind, following that witch Beryl and his eyes had been cold and full of mistrust when he looked at her. He showed no mercy for any of the Lunarian soldiers, cutting them down under the orders of someone not his Prince, and that was when she hardened her heart forever.

As he reeled from shock at Endymion's death, she had delivered a death blow of her own, taking advantage of his distraction.

In war, there is no honor, no mercy.

Not for the enemy.)

So she lets herself be flighty when out of battle. She lets herself be as careless as she dares, throwing herself with enthusiasm towards material distractions with abandon. Her eyes follow every cute boy she sees, and she flirts and dates as if truly the incarnation of Aphrodite, because all of these things are meaningless, and, thus, allowed.

Everything that Venus denied herself in the past, she indulges in now, and with no guilt whatsoever.

Because the one thing Venus allowed herself back then...

Well, that's the one trap she will never allow herself to fall for again.

(Once, Venus dreamed of a time when she could find a balance between love and duty. Then she realized that there was no such thing, and what she had thought was balance simply turned out to be circumstances that did not require her to choose one or the other at that moment in time.

And when the next moment came, Venus realized that there was no choice - not for her.)

Never again.

(First and foremost, she is a soldier. Everything else is secondary.)

I.

The Shitennou were once great Kings of their realms, honorable men sworn into the service of the Prince of the Golden Kingdom as his protectors, guides, and brothers. When their Prince fell in love with a forbidden Princess, they were concerned for what it meant for their future, the future of Earth. These concerns were set aside in the face of their Prince's happiness, and later buried further when faced with their own happiness -

But they were not buried far enough.

They could not hide from the power of Metallia.

It was a slow, creeping process, where the darkness seeped into their hearts and found a home within the smallest, niggling doubts that they harbored in their subconscious minds. There, with time, the darkness fed on their negative emotions, to which all humans are prone, and it nurtured their fears and their doubts until they grew to such overwhelming strength that love and reason were now the things buried and forgotten.

They sold their souls to Beryl and Metallia willingly, made a bargain with evil in order to save Earth's independence and autonomy.

They sold their souls to darkness for eternity, though they did not know it at the time.

After the end, they were given another chance, reborn into new lives, with a new chance to serve their Prince once more. When they grew old enough, their hazy memories led them to search for their Prince, but they found Beryl, instead, and their souls were called back to serve the darkness once more.

It was only after death that their souls found freedom, though limited in the form of spirits anchored to stones, and they all agreed that it was better to forever remain in this state than to ever be turned against their Prince once more. Although Beryl and Metallia were long gone, darkness was a constant in the universe, equal an opposing the light, and there were others with similar enough affinities to the darkness that they could subvert the Shitennou as Beryl and Metallia had.

Better to remain stones and spirits, never to be reborn again, seen and acknowledged only by their Prince, and no one else. Better to live a half-life filled with longing for what could have been, than to be used again as pawns for the forces of evil.

This was the only way to ensure that they would never become traitors again.

(This is their punishment.)

*****

END.

Author's Note: I've recently re-read the manga and am in the process of watching the anime (subbed, of course), and I'm still enjoying it a lot. I just finished watching the second-to-last episode of the first season, the episode where all the Senshi die fighting the DD girls. I remember the plot from when I was a kid, but the part where Sailor Moon was crying with her head on her knees before the Senshi's spirits or memories came back to talk to her was a total surprise to me. That moment + the music made me cry so hard, lol. 20 years after watching it for the first time, it still has the ability to affect me, haha. I'm still partial to the manga characterization, but the anime does have its moments.

xpost: http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/185824.html

Waxing stuff...

jadehunter — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 05:10:24 GMT

Okay, so I hate shaving. During winter, I won't really shave my legs because I can be covered up and no one will know, but summer is fast approaching and I was dreading having to contort myself in the shower to get those smooth legs. Then I started thinking about waxing. I've never had anything waxed before, and I didn't want to spend so much money to go to a salon and get it done, especially since I wasn't sure I would like it. So I bought a waxing kit from Amazon and decided to try it by myself at home.

Tonight was the first time I waxed my legs and, well, it wasn't that bad. Hurt about the same as tweezing eyebrows, to be honest, which is tolerable. Your leg prickles a lot more after, because it's so many hairs being pulled out, I suppose, but I actually like how fast it is (for the most part). I don't really like the mess of the wax, but I can live with it if it means my legs stay smooth for more than a day or two at a time.

One issue I have with is the double-dipping thing. Everything online says don't double dip, because it can spread bacteria - but all of this is about salons. Which, JFC, gross, they really shouldn't be using the same sticks and pots of wax from one person's vag to the next person's face - how is that even a question? Considering that I'm the only person using this particular pot of wax, and it's for my legs and maybe underarms, does the no-double-dipping rule even come into play? Because it would really cut back on a lot of the hassle if I could just double-dip, damn.

xpost: http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/185573.html

Made a pact to go vegetarian...

jadehunter — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 02:59:06 GMT

Yeah, that's right. My boss, my co-worker, and I made a pact together to go vegetarian for at least 2 months. It started off as a joke, because my co-worker is a carnivore who loves red meat, but it ended up becoming a challenge that was accepted by everyone - we shook hands on it and everything. (I did have to clarify what counts as meat, because my co-worker thought seafood was ok, but I said if it has a face and moved around, it's considered meat.) I thought it would be easy for me, because I really don't eat much red meat or fish, mostly just chicken. But the minute I made that agreement, I started thinking about bacon a lot more than usual, lol. It's the tantalizing difference between choosing not to eat it and being forbidden from eating it - the latter just makes it 10x more tempting.

I also decided to go for broke and give up unhealthy snacks at the same time (my precious darling Hot Cheetos included - which was HARD, I've been addicted to them since I was 6 or so), and replaced all my chips and cookies with raw veggie platters and fruit bowls. At first they tasted super gross, especially the raw broccoli, but it's been almost 2 weeks now and I've gotten used to it. Actually, they've started to taste pretty good, and I've started to crave them as snacks instead of chips. Plus, they definitely satisfy the "crunch" factor that I need in my snacks, which Hot Cheetos used to do for me. I'm not going to lie, I still miss Hot Cheetos, I will forever think of them fondly, but I think I can adjust to this new diet.

The sandwich shop near my work makes a really great veggie sandwich: mayo, tomato, lettuce, cucumber, and sprouts on squaw - it's a surprisingly delicious combination and I really love it. Even if I decide not to stick with this vegetarian diet beyond the 2 months of the pact, I would still order it often because it's really good. I was a little dismayed to realize that I won't be able to go to Chipotle anytime soon, but I really enjoy making myself raw fruit smoothies for dinner. I googled for the Jamba Juice recipe for the Pomegranate Paradise drink they have, and it's always delicious and filling enough without putting yoghurt in it.

So far so good, and I think I've lost 2 or 3 pounds already. I lost about 6 pounds when I gave up soda at the beginning of the year, so I'm almost 10 pounds lighter than I was 3 months ago - always a plus!

In depressing news: I have a painfully deep, giant, disturbingly red and noticeable pimple right on my nose. Even more depressing is the fact that I know it's just a herald for my greater nemesis, the Period. Why do these two dreaded P's have to go hand in hand? As if one or the other wasn't bad enough by itself? Being a girl sucks.

xpost: http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/185251.html

Video Showing the Huge Gap Between Super Rich and Everyone Else Goes Viral

jadehunter — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 04:08:34 GMT

Video Showing the Huge Gap Between Super Rich and Everyone Else Goes Viral
By Bruce Watson Posted 1:09PM 03/04/13

For much of the past decade, policymakers and analysts have decried America's incredibly low savings rate, noting that U.S. households save a fraction of the money of the rest of the world. Citing a myriad of causes -- from cheap credit to exploitative bank practices -- they've noted that the average family puts away less than 4 percent of its income.

"Wealth Inequality in America," a six-minute video produced by a YouTube user named "Politizane," casts an interesting angle on the plummeting savings rate. Set to depressing piano music and packed with crystal-clear animations, it gives a powerful snapshot of the American economic landscape. Noting that "The top 1 percent own nearly half the country's stocks, bonds, and mutual funds," the video goes on to contrast those impressive holdings with the rest of the country. By comparison, it points out, the bottom 50 percent of earners own only 0.5 percent of those investments.

It isn't hard to see why there is such a yawning gap between the richest Americans and the rest of us. Since 1976, the share of national income earned by the top one percent of workers has nearly tripled, from 9 percent to 24 percent. It's not hard to see why their share has increased: As Clinton administration Labor Secretary Robert Reich recently pointed out, the economy has roughly doubled in size over the last 30 years -- and, in an ideal world, more money in the economy should mean more money in everyone's pocket.

But the distribution of this huge economic bonanza has been startlingly uneven. While the earnings of the top 1 percent have tripled, the average household income has effectively stagnated. Put another way, there's a reason Americans haven't saved: they haven't had much money to save.

In terms of information, Politizane's video isn't offering anything new: Its analysis of American perceptions of wealth distribution, the line between rich and poor and the issue of America's wealth continuum echo stories that have been in the media for years. But there's something about seeing the country's wealth gap in easy-to-follow animations that allows the dry analysis to hit home. Or, as the video puts it, these illustrations make it easier for viewers to "wake up and realize that the reality in this country is not at all what we think it is."

Source.

My comments: The video doesn't say anything most people don't already know, but it has graphs, which seems to make the point sink in better, at least for me it does. Idk, I love graphs.

xpost: http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/185045.html

Still alive...

jadehunter — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 06:16:45 GMT

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted anything. I am still alive, just going through day to day stuff and wondering if this is all life is, lol. Sometimes I wish something exciting would happen, but then I remember that I don't really like change, so... Things in my life right now:

It's been about six months since I've moved out, which is a crazy indication of how fast time moves. It really feels like yesterday. I'm not entirely happy about everything here, which is why I plan on looking for another place, but the thought of everything that goes into moving just makes me feel so tired, lol, and poor, because moving is expensive.

I'm currently working on something for heroinebigbang, which I think I'll downgrade to a minibang, because I'm not really seeing this being stretched out into a big fic. It's a born-a-girl!Charles Xavier AU fic, with the main idea behind the premise being that this Charlotte doesn't end up bucking gender norms and getting that PhD in Genetics. I've loved reading all the Charlotte Xavier fics out there, but I noticed that all of them follow that same path as canon, so I wanted to see what it would be like if things veered wildly off course.

Aside from that, nothing really notable, so I leave you with a cute gif:

xpost: http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/184592.html

Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising's Image of Women

jadehunter — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 19:44:55 GMT

I'm so excited, because I found a link where you can watch this doc online! I honestly think this is a documentary that everyone should see when they're in middle school or high school, especially young girls, as they are increasingly susceptible to this kind of advertising.

For people who don't know what this documentary is about, here's a blurb:

This highly anticipated update of Jean Kilbourne's influential and award-winning Killing Us Softly series, the first in more than a decade, takes a fresh look at American advertising and discovers that the more things have changed, the more they've stayed the same.

Breaking down a staggering range of more than 160 print and television ads, Kilbourne uncovers a steady stream of sexist and misogynistic images and messages, laying bare a world of frighteningly thin women in positions of passivity, and a restrictive code of femininity that works to undermine girls and women in the real world. At once provocative and inspiring, Killing Us Softly 4 stands to challenge yet another generation of students to take advertising seriously, and to think critically about its relationship to sexism, eating disorders, gender violence, and contemporary politics.

It's really amazing because she started doing this in the 1960s and things really haven't gotten any better - things have actually become worse.

The link for people who want to watch it: http://documentarylovers.net/killing-us-softly-4-advertising-women/

It's irksome...

jadehunter — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 07:26:15 GMT

Just popping in to say that I find it increasingly annoying when fic writers have Harry Potter as this dainty, short flower of a boy-man.

I know DanRad is short, but unless your Harry Potter also has blue eyes and his past follows the mutilated movie!canon, Harry Potter is actually tall and skinny. When he was younger, he was short and skinny, but in book 7 it is stated quite clearly that Harry is the exact same height as James Potter, who was repeatedly described as being a tall man.

Ergo, Harry Potter is a tall, skinny dude.

This entry was originally posted at http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/184068.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Boosting the signal...

jadehunter — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 07:04:25 GMT

For those of you who are unaware, heroinebigbang is now open for sign-ups! I'm taking this opportunity to boost the signal so that we can have more fics about women being strong and amazing in a myriad of ways!

heroinebigbang heroinebigbang heroinebigbang

A Big Bang about Women.
The ones we love, the ones we hate.
The ones we hate to love, and the ones we love to hate.

There will be two options for this challenge.
1. Big Bang: 15,000 word minimum
2. Mini Bang: 5,000 word minimum

Schedule
January 20th: Author & Artist Sign Ups Open
March 1st: Reminder Artist Sign Ups
March 20th: Check-In #1
April 25th: Author Sign Ups close + Rough Drafts Due
April 27th: Artist Claiming!
May 30th: Author & Artist Check In #2
June 15th: Check-In #3
June 30th: Final Draft Posting

This entry was originally posted at http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/183940.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

On apples...

jadehunter — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 08:26:41 GMT

My mom has this idea in her head that I like apples. This is because she used to peel and cut apple slices for me every morning when we lived together, and I ate them every single morning without fail.

I'm going to be honest and say that apples are not my favorite fruit. I don't hate them, but I won't be buying any for myself, either. The reason I ate them every day was because she had gone to the trouble of peeling and cutting them into slices for me, and if I hadn't eaten them without fail, I know I would've had to endure numerous complaints about how ungrateful I was for not eating what she had taken the time to do for me. Plus, it was sweet of her to do that every morning before work.

So, I ate them, because they're not on my never-to-eat list and it was worth choking down all those apples to avoid the nagging.

The problem now is that when I live alone and can shop by myself for all my fruit needs, my mom keeps buying apples and giving them to me whenever I see her. She thinks I really like apples and that I'm just too lazy to peel them for myself. I've tried explaining that I only ate them because she did that for me and not because I like apples, but she keeps insisting that I like apples.

I don't think she will ever understand that I. Don't. Like. Apples.

This entry was originally posted at http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/183794.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Regarding the Steubenville "Rape Crew"... POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNING

jadehunter — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 04:31:33 GMT

I've been catching up on the whole Steubenville stuff that's been publicized these past few days, and it's really disgusting. This is the result of football culture and rape culture coming together to form these sociopathic young men that are being defended by all these adults who should know better, while the actual victim is reportedly being ostracized by her so-called friends and even receiving death threats.

For those of you who don't know what's going on, Everything You Need to Know About Steubenville High's Football 'Rape Crew' has a basic overview. LocalLeaks' The Steubenville Files has a more comprehensive description of what's happened so far. LINKS CONTAIN TRIGGERING MATERIAL!

I can't even understand the scumbags who are defending these assholes who apparently are known around school as the "Rape Crew" (seriously???). Thankfully this is getting more attention now, because everything about it has been bungled by local law enforcement; hopefully this girl will be able to get the justice she deserves, and those sociopaths will also get what they deserve. It doesn't look like they'll get it through jail time (but let's be honest, when to rapists ever get what they deserve through jail time in this country?), but now their identities are known and this will follow them wherever they go in the future.

I don't care, I want their lives to be ruined, I want them to never get into a college and never get a job - I hope this is a specter that follows them for the rest of their lives, until the day they all die.

WhiteHouse.gov petition to get this case pushed out of juvenile court where it is now, and for these assholes to be tried as adults: here.

This entry was originally posted at http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/183414.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

That Time of Year Again...

jadehunter — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 05:52:30 GMT

The Official X-Mas Card Post!

If you want an X-Mas card sent to you, please leave your mailing address here.

Comments are screened for privacy.

This entry was originally posted at http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/183236.html.

Broke my glasses.

jadehunter — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 03:30:54 GMT

I was cleaning the lenses and they just snapped in my hands. My glasses are the rimless wire-framed ones, but I think the metal wires got weak from the times I accidentally squashed them and it was just the last straw. Unfortunately, having the rimless ones means they can't just stick the lenses on new frames; each rimless frame is unique and now I have to buy whole new ones, which means I might as well get new lenses because the prescription is about a year old, and that means more money down the crapper.

Thankfully, I have contacts as back up, so I'm not stuck inside like a helpless blind hermit, but I hate wearing them, tbh. My eyes are like the Sahara and suck up all moisture, so it's pretty uncomfortable to wear them all day long. I started off using Thera Tears rewetting drops at first, but they sucked. I was using them every hour and my contacts would still dry up really fast. I switched to Clerz Plus, which is 100x better, but I still don't like wearing the contacts for so long.

On the plus side, I can pull on shirts and sweaters without minding any glasses. And my peripheral vision isn't blurry, either.

It's still weird, though.

This entry was originally posted at http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/182972.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Avatar

jadehunter — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 07:23:53 GMT

Okay, so I finally saw Avatar after avoiding it and everything about it for these past few years. I refused to see it when it first came out because it was so over-hyped and I'm contrary like that, lol. I dig my heels in when people tell me I have to see something, etc.

After all that...meh. It had a lot more questionable stuff than good stuff. The Na'vi were like this combination of stereotypical Africans and Native Americans mixed with animal-like features, which just made me cringe at the implications. Plus, the entire time Jake was learning to be one of them, I kept expecting Neytiri to start singing "Colors of the Wind" a la Pocahontas. And then Michelle Rodriguez's character died, which, surprise.

Don't get me wrong, Pandora was visually amazing and the CGI was really something, especially Sigourney Weaver's Na'vi face which looked soooo much like her own face it was creepy. I think if I had seen it in theaters, I would've been overwhelmed by the visuals and not really seen all the problematic stuff until later on, but since I saw in at home on DVD, I wasn't as sucked in.

Ah, well.

This entry was originally posted at http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/182607.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Online Deals for Black Friday...

jadehunter — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 03:50:46 GMT

For anyone who is interested, Amazon is currently selling the Firefly DVD set for $8.

They also have Pride and Prejudice (the version with Collin Firth) for $12.

Excuse me while I freak out and proceed to buy my weight in DVDs.

ETA: X-Files DVD sets are lik $11 each!! What is this madness?????

ETA2: OMG BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SLIMSETS ARE $11 FOR EVERY SEASON!!

This entry was originally posted at http://jadehunter.dreamwidth.org/182409.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

The Jade Ramblings

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Holy shit

I'm still alive...

Disneyland 2013

Pacific Rim

New place...

Update

Texas passes sweeping abortion restrictions

Vegetarian status update

Vegetarian status update

Mother's Day again? Didn't we just have that?

fic: what once was will never be again (1/1)

Waxing stuff...

Made a pact to go vegetarian...

Video Showing the Huge Gap Between Super Rich and Everyone Else Goes Viral

Still alive...

Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising's Image of Women

It's irksome...

Boosting the signal...

On apples...

Regarding the Steubenville "Rape Crew"... **POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNING**

That Time of Year Again...

Broke my glasses.

Avatar

Online Deals for Black Friday...

Regarding the Steubenville "Rape Crew"... POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNING