There are no trees, no trees here.

Because today was really boring.

2009-11-05T03:32:01Z

I know you agree with me that the image for Terror is a mustache on a very narrow lightbulb.

Which brings me to my most exciting point. TV Asahi has a real cast page for W! It's not as fun and exciting as Kiva's, mostly because it's not in flash, but I love cast pages so much. Because I'm silly.

Quick question of importance except not really.

2009-10-17T18:40:07Z

Would anyone on my flist happen to recognize this image? Thanks! I'm being silly.

So.

2009-09-25T14:24:23Z

"For First Time, AIDS Vaccine Shows Some Success"

Fortune cookie: "They fail, and they alone, who have not striven."

2009-09-06T18:55:21Z

Yesterday I managed to watch Double twice, which I guess is kind of funny, but I didn't think of it that way last night. I was just full of adrenaline or something for some reason.

I really enjoyed it. It's not nearly as fan appeasing as Decade, but that isn't a bad thing. It has charm all by itself. The feel of it is a little weird so far, but I think I'll be able to get used to it. Shotaro is fun, and Phillip Interests me. With a capital I. I knew he would, being the information/research/genius half of the equation, but his interaction with Akiko gave me real hope he'll be the kind of character I can get into. A real character, despite being weird and distant.

Mostly I just need a Smeargle. Oh well.

Writer's Block: My Fantasy Geek Accessory

2009-09-03T00:48:17Z

A thin tablet with a Kindle-like screen with computer functionality and the ability to load whatever I want on it. I don't want a device to read books I can have a hard copy of. I like physical books, but I read lots of things on screens too, and I get horrible eyestrain sometimes.

Sound Gimmick Included

2009-08-26T01:28:05Z

I've found myself really eager for Double. Part of it is how disappointed I am with Decade, I think. I don't dislike it or anything. I enjoy it, actually. But whenever I really get into a plot point, it's already over and whatever caught my interest probably never gets mentioned again. How can a series where nothing changes support itself? It's really amazing I've been able to stick with it. I don't usually have patience for these sorts of things. It's my love of beginnings of storylines, I know. But they never resolve in any kind of satisfactory way. The series just keeps throwing me bones that amount to nothing.

Besides that, I'm eager for Double because I'm a sucker for gimmicks. This is why dramas and whatnot rarely appeal to me. This is why I go for this sort of children's show. The gimmicks! What is the story behind them? This is very important. How can I resist mysterious magical flash memory?

Oh, and here's an article about the importance of guilt in child development. Completely off-topic, but it's interesting and I don't want to forget it.

Anyway.

2009-07-31T17:14:34Z

I'll be alone for a week starting tomorrow. If you're on my flist, I assume you know what that means. I get really anxious when I'm alone overnight. I've been doing a lot better, of course, but the problem stands. And since this is not really an entry about my problems, I'll get down to business.

continuingordeal is an AIM account. It's an alt of mine. I hate posting screen names publicly, but I think it could be helpful while I'm alone, because I hate to depend solely on a few particular people to keep me in contact with the world. They have lives of their own, after all. It's not fair to them.

If you're able, you can IM me there at any time for the next week. It doesn't have to be a conversation or anything. Just a hello or something. I do get messages sent when I'm offline, by the way, and I promise I won't bug anyone who sends me a message, and if you can't or don't want to, that's fine. I won't blame you or anything. I'm just trying to set up something that might help.

I counted eight ladybugs on the window this afternoon.

2009-07-24T04:44:58Z

I have officially caught up on Shinkenger. How did you motivate yourself to do that, you might ask. You fall behind on all kinds of things you like. Why Shinkenger?

Childhood friends, quite simply. It's one of my major weaknesses.

I still like Takeru a lot. He could easily take over the show entirely, but he doesn't. Not usually. I like characters who are crazy intense and serious, and Takeru hits that spot brilliantly.
I'm annoyed by Ryuunosuke less, probably because he hasn't been the gag character for a bit. Not that he isn't silly, just that I like seeing his serious rule bound side.
I like Mako. I can't relate to the desire to be a normal housewife and it bothers me anyway, but I guess I can understand the desire for normalcy. That's how I can get a grip on it, anyway.
Chiaki is the stubborn teenager in a situation he doesn't want to be in except he finds meaning and depth and purpose in it. I think everyone's a stubborn teenager sometimes. I was one yesterday, in fact, if you're taking teenager to mean behavior patterns and not specific age range.
I really don't know what to say about Kotoha. I can relate to her too, but it's not the kind of relating I'm comfortable admitting to.
I'm weak to additional heroes as a rule, so naturally I like Genta a lot. I'm happy to see a silly character who's incredibly smart and talented on the side. His intelligence is not the focus of his character, but other characters do acknowledge it. He has no ambition to a smart person career. He's just the silly one. Usually silly characters are unbelievably dumb for comedic reasons.

I want to be a kuroko in my next life. What does this say about my self-esteem?

My classmate cannot understand how this guy could rape someone in a fit of rage and still be sane.

2009-06-30T00:04:41Z

I like Daiki's world so far. There are some things I like more than others, of course. The basis of the whole world is pretty silly, and I don't care for the civillians, but there are some details and things I love. Tsukasa goes off on his usual assholish speech, and Daiki just looks at him. And nobody smiles or laughs because this isn't funny. And for everything the civilians did to set the scene, I saw it best in the Riders, including Daiki and Junichi. Discussing among themselves about how Tsukasa reminded them of Junichi, the way Daiki reacted in general, and Junichi's "He's trying to destroy the world! :D," those were what did it for me. And whatever Daiki did to make everyone out for his blood, and how he became Diend, and all kinds of other things. I like thinking.

Copy-pasted from flocked post yesterday. Sorry for spam.

2009-06-22T17:36:57Z

We are looking for either two people to share our room or somebody to let us into their room for Otakon.

I'm reposting this publicly in the hope somebody will just happen to click on my journal and see it and say, "hey, I know a few non-axe murderers looking for somewhere to stay for Otakon!" Neither of us are axe murderers ourselves, so it just wouldn't be fair to anyone if some people were and some people weren't.

As a note, if you're interested but can't quite afford it, please let me know of your interest anyway.

RE: Swine flu

2009-04-26T16:45:21Z

Flist, don't worry.

According to the World Health Organization (here), swine flu:

• has a very low mortality rate
• cannot be spread by eating properly prepared pork
• dies at 160ºF

Not to say you shouldn't be taking this seriously, but I want to spread the good news that we aren't all doomed.

In which I attempt to talk about Decade 12 and end up mostly talking about Agito

2009-04-16T21:33:31Z

Try as I might, I cannot keep writing long enough to hit 500 words. Maybe in another life.

I both liked and disliked Decade 12. I'm a bit of a sucker for additional heroes usually, since they're generally introduced with flash and drumrolls, and I'm easily enthused. My enthusiasm for both Diend (DiEnd? I dunno, DiEnd ruins the die+end joke, doesn't it? Or not.) and G3/G3-X/G4 knows no bounds, seriously.

Daiki is flashy, excellent, and knows something about Tsukasa's past, which means I'm required to like him or something, since one of my major literary interests is complex interpersonal relationships, which I can totally pretend exists here. I like Diend because the suit is made of Legos, and I loved my tiny plastic imagination toys as a kid.

I liked Hikawa a lot. I hate misunderstanding plots, and Agito had several, but Hikawa was just absent-minded enough to make his episodes of oblivious entertaining and relatively plausible. I also loved Ozawa with great passion for various incoherent reasons, and the idea of a man-made suit you had to put on piece-by-piece was excellent, since henshin belts for man-made suits make no sense. The G3 suit may have been impractical, but I loved that impracticality, and I loved that truck. I'm terribly disappointed there's no truck in Decade's Agito World, by the way.

Anyway, the Rider I never liked much in Agito was Gills. I grew to like Ryou eventually, but never his Rider form. Until series midpoint or so, I could barely stand him at all. I'm not shy about mentioning my dislike of romance as a plot device or the defining element of a character, and he was way too focused on his girl troubles for my sympathy. After he was fixed with the magical overexposure power, he was pretty cool. Gills just never appealed to me, aesthetically or otherwise. I'm not so into wild out-of-control heroes. I liked the foot spikes, and that was it.

My bias infects my feelings about Decade Shouichi, naturally. He's interesting, but he suffered in my initial impression for being Gills. I do like the idea that Gills is a person who couldn't become Agito, though, because the existence of Gills in the original series was kind of random and nonsensical. Why didn't Ryou just become an Agito?

So, Decade 12.

Whenever Daiki/Yuusuke/Yashiro etc. was on screen: 8DDDD
Whenever they weren't: :D
Whenever Gills was on screen: ... :/

Writer's Block: Looking Back

2009-04-14T21:17:07Z

I don't know. The earliest post in my journal is from December 2002 and entitled "TESTTTT." It was what it sounds like it'd be. I don't think it was my first post, though. My journal was created in July 2001 and the recipient of my invite code (I joined just before LJ went invite-only for however long it did) joined in September 2001. Something does not match up here. I clearly remember posting on 9/11, and that wasn't the first time. I found my confirmation email and a lost password request from 2002, but otherwise I have no record of anything LJ from the beginning. I know it was all crap, but still! I thought I never deleted anything. Very distressing.

"How does he look? / Older and wiser and-- he's come out as a Jew!"

2009-04-10T21:15:06Z

It's my birthday, so my week of public is over. Thanks for playing.

I think I feel better now. I've decided that I'm going to try making non-personal entries public from now on. I know I don't make those entries right now, that I just ramble on about something in my life and stop once I'm tired or bored and never bother to separate the personal from anything, but I'd like to try. I'm not very good at it. I'm disorganized in many many ways. I'm going to try to really edit them or something, too. We'll see how long that lasts.

I was up horribly late last night, as it's a wonderful idea to start doing things at 2AM. I watched the first episode of the Guin Saga anime, which I rather enjoyed, being a fan of obnoxious heroic fantasy. I like things that break the mold too, but there's nothing more comfortable for me than orphaned royal twins dumped in a sinister demon-infested forest and their heroic adventure to find out things and reclaim their rightful places by killing some guy who fortunately happens to hold the key to everything else. I dunno, I've only read a really dull translation of the first book. I've been meaning to get a copy of the new translations, which I was assured are less dull at NYAF by the people at the publisher's booth. I'm sure they're seriously biased, but I'd like to try it, since Mercedes Lackey's Good-Hearted Poor Plucky Unloved Boys are starting to bother me a little. Not that I won't read Foundation later and enjoy it, but.

reka @ 2009-04-09T18:45:00

2009-04-09T22:45:09Z

1. If everyone could pick a couple of numbers from 1-250 and list them in order of preference for me, that'd be very helpful. I could use a random number generator, but that'd make me more likely to skip the screencaps I don't like. I have a folder of 250 caps hanging out on my computer, see. All but four of them will make lousy icons, but I really want to use them for something, and if I get numbers from people I might not be too lazy to try to fix them up a little or something.

2. On Monday, when it rained a lot, I broke the zipper on my raincoat. Pulled the entire moving part off in my frustration, actually, but I didn't pay attention at the time and fell off somewhere. I rather like my raincoat, but without a zipper, it's no good for anything but light rain. Hopefully I can figure out how to fix it. It's not expensive and the zipper is missing a tooth, but I like it and getting a new one requires going outside. Besides, fixing things gives me great pleasure. I have screwdrivers, a couple of pliers, steel wire, and duct tape. What else could I possibly need?

3. We're having our seder tonight. Mmmm.

reka @ 2009-04-09T00:15:00

2009-04-09T04:15:05Z

It snowed for a little bit today. Less than an hour. I snapped a few pictures, but the snow was too fine to show up much. It's public week anyway and the pictures were taken out my window. It'd be pretty easy to find out exactly where I live from any of them.

Today wasn't very productive, which is just fine for a Wednesday when I don't have class the day after. I went out with divinesaturn on her Wednesday routine and picked up both Terebi magazines for the month, among some other things. Most adult magazines bore me, see. Sometimes Terebi does too, but at least it's flashy and silly on purpose.

I should probably learn something about knitting. I'm usually in the knitting class on Tuesdays at the volunteer thing, but the teacher's been doing crotchet so far. I'm terrible at it, but I do know how to do it well enough to help first graders with chain stitch. I don't know how to knit at all, and that's what she's going to start after break.

My yolk stayed whole!

reka @ 2009-04-07T22:37:00

2009-04-08T02:37:00Z

1. This morning I got a text message from one of the site directors at the volunteer thing basically saying I'm helpful, which made me fairly happy.

2. I did all right on the hexadecimal quiz. It was really short and simple, but I'm proud, since I'm pretty awful at math generally. I often make really stupid errors because I don't have any real sense of what my result should be. My errors on this quiz were all simple math-- one subtraction, one addition. Seriously.

3. I kind of hate my paper. The more I focus on the language, the more I realize my thesis is completely obvious. Writing it becomes more boring and tiresome every day.

4. On my way home, I saw a girl wearing a sweatshirt from my high school on the subway platform. Then I noticed the man standing next to her was the photography teacher (I don't remember what else he does), who lives in my neighborhood and I definitely had once. We talked a bit. There's a girl who does the volunteer thing too sometimes (required semester of some kind of volunteer service-- I did mine in a school library) who happens to be in his class, and we happened to run into her on the subway ride home. It was all pretty ridiculous.

5. I broke both yolks in my breakfast this morning. It was more disappointing than something like that should ever be.

Ev'ry Valley Shall Be Exhausted

2009-04-06T16:31:05Z

1. I overslept half an hour today and then the train was twenty minutes late, making me late for my test. It went pretty well, though. I'm at least confident I named all the pieces correctly.
2. Unfortunately, I failed to finish my paper. Again.
3. I hate falling behind on weekly stuff, but I generally dislike decoy marriage plots and I'm busy. I shouldn't be wasting time watching these things.
4. Of course, that didn't stop me from watching Decade or Rescue Fire. Oops.
5. Actually, I spent most of last night trying to figure out how to extract images from a .scr file. Why? I don't know. Look, it still has its original creation date! How awesome is tha--
... crap.
6. That is, unfortunately, exactly what happened.

Something about this post is not like the others.

2009-04-05T01:25:26Z

I'm starting this entry now so I don't forget why I decided to do this. For the week leading up to my birthday (I like to keep it not a big deal because it isn't, but it's a milestone or something), I'm going to be making some public posts. Because whenever I think about my major mental blocks, it all comes back to "too self-conscious, second-guesses self frequently" and really, nobody cares except me about my touchy fragility or whatever. So maybe a week of just tossing it out there will help me Grow as an Adult, which is capitalized because it's Important in that silly-sounding way, and I'm using my birthday as a benchmark. I've been feeling really tiny and young. Not that I'm particularly old or anything, but I don't want to feel this way when I'm supposed to be celebrating my adulthood.

Man, that sounded pathetic. It's the lead-up to break, and I'm busy panicking because I'm not done with this or that, haven't studied for this, don't know how my professor expects us to do math in hexadecimal, blah blah blah etc. My brother is home practicing with his quartet. I can't keep track of music at all. I spent yesterday after the afterschool classes talking with a kid about Pokémon. He didn't have a favorite, which made me a little sad because I wasn't sure what else to talk with him about, but we managed something and he gave me a sticker.

My room is cold and I'm pretty tired. Yes, I'm far too serious about this kind of thing.