May. 19th, 2008 @ 12:06 am (no subject)
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SAM

SAM

YOU HAVE TO CATCH UP ON AIR GEAR. FAST. WE NEED TO HAVE A FUCKING RACE OR SOMETHING TO GET THROUGH IT BECAUSE APPARENTLY THE STUFF THAT HAPPENED IN APRIL'S CHAPTERS ARE SO. SO. There are no words I'm not even sure I believe it's true and not. A hoax or that I've stayed up so late that I am ACTUALLY HALLUCINATING ALL THIS BUT IF IT IS TRUE IT WILL BE AWESOME.
May. 7th, 2008 @ 10:36 am I should make a "screw you IN" tag some day
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Current Mood: aggravated
Current Book: A Dark Night's Passing, Naoya Shiga

Long story short, there was a screw up with my voter registration that meant I didn't get it transferred to Indiana in time to vote yesterday, which aggravated me even more now that Clinton won. But now I've found out that even if it had gotten through the first time, I still wouldn't have been able to vote, because Indiana's ID laws would have rejected both my driver's license and school ID.

Still, I suppose I'm glad I learned about this now, and not, like, November.
Apr. 17th, 2008 @ 06:19 pm (no subject)
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Current Mood: cheerful


My Personality
Neuroticism
89
Extraversion
1
Openness to Experience
43
Agreeableness
5
Conscientiousness
61
Mostly your emotions are on an even keel and you do not get depressed easily, however you feel enraged when things do not go your way. You are sensitive about being treated fairly and feel resentful and bitter if you think you are being cheated. People generally perceive you as distant and reserved, and you do not usually reach out to others. You prefer familiar routines and for things to stay the same. You can tend to feel uncomfortable with change. You do not enjoy confrontation, but you will stand up for yourself or push your point if you feel it is important, however you feel superior to those around you and sometimes tend to be seen as arrogant by other people. You are well-organized and like to live according to routines and schedules. Often you will keep lists and make plans.

Take a Personality Test now or view the full Personality Report.

The best Buying Pet Gifts.



That's . . . that's a lot of neuroticism. ô_o


There are foxes by my apartment! A while back, I was walking by the river at night and I noticed these animal shapes go by on at the bottom of the hill, but I figured it was either wolves or yet more of the geese that have infested campus (it's gotten so bad that they've apparently gotten permission from animal control to start removing them. so many geese!). Then walking by yesterday, I saw one fox sunning itself while two kits played around in one of the clearings. So cute.

I've learned how to make paper cranes, too, which I've promptly started littering around campus. My goal is a thousand.

I am insanely happy these days. I think it's because spring is finally here and winter is gone. Good damn riddance, winter!



Addendum:
( extended version of the quiz )
Apr. 14th, 2008 @ 11:14 am (no subject)
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5 Steppin' Razors
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Current Mood: frustrated

I really don't know why my research class is still scaring me. I'm doing really well in it--I got an A+ on my literature review, do you know what an A+ is in grad school? it's like the holy grail, often sought, never found--and yet, with every new assignment I think 'Well, sure, the other stuff worked out, but this time--!'


I really do not understand the rampant popularity of Hibari in Reborn! fandom. The only explanation I've gotten so far is "He looks pretty when he kills things," which, okay, I can understand and respect this reasoning, but you'd think that would only go so far. I rarely dislike fictional characters--my usual inclination is either to like them or, at worst, be neutral/indifferent to them, but Hibari's an asshole! A fairly two-dimensional, generic-loner asshole. Why the heck is he the number one character on the Japanese popularity survey?

(Okay, so maybe I am a tiny bit biased because all the Mukuro stuff I've found so far seems to involve Hibari. Screw Mukuro/Hibari, where is the Mukuro/subordinates work? There is nothing about that warped, complicated mess of relationships that did not ping me, but either I'm looking in the wrong places, or I am alone in this opinion. There's possession! Chikusa and Ken are insanely loyal! There's an awesome amount of identity issues to play with between them and Chrome-Mukuro! LANCIA. Dude, Mukuro is what Orochimaru should have been. Do I have to write this porn myself.)
Apr. 12th, 2008 @ 04:11 pm This time it's a plethora of zombies in my life, instead of a preponderance of vampires.
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2 Steppin' Razors
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Current Mood: exanimate
Current Book: The Agatha Heterodyne FST by may_flyer

Snails are creepy anyway, but this guy really nailed it.


Between the bibliography and my research project, I have been up to my ears in graphic novels, and books and articles on them, pretty much unremittingly from January on. I swear, I never thought I would see the day where I would be sick of this format, but man am I glad that bibliography is done. (Done in the sense of 'mostly done but I'm sure I'll think of more to add,' but still.)

I'm kind of tempted to post some of my annotations and play Guess This Series with them.
Mar. 18th, 2008 @ 02:18 pm (no subject)
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2 Steppin' Razors
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Current Mood: angry

I am growing to despise my reference class. This has nothing to do with the materials, and everything to do with the professor. I have been yelled at more times in this class than I have in my entire academic career.

And I accept that this is sometimes my fault. I don't read the syllabus to the indepth point she wants, if I screw up because of that, fine. My other two classes are a hell of a lot harder than this one, and if I get in trouble because I concentrate more on them than on it, so be it. I accept that.

I do not like being told that I'm getting three points removed from my "otherwise excellent review" because I did not follow the insturctions on page 7 of the syllabus when the instructions said "post your evaulation on the OnCourse email" and that is what I goddamn did. There is an 'email archive' link for this class, and if what she really meant was "use the message system" then explain to me why in the hell she wrote to use email. If I'm losing points because of her lack of coherency, then I am not so fine with the situation.

Nrrrg, I am so sick of everything to do with school. I should just write this class off already and stop caring.
Feb. 20th, 2008 @ 09:49 pm I'm a little scared of the bus. What if I wind up in another city!
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3 Steppin' Razors
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Current Mood: aggravated

I have mixed feelings about today. On the one hand, I kept waking up all morning because I was having nightmares of not hearing my alarm and being hours late for work (though I don't know what was with the orchestra), but then at work I finished my final tie to the Naruto fandom, leaving me free to work on original stuff and pretend I never saw that last request I never finished.

But then I came home to find my car was towed. The nice police officer drove me to the tow center, where I discovered that I couldn't get my car because I had to pay in cash and have proof of registration (you don't need the paper copy in Texas! fuck you, Indiana!), so tomorrow after class I have to navigate the bus system and walk a freaking long way in the cold to the bank and then the towing center. This does not please.

But then, I discovered that the uni library has Lathe of Heaven, which I wanted to read after finishing this awesome fic based off it. I swear, I have gotten so much leisure reading from this library. And I get to keep it for like three months, because I'm a grad student! It's great. Also, I finally spoke to my RA about the upstairs neighbor, and hopefully that will do something.

So I'm kind of tempted to just go to bed now, before the cycle swings back to 'bad' again.
Jan. 23rd, 2008 @ 10:39 pm (no subject)
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Current Mood: drained

I think it says something about my Intro to Research class that I find cataloguing a relaxing alternative.
Jan. 21st, 2008 @ 05:55 pm I'm seriously considering a paid account to get the personalized mood theme. It's cheaper than LJ's.
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Current Mood: amused
Current Book: Hating Women, Shmuley Boteach

You know, watching the Kids Next Door marathon (I got sucked in on the Operation Z.E.R.O. movie; I needed something to watch while cooking), I'm noticing that a theme of this show seems to be chainsaws on fire. I approve of this.

Also, Father is voiced by the same guy who did Kif in Futurama, which is a whole extra level of great.
Jan. 17th, 2008 @ 06:14 pm (no subject)
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4 Steppin' Razors
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Current Mood: I miss my Tsubasa theme

Saturday's weather prediction:

High - 16°
Low - 3°

WHY GOD
Jan. 10th, 2008 @ 10:08 pm though I do hope I never need to be /that/ enthusiastic
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Current Mood: impressed
Tags:

In Reference class today, the professor was describing how she was going to teach us all to be Outgoing! and Enthusiastic! and as she did so, she would derail into commentary on her previous work. At one point, she started telling us about how she was hired at one library where the previous two librarians had requested transfers because the area had been targeted for harassment by, like, fourteen or so gangs.

Dr. Taylor: I wasn't worried, though. By the end of the month, I'd earned a reputation as 'the crazy lady.'
Dr. Taylor: *cheerful storytelling voice* Because whenever they would come in and start to wreak the place, I'd tell them: "I'm willing to go to jail for you." I'd pick up a chair and say, "If you don't behave properly, I will beat you with this."
Me:
Me: *deeply impressed*
Jan. 5th, 2008 @ 06:11 pm (no subject)
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Current Book: Nana vol 8

I've belatedly realized that if the first day of the new year is supposed to be a sign of things to come, I am going to have an interesting time.

In theory, I will start the year with mellowness, followed by a burst of productivity partially thwarted by technological failure, experience a crisis caused by an unforseeable event, practice being nice to people I don't like, play with kittens, impose on others and feel guilty about it when it turns out to be unnecessary, think of solutions slightly late, be saved by my own previous ignorance, and have everything turn out okay in the end! Except for the guilt, but ah well.

Bring it, 2008.
Dec. 31st, 2007 @ 06:28 pm Last night of the Futurama marathon tonight!
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2 Steppin' Razors
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Current Mood: cheerful
Current Book: The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco

Where are the holidays goiiiiiiing.


You know, beyond the desire to wrap up Texas's warmth and sunshine and wide open sky, I'm looking forward to going back to Indiana. Not because I want to leave here, but because I'm really happy with my life lately. I have my own apartment, I have a job that will both get me money and allow me to claim state residency for next year's tuition, I'm doing well in grad school which is preparing me for a career I'm looking forward to, and then there's The Plan. I've lived downtown in a major city, an interesting experience but not one I intend to repeat, and next year I'm moving to a nice town where I'll be able to volunteer at a library and get more recommendations for the future, and where I will be able to have my cat! I had a pretty good temp job in a haunted house, and conquered NaNo on my first try. I've seen snow! Snow that lasted more than one day!

Granted, this year I've also done (mostly said) some stupid things. But on reflection I would say them again because the aftermath forced me to think about a lot of things, which I'm glad for. I'm really happy with everything.
Dec. 6th, 2007 @ 10:46 pm fuck your winter
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7 Steppin' Razors
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Current Mood: cold
Current Book: stiiiiill goin' through CFUD threads for Fai and Kurogane

Whoever said that snow is pretty was a filthy liar. It's everywhere and clumpy and sludgy and the huge piles of it look creepy and when it's coating bushes it's even more creepy and ugly and creepy. Blech. (I cannot give a rational explanation for why I think evergreen bushes covered in an inch of snow--or any plants, really--look creepy, but they do. They really, really do. Ick.)


My last Thursday class was today, and I'm kind of sad that it's over. The material itself was freaking difficult and I'm still not sure I get all of it (pre-coordinate and post-coordinate headings! schmata! I still don't know what the hell a paradigm is), but the class was probably one of the best I'll have here; the professor had a great sense of humor, and that made the class so inviting that it would get everyone talking. For a group project, I monologue-acted an entire impromptu story of this really horrible index we had to critique (the group decided that two of the editors had gotten into a fight over the woman editor, editor 2 killed editor 1 and stuffed his body into the chili and then went on to ruin him by stealing his identity and creating the worst index ever under, and then fleeing to Rio and in the end, it turned out that the woman editor had never existed and was just a way of editors 1 and 2 hiding their shameful passion for each other), which--while it was really damn fun, I do not deny this--is not how I generally act in an academic setting.

On the upside, I suppose, it turns out that both this class and the Friday one both have uncommonly heavy workloads, so if I've pulled off taking both of them on my first semester, I'm probably good.


I talked to Mom yesterday! She said that since I would be home for the holidays, she and Dad would probably leave the pets with me and go down to San A. to see what they could get done on the house there.

While I'm always happy not to have to deal with any of the house stuff, really. Can you feel the love.
Dec. 4th, 2007 @ 11:57 pm (no subject)
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8 Steppin' Razors
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Current Mood: fluffy frozen rain!

What is this curious white fluff falling from the sky?



Addendum:
This is officially the most snow I have seen in my life. Wow.
Nov. 30th, 2007 @ 11:50 pm (no subject)
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2 Steppin' Razors
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Current Book: The Key to the Kingdom vol 2


50003 / 50000 words. 100% done!

\o/


I think there's only about a third left to go before it's 'finished,' but I visited the Roman art exhibit at the IMA Wednesday and I decided that I want to go back and revamp a lot of things: cut out the really anachronistic bits (I'm still keeping the idea of this being a bastardized Roman Empire, since the kotodama and the hitogama and the ninjas won't really fit otherwise, but the trains need to go), cut out some of the duller description, and add in more details to set up the world and the culture (this is technically taking place in Africa, since Oea is the name the Romans had for Tripoli, and while I'm not really trying to keep to anything actually like the real world I figure there should be more sand), and alter some of the character designs (i.e., while Asher needs to stay a student because I had to get him out of Penuel, I really have no interest in any kind of schooling and do not want to write it, so I think I'm going to have him get apprenticed to a mosaic-maker. He likes pretty things, it should work fine).

Though I guess before that I should really finish those October requests, so that I can stop feeling mildly guilty.
Nov. 22nd, 2007 @ 11:22 pm the question is how long I need to stay up to get completely sober
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2 Steppin' Razors
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Current Mood: score one for learning exp.
Current Book: still working on NaNo

Today, I cooked the biggest meal I have ever made in my life: turkey, asparagus, stuffing, and brownies. (Okay, I made the brownies yesterday. And I forgot to make the garlic bread, but I also couldn't have eaten that much anyway, so it all evens out.) And, not only did I not burn myself, catch anything on fire, or give myself food poisoning, but all the food was down right tasty.

Today, I have become a woman.

I have also learned never to drink an entire bottle of wine in one sitting ever again. It's pretty fortunate that my plans consisted solely of lying around watching Batman Beyond episodes, because I couldn't actually stand up from the couch for a while.
Nov. 17th, 2007 @ 04:08 pm this could only happen on a campus
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Current Mood: pleased
Current Book: Claudius the God, Robert Graves

Today I saw bathroom graffiti taken to a higher level.

I wish I'd thought to take a picture of it; there was this paragraph written on the stall door about intimacy and sex and the obsession indicated about it in previous comments (now erased, presumably), and then more people either disagreeing that it wasn't an obsession or agreeing that it shouldn't be central place in life, or commenting on how the graffiti shouldn't be erased because it was a way to frankly and anonymously discuss sex. It was kind of amazing.
Nov. 12th, 2007 @ 06:48 pm temporary setback
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Current Mood: morose
Current Book: I'm not sure where to start, but maybe Afterschool Nightmare

Cashier: *chatting about graphic novels*
Cashier: I asked 'cause I've noticed that a lot of people come in to just buy graphic novels, and they never buy just one. *gestures to pile 'o comics*
Me: Ah. Well. I'm drowning my sorrows in books, so.
Cashier: Hey, better than alcohol.
Me: Heh, there's something to show for it later! And books don't look so bad littered all over the floor.
Cashier: Yeah. People think 'Wow, this person's smart,' not 'Wow, this person's got a problem.'

The problem is that I found this really nice apartment. It's in a good area, very nice, accepts pets, and in a rural-like town that's only half an hour from downtown Indianapolis. I was even more pleased with it than I'd expected; but they couldn't accept my application unless my income was three times the cost of the rent, which wasn't going to happen with this part-time gig. I could have gotten around this by having a co-signer on the lease, but then came another catch: the co-signer had to live in the state.

So my decision to move to somewhere without any relatives or family friends has come to bite me in the ass. I suppose I should be glad this happened with an apartment rental and not, like, a deadly illness.

I was really, really upset about this at first, but then I went off and drowned my sorrows in books (Jing King of Bandits: Twilight Tales actually has a seventh volume, holy shit, I'd thought that was a typo considering that volume six came out in 2005) and drove through some really lovely fall scenery and finished nearly all the Christmas shopping, so I have mellowed somewhat. I'm just going to take the application home over Christmas break, and harass the poor office until I can find a way around it.

I will have this apartment. I will have Buddha. Hell hath no fury like a woman separated from her cat and &tc.
Nov. 11th, 2007 @ 09:50 pm conflict?
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Current Mood: hungry
Current Book: Claudius the God, Robert Graves

On the one hand, a waste of food and money are two things that tend to annoy me--that Channel 366 commercial pisses me off every single time it comes on, because it's such a stupid, pointless and extravegant waste of tomatoes. On the other hand, I would kind of like to eat a sundae made with edible gold leaf before I die, even if does cost $1000.

Maybe I could justify eating the sundae if I survived the fugu sushi, seeing as I'd have to be in New York City for the latter anyway.