Well, after a spectacularly shitty and extremely disappointing day relating to school and, oh yes, falling partially into that category called IHATEUMCPANDITHATESMERIGHTBACK, and a night spent failing to deal in a particularly practical manner, I've decided not to dwell because it is what it is. The ongoing sleep loss will suck and I was happy with mediocre but it's out of my hands now.

In any event, Friday. Fantastic Mr. Fox or Ninja Assassin or BOTH?!

I'm leaning towards both. Oh man, Ninja Assassin is going to be so ridiculous I can hardly wait!


PS: The TMNT 25th anniversary special movie - Turtles Forever - that was on the CW this past Saturday was a thing of joy and beauty and utter crack. I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. Damn do I miss 80s Shredder and Kraang. In any event, it was epic and Mikey (all versions) was awesome.

Megadeth was outstanding. I feel recharged for another stretch, esp. since their dates with Slayer are nowhere nearby and too expensive. Very well-rounded set and Dave was in fine form. Only one asshole for a change too. We got within about 3 rows from the stage and I managed to shout myself hoarse and give myself a stiff neck from rockin' out. Thusly a very satisfactory time.

Also, the new Metalocalypse episode just about killed me dead. I am LOVING the new season thus far. Same goes for Venture Bros. and the first two ridiculous episodes of Top Gear season 14.

So...it's in Dr. Mayo's hands now...finally. XD The story of my thesis process is like a fucking Norse saga. Brian is totally Sif. Anywho, she's gotta read it by tuesday so I can edit over Thanksgiving and give it back so she and Gao and Kerkham can plot questions so I can defend on Monday Dec. 7 at 10 am. SHORTEST TURN AROUND EVER Y/Y? It's partially my fault for being the biggest procrastinator alive (or at least horribly inclined to give in to my occasional ventures into some rather unpleasant places of self-loathing) and for not fucking being able to write until the absolute last possible minute. And then I go and go and go and it just kinda happens. Weird callous built up on my wrist from the laptop typing no less...at least the defensive wall of books is no longer living behind my sewing machine. The 400 + photocopied documents on the other hand...

Anyway, the thing currently clocks in at 90 pages plus end notes and biblio and I have some ideas on what my poor adviser might want me to add. She's, as I've said before, pretty damn old, and she was in a car accident and missed a week and a half of school and it's all kind of a mess. Honestly, I'm just glad she's not dead. Dr. Mayo drives me a little crazy sometimes but she also knows a fucking LOT and her memory for people and dates (if not other things) is like a steel trap. Still, Dr. Kerkham and I had fun exploring her computer for all of her stuff for class this afternoon. Oh my goodness, I didn't know it was possible to be THAT disorganized on a computer. Seriously. You know cliched professors' offices? Hers looks like that. And the mess is the same on her pc. But we persevered! And I managed to get the stupid library computer to read my thumb drive and send my paper to the printer! And got dirty looks for printing it because it's long and people ended up queued.

So yeah, news cars and Doi Ryoko, MacArthur and Bent With the Years, latent homosexuality between Weed and Beard (please, certain scholars, must we be so prurient?), Ie no Hikari, air-quoting 'feudalism,' the LDPE, mother-in-law stigma, men suck, and, yes, Ms. Collings, HD is NOT feminism, you just keep telling yourself that...
I've been thinking about this for so long my brain can't escape. Orz, that reminds me, I need to hit the archives on Wednesday probably to dig out the old boxes and actually scan two things rather than just photocopy...

At the same time, lots of other stuff brewing. RE: the house. That's not a saga any more. It's a farce. Family stuff outside of me and Brian (we're, other than being fat, doing well and kicking everyone's asses at Cranium. Perverted mind powers unite!) is rather shitty at the moment and I'm trying not to dwell. The apartment is a sty and I WILL clean after Thanksgiving, if only becase we might have company. I have a website to build because I paid for it and I don't want those fanlisting bastards breathing down my neck. I have to CATCH THE FUCK UP on a bajillion series. QI needs to stop being amazing because I just want to sit around and watch it.

I am SOOOO behind on all the writing I owe and I swear for reals I will get on that. And epic music posts of death, esp. because MEGADETH tomorrow, omg! And mine and Brian's podcast plotting...I'm excited about that especially because I have a LOT to say about our particular subject and I suspect it'll end up being a lot of fun as well as ricockulous.

Lastly, holiday stuffs! I'm gonna be pestering people for addresses probably next week! You've been warned!


48+ and then 10 hours and then another 48+ makes for a cracky me. I'm kind of contemplating the fact that I get 3 weeks of vacation in February and, if I can find a real job, I might take one week and just go for 3 or 4 days for the hell of it. In the name of SCIENCE! Anyway, weird post is weird and manic. I think it's the minor stress relief combined with a severe sleep deficit that just keeps growing. XD Now I'm going to get off work and drive to my parents' house and then visit my grandmother. And not sleep. *sarcasm* Genius!

Just watched Metalocalypse Season 3 episode 1 on Adult Swim...

Holy fuck...CHUCK! Damn was that entrance hawt! Also sunglasses for kitties.

So it occurred to me this morning that the Punisher movies are the bullet/explosion porn equivalent of the Saw movies and others of the torture porn ilk. But for some reason I love the Punisher movies and despise any and all forms of torture porn...and most horror movies for that matter. Huh.

( I should bring a tape recorder in the car...I get the stupidest ideas while stuck in traffic )

Just popping on to apologize for still being more or less locked into my own tiny universe. I've successfully survived the conference and first presentation portion of things so now it's down to the last remaining thesis wire and insane amounts of earnest toil and whatnot. 44 days to go until it's all over and the next 10 are among the most important. Life continues but it's all happening off to the side somewhere.

Anyway, I'm sorry for being absent and boring so much lately. But it'll all be over rather uncomfortably quickly I suspect.

Also belated Happy Birthday to chibi_trillian and a belated Happy 11th Anniversary to brian_kun.

*stares around empty journal, sighs, goes back to school*

But in the meantime, some fangasming for ProgPower 11. I honestly, selfishly, think I want to go to this even more than DragonCon, which is an issue of sorts seeing as they're a weekend apart, both in Atlanta, and comparably expensive.

But...But...But...KAMELOT is headlining Day 1 and Hammer - FUCKING -fall is headlining Day 2 and TYR and OH MY GOD - TAROT!!!!! and Nocturnal Rites are all playing and what the hell, world? Seriously, the only way to improve this show would be the addition of Jorn or Sonata Arctica. I really REALLY think I have to go to this show. Seriously this is like...an unbelievable combination. And the funny thing is, I'll probably get to see at least Kamelot and Hammerfall on a tiny scale too, since both should be hitting Jaxx at some point in 2010. But to compare tiny club intimacy to big scale venue antics...that would be fucking amazing.

In other news, school, school, school, emo, school, too much melancholy prog metal, school, school, fangasming over new fandom full of middle aged men (my absolute favorite thing) who are ridiculous and awesome, school, school, school, stress-related weight gain, school, school, school, OMG more school...and more music.

Sigh.

Um, yeah, despite my current music capturing my mood at the moment perfectly, have something else that's been rocking my world. Esp. because I NEED to upload all these albums since I meant to do it way back when and didn't. And because the new album is AMAZING, as is Megadeth's new one (show in November...OPENING date of the Endgame tour as a matter of fact), and because I'm bummed that I missed seeing them this time around because they have an amazing live show and are funny as fuck. Also...KEYTAR!




Also, and I can't believe I almost forgot...BRUTAL LEGEND comes out today!
\m/ ^_^ \m/
That's how I feel about it. Brian and I are so psyched for this game that it's getting a little crazy. And I'm having a mild heart attack that Running Wild's on the soundtrack. Seriously. That's so cool. Also, the two Megadeth songs? High Speed Dirt - which will obviously be for a driving portion and bwahahahahaha...Tornado of Souls, one of my all time favorite Megadeth songs and possibly the one I most wish would come out on Rock Band or Guitar Hero. So that's pretty bad ass. :P I can always tell when I'm stressed out because I bury myself in music to the point where it kind of takes over my life. The past month and a half has been a case in point...now if my other order would just get here, I'd have new Jorn and Circle II Circle and Isis in my hands too...

And on that note and in any event, my apologies for continuing to be an absent LJ-er and kind of a git when I'm actually around. 2 more months and it'll all be over. At least that's what I keep telling myself...

LJ just reminded me it's been a week since I've updated. And I owe people replies and etc and I apologize for not getting to them. Having submitted my graduation request form last week and working on my forms for credit requirements and my thesis committee, I'm now at the stage where I'm fighting off sabotaging myself. I'm very good at it, both consciously and unconsciously, and I am nearly paralyzed with fear that I'll shoot myself in the foot regardless. Also, I've really really REALLY got to get a move on and try to find a good sleep pattern again and stop stress-eating.

So apologies on my front to you all. I'll try to get back around to it. And, er, expect the random silences and awkwardness to continue. I need to get through this and get my life out of this damn holding pattern so I can be a grown-up for real and not just pretend.

Thanks so much to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! It was pretty good despite the rain and the having to go to class bits. I finally have a DSi and the first Professor Layton game, as well as the The Legendary Starfy, which was clearly intended for 3 year olds and is therefore immensely satisfying to me. I want to especially thank serrende for her awesome-tastic picture of those harried individuals in One Piece who act as seconds and sherriaisling and ladykarasu for being evil and spoiling me. Thanks again! ♥ for you!

Okay, so it's not great and it involves a lot of half-assed roundabout musing on my part about some of the undercurrents of the relationships among the band but here it is.

Title: The Curse of Celebrity
Rating: R for crappy pr0n
Pairing: Nathan/Skwisgaar/Nathan
Word Count: 1103

( Blackest Black Despair )

( So, about Dragon*Con... )

( And random RL stuff )

Oh, and we're thinking about heading to the Maryland Renaissance Festival on Sept. 26th for Pirate Invasion Weekend if any locals would be interested in joining us!

I suppose that's about it, other than that the new Movie 10 POP figures are amazing and are breaking my wallet and I LOVE IT. Also, possible picnic tonight. I like picnics. Regarding prompts, I'm working a weekend stand at the moment and my plans for the Saturday overnight primarily involve tackling a bunch of them!

Happy Birthday vejiicakes!!!

Last year I wrote you a Nathan/Skwis drabble. This year I figured I'd let you pick! Any Metalocalypse (tell me what you want!) or I'd try my hand at ZoSan if you throw a prompt my way, although my ZoSan tends to be weird and SanZo rather.

*waves to LJ*

Oh LJ, how I missed you! Seriously, as awesome as Dragon*Con was (and I will post about it later), the lack of an internet for nearly a week was horrifying! XD I live vicariously through others, I suppose. Anyway, I have returned to work and the internet and an ENORMOUS backlog of posts to wade through. And homework and real work and thesis and blahblahblah. I've been spoiled by Dragon*Con and just want to live in fan-zone for a little while longer.

In any event, THANKS FOR ALL THE AWESOME PROMPTS!!!! I am looking forward to working on them! Feel free, anyone who didn't make a request, to do so!

I guess that's about it. I'm glad to be back and I'm seriously ready to catch up with everyone and everything, although I apologize if it takes me a little while since I've gotta be good and intermingle school work with it too.


Also, I love One Piece. Just sayin'!

Well, I'm on hour 14 of my double shift leading up to my vacation and am feeling pretty good. Class yesterday went well, I got my parking pass and my books, and my prof confirmed that she is indeed making me present with her at the MARAAS conference. It's on my anniversary and I have Dethklok plans but it's only up at Villanova and we're to speak at 11 am so I should still be able to go down I-95 and make it to the Patriot Center in plenty of time. So that's a happy thing.

Anyway, I made my new set of Pickles' dreads at work last night (which is a weird thing to be doing, let me just say) and so I just need to see if I can sew them properly to my new, tougher bald cap tonight and I should be good to go on that front. Still have a haircut, muffin-baking, cleaning, packing, etc to do tonight but that's all the fun, frantic stuff. Allegedly internet will be an arm and a leg down at Dragon*Con so I probably won't be online until next Tuesday at the earliest. But the laptop is still coming along, if only so Brian and I can watch more 'Oz and James' episodes and perhaps some One Piece in the rare lulls and on Thursday night.

So, in the off chance that I DO get internet, and so that I have something to look forward to and mess around with once I'm home, I'm taking prompts! Spastic, shippy, pr0ntastic, I don't care! Throw them at me and I'll fill them! One Piece, Metalocalypse, TMNT, FairyTail, and I'll even try my hand at Reborn.

Sock it to me, people! ^_^

Happy Birthday dried_frog_pill!!!

I hope you have a marvelous day!








It's September 1st and my first day back for what will hopefully damn well better be my last semester as a Masters student. In light of that, and of my frequent lame-itude recently, I vow to be less bitchy about my life in general in this journal. No more angst. Anger is okay but the wangst-fests need to come to an end. No one needs to read about it and it just makes me itchy inside. So, yeah. Also, despite the fact that school will probably keep me away from fic as much since I NEED to concentrate on it, I'm going to try and be more productive writing-wise. School does that to me. I'm excited about Dragon*Con because there are some nifty writers' workshops/panels that appeal to me. Especially the one about writing fight scenes. Epic fic might finally get a start if I can be inspired since it opens with a big fight.

Anyway, if I get too bitchy, LJ, smack me down.

So I'm really excited about Dragon*Con! We're leaving on Thursday and I've plotted out my activities and I'm trying to hold in my fan-tastic glee over the thought of the Shatner/Nimoy panel and the Patrick Stewart panel, the Venture Brothers panel and a panel devoted to dissing the LoEG movie and orgasming over the the comic/gn. I'm a little intimidated too but I keep trying to remind myself that I'm a big girl and it'll be kind of fun to be on my own for so much of a convention for a change. Brian's going to be hitting up a lot of the gaming stuff and I have an eclectic bunch of panels to attend and lots of short indie films to watch. I think it's the strange layout and the sheer volume of people that are giving me any qualms, combined with the fact that I have to CHOOSE between some things and that's HARD! Sigh.

Anyway, I had had some rather extreme cosplay plans for Dragon*Con a couple of months ago but I got caught up in Otakon and then I just kind of...collapsed. Tonight I brought Brian's steampunk stuff with me to work to finish up a few trim details and got all of it done except for a bit where I ran out of braid and I just...I dunno. My steampunk stuff is only at 40% and I don't have the energy to push myself to finish it at all. Nope. Not one bit. My jacket is looking pretty damn good but DAMN is it tiring to sew something exactly to a pattern. I've gathered, I've basted (which I've never done before IN MY LIFE, hello ghetto sewing skills), I've super-hemmed, I've ironed and ironed and ironed, and I'm just...tired. Steampunk isn't coming to Dragon*Con this year. Ah well.

Pickles is coming because it's been over a year since that's happened and I have more fun as Pickles than in any other cosplay that I own. And I was torn between Skypeia Usopp and either regular Luffy or ending 11 Luffy and maybe I'll just bring both now. Or maybe I won't and I'll run around in Metalocalypse and my Akagami pirate t-shirts instead. That might make for a nice change.

It's not that I'm burnt out on cosplay. I think I'm just kind of burnt out on life at the moment. I don't really feel like dealing with school and this semester I SERIOUSLY have to buckle down and just...finish already. And the whole house ordeal has made me and Brian both way too angsty for our own goods. I wish we'd get some kind of answer just so it could stop weighing us down. And we're poor to boot and I need a part-time job and just...ugh ugh ugh. There's a plasma collection place that just opened but thanks to my fake-HIV for NIH that's not an option either but it would sure be nice since they pay $200 a month. I dunno. I'm going to wait for Dragon*Con to be over and then I'll look for a part-time job again. Those bastards at Chik-fil-A are hiring again. But fuck them and their 'you have too much experience' anyway. I think I'll hit up the McDonalds in the mall.

In other news, Brian and I spent the weekend watching Oz and James' Big Wine Adventure on Veoh. We watched all of California and we're about half finished with France. XD James May is still my hero. Now if only our dl of them drinking around Britain would finish...I could take it to Dragon*Con to entertain myself on Thursday night or something. Or I could be good and catch up on One Piece anime except that I KNOW I'm not going to have time to write much this semester and I STILL haven't watched the first scene with Kuma let alone the angst at Shabondy. Hrm, I'll come up with something to bring. Perhaps Metalocalypse since I'm so looking forward to season 3...

So I popped in my old Chinese bootleg dvds an hour ago to check some anime episodes for some info on a fic I'm plotting. It made me all nostalgic in the best One Piece sort of way, although it wasn't too hard seeing as I've been in a huge NaVi mood recently (and haven't gotten nearly enough...) and so I wrote a couple of drabbles revolving mostly around guilt. They're all pretty sucky but, eh, it's something?
Also, Hikari E and Shining Ray are still my favorite openings and endings. When did One Piece music get so lame anyway? I miss the awesome music and SHANKS being in the opening.


( Hina, G, 406 words )


( Nami, PG, hints of NaVi, 241 words )


( Kohza, G, 248 words )


( Crocodile, NOT GUILT, G, 259 words )


Also, drunk guy FINALLY went to bed around 4 am. I wanted to kill him, and myself, but managed somehow to survive. What an ass. Sigh.

Oh My GOD, insanely drunk redneck, PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE go to bed. Seriously. One more time of this and I'm calling the cops. STAY IN YOUR GODDAMNED ROOM!

Y'know, there's something weird about the realization that hitting 24 hours is the norm and not the unusual. I don't even get tired any more before 30. That should probably be a problem. Also what is up with my job and having hospitalized coworkers all the time? Orz. On the other hand, hello overtime.

Also, I'm feeling especially misanthropic lately. And a little...off-kilter. Ah the joys of real life and adulthood and the pure insanity that is this country sometimes. It's enough to make me want to move to Norway even though I don't like that much snow.

This post is pointless but I'm stuck at work on a Saturday and so I'm making it.

Happy Birthday scribe_protra!!!

Title: Inlaws
Rating: G
Pairing: Usopp/Luffy
Word Count: 1026
A/N: Well, you wanted Usopp fic and Garp fic and I tried to give you a little of both. However it comes in a cracktacular package. I hope it makes you chuckle or at least smile!

( This was surely an exercise in masochism...or lunacy...or both. Kind of like being a Straw Hat pirate most of the time actually. )





Spent the weekend sewing, hating sewing, and sleeping on the couch. Had a very awesome dream in which Luffy cut off British Admiral Nelson's wooden hand with a sword and everyone around cracked the fuck up. Including me, which was when I woke up. Have weirdest urge to write awful Punisher fanfic in which he and Nick Fury get Russian hookers at the end of the Cold War and then smuggle nukes to Uzbekistan and use them as bait for Chinese mafia buyers. Cue epic gun battle and bloodbath. I think I need a new hobby/show/manga/form of entertainment.

Happy Birthday oddrid!!!

I hope you're having an excellent day!