prpl pen

05:16 pm: I'm back!
They finally hooked up our internet connection today! YAY!

So, I suppose it's time to run through the highlights of my incommunicado moving-time:

• Originally I had been planning to rent my own apartment, but my friend suggested we all (me, him, & his husband) live together for a year or two to save money, since between the three of us, we can get a fairly nice place without having to pay a ton. It was nice, especially since money would've been pretty tight for me at first after moving costs.
  
  
• We found a nice apartment which is great for us: fairly big, two full bathrooms (I can't even tell you how happy I am to have my own bathtub again; I love taking long, leisurely baths.) plenty of room for my books, an extra bedroom/office room, which we have made into our computer & video game utopia.
  
  
• And, yes, I've finished moving all my stuff here (did it last weekend). Mostly I am very happy because this means I got to finally get my books out of storage; not only did I miss them like whoa, but I was starting to get a little worried about the state they'd be in after being in a storage shed for two years. They weathered it well: only three ended up bent from shifting in their boxes; two (common & easily replaced) suffered a little nibbling from a mouse; and just one had some slight water damage (must've been a leak somewhere? but none of the other books in the same box were harmed in any way). After a year, I was starting to picture horrible things happening to them, so it was a relief.
  
  
• My cat is here, and settling in pretty well. She's a very cautious, nervous cat, so I was a little worried about how she'd adjust, especially since Jon Paul & Randall have a fairly young kitten (who is adorable, btw. They have him wear shirts half the time, which sounded kind of weird to me at first, but he doesn't mind it at all, plus...it does look really cute). The kitties seem to be getting along well, though. Jack (the kitten) is happy to have another cat to play with, and Éowyn tolerates him pretty well, except for an occasional smackdown from time to time when he gets too obnoxious. They sleep next to each other in a little kitty pile sometimes, so that's encouraging and adorable.
  
  
• Not directly related to moving, but I randomly received a free upgrade on my cell phone, so now I have a RAZR which makes texting a world easier. Had my plan changed too, so I now have unlimited texting. Because of this I made good use of Twitter during my Time of No Internet. Annnyhoo, feel free to add me if you've got a Twitter account, or, heck, if you don't have my cell number and want to text me sometime, leave me a comment and I'll get it to you.
  
  
• I plan on getting up some pictures sooner than later, of the new place, and the kitties, and whatever else...ACTUALLY. Why don't I just do that meme, since I'm at it? Comment with something you want me to take a picture of, and I'll post it in a later entry!

Now I am going to attempt to catch up with the flist, though it's been, for all intents and purposes, about two weeks since I've had a chance to look at it closely, so it's pretty likely I will miss out on stuff. If there's anything you want me to know about or link me to, leave a comment, please! I can't guarantee I'll see it otherwise.

It's good to be back! I missed you all! ♥~

Tags: books, bullet point time, kitties, meme, moving, real life, twitter

06:00 am: I never noticed this before. Well, I mean, of course I didn't, because I watched Haruhi before I played Phoenix Wright, and haven't re-watched any of it besides the "movie" episode. Still, it was neat to see, once someone pointed out to me it was there.

Oh! Does anyone have an account on Goodreads? I was trying LibraryThing for a while, but I like the interface on Goodreads more. Anyway, mine's here; please add me if you'd like! Once I move and can unpack all my books, I can finish cataloging them there. FUN. (Yes, I'm being serious about that; I like organizing my media a lot.)

I was sick on Monday and I still feel a little off. Why does my immune system fail so hard? Bleh. I've been drinking as much water as I can keep down, but I think I'm probably a little dehydrated right now. Fuuun.

-

Stole this from a few people.

Reply with your answers to this and then post it in your own LJ (if you wish). I'll reply there. I'd love to see anyone reply to this, since I'm rather curious about some of the answers. :)

ABOUT
1. Name (or what you prefer to go by):
2. Birthday:
3. Where do you live:
4: What is/was your college major? (or if you haven't decided yet, what are you considering?):
5. What is your current job?:
6. Your favorite time of the year?:
7. What is your favorite food?:

RECOMMEND
1. A movie:
2. A tv show:
3. A book:
4. A comic/manga:

FANDOM
1. Favorite Fandom:
2. OTP:
3. Character:
3. Icon/Fic Journal (if you have one. If not, link to your favorite):


Tags: anime, books, meme, sick, video games

02:52 pm: Happy birthday takewing & (a little early) parsnip_chan!!!
If you give me a character/pairing & prompt, I'll do my best to write you a birthday drabble. ♥ I hope your birthdays are awesome!

Talking about animelist the other night with Bri and Meg got me thinking about trying to catalogue my books again, too. I used to use a site to do that, but the interface was nightmarish and I eventually stopped bothering. Anyway, I went looking again and found LibraryThing.com. Seems all right, from what I've seen. I've started entering my library there, but most of my books are still in storage, and it's kind of hard to go by memory. Anyhoo, does anyone else have an account there? Add me if you do, or go ahead and give me your username if you want me to add you.

I'm waiting to hear back on a job, but I'm hopeful. If I get it, that means I can finally move (albeit behind my self-imposed schedule; OH WELL). Granted, I supposed I could crash at a friend's place for a week or two to look for work, but I'd really rather have something lined up before I quit my job here and move to Minneapolis. Eh. I'm just so ready to get back to a bigger town. The place I'm living now is not without its charms, but it's so rural and there's, like. Nothing, honestly. Except nature. Nature is good. I like nature. I just would like some convenience and culture, too. And a new apartment to put my stuff into again. I miss my books. ;_;

I've been talking Gargoyles on and off with shiinabambi lately, and it's making me want to A) rewatch the series and B) possibly write fic again? Dunno. I've been feeling more inspired and productive lately in general, and I think it has a lot to do with doing the writing buddies thing with danbi. Yay! I'm currently working on a Genshiken futurefic. The fandom seems to be just this side of non-existent, but that almost makes it a little easier. Mentioning it here because then I have more reason to actually finish it. Baccano! is a fandom that I love and ideas for, but I feel reluctant to actually write for it, just because...I know there's a ton of canon out there for it that I have no access to (since I can't read Japanese). I wish that didn't bother me, but it does. I don't want to end up speculating on things that may technically already have an answer (or not; but once again, I can't read the novels to find out). I basically have to rely on fan translations for now and hope they do another season of anime.

faemous and I are supposed to be writing longfic this summer, too; Avatar for me, IshiHime for her. Fae, we should totally start on that, y/n? :D

...This turned into a lot of rambling.

Kekkaishi pimp post forthcoming (probably within a day or two).

ETA: Anyone have a copy of "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison handy? I have the album at home, but I'm not there and I really want to listen to it right now, for whatever reason.

Tags: baccano!, books, gargoyles, rambling, real life, writing

12:52 pm: Warning: incoming booksexual.


Tags: books, pimp, reading, reading challenge

08:15 pm: Somehow or another, it's mostly about reading.
I've been lax in updating again. (And reading/commenting on the flist, too; I actually intend to go back and catch up somewhat tonight/tomorrow, so don't be surprised if you get a comment from me on an older entry.) I actually have a few things I meant to talk about, but FIRST!

( Yeah, I'm gonna talk about Bleach here [some very vague spoilers, I guess]... )

On to other things! BULLET POINT STYLE! :O

• I've been working on my jump_exchange fic pretty diligently the past few days, which is good! For a long time, I was just failing at coming up with the motivation to actually write, though I've had the idea for a good long time. I'm almost done with the first draft (thanks in large part to danbi being awesome and encouraging), and it's actually shaping up to be quite a bit longer than I originally thought it would be. Not a bad thing, really, I just need to work on it double-time this weekend to make sure I can finish in time to have my betas look over it (btw, anyone else who's current/nearly current on Bleach, I wouldn't mind another pair or two of eyes to look it over--let me know!) so I can get it all fixed up by the due date. Not too worried just yet.
  
  
• via mekosuchinae: bottle_of_shine is hosting a reading challenge on her journal, which looks double-plus good awesome. The jist of it is:
  
  
  * Sign up!
  * Compose a list of ten books you love, then share it.
  * Read at least three books recommended by other participants, then review the books you've read.
  
  I'm totally doing this, and you should too! Seems like a great way to get book recs! :D
  
  
• Oh, and in that vein, remember the whole "reading journal" thing I was planning to do? I got sort of sidetracked on that, in large part because the last one I tried writing (focused on the Twilight series, and especially Eclipse) was so disjointed and hfdsahfs that I had to give up on it for a while. Well. The other day I started doing a write-up of it again. It's not done, quite (I set it aside to concentrate on my jump_exchange assignment), but expect to see it soon. And since so many people on the flist have read the series, I'm looking forward to having some good discussion when it's posted. So be on the lookout for that. Though, uh, just a warning, not all of my thoughts are flattering. >.>
  
  
• The Persona -trinity soul- anime may not be that particularly astounding, but I lovelovelove the ending theme. I'll upload it later tonight from work, where I have access to a better internet connection, but in the meantime, check it out here
  ETA: Okay, it's uploaded now! -->Suicides Love Story<--.

Mmkay, I think those are the main points for now!

P.S. -the_firefly! I got your package! ♥!!! --but, uhm. The DVD you sent me is apparently. Blank. Tried it on three computers and none of them can read anything on it. :\

Tags: bleach, books, bullet point time, pimp, reading, reading challenge, writing

09:53 am: The high yesterday was -8° F. Right now it's -24° F. This is without the windchill. Sometimes I just love living in Minnesota.*

My computer looks to have something seriously wrong with it, and so I'll probably be sending it in for maintenance. Hopefully that won't take too long, but I expect to be pretty scarce until it's fixed. I can get online from home, but it's only a pretty awful dial-up connection on a shared phone line, so not that convenient and not something I can use a lot. Oh well. I'LL SURVIVE.

I've actually been relatively productive in the past few days, despite somehow managing to get sick again. I made a bunch of icons (this one included; I like it a lot!), finished knitting some hats and scarves for various people, and am almost done with some (already woefully late) things for yuri_challenge.

...And then there's the Bleach fic I wrote for Howie's birthday. Bless me Father, for I have sinned. Uhm. I wrote Ichigo/Kon-in-Rukia's-gigai. ...snuzzie GIVES IT HER SEAL OF APPROVAL.** :D

Looks like most people don't mind if I do the book blog thing in this journal, so I'll probably start that up...as soon as I work up the motivation to type out the first one. Yay, books!

I swear I actually had a LOT more I meant to write about, but now that I'm actually sitting down to do it, nothing else springs to mind. Isn't that always the way.

Instead, have a meme! Give me a fandom and the title of a story I haven't actually written, and I'll tell you a little more about the story in question!

Going to sleep now, but I'll reply when I wake up. ♥

*For those keeping score at home, that was SARCASM.
**Or...something.

Tags: attempting to be productive, bleach, books, computer woes, frigid sub-arctic temperatures, icons, meme, reading journal, writing

06:56 pm: A few years ago, I used to keep a reading journal, where I'd write down thoughts on whatever books I'd been reading. It wasn't reviews, really; it was more informal than that, and often irreverent, and the length varied greatly, from a quick note that I'd read and liked something, to rambling entries discussing minutiae. However, though I kept it faithfully for over a year, outside factors stopped that for a while and I just got out of the habit of it.

Well, lately I've been thinking I'd like to start doing something like that again, using my LJ. Though it would ultimately be something I'm keeping for myself, I'd like a more interactive aspect to it, so anyone who wanted to could read it and discuss if so inclined. For, you see, I am a huge nerd and love talking about books. My main concern now is whether I should create a journal specifically for that, or just post reading entries within my main journal. I can see pros and cons to both, and I guess the deciding factor would be whether anyone cares to read them, or if a lot of book blog entries in my journal would be too annoying for those of my flist who have zero interest. So: a poll!

Poll #1120755 Book blog?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 16

Interested in reading?

How should I do this thing?

Other suggestions?

Tags: books, poll, reading journal

04:37 pm: I haven't been around much at all, so I know I missed a lot of stuff. I'm trying to look back over the flist, but it's entirely possible I'll still completely miss a ton of stuff, so if there's anything in particular you'd like me to see/know about, link me in the comments, please? ♥

All my cards have been mailed out (save for faemous and the_firefly; you're getting packages, hopefully not too late), so if you signed up for a card from me, expect that to arrive soon, if it hasn't already. And I've gotten cards from illuminations, paynesgrey, rhye, dynastic, and tomoeish so far; thank you so much! (Di, your handwriting is beautiful. :P) I was hoping to do a bit more than just cards again this year, but alas; it was not to be.

I just read Twilight and New Moon. I dunno. They're definitely flawed, but while I was reading them, they totally sucked me in. Gotta say, though: Jacob >>> Edward. I'm already seeing how this series is probably going to be dragged out, though, which makes me a little reluctant now to bother with Eclipse. I already know that I will eventually read it, though, or at least start to, and that's because of Jacob. I love him. If the author screws him over some more, I'll be put out. :|

Anyway, have a fic rec:

Worth [The Last Unicorn, Molly/Amalthea, PG] From one of my prompts at yuri_challenge. Really beautiful, and fits in so seamlessly with the canon that it could easily be a "lost scene" from the book (or movie).

Speaking of yuri_challenge...back to working on my submissions. All my attempts at art lately are vexing me. A lot. sigh.

Tags: books, fic rec, holiday cards, yet another attempt at being productive

02:23 pm: I have a horrible cold. It's providing me with a low-level--yet constant!--misery. That combined with the wacky cold meds I'm on, might mean I am a little incoherent today! Y-yay?

First! Much love to parsnip_chan, shiinabambi, and the_firefly, who sent me Skip Beat, various anime (Simoun, Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito, & Death Note) on cd, and Last Exile, respectively. My heart swells with love, srsly. ♥

Yesterday, I had to run a check to the bank (hooray, overdraft fees?!) and then randomly decided I should see Stardust since I was in the neighborhood. Then also figured, hey, might as well see The Simpsons Movie while I'm at it! I meant to do my write-up of Stardust, especially, last night, but this was not to be, as a pretty hardcore thunderstorm started just after I got home, which not only slowed my dial-up connection speed to a crawl, but later completely knocked out all power for several hours! Instead, I read Diana Wynne Jones by candlelight until I fell asleep, which was pleasant, and somewhat nostalgic for reasons I won't get into right now.

Anyway, ( thoughts on Stardust; mildly spoilery )

Anyway, if anyone else's seen it, I'd love to get discussy in the comments. *thumbs up*

(Small note on The Simpson's Movie: I stopped watching the show at least five years ago. It started to suck, so I stopped watching; very simple. The movie, however, was good, though it started to drag a bit at the end. It really only makes me much more impatient for the Futurama OVAs to drop, honestly. >.>)

Tags: books, love!!!, movies, stardust

11:21 pm: SO. The last Harry Potter book will be out in less than an hour (in my timezone). Everyone knows this. The bad part for me is I'm at work now, so my tradition of going to a release party and getting the book at midnight is broken. This makes me sad, but...eh. I can deal.

One of my friends volunteered to pick up a copy for me and drop it off at work so I could at least start reading it a little after midnight. However, this is no longer happening, because she flaked at the last minute and decided she'll just buy it tomorrow. So not cool. :\

Looks like I'll have to wait till seven am, when I get off work, to get my copy. Alas.

snuzzie and _tehriah are awesome, though, and called me from the release party they're at. Unfortunately it seems my phone reception is horrible here. D:

ETA: snuzzie and _tehriah just called me again, and we squee'd about the book, and they took me on a tour of Wal*Mart while they went to buy Rockstar and tried to tempt me into deserting my post and letting the residents fend for themselves so I could pick up my own copy. ♥, you guys!

Tags: books, friends, harry potter, work

12:55 pm: D:
I'm a bad Diana Wynne Jones fan and Chrestomanci fangirl. Why? Because I was completely unaware that The Pinhoe Egg had been published last year. I only found out when I was doing a library catalogue search to see if they had a copy of Fire and Hemlock here (I've been wanting to reread it). I've checked it out now, obviously, but I'm kind of appalled at myself that I didn't even know it'd already come out.

In other news, chriek has got me reading Lovely Complex. omg, so cute! ♥

Anyone else for a letter?

Tags: books, letters, manga

02:14 pm: Oh man, you guys. I've been having a really bleh couple of days, and then I came online and saw this. Just what I needed. I just spent the past half-hour or so going through and leaving comments (and still am). Something about remembering why I adore so many of you was a real pick-me-up. ♥

Hee, I was actually planning on whining about said bleh couple of days, but I no longer have any desire to do so, so now I'm not sure what else to post about.

Oh, I saw Spiderman 3. Meh. Neither liked it or disliked it. It was just there. I also recently reread Bone, and it randomly made me want to write Rose/Lucius. I'm not letting myself start anything new now until I finish old fic that I owe, though. I mean, it's one thing to try and force creativity and then end up with an inferior result, but now it's kind of bordering on ridiculous. It's not even so much that I can't right now, just that lately I never actually do, and that's horribly unfair for the people I owe stuff to.

Randomly: book recs, anyone? I need something new to read.

Tags: books, love!!!, movies, writing

12:58 pm: Memes.
I haven't posted in a while again, and I have a few new friends, so I suppose I should make some noise to show I am still alive. Since I really haven't got much exciting to talk about, I'll just do some memes. Yay?

I'm perhaps a little late on this one, since I saw it making the rounds a few days ago, but that was when I was using a computer with such a slow connection speed that I couldn't load images. But I'm at the library today! Yay, DSL!

Meme #1

Reply to this post, and tell me your favorite icon of mine and why. I will reply and tell you my favorite icon of yours and why. Then post this to your own journal using your own favorite icon.

Yeah, I am horrible at picking one favorite, and there were a bunch that I wanted to pick, but I ended up choosing the Isane one. I love the color, and it's Isane. ♥

Then, I thought this was kinda neat...

Meme #2

Go here. The rules are simple. You comment with your username, and people can tell you what they want to see you write. Or draw, or vid, or icon, whatever. Despite the name, they don't have to do it anonymously, though of course they certainly can. You then go through the comments and if you see that person who you've always wanted to write a Green Arrow AU set in the Terror, where Ollie is a Scarlet Pimpernel-esque figure, smuggling people out of Paris, then you tell them that they should write it.

(Here's me.)

And then this I blatantly stole from memlu, because it was a fun idea.

Meme #3

Comment here with a series and I will cop up to a story I would like to write in the event that a) I lose shame, b) no one would read it, and c) I develop the ability to finish anything I start. Like, for example, this meme.

In the event that the series you suggest does not inspire me to contemplate high school AUs, you can ask for something else.

Aaaand, because spreading the love is awesome:

Meme #4

Comment here and I'll reply and tell you something that I like about you!

In non-meme-related news: the_firefly, I got your package! And it is so fabulous; thank you sooooo much! I also saw Pan's Labyrinth last week, which was good and not a little disturbing in places.

I've been reading Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle and quite enjoying it so far (I'm about 3/5th of the way through it, I'd say). All my books are packed up and in storage, which is annoying when I want to read a certain one and know I can't just now. The library helps, though. Anyone have some recommendations for books that I should check out and read?

Tags: books, meme, movies, writing

11:55 am: NaNoWriMo progress report: ( Read more... )

I'm not sure what I'll do today. No plans, because I already did birthday stuff on Wednesday and yesterday. I will probably write a bit. Maybe play Final Fantasy XII for a while. I'm not very far yet, and I'm sure I won't be finishing it any time soon. I know I don't have to worry about uncut spoilers, though, because my friends list is just awesome like that.

( Some thoughts (nothing plot-spoilery) )

Okay I had more I was going to ramble on about, but one of my friends just called and reminded me there is a book sale at the library today! ♥ I officially have Plans now! YAY!

ETA: Two more left! Any takers?

Tags: books, nanowrimo, video games, writing