Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Kayt Kakalina's LiveJournal:

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Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
1:37 am	Fun note: Firefox's spellcheck fixes for "Nazarenes" include "Awareness" and "Spareness" Dear 'Concerned Nazarenes,' GET OUT OF MY DENOMINATION. Kthxbai. I can see some of where they're coming from in some cases, but in others they're your regular conservative fundies. They don't approve of TNU's use of the Prayer Labyrinth and the Spiritual Formation Retreat. (In the first, it's basically an open floor looking like a maze, from what I hear, with prayer stations; the second is a weekend trip to a monastery in Kentucky where you try to be silent for the weekend--more prayer time and don't judge, I'm horrible at explaining even the idea behind it. It does, FYI, get rave reviews from everyone who goes but since the monastery is CATHOLIC, oh noes [even if students don't have to go to services]! Catholics aren't Christian, you know!) And Emerging Church speakers* have a "captive audience" because of required chapel attendance at Nazarene colleges. Granted, this is not quite so glaring an error as some others, but as one of said students, I can tell you assuredly that captive=/=listening. If anything, it means you sit in the back of the sanctuary with your other friends and finish homework for the next class and ignore what's going on at the front of the church. It's entirely possible to go and not hear a word of anything. Not that I do this, understand, but it's distracting when I'm late and sit in the back. (*am not very familiar with this movement but apparently it's sorta-kinda "the church in today's world" type stuff, and if I could understand the Wikipedia article I would probably find that both I and the Naz churches/colleges I'm familiar with agree with at least a little of it.) Am also annoyed because on their front website page, they've got some stuff that's not even in the manual. (Yes, we have a manual. It's useful because then you *don't* have to listen to what every ConservaJoe spouts off as church tradition.) For example, they are "concerned about the teaching of evolution in our academic institutions, and the historic account of God's creation being taught as allegorical." Heaven forbid (literally, apparently) that we are taught a MAJOR SCIENTIFIC THEORY in SCHOOL. The manual, for what it's worth, essentially says "we believe God created the Earth like Genesis 1:1 says and we agree with all valid science because God's still Creator." The other thing that really got me, because we covered it in my Bib Faith class specifically, was this: "We consider [the Bible] to be inerrant (without error) in all matters." No. No no no. Nazarenes believe the Bible inerrantly reveals the will of God. There is a difference. The -ly ending places the emphasis on 'reveals.' Otherwise, we'd have to believe a lot of other stuff and if you haven't noticed, there are four Gospels that contradict each other in places; I thought this was common knowledge. And this isn't a new thing; Nazarenes have never believed in inerrancy. Wish I had my Bib Faith notes from last year, actually, since we had a really cool comparison of one specific event, but that paper is locked 600 miles away in my basement. Ah, well, it's the internet. These people are ruining any credibility they might have for the rest of their issues. Luckily, I have never run into any of these type in real life and I live, quiet literally, surrounded by Nazarenes. Further research has, thankfully, convinced me that this is a very small minority. Basically, they're trying to call "Nazarene" what has never been Nazarene. And all these people should be required to not just sit through, but PASS Dr. Spross' Intro to Biblical Faith class. Thank goodness they're not *really* an issue. After all--going to TNU? Believing in evolution and calling myself conservative? HERETIC! XD (Comment on this)
Monday, November 30th, 2009
10:21 pm	Survived getting back to school in my shiny new Yaris, dubbed the Yar-Car. I finished reading the first two books of Apothecarius Argentum, which I picked up for the interesting premise as much as the awesome-sounding name. It's about a guy named Argent who is a "basilisk," someone who was specially raised to be an assassin. They were fed poisons until they developed immunities against pretty much everything and the poisons within their body make their very being toxic--if you kiss him, you could end up unconscious at best, for example, and flowers wilt in his touch. But Argent works against his nature as an apothecary. So it sounds alright. But this is something definitely not worth being bought--fairly generic medieval-ish European setting and regular-type characters. It reminds me of Tomoko Taniguchi's Call Me Princess (the first manga I ever read). The setting is generic, but of course mannerisms and such are only loosely stuck in. Also, I'm incredibly bored. The only things to do around here are surf the net, read, or sleep. I want to be healthy. ( Meme stolen from Immortalmoon ) (Comment on this)
Friday, November 27th, 2009
1:40 am	Name geeking ( OC name rambling fun under the cut ) (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
11:26 pm	Pink Overload I FINALLY finished something artish unrelated to school! My IT class is prime doodle-time, so I started this a month or so ago. Been working on it in PSP9 for about three weeks, on and off. Computer coloring is just so aggravating, but I really do like the results, especially since I was trying for that shiny anime look (well, "trying" as much as I could without spending forever on it, anyway). YAR I don't care about incorrectness. It's done! I miss being able to do things quickly... ( Mew... ) So, I checked out the entire eight-volume Godchild series from the library. I own up to vol 5 or 6, but it'd been a while since I read them. WOW. Kaori Yuki's art is just gorgeous, especially her girls. I love seeing her illustrations with those old fashions, too. The story is pretty good for a while. I know there's a prequel (ish?) series, The Cain Saga, but I feel that most everything is explained in-series so you don't have to read TCS to *get* it (although there's definitely a feeling sometimes that you're lacking in the story). For the first while, the chapters are mostly a series of semi-related events, introducing a one-off character while something new gets revealed about Delilah, the sinister secret society (look, Ma, an alliteration!) that seems to be out to get Cain. Those are mostly fun, but you can't help but hunger for more information. I can't decide if the pacing really is too slow (a la Robin McKinley) or if Kaori Yuki is excellent at making her readers come back for more. As the story starts weaving loose threads together in the last three books is when the series starts to fail, just a tiny bit. Some character information is given too late, so while you can finally find out the what or why, you're at the point where you almost don't need it, because as frustrating as it is you've already gotten *this* far without it. Yes, the series' main problem lies in its characters. Outside of the most IMMEDIATE main characters, backstory is scarce if it exists at all. Motivations aren't revealed, and the entire antagonistic side of the story seems very one-dimensional, something that's not helped by the ending, which is almost a dull cop-out after all the build-up. It's still a good series, but probably one for the library and not the bookshelf. (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
12:27 am	ROYGBIV OMG GLEE GLEE GLEE OMG WICKED. WICKED WICKED WICKED WICKED WICKED. Marcie Dodd and Helene Yorke were BRILLIANT. Marcie's not quite so angular (or tall) as the other, more well-known Elphaba actresses, but I thought she's much prettier. And Helene was so enthusiastic as Galinda! So, with the money I made from eBay this summer (not much), it was *just* enough to buy me a ticket at the Wicked performance here in Nashville. I bought it right before I went back (so about 1.5 weeks before it opened, about 3 before the actual performance I attended. The ticketmaster website takes the info you put in (general seating wishes, price, date) and conjures you a seat, which you can take or try again. I got one that made us go "wow" for $85, which was cheaper than we expected (earlier searches turned up $130 on different websites). So I got it. Tonight, I scrambling for my ticket, and I've been thinking it's row F in the orchestra. Pretty good, right? Well, I look at my ticket...and it's row C. WOW. Close. It gets better: when I'm talking to an usher to find my seat, it turns out the first two rows are gone (expanded orchestra section). I WAS IN THE VERY FIRST ROW OMG OMG OMG. And just to the left of the center. I could see everything perfectly! It's brilliant and beautiful, by the way. In case, you know, you got a different impression. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
10:59 pm	The truth about the Lincoln Regime comes out! 11th grade: American Lit. Good stuff, got some Edgar Alan Poe, Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin...eh? What's this? Nehemiah Adams? No, I don't quite--he wrote about slavery, you say? How it's beneficial? Oh, well, then--and this? The Sack and Destruction of Columbia, South Carolina? No, I don't recall this being a classic... I am currently in the middle of re-writing said curriculum, or at least parts of it. I'll be inserting Flannery O'Connor where A Southside View of Slavery and Sack/Destruction used to be. The people who wrote the original curriculum are intensely pro-Southern North-is-evil MY BIBLE LEARNINGS LET ME SHOW YOU THEM-type people. Most of it's OK, but the "critical thinking" and notes sections that come after lessons? Those get a bit...interesting. Plus, their grammar is funky and they work in weird roundabout pseudo-logicky ramblings. “At the outbreak of the war, the Lincoln regime and the U.S. Congress permitted slavery to exist until the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified by the states in 1865. Slave states remaining with the Union or falling under occupation by Union troops included Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. In addition to these states, Washington, D.C. had slavery, and West Virginia was admitted into the Union as a slave state in 1863. Therefore, the so-called Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave. The proclamation applied only to those areas that were considered to be in “rebellion” against the United States. Since the proclamation was issued by the United States, it had no effect on the sovereign country of the Confederate States of America or to any other country.” ( Read more... ) “Apart from the American Indian, Southerners are the only people in the geographical area of the United States who suffered a defeat in war and an occupation of their country. Due to this humiliation, Southerners today see life differently than many other Americans. Life is no viewed as a constant, upward progress, where things will only be better next year. More than likely, things will get worse, and therefore, following the advice of George Washington, many Southerners plan for the worst. In this way, Southerners are like Europeans, who had known defeat, destruction, and occupation of their countries from time to time. Even to this day, after 140 years after the war [“after…after?” FAIL], the Southern United States does not have much in common with the rest of the country.” I think my favorite part is actually that Europeans have known war "from time to time." ( Read more... ) For more, you can see this abbreviated version and the notes for A Tale of Two Cities. Or you can check the tag up there. I'm still trying to find the note that mentions how cities are evil because they were first built by sinners, same for music, and if it wasn't for the evil atheists and their darn industrialism, we'd all be Christian agrarian farmers. Or the one that asks if it's OK for us to go out to eat on Sundays, since by supporting those businesses we're supporting something that *GASP* keeps people away from church! Because all those people would be in church if they weren't working! On a less rage-inducing but still a bit headdesky topic, we had to explain to my little sister today why the English don't celebrate (and may not have even heard of) Thanksgiving. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
2:17 pm	Critical Thinking "Some public schools have banned The Scarlet Letter in the libraries and in the classrooms. Supposedly the censors claim the novel glorifies adultery. Do you agree with this claim? Socialists always have an official reason for doing something, which is never the real reason. In the case of the banning of The Scarlet Letter, what do you suppose is the real reason for its ban?" "Like today's socialists in America, the radical abolitionists cared not a bit about truth, but rather used expediency in order to accomplish their agenda for destroying Christianity and its influence in American life. "Books and viewpoints like Dr. Nehemiah Adams [author of A Southside View of Slavery] are not locked away in some vault somewhere. These books are readily available in the public domain. When I first read this book, which was in the library at the college where I was an instructor, it confirmed what I believe about modern education. Volumes such as A Southside View of Slavery are ignored by current historians and literature professors for a very good reason. The direction of all American literature and history since the War against Southern Independence is toward the justification of the invasion and conquering of the Confederate States of America. This justification requires a rewriting of history and the suppression of true facts. Books like the one you are about to read does not [sic--dear professor, LEARN TO WRITE kthx] support the fabricated myth of a righteous Northern cause against a trumped up brutality of an evil South." Make of it (or boggle--socialists?) what you will, I'll post an explanation and more headdesk/rage-inducing excerpts a bit later. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, August 9th, 2009
2:51 pm	Wakari Moss. Yo Yo Moss. Haaaiiii, Moss-de! The end of summer and I'm busier than before! Why does everything have to happen NOW? Good stuff, I mean. Horse-riding is going great. Second lesson we tried posting, and was better than the rest of my family HAHA I mostly-kinda figured it out! After bouncing along for a while, you kinda figure out a rhythm to it. I'm sad that I'll only have a couple more lessons, though. I'm getting more confident around horses again, and Quote is a sweetie. Also finished my Sociology. Just sent in my final (5 EVIL take-home essays), and I should have my grade by Monday. Voice lessons are also going good. I've improved and find it easier to sing higher without using my head voice/going over my break. It's fun. And our puppy. Vet also thinks he's about 10 months old, and that he's really, really healthy. We're lucky that he's only 32 pounds (and probably won't get much, if any, bigger) because he is so bouncy. Moss doesn't seem to be house-trained much, so we have to be on constant lookout for signs that he has to go outside (mostly nonexistent). We also don't see a lot of Midnight-kitty these days because as friendly as he wants to be, he'll still chase anything small that moves. He also loves to greet people and wiggles his body more than his tail when he does. It's fun to watch. After a week, we've gotten to know his personality more. He's bright, very bright, and would be good at dog trials--he loves to sprint around the yard/house making small loops around various obstacles, and man, can he run. We've also decided his formal name is Wakari Moss (and no, it wasn't me, it was actually Dad who came up with it), but his nicknames are in my header up there. Still have stuff up on eBay Looklooklook~. They'll be ending over the next few hours to days and are still reeeeaaaally cheap. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
1:20 pm	eBay Manga/DVDs/Books/Games/More I'm clearing out my shelves again! All items listed below are on eBay, but if you don't do eBay, we can work something out if it doesn't sell. Prices listed are the current eBay prices as of this posting. ( Manga ) ( Books ) ( Games ) ( DVDs ) ( Cards ) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, July 31st, 2009
1:16 pm	♥♥♥ANIMALS♥♥♥ Been a good two days. Yesterday we (me, Lee/faith_hopeanluv, and Betsy) had our first horse lesson, with Mom deciding to join us as well. We made up a class by ourselves, which was good. Plus, the lady usually works with homeschoolers and therefore is used to small class sizes. It was English, not Western like the last lessons Lee and I took 8 years ago, but there doesn't seem to be much of a difference at the beginning level. The biggest difference is that when you mount and ride OH SHOOT THERE IS NO SADDLE HORN SOMEBODY SAVE ME I'M GONNA FALL OFF. Carol the lady/instructor/owner paired us up with horses when we got there: I got a quarter horse named Quote, Bets got a quarter horse named Brook, Lee's was an Arabian named Crystal (ROYGBIV pretty trot!) and Mom, because he was the last of the beginning horses, rode a draft horse named Mick. He is HUGE. So she showed us and we all brushed, picked the hooves, and saddled the horses, then led them out to the ring to mount. Our lesson consisted of walking, trotting, and attempting to post. It was fun, and I'm not as sore today as I thought I would be. Quote and I got along very well. He reminds me of my cat (and dead dog): he likes to nuzzle you. Unlike those animals, however, he weighs over a thousand pounds. But it was fun and unlike the other horses, Quote likes to go fast. Good match. ♥ TODAY. I haven't mentioned it, but Betsy and Lee are part of a volunteer program at the county animal shelter. This results in them (mostly Betsy) attaching themselves to any given dog/cat/rat/ferret/rabbit and begging for us to adopt it. Most are futile, bu we've been looking ponderously at dogs since Shep died two weeks ago. A week-ish ago, Bets told us a border collie had come in as a stray (they hold stray for 6-11 days before releasing them for adoption, so their owners have a chance to claim them). Convinced our parents it was a good match--young (10 mo-1 years), wasn't hyper and didn't bark incessantly like other dogs back there--so we put our names on the hold list. Today was the first day he was free, but we were second on the hold list. The first people had from 10:00-10:05, we were 10:06-10:11. We got there before 10...two other people. One lady, who walked in to ask a question, and a guy in business wear who wanted to see the gigantic German shepherd we've nicknamed Grandpa. No one showed up...so Moss was ours! (Yes, we ended up naming him. Our dogs traditionally have M names, save Shep who was adopted at 6-ish) The lady at the counter though, warned us that he had fail the food aggression test and also couldn't be around small children. We were a little iffy, but Dad's trained out food aggression and stuff before and so we'll work with him. He was sooooo hyper when we first brought him out, but for good reason: they can't take out strays because they haven't been evaluated. So this was the first time he'd been outside in 11 days! Oh gosh. Right now he's seeing himself in the stone around our fireplace and isn't sure what to make of it. ♥♥♥♥ Anyway, we had to take Lee and Betsy to a camp thing in a park, so when we arrived I took Moss out for a walk run along the treeline. and out back when we were home to get used to the yard and meet the neighbors' dogs through the fence. Haven't let him go up/downstairs yet, but he's pretty comfortable exploring the first floor. Midnight-kitty has made it clear she loathes him, but he seems more interested in meeting/chasing her than anything else. If he had an owner before (we don't think he did), they obviously never taught him anything, but he's learning quick (after Shep, I'd forgotten that border collies have a reputation for being smart, since Shep dragged the curve down all by himself) and understands "NO" already. He kinda-sorta gets "SIT" but we have to work on "STAY, "COME," and "OUT." He likes to paw, so I'm using it as an opportunity to teach him to "SHAKE." And thus far I'm his favorite, since my sisters and dad are gone. This is important, since I'll be leaving in a month. The rest of my family can have him then. He's definitely on the small side and a bit skinny. He's completely brown and white, no black, with pale butterscotch-y eyes. He's very inquisitive about EVERYTHING and like to place his paws on the windowsill so he can see outside. He also likes to chew on things. He's ripped the stuffing out of once plush ball, deflated a plastic one, and is now working on (and succeeding) tearing apart a bouncy ball. We will definitely have to stop by the store and get him so chew toys tomorrow. ...No, NO dog, do not chew on shoes. Current Mood: cheerful (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
3:39 pm	Woooo, hello semi-productive life! Where have you been hiding for the past three months? Had a check-up today in which I discovered that like my sisters and father, I have tiny little veins that confound people trying to stick needles in me. It was pretty funny, actually, with the nurse doing everything she can to find something. I think it's weird that I didn't feel anything when she drew out two vials worth of blood, but that the shot (chicken pox--apparently you're supposed to have two shots these days) did hurt. We went to Walmart to get boots for our horse-riding lessons tomorrow wheeeehahahaha. I haven't been on a horse since I was ten, and this will be English style instead of Western, but I'm still excited. Also picked up a long turquoise sweater in my quest to move away from wearing shapeless t-shirts all the time. I got a 100 on my second sociology test, surprisingly. I've really been enjoying it; the class is small, never stays as long as we're *supposed* to (3.8 hours, so this is a good thing) and the prof is great. Plus, it's a semester crammed into 6 weeks so there's only 3 more classes until I'm done! Huzzah! I'm putting stuff up on eBay again, so I'll have a link soon. Some of the stuff that didn't sell last year (like The Dreaming, Maburaho, Angel Sanctuary) and new stuff that I don't want to keep (PhD, Tsubasa Chronicle, Aria, MeruPuri...). And I've actually done a decent amount of art. I finished that comic I started 3 years ago (it's interesting, watching my style evolve from "this is my best art!" to "this is so totally a quick sketch" without much change in style), penciled a picture, traced and edited a picture that inking would ruin, and penciled and inked a completely new picture! This is the most I've done in a comparatively short amount of time probably since my junior year of high school. Plus, I'm getting my paintings up on DA. Save for Ichigo's Triangle, which was updated from 2005 and thus doesn't show up on my front page, I haven't put up anything new since April and I'm tried of seeing the same stuff. ( pics under cut ) (Comment on this)
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
8:16 pm	I have a psychotically fast-paced sociology test to study for, have no art inspiration, reaffirmed that ADD and long sermons do not go well together, and Shep was dead when we got home. This is not a good day. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
5:09 pm	You know, I keep putting off updating until I think I've got something interesting, and then when I start to type I forget what it was. Why? Maybe I should just put together a list of webcomic recs like I did for blogs. Or maybe I could do fanfics instead. I think my to-read list is over 200 stories by now. So I'm taking a Sociology class this summer and it's pretty cool so far. Supposed to be nearly 4 hours, but the longest we've gone is 3 so far. Today we split up into groups and reported on a subculture that a member of the group was part of. It was surprisingly fun; we did the Ethiopian Orthodox Church that one girl was a part of. The other groups were boring--soccer players, people who go to the gym, NOVA (the college) students, and athletes. I've decided that I really like saris. Was looking up stock for someone on DA and came across a whole bunch...gaaaah, pretty bright bold colors. I wish I could find tunic-tops or even regular shirts with those kind of colors and designs. Considering that the summer is half-over, I've decided to get started on my to-do list. This includes: *Clean room, including desk *Sell manga/stuff on eBay *See if those Pokemon cards are worth anything. *Repaint final project and post paintings *DRAW ART DARNIT *Finish that mini-manga from 2006 because I refuse to give up on anything. So, I've been watching the 12 Kingdoms anime. I read the first novel, so I was surprised at the changes in the anime, like the addition of Youko's two classmates. Overall, it's pretty good but Youko's English voice is pretty grating. The story goes pretty slowly for the first 5 episodes or so, but by the end of the second disk it's finally moving pretty quickly. Lee's been collecting Claymore and Beauty Pop, too. Claymore is pretty fun, although the story starts taking longer to get through after volume 2. It's pretty interesting, though the art style can be wonky (really long torsos). Also, the lettering is excellent. Beauty Pop is just awesome. It's what would happen if the non-clothing part of "What Not to Wear" was emulated by a bunch of super-talented high-schoolers. It's very good because the main character is very unique in a land of ultra-perky (or woah-is-me-angsty) shoujo heroines. Kiri is not quite apathetic, but she's close. And 8 volumes in, there's barely a hint of romance but the action is picking up. It's quickly moving up among my favorite series. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
5:19 pm	Meme answer: Weather You ever have that feeling where you're going stir-crazy because you really want to write but you have nothing to write about? That's me. Luckily, I remembered a post I made a few months ago asking people to ask about stuff (anyone else want to ask?). Right now, I'm answering immortalmoon's question: This is going to be a bit weird but... talk about the weather :) Not just in general of course, but you've talked about your excitement with snow before, so it applies. I know you've lived all over, so what place had the best weather? What kind of climate do you prefer? That sort of thing. The first thing you have to understand about me is that I'm an Air Force Brat and moved roughly every two years until Dad retired, and then once more for his new job, so I've lived in a variety of climates. Let me give you the places, in order: England, Florida, Germany (Ramstein), Spain, Arizona, Germany (Bitburg/Spangdahlem), Hawaii (x2--Aiea and Hickam AFB), Georgia, and Virginia (with Tennessee for college). I've enjoyed everywhere I've lived, although it was probably affected by how old I was--2nd and 3rd grades in Spain, for instance, meant that I was young enough to have fun playing with the roughly 15 kids that were sorta-kinda-near my age. The base school (~30 kids) sent all high schoolers 2 hours away to the Navy base, so if I'd been a teen I might have hated the limitations of living on a tiny Air Base. ( Read more... ) (Comment on this)
Friday, June 26th, 2009
9:08 pm	Speed Racer (has addicting end-credit songs) Watched Speed Racer tonight. Was shiny and okay, but not something to own. The first thing you notice when you start Speed Racer is the colors. A lot of movies go for a desaturated look, but Speed Racer ups all the colors. The world is a rainbow-bright mishmash of the 50's/60's and a 7-year-old's vision of the future that is half-CG. (Fun fact: the only physical sets in the movie were ther Racers' house, the bad guy's offices, and the hotel.) In fact, this seems to be literally live-action anime. If you've ever wondered what an anime or cartoon world would look like in the real world, this is it. Comic-bright colors, cars with gadgets straight from Wackey Races with the tracks taken straight from Hot Wheels toys and costume designs that could come from nothing but cartoons. Alternatively, the races are also like watching a live-action Mario Kart game. It's not high-class entertainment, but it's not a horrible movie, either. Rated PG (but for some gesturing and strong swearing I'm surprised it's not PG-13) it's a just-for-fun movie that's good to watch in a group. The plot is basic (Speed races! Bad guys do bad things! Speed races more!) but it's easy to lose track of the smaller characters their stories. There's not a lot to say about the actual content. The downside was that medium-minor characters are easy to forget (along with their personal story), but otherwise it's only gogin to disappoint if you're expecting something other than a cartoon-turned-movie. The story was basic, movie shiny, and the car gadgets drool-worthy (wouldn't you love to be able to jump over other cars in traffic?). (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, June 15th, 2009
5:32 pm	TP's Melting Stones The Georgia house will finally close next week, after a year on the market! Huzzah! And I have a kinda-sorta job interview-type-thingy tomorrow, maybe. I'm not exactly sure: the lady (it's a post office/Fed-Ex/Kindo's-type place that's a family business) said she'll be calling and already asked when I go back to school. It almost sounds like she's ready to hire me (yes, please!), but a)I don't to hope too much and b)that would be a very short interview, then, consisting of my little "hi my dad mentioned that you might be looking to hire" spiel, handing in my resume, and a short conversation on working at Publix and what I've done before. I finished Tamora Pierce's Melting Stone. MS is set in her Emelan-based world (the Circle books) and follows Evvy, the stone-mage from the Circle Opens series. Apparently, it's the first-ever book that came out as an audio-book first and the print version followed later. Spiffy. Or not. All her other books I've read are pretty good about telling the reader who these people are if you haven't read previous series set in the same world and with the same characters (Including this, she's got two quartets and two single books set in this world), but this one wold have been pretty confusing if I hadn't known the characters and their background. Rosethorn, for example, was explained in few more words than "she was dead but Briar and his sisters brought her back to life," which would have left me going BWUH? if I was reading that with no other info. And the plot was just so simple, it was...not boring, but not the best, either. The book is really short, just over 300 pages, so there wasn't a lot of room for extras, I guess, but it was hard to get into the story. Still, it was fun just to read about those characters again. Melting Stones is a good read if you're familiar with the Emelan world, because it is a good book, just short. (Comment on this)
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
11:08 am	Gleefull, gleeful, we adore glee You know what I have? I have tammypierce's autographed business card thanks to the awesometastic slr2moons, that's. what I have. :DDDDD I also have Miracle Girls vol. 1 and Alice 19th vol 1, thank you immortalmoon. My Alice 19th collection is now complete! immortalmoon's sale reminded me that I need to get rid of some more manga. I'm still pruning them--the newest victims are Utena (2-5), Meru Puri (1-2), Pantheon High (1) and Mark of the Succubus (1). Will try eBay again this summer, hopefully. I've still got series that didn't sell when I was doing it last year (Negima, The Dreaming, more...). Oh, also in the way of glee, I sold back two of my textbooks. Online buybacks are total ripoffs--worse than the school bookstore, and that's saying something, but I only took a loss of $10 on one, so it's okay. Of course, the other I took a loss of $45, but the only other option I had was burning it (which was very tempting, BTW--was the workbook we DIDN'T EVEN USE for a freshman course, and it's not very sell-able. A few people did burn theirs, actually). I finally re-drew Ichigo's Love...Triangle?, which was still popular despite being 3 1/2 years old and drop-dead ugly. I stuck the old one in my scraps for comparison, and I'm very happy that it's one less horrific fanart that I will keep getting notified about. (Obviously, the answer if that I need to draw a lot *more* fanart, quickly, so that people ignore the older stuff.) And I still have no job. Woe. But I do have some babysitting to do, so there's that. Plus, the son of some family friends (we've known them since I was in kindergarten; they're currently missionaries to the Ukraine) will be a freshman at TNU this year! Whee! (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
9:42 pm	The handcuffs are shiny. AND THERE IS A GUN. There is a cop in our dining room right now. Why? Because my little sister Betsy's bike was stolen RIGHT OUT OF OUR FREAKING GARAGE. I got home from Quantico (Marine base; turning in job apps and some minor shopping). Family came out to help unload groceries. Was inside for about 10-15 minutes. Garage door was left up because Dad was expected home and was riding his motorcycle so he can't easily open it himself. Bets went to take the trash out and noticed Lee's bike lying on the side yard. None of us have ridden our bikes recently, and as I'd gotten home 15 minutes earlier we knew it hadn't been there then. My bike was still in the garage (not worth stealing, it's covered in cobwebs and the tires are dead flat), but Betsy's was gone. After telling Mom and verifying that yes, the bike was gone and nothing else was, Betsy and I walked the neighborhood. There were tire tracks in the grass leading to the main road, but we couldn't tell where they went from there so we heading one direction to a large group of kids playing ball in the street. They said they hadn't seen a pink mountain bike, so we went in the other direction, asking everyone who was out and looking for any tire tracks in the grass. No luck, so we went back, Bets wrote down all she could about the bike, and later this evening we called the police. They sent someone out. Came in and read the paper (at which point I type the title up there because WOAH REAL COP) and then asked to see the bike and ask us questions (basic info) and then I went and got Betsy to answer the questions about what happened. Lee came out then, so when the cop wasn't looking we were mouthing things along the lines of THIS IS SO COOL and ASDF;LKJ A COP WOOOOOOAAAAH at each other. Things got infinitely cooler when he actually dusted for fingerprints. Which he said he'd be giving to forensics, because he found a handprint. Coolcoolcoolcoolcool. Of course, we know there's very little chance we'll get the bike back. It stinks, especially because Betsy rides her bike the most of any of us. But the epic coolness of the cop...well, doesn't make up for it, but, you know, there was a cop. And at least getting a bike stolen isn't as nasty as getting poo smeared on your front door like in Georgia. Did I mention he dusted for fingerprints? With the little feather duster and everything. HE DUSTED FOR FINGERPRINTS. Current Mood: childish GLEE (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 31st, 2009
5:56 pm	I'm so behind on computer stuff Wow, has it really been two weeks since I updated? Life's been going pretty fast, the time has just flown. I can't believe I've been home from school for a month now! Went down to Georgia for graduation last week, since we knew about half of the group's graduates. It was a very nice ceremony and was GREAT to see everyone again (yes, I was there a month earlier for Easter, but it wasn't the same). After graduation, a big group of us went to see Terminator: Salvation. I went because it was the last chance for who knows how long until I see them again, but the movie wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I didn't have to plug my ears and squinch my eyes shut as often as I thought I would, anyway, because as violent as the movie is, a lot of it is explosions and metal clanging, not blood. I've never cared about anything Terminator-related before so I can't tell you how this fits in which pre-established canon and its offshoots, but I understood the plot easily. Metal and CG was cool. Oh, at at the end there was a naked-guy terminator that made me giggle with all the strategically placed camera angles and objects to obscure him. Lee and Betsy had their dance recital(s) yesterday--Lee had two pointe dances (Swan Lake and Rihanna's Umbrella) and one ballet technique dance (Swan Lake, different selection) and Betsy had her clogging class that was baseball-themed. It was very fun, especially Umbrella (ballet-pointe to Umbrella=WIN) but the recital? Was THREE HOURS LONG. AND THERE WERE TWO OF THEM. Oh, more about movies: while down in GA, we also got to see Race to Witch Mountain (huzzah for dollar theatres). It was VERY good, good humor, good special effects, goodgoodgood. I also watched Lost In Austen, which was 3 hours long because it was originally a mini-series. It was okay and an interesting premise (modern girl gets stuck in Pride and Prejudice, but wasn't pulled off very well, plus the ending just plain bad. More on that here. In lieu of a job, I've taken up Pokemon training again. Is fun, and I've got an egg containing a Pichu with Volt Tackle if anyone wants it. Or I can breed a Piplup. *Is having fun now that she's found the daycare* (Comment on this)
Saturday, May 16th, 2009
11:45 pm	It is late, but there is too much GLEE to wait until morning POKEMON GOLD/SILVER REMAKE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLLE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE GLEE (3 Comments |Comment on this)