wDec 2, 2008


All I want for Christmas is a more manageable LiveJournal FL

Last night I learned an important skill in Vagrant Story. Ashley can jump higher when his sword and shield are unequipped. Of course, this makes sense in theory, but I am not used to the physics of video games making any practical sense. Anyway, I crawled out of the dark chain of dungeons and blinked into daylight inside Lea Monde.
Are all of the girls in this game useless? I want Ashley's partner to kick some arse.
What's up with his name being Ashley, anyway? Ashley Riot has a nice ring to it, but all I can think of is Ashley Wilkes, which is not the same at all.

A random question: So the information on my map says that the map is 13% complete. Does this mean that I am 13% of the way through the game?


I need to do a much better job of checking my Facebook event invitations. I tend to ignore Facebook for the most part, but I totally missed the invitation to Casbah to celebrate a friend's birthday.



AND NOW A MEME ON LJ.

This is another reminder that people planning on buying me gifts should PLEASE TELL ME so I can enter you in to my neat Excel spreadsheet.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 9:54 AM
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wNov 22, 2008


Video Games I'd Like to Play

This is mostly a note to myself, for whenever I reach a point in my life that I decide it's time to buy a new game console, and have enough leisure time for games.


Vagrant Story - PS It's hard to find this game! But it looks pretty bad-ass. I already have a regular PlayStation, so I just have to find the game.

Okami - PS2, Wii Pretty! That's pretty much my only reason.

Silent Hill - PS, 2 and 3 on PS2 or PC. I think I already purchased the first one used. I should probably play it before spending money on the sequels!

Crisis Core - PSP. It looks gorgeous, Final Fantasy VII is my favorite game of all time, and unlike Dirge of Cerberus, it looks well-written enough.

That said...Dirge of Cerberus. It doesn't look like that great of a game, but I am a Vincent fangirl and it seems necessary that I run around in his blood-red cape, shooting things.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - Gameboy Advance. I loved Final Fantasy Tactics, and I'd be interested in playing another Ivalice game.

Tactics Advance 2: Grimoire of the Rift is there too, but for Nintendo DS (I could steal my niece's or nephew's!)

God of War, PS2

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - I never finished this! I should do it.

Final Fantasy XII - PS2 A Final Fantasy set in Ivalice! I like this aesthetic a lot more than FFX's.

Legacy of Kain - PS, PS2, all available for Windows

Devil May Cry - PS2

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - PS



I guess my next platform should be PS2.

Before you leave 8,000,000 comments! My criteria for video games: Well-written story. I play games for their stories, which is why I read books (although writing style has also become a high priority for me), watch anime, read manga, whatever. I also appreciate a lived-in, or at least highly interesting, aesthetic. I don't always like shiny new futuristic things, which is a big reason why I like FFVII a lot more than VIII, and don't have much interest in X.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 10:27 AM
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wSep 29, 2008


Please enjoy my beautimous new LJ layout.

I tried to make a custom mood theme last night, but it didn't work, :/ I uploaded the pictures to my LJ gallery....can you not link to LJ images? Even from within LJ? That seems pretty silly to me! I need a new image-hosting service anyway, though. I've been using my University's for the last four years, but I'm obviously not a student any more.


I still have follow-up Geek.Kon posts to make.

For now, I have a few hobby-related goals:
1) Read more novels. It's been scientifically proven that nothing will impair my manga-reading habits, so I think I'm just going to spend more time focusing on novels while at work, and not worry that I "won't have time for" manga. Today, I've been tearing through Octavia Butler's Dawn, first in the Xenogenesis trilogy, which we are reading this month for Wiscon book club. I also have piles of unread books, now including the books recommended by Sarah Monette, not to mention Sarah Monette's own books!

2) Watch more anime. I kind of miss it, and I think I've now figured out that I can get TV shows like Arrested Development from the library, and should use my Netflix account for watching anime series.


Last night, I watched the first three episodes of Veronica Mars. It was pretty good, I think I'll enjoy watching this show. Please don't spoil me! I'm sure I've picked up a few spoilers through LJ-osmosis, but overall, I know nothing. I'll be glad to watch this series for fun, and don't really feel the need to blog extensively about it, as most have you have either seen it or already heard of it.

For now.....LOL to the Paris Hilton guest role in episode two. Isn't the canon couple from this series Veronica/Logan? He's such an asshole! So far, the only redeemable quality they've established is the way he's stood up to the biker gang. For now, I really appreciate the biker gang vs. preppy Orange County boys. And, of course, Veronica herself. WIN.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 11:24 AM
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wSep 3, 2008


Titles suck

The power must have got turned off in my apartment last night, because when I woke up, my alarm clock was flashing, and had never gone off. :/ Hopefully the rest of today will go better. Most of this entry was written last night.

Update on Domesticity
ME, AT WORK: These carrots are, like, bitter. I wonder if they're bad? I got them at the Farmer's Market.
CO-WORKER: Yeah, it doesn't really look like you peeled them....since you didn't buy them from the grocery store, you should peel them before you eat them. You can eat the outer layer, but it's bitter.
ME: ..... *gets salsa from the fridge to slather over carrots*

I haven't had a lot of time to cook lately. I'm really tired tonight, but I'm boiling some red potatoes, and intend to eat half tonight, and half tomorrow for lunch with a leftover hamburger from The Hammer's barbecue. I will butter them, and put spices on them, like basil and possibly garlic powder! We'll see what's in my cupboard.... Tonight, the rest of my meal will be made up of pizza rolls. But even these are now more gourmet! I'll cook them in the oven instead of the microwave. I actually haven't used my microwave once since moving in. That's pretty awesome.


The Things I Enjoy for Cheap or for Free
I am even more pleased with my St. Vinnie's purchases than I was on Saturday. Yes, I have lost an earring. But! I've decided that this black skirt is now my most favorite skirt (and I own many). And it only cost me $5.34! The shoes hurt my feet a lot, but I'd like to get used to walking in heels anyway, and my old black shoes were literally falling apart. I tell you, Internet, cheap things are amazing.

I'm going to try and do resale shops more often. I already use Bookmooch for books, but I should stalk websites like Freecycle and Craigslist. Hurray for recycling.


Among enjoying things for free, I got some DVDs from the library yesterday. Amelie and Seven Samurai, which I have never seen, and Tess of the d'Urbervilles, which I remember seeing in Brit Lit in high school, but remember nothing of. Having now rewatched most of it, I now remember this: Tess of the d'Urbvervilles will make any reader or watcher hate men. WTF.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 8:46 AM
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wAug 26, 2008


Question for the audience

Okay, so on the road to getting my life in order includes sorting out financial things. Today, I bought a book for $1 called Get a Financial Life by Beth Kobliner. It explains things so nicely! Things that I once had only a vague idea about are much more clear to me now.

The first thing I have to do is to get organized.

This book recommends keeping bank statements for three years, in case a person were to get audited (I might switch to receiving these via e-mail if possible, though; I'm all about not wasting paper).

It doesn't say anything, though, about how long to keep pay stubs. I'm sure it's okay to throw away my old pay stubs from ShopKo (I haven't worked there for nearly a year, and even then, I think I only worked a total of 5 days in 2007), but I really have no idea how long I should hold on to pay stubs from my current job. The only book advises only that I keep them, but surely not forever...?

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scribbled mystickeeper at 11:16 PM
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wJul 7, 2008


Big Plans

With the help of Antoine, I have now reinstalled Windows on my laptop. So far, so good. I've been updating 4 years' worth of Windows updates, and installing antivirus software. With time, I'll add back my other programs, and eventually all of the stuff from my hard drive that's currently on one of Antoine's computers.

Oh yeah! When I rebooted everything, I was given the opportunity to rename my computer. Previously, it had the very cliche name of Hal. Now, its name is Watanuki. Antoine agrees that it is appropriate, given Watanuki's status as a house servant in xxxHolic. And my computer is totally my servant!

I realized the other day that normally, I'm pretty annoyed with how complicated it can be to keep up with anime fansubs. For those who don't know how all of this works, anime shows air on regular TV in Japan. Japanese viewers make copies of the shows, and upload them to the Internet. In various communities on the Internet, fansub groups form. These groups of people dedicate themselves to translating episodes of anime and embedding English (or whatever) subtitles into the video file. These "fansubs" are then uploaded and seeded throughout the Interwebs.

Needless to say, it can sometimes be annoying to track down files, and it's a pretty murky area, legally. I also don't like waiting a week between new episodes. The only thing that's airing in Japan right now is the second season of Code Geass. Besides, Netflix has tons of series on DVD that I haven't seen yet. Among those I'd like to watch....

Also, just to keep myself motivated....

Blog Posts I Intend to Write, or Polish and Post:
--A recommended reading order for CLAMP's various manga series (this is mostly done)
--Finish writing up the panels that I attended at Wiscon 32
--A Round-Up post with links to write-ups of panels from Wiscon 32
--A Guide to n00bs/People Who Just Missed It regarding online discussions related to Wiscon (such as Cultural Appropriation Debate of DOOM). There are a number of my friends who have attended, or are interested in, Wiscon, but missed these discussions originally. They are discussions about racism, sexism, and fandom that were important in shaping my views, and they form a common ground that some who attend Wiscon assume everyone else shares.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 11:57 PM
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wFeb 22, 2008


Treading Water

I am an excellent bus-navigator
After dance class, I set out to myself some new car keys.

I took the bus to a car dealership by the West Transfer Point. This dealership could not make me my key (no dealership would answer this question over the phone, for reasons I cannot begin to understand). Thus, my first bus route has been for naught.
That was bus ride #1.

I got myself to the second car dealership okay Luckily, this car dealership was able to make the correct ignition key for my car. With the key in hand, I set off up the street. Perhaps it helps to paint a picture: I am dressed nicely for work, in tights and a dress. Because the streets and sidewalks are full of ice and slush, I am wearing leather shoe-boots, with my nice black shoes inside my backpack. Because it is cold out, I am wearing a sweater, large mittens, a scarf, and a coat over my dress.
That was bus ride #2.

With the key safe in my backpack, I walked a number of blocks and picked up lunch at Subway, and got on another bus. I finally arrived at work around 2pm, only 2.5 hours late, which I think is pretty damn good, considering I rode around half the city.
That was bus ride #3.

Of course, these maps do not show my bus rides from my house to campus, or from the Capitol to my house (it being the internets and all!). But I rode the bus for many hours on Wednesday. Needless to say, I am very happy to have my car keys again. My car did not get a ticket for being parked on the street, so that was another plus.


BWAHAHAHA
Wednesday night, I fell asleep at like, 10pm or something ridiculous, and didn't wake up until 5:15am or something. Thus, Thursday was spent hurriedly preparing my presentation that I gave today, for my Global Cultures seminar. I mentioned this before - it's the class in which everyone has studied abroad, and I did my presentation on representations of gender in U.S. comics versus Japanese manga. I was a bit nervous, and some of my co-workers assured me that, were they my classmates, they would make fun of me for the entire presentation. However, this was not the case. In fact, at one point, my professor asked me if I knew any Japanese. I said, "Well, I've watched so much anime that there are a number of phrases that I could say. I know that makes me sound like a huge loser---" and like, 3 girls were shaking their heads, and said, "Oh, no! You're not!" BWAHAHA. Anyway. So I got to show everyone pictures of Sailor Moon and Nausicaa, as well as Batman and Yorick Brown. A good day's work, in the end.

My professor told me that I had done a good job, despite my feeling inadequate over never having studying abroad. And two of my classmates were asking me questions after class. One of them told me that I had done a really good job, and she liked it a lot. I was feeling so awesome that I realized that this is one thing I don't get enough of, by attending a huge university: affirmation.


WHAT NOW?
I feel like a huge weight has been taken off of my shoulders, now that my presentation is finished. Still, I have an English paper to work on that's due next Thursday, and my Constitutional Law midterm gets handed out on Tuesday. I'd also like to go home for a weekend (maybe next weekend!), not to mention cleaning my room, and spending more than 20 minutes with my boyfriend.

Two of my friends and I have to go out to some dance concert this weekend (tonight?!), because even though my Ballroom Dance class is only 1 credit, there are a number of extra curricular events we must attend, lest we fail the class. I personally think that this is stupid, and a ploy for the Dance Department to get my money (because, you know, I'm not already paying to take this course!). Also, what the hell! My weekends: I want them.

In the end, I can usually balance work, college, and a social life. But every time it comes down to it, this job-finding business is what I end up setting aside. I need to do a better job at it. One of my Lenten goals is to do at least one thing every day that is related to my finding a job. I need to do much better at it, although my "weekly room-cleaning" goal also needs significant work.

I think that what all of this means is that I need to get off of the Internet.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 5:26 PM
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wFeb 19, 2008


Why Today Was Better

--Obama won Wisconsin tonight, and I love the Internet. In fact, he kind of totally creamed Hillary.



--I got my first paper handed back in my American Short Story class, and I got a good grade.

--After many phone conversations with car dealerships, city officials, my father, and locksmiths that were sprinkled between my 3 power lectures and Con Law discussion, I think I have this car thing figured out.

While I am at the city's mercy, and may receive a ticket for my car being on the street (I haven't yet! And I have done my best to "camouflage it" as a "moved car" by scraping all of the snow and ice off of it, and shoveling the snow around it.), I am hopeful that I won't.

I didn't really like the way the dealership people have dealt with me, so I'm going to a locksmith instead. Hopefully, the locksmith will work out - it's right on my way from class to work, and I would scarcely be late! If I have to go to the dealership, I will probably have to miss all of tomorrow's work shift (11:30-5:00). So I guess that's kinda sad. But I figured a lot out in one day, so I consider it to be a plus.

--I voted tonight. I love going to the polling place, and seeing all kinds of people there. I just think it's cool. I wish I knew my neighbors, and people in the neighborhood better.

--ALSO, have cemented a couple of more life goals: When I am an old lady, I would like to 1) be one of the people who staffs library sales, and 2) be one of the people who helps run a polling place on election day.

--My cell phone didn't work for a while, but my brother-in-law told me to take the battery out and then put it back in. I did this, and it worked! Yay for simple solutions.

--I have the nicest boyfriend ever, who walked with me in the cold weather so that I could use his cell phone, and watch election results with him.

--My former co-worker replied to my plea for help (on Friday's presentation on "Representations of Gender in American Comics and Japanese Manga"), and offered some expert tips on comics. As I'm not as familiar with comics as I am with manga, I found this exceedingly helpful.

--Via Althouse, I got to laugh at a ridiculous comment about Green Bay, WI made by the director of NBC. Chuck Todd has clearly never heard of Oneida Street. I swear to God, there are 4 new stores/restaurants every time I go home.

--It turned out that nobody showed up to be trained at the Liturgy Training that I completely forgot about on Monday. While I still feel bad, I don't feel as bad.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 11:10 PM
2 comments



wDec 31, 2007


Year in Review; New Year's Resolutions

I know that in my post on Best Media of 2007, I made fun of end-of-the-year memes, but this is not a meme! It's just me babbling, which is what I always do.

So. What was good this year?

It's hard to decide what was the single best decision I made all year, but it's definitely between 1) Attending Wiscon and 2) getting the job that I did.

( More on why these decisions were good, analyzing the success/failure of last year's New Year's Resolutions, and Resolutions for 2008 lie behind the cut )

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scribbled mystickeeper at 7:10 PM
1 comments



wOct 21, 2007


It is warm in my room again. Which means it'll be warm out tomorrow.

It has been a good weekend. Kristy, my friend and Chad (roommate/friend)'s fiance, is here visiting, as she is on fall break. We went out for lunch yesterday, and then after Anime Club we all went out for a drink, and it was a good time. Steph has also given me a henna tattoo which encompasses the entire back of my right hand. Only a day later did I remember that I'm not allowed to have exposed tattoos at work....hopefully no one will notice!

Writing this Women's Studies paper has been so much more involved than it should have been. I think it's probably the weirdest assignment I've had here. The subject is on female sexuality, which makes sense because it's a Biology and Disease class. We had to interview three people, and have to incorporate their thoughts into the paper. Okay. Their thoughts on seven different topics. Oh, and integrate four specific articles and the information contained within them - but you are not allowed to quote them. Also, I've never used APA style before, and the page in my copy of the book containing three of the articles is used, and the copyright page was ripped out, so I don't know what year it was published in.

Anyway, it's done now, for better or worse. That's how I've felt about everything I've had to do for school so far this semester. I can't bring myself to care. At all. I'm lucky that I enjoy reading for my classes, or I might not be able to bring myself to do even that.

I'm still fixated on figuring out what I want to do after graduation. In elementary school through high school, I always swore to myself and to others that I would never care how much money I made, so long as I loved my job. In a way, this is still true, but somewhere along the line, probably when teachers and adults started telling me that I was "smart," I began to fill steadily with ambition. Even now, with an incredibly average GPA, that ambition is still there. The jobs that seem easily within reach for my first year out of school are "not good enough" in my mind. I still don't care how much money I make, but I long for a job that will make people say or think, "Wow," when I tell them what I do. Sometimes, people do this now when I tell them that I work at the Capitol, and usually I do not have the heart to tell them that I earn what people make at Wal-Mart, and that I sit in the basement most of the time.
When did I become so self-involved and narcissistic? It's disgusting. But it's still something that I need to work through. I know that my life-long dream was to be a famous novelist, but once I realized that I would first need a day-job, I focused on college and picking majors, and stopped writing. And every time, like now, when I think, "Well, maybe I should just DO it," I am exhausted and ready to go to sleep.

I did manage to fit in an episode of Buffy this weekend, so I'm now halfway through season 4. Why do they always put featurettes that contain spoilers for the rest of the season on the mid-way disc?? It's mean! But watching Giles sing in those clips was absolutely amazing. I know that Buffy has a musical episode, but I'm so excited to hear Giles, 'cause he's actually good. "Hush" was amazing - almost all of the episode was done without the spoken word, and I loved it. The villains were also incredibly creepy. Riley is interesting. In the latest episode I watched, in which Riley attempted to define his relationship with another character (I'm purposely being vague to prevent spoilers....so beware of the comments!), the way he was speaking suddenly felt incredibly strongly of Mal, from Firefly. In fact, he kind of even looks like Mal. Does anyone else make this connection?
Favorite Characters Right Now: Buffy, SPIKE, Riley

Spike: Come on, vampires, rrrr, nasty! Let's annihilate them. For justice, and for... the safety of puppies and Christmas, right?

Indeed, life is bearable because I am so easily diverted.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 9:57 PM
2 comments



wSep 3, 2007


stuff

So, since I bought a lot of my needed books for class online last week, they aren't here yet! Why didn't I do that at least a week earlier? Stupid me. Oh well. I think that I have half of the ones I'll need right away, and I've already discovered that my Women's Studies professor put hers on reserve at one of the campus libraries, so I can go there. I will make this work somehow!

This is my last night of sum mer before beginning a school year, possibly ever. I feel like I should have something reflective or important to say, but I don't. I don't even have the times or room numbers of my classes written into my planner yet. I guess that means I'm a senior - past the point of caring, :) There is always the chance that at some time in the future, I might decide to go to law school, or that I need a graduate degree (please God, no), but I don't know if I will. My life goals have always been to graduate from college, and to become an author. The first goal will definitely happen, and as for the second, well, hopefully I can work hard on it. As I think I've said before, for some reason my creative thoughts flow much more freely when I'm taking classes (much to my dismay, as I have no time to pay much attention, except for sketching and scribbling in the margins of my notes), particularly in the fall. I don't know why this is.

Antoine's roommate The Hammer solved my current book-storing problem by giving a bookshelf to me that he no longer wants. I was extremely happy on Friday, when I brought it home.

Holy crap, Antoine gave me more Tool music to listen to, and my love for this band has grown exponentially.

Current Music: Ticks & Leeches - Tool

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scribbled mystickeeper at 11:38 AM
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wAug 13, 2007


I got some Bookmooch today!

People who pretentiously think that they are God's gift to human insight, but actually are quite offensive, awkward, and suck in conversation, are SO LOL to talk to. It's the amusing things in life that get me through the day.

Pwntastic!
Today, a fellow Bleak House intern and I went to the Willy Street Co-op for lunch, and holy crap, it was amazing! I have been to the Regent Street Co-Op, but Regent is tiny compared to this place. It was so nice. They have some delicious prepared foods, too, so you could go there just for a meal, and be satisfied! So much love. Do it!

I was hella productive today. In addition to going to my internship and reading two volumes of manga, I reserved rooms for the next school year for Anime Club, called my mom, bought groceries, cooked and ate dinner, cleaned the bathroom hardcore, washed dishes, AND spent about an hour pulling weeds out of the lawn/attacking them with a hoe. By the time I finished pulling them, it was already dark outside, so actually mowing the lawn will have to wait. Still, I feel very accomplished, considering how many weeds were in our yard. My legs still feel a little wobbly, though.

Weekend Stuff!
I saw the movie "Stardust" Saturday morning, and I liked it very much. Of course I did - it's based on a story by Neil Gaiman, one of my most favorite authors. The movie is a fantasy, a comedy, and a romance. Gaiman tends to defy genres like that. A lot of reviews I've read on Netflix have some people sounding upset - "I thought this movie was a fantasy, but then there was comedy! And what's with the romance?!" OMG SOMEONE STIRRED THE GENRE POT! Personally, I like it when multiple things are mixed together like that.

Saturday, I went to Antoine's place, where his roommate, The Hammer, was grilling. I brought some steak that has been in my freezer (a gift from Mom!) for some time now. They were delicious, as was all the other food that was made. After that, Antoine, The Hammer, Steph (who is back in Madison now! But unfortunately imprisoned in the dorms doing RA training), and I drove out past Middleton to see the Perseid Meteor Shower. We pulled off the highway and just laid down on the pavement of a side road. It was mostly nice - the pavement was warm. Unfortunately, there was a bit of a haze in the sky, so despite having a New Moon last night, we didn't see as many meteors as I would have liked. Still, we saw enough that it was definitely worth it. There were one or two that were brilliantly bright. I would like to drive out and go star-gazing more often. I can't find much in the sky at the moment. The stuff that I can pick out of the sky is limited to Taurus (and in it, I can pick out the Pleiades and Aldeberan), Orion, the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, and Polaris. I'd like to know more!

Current Events!
Former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson has dropped out of the 2008 presidential race. I find it odd that he did so by citing his loss in the Iowa Straw Poll as his reason. Does anyone take that too seriously? It costs $35 to vote in it, and candidates literally foot the bill to bus in their supporters. Lame excuse, in my opinion.

I think that this is the most disgusting information I've read in a news article for a while now. In efforts to "clean up" the city's image so that the Olympic Games can be held there, the city conducted a "census" of its homeless population, and came up with the result of "24" being its total. That's right - according to the city's census, there are only 24 homeless people in all of Chicago. This is offensive on many fronts, one of which is because City Hall conducted the census under the pretense of assisting those people who are homeless into getting housing, etc. How can they be helped, if city officials are pretending that they do not exist? Homeless people are still people. Are the city officials embarrassed by the fact that homeless people exist, or are they ashamed of the fact that so little is done to help them?

Current Music: The End of Despair - Suneohair

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scribbled mystickeeper at 11:14 PM
1 comments



wJun 11, 2007


teh suck

I don't even know how to describe the rabid angst I felt this weekend. I don't know if it stemmed for boredom or from something else. It could very well be just boredom - I didn't do much at all, and the stuff I did do was pretty boring. I'm proud of me for not blogging while in full-fledge angst mode, though. My journal got some colorful entries, though. :P Also, I worked on Ghost Hunters and sent one of my characters to get almost arrested, and another for a therapy session. (New stuff isn't posted yet.) Buuuuuut yeah. I pray to God that I don't get that angsty again. It sucked a lot, I tell you what.

Maybe I just need to get better at calling people. Like, Gretchen totally would have watched Buffy with me. I don't know. Halfway through Saturday, though, I was so far gone in angst that I refused to leave the house for anyone but Antoine, and we literally did nothing but sit around on his couch. I guess having the cramps from hell didn't help much either.

My goal for the summer is to rid my personality of all aspects of passivity, and to never let it seep back in again.

Mom and I had a bonding moment today when we realized that this mysetry series that she, my aunt, and my uncle like that takes place in northern Wisconsin is being published by Bleakhouse, the book publishing place where I'm interning on Mondays and Fridays this summer. Yay! My mom only reads mysteries, which are usually a little too formulaic for my tastes. Maybe I'll finish reading Victoria Houston's Dead Madonna so that we'll have something to talk about.

Thoughts on Buffy, Season 1
So, I know that in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sunnydale High is supposed to be like, everyone's collective memory of high school. But still, every episode, weird shit goes down because the town is on top of the Hellmouth. Wouldn't you move away from the school if like, any 3 of those events took place in your child's school, let alone 7 seasons' worth?

Gretchen, I know you left a comment saying you didn't find Angel all that appealing, and I think I've narrowed down my attraction to him. Like Steph, there is the obvious "made of sex" factor, but there is also ANGST. I am so shallow when it comes to fictional characters. At least with real people, I'm much harder to please.

I know that the series started in the mid-1990s when such things were popular, but could Buffy's skirts be any shorter? I'm glad styles have lengthened once again. Not that my clothes are ever in style, but, you know. Moreso than less-so is good.

I love that in the episode of everyone's worst nightmare, Giles' is that he can't read. LOL, that is totally my worst nightmare! The rest of that episode was really illuminating and sad, though. :/ sadface.

Since I know I'll be watching all 7 seasons, I'll keep a tally of favorite characters at the end of each season. Right now, favorite characters are: Buffy, Angel

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scribbled mystickeeper at 12:06 AM
4 comments



wMay 7, 2007


slowly moving forward

Academically, things are steadily coming together. So far, anyway. You know, for now, when I don't actually have to do anything yet.

I don't know why the semester goes a week longer than usual this year, but I'm not too pleased about it.

As for this summer, I'm still not quite sure what will happen. I will work, for certain. I would like some kind of internship experience as well, so I guess that for now I'll have to wait and see what happens - I'm trying to follow up on the remote possibility of a political one (I can only work for a partisan (ie, elected) office while being employed as a Page if I get academic credit for it), and possibly one in book publishing. So, keep your fingers crossed, or whatever it is that you do. If nothing else, I'll volunteer more than I already plan on doing. No matter what happens, it will be a good summer.

I am now working on the second season of Samurai Jack (rented through Netflix), and may I say that it is the most excellent stress relief ever? I love the Scotsman.

I should sleep. This week's goal, above all else, is to get enough sleep as frequently as possible.


Current Music: Merry Christmas to Me - Suneohair

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scribbled mystickeeper at 12:23 AM
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wApr 25, 2007


Send the lost promises to the stars

If anyone has suggestions about my computer virus situation, let me know. The file name is "mljklki.dll" and it is in the SYSTEMS 32 file of my Windows folder. It makes icons appear on my desktop that say things like "Play Video Games!" or "Clean up your computer!" As if on a timer, I periodically get pop-ups in Internet Explorer (not my default web browser), and some other pop-up warnings that aren't in a web browser. Symantec Anti-Virus can't quarantine it, and Spy-Bot can't fix it.

I had wanted to get lots of things done tonight, but I ended up spending time with friends instead. It was really nice, and I'm glad I did it. I forget how much Steph and I used to talk about everything ever when we lived together in the dorm, and I miss it. Having my own room is nice, too.

We all were talking about the future, though, and I felt a bit nervous because I have no real plan yet. Talking to Antoine made me feel a lot better, though. I do have a kickass resume, and I think that I can make it even better this summer. I don't know what I want to do with my entire life, but until I figure the entire picture I can keep doing what I'm good at, and continue on the path I've found for myself. As a Senate Messenger, I am disallowed from working in a partisan (elected) office even as a unpaid intern - unless I can do it for educational credit. So, I think my next goal is going to be to make sure I can get the credit (technically the same 'class' I took last summer, but a completely different internship), and then apply. If it doesn't pan out, it'll still be okay. No matter what, I'll be a Messenger throughout the summer and next school year. I would like to add more volunteer work to my life. I miss it, and I kind of feel unfulfilled as a person unless I'm giving my time to people who can benefit from it. I'll start during the summer, and hopefully continue during the school year, in some capacity or another.

Anyway, enough of dreams for now. Tonight, I worked on my resume a bit, and that's good for now. Now, I need to get through finals and things will be all right.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 11:44 PM
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wApr 9, 2007


I don't know what to title this, except "I should have gone to bed instead"

I was feeling really fine about everything, but then my dad had to go and urge me for the 20th time to start applying to grad schools (even though I don't want to go to grad school, and never have), and to not take any "time off" after I'm done with undergrad. What the hell? The only person I can think of in my entire extended family who has a master's degree is him, and my first-cousin-once-removed Molly, who will graduate this May. I mean, all the power to people who go to grad school, but I guess I just never knew it was something that was expected of me.

What if I just want to work? It's working or law school, and I don't want to jump into law school immediately after undergrad. Some people do, and that's fine, but I'm not ready yet - not financially, not emotionally, and probably not academically either. My GPA isn't horrible, but it's not going to set me apart from anyone either. If I work for a couple years, my work experience will become more important, and if I decide law school is for me, then I'll have a better chance of getting in anyway.

Additionally, I feel like law school is different than undergrad in that it's totally fine to jump into undergrad without knowing what you want to major in, or where you want to end up when you're done. But I don't feel like I could get through law school without having at least a vague outline of an end-goal in mind. A prize to set my sights on, a destination that I will sweat to get to. I don't want to go through all of the crap of studying my ass off for the LSAT, paying all of the money it costs to apply, and somehow making it through law school itself unless I know that I want it. To me, this makes sense. I think I've explained it at length to my dad at least four times, but I guess it hasn't sunk in yet. He never actually wants to talk about it, but will just say things like, "When you apply to grad school, you should do it right away. Don't take any time off." Like it's already decided that I want to go or something.

As for grad school - grad school is totally fine for some people, but I'm fairly certain it's not for me. Maybe I'll change my mind one day, but for now, I know it's not. I could probably handle taking classes, but having free reign over myself to research and develop a thesis for something no one's ever done before? I tend to suck at stuff like that. There's no way I could keep myself motivated enough to slog through research like that. Especially for my fields - for English, I feel like anything that hasn't already been done would be dreadfully boring; for Political Science, I sort of feel the same way. I feel like Poli Sci would be more interesting to me in terms of graduate research, but I still don't think I could motivate myself to research a certain topic for years.

I'm sick of all this crap where I'm supposed to try and figure out "who I am" and whatever. I know exactly who I am. There's just nothing that I want to do with myself. No job has ever really sounded appealing to me, and I only become more painfully aware of the ticking clock as time goes on. It never gets any easier, and I know that once it gets down to the wire, I'll just pick something and hurl myself headlong into it. It might not be the right thing, or the thing I'm good at it, or the thing that makes other people happy, but I know that once I pick something I won't turn back.

I guess it's not true that nothing has ever sound appealing to me. I've always wanted to be a writer, but sometime in my first couple of years of college, I guess I figured out that if that was what I really wanted, I would do it more often. And maybe one day I will. If I had a stable job and didn't have homework or OMGFUTURE to worry about, I would probably write in the evenings on the weekends. Maybe one day, I'll get good at it. Maybe one day I might be so good that I could quit my job and live off of the money I make from writing. But I know for certain that I'm not there right now, and that to get there, I need to support myself through other means.

Which leaves me with the "just pick something and pwn it" option. Which is probably what I'll end up doing.


Also, now when I turn on the space heater, part of it gives off sparks, so I've turned it off and unplugged it. It's 34 degrees outside, and it's freezing up here in my room.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 12:40 AM
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wMar 26, 2007


Deep Thoughts

PS Blog Readers: I'll finish playing around with blog colors later. Feel free to comment with thoughts!

I'm tired and sickly, but luckily I wrote most of this on Friday, so I won't have to type much, bwaha. On Friday night, Antoine had his birthday party (he is 25 now! Which is kind of weird but also cool that he was born and stuff, because I can date him). There were lots of people at his apartment, and some of the people brought good food, so it was very pwn. An enjoyable time was had by all! I'm glad Antoine has nice friends. It would suck to have to pretend to like people.

Saturday I didn't do much because I was up until like, 5am the night before. I didn't stay long at Anime Club, and went to sleep relatively early.

Today, I've been working on this 10-page draft I have due Tuesday. I have about 6 pages done and am throwing in the towel for tonight. I need sleep because I'm sick. There's some weird respiratory bug going around campus and the Capitol, and I think I've got it. Some people have bronchitis, so I don't know if that's what it is. My cough is slowly getting worse (or better, I guess, as it's a more "productive" cough because it's breaking stuff up), but I did find some cough syrup in my cupboard. It expired in February of 2004, but hopefully it won't kill me! One would think that with cough syrup, it would just lose its effectiveness and not become a destructive elixir.

OMG the Battlestar Galactica season finale was on tonight and I didn't see it! I already know the major spoilers, though. LiveJournal ruins my soul, :D

Thinking Ahead
Old people like playing Nintendo Wii. Man, I can't wait for retirement. I'm going to play so many video games and watch so much anime.....think about how weird it will be when our generation retires. Like, my mom just retired and seems to have some trouble finding stuff to do with herself every day (most days are fine, but some days I think she gets bored). But when we retire? It'll be like middle school all over again, everyone on AIM all the time, playing video games, etc. In fact, I often wonder what life will be like once the majority of my friends and I become married and spawn babies. Will we still have away messages up on AIM all of the time? "Dropping the kids off at school, brb, lolz!" I think it's pretty cool that our generation is the first one to "grow up" with the Internet. Of course, I might be biased as I spend so much time on it, ;)

Thinking Ahead Some More, but Possibly Not as Far-Off
I find this article interesting because it's a conversation topic that came up amongst some co-workers and I. A couple got married, and the man adopted his wife's last name. "Naming" is a weird thing, and an important thing, but is also a thing that most people don't give much conscious thought to. Still, there is something inherently creepy about the fact that women give up their family name when they get married. This derives, of course, to not-so-long-ago when women didn't have many, if any, rights. You get married, and you are the physical property of your husband. You are a member of his family now, and no longer a member of your own. He owns you - and thus, what is his last name is now yours - so people know to which male you "owe allegiance to."

Of course, this phenomenon is changing. Now, many women opt to hyphenate their last names upon marriage - they keep their own family name, but also connect it to a future they choose with a husband they choose. I think this is wonderful, but I personally think that I would find it annoying to have a hyphenated name. Even when this happens, though, it is usually the female half (and throughout this blog post I am referring to heterosexual relationships) that hyphenates the last name, while the male retains what he had all along, without addition.

In reference to a similar circumstance, a radio station broadcasted a story. A listener called in and said, "...[T]urn in your man card." What does that mean? That it is masculine, a reference to power, to retain your name? And then in turn, what does that mean about women? Are we bowing to the "power" of the other sex by being submissive and adopting a new name? In order to retain our femininity, must we disown our familial heritage upon marriage and rename ourselves, adopting our husband's family's name?

Naming is a complicated issue. And even though I'm not sure what I would like to do, when and if I get married, I'm glad that at least I will give serious thought to the matter. Times are changing, and that is encouraging.

My Voice
My Anne Frank class discussed this topic briefly, but I find it interesting that people write differently than they speak. They use different words that they wouldn't use normally in conversation. When I write in my diary, I use "bigger" words than I do when I'm speaking with someone. When I write papers for school, I am often surprised because "big" words (and I don't necessarily mean ones of many syllables, but even just words that are a tad archaic for every-day use) spill out from my fingers and into the keyboard. As for this blog, I really think that it reflects my general speech patterns. It's why there are so many questions, why there are so many sentence fragments, why there are so many dashes, why there are so many parentheticals. Although, I should say that I generally don't speak as many words all at once as I would ever write in a blog entry, bwahaha.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 12:15 AM
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wJan 10, 2007


Wheee!

Today has been pretty good so far! I went to the dentist, had a hair cut, and paid my credit card bill. I am a new woman! (Actually, no....)
Last night, I went to see Children of Men at the movie theatre with Jason and Tom. It was a pretty good movie. It has a slightly sci-fi premise, but it's very much grounded in a reality, and relevant to today's current geo-political events. Parts of the plot don't make sense, but there's enough there to make it enjoyable and exciting. I wouldn't recommend the movie if you don't like gore, though. Still, the characterization and themes make the movie worth seeing - the camera-work and craftsmanship make it outstanding. If you're looking for something different, I recommend it!

After that, I hung out with Jason and Tom for a while, which was nice. We only rarely get to see each other, but as I've said many times in this blog - some people will always be your friends. Also, Jason and I were very excited to discover that we both love the band Tool, and specifically the song "The Pot."

Anime Series: Princess Tutu
Can I please tell you how much I love this anime?! I got the first DVD in the mail from Netflix, which contains the first 5 episodes of the series, and I have watched them all. It is so CUTE and so awesome! I would squee way too much, so I'll use Wikipedia to provide you with a coherent summary.
"In many ways, Princess Tutu can be categorized as a typical shoujo anime and manga. The main character, Arima Ahiru ("ahiru" means "duck" in Japanese), gains a special brooch that allows her to sense when something is amiss, and turn into Princess Tutu to handle the situation. As typical with other shoujo series, the chapters and episodes for the most part follow a distinct pattern, in which the main character transforms into Princess Tutu and saves the day with her dancing."

Jackie Squee: Yes, that's right. In this anime, there is no fighting with weapons or magical kaleidoscopes: they DANCE! Bwahahaha! Also, the voice actress for Ahiru really makes her voice sound just like a duck!

However, although the anime appears to be a magical girl show, it is actually more a fairy tale and meta-fairy tale, which adds a twist to the formal structure. It draws together many disparate elements of myth, fairy tale, ballet, and opera. Like many fairy tales, it's rich in wordplay, with names and terms are assign different layers of meaning, often across multiple languages (particularly English, German, and Italian). The soundtrack is classical and romantic, and episodes are often named for their most prominently featured ballet movements. Princess Tutu is in many ways your typical shoujo title, it's also something more: like Revolutionary Girl Utena, it inhabits a world of both magic and myth. It also shares Utena's strong feminist themes and undertones -- Princess Tutu remains one of the few anime series that never panders to a poorly stereotypical portrayal of any kind of characters, good or evil. The heroine successfully blends the traits of a true hero and an ordinary person, until eventually there is no line in between the two. The major female antagonist defies genre categorizing, being simultaneously villainous, heartbreaking and heroic in her own way."

"Every episode features a different (real-world) ballet interwoven into the storyline and the soundtrack makes use of original ballet music to good effect. For example, the first episode uses Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker", and both Tutu and Kraehe's outfits are based on Swan Lake's Odette and Odile, perhaps to show the differences between them."


This series makes me want to be a ballerina! I think that once I graduate from college and have a job, I'd like to take some kind of dance class, as well as sword-fighting or some kind of martial arts.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 2:42 PM
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wDec 31, 2006


Resolultions: 2006 Review, Promises for 2007

It is New Year's Eve, which means that it's time for me to do that new year's resolution thing!

As always, I must first review the resolutions that I made for 2006, and see whether or not I kept them. And frickin' A, I had a lot in 2006!!

1) Write every day (blogging/journaling does not count - we're talking creatively, here!). Length is not as important as passion, but a substantive amount is always nice.
As always, no, I did not keep this one. I think I've finally learned that writing every day is simply not a realistic goal for me - at least, not while I'm a student.

2) Get decent grades both semester! Or die trying! (well, I basically died trying Spring 2005, but whatever...)
Mehhh, both semesters were decent, although the Fall semester was better than spring. Getting credit for my summer internship helped, too. Between summer and fall 2006, I brought my GPA up by .07! It's not a lot, but it's something. I'm learning that once you break 100 total credits, it becomes more and more difficult to raise a person's GPA.

3) Move out of the dorms and into a house - a step into the real world! Well, this will happen no matter what - we signed the lease. But I keep thinking about it and how excited I am to live in our own house next year. This way, I'll keep a resolution for sure.
Yes, this happened!

4) Have a summer job (probably the same one, unfortunately) and continue interning - either in the district office or with the campaign. This way, I earn (minimal) money and get valuable experience at the same time!
I did this, too. Actually, I had my regular job, was a media intern for a state-wide gubernatorial campaign, and got another part-time job, too! I kicked ass this summer.

5) Try your best to become a Senate page at the Capitol for Fall 2006. That would be pretty cool.
After spending my summer interning for a political campaign, I felt like interning again in the fall would just be too much, so I decided to take a break. It is my goal to get an internship in a senator's office (not as a general page, but a specific representative's office) for the Spring 2007 semester, and hopefully through the summer as well. I'm working on this now....let's all hope that it works out!

6) Curse less. Cursing is still allowed, just...yeah. Steph notes that I "curse like a sailor." And while I don't hold that against me, sometimes I could stand to be a little more....ladylike....(*blanches*).
I totally forgot about this resolution. *ashamed*

7)GET A DAMN BOYFRIEND, seriously, it will have been three years of NOTHING come June. I mean, I can't really make guys I'm interested in dating fall out of the sky, but....good God.
YES, I did this! Well, actually Antoine did it. I never imagined that this would actually happen, so having to come true is pretty amazing. Yay, Antoine! He's pretty awesome, and he calls me "Pretty." :)

8) Eat healthy and lose some more weight.
I definitely kicked ass at this during the summer. During school.....I eat pretty healthy, but I could do a lot better. I'm eating healthy food, but I lose weight best when I keep track of what I eat and write it down, which forces me to implement portion control. Portion control in 2007! Since I seriously started trying to lose weight, I lost 17 pounds! That's a lot! I can do more.

9) Read some good books.
Hells yes, I did! My booklog serves as proof! (Also note that I inverted it, so that the most recent books are on the top instead of the bottom....how convenient!)

10) Be a little more spontaneous. The majority of your Saturday nights should not consist of UW Anime Club; your weekends should not follow an outline. Once in a while is fine, but....well, whatever. Being more spontaneous in general. There we go.
This kind of happened naturally when I got a boyfriend. "Hey, we should go out to eat tonight." "Hey, my friend is cooking dinner for me and some of my grad school friends, so you should come over." Still, though, I got kind of tied to Anime Club when I became president of it. Oh, well.

11) Stop being so afraid of going to things where you scarcely know anybody. That's how you meet new people, dumbass, and there are lots of cool people around you that you only barely know. Know them better!
Yeah, I think that I did a better job of this. I went to a Cardinal party! I'm also confident much more often than I used to be (for real, not just as a show).

12) Stop being such an ass all the time. You're usually nice on the inside - so make the outside stop acting like a jerk.
At this, I think I failed. Defense mechanisms suck and there are some demons that will never go away, but does that give me the right to be a jerk? No. Stop it, Jackie.

13) Kick some ass.
YES.

And now, I need resolutions for 2007!

1) Write three times per week. No length requirements. Just write SOMETHING three times per week. I've learned writing every day is something that I can't do, but I want to make writing a habit, and something that feels natural (again, as always, blogging doesn't count!).

2) Exert portion control, drink a lot of water, and lose more weight. (Don't worry, I would never get down to a weight that is unhealthy - I'm trying to get to where I'm supposed to be for my height, which I think is healthy and a good goal.)

3) Try your damndest to get an internship for the spring semester through summer. (I'm working on this now!)

4) In addition to #3, I'd like to find a job during the summer that pays me money. If it's related to future career options, such as editing, then that would be great, but I also have a list of bookstores to apply at in case nothing else pans out. I don't need a lot of money, but having some would be good.

5) Experiment, and get better at cooking. I'm definitely better than I was 4 months ago, but I would like to teach myself how to make more meals.

6) Try your best to get good grades both semester and raise your GPA even more. This is always a goal of mine, but I'll write it here anyway.

7) Make some decisions about what the heck is going to happen after college. I already know that if I ever go to graduate school or law school (probably not ever), it won't be right away. I also know that I would be totally fine finding an apartment in Madison, but also any other city, too. So, make a plan - I don't want to leave everything until my last semester to decide.

8) Be a better person. I've learned how to keep my mouth shut. At this point, however, I'd like to relearn how to stick up for myself or say what's on my mind - but doing so with a little grace. Also, I'd like to volunteer some of my time this year.

What else about the New Year? There will be a few new anime series coming out. I'm really excited about the Les Miserables anime....*cackles* Nodame Cantabile looks cool too, but I don't know if I'll be watching it as soon as it comes out or not. I've grown to dislike anime series as they're aired in Japan, which amounts to one episode per week. I'm already doing it with NANA and Ghost Hunt, so maybe I'll continue my trend of renting things from the library/Netflix and catching up on things I haven't had a chance to see yet. (Gankutsuou, Princess Tutu, Full Metal Panic and its sequels, and Descendents of Darkness are all in my Netflix queue, along with the first DVDs of about ten other series that I'd like to try!)

Books and manga are things I'm not going to worry about, or even try to plan, because I know that I will read a lot of them anyway, and most of them will be good!

Anyway, tonight Kristy is having us over for New Year's. I am excited for good food....I think Ryan is bringing his mom's artichoke dip, :) Before that, I have some reading to do and some anime to watch. I also might blog again because I didn't really get a chance to write about life or anything in this entry.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 11:25 AM
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