March 2004 Archives

10 songs to beat by Anime Central
1. Burning Heat
2. Tears (just for rhythmically challenged me XD)
3. Captain Jack
4. End of the Century
5. Drop Out (stupid jumps >_<)
6. Paranoia Rebirth (never tried it before)
7. Electro Tuned
8. My Summer Love (too fucking slow. @_@)
9. Ska a go go
10. MAX300

Well, that was fast. @_@ Now I only hope I can pass the rest as swiftly. Especially MAX300. *snort*

For those of you who are listening to the Japanese artist "Shela"...is it just me or does she really sound like Hamasaki Ayumi? @_@

Orion Civ has been passed. ^_^ Flying colors, first song. No problems at all. @_@
Sweet. My PA has also been getting better, so that makes me feel good. Nowhere as good as everyone else on Team Rival yet, but that's okay. :3 They forgive my total and complete suckiness.

Songs to beat by Anime Boston:

1. So Deep
2. A (oni)
3. Waka Laka
4. Cartoon Heroes
5. Sakura
6. Exotic Ethnic
7. Stoic
8. Orion .78 Civilization Mix
9. V (oni)
10. The Least 100 Seconds

That feels good. ^_^ Now to work on consistently being able to beat Cartoon Heroes, Sakura, and V (oni)... @_@ But in the meantime, in order to set (not so) lofty goals for myself I present me with...

10 songs to beat by Anime Central
1. Burning Heat
2. Tears (just for rhythmically challenged me XD)
3. Captain Jack
4. End of the Century
5. Drop Out (stupid jumps >_<)
6. Paranoia Rebirth (never tried it before)
7. Electro Tuned
8. My Summer Love (too fucking slow. @_@)
9. Ska a go go
10. Max300

I laugh at that last one. So ain't happening. But one can always hope.

Physics + Beer make for a deadly combination.

So this is what all them physicists are doing with their spare time. ^_^

So I have a lot of things left of finish up on my Sol costume. The gloves, the head protector, the black button/snaps things...but other than that...I am so close to finishing.

So close...
So close that I'm losing steam because I'm HOSED next week. Goddammit. >_<

anyways, here are the pictures of what I have so far:

sol1.jpg
sol2.jpg
sol3.jpg
sol4.jpg
sol5.jpg

Or if you want to look through the entire "for-roni" directory and get shots of my room, me in my slytherin scarf, and me as Frederick (XD Sol's nerdy alter-ego! <3) feel free. ^_~

Now I really better get some work done lest my ass gets kicked when I head back to school tomorrow. @_@

I think I've finished pretty much all the sewing I'm going to need to do for my Sol costume. Now all I have to do is do the little things via my favorite ghetto sewing implement: FABRIC GLUE! (When needles just won't get through 6 layers of fabric!)

I feel pretty good right about now, despite getting a lengthy, bitchy e-mail from the moderator of the the Gungrave LJ community about how I should be taught "the difference between yaoi and gays real life." ¬_¬ Honestly, I think I have that down pat, thank you very much. >_< It was a nice little e-mail that pissed me off with its personal insults and let me bite back with a lot of the nasty venom I've stored up all term from a whole shitload of stress. Type A personality? Yep, that's me.

For those of you who just looked at Naruto chapter 210 raw and wondered what the hell happened to Rock Lee...I have one word for you.

SAKE.

Rock Lee is the new drunken master.

Oh, geji-mayu baby. XD

Spent all of yesterday afternoon sewing at Steph's place. From 3 to 11pm. @_@ I got a lot of Sol's stupid belts done, and I just little nasty details away from finishing the shirt. Rock. ^_^ Now I have to finish his loincloth XD, finish his buckles (this will require me to make a stop to Winmil Fabrics before I go to Steph's again), finish the gloves (which I am going to have to do by hand >_<), do the headgear...and yeah, then I'll basically be finished. I think I can get all the buckles and belts finished by the end of the week.

The heargear...I dunno, that might have to wait >:/ I have yet to decide what exactly I'm going to do with it...or try to do with it. -_-;; Time to go ask DaddyBrad, I think. ^_^

Con Going Survey yoinked from Ryuichi. ...because I'm bored. XD

1. Have you ever gone to an anime convention?: Of course. :3

2. Are you planning to go to one in the near future?: Yup, in the next couple of weeks. *Solcosplaypanic*

3. You have been to 1-5 conventions?: ShoujoCon 02&03, Otakon03, AX03, and AniBos03....Yup, that's 5.

4. You have been to 6-10 conventions?: AniBos04 will be 6.

5. You have been to 11 or more conventions?: Nope, not gonna happen for another year or so, I think. Unless I hit one of the Japanese events aside from Comiket.

6. You rival Richard "Pocky" Kim in your con count?: *snerk* NO.

7. You've been to a con for one day?: Yup, went to AX for just one day. ^_^ I just happened to be lucky my family was vacationing in Anaheim AX weekend.

8. You've stayed all three days of a con?: I usually do. But not for AniBos, because my dear Ronimee and I have better things to do on AniBos Sunday. ^_^

9. You've had more than 4 people in a hotel room?: That's pretty much a standard, isn't it?

10. You've slept on the floor of the hotel room?: Yup. Yet to have to sleep in the closet or in the bathtub. I'll look forward to that when the time comes.

11. Have you met someone you knew online at a con?: A lot of people, actually. ^^;; *sweatdrops* Cons are the place to get to know people.

12. Are you now good friends with an online friend?: Yes. Very good friends sometimes. ^_~

13. Are you now dating an online friend?: Yup! ^______^ *big grin*

14. Ever glomped someone? I always glomp people.

15. Ever been glomped?: Very rarely, I think. I'm a little too small to glomp. @_@

16. Ever have a fangirl/boy moment?: All the time. ^_^

17. Was it over yaoi/yuri?: What else would I be a fangirl of? @_@

18. Cons are the extent of your social activity? No, I have a life outside of cons. -_-;; Honestly.

19. People know who you are, even if you don't know them?: This has happened occasionally. @_@

20. You're a FansView Con Personality of the Week? : I doubt it. :/

21. Ever cosplayed?: Cosplay is going to eat my life over the next two weeks. (That and tooling. XD)

22. Worn 2-3 costumes over a con?: Yes.

23. Worn 4-5 costumes over a con?: ...AniBos03 was... Luffy, Young Auron, Riku, and TB!Seishirou. So ....yeah. ^^;;

24. Hell, you're changing costumes every other hour (6+ costumes)?: No, I'm not that obesessive yet.

25. Do you bring a camera to photograph cosplayers?: Of course.

26. Participated in a masquerade?: Once. We made fools of ourselves and won. Never again, though. @_@

27. Won an award?: Yup. Because there's nothing better than "Don't Cry for Me Summoner Yuna" and "The Time Warp." :P

28. Been complimented on your costume?: Yeah. Even though my sewing skills are sadly lacking. Luckily those people don't look too closely. ^^;;

29. You're recognized by your local fabric store employees?: That one summer Ali-chan and I were working on our ShoujoCon02 costumes...we went back to Winmil practically EVERY DAY.

30. You take commissions?: Dude, I have problems enough making my own costumes.

31. You usually stay up past midnight at a con?: I stay up past midnight every night, con, schoolnight, or otherwise. *snort* What sort of wimpy college student do you think I am?

32. ...Past 2AM?: please see previous statement.

33. ...Past 4AM?: Okay...well...only past 4am on weekends. :3

34. Sleep is for the weak?: Damn straight.

35. You like Pocky?: Pocky is yummy. But I wouldn't strip for it. ¬_¬

36. You've gotten sick of fast food by the end of the con?: I don't eat at cons. I'm just never hungry. ^^;;

37. You've gone broke from eating hotel food?: please see previous statement.

38. You've survived off Ramen the whole weekend?: ShoujoCon02. Oh hell yeah. XD

39. You've blown at least $100 in the dealers room?: I don't think I've done that yet. I'm too dirt poor. -_-;;

40. You've managed to spend nothing in the dealers room?: Not yet for that either. :/ I really hope I don't spend anything at AniBos and ACen...but you know... *snort* Ain't gonna happen unless they tie me down and don't let me in.

41. You hang out regularly with con buddies?: My Otakon "con buddies" are my real life friends. As for other con buddies, most of them live to far away for us to regularly hang out.

42. You go to school/work with con buddies?: Is that much of a difference between "con buddies" and friends? No.

43. You drive more than an hour to see con buddies?: Depends on who it was. I don't have a car, though.

44. You preregister for cons?: I try to. Cuts down on the lines. (Except at Otakon. XD) And hey, you aren't getting into Anime Boston this year unless you pre-reg. :p

45. You plan months ahead for the next cons?: Yeah, we started planning for Otakon all the way back in May/June-ish.

46. You've driven more than 6 hours to get to a con?: Otakon roadtripping is the way to go, baby! ^_^ And I guess driving down to California from Utah counts, even though going to AX was just a coincidence....

47. You've taken a plane to get to a con?: Yup, ACen this year. :3

48. You've volunteered at a convention?: Volunteering sucks ass. No way.

49. You're staff of a convention?: That sucks even more.

50. You're starting your own convention?: Yup, Roni and I are having our very own SolxKy only convention in my room AniBos weekend. Sorry, attendance is limited and by invitation only. ^_~

I am in buckle hell.
I am not kidding when I say this. One day something's going to be the last straw and I'm just going to have a fucking fit and tell Sol he can go and do or wear whatever the hell he wants just as long at it is not the presence of my cosplay bunnies. >_< I'm surprised I've been tolerant thus far.

Okay, so I guess it's partly my fault for ordering buckles online and not getting their exact dimensions straight, but you know, I figured it made perfect sense that they'd advertise 1.5" buckles as 1.5 inches in length and not width, because who needs buckles that are an inch and a half wide?

Dude, I suck. So I am shafted out of 8 buckles which I paid a total of $18 for (OUCH)...and now I have to haul my ass to Winmil Fabrics in hopes that they have a lot of them super tiny buckles.

Maybe if I was actual Sol-size I could make do with the 1.5" width buckles...but as I am rather scaled down a bit they're not going to work as anything but projectile weapons.

Did I ever mention that my Legato costume last summer caused me less pain? It was Legato Bluesummers for crying out loud, who was less demanding than Sol Badguy. >_< Something is obviously not right with this world.

Anime Boston is going to OWN this year.

Why?

1) My lurvely Ronimee is coming.
2) I'm cosplaying Sol Badguy. 8D
3) They're going to have a DDR Extreme Arcade Machine in the Game Room.

Can it get any better? w000000000000~~~

Well, I'm feeling slightly better after guzzling massive amounts of miso soup last night for dinner. :3 Yum. Nothing better than miso soup for an entire meal. XD

It's Tuesday, and nearing the middle of the week wherein I will PANIC because Sol isn't even close to being finished. XD Heh, I remember last year when I spontaneously decided I wanted to cosplay Luffy the week before the con. :3 I might hop into my Luffy costume again, just for kicks. We'll see how many Luffys there are already. Last year I was one of three. I have a feeling One Piece has gotten a lot more popular since then. ^^;;

Hanging out with Jibaku was cool, his Slayer's pretty good. That is, when GGXX's Random was being nice to us. -_-;; Which it wasn't, because we got Chipp vs. Potemkin at least four times, and I only got Ky and Sol three times. :/ And poor Jibaku only got Slayer twice. Thanks randomizer. j00 suck. Unfortunately there's no real good way to randomize, since twirling the little analog stick honestly doesn't work that well.

Note to self: Must work on 1337 Sol skills. And get good with your Bridget too. (In addition to all the other things you must do over Spring Break. *falls over*)

Throat is slightly better today. A tad bit less croaky. This is will be remedied by even more miso soup, I'm sure. XD

The raw for Gungrave 25 is out. Ooooooh...aaaaaaah. Too bad I'm at work for the next two hours. (Must finish reading book and write outline for panel.) Dude, I'm on Spring Break and I'm still somehow hosed. :/ Something here is very fishy. ¬_¬ I guess MIT just lends itself well to the whole punt/tool dynamic. Even when on break. @_@ I can't escape. Aaaaaaaaa~~

I think I'm coming down with something. =_=;; My throat started hurting Friday night over at Will's house, but I just figured that because his apartment is so hot and dry.

I woke this morning, answered Roni's phone call, and I was croaking. Sounded like a frog on the verge of death. =_=;; Still kinda sound like that now, actually. Please let it not be strep, please let it not be strep. *pops cough drops like nobody's business*

Hanging out with Jibaku today, because he sent out a general distress call to the Guilty Gear Community. D'oh, this means that fanfic, RP, and cosplay gets pushed back yet another day. :/ Huzzah. ($sarcasm$)

Now the people on my SolxKy list and on R23 and going to MAUL me because I haven't done anything. @_@ Well...better at least get started on something...*scrambles to get something done in an hour*

For those of you who might have been wondering what the almighty, famous BanxGinji poster yaoi pose was...

it's the one at the layout of The BanxGinji fanlisting. XD

*sniff sniff* I smell fanservice. :3

Wow, what a weekend. So first of all, I spend about 6 hours in the MIT Game Room on Friday, playing huge amounts of DDR, sitting on top of the vending machines, playing more huge amounts of ghetto doubles on DDR (one-handed Alex, who I am now going to refer to as Beren, and I are 1337 at ghetto doubles. XD), and meeting Jibaku (who plays a really nice Slayer) before heading off to Anime Club to watch the first four episodes of Gungrave. After pimping Gungrave out for a bit, Beren and I headed to my place so I could pimp out more Gungrave to him, as well as One Piece, and then I headed off to Will's place to crash.

Slept over at Will's place after playing some GGXX#Reload, then woke up, had Vietnamese for lunch, and then headed over to Cocoa's place for her birthday celebrations. Sucked up more DDR on StepMania and soft pads, and got to be token Asian and token non-high-school person. -_-;; (Not to mention also the shortest person there. XD) Now I'm back here at Will's place, hoping for a ride back from Worcester to Boston sometime Sunday, but because it's spring break anyways, and his friend Young Rock is gone, and I have a nice, fast computer...hey, I'm not gonna complain if I'm going to be stuck here all Sunday. ^_^

Hey, I can brush upon my #Reload skills (or just GGXX in general) which are really, really sadly lacking at the moment. :/ (If Jibaku shows up at AniBos, I am so screwed. Not to mention the fact that Bryan and JoeP captain of Team Rival are going to be there, which also means that DDR tournament wise I am so screwed. -_-)

So that has been my weekend. Rather full of Worcester. ^_^ Which is about 45-60 mins. outside of Boston, and is rather ghetto-ish. ^_^;;; Oh well. I'll owe Will booze big time for bumming a ride off him back to Boston, but hey...yeah, booze during Anime Boston. Oh yeah.

Oh, and The dear Ronimee has written a Brandon/Bunji fic for me. ^_^ Involving teddy bears. Oh, how I love her. *snuggles* Now I owe her a Lee/Bob fic for her birthday. ^_^;; *sweatdrops*

Narrowly averted disaster this morning. @_@ Go me. Managed to catch the bus at the last minute so I didn't have to walk across Harvard Bridge to make it to work on time. Go me. :3

Finally passed Afronova on Heavy last night, but without massive amounts of double tapping. :/ Need to learn the shuffle step.

Hugs to Roni who sends me cute little presents all the time. ^_^ *big huggles*

It's a Thursday, and it's so close to Spring Break. 8D Yes, come to me, Spring Break!

Results of midterm: *falls over*

I am so ready for Spring Break. So ready for Spring Break. Despite the fact it's SNOWING outside.

So ready for Spring Break wherein I finish my Sol costume. Awwwwwww yeah. :3 Maybe I'll have built up enough good karma for the AniBos DDR competition (I wonder if anyone besides me from Team Rival is registered) that I'll finally be able to AAA "We Will Rock You." :/ (Okay, so it's a cover of the original Queen song...but still. C'mon Sol, you want to possess my sexay body and show everyone how DDR is done...right? ... no? Oh, darn.) :P

Midterm today *choke*. Skipped Japanese class to sleep in. I would've not had to had I not been sucked into translating certain key scenes in episode 24 of Gungrave.

(Damn you, Brandon Heat, if I get a B in Japanese this term it's all your fault! >.<)

I just can't help it when I stumble upon an episode with full scenes I can actually understand. @_@ I'll consider my translation my substitute Japanese class for today. XD

Wish me luck on the midterm today folks. ^_^ And that I finish all the readings for my gay class before the class starts. @_@ Boy have I been punting real bad this week.

Gungrave 24: Really really good episode. @_@ Better animation quality than most the episodes too. Really powerful ending. ^_^ <3 And more than ever, I believe in the power of Brandon and Bunji's love...and their rivalry. >:) Oh yes. Y'all have to watch Gungrave.

One Piece 86: You know how I said I wanted to cry after watching episode 85? Well, I did cry while I watched 86. ;_____; So sad. I've forgotten how absolutely cool Chopper is. Or rather, how sad his backstory is. ;_; Gosh, Naruto 19 and One Piece 86 are just tear jerkers. ;_; If you want to see me cry at AniBos, you know which episodes to show me. XD

Oh, and NarutoFan is down. Anyone know what's up over there?

Cowboy Bebop - YOUR bounty by Drusilla
Username
How much are you worth?	$201,290
Number of victims	9,110
Your story	What can I say, you're evil. PURE EVIL. Lets eliminate the weak! Killing seems merciful, hm? Life sucks anyway. If you're weak. Lets kill kill kill! )
Will you be caught?	Nope, you're very devious and good when you plan your moves.
Created with quill18's MemeGen 3.0!

I am 3viL. ^_^ Yay!
Oh, and midterm tomorrow. I pray that I know everything I need to. :/ Because there's so much fucking stuff to know.

I've realized that I can't AAA anything in DDR for my life. *sobs* My PA is horrible because I can't hear the difference between a Great or a Perfect while I'm playing. :/ *sobs* I suck. ._.

Hosed. Hosed, hosed, hosed, hosed, hosed, hosed, hosed. Why? Because it's the week before Spring Break, and every spring term that can only mean one thing:

MIDTERMS!

Yes, that's right my friends, I am hosed by midterms next week. Everything seems to be due next week and I am running around with my hair on fire. Wait...why am I not working right now? Aaaaugh!

I have so much stuff to get done before tomorrow, and before Wednesday, and not to mention my Sol costume to work on. (Must get Ali-chan to carry sewing machine over to club office so I can sit around and use it during Spring Break. @_____@)

Did I mention I was hosed? If you don't see me online, you'll know where I am. Land of hosage, here I come.

My narcissus plant died. I have no idea what happened to it. It just randomly started being unhappy done day...and it's all downhill from there. It's all dried out now, even though I change its water every night. -_-;; Oh well. I don't think I was made to care for plants or anything like that. They really like to die my presence. ¬_¬

Now, anime updates: (BEWARE SPOILERS)

Naruto 74: Hurry up, goddammit! @_@ I want to get to the cool Naruto vs. Gaara fight scene already. :/ And whenever Sandaime feels like croaking...yeah, you can do that.

Chrno Crusade 15: I'm still not entirely what Pandemonium is, and when exactly the 'revolution' Aion was trying to bring about happened, but whatever. ^^;; Hopefully I'll figure it out soon. XD

One Piece 85: There are a few One Piece moments that make me want to cry. Chopper/Hiluluk's story is one of them, and the other is the ending of the Alabasta arc. ;_; *big sniffles* And as I have yet to start Skypeia... yeah. ¬_¬ Oh yeah, and Luffy is HARDCORE. But I think we all knew that. ^_^

Gungrave 21: Thanks AonE for finally getting off your ass. ^_~ Kudos!

Now just waiting for the 10th episode of Maria-sama ga Miteru.

Got a haircut today. My hair was getting really really shaggy, so I figured I'd get it all nice and cut 3 weeks before Anime Boston, so it has 3 weeks to grow into Sol-ness. ^_^ Gotta remind myself also to dye my hair black black a couple of days before AniBos and get all my homework finished. :x But hey, it's 9.09. And 9.09 rules and I understand it. ^_^ OWNZ! Should keep studying though. @_@

In light of the recent Massachusetts legislative decision to ban gay marriage but allow for same sex civil unions...
Thanks, humanity, for giving me another reason to slaughter you all. Or at the very least, attempt to rule over all of you.

Sarto, a friend of mine has brought up a lot of good points in his latest post on the marriage issue, the best of which I think are:

(on the issue of civil unions): On one hand, the law is telling gay couples they are inferior and don't deserve the same rights, verbatum, as those given to every other citizen, and then on the other it's saying "but we realize we're being discriminatory so here are your rights anyway". It's semantics really. If it smells like chicken, and looks like chicken, and tastes like chicken, and has all the legal rights and benefits of chicken, ...just call it chicken. ... The point is that creating a civil union that has all of the same rights and privileges as marriage is not only semantics, it is creating something separate. Sure, they have equal rights, but by not calling it the same thing, they're only encouraging discrimination to persist against gay couples simply because they disguise their bigotry under the veil of equality.

(on religion): I know it must be hard for people that truly do believe in religion to support gay marriages. If they could take a step back, for one moment, and read a history book, I think matters would be greatly resolved. Religion has been used as an argument in the name of biggotry more often than any other creed in history. This is not the first, nor the last time, that someone else's religious beliefs will cloud the judgment of men. What legal reaon is there to prevent two loving people, no matter what they're sexes, from getting married? None,..none whatsoever. Why is it so difficult to understand that not everybody believes in Christianity, or Judaism, or Hindu, or Muslim, etc. We are not all of the same creed, therefore it is wrong to make laws that limit rights of citiznes based solely on religious beliefs.

Of course, it's easier to blame nature and say that gay people are an abomination of nature than it is to blame it on God and say "God screwed up". No, it is only ever "God's plan" or "God's will". If that's so true, how can religious zealots argue that gays are sinful or unholy. It's obviously part of "God's plan", just like everything has to be. Oh wait, I forgot, it's only part of God's plan when it's convenient to say so, when it doesn't support a group of people the church doesn't agree with. It's been 2000 years since the Bible was written. That's a long time. Even assuming the men that wrote it got God's message right the first time, who's to say God hasn't changed his mind in 2000 frickin' years. GRRRR RELIGION!!! WE HATES YOU, TRICKSY BIBLESES!! If there is any truth to be had in this nature debate, it is that nature doesn't make mistakes, except for the platypus.

Amen Sarto. :3 (and now a moment aside for me to say...WHY IS IT SNOWING OUTSIDE?!)

And now, with religion, bigotry, and upcoming 2004 US Presidental Elections coming up, Skuld releases a very rough draft of her Rational Dictatorship Manifesto. (Very Machiavellian.)

I'll just say outright right now that I am, in principle, against organized religion. Nothing worse has happened to humanity than the beginnings of organized religion. Religion is an oppressive institution in which people are brainwashed, often from birth, their rational thought shut down, and made to believe in rewards which will not ever be delivered.

Religion is and has always been mired in bigotry and power struggles, and is used as the scapegoat for mindless discrimination of an oppressed minority. Religion unfortunately, under the right circumstances can do good things, namely teaching people a set of morality and values thereby saving humanity from the State of Nature.

If you should ever find yourself in control of a nation, the most valuable tool for you will be religion. In order to have full control of your situation, you must do two things: 1) create a religion, and 2) do not believe in this religion (but by all means, pretend you do).

In this Religion, you will set up yourself, as Grand High Dictator/Monarch/Overlord as God. Your word is law. Your word is divine. Your word is to be worshipped by the people. Your word, and the word of your sons and daughters. But most of all, you must not believe you that you are God. Your word is not divine, but having it worshipped and having it law is quite nice, no? In order to avoid massive oversights and personal failures, you must recognize that you will fuck up at some point in your life and accept your shortcomings. Do not believe in your own religion. Remember at all times that the only purpose for which you have created your own religion is to keep control of the people. You may assume, however, that you know best. That is the other reason you have this religion after all, because you know best.

In this State, which I will call the Rational Dictatorship, belief in this religion and practice in all these religious rituals and services will be compulsory. Should any dissent surface, do not hesitate to invoke your right as Dictator/Monarch/Overlord to eliminate them and make an example of them. This will ensure that large uprisings do not occur, for if people fear anything, they fear death. Teach them that sacrifice is not something looked highly upon, and that sacrifical martyrdom is not the pathway to a happy afterlife (should your religion contain anything about the afterlife). That should quell most religious zealots who want to sacrifice themselves to take you out.

Your religion should be based around the principles of equality, community, and happiness. Teach them that conflict is to be resolved, but as quickly as possible in a way that maximizes harmony and happiness within the community. Remember that if people are treated equally, they have nothing you complain about. Certainly, you their God, is an exception. Also teach them that it's okay to be gay. ^_^

Your religion must contain a strict moral code of behavior governing such things as theft, murder, and assault, but make sure your moral code does not impinge upon consensual sexual expression. Make sure your religion contains allegories for which the common man can allude, and any depictions of violence and inequality are to be handed down with the message that this is very, very bad. Make sure they remember that death is the worst thing that can happen to them, and that you have control over their fate.

Above all, you as the governing entity of this state must occasionally deal with the marginalized person who commits a crime. What is a crime? A crime is anything that violates the Social Contract that you have created with your people. By violating the Social Contract, you no longer have obligation to care for that person. Depending on the degree of the crime, anything from rehabilitation to public execution should be good a idea.

And in your Rational Dictatorship course, should read a lot of philosphy books. In addition to this short manifesto, read Machiavelli, Locke, Hobbes, Kant, Nietzsche, Satre, Heidegger, Hegel, Plato/Socrates, Mills, Rawls, and Nozick.

If I missed anything let me know. :P Feel free to suggest addendums to my Manifesto.

In case all of you haven't heard yet, there will be no Shoujocon in the year 2004. :( The reasons they list on their site are that they haven't been able to find a hotel and the organizers need to regroup. They are making plans for ShoujoCon 2005, but it seems like this summer we will be ShoujoCon-less, which is very sad. ;_;

Oh well, one less con for me to miss this summer while I'm in Japan. ^^;;

And now that Spring Break is a week away and midterms are less than a week away...it is time for me to panic. @_@

I have passed my first 10-footer today. ^_^ Go me!

Okay, so Sakura doesn't really count as a 10-footer because it's easy as hell...but, I can still semi-brag about it to people who haven't passed catastrophics. ^_^ *sweatdrops*

That leaves one song on Skuld's...

Songs to beat by Anime Boston list

1. So Deep
2. A (oni)
3. Waka Laka
4. Cartoon Heroes
5. Sakura
6. Exotic Ethnic
7. Stoic
8. Orion .78 Civilization Mix
9. V (oni)
10. The Least 100 Seconds

Go me. That leaves Orion Civ. Must work hard. @_@ *boots up Stepmania*

Nothing much new in the these past couple of days, aside from being hosed by homework (I have so much Japanese to do tonight) and psending even more money than I usually do on DDR. Now that I'm a member of Team Rival, I feel bad if I don't try to get better.

Passed The Least 100 Seconds yesterday, so that leaves two songs that I haven't passed.

1. Sakura (which I'm really close to passing)
2. Orion Civ (we'll have to work hard on this one)

:3 Working on my PA too. I've gotten a lot better since the beginning of the semester but I'm still not as accurate as I'd like to be.

I've been spending a lot of time at the DDR Freak forums, especially in the New England section where I know/have met a large portion of the people there. ^_^ Yay, a (section of a) forum that isn't full of stupid people who can't string two sentences together! Huzzah! I am overjoyed. <3

I am now apparently a member of Team Rival. Hooray, I think. ¬_¬ Now I can claim to have a nerdy DDR team that rivals (hahahaha) Ed's fighting game groups, Team Serious.

One day, when I am older and better at DDR *snort* and get a bunch of my otaku friends together, I will create Team Konoha. :3 I get to be NEJI.

Okay, away with silliness. It is time to sleep and Gungrave owns my soul. That shouldn't be a surprise there. Has anyone else noticed that Brandon, facially, looks a LOT like Legato Bluesummers? Give him blue hair and a hot dog and he's Legato. Or rather, Legato's good twin. <3

I want to NecroRise Legato and make him my muse so we can write more fanfiction together. (And also I can steal his clothes.) Sounds like a good policy to me.

Bet you guys thought I'd stopped writing fanfic. >_> Don't worry, I'm working on several things right now. In addition to the SolxKy Roni and I are sort of putting on the back burner, I am writing a long NarutoxSasuke fic. ^_^;;

Anyways, here is what you've been waiting for since June 2003:

Chapter Two of "And Miles to Go..." my Legato fic. >_> Yeah, you all thought I'd put that on hiatus, huh? I've been working on little bits and parts of it over the months, and I just finished it last night. Since I don't have the third chapter written...we'll see how long it takes me to finish it. XD

Chapter Two: Yesterday's Gone at
rose.is.rain and
Fanfiction.net (The Pit of Voles/The Wasteland)

I feel like crap right now. Blarrrrrrr. =_=;; Reading my social psych textbook has given me a headache, and I feel like I want to vomit. *unhappy* ;_;

I have episode 22 of Gungrave to watch raw, episode 9 of Maria-sama ga Miteru to watch subbed, and tons and tons of homework to do. Maybe playing cute DDR songs will make me feel better. Or worse. :/ There's also some books I gotta grab for my research in homosexuality in media and homosexuality in Japan...so at least I have t3h gay to look forward to. -_-;;

Spent all last night on the phone. ^^;; Hooray for assloads of weekend/night minutes on my cell phone. ^_^ Talked to Omi for an hour, the clone for half an hour, and Roni for two hours. ^^;; The two hours was almost completely discussion about our Guilty Gear group roleplay blog, Revelations23. As the two GMs, we originally sort of came up with plots on our own (because we wanted to surprise each other), and that was difficult to work around. You know, because GMs need to know everything, or at the very least, close to everything. So we spilled our plots, and I think we have something very interesting and solid here. Now the problem becomes how to work in the other characters? Hmmm...

Ergh, still feeling crappy. Must be lack of sleep. Dammit, lack of sleep sucks. Stupid me, staying up late at nights. *sighs* It's MIT, I swear.

Spent the afternoon/evening with Cocoa and her friends and her mom. We started off with sushi at Kotobukiya at Porter Square (Cocoa's second time with sushi, and her mother's first! @_@), then went to Sasuga, The Garment District, Keezer's, and finished off at MIT with some happy DDR action.

I still am having trouble beating Orion Civ, Sakura (goddamn slowdowns! >_<), and The Least 100 Seconds (which, I think, is slower than I try to make it out to be). This obviously means I need more practice. STEPMANIA! Must practice! >_<

Anyways, got some stuff today. Bought Cantarela 7, and Tsubasa 3 and 4 at Sasuga. I also confirmed that they will be at Anime Boston. ^_^;; (Ano, shigatsu no Boston no anime convention ni iku tsumori desu ka?) Bought some interesting shoe/heels thingies to match my Glam!Sol to Roni's Glam!Ky and borrowed a labcoat from Cocoa's mother. Wow, Cocoa's mother rules. :3 I wish my mommy was more like her. ^_^;;

Watched 20 and 21 of Gungrave, am downloading the 22nd episode raw because I need Gungrave really badly. >_> Gungrave is like crack. Almost as cracktacular as Naruto is. Too bad Naruto is going way slow. -_-;; I hope they get to the Naruto/Gaara fight soon, because man, that fight owns.

Well, that's my saturday. whee...

In order to amuse us all...Shi has decided to post us some Seishirou splut.

Not work safe, for all you Seishirou/Subaru fans out there. XD
Aaah, I wish the X fandom was more like this, instead of blowing up in everyone's faces once a week. >.> I should start my own 1337 S/S fandom that has all the cool, non-trolly, non-flamey people in it. XD

So Naruto 73 has now been released by ANBU/AonE, and I'm not coming home late so I can't watch it until late...and ARGH! Nooo! I needs my Naruto fix! Speaking of which, I haven't even seen the raws for chapter 207. ;_; *cry* Where's my weekly Naruto crack?

@_@

Oh yeah, Destra, I finished the first half of the first chapter of the Naruto fic. I'll send it to you to after I proofread it. ^_^ <3 NaruSasu. <3 AU NaruSasu fics. *giddy* Must write more. Instead of talking to y'all on AIM I think I'm going to sit around and write during my library hours today. ^_^ Huzzah! So all y'all who read the Naruto manga win...and all y'all who don't, lose. XD Obviously the way to win out is to read the Naruto manga. ^_^ Because Naruto owns. :P

And speaking of which...I need to get back into One Piece...must dig around for One Piece manga now. :3 I am so behind. XD

Gonna go see Kino no Tabi/Kino's Travels at Anime Club today. If you're there, you'll see me! ^_^

Sewing with Ali-chan tonight! I've got most of the pieces of my Sol costume cut out, now I just need to sew them together. This should be the easiest part you know, but I know it'll inevitably turn out to be the most difficult. Because sewing machines are all conspiring against me.

That, or I just suck, which may be the real case, and I'm just deluding myself into thinking that the world hates me. :3

Happy Birthday to Clare who has turned 21 (I'm older than Clare? @_@), and now can go and legally get herself piss drunk in the United States. Unfortunately she's Canadian, and I have no idea what the alcohol drinking age is there. ^_^

Hope you guys like the new layout and the color scheme. I know the text is a little hard to read... >_> But seriously, if you're here, you should know it's Skuld's blog. XD And if you don't...>_> well, uh...

Got bored of the black/white/grey scheme of my Naruto, so I decided to go with something more colorful. ^_^ Well, more colorful in the long wavelength spectrum of light.

Word to Amberlee for the screencaps. She is totally awesome. ^_^ I love my fandom mommy.

For all those of you who aren't watching Gungrave...>_> WHY AREN'T YOU WATCHING GUNGRAVE? Because it's really good.

Had to stop myself before episode 20. @_@ It's my last episode! The next two raws are out but I don't want to watch them raw. I don't think I'd get enough of it. >_> Unlike Naruto (73 is out). *frown* I guess I've got to save my last episode for when 21 comes out, then I'll be a fish outta water like everyone else. ^_^;; Man, I hate watching series when I don't have the entire thing. -_-;; *sighs*

Anyways, y'all should watch Gungrave. If you liked Trigun, I think you'll like Gungrave. Much subtler. ^_^ Much better crafted, but not lacking in the same action. And I honestly never thought anyone could top Vash on my list of "cool people who have retained their purity" but I am so wrong. Brandon Heat. is. love.

(must cosplay now. *scurries off*)

I'm having a hard time believing this isn't edited.
Either way, it's pretty damn funny. ^_^

A clip from Rainbow, what is supposedly this old British kids' show.

So I've been neglecting my duties in informing all of you of what movies I've been watching my gay film class, so here are reviews for the past three weeks that I've slacked off on:

Jeffrey (1995) - Christopher Ashley and Paul Rudnick
The movie version of Paul Rudnick's off-broadway play. This thing translated horribly from stage to film, and the cinematography and direction really shows.

The basic story goes: Jeffrey is the story of a New York City catering waiter, who decides to abstain from sex in the midst of the AIDS crisis. Meeting the man of his dreams at the gym, who is HIV positive, changes his views on sex and relationships.

This thing is outrageous, campy, and silly. But not without its merits. It boasts a pretty significant cast (Patrick Stewart, Sigorney Weaver, Olympia Dukakis), and honestly, you can't miss Patrick Stewart as a middle-aged gay interior designer whose boyfriend is in the cast of Cats. A little too trite for me, I get the feeling that "Jeffery" is a gay movie for straight people. But watch if you're ever bored.

The Living End (1992) - Gregg Araki

One of the films billed as the "Queer New Wave." Unlike "Jeffrey" and "The Broken Hearts Club" which I watched before, Araki's "The Living End" is washed-out and gritty, a homosexual homage to the buddy film genre, French amour fou and Godard.

"The Living End" is about John and Luke, two HIV positive men who discover each other in the streets of Los Angeles and take off for the ride of their lives. This one is definitely for you arty movie goers, as the narrative style and direction is nowhere close to mainstream cinema. With a powerful message and very erotic sex scenes, I think you guys might like this film a lot. ^_^ That is, if you can find it. >_>

La ley del deseo: The Law of Desire (1987) - Pedro Almodóvar

Cocoa's mother recommended Almodóvar, and I have to say that "The Law of Desire" has not disappointed me. This movie is a lot of stories all interwoven, but most importantly is about a director, Pablo Quintero, and how his passion for his work blinds him to his loves and his desires.

Awesome movie, featuring a young Antonio Banderas as Quintero's jealous lover. Again, very nice directing, acting, and cinematography, and you really Banderas at his best here. If any of you think he's a bad actor, you should go and see this movie. ^_^ More themes with the French amour fou here, but much more fantasical and well-crafted than Araki's "The Living End."

Supposedly "All About my Mother" and "Talk to Her" are also very good Almodóvar movies. ^_^ Go see them.

Guess that's it for today. I finished reading the last volume of Paradise Kiss too, and I have to say it's really, really good. I like how it played out in the end, very satisfying. ^_^ And I love Isabella even more. ^_^ And you get to find out what her name used to be. ^_~

And one more thing: just to show my support, because I wrote my district representative today about the issue:

and sign the Million for Marriage petition.

Short anime update:

Gungrave 15: O_O~! OH MY GOD. Gungrave rules. Why more people aren't watching this show I don't know. It's very wonderfully and subtly crafted. While the animation quality could be better in some places, the character development and plot are top-notch. The voice acting, with Seki Tomokazu as Brandon Heat is absolutely amazing. Watch Gungrave, dammit! O_o I'm so glad Roni made me. (Now I want to cosplay Brandon. :3 Dammit, I knew it shouldn't have cut my hair. -_-;; )

Got my b-day/X-mas/V-day present from Destra today. ;_; Oh my god, I love the Tsubasa/XXXholic calendar. @_@ It's absolutely gorgeous. I love the style. ;_; *huggles* And twin doujinshi. DUDE. Twin doujinshi. *squeal*

Love to my friends. Being hosed sucks. >_> Just so y'all know. XD So does the rain when you're walking across the Harvard Bridge. ;_;

Cosmorific never fails to crack me up. XD *snickers* Go read her comment about Frederick's Gear symbol. *cracks up* XD

And since I'm on the subject of things that make me laugh, here are two really really bad jokes made by Chip Quinn, my awesome 9.09 (Cellular Neurobiology) professor:

"What's orange and sounds like a parrot? .... A carrot."

"What's brown and sounds like a bell? ... Dung!"

I don't know why they crack me up the way they did, but all of you who know me should know that I'm just a sucker for bad jokes. ^_^

Oh yeah, and if you guys haven't seen the Jackie Chan City Hunter movie...y'all ought to. Especially if you've ever touched Street Fighter II. *shudders*

So I'm out my last $2 (and now have no money for the rest of the week), but RotK owned.

Despite the fact I don't think it should have won Best Adapted Screenplay (that was a pretty shitty adaptation), I think it did well to win Best Picture. ^_^ Yay RotK! ^_^

Tolkien/Beren must be pretty satisfied.