:D Yaaaay!
I just got ALL the rare items for Dynasty Warriors 5. All orbs, saddles, and items.
w0000000t!
Not only that, the bodyguard (albeit not that good) I just got is a female fan-user of the name 夏侯愛 which is Xiahou Ai, Ai which roughly translates in my fangirlish brain as Xiahou Luv.
Despite the fact that the clone is trying to convince me otherwise, I'm beginning to think that my ancestors love me. *does the fangirl dance*
The Cylons put a chip in my brain. Either that, or I may just be going crazy. Did you hear the Cylons look like us now? Don't ask me why they just made me watch the Battlestar Galactica miniseries again (I think that was the fourth time), or why I can't stop playing Dynasty Warriors and obsessing over the kingdom of Wei and how it was full of badasses.
OHMYGOD GET OUT OF MY HEAD HOT BLONDE WOMAN!
(more like "one-eyed Chinese dude" ¬_¬ *sweatdrop* I'd be much more sane were it Number Six.)
And in answer to Cocoa's question about my cosplay plans for AX 06 (if I get to go at all, the big catch is that if I go to Japan I won't get to go to Anime Expo or Otakon) I probably won't have the time to do a decent and convincing Zack because I'll be spending all of my time when I'm not studying or in lab on this.
I don't even want to think about how I'm going to do the scimitar. Or the gauntlets. Or you know...THE ARMOR. Cosplay? What is this cosplay thing. I am a graduate student and I may go to Japan. *denialdenialdenial*
You know, taking another trip to Japan this year so I can be more lazy (Japan is an arguable escape route on the subject of laziness) is starting to sound pretty damn good. Yeah, I'll be missing summer anime conventions for three years in a row. (I sniffle at the awesome memories of Otakon.) But attending Natsukomi (summer comiket) for three years in a row would totally make up for that. And you know, so would spending nights in mangakissa and in karaoke parlors. I still have regrets! Things I didn't do on my second trip to Japan this year! Namely, attend a rock concert, stay at a love hotel, and visit Hokkaido.
But I do promise that if Japan decides that three times is too many times to have Skuld back in the country, I'll make it out either Anime Expo or Otakon, or both. With a GOOD Xiahou Dun costume. As good as all those what all of those hot Japanese chicks have. o_o
(Is it odd that I think beards look better on girls? ¬_¬)
Actually, said chicks are a good reason to go back to Japan yet again... >_> *cough* Yes, everything eventually goes back me hankering for Japan. And girls. And girls who like to dress up as dead Chinese warriors.
I sound so fucking crazy on my own journal. (STALKERS STAY AWAY.)
Anyways, classes start tomorrow at 10am. I'm in a bit of a financial pinch because books are going to be hella expensive this term, I have to pay rent on Saturday, and the program hasn't gotten me my goddamn fellowship money yet because somebody along the chain was stupid and lost the paperwork and/or the money.
WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME? *full of sobbing*
My life hates me. :/ In every way...and I think I just publically embarassed myself again.
I should stop saying embarassing things online, but I just can't help myself. I know that one day, when I win the Nobel Prize or something, somebody will bring this up and it'll become an international scandal in the scientific community.
Dynasty Warriors 5 has two opening sequences. One is an FMV that plays at the beginning, and the other one's a real-time rendered one they play when you leave the console alone for a while. The rendered one you can edit to put whatever characters you want in. This option is unlockable, and I just barely got around to messing around with it.
There's a nice 5-second sequence of a fight scene, very very nicely choreographed. And if you guys know me at all you'll know that I grew up on Chinese Wu-Xia and I live for the fights that are half a dance and half sharp objects. In addition to being a good fight with one person being knocked back, the fight takes place in the rain. Rain fights are ridiculously awesome. The only thing that could've made it better was a drum in the background a la Crouching Tiger or the Battlestar Galactica opening. Being the fangirl that I am, I put Cao Cao and Xiahou Dun (my favorite pairing) in the fight.
I watched it.
I almost creamed my panties on the spot.
...¬_¬ Is that bad?
Grad student orientation today was fun. The workshops were total bullshit, but I met some really awesome people. Namely these people.
Running of to a free sneak preview of Serenity now.
WIN!
Here's an interesting article for those you interested in modern Japanese culture and gender studies.
Men in land of samurai find their feminine side
And now I launch into a tirade/rant/organized manifesto about gender roles in society.
I can't remember the last time I made a new layout. It was right around the end of term, I think. Christ. That was a long time ago. O_o;; I mostly operate off of LiveJournal these days which is why my regular blog is sadly neglected. Still, I'm resisting the full LJ conversion. We'll see how long that lasts.
Probably until the next stalker incident.
Anyway, new layout up at the Skuldy blog.
Guess who my favorite ancestor is.
HOLY SHIT THAT WAS INTENSE.
Battlestar Galactica doesn't scrimp on pulling out all the stops. That episode with the Pegasus? I still have shivers. Of the good and the bad kind. O_o
And I have to wait until January. That's a whole term of school without BSG. I need to find some replacement crack.
Sasuke is back in business. That's right folks, new parts for my computer just arrived. :3 Got a wireless card (cause we all run on wireless in this wonderful apartment of ours), and a new stick of 512MB RAM. I know it's not a big deal anymore these days to have a gig of ram, but I'm still excited. :p
To celebrate the new XP SP2 install on Sasuke, and the hard-drive backup and wipe, here are pictures of the Skuld Hideout and the apartment Two Jews and a Lesbian.
- A view of the kitchen from the living room. Say hi to Andy.
- Our living room populated almost entirely with furniture other people threw away in the basement garage. My bed was found there too! Ain't that nice?
- Evan is a big hookah smoker. Apparently this is really big in the midwest and the west coast. Here he is on his balcony, having his weekly smoke.
- This is apparently how I look when I'm smoking hookah. Hookah is really nice. I think I'll continue doing it. 'tis a nice social activity.
- Andy joining us sucking smoke out of a hose.
- The Skuld Hideout is on the second floor of the apartment, and is a little inconvenient because I am missing a wall (cause I overlook the living room), a closet, and a door. Luckly the stairwell obscures what sketchy activites I may be doing. Here's a nice view from when you just climb the stairs.]
- A view of the bed from the desk area.
- A view of my bookshelves from my bed. If you ever want to burgle me, you'll now know exactly where my CLAMP manga and all my doujinshi are. You could even steal my lightsabers, but I wouldn't appreciate that very much.
- A closeup of my second favorite part of my room, the desk area. My first favorite area of my room is of course my bed. :3 That is where I do my favorite thing in the entire world: sleep.
You know what I hate about 3am?
When I go on a Japanese fanartist's site, and I want the goods. You know, the pr0n, the 18+ stuff. Usually they make you jump through a few hoops and click on a secret link.
Usually they'll give you hints and tell you it's really easy.
Well, it's 3am, and I haven't found it and I am just about to KILL SOMEBODY.
Yeah, the pr0n is hidden somewhere.
SHOW ME THE MONEY! *cries*
...it's times like this I'm glad I have my doujinshi on my shelf. TEN FEET AWAY.
EDIT: Found it. Only because I cheat and look at HTML source code. Motherfuckers. :/ Don't the Japanese understand that when I want my pr0n, I want it now?
EDIT SQUARED: That's not pr0n! That's not even softcore! I will not accept anything that's two guy's kissing with all of their clothes on as somehow being 18+. Not in Japan. WHAT THE FUCK.
I'm going to bed. :/
Roommates still playing Dynasty Warriors like no other. Those guys are absolutely hilarious. I love listening to them say things like, "Whoa, that guy shoots fireballs!" and "Oh bitch! You're so dead!"
Still haven't told them I want to cosplay "Eyepatch Man."
I figure I'll break the news slowly. Nice and easy. I just moved in. Don't want my roommates to freak out. Pictures of the new pad, temporarily known as "Two Jews and a Lesbian" forthcoming.
Who got her roommates addicted to Dynasty Warriors?
Skuld got her roommates addicted to Dynasty Warriors.
:D
I also got Sasuke back up (he refused to boot for the first three or so times, then he magically did. I hope he stays cooperative), and now have a hot half-nekkid (okay, who am I kidding? Aside from the cloth he's holding up at his groin, I'm sure he is ALL NEKKID) picture of Xiahou Dun as my wallpaper.
I am such a bad lesbian.
How much do I love wireless? I love wireless a whole fucking lot.
I love being able to sit in front of my TV downstairs, tune into Adult Swim, and make new Livejournal icons at the same time. :D
Granted, I hate slower download speeds cause it totally kills me for Torrent..but other than that...
'tis great. And awesome. WIRELESS WINS!
Staples sucks, cause they failed massively at delivering my happy desk to me, and thusly I still don't have my room all set up, and likely won't until Monday. UGH. THAT TOTALLY BLOWS. Especially since I'm the only one left who doesn't really have a room yet. *bangs head against wall*
Finally got to touch Shin Sangoku Musou again today. *pets it* I missed my baby. Somebody needs to come over and play with me, just sitting around alone and doing Musou Modes is boring as hell. I miss playing with Omi, we were a hell of a team. (Likewise with my cousin.) ._.
Speaking of melee games...the raping of Sengoku Basara continues. If it weren't for the fact that I was dirt fucking poor already, I'd be buying this in Japanese. *rolls eyes*
I'm so glad my parents have money, cause I think we've spent close to $1000 on stuff so far. Stuff being: furniture for my room, a television, shipping my boxes, food for me to eat, and some common stuff for the apartmentmates. O_o;;
Christ. We just spent nearly $300 alone on food and random stuff I need (lamps, an iron, an ironing board, duct tape, etc). I fear the day I'll have to pay for everything myself, but then again maybe I'll actually have a salary then. -_-;;
At a family friend's house currently leeching off somebody's unsecure wireless. w00t w00t suburbia. Most of my book boxes came today, but I'm still missing two. That's worrying. Like I said...if I lose some of my doujinshi...like I did last year...
I'm seriously going to tear apart the USPS with something huge. Like a mech.
When this is all done, I am going to set a day aside and sleep and sleep and sleep. Cause I am still dead fucking tired.
Woke up around 8:30am this morning, the earliest I have woken up in ages because I never sleep well in strange places. And I was up late rereading my favorite parts of "A Long Hard Road" (read: t3h sexx0r) so I was operating on very little sleep.
Being in the car whilst my mother is driving through LA traffic is also very, very stressful. I've had enough excitement in one hour to last me for the rest of the fucking month. Merging across 5 lanes of traffic? SUCKS IN L.A. Sure, everybody does it, but it still sucks. When you're changing lanes with the other car less than ten feet away from you, that's fucking scary. Every time my Mom was merging or changing lanes I thought I was going to die. And I was only going as far as Burbank. We have family friends in Thousand Oaks we're visiting tomorrow.
If I never update again, you'll know to search for the Skuld-shaped splat on the side of the California freeway.
I have most of my room ordered and/or bought thankfully, just not assembled. That's going to be tomorrow, Saturday, and probably most of Sunday. IKEA is a wonderful place, and I feel so horribly yuppy for saying that. ._. They're cheap and pretty, honestly. Quality is okay...but they have some really dirt cheap stuff. I enjoyed myself immensely there, and hope that one day I can have rooms in an apartment/house as beautiful as their showrooms. T_T
Downloading Final Fantasy VII: Last Order right now. Eagerly awaiting some rabid fangirls living in their mother's basement to draw me some Sephiroth/Cloud pr0n. C'mon guys! Gimme some love here!
...
but I'll settle for all of my Media Mail boxes getting here and being able to visit and lovingly unpack, organize, and shelf my doujinshi collection. If I ever lose Cinderella Boy, my life will not be worth living anymore.
We have wireless in the apartment! Yay! :D I can blog in front of the TV! Download anywhere in the house! Read fanfiction in the bathroom... ... ... >_> *ahem*
I am so tired. Spent the entire day cleaning my new apartment, which was annoying because I figured the apartment was going to come clean. Our landlady's horrible. She's such a flake. She says she'll take care of things, but they never get done. Our apartment was in horrible shape when it first got to us a week ago (thankfully I didn't have to deal with a broken toilet seat and a leaky dishwasher and kitchen sink), but now it's much better.
I live in the loft, it's kind of like a balcony overhanging the hallway and the kitchen. There's no closet for me (I'll have to steal the one in the hallway or use my own) and it's kind of hot up there, but I get a little high place to call my own (I love high places) which has a beautiful high ceiling, so I'm happy. ^_^v
I'm going to have to shop for a desk, some drawers, a couple bookshelves, and things like that over the next couple of days. I am thusly full of ugh. Watched Advent Children again today on the plane, and found out that my two roommates are also gamers, though slightly less hardcore than me. (Evan gets points for bringing his N64 with GoldenEye and Ocarina of Time.) I'm going to have to up the quality of my PS2 games, I think, cause I'm kind of embarassed about the massive amounts of dating sims I have. *cough*
I'm not a trashy gamer, I swear. *cough cough*
Off to read A Long Hard Road before I totally crash. Or at least skip to the good bits, cause I can.
Cause I need a little more Sephiroth in my life, a little bit of Cloud by his side, a little bit of fanfic's all I need, a little bit of-- *explodes*
There's a coherent review of Advent Children coming sometime. Maybe. If everybody hasn't already said everything I wanted to.
And now I leave you with the LiveJournal Haiku. Very me.
HOLY SHIT!!
Advent Children is everything that The Spirits Within should have been.
It's just...amazing. It's a total PWP fightfest. Gorgeous. Beautiful. COOL FIGHTS! YEEEAH!
...needs more sex though. :/ A nice Sephiroth/Cloud one would've done great, but as it is, I am not complaining. I have waited EIGHT FUCKING YEARS for this movie and they finally deliver. THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU. If it weren't for the fact that I'm not going to have children, I might even pledge my firstborn to Square Enix, as embarassing as that may be.
By the way, Square still sucks balls at doing hands (they need to send some people to Weta to figure out how do shit right, like how to animate hands and how to make people not look Asian).
No review here, because I don't think I can speak coherently yet. I think I might go watch it again.
I just spent the last 8 hours of my life packing. I have now condensed my 20-something boxes into 15 boxes, which makes my life a little easier tomorrow driving to and from the USPS and UPS.
Incidentally, while I was toiling away, the Advent Children movie has been released on torrent, earlier than the planned DVD release. Is anybody surprised? Also, an English translation has been released (not hard-encoded). Really, do I even need to run to the stores to buy the DVD anymore? I probably will, because Square had me at day one.
Amazon also has the release date for Kingdom Hearts 2 to be December 2, 2005. Can anybody confirm this awesome finals-doom/Christmas-present? And now, I collapse from exhaustion.
When it's colder in Salt Lake City than in Boston, something is wrong.
It was about 90 two days ago. The temperature suddenly and randomly plummetted yesterday, and now it's about mid-sixties.
WHAT THE FUCK.
I thought Boston was the only place with randomly changing weather patterns, but then again I am reminded of the fact that this is me after all, and apparently I have some odd DOOMFIELD surrounding me that makes everything go to shit. ...or something like that.
These are my last two days in Utah before I move to LA on Tuesday. ^_^ I have no idea how I'm going to deal with the fact that we have no TV yet (which means I will be severely lacking in the Dynasty Warriors department) other than decide that playing Dynasty Warriors Advance (yay for the GBA?) will have to do. While the gameplay is nowhere near as awesome as the PS2, the thought of playing as a little Xiahou Dun sprite makes me want to squee. See y'all soon in sunny LA.
Just finished watching the latest episode of BSG, cause I spent the entire day hanging out with Omi.
LUCY LAWLESS LIKE WHOA. o_o;;
Shit dude.
We are a perfectly functional Chinese family. Which means that by any Western standards, we are dysfunctional as hell. *bangs head against wall*
But then again, who's got a family they're perfectly happy with? I want to play Gakuen Heaven. Boys kissing will make my problems go away.
Why am I doing an LJ meme when my actual blog isn't on LJ? Probably because most of my friends are on LJ. And besides, I don't think I've done a meme in quite a while. This one should be fun.
Look at your LJ "interests" list. If you have fewer than 50 interests, pick every fifth one. If you have between fifty and seventy-five interests, pick every seventh one. If you have over seventy-five interests, pick every tenth one. If you have fewer than ten, pick all of 'em. List them on your LJ, and tell everyone exactly what it is about these things that interests you so much.
10: Bruce Campbell
Who doesn't love Bruce Campbell? I am most definitely a part of the odd cult fan following of Bruce Campbell. He just rocks, period.
20: Cylons
As a Battlestar Galactica fan, I really feel for the Cylons, cause dude, HUMANS SUCK. And everytime I watch or read the news just proves it some more.
30: Edward Norton
Ed Norton is one of my favorite actors. He's really got talent, and unfortunately I think he's underappreciated. Oh well. In short, he's amazing and hot to boot, though some of my friends would disagree.
40: Get Backers
It's a fun show, finally something shounen where the two main characters are obviously together but nobody (except the rabid yaoi fangirls) make a big deal about it. Interesting premise, though I was never quite taken with the art of the manga enough to want to read it or find translations anywhere. Tare-Ginji is the cuteness.
50: Invader Zim
One of the best cartoons that was out there, until it got cancelled. While I wouldn't quite claim Jhonen Vasquez as a genius, the writers for Zim are very clever and just happen to strike that right chord of random hilarity that makes me crack up every episode.
60: Karaoke
If you know me well, you know that I love music and I just love to sing. Karaoke was one of my favorite hangouts in Japan, and I will be sad and unsocial without it here in the States. Catch me on the phone sometime, and maybe if you ask nicely I'll sing a song for you.
70: Maul/Obi-Wan
They were my first slash couple I read sophomore year of high school. Baby's first 'ship, and I still love them to death and will defend their odd Force-ly love to anybody who tries to pair up Obi-Wan to with That-Old-Hippie-Qui-Gon and Stupidhead!Anakin.
80: Nightwish
I like a couple of their songs, especially "Over the Hills and Far Away." Not too fond of the vocalist, but when you're looking for melodic metal you can't be too choosy.
90: Penny Arcade
Penny Arcade is really funny sometimes. Most of the time they're just kind of "meh" but occasionally they really hit the spot. One day, I'll go to PAX. One day...
100: Sangokushi Taisen
Most of you familiar with my blog will not need to know the background of why this is on my LJ interests list. (I am also, incidentally, still the only person on LJ who has this listed.) I was obsessed with this game while I was in Japan, and now my cards are just sitting around looking very sad. *sniffles* And I'm glad I have nothing to remind of my record, cause then I'll be sadder.
110: Shen Diao Xia Lu
Still my favorite of the famous Jin Yong trilogy. Yang Guo and Xiao Long Nu are probably my het OTP, and if anybody tries to split them apart there will be hellfire. Romance and lots of awesome swordfights. :D Yeah!
120: Squaresoft
Should've changed this to Squeenix already, but when Square was Square, they made some damn awesome games. Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger are still in the top five. I should remind myself to clear out a couple of entries on my interests list (which I update once in a while) and put "Bioware" in there somewhere.
130: The Princess Bride
One of my favorite novels and movies ever. Can't say anything else, I think it's pretty self-evident.
140: VG Cats
Best video game webcomic of my generation. Consistently more funny than Penny Arcade, VG Cats has a whole shitload of awesome and hilarious moments. I don't read webcomics very much, but I do read VG Cats.
150: Yuri
I like yuri too. If only there were more interesting characters to yuri together. I've met a couple of Three Kingdoms yuri fans, and I really have to hold back not to laugh in their faces. Women?! There were no women in Ancient China.
Moving is officially happening on the 13th. :D Yay! Haven't had much time to blog these past couple of days, once again mostly because I'm video gaming (read: Shin Sangoku Musou) and running around town getting various small errands done like shopping for clothes and getting new glasses. I'm also thinking of trying contacts, since it's such a pain in the ass to have to take off my glasses and stow them somewhere for cosplay pictures at every con.
I know that 'cosplay' being the number one reason for me getting contacts is incredibly silly and stupid...but that's just how it goes. Cause seriously, Xiahou Dun walking around Anime Expo with an eyepatch and glasses? Hells no. I value my (monocular) vision. At least if I'm going blind in one eye I ought to be able to see in the other one. (I've learned my lesson from Legato at Otakon 2003. Christ, that sucked.)
About time I stuck some nice pieces of plastic in my eye. That is, if my eyes don't rebel against me, which they probably will. -_-;; I can barely even put eyedrops in my eyes because they tear up at anything that gets close to them. :D Contacts will be a grand adventure.
Skuld vs. Skuld's eyes. And I think my eyes are going to win the first 20 rounds or so. GRRRRR.
On the bright side, new frames for glasses are absolutely adorable, so I have something to fall back on should my eyes actually come out permanently on top. Will have pictures on Friday or Saturday when they come back to the lab.
'till then, I'm all Shin Sangoku Musou'd out. Could always go through more Musou Modes, could always get more rare items, orbs, and saddles, or I could finally start playing my 18+ plus version of Gakuen Heaven, unlock some more characters from Grand Battle 3 (Fighting for One Piece is finally out...I think I'll get it once I get to LA, along with the Sangoku Musou Moushouden expansion), or swoon over Seki Toshihiko's voice in Meine Liebe.
God, I play such trashy games. Should get around to downloading that Fallout 2 I've been meaning to for so long. >_>
Back from Vegas! Got both very lucky and very unlucky this time round. I ended up losing a total of $20, which is sad because at highest point I think it was around +$50. Stupid blackjack. I blame Omi.
Managed to sweet talk my way to a Bally's Grand Suite too, since they ran out of two bed non-smoking rooms by the time we got there. :D Suites in four star hotels are the win.
Saw KA, KA was amazing. More story and less the usual amazing Cirque du Soleil acrobatics, but the stage effects were well worth the $125 I paid.
Going to crash now, cause I'm dead and tired and still pretty piss po'.
It's rare that I get the chance to plan my own things while on vacation.
Vegas for the weekend, baby! ^_^ Too bad I have to go with the parents...and not with all my buddies. .-. *sigh* Best wait 'till everybody's 21 anyways. *eyes Charm*
Anyways, I am full of joy becaues tickets were open on Sunday night for Cirque du Soleil's newest show, KA. :D YAAAAY!
(Too bad O is sold out, but if I make it on time on Saturday night, I might try to catch some standby seats. ^_^)
Wish me luck at the poker tables! :3
I'm amused by the fact that I'm sitting at home comfortably prattling on about Shin Sangoku Musou 4 when the aftermath of the entire Hurricane Katrina disaster is going on in Nawlins. I absolutely love how insulated society has made me from horrible diasters like 9/11 and Katrina. Sure, I can stare in horror at the television (like a good little American is supposed to do) but no classes were canceled at MIT for 9/11 and all I cared about was finishing my problem set then, just like how all I care about now is finishing Liu Bei's musou mode, and then moving onto a few Wu ones.
I can still talk to others and be like, "Oh, everybody in New Orleans, such a pity," but I don't think I really feel it. Kind of like how I didn't feel the tsunami, cause hell, nobody at school talked or cared about that either.
My parents and I are going to Las Vegas this weekend for Labor Day (so call my cell if you need me), now that I'm finally over 21 and hauling my ass down there I can gamble (w00t for poker and blackjack tables) and drink and generally have a good time because I know that like all things American, the government is fucking shit up and people are dying.
I love that shoot-to-kill order for the looters. Good idea, America, bring back soldiers for CROWD CONTROL. Good way for innocent people to get shot, don't you think?
Nice to know things are still the same around the good old USA.
I just spent the better part of an hour trying and failing with Xiahou Dun to get the Shadow Orb. *dead* Wu Zhang Plains, the hardest battle, on hard mode, with an almost maxed out character = LOSE! At least I didn't get killed. My stupid troops were pussies, I blame them.
So I tried again with Cao Cao and it worked. Now I am happy with el Shadow Orb which lets me do instant kills on characters. WINS!
But as they say in Battlestar Galactica there is always a price to be paid--in blood. I got bitten FOUR TIMES by the same mosquito during the game. The two my legs have already swollen to the size of quarters.
AUUUUUGH! *bangs head against wall*
