December 2005 Archives

Happy New Year, everybody. Suddenly the year 2006 is upon us. :3 I'd write a long recap of what happened this year, but interestingly I don't think I have that much to talk about. Probably because my memory of 2005 is kind of fuzzy. *laughs*

Awesome things about 2005:

- Got to chill around with Roni a lot
- Had the best roommate experience of my life with Destra and Malima
- Got drunk a lot
- Had an amazingly fun relationship with the Mel-mel. :3
- Hooked up with Kakashi-sensei
- Lurked around 4chan
- Discovered Tally Hall
- Went to the Final Fantasy: Dear Friends Concert (and almost cried during Terra's Theme! ^_^)
- Played videogames until I dropped (KotOR, Gungrave: OD, Dynasty Warriors, Sangokushi Taisen)
- Graduated from MIT
- Got looted by Cocoa
- Went to Japan, where I got to hang out with Jo, Rhole, Eike, Prism, and Mel
- Bought a lot of doujinshi, karaoked my soul out, and gaijin smashed my way through Japan
- Got my soul crushed in graduate school
- Got addicted to Initial D
- Went snowboarding and came back with bruises
- Made friends with two awesome roommates (Evan and Andy)

Of course, there's been bad things happening in 2005, but most of them I've probably already forgotten, since I tend to forget the bad things and only remember the good. *laughs*

Lots of great things happened, and I am so proud of the memories I've made this year and the people I've had good times with! If any of you are ever in the Southern California area, look me up! :D Let's hang out! ^_^

;___; *sigh* It's been a long time since I've cried during a movie. Or really just seen a movie that was so good I cried. It's been a good couple of years, if not more.

I wish there were more gay gay movies instead of tragic gay movies out there. Oh well, you learn more from what you lose than from what you already have.

Off to gorge myself on fanfiction in order to fill the void in my little gay soul.

EDIT: You know, I thought I'd seen Jake Gyllenhaal in a movie before, but I just couldn't place it. DUH, Skuld. *smacks forehead* Now I want to see Donnie Darko again. ^____^ Yaaay creepy Fred.

I'm not sure if I'm already one with my inner sociopath or not. But I'm pretty sure the dream of me drifting the Akina downhill in my FD last night is rather indicative of my progress.

Going to see Brokeback Mountain later today. ;____; I'll be sure to bring tissues, cause I know I'm going to end up crying. Worst part is, I already have the ending spoiled for me, on the Harry/Draco LJ Community of all places. Yet one more reason I hate LJ.

I fought with my eyes for about 45 minutes (why is my own body always the most brutal to me?), but as a reward I have my contacts in, finally. :3 Hey, I could kind of get used to this contact lens thing. Too bad I just plain look better with my glasses. Oh well, if my vision during cosplay demands contact lenses, then contacts it will be. :3

I'm getting new glasses soon, which I will probably wear most of the time due to massive laziness. But I suppose if it's a nice day and I don't feel like wearing my glasses, I'll put my contacts in. :3 Fwee!

Step 1 one Xiahou Dun cosplay, GET!

Ah, simple joys.

I need help braking, I really do. =___=;; I take the hairpins at Irohazaka much too quickly for my own good. *must brake must brake must brake*

That said, I beat Seiji (haha, he got bitchslapped by Kyouichi for losing to me! :3), and wasn't lagging too far behind Kyouichi until I fucked up. *bangs head against wall*

Anyways...almost beat this other guy I was racing against at Irohazaka today. Fucked upon the last couple of hairpins (god, they're tight) and couldn't take him there, so came in just a smidgeon right behind him. >( Darn.

Oh well. :3 I have my Initial D fix, even though I'm $6 down the hole. (Can you believe it's $1 per play? UGH! I can't wait until I get back to the Westwood Arcade.)

I spent my entire afternoon in gastrointestinal distress.

I hate it when my own body parts hate me. :(

I think it's still threatening me with pain and unhappiness.

Jumping on the meme bandwagon again. :3 This one's from Etrangere.

Tell me of a fandom you know I like and I'll tell you :

1. The first character I first fell in love with
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't
4. The character I love that everyone else hates
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer
6. The character I would shag anytime
7. The character I'd want to be like
8. The character I'd slap
9. A pairing that I love
10. A pairing that I despise

I've spent my entire day playing Soul Calibur 3 and getting caught up with Death Note. :3 Not sure if that's a day well spent or not. *laughs* Maybe I'll read some Quicksilver tonight, so I can actually say that I've done something productive.

Anyways...I now ramble about Death Note.

I'm still kind of lukewarm about it which kind of annoys me. What has always kind of bugged me about mysteries is the whole deus ex machina quality of it all. I ignored it at first because Death Note was well set up, but now it's really I something obvious. It's really easy to see how much of a coincidence occurs in the storyline. I think I was always able to ignore it before because there was something pretty homosexual about L and Raito being chained together. :p

Then L died, and Death Note kind of went down into the toilet. =___= It seems they've finally got it into their heads (after almost a year of sucking) that what made Death Note great was the unresolved (sexual) tension between L and Raito. That's what drove Death Note, and they lost the sense of that one-on-one "it's personal" sort of rivalry when L died. They've recently tried to revive it with Near, but if they're just going to rehash what they did before...why bother killing L in the first place? :/ Now instead of L you've got some little kid who is obviously not having any sexual tension at all with Raito (you've killed the gay, you fuckers!) and the only gay vibes I'm getting are from fugly!Mello (never liked him) and his boytoy, Mat.

:( Death Note should stop sucking. They're on volume 10 already, maybe they should just end it. While I do acknowledge that "this is the manga that never ends" thing is quite in vogue at the moment (*points to One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach*) I do sometimes like closures in my storylines. :( That points us all to the reason why Skuld chose to catch up with Death Note instead of Naruto or Bleach:

To see Raito get tooled. To watch Misa as she drops dead. To see L descend from the heavens and point (BANG!) and laugh. :p

I think I need to go back to reading One Piece.

Not much in the way for swag for me for Christmas sadly, but what little swag I will/do have is nice and useful.

First off, my mother has promised me her sewing machine so I don't have to freak out anymore when I do my Xiahou Dun costume. (Yup, still committed to doing it as much as it is going to suck.)

Second, my sister sent me a nice fleece jacket. :3 Perfect color for UCLA, and perfect for the LA winter months. XD

Last, since GT4 doesn't work on my PS2 (it didn't work on another friend's too), I found myself GT3 and finally broke down and got Soul Calibur III. I figure I'm not buying another game until Kingdom Hearts 2 comes out, so SCIII is a good investment. :3

And after a couple hours of GT3...dammit...I learned driving on the Initial D physics engine and now the GT one is hard. Goddammit.

I also failed at finding an Initial D machine in the Gateway Mall today, which made me super sad. ;_____; I need my pretty FD, or I'm gonna splode.

Moment of LOL

Today's Moment of LOL happened when I was watching Advent Children with Crystal:

--Sephiroth/Cloud fight scene--

Sephiroth: Oh, what made you stronger?
Crystal: :D ANGST!

My imouto is awesome. XD

We also managed to squeeze in Wallace and Gromit's Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which was so cute. :3 Bunnies! ~<3

OW OW OW OW. ;____;

This snowboarding thing is not cooperating with me. =___=;;

I'll be lucky if I can even roll out of bed tomorrow. :( Both of my knees and my asscheeks are bruised.

On that note,

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY

And too all a good night of mansex.

This just in:
I am going snowboarding on Christmas Eve. :3

I guess since GT4 hates me (ie: Sony is an evil, evil company who has preprogrammed my PS2 to splode) and I can't go get my downhill drift on, riding on Takumi is better than naught.

Let it never be said that Skuld's life doesn't hate her, cause it really does.

Got Gran Turismo 4 from Omi today.
My PS2 reads the disc, but not as a PS/PS2 compatible disc. The label says it's NTSC-U/C but there's something wrong. I get the evil red cloudy screen that says "Please insert a Playstation or Playstation 2 format disc."

WHAT THE FUCK.

It looks official cause it has the PS2 hologram on the disc and everything on it...so what the hell is going other than my life hating me?

*starts crying*

I want my GT4 goodness. What did I do to deserve this?! ;___; *waaaaaaaah*

I need some racing goodness before my head explodes. .___.

EDIT: I think I've figured out the problem. The US GT4 version is a dual layer disc, and even though my PS2 is V9, it's having trouble reading it. Not exactly sure why. I need somebody else's PS2 so I can see if it works on theirs. Anyways, the only thing I can think of is that my PS2's been knocked around a bit coming home with me every Christmas, so it's unhappy with dual layer discs.

Which then makes me the saddest person on earth. Moreso because I thought I was going to get my Initial D on today at the movie theatre, but the movie trip got cancelled.

Maybe I should just go to sleep now and call it a day. .____.

Some days I really hates the internet, precious.

The Kingdom Hearts 2 Ending is up for download already. And I am banging my head against the wall and digging my nails into my palms to keep from clicking on it, downloading it, and spoiling myself silly. (Where did I put myself self-control? I hope it isn't in the dirty sock basket.)

I'm already reading the script to Chain of Memories, that's bad enough. (OMG, I need to play through it cause I want Riku's Reverse Rebirth mode. ;____; I wish somebody had told me, "Dude, Skuld you can play as Riku," cause then I would've been on that shit faster than anybody else out there. AUUUGGGH! I've missed out! Must remedy this situation!)

GAAAAHHHH! MUST. NOT. SPOIL. SELF.

I'll make myself feel better by downloading Deep Dive. Yes, that'll make me feel better. Let's just hope that I don't accidentally click on the KH2 ending by mistake.

and before I leave you, just let me say...

SORA/RIKU is the ONE TRUE PAIRING!
that's right, y'all.

EDIT: After reading Chain of Memories...OMG RIKU YOU ARE SO AWESOME *lovelovelove*

We know today that the world is all right.

I am ridiculously sore from snowboarding yesterday (a plight which contrary to Omi's advice, a 400mg of ibuprofen did not fix).

I still want Kingdom Hearts 2.

Initial D is still gay. (Okay, when two middle-aged men call each other "Jou-chan" and "Kou-chan" something kind of homosexual is obviously going on.)

...and I think I might be going snowboarding again tomorrow. Ummm...we'll see how I feel tonight. Maybe I'll put it off until Friday cause...yeah.

OW! Walking, moving, and laughing hurts. I have no idea what my shoulder is killing me more than my ass is, but that is life for you.

Oh, and RiidiWW, I got your card today. ^_^ ~<3 Next time I go to Japan I'll see about getting a replacement Luffy for you. Or a Shanks or something. :3

Kingdom Hearts II is now out in Japan and I haven't even bothered to finish playing Chain of Memories. Gotta work on that. =___=;;

Anyhoos...

I'm debating whether or not to play KH2 in English or in Japanese. I've never played an RPG in Japanese before, and while my Japanese speaking and listening skillz are good enough to watch Initial D, but I'm not sure how they would fare against an actual RPG with more story. O___o;; The upside to playing KH2 in Japanese is hearing Cloud's seiyuu again, as well as all the Japanese seiyuu for all the Final Fantasy/Square stuff.

...but since Kingdom Hearts is also part Disney, I do want to hear all the Disney voice actors again. And thusly I'm totally torn between the Japanese and the English versions. I wonder who they're going to get to play Jack Sparrow, Elizabeth, and Will Turner, cause I'd be damned surprised if they got Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly, and Orlando Bloom.

Apparently Famitsu has also given KH2 a score of 39/40 which is ridiculously high. O___O I want it now! ;____;

GGAAAAHHH! Which version to play? Which version to play?! *bangs head against wall* Maybe both, if I have the money. ;____;

One of the things that has bugged me the most about LJ these past couple of days is that they've made their feeds slower, at least from my blog. I used to get a feed updated every 4-6 hours, and now it seems like the lag is something close to 12 hours. What the fuck, LJ?

They're just evil bastards trying to make everybody get LJs. :( Screw you.

Anyways, you have the following four choices as to what this entry is really about:

a) Initial D
b) t3h gay
c) shaking my fist at LiveJournal
d) all of the above

If you guessed anything but D (hyuk hyuk hyuk :D), you really don't know me well enough. Scroll down and keep reading.

Anyways...almost all caught up with Initial D. Just have the most recently released episodes to watch (21 and 22) and then I've watched everything but the Live Action movie, Extra Stage, and Battle Stage (which is about as dark as first stage was for me. Ugh...after the glorious 4th stage how can I go back?!). Guess that means it'll be time for me to work on my awesome cornering skillz at Arcade Stage. :p

Anyways...awesome moments in Initial D Fourth Stage, episodes 19 and 20.

Takumi: We can get a lot of sleep huh?
After having buttsex with Keisuke all day? NO U.

Matsumoto: What the hell is Kenta doing?
I can't be sure, but judging by the bulge in his shorts, I think he's dreaming of Takahashi Keisuke bending him over and taking him rough and hard. Despite being gay as sin, Kenta's still a tool. Enjoy your AIDS.

Takumi: I'm having a disturbing thought regarding Keisuke.
Okay Takumi, I don't know where your brain goes when it's not behind the wheel of your 86, but you don't need to tell us whenever you have a thought about doing nasty things to Keisuke. I'm not interested in anything but videotapes or pictures, got that? /r MOAR!

Did you hear that thump? That was my ass hitting the bunny hill at Solitude. OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW.

The bright side of this entire day was that despite all the pain I did have fun (and was a little jealous of the skiiers who looked more clueful at what they were doing), I did learn a lot about turning and stopping myself on the snowboard, which is much better than I managed last year. :3 Huzzah! Still can't really control my speed or my aim very well, as I have troubles shifting my weight. =___=;; Unfortunately, naming my snowboard "Takumi" didn't help that much in terms me being able to steer myself.

Obviously, Takumi just needs to get to know me better. :p

Hitting the slopes (hopefully not just the bunny hill this time) again on Thursday!

Dude, why do all the awesome hacks happen when I'm gone from MIT? :( ARGH! My life sucks.

Anyways, this winter apparently MIT decided that it wanted to be retro and take us all back into the world of platformers.

ie: the infinite was turned into a Mario stage. Curses! I would've totally jumped that chasm!

Anyways, if you don't see me around tomorrow, I will most likely be found snowboarding on the Snowbird slopes. Or rather, trying to snowboard on the bunny hill and ending up face-planting myself in the snow.

JOY~!

The more I watch Initial D, the more I realize how incredibly straight unfriendly it is. I'm waiting for the moment of epiphany when all the characters realize that if they want to get it on, they're just going to have to have a massive orgy. Or at least...you know, hook up with each other.

Het Couple #1: Takumi/Natsuki
First, Natsuki was involved in an enjo kousai, and that tore Takumi up a bit. Then they graduated, she left for Tokyo, and it seems they haven't really been keeping in touch with each other since. Takumi thinks of her from time but his mind is obviously elsewhere.

Het Couple #2: Iketani/Mako
There was a short stint involved with Iketani and Mako, the driver of Impact Blue. Obviously, Mako has mad skillz and Iketani has no skillz. Being of the man sort, he got all caught up in the fact that Mako idolizes Takahashi Ryosuke, and didn't make it in time to meet with her the night she promised him her virginity. He really hasn't seen her since. Iketani loses.

Het Couple #3: Kyoko/Keisuke
Kyoko drives a black single-turbo FD. Keisuke drives a yellow twin turbo FD. Kyoko loves Keisuke, because he loves cars too. Too bad Keisuke isn't interested in her at all, probably because she's a silly bint who refers to him only as "darling." He ignores her. He tells her to go away. He ignores her some more. That's about it. OH SNAP.

Het Couple #4: Itsuki/Kazumi
Kazumi expresses an interest in the comedic relief of the show, but much to Itsuki's misfortune, when push comes to shove, Kazumi chooses an older salaryman over the likes of Takumi's best friend. Itsuki is of course, brokenhearted and goes back to being "Lonely Driver Itsuki."

Given that those are pretty much the only het pairings in Initial D, and they all end up in failure. What else is Initial D trying to tell us other than we should all be driving Hachi-Roku's with Fujiwara Tofu Ten painted on them? It's telling us that being gay is the way.

Observe:

Yaoi Solution #1: Keisuke/Takumi(/Ryosuke?)
Being rivals, the best way for them to get out their frustration is in bed. What better way for your opponent's skills to rub off on you than doing the horizontal tango together? Bonus points if you can get Ryosuke to join in, cause he's sure as hell got more up his sleeve than just drifting advice. In that simulation, everybody wins!

Yaoi Solution #2: Kenji/Iketani
Hey Iketani, you know how Kenji hangs around the gas station all the time? You know how he always comes to see you? You know how he doesn't mind riding in the passenger side when you drive? It means he wants you. Need proof that Kenji swings that way? Just ask about that one time Kenji and Itsuki went down the waterslide at the water park together. That wasn't just a pen, that was a penis. Get a clue and get some ass.

Yaoi Solution #3: Ryosuke/Keisuke(/Takumi?)
Keisuke's kind of a dim bulb compared to his brother. But it's a good thing, cause I'd rather Ryosuke be my doctor that his little bro. If you want to improve your driving, Keisuke, why don't you try out-driving your brother first? Bonus points if you can get Takumi to join in! Two for one, baby!

Yaoi Solution #4: Itsuki/???
Okay Itsuki, I gotta say, I can't picture you with any guy at all, because then my head would explode. You might not want to shoot too high and go for somebody equally unattractive as you...Iwaki Seiji comes to mind, but I'm sure he's already Kyouichi's bitch. Better luck next time.

Ideal Yaoi Couple: Nakazato/Shingo
The two Night Kids have really got it going on, and it shows. They have a wonderfully stable relationship which they try to conceal by not standing too close to each other in the galleries, but come on. The fact they always arrive places together is more than enough evidence to know that when the race is done, one of their cars (most likely the R32, since it's a little spacier in the backseat than the Civic) will be shaking vigorously and steaming up. Just make sure you keep that air freshener around and check your car's suspension afterwards.

Now if that doesn't convince you guys to watch/play/read Initial D, I'm all outta ideas, man.

EDIT: To the person who came to my blog looking for "Initial D yaoi" you can find some right here and here, courtesy of yours truly.

EDIT #2: If you look up yaoi on Wikipedia in the external links section, you'll find a newspaper article I appeared in from the Boston Globe. It's days like this that I really regret not pursuing a Ph.D in cultural anthropology so I could become one of the academic voices on all things slash and yaoi. Curses. This means I'll have to get two Ph.Ds.

Bored at 3am.

So I decided to visit some old haunts that never update...like The Best Page in the Universe. Which has the best articles in the universe that I can still laugh at after three years.

Such as:

- How to Kill Yourself Like A Man (if any of you pussies ever kill yourself in an unmanly way, don't blame me, I pointed you to the best information.) This things puts a whole new spin on the EAT SHIT BEANS AND DIE that I like to say when I frequent /b. Or just hang around people I hate? Still bitter? Why yes, friend.

- Bill O'Reilly is a big blubbering vagina

- The Matrix: Reloaded was shitty. (Except for the possibility of twincest.)

and one of my classic favorites: Maddox will kick your ass. Too bad I'm in Utah, Maddox is in Utah, but nobody whose ass I want to kick is in Utah.

Being inflammatory and insensitive is one of my favorite pastimes.

The internet speaks truth. Look at all the remarkable facts it dug up about Chuck Norris.

HOLY #$&~!!

Kenta/Keisuke? Okay, I always figured that Kenta's fannish adoration of Keisuke was a little sketchy...but DUDE. I never figured they'd drop that many hints.

I wonder what sort of wrench this throws into my love of Keisuke/Takumi. I'd be tooting the horn of OT3 if it weren't for the fact that I still think Kenta's a tool. :(

Anyways, went shopping with Mom all day today. I've been trying to find some nice calf-length lace up boots, but they seem to have gone out of style lately so I can't find them at all. *annoyed* Finally managed to find some at the Aldo store. They're really nicely made and very comfortable, so I'm satisfied.

I also picked up some skate shoes and a nice pair of flipflops at Mervyn's too. The skate shoes remind me a bit of the sneakers that Takumi wears in 4th Stage, so I think that's why I liked them so much. :3 Usually not what I'd pick out for myself to wear, but they happened to actually be the most comfortable pair there, and every time I look down I'll think of Takumi. ^___^

And apparently, there's somebody in Japan who has apparently gone around all the courses in Initial D (Myogi, Usui, Akagi, Irohazaka, Akina/Haruna, Shoumaru) and taken pictures of specific corners in specific pages of the manga. Dude, Japanese otaku are win! And is that a picture of the Fujiwara Tofu Shop along with Ryosuke's white FC on the top page? It is! It is!

Check out Usui's C-121 curve of doom! :p I have a goal now for when I next go to Japan. XD Drive all them Initial D courses. :p In my Takumi shoes! *melts into crazy*

I'm a such a horrible person, but I think that in general applies to all /b-tards.

I LOL'd anyway.

Hopefully the bad /b-tard phase of my existence ends soon...but it's unlikely to. Some people need to take themselves less seriously. I for one, can look back at every single aspect of myself, and laugh.

The Prince of Darkness is a tool.

That is all for now.

Back at home. :3 I'm surprised at how much I've missed it.

Hanging out with Omi tonight. Kinda like old times. RAH!

My life these past couple of days has felt like an episode of The Twilight Zone crossed with a bad sitcom crossed with a soap opera.

Shit is weird. Hopefully I'll get a break from it during winter vacation, I really need it. Anyways, for those of you who are curious (I'm not at liberty to discuss it on my journal, unfortunately, as I promised the person who told me not to tell anybody), gimme a call after 5pm MST.

This shit is CRAZY.

I beat Ryosuke and Takumi today on the Akina downhill. How awesome is that? Totally awesome, though fate was throwing me a couple of nasty twists during the downhill battle with Takumi.

Time was apparently dissatisfied with my cornering, because I was pulling pretty far ahead of Takumi (about 80-90 meters) but neither of us ever reached the finish line because time ran out. I took a break for some DDR (that arcade has some seriously fucked up pads), and then went back to playing Akina. Then, I beat the clock but failed to beat Takumi. Being thoroughly thwarted by fate, I buckled down and tore down Akina like I have never gone before.

And lo and behold, it was good and I conquered the home course of the legendary hachi-roku. I proceeded onto Seiji on the Irohazaka downhill (couldn't quite take the jumps) and screwed up shifting gears about halfway though and lost. If I hadn't done that, I think I could've beat him the first time. I was turning those tight Irohazaka hairpins like a demon. Until I shifted to second gear by accident.

Oh well, this gives me something to work towards. Going home tomorrow, still need to pack and stuff. :p I'll get to see Charm, Crystal, Omi, and Celes again and that makes me glad. I need some time away from soul-crushing grad school, and time to myself to beat Shadow of the Colossus and finish reading Quicksilver.

And you know...maybe kick some Emperor ass. :p

As a tribute to my old alma mater and videogames, I give you Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked thanks to Henry Jenkins, the best CMS professor that ever there was.

ARGH, I have a final tomorrow I am totally unprepared for. I'm on the brink of failing that class already. (Why am I blogging?)

ARGH, the pr0n challenge Ed gave me is due before midnight tonight, and I have 3400 words and haven't even gotten to the sex yet.

ARGH, I didn't get to play Initial D today and I am absolutely itching to tackle the Akina downhill again.

ARGH, I am going to fail my final tomorrow.

ARGH, have a friends-locked LJ entry.

Today, I got halfway through Akina. :3 For less than a week's worth of work, I personally think that's pretty good. Though I'm going to continue to be in denial over how much money I've actually spent on this game so far. O____o

Today I beat:

Iketani-senpai (uphill) in his S13
Nakazato Takeshi (downhill) in his R-32
and Sudou Kyouichi (uphill) in his LanEvo III

Damn. I feel awesome. I didn't do terribly well on my final today, had to bullshit a lot of one guy's answers, but my wins I managed to pull today make me feel pretty good. Did one run against Takahashi Ryosuke...and I don't to think about how far behind I was there. O___o;; I need to corner Akina better if I want to beat him. :( I need to brake more and turn earlier. I think I'm taking my entrances a little too quickly. I've also finished upgrading my awesome FD to Keisuke's. :3 WIN!

Another final on Wednesday. And I can play Initial D 'til I drop.

I just finally got Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum. :3 Took a good two weeks or so.

Tally Hall is t3h win.

Dear Keisuke,
Chomp on some of my dust. :P Kthxbye.

~Skuld

Beat Keisuke today, and now I have conquered Akagi, and have two whole racer stars. (Out of like...10 or something.) Oh boy, those last ones are going to be hard to get. o_o;; Took me about...uh...7 tries to beat Keisuke today, I think? I started off doing horribly, having no feeling for the corners, no feeling for my car or the steering wheel (Gah! Finals! Why did you fuck me up so?). George gave me some advice (he's the guy who's been teaching me Initial D) and then suddenly everything just clicked. Tailed him twice, and then beat his ass. *jumps with joy*

I have a final exam tomorrow. I'm so fucked. X3

EDIT: Which is why I made a new layout.

For the record, let me just state that I hate Usui. And those goddamn wide turns that no matter what I do, I either narrowly miss the outside or just plough right into it and scrape for a couple of seconds. Obviously I'm still braking too late. AUGH!

But that's okay, I kicked Kenta's lily ass today at the rainy Akagi downhill. Probably took me about 5 or 6 tries, but I did it. :3 In my shiny yellow RX-7 FD with the Red Suns sticker. :D I'm still hitting the wall on the first turn and sometimes on the 3 hairpins (I keep forgetting to shift into 3rd gear). Oh, my poor pretty car. ;____;

Next up: Takahashi Keisuke, and then I have kicked some Akagi ass and can work on Akina. Nakazato, your ass is Shingo's mine!

...and here is where you shake your head because I'm addicted to Initial D. DURING FINALS.

Today I beat:
- Kawai Atsuro on Usui
- Impact Blue on Usui (by .2 meters, literally, inches.)
- Two Guys from Tokyo on Akagi

Not bad for three days of work.

I need to learn to navigate some of those last few hairpins on Akagi better. I can get through the string of the first few, but the last few just throw me off, cause I'm going way faster by then. I need to work on my deceleration when I enter those curves. I don't think I'm at a point where I'm comfortable trying any complicated cornering techniques yet, I'm just working on not plowing into the wall.

Next up: Kenta (what a tool) and then Keisuke on Akagi. Keisuke's going to whoop my ass.

Spent another hour today with the Initial D machine. Met another guy there who was helping me out. Turns out he actually works at the arcade and gave me a couple of free plays in terms of continues and stuff. :3 Just enough to beat Shingo on Myougi and Tohru on Usui. Now working on beating Kawai the other way around Usui.

I've discovered that I'm good at feeling out left corners. If I'm turning left I seem to know instinctively when to downshift, and I'm able to control my turns better. Right turns...I'm completely at a loss. Taking on Usui's C-121 corner confuses the hell out of me. When do I start slowing down? When do I downshift? Argh, why am I suddenly ploughing into the outside wall? =___=;; Thanks, brain. Well, at least you're only half-crappy as opposed to all crappy. I suppose it could be worse. I could just suck at turning in general. :)

The guy today was trying to teach me a feint turning technique at Myogi's Grande Curve, but since it was a right turn I failed miserably a couple of times against Shingo, and just said, "Fuck it, I'm just going to drive like hell." And then I beat him. Which I guess just goes to show that right turns and me don't get along.

Damn brain, why you gotta do shit like that? Maybe I can practice Initial D in my head, like the way I rehearse my Japanese speeches in my dreams.

You know you're obsessed when the highlight of your day is writing Initial D references into your Japanese final exam. :3 Yesiree, I did just that earlier today.

The Japanese final today was ridiculously easy. O_o;; I guess the previous one was too hard (not everybody finished, and I think the average was somewhere around 140/200 points) so I think the teachers overcorrected (like me at certain Usui curves! Hyuk hyuk.) and made it too easy. The reading was so simple I only had to look up two words, and I finished 20 minutes ahead of time, and that was including the five minutes I spent making sure my Initial D sentences were absolutely perfect. :3

Just watched the first episode of first stage this morning. In less than a week I will be at home again, after having finished my first term of grad school. Urgh, it's painful. I'm seriously on my last legs here, I never thought that grad school would be such burnination, even though I'm only taking classes. I wonder if lab next term is going to make it worse. =_=;;

All I have to do is buckle down and study for my two finals, and then I'm home FREE! That might be kind of hard though, considering the fact that there are two Arcade Stage machines a five minute walk away from me. O___O

If it weren't for the fact that I have a meeting with my rotation advisor in half an hour, I'd be down at the arcade right now beating my head against Usui and hating myself for having no skillz (yet). :p

Happy Birthday to Amberlee, my wonderful Mommy. :3

I'm off to my Japanese final, hopefully I don't bomb this one. XD

Google is my god.

It has found me some Nakazato/Shingo (they're so hot for each other. :3 Those crazy Night Kids), and some Ryosuke/Keisuke. Mmm mmm. :3

Cause you know, a dildo in Takumi's butts can only satisfy me for so long. I think Nakazato/Shingo is my new OTP.

EDIT: Here's a fic with a dildo in Nakazato's butts. WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN!

I am the happiest panda in the entire world. I swear I haven't glowed like this since the last nuclear apocalypse. :3

Three wonderful things went totally right for me today:

1) My Japanese presentation went really well. :3 I stayed up until 5am rehearsing and preparing for it, and was even reciting it in my sleep, but I did awesome!

2) The test I thought I kind of bombed (the one where I stressed out about Ben, right before Thanksgiving) actually went well. :3 A little under 90% which is right where I usually am.

3) The arcade two blocks away from me in Westwood has two Initial D Arcade Stage V.3 machines. :3 I now have a car (I'm driving Keisuke's RX-7), and an Initial D card...and there was this really nice guy there on the machines teaching me all the basics and telling me when to upshift and downshift and which side of the road I should be sticking to in order to turn.

^_________^

*happy happy happy happy happy*

They have two DDR Extreme machines at that place...but dude. Who cares. I have a new money drain, and it's called Initial D. :p

The cable was out at the house this morning, so I really hope it's up again by the time I get home (currently on campus doing the daily blog and e-mail rounds). =___=;; The quarter is almost over. I just have to hold on for a bit and then I can go home for almost three weeks, throw down my shit and do whatever the fuck I want. Life is will be so good next week once everything is over.

Gotta jump over some humps first though:

- 5 minute Japanese presentation
- Japanese final exam (this thursday)
- Neurobio final
- Neurophys final

and then I'm FREE~! ~<3

Anyways, for those trivia freaks, one of my friends runs an LJ trivia thing every Tuesday. There's been like...the same 10 people playing for forever, so I'm here to recruit some fresh blood.

Here's the latest round of Trivia Tuesday.

And remember, no cheating. That means no looking shit up, no calling people, and whatnot. :( This is all coming from your head. Don't feel bad if you can only answer a few questions, I'm usually not that great anyway. X3

EDIT: Internet is alive at home again. And guess which doujinshi I am now the proud owner of? If you guessed this doujinshi then you are 100% correct. :3

Initial D yaoi for the win! X3

Dear Life,
I got dust looped twice today, and thusly I am a sad panda despite coming home with a GUN T-shirt. :( I really wish I had fighting game skillz.

Sol can go and suck my Ky's balls.

Yours Truly,
The Skulders

PS. Thank you very much for letting me not take a Venom Red Ball of Doom to the face.

PPS. Some body go and kick Ishiwatari Daisuke's ass to go make Guilty Gear XXX with secret Sol/Ky and Venom/Zato sex scenes.

PPPS. I now want Soul Calibur III so I can make a custom character of me.

PPPPS. Coming home to this makes up for all the dust loops I've ever eaten. (She is one of the two cosplayers I'm all fangirly-melty over.)

I am now a happy panda. Now if only Nanaki's Xiahou Dun would post...
:3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~0 *dreamy sigh*

'Tis the season to shut the fuck up and stop being a whiny little bitch!

Finished Initial D Second Stage. :3 I managed to watch almost all of it just in Japanese and understand what was going on. (Yay! All my hard work in class is paying off. :3) Just had to go through some of the plot details in the dub, cause I couldn't understand some of the technical terms in Japanese. =_=;; Hell, I didn't even understand most of the technical stuff in English.

Initial D: The pin that connected the crank shaft and the con rods snapped and the con rod managed to punch a hole in the engine block from the inside...

Skuld's translation: Engine is broke. :D :D :D

I almost cried when Takumi did. His poor hachi-roku!!!! Its engine sploded! ;________; I can't believe Initial D almost made me cry. ¬_¬ I'm so glad nobody was watching, or I'd never live it down. ;_;

Thankfully no real tears were shed. NO REAL TEARS, I tell you. But in my little heart of hearts I cried for the expired hachi-roku and how well it was doing against Kyouichi's Lancer Evolution III.

Now I just have to find an arcade somewhere that has Initial D. And maybe somebody to teach me how this drifting thing actually works... ^^;;;

EDIT: Now I'm confused. Some sources tell me you actually don't drift in Initial D arcade stage, all you can do is futz around with the deceleration, braking, and turning to control your enter/turn/exit during corners, and another source tells me that yes, you do drift.

I need to find some Initial D homies, who I can watch at arcades and figure out what the fuck is going on. >_< *pokes Omi* Wanna be my Initial D buddy over Christmas break? :D :D :D :D :D

U
C
L
A

UCLA, fight fight fight! :3

Today's the UCLA vs. USC game. We're going to get creamed, but I hope we put up a good fight anyway. X3

EDIT: That was horrendously shaming. Didn't we only lose by 4 points last year? =_=;;

And yeah...the football party at Jose's place was horrendously awkward at moments because Ben showed up. He didn't even say a word to me even when I asked why his Corona didn't have a lime in it. :/ Good thing there were about 15 people there, so I didn't have to make conversation with him if I didn't want to.

Those of you who want Christmas cards, please see the following LJ post.

:3

Also, after watching Initial D I started hankering for some Initial D, and I stumbled upon this wonderful description of a doujinshi somebody was selling:

This is a extremely graphical Ryousuke , Keisuke and Takumi doujinshi. Takumi is asked to have sex by Keisuke. Takumi denies having yaoi plays. Keisuke shows a big dildo to Takumi. It reallly attracts Takumi's sexual desires. He requests Keisuke to put the dildo into his butts. Keisuke puts his thing into Takumi even though Takumi is still being inserted the dildo in his butts. Takumi is very stunned because Ryousuke has taken all the yaoi scenes with Keisuke in video tape. Ryousuke watches the video tape with Takumi. The both boys get very horny. They start having yaoi pleasures.

Well...I'm sold. X3