I HAVE INTERNET AGAIN. \o/!!!!!!

My computer is wiped cleaaaan, so weird. It also has all these programs on it that I don't really want, so I need to go through and uninstall those. I downloaded Avast! first thing since I don't want that to happen again, and... yeah. I'm running Google Chrome as a browser right now since that's what it came with, and it's weird. Will probably have to get Firefox soon since I don't think Chrome supports LJ Login, fff.

But yes, I should be around from now on, whew. This is going to feel really weird until I have all of my stuff back. BAW, POOR LAPTOP, YOU GOT GUTTED. :(

Days update: The bosses are kind of annoying, aren't they? I ended up giving up on beating the Halloween Town one last night. I know how to do it, it's just a matter of having patience. But I'm on Day 257 or something so I've been making progress.

Now to go catch up on everything and work on an essay, boo. But I have the day off tomorrow so that's fun!

Oh, and Heroes last night was loooovely. I'm so psyched for next week! And I have to pimp this gif from last night just 'cause I can.

( Sort of spoilers? But it's kind of worth looking. )

Update about the whole internet situation. I ended up coming home this weekend since I needed to find my start-up disc (which I did, to my immense relief) and then back up all of my stuff with the help of evildrew's external hard drive. (Thanks again for that, Andrew!)

So tonight I'll go back on the train and then I'll take my computer in tomorrow and it'll hopefully be all reformatted by Tuesday. Then I should be around a lot more. I'm glad this seems to be working out, since I was beyond frustrated about it for a while.

Anyway, here's a meme that I was tagged for by lady_angelina:

FIRST: If you've been tagged, you must write your answers in your own LJ and replace any question that you dislike with a new, original question.
SECOND: Tag eight sexy people. Don't refuse to do that like a pansy.

( snip snip. )

I apologize if I tag someone who's already been tagged: bondofflame, continuum, endless_abyss, evildrew, famira, nest, otakara, and wyna_hiros, you're up!

Having to read 211 pages in one day for school fucking sucks. Oh my god, at the end there I just felt like my eyes were going to close on me while my brain turned to mush.

At least I have internet back. Yeah, it was down since like Friday or Saturday and I had to shell out $40 for a wireless adapter to get it working again, and of course the connection is crap, but it's better than nothing. (Oh, and my laptop bluescreened earlier on top of it all. THANKS A LOT.)

I just want to... sleep. For a long, long time. But I should read this four page thing before, and AUUUUUUUGH I have a ton of reading tomorrow, too. Not as much, but like... 77 + 14 + 15(?) + 21 = 127 FUCK ME FUCKKKKKKKKKK and I have to go through and read some stuff for that literary magazine thing and I KNOW I'M JUST WHINING BUT THIS FUCKING SUCKS. That 77 is for Oedipus Rex, though, which I've read at least twice before not to mention it's quick reading, but wow, the fact that I'm even making words on a screen after looking at so much typed text is kind of making me want to just... die.

Well, exaggerating, but fuck I need this weekend already. I WANT SUSHI AND UMMMMMMMMM okay going to stop before I get any more incoherent. BYEEEEEEE.

Okay, a real update! I'm making one.

School has been going fine, which is partly because I'm only taking 12 units, so my workload is generally manageable. Sometimes the reading gets heavy, but there are also some times when it's pretty light, so it's been good so far. I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune when my papers are due, but that's kind of the norm, so.

I've been trying to get involved in other stuff that will help boost my resumé (that doesn't... actually exist yet, OOPS). First off is that study abroad internship I mentioned. In fact, I have to leave to go do my "office hour" in 25 minutes or so. That part is just chilling in the office one hour a week and answering questions for anyone who walks in. I also have to do other stuff, such as giving presentations, participating in a photo contest, etc. It's pretty chill, though, so that's nice.

Secondly, I turned in an application to my college newspaper to work as a copy editor next quarter. I'm really hoping I get that since the hours aren't too bad and it actually pays. *__* In fact, I should email them and make sure my app made it into the right hands.

Lastly, I'm an editor for a literary magazine that my major is putting out. At this point all it involves is reading over the submissions every week (poems, stories, etc.) and grading them. It's actually kind of fun, though that might be because I'm used to doing this sort of thing due to reading damned apps, ffff.

Speaking of which, I've read almost all of those, so now I'm going to attempt to power-play through Days so I can read those four apps. I'm not sure how well this plan will work, but it's worth a shot, right?

Oh, right, and I had my birthday! On the actual day I had a lot of class, but still made it out for some Italian food and was surprised when some of my friends who I went to Japan with were there as well. It was really sweet of them to come. Then I returned to the apartment and ate delicious German chocolate cake. The following Sunday my parents, my brother, and my brother's boyfriend came up and we went out to lunch with some of my friends, so that was nice. Oh, and Erin was up here all last weekend and we had a great time. We went to a lemon festival, saw Zombieland (which we both loved), played Arkham Asylum, and watched Heroes together on Monday night before she left.

My haul:
- $200, half from my mom and half from my dad
- Hat, scarf, and Halloween candy from my mom
- Two years of paid LJ time and 1 year of extra userpics from my brother
- Friendship bracelet from one of my friends who I went to Japan with
- Half of the price for the Heroes doujinshi I bought was paid for by Erin, plus she came up to see me

I think that's it. I'm probably going to use some of the money I got to pay for y-con, since yes, I'm finally going! Only for a day (Saturday, AKA Halloween), but I'll also be chilling in San Francisco for the weekend, which I'm really looking forward to. But yeah. ANYONE GOING TO Y-CON? Zalia, I know you are, at least! We should meet up. Erin's going too. ♥

All right, so a week or so ago I did something very stupid. I SOMEHOW MANAGED TO DELETE MY BUDDY LIST. Or, well, I deleted my main "Buddies" group. The "Damned" group is intact, but a lot of Damned people still got deleted because they were in "Buddies" even though they're part of damned because I knew them before Damned existed, or I just placed them in the wrong place by accident, etc. etc.

The point is...

Please leave your AIM screen name for me in a comment!

If you want to be on my buddy list, that is. If not, take this as a way to get away from me. 8(

You might not need to respond if you're a player at Damned, but on the other hand, you might. FFFF I FAIL AT BUDDY LIST ORGANIZATION. Umm, if you want to be safe, then go ahead and do it anyway.

Also, if we never exchanged SNs in the first place and want me to have yours, also feel free to respond, of course. Anyway, I'm so sorry for the huge inconvenience. Feel free to throw tomatoes at me.

Comments are screened, of course.

In other news, I'm struggling to get a fourth class because of the budget cuts and it's driving me a little batty. I just want into this Social Psych class, is that so hard? Fuck the fire marshal and his insistence that you can only pack so many college kids into one room.

As was mentioned last entry, I did go to the beach! It was great and made me wonder why I don't do it more often. I think we might go again next Sunday, and I'm going to try and go while I'm in Santa Barbara as well. But yes, I went with my mom and my brother. My brother and I swam out pretty far and just treaded water and floated and gawked at the fire cloud in the distance. (California, why must you always burn? D:) I also laid around on the sand and read a bit and slept. All in all, very relaxing! I love the ocean.

I was reading Catch-22. I actually read it once when in middle school, but I barely remember it. I doubt I understood much of it at the time, but I do recall liking it despite that. And it seems good so far! I want to keep on chipping away at it while I can (by which I mean while I'm not in school and don't have 53729473 other books to read), but I suspect that other things will distract me.

Such as Dissidia, which I bought today using my Best Buy gift cards! I haven't played much yet at all (seriously, I'm not even done with the Prologue), but it seems nifty thus far. Actually, the thing that got me the most excited was having the other characters from the different games giving the tutorials. I grinned like nothing else when Steiner and Vivi started explaining stuff to me. Though... all I have to say? Zell better show up at some point or there will be hell to pay. Oh, and some FFVI characters too. I'm already noticing the bias for the higher-numbered games and I do not approve. (Well, I at least want some FFIV and FFVI in there, dammit! The others aren't quite as important since... let's face it, most of the characters in I-III and V are pretty flat. EXCEPT FOR FARIS.)

Anyway, I know a few other people on my flist have the game already, so if you want to do battle sometime... well, we should! After I've actually gotten through more of the game and gotten a feel for which character I like the most and stuff, that is.

In other news, I watched Tropic Thunder yesterday! It was pretty amusing, and it reminded me of how I pretty much love Robert Downey Jr. in every role he does. It also reminded me that I need to see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang already. Oh, and that scene between him and Tobey Maguire never gets old.

What else? Oh, lacidiana starts school tomorrow, which probably means I'll be around more often... until my own school starts up, at least. Which is... September 24th, I believe?

I think that's about all for now. Oh, and I love this icon. So. Much.

Two days down, three to go. Today I have to study even more material, augh augh augh.

Still, the time I'm not spending studying is spent with apps, zombies, and Star Trek, so it's not all bad. THAT BEING SAID:



Had to share this. This is going to be what's running through my head as I attempt to climb Fuji.

I really need to switch some of my icons around when I have the time to.

Anyway! One day of finals down, four to go. This week kind of sucks, but I guess I'm just sort of in the study mindset at this point, so whatever. I just want to get through it and be done already.

After finals I only have nine more days in Japan. Saturday will be spent with murasaki_kaze in Osaka, buying a PSP (AWWWW YEAH) and seeing fireworks. Sunday will be spent getting up to Mt. Fuji area, which I will climb Sunday night, getting to the top by Monday morning if all goes well. Monday will be spent dying after the climb and resting in a hotel, and then Tuesday I'll come back to Kyoto area. Wednesday is my class party, and I'm hoping to go to the Osaka aquarium on Thursday if I can find someone to come with and if I'm not too busy packing. Friday is my friend's birthday party, Saturday will be spent finishing up packing and seeing whoever I need to see for the last time, and then Sunday I head to the airport.

Yeah, it's weird to have the end in sight like that. Part of me is excited to be going home, but at the same time I'm going to miss this place. I guess that's always how it feels, though. I do look forward to resting up, though. The plan is to watch a ton of shows and play a lot of video games before I start up at UCSB again.

That being said... I have a question for you, flist! I wanted to buy a few volumes of manga in Japanese to try and read when I go home so I can keep practicing. Does anyone have recommendations? I want it to be something I haven't read before, but it also has to be something that probably wouldn't be too impossible to read. I was thinking about Pandora Hearts because it looks interesting, but I'm open to suggestions. Please rec me!

Taking a break from evil studying for finals for...

RPSHIPSMEME

Oh man, my weekend was busy. I dressed up and also had naked party times (aka went to a public bath/onsen thing), but the real point of this post:

For some reason, it's Final Fantasy VI music more than anything else that makes me nostalgic like hell. FFVII music sometimes does it too, but FFVI even more so. I'm not quite sure why since I was introduced to both in the same stage of my childhood, but if a song from it (or a remix) comes up on my playlist suddenly I'm all natsukashii. It's weird because it's a very bittersweet feeling.

I don't really know why I felt the need to post about this, but it probably had something to do with avoiding homework which really needs to be done. My hours of sleep are just dwindling away...

Two papers and one final down! One paper and two finals to go. Though I'm hoping to get that remaining paper done tomorrow if all goes well. I am pumped up with inspiration all of a sudden! I think it's due to the fact that I'm actually really proud of one of the papers I wrote. I resorted to doing an outline for it, which I usually don't bother with, and it helped a lot. I'm really happy with the end result. (Let's just hope my professor feels the same way.) It's nice to be proud of something school-related, though.

Even though I'm also kind of pissed at myself since I've been pulling a lot of B's this quarter. Hoping that my papers and finals will turn out better. At least I've been doing well in my Japanese class, though.

I'm going home from Saturday through Tuesday so that I can get my Visa and take care of other Japan-related preparations -- and also to see my buds and watch Watchmen. Haven't seen it yet since I was busy last weekend. Curious to see what I think of it now that I've gotten an idea of people's reactions.

Me and my roommate got accosted by Mormons today. That was... interesting. They were actually pretty cute. What a waste!

I've gotten a lot of tasty new music recently. It's exciting. Although one of them is a BSB song and I'm dying of shame over here.

Anyway, onto the good stuff! By which I mean tonight's Supernatural.

( Supernatural 415, Death Takes a Holiday )

Gonna go shower and then the rest of the night will be for posts and Crisis Core. I'm up to chapter 5 of that game, by the way. Missions keep taking up all of my playing time. WHOOPS.

I got a memory stick, so I now have everything I need to play Crisis Core.

I don't know how to feel about this. I just know I'm flailing.

Need to work on my Irish Lit paper and do posts and things like that, though. I probably won't even get to play tonight, but... ahhhh.

I was pretty damn productive today. I went to the library, which I never do, and realized that it actually is kind of fun to go searching out books and stuff. I went to get some resources for a paper for my Irish Lit class. I didn't find anything that great, but I checked out a few things just to show my professor that I did make the effort to go there, since he was emphasizing that when he gave us the prompt.

I also did my reading and then finished the draft for my Japanese presentation, and have been keeping up with RP posts. (Haven't been able to stalk threads nearly as much as I'd like to, though.) So yes, in full demon form today, which means that once I'm done with this post I can continue with case five of Trials and Tribulations with zero guilt!

Oh, and I should mention that last night me and my roommate eavesdropped on these two guys having a full-blown lover's quarrel. They were outside and even though my room is upstairs and the window was closed, we could hear them really well. We, uhh, peeked through the blinds, too. It was very intense and kind of exciting to observe, but I hope the two of them work things out, even though they're complete strangers to me. So yeah, that was the most interesting part of my week, other than the money fraud thing.

Okay, and in fandom news, I have a confession to make:

I... kind of want to play Crisis Core.

IT'S JUST THAT pretty much everyone I know who has played it has liked it, and that's including people who are way into original game canon and have a deep hate for the Compilation. I've had such mixed feelings about the game, mainly because of my history with Zack as a character. This urge to play it has gotten me thinking about all of that again.

( I ramble about Zack now. )

If I had access to a PSP, I think I would give it a shot. Because if I ever do want to RP or write Zack again, I would have to take Crisis Core into account, I think. I mean, considering how little information there is on him otherwise, I don't think that I could get away with that. I wouldn't feel right doing it, if that makes sense.

GOD, I'VE WRITTEN WAY TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS. Anyway, my friend has a PSP and the game, and she might be willing to let me borrow it. I'm not 100% sure, but now I'm just wondering if I should give it a chance or not. THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE KNOWN ME FOR A WHILE WILL UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS KIND OF A BIG DEAL FOR ME, ahhhh.

Okay, I'm done. Really. If anyone read all of that, I commend you. And I'd really like to hear people's thoughts, especially those of you who've played the game and... know of my history with Zack. :3

So, damned friending meme kicked me into gear as far as making another update. Hey there, new friends! Glad to have you. ♥

Anyway, this weekend was great. Since Monday was a holiday I went home and basically just relaxed since I had very little homework. It was really nice to just kick back for a bit, even though I'm back to the grind now, with some papers and stuff coming up.

In more exciting news, though, I have a meeting this Friday where I get more information about the study abroad program that I'm going on. I should get the chance to ask lots of questions, so that'll be good. Also, I meant to update about this ages ago, but for the record...

I will be in Japan from March 24th through August 9th. Those of you who are going to be there at the same time, we should definitely try to plan to meet up at some point! I also have my address there for anyone who might need it.

Fandom-wise, not much has been going on, seeing how Supernatural is on hiatus right now (and I'm taking a break from Heroes). I've slowing been working away at Phoenix Wright 3, at least. (The truth is that RP is my fandom these days, but you know.)

I will end this with a meme:

Pick 10 people and give them the "you make my day" award. If you're picked, you are charged with picking 10 of your own.
bondofflame
chaneystarr
continuum
evildrew
famira
lacidiana
leaute
nest
tinted_glass
wyna_hiros

And so many more. ♥ I LOVE YOU, FLIST.

∞ the How's My Driving? meme ∞

In other news, one midterm is down with one to go, and I finally started playing Phoenix Wright: Trial and Tribulations!

Hello, 2009! You should be a pretty exciting year, so let's be friends rather than enemies.

Anyway, I'm back in Santa Barbara now, with classes starting tomorrow. Half of me is groaning, half of me is curious about how my classes are going to be. But more on that later. Break was awesome - a lot of traveling, a lot of hanging out with friends, and a lot of cold sport activites. I also took a ton of pictures, but I'm too lazy to mirror them here. Check Facebook?

Well, except for this one: ( My Christmas haul! )

But yeah, things in the apartment are going well so far. Mado, who I had originally planned to live with, is finally living here now that she's back from studying abroad in Chile. (She stayed there longer than originally planned.) She actually has season 2 of Dexter on DVD, so I might need to snatch that and start catching up if I find the time. And then her friend who she made in Chile is also staying here, incidentally. She seems nice so far. Her name's Saki (what's with me having apartment-mates that have names that are the same or similar to people on my flist?) and she's a bit older than us, so hopefully that'll make her easier to live with.

On another note entirely, a few days ago I picked up Watchmen because a copy of it was lying around the house. My brother had borrowed it from his friend. I only got two chapters in, but it was enough to intrigue me and so I bought a copy so I could keep reading. I hope to get on that soon...

( Now I guess I'll talk about upcoming classes for a bit. )

I guess that's about all for now. I hope everyone's doing well!

MY FINALS ARE DONE. Insert sparkly text here. I'm always too lazy to try and figure out how to do it for real.

I had to get up at 7:00 this morning to go take my last one, and it was so freezing biking onto campus at that hour. Auuugh, I thought my lips were going to freeze. At least it gave me an excuse to wear gloves and a scarf, though.

My friend Mado is driving up as we speak (or she better be) to come see the apartment (she's living here next quarter), see me and my roommate, and then take me home with her later today. And my other friend who used to go here but then transferred to another school might be driving down as well, so I hope that happens. I want to show her Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog because I showed her Firefly freshman year and so I'm pretty sure she'd appreciate it, hee. (She was the person who started me on Heroes, come to think of it. I mean, I had considered watching the show before, but when she visited last year she brought the first disc of the DVD set with her and it was all over after that.)

I need to go return my books, but it's very difficult to motivate myself to get on my bike again. Seeing how I don't have much else to do, though... I should probably get it over with before Mado gets here.

But yeah, I'll be back home tonight, and then tomorrow I have to get ready to leave on Saturday for Tahoe. YIKES. It's going to be fun, though. There better be internet there.

ALSO, anyone who is still watching Heroes but is losing faith in it (or already has, but is watching nonetheless): This article might make you feel a little better. (The spoilers are whited-out.) It certainly cheered me up. Oh, and this picture is great.

The up-arrow on my keyboard is dying. :(

Yesterday something messed up my bike chain and I was heartbroken (I LOVE MY BIKE), but today I walked it all the way over to the bike shop and they fixed it free of charge. ♥ Then I ate fajitas and lemon bread.

But that's all a pretext for the real point of this post:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, chaneystarr!!!

I hope you're having a lovely day. :D

Now I get to go do tons of damned stuff instead of studying because my last final isn't until Thursday, what.

Dear Santa... Dear Santa, This year I've been busy! Last Sunday I pushed gravitykills in the mud (-17 points). In August I set continuum's puppy on fire (-66 points). In May I ate my brussel sprouts (1 points). Last Saturday I punched onsoullessfeet in the arm (-10 points). Last Monday I gave futuresoon a kidney (1000 points). Overall, I've been nice (908 points). For Christmas I deserve an XBox 360! Sincerely, burningvigor

Write your letter to Santa! Enter your LJ username:

Man, I originally got one where I deserved a PS3, but then I lost it by accident. This will do, though. Although I'm basically a dick except for my organ donation. Hope your body isn't rejecting it, futuresoon! And... continuum, I'm sorry. I DIDN'T MEAN TO, REALLY. :(

In other news, I should be studying for my Japanese final. At least I've started.

I voted! (And I hope the rest of you American-dwellers did too.) It was really exciting to do, actually, seeing how it was my first time voting in a presidential election. It was also cool knowing that pretty much everyone else at the voting place were also probably doing it for the first time, since I live in a college town. And it was nice seeing some people who were on crutches or had broken arms there, since they weren't letting that stop them. I mean, sucks that they're hurt in the first place, but I like knowing that people are voting no matter what it takes.

There were also booths set up all around so you could find out where you were supposed to go to vote, which was a good idea, I think. I got a sample ballot that told me, but it seemed like a lot of people were confused about that.

But yeah, just nice to see so many young people voting. And as a Californian, I voted no on 8, and hopefully so did a lot of other people.

Now I need to go do homework and try not to panic, auuugh.