( Supernatural 512, 'Swap Meat' )

In other news, this song. I can't stop listening. DAMN YOU, MAIAAAAAA.

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!

While I'm irked about my internet situation, I've been somewhat cheered up by the fact that I just bought a leather jacket off of eBay with the purpose of using it for a Dean Winchester outfit.

I'm... not quite sure how this happened. This is the result of going to a convention and missing dressing up so damn hard.

I will be the smallest Dean ever. Holy crap, why am I doing this.

I usually leave the Supernatural reports to continuum, but I couldn't resist this time.

( Supernatural 504, 'The End' )

In other news, I've had a headache all afternoon/evening. Finally took meds for it, SO GO AWAY. And fuuuck, I hope I get to pick up Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days tomorrow. I might just buckle down and take the bus if I have to.

Man, I really frickin' suck at updating my journal. It's not like I don't go to the "Post Entry" box a lot; it's just that I always change the "Post to" box to say damned_lounge.

That's mainly what I've been doing with the rest of my summer, actually. Mod stuff, mod stuff, mod stuff. That and hanging out with my friends. I've been really wanting to get to some video gaming (Pokemon and Crisis Core are my games at the moment), but there's always something else to do that gets in the way. (I have about $50 in Best Buy gift money that I'm itching to spend...)

Oh, I also wrote a ton of drabbles (most of which will be nonsensical if you aren't at damned, though there are a few Castiel ones that are general SPN). I haven't written that much in fic-style in a while, and it was actually kind of nice even though I got prompted like crazy. I'm proud of myself for getting it all done, though.

I saw District 9! Twice. I enjoyed it a lot and it was interesting for me personally since my parents are both from South Africa. I thought it did a good job of hitting the social message while being an engaging movie in its own right. Would definitely suggest checking it out! Unless you dislike the documentary-style camera. I thought it worked well for the movie, but I know some people take serious issue with that.

In more real life adult news, I sent out an application to internship at the study abroad office at my college. I'm really hoping I get it, since even if it isn't paid, it would still give me something to put on a resume. Cross your fingers!

Oh, and I think I'm finally going to the beach tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to that!

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.

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.

( Supernatural 310, 'Heaven and Hell' )

( And then some rambling about the possibility of Castiel at Damned. )

Also, because apparently I can't get through an entry these days without mentioning Heroes: this picture of Adrian and Milo pretty much made my day. (Very vague spoilers, but it's stuff that was shown in the preview for next week, so.)

Sorry I haven't done those voice post requests yet! I'll get to them, I swear.

Some of you may have heard of the fire that's been working its way through Santa Barbara. I'm not anywhere near it, really, so no worries there, but my roommate (who is a Santa Barbara resident) lost her house to it.

I can't even imagine what that's like. I mean, even though fires are pretty common through most of California, living in an urban area means that it's never been much of a concern for me. I mean, I've had those thoughts about what I would grab if my house caught fire (I think everyone has), but I've never had to deal with the actual reality of it. She and her parents were able to salvage some stuff before they had to evacuate, at least. It also helps that a lot of Emily's stuff is here in the apartment, but man, what a huge blow. I'd been to her house before and it was really nice and had a great view, and... I don't know, it's about that loss of security that comes with not having somewhere to go home to.

Their insurance covers everything, which is good, but it doesn't make up for the irreplaceable stuff that was lost. Her parents are staying at a hotel for now and are going to start looking for a place to rent tomorrow. Their two cats are here in the apartment for now since they had nowhere else to take them. Technically it's illegal under our lease, but I don't care since we have a good reason for keeping them here. It's not like the rental company is going to find out, anyway. It'll actually be kind of nice, since I've never gotten to live with furry animals before, and these cats are pretty mellow. Well, one of them is a neurotic mess and is always hiding (he's also the biggest cat I have ever seen even though his name is Little Man), but the other one is sweet and pretty friendly.

Anyway, I don't even know how Emily is coping, but she's been surprisingly calm - or she's come off that way, at least. She told me she's still in shock, and I haven't seen her all that much because she's been in and out dealing with everything. I wish there was more I could do to help, but I guess all I can do right now is offer moral support. I downloaded last night's Supernatural so she could see it since she wasn't able to watch last night, and she actually seemed really glad to hear that when I told her. Hopefully it'll take her mind off of everything for a little while. (Her second season Supernatural DVDs were actually one of the things that she grabbed from her house. I really got her into that show...)

But yeah, just... really feeling for her now. ;; She's going to come back and we're going to try and use that really ghetto recipe to make cake in a mug in the microwave and then watch Supernatural, and hopefully she'll feel a little better.

Aww, I love this song. I really want to watch this movie now, it's been years.

God, I'm itching to do an icon overhaul. THIS WEEKEND. Oh, and if anyone could spam me with some Guy icons (I have some saved, but NOT ENOUGH), please do so! Otherwise I'll just go searching through posts at talesoftheabyss.

Has anyone else been getting LJ comment spam? And here I thought I'd seen everything. I should go through and delete them, but I'm afraid I'm too lazy for that.

Anyway, today I must talk about ( Supernatural 405, 'Monster Movie.' And then I kind of just ramble on about Supernatural in general. )

Oh, and I finally got around to watching Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog last night. It was really cute! I'm kind of tempted to blow some iTunes money on the soundtrack just because I need to use that stuff up already. I got a $25 gift certificate for my birthday last year and I still have $15 of it left, what the heck. OH, but people should comment spam me with the Dr. Horrible icons they have uploaded. I know there are tons out there and now I can actually appreciate them, so yes.

I guess that's it for now! Peace out, guys.

So, I'm back up in Santa Barbara and back at school. I got up here via small plane with evildrew flying, which was very cool. I had gone up with him once before, but we had only gone in patterns around the airport, rather than an actual trip. It's fun to talk via headset and stuff.

The first day back was spent getting cable activated for the apartment, getting books and finding classes, and then grocery shopping. Now that I'm in an apartment rather than the dorms, I get to do my own dishes and eat like a real college student. Which is cool, I guess. Also, the bike ride to classes is longer now, but hey, more of a workout.

So far, the only class I've had is Japanese (because I have Fridays off, whoo!), and it was all right, except that it sounds like it's going to be pretty intense and I didn't practice at all over the summer. Crap. This always happens to me, but I felt a little better when I realized I could still do the homework. But apparently there isn't going to be any furigana for the kanji on our quizzes or our final, so I definitely need to brush up on all of that.

Speaking of which, I got an email today about all the paperwork that's going to be due for studying abroad, including the application for the host university. Suffice to say that it scared me a little, since there's a lot of it. But I'll get it done somehow. The first step is getting ink for my printer so I can print all of these forms out to get a better idea of what I'm doing.

Today someone was scheduled to come and assemble my desk, which was fine, except that they were supposed to come between 1:00 and 5:00. Instead, I got a wake-up call at 9:22 from the desk guy saying that he was here. So I had to jump out of bed and throw some clothes on and then move all of my shit out of the way so that he had the space to work. And then I sat around for an hour while he did it and went back to sleep for a few hours once he was done. But I have a desk now, and all is well.

In fandom news, I really enjoyed House and Supernatural this week. I'm digging the PI guy from House. Yay for a cool recurring character! I enjoy the way that Supernatural is going, and no one can tell me otherwise. (I was kind of tempted to upload that "Team Castiel" icon, but I resisted.)

Lastly, I have an AIM-related problem/question, which is why I haven't been around on it. To put it simply, it won't connect. My roommate's AIM works just fine, though, so it's weird. Erin suggested that it might have something to do with the proxies, but I don't really know. Is it possible I have to download a newer version of AIM? (I have one of the old-school ones 'cause I don't really like the new format.) Has anyone encountered this problem before? Please help me, flist! ETA: Gmail chat still works, though, so people can find me there if they wish!

Updating because 11:52 is way too early to go to sleep.

So, today was spent taking stuff up to my apartment in Santa Barbara with my mom. Actually, it was mainly spent shopping for the apartment. First, I got a twin bed, which was actually the easiest thing to do, since the guy at the mattress place was really nice and they delivered it for free. Then, a desk, which was more complicated because all of the desks we liked at Staples were out of stock, but we ended up finding something at Office Max. Hell if I'm going to try and assemble that thing, though, so we scheduled for someone to come and do it on the 26th, when I'll be back here. But getting that thing up the stairs was an endeavor. We also got a microwave, a chair (the same one that my roommate has, actually), bedding (I love my new comforter, it's blue and green and plaid), some drinking glasses (it was harder than it should have been to find nice ones), and towels (my mom insisted on getting ones that matched my bedding, wtf). Anyway, it was pretty much a whole-day affair, though I also unpacked most of what I brought up, even though everything isn't necessarily in place yet. I'll have to add the finishing touches when I'm back here.

OH CRAP. Emily brought me oreo cupcakes and I forgot to have one. I'll have to eat one in the morning or something, though, since I already brushed my teeth. Man, I feel bad for forgetting. ;__;

Anyway, Emily is my friend who is going to be my roommate and who I lived with in a suite last year, though we weren't in the same room then. She's really sweet, though she can be kind of neurotic sometimes. I introduced her to Supernatural last year, so I'm sure we'll be watching season 4 together this year. I'll have to get her started on Heroes next if we have time. She's only seen the first two episodes of season one, and yet most of season two, and that is just wrong. Though that reminds me: we still need to get the cable installed here, and the place that does it was closed today. That'll have to be worked out soon.

I met my other housemate for the first time today. Her name's Lauren, and while she seems nice enough, she also seems like the kind of girl who goes out a lot, and the bathroom is packed with her stuff. Her room was also a mess when we got here, but that doesn't really bother me because I don't have to be in there, and it's her space. She cleaned up, though, so I guess we'll see how neat she is when we're all settled in. Uhh, I wouldn't go so far as to call her a ditz yet, and I wouldn't want to prejudge her. I'm curious to know what shows she watches (she seemed intent on getting cable). I got a quick look at her room and she had some DVDs lying around. The only one that really stood out to me was Clerks II, which is plus points in my book. I didn't see the original, though, which is minus points. Anyway, we'll see how that all works out once class has started.

We go back down to Los Angeles tomorrow -- I'm pretty sure the only thing we need to do before we leave is drop off some forms at the financial aid and billing offices. All in all, this was successful! I'll stick around in LA until the 23rd (must be home for the Heroes premiere), and then Andrew will be flying me back up here in style! But ohhh man, House and Supernatural and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia next week. YES, MAKE THE WAIT FOR HEROES A LITTLE EASIER, THANKS. ♥

1. Comment on this post.
2. I will give you a letter.
3. Think of 5 fictional characters whose name starts with that letter and post their names and your comments on these characters in your LJ.

I got S from futuresoon, so here we go!

( My five. )

1. Next to each number, write only the name of the person who fits.
2. Answer one question with one name.
3. Don't tell the questions to anyone who isn't doing the meme.

My list might be a little different from what you have, so ask me if something seems off!

( Answers. I only repeated a few names so there's a lot of variety. )

It smells weird in here.

So quick real life update: we found a roommate for the fall! When I start at college again, I'll be staying in an apartment (first time), and the plan was to live with two of my friends. That's still the plan, pretty much, but one of my roommates is in Chile right now and she ended up extending her stay there until December, leaving me and the other roommate to find someone to fill her spot. And we finally found someone! Well, actually, I didn't really have anything to do with it, but I got the phone call about it a few days ago. The person we found is taking the single room, too, so me and Emily won't have to share a room with someone we don't know. Been there, done that. And this way we can watch Supernatural together in peace. ♥

I've been working on Brawl lately, for some reason. Even though I should really be playing The World Ends With You instead (I'm at the beginning of week 2, at least? Though now Brenda has me paranoid that I'm seriously under-leveled). I've been trying to beat Classic with everyone, and I think I only have five characters left: Wario, R.O.B., Jigglypuff, Lucas, and regular Samus. All of who I suck with, but ahh well. My shining moment was when I somehow managed to beat Master Hand as Wolf without taking any damage. I don't even play as Wolf, wtf.

I've been watching the Olympics off and on when I feel like it. Men's swimming is going on right now, at least in my time zone. (I have no idea how they do the broadcasting for it.) They keep talking about Club Wolverine (... what is that?) and I keep double-taking.

Going to eat sushi later today, mmm. Though I think maybe I should eat something before that because auuugh, hungry.

Writing Harvey Dent is really fun. \o/

I'm always so bad about updating this over summer. Anyway!

First things first, a friend of mine (fanshiilala) has a bunch of anime/manga related stuff she wants to sell, but she doesn't know many people who would be interested, so she asked me if I could appeal to you guys as potential buyers. There are CDs, (Japanese) manga, DVDs, VHS, and more, and it's all really cheap (prices are included), so check it out!

( The message she sent me: )

In other news, my friend from college came down on Friday to visit. Me, her, and Erin pretty much spent the whole weekend hanging out. I finished her up on Supernatural, since she only had the last two episodes of season 3 to watch, and then showed her Batman Begins since she wants to see The Dark Knight and hadn't seen Begins before.

We also took her down to the Santa Monica Pier. That was a lot of fun since I hadn't been there in ages, and the weather was pretty nice. The tickets for the rides there are super expensive, so we only went on the carousel and the ferris wheel. Then we came back and watched National Treasure randomly. Oh, and we played cards a good amount, too. And Scrabble. 8D

The only bad thing is that there seem to be a lot of spiders about lately. We had to deal with two while she was here, and one of them was a bitch. Seriously, that thing was smart and fast. Erin eventually caught it and threw it out, but yeah... It makes me worried that I'm going to keep coming across them.

Oh, and I've started playing The World Ends With You again. I'm still not too far, but I'm getting the hang of the battles a little better. And actually getting grades other than E on them. Sometimes. I've been enjoying it!

So, I pretty much just got back from my trip home for the three day weekend, and man, traveling like that can really tire a person out. Since I was taking the train, it required walking from my dorm to the bus stop (with my backpack and duffle bag), taking the bus downtown, taking the shuttle to get across downtown to the train station, and then taking the train for about three hours until I arrived in Union Station in downtown LA. I started playing The World Ends With You on the train, but I'm still only at the beginning -- just met Beat and Rhyme. Anyway, Erin and I somehow had miraculous timing so she got there right as I arrived, and then we went and got some food. I had a burrito from Tito's Tacos which was wonderful, and after hanging out for a bit we went and got that yogurt stuff from Pinkberry. Mmm, strawberries and bananas for toppings is the best.

We just hung at her house for the night so that we could be ready to go get everything together on Saturday for the surprise party we were throwing for Andrew. This involved a lot of driving around picking people up, but there was a cake made from scratch and I got to decorate a room, so that was fun and kind of nostalgic. Also, party poppers with very shiny confetti. So we had pizza and ate cake and then caught a showing of Iron Man.

...So yeah, I kind of have a crush now. That movie was outlandish and fantastic. RDJ proved himself to be way hotter than I expected, even in the suit. Anyway, this resulted in me searching the internet for random Iron Man/Tony Stark stuff. Most of it I found at scans_daily, so yeah, disclaimer: I didn't scan any of it, cap any of it, or draw any of it. But I figured I'd share!

( Includes naked Tony, Tony-in-a-dress, Robert Downey Jr. and Tobey Maguire being gay, and other random funny panels. )

After the movie, we went back to my house where I tried to get some posts in and do homework, and then on Sunday I got to chill with my brother and watch some Sweeney Todd. My mom also came back from her trip to South Africa that day, so I was glad I got to see her and get the candy my grandma sent back for me. 8D Then we went back to Erin's to meet up with everyone again, finish off the cake, and watch Hook. Then back to my house because I had to be at the train station this morning to make the trip back again. The train ride was very nice, though. It goes right by the beach and I got to see all the people set up for their Memorial Day barbeques and such. A lot of them turned to watch and wave at the train.

Tonight brings yet another burrito and possible Supernatural watching, plus continuing on my Iron Man kick. (It's a damn good thing I only have six icons because I would be so tempted to upload one of Tony Stark otherwise.)

Man, I'm so drained for some reason. Tuesday is my super busy day, so I guess it makes sense, but still. I also had an off-and-on headache all day today, but I finally buckled down and took something. And I think showering woke me up a little.

Anyway! Today in Japanese Pop Culture we watched from the middle to the end of Akira, and man, it is weird. I mean, I saw it once before in middle school, but sheesh. Though we were watching the dub and I kept thinking, "Wow, Kaneda really sounds like Guy" -- and I was right! WTF, Johnny Yong Bosch, why are you everywhere.

Oh, and I got an A- on my Narratives of War midterm. Whoo! Oh, and I did a Japanese presentation this morning that I think went pretty well. I turn in my study abroad application tomorrow.

Guess that's it. Still all fjdaoiej;fda over upcoming Supernatural finale.

My midterm has been taken! Yes, I only had one, but I've had lots of Japanese projects and I had a six-page paper due... last week? Something like that. (I have three finals, at least?) Anyway, I took the whole time for it, which is very rare for me, but I wrote a lot for each question. (It was all short answer.) Anyway, I feel pretty good about it, so I look forward to seeing my grade.

Anyway, as is probably obvious by now, I've been really busy with school. I've had to go and watch some movies on Monday nights for my Narratives of War class. The first was Apocalypse Now, and the second was No Man's Land. I had seen bits of Apocalypse Now before, but only the beginning and the end. Good movie, and the visuals in it are amazing -- not to mention the intense ending. It was also cool since I actually read Heart of Darkness in 12th grade, so I could make the connections. No Man's Land is about the war in the Balkans (Bosnia, Serbia, etc.) that took place in the '90's. It's a foreign film, and it was also really good. It did a good job of showing different aspects of the war while also focusing on individual people, I think. Anyway, we're also going to be watching West Beirut and Jarhead, the latter of which I've seen before.

Other than that, it's been normal schoolwork and studying and so on. I think I should have some more free time in the next few weeks, since midterms are done and I don't have papers for a bit. Oh, actually! Another thing that's been keeping me busy is my study abroad application. That's due this coming Wednesday, so I'll be glad to have that out of the way since it's been quite the process. (Still a little freaked out at the idea of possibly going to study in Japan for four months, but it's also really exciting -- and I know others who have done it, so I can do it, too! Right? Right!)

Anyway, I hope this "dry spell" in my schoolwork willl give me some time to actually play some games, since all I've been doing lately is Brawling. Last weekend I went downtown for a bit with my suitemates and I ended up buying The World Ends With You and Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations. Yes, I finally got PW3. :| TOOK ME LONG ENOUGH. Anyway, I used the Gamestop gift cards that I've had since Christmas to get those, so I only actually spent six dollars. I want more DS games, like Animal Crossing (yes, shut up, it's fun, if totally pointless), and Phantom Hourglass, and Apollo Justice (once I've beaten the third game, anyway). It's weird... At the moment I want DS games a lot more than Wii games. I guess there's more stuff out for it, though. I still kind of want the NiGHTS game for the Wii, but I'm not sure if it turned out to be any good? Granted, I'd probably enjoy it anyway just due to nostalgia. I heard that Mario Kart for the Wii didn't get very good reviews, so I'm not so sure about that one. Not to mention I'm attached to my Double Dash!! Oh, and that new Wii channel is pretty cool! Sure, it's just advertising, but I want to be advertised to! The fact that you can use it to download DS demos onto your DS is also the coolest thing ever.

Man, did I abuse italics in this entry or what? Anyway, Supernatural tonight! I am excited. Only two episodes left, oh man.

Two posts in one day? Inform the papers!

( Supernatural 313, 'Ghostfacers' )

Man, this brings back that urge I had to write Sam, but I have nowhere to do it. :( And I can't write fic since I don't really have any ideas and I already have two Heroes fics I need to be working on. SIGH.