And this part tastes like Volkswagen!

It's stories like these that make me want to kill

solderini@hotmail.com — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 09:34:14 GMT

Don't click if you're in a good mood, as it will bring you down.

Comments disabled, because I think I'll be sick if I think too long on this. ~~Though that doesn't seem to stop me from posting it here.~~

solderini@hotmail.com — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:55:45 GMT

It's 2:45 pm. Do you know where your life is going?

…cause I certainly don't. I'm going to break tradition here and make a somewhat-meaningful post about my life. So, a quick timeline:

April 2007: I get promoted from secretary to special secretary. This means I have to move from working in an office I love, talking with patients, smiling at people. I am now located in a cubicle in the back corner of an office that is located a full county away from my home.

April 2008: I quit my job, having finally figured out that my boss is a passive-aggressive backstabber who cannot communicate worth beans. Bitter? Why, no, what makes you ask that? But seriously, I know the communication problem wasn't just me, 'cause pretty much everyone except her thinks the same thing.

August 2008: I move from Orange County to Sacramento. Nobody except for me seems to understand why. I have a crappy job at Sears that I go to at 4:00 am. The hours don't bother me. The incompetent management does.

January 2009: I quit my job when they cut my hours to around 8 a week. Again, I don’t have another job lined up. BRILLIANT. I think it's because I generally don't even think about quitting until things are irredeemably bad. I can tolerate an awful lot of shit, which is not always the best survival instinct.

March 2009: I catch a lead on a good job in a field I love and apply. Went into second interview on 17th. Will find out by tomorrow if I can has a job. I have a good feeling!

Also, I adopted a stray cat on December 12. Sweetest cat in the world, I swear—always waited outside my door when I woke up, came and greeted me when I got in from work, would carefully chew my DS until I put it down and paid attention to him instead. I honestly don't know how his previous owners could have stood to abandon him like that.

He died on January 7 of heart failure. RIP, Bugs.

I want another cat, but the fact that I had to take a minute after that last sentence tells me I'm not ready. Also, I really need to get my life better under control before I take on that responsibility. Like, find a new job that pays me a living wage, get my internet connected, stuff like that.

--Out of sheer boredom, I got one of those we-can't-squeeze-another-cent-out-of-these-turds movie sets, "100 Tales of Terror." I'm working my way through them, and I have to say that so far, not one of them has scared me even 1% as much as Watership Down. However, it is kind of interesting to see the average horror movie for various times—who's the hero, who's the villain, how is the villain defeated, etc. I'm thinking about writing reviews/analyses for some of them, if only to put them into categories like "White Men Can't Listen," "SCIENCE!!!11," and "MST3K Makes It Better."

Just to give you an idea, this collection includes such gems as "Count Dracula AND HIS VAMPIRE BRIDE" and the immortal "Manos: the Hands of Fate." As well as some that have redeeming qualities, though these are few and far between (most of them are not only badly written, acted and produced, but are between moderately and severely racist, sexist and/or other-ist). If I did write reviews, would anyone be interested if I posted them here?

--To the tune of Celes' opera song from Final Fantasy 6:

Oh my level, rising slowly,
Will I ever reach the next?
Take pity on me,
I need more XP,
My patience is being test-ed

I have Darkness, I have Poison
But my wand'ring's not yet done
For much to my woe,
I've hundreds to go
'Til I reach twenty-one

I've spent hours, spent whole weekends,
But I spend it all with glee;
Slaying beast after beast
Is dull--but at least
I'm not playing FFT*

*I love Final Fantasy Tactics, but a single battle can take hours and I'm a terrible strategist. Plus my usually-helpful Mustadio can't seem to hit anything. No wonder he and Agrias are "just friends."

And I hate fighting the Lucavi because they scare me.

--heebee posted this FFIV comic I drew in her journal back in the day, but I figure I should also post it in my own. As you can see, I can't draw, and I can't stop making fun of Cecil.

--I seem to have developed an obsession with Princess Tutu. Not that it's not worthy of devotion, but it's getting a little out of hand. I kind of want to write an essay comparing it with Revolutionary Girl Utena, because I love them both and I think it's because they share certain characteristics—-a fairy-tale structure, magical girls, explorations of the role of the mythical prince--but have very different takes on them. Plus I could have a section entitled "Anthy vs. Manthy: What's the Diff?"

--Shadow Hearts. Oh god, Shadow Hearts. I'm not even sure what to say about it, except that I got it about two weeks ago and finished it two days ago. And it’s a 50-60 hour RPG, not including the 12 TIMES I died in the Man Festival. <3 Shadow Hearts. I'll describe it further when I have words to speak.

And, uh, that's about it, I guess.

...yeah, that's it!

<--Even this guy takes his Hippocratic Oath more seriously

solderini@hotmail.com — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 06:56:09 GMT

I actually have a substantial entry prepared, just need to add some things. But first I must crow this from the mountaintops.

The MMR-vaccine-leads-to-autism scare has pissed me off since it first started. One study says the MMR vaccine leads to autism, vs. how many that show no correlation? And now it turns out that the data in said study was manipulated and misreported. The guy lied.

I'm not against parents doing everything they can to prevent disease--hell, as far as I know, daily prayer could make the difference between Just-Fine Johnny and Autistic Andy. What I am against is witholding treatment from a child that would prevent uncomfortable, highly-contagious, and possibly fatal diseases, though I know these parents did what they thought was right. And what really pisses me off is a doctor, or anyone who should know better, deliberately misrepresenting his findings and sparking a panic.

Maybe it's just my paranoid fantasies talking again, but I imagine that this asshole is teamed up with a lawyer who, surprise surprise, makes a lot of money suing vaccine companies for turning kids autistic. Not that vaccines are foolproof--the worst sickness I ever had, I got from the MMR vaccine, and I would wholeheartedly support anyone who sued a company for distributing a faulty vaccine. But I hope this guy and any accomplices face professional, criminal, and civil charges for what (t)he(y) did:

Last week official figures showed that 1,348 confirmed cases of measles in England and Wales were reported last year, compared with 56 in 1998. Two children have died of the disease. (from the previously-linked article)

I guess my point is, this didn't need to happen. But it did. Thanks, Andrew Wakefield. You're a dick.

So National Boss Day is tomorrow (I think)...

solderini@hotmail.com — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:19:34 GMT

...and I'm thinking of sending my ex boss a turd in celebration.

View Poll: #1279398

Indulge my curiousity, please!

solderini@hotmail.com — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:26:35 GMT

So. There's this great quiz on the internet. I found it a few years ago, and just found it again. Now, as then, I got the following result:

Grover on Ecstasy

You're funny, you're loveable, you're entertaining, you like to call yourself "Super Grover!"--You're obviously on ecstasy. But that's why we love you. Be careful, ok?

http://www.quizilla.com/quizzes/280603/which-sesame-street-muppets-dark-secret-are-you

...and I think it fits me pretty well.

So now I'm kind of curious. When you get bored, take this quiz, then tell me the result and how closely you think it fits you. Or don't, but the results are pretty amusing so take it anyway.

solderini@hotmail.com — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:58:42 GMT

So I just finished watching an episode of The Batman, and I am shipping Batman/Catwoman SO HARD.

But the art style is SO UGLY.

And that's my deep thought for today.

This con was a gift from God!

solderini@hotmail.com — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:41:32 GMT

Highlights:

--Shared a room with alice_and_lain, who is just as awesome as I thought she was, and got to hang out with her for most of the con. She is, perhaps, the sweetest person I've had the pleasure of meeting. I also got to pimp out the rereleases of Tactics and FFIV to her brother, who is another enormous nerd.

--Kappei Yamaguchi: cutest thing ever. And I got to ask him a question! Apparently, he figures out all of Usopp's screams by looking at the size of his mouth. And we got to hear the Sogeking song live! And I advocated for a great Usopp cosplayer to get to ask a question. He didn't get to, but he did get a picture with Yamaguchi afterwards, so something tells me he wasn't too disappointed. :)

--The autograph line for Yamaguchi got shut down before I got an autograph, but alice_and_lain got one, and I got to deliver a present to him from another fan!

--The JAMProject concert was amazing. Not only is everyone in that project incredibly talented, skilled and professional, but I got to hear live versions of "Rinbu Revolution" and "We Are!"

--The "Dubs That Time Forgot" panel was good. The technical difficulties sucked, but once it got going, we got to see bunches of old obscure anime with hilarious dubbing, such as 1) a horse with an attraction to a cat, and 2) Grandfather: What do you want now? Granddaughter: I want to see the inside of your house! Grandfather: Well, you'd better put on your clothes before you go inside. Granddaughter: Oh, I won't need them!

--There was a live-action Phoenix Wright trial! Or so we thought, until it started and we realized that "trial" meant "people ask a witness questions to figure out who the murderer was." So, not as awesome as it could've/should've been, but there were some good lines.

--I got everything I was looking for in the dealer's hall, and more! The main prizes are FFT and FFIV figurines, Princess Tutu on DVD, and five more volumes of From Eroica With Love. I started to read them on the plane ride back, and found that Klaus is just as much of a badasshole as ever. <3

The one bad thing (aside from some disappointment with the panels, which is standard) is that I miss alice_and_lain already. Also, I need to get back up to Sacramento to find a place to live, but I can do that tomorrow. All in all, a very successful trip, and a pile of awesome memories!

On my way to Otakon. Kind of.

solderini@hotmail.com — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:29:15 GMT

It's been a special, special day.

1. Apparantly, I accidently made my flight reservation for tomorrow, not today. I DON'T REMEMBER DOING THIS but it's something I would do.

2. Fortunately, the staff gets me on the next flight out. Unfortunately, this means I spend an extra four hours in the airport.

3. So I get to where my flight is supposed to connect to the one that brings me to Baltimore. Except that, due to air traffic control problems and mechanical failure, this flight is another three hours late and counting.

If all had gone well, I would have been in Baltimore by 6pm. As it stands, I'm guessing I might make it to the closing ceremonies.

Oh well. I shouldn't be complaining--I'm not one of the people stuck in a circling plane above Baltimore. Plus, I have Final Fantasy Tactics with me, so all hope is not lost. ~~Actually, it is, but plotting out stupid hijinks with Mustadio trying to impress Agrias (and failing) distracts me from my despair.~~

Don't read this if you like Metal Gear

solderini@hotmail.com — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 06:35:55 GMT

Sordid Snake

:::Recorded on Codec 16:37 EST on 8/8/08. Location: Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America:::

"Snake, this is Otakon. Come in, Snake!"

"Snake here. Where are you, Otakon?"

"Room 12B. The door's unlocked."

"So that's why you said come in."

"Yes. Where are you?"

"In the closet of room 12B."

"But I checked there and--"

"In the box, Otakon."

"Oh. Right."

"So what's the job?"

"I need you to retrieve an item for me. Well, not so much an item as a set of items."

"How many?"

"Just a few. I showed you a picture at the beginning of the con."

"You mean... Bondage Gear?!"

"Yes, Bondage Gear. It's a special order: you should be able to pick it up at Kissing Is For Pussies at 8790 South Hrper Street. If you need help finding it, just press the triangle button to check your map. Use it frequently; Baltimore is a big city, and I need these items ASAP."

"Snake out."

~*~ After a trip through downtown Baltimore ~*~

"Otakon, this is Snake. I'm approaching the door now."

"Before you enter the room, I need you to do one more thing for me."

"One more thing?"

"This is important, Snake. I want you to equip the Bondage Gear."

"Equip the Bondage Gear?!"

"There's a box in the hall. Use it to conceal yourself while you complete the equipment tutorial."

"...I want hazard pay for this, Otakon."

"Don't worry, Snake, you'll be fully compensated."

~*~ After much twisting and turning ~*~

"Otakon, this is Snake. I have equipped the Bondage Gear, and am now approaching the room."

"..."

"Otakon, do you copy?"

"Mmmphphphp!"

"Oh Christ, not again. Busting door down, now."

"...mmm."

"...What the--"

"Ah, thanks. I forgot I shouldn't gag myself when I'm alone."

"You shouldn't gag yourself when you're alone?!"

"Right."

"Are these--"

"Nipple clamps, yes. Press the square button to tweak them."

"..."

"I said you would be fully compensated, right?"

~*~ After some masterful negotiation and several bottles of beer ~*~

"Alright, Snake. Now that we're both ready, I want you to press the circle button, gently, and hold it down until I say stop. Ooh, yes, exactly like that. OK, once the circle button won't go down any further, I want you to release it, then press it again, quicker this time."

"Quicker?! Like this?!"

"Yes! Press the circle button, Snake! Harder! More rhythmically!"

"Harder?! More rhythmically?!"

"SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!"

~*~ The End ~*~

Oh the things you find when there's nothing else to do

solderini@hotmail.com — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:02:34 GMT

Things like this.

Safe for work, and I thought it was pretty awesome despite the cheezy voiceover. heebee, you might appreciate this especially.

solderini@hotmail.com — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:11:31 GMT

I'm bored and feeling social for once. So, since I am apparently incapable of coming up with real-life content to fill this void of a journal, I present you with a meme!

Tell me a canon and I shall respond with my...

1. One True Pairing Ship:
2. Canon Ship:
3. "If this happens I'll stab my eyes out with a spork" Ship:
4. "You are one sick bastard" Ship:
5. "I dabble a little" Ship:
6. "It's like a car crash" Ship:
7. "Tickles my fancy but not sold just yet" Ship:
8. "Makes no canon sense but why the Hell not" Ship:
9. "Everyone else loves it but I just don't feel it" Ship:
10. "When all is said and done" Ship:

You know you're a fandom junkie when...

solderini@hotmail.com — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 07:08:38 GMT

I had a dream last night. I guess I have dreams as often as anyone else, but it's only rarely that I remember them, rare enough that it's worth noting. And this was a Very Special one.

It started out with myself and a bunch of other people getting kidnapped by the Eye of Sauron and stuck in a spaceship. I rememer being very afraid, but instead of crying or screaming or trying to escape...

...I picked a fight with another abductee. A nasty, vicious fight. About the characterization of Babylon 5's Ivanova in her fanfic. She just wouldn't believe it was a Mary Sue! I called her a "Mary Susan," which I thought was very clever in my dream. Yeah.

I took her off my LJ Friendslist and everything. 'Cause we had personal computers and the internet up there in Spaceship Mordor.

Eventually the Eye dropped us off in a semi-idyllic village-type place that looked vaguely like a town from Final Fantasy IX. Everyone was ecstatic and dashed out into the sunlight, arms spread stereotypically open. Someone passed by me, and I realized that it was Ivanova. And she was acting just like she did in the fanfic.

This is probably an expression of anxiety: the Eye of Mordor represents Sacramento, and Ivanova represents my long-standing fear of giving my opinion and having it be the wrong one. Really, though, I think it's most likely an sign that I need to get a life that is three-dimensional.

I should be the one to fill this dark blog with LIGHT!

solderini@hotmail.com — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:20:35 GMT

As is usually the case, the title is heebee's fault. Damn you, H. Damn you.

I just got back from gwenlle's graduation (congratulations, dear!) and an extended stay with H and her family, so I'm all pumped up to get moving on my move to Northern California. My destination? Sacramento. My goal? Get a job and a place to live, study for the Psychology GRE, and get into grad school, preferably at UC Santa Cruz, but I'll see what happens. I just put in seven applications online, and I hope to hear from one or all of them--since I'm qualified for them, I think I have a decent chance. Still looking, though!

I don't really have much else to say--I'm back on Paxil, which has given me a lot more energy, which is helping immensely. I've taken up needlepoint, which is like embroidery but with canvas instead of plain cloth, and am starting to design things for myself. I'm also considering going to Otacon this year, since I've never been before. Anyone else going?

The problem with not posting for a long time (aside from, well, not posting for a long time) is that it feels like there's so much to cover, making up for time missed, and it's a bit intimidating. So I've decided that, in lieu of uploading my journal of job frustrations (every entry is "GOD DAMMIT WOMAN I'M NOT A TELEPATH!!!11!11@!"), I'm going to upload a retarded bit of fandom nonsense.

solderini@hotmail.com — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 06:31:45 GMT

Note to others:

When estimating how much vodka to use for your first alcoholic beverage in a long long time, use a shotglass. Don't just pour vodka into a mason jar, toss in some Sprite and hope for the best.

Not getting on AIM, because if I'm having this much trouble spelling on LJ, I'm going to be completely incomprehensible everywhere else.

And now, I go to answer two-week-old comments. Sorry, dudes.

solderini@hotmail.com — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 04:14:21 GMT

After one week, my room is still clean. Sound the trumpets!

Going to Sacremento tomorrow, so the current mood shouldn't last too long. XD

I'm actually going to bed right now (brain slowly seeping into sinuses and out nose), but I felt like posting a meme. So I stole one from heebee

Comment with a fandom and I'll answer these questions:

01. The first character I first fell in love with
02. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now
03. The character everyone else loves that I don't
04. The character I love that everyone else hates
05. The character I used to love but don't any longer
06. The character I would shag anytime
07. The character I'd want to be like
08. The character I'd slap
09. A pairing that I love
10. A pairing that I despise

I hate housework

solderini@hotmail.com — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:20:36 GMT

...but I cleaned my room today. I was feeling really sick this morning, so I left work after an hour, came home and napped. When I woke up feeling worse than before, I thought it might be time to vacuum my floor, especially since I suspect a chronic sinus infection could be the cause of my near-continuous headache. So I cleaned, and am about to vacuum, and I expect it will remain clean for as many minutes as I remain out of it. Go me.

The trick to getting through Season 5 is to hate Byron loudly and often. Believe me, it's not hard. It wouldn't be if he'd ever shut up about how he and Lyta were lovers in a past life and their love was meant to be and how she's his willow and star and angel and SHUT THE FUCK UP BYRON. And stop singing hymns. God. And send your friends away when you and Lyta get it on, the way they all come around to watch and listen in telepathically is creepy creepy creepy.

Fortunately, he's only around for about half the season. I would say skip it, except that other stuff happens that is necessary to the plot. Also, Lyta grows a spine. This is Byron's one good deed.

And now the reason I like watching Season 5. Once Byron is gone, the focus moves onto Londo and his painful ascent to the Centauri throne. Oh Londo. ;_; Looks like you won't get your middle-aged alien sex with G'Kar. All you get is nasty tentacle things from some reptilian dude's manboob.

Watching Babylon 5 with my sister has givenme a new perspective, I must say. Marcus is no longer Marcus. Instead, he is now Ugly Viggo Mortenson. Maybe he'll get it on with a hot elf chick when the unicorn revives him.

And that's all I have to say about anything at the moment.

Yup, still alive and somewhat coherent

solderini@hotmail.com — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 05:53:08 GMT

See, cabbitjakie, it only took me 7 weeks this time.

Either way, I went shopping today and am currently updating this journal from my Nintendo DS. Now I don't have to walk the 20 feet from the couch to my computer to browse for porn on the internet. Ain't technology grand?

Actually, this is a very good thing for me, as I am incredibly lazy and will not willingly sit upright if I can lounge instead. <♥> you, Nintendo DS. You make my decision-making process so much easier.

Too bad the browsing in question moves with all the speed of a snail in a bucket of molases. Oh well.

Much to your chagrin...

solderini@hotmail.com — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 21:02:00 GMT

...I am still alive.

I could detail the happenings of my life, but I don't want to. I'm tired and I don't think I have the mental energy at the moment to put together a coherent report. Last weekend, I watched 2 seasons of Babylon 5 in 3 days, because I just didn't have the energy to do anything. This weekend is better.

Suffice to say things have been going very well for me in all areas and I expect that the trend will continue.

Apparently not well enough to post about them or, you know, communicate in any way, shape or form with people who do not live with me. But whatever.

I picked up volumes 3-8 of From Eroica With Love at Fanime. Expect a separate post regarding that particular series sometime later. Oh Klaus. ♥

My agenda for the day
--Write stuff. If not fiction (fan or not), then at least the outline of a post and/or some kind of series review (I've meant to do this for so many series, and this time I think I'm going to go through with it). Or a con report for Fanime, or a ship manifesto. Or porn. Or something.
--Put together my dresser.
--Sew for cosplay (and watch more B5 while I'm at it). heebee, I think I may have figured out this whole "pleated skirt" thing, so I'm gonna try for PW1 Ema and use PW4 as a backup. I'm sure my leg hair will forgive me.
--And in the spaces in between, play Princess Maker 2 and/or Guitar Hero 2.

No points if you can guess which one of these items is the only one that will be accomplished.

I've been reading LJ, but not very carefully. How are you?

EDIT: I just realized that it's six months to the day since I last posted. Damn.

solderini@hotmail.com — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 11:48:01 GMT

Apparently I am incapable of posting more than once a month.

1. I am hoping to send out cards this weekend. If you want one (and haven't already given me an address), email me. solderini at hotmail dot com.

2. I have basically been offered a promotion at work. My company is doubling the size of one of its services, and the bigwigs have decided to make a separate unit out of it. If I ever get around to it, I'll expand on what that unit does, but for now I'll just say that they want an administrative mini-boss for the unit and the program director for my current clinic is really gunning for me to apply for the job. Logically, it is a very good idea for me to do so. My gut reaction, however, was to balk, because I've only been working there three months or so and 'dlkshjgf;an. Since I've found that the best way to overcome my anxieties is to weigh them objectively against the benefits of whatever I'm doing:

--Pros: higher pay, possibly more flexible hours (good for facilitating #3), more responsibility, a more interesting job, personal growth, continuing to work at a site that is a five-minute drive from where I currently live, working with people I already know and like (and who like me), the opportunity to wear a suit I adore to the interview.

--Cons: it's more comfortable being a ninny.

Right. Maybe that wasn't technically objective, but I'm still sending in my letter of intent on Monday.

3. I am considering going to grad school in either psycholinguistics or social psychology. Of course, I have not taken a single psychology course in my entire academic career. So I need to get me a background in psych, which means going back to college. Step One: research what the average grad school wants in their psych students, so I can figure out what I have to take. Step Two: bend over and take it. Step Three: pick a grad school and go. Step Four: bend over and take it. Step Five: assuming I don't burn out and fry my brain on meth and hobble off to live in a trash bag, obtain master's degree, possibly Ph.D.

Hell, if mom could get a Ph.D and a snazzy fellowship after partying her first three years of college, I can too.

4. I am considering psychiatric medication. My self-esteem and mood are pretty good now (I can say nice things about myself without wincing), but I just can't seem to shake my damn social anxiety. Why do I worry so much about obligating other people to me, as if I were that powerful? Why do I become terrified when the clerk at the drug store recognizes me? Why can't I just respond to someone's livejournal post without obsessing over what they'll think of what I have to say? I don't even know! All I know is that I've been this way for as long as I can remember, and I'm fucking sick of it, and if medication is the best way to overcome it, I'll do it. I think that if I just had an example of myself approaching social situations in a non-frightened manner, I could continue, even off medication. Whenever I try to visualize it now, I draw a complete blank.

5. Could someone please explain to me why my ex-fiancee is still so afraid of making me mad, five or so years after I broke it off? Am I really so intimidating? Do I really seem like I'm going to bite your head off if you ask me to drop a subject? Or is he just a wuss?

And that's life.

1. Answers from the Very Special Month-Ago Meme:

1. Also known as the "Let's Betray R----" game. Final Fantasy Tactics, guessed by no one.

2. In this world, there is no physics; there is only tennis. Prince of Tennis, guessed by shizukun, muffytaj and furious_meg.

3. This is what happens when you go to 2chan for romantic advice. Densha Otoko/Train Man, guessed by shizukun.

4. Protection/Revenge vs. the Hippocratic Oath in a cage match to the death. Monster, guessed by muffytaj and furious_meg.

5. Their love is the most fucked-up threesome the world has ever seen. Tokyo Babylon, guessed by gsyh. furious_meg gets bonus points for answering "Mom, dad and the TV."

6. Sword fights and roses and incest, oh my! Revolutionary Girl Utena, guessed by everyone who responded.

7. I------ is god. Babylon 5, guessed by no one.

8. "Objection! One sentence is not enough to fully define the brain-boggling crack that is this game!" Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, guessed by shizukun, hazard_us and muffytaj. Also, damn you, heebee.

9. She'll steal your heart again and again, and you won't even know you've lost it. Sugar Sugar Rune, guessed by shizukun.

10. Chasing Lamborghinis down the Autobahn in tanks has never been so old-school. From Eroica With Love, guessed by no one. Oh Klaus, no one understands your chain-smoking Prussian appeal.

2. Since shizukun correctly guessed #9, I tried to write him a small bit of fic. Revolutionary Girl Utena, Miki and Nanami ~~my non-cannon OTP as well~~. The best time to write Utena fic is when you are more than half-asleep. Of course, it helps if you actually have a grasp of the characters you're writing about. Hahah, guess who doesn't.

There is no spoon, knife, fork, salad plate or title. Just a teacup and a toy train.

3. I blame alice_and_lain again, for inadvertently reminding me about this idea I had. Don't let me drop it ~~assuming that it's worth continuing~~, because I actually do want to finish it. Prince of Tennis, Inui and Dan (Mizuki to join in later). Tentative title: Dark Lords of Data. The final title should, if just one thing goes right, be anything but Dark Lords of Data, because if that isn't the stupidest title ever, I'll eat my own foot. Both of them, even.

Always two there are, a master and an apprentice, until another master comes along and throws off all the calculations.

I think Dan turned out more like Creepy Stalker Tohru Honda than anything else, but then, that was my first thought when I saw him in action, so.

And that's fandom.

Edit: This song will not leave me alone. The only solution is to share the pain. Take it.

THE ROOF, THE ROOF, THE ROOF IS ON FIRE

solderini@hotmail.com — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 01:55:30 GMT

It's been a while, and stuff has happened in this country of mine (holy crap, I actually don't feel like a turd for claiming the US as my homeland, for the first time in a long time). I'm not going to go into depth about how I feel about the Democrats winning both houses of Congress. I will say that I don't expect a miracle, but I do expect a new direction. It's difficult to maintain a heavy-handed, edging-into-dictatorial-territory style of leadership if you don't have all branches of government supporting you.

I heard that one of the first things W. said about the election was that, as a gesture of bipartisanship, his first act would be to send a Republican interior decorator to redo Nancy Pelosi's office. I have two problems with this:

1) A woman with the intelligence, drive and political savvy to lead one of the two major political parties in the US is, in all probability, not going to concern herself with office decor first thing.

2) Why would she want a Republican decorator? Can't she pick her own?

But enough of that. Not only am I pleased with the election results, it is also Friday, and a major stressor will (hopefully) soon be gone for good. This, of course, means that it's meme-stealing time.

Ganked from hazard_us and gsyh:

Summarize 10 of your fandoms in one sentence, then see who on your friends list can guess each fandom. I actually only get involved in a few actual fandoms at a time, so I just picked some stuff I like a lot.

1. Also known as the "Let's Betray R----" game.

2. In this world, there is no physics; there is only tennis.

3. This is what happens when you go to 2chan for romantic advice.

4. Protection/Revenge vs. the Hippocratic Oath in a cage match to the death.

5. Their love is the most fucked-up threesome the world has ever seen.

6. Sword fights and roses and incest, oh my!

7. I------ is god.

8. "Objection! One sentence is not enough to fully define the brain-boggling crack that is this game!"

9. She'll steal your heart again and again, and you won't even know you've lost it.

10. Chasing Lamborghinis down the Autobahn in tanks has never been so old-school.

If you get #9 right, I'll ~~try to~~ write you a drabble from any of the other fandoms, your choice of subject matter.

solderini@hotmail.com — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 05:08:04 GMT

There is a reason I don’t talk about real life in this journal. To put it simply, my life is boring and I would rather summarize events and hurry along to the good stuff. So:

--Got the job, and am now a floating administrative assistant, AKA a temp secretary. I have learned two completely different data-entry systems these past few weeks, and am expected to learn yet another the week after next. Pros: good pay, brain exercise, hey I’m working. Cons: carpal tunnel, brain leakage, every time they send me to a new office I will spend five hours lost in Arizona before I get there. Also, I spend a great deal of time doing this (<--does not work in Firefox, woe).

--I drove 800 miles to see Snakes on a Plane with heebee, cabbitjakie and Will, and it was worth every minute.

--I need new work shoes. How the fuck did I ever sell clothing in these things?

--I fell in love with a reality show. In order to fully appreciate this, you should know that I loathe reality TV. I tried shows out because people I knew liked them, but one episode was more than enough. The Real World put me to sleep, Big Brother was creepy, and I hated every single competitor on Survivor. And yet, I absolutely adored Who Wants to be a Superhero? It’s the perfect blend of cheesy melodrama, dorky costumes and genuinely likeable people. Even though it’s over (and the person I was cheering for didn’t win), thinking about it still makes me smile. If you get the SciFi Channel (holy shit, the SciFi Channel has a reality show!), catch the reruns if you can. (haunteddiner, now that I’m a bit more settled into things, I’ll try to get you play-by-plays as I see them).

--So I hear Pluto got the pink slip. Don’t worry, they’ll rehire it when the economy picks up again.

--And now, the “fun” stuff. Drabble meme, pick any series I have listed as an LJ interest. I’ll try to finish by the end of the weekend. ~~Also, I looked back over previous drabbley things and realized that I completely forgot one request each for heebee. I'll try to get those done as well.~~

Quickly, before I go to work

solderini@hotmail.com — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:20:00 GMT

Snakes on a Plane is coming out this weekend. Would you Sac-area-type friends (cabbitjakie, heebee) like to get together to see it? Also, gwenlle, animate_mush, would you like to go see it, whether or not we end up in Sac (and, hopefully, a really cheap motel)?

Feel free to shoot this down, I'll see it with my mom if this doesn't work out.

PS: I changed my cel phone number and somehow ended up purging some of the phone numbers I had stored on it. If I knew your number before, expect an email after work begging for your contact information.

PPS: Matt, I will recap the drama of Who Wants to be a Superhero? for you when I get a free moment.

solderini@hotmail.com — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 04:26:30 GMT

So. Down in SoCal again, doing that whole "let's-find-a-job" thing. Few promising leads, boring boring blah. I don't wanna talk about it, so I will place a cut here for fandom babbling.

Well, not so much babbling as posting of things I doubt anyone wants clogging up their friends' lists. I appear to have lost all conception of attractive formatting.

Tokyo Babylon
So I got bored one day and decided to do this thing that's been going around LJ called 1 Sentence, which is basically where you take a couple and write one sentence each on fifty varying themes. Doesn't take a lot of time or thought, which is good. I did Hokuto/Seishirou and spoiled the important bits of Tokyo Babylon.

And then I linked to it in my LiveJournal. Oh Hokuto/Seishirou, your love is a double homicide waiting to happen.

Prince of Tennis
I like shoujo manga and am usually a shoujo fan. However, there's always that one retarded shounen series that consumes my soul. Currently, it's Prince of Tennis. Three things for it, two of which I actually wrote in comments in other people's journals and then edited.

The Vivid, Endearing, Tender, Loving, Sweet and Romantic Romance of the Great Ore-sama and His Sleepy Subordinate--originally written in airairo's journal as a random response to a post about indicative fandom catchphrases (or something that makes a bit more sense). You know, like using "the long-haired girl" or "Kamui's twin star's sister" instead of "Kotori." I don't think it actually related to the post very well, but it was fun to write.

Completely Untitled Kawamura/Akutsu Story. Wrote this in someone's journal in thanks for something, heck if I remember. Uh. Yuuki's in it? And there's lots of swearing.

"You Have Sixteen (Points), Going on Seventeen," a song parody. This is actually my fault, as I gave alice_and_lain the idea that sparked him/her to write the thing that sparked this off. But I blame him/her anyway. Yanagi tries a bit of psychological warfare on Inui during their huge long tiebreaker thing at the Kantou finals. Inui almost succumbs to his OOC antics, but miraculously recovers when he too launches into OOCness. The sad thing is, now that two songs exist, I'm tempted to take it all the way and write "The Sound of Rikkai." But maybe I should find a job first.

I will actually get on AIM one of these days.

Edit: if you feel like it, prompt me to write something fandom-related.

solderini@hotmail.com — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 17:50:14 GMT

You ever get that anxious feeling where you want to do something and everything you try just isn't right? Am definitely feeling the void of local friends at the moment.

In other news, I thought it was Saturday until I turned on my computer. Even sitting here and typing away, I keep forgetting it's Tuesday. This is why I loathe idleness--feels like I'm underwater, looking up at the sun and not really recognizing it. I need to find subletters, drive down south and find a job.

Man, I just realized. I can't borrow heebee's Bleach manga anymore. Guess I need to get my own.

Bah.

Thoughts on graduation

solderini@hotmail.com — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 18:58:03 GMT

1. To those of you who have already graduated (such as biztheinsane): congratulations! I might not have said it at the time, having had quite a bit of work to do in order to graduate myself, but that's awesome. Good job, dudes.

2. I am so fucking sick of Nazis. Comes with the territory for people majoring in German, I know, but god damn it. I mean, I try to write a paper on a harmless little German suffix, and then I find out it played a part in the linguistic politics of the Third Reich and end up writing five pages on the Nazi war of the semantic sexes. ARGH.

3. I have never been able to visualize myself as anything other than a student. At the moment, this means I cannot visualize myself as anything but a void after tomorrow morning. I guess I always assumed I would either die or ascend to Nirvana before I finished school.

...well, there's still 20-ish hours left. Go Nirvana go!

[melodrama goes here]

4. I think I'm going to miss "Uncle Charlie's Summer Camp" more than anything in my life. What can you really say about the first place you ever really felt at home in, right off the bat? The place where you actively made friends for the first time, friends who didn't think you were a moron for liking comic books? The place where you learned to distinguish between the sounds of bongs and ventilation ducts? The place where you realized, yes, you are gay, and it's okay? Where you learned to not hate yourself for your imperfections, because hey, people like you anyway, for whatever reason?

Well, apparently that's what you can say. [/melodrama]

5. I realized the other day that in my time at college, I have never actually a) gone to a bar, b) drank alcohol while attending school, or c) written a paper while inebriated. All of these are apparently fun university pasttimes that I have woefully missed out on. Hence, I have before me a bottle of 8-proof "Melon-flavored Malt Cooler" that I bought on my own initiative. I'm not sure I like it, but at least it doesn't taste like beer.

Edit: I think death by happiness has won out over Nirvana. gwenlle got me the best graduation gift ever. Look! Look!