Site Updates – a soldier through this

A not-so-new start

In attempt to get myself pumped up for this (and to give me something to do), I finally took advantage of WP’s import/export feature and imported all of the archives from 2003-2005 over to this blog. Reading through some of them made me stop and think “Wow, I was a really retarded teenager.”

It’ll take some time to go through and rename posts and fix categories, but I shall persevere (somehow). To some extent it’s kind of amusing (“Wow, once upon a time I actually did chapter and episode summaries!”). If I had any sense of dignity I’d probably delete them and disassociate myself with my own teenage stupidity, but at the same time it shows me how much I have (or haven’t, lol) grown and changed in the past ~6 years.

And while I’m on the subject of change, need new theme. We shall see how unlazy I get, because although I adore Donghae’s stupid face, these colours just aren’t doing it for me.

Things that got changed in the not-so-distant past:

Ukepile.com got a new layout, and I’ve moved all of my song romanisations over there (they’re still posted here, but I’ll be keeping them over there so I have a complete list for my own reference more than anything.

Rhythmic High was split into three separate sites: RH:GUNDAM for all of my Gundam works, RH:TENNIS for all of my Tenipuri works, and the main site for everything else.

And now to go obsessively refresh Menclave for my Gundam 00 fix. XD;

Welcome to OSX.

First post from new laptop, horrah. I’d been toying with the idea of getting a Mac laptop since last semester when my financial aid check came, but put it off in favour of Genki pbs, Higamyu photosets and Yaoicon. However, the end of December brought Hiku getting a new laptop and was selling her older (mid-2005) laptop and needless to say, I asked her to hold onto it for me until I could pay her in January. After a few weeks of trying to decide how we wanted to deal with her getting it to me without having to worry about it getting damaged, we ended up deciding we’d both just drive to Santa Rosa and hang out for a bit. Sasu came with her and gave me easily $100 worth of Copic Sketch markers she had extras of, plus some other stuff that we had ordered together and she was going to send to me anyway. They didn’t get to stay very long, but fun times were had.

Needless to say, I’m now the owner of an iBook G4 with OSX Tiger (tiny and cute!). While I grew up using a Mac (We still have our first computer in storage – I can’t remember what model it is off the top of my head, but it has a whopping 500mb hard drive and 5 mb of RAM. XD), and all of the computers I ever used at school were Macs (I was a freshman in high school when the original candy-shell iBooks came out), I haven’t really touched one since I was 17. So, naturally, it’s taking a while for my Windows-ingrained brain to get used to Macs and Mac shortcuts again. Not to mention all this newfangled stuff they’ve added to Mac OS since the last time I’ve used one. XD Now, if I can figure out how to get php properly set up for local use (not that I’ve tried very hard to set it up, lulz), life will be good. At the very least, it gives me a handful of machines to check designs and coding on. This cute little Mac laptop w/OSX on a 1028×768 res with Firefox, Safari and Opera installed, my desktop with WinXP on 1280×1024 with Firefox, IE and Opera installed, and mum’s laptop (that I like to use for the fact S is allowing her to leech his wireless – asshole won’t give me the password, so still stuck with dialup for my comps >_>) with Vista on a 1280×800 (+her lower-res-than-my-account’s res) with Firefox and IE. Plenty of options, really!

Also, iTunes. I hate iTunes. I don’t know why, it just irritates the hell out of me. There’s a reason I do not have it on my desktop even though S is like HEY GET ITUNES IT’S AWESOME. Any ideas on a Mac-equivalent of WinAmp, raise your hand XD;

School has been keeping me pretty busy, which is kind of sad when you consider how poorly I’m doing right now. Really need to get myself caught up and get my ducks in a row if I want to pass any classes this semester. Too much stress, really. Not having my license is making me all sorts of askdjf;alksdjfjsdalf if only for the fact that it would be so much cheaper to drive to school rather than pay $20 a week for cabs to school ($10 two times a week). The $2-$3 given to a classmate for rides home is easily swingable but >_O’ Hurrr now if only I didn’t hate driving with every bone in my body. Though I probably should try to go get that soon (damn you family not helping with uhhh a usable car and someone actually being home on a day the DMV is open so I can take my test again >EEE), permit kind of expires (again) sometime in April >>;;

Enough of that. This time next week I’ll be in… snowy, freezing-ass Burlington, Vermont visiting with my Leah over spring break. Leaving on Friday, returning home to California on the 30th. We have plans. Plans that involve sitting on our asses watching Kane & Genki dvds on big screen, spazzflailing over Rikkaimyu Genki!Kirihara and Kane!Sanada, and watching Power Rangers. May be watching some Gintama, for people will be happy if we do and start fangirling it. With Tenipuri manga finally being over (NICE COP-OUT, KONOMI.), it may be time to find a new fandom. Except the part where I still ♥ Tenipuri with all my ickle heart. …:D;

Other fandom news involves writing for balls_it_up, in which I wrote the single most awful fic I have ever written. XD; Which fic, however, I am not yet allowed. Writing mojo is finally starting to come back, if the few pieces I’ve started recently are any indication.

On the subject of fannish stuff, new fanlistings!
[+] Narugami aka Narukami/Thor {Matantei Loki Ragnarok}
[+] Heimdall {Matantei Loki Ragnarok}
[+] Seles {Apocripha/0 – Game/Manga}
[+] Platina Pastenr {Apocripha/0 – Game}
[+] Schwarz {Weiss Kreuz}
[+] My Friend Flicka {Book – Mary O’Hara’s My Friend Flicka}
[+] Green Grass of Wyoming {Book – Mary O’Hara’s Green Grass of Wyoming}

Upcoming fanlistings:
[-] Thunderhead {Book by Mary O’Hara}
[-] The Horse-Tamer {Book by Walter Farley}
[-] Nakagauchi Masataka {Musician}
[-] Four Rooms {Film}
[-] 0 no Soukoushi {Manga by Kaori Yuki}
[-] Fairy Cube {Manga by Kaori Yuki}
[-] Psycho Knocker {Manga by Kaori Yuki}

I certainly have my work cut out for me XD;

Mmmm. Since my last post, Rhythmic High has also been updated with quite a bit of artwork and fic from the past year.

I think that may be about it, except for one thing: Downloads!

[=] Oliver & Company Soundtrack (32.31 mb, .rar)
[=] The Nightmare Before Christmas Soundtrack. (54.99 mb, .rar)

Er, enjoy. XD Need to find myself some free to so that I may make a new layout for this poor neglected place.

Of life and internets

January marked a few things: A new year, a new school year, and my 22nd birthday. \0/ Year thus far has been spent doing basically the same things I do anyway. XD;

Back to school with what will hopefully be my last full-time semester until Uni, as except for math and a couple of other subjects I’ve already got what I need to transfer \0/ Goals for this semester include not sucking as much as I did last semester, oops.

Subjects -> Beginning Algebra (math deficiency whaaat), Ecology (Lecture + Lab), US History through 1750 & Critical Thinking in Literature. More classes than last semester, fewer units (…on less than last semester, hur). Good thing though being that I only have classes three days a week and I have four days off in a row >> Bad news being that including fandomy-writing I have to write roughly 35,000 words by the end of the month 8D

Fandomy stuff ->

[+] FL collective moved to Pure Rhythm.

[+] The following fanlistings have moved to new URLs in the past few weeks: Series: Whistle!, Character: Satou Shigeki, Character: Mizuno Tatsuya, Relationship: Kaku Eishi (Yeong-sa), Sanada Kazuma & Wakana Yuhto (U-14’s), Character Group: Nittle Grasper, Character: Ukai Noriko, Character: Farfarello (Jei), Character: Naoe Nagi, Character: Tsukiyono Omi (Takatori Mamoru), Relationship: Naoe Nagi & Tsukyiono Omi, Relationship: Hidaka Ken & Tsukiyono Omi, Character Group: Jyousei Shounan Gakuen, Character Group: Yamabuki Chuugakkou, Relationship: Kurobane Harukaze & Amane Hikaru, &Relationship: Momoshiro Takeshi & Kaidou Kaoru.

[+] New Fanlistings! Actor: Kanesaki Kentarou and Character: Narugami/Thor.

Lots of travel planned this year. Vermont over Spring Break (March) to visit Leah, a trip to San Francisco to hang out with Roll on her way home from Japan in April (not really “travel” since SF is only two hours away, but hey! It’s Roll! And not Roll on the opposite side of country! Exciting times!) Will be doing the Artist Alley at Fanime come the end of May, as well. Actually, that few weeks will be crazy, for it is final exams, then Fanime, then coming home for maybe a day (if I come home at all and don’t just stay at K’s), then hopping over the pond to London for two weeks to play with Pez & Liz & Unni~ Tarundoru-cakes and Higa’s Adventures In Cooking! Then it’s home until August, wherein flying to Baltimore for Otakon and playing with Roll & Moffit again, as well as my Rue and a couple of my West Coast kids I play with anyway. \0/ September rounds it off nicely with back to school and Yaoicon, after which I hibernate until May. XD;

I need a job if I’m going to want to afford all of this >.>;;;;

Flee time, for things to do~

Of life and stuff.

So behind in school it’s not even funny, turning-in-work-wise. Before tomorrow I have to write a (very, very late) literary analysis, three reading reflections, 7 sections of math, a working bibliography for my next literary analysis and study like hell for Monday’s massive math test, relax for Tuesday’s English midterm, and drive myself into the ground studying for next week’s massive Biology midterm.

Have a general idea of my grades thus far – averaging a low A in English, a B in Lit (for turning things in late and missing classes), a B in math (because I suck) and a low C in Biology (not getting above a B in any of my midterms and missing several labs, which we’re heavily graded on for participation).

However, missing some classes was worth it, for Van was visiting all of last week and left this past Tuesday. Had a blast at Yaoicon hanging-out-with-people-wise, the con itself was so-so. Finally got to meet Spardie and had many funtimes with my usual gang. Didn’t buy much, nothing really interested me. I did, however, manage to find cheap RURU Shani porn and really cute Seles doujin, which makes up the entirety of my Ycon loot that wasn’t food.

Hana is awesomecakes and sent me the Elfen Lied DVD’s, so Van & I marathoned that and I found a new series I ♥. Also forced her to watch movies everyone’s been telling her to see (Boondock Saints and American History X), as well as Four Rooms and Pirates 2. Watched parts of Rikkaimyu and made her watch the Super Junior movie (what the crack is this), too, har.

Comp appears to be having issues with something. Will have to bust out the neenja skillz and make it cut that shit out.

In other news, The Whored is being dismantled and taken down; the image gallery replaced by Pixelated and doujinshi scans staying on Prontastic.

Need to upgrade the Sakura-Crisis Forums to combat all those spam memberships at some point (cry.)

Also have fic and art stuff I haven’t bothered pimping over @ STHUGAIZ, in the form of the following:

ART:
Kirihara Akaya [Tenipuri] :: G-rated; Watercolour pencil, brushed ink & conte crayon.
Alex & Platina Pasteur [Apocripha/0] :: PG-rated, maybe?; Black & blue ink w/ dip pen, Copic sketch markers.
Kamio Akira [Tenipuri] :: G-rated; Prismacolour pencils.

FIC:

Whatever You Say, Boss :: Tenipuri; NC-17 futurefic, Niou/Kirihara, Yagyuu/Niou, mentions of Yukimura/Kirihara & allusions to Yanagi/Kirihara if you squint hard enough. Read the warnings.
Untitled :: Tenipuri; G, Yagyuu/Niou. There is absolutely no dialogue or interaction in this fic, it’s more of character study than anything.
Chicken Soup (Perhaps for the Teenage Tennis Player’s Soul) :: Tenipuri, G, Ibu/Kamio.
Say It If You Mean It :: Tenipuri, PG-13, Ibu/Kamio.

…Sadness for tablet still not working right and for my not yet being finished with my Santa_Smex fic. Oops. :D;;

Yeah, anyway. I’m done for now.

eight months later

I live, temporarily. School is back in session and I’m going to have to suffer the next four months under 15 units of prealgebra, English 1A, Biology & 20th Century American Literature. Going alright thus far, despite the fact that my textbooks are not here yet (I am going to be screwed in math tomorrow :D Good thing homework only counts as 5% of our grade). With any luck they will be here tomorrow though, J ordered them on her card Thursday night and thank GOD it ended up costing only a little more for my textbooks + mum’s textbooks than it would’ve had I bought only my books at the campus bookstore. For fuck’s sake, why is this shit so expensive D:

In order to keep from going insane in school I’ve been writing more (as I have days where I have to spend 3-5 hours sitting around campus until my class starts); mostly a bunch of useless tennis fic. I’ve also resurrected Sakura-Crisis and Red Sun, so those will take up some time I need to spend avoiding trying to kill myself with overwork XD

Summer was more or less fab – went to Fanime the day after school ended in May and got to see Marou, Kitty & Aka, all of whom were visiting CA (+ my usual suspects, who are still made of love), then headed out to Otakon in July to hang out with Roll & Moff in Baltimore (you can see our cosplay pics in that shiny new photos section on the sidebar :D). Needless to say I had a blast hanging out with some of my most favourite people ♥ Skipped AX due to lack of funds and will likely skip it again next year for Otakon instead. Next up is Yaoicon to go play with Rue, Spardie, Van & my usual ladies and gents. Van’ll be spending the week at my house too, so that’ll be fun :3

*brain fizzle* It is getting late, and thus I need to pop off to bed. G’night, all :)