gorgeous day: reredefined

You! Explain your username to me. I bet there's some kind of meme for this, but I'm just curious and not armed with a meme, so forgive me for asking it in lame question form.

For those of you who've known me for a while (some of you going on ten years! crazy!), my username hasn't changed (it hasn't changed for those of you who've only known me for a short time, either, but you wouldn't necessarily know what it means): "LTGMars" is the combination of "Love That Gohan" (from Dragonball Z) and my favorite Sailor Senshi, Sailor Mars. (Yeah, okay, you can stop laughing now.) It's been my username for about as long as I've been on the internet, wherever I've been on the internet, and I don't plan on changing it.

Okay, your turn~

. today is my last day of work! Huzzah!

. Halley will be here next Wednesday! Huzzah!

. I have been watching the Ohoku trailer non-stop for the past few hours. (So, what's new, Inez? (Nothing much, apparently.)) ... h-huzzah?

. the Heaven's Rock photobook came, and KenKen and the rest of Cocoa Otoko. are just so. so. cute. I'll probably scan it, though I don't like getting my photobooks bent up like that. Usually I'm all for using things instead of just looking at them (my Nino 5x10 clear file has taken a beating in my backpack; my brother and I used to play adventure games about stocks and bonds with our Beanie Babies (yeah, I don't know)), and if I stick the photobook under some magazines or something it'll be okay, but still. Bending it like that hurts, somehow. Deep down in my soul. But the adorability must be shared! Huzzah!

. the last two volumes of the Full Metal Panic! light novel also arrived. Gatou-sensei has been writing this series since December 1998, and with parts 1 and 2 of Zutto, Stand By Me released (volumes 11 and 12 overall), it's finally over. Fantastic series, seriously. Action and adventure and suspense and sci-fi and mystery and comedy and romance and a strong, likeable female lead who's distinctive without being a caricature. Now I just have to learn a bunch of complex biological and military terms in Japanese so that I can read it from the beginning! Huzzah!

. the October issue of More has not yet arrived (boo! hiss!), but it should ship soon, hopefully. Unf! ... I mean, huzzah!

. I got a new external hard drive! Now I have three: 500GB (Athrun) for Kanjani8; 1TB (Kira) for A*ashi; 2TB (Asuka) for random Japanese media (j-dramas, movies, musicals, etc.). So much space! Huzzah!

... or so I would say, to make you all feel good about not being f-cut (it hurts so good), but I just went through and purged a bunch of old/inactive journals from my f-list. They still have me friended, so I get to look at their usernames in my "friends of" list for posterity, but for some reason it bothered me that I had so many inactive journals showing up on my "friends" list, so I got rid of 'em.

And this goes out mostly to people who're friends with me out of habit, but to anyone, really (even the newest batch): I'm always open to defriending. Tastes change, people change, friendships change. That's fine. If you're sick of hearing me wibble about tiny Japanese men, I get that, and I'm not going to hold it against you that we're different now, or that the commonality on which we based our initial friendship no longer exists. I like becoming friends with people with similar interests because that usually lets us get to know one another beyond that original common thread, but sometimes it's just hard to relate to someone you have so little in common with, especially when that commonality isn't a major aspect in your life anymore. I respect that, and if you ever feel like we've come to that point and you aren't comfortable with having me around, don't hesitate to defriend me. (Don't "feel bad", though, that you might be boring me with what you write about. I read all of my friends' entries because they speak to who you are as people and perhaps how you've changed and grown since we've met, even if I don't understand what the hell you're talking about, heh.)

I get attached to friends and to the idea of friendship, and I'm always grateful that I've come in contact with people, even if for five minutes of one day -- because they're a part of this life I'm living, and they're a part of who I am now -- but I recognize that folks use the internet or view internet friendship differently than I do. So while for me (and I suspect for at least some of you), internet friendship is as important (or perhaps in some ways even more important) than in-the-flesh friendship, I can't expect that everyone feels that strongly or that deeply connected to people they meet online. Me? Sometimes I think back to some friends I made when I first swam into the interblag about ten years ago, and I say to myself, "A---- was in high school, wasn't she? I wonder what she's up to now." I'm just a nostalgic kind of person. But it takes a lot to offend me when it comes to something like this, and I can't blame you for not being that intensely attached to people (or being attached in a different way, or getting over your attachment more quickly than I do), so defriend me whenever you feel like it. I might get sad, but that's just life sometimes, eh?

Just so you know, if you do defriend me (now or ever), don't be alarmed if you get a note from me sending you well-wishes. I really do mean them.


ALSO what is up with all of these long-winded, serious posts lately (as in, well, today and yesterday)? I'm so ~*~thoughtful~*~ nowadays.

0. Except this one. Back home. New York was fun. We stopped by my aunt's house in Columbus, OH on the way home (though we stayed in a hotel). Pet peeve: when people speak to you in English even though they've been told that you understand whatever other language they're speaking to you in. It's usually not a problem, but when you say something in Indonesian to my parents and I understand you, and then you turn to me and say it again in English, it just feels patronizing.

1. Thanks to everyone for your well-wishes and congratulations! Graduation, woooo~

2. I owe Annie a picture from the meme a long time ago -- favorite spot on campus. I wouldn't say that I have a favorite, but this was a nice shot I got from when I walk onto campus when I'm walking from Bryn Mawr:



3. Jocelyn made me buy shoes. Made me. Pictures forthcoming, whenever they ship and arrive. They're... ahh, they're so cute.

4. I wrote Nino a fan letter. Ask Chele for a full transcript of the contents (oh, she knows), but for now, just a picture:


(I'm in love with handwritten Japanese, which is why I even took a picture. Also, I love watching Nino write in Japanese. Shiro, you can write your name on my floor plan anytime.)

5. Cami called while I was writing my Nino letter. BITCH I DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE WHEN I'M DOING NINO THINGS. Also, my phone was on silent, oops. I love you forgive me...

6. I'm getting a new computer next month to replace the one I have now (the old one that creaks and whines and sounds like it's going to self-destruct at any minute). Help me think of some names. For reference, my current computer is named KenKen. Other named electronics are Nino (DS); Fuuma, Athrun, and Kira (external hard drives); Satoshi, Kasumi, and Takeshi (flash drives); Kaworu (my stolen (from me, not by me) iPod); and Tezuka, Abel, and Natsumi (my hard drive partitions). I don't want to name more than one thing after the same person/character, which is why I'm telling you this. I'm leaning toward Ichigo (of the BLEACH variety, not any loli Ichigo that probably exists), but I can't shake the feeling that I've already named something after him. Or I could name him Leader (of the Arashi variety), just so that I can call my computer "Leader".

Not spoilerific of episode 8 itself, but minorly spoilerific of the series backstory (revealed a few episodes back).

( Two screenshots. )

My watching friend and I (because I have a legit drama watching friend. She's one of Will's freshmen from this past year. ♥ I've coerced Andrew into watching Ryuusei no Kizuna with me, but that's different.) were going nuts afterwards. Ahhhhh I want to know what happens. *_*


Meanwhile, I'm installing Yahoo Messenger because someone wants me to.

(♥)

Not judging (well, maybe just a little)... Mostly it's an organic mix of jaw-dropped amazement and pee-your-pants-while-you-run-away-screaming fear.

Including, but not limited to:
- change of major
- my official leave from fansubbing
- reflections on chatty online forums
- a quick survey of anime I watched over break
- life?

Before then, though, I had a question: does anyone know whether there are soft subs for Ichi Rittoru no Namida available? I'm downloading the raws from d-addicts, and I'm thinking that I'll probably need subtitles in order to understand everything and bawl appropriately. If not, I'll just go it without subtitles (I'm getting pretty good at understanding Japanese, and I've been watching random things without subtitles for a while now), but I really want to appreciate this series as much as possible, since apparently it's good and people cry when they watch it. You know.

Also, isn't AsuKira adorable? I don't even ship them... I just really appreciate their friendship. They'd be an interesting pair, I'm sure (God knows they've been shipped to high hell), but their camaraderie and resolve and faith in each other is really touching or something, and it just doesn't translate into a relationship beyond friendship/brotherhood for me. I'm sure it helps that their female counterparts are both extremely strong, sensible, likeable women (though Cagalli got on my nerves during GSD a little (a lot)... more on that on Saturday!).

Oh, and one more thing: Facebook me, because I need more people to stalk (and so do you).

Many of you now know of what happened late last year to an absolutely wonderful person whom I wish I'd gotten to know infinitely better than I did, even if my relationship with her was only over the internet. Needless to say, it's been a very sobering day today. I just want you, dear readers, to know that I'm glad to have met you, no matter how well we know each other. You're all a part of who I am now, even if through the most insignificant circumstances. So thank you -- all of you -- for your friendship.

Rest in peace, my friend.

Harrison (hall buddy/Japanese class study buddy/random bum) went "dumpster diving" earlier this evening and found three USB keyboards and a mouse (apparently, the library was throwing out old computer equipment it didn't use anymore, so it was all free for the taking). I'm borrowing-with-no-intention-of-returning one of the keyboards even though I don't need one since my laptop comes with one attached (obviously).

What does it all mean?

ORGAN TIME.

I'm typing with my right hand on my laptop keyboard and with my left hand on the USB keyboard. It's so cool. XD And the best thing is that they both work simultaneously, so I can hold the shift down with my left hand on one keyboard (I only use the left shift key because I was too lazy to learn how to do the double-shift thing) and keep typing with my right hand on the other. It's wild. :D

Okay, now I'm doing the opposite. Right hand on USB keyboard and left hand on laptop keyboard. THIS IS CRAZY, KIDS!

I was going to rant about my parents and tell them to LET ME HAVE MY SUMMER, but I'm a lot calmer now than I was an hour ago, so just a little something for my cellist lover:

Happy birthday, Alice! Shall see you tomorrow, and we will get money, and it will be grand, yes. :D


Things to do during/after work today:
- write letter to college advisor telling him/her how awesome I am
- pwn the math placement test? :/
- write drabbles
- make sure PeerCast and FlashGet work on KenKen O_O
- test printer/scanner/copier by rescanning a certain photobook :<

P.S. Apparently Emi has her birthday today, too, but she's semi-gone for now, so... >_>;; But happy birthday anyway! :D