Various stuff, not just Gackt this time!

The full-length version PV of the Bokurano opening theme, "Uninstall", by Chiaki Ishikawa. I've been listening to this obsessively. It's karaoke-subbed in both romaji and English, but the letters are pretty tiny, so here are the romaji and English lyrics.

Another PV of an Ishikawa song used as the opening to the yuri anime Simoun. I don't think I've found an English translation of this one yet, but the romaji is here. Yuri generally isn't my thing, but there's something about the story the video tells that captivates me.

Cen no Kotoba (A Thousand Words) in Japanese, from Final Fantasy X-2, high quality version. I find the English version kind of corny by comparison; why did they find it necessary to change the visuals, as well as the lyrics? Did they think we were too dumb to figure out what was going on if they didn't show both Yuna and Lenne separately? Sheesh.

An AMV of live-action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, to the Gackt song Lust for Blood.

I dislike Hayden Christiansen's Anakin Skywalker, but this video did a great match of song with video and is nicely edited (although that damned nightgown of Padme's always makes me groan. Who in their right mind would wear a nightgown with three BEADED STRAPS on each side? It looks spiffy, but you'd be full of holes by morning; I hope it's just a robe or something.)

Friday Morning Edit: Oh, and anybody who wants my chibi-Tasuki avatar, grab at will. I threw it together last night when I wanted an avatar for amazement and didn't have one. lol.

What is your favorite movie with a strong female heroine?

Mine is: Labyrinth.

I got to thinking about it today for some reason. There have been some cool strong-female movies recently, but for me I think that one is still the best. Sarah starts out kind of whiny and annoying at first, but she grows up quite a bit over the course of the movie. She has friends who help her, but she does pretty well at thinking herself out of bad situations, and instead of having to be rescued, she faces the villain down alone, defeats him alone--through strength of spirit rather than physical strength--and rescues her brother. She isn't as cool-looking as Trinity from The Matrix, but Trinity got seriously gypped in her "strong female" role. Yes, she kicks serious ass when it's a simple matter of beating up her immediate opponents, but when she reveals her big destiny, what is it? She gets to fall in love with the hero. Big whoop. :P So, hats off to Sarah!

( The 100 Movie Meme Answers Under Here: )

Since I'm not doing much else constructive lately.... :P

I'm not doing too badly. When I have time, I do about a 15- to 20-song workout; when I don't, like usually in the morning, I do about a 10-song workout. I can get A's on the first try on the easier songs of difficulty 3. According to Workout Mode, the songs that are moderately challenging for me at the moment (medium-to-difficult of difficulty 3) are about 10 calories' worth; the songs I do for warmups (hard 2s, easy 3s) run 6-8 calories, so on a 10-song workout I burn about 80 calories, which is about what I'd get out of the same amount of time spent on the treadmill.

Not bad for a system that cost about $130 and $60 more for the game and controller mat, and DDR is more fun than just walking. :)

It's hitting me hard this month. I think it's a combination of last-semester nerves, PMS, being sick, and winter blues all kind of combining into one big MEH state of being. It's like the opposite of Zen. I feel at odds with everyone and everything. Reminding myself that it's only a state of mind doesn't really seem to help. Well, I take that back. It does help, but it doesn't stop it.

I haven't touched a single story in days. My room is a disaster. It's so hard to shake out of a really deep funk. >.<

Maybe I'll go play DDR for a little bit. At least it'll get my blood moving.

Poll #1137084 Aunt Agony?
Open to: Friends, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

Ladies--Have you ever heard the euphemistic phrase "My aunt is visiting"?

A friend of mine used this phrase on me some time back and I hadn't the foggiest idea what it meant. Am I the only one who took 29 years to hear it?

My hobbit hole in Lord of the Rings Online, newly redecorated! 2 Wending Way, Slighting Neighborhood, Shire Housing.

What I see when I step outside the house!
House and front yard.
My front doorstep.
A closeup to show the textures. This was taken on the very high graphics setting. The ultra high gives my graphics card fits.
The front room of my house.
Another view.
The bedroom of my house.
Another view, showing my storage chest.
Another view, as if sitting on the bed.
Showing my hobbit character, Rodela.
Rodela standing by the fireplace.
Front view of Rodela in her "casual" outfit.
Rodela as she usually appears, kitted out in heavy armor to fight wargs and orcs.

OMG I LUV U SEARS!!!1!!

Found a nice dress with a dark pattern, kinda hard to describe, and a dark wine/raspberry red jacket. It fits, it looks nice, it didn't cost too much, and it got Mom-approval. SCORE!

The quest to find something to wear to my brother's wedding continues.

Two strikes for Macy's, two strikes for Penney's. As far as I can tell, from two sessions of walking around looking, Macy's does not carry plus-size women's clothes at all. Their "women's apparel" department stops at size 18.

I tried on a couple of outfits at Penney's, but no luck. They looked cute on the hanger, but unfortunately, I am not a clothes hanger. They were both dresses with a long-sleeved top, but in both cases the tops stopped a little below breast level, which calls extra attention to my breasts. I don't NEED more attention focused on my boobs, thanks. And I'd like to find whoever in the fashion fantasy world decided that no one can get anything this season that isn't V-neck or scoop-neck, and tie them upside down naked to a clothes rack.

Guess the next stop is Sears; that's where I got my dress for my friend's wedding a few years ago. It's too bad I won't be able to buy my dress with the Macy's card I got for Christmas, but I guess that just means I get a new TV or something. And I doubt I'll be bothering with shopping for clothes at Macy's anymore, even if I lose enough weight this year to get out of the plus-sizes range.

Top fives! Give me a topic and I'll list my top 5 things. It can be anything you want.

Copy and give your own top fives.

(I'll give the same caveat Kaz did, though--it'd be wise to pick something you know I know something about :P)

I never know that I'm dreaming when I'm dreaming. That usually makes bad dreams freakier for me, because for a little while after I wake up, I still think that they're true. It usually takes a while for me to get over it. It's bad enough if it's a dream about someone trying to to do something to me, but this one was worse.

( Continued... )

I was so wrapped up in tags yesterday I forgot to mention--Open Hands chapter 5 is nearing completion!  I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to do, so once I buckled down it practically wrote itself.  I hope to be able to finish it tonight, but it should at least be done sometime this week.

As you can see, I've gone through and totally overhauled my LJ tags.  It may not end up benefiting anyone but me, but it was a fun process, anyway, looking back through all my entries over about the past year and three months.  It also shows that I do way, WAY too many memes.  XD  And also that I don't post enough fanfiction to LJ.  I shall have to remedy that.  *cackle*

Safely back from Montreal, no hijackings or delayed flights, although the plane from Cleveland back to St. Louis boarded a bit late.  I didn't really need to be at the Montreal airport as early as I was; I got there by 11 and was all checked in and through security by 11:10.  Then it was about a 1 hour and 45 minute wait until boarding.  Still, it gave me plenty of time for lunch and I wasn't in a rush to get anywhere on time.  I had pretty much everything I needed within 50 feet of my gate--coffee, food, bathroom, fresh reading material (although Bujold got me through the wait, the layover, and both flights just fine).  The coffee, though, was a disappointment; it wasn't that great, and have YOU ever had a cappuccino that WAS NOT SWEETENED?!  I took one swallow and almost gagged.  :P  I went back and added sugar, but it wasn't a great improvement, so I gave up after drinking about half.  Ew.

I'll have a more complete post about Montreal shenanigans later on; right now I have to show my pictures to my parents and get some more of my junk put away.  Laters!

As I think I've mentioned to at least a few people, I'm leaving this morning for Montreal to visit lt_nightwarp. I'll still be around LJ and such, and I'll be back the evening of 1/4.

Next post...from Quebec! :)

So I'm breezing along happily, writing a huge report about all the things I did on my practicum this semester...approaching the 10-page mark...and then I look again at the guide, and it says...

"An analytical paper, no more than 3 pages."

O_O;;;

Sigh....well, I've done my best. Half the now cut-down paper, a little over a page, is restating the goals I had, and then I have about 3/4 of a page of self-evaluation. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to analyze. Myself? What I did wrong and what I did right? I e-mailed the coordinator; those are awfully fuzzy guidelines there. I really hope I don't wind up having to do this over. I think I'll die. Dying would sure be easier.

After trying it for a few weeks, I gave up and quit find_ljfriends. It was kinda fun for a while, but I got really tired of having to filter my friends page to "journals only" every time I looked at it, just to sort out my existing friends' entries from the daily swamp of at least a dozen "Hi I'm" posts to the community. I suppose there ought to be a way to set it so that community doesn't show up on my friends page, but I didn't feel like messing with it. And since everyone on the community seems to be doing the same five memes I've already done because they've already been passed around by my friends, and no new activities have been posted recently, I'll give myself a rest from it for now. I still haven't remembered to friend anyone I met there--been too busy to think about it. Maybe after the holidays.