there's a party going on here

This class is an awesome class

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:20:59 GMT

Oh man, how long have I not updated? Like, 2 months? Damn. College is keeping me busy.

But I only had one class today and it was awesome. Intro to Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Our topic of the week is media, culture, and representation. So sometimes during lectures, we watch videos and discuss them. What did we watch today?

Buffy vs Edward (Twilight Remixed)

I had already watched it before now, but just watching it in a college course makes it a bit better XD

Here's to new beginnings

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 05:22:54 GMT

I'm about 11 hours from leaving my home and going to Houston for college. I'm about 30 hours from actually moving into the place.

I'm nervous and excited. And a bit queasy. I'm sad my mom won't be going with me, but in a way, I'm glad. Less time for us to get all weepy. Though, it's a bit frightening to be by myself in a huge city like Houston, relying only on strangers in taxis.

But, it's an adventure in a way. A HUGE, POSSIBLY CRAZY one but still. EXCITEMENT.

Time is tricklin' down~!

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:34:10 GMT

Why world? Why friends? Why do you want me to get into new things when my summer only exists for 5 more days? I need to stop browsing Hulu or I will die. I blame this on catching the last quarter of Castle yesterday and then wondering what else was new in 2009. And what else I haven't been watching for the past couple of years. Like Psych. Oh I miss Psych.

Went to the zoo with the bestie today! It was scorching because haha, I packed all my shorts so I was stuck with capris, but I had fun so the sweat was worth it. We kept laughing when we were trying to have cliched 'heartfelt' goodbyes and just... yeah.

Her: We have phones!
Me: And the internet. Oh my god, could you imagine living in the old days where people wrote letters?
Her: No, I really don't want to! At least it's not goodbye forever!
Me: Just a couple of months. Then we'll hang!

We just take all of this in stride.

Also, holy shit, I'm going to be in college on Sunday. The Myth Arc of my life is over. Or starting. [Don't look up Myth Arc on TV Tropes. I WARNED YOU!]

EVERYTHING about who we are IS important.

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:19:44 GMT

You know what? I never made a post saying that I came back. Ahaha, now here it is almost a week later. SUP?!

Anyway, it's International Blog Against Racism Week and oh man, how I wish this happened all the time, but sometimes, them's the brakes!

I could talk about my experience as a black woman growing up in the Midwest.

I could talk about my experience of switching from a mostly private black private school to a mostly white public school and the differences in treatment I received.

I could talk about how I've seen as a shining example of how black people should be and used as a tool to show off how enlightened [read: not racist] my peers are.

I could talk about how hard it is to just be myself without roping in stereotype comments from whites AND blacks.

I could talk about how I'm so sick and tired of people saying they're colorblind when they mean they're just ignorant of what matters.

I could, but I won't. I'm still tired from traveling and can't properly articulate my thoughts yet. I will just link to some things instead.

ibarw and its Delicious counterpart.

In terms of fandom! rawles makes a post on why Uhura's relationship with Spock and her being brilliant is significant because, Nyota Uhura is not a white girl.
While women of color are not necessarily embroiled in an entirely different feminist struggle than white women, they sure as fuck are not in the same place.

Temporary Leave of Absence!

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:18:48 GMT

HIATUS

Leaving the States for Africa for 2 and a half weeks! I may or may not have internet, but even if I do, I don't think I'll use it much.

Stay cool, people! =]

We finally get to hear and honor their stories...

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:20:44 GMT

Obama awards WWII-era women pilots congressional medal.
World War II's female pilots to be honored.

As the war was winding down in December 1944, the program was closed with no recognition from the government and not much help for the women who served.

They went off to restart their prewar lives, but without getting any of the help received by male veterans.

Several of the women, however, have said they were not bitter since the only reason they had signed up was to do their part for the country.

Saw this in the paper and I immediately squealed, "LADIES~!" I'm so angry that it took this long to recognize them, but I'm so happy that it's finally happening. This totally made my fourth of July 39038290823x better.

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 02:31:37 GMT

I finally updated my user info! That was way too hard. Now to respond to comments left here and there.

The nameless prisoners being the most blatant fanboys will never stop amusing me.

Reasons I Love OP and thus, Oda: This right here? This is why Luffy is my favorite shonen hero. The boy may be goofy, but unlike others [I will not mention names]? He actually thinks. Yes, there are times where he does win because he's stronger/the determinator (example: vs. Lucci, which is still my least favorite Luffy fight. Ugh, still have issues with latter half of W7 arc), but he's shown to be so clever and I love it.

"The tears won't stop coming... Thank you guys!!! I never dreamed I could look this cool!" Oh Luffy, stay silly forever.

I'm kind of sad that there doesn't seem to be any women in the sea of prisoners. We know that Impel Down isn't just for men, so where are the women that are desperate for freedom too?

And then, the chapter switches from Luffy to Jimbei and the others and my interest kind of fades a lot. Buggy and fate biting him in the ass amuses me, but everything else just kind of bores me. They're trying to get a ship and I'm not thinking, "YES! One step closer to Ace!". Nope, I'm thinking, "'Kay that's nice. Back to Luffy, please?" It makes me feel like a bad fan. Plus, I still have massive issues with seeing Crocodile every week now. I kind of hate him D:

I still miss the crew. I kind of dislike that will be cover page fodder. Can they come back soon?

How much do I love that Briggs fired the cannons to cover up the sound of one Izumi Curtis being awesome? UM, KIND OF A LOT! And Izumi's like, "DING DING DING (bitch)!!!"

Other than Miles, Buccaner is my favorite dude from Briggs.

FLAIL!!!
Regular soldiers! Being awesome! Arakawa! I. LOVE. YOU. She shows them as more than necessary cannon fodder. They think. They help when they can. They show emotions and just... geh. I wish more people did this.

"You should be proud of yourself! You're a good man. My husband's a million times better, but still!"
One Izumi Curtis is so badass and Izumi/Seig is so awesome, it hurts, but in an extremely good way. Also, Olivia and Izumi are sharing panel space and the universe hasn't imploded yet. Though I'm sure it jizzed its pants or something.

And I'm laughing at everyone freaking out over Izumi flipping Sloth over, canon and fandom. Guys, Seig is kind of her husband so I'm not surprised at all. Also, Seig/Izumi tag team of awesome makes me cry tears of awesome.

THIS IS THE MANLIEST PAGE IN THE HISTORY OF EVERYTHING! Gurren Lagann eat your heart out! This also beats the pants off its anime equivalent. I demand more teamups between these awesome families.

So Sloth's death? I feel a bit bad for him unlike Envy. With Envy, I thought "OH GOD! FINALLY!". With Sloth, I'm sad that he died so willingly even though it's totally in-character, but in the end he was happy. So it's okay. I guess. I don't know.

"How can we adults lie down and nap while children are fighting out there?"
"The kids will inherit the world but right now, we're still in charge. So we need to show them who's in charge!" <-- This is Fullmetal Alchemist and it has been subverting your Adults Are Useless trope since it was made. See, I love reading things that center around young people, but I hate it when the adults are distant or just stupid. So I'm so happy when they do shit, help, and are plain awesome.

HOHENHEIM OMG, DON'T DIE K?! He has me so conflicted guys! On one hand, I want him to die so he can be with Trisha and they can be adorable again! On the other hand, I want him to live because I love him! He made a door and is basically like "Stop being a brat, I can't really fight D:".

Questions I'm Left With:
Hohenheimm, what the hell are you now? You're going to kick Father's ass right? [please say no to him killing you D:]
Where's King Bradley? [I know you're not dead, stop making me worry and show up!]
Where's Pride and... DID HE SERIOUSLY EAT KIMBLEE?! [Nightmare Fuel. Pure, unleaded premium nightmare fuel.]
Where's Al? [I need to re-read, but we could avoid that and he can come back and be a BAMF.]
Are Ed, Roy, Riza, and Scar going to meet up and help beat Father? [Please, you guys don't die either]
Denny and Maria, meet up please! [It's a demand BUT I MUST HAVE SOME FLUFF IN THIS MADNESS!]

I also read Soul Eater 62, even though I'm in the middle of the Maka/Chrona fight! What is that? Like 52 chapters ago? Shut up, I like skipping around. When did everyone get so hot? Especially Black Star. He's like what? 14? Stop that Ohkubo. Please.

In other fandom news, Kirk/McCoy is my Star Trek IX/AOS OTP. They're always best friends and kind of boyfriends. I think I ship those kind of slash pairings the most. Though, I will never see Spock/Kirk as anything more than epic bros. Ever. I really thought Spock/Uhura would be my OTP but it's not [still insanely awesome though].

Also, this ST music video? Sums up some of my issues with the movie very well. [Hint: NOT ENOUGH LADIES, TOO MANY MANS!]

I do not drink ever, but I love how most of the things I've been writing this week have my characters sit in a bar and engage in wacky hijinks not limited to bar fights, talking about their secret feelings~!, engaging in daring stunts, and just generally being goofy. Writing comedic drunk fic of my characters is now my way of relieving stress.

Summary of this post: Filling out roommate information is hard, you guys D=

[fanfic rec: star trek] it reads like everything wonderful!

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:44:04 GMT

So, I think I read the most beautiful fic ever. And by beautiful, I mean HILARIOUS!

Delta Delta Vega by zarathuse
James Tiberius Kirk creates a fraternity at Starfleet Academy. The results are frightening, but mainly hilarious. [Kirk, McCoy, gen]

My favorite passages:

Jim gives him his best injured pout (and that’s pretty damn good—took Bones a whole two days to see through) but obligingly removes the glasses and hooks them backwards around the nape of his neck, like some strange and incredibly ugly collar. It makes him look like an even bigger goddam moron, and Bones tells him so.

“Douchebag,” Jim corrects mildly, through another bite of tuna. “The word you’re looking for is douchebag.”

and

“So basically,” Bones says, “it’s just going to be you and a bunch of guys living together, and hanging out with each other all the time, and showering together, and getting trashed with each other every night, and then passing out next to each other.”

“Yeah!” Jim beams enthusiastically behind his stupid glasses.

“Isn’t that a little…homoerotic?”

Jim’s smile dims. “No way, man.”

Just then, the prepubescent cadet from dinner the other night staggers past on the way to the bathroom, clad only in Starfleet regulation briefs and one sock. Jim slaps his ass as he passes, reflexively, then stares a little blankly at his own hand. “Probs,” he concedes finally, shrugging.

Yeah, I laughed until I cried. It was that awesome. So, uh, go read it.

Manga That Rocks: Soul Eater

Sat, 23 May 2009 18:47:24 GMT

So, it's summer which means I have more time to catch up stuff.

This includes:
1. Manga (Soul Eater, Skip Beat, and possibly Hetalia. Recs are appreciated!)
2. Writing (I need to improve; community recs for concrit and prompts?)
3. Video games (Mainly GBA games. Fire Emblem, Pokemon, other stuff)
4. Reading (As in, I finally have time to read that copy of Pride and Prejudice I picked up last year.)

I was much further in Soul Eater than I thought. Thought I was on chapter 7 but I was on chapter 11. And OMG,it's so fabulous.

Check out this epic page where Maka is being RIDICULOUSLY HOT-BLOODED and Soul is telling her to CALM THE FUCK DOWN!

It's such a reversal of the usual situation and I love it when girls can be hot-blooded and 'RAWR I WANT TO BE STRONGER~!' Plus, she's bloodied up. I'd be squeeing out loud if I wasn't slightly tired.

BTW, saw Star Trek on Tuesday. I loved EVERYBODY (but I love Kirk the least, sorry everyone). Spock is my favorite (CONTROL OF EMOTIONS =/= EMOTIONLESS, YAY MY KINK!) but I can't stop the random shouts of SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULUUUUUUUUUUU that go through my head at times. Uhura was awesome despite her limited screen time. Chekov makes me want to hug him and ruffle his hair. Just... love floods my systems when I think about this movie =]

One Piece 543 rant; what is this? Meta? Oh dear.

Sat, 23 May 2009 02:15:35 GMT

Since I'm out of school, I need to get back to talking about things I love.

Luffy finally finds out who Blackbeard is and what he did. I have honestly been waiting for this moment ever since Ace landed in Impel Down. Blackbeard was cool with me until that moment. I want Luffy to beat him senseless but now isn't the right time. It would be awesome to set it up and then continue with the Ace retrieval (Shiryuu/Magellen can break up the fight and Luffy's group can escape in the confusion). I want the fight between these two to be the endgame.

I have mixed feelings concerning the cover. Do all the okamas have to be ugly, frightening, and just weird? I love laughing at Sanji's misery but in this instance, I really don't feel right for being sympathetic with Sanji's slight transgender-phobia (I say slight because he accepted Bon-chan. Kind of). Because equating being in the 'presence of crossdressers' with 'hell' doesn't sit right with me.

Then we have the Sadi-chan/Iva 'fight'. Uh yeah. Let's talk about Sadi-chan first.

Sadi-chan is fanservice. Pure fanservice. Her outfit (male gaze at work!) and her mannerisms scream it. The girl orgasms when she sees others in pain. If she were a male, she'd have some dialogue about how awesome it is being a sadist and then lick blood off her fingers or something. But nope. She just inserts a bunch of MMMMMMMMMMMMMs and ♥ between her speech and bites her bloodless fingers like she's trying to no collapse from her sadistic orgasm!

Anyway, what's my problem with this fight? Oda cheated the readers out of another male/female fight. Luffy is rearing to go and take action against Sadi-cahn keeping him from his goal! He's pumped!

And then Iva kicks him out of the way and takes the form of a woman. I kind of groaned out loud at this. Sure, Iva doesn't seem to identify with either gender but still, it turns into a female/female fight. Girls can only hit girls. If a man tries to hurt a woman (Luffy) even though she may stand in his way (Sadi-chan destroying part of Luffy's quasi-army and part of the bridge), shame on him for that (Iva-chan kicking Luffy away).

Sometimes I think that Sanji is a self-insert for Oda when I see how he writes fights involving women.

And it made me think that the few male/female fights that have been in One Piece have been jokes. Nami/Absalom was a joke at Nami's expense. She thinks she defeated him no problem and believes that she's so powerful but oh sorry dear! Sanji was there before you and beat him good and you had a taste of the leftovers.

Usopp/Perona had little physical contact between the two. Perona's dolls beat the heck out of Usopp. His hammer is just a joke! She's frightened of bugs, don't let them touch her. Perona ends up being an easily frightened girl who's pain the readers laugh at and you kind of wonder how the heck she ended up being part of Moria's crew.

I really don't want to even touch the Amazon Lily arc. I really don't. Big man Luffy, who I do adore but ick, ends up saving the most powerful women and charming the queen~! Oh yay, classic amazon tropes at work.

I think the only male/female fight that didn't bug me was Zoro/Tashigi. Because Zoro is hesitant in fighting her because she looks like Kuina, his dead childhood friend. Her gender doesn't register to him! (Then again, as time goes on, Zoro does seem more protective of the girls of the crew. See him yelling at Eneru after he electrocutes Robin. How dare he do that, she's just a woman!)

So implications abound here! What happens to the prisoners that Iva and Luffy have let loose? Yes, we know that some of them are probably wrongly accused and put in Impel Down because the government is shit!

Then you have people like Shiryuu who murders his own comrades because his bloodlust is so high and to put it simply, he's fucking nuts. What about people like that?

I want there to be consequences for this that aren't "PIRATE REVOLUTION HELLS YEAH!". But oh well. I'll keep hoping and not being satisfied =\

I still love OP. Just... issues abound!

Relaxing is awesome.

Sat, 23 May 2009 01:10:22 GMT

In addition to today being the 22nd of May in the year 2009, there is also something special about today!

I AM DONE WITH THE IB PROGRAM FOREVER~!

Soooo happy. And I graduate high school on Wednesday. So far away it hurts. Then summer, hopefully I will receive my IB diploma in July, and then COLLEGE~!

Apparently the Judicial District thinks I'm totally qualified for this!

Tue, 19 May 2009 21:16:44 GMT

Last day of school was today. It was sad, awesome, and hilarious. Just how I wanted it to be. Took so many pictures. Would have taken more but I had a 64 MB card and not my 2 GB =[

Then I go home and open up the mail box to see a subpoena. For jury duty. What the fuck, I'm only 18, I don't want to do this- WHY?!

Also, a meme!

THE ANONYMOUS WRITING FEEDBACK MEME

Dreanwidth Invites!

Sun, 17 May 2009 03:36:39 GMT

I currently have two Dreamwidth invite codes! Would any like them or know of anyone who would?

I fail in the simplest ways!

Sun, 17 May 2009 02:13:43 GMT

So a month after registering my university e-mail, I forget the password to it. I feel absolutely silly taking to the tech people about it. "Oh, I'm an incoming freshman and I have forgotten my password... can I have a new one please?"

Where have I been for the past couple of days/two weeks? Taking IB tests/one AP test. Studying for IB tests. Hanging out with friends after said tests. Being stressed. I was honestly going to post a notice with pictures and witty comments, but then I went "I'm too involved in my studying to do this!" So I didn't, and just disappeared for awhile.

But, I'm almost done! Schedule is as follows:

5/18/09, Monday: IB Spanish HL Paper 1 & 2
5/19/09, Tuesday: Seniors' Last Day
5/21/09, Thursday: IB Psychology SL Paper 1
5/22/09, Friday: IB Psychology SL Paper 2
5/27/09, Wednesday: Graduation

Then I'm done with high school and the International Baccalaureate program forever. Personally anyway. My kids can go through it and I'll laugh (I've been told that I would be an immature mother for this =])

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Sun, 03 May 2009 03:05:25 GMT

Oh no, it's a twitter post!

13:31 Studying for my IB Biology exam. And I always manage to forget the most obvious social implication of HIV/AIDS: reduced sexual activity... #
19:09 All of this studying is making me want to sleep and nurse my writer's cramp afflicted hand. #
19:47 Text messages cannot properly explain the humor in some events like the spoken word can. #
21:49 I need to learn how to use commas. And apparently I have a D in Art History! I turned in all my work. This makes me sad! =[ #

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This day will go down in the history books as personally epic!

Sat, 02 May 2009 04:19:12 GMT

I wrote fanfic. Not just plain old fanfic. One Piece fic.

Luffy and Usopp being silly friends fluff to be specific. And I struggled with Usopp here. Why? I don't know. I just did. Luffy was easy to write and he's just so silly. Love that boy.

I find this awesome because I generally don't write fanfic. But now I'm worried that it's boring/plain/slowly OOC. Need crit.

BUT WHATEVER, I WROTE OP FIC ABOUT MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS. I'm totally happy.

Title: Raiding the Fridge
Day/Theme: May 1 - Mischief of one kind and another
Series: One Piece
Character/Pairing: Luffy, Usopp
Rating: G
Words: 540

Maybe he could think the hunger away. No, that would never work. All he could think about was more food and that just made him hungrier.

Fri, 01 May 2009 22:34:41 GMT

I am jadeparakeet @ Dreamwidth. Will go around adding people and stuff.

Friday before IB tests. Oh God, why? Good news though, I got my senior pictures in! I have extreme babyface going on.

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Wed, 29 Apr 2009 03:06:42 GMT

Oh no, it's a twitter post!

18:37 Everyone at school getting Twitters makes me laugh a little. Makes me think I should have a fandom and RL twitter XD #
19:47 I blame my procrastination on awesome G Gundam subs on YouTube. This series is so silly but its love story makes me wibble in glee. #

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Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:06:55 GMT

Oh no, it's a twitter post!

17:01 Read the most recent chapter of Skip Beat.... Must. Go. Back. And. Read. Other. 137. Chapters. #

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Wed, 22 Apr 2009 03:09:13 GMT

Oh no, it's a twitter post!

20:32 Senior pictures on Saturday, YAY! FAFSA needing corrections, BOO! FML man. #

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Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:07:43 GMT

Oh no, it's a twitter post!

07:45 Something stabbed my toe in my shoe. Pool of blood there disturbs me #

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Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:06:12 GMT

Oh no, it's a twitter post!

21:56 Even though my hair is short, I want to put ringlets in for prom. How I do that, idk =] #

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Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:07:56 GMT

Oh no, it's a twitter post!

20:27 I would LOVE to get my senior pictures done (AT ALL) before I have to study for IB tests but doesn't look possible! Oh well! #

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Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:07:24 GMT

Oh no, it's a twitter post!

21:34 K self. I know your dragon characters take human form but using 'the <adj.> (wo)man' tag should have hit you as wrong a long time ago orz #
21:53 Feudalism confuses me a little. Researching good, confusion bad! #

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So character flaws... what are they for?

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:35:02 GMT

So I've been Googling around for character flaws and I can never find satisfactory answers. I can't find very descriptive answers about them and it's bugging me. Especially when it comes to character development.

What are appropriate examples of character flaws?

Should a character grow out of them as the story progresses? If they do, can this be considered character development?

My problem with a 'yes' answer is that the characters may grow into canon Sues/Stus and that's just icky.

There are flaws that people think are flaws but really aren't or are trite and overused. Like being naive, too nice, or being weak. The last one is a physical flaw and doesn't count unless it's something like 'Character A is weaker than everyone else so they're an extreme workaholic to balance it out.'

This comes from me wondering about what flaws my characters have and whether they were overused/justified and how I should bring them up.