Almost done! I finished two papers and took my Japanese final in...about a 14-hour span. I was a little proud of myself. I didn't sleep, but that happens sometimes. I have one paper left, due on Sunday. It's the most important one, because it determines whether or not I get my capstone and my major and my diploma, but it's also a history paper. I can do a sixteen page history paper in 1.5 days easily. *knocks on wood*

I promised myself years ago that I would write a paper on the destruction of Tokyo, and that's this paper. Godzilla, Akira, and Woman in the Dunes, I think. Okay, so nothing actually happens to Tokyo in Dunes, but I decided my thesis would explore the way people negotiate their place in Tokyo so it can have a smidgen of legitimacy. I thought about Eva, but I only have so many pages, and I'll need to reserve a few pages to talk about utopian/dystopian thought, since that's the actual point of my class. But, then on to: Tokyo Smash! *glee* They can't stop me from graduating. It's a good feeling.

Super quick book rec: Maeda Ai, Text and the City: Essays on Japanese Modernity. It's heavy reading, but the man is a genious. I haven't finished reading it myself, because his main focus is on the Meiji period, and I decided to limit my paper to Post-War Tokyo, but I'm looking forward to picking it back up after I turn in my last paper and sleep for a week.

Also, Susan Napier's Anime From Akira to Howl's Moving Castle is also a good read. And readable. I wish more academics were good writers.

I just had my last class ever. (Until grad school, but saying that ruins the flow) Then, I went bought my cap and gown. I probably should've bought a longer one, so it won't be as evident when I wear jeans underneath. Well hell, I think I'm actually going to graduate. But not if I don't finish this damn Genji paper. Maybe typing at the library will help. God, I miss air conditioning.

( School whining and babbling and such )

I did catch up on 60-odd chapters of Naruto last week in one glorious stretch of procrastination. Then I had a near-panic attack over the hours missed. Yay self-flagellation. And I realize this is about three months behind the rest of fandom, but Oh my god, Sasuke's outfit. What was that? Is he planning to run off and join Akatsuki? Is he working on his super gay bonus points? More bonus points, because when did Sasuke ever not make my gaysense tingle. I have yet to see any evidence that the entrance requirements for Akatsuki don't include 'Thou must be gayer than a Las Vegas Night Show'. I mean, look at them! Orochimaru left, but he still wears makeup, talks like a girl, and swishes. SO swishy. P.S. I really, really love Kakashi, Gai, and Neji. Like a lot. Neji needs to be attacked in more ways that end up with the convenient destruction of his hair tie. And Asuma! ;_;

But, I've decided that if people are going to pull pairings out of their asses in the Naruto fandom, then while they're at it, they should pull out a Shino/Naruto fic. I don't know why I want it, I just do. Or maybe I just want someone to convince me it can be done. I like Shino, for all that he and his dad remind me of beatniks. Maybe because of that. Random, but why does Tsunade have a slug as her summon? It's more than a little useless. On the other hand, watching Tsunade take on a giant snake by herself makes her even more amazing.

I need to spend several days catching up. If something super important/interesting/amusing/head-desking happened, let me know, otherwise I'll have to slog through pages and pages to get there. Also, someone please tell me not to make a crack Naruto FST with 80s pop music. I downloaded the 'Top 100 Hits of the 80s' for the ride home and it was amazing. Oh 80s.

P.S. What happened to the update page? This makes me sad.

My past three days:

Japanese Midterm chekku!
Japanese Speak Test chekku!
History Seminar Discussion Leader prep chekku!
History Seminar paper chekku!
Living with the Bomb paper chekku!
Korean History Midterm chekku!
Sleep NO CHEKKU!

Jake said he wants to go out, but if he doesn't call in the next thirty minutes, I'll see him when I wake up--probably tomorrow...And of course he calls now. I was kind of looking forward to that nap.

I haven't updated in over a month and this isn't really an update, buuut. Becky! I got the dvds! Words cannot express how much I love you right now. I'm touching shiny YST DVDs! ♥♥♥ I think they actually came in earlier this week, because I found them hidden in my mother's room. She knows me too well. *amused* I did watch a few episodes, even though I'm frantically working on two papers, so I can't even be angry at her. ^_^;;

Hey all! Could you do me a favor, if possible? I'm writing a paper on fandom (a rather shallow paper, because you could write boatloads on just the HP fandom alone) and I need a few extra sources.

Could you tell me about/send me links to your favorite fandom brouhahas and essays? Fandom_wank will play a prominent part, and I'll probably mention fanfic_rants and a few others. My professor is a rather sensible sort and unfamiliar with blogging so I'm afraid she won't believe me if I don't provide tons of corroborating links.

Happy Birthday to me?

I just had one seriously fucked up dream. It was just like a movie, complete with camera angles and time lapses, and convenient plot points.

So apparently two of our friends were abducted by aliens, which is something that kept happening on lunar eclipses. I don’t know who the two people were, but we were all friends of theirs. I don’t remember how they came to be abducted. I think there was a giant space robot? In North Carolina? I recognized my grandmother’s house, so it was definitely North Carolina. It was very traumatic.

After the time lapse (of 5 years maybe), Di, who I knew was Di even though she looked more like Teri Thatcher with short hair, was teaching in middle school when she conveniently overhears one of her students talking about a lunar eclipse visible from Alaska. So she drops her chalk and the camera pans in on her stunned face. Then the scene changed, and Di was driving, with me Jake and Alex, along what I knew was a narrow road along the outskirts of an Alaskan mountain town.

We pulled into the parking lot of a hillside cemetery and walked over to a set of benches to wait. And on the other side of the road was an apartment building set into the hill and it looked like a sanitarium. And whenever I looked at it, lightning flashed in the distance even though the sky was clear. We were sitting in the cemetery, waiting for the eclipse, when people started showing up, mostly friends from high school, a few from college, and a few people I’d never met but somehow knew were friends. Allison was there, singing, and when she found out it was someone’s (Owen’s, I think) birthday, she started singing the Russian birthday song. I had just looked up and saw Oluseyi walking down the hill when my mother woke me up. I really want to know what would have happened. Us v. Giant Space Robot would have been a great dream.

If I refuse to acknowledge my birthday then I won't get older! *nods* That's the plan. Getting older was fun until 21 and then I just started thinking of myself as another pedestrian on the road to dotage. I have class and I start work at the Law Library on Wednesday, so I won't have time for any kind of proper birthday fun.

I've decided, the time has finally come for me to reorganize my hard drive. Because while I enjoy finding files entitled 'And then the bitch SNAPPED.jpg' in surprising places on my computer, I have no idea what bitch is snapping or why.

Japanese fangirls, you may break my brain with disturbing regularity, but when I really need smutty fanart, you never let me down and I love you for that.

I'm curious, does anyone else have one of those pairings you just can't let go, even though there's practically zero canonical evidence? I know the writers are tossing me fan-service-shaped bones but I still can't let go.

P.S. Becky, I blame you for Veronica Mars. If I had dollar for all the things I've said "NO! Well, Becky really likes it so I guess I'll try it..." about, I'd be set.

Where is my focus? My brain is bouncing and it's such a disturbing feeling.

Is it awful of me to hope that Harry is one of the two slated for death? Just so that I could see the fandom explode? I was holding out hope for the "Rocks fall and everyone dies" ending, but barring that...

D.Gray-man is getting an anime! I need to catch up on the manga. And on Bleach, Naruto, and various CLAMP. I'm uh, 50 chapters behind on Naruto. And probably 30 behind on Bleach.

Lastly, because I'm tired. Suzumiya Haruhi!! Why aren't you watching it? I actually think it's funnier than Ouran. And it's much more satisfying. Plot-wise, character-wise, execution. Suzumiya Haruhi is a much tighter ship than Ouran. I keep mentioning Ouran because the anime really disappointed me and The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi revived me! I am revived!

Seriously, I can't remember the last time an anime made me continuously break out into loud fits of hysterical laughter. When was the last time I steered you towards something that wouldn't eat your soul? If you don't like it by the end of episode 01 episode 02, there's no hope for you. Someone even made a Gundam parody of the ending!

Episode 01
Episode 02

More to come! Plus a coherent review!

P.S. Dear Ouran fandom (Or even just you),

Please stop ruining the pairings I like. The main problems are 1) The canon is amazing, and 2) There've been just enough sparkling fics to make me pine for good fic. If the fandom is horrific, you can write it off, but I've read some truly lovely stories. Plus, the fandom is large enough that I end up falling into the trap of thinking "With all these fans, there must be lots of goodfic," even though I should know better. (*cough*FFVII fandom*cough*)

P.P.S. I forgot to mention, Suzumiya Haruhi also has the most gorgeous fight scene I've ever seen in my life. The animation was jaw-droppingly beautiful. If that sequence didn't contain spoilers, I'd upload it.

( Please don't read this and spoil yourself. I just watched Jyu-Oh-Sei 9 and I need to ramble incoherently about it to get it out of my system. )

It's getting harder and harder not to look for spoilers.

Unrelated, does anyone want a dvd full of Final Fantasy stuff? I accidentally burned two copies. It's got AC, Last Order, the subtitled clips from DoC, a few KH clips, the clip of the opening of FFXII, two videos of "Redemption" 1)the preview released for DoC, and Gackt's music video (subbed), and OSTs(everything related to FVII, including the piano release, AC, and DoC).

P.S. I think someone needs to take responsibility and write Man/Dragon fic since she keeps pushing the dragon books at people. *eyes Meg*