Thursday was a bit horrendous, because I was still a bit jet-lagged and we walked for miles in the sun. We all met at the Pantheon at 9AM and went to the Adrian temple, a few churches (from one of which most of us got kicked out of because we hadn't been forewarned and thus not dressed according to the dress code), Piazza del Popollo, and the Galoppatoio (a long hill in the north of Rome) all before 12. Then we reconvened at 5:30 and after a little meeting we went to the Janiculum, saw Garibaldi's statue, and St. Peter in the Vatican.

I was absolutely dead on my feet by the time we got back around 9 o'clock, but of course I kept myself up reading a tiny, tiny bit of Ovid and checking up on email, etc. until about 11:30. And I was out like the dead, just like I was the night before. But exactly like yesterday morning, I woke up at 6 AM because of the farmer's market set up directly outside. I think they were purposely clanging every metal object they had at 5:50AM. *fumes*

Thankfully today (6/20) was a bit easier, since all we did was A) go to the UW Rome Center orientation, and B) "Get lost" in Rome. No marching after the profs, no trailing after the 30+ group like little ducks, just me at my own pace, wherever I wanted to go so long as I was "lost." I did not know where I was, but.....usually, on foot, I can backtrack very easily. I did try to go out of my way to pick a whole new path to the Campo de Fiori, but....yeah. I rewarded myself with some "pizza" which is more like a flat-bread sandwich, with promiscuitto and mozzerella filling. Very delicious. I also got some chocolate gelato (which, yeah, gelato is amazing in that it can get the flavor down EXACTLY. I had coconut gelato Wednesday, which tasted like it had actual coconut in it. Perfecto), and while I was walking my way back a guy with a family asked me in Italian where I got the gelato (and I knew what he was asking without having him repeat slowly and in English!! *wins*). I think he thought I was Italian, because when I pointed and said, "Around the corner, called Blue Ice," he said, "Oh, thank you" and had that look like, "Oops, made a fool of myself." I guess this means I'm looking more and more like I know what the heck I'm doing here. That's always a plus.

I'm also getting darker. It's only been about 3 days, and I'm fairly certain my arms are getting browner. Every time I look at the lower half of my legs, those seem a bit brown, too. *wins at tan, hopes she doesn't burn or develop cancer*

We got a schedule of what's going to happen for the next 4 weeks, and we're not going to be going on walks in the evening anymore (I hope) so I think I'll be able to finally fully recover from the flight and won't be so dead exhausted anymore. That will be a wonderful day.

I am missing home a lot. Especially when I went to the supermarket yesterday and couldn't understand what problem the cashier had with my euro. Looking back on it now, I think it might have been because she didn't have exact change for me, but...it seems like a terrible excuse, given that it was ~1PM, sooo....she should have had plenty of coins. But as long as I take a breath and remember how awesome it is to be in Rome, the four weeks should go by fairly quickly. Oh, and also if our hot water has finally been gifted to us. Because taking an ice-cold shower? Literally ice-cold, so that if it had been under the right pressure, we could've made ice-cubes? SO not what I want to come home to.

I've taken loads and loads of pictures, but haven't been uploading them to photobucket because I've been way too exhausted to even consider it. So I'm doing that now, and maybe later this evening I'll post pics up of the apartment and a few of the sites we've been to (unless I get a demand for it, there's no way I'm uploading every single picture I've taken to livejournal/facebook).

You know what's also nice? Having toilet paper. Hopefully that'll come soon.

Edit 9:19PM: A wonderful way to end the night!!! I come home, realizing that my camera is not in my bag like it usually is, and recall leaving it on the TV stand. But now it's absolutely nowhere to be found in the apartment, so now the only option I have left is that the nice electrician men stole it. And I have no idea what the protocol is for that scenario. So now I've lost a very nice camera that my mother unofficially bought for me for my birthday, I've lost the pictures I didn't get to upload, and I've lost that writing muse I had with me coming back to the apartment. *wants to break down and cry*


Buffy: [narrating.] “My love.” He called me “My love”. And then I threw up in my mouth a little.
Buffy: Ethan Rayne?
Ethan: In the flesh, my love.
Buffy: And again, a slight barflex. You have to stop calling me that.
Ethan: It’s an expression, pet. Like “pet”.

Not much to update about; I guess it's just a "woohoo, TGIF!" post.

The weather's becoming nice at long last, huzzah. I can break out my sunglasses and go to class without a coat and not actually freeze during the walk. The sun came out just in time for the U-district street fair and the Pike Place Cheese Fair, too. Yay!!!

I registered Monday morning for Autumn quarter, and it went easy. Senior-standing is awesome to have; I meant to get up at 5:50-ish to register even though I realized I didn't need to, but that night I slept horribly, so I went ahead and slept through til my normal time of 8:10. Did my morning routine, got on the computer, and registered for all my classes with nary a hitch. I'm taking 2 creative writing classes (again! Did I not learn last autumn quarter? Apparently not), an American history course that is a writing credit (needed for graduation) and a classics course ("Sex, Gender, and Representation in Greek and Roman Literature"). The last one I'm sort of waffling on; if I want to pursue the Classics minor, I would have to take this class to earn the number of credits required.

I finally got around to going to a comics store and bought the latest issues of BtVS Season 8 and Serenity. Serenity: YAY! though issue 3 was confusing, and Buffy: O.O Joss is a genius at the Evil!Cliffhanger of Doom, but also apparently has something against couples living happily ever after. *flails*


Dr. Ramirez: How'd you do it?
Angel: I got the test ahead of time and passed it out to all the others?
Dr. Pearson: How did you get it?
Angel: The Mailman
[pause]
Angel: I strangled him and his body's decomposing in my locker. --Stand and Deliver

So. My Italian visa. Which I've been griping and moaning about and probably making a lot of you roll your eyes at me from all the melodrama.

But once more, with feeling: I HATE VISAS!!!!!!!!!!!

However, I recognize that had I been more informed and if I'd been made more aware of what all the components were and when they were all due, I would be less angry with the visa (yes, I'm speaking of it like it's a human being, roll with it!).

So, really, my anger is aimed mostly entirely at the IPE office. *fumes with the thought*

In order to obtain an Italian visa, I need to prove "financial security." The only way I manage to attend and live at UW is through financial aid. So, I submitted the document saying I'd show I have financial aid so the people at IPE could write a letter saying, "She has money. Let her go to Rome."

Admittedly, I dropped the ball a tiny bit on this part. I didn't realize I needed to have already applied for summer aid by the time I submitted my visa application so the woman working with us Creative Writers (we shall henceforth call her YoSaffBridge because I don't like either woman) could send the collective visa apps sometime in the last week, so that's my fault. But the financial aid office doesn't decide financial awards until May-ish.

Can we see the issue here?

I submitted my visa application the 10th of April. YoSaffBridge only emailed me about the problem on the 29th. I'm not even going to try and speculate what all she was doing in those TWO WEEKS she had it.

And now, comes the true source of my anger (because up until that point I was merely frustrated). YoSaffBridge's office hours are from about 8-11ish and then from 2-closing. I got there at 2PM, almost exactly.

She walks in about 2:15 from her break. Then proceeds to take about 15 minutes to do...something. I have no idea what. We talk, she says I need a visa even though the program directors said all we have to do is sign an indemnity form if we didn't get a visa and pretend we're tourists instead of students. I go down to the Financial Aid office, I burden a very nice woman (Lisa, her name was, who was MUCH nicer than the last person I went to about financing Rome) with estimating how much financial aid I would receive for summer, I go back up to IPE about 10 minutes later with the estimate....and YoSaffBridge is "out."

I get that sometimes "when you gotta go, you gotta go." However, YoSaffBridge was only available for....10 minutes out of the 45 minutes I was at IPE.

Mayhaps I'm at the wrong university. When your hours are said to be from 2-closing, you're supposed to be at your office at 2 o'clock NOT leaving wherever you took your lunch at 2 in order to get to your office whenever you get there. Isn't that how it works? Or am I just strange?

I'd heard that IPE was horrible, and you have to watch 'em like a hawk to make sure they don't screw you over, but from the few, brief instances I dealt with them before it didn't seem bad. The secretary/person in charge (she seemed to have more knowledge than all the advisors put together, but she was only greeting people and answering the phone...) was very nice and helpful. But after YoSaffBridge....yeah. *takes out her hawk eyes*

Blah. I don't even know how coherent some of that is. I just got onto the elevator to escape IPE and thought, "She is so going into my livejournal." Grrrr.

I went grocery shopping yesterday, and I now have some yummy French bread, pepperjack cheese, lunch meat, and apples. Oh, and Pepsi, too. *drinks Pepsi to make up for the bad, bad IPE woman* Also went to B&N to pick up a copy of issue 13 of BtVS for Freddie and the 2nd issue of Better Days, since B&N takes about 2-3 weeks to stock the new issues. But they didn't have Better Days, sadly. I'll probably go to Pike Place and see if a comic store there has it. *hopes*

And there'll be Korean food tomorrow! The KSA at UW is hosting a "Korean Food Market" on the HUB lawn. Thankfully the food is bought through tickets purchased at the Ticket Office, so I can use my Husky Card to buy food. *cheers* Since I don't have cash and I demand Korean food. I just hope it's good food, and not fast-food quality Korean food (though I will still buy it).

The Korean test I took yesterday was difficult. Thankfully, though, it wasn't difficult because I didn't know my stuff (though it was still a factor). There was one section where it says, "fill in the blanks to reflect the translation given." Problem? There was no translation. Just a sentence in Korean, a blank, and whatever the heck our brains could come up with. Kim-sunsengnim wasn't there for the test, too, because she had to survey her TAs or some such, so we had no one to ask. Then there was a part where we had to use a certain sentence connector and come up with a sentence based on cues given in English. I knew how to use the connector just fine, but the cues weren't working harmoniously.

Kim-sunsengnim noticed no one finished the test, though, so we get tomorrow to work on it after taking a glance at it today to refresh our memories what we had trouble with. We informed her about the lack of a translation to "reflect" from, so she'll fix that. I don't know what I'm going to do about the connector thing, but at least I'll have more time to B.S. it and get partial credit.

Had my Planets midterm today, too. I know I didn't get 100%, but I didn't utterly fail either! I'm predicting perhaps about a 3.0, maybe a little less if the TAs didn't get their coffee/chocolate/whatever. The labs are weighted more than the tests, though, and I've been getting an average of 9/10, so I'm not worried about my Planets grade (unless something changes for the worst in the class).

I'm feeling a little calmer now. Probably #11 on "You Know You're a Writer When" shirt: You write out everything that makes you frustrated/angry and you feel better afterwards. Heh.

And I gave Nikki her bday present, so now I can show the x-stitching project I did for her.
( David Tennant in sepia )


Buffy: You're right. Ooh! She's even affecting my work, now. She's the Titanic. She's a crawling black cancer!
[She brings her foot up, around and down onto a bench, breaking it in two.]
Buffy: She's... other really bad things.
Oz: On the plus side you've killed the bench, which was looking shifty.
....
Willow: [on the phone with Rupert Giles] Giles, I just talked to Buffy and, yeah, I think she's feeling a little... insane. [pause] No, not bitchy crazy, more like... homicidal maniac crazy. So I told her to come see you, OK? --S.4, Living Conditions

[takes place in the musical episode, so everyone's singing]
Anya: I've got a theory, it could be bunnies. [uncomfortable pause]
Willow: I've got a theor-
Anya [accompanied by rock music]:
Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes!
They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses!
And what's with all the carrots?
What do they need such good eyesight for, anyway?
Bunnies! Bunnies! It must be bunnies!
[Long silence. rock music stops]
Or maybe midgets? --S.6, Once More With Feeling, Buffy

First day of spring quarter!

Moving back in yesterday was sorta not very interesting (by this of course I exclude the AWESOMEness Nikki and I had watching Friday Night Project [think British SNL, with much less censorship] which featured David Tennant). For no reason whatsoever, though, I went to bed at 2AM, even though I thought I might have class at 9:30 (my wondering about whether I had class at 9:30 is explained below). I guess I just wanted to keep the spring break alive for just a little longer...

So, I am taking an astronomy class called The Planets, which is arranged in a way that quiz/lab sections are Monday and Wednesday and the main lecture is on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Obviously, since today is a Monday, there is no possible way we could be doing labs and such since we haven't even begun learning anything. So, I didn't know whether or not the quiz section met. Typically at the UW, the quiz sections don't meet during the first week of the quarter. So, by this reasoning, this quiz section wouldn't meet, right?

I didn't know for certain, though, since there was no email stating which case was true. Because I'm a paranoid person, I chose to go to quiz section. I figure, if it doesn't meet, then I can go take care of other stuff. Or possibly even eat breakfast, rather than making it a brunch.

I suppose I was rewarded. Quiz section was meeting. Blegh. I did not approve, though at least the TA is bright and alert at that hour, and by her own words she's TA-ed for the class a "million times" so she knows what she's about. Still....really? Convening the QS before the first lecture? Not cool.

And, slightly deviating: They took away the broken obelisk in Red Square!!!!
( An obscenely big image behind the cut, because LJ refuses my attempts to resize it )
It was true!! I read a post about it in the uw community, but I thought they'd bring it back in time by start of classes, since it was taken away for "cleaning" (...really? Why do they need to clean it??). 'Twas not the case. I took pictures ^.^

The Quad cherry blossoms were out, too, and I took a picture of that as well. ^.^ Was very happy. And, really, UW has this "Hogwarts-esque" thing going on. There's Hansee, which is like the school proper, and then there's all these little artsy-architecture-sculptures/whatever-you-want-to-call-it that's all around the school. In the Physics/Astronomy building, there's this neat little pendulum that swings according to the Earth's gravitational spin or whatnot, and in order to get to my QS classroom I have to take this winding staircase. Seriously. Hogwarts-extension.

Anyway, back to classes. 2nd Year Korean is the typical 2nd Year Korean, with lots of me panicking about being completely stupid. And I never noticed it, but they moved where the class was meeting! Originally we were meeting in the basement of Smith, which was fine by me, but now we're meeting on the 4th floor. 4 flights of stairs? NO. Yes, with all capitals. Elevator? Most definitely.

Chaucer....is where my lots nerdiness comes in. I had to run down the 4 flights of stairs and then another bit of stairs to exit Smith, run up the big long hill to Denny, climb another bit of stairs to enter, and get to the classroom, which took about 5 minutes, and then the 2 hour class started. The teacher's a bit...I guess absentminded? He kept starting a topic, waxing on about it and a few tangents, and then restarted the topic again, but it was alright since I kinda do that, too. But then he got started on the timeline and history of Medieval literature, and what those years encompass in terms of people and such, and I was enthralled by it. *shifts eyes* I guess if I'd been more on the ball about my college experience I would've been a history minor (or double major, even), but I was interested in learning about the different names for the eras and people of them. History of English literature, I suppose they'd call it. I suppose it's the feel of it being trivia that attracts me to learning/knowing it. Maybe something to pursue in grad studies--except I'm not intending to faint in horror today, so I'm going to stop right there on that idea.

I think I'm really going to like Paul (the teacher). He kinda gives me a Mr. Hesse vibe, which sorta isn't a good thing, but Paul has a good Mr. Hesse vibe. He obviously wanted to talk at length about how bad the UBookstore is about textbooks and which professors ordered theirs. He ordered his weeks ago, but they claim to have not received it, and he went on at length about how much trouble he went to in copying and pasting the different ISBNs and finding them and how there aren't convenient options and so on and so forth. I found it amusing, at least. AND he gave a good reason for why he wanted specific editions of the texts, which was my main concern and grief with the class, so I'm at ease about it now. And there's an OPTIONAL multiple choice midterm exam (read: Extra Credit), and a choice between writing a literary criticism or research paper that's due at the end of the quarter, and the only required exam is also multiple choice, and I actually want to read the texts, and and and and and....!!!!!!!!

....is it obvious how much of a nerdy English/Creative Writing major I am now? *angles herself to hide under her desk from all the rolling eyes*

Speaking of books, I'm waiting to receive my email confirmation from B&N that my books have been shipped to them, which should be today since I requested 2-day shipping and ordered them Saturday. Since the UBookstore is being stupid and the only text we need for the next 4 weeks is the book I have, I'm not too concerned.

I've written it in my Facebook, but I'll reiterate here for emphasis: Joss Whedon is making me into a comics collector. *headdesk* Buffy Season 8 which will be going for FIFTY ISSUES and Firefly comics which seem to be coming out in 3s, and Joss has said/confirmed that there will be a Shephard Book series (in comics, I assume) after the Better Days arc.

*flails* I'm a college student! I'm going to Rome! I have no money for all this fandom!!! *flails more*

Speaking of....Info session for Rome nao plzkthnx??? Y'know...so I can prepare all the necessary stuff BEFORE June???? Like, visas and such?? (which, visas are apparently paper/authorization saying a person can enter/exit the country.)

Anything else? Wellll, the weather's turned rotten after a sun-shiney day of blue skies, but that's almost like saying the Earth revolves around the sun. It's Seattle/Western Washington (because all Washingtonians know that the Eastern and Western sides might as well be different states), we can literally have blue skies, puffy clouds, overcast skies, hail, and rain all in the same day, if not the same hour.

I'll probably be posting random pics up on my Photobucket account; when I do, I'll link them here. Just a lot of random me-stuff.

Edit 7:00PM: Added the pic of the missing broken obelisk above. And if you want to see more pics of different parts of campus, leave a comment and maybe I'll give links.

Edit 10:00PM: I TOTALLY FORGOT!!!! 21 NEW EPISODES ORDERED FOR EUReKA!!!!!!!!!!!!! *FLAILS* It may not mean 22-episode season(s), but...21 EPISODES!!!!! *FLAILS MORE*


{Asked by Mrs. Clark if he knew what day it was.]
"Oh, yes; it is the glorious Fourth of July. It is a great day. It is a good day. God bless it. God bless you all. [He then lapsed into unconsciousness. He awakened later, and mumbled] Thomas Jefferson..." --Pres. John Adams
John Adams died on July 4, 1826. He is often quoted as having said "Thomas Jefferson still survives." with some depictions indicating he might have not expressed the entire statement before dying, i.e.: "Thomas Jefferson… still survi—", but some research indicates that only the words "Thomas Jefferson" were clearly intelligible among his last. Adams did not know that Jefferson, his great political rival—and later friend and correspondent—had died a few hours earlier that same 4th of July, 1826, exactly fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

I added the non-quote bit because it's interesting trivia--trivia that I actually learned from a non-school source, though for the life of me I can't remember from where.

I was just going through the comments on the news community, because for some reason I enjoy reading all the drama/anger users stir up. 'Tis odd, I admit. Near the end of the pages,by at least page 49, there seemed to be a new beef.

And discovered certain things are being censored from most popular interests

Fanfiction? Censored from popular interests?

Bisexuality? Faeries? Sex? Depression?

....Seriously?????

I can see how they might make an argument about certain things. They don't want to be shown in the bad light that bondage and porn brings, but if that were the case, why wasn't anorexia censored? Drugs? Alcohol? I mean, if they're going to censor sex, which is at least natural, why not go the whole hog?

And really....FANFICTION?????? What does that hurt?!?!?!? Kids who begin thinking stuff they read on sites labeled "fanfiction" are literary works????? So that equals bad??

*headdesk* LJ is getting kinda stupid. I was thinking about getting a Paid account (in spite of needing to save for Rome) because I would really really love the extra icon space, but....I don't know if I really want to be paying these people who are censoring fanfiction of all things. I haven't really given much thought/cared about what the business people of LJ are doing, but some of their decisions recently have been kinda off-putting.

Bah. Whatever. On to things I usually ramble twitter write about....Rome!!! I called my mother because I didn't want to go to Rome without her OK, especially since she's probably going to be paying my plane ticket (since financial aid won't kick in until well after I buy it). She said she was okay with it, and while I don't really believe her when she says that, I know she's not going to be all, "Where the heck do you think you're going you are SO not going to Rome because you've never TALKED TO ME ABOUT IT!!!!" come June. So, yay! Signed my name on the lines and whatnot, and I'll turn that in come Monday.

Also need to figure out about visas and ISIC cards and the like. Eep.

And that "XP Antivirus" thing I wrote about a few weeks ago? Yeah. Totally a Trojan. I downloaded a free trial of spyware remover, though, and that fixed that up straightaway. Now I need to get started on learning how to be a pro hacker.

I'm sort of caught up on Torchwood now, with just this past Wednesday's episode to see, and I'm over halfway finished with Life on Mars. I'm feeling all fangirly and SQUEE from the John Barrowman and John Simm and and and...heeeee!! Maybe my next beloved belonging should be named John.

Do you know what is so absolutely bloody marvelous about Washington State? You can literally have a day where it's pouring showers, and while it still pouring you can look to the west and there will be blue skies and puffy clouds!!! Yeah. Had that happen Saturday (since it's Sunday as I write this), as I went down to B&N because I realized I hadn't picked up the March issue of Buffy Season 8. And, of course, B&N were still stuck on February's issue, so I completely drenched myself for no reason whatsoever. I rode the bus back to campus, even though by the time the bus got to me in UVillage I would've made it back to my dorm. I just wasn't feeling the walk at all.

[At Giles' place. Riley pages through a spellbook.]
Riley: These spells, they really work? I mean, can you really turn your enemies inside out? Or... learn to excrete gold coins.
Anya: That one's not so much fun.
Willow: They work, Riley, but they take concentration. Being attuned with the forces of the universe.
Xander: Right, you can't just go librum incendere and expect --
[The book catches on fire; Xander closes it rapidly.]
Giles: Xander, don't speak Latin in front of the books. --Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Bought the dress for Hall Ball today, this one. In Navy, if the pic doesn't come up as such. It also becomes all sorts of other things, too, so it's not just a dress. Yay! Also my very first dress I've ever bought for myself, so I suppose it's some sort of milestone. I also got a slightly expensive bra to go with it, but it's the type of bra that's advertised as "100 ways" to wear it, so I'm taking it as an investment. Also discovered that I'm apparently not the size I've been wearing all along. >.< *sigh*

And there's a really, really, really long hill from UVillage to Hansee that is..ugh. Insane. I was red-faced and breathing kinda hard about 3/4 of the way up, and of course I'm facing all the traffic as they go down the hill, so I don't know how many Seattleites saw me like that today. Bugger. I've made the decision not to go up that hill again, unless I'm in need of exercise and have no energy to go to the IMA. I will do what Nikki did and wait an hour for the bus.

I got up this morning at 11am (though I woke up at 10 to my utter bemusement), and dinked around til about 1 before buying the clothes. Got back at about 2:30, had a nice little chat with Kathryn about dresses and other things, and went to see Nikki about going on my ice-cream 21-run. Kathryn, Nikki and I did that about 4:30ish, and Leah came with us as far as Haagen Dazs before branching off to Yunnie's Bubbletea. Yummy Bailey's Irish Cream Shake....mmmm.

Got back at 5:30, was waylaid near Nikki's where the sound of a dog barking alerted not only us 3 as to the dog's presence in a room, but the RA as well. It was such a cute dog! Or puppy. Couldn't really tell. It wasn't one of those breeds where there's the obvious puppy!form and the obvious adult!form. The reason I include this little mundane fact is because only fish are allowed in the dorms, so it was kinda sad that he had to face the RA over it.

Settled down for a little bit, til about 7PM, then Kim called! She'd been down at the UW for a debate-club thing for WWU for the entire day. We didn't get to hang out much, I'm afraid, but it was good just seeing her again.

Finally am here and settled for the night. Am gonna watch loads of Torchwood! Well, probably finish the 1st season of Torchwood. But then it's on to Life on Mars! Woo!

Another thing for my shopping list: Fray. I'm a bit scared, though, because I've looked on multiple websites and it's either out of stock, or $49! *headdesk* And I want to read those comics before Buffy Season 8 Issue 16 comes out, because apparently it's Buffy vs. Fray. *headdesk* I shouldn't have let myself get sucked into the comic book world.....

And now...TO TORCHWOOD!


Gene: "I think you've forgotten who you're talking to."
Sam: "An overweight, over-the-hill, nicotine-stained, borderline-alcoholic homophobe with a superiority complex and an unhealty obsession with male bonding?" (haven't seen this ep yet, but *shrugs* I like it)

Sam Tyler: I think we need to explore whether this attempted murder was a hate crime.
Gene Hunt: What, as opposed to one of those I-really-really-like-you sort of murders?

Sam Tyler: Because I loved her!
Gene Hunt: You great... soft... sissy... girlie... nancy... French... bender... Man United supporting POOF!! --Life on Mars

So, y'know all that "oh, pity me, pity me, my week's been overrun by homework," blah blah blah stuff I wrote earlier?

Yeah. It's all better now. CAUSE IT'S FREAKIN' SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know how else to emphasize the WONDERFULNESS that is the SNOW, except to make the words nice red and white and green colors, and I don't know how to do that, so I'll leave it as is. ADKHFALSKHDFLADHALDHFLASDK!!!

Yes, Jan-jan and Mom: I'll stop whining about how I never get snow. ^_________^

PICTURES!!!!!

Yes, you'll actually get to see me, the real person me. And that's Nikki, and Hansee and our friend Ally. ^__^ We like snow. Edit: I put the pics in a separate f-locked post for the sake of privacy and so I could open this one to the public. If you're really that interested in seeing the pics, then *gasp* you'll have to friend me! (or else friend my friend Nikki [aren't I getting into the whole lj-lingo...using "friend" as a verb...])

I'd gotten up at about noon and there'd been no sign of snow, and then I looked back up again and THERE WAS SNOW!!!!!! I booked it outta my room and called up Nikki, and we had lots of fun in little courtyard in front of my room. We went to the Quad where we (meaning her with her camera and me with my phone) took lots of pictures while our hair turned icicle-y, went to McMahon to have food, and went back to Hansee (where it was even more obvious that Hansee IS Hogwarts).

I took an insanely long shower, and used my satsuma shower gel. The shower stall now smells like satsuma. Hehehehehehe.

In other (slightly sadder) news, Evel Knievel died Friday. Madeleine L'Engle, Robert Jordan, Evel Knievel.....who next? *sigh*

But then.....24 DAYS TIL DOCTOR WHO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL!!!!! *dances* Nikki and I are gonna watch more DW later. And last night we were watching the episode School Reunion, and the Headmaster of a school came on and spoke and I kinda said aloud to Nikki and myself, "Man, that sounds and looks so much like Giles...." And then we got a close-up of the Headmaster, and I thought, "Okay, no, too much likeness...he's gotta be..." And Nikki remembered that, yes, Anthony Head IS the Headmaster, and my head exploded with fangirly-glee. 'Cause now that's a nice crossover-cameo exchange between the BtVS/DW-Verse. The Doctor and Rose were in the Buffy comics ("No Future For You, Pt. 1") and now Giles-in-Ripperish-form in Doctor Who!!! *flails*

I called my home today to let my family know that it was snowing, and the machine picked up first, so I screamed into the phone, "IT'SSNOWINGIT'SSNOWINGIT'SSNOWINGIT'SSNOWINGIT'SSNOWINGSSSSSSQQQQQQQQQUUUUUEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" Yes, that is literally what I did and said, right down to the lack of spacing and the SQUEE!. I am not lying. My sister could easily confirm it.

It's still snowing. IT'S STILL FREAKING SNOWING!!!!

[After arriving at Hansee after dinner, in the fork between McKee and Blaine]
Me: "So, Doctor Who'ing tonight?"
Nikki: "Oh, yeah, absolutely."
Leah (another nearby girl on our floor): "Doctor Who'ing?"
Nikki and I in (unplanned) conjunction: "Oh, yeah, it's totally a verb now."
Nikki: JINX!! --

(Which, by the way.....TARDIS is now officially in the Oxford Dictionary AS WELL AS Dalek! .....No, my fangirling is never done, and you can't make me!!!)

I'm done with my Korean final (which I feel I rocked) and my E. Religion paper (which I totally and utterly bombed). I'm so drained from my fecking paper that I couldn't even care an iota about my New Testament final tomorrow.

Time to do the unwinding thing. Fanfiction! Yay-ness.

Title: The Things You Do To Friends
Author: Me. As in, ffjunkie42, sagdragon3002, aurikkulockwind.
Rating: T/PG-13 for language, alcohol, and a reference to adultish content.
Fandom: Final Fantasy X; no pairings

( 'Choking Jecht to death is wrong.' 'I’m sure Tidus won’t begrudge me the opportunity.' )

Xander: Hey, wait 'til you have an evil twin, see how you handle it.
Willow: I handled it fine. --Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Just something for me to do, because I'm bored. Plus, it sort of goes with the post below.

If you happen to be working on some creative writing project, fanfiction or NaNoWriMo or what have you, post exactly one sentence (or more) from each of your current work(s) in progress in your journal. It should probably be your favorite or most intriguing sentence so far, but what you choose is entirely your discretion. Mention the title (and genre) if you like, but don't mention anything else -- this is merely to whet the general appetite for your forthcoming work(s).

I went ahead and pasted 2 sentences, because giving only 1 is less interesting and can be taken far too easily out of context. But as you may see from the extensive list....I have a LOT of ideas. Just no ability to flesh them out into wonderfully-completed works.

Mortal Kombat:
( Ice Cream-Capade )

( Untitled One-Shot )

( Untitled )

( One-Shot with its Sequel )

( Untitled Multi-chaptered fic )

( 2nd Untitled Multi-chaptered fic )

Final Fantasy X/-2:
( Dress Rehearsal--Chapter 3: Trainer )

( Crash-Course Parenting )

( Voiceless Witness )

( Untitled One-Shot )

Eureka:
( Untitled Multi-chaptered fic )

( Untitled One-Shot )

( Dartboard of Eureka )

Crossover(s):
( No Three in Teamwork )

( Naruto/MK X-over )

( Firefly/BtVS/Stargate/MK X-over )

I would put quotes here, but.....I think I'm going to consider all those 2-sentences my quotes for this entry.

.....just not coming along stupendously.

For all those who came here via my FF.net account in search of positive updates, I will do my best to explain explicitly where I am on my fics.

FFX/-2 fandom:
Crash-Course Parenting--Chapter 13 has been started, but sadly I've written myself to a place where I have the situation set up but cannot follow through.

Dress Rehearsal--Chapter 3 is written. I will update as soon as I have time and once I find appropriate lyrics.

I have also started 2 new fics, one of which is a one-shot and the other I have yet to determine. I was honestly attempting to focus on CCP, but the plot bunnies wouldn't leave me alone.

MK:
Ice-Cream Capade--There isn't even a definite chapter. Just portions of many.

Rat Pack--2 future chapters are partially written, but I don't know if I'm jumping ahead in time yet or if I'm going to focus on childhood a bit more. If you have a particular preference, leave a comment here or review on FF.net. I'm open to all suggestions.

Happy Birthday, Get Well Soon--There is a prequel written. Furthermore, down below you can read it! There may be some editing, as I had one scene in mind I couldn't quite write because my mind's not focused on fanfic right now. I will post it to FF.net later for convenience's sake.

EUReKA:
I have 2 fanfics written, but they are busy being edited. Will probably post in the next few days. I have one multi-chaptered fic in the works that has yet to be finished; I intend to finish it on my harddrive before I post it, that way I *know* it is going somewhere rather than liable to go dead *cough*N3IT*CCP*cough*

Misc:
No 'Three' in Teamwork (for those few who actually are interested ^.^)--I'm being horrible on this. I haven't even gone back to it since....March. I don't think I'll officially declare it "discontinued." It'll probably sit for a few years until I finally realize everything I want to put in it.

But as promised above, here is the (debut? premiere? sounds so diva-ish -.-') HBGWS prequel, behind the cut. As for rating......it's T (PG-13) for one minor innuendo.

( GASP, a magical portal to worlds unknown! )

If I've forgotten anything and you desperately want to know, drop a comment somewhere (here, FF.net, MySpace, etc.) and I'll do my best to remedy it.

Buffy: It's nice that you're excited [about college].
Willow: It's just that in High School, knowledge was pretty much frowned upon, you really had to work to learn anything. But here... the energy, the collective intelligence, it's like this force. This penetrating force.. and I can just feel my mind opening up, you know, and letting this place just thrust into and spurt knowledge into... [considers what she's saying] That sentence ended up in a different place than it started out in.

Willow: [Xander] said he wasn't coming back until he had driven to all fifty states.
Buffy: Did you explain about Hawaii?
Willow: Well, he seemed so determined. --Buffy the Vampire Slayer [S.4, The Freshman]

I don't know if he reads this or not, but I'm posting this anyway. His relationship didn't pan out (for reasons I'm not certain of at this point in time) and he's hurting. I just want him to know that his friends love him and will always love him, no matter the circumstance. Feel better, hon.

"The hardest thing in this world, is to live in it." He knows where this quote is from.

Vanessa left yesterday for the weekend, so I have the room all to myself. Didn't actually go to sleep til 4:30 a.m., then got up at 10:30. Yay for six hours of sleep. Used the absence of others to get some cleaning done; vacuumed the floor (it really, really needed to be vacuumed) so that there is noticeably less crumbs and crap on the ground. I aimed to wash the minimal dishes there are to do, but I think I'll save that for tomorrow. Our room is slowly looking like the people have lived here for the entire year, instead of freshly-moved-in.

Alli swung by today because she wanted to use the study lounge. She was very, very jealous of the spacious room =) She had the 'holy crap is this really my old room how the hell did it get so much bigger?' expression on her face, only to be stuck there for another minute when she spotted our kitchenette tucked into the corner. Teehee.

It's strangely empty up here in the dorm after living in such close-quarters with a person all the live-long day. It's kinda nice, but at the same time freaky.

My fanfiction is slowly but surely growing. Yay. It's a pleasant surprise to find that, yes, people other than me actually enjoy my writing. This is a good omen for future projects of mine, most specifically when I actually write and publish my own original works. At least, I hope it's a good omen, and not just a thing that says 'oh, you can only write fanfiction, everything else is just plain poo.' Let's all hope for the best for me. Want to read my works? Then follow the link to my fanfiction.net profile:

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/974052/

Keep in mind, however, that at the moment the range of selection is pretty limited. If you're not a fan of Final Fantasy X, Buffy, Stargate, or Mortal Kombat (yeah, I'm a closet fan of MK) then you won't find much to interest you. I may have more up sometime in the future, but they'll probably just be Naruto, Firefly, Friends, or Justice League. If *those* don't interest you....then you probably won't visit my profile at all. *shrugs*

Woman in alley: Thank you! Thank you! That thing was going to kill me!
Spike: Well, what did you expect? Out alone in this neighborhood - I've got half a mind to kill you myself, you half-wit.
Woman in alley: What?
Spike: I mean honestly, what kind of retard wears heels like that in a dark alley? Take two steps and break your bloody ankle.
Woman in alley: [annoyed] I was just trying to get home.
Spike: Well, get a cab, you moron, and on the way, if a stranger offers you candy, don't get in the van! --Angel, S.5 Yeah, Spike! You tell the idiotic lady! Honestly, she gives us women a bad rep.

So our third roommate moved out today at about 5:30. And from 6-10 Vanessa and I were rearranging our room so that it would be more practical for two people rather than three.

Before rearranging (this is also the third time we've rearranged the room, too) we had three lofted beds and desks and drawers underneath all three lofts. Then we have 3 humongous cabinets that are HEAVY. And we also have 4 bookcases, a fridge, and little miscellaneous items that still take up some hefty space.

Vanessa and I had the room planned out, and the (semi)end result is pretty spacious. But we had two friends help us, but they weren't exactly helpful. They were cynical and kept saying, "Oh, no, that won't fit" or "you'll fall in the middle of the night" or "that doesn't make sense." One of them even had a phone conversation for 10 minutes while we needed her help, and she didn't even care that we needed her help. At one point the other girl said, "Oh, I messed up my hair." This is *after* I got sawdust in my face, *after* I got splinters and tore up my hands, *after* Vanessa and I lifted heavy furniture and wrestled with screws that wouldn't come out of the bedposts.

I snapped at her that I didn't really care. She took offense to it. I took offense to her taking offense to it. Graaaagh!

Eventually we had them leave, mostly when the furniture was finally moved. Vanessa and I were both relieved by their absences, and we went out to celebrate the moving of the furniture at IHOP. We even had the *really* nice waiter Jay who tries hard to keep his customers happy. He remembers Vanessa a lot and he remembers me a little, and he talked to us and laughed with us. He even gave a customer a waffle for free because the waffle was all messed up. Vanessa ordered a side of bacon and sausage and I ordered a side of bacon, but he brought us two sides of sausage instead of bacon. Normally, a waiter would be all, "Oh, well, too bad" or something and take the food away without compensating. Nope, not him. He let us have the sausages pretty much for free and got us that other side of bacon. THAT is good customer service.

We both thought we'd just plop right into bed as soon as we got home and fall asleep. Nope, instead we tidied up a bit after a quick lie-down and now there's one less thing for us to do tomorrow. Yay.

And my fanfiction writing career is picking up a bit. I got an account with fanfiction.net about a week ago and started uploading stories, and I've been getting reviews! Not as many reviews as hits, mind you, but at least people are glancing at my work, even if they back the hell up and say, "Damn, this chick doesn't know how to write or how to keep characters in-character!" I always feel better when I know my work is received well. Past English teachers didn't quite appreciate the creativity I put into it, and that's what I always put into my fiction writing---because it's fiction. Fictional work sort of insinuates that there will be creativity. Or at least, that's what I've grown up with. Who knows, maybe these English teachers are learning from some newfangled professors that say, "No creativity in fiction, because that's just WRONG."

I think I'm tired. I'm rambling on and on and on and on and---yeah. Plus, my biceps hurt. I didn't know I had biceps. Plus my ankles hurt, too. But not as much as my biceps. Owwwwww........

[after an earthquake, which Buffy tries to warn Giles who wouldn't listen that it was an apocalyptic sign; he blamed it on the fault lines]
Buffy: I'm telling you I've seen this somewhere before. I just can't remember where! I mean, it's like…
Giles: It's the end of the world.
Buffy, Willow, Xander: Again?
Giles: It's, ah, the earthquake… that symbol… yes.
Buffy: I told you. I-I said "end of the world", and you're like "poo-poo, southern California, poo-poo"!
Giles: I'm so very sorry. My contrition completely dwarfs the impending apocalypse. --Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Well, it's a rather sunny, cloud-less, warm day in Seattle. Given all the rain and gray skies we've been having the past MONTH, this is a nice change. 'Course, tomorrow will be downpours and thunderstorms and hail, but let's all look on the bright side of today...*takes out sunglasses and SPF lotion*

My third roommate's moving out to a sorority, and Vanessa and I will miss her. But, on the bright side, we can do a "super-triple" thing where we can keep the third roommate furniture, pay a little more, and be guaranteed no third roommate for the rest of the year. Huzzah! And Vanessa has plans for the extraneous furniture, oh yes she does....bwahaha.

And for some reason I've been sleepy and tired today. I think I even dozed off for 5 minutes in class today. I kept trying to keep myself awake, pinching my arm and whatnot, but my eyes just closed by themselves. I swear my teacher was looking at me several times 'cause he saw my eyes fluttering, and so I told myself I couldn't fall asleep. Then my eyes just stayed shut for longer and longer and I kept hearing him talk and talk and then.......blackness, and no sound. I could actually *hear* that there was no sound. And as sudden as that was, the sound was back, and I thought *oh, crap, eyes are shut, open open open!* On the bright side, I was actually able to stay awake for the rest of class.

Caffeine for me for the rest of today....I still have a 7pm class to go to that runs til 10, so I need to stay awake. Barq's and Pepsi for me, yea.

Buffy: You had sex with Giles!?
Joyce: [tries to leave] It was the candy! We were teenagers!
Buffy: On the hood of a police car?!?
Joyce: [stops at door, glances back] I'll be downstairs. [exits] You feel better!
Buffy: [beat] *Twice*!?
~Later~
Buffy [to Giles, faux pleasantly rising into disgust]: Sure, we can work out after school. You know, if you're not too busy having sex with my *mother*!
[Giles stares as he walks, walking right into a tree] --Buffy the Vampire Slayer (this quote never fails to make me smirk)

Yep. Just as I imagined last night, I didn't do my homework due to the Procrastinator's Bug. However, I hadn't thought I'd get up at 6 in the morning to do it-zzzzzz.

I've decided to finish one section of it, which will actually be a huge chunk of my assignment, even if I have to B.S. it. I'll worry about the other part later today, when I'm more awake and freaking out over it.

ZzZzZz-anyway, I'd better go and try and get my day started.....It can no longer be started on the right foot, as that would have meant I'd wake up at my usual 8:30 time. This is why I don't want to take morning classes: I don't have the art of waking up at an early time anymore. Although, my reluctance to get out of bed might be the fact that my bed is lofted higher than my head is on the ground (I'm barely 4'10", so it isn't as bad as it sounds). I dunno. It's too early for philosophical thinking.

"Well, I know I'm back in America now. I've been knocked unconscious." Giles, BtVS zZzZzZzZz