C-chan

So, this year, caitlinneko has decided to do a modified version of my book-a-day challenge. I stopped keeping track partway through the year, because I realized I wouldn't make it. So, this year, I am doing it differently.

My challenge this year: To meet or beat the amount of books my "son" reads. <3

As such, I am using the same rules as she is. And we will both be working towards the goal individually. If anyone else would like to join us, please feel free!!


Rules:
~Any type of books count, so long as it's read from cover to cover. (IE no counting reading a chapter from a textbook, but a picture book or volume of manga is fine)
~Rereading books is fine (as in, have read before in my life), however we want 365 unique books. So no counting the same book twice.
~I will count online reading, but only if it's an actual published work, ie pdfs of a novel, etc.
~Speaking of manga if I read that online in chapters I will count 6 chapters = one book, since that's around the average (I think?) for a manga.
~Books that are like a trilogy or the like will be treated on a case-by-case basis as to whether or not they count as one book or multiple.

caitlinneko's count: 3
box_of_doom's count: 4

Books
You Can Do ANYTHING: Inspiration for Living Your Heart's Desire
Gundam Wing: Episode Zero
Gundam Wing: Ground Zero
Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz

By Author
Carlton Cards. You Can Do ANYTHING: Inspiration for Living Your Heart's Desire
Fuyunagi, Reku. Gundam Wing: Ground Zero
Sumisawa, Katsuyuki and Akira Kanbe. Gundam Wing: Episode Zero
Tokita, Kouichi. Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz

My brain has not been allowing for as much productivity as I would have liked this weekend. All weekend. x_x

That being said, I think/hope I've got enough done/will by the end of the night that I won't drown this week. Three things due and two I need to get done because I'm gonna be out for a good chunk of the weekend.

In other news, I'm coming to UTSC for a few hours on Thursday! ToT My first time there since officially graduating.....

So I made another voice post of sorts.
A lot of me talking with songs interjected.

You can stream it here, or download it here. It's half an hour long, so no, I won't be offended at all if you skip parts/don't want to listen at all. XP


Also, I made a recording of the Announcements song, as I learned it at camp. For.... posterity. Yes, I'll keep with that.

( Long, somewhat rambly post under cut )

tl;dr When you immerse yourself in other worlds as the geeks often do, it's no longer possible to fully belong to this one.

From dragon_gypsy

If you read this (even if we're not LJ buddies), please post a comment with a completely fictional memory of you and me. It can be anything you want, but it has to be fake!

When you're finished, post this little paragraph in your LJ and see what your friends come up with.

zemira tagged me on this ages ago on DA. So I suppose I'd better do it.

RULES
1. post these rules
2. each tagged person must post 10 things about themselves on their journal.
3. at the end, you have to choose and tag 10 people and post their icons on the same journal.
4. go to their pages and send a message saying you tagged them.
5. no tag backs

( Cut, my answers are LONG. )

Don't feel like tagging, so... do it if you want? and... don't do it if you want?

Reply to this post, and I'll tell you one reason (or more) why I like you. Then re-post this and spread the love.


I don't know about you, but I feel a lot of us need more love right now.

I should make a real post soon.

THE SEIYUU MEME

Who do you think I should be voiced by? In any language? I'm curioouuuus~!!!

(and no, I'm not voicing myself. Though it would be fun. XD And might do it eventually. XD)



Also: Test the Nation: IQ was today.
The web version failed on me on the SECOND LAST QUESTION. (grrrr)

That being said... TEAM GEEK WON~!

SIN SIN COS SIN
3.14159~!

I think I've told this story before. But ah well, there's always time to tell it again. And go into the history of my account while I'm at it.

I first wanted to join lj back in the day that, kind of like Dreamwidth now, it required either payment or an invitation code. My cousin had an account and was holding onto, I believe one code. But she was holding on to it and... I had no other way that I could think of.

I finally ended up getting an account on the day that free accounts were open to the public. (So I've been here through the strikethrough massacres and the ad debacle. And still hold strong. If you'll note, my account is still basic. I hate ads. But I also don't see the point for paying for something that I can more or less do for free.)


Anyway.

There I was. December 12, 2003. Wanting to finally get an account, but stuck on what to name it. I wanted something to do with C-chan. I didn't want cettiegirl. I didn't want anything too fandom based, because I knew that love for fandoms can be fickle, and I didn't want to be stuck with a name that I'd end up not wanting a year or two in the future due to switching fandoms or whatever.

So what to name it? It had to be a name I'd like, that I'd hopefully not get tired of, and that was available for my use.


Backtrack to a month before.


This was my grade 11 year in school. My highschool's STAR (Students Together Against Racism) group was going to the JCCC. They had some room left, and the STAR teacher was my French teacher. My grade 11 (and 12) French class was TINY. So, we were invited to come along. (actually, I think all her language classes were....)

We had a few presentations at the JCCC -- they have a selection that teachers can choose from for class field trips. So we had Japanese food, and learned about tea ceremonies, and learned a bit about Japan in general, and learned how to do one of two types of origami.

For the origami, they gave us two choices. Frogs or fancy boxes. I had never been good at all at origami, but I decided I wanted to learn how to make the box.

So I did. And it worked really really well.

The box was red on the outside, white on the inside. My cousin made one that was white on the outside, black on the inside. I noted how it would look very cool if we combined ours and had red out, black in.

I named my box the box of doom. (The ...of doom part can be blamed on a number of factors, at least one of which may or may not be reading this post right now. XD) I meant the name to be for the one particular box, but it ended up being related with the style of box in general.

So back to December, and my inability to find an open name that I wanted. My cousin xbillyxtalentx (ie the one who had the account from before I did) suggested maybe using the box of doom thing. She had been at the JCCC too, and... it was different and fun and... me.

And box_of_doom was available. And it sounded like a cool username more and more as I thought about it over the little while it took to confirm that yes I wanted that name.

And very rarely have I not been able to use that name other places. Gmail is one of the few I've seen so far that has a box of doom that is not me. Gaia and DevArt too, I think. I like this... relatively unique username thing.
I guess you could say that this was the start of my using consistent usernames too. ...go me?


I still make these boxes all the time when I'm bored, too. I should... start leaving them as signs of me being around and leaving cryptic notes and such. XD

The first TEN people to comment in this post get to request that I write a drabble of any pairing/character of their choosing. In return, they have to post this in their journal, regardless of their ability level. (If you absolutely can't write, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to offer drawings or icons or something instead.)

1 violet_light_ SEVERUS! :D
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10


Feel free to request anything. If I don't know/feel comfortable with the fandom I will request an alternate prompt.

It's been only three days, and yet I feel like I'm so completely overdue for an lj post.

There's been so much happening lately I don't even know where to start. Psychologically at least.


( On next year )

( Wednesday )

( Caitlin )

( Other stuff )


Really? I've been getting a lot of signs and signals this week. I do think that someone has been trying to tell me something. I... need to pray and figure out what that is. Because... something's happening. and I need to make the right choices and respond to them as best as I can.

Something is up. And hopefully that will make 2010 a great year for me. I just have to be ready to take it as it happens, and hope that life doesn't leave me behind.

...and while I'm at it, maybe finally get a long-term SO? or a pony?

Wish me luck.

I've officially passed my second placement. I can put it behind me now. Or at least try to. I'm tired of crying half the time that I'm talking about it.



And now for a meme:

Comment and I'll give you a letter, then you have to list ten people/places/things you love that begin with that letter, afterwards post it on your journal and fill out letters of your own.

ranalinde gave me the letter E!

( On Elephants, palindromes, countries, and more~! )

Kind of following up on Shaun's open letter, I decided to do some research of my own about this year's World Conference.

( My Findings, under here )

tl;dr My church's World Conference this year is going to be tinted with rainbows. Whether they are shining or trampled is yet to be seen.


All I can say is, I wish I could register and go as a delegate. But it's in the middle of my practicum (a week long, starts the weekend of my birthday), and I somehow doubt that I can count this as "religious purposes" enough to get it off. So I will just have to pray that those that are fortunate enough to be able to go and vote on these issues... do it in the way that is best.

Basically, take 10 people from your f-list and write something to them. Something you wouldn't say normally.

...as always, I make no guarentees that I will admit to who is who, but I won't stop you from guessing (especially if you're guessing about yourself).

( Under Here )



"Reply to this post, and I'll tell you one reason why I like you. Then put this in your own journal, and spread the love."



Also, two random things:
1) My gut has been bothering me all day. Something kind of feels stretched, or like there's a waterballoon there or something. Mom thinks it's either my gallbladder or my period. The latter was my first guess too, but, um.... at least as of yet there's been no sign of it, and usually any pain is more crampish and happens after I start.

2) If you haven't heard yet, Hetalia has been licensed by Funimation!


And now I crash. G'night.

The following was written by Shaun, a guy from my church. The same guy who brought us a the credo on camp.

Say it again.

Let me show you something. Some of you will be aware of this, most of you won’t. But first let me set the stage. Every two years a few thousand delegates of my church, The Community of Christ, meet for World Conference in Independence, Missouri, to vote on new legislation pertaining to the church and the world in which it operates. In April 2010, World Conference will take place, and the most historic and debatable legislation in the history of the church will be put to a vote.

Let me abridge it for you:

"Whereas, the gospel of Jesus Christ proclaims that all persons are of equal worth in the sight of God (Doctrine and Covenants 16:3c–f; James 2:1–13); and

Whereas, God calls people according to their giftedness and not specifically by gender, race, economic or educational status (Doctrine and Covenants 119:8b); and

Whereas, The sacrament of marriage symbolizes a sacred covenant between two people seeking to make a lifelong commitment of mutual support, love, and faithfulness to one another; be it

Resolved, That WCR 1182 be amended by replacing the words “husband and wife” with the words “marriage couple”; and

Resolved, That WCR 272 be amended by replacing the words “husband and wife” with the words “marriage couple.”"

Full legislation can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/ychw87p
--------------------------


Say it again:

We won’t be the inconsequential. We won’t be the wasted potential.

I know maybe two people who are against this legislation. And believe me when I say: that’s fine. I’m not. It is due time. Our church is a leader among churches in passing what could be deemed as “liberal” or “progressive” legislation. We accept women into our priesthood! Women can preside over marriage ceremonies, can administer to the sick and serve communion. And God save me – they are good at it.

Who knew?

And now the question is before us: gay marriage. Yes? Or no? And I am here begging the World Church to vote a resounding Yes.

Hear me now: God doesn’t hate. Those who quote Leviticus as proof of God’s will against gay marriage were doomed to die for mouthing off to their parents when they were young. That’s not a threat, that’s Leviticus (20:9): http://tinyurl.com/y9kr427 . Do not let the rules of old get in the way of God’s love. Because as soon as we start putting “God’s” rules above God’s love, we aren’t talking about God anymore.

Now is our chance to tell the world that God doesn’t hate. And we, the Community of Christ, believe that fact whole-heartedly. End of story.

Say it again:

We fight so no one can fight us.

I’m not a homosexual man myself, but I’ll defend a homosexual man, woman, transgender, or whatever, to my grave. But this isn’t a debate article, this is a support article. We cannot back down from our fight because of threats of mass exodus from the church. Sometimes the fight is not about survival, it is about the fight. Backing down from this legislation because we’re afraid the church won’t survive the outcome is not how we should be looking at this at all.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want the church to die. Far from it. I want it to thrive. But my want for the church to thrive does not supersede my need to do what is right. If I can achieve both, excellent. If I can’t, my priorities are where they are.

Hear me now: it’s not about doing what’s best for the church; it’s about doing what’s best. I write this simply because I’m calling on people to fight for what I (we) think is best.

Don’t let threats stop us. Don’t let death stop us. If we cannot be stopped, we will not be stopped.

Say it again:

We live, and no one can stop us.

I’m not here to debate with the opposed. You can think what you want. But I will say this: it’s becoming more and more evident every decade, every year, every month, every day, that you are just slowing down the inevitable.

We live, and no one can stop us.

We live, and no one can stop us.

Hear me now: God does not hate. Passing this legislation will not rain hellfire upon the temple. Passing this legislation will not topple our foundation. Passing this legislation, I firmly believe, will see God lean forward, grin his big God grin, and say “Finally. Bless you.”

With all my heart, I believe that. And I will never stop.

Never stop.

Say it again,

Say it again:

We. Won’t. Die.

I don't know if this will pass or not. My guess is that it will be tabled. But I wish it would.

Saw Fiddler on the Roof last night. It was quite good.
I think they lowered some of the songs for Harvey Fierstein. I could be wrong.

I couldn't stop thinking about Tamaki/Kyouya during "Do You Love Me". Which, by the way, I've now heard Fierstein sing both parts of. XD


My lower abdomen has been feeling weird since I woke up. >.<



And now, random meme. Stolen from deviator.

Name a character of mine and I will tell you:
001 What would your character kill for? What would they die for?
002 What would they refuse to do under any circumstances? Why?
003 What do they dream about? [Either literal or figurative, specify please.]
004 What’s their biggest fear?
005 What single object would they be most hard pressed to part with? Why?
006 What is their fondest memory?
007 What is their worst memory?
008 What or who was were their most significant influence? Expound.
009 What do they believe makes a successful life?
010 What makes them laugh?
011 What are their religious views?
012 What is their greatest strength?
013 Do they have a fatal flaw? If so, what is it?
014 Who is the most important person in their life?
015 If they died, who would miss them most? How would they die?

Mmm, I should sleep very very very soon.

Bad news first:

My mind has been going in and out of bad mindspaces lately. This isn't good.
I should be getting over the issues of the past few months. But they're still haunting me. I'm so afraid for my next one, but I need to let it go -- I can't spend the next few months like this!!!!!
I wrote half a post about stuff to do with this, but I ended up closing it without posting it, because it was making me feel worse to write about it.

America beat Canada in hockey.




Good news:

Grandpa might be coming home any day now. I was told tomorrow, but we're not sure of that anymore. But soon.

We're doing science camp at school, and it's quite fun. A bunch of presentations on different kinds of science, and ways of making it interesting to students -- many of the things are transferable to other teachables too in some ways.

Going to the science center on Thursday. Which is great except for Body Worlds, which they're taking us to and............................ I dunno how I'll do with that at all. It... freaks me out to think about seeing dead bodies like that.

I baked sugar cookies for the first time today, and they turned out well, I think.

International hockey, I have discovered, is good at getting my mind out of bad places. Due to Hetalia, naturally. XD





Random things:

I don't know if I still want to be a teacher or not, but I'm sticking with the program anyway. It's only 4 more months, 5 if things... don't go quite as planned. I can survive. And then I will be certified, so... I can always do it should I want/need to. Or I might do something completely different. This is quite likely. But we'll see. I'm still young, I have time to make false starts and find what works for me, still.

I'm doing a reading challenge again this year, this time with caitlinneko. For information/book reqs/anything, go here. Pretty much, like last year, except this time I'm just trying to match my "son". (Family effort woo?)
I would love it if anyone decided to join us. I doubt we'll get too ridiculously high, but I like the idea of reading with someone, even if it is in this weird way. <3

I might try to get a group together to go to the HP exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre on my birthday, if anyone's interested. April is a month devoid of otaku-based cons, so this is, like, the closest thing I have ever gotten to a fandommy thing around then. though the idea of having a cosplay party for my half-birthday and denying any knowledge of the existence of Hallowe'en still amuses me to no end...

Takarazuka is addictive

I need to watch more anime and work on cosplay and such. Somehow.

And seeeee friiiieeeeends. ToT Not nearly enough seeing people over the holidays. At all.




And now, I shall prepare to crash. Have a wonderful night, everyone. <3




Also: If you read this, happy birthday my angel. I miss you.

On a random note, I realized earlier today that I am less than 365 posts away from 1000 posts. At my current rate, this means it probably won't be until 2011 or 2012. However, I posted more last year than I ever had before. If I manage to post almost every day this year, I can do it.

I wonder where my post count will be at the end of the year? I can't wait to see.

You know, I find it interesting how fandoms never stay still for me. It rarely... just stays within the traditional bounds of the fandom.

When manga was mentioned in class, I mentioned this. So often series lead people to doing... other research, that do branch from the fandom, but do not precisely deal with them.

For example Hetalia. Whether or not you see extensive research of world history as being directly in-fandom or not is up to you. But I've read up on Finland, and want to do more research, and get comfortable at least with the pronunciation of the language. (And maybe some Swedish as well... go two national languages?) However, recently it's getting me hooked on the World Junior Hockey Championship as well. ...I've NEVER followed hockey. And yes, I've mainly been watching the Finland games. And yelling at my screen. XD

Fullmetal Alchemist was very much the same way for a lot of people. I saw so many people researching chemistry and physics, finding all the historical links to alchemy.
Me? I looked at the links to mythology. I actually did a paper on it in my first year of university. That's how I got my first volume of manga.

Ouran? In a roundabout way, it probably is responsible for my want to open the cafe. It started me doing things at cons... it was my first three masq/skit contest entries, the reason why I started doing events at NAF. Hosting was the first step towards the cafe, I swear.
It's also responsible for a lot of the friends I've made in "local" fandom along with Hetalia.

Yugioh of course brought out Egyptology for the most part. Also some talk of mental health disorders, especially with multiple personality disorder.

Digimon is the closest thing to pure fandom that I've seen. But even then... it was my key to anime as a whole.


As I move into other fandoms, I'm always curious to see where they will take me. It's not something I ever actively try to do, but.... it's always so interesting to see just what happens as it continues.


...and now for a meme. Stolen from human_nosferatu.

Once you are tagged you must post this in your journal and list 6 of your weirdest habits/tendencies/facts about you. They can be serious, silly, ridiculous - whatever! Then tag six more people at the end.

1) I was a total closet fangirl until university. I had started learning songs and watching series on TV when I was still in high school, and a bit of internet fandom (the old family computers have collages of cosplay pics and fandom memes). But I didn't get my first volume of manga until I needed it for school in my first year of university. The only anime I owned before my first con (at age 18, after my first year of uni) was Spirited Away, which I bought used from Rogers. My room is only now starting to look like a fangirl's room, though I refuse to put up any posters -- they would go against the decor of my room ATM.

2) I had dermatographia through highschool and into my university years. What this means is that I welted extremely easily, from any blunt object against my skin. I got used to wearing sweaters even in the summer because, well, even if I had an itch and had to scratch my arm, I would have marks all down it, and I didn't want people to wonder if I was being abused or... anything. I wonder if this is why I'm pretty comfortable with most temperatures now?

3) When I was little, I could collapse my nostrils (pretty much make it look like I am plugging my nose) without touching them. ...I tried just now, I can do it on one side, the other side feels slightly plugged up, which may or may not be why it's not working. XD

4) I'm very used to be called cute. It's to the point that I was about to tell someone how often I am called cute on AIM, and in the time it took me to write that, he had said how cute I came off as. And I laughed.

5) I literally don't think I can go a day without singing. When I was in grade 8, a guy actually got pissed at me because I would sing at my desk. I didn't even realize I was doing it! ...so I might actually.... unconsciously sing. Heh.

6) I obsess. I know I do. I worry that I might have an addictive personality, But then I don't do many things that are... as bad to be addicted to. However, things get in my head and bother me to no end, sometimes. I bottle and stew over things, even as I tell myself I shouldn't. I get characters in my head and they will not shut up. I try to be easygoing and mature about fandoms, but I DO get very hardcore into fandoms in my own way. It's just.... mainly within my own head, so you get more of it out of me in conversation than you will in any productive way, sadly. In short: when it's good, I get good characters/characterization ideas/stuff. When it's bad, I can get chronically down because that little voice in my head and the thoughts in there won't let me rest.


Tagging: caitlinneko, infiniteviking, rinata_chan, stkhlmxsndrm, zemira, zeto (or if anyone else wants to do it... <3)


Also: America just beat Finland. So it's not a night of upsets. But still, the Swiss defeat of Russia was SWEET. (Sorry to all you Russians in both nationality and spirit/muse on my f-list.)

From 30 years ago.

Still rather fitting.